Category: WeChat

Globalization and World Cities (GaWC), one of the world’s most authoritative institutions focusing on city studies, released their City Classification for 2018 on November 13th. 

© Image | GOOGLE

GaWC determines the location of a city in a world urban network by analysis based upon myriad relations between cities unlike other classifications largely based upon attributes of each city considered separately.

The cities are divided into Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Sufficiency (+/-) with its unique perspective to show the location and integration of the city in a globalized economy.

2018 First-tier Cities around the World(55)

In 2018, a total of 55 cities in the world were included in the Alpha section, also known as first-tier cities.

Alpha++

London, New York

Alpha+

Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney, Paris, Dubai, Tokyo

Alpha

Milan, Chicago, Moscow, Toronto, Sao Paulo, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Madrid, Mexico City, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Jakarta, Mumbai, Miami, Brussels, Taipei, Guangzhou, Buenos Aires, Zurich, Warsaw, Istanbul , Bangkok, Melbourne

Alpha-

Amsterdam, Stockholm, San Francisco, New Delhi, Santiago, Johannesburg, Dublin, Vienna, Montreal, Lisbon, Barcelona, Luxembourg City, Santa Fe Bogota, Manila, Washington, Prague, Munich, Rome, Riyadh, Budapest, Houston, Shenzhen

© Image | Pexels

This is the first time for Shenzhen to be entered in the Alpha- section, indicating that it has become one of the 55 first-tier cities in the world. Furthermore, Guangzhou also moved up to the Alpha section this year, with its ranking rising from 40th to 27th. 

Six cities in China are considered first-tier world cities: 

• Hong Kong,

• Beijing,

• Shanghai,

• Taipei,

• Guangzhou,

• Shenzhen.

China’s Beta-level Cities

Alpha++

None

Alpha+

• Hong Kong, 

• Beijing, 

• Shanghai.

Alpha

• Taipei, 

• Guangzhou.

Alpha-

• Shenzhen

Beta+

• Chengdu, 

• Hangzhou.

Beta

• Tianjin, 

• Nanjing, 

• Wuhan.

Beta-

• Chongqing, 

• Suzhou, 

• Dalian, 

• Xiamen, 

• Changsha, 

• Shenyang, 

• Qingdao, 

• Jinan.

© Image | GettyImage

China has been rapidly urbanizing in the past 18 years and still has potential in the future.

In the 18 years from 2000 to the present, China’s cities have undergone earth-shaking changes, and the urbanization process has advanced by leaps and bounds.

Latest notice from Guangzhou Foreign Experts Bureau, from Nov 12th 2018, work permit and work permit extension applicants are required to submit original passports to the Guangzhou Foreign Experts Bureau for further verification after passing the pre-examination, otherwise the bureau will deny your application! 

接外国专家局通知，从2018年11月12日起，新办就业卡和延期就业卡，一级预审通过后，需要提供申请者护照原件与网报文件一起交到外国专家管理局核验方可办理业务，否则不予受理。

First-time Work Permit Application

新办就业卡 

 

Applicants are advised to start the work permit application process immediately after entry, normally the passport verification will proceed within 5 work days. 

建议申请人入境后即刻办理就业卡申请，正常情况下，5个工作日后可以一级预审通过，即可提供护照核验；

Work Permit Extension 

延期就业卡

 

The bureau requires work permit extension applicants to begin their applications 30 days in advance while HACOS can do that for you 3 months in advance. It is recommended that the applicant arrange the time reasonably and cooperate with the officer to verify original passport in order to make the work permit extension successfully.

为确保就业卡延期工作的顺利进行，外国专家管理局要求需要提前30天延期，HACOS会为客户提前三个月开始延期工作。建议申请人合理安排时间，配合提供护照原件进行核验，以便就业卡工作延期的顺利完成。

© Image | GOOGLE

 

Please Pay Attention

注意事项

 

Above-mentioned applicants must submit their original passports, any delay in applying for the work permit will negatively affect or even fail your work residence permit application.

就业卡申请完成后方能申请工作居留许可，如不能及时拿到就业卡，则会影响工作居留许可的申请，更严重者，则无法申请工作居留许可。

© Image | ForeignExpertsBureau

Q&A

常见问题

Q1

Do you still need an original passport when applying for work permit?

申请就业许可的时候是否还需要护照原件呢？

A1: New applications for work permit, transfer to residence, work permit extensions and etc., all require proof of original passports when submitting materials. Otherwise, the Foreign Experts Bureau will not accept the applicant’s materials nor any supplementary materials.

新办就业卡，转居留，就业卡延期等申请，均需要在交材料时出示护照核查。否则外国专家管理局不接收申请人的材料，同时不接受资料后补。

Q2

How long does it take for the passport to be submitted to the Foreign Experts Bureau for verification?

护照交到外国专家管理局核验需要用多久？

A2: The passport will be checked and returned on the spot.

护照当场核查归还。

Q3

If the applicant is not in the country, can he/she send the courier to China for someone to do?

申请人不在国内，可以把护照快递寄到中国让人代办吗？

 

A3: In principle, as with the requirements for entry and exit, the applicant himself must go to the site of the Foreign Experts Bureau for application. If there are special circumstances, you can entrust others to do so.

原则上，与出入境的要求一样，申请人本人需到外专局现场进行进行办理。如有特殊情况，可委托他人代办。

A woman has been arrested for allegedly stealing over 570,000 yuan (US$82,000) within seven months from her boyfriend’s WeChat wallet, police said on Thursday.

The suspect, surnamed Tong, allegedly used her boyfriend’s phone to transfer money without his notice and covered the thefts by deleting WeChat and SMS notices from his phone.

The man, surnamed Wang, received an SMS message from his bank in September which reminded him that his balance was too low to pay his home loan.

Wang reported the thefts to police in Xuhui District after finding out that on September 3 alone he lost over 90,000 yuan from his WeChat wallet, which enables money transfer directly from his bank card.

Money transfer records on Tong’s phone from September

Tong emerged as a top suspect because Wang said she “mistakenly” took his phone to the bathroom when they were together on the evening on September 3.

Tong was caught later that month and allegedly owned up to the thefts.

Tong allegedly said Wang told her the password to his WeChat wallet once when he asked her to transfer some money to his business partner in March this year.

On the evening of November 14th, the netizen “@花总丢了金箍棒” uploaded a video of a pinhole camera to expose the hygienic problems of many hotels in China, including the famous five stars hotels such as Marriott, Sheraton, Shangri-La and Hilton, even top hotels such as Ritz Carlton, Bulgari, Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons.

Watch the video below

© Video | Weibo@花总丢了金箍棒

How is it possible for these five-star hotels to charge thousands of RMB per night, but are unable to provide basic sanitation of the rooms?

Unspoken Rules of the Hotels

In this video, there are problems with the cleaning work of 14 high-end hotels. The room attendant didn’t sterilize the cups but used the dirty guest towel to scrubbed directly. It is common to scrub the hand basin, the cup and the toilet with the same used dirty towel as rag. 

© Image | 干货

 

The whistleblower stated that his purpose was to condemn the domestic hotel industry for failing to implement the relevant regulations of the hotel industry, leaving behind a potential health hazard. At present, 11 hotels have responded to the exposure, claiming to strengthen supervision.

“Reality is far worse than what’s shown in the video.” In an interview with Chinese media, @花总丢了金箍棒 exposed what he had done after investigation in more than 30 five-star hotels.

#List of 14 hotels exposed in the video

• Conrad, Beijing

• Park Hyatt, Beijing

• Aman at Summer Palace, Beijing

• The Peninsula Beijing Hotel, Beijing

• Bvlgari Hotel, Shanghai

• Four Seasons, Shanghai

• Mandarin Oriental, Shanghai

• Le Royal Méridien, Shanghai

• The Puli Hotel, Shanghai

• The Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai

• Waldorf Astoria, Shanghai on the Bund

• Shangri-La, Fuzhou

• Sheraton, Guiyang

• Sheraton, Nanchang

Overseas Hotels 

Have Similar Problem

Do not think that the hotel’s cleaning problem is unique to China. The United States and the United Kingdom also have similar news, and some internationally renowned hotels also have been uncovered. Problems exposed abroad have also been found in China. For example, some hotels do not change the used bed sheets for each guest. 

 

There was a test, foreign reporters used fluorescent agents to write on the quilt covers and sheets they had slept. After two days, they returned to live in the same room and used ultraviolet rays to check it. As soon as the lights were on, they found that the sheets had not been changed, and a few guests had already lived in that room. 

American TV column “Inside” reporters use fluorescent agents to mark hotel sheets.

After a few days, they found that the sheets were not washed or changed.

The Candlewood Inn & Suites

How Dirty Is the Sheet 

that Has Not Been Replaced?

According to the analysis, in fact, guests staying at the hotel do not have to worry too much about the bacterial colony on the hotel towels and sheets, because there are not as much bacterial colony as you imagine(the reasons are explained below), but there are a great deal of residues of industrial detergents. 

 

Why? In order to look clean, the hotel used white towels and white sheets but these items are not resistant to dirt. So the usual practice is to send them to a special washing company.

 

© Image | 深圳卫视

 

In order to save costs and achieve strong decontamination effect, the washing company generally uses inferior industrial detergent, which is strong acid or strong alkali. The effect achieved is to make the towels or the sheets “very white and clean.”

The whistleblower said that he only wanted to tell the truth and did not want to irritate anyone. When you go to the hotel next time, it is better to bring your own toothbrush and towel, and clean the cup with boiled water before using it. Sleeping in T-shirts and underwear, don’t sleep naked. 🙂