2nd of August 2010

The Lion Awakes 

News at a Glance

今天的中国新闻

A compilation of Headlines + Brief Summary from Chinese & International Publications relating to China.

Just 5 Minutes each day to be up-to-date on the News of China

Combined with Kaixin’s boutique SITE SEARCH ENGINE, it is a unique source of knowledge about China"

China News Archive

From 2008

China Daily

Land supply up 135% in 1st half year

BEIJING - China provided 56,000 hectares of land for residential use in the first six months of 2010, up 135 percent over the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources.

A significant increase in the availability of land for housing was reported in areas like Guizhou Province, Beijing, Jiangxi Province, Heilongjiang Province and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, said a statement on the ministry's website. The land and resources management departments at various levels have been working hard to ensure land supplies, especially for indemnificatory housing, shantytown relocation housing, public rental housing and middle-sized and small apartments, the statement saidThe departments will work hard to ensure land supplies for public residential purposes, it added.

China implemented a series of measures to rein in soaring home prices and curb property market speculation in April.

Chinese DINK families not regret their decision

BEIJING - Most Chinese DINK (Dual Income, No Kids) families don't regret their decision to live without children, according to an on-line report.

"I'm living to be a DINK and I will never regret it. It's important to live the life of a wonderful couple, neither too long nor too short," said an Internet user, "Yu Guanxi", cited in a research jointly conducted by jingtime.com, and tieba.baidu.com of China's largest Internet search engine.

Kaixin - Hence, plenty of income to purchase property

China's first law on online games takes effect

BEIJING - China's first regulation governing the booming market of on-line games takes effect on Sunday, which is expected to protect children from unwholesome content and Internet addiction.

The regulation, issued by the Ministry of Culture on June 22, states that on-line games targeting minors must be free of content that lead to the imitation of behavior that violates social morals and the law.

Kaixin - Seems like a good idea to us.

China launches 5th orbiter for navigation network

XICHANG - China successfully launched its fifth orbiter into space at 5:30 a.m. Sunday, as a part of its indigenous satellite navigation and positioning network.

The satellite was launched from the Long March 3I carrier rocket.

The Long March 3I carrier rocket lifts off from the launch pad at Xichang Satellite Launch Center, August 1, 2010. [Photo China Daily]

Bullet trains pull into anniversary - VIDEO

Two years ago, on August 1, shiny bullet trains began to gallop as swift as lightening on the plain between Beijing and Tianjin. The train, with maximum speed of 350 kilometers per hour, reduced the traveling time between the megacities from 75 minutes to merely half a hour.

Now around 50,000 passengers travel through the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway everyday. Though the majority of them only occasionally take the train, there are many passengers who, like red blood cells in an artery, regularly ride the train to swing between the two economic and cultural hubs of Northern China.

We interviewed travelers on the Intercity Railway about their comments and hope for the Intercity Railway.

Global Times

Editorial - Rebuilding the consensus toward 'one China'

Missiles deployed along China's southeast coast have long been a sour point in cross-Taiwan Straits relations. The military deployment of missiles is also frequently cited by the US as an excuse for selling arms to Taiwan.

Though they are to deter the seperatists, the missiles are seen by some as a symbolic sign that the two sides remain hostile.

As an important gesture, the mainland's military offered to remove these missiles in negotiation toward building a military trust mechanism under the principle of "one China."

The mainland's apparent act of goodwill only received a muted response from the Taiwan side, which is not completely surprising.

The reality is that a large number of people living on the Taiwan Island remain suspicious that the "one China" principle will bring them lasting peace.

Kaixin - see Kaixin's 'China & Taiwan' for more information and news on this issue

Grass not always greener on other side of ocean

A friend of mine asked me last month whether I thought she should move to Canada or the US. At about the same time, another friend who just had a baby and gained a promotion told me that emigration is the next priority on his agenda.

Both are well-educated young professionals living a comfortable life in Beijing.

It shouldn't surprise me. After all, I have been reading constantly in recent months about a fresh wave of emigration that seems to have become a fad among the newly wealthy in China.

There aren't specific statistics to show how many of the rich have left China. But the major destination countries for immigrants all feel the impact.

Among the reasons the Chinese elites give for their push for emigration are cleaner air, a more orderly society and better education for their children.

But my suspicion is that not all Chinese immigrant wannabes have fully understood the price they have to pay for these perks, because even in an information era like ours, knowledge isn't always equal.

Kaixin – This is certainly the experience of most of the Chinese we know who are living overseas, or have lived overseas. Xiaosui’s friend moved to New Zealand with her husband. He was an engineer and she was a lecturer at University. His qualifications were not fully recognised and he struggled to get a well paying job. When he did get a job in the engineering field his pay was substantially less that his peers. Her university qualifications were not recognised at all, so she could only get office work with a Chinese firm specialising in Student Visas. Her husband got sick of it and went back to China to open a factory. The New Zealand firm contacted  him and asked him to return, as they had just been asked to install and maintain a large piece of machinery which had been manufactured in China. He declined and is now making squillions in China manufacturing and exporting.

Xiaosui’s friend is a university educated teacher. Her qualifications are not recognised in Australia so she works as a waitress. She works with several Chinese, all university educated. They would rather work at a menial job than sit at home and do nothing. Xiaosui’s friend recounts the story of an Australian women who came to work for one night and left saying ‘the work is too hard, I’m going back on the dole.”

However, it is not the none-recognition of qualifications, or the menial work that most upsets our Chinese friends. It is the insistent and insidious racism. This is more evident in the low paying jobs where they are working with ill-educated people with definite prejudices.

As an Australian, I was completely taken aback at this when Xiaosui first came to Australia. I had thought Australia had moved past all this. I was wrong.

Learning a new language and fitting into a new culture is hard.

There are no Chinese that we know who would encourage their friends to follow them.

When China first opened up after 1979, going overseas was the thing to aspire to. China was poor and people had just been through the trauma of the Cultural Revolution. Overseas qualifications were highly sought after in China.

Not now.

China is now rich and rising. The lifestyle of the middle class in China is generally far higher than most overseas countries, including America, England, Europe, Australia.

Combined with the problems outlined above, leaving China has ceased to be a good choice for most Chinese.

It is Kaixin’s opinion that within the next 10 – 20 years people from the ‘west’ will be wanting to live in China.

News for Today

China     Business     Culture     Science & Technology     Travel

International News Sources

The Wall Stree Journal   China RealTime Report

Chinese Central Bank’s New Gift of Gab

China’s central bank traditionally hasn’t been well-known for its loquaciousness. And its currency arm, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, was considered borderline mute.

No longer. Lately, it’s been hard to get the People’s Bank of China to stop talking

Chinese Manufacturing Growth Slows

BEIJING—China's manufacturing activity expanded at the slowest pace in 17 months in July, an official gauge showed Sunday, reflecting that tightening measures introduced earlier this year and growing uncertainty over global demand continued to weigh on the country's economic expansion.

China's official PMI, issued by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing and the National Bureau of Statistics, fell to 51.2 in July from 52.1 in June, the third straight month in which it has declined. The reading was also closer to the expansionary threshold of 50 than it had been in 17 months. A reading below 50 signals contraction.

Caixin Online

Central Banker: China's Macro Policies Work

Foreign exchange rate reform matches China's balanced policies and economic success, says a central bank deputy governor

China has built an economic miracle over the past 30 years and its macroeconomic policies are nearly optimal, said central banker Yi Gang.

Since 1994, China has maintained high growth without significant inflation, Yi said July 15 in an exclusive interview with Caixin Media's China Reform Magazine.

Responding to questions about whether the nation's exchange rate reform program is moving too slowly, Yi, a deputy governor at the People's Bank of China, said "overall, the macroeconomic policies are very successful."

Central Bank Unwavering on Yuan Reform

Central Bank Deputy Governor Yi Gang on exchange rate reform, the yuan as an international reserve currency, and speculations of a double dip in the Chinese economy

Yi Gang, a deputy governor for China's Central Bank, said a convertible yuan remains the ultimate goal for the nation's currency exchange rate reform. Yi did not give a timetable, but instead emphasized that the central bank has been steadily reforming the yuan since 1994, noting that it has been convertible for current accounts since 1996.

The New York Times

Police Toss Out Arrest Warrant for Chinese Reporter in Hiding

BEIJING — For China’s investigative journalists, who grapple with heavy-handed censors and accusations of bribe-taking, the case of a Shanghai-based reporter appears to offer a positive turn.

Slower Pace Of Growth In China

China’s manufacturing grew at the slowest pace in 17 months in July as the government clamped down on property speculation and investment in energy-intensive and polluting factories.

India Digs Under Top of the World to Match Rival

ROHTANG PASS, India — The name of this white-knuckle pass, one of the highest in the world, means “pile of corpses” in the Tibetan language. Every year a few dozen people die trying to cross these spiky Himalayan peaks.

Photo Courtesy of The New York Times. Traveling on the Rohtang Pass road in northern India can be treacherous, with various natural and animal obstacles, so India is building a tunnel. More Photos »

A Trip to Tibet, With My Handlers Nearby

LHASA, Tibet — One warm morning on the campus of Tibet University, a couple of foreign journalists on a government-run tour of Tibet quietly broke away from the group to talk to students standing on a grassy lawn. Security guards dashed in and waved the students away.

Kaixin - see Kaixin's 'China & Tibet' for more information

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