My experience of traveling to China

China Trip
Personal Experience/ Observation
My visit to the Chinese cities of Shanghai, Beijing, and Wuhan taught me several things I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to learn. I could study cases on the country, read books, watch numerous videos and attend classes for days but none of these would have taught me the amazing lessons I was able to learn, or given me the experiences I underwent, in the short span of time that I spent in the country. In this paper, I am citing a few things I learnt about China through personal observation and experience.
Wuhan City’s Slogan That Spoke to Me: “Different Every Day”
Wuhan is considered to be the central hub of Chinese politics, academics, finances, economics, transportation and culture. This city’s history dates back 3,500 years. It contributes significantly to the contemporary theory of urban planning. China desires to improve and optimize land function through reducing its population density and construction activities in itsurban and oldest rural areas, safeguarding historical boulevards and surrounding areas, and increasing open space, green land, and land use of major infrastructural works.
Local government is paying attention to the development of finance, administration, trade, academics, science, local tourism, recreation, culture and other regional services. The nation desires to reinforce urban landscape planning bymeticulously controllingevery urban architectural street, city square and centralized landscape for forming a view that blends traditional and modern elements.
Wuhan, for example, wishes to control theharguin – a part of Yangtze River and a sightseeing corridor for viewing the lakes and rivers – in addition to safeguarding areas featuring natural urban views (e.g., East Lake, Crescent Lake and Tortoise Hill, Longyhan Lake, Moshul Lake, andSouth Lake), to create a sound natural, historical urban landscape environment.
Transportation
I relied on the efficient, air conditioned Chinese metro system for commuting in every city I visited: Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan. The system, which was clean, safe and state-of-the-art, surpassed the quality and efficiency of those systems in New York and Washington D.C., with commuters even forming a neat line right before the train doors. The long- distance ride between Wuhan and Shanghai was, in my view, swift and smooth. However, purchasing train tickets was difficult; at times, the train would be completely booked and the next train had to be taken; at other times, a 1- 2 month prior booking was needed.
Language Barrier
In all restaurants I went to, no staff member spoke the English language and the menus were all in Chinese. Thus, when ordering food there, one can only bank on guesswork; one never knows what will end up on one’s plate. At one time, I remember ordering chicken in a Beijing restaurant, (or, at least, I believed what I ordered was chicken), but ended up with duck on my plate. Hence, when traveling in China, tourists should download language translation apps to minimize confusion. In turn, Chinese restaurants could better accommodate tourists who do not speak the local language by providing menus that are translated into multiple languages. Tourists would also do well to embrace the unique, delicious Chinese cuisine if translations fail. 
Lack of Tourist Brochures
One surprising and disappointing thing I discovered in China was a majority of cities and tourist attractions lack an accompanying tourist brochure to assist visitors. For instance, at the Forbidden City, the sole brochure I found was in the Chinese language; no information could be gleaned in any other language. The cities strive to accommodate only Chinese tourists, paying little attention to non- Chinese speaking, foreign visitors.
Local Folks’ Tendency to Stare at Black Visitors
    While the Chinese are a welcoming and friendly people, they sometimes tend to stare at Black tourists and even sometimes request to take their photo. Black tourists visiting China should know that, in my experience, this was likely due to mere curiosity and little exposure to foreign tourists of color. Despite the stares, I was treated with respect and openness, especially while shopping at the largest malls in Beijing, Shanghai, and Wuhan. One encounter that resonated with me was my experience shopping for shoes in Wuhan, where the store clerk did not speak English. She motioned for me to wait while she found an English-speaking clerk to assist me with my purchase. Another surprising experience was when a store clerk who did not speak English called her daughter on WeChat to assist me over the phone. I was amazed that she went out of her way to accommodate me and likely other customers like me.
Academic research: Property Tax in China
1. How could property taxes affect residents I met in both cities Wuhan, Shanghai, and Beijing?
Property tax is normally imposed on every kind of property – residential, agricultural, industrial and commercial – but where it imposed, local governments would be able to control skyrocketing housing prices, allocate resources, redistribute income, and stabilize local governments’ fiscal revenue. Residents in Wuhan, Shanghai, and Beijing who have large number of properties and are currently getting maximum profits from those properties, are at the greatest risk of losing out financially and may, naturally, resist imposing property taxes the most. In case of mandated payment of yearly land rent as well as property tax, there is a need to prevent resistance through balancing the property tax burden and that of the novel yearly land rent so that property owners would not be double taxed. In addition to the yearly land rent, introduction of the property tax double the burden on property owners and buyers1.
Property tax in China would be a game-changer for the real estate industry which has been often referred to as too big to fail. So far, the People Republic of China doesn’t have a property law and such would go a long way in dealing with the unstable real estate bubble in the country. The Chinese 
2. How will the value of property be assessed: based on appraisal, market value, or some other indicator?
Numerous property valuation techniques exist, which may aid in determining market value of property; these include the cost model, sales comparison technique, and income capitalization approach (discounted cash flow and direct capitalization methods). Unifying one single tax evaluation within a given country is tricky. Akin to a majority of other nations that employ a number of property valuations when valuing different properties based on valuation techniques’ different characteristics, China will also rely on multiple methods of property assessment. As the majority of Chinese rent- occupied residential property is unregistered, with cash used in transactions, tax bureaus do not have the evidence to trace and monitor rental income data; hence, rental value evaluation is not recommended for the country2. Furthermore, under rental value evaluation, vacant land cannot be taxed and properties occupied by the owner are not captured. Though property tax will serve to encourage vacant properties to be rented out, it will also levy bigger taxes on those that are occupied. Hence, the sales comparison technique is recommended for Chinese residential properties that generate taxable revenue. In case of the absence of comparable rents or sales, cost method may be employed. This technique is also, at times, employed for valuing industrial properties. Though the comparable technique is dependable and accurate for property taxation, sales price- based market comparison is associated with several drawbacks including absence of recent sales information; further, market price adjustment value-weighting might prove to be a highly subjective process3. Thus, a combination of mass appraisal and comparable technique is recommended in China, with an attempt at ascertaining comparative property set and recognizing important variables.
3. How could property taxes impact the low-income communities and/or displace people?
Property tax has been considered an effective strategy for narrowing down the wealth and income gap among urban inhabitants and discouraging speculative housing investment. This is among the beneficial impacts of property tax that low-income communities enjoy as the government taxes the wealthy property-owners diversely more – thus distribute resources4. Owing to the stark economic development- related discrepancy within different Chinese regions and the significant variation in regional residence values, the state will consider factors like CPI (consumer price index), house price index, and standard of living in various regions. The various regions within China will introduce diverse property tax policies. When the relief and exemption level will be determined, the scheme will be developed based on the local governmental programme and assessment. Property tax may be designed for decreasing house market prices and adjusting the wealth gap between the poor and rich. Proportional or graduated property taxes are applicable. At the onset of property tax, it might be hard for the common low-income residents in Wuhan, Shanghai, and Beijing to acquire residential properties but rather be condemned to rental properties. Property tax would impose unnecessary burden on low income earners and thus, negatively affect their lifestyles.
4. When and how will property tax be collected?
Taxes may be collected at three different stages: at the time of acquisition of property or land; at the time when the property or land is held; and at the time of selling or renting out the property or land. In China, at the time of first purchase, any tax that might be due on the real estate property will be imposed on the seller during closing5. Property tax billing for owners will be done yearly based on the nation’s set financial year.
If property tax is imposed in china, it would be the responsibility of Local Government Treasurers (LGTs) to make collection on the basis of tax bills that are sent during the fiscal year’s ending. The LGTs would mail itemized tax bills to all mortgage holders or property owners. This itemization contains details of individual tax rates for individual governmental levels, supported by the rate of property tax. Property owners will hold the responsibility when it comes to paying the relevant property tax to local governments. Local governments in Wuhan, Shanghai, and Beijing will need to operate offices at a number of locations and receive payments by electronic or ordinary mail.
Who will collect and have the benefit of property taxes?
Local governmental authorities will collect property tax and have their benefit. Property tax, levied on fixed, real property, constitutes the most important and reliable tax available for revenue generation by local governments. Its fixed nature makes it hard to evade property tax and convenient to collect it. Property tax offers local governments incentives for providing basic services and amenities that successively increase property value and, as a result, increase tax revenue. Visible service and basic amenity improvement (including local roads, parks, street cleaning, street lights, garbage collection, etc.) immensely benefit the poor6. The poor also benefit from tax exemptions and lower rates. One of the possible uses of gains from property tax would be for social insurance, creation of a safety net for the most vulnerable in the community, and establishment of a welfare system for the deserving in Wuhan, Shanghai, and Beijing. Lastly, property tax constitutes a regulatory tool to that influences land use pattern; it increases idle land costs, thereby serving to decrease land resource wastage. 
5. Will tax be charged if you owned the property before the tax law become affective? 
The Urban Authorities (Rating) Act of China states that property tax’s basis is an edifice’s market value or its replacement cost (in case it is not possible to determine the building’s market value) 7,8. But Chinese taxes are founded on the rent or original value and land space of the property. Evidently, the Chinese market for real estate has been developing for a number of years, with nearly every land’s real value growing at an exponential level. Taxes will be imposed on extant commercial and industrial properties, in addition to individual housing, based on an appraisal value; further, current tax on new buildings will be decreased9. 
References
Brys, Bert, Stephen Matthews, Richard Herd, and Xiao Wang, “Tax Policy and Tax Reform in the Peoples Republic of China,” OECD Taxation Working Papers, No. 18, OECD Publishing, Paris (2013).
Dale-Johnson, David, and Guozhong Zhu. "Transition to the Property Tax in China: A Dynamic General Equilibrium Analysis." Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, (2017).
Man, Joyce Yanyun. "China’s property tax reform: progress and challenges." Land Lines 24 (2012): 15-19.
Man, Joyce Yanyun. “Local public finance in China: An overview.” In China’s local public finance in transition, eds. Joyce Yanyun Man and Yu-Hung Hong. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, (2011).
Wang,Xinling. “Is China Ready for a Property Tax?” The Diplomat, (December 06, 2017). Accessed 10 August 2018<https://thediplomat.com/2017/12/is-china-ready-for-a-property-tax/>
Xu, Yiyi. "Property Tax Reform in China." Royal Institue Technology (2011).

1Xu, Property Tax Reform in China, 25
2Dale-Johnson and Zhu. Transition to the Property Tax in China…15
3Man, "China’s property tax reform…" 15-19.
4Supra, note 1, at 32
5Wang,“Is China Ready for a Property Tax?”
6 Man, Joyce Yanyun. “Local public finance in China…”4-5
7Brys, “Tax Policy and Tax Reform in the Peoples Republic of China” 17-8
8Supra, note 2, at 25
9Supra, note 1, at 32-3