Policy, legal and insurance guides primarily concern mainland China. Scope and sources ↗
Chapter 5 / Complete chapter
All 50 guides. Open a guide for the full benefits, conditions and references.
Search this chapter →
Enlarge illustrationOriginal illustration with Chinese lettering; the English dialogue is below. Humour is a reading aid, not evidence.
What you’ll save is exactly the money spent on subscriptions you no longer use but are still being charged for each month. It takes less than 20 minut…
The following groups of people typically receive a tax refund after completing this process: those who only worked for a few months throughout the yea…
The housing provident fund isn’t limited to home purchases. The new regulations list nine eligible scenarios for withdrawals, including renting, renov…
Older plans you’re currently on often cost dozens of yuan more per month than newer plans now on sale. Those extra monthly fees add up to hundreds of …
According to regulations, at least 50% of sales revenue from lottery games must be paid out as prizes; for the Double Color Ball game, this figure is …
Regulatory authorities themselves state that any product offering a return rate above 6% should raise red flags, those above 8% are highly risky, and …
Making minimum payments is not a discount — it is essentially a daily‑interest loan that works out to roughly 18% per year. Once you use this option, …
On average, each gamer in China spends roughly 480 yuan per year on games, and that money is almost impossible to get back. Laws only require refunds …
Money spent by children over eight years old can be legally invalidated and refunded if the amount far exceeds what one would reasonably expect for th…
Each of these six scams works differently, but they all end the same way: the scammer gets the child to use a parent’s phone to transfer money or read…
Extended warranties typically cost 10% to 50% of the item’s original price. The profit margin on these warranties is roughly ten times higher than tha…
The second batch of centrally procured drugs saw an average price drop of 53%, with some drugs becoming 93% cheaper. As of April 2026, 11 procurement …
After completing this setup, any money in your individual yibao account can be used to cover medical expenses and medication costs for your spouse, pa…
In Beijing, the first-tier water price works out to 0.005 yuan per liter. Bottled water, calculated at 1 yuan for every 500 milliliters, costs 2 yuan …
Among investors who trade most frequently, the average annual return is only 11.4%, while the overall market average for the same period is 17.9%. Thi…
When you use borrowed money to buy stocks, any drop below a set threshold leaves you unable to add more funds, so your positions get automatically sol…
The collection of stocks held by actively managed funds already closely mirrors the overall market. Yet the extra management fees they charge are dedu…
For every 1 percentage point increase in a fund’s annual fee, the amount you end up with after 20 years drops by roughly 18%, and after 30 years by ab…
As long as multiple assets don’t all rise or fall in perfect unison, spreading your money across them keeps your average expected returns the same, wh…
For every yuan you deposit, the tax you save equals your marginal tax rate minus 3%. If you contribute the full 12,000 yuan in a year, a taxpayer at a…
According to three years of data from U.S. gyms, members who signed contracts with monthly fees exceeding $70 attended the gym just 4.3 times per mont…
Any business that accepts a prepayment from you must sign a written contract with you that clearly outlines how refunds will be handled. If a business…
What you save is exactly the money spent on items you no longer want the very next day. For online purchases, you can return them for any reason withi…
When judging whether something is cheap or expensive, people rely on the first price they see; later adjustments rarely make up for that initial impre…
The insurance company makes no promises about any dividends or refunds you might receive. Policy documents must explicitly state in bold text that “fu…
When you’re at fault, the mandatory insurance pays out only up to three specific limits: 180,000 yuan for death or disability, 18,000 yuan for medical…
Keep 3 to 6 months’ worth of living expenses in an account you can withdraw from at any time. This way, if you lose your job or fall ill, you won’t ha…
Paying off your mortgage is essentially the same as earning a guaranteed return equal to your mortgage rate. So the only question you need to ask is: …
If a seller cheats you, they must pay three times the amount you paid — with a minimum compensation of 500 yuan. Platforms that know sellers are break…
One of the biggest hurdles when problems arise from purchases made during livestreams is figuring out exactly who to hold responsible. In such cases, …
If you buy expired or spoiled food, the food itself, its packaging, and the receipt serve as evidence — so don’t toss them out. You’re entitled to com…
In 2024, national inspections covered 25,250 batches of products, with 14.3% found to be non-compliant. The situation is worse on e-commerce platforms…
A portion of the purchase price for such items is already consumption tax: watches priced at 10,000 yuan or more incur a 20% tax; gold, platinum, and …
Certificates can be forged, so what truly matters is confirming the agency that issued it. Any testing organization allowed to issue reports must hold…
Sellers must display the draw rules, probabilities, and quantities of limited‑edition items in a highly visible manner. They are prohibited from manip…
The law only mandates ingredient lists for pre-packaged foods; loose goods have no such requirement. For loose products, retailers only need to displa…
Human nature drives us to sell winners and hold losers. In seven years of data from 10,000 U.S. accounts, stocks that rose were sold about 50% more of…
Starting May 2026, foreign brokers such as Tiger Brokers, Futu, and LongBridge are no longer allowed to accept new accounts from mainland investors. E…
The premiums you pay won’t all be returned to you; a portion goes toward the insurer’s operating costs and profit. Therefore, insurance is worthwhile …
Term life insurance covers you only for a set number of years. If you pass away during that period, your family receives a payout. This coverage is me…
All personal insurance policies with a term longer than one year include a cooling-off period. For policies bought through banks, this period starts 1…
Banks may sell insurance on behalf of insurers, but they must not present it as a deposit. The contract cover must clearly state “Insurance Contract” …
Online ads promising “full policy refunds with no fees if unsuccessful” usually come from illegal cancellation agents. They typically take 30–50% of a…
If no beneficiary is listed, or if the named beneficiary passes away first, the payout is treated as part of the deceased’s estate and must first cove…
Domestic legal frameworks do not recognize virtual currencies as legal tender. Private transactions exchanging fiat currency for cryptocurrency tokens…
For self-employed individuals and flexible workers funding their own employee basic pension insurance, paying at the minimum statutory tier (60%) and …
If major powertrain components (engine, transmission, EV drive motor, power battery) fail and require replacement within the first 7 days of new vehic…
When purchasing a used vehicle from a licensed commercial dealer who intentionally conceals past major collisions, structural frame damage, or water s…
Dealership sales staff frequently insist that taking out auto financing requires paying an upfront "financial service fee." Under commercial regulatio…
Organizing low-cost tour groups to trap travelers into shopping, or taking travelers to commercial shopping stores not agreed upon in advance, violate…