Category: WeChat

Farewells are said, bags are packed, flight is waiting, but are you sure you haven’t forgotten something? 

Today we are not talking about visiting-the-Great-Wall or eating-hotpot kind of thing, but things that will help you avoid trouble in the future. Here are things you need to do before you leave China one day. Let’s see and take note!

 

Non-criminal Record

If you decide to leave China or move to another Chinese city – go to the local police station before you leave, and ask for a non-criminal record (无犯罪记录证明) for the whole time you were in China or that city. 

 

Ask for a report with no gaps in the dates. If you registered at several police stations during your time of stay. You will need to go to each one to get a report. Otherwise you will have to travel the country to claim the old ones. 

You may need the report in the future when applying for jobs at home and to get hold of one after you leave China is impossible as they need to see your original passport and tenancy agreement. 

After getting your non-criminal record from the Public Security Bureau office, you must bring it to the Notary Public Office to get a notarised translation. 

 

If you have already left China and now need a certificate to prove that you did not get into trouble while you were out here. The only alternative will involve you mailing your passport to your representative (a friend) in China to get the document on your behalf. This is ill-advised for all the obvious reasons.

# How to claim the report? Copy the following links to your browser. 

• http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/security/police-cert/asia-pacific/china.asp

• http://onestop.globaltimes.cn/chinese-criminal-record-checks/

• http://onestop.globaltimes.cn/how-can-i-get-a-chinese-certificate-of-no-criminal-record-from-outside-china/

Claim Your Social Insurance Back

If you pay social insurance at your company in China, you can get back part of your participation to the pension funds you have been contributing each month you were in employment. 

© Image | TheTelegraph

 

Reminder  This is extremely important and a little complicated. The HR person in your company can surely give you some advice. Refer to the following two links for more details. 

• http://www.beijingrelocation.com/blog/before-leaving-beijing-get-your-chinese-pension-back/

• http://onestop.globaltimes.cn/can-i-get-the-money-i-paid-into-my-chinese-pension-back-when-i-leave-china/

Cancel Your Cellphone Number

Before you leave China for good, don’t just toss your Chinese SIM card in the trash bin. If the phone number is registered under your passport number, you will have a deduction of your credit rating in China, and next time you register a Chinese cellphone number, you will be asked to pay the bill. 

Unlink Your Wechat with Cellphone

If you forget to cancel your phone number and unlink your WeChat ID with your phone, other people may have access to your WeChat. 

© Image | WeChat

 

If your Chinese phone bill is not paid for six months, the number will be cancelled and is considered a brand new number. Another person will use it. That person can log into your WeChat account with your number! 

This may explain why many expats lost their Wechat ID after returning to their home countries for a certain period of time. 

What you should do is unlink your Wechat ID with your phone. 

Go to “Me” – “Settings” – “My Account” – “Phone” to unlink. 

In fact, you should do the same before you change your Chinese phone number. Linking Wechat with your QQ number or email is all right.

 

Cancel Your Alipay Account

You may keep your Alipay if you can link a new cell phone number to your account when you are back home. Otherwise, you’d better cancel it first. 

© Image | Alipay

 

Go to Alipay.com, log in, and go to Service Hall (服务大厅), self service (自助服务) , then look for cancel account (注销账户). 

© Image | Alipay

 

You should do the same before you change your Chinese phone number.

For a step-by-step guide, please copy the following link to your browser. 

http://onestop.globaltimes.cn/how-can-i-delete-my-alipay-account/

Cancel Your Bank Cards

It’s something you should do before leaving any foreign country if you have the country’s bankcards. 

If you would like to keep your Chinese bank account, make sure you can access the bank’s Internet banking service at home. 

 

 

Get Reference From 

Your Bank In China

If you need to open a bank account at home, you may need a reference from your bank in China. 

 

© Image | ABC

 

Some banks outside China have very tough rules. An expat said a bank in Malta wrote to his bank in China, but they never replied, so he couldn’t open a bank account. 

Get Reference 

From Your Landlord

Reference from your landlord in China, in case you want to rent somewhere when you get home. It is said to be very hard to rent anywhere without references. 

You can write the reference by yourself in English and get the landlord to sign it. (Provide bi-lingual version if your landlord wants to know what you actually write.) 

Reference From Your Company

A reference from your company in China is a good thing to get, because sometimes it’s hard to get a reference from a company in China after you leave. 

If your company doesn’t usually provide such thing, you can write one on your own, make it bi-lingual, so that the person in charge can stamp and sign it. 

Translate Chinese Documents 

that You May Need At Home

Because it’s much cheaper to get this done in China. NB. Non-criminal records should be translated by authorized department.

Chinese authorities have issued a disciplinary warning to a Guangdong man and ordered him pay a fine of 1,000 yuan (US$164) for setting up an unauthorised Virtual Private Network (VPN) service to connect to international websites as Beijing intensifies its campaign to “clean up” the domestic internet.

© Image | Google

 

 

Why was the man fined?

The man, surnamed Zhu and from Shaoguan city in Guangdong province, was punished on December 28 because his behaviour violated Articles 6 and 14 of the Provisional Regulations of China’s Administration of International Networking of Computer Information, according to an announcement posted on the Guangdong government’s website.

 

Individuals and organizations can only connect to international networks through channels provided by the government, according to regulations listed on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s website.

 

© Image | Google

China blocks access to 135 out of 1,000 of the world’s top websites, including Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, according to Greatfire.org, which monitors online censorship in the country. In recent months regulators have cracked down on Chinese internet companies, ordering them to remove “inappropriate” content, including pornography and political speech.

 

 

Crackdown history of VPNs in China

It is not the first time authorities have singled out a Chinese citizen for punishment for offering VPN services in China. In 2017, as part of a 14-month nationwide campaign against unauthorised internet connections, including VPN services, a Chinese man from southwest Guangxi province, Wu Xiangyang, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for selling VPN services online. Wu also had to pay a fine of 500,000 yuan (US$72,790), an amount equivalent to the profits he had made from his VPN business since 2013.

 

The most recent VPN clean-up campaign, which started in January 2017 and ran until March 31, 2018, crippled most VPN services on the mainland as the government required them to obtain approval. At the time Chinese authorities said the country’s internet connection service market showed signs of “disorderly development that ­requires urgent regulation and governance”.

 

The last major crackdown on VPNs was in March 2016 during the National People’s Congress meeting in Beijing. Many companies complained that their paid-for VPN services were not functioning for up to a week.

 

However, millions of Chinese netizens have expressed the desire to access overseas websites, especially younger online users who have more international experience. The growing demand from Chinese people to connect overseas is in direct conflict with the government’s intensified crackdowns on VPN services. As a result, a cat-and-mouse game has been going on for years between authorities and VPN service providers.

 

© Image | Google

VPN services provide alternative channels so that Chinese netizens can bypass the Great Firewall, which is the government’s system for limiting access to international websites and online services.

A large number of products from China are entering India as ‘gifts’ and shipped directly to customers, since gifts of up to Rs 5,000 intended for personal use are exempt from customs duties under the current rules.

© Image | GOOGLE

A large number of products from 

China are entering India

Cross-border ecommerce may account for only 7-8% of India’s red hot online retail pie, but the figure is expected to more than double in the next three years. And Chinese ecommerce platforms and applications, popular for cheap products, are playing a starring role there since Indian consumers can import directly from them and get the products delivered anywhere in the country.

© Image | GOOGLE

In fact, experts said that a large number of products from China are entering India as ‘gifts’ and shipped directly to customers, since gifts of up to Rs 5,000 intended for personal use are exempt from customs duties under the current rules. The Indian industry has reportedly complained to the government that Chinese etailers such as Club Factory, AliExpress and Shein are taking undue advantage of this exemption benefit.

Four products per buyer per year

Given the volumes involved and the concerns it has triggered over a violation of domestic laws as well as an adverse impact on local manufacturing, India is now mulling imposing restrictions on online purchases of goods from Chinese players.

“The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has suggested capping purchases of “gifts” from Chinese etailers and apps at four per buyer per year,” a senior official said, adding that the final call will have to be taken by the customs authorities.

© Image | visualhunt

 

India has certainly proved a lucrative market for the Chinese ecommerce players. For instance, 

• In September, Club Factory had said in a statement that India accounted for around 57% of its over 70 million worldwide user base. 

• The daily previously reported that Shein, an international B2C fast fashion e-commerce platform, managed to triple its business in India in less than a year. It now caters to more than a million active users and handles over 10,000 orders daily, clocking an average order value of Rs 1,000-1,500.

It’s likely to face logistical challenges

But the proposal to impose restrictions on ecommerce purchases from China is likely to face logistical challenges. A source told that Chinese etailers, unlike their counterparts from other countries, do not ask customers for any government-issued identity proofs to complete the transaction. This makes it difficult to track such transactions, which in turn makes it difficult to implement restrictions.

© Image | GOOGLE

According to experts, since goods are shipped directly to consumers’ doorsteps via couriers and postal gift shipments, an integrated system connecting customs, Reserve Bank of India and India Post would be needed to effectively track such imports.

However, the buzz is that the government has no plans to impose any restrictions on “essential medicines”. Though the latter form a significant component of imports from China and contribute to widening India’s trade deficit, the government does not want to inconvenience those in need. In the last fiscal, Chinese imports stood at $76.2 billion, while India’s exports to China amounted to less than half that figure, at $33 billion.