SH Disneyland

    Tickets for the June 16 opening day of Walt Disney Co.’s new theme park in Shanghai were sold out on its official ticketing website hours after going on sale at midnight on Monday.

    The official website of Shanghai Disney Resort and its WeChat account showed no tickets were available for the theme park’s grand opening on June 16. The resort offers regular and peak-priced tickets, with regular pricing set at 370 yuan (US$60.2) and peak pricing set at 499 yuan. Pricing during the grand opening period (June 16 to 30) is set at 499 yuan.

    Top Zhuhai leader

    THE top official in the southern city of Zhuhai, which borders Macao, has been placed under investigation for suspected corruption, the country’s main graft-busting* agency said Wednesday.

    Li Jia, Zhuhai’s Party chief, is suspected of “serious disciplinary* breaches*,” the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said, using the usual euphemism* for corruption.

    Tax rules

    China will change the tax rules on online retail goods on April 8 to level the playing field for e-commerce platforms and traditional retailers and importers.

    Retail goods purchased online will no longer be classified as “parcels,” which enjoy a “parcel tax” rate, lower than that on other imported goods. Instead, online purchases from overseas will be charged in the same way as any other imported goods, the Ministry of Finance announced on Thursday.

    “The parcel tax is not for trade purposes, which is exactly what online retailing is. It is unfair to conventional importers and domestic producers,” said Zhang Bin of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

    Richest cities

    Three of China’s big cities — Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen — have topped a ranking of the country’s richest cities, according to a list released by China Business News, an economic news portal.

    Instead of measuring each city’s GDP per capita*, the list is based on total deposit balances held at all financial institutes. This figure is also referred to as the total capital amount, and indicates the result of economic growth in certain regions and cities, the report said. (SD-Agencies)