CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

08/07/2014

Transformers Breaks China’s Box-Office Record as Strategy Shifts – Businessweek

Hollywood long ago stopped asking if it will play in Peoria. Paramount Pictures (VIA), like just about everyone else selling mass-market products, wants to make sure it plays in Chongqing—and the studio’s latest film passed that test. Sometime this week the Transformers reboot will pass $222 million in sales at Chinese theaters, besting a record set by Avatar in 2010. The film, it’s worth noting, is a critical flop that barely topped such other recent blockbusters as Godzilla and Captain America: Winter Soldier in its home market.

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Part of the success can be attributed to the sheer scale of the Chinese movie market. China’s total box office revenue last year surged 27 percent, to $3.6 billion, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. Infrastructure is no longer a challenge for Hollywood’s efforts in the Far East. Transformers: Age of Extinction opened in 4,400 theaters in China, more than the 4,233 locations in the U.S. Paramount’s fighting robots are making more money on a per-theater basis in China as well.

The results are impressive, and they should be since Paramount went to great lengths to prime Chinese crowds to swoon for Optimus Prime and company. Four of the film’s actors were cast via a Chinese reality show, some of the action is actually set in the People’s Republic, and the Transformer’s marketing machine has been churning away in China for weeks.

via Transformers Breaks China’s Box-Office Record as Strategy Shifts – Businessweek.

Chinese Tourism Company to Sue Paramount Over ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’

Posted in China alert, Economics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, Chongqing, Hollywood, Motion Picture Association of America, Optimus Prime, Paramount Pictures, Transformers

08/07/2014

The Chinese Turn Their Rooftops (and Closets) Into Minifarms – Businessweek

Roger Mu, an entrepreneur from Texas now living in Shanghai, scoured local markets for jalapeño peppers but to no avail. Homesick for homemade salsa, he eventually decided to grow his own. Since he was iving in a cramped Shanghai apartment with no outdoor lawn or garden, this wasn’t a simple proposition. But he did have some space available: in the closet.

The Chinese Turn Their Rooftops (and Closets) Into Minifarms

Mu studied manuals about hydroponics, a technique for growing plants that doesn’t require soil but rather uses nutrient-infused water to deliver plant nutrition. The plants’ roots find support by growing around pebbles, sand, woodchips, or anything granular they can weave around, rather than soil. It’s perfect for limited space—and limited small-scale farming. Mu used a special light borrowed from a video-production company to jump-start photosynthesis.

The first batch of 60 peppers turned out to be delicious. Next he tested his technique with heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers. Success—he had everything he needed to make the perfect salsa. Mu also realized that his homegrown vegetables were healthier than many store-bought options. “Food safety and quality in China is a bit iffy,” he says, “considering all the pesticides, fertilizers, and pollution dumped into fields here.”

via The Chinese Turn Their Rooftops (and Closets) Into Minifarms – Businessweek.

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

Tags: agriculture, China, Homesick, Jalapeño, jalapeño peppers, Roger Mu, Shanghai, Texas

08/07/2014

Congress to Parliament: Please Don’t Oppose Our Opposition – India Real Time – WSJ

India’s new session of Parliament has begun, and the Congress Party has a request: Make us the official “leader of the opposition.”

It turns out, that may be asking too much.

The Congress Party — which has governed India for most of the country’s modern history — lost so badly this time, it might not qualify for the right to name the official opposition leader, according to the parliamentary rulebook.

This isn’t a surprise: It’s well known that Congress’s drubbing in the election this year left it with less than 10% of the seats in the lower house of Parliament, the Lok Sabha. So, even though it’s the second-largest party in Parliament, behind the triumphant Bharatiya Janata Party, its share of seats is too small to qualify as official opposition leader.

Nevertheless, Congress has started pressing the issue. “We are the single largest party and we have a pre-poll alliance,” Congress party president Sonia Gandhi said during a televised press conference Monday, as Parliament’s budget session commenced. “We are entitled to get the post.”

Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala said the post of the leader of opposition is a “constitutional right” of the Congress party. “The Lok Sabha cannot function without the opposition leader.”

Under Indian parliamentary procedural rules, the post of the leader of opposition has the rank of a cabinet minister. It goes to the second-largest party in the Lok Sabha, unless that party fails to win 10% of the seats, or 55, in the 545-member Lok Sabha. Congress has 44 members.

The job comes with some significant responsibilities. The leader of the opposition is part of a panel that selects members of the Central Vigilance Commission; members of the anti-graft national ombudsman, known as the Lokpal; and head of the Central Bureau of Investigation, the country’s federal investigative agency.

Subhash C. Kashyap, historian and former secretary-general of the Lok Sabha, said the Congress party should “stop hankering” for the post. “All its claims are unnecessary, unfounded and without any legal basis.”

via Congress to Parliament: Please Don’t Oppose Our Opposition – India Real Time – WSJ.

A House without a Leader of the Opposition

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

Tags: Bharatiya Janata Party, Central Bureau of Investigation, Central Vigilance Commission, Congress, congress party, India, Lok Sabha, Randeep Surjewala, Sonia Gandhi

08/07/2014

China’s Communist Party Reminds Colleges: Keep it Clean – China Real Time Report – WSJ

The chiefs of some of China’s most prestigious universities last week reported to their version of the principal’s office: the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

The party-appointed heads of 26 top Chinese colleges and universities were reminded at a meeting last week of their obligations to run honest institutions, according to the commission. The commission, which acts as the internal party watchdog, said the officials signed a clean-governance pledge before the Ministry of Education’s top official, Yuan Guiren, and that several more will do so later this month.

The reminder follows corruption probes by party officials into China’s energy business and the military, where suspicion of corrupt acts has landed numerous officials in detention. Last week, the party booted a former top general from its ranks ahead of prosecution, which analysts described as the most significant takedown since Chinese President Xi Jinping became the party leader in late 2012.

The university sector is getting treated with kid gloves by comparison, based on Tuesday’s statement.

Global corruption watchdog Transparency International alleges universities in many nations are hotbeds for corruption simply because the institutions typically absorb so much of the public purse. In China, it isn’t unusual for government inspectors and the party to remove selected university administrators on allegations of corruption – including bribery related to attending them — but one critic has recently told The Wall Street Journal that such moves represent only the tip of the iceberg.

A separate report this week from China’s party watchdog said that Shanghai’s Fudan University runs business activity that could lead to malfeasance. The school’s party secretary, Zhu Zhiwen, pledged to rectify the problems to avoid possible corruption, according to a summary of the findings published on the school’s website.

Fudan illustrates the challenge. With modest beginnings 109 years ago as a public school that would invite students to seize the dawn – as the Chinese characters of its name denote – Fudan has blossomed into a sprawling institution with over 30,000 students, multiple campuses and 11 affiliated hospitals.

Fudan’s business, the party commission said, exhibited cases of chaotic spending of scientific research funds, mismanaged infrastructure development and poor supervision of school-owned companies during its study earlier this year.

To consider their clean-up challenges, the university’s party administrators are being asked to stand in the corner.

via China’s Communist Party Reminds Colleges: Keep it Clean – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

China says graft found at leading university, state food company

Posted in China alert, corruption, Economics, education, Politics, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, China, Chinese colleges and universities, Fudan University, President of the People's Republic of China, Shanghai, Transparency International, Xi JinPing, Yuan Guiren

08/07/2014

Indian Budget 2014: Biocon chief wants more R&D incentives, fewer essential drugs – Reuters

India’s $15 billion healthcare industry has taken hits on several fronts in recent years, from slow approvals for drugs in clinical trials to several run-ins with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over the quality of its generic drugs.

Market growth fell to less than 10 percent last year after the increase in the number of drugs that the government said should be subject to price caps so that poor and middle-class people could afford them (Only 15 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people have health insurance).

Now, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi hinting at a “bitter pill” to rescue India’s economy, the pharma industry wouldn’t want to be at the receiving end of tough decisions; it would be difficult for a business that’s used to making medicine instead of taking it.

via India Insight.

Posted in budget, Economics, India alert, Pharma | Leave a Comment »

Tags: africa, Business, China, Food and Drug Administration, generic drugs, Health insurance, India, Narendra Modi, U.S. Food and Drug Administration

08/07/2014

Indian Railway Budget – Reuters

In his maiden budget, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda said the bulk of future railway projects will be financed through public-private partnerships and his ministry would seek cabinet approval for allowing foreign direct investment in the state-owned network, excluding passenger services.

India’s railway, the world’s fourth-largest, has suffered from years of low investment and populist policies to subsidise fares. This has turned a once-mighty system into a slow and congested network that crimps economic growth.

The Narendra Modi government pushed through a steep hike in rail passenger and freight fares last month, and expectations were high there would be bold proposals to improve the railways – a lifeline for 23 million Indians every day.

via India Insight.

Posted in budget, Economics, India alert, railway | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Foreign direct investment, India, Narendra Modi, Narendra Modi government, private investment, public-private partnerships, Public–private partnership, Rail transport, railway network, railway projects, Sadananda Gowda, Sadananda Gowda Highlights, Train

08/07/2014

Car maker Tesla sued in China for trademark infringement | Reuters

U.S. electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O) is being sued in China for trademark infringement, a surprise development that casts a shadow over CEO Elon Musk‘s ambition to expand rapidly in the world’s biggest auto market.

A Tesla Motors logo is shown at a Tesla Motors dealership at Corte Madera Village, an outdoor retail mall, in Corte Madera, California May 8, 2014. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

Tesla said in January that the trademark dispute between it and Chinese businessman Zhan Baosheng – long seen by analysts as a barrier to Tesla’s entry into China – had been resolved. The car maker began delivering its Model S sedans to Chinese customers in April.

But Zhan, who registered the “Tesla” trademark before the U.S. company came to China, is now taking Tesla to court, demanding that it stop all sales and marketing activities in China, shut down showrooms and supercharging facilities and pay him 23.9 million yuan ($3.85 million) in compensation, his lawyer Zhu Dongxing said on Tuesday.

The Beijing Third Intermediate Court will hear the case on Aug. 5, according to a statement on the court’s website. Tesla China declined comment. Zhan declined to be interviewed.

The case underscores one of the thorniest problems faced by foreign firms in China. Global companies including Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Koninklijke Philips NV (PHG.AS) and Unilever NV (UNc.AS) have all been embroiled in trademark disputes in the country in the past.

Zhan, who claims ownership of the “Tesla” trademark, has long been a headache for the Palo Alto, California-based car maker and in part contributed to Tesla’s belated arrival in China.

Based in China’s southern province of Guangdong, Zhan registered the trademarks to the Tesla name in both English and Chinese in 2006. He had in the past sought to sell the label to the U.S. company but negotiations collapsed.

In January, Veronica Wu, head of Tesla’s China operations, told Reuters the company had resolved the trademark dispute that had prevented it from using “Te Si La”, the Chinese name best known among Chinese consumers, which Tesla wanted to use in China.

Zhan’s current lawsuit, however, brings new uncertainty to Tesla’s fate in China, which the firm had expected to become its biggest global market next year.

Apple Inc was embroiled in a similar case for years before reaching a $60 million deal last year for the rights to use the iPad trademark in China.

via Car maker Tesla sued in China for trademark infringement | Reuters.

Buying A Tesla In China: Just Call It ‘Te Su Le’?

Posted in car, China alert, Consumer, Economics, trade mark | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Apple, China, Chinese language, Elon Musk, iPad, Model S, Tesla, Tesla Motors, trademark infringement

08/07/2014

India to be 3rd largest economy next to China by 2030: PwC – daily.bhaskar.com

India is set to become the third largest economy in the world by 2030, according to latest estimates by a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report.

The London-headquartered accountancy giant said the rapid rise of the Indian economy with its young workforce would push it up from being the 10th largest economy in 2013 to the third largest by 2030, pushing the UK back into sixth place.

“In the longer run, other emerging markets may overtake the UK, but only India looks set to do so before 2030 according to our latest projections,” PwC said in its latest economic outlook.

China, the world’s second largest economy, is expected to close the gap with America by 2030, while Mexico is predicted to be the 10th largest economy by 2030, above Canada and Italy, both G7 nations.

Only a couple of years ago there were forecasts that Britain would rapidly become a second-class economic power and would need to defer to the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China in the near future.

China has ranked above Japan for a decade as the world’s second-biggest economy.

By some calculations Brazil leapfrogged the UK in 2012, with Russia and India close behind.

Britain’s fall was partly related to the costs of the banking crisis and the recession that followed, coupled with a sharp decline in the exchange rate, which knocked about a quarter off the country’s value in relation to its main rivals.

But since the beginning of last year the economy has recovered all the lost ground from the recession and banks have begun lending again.

The pound has bounced back from about US$ 1.40 in 2009 to US$ 1.71 today.

Brazil, by contrast, has suffered a rocky couple of years that have slowed GDP growth and pushed down the value of the real.

Russia will close the gap on the top eight, but its reliance on the oil and gas industry for growth and its rapidly ageing population will prevent it jumping up the table as quickly as previously thought.

Only India will move ahead of the UK by 2030, though it will be sharing a projected GDP of US$ 6.1 trillion among more than 1.5 billion people, only half as much again as the UK’s predicted output of US$ 4 trillionn, produced by a population less than a 20th the size.

via India to be 3rd largest economy next to China by 2030: PwC – daily.bhaskar.com.

Posted in Economics, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Brazil, BRIC, China, Economy of India, India, India and China, Lists of countries by GDP, PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC, Russia, the Indian economy

08/07/2014

Chinese ‘customers’ at IKEA?

Do have alook at these actual photos: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=chinese+asleep+IKEA,+2014&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=E-67U4HSDoHX7AadmYGQCg&ved=0CB8QsAQ&biw=1360&bih=850

Ikea Shenzhen China (Photo credit: dcmaster)

And from: http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1300942/ikea-last-cracks-china-market-success-has-meant-adapting-local-ways?page=all

“On a recent Saturday afternoon, Ikea‘s flagship mainland store – one of the world’s largest – is abuzz with people. Walkways guiding visitors from one showroom to the next feel more congested than the road outside, and almost all 660 seats in the canteen are occupied. Yet the lines to the cashiers are refreshingly short – most are not here to shop.

The store is gripped by a kind of anarchy that would rarely be seen, or tolerated, in its country of origin. There are picnickers everywhere – their tea flasks and plastic bags of snacks lining the showroom tables. Young lovers pose for “selfies” in mock-up apartments they do not live in. Toddlers in split pants play on model furniture with their naked parts coming in contact with all surfaces.

On a king-size bed in the middle of the largest showroom, a little boy wakes from a nap next to his (also sleeping) grandmother. When the old woman casually helps the boy urinate into an empty water bottle, dripping liquid liberally on the grey mattress under his feet, most passers-by seem not to mind or even notice. The exception is a young woman who elbows her disinterested boyfriend: “Look, he’s peeing into a bottle!”

Most endemic, however, is the sleeping. After a few, rare clear days, the city’s notorious heavy smog has returned, and is made worse by a sticky, dusty heat wave striking northern China. Weeks earlier, a photo of people napping in a Shanghai shopping centre to escape the searing heat went viral, but in the capital, it is Ikea’s cool, conditioned air that is salvation for tens of thousands of its inhabitants.

The bedroom and living room sections on the store’s third floor are the most popular. Virtually every surface is occupied by visitors appearing very much at home. Older people read newspapers or drink tea; younger visitors cuddle or play with their phones. Most, however, are sound asleep.”

Posted in China alert, Consumer, Economics, Retail | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Asia, Beijing, China, Ikea, Plastic bag, Shanghai, Showroom, Water bottle

04/07/2014

BBC News – Indian PM Narendra Modi on maiden Kashmir visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on his first visit to Indian-administered Kashmir amidst a protest shutdown called by separatist groups.

PM Modi flags off the first train from Katra

Mr Modi inaugurated a railway line in the Jammu region before travelling to Kashmir Valley to launch a hydro-power station and chair a security meeting.

Security is tight in the region and checkpoints have been set up to ensure the visit passes off peacefully.

Kashmir has been in the grip of an anti-India insurgency since 1989.

In recent years violence has abated from its peak in the 1990s, but the causes of the insurgency are still far from resolved.

Mr Modi arrived in Jammu on Friday morning from where he flew by a helicopter to Katra town where he flagged off a new train to Delhi.

Katra is the base camp for the Hindu pilgrimage centre of Vaishno Devi and the train will providing a direct link with Delhi.

Millions of pilgrims visit the shrine every year and railway officials say they expect the train will be popular with them.

Meanwhile, the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley is shut down in response to calls from separatist groups to protest against Mr Modi’s visit.

In the state capital, Srinagar, shops, businesses, offices, schools and banks are closed and there is little traffic on the roads in most parts of the valley.

Mr Modi will later fly to Uri town in north Kashmir to inaugurate a hydro electrical project.

via BBC News – Indian PM Narendra Modi on maiden Kashmir visit.

Posted in India alert, Politics, Territorial dispute | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Delhi, India, Jammu, Jammu & Kashmir, Kashmir, Modi, Narendra Modi, Vaishno Devi

CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon