Located in East Asia, on the western shore of the Pacific Ocean, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has a land area of about 9.6 million square km, and is the third largest country in the world, next only to Russia and Canada. China has many onshore neighbors, with Russia and Mongolia to the north, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and India to the west, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam to the south and southeast, and Korea to the east.
The distance between the capital Beijing and Tokyo (Japan) and San Francisco (USA)to its east is 1,310 km and 5,800 km respectively; Paris(France) to its west, 5,090 km; Singapore to its south 2,790 km.
China has a marked continental monsoonal climate characterized by great variety. Northerly winds prevail in winter, while southerly winds reign in summer. The four seasons are quite distinct. The rainy season coincides with the hot season. In terms of temperature, the nation can be sectored from south to north into equatorial, tropical, subtropical, warm-temperate, temperate, and cold-temperate zones; in terms of moisture, it can be sectored from southeast to northwest into humid (32 percent of the total land area), semi-humid (15 percent), semi-arid (22 percent) and arid zones (31 percent).
The average temperature of Beijing is - 4.4 in January and 26 in July. The average temperature of Shanghai is 4.3 in January and 27.9 in July. The average temperature of Guangzhou is 13.5 in January and 28.6 in July. The average temperature of Xi'an is -0.5 in January and 26.3 in July.
China is the most populous country in the world, with 1.35404 billion people by the end of 2012 (the statistics cover 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, and the People's Liberation Army servicemen, but exclude Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, Taiwan Province and overseas Chinese).
In 2012, the population grew by 16.35 million with a birth rate of 12.10‰. The most densely populated region is the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, Sichuan Basin and Huanghuai Plain.
The People's Congress System is China's fundamental political system. National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of the state power, and its permanent organ is the NPC Standing Committee. NPC and its Standing Committee exercise the power of legislation and election or removal of national leaders including the President.
The President of the People's Republic of China is the Head of State, and exercises both domestic functions and powers and those in foreign affairs. The latter includes receiving foreign diplomatic representatives, appointing or recalling China's plenipotentiary representatives abroad, and ratifying or abrogating treaties and important agreements concluded with foreign countries in pursuance of the decisions of the Standing Committee of the NPC.
The State Council (i.e. the Central People's Government), is the executive body of the highest organ of state power, i.e. the highest state administrative body. The State Council is responsible to the NPC and its Standing Committee, and reports to them on its work. The State Council is composed of 25 ministries, commissions and administrations (including the People' Bank of China and the National Auditing Office).
The judicial organ consists of the Supreme People's Court and local people's courts at all levels. The people's courts shall, in accordance with the law, exercise judicial power independently and are not subject to interference by administrative organs, public organizations or individuals. The legal supervision authority consists of the Supreme People's Procuratorate and local people's procuratorates at all levels.
People's procuratorates shall, in accordance with the law, exercise procuratorial power independently and are not subject to interference by administrative organs, public organizations or individuals.
China implements the socialist market economy, whereby the government regulates the economy on the market basis. The supply of resources and the prices of most of the goods and services are market-based whereas a very small number of goods and services are priced by the government or the pricing is under the guidance of the government.
Labor can flow freely; enterprises have full authority of their operation within the limits prescribed by law and are free from government intervention.
China's economic reform is making continuous progress with improved structural adjustment, steadily growing national economy, sound domestic market, ample reserve of major commodities, balanced international balance of payments, continuously improved living standards. Its social undertakings have correspondingly made great headway.
Since the reform and opening up, China is accelerating the pace of using foreign capital, and has formed a multi-level and omni-directional pattern. Overall, China’s use of foreign investment has shown a rising trend, although there was a slight decline in 2012, but the rising trend reappeared in 2013. In 2013, China’s actual use of foreign investment was $ 117.586 billion, a growth of 5.25% over the previous year.
Since the reform and opening up, China has been implementing the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education, which puts education in a prioritized and strategic position. The whole country is basically covered by nine-year compulsory education. The reform on the Educational Management System has made great breakthrough and higher education has witnessed steady development. In 2012, the total number of students enrolled in graduate programmes is 590,000, 1.72 million were working on the Master’s degree, and 486,000 accomplished their graduate study.
As many as 6.888 million students were enrolled in undergraduate programmes, 23.913 million were studying at college, and 6.247 million accomplished their college education. 7.61 million students were enrolled for various secondary vocational education, 21.203 million were studying at school, and 6.736 million accomplished their studies.
8.446 million students were enrolled by high schools, 24.672 million were studying at high school, and 7.915 million completed their high school education. The total number of students enrolled in junior middle school is 15.708 million, 47.631 million were study at junior school and 16.608 million finished their study.
The unique Chinese culture and customs formed since ancient times are a typical representation of the Far East. Frugality, modesty and the family and community oriented value are reflected by most Chinese people's day-to-day behavior. The Chinese people, comprising 56 ethnic groups, are inclusive and open to foreign cultures as a result of long-term integration of multi-ethnic groups. In the past century, China has transformed from the agricultural society to the industrial society and to the information society. Its culture and customs are also changing with the time. Western cultures are gradually assimilated into the Chinese culture. For example, thanks to the policy of religious freedom pursued by the Chinese government, Christianity and Catholicism are widely spread in China, as demonstrated by the presence of Christian and catholic churches in most cities in China. The statutory holidays in China are as follows: one day holidays include New Year's Day, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Labor Day, Dragon Boat Festival, and Middle-Autumn Festival; three-day holidays include National Day and Spring Festival.
In order to create a favorable investment environment and to encourage overseas firms to invest in China, since 1979 the Chinese government has gradually set up a relatively complete legal system, and constituted a foreign investment policy system, which mainly includes industrial policies, regional policies, tax policies and financial policies.
Chinese-Foreign Equity Joint Ventures, Chinese-Foreign Cooperative Joint Ventures, Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises are the three main forms of foreign investment in China. Other investment forms include Joint Stock Limited Companies with Foreign Investment, Foreign Investment Companies, Chinese-Foreign Cooperative Exploitation, BOT, etc.
The Chinese-Foreign Equity Joint Venture is formed in China with joint capital from both Chinese and foreign companies, enterprises, other economic organizations or individuals in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on Chinese - Foreign Equity Joint Ventures and its implementation regulations. The parties of the Chinese-Foreign Equity Joint Venture invest and operate jointly, and share the profits and losses in proportion to their respective shares in the registered capital. The Chinese - Foreign Equity Joint Venture is a Limited Liability Company, and possesses the status of Chinese legal person. In general, the capital from the foreign party shall not be less than 25% of the total. The partner may make capital contribution in currency or in non-currency property that may be valued in currency such as buildings, workshop, machinery and other physical objects, as well as industrial property right, proprietary technology, and land occupancy right. The profits and other legitimate interest of foreign investors can be remitted out of the country or reinvested in China.
The Chinese-Foreign Cooperative Joint Venture, also called Chinese-foreign contractual joint ventures, is formed within the Chinese territory by foreign companies, enterprises, other economic organizations or individuals and Chinese companies, enterprises, other economic organizations or individuals in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on Chinese-Foreign Contractual Joint Ventures and its implementation regulations, and is based on their conditions for cooperation.
The parties to a contractual joint venture should clearly prescribe in the contract their respective conditions, rights, obligations, profit distribution, responsibilities for risks and debts, the company's management mode and property disposal upon the expiration. When establishing China-Foreign Contractual Joint Ventures, the foreign party usually provides all or most of the capital, technology and key equipment while the Chinese party provides land use right, existing plants and facilities, or a certain amount of capital.
Upon the expiration of the contractual joint venture stipulated in the contract, all the fixed assets of the contractual joint venture shall be returned gratis to the Chinese party; the foreign party may, within the period of the ventures operation, apply to recoup its capital outlay in advance in the following ways:
(1) To reach agreement in the contract of the contractual joint venture to enlarge the foreign party's proportion in the distribution of earnings on the basis of distribution according to the investment or conditions the foreign party provide for cooperation;
(2) Upon the approval by the financial and tax authorities in accordance with relevant tax provisions of the State, to recoup its capital outlay prior to the payment of income tax by the contractual joint venture;
(3) To recoup its capital outlay by other methods approved by the financial and tax authorities and other examination and approval authorities.
If the foreign party recoups its capital outlay in advance during the period of the venture's operation according to the provisions mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the Chinese and foreign parties shall be liable for the debts of the contractual joint-venture according to the provisions of the relevant laws and the agreement in the contractual joint venture contract.
The Chinese-Foreign Cooperative Joint Venture may possess the status of a legal person or the opposite. A contractual joint venture which has legally attained the status of a Chinese legal person is a limited liability company. The parties to the venture shall bear liability for the contractual joint venture to the extent of their investment or of the conditions for cooperation they contribute, with the exception of those cases otherwise agreed in the contract. The contractual joint venture shall be liable for covering the debts of the venture with all its assets.
The Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise is invested entirely by foreign companies, enterprises, other economic organizations or individuals within the Chinese territory in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises and its implementation rules, and does not include branch offices established by foreign enterprises and other economic entities in China.
A wholly foreign-owned enterprise that meets the conditions for legal personality under the relevant Chinese laws shall obtain such status in accordance with the law. The organizational form of a foreign-capital enterprise shall be a limited liability company.
Upon approval, the enterprise may also take any other liability form. With respect to a foreign-capital enterprise which is a limited liability company, the liability of the foreign investor to the enterprise shall be limited to the amount of investment subscribed and contributed to the enterprise by the investor. With respect to a foreign-capital enterprise which takes any other liability form, the liability of the foreign investor to the enterprise shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of Chinese laws and regulations.
Joint Stock Limited Companies with Foreign Investment are companies set up within the Chinese territory by foreign companies, enterprises, or other economic organizations and Chinese companies, enterprises or other economic organizations on the principle of equality and mutual benefit and through subscribing for a certain proportion of stocks. Foreign investors may also acquire A-shares of the PRC listed companies through medium and long-term strategic merger and acquisition under relevant laws and regulations.
The total capital of a joint stock limited company with foreign Investment is made up of equal amounts of stocks. Each stockholder would take certain responsibility for the company in accordance with the amount of stocks subscribed, and the company is responsible for debts with all its assets. The company is one of the forms of enterprises with foreign investment and shall be governed by the state according to the relevant laws and regulations concerning enterprises with foreign investment.
Foreign investment companies are Chinese-foreign equity joint ventures or wholly foreign-owned enterprises within the Chinese territory that deal with direct investment.
They take the form of limited liability companies. The foreign investor who applies to establish a foreign investment company must enjoy good capital credit, substantial economic strength for setting up an investment company, and meet either one set of the following conditions:
A. its total asset must register at least US$400 million in the year prior to the application; the investor should have already established a foreign-invested enterprise within the territory of China and the amount of the investor's paid-in capital contribution to the registered capital thereof must exceed US$10million; or B. it should have already established more than ten foreign-invested enterprises within the territory of China, and the amount of the investor's paid-in capital contribution to the registered capital thereof must exceed US $30 million.
Upon the approval of the Chinese government, a Foreign Investment Company enjoys a broader scope of business than other foreign-invested companies in an attempt to encourage overseas companies to carry out investment plans in China. At present, Foreign Investment Companies can invest in the fields of industry, agriculture, infrastructure and energy that the country encourages and permits.
The term "venture investment" shall refer to an investment method consisting of equity investment, principally in unlisted high-tech enterprises (Investees), and start-up management services to such enterprises in order to obtain gains in the form of capital appreciation. The term "Foreign-invested Venture Investment Enterprise" (Venture Investment Enterprise) shall refer to a foreign-invested enterprise that is established in China by foreign investors or by both foreign investors and companies, enterprises or other economic organizations that are registered and established according to Chinese law (Chinese Investors). Pursuant to the Administration of Foreign-Invested Venture Investment Enterprises Provisions, the Venture Investment Enterprise engages in venture investment business activities.
The Venture Investment Enterprise may take the organizational form of a non-legal person entity or a company. The investors of a Venture Investment Enterprise that takes the organizational form of a non-legal person entity (Non-legal Person Venture Investment Enterprises) shall undertake joint and several liability for the debts of the Venture Investment Enterprise. The investors of a Non-legal Person Venture Investment Enterprise may agree in the contract for Venture Investment Enterprise that the requisite investors with venture investment as their main line of business shall undertake joint and several liability when the assets of the Non-legal Person Venture Investment Enterprise are insufficient to discharge the debts, and that the liability of other investors shall be limited to the amount of capital contribution to which they subscribed.
The establishment of a Venture Investment Enterprise shall satisfy the following conditions:
(1) The number of investors shall be more than two and less than 50, and there shall be at least one requisite investor that has venture investment as its main line of business;
(2) The minimum amount of capital contribution to which the investors of a Non-legal Person Venture Investment Enterprise subscribed shall be US$10 million, and the minimum amount of capital contribution to which the investors of a Corporate Venture Investment Enterprise subscribed shall be US$5 million. Except for the requisite investors, the minimum amount of capital contribution to which each of the other
investors subscribed may not be less than US$1 million. Foreign Investors shall make their capital contributions in a freely convertible currency, whereas Chinese Investors shall make their capital contributions in Renminbi.
The Chinese-Foreign Cooperative Exploitation means that a Chinese company and a foreign company sign a venture contract to carry out joint exploration and development of petroleum and mineral resources onshore and offshore. It is a widely-used form of economic cooperation in natural resources throughout the world. The striking features of the Cooperative Exploitation are high risk, high investment, and high return. The Cooperative Exploitation is usually carried out in three phases: exploration, development and production.
The form of BOT is that the investor takes charge of a certain industrial or infrastructure project in the host country, taking responsibility for its construction, operation, maintenance and transfer. The investor, within an agreed period, shall run the facilities, and shall recoup its investment and expenses in operation, maintenance and other aspects in the project. At the termination of the contract, the ownership of the project will be transferred to the local government. In China, BOT is tried out in freeways, powerhouses, sewage treatment, etc.
Chinese government's foreign investment-related industrial policies are embodied in the Provisions on Guiding the Orientation of Foreign Investment (Amended in 2004), according to which projects with foreign investment fall into 4 categories, namely encouraged, permitted, restricted and prohibited ones. The projects with foreign investment that are encouraged, restricted and prohibited are listed in the Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries. And those that don't fall into the categories of encouraged, restricted or prohibited projects are the permitted projects with foreign investment, which are not listed in the Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries. Foreign investment projects falling into the encouraged and the restricted category in the Catalogue and involving technology transfer, imported equipment for self-use within the aggregate investment, excluding commodities listed in the Catalogue of Import Commodities for Foreign Investment Projects with no Tax Exemption, are exempted from the tariffs and import value-added tax. With respect to encouraged Foreign Investment Projects, the preferential treatment specified in the relevant laws and administrative regulations are offered. For those who engage in the construction or operation of a project involving energy, transportation and urban infrastructure (including coal, petroleum, natural gas, power, rails, roads, harbors, airports, urban roads, wastewater treatment, garbage disposal, etc..), wherein a large investment is made and a long term is required for recouping the capital outlay, the business scope thereof may also be expanded to cover the related items subject to approval. In 1999, with the implementation of China's Western Development Strategy, to encourage domestic and foreign enterprises to invest in the region, relevant government departments promulgated the Catalogue of Advantaged Industries for Foreign Investment in the Central-Western Region. The newly amended Catalogue of Advantaged Industries for Foreign Investment in the Central-Western Region was promulgated in 2013. Foreign-invested projects falling within the Catalogue herein may enjoy the preferential policies for foreign-invested projects under the encouraged category.
China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, located in Shanghai, was established on Sept. 29, 2013. The pilot zone is a significant measure taken by the People Republic of China to promote reform and opening-up under the new situation.
The overall objectives of establishing China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone is: During the course of two to three years of piloting reforms, the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone shall expedite the functional transformation of government, expand the opening up of service sectors and promote the reform of the foreign investment administrative system, and develop headquarter economy and new trade forms; shall explore RMB convertibility under capital account items and opening up of financial services; shall explore to improve Customs’ supervision efficiency; and shall create a framework to support investment and innovation activities to cultivate an internationalized and legalization business environment. The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone shall pilot a free trade zone, as measured by international standards, with
convenient investment and trading procedure, full convertibility of currencies, effective and efficient goods supervision, and investor-friendly regulatory environment. As such, experience hence gained shall serve nationwide with the new ideas and approaches for opening up of the economy and deepen the reform further.
CSPFTZ is composed of four specially supervised zones by the customs, namely, Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, Waigaoqiao Bonded Logistics Park, Yangshan Free Trade Port Area and Pudong Airport Free Trade Zone, covering an area of 28.78 square kilometers.
Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, on the verge of the estuary of Yangtze River, is located in the intersection between golden coastline and golden waterway, close to Waigaoqiao Port. Its planned area is 10 square kilometers, and the operation area with closed Customs supervision is 8.9square kilometers. It is China's first free trade zone, which is also the one with the largest economic scale and the best economic benefit among the specially supervised zones by the customs. In September 2011, Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone was awarded the first “National Innovation Demonstration Zone of Import Trade Promotion” by the Ministry of Commerce, which now has become an important base for international trade in Shanghai. Meanwhile, Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone has made efforts to consolidate and cultivate the ten professional trade platforms of liquor, clocks, automobiles, engineering machinery, machine tools, medical equipment, biopharmaceuticals, health products, cosmetics, and cultural products, among which the cultural trade platform has been awarded the first “National Foreign Cultural Trade Base” by the Ministry of Culture.
Waigaoqiao Bonded Logistics Park: close to Waigaoqiao Port, it is China's first logistics park integrating free trade zone and port area, which can enjoy the relevant policies of both the bonded zone and the export processing zone, and waterway resources of Shanghai port, with a closed operation of customs area totaling 1.03 square kilometers. Depending on the advantages in polices and functions of “linking the free trade zone and the port” and “refund upon shipment entering bonded logistics parks”, Waigaoqiao Bonded Logistics Park experiences complementary and joint development with Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone. Now it has become Northeast Asia's export-oriented multinational purchasing center and the distribution base of Non-ferrous metals and IT parts import.
Yangshan Free Trade Port Area: It is consisted of the land area of Shanghai Luchao Port, East China Sea Bridge and the Small Yangshan Port at the entry of the East China Sea with an operation area of 8.14 square kilometers and a planning area of 14.16 square kilometers. It is a trans-territorial area constructed jointly by Shanghai and Zhejiang Province with special function of uniform customs supervision and regulation. As the core functional area of shanghai’s constructing “Comprehensive Development Experimental Zone of International Shipping”, Yangshan Free Trade Port Area has gathered the distribution centers including communications and electronic products, automobiles and auto parts, high-end food, and brand clothing, which has forms the allocation and distribution base for Europe and America, industrial base of bulk commodity, import trade base for domestic shipping, as well as gathering place for leading shipping enterprises.
Pudong Airport Free Trade Zone: It is located at the west side of the third runway of Pudong International Airport, while Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone and Yangshan Free Trade Port Area are at its north and south sides respectively, with a closed operation area of 3.59 square kilometers. It's one of the key sections on the eastern coastline of Pudong New Area. It gives full play of the advantages as a compound hub of Asia-Pacific airlines, and actively creates “airport service innovation pilot area”. It has introduced the world-renowned multinational air distribution center of electronic products, medical equipment, and luxury products, as well as more than one hundred leasing project. UPS, DHL and FedEx, the three major global express companies, have already developed in the zone and a number of key functional projects have started operations. As a result, Pudong Airport Free Trade Zone has gradually formed the airport based service industrial chain including the Asia-Pacific air cargo distribution center, finance lease, express transit center, and bonded exhibition of luxury products.
The China International Fair for Investment and Trade (referred to as “CIFIT” in short), approved by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, is sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, People's Government of Fujian Province, Xiamen Municipal Government, and the Investment Promotion Agency of the Ministry of Commerce. It takes place in September 8-11th every year in Xiamen, China and has been successfully held seventeen times till 2013. Themed on “Bring in” and “Going global”, CIFIT focuses on nationality and internationality, investment negotiation and investment policy promotion, coordinated development of national and regional economy, as well as economic and trade exchanges across the Taiwan Strait. CIFIT is currently China’s only international investment promotion event aimed at facilitating bilateral investment. It’s also the largest global investment event approved by
the Union of International Fairs (UFI). CIFIT has the following major components: investment and trade exhibition, the International Investment Forum (IIF), a series of seminars on hot investment issues, and
investment project matchmaking symposia. CIFIT not only comprehensively showcases the investment environments, policies, projects and corporate products in all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China, but also attracts investment promotion agencies from dozens of countries and regions. CIFIT offers optimum opportunity for business people at home and abroad to get an overview on the investment climates in China and other countries. It also provides them with the one-stop shopping service for multilateral investment cooperation, helping them to select from the widest range of investment projects and business partners.
Central China Investment and Trade Expo (referred to as “Expo Central China” in short), approved by the State Council, is a national trade event jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration of Taxation, the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the National Tourism Administration, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, China Federation of Industrial Economics as well as the six provincial People's governments of Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei and Hunan, and hosted by the Investment Promotion Agency of the Ministry of Commerce. It is a large-scale, high-level regional economic and trade event aiming to implement the state’s strategy of boosting rise of central China, and forms an important platform to promote the opening-up of the six provinces in central China and international communication and cooperation. Previous sessions were held in May annually. Till 2013,the Expo Central China has been successfully held eight times.
The Expo Central China has constructed a platform of open cooperation, mutual benefit & win-win for Chinese and foreign investors, and promote the enterprises from the overseas and eastern part to conduct investment, procurement and business collaboration, so as to exert the advantages in resources and labor of the central part, better undertake international industrial transfer and the industrial gradient transfer of the eastern coastal areas, accelerate the development with the help of external funding, and propel the rising pace of central of China.
China International Green Innovative Products & Technologies Show (hereafter as CIGIPTS) is a national large-scale exhibition of green products organized by China Enterprise Confederation and China Foreign Trade Center, and sponsored by Guangzhou Municipal People's Government and the China Foreign Trade Center. Previous sessions each year were held in Guangzhou in November annually. Till 2013,the CIGIPTS has been successfully held for three times.
With the theme of Green Innovation, Circulation Development and Low carbon Development, CIGIPTS aims to uphold the spirit of the 18th CPC National Congress, advance green development under the 12th Five Year Plan, and implement China’s energy conservation and emission reduction agenda. With the promises of a low-carbon future, CIGIPTS is seizing the opportunities of economic transition, expanding the imports and exports of environmental goods and technologies, shaping the competitiveness of China’s low carbon technologies and products and promoting the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment in environmental products. CIGPITS is also committed to expanding international cooperation and exchanges in green and low carbon areas and developing a proactive response to climate change in Line with China’s commitments.
CIGIPTS is a premier fair for showcasing world-leading green technologies, products and services from home and abroad. It helps connect the best green technologies, products and services with the huge demand being generated in China and globally as economies move towards energy conservation, emission reduction and green development. It opens up new opportunities for green trade, investment and finance,
increases the awareness for green growth among governments, development zones, business and the public, and provides services in support of green innovation.
More in-depth at: https://www.fdi.gov.cn/1800000121_41_43_0_7.html