english.yunnan.cnThe Nation Tuesday, December 15, 2015YUNNAN DAILY PRESS GROUPYUNNAN DAILY PRESS GROUP The Nation Friday, April 22, 2016

INTERCONNECTIVITY

Overseas tourists can enjoy an eight percent tax refund

for purchases

People sprinkle water to each other to pray for good fortune on April 15 during Dai people's traditional water-sprinkling

festival in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China’s Yunnan Province. (Xinhua News Agency) Photo by Hu Chao

CUSTOMS

European countries to set up visa centers

in Kunming

According to the official websites of the embassies of Spain, France, Sweden, Germany and Finland in China, these five European countries are planning to set up visa applica-tion centres in Kunming this year.

The Spanish Embassy in Beijing posted the news that Spain will open new visa application centres in 12 Chi-nese cities, including Kunming, while Germany will have ten new visa centres in Kunming and other nine Chinese cities. The Swedish Embassy also said it will open ten new visa application centres in Xi’an, Chongqing, Nanjing, Chengdu, Shenyang, Wuhan, Hang-

zhou, Jinan, Kunming and Changsha starting in April of this year. Since October 2015, France has increased the number of its visa centres in Chi-na from six to nine, with Changsha, Kunming and Hangzhou added to the list. In 2016, Finland will set up new visa application centres in 13 Chinese cities, including Changsha, Chengdu, Kunming and more. On January 12, 2016, Mr. Sergio Maffettone, Consul General of Italy in Chongqing, said that his Consulate General is working on opening new visa centres in Chengdu and Kunming.

The opening of these visa centres will bring more European countries closer to Yunnan.

Recently, a donation ceremony was held in Naypyidaw and China delivered its first batch of flood-relief power ma-terials to Myanmar. The donated mate-rials were power cables and wires worth five million yuan.

U Kyaw Daw, chief engineer of the Myanmar Electric Power Enterprise of Ministry of Electric Power, thanked China for helping Myanmar with flood relief at the donation ceremony. The materials will be used for power re-construction in Chin state and other flood-affected areas

Last August, Myanmar’s power facil-ities suffered heavy damage from the worst flood in nearly 40 years. Under the leadership of China National Ener-gy Administration, a joint flood-relief working group was formed to help flood relief in Myanmar. With the joint efforts of member units, the working group reached a consensus with the Myanmar Ministry of Electric Power on required power equipment, technical parameters, delivery time and a han-dover site. In February 2016, the China National Energy Administration and the Myanmar Ministry of Electric Power signed an agreement concerning about 36 million yuan worth of flood-relief power materials, which are to be deliv-ered in three batches by late June.

BY WANG SHIXUE

Yunnan is suitable for almost all ex-treme sports that rely on the natural en-vironment. These include cross-country running, cycling, sailing, wingsuit skydiv-ing, kayaking, parachuting, mountaineer-ing, car racing, motorcycle racing, skiing and scuba diving.

Mild Seven Outdoor QuestHost Places: Dali, Lijiang and

moreThe Mild Seven Outdoor Quest in-

cludes kayaking, running, cycling, roll-er-skating and mountaineering. In 1998, when the Event was first held in Yunnan’s Dali and Lijiang where the natural en-vironment and cultural features won a

good reputation among the international outdoor sports community.

Wingsuit skydivingHost place: Dashanbao, Zha-

otongDashanbao in Zhaotong City is par-

ticularly suitable for wingsuit skydiving. The 2,500-meter vertical drop, the tallest in Asia, can drive anyone crazy. The broad slide brings greater safety, attracting many veteran wingsuit skydivers. Currently, Dashanbao’s wingsuit skydiving facilities are increasingly improving,

Rally racingHost place: DongchuanThe track at Dongchuan Mud-Rock

Flow Autocross Racing has been likened to a “chop shop” by racers. It covers hills, quicksand, rivers, swamps, deserts and other landforms. It is rare in the world and poses an enormous challenge for racers.

ParachutingHost place: Pu’erYunnan’s Pu’er City proper boasts

good air quality and a forest coverage rate of up to 68.7 percent, providing an ideal place for parachuting. As China’s first commercial parachuting club, the Yun-nan Hump Parachuting Club currently employs three American coaches and six Chinese coaches (including two women). Both the aircraft and pilots have passed

the airworthiness certification of the Civil Aviation Authority of China.

MountaineeringHost place: The whole of Yunnan

provinceYunnan is suitable for mountaineering

because mountains are everywhere in the province. So many mountains in Yunnan are worth climbing, especially Haba Snow Mountain. In the eyes of professional mountaineers, Haba Snow Mountain is an entry-level snow mountain over 5,000 meters above sea level. However, for ama-teur mountaineers, the conquest of Haba Snow Mountain is still a “game” only for the brave. (Staff Reporter)

China delivers flood-relief

power materials to Myanmar

NEIGHBORS

BY FENG JUN & ZHAO XI

云快报

Yunnan implements tax re-fund policy for purchases of overseas tourists leaving China

On April 12, an American Chinese Ms. Li got her tax refund of 199.92 yuan in Kunming Changshui Interna-tional Airport when leaving Yunnan. This is the first tax refund service of-fered in Yunnan.

On April 1, Yunnan officially start-ed to implement tax refunds for pur-chases of overseas tourists leaving China. Overseas tourists can enjoy an eight percent tax refund on goods purchased in China.

According to the tax refund policy for purchases of overseas tourists leaving China, overseas tourists who have resided in China for no more than 183 consecutive days can get a value added tax (VAT) refund for tax refundable articles purchased from tax refund stores when they leave China from designated departure ports.

Tax refundable articles are mainly personal articles purchased by over-seas tourists themselves from tax refund stores which meet tax refund conditions. However, they do not in-clude articles prohibited or restricted from export as listed in the List of Ar-ticles Prohibited or Restricted by the

People’s Republic of China for Import and Export . Articles sold by tax re-fund stores to which the VAT exemp-tion policy applies also include other articles prescribed by the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs (GAC), and the State Ad-ministration of Taxation (SAT).

For an overseas tourist to apply for tax refund, the amount of tax refund-able articles purchased by an over-seas tourist from the same tax refund store on the same day shall reach 500 yuan. Additionally, tax refundable ar-ticles cannot have been unpacked or used, tourists must have purchased articles fewer than 90 days before leaving China, and the purchased tax refundable articles must be person-ally carried by the overseas tourist, or within his or her luggage upon departing China.

The refund rate for tax refund-able articles is 11 percent. It is worth noting that the Yunnan Tax Refund Agency will charge a three percent commission fee, so the tax refund that an overseas tourist will actually get is eight percent of the invoice amount (including VAT) of refund-able articles.

So far, according to Wu Shu, depu-ty inspector of the Yunnan Provincial Department of Finance, a total of 25 enterprises in Yunnan have been in-cluded in the first batch of tax refund stores.

BY HU YUANHANG

FESTIVAL

VISA

BY LUO RONGCHAN

“Maritime activity on the Mekong River is becoming safer. We are not worried about theft and extortion any-more”, said a Mekong River fisherman. Reporters along the borders of China, Laos and Myanmar were recently in-formed that a series of civil ship distress incidents occurred in the Mekong River. During these emergencies, people along the river have seen the bravery and dedication of the Mekong River joint-patrol crew, who participated in the rescue of distressed civilians. China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand Mekong joint patrol (CLMT joint patrol)

operation has been in its 5th year since it was initiated on December 10, 2011.

Yang Yun is a Chinese vendor who set up his store in Guanlei Port in Xish-uangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefec-ture. After the Mekong River massacre on October 5 in 2011, the Mekong River freight was suspended for several months. Yang Yun said,“ After CLMT joint patrol, security along the Mekong River has been improving. Wholesalers from Laos, Myanmar and Thailand come here to trade every month, which benefits my business greatly!”

“Before the joint patrol was con-ducted, the security situation along the Mekong River was bad. Bribery and ex-

tortion by criminals on the cargo vessels occurred frequently.” Wang Ronghua, a frequent sailor in transport told the re-porter that the patrol effectively curbed the situation. At present maritime activ-ity is twice as much as it was in Mekong before the October 5 Massacre.

Under the joint efforts of the four countries, the Mekong River joint pa-trol is presently being operated on a monthly basis. The four countries have improved their communication and expanded their cooperation, including joint rescue, epidemic response and channel safety. All these efforts effec-tively safeguard the stability of Mekong River. (Source: China Border Police Press)

BY YANG XI

“Maritime activity on Mekong River becoming safer”

——The CLMT four-country joint patrol has won public praise for its four years of operation.

Yunnan, a paradise for outdoor sports

Yunnan finishes 2nd phase of track laying

for Shanghai-Kunming HSR

The 2nd phase of track laying for the Yunnan section of the Shanghai-Kun-ming HSR comes to an end on April 5, according to information released by Kunming Railway Bureau.

Track laying for the Yunnan section was divided into three phases. The second phase covers a distance of 97 kilometers.

When put into service, the Shang-hai-Kunming HSR will eventually include Yunnan Province into China’s HSR network. The travelling time be-tween Kunming and Shanghai will be shortened from over 40 hours to around 10.

Accordingly, the third phase of track laying will be finished by the end of this April, finally connecting Kunming to east China.

Contact us at: (86)871-64160782 Fax: (86)871-64161299 Email: zuyndaily@163.com Address: No.337, XinWen Road, Kunming City, Yunnan Province, PRC. PC: 650032

Yunnan minimum weight champion Xiong Chaozhong to fight in IBF tournament

Yu n n a n m i n i m u m w e i g h t champion Xiong Chaozhong will

fight in the International Boxing Federation (IBF) 105-pound cham-pionship challenger elimination match in Beijing in May. If he de-

feats his opponent, he will gain the right to challenge the current IBF minimum weight title holder and became the first Chinese boxer to attempt to win titles from three different world boxing organiza-tions.

Xiong Chaozhong was born in Maguan County in Yunnan Prov-ince. Standing 155 centimetres tall, he is the only Chinese boxer to ever hold a belt from one of the world’s four professional boxing organisations and is a former minimum weight champion. In the upcoming 105-pound IBF belt challenger elimination tourna-ment, Xiong Chaozhong will fight Jimenez from Colombia. Jimenez, who is 32 years old, has registered 16 wins (7 KOs), 5 losses and 1 draw in a total of 22 matches.

BY LOU YING

SPORT

TRAVEL

Xiong Chaozhong(right) beats Japanese boxer Hiroya Yamamoto to win the

World Boxing Council(WBC) minimum weight championship on February 22,

2015. Photo by Lin Yiguang

A car is almost taking off during 2013 Dongchuan Mudrock Flow Autocross Racing.

Photo by Chen Haining

SAFETY