Archive for July, 2013

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10/07/2013

Growth of China’s Service Sector Slows

BusinessWeek: “The latest less-than-encouraging news from China’s economy: Service-sector companies are seeing lackluster business, according to two separate surveys released July 3. That follows disappointing news showing China’s manufacturing growth is also slowing, announced just days earlier.

The opening of the K11 Art Mall in Shanghai, China, on June 28, 2013

A government survey by China’s National Bureau of Statistics and Federation of Logistics and Purchasing of 1,200 nonmanufacturing companies in 27 industries, including retail, catering, construction, and transportation, showed business activity losing steam, with a reading of 53.9 in June, down from 54.3 the previous month (a reading above 50 shows expansion). A separate private survey conducted by HSBC and Markit Economics, covering 400 private service-sector companies, showed business basically unchanged, at 51.3 in June, compared with 51.2 the month before.

“The underlying growth momentum is likely to be softening for services sectors, along with the slowdown of manufacturing growth,” warned Hongbin Qu, Chief Economist, China & Co-Head of Asian Economic Research at HSBC (HSBA:LN), in a statement released July 3.

This is not good news for China’s new leaders, who have recently reiterated a national goal of economic rebalancing. That means moving from an emphasis on investment to one more reliant on consumption, with a crucial need for a bigger, stronger service economy. China’s service sector, now at 44.6 percent of the economy, is up 2.7 percentage points from 12 months ago. Still, that’s well below the 60 percent of GDP common in most developed countries, reported China’s official Xinhua News Agency on May 29.”

via Growth of China’s Service Sector Slows – Businessweek.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/economic-factors/china-needs-to-rebalance-her-economy/

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Posted in China alert, Economics, Service industry | 1 Comment »

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10/07/2013

China Absent From Transparency International’s Global Corruption Report

WSJ: “How bad is corruption in China? Don’t ask.

That’s the answer Transparency International says it got from Chinese market research firms as it conducted a survey on the topic.

“We approached a number of different local survey companies, but they did not feel that it would be possible to implement a survey of this nature in China without omitting many of the questions,” a spokeswoman for the Berlin-based group said in an email response to questions.

On Tuesday, Transparency International published a report it had been touting in recent weeks as the “biggest-ever public opinion survey on corruption.”

Yet despite the breadth of its research – 114,000 people surveyed in 107 countries – Transparency International doesn’t mention China once in its 48-page Global Corruption Barometer 2013. A pull-down tab of country reports on the organization’s website skips from Chile to Colombia.

“It’s true that China is clearly the main omission in terms of the survey’s country coverage, but we still firmly believe the Global Corruption Barometer’s overall messages and results are globally relevant,” the spokeswoman said. “Every time we do this research we seek to find ways to include China, but it remains a huge challenge.”

Corruption is a common topic of discussion in China.

Communist Party leaders have regularly said official corruption is the biggest threat to the leadership’s legitimacy. In March, just hours into his presidency, Xi Jinping urged his new team to “reject formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance, and resolutely fight against corruption and other misconduct.”

Market researchers say corruption is too sensitive to probe in significant depth, given China’s controls on all forms of domestic media.

Last October, the Pew Research Center said half the Chinese people answering one of its surveys said corrupt officials are a major problem.

Pew said it hired a Beijing firm, Horizon Consultancy Group, to ask dozens of attitude questions related to society and politics including, “Tell me if you think it is a very big problem, a moderately big problem, a small problem or not a problem at all: Corrupt business people.”

Transparency International’s approach is more blunt: it says it starts with the assumption that corruption exists everywhere.

For its Global Corruption Barometer report, Transparency International used a multi-question survey focused only on bribery, malfeasance and influence peddling. Its surveyors around the world began with the pointed query, “Over the past two years, how has the level of corruption in this country changed?”

One measure of China’s corruption is the outsider’s view. Based on that measure, China ranked 80th out of 174 countries in an index of corruption perception published by Transparency International last year.”

via China Absent From Transparency International’s Global Corruption Report – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Posted in China alert, corruption | 1 Comment »

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10/07/2013

Are we talking the same language – Women and Communication at Work

Good insight from an Indian woman about Indian women at work.

Pointed out to me by Rohan Khanna. Many thanks.

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Nita Kapoor's avatarNita Kapoor

The styles that men and women use to communicate have been described as “debate vs. relate”, “report vs. rapport, or “competitive vs. cooperative”. Men often seek straightforward solutions to problems and useful advice whereas women tend to try and establish intimacy by discussing problems and showing concern and empathy in order to reinforce relationships. Men focus more on trying to prove themselves to be better than the others in the group, while women want to make sure no one feels left out.

Some of these gender traits inculcated by the socialisation process show up in the issues faced by women in the corporate world. It has taken generations of struggle for women to come out of their homes and work at par with the men in this man’s world. Years into the feminist quantum leap, age old stereotype still prevails – if we women assert ourselves forcefully, people perceive us…

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09/07/2013

Newly discovered ancient maps support Chinese territorial claims

It’s a dangerous precedent to rely on ancient maps. The reason is that unless one goes back far enough, there is always the chance there is another set of older maps that refute the ones you think have the final word on your claims.

Posted in China alert, History, Politics, Territorial dispute | 1 Comment »

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01/07/2013

New China law says children ‘must visit parents’

Is China following Western countries into becoming a ‘nanny state’?

BBC: “Grown children in China must visit their parents or potentially face fines or jail, a new law that came into effect on Monday says.

File photo: a group of elderly men take a rest on their wheelchairs at a park in Beijing on 23 May 2013

China’s new “Elderly Rights Law” deals with the growing problem of lonely elderly people by ordering adult children to visit their aging parents.

The law says adults should care about their parents “spiritual needs” and “never neglect or snub elderly people”.

“Those who live far away from parents should go home often,” it adds.

But many across China are questioning how the law could be enforced, since it fails to spell out a detailed schedule dictating the frequency with which children should make parental house calls.

However, that does not mean the law is toothless.

Instead, it serves as an “educational message” to the public, while also serving as a starting point for law suits, explained Zhang Yan Feng, a lawyer with Beijing’s King & Capital Law Firm.

“It’s hard to put this law into practice, but not impossible,” Mr Zhang explained.

“If a case is brought to court on the basis of this law, I think it’ll probably end up in a peaceful settlement. But if no settlement is reached, technically speaking, court rulings can force the person to visit home certain times a month.”

“If this person disobeys court rulings, he could be fined or detained.””

via BBC News – New China law says children ‘must visit parents’.

Posted in Ageing population, Social & cultural | 2 Comments »

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