This post supports my view that the Chinese authorities are trying very hard to listen to the people.
29/07/2012
* Tailored in China, for Team World
China Daily: “The record number of Olympic teams clad in clothes bearing Chinese innovations brings a “made-in-China” to “created-in-China” paradigm shift to the London Games. Erik Nilsson, Wu Ying, Cecily Liu, Wang Zhenghua and Tiffany Tan report.
While much ado has been made about the fact that Team USA‘s uniforms for the London Olympics are made in China, less attention has been given to the record number of foreign teams’ uniforms not only manufactured, but also designed, by domestic companies.
Leading the pack is home-grown label Peak, which sponsors seven countries that will participate in 20 events in London, a major backer at the Games after Nike and Adidas. Because the design process takes months – it may take up to a year until manufacturing is complete – Peak had to turn away 10 countries that approached it for the 2012 Games.
Next up is Li-Ning, named after and founded by the Chinese Olympic champion, which sponsors teams from eight countries and more than 600 individual athletes from 17 countries across the five continents – one for every Olympic ring.
Other companies with foreign clients include Adivon, Qiaodan, Erke, 361 and Xtep. A far greater number of domestic companies manufacture uniforms, apparel and merchandise developed at home and abroad.
“The phenomenon indicates domestic sportswear companies are rapidly growing and earning a say on the international stage,” says Jian Jie, senior sponsorship products manager of Li-Ning’s sports resources products department.
“It also shows that brand influence becomes increasingly important in the sportswear field and ‘made in China’ is gradually transforming to ‘created in China’. The alliance between a domestic brand and an international brand can internationalize Chinese brands and generate greater access to the partner’s market.
“The alliance during the Olympics can also increase the exposure of the domestic brand, promote its brand value and further its recognition at home and abroad. Through cooperation with the foreign brands, domestic brands can also improve.””
via Tailored in China, for Team World[1].
Related articles
- Olympic Torch: Reid Call to Burn China-Made Uniform (foxnews.com)
29/07/2012
* China Court Dismisses Ni Yulan’s Fraud Conviction
NY Times: “A Chinese appeals court on Friday threw out a fraud conviction against a human rights activist who has fought on behalf of people evicted from their homes, but it upheld a separate conviction against her for causing a disturbance, her lawyers said.
A lower court had ruled that the activist, Ni Yulan, and her husband, Dong Jiqin, acted in an unruly way when they failed to pay for their stay at a hotel — where they had been detained by the police — and mistreated staff members. It also ruled that Ms. Ni had received money through deceit.
One of her lawyers, Cheng Hai, said the higher court, the Beijing First Intermediate Court, had rescinded the fraud conviction and reduced Ms. Ni’s prison sentence by two months to two years and six months after the person who gave Ms. Ni the money told the court it was a donation.
“We consider it a success,” said Dong Qianyong, another lawyer for Ms. Ni.
Public disturbance convictions against the couple remain, and Dong Jiqin’s two-year sentence handed down by the lower court stands, Mr. Cheng said.
Mr. Cheng said he planned to appeal again for Ms. Ni’s release.”
via China Court Dismisses Ni Yulan’s Fraud Conviction – NYTimes.com.
Yet another indication that China is softening its approach towards dissidents.
See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/05/20/china-dissident-chen-guangcheng-arrives-in-the-us/
29/07/2012
* Bo wife murder charge vexes skeptical Chinese
Reuters: “China’s ruling Communist Party might insist that the murder charge against Gu Kailai, the wife of ousted Politburo member Bo Xilai, is a simple case of all being equal before the law, but winning over the jury of public opinion is proving tough.
Since China’s last big political scandal — the purge of Shanghai party chief Chen Liangyu in 2007 — its citizens have flocked to sign up to the Twitter-like microblogging site Sina Weibo, ensuring this time there will be lively public debate about the case against Bo and Gu, despite tight censorship.
In its first official statement on Gu’s case since April, state news agency Xinhua ran a brief report last week saying China will try Gu on charges of murdering a British businessman. The news spread rapidly on Weibo.
While state media generally stuck to reprinting that story, the influential tabloid the Global Times on Friday wrote an editorial warning nobody was above the law.
But that is a line the party is going to have a hard time convincing people is true, as suspicion swirls that populist politician Bo and his wife Gu are victims of a power struggle — and no more corrupt than other Chinese leaders.
People already have little faith in government statements despite repeated pledges to be transparent, after the SARS cover-up in 2003, among others, and refusal to discuss events such as the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing.”
via Bo wife murder charge vexes skeptical Chinese | Reuters.
See also:
29/07/2012
* China waste water pipeline scrapped after protest
BBC News: “Authorities in China say a project to build a waste water pipeline in the city of Qidong has been scrapped after a protest over pollution.
Demonstrators took to the streets of the city, north of Shanghai, and ransacked local government offices. They said the pipeline, proposed as part of a paper-making company, would pollute their coastal waters.
China has seen rising anger about environmental damage after three decades of rapid economic growth.
The thousands of protesters overturned cars as well as storming the local government offices and throwing documents from the windows. Items which the protesters allege are often received as bribes by officials – such as wine – were also seized from the offices, reports say.”
via BBC News – China waste water pipeline scrapped after protest.
Yet another example that ‘people power’ is beginning to affect decisions by local authorities in China.
See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/07/03/china-factory-construction-halted-amid-violent-protests/
24/07/2012
* Second child is a growing option
China Daily: “Increasing number of eligible parents want another baby.
Beijing mother Han Xue had a second child last year, 10 years after her first. But despite eligibility the process was far from easy and entailed a bureaucratic paper chase.
Han, 31, felt that two children would keep each other company and provide better support to her and her husband in old age.
“As soon as my first child turned 4, we filed an application for a permit to have a second child to the government office that oversees the street where I was born,” Han said.
Han and her husband were both single children and allowed, under the family planning policies introduced in the 1970s, to have a second child.
An increasing number of parents in this category are opting to do so.
Nanjing offers a prime example. Applications filed in the capital of Jiangsu province surged to 600 last year from 85 in 2007, family planning authorities said.
Meanwhile, the number of urban couples eligible to have two children has also increased as the single-child generation comes of marriageable age.
About 10,000 couples are eligible in Nanjing annually, and authorities estimate that by 2015 up to 17 percent of couples in the city will be entitled to have two children.
Already, about 15 percent of women in Nanjing who booked maternity beds for the second half of 2012 were expecting their second baby.
Since 1985, couples in the province are allowed a second child if both parents were single children.
In the province of Jiangxi, the story is much the same.”
via Second child is a growing option |Society |chinadaily.com.cn.
24/07/2012
* CNOOC to buy Nexen for $15.1 billion in China’s largest foreign deal
Reuters: “State-controlled CNOOC Ltd launched China’s richest foreign takeover bid yet on Monday by agreeing to buy Canadian oil producer Nexen Inc for $15.1 billion, forcing Ottawa to decide whether security concerns outweigh its desire for foreign investment in its energy resources.
CNOOC, China’s third-largest oil company, hopes to sell the deal to shareholders and the government with a hefty 61 percent premium to Nexen’s Friday stock price. It promised to retain all employees and to make Canada home base for its Western Hemisphere operations.
CNOOC is offering $27.50 cash a share for Nexen, which has oil sands operations in the Canadian province of Alberta, shale gas in the province of British Columbia and extensive exploration and production holdings in the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico and offshore West Africa.
The initial shareholder reaction was enthusiastic. Shares of Nexen, whose board unanimously approved the deal, surged C$9.06, or 52 percent, to C$26.35 in Toronto on Monday.
…
The move is the most ambitious foray by resource-hungry China into North American energy since a 2005 attempt to buy U.S.-based Unocal for $18.5 billion was thwarted by a political backlash there.
Chinese companies have been among the most aggressive in targeting assets around the globe to help feed demand in the world’s second-biggest economy.
As for Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has pushed to attract more energy investments from China. The CNOOC deal shows his efforts are bearing fruit, and Canada has more reasons to accept the deal than to veto it.
“For Canada, this agreement provides a stable source of investment for the many projects that Nexen operates, which includes the exploitation of bitumen in Alberta,” CNOOC Chief Executive Li Fanrong said in a conference call.
“Because we intend to be a local company as much as a global one, we also intend to seek a listing for CNOOC Ltd on the Toronto Stock Exchange.”
The deal is subject to a review by the Industry Ministry, which by law must decide if the takeover would bring a “net benefit” to Canada.
In its favor is both CNOOC’s commitments to Canada, and the fact that Nexen’s operations are mostly outside Canada.”
via CNOOC to buy Nexen for $15.1 billion in China’s largest foreign deal | Reuters.
See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/02/13/pattern-of-chinese-overseas-investments/
23/07/2012
* Chariots of Fire’s Eric Liddell is Chinese ‘hero’
BBC News: “The story of Scottish athlete Eric Liddell – a devout Christian who refused to take part in an Olympic race because it took place on a Sunday – became famous after being told in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire. But almost a century later, why is the athlete regarded as a hero in China?
In the corner of a quiet Chinese courtyard, 5,000 miles from Scotland, stands a memorial in Isle of Mull granite. The stone commemorates Eric Liddell – one of Scotland’s greatest Olympians – who is buried nearby. The stone was gifted by Edinburgh University after a Scottish engineer, Charles Walker, rediscovered his grave in the Chinese city of Weifang.
Eric Liddell won a gold medal at the 1924 Olympics in Paris
Liddell, the son of Christian missionaries, had been born in China in 1902 and lived there until he was five when he returned to Britain to be educated. While he was at Edinburgh University, Liddell excelled at athletics and also played rugby for the Scottish national team – as well as being a noted evangelist preacher.
At the 1924 Olympics in Paris, he famously refused to run on a Sunday, ruling him out of the 100 metres race to which he was best suited. Instead, he took part in the 400 metres race and, against the odds, still won a gold medal.
Soon after his Olympic triumph, Liddell finished his studies and returned to China to become a missionary. As well as religious duties, he worked as a science and sports teacher at the Anglo/Chinese College in Tianjin.
After the Japanese invasion in 1937, Liddell carried on his missionary work even when it became dangerous to do so. Liddell’s wife and children left China for Canada in 1941 but he stayed to help in any way he could.
In 1943 he was interned at Weifang and he died of a brain tumour just months before the end of World War II, at the age of 43.
Liddell’s achievements are taught at the school on the site of the prison camp
The prisoner-of-war camp which held about 2,000 Westerners is now a place of learning for 2,000 Chinese teenagers. Every new pupil at the school is taught about the camp and Eric Liddell’s achievements on and off the track
“This part of history is a great treasure for our school,” said head teacher, Zhao Guixia.
“We can see the great value of humanity, especially in Eric Liddell’s stories.”
In the camp, Liddell was affectionately known as “Uncle Eric” because he spent most of his time teaching children, organising sports and helping others.
via BBC News – Chariots of Fire’s Eric Liddell is Chinese ‘hero’.
Related articles
- Olympic hero Eric Liddell’s secret: roast beef (scotsman.com)
- A Race Well Run: Olympian Eric Liddell (nancycreative.com)
- Eric Liddell exhibition for champion who wouldn’t run on Sundays (guardian.co.uk)
- Scottish News: Chariots of Fire runner Eric Liddell’s daughter hits out at modern ‘greed’ (dailyrecord.co.uk)
- New exhibition on Eric Liddell: Olympic athlete and missionary (nationalarchives.gov.uk)
- Eric Liddell (jesusnameaboveall.wordpress.com)
- Eric Liddell’s Olympic spirit to live on at university (scotsman.com)
- Chariots of Fire: history gets the runaround (guardian.co.uk)
20/07/2012
* China’s health reforms for all
China Daily: “Vice-Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday urged the country to push forward with medical reform.
The basic public health insurance system has covered both urban and rural areas, but the system to insure people with acute diseases and serious chronological diseases has not yet been established, Li said. He said a person who suffers from such an illness is likely to impose a major financial burden on their whole family.
Li asked medical reformers to cover such diseases under the current public health insurance system.
He also suggested that the insurance industry and the government work together to help people combat such diseases. He said government, individuals and insurance companies can together share the burden of chronic disease.
China is set to build a “relatively sound” public service system and achieve “equalization” in public service supply by 2020, according to the country’s first national plan for public services.
The State Council issued the plan, which covers the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-15), on Thursday. It specifies the scope of public services and defines standards and operating mechanisms for the provision of services.
The basic public services listed cover eight major sectors — public education, labor and employment services, social security, social services, healthcare, population and family planning services, and housing services, as well as culture and sports.
“It establishes a future trend that each Chinese citizen, regardless of gender, social status, wealth or place of residence, is equally entitled to basic social services, which will be detached as an ultimate goal from the household registration system,” Hu Zucai, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a news conference.
Also, “it will help accelerate the transformation of the country’s economic growth pattern and boost domestic consumption”, he said.
“Promoting the equalization of basic public services is necessary to build a harmonious society and safeguard social fairness and justice,” he said.
At present, there are huge gaps in public service supply and access between urban and rural areas, different population groups and regions, Hu said.
For instance, the number of doctors serving every 1,000 people in urban areas is more than twice that in rural areas, according to the Ministry of Health.
To address discrepancies, the government will channel more social resources toward rural areas, poor regions and vulnerable social groups in order to ensure that all people have equal access to basic public services, Hu said.”
via China’s health reforms for all |Politics |chinadaily.com.cn.
20/07/2012
* ASEAN to claim common ground on South China Sea, but no communiqué
Reuters: “Southeast Asian states have reached a “common position” on the disputed South China Sea, but will not resurrect a joint communiqué aborted after unprecedented discord over the issue at a summit last week, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister said on Friday.
Marty Natalegawa sought to put a positive gloss on two days of shuttle diplomacy that failed to rally members of the Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) behind a belated, face-saving communiqué.
They had failed to agree the customary end-of-summit joint statement last Friday for the first time in the bloc’s 45-year history. The divisions follow a rise in incidents of naval brinkmanship involving Chinese vessels in the oil-rich waters that has sparked fears of a military clash.
Natalegawa told Reuters the 10 members had agreed on the components of an ASEAN “instrument” that would be issued by chair Cambodia later on Friday and would detail what was agreed upon during last week’s ASEAN Regional Forum in Phnom Penh, including the maritime dispute.
“We are trying so that other decisions made by the foreign ministers will be formulated in a different instrument for follow up,” Natalegawa told Reuters.
“The non-existence of a joint communiqué is behind us,” he said, adding that the customary communiqué was aborted last week because one of the four paragraphs relating to the South China Sea in the 132-paragraph draft could not be agreed on.
Disputes over how to address the increasingly assertive role of China – an ally of several ASEAN states – in the strategic waters of the South China Sea has placed the issue squarely as Southeast Asia’s biggest potential military flashpoint.
China has territorial claims over a huge area covering waters that Vietnam and the Philippines say they also have sovereignty over. All three countries are eager to tap possibly huge offshore oil reserves.
The failure to issue the communiqué and the bitter rows behind closed doors over what words to use and what to exclude have been a huge embarrassment for a 10-member bloc planning to form an EU-style economic community by 2015.
The row illustrated how Southeast Asian nations have been polarized by China’s rapidly expanding influence in the region and the economic dependence on Beijing that some of ASEAN’s poorer states now have, among the Cambodia, this year’s chair.”
via ASEAN to claim common ground on South China Sea, but no communiqué | Reuters.
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- UPDATE2: S. China Sea row forces ASEAN to forego communique for 1st time in 45 years (english.kyodonews.jp)
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 