Just links again today, struggling to find something interesting to say:

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

Exclusive: China urbanization plan hits roadblock over spending fears – sources | Reuters Premier Li Keqiang has rejected an urbanization proposal drafted by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), seeking changes to put more emphasis on economic reform, according to the sources, who are familiar with the matter. Many local authorities have already lobbied to get funding for projects, ringing alarm bells among top leaders in Beijing. //First Financial hinted at this on May 13 , Economic Information had more on this May 16 (both noted in Sinocism’s Essential Eight) as did my May 13th Dealbook column

Related: 报道称李克强否决发改委40万亿城镇化草案 巴曙松否认|巴曙松否认|李克强否决城镇化草案_21世纪网 State Council Development Research Center researcher Ba Shusong wrote on his Weibo Friday AM that Reuters’ reporting is wrong, that the urbanization plan is still in the drafting stage, as far as he knows the plan has not been formally submitted, so can not have been “rejected”// 国务院发展研究中心金融所研究员巴曙松今晨（5月24日）在微博上表示，“据了解，此则新闻不实，城镇化规划尚在起草完善过程中，并未上报，何谈否决？”

How the U.S. Government Hacks the World – Businessweek The U.S. position is that some kinds of hacking are more acceptable than others—and the kind the NSA does is in keeping with unofficial, unspoken rules going back to the Cold War about what secrets are OK for one country to steal from another. “China is doing stuff you’re not supposed to do,” says Jacob Olcott, a principal at Good Harbor Security Risk Management, a Washington firm that advises hacked companies. The men and women who hack for the NSA belong to a secretive unit known as Tailored Access Operations.

Wary of China, U.S. Steps Into Sprint’s Board – WSJ.com Tokyo-based SoftBank has agreed to give the federal government the right to approve one of the directors it names to Sprint’s board. That director will be responsible for overseeing national security issues. People familiar with the matter said the government is also seeking the right to approve some of Sprint’s equipment purchases and wants the removal of Chinese gear from a Sprint affiliate’s network.

Envoy Says North Korea Open to Dialogue – NYTimes.com Few diplomats believe that the North is prepared to be involved in so-called six-party talks that aim to strip it of its nuclear weapons. The international six-party talks on the North’s nuclear program — involving the United States, North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia — collapsed in 2008 after North Korea walked out…Wang Junsheng, an analyst at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the visit of Marshal Choe could be interpreted as a “kind of apology” by North Korea for its recent behavior.

Related: Chinese leader meets DPRK leader’s envoy – Xinhua | English.news.cn Liu Yunshan (R), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, meets with Choe Ryong Hae (L), the special envoy to the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un, in Beijing, capital of China, May 23, 2013.// keep wondering what the DPRK officers are hiding inside their huge hats…doubt it is dreadlocks…

Related: [视频]刘云山会见金正恩特使_新闻频道_央视网 CCTV Evening News on the Liu Yunshan meeting with North Korea’s special envoy. Does Liu looks especially displeased, or is that his general expression?

Related: N. Korean bank officials in China discuss response to sanctions – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun In a sign that Beijing’s sanctions on North Korean banks are taking their toll, Pyongyang summoned several senior bank officials working in northeast China to discuss ways to deal with the restrictions, sources said. The sources in the North Korean government said the May 21 meeting, the first of its kind, was held in a restaurant in Shenyang, Liaoning province. It was attended by some 40 senior officials representing about 20 bank branches, including outposts of North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank (FTB) and the Dandong, Liaoning province, branch of Korea Kwangson Banking Corp. (KKBC).

Related: 朝鲜半岛局势转圜之机_观点频道_财新网 Caijing’s International Affairs correspondent Huang Shan on the visit of the DPRK special envoy // 朝方态度的调整给了中国维持既有半岛政策的信心，并阻挡了外界的怀疑，但中方不会因此自缚手脚，打乱既定日程

观察站：政左经右下的舆论收紧和改革共识_中国_多维新闻网 Duowei on the apparent leftist ideological tilt in the midst of aggressive move on economic reforms…yesterday I asked on Twitter “is there a hopeful scenario amidst the apparent ideological retrograde? that this just a battening down of the hatches before undertaking serious, jarring reforms? and there are so many problems that without ensuring control things could spiral into a mess? so tighten now, hope that once things stabilized things loosen up again? like I said, the “hopeful” (naive?) scenario”…// 邓小平及其主导的改革开放也因为在其过程中过度放权，使得“资产阶级自由化”思想过度膨胀，虽然期间有“四项基本原则”的捆绑和相应的整顿，但最终导致了“六四”的发生。当然，随后邓小平凭借其政治勇气举家南巡，发出号召要“继续改革”，才得以保住改革成果和中共政权。而对于出身于“太子党”，经历过那个动荡年代且接近当时中央决策层的习近平来说，对于邓小平在处理经济改革放权和政治意识形态方面的得与失，相信一定有他个人的看法。正如李克强在此前多次强调的那样，中国政府部门和经济改革要“放权”，而在目前的舆论生态之下，放权之后面临的必然结果就是各方解读，甚至更为激进的右派会借机推动政治上的放权，这一幕显然是包括习近平在内的中共高层所不希望看到的。因此，在出台经济改革方案的三中全会之前进行全社会层面的意识形态收紧，掌握解读各项改革政策的话语权，也就成为习近平最为务实的选择之一。

Related: The Jamestown Foundation: China’s Reform Summed Up: Politics, No; Economics, Yes (Sort of…)–Willy Lam While the Xi administration seems to be turning back the clock in the ideological and political fields, pieces of evidence have surfaced to indicate the Xi-Li leadership’s commitment to economic reforms—or at least those that will not make a dent in the CCP’s overall control of economic resources

Related: The Jamestown Foundation: Exploring the International Aspects of China’s Ideological Crackdown Chinese society is changing dramatically and forcing the party’s governance strategies to evolve along with it. The party’s priorities—even with respect to national rejuvenation—remain largely domestic, because Chinese leaders believe the party’s survival may be at stake (“Xi Jinping’s ‘Southern Tour’ Reignites Promises of Reform,” China Brief, December 14). Given the stresses on the party and their potential connections to foreign threats, observers should not draw a clean separation between domestic communist party orthodoxy and Beijing’s evaluation of foreign intentions. Nor should observers rule out the possibility that some seemingly domestic measures for restricting public debate and strengthening party rule are related to Chinese perceptions of foreign actions and intentions. No matter how paranoid the idea of foreign subversion in the 21st Century may sound, if Beijing is, in fact, acting upon these concerns, then a more assertive and less placable China probably is the result.

China Tilts Back to Big Spending – WSJ.com “Rebalancing the economy is the essential challenge facing the Chinese government but they have not made any progress over the last year,” said Mark Williams, China economist at Capital Economics. The share of fixed investment in China’s gross domestic product rose to 46.1% in 2012, up from 45.6% in 2011, according to National Bureau of Statistics data, published by data provider CEIC. China’s headline GDP data have been available for some time, but the detailed breakdown between the shares of investment, consumption and exports was published this week.。。In the real-estate sector, excess investment has poured in, with ghost towns of unsold property springing up around the country. There are currently 3.7 billion square meters of property under construction in China, according to the NBS, enough to satisfy demand for almost four years without starting a single new property.

Filipino marines use grounded ship as last Spratlys outpost | The Japan Times A handful of marines living on a World War II-era ship grounded on a remote, tiny reef is the Philippines’ last line of defense against China’s efforts to control most of the South China Sea. The soldiers are stationed on Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands aboard a former U.S. tank-landing vessel that was deliberately abandoned there to serve as a base, said their former commander, Juancho Sabban. “Their lives are very hard . . . but they are marines. They are used to that kind of thing,” said the retired general. “There is no ground. They live on a grounded ship. They depend only on supplies that are delivered to them on logistics runs.”

Related: With eye on China, Japan to provide patrol boats to Philippines – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun Japan will provide patrol boats to the Philippines to help the country bolster its capabilities in the face of China’s growing presence in regional waters. In a meeting in Tokyo on May 22, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his counterpart Albert del Rosario agreed to work together to improve the capabilities of the Philippine Coast Guard.

China and the Other Asian Giant: Where are Relations with India Headed? | ChinaFile Susan Shirk–It’s interesting that Premier Li Keqiang chose India for his first overseas visit and that President Xi Jinping chose Russia for his first visit. China recently has alienated many of its friends in East and Southeast Asia and may be seeking other friends to ease its sense of  isolation. In the past, the Russian government tried to persuade Beijing to join it and New Delhi in an informal bloc to balance against the United States and its allies. The Chinese, however, were reluctant to climb out on a limb with Russia and India instead of trying to establish a constructive modus vivendi with the U.S. I would expect that this caution will still prevail despite a possible short term tactical interest in improving relations with Russia and India.

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

China Tightens Trade-Document Scrutiny After Fake-Export Reports – Bloomberg Banks shouldn’t provide cross-border payment services to companies in the so-called bonded zones that aren’t pre-registered with the foreign-exchange authority, according to a notice issued yesterday by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange that takes effect June 1. If an exporter decides to deposit its revenue overseas, banks must know the size, duration and remittance arrangements, SAFE said.

China Rule Changes May Halt Copper-Financing, Goldman Says – Bloomberg New rules from China to control capital inflows are likely to end commodity-financing deals, hurting the short-term outlook for copper, analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. wrote in a research report today. The regulations from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, effective from June, will probably mean an end to Chinese use of copper as a tool to enable interest rate arbitrage, Goldman said. The London Metal Exchange market may need to “carry” as much as 250,000 metric tons of additional physical copper over one to three months, about 4 percent to 5 percent of quarterly global supply, the bank said.

China Should Stop ‘Micromanaging’ Auto Industry, Researcher Says – Bloomberg China should refrain from “micromanaging” the automotive industry and allow market competition to spur innovation and weed out weaker automakers, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said in a report. The government should focus instead on building a fair and competitive environment and abandon monopolistic polices aimed at creating fewer and bigger automakers, the state-backed research institute said in an annual report on industrial competitiveness released this week.

Alibaba Subsidiary Lets SMEs Hedge against Yuan Fluctuations – Caixin A subsidiary of Alibaba Group has introduced a service that allows small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) trading on its platform to hedge against risks from yuan exchange rate fluctuations. That service has long been available at domestic banks, but only companies with a sizeable turnover can enjoy it, said Xiao Feng, deputy general manager of Shenzhen OneTouch Enterprise Service Co. Ltd., the subsidiary that serves SMEs trading with foreign businesses.

China Economic Watch | Buyer Beware: The Risk to Institutional Investors Financing China’s Local Government Debt Owners of the debt of local government special purpose vehicles (SPVs) should choose wisely and be cautious. At least this is the message central government officials are communicating to China’s financial markets. Two weeks ago, Premier Li Keqiang identified “controlling the risks of local government debt” as one of his administrations key reform initiatives. But who exactly should be worried about the risk of holding local government debt? The answer used to be banks but recently institutional investors have increased their role.

Luxury-Goods Companies Go to Great Lengths for China’s VIP Shoppers – WSJ.com There are still markets, such as Western Chinese cities, where people go to the store. But in Beijing, which accounts for a quarter of the number of VIPs and more than a quarter of the VIP sales at Chow Tai Fook, top customers want exclusivity, including jewelry shows at their homes, Mr. Cheng said.

 

POLITICS AND LAW

President Xi makes inspection tour to quake-hit Lushan county – Xinhua | English.news.cn and kisses small child

习仲勋去世11周年 曾称一辈子没犯“左”的错误_网易新闻中心 l Today is the 11 anniversary of the death of Xi Zhongxun, Xi Jinping’s father // 大约是胡耀邦去职后的一个晚上，正在中南海散步的习仲勋突然转过头来对同伴秦川说：“我这个人呀，一辈子没整过人，一辈子没犯‘左’的错误。”这是关于习仲勋的一个被反复记起的场景。5月24日，这名抗战功臣、文革中的受害者、卓有建树的广东省前省委书记以及敢作敢为的前中共中央政治局委员，辞世已整整10年，人们仍然会念及他的人格和政治遗产。

Settlers in Xinjiang: Circling the wagons | The Economist To use its full name, the 38th Regiment of the 2nd Agricultural Division is part of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. This state-run organisation, usually referred to as the bingtuan (Chinese for a military corps) controls an area twice the size of Taiwan, broken into numerous parts scattered around the province (see map). A few bits are city-sized. Most are more like towns or villages. Of their total population of more than 2.6m people, 86% are ethnically Han Chinese. In Xinjiang as a whole, in contrast, Han officially make up just over 40% of the 22m inhabitants. The rest are Uighurs and a few other ethnic groups. // The Bingtuan rep office in Beijing has some of the best Xinjiang food in the capital

Portraits of Uighurs, China’s Embattled Muslim Minority – Matt Schiavenza – The Atlantic Photographer Eleanor Moseman shows the daily lives of a people native the Xinjiang region, whom the country’s majority population tends to treat with suspicion.

人民日报-有利益考量，也要有理想情怀（人民观点） ——辩证看待社会发展与问题之五 本报评论部 翻开历史，越是大发展、大变动的时代，越需要有超越个人、超越利益的理想。文艺复兴时代人文主义的执着信念，法国大革命中民主自由的热烈追求，20世纪初叶席卷世界的红色狂飙，都曾是导引时代前进的旗帜。在中国现代化的关键时刻，在“触动利益往往比触及灵魂还难”的当下，尤需在物质利益之外，多一份理想情怀。借用叔本华的一句话，它是对每个时代伟大事物的同一性和连续性的信心，是对一代代人的变化和衰退的抗议。 （本系列评论到此结束）

人民日报-思想纯洁是全面深化改革的重要保证 河南省中国特色社会主义理论体系研究中心

郑州夜店大屏幕打出字幕欢迎田局长 纪委介入_资讯频道_凤凰网 Zhengzhou official in trouble after nightclub posts a personalized welcome message on its public LED screen…// 阅读提示| 5月22日凌晨前后，一条关于企业老总请官员消费的微博疯传网络。大河报记者经多方调查了解到，微博爆料场景确为郑州某酒城。来自多种渠道的消息，共同指向了项城市工商局副局长田洪志。目前，项城市纪委正在调查此事。

China issues rules to prevent judicial order disruptions – Xinhua | English.news.cn Police officers posted at people’s procuratorial organs will be responsible for stopping any efforts to disrupt judicial order, according to a renewed set of regulations. Protective restraint will be imposed by police officers on people, including petitioners, who attempt to injure or kill themselves at procurators’ offices, according to the regulations. The regulations were recently issued by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate to replace previous regulations created in 1996, according to an SPP statement issued on Thursday.

Retired high-ranking Chinese official asks why Jews are so smart | FP Passport In a recently published memoir, titled A Collection of Works Written During Leisure Time, Wu Guanzheng, who from 2002 to 2007 was China’s top anti-corruption official, reminisces about his time in Israel. “I bought some books on the Jewish people,” he writes. One, which he cites later, is written by someone with the name “Abraham” and called — you guessed it! — Why Are Jews Intelligent. Wu notes how Jews “attach extreme importance to study” and how they see scholars “as their spiritual leaders.” Somewhat ironically for the man who was once the seventh-highest-ranking figure in an authoritarian system, Wu also praises Jews’ ability to “speak truth to power” and “freely express different opinions.”

退休政治局常委出书盘点：江泽民规格最高_网易新闻中心  中纪委原书记吴官正出版新书《闲来笔潭》，延续了多位中共中央政治局原常委出书热销的盛况 “这本书已经印刷了30万册平装本，还有3万精装本，今天又加印5万册。”人民出版社发行部副主任许艳丽掩饰不住兴奋。 她说的这本书，是中共中央政治局原常委、中纪委原书记吴官正的新书《闲来笔潭》。自5月9日上市后，这本书正在市面上热销，引发一波又一波的解读潮。

南方周末 – 为保一桩错案，要制造多少错误？ 福清纪委爆炸案的“递罪”逻辑 another media report on another miscarriage of justice// 编者按:纠正、赔偿、道歉、问责，还不是一起错案的终点。当司法机关展现反思勇气，不仅仅是“震撼教育”，也是形成防范冤假错案机制、重塑司法公信力的契机。最高法院常务副院长沈德咏最近著文强调，要高度重视程序公正，充分发挥律师的作用，注重司法全过程的公开，等等，无不是对近年来典型错案的深刻总结。 12年前发生的福清纪委爆炸案，值得细细剖析。一起从司法文书就能看出严重问题的错案，在被全国媒体持续不断报道的7年间，何以还理直气壮地将错就错？与案件相关的人员，从家属、律师、到警察、鉴定专家、乃至法官，几乎无一幸免被卷入漩涡。一个纯粹的刑事案件，何以演变成地方的“最不稳定的因素”？

央视:北京京温商城坠亡女孩男友系不满赔偿造谣_网易新闻中心 CCTV says boyfriend of woman who died in a fall from Beijing’s Jinwen building was unhappy with compensation offered so spread rumors that to the protest, and his arrest // 其实早在5月3日袁某坠楼身亡当天警方就介入调查，并给出调查结果——袁某是自主高坠死亡。但她的家人与京温商城商量赔偿事宜遭到拒绝后，袁某的男友彭某就开始利用互联网散布袁某离奇死亡的信息，并煽动同乡帮助向商城讨说法。此后在一系列谣言的疯狂传播下，最终各种猜疑不满的情绪从网络走到现实。5月8日上午，甚至有一些不明真相的群众在京温商城门口聚集，严重干扰社会秩序和交通。

Tibetan activists launch boycott of InterContinental over hotel plans |  Guardian  Tibetan campaign groups are launching a boycott of the InterContinental Hotels Group – the owner of Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and others – because of plans to open a vast 2000-room resort in Lhasa

China warns blind dissident ahead of Taiwan trip – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun China warned blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng on May 23 to mind his language ahead of his trip next month to political rival Taiwan, on a visit which could infuriate Beijing if, as expected, Chen uses it to criticize Chinese rights abuses.

 

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

What Xi’s Travel Itinerary Says about China’s Foreign Policy – The travel destinations of China’s new leaders sketch out a comprehensive and practical diplomatic plan, and highlighted the importance of developing countries in China’s global strategy.

Chinese troops may join U.N. Mali force | The Japan Times China has offered to send more than 500 soldiers to the U.N. force seeking to contain Islamist militants in Mali in what would be its biggest contribution to U.N. peacekeeping in history. The move could be a bid to overcome tensions with the West over the Syria conflict and to strengthen its relations in Africa, where it is a major buyer of oil and other resources, diplomats and experts said Wednesday.

Sorry, China, but Native Americans probably aren’t Hunanese | FP Passport China’s Global Times – that reliable purveyor of the sublimely ridiculous, the terrifyingly nationalistic, and the just generally offensive — struck again on Wednesday, with a quick nine-paragrapher that may just manage to combine all three offerings in one: “American Indians descend from Hunan, says expert.”

Pulp Liberation Army – By Isaac Stone Fish and Helen Gao | Foreign Policy There are thousands of Chinese war fantasy novels on the Internet — too sensitive to be published in book form, they circulate on blogs, and websites like Blood and Iron Reading. Most languish, but the more popular ones get read millions of times. As a rising China struggles to define its military aspirations, and as the country’s vast propaganda apparatus encourages citizens to define their version of President Xi Jinping’s vague slogan “Chinese Dream,” these military fantasy novels provide insight into what Chinese people’s war dreams look like.

Foreigners studying in US face stricter visa checks|Across America|chinadaily.com.cn Liang Cai, a master’s student in business at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said international students at MIT received an e-mail on May 8 from Danielle Guichard-Ashbrook, the school’s associate dean of international students. The e-mail advises MIT students from abroad to prepare for the new border inspection checks and suggested that they travel with copies of their current class registrations to provide additional evidence of their student status. According to Guichard-Ashbrook’s e-mail, all foreign students will face a secondary inspection upon entering or re-entering the US. It’s unclear how long the procedure might take in individual cases.

Cruises sail to Xisha Islands|Society|chinadaily.com.cn Cruises to the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea began to sell at major travel agencies following a successful maiden voyage last month. The political significance is much bigger than the economic benefits that the cruises will bring tour operators, industry specialists said…Only mainland tourists aged between 18 to 60 in “good health, which includes normal weight, no history of heart disease or hypertension” are allowed. Foreigners are not permitted on board.

The Jamestown Foundation: Missile Defense with Chinese Characteristics China’s development of missile defense technology has received less attention from scholars who follow Chinese military modernization than Beijing’s modernization of its nuclear force and its development of offensive counter-space capabilities [3]. China’s two missile defense intercept tests—and the comments of Chinese analysts linking them to Beijing’s ongoing attempts to strengthen its strategic deterrence capabilities—however, suggest that U.S. analysts should pay very close attention to Chinese missile defense developments.

 

HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN

在台涉嫌猥亵的深圳官员被停职 正接受组织调查_网易新闻中心 Shenzhen official suspended, under investigation after being charged for indecent behavior towards a male hotel intern in Taiwan..guess he forgot he is not in a place where he can do as he pleases seems to be the common reaction online// 中新网深圳5月23日电 广东深圳龙岗区政府新闻办23日晚对外发布称，经初步核查，在台湾涉嫌猥亵的深圳官员李平山因严重违纪已被停职，现正接受组织调查。

 

TECH AND MEDIA

北京市互联网信息办公室设立 Beijing establishes a municipal “Internet Information Office”…powerful office given so many of the top China Internet firms, and especially Sina and its Weibo sub, are headquartered in Beijing…follows the bureaucratic upgrading of the State Internet Information office // 本报讯 经市政府同意，市政府办公厅日前就设立北京市互联网信息办公室发出通知。 通知说，北京市互联网信息办公室的主要职责包括，落实互联网信息传播方针政策和法律法规，推动本市互联网信息传播法制建设；指导、协调、督促属地互联网行业主管部门、本市打击网络违法犯罪主管部门及其他相关部门加强互联网信息内容管理；负责网络新闻业务及其他相关业务的审核及日常监管；指导本市有关部门做好网络游戏、网络视听、网络出版等网络文化领域业务布局规划；协调本市有关部门做好网络文化阵地建设的规划和实施工作，负责本市重点新闻网站的规划建设，组织、协调网上宣传工作，依法查处违法违规网站，指导属地有关部门督促电信运营企业、接入服务企业、域名注册管理和服务机构等做好域名注册、互联网地址（IP地址）分配、网站登记备案、接入等基础管理工作；在职责范围内指导区县相关部门开展工作。

Taobao offers free hospital appointments |Companies |chinadaily.com.cn Taobao, China’s largest online retail site, has joined the fight against scalpers at hospitals by adding a free online appointment service. The service, which started this week, allows registered users to book appointments with 70,000 doctors at more than 600 hospitals in 18 provinces and municipalities, including Beijing and Shanghai.

Beijing Shuts Down Taobao’s ‘Take a Number’ Service for Hospitals, But Consumers Cry Foul–TechInAsia But yesterday, after just three days open, the service was shut down in Beijing by the city’s health department on the grounds that healthcare is an issue of “public interest” and thus ‘take a number’ services should be non-profit. It also suggested that providing health information to a third party caused a potential information security risk.

北京市交委：将把打车软件引入电召平台 但不得加价_科技频道_凤凰网 rough times may be ahead in Beijing for the taxi dispatch apps…how many VCs invested in various clones?

Line smartphone app censors users’ messages in China – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun A Chinese version of a Japanese smartphone app has been censoring messages posted by Chinese users, The Asahi Shimbun has learned. Developed by Line Corp., the “Line” free call and messaging app has been automatically checking what users write and rejecting politically sensitive terms such as “Tiananmen Square incident” and “wealth accumulation of Wen Jiabao’s relatives.” // of course it has, otherwise it would not be allowed to operate in china

China Focus: Hope and concerns for civilian drone industry – Xinhua | English.news.cn A research and development base of drones is scheduled to be built in Taiyuan, capital city of north China’s Shanxi Province, as announced earlier this month. The drone base is part of a project named united airlines sci-tech industrial park co-undertaken by Taiyuan Private Economy Development Zone and Shanxi Coal Asset Management Co., Ltd. With a total investment of 2 billion yuan (322.6 million U.S. dollars), it is another large civilian drone base that will be built.

 

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

没“关系”最好去二三线城市就业？_深度_新京报网 no guanxi, no job prospects for new graduates in Beijing, shanghai, Guangzhou, so another reason to move to another city after graduation?// 新京报讯 日前，在新京报针对“最难就业年”进行的一份调查问卷中，“找工作是否动用过关系”一项，成了受访者颇为关注的焦点。调查显示，约有21.5%的受访学生承认自己为求职动用过“关系”。此外，还有21.5%学生因为“关系”、性别、户口等因素，在今年求职时有过“被挤掉”的经历。北京工业大学电子信息工程专业的大四毕业生李同学直言，自己求职不顺的原因就是没有“关系”。没有“关系”的应届生该如何寻出路？一名负责就业辅导工作的老师表示，学校应根据学生意愿，建议部分缺乏“关系”的应届生到二三线城市去实现自己的人生价值。

“海归”式高考凸显北上广异地高考开放难_财经频道_一财网 中国各省市人口流入情况和高考竞争情况不尽相同，解决异地高考问题的复杂程度也不同，适合一地的异地高考方案未必适合另一地。

Universities told to increase management of hazardous chemicals – Xinhua | English.news.cn The circular was issued after a campus poisoning case last month, where a postgraduate student in Shanghai was poisoned to death. The suspect, a medical student from China’s renowned Fudan University, allegedly took some N-Nitrosodimethylamine, a highly toxic chemical compound, from the university laboratory and put it into the drinking water machine in the dormitory, leading to the poisoning of his roommate. //remarkable how the Zhu Ling case has once again faded from view… 

 

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

解密能源项目审批流程：“未批先建”有制度因素_财经频道_一财网 Liu Tienan case has exposed problems with the energy project approval process…// 国家发改委原副主任、国家能源局原局长刘铁男事发，能源项目的审批制度和流程饱受质疑。随后，国务院公布取消和下放审批权共计133项，16项涉及能源。

风波中的米乡：问题大米溯源调查|湖南|镉大米|超标_21世纪网 21st Century Business Herald investigates the source of the cadmium rice// 沿着这些产地上溯，记者连日来深入湘南，辗转攸县、衡东县、衡阳市数地，历时四天，试图解开问题大米的背后成因。

环保税法首次将“碳税”纳入其中 新华社——经济参考网 《经济参考报》记者23日独家获悉，国家有关部门已将《中华人民共和国环境保护税法(送审稿)》送达钢铁、电力、有色、煤炭等“两高”行业的相关协会。据了解，作为取代现行排污收费的新税种，环保税将二氧化碳排放税(简称“碳税”)纳入其中；污染物排放税税(费)率则较现行排污收费有所提高。

China launches major coal price index – Xinhua | English.news.cn A coal price index offering an alternative gauge for the bulk commodity was launched on Thursday in China, the world’s largest coal producer. The China Taiyuan Coal Transaction Price Index is the country’s first index to be based on a major coal-producing base, namely Shanxi Province. //just in time for the rumored on importing low grade coal, a move that may hit indonesia hard?

Xinhua Insight: Growing Siberian tiger population poses new challenges – Xinhua | English.news.cn While the growth of the Siberian tiger population has provided some comfort to animal protection experts, increasing human-tiger conflicts in northeast China have created new challenges. Lang Jianmin, an expert and official from the Hunchun National Siberian Tiger Nature Reserve in northeast China’s Jilin Province, said the tigers have been frequently spotted in residential areas and have also preyed on livestock.

 

FOOD AND TRAVEL

Guangzhou oysters contaminated by cadmium |Hot Issues |chinadaily.com.cn Following a scandal of cadmium-tainted rice in the southern province, China Central Television reported that 1 kilogram of oysters sold at a Guangzhou restaurant, famous for grilled oysters, contained 2 mg of cadmium, 20 times the permitted content stipulated in a national standard drafted by the health authority

 

BEIJING

Beijing holds hearing on taxi fares hike – Xinhua | English.news.cn The 25 representatives include 10 ordinary citizens, two legislators, three political advisors, three taxi drivers, three government officials, two from taxi companies and one from a social group. One representative was absent but submitted opinions, said the commission. Beijing is home to 252 taxi operators and 1,157 individual cab drivers that collectively run 66,646 vehicles, carrying about 700 million passengers annually and accounting for 6.6 percent of the city’s transport.