Archive for November, 2014

« Older Entries  |   Newer Entries »
05/11/2014

China Service and Manufacturing Sectors Slowing, Reports Beijing – Businessweek

In another sign that China’s economy is downshifting, an index released on Monday showed China’s service sector growth slowing in October to a nine-month low. The bad news followed Saturday’s poor showing for manufacturing, which grew at its slowest pace in five months.

Manufacturing in China expanded at its slowest pace in five months

The service reading, issued by the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing in Beijing, fell to 53.8, from 54 in September. Manufacturing came in at 50.8, down from 51.1 the month before. (Above 50 shows expansion.) The economy “still faces some headwinds,” Beijing said in a statement on Saturday.

In October, China’s statistics bureau announced that gross domestic product grew 7.3 percent in the third quarter, its slowest pace since the global financial crisis. “The momentum looks weak,” warned Hua Changchun, a China economist at Nomura Holdings in Hong Kong, reported Bloomberg News on Nov. 3.

via China Service and Manufacturing Sectors Slowing, Reports Beijing – Businessweek.

Related articles

Posted in China alert, Economics, Manufacturing, Service industry | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , , ,
05/11/2014

As China Urbanizes, Fears Grow That Cropland Is Vanishing – Businessweek

As China’s leaders continue to pursue sweeping urbanization plans, concerns are growing about the fate of the country’s cropland. The latest sign: a joint ministerial announcement that officials must protect agricultural plots on city outskirts from runaway development.

Farming in Gangzhong, China

Prime arable land bordering municipalities and towns and located near traffic routes will be formally categorized as “permanent basic farmland” and preserved for cultivation, announced the Ministry of Land and Resources and Ministry of Agriculture in a notice issued on Monday. Fourteen cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, will be first to carry out the policy, which is to be rolled out nationwide by the end of 2016.

“During rapid urbanization, high-yield farmland has been gradually ‘eaten’ by steel and cement,” said Land and Resources Minister Jiang Daming, reported the official Xinhua News Agency on Nov. 3. “It is a pressing problem that the expansion of cities is encroaching on prime farmland,” said the notice.

via As China Urbanizes, Fears Grow That Cropland Is Vanishing – Businessweek.

Related articles

Posted in agriculture, China alert, Economics, urban development | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , , ,
05/11/2014

India’s Services Activity Stagnates in October – India Real Time – WSJ

India’s services sector stagnated in October following five months of expansion, but industry executives remain optimistic that activity will strengthen in the coming year as the economy steadily recovers.

The seasonally-adjusted Service Sector Business Activity Index fell to 50.0 from 51.6 in September, according to a HSBC HSBA.LN -0.57% index released Wednesday. A figure above 50 indicates expansion while one below points to a contraction.

Underpinning the stagnation was weaker new business growth. Orders received by service sector firms increased at the weakest pace since May, HSBC saHSBA.LN +1.01%id.

Some sectors such as post and telecommunications showed strength, but their performance was offset by contraction in others such as the hospitality sector, HSBC added.

“On the positive side, business confidence rose to the strongest in three months, with the hospitality sector being most upbeat about the outlook,” HSBC joint head of Asian economic research Frederic Neumann said.

via India’s Services Activity Stagnates in October – India Real Time – WSJ.

Related articles

Posted in Economics, India alert, Service industry, Services | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , ,
05/11/2014

How Modi Has Moved Into Kejriwal’s Space – India Real Time – WSJ

The capital of the world’s largest democracy, which has been under president’s rule for the best part of a year, is set for a fresh election.

There’s no firm date yet for the high-stakes Delhi polls, but for one man the stakes are higher than for most.

Arvind Kejriwal, former chief minister and anti-corruption activist, has what some analysts describe as one last chance to unite his fractious, young party and revive his own flagging political fortunes.

Mr. Kejriwal’s Aam Admi Party, which stormed Delhi’s political scene last year with its anti-graft slogans and innovative grass-roots campaign, has struggled to remain relevant since national elections in May, in which it won just four out of 543 parliamentary seats.

In part, analysts suggest, this is because his common man calling card and campaign for a corruption-free India have been appropriated by the leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leaving the AAP headman little space to distinguish himself.

Despite their wide economic and ideological differences, Mr. Modi does appear to have encroached on Mr. Kejriwal’s political ground in recent months.

Let’s look at the evidence.

First, the broom. Mr. Kejriwal’s party made the tool of India’s army of sweepers a weapon in his political arsenal.  As AAP’s symbol, the broom was a visual metaphor of the party’s aim to clean up politics in India.

Mr. Modi has taken the metaphor and made it literal. With a broom in hand last month, he promised to literally clean up India. Everyone from Bollywood stars to opposition politicians has taken up brooms to join him in the sanitation program.

via How Modi Has Moved Into Kejriwal’s Space – India Real Time – WSJ.

Related articles

Posted in India alert, Internal politics, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , ,
04/11/2014

Ebola crisis highlights China’s philanthropic shortfall – China – Chinadaily.com.cn

China has contributed over $120 million to fight the spread of the Ebola virus, but its billionaire tycoons – it has more than anywhere outside the United States – have, publicly at least, donated little to the cause, underscoring an immature culture of philanthropy in the world’s second-biggest economy.

Ebola crisis highlights China's philanthropic shortfall

As the ranks of China’s wealthy and the success of its corporations grow, donating to good causes has yet to take off in a significant way. China sits towards the bottom of the list of countries where people give money to charity, volunteer or help a stranger, according to The World Giving Index, compiled by the Charities Aid Foundation.

China rushes help to Ebola-hit countries

Donations to charities totalled 98.9 billion yuan ($16.1 billion) in 2013, according to Chinese government data, recovering from two straight years of declines. For comparison, Americans gave more than $335 billion, according to the National Philanthropic Trust website.

Many big Chinese companies have invested in Africa – China is Africa’s leading trading partner – and several operate in West Africa, where Ebola has been at its most lethal, killing close to 5,000 people. These include construction, infrastructure and telecoms firms such as Huawei Technology Co Ltd, China Henan International Cooperation Group and China Communications Construction Co Ltd.

A Huawei spokeswoman said Africa was an important market, but declined to comment on philanthropy or specific ventures in Ebola-hit countries. China Henan and China Communications Construction did not respond to requests for comment.

The World Food Programme (WFP) last month called on Chinese firms and tycoons to donate more to fighting Ebola.

“No one’s been willing to do anything big yet,” said Brett Rierson, the WFP’s China representative.

via Ebola crisis highlights China’s philanthropic shortfall – China – Chinadaily.com.cn.

Related articles

Posted in China alert, Economics, philantropy, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , ,
04/11/2014

India destroys stockpile of illegal wildlife parts – Businessweek

Indian authorities set fire Sunday to a stockpile of tiger skins, elephant tusks, rhino horns and other illegal animal parts in an effort to discourage wildlife smuggling in South Asia.


Embed from Getty Images

Animal poaching and smuggling have flourished in India, driven by black market demand from China, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries where many believe exotic animal parts have medicinal or aphrodisiacal properties. In most cases, there is no scientific evidence that they do.

Indian Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar loaded more than 42,000 illegal animal parts into a large, blazing oven at the Delhi Zoo. The parts included tiger and leopard pelts, reptile skins, rhino horns and shawls made from endangered Tibetan antelope called shahtoosh.

via India destroys stockpile of illegal wildlife parts – Businessweek.

Posted in Economics, endangered species, India alert | 1 Comment »

Tags: , , , , , ,
04/11/2014

Smog-Heavy China Tops Clean-Tech Investment Rankings – Businessweek

The best developing country in which to invest in clean-tech? It’s China, according to a new analysis (pdf) by Climatescope, a collaborative research project whose partners include Bloomberg New Energy Finance and the U.K. Department for International Development.

A solar thermal power generation system being built in Anhui province, China

China is, paradoxically, both the world’s top emitter of greenhouse gases and the largest investor in green energy. This can be true because China’s demand for energy is increasing quickly enough to stoke demand for both traditional fossil fuels and renewable energy. As the report notes, China’s annual energy consumption ballooned a stunning 51 percent from 2008 to 2013. In the same period, India’s power generating capacity expanded 56 percent, while the U.S.’s rose just 6.8 percent.

China is now the world’s top maker of wind and solar equipment, with numerous factories supplying both component parts and finished products. While its solar manufacturing industry was originally export-oriented, China since 2013 has been “the largest demand market for renewables” and “has taken major strides to improve its domestic policy framework” for green energy investment, the report finds.

via Smog-Heavy China Tops Clean-Tech Investment Rankings – Businessweek.

Related articles

Posted in China alert, Economics, energy, Good news, renewable energy | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , ,
04/11/2014

Traditional Chinese Medicine Gets Traction Among Scientists – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Traditional Chinese medicine teaches that some people have hot constitutions, making them prone to fever and inflammation in parts of the body, while others tend to have cold body parts and get chills. Such Eastern-rooted ideas have been developed over thousands of years of experience with patients. But they aren’t backed up by much scientific data. As the WSJ’s Shirley S. Wang reports:

Now researchers in some the most highly respected universities in China, and increasingly in Europe and the U.S., are wedding Western techniques for analyzing complex biological systems to the Chinese notion of seeing the body as a networked whole. The idea is to study how genes or proteins interact throughout the body as a disease develops, rather than to examine single genes or molecules.

“Traditional Chinese medicine views disease as complete a pattern as possible,” says Jennifer Wan, a professor in the school of biological sciences at the University of Hong Kong who studies traditional Chinese medicine, or TCM. “Western medicine tends to view events or individuals as discrete particles.” But one gene or biological marker alone typically doesn’t yield comprehensive understanding of disease, she says.

…

In cities throughout China, doctors practicing Western and Chinese medicine can both be found. Many patients go to Western doctors for certain situations, such as acute illness, but seek out TCM guidance in others, often to prevent disease.

TCM was largely ignored by Western medicine until recent years, but is slowly gaining traction among some scientists and clinicians. The Cleveland Clinic in Ohio recently opened a herbal therapy center. The U.S. government established the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in 1998. The organization now has a budget of over $120 million to fund research on the efficacy and safety of alternative medicines, including those rooted in traditional Chinese medicine.

via Traditional Chinese Medicine Gets Traction Among Scientists – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Related articles

Posted in China alert, medicine | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , ,
04/11/2014

More than 40 percent of China’s arable land degraded: Xinhua | Reuters

More than 40 percent of China’s arable land is suffering from degradation, official news agency Xinhua said, reducing its capacity to produce food for the world’s biggest population.

The rich black soil in northern Heilongjiang province, which forms part of China’s bread basket, is thinning, while farmland in China’s south is suffering from acidification, the report said, citing agriculture ministry statistics.

Degraded land typically includes soil suffering from reduced fertility, erosion, changes in acidity and the effects of climate change as well as damage from pollutants.


http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/173983945

Beijing is growing increasingly concerned about its food supply after years of rapid industrialization resulted in widespread pollution of waterways and farmland.

The country, which must feed nearly 1.4 billion people, has already outlined plans to tackle soil pollution, said to affect around 3.3 million hectares of land.

But as rising incomes place growing pressure on its domestic resources to produce more, high quality food, it is also planning to tackle degraded soil, the report said.

The agriculture ministry wants to create 53 million hectares of connected farmland by 2020 that would allow it to withstand drought and floods better, said Xinhua. Larger farms are more suited to irrigation and other modern farming practices.

It also wants to strengthen the monitoring of arable land management and speed up the legislative process to protect farmland in order to ensure stable food production and farmers’ incomes, the report added.

Currently protecting farmland is difficult as liability for soil contamination is hard to determine, experts say.

The government is drafting a new law to tackle this but it is not expected to be completed until at least 2017.

via More than 40 percent of China’s arable land degraded: Xinhua | Reuters.

Posted in agriculture, China alert, Economics, Pollution | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , ,
03/11/2014

The law at work: No more rooms | The Economist

FOR most of the past 70 years Qiao Shuzhi’s family supported the Communist Party, and the party took good care of the family. Mr Qiao’s father, an underground member during the war against Japan in the 1930s and 1940s, helped store and move military supplies. He was rewarded with a building in the Haidian district of north-western Beijing. In 1953 he turned it into the Tianyi Guesthouse, offering budget lodgings to travellers. Permission for the business was granted, in writing, by China’s police chief at the time.

In the 1960s, Mr Qiao says, Zhou Enlai, who was then prime minister, protected the guesthouse, allowing it to operate as the only private business in Beijing throughout the mayhem of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. When pro-market reforms began in the late 1970s the guesthouse was widely praised as a model family-run operation.

 

Now Mr Qiao, 64, has lost it all. He does not understand why the party, whose Central Committee has just met to extol the “rule of law”, cannot protect him from the developers and officials he accuses of grossly violating it. Wielding a sheaf of official papers that acknowledge his ownership of the building, Mr Qiao says he was abducted and held for 13 hours last December as the building was demolished by what he describes as a network of corrupt officials and developers. All of its contents were lost.

Mr Qiao’s story is far from unique. Since the mid-1990s, tens of millions of Chinese have lost their land. In many cases, only minimal compensation has been offered. Researchers believe that, of thousands of “mass incidents” of rural unrest occurring each year, the majority are about land. In one of the worst recent cases, nine people were killed in mid-October in Yunnan province in the south-west in a dispute over evictions.

In their campaign for redress, Mr Qiao and his son have been stymied at every turn. Local police did not respond when thugs broke the Qiaos’ windows. The electricity bureau did nothing when power to his building was cut. Planning officials scoffed at his request for adequate compensation for the loss of his business. The Qiaos informally approached a local court to assess their chances of suing the government successfully. They were given a brush-off.

Mr Qiao and his son dare not go back to their old street. They are paying a high rent in order to live near Zhongnanhai, the compound housing China’s leaders. They feel that at least they’ll be safer in a well-guarded neighbourhood.

via The law at work: No more rooms | The Economist.

Posted in China alert, Politics, Rule of law | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , ,
« Older Entries  |   Newer Entries »
CCChang

Law of Unintended Consequences

continuously updated blog about China & India

ChiaHou's Book Reviews

continuously updated blog about China & India

What's wrong with the world; and its economy

continuously updated blog about China & India