The conventional wisdom seems to be that the Third Plenum is a bit of a nothing-dumpling when it comes to reform. I still think people should withhold judgement until the full text of the report is released.
That report may also not meet reform expectations, but some of the recent commentary about the lack of reform seems premature. There is also the upcoming Central Economic Work Conference that should provide many more details about what will and will not be reformed.
Sinocism readers who have an interest in the markets may remember my repeated comment over the last few weeks that perhaps people should “buy on the rumors and sell on the Plenum”. The full report may have a different impact on market sentiment, which seems almost unanimously dismissive of real reform prospects…
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
Chinese Leader Gets More Sway on the Economy and Security – NYTimes.com By establishing the leadership group, Mr. Xi has wagered his credibility on his ability to push through changes that are likely to face resistance from government ministries, local governments and big state firms, said Chen Ziming, a commentator in Beijing who closely follows party affairs. Mr. Xi is almost certain to lead the group, which economists have long called for to help accelerate economic restructuring, Mr. Chen said. “This is placing responsibility on his own shoulders,” he said. “It’s concentrating power in one person, so the responsibility will also be his.”
Related: China Creates Security Committee With Warning to Terrorists – Bloomberg “The purpose of the committee is to ensure the nation’s security,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular briefing today when asked about the body. “That should make terrorists, extremists and separatists nervous. Anyone who would disrupt or sabotage China’s national security should be nervous.”
Related: China’s New Security Committee – All Things Nuclear While there are links between domestic and international security in every nation, China’s security concerns, and the systems and procedures it uses to cope with them, are radically different than those of the United States. Foreign experts need to exercise considerable caution when comparing the two. In this case, it seems highly unlikely that China’s new security committee is modeled after the U.S. National Security Council or that it will perform comparable functions for China’s new president.
Related: 五大职权集一身 习近平实权远超江胡_中国_多维新闻网 Duowei on the new state security committee and what it means for Xi’s power // 成立国家安全委员会和中央全面深化改革领导小组，是中共十八届三中全会结束后公布的为数不多的具体举措，而且在中共历史上都属首创。观察人士普遍认为，设立国家安全委员会，有望提高习近平的权威，加强其对军队、国内安全和对外政策的掌控。几乎可以肯定，习近平将担任国家安全委员会的负责人。该委员会的建立可能使习近平在协调外交和国防政策方面，减少受到来自中央政治局常务委员会其他6名成员的干涉，此举进一步显示出习近平正将自己打造为自邓小平以来中国最强有力的领导人。 本来中共已有中央国家安全领导小组，是中央外事领导小组的一体两面，两个招牌一套人马，职权涵盖了涉外事务和国家安全事务，组长都是习近平兼任。而应对战争本有中央军委，对内维稳则有中央政法委，现在设立一个国安委，将外交、军队、维稳、情报等大权汇集于此，其地位和权力都显然已远超上述部门。其实，成立国安委的设想始于江泽民时代，是江的铁杆智囊汪道涵的作品，但以江的强势在当时都无法推动，现在习近平成事，显示习之权势之盛，已掌控全局。
Related: Why don’t Chinese netizens like the idea of a state security committee? | Offbeat China Such government agency isn’t new in China’s history. Many liken the committee to the imperial secret police of the Ming Dynasty, the Jinyiwei. As a national security agency at the time, Jinyiwei had the authority to overrule judicial proceedings in arresting, interrogating and prosecuting anyone in the country – they took direct orders from the emperor. The organization was also responsible of collecting intelligence on enemies during war. Some are even reminded of Dongchang and Xichang, domestic spy agencies in charge of monitoring all civilians’ actions and words for potential treason in Ming Dynasty.// 皇帝上的资本主义…need a good translation for this term
Related: 海外版望海楼：国家安全捏紧五指攥成拳–观点–人民日报海外版 华益文–设立国家安全委员会反映了中国新时期的战略自信、战略清醒和战略稳健，将为中国的和平崛起添一道新保障。这一举措不是为了谋求世界霸权，而是为了完善国家安全体制和国家安全战略，充分利用和积极主动塑造中国发展的战略机遇期，确保国家安全，从而更好地和平发展。国家安全委员会的成立只是第一步，它将在磨合中成长。但毋庸置疑，它的设立将提振士气，开创国家安全新局面，助推中国赢得优势，赢得未来，并实现中国与世界的共赢。
At Bloomberg, Special Code Keeps Some Articles Out of China – NYTimes.com It is called Code 204. Editors at Bloomberg News append it to an article to ensure that it does not appear on Bloomberg financial data and news terminals in mainland China. Little known outside Bloomberg, the system has been in place for more than two years, and it is used regularly to keep articles on Chinese politics and social issues away from the eyes of powerful people in China who might be offended, Bloomberg employees say. //more like code chickensh$t
Related: Navigating the Constraints on Reporting from China – NYTimes.com China is not like Nazi Germany, said Andrew Nagorski, a former Newsweek journalist and the author of “Hitlerland.’’ ‘‘In political terms, there’s no comparison between Nazi Germany and China today,’’ he wrote in an email. ‘‘Nazi Germany was a state based on harebrained racial theories, the cult of the leader and a commitment to a messianic vision of conquering” the world. Yet the comparison still resonates, he said in a telephone interview. ‘‘There’s a certain dynamic to these situations of covering countries which are authoritarian or totalitarian regimes, no question,’’ he said.//perhaps time to re-read In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin, was making the rounds in DC among China specialists and policymakers after it came out in 2011. I read it then as worried, did not see the similarities…
Related: Did the NYT Just Get Blocked in China — Again? | TLN The New York Times’ flagship English and Chinese-language websites are already blocked in China — now, the Times’ latest hope for avoiding the wrath of censors there may have suffered a setback. Portions of the Chinese-language site of T Magazine, the Times‘ lifestyle publication, have been inaccessible in Mainland China since the afternoon of Nov. 13, Beijing time. Problems accessing the site first came to light when social media users complained on Sina Weibo, a popular microblogging platform, where T Magazine maintains an active presence.
China: The road to reform – FT.com “There tends to be an impression outside China that this is a seamless authoritarian system and when the leadership says jump everyone jumps, but that is a very unrealistic view of how the country works,” says Kenneth Lieberthal, a former senior director for Asia on the National Security Council in the White House. “The reality is yes, everyone jumps but not necessarily in the direction the leadership wants. This is a system that can be highly disciplined and highly centralised but almost never is.”
Related: How to make “comprehensively, deepening reform” in China | The A-List–Yukon Huang Years from now, this Plenum might be judged as “unprecedented” if it turns out that the state really does allow the market to play a more decisive role and the new team really is able reform, fundamentally, the major economic institutions. But for markets, there are more immediate concerns about whether the leadership has a strategy for reversing the rapid debt build-up and developing a more sustainable basis for growth. They will want to see more concrete actions to break the unhealthy links between local authorities and the banks that they effectively control.
重提混合所有制：国企改革再出发_21世纪网 21st Century Business Herald on SOE reform plans..there is going to be reform, how much much the key question// 《21世纪经济报道》获悉，新一轮国资改革的方案将涉及国有企业按功能分类、自然垄断企业政企分开、放开竞争性业务、强化国企投资责任追究等方面。 此外，国有资本收益上缴公共财政比例将继续逐年提高，预期目标有望设定在上缴的2020年达到30%的水平。上缴的收益将更多用于保障和改善民生，还将划转部分国有资本充实社会保障基金。 在上月召开的全国国资监管政策法规暨指导监督工作座谈会上，国资委副主任黄淑和曾表示，要认真准备国资国企改革方案，争取尽快出台。
Related: China Billionaire Beats State Firms as Summit Encourages Markets – Bloomberg “They promised a big push on reform, and a ‘top level design,’” said Barry Naughton, a professor at the University of California at San Diego, who studies China’s economic reform. “We didn’t get a big push, and they set up a committee to work out a top level design. So clearly the plenum did not move the ball forward as much as we hoped.”
Related: Plenum Insight: Conclave ‘Didn’t Change Status of SOEs’ – Caixin Advocates of a more market-oriented economy have been calling on the government to break SOE monopolies in most industries and level the playing field for private investors. However, most people supervising state assets and some scholars argue that SOE reform means improved management approaches and incentive mechanisms that can make the companies stronger and more efficient.
Related: 陈志武：真改革就要约束国企和各级政府权力-财经网 Chen Zhiwu says a test of real reform will be restraints on SOEs and government power at all levels// 检验政府是不是真改革，有两项检测指标，其一是，国有企业是不是要受到根本性的限制，国有企业的民营化改革是不是真的会推出；其二是，对于各级政府权力的制约是不是有实质性的改革。
CPC watchdog calls for innovation in anti-corruption work – Xinhua The CCDI said it will revise the rule on Party inspection tours, and improve the system to cover all local governments, government departments, state-owned enterprises and public institutions. The CCDI said it will strengthen its efforts in investigating and punishing Party cadres suspected of violations, asking discipline inspection commissions to address corruption issues.
Related: 中纪委:研究制定纪检工作双重领导体制-高层动态-新华网 会议强调，党中央高度重视加强反腐败体制机制创新和制度保障。要深刻认识全面深化改革与推进党风廉政建设和反腐败斗争的关系，发挥纪检监察机关在推进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化进程中的作用。要立足当前、着眼长远，研究制定纪律检查工作双重领导体制具体化、程序化、制度化的意见，注重制度设计的细节。加大党风廉政建设责任制的责任追究。制定全面落实中央纪委向中央一级党和国家机关派驻纪检机构的指导意见。与时俱进地修订《中国共产党巡视工作条例（试行）》，改进中央和省区市巡视制度，做到对地方、部门、企事业单位全覆盖。
Related: 中纪委“全覆盖”：向中央党务部门派驻纪检机构_21世纪网引人注目的是，会议公布的信息称：中央纪委“要立足当前、着眼长远，研究制定纪律检查工作双重领导体制具体化、程序化、制度化的意见，注重制度设计的细节”。 同时，“制定全面落实中央纪委向中央一级党和国家机关派驻纪检机构的指导意见。与时俱进地修订《中国共产党巡视工作条例（试行）》，改进中央和省区市巡视制度，做到对地方、部门、企事业单位全覆盖。”
Cautious hopes for China land reform – FT.com Chinese experts have warned against reading too much into the plenum’s calls on land reform. Under the Communist system, all land in China belongs to the state. The proposed reforms will not lead to the introduction of individual property rights. There was similar talk of reform in party policy meetings five years ago but that failed to result in sweeping change, said Shi Xiaomin, vice chair of China Society of Economic Reform. The earlier communique used the word “gradually”, wrote Jinsong Du of Credit Suisse in Hong Kong: “Removing “gradually” may indicate a sense of urgency, but it also implies things did not change much in the past five years – due to various challenges. Therefore, we may not see the widely expected breakthroughs on land reforms any time soon.”
Related: 安徽国土厅：”农民可以买卖宅基地”系媒体误读_网易新闻中心 新京报讯 前日，安徽省政府在官网发布指导意见，决定在全省20个县（区）开展农村综合改革示范试点工作，有媒体将此解读为“农民可以买卖宅基地”，对此，昨晚安徽省国土厅有关人士对新京报记者表示，这是对文件的误读，文件中称之为“可以流转使用宅基地”，并非是“买卖”。
Related: 安徽试点农地流转 拟建城乡土地交易市场_证券时报网 安徽省政府下发了《安徽省人民政府关于深化农村综合改革示范试点工作的指导意见》（以下简称《指导意见》），决定在全省20个县（区）开展农村综合改革示范试点工作。今后，农村集体建设用地可以通过转让、出租等方式流转，用于工业、商业、旅游和农民住宅小区建设，未来还将建设统一的城乡土地交易市场。 中国人民大学农业与农村发展学院教授郑风田在接受《每日经济新闻》记者时表示，全国农村有两亿亩的建设用地，这些土地是片沉睡的资产，农村建设用地全面流转后，将极大地释放土地市场，并打破房价居高不下的局面。
卫计委：中央还在定夺“单独生二胎”_资讯频道_凤凰网 National Health and Family Planning Commission says no decision has been made to allow any family that had one parent grow up as a single child have a second baby…they must be fighting hard to keep the policy unchanged//人民网北京11月14日电（记者杨文彦）近日，有媒体报道中国将放开“单独二胎”政策，方案将于三中全会后不久公布，也有媒体称公布时间大约在13日或14日。人民网记者就此向国家卫计委求证，卫计委新闻处相关工作人员表示，关于放开“单独二胎”的文件还没出台，更没确定什么时候发布，不要相信网上传言。
Cisco 11.13.13 Earnings Call transcript hear Cisco has been winning bids in China but then having the deals mysteriously canceled…June 18 Sinocism on risk of American firms getting “Huawei’d” in China // Moving on to Asia Pacific, Japan and China similar to last quarter we again experienced the same challenge as many of our peers. Overall Asia Pacific, Japan and China was down 10%. China continued to decline as we and our peers worked through the challenging political dynamics in that country…Q: Do you feel that there’s something more going on? We’re all floored by your guidance here, but is there something a little more to this that with customers outside of the U.S. thinking a little bit more about U.S. IT brands and is that impacting your business and if so or if not, then what do you do in the future? Thanks a lot, John. A: John T. Chambers – Chairman and CEO: Sure. Ben, I think, if you look at it, it is an impact in China. I think we’re all aware of that. I think it’s totally impact on the total emerging country business however is fairly nominal.
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
China’s Stocks Drop as Top Party Meeting Disappoints Investors – Bloomberg “The meeting underwhelms in details,” said Hao Hong, a Hong Kong-based strategist at Bocom International Holdings Co. “In coming days, we may hear some details on specific policies but it will be too early to build positions now. At the moment the focus is still on portfolio-risk reduction.”
Economists React: China’s Third Plenum Meets Economists’ Expectations – China Real Time Report – WSJ is this good news? Or just a big letdown? Both optimists and pessimists seem to think the ambiguous document confirms their views.
China’s Surveillance Firms Get Boost From Third Plenum Security Plan – China Real Time Report – WSJ Some stocks however, were boosted by news that China plans to establish a state security committee that could tighten President Xi Jinping’s grip on the military, domestic security and foreign policy. Details again were vague, with the communiqué just mentioning a committee that would “improve the national security system and national security strategy to ensure national security.” “This is the first time that the government has mentioned reform details toward this sector,” said Tang Yonggang, an analyst at Hongyuan Securities. “We didn’t expect it.”
GM to move international office to Singapore–USA Today The automaker said in a statement that the new headquarters will have about 120 employees to oversee GM’s businesses in Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Korea and the Middle East, as well as Chevrolet and Cadillac Europe. GM said it will keep its Shanghai office open with about 250 employees for operations in China, which has overtaken the United States as the world’s largest auto market by new vehicle sales.
Alibaba’s Jack Ma is ‘delirious,’ says real estate tycoon | South China Morning Post he better keep Beijing happy, has made a lot of enemies over the years// Ma has upset some of the nation’s wealthiest real estate tycoons by pledging to drive down the soaring price of housing with “the power of e-commerce”.
Disney Needs to Worry About the Jimmy Kimmel Controversy in China – Businessweek In a worrisome sign for Disney, the call for an apology came after ABC had indeed apologized. “Please accept our heartfelt, sincere apology,” the network said in a Nov. 8 statement. Perhaps the Chinese Foreign Ministry doubts the sincerity of the apology, with the sort of mistakes-were-made passive construction your English teacher warned you never to use. “The simple fact is, the segment should never have been broadcast,” ABC said, adding: “steps have been made to try and prevent this kind of egregious mistake from occurring in the future.”
The Year of the Lego: Why the Company Thrives in China : The New Yorker Lego’s revenue of nearly two billion dollars in the first half of 2013—compared with $1.43 billion for Hasbro—was boosted in large part by its growth of seventy per cent in China. That country, where parents are increasingly seeking out educational toys, has become the world’s second-largest toy market.
POLITICS AND LAW
中央全面深化改革领导小组八问–时政–人民网 The Beijing News ask experts 8 questions about the new reform leading small group // 对此，国家发改委经济研究所研究员常修泽、中国（海南）改革发展研究院院长迟福林、中国人民大学公共管理学院公共政策与安全研究所教授毛寿龙、国家行政学院教授竹立家等专家学者，接受新京报专访，作出了解读。
媒体梳理“中”字头、“国”字头领导小组等改革机构-时政频道-新华网 新京报-梳理公开资料可发现，党中央或者国务院层面专门成立改革类的领导小组等机构，已不是第一次。它们多在涉及攻克关键性的改革任务时出现，专门解决改革过程中“难啃的硬骨头”。只是，以往“中”字头、“国”字头的领导小组等改革机构，多解决具体领域的问题。如经济、司法、医卫等。这次成立的全面深化改革领导小组，则“负责改革总体设计、统筹协调、整体推进、督促落实”，在此前非常罕见。
三中后政坛人事开始重构 栗战书或掌上海_中国_多维新闻网 Duowei on rumors that Han Zheng will move to Beijing to joining the new reform leading small group, Li Zhanshu will replace him as party secretary, Liu Yuan may get bigger role in military…//二是在地方层面，身兼政治局委员的上海市委书记韩正，可能近期上调中央，有望出任改革小组副组长；现任上海市委副书记李希或将暂代书记一职，但最后的安排可能是现任中央办公厅主任。而刘少奇之子、现任总后勤部政治委员的刘源，将在军队的新机构中扮演重要角色。
From Nouns to Adjectives: The 3rd Plenum Communique – The China Track 与中国接轨 Communiques from previous Party plenums that signaled major policy changes introduced new nouns to the ideological lexicon. The “commodity economy,” “socialist market economy,” etc. Perhaps the key word from yesterday’s communique is “decisive,” as in having “the market place the decisive role in resource allocation.” That is not as big a change in direction as was ushered in at the 3rd Plenums of the 11th, 13th, or 14th Party Congresses. By focusing on an adjective and not a noun, the Party is now trying to clarify and sharpen the direction it wants China to go, not set a fundamental new course. I say “perhaps the key word” because the summary provided by Xinhua at the end of the text did not focus on that point at all. It definitely is significant because it goes beyond previous statements of markets playing a “basic” role in allocating resources. But is it the most important thing in the document? No one can say for sure.
Westerners Aren’t Only Ones Flummoxed by China’s Reform Plans | TLN If they’re failing, it’s not for lack of trying: On Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, a search for “third plenum” yielded over 2.7 million recent mentions, and among those comments, over 154,000 used the word jiedu, which roughly means “to decode.” Frustration is palpable online. One Weibo user complained, “I glanced at the Third Plenum communiqué; it surpasses my ability to understand it.” Another wrote, “I made myself dizzy reading it three times.” And another: “It’s a pile of words on top of words, without saying anything.” And this: “I can’t understand why after a meeting lasting three days, the only thing they can produce is … a document that has to be decoded. It’s like a high school exam.”
三中全会公报两度点题 事权上移引关注_财经频道_一财网 举世瞩目的十八届三中全会12日闭幕。全会公报在财税领域的100多字表述中，两次提到事权，包括“明确事权”和“建立事权和支出责任相适应的制度”。这引发了舆论对于事权上移领域的关注，其中涉及民生领域的事权更是引发热议。
红色文化与中国梦 刘润为 《 人民日报 》（ 2013年11月14日 07 版） Liu Runwei, head of the Red Culture Research Society, in People’s Daily Thursday on Red Culture and the Chinese Dream
China pressures Muslim Uighur lawyer families on burqas, beards | Reuters Lawyers in Turpan, an oasis city southeast of the regional capital, Urumqi, have to sign a pledge denouncing extremism and participation in “illegal religious activities”, the Xinjiang judicial affairs department website said on Tuesday. “Lawyers must commit to guaranteeing that family members and relatives do not wear burqas, veils or participate in illegal religious activities, and that young men do not grow long beards,” the statement said.
太原爆炸案疑犯作案当晚仍工作 家属不知其动机_新闻_腾讯网 Taiyuan bomber was a taxi driver, family says does not know his motive
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
China provides relief goods to typhoon-hit Philippines – Xinhua China will provide 10 million RMB worth of relief supplies to typhoon-hit central Philippines, the Chinese embassy said Wednesday. The relief including blankets and tents will soon be delivered to the Philippine government to assist communities devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, the embassy said. This was followed by a donation of 200,000 U.S. dollars by the China Red Cross Society and the Chinese government.
China, Norway may team up in search for Arctic oil | ReutersNorway is deciding whether to team up with China to explore for oil in Iceland, Icelandic authorities said, setting up a rare cooperation for the two since a diplomatic row over the award of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. Norway has the right to join an exploration license with Chinese oil firm CNOOC to look for oil in the waters between Iceland and Norway’s Jan Mayen, a tiny speck of land in the Arctic.
Strategic Patience the New Mantra for Abe’s China Policy – Japan Real Time – WSJ The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has a new phrase to characterize its policy for dealing with territorial tensions with China: strategic patience. The term was introduced to an audience in Tokyo earlier this week by Shotaro Yachi, a former top foreign ministry official who is now the prime minister’s key diplomatic policy adviser.
Japan to tap technology for military use, another step away from pacifism – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun Japan is finalizing a budget for a new command center for cutting-edge research modeled after the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to try to tap a broad swathe of civilian technologies with potential military uses. The planned research program is another symbol of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to bolster Japan’s military as he seeks to make it less bound by the limits of the pacifist post-war constitution.
Former Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama apologises for atrocities in China | South China Morning Post Former Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama has offered a personal apology for Japan’s wartime atrocities in China and blamed tensions in the East China Sea on Tokyo. He also departed from the view of Japan’s political establishment by criticising Tokyo’s dependence on the US.
Chinese navy unveils photos of confrontation drill – Xinhua
Chinese President holds welcoming ceremony for visiting Yemeni President in Beijing – Xinhua Chinese President Xi Jinping (front, L) holds a welcoming ceremony for visiting Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 13, 2013. Xi held talks with Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Beijing on Wednesday
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
末代港督被指干扰香港内部事务 引香港舆论炮轰_新闻_腾讯网 Patten continues to annoy China…wonder what Chinese school kids generations from now will be told about him…
TECH AND MEDIA
Group of China Internet firms say to sue Baidu over copyright violations | Reuters A group including Chinese Internet firms Tencent Holdings and Sohu.Com Inc as well as a top U.S. film industry body said on Wednesday it is seeking 300 million yuan ($49.2 million) in damages from China’s Baidu Inc and others for copyright violation. The group, which also includes Youku Tudou Inc, Dalian Wanda Group and the Motion Picture Association of America, said in a statement that Baidu and others had been using an automated process to obtain content from the other companies. //what about some of the Android app stores/content managers that will download pirated video to your device for offline viewing?
Chinese vice premier demands crackdown on piracy, counterfeits – Xinhua The crackdown on piracy and counterfeit goods has to be stepped up, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang ordered while presiding over a national meeting on the subject on Wednesday…He also ordered all municipal and county level governments to stop using pirated office software by the end of the year.// if Microsoft wants to grow bing market share in China they should offer free Windows upgrades to Chinese computers, provided they only use the Bing search engine…
网络版权诉讼再起，多家视频网站联合行动—— 百度被诉盗链盗播（热点解读） suit against Baidu for piracy gets a long story on page 9 of today’s people’s Daily. Baidu CEO Robin Li has some cleaning up to do…
Tencent Profit Misses Analyst Estimates on R&D Spending – Bloomberg 15.5B RMB revenue in the quarter, stock up so far Thursday// Net income rose 20 percent to 3.87 billion yuan ($635 million) from 3.22 billion yuan a year earlier, the Shenzhen, China-based company said in a statement yesterday. That compares with the 4 billion-yuan average profit of seven analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg…Tencent boosted research, development and marketing to drive use of games and services including the WeChat instant messaging app as billionaire Chairman Ma Huateng steps up his battle with Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce company. The company hired soccer superstar Lionel Messi to promote the app
Sina Weibo now up to 60.2 million daily active users Sina CEO Charles Chao revealed that Weibo’s daily active users grew 11.2 percent to reach 60.2 million from June to September. That’s better than the 8.3 percent rise in daily actives during Q2. Chao conceded that the average time spent for those daily active users on Weibo was unchanged during Q3, but he did note a further shift towards using Weibo on phones.
Report: Chinese Internet Firm Sina Punishes 100,000 Weibo Accounts for Violating ‘Seven Bottom Lines’ – China Real Time Report – WSJ Since the term was first coined in mid-August at the China Internet Conference, Sina Corp. has closed or otherwise “handled” 100,000 accounts on its Weibo microblogging service that have violated the principles, according to a Wednesday report from the state-run Beijing Youth Daily (in Chinese). For those who might have forgotten, the seven bottom lines consist of: the legal bottom line, the socialist system bottom line, the national interest bottom line, the legitimate interest of citizens bottom line, the public order bottom line, the moral bottom line and the authenticity of information bottom line.
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Qigong ‘Master’ Wanted in Jiangxi Buys Luxury HK Home – Caixin Wang Lin, who made news in July when it became known his circle of followers included celebrities, officials and other powerful people such as Alibaba Group chairman Jack Ma, apparently bought the property in Kowloon. A person named Wong Lam – the Cantonese spelling of Wang’s name – bought an apartment for HK$ 30.4 million in September, land registration documents show. That works out to HK$ 256,000 per square meter for the apartment in a high-end tower called Ocean One, which has a sea view. The documents showed the buyer got a mortgage from HSBC.
复旦回应研究曹操DNA质疑：这是科学 不是闹着玩_新闻_腾讯网 bit of controversy over plans at Fudan U to research Cao Cao’s DNA
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
组图：红外相机拍到野生熊猫母子过山冈照片_新闻_腾讯网 rare pictures of pandas in the wild
China’s Bad Bet on the Environment – Elizabeth Economy – Harvard Business Review But at a more profound level, China’s leaders appear to be betting that their approach to environmental governance — top-down, command, and control — can work. They’re also betting that developing the fundamentals of good environmental governance — transparency, rule of law, and official accountability — pose too great a risk. That has been the bet for more than 60 years. It is hard to believe that China’s leaders think that where they are now on this issue is where they really want to be.
FOOD AND TRAVEL
Chinese state media kick into high gear to ease GMO food fears | Reuters GMO food faces opposition even at the top levels of Chinese bureaucracy, with a senior national security official likening it to opium. But state media is taking up the fight: on Monday, Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily rejected rumors that eating GMO food could alter human DNA, and news agency Xinhua ran an investigation last week debunking tales that GMO corn consumption had reduced sperm counts.//interesting political differences…”Silent Contest” has some scare talk of GM food to segue into the threat from “political genetic modification” 政治转基因
BEIJING
Impatient Beijing subway commuters confound German fare machines | South China Morning Post In Europe, passengers keep a certain distance from each other and feed their tickets into the machine only after the person in front has passed through. But in China, impatient passengers follow closely behind each other and often insert their ticket before the gate opens for the person in front. “Our German engineers assumed there would be two to three seconds between two tickets, but in China even half a second seems too long,” he said.
北京市环保局称手机App发布PM2.5多不准确|北京市|环保局|PM2.5_互联网_新浪科技_新浪网 本报讯(记者 周敬启)市场上许多手机软件实时发布的PM2.5指数，因计算方法问题并不准确。昨天，北京市环保局做客首都之窗在线访谈，相关负责人建议市民在环保局网站下载专业软件，掌握权威的空气质量数据