Bo Xilai’s trial is into its fourth day and will apparently conclude Monday. Five days is a very long time for a trial in China, and the information management of this one has been very sophisticated. I do not have much to add to all the commentary and reporting about the case, some included in a special “Bo Xilai Trial” section below. The whole thing is just tawdry.
There are lots of other things going on here even as the Bo show plays out.
Jet lag haze is never fun but publishing should be back to normal in the upcoming week.
Today’s Links:
BO XILAI TRIAL
Live coverage of Bo Xilai’s trial: Wang Lijun suffered stroke ahead of court appearance | South China Morning Post Former Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun suffered a stroke sometime before Bo’s ongoing trial, according to three sources. Wang appeared in a wheel-chair, according to two sources. He signed his testimony with a fingerprint, not with his signature, as is customary. Bo Xilai did not call his wife Gu Kailai “insane”, according to one person who attended the trial. The person also said that Bo did not say she compared herself to Jing Ke, the ill-fated assassin of China’s first emperor. The statements were made by an investigator, the person told the South China Morning Post.
LA Times – Bo Xilai trial transcripts expose a privileged world of wealth The corruption trial of Bo Xilai is offering the world a peek past the vermilion walls of the Chinese leadership compounds and through the tinted glass of their motorcades into a private sphere of immense entitlement. It is a cross between reality television and a soap opera, though adapted for the 21st century with the transcripts being microblogged by the court and closely followed by hundreds of thousands of Chinese.
Fallen Chinese Official, at His Trial, Faces Accuser Who Set Scandal in Motion – NYTimes.com For three days now, no audio or video clips have been released in which Mr. Bo can be heard speaking. His statements are presented only via the transcripts. An article on Saturday in The Legal Daily, an official newspaper under the guidance of the party’s political and legal affairs committee, concluded that the testimony on the embezzlement charges “proves deliberate corruption on his part.”
Wang Lijun says Bo Xilai’s ‘slap’ was a punch | South China Morning Post Prosecutors asked about Wang’s circumstances when he fled to the American consulate. “It was very dangerous for me at the time. First, I was treated with violence. Then, people who worked for me and the investigators on the case all disappeared.
Microblogging Bo’s trial hailed as historic transparency – Xinhua By Saturday evening, the Jinan Intermediate People’s Court had tweeted more than 110 Weibo posts, including transcripts, pictures and audio and video files of evidence. Many of the posts have been retweeted thousands of times and a picture of Bo in the courthouse on Thursday morning has been retweeted more than 69,000 times. This real-time broadcasting shows that the central leadership lives up to the pledge of cracking down on not only “flies” but also “tigers” — lower-level officials and senior leaders, according to the Guangming Daily website article.
Bo Contradicts Wife as Chinese Media Stress Trial’s Transparency – Bloomberg In a country where the Communist Party maintains strict control of sensitive political trials, the state-run Global Times newspaper said in an editorial the decision to release updates on Weibo, Sina Corp.’s Twitter-like microblogging platform, “served as an important guarantee of a fair trial for Bo in accordance with the law.” “This degree of transparency has not happened before,” the editorial said. “This will create a precedent that will bring lasting impact to the future trials of sensitive cases.” The details revealed in the trial demonstrate that “no one is above the law,” the party’s flagship People’s Daily newspaper said. “In the fight against corruption we are after both flies and tigers.”
Trial Delves Further Into Chinese Politician’s Family Life – NYTimes.com Officials from the court, the police and state security met late Thursday in Jinan to review the handling of the trial, according to a person briefed on the case. They determined that it was under control despite the uproar caused by Mr. Bo’s spirited defense. “The authorities did not seem to think that was so unexpected,” the person said. There was no doubt, though, that the unveiling of testimony on Friday was more tightly managed than it had been on Thursday.
Bo Xilai admits his wife left him after he cheated on her – Telegraph Meanwhile, the prosecution claim that Xu Ming, a Dalian businessman, paid for Bo Guagua to bring a group of 40 students at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government to China in 2011 was disputed by several of the students. “I financed my trip to China. The trip was student led and organised; each participant was responsible for individual arrangements,” said Tameca Tillard, now the managing director of the Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford Stuyvesant.
Statement by Bo Xilai’s Son After Opening of Trial – NYTimes.com On Thursday, Li Wangzhi, the elder son of the purged Chinese official Bo Xilai, attended the opening session of Mr. Bo’s trial on charges of corruption, bribe-taking and abuse of power. It was the first time Mr. Li, a son to Mr. Bo from his first marriage, had seen his father in several years. Mr. Li released the following statement after the proceedings. // very interesting that he is at the trial
秦城：一张巨大的历史底片 long Caijing piece on Qincheng Prison as a photographic negative of history…no doubt the timing of these two Qincheng articles in this week’s caijing just coincidental with the Bo Xilai trial…// 和地处闹市的提篮桥或者半步桥监狱相比，秦城在保持神秘性的同时，像磁石一样不断吸附和激化着人们的想象力。它和当代政治与思想史上的一系列重要名字相联系，反射了历次政治运动和时代主题的变迁
秦城的变与不变 more from Caijing on Qincheng Prison // 秦城监狱的监控设施是领先于时代的，其安保措施十分严格，由于特殊的历史现实地位，这座监狱仍扮演着特殊的角色
China Boss’s Fall Puts Focus on a Business Ally – NYTimes.com In the late 1990s, for instance, he grew friendly with Zhang Beili, a diamond expert and the wife of Wen Jiabao, who was then vice premier. They worked on the same floor in Beijing’s Ping An Insurance building, according to corporate records and interviews with his former business partners. “Half the office in that Ping An building was Xu Ming, and half was used by Zhang Beili,” one of his former business partners said. While Mr. Xu was dating Wen Ruchun, Mr. Wen’s daughter, he treated Mr. Wen’s only son, Wen Yunsong, like a close friend, his former business associates said. // so what else does Xu know?
Fallen Official’s Trial Begins in China – NYTimes.com The morning session ended with Mr. Bo denying having taken 1.1 million renminbi, or $180,000, in bribes from a businessman named Tang Xiaolin. The amount was a fraction of the more than 21 million renminbi in bribes that he and his immediate family members are accused of taking. Prosecutors said another businessman, Xu Ming, gave more than 20.6 million renminbi in bribes.
China Watches a Trial Unfold on Social Media – NYTimes.com The spectacle was a demonstration of how important the Internet has become in Chinese political life. For the government, it potentially offers a tool to monitor and persuade a population jaded with traditional, state-run media. By midyear, China had nearly 600 million officially registered Internet users. Even discounting duplicate and fake registrations, the number is a daunting challenge for a state that prizes its grip over information.
Is Xi Jinping Redder Than Bo Xilai Or Vice Versa? | ChinaFile If the old China hand’s rosy interpretation is right, Xi’s red turn is just camouflage to slip a bigger agenda past. Eventually, a more liberal economy will lead to a freer society, this insider suggested. That’s little succor to the activists getting arrested in the meantime.
The East Is Still Red – By John Garnaut | Foreign Policy Fu Yang, whose father Peng Zhen worked alongside and above Bo’s father as a top Party official, was apoplectic that Li, the lawyer Bo controversially arrested, was an employee of his law firm. Bo Xilai and Fu were classmates; Bo even asked Fu for legal advice when divorcing his first wife. And then Bo disregarded a legal system — however flawed — that Fu’s father had built, as the head of China’s National People’s Congress in the 1980s. My father “attached great importance to the fact that the legal system had been completely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and that people’s rights, particularly human rights, were trampled underfoot,” said Fu in an interview.
Bo Xilai defiant at trial – Telegraph It is not unprecedented for senior Chinese leaders to dispute accusations at trial. Both Chen Xitong, the former mayor of Beijing and Chen Liangyu, the party secretary of Shanghai, denied various charges at their respective trials. But the publication of Mr Bo’s proceedings in real-time was unprecedented, and presumably designed to convince the Chinese public that Mr Bo will receive a fair hearing.
Bo Xilai’s trial: Straying from the script | The Economist Mr Bo was no less scathing about his wife, Ms Gu, who is serving a suspended death sentence (almost certain to be commuted to life or shorter) for murdering a British businessman. Referring to her in absentia testimony relating to the bribery allegations, Mr Bo called her words “very ridiculous and very laughable”. Much of the evidence cited by the prosecution he dismissed as “irrelevant” or “peripheral”. One of Mr Bo’s lawyers said Ms Gu’s testimony should be disregarded because she was mentally disturbed (the prosecution replied that she had recovered sufficiently when she gave it). The defence also accused Ms Gu of being “in the habit of lying”.
Court Points to Bo Xilai’s Beijing Home – China Real Time Report – WSJ A transcript of courtroom testimony of fallen Communist Party star Bo Xilai‘s trial on Thursday listed a Beijing residence, at No. 71 Xinkailu Hutong in the city’s central Dongcheng district, as his former home.
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
Beijing’s New Tough Security Boss Cracks Down on Internet Rumors-Caijing high intensity campaign to purify the Internet and crackdown on online rumors is in full swing, official media firing with all barrels over the last few days, and more arrests made. As I wrote in the 8.19.13 issue of the newsletter, I see this much more as a continuation of what came out of the 6th plenum of the 17th party congress than as some sort of renewed “reformer vs conservative” battle in advance of the third plenum // The arrest of two Internet sensations who made names by cooking up rumors has unveiled a broad political campaign against rumor mongers, the second day after the appointment of a new deputy security minister. Local police authority in Beijing has detained four employees of an Internet marketing company, two of which are the so-called grassroots web celebrities under the handles of “qin huohuo” and “li’ er chai si” on the country’s most popular micro-blogging platform Weibo, according to the party’s mouthpiece newspaper the People’s Daily. In order to gain more popularity, the two web celebrities, identified by their surname of Qin and Yang, have resorted to creating and designing market buzz by minting and spreading more than 3,000 rumors.
Related: China’s two greatest Internet rumor mongers and “black PR” philanderers arrested | Danwei Qin and Yang have since March 2010 headed a lucrative “black PR” business called Beijing Erma Interactive Marketing and Planning Company 北京尔玛互动营销策划有限公司 (no website for which could be found), one of the over 15,000 Chinese “water army” (shuijun 水军) companies paid by other companies to artificially generate grassroots online activity for their benefit. Erma’s client services include web marketing, creating online scandals or events, damaging the reputations of rivals or competitors, deleting negative comments from online forums, and generally creating and spreading rumors. All this is done in cooperation with online “opinion leaders” with large numbers of social media followers, who are be paid to re-post or forward particulars news or stories. The most sensational claim in the article is that Erma was responsible for manufacturing the Guo Meimei scandal, which “was actually a plot that was planned by Internet marketers and internet water armies”.
Related: Chinese reporter detained after accusing official | South China Morning Post Si Weijiang, a lawyer for Liu Hu, said the journalist was detained by Beijing police Friday at his home in the southern city of Chongqing and taken to Beijing. Liu’s other lawyer, Zhou Ze, confirmed that Liu was in detention in Beijing on Saturday. Beijing police confirmed Liu’s detention on its microblog, saying he was suspected of fabricating and spreading rumours.
Related: 今日舆情解读：净化网络环境 严打网络水军–舆情频道–人民网
Related: 网络黑手被捕 疑涉重大政治事件_中国_多维新闻网 至于吴兵，则有消息称在8月1日晚，他试图逃离北京时在北京西站被捕。此前曾有分析认为，中共对于高官调查的通常手法是外围清除马仔，定点抓捕心腹，然后再对高官本人进行详细调查。因此，秦志晖、杨秀宇被捕是否真的如外界传言那样与周永康有关，依然有待观察。//Duowei speculates that Qin Huohuo arrest may have something to do with Zhou Yongkang rumors
Related: [视频]净化网络：法律与自律双轨“治”_新闻频道_央视网 Thursday CCTV Evening news on purifying the Internet, with the Beijing detentions of the Weibo rumor spreaders as the latest example…two track approach to dealing with rumors–law and self-discipline…
Related: [视频]【打击“网络大谣”】守住法律道德底线 莫让“大V”成“大谣”_新闻频道_央视网Friday CCTV evening news on the Weibo “Big Vs” and online rumors..1 of 3 segments on the show on stopping intenet rumors, behaving better online // 中国社科院的调查显示：2011－2012年的30起微博热点事件中，转发量超过500次的帖子只有7584条，其中近七成（66.5％）是由305个用户发布的，这些微博名人基本主导了微博舆论。所谓的“大V”，指的是在微博上身份获得认证，并且具有大批粉丝的微博用户。2011年以来，涉及中国红十字会的网络谣言达20多起，其中参与反复炒作的，不乏一批网络“大V”。
Related: [视频]【打击“网络大谣”】破除网络谣言 需要你我共同行动_新闻频道_央视网 央视网消息（新闻联播）：连日来，公安机关开展的打击网络造谣、传谣等违法犯罪专项行动，让人们认清了一些“网络大谣”们的真面目。各地群众普遍认为，网络活动应坚守法律道德底线，坚决抵制、积极举报造谣、传谣行为，共同维护健康有序的网络环境。
Related: 靠什么终结“网络大谣”的神话（人民时评） 詹 勇网络苦谣久矣，因而每一次法治亮剑，都能引起强烈共鸣。“秦火火”、“立二拆四”等人被拘，如石投湖，荡起不小涟漪。“谣言惑众猛于虎”、“让网络既自由又可信”、“别再被人当枪使”……网友的留言中，有对依法治谣的支持，更有求真向善的心声。“弘扬主旋律，传播正能量”，刚刚结束的全国宣传思想工作会议传递的信息令人振奋。在一个网民数量接近6亿的国度，在一个传播技术迅猛发展的信息化社会，我们需要激发从法治到道德、从理性到情感、从意念发动到指尖触动的一切正能量，这才是最可靠、最有效的“谣言粉碎机”。
Related: [视频]【打击网络“大谣”】人人都应是绿色网络的维护者_新闻频道_央视网 Saturday CCTV Evening News on online rumors and “big vs” , how everyone should be protector of a “green” Internet…”big Vs” should be model for youth, students support the crackdown… //
Related: [视频]【打击网络“大谣”】共同维护网络健康环境_新闻频道_央视网 more from Saturday CCTV Evening news on online rumors // 央视网消息(新闻联播)：连日来，各地网络造谣者相继受到法律制裁，人们认清了“网络大谣”们的真面目。各地群众共同维护健康有序的网络环境。日前，在广东汕头积极全力抗洪的时候，有网友发布微博说，“汕头潮南区陈店镇部队救援物资到了，方便面一包50元，矿泉水一瓶15元，快艇接送一人15元，不给钱不救，心痛啊，求扩散，转吧”。消息一出，立即引来众多围观者，一些不明真相的网友纷纷转发，造成恶劣影响。
Related: 共守七条底线 Xinhua special on the 7 bottom lines for the Internet
Related: 法治自律相结合建成网络谣言防火墙-法治频道-新华网目前，中国互联网飞速发展，信息消费成为经济新的增长点。无论是从维护国家基本法制秩序与社会基础道德伦理，还是营造公正公平的网络商业环境来说，净化网络环境、建立健全网络谣言防范与惩戒机制势在必行。当人们期待网络如空气般存在时，又怎能容忍如PM2.5般的网络谣言? // When people expect the Internet to be as pervasive as air, how can we allow PM2.5-like Internet rumors?
Related: 坚守“七条底线” 网络世界更要擦亮眼睛-时政频道-新华网 连日来，通过媒体的持续关注和报道，网络大谣们为吸引公众目光而造谣传谣的低劣手段被公之于众。在纷繁复杂的网络世界，普通网友怎么提高鉴谣的能力？网络空间坚守“七条底线”，我们还要做什么？网友越来越依赖手机新闻客户端的新闻推送，作为客户端的内容编辑者，在辟谣上有哪些责任？记者就此采访了相关专家和网友
Related: [新华访谈]从”秦火火案”看“七条底线”如何坚守:网络舆论不能被大V把持-时政频道-新华网 8月23日上午，北京师范大学法学院教授、亚太网络法律研究中心主任刘德良，网络名人、80后时评人周小平做客新华网《新华访谈》，和网友一起探讨坚守“七条底线”的必要性，同时也通过“秦火火”这个案子来谈谈网民该如何坚守“七条底线”
Related: 曝知名微博大V薛蛮子因涉嫌嫖娼被抓获-搜狐新闻 no doubt just a coincidence that Xue Manzi, one of the top Internet celebrities / “Big Vs” was allegedly arrested in Beijing Friday night for soliciting a prostitute… // 据《星岛日报》驻北京记者消息，23日19时许，北京市公安局接群众举报，在朝阳区安慧北里一小区内抓获卖淫嫖娼嫌疑人薛蛮子（男，60岁，美国国籍）、张云（女，22岁，河南人），二人对违法行为供认不讳。 经了解薛蛮子真名薛必群，其父薛子正（历任北京市政府秘书长、副市长，国家经委副主任，中央统战部副部长，1980年7月在北京去世，享年75岁）。
China 7.5% Target Seen in Reach as U.S. Demand Picks Up: Economy – Bloomberg China will achieve the government’s 7.5 percent growth target this year as the world’s second-biggest economy stabilizes after a two-quarter slowdown, a Bloomberg News survey of economists indicates….The poll of 52 analysts, conducted from Aug. 15 to Aug. 20, points to China maintaining that pace of expansion in 2014. The survey also suggested that the central bank will widen the yuan’s trading band before year end.
Related: Jun Ma:Upgrading H2 GDP Forecast on Good PMI -Caijing By Jun Ma, Chief Economist, Greater China, Deutsche Bank Hong Kong–We revise up our H2 GDP growth forecast largely as a result of the improvement in recent indicators including today’s August flash HSBC PMI report. Specifically, we raise our Q3 GDP growth forecast to 7.7% yoy from the previous 7.5%, and raise our Q4 forecast to 7.8% from 7.7%. As a result of these changes, our H2 GDP growth is upgraded by 0.1ppt to 7.7% vs. market consensus of 7.5%. We maintain our 2014 GDP growth forecast of 8.5%, which is about 1ppt above the market consensus.
Related: China’s Growth Conundrum: A Soft Landing, Or See-Through Buildings? – Forbes The incentives for China’s political leaders have created a culture in which the nation’s economic health and the personal gain of elite clans have comingled and become confused. As this investment culture thoroughly penetrated companies throughout China, so did it become both the justification and the engine of political success. Investment-fueled growth has been rewarded with new investment capital, which in turn made it possible for China to grow.
Related: China Money Week: Treasury Sale Turnout Gives Cheer, Briefly | MNIShenyin Wanguo Securities analyst Qu Qing noted that power production rose around 16% y/y during the first 10 days of August, with State Grid reporting an 18% rise and Southern Grid a 7.7% increase… “It’s likely we will see double digit growth of power production in August,” he said, an increase over July’s +8.1% and only 5.2% during the first seven months of this year….But the market’s most immediate worry is the outlook for liquidity. Public holidays to mark the Mid-Autumn Festival will be followed by the week-long National Day holiday, starting on October 1. Liquidity often tightens around public holidays, while end-of-quarter regulatory checks provide banks with another reason to hoard funding and limit their lending activities.
Exclusive: China’s banks to take next step in rate reform push – sources | Reuters China’s top banks are expected to win approval for the issuance of tens of billions of yuan in negotiable certificates of deposit (NCD) as early as next month, in another step towards developing market-determined interest rates.
Charlene Chu Is the ‘Rock Star’ of Chinese Debt Analysis – WSJ.com From her cubicle in a Beijing office tower, Ms. Chu, who works for bond-rating firm Fitch Ratings, has emerged as one of the most sought-after experts on China’s increasingly risky financial system.
Related: Insight: Zombie borrowers haunt China’s shadow banks | Reuters The 1979 movie “China Syndrome” was about a cataclysmic nuclear reactor meltdown. And some see excessive debt as a ticking time bomb that will eventually produce a wave of defaults and an economic meltdown. But the Reuters examination of the trust data points to a different, though equally worrying scenario: slow and debilitating atrophy. The risk of pervasive debt rollovers is that China could follow the path of Japan in the “Lost Decades”, creating a permanent class of “zombie borrowers” who have little hope of turning a profit but survive through continual injections of fresh credit.
Exclusive: Tough-talking China pricing regulator sought confessions from foreign firms | Reuters The two sources, and another source with direct knowledge of the meeting at a small hotel in Beijing, said the official who delivered the blunt remarks was Xu Xinyu, a division chief at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). One of the sources at the meeting said Xu noted, without being specific, that half of the companies in the room were either being investigated or had been probed by the NDRC. “The message was: if you put up a fight, I could double or triple your fines. This speech went way over the line,” the second source who attended the meeting told Reuters.
Related: 外企“独霸”利益链引垄断质疑 新华社——经济参考网 more fun ahead for foreign carmakers? economic information today on foreign carmakers’ “hegemony” in the industry…and nice cartoon// 汽车品牌销售办法或面临调整–部分进口和合资汽车在国内售价畸高的问题近日引起广泛关注，国家发改委反垄断部门亦透露，已密切关注该问题不下两年。记者调查发现，在整个销售环节中，进口车企几乎“独霸”了整个利益链条。多位业内人士表示，随着汽车市场高速发展，以前制定的进口汽车品牌销售管理政策早已无法适应当前市场，从而导致了一些进口车企利用政策弊端获取暴利。
Related: China mulls improved auto sales regulations – Xinhua China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Friday that it is actively studying measures to improve current regulations on automobile sales in response to soaring complaints over price fixing that has led to exorbitant prices of foreign cars.
任增禄名单-财经网 Caijing cover story on the amazing corruption case of a county party secretary in gansu, how it is representative of much broader local corruption problem…can’t look at local debt in china without factoring in the corruption angle…full text outside the paywall .. // 甘肃华亭原县长、县委书记任增禄案浮现出县级官场表层下集体腐败的现实，呈现“人在官场、身不由己”的共罪结构。而向其行贿的129名官员仅有四名被治罪，又令法律陷入法不责众的尴尬境地
Related: 县官沉疴 Caijing on “county officials’ grave disease” // 在城乡经济飞速发展的时刻，基层政府的民主架构与制度监管却依然滞后，暴露出地方政府运作中存在的集权弊病，对县委书记的制度性监督与限权正当其时
Li Na, China’s Tennis Rebel – NYTimes.com A mercurial star who blends speed and power — and occasional meltdowns — Li became Asia’s first and only Grand Slam singles champion when she won the French Open in 2011. She is also the first Chinese-born player to crack the world’s Top Five — an elite group she rejoined last month after her run at Wimbledon. With nearly $40 million in sponsorship deals signed in the past three years, she is now the third-highest-compensated female athlete in any sport, trailing only Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.
信息安全升至国家战略层面 相关设备国产化有望提速 新华社——经济参考网 August 23 was the 2013 China information security technology conference. Economic Information reports that information security will be raised to the “national strategic level”, may hasten replacement of foreign equipment and software with domestic..industrial control systems security standards also imminent…May have been inevitable, but looks to have been hastened by Snowden’s revelations. Cisco et al will not like this. // 2013中国信息安全技术大会23日在北京召开。记者从会上获悉，主管部门正加紧制定工业控制系统信息安全标准。同时，有关部门正加快国家信息安全战略和规划文件的研究起草工作。业内人士认为，这意味着信息安全问题将上升到国家战略层面。在主管部门的重视下，今后信息安全产业规模将进一步壮大，以启明星辰、任子行等为代表的国内信息安全设备提供商将面临更大发展空间…值得注意的是，国产化程度不高仍是业内面临的一大难题。工信部赛迪智库信息安全研究所所长刘权介绍，目前中国芯片、操作系统等软硬件产品，以及通用协议和标准90%以上依赖进口，这对基础网络、重要信息系统和工业控制系统信息安全带来严峻挑战。随着国内信息设备提供商的不断发展，这一现状有望改变。北京力控华康科技有限公司总经理魏钦志告诉上证报记者，在给企业做信息安全集成系统的整体方案时，可以明确感受到企业更信赖国产品牌，也很愿意用国产设备。“棱镜门”事件后，国家、企事业单位甚至全社会对信息安全的重视程度都进一步提高，“未来国产设备有很大机遇。”
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
Eli Lilly says ‘deeply concerned’ by bribery allegations in China | Reuters U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co said it was “deeply concerned” about allegations published in a Chinese newspaper that it spent more than 30 million yuan ($4.90 million) to bribe doctors in China to prescribe the firm’s medicines instead of rival products.
中国经营报–城镇化中长期发展规划“送审在即” China Business Journal says draft Urbanization plan completed, NDRC now going through the process of getting official sign-off from 14 ministries/departments, then will submit to State Council, then will go to Politburo // 在经历了将近半年的征集意见以及修改之后，被视为新型城镇化发展总纲的城镇化中长期发展规划，已经接近“完稿”。按照国家发改委设定的工作程序，在完成相关14个部委的会签之后，将报请国务院讨论批准，并最终上报中央政治局审议。 目前，以产业化带动就业，解决“人的城镇化”，在几经修改之后，成为城镇化中长期发展规划主导路径的“共识”。围绕这一核心，户籍、土地、行政管理、财政等方面的配套政策的主思路也已基本厘清，而土地管理制度领域的改革或将成为配合城镇化最先启动的改革领域之一。
财经频道-新华网评：国企薪酬要摸底，更要起底-新华网 SASAC to do survey of true compensation for SOE employees..their official salaries may not be high but when you add in all the benefits they tend to be very well compensated..it is not just SOE fat cat bosses who like the current arrangement…// 国务院国资委日前启动国企职工薪酬调查，调查内容首次包括职工工资外收入情况。业内专家认为，此番摸底调查有助于国资委加强对国企薪酬的管控，有助于有的放矢地推动下一步国企收入分配改革。
温州“被弃房”处置困境：上千万元的房子拍卖难_财经频道_一财网 high end homes hard to sell in Wenzhou unless priced to move fast..some going for less than loan amount when factor in the loans the owners took out against the properties…// 温州新近出现的“被弃房”（昨日本报头版曾做详细报道），大多是本轮降价幅度大的高端物业，如何处置这些房源让多方困惑。温州哥伦布房产营销有限公司部门主管谢国华说，在目前市场状况下，高端物业的变现能力比较弱，“除非比市场价低一些。”…一位商业银行温州分行信贷部负责人说，在房价快速下降后，温州出现少数房源成交价低于贷款额，与一些银行贷款产品设置也有一定关系，比如“房屋抵押＋第三方担保”贷款产品，它们主要“是建立在房价上涨基础上的”。…事实上，这种“房屋抵押＋第三方担保”的超负荷贷款方式，在之前温州房价高位时被广为使用。
Everbright Securities President Xu Quits After Error – Bloomberg Chairman Yuan Changqing will become acting president as the company seeks to allay investors’ concern and stem an 18 percent drop in its shares this week, after it made 23.4 billion yuan ($3.8 billion) of erroneous buy orders on Aug. 16. The China Securities Regulatory Commission banned Everbright from proprietary trading for three months following the error, which the watchdog called unprecedented
Inner Mongolia: Where Bankers Sold Bunk – Caixin Underlying the trial of a woman authorities say drained bank accounts and kidnapped a banker’s wife are vexing questions about account security and teller supervision at China’s state-run bank branches in Inner Mongolia.
For Banks, the Chinese ‘Princeling’ Stock Has Fallen – WSJ.com “Now it is more about relationships with the entrepreneurs; people who do well are those with broader networks,” said Mr. Tang. “It is not that you can hire one banker who can bring you all the relationships you need.” Now, the more-valuable bankers—rather than the children of a Chinese leader—are those who are well connected outside China. As Chinese companies prowl the world for acquisitions, those who can introduce them to hot companies for sale, or can help them get foreign-government approvals, are going to get the deals.
Many Wall St. Banks Woo Children of Chinese Leaders – NYTimes.com Although many of those hired have worked diligently, others have been placed on the payroll with little or no work expected of them. “Some of them never even come into the office,” said one Hong Kong banker. “But everyone does it. We have lost business as a direct result of some state-owned company boss placing a kid at our rival.”
Electric carmaker Tesla hits roadblock in China over trademark | Reuters As a result, the 10-year-old company’s first shop-front in China, at the Parkview Green Fangcaodi mall in the capital, sits boarded up. While there is no Tesla sign, the shop is adorned with billboards of the Model S, which was launched in the United States last year. In addition to the trademark issue, Tesla has yet to complete product registration with Chinese authorities enabling the sale of the Model S, although one of the sources said Tesla was almost through with the process.
陕西神木店铺大量关门 房价跌幅过半–房产–人民网 CCTV looks at the aftermath of the Shenmu collpase // 陕西的神木县是我国第一产煤大县，也是陕西省的第一经济强县，以全民免费医疗的“神木模式”和15年免费教育而名噪一时。也因为出了一位拥有41套房子的房姐龚爱爱而吸引了更多人的眼球。但是，记者前不久在神木县看到的却是大量的店铺关门、商场倒闭，经济一片萧条。接下来我们就跟随记者的镜头。
神木民间借贷：击鼓传花 花砸谁家 深度报道——经济参考网 Economic Information special report on Shenmu after the crash…Is Shenmu unique given the coal crash, or is this going to occur all over China and become systemic? // 地处陕西省榆林市的神木县，连日来处于舆论的风口浪尖。这个去年GDP突破千亿元关口的大县，如今深陷民间借贷危机。从去年下半年开始，煤炭相关行业价格大幅下滑，重度依赖煤炭和涉煤产业的神木县经济增速明显减缓，当地曾经火爆一时的民间借贷跌入低谷。民间借贷危机爆发之后的神木县现状如何？《经济参考报》记者走访调查发现，讨债现象在该县随处可见，部分借贷人有钱不还甚至跑路赖账。同时，由于信用体系受创，部分民间融资链条断裂，给许多民企以及正在上马的项目造成不利影响。
延安市长回应“上山建新城”：保证不变“鬼城”_新闻_腾讯网 wonder how the trend of removing mountains to expand cities is going to work out..this article about Yan’an’s plans // 据新华社电 近年来，国内多个城市先后启动了规模庞大的“上山建城”计划，其中陕西省延安市启动的总规模达78.5平方公里的新区建设格外引人关注。延安“上山建城”是不是“拍脑袋”工程，如何破解资金、人气等问题？记者在延安市进行调查了解。包含北、东、西三大片区，控制面积达78.5平方公里，未来可用建设用地50平方公里左右，预期承载人口40万左右，相当于再造一个延安城。
Minsheng Bank Is Latest to Join E-Commerce Fray – Caixin Banks have noticed the success enjoyed by Alibaba and want to emulate it by offering a range of products – from cosmetics to insurance plans – for sale online
State Council to Encourage Foreign Investment in Elderly Services – Caixin Cabinet wants to see capital from abroad play a big role in how the country cares for its aging population, an approach one expert welcomes
POLITICS AND LAW
凝聚在共同理想的旗帜下 ——三论学习贯彻习近平总书记8·19重要讲话精神 本报评论员 Page 1 People’s Daily Sunday, third in a series of commentaries on learning from Xi’s speech at the ideology and propaganda work conference // 理想信念是我们精神上的“钙”。没有理想信念，理想信念不坚定，精神上就会“缺钙”，就会得“软骨病”。邓小平同志曾指出，“对马克思主义的信仰，是中国革命胜利的一种精神动力”。从井冈山精神到长征精神，从大庆铁人精神到载人航天精神，崇高信仰、远大理想发挥着巨大激励和鞭策作用，让我们穿越90多年艰辛历程，写下让世界瞩目的“中国震撼”. 当前，宣传思想工作的环境、对象、范围、方式发生了很大变化。在多元、多变的思想冲击之下，在拜金、拜物等观念腐蚀之下，一些党员干部丧失了最初的信仰，算命看相求神拜佛者有之、心为物役名利至上者有之、信念动摇精神空虚者有之，导致政治上变质、经济上贪婪、道德上堕落、生活上腐化…理想信念教育不仅要在党员干部中开展，而且要面向全社会开展。只有深入开展中国特色社会主义宣传教育，才能把全国各族人民团结和凝聚在中国特色社会主义伟大旗帜之下。要加强社会主义核心价值体系建设，积极培育和践行社会主义核心价值观，全面提高公民道德素质，培育知荣辱、讲正气、作奉献、促和谐的良好风尚。把全党全国凝聚在共同理想的旗帜下，心往一处想、劲往一处使，13亿人的智慧和力量就必定能汇集起不可战胜的磅礴力量，成为实现中国梦最强大的支撑。这是宣传思想工作的历史使命，也是宣传思想工作的无上光荣。
Xi Jinping: Keep the Larger Picture in Mind, Grasp General Trends, Look Towards Great Matters, Do Propaganda and Ideological Work Even Better | China Copyright and Media translation // The Nationwide Propaganda and Ideology Work Conference was convened on the 19th and 20th in Beijing. The CCP Central Committee General Secretary, State President and Central Military Commission Chairman Xi Jinping attended the conferences and made an important speech. He stressed that propaganda and ideology work must absolutely make revolving around the centre and serving the larger picture into a fundamental duty, keep the larger picture in mind, grasp general trends, look towards great matters, look for correct entry points and focus points for work, ensure that plans adapt to trends, actions adapt to trends, and trends are seized as opportunities to act.
中心工作与意识形态工作要两手抓 —— 二论学习贯彻习近平总书记8·19重要讲话精神 本报评论员 “经济建设是党的中心工作，意识形态工作是党的一项极端重要的工作。”在全国宣传思想工作会议上的重要讲话中，习近平总书记深刻阐明了党的中心工作和意识形态工作的定位和关系，明确提出了正确把握这两项工作的实践要求，为不断开创宣传思想文化工作新局面指明了方向，为统筹做好党和国家各项工作提供了重要遵循。发展是硬道理。十一届三中全会上，我们党作出了改革开放的战略抉择，实现了党和国家工作重心的转移。30多年来，正是始终坚持以经济建设为中心，集中精力把经济建设搞上去、把人民生活搞上去，才使我们这样一个人口多、底子薄、发展很不平衡的大国，取得了历史性成就，发生了翻天覆地变化。
北京日报:意识形态工作一定要硬 全党上下有责|意识形态|北京日报|领导权_新浪新闻 意识形态工作这一手一定要硬，就要真谋事真干事，来不得半点含糊、半点懈怠。首先宣传思想部门必须守土有责、守土负责、守土尽责，但这显然还不够。做好这项极端重要的工作，全党上下都有责任，必须全党各条战线、各个部门都动手，十个指头全都动作、一呼百应相互配合。一段时间以来，舆论场有种怪象，网络上尤其严重：但凡有谁发表正面言论，发表支持党和政府的言论，谁就会遭到嘲讽受到围攻。对此，理应出头的部门和官员却常常鸦雀无声或声音不大，甚至认为那些敢于碰硬、敢于站在风口浪尖上进行舆论斗争的人是“惹了麻烦”、“捅了娄子”，如此这般，把好导向、守住阵地岂非成了一句空话？这样碰到原则问题就绕着走，企图在中间和稀泥以明哲保身、左右逢源的“太平官”，势必助长歪风蔓延，于国于民，又岂是一个“误”字了得？
社评：舆论斗争，不能回避只能迎接的挑战_评论_环球网这个大环境是什么呢？它就是中国在高速发展，崛起已成事实，西方同中国的地缘政治竞争趋于激烈，但传统的军事和经济施压手段都已不太管用。与此同时西方的软实力仍处绝对上风，这使得无论中国政治道路是否得到充分自证，西方都有能力把他们对中国的阐述传遍世界。西方仍位于经济社会发展的上游，他们的所有东西都更容易挂上“普世”的标签，他们影响了不少中国人。
Fei Chang Dao: Communist Party Magazine: “China Could Not Endure the Consequences of Losing Control of Public Opinion” On August 16, 2013, the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship magazine, Seeking Truth, published an editorial entitled “Take Up the Cause of Insisting on a Marxist Approach to News” (自觉坚持马克思主义新闻观). Some excerpts: What is it not possible for China to implement a Western news system? The answer is very simple: China is a socialist country, and its political and economic systems are completely different from the West. So how could its news system be the same?
What Can China Learn From Unrest in Egypt? – Bloomberg On Friday, Mao Xiaogang, a columnist at the centrist, Communist Party-owned Beijing Times newspaper, wrote a piece ostensibly about Egypt. And yet seemingly tucked within it was his espousal of the Communist Party’s longtime justification for its emphasis on stability preservation: sustained economic growth. “Without social stability it’s impossible for a country to develop its economy and its people to live in peace and contentment,” he wrote. “The words ‘Maintaining stability is a top priority’ aren’t empty. The status quo in Egypt makes people realize the value of stability.”
人民论坛重推“护宪专刊” 声势远超倒宪三部曲_中国_多维新闻网 【多维新闻】继《人民日报》海外版密集发出倒宪三部曲后，《党建》和求是理论网再发讨宪檄文。最近一期的《人民论坛》更是重推“护宪专刊”，声势远超前者。值得注意的是，《人民论坛》发专刊所护的“宪”，乃是宪法政治，而非西方国家语境中提到的所谓宪政。
Mooncake Austerity Hits China’s Mid-Autumn Festival – China Real Time Report – WSJ One month before the country celebrates its annual Mid-Autumn Festival, Chinese authorities said Wednesday that they are barring officials from buying mooncakes—a centerpiece of the holiday—as well as giving presents or hosting dinners on the public dime. Traditionally, mooncakes are gifted (and often re-gifted) as a form of tribute during the festival, exchanged among family members as well as among companies, their clients and employees. “But this kind of polite reciprocity, when overdone, becomes a kind of squandering of cash,” ran an editorial in the People’s Daily on Thursday, praising the mooncake crackdown.
Chinese professor banned from classrooms over speech – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun An outspoken college law professor calling for constitutional rule has been banned from teaching, as the Chinese authorities tighten ideological controls, including launching an unusual assault on advocacy of constitutionalism. Zhang Xuezhong, a teacher at East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, said he was notified last week that he is no longer qualified to teach any course at the school.
王石谈自救 引发企业家选择大讨论–舆情频道–人民网 其实，关于企业家在面对当下环境时的态度、选择问题的讨论从6月就开始，源自联想控股董事局主席柳传志在一次小范围的谈话中表示：从现在起我们要在商言商，以后的聚会我们只讲商业不谈政治，在当前的政经环境下做好商业是我们的本分。此言论在有“中国企业家Facebook”之称的社交网络“正和岛”内部传播后引发争议。
萧功秦：中国改革陷入了五种困境_历史频道_新浪网一 威权庇护网结构与威权自利化的困境; 二 利益垄断造成的贫富两极分化的困境; 三 高额税收造成的国富民穷困境; 四 “国有病”困境; 五 社会创新能力弱化的困境
China approves pilot free trade zone in Shanghai |Economy |chinadaily.com.cn China’s State Council has approved the establishment of a pilot free trade zone in Shanghai, according to a Ministry of Commerce statement on Thursday. Covering 28.78 square kilometers, the new zone will be built on the basis of existing bonded zones — Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, Waigaoqiao Free Trade Logistics Park, Yangshan Free Trade Port Area and Pudong Airport Comprehensive Free Trade Zone.
A Star Scientist and ‘Lone Warrior’ Quits, With a Flourish | TLN On August 17, Wang Xuemei, a leading female forensic scientist, announced she was quitting as vice president of the Chinese Forensic Medicine Association, the most authoritative and highest institution in its field. Her resignation statement alleged: “I can’t tolerate that my name, Wang Xuemei, is confused with an organization producing such ridiculous and irresponsible forensic conclusions我不能容忍我的名字王雪梅和出具如此荒谬、不负责任的鉴定结论的一个学术团体混为一体.” Wang does not have her own Weibo account. Instead, the statement was posted on the verified Sina Weibo account of the dead Ma Yue’s mother. Ma Yue, a junior at Southwest Jiaotong University, was electrocuted after falling onto subway rails in Beijing on August 23, 2010. Wang’s complaints about “ridiculous and irresponsible forensic conclusions” refer to the Forensic Medicine Association’s autopsy report on Ma Yue’s death
如何维护宪法权威 Caijing essay by Renda professor Han Dayuan on protecting the authority of the Constitution // 在社会治理过程中，存在着政治权威、党的权威、个人权威、法律权威、制度权威等不同形式的权威。要维护宪法的最高性，其他权威就不能超越宪法的权威，并以宪法为依据调整其他权威与宪法权威的关系
春晚语言类节目创作4字方针公布：真 亲 小 乐_网易娱乐-网易新闻客户端 22日晚间，2014央视春晚官方微博正式公布了今年春晚语言节目创作的四字方针：“真”、“亲”、“小”、“乐”。
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
‘Insincere’ Tokyo not ready for serious talks |Asia-Pacific |chinadaily.com.cn Beijing on Friday denounced Tokyo’s ploy of using the media to hype a plan to hold a leaders’ meeting on the sidelines of an international summit. A Chinese source, close to the issue and speaking under conditions of anonymity, told China Daily that given the present circumstances it is unlikely that a meeting between the two leaders will take place in the near future, because “Tokyo is not sincere about improving relationships with China”.
Latest Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report—Ronald O’Rourke, “China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress” | Andrew S. Erickson Potential oversight issues for Congress include the following: whether the U.S. Navy in coming years will be large enough to adequately counter improved Chinese maritime anti-access forces while also adequately performing other missions of interest to U.S. policymakers around the world; the Navy’s ability to counter Chinese ASBMs and submarines; and whether the Navy, in response to China’s maritime anti-access capabilities, should shift over time to a more distributed fleet architecture. …
China’s sea islands monitoring on trial run – Xinhua Within the system, various marine surveillance agencies are interconnected, information is promptly updated and law enforcement archives are being computerized, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) announced on Friday.
China less than enthusiastic to Indian proposal on water issue – Economic Times India today elicited “less than enthusiastic” response from China on its proposal to have a separate mechanism to deal with water issues amid its continued concerns over Chinese damming activities on Brahmaputra. During the 5th round of India-China Strategic Dialogue, the Indian side led by Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh raised the issue of its proposal pending with China to have either a water commission or an inter-governmental dialogue to deal with water issues.
Gulf Analysis Paper: China’s Balancing Act in the Gulf | Center for Strategic and International Studies China is increasingly reliant on Middle Eastern energy. Yet, China is reluctant to commit to a region in which the United States seems to have an overwhelming military and diplomatic advantage. The region’s deep divisions and swirling politics give the Chinese pause as well. Still, many Middle Eastern countries seek a greater role for China in the region, either to balance against the United States or to make the United States work harder for its alliances. Saudi Arabia accounts for one-fifth of China’s oil imports, and Saudi-Chinese non-oil trade is booming. China also imports significant amounts of oil from Iran, and it views its Iran relationship as a strategic hedge against U.S. influence. But Iran also causes problems for China—and for Chinese energy security. In the coming years, China will only grow more dependent on Middle Eastern energy, and China will face an even more challenging balancing act in the Gulf.
Commentary: Closer military cooperation conducive to improving China-U.S. mutual trust – Xinhua As ancient Chinese philosopher Mencius said, a trail through the mountains, if used, becomes a path in a short time, but, if unused, becomes blocked by grass in an equally short time. The path to closer China-U.S. military ties is bound to be bumpy. Chronic impediments like the Taiwan question will not disappear soon, and modern problems like cyber security have posed new challenges. Yet the history of Beijing-Washington relations does not justify pessimism. It is in no measure a small accomplishment that they have managed to keep a generally upward trend in the development of bilateral relations. Based on mutual respect and dedicated to win-win cooperation, the two major players on the world stage can open a new chapter in their military relations and further consolidate their overall ties.
The Great Potash Power Play | The Diplomat Ethiopian potash resources enjoy three key advantages that will likely make them a strategic prize for Chinese and possibly Indian bidders. First, Ethiopia is in a strategic location near the Indian Ocean and a relatively quick sail to India and China both. Second, geological studies commissioned by mining companies operating in the region suggest that Ethiopian potash reserves could potentially be the third largest globally after Canada and Russia and would be able to support production of one million tons per year and perhaps more. Third, Ethiopian potash is cheap to produce and may be the cheapest in the world delivered to India and China. It is solution-mined by injecting water into the deposit, bringing the brine to a surface pond for evaporation, and recovering the dissolved potash.
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
Taipei rejects, and analysts doubt, report US would consider grand bargain on Taiwan arms sales | South China Morning Post Pro-Beijing Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po also quoted Guan as saying that Chang had proposed to the US that in return for its stopping the sale of arms to Taiwan, Beijing would consider “adjusting its deployment of missiles”, a phrase generally interpreted as the removal of missiles aimed at Taiwan from coastal areas. Similar suggestions were put to US President Barack Obama by President Xi Jinping during a June summit in California. The reports triggered a strong reaction from Taipei. Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Anna Kao said the US had refuted the mainland media reports and remained committed to the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA).
TECH AND MEDIA
Lower-Price iPhone Could Spike Apple’s Share of China Market – John Paczkowski – Mobile – AllThingsD perhaps w a big China Mobile deal w a good plan for consumers…but China Mobile has a ton of leverage with Apple now, and it grows by the day//A sharp drop in revenue for an important region, and troubling, but one for which Apple may already have a solution, in the form of the so-called iPhone C. According to Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, that iPhone, which is expected be a sort of mid-end version of Apple’s flagship smartphone, could significantly boost Apple’s share of the massive Chinese smartphone market.
IPad’s China Market Share Plunges as Domestic Tablet Makers Gain – Bloomberg Apple accounted for 28 percent of tablet shipments during the period, down from 49 percent a year earlier, Dickie Chang, a Hong Kong-based analyst with researcher IDC, said in an e-mail today. Samsung surged to second with 11 percent, while half of shipments were generated by producers with 1 percent or less each in market share, he said…Much of Apple’s lost market share went to small Chinese companies, according to IDC’s Chang. Tablet makers with 1 percent market share or less collectively accounted for 50 percent of shipments in the second quarter, compared with 36 percent a year earlier, Chang said.
China market: Local-made smartphones growing fast in 1H13, says GfK China The China smartphone market was characterized by models with 5-inch and above screens and those priced at below CNY600 (US$98) in the first half of 2013. The proportion of total smartphone sales with 5-inch and above increased from 5% in January 2013 to 12% in June in volume and from 12% to 23% in value. The sales volume for models priced below CNY600 as a percentage of total smartphone sales hiked from 1% in the first half of 2012 to 20% in the first half of 2013.
China market: Smartphone vendors slashing WP8 phone prices to win market share Android eating everything // Smartphone vendors, including Nokia, HTC and Huawei, have slashed the prices of their Window Phone 8 (WP8) models to below CNY1,000 (US$163) in the China market in order to compete effectively with comparable Android models, according to industry sources.
China’s Xiaomi Valuation at $10Bn After New Funding，CEO Says-Caijing The fourth round of funding came only a year after the company brought in $216million in the Series C funding last June which lift the valuation to $4billion.
Alibaba Plans Partnership System in Proposed Hong Kong IPO: Paper-Caijing The company’s management hopes to be shielded from investors’ pressure under the system, the report said. The proposal, subject to approval from the Hong Kong bourse, will allow partners nominate the “simple majority” – for example, five of a nine-member board – of directors.
Uber arrives in China after launching test service in Shanghai – The Next Web who did they hire to run China?
Baidu to pay $160 million for stake in Chinese group-buying firm | Reuters Baidu will buy newly issued ordinary shares of Nuomi, a wholly-owned subsidiary of social network company Renren Inc (RENN.N), representing about a 59 percent stake, said the search engine provider in a statement on Friday.
.CN域名今日凌晨大面积瘫痪 目前已恢复正常|cn|域名|服务器_互联网_新浪科技_新浪网 big problems resolving .cn domain names over nght Saturday, back to normal now // 新浪科技讯 8月25日上午消息，部分.CN域名在今日凌晨出现无法解析的问题。域名解析服务商DNSPod创始人吴洪声在微博称，故障发生是由于当时.CN域名的根服务器(释义见文末注释)受到攻击，授权DNS(域名系统)亦陷入全线故障。凌晨4点左右，.CN域名的解析恢复正常。
China’s Monster Summer | chinafilmbiz 中国电影业务 Last week’s box office saw Pacific Rim win its third week in a row, the first time that’s happened for a Hollywood film in 2013 (the China/Hong Kong co-pro Journey to the West won 5 straight weeks in February and March). Tiny Times 2, the sequel to July’s teen girl-oriented hit Tiny Times, ran up its total to $44 million with a $17 million second place finish. And Fan Bingbing’s romantic comedy One Night Surprise from writer-director Jin Yimeng (Sophie’s Revenge) took third with $15 million, proving the rom-com genre’s continuing strength with Chinese audiences.
China’s movie market booms with local content, cinema expansion | Reuters That lags North American revenues of $10.8 billion last year, but PricewaterhouseCoopers, a consultancy, sees China narrowing the gap quickly. It predicts the box office in the world’s most populous nation will grow at a year-on-year rate of 15.6 percent over the next five years and hit $5.5 billion by 2017. In January to June, domestic films outperformed imported ones by 65 percent at the Chinese box office. That was a huge reversal from the same period last year, when proceeds from imported films almost doubled those of domestic productions.
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Son of China’s war hero apologises for attacking teachers during Cultural Revolution | South China Morning Post The “Chinese Dream” cannot be realised until China accepts responsibility for the crimes and injustices committed during the Cultural Revolution, Chen Xiaolu, a former Red Guard and youngest son of civil war and Sino-Japanese war hero Marshal Chen Yi, said in a statement published this week. Chen Yi was also China’s foreign minister and a mayor of Shanghai.
教育部小学生“减负”引争议 家长怕孩子跟不上_新闻_腾讯网 Ministry of Education asking for public comments on plan to reduce students’ workload in primary school…controversial, more than a few parents worried their kids will fall behind // 近日，教育部公开征求意见的“减负”十条规定引起社会很大关注：招生不依据任何证书和考级证明、严禁以各种名目分重点班、“零起点”教学、不得加快教学进度……一系列措施让社会各界充满期待。但在家长、老师和学校各方看来，减负已经成了一个“不可能完成”的任务。
Sex ratio may cause marriage squeeze|Society|chinadaily.com.cn China still faces a tough challenge to redress a long-term skewed sex ratio of births on the mainland, which now stands at about 117.7 boys for every 100 girls, said Chen Zhu, vice-chairman of the 12th National People’s Congress Standing Committee.
专家：南疆有地方打宗教幌子禁止维族传统歌舞 – 新华网移动版
沈星被拘前男友被曝为陈红老公 两人离婚未遂_娱乐_腾讯网据香港媒体报道，凤凰卫视女主播沈星昨天早晨遭遇李姓前男友强闯香闺，疑似与男方怀疑沈星在屋内藏“第三者”偷腥有关。前男友闯入后与沈星发生争执纠缠，导致她手脚多处瘀伤已送医，而其前男友也因涉嫌爆窃及藏有禁制性武器被拘留。据传，李军系北京亚之杰集团董事长，内地知名商人，身价数以亿元计，被抓捕时还大喊“她花了我一千万”。 李军系陈红现任老公 曾于2011年闹离婚
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Burning Issues in Air Pollution – Caixin In 2007, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), the predecessor to the MEP, joined hands with the World Bank on a collaborative study to assess the risks of pollution to human health using PM10 as an indicator. However, the Chinese version of this study has never been made public. Two experts who participated in the study confirmed under the condition of anonymity that the study found 350,000 to 400,000 premature deaths were caused as a result of air pollution each year during that period.
The world’s longest burning fires: China’s unseen story | Audrey Wozniak – China Dialogue “Every country that is coal-producing has coal fires,” says Anupma Prakash, a geologist at the University of Alaska who has conducted extensive research on coal fires. So it comes as no surprise that China, which accounted for 49.5% of last year’s global coal production, also has the world’s worst coal fires. Hundreds of fires proliferate the nearly 3,000-mile coal belt running across north China.
Western-funded green groups ‘stir up trouble’ in China | South China Morning Post Two studies, part of a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences annual report on co-operation and development in the Greater Mekong sub-region, admitted that agricultural, mining and hydro projects with Chinese investment had caused adverse environmental impact in countries including Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia…But international environmental groups working in the region, most of which receive funding from Western countries, were also “irresponsibly attacking Chinese investors and misleading local communities with biased reports”, aimed at limiting China’s economic influence in the region, the studies said.
BEIJING
Residents angry over Beijing rail link | South China Morning Post People in Beijing living near the route of a high-speed railway line have rejected a revised construction plan that shortens the route, saying they still don’t know enough about how the project will affect their environment. They want a new survey conducted on the impact of the link, which is part of the 700 kilometre railway under construction between the capital and Shenyang in Liaoning province.
北京“最牛大妈”名下拥上千北京车牌被查_新闻_腾讯网 there might be corruption in the process of getting a license plate in Beijing…one woman has nearly 1000 plates under her name, rents them out. Now all her renters have been notified that the plates will be cancelled and they need to get new ones..good luck with that given the odds in the monthly lottery…trigger was that one of the rentals had an accident, someone then ratted her out// 北京实行汽车限购、摇号等政策后，车牌成为一种稀缺资源，但是近日一个名叫王秀霞的大妈被爆出其名下竟拥有上千北京车牌，目前这位大妈已经申请将所有车牌注销。近日，北京多名“租用”王秀霞名下车牌的车主，相继接到北京市车管所电话通知，让他们前去办理车牌注销业务，在重新取得购车指标前，车主不得开车上路。有车主多方打听，得知专做车牌生意的王秀霞，名下有近千北京车牌，因其“背户”的一辆车涉及交通事故，“背户”行为遭举报，最终被警方处理。
北京拟限价“普通商品住房”_新浪房产_新浪网 提要：当北京市房地产价格在行政限价的重压之下，仍然创下1.6%的环比涨幅之时，北京市政府开始加紧制定对“中低价位中小套型普通商品住房纳入限价房管理序列”有关具体执行政策的制定，希望借此控制房价数据涨幅的用意明显。
JOBS AND EVENTS
Job available: Sales Executive at Danwei 招聘: 销售主管 | Danwei The Sales Executive will be responsible for sales in the PRC, new business development, and ensuring smooth communications between Danwei staff and clients, as well as co-ordinating work of Danwei’s research and sales teams. The Sales Executive will also assist in the development of new business and in finding new clients, selling Danwei’s custom research services as well as subscription services or other types of research.
Upcoming Events–Insight China: Shadow Banking & Overcapacity: On the verge of collapse? Is China’s economy on the verge of collapse? This edition of Insight China explores the economic issues on every China-watcher’s mind: Shadow Banking and Overcapacity. Leading experts Arthur R Kroeber (Dragonomics), Joerg Wuttke (BIAC/OECD) and Joe Zhang (author of China’s Shadow Banking: The Next Subprime Crisis), together with this session’s Moderator Jamil Anderlini (Financial Times’ Beijing bureau chief) will review and debate the issues on 29th August, 4:00 pm, at the Westin Beijing Chaoyang. –Time: 2013-08-29 | 16:00 – 18:00 Venue: The Westin Beijing Chaoyang 金茂北京威斯汀大饭店