Xia Yuanjie

szrbgracexia@126.com

GRADE 9 students with the Whittle School & Studios, Shenzhen Campus (Whittle SZ) located in Qianhai learned tax knowledge through edutainment co-organized by the bilingual school and the Qianhai taxation office yesterday.

It is the first on-campus tax awareness event in 2021 that the Qianhai office has held to enhance understanding of tax principles among the youth, particularly Hong Kong and Macao youths, who account for a significant proportion of the student population in the Whittle SZ.

An original game named “Entrepreneur of Qianhai: Taxation vs. Monopoly” was used to disseminate complicated tax information in simpler and vivid manner.

“The content integrates three basic elements of running business: buy, sell and tax. We also added many of Qianhai’s preferential policies for young people from Hong Kong and Macao to the game,” said Zhong Mengyan, an officer with the International Taxation Administration Office of the Qianhai taxation authority and designer of the game.

Under the guidance of several officers and teachers, 36 students were divided into four groups: one government, five enterprises, five bankers and 25 who worked out the functions of each check on the board, such as gaining 2,000 yuan (US$308) in tax or fee cuts.

“The addition of a government player aims to publicize that taxes are taken from the people and used for the people. The purpose of the banker is to assist the other major players with a large amount of calculations. The enterprise is similar to the game Monopoly,” explained Zhong.

Li Yin, Whittle SZ principal, endorsed the significance of the event. “The activity led by the head of the Qianhai taxation office is empowering the school’s educational ecology. We hope to cultivate children’s awareness of laws from a young age,” Li said. “We believe that they will become good taxpayers and law-abiding entrepreneurs in the future.”

Li Boyuan, a student playing a role of an enterprise, echoed Principal Li’s words. As an “entrepreneur,” he practically experienced running a business and paying taxes through edutainment.

“I was engaged in the game so much. When I do illegal things, I will be punished. When I observe the laws, I will be invested in and supported by the government and banks. I learned a lot from the game.”

According to a follow-up satisfaction survey, 31 out of 33 respondents chose the “satisfied” or “very satisfied” option.