Today there are large neighborhoods of foreign architecture, wonderful for a stroll, where Europeans, especially the French, once resided. Shanghai's great river of commerce, the Huangpu, a tributary of the mighty Yangzi River, is lined with a gallery of colonial architecture, known as the Bund, grander than any other in the East, much of it recently refurbished and open to the curious visitor. The mansions, garden estates, country clubs, and cathedrals of the Westerners who made their fortunes here a century ago are scattered throughout the city, and there is even a synagogue, dating from the days of an unparalleled Jewish immigration to China. Shanghai's foreign legacy is epitomized by the Peace Hotel on the Bund, the 1929 creation of a Jewish millionaire, today a masterpiece of Art Deco--a relic of the Jazz Age. These are not the typical monuments of China, but they are typical of Shanghai.
The East has a Western flavor in Shanghai, but at the same time the creations of a strictly Chinese culture have not been erased. A walk through downtown turns up astounding traditional treasures: a teahouse that epitomizes all that was old China; a classical garden as superb as any in Beijing or Suzhou; an "Old Town" as quaint and chaotic as any in China; active temples and ancient pagodas; and a museum of Chinese art and artifacts that is universally acclaimed as China's best. If the pace of new Shanghai rivals that of New York City and its nightlife and its cafes now echo the sophistication of Paris, if the architecture and avenues recall 19th-century Europe rather than old Cathay, this is still a Chinese city to the core.
Shanghai is also a city for shoppers (Nanjing Rd. is the number one shopping street in all of China), but especially it is the place for those who want to see the future of China. Across the mighty Huangpu River, which served as old Shanghai's eastern border, a truly new Shanghai is taking shape. Known as Pudong, this Shanghai East boasts its own modern attractions: the tallest hotel in the world, China's largest stock exchange, and one of the highest observation decks in Asia, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. Not to be outdone, old Shanghai has its own legions of new skyscrapers, too, and a booming collection of fine international restaurants, several of them taking over the rooftops of the colonial gems lining the Bund and the mansions that had gone to seed in Shanghai's French Quarter.
Incredibly crowded, densely packed, Shanghai is the raw center of China's commerce and industry. It has energy and confidence, and it has new dreams. Its polluted rivers are being cleaned up. Greenways and new parks are emerging. Historic neighborhoods, both Chinese and colonial, are being spared the bulldozer and transformed into avenues of shops and cafes. New theaters and cultural centers are attracting top performers from China and abroad.
Shanghai still has a long way to go to become the New York or the Paris of China. It is not yet as prosperous as Hong Kong (its nearest rival), nor as international. But the raw complexity of Shanghai is its charm. Sipping a cocktail in a new French restaurant positioned high on the rooftops over the Bund, one can look across the river into the future of China, at the burgeoning Manhattan of skyscrapers in Pudong where a decade ago there was nothing but mud flats, rice fields, and village huts. Only in Shanghai are so many worlds, East and West, past and Psent, this elevated and pinched together, shoulder to shoulder, like a Picasso mural. This is Psent-day China on a grand scale, where you can breathe in the exhilaration of a new century for Asia.
*~.x#a(f+D/?$R大学生求职,培训,找工作,笔试,面试,简历,求职资料,求职大礼包9. How can employment Market in cities such as Beijing, shanghai, accommodate the increasing number of migrant workers relocating in these cities?
10. Discuss the economy and social impact of old child policy of China. 晚婚晚育政策
-E.?*x*g1U'H)Y.y$u大学生求职,培训,找工作,笔试,面试,简历,求职资料,求职大礼包11. Can China continue annual digit GDP Growth? Discuss
/s o7+D$p9O大学生求职,培训,找工作,笔试,面试,简历,求职资料,求职大礼包12. What problems do you foresee in the accounting industry in the next 10 years?
LehmanBrown's outlook on the changing tax landscape in China ... some Frequently Asked Questions
(1) What do you think will be the main changes on China's tax system 5 and 10 years from today?
China's tax law system experienced great changes in 1994. The changes have played an important role in boosting the country's economic development and encouraging foreign investment into China. However, with the dramatic evolvement of China economy over the past ten years, it seems that many tax laws become quickly outdated and do not suit the rapid economic development.
Also, China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) provides a good opportunity to launch such reforms, as China needs to amend or revise many of its existing tax laws which do not currently conform with the requirements of the WTO.
According to Mr. Jin Renqing, Commissioner of the State Administration of Taxation, one of the main tasks for the 10th five-year plan (2001-2005) is to carry out a further reform on the current tax system. The objective of the tax reform is to establish an efficient tax collection and management system. The proposed tax reform shall include the following contents:
Value-added tax reform: The current VAT system is production-oriented and mainly covers imports and sales of movable/tangible goods. There are two aspects of the anticipated VAT reform: changing to consumption-oriented VAT and expanding VAT scope to cover activities originally subject to the business tax.
The government wishes to eliminate double taxation and thereby encourage investments by the shifting to consumption-oriented VAT, as it will allow input of VAT credit on purchase of capital goods.
(2) Do you foresee any changes in tax rates?
With respect to the enterprises income tax, there are Psently two sets of laws, one for foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) and foreign enterprises, and one for domestic Chinese enterprises. There are current plans to unify the systems.
The reason for unifying the two tax regimes is: It is one of the WTO membership requirements that China treat foreign enterprises and domestic enterprises equally. Also, such unification will foster a more balanced economic growth. The expected changes include (a reduction of) tax incentives and statutory enterprises income tax rates.
Regarding inspanidual income tax, the ultimate goal for reform in the PRC is to make proper adjustments on the classes of taxable incomes and tax rates, so as to lighten the tax burden on the inspaniduals with lower incomes and to strengthen the regulations on the ones with higher incomes.
Whilst China currently maintains a "progressive" inspanidual income tax system, the high degree of tax avoidance (especially amongst wealthier inspaniduals) and problems with tax collection procedures results in a skewed burden of taxation towards "ordinary level" income earners. The government has recognised this problem and has implemented systems, such as targeting wealthier inspaniduals, so as to more fairly collect taxes.
Another significant change we see may involve the convergence of inspanidual income tax systems for local Chinese citizens and foreigner tax residents. At Psent there are a number of differences including a higher tax-free threshold and greater allowable scope and levels of tax deductions for 'foreigners' (compared to China-domiciled tax residents). Whilst China has benefited from this system for many years, by way of enticing "foreign experts" into the country, the growing dissatisfaction with these differences, along with political Pssures, may result in a convergence. Whether this will be by lifting local-resident tax allowances, or lowering foreigner allowances, we are yet to see.
(3) Do you foresee any new taxes (for example, indirect taxes? capital gains tax? VAT? goods and services tax? customs duty?
Because of the VAT system reform, business tax shall be changed accordingly. In addition, the simultaneous operation of both taxes has led to a number of administrative problems for taxpayers and tax authorities. There still exists many difficulties and problems. The first is the necessity for reducing VAT rates as the difference between the current VAT rates (6, 13, and 17 percent) and the business tax rates (3, 5 and 20 percent) may lead to the increase of consumer prices.
Second, VAT is central government tax while business tax is a main source of tax revenues collected by the local governments. The increasing of the VAT scope will therefore decrease the business tax revenues, which will in turn reduce local government's income. This may create obvious problems with budget allocations and available revenues, especially for large infrastructure cities, such as Beijing.
The government may use consumption tax as a tool to reflect its industrial policy. With the rapid development of China economy, the proposed reform on consumption tax is on one hand to expand the collection scope and on the other hand to make proper adjustment on existing taxable goods. Some new goods or products which have not been regulated under the current consumption tax regime shall be imposed the consumption tax, while some goods which are already subject to consumption tax may be taken out of the lists of taxable goods.
(4) Do you foresee any existing taxes being abolished?
