1st of November 2010

The Lion Awakes 

Daily News, Culture & Current Affairs about China

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SPECIAL FEATURE - Anatomy of the currency war

The buzzword "currency war" has been making headlines around the world in recent months since the Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega coined the phrase for the first time in September.

An army of experts and officials declared their thoughts on the issue as more and more economies joined in the intervention over exchange rates. Here we try to map out the cause and developing progress of the episode and work out a possible finale.

Wen to US: Be constructive

As Washington and Moscow join the East Asia Summit, China affirms role of ASEAN

Hanoi - Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday said China welcomed the United States and Russia to the East Asia Summit group, and hoped the new members would play a constructive role.

Addressing the meeting, Wen also reaffirmed the importance of ASEAN in East Asian cooperation.

"China is ready to work together with other parties to deepen East Asian cooperation on the basis of upholding the established principles and purposes of the East Asia Summit," he said.

China strides forward cutting CO₂emissions

BEIJING - China's primary energy consumption will be kept to between 4 to 4.2 billion tonnes of standard coal by 2015, Jiang Bing, director of the development and planning department of the National Energy Administration (NEA), said on Saturday.

As China has adopted a low-carbon development strategy, the country plans to raise the non-fossil energies ratio in its total primary energy consumption to 15 percent by 2020, and carbon dioxide emissions per GDP would be reduced by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels, Jiang said.

China holds closing ceremony for Shanghai Expo

SHANGHAI - The 184-day Shanghai World Expo came to the end as a closing ceremony started here Sunday evening.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and other dignitaries attended the ceremony.

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said the Expo has made China and the world come closer together, and a more open, inclusive and culturally advanced China that steadily moves forward will join other countries in the world to usher in an ever brighter future for all.

Interesting comments by Noam Chomsky on China:

China to begin national population census Nov 1

BEIJING - China will launch its sixth national population census Monday, ten years after the last one, as the world's most populous nation seeks a clearer and up-to-date picture of its population.

Remarriage hard choice for elderly Chinese couples

SHENYANG - Zhang and Zhao, a couple in their 70s from Shenyang, Northeast China's Liaoning province, have lived happily together for some years, but they are not married -- both their families oppose such a marriage.

Zhang, in her late 70s, has bad eyes and legs. Each time she falls ill, Zhao, five years her junior, cares for her. On her ailing legs, whenever Zhang wants to go outside, Zhao accompanies her, serving as her eyes and a walking stick-like support.

"He is very nice to me," Zhang said with a smile on her face. "He cooks for me. He is a great cook."

The families of the two, however, say the wide gap in social status between the two -- Zhang is a retired cadre while Zhao is a laid-off worker -- is too great.

Though agreeing to their cohabitation, Zhang's sons strongly oppose a marriage, as they fear the issue of "property division" may become complicated.

An increasing number of such de facto relationships are occurring among elderly Chinese.

Kaixin OpEd - This issue has been noticed by Kaixin. What to do with your elderly parents when the traditional family and social fabric has been all but torn down in the cities particularly. The children are busy earning a living or making a career and are far more mobile. The cost of looking after elderly parents in time and money is ever increasing. Then there is the looming crisis of the one-child generation. This generation of elderly parents generally had three or four children. The next generation will only have one child.

This is an issue that China will have to resolve if it wants an equitable society.

Iron ore pricing talks resume

BEIJING - China has started talks for next year's iron ore pricing and is expected to increase imports of the raw material in the fourth quarter, the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) said on Friday.

China initiated discussions with suppliers, Luo Bingsheng, vice-chairman of the industry body, said at a news conference. He did not elaborate.

China will import more iron ore in the fourth quarter compared with any of the previous three quarters because of industry demand for stockpiling, but the whole year's imports will still be lower than last year, he added.

Foreign workers to get equal social insurance benefits

BEIJING - Foreign employees in China will be entitled to the same social insurance benefits as Chinese nationals after the top legislature adopted a law on Thursday that is being seen as a major sign of the country's wider economic and social openness.

The Social Insurance Law, which was adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), will take effect in July 2011.

"China's economy and society are opening up more and more. Such a regulation follows international practice and gives equal national treatment to foreigners working in the country," Hu Xiaoyi, vice-minister for human resources and social security, said during a news conference held by the NPC Standing Committee on Thursday.

The law specifies that all citizens have a right to five forms of insurance: basic endowment insurance, basic medical insurance, worker injury insurance, unemployment insurance and maternity insurance.

The five forms of insurance, paid for by individuals, employers and the government, will accumulate trillions of yuan in deposits.

Lenovo to build new center in W China

China's top PC maker plans expansion in inland regions

CHENGDU - China's top PC maker, Lenovo Group, said on Friday that it will build a new business center in west China's Sichuan province, as part of its efforts to support increasing demands and further expand business in the country's inland regions.

China on right track in encouraging trade

Coca-Cola CEO says local govts are 'willing and supportive'

HUHHOT - China has been on the right track in encouraging foreign trade and investment, and the local environment for foreign investors has been very favorable, the US-China Business Council said on Friday.

"Wherever I have been in China, there have never been more willing and supportive local governments, and there is great entrepreneurial spirit in government officials to promote (inbound) investment. That is what we always see, (and) I think that continues," said Muhtar Kent, chairman of the council. "That is also why Coca-Cola continues to invest and builds factories very quickly, more quickly than in other parts of the world," said Kent, who is also chairman and chief executive officer of the Coca-Cola Company.

Int'l stone culture festival opens in East China's Suzhou

SUZHOU, Anhui -- The 4th China Lingbi Stone International Culture Festival, held in Suzhou, East China's Anhui province, opened on Oct 28 with an array of events showcasing the city's unique lingbi stones, dubbed the first among the famous "Four Famous Stones in China."

Lingbi stone was formed some 70 million years ago and combines various aesthetic characteristics, such as thinness, wrinkles, transparence, oddness, purity, steadiness and euphoniousness. Due to the city's rich stone resources and long-lasting stone appreciation culture, Qiu Peizhe, senior advisor of the China Stones Appreciation Association conferred the title of "City of Stones Appreciation in China" to Suzhou at the event's opening ceremony on Oct 29.

Chinese Zodiac

Jewellry

Global Times

Premier's Vietnam trip boosts friendship, cooperation, common development: FM

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's trip to Vietnam, during which he attended a series of summits between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its partners, enhanced good-neighborly relations, promoted regional cooperation and common development, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Saturday.

During his three-day stay in Hanoi, Wen attended the 13th summit between China and ASEAN (10+1), the 13th summit between ASEAN, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (10+3) and the fifth East Asia Summit. He also had bilateral meetings with some leaders on the sidelines of the summits.

When briefing reporters on the outcome of the premier's trip, Yang said that the situation in East Asia is undergoing profound changes, with both opportunities and challenges ahead.

To boost political mutual trust, promote mutually beneficial cooperation and push for regional integration and sustainable development is the common will shared by countries in the region, and is also the main theme of the summits, Yang said.

He said peace, stability and development of East Asia is crucial to China, and that China has always valued and participated in cooperation with East Asian partners.

The goal of Premier Wen's trip was to cement good-neighborly relationship, deepen regional cooperation and boost common development, Yang said.

Dialogue - A 30 Minute Current Affairs Programme on CCTV - 9 (In English) where current issues are discussed by experts from China and Internationally:

Inclusive growth of next five years

Beijing vows to keep a lower but steady GDP growth rate in the next five-year plan. The blueprint is compared to a more sustainable strategy of inclusive development.

The consensus is generated at a landmark conference of the Chinese communist party that comes to a very fruitful conclusion on Monday. The strong visible hand of the central government has helped bail out a big continental economy in times of financial meltdown.

But is the Chinese mode of development healthy enough to sustain a sizable economy that will be based more on its domestic consumption and environmentally friendly manufacturing? How shall we examine the sense of global responsibility for China as its economy continues to pull the world economy out of recession?