continuously updated blog about China & India
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Beware the Waking Dragon
Which country poses the biggest threat to world peace? Syria? Iran? North Korea?
Well, according to Gallup International\’s end of year survey of nearly 68,000 people in 65 countries, the US takes the top spot, followed by Pakistan and China.
The Chinese people we spoke to on the streets of Beijing weren\’t so sure China deserved to come in at number three.
via BBC News – View from China on the threats to world peace.
About 3.33 million hectares (8 million acres) of China’s farmland is too polluted to grow crops, a government official said on Monday, highlighting the risk facing agriculture after three decades of rapid industrial growth.
China has been under pressure to improve its urban environment following a spate of pollution scares.
But cleaning up rural regions could be an even bigger challenge as the government tries to reverse damage done by years of urban and industrial encroachment and ensure food supplies for a growing population.
Wang Shiyuan, the vice-minister of land and resources, told a news briefing that China was determined to rectify the problem and had committed “tens of billions of yuan” a year to pilot projects aimed at rehabilitating contaminated land and underground water supplies.
The area of China’s contaminated land is about the same size as Belgium. Wang said no more planting would be allowed on it as the government was determined to prevent toxic metals entering the food chain.
“In the past there have been news reports about cadmium-contaminated rice – these kinds of problems have already been strictly prohibited,” he said.
This year, inspectors found dangerous levels of cadmium in rice sold in the southern city of Guangzhou. The rice was grown in Henan, a major heavy metal-producing region.
China’s determination to squeeze as much food and resources as possible from its land has put thousands of farms close to chemical plants, mines and other heavy industries, raising the risks of contamination.
With food security still the most pressing concern, China is determined to ensure that at least 120 million hectares (295 million acres) of land is reserved for agriculture, a policy known as the “red line”. The rehabilitation of polluted land is part of that policy.
A government land survey revealed traces of toxic metals dating back at least a century as well as pesticides banned in the 1980s, and state researchers have said that as much as 70 per cent of China’s soil could have problems.
via China says more than 3 million hectares of land too polluted to farm | South China Morning Post.
Police in China\’s restive Xinjiang region have shot dead eight people during a violent clash on Monday, a state news portal says.
The clash broke out when men armed with knives and explosives attacked a police station in Yarkand county, officials say. One person has also been arrested.
The violence comes two weeks after a riot in the region, which saw 16 people killed, including two police.
Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur minority group, sees sporadic clashes.
The government traditionally blames extremists for the violence. Uighur activists, on the other hand, point to ethnic tensions and tight Chinese control as triggers for violence.
Verifying reports from the region is difficult because the information flow out of Xinjiang is tightly controlled.
News of the latest clash first emerged on the state-run regional Tianshan news portal.
Officials described the people who attacked the police station in Yarkand, near the old silk road city of Kashgar, as \”thugs carrying knives and throwing explosives\”.
It was not immediately clear if there were any police casualties. The incident is currently under investigation, officials say.
More than 100 people have been killed in Xinjiang this year in this and similar incidents, which Beijing blames on separatist \”terrorists\” from the Uighur group, says the BBC\’s John Sudworth in Shanghai.
As China\’s smog levels crept past record highs in early December, the phone lines at pollution-busting kit maker Broad Group lit up with Chinese customers worried about hazardous pollution levels that have gripped China this year.
China\’s government is struggling to meet pollution reduction targets and has pledged to spend over 3 trillion yuan ($494 billion) to tackle the problem, creating a growing market for companies that can help boost energy efficiency and lower emissions.
\”Recently, we haven\’t been able to make products fast enough to keep up with demand,\” said Hu Jie, a general manager at Broad Group, which makes pollution-related products ranging from hand-held monitors to eco-friendly buildings. Sales roughly doubled this year from 2012, Hu said, without giving details.
Pollution problems in China, the world\’s second-biggest economy, are by no means new. But heightened public anger – and a growing political will to deal with the issue – has created opportunities for firms with sustainable know-how to earn a slice of China\’s clean-technology market, which is set to triple to $555 billion by 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Companies like U.S. clean-energy expert Fuel Tech Inc, design engineer WS Atkins Plc and others have seized the opening by boosting staff numbers and clinching contracts.
\”China has reached a saturation level which people can no longer tolerate,\” said Feng An, president and executive director of the U.S.-China Clean Tech Center, which takes U.S. clean technology companies to China to meet potential partners.
\”Five years ago people could pollute and get away with it. Now they can\’t. This year you can really see the difference.\”
THE COST OF SMOG
Pollution cost China\’s economy at least 1.1 trillion yuan ($181 billion) in 2010, the environment ministry estimated this year – equal to 2.5 percent of GDP that year. Pollution has been tied to \”cancer villages\” and reduced life-expectancy. Smog even closed down the major northern city of Harbin in October.
Acknowledging public anxiety over the issue, Premier Li Keqiang said in March that China should not sacrifice the environment to pursue economic growth, giving a boost to \”green\” companies.
U.S. environmental engineering company LP Amina, which helps coal power plants reduce emissions by retrofitting burners to make them more efficient, saw its China sales double this year, said the firm\’s marketing manager Jamyan Dudka, without providing specific figures. Coal accounts for more than two-thirds of China\’s primary energy consumption.
China is pushing to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollutants from power plant emissions and offering subsidies to get firms on board. The cost of retrofitting all China\’s power plants over a 5-year period is around $11 billion, said Dudka.
U.S.-listed Fuel Tech, which also focuses in this area, sees China at the forefront of its business development plans, and has increased its China-based staff to more than 30 people, CEO Doug Bailey said on an analyst call last month.
Companies such as UK-listed Atkins and Australian developer Lend Lease Corp Ltd are also leveraging their global expertise in sustainable construction.
Atkins is working with local governments to develop sustainable construction guidelines and will partner with two Chinese cities to put them into action. China\’s contribution to the company\’s 88 million pounds ($144.6 million) in Asia-Pacific revenues increased to 40 percent this year, it said. The region accounts for around 5 percent of global sales.
via Opportunity glimmers through China’s toxic smog | Reuters.
Chinese officials are asked to \”take the lead\” in adhering to the smoking ban in public spaces.
The No Smoking sign, designed by one of the members of AIGA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
According to a circular from the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, officials are not allowed to smoke in schools, hospitals, sports venues, public transport vehicles, or any other venues where smoking is banned.
Government functionaries are prohibited from using public funds to buy cigarettes, nor are they permitted to smoke or offer cigarettes when performing official duties, the circular notes.
\”Smoking remains a relatively universal phenomenon in public venues. Some officials smoke in public places, which does not only jeopardized the environment and public health, but tarnished the image of Party and government offices and leaders and has a negative influence,\” reads the circular.
The sale of tobacco products and advertisements will no longer be allowed in Party and government offices. Prominent notices of smoking bans must be displayed in meeting rooms, reception offices, passageways, cafeterias and rest rooms.
China is the world\’s largest cigarette producer and consumer. The number of smokers exceeds 300 million, with at least 740 million nonsmokers regularly exposed to secondhand smoke.
In 2003, China signed the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and it became effective in January 2006. The FCTC requires a reduction in tobacco supply as well as consumption. The 12th Five-Year plan (2011-2015) promised to ban smoking in public places.
Experts are widely critical of the current government effort, which lags far behind the FCTC standard, and no national law is yet in place banning smoking in indoor public places.
via Chinese officials banned from smoking in public – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
The sales revenue of China\’s information technology sector will hit 12.5 trillion yuan (about $2.04 trillion) this year, a Ministry of Industry and Information Technology official has forecast.
English: Logo Information Technology (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In the first nine months of 2013, the sector\’s sales revenue reached 8.98 trillion yuan, up 14 percent year on year, said Ding Wenwu, chief of the ministry\’s electronics and information department, at the 13th China Tianjin Information Technology Exposition, which opened in Tianjin on Thursday.
China\’s information technology sector has maintained stable growth in the past three years, with its output of mobile phones, computers and color TV sets world leading, according to Ding.
With new developments such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing and big data, the information technology sector faces new growth opportunities, he said.
The ministry will underscore innovations in the sector to enhance its core competitiveness and promote the consumption of information products and services, and deep integration between industrialization and informationization, the official added.
China aims to boost the consumption of information products and services and make the sector a new engine for domestic demand and economic growth.
via China’s IT sector to gross 12.5 trillion yuan – Chinadaily.com.cn.
Fans of China\’s President Xi Jinping said they were pleasantly surprised after photos of him dining in a popular Beijing steamed bun restaurant went viral.
Pictures, taken and shared by fellow diners, showed a casually-dressed, smiling Xi queuing up at a Qingfeng steamed bun restaurant in the capital. Xi, who appeared to be dining alone, was seen to have placed his own order at the counter, paid for it, and carried his tray before sitting down to enjoy his meal in the room full of people.
Diners, after realising who they were sitting close to, strove for a glimpse of Xi. Many used their phones to record the unusual encounter, which Xi didn\’t seem to mind.
\”Only leaders who care about ordinary guys will do this, and he will win respect and care from his people,\” wrote one blogger.
\”I can\’t believe my eyes – President Xi lined up, paid his own bill, and fetched his own food,\” read a message posted on the official Weibo page of the People\’s Daily.
Others, however, weren\’t so impressed.
\”It\’s just a show and people should stop reacting like they were slaves\” one microblogger wrote .
\”Start thanking him when China has fixed the food safety issues,\” read another comment.
An average meal costs 16 yuan (HK$21) at a Qingfeng steamed bun restaurant, a popular chain store in the Chinese capital, according to restaurant review websties.
via Photos of Xi Jinping eating at a popular Beijing restaurant go viral | South China Morning Post.
China\’s railways network topped 100,000 km in total mileage on Saturday, as several new high-speed rail links started operations ahead of one of the busiest travel seasons next month.
The newly opened links include the Xiamen-Shenzhen railway, Xi\’an-Baoji railway, Chongqing-Lichuan railway, and others in southwest China\’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and have a combined mileage of 2,000 km.
Of the 100,000 km of track, more than 10,000 km are highspeed, said Hu Yadong, vice general manager of the China Railway Corporation.
The expanded railways network increases passenger capacity during the 40-day spring travel peak, which starts on Jan. 16, by 7.9 percent, said Yang Chuantang, minister of transport.
Yang forecast that 257 million trips will be made on the railways during the period, as people go home to their families for Spring Festival on Jan. 31.
A total of 2,667 pairs of trains will be operating before the Spring Festival, an increase of 157 from last year.
Total trips during the period will break a new record by reaching 3.62 billion, including waterways, roads, railways, and air routes.
China\’s first railway was built in 1876 in Shanghai and first independent railway was constructed in 1881 in Tangshan in north China\’s Hebei Province. When new China was founded in 1949, there were less than 22,000 km of lines and but only half of that was serviceable.
According to the national railway network plan, highspeed rails will reach 19,000 km by 2015. By 2020, the total railway mileage will top 120,000 km.
via China’s railways mileage tops 100,000 km – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
continuously updated blog about China & India
continuously updated blog about China & India
continuously updated blog about China & India
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 