Author Archives: China Briefing

Picking China’s Middle Hanging Fruit – The New Inland Consumer

Op-Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis

May 13 – Much commentary in the media has recently been focusing on the “China slowdown” and the impact of the country’s lower GDP growth figures going forward. In reality, measuring GDP growth is always a losing game, and not a particularly good indicator of how an economy is progressing. China has had tremendous GDP growth over the past 20 years, but it has always been inevitable that this growth would begin to slow at some point. A country cannot keep expanding its economy indefinitely at 10 percent a year, it is simply not possible. Accordingly, the naysayers over China’s future when it comes to measuring it purely in GDP growth terms are misled about what is really going on. Sure, the economy is slowing, but not all at the same time, and it doesn’t necessarily mean anything bad. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Central China, Economy and Politics, FDI and Foreign Trade, South China, West China | Leave a comment

China Allows Hong Kong & Macau to Set Up Mainland Senior Care Institutions

May 10 – China’s Ministry of Commerce (MoC) and the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) jointly released the “Circular on the Establishment of For-Profit Senior Care Institutions and Service Institutions for the Disabled by Hong Kong and Macau Service Providers (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Circular’)” on March 12. Detailed information can be found below.

The Circular allows service providers from Hong Kong and Macau to set up for-profit senior care institutions and service institutions for the disabled in Mainland China through new launches or mergers and acquisitions, either in the form of Sino-foreign equity joint ventures, Sino-foreign cooperative joint ventures, or wholly foreign-owned enterprises. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Legal and Regulatory, Regulatory Update | Leave a comment

New Issue of Asia Briefing: An Introduction to Development Zones Across Asia

May 10 – The new issue of Asia Briefing Magazine, titled An Introduction to Development Zones Across Asia, is out now and will be temporarily available as a complimentary PDF download on the Asia Briefing Bookstore throughout the months of May and June.

The use of development zones in their different guises has been an effective model essentially brought to prominence by China over the past 25 years to help both foreign investors and domestic companies meet in a relationship that provides tax advantages to both. Development zones typically permit the foreign investor to bring component parts into a country for assembly without having to pay import duties. Investors may then add in locally-sourced components, assemble the final product, and warehouse it all duty free before then having the option of exporting the finished product (collecting some VAT rebates on the locally sourced portion) or entering the domestic market with a product assembled at local labor costs. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Central China, East China, FDI and Foreign Trade, Featured, Manufacturing, Northeast China, Shipping & Logistics, South China, West China | Leave a comment

China Regional Spotlight: Lanzhou, Gansu Province

Lanzhou: Transportation and Logistics Hub for Northwest China

By Yao Lu

May 9 – Lanzhou, once known as the “Golden City,” has been an important regional commercial center and transportation hub since as early as the Han Dynasty. The city used to be a major link on the ancient Silk Road and has played a vital role in the cultural and economic exchange between China and countries to its west throughout Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Today, Lanzhou is the capital of Gansu Province, covering an area of 1,631 square kilometers and home to approximately 3.14 million residents. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, West China | 1 Comment

Where is the Chinese Shostakovich?

Op-Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis

May 9 – On May 2nd, St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky opened its plush new concert hall, bringing the total number of venues in this esteemed international cultural center for the musical arts to three. Valery Gergiev, the Mariinsky’s artistic director and principal conductor (he also conducts the London Symphony Orchestra and the World Peace Orchestra under the United Nations), has laid on a three-day extravaganza, including the commissioning of a new piece by the highly regarded contemporary Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin. All of this in Russia, just a few months after the reopening of Moscow’s Bolshoi. The arts, in what many regard in the West as a de facto totalitarian regime, remain buoyant. While much has been said to condemn President Putin as an autocrat, in Russian, artistic innovation – and indeed new music – is encouraged. Russia’s president presided over the opening ceremony and the State funded much of the cost. Continue reading →

Posted in Culture and History | Leave a comment

China Issues Announcement on Corporate Income Tax for Non-resident Enterprises

May 8 – China’s State Administration of Taxation (SAT) released the “Announcement on Issues Concerning Corporate Income Tax on Labor Services Provided in China by Non-resident Enterprises (Announcement [2013] No. 19, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Announcement’)” on April 19, which is scheduled to take effect on June 1, 2013. Detailed information can be found below. Continue reading →

Posted in Finance, Tax and Accounting, Legal and Regulatory, Regulatory Update | Leave a comment

China Releases Catalog of Encouraged Industries for Qianhai Cooperation Zone

May 8 – China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) released the “Catalog of Encouraged Industries for the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Services Industry Cooperation Zone (Qianhai Cooperation Zone) (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Catalog‘)” on March 6, 2013. The Catalog covers 112 encouraged industries that fall under the below six service industries:

Finance
Modern logistics
Information services
Technology services
Professional services
Public services Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Finance, Tax and Accounting, Legal and Regulatory, South China | 1 Comment

China Releases Guidelines for RMB Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors Program

May 7 – The People’s Bank of China released the “Circular on Implementing the Pilot Measures for Securities Investment in the Mainland by RMB Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) (hereinafter referred to as ‘Circular’)” on May 2, 2013, which offers guidelines on the implementation of the RQFII program. Detailed information can be found below. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Legal and Regulatory, Regulatory Update | Leave a comment