@Asanee
You said "nobody is going to go to "their country" to get a criminal check"
Well, I can give the number of the police department in the California city I lived in and you can straighten them out on this point.
I called and was connected to a Sargent who seemed to be confused as to what I wanted until he slipped into third degree mode. Finally, he said I should "come on in" and talk about it.
I told him I was living in China and asked if my son could get it for me. Sorry, department rules prohibit giving information on a person except to the person (and news media, and other police organizations, and people doing background checks).
I am sure Asanee, that you, as a Thai, who knows so much about how other countries do business, and all the various Chinese regulations could sort this and correct the Police Department.
Counting down Kunming's Top Ten Smells
发布者Geez, what a bunch of sensitive foreigners. Frankly, I love fresh durian, stinky tofu, hotpot and don't mind incense. I like nuoc mam too. Hate to ask but WTF are you guys doing in China?
Kunming's bike share options: A user guide
发布者Now that Bluegogo has gone Byebye, we can get an idea of who made money, and how, providing shared bikes. The unknown is the actual cost of the bikes, A Bloomberg article puts the Bluegogo cost at $400 USD (¥2640) each which I doubt. Mobike says their cost per bike is ¥1000 and other companies say between ¥300 to ¥600 per bike.
Using an exchange rate of 6.6 yuan/1 USD, here is Blugogo's take:
Investors poured in $58.1 Million USD.
20 Million riders forked up deposits, at an estimated ¥99 Yuan each, totaling a cool $300 Million USD.
Cost of 600,000 bikes varies:
Each ¥400 is $36.6 Million USD
Each ¥600 is $54.6 Million USD
Each ¥1000 is $91.2 Million USD
Each ¥2640 is $240.0 Million USD
Net cash flow to the PROMOTERS before salaries, rents and operating expenses
(Investors + Deposit less cost of bikes):
Bike cost each ¥400 is $321.5 Million USD
Bike cost each ¥600 is $303.5 Million USD
Bike cost each ¥1000 is $266.9 Million USD
Bike cost each ¥2640 is $118.1 Million USD
My guess is a bike cost of about ¥600 before kickbacks and over invoicing which leaves more than $200 Million USD for the PROMOTORS. Along the way a bank or two might have made working capital loans and a few nice cars were bought. To lower exposure some stock buybacks from selected investors might have been made. The secrets are all in the books of Bluegogo if they can be found or reconstructed. If I was still teaching Accounting I would use Bluegogo as a teaching tool.
Moral: In China forget profits, look at cash flows, big front money and promotor benefits for quick bankruptcy. Slam Bam, thank you mam, badabing, badabam and Adios!
China considering plan to make Xinjiang desert a new California
发布者Alien nailed it.
Yunnan scientists find fungus with an appetite for plastic in rubbish dump
发布者Think: the Andromeda strain
China to phase out fossil fuel cars, boost domestic electric vehicle industry
发布者@vicar: You make a good point and I agree. However, China has invested heavily in lithium battery production and the capacity online is no way near being used.
To me it is pretty much 1-2-3: 1 - China's lack of liquefied dinosaurs, 2 - A strong domestic demand for autos and the ability to meet that demand, and, 3 - A really relaxed attitude toward environmental concerns means lithium battery production is a lower cost deal in China.
Lithium batteries are really nasty things that, besides a tendency to go boom, have a lot of bad news byproducts that are hard to get rid of.