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13/05/2013

* China: unequal in death, as in life

FT: “The news that Guangzhou is to start building a costly cemetery exclusively for revolutionary heroes and government officials this October has stirred up something of an online controversy.

With the cost of cemetery space far higher than housing, it has highlighted the increasing inequality in Chinese society – in death, as well as in life.

The Fushan Revolutionary Cemetery, which will cover an area of 1,300 mu (870,000 sq m) and cost Rmb620m ($100m), is designated only for the privileged class, including “revolutionary martyrs”, “government cadres” and “military servicemen”, according to China Insight, a Beijing-based magazine, run by the Communist Party journal Qiushi (“Seeking Truth”).

The news, which came out last week, has created a buzz on the Chinese blogosphere and triggered criticism by many Weibo users (China’s answer to Twitter).

“No wonder people are trying so hard to get a job in the government; otherwise, they die without a burial place,” wrote one Weibo user.

“Chinese taxpayers take care of not only the living but also the dead [officials],” wrote another.

The discontent is shared by Fan Haiqun, a researcher at Guangdong Social Sciences Academy who specialises in funeral policy.

He was quoted by Insight China as saying: “Are there any new revolutionary heroes? Since the new China has been established for more than 60 years, most of people who sacrificed their lives in wars have already passed away. Today’s so-called revolutionary figures are just government officials.”

Guangzhou’s Civic Affairs Bureau later denied such accusations, saying the Fushan cemetery isn’t built for “only burying officials” and would also be open to the public, according to the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News. A lady who answered the bureau’s phone on Friday declined to comment on the issue.

However, such denials are not likely to convince the public or parts of the media. The Xi’an Evening News questioned: “Although the city’s Civil Affair Bureau denied the report [by China Insight], it didn’t offer any strong evidences to refute it, such as the proportion of the public graveyard [at the Fushan cemetery]. Therefore, it cannot shake off people’s doubts.”

On Sina Weibo, microbloggers fired back with sarcastic comments. “I would like to pay more tax if it’s built to bury them [officials] alive,” wrote one.

Apart from deep social inequality between the privileged and unprivileged in China, the issue highlights a new challenge for the country’s given the rate of urbanisation – scarcity of land for public cemeteries.

In Guangzhou, there are around 50,000 deaths per year, of which 30,000 are buried, according to China Daily. However, the city’s 10 commercial cemeteries are failing to cope with demand as there is no available land for new plots, reported Southern Metropolis Daily.

This has led the price of cemetery plots in Guangzhou to rocket – Rmb80,000 ($13,000) per sq m, much higher than that of local commercial housing (which is Rmb23,518 per sq m in April), according to Southern Metropolis Daily.

The sky-high price of plots is another hardship for Chinese people. As one blogger put it: “Life is never easy in China, now, [nor is] death.””

via China: unequal in death, as in life | beyondbrics.

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12/05/2013

* China’s Social Media Fuel Citizen Quake Response

NY Times: “Wang Xiaochang sprang into action minutes after a deadly earthquake jolted this lush region of Sichuan Province last month. Logging on to China’s most popular social media sites, he posted requests for people to join him in aiding the survivors. By that evening, he had fielded 480 calls.

地震催毀大量房屋，圖為進入汶川道路一境。A shot taken in the road h...

地震催毀大量房屋，圖為進入汶川道路一境。A shot taken in the road heading to Wenyuan, the epicenter of 2008 Sichuan Earthquake (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Never mind that the government had declared that the narrow mountain roads to Lushan were open only to authorized rescue vehicles. Two days after the April 20 earthquake, Mr. Wang was hitchhiking with 19 gear-laden strangers to this rubble-strewn town. While the military cleared roads and repaired electrical lines, the volunteers carried food, water and tents to ruined villages and comforted survivors of the temblor, which killed nearly 200 people and injured more than 13,000.

“The government is in charge of the big picture stuff, but we’re doing the work they can’t do,” Mr. Wang, 24, a former soldier, said recently, standing outside the group’s tent, which was cluttered with sleeping bags, work gloves and smartphones.

The rapid grass-roots response to the disaster reveals just how far China’s nascent civil society movement has come since 2008, when a 7.9-magnitude earthquake in Wenchuan, not far from Lushan, prompted a wave of volunteerism and philanthropy. That quake, which claimed about 90,000 lives, provoked criticism of the government for its ham-handed relief efforts. Outrage mounted in the months that followed over allegations of corruption and reports that the parents of dead children had been detained after protesting what many saw as a cover-up of shoddy school construction. Thousands of students died in school collapses during the quake.

Like the government, which honed its rescue and relief efforts after the Wenchuan earthquake, the volunteers and civil society groups that first appeared in 2008 gained valuable skills for working in disaster zones. Their ability to coordinate — and, in some instances, outsmart a government intent on keeping them away — were enhanced by Sina Weibo, the Twitter-like microblog that did not exist in 2008 but now has more than 500 million users.

“Civil society is much more capable today compared to 2008,” said Ran Yunfei, a prominent democracy activist and blogger, who describes Weibo as a revolutionary tool for social change. “It’s far easier now for volunteers to share information on what kind of help is needed.”

One of those transformed by the Wenchuan earthquake was Li Chengpeng, a sports commentator from Sichuan turned civic activist. When the Lushan earthquake hit, Mr. Li turned to his seven million Weibo followers and quickly organized a team of volunteers. They traveled to the disaster zone on motorcycles, by pedicab and on foot so as not to clog roads, soliciting donations via microblog along the way. What he found was a government-directed relief effort sometimes hampered by bureaucracy and geographic isolation.

Two days after the quake, Mr. Li’s team delivered 498 tents, 1,250 blankets and 100 tarps — all donated — to Wuxing, where government supplies had yet to arrive. The next day, they hiked to four other villages, handing out water, cooking oil and tents.

Although he acknowledges the government’s importance during such disasters, Mr. Li contends that grass-roots activism is just as vital. “You can’t ask an NGO to blow up half a mountain to clear roads and you can’t ask an army platoon to ask a middle-aged woman whether she needs sanitary napkins,” he wrote in a recent post.

The government, however, prefers to rely on state-backed aid groups to deliver supplies and raise money, largely through the Red Cross Society of China. But that organization is still reeling from a corruption scandal in 2011 that severely damaged its reputation and spurred greater support for nongovernmental charities, which are generally thought to be more transparent.

Faced with a groundswell of social activism it feared could turn into government opposition, the Communist Party has sought to turn the Lushan disaster into a rallying cry for political solidarity. “The more difficult the circumstance, the more we should unite under the banner of the party,” the state-run newspaper People’s Daily declared last month, praising the leadership’s response to the earthquake.

Still, the rise in online activism has forced the government to adapt. Recently, People’s Daily announced that three volunteers had been picked to supervise the Red Cross spending in the earthquake zone and to publish their findings on Weibo.”

via China’s Social Media Fuel Citizen Quake Response – NYTimes.com.

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11/05/2013

* U.S., European Auto Makers Find Slow Going in India

WSJ: “Sleek new compact cars sporting the Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai brands stand out on the streets of India’s business capital against the mishmash of aging buses and black taxicabs.

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The view is similar across India, a country where consumers have an affinity for smaller and fuel-efficient cars and, increasingly, for Asian auto brands. Much harder to spot are the logos of top Western mass-market car makers such as Volkswagen AG, VOW3.XE -0.88% General Motors Co. GM -0.73% and Ford Motor Co. F -0.63%

Profit margins are thin in India, where hatchbacks sell for as low as $5,000. Maruti and Hyundai together hold 54% of the nation’s new-car sales.

While major players in China, Asia’s other big and growing car market, the three are struggling to expand sales here. Each reported Indian sales fell between 16% and 20% year-over-year in the 12 months ended March, sharply underperforming the 2.2% rise among all passenger vehicle sales in the nation, according to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. Their combined share of the car market stands at just 9%.

Some industry executives say these companies lack the compact models that consumers prefer in India, and have too few sales and repair outlets in the country.

Others say razor-thin profit margins on small cars make India a highly competitive and unprofitable market, and may explain the Western companies’ small shares. India’s compact hatchbacks usually sell for between $5,000 and $10,000 each.

“It isn’t that the international companies are incompetent, it is just that there is not much of a prize [in India] yet. It is a much, much smaller profit pool,” compared with markets like China, said Max Warburton, European and Asian autos analyst at investment research firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

Maruti, the Indian unit of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Co., 7269.TO +7.53% and Hyundai Motor Co 005380.SE -2.33% . together hold 54% of the nation’s new-car sales, thanks to a broad sales and service networks and a loyal following for their cars and hatchbacks, which last year took seven spots out of the 10 best-selling models in India.

Japan-based Honda Motor Co. 7267.TO +3.18% and Toyota Motor Corp. 7203.TO +5.03% also are gaining here despite the overall market’s stagnant sales following several boom years. Asian-brand cars account for around 64% of the nation’s market.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen hasn’t launched a new compact model in India since 2010, save for refreshed versions of existing cars, while Ford launched just one, the new Fiesta, in 2011. GM launched its Sail U-VA last November.”

via U.S., European Auto Makers Find Slow Going in India – WSJ.com.

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11/05/2013

* Photograph of Chairman Mao goes under the hammer for 391,000 yuan

SCMP: “An original photo of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong went under the hammer on Friday in Beijing, and sold for 391,000 yuan (HK$490,490 or £40,000).

mao_auction.jpg

The picture, taken by his wife Jiang Qing, shows Chairman Mao sitting in a chair in front of Lushan Mountain in 1961.

Originally black and white, the photograph later had colour added by hand.

Although Jiang Qing, Mao’s last wife, was an actress, she was also very politically active and played a major role in the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). She was also known for forming the radical political alliance known as the “Gang of Four“.”

via Photograph of Chairman Mao goes under the hammer for 391,000 yuan | South China Morning Post.

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11/05/2013

* Should China Try to Feed Itself?

BusinessWeek: “For China’s leaders, there was one problem in an otherwise benign inflation report for April. First, the good news: The consumer price index rose 2.4 percent, about in line with economists’ expectations. While inflation accelerated from 2.1 percent in March, the April figure is still well below the government’s target of 3.5 percent for the year.

An aerial view of the fish farms in the countryside next to Hefei, in central China's Anhui province

So what’s the catch? Food prices. With vegetables getting more expensive, the cost of eating jumped 4 percent last month, compared with an increase of 2.7 percent in March. The rising cost of food could create more difficulties in the coming months, the People’s Bank of China warned yesterday.

The Chinese government is well aware of the political sensitivity of food, which is one reason the country is sticking to a policy that promotes self-sufficiency. The country’s farmers met about 98 percent of China’s demand for grain last year, Vice Minister of Agriculture Chen Xiaohua said at a news conference in March.

If the country wants to ensure lower prices, though, China should rethink that self-sufficiency policy, argues Paul Conway, the vice chairman of Cargill. “As they become richer and more urbanized, they will have to become less self-sufficient in grain,” he says. The Minnesota-based agribusiness giant is a major player in exporting wheat, corn, and soybeans from the U.S. and other countries in the Western Hemisphere to Asia, so he certainly has a good business reason for wanting China to buy more food from abroad.

But, Conway says, China and other Asian countries with huge populations, such as India and Indonesia, stand to benefit from reducing their reliance on local farmers. “There is still a tendency in some parts of Asia to food security through food self-sufficiency,” he says from Singapore, where he gave a speech on May 8 about food security. Giving up on that idea and instead importing food from low-cost producers in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and Argentina would be “the best guarantee of Asian food security,” he says. “For grains and oilseeds, Asia’s self-interest is to have access to the surpluses from the Western Hemisphere.”

In order to bolster its food security, China also should be investing in agricultural infrastructure in other countries, Conway says. Just as Chinese investors are helping to fund transportation projects in African countries that supply minerals to China’s factories, the country should also be putting money into projects that could make it easier for farmers in places like Brazil to get their crops to seaports. That, he argues, makes more sense than just buying farms overseas. “From a food security standpoint, the fact that you own land in another country doesn’t guarantee you anything. Borders can always be closed. If China wants to improve the flow of grains, instead of investing in land, invest in infrastructure.””

via Should China Try to Feed Itself? – Businessweek.

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10/05/2013

* Mao Zedong’s granddaughter among China’s richest people

SCMP: “Mao Zedong’s granddaughter has become one of China’s richest people, according to an annual ranking of the nation’s richest 500.

Kong Dongmei, right, granddaughter of the father of Communist China, Mao Zedong

Kong Dongmei, the granddaughter of the founder of the People’s Republic and his third wife He Zizhen, along with her husband Chen Dongsheng have the combined wealth of five billion yuan (HK$6.3 billion), putting them at number 242 in the annual ranking by the Guangdong-based New Fortune magazine.

Their marriage has only become publicly known last year. It was rumoured the couple of 15 years could only marry after Chen divorced his previous wife in 2011.

Chen is the founder of China’s first national auction house Guardian and the country’s fourth largest insurance house Taikang.

“The House of Mao will never engage in business,” Mao’s only known grandson Mao Xinyu, a major general in the People’s Liberation Army, reportedly pledged, perhaps to avoid suspicion of exploiting the illustrious ancestor for personal gain.

Xinyu’s comments came at a time when China was debating the legacy and business ties of disgraced Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai, himself the son of one of the founding fathers of Communist China, Bo Yibo.

Mao Xinyu is Kong’s half-brother. His grandmother Yang Kaihui was Mao’s second wife. Both Kong and Mao Xinyu have written books titled My Grandpa Mao.

In stark contrast to their aristocratic background, the man who topped the list of China’s richest, Zong Qinghou, started his career as a salt harvester in Zhejiang province.

With an estimated wealth of 70 billion yuan, the co-founder of the Wahaha beverages group has 14-times the wealth of the Great Helmsman’s offspring.”

via Mao Zedong’s granddaughter among China’s richest people | South China Morning Post.

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09/05/2013

* China’s Airport Building Boom

BusinessWeek: “The first rule of airline travel in China is: Don’t cut connections close. Assume your first flight will be late, and leave plenty of time than to scramble to your next gate. Fortunately, if you’re flying between major Chinese cities, you can bide your time in a gleaming new airport with plenty of shops selling tea, lattes, snacks, souvenirs, and even prestige apparel. (Only in Chinese airports have I seen stores selling “BMW Lifestyle” clothing).

Beijing Capital Airport

In China, travel is booming, giving rise to new airports and hotels to accommodate the inbound masses. The International Air Transport Association forecasts that by 2016, China will have 415 million fliers annually, second only to the U.S. in volume of domestic passengers. Volume at the Beijing Capital Airport has tripled in the last 10 years; the city’s second major airport will open by 2018. In all, the current Five Year Plan calls for 55 new civil airports by 2015, bringing China’s total to 230.

The build-out is good news for the obvious suspects, including travelers, hotels, and retailers that profit from travel. In a recent report, the Virginia-based Global Business Travel Association estimated that spending related to business travel in China will increase 14.7 percent in 2013, to $224 billion. (GBTA estimates comparable spending in the U.S. in 2013 will be $268.5 billion.)

For many of the Chinese cities caught up in the airport-construction boom, it’s been a mixed blessing. In 2011, China’s Civil Aviation Administration recorded that 75 percent of its civil airports were operating at a loss, according to the China Daily. High levels of debt assumed by local governments to finance airports and other large infrastructure projects are a growing worry for China. Last month Fitch downgraded China’s credit rating, expressing concerns especially about local debt. In its assessment, the credit rating agency noted: “Fitch believes total credit in the economy including various forms of ‘shadow banking‘ activity may have reached 198 percent of GDP at end-2012, up from 125 percent at end-2008.”

One component of the mismatch is that Chinese airline carriers have focused on connecting major hubs, with far fewer flights to secondary destinations. As a result, while small regional airports are often eerily quiet, industry analysts believe Beijing’s Capital Airport is on track to overtake Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as the world’s busiest.”

via China’s Airport Building Boom – Businessweek.

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09/05/2013

* China Dips a Toe Into Mideast Diplomacy

For the first time, China is taking its role as a world leader in international politics, rather than staying in the background.

NY Times: “China took a modest step into Middle East diplomacy this week, hosting back-to-back visits from Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.

But this was not exactly Camp David by the Forbidden City.

The fact that the visits were timed so the two leaders would not meet — Mr. Abbas left Beijing on Tuesday, and Mr. Netanyahu arrived Wednesday after a swing through Shanghai — signaled that neither they nor Xi Jinping, China’s leader, were ready for actual talks. But Mr. Xi did present a four-point peace proposal to Mr. Abbas, which, though it did not contain any breakthrough ideas, hinted that China had given some thought to playing a more energetic, if very limited, role as mediator in one of the world’s most protracted conflicts.

“As China’s economy, national strength and international status grow, Arab countries are looking more to China,” said Guo Xiangang, a vice president of the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing who follows China’s relations with Middle Eastern nations. “The expectations they place on China are growing.”

In their meeting on Wednesday afternoon, Prime Minister Li Keqiang of China told Mr. Netanyahu that “the Palestinian issue is a core issue affecting the peace and stability of the Middle East, and a peaceful solution reached through dialogue and negotiations is the only effective answer,” according to Xinhua, the state news agency.

“As a friend of both Israel and the Palestinians, China has always maintained an objective and fair stance, and is willing to strive together with all sides to actively advance the Middle East peace process,” Mr. Li said.

China has been careful to take a clear and consistent but not strong stand on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. China has growing trade ties with Israel — the value of their trade relationship has been estimated in official Chinese news reports to be nearly $10 billion a year — but it supports Palestinian statehood and relies on crude oil imports from Iran and Arab nations to meet its energy needs. About half of China’s oil imports come from the Middle East, and that dependency is expected to deepen.

The core of the four-point plan that Mr. Xi presented to Mr. Abbas was the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, based on the 1967 boundaries and with East Jerusalem as its capital. The plan was a formal version of China’s traditional stand on the conflict.

At the United Nations, where China sits on the Security Council, Mr. Abbas has pushed for greater status for the Palestinians, which has drawn economic reprisals from Israel and has led to a reduction in donations from foreign supporters. On Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said at a news conference that Israel had to halt the building of settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, stop violence against innocent civilians and end the blockade against the Gaza Strip to clear the way for peace talks.

But China’s measured stand on the conflict was evident in some of Mr. Xi’s comments during his meeting with Mr. Abbas. “Israel’s right to exist and its reasonable security concerns should be fully respected,” Mr. Xi said, according to a report by Xinhua.”

via China Dips a Toe Into Mideast Diplomacy – NYTimes.com.

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09/05/2013

* China’s Vision for a ‘New’ Urbanization

WSJ: “China watchers are all abuzz about urbanization, which is supposed to be a focus of reform. But what does the term mean? After all, China has been urbanizing for 30 years, which has meant building roads, subways, ports — and relying more and more on infrastructure spending, which seems to have less and less payoff these days.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s state planning agency, is due to produce a report later this year laying out a path for a new kind of urbanization.

Li Tie, director general of the NDRC’s China Center for Urban Development, said the report involves a “new model of city development,” which would include three main parts:

First, there would be a focus on “low carbon” development — meaning trying to assure Chinese cities ease their horrendous pollution.

Second, would be reform of the household registration, or hukou, system. For smaller cities the system would be “totally liberalized,” Mr. Li said. He didn’t lay out his thoughts fully, but seemed to suggest that all residents would enjoy the same rights and benefits regardless of where they were born. For larger cities, migrants would get “resident cards” which assured them “improved treatment” and access to social services.

Third, China would look to increase “clustering” in big cities. Mr. Li didn’t explain what he meant by that, but in urban planning speak, clustering usually means trying to develop industries or specialties in a city or group of cities. That’s a way to build on the intellectual frisson of urban life, where new ideas can spawn new industries.

Those proposals address some of the most vexing problems with life in China’s cities: pollution, widening social inequality and lack of innovation. They also suggest that China’s leaders are committed to making urbanization into something more than another building spree. But changes would be costly and could require China’s central government to take a much more active role in overseeing—and paying for—urban growth than it has in the past. Whether China’s new leaders are ready to take such steps will become clear over the next year or two.”

via China’s Vision for a ‘New’ Urbanization – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

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09/05/2013

* Nokia Unveils $99 Asha Smartphone

WSJ: “Nokia Corp., NOK1V.HE +0.30% struggling to regain ground in the competitive smartphone market, unveiled a $99 touch-screen smartphone for India and other emerging markets to help drive sales.

image

At a product launch event in New Delhi Thursday, Nokia said its Asha 501 will run on the new Asha platform.

The Finnish handset maker said the smartphone will initially run on a second-generation network, but it plans to expand the device for faster 3G services.

Nokia President and CEO Stephen Elop at a news conference at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February.

Chief Executive Stephen Elop said the smartphone was built on the design inspired by the company’s higher-end Lumia smartphone and is targeted at “young, socially inspired” people.

The smartphone has a 3.2 megapixel camera, weighs 98 grams and has a memory capacity of 4 gigabytes that can be expanded to 32 gigabytes. It comes in different colors including red, green, yellow and white, the company said in a statement.

Nokia, once the world’s largest phone maker, has struggled to compete in the high-end smartphone market dominated by Apple Inc. AAPL +1.12% and Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE +1.81% Adding to its woes is stiff competition from Chinese manufacturers as well as other low-cost Indian phone makers such as Micromax Informatics Ltd.

Up until last year, the Finnish mobile company’s last stronghold was India, but it is seeing increasing threat from Samsung in the country.

Nokia held a 26% share of the 170 million handsets shipped to India in 2012, with Samsung following closely behind with 22% of the market, data from Singapore-based mobile research firm Canalys shows.

In the fourth quarter, Nokia ranked second globally with 18% of the market, down from 23.4% a year earlier. Samsung ranked first with 22.7% and Apple Inc.’s market share rose to 9.2%.

Despite losing share to Samsung, Nokia’s handset sales improved due to strong demand for its Asha series and Lumia Windows phones, market research firm Gartner said.”

via Nokia Unveils $99 Asha Smartphone – WSJ.com.

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