Power Banks in China: CCC (3C) Marks, Capacity Limits, and What I Saw at Security

I’ve flown through Xi’an, Shanghai, and Shenzhen — and ridden China’s high-speed rail — between October 2025 and March 2026, and this guide is built around what I actually saw with a power bank in hand at each stop. Where I’m citing an official rule rather than something I checked myself, it’s marked as such and sourced against government and airline pages as of August 2026.

Quick answer

• Check the Wh rating on your power bank, not just the mAh number
• If any part of your trip includes a domestic flight inside China, look for a CCC (3C) mark
• Make sure the mark is legible — a worn-off or unclear mark counts as a fail
• Confirm your model and batch are not on a recall list
• Pack it in your carry-on only, never in checked luggage

China has been checking power bank capacity for years — this is not new

Before CCC entered the picture, security at Chinese airports was already checking power bank capacity. Every single time I’ve flown through a Chinese airport, my power bank’s capacity has been checked, in one form or another:

• Xi’an Xianyang International Airport Terminal 5 (西安咸阳国际机场T5) — October 2025
• Shanghai Hongqiao Airport Terminal 1 (上海虹桥机场T1航站楼) — December 2025 and March 2026
• Shanghai Pudong International Airport (上海浦东国际机场) — March 2026
• Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport (深圳宝安国际机场) — February 2026

I’m keeping this general rather than describing one fixed procedure, because it was not identical at each stop. The point is: capacity checks at Chinese airports are not a new, CCC-driven thing. They predate the rule below. High-speed rail turned out to be a different story — more on that further down.

Since June 2025, domestic flights also check for a CCC (3C) mark

This is separate from capacity, and it is newer. As of August 2026, China’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) notice states that, effective June 28, 2025, power banks without a CCC mark, with an unclear CCC mark, or belonging to a recalled model or batch, are banned from all domestic flights in mainland China (CAAC, English notice; CAAC, original Chinese notice). CAAC issued the notice on June 26, 2025 — two days before it took effect.

CCC stands for China Compulsory Certification, also written as 3C. It’s a mandatory safety certification, separate from the Wh capacity limit described below. A power bank can be well under the capacity limit and still be turned away at a domestic gate if it has no CCC mark, an unreadable one, or belongs to a recalled batch. Capacity and CCC are two different checks — don’t assume passing one covers the other.

One update worth a mention, not a worry: starting March 1, 2026, China’s certification body began requiring newly certified power banks to carry a scannable QR code next to the CCC mark, so the certificate can be verified online (as of March 2026; ISCCC notice). This does not change what you need at the gate today — power banks certified before the change keep using the older mark, and there is no requirement to show a QR code at security.

What to check before you pack a power bank for China

This isn’t only about the block-shaped charger in your bag. A phone case with a built-in battery, and any spare battery pack you’re carrying separately, get checked the same way — the rules go by what the device does, not what it looks like.

Capacity Look for the Wh rating on the label. If only mAh is printed, the rough conversion is mAh × voltage (usually 3.7V) ÷ 1,000 = Wh — a 20,000mAh bank at 3.7V works out to about 74Wh. 100Wh or less needs no approval. Over 100Wh and up to 160Wh needs the airline’s approval in advance, and you’re capped at two power banks total. Over 160Wh is not allowed at all (as of August 2026; CAAC baseline rule, echoed on the airline pages below).

CCC (3C) Look for the CCC/3C mark on the casing — usually the letters “CCC” inside an oval — and make sure it is legible. Don’t mistake it for a CE mark, which is the European conformity mark and often sits right next to it on the same label. CE does not count as CCC; a power bank with only a CE mark is treated as unmarked under the June 2025 rule.

The product itself Confirm your model and batch have not been recalled. Recall information is searchable through China’s official product recall database, though it’s in Chinese only.

Some power banks bought in Japan already carry a 3C mark — mine does, on the Belkin BoostCharge Power Bank 10K with Integrated Cable (SKU: BPB021FQBK) I use day to day. That’s not a reason to buy a new power bank specifically for a China trip; it’s a reason to check what you already own before assuming you need one.

Extra care if you’re taking a domestic flight in China

If any leg of your trip is a domestic flight, the CCC rule above applies to that leg. All three major carriers restate the CAAC rule on their own safety pages.

Air China (中国国际航空)

Air China’s own notice, posted June 27, 2025, restates the same ban on domestic flights: no CCC mark, an unclear CCC mark, or a recalled model or batch (as of August 2026; Air China notice).

China Eastern (中国东方航空)

China Eastern’s English-language page covers both rules in one place: the CCC requirement for domestic flights, and the Wh limits (100Wh / 160Wh / two power banks per passenger) (as of August 2026; China Eastern, Regulations on Safe Transportation of Lithium Batteries).

China Southern (中国南方航空)

China Southern’s safety page also states the same CCC requirement for domestic flights, alongside its own capacity limits (as of August 2026; China Southern, lithium battery safe transport notice).

If you’re still working out which domestic route to book, I search these on Trip.com — worth having your power bank sorted before you get to that stage, not after.

What about connecting through China?

International flights only, no domestic connection

The June 2025 CCC rule specifically targets domestic flights (“境内航班”), so it should not apply if every leg of your trip is international — for example, Japan to Shanghai and on to a different country. That said, some airports, including Beijing Capital, have reportedly been checking power banks at every security point regardless of route. I would not treat “international only” as a guarantee — just as lower risk.

International flight → domestic flight

I have not personally connected through a domestic flight inside China yet. I have a trip to Chengdu planned; when that happens, I’ll come back and add what I actually saw at that connection rather than guessing here.

If your itinerary adds a domestic leg inside China — say Japan to Shanghai, then Shanghai to Xi’an — the CCC rule applies from the security checkpoint for that domestic leg, not from the international arrival before it, I suggest.

Bringing a power bank onto China’s high-speed rail

Airplane rules and rail rules are separate — I’m not applying the CCC/domestic-flight rule to rail below, and I have not researched an official capacity standard for rail security the way CAAC publishes one for flights. This section is what I saw, not an official standard.

There’s a rumor that power banks get confiscated on China’s high-speed rail. That was not my experience. At Xi’an North Railway Station (西安北站) and Huashan North Railway Station (华山北站) in October 2025, at Hangzhou East Railway Station (杭州东站) in December 2025, and on a round trip between Hongqiao Railway Station (虹桥火车站) and Nanjing South Railway Station (南京南站) in March 2026, nothing happened — no capacity check, no CCC check, nothing taken. That’s four stations across three trips, not a guarantee for every station or every day, but it’s worth knowing the rumor didn’t match what I actually saw.

What happens if your power bank doesn’t pass?

At nearly every Chinese airport I’ve flown through recently — Xi’an Xianyang T5, Shanghai Hongqiao T1, and Shenzhen Bao’an among them — I saw the same kind of marked spot at the security checkpoint for leaving behind power banks that couldn’t go through: a bin, with a sign telling passengers where to put it. I did not see anyone stopped and asked to hand theirs over while I was there, and I don’t know what had failed for the power banks already in that bin — capacity, a missing CCC mark, or something else. So I’m not going to say it was CCC that put them there. What I can say is: it’s not a one-off. I’ve seen the same setup at airport after airport.

That’s really the reason to sort this out before you leave home instead of at the gate. As a foreign traveler, you don’t have the options a local resident might — there’s no quick way to mail it to an address in China, and you’re very unlikely to have someone nearby to hand it to. Realistically, that leaves one option: it goes in the bin.

Before you leave for China, check this

• The Wh rating printed on your power bank, not just mAh
• That it’s under 160Wh, with airline approval arranged in advance if it’s 100–160Wh
• A legible CCC/3C mark, if any part of your trip is a domestic flight in China
• That your model isn’t on a recall list
• That it’s packed in your carry-on, not checked luggage
• If you’re not sure, bring a backup you trust — don’t plan to sort it out at the airport

If your trip to China is entirely on international flights with no domestic connection, you have more room here — the CCC rule shouldn’t apply to you directly, though I’d still keep the general Wh limit in mind. If you’re flying domestically anywhere in China, or connecting through a domestic leg, check your power bank against both rules before you pack it. I’d rather write this section again after an uneventful trip than after watching my own power bank end up in that bin.