9th January 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 the owner & editor of Kaixin
These are stories of her time growing up in China
during the Cultural Revolution
People's Daily
China to experience mild inflation for long time
Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, recently noted that China should not slacken its efforts to curb rising consumer prices, and should continue to properly manage inflation expectations.
Given the country's national conditions and development level, its economy is prone to overheating. Internationally speaking, Consumer Price Index growth in emerging markets is generally higher than in developed countries, so inflation must be taken seriously, said Zhou.
Structural factors for inflation still exist.
China to boost diplomatic efforts in Asia in 2012
BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- China will strengthen diplomatic efforts in Asia in 2012 and enhance coordination with Asian countries, Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said here on Sunday.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Liu said the regional situation will continue to undergo profound changes in 2012, posing challenges for China's diplomatic work. To properly handle differences, China will enhance political trust and expand common interests with countries in the region, in a bid to create a favorable environment for China's economic growth and contribute to peace in both Asia and the world.
There will be important meetings between Chinese leaders and their counterparts from other Asian countries in 2012, including the Seoul Nuclear Summit, the BRICS Summit in India, the Asia-Europe Meeting in Laos, and the East Asia Summit in Cambodia, Liu said.
'Cold war thinking' has no place in Asia
BEIJING - Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin on Sunday urged Asian countries to discard their "cold war mentality" when handling sensitive regional issues, saying that "exclusive security partnerships" fall short in terms of coping with the current complex regional situation.
His words came in the wake of China's occasionally tense relations with its neighbors in Asia last year, which were further complicated by Washington's strategic shift in the Asia-Pacific region.
Asst. foreign minister: China active in resolving hot regional issues
BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- As a responsible country, China has been active in resolving hot regional issues, Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said here on Sunday.
Regional free trade talks in the pipeline
BEIJING - Talks on a China-Japan-Republic of Korea free trade agreement (FTA) are expected to start in the first half of this year, with May seen as the earliest date, following the conclusion in December of studies and research into its potential consequences, a source close to the matter told China Daily.
"If there is no strong opposition from inside the Republic of Korea (ROK), talks on the China-Japan-ROK FTA will be officially launched during the first half of this year, in May at the earliest," said the source from the Ministry of Commerce who asked not to be named.
Transformation needs courage, wisdom
The global economy is experiencing a transformation. In order to change the current imbalanced situation, all countries need to adjust their own economic structures.
The difficult point of this economic transformation is that while the economic structure must be adjusted, economic recovery must be realized as soon as possible. It will not be an easy task to properly handle the relations between transformation and recovery.
There are also bright points in the transformation. The joint rise of the emerging economies is providing the impetus for the transformation, and East Asian economies' role in driving the global economy is strengthening remarkably.
Although the global economy is facing many difficulties, it will not stop progressing. The arduous transformation will build a new platform for the next economic take-off.
28th China Harbin Int'l Ice and Snow Festival kicks off
Two kids play with each other in the Ice and Snow World in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 5, 2012. The 28th China Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival and the 13th Harbin Ice and Snow World opened here on Thursday. Made of 180,000 cubic meters of ice and 160,000 cubic meters of snow, the Ice and Snow World will put on show a wide range of ice and snow sculptures, including those of many cartoon figures worldwide.
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China Daily
Millions on move as peak travel season starts
BEIJING - China started the Spring Festival peak travel season Sunday, with tens of millions of passengers, mainly migrant workers and college students, on the move in the world's largest seasonal migration.
The Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, falls on January 23 this year. It is the most important traditional Chinese festival for family reunions.
A total of 3.16 billion passenger trips are expected during the 40-day peak travel season, or Chunyun (Spring transportation) in Chinese, up 9.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
Nation 'at key point' in growth
BEIJING - Urbanization, upgrading the manufacturing sector and developing strategic industries are keys to boosting the country's domestic demand, as China is at a crucial point of stabilizing growth and improving its economic structure, Vice-Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday.
At this moment, China's economy is facing challenges from both home and abroad, Li told a meeting of engineers and scientists.
With stabilizing prices and maintaining solid growth as priorities, the country should also speed up economic restructuring, as constraints from energy, resources and the environment are getting tougher, Li said.
Urbanization is an important engine for expanding domestic demand and stimulating economic and social development.
He said the government should extend basic public services to more people and encourage qualified migrant workers to settle down in cities in an orderly manner by helping them solve problems related to education, medical service and housing.
US defense policy challenges trust
WASHINGTON / BEIJING - US President Barack Obama's revamped national defense strategy may challenge mutual trust with China, experts said.
While promising to make the US armed forces smaller and leaner, Obama pledged to shift the country's military focus to the Asia-Pacific region.
The nation's military review says that US economic and security interests are "inextricably" connected with the area and the US military accordingly will "of necessity rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific region", including strengthening Asian allies and investing in the strategic partnership with India.
Official says US 'should adhere' to int'l law
BEIJING - Attempts to resolve the South China Sea issue through the intervention of an external "referee" won't work, a senior Chinese diplomat said.
Yi Xianliang, deputy director-general of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made the remark as US President Barack Obama reaffirmed Washington's growing focus on the Asia-Pacific as well as its military's "enhanced presence, power projection and deterrence" in the region.
Beijing is firmly against such moves as they "significantly undermine" peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific and jeopardize the common interests of all regional countries, Yi said during an online interview on Friday.
Your hair or your uncle? There can only be one!
With the approach of the Chinese New Year, many Chinese people have to make a choice: to cut their hair or lose their uncles (here, 舅舅 jiùjiu, your mother's brothers).
It's obvious uncles are much valuable than haircuts, especially during the Spring Festival, when uncles are quite useful for handing out lucky new year's money (压岁钱 yā suì qián). So no matter whether you are a boy or a girl, in order to save their uncles' lives, everyone would prefer to have their hair cut before the eve of the Spring Festival (除夕夜 chú xī yè). That's why barber shops are always so busy this time of the year.
How did this custom come about?
Share your China stories!
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XinHua News
Land supply up 37 pct in China last year amid property tightening
BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- China's land supply went up 37 percent year-on-year in 2011 amid the government's tightening measure on commercial property market, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) on Saturday.
Most of the land supply last year went to the country's 10 million government-subsidized affordable housing units that began construction in 2011, according to MLR.
In the meantime, land supply for commercial residential housing totaled about 96,700 hectares last year, up only 4 percent from previous year.
Planned land supply quota for construction last year were up 16.25 percent year-on-year from 180,000 hectares in 2010.
China looks to step up its partnership with India
BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese diplomat said here on Sunday that China will make concerted efforts with India to promote the countries' strategic and cooperative partnership in 2012.
"China is willing to make joint efforts with India to continuously implement the important consensus reached between leaders of the two countries, maintain high-level exchanges, enhance strategic mutual trust, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields and properly handle issues concerning the bilateral relationship," Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.
"China hopes that the two sides will support each other and learn from each other, so to push for better and faster development of Sino-Indian strategic and cooperative partnership," Liu said.
China attaches importance to Africa's concerns, interests: FM
WINDHOEK, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- China will, as always, attach importance to Africa's concerns and interests, visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said here on Thursday.
"We will support African countries in their efforts to independently resolve African issues, seek balanced economic and social development and uphold their own legitimate rights and interests in international affairs through unity," Yang said.
"We will make even greater contribution to peace and development in Africa and to the common development of China and Africa."
Yang said that African countries share a stronger wish to strengthen cooperation with China, and have proposed to broaden the scope, increase the scale and upgrade the level of our cooperation. This will go a long way in boosting China-Africa cooperation.
China's railways carried 5.1 mln passengers on New Year's Day
BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Over 5 million people traveled across China by train on New Year's Day this year, the Ministry of Railways (MOR) said Monday.
Increasing numbers of mid-and short-distance travelers contributed to the heavy traffic, according to the MOR.
A total of 137 temporary trains were put into service on Sunday, the first day of the three-day New Year holiday, the MOR said.
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Global Times
How to make 3 billion trips in 40 days
The socalled chunyun (Spring Festival travel season), the most intensive and impressive travel rush of the world began Sunday in China.
It is said that approximately 3.1 billion trips will be made by public transport within 40 days. It is impossible to satisfy all those involved.
China has made its utmost efforts to make chunyun successful on a scale unseen around the world in terms of human migration. However, the pains it causes constantly remind Chinese of the country's unique situation: for a country with a population of 1.3 billion, modernization will never go on smoothly.
Without chunyun, China would not develop highspeed railway so quickly and without ticket touts and the urgent demands of migrant workers to go home for Spring Festival, there would be fewer debates about China's grassroots legal system construction or about the plight of separated families in the countryside.
Every year around this time, chunyun is the top subject of public opinion, bringing many key topics back to the debating table, such as people's livelihood, equality and bureaucracy.
Pentagon plan changes game in Asia
The Pentagon issued a new defense plan on Thursday. The new strategy reduces defense spending in the next 10 years, ends the policy of maintaining constant strength to fight two wars at once and prepares the US to fight one war while waging a holding operation elsewhere against a second threat.
This is a contractive strategy in general, but gives prominence to the Asia-Pacific region. According to the officials of Pentagon, the changes in strategy are mainly aimed at Iran and China.
In front of such a US strategic adjustment, China should remain sober. Since it has become a firm strategic target of the US, its efforts to improve Sino-US relations have proved incapable of offsetting US worries over its rise. China can only use its strength to gain friendship from the US from now on.
The US and China are carrying out competition unprecedented in history. Under the aegis of globalization, the two are closely linked economically, which makes it impossible for the US to fully contain China. Dealing with the US containment attempts should be one of China's diplomatic strategic goals. China should unite with all possible forces and keep certain strategic initiatives against the US.
The US strategic adjustment highlights Iran's importance to China. Iran's existence and its stance form a strong check against the US. China should not treat Iran following US cultural, social and political values.
The US takes China's anti-access capabilities as another target. China should come up with countermeasures. It should strengthen its long-range strike abilities and put more deterrence on the US. The US must realize that it cannot stop the rise of China and that being friendly to China is in its utmost interests.
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CHINA
CCTV 9
News and Current Affairs
China launches 3D TV on New Year´s Day
China has marked the New Year with the start of 3D TV service. After a trial run, the 3D TV will be ...
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The Wall Street Journal
Geithner's Asia Trip to Focus on Iran
WASHINGTON—U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner headed to Asia Sunday to seek support from China and Japan for boosting financial pressure on Iran in an effort to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.
China Looms Over Coming Taiwan Election
TAIPEI—Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou's policy of economic opening to China has frustrated a key constituency: struggling middle and low-income workers, who could cost him elections this week. That outcome would alarm Beijing and heighten uncertainty in an area that has long been a flashpoint in U.S.-China relations.
New Loans, Money Growth in China Beat Forecasts
BEIJING—Lending and money supply in China both grew faster than economists' forecasts in December, data from the People's Bank of China showed Sunday, in a signal that could help ease concerns about an economic slowdown in China.
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The New York Times
Asian Firms Tap Western Business Schools
Fueled by an appetite for growth, corporations in China, India and other markets in Asia are sending an army of managers and
China as a Destination for Job Seekers
Moving to China was the best decision I ever made.
What China Can Teach Europe
Competition among the huge cities in China is an important reason for the country’s economic dynamism.
Chinese News Agency, Xinhua, Warns U.S. Against ‘Militarism’
Xinhua, China’s official news agency, took a position on the Obama administration’s new military strategy that was sharper than the line publicly taken by Beijing officials.
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Asia Times Online
Guangdong boss bets on velvet glove
Villagers from Guangdong's Wukan have welcomed the provincial authorities' decision to investigate land seizures that spurred attention-grabbing protests there. While local party chief Wang Yang hopes his handling of the case secures a Politburo Standing Committee seat at this year's leadership shuffle, his softer line is up against Chongqing party secretary Bo Xilai's more "ruthless" approach to crime and corruption.
- Kent Ewing
BOOK REVIEW
Invisible walls in Xinjiang
The tree that bleeds: a Uighur town on the edge
by Nick Holdstock
A snapshot of Xinjiang province's Yining city four years after deadly ethnic riots in 1997, this book provides insights into how fraught relations between Uyghurs and Han Chinese were worsened by Beijing's divisive rules and policies, particularly in education. The separate dormitories, canteens and admissions described as the ethnicities "pretend the other doesn't exist" make recent violence easier to understand. - Michael Rank
China sends a message to Nepal
The most recent manifestation of Nepal's political crisis is handwringing over the postponement of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit. Beijing's decision gives traction to the perception that the Nepalese government, under (India-educated) Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, is determined to strengthen relations with India - at China's expense if necessary. - Peter Lee
SINOGRAPH
China and Japan find
common ground
A significant monetary agreement between China and Japan could become a platform for political convergence. In the short term, the currency swap makes it easier for Beijing and Tokyo to help America and Europe. In the long term, a new regional order could be built around North Korea that sees Japan and the US become China's important strategic partners.
- Francesco Sisci
China rallies behind supreme leader
China's desire for a smooth power transition saw it swiftly back Kim Jong-eun following his father's death, with Beijing inviting him for a visit and urging Seoul and Washington not to promote regime change. China is not only concerned over instability causing a refugee influx, it also needs a Northeast Asian buffer against the United States' "return to Asia".
- Yvonne Su
Trying times in US-China ties
Both China and the United States enter 2012 fragile, needing one another to be strong while at the same time resenting the vestiges of strength each appears to have over the other (China bridling at America's regional position and military power while America resents China's seemingly stable economy). This is in a nutshell the peril: both have as much to gain from seeing the other stumble as from pursuing stability.
- Benjamin A Shobert
BOOK REVIEW
A future with China
China and the Credit Crisis: the Emergence
of a New World Order
by Giles Chance
The book explores the inter-connection between United States policy and China's participation in globalization. The presentation on what the current economic crisis means for the future of the US dollar and the necessary adjustment by the world's financial and regulatory systems to incorporate China's needs are balanced and satisfying. Yet the most important reason to read this work may be what it has to offer about how these troubled times will reshape US-China relations.
- Benjamin A Shobert
INTERVIEW
Getting the dragon onboard
The Chinese may have an attitude whereby they want to exploit the rest of the world for their own benefit. They do not see themselves yet as a responsible leader of the world economy. The issue is how can China be brought to stand alongside Europe and America? So asks Giles Chance, author of China and the Credit Crisis in a conversation with Benjamin A Shobert
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
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Caixin Online
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- To take the next step in its development, China must commit to a broad range of structural reforms this year
- Gao Hua, Controversial Historian, Dies at 57
- The historian's major work the 1940s is still banned in the mainland for exposing the Communist Party's power struggles at the time.
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Soft Power and Hard Choices
- What tools do Chinese policymakers have on hand to counter the influence of U.S. cultural exports?
Strategize, Adapt, Reform
In an interview, the influential governor of China's central bank retraces 2011 economic policy steps and forecasts the 2012 pace
- Water Diversion Blues
- Rapidly growing cities need more water, and plenty of it – but experts say China faces a sobering outlook on the impacts of water diversion projects
- A Garment Industry in Tatters
- South Africa was once a good fit for Chinese clothing manufacturers, but wage issues are threatening their existence
- China to Put Brakes on Foreign Investment in Auto Sector
- The turnaround in preferential policies to promote foreign investment comes after the withholding of core technologies to Chinese companies, say analysts
- Policymakers Issue New Guidelines on Foreign Investment
- China revised its foreign investment catalog, making the first changes since October 2007
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- China is running a deficit in 'intellectual trade' with the United States and needs to make a greater effort to understand its partner and rival
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