One might think that Microsoft is suggesting that there is a rampant piracy problem in China.

Probably a smart idea, considering China's censorship policies.

dont know where you got those from http://news.xbox.com/2014/07/xbox-one-launch-in-china-september  the suggested retail price is between 99 to 248 yuan  which is between 16 to 40

Completely stupid. Chine just likes controlling people. I hope they hack the console so they can play whatever they want.

it's probably required. They can probably only release selected games and if they don't have region locking then it would be possible for people to get those non selected games.

You'd be surprised just how much any governemtn likes controlling people. Every country and their government is controlling them to an extent. Som contries are just more apparent than others.

I remember i saw some some chinese gamer yelling something like "OMG you shitty chinese MMO publisher don't touch my console"

Well now they can import the US/HK/TW/JP version XB1 

Yeah this will be a success....where's that chalkboard...

China isn't on it. Tier 2 countries is though.

Read post above

So the middle class will be stuck with an expensive gimped console, while the rich will just sneak in non-China consoles and uncensored games.

Sony and Nintendo will be in the same boat. So it's equal opportunity shittiness for Chinese console gamers. Probably a reason why console gaming will always be shit and low popularity in China for the forseeable future. It's easier for gamers to find workarounds for internet blocking on PCs.