Archive for ‘China alert’

27/05/2013

* Henan residents on rampage over Honda driver’s sense of entitlement

SCMP: “When the side rearview mirror of a black Honda bumped a 10-year-old girl on her way home from school, the driver – instead of helping the child – insulted and hit the mother. “I come from an influential family,” the driver said.

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The incident on Friday evening in Henan province soon attracted an angry crowd of people who smashed and overturned the 26-year-old woman’s car. A man surnamed Zhang tried to set it on fire, according to a police report.

It took police until midnight to pacify the crowd as photos and video footage of the scene circulated online. Many of the comments represented outrage against the sense of entitlement of the privileged few.

As the gap between rich and poor is increasing, examples of nepotism and favouritism are striking a nerve. Such distaste from the public has been characterised by the phrase “My dad is Li Gang” – the words of a police official’s drunken son when he tried to avoid arrest after a student died in a car crash in 2010.

The phrase has become synonymous with fuerdai and guanerdai, second-generation rich and cadres, and has turned the 22-year-old son, now in jail after a public outcry, into the archetype of abuse of power.”

via Pictured: Henan residents on rampage over Honda driver’s sense of entitlement | South China Morning Post.

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27/05/2013

* Gutter oil to be used as auto fuel

China Daily: “Authorities aim to keep waste from returning to the kitchen

Gutter oil to be used as auto fuel

Processed gutter oil is expected to be used as bus fuel within two years in Shanghai, as part of efforts to advance a circular economy and prevent recycled cooking oil from returning to the kitchen.

A China Eastern Airlines ground crew fills an airliner with biofuel made from gutter oil and palm oil at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport on April 14. The Airbus A320 succesfully made a one-and-a-half hour test flight with the fuel. CHEN FEI / XINHUA

The Shanghai Municipal Food Safety Committee will cooperate with Tongji University and six businesses that process used cooking oil into biodiesel that can power vehicles, said Yan Zuqiang, the committee’s director, in an interview with a local news portal on Saturday.

Owing to the comparatively high cost of transforming recycled cooking oil to vehicle diesel, those who use the oil will receive subsidies, he said.

Lou Diming, a professor at Tongji’s School of Automotive Studies who has led the study for the past three years, said after many experiments it is now the right time to turn the application of recycled cooking oil for vehicles into a reality.

His team has experimented with using mixed diesel fuel on more than 300 taxis, buses and lorries.

A regulation regarding the proper disposal of waste oil, including a clarification of the qualifications of oil collectors, came into effect in Shanghai in March.

The municipality leads the country in supervising the collection of waste oil, and at least 90 percent of its oil has been recycled appropriately, according to Yan.”

via Gutter oil to be used as auto fuel |Society |chinadaily.com.cn.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/economic-factors/greening-of-china/

27/05/2013

* Beijing to shut coal-fired boilers to clean up air

China Daily Mail: “Beijing has vowed to eliminate most coal-fired boilers in the city center by the end of 2015 to reduce pollution from fine particulate matter, especially during the heating season.

Beijing to shut coal-fired boilers to clean up air

After reducing coal use by 700,000 metric tons last year, the capital plans to cut another 1.4 million tons this year and use no more than 21.5 million tons, according to the 2013 coal consumption reduction plan released by the city’s Environmental Protection Bureau and Commission of Development and Reform.

Workers with the Beijing District Heating Group destroy two coal delivery channels with cranes on April 25, marking the beginning of the transformation of energy from coal to gas in the last coal-burning power plant in Beijing. CHENG NING / FOR CHINA DAILY

The capital used 26.35 million tons of coal in 2010, the environmental bureau said.

Beijing still has a large number of coal-fired central heating boilers that give off large amounts of coal dust, and noise during the heating season.

Richard Saint Cyr, a family medicine doctor at United Family Health in Beijing, said he has noticed an uptick in discussions about the worsening air quality with many patients since winter.

He said that air pollution in the past winter was unusually serious and he had never witnessed such collective anxiety in Beijing.

Fine particulate matter poses a serious threat to people’s hearts and lungs, he said.”

via Beijing to shut coal-fired boilers to clean up air |Society |chinadaily.com.cn.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/economic-factors/greening-of-china/

27/05/2013

* China parents apologise after teen’s Egypt graffiti exposed

BBC: “The parents of a Chinese teenager exposed and condemned by internet users for vandalising ancient Egyptian artwork have apologised, reports say.

This photo taken at the Luxor Temple in Egypt on 6 May 2013 shows graffiti reportedly from a Chinese tourist

On Friday a micro-blogger posted a photo of graffiti at a temple complex in Luxor, Egypt, which said: “Ding Jinhao was here”.

Angry internet users then managed to identify the teen, posting his date of birth and school online, reports said.

His mother told a local paper they were sorry for his actions.

Luxor is home to a large temple complex, located on the bank of the Nile River, believed to be some 3,500 years old.”

via BBC News – China parents apologise after teen’s Egypt graffiti exposed.

See also: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-22573572

27/05/2013

* Why British schools are a Chinese mecca

The Times: “China’s wealthiest parents want their kids to have a rounded education, in Britain. We go school hunting with them

A group of Chinese parents tour Kingswood School, Bath

On a leafy road high on a hill overlooking Bath, a coach pulls over and 34 Chinese people pile out. Spilling across the road, heedless of the traffic, they start taking photographs and pointing at the imposing crenellated roofs and stained-glass windows of the 19th-century buildings in front of them.

A minder tries to corral them, but he might as well be a herder of cats. “It’s a bit like trying to control children,” says an onlooker. The minder shakes his head. “Worse! Children do as they are told. These people don’t.”

“These people” are members of the wealthy Chinese elite and they are on a mission. Their arrival at Kingswood School is the latest stop on a week-long tour of our nation’s most prestigious public schools. They are here seeking the best education that money can buy.

The popularity of our private education among rich Russians has been well documented. But mainland Chinese are now the second-biggest group of overseas students at British schools, after those from Hong Kong.

There are almost 25,000 non-British students, with parents living overseas, at British schools, and nearly 4,000 are from mainland China. “It’s the biggest growth market,” says Ian Hunt, the managing director of Gabbitas, the education consultancy.

Gabbitas, founded in the 19th century in order to recruit teachers for public schools, numbers H.G. Wells, Evelyn Waugh, Sir Edward Elgar, Amy Johnson and Sir John Betjeman among its long list of hires. Today, it still places teachers, but its core business is in tutoring pupils for entrance to independent schools. It has offices in London, Russia, Japan, South Korea and two in China, in Shanghai and Guangzhou, with a third opening next month in Wenzhou.

Chinese connoisseurs are snapping up Western art and fine French wine, and now they are keen to buy what they regard as another of the world’s most exclusive products: a British education. This week’s tour has already taken them to prep schools, including the Dragon School in Oxford and Caldicott School, Berkshire, and senior schools, such as Abingdon School and Eton College.

For a glimpse as to where these schools might eventually lead, they were shown around Christ Church College, Oxford.”

via Why British schools are a Chinese mecca | The Times.

26/05/2013

* Chinese dream is dream of whole humanity: Nepal’s former PM

English: Mr. Baburam bhattarai the 35th Prime ...

English: Mr. Baburam bhattarai the 35th Prime Minister of Nepal. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Xinhua: “Nepal‘s former Prime Minister and Vice-Chairman of Unified Communist party of Nepal (Maoist) Baburam Bhattarai said that Chinese dream is a dream of whole humanity as well as of Nepalese people.

 

The former prime minister, who is known as a Communist ideologue in his party, said in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua, that Chinese dream is a dream of oppressed humanity of the world who has been dominated by foreign power for more than 200 years.

Referring to the significance of Chinese dream, Bhattarai said China has to play a leading role to bring peace, stability and development in the world.

In the interview, he said focus of development is now shifting to east and south Asia and China is going to lead that process through its new dream.

Comparing Chinese dream with American dream, the 59-year-old Maoist leader, said the earlier so-called western dream was the domination of world in the colonial form or neocolonialism form.

“But Chinese dream is ending of that domination and granting freedom to all people of the world and ensuring peace, prosperity and democracy to all. So Chinese dream is fundamentally different from the older day’s dream of the western world,” he opined.

The former Prime Minister Bhattarai who is known as architect of social and economic development said Chinese dream will contribute towards economic prosperity of Nepal and will ensure national independence and sovereignty as well.

Asked about Nepal’s dream, the Maoist leader who is second in command in his party, and also the key strategist during the ten- year-long people’s war, said after gaining political stability our dream of building a prosperous and develop Nepal will be realized.

“If there is political stability here and if there is correct political leadership, and if there is well balanced relations with our neighboring countries China and India, then we can develop and we can realize our dream,” said Bhattarai.

He said that after promulgation of a new constitution, Nepal will invite economic investment from both China and India and then will try to have some joint projects with both India and China.

“In that way gradually this dream of trilateral cooperation and Nepal emerging as a vibrant bridge between India and china will be realized,” he said.

Asked about the India’s unwillingness to strike a trilateral cooperation between Nepal, India and China, who gained his higher education from India said a section of people everywhere gets skeptical.

“I believe even in India, this opinion is slowly gaining momentum and soon there will be massive moments to have good relation between India and China and have a trilateral relation between Nepal. It will take some time but ultimately it will be realized, Bhattarai said.”

via Chinese dream is dream of whole humanity: Nepal’s former PM – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

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25/05/2013

* Restraint is the new red in China

The message for restraint and austerity flies in the face of the need to rebalance the economy from a manufacturing/export led one to a consumer led one.

LA Times: “President Xi Jinping is pressing the Communist Party’s elite to cut back on lavish living amid growing public resentment. The economic effect is far-reaching.

Men pass a billboard outside a mall in Beijing this month.

BEIJING — Exports of elegant Swiss watches to China have plunged. Sales of Mercedes-Benz and other premium sedans are slowing. And high-end restaurants, coming off their worst Chinese New Year festival in years, are starting to change their menus to lure ordinary families.

At a Montblanc shop in downtown Beijing, sales clerks recall the days when they rang up as many as 10 of the top-selling fountain pens every day. And never mind the $1,400 price tag: The platinum-plated pen capped with a half-carat diamond was a particular favorite. Nowadays the store sells one such pen every two to three days, said a saleswoman surnamed Ren, adding sadly that her pay is commission-based.”

via Restraint is the new red in China – Los Angeles Times.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2013/04/19/chinas-growth-the-making-of-an-economic-superpower-dr-linda-yueh/

25/05/2013

* Xi pledges to safeguard the environment

China Daily: “China will never pursue temporary economic growth at the expense of environmental degradation, President Xi Jinping vowed on Friday.

Xi Jinping 习近平

Xi Jinping 习近平 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Those who made rash decisions regardless of the ecological environment, resulting in serious consequences, must be brought to account, and should be held accountable for a lifetime,” he said.

“Only by implementing the strictest system and the most stringent rule of law can we provide reliable protection for ecological civilization.”

Xi was speaking during a group study session attended by members of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and environmental scholars.

Meng Wei, head of the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences and an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, was one of the two key lecturers at the session.

He told China Daily that by using the words “held accountable for a lifetime”, Xi is referring to both requirements and inspirations.

“Officials are responsible for benefiting the people within their regions, not only in terms of gross domestic product, but also with green hills and clean water,” Meng said. “Maintaining a good ecological environment should also be taken into account as part of officials’ political achievements.”

Xi reaffirmed the importance of balancing economic development and environmental protection, calling for an overall plan for land development, and for a scientific distribution of production, living and ecological space, leaving more room for nature to repair itself.

He emphasized the urgency of implementing major ecological restoration projects, and of enhancing ecological production capacity.

He said the idea of guarding the bottom line of national ecological safety should be firmly established.”

via Xi pledges to safeguard the environment |Politics |chinadaily.com.cn.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/economic-factors/greening-of-china/

25/05/2013

* Guangzhou rice scare shows open government remains elusive

SCMP: “Cover-up of cadmium scandal reveals authorities’ reluctance to comply with 2007 rule on non-classified information

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Guangzhou rice scare shows open government remains elusive

Many Guangzhou residents have been worried and angry for more than a week after being told that nearly half the rice they buy from local markets may contain excessive levels of cadmium, a carcinogenic heavy metal.

The city’s Food and Drug Administration said on May 16 that it had checked 18 batches of rice between January and March and had found cadmium levels in eight of them exceeded the national food safety standard.

But it declined to disclose any information about the tainted rice, such as where it was produced and by which brands. The food-safety watchdog said it was “inconvenient” to share the information with the public but did not explain why.

The cover-up sparked a national outcry. Even some state-owned media criticised the regulator, saying the refusal to disclose the information was a crime.

After coming under a great deal of pressure, the watchdog disclosed the names of the rice producers last Saturday, but still refused to detail the amount of tainted rice sold.

The Guangzhou case is merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg in showing how reluctant mainland officials are to allow open access to government data.

The Regulations on Open Government Information, introduced by Beijing in 2007, say all levels of local government should make their non-classified information public.

The regulations set clear standards for the format authorities should follow when publishing and organising the data on their websites, because of concerns that members of the public would otherwise be unable to find the information they were looking for.

But six years later, mainland officials remain reluctant to publicise such information.”

via Guangzhou rice scare shows open government remains elusive | South China Morning Post.

25/05/2013

* China Plans to Reduce the State’s Role in the Economy

NYT: “The Chinese government is planning for private businesses and market forces to play a larger role in its economy, in a major policy shift intended to improve living conditions for the middle class and to make China an even stronger competitor on the global stage.

Li Keqiang, China’s prime minister, said the nation would reduce the state’s role in the economy in hopes of unleashing the country’s creative energies.

In a speech to party cadres containing some of the boldest pro-market rhetoric they have heard in more than a decade, the country’s new prime minister, Li Keqiang, said this month that the central government would reduce the state’s role in economic matters in the hope of unleashing the creative energies of a nation with the world’s second-largest economy after that of the United States.

On Friday, the Chinese government issued a set of policy proposals that seemed to show that Mr. Li and other leaders were serious about reducing government intervention in the marketplace and giving competition among private businesses a bigger role in investment decisions and setting prices. Whether Beijing can restructure an economy that is thoroughly addicted to state credit and government directives is unclear. But analysts see such announcements as the strongest signs yet that top policy makers are serious about revamping the nation’s growth model.

“This is radical stuff, really,” said Stephen Green, an economist at the British bank Standard Chartered and an expert on the Chinese economy. “People have talked about this for a long time, but now we’re getting a clearly spoken reform agenda from the top.”

China’s leaders are under greater pressure to change as growth slows and the limitations of its state-led, investment-driven economy are becoming more evident. This month, manufacturing activity contracted for the first time in seven months, according to an independent survey by HSBC. Economists are lowering their growth forecasts and weighing the risks associated with high levels of corporate and government debt that have built up over the last five years.

“There are quite a number of messages coming from these new leaders,” said Huang Yiping, chief economist for emerging Asia at the British bank Barclays. “They realize that if we continue to delay reforms, the economy could be in deep trouble.””

via China Plans to Reduce the State’s Role in the Economy – NYTimes.com.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2013/04/19/chinas-growth-the-making-of-an-economic-superpower-dr-linda-yueh/

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