The Lion Awakes
News at a Glance
今天的中国新闻
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China News Archive
From 2008
China Daily
Chinese president to visit Canada
OTTAWA -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on Friday that Chinese President Hu Jintao will pay a state visit to Canada on June 23-25, which is expected to build on the successful visit by Harper to China in December 2009.
"Canada and China are laying the groundwork for a new decade of growth by deepening cooperation in a wide number of areas," said Harper. "It is a fitting tribute to 40 years of diplomatic relations based on mutual respect and collaboration."
During their meeting, Harper and Hu will discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of shared interest, including opportunities to expand bilateral cooperation, the Prime Minister's Office said.
China continues to be Canada's second-largest trading partner by country, with bilateral merchandise trade between the two countries reaching 50.9 billion Canadian dollars ($49.84 billion) in 2009. There are over 1.3 million Canadian residents of Chinese origin and over 42,000 Chinese students studying at Canadian educational institutions, Dimitri Soudas, spokesman for the prime minister, said at a press conference on Friday.
China's inflationary pressures may increase
BEIJING -- China's central bank said Friday more flexibility would be allowed to guide money policies based upon changing circumstances if inflationary pressures increase during the economic recovery along with rising market confidence.
The risk of higher prices may grow stronger given that liquidity remains loose throughout the world and China has experienced much faster credit growth earlier, according to the Annual Report 2009 issued Friday by the central bank, the People's Bank of China (PBOC).
China becomes world's third largest stock market
BEIJING -- China has become the world's third largest stock market as total market value of the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets hit 20.96 trillion yuan (3.07 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of May, the country's securities regulator said Friday.
The total market value so far was up 393.76 percent compared to the 2003 level, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said.
Pay hike won't bring back US jobs
A hike in minimum wages following high-profile labor strikes at Honda plants and suicides at Foxconn factories in China have prompted some Americans to think that this latest development will help bring jobs back to the United States.
That seems to be only wishful thinking.
The basic pay increase of 20 percent in China would only raise the minimum wages in Shanghai, which has the highest base wage on the Chinese mainland, to 1,344 yuan, or less than $200 a month. It is only a fraction of what a US worker receives under the $7.25 federal minimum wages per hour standard.
Rejig economy, reduce inequality
The cost and discrimination in education are two of the many factors that prevent migrant families from moving up the economic ladder. Ding Xuan's battle to get an education is just one example of the social and economic disparity between rich and poor, and between urban and rural people in China.
Light shines through the window of a Beijing coffee shop onto the face of Zhai Yongming, earlier this month. Zhai's poetry cycle Nuren, published in 1984, triggered what is known as the "Black Tornado" of women's poetry that swept China from 1986 to 1989 - China Daily
The phrase wenyi nu qingnian (young woman of literature and arts) sits easy on Zhai Yongming's slender frame. One of Chengdu's most admired cultural icons, Zhai lives a life awash with words and images. Arguably China's first feminist poet of the post-"cultural revolution" (1966-76) era, Zhai, who made her debut with the poetry cycle, Nuren (women, 1984), has since moved on to combine audio, visual and print in a way that could be a tough act to follow.
She has created installations by hanging sheets containing her poems juxtaposed against an endless series of X-ray plates and made the spectators walk through a befuddling maze of light and shade, drawn on by curiosity and anticipation.
Kaixin - See also Kaixin's 'Women in China 中国妇女的生活'
International News
Caixin Online
Tax Relief Time for Strained Manufacturers
The government can offset rising labor costs and maintain growth by cutting corporate taxes and reforming fee systems
For now, at least, company promises to raise wages have quieted some of the headline-grabbing labor unrest that erupted recently at major manufacturers including Foxconn and a Honda plant in Nanhai, Guangdong Province. This may be the beginning of a trend: A wave of salary increases could ripple through China's manufacturing sector as labor and management interests strive for balance.
Culture's Long March from Revolution to Crises
A 30-year cultural transition marked by love songs, sinology and consumerism has shaken faith, belief and credibility in China
Flames of the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976 consumed many but also engendered a skeptical generation that's marched along a winding road of Chinese cultural change for the past 30 years.
Yuan's Effective Exchange Rate Up
The yuan's real effective exchange rate seen a steady climb in three consecutive months
The real effective exchange rate (REER) index for China's currency was 119.99 in May, up 3.37 percent from April, according to data released June 15 by the Bank for International Settlements.
This was the third straight month the yuan's REER moved upward.
Cross-Border Yuan Settlement to Expand
Yuan trade settlement will be extended to 20 provincial-level regions in China and all international trading partners
After nearly one year of a pilot program, cross-border trade settlement based on the yuan will expand to 20 provincial-level regions in China and all of China's trading partners.
The Wall Street Journal China RealTime Report
Yiyi Lu: The ‘Three Public’ Problem
Yiyi Lu, an expert on Chinese civil society, discusses the private use of government cars. Ms. Lu is a research fellow at the University of Nottingham’s China Policy Institute and an associate fellow at the U.K.-based Chatham House. She is the author of “Non-Governmental Organisations in China: The Rise of Dependent Autonomy” (Routledge 2008).
The private use of government vehicles is part of the so-called “three public” problem that has angered the Chinese public for many years. The “three public” refers to officials “wining and dining using public funds; using publicly-owned vehicles for private purposes, and using public funds to go on sightseeing trips.” The government has repeatedly vowed to curb this problem, but somehow it just doesn’t seem able to get on top of it.
China’s Worker Shortage
What’s behind the latest spate of labor unrest in China?
Demographics, says Stephen Green, the chief China economist for Standard Chartered BanWhat’s behind the latest spate of labor unrest in China?
Ex-Official Finds Prison a Healthier Place
Advice for corrupt Chinese officials: If all the wining and dining is taking a health toll, there is always prison for getting back in shape.
While many prisoners said their biggest regret was that they weren’t allowed to have a meal together with family members on the day, one of them, a Mr. Bai, voiced few complaints. In fact, it seemed like prison life agreed with him.
On Propaganda and Freedom
“We must adapt to an increasingly rich and varied social life,” writes Li Changchun, China’s propaganda tsar, in the latest edition of Qiushi, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece magazine.
What does he mean by that?
China’s Divorce Rate Crosses New Threshold
Earlier this month, a security guard in Yongzhou walked into a courthouse and opened fire on judges meeting to discuss a case, killing three. Apparently, Zhu Jun was “deeply angered” by a judge’s ruling in his divorce case. Though the incident was shocking, the idea that divorce struggles lead to societal unrest will not come as news to the Chinese. Many are seriously concerned about the soaring divorce rate.
Vuvuzelas Score with China’s Fans
China’s soccer fans are helping to boost the country’s sales of vuvuzelas, the trumpet-like noisemakers that emit the annoying background buzz from televisions tuned into World Cup matches.
The New York Times
China: Tang Dynasty Coffin Returned by U.S. Businessman
A 27-ton imperial sarcophagus from the Tang Dynasty that was stolen by tomb raiders has been returned to China from the United States, according to a report in China Daily, an official English-language newspaper. The coffin, which was stolen from the tomb of the Tang empress Wu Huifei, who died in 737, arrived at the Shaanxi History Museum on Thursday. Chinese police officers first discovered that the relic had been stolen in 2006. They traced it to a businessman in the United States, who had bought it for $1 million, China Daily reported. The businessman agreed to return the coffin unconditionally after three rounds of negotiations. The coffin was shipped from Virginia on March 16.
Members of the cultural relics department of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage look over the sarcophagus of Tang empress Wu Huifei (AD 699-737) in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, June 17, 2010. The 27-ton stone coffin arrived at the Shaanxi History Museum on Thursday, four years after it was smuggled out of the country. The sarcophagus is 4 meters long, 2.58 meters wide and 2.45 meters high. It features flowers and maiden figures in relief. It was stolen from Wu's tomb in Xi'an in 2006 and sold to a businessman in the US for $1 million. (China Daily)
Fuel Maker for Reactors Has China as Investor
HONG KONG — A company here that is partly owned by the Chinese government has quietly purchased a 5.1 percent stake in the only American-owned provider of enriched uranium for use in civilian nuclear reactors.
Toyota Is Latest Car Maker Hit by Strike in China
SHANGHAI (AP) -- Strikes have hit two of Toyota's China-based parts suppliers in another sign of growing unrest among the migrant workers who are the backbone of the country's industrial sector.
The Australian
China and Pakistan seek closer ties
CHINA has vowed to deepen military relations with Pakistan, and ties with the Muslim world.
The Pakistani Chief of Army Staff is visiting his closest Asian ally amid fears over a nuclear co-operation pact. General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said yesterday Pakistan was seeking a stronger relationship with China as his country moved to quash US-led concerns about a civilian nuclear deal that may be formalised within a week.
China to grow trade beyond resources
THE visit to Australia of China's heir apparent Xi Jinping will kickstart the deepening of his country's economic ambitions here.
China's ambassador to Australia, Zhang Junsai, said many of the 250-strong Chinese business delegation arriving today with Vice-President Xi will also look to question the Rudd government about the proposed resource super-profits tax.
Visit by China's next leader a sign of warmer ties
THE serial cancellation of visits to Australia by US President Barack Obama underlines the importance of the arrival today of China's Vice-President and heir apparent Xi Jinping.
In 2003, President Hu Jintao's address to the parliament in Canberra the day after then US president George W. Bush elevated China's influence and prestige in Australia towards the same level as that of the US.
From the WSJ yesterday - Key China Official Plans Australian Tour
In a sign of the deepening ties between Canberra and Beijing despite a series of diplomatic dust-ups last year, China Vice President Xi Jinping has made Australia the focus of a four-nation tour that could strengthen his nation's standing in a region closely aligned with the U.S.
Kaixin's comment in the WSJ - Australia is an aberration in the wider S.E Asian Community. We simply ain’t Asian. Our roots and culture derive from Britain. Post WWII, our culture has largely been influenced by America. We would now be distinctly Japanese if we hadn’t let go of Britain's hand and held on tightly to Uncle Sam’s hand in WWII.
Our culture has always been derivative, not organic.
Over the last 60 years of so, Australia has prospered and grown through a robust immigration policy. Yes, I know it has it flaws, but by and large it has worked.
The next wave will be Chinese I suspect, bringing their wealth, expertise and culture.
There will be change, undoubtedly, but that has been the essence of Australia for the last 200 years and certainly for the last 60 years.
As to being swamped by Chinese. That is a possibility. If 25 million Chinese came to Australia it would fundamentally change Australia. It would not be noticed in China. Yet, as someone with strong connections to China and its people, I do not know many who want to leave China now. Indeed, China is attracting back its expats.
Australia and China can form a strong relationship. Australia has many of the resources that China needs to grow. How that relationship evolves is yet to be seen. It should be seen as a positive, not though the lens of xenophobia.
Aisa Times Online
US anti-China rhetoric at danger level
By Benjamin A Shobert
China's rise has long been accompanied by US political voices seeing this as a loss to the United States. With attention now turning to the Asian giant's role in the World Trade Organization, rhetoric is reaching dangerous levels.
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