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Happy Thanksgiving, It is not a holiday in Beijing but we are celebrating friends this afternoon. We had a 9 Kg bird delivered yesterday from Fangshan, the Southwest suburb of Beijing that was hit hard in the July floods. It cost $2.90 a pound and while definitely not a free range, organic or heritage turkey it still looks tasty, and will look even better after it spends a few hours in the oven.
Today’s links:
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
Conference Board LEI for China Rose Sharply in Oct.-Caijing – The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for China increased 1.5 percent in the month to 245.5, following a 0.2 percent increase in September and a 1.7 percent increase in August, the association said today. Five of the six components contributed positively to the index in October, it said, with renewed real estate activity and upbeat consumer expectations the biggest contributors.
不良贷款岁末“促销”_财经频道_一财网 – 在这个发力围剿不良贷款的时节，银行的清收手段花样繁多；
Planned Auction of Non-profit Hospital Causes Concern – Caixin – A non-profit hospital is being auctioned in Beijing, and one expert said a sale could mean prospective buyers will illegally benefit. The Beijing Huanqiu Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a private community hospital that has operated for over a decade, is going under the hammer.
Rio Tinto Taps Feng Shui for Good Fortune in China: Commodities – Bloomberg – need a fengshui checkup// After weathering the collapse of a $19.5 billion deal in 2009 and the arrest of four executives, Rio Tinto Group (RIO) did what you do in China to court better fortune: It bought a jade horse. Standing at 1.2 meters, or almost four feet, the statue cut from the gemstone has a prime view of Shanghai from the company’s office on the 40th floor of the Wheelock Square building. It’s meant to help avoid any repeat of the rocky relationship the world’s second-biggest mining company has had with China, its largest customer and shareholder.
Toyota Says China Retail Sales Rebounding After Protests – Bloomberg – Retail sales at its Chinese joint venture, GAC Toyota Motor Co., have rebounded close to levels before the wave of anti- Japan sentiment, Feng Xingya, executive vice president of the venture, said at a briefing in Guangzhou yesterday. The automaker cut production to ease pressure on the dealerships and stockpile levels have “reduced dramatically” in the past two months, he said.
Analysis: Investors make $100 billion bet on China’s drive up value chain | Reuters – China’s soaring wages and strengthening currency might blunt the competitive edge of exporters that have seen average pay double since 2007, but it won’t stop firms worldwide making a collective $100 billion bet on setting up shop here this year.
China Banking Regulator Indicates it will not Delay Basel III Capital Rules-Caijing – His remark came after the United States announced its decision to delay the implementation of the new tougher banking standards
POLITICS AND LAW
多维解析：孟建柱深得三代领导人认可 政法改革正当其时_多维新闻网 – 在2007年，因为主政江西政绩突出被调入中央后，
人民日报-认真学习深刻领会全面贯彻党的十八大精神 促进经济持续健康发展和社会全面进步 李克强 – missed this tuesday
Li Keqiang Urges More Urbanization to Support China’s Growth – Bloomberg – Urbanization is a “huge engine” of China’s future economic growth, Li, currently vice premier, said today in a full-page article on economic development on page three of People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece.
Exclusive: China’s backroom powerbrokers block reform candidates – sources | Reuters – interesting story, some of the Reuters reporting on the recent political machinations has been inconsistent, consider this titillating but by no means definitive// Retired leaders in China’s Communist Party used a last-minute straw poll to block two pro-reform candidates from joining the policymaking standing committee, including one who had alienated party elders, sources with ties to the leadership said
人民日报-科学发展观的历史地位和指导意义 刘云山 – liu yunshan page 3 people’s daily on the historical place of scientific development
China’s Communist party: how do you get admitted? | beyondbrics– Aspiring foreign communists farther afield are no longer able to join the CPC and emulate the adventures of Rittenberg and Alley – adventures that included several years in jail for both men during the Cultural Revolution. But Rittenberg says the CPC today is totally different from the party that he joined, anyway. “Whereas they once were servants of the people, they have become masters of the people,” says Rittenberg, who was recently in Beijing to promote a new documentary about his life, The Revolutionary. He believes the party became corrupted once it came into power. “Dictatorship gives you more dictatorship, not democracy,” he says.
三部门颁布12项禁令 规范中央金融企业负责人职务消费 – 新华时政 – 新华网 – 新华网北京１１月２１日电（记者徐蕊 韩洁）记者２１日从财政部获悉，近日，财政部、
China targets bank executives’ perks in anti-corruption drive | Reuters – China will ban executives from state-owned banks and financial companies from spending extravagantly on cars and houses, state news agency Xinhua said, in Beijing’s latest effort to clamp down on corruption and official waste
Women in China Leadership Fewer Than Under Mao: Chart of the Day – Bloomberg – Confucian meritocracy?…// The CHART OF THE DAY shows the falling percentage of women in the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee, a group of about 200 members that includes all seven men on the nation’s top decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee. Women accounted for 4.9 percent of the latest Central Committee unveiled last week, down from 7.6 percent in 1969, the year Nixon took office. Also shown is a ninefold surge in the number of women in the U.S. Congress during the same period.
Wenzhou villagers riot over substation they fear is health threat | South China Morning Post – More than 1,000 villagers have clashed with police in Wenzhou over the construction of an electrical substation, despite recent central government promises for changes to reduce “not in my backyard” movements.
Venting Wrath? Chinese Twitter User Detained After Posting Joke – China Real Time Report – WSJ – Mr. Zhai works at an investment company and studied ancient Chinese literature at prestigious Peking University, according to friends. He interacts regularly with Chinese activists and dissidents on Twitter, which is blocked in China but accessible to those with the know-how to circumvent the country’s Internet controls.
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
US accusations harmful to build safe cyber world – People’s Daily Online – The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Committee affiliated to U.S. Congress issued its annual report on Nov. 14, declaring that China has become the most threatening country in the cyber world. This is not the first irresponsible report issued by the Committee.
Wen Jiabao adamant on South China Sea claim– Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has made a strong defence of his country’s claim to almost all of the South China Sea after a summit of world leaders ended in bitter disagreement over how to ease tensions in the strategic and resource-rich waterways. “China’s act of defending its sovereignty is necessary and legitimate … and we have properly handled the incidents that were not of the making of China,” Mr Wen told 17 other leaders on the final day of the East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh, according to Chinese vice foreign minister Fu Ying.
China, Russia to strengthen military ties – Xinhua | English.news.cn– China has pledged to strengthen military ties with Russia during a visit by its defense minister Sergei Shoigu to Beijing. Vice Chairman of China’s Central Military Commission Xu Qiliang and Defense Minister Liang Guanglie met with Shoigu respectively on Wednesday.
Russians back down from leaked U.N. Internet proposal | Politics and Law – CNET News – Both versions of the Russian proposal justify warnings by government officials and policy advocates that some ITU member states — particularly Russia, China, and Iran — would use the conference to advance longstanding efforts to gain better control over key Internet resources currently managed by non-governmental, multi-stakeholder engineering groups such as the Internet Society and ICANN. These concerns were first raised in February by FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.
TECH AND MEDIA
YY Jumps After First IPO by Chinese Company in 7 Months – Bloomberg – congrats to yy. chinese media claims tiger global invested in last pre-ipo round at 19.55/share, so still far underwater. wonder if they can average down, or short?// American depositary receipts of Guangzhou, China-based YY, each representing 20 ordinary shares, climbed 7.7 percent to $11.31 in New York, after the IPO priced the ADRs at $10.50, the bottom of the company’s $10.50 to $12.50 target range. ADRs surged as much as 12 percent to $11.75 earlier.
阿里购新浪微博股权失败 因未谈拢价格 -财经网 – Netease finance reporting that rumored alibaba investment into sina weibo has collapsed over price disagreements..i am skeptical this was ever real, leak far too coincidental with sina share price collapse after earnings last week. Will Reuters follow up after writing about the alleged deal?
Fei Chang Dao: Websites Delete Story, Ban Forums, and Censor Searches Relating to Baidu Founder’s Private Life – baidu has good crisis pr, scrubbed this from internet very quickly. think it is untrue, surprised by who has been spreading this rumor and for how long//
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Fraud fighter: ‘Faked research is endemic in China’ – opinion – 19 November 2012 – New Scientist – Shi-min Fang (Fang Zhouzi) tells us how risking his life and libel writs to expose scientific misconduct in his native China has just won him the inaugural Maddox prize
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH
Baijiu standards called for – Globaltimes.cn – The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said the chemical residue found in the liquor likely comes from plastic containers, tubes and other materials used during a product’s production, storage and transport, reported Xinhua on Wednesday.
Shanghai tackles issue of sinking city |Society |chinadaily.com.cn – The local legislature in Shanghai on Tuesday started to discuss a draft regulation on preventing land subsidence, which aims to better supervise high-speed rail, underground transportation and other major municipal construction projects in the city.
In beautiful China, local polluters still hold sway | Reuters– Environment minister Zhou Shengxian reinforced the pledge at a briefing in Beijing last week, saying China needed to “quickly change the current situation in which too much emphasis is put on economic growth and too little on environmental protection”. Tianying, in the northwest of poor and landlocked Anhui, will test that commitment. Here, like hundreds of other blackspots from the strip-mined cities of the northeast to the mercury contaminated fields in the southwest, the local government is intimately entwined with the most powerful economic interests in town.
FOOD AND TRAVEL
China Tops America’s Fastest Growing Inbound Tourists Market-Caijing – China is now the 7th largest as well as the fastest growing inbound tourists market for the U.S.
BOOKS AND LITERATURE