any suggestions????

thanks in advane.

Same as you would in the US. When you checkout and fill in the shipping address it will tell you what they won't ship to Kunming. Obviously no guarantees customs won't hold it for a month, demand taxes, or things mysteriously denied entry for whatever reasons.

I have ordered through Amazon into Kunming. I couldn't find a way to provide the address in Chinese characters, but with pinyin I still received a parcel. However my next one didn't get through. They were totally useless in tracking it once it entered the Chinese system, but eventually they gave me a refund credit.

One possibility is having it sent to someone you know in the US and then asking them to ship it to you. Probably would be more expensive, but if I'm not mistaken, Federal Express has a pretty good tracking system and you can get the package insured in case it never makes it.

I've registered for a PO box (for free or small fee depending on where you do this) at my area China Post distribution center (?)=(toudiju). I'm guessing this helps to keep the address simple and reduces glitches.

I regularly buy from Amazon and simply pay attention to which sellers offer international shipping. I have yet to lose a book, although I've seen a few delays. Some sellers charge an arm and a leg for the international shipping but that comes with the territory.

On a related note, about 8 weeks ago a friend in the U.S. mailed a small package of dry goods to me at my coordinator's office address at YunDa which still hasn't arrived at the office or at the YunDa campus post office. Any suggestions on how to track it down? She didn't keep the tracking number. Among other small items inside the package was a bag of Cheerios — does food tend to get confiscated by postal officials?

I've wanted a few books from Amazon and found that the Chinese Amazon often has the English language editions I want. They're usually cheaper and arrive so much faster.

8 weeks or more is not unusual.

They don't ship to my kunming address.
Chinese amazon doesn't have what I want.
Ooooooo......

i did once with my taobao account, but its a bit complicated, and takes about three weeks to ship it here, you read chinese or have someone to help?