5 Do not waste money

The amount saved equals the total cost of those subscriptions you no longer need yet continue to pay for. This varies from person to person, so there’s no single universal figure. Regulatory rules also require merchants to give you a clear pre-charge notice and a simple, cost-free option to cancel at any time (China, effective since 2021).

This process consolidates calculations for four types of income: wages and salaries, labor remuneration, author’s fees, and royalties. Any overpaid tax is refunded to you, while any underpaid amounts must be paid up. There are two scenarios where you may forgo this process: when your annual comprehensive income does not exceed 120,000 yuan, or when the tax you owe does not exceed 400 yuan. These thresholds were set by the State Taxation Administration in 2023 and remain in effect through December 31, 2027. Conversely, these people usually get a refund after completing the reconciliation: those with income in only a few months of the year, those who changed jobs mid-year, and those who have not filled in deductions such as child education, mortgage, rent, or elderly support.

The updated regulations expand eligible withdrawal scenarios to nine total. These include covering rental payments, renovating the home you live in, and paying property management fees for the home you live in. The housing provident fund authority must issue a decision on your application within three days of accepting it, either granting or denying the withdrawal request.

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology rules explicitly state that carriers must not “refuse, obstruct, or delay providing number portability services to users without valid reasons”, nor may they “use blocking or restrictive technical measures to compromise the communication service quality of such users”. They are also prohibited from “creating dedicated pricing or marketing plans for customers exercising their right to port their numbers”. Older plans typically cost dozens of yuan more per month than current offerings, so sticking with them results in hundreds of yuan wasted annually.

The Ministry of Finance sets minimum payout ratios: 50% for lotto and number games, 65% for instant-win games, and 73% for wagering games. For the Double Color Ball game, 51% of sales revenue is allocated to prizes, which means only 51 yuan out of every 100 yuan spent is paid out as winnings. On a personal level, this translates to an average return of just 0.51 yuan per 1 yuan spent over time — a net loss of 49%. In 2024, total lottery sales in China reached 623.486 billion yuan; 161.031 billion yuan of that amount was earmarked for public welfare and never returned to players (China, 2024).

In 2018, the former chairperson of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission stated at the Lujiazui Forum: “A return above 6% should get a question mark, above 8% is very dangerous, and at 10% or more you should be prepared to lose all your principal.” New regulations for asset management require financial institutions to “not guarantee returns or principal safety,” and also stipulate that “when facing difficulties in fulfilling payment obligations, financial institutions must not advance funds in any form to make the payouts.” Hence, legitimate financial products no longer offer any guarantee of principal safety. Any losses from illegal fundraising efforts are “to be borne by the individual investors themselves”; no one will compensate you if you suffer losses (China, 2018, 2021).

Before 2020, credit-card overdraft interest had a ceiling and a floor. The ceiling was a daily rate of five per ten thousand. The floor was 0.7 times the ceiling. Five per ten thousand comes to 18.25% over a year. That is simple interest: counted at 18.25% a year, the interest is not rolled back into the principal. From 2021, the price is set by agreement between the card issuer and the cardholder. After you use the minimum payment, the unpaid principal is charged interest in full every day, and the interest-free period is cancelled at the same time. The central bank already requires card issuers to show the annualized rate (the rate restated over a full year) in an obvious way, and "must not show only the daily rate and the daily repayment amount." From 2021, every lending institution, in advertisements and in contracts, has to write the annualized rate in an obvious way. A daily rate and a monthly rate may be written alongside it, but they must not be more prominent than the annualized rate. The annualized rate has to include the interest and every fee that is directly tied to the loan. Where principal is repaid in installments, how much money you actually had the use of is counted on the principal left after each installment. The People's Bank of China gave a worked example: borrow 100,000 yuan, repay over 12 months, and pay 0.5% of the original principal each month as an installment fee. At the moment of borrowing you also pay a 1,000 yuan service fee. On simple interest, the annualized rate is about 12.80%. On compound interest (the internal-rate-of-return method), it is about 13.58%. Looking only at the fee rate, it looks like 0.5% × 12 + 1% = 7% a year. The real figure is about twice that, because the principal falls each month while the installment fee is still charged on 100,000 yuan. The same method, applied to a credit card in 12 installments at 0.6% fee per installment and no other fee, is nominally 7.2% a year. On compound interest it is about 13.8% a year, about 1.9 times the nominal figure. From 6 to 36 installments, the multiple stays between 1.8 and 2 times. If the person lending you the money is an individual or an ordinary company, it is private lending. If the agreed rate is more than 4 times the one-year LPR at the time the contract is signed, the court does not support the part above that. The one-year LPR on 20 August 2026 (2026-8-20) was 3.0%. Four times that is 12%. Interest taken out of the loan at the start is counted by the court on the money you actually received, and that received sum is the principal. This line does not reach banks, consumer-finance companies, and other licensed financial institutions. It also does not apply to seven types of local financial organizations, including small-loan companies, pawnshops, and financial leasing companies. So you cannot put 12% onto their loans. Look at the annualized rate written in the contract (China, 2020 and 2021).

This is a substantial expense. In 2024, China’s gaming market generated 325.783 billion yuan in revenue, serving 674 million players — an average of about 480 yuan per person (calculated by dividing total revenue by the player count). That money is largely unrecoverable. One exception exists: if a minor (a person with limited civil capacity) makes tips or top-ups without a guardian’s consent, courts must support the guardian’s request for a refund. No such rule applies to adults. Additionally, minors are legally restricted to playing online games only on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays, and then only for one hour, from 20:00 to 21:00 (China, 2020 and 2021).

Minors aged eight and older are classified as having limited legal capacity — meaning they may only do things appropriate to their age and intelligence. A civil legal act beyond that scope requires explicit approval or retroactive acknowledgment from a legal guardian. Conversely, children under eight are deemed completely incapable of independent decision-making; all actions must be handled by their guardians. In the absence of any affirmative response from parents, the law presumes they reject the transaction.

The Quanzhou Anti-Fraud Center and Quanzhou Education Bureau identified six common scams targeting teens. Though their methods vary, they all culminate in the same action: getting the child to transfer money via a parent’s phone. First, fake offers for cheap gaming accounts and gear. One boy transferred 260 yuan privately, then the scammer told him “transactions by minors are against the rules and your account will be frozen,” and tricked him into clicking a “verification link” using his dad’s phone, which led to over 30,000 yuan being stolen. The source warns that scammers will ask for a parent’s bank card, password and SMS verification code, and these “must absolutely not be given.” Second, “removing anti-addiction restrictions.” Scammers threatened “if you don’t transfer money to cancel it, your parents will go to jail,” so the child used his mom’s phone to send 7,000 yuan. The source states that these restrictions are set officially, and there is “no ‘private unlock’ channel at all.” Third, fake refund offers for tips. Impostors posing as “official customer service” claimed refunds were possible if parents used Alipay to send gifts to a specific livestream; this resulted in 73,000 yuan being spent on gifts, after which the scammers cut off contact. Official guidance states “anyone asking you to ‘send gifts to get a refund’ is 100% a scam.” Fourth, impersonating classmates or teachers. Scammers hack accounts to send voice messages calling the child by name and asking for money. At the start of the school year, they also join class groups pretending to be teachers, posting “pay 500 yuan for school fees” with identical profile pictures and nicknames to real teachers, even enlisting “accomplices” in the group to confirm “I’ve already paid.” Fifth, fake fan group offers. Scammers lure kids into “celebrity fan groups” promising 888 yuan in cash prizes; first they ask for a 48.88 yuan “verification fee,” then threaten “since minors aren’t allowed to join, the platform will freeze 80,000 yuan and your parents will go to jail” — this led to 16,000 yuan being stolen. Official guidance stresses “real police officers or lawyers never contact minors online to investigate, let alone ask for a parent’s phone to do something on it.” Sixth, fake low-price listings on second-hand platforms that lure buyers off the site for private transactions. The same materials also list three red lines kids must never cross: first, never lend, sell or rent bank cards or SIM cards, as a card used to move stolen money may amount to the crime of assisting information-network criminal activity, and a criminal record affects postgraduate entrance and civil service exams; second, “phone relay” (手机口) side jobs are illegal and criminal; third, “high-paying jobs” abroad may mean you are held captive as soon as you arrive (nationwide, October 2025).

Extended warranties are usually priced at 10% to 50% of the original product cost. Industry estimates cited in research show average gross margins on these warranties range from 50% to 60%: for every 100 yuan in sales, sellers earn 50 to 60 yuan in profit, which is roughly 18 times the gross margin of standard consumer goods. In 2003, extended warranties accounted for just 3% to 4% of Best Buy’s total revenue, yet generated over 50% of its total profits (based on U.S. retail data from the 2000s). For warranties priced far below this benchmark, you can run the same calculation: warranty cost ÷ cost of one repair = the minimum breakdown probability required to make the purchase worthwhile. You should only buy a warranty if you estimate the chance of a breakdown at least once during its term is higher than this calculated value. For example, if an extended warranty costs 25 yuan and one repair is assumed to cost 300 yuan, the probability of at least one breakdown during the warranty period must exceed roughly 8% for it to be a smart purchase. The 300 yuan figure here is just a hypothetical example, not an actual statistical value. Before doing this calculation, subtract the coverage period already guaranteed by national regulations: the statutory warranty period starts on the date the invoice is issued, with a 1-year coverage period for the entire washing machine or refrigerator, and a 3-year coverage period for their major components. For washing machines, these major components include the motor, timer, control board, and capacitors; for refrigerators, they are the compressor, temperature control unit, and so on. Paying for an extended warranty during any period where it overlaps with the statutory warranty means you’re paying extra for coverage you’re already entitled to (national regulations, effective since 1995).

The national centralized drug procurement initiative resulted in a 53% average price reduction for the second batch, with some drugs dropping by as much as 93%. By April 2026, 11 rounds had been conducted, covering 490 drugs. A total of 1,695 drugs have either passed or are considered to have met consistency evaluation standards, accounting for roughly two-thirds of all commonly used chemical drugs in China (official data from 2020–2026).

Funds in your individual medical insurance account can be used to pay for any out-of-pocket medical costs you, your spouse, parents, or children incur at designated medical institutions. They can also be used to cover out-of-pocket costs for purchasing medicines, medical devices, and other medical supplies at designated retail pharmacies. The document also proposes exploring the use of the account to pay family members’ individual contributions to urban and rural resident medical insurance.

The first-tier residential water price in Beijing is 5 yuan per cubic meter, which equals 0.005 yuan per liter. A barrel of water for a household water cooler holds 18.9 liters; at 20 yuan per barrel that is about 1.06 yuan per liter, roughly 210 times the price of tap water. A household that drinks one barrel a week uses 52 barrels a year, about 983 liters: barrel water costs about 1,040 yuan, while the same amount of tap water costs about 4.9 yuan. Small bottled water at 1 yuan per 500 milliliters is 2 yuan per liter, 400 times the price of tap water. Tap water must comply with the mandatory national standard GB 5749-2022, which was issued on March 15, 2022, and took effect on April 1, 2023. The National Disease Control and Prevention Administration oversees this standard (China, 2015 water prices and the 2022 standard)

This study looked at 66,465 household accounts at U.S. discount brokers from 1991 to 1996. The most active group of traders earned an annualized return of 11.4%, that is, 11.4% a year on average. Over the same period the whole market returned 17.9% and the average household 16.4%. The average household turned over 75% of its stocks in a year, replacing three quarters of what it held. The gross returns (what was earned before fees) of the group that traded often and the group that traded rarely differed very little. So the gap came mainly from the trading costs paid on each deal (United States, 1991 to 1996). Data from China: the study used day-by-day account data from the Shanghai Stock Exchange, covering all of about 40 million accounts. The sample period was July 2014 to December 2015, 18 months in all. In those 18 months the Shanghai Composite Index first rose by more than 150%. It peaked at 5166.35 points on 12 June 2015 and then fell 40% by the end of December. Household accounts were split into four tiers by starting market value. The smallest tier made up 85% of all household accounts and the largest tier 0.5%. The two tiers started with about the same total value of stocks, 880 billion yuan and 808 billion yuan. The result: the smallest 85% lost 250 billion yuan through active trading, and the largest 0.5% gained 254 billion yuan. Here “lost” is measured against holding on and doing nothing through the same market. Each of the two figures is about 30% of that group’s starting stock value: 28% for the former and 31% for the latter. For comparison, the two and a half years before June 2014 were calm. Taking any 18 months in that time, the same gap was only 1% to 3% of starting value. In this episode, a household account turned over its stocks about once every three weeks on average, nearly 18 times a year (Shanghai, China, 2014 to 2015; comparison period 2012 to 2014).

Leverage essentially means borrowing money to make purchases, which also magnifies potential losses. After you buy on margin, the market value of your collateral may fall below the minimum maintenance margin set by your broker, which governs the assets you’ve pledged to them. If the value drops below this threshold and you fail to add more collateral to bring it back up, your positions get forcibly liquidated, with the broker selling them on your behalf. Paper losses turn into actual losses right away, with no window to wait for a price recovery. The same regulatory rules apply here: clients with less than six months of trading experience, insufficient risk tolerance, or average daily securities assets under 500,000 RMB over the past 20 trading days are barred from opening credit trading accounts. This requirement further proves it is not a suitable tool for regular investors (China, 2015).

Collectively, U.S. actively managed equity funds hold a portfolio very similar to the broader market. However, their high management costs directly translate into lower net returns for investors after fees are deducted. This research used a bootstrap simulation method to repeatedly shuffle fund performance data and gauge how much could be attributed to luck alone. The results show that only a tiny fraction of funds achieve excess returns large enough to cover their fees (U.S., published 2010). S&P Dow Jones Indices conducts an annual review: in 2024, 65% of U.S. actively managed large-cap equity funds underperformed the S&P 500. Over a 24-year span, an average of 64% underperformed each year. In the 15 years ending 2024, no single fund category saw a majority of active funds outperforming their respective benchmarks.

The difference in fees gradually erodes your principal through compound interest — that tiny amount deducted each year adds up over time. If a fund’s annual fee is 1 percentage point higher, the final value after 20 years is about 18.2% lower (1 − 0.99^20 ≈ 0.182); after 30 years it is about 26% lower. The final value is what is left in the account at that point. From 2023, China has carried out a fee reform for public funds, lowering the fee caps on actively managed equity funds (the kind that mainly buy stocks, chosen by a fund manager). From July 7, 2023, newly registered funds of this kind may charge a management fee of no more than 1.2% and a custody fee of no more than 0.2%. 136 fund companies have also lowered these fees for their existing products to meet these limits.

When several assets do not move in perfect lockstep, diversifying your investments maintains your expected returns while lowering overall volatility. This is the core conclusion of Markowitz’s 1952 portfolio theory, which has remained foundational for decades. On the other hand, putting all your money into one single stock or platform means its variance becomes your total portfolio variance — any rise or fall in its value directly affects your portfolio, with no other assets to offset losses when problems arise.

What you pay in, up to 12,000 yuan a year, can be deducted truthfully from your comprehensive income or your business income. Investment returns inside the account are for now free of personal income tax. When you draw the money it is not added to your comprehensive income and is taxed separately at 3%. The tax saved in a year is the full-year tax before the deduction minus the full-year tax after it. The deduction may cross into a lower tax band, so you cannot always multiply the contribution by your current marginal rate. The marginal rate is the rate that applies to each extra yuan you earn. For example, say all other deductions are already counted and your taxable comprehensive income for the year before paying in is 40,000 yuan, with tax of 1,480 yuan. After you pay in and deduct 12,000 yuan, taxable income becomes 28,000 yuan and the tax is 840 yuan, so you pay 640 yuan less that year. Assume no investment returns and no time value. When you later draw out that 12,000 yuan of principal you pay 360 yuan of tax, so the net tax difference is 280 yuan. If you pay in the full 12,000 yuan and the whole deduction falls within one tax band, you may use that band’s rate to work out the tax saved that year. Counting only principal, with no investment returns and no time value, the net tax difference in the 10%, 20% and 30% bands is 840, 2,040 and 3,240 yuan. These are tax differences that arise at different times. They cannot be treated as an investment return, and still less divided by the number of years to give an annual return. A person who did not pay income tax in the first place saves nothing in the year, and still pays 3% when drawing. A person who was only in the 3% band saves no more than 3% of the contribution that year. If your comprehensive income for the whole year, after all deductions, is no more than 36,000 yuan, you fall in that band. Counting only principal and ignoring time value, this saving is no more than the tax due on the principal when drawn, so you cannot say it pays just because it cuts tax. Having income tax withheld from your pay each month does not mean you are in the 10% band for the whole year. The yearly contribution limit is counted per calendar year, and unused limit cannot be carried over. The personal pension system has been in force nationwide since 15 December 2024. From 1 September 2025, qualifying medical spending, receipt of unemployment benefit and the minimum living allowance condition also allow early withdrawal. Until a withdrawal condition is met you cannot take the money out at any time, so it is not suitable for an emergency fund you may need at any time (nationwide).

This study analyzed three years of data from 7,752 members at three U.S. fitness clubs. Members opting for monthly plans costing over $70 visited the gym just 4.3 times per month on average, resulting in a per-visit cost exceeding $17. In contrast, a 10-visit pass costs only $10 per visit. Over their membership period, these members paid an average of $600 more. Additionally, the proportion of monthly-plan members who kept their membership for over a year was 17% higher than that of annual-plan members (based on three years of U.S. panel data).

The regulations require businesses accepting prepayments to sign written contracts that specify refund procedures. If a business faces major operational risks, it must cease taking prepayments. When a business decides to close or move locations, it must inform consumers ahead of time. Consumers have the right to demand continued service delivery or a refund for any unspent balance. Breaching these rules can lead to fines ranging from 1 to 10 times the illegal earnings; if no illegal earnings exist, fines up to 500,000 yuan may apply.

What you save is precisely that portion of impulse buys you no longer want after a day. There is no single universal percentage representing this share. Online purchases can be returned without a reason within seven days of receipt. Four categories are excluded: custom-made items, fresh and perishable goods, digital goods that have been opened, and newspapers and periodicals (China, in force since 2017).

Human judgment is anchored to the first price encountered, and subsequent corrections are usually insufficient. Consequently, statements such as “original price 999, now 499” inflate our perception of the discount amount. Official rules require that the reference price be the minimum actual sale price recorded in the same store during the seven days prior to the sale; the discount percentage must be calculated against that figure. The price marked through may never have been charged in reality (China, effective 2020).

Regulatory rules require that dividend-type products clearly indicate in bold print that “future policy dividends are non-guaranteed benefits, and their distribution is uncertain.” The dividend illustration is the projected payout table provided by the insurer; its maximum interest spread is 4.5% minus the policy’s guaranteed interest rate. This guaranteed rate is the fixed return stated in the contract. Premiums paid for return or dividend features function similarly to a savings account held by the insurer — with no guaranteed returns and limited liquidity; withdrawals are hard to arrange (China, effective 2023).

Nationwide, mandatory insurance enforces uniform liability limits. These limits are calculated separately for four categories: death or disability, medical costs, property damage, and compensation payable when you’re not at fault. Following the 2020 overhaul of auto insurance, the total maximum payout is now 200,000 yuan, broken down as 180,000 yuan for death/disability, 18,000 yuan for medical costs, and 2,000 yuan for property damage. When you’re not liable, the limits drop to 18,000 yuan for death/disability, 1,800 yuan for medical costs, and 100 yuan for property damage. Any amount above these caps must be borne by the responsible party; drivers lacking mandatory coverage face vehicle impoundment and a fine equal to twice the unpaid premium.

With an emergency fund, if you lose your job or fall ill you do not need to borrow, and you do not need to sell investments at a loss. For the annual rate on consumer loans and on the minimum payment of a credit card, see item 7 of this section (do not use the credit card minimum payment). Money in a bank is protected by deposit insurance, with a maximum payout of 500,000 yuan at any one bank (China, 2015).

The method is this. First set the mortgage's annual rate as r, from your contract. On 20 August 2026 (2026-8-20) the LPR for terms of 5 years or more was 3.5%. The rate actually charged is that LPR plus some points or minus some points. Then set g as the after-tax annualized return of the other investment you could choose: the share this money would earn on average each year if you put it somewhere else. The certain return from early repayment is r. Each sum you pay off is the same as steadily earning r. If g is steadily greater than r, leaving the money in the investment is the better deal. If g is less than r, or g cannot be pinned down at all, early repayment locks in a risk-free r. In the early years of equal monthly payments, interest is a large share of the money you pay in, so the earlier you repay, the more interest you save. See that figure directly in the bank app's "early repayment estimate" (China, 2026 rates).

Sellers found guilty of fraud must pay three times the price, and if that is under 500 yuan, it is counted as 500 yuan. Platforms that know, or should know, that sellers are infringing and do not act must also bear joint liability, so you can seek compensation directly from them. Livestream rooms and hosts may not fabricate transaction volumes, follower counts, views, or likes, nor spread false information; doing so incurs civil liability. Those caught orchestrating fake transactions or reviews face fines up to 1 million yuan; in serious cases fines are between 1 million and 2 million yuan and even lose their business license. Earnest money must not exceed 20% of the contract amount; if you do not perform the contract, you do not get it back, but if the seller does not perform, they must return double it. Using personal data for automated pricing decisions that result in unfair price differences — commonly known as “algorithmic price discrimination” — is illegal nationwide.

In any consumer dispute involving livestream sales, the platform operator must provide consumers with the relevant information about the livestream operator and promoter, as well as all related business activity records upon request. The main difficulty in pursuing rights in such cases is identifying the responsible party; obtaining these details makes it much easier to know who to take legal action against.

If you suffer harm due to food that fails to meet safety standards, you may seek compensation from either the seller or the producer. The party receiving your compensation request must assume primary responsibility and pay out immediately, without shifting liability. In addition to basic compensation, you can demand ten times the purchase price or three times your loss as punitive damages, with any amount below 1,000 yuan rounded up to 1,000 yuan. One exception applies: this does not cover cases where labeling or instructions contain minor flaws that do not affect safety or mislead consumers. Judicial interpretations set three key conditions: the purchase must be for personal or household use; the food must violate safety standards; and there must be no proof the buyer knew of those violations at the time of purchase. Only then can ten times the purchase price be claimed as punitive damages. Conversely, if a buyer knowingly purchases substandard food and then seeks compensation, courts will only support claims within reasonable household consumption limits. Repeated purchases or multiple lawsuits are evaluated as a single total amount. Courts do not support punitive damages for several flaws, provided the flaw does not mislead consumers about food safety: irregular font sizes; typos, extra or missing characters; non-standard labeling of net content and specification; and no storage conditions on food that has no special storage requirement.

The 2024 national supervision inspections examined 25,250 product batches, resulting in a non-compliance rate of 14.3%. On e-commerce platforms, 7,297 batches were inspected, with a non-compliance rate of 23.5% — an increase of 1.8 percentage points from the previous year. Physical stores saw 8,055 batches inspected, with a non-compliance rate of 15.1%. The authenticity of mandatory product certification (3C) certificates can be checked via the “Certification Results” section on the Certification and Accreditation Administration’s official website. Energy labels are strictly regulated under product catalogs; they must include the energy efficiency grade, relevant metrics, and a unique identification code. Falsifying or misusing energy labels, or failing to apply them where required, is punishable under the Energy Conservation Law across China.

On the purchase side, tax rates are clearly defined in the Consumption Tax Schedule: “luxury watches” are taxed at 20%. Within “precious jewelry and stones,” gold, platinum, and diamond jewelry incur a 5% tax, while other precious stones and jade incur 10%. “Luxury watches” are defined as any watch with a sales price (excluding VAT) of 10,000 yuan or more. On the resale side, the Pawnbroking Management Regulations apply: Article 36 limits pawn terms to a maximum of six months; Article 37 sets interest rates based on the six-month benchmark rate published by the People’s Bank of China, which cannot be deducted upfront from the loan amount. Article 38 caps the monthly comprehensive fee rate for pawning movable property (such as watches or jade) at 42‰ of the pawn loan. So the comprehensive fee charged separately each month is no more than 4.2% of the loan. For real estate mortgages, this cap is 27‰, and for property rights pledges it is 24‰. Article 40 states that if the pawner fails to redeem or renew the pawn within five days of the term’s end, the item becomes forfeited; Article 43 permits auctioning forfeited items valued at 30,000 yuan or more, with proceeds first covering auction fees and loan principal plus interest, leaving any remainder to be returned to the pawner (or recovered from them if insufficient) (nationwide). The provisional consumption-tax regulations exempt only exported taxable goods, in Article 11; they contain no rule refunding consumption tax when a person resells something they bought.

The relevant rules are laid out in the Administrative Measures for Qualification Recognition of Inspection and Testing Agencies. Article 2 states that qualification recognition is a licensing process for agencies that provide data and results with evidentiary value to the public; it involves a thorough review followed by issuance of certification. Article 15 specifies that the CMA mark comprises both the CMA logo and the corresponding certificate number. Article 21 requires any agency issuing such data to display this mark on all reports. Article 22 mandates that authorities publish all certified agencies and their current status online. Article 34 imposes a fine of 30,000 RMB on any agency operating without proper certification. Article 37 similarly penalizes up to 30,000 RMB any act of forging, altering, or misusing such certification marks. Real-world examples illustrate these rules: in June 2026, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation released typical cases of fraud in the traditional crafts market. One involved a livestream in Donghai, Jiangsu, where sellers claimed to offer “natural, unacid-washed, unprocessed Burmese A-grade gems” and displayed a “national inspection certificate.” Laboratory tests, however, revealed the items to be dyed quartzite, treated jadeite, glass, and plastic; the seller had arranged for someone to make the certificate. Another case in the same county uncovered 469 suspected counterfeit crystal products; 210 proved to be natural crystal while 259 were synthetic. In Zhenping, Henan, a shop displayed a board claiming partnership with a “GIA CMA China Gemstone Testing Center” and bought 181 “National Gemstone Quality Supervision Center” certification tags online, selling them with bracelets (nationwide).

The basis for these rules is the “Guidelines on the Operation of Blind Box Business (Trial)”. Article 9 mandates that a list of key information be displayed prominently so consumers know it before buying. This information includes the product name, type, design, draw rules, distribution of items, quantity of limited items, draw probabilities, and the range of item values. The same article also forbids three practices: altering draw results or probabilities through backend manipulation, refusing or delaying delivery of items via cashback, buy-back, exchange and similar means, and producing empty boxes. Article 11 merely “encourages” operators to implement safeguards such as limits on draw time, spending, and frequency to promote rational consumption. Article 17 applies to blind boxes sold online; if the seller has fully informed you and you confirmed at that single purchase, the seven-day return right may not apply after opening. Operators must not replace your explicit consent with pre-checked boxes. Article 21 states that blind boxes must not be used as a guise for gambling. Article 23 prohibits sales to children under eight; for those aged eight and older, consent from a legal guardian must be obtained.

Article 67 of China’s Food Safety Law stipulates that all pre-packaged foods must carry a label containing nine mandatory pieces of information. The second item on this list is the “list of ingredients or components,” and the seventh item is “the generic names of any food additives used, as defined in national standards.” Article 68 contains far fewer requirements for loose foods: it only requires retailers to display the product name, production date or batch number, shelf life, and the name, address and contact details of the producer or seller on the container or outer packaging. There is no mention of ingredient lists or additives here. This distinction is most evident in frozen seafood products. GB 2760—2024 permits the use of phosphoric acid and phosphates as moisture retention agents — commonly referred to as water-retaining agents — in frozen seafood, with a maximum permitted usage level of 5.0 g/kg calculated as phosphate. Use within this limit is fully legal. The main issues arise from excessive usage and the practice of adding ice to increase product weight. Following a 2025 exposé by China Central Television’s 3·15 Gala, which revealed that some shrimp producers illegally added excessive amounts of water-retaining agents (composite phosphates) and added extra ice to boost weight, regulatory authorities mandated that all such products must clearly list water-retaining agents like phosphates, net weight (excluding ice coating weight), and full ingredient lists on their labels (nationwide; Food Safety Law, third amendment of 2025, in force from 1 December 2025).

This study examined every trade made by 10,000 accounts at a U.S. discount broker from 1987 to 1993. The proportion of profitable stocks sold (PGR) was 0.148, while the proportion of losing stocks sold (PLR) was 0.098 — a difference of 0.050 with a t-value exceeding 35. By the day, a stock that had risen was more than 50% more likely to be sold than one that had fallen. Investors also bought losing stocks more frequently: the re-purchase rate for losers was 0.135 versus 0.094 for winners, with a t-value of 19. The data also contradicted the belief that “stuck stocks will eventually bounce back.” Over the next year, the excess returns of sold profitable stocks exceeded those of kept losing stocks by 3.4 percentage points. These excess returns represent performance above the market index. As a concrete illustration, selling $1,000 worth of a losing stock instead of a winning one would yield roughly 4.4% more return in the following year; this 4.4% includes the tax saved by taking the loss early; the tax is worked out under the U.S. tax system (United States, 1987 to 1993).

On May 22, 2026, eight Chinese authorities — including the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, People’s Bank of China, State Administration for Market Regulation, National Financial Regulatory Administration, Cyberspace Administration of China, and State Administration of Foreign Exchange — jointly issued a plan to comprehensively curb illegal cross-border securities, futures, and fund activities. The goal is to fully eliminate such activities within two years. Foreign firms may no longer market or solicit clients in China, nor provide services such as account opening, trade execution, or fund transfers. For current account holders, only one-way sales and withdrawals are permitted; after two years, all related websites, trading apps, and servers must be shut down. On the same day, the CSRC announced that it proposes to confiscate all illegal earnings of Tiger Brokers, Futu, and LongBridge and impose severe penalties. Official guidance stresses using legal channels such as the Hong Kong Stock Connect, QDII funds, and Cross-Border Wealth Management Link for overseas investing. Meanwhile, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange explicitly states that personal foreign exchange may not be used for overseas real estate, securities investment, life insurance, investment-type return or dividend insurance, or similar capital-account purposes not yet open. Violators are placed on a “watch list,” lose the personal facilitation quota for the current year and the 2 years after, face administrative penalties, referral for anti-money-laundering investigation, and entries in their credit records (effective May 2026).

Only a fraction of the premiums collected by insurers is paid out as claims. The remainder covers sales, administration, and profit. Regulations require insurers selling short-term individual health plans to publish their “overall claims ratio” on their website every six months; this figure roughly indicates what proportion of premiums is paid out in claims. On average, buying insurance for any given loss ends up costing you a little extra over time. The upside is that it spreads a potentially catastrophic expense into a series of manageable annual payments. The smaller the loss and the easier it is for you to pay out of pocket, the less advantageous this trade-off becomes. Following this logic, several types of insurance mentioned earlier in this book are worth purchasing: one-year medical insurance is in Section 7, item 20 (one-year medical insurance); for car owners, see item 26 of this section (third-party liability); overseas medical coverage is detailed in Section 21, item 4; and term life insurance for households dependent on your income is in item 40 of this section (nationwide, from 2021).

Regulatory definitions classify life insurance as personal insurance where human lifespan serves as the insured event; it includes term life, whole life, and endowment policies. Term life insurance pays out only upon the insured’s death within a fixed timeframe. Whole life insurance remains valid for the entire lifetime. Accident insurance only compensates for death or disability caused by accidents; it doesn’t cover deaths from illness and thus cannot replace life insurance. Contracts requiring death payouts must have the insured person’s own consent and approval of the coverage amount; otherwise they’re invalid. Parents may purchase death coverage for minor children without such consent, but total payouts for a child’s death cannot exceed statutory limits. Life insurance coverage is usually in the range of several hundred thousand yuan, so the benefit is rated large. No official recommendation exists for ideal coverage levels; the author’s calculation method adds remaining mortgage debt, projected expenses until children reach adulthood, and several years’ worth of household costs (nationwide, amended 2015).

Regulations require all personal insurance policies with a term over a year to clearly state the start date and length of the cooling-off period, as well as the rights policyholders have during this time. The cooling-off period for long-term health insurance must be at least 15 days. For all such policies sold via banks, the contract explicitly sets this period to 15 days, counted in calendar days from the day you receive the policy and sign for it in writing. The policy cover must also carry this notice: “You have the right to cancel this policy in full (minus a maximum administrative fee of 10 yuan) within 15 days of receiving it. Cancelling after 15 days will result in a loss.” Even after the cooling-off period ends, you can still terminate the contract at any time, and the insurer must refund the policy’s cash value — the portion of your premium that can be reclaimed — within 30 days as per contract terms. Financial regulators note that cancelling long-term personal insurance after the cooling-off period typically results in cash value payouts that are lower than the total premiums paid. Insurers must also reach out to new policyholders of such plans during the cooling-off period to confirm they’re aware of the potential financial losses from cancellation and their rights under this period (applicable nationwide since 2010 and 2019).

Regulations explicitly forbid banks from bundling insurance with savings deposits, mutual funds, or other bank wealth products. They may not directly compare insurance returns to deposit yields, nor claim uncertain returns as guaranteed. Insurance documents and promotional materials must not use the bank’s name or logo, nor contain phrases such as “deposit,” “savings,” or “jointly offered by the bank.” The contract cover must display “Insurance Contract” in font size no smaller than 72 points and the insurer’s name in a size no smaller than Chinese size No. 2 (二号). For three specific groups of customers, in principle only products with fixed policy benefits may be sold: applicants aged over 65; applicants aged over 60 purchasing installment-payment plans; and applicants whose annual income is below the local per capita disposable income. Policies for these groups must be manually underwritten by insurers rather than issued automatically at bank branches. Insurance company staff are prohibited from selling insurance inside bank branches. For any insurance policy sold by a bank with a term longer than one year, a 15-day cooling-off period applies; cancelling after this period incurs financial losses. (Nationwide, effective October 2019)

In February 2026, China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration, the Cyberspace Administration, the Ministry of Public Security, the People’s Bank of China, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission jointly issued a warning. It stated that claims of “full policy refunds” are false and contrary to insurance laws. “Policy cancellation agents” charge hefty fees; if you try to withdraw from their services, you may even be taken to court for “breach of contract.” They also collect your SIM cards, bank cards, policies, home address and your children’s school. If this information is resold, you may meet telecom fraud and card theft. A June 2026 notice from Ningxia’s financial regulator provides further detail: such agents demand 30–50% of the refund amount as a fee and impose steep penalties if you back out. They even instruct clients to fabricate claims of sales misrepresentation or forged signatures. People who follow this may break the Public Security Administration Punishments Law, and in serious cases may be suspected of the joint crime of false accusation or extortion. Once cancelled, coverage ends immediately. Future applications for similar policies may be rejected or cost more due to age or health issues. If you truly feel misled, first contact the insurer’s official customer service; if unresolved, call the 12378 banking and insurance consumer complaint hotline, which is free throughout. If you’re temporarily unable to pay premiums, ask the insurer about options like reduced paid-up value or policy loans. Reduced paid-up value means you stop paying premiums, though coverage decreases proportionally (nationwide, 2026).

Insurance law stipulates that beneficiaries must be designated by either the insured or the policyholder, with the latter requiring the insured’s consent. In three specific scenarios, payouts are classified as part of the insured’s estate and distributed per standard inheritance rules: 1) No beneficiary is named, or the designation is ambiguous; 2) The named beneficiary dies before the insured, with no other eligible beneficiaries; 3) The beneficiary legally loses or voluntarily waives their right to benefits, again with no other eligible beneficiaries. If both the insured and beneficiary die in the same incident with no clear order of death, the beneficiary is presumed to have died first. Any payout classified as an estate must first settle all outstanding taxes and debts owed by the deceased, with remaining funds distributed to heirs. A Supreme People’s Court interpretation states that if a beneficiary is listed only by name and familial relationship, any subsequent change to that relationship renders the designation invalid. Unnotified changes to beneficiaries hold no legal weight with insurers. The statute of limitations for filing claims is 5 years for life insurance and 2 years for other policies, both starting from the date the claimant learns or should have learned of the event. Given that typical life insurance payouts reach hundreds of thousands of yuan, this benefit is rated as “high” (nationwide, amended 2015, in force from 2021).

In February 2026, eight Chinese authorities issued Notice No. 42 (Yinfa [2026] 42), stating that Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether and similar virtual currencies “have no legal tender status and must not be used as currency in any market.” Converting RMB to crypto, trading one crypto for another, or issuing tokens to raise funds are all illegal financial activities, strictly prohibited. Foreign firms may not offer such services to Chinese residents. The notice also says: “When any unit or individual invests in virtual currencies, tokens of real-world assets and related financial products in a way that goes against public order and good morals, the related civil legal acts are void, and the resulting losses are borne by that unit or individual”. The 2021 Notice (Yinfa [2021] No. 237) was repealed at the same time, and this sentence was kept in the new notice. A court case illustrates this: between February 2018 and July 2019, Mr. Tang paid about 448,000 yuan (exact figure 448,000 yuan) to two people who called themselves platform merchants for Tether; later the platform would not allow withdrawals and he could not log in, and he sued to get the money back. The court held that exchanging RMB for virtual currency was an invalid investment act and that he bore the loss himself. It dismissed the claim, a decision upheld on appeal (Yixing, Jiangsu, March 2025). Theft of crypto is a separate crime; for example, a “hacker” stole virtual coins worth over 4 million yuan from a person’s account, and one of the thieves was convicted of theft and sentenced to seven years in prison and fined 20,000 yuan (Zhengzhou, Henan).

How to pay in and how to draw out were set by the State Council’s 2005 decision. People without an employer who pay for themselves (formally, flexibly employed people) pay 20% of the contribution base, of which 8% is credited to a personal account. From 2019 they can choose their own base, in a range of 60% to 300% of the average wage of all urban-unit employees in the province. The pension after retirement has two parts. The first is the basic pension. Add the local average monthly wage of employees in service for the previous year to your own average contribution wage, divide by 2, and pay 1% of that for each full year paid in. The second is the personal-account pension, the money in the account divided by the number of payment months. For retirement at 60 the number of months is 139, at 55 it is 170, and the later you retire, the fewer the months. What follows is an example worked out by formula, not an official figure. Assume the local average monthly wage in the year you retire is 8,000 yuan, and treat the two average wages as the same number. All the amounts below are converted to the wage level of the retirement year, and the interest on the personal account is taken to just keep up with wage rises. Paying at the lowest band of 60%, the contribution base is 4,800 yuan and you pay 960 yuan a month. Over 15 years you pay about 173,000 yuan in all (exact figure 172,800 yuan). From age 60 you draw about 1,457 yuan a month: a basic pension of 960 yuan and a personal-account pension of about 497 yuan. That is about 17,500 yuan a year (exact figure about 17,487 yuan), and it takes about 9.9 years of drawing to get your money back, that is, until around age 70. Paying at the 100% band, 15 years costs about 288,000 yuan in all (exact figure 288,000 yuan), and you draw about 2,029 yuan a month. The extra you paid compared with the lowest band, about 115,000 yuan (exact figure 115,200 yuan), brings only about 572 yuan more a month, and takes about 16.8 years of drawing to get back. The reason is that half of the basic pension is based on the local average wage and has nothing to do with how much you pay, so those who pay less come out ahead. At the lowest band, each extra year you pay still has a payback time of about 9.9 years, which is better value than moving up a band. At the lowest band, the basic pension is the larger part of what you draw. This payback time has nothing to do with how high local wages are. Where wages are higher, what you pay and what you draw both rise in the same proportion, and the payback time does not change. Money paid in the early years is small in face value, but at retirement it is paid out by the average wage of that time. So if you look only at the face value of what you pay and what you draw, the payback comes sooner than 9.9 years. The law says you must have paid in for a cumulative 15 years at retirement to draw a monthly pension. If you have not, you can keep paying until you have. From 1 January 2030 this minimum rises by 6 months each year, gradually reaching 20 years. When a person dies, what is left in the personal account can be inherited. The state will raise pensions from time to time according to the growth in the average wage and in prices. When the pension insurance fund is not enough to pay out, the government makes up the gap with a subsidy (nationwide).

This set of rules is the three-guarantee for household cars. It covers passenger cars bought for living consumption, such as sedans and SUVs, and pickup trucks. Cars used in commercial operation are not covered. The three-guarantee period is not less than 2 years or 50,000 kilometres, and the repair-warranty period is not less than 3 years or 60,000 kilometres, whichever comes first. The period runs from the invoice date. If the delivery date and the invoice date differ, it runs from the delivery date. A quality problem inside the repair-warranty period is repaired free. Neither the labour fee nor the materials fee is charged. Within the first 7 days, if a quality problem means the engine, transmission, traction battery, drive motor, or a main part of one of those has to be replaced, you can choose a replacement or a refund on the invoice and the three-guarantee voucher. Within the first 60 days or 3,000 kilometres, if a quality problem produces steering failure, brake failure, a cracked body, a fuel leak, or a traction-battery fire, you can likewise choose a replacement or a refund. Inside the three-guarantee period, four further situations also allow a replacement or a refund: a serious safety fault is repaired 2 times and still is not fixed, or a new serious safety fault appears; one of those four major assemblies is replaced 2 times because of a quality problem and still cannot be used normally; the same main part is replaced 2 times and still cannot be used normally; repairs add up to more than 30 days, or the same quality problem has been repaired 4 or more times. A replacement or refund under these four situations requires a use-compensation fee. The formula is price × distance driven ÷ 1000 × n. n is written by the manufacturer on the three-guarantee voucher and must not be higher than 0.5%. If a single repair takes more than 5 days, from day 6 the shop must give you a spare car or pay your transport costs. When the car is replaced or returned, the shop must also pay your vehicle registration fee, the cost of added fittings after depreciation, and the service fees it charged you. After the shop receives a replacement or refund demand, it must answer within 10 working days. If it does not agree, it must give reasons. The shop must not refuse the three-guarantee because you did not have the car serviced there. Deliberately delaying, or refusing the three-guarantee without a proper reason, is punished under Article 56 of the Consumer Rights Protection Law (nationwide, in force from 1 January 2022).

The seller of a used car must give the buyer the true facts on use, repairs, accidents, and inspections, and on whether the car is mortgaged, whether the taxes and fees have been paid, and the scrap deadline. If the seller's concealment and fraud mean the car cannot be transferred into the buyer's name, the seller must take the car back unconditionally and return the purchase price. Article 55 of the Consumer Rights Protection Law says that if a business operator defrauds the consumer in supplying goods, it pays additional compensation at the consumer's request, in the amount of three times the purchase price, and if that amount is under 500 yuan it is counted as 500 yuan. This article covers only business operators. It does not apply to a purchase from a private owner. There is a judgment from Rizhao, Shandong. In May 2023 (2023-5) Sun bought a car from a used-car shop for a total of 53,000 yuan. The shop promised it had not had a major accident. In October of the same year (2023-10) an appraisal firm found it was a major-accident car. The records showed it had been in an accident that January (2023-1) and had been written off as a total loss. At first instance the contract was cancelled, the shop returned 53,000 yuan, and it paid a further three times the price, 159,000 yuan. In April 2025 (2025-4) the Rizhao Intermediate People's Court upheld that on appeal. The two sides had signed no written contract. The shop's stamped receipt was enough to win. There is a judgment the other way. In January 2018 (2018-1) Wang, in Henan, paid 240,000 yuan for a car. The contract promised no accident and no flood damage. It later turned out the car had been in an accident before delivery and that the repairs cost 5,100 yuan. First instance and the retrial both ordered a refund plus three times. The Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court changed that on appeal, and the retrial upheld the appeal judgment. The reason was that the accident and the repairs had already happened when the dealer bought the car, and there was no evidence the dealer knew and deliberately hid it. So it was only a breach of contract: the contract was cancelled, and the 240,000 yuan price was returned with interest, with no three-times compensation. That court reminded buyers that they can check a used car's insurance-claim record by various routes, and can also hire a third-party professional to inspect it (nationwide).

The measures on automobile sales say a dealer must post, in the store, the prices and fee schedules for the car, the parts, and each service, and must not sell above the marked price or collect extra fees. The dealer must not limit the place of your household registration, and must not limit which provider you use for parts, supplies, finance, insurance, rescue, and after-sales service. Parts and services that the manufacturer pays for under the three-guarantee and under recalls are the exception. When selling a car, the dealer must not force you to buy insurance, and must not force you to let it handle registration for you. A breach of these points is ordered corrected by the commerce department at county level or above, which may warn the dealer or fine it up to 30,000 yuan. In 2022 the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission required financial institutions that make car loans to control the dealers they work with: a dealer must not charge fees in the financial institution's name, and must not charge fees on the ground that it is providing you a financial service. It must also tell you the annualized loan rate and the fee rate. It must not induce you with lines that do not match the facts, such as "no penalty for breaking the loan" or "the car needs no mortgage," and it must not bundle products and services against your will. The financial institution itself must not charge a fee as a condition of the loan. The regulations implementing the Consumer Rights Protection Law say a business operator must not force you, or force you in a disguised way, to buy something, and must not shut out or limit your choice of another operator (nationwide).

Article 35 of the Tourism Law has three paragraphs. The first says a travel agency may not use an unreasonably low price to organize a tour and lure tourists, then make money from kickbacks by arranging shopping. The second says a travel agency may not designate specific shopping places. Going is allowed only if both sides agree, or if the tourist asks to go and it does not hold up other people’s itinerary. Signing a “voluntary shopping” supplementary agreement generally counts as agreement. The third says that where the first two are broken, the tourist has the right, within 30 days after the trip ends, to ask the travel agency to arrange a return and to advance the payment for the returned goods. Self-paid items that cost extra can also be refunded. This paragraph does not require you to first prove the goods have a quality problem. Article 9 of the Tourism Law also provides that tourists have the right to refuse forced transactions. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism reported a case in 2025. A travel agency in Chengdu took 15 tourists to Jiuzhaigou, charging a total tour fee of only 6,015 yuan. It in turn paid 8,220 yuan to the company that recruited the tourists, to “buy the tour”, and took 13,706 yuan in kickbacks from shopping stores. The agency was fined and had 80,000 yuan confiscated, and was ordered to suspend business for 30 days. The Guangdong Department of Culture and Tourism published a complaint in 2024. Two tourists joined a Hong Kong, Macao and Zhuhai tour at 800 yuan each, and in a duty-free shop bought jewelry and pillows for more than 20,000 yuan. The tourists complained to the district culture and tourism department, the two sides settled, and the travel agency helped post the goods back and refunded all the payment (nationwide).

The Beijing Third Intermediate People’s Court says a wealth-management “flying order” is when a staff member of a financial institution, using the convenience of the job, privately sells a third-party product that was not issued by their own institution and is not authorized for sale on commission. A 2025 rule of the National Financial Regulatory Administration says that when a bank sells other institutions’ products on commission, it may do so only in a dedicated zone in channels it runs itself, namely its own branches, official website and app. The bank must offer a way to look up the commission-sold products in its own channels, stating that it sells them on commission, what type they are, and who issued them. The bank may not mix commission-sold products with deposits or its own products. The first page of the promotional material for a commission-sold product must say: “This product is issued and managed by XX institution (the partner institution). XX Bank, as the selling agent, does not bear the investment or repayment responsibility for the product.” The bank must authorize which sales staff may sell which products, and post this at the branch. Sales at the branch must be audio and video recorded. The bank and its staff may not “use the name of their institution to privately promote or sell products that have not been approved” (nationwide, in force from 1 October 2025). The Beijing Third Intermediate People’s Court reported a case in 2022. In 2013, a bank wealth manager told a customer that a certain product was the bank’s hot seller and that the bank was the custodian. The customer signed a partnership agreement with a fund company and transferred 1.2 million yuan to the fund company’s account. Later the principal did not come back, and the fund company’s actual controller went to prison. The court held that the employee, selling during working hours at the workplace by using the position, was acting in the course of duty. The customer had been looking one-sidedly for a high interest rate and was also at fault. The first instance made the bank and the customer each bear half of the loss, and the second instance upheld this. In October 2026 the Supreme People’s Court, the People’s Bank of China, the National Financial Regulatory Administration and the China Securities Regulatory Commission jointly published a model case. The head of a securities branch privately sold a private fund that the branch had not authorized for sale, and a customer put in 1 million yuan. The customer sued in August 2023 and the first instance dismissed the claim. The second instance found that the branch was at fault and that the customer was also at fault, and changed the judgment so that the branch paid about 577,000 yuan (exact figure 576,716.97 yuan); the case number is from 2024 (nationwide, 2022 and 2026).