Guangdong Gov’t Accelerates Financial High-tech Service Industry

Aug. 26 – The Guangdong provincial government approved a plan to create a new financial services investment park last week aimed at accelerating the financial high-tech service industry in the province.

According to the plan issued on August 17, the government will build a financial services industrial park that will feature R&D centers, data processing centers, call centers, disaster recovery centers, training centers, and insurance asset management centers to support the business. Read the rest of this entry »

China Industry: Aug. 13

Aug. 13 – This is a regular series of relevant industry news from around China.

Air transport
Cathay Pacific Airways intends to start flying more often between Hong Kong and Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France and Japan from November. The company also intends to operate 11 flights a week to Paris by December. Tony Tyler, chief executive of the company, said that the carrier wants to boost its passenger capacity by approximately 4 percent.

China West Air has received its first Airbus A319 airplane, Datamonitor reported. The airline intends to use the aircraft on domestic services between Chongqing and Wenzhou and between Shijiazhuang and Yantai. Read the rest of this entry »

TOM Group–China Post JV Announced

HONG KONG, Aug. 4 – TOM Group, Hong Kong’s media and communications giant, announced plans for the formation of a massive joint venture with China’s postal service to create the mainland’s largest e-commerce services provider.

The JV, to be named Beijing Ule E-Commerce, will be 51 percent owned by China Post. TOM Group is investing through their Shenzhen-based NewECLink subsidiary and will be the exclusive IT systems provider for the business, providing an additional US$30 million to market the new platform. Read the rest of this entry »

In China, White Goods Become Red

Op/Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis

Jul. 30 – As the central government encourages a re-balancing of the economy towards more domestic consumption, companies are finding subtleties of selling in China that will shape the way forward for foreign manufacturers doing business here. Gone are the days when a manufacturer would only sell within a region, now the focus is on getting goods to China’s massive rural population; some 900 million people, or three fourths of the total consumer market.

This means that long held wisdom in international and even China sales is being remodeled and, in some situations, rethought. Take Haier for example. Long China’s largest manufacturer of white goods – everything from washing machines to air conditioners to freezers and television sets – they are the archetypal white goods manufacturer. In a delicious twist of irony, they are finding that rural Chinese consumers prefer their products in a more auspicious shade of red. White is a color associated with death and funerals in Chinese culture. Superstitions die hard in the countryside, and red is considered a lucky color linked to fortune and wealth. Read the rest of this entry »

New Shanghai-Nanjing High Speed Railway Cuts Travel Time

By Joyce Roque

Jul. 5 – The new high speed train from Shanghai to Nanjing, which began operations on Jul. 1, has cut travel time between cities from at least three hours to about one hour and 40 minutes with prices 56 percent higher than regular trains.

Ticket prices begin at RMB146 for a one way second-class seat and RMB233 for a one way first-class seat. The difference in comfort between the two is not huge. The second-class seats have five people per row or 100 people per carriage as opposed to first class with only 80 people per carriage.

The second-class seat is comfortable enough for a nap with ample leg space and reclining seats for even the tall expatriate. There is a retractable desk behind every seat that is the right size for reading or writing in addition to a spacious overhead storage shelf. Read the rest of this entry »

SAT Gives Tax Exemptions for Green Equipment

Jun. 9 – The State Administration of Taxation recently issued a notice regarding corporate income tax exemptions for enterprises investing in environmentally friendly and energy saving equipment.

Guoshuihan [2010] No. 256, issued on June 2, stipulates that since January 1, 2009, VAT general taxpayers can deduct the VAT on purchases of fixed assets from VAT on sales, if they invest in qualified environmental-friendly and energy-saving equipment. Read the rest of this entry »

China Industry: Apr. 9

Apr. 9 – This is a regular series of relevant industry news from around China.

Wind power
Danish wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S retained the number one spot in BTM Consult’s Wind Market Update 2009 report as Chinese manufacturers sneaked into the top five.

Vestas captured 12.5 percent of the global market, while GE Wind, the wind power unit of U.S. industrial giant General Electric, followed with a 12.4 percent share. Read the rest of this entry »

Lithium the Next Big Thing for China Investments

Feb 24 – China’s long had a relationship with Latin America, and with the South American continent holding 75 percent of the global lithium reserves, global players are piling in to negotiate supplies of the metal.

With China positioned as the global manufacturing hub for computers, and starting to pull away in the technology race to find viable light weight batteries, lithium – used in batteries and in hybrid vehicles – is poised to become the next oil as a commodity. Usage is expected to double by 2020. Read the rest of this entry »

China’s High-Speed Rail Reaches 3,000 Km

Feb. 18 – China’s operational high-speed railways have exceeded 3,300 kilometers, the Ministry of Railways said on its website Thursday.

China finished two high-speed railways in 2009, one running between Wuhan-Guangzhou and the other between Zhengzhou-Xi’an. Both lines have an operating speed of 350 kph. China also has high-speed railways linking Beijing with Tianjin, Shijiazhuang with Taiyuan, Qingdao with Jinan, and Hefei with Wuhan and Nanjing. Read the rest of this entry »

New Circular Clarifies Tax Treatments for Technology Related Services

Feb. 12 – The State Administration of Taxation has issued a circular clarifying issues raised by local tax bureaus for transitional tax treatments for technology-transfer-related services.

Circular Guoshuihan [2010] No. 46 is meant as a supplement to the implementation of an earlier Circular 507 issued in September 2009. The implementation of Circular 507 led to disputes between foreign technology-providers and local tax authorities in Southern China in terms of applicable tax treatments for technology-transfer-related services and associated individual income tax issues. Read the rest of this entry »

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