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Beware the Waking Dragon
The transit elevated bus TEB-1 is on road test in Qinhuangdao, North China’s Hebei Province, Aug 2, 2016. China’s home-made transit elevated bus, TEB-1, conducted a road test running Tuesday.
The 22-meter-long, 7.8-meter-wide and 4.8-meter-high TEB-1 can carry up to 300 passengers. The passenger compartment of this futuristic public bus rises far above other vehicles on the road, allowing cars to pass underneath. [
Source: Road test for homegrown transit elevated bus[1]| Innovation
China is putting a face on the economic pessimism it accuses of helping weaken the yuan and the economy: billionaire investor George Soros.
A front-page commentary published in some editions of People’s Daily on Tuesday appeared to warn Mr. Soros would lose any bets he made based on a recent prediction that hard economic times for China are “unavoidable.”
Other state media followed suit. Denouncing “radical speculators,” China’s official Xinhua News Agency dismissed the famed currency trader’s view as “the same prediction several times.” The Global Times, in its English edition, asked, “So why are so many Western pundits and media outlets so intent on talking China down?”
The rhetorical shots come as China is making broader efforts with market interventions and rule adjustments to offset the impact of its slowest growth rate in a quarter century, shore up grinding stock markets and stem surging capital outflows. China’s state-run media regularly note concerns the economy is cooling, but they tend to highlight positive aspects of what the government describes as a broad economic restructuring.
The uniformity and prominent placement in government-run media of the challenges to foreign critics, including economists quoted by Western newspapers, appear to suggest growing concern in Beijing that negative sentiment is spreading.
State media warnings directed at private individuals like Mr. Soros are rare. But his legend as an investor stems from a career making profitable currency bets – both real and rumored – that are widely studied in China. It comes just as China’s central bank is taking steps to limit flight from the Chinese yuan by its huge middle class.
Suspicion in China that Mr. Soros is now placing bets against the yuan follow comments he made last week at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. “A hard-landing is practically unavoidable,” Mr. Soros told Bloomberg Television. “I’m not expecting it, I’m observing it.”
“Declaring war on China’s currency? Ha,” said the People’s Daily commentary, which appeared in the overseas edition, a newspaper aimed at Chinese living outside China. The paper serves as the official purveyor of Communist Party views, and the commentary was authored by a researcher at China’s Commerce Ministry. It wasn’t published in the domestic editions, though it did appear online.
A slowing economy means keeping the lights on in China is getting a whole lot easier.
The China Electricity Council, a state-backed industry group, is trimming its estimate of just how much power the country needs, after weak third-quarter economic data on Monday reinforced fears about a slowdown of China’s economy. The official Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday quoted Ouyang Changyu, deputy secretary general of the China Electricity Council, as saying the group had revised down its full-year electricity-demand estimate to 1% growth this year, from 2% previously. As recently as 2011, electricity demand had grown by 12% annually.
The revised estimate reflects both a slowdown in China’s overall growth rate—which is struggling to hit the government’s target of about 7% this year—as well as important changes in the type of growth China is experiencing. The government wants to make the country less reliant on the energy-intensive sectors that propelled growth for four decades and instead shift toward cleaner and higher-paying industries and companies, ranging from financial services to web-based startups. In the first nine months of 2015, electricity demand has grown by .8%, down from 3.9% growth in the same period last year.
Electricity demand that is falling far faster than the government’s GDP data is among the reasons economists and investors are skeptical over the accuracy of official growth figures. The government said Monday GDP rose 6.9% in the first quarter. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said in 2007 – back when he was a more junior official — that he relied on electricity data among other hard figures to get a truer picture of the country’s economic health.
Beyond electricity, other reasons for skepticism over the data include the decline of both imports and exports during the third quarter, weaker-than-expected industrial production and decelerating fixed-asset investment.
The ramifications of China’s slowing demand for electricity are global, and could contribute to weaker bottom lines at big companies such as coal and natural gas producers. Hong Kong-listed coal giant China Shenhua Energy Co. said its coal sales had plummeted by nearly one-fifth this year. The company is exporting far more coal this year than it’s importing — a sharp turnabout from 2014, when it imported four times as much coal as it exported.
The decline in electricity demand growth could also further weigh on natural gas—a cleaner alternative to coal in electricity production—which has suffered from stagnant demand this year.
Source: Powering Down: Chinese Electricity Demand Stalls Amid Slowing Growth – China Real Time Report – WSJ
The Chinese government provided free legal aid services for nearly 1.39 million people in 2014 to help them safeguard their rights, the Economic Daily reported on Monday.
More than one-third of them are migrant workers who are vulnerable to job dismissal and withheld wages and know little about the legal system, the report said, quoting the Ministry of Justice.
The ministry’s statistics showed that about 10 percent more migrant workers than last year said they would like to seek legal assistance if their rights are violated.
Legal service centers have been springing up in streets, communities and prisons across China. The number of new legal service centers in 2014 totaled 70,000, the ministry said. The country will guide more legal service agencies to provide assistance to suspects and defendants in prisons.
It also promised to lower the eligibility standard for people to receive legal assistance and expand services for military personnel.
via 1.39 million Chinese receive legal assistance – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
China plans to help about 100 million people without urban ID records to settle in towns and cities by 2020, as part of reforms to phase out its dual-household registration system, the State Council, China’s cabinet, said on Wednesday.
It issued a circular aimed at accelerating reform of the nation’s household registration, or “hukou,” system.
The document said the government will remove the limits on hukou registration in townships and small cities, relax restrictions in medium-sized cities, and set qualifications for registration in big cities.
The rights and benefits of residents who do not have urban ID records in the city where they live should be safeguarded, the document added.
At a press conference on Wednesday, vice public security minister Huang Ming said different approaches will be applied in the hukou system, based on the size and population of a city.
Authorities will set no limits for those who want to settle in small cities and towns. “Anyone who has a legal residence can register for permanent residence, even temporary tenants,” Huang said.
Medium-sized cities with a population between one million and three million will have a low threshold, while megacities with more than five million residents will try to strictly control the influx of new citizens.
People wishing to settle in megacities like Beijing and Shanghai will have to qualify through a “points system” based on their seniority in employment, their accommodation and social security, according to Huang.
Megacities “face a lot population pressure, with an annual floating population of hundreds of thousands,” the official said.
via China Focus: Hukou reforms to help 100 mln Chinese – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
China has charged former senior army officer Gu Junshan with corruption, state news agency Xinhua said, in what is likely to be the country’s worst military scandal since a vice admiral was jailed for life for embezzlement in 2006.
In a renewed campaign on graft, Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to go after both powerful “tigers” and lowly “flies”, warning that the issue is so severe it threatens the ruling Communist Party’s survival.
Gu has been charged with corruption, taking bribes, misuse of public funds and abuse of power, Xinhua said on one of its official microblogs on Monday. He will be tried by a military court, it added.
Three sources with ties to the leadership or military, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Gu also sold military positions.
Gu has been under investigation for corruption since he was sacked as deputy director of the logistics department of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in 2012, sources have said.
Sources told Reuters this month that Xu Caihou, 70, who retired as vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission last year and from the Communist Party’s decision-making politburo in 2012, was under virtual house arrest while helping in the probe into Gu.
As one of Gu’s main supporters in his rise through the ranks, Xu is being implicated in ignoring, or at least failing to report, Gu’s alleged misdeeds.
Reuters has not been able to reach either Xu or Gu for comment. It is not clear if they have lawyers.
via China charges former senior military officer with graft: Xinhua | Reuters.
China has loosened its family planning policy by allowing couples to have a second child if either parent is an only child. Unfortunately, the policy has resulted in discrimination against some married women who are looking for jobs or are already employed, according to the Xinhua News agency.
Xia Fang, a Changsha local who gave birth to her first child 10 months ago, said that during job interviews she is always asked if she is an only child or if she plans to have a second child.
“I don’t plan to have a second child. But when potential employers learn that my first child is a girl, they think I’m likely to have another baby,” said Xia.
Before the second-child policy was introduced, married women with children and work experience had an advantage in the job market, but now they are being confronted with gender discrimination again, Xia added.
Female employees of child-bearing age are being affected, as well. A white collar worker surnamed Liu said she was passed over for a promotion that went to a young man, because her boss thought she might plan to have a second child.
“Women have to work harder to be given equal status in the workplace. And many face pressure from their families to have second children, which can affect their career prospects,” Liu said.
“Companies can predict the cost of a female employee’s maternity leave when they’re allowed to give birth to only one child,” said Li Bin, a professor of sociology at Zhongnan University. “But some middle and small-sized companies can’t bear the costs of two leaves in a few years.”
via 2nd-child policy hurts female job application – China – Chinadaily.com.cn.
China will integrate the basic old-age insurance systems for rural and urban residents to allow people to have equal access to the pension scheme, according to an executive meeting of the State Council on Friday.
China’s separate systems for rural residents and retired company employees in urban areas have basically included everyone in the country, according to the meeting.
China will integrate the two systems and build a unified pension system covering both urban and rural residents, said the meeting.
The meeting, presided over by Premier Li Keqiang, said the move will facilitate population movement and build stable expectations for livelihood improvement.
It will also boost consumption and encourage more business start-ups, said the meeting.
via China to build unified pension system – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
Trapped Chinese research vessel and icebreaker Xuelong on Monday is continuing to make the necessary preparations for possible escape from heavy sea ice in the next 48 hours.
Starting from early morning Tuesday, Xuelong will enforce a 48-hour highest-level emergency state, closely monitoring the movements of surrounding floes and icebergs and standing ready to break through.
Wu Jianjie, chief engineer of Xuelong, told Xinhua on Monday that all machines on the icebreaker are operating well.
Experts from China\’s National Marine Environment Forecasting Center (NMEFC) said that until Wednesday, the area where Xuelong is trapped will be affected by a warm wet air current from the north and see a westerly wind hopefully create favorable conditions for Xuelong to break through.
The icy edge of the area, six km east of Xuelong, has begun to loosen, and some small ice-free pools have appeared in the area.
The experts added that the icebergs near Xuelong do not currently pose any threat to the vessel, however, an unfavorable south-easterly wind is expected on Thursday.
Xuelong has been making preparations to free itself, warming up its engine and broadening an \”ice-breaking runway\” by sailing back and forth over a kilometer.
The icebreaker has been trapped in the area since Friday, one day after its helicopter Xueying evacuated all 52 passengers from the stranded Russian ship Akademik Shokalskiy to the Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis.
via Xuelong stands ready to break through in 48 hours – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
See also:
China will launch a nationwide work safety overhaul this month to prevent the occurrence of major accidents, the country\’s work safety watchdog said on Saturday.
The State Administration of Work Safety will send 16 teams to oversee safety checks in 31 provinces, regions and municipalities and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps., with each team in charge of two places.
Safety measures should be enhanced in industries including coal mines, transportation, hazardous chemicals and fireworks, as well as in public places, according to the administration.
A special safety overhaul on the country\’s oil and gas pipeline will begin in early March, the administration said.
China witnessed a series of tragedies in 2013. A fire at a poultry factory on June 3 in northeast China\’s Jilin Province claimed 121 lives. In November, 62 people died in an oil pipeline blast in Qingdao City of east China\’s Shandong Province.
via China to launch nationwide safety overhaul – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
continuously updated blog about China & India
continuously updated blog about China & India
continuously updated blog about China & India
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 