Archive for the ‘China’ tag
No Mooncake and Mooncake Tax
The traditional Chinese Middle Autumn Festival is approaching (Sep. 12), and mooncake becomes a hot topic, again. Different with the past, more negative voices come out toward the mooncake and the newly known so-called mooncake tax.
A box of mooncake is usually presented as corporate welfare in the Mid-Autumn Festival. A few company may post a box of mooncake to their employee’s family, which is recognized as a better way. Many companies send mooncake to their customers for better relationship. Anyway, it is very common to receive more than one box of mooncake in a family.
However, as people care about their health and eat much healthier more than before, they don’t eat many mooncakes. One or two piece(s) of mooncake is enough for the taste in this traditional day. Many families left a lot of mooncake after the holiday and it becomes a big waste. The negative voice says that they don’t want to receive mooncake anymore, and they recommend not to send mooncake to employees and customers in the Mid-Autumn Festival. You can buy some yourself if you want.
Mooncake tax is another story. The tax authorities indicate that it should pay tax when company sends mooncake to employees. People feel incredible and dub it a ‘Mooncake Tax’, but actually, such tax has been paid for 17 years already.
Is It Safe to Travel by Train in China
A discussion, between one of my colleague and me this noon during the lunch, is whether it is (still) safe to travel by high speed train in China after the crash near Wenzhou. He will send his son to Wuhan University this September, and I ask him whether he will still take high speed train from Shanghai to Wuhan or change to other means of transport.
This is also a question that I ask myself. Is it safe, or still safe to travel by high speed train in China? How can I trust the high speed train that’s constructed at such a rapid pace? Why there are so many breakdown in a short time after Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway put into operation?
In face of such a fatal accident, how can I trust the operation and management of the high speed train system? In fact, I have no answer to these questions. Read full story…
Guo Meimei and the Red Cross Society of China (updated)
Last night, Beijing Public Security Bureau announced via its official microblog (Sina Weibo) that Guo Meimei and her mother do not have direct relationship with the Red Cross Society of China.
It said that “in the investigation, Guo Meimei claimed that she did not know much about the Red Cross Society of China, did not know related people and never occupy any related position in the RCSC. In a talk, she knew that Wang had a potential cooperation with the business system of RCSC in Shenzhen in March this year.” Read full story…
The Salary Threshold for the Individual Income Tax Increases
Starting from September 2011, the salary threshold for the individual income tax will be increased to 3500 RMB. The current threshold is 2000 RMB.
The resolution was passed yesterday by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. Along with the increasing of the threshold, the first level of the progressive rate will also be decreased from 5% to 3%.
The Chinese Finance Ministry says that, after the regulation, the total tax payers in China will be decreased sharply from 84 million to about 24 million, which means that only 7.7% of all working class will pay the personal income tax. Read full story…
Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway
The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway will officially start operation at 15:00 tomorrow (2011.6.30) afternoon. At the beginning, it will open about 90 pairs of trains, including one-stop direct trains and stop-only between capital of several provinces.
It has two types of trains, 300km/h and 250km/h. The price of the train ticket has been established. The second level ticket is 555RMB and the first level is 935RMB for 300km/h speed trains, and it is 410RMB and 650RMB for 250km/h trains respectively.
The Beijing-Shanghai high speed railway is from Beijing South Railway Station to Shanghai Hongqiao Station. There are 23 stations along the railway. It only costs 4 hours and 48minutes run time for the fastest direct train (300km/h direct) from end to end. It is 7hours and 56minutes (the shortest time) for 250km/h trains.
The project launched on April 28, 2008, and the total length is 1318km. Officials expect it to carry 80 million passengers and more than 100m tonnes of cargo each year. Last year, China gets its world record speed of high speed railway at 416.6km/h.
