Recently in Qingdao Customs District, the Post Customs House seized 21 endangered plant seedlings in a post from Japan, including 6 seedlings of Echinocactus, 2 seedlings of Gymnocalycium, 1 seedling of Thelocactus, and 12 orchid seedlings of Cattleya.

All the seized seedlings were alive, with some soil attached on their roots. They are all prohibited from entry in accordance with China’s Law on Entry-Exit Quarantine of Animals and Plants and China’s Catalogue of Animals, Plants and Relevant Products Prohibited from being Carried or Posted into China. 

Additionally, such cactus and orchid plants are listed in an appendix of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), thus being prohibited from international trade.

Now, these seedlings are detained under quarantine by the Customs.