UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

☐REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR (g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

OR

☒ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 or 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 20192020

OR

☐TRANSITIONAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

OR

☐TRANSITIONAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of event requiring this shell company report_________

For the transition period from _________ to __________

Commission file number 001-37655

CHINA CUSTOMER RELATIONS CENTERS, INC.

(Exact Name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Not Applicable

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

British Virgin Islands

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

c/o Shandong Taiying Technology Co., Ltd.

1366 Zhongtianmen Dajie, Xinghuo Science and Technology Park, High-tech Zone, Taian City, Shandong Province,
People’s Republic of China 27100

(Address of principal executive offices)

Zhili Wang

c/o Shandong Taiying Technology Co., Ltd.

1366 Zhongtianmen Dajie, Xinghuo Science and Technology Park, High-tech Zone, Taian City, Shandong Province,
People’s Republic of China 27100

Tel: (+86) 538 691 8899

E.mail:Email: ir@ccrc.com 

(Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:None

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d):None

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report:18,329,600 outstanding common shares

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐    No ☒

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Yes ☐    No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒    No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes ☒    No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☒

† The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.

Item 17 ☐ Item 18 ☐

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

Yes ☐     No ☒

(APPLICABLE ONLY TO ISSUERS INVOLVED IN BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed all documents and reports required to be filed by Sections 12, 13, or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 subsequent to the distribution of securities under a plan confirmed by a court.

Yes ☐    No ☐

Table of Contents

Defined Terms and Conventions

Except where the context otherwise requires and for purposes of this annual report on Form 20-F only:

We refer to Taiying by name in discussing the entity that conducts our day-to-day BPO business in China and refer to “our company” when discussing our strategies, business plans, organization and other decision-making focused matters. Because we control Taiying by virtue of our ownership of WFOE and WFOE’s contractual rights to control the day-to-day operations and corporate activities of Taiying, we believe it would be misleading in most cases to discuss the business decisions of Taiying as though Taiying were at arm’s-length from our company.

For the sake of clarity, this annual report follows the English naming convention of first name followed by last name, regardless of whether an individual’s name is Chinese or English. For example, the name of our chief executive officer will be presented as “Gary Wang” or “Zhili Wang”, even though, in Chinese, his name would be presented as “Wang Zhili”.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This annual report contains forward-looking statements. All statements contained in this annual report other than statements of historical fact, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, our business strategy and plans, and our objectives for future operations, are forward-looking statements. The words “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, short-term and long-term business operations and objectives, and financial needs. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those described in the “Risk Factors” section. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time. It is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the future events and trends discussed in this annual report may not occur and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements.

You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements. We are under no duty to update any of these forward-looking statements after the date of this annual report or to conform these statements to actual results or revised expectations.

PART I

Item 1. Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers

Not applicable for annual reports on Form 20-F.

Item 2. Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable

Not applicable for annual reports on Form 20-F.

Item 3. Key Information

In the table below, we provide you with summary financial data of our company. The selected consolidated statement of income and other comprehensive income data for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 20192020 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 20182019 and 20192020 are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements, which are included elsewhere in this annual report. The selected consolidated statement of income and comprehensive income data for the year ended December 31, 2015 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2015 and 2016 areis derived from our audited consolidated financial statements, which are not included in this annual report. Historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for any future period. When you read this historical selected financial data, it is important that you read it along with the historical statements and notes and “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” included elsewhere in this annual report.

Exchange Rate Information

Our business is conducted in China, and the financial records of WFOE and Taiying are maintained in RMB, their functional currency. However, we use the U.S. dollar as our reporting currency; therefore, periodic reports made to shareholders will include current period amounts translated into U.S. dollars using the then-current exchange rates, for the convenience of the readers. Our financial statements have been translated into U.S. dollars in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 830-10, “Foreign Currency Matters.” We have translated our asset and liability accounts using the exchange rate in effect at the balance sheet date. We translated our statements of operations using the average exchange rate for the period. We reported the resulting translation adjustments under other comprehensive income. Unless otherwise noted, we have translated balance sheet amounts with the exception of equity aton December 31, 20192020 at RMB 6.96686.5277 to $1.00 as compared to RMB 6.87646.9668 to $1.00 aton December 31, 2018.2019. The average translation rates applied to income statement accounts for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 2018 and 20172018 were RMB 6.9001, RMB 6.9072 and RMB 6.6146, and RMB 6.7570, respectively. 

We make no representation that any RMB or U.S. dollar amounts could have been, or could be, converted into U.S. dollars or RMB, as the case may be, at any particular rate, or at all. The Chinese government imposes control over its foreign currency reserves in part through direct regulation of the conversion of RMB into foreign exchange and through restrictions on foreign trade. The Company does not currently engage in currency hedging transactions.

Not applicable for annual reports on Form 20-F.

Not applicable for annual reports on Form 20-F.

Risks Related to Our Business

We may incur losses resulting from business interruptions resulting from occurrence of natural disasters, health epidemics and other outbreaks or events.

Our operations may be damaged in natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, heavy rains, sand storms, tsunamis and cyclones, or other events such as fires. Such natural disasters or other events may lead to disruption of information systems and telephone service for sustained periods. Also, our business operations could be disrupted by health epidemics, such as the COVID-19, which broke out in January 2020. A prolonged outbreak of such illness or other adverse public health developments in China or elsewhere in the world could have a material adverse effect on our business operations. In addition, our results of operations could be adversely affected to the extent that any natural disaster or health epidemic harms the Chinese economy in general.

We are likely to depend on third-party software, systems and services and an interruption in the services could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business and operations rely on China Telecom and China Mobile and may rely on other third parties to provide services, such as IT services, or shipping and transportation services. We may experience operational problems attributable to the installation, implementation, integration, performance, features or functionality of third-party software, access to communication networks and fiber optics, hosted environments, systems and services. Any interruption in the availability or usage of the services provided by China Mobile or China Telecom or other third parties could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Unexpected network interruptions, security breaches or computer virus attacks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business depends on the performance and reliability of the mobile telecommunications network of China Mobile or China Telecom, as the case may be. We may not have access to alternative networks in the event of disruptions, failures or other problems with China Mobile or China Telecom’s wireless infrastructure.

Any failure to maintain the satisfactory performance, reliability, security and availability of our network infrastructure may cause significant harm to our reputation and our ability to attract and maintain clients. Major risks involved in such network infrastructure include, among others, any breakdowns or system failures resulting in a prolonged shutdown of all or a material portion of our servers, including failures which may be attributable to sustained power outages, or effort to gain unauthorized access to our systems causing loss or corruption of data or malfunctions of software or hardware.

Our network systems are vulnerable to damage from fire, flood, power loss, telecommunications failures, computer viruses, hackings and other similar events. Any network interruption or inadequacy that causes interruptions in the availability of our services or deterioration in the quality of access to our services could reduce our user satisfaction and our competitiveness. In addition, any security breach caused by hacking, which involves effort to gain unauthorized access to information or systems, or to cause intentional malfunctions or loss or corruption of data, software, hardware or other computer equipment, and the inadvertent transmission of computer viruses could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We do not maintain insurance policies covering losses relating to our systems and we do not have business interruption insurance. See “Risk Factors - We have limited business insurance coverage. Any future business liability, disruptions or litigation we experience might divert management focus from our business and could significantly impact our financial results.”

Our business is dependent upon the reliability and accessibility of China’s telecommunications and Internet infrastructure and if they become nonfunctional our operational results could suffer as a result.

We render our services via telecommunications and Internet networks, and therefore our ability to fulfill our contracts and generate revenue and profits is dependent on those systems remaining available and accessible with minimal disruption or interruption. Just as we are dependent on the reliability of our software and systems and the telecommunications networks of our principal clients, we are also dependent on the operational reliability and capacity of China’s overall telecommunications and Internet infrastructure. Should this infrastructure or key portions of it be disabled or become nonfunctional, we may not be able to secure alternate means of communication or alternate means of accessing needed information. Our operational results could suffer as a result.

The alteration of the revenue sharing percentage in our agreements with our customers or termination of these agreements could materially and adversely impact our business operations and financial conditions.

Our revenues and profitability could be materially and adversely affected if our customers decide to materially increase its revenue sharing percentage in our agreements with them. In addition, in some instances our customers can impose monetary penalties upon us or even terminate agreements with us, for a variety of reasons, including without limitation, the following:

Significant changes in the policies or guidelines of our customers with respect to services provided by us may materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Our clients may from time to time issue certain operating policies or guidelines. For example, our telecommunications clients may request or state preferences for certain actions to be taken by all MVAS providers using their networks. A significant change in the policies or guidelines of our clients may result in lower revenues or additional operating costs to us. We cannot assure that our financial condition and results of operations will not be materially adversely affected by a change in policies or guidelines by our clients.

Our clients may adopt technologies that decrease the demand for our services, which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We target clients that need our BPO services, and we depend on their continued need for our services. However, over time, our clients may adopt new technologies that decrease the need for live customer interaction, such as interactive voice response, web-based self-help and other technologies used to automate interactions with customers. The adoption of these technologies could reduce the demand for our services, create pricing pressure and harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Failure to maintain or strengthen our ability to provide quality BPO services to our clients will negatively affect our ability to grow revenues and market share.

The amount of fees we can charge our clients depends upon the size of potential customers that we can reach, the outbound cold calling success rate, and the quality of our data mining work. Our clients, including telecommunications operators, e-commence companies, transportation companies, and banks and insurances companies, choose us to provide BPO services in part because of the effectiveness and quality of the services we offer. If we fail to maintain or increase the satisfaction level of our customers, or fail to solidify our brand name and reputation as a quality provider of call center services and content services, our clients may be unwilling to pay the fees at a level necessary for us to remain profitable.

Changes in the regulation of the Chinese telecommunications industry could result in new burdens and expenses on service providers like us.

The telecommunications industry in China operates in a highly regulated environment. Major telecommunications companies in China are state-owned or controlled, and their business decisions and strategies are affected by government budgeting and spending plans. In addition, in December 2001, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China promulgated a set of regulations governing telecommunications providers, and these regulations were amended in 2015 with a classification system that covers, among other things, Type 2 (hereafter defined) value added service providers such as us. Changes in the regulatory system may impose new costs and burdens on us, or affect us indirectly by imposing new burdens and obligations onto our customers that, in turn, may be passed on to us under our agreements with customers. If such changes occur, our financial performance may be adversely affected.

If we fail to obtain and maintain the licenses, permits and approvals required or applicable to our business under the complex regulatory environment for our businesses in China, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

As the telecommunication industry in China is still at a relatively early stage of development, new laws and regulations may be adopted from time to time to address new issues that come to the authorities’ attention. Considerable uncertainties still exist with respect to the interpretation and implementation of existing and future laws and regulations governing our business activities. We cannot assure you that we will not be found in violation of any future laws and regulations or any of the laws and regulations currently in effect due to changes in or discrepancies with respect to the relevant authorities’ interpretation of these laws and regulations. In addition, we may be required to obtain additional license or approvals, and we cannot assure you that we will be able to timely obtain or maintain all the required licenses or approvals or make all the necessary filings in the future. Should we be required to obtain additional licenses or approvals, we may not be able to do so in a timely manner or at all. If we fail to obtain or maintain any of the required licenses or approvals or make the necessary filings, or fail to obtain required licenses or approvals in a timely manner, we may be subject to various penalties, such as confiscation of the net revenues that were generated through the unlicensed telecommunications activities, the imposition of fines and the termination or restriction of our operations. Any such penalties may disrupt our business operations or materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Further restructuring of China’s telecommunications sector may have an adverse impact on our business prospects and results of operations.

Historically, China’s telecommunications sector has been subject to a number of state-mandated restructurings. For example, in 2002 China Telecom was split geographically into a northern division (consisting of 10 provinces) and a southern division (consisting of 21 provinces).

In May 2008, China announced a new restructuring plan for the country’s telecommunications carriers. This restructuring plan reorganized the operations of Chinese telecommunications carriers, creating three major carriers that have both mobile and fixed-line services. Moreover, in 2013, the Chinese government started to permit mobile virtual network operators to lease and repackage mobile services for sale to end customers. Such changes will lead to further intensified competition in China’s telecommunications industry. As a result, more call center outsourcing solution providers will be competing for projects and telecommunications carriers may be able to exact lower prices for our solutions and services. If we cannot effectively compete with our competitors, our profit margin will be reduced, and our results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, telecommunications carriers may also find it more cost-effective to keep or establish their own BPO operations, instead of outsourcing to third-party providers. If the outsourcing of such services is reduced or reversed, our financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Call center services, particularly telemarketing services, may fall into disfavor among the public, reducing demand for our services.

Telemarketing services, particularly outbound call center services, may fall into public disfavor if the recipients of calls find them annoying, burdensome or otherwise overbearing. While we strive to render our services in a professional, polite and courteous manner, we cannot control the public perception of telemarketing generally. Moreover, we do not always have control over the nature or subject matter of outbound calls that our customers require us to make. Public hostility to telemarketing services generally, or to the particular types of calls our customers would like us to make, could result in decreased demand for such services, and thus be detrimental to our revenues and profits.

The growth of our business may be adversely affected due to public concerns over the security and privacy of confidential user information.

The growth of our business may be inhibited if public concerns over the security and privacy of confidential user information transmitted over the Internet and wireless networks are not adequately addressed. Our services may decline and our business may be adversely affected if significant breaches of network security or user privacy occur.

The intellectual property of our customers may be damaged, misappropriated, stolen or lost while in our possession, subjecting us to litigation and other adverse consequences.

In the course of providing services to our clients, we may have possession of or access to their intellectual property, including databases, software, certificates of authenticity and similar valuable items of intellectual property. If our clients’ intellectual property is damaged, misappropriated, stolen or lost, we could suffer adverse impacts to our business, including but not limited to:

Our limited operating history makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and results of operations.

We have a limited operating history. Taiying was established in 2007, CBPO, WFOE and CCRC were established in 2014. As our operating history is limited, the revenues and income potential of our business and markets are unproven. Our limited operating history and the early stage of development of the industry in which we operate makes it difficult to evaluate our business and future prospects. Although we expect our revenues to grow, we cannot assure that we will maintain our profitability or that we will not incur net losses in the future. Any significant failure to realize anticipated revenue growth could result in significant operating losses. Accordingly, you should consider our future prospects in light of the risks and uncertainties experienced by early stage companies in evolving markets such as the growing market for call center services in the PRC. In addition, we face numerous risks, uncertainties, expenses and difficulties frequently encountered by companies at an early stage of development. We will continue to encounter risks and difficulties in implementing our business model, including (among other risks and difficulties) potential failure to:

We cannot predict whether we will be successful in addressing any or all of these risks. If we are unsuccessful in addressing these risks and uncertainties, our business, financial condition and results of operation may be materially and adversely affected.

The markets in which we operate are highly competitive and fragmented. The competition could limit our ability to increase market share, and materially adversely affect our business operations, financial condition and results of operations.

We operate in a highly fragmented market and expect competition to persist and intensify in the future. The outsourcing industry is extremely competitive, and outsourcers have historically competed based on pricing terms. Accordingly, we could be subject to pricing pressure and may experience a decline in our average selling prices for our call center services. We compete with these companies primarily on the basis of brand, type and timing of service offerings, content, customer service, business partners and channel relationships. We also compete for experienced and talented employees. While we believe that we have certain advantages over our competitors, some of them may have greater financial, human and other resources, longer operating histories, greater technological expertise, more recognizable brand names and more established relationships than we do in the industries that we currently serve or may serve in the future. Some of our competitors may enter into strategic or commercial relationships among themselves or with larger, more established companies in order to increase their ability to address client needs. Increased competition, pricing pressure or loss of market share could reduce our operating margin, which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. Furthermore, our competitors may be able to develop or exploit new technologies faster than we can, or offer a broader range of services than we are presently able to offer.

If we fail to compete successfully against new and existing competitors, we may not be able to increase our market share, and our profitability may be adversely affected.

We do and will continue to face significant competition in the PRC in the BPO business. We compete for clients primarily on the basis of our brand name, delivery method, price and the range of services that we offer. We also compete for overall advertising spending with other alternative advertising media companies, such as the Internet, newspapers, television, magazines and radio.

Increased competition will provide advertisers with a wider range of media and advertising service alternatives, which could force us to offer lower prices for our services, resulting in reduced operating margins and profitability and a loss of market share. Some of our existing and potential competitors may have competitive advantages, such as significantly greater financial, marketing or other resources. We cannot assure that we will be able to successfully compete against new or existing competitors.

If we are unable to respond successfully to technological or industry developments, our business may be materially adversely affected.

Rapid advances in technology, industry standards and customer demands characterize the telecommunications industry. New technologies, industry standards or market demands may render our existing services or technologies less competitive or even obsolete. Responding and adapting to any technological developments and standard changes in our industry may require substantial time, effort and capital investment. If we are unable to respond successfully to technology, industry and market developments, such developments may materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and competitiveness.

Our leased property interest may be defective and our right to lease the properties may be affected by such defects, which could cause significant disruption to our business.

Under the applicable PRC laws and regulations, all lease agreements are required to be registered with the local housing authorities. The landlords of certain of our leased premises in China may have not completed the registration of their ownership rights or our leases with the relevant authorities. Failure to complete these required registrations may expose our landlords, lessors and us to potential monetary fines. If these registrations are not obtained in a timely manner, or at all, we may be subject to monetary fines or may have to relocate our offices, which will incur the associated losses and adversely affect our normal business operations.

Our operating margin will suffer if we are not able to maintain our pricing, utilize our employees and assets efficiently or maintain and improve the current mix of services that we deliver.

Our operating margin is largely a function of the prices that we are able to charge for our services, the new programs we are able to develop, the efficient use of our assets, the utilization of our employees, and the geographical location from which we deliver services. For example, China Mobile Beijing has transferred a portion of its call center service business to our Shandong Province location in an effort to reduce costs and DiDi Chuxing has transferred a portion of its call center service business to our Shandong and Guangxi Province locations. Our business model is predicated on our ability to objectively quantify the value that we provide to our clients. If we fail to succeed on any of these objectives, we may experience a decline in our current operating margin.

The rates we are able to charge for our services, our ability to manage our assets efficiently and the location from which we deliver our services are affected by a number of factors, including, without limitation:

Wage increases in China may prevent us from sustaining our competitive advantage and could reduce our profit margins.

Wage costs for our call center professionals and other employees form a significant part of our costs. For instance, in 2020, 2019 2018 and 2017,2018, our compensation and benefit expenses in respect of our professionals was $152.13 million, $114.12 million $90.68 million and $58.76$90.68 million, accounting for 66%63%, 64%66%, and 66%64% of our total revenues, respectively. Because of rapid economic growth and increased competition for skilled employees in China, we may need to increase our levels of employee compensation more rapidly than in the past to remain competitive in retaining the quality and number of employees that our business requires. Increases in the wages and other compensations we pay our employees in China could reduce our competitive strength; especially if increase in wage costs of our call center professionals exceeds increase in our call center professionals’ billing rate, we may suffer a reduction in profit margins. In addition, the future issuance of equity-based compensation to our professional staff and other employees would also result in additional stock dilution for our shareholders.

We depend on our key personnel, and our business and growth prospects may be severely disrupted if we lose their services.

Our future success depends heavily upon the continued service of our key executives. In particular, we rely on the expertise and experience of Gary Wang, our founder, chairman and chief executive officer. We rely on his industry expertise and experience in our business operations, and in particular, his business vision, management skills, and working relationship with our employees, our other major shareholders, the regulatory authorities, and many of our clients. If he became unable or unwilling to continue in his present position, or if he joined a competitor or formed a competing company in violation of his employment agreement, we may not be able to replace him easily, our business may be significantly disrupted and our financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

We do not maintain key man life insurance on any of our senior management or key personnel. The loss of any one of them would have a material adverse effect on our business and operations. Competition for senior management and our other key personnel is intense and the pool of suitable candidates is limited. We may be unable to locate a suitable replacement for any senior management or key personnel that we lose. In addition, if any member of our senior management or key personnel joins a competitor or forms a competing company, they may compete with us for customers, business partners and other key professionals and staff members of our company. Although each of our senior management and key personnel has signed a confidentiality and non-competition agreement in connection with his employment with us, we cannot assure that we will be able to successfully enforce these provisions in the event of a dispute between us and any member of our senior management or key personnel.

In addition, we compete for qualified personnel with other call center companies, and we face competition in attracting skilled personnel and retaining the members of our senior management team. These personnel possess technical and business capabilities, including expertise relevant to the BPO market, which are difficult to replace. There is intense competition for experienced senior management with technical and industry expertise in the BPO industry, and we may not be able to retain our key personnel. Intense competition for these personnel could cause our compensation costs to increase, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. Our future success and ability to grow our business will depend in part on the continued service of these individuals and our ability to identify, hire and retain additional qualified personnel. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified employees, we may be unable to meet our business and financial goals.

If we fail to attract and retain enough sufficiently trained customer service associates and other personnel to support our operations, our business, results of operations and financial condition will be seriously harmed.

We rely on large numbers of customer service associates, and our success depends to a significant extent on our ability to attract, hire, train and retain qualified customer service associates. Companies in the BPO market, including us, experience high employee attrition. Our attrition rate for our customer service associates who remained with us following a 90-day training and orientation period was on average approximately 5% per month. A significant increase in the attrition rate among our customer service associates could decrease our operating efficiency and productivity. Our failure to attract, train and retain customer service associates with the qualifications necessary to fulfill the needs of our existing and future clients would seriously harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our senior management lacks experience in managing a public company and complying with laws applicable to operating as a U.S. public company domiciled in the British Virgin Islands and failure to comply with such obligations could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Prior to the completion of our initial public offering, Taiying operated as a private company located in the PRC. In connection with our initial public offering, the senior management of Taiying formed CCRC in the British Virgin Islands, CBPO in Hong Kong and made WFOE a CCRC subsidiary in the PRC. Taiying, its shareholder, and WFOE also entered into certain agreements that gave CCRC effective control over the operations of Taiying by virtue of its ownership of CBPO and CBPO’s ownership of WFOE. In the process of taking these steps to prepare our company for its initial public offering, Taiying’s senior management became the senior management of CCRC. None of CCRC’s senior management has experience managing a public company or managing a British Virgin Islands company.

As a result of our initial public offering, the Company became subject to laws, regulations and obligations that dis not previously apply to it, and our senior management currently has limited experience in complying with such laws, regulations and obligations. For example, CCRC will need to comply with the British Virgin Islands laws applicable to companies that are domiciled in that country. The senior management is only experienced in operating the business of Taiying in compliance with Chinese laws. Similarly, by virtue of the initial public offering, CCRC is required to file annual reports in compliance with U.S. securities and other laws. These obligations can be burdensome and complicated, and failure to comply with such obligations could have a material adverse effect on CCRC. In addition, we expect that the process of learning about such new obligations as a public company in the United States will require our senior management to devote time and resources to such efforts that might otherwise be spent on the operation of our BPO business.

We may be exposed to liabilities under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Chinese anti-corruption laws.

In connection with our initial public offering, we became subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), and other laws that prohibit improper payments or offers of payments to foreign governments and their officials and political parties by U.S. persons and issuers as defined by the statute for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. We are also subject to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the PRC and the relevant anti-bribery provisions in the Criminal Law of the PRC, or together, the “PRC Anti-Bribery Laws.” The current PRC Anti-Bribery Laws prohibit the payment of bribes to government officials, private companies or individuals in a commercial transaction or their agents. We have operations, agreements with third parties, and make sales in China, which may experience corruption. Our activities in China create the risk of unauthorized payments or offers of payments by one of the employees, consultants or distributors of our company, because these parties are not always subject to our control. We are in process of implementing an anticorruption program, which prohibits the offering or giving of anything of value to foreign officials, directly or indirectly, for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. The anticorruption program also requires that clauses mandating compliance with our policy be included in all contracts with foreign sales agents, sales consultants and distributors and that they certify their compliance with our policy annually. It further requires all hospitality involving promotion of sales to foreign governments and government-owned or controlled entities to be in accordance with specified guidelines. In the meantime, we believe to date we have complied in all material respects with the provisions of the FCPA and the PRC Anti-Bribery Laws.

However, our existing safeguards and any future improvements may prove to be less than effective, and the employees, consultants or distributors of our Company may engage in conduct for which we might be held responsible. Violations of the FCPA or PRC Anti-Bribery Laws may result in severe criminal or administrative sanctions, and we may be subject to other liabilities, which could negatively affect our business, operating results and financial condition. In addition, the government may seek to hold our company liable for successor liability FCPA violations committed by companies in which we invest or that we acquire.

Our quarterly operating results are difficult to predict and may fluctuate significantly from period to period in the future.

Our quarterly operating results may differ significantly from period to period due to factors such as, without limitation:

As a result, you may not be able to rely on period-to-period comparisons of our operating results as an indication of our future performance. If our revenues for a particular quarter are lower than we expect, we may be unable to reduce our operating expenses for that quarter by a corresponding amount, which would harm our operating results for that quarter relative to our operating results from other quarters.

We may incur losses resulting from business interruptions resulting from occurrence of natural disasters, health epidemics and other outbreaks or events.

Our operations may be damaged in natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, heavy rains, sand storms, tsunamis and cyclones, or other events such as fires. Such natural disasters or other events may lead to disruption of information systems and telephone service for sustained periods. Also, our business operations could be disrupted by health epidemics, such as the COVID-19 breaking out in January 2020. A prolonged outbreak of such illness or other adverse public health developments in China or elsewhere in the world could have a material adverse effect on our business operations. In addition, our results of operations could be adversely affected to the extent that any natural disaster or health epidemic harms the Chinese economy in general.

We have limited business insurance coverage. Any future business liability, disruption or litigation we experience might divert management focus from our business and could significantly impact our financial results.

Availability of business insurance products and coverage in the PRC is limited, and most such products are expensive in relation to the coverage offered. We have determined that the risks of disruption, cost of such insurance and the difficulties associated with acquiring such insurances on commercially reasonable terms make it impractical for us to maintain such insurances. As a result, we do not have any business liability, disruption or litigation insurance coverage for our operations in the PRC. Accordingly, a business disruption, litigation or natural disaster may result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention from our business, which would have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

We may require additional financing in the future and our operations could be curtailed if we are unable to obtain required additional financing when needed.

We may need to obtain additional debt or equity financing to fund future capital expenditures. While we do not anticipate seeking additional financing in the immediate future, any additional equity financing may result in dilution to the holders of our outstanding shares of capital stock. Additional debt financing may put us in situations that would restrict our freedom to operate our business, such as situations that:

We cannot guaranty that we will be able to obtain additional financing on terms that are acceptable to us, or any financing at all.

Potential disruptions in the capital and credit markets may adversely affect our business, including the availability and cost of short-term funds for liquidity requirements, which could adversely affect our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

Potential changes in the global economy may affect the availability of business and consumer credit. We may need to rely on the credit markets, particularly for short-term borrowings from banks in the PRC, as well as the capital markets, to meet our financial commitments and short-term liquidity needs if internal funds from our operations are not available to be allocated to such purposes. Disruptions in the credit and capital markets could adversely affect our ability to draw on such short-term bank facilities. Our access to funds under such credit facilities is dependent on the ability of the banks that are parties to those facilities to meet their funding commitments, which may be dependent on governmental economic policies in the PRC. Those banks may not be able to meet their funding commitments to us if they experience shortages of capital and liquidity or if they experience excessive volumes of borrowing requests from us and other borrowers within a short period of time.

Long-term disruptions in the credit and capital markets could result from uncertainty, changing or increased regulations, reduced alternatives or failures of financial institutions could adversely affect our access to the liquidity needed for our business. Any disruption could require us to take measures to conserve cash until the markets stabilize or until alternative credit arrangements or other funding for our business needs can be arranged. Such measures may include deferring capital expenditures, and reducing or eliminating discretionary uses of cash.

Continued market disruptions could cause broader economic downturns, which may lead to decreased cellular telephone usage, decreased commercial activities in general, and increased likelihood that customers will be unable to pay for our services. Further, bankruptcies or similar events by or significant customers, or our other clients may cause us to incur bad debt expense at levels higher than historically experienced. These events would adversely impact our results of operations, cash flows and financial position.

Rapid growth and a rapidly changing operating environment may strain our limited resources.

We may not have adequate operational, administrative and financial resources to sustain the growth we want to achieve. Taiying was incorporated in December 2007. As of December 31, 2019,2020, we had a total of approximately 12,63614,057 full-time employees and 5,6017,185 workers who are not considered full-time employees under the PRC laws, including part-time workers, dispatched workers, reemployed workers after retirement, and interns. We have experienced rapid growth in our employee headcount. This expansion has resulted, and will continue to result, in substantial demands on our management resources. To manage our growth, we must develop and improve our existing administrative and operational systems and our financial and management controls and further expand, train and manage our work force. As we continue these efforts, we may incur substantial costs and expend substantial resources due to, among other things, different technology standards, legal considerations and cultural differences.

Our future success also depends on our product development, customer service, sales and marketing. If we fail to manage our growth and expansion effectively, the quality of our services and our customer support may deteriorate and our business may suffer. This could prompt our clients to discontinue their respective outsourcing relationships with us. We cannot assure that we will be able to efficiently or effectively manage the growth of our operations, recruit top talent and train our personnel. Any failure to efficiently manage our expansion may materially and adversely affect our business and future growth.

We may be classified as a “Resident Enterprise” of China pursuant to the Enterprise Income Tax Law, and subject to unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders.

China passed an Enterprise Income Tax Law (the “EIT Law”) and implementing rules, both of which became effective on January 1, 2008. Under the EIT Law,current laws and regulations relating to enterprise income tax, resident enterprises pay income tax at the rate of 25% for their worldwide income while non-resident enterprises pay 20% for their income generated from China. As farA “resident enterprise” is defined as the definition of resident enterprises, according to the EIT Law, an enterprise established outside of China with “de facto management bodies” within China is considered a “resident enterprise.”under the Enterprise Income Tax Law of China (the “EIT Law”). The implementing rules of the EIT Law define de facto management as “substantial and overall management and control over the production and operations, personnel, accounting, and properties” of the enterprise.

On April 22, 2009, the State Administration of Taxation of China (the “SAT”) issued the Circular 82 Concerning Relevant Issues Regarding Cognizance of Chinese Investment Controlled Enterprises Incorporated Offshore as Resident Enterprises pursuant to Criteria of De Facto Management Bodies (“Circular 82”) further interpreting the application of the EIT Law and its implementation to offshore entities controlled by a Chinese enterprise or group. Pursuant to the Circular 82, an enterprise incorporated in an offshore jurisdiction and controlled by a Chinese enterprise or group will be classified as a “non-domestically incorporated resident enterprise” if  (i) its senior management in charge of daily operations reside or perform their duties mainly in China; (ii) its financial or personnel decisions are made or approved by bodies or persons in China; (iii) its substantial assets and properties, accounting books, corporate stamps, board and shareholder minutes are kept in China; and (iv) at least half of its directors with voting rights or senior management frequently reside in China. The SAT issued a bulletin on August 3, 2011 to provide more guidance on the implementation of Circular 82, or Bulletin 45. Bulletin 45 clarifies certain matters relating to resident status determination, post-determination administration and competent tax authorities. In addition, the SAT issued a bulletin on January 29, 2014, which further provides that, among other things, an entity that is classified as a “resident enterprise” in accordance with Circular 82 shall file the application for classifying its status of residential enterprise with the local tax authorities where its main domestic investors are registered. From the year in which the entity is determined to be a “resident enterprise,” any dividend, profit and other equity investment gain shall be taxed in accordance with the enterprise income tax law and its implementing rules. A resident enterprise would have to pay a withholding tax at a rate of 10% when paying dividends to its non-PRC shareholders.

We do not believe that our company or its subsidiaries meet the conditions outlined in the preceding paragraph to be classified as a PRC “resident enterprise,” since CCRC does not have a PRC enterprise or enterprise group as our primary controlling shareholder, and we are not aware of any offshore company with a corporate structure similar to the company that has been deemed a PRC “resident enterprise” by the PRC tax authorities.

However, as the tax resident status of an enterprise is subject to determination by the PRC tax authorities and uncertainties remain with respect to the interpretation of the term “de facto management body,” we cannot guarantee that the relevant authorities will not make a contrary conclusion to ours. If the PRC tax authorities determine that we are a “resident enterprise” for PRC enterprise income tax purposes, a number of unfavorable PRC tax consequences could follow. First, we may be subject to the enterprise income tax at a rate of 25% on our worldwide taxable income as well as PRC enterprise income tax reporting obligations. In our case, this would mean that income such as non-China source income would be subject to PRC enterprise income tax at a rate of 25%. Second, under the EIT Law and its implementing rules, dividends paid to us from our PRC subsidiaries would qualify as “tax-exempt income.” Finally, it is possible that future guidance issued with respect to the new “resident enterprise” classification could result in a situation in which a 10% withholding tax is imposed on dividends we pay to our non-PRC shareholders and with respect to gains derived by our non-PRC shareholders from transferring our shares. In addition to the uncertainty in how the new resident enterprise classification could apply, it is also possible that the rules may change in the future, possibly with retroactive effect. If we are required under the Enterprise Income Tax law to withhold PRC income tax on our dividends payable to our foreign shareholders, or if we are required to pay PRC income tax on the transfer of our shares under the circumstances mentioned above, the value of your investment in our common shares may be materially and adversely affected. It is unclear whether in the event we are considered as a PRC resident enterprise, holders of our shares would be able to claim the benefit of income tax treaties or agreements entered into between China and other countries or areas.

Our bank accounts are not insured or protected against loss.

WFOE and the Operating Companies maintain cash accounts with various banks and trust companies located in the PRC. Such cash accounts are not insured or otherwise protected. Should any bank or trust company holding such cash deposits become insolvent, or if WFOE or an operating company of ours is otherwise unable to withdraw funds, this entity would lose the cash on deposit with that particular bank or trust company.

We may not pay dividends.

We have not previously paid any cash dividends, and we do not anticipate paying any dividends on our common shares. Although we have achieved net profitability in 2020, 2019 2018 and 2017,2018, we cannot assure that our operations will continue to result in sufficient revenues to enable us to operate at profitable levels or to generate positive cash flows. Furthermore, there is no assurance that our Board of Directors will declare dividends even if we are profitable. Dividend policy is subject to the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on, among other things, our earnings, financial condition, capital requirements and other factors. If we determine to pay dividends on any of our common shares in the future, we will be dependent, in large part, on receipt of funds from Taiying. See “Dividend Policy.”

Our growth strategy may prove to be disruptive and divert management resources, which could adversely affect our existing businesses.

Our growth strategy includes the continued expansion of Taiying’s call center operations and may include strategic acquisitions of competitive operators. We do not have any understanding, commitment or agreement in place with regard to any such acquisitions at this time. The implementation of such strategies may involve large transactions and present financial, managerial and operational challenges, including diversion of management attention from existing businesses, difficulty with integrating personnel and financial and other systems, increased expenses, including compensation expenses resulting from newly-hired employees, assumption of unknown liabilities and potential disputes. We also could experience financial or other setbacks if any of our growth strategies encounter problems of which we are not presently aware.

We expect to allocate a portion of the net proceeds from our initial public offering to such acquisitions, but we have not yet located any potential targets, and we may be unable to do so. Further, even if we find a target we believe to be suitable, we may be unable to negotiate acquisition terms that are satisfactory to us. In the event we are unable to complete acquisitions, we will reserve the right to reallocate such funds to our working capital. If this happens, we would have broad discretion over the ultimate use of such funds, and we could use such funds in ways with which investors might disagree.

Furthermore, any such acquisitions must comply with all PRC laws and regulations applicable to such transactions. The regulatory environment that governs mergers and acquisitions in the PRC has continued to evolve in recent years and remains subject to interpretation by the agencies that have responsibility for reviewing or approving such transactions. Compliance with such regulations in the process of structuring, negotiating and closing such transactions will require us to expend company resources that would otherwise be available for and used in the management and operation of the Company, all of which could have an adverse effect on our operations and financial results.

The misappropriation of our intellectual property could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our intellectual property rights are important to our business. We rely on a combination of trade secrets, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property. We presently hold 14 patents, 14 registered trademark and have been granted registered computer software ownership rights to 168255 pieces of intellectual property rights by the China State Copyright Bureau. In addition, we enter into confidentiality agreements with some of our employees and consultants, and control access to and distribution of our documentation and other licensed information. Despite these precautions, it may be possible for a third party to copy or otherwise obtain and use our technology without authorization, or to develop similar technology independently. Since the Chinese legal system in general, and the intellectual property regime in particular, is relatively weak, it is often difficult to enforce intellectual property rights in China. In addition, confidentiality agreements may be breached by counterparties, and there may not be adequate remedies available to us for any such breach. Accordingly, we may not be able to effectively protect our intellectual property rights or to enforce our contractual rights in China or elsewhere. In addition, policing any unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult, time-consuming and costly and the steps we have taken may be inadequate to prevent the misappropriation of our intellectual property. In the event that we resort to litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights, such litigation could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our managerial and financial resources. We can provide no assurance that we will prevail in such litigation. Any failure in protecting or enforcing our intellectual property rights could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Relating to Our Corporate Structure

WFOE’s contractual arrangements with Taiying may result in adverse tax consequences to us.

We could face material and adverse tax consequences if the PRC tax authorities determine that WFOE’s contractual arrangements with Taiying were not made on an arm’s length basis and adjust our income and expenses for PRC tax purposes in the form of a transfer pricing adjustment. A transfer pricing adjustment could result in a reduction, for PRC tax purposes, of adjustments recorded by Taiying, which could adversely affect us by increasing Taiying’s tax liability without reducing WFOE’s tax liability, which could further result in late payment fees and other penalties to Taiying for underpaid taxes, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

WFOE’s contractual arrangements with Taiying may not be as effective in providing control over Taiying as direct ownership.

We conduct substantially all of our operations, and generate substantially all of our revenues, through contractual arrangements with Taiying that provide us, through our ownership of WFOE, with effective control over Taiying. We depend on Taiying to hold and maintain contracts with our customers. Taiying also own substantially all of our intellectual property, facilities and other assets relating to the operation of our business, and employ the personnel for substantially all of our business. Neither our company nor WFOE has any ownership interest in Taiying. Although we have been advised by our PRC legal counsel, that each contract under WFOE’s contractual arrangements with Taiying is valid, binding and enforceable under current PRC laws and regulations, these contractual arrangements may not be as effective in providing us with control over Taiying as direct ownership of Taiying would be. In addition, Taiying may breach the contractual arrangements. For example, Taiying may decide not to make contractual payments to WFOE, and consequently to our company, in accordance with the existing contractual arrangements. In the event of any such breach, we would have to rely on legal remedies under PRC law. These remedies may not always be effective, particularly in light of uncertainties in the PRC legal system.

PRC laws and regulations governing our businesses and the validity of certain of our contractual arrangements are uncertain. If we are found to be in violation of such PRC laws and regulations, we could be subject to sanctions. In addition, changes in such PRC laws and regulations may materially and adversely affect our business.

Prior to July 30, 2019, foreign ownership of a call center BPO and its related business was subject to restrictions under PRC laws and regulations. For example, foreign investors were not allowed to own more than 50% of the equity interests in a value-added telecommunication service provider and any such foreign investor must have experience in providing value-added telecommunications services overseas and maintain a good track record. Because we are a BVI company and our PRC subsidiary WFOE is considered a foreign-invested enterprise, to comply with then-applicable PRC laws and regulations, we conducted our business in China through WFOE, Taiying and its subsidiaries based on a series of contractual arrangements by and among WFOE, Taiying and its shareholders, which enable us to:

Because of these contractual arrangements, we are the primary beneficiary of Taiying and hence consolidate its financial results as our variable interest entity. While the PRC government has lifted all the restrictions on foreign ownership for call center operators beginning on July 30, 2019, we have not restructured our ownership structure to-date.

In the opinion of our PRC legal counsel, (a) our current ownership structure of our WFOE and Taiying, both comply with all existing PRC laws and regulations; and (b) each of the contractual arrangements is valid, binding and enforceable in accordance with its terms and applicable PRC Laws, and will not result in any violation of PRC laws or regulations currently in effect. However, our PRC legal counsel has also advised us that there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of PRC Laws and future PRC Laws, and there can be no assurance that the PRC authorities may take a view that is contrary to or otherwise different from our PRC legal counsel.

It is uncertain whether any new PRC laws, rules or regulations relating to contractual arrangements structures will be adopted or if adopted, what they would provide. Further, the effectiveness of newly enacted laws, regulations or amendments may be delayed, resulting in detrimental reliance by foreign investors. If CCRC, WFOE or Taiying are found to be in violation of any existing or future PRC laws, rules or regulations, or fail to obtain or maintain any of the required permits or approvals, the relevant PRC regulatory authorities would have broad discretion to take action in dealing with such violations or failures, including, sanctions, fines, revoking the business and operating licenses of WFOE or Taiying, requiring us to discontinue or restrict our operations, restricting our right to collect revenue, requiring us to restructure our operations or taking other regulatory or enforcement actions against us. If we are not able to restructure our ownership structure and operations in a satisfactory manner, we would no longer be able to consolidate the financial results of Taiying in our consolidated financial statements. In addition, any litigation in the PRC may be protracted and result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention. Any of these events would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The shareholder of Taiying has potential conflicts of interest with us, which may adversely affect our business.

Neither WFOE nor we own any portion of the equity interests of Taiying. Instead, we rely on WFOE’s contractual obligations to enforce our interest in receiving payments from Taiying. Conflicts of interests may arise between Taiying’s shareholder and our company if, for example, its interests in receiving dividends from Taiying were to conflict with our interest requiring these companies to make contractually obligated payments to WFOE. As a result, we have required Taiying and its sole shareholder to execute irrevocable powers of attorney to appoint the individual designated by us to be his attorney-in-fact to vote on their behalf on all matters requiring shareholder approval by Taiying and to require Taiying’s compliance with the terms of its contractual obligations. We cannot assure, however, that when conflicts of interest arise, the shareholder will act completely in our interests or that conflicts of interests will be resolved in our favor. In addition, this shareholder could violate its agreements with us by diverting business opportunities from us to others. If we cannot resolve any conflicts of interest between us and Taiying’s shareholder, we would have to rely on legal proceedings, which could result in substantial costs and diversion of management attention and resources, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

PRC regulations relating to the establishment of offshore special purpose companies by PRC residents may subject our PRC resident shareholders to personal liability and limit our ability to inject capital into our PRC subsidiary, limit our subsidiary’s ability to increase its registered capital, distribute profits to us, or otherwise adversely affect us.

On July 4, 2014, China’s State Administration for Foreign Exchange (“SAFE”) issued the Circular of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Issues concerning Foreign Exchange Administration over the Overseas Investment and Financing and Round-trip Investment by Domestic Residents via Special Purpose Vehicles, or Circular 37, which became effective as of July 4, 2014. According to Circular 37, prior registration with the local SAFE branch is required for PRC residents to contribute domestic assets or interests to offshore companies, known as a special purpose vehicle (SPV). Moreover, Circular 37 applies retroactively. As a result, PRC residents who have contributed domestic assets or interests to a SPV, but failed to complete foreign exchange registration of overseas investments as required before July 4, 2014 shall send a letter to SAFE and its branches for explanation. SAFE and its branches shall, under the principle of legality and legitimacy, conduct supplementary registration, and impose administrative punishment on those in violation of the administrative provisions on the foreign exchange pursuant to the law.

We attempt to comply, and attempt to ensure that our shareholders who are subject to these rules comply, with the relevant requirements. However, we cannot provide any assurances that all of our shareholders who are PRC residents will make or obtain any applicable registrations or comply with other requirements required by Circular 37 or other related rules. The failure or inability of our PRC resident shareholders to make any required registrations or comply with other requirements may subject such shareholders to fines and legal sanctions and may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital into or provide loans to (including using the proceeds from our initial public offering) WFOE or Taiying, limiting their ability to pay dividends or otherwise distributing profits to us.

We rely on dividends paid by WFOE for our cash needs.

We rely primarily on dividends paid by WFOE for our cash needs, including the funds necessary to pay dividends and other cash distributions, if any, to our shareholders, to service any debt we may incur and to pay our operating expenses. The payment of dividends by entities organized in the PRC is subject to limitations as described herein. Under British Virgin Islands law, we may only pay dividends from surplus (the excess, if any, at the time of the determination of the total assets of our company over the sum of our liabilities, as shown in our books of account, plus our capital), and we must be solvent before and after the dividend payment in the sense that we will be able to satisfy our liabilities as they become due in the ordinary course of business; and the realizable value of assets of our company will not be less than the sum of our total liabilities, other than deferred taxes as shown on our books of account, and our capital. If we determine to pay dividends on any of our common shares in the future, as a holding company, we will be dependent on receipt of funds from WFOE. See “Dividend Policy.”

Pursuant to the Implementation Rules for the Chinese Enterprise Income Tax Law, effectiveamended on January 1, 2008,April 23, 2019, dividends payable by a foreign investment entity to its foreign investors are subject to a withholding tax of up to 10%. Pursuant to Article 10 of the Arrangement Between the Mainland of China and the Hong Kong Special Administration Region for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income effective December 8, 2006, dividends payable by a foreign investment entity to its Hong Kong investor who owns 25% or more of the equity of the foreign investment entity is subject to a withholding tax of up to 5%.

The payment of dividends by entities organized in the PRC is subject to limitations, procedures and formalities. Regulations in the PRC currently permit payment of dividends only out of accumulated profits as determined in accordance with accounting standards and regulations in China. WFOE is also required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profit based on PRC accounting standards each year to its compulsory reserves fund until the accumulative amount of such reserves reaches 50% of its registered capital.

The transfer to this reserve must be made before distribution of any dividend to shareholders. The surplus reserve fund is non-distributable other than during liquidation and can be used to fund previous years’ losses, if any, and may be utilized for business expansion or converted into share capital by issuing new shares to existing shareholders in proportion to their shareholding or by increasing the par value of the shares currently held by them, provided that the remaining reserve balance after such issue is not less than 25% of the registered capital. As of December 31, 20192020 and 2018,2019, the accumulated appropriations to statutory reserves amounted to $5,818,330$7,761,226 and $3,916,149$5,818,330 respectively.

WFOE is required to allocate a portion of its after-tax profits, as determined by its board of directors, to the general reserve, and the staff welfare and bonus funds, which may not be distributed to equity owners.

Pursuant to the relevant PRC laws, WFOE is required to allocate a portion of its after-tax profits in accordance with its Articles of Association, to the general reserve, and the staff welfare and bonus funds. No lower than 10% of an enterprise’s after tax-profits should be allocated to the general reserve. When the general reserve account balance is equal to or greater than 50% of the WFOE’s registered capital, no further allocation to the general reserve account is required. According to the Articles of Association of WFOE, WFOE’s board of directors determines the amount contributed to the staff welfare and bonus funds. The staff welfare and bonus fund are used for the collective welfare of the staff of WFOE. These reserves represent appropriations of retained earnings determined according to PRC law. 

As of the date of this annual report, the amounts of these reserves have not yet been determined, and we have not committed to establishing such amounts at this time. Under current PRC laws, WFOE is required to set aside reserve amounts, but has not yet done so. WFOE has not done so because PRC authorities grant companies flexibility in making a determination. PRC law requires such a determination to be made in accordance with the company’s organizational documents and WFOE’s organizational documents do not require the determination to be made within a particular timeframe. Although we have not yet been required by PRC authorities to make such determinations or set aside such reserves, PRC authorities may require WFOE to rectify its noncompliance and we may be fined if we fail to do so after receiving a warning within its set time period.

Additionally, PRC law provides that a PRC company must allocate a portion of after-tax profits to the general reserve and the staff welfare and bonus funds reserve prior to the retention of profits or the distribution of profits to foreign invested companies. Therefore, if for any reason, the dividends from WFOE cannot be repatriated to us or not in time, our cash flow may be adversely impacted or we may become insolvent.

WFOE is required to make a payment under its agreement to bear the losses of Taiying, thus our liquidity may be adversely affected, which could harm our financial condition and results of operations.

On September 3, 2014, WFOE entered into an Entrusted Management Agreement with Taiying. Pursuant to the Entrusted Management Agreement, WFOE agreed to bear the losses of Taiying. If Taiying suffers losses and WFOE is required to absorb all or a portion of such losses, WFOE will be required to seek reimbursement from Taiying. In such event, it is unlikely that Taiying will be able to make such reimbursement and WFOE may be unable to recoup the loss WFOE absorbed at such time, if ever. Further, under the Entrusted Management Agreement, WFOE may absorb the losses at a time when WFOE does not have sufficient cash to make such payment and at a time when WFOE or we may be unable to borrow such funds on terms that are acceptable, if at all. As a result, any losses absorbed under the Entrusted Management Agreement may have an adverse effect on our liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business may be materially and adversely affected if any of our Operating Companies declare bankruptcy or become subject to a dissolution or liquidation proceeding.

The Enterprise Bankruptcy Law of China provides that an enterprise may be liquidated if the enterprise fails to settle its debts as and when they fall due and if the enterprise’s assets are, or are demonstrably, insufficient to clear such debts.

Our Operating Companies hold certain assets that are important to our business operations. If any of our Operating Companies undergoes a voluntary or involuntary liquidation proceeding, unrelated third-party creditors may claim rights to some or all of these assets, thereby hindering our ability to operate our business, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our failure to obtain prior approval of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (“CSRC”) for the listing and trading of our common shares on a foreign stock exchange could have a material adverse effect upon our business, operating results, reputation and trading price of our common shares.

On August 8, 2006, six PRC regulatory agencies, including the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (“MOFCOM”), the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the State Administration of Taxation, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the CSRC and SAFE, jointly issued the Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, which was subsequently revised on June 22, 2009 (the “New M&A Rule”). The New M&A Rule contains provisions that require that an offshore special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed for overseas listing purposes and controlled directly or indirectly by PRC companies or individuals shall obtain the approval of the CSRC prior to the listing and trading of such SPV’s securities on an overseas stock exchange. On September 21, 2006, the CSRC published Provisions on Indirect Issuance of Securities Overseas by a Domestic Enterprise or Overseas Listing of Its Securities for Trading, which specify documents and materials required to be submitted to the CSRC by a SPV seeking CSRC’s approval for overseas listings. The application of the New M&A Rule remains unclear. Further, on December 28, 2019, China amended the Securities Law of the PRC (the “2019 PRC Securities Law”) and enacted it on March 1, 2020. Pursuant to this amendment, the direct or indirect listing or trading of a domestic company’s securities on an overseas stock exchange shall be in compliance with the relevant requirements of the State Council. The State Council has not yet implemented any detailed rules in this regard.

Our PRC counsel, GFE Law Firm, has given us the following advice, based on their understanding of current PRC laws and regulations:

The CSRC has not issued any such definitive rule or interpretation, and we have not chosen to voluntarily request approval under the New M&A Rule or the 2019 Securities Law. We did not obtain CSRC approval prior to our initial public offering. If prior CSRC approval was required, we may face regulatory actions or other sanctions from the CSRC or other PRC regulatory authorities. These authorities may impose fines and penalties upon our operations in the PRC, limit our operating privileges in the PRC, delay or restrict the repatriation of the proceeds from our initial public offering into the PRC, or take other actions that could have a material adverse effect upon our business, financial condition, results of operations, reputation and prospects, as well as the trading price of our common shares.

Failure to comply with the Individual Foreign Exchange Rules relating to the overseas direct investment or the engagement in the issuance or trading of securities overseas by our Chinese resident shareholders may subject such shareholders to fines or other liabilities.

Other than Circular 37, our ability to conduct foreign exchange activities in China may be subject to the interpretation and enforcement of the Implementation Rules of the Administrative Measures for Individual Foreign Exchange promulgated by SAFE in January 2007 (as amended and supplemented, the “Individual Foreign Exchange Rules”). Under the Individual Foreign Exchange Rules, any Chinese individual seeking to make a direct investment overseas or engage in the issuance or trading of negotiable securities or derivatives overseas must make the appropriate registrations in accordance with SAFE provisions. Chinese individuals who fail to make such registrations may be subject to warnings, fines or other liabilities.

We may not be fully informed of the identities of all our beneficial owners who are Chinese residents. For example, because the investment in or trading of our shares will happen in an overseas public or secondary market where shares are often held with brokers in brokerage accounts, it is unlikely that we will know the identity of all of our beneficial owners who are Chinese residents. Furthermore, we have no control over any of our future beneficial owners and we cannot assure you that such Chinese residents will be able to complete the necessary approval and registration procedures required by the Individual Foreign Exchange Rules.

It is uncertain how the Individual Foreign Exchange Rules will be interpreted or enforced and whether such interpretation or enforcement will affect our ability to conduct foreign exchange transactions. Because of this uncertainty, we cannot be sure whether the failure by any of our Chinese resident shareholders to make the required registration will subject our subsidiaries to fines or legal sanctions on their operations, restriction on remittance of dividends or other punitive actions that would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We are an “emerging growth company,” and we cannot be certain if the reduced reporting requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common shares less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or the JOBS Act. For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although we could lose that status sooner if our revenues exceed $1 billion, if we issue more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt in a three yearthree-year period, or if the market value of our commons shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any December 31 before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict if investors will find our common shares less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common shares less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our commons shares and our share price may be more volatile.

Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can also delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected not to avail our company of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, are subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies.

 We are a “foreign private issuer,” and our disclosure obligations differ from those of U.S. domestic reporting companies. As a result, we may not provide you the same information as U.S. domestic reporting companies or we may provide information at different times, which may make it more difficult for you to evaluate our performance and prospects.

We are a foreign private issuer and, as a result, we are not subject to the same requirements as U.S. domestic issuers. Under the Exchange Act, we will be subject to reporting obligations that, to some extent, are more lenient and less frequent than those of U.S. domestic reporting companies. For example, we will not be required to issue quarterly reports or proxy statements. We will not be required to disclose detailed individual executive compensation information. Furthermore, our directors and executive officers will not be required to report equity holdings under Section 16 of the Exchange Act and will not be subject to the insider short-swing profit disclosure and recovery regime.

As a foreign private issuer, we will also be exempt from the requirements of Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure) which, generally, are meant to ensure that select groups of investors are not privy to specific information about an issuer before other investors. However, we will still be subject to the anti-fraud and anti-manipulation rules of the SEC, such as Rule 10b-5 under the Exchange Act. Since many of the disclosure obligations imposed on us as a foreign private issuer differ from those imposed on U.S. domestic reporting companies, you should not expect to receive the same information about us and at the same time as the information provided by U.S. domestic reporting companies.

Foreign Operational Risks

We are dependent on the state of the PRC’s economy as all of our business is conducted in the PRC and a decline would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Currently, all of our business operations are conducted in the PRC, and all of our customers are also located in the PRC. Accordingly, any material slowdown in the PRC economy may cause our customers to reduce expenditures or delay the building of new facilities or projects. This may in turn lead to a decline in the demand for the services we provide. Any such decline would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A general economic downturn, a recession or a sudden disruption in business conditions in the PRC may affect consumer spending on discretionary items, including cellular telephone services and MVAS, which could adversely affect our business.

Consumer spending is generally affected by a number of factors, including general economic conditions, the level of unemployment, inflation, interest rates, energy costs, gasoline prices and consumer confidence generally, all of which are beyond our control. Consumer purchases of discretionary items tend to decline during recessionary periods, when disposable income is lower, and may impact sales of our services. In addition, sudden disruption in business conditions as a result of a terrorist attack, retaliation and the threat of further attacks or retaliation, war, adverse weather conditions and climate changes or other natural disasters, pandemic situations or large scale power outages can have a short or, sometimes, long-term impact on consumer spending. A downturn in the economy in the PRC, including any recession or a sudden disruption of business conditions in the PRC, could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operation.

Since our operations and assets are located in the PRC, shareholders may find it difficult to enforce a U.S. judgment against the assets of our company, our directors and executive officers.

Our operations and assets are located in the PRC. In addition, all of our executive officers and directors are non-residents of the U.S., and substantially all the assets of such persons are located outside the U.S. As a result, it could be difficult for investors to effect service of process in the U.S., or to enforce a judgment obtained in the U.S. against us or any of these persons.

Although we do not import goods into or export goods out of the PRC, fluctuation of the Renminbi (“RMB”) may indirectly affect our financial condition by affecting the volume of cross-border money flow.

Although we use the United States dollar for financial reporting purposes, all of the transactions effected by WFOE and Taiying are denominated in the PRC’s currency, the RMB. The value of the RMB fluctuates and is subject to changes in the PRC’s political and economic conditions. We do not currently engage in hedging activities to protect against foreign currency risks. Even if we choose to engage in such hedging activities, we may not be able to do so effectively. Future movements in the exchange rate of the RMB could adversely affect our financial condition as we may suffer financial losses when transferring money raised outside of China into the country or paying vendors for services performed outside of China.

If any dividend is declared in the future and paid in a foreign currency, you may be taxed on a larger amount in U.S. dollars than the U.S. dollar amount that you will actually ultimately receive.

If you are a United States holder, you will be taxed on the U.S. dollar value of your dividends, if any, at the time you receive them, even if you actually receive a smaller amount of U.S. dollars when the payment is in fact converted into U.S. dollars. Specifically, if a dividend is declared and paid in a foreign currency, the amount of the dividend distribution that you must include in your income as a U.S. holder will be the U.S. dollar value of the payments made in the foreign currency, determined at the spot rate of the foreign currency to the U.S. dollar on the date the dividend distribution is includible in your income, regardless of whether the payment is in fact converted into U.S. dollars. Thus, if the value of the foreign currency decreases before you actually convert the currency into U.S. dollars, you will be taxed on a larger amount in U.S. dollars than the U.S. dollar amount that you will actually ultimately receive.

We may become a passive foreign investment company, which could result in adverse U.S. tax consequences to U.S. investors.

Based on the nature of our business activities, we may be classified as a passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”), by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Such characterization could result in adverse U.S. tax consequences to you if you are a U.S. investor. For example, if we are a PFIC, a U.S. investor will become subject to burdensome reporting requirements. The determination of whether or not we are a PFIC is made on an annual basis and will depend on the composition of our income and assets from time to time. Specifically, we will be classified as a PFIC for U.S. tax purposes if either:

The calculation of the value of our assets is based, in part, on the then market value of our common shares, which is subject to change. In addition, the composition of our income and assets will be affected by how, and how quickly, we spend the cash we raised in our initial public offering. We cannot assure that we will not be a PFIC for any taxable year. See “Taxation – United States Federal Income Taxation-Passive Foreign Investment Company.”

Introduction of new laws or changes to existing laws by the PRC government may adversely affect our business.

The PRC legal system is a codified legal system made up of written laws, regulations, circulars, administrative directives and internal guidelines. Unlike common law jurisdictions such as the U.S., decided cases (which may be taken as reference) do not form part of the legal structure of the PRC and thus have no binding effect. Furthermore, in line with its transformation from a centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented economy, the PRC government is still in the process of developing a comprehensive set of laws and regulations. As the legal system in the PRC is still evolving, laws and regulations or their interpretation may be subject to further changes. Such uncertainty and prospective changes to the PRC legal system could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Governmental control of currency conversion may affect the value of your investment.

The PRC government imposes controls on the convertibility of the Renminbi into foreign currencies and, in certain cases, the remittance of currency out of the PRC, which may take as long as six months in the ordinary course. We receive the majority of our revenues in Renminbi. Under our current corporate structure, our income is derived from payments from WFOE. Shortages in the availability of foreign currency may restrict the ability of WFOE to remit sufficient foreign currency to pay dividends or other payments to us, or otherwise satisfy their foreign currency denominated obligations. Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, including profit distributions, interest payments and expenditures from trade-related transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior approval from the PRC SAFE by complying with certain procedural requirements. However, approval from appropriate government authorities is required where Renminbi is to be converted into foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses such as the repayment of bank loans denominated in foreign currencies. The PRC government may also at its discretion restrict access in the future to foreign currencies for current account transactions. If the foreign exchange control system prevents us from obtaining sufficient foreign currency to satisfy our currency demands, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders. See “Business Overview – Regulations on Foreign Currency Exchange and Dividend Distribution.”

Fluctuation of the Renminbi could materially affect our financial condition and results of operations

The value of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar and other currencies may fluctuate and is affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions. On July 21, 2005, the PRC government changed its decade-old policy of pegging the value of the Renminbi to the U.S. dollar. Under the new policy, the Renminbi is permitted to fluctuate within a narrow and managed band against a basket of certain foreign currencies. This change in policy has resulted in an appreciation of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar. While the international reaction to the Renminbi revaluation has generally been positive, there remains international pressure on the PRC government to adopt an even more flexible currency policy, which could result in a further and more rapid appreciation of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar. Any material revaluation of Renminbi may materially and adversely affect our cash flows, revenues, earnings and financial position, and the value of, and any dividends payable on, our common shares in U.S. dollars. For example, an appreciation of Renminbi against the U.S. dollar would make any new Renminbi denominated investments or expenditures more costly to us, to the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars into Renminbi for such purposes. See “Exchange Rate Information.”

Our business benefits from certain government grants and incentives. Expiration, reduction or discontinuation of, or changes to, these incentives may reduce our net income.

The Company has received grants from various governmental agencies after meeting certain conditions, such as locating call centers in their jurisdictions or obtaining certain technological certifications. Government grants represented 14%12% of our net income during 2019.2020.

The Company has benefittedbenefited from such grants and subsidies. In particular, the grants and subsidies that the Company received in 20192020 included but not limited to:

In addition, Taiying, Central BPO, JTTC, SCBI, JTIS, HTCC, JXTT, XTTC, ATIT, ZSEC, GTTC, and STTC were entitled to a 15% income tax rate for the year of 2019,2020, which is less than the standard 25% income tax rate in the PRC.

The local PRC government authorities may reduce or eliminate these incentives through new legislation at any time in the future. In the event Taiying and its applicable subsidiaries are no longer exempt from lowered income taxation, their applicable tax rate would increase from 15% to up to 25%, the standard business income tax rate in the PRC. In addition, the termination of one-time subsidies for call center business development could increase the burden of constructing and operating call centers of such size in the future. The reduction or discontinuation of any of these economic incentives could negatively affect our business and operations.

PRC’s labor law restricts our ability to reduce our workforce in the PRC in the event of an economic downturn and may increase our production costs.

The PRC Labor Contract Law, effective on July 1, 2013, is considered one of the strictest labor laws in the world, which, among other things, provides for specific standards and procedures for the termination of an employment contract and places the burden of proof on the employer. The law requires the payment of a statutory severance pay upon the termination of an employment contract in most cases, including the case of the expiration of a fixed-term employment contract. Further, it requires an employer to conclude an “employment contract without a fixed-term” with any employee who either has worked for the same employer for 10 consecutive years or more or has had two consecutive fixed-term contracts with the same employer. An “employment contract without a fixed term” can no longer be terminated on the ground of the expiration of the contract, although it can still be terminated pursuant to the standards and procedures set forth under the new law. Because of the lack of precedent for the enforcement of such a law, the standards and procedures set forth under the law in relation to the termination of an employment contract have raised concerns among foreign investment enterprises in the PRC that such an “employment contract without a fixed term” might in fact become a “lifetime, permanent employment contract.”

In addition, under the PRC Labor Contract Law, downsizing of either more than 20 people or more than 10% of the workforce may occur only under specified circumstances, such as a restructuring undertaken pursuant to the PRC’s Enterprise Bankruptcy Law, or where a company suffers serious difficulties in production and/or business operations, or where there has been a material change in the objective economic circumstances relied upon by the parties at the time of the conclusion of the employment contract, thereby making the performance of such employment contract not possible. All of our employees working for us exclusively within the PRC are covered by the PRC Labor Contract Law and thus, our ability to adjust the size of our operations when necessary in periods of recession or less severe economic downturns may be curtailed. Accordingly, if we face future periods of decline in business activity generally or adverse economic periods specific to our business, this new law can be expected to exacerbate the adverse effect of the economic environment on our results of operations and financial condition.

Failure to make adequate contributions to various employee benefit plans as required by PRC regulations may subject us to penalties.

Companies operating in China are required to participate in various government sponsored employee benefit plans, including certain social insurance, housing funds and other welfare-oriented payment obligations, and contribute to the plans in amounts equal to certain percentages of salaries, including bonuses and allowances, of our employees up to a maximum amount specified by the local government from time to time at locations where we operate our businesses. The requirement of employee benefit plans has not been implemented consistently by the local governments in China given the different levels of economic development in different locations. If any of PRC companies controlled by us are deemed to have made inadequate employee benefit payments for their employees, we may be required to make up the contributions for these plans as well as to pay late fees and fines. If we are subject to late fees or fines in relation to the underpaid employee benefits, our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

We may be subject to fines and legal sanctions by SAFE or other PRC government authorities if we or our employees who are PRC citizens fail to comply with PRC regulations relating to employee stock options granted by offshore listed companies to PRC citizens.

On February 15, 2012, SAFE promulgated the Circular of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Issues Concerning the Administration of Foreign Exchange Used for Domestic Individuals’ Participation in Equity Incentive Plans of Companies Listed Overseas, or Circular 7. Under Circular 7, Chinese citizens who are granted share options by an offshore listed company are required, through a Chinese agent or Chinese subsidiary of the offshore listed company, to register with SAFE and complete certain other procedures, including applications for foreign exchange purchase quotas and opening special bank accounts. In the event we or our Chinese employees are granted share options we and our Chinese employees will subject to Circular 7. Failure to comply with these regulations may subject us or our Chinese employees to fines and legal sanctions imposed by SAFE or other PRC government authorities and may prevent us from further granting options under our share incentive plans to our employees. Such events could adversely affect our business operations.

Changes in PRC’s political and economic policies could harm our business.

Substantially all of our business operations are conducted in the PRC. Accordingly, our results of operations, financial condition and prospects are subject to economic, political and legal developments in the PRC. China’s economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including with respect to the amount of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, and control of foreign exchange and allocation of resources.

The PRC economy has historically been a planned economy subject to governmental plans and quotas and has, in certain aspects, been transitioning to a more market-oriented economy. Although we believe that the economic reform and the macroeconomic measures adopted by the PRC government have had a positive effect on the economic development of PRC, we cannot predict the future direction of these economic reforms or the effects these measures may have on our business, financial position or results of operations. In addition, the PRC economy differs from the economies of most countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”). These differences include, without limitation:

As a result of these differences, our business may not develop in the same way or at the same rate as might be expected if the PRC economy were similar to those of the OECD member countries. See “Business Overview– Industry and Market Background.”

Since 1979, the Chinese government has promulgated many new laws and regulations covering general economic matters. Despite these efforts to develop a legal system, the PRC’s system of laws is not yet complete. Even where adequate law exists in the PRC, enforcement of existing laws or contracts based on existing law may be uncertain or sporadic, and it may be difficult to obtain swift and equitable enforcement or to obtain enforcement of a judgment by a court of another jurisdiction. The relative inexperience of the PRC’s judiciary, in many cases, creates additional uncertainty as to the outcome of any lawsuit. In addition, interpretation of statutes and regulations may be subject to government policies reflecting domestic political changes. Our activities in the PRC will also be subject to administration review and approval by various national and local agencies of the PRC’s government. Because of the changes occurring in the PRC’s legal and regulatory structure, we may not be able to secure the requisite governmental approval for our activities. Although we have obtained all required governmental approvals to operate our business as currently conducted, to the extent we are unable to obtain or maintain required governmental approvals, the PRC government may, in its sole discretion, prohibit us from conducting our business. See “Business Overview – Industry and Market Background.”

If relations between the United States and China worsen, our share price may decrease and we may have difficulty accessing U.S. capital markets.

At various times during recent years, the United States and China have had disagreements over political and economic issues. Controversies may arise in the future between these two countries. Any political or trade controversy between the United States and China could adversely affect the market price of our common shares and our ability to access U.S. capital markets.

If we become directly subject to the recent scrutiny, criticism and negative publicity involving U.S.-listed China-based companies, we may have to expend significant resources to investigate and resolve the matter which could harm our business operations, and our reputation and could result in a loss of your investment in our shares, especially if such matter cannot be addressed and resolved favorably.

Recently, U.S. public companies that have substantially all of their operations in China, have been the subject of intense scrutiny, criticism and negative publicity by investors, financial commentators and regulatory agencies, such as the SEC. Much of the scrutiny, criticism and negative publicity has centered around financial and accounting irregularities, a lack of effective internal controls over financial accounting, inadequate corporate governance policies or a lack of adherence thereto and, in some cases, allegations of fraud. As a result of the scrutiny, criticism and negative publicity, the publicly traded stock of many U.S. listed Chinese companies has sharply decreased in value and, in some cases, has become virtually worthless. Many of these companies are now subject to shareholder lawsuits and SEC enforcement actions and are conducting internal and external investigations into the allegations. It is not clear what effect this sector-wide scrutiny, criticism and negative publicity will have on our company and our business. If we become the subject of any unfavorable allegations, whether such allegations are proven to be true or untrue, we will have to expend significant resources to investigate such allegations and/or defend the Company. This situation may be a major distraction to our management. If such allegations are not proven to be groundless, our company and business operations will be severely hampered and your investment in our shares could be rendered worthless.

The Chinese government could change its policies toward private enterprise or even nationalize or expropriate private enterprises, which could result in the total loss of our investment in that country.

Our business is subject to political and economic uncertainties and may be adversely affected by political, economic and social developments in the PRC. Over the past several years, the PRC government has pursued economic reform policies including the encouragement of private economic activity and greater economic decentralization. The PRC government may not continue to pursue these policies or may alter them to our detriment from time to time with little, if any, prior notice.

Changes in policies, laws and regulations or in their interpretation or the imposition of confiscatory taxation, restrictions on currency conversion, restrictions or prohibitions on dividend payments to shareholders, devaluations of currency or the nationalization or other expropriation of private enterprises could have a material adverse effect on our business. Nationalization or expropriation could even result in the total loss of our investment in the PRC and in the total loss of any investment in us.

Our subsidiaries’ financial statements are prepared under different accounting standards than our consolidated financial statements.

We prepare the financial statements for each of our subsidiaries that are PRC legal entities in accordance with the requirements of generally accepted accounting principles in China, or PRC GAAP. These financial statements drive how we calculate the taxes payable for operations of these subsidiaries. By contrast, we prepare the consolidated financial statements for CCRC in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or U.S. GAAP. The process of consolidating the financial statements and changing from PRC GAAP to U.S. GAAP requires us to make certain adjustments on consolidation. This can result in some discrepancies between the financial statements used to prepare our tax filings in China and the financial statements audited by our independent registered accounting firm and subsequently filed with the SEC. We intend to continue reporting in this manner. To the extent the discrepancies between PRC GAAP and U.S. GAAP are material, we could find, for example, that a PRC subsidiary shows taxable income for which payment of taxes is due, while our U.S. GAAP-audited financial statements show taxable loss.

Because our operations are located in the PRC, information about our operations is not readily available from independent third-party sources.

Because Taiying and WFOE are based in the PRC, our shareholders may have greater difficulty in obtaining information about them on a timely basis than would shareholders of a U.S.-based company. Their operations will continue to be conducted in the PRC and shareholders may have difficulty in obtaining information about them from sources other than the companies themselves. Information available from newspapers, trade journals, or local, regional or national regulatory agencies such as issuance of construction permits and contract awards for development projects will not be readily available to shareholders and, where available, will likely be available only in Chinese. Shareholders will be dependent upon management for reports of their progress, development, activities and expenditure of proceeds.

Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Shares

The market price for our common shares may be volatile, which could result in substantial losses to investors.

The trading prices for our common shares have fluctuated since we first listed our common shares. Since our common shares became listed on the NASDAQ on December 21, 2015, the trading price of our common shares has ranged from $4.39 to $35.10 per common share, and the last reported trading price on May 28, 20202021 was $4.35 per common share. The market price of our common shares may fluctuate significantly in response to numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, including:

In addition, the stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. Stock prices of many companies have fluctuated in a manner unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. In the past, shareholders have filed securities class action litigation following periods of market volatility. If we were to become involved in securities litigation, it could subject us to substantial costs, divert resources and the attention of management from our business, and adversely affect our business.

If our financial condition deteriorates, we may not meet continued listing standards on the NASDAQ Capital Market.

The NASDAQ Capital Market requires companies to fulfill specific requirements in order for their shares to continue to be listed. In order to qualify for continued listing on the NASDAQ Capital Market, we must meet the following criteria:

If our shares are delisted from the NASDAQ Capital Market at some later date, our shareholders could find it difficult to sell our shares. In addition, if our common shares are delisted from the NASDAQ Capital Market at some later date, we may apply to have our common shares quoted on the Bulletin Board or in the “pink sheets” maintained by the National Quotation Bureau, Inc. The Bulletin Board and the “pink sheets” are generally considered to be less efficient markets than the NASDAQ Capital Market. In addition, if our common shares are not so listed or are delisted at some later date, our common shares may be subject to the “penny stock” regulations. These rules impose additional sales practice requirements on broker-dealers that sell low-priced securities to persons other than established customers and institutional accredited investors and require the delivery of a disclosure schedule explaining the nature and risks of the penny stock market. As a result, the ability or willingness of broker-dealers to sell or make a market in our common shares might decline. If our common shares are not so listed or are delisted from the NASDAQ Capital Market at some later date or become subject to the penny stock regulations, it is likely that the price of our shares would decline and that our shareholders would find it difficult to sell their shares.

We incur increased costs as a result of being a public company.

As a public company, we incur legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. For example, we must now engage U.S. securities law counsel and U.S. auditors that we did not require as a private company, and we have annual payments for listing on Nasdaq. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as new rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and Nasdaq, have required changes in corporate governance practices of public companies. We expect these new rules and regulations to increase our legal, accounting and financial compliance costs and to make certain corporate activities more time-consuming and costly. In addition, we incur additional costs associated with our public company reporting requirements. While it is impossible to determine the amounts of such expenses, we expect that we incur expenses of between $500,000 and $1 million per year that we did not experience as a private company.

The obligation to disclose information publicly may put us at a disadvantage to competitors that are private companies which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

As a reporting company in the United States, we are required to file periodic reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission upon the occurrence of matters that are material to our Company and shareholders. In some cases, we will need to disclose material agreements or results of financial operations that we would not be required to disclose if we were a private company. Our competitors may have access to this information, which would otherwise be confidential. This may give them advantages in competing with our Company. Similarly, as a U.S.-listed public company, we are governed by U.S. laws that our competitors, which are mostly private Chinese companies, are not required to follow. To the extent compliance with U.S. laws increases our expenses or decreases our competitiveness against such companies, our public listing could affect our results of operations.

Securities analysts may not publish favorable research or reports about our business or may publish no information at all, which could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

The trading market for our common shares is influenced to some extent by the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us and our business. We do not control these analysts. As a foreign public company, we may be slow to attract research coverage and the analysts who publish information about our common shares will have had relatively little experience with us or our industry, which could affect their ability to accurately forecast our results and could make it more likely that we fail to meet their estimates. In the event we obtain securities or industry analyst coverage, if any of the analysts who cover us provide inaccurate or unfavorable research or issue an adverse opinion regarding our stock price, our stock price could decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fail to publish reports covering us regularly, we could lose visibility in the market, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline and result in the loss of all or a part of your investment in us.

Our disclosure controls and procedures may not prevent or detect all errors or acts of fraud.

We are subject to the periodic reporting requirements of the Exchange Act. We designed our disclosure controls and procedures to provide reasonable assurance that information we must disclose in reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, and recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the SEC. We believe that any disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well-conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met.

These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty, and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by an unauthorized override of the controls. Accordingly, because of the inherent limitations in our control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control, we may be unable to accurately report our operating results, meet our reporting obligations or prevent fraud.

As a public company in the United States we are subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which requires that we include a report of management on our internal control over financial reporting in this annual report on Form 20-F. In addition, once we cease to be an “emerging growth company” as such term is defined under the JOBS Act, our independent registered public accounting firm must attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our management may conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective. Moreover, even if our management concludes that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, our independent registered public accounting firm, after conducting its own independent testing, may issue a report that is qualified if it is not satisfied with our internal controls or the level at which our controls are documented, designed, operated or reviewed, or if it interprets the relevant requirements differently from us. In addition, after we become a public company, our reporting obligations may place a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources and systems for the foreseeable future. We may be unable to timely complete our evaluation testing and any required remediation.

During the course of documenting and testing our internal control procedures, in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, we may identify other weaknesses and deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting. In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, as these standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to time, we may not be able to conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Generally, if we fail to achieve and maintain an effective internal control environment, we could suffer material misstatements in our financial statements and fail to meet our reporting obligations, which would likely cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information. This could in turn limit our access to capital markets, and harm our results of operations. Additionally, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could expose us to increased risk of fraud or misuse of corporate assets and subject us to potential delisting from the stock exchange on which we list, regulatory investigations and civil or criminal sanctions.

Our classified board structure may prevent a change in control of our company.

Our board of directors is divided into three classes of directors. Directors of the first class hold office for a term expiring at the next annual meeting of shareholders, directors of the second class hold office for a term expiring at the second succeeding annual meeting of shareholders and directors of the third class hold office for a term expiring as the third succeeding annual meeting shareholders. Directors of each class are chosen for three-year terms upon the expiration of their current terms. The staggered terms of our directors may reduce the possibility of a tender offer or an attempt at a change in control, even though a tender offer or change in control might be in the best interest of our shareholders. See “Management – C. Board Practices.”

Our employees, officers and/or directors control a sizeable amount of our common shares, decreasing your influence on shareholder decisions.

Our employees, officers and/or directors, in the aggregate, beneficially own approximately 28.1% of our outstanding shares. As a result, our employees, officers and directors possess substantial ability to impact our management and affairs and the outcome of matters submitted to shareholders for approval. These shareholders, acting individually or as a group, could exert substantial influence over matters such as electing directors and approving mergers or other business combination transactions. This concentration of ownership and voting power may also discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company, which could deprive our shareholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company and might reduce the price of our common shares. These actions may be taken even if they are opposed by our other shareholders. See “Share Ownership.”

As the rights of shareholders under British Virgin Islands law differ from those under U.S. law, you may have fewer protections as a shareholder.

Our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, the British Virgin Islands Business Companies Act, 2004 (the “BVI Act”), and the common law of the British Virgin Islands. The rights of shareholders to take legal action against our directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under British Virgin Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the British Virgin Islands and by the BVI Act. The common law of the British Virgin Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the British Virgin Islands as well as from English common law, which has persuasive, but not binding, authority on a court in the British Virgin Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under British Virgin Islands law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedents in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the British Virgin Islands has a less developed body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and some states (such as Delaware) have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law.

As a result of all of the above, holders of our shares may have more difficulty protecting their interests through actions against our management, directors or major shareholders than they would as shareholders of a U.S. company.

British Virgin Islands companies may not be able to initiate shareholder derivative actions, thereby depriving shareholders of the ability to protect their interests.

British Virgin Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action in a federal court of the United States. The circumstances in which any such action may be brought, and the procedures and defenses that may be available with respect to any such action, may result in the rights of shareholders of a British Virgin Islands company being more limited than those of shareholders of a company organized in the United States. Accordingly, shareholders may have fewer alternatives available to them if they believe that corporate wrongdoing has occurred. The British Virgin Islands courts are also unlikely to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts in the United States based on certain liability provisions of U.S. securities law; and to impose liabilities against us, in original actions brought in the British Virgin Islands, based on certain liability provisions of U.S. securities laws that are penal in nature. There is no statutory recognition in the British Virgin Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, although the courts of the British Virgin Islands will generally recognize and enforce the non-penal judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits. This means that even if shareholders were to sue us successfully, they may not be able to recover anything to make up for the losses suffered.

The laws of the British Virgin Islands provide little protection for minority shareholders, so minority shareholders will have little or no recourse if the shareholders are dissatisfied with the conduct of our affairs.

Under the law of the British Virgin Islands, there is little statutory law for the protection of minority shareholders other than the provisions of the BVI Act dealing with shareholder remedies. The principal protection under statutory law is that shareholders may bring an action to enforce the constituent documents of the corporation, in our case, our Memorandum and Articles of Association. Shareholders are entitled to have the affairs of the company conducted in accordance with the general law and the Memorandum and Articles. There are common law rights for the protection of shareholders that may be invoked, largely dependent on English company law, since the common law of the British Virgin Islands for business companies is limited. Under the general rule pursuant to English company law known as the rule inFoss v. Harbottle, a court will generally refuse to interfere with the management of a company at the insistence of a minority of its shareholders who express dissatisfaction with the conduct of the company’s affairs by the majority or the board of directors. However, every shareholder is entitled to have the affairs of the company conducted properly according to law and the constituent documents of the corporation. As such, if those who control the company have persistently disregarded the requirements of company law or the provisions of the company’s memorandum and articles of association, then the courts will grant relief. Generally, the areas in which the courts will intervene are the following: (1) an act complained of which is outside the scope of the authorized business or is illegal or not capable of ratification by the majority; (2) acts that constitute fraud on the minority where the wrongdoers control the company; (3) acts that infringe on the personal rights of the shareholders, such as the right to vote; and (4) where the company has not complied with provisions requiring approval of a special or extraordinary majority of shareholders, which are more limited than the rights afforded minority shareholders under the laws of many states in the United States.

Item 4. Information on the Company

Corporate History – Taiying, WFOE, CBPO, and CCRC

Taiying was incorporated on December 18, 2007 as a domestic Chinese limited company, with initial registered capital of RMB 3 million. The registered capital of Taiying was increased to RMB 10 million on February 16, 2012, and to RMB 36 million on February 25, 2019.2019, and to RMB 60 million on April 10, 2020. We formed CBPO, WFOE and CCRC in 2014, in anticipation of registering the common shares of CCRC in our initial public offering. In connection with the formation of CCRC, CBPO and WFOE, we caused WFOE to become the wholly-owned foreign entity of CBPO as of August 2014 and to enter into certain control agreements with Taiying and its shareholder, pursuant to which we, by virtue of our ownership of CBPO and CBPO’s ownership of WFOE, control Taiying.

Corporate History – Central BPO, JTTC, HTCC, SCBI, JCBI, ATIT, STTWB, STTCB, STTCZB, JTIS, NTEB, JXTT, XTTC, BTTC, BTIT, STTC, GDTC, GTTC, ZSEC, YTIT, GNDT, STTBB, STTJB, STTHB, STTGB, ZTTC, TTZN,  WFTI, SZTT, FZTT, HNTT, CDTT, HZTT, HFTI, STTSH, and TTZN STTHN.

Taiying incorporated the following subsidiaries and branch companies on the dates indicated below:

We previously incorporated atwo branch office STTNBoffices, STTCZB on MayJanuary 28, 20132019, and STTBB on March 18, 2019, and voluntarily dissolved itthem on January 15, 2019,September 28, 2020 and incorporated GTSL on February 17, 2017 and voluntarily dissolved it on July 26, 2019. May 21, 2020, respectively.

The principal executive offices of our main operations are located at 1366 Zhongtianmen Street, Xinghuo Science and Technology Park, High-tech Zone, Taian City, Shandong Province, People’s Republic of China 271000. Our telephone number at this address is (+86) 538 691 8899. Our registered office in the British Virgin Islands is at the offices of NovaSage Chambers, P.O. Box 4389, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands. Our agent for service of process in the United States is Vcorp Agent Services, Inc. located at 25 Robert Pitt Dr., Suite 204, Monsey, New York 10952. Our corporate website iswww.ccrc.com.

Overview

We are a BPO service provider focusing on the complex, voice-based and online-based segments of customer care services, including customer relationship management, technical support, sales, customer retention, marketing surveys and research for certain major enterprises in the PRC. We provide customer care service via telephone and multimedia platforms, such as Apps, WeChat, Weibo and websites to our clients. Our call center BPO services enable our clients to increase revenue, reduce operating costs, improve customer satisfaction, and enhance overall brand value and customer loyalty. Our largest customers in terms of revenue for the year ended December 31, 20192020 were DiDi Chuxing, Taobao, China CITIC Bank Credit Card Center, China Mobile and their provincial subsidiaries, Taobao, China Merchants Bank Credit Card Center, and Alipay.Shuidi Insurance. We also provide outsourcing services to our clients whereby they can lease our employees to work at their offices. We operate our business through contractual arrangements between our wholly-owned subsidiary, WFOE and our variable interest entity, Taiying.

Taiying was founded in 2007 by a group of call center industry veterans who have experience running one of the largest paging service call center network in northern China. Our service programs are delivered through a set of standardized best practices and sophisticated technologies by our highly trained call center professionals. 

We seek to establish long-term, strategic relationships with our clients by delivering quantifiable value solutions that help improve our clients’ revenue generation, reduce operating costs, and improve customer satisfaction. To achieve these objectives, we work closely with our clients to understand what drives their economic value, and then we demonstrate how our performance on their programs will align with that value. After we initiate the client program, we measure our performance each quarter on key metrics that we have agreed upon with the client, such as first-time call resolution, the rate at which we are successful in completing a sale on behalf of our client and customer satisfaction, and then convert our performance into quantifiable value. We then share this information with our clients to enable them to compare the quantifiable value we have delivered to the value they have received from other BPO providers or their in-house operations. By entering into contracts containing pricing terms that our clients agree are based on the value we create per dollar spent by the client, rather than a pricing model focused solely on being able to deliver the least expensive service offering, or a cost-based commodity pricing model which we believe is most often emphasized in our industry, we believe we can increase our ability to withstand competitive pricing pressure and to win and retain clients.

We believe our investments in the quality of our people and processes can lead to quantifiably superior results for our clients. We have high standards for our employees and we make significant investments in all areas of our human capital, including training, quality assurance, coaching and our performance management system. We employ a scorecard system that uses objective metrics to review an employee’s performance to provide clarity of purpose and to ensure accountability for individual results. This scorecard system is linked to a compensation structure for our employees that is heavily based on individual performance. As a result of our reliance on objective metrics in our performance management system, we have what we refer to as a metric-driven performance culture among our employees. We believe that our focus on investing in human capital and use of a metric-driven, performance based business model positions us to provide value-added solutions to our clients, which we believe leads to strong relationships with our clients and recognition in our industry.

As we grow, we continue to expand our national presence and service offerings to increase revenue, improve operational efficiencies and drive brand loyalty for our clients. Our service is currently delivered from our call centers located in Liaoning Province, Shandong Province, Jiangsu Province, Guangdong Province, Yunnan Province, Hubei Province, Jiangxi Province, Hebei Province, Anhui Province, Sichuan Province, Heilongjiang Province, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Chongqing City, Shanghai City, and ChongqingBeijing City, which had a total capacity of 22,36029,249 seats as of December 31, 2019.2020. We reserved seats in excess of our current labor capacity in anticipation to increase in labor force due to increase in projects in the near future. In addition to answering and responding to inbound calls, we also make outbound cold calls to assist banks in promoting their credit card installment services and collecting payments of loans, as well as assist internet insurance companies and the provincial subsidiaries of China Mobile and China Telecom in marketing their service products. We also provide online customer care services via multimedia platforms including Apps, WeChat, Weibo, and websites for our e-commerce clients. Our largest clients in terms of revenue for the year ended December 31, 20192020 were China Mobile, China CITIC Bank DiDi Chuxing,Credit Card Center, China Mobile and their provincial subsidiaries, Taobao, and China Merchants Bank.Bank Credit Card Center, and Shuidi Insurance. 

In addition, we have received several industry awards and asked to participate in several important industry activities. Notable awards and activities include: 

In addition, our CEO, Gary Wang has received many awards including, among others, the Distinguish Service Cross for Outsider Entrepreneur in Zhaozhuang City by the Zhaozhuang People’s Government in October 2019, the 2017 Leading E-Commerce Professional in Shandong Province by the Shandong Province E-Commerce Organization in January 2018, the Excellent Member of the Youth League by the Yantai City Muping District Committee of the Youth League in May 2018, the Professional Talent of Shandong Province Service Industry by the Shandong Province Economy and Information Committee in September 2018, the Leading Professional of Taishan by the People’s Government of Taian City in December 2017, and the Golden Voice Award – China Customer Service Leader for 2016 awarded by 51 Call Center. Further, he was one of the ten people recognized to receive the 2013 Outstanding People Award of China Software Outsourcing and Information Technology Service Industry, an award jointly issued by China Software Outsourcing and Information Technology Service Industry Alliance and the Software and Integrated Circuit Promotion Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). Mr. Wang was also one of the fifteen people recognized to receive the 2011 and 2009 China Sourcing Person of the Year within the China Software and Information Industry Category, and award given by MIIT.

Our CFO, David Wang, was awarded the Golden Headphone Award Excellent Achievement for the 20th Anniversary of China Customer Service Center Industry Development by the China Call Center and E-Commerce Development Research Institution in October 2017, the Golden Voice Award 2017 China Customer Service Leader by the China Call Center and BPO Industry Association in September 2017, Outstanding People Award of China IT Service Industry for 2014 and 2015, awarded by the Alliance of China IT Service Industry. All of these awards and appointments were made by independent entities in open competitions with others in the industry.

Also, our Vice President, Guoan Xu, was awarded the Outstanding Contribution Award of China Customer Call Center by the CCCS Customer Service Center Standards Committee in December 2019, the “Golden Headphone Award” of the 2019 Best Manager for Customer Center by the China Call Center and E-Commerce Development Research Institution in October 2019, the 2017 Influential People by the China Information Technology Service Industry Association in November 2017, and the Revitalization of Taian Award by the People’s Government of Taian City in May 2017. We believe they reflect widespread recognition of our stature and success in our industry as well as the quality of our service.

Industry and Market Background

China’s Call Center BPO Market

Compared with countries such as the U.S. and India that have relatively more mature markets, China’s call center outsourcing market is still in its early stage of development. In the past few years, competition in China’s market was relatively low due to highly differentiated positions and large number of unexploited potential outsourcing customers. At present, low price, standard service vendors tend to be most popular in the market. Nevertheless, as more competition in the China market is introduced in the future, we believe that the ability to provide customer-oriented solutions in the China call center BPO market will be increasingly valued by customers.

Future outsourcing development is highly dependent on the current BPO companies’ performance and strategies. Among the current outsourcing companies, the key drivers of high performance are cost, service quality, intellectual property rights protection, workforce skills, and industry expertise, along with a high degree of comfort and familiarity with the use of outsourcing as an effective business practice. Growth in the China call center BPO market will depend on the industry’s ability to address customer concerns in such areas as quality, confidentiality, information processing ability, human resources, and price.

In the highly competitive global contact center outsourcing market, China enjoys several advantages. As a result of 30 years of economic reform, China has greatly improved its infrastructure, in some areas matching those in developed countries. China has a large domestic market and supply of well-educated workers, along with a talent pool supported by a well-developed education system. In addition, despite rising labor costs, China’s outsourcing businesses still have, a low cost advantage on the global call center market.

We believe outsourcing will continue to grow as a result of greater client demand for cost savings, along with the need for high-quality customer interactions and innovative service solutions that deliver tangible value. We also believe the desire for companies to focus on core competencies will remain strong and continue to cause them to outsource certain non-core functions to experienced outsourcing providers with the appropriate scale, consistent processes and technological expertise.

China’s economic growth has resulted in a growing consumer population, and we believe that Chinese consumers will continue to develop needs that can be more efficiently serviced and supported through BPO services. The call center BPO services of our clients are non-core outsourcing processes, or BPO services that our clients may not view as critical to their operations and are outsourced to us. By providing these services for our clients, we aid them in streamlining their business operations. Our clients transfer the complete responsibility of their BPO functions to us, and we are then responsible for maintaining service quality standards.

Telecommunications Market

China’s mobile phone subscribers increased towere approximately 1.6 billion at the end of 2019. As2020. At the end of June 2019,2020, China reached approximately 847989 million mobile internet users, the percentage of those using mobile phones to go online reaching 99%.users. With intensified competition in the telecommunications market, major telecommunication companies such as China Mobile are making transitions from voice-centric to data-centric operations, from communications to mobile Internet and information consumption, and from mobile communication operations to innovative full service operations.

Growth in China’s telecommunications sector continues to be influenced by the country’s overall economy. China’s gross domestic product (“GDP”) increased 6.1%2.3% over the previous year, according to the National Statistical Bureau of China.

Our Operating Companies’ customers include telecommunications operators in China, namely China Mobile and China Telecom. The restructuring of China’s telecommunications industry opened the fixed-line, mobile and broadband segments to all existing telecommunications operators in China, and the ensuing competition in these segments prompted each telecommunications operator to focus more on operating efficiency and its measure metrics, namely, average revenue per employee. We believe that increasing competition among the three operators will drive demand for outsourcing their call center functions to third party service providers.

Our Competitive Strengths

We believe the following strengths differentiate us from our competitors in our market in China:

Our Strategies

We provide integrated BPO services to help our clients create maximum value for their customers over the long-term. Our goal is to become the largest call center BPO service provider in China. We intend to achieve this goal by implementing the following strategies:

We intend to pursue strategic acquisitions and alliances that fit within our core competencies and growth strategy. We plan to grow our revenues and market share both organically and through targeted acquisitions. Our plans to expand our service offerings into new segments, such as data management, or into new industries, such as financial services and government bodies, may be accomplished most efficiently and cost-effectively through the acquisition of companies or assets, or through joint venture arrangements with third parties. We view acquisitions as a key component of our growth strategy and expect to seek acquisitions in the future that will expand our existing competencies or add to our portfolio of BPO capabilities;

We intend to strengthen relationships with key customers. Our existing clients are the subsidiaries of large companies with diverse BPO needs and we plan to continue our strategy of expanding the scale and scope of the services we provide for these large clients. We intend to further strengthen our relationships with key clients by not only offering an efficient and flexible cost model that can reduce costs to the client, but also by expanding our current service offerings within our existing client base to generate additional revenues for our clients;

We intend to develop new client relationships.We intend to capitalize on growth opportunities driven by a trend towards use of third party BPO service providers in China’s call center outsourcing market. The current 22,36029,249 seat capacity of our existing facilities in Liaoning Province, Shandong Province, Jiangsu Province, Guangdong Province, Yunnan Province, Hubei Province, Jiangxi Province, Hebei Province, Anhui Province, Sichuan Province, Heilongjiang Province, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Chongqing City, Shanghai City, and ChongqingBeijing City represents what we believe is a very small percentage of China’s BPO market, which leaves potential for us to gain market share;

We intend to increase our revenue and market share by expanding our service networks to other provinces. We started with our call center in Shandong Province, which covers the north region of China. Over the years, we have established a new call center in Chongqing City, which covered the southwest region of China, and three new call centers in Jiangsu Province, which positioned us to target potential clients in the Yangtze River Delta. We have also added call centers in Beijing City, Hebei Province, Anhui Province, Sichuan Province, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region;

We intend to diversify our client base and provide services to other industries, such as financial services, government bodies, IT and e-commerce. We currently havepreviously had a single industry focus, with most of our revenues coming from the telecommunications industry. WhileIn recent years, while we continue to target the significant market opportunity still available in the telecommunications industry, diversification of our client base to include customers in the financial services, government, IT and e-commerce, and insurance industries will positionhave positioned us to maximize our return on the core competencies of our operation. We believe that the financial services, government services, IT and e-commerce industries, combined with the telecommunications industry, represent a majority of the overall outsourced market;

We intend to continue to enhance our brand and augment our service offerings to attract a wider client base and increase revenues. We expect to continue to promote our brand name, increase our revenue through a combination of securing business from new clients and increasing our service offerings and market share for existing clients. We expect that our track record, reputation, referrals and historical working relationship with the provincial subsidiaries of two of the largest telecommunications operators in China, will allow us to win new clients in the future as more companies outsource their BPO function. We also expect to generate new business by working with our clients to outsource non-core programs that are currently managed internally; and

We intend to continue to attract and retain quality employees. We plan to continue our focus on, and investment in, human capital. Building on our already strong base of recruiting, training and performance management systems, we plan to expand our efforts in all of these areas to increase our recruiting capacity and maintain our ability to deliver high-quality services.

Our Lines of Service

We believe BPO is a key enabler of improved business performance as measured by a company’s ability to consistently outperform peers through both business and economic cycles. We believe the benefits of BPO include renewed focus on core capabilities, faster time to market, enhanced revenue generation opportunities, streamlined processes, reduced capital and operating risk, movement from a fixed to variable cost structure, access to borderless sourcing capabilities, and creation of proprietary best operating practices and technology, all of which contribute to increased customer satisfaction, profits and shareholder returns for our clients.

We believe that companies with high customer satisfaction levels enjoy premium pricing in their industry, which we believe results in increased profitability and greater shareholder returns. Given the strong correlation between customer satisfaction and improved profitability, we believe that more companies are increasingly focused on selecting outsourcing partners, such as Taiying, that can deliver strategic revenue generation and front-to-back-office capabilities to improve the customer experience.

Our service offerings enable our clients to increase revenue, reduce operating costs, improve customer satisfaction, and enhance overall brand value and customer loyalty.

Inbound Customer Care Service. Our inbound customer support service offers answering service hotlines in China, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Contacts are initiated primarily by inbound calls from customers on a wide range of topics dealing with customer enquiries regarding services and billings, directory assistance, account and service changes, password reset/appeals, product and service inquiries, hotel reservations, airline ticket purchases, customer retention and customer complaints. Customer retention programs are programs where the customer is calling to cancel service. In the latter case, our customer service associates are trained to attempt to resolve the customer’s issue and convince the customer to keep their service with the particular provider. In addition, we initiate sales calls, primarily to existing customers of our clients, for retention and loyalty programs, and in some cases unsolicited calling for customer acquisition. Taiying operates under licensing and revenue sharing agreements with the provincial subsidiaries of China Mobile and China Telecom for its inbound calling service.

Outbound Customer Care Service. We also provide outbound cold calling services such as selling China Mobile’s color ring back tones (“CRBT”), wireless news service, daily weather service and other Mobile value added service MVAS to targeted wireless subscribers. Through market segmentation, customer trends and analysis of customer attrition rates, we generate revenue by making targeted outbound cold callings of potential subscribers. Unlike other MVAS providers who use China Mobile or China Telecom networks simply as a distribution channel, we create and manage a vast range of MVAS products for China Mobile or China Telecom, as the case may be, and market them to mobile phone users through the Company’s call centers under the China Mobile or China Telecom brand, as the case may be. The provincial subsidiaries of China Mobile and China Telecom compensate our company for selling their products and increasing their revenues by splitting the subscription fee according to a pre-determined formula for successfully enrolling each subscriber. We believe this arrangement, emphasizing the sale of the products of the telecommunications operator rather than our own distinguishes us from our competitors, and further strengthen our relationship with the provincial subsidiaries of China Mobile and China Telecom.

Online Customer Care Service.Our online customer service is an alternative to our inbound customer care service. Instead of offering customer care services via telephone, we provide services, such as verifying information, filling in information, and answering inquires, through an online form of live chat through multimedia platforms including Appss,Apps, WeChat, Weibo, and websites. Our clients that use these services are primary e-commerce providers and clients with some or all of their services provided online.

AI Customer Care Service. In 2019, we began using artificial intelligence customer care to enchanceenhance our lines of services. We intend to use customer service robots, which are professional service robots intended to interact with customers. These robots come with highly humanoid voice generation technology and enhanced industry knowledge mapping and learning capabilities, which can automate many tasks in customer service. We believe, like all robots, our customer service robots’ value lies in labor savings, efficiency and uptime.  

For inbound customer care service, fees are charged based on either number of calls (a fixed charge per interaction) or predetermined seats charges (weekly charges, or monthly charges per seat). For outbound cold calling services, fees are charged based on the success of marketing the product and service upon subscription. Telecommunications operators such as China Mobile and China Telecom typically charge a subscription fee to the subscriber’s monthly bill, keeps predetermined percentage of this fee for itself and remits the remainder to us. For advanced services, revenue sharing varies among products.

We have graduatelygradually diversified our client base. Currently, our main clients include transportation companies, e-commerce companies, banks and insurance companies, and telecommunications companies. We derived 45%48% of our revenues in 2019,2020, compared to 58%45% in 2018,2019, from our five largest clients.

We primarily utilize our cash flow from operations and short-term loans to fund working capital, and other strategic and general operating purposes. As of December 31, 2019,2020, and 2018,2019, we had $4,306,138$1,531,933 and $3,635,623$4,306,138 in short term loans, respectively. The amount of capital required over the next 12 months will also depend on our levels of investment in infrastructure necessary to meet the growth demand of our business. Our working capital and capital expenditure requirements could increase materially in the event of acquisitions or joint ventures, among other factors. These factors could require that we raise additional capital through future debt or equity financing. There can be no assurance that additional financing will be available, at all, or on terms favorable to us.

Customers

We provide services to a diverse client base that includes such customers as Shuidi Insurance, DiDi Chuxing, the provincial subsidiaries of China Mobile and China Telecom, Ping An Insurance, Haier, HiSense Alibaba Group (including Cainiao, Taobao, Tmall, and Alipay), and so on. We also have outsourcing contracts with some of China’s largest banks, including China Construction Bank, China CITIC Bank, and China Merchants Bank.

Contractual Arrangements

We have signed contracts with our clients that generally have one-year terms. Outbound customer care service contracts also generally have one-year terms. Both inbound and outbound contracts have no automatic renewal provisions.

Five of our customer relationships currently in place collectively accounted for about 45%48% of our revenues in the year of 2019.2020. The customers (in order of their contribution to our revenues during that period) are as follows: China Mobile, China CITIC Bank DiDi Chuxing,Credit Card Center, China Mobile and their provincial subsidiaries, Taobao, and China Merchants Bank.Bank Credit Card Center, and Shuidi Insurance. Any loss of our relationship with those customers could impact our revenue and profits.

Sales and Marketing

Recently we have focused on the financial services sector, internet-based companies and government bodies for further expansion. We rely on our own sales force to market and sell our services in China. Our sales team is responsible for obtaining new clients and growing existing clients by identifying additional sales opportunities. Our sales team is supported by our sales support team, which responds to requests for proposals and requests for information, including preparing written responses to such requests. Our sales support team is also specifically responsible for managing and coordinating visits by clients to our call centers. We view these site visits as one of the most important parts of our sales cycle, and we design site visits to allow prospective clients to experience the elements of our business model at work.

The focus of our sales and marketing efforts is to educate prospective clients on what we believe differentiates us as an outsourced provider in the BPO market. Specifically, our sales effort focuses on our approach of investing in our human capital to outperform expectations and in delivering greater value per dollar spent. We provide a sales proposition to a prospective client based on quantifiable value per dollar spent by the client on our services. This gives the client a means of comparing our value created per dollar spent as compared to the same metrics for their internal centers or other outsourcers. We believe that this approach has been crucial to winning and retaining clients and increasing our ability to withstand competitive pricing pressure. As of December 31, 2019,2020, we had 2350 sales, marketing and sales support professionals.  

Competition

We operate in a highly competitive environment. We estimate that there are hundreds of companies providing call center BPO service in China. We also compete with the in-house business process functions of our current and potential clients. We believe our key advantage over in-house business process functions is that we enable companies to focus on their core services while we focus on the specialized function of managing their customer relationships. We also compete with certain companies that provide BPO services including: CM-Tong, Meiyin, Boyue, Asiainfo, 95Teleweb, and Poicom.

We compete primarily on the basis of our experience, reputation, our quality and scope of services, our speed and flexibility of implementation, our technological expertise, total value delivered, and our quantifiable value per dollar spent by the client on our services.

The business process outsourcing industry is extremely competitive, and outsourcers have historically competed based on pricing terms. Accordingly, we could be subject to pricing pressure and may experience a decline in our average selling prices for our services. We attempt to mitigate this pricing pressure by differentiating ourselves from our competition based on the value we bring to our clients through the quality of our services and our ability to provide quantifiable results that our clients can measure against our competitors. We seek to compete by emphasizing to our clients the value they receive per dollar spent for our services. We do not generally compete in the segment of the customer care BPO market that focuses solely on price. We normally provide a sales proposition to a client based on quantifiable value per dollar spent by the client on our services. We believe that our ability to quantify value has allowed us to negotiate primarily fixed pricing with our clients that reflects the greater value created per dollar spent, rather than the cost-based commodity pricing model most often emphasized in our industry.

We believe that we have competitive advantages in the markets we serve due to our metric-driven BPO solutions, comprehensive and scalable product and service offerings, customer-centric and cost-effective project management capability, and established customer relationships.

The principal competitive factors in our markets include:

Research and Development

We are committed to researching, designing and developing call center information technology solutions and software products that will meet the future needs of our customers. We continuously upgrade our existing software products to enhance scalability and performance and to provide added features and functions. As of December 31, 2019,2020, our research and development team consisted of 166105 researchers, engineers, developers and programmers. In addition, certain support employees regularly participate in our research and development programs. Research and development expenses consist primarily of wage expense incurred to personnel to continuously upgrade the Company’s existing software products. For the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017,2018, research and development expenses of $3,073,906, $3,994,464 $4,069,794 and $3,551,629$4,069,794 were included in selling, general and administrative expenses.

Intellectual Property Rights

The PRC has domestic laws for the protection of rights in copyrights, patents, trademarks and trade secrets. The PRC is also a signatory to all of the world’s major intellectual property conventions, including the:

The PRC Trademark Law, adopted in 1982 and revised in 2013 and 2019, with its implementation rules adopted in 2014, protects registered trademarks. The Trademark Office of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (“SAIC”), handles trademark registrations and grants trademark registrations for a term of ten years.

Our intellectual property rights are important to our business. We rely on a combination of trade secrets, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property. We do not presently hold any patents or registered trademarks.

We have been granted registered computer software ownership rights by the China State Copyright Bureau to 168255 pieces of computer software, including but not limited to, software programs related to call center integration and optimization, customer relationship management, online testing, insurance industry customer service inquiry system, and hospital customer service inquiry systems. These software programs allow us to implement our own computer systems without having to purchase them from an outside vendor, lowering our startup costs for additional call centers.  The China State Intellectual Property Office has granted us patents to two pieces of intellectual property rights, both patents are related to call center integration and optimization. The Trademark Office of SAIC has granted us 14 registered trademarks for the abbreviations of our company name and images of our products. We have been granted 1617 domain name rights by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) and 11 domain name rights by the China Internet Network Information Center (“CNNIC”), including our website address ccrc.com. We enter into confidentiality agreements with most of our employees and consultants, and control access to and distribution of our documentation and other licensed information. Despite these precautions, it may be possible for a third party to copy or otherwise obtain and use our technology without authorization, or to develop similar technology independently. Since the Chinese legal system in general, and the intellectual property regime in particular, is relatively weak, it is often difficult to enforce intellectual property rights in China. Policing unauthorized use of our technology is difficult and the steps we take may not prevent misappropriation or infringement of our proprietary technology. In addition, litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets or to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others, which could result in substantial costs and diversion of our resources and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We require our employees to enter into non-disclosure agreements to limit access to and distribution of our proprietary and confidential information. These agreements generally provide that any confidential or proprietary information developed by us or on our behalf must be kept confidential. These agreements also provide that any confidential or proprietary information disclosed to third parties in the course of our business must be kept confidential by such third parties.

As of December 31, 2019,2020, we have obtained 168255 registered computer software ownership rights from the China State Copyright Bureau, 14 patents from the China State Intellectual Property Office, 14 registered trademarks from the Trademark Office of SAIC and 2728 domain name rights from ICANN and CNNIC.

In the event of trademark infringement, the SAIC has the authority to fine the infringer and to confiscate or destroy the infringing products. In addition to actions taken by SAIC, Taiying would be entitled to sue an infringer for compensation.

REGULATION

Regulation of the Telecommunications Industry

The telecommunications industry is highly regulated in China. PRC laws and regulations restrict foreign investment in China’s telecommunications service industry. The contractual arrangements between our wholly-owned subsidiary, WFOE, and Taiying, allow us to exercise significant rights over the business operations of Taiying and to realize the economic benefits of the business. We believe that our operations are in compliance in all material aspects with current, applicable PRC regulations. However, many PRC laws and regulations are subject to extensive interpretive power of governmental agencies and commissions, and there is substantial uncertainty regarding the future interpretation and application of these laws or regulations.

The Chinese telecommunications industry, in which our largest customers operate, is subject to extensive government regulation and control. Currently, all the major telecommunications and Internet service providers in China are primarily state owned or state controlled and their business decisions and strategies are affected by the government’s budgeting and spending plans. In addition, they are required to comply with regulations and rules promulgated from time to time by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other ministries and government departments.

In September 2000, China published the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Telecommunications, or the “Telecommunications Regulations.”, as amended in February 2016. The Telecommunications Regulations were the first comprehensive set of regulations governing the conduct of telecommunications businesses in China. In particular, the Telecommunications Regulations set out in clear terms the framework for operational licensing, network interconnection, the setting of telecommunications charges and standards of telecommunications services in China. Also, in September 2000 China’s State Council approved the Administrative Measures on Internet Information Services, as amended in January 2011, which provide for control and censoring of information on the Internet.

The Ministry of Information Industry (“MII”), which was reorganized as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (“MIIT”) promulgated the Administrative Measures for Telecommunications Business Operating Licenses in June 2008 (theLicenses(the “Telecommunications License Measures”), which were last amended in July 2017. The Telecommunications License Measures provide for two types of telecommunications operating licenses for carriers in the PRC, namely licenses for basic services and licenses for value-added services. In February 2003, the MII issued a classification of basic and value-added telecommunications services, as amended in March 2016 (the “2015 Classification”). The 2015 Classification maintains the general distinction between basic telecommunications services, or BTS, and value-added telecommunications services, or VATS, and attempts to define the scope of each service. In particular, the 2015 Classification delineated the differences between “Type 1” and “Type 2” value-added services. Type 1 includes internet data center (IDC), content delivery network (CDN), domestic Internet VPN services (IP-VPN) and internet access services (ISP). Type 2 covers storage and retransmission (email, voice mail, facsimile), online date and transaction processing, call centers, domestic multi-party communications services, information services, encoding and protocol conversion and domain name services (DNS).

Under a separate set of regulations introduced in December 2001, qualified foreign investors are permitted to invest in certain sectors of China’s telecommunications industry through Sino-foreign joint ventures, including Type 2 VATS providers, although there have been few reported investments of this nature to date. These regulations, known as the Provisions on the Administration of Foreign-Invested Telecommunications Enterprises, as amended, were the result of China’s accession to the World Trade Organization, under which certain qualifying foreign investors are permitted to own up to 49% of basic telecommunications businesses in China, and up to 50% of value-added telecommunications services businesses and wireless paging businesses (one of the basic telecommunications businesses). Such requirements for foreign investments in telecommunication businesses were confirmed by the 2018 Special Management Measures (Negative List) for the Access Investment (the “Negative List”) jointly issued by NDRC and MOFCOM on December 21, 2018. On June 30, 2019, however, NDRC and MOFCOM promulgated the new Negative List which became effective on July 30, 2019. The 2019 Negative List lifted all restrictions on foreign investments for certain types of value-added telecommunication services including e-commerce, domestic multiparty communication, store-and-forward type, and most importantly, call centers.

We and our PRC operating subsidiaries are considered foreign persons or foreign-invested enterprises under PRC laws, and, prior to July 30, 2019, were subject to foreign ownership restrictions in connection with our limited VATS Type 2 business activities. In order to comply with these then-applicable restrictions, WFOE, our wholly-owned subsidiary, entered into a series of control agreements with Taiying and its sole shareholder, which allow us to exercise significant rights over the business operations of Taiying and to realize the economic benefits of the business. We do not have any equity interest in Taiying, but instead have the right to enjoy economic benefits similar to equity ownership through our control agreements with Taiying and its sole shareholder. For more information on the regulatory and other risks associated with our contractual arrangements related to Taiying, please see the discussion in “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Corporate Structure.” Such foreign-investment restrictions relating to BPO call centers have been lifted since July 30, 2019, and we have not restructured our corporate structure. We believe that our operations are in compliance in all material aspects with the applicable PRC regulations currently and before July 30. 2019. However, many PRC laws and regulations are subject to extensive interpretive power of governmental agencies and commissions, and there is substantial uncertainty regarding the future interpretation and application of these laws or regulations. 

Regulation of Foreign Currency Exchange and Dividend Distribution

Foreign Currency Exchange.The principal regulations governing foreign currency exchange in China are the Foreign Exchange Administration Regulations (1996), as amended on August 5, 2008, the Administration Rules of the Settlement, Sale and Payment of Foreign Exchange (1996) and the Interim Measures on Administration on Foreign Debts (2003). Under these regulations, Renminbi are freely convertible for current account items, including the distribution of dividends, interest payments, trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, but not for most capital account items, such as direct investment, loans, repatriation of investment and investment in securities outside China, unless the prior approval of SAFE or its local counterparts is obtained. In addition, any loans to an operating subsidiary in China that is a foreign invested enterprise, cannot, in the aggregate, exceed the difference between its respective approved total investment amount and its respective approved registered capital amount. Furthermore, any foreign loan must be registered with SAFE or its local counterparts for the loan to be effective. Any increase in the amount of the total investment and registered capital must be approved by the PRC Ministry of Commerce or its local counterpart. We may not be able to obtain these government approvals or registrations on a timely basis, if at all, which could result in a delay in the process of making these loans.

The dividends paid by the subsidiary to its shareholder are deemed shareholder income and are taxable in China. Pursuant to the Administration Rules of the Settlement, Sale and Payment of Foreign Exchange (1996), foreign-invested enterprises in China may retain foreign exchange incomes, subject to a cap approved by SAFE, for settlement of current account transactions without the approval of SAFE. Foreign exchange transactions under the capital account are still subject to limitations and require approvals from, or registration with, SAFE and other relevant PRC governmental authorities.

Dividend Distribution.The principal laws, regulations, and rules governing the distribution of dividends by foreign holding companies includein the PRC are the Company Law of the PRC, (1993), as amended in 2013,amended. Under the Foreign Investment EnterpriseCompany Law (1986), as amended in 2016,of the PRC, a PRC company, including PRC domestic companies and the Administrative Rules under the Foreign Investment Enterprise Law (2001), as amended in 2014.

Under these regulations, wholly foreign-owned investmentforeign-invested PRC enterprises, in China may pay dividends only out of theirits retained profits, if any, determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. In addition, wholly foreign-owned investment enterprises in China areA PRC company is required to allocate at least 10% of theirits respective retained profits each year, if any, to fund certain reserve funds unless these reserves have reached 50% of the registered capital of the enterprises. These reserves are not distributable as cash dividends, and a wholly foreign-owned enterprisePRC company is not permitted to distribute any profits until losses from prior fiscal years have been offset. Profits retained from prior fiscal years may be distributed together with distributable profits from the current fiscal year.

Circular 37.On July 4, 2014, SAFE issued Circular 37, which became effective as of July 4, 2014. According to Circular 37, PRC residents shall apply to SAFE and its branches for going through the procedures for foreign exchange registration of overseas investments before contributing the domestic assets or interests to a SPV. An amendment to registration or filing with the local SAFE branch by such PRC resident is also required if the registered overseas SPV’s basic information such as domestic individual resident shareholder, name, operating period, or major events such as domestic individual resident capital increase, capital reduction, share transfer or exchange, merger or division has changed. Although the change of overseas funds raised by overseas SPV, overseas investment exercised by overseas SPV and non-cross-border capital flow are not included in Circular 37, we may be required to make foreign exchange registration if required by SAFE and its branches.

Moreover, Circular 37 applies retroactively. As a result, PRC residents who have contributed domestic assets or interests to a SPV, but failed to complete foreign exchange registration of overseas investments as required prior to implementation of Circular 37, are required to send a letter to SAFE and its branches for explanation. Under the relevant rules, failure to comply with the registration procedures set forth in Circular 37 may result in receiving a warning from SAFE and its branches, and may result in a fine of up to RMB300,000RMB 300,000 for an organization or up to RMB50,000 for an individual. In the event of failing to register, if capital outflow occurred, a fine up to 30% of the illegal amount may be assessed.

PRC residents who control our company are required to register with SAFE in connection with their investments in us. If we use our equity interest to purchase the assets or equity interest of a PRC company owned by PRC residents in the future, such PRC residents will be subject to the registration procedures described in Circular 37.

M&A Regulations and Overseas Listings

On August 8, 2006, six PRC regulatory agencies, including the Ministry of Commerce, the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the State Administration for Taxation, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, CSRC and SAFE, jointly issued the Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the New M&A Rule, which became effective on September 8, 2006 and was amended on June 22, 2009. This New M&A Rule, among other things, includes provisions that purport to require that an offshore special purpose vehicle formed for purposes of overseas listing of equity interests in PRC companies and controlled directly or indirectly by PRC companies or individuals obtain the approval of CSRC prior to the listing and trading of such special purpose vehicle’s securities on an overseas stock exchange.

On September 21, 2006, CSRC published on its official website the Provisions on Indirect Issuance of Securities Overseas by a Domestic Enterprise or Overseas Listing of Its Securities for Trading, which specify procedures regarding CSRC’s approval for overseas listings by special purpose vehicles. The CSRC approval procedures require the filing of a number of documents with the CSRC and it would take several months to complete the approval process. The application of this new PRC regulation remains unclear. Further, on December 28, 2019, China amended the Securities Law of the PRC (the “2019 PRC Securities Law”) and enacted it on March 1, 2020. Pursuant to this amendment, the direct or indirect listing or trading of a domestic company’s securities on an overseas stock exchange shall be in compliance with the relevant requirements of the State Council. The State Council has not yet implemented any detailed rules in this regard.

Our PRC counsel, GFE Law Office, has advised us that, based on their understanding of the current PRC laws and regulations:

Regulations on Offshore Parent Holding Companies’ Direct Investment in and Loans to Their PRC Subsidiaries

An offshore company may invest equity in a PRC company, which will become the PRC subsidiary of the offshore holding company after investment. Such equity investment is subject to a series of laws and regulations generally applicable to any foreign-invested enterprise in China, which include the WhollyCompany Law of the PRC, the Foreign Owned EnterpriseInvestment Law of the Sino-foreign Equity Joint Venture Enterprise Law, the Sino-foreign Contractual Joint Venture Enterprise Law,PRC, all as amended from time to time, and their respective implementing rules;the Implementing Rules of the Foreign Investment Law of the PRC; the Administrative Provisions on Foreign Exchange in Domestic Direct Investment by Foreign Investors; and the Notice of the State Administration on Foreign Exchange on Further Improving and Adjusting Foreign Exchange Administration Policies for Direct Investment.

Under the aforesaid laws and regulations, the increase of the registered capital of a foreign-invested enterprise is subject to the prior approval by the original approval authority of its establishment. In addition, the increase of registered capital and total investment amount shall be registered with Ministry of Commerce (or authorized provincial or same level government), SAIC and SAFE. 

Shareholder loans made by offshore parent holding companies to their PRC subsidiaries are regarded as foreign debts in China for regulatory purpose, which is subject to a number of PRC laws and regulations, including the PRC Foreign Exchange Administration Regulations, the Interim Measures on Administration on Foreign Debts, the Tentative Provisions on the Statistics Monitoring of Foreign Debts and its implementation rules, and the Administration Rules on the Settlement, Sale and Payment of Foreign Exchange.

Under these regulations, the shareholder loans made by offshore parent holding companies to their PRC subsidiaries shall be registered with SAFE. Furthermore, the total amount of foreign debts that can be borrowed by such PRC subsidiaries, including any shareholder loans, shall not exceed the difference between the total investment amount and the registered capital amount of the PRC subsidiaries, both of which are subject to the governmental approval.

PRC Foreign Investment Law

On March 15, 2019, the National People’s Congress of the PRC adopted the Foreign Investment Law of the PRC (the “FIL”), which became effective on January 1, 2020. The FIL sets forth the principal basic legal framework of foreign investment in the PRC, and since taking effect, the FIL replaces the trio of laws regulating foreign investment in the PRC, namely, the Wholly Foreign-Invested Enterprises Law, the Law on Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Ventures, and the Law on Sino-Foreign Contractual Joint Ventures, together with their implementation rules and ancillary regulations. Pursuant to the FIL, foreign-invested enterprises established after the effective date of the FIL shall comply with, as the case may be, the Company Law or the Partnership Enterprise Law of the PRC in terms of its organization form, corporate structure and bylaws. For FIEs established prior to the effective date of the FIL, they shall have a five-year transition period, during which the FIEs, such as our WFOE, may maintain its current organization form, corporate structure and bylaws. The FIL provides clear provisions on issues of common concern for foreign-invested enterprises (“FIEs”) and their investors, such as the pre-access national treatment plus negative list system, the equal application of all national policies to FIEs, no expropriation of foreign investments under unexceptional circumstances, liberalization of inbound and outbound remittances, and concentration of undertakings reviews and foreign investment security review systems.

The FIL does not address the legality of VIE structures, and it leaves open the possibility that VIE structures may be included in the regulatory scope of “foreign investment” through special laws, or administrative regulations or even normative documents formulated by the State Council.

Regulations Relating to Intellectual Property Rights

Patent.Patents in China are principally protected under the Patent Law of China. The duration of a patent right is either 10 years (utility model or design) or 20 years (invention) from the date of application, depending on the type of patent right.

Copyright.Copyright in China, including copyrighted software, is principally protected under the Copyright Law of China and related rules and regulations. Under the Copyright Law, for a company, the term of protection for copyright is 50 years from the first publication of its work.

Trademark.Registered trademarks are protected under the Trademark Law of China and related rules and regulations. Trademarks are registered with the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. Where registration is sought for a trademark that is identical or similar to another trademark that has already been registered or given preliminary examination and approval for use in the same or similar category of commodities or services, the application for registration of such trademark could be rejected. Trademark registrations are effective for a renewable ten-year period, unless otherwise revoked.

Domain names. Domain names are protected under the Administrative Measures on the Internet Domain Names promulgated by the MIIT. The MIIT is the major regulatory body responsible for the administration of the Chinese Internet domain names, under supervision of which the CNNIC is responsible for the daily administration of .cn domain names and Chinese domain names. MIIT adopts the “first to file” principle with respect to the registration of domain names.

Employee Stock Option Plans

In February 2012, SAFE promulgated the Notices on Issues concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Publicly-Listed Company, replacing earlier rules promulgated in March 2007, to regulate the foreign exchange administration of Chinese citizens and non-Chinese citizens who reside in China for a continuous period of not less than one year, with a few exceptions, who participate in stock incentive plans of overseas publicly-listed companies. Pursuant to these rules, these individuals who participate in any stock incentive plan of an overseas publicly-listed company, are required to register with SAFE through a domestic qualified agent, which could be the Chinese subsidiaries of such overseas listed company, and complete certain other procedures. We and our executive officers and other employees who are Chinese citizens or non-Chinese citizens who reside in China for a continuous period of not less than one year and have been granted options would be subject to these regulations. Failure to complete such SAFE registrations could subject us and these employees to fines and other legal sanctions. The State Administration of Taxation has issued certain circulars concerning employee share options or restricted shares. Under these circulars, our employees working in China who exercise share options or are granted restricted shares would be subject Chinese individual income tax.

Regulations Relating to Labor

Pursuant to the China Labor Law, which was adopted in 1995 and amended in 2009, and the China Labor Contract Law, which was adopted in 2008 and amended in 2012, a written labor contract is required when an employment relationship is established between an employer and an employee. Other labor-related regulations and rules of China stipulate the maximum number of working hours per day and per week as well as the minimum wages. An employer is required to set up occupational safety and sanitation systems, implement the national occupational safety and sanitation rules and standards, educate employees on occupational safety and sanitation, prevent accidents at work and reduce occupational hazards.

An employer is obligated to sign an indefinite term labor contract with an employee if the employer continues to employ the employee after two consecutive fixed-term labor contracts or the employee has worked for the employer for ten years, with certain exceptions. The employer also has to pay compensation to the employee if the employer terminates an indefinite term labor contract, with certain exceptions. Except where the employer proposes to renew a labor contract by maintaining or raising the conditions of the labor contract and the employee is not agreeable to the renewal, an employer is required to compensate the employee when a definite term labor contract expires. Furthermore, under the Regulations on Paid Annual Leave for Employees issued by the State Council in December 2007 and effective as of January 2008, an employee who has served an employer for more than one year and less than ten years is entitled to a 5-day paid vacation, those whose service period ranges from 10 to 20 years are entitled to a 10-day paid vacation, and those who have served for more than 20 years are entitled to a 15-day paid vacation. An employee who does not use such vacation time at the request of the employer must be compensated at three times their normal salaries for each waived vacation day.

Pursuant to the Regulations on Occupational Injury Insurance which was adopted in 2004 and amended in 2010, and the Interim Measures concerning the Maternity Insurance for Enterprise Employees, which was adopted in 1995, Chinese companies must pay occupational injury insurance premiums and maternity insurance premiums for their employees. Pursuant to the Interim Regulations on the Collection and Payment of Social Insurance Premiums, which was adopted in 1999, and the Interim Measures concerning the Administration of the Registration of Social Insurance, which was adopted in 1999, basic pension insurance, medical insurance and unemployment insurance are collectively referred to as social insurance. Both Chinese companies and their employees are required to contribute to the social insurance plans. The aforesaid measures are reiterated in the Social Insurance Law of China, which was adopted in July 2011 and amended in 2018, which stipulates the system of social insurance of China, including basic pension insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, occupational injury insurance and maternity insurance. Pursuant to the Regulations on the Administration of Housing Fund, which was adopted in 1999 and amended in 2002, Chinese companies must register with applicable housing fund management centers and help each of their employees to establish a special housing fund account in an entrusted bank. Both Chinese companies and their employees are required to contribute to the housing funds.

We are a holding company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands that owns all of the outstanding capital stock of CBPO, our wholly owned Hong Kong subsidiary. CBPO, in turn, owns all of the outstanding capital stock of WFOE, our operating subsidiary based in Taian City, Shandong Province, China. WFOE has entered into control agreements with the sole shareholder of Taiying, which agreements allow WFOE to control Taiying. Through our ownership of CBPO, CBPO’s ownership of WFOE and WFOE’s agreements with Taiying, we control Taiying. Taiying, in turn, is the sole shareholder of Central BPO, JTTC, HTCC, SCBI, JCBI, ATIT, STTWB, STTCB, STTCZB, JTIS, NTEB, JXTT, XTTC, BTTC, GDTC, BTIT, STTC, GTTC, GDTC, HTTC, ZSEC, YTIT, GNDT, STTBB, STTJB, STTHB, STTGB, ZTTC, and TTZN.TTZN, WFTI, SZTT, FZTT, HNTT, CDTT, HZTT, HFTI, STTSH, and STTHN. CCRC was formed by Taiying as part of a reorganization to facilitate it becoming a public company. The shareholders of Beijing Taiying presently own 83% of the shares of CCRC.

Corporate History – Taiying, WFOE, CBPO, and CCRC

Taiying was incorporated on December 18, 2007 as a domestic Chinese limited company, with initial registered capital of RMB3 million. The registered capital of Taiying was increased to RMB 10 million on February 16, 2012, and to RMB36RMB 36 million on February 25, 2019.2019, and to RMB 60 million on April 10, 2020. We formed CBPO, WFOE and CCRC in 2014, in anticipation of registering the common shares of CCRC in our initial public offering. In connection with the formation of CCRC, CBPO and WFOE, we caused WFOE to become the wholly-owned foreign entity of CBPO as of August 2014 and to enter into certain control agreements with Taiying and its shareholder, pursuant to which we, by virtue of our ownership of CBPO and CBPO’s ownership of WFOE, control Taiying.

Corporate History – Central BPO, JTTC, HTCC, SCBI, JCBI, ATIT, STTWB, STTCB, STTCZB, JTIS, NTEB, JXTT, XTTC, BTTC, GDTC, BTIT, STTC, GTTC, ZSEC, YTIT, GNDT, STTBB, STTJB, STTHB, STTGB, ZTTC, TTZN, WFTI, SZTT, FZTT, HNTT, CDTT, HZTT, HFTI, STTSH, and TTZNSTTHN.

Taiying incorporated the following subsidiaries and branch companies on the dates indicated below:

We previously incorporated two branch office STTNB in Nanning City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regionoffices, STTCZB on MayJanuary 28, 20132019, and STTBB on March 18, 2019, and voluntarily dissolved itthem on January 15, 2019, incorporated GTSL on February 17, 2017September 28, 2020, and voluntarily dissolved it on July 26, 2019.May 21, 2020, respectively. 

Purpose and Significance of Taiying and its Subsidiaries, Central BPO, JTTC, HTCC, SCBI, JCBI, ATIT, STTWB, STTCB, STTCZB, JTIS, NTEB, JXTT, XTTC, ZSEC, BTIT, STTC, GDTC, GTTC, BTTC, YTIT, GNDT, STTBB, STTJB, STTHB, STTGB, ZTTC, TTZN, WFTI, SZTT, FZTT, HNTT, CDTT, HZTT, HFTI, STTSH, and TTZNSTTHN.

GTSL, subsidiary of Taiying, was located in Hong Kong, and accounted for approximately 0% of revenue in 2019, and was voluntarily dissolved on July 26, 2019.

Taiying and its subsidiaries operate call centers throughout China. Below is a list of the call centers Taiying and each subsidiary operates, along with the revenue allocated to each call center for 2019.2020.

Control Agreements

We conduct our business in China through our subsidiary, WFOE. WFOE, in turn, conducts its business through Taiying, in which we hold no equity interest, but which we control through a series of control agreements with Taiying and its shareholder. Foreign ownership of certain business is subject to restriction under applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations. Certain aspects of our call center business are subject to these restrictions on foreign investment. In order to comply with these laws and regulations, we have entered into control agreements with Taiying through which we operate the restricted businesses. Under U.S. GAAP, Taiying is considered a VIE. U.S. GAAP requires us to consolidate the operating companies in our financial statements because our control agreements related to Taiying provide us with the risks and rewards associated with equity ownership, even though we do not own any of the outstanding equity interests in the Operating Companies.

On September 3, 2014, Taiying and its sole shareholder, Beijing Taiying, entered into an Entrusted Management Agreement, Exclusive Option Agreement, Shareholder’s Voting Proxy Agreement and Pledge of Equity Interest Agreement (collectively, the “Control Agreements”) with WFOE in return for ownership interests in CCRC. Through the organization of CCRC as a holding company, Beijing Taiying’s shareholders now own 83% of the common shares of CCRC. The remaining 17% of CCRC’s common shares belong to other investors. CCRC indirectly controls Taiying through its 100% equity interests of WFOE. Through the Control Agreements, we can control the Operating Companies’ daily operations and financial affairs, appoint their senior executives and approve all matters requiring shareholder approval. As a result of the Control Agreements, which enable us to control the Operating Companies and cause WFOE to absorb 100% of the expected losses and gains of the Operating Companies, we are considered the primary beneficiary of the Operating Companies. Accordingly, we consolidate the Operating Companies’ operating results, assets and liabilities in our financial statements. 

Our current corporate structure is as follows:

Contractual Arrangements with Taiying and its Shareholder. Our relationships with Taiying and its sole shareholder are governed by a series of contractual arrangements. Other than pursuant to the contractual arrangements between WFOE and Taiying, Taiying need not transfer any other funds generated from its operations to WFOE. Effective as of September 3, 2014, WFOE entered into the Control Agreements with Taiying and its sole shareholder, Beijing Taiying, which provide as follows:

Entrusted Management Agreement.Taiying, its sole shareholder and WFOE have entered into an Entrusted Management Agreement, which provides that WFOE will be fully and exclusively responsible for the management of Taiying. As consideration for such services, Taiying has agreed to pay the entrusted management fee during the term of this agreement. The entrusted management fee will be equal to Taiying’s estimated earnings. Also, WFOE will assume all operational risks related to the entrusted management of Taiying and bear all losses of Taiying. The term of this agreement will be from the effective date thereof to the earliest of the following: (1) the winding up of Taiying; (2) the termination date of the Entrusted Management Agreement, as agreed by the parties thereto; or (3) the date on which WFOE completes an acquisition of Taiying.

Exclusive Option Agreement. Taiying and Taiying’s sole shareholder have entered into an Exclusive Option Agreement with WFOE, which provides that WFOE will be entitled to acquire such shares from the current shareholder upon certain terms and conditions. In addition, WFOE is entitled to an irrevocable exclusive purchase option to purchase all or part of the assets and business of Taiying, if such a purchase is or becomes allowable under PRC laws and regulations and WFOE so elects. The Exclusive Option Agreement also prohibits Taiying and its shareholder from transferring any portion of the equity interests, business or assets of Taiying to anyone other than WFOE. WFOE has not yet taken any corporate action to exercise this right of purchase, and there is no guarantee that it will do so or will be permitted to do so by applicable law at such times as it may wish to do so.

Shareholder’s Voting Proxy Agreement. The shareholder of Taiying has executed a Shareholder’s Voting Proxy Agreement to irrevocably appoint the persons designated by WFOE with the exclusive right to exercise, on their behalf, all of its voting rights in accordance with applicable law and Taiying’s Articles of Association, including but not limited to the rights to sell or transfer all or any of its equity interests in Taiying and to appoint and elect the directors and Chairman as the authorized legal representative of Taiying. This agreement will only be terminated prior to the completion of acquisition of all of the equity interests in, or all assets or business of Taiying.

Pledge of Equity Interest Agreement. WFOE and the shareholder of Taiying have entered into a Pledge of Equity Agreement, pursuant to which the shareholder pledged all of its shares (100%) of Taiying, to WFOE. If Taiying or its shareholder breaches its respective contractual obligations in the “Entrusted Management Agreement”, “Exclusive Option Agreement” and “Shareholders’ Voting Proxy Agreement”, WFOE as pledgee, will be entitled to certain right to foreclose on the pledged equity interests. Taiying’s shareholder cannot dispose of the pledged equity interests or take any actions that would prejudice WFOE’s interest. This pledge has been recorded with applicable authorities in China to perfect WFOE’s security interest.

Although the structure the company has adopted is consistent with longstanding industry practice, and is commonly adopted by comparable companies in China, the PRC government may not agree that these arrangements comply with PRC licensing, registration or other regulatory requirements, with existing policies or with requirements or policies that may be adopted in the future. There are uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of PRC laws and regulations including those that govern the company’s contractual arrangements, which could limit the company’s ability to enforce these contractual arrangements. If the company or any of its variable interest entities are found to be in violation of any existing or future PRC laws, rules or regulations, or fail to obtain or maintain any of the required permits or approvals, the relevant PRC regulatory authorities would have broad discretion to take action in dealing with such violations or failures, including levying fines, revoking business and other licenses of the company’s variable interest entities, requiring the company to discontinue or restrict its operations, restricting its right to collect revenue, requiring the company to restructure its operations or taking other regulatory or enforcement actions against the company. In addition, it is unclear what impact the PRC government actions would have on the company and on its ability to consolidate the financial results of its variable interest entities in the consolidated financial statements, if the PRC government authorities were to find the company’s legal structure and contractual arrangements to be in violation of PRC laws, rules and regulations. If the imposition of any of these government actions causes the company to lose its right to direct the activities of Taiying and through Taiying’s equity interest in its subsidiaries or the right to receive their economic benefits, the company would no longer be able to consolidate the financial results of Taiying and its subsidiaries.

Our headquarters is located at 1366 Zhongtianmen Street, Xinghuo Science and Technology Park, High-tech Zone, Taian City, Shandong Province, People’s Republic of China. Taiying has incorporated total 27 subsidiary companies and branch offices strategically-located throughout China, affording our customers local expertise and management. Our facilities are used for sales and marketing, research and development and administrative functions. All of the facilities are leased. We believe our facilities are adequate for our current needs. A summary description of our current facilities follows: