Mei Fong

on April 15, 2014

Mei Fong is a journalist who has done more than a decade of reporting in Asia for The Wall Street Journal. She was part of a group that won the 2007 Pulitzer for reporting on the adverse impact of China’s booming capitalism. She has also won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Amnesty International, and the Society of Publishers in Asia. From 2009 to 2013, she taught at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism.

Fong currently lives in greater Washington, D.C., where she is writing a book on China’s One-Child Policy.

Hidden Taxes

Many Chinese Are Surprised To Find How Much They Pay

on April 15, 2014

It is tax day in the United States, when many citizens groan and grumble at the size of their refund (what refund?) or scratch their heads as they try to maximize deductions. Our partners at Sohu recently published an infographic, which we have translated and adapted below, that reveals some of the hidden taxes that Chinese pay. The original graphic was removed from the website after netizens began commenting on its revelations.

New Sichuan Petchem Plant on Shaky Ground

on April 15, 2014

A controversial petrochemical project in the southwestern province of Sichuan quietly went into operation in March, but questions about the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) facility continue to linger.

The project is in Pengzhou, a city of 763,000 people some 15.5 miles northwest of the provincial capital of Chengdu. It was built by CNPC and the Sichuan government, with total investment of $6.1 billion (38 billion yuan) and an expected capacity of 800,000 tons of ethylene and 10 million tons of refined oil every year.