24th of December 2010
The Lion Awakes
Daily News, Culture & Current Affairs about China
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China Daily
DPRK threatens 'holy war', raises nuclear specter
BEIJING - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) warned on Thursday of a "holy war" using its nuclear deterrent against the Republic of Korea (ROK) as Seoul vowed a "merciless counterattack" if its territory is attacked again.
"To counter the enemy's intentional drive to push the situation to the brink of war, our revolutionary forces are making preparations to begin a holy war at any moment necessary based on nuclear deterrent," DPRK's official KCNA news agency quoted Minister of Armed Forces Kim Yong-chun telling a rally in Pyongyang.
ROK to hold 'largest drill'
BEIJING - The Republic of Korea (ROK) announced land and sea military exercises on Wednesday, described by its military as the largest-ever live-fire drill, near the border with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) just as tension on the peninsula was showing signs of easing.
A boat sails past an ROK naval supply base off Yeonpyeong Island near the disputed waters of the Yellow Sea on Wednesday.
Kaixin Oped - As noted below, Kaixin wonders just who is making this puppet dance.
China urges Korean Peninsula dialogue
BEIJING -- China Thursday urged the two sides on the Korean Peninsula to value people's safety and regional peace, and resume dialogue and negotiation at an early date.
"The situation on the Korean Peninsula remains complicated and sensitive," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular press conference.
Kaixin OpEd - China is probably urging the North to hold talks with the South. The question is ... whether Washington is urging the South to hold talks with the North.
China boosts land supply in 2010
China increased land supply this year and stepped up the scrutiny of real estate investments by foreign companies as it rolls out more measures to contain 18 months of gains in property prices, Bloomberg News reported Thursday.
China's land supply rose 48 percent to 128,200 hectares in the first 11 months, while sites for residential developments surged 51 percent, the Land and Resources Ministry said in a statement.
The Commerce Ministry ordered local authorities to halt the approval of some foreign property investments to curb speculative buying, it said in a Nov 22 statement.
Home prices in 70 Chinese cities climbed 7.7 percent in November from a year earlier, even after the government raised borrowing costs for the first time in three years, suspended mortgages for third-home purchases and pledged to introduce a property tax, the report said, adding that sales volume also jumped 15 percent. "The pace for land acquisitions in the private sector will slow next year," the report cited Johnson Hu, a Shanghai-based property analyst at UOB Kay Hian Investment Co. "The government is tightening lending on one hand, but on the other, it's launching new land supplies," Hu said.
Real estate should not be pillar industry
Real estate should be a fundamental, but not a pillar, industry in China, the Shanghai Securities News reported Wednesday, citing Yun Xiaosu, vice minister of the Ministry of Land and Resources.
Chinese government has rolled out a series of measures to curb skyrocketing housing prices since April. China’s real estate prices in 70 major cities rose at a slower pace since April. However, 70 percent of Chinese residents believe home prices are too high, according to a report released by the People’s Bank of China.
License quotas to control gridlock in Beijing
Beijing announced a package of detailed rules on Thursday to ease its growing traffic gridlock, the rumors of which had caused frenzy car buying this month.
The city will only allow 240,000 vehicles to be registered next year, said Zhou Zhengyu, vice-secretary general of the Beijing municipal government.
The quotas will be divided among organizations and individuals every month, as part of a new policy to ease traffic pressure in 2011, according to a chinanews.com.cn report on Thursday.
South Africa joins BRIC as full member
BEIJING - Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Thursday said BRIC has accepted South Africa as a full member of the group, which currently includes Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Yang, during a phone conversation with his South African counterpart Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, said Chinese President Hu Jintao would issue an invitation letter to South African President Jacob Zuma, inviting him to attend the third BRIC leaders' meeting to be held in Beijing next year.
China tougher on foreign property investment
BEIJING - China is tightening regulation on foreign investment in the real estate sector to crack down on speculation, according to a statement from the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Thursday.
The ministry urges local authorities to increase checks and supervision on property investment that involved foreign investors and strengthen risk controls on the sector, said the statement posted on the MOC website.According to the statement, foreign-funded developers are not allowed to make profits through buying and reselling real estate projects, which will be strictly monitored by the MOC along with the Ministry of Land and Resources and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.
The ministry also required local authorities to tighten scrutiny over foreign-funded investment companies and not to allow those companies to enter the real estate businesses, while closely examining the exact amount of foreign funds used in new real estate projects.
White paper with Africa on economic co-op unveiled
BEIJING -- The Chinese government Thursday released a white paper on China-Africa economic and trade cooperation, highlighting achievements and a bright future for China and African countries to boost their growth.
It was China's first-ever white paper on its economic and trade cooperation with Africa.
"Practice proves that China-Africa economic and trade cooperation serves the common interests of the two sides, helps Africa to reach the UN Millennium Development Goals, and boosts common prosperity and progress for China and Africa," said the white paper.
The 29-page white paper, released by the State Council Information Office, introduced facts of trade development, investment expansion, infrastructure construction collaboration and other fields of cooperation between China and Africa.
China-Africa economic and trade cooperation plays a significant role in promoting the establishment of a fair and rational new international political and economic order, according to the white paper.
China's top banker sees rate rises: Xinhua
SHANGHAI/BEIJING- China Construction Bank Corp (CCB) Chairman Guo Shuqing said he expects the government to raise interest rates and lift bank required reserve ratios (RRR) further next year.
Obama to host Hu in state visit on Jan 19
WASHINGTON - The White House has finalized Jan 19 as the date for Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States.
"President Hu's visit will highlight the importance of expanding cooperation between the United States and China on bilateral, regional and global issues, as well as the friendship between the peoples of our two countries," the White House said in a statement issued Wednesday.
Hu's visit with US President Barack Obama will include a state dinner in the evening.
Little room for bikes in traffic plan, critics say
BEIJING - The municipal government's call for people to swap steering wheels for handlebars has appeared halfhearted to many.
The Beijing government issued a package of detailed rules on Thursday to address its traffic gridlock, including measures to improve infrastructure for cyclists, pedestrians and public transport.
Bridge reaches across the sea off Qingdao
Photo taken on Dec 8 shows an aerial view of the Qingdao Haiwan Bridge under construction. The main section of the bridge was joined up on Dec 22. The bridge links the main urban area of Qingdao city, East China’s Shandong province, with Huangdao district, straddling the Jiaozhou Bay sea areas (located on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula). With an overall length of 42.58 kilometers, the bridge will be open to traffic in the first half of 2011. The route between Qingdao and Huangdao will be shortened by 30 kilometers, cutting the travel time by 20 minutes at 80 kilometers per hour.
China's most-difficult-to-build railway to open
YICHANG, Hubei - A railway touted as the most difficult to build in the country that cuts through southwestern China's rugged mountains with hundreds of bridges and tunnels, will open this week.
The maiden train journey will leave Yichang city, central Hubei province, Wednesday morning and arrive in Wanzhou district, Chongqing, two hours later. The Yichang-Wanzhou Railway will become fully operational on Jan 11, 2011, said Guo Bing, an official with the Yichang section of the Wuhan Railway Bureau.
It used to take 22 hours to travel by train from Chongqing to Wuhan, but when the new line opens it will only take five hours. Travel time from other central or eastern Chinese cities to Southwest China will also be greatly reduced, railway officials said.
Engineers and work crews took seven years to complete the 377-kilometer railway on a stretch of mountains on the eastern edge of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. In the most extreme case, it took nearly six years to drill a tunnel through Qiyue Mountain along the route.
The railway includes 159 tunnels and 253 bridges.
The Yichang-Wanzhou Railway is also China's most expensive railway in terms of cost per kilometer. It cost about 60 million yuan to build each kilometer of the railway, compared to 29 million yuan ($4.37 million) for each kilometer of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
Love Relay Concert - VIDEO
2010 Music Radio's "Kappa 1200: Love Relay Concert" was held in Beijing Yuetan Stadium Monday night. The event was organized by the Music Radio of Central People's Radio and the China Children and Teenagers Foundation, and cosponsored by Kappa. All profits from the event will be donated to the China Children and Teenagers' Foundation and will be used to support three years' worth of living expenses for impoverished children.
Last night, Fish Leong, Yoga Lin, Hebe, Zhang Jie, Bibi, Shang Wenjie, Yu Quan, Li Xiaoyun, Su Xing, Li Yifeng, Olivia, and Jiang Yuheng performed for the audience.
The 2010 Music Radio "Kappa 1200: Activity to Assist the Impoverished Students" has been going on for four months. Participants have experienced two in-depth face to face visits, three "smile collections," two golf tournaments, six road shows of love in different cities, and today they have finally come to the 2010 Love Relay Concert. The whole process has attracted the strong support of all walks of life. Everyone passed on his own love, and infected other peoples.
SLIDESHOW: Exhibition of "Charm of Ancient Chinese Music" opens in Beijing (1/51)
Post-80s in China-E06 - VIDEO
E06:"I'm ma ma"
Post-80s is a special word in China, which refers to people born in the 1980s.
Winter wonderland at Bird's Nest - VIDEO
The Bird's Nest, China's landmark Olympic stadium in Beijing, is hosting a snow festival which attracted thousands to enjoy a wide variety of winter activities.
Mounds of artificial snow, mini ski slopes and skating rinks were crowded with snow lover bundled up like Eskimos. Located in one of Beijing's most popular tourist spots, residents and visitors looking for a little winter fun don't have to travel far.
This is the festival's second year. Last year was the first time the event was held at the 526-million-dollar arena, and the representatives say they look forward to continuing to celebrate this new winter tradition.
The winter wonderland provides a fun, interesting snow world for locals and tourists to explore during the Christmas and the Chinese New Year period.
Tea culture comes to live at Wuyutai - VIDEO
Wuyutai is a name known to almost every tea lover in Beijing. First established in 1887, Wuyutai enjoys fame as one of the Time-Honored Brands of China, and is well-known for its high-quality tea products and hospitable service.
The history of the teahouse is encapsulated in its name. Wu Xiqing, its founder, came from Anhui province to open a tea store in Beijing during the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Wu named the shop Yutai, which was later updated to include his family name.
Wuyutai is most famous for its secret jasmine tea recipe - a sought-after mixture of green tea and jasmine that rings the right note for tea lovers. And it is in the process of applying to make jasmine tea part of Beijing's intangible cultural heritage.
After over a century's development, Wuyutai Tea House, which was renamed Beijing Wuyutai Tea Co in 2005, has more than 190 chain stores, two tea houses and two stylish tea cuisine restaurants.
For over 120 years, Wuyutai has been holding up its traditional tea producing methods and has won high reputation and credibility among generations of tea lovers.
People in Beijing like to go to tea houses. In olden days, they used to be the center of social activity. Nowadays, tea houses are still considered an ideal venue for socializing. The preparation of tea is an important part of the Chinese tea culture. Different kinds of tea require different methods of preparation. Offering tea is considered a sign of respect, courtesy and gratitude.
Along with Wuyutai's renowned traditional tea products, the company has developed various new products to expand its market share; namely, tea-flavored moon cakes, ice cream, candy and cuisines.
At the end of 2006, Wuyutai recovered an old tea cuisine recipe that belonged to Wu Xiqing, who was also a gourmet cook and was keen on introducing tea elements to traditional Chinese cuisines.
At the Refreshments and Cuisine of Wuyutai Court (Wuyutai Nei Fu Dishes), you can not only enjoy tea beverages, but also taste tea-related cuisines. Wuyutai advocates a healthy and natural way of eating. The dishes on its menu are mouthwatering and creative.
For instance, Puer Tea with Natural Fried Chrysanthemum is cooked so delicately from fresh chrysanthemum flowers without losing the natural shape or color of the flower. And the Puer tea on the side neutralizes the flower's coolness with its warmth.
Fresh Shrimps with Biluo Tea is quite fun to eat. The teapot alongside the shrimp is an automatic dark-red enamel pot, which pours tea automatically as soon as a cup is placed on the base.
And the "brushes" on this pallet are not made for Chinese calligraphy but for your stomach. This snack is made of wheat flour mixed with cubilose, shark's fin, snow clam and papaya. The ink-like stuff on the inkstone is actually blueberry sauce. You can also choose chili sauce if you prefer.
And one appetizer is made from French goose liver and green tea pudding. There's a piece of Kuding tea leaf on each cube of pudding. The appetizer combines the bitterness of Kuding tea with the scent of green tea, as well as the creamy texture of goose liver.
Eating at the Wuyutai theme restaurant is more than just a tea banquet. While you are dinning here, you can also feel the traditional Chinese tea culture and see how it was rejuvenated under Wuyutai's business philosophy.
Kaixin's - Chinese green tea -Tie Guan Yin’s story 铁观音
Kaixin's - The story of the Pu'er Tea 普洱茶 the famous red tea of China.
Kaixin's - Magic Tibetan Tea - Po Cha 'Tibetan Butter Tea'
The Guangzhou Asian Para Games
Slideshow: Asian Para Games ends in Guangzhou
Floating ice brings danger for North China city
A general view of the sheets of ice float in the Wuhai section of Yellow River in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
Building Big - The Top 10
China has a tradition of building big. Tracing back to the Great Wall and the splendid imperial palaces, the ancient Chinese were addicted to the massive impact created by building gigantic constructions.
China never stopped constructing, especially after the government injected four trillion yuan to the market to stimulate the economy two years ago. The country's people decided to let the tradition continue by building new construction wonders in the cradle of civilization.
Following are 10 examples of how Chinese people endured the great legacy in the passing year:
1. Beijing-Shanghai in four hours 3. Disneyland comes to Shanghai 5. 15-story hotel built in six days 6. Asian Games Town ready for sports gala 7. Nuke power firm fuels mega investment plan
A Li ethnic minority with tattoos on her face poses for a photographer in Baoting Li and Miao autonomous county, Hainan province Dec 9, 2010. Li women tattoo their skin as part of traditional customs but it is a tradition that the young don't follow nowadays. There are about 1,000 aging women who still wear such traditional tattoos in Baoting.
The man who was Mao's hero
The Bruce Lee legend never fades but it might surprise some to learn that among his legion of fans was Chairman Mao, who called him a hero.
Chairman Mao Zedong (1893-1976) and Bruce Lee the martial arts legend (1940-1973) both declared - in their unique ways - that the Chinese people had "stood up".
Mao made this proclamation on the founding of the People's Republic of China, on Oct 1, 1949, Lee said it in a cinematic way that needed no translation when he kicked and smashed a wooden panel bearing the words: "Chinese and dogs not allowed", one of the iconic scenes steeped in fiery nationalism from Fist of Fury.
The words are supposedly from notices at the entrance of public parks in colonial Shanghai, and have come to symbolize the country's humiliation.
It turns out the Great Helmsman was a huge fan of the kungfu legend.
Vote for China's Top 10 Cultural Events in 2010
China's Economy by Numbers
Top 10 New Investment Ideas in China
Special Coverage: Beijing, I have a dream
A special coverage on people’s dreams in Beijing under its This is Beijing program, and this is the third part of five people's dreams.
The 16th United Nations Climate Change Conference
Global Times
China's 2010 fiscal revenue to exceed 8 trillion yuan
In 2010, China's tax income is expected to amount to 7.7 trillion yuan ($1.16 trillion), and added with non-tax incomes, the country's fiscal revenue paddles to exceed 8 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion), according to a Caijing report Wednesday.
According to previous data from the Ministry of Finance, in the first 11 months of the year, the country's non-tax revenues reached 840.82 billion yuan ($126.53 billion). During the same period, fiscal revenues had pegged at 7.67 trillion yuan ($1.15 trillion), 281 billion more than the target set for the whole year.
During the eleventh-five-year plan, China's fiscal revenue saw an annual growth of 1 trillion yuan ($150.48 billion) on average, a pace faster than the gross domestic product's.
S.Korea playing by dangerous cliff
Without letting the world breathe a sigh of relief after North Korea showed restraint following South Korea's artillery drill on Monday, the South moved on with an even larger display of military exercises.
The North's firing back in November that left four South Koreans dead was an overreaction but the South's continuous bombast is putting it at a disadvantage that will draw international criticism.
The Korean leaders, military and think tanks appear to be trapped in their triumph after their Monday live-fire drill near the North Korean border. Many believe that if they try to be nice, Pyongyang will never stop; and if they play tough, the other side will back off.
But the two Koreas are not street hoodlums, nor bullies in the schoolyard.
Northeast Asia is one of the most prosperous regions in the world, though the DMZ still slashes the Korean Peninsula in two. It is unacceptable for regional interests that any side threatens the other with war, whatever the purpose may be.
South Korean leaders may have an illusion that they suffered a lot from the North's "provocation." But do they understand that the North Koreans also had to swallow bitter pills when the South launches military exercises with the US time and again? With the relighting of a Christmas tree along the border that has been associated with past propaganda wars, how will North Korea be expected to react?
China has always tried to promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. When the North Korea tested nuclear bombs, China stood with the international community, voiced its condemnation and supported sanctions against the North.
But when the South loses its temper and insists on provocative military maneuvers along the border, China will not be siding with the South. The international community should also be clear about the situation, as it needs to pull the South back from the edge of the cliff.
If South Korea makes a wrong move that leads the two Koreas to war, the international communities can also consider applying sanctions against South Korea. Economic sanctions will also hurt the bustling South Korean economy.
No matter how strongly the South Korean military vows to retaliate should the North directly fire at the military or civilian targets in the South, we believe the two Koreas do not want a war. Neither side can afford an all-out military confrontation. The peninsula will never be a place for a school bully.
Kaixin OpEd - But what if that bully is our teenager friend, America ...
US destructive role in Northeast Asia
The protracted US backing of a vindictive South Korea has pushed the peninsula to the brink of war.
The reaction from the North, when faced with a live-fire artillery drill by South Korean forces on Yeonpyeong island, is predictable. Should the South proceed, a major military conflict cannot be ruled out.
This would spell out the worst scenario resulting from poor political judgment and lack of restraint from both sides. Apart from aimless bravado that may win plaudits from domestic supporters, there is nothing to gain for either side from a confrontation in which millions would suffer.
The US is thus not playing a responsible role. Despite its special envoy being sent to Pyongyang for dialogue, its support of these drills are only pushing North Korea to the edge.
While claiming to be standing guard for the South Korea, the US in fact will do the greatest harm to the South.
The escalation of the Korean crisis is bad news for China or Russia. However, tensions on the peninsula will provide the US, which is to blame for worsening intra-Korean relations, with a perfect excuse to "return to Asia."
It is time to take a closer look at the damaging power of the US role in Northeast Asia. At this critical moment of war and peace, Asian countries need to escape a Cold War mentality and maintain regional interests at heart.
US President Barack Obama has won a Nobel Peace Prize. If a second Korean war should break out during his second term in office, a war he did nothing to prevent, would his aura of peace be shattered?
No matter what China and the US do, the most important objective of all is for South Korea to keep a clear head. Should war break out, the biggest losses would be borne on the South. Despite support from the US and Japan, and sympathy from China and Russia, nobody would take those losses for South Korea. No matter what happens, it is impossible for South Korea to reunite the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea should also be mindful that a war will never fix the country's difficult straits. No matter how objectionable it may view negotiating and building a rapport with other countries, the North has to take this path.
As for China, it does not want to see any major crisis on the Korean Peninsula. But China is never going to bend to any challenge from outside. Should the troubled waters of the peninsula wet China's feet, somebody else may already be drowning.
Applause for North Korea's restraint
North Korea's reaction to the South's military drill Monday let the world see its calmness and restraint. The North's international image is being quietly altered, whereas the South is labeled by some observers as threatening the status quo.
There are also voices deriding North Korea's timidity in the face of the South's hard-line stance. North Korea should not heed them. No matter what motive it had, North Korea didn't retaliate Monday, which preserved the fragile peace on the peninsula.
Consequently, North Korea deserves the applause of the region for its diplomatic response. Those who laugh at North Korea's "cowardice" are actually onlookers seeking to extract their own interests from the chaos on the peninsula.
Before Monday's military drill, South Korea had also been restrained. It had tried to cast North Korea in the role of agent provocateur. However, this has not been the case at least in the past couple of days. Has South Korea itself slipped into that role? This question should be mulled over thoughtfully by its authorities.
Dialogue
A 30 Minute Current Affairs Programme on CCTV - 9 (In English) where current issues are discussed by experts from China and Internationally:
Inter-Korean tension grows
The Republic of Korea has resumed its scheduled live-fire drills near the disputed border island. The DPRK, its northern neighbor vows to shell their enemy harder than before. The two sides have been trading tough talk and gearing up for an open confrontation. Russia has called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to find a restraining solution.
But the US refuses to cooperate in what looks like a repeat of the Cold War. The US assumes the rotating presidency of the Security Council. The Whitehouse says that South Korea’s scheduled military maneuvers are unprovocative and routine.
China warns that the hostilities could spill over into the neighboring countries and must be prevented. But, Beijing is accused of not exercising sufficient pressure on its alleged ally, the DPRK, to stop the provocations.
International News Sources
The Wall Street Journal - China RealTime Report
The Wall Street Journal
Pictures of China
Slideshows
North Korea Launches Verbal Salvo
SEOUL— North Korea, three days after backing off threats to attack South Korea, turned up the rhetoric late Thursday by promising a "sacred war" if the South or U.S. touched its territory, while South Korean officials tried to address public perception of their handling of North Korea.
Kaixin OpEd – It would all be a bit pathetic, ‘ sacred war’ indeed, like children squabbling in the playground, if it weren’t for the fact that these children are proxies for the USA and China et al.
Yuan's Role Grows in Hong Kong
NEW YORK—Six months after China pledged to increase the flexibility of the yuan exchange rate versus the dollar, there are fresh signs that it is gradually moving closer to a more international role for its currency.
On Thursday, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said yuan deposits in the city surged to 280 billion yuan ($42.12 billion) at the end of November from 217 billion yuan in the previous month, a sign of strong demand for the Chinese currency in Hong Kong and of a convergence between the territory's open financial system and the mainland economy. HKMA Chief Executive Norman Chan ...
See Kaixin's - YUAN REVALUATION & INTERNATIONALISATION
Beijing Imposes Tough Traffic Curbs
BEIJING—Beijing's municipal government Thursday unveiled sweeping measures to curtail the number of cars sold in the city next year, in a bid to ease traffic chaos that could prompt similar moves in other Chinese cities and deepen an expected slowdown for the auto industry.
Vehicles jam the 3rd ring road during the morning rush hour in Beijing
Developers Defy Gravity, Government Policy
Global politicians envious of the power China’s leaders supposedly have to implement economic policy would do well to consider Z15.Local media are reporting that Citic plans to use Z15 as the site for a gleaming 500-meter skyscraper (see artists rendition above). Once built, the tower will be Beijing’s tallest–eclipsing the recently completed China World Trade Center Tower, also in the Central Business district, by 170 meters.
See Kaixin's - CHINA REAL ESTATE
Old Problems Resurface With China’s Rising Food Prices
The British writer Bruce Chatwin, in his 1989 book “What Am I Doing Here,” ascribed the power of Chinese emperors to nothing more than the authority over agriculture.
“Imperial decrees,” Chatwin wrote, “used to begin ‘The World is based on Agriculture.’”
It’s been more than 20 years since Chatwin wrote and a millennium since the era he evoked.But in China, even the most massive changes in income levels can’t mask the same fault lines that pervade the task of governing this old, big country.
WSJ - Farm Wages Trip Beijing's March Against Inflation
BEIJING—To combat a surge in food prices that is worrying consumers and economists, China's government is reining in bank lending and selling down reserves of grain. But there is one driver of higher food prices that will be harder to get under control: the steady rise in the wages paid to workers on and off the farm.
Kaixin OpEd – There is a massive shift going on in China at the moment.
The first 30 years of China’s economic transformation was driven from the cities, in particular the cities on the coast: Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
The rural population provided the labour for this phase at a price that allowed China to build its export economy.
This model could not go on forever.
Beijing knew this and the last five years has seen a steady shift in focus from a reliance on low priced exports to America to, among other initiatives, using the wealth that provided to focus on rural China.
Rural China is a vast untapped economic reserve for China.
It will drive growth, through domestic consumption and entrepreneurship for the next fifty years in China, at least.
Deng Xiaoping’s vision, Kaixin believes, was to use capitalism to build wealth for China, then use that wealth for socialist goals – social equality and security.
Along the way there will of course by problems, income disparity is one.
At first the rural population were content to provide their labour for a very low cost. It was still a big improvement on what they had before, particularly through the grey period of Mao’s miss-management of the economy.
It was a vast, almost unimaginable, improvement on what they had endured before Mao.
The first phase of the economic transformation has been achieved. China now has a secure wealth base.
The rural population are better informed and becoming better educated. They want a greater share of the wealth that China is generating.
This will cause problems and required adjustments.
These adjustments be achieved with a different agenda and focus to the ‘western’ models. The ‘west’ likes to think in terms of free enterprise and the devil take the hindmost.
China, Kaixin believes, will focus on the social agenda and try to find a balance.
This will not be achieved overnight. It will take time and there will be mistakes.
However as long as it is the focus, the Chinese people will benefit over time.
Western economists and commentators do not seem to be able to get their collective heads around the notion that China is indeed creating a new economic model. Kaixin wonders, just quietly, whether when or if this is fully achieved China will be awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics. After all, the creators of all the (failed) models in the west were.
The New York Times
Multinationals Sit Out China Trade Battles
HONG KONG — Western companies, eager for access to China, are loath to cry foul even amid evidence that Beijing may be flouting international trade laws.
Multiplying Drivers Run Over Beijing Traffic Plan
In the latest match between Beijing’s build-baby-build bureaucrats and its Gordian knot of traffic, more than a few folks are betting on the knot.
U.S. Says China Fund Breaks Rules
Washington asked for World Trade Organization talks after accusing Beijing of granting illegal subsidies.
The Age
Price rises highlight China food changes
Recent food price surges in China have underscored the supply challenges the country faces, as decreasing arable land is making it harder to maintain farm output, a UN envoy said on Thursday.
Caixin Online
Good Tidings in 2011
Andy Xie
One could describe the global economy as a race between the U.S. and China, to see who goes down first
The global economy may be coming up for a breach of fresh air in 2011. Fiscal and monetary policies around the world have been highly stimulated for three years. The additional monetary and fiscal stimulus measures by the U.S. could generate an upside surprise to its 2011 growth rate. Most emerging economies continue to grow rapidly. By the middle of 2011, most analysts may declare that the world has finally put the financial crisis behind.
The reality is quite different.
Developers Revive Penchant for Land
During the first half of December, the top ten Chinese developers spent 14.8 billion yuan on land purchases, say analysts
(Beijing) -- As cities have moved to increase land supply toward the year's end, property developers across China have gone on a multi-billion yuan buying spree.
According to Centaline Property Agency Ltd, during the first half of December, the top ten Chinese developers spent 14.8 billion yuan on land purchases, exceeding 70 percent of the total expenditures for the past eleven months.
The Ultimate "Last Nail" of Beijing
Clenched in resistance to the demolition of their homes, Zhang Changfu and his younger brother have held on to a group of drooping houses in the center of Beijing. Surrounded by high-rise buildings in Chaoyang District, the homes are known in China as a "last nail" household. In 2003, Zhang refused a demolition compensation agreement with UHN International Village, an apartment developer. The developer offered 450,000 yuan to each of Zhang's brothers for their home. Over the past seven years, Zhang's actions have attracted much media attention. Some netizens have nicknamed him as the ultimate "last nail" of Beijing. Zhang said he and his family are willing to move away, but only if they reach fair compensation from the real estate developer, which he has said would be around 6 million yuan for the 150 square meter plot.
Zhang's house is located in the Taiyang Gong area in Chaoyang District, between the North 2nd Ring Road and North 3rd Ring Road. Housing prices in that area have skyrocketed in recent years.
