Property Tax in China - Most likely in early 2011

PropertyWire: Govt official confirms that a property tax will be introduced in China  Friday, 05 November 2010
China may introduce a property tax as early as the first half of next year although first homes are expected to be exempt.
It is the latest move in a bid to cool the country’s raging real estate market and further interest rate rises are not being ruled out.

Business Week: China May Start Property Tax First Half 2011, Securities Says November 01, 2010, 9:34 PM EDT



China Ponders Imposing New Property Taxes

Bloomberg: China May Unveil Property Tax in October to Reign Home Prices, Report Says
The new tax, which will be extended to include residential property, is more likely to be implemented at the start of next year, the Chinese-language newspaper said. The government currently imposes a tariff on business-use real estate and exempts individuals’ residential housing.


Here are two links to Property in China issues - In Chinese - Blood Housing in China

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=111560301092049321699.0004921f02f43f6c4f07e

http://ditu.google.com/maps/ms?brcurrent=3,0x31508e64e5c642c1:0x951daa7c349f366f,0%3B5,0,0&ie=UTF8&hl=zh-CN&msa=0&msid=111560301092049321699.000492290963f3883a9c6&ll=31.466154,121.992188&spn=25.282473,36.035156&z=5

Guangxi Sports Center in Nanning

The Guangxi Sports Center in Nanning is designed for national sports, regional international sports games and some major individual international sporting events.
It is a multifunctional complex for sports, artistic performance, conventions, exhibitions, fitness and entertainment events.
It consists of a stadium, a gymnasium, a swimming and diving hall (Natatorium).
A modern tennis center.
Outside areas fully equipped for 5 a side football and training.
  

• The complex has a main stadium that can hold 60,000 spectators.
• An additional stadium that can hold 10000 spectators.
• A swimming pool that has seating for 3000.
• A tennis court that can accommodate 3000 seated spectators.
• In addition it has a press center and other support facilities.

The main stadium is completed and has already hosted an international football match amongst other things.

Number of British residents in China - 47,000

Number of British residents in China - 47,000
Top 20 countries where British Nationals required the most consular assistance from 1 April

China Travel advice

British behaviour abroad - Foreign Office reports

China’s ‘zero tolerance’ policies lead to detention followed bysuch as gambling, drink driving, fighting or, most commonly, overstaying a visa (offenders are deported only after they have found money to pay for their tickets).

Am I gald to be back...I now want to design and build my own Hutong 胡同 Siheyuan 四合院 Yi Jin Si He Yuan‏

As many of you may know I have just returned from a tri yearly sabbatical, in this case, my return to the UK to see family and friends. I miss them all very much.
I won't mention the journey going or coming back, I will save those moments of joy or not for another occasion.
The highlight was, without doubt getting back to the UK, first time in 3 years and seeing what I had already had an inkling of, a change in the UK for the better.
When I left, all those years ago things were on a slippery slope, most newly arrived immigrants or migratory workers were encamped in the South east, in the surrounding area of the first port of entry in most cases, my neck of the woods.
Now though, pleasantly for them and somewhat to my surprise most had upped sticks and continued on their migratory path, to one or more of the northern ghetto's, no doubt their chosen final destination. I do hope they like it up there. The northerners being so warm, friendly and welcoming.
Back then when I left, the local authorities were more interested in recruiting even more incompetent bureaucratic officialdom into their already swollen ranks and at the same time, desperately trying to become the highest paid civil servants in the land, regardless of qualification or dare I say it, capability, rather than trying to fulfill their job remit of providing reliable, value for money services to the public.
The preoccupation with personal greed and self gratification may have succeeded for a while but it is now looking like it might be short lived and hopefully the useless will be removed along with the excess, with much haste.
The UK to me, this time, appeared greener, cleaner, more at peace with itself, less crowded and brighter on my return, certainly more so than when I left.
Perhaps it is only my perception that things have changed.
What with all these other good and bad influences and re-conditioning in the past 3 years in my current location. Far too numerous to catalogue here...coward that I am.
No, this trip back was much needed and profoundly appreciated. My overall outlook has once again changed...watch this space!


I liked Beijing, this I have no hesitation in saying.
On my return to China I had arranged to meet up with my wife in Beijing, she travelling up from Nanning and me coming in from the UK.
We had just over a week there and it was fabulous, most impressive.
Once again my view has changed dramatically, the last time I was there for any length of time was way back, the latter part of the last century.
Things have changed in Beijing and I don't just mean the property prices. Cleaner, greener, friendlier, more customer friendly and above all noticeably cheaper.
I don't mean cheaper than last century but, most things, other than property, cheaper than Nanning.
We had some great food dining out, good quality, good customer service and at a price as it appeared to me, very good value.
The hotel cost us 250 RMB a night...in Beijing!!!...probably a 3 star, the hotel staff were obliging and cheerful, something that is often sadly lacking in my chosen residential city.
The Subway was a delight, although at certain times, mostly unpredictable times, a very tight squeeze but at 2 RMB for any distance and any number of lines represents terrific value.
We obtained the prepaid subway and bus cards, putting 50 RMB on as credit, these made our journey's easier as no queuing for tickets.


Beijing has left me in a quandary though, I just love courtyard/quadrangle living...I now want to design and build my own Hutong 胡同 -  Siheyuan 四合院 - Yi Jin Si He Yuan or just a plain ol' living area surrounding an enclosed courtyard quadrangle, Mediterranean style maybe...we shall see...Yet another space to watch!.


All in all, Beijing a great place to visit, plenty to see in and around the city. We by no means exhausted our stay which means we will need to return to do more...Soon I hope.

Hutong 胡同
Siheyuan 四合院

See you soon on the Moon! say Chinese and German designers and engineers

The Moon
Our team name, “Selene” stems both from Greek mythology and Selene, the wife of the team's founder. We have assembled a talented and enthusiastic group of Chinese and German engineers and technicians who are intent upon winning the Google Lunar X Prize. Our goal is to land a remote-controlled lunar rover on the Moon which must then travel a minimum of 500 meters over the lunar surface, while at the same time, sending high-definition images and video as well as other data back to Earth.

Another purpose of this project is to promote greater co-operation between China and Germany, and to foster the exchange of ideas, a process well underway for many centuries.
We seek to dispel the myth that China's design and engineering prowess is merely the product of reverse engineering, too. There are many young, motivated engineers in both countries who are eager to demonstrate that they can succeed in this mission while contributing innovative high technology inventions and concepts to the broader community of space science and exploration as well as providing support to the ongoing humanitarian efforts to achieve better living conditions here on Earth.
more>>> http://www.seleneteam.com/

An ethnic Han Chinese is responsible for a remarkable Electronic Revolution - Memristor

We are now witnessing the next potential great leap forward in Electronic Computer technology - Memristors.
This is likely to revolutionise computers, robotics and not least, our daily lives.
It's a computer - But not as we know it, Jim.

In 1971, electrical engineering professor Leon Chua an ethnic Han Chinese proposed a theoretical basic electronics component called a memristor.
In 2008, Hewlett Packard brought the memristor out of theory and into the real world. And today, HP announced that they have finally proven that they can build devices that use memristors, instead of the transistors that enable all current computer chips.
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-04/hewlett-packard-unveils-first-ever-memristor

Memristors could also help with a problem that continues to challenge the chip industry, continuing to pack more and more computational power into smaller and smaller spaces.

Currently, chip makers follow a path defined by Moore's Law, which states that the number of transistors it is possible to squeeze in to a chip for a fixed cost doubles every two years.
This is currently achieved by producing transistors with ever smaller feature sizes. Current cutting edge chips have transistors with feature sizes as small as 22 nanometres (22 billionths of a metre).
But this miniaturisation cannot continue forever, experts say.
Memristors offer an alternative path.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8609885.stm

The most advanced transistor technology today is based on minimum feature sizes of 30 to 40 nanometers — by contrast a biological virus is typically about 100 nanometers — and Dr. Williams said that H.P. now has working 3-nanometer memristors that can switch on and off in about a nanosecond, or a billionth of a second.
He said the company could have a competitor to flash memory in three years that would have a capacity of 20 gigabytes a square centimeter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/science/08chips.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memristor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Chua

MARCH OF TIME - CHINA FIGHTS BACK - 1940 British Pathe Newsreel

"Time - The Weekly Newsmagazine presents a new kind of pictorial journalism."
Map of China showing its borders with Soviet Russia. US Government experts in Washington are compiling and collating statistics of lives lost and property destroyed in various countries during World War II to date. Burning buildings in China. Dead woman in rubble. Japanese soldiers. C/U of Japanese military officer or politician not recognised by this cataloguer. Aircraft flying over Chinese temple. Bombs being dropped on China seen from the aircraft which is dropping them. Bomb damage. Chinese children look up to the skies. Chungking. Burning buildings. Plumes of smoke. Boats on the harbour. Wounded man being led along. Small child dead amongst rubble. Lid taken off wooden coffin. Women and children in a food queue. Refugees. Japanese troops drive through street in tanks. Graphic map showing main cities affected by war. Newspaper production. Chinese army manoeuvres. Artillery. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek and wife. Kung (?) sisters - wife of Kai-Shek, wife of China's Finance Minister and widow of the founder of the Chinese republic. Kai-Shek and his military leaders and statesmen inspect troops. Chinese soldiers in various manoeuvres and on the march. Cartoon image of Japanese troops surrendering. Japanese army. Civilians running for cover. Anti-Japanese cartoons.
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=81581


Click to view the film.

The Expressways of China - Now and in the future

Expressways in China are a fairly recent addition to a complex network of roads. China's first expressway was built in 1988. Until 1993, very few expressways existed. One of the earliest expressways nationwide was the Jingshi Expressway between Beijing and Shijiazhuang in Hebei province 
This expressway now forms part of the Jingzhu Expressway, currently one of the longest expressways nationwide at over 2,000 km.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressways_of_China

China Visa Overstay - A Cautionary Tale (2)

We can go tomorrow and sort it out, Don't worry, it'll be OK, she thinks for a moment, then quite calmly says - They might not be open tomorrow, It's Saturday...PART ONE HERE
 http://www.mynanning.net/2010/03/china-visa-overstay-cautionary-tale.html

The bad news - Not only are they closed Saturday but Sunday also.
I used to like weekends, not any more, not after this one.
Here's how it went...It's still Friday night.
It's difficult to explain all of my feelings at this time. I'm not a child, I'm pushing 60 but nonetheless, I'm feeling childishly helpless.
Part of me is embarrassed about my stupidity, part of me is angry at my stupidity, part of me is worried because of my stupidity.
What can we do?...(Notice how suddenly, it's WE)
I'm facing 48 hours of torment as an illegal alien, might be fined and/or banished for life.

After a while of being able to do nothing it's decided we must make sure the PSB office is closed all weekend - I'll phone the police station, my wife say's.
What now! why, which one ?...I'm panicking.
The one that issued your Temporary Residence papers, she once again, calmly states, I have the policewoman's phone number (Don't ask me why she has her phone number) you know, the police woman that registered you.
OK, do it.
Luckily, the policewoman answered and confirmed that the PSB office in Nanning was indeed closed at the weekends.
That's a positive, I'm thinking, at least we know it is closed.
She could not really offer any other real help only to say that, there is nothing the police can do at this time... !!!
What does she mean "at this time", I'm panicking again.
She said, go along first thing Monday and explain.
Explain what? - I'm stupid, careless, a tosser, a twat. OK, I am, I'll do it, anything to sort this out, make it go away.


After that, the weekend was a somewhat subdued time, I decided that Internet research was the order of the day, 'China Visa overstay' was duly entered into Google.

Here's the jist of what came up...500 RMB per day fine up to a top limit of 5000 RMB, then 10 days to exit, and/or deportation, and/or a big RED stamp on the passport 'OVERSTAYER'.
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/happysheep/2/1220359740/tpod.html
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1679532
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1545218
http://www.teachabroadchina.com/chinese-visa-overstay-work-problem/
http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/MDForum-viewtopic-t-44016.phtml
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090223202539AAGLtG1
http://china.eslteachercafe.com/topic47-overstay-your-china-visa-and-go-to-jail-.aspx
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1413422
http://www.networkesl.com/english/web/48_69_84.html
http://www.echinacities.com/main/ExpatCorner/QuestionInfo.aspx?Q=191
http://koreanalyst.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/overstaying-a-visa-in-china/
 
On the plus side, if no big red 'overstayer' stamp then re-entry should not pose too big a problem - I'm still panicking but thinking, if I can get there first thing Monday, that's 4 days, so maybe, with a little understanding only a 2000 RMB fine at worst...


To be continued...

Seeding clouds to fight drought in Guangxi - Watch the video

The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is one of the areas hard hit by drought. The local government is resorting to artificial rain to ease conditions.

Watch the video....http://english.cctv.com/program/newshour/20100325/102761.shtml

China Visa Overstay - A Cautionary Tale

I'm stupid
I'm careless
I'm a Tosser
I'm a Twat...
What can I say...your right, I'm all of these things.
On the plus side though, I now speak from experience...
I get a yearly visa.
Once a year I pop along to the PSB office here in Nanning and apply for a new one.
When I first arrived, all those years ago I only had a 30 day visa, then 3 months at a time, two times, then 6 months, two times, then yearly.
I think this is my second or third yearly one. One might argue, I'm an old hand at this caper.
This year 2010 was no different. In my mind, I had ingrained the renewal date, I'd even put the renewal date in Microsoft calender on the laptop, just to be safe.
And just like clockwork, up popped the reminder on the laptop, although I had not needed it to remind me as I was 'on the ball' and had already mentioned to my dear wife, it's that time again. Visa time.
This was Wednesday, have you checked your passport she said, No need. The date was set in stone. We have until next Wednesday or Thursday, We will go on Monday, I said with confidence.
All was well with the world and Thursday passed without incident, most of Friday also.
We got home early Friday, about 4pm. What are we doing now, I asked. Why don't we sort out the Visa papers for photocopying she said. Good idea.
As most already know, if married you need photocopies of marriage book in addition too photocopies of passport main page, last visa issued page, wife's family book, wife's ID card and the Police registration of Temporary residence paper. Along with all the originals, application form and a passport photo, this is what you need to take along to the PSB office. No problem.
Where is my passport, I ask, it's in the safe, you should know, you put it there, she said.
Found it, great, that's everything. Its only 5.30 what are we going to do now?
Don't know, she said while casually picking up my passport and flicking through the pages - Where is your last visa page?. It's here, a few pages back, see, don't know why they put it there.
Is this right? she said. What! I said, It expired yesterday, the valid until day...WAS YESTERDAY.
Don't wind me up, let me see... Oh! F---, F---, F---.
After about 10 minutes of all the usual...this can't be right, someones changed it, why didn't you tell me, has my passport been in the safe all the time, how could I be so stupid...all the usual trying to make some sense of my own stupidity, finally I said, What are we going to do? It always helps to involve others, in ones own stupidity.
It's 6 o'clock Friday night, my visa expired yesterday, Thursday, and I'm an illegal alien.
Don't worry she says in that lovely, we're in China voice, everything is possible.
We can go tomorrow and sort it out, Don't worry, it'll be OK, she thinks for a moment, then quite calmly says - They might not be open tomorrow, It's Saturday...
To be continued...

The Electric Bike in Nanning

The Electric Bike

Ours is just about 2 and a bit years old now.

It's reached that stage in life when just about anything causes it to break down and require some money spent on it.

You know the sort of thing, punctures (no end), inner tubes, tyres, ignition switches (lost count of how many), three chargers, brake cables (4, I think) and various other bits and bobs including numerous soldering repairs on wiring faults.

We reached a milestone today, out third battery, this one cost a cool 400 RMB.

I mustn't grumble, we have done around 1000 hours over 2 and a bit years, mostly  two up.

And it is convenient. Can't be bad.

China household registration or Hukou.

More than a dozen Chinese newspapers have published a joint editorial calling for the abolition of the household registration or "hukou".

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8544650.stm

Nanning, Hong Kong, the USA, the UK, the European Union and new camera

 

In these times of global financial crisis, with one country blaming another and various talk and accusations of protectionism, tariffs etc. it appears to me that the actual trading companies / businesses / manufactures of these countries are getting off rather lightly.

 

I want to buy a new camera, it's about time, my old one, I'm ashamed to say is over 10 years old. I wrote some time ago about it on the blog, a Canon Powershot A70.

It will still, with a sharp slap on it's side, take a good photo and a fair quality video but the time has come to let it rest in peace, quietly at the bottom of some dusty draw just like those old photographs.

 

Anyway, whilst drooling over the latest photo gadgetry and trying to make an informed decision as to whether or not to plunge in with the latest model (normally much more expensive) or go for an older version that is still in production and available (normally substantially cheaper) I was at this stage being drawn towards the prices.

What is it they say? If you need to ask the price, you can't afford it.

 

I realise Nanning would probably not be the cheapest place on the planet for a camera, although I think it should be, and I know that with all this talk of economic slow downs, recessions and the like, the camera should, one would think be a mite cheaper here than there.

 

Now here's the nub, it's a weird thing, after spending no end of hours researching pricing in the shops here in Nanning and the various other locations stated above via the internet, I have found that the cheapest place to buy a camera is in the USA - a like for like price comparison for any given model always came up with the good ol' USA coming out the cheapest, every time.

 

Nanning proved to be just about on par with the UK pricing structure.

Which I found quite astonishing.

Hong Kong, somewhere between the lowest (USA) and the UK. But worth noting, I could not access every shop in Hong Kong, so it figures that a trip in the Mong Kok area of Hong Kong, renowned for electrical gadgets would probably provide better prices.

 

So, are prices being fixed ?

Are the prices based on manufacturing cost, plus distribution, plus a profit, or are they based on - 'Let's see what we can get here'.

 

Either way, it does not explain why, a camera, that is made in China costs about the same in Nanning as it does in the UK - Tariffs, Taxes - in Nanning?

And why is the USA the cheapest?

Which leads me onto the role of the European Union in all of this - a help, or a hindrance?

 

I'm back to the UK later this year, via Hong Kong but I really want to buy a new camera now so it looks like Nanning will get the benefit of my small insignificant purchase.

Along with the manufacturer, of course.

Jade Jadeite in China

http://bugu.cntv.cn/language/english/documentary/classpage/video/20100120/100214.shtml