News of Chinese pig giant Shuanghui (双汇集团) buying Smithfield Foods is hogging all my feeds this morning. The official press release Shuanghui International and Smithfield Foods Agree to Strategic Combination, Creating a Leading Global Pork Enterprise has a nice quote from Wan Long, the new global pig king:
“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Smithfield, which represents a historic opportunity for both companies and their stakeholders,” said Shuanghui chairman Wan Long. “Shuanghui is a leading pork producer in China and a pioneer in the Chinese meat processing industry with over 30 years of history. Smithfield is a leader in our industry and together we will be able to meet the growing demand in China for pork by importing high-quality meat products from the United States, while continuing to serve markets in the United States and around the world. The combination creates a company with an unmatched set of assets, products and geographic reach.”
Mr. Wan continued: “The acquisition provides Smithfield the opportunity to expand its offering of products to China through Shuanghui’s distribution network. Shuanghui will gain access to high-quality, competitively-priced and safe U.S. products, as well as Smithfield’s best practices and operational expertise. We were especially attracted to Smithfield for its strong management team, leading brands and vertically integrated model. We look forward to working with Larry Pope and the many talented employees at Smithfield to grow the combined company as a leading global pork and processed meat producer with the same vision and values of providing high-quality and safe products to consumers.”
Shuanghui is committed to continuing the long-term growth of Smithfield, and continuing to work with American farmers, producers and suppliers who have been critical to Smithfield’s success
My mom grew up in the tidewater region of Virginia and we ate a lot of Smithfield hams when I was younger. Smithfield is an iconic brand, though one that has not been flawless, as the Washington Post notes in Smithfield Foods to be bought by Chinese firm Shuanghui International:
The acquisition puts under Chinese ownership a prominent American brand and one of Virginia’s best known companies. The tidewater town of Smithfield has been synonymous with ham production for decades. With roots in a local packing plant, the parent company grew into a conglomerate that includes popular brands like Armour, sponsors the Richard Petty Motorsports Nascar team, and has developed genetic strains that the company’s annual report promotes as “the leanest hogs commercially available.”…
Smithfield has had its own environmental and financial troubles, including a $12 million fine levied in 1997 for several thousand clean water law violations, a clash with the state of North Carolina over manure-filled lagoons, and Humane Society complaints that led the company to agree to change some of its animal handling practices.
Shuanghui has had its share of scandals, as Reuters reports in China’s appetite for pork spurs $4.7 billion Smithfield deal:
Shuanghui itself became embroiled in a scandal over tainted meat two years ago, when it was forced to recall its Shineway brand meat products from store shelves on fear that some of it contained a banned feed additive called clenbuterol.
In that respect, the Smithfield deal may help quell Chinese concerns over the use of ractopamine, a similar additive commonly used by U.S. hog producers to bulk up animals with muscle instead of fat, without increasing the amount of feed.
Smithfield has been trying to stop using ractopamine, which has been banned in China and Russia, an effort that could enhance its appeal as an exporter.
The New York Times reports that Shuanghui:
was originally a state-run enterprise, until a division of Goldman Sachs and CDH Investments, one of China’s leading private equity firms, paid over $100 million several years ago to buy out the government’s interest.
Goldman exited a large portion of its position before the Clenbuterol scandal hit, making quite a nice return as the Wall Street Journal notes in Smithfield-Shuanghui Deal: The Goldman Sachs Connection:
Almost three years after the approval, Reuters reported that Goldman sold half its holding in the company, making roughly five times its initial investment. A Goldman fund still owns 5.2% of Shuanghui, according to a recent corporate filing.
Mother Jones asks if the US may be about to become one big factory farm for China?:
If Reuters is right that deal’s purpose is to grease the wheels of trade carrying US hogs to China and its enormous domestic pork market, then we’re looking at the further expansion of factory-scale swine farming here in the US: all of the festering troubles I listed above, intensified. For Smithfield itself, the deal is savvy, because Americans are eating less meat. In order to maintain endless profit growth, the company needs to conquer markets where per capita meat consumption is growing fast, and the China market itself represents the globe’s biggest prize in that regard…
In an ironic twist, China appears to be taking advantage of lax environmental and labor standards in the US to supply its citizens with something it can’t get enough of. Industrial pork: the iPhone’s culinary mirror image.
So could the combined company be known as “Hogconn”?
My favorite quote so far comes from the local Smithfield, Virgina newspaper:
Smithfield Director of Tourism Judy Winslow: “I’m happy to welcome a lot of Chinese visitors,” she said. “We hope they’ll come here and spend money in our shops.”
There will be a CFIUS review of the deal, the largest Chinese acquisition of an American company to date, but it is hard to see how it will not pass, even if the smell test may be a bit overwhelming. Is there any way to attach a condition to the deal that opens the China market for other US meat, and especially American beef?
Might President Obama consider serving Smithfield ham at the upcoming summit with President Xi, or would asking the Chinese leader to ingest ractopamine be seen as a diplomatic slight?
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Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
What Should Obama and Xi Accomplish at Their California Summit? | ChinaFile Conversation Susan Shirk and Orville Schell have contributed so far // We shouldn’t expect any major agreements or other “deliverables” to result from this meeting. The goal of the encounter is to establish the personal relationship between the two leaders and explore ways to dispel—or at least better manage—the mutual suspicions that have recently been dragging down the relationship. Both leaders are seeking to reassure one another that their intentions are not hostile.
Related: Assistant FM outlines upcoming Xi-Obama summit – Xinhua | English.news.cn It will be the first face-to-face meeting between the presidents of China and the United States since both nations carried out their most recent leadership transitions, Zheng Zeguang, assistant Chinese foreign minister, told a press briefing… “China would like to work with the United States to follow the consensus of leaders, innovate in thinking, take action, step up communication and coordination, promote exchanges and cooperation, and jointly build a China-U.S. cooperative partnership featuring mutual trust and common prosperity,” he said.
Authors deny Beijing’s role in commentary doubting Japan’s sovereignty of Okinawa – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun Two Chinese researchers denied that Beijing played a role in their essay that questioned Japan’s sovereignty over Okinawa, an argument that triggered outrage in Japan and sparked calls in China to “regain” the islands. Zhang Haipeng and Li Guoqiang told The Asahi Shimbun that their essay carried in the state-run People’s Daily on May 8 was meant to support Beijing’s position that the disputed Senkaku Islands belong to China…Zhang told The Asahi Shimbun that the Ryukyu question was not the focus of their commentary. “We referred to the Ryukyus as collateral evidence to prove that the Diaoyu Islands are part of China’s inherent territory,” Zhang said… Li distanced himself from calls on the Internet and in some Chinese media outlets for China to “recapture Okinawa.”
Related: This recent picture of Chinese and Japanese boats in very close proximity in the water around the disputed islands is worrisome. Risks of a mishap should not be underestimated.
Sprint, SoftBank agree to U.S. national security deal | Reuters To alleviate some national security concerns, SoftBank and Sprint agreed to several conditions, including giving the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice the power to review and veto new equipment purchases in certain circumstances. Sprint disclosed some of the conditions in its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. The companies would also appoint a new Sprint board member, to be approved by the U.S. government, to oversee national security compliance. As part of the deal with CFIUS, sources previously told Reuters that SoftBank had also agreed to remove equipment made by China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from Sprint and Clearwire Corp’s networks if the deal was completed by the end of 2016.
Related: Huawei Loser in SoftBank-Sprint Deal Over Alleged Spying – Bloomberg William Plummer, a spokesman for Huawei, in an interview called an exclusion from doing business with a U.S. carrier “a non-remedy for a legitimate concern.” “Pull any of the major global vendors out of the question and you have solved nothing, because they all rely on common global supply chains and they are all subject to common global vulnerabilities,” Plummer said. //so is Plummer saying that if the US government really wants to get comfortable it needs to require vendors whose equipment is installed in critical networks to remove any China-made components from their supply chains?
China Failure to Grow With $1 Trillion Credit Seen as Li Warning – Bloomberg The government’s broadest measure of credit rose 58 percent to a record 6.16 trillion yuan ($1 trillion) in January-to-March, when gross domestic product gained 7.7 percent, compared with 8.1 percent a year earlier. Each $1 in credit firepower added the equivalent of 17 cents in GDP, down from 29 cents last year and 83 cents in 2007, when global money markets began to freeze, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The diminishing returns to lending heighten focus on the need for what the International Monetary Fund said yesterday are “decisive” policy changes in the world’s second-largest economy.
Related: China Growth Outlook Cut by IMF as ‘Decisive’ Reforms Urged – Bloomberg Expansion will be about 7.75 percent this year and next, David Lipton, first deputy managing director of the IMF, said today at a press briefing in Beijing after concluding an annual review of China. In April, the IMF forecast growth of 8 percent this year and 8.2 percent expansion in 2014.
Related: Between cronyism and rebalancing in China | FT Alphaville The clearest immediate sign of new thinking is shown by the government’s decision not to introduce significant stimulus in the face of slowing economic growth. This marks a break from the behaviour of the last ten years when, despite high-level acknowledgement that growth was “unbalanced” and “unsustainable”, policymakers usually responded to slower growth by boosting investment. Premier Li Keqiang reiterated a fortnight ago that the government would rely on market mechanisms rather than stimulus to support growth.
Africa’s Malaria Battle: Fake Drug Pipeline Undercuts Progress – WSJ.com Customs records show the fake Coartem was shipped from China by a Guangzhou freight company called Starway International Ltd., whose listed address is a drab building also occupied by a record company. Aben Iduku Hubert, the owner of the company, is a Congolese businessman who divides his time between Guangzhou and Congo. He confirmed in a phone interview that he is the owner of Starway International Ltd. Both he and Starway’s day-to-day manager, Robert Ngapa, who is based in Guangzhou, said they didn’t know the loudspeakers contained medicine, and were unaware that the cargo had been seized. “You are the first to tell me [about the seizure],” Mr. Aben said. “We don’t export medicine.”
Ideological debate: Drawing the battle lines | The Economist It is highly unlikely, however, that Mr Xi is on the side of the liberals. In January remarks widely believed to have been made by him in an internal speech circulated on the internet (see here, in Chinese). He criticised unnamed people for suggesting that reform meant adopting “Western universal values”. A major reason for the Soviet Union’s collapse, he said, was a “wavering of its ideals and beliefs”. In recent days the internet in China has been abuzz with rumours of a stepped-up attempt by the Party to stifle academic discussion of universal values, press freedom and other issues it regards as politically sensitive (see this account by Global Voices, an online-media monitoring group).
When Leaders Become Students – Economic Observer Since 2002, China’s highest leaders have routinely attended lectures at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound on a diverse range of topics. Former speakers say nothing is off-limits and leaders are very enthusiastic. But speakers must be vetted for their expertise and political reliability.
Deaths Must Spur Gov’t to Act on Land Reform – Caixin – Hu Shuli The central government has made it clear that farmers’ rights to contracted land should be registered and certified within five years, while the registration and certification of their right to their land of residence should be launched as soon as possible. The State Council’s reform blueprint has also made it clear that all assets of land and property should come under a single registration system. Now is the time to speed up reform. The government must strengthen safeguards for property rights and overcome vested interests to lay the legal foundation for rural-urban migration.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
China to Target Newly Built Houses in Extended Property Tax: Report-Caijing politically impossible without some sort of grandfathering in like this // China has decided to target newly constructed houses in the expansion of a trialed property tax, with the southern city of Hangzhou probably to be involved in the next half of the year, Chinese media said. Impacts remain elusive two years after the property tax launched in Shanghai and Chongqing two years ago, prompting policymakers to decide to extend the program into more cities, the state-run China Securities Journal reported on Wednesday, citing an authority. “To launch the program smoothly, the government has already decided to tax newly constructed houses”, the source said, “House inventories will not be covered in the property tax”.
消费今年恐难成经济第一推动力 新华社——经济参考网 Economic Information says government unlikely to introduce new subsidies to stimulate consumption, several existing subsidy plans ending soon… 《经济参考报》记者从多方权威渠道获悉，今年应该不会再出台带有财政补贴的新消费刺激政策。至此，中国消费将正式步入“政策后时代”。业内专家表示，补贴政策到期的副作用会对今年消费增长带来不小的压力，当前我国扩大消费亟须完善顶层设计，并应尽快制定全国扩大消费战略规划。
债市稽查风暴继续 嘉实基金吴洪坚被警方带走调查|债市稽查|嘉实基金|吴洪坚_21世纪网 21st Century Herald says Harvest Fund Management manager Wu Hongjian has been taken away for investigation as part of continuing investigation into improprieties in the fixed income markets // 核心提示：中国债券市场稽查风暴仍在持续，继万家基金邹昱、中信证券杨辉之后，又一名货币市场的“明星人物”落马。这回是嘉实基金四届“金牛奖”得主吴洪坚。
监管层酝酿银行间债市改革框架 新华社——经济参考网 regulators looking at reforms for interbank debt market, as part of ongoing investigation into and cleanup up debt markets // 目前，央行、证监会和发改委等监管部门正在持续对“债市黑幕”进行调查和研究，调研的目的除了整肃黑幕外，还将为接下来的债券市场监管提供依据。据权威人士透露，监管层正在酝酿银行间债市改革框架，银行间市场或将进行发行和交易两方面制度改革。 近一个月来，监管部门的联合调查组一直紧密清查和整肃银行间的“债市黑幕”，而目前工作的重心正在转向对银行间债市的改革设计。权威部门人士告诉《经济参考报》记者，“最近，针对债市黑幕，监管部门的联席会议关注的重心是银行间债券市场的发行和交易制度设计和监管改革。”据透露，监管层今年还将进一步建立债券市场协调机制，中期票据和交易公司债将实现跨市场相互挂牌。
Highest price for land parcel — Shanghai Daily A developer paid 4.6 billion yuan (US$742 million) yesterday for a plot of land in Shanghai’s Changning District, the highest price registered in the city so far this year for a single parcel. The unnamed Beijing-based developer bought the 40,355-square-meter plot near the Hongqiao Road Metro station and designated for cultural/sport and retail/office uses at an average gross floor area price of 29,229 yuan per square meter, or 57 percent above its starting price.
Carlyle Buys 49% Stake in Two Chinese Shopping Malls on Demand – Bloomberg A company advised by Carlyle’s Asia real estate group bought a 49 percent stake in Suzhou In-City Mall and Hangzhou Gudun In-City Mall in eastern China, both owned and operated by SZITIC Commercial Property Co., according to an e-mailed statement. The financial terms were not disclosed. Carlyle is joining companies such as Hong Kong’s New World Department Store China Ltd. (825) to invest in Chinese malls. The country’s retail sales climbed 12.8 percent in April over a year earlier, recovering from the 12.6 percent pace a month earlier as the Chinese leadership vowed to improve the quality and efficiency of economic growth.
China’s Changing Profit Picture – China Real Time Report – WSJ Companies in China are still profitable despite slower economic growth, but the gap between industry leaders and laggards is widening. An Ernst & Young survey of 1,700 domestic and international firms in the country showed an average earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization margin of 21%, and only 3% of the respondents reporting losses on the operating level in the past financial year.
Q&A: (Almost) all you need to know about China Development Bank | beyondbrics In China’s Superbank, a book published late last year, Bloomberg reporters Henry Sanderson and Michael Forsythe peeled back the lid on CDB. With the bank entering a new era under Hu Huaibang, who took CDB’s helm last month, it seemed an opportune time for beyondbrics to check in with Messrs Sanderson and Forsythe. Without further ado, here is what they had to say about CDB – how it works, why it has come to be such a big force and what its future might hold.
Bond Default ‘Could Occur This Year’ – Caixin Calling for attention to the hidden risk in the country’s bond market, a credit rating expert has warned investors that a real bond default could happen this year. The warning came from Mao Zhenhua, founder of China Cheng Xin International Credit Rating Co. Ltd. (CCXI), a domestic ratings agency. Debt problems are a main trigger of financial turmoil, he said at the company’s annual conference on May 28.
土地差别化政策有望下半年取得突破 随着各地陆续展开实地调研，我国对土地差别化政策的探索正在进入实质性阶段。权威人士29日向中国证券报记者透露，按照现有进度，土地差别化政策有望在下半年取得突破。将在已有政策基础上，对相关产业用地给予具体政策支持。国土部将划定一些区域，继续推进试点。这位人士说，土地差别化政策的突破将主要体现在区域和产业两个层面。其中，在区域层面，针对土地资源禀赋、城镇化进程阶段和经济发展水平等的不同，东部地区和中西部地区，大城市和中小城市、小城镇土地利用政策将得到“差别化”对待。在产业层面，曾被国土部提及的矿业、战略性新兴产业和旅游业等产业用地差别化试点，可能会在今年有所推进。现代农业、养老和文化等产业发展用地将获得政策支持。
天津传销式“假私募”调查：虚构注册地 涉案金额或超200亿|假私募|天津传销|基金法_21世纪网 a 20B RMB fake PE fund fraud in Tianjin? // 接近天津经侦人士透露，天津私募风波的涉案总金额已达200亿元，不过这一数据并未得到天津市有关部门的确认。
POLITICS AND LAW
人民日报-让审判与舆论良性互动（声音） interesting comments by Supreme Court Head Zhou Qiang about judicial work in the age of new media, republished in today’s People’s Daily // 依法能公开的要全部公开，不能公开的要充分说明理由和法律规定，通过向社会公众完整地提供人民法院工作信息，化解新媒体时代信息传播碎片化所产生的不良影响…人民法院要在密切关注司法舆情动向的基础上，正确分析，宽容对待，既不能对舆情无动于衷，也不能为舆情所左右，影响对案件的依法独立公正审判。对于司法舆情中存在的不准确、不完整、断章取义的问题，应通过发布准确完整的司法信息，及时回应关切，澄清事实真相，消除公众误解。
Downfall of corrupt official Liu Tienan a rare success, says whistle-blower | South China Morning Post The journalist who raised corruption allegations on the internet in December against the head of the mainland’s energy regulator, contributing to the senior official’s downfall this month, says his success is unlikely to be repeated. In his first public interview since he revealed the wrongdoings of Liu Tienan on his microblog, Luo Changping , a deputy editor of the influential Caijing magazine, told the Beijing Times that his victory in combating corruption was an isolated case.
China’s spurned mistresses can’t be relied on to bust graft: paper | Reuters But the People’s Daily, the ruling Communist Party’s official newspaper, questioned the woman’s motives and said China could not rely on such people to fight corruption. “Even though at times, for many reasons, mistresses are led by fallings out with corrupt officials to denounce them, at the root of the issue, both their motives are the same – to satisfy each other’s greed,” the newspaper said in an editorial. “Some directly solicit bribes or seek huge illegal profits. To pin anti-corruption hopes on them is to go in for evil attacking evil,” it said. “It is not the right path for the will of the people.”
引法治入党 中共欲变身现代政治元素拓出路 _中国_多维新闻网 分析人士认为，宪政所倡导的信条将宪法和法律置于至高无上的地位，回避了法的权力来源在于不同的利益群体的权力让渡，也回避了它乃是调节和约束不同利益群体的工具性质，在不同时期、不同情景中都是有不同利益群体妥协的痕迹。而事实上，法应该成为对执政行为的规范，法律的真意在于科学化执政党的执政行为，其目的不是取消某一政党的执政地位，但执政党真正能否坐稳自己的位置还在于它的社会基础是否牢固。那么，在法规的框架内充分体现现代政治文化，在日益现代化的今天及以后就成为影响社会聚拢民意的重要一环。这也正是中共急欲要从一般社会党团向国家政治架构组成部分转化的意义所在。
或涉薄案 王岐山清理门户三朝元老被贬_中国_多维新闻网 interesting from Duowei. A CDIC official demoted, HK media claims he had responsibility for Bo Xilai investigation, “violated rules and leaked secrets”…// 【多维新闻】近日，据大陆媒体报道，新担任中纪委副书记仅6个月的王伟，近日履新国务院三峡办副主任，虽仍享受正部级待遇，但是被认为是降职保级，成为十八大后纪委领导层首位出局的中纪委副书记。据港媒报道，王被踢出中纪委，除本身或涉贪腐，还与即将开审的薄熙来案有关。传他在主责调查薄案时，涉嫌违反规定及泄露机密。中纪委书记王岐山借机清理门户。而此前王伟曾先后经历过吴官正和贺国强两任中纪委书记。目前三峡办官网证实了上述报道。在三峡办现任领导中，王排名在主任聂卫国和副主任卢纯（副部级）之后。由于王是正部级，该排名极不正常
广东人大常委会副秘书长陈华一被调查_财经频道_一财网 Chen Huayi, deputy secretary general of the standing committee of the Guangdong People’s Congres, is under investigation // 广东省纪委有关负责人证实，广东省人大常委会副秘书长陈华一同志，因涉嫌严重违纪，正在接受组织调查。
高端会所应对纪检清退会员卡：卡不记名 查也查不到_资讯频道_凤凰网 昨晚6时许，随着下班时间到来，崇文门新世界商场的客流逐渐增加，商场东门外的售卡黄牛也很快聚集了起来。“现在最好卖的还是商通卡，售卡还是9.6折，这个卡因为比较畅销，我们基本是9.6折收，9.7或者9.8折再卖掉。另外就是中石化加油卡，也是9.6折收。家乐福卡现在是9.3折收，超市卡没有商场的这种卡值钱。”一位黄牛表示，政府部门清退会员卡对他们的生意影响不大，因为“货源”很多、卡种很多。“好多卡都是不记名的卡，无所谓，政府部门没了，还有很多单位也发卡。”
Motherland or otherland? A British petitioner’s journey in China | Offbeat China Four years ago when British girl Annie who was born and raised in suburban London married Chinese guy Xu Shuai, Xu’s entire village in Weifang, Shandong province, was thrilled – a foreign wife isn’t something commonly seen in this small village in North China. The couple settled down in the village since. It may not be a perfect happily ever after, but life wasn’t bad…until a land dispute happened between Xu’s family and the village government. // 山东被强拆家庭英国媳妇：我愿意做“洋秋菊”_网易新闻中心
昆明市工商局：昆明禁售白T恤是谣传_网易新闻中心 昆明信息港讯 对于近期舆论普遍关注的口罩、打印实名制一事，昆明市工商局今日发出通知，要求相关部门进行整改，对于有媒体和网络反映的“昆明禁售白衬衫、白T恤”的消息，经查证为谣传。
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
US carrier a warning to China and Philippines: Global Times｜Politics｜News｜WantChinaTimes.com An American aircraft carrier was patrolling a disputed region of the South China Sea to “deter” a Chinese military exercise while also sending a warning to the Philippines not to allow territorial disputes to escalate, reports the Global Times, a tabloid under the auspices of the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily.
Column: The underappreciated tensions between China and Brazil | Reuters–Ian Bremmer The BRICs, even with their new development bank, are not a happy family, nor have they ever been. In a globalized, G-Zero world, there’s too much competition and their interests and priorities are too diverse. The countries don’t necessarily share ideologies, politics or goals. For Brazil, the BRIC label brings prestige; it’s a stepping-stone to a more prominent global role. Brazil wants to be a player; India wants to catch up; Russia wants to be a bully; China wants to be the boss. Conflict, in other words, is inevitable. But that the most underappreciated tension is between Brazil and China? That’s a surprise.
Boris Johnson unveils plan for £1bn Chinese business district – TelegraphThe 35-acre site at Royal Albert Docks will be transformed by ABP China Holding Group into a “gateway” for Asian businesses “seeking to establish headquarters in Europe”, Greater London Authority (GLA) said on Wednesday…ABP chairman Xu Weiping believes the development will be “hugely significant for both the Chinese and UK economies. My vision is to develop a world class international business district,” he said. //any info on who Xu is?
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
Sands Told to Pay $101.6 Million Over Macau Permit – Bloomberg Suen has prevailed twice at trial on claims that meetings he helped arrange for Sheldon Adelson, Sands’ founder and controlling shareholder, with Chinese leaders in Beijing were instrumental in the selection of Sands by the Macau government in 2002 as one of the companies that could own and operate casinos in the former Portuguese colony.
TECH AND MEDIA
Hey, what’s this? An admission that the US can learn from China | PandoDaily Hamish McKenzie looks at what Mary Meeker has to say about China in her latest installment of her global Internet presentation
Amazon’s Kindle to be launched in China in June |Economy |chinadaily.com.cn Amazon.com Inc will start selling its e-book readers in China next month as the online retailer seeks to cash in on the digital content it offers in the world’s second-largest economy. The move follows the earlier launch of the company’s Android-oriented app store in China, and means it has leapt the final hurdle as it seeks to sell its hardware in the country. Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd, the country’s top retailer of home appliances by market value, has signed an exclusive partnership with Amazon to roll out the Kindle e-book readers and the Kindle Fire tablet, said Ge Shuang, Suning’s public relations manager.
Vipshop’s Misleading Financials: A Secondary On The Way – Seeking Alpha no, Alexa is not credible. so how big is Greenwich’s hort position? and did they cover any since Friday?// Alexa is a service that analyzes websites, providing traffic analysis, global web metrics, and competitive analysis and benchmarking. It is widely accepted as having complete data and producing accurate results.
Vipshop Defends Business Model and User-Traffic Count – WSJ.com Specifically, Greenwich Research questioned the company’s methods for assessing user traffic, saying web-analysis firm Alexa showed far less traffic to the Vipshop site than the company reported. Greenwich Research also challenged the company’s revenue growth and other aspects of its financial reporting. Vipshop said Tuesday Alexa undercounts its user traffic, because it relies on a count of Alexa plug-ins, which many Chinese Internet users don’t have.
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SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
备战高考_漆鄂华_博联社 pictures of students cramming for next week’s college entrance exam. poor kids
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Nature Publishing Index reports rise in research papers published by China – Xinhua | English.news.cn Research papers published by China-based authors in Nature branded journals in 2012 increased by 35 percent on the 2011 figure, the Nature Publishing Index 2012 (NPI) China showed on Wednesday. The report, published as a supplement to Nature, showed that authors from institutions in China contributed 8.5 percent, or 303 papers, of all research papers published in Nature branded journals in 2012, up from 7.0 percent in 2011 and 5.3 percent in 2010. In 2000, just six articles published in Nature branded journals had co-authors from institutions in China.
FOOD AND TRAVEL
Move over tequila, here comes Chinese firewater | Reuters “Baijiu hasn’t been marketed to the West yet but I think it can be,” said James Rice, managing director of Sichuan Swellfun Co Ltd, a baijiu maker in Chengdu, western China, in which London-based beverage multinational Diageo has taken a sizeable stake. “People are interested in China and here’s a piece of Chinese culture that can go right to your dinner table.” // does Mr. Rice drink baijiu at his dinner table? // “I thought it tasted like paint-thinner and felt like a liquid lobotomy,” said Michael Pareles, manager at the U.S. Meat Export Federation in Beijing. “However, like many other things in China, I eventually grew to like it.” // reverse peaceful evolution…
芝加哥飞北京航班因一亚裔女子上吊自杀紧急备降_资讯频道_凤凰网 passenger on yesterday’s United flight UA 851 from Chicago to beijing tries to kill herself by hanging in the lavatory, saved, planes has to make emergency detour to Alaska// 新京报讯 （记者李禹潼）昨日上午，有网友发微博称，自己乘坐的美国联合航空公司（简称美联航）UA851次由芝加哥飞北京的航班上，一名乘客在厕所上吊自杀，后被救下。为救助伤者，飞机紧急备降阿拉斯加。