Archive for ‘Good news’

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21/10/2012

* New age vegetarians in Beijing

We hope that this is a genuine trend and not just a passing fad. If it catches on, not only in restaurants  but at home, the pressure on meat sources will be substantially reduced.  It will also mean healthier Chinese with reduced call for medical services.

China Daily: “A new eating trend is popping up on the doorstep of the Peking duck, and it has nothing to do with meat, but plenty to do with a generation of young, rich, health-conscious consumers. Sarah Marsh and Thomas Hale restaurant-hop in Beijing to find out more.

New age vegetarians

An array of colorful and carefully put together dishes is brought to the table. All of the traditional Beijing favorites are there, including a round tray filled with pancakes and strips of cucumber served with a hoisin dipping sauce. However, instead of Peking duck completing the dish, diners are served something quite different. They are instead presented with beancurd skin, milk curds and toon tree shoots. It might sound unusual but vegetarian food like this is taking over China’s capital. A growing number of restaurant-goers now opt for vegetarian dishes over meat.

The dish imitating Beijing’s world-renowned Peking duck is served at the Gingko Tree in Sanlitun, a restaurant that opened on Oct 5, 2011.

According to its owner, 32-year-old Wang Rui, when it first opened, the restaurant welcomed 20 visitors daily, but this number has now increased 500 percent to approximately 100.

This is no one-off. Wang explains that more non-meat eateries are opening up all the time.

“The trend started about seven years ago as the Chinese gradually became more aware of the health benefits. Lots of new vegetarian restaurants sprung up between 2002 and 2006,” Wang says.

About 15 years ago there were one or two vegetarian cafes but now there are nearly 100 and competition is fierce.

Many vegetarian restaurants promote organic food, a growing phenomenon in China. The Seattle Times reported that overall Chinese organic exports have rocketed from $300,000 in 1995 to about $500 million in 2008. Both vegetarianism and organic foods are associated with healthy eating in China.”

via New age vegetarians[1]|chinadaily.com.cn.

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20/10/2012

* Indian Govt wants to use technology to curb dishonesty

If only corruption can be solved so easily with technology.

Times of India: “With United Progressive Alliance(UPA) facing allegations of corruption, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said his government wants to use new technology to curb dishonesty and bring transparency in governance.

Aadhaar to help millions get benefits of government schemes

Speaking at the launch of Aadhar-enabled Service Delivery system, he said the unique identity numbers will help 1.5 crore students get scholarships, two crore elderly get old age pensions, three crore to avail health insurance and five crore people get the benefits of MNREGA.

The scheme is aimed at directly transferring cash to beneficiaries under social schemes such as MNREGA and pension.

“By giving benefits directly to the needy, complaints of dishonesty and delay will reduce,” Singh said at a function where he handed over Aadhar number ’21 crore’ to a villager here.

“Our government wants to use new technology in a big way to curb dishonesty and bring transparency in governance. Aadhar is an important step in this direction,” he said.

In the past two years, he said, the government has enrolled 24 crore people for Aadhar and “we expect to give Aadhar cards to around 60 crore by 2014”.

Addressing the function, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi said the Aadhar scheme gives identity to the common man and is a tool to claim benefits.

Using the Aadhar card, she said, the common man can claim his rights anywhere in the country.

“The Aadhar card will help the government in ensuring that subsidy reaches its intended beneficiaries directly and the poor will not have to run from pillar to post to claim their rights,” she said.”

via Govt wants to use technology to curb dishonesty: PM – The Times of India.

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18/10/2012

Wonder if this is in honour of the imminent leadership change or something deeper and more meaningful. We’ll just have to “watch this space”.

 

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/prognosis/chinese-challenges/

Posted in Censorship, China alert, Dissident, Good news, Politics, Reform | Leave a Comment »

15/10/2012

Assuming that this is the beginning and not the end of state pensions in China, then in no time at all, China may well have better state pensions than many Western countries!

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14/10/2012

* China’s trade climbs in Sept amid bottoming-out

“One swallow does not a summer make”  But it sure is reassuring after all the bad news in recent months.  There are also signs in the US that the 2008 recession is finally bottoming out. Let’s hope it’s for real. And even more importantly, let’s hope both nations and individuals don’t get carried away with getting into deep depth, again.

China Daily: “China’s exports significantly expanded in September while imports resumed growth after a decline in August, suggesting a recovery in overseas markets and a moderate improvement of domestic demand amid a bottoming-out in the world’s second largest economy.

Economists and analysts are still cautious about China’s foreign trade outlook owing to the medium and long-term pressure from the festering EU debt crisis and worrisome fiscal outlook in the US despite improvement in overseas demand.

China’s exports increased by 9.9 percent in September from a year earlier, a record monthly high and much higher than the 2.7-percent growth in August. Imports, meanwhile, stepped out of the 2.6-percent fall in August, registering a gain of 2.4 percent in September, according to data from the General Administration of Customs on Saturday.

Total foreign trade in September grew by 6.3 percent year-on-year while the trade surplus widened to $27.67 billion from $26.7 billion in August.

Foreign trade from January to September went up by 6.2 percent from a year earlier with exports rising 7.4 percent and imports gaining 4.8 percent, yielding a trade surplus of $148.31 billion.

“The full year is likely to see a trade surplus of over $200 billion,” said Wang Jun, a senior economist with China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

“Trade figures of September are relatively satisfactory. China’s exports in the coming two or three months will keep up the momentum as the manufacturing index [also known as the purchasing managers index, or PMI] improves in the US and EU, in addition to Christmas demand and the central government’s measures to boost China’s foreign trade,” Wang said.

The State Council introduced a raft of measures in September to stabilize trade growth, including speeding up export tax rebates, reducing administrative costs for companies, lowering financing costs for small and micro-sized enterprises and increasing credit to exporters.”

via China’s trade climbs in Sept amid bottoming-out |Economy |chinadaily.com.cn.

Posted in China alert, economic inter-dependence, Economics, exports, Good news, Import, Manufacturing, Trade | Leave a Comment »

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08/10/2012

* Indian Govt planning to build 10-15 greenfield airports

India is finally starting to take infrastructure spending more seriously. It’s about time.

Times of India “Giving a push to aviation infrastructure development, the government is planning to build 10-15 greenfield airports and modernising 50 others in the non-metro cities over the next few years.

“About 50 non-metro airports are being modernised within the next two years and overall 10-15 new greenfield airports are being planned,” civil aviation minister Ajit Singh told reporters on the sidelines of the 49th Conference of Directors General of Civil Aviation of Asia-Pacific region here.

Maintaining that the civil aviation sector in India was witnessing an annual growth of nine per cent, he said, “We expect a double digit growth in air traffic in the next few years.””

via Govt planning to build 10-15 greenfield airports – The Times of India.

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04/10/2012

* IPR awareness rises in China: experts

As China increases its own Intellectual Property and the number of registered and granted patents, it is in its own self-interest to take IPR and copyright more seriously than it has hither to.  This is good news for all innovators whether Western or Eastern.

Xinhua: “An increasing number of patents and trademark registrations is boosting social awareness of intellectual property rights (IPR) in China, which will change the way that the world’s second-largest economy grows, experts said.

The number of trademark registration applications reached 1.42 million in 2011, a sharp rise from the 19,000 applications submitted in 1983, when the country’s trademark law took effect, a national news magazine Outlook Weekly reported.

“The increasing number of patents will be conducive to IPR awareness in China,” said Prof. Liu Chuntian at Renmin University.

Liu said IPR protection is a basic tenet of the modern market economy, adding that China should carry out top-down reforms to further improve IPR regulations and laws.

The government’s previous efforts to protect IPR include a strategic guideline published in 2008 that set a goal of making substantial progress in creation, application, protection and management of IPR by 2020.

China has only 21 of the world’s top 500 brands, despite a large number of patents and trademark applications, the report said, adding that China’s performance in IPR does not match the size of its economy.

However, home-grown technologies, including the TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE telecommunications interfaces, and emerging hi-tech giants, such as Huawei and ZTE, indicate that China is starting to improve its capacity to innovate, the report said.”

via IPR awareness rises in China: experts – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

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04/10/2012

* Chinese gov’t to strengthen int’l cooperation on cyber issues

Xinhua: “The Chinese government will continue to strengthen international cooperation on cyber issues, and work with all countries to build an open and secure cyberspace, said an official here on Thursday at the ongoing Budapest conference on cyberspace.

Given the many challenges presented ahead, Huang Huikang, legal advisor and Director-General of the Department of Treaty and Law to China’s foreign ministry emphasized the importance of cooperation across the entire international community.

Although cyberspace is virtual, it needs rules and norms to follow, Huang said. China holds that the United Nations, as the most universal and representative international organization, is the best forum for elaboration of international norms and rules in cyberspace, he added.

Huang said China proposes that the following principles be observed in strengthening international cooperation on internet related issues.

The first, he said, concerned cyber sovereignty. He said that cyber sovereignty is the natural extension of state sovereignty into cyberspace and should be respected and upheld.

“Every country is entitled to formulate its policies and laws in light of its history, traditions, culture, language and customs, and manage the internet accordingly,” he said.

The second concerned the free flow of information, which he called a “double edged sword,” adding that it was no excuse for the “illegal and irresponsible information rampant on the internet,” which threatened national security, social orders and the lawful rights of people.

Huang also called for peaceful use of cyberspace, equitable development, and international cooperation, noting that all countries were equally entitled to share in the management of critical Internet resources. He proposed that international cooperation could be initiated in areas where there were common needs, such as in combating cybercrime and enhancing cyber security.

There are 540 million internet users in China now, making it the world’s top user quantitatively. But only 40 percent of the Chinese people had access to the internet. In 2011, e-commerce in China amounted to 930 billion U.S. dollars, or 12.5 percent of its annual gross domestic product.”

via Chinese gov’t to strengthen int’l cooperation on cyber issues: official – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

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01/10/2012

* China has most microbloggers in the world: report

This report confirms what we have been observing for the last several months that Chinese microbloggers are being taken seriously by the Chinese authorities. This is really a continuation of the ancient petition system whereby any citizen can appeal directly to the emperor for redress. Since travelling to Beijing may be costly and time consuming, microblogging may be the 21st century alternative if the authorities are actually going to listen and do something about the grievance.  This report indicates that this is happening.

Xinhua: “China has the world’s largest number of microbloggers, said a latest report on the country’s new media development.

File:Sina Weibo.svg

The report, published by the Social Sciences Academic Press annually, quoted the China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC), which said that about 274 million Chinese people had microblog accounts as of June this year.

The number of microbloggers increased sharply from about 63 million in 2010, said the report issued by a team of social sciences experts headed by Yin Yungong, director of the Institute of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Microblogging has become an important channel for Chinese people to express themselves, particularly about public issues, it said.

It has also become an easy and low-cost communication channel between the government and citizens, the report said. At Sina Weibo, a leading microblogging service, 18,132 accounts have been registered by the Party and government departments and officials as of last October.

Social networks like microblogging have begun to set the agenda of public opinions and affected public emotions in some incidents, like the high-speed train crash near Wenzhou, in east China’s Zhejiang Province, in July last year, the report said.

Governments have realized the influence of social networks and put more effort in working with them, it said.

Research by the report’s authors from July to December last year showed that the authorities responded to about 71.9 percent of issues that were widely discussed by microbloggers and 50.4 percent were within 24 hours.”

via China has most microbloggers in the world: report – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

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05/09/2012

* Guangzhou Moves to Limit New Cars

NY Times: “It is as startling as if Detroit or Los Angeles restricted car ownership.

The municipal government of Guangzhou, a sprawling metropolis that is one of China’s biggest auto manufacturing centers, introduced license plate auctions and lotteries last week that will roughly halve the number of new cars on the streets.

The crackdown by China’s third-largest city is the most restrictive in a series of moves by big Chinese cities that are putting quality-of-life issues ahead of short-term economic growth, something the central government has struggled to do on a national scale.

The measures have the potential to help clean up China’s notoriously dirty air and water, reduce long-term health care costs and improve the long-term quality of Chinese growth. But they are also imposing short-term costs, economists say, at a time when policy makers in Beijing and around the world are already concerned about a sharp economic slowdown in China.

“Of course from the government’s point of view, we give up some growth, but to achieve better health for all citizens, it is definitely worth it,” said Chen Haotian, the vice director of Guangzhou’s top planning agency.

Nanjing and Hangzhou in east-central China are moving to require cleaner gas and diesel. Cities near the coast, from Dongguan and Shenzhen in southeastern China to Wuxi and Suzhou in the middle and Beijing in the north, are pushing out polluting factories. And Xi’an and Urumqi in northwestern China are banning and scrapping cars built before 2005, when automotive emissions rules were less stringent.

“There’s a recognition finally that growth at all costs is not sustainable,” said Ben Simpfendorfer, the managing director of Silk Road Associates, a Hong Kong consulting firm.

Facing public pressure to address traffic jams and pollution, municipal governments from across China have been sending delegations to Guangzhou. But the national government in Beijing is pushing back against further car restrictions because of worries about the huge auto industry, said An Feng, a senior adviser in Beijing to transportation policy makers.

“This has really become a battle,” Mr. An said.”

via Guangzhou Moves to Limit New Cars – NYTimes.com.

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