Carrying a multitool (leatherman) Going from Beijing to Ulaan Bataar

Hi Chris

Officially you are right. There are official limitations. The main security concerns on trains are related to the comfort and safety of other passengers. Practically no one will bother you about a personal letherman packed deep in your backpack. On flights the security measures are aimed to prevent hijacking of the aircraft, therefore you can not board with a knife. This is not the case on trains.

I will take the opportunity to share with you a Mongolian legend related to knives.

"Ten Thousand Knives" Statue
The story of the "Ten Thousand Knives" statue, as told by Monk Konchog Norbu, emphasizes Danzan Ravjaa's charisma and leadership (a legendary Gobi monk 1803-1856). Norbu explains that the Khamariin Khiid, Danzan Ravjaa's home monastery in the Gobi desert, was known for it's harmonious community. The unexpected stabbing to death of a Chinese person in 1825 following a dispute, came as a great surprise and shattered the peaceful community.

Danzan Ravjaa grasped the opportunity. He asked that all knives that might be used as weapons from the surrounding area to be brought to him. The response was outstanding - 10,000 knives were brought to the Monastery doorstep.

Danzan Ravjaa had all the knives melted down and forged into an exquisite statue of Guru Rinpoche, founder of the Nyingma lineage, known as the Red Hat school of Buddhist thought. Although Khamariin Khiid was associated with the Tibetan Red Hat, Danzan Ravjaa built temples to honor both the Red Hat and the rivalry Yellow Hat lineage, resulting in conflict with the spiritual hierarchy of his time.

Once displayed, the statue became an object of pilgrimage known as the Statue of "Ten Thousand Knives" and peace prevailed at Khamariin Khiid for the rest of Danzan Ravjaa's life.

Photo - Ten Thousand Knives Statue
Source - Treasure hunt

Have a safe trip on the train.

Dan

Hey Chris,
I crossed the border and took a train from zamin ud to UB last summer. I had the same problem so they asked me
to put it in my big bag. I did and it went ok..

plus, many mongolians carried lots of goods and big boxes full of tiles and tools.. they were ok.

just make sure it's in your big bag, like Dan said..
have a nice trip :)

Gil

Unless you are carrying several machetes and WW 2 Japanese sword in plain sight you should not have a problem. ON the train I carried lots of stuff including a kitchen knife, twice without having any security issue.

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies!

-chris

Just a personal observation:

All train stations in China put your carry-on luggage through an X-ray machines - like in an airport, but, apparently, with the staff giving your things a rather more cursory view. This time I happened to have a small knife in my bag (not a folding knife, but more like a small kitchen knife, with the blade less than 10 cm long; handy for dealing with those unruly pomelos and mangosteens). Four times out of five, nobody said anything. The fifth time, at the Wuchang station in Wuhan, the X-ray machine lady actually asked me to get the knife out of the bag, looked at it, and after some deliberation let me keep it. YMMV.

I did have an antigue sword confiscated in Tibet at the trainstation. It was carefully wrapped in and placed deep in my luggage. but I cant really blame them for having that confiscated. But I have never had any problems with a multitool.

To follow up on my own post, for the benefit of those who find this thread with a search engine:

According to this article - 200多违禁刀具差点儿登上哈大高铁 - Chinese railways now seem to officially prohibit pretty much all kinds of knives and similar implements, same as the airlines. In this article the "competent authorities" proudly report that just Shenyang's two train stations confiscated over 200 knives of all kinds (kitchen knives, fruit knives, scissors, etc) from passengers in the matter of a few weeks.

I don't know if it's a longh-term trend of what; for all I know, this may simply be the result of a short-lived spurt in security activities due to the recent party convention, and due to the opening of the Harbin-Dalian high-speed railway.

Mighty inconvenient for those of us who like to eat their apples and mangoes peeled :-)