Plans to develop locomotives capable of reaching 500km/h or more would be a waste of money and resources – and probably impossible, say experts
China
Hint at death penalty for Bo
Timing of People’s Daily article mentioning 1952 executions seen as possible reference to Bo Xilai, but some watchers say that may be going too far
Hong Kong’s next chief plans to ban births by mainland women
Leung Chun-ying, Hong Kong’s incoming chief executive, plans to ban pregnant mainlanders from giving birth in the city next year to ease pressure on strained local resources, Bloomberg reported. The ban will restrict any Hong Kong-born children of mainlanders from receiving… Read More ›
BlackRock targets consumers in slowing China
China’s 1.3 billion consumers may be the only thing preventing the world’s second-largest economy from a hard landing that could reverberate across global markets, according to a report issued by asset manager BlackRock Inc on Tuesday. The Chinese economy is… Read More ›
China to move 20,000 people at risk from Three Gorges landslides
China will relocate 20,000 people living near the Three Gorges Dam by the end of this year and five times that number by 2017 because of landslide risks caused by the world’s biggest hydropower project. State news agency Xinhua said… Read More ›
Nestle near buying Pfizer’s baby formula
Nestle, the world’s biggest food group, is closing in on a deal to buy Pfizer’s infant nutrition business for up to $10 billion to boost its business in China and extend its lead in the world of formula milk for… Read More ›
Argentine move to seize YPF spoils Sinopec deal
Argentina’s move to nationalise local oil company YPF, controlled by Spain’s Repsol, has spoiled years of planning by China’s Sinopec Group to buy the South American company, sources said. Bankers said China’s second-largest oil company had held talks with Repsol… Read More ›
Lingering customers just one hurdle as Starbucks eyes China growth
Starbucks Corp is on the rise in China with ambitious expansion plans but like any big new emerging market there are teething problems, not least of which is that customers love it so much, they stay for hours and hours… Read More ›
Bo Xilai case puts Chinese Communist Party’s solitary detention in focus
Looking at incommunicado detention in China, and discussing what Bo Xilai could face under shuanggui, a widely feared internal disciplinary action that is outside the reach of Chinese law. In China, as elsewhere, famous cases enhance popular understanding of the… Read More ›
Billionaire may be first tycoon on top party body
A nomination as a congress delegate may pave the way for Sany boss Liang Wengen to join the Central Committee One of the mainland’s richest men, Liang Wengen is a front runner to become the first private businessman on the… Read More ›
Tokyo governor seeks to buy islands disputed with China
Tokyo’s controversial governor wants to use public funds to buy islands disputed between Japan and China, a plan bound to infuriate Beijing. The islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, have long been the centre of maritime… Read More ›
Briton killed after threat to expose Chinese leader’s wife
The British businessman whose murder has sparked political upheaval in China was poisoned after he threatened to expose a plan by a Chinese leader’s wife to move money abroad, two sources with knowledge of the police investigation said. It was… Read More ›
‘Roadmap’ rolled out to reform public institutions
Guidelines from the Communist Party’s top decision-making body say changes should be in place by 2020 to provide better services to the public. The central government has issued a roadmap for reforming public institutions – a large and diverse sector… Read More ›
Working Hard or Hardly Working? Trends in China’s Leisure Economy
The following article was translated and edited from an article that appeared in China Economic Weekly. The article analyses several findings from the 2011-2012 CCTV Economic Life Survey, in particular the dichotomy between northern and southern cities for “happiness” rankings… Read More ›
P.L.A. is target of Bo media blitz
Beijing’s unusually high volume of commentaries is aimed at warning army supporters of former Chongqing chief to toe the party’s line, analysts say. The unusually strong state media blitz targeting disgraced former Chongqing party secretary Bo Xilai is a bid… Read More ›
Iron Man 3 to be co-produced in China
The next “Iron Man” film will be co-produced in China under a joint agreement between Walt Disney Co, Marvel Studios and DMG Entertainment, the latest in a series of tie-ups between Hollywood and China where movie-going is growing fast. DMG… Read More ›
Ex-Wall Street bankers bring science to China’s rocky stock market
Ex-Wall Street bankers are betting science can exploit opportunities in China’s often rumour-driven stock market, with some predicting the quant-driven fund industry to grow by as much as 10-fold to 100 billion yuan within a few short years. Former Goldman… Read More ›
U.S. political rhetoric to stay as China widens yuan band
China’s widening of the yuan’s trading band will do little to blunt criticism of its currency policy by the United States and the Treasury Department said on Sunday more progress was needed to correct a “misalignment” of the exchange rate…. Read More ›
China stocks czar faces battle to win back investor trust
In little over six months as China’s top securities watchdog, Guo Shuqing has let loose a flurry of reforms targeting insider trading, market manipulation and dodgy disclosure that have hamstrung China’s stock markets even as its economy surges. But China’s… Read More ›
SEC sues AutoChina for stock manipulation
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil lawsuit against AutoChina International on Wednesday, the third lawsuit in less than two months brought against a Chinese company by US regulators, The Wall Street Journal reported. The SEC alleges… Read More ›
China currency move nails hard landing risk coffin
China’s weekend reform of its currency regime nails shut the coffin on the last remains of doubt about whether the world’s second biggest economy has successfully steered a course past a hard economic landing. Investors were questioning whether the worst… Read More ›
Timeline: China’s reforms of yuan exchange rate
China took another step on Saturday towards turning the yuan into a global currency by doubling the size of its trading band against the dollar to 1 percent. By peeling back trading restrictions on the yuan, Beijing is working toward… Read More ›
U.S. politics clash with reality over China currency
U.S. politicians readily muscle up to talk tough against China on the campaign trail, charging its policies undermine American manufacturing, but two key planks of the argument for criticizing Beijing are crumbling. The Chinese currency has risen 31 percent against… Read More ›
Weak China GDP growth no signal for fresh stimulus
Speculation that China’s weakest quarter of annual economic growth since the global financial crisis will trigger a flood of policy support to fight the downturn misses a crucial point – the taps are already turned on. The annual rate of… Read More ›
China draft regulations target futures market fraud
China’s securities regulator issued draft regulations on Friday that aim to crack down on deceptive practices in the country’s securities futures markets through increased supervision and “name and shame”-style disclosure of chronic offenders, official media reported on Friday. The draft… Read More ›
China gags widow of Briton in murder scandal
The Chinese widow of a British businessman thought to have been murdered in a case that has rocked China’s political establishment has been gagged by local police, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said. Neil Heywood, 41, was… Read More ›
China’s Hebei to invest $195 million in Canada iron ore miner
Hebei Iron & Steel Group Co, China’s largest steel producer, is investing about C$194 million ($195 million) for a stake in Canada iron ore developer Alderon Iron Ore Corp., as Chinese steel makers look for cheaper ore to cut their… Read More ›
China power giant inks $2.4 billion India project
Power Construction Corporation of China said on Friday it had signed a $2.4 billion contract to build the second phase of a massive coal-fired power complex in southern India that will help meet soaring local demand for electricity. The second… Read More ›
Chinese growth data slows Australian and New Zealand dollars
The Australian and New Zealand dollars beat a hasty retreat on Friday after data showed China’s economy grew at its weakest pace in nearly three years in the first quarter, confounding rumours of an upside surprise. China reported GDP growth… Read More ›
Walmart International focusing on own business over deals
Wal-Mart Stores is emphasising improving results in international markets where it already operates, such as China, over entering new markets, its top international executive said on Thursday. “Our focus this year in particular has been on improving returns with our… Read More ›
Slowing China economy may not yet have hit bottom
China is set to reveal its weakest quarter of annual growth in nearly three years on Friday, with investors fretting the economy could cool even further in coming months and further dampen global growth. Economists polled by Reuters expect China… Read More ›
China’s small exporters must adapt or die
Chen Lifeng’s dress-making company survived the global financial crisis yet may fall victim to today’s milder economic slowdown, one that China deems necessary to secure its future growth. His company, Ningbo Tengsheng Garments Co., is grappling with slackening overseas sales,… Read More ›
China growth slower in 2012 and recovery mild says World Bank
The World Bank cut its forecast for China’s 2012 economic growth to 8.2 percent on Thursday and said a rebound might not begin before the third quarter of the year as slack foreign demand and a government-induced real estate slowdown… Read More ›
China braces for next act in leadership drama
“We can’t keep a lid on this,” China’s disgraced leader Bo Xilai was reportedly told by his police chief when the murder scandal now engulfing Bo’s family first began to unravel. With a once-in-a-decade leadership handover months away, the Communist… Read More ›
Puda coal scam
The aggressive government mandated consolidation of the coal mining industry beginning in 2009 coincided with the darkest days of the world financial crisis. PUDA management either had to become a consolidator, requiring massive additional capital, or else dispose of its coal businesses. Management, lead… Read More ›
Sino-forest wiping out all traces
Last year Muddy Waters (a firm which specialises in exposing Chinese stock fraud) announced coverage on Sino-Forest, a Chinese timber company with a strong sell and $1 price target-citing fraud. The newsworthy thing about this was that large trading institutions… Read More ›
Longtop fraud willingly backed by Chinese banks
Longtop Financial, a popular Chinese software company, was exposed as a colossal fraud last year .The “cash balance” on Longtop’s balance sheet, it turned out, was fake; a fiction created by the company’s managers and helpers. The Longtop fraud followed… Read More ›
Alibaba Scam By Employees
In July last year, Chinese police arrested more than 36 people charged with duping overseas buyers of more than $6 million, by posing as buyers on the e-commerce website Alibaba. The crux of this scam was the “Gold Supplier” programme,… Read More ›
Xu Beihong fake portrait sells for $11.4 million
All is not what it seems in the murky world of Chinese art auctions Put up to auction by Beijing Jiuge Auctions last year, a portrait by the famous artist Xu Beihong of his wife, Jiang Biwei, sold for $11.4… Read More ›
China establishes rare earth association
China on Sunday established a rare earth industry association in a bid to clean up an industry that has come under fire internationally for violating trade rules, Reuters reported, quoting state media. Su Bo, vice minister of industry and information… Read More ›
BRICS Countries Consider Central Bank
The fourth annual BRICS summit, to be held in New Delhi on Thursday, will cover a wide range of topics of interest to member countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. One of the topics for discussion will be… Read More ›
Pushing the envelope – Inside China’s vast shadow banking sector
Wu Ying’s rise to riches was like a Horatio Alger story on steroids. A native of Zhejiang province, Wu dropped out of college to work in a beauty salon, then later opened her own salon down the street. By 2006,… Read More ›
Cyber attacks – China embraces piracy 2.0
Night Dragon. Operation Aurora. Operation Shady RAT. In the past several years, internet security company McAfee and various media groups have pinned a series of high-profile hacker attacks with names worthy of spy novels on China-based groups. Yet the attacks… Read More ›
Ernst & Young resigns as Sino-Forest auditor
Sino-Forest Corp. said Thursday that Ernst & Young had resigned as its auditor, The Wall Street Journal reported. The setback follows the Chinese timber company’s attainment of creditor protection last week, as it continues to sell off most of its assets…. Read More ›
Chinese insurer to stop covering tankers carrying Iranian oil
China P&I club, the nation’s key ship insurer, will stop indemnity coverage for tankers carrying Iranian oil starting in July in order to abide by tightened Western sanctions against Iran following similar action in Japan, The New York Times reported…. Read More ›
Volvo to spend US$11 billion in coming years
Volvo, a Swedish automaker owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, announced Thursday that it plans to spend US$11 bilion on developing new products and increasing manufacturing in the coming few years, Reuters reported, citing an article by German magazine Wirtschaftswoche. Volvo… Read More ›
PetroChina joins Shell, Hess for shale oil exploration
PetroChina is in talks with Royal Dutch Shell and Hess Corp (HES.NYSE) to explore shale oil in Xinjiang’s Santanghu Basin, Reuters reported, citing parent China National Petroleum Corp in a company-owned newspaper. PetroChina has already drilled 35 wells in the… Read More ›
March 31 1959 Dalai Lama Exile Begins
On March 31st 1959, the Dalai Lama fled the Chinese suppression of a national uprising in Tibet, and crossed the border into India, where he was granted political asylum. Born as Tensin Gyatso on 6th July 1935 in Taktser, China,… Read More ›
Chengdu China Giant Panda Breeding Base
July 29 2010: The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is a non-profit organisation engaged in wildlife research, captive breeding, conservation education, and educational tourism. It’s go.al is to be a world-class research facility in all these areas The… Read More ›
March 18 1950: Taiwan Nationalists Invade Mainland China
On March 18th 1950, military forces of the Nationalist Chinese government on Taiwan made a surprise invasion of the communist People’s Republic of China (PRC), and captured the mainland town of Sungmen. Because the United States supported the attack, it… Read More ›
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