Chinese language: December 2007

Monday, December 31, 2007

Learn Chinese online - Born to spend

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BIZCHINA / Biz Life

Born to spend

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-09-17 17:37

CLSA sees the US economy -- China's biggest trading partner -- tipping
into recession late this year, causing China's economic growth to slump
to around 5 percent in the second half of 2008 from an estimated 11.5
percent for all of 2007.

DBS's Leung disagrees: pending interest rate cuts will shore up the US
economy and the Beijing Olympics will help boost China's retail sales by
18 percent in 2008, he says.

That's still relatively weak given that exports and investment are
surging by 20-30 percent annually. But analysts say there is no quick fix.

"If retail sales grow any faster China will have an overheating problem
because the economy is already expanding by 11 percent and investment is
growing by 20-30 percent," said Tim Condon, Asia economist at ING
Financial Markets in Singapore.

High savings rates reflect job insecurity at restructuring state
companies, shaky welfare protection and -- in boomtowns like Shenzhen --
homebuyers' need to keep up with soaring property prices.

Outside Kingglory Plaza, George Clooney grins benevolently from an Omega
watch advert. But even he was having difficulty persuading men in the
mall to spend one recent Sunday afternoon.

Calvin Klein and Hugo Boss have "sale" signs across their windows, but
men in the mall mostly sit around checking mobile phones or playing with
their children.

If young women seem more financially carefree, it could be because rapid
growth has enabled them to break out of traditional roles.

Job opportunities for educated women in cities have never been better:
Credit Suisse estimates average monthly wages among urban 20-29 year olds
jumped 34 percent in 2006, while average urban incomes grew 18 percent.

Donis Zhao, 26, a beauty consultant, says her mother, a doctor, keeps
telling her to start saving, but she sees no need.

"I want to focus on my job. If I work very hard and learn a lot, I can
earn more," she said. "It's not like when my mother was young 20 years
ago and China was poor."

Gen Tang, a 20-something Hong Konger married to a Shenzhen native, says
young Chinese women are too susceptible to advertising by foreign brands.

"They're buying for status," he said. "LV tells them: this is good and
they buy it," he said, referring to Louis Vuitton.

His wife, May May Yang, sporting a pink Abercrombie & Fitch baseball cap,
admits to a weakness for Versace cosmetics and says she spends up to
1,000 yuan on a new Dior perfume every few months.

"I've got friends who'll save 10 months' wages to buy a 20,000 yuan
scarf, easily," she said.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Learn Mandarin online - Facts about recalls

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BIZCHINA / Review & Analysis

Facts about recalls

(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-15 16:03

Vice minister Wei Chuanzhong of the General Administration of Quality
Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) made an important point
which has not received due attention in the recent frenzy over Chinese
exports.

While the Chinese side understands the United States' concerns about some
problematic Chinese exports, he told the press in Washington, Americans
should also know the real reasons for the recalls.

Defective designs provided by American toy importers were responsible for
85 percent of all the recalls, according to Wei, while manufacturers'
neglect of standards was liable for the other 15 percent.

Facts like this are essential for consumers to make informed judgments.
Withholding such information is unfair not only to American consumers,
but also to Chinese manufacturers.

Concealing the truth from American consumers deprives them of an
otherwise excellent option when deciding what to buy. The more damaging
impact is on innocent Chinese workers who make their living on honest
labor. They should not be made to pay for others' mistakes.

Various statistics and surveys, from within and outside China, have
confirmed that Chinese exports are among the best in quality. All the
recent recalls put together constitute a small fraction of what we sell
overseas. No general statement about Chinese commodities can be fair
without due regard to such a context. The current hoopla surrounding
China-related quality scandals is misleading, because it blinds people
from the bigger picture.

A serious interest in heightening public awareness of the true state of
commodities made in China should be matched with efforts to more
thoroughly share information. There is no harm in letting American
consumers know what proportion of Chinese exports to their country is
flawed, why recalls are ordered, and best of all, providing them with
corresponding information about American imports from other countries, as
well as American exports to other markets.

Chinese quality control authorities have turned out to be quick learners
through the recent scandals. They are a lot more open about information -
sharing and bilateral communication. Their responsiveness to overseas
concerns, in particular, is impressive.

What Wei Chuanzhong has expressed is a simple Chinese wish - while we
assume due responsibility for our faults, we should not be blamed for
what is not our fault. It is only fair.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Chinese Mandarin - Stocks climb 1.95% in absence of immediate tightening

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BIZCHINA / Index & Statistics

Stocks climb 1.95% in absence of immediate tightening

By Li Zengxin (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-09-13 16:41

In absence of feared "overnight" tightening measures, Chinese stocks
moved clearly upward today and took back ground lost due to Tuesday's
consumer price index release. The Shanghai Composite Index closed 100.97
points or 1.95 percent higher at 5,273.59.

Total turnover of the stocks in the major indices was 213.8 billion yuan,
down from yesterday's 225.6 billion yuan and the lowest of the week.

Shanghai Composite Index
Source: sina.com.cn

The benchmark Shanghai index opened 20 points higher at 5,193.41 and
touched a low of 5,178.87 before marching up to the 5,200-point level.
After hitting a temporary high, it slid back to the second lowest point
of the day soon before the noon break. In the afternoon, however, it
began another rebound and finished just lower than the highest 5,276.77.

Of the A shares listed in Shanghai, 606 closed up, 161 dropped and 75
remained unchanged. Shanghai Fenghua group ranked on top of the gainers
list and led another 29 stocks rising to the maximum growth cap of 10
percent.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China resumed first place in terms
of trading volume and saw its share price grow 1.1 percent to 6.46 yuan.
CITIC Securities, which recently won approval to invest in unlisted
companies, was traded most actively in terms of transaction value and
gained 8.6 percent to 88.92 yuan.

Shenzhen Component Index
Source: sina.com.cn

The Shenzhen Component Index, tracking the smaller Shenzhen Stock
Exchange, finished at 17,959.52, up 561.11 points or 3.23 percent.
Opening higher at 17,469.25, it went through the day above the previous
closing level, between 17,406.96 and 17,971.52.

Of the A shares, 451 rose, 117 fell and 74 ended flat. Guangdong Orient
Zirconic Industrial, Science and Technology rocketed 496 percent on its
debut in the Shenzhen bourse. Another two new shares, Nanjing Hongbaoli
and Guilin Layn Natural Ingredients both grew over 2.5 times their
original prices. The largest trader China Vanke was up 3.1 percent to
31.93 yuan.

Stocks in the mining and metal industries continued their march today.
Real estate developers returned to the top of the league, after leading
the dive of the market in the 4.5 percent plunge on Tuesday. Service
providers were also strong.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Chinese School - Investment: Fair reaps US$23b contracts

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BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

Investment: Fair reaps US$23b contracts

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-12 14:27

The 11th China International Fair for Investment and Trade ended Tuesday
with the signing of investment projects worth US$22.99 billion, including
US$19 billion from overseas investors, organizers said.

A total of 1,070 investment projects, were signed at the four-day fair, a
national investment promotion event held annually since 1997 in Xiamen,
Fujian Province.

The fair attracted a record 13,000 businessmen from 119 countries or
regions, 419 investment agencies, and 102 leading chain enterprises from
overseas, according to the organizers.

Chinese companies who planned to invest overseas also signed 63 intention
agreements involving US$557 million with foreign institutions.

Vice Premier Wu Yi at Friday's opening ceremony had called on
multinationals to strengthen their cooperation on technological
innovation with local partners.

"The Chinese government will actively explore new ways for foreign and
overseas investment so as to participate in the international economic
cooperation on higher levels and in broader fields," she said.

Wu announced the Chinese government would offer four billion yuan (US$530
million)?for low-interest loans in the next three years to Chinese firms
to encourage investment in Caribbean countries at the second
China-Caribbean trade and economic cooperation forum during the fair.

Since 1997, the fair had cumulatively attracted nearly US$70 billion of
overseas investment to China prior to the fair just concluded.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Related Stories ?

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Sunday, December 30, 2007

Chinese School - AMD launches new chips in Beijing

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BIZCHINA / Center

AMD launches new chips in Beijing

By Liu Baijia (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-11 09:44

A man?stops by?the booth of US microprocessor maker AMD at an electronic
exhibition in Shanghai. The company launched its latest quad-core
processors in Beijing yesterday. [newsphoto]

US microprocessor maker AMD launched its latest quad-core processors in
Beijing yesterday, the first stop of its global launches.

The quad-core Opteron processor claims to be the world's most advanced
computer chip with a performance 50 percent higher than the current
dual-core products.

Its arch-rival Intel launched a similar quad-core product last week, but
AMD claims its product is the only one with four cores in the same
semiconductor die.

"The selection of China as the first location to release the chip,
Barcelona, proves the importance of the China market to AMD and also
shows our development in the country has entered a new stage," said Karen
Guo, senior vice-president and president of AMD Greater China.

Phil Hester, senior vice-president and chief technology officer of AMD,
said his firm has been delivering products to customers in large volumes
since last month and plans to launch products for desktop computers
within the year.

Computer makers like IBM, HP, Dawning and Dell will launch over 50
servers using the AMD model.

In the enterprise processor market in the country, AMD has a very small
market share, much lower than Intel. But in the overall computer
processor market, it had a share of 28 percent in the second quarter, up
6 percentage points from the same period last year, according to the
research house Gartner.

While AMD's market share in the consumer computer processor segment
increased to 43 percent, its share in the notebook market almost doubled
in the period.

The chipmaker is also likely to play a role in China's plan to develop
supercomputers with a speed of over 100,000 giga-floating point
operations (flops).

Huai Junpeng, chief of the high-performance computing group in the
national hi-tech 863 Project, yesterday said the country aims to develop
two such supercomputers before 2010 and is doing studies for
next-generation computers 10 times faster than these two.

The supercomputers, whose speed can put them among the four fastest
computers in the world, are likely to make China the second country with
such high-performance computers, which are widely used in complicated
projects like weather forecasts and oil exploration.

Two different teams, under Dawning and Lenovo, are working on the 100,000
giga-flops computers.

Zeng Yu, R&D general manager with Dawning, said the quad-core Opteron
processors from AMD would be a good choice for large-scale industrial use.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Related Stories ?

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Chinese Mandarin - Financial policy changes to back outbound investment

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BIZCHINA / Center

Financial policy changes to back outbound investment

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-09 10:01

Direct investment?in HK stock market

China has finished at least half of the preparations for the local
residents' direct investment in Hong Kong stock market, Zhu Min, vice
president of Bank of China (BOC), said Saturday.

"The preparations go smoothly, but there are still many technical
problems yet to be addressed," Zhu said on the sidelines of the Inaugural
Annual Meeting of the New Champions hosted by the World Economic Forum in
China's northeastern coastal city of Dalian.

"It takes a lot of time to prepare new softwares and investors education
and train staff members. However, we have no plan to delay it," he told
Xinhua.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange announced on August 20 the
mainland individuals would be able to directly buy HK shares through
BOC's Tianjin branch amid efforts to cut the country's huge forex reserve
and excessive liquidity.

"Tianjin is the only pilot city. It's hard to say if the program will
expand to other cities in the future," Zhu noted in response to earlier
media reports saying the program would be expanded to many other cities
and be launched in early September.

"The program will not have big impact on the sales of qualified domestic
institutional investors products as the latter have already been given
go-ahead to invest in almost all the global equity markets," he said.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Learn Chinese - Back to the future

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BIZCHINA / Biz Who

Back to the future

By David S.Aikman (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-07 10:09

Indeed, these Young Global Leaders are themselves indicative of precisely
the kind of change we are witnessing in China and throughout the globe.
They personify the increasingly complex, nuanced, networked and
multipolar world order. Even more importantly, these leaders share common
values - in this case, the belief that by coming together with other
individuals from all parts of the globe and by committing themselves to
improving their knowledge, judgment and skills, they are uniquely
positioned to act as collaborative agents to improve the state of the
world - together.

It is this belief - that a (relatively) small community of committed
individuals from nearly 100 countries can actually change the status quo
- that is the lifeblood of the organization I represent. They are not
only a preview of what effective collective leadership in the 21st
century might actually look like, but a live snapshot of what it actually
is.

Yet these leaders are not infallible. And so I end where I begin - with
two very important leadership lessons from Chinese history. The first is
from the historian Bo Yang and others, who argued that Emperor Taizong
was able to achieve the heights of greatness that he did because he
accepted criticism that others would find difficult to accept and because
he tried hard not to abuse his absolute power. Bo Yang's words serve as
good advice to leaders everywhere and speak to the importance of
openness, humility, flexibility, collaboration and learning.

The second is the story of Li Bai, also known as China's "Poet Immortal",
and one of the most famous poets of the Tang period. Li is best known for
his lyrical style and extravagant imagery brought about by an openness to
the world and a life of traveling and, yes, his love of wine.

Legend has it that Li Bai drowned tragically, attempting to embrace the
moon's reflection in a river. His is a lesson that, no matter how gifted
an individual is, regardless of the extent of one's genius, acting alone
can be detrimental. Rather, by acting together, by taking the ingenious,
creative spirit that Li Bai and his contemporaries represented and
applying it to our interconnected and interdependent world, can we make a
difference.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Chinese language - Night view of Qinhuai River

CHINA / Jiangsu in Photos

Night view of Qinhuai River
(people.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-06-05 11:02

Lighted ancient buildings by the side of Qinhuai River in Nanjing,
capital of E. China's Jiangsu Province. [people.com.cn]

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Learn Chinese online - More Mideast-China investment 'hampered by culture'

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BIZCHINA / Center

More Mideast-China investment 'hampered by culture'

(AFP)
Updated: 2007-09-04 11:08

Greater investment between the Middle East and China is being hampered by
a lack of understanding between the two cultures, a conference in the
United Arab Emirates heard on Monday.

The warning came despite trade between the two doubling since the year
2000 and projections of massive investment by some Middle Eastern states
in Asia over the next five years - with most of that money going to China.

"There is a cultural gap that acts as a barrier" to trade, the chairman
of the Dubai-based Gulf Research Centre told delegates at the
China-Middle East Investment Forum in Dubai.

Abdulaziz Sager said he feared the lack of a common language as well as a
limited knowledge of business culture between both regions could prevent
economic ties from developing further.

His concerns were echoed by China's Huang Xiaoxiang, the vice governor of
China's Sichuan Province, who called for greater interaction.

Huang told delegates that China had to do more to tap liquidity in the
Middle East, particularly in the wealthy Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC)?states.

GCC groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates.

"There is a lack of effective communication between both sides. We need
to tighten understanding of cultural backgrounds and deepen our research
on Middle East investment funds," Huang said.

Sager said the oil-rich GCC members in particular will have to increase
their cultural understanding of China as the energy- and commodity-hungry
colossus looks set to continue its phenomenal annual double-digit growth.

Annual trade between the Middle East and China has doubled to US$240
billion since 2000, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) said
in a statement.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Chinese Mandarin - Finance: Time not right for stock options

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BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

Finance: Time not right for stock options

(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-03 09:49

The time is not right for State-owned banks to implement executive stock
options, says a signed article in China Youth Daily. The following is an
excerpt:

The People's Bank of China, the central bank, announced last Monday it
would further the reform of State-owned commercial banks by offering
executives stock options.

Executive stock options is an effective incentive, it binds the
managerial with the future of the business. Because of their personal
interest, people improve their management and efficiency to achieve
sustained development of the business.

However, the time is not right to introduce this incentive system to the
State-owned commercial banks.

Stock options should only be allowed for companies where there are
clear-cut lines defining power, responsibility and rewards. Without such
guidelines, the incentive system will not work as they are intended.

Our State-owned banks are far from being qualified. The managers in the
State-owned banks are usually appointed by the administrative and they
are members of the administrative hierarchy. Moreover, they are often
moved to other State-owned banks before their terms are over. This makes
the executive stock option plan unfeasible.

As monopoly players in China's financial sector, the State-owned banks
enjoy interest on loans and that paid on deposits higher than most banks
in the world. So the banks achieve remarkable profits without worrying
about their management or service quality. In other words, the banks'
profitability is unlikely to change along with its management.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Learn Chinese online - An opportunity for local lenders to learn best practices

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BIZCHINA / Weekly Roundup

An opportunity for local lenders to learn best practices

By Hui Ching-hoo (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-30 13:43

Lining up in front of a counter in a small Bank of China branch in
Haikou, the largest city in Hainan Province, Hong Kong businessman Samuel
Hui has learnt to put aside at least half an hour to complete his banking
transactions.

"Unlike Hong Kong, customers here have to be patient and bear with the
slow process," Hui said.

For Hui, who shuttles between Hong Kong and Hainan, the deficiencies of
the mainland's banking system are particularly glaring.

Chinese Mandarin - NDRC nod expected for PE fund

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BIZCHINA / Center

NDRC nod expected for PE fund

By Mao Lijun (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-28 07:38

The establishment of a China-Singapore private equity (PE) fund, also
called China-Singapore Hi-tech Industrial Investment Fund, is close to
getting the go-ahead from the country's top economic planner, China Daily
has learnt from sources.

The fund is likely to become the country's second industrial investment
fund, supported by the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) China
Council, chaired by Vice-Premier Wu Yi.

The only similar fund under operation is the Bohai Industrial Investment
Fund, which is mainly invested in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin.

The SIP China Council reached an agreement with Singapore's Deputy Prime
Minister Wong Kan Seng in the ninth meeting of the SIP Joint Steering
Council in July in Singapore to expand cooperation in SIP, a project
between China and Singapore that was started in 1994 in East China's
Jiangsu Province and has become a model for other industrial parks in
China.

The meeting, co-chaired by Wu and Wong, agreed to set new targets to
steer the park toward a "hi-tech and high value-added economy", said a
statement from Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Now that Suzhou Industrial Park has decided to shift focus from simple
manufacturing to hi-tech and high value-added industries, the
China-Singapore PE fund is expected to facilitate the transformation.

Once approved, as expected, by the National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC), the fund will provide easier financial access for
companies in the SIP.

The SIP Administration Committee had applied to the NDRC to raise 10
billion yuan, with 3 billion yuan for the first phase, according to a
source.

"The fund will focus on hi-tech and business process outsourcing
industries. Apart from the SIP, it will also seek opportunities in the
Yangtze River Delta," the source said.

China Life Insurance Co, the country's largest insurer, and China
Development Bank, the country's top policy bank, are expected to be among
the fund's sponsors.

Experts said the China-Singapore PE fund is expected to follow a business
model similar to that of the Bohai fund. Established in December with 20
billion yuan in capital, the Bohai fund provides funding channels for
companies with difficulty accessing bank loans in Binhai New Area.

The ninth meeting of the SIP Joint Steering Council revealed the SIP's
income grew 18.8 percent in 2006, hitting 68 billion yuan, with $1.6
billion of utilized foreign direct investment.

It's hoped that 75 percent of the park's total industrial value would be
created by hi-tech industries, according to the statement from
Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry.

"Technological upgrading will result in a better use of resources and the
sustainable development of our park," said Gu Yukun, vice-chairman of the
SIP Administration Committee in the ninth meeting.

In an interview with Chinese magazine Outlook Weekly recently, Ma
Minglong, chairman of the SIP Administrative Committee, said Suzhou was
far behind Singapore in terms of growth in hi-tech and services sectors.

Wu Xiaoling, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said in the
First China International Private Equity Forum in Tianjin that the
country should make greater efforts to develop private equity funds.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Friday, December 28, 2007

Chinese Online Class - Russia, China close ranks in Central Asia

CHINA / National

Russia, China close ranks in Central Asia
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-05-31 08:36

Russia and China moved to fortify their growing security cooperation in
Central Asia but reassured the United States that their new-found unity
of purpose in the region was not designed to subvert US interests there.

Chairmen of the Parliaments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO) Member States meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in
Moscow's Kremlin. Russia and China moved to fortify their growing
security cooperation in Central Asia but reassured the United States that
their new-found unity of purpose in the region was not designed to
subvert US interests there.[AFP]

Russian President Vladimir Putin however acknowledged growing
"competition" to a new Central Asian security organization led by Moscow
and Beijing while Chinese President Hu Jintao said the new group had
become an "important force" for peace and stability in the world.

In the first meeting of its kind, parliamentary leaders from the six
countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) met Tuesday in
Moscow to discuss ways to harmonize their laws and begin building a
legislative dimension for the grouping.

The SCO parliamentary leaders, including Wu Bangguo, chairman of the
standing committee of the Chinese legislature, held a meeting at the
Kremlin with Putin, who said involvement of national legislatures in the
organization would "enrich the partnership" of its member states.

Led by China and Russia, the SCO, founded five years ago, also includes
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Other key countries in
the region -- India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan -- currently have
observer status and have also expressed interest in becoming full members.

The United States however is not a member and, according to sources, is
growing increasingly uneasy at the direction and purpose of the
organization, which has been described by experts as the foundation of a
new Eurasian counterweight to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (
NATO).

One source who asked not to named said the US embassy in Beijing earlier
this month delivered a message to the SCO secretariat voicing concern
that some members may regard the group as a vehicle for countering US
influence in the region. This could not immediately be confirmed in
Moscow.

In his meeting with the lawmakers, Putin said there was growing
international interest in the SCO which he said "has become an important,
influential regional organization" in the five years since its founding.

He also cited efforts to counter this growing influence.

"We see in the international arena there are attempts to create
competition to our organization," Putin said.

"I think it would be right if we did not engage in this and instead
continued with the positive, constructive work that we have been doing
for the past several years."

Putin did not refer to the United States explicitly but Boris Gryzlov,
the speaker of the Russian parliament, made clear afterwards that Moscow
had Washington foremost in its mind.

"Is it possible to fight terrorism and drug trafficking in the region
without the participation of the states of the region? Of course not,"
Gryzlov said in remarks broadcast on state television.

"But a proposal to create in Central Asia an organization parallel to the
SCO, which the United States has called for, suggest that this can be
done. This does not help the fight against threats. It only makes the
threats bigger."

Gryzlov did not elaborate, but reports in Russian and Chinese media in
recent months have evoked a "big Central Asia" initiative, described as a
US plan to set up a new grouping of Central Asian states -- excluding
Russia and China -- to coordinate work in various fields.

A report in the Russian government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta on May 13
speculated that even Iran could be asked to participate in the new
US-inspired grouping.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alekseyev however said Tuesday
that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was among the leaders who had
confirmed his attendance at an SCO summit scheduled to be held in
Shanghai next month, ITAR-TASS news agency said.

Meanwhile, speaking in Beijing, the Chinese president sought to reassure
Washington that the SCO was not aimed at subverting US interests in
Central Asia.

"Since its founding, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has not been a
close, exclusive organization," Hu said in remarks carried on Chinese
state television.

"It is aimed against no country whatsoever," he said, adding that the
organization had become "an important force for promoting peace and
stability in the region and throughout the world."

Chinese language - Xiamen to hold cross-Straits agricultural forum

? ?

BIZCHINA / Local Resources

Xiamen to hold cross-Straits agricultural forum

By Dai Yan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-08-24 11:38

Xiamen, a port city in East China's Fujian Province, is to hold a forum
on cross-Straits agricultural products trade from August 29 to 31, 2007,
aiming to promote cross-Straits agricultural cooperation and create a
win-win situation.

The forum is jointly organized by Xiamen Cross-Straits Agricultural
Cooperation and Communication Association and the Tainan County Farmer's
Association in Taiwan Province. It will welcome more than 400 people from
Taiwan, including government officials, scholars and farmers, and over
380 agricultural products dealers, investment seekers, scholars and
government officials on the Chinese mainland.

The three-day forum will focus on providing policy consultation service
for Taiwan farmers to help them with better knowledge of the central
government's latest policies on agricultural products from Taiwan, said
an official with the Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Agriculture.

Attendants will discuss in three seminars how to expand cross-Straits
agricultural products trade and facilitate cross-Straits fishery and
modern agriculture cooperation. The forum will also build platforms for
promoting Taiwanese agricultural products and inviting investment in
Xiamen from Taiwan.

Xiamen, less than 370 kilometers from the west coast of Taiwan, has
always played a significant role in cross-Straits communication. After
the central government allowed duty-free import of some agricultural
products from Taiwan to the mainland in 2005, Xiamen began actively
constructing the largest Taiwanese fruit collecting and distributing
center on the mainland.

According to statistics, agricultural products trade volume between
Xiamen and Taiwan totaled US$21.75 million last year, an increase of 36
percent year-on-year and 201 percent compared with 2002. Xiamen Port
imported 725.9 tons of fruit from Taiwan during the first five months of
2007, worth US$593,000, up from 481 tons and US$586,000 respectively in
2006.

To help expand cross-Straits agricultural cooperation, Xiamen will be
engaged in building itself a distribution center for agricultural
products from and to Taiwan, a cross-Straits agricultural technology
cooperation platform, and an aquatic products logistics platform.

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� Xiamen committed to environmental protection
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===========================================================================
� Xiamen bridges cross-Straits exchange
===========================================================================

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Learn Chinese - Property zeal tipped to stay

? ?

BIZCHINA / Center

Property zeal tipped to stay

By Wang Lan (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-22 14:32

Models of apartment block developments at an exhibition in
Shanghai.[newsphoto]?

The impact of the US credit crisis on foreign investment in China's
property market has yet to play out. But international investors say they
aren't considering any change to their long-term investment strategies.

Learn Mandarin online - Macroeconomy: Vice premier?calls to?revitalize NE

? ?

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

Macroeconomy: Vice premier?calls to?revitalize NE

(People's Daily Online)
Updated: 2007-08-20 11:40

Chinese vice premier Zeng Peiyan on Sunday called for greater efforts to
rejuvenate the old industrial bases in the country's northeast.

Northeast China should make unremitting efforts to optimize the economic
structure and develop the manufacturing industry, said Zeng, during his
inspection tour of the provinces of Heilongjiang and Liaoning.

Zeng urged major manufacturers in the region to make breakthroughs in
developing and producing power plant equipment, numerical-control machine
tools, heavy-duty machines and environmental protection facilities.

The vice premier also stressed further development of the electronics,
information, biological and pharmaceutical industries.

Northeast China, with a vast territory, rich resources and a solid
industrial foundation, would have bright prospects by improving the
efficiency of its economic growth and boosting economic and technical
cooperation with neighboring countries, said Zeng.

The region should also "do a good job in saving energy, reducing green
house gas emissions and protecting the environment in order to boost
overall, balanced and sustainable economic and social development."

When inspecting the regions of the Greater and Lesser Hinggan Mountains,
Zeng said the forests, water sources and wetland should be well
protected, and restrictions should be imposed on sectors that consumed a
lot of energy and discharged a lot of pollutants.

Water treatment facilities should be improved along the Heilongjiang and
Songhua rivers to ensure safe drinking water, said Zeng.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Related Stories ?

� Long-term plan to finance transportation in Northeast China
===========================================================================
� Plan to revitalize northeast region
===========================================================================
� Northeast China to be revitalized for 4 industrial bases
===========================================================================

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Thursday, December 27, 2007

Chinese School - China Mobile profit surges 29%

? ?

BIZCHINA / Center

China Mobile profit surges 29%

By Janet Ong (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-17 07:14

China Mobile Ltd's profit surged 29 percent in the second quarter as the
company added a record number of users, driven by gains in rural areas,
where lower-income residents were attracted by reduced charges.

Net income of the world's largest mobile phone operator by subscribers
rose to 20.3 billion yuan ($20.7 billion) from 15.8 billion yuan a year
earlier, according to calculations based on the first-half earnings
reported by the Beijing-based company yesterday.

The company's shares fell 4.9 percent to HK$80.85, or 3.92 percent, in
Hong Kong.

China Mobile, whose 332.4 million users outnumber the US population, has
shifted focus from cities to smaller towns and villages, where there is
less competition. Chief executive officer?Wang Jianzhou waived some
charges to attract rural residents, who make up three-quarters of China's
1.3 billion population.

"China Mobile has executed the rural strategy very well, and more than
half of the company's new subscribers are from the rural areas," said
Desmond Tjiang, who manages $1.3 billion in Asian equities at Fortis
Investment Management in Hong Kong, including China Mobile shares. "It's
the right move."

Sales are estimated to have risen by 23.5 percent to 88.9 billion yuan.
Rainie Lei, a spokeswoman at China Mobile, declined to comment on the
second-quarter numbers.

The company's stock has risen 53 percent in the past year, compared with
an 18 percent gain in the benchmark Hang Seng Index. China Mobile is the
world's 10th largest company by market value.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Related Stories ?

� Motorola secures supply contract with China Mobile
===========================================================================
� Stocks climb on China Mobile, credit woes persist
===========================================================================
� China Mobile adds record number of subscribers for 9th month
===========================================================================

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Learn Chinese online - People unhappy with the rich

? ?

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

People unhappy with the rich

By Wang Shanshan (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-15 09:31

There is growing dissatisfaction toward rich people, according to a new
online poll.

The poll by the China Youth Daily in collaboration with Sina.com has
highlighted the apparent discontent over the country's widening income
gap.

Nearly 8,000 people filled in online questionnaires last week, and when
asked to use three words to describe society's rich, the top responses
were "extravagant", "greedy" and "corrupt".

About 57 percent of those polled said that "extravagant" was the best
word to describe the rich, followed closely by "greedy".

Ironically, despite their dissatisfaction, 93 percent of those polled
wished they could be rich too, and that richer people should be "socially
responsible".

Some 33 percent of respondents also praised rich people for being "smart".

Nearly 90 percent of respondents agreed that most people in society,
including themselves, were willing to speak up for the poor but were
reluctant to take action and actually do something for them.

Related readings:
Income disparity getting worse: Report
Urban residents see sharp rise in disposal income

China slashes tax on interest income
Income distribution is in need of reform
Does China face widening income gap?
Monthly income of China's migrant workers reaches 953 Yuan
Call to up non-interest income

The survey comes on the heels of a heated debate over comments made by
renowned economist Mao Yushi, who said he was "speaking for the rich and
working for the poor".

Chen Guangjin, sociologist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
(CASS) said it was a pity that too many Chinese scholars "stand on the
stance" of the rich when they come up with their theories.

"When ordinary people complain about the rich, they point at the illegal
practices of accumulating wealth and also corruption," Chen said.

"There is still no clear evidence that the general public has bad
feelings for the rich."

A report released by the Asian Development Bank last Wednesday revealed
that China's Gini coefficient - an indicator of the wealth divide - rose
from 0.407 in 1993 to 0.473 in 2004.

An earlier CASS report said that the richest 10 percent of Chinese
families now own more than 40 percent of all private assets, while the
poorest 10 percent share less than 2 percent of the total wealth.

The country's income disparity is close to that of Latin America, the
report which came out in January, said.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Learn Mandarin online - Money supply rises 18.5% in July

? ?

BIZCHINA / News

Money supply rises 18.5% in July

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-13 14:22

China's money supply continued to grow in July, according to the People's
Bank of China (PBOC).

By the end of July, the broad measure of the money supply, M2, which
covers cash in circulation and all deposits, went up 18.5 percent
year-on-year to 38.4 trillion yuan (US$5.06 trillion).

Related readings:
?Banks' reserve rate raised again
?M2 growth underestimates inflation pressure: Goldman Sachs
?Economy on verge of overheating
?Broad measure of money supply falls 16.7%

The newly-added yuan-denominated deposits in July reached 158.5 billion
yuan, 18.1 billion yuan more than the same month last year.

By the end of July, the narrow measure of the money supply, or M1, was
13.62 trillion yuan, up 21 percent.

M1 is an antecedent index for a country's economic performance,
reflecting the change in the amount of money in the hands of residents
and enterprises, while M2 shows the demand of the whole of society and
indicates possible inflation.

Bank figures also indicated that the outstanding renminbi-dominated
deposits had risen 16 percent year-on-year by the end of July to 37.1
trillion yuan.

The outstanding renminbi-dominated loans amounted to 25.3 trillion yuan
in July, up 16.6 percent.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Learn Chinese - Time to restructure the CPI

? ?

BIZCHINA / Weekly Roundup

Time to restructure the CPI

By Yi Xianrong (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-10 13:22

The author Yi Xianrong is a researcher with the Institute of Finance and
Banking at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Recent figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics show the
country's consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.2 percent in the first half
of the year, and increased 4.4 percent in June.

Hikes to food prices largely powered the bulging CPI, while prices of
manufactured goods and services remained stable.

In view of this, no overall price rises are expected if everything is
handled properly. However, if the food price increases fail to be brought
under control and are compounded by quickly rising real estate prices,
the CPI could go up sharply.

Some, following the lines of developed nations' practice, argue that the
CPI is staying basically stable, judging from the core CPI, which
excludes food and energy costs.

Related readings:
?Analysts say CPI may hit 5 percent
?Economists: 4% CPI rise still healthy
?Central bank warns of inflation risks
?Asset prices may keep rising in 2nd half
?Lending in decline on tightened control
?Central bank vows to prevent overheating

People of this school of thought ignore the fact that there is a wide gap
between the Chinese CPI system and that of developed market economies. It
has no real meaning that they gauge the Chinese reality with experiences
gained in the developed world.

The Chinese CPI consists of eight primary components covering food,
clothing, home facilities and services, healthcare, transportation,
communications, entertainment and?education, as well as?housing.

The weight of food accounts for 34 percent of the CPI, while
entertainment, education and stationary account for 14 percent, housing
13 percent, transportation and communications 10 percent, healthcare 10
percent, clothing 9 percent, home facilities and their maintenance 6
percent and wine, cigarettes and daily-use articles 4 percent.

The US CPI system, however, is weighted differently. Housing, for
example, accounts for 42.1 percent, food and drinks 15.4 per cent,
transportation 16.9 percent, medicare 6.1 percent, clothing 4 percent,
entertainment 5.8 percent, education 5.9 percent and other commodities
and services 3.8 percent.

Apart from the different weight of CPI components, the definition and
revision of the weights of commodities and services in the Chinese CPI
are not conducted in a transparent way. In contrast, the weights of
commodities and services in the US CPI, are defined on the basis of
surveys on the spending of millions of households over the last couple of
years. Moreover, these weights are revised every other year so that they
keep up with changes in consumer tastes and preferences.

In China, the system of drawing up the CPI was introduced as early as the
1950s during the planned-economy era. As a result, the data and
experience gained during this period are largely disconnected from those
gained after the late 1970s when the country embarked on the road of
reform and opening up.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Learn Chinese online - Analysts say CPI may hit 5 percent

? ?

BIZCHINA / News

Analysts say CPI may hit 5 percent

By Xin Zhiming (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-10 08:50

Analysts say the consumer price index (CPI) may break 5 percent in July,
which would increase the likelihood of tightening measures being
introduced in the second half of this year.

The CPI for July, which will be released on Monday, may hover around 5
percent, according to the latest forecast from Deutsche Bank (Hong Kong).
The bank said it may be 4.8 percent in the third quarter before it drops
to around 4 percent in the fourth.

Related readings:
?Economists: 4% CPI rise still healthy
?CPI to rise record 4.5% in 3rd quarter, rate hike likely
?Slower growth seen in CPI

Special Coverage:
Markets Watch ?

The trend is in line with many analysts' predictions that efforts to
stabilize price rises will take effect later.

The CPI for the whole year will be around 3.8 percent, according to the
Deutsche Bank forecast.

Morgan Stanley (Asia-Pacific) said the CPI could reach as high as 5.5
percent in July, while Goldman Sachs said the figure may hit 5.1 percent.

Whatever the figure, the forecasts point to rising prices in a country
where economic growth soared to 11.5 percent in the first half of this
year.

"The authorities are set to take measures in the coming months," said
Zhuang Jian, a senior economist with the Asian Development Bank in China.

Apart from increasing supply, the central government has told local
officials to stabilize prices.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Related Stories ?

� Economists: 4% CPI rise still healthy
===========================================================================
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===========================================================================
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Chinese language - Northeast China to be revitalized for 4 industrial bases

? ?

BIZCHINA / Center

Northeast China to be revitalized for 4 industrial bases

By Shangguan Zhoudong (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-08-08 11:06

Northeast China, the country's aging industrial center, is to be the
focus of a new development program making it the home of four industrial
bases, according to the Northeast China revival plan, which has been
approved by the State Council, the country's cabinet, the Shanghai
Securities News reported today.

The bases will cover equipment manufacturing, new material and energy,
commodity grain and animal husbandry production, and research and
development of key technologies.

Areas in the plan involve Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang provinces,
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region's Hulunbeier, Tongliao, and Chifeng
cities, and Xingan and Xilinguole leagues.

The area has a total population of 122 million and a land area of 1.45
million square kilometers.

Special coverage:
Markets Watch
Related readings:
?Heilongjiang economy on upward swing
?China builds railway corridor in rust belt region
?Industrial corridor plays pivotal role in rejuvenation
?China calls for revitalizing old industrial bases

The plan is to improve Northeast China's development in equipment
manufacturing, including heavy machinery, computerized numerical control
machine tools, electric power transmission equipment, vehicle and spare
parts production, and rail transport equipment manufacturing, according
to Wang Guanglin, researcher with the Liaoning Provincial Academy of
Social Science.

"The establishment of these technological research and development and
innovation bases will be supported by manufacturing sector," Wang said.

The State Council also ordered relevant departments to strengthen
supervision, support, and implementation of the revival plan and create a
sound policy environment for the revitalization of the old industrial
bases.

However, Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang have drafted their-own plans
for the 11th Five-Year Program (2006-10) and different departments have
some special blueprints, said Liu Xiaonan, a researcher with the
provincial academy.

"Conditioned by administrative system, their plans lack cross-provincial
projects and regional coordination. The separate plans are also lacking
coordination," Liu said.

Officials from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said
the revival plan connects the special and regional plans to optimize
distribution of resources.

The State Council also pointed out that administrative division barriers
should be broken to promote reasonable allocation of resources and flows
of production requisites.

Different government organs, including the Northeast Revitalization
Leading Office of the State Council, the NDRC and China Development Bank,
began drafting the plan in May, 2005.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Learn mandarin - Strong vehicle sales drive up profits by 66%

? ?

BIZCHINA / Center

Strong vehicle sales drive up profits by 66%

By Gong Zhengzheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-07 08:49

China's top 16 automotive groups chalked up a two-thirds increase in
first-half combined profits, boosted by buoyant vehicle sales, an
industry association said yesterday.

Their post-tax profits totaled 30.2 billion yuan in the first six months,
up 65.8 percent from a year ago, according to data from the China
Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The pace slowed slightly from 69.9 percent in the first quarter.

From January to June, Chery Automobile, the No 7 Chinese automaker by
sales and partner of Chrysler, posted the fastest profit growth of 210.6
percent of the 16 companies.

Top seller Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC), which has tie-ups
with General Motors and Volkswagen, saw its profit jump by 48.4 percent.

Related readings:
?Auto industry thirst for talents
?Half a million autos to be exported
?Small-displacement car sales decline amid auto boom
?Car sales up 22.3% in first six months

But the auto association didn't reveal how much Chery and SAIC earned.

SAIC's listed unit, Shanghai Auto, predicted last month that its
first-half net profit would more than quadruple from 541 million yuan in
the same period of 2006.

The largest auto stock in China by assets is scheduled to announce its
interim results on August 21.

Zhu Yiping, an official from the auto association, said the profit hike
was mainly due to brisk sales and improved cost-cutting efforts.

Sales of all vehicles made in China grew by 23.3 percent year-on-year to
4.37 million units in the first half, with passenger cars soaring by 26
percent.

Zhang Xin, an auto analyst with Guotai & Jun'an Securities Co, said
strong profit growth should also be attributed to vehicle producers'
investments in the booming domestic capital market, where the Shanghai
Composite Index has surged by 70 percent so far this year.

"Many automakers are buying stocks and funds, which will continue to help
them boost profits significantly in the second half of this year," Zhang
told China Daily.

He predicted that the combined profits of the 16 automotive groups would
climb by 50 to 60 percent this year from 2006.

The core business turnover of the 16 groups rose by 26.6 percent to 486.4
billion yuan in the first six months of this year, according to data.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Learn Chinese online - Protectionism - the real threat to growth, stability

? ?

BIZCHINA / Weekly Roundup

Protectionism - the real threat to growth, stability

By John Rutledge (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-03 13:54

By the end of this year, China will most likely be the United States'
second largest trading partner. Over the past six years, total trade
between the two countries has soared, growing from $116 billion in 2000
to almost $343 billion in 2006. That's an average growth rate of almost
20 percent a year.

This marvelous growth has led to more affordable goods, higher
productivity, strong job growth, and a higher standard of living for both
countries. These economic benefits were made possible in large part
because both China and the United States embraced freer trade.

Related readings:
?US's allegations of subsidies are groundless
?Paulson: China committed to yuan reform
?Economist forsees US launching trade sanctions against China
?1st-half surplus to top $100b?Official: Chinese exports are safe
?
?Mundell: US calls for RMB rise a move to slow China's expansion

As economists, we understand the vital and beneficial role that free
trade plays in the world economy. Conversely, we believe that barriers to
free trade destroy wealth and benefit no one in the long run. Because of
these fundamental economic principles, we sign this letter to advise
Congress against imposing retaliatory trade measures against China.

There is no foundation in economics that supports punitive tariffs. China
currently supplies American consumers with inexpensive goods and
low-interest rate loans.

Retaliatory tariffs on China are tantamount to taxing ourselves as a
punishment. Worse, such a move will likely encourage China to impose its
own tariffs, increasing the possibility of a futile and harmful trade
war. American consumers and businesses would pay the price for this
senseless war through higher prices, worse jobs, and reduced economic
growth.

We urge Congress to discard any plans for increased protectionism, and
instead urge lawmakers to work towards fostering stronger global economic
ties through free trade.

The petition, signed by 1,028 economists, was published in Wall Street
Journal on Wednesday

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Learn Mandarin online - Supervision tighter on central SOEs' investment

? ?

BIZCHINA / Center

Supervision tighter on central SOEs' investment

By Shangguan Zhoudong (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-08-02 11:13

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC)
said in a statement yesterday that central State-owned companies (SOEs)
should report investments in a timely fashion. This includes their major
overseas investments and investments in real estate, securities, and
insurance, the China Business News reported today.

The move is aimed at limiting investment risks, the statement said.

According to the statement, companies caught ignoring the order will be
blacklisted, and the executives responsible will be punished.

SASAC also told central SOEs to provide timely reports on capital
spending in non-core businesses.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission announced on June 18 that two
SOEs, China Nuclear Engineering and Construction (Group) Corporation and
the China Shipping (Group) Company, misappropriated 4.46 billion yuan
(US$589.95 million) in bank loans to invest in the equity market and real
estate projects.

Related readings:
?Real estate investment surges 28.5% in 1st half
?Central bank to tighten real estate credit
?Money flows from stocks to property

SASAC also said some SOEs are increasing their investments unwisely,
leading to high levels of debt.

Companies were instructed to improve their risk management and maintain
reasonable debt levels.

According to a management measure issued by SASAC in August 2006, central
SOEs should concentrate on their core businesses and allocate no more
than 10 percent of their total investment in areas outside key activities.

Li Rongrong, head of SASAC, stressed at the end of last year that central
SOEs' investments in non-core business must be approved by his
administration.

Currently, a total of 12 central SOEs are allowed operations in the real
estate business, including China Overseas Property and Poly Real Estate
Group Co Ltd.

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Chinesepod - Merrill breaks off JV plan with Huaan Securities

? ?

BIZCHINA / Center

Merrill breaks off JV plan with Huaan Securities

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-07-31 16:32

Merrill Lynch has called off a planned investment banking joint venture
with China's Huaan Securities after it failed to get government approval,
sources close to the deal said on Tuesday.

Merrill Lynch has decided to scrap the proposed partnership in China and
was now in talks with other Chinese brokerages for a similar plan in the
world's fastest growing major economy, the sources said.

In January 2005, Merrill Lynch said it would put up about $32 million for
a one-third stake in a new investment banking venture with mid-sized
Huaan Securities.

The venture was expected to allow Merrill Lynch to underwrite domestic
stocks, trade bonds and advise companies on mergers and acquisitions,
pending government approval.

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Chinese Mandarin - EU to end anti-dumping duties on Chinese lightbulbs

? ?

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

EU to end anti-dumping duties on Chinese lightbulbs

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-07-27 11:19

The European Commission is set to propose an end to the five-year
anti-dumping duties on Chinese energy-saving lightbulbs, a spokesman said
on Thursday.

A group of trade experts at the European Union's executive body have been
debating whether to drop the anti-dumping duties for several months as
the trade defense measure against lightbulbs made in China was introduced
for five years in 2001.

Peter Power, a spokesman for EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, said
a majority of specialists support the end to the anti-dumping duties as
the five-year period has expired.

"The outcome of the discussions puts the commission in a position to
proceed with a formal proposal to end the duties," he said.

Some European bulb makers have been pressing had for a renewal of the
duties for another five years, but the measure was criticized by
environmentalists as unjustified in EU's fight against global warming.

EU member states will give a final say to the issue, based on the
commission's proposal.

The 27-nation bloc has launched a review of its trade defense policy,
notably anti-duping measures. As an increasing number of EU companies now
invest in China, the EU wants to have a second thought on whether such
measures would hurt its own interests.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Chinese Mandarin

Learn Mandarin online - IT: Domestic cellphone producers see smaller market share

? ?

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

IT: Domestic cellphone producers see smaller market share

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-07-25 15:43

Chinese cellphone producers saw their domestic market share shrink in the
first five months of this year to 33.8 percent, down two percentage
points from the end of 2006.

The Ministry of Information Industry (MII) reported on Tuesday that the
lack of crucial technology was the major reason, which stopped domestic
producers from cutting producing cost as they had to pay high patent fees.

Their low-price strategy failed to work in competing with foreign rivals,
said the MII in a report.

Currently, domestic brands are priced only five to seven percent lower
than similar foreign ones, making it hard to attract customers with a
price advantage.

In addition, international cellphone manufacturers have promoted more
low-price phones since the end of last year. Among nearly 900 types of
phones debuted in the first five months, only 36 percent were produced by
domestic players.

China had 34 cellphone producers that produce their own brand cellphones
by May. Among them, only five sold more than two million cellphones from
January to May while 18 sold less than 500,000.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Monday, December 24, 2007

Learn Chinese online - Foxconn announces US$1b investment plan on mainland

? ?

BIZCHINA / Center

Foxconn announces US$1b investment plan on mainland

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-07-24 11:21

Foxconn, a Taiwan-funded company, has announced its plan to invest US$1
billion over the next three years to produce electronics in Qinhuangdao,
a coastal city on the Chinese mainland.

Terry Gou, president of Hon Hai Precision, a shareholder in Foxconn
Group, said the money would be spent on building an industrial park in
the Beidaihe district of Qinhuangdao, in North China's Hebei Province.

The park, covering an area of 317 hectares, will be home to a cluster of
factories that manufacture electronics, including printed circuit boards
and signal transmitters, and nano-technology research and development
centers.

The establishment of the park will create 35,000 job opportunities, Gou
said, adding that the Qinhuangdao industrial park was the 16th industrial
base that the Hon Hai group had set up on the mainland since 1998.

In February this year, Foxconn kicked off a US$99 million project in
Langfang City, also in Hebei Province, as part of the Taiwan company's
strategy to move its production base from eastern coastal areas to the
north and northeastern inland regions.

Gou said the fast-growing economy on the mainland had created business
opportunities in many industrial fields for Taiwan companies.

He said the expansion of its mainland operations had been the spur for
Foxconn's growth, doubling the company's revenue last year.

The Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd is the largest private enterprise
in Taiwan and is among the world's leading manufacturer of connectors and
cable assemblies.

Terry Gou is ranked 142nd on the 2007 Forbes list of the world's richest
people, with a fortune of US$5.5 billion.

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Learn Chinese online - General Introduction

CHINA / About Jiangsu

General Introduction
(chinaculture.org)
Updated: 2006-05-25 11:43

Jiangsu Province, Su for short, lies in East China. The industries and
the agriculture here are well developed. Among its agricultural produces,
the outputs of rice, cotton, silk, tea, oil and freshwater fish hold
important positions in China. Its most important industries are
machinery, chemical industry, electricity, electronics and cement. Known
as a "land of fish and rice", Jiangsu gets its name from the first
character of its two cities, Jiangning (now Nanjing) and Suzhou.

Jiangsu boasts the largest number of historical and cultural cities, such
as Worldly Heaven Suzhou, Yangzhou, Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Huai'an, and
Xuzhou, etc. Of the more than 200 lakes, the larger ones are the Hongze
Lake, the West Lake, the Tai Lake, the Xuanwu Lake, and the Gaoyou Lake,
which earn Jiangsu the name "Water Countryside". Historical relics
include the Stone City in Nanjing, Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Tomb, the Xiao Tomb
of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Han Mausoleum and Pits of Terracotta
Soldiers, etc. Other places of interest are Yuntai Mountain, Zhongshan
Mountain, the Suzhou Garden and the Three Caves in Yixing.

Geography

Jiangsu lies in East China and the lower reaches of the Yangtze and
Huaihe rivers, with an area of 102,600 square kilometers. Jiangsu borders
the Huanghai Sea in the east, Shandong Province in the north, Anhui
Province in the west, and Zhejiang Province in the south. The vast
plains, dotted with lakes and crisscrossed by rivers, cover 18% of the
province's total land mass. With three major river systems from north to
south -- the Yishu River, the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River, Jiangsu
has well-developed irrigation systems and shipping. The Grand Canal is an
artery between the north and south.

Climate

Jiangsu Province is situated in the temperate zone and subtropical zone,
with a humid and semi-humid monsoon climate. The annual average
temperature is 13��-16��, -2��-4�� in January, and 26��-29�� in July.
Nanjing area is one of the three well-known "furnaces" in the Yangtze
River basin in the summer season of China. The annual average
precipitation is about 800-1200 millimeters. The recorded heaviest
precipitation of a day is 314.3 millimeters (in Dongtai City on August
21,1965). There is more rain when plums are ripe at the time when spring
is changing into summer. It rains for a short time, but frequently. It is
a common phenomenon that it is raining while the sun is shining. Rains of
this period are generally called "plum rains". But on the other hand,
because of damp climate and appropriate temperature, mould grows quickly,
so this period is also called "mould rains". Typhoons often hit this
province at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn.

Administrative Division and Population

It is divided into 13 prefecture-level cities, 31 county-level cities and
33 counties, with a population of 74.38 million as of 2000. It is one of
the most densely populated provinces.

Learn Mandarin online - Energy: Sinopec, CNOOC to jointly develop Guangdong natural gas market

? ?

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

Energy: Sinopec, CNOOC to jointly develop Guangdong natural gas market

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-07-19 17:18

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Corp) and China National
Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), two of the country's largest oil
operators, on Wednesday signed an agreement with South China's Guangdong
Provincial Government to jointly establish a natural gas supply and
transmission company in Guangdong.

Under the agreement, the Guangdong Natural Gas Pipeline Co will be
jointly set up by Sinopec Corp, CNOOC and a local company in Guangdong.
The Guangdong Provincial Government will take charge of the planning of
the natural gas pipeline network.

By co-establishing the company, the two oil giants will join in
developing the country's largest natural gas market, said analysts.

As one of the most economically developed regions in China, Guangdong is
expected to consume 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas every year by
2010.

According to analysts, Sinopec has advantages in natural gas network and
markets in South China, while CNOOC boasts rich natural gas resources
from both offshore China and overseas.

CNOOC's LNG (liquid natural gas) terminal in Guangdong went into
operation in 2006.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Learn mandarin - Standard Chartered in overdrive to expand network

? ?

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

Standard Chartered in overdrive to expand network

By Wang Zhenghua (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-18 15:42

Standard Chartered Bank plans to expand its network to more than 170 on
the mainland by 2011, when the country is expected to become the "heart"
of the London-based bank.

Standard Chartered, the smaller of the first group of four overseas
lenders that have been locally incorporated, is hopeful China will be its
largest source of mortgage loan and small- and medium-sized enterprise
(SME) businesses and will have the single largest employee base among all
its global operations.

"We want to expand our network in China as fast as we can within the
regulatory regime, and we will move to as many new cities as we are
allowed to," said Mike DeNoma, group executive director and CEO of the
group's consumer banking business worldwide.

By 2011, China will be a major part of business for Standard Chartered,
he said, while SME services and wealth management are the two growth
engines for its fast rise in the country where annual economic growth has
been around 10 percent in recent years.

With one of the largest foreign bank networks, of 24 outlets, in China,
the British bank has said it plans to take the number to 40 and double
its headcount by the end of this year as the banking sector is further
deregulated in line with China's WTO entry commitments.

"We have been very pleasantly surprised by the pace of regulatory changes
and how supportive the Chinese regulators have been on the local
incorporation," DeNoma said in an exclusive interview.

"In the past three years, a major focus of the bank in China has been SME
and we plan to expand to the new cities we are going to," he said, adding
that SME and wealth management are the two new drives for the
149-year-old bank's business in China and around the world.

The bank is also looking to expand into the nation's mortgage lending
market, credit and debit card business as well as private banking,
targeting the emerging middle class.

"Mortgage market will continue to be a fundamental engine for our bank
and China offers the most attractive single mortgage market looking out
to 2011," DeNoma said, adding that the business base will enlarge by 20
to 30 times the current size in China in the next five years.

Along with three other overseas counterparts, including HSBC, Citigroup
and Bank of East Asia, Standard Chartered is waiting for a license from
the regulators to make a foray into the debit and credit card businesses.

It plans to launch private banking operations early next month in
Shanghai and Beijing with a focus on entrepreneurs and senior executives
with investable wealth of more than $1 million.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Sunday, December 23, 2007

Learn Chinese online - State venture capital fund to support small tech firms

? ?

BIZCHINA / Center

State venture capital fund to support small tech firms

By Hao Zhou (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-07-17 14:21

The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Science and Technology?will
jointly offer?a special fund of 100 million yuan (US$12.8 million) to
encourage (VC) companies to invest in technology-based small- and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Enterprises and service institutes pioneering in investment and?VC
management for minor technology enterprises and infant medium and small
technology enterprises will benefit from the fund.

The fund will support VC investments in four ways. First, it will buy
shares in VC investors; second, it will invest jointly with VCs in
technology startups; third, it will provide some allowance against risks
to VCs that have invested in technology startups; fourth, it will
subsidize infant small ventures with promising profits but high risks.

To ensure standardized operations, the Ministry of Finance and the
Ministry of Science and Technology will bring in a third-party organ to
assess the performance of the fund.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Learn mandarin - China stops encouraging exporters to remit forex

? ?

BIZCHINA / From the Watchdogs

China stops encouraging exporters to remit forex

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-07-09 13:48

China has scrapped a set of rules that provided incentives for exporters
to bring home as much foreign currency as they could, signifying another
step in its efforts to ease capital inflows.

In the wake of the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, China
introduced a series of measures encouraging exports and inflows of
foreign exchange, to help boost its financial footing.

Its capital and current account surpluses have since soared, and?the
central government?is now trying to reverse the situation to ease the
upward pressure on the yuan created by such inflows.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said on Monday that
it had rescinded, as of July 1, a set of rules dating back to 1999 that
had provided incentives for exporters to exchange their forex earnings
with banks in a timely manner, as well as punishments for those that did
not.

The agency said that while the rules had been appropriate at the time and
played a big role in encouraging the country's accumulation of foreign
exchange, they were now being cancelled "in line with the present needs
of economic development".

The rules had allowed for preferential treatment in customs procedures
and bank lending for export firms with good track records in remitting
foreign exchange, and penalties as severe as revoking of export licenses
for the worst offenders.

The removal of such incentives complements initiatives to encourage
capital outflows, such as the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor
(QDII) scheme, which allows financial institutions to invest client funds
overseas.

Economists say that with massive inflows of foreign currency from the
trade surplus and investment, it will be increasingly difficult for the
central bank to control growth in money supply if it continues to attempt
to keep the yuan from appreciating too sharply.

The foreign exchange regulator has accordingly been adjusting its
supervision of capital flows, stepping up oversight of speculative
inflows betting on yuan appreciation while also making it easier for
companies with good track records.

To that end, SAFE last year earmarked 5,300 firms as "needing special
attention" -- meaning they were suspected of dealing in "hot money"
through disguised trade flows.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Chinese School - Trade surplus up 84% in 1st half, growth set to slow

? ?

BIZCHINA / Trade Surplus

Trade surplus up 84% in 1st half, growth set to slow

By Jiang Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-12 08:40

Growth in China's trade surplus will ease in the second half of this year
as the central government's measures to curb exports begin to have an
impact, a senior trade official said yesterday.

The surplus soared to $112.5 billion in the first half of this year, up
84 percent from a year earlier. The June surplus hit a record $26.9
billion.

The remarkable increase resulted partly from enterprises rushing to
export as much as they could ahead of July 1, when the value-added tax
rebate was either scrapped or reduced as part of efforts to trim the
surplus, Ministry of Commerce spokesman Wang Xinpei said.

Related readings: Trade surplus keeps mounting June trade surplus hits
new high China's monthly trade surplus hits new high in June Income
distribution is in need of reform "This factor (the export rush) will
fade out in the second half of this year," Wang said.

In addition, other measures to curb exports will help slow the growth in
surplus, he added.

The government has adopted various methods to narrow the surplus, such as
levying export taxes and encouraging imports of high-tech products.

However, many economists predict it will take time before a significant
change can be seen.

"We have to wait at least three months to see any effect, and possibly
longer, since many firms will continue to manufacture and export given
their capacity is already in place," said Stephen Green, an economist
with Standard Chartered Bank in Shanghai. He expects the full-year
surplus to set a record this year.

"We do not expect to see any major change in the overall picture in the
near future as the dampening effect of the tax rebate adjustment is
likely to be offset by stronger global industrial production momentum,"
said Liang Hong, an economist with Goldman Sachs' Asia Economics Research
Group.

In another development, technical barriers erected by trade partners cost
China as much as $75.8 billion last year and over 15 percent of exporters
were affected, according to research by the Ministry of Commerce.

The barriers refer to regulations, standards or procedures for assessing
imports. Compared to traditional trade barriers such as tariff and import
quotas, they have been adopted more frequently in recent years.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Learn mandarin - New rules on futures target big investors

? ?

BIZCHINA / Rules & Regulations

New rules on futures target big investors

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-06-29 08:48

China's new rules on trading stock-index futures will limit the
derivatives to institutions at the initial stage, and turnover won't be
heavy enough to significantly affect the stock market, industry analysts
said yesterday.

Market observers also noted that blue chips may be spotlighted in the
debut of the index futures, which will be based on a gauge tracking the
top 300 Chinese mainland public firms.

The China Financial Futures Exchange late on Wednesday unveiled detailed
regulations on trade in index futures, setting the stage for the
derivative's launch, which is widely expected in the next few months.

The rules stipulated that the value of a futures contract will be
equivalent to the points of the CSI 300 Index multiplied by 300 yuan
(US$39). Investors must put up 10 percent of a contract's value as a
margin.

Based on yesterday's close of 3,858.52 on the CSI 300 gauge, a single
index futures contract would be valued at 1.16 million yuan, which means
that an investor must put up 115,756 yuan to trade a contract.

Related readings:
?Regulator approves index futures trading rules
?Index futures edge closer
?New rules on stock indices released

Special Coverages:
Markets Watch?

" The high value of the contract will make it hard for retail investors
to participate, and I believe turnover among institutions won't be heavy
during the first days of trading," said Xu Huiming, a China Securities Co
dealer. "So the real impact on the stock market will be limited, except
for some psychological influence."

China's mainland stock market has yet to adopt a short-selling system,
which means investors can profit only when they buy low and sell high.

Analysts said some less-savvy investors link futures to speculation or
used news of the derivative's launch as an excuse to sell and pocket
earlier gains. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 4.03 percent
yesterday while the CSI 300 index eased 4.5 percent.

"The market overreacted a bit yesterday, and I expect the CSI index to
recover in the following days," said Lu Chengde, a Guosen Securities Co
trader.

Under the plan, the financial futures bourse will initially trade four
types of index-futures contracts, which will be settled each calendar
month, the following month and the next two quarters.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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