13th April 2012
The Lion Awakes
Daily News, Culture & Current Affairs about China
See how China sees the world, see how the world sees China
Xiaosui Zhou is an editor of Kaixin
These are stories of her time growing up in China
during the Cultural Revolution
People's Daily
- DPRK rocket launch fails | Speical report
- Working together, almost nothing China and US cannot solve: US Ambassador to China
- China's Q1 GDP growth slows to 8.1 pct
- Expert: 'War not solution to Iran issue'
- Red Cross scandal hits Yushu funds
Locke: US, China differ on how far and how much RMB should appreciate
Chongqing supports CPC decision to investigate Bo Xilai
Residents of Chongqing have expressed support for the CPC decision to investigate the recently-fired Party chief of the southwestern municipality.
What's happening in China
Memorial rites honoring Genghis Khan held in China's Inner Mongolia
- China to unify price of garbage power
- Beijing, Shanghai most attractive for foreigners
- Shanghai Disney secures 12.9 billion yuan loan
- Migrant youths outnumber locals
- Probe finds pesticides in tea products
- Target met in going green with rubbish
CPC Central Committee to investigate into Bo Xilai's serious violations
As Comrade Bo Xilai is suspected of being involved in serious discipline violations, the Central Committee of CPC has decided to suspend his membership of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau and the CPC Central Committee.
- Police reinvestigate death of Neil Heywood
- Firmly support correct decision of CPC Central Committee: People's Daily
- China to monitor PM2.5 in 85 cities
- Tolerating rumors not a democratic quality
China should be patient during peaceful rise
Certain people are jealous of China’s strong growth momentum. China should ignore unreasonable criticism and never compromise its principles.
- Chinese delegation to attend Iran nuclear talks
- China ready to reconstruct rare earth industry
- Chinese workers killed in Niger helicopter crash
- China issues school bus safety regulations
- CPI jumps higher than predictions
- Top court targets forced demolitions
- NYU Shanghai to enroll undergraduates in 2013
Opinions
- Respond calmly to 'China threat theory'
- Why are Chinese goods more cheap abroad?
- Hold mainstream of China-ASEAN relations
- Asia-Pacific countries should promote free trade
- Anelka cannot save Chinese football
China Politics
Foreign Affairs
China Business
China Society
Life&Culture
Tibet
China Daily
Economic growth slows to 8.1%
China's economy expanded 8.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2012.
World Bank cuts GDP forecast
System to promote yuan use globally
A system to settle cross-border yuan payments and boost the convertibility of the currency will be set up.
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M&A activity decreases sharply in Q1
The number of completed merger and acquisition deals decreased by 50 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2012 amid the global economic slowdown, suggests a report.
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Wild west calls for volunteers
The remote Kekexili nature reserve is seeking volunteers to help protect its endangered Tibetan antelopes.
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Elderly couples face difficult home truths
The old adage of "raising children as a pension for old age" has acquired a hollow ring in our fast-moving times.
China back to trade surplus in March
China swung back to trade surplus in March, posting a $670-million trade surplus in the first quarter.
Majorities in China feel living standard improving
Experts urge strong branding
China CPI jumps higher than predictions
Chinese delegation to attend Iran nuke talks
To dump or not to dump? That is the question
Pepsi increases marketing, R&D
'Porcelain capital' hopes to rekindle age of beauty
Turkish PM's visit boosts relations
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Surviving economic changes in industry
In a factory in the city of Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, Luo Li, vice-general manager of shoemaker China Juyi Group, talked proudly about how new laser machines have helped to improve its productivity.
Lessons of the Opium War
Julia Lovell believes much of the impetus behind China's transformation in recent years comes from the fear of falling behind.
Acclaimed writer says she had to revise almost every assumption about Chinese empire
Julia Lovell says the Opium War still leaves a lasting mark and casts a shadow on China even today.
The 36-year-old China historian, who has just written a book on the 19th century conflict between Britain and China, Opium War, Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China, says the war certainly teaches those in modern China of the dangers of falling behind the West.
"If you talk to many Chinese about the Opium War, a phrase you will quickly hear is luo hou jiu yao ai da, which literally means that if you are backward you will take a beating," she says.
"So the events of the Opium War are still held up as a tragic reminder of what happens if China shuts its doors to the outside world."
Unpopular but friendly advice
Economics expert says events have proved him right
Martin Wolf, associate editor and chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, has on his desk a souvenir Chinese terracotta warrior and a miniature of French sculptor Auguste Rodin's Le Penseur.
These two classic works of art catch the eye among the neatly stacked shelves of financial books in Wolf's spacious Thames-side London office. But together they hint at a more current story - China's amazing economic growth alongside the anxiety caused by Europe's debt crisis.
"I expect Chinese foreign investment in Europe to grow substantially over the next 10 or 20 years, and that's quite natural and normal," Wolf says.
In the past two months alone, China Investment Corporation, the country's sovereign wealth fund, bought an 8.68 percent stake in the UK's largest water and sewerage company, Thames Water, while China Three Gorges, the operator of the world's biggest dam, bought a 21.35 percent stake in Portugal's biggest power producer, Energias de Portugal SA.
"Europe is still rich and has lots of high-technology companies," says Wolf, adding that further opportunities for Chinese investment exist in the motor vehicle, civil aviation and financial services sectors.
The relationship between China and Europe changed significantly in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis. The same financial shock that exposed the unsustainable debt levels of some eurozone governments left China's growth almost intact - thanks to a 4 trillion yuan ($635 billion, 483 billion euros) stimulus package introduced by the Chinese government, the effectiveness of which "really surprised" even Wolf.
The China Daily website is inviting foreign readers to share their China stories with our worldwide audience. Please send your story with your contact information to mychinastory@chinadaily.com.cn. Photos of the author or the story are also welcome.
XinHua News
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| Senior Chinese leader emphasizes security cooperation within SCO |
| China is ready to work with Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to achieve more substantial results in maintaining regional security and stability and promoting economic growth, a senior Chinese leader said Thursday. |
China urges Philippine warships to leave Huangyan Island
Foreign Ministry spokesman said official ships dispatched by the Chinese government were not Naval ships and that they were already on their way to the scene.
China urges Philippines to stop illegal acts Irrelevant parties hoped to stay out of disputes
Top court rules on home demolition rights
Courts can turn down government requests to demolish housing, if the compensation for residents is deemed unfair, the Supreme People's Court ruled on Monday.
| Politics |
| China & World |
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| HK/Macao/Taiwan |
Global Times
CHINA
CCTV 9
News and Current Affairs
Travelogue presenter wanted!
If you are between 25 and 40 years old, ethnically Chinese, and a native English speaker who is effectively bilingual (English/Mandarin) and loves to travel, this is your opportunity of a lifetime!
CCTV Job Vacancies
CCTV is currently expanding and is seeking experienced, dynamic and professional applicants for some job vacancies. To apply, please send a CV and work samples to: jobs@cctv.com
LEARN CHINESE
Graeme has been using ChinesePod since 2007
"I highly recommend ChinesePod, I haven't found any Online teaching programmes that come close."
The Wall Street Journal
Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, where the big China worry is protectionism, not currency.
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![[CECON sub]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/WO-AJ422_CECON__D_20120413002408.jpg)
China Growth 8.1%, Slowest Since 2009
China's first-quarter economic growth slowed to a lower-than-expected 8.1%, the lowest since 2009, as a slowdown in exports and real-estate investment complicated China's efforts to guide its economy to a soft landing.
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New Yuan Bank Loans Surge
Looser credit conditions, underscored by an increase in bank lending, prevailed in March, according to a report released by the People's Bank of China.
Going Soft on China's Commodity Demand
As China shifts gradually out of the heavy-industry phase of development, commodity investors looking to profit from its appetite will need to be more nuanced, looking to food and fuel rather than metals.
Fonterra Plans China Investment
Fonterra Cooperative Group, one of the world's largest dairy exporters, is expanding operations in China, in a major push to gain ground there after a 2008 milk contamination scandal tarnished its growth plans.
- Bloomberg News
Two of China’s most innovative technology companies, Huawei and ZTE, are also two of its most controversial. With the telecom equipment makers expanding beyond China, governments have grown concerned that the companies could be used by Beijing to monitor their communications networks abroad.
In his new book “Making the Connection,” David Wolf, chief executive of marketing strategy firm Wolf Group Asia, traces the rise of Huawei and ZTE from regional equipment suppliers to global telecommunications giants, taking time to attack myths around the companies along the way.
China Real Time recently asked Mr. Wolf about what drove the growth of Huawei and ZTE, how they’re competing with the world’s top telecoms, and what he thinks about concerns regarding the companies’ expansion abroad.
Heywood Feared for His Safety
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In City Bo Ruled, Residents Still Sing His Praises
In Chongqing, many residents said they continue to support Bo Xilai after the announcement he is the target of a probe into "serious violations" and his wife, Gu Kailai, is a murder suspect.
Stanley Lubman, a long-time specialist on Chinese law, is a Distinguished Lecturer in Residence at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law and is the author of “Bird in a Cage: Legal Reform in China After Mao,” (Stanford University Press, 1999).
Bo Xilai, the former Communist Party chief of Chongqing stripped of all his party posts Tuesday night as part of an investigation into “serious discipline violations,” has done more than saddle Beijing with a major political scandal. He has also left behind serious legal problems that will take considerable effort to resolve.
China Drama Now a Murder Mystery
Bo Xilai, a charismatic politician once headed for top office, was dismissed from his Communist Party positions and his glamorous wife detained as a suspect in the killing of a British businessman, in the biggest crisis to shake China's leadership in decades.
Property Investors Lie in Wait in China
Cash-strapped, debt-burdened Chinese property companies may face a reckoning this year as the housing market slows—and if they do, outside investors are ready to step in.
IMF to Shift Its View of China's Trade Surplus
The IMF is poised to sharply cut its long-term forecast of China's current-account surplus, which would strengthen Beijing's defense against U.S. arguments that the yuan is "substantially undervalued."
China Swings to Trade Surplus
China posted a trade surplus of $5.35 billion in March, after reporting a deficit of $31.48 billion in February.
China Sends Another Warning to Banks
The China Banking Regulatory Commission has begun an investigation into bank fees and warned that banks found to be charging high fees for routine services will be punished. It didn't say how it defines high fees.
A Chinese general warned the Philippines that it was facing its “last chance” to resolve simmering territorial disputes in the potentially resource-rich South China Sea, a rhetorical uptick in what has emerged as the region’s hottest potential military flashpoint.
Luo Yuan, a Chinese major general known for his hawkish views, in a commentary published Monday in the popular Global Times newspaper, accused the Philippines of hijacking a recent ASEAN summit and said Manila’s continuing provocations were bound to fail.
“The biggest miscalculation of the Philippines is that it has misestimated the strength and willpower of China to defend its territorial integrity,” Gen. Luo wrote
- Reuters
China’s consumer price index rose 3.6% in March from a year earlier, quicker than February’s 3.2% rise and above expectations, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Monday. Meanwhile, China’s producer price index, a gauge of inflation at the wholesale level, fell 0.3% in March from a year earlier, after a flat reading in February. Analysts weigh in:
There’s nothing for the [People’s Bank of China] to worry about…It looks like the CPI number was mostly [due to a rise in] food. Some give back was likely given to the fall in February. The 0.2% month-on-month [rise] is very low….[The government] raised fuel prices in March, which I took as an indication that they were comfortable with the inflation outlook. An oil price spike is not in the cards. If we find ourselves in one of those, things will change, but today that doesn’t seem to be the way the world is working. – Tim Condon, ING
David Ben Kay has been an anti-piracy czar and an arts guru. But after more than 20 years in Beijing, he’s started a new adventure: as a kind of mother hen to creative entrepreneurs looking to break into China.
Formerly Microsoft China’s general counsel focusing on intellectual property, the 57-year-old Colorado native opened Yuanfen, a new-media art gallery in Beijing’s trendy 798 arts district, in 2008. In September he transformed the gallery into Yuanfen Flow, a business incubator that nurtures start-ups that combine art, business and sustainability with technology.
Russell Leigh Moses is a Beijing-based analyst and professor who writes on Chinese politics. He is writing a book on the changing role of power in the Chinese political system.
Is Premier Wen Jiabao taking a run at reform again?
That’s the question that has been rattling around in China-watching circles ever since Wen’s final press conference at the National People’s Congress last month, during which he warned in sharp terms about the dangers of nostalgia over mass movements and insisted that without political reforms “it is impossible to continue economic reform, and the gains we have made may be lost.”
One view is that Wen is not being genuine in his efforts at reform—in other words, that’s he’s Beijing’s consummate actor, wheeling out the rhetoric to burnish his legacy for the history books. Other analyses have portrayed Wen as a lone champion of restructuring, fighting a solitary battle against the dark forces of oppression and hardline gunslingers.
But Wen’s no performer. Nor is he some sort of cowboy.
Apple contractor Hon Hai plans to raise wages for its employees in Taiwan in a bid to better attract and retain talent; Italian yacht maker Ferretti has been purchased by a Chinese company know for making bulldozers; Ford plans to invest $600 million in Chongqing as part of an effort to double its capacity in China.
A battle is unfolding in the South China Sea: the fight to win the pocketbooks of China’s richest citizens.
Over the next four days, 300 of China’s wealthiest are being flown in on private jets by makers such as Boeing and Cessna, as an unprecedented number of companies pile onto Hainan Island. The occasion? The annual Hainan Rendez-Vous yacht and jet show in Sanya, southern China’s travel hotspot for the ultra-wealthy.
China’s real-estate sector is a key driver of growth and imports of raw materials. A slowdown in investment in the sector is contributing to concern about the outlook for the world’s second-largest economy, and makes China’s real-estate data set one of the most closely watched by investors.
Speaking exclusively to China Real Time, Zhao Peiya, the deputy director of the Department of Investment at the National Bureau of Statistics, offered a glimpse into how China compiles its housing numbers.
Eight Questions: Rebecca MacKinnon, ‘Consent of the Networked’
As Beijing bureau chief for CNN in the late 1990′s, Rebecca MacKinnon witnessed first-hand the arrival of the Internet in China and the Chinese government’s struggle to control a technology some predicted would help bring about the end of Communist Party rule.
A decade later, as Ms. MacKinnon documents in her recently released book “Consent of the Networked,” the party is still alive and still fighting to manage the flow of information online, though with far more success than many had previously assumed possible.
The New York Times
Slow First Quarter in China, but Recent Signs of Growth
Despite slow economic growth in the first three months of the year, there were gains in both the industrial and retail sectors in March, according to new data.
The Imbalances in China's Economy
An interview with Nicholas R. Lardy, an authority on China and its economy, about his book "Sustaining China's Economic Growth After the Global Financial Crisis."
Slowdown Forecast for Developing Asian Economies
The Asian Development Bank on Wednesday forecast that Asia’s emerging economies would cool somewhat in 2012, but said that growth would still outpace that of the developed world.
Diplomatic Resolution Sought in South China Sea Standoff
Philippine and Chinese officials on Wednesday called for a diplomatic solution to a naval standoff, while insisting that they would defend their territorial claims over islands in the South China Sea.
Bo Xilai Scandal and the Mysterious Neil Heywood
Neil Heywood’s ties to Bo Xilai and his family may have cost him his life and set off China’s biggest political scandal in a generation. But precisely why, or how, he died is still unknown.
Briton’s Death Is Thrust to Center of China Scandal Over Bo Xilai
The wife of Bo Xilai, who had been seen as one of the handful of rising leaders slated to run China, is being investigated in the killing of a businessman, Neil Heywood, last year.
Surplus in China Trade Comes as Surprise
Exports surged last month, helping to produce an unexpected trade surplus of $5.35 billion in March, but imports grew lethargically, a warning sign for the nation.
China Reports Trade Surplus for March, but Growth Is Slow
The surplus is likely to bring renewed calls in the United States and elsewhere for China to allow further appreciation of its currency, the renminbi.
Food Prices Push Rate of Inflation Up in China
Unlike in Europe and the United States, where inflation is subdued, China and other emerging economies have seen that prices have been pushed up by robust growth and rising costs.
Asia Times Online
China growth fragile
Demand in March from the United States and Europe helped China register a small first-quarter trade surplus, but lower-than-expected imports and a pessimistic outlook at China's smaller businesses suggests rocky overall growth.
- Robert M Cutler
SINOGRAPH
Murder adds twist to Bo thriller
An official investigation into Bo Xilai is the definitive end of the princeling's political career, but not the end of a disturbing story. With Bo's lawyer wife a suspect in the murder of a British businessman - and the United States probably holding smoking-gun information - Beijing may be forced to step lightly abroad and make bolder reform strides at home.
- Francesco Sisci
Loyalty drive may stifle China reforms
A plethora of wild rumors surrounding the downfall of Chongqing's Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai confirms there are serious ills in China's body politic. Amid attempts to shore up stability ahead of the wholesale changing of the guard at the 18th Party Congress in November, it is doubtful whether the party elite will heed Premier Wen Jiabao's repeated calls for genuine political reform. - Willy Lam
THE ROVING EYE
An extreme traveler, Pepe's nose for news has taken him to all parts of the Pepe Escobar globe. He was in Afghanistan and interviewed the military leader of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, Ahmad Shah Masoud, a couple of weeks before his assassination
Caixin Online
- Banks'New Loans in March Beat Expectations
- First quarter ends with lending increase that exceeded even the boldest forecasts
- Huge Waste of Wind-Generated Electricity in 2011, Research Finds
- Industry insider blames disconnect between production facilities and grid companies for unused power
- SOE Investment Regulations on Property Market Flow Adrift
- Hundreds of subsidiaries under centrally administered SOEs are hindering the exit of government investment under 2010 rules
- Report Ties Top Clothing Retailers to Severe Water Pollution
- Nearly 50 major clothing retailers were linked to supply chains that dump toxic waste into China's dwindling water resources, a new study by five environmental organizations finds
- Closer Look: Data Platform a Tiger with No Teeth
- A new platform to digitize the filing of information for economic indicators has already fallen prey to interference by local governments
Roach Says China Hard Landing Unlikely
Stephen Roach calls for more consumption in China's economic restructuring and less worry about bursting of a property bubble
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