“Actions speak louder than words”. So, the Chinese public is waiting to see what actions are going top be taken to support the leadership’s statements regarding the need to reduce if not end corruption at all levels of government and the Party.
27/11/2012
* Starbucks Plays to Local Chinese Tastes
WSJ: “After nearly 14 years of working to persuade China to buy into its foreign coffee culture, Starbucks Corp is aiming to become more Chinese as it plans a rapid expansion in the country.
Belinda Wong, president of Starbucks China, said in an interview that Starbucks aims to roll out 800 new stores in the next three years to add to its existing fleet of 700. Over that period it will increase the number of employees to more than 30,000 from the current 12,000.
The company aims to capture a larger market by going more local and applying its cultural insights, Ms. Wong said. For instance, whereas kiosk-sized stores work well in the U.S., where office workers grab bacon-gouda sandwiches to go in the morning on the way to work, Starbucks has learned that Chinese consumers value space and couches on which to relax in the afternoons.
The coffee company is adding some stores that are nearly 3,800 square feet and can seat consumers who come with groups of friends and business partners. Starbucks also has discovered that Chinese tastes for coffee go only so far. It plans to introduce new Chinese-inspired flavors, building on existing favorites like red bean frappuccinos.
Localization is a critical factor in the success or failure of foreign companies in China. Yum Brands Inc has thrived in China by adding fried shrimp and soy milk, among many other Chinese items, to its KFC outlets and fresh seafood bacon pizza and Thai-style fried rice to its Pizza Huts.
Businesses that have failed to grasp the local culture, importing alien models, have fallen out of favor. In September, Home Depot Inc closed all seven of its remaining big-box stores in China after years of losses, having discovered that the do-it-yourself home improvement model doesn’t work well in a do-it-for-me Chinese culture. Best Buy Co closed its nine China outlets in February 2011 after discovering consumers needed washing machines, not espresso makers or stereos.”
via Starbucks Plays to Local Chinese Tastes – WSJ.com.
Related articles
- Starbucks: Symbol of wealth – Paul French (chinaherald.net)
23/11/2012
* In China Schools, a Culture of Bribery Spreads
Even education is not immune to bribery & corruption in China. Is anything?
NY Times: “For Chinese children and their devoted parents, education has long been seen as the key to getting ahead in a highly competitive society. But just as money and power grease business deals and civil servant promotions, the academic race here is increasingly rigged in favor of the wealthy and well connected, who pay large sums and use connections to give their children an edge at government-run schools.
In Beijing, some parents are forced to pay thousands of dollars to school administrators simply to enroll their children in elementary school.
Nearly everything has a price, parents and educators say, from school admissions and placement in top classes to leadership positions in Communist youth groups. Even front-row seats near the blackboard or a post as class monitor are up for sale.
Zhao Hua, a migrant from Hebei Province who owns a small electronics business here, said she was forced to deposit $4,800 into a bank account to enroll her daughter in a Beijing elementary school. At the bank, she said, she was stunned to encounter officials from the district education committee armed with a list of students and how much each family had to pay. Later, school officials made her sign a document saying the fee was a voluntary “donation.”
“Of course I knew it was illegal,” she said. “But if you don’t pay, your child will go nowhere.”
Bribery has become so rife that Xi Jinping devoted his first speech after being named the Communist Party’s new leader this month to warning the Politburo that corruption could lead to the collapse of the party and the state if left unchecked. Indeed, ordinary Chinese have become inured to a certain level of official malfeasance in business and politics.
But the lack of integrity among educators and school administrators is especially dispiriting, said Li Mao, an educational consultant in Beijing. “It’s much more upsetting when it happens with teachers because our expectations of them are so much higher,” he said.
Affluent parents in the United States and around the world commonly seek to provide their children every advantage, of course, including paying for tutors and test preparation courses, and sometimes turning to private schools willing to accept wealthy students despite poor grades.
But critics say China’s state-run education system — promoted as the hallmark of Communist meritocracy — is being overrun by bribery and cronyism. Such corruption has broadened the gulf between the haves and have-nots as Chinese families see their hopes for the future sold to the highest bidder.”
via In China Schools, a Culture of Bribery Spreads – NYTimes.com.
See also: https://chindia-alert.org/prognosis/chinese-challenges/
14/11/2012
* Respected China banker tipped to head anti-graft effort
Let us hope that Mr Wang does get included in the Central Committee of the Politburo; and that he retains his integrity and zealousness. Unless corruption is reduced substantially within the next five years, the future hold of the CPC on China will gradually but surely slip away.
Reuters: “A respected trade negotiator and former banker is likely to head China’s fight against corruption, a top priority for the world’s second-biggest economy, following his appointment to a key council at the end of the 18th congress of the Communist Party.
Known as “the chief firefighter”, Wang Qishan, 64, sorted out a debt crisis in southern Guangdong province where he was vice governor in the late 1990s. Later, he replaced the sacked Beijing mayor after a cover-up of the deadly SARS virus in 2003.
Wang is now a shoo-in for the elite standing committee, the highest level of decision-making in China, after being elected to the party’s central committee and its graft-battling Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
“The bad news is that we are going to lose one of the most capable economic affairs managers in the country,” said Bo Zhiyue, a Chinese politics expert at the National University of Singapore.
“The good news is that the new Chinese leadership is really interested in doing something about corruption,” he added. “With the nickname ‘firefighter’, I think he would be one of the most capable leaders of the Politburo Standing Committee.”
via Respected China banker tipped to head anti-graft effort | Reuters.
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09/11/2012
# Positive effects of Chinese tea?
This photo is from the current 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Obviously it was taken during one of the breaks. No one would dare talk or yawn if a VIP speaker was on the podium. But note, everyone is drinking Chinese tea; not water, not beer, or Coca Cola. Does that explain why the Chinese leadership are relatively relaxed and calm and so effective?
06/11/2012
* Chinese State Media Survey: It’s the Wealth Gap, Stupid
Close on the heels of a survey regarding happiness, comes this more serious survey. The new leadership should heed the results:
- Reducing the wealth gap
- Reducing corruption
- Reforming economics
WSJ: “With China’s once-a-decade leadership transition set to get underway on Thursday, pundits and scholars around the globe are speculating about what Beijing’s new top brass will — or won’t — do to tackle the country’s many problems. But what change are Chinese people themselves expecting to see?
If an online survey conducted by the state-run China Youth Daily newspaper is anything to go by, the answer is one that recalls the ideological roots, if not the recent reality, of China’s ruling party: income redistribution.
Of 11,405 Chinese Internet users polled by the Social Survey Center of China Youth Daily last week, 66.6% said they thought the country was likely to pursue reforms related to income distribution in the future, the newspaper reported on Tuesday (in Chinese). Second on the list were reforms aimed at curbing corruption (57.8%), followed by reforms of the economic system (53.5%) in third.
The results exceeded 100% because respondents were allowed to choose multiple options. Nearly half of respondents were born in the 1980s, with 17.7% born in the 1990s and the rest born in the 1970s, the newspaper said, adding that most of those who took part in the poll earned less than 5000 yuan ($800) per month.”
via State Media Survey: It’s the Wealth Gap, Stupid. – China Real Time Report – WSJ.
See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/11/05/china-authorities-pushing-happiness-amid-rising-discontent/
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.
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.
08/10/2012
* Over 660,000 Chinese officials punished in five years
Chinese authorities continue to chase and punish corruption by officials, which the Chinese Communist Party recognises as one of the dangers facing a single-party governing body.
Xinhua: “Anti-corruption bodies of the Communist Party of China (CPC) have punished more than 660,000 officials guilty of disciplinary violations in the past five years, senior leader He Guoqiang announced on Monday.
More than 24,000 officials were transferred to the judicial system for suspected crimes, said He, head of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
Procuratorial and discipline inspection authorities across the country investigated more than 640,000 corruption cases from November 2007 to June this year. More than 630,000 of the cases have been resolved, according to He.
A series of major cases, including those involving former Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai, former Railways Minister Liu Zhijun and former Shenzhen mayor Xu Zongheng, were relentlessly pursued, said He.
Investigating corruption cases is a long-term task in the process of building a clean government, said the head of the commission.
He urged institutions to put the “handling of disciplinary violation cases” at the top of the agenda and to always crackdown on corruption.
The corrupt ones, no matter who are involved, will be relentlessly followed and will never be given a chance of escaping punishment in accordance with Party discipline and the law, He said.
The head of the commission noted that improvements have been made in the way various departments cooperate to prevent corrupt officials fleeing to foreign countries and to strengthen overseas arrest.
He also urged anti-corruption authorities to learn and grasp the effective measures in the past five years to promote the combat against corruption and to build a clean party and government.
via Over 660,000 officials punished in five years – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
Related articles
- https://chindia-alert.org/prognosis/chinese-challenges/
- Bo Xilai expelled from CPC, public office (news.xinhuanet.com)
- Chinese anti-corruption official hopeful of improvement (wantchinatimes.com)
- China faces challenges when supervising government power (capitalfm.co.ke)
01/10/2012
* Dalits see smallest rise in wages
One day in the distant future, India may turn its back on the Aryan invented caste system of which the Dalit is the lowest caste. In fact it is even lower than that as it is actually outside of the caste categories. Until then, inequalities will continue and a large percentage of the Indian population will not contribute to the national economy to the extent that they have the potential to do.
We know that in theory, the caste system is not supposed to be applied. We also know about the positive discrimination that central government and the education system applies. But until the common man and woman on the street decide that the caste system is centuries out of date and to be shunned, news items like the one below will continue.
Times of India: “Dalits have once again lost out, this time on wages in rural areas. A first-of-its-kind data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revealed that during the last eight years – between April, 2004 and March, 2012 – the daily wages of cobblers in rural areas rose by 95%, the worst show among the 17 categories listed by the government’s Labour Bureau. The all-India data compiled recently is, however, limited to wages paid to male workers.
Similarly, sweepers, who are also dalits, saw wages rise 109% to Rs 106 a day last March compared to a tad less than Rs 51 when the UPA came to power in mid-2004.
When it comes to actual wages, they remained the second worst paid after herdsmen, who were the only category earning less than Rs 100 a day till March. In terms of growth, sweepers managed to marginally pip blacksmith, whose wages jumped 108% and saw the second slowest rise.
Where the wages have really boomed is in farm-related activities with winnowing and picking topping the charts with a growth of 169% and 158%, respectively. Unlike cobblers or sweepers, in rural areas wages for unskilled workers also shot up 153% to Rs 151 a day.
What may come as a surprise to many is that the wage increase in the top three segments — winnowing, picking and unskilled labour — was more rapid that the rise in per capita income during this period.
According to Central Statistics Office, per capita income at current prices was estimated at Rs 24,143 in 2004-05, which went up 151% to Rs 60,603 in 2011-12. In terms of daily income, the rise was Rs 66 in 2004-05 to Rs 166.
via Dalits see smallest rise in wages – The Times of India.
See also:
- https://chindia-alert.org/prognosis/indian-challenges/
- https://chindia-alert.org/political-factors/indian-tensions/
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- Separate electorate for Dalits still relevant, says Mavalli Shankar (thehindu.com)
- A ray of hope for Dalit women (thehindu.com)
- Dalit women at the receiving end (thehindu.com)
- What can a ‘sincere’ Dalit do? (drambedkarbooks.wordpress.com)
- Stop Attacking Dalit Statues and Dalit Pride (drambedkarbooks.wordpress.com)
- Dalits in want of basic needs (thehimalayantimes.com)
- What can a ‘sincere’ upper caste person do? (drambedkarbooks.wordpress.com)
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