the actual fine is also indeed 5k. pay up and there are no issues. you will also need to sign a one page report promising to not do it again Full Comment>>

ever looked up the "owner" of a chinese purchase? majority are companies owned by companies owned by nominee directors... Full Comment>>

the problem is they can not read this. neither in english nor latvian. so they buy it from a chinese re-seller (translator?) for 600k instead. or... if your own chinese is extremely advanced, you could work at a chinese lawfirm on commission basis and do this too. this option exists in beijing predominantly. a bit of... Full Comment>>

his comments on camping regulations do not hold up. it is time- and place influenced. in cities you are able to camp for less than 24 hours. in counties and anything under this- up to 48. but that is just law. how anyone determines whether you've been up a mountain for 24, 25 or 300 hours is anyone's guess. some of ... Full Comment>>

i understand precisely what you mean, and am able to summarize it as follows -- "whereas abroad, the right to work is given to the person applying, in china it is considered an employer's right to request a foreign citizen to perform labour in their offices" the very fundamental key in this situation is ... Full Comment>>

i have to side with this. although you still need to pay 4*1 year tuiton fees, which takes a lot of time for someone applying to their dream job next month... Full Comment>>

if you look at it from a citizenship investment point of view, it is one of the most affordable at the moment... Full Comment>>

I used to cross this border on a daily basis, and met all kinds of scenes... I think, both to customs agents as well as frequent crossers, there is still no day that is exactly the same. You could cross a thousand times and still be surprised at what happens around you/to you. Full Comment>>

people can hold citizenships of any, and of as many countries they like. not everyone with citizenship will go on to naturalization - at which point indeed passports are exchanged... holding a second id card (which is what 90% of these people have - *not* second passports) is not illegal under chinese law. Full Comment>>

this violates the terms of a work permit as well Full Comment>>

the real marketing ploy happens right here (and seems to have caught yu up in it...) - that name is an invention of this echinacities writer. in the chinese source article, there is simply reference to "two little africans making burgers" ... but that doesn't sound as dramatic right? so let's shorten and ... Full Comment>>

no such violation. but clearly impossible to be legal from a work permit perspective. still, there are lines in the legal code that allow an officer to exercise discretionary judgement - that is previously allowed these things to go through when it involved student barbecue events while on x visas Full Comment>>

this kind of work, together with the vast majority of film, music and modeling gigs, do not allow for a foreigner to be eligible for work permits. the reason lies mostly in the fact that a chinese work permit is applied for by an employer for a specific function in a specific office. it is not like other countries, ... Full Comment>>

1. minimum wage, although based on city-names, requires being born in that city in order to apply. shanghai ayi's, generally weren't born in shanghai... 2. besides birth right, workers themselves are of course free to work for any amount they like. someone who doesn't feel confident in his/her background/education/sk... Full Comment>>

there are chinese websites who siterip complete stream catalogs and re-host them with new copyright logos - these websites come and go but they exist in good number. no need for vpn's. the websites earn money through very aggressive install popups. Full Comment>>

no - both owners are non-resident in holland and pay only swiss duties, which in this case are none Full Comment>>

completely true. especially at low-end vegetable markets in humid cities. breasts and butts in free view everywhere. the clothes worn by the sellers are largely see-through, not due to fashion but simply they cannot afford clothes with thicker linings. it is heaven for these kind of fetishes, really. the vegetable ... Full Comment>>

these photos are low quality but the videos are 1080p and number in the thousands. they cover anything from downblouse shots at vegetable markets to squatting "middle views" to panties from sitting sideways on motorcycles. "despite the fact that carrying any type of concealed camera is strictly ... Full Comment>>

story makes zero sense - the logistics do not add up no matter from which point of view Full Comment>>

city-to-city by bus is never cheaper than by train. second - highway walk without gps?? ... third, police will generally escort foreigners for quite some distances when lost. it happened to me twice in the countryside and every other long-distance traveler i've met reported same... sometimes quite far 300km stretches Full Comment>>

teaching in the actual countryside would have been difficult for the following: the true countryside is ruled by village committees rather than public security bureaus (in other words "the police station") - the lack of a police station means that i) a foreigner cannot register himself within the 48 hours ... Full Comment>>

yingde *county* (县) is, as the name implies, NOT *the countryside* (农村地区 cq. 乡下) - just a little FYI Full Comment>>

i've lived in the countryside for 5 years with maybe 40 days total out of china. it's fine but i agree that it's not for ethnic westerners. scandinavians in particular often don't see it through a full year. Full Comment>>

the amount in the envelope is too low to be considered a crime (500yuan in most cities, counties and below. 2000yuan in some of the big four) Full Comment>>

do you believe the entrepreneurial ecosystem is alive and well in china? - yes, one could not walk through city alleys without concluding that it works. ** what does accessibility to first tier cities have to do with support networks and entrepreneurship ecosystems? - using your words to answer your own question: ... Full Comment>>