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China Country Profile

Passport
For more details visit China Passport Ranking
  • Passport Grade
    C-
  • Passport Ranking
    109/198
  • Passport Score
    59.5/198
  • Visa-free Countries
    80
  • Visa-required Countries
    118
  • Access to the World's GDP
    25%
  • Access to the World's Surface Area
    26%
  • Access to the World's Population
    40%
  • Access to the Unesco Sites
    25%
Citizenship and Naturalization
Birthright citizenship (Jus Soli)
  • Birthright citizenship (Jus Soli)
    No
    No provisions
Naturalization - Standard Conditions
  • Minimum residency period
    0 years
    Successful naturalizations are exceptionally rare.
  • Physical presence requirement
    –
  • Language test
    0
  • Need to renounce original citizenship?
    Yes
  • Can minor children naturalize?
    –
  • Can naturalized parents pass citizenship to a child born abroad?
    –
  • Can you lose naturalization due to prolonged absence/ naturalization elsewhere?
    –
Naturalization - Your Spouse is a Citizen
  • Living IN the country: Residency/marriage requirement
    0 years / 0 years
    Close relatives (including spouses) of a citizen may apply immediately. But cases of successfull naturalizations are exceptionally rare.
  • Living ABROAD: Marriage requirement
    N/A
  • Language test
    –
  • Need to renounce original citizenship?
    Yes
Naturalization - Other Beneficial Provisions
  • Your child is a citizen
    No provisions
  • Citizens of specific countries
    No provisions
"–": The provision has not been analysed.
Taxation
For more details visit Cost of Living
  • Taxation Type
    Residence-based
A tax resident of a country with a RESIDENCE-BASED tax system pays taxes on their WORLDWIDE income. However, if you lose tax residency status there (e.g., by moving out), the country will generally stop taxing you.
Schiff Sovereign's Take on China
If money talked, these days it would likely speak Mandarin.

China has grown to become the second-largest economy in the world (and by some measurements it is the largest). And this trend will only continue. 

The Chinese have spent decades producing and saving, so they can now enjoy increasing levels of wealth and upward mobility. In contrast, the West has spent decades spending and borrowing, so they have the opposite of wealth – rampant debt and a plummeting quality of life. 

China is on its way to becoming the world’s next dominant economy and superpower. And they are getting there at the same speed as one of their brand-new bullet trains.

But that ride is not going to be smooth. There are serious systemic problems in China. 

The country’s government has managed to rack up a lot of debt, especially at a  provincial level. Misallocation of capital is also notorious – everyone has heard about Chinese ghost cities built by the government from scratch. These are places where no one wants to live.

They have a shadow financial system that is epically over-leveraged.

Yet as a place to live, China offers various benefits – a very reasonable cost of living, the opportunity to get a great education in Mandarin, and the ability to access China’s business environment with ease.

But there are also some serious and infamous drawbacks.

Human rights is definitely an issue. 

And they also have their notorious Social Credit System in place. 

Their government wants to control every aspect of your life. They don't have a qualm about locking down their megapolices in 2022, when pretty much the entire planet has gotten over the Covid hysteria already.

If you do something the government doesn't like, as a punishment, you can be banned from traveling. Or you might be forced to use a slow internet connection. Or you might be excluded from using hotels, be forced to pay higher taxes, or even get shamed publicly.

If you want to succeed in China, you better keep your social score high.

Pollution is also a significant issue. It’s not just air pollution that can cause major health problems, but also the pollution of the country’s soil, water and food. (Of course, you could go to Hainan Island. It is a resort island with a tropical climate and far less pollution – but that would also be less practical for a range of reasons.)

The other drawback is low English proficiency. And Mandarin – both spoken and written – is a notoriously difficult language to master as an English speaker.

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China Overview
  • Region
    Asia
  • Capital City
    Beijing
  • Largest City
    Shanghai
  • Currency
    Renminbi
  • Languages
    Mandarin Chinese
  • Population
    1.4 billion (1st)
  • Life Expectancy
    77.7 years (83rd)
  • GDP (Nominal)
    $18.3 trillion (2nd)
  • GDP/Capita
    $12,970 (78th)
Useful Data
For more details visit Cost of Living
  • Cost of Living
    Very cheap (2/7)
  • Climate
    Comfortable (2/5)
  • Safety
    Very Safe (2/7)
  • Pollution
    Polluted (4/5)
  • English Proficiency
    Moderate (3/5)

Sovereign Global Explorer

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Have a suggestion ?
Please let us know if you spot any inaccuracies on this page or have a suggestion on how to make it even more useful.
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Articles featuring China

Trends & News

This new breed of celebrities makes China’s rise even more obvious

In the year 605 AD, Emperor Yang of the Sui dynasty in China formally established what became known as the ‘imperial examination.’ This was a standardized test that public officials were required to take, covering everything from arithmetic to writing to military science. The idea was to ensure that all public servants were educated and […]
Trends & News

China is trying to centrally plan its way out of a black hole

July 15, 2015 Kunming, Yunnan province, China It’s here in southwestern China’s postcard-perfect Yunnan province that the mighty Mekong River rises. From its source in a nearby mountain range, the river proceeds south, cutting its way across Southeast Asia’s fertile lands through Burma, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The Mekong is hugely important; its waters […]
Trends & News

The dominoes begin to fall in China

Forget tapering. Forget Ukraine. The largest single risk to the world economy and financial markets right now is China. What’s going on in China reminds me a lot of what I witnessed firsthand when I lived in South Korea in the 1990s, before that economy’s crash in 1998. Just as China now, South Korea was […]
Trends & News

China’s ‘Social Credit’ system has arrived to America

  As a journalist in China, Liu Hu was no stranger to punishment. For reporting on corruption among government officials, Hu was arrested, accused of “fabricating and spreading rumours,” and fined. But then one day in 2017 he suddenly found that he was unable to buy a plane ticket. The system just rejected him. He […]

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