Something like this used to be for Singapore care owners.
24/04/2013
* Australia’s central bank to invest in Chinese bonds
BBC: “Australia’s central bank is planning to invest around 5% of its foreign currency reserves in Chinese government bonds, its deputy governor has said.
It will be the first time the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will invest in sovereign bonds of an Asian country other than Japan.
The RBA has foreign currency reserves of A$38.2bn ($39.2bn; £25.7bn).
Earlier this month, the Australian dollar became the third currency to trade directly with the Chinese yuan.
“This decision to invest in China is an important one,” Philip Lowe, deputy governor of the RBA said in a speech to the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.
“It reflects the broader economic relationship between China and Australia and our increasing financial ties.
“It provides greater diversification of our investments and will help with our understanding of the Chinese financial markets,” he added.”
via BBC News – Australia’s central bank to invest in Chinese bonds.
25/03/2013
* China pulls 1,000 dead ducks from Sichuan river
BBC: “Around 1,000 dead ducks have been pulled from a river in southwest China, local officials say.
Residents found the dead ducks in Nanhe river in Pengshan county, Sichuan province, and alerted the environmental department, they said.
Local residents and livestock were not at risk as the river was not used for drinking water, officials added.
The news comes as the toll of dead pigs pulled from Shanghai’s Huangpu river passed 16,000.
Speaking in an interview with China National Radio on Sunday, Liang Weidong, a deputy director in Pengshan’s publicity department, said that the authorities were first made aware of the ducks on Tuesday.
Officials discovered over 50 woven bags which contained the carcasses of around 1,000 ducks in the river.
They were unable to determine the cause of death as some of the ducks were already decomposed, Mr Liang said, adding that the bodies had been disinfected and buried.
An initial investigation suggested that the duck corpses had originated from upstream and were not dumped by local Pengshan farmers, he said.”
via BBC News – China pulls 1,000 dead ducks from Sichuan river.
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- Dead pigs in China river exceed 13,000 (seeddaily.com)
22/03/2013
* As Pollution Worsens in China, Solutions Succumb to Infighting
NY Times: “China’s state leadership transition has taken place this month against an ominous backdrop. More than 16,000 dead pigs have been found floating in rivers that provide drinking water to Shanghai. A haze akin to volcanic fumes cloaked the capital, causing convulsive coughing and obscuring the portrait of Mao Zedong on the gate to the Forbidden City.
So severe are China’s environmental woes, especially the noxious air, that top government officials have been forced to openly acknowledge them. Fu Ying, the spokeswoman for the National People’s Congress, said she checked for smog every morning after opening her curtains and kept at home face masks for her daughter and herself. Li Keqiang, the new prime minister, said the air pollution had made him “quite upset” and vowed to “show even greater resolve and make more vigorous efforts” to clean it up.
What the leaders neglect to say is that infighting within the government bureaucracy is one of the biggest obstacles to enacting stronger environmental policies. Even as some officials push for tighter restrictions on pollutants, state-owned enterprises — especially China’s oil and power companies — have been putting profits ahead of health in working to outflank new rules, according to government data and interviews with people involved in policy negotiations.
For instance, even though trucks and buses crisscrossing China are far worse for the environment than any other vehicles, the oil companies have delayed for years an improvement in the diesel fuel those vehicles burn. As a result, the sulfur levels of diesel in China are at least 23 times that of the United States. As for power companies, the three biggest ones in the country are all repeat violators of government restrictions on emissions from coal-burning plants; offending power plants are found across the country, from Inner Mongolia to the southwest metropolis of Chongqing.
The state-owned enterprises are given critical roles in policy-making on environmental standards. The committees that determine fuel standards, for example, are housed in the buildings of an oil company. Whether the enterprises can be forced to follow, rather than impede, environmental restrictions will be a critical test of the commitment of Mr. Li andXi Jinping, the new party chief and president, to curbing the influence of vested interests in the economy.”
via As Pollution Worsens in China, Solutions Succumb to Infighting – NYTimes.com.
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13/03/2013
* China pulls nearly 6,000 dead pigs from Shanghai river
BBC: “Officials say the number of pig carcasses found in Shanghai‘s Huangpu River has risen to nearly 6,000.
In a statement, Shanghai authorities said that 5,916 dead pigs had been removed from the river by Tuesday.
But they said water from the river was safe, with water quality meeting government-set standards.
It is believed that the pigs may have come from Jiaxing in the neighbouring Zhejiang province, although the cause of their deaths is still not clear.
In a statement, the Shanghai municipal government said that the water in Huangpu River, which is a major source of drinking water for Shanghai, was safe. It also said that no diseased pork had been detected in markets.
However, the news has been met with scepticism by some users on weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, where the hashtag “Huangpu River dead pigs” has emerged.
“Cadres and officials, we are willing to provide for you, but please don’t let us die from poisoning. Otherwise who will serve you? Please think twice,” said netizen Shi Liqin.
“This river’s colour is about the same as excrement, even if there weren’t dead pigs you couldn’t drink it,” said another, with the username Yuzhou Duelist.
The general mood is of concern, rather than outrage or panic, reports the BBC’s John Sudworth in Shanghai, as the Chinese public are well used to food scandals, such as the use of oil scraped from sewers for cooking, and plasticiser found in baby formula.”
via BBC News – China pulls nearly 6,000 dead pigs from Shanghai river.
09/03/2013
* Some Chinese Seek a Divorce to Avoid Real Estate Tax
NYT: “When the Chinese government announced new curbs on property prices this month, homeowners bombarded social networking sites with complaints. They formed long lines at property bureaus to register to sell their homes before the restrictions went into effect.
And some couples went even further: they filed for divorce.
Divorce filings shot up here and in other big cities across China this past week after rumors spread that one way to avoid the new 20 percent tax on profits from housing sales was to separate from a spouse, at least on paper.
The surge in divorce filings is the latest indication of how volatile an issue real estate has become in China in the past decade and how resistant people are to additional taxes.
Worried that housing prices are spiraling out of control and threatening social stability, the central government regularly rolls out measures aimed at damping demand and weeding out speculators.
Then home buyers, sellers, property developers and even local governments — which are typically heavily dependent on land sales for income — try to find ways to get around the restrictions.
“They always do this,” said Du Jinsong, a property analyst in Hong Kong for Credit Suisse. “When they implement new measures, people are always trying to circumvent the rules.”
China’s housing market has been one of the prime engines of economic growth in the past decade, and recently a sharp upturn in prices has reignited fears about inequality and a housing bubble.
On March 1, just days before the opening of China’s annual legislative session, the powerful State Council, which is led by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, announced a series of new property measures that analysts say unsettled the housing market.
In its statement, the State Council, or cabinet, said that local governments should strictly enforce an earlier rule that ordered people selling a secondary home to pay a 20 percent tax on the profit.
Almost immediately, housing administration bureaus and real estate trading centers in big cities were flooded with people hoping to sell their apartments before the restrictions took effect. (Most local governments have not yet announced a deadline.)”
via Some Chinese Seek a Divorce to Avoid Real Estate Tax – NYTimes.com.
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01/03/2013
* Hurun rich list stirs Chinese zodiac discussion
English: The carvings with Chinese Zodiac on the ceiling of the gate to Kushida Shrine in Fukuoka ) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
SCMP: “The publication of the Hurun Global Rich List 2013, which revealed the top 10 wealthiest Chinese billionaires, on Thursday has triggered discussion among Chinese netizens about the Chinese zodiac signs of the rich.
The dragon is the most common zodiac sign among the billionaires, followed by the horse, said a post by China’s Global Times.
Commenting on the list of billionaires, one netizen wrote, “Chinese officials must be laughing at this so-called ‘rich list’.”
Others chimed in with comments on Chinese zodiac signs. “Dragons are born with a kind of self-confidence. They are destined to play a strong role,” one said.
Another claimed, “I will give birth to a ‘dragon baby’ and a ‘horse baby’!”
A third wrote, “Global Times, mind your own business.”
The report, compiled by the Shanghai-based Hurun Research Institute, showed that Hong Kong entrepreneurs make up the majority of the list, followed by those from Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
The top industry sector favoured by the Chinese billionaires on the list is real estate, followed by manufacturing, finance and investment, and information technology.”
via Hurun rich list stirs Chinese zodiac discussion | South China Morning Post.
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01/03/2013
For most Chinese, this sign will raise a wry smile. It obviously harks back to the early 1900s
when the famous Bund Park in Shanghai featured a sign of regulations that included
restricting the park to Western community and that dogs were not allowed. In Bruce Lee’s famous ‘Fist of Fury’ it was abbre
viated to “Chinamen and dogs not allowed”.
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28/02/2013
* A Silicon Valley Campus with Chinese Characteristics
Reuters: “Like most of China’s high-tech manufacturers, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. is located in an outsized and relatively isolated technology park.
But unlike the bulk of China’s electronics manufacturers, which set up cramped dormitories and massive dining facilities to manage legions of workers who come to do basic assembly, SMIC’s campus is actually pleasant.
Located within walking distance of its production facilities, apartment buildings in SMIC’s residential zone are brightly painted and framed by well-manicured trees. A short stroll across a canal leads to an area populated by villas that seem more suited to an American Sun Belt suburb than a technology park in Shanghai’s Pudong district.”
via A Silicon Valley Campus with Chinese Characteristics – China Real Time Report – WSJ.
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CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 