In the summer of 1979, a month-long seminar on taxation sponsored by Harvard Law School's International Tax Program took place in the People's Republic of China. Due to limited foreign investment, China was not required to consider the applicability of its domestic tax laws to foreigners. The...

Before 1979, the People's Republic of China did not have a logical system of taxing foreign business. That summer, a few selected American tax professors met with Chinese tax officials to explain the complexities of source rules, foreign tax credits, and tax treaties. That gave Chinese officials...