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Just links today:

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

Kerry to push China, SE Asia to discuss sea dispute | Reuters U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will press Southeast Asian leaders and China to discuss the South China Sea dispute at an Asian summit, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, despite Beijing’s reluctance to address the issue in public forums. Kerry arrived in Brunei on Wednesday for an annual East Asia Summit (EAS) and talks with leaders of Southeast Asian nations and, separately, met Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on the sidelines of the summit.

Related: Premier Li says China, ASEAN should build consensus – Xinhua The two sides should have the consensus that the fundamental issue of improving China-ASEAN cooperation lies in enhanced strategic mutual trust and good-neighborly friendship, and the key to such a partnership is to focus on economic development and seek mutual benefit and win-win results, he said. Li urged China and the ASEAN countries to boost their cooperation in seven areas.

The new gas guzzler – FT.com The world has just passed a historic milestone: China has overtaken the US as the world’s largest oil importer. After decades as the world’s biggest market for the international oil trade, America is ceding that position, the US Energy Information Administration said this week. The implications for international relations and global security are profound.

珠三角寓言-财经网 latest Caijing (issue index here) cover story is on the Pearl River Delta and how it has dealt with rural land issues…discuss what may come out of the Third Plenum  about this core issue// 多位学者指出，如果将改革对象只限于城镇规划圈外的经营性集体建设用地，则难免出现大量灰色区域和纠纷。据接近决策层的人士透露，十八届三中全会可能会抹掉“规划圈外”的说法，进一步凸显“逐步建立统一的建设用地市场”目标。目标未动摇，如何实现是问题。囿于现有的土地制度障碍，具体路径仍有赖于地方摸索和验证。在各地尝试中，广东的土地流转经验颇受中央肯定。自改革开放以来，广东省，尤其是珠三角地区，一直扮演了“先行先试”的角色。改革开放的前30年，正是大量集体土地形成的隐性市场，才推动了珠三角的工业化和城镇化奇迹。这个遍地开花的土地供应机制，不仅提供了香港和台湾地区向珠三角产业转移的产业用地，也为随之而来的数以千万计的外来劳动力提供了栖身之所。

刘鹤：对中国未来的三大政策思考-搜狐财经 Summary of a reaserch report authored by Liu He comparing financial crises in 20/30s and 2008…..with of course a look at what they mean for China’s future policies…interesting who he had comment on the draft…Wu Jinglian among others // 本研究报告的课题组组长刘鹤，总报告执笔人刘鹤。本文形成初稿后，分别征求了吴敬琏、樊纲、易纲、李扬、韩文秀、卢迈、刘春航、魏加宁、蔡洪滨的意见，同时还征求过中央财办内部杨伟民、蒲淳、刘国强、尹艳林、赵建的意见。作者对这些同事提出的意见表示由衷感谢。//推荐语：《两次全球大危机的比较研究》是刘鹤负责的一项重要课题研究报告之总结。文章从历史大视角考察了20世纪30年代的大萧条和2008年爆发的全球金融危机，以粗线条勾画了两次危机大背景与表症的异同，做出了一些颇有见地、值得重视的观察与评论，并针对中国具体情况提出了三点很有价值的政策思考与建议。

Related: 《两次全球大危机的比较研究》【摘要 书评 试读】- 京东图书 interesting this summary coming out now? Liu He research report avaiable in book form since Feb 1, 2013. You can buy it here in JD.com, though no stock in Beijing

China’s top leaders urge improving rural conditions – Xinhua Top Chinese leaders have urged improving the working and living conditions in rural areas, citing successes in the eastern province of Zhejiang over the past decade. Hailing achievements in improving the rural environment in Zhejiang, President Xi Jinping has called for spreading the province’s experience nationwide. Zhejiang, located on China’s eastern coast, launched a project in 2003 to renovate houses and living facilities in the countryside, improve rural design and planning, and enhance the rural ecological and human environment. Xi noted that governments in other areas should tailor measures to cater to their own circumstances rather than simply duplicating Zhejiang’s approach.// while Xi Jinping was Party Secretary of Zhejiang. So what are the details of what has happened in Zhejiang?

Related: 习近平就改善农村 人居环境作出重要指示 李克强就推进这项工作作出批示 《 人民日报 》（ 2013年10月10日   01 版） 新华社杭州10月9日电　2003年以来，浙江在全省农村开展了“千村示范万村整治”工程，取得明显成效。最近，中共中央总书记、国家主席、中央军委主席习近平对此作出重要指示，强调要认真总结浙江省开展“千村示范万村整治”工程的经验并加以推广。各地开展新农村建设，应坚持因地制宜、分类指导，规划先行、完善机制，突出重点、统筹协调，通过长期艰苦努力，全面改善农村生产生活条件。

Related: 汪洋在全国改善农村人居环境工作会议上强调 加快推进农村人居环境整治 全面改善农村生产生活条件 《 人民日报 》（ 2013年10月10日   02 版）

Chinese vaccine company wins international regulatory approval – FT.com Chengdu Institute of Biological Products, part of China National Biotec, has received “pre-qualification” from the World Health Organisation for its SA 14-14-2 live attenuated vaccine to protect against Japanese encephalitis (JE)… The ruling follows nearly a decade of work to improve JE vaccines including $39m in funding from Path, a Seattle-based public health charity backed by the Gates Foundation, and a decision from the World Health Organisation in 2011 that the Chinese drug regulatory authority had reached international standards.//huge, will make it much more affordable. My sister is at PATH, has been involved in this

Related China enters vaccine Premier League | beyondbrics PATH, a Seattle-based NGO, played a crucial role in bringing about the pre-qualification. It received a $39m grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to find a more cost-effective solution for the disease in question, and partnered with CNBG to make it happen. PATH “de-risked” a crucial part of the product development by CNBG, said Dr Kathy Neuzil, who headed PATH’s efforts to bring about the Chinese JE vaccine. “We were able to support the clinical trials, to help CNBG install a facility up to international standard, and to help them improve their systems and processes.” As such, the Chinese CNBG was in effect subsidized by an American NGO to come up with a vaccine.

Xinhua president meets foreign news media leaders – Xinhua The first WMS, held from Oct. 8 to 10 in 2009, was co-launched by Xinhua and eight other media organizations including the News Corporation, The Associated Press, Thomson Reuters, ITAR-TASS, Kyodo News, the BBC, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and Google Inc. The Al Jazeera Network and the New York Times Company joined the presidium in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Li introduced the agendas for the upcoming Presidium Meeting and outlined ideas for the future development of the WMS. Foreign media leaders lauded the WMS as an important platform for exchange and cooperation among world media outlets and hailed Xinhua’s contribution to this mechanism.

Related Photo–Xinhua president meets with chief executive officer of Associated Press – Xinhua  wonder what they are all laughing about// Li Congjun (R), president of Xinhua News Agency and executive president of the World Media Summit (WMS), meets with Gary Pruitt, president and chief executive officer of the Associated Press, before the WMS Presidium Meeting 2013 in Hangzhou

Related 讲好中国故事　传播好中国声音 ——深入学习贯彻习近平同志在全国宣传思想工作会议上的重要讲话精神 蔡名照 《 人民日报 》（ 2013年10月10日   07 版） Cai Mingzhao, Deputy Director of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee and Director of CPC Central Office for Overseas Publicity and Ideological work, in today’s People’s Daily on doing a better story of getting China’s story out overseas // 加强国际传播能力建设，需要创新“走出去”方式。在复杂激烈的国际信息竞争中，中国媒体想赢得主动、占领先机，就要加快“走出去”步伐，积极融入国际传播体系。实践证明，推进媒体在海外本土化发展，是加强国际传播能力建设的有效途径。把选题策划、生产制作、营销发行等环节前移到对象国家和地区，逐步实现机构本土化、人员本土化、内容本土化，更加精准地定位传播产品和传播对象，提供符合国外受众需求的产品和服务，形成中国声音的“本土化”表达。要引导和支持国内媒体确定好“走出去”的重点国家和地区，规划好具体办法和具体项目，与国外各类媒体在稿件交换、节目制作、记者互访、技术支持、新媒体运用等方面广泛开展合作…要扶持一批面向国际的智库和非政府组织，鼓励和支持它们开展国际交流合作，在更多国际场合发出中国声音，在国际传播中发挥更大作用–（作者为中宣部副部长、中央对外宣传办公室主任）// building greater global think tank “share” a smart and real goal. see this from Fu Ying in the june 20 People’s Daily 人民日报-智库发展大有空间潜力（名家笔谈） 傅 莹 

Related New York Times to host 3rd World Media Summit – Xinhua The third World Media Summit will be held by the New York Times Company in 2014, a presidium meeting of the World Media Summit (WMS) decided here Thursday. // any word on unblocking?

Sip of Death Plagues Cancerous River Villages – Caixin translation of most recent cover story // a decades-long health calamity continues to grip Huangmengying, a Henan Province community of about 2,500 straddling the Huai River, where Dr. Wang practices and researchers have been monitoring conditions for at least eight years. Despite tangible evidence of progress in cleaning up the polluted water blamed for countless deaths and disease, Huangmengying’s name is still on a grim list of so-called “cancer villages” in the river basin region. That list is familiar to Yang Gonghuan, a Beijing-based professor of public health at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences who used to serve as a deputy director at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Yang and her team have spent years monitoring the polluted river and severe cancer rates among local people.

 

BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE

China Shadow Banking Sector may Hit $3.35Trl, Says Govt. Think Tank-Caijing China’s shadow banking sector could be valued at 20.5 trillion yuan ($3.35 trillion) at the least at the end of last year, compared with an official figure of 14.6 trillion yuan ($2.39 trillion), according to a government think tank report. The size of the shadow banking sector has been expanding quickly since 2010, said the report, released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on Tuesday.

IMF’s Zhu Says China Has Tools to Deal With Debt Levels – Bloomberg The Chinese government has room to deal with rising debt levels, which has become a “serious concern,” according to Zhu Min, a deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund. While debt accumulation by companies and local government is “way too high,” the government has a lot of “policy buffer,” including $3.5 trillion foreign reserves, to resolve the problems, Zhu, a former deputy governor at People’s Bank of China, said at a panel during the IMF meeting in Washington yesterday. The government has already taken actions to curb borrowing, reducing the chances for an economic “hard landing,” he said.

China’s Big Four Speed up Lending in Sept, Extend CNY275Bn New Loans -Caijing The four largest state-owned banks together issued over CNY275billion (USD45 billion) new loans last month, the third highest monthly total this year.

China raises hurdles for foreign banks – FT.com China is raising the hurdles for foreign banks, more than tripling the amount of capital that new entrants to the country must post and limiting the derivatives operations of those already on the ground. But at the same time, the Chinese regulator also has offered foreign lenders much-desired clarification about how they can sell bonds in the domestic market, issue credit cards and offer overseas investment products to their clients on the mainland.

多省增速低于年初目标 决战四季度_财经频道_一财网 First Financial reports that several provinces are at risk of mssing their 2013 GDP targets // 2013年已经进入第四季度，尽管前三季度的经济数据还没有出炉，但是一些迹象显示，今年三季度形势有所好转，在此前经济增速落后于目标的情况下，四季度就尤为关键，各地提出决战四季度，完成全年目标任务。

土地出让金赛跑 京沪杭卖地收入均超千亿|土地出让金|卖地_21世纪网 21st Century Herald on the surging land sale revenue in major cities this year // 房企补仓意愿强烈，地方政府顺势推地，导致土地市场出现历史上罕见的“地王”年。截至9月底，据本报记者不完全统计，全国范围内已经出现的总价、单价地王超过15幅。

王石唱空地产 万科“金九”蒙灰仍疯狂拿地|王石|万科A|金九银十_21世纪网 21st Century Herald on the disconnect between Vanke CEO’s Wang Shi’s warnings of a real estate bubble and Vanke’s record purchases of land this year // 尽管王石坚持着自己一贯“偏空”的态度，但万科在土地市场的表现却丝毫没有收手的意思，最新的数据显示，9月份公司新增项目多达11个，而8月份则只新增了7个。不仅如此，万科今年截止到9月份在土地储备方面，已累计投入597亿元，新增建筑面积1771万平米，购地金额已超过历史年度最高值。

各地房地产调控目标年内恐难实现_经济频道_财新网 looks like many cities will miss the 2013 targets for real estate price repression policies // 前八月各地新建商品住宅价格涨幅超过城镇居民收入实际增速；北京、上海地房价控制目标虽较模糊，也存较大压力

Why a graveyard owner in China is turning its cemeteries into a public company – Quartz Shrinking land supply and booming demand are driving a boom in China’s burial business. In Shanghai, for instance, a plot of land near its downtown sold for $3.5 billion in early September—about 37,300 yuan per square meter. Meanwhile, China’s population is aging fast; its 119 million citizens aged 65 and over as of 2010 will more than double by 2050. No wonder Fu Shou Yuan Group, a Shanghai company that runs cemeteries in a slew of major Chinese cities, is planning a $200 million IPO in Hong Kong, as FastFT reports, with Citi underwriting the listing. Private equity powerhouse the Carlyle Group is one of its big shareholders, The Standard reports.

Sausage ceasefire may not end war between China’s noodle kings | Reuters Taiwan-based Uni-President, well-known in China for its pickled cabbage flavoured noodles, has now called a truce in the bruising battle that had depressed its margins, bringing the free sausage promotion to an end. “It seems to be quite an emotionally charged, rather than a rational competition,” said Torsten Stocker, a Hong Kong-based partner at consulting firm AT Kearney. Tingyi, which has a market value of $14.8 billion, accounts for 44.1 percent of sales volume in China’s noodle market, while noodle revenues comprised 36.75 percent of its total revenue in the first half, compared with 30.9 percent for Uni-President.

American Execs Say China is Getting Expensive, and Profitable – Corporate Intelligence – WSJ More than 90% of respondents said their China business is profitable, the highest level since the survey was started. Overall, though, sentiment hasn’t changed much from the “tempered optimism” of recent years. Companies say that a range of longstanding problems – such as delays in licensing and other market barriers – generally have not improve

Warsaw exchange: hello China | beyondbrics The Warsaw Stock Exchange has long been hunting for new listings far beyond Poland’s borders, but if it looks much further than its latest new IPO it will fall into the Pacific Ocean. The exchange’s newest listing comes from China – Peixin International Group, a manufacturer of paper products like sanitary napkins and diapers. // what could go wrong?

The Hurdles Ahead for a Cooper Tire Deal – NYTimes.com We haven’t seen Apollo’s full response. But judging from the company’s news release issued in the wake of Cooper’s complaint, the Indian tire maker will probably focus on the Chinese subsidiary as grounds for exiting the deal. Apollo is expected to argue that the actions of the Chengshan show that Cooper lacks control over its subsidiary, thereby breaching the company’s representations and warranties to Apollo made in the acquisition agreement. Moreover, Apollo will probably argue that it is still negotiating with the union, and that “reasonable best efforts” do not require it to give in completely to the unions. There is a bigger issue behind Apollo’s arguments and maneuverings. Even Cooper admits that it has lost control of its Chinese joint venture. If the transaction is not completed by November, then Cooper may not be able to prepare financial statements for the third quarter of 2013, a requirement under the acquisition agreement for the lenders to provide the financing necessary to complete the acquisition. Before that time, though, Cooper already has financial statements that the lenders can use.

Alipay’s Parent to Invest $193 Million in Chinese Asset Manager – Bloomberg Zhejiang Alibaba E-commerce Co., controlled by Ma, will buy a 51 percent stake in Tian Hong Asset Management Co.’s enlarged registered capital, according to a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday from Inner Mongolia Junzheng Energy & Chemical Industry Co., another Tian Hong shareholder. Zhejiang Alibaba’s planned investment in Tian Hong marks part of a wider push by Alibaba Group, China’s largest e-commerce company, founded by Ma, to expand its presence in the country’s financial industry. In June, Alipay began offering currency fund products by Tian Hong on a new platform called Yu’E Bao, meaning “leftover treasure” in Chinese.

A Relaxed China is Good for IDG and CreditEase’s New Fund – Venture Capital Dispatch – WSJ Chinese peer-to-peer lending company CreditEase and IDG Capital Partners are setting up a $100 million fund to target domestic startups developing financial-services technology. CreditEase itself is backed by investors including Morgan Stanley’s private equity arm for Asia, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, as well as IDG.

 

POLITICS AND LAW

Mao’s Little Red Book to get revamp | World news | The Guardian from Sept 27. Clearly Col. Chen thought he had approval to do this. So why the public smack down on National Day by Xinhua? // “This has been a very sensitive topic,” said Daniel Leese, author of Mao Cult and an expert on the era at the University of Freiburg. The new version is due for release in November, just before the 120th anniversary of Mao’s birth. Its chief editor, Chen Yu – a senior colonel at the Academy of Military Science – describes it as a voluntary initiative. “We just want to edit the book, as other scholars work on the Analects of Confucius… We don’t have a complicated political purpose,” said Chen. But Leese suggested it was a “trial balloon” from Maoist sympathisers: “If they hadn’t seen how the general tone towards the Maoist heritage had changed, I don’t think they would have dared. This is party internal politics popping up in the public sphere.” // see yesterday’s discussion on this topic

Why the Bestselling Chinese Book of All Time is Out of Print | FP Passport These days, no Chinese publishing house prints Quotations (though it’s unclear whether that’s because it’s illegal to do so or because or no one wants to try their luck). A search for The Quotations of Chairman Mao on the Chinese version of Amazon returns hundreds of responses — including The Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Proverbs of Chairman Mao, and a wallet designed from The Quotations of Chairman Mao, which sells for $6.50 and is made from a “fashionable canvas” material. You can even buy — no joke — a disco remix of the Quotations. But you cannot buy the book itself. A search in Dangdang, a Chinese online bookseller, returns even more limited results. To legally publish in China requires a Book Number– a registration system that allows for the monitoring of printed materials — and Quotations apparently lacks one.

“70后”地市一把手共39名 最年轻33岁 新华社——经济参考网　 记者据公开资料统计（截至9月），目前31省份地市党政“一把手”中，“70后”官员共计39名（党委4人，政府35人），平均年龄41.36岁。其中女性5名，均担任政府“一把手”，分别是山东莱芜市市长王磊，湖北仙桃市市长周文霞，湖南怀化市市长李晖、湘西州州长郭建群，云南玉溪市市长饶南湖。

Xinhua Insight: Reform in focus ahead of Party summit – Xinhua A spate of initiatives adopted by the Chinese government has aroused the country’s enthusiasm for reform, with many people expecting the country’s ruling party to kick off more intensive and tougher reforms at a key summit in November. A few weeks after the launch of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, a catfish effect has evidently come into play across China.

甘肃省举行纪念习仲勋诞辰100周年座谈会(图)_资讯频道_凤凰网 Conference in Gansu to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Xi Zhongxun, Xi Jinping’s father. Xi Yuanping attended, looks a lot like his brothe in this picture // 省委书记、省人大常委会主任王三运，习仲勋之子习远平，中央党史研究室主任欧阳淞，中央统战部副部长斯塔，中国人民解放军总政治部宣传部部长周涛，陕西省委副书记孙清云，分别从不同侧面回顾了习仲勋同志的生平事迹和对党、对人民作出的卓越贡献。

人民日报:遏制“房腐”须完善官员财产申报制度_网易新闻中心 page 5 commentary in today’s People’s Daily in wake of report that half of fallen officials had lots of real estate says that improved asset declaration system needed to curb “housing corruption”…and no way a comprehensive property tax can be implemented until this is sorted // 日前有媒体统计，自2000年以来，半数落马省部级高官涉及房地产。这一统计从一个侧面印证了人们的日常感受，从广州“房叔”、陆丰“房爷”，再到张曙光的美国别墅，一幢幢房产从官商勾结的阴影下被撕开幕布，一条条利益链在涉房贪腐的浮冰下露出水面。一边是“豺狼在牢，其羊不繁”之叹，一边是“长安居，大不易”的购房焦虑，“房腐”现象刺激着人们的观感和社会神经。

拆分中石油：多种方案流传 但启动阻力重重_证券时报网 Could PetroChina be split up in wake of the current corruption investigations? // 一名不愿透露姓名的专家坦言，蒋洁敏的事情出来大概一个星期的时间，就传出了要对中石油整改的消息，“呼声最高的就是拆分。”业内人士给出的方案是，以大型的区域为核心，然后进行整合，以区域性的子公司为核心，再加上周围的小公司、产业，在业务上面比较密集的公司，然后结合在一起，“初步设想是分成华北、华南、东北等五到六个区域性的公司，但各个公司在业务上会有所不同，比如炼油，石化，会是华北公司和东北公司的主要业务。”

中石油高管落马揭校友圈：几所学校毕业生统治一行业_资讯频道_凤凰网 interesting story about Southwestern Petroleum University alumni and the oil sector corruption.// 西南石油大学桃李之盛，从一个细节便可窥知。2012年2月，西南石油大学北京校友新春联谊会上，校友们汇聚一堂。其中，来自石油系统的部级高官就达十余人。中石油股份公司副总裁刘宏斌、李华林，中石化股份公司副总裁焦方正，中海油技术总顾问周守为等三大石油集团的高管，均以校友身份与会。“联谊会现场就可召开一次中国最顶级的石油产业高峰论坛。”参会的民营石化企业总裁如此说道。

Cabinet orders close watch on poverty funds |Society |chinadaily.com.cn Recent audit reports have found that poverty-relief funds in some places have been misused by local governments due to a lack of supervision, according to the meeting, which was presided over by Premier Li Keqiang. Those who embezzle or misuse poverty-alleviation funds must be seriously punished to ensure that the poor can be supported by the funds, the meeting concluded.

中科院候选院士贪污130万获刑 妻子举报其有多个情妇_资讯频道_凤凰网 China Academy of Sciences one-time candidate sentnced to 13 years for corruption. Hi wife turned him, jealous over his mistresses // 被妻子举报包养多个女人而遭纪委调查，后被查出贪污130万余元科研经费，中科院候选院士段振豪因“风流韵事”牵出贪污案，最终成为阶下囚。记者昨天获悉，一审获刑13年后，段振豪提出上诉，北京市高院日前对此案做出终审判决，驳回段振豪上诉，其秘书车春兰二审也维持原判。

夏俊峰妻子向几米道歉 强调儿子画作非抄袭(图)_资讯频道_凤凰网 Xia Junpeng’s wife apologizes to Taiwanese painter “Jimmy” for the similarity between her 13 year old son’s paintings and his

Jiangsu court jails sellers of ‘cooking oil’ made from gutter waste | South China Morning Post A Chinese court on Wednesday jailed one man for life and sentenced more than a dozen to up to 15 years in jail for producing and selling cooking oil made from gutter waste, the latest food safety scandal to fuel public mistrust.

Bo Guagua says ‘facts will speak for themselves’ over alleged lavish lifestyle | South China Morning Post The magazine [Southern Metropolis Weekly] only published its report about his replies in its latest issue on September 30. The report did not specify the context of Bo Guagua’s replies, but it said the 25-year-old had to face the grave issue of his rift with his father. During the last day of his trial, Bo Xilai said: “Guagua asked for expensive watches, luxurious cars, international tours, paid the bills of a large group of students, and spent beyond the credit limits of credit cards. Would I love a son like this?”

 

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

China warns of consequences if Abe visits shrine – Xinhua China has warned that Japan will cause more damage to bilateral ties if its Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, follows recent encouragement and visits the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in October. “Currently, China-Japan relations are encountering severe difficulties. If Japan stirs up new provocations on the Yasukuni Shrine issue, there will surely be more serious consequences,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily news briefing on Wednesday. Her comments came after Japanese Cabinet Secretariat Advisor Isao Iijima said on Monday that he hoped Abe would visit the shrine in October during the autumn festival.

2020年卫星导航产业规模将超4000亿_证券时报网 MIIT’s recently released medium-term plan for China’s satellite navigation industry says the industry scale will hit 400B RMB in 2020// 工信部昨日发布《国家卫星导航产业中长期发展规划》，《规划》提出，到2020年，我国卫星导航产业创新发展格局基本形成，产业应用规模和国际化水平大幅提升，产业规模超过4000亿元。

Wooing China’s Princelings by Minxin Pei – Project Syndicate don’t they do this for every significant country’s elites? follow the money… // Simply put, elite Western colleges and universities, having identified China as a top market for fund-raising and high-end network-building, regard the princelings as a valuable investment. Nurturing ties with China’s political elite is good business, and the princelings can help open doors.

What’s in a Name? In the South China Sea, it Seems, Quite a Lot – Southeast Asia Real Time – WSJ Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, however, opted to call it “this sea known by many names” in remarks on Wednesday to other Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders in Brunei. In case no one was clear on what he meant, he added a geographic descriptor placing it, “west of the Philippines, east of Vietnam, north of Malaysia, south of China.”

 

TECH AND MEDIA

Twitter and its plans for China – The Next Web Although there’s no clear message behind Twitter’s motivations for China, the company doesn’t need to be physically located in China to draw revenue from the country. That certainly appears to be the immediate plan, since Twitter is hiring for a ‘Head of Media Partnerships – Greater China,’ who would be based out of one of its offices in Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore or San Francisco.

Twitter’s Plans May Run Into China’s Attitudes Toward the Internet – NYTimes.com I wrote on Twitter and China in my final Dealbook column on Sept 16…// We can be fairly certain, however, that Twitter has no meaningful financial contribution from China. Nor are more than a handful of its reported 240 million active users among the nearly 600 million people on the Chinese Internet. Twitter, like Facebook, YouTube and several other foreign Internet services and news Web sites deemed sensitive, is blocked by China’s “Great Firewall.” Twitter, however, may still have opportunities to generate revenue from China.

Asian Messaging Apps WeChat and Line Challenge Silicon Valley – WSJ.com Twitter, in its recent filing for an initial public offering, acknowledged that these Asian apps could stand in the way of its international expansion as they occupy more of smartphone users’ time. Line and WeChat have been adding some Twitter-like features, such as official accounts for companies and public figures that allow them to distribute promotional messages to followers.

HEARD ON THE STREET: Weibo Can’t Retweet Twitter IPO – WSJ.com Investors in Sina, Which Owns Chinese Twitter Rival Weibo, May Be Putting Too Much Faith in the U.S. Company’s Looming Stock-Market Debut // especially when so much user activity and attention has moved to WeChat.

挑战者周鸿祎-财经网 latest Caijing has a good look at Qihoo CEO Zhou Hongyi…many hate him, but you have to admire what he has built…Qihoo I believe is now the 9th largest internet company by market capitalization in the world…

Apple Seeks China Mobile 3G, 4G Knowledge in Beijing Engineer Ad – BloombergApple Inc. (AAPL) plans to hire a manager with knowledge of the third- and fourth-generation networks used by China Mobile Ltd. (941), evidence it’s moving toward agreement for the world’s largest carrier by users to offer the iPhone. The carrier engineering manager position, based in Beijing, will “support and drive the carrier approval of mobile phones,” Apple said in an advertisement on its China website.

Lenovo in Secret Talks with HTC over Takeover: Rumor-Caijing The world’s largest PC maker Lenovo is reportedly considering a possible takeover of the troubled Taiwan smart phone maker HTC as the Chinese company tries to raise its smart phone game. HTC has been holding secret meetings with Lenovo since August, according to Taiwan media, despite earlier reassurance made by HTC CEO that the smart phone maker won’t seek buyout offers.

 

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

Why Are Hundreds of Harvard Students Studying Ancient Chinese Philosophy? – Christine Gross-Loh – The Atlantic But the society that Michael Puett, a tall, 48-year-old bespectacled professor of Chinese history at Harvard University, is describing to more than 700 rapt undergraduates is China, 2,500 years ago. Puett’s course Classical Chinese Ethical and Political Theory has become the third most popular course at the university. The only classes with higher enrollment are Intro to Economics and Intro to Computer Science… Why are so many undergraduates spending a semester poring over abstruse Chinese philosophy by scholars who lived thousands of years ago? For one thing, the class fulfills one of Harvard’s more challenging core requirements, Ethical Reasoning.

PISA’s China Problem | Brookings Institution–Tom Loveless This December, the latest scores will be released from the Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA), a widely followed international assessment.  American press coverage—whether web-based, on television, or in old-fashioned print—will decry the mediocre showing of the U.S. and express astonishment at the performance of China.  One problem.  China does not take the PISA test.  A dozen or so provinces in China take the PISA, along with two special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macao).  But journalists and pundits will focus on the results from one province, Shanghai, and those test scores will be depicted, in much of the public discussion that follows, as the results for China.  That is wrong.

The Great K-Hole of China | Motherboard A dealer contacted over WeChat in Beijing claims to sell meth and K, both the domestic variety and imported from India. Both would cost us around 100 RMB per gram in the capital. Purity? 90 percent, he assured. Could he send 10 grams? No problem. But Golden’s mark-up is normal, as foreign dealers are careful never to sell to locals. For one thing, Golden says, “If you sell it to Chinese people, the penalty will be more,” and for another, it’s not worth the margins: “Chinese sell it to themselves, as they have more of it.” To hear Golden tell it, it’s not a big deal. “When you go to a club, they place it on the table and they sniff it, girls and boys,” he says. I tell him the story about the clubs in Guilin—where local uniformed police were snorting up and zoning out alongside everyone else—and he starts nodding

Schoolboy’s found ‘treasure’ is fragment from ancient Chinese mirror – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun According to the board of education, the fragment was from a mirror that was originally about 20 centimeters in diameter. It is believed to have been manufactured in China around the first century and then brought to Japan where it was buried along with its owner in the latter half of the third century.

‘Who Discovered America?’: Controversial historian Gavin Menzies claims Chinese reached New World first | Mail Online Gavin Menzies, a British historian, claims Chiense Admiral Zheng He set up colonies and sailed round South America before Columbus…Among Menzies other claims are that the first inhabitants of the Western hemisphere didn’t come over land from the Bering Strait, but instead were Chinese sailors who first crossed the Pacific Ocean 40,000 years ago. // this book filed in “fiction/fantasy” section, no?

Wingsuit flyer killed after parachute failed to open – Telegraph About 200 police and firefighters were involved in the search for Hungarian Victor Kovats, who disappeared during a trial flight on Tuesday in Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park in the central province of Hunan.

 

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH

Millions hit as rainstorm wreaks havoc |Society |chinadaily.com.cn In Zhejiang, Yuyao, a city with a population of about 850,000, was one of the hardest hit. More than 70 percent of the city’s downtown area was flooded, forcing public transportation to be suspended. The city’s power and tap water supplies were also interrupted, and residents are short of food and clean water. Soldiers rushed in large trucks and speedboats to help with disaster response.

#余姚告急# – 新浪微博 “Yuyao in a state of emergency” is the top topic on Sina Weibo right now

台风“菲特”来袭_网易专题 lots of problems, including at least one report of looting, in Yuyao in wake of typhoon flooding…disaster response getting much criticism

 

FOOD AND TRAVEL

乳企兼并细则提升行业准入门槛 新华社——经济参考网 government wants 3-5 infant formula giants, and among other things is raising the threshold for market entrants, reports Xinhua’s Economic Information //《经济参考报》记者9日从消息人士处获悉，经过多部委长达数月的协调，备受关注的《推动婴幼儿配方乳粉行业企业兼并重组工作方案》(以下简称《乳企兼并重组细则》)或将于近期出台。据悉，《乳企兼并重组细则》将主要聚焦以下内容：提高企业进入门槛、提升行业集中度，5年内培育形成3至5家年婴幼儿配方乳粉销售收入超过50亿元的大型企业集团，并将为参与兼并重组的乳企提供一系列财税政策支持。

Hey, big spenders[1]|chinadaily.com.cn With the holiday over and Chinese tourists back home, the merchants are counting their money and most are finding that their efforts paid off. In London, Chinese tourists spent an average of $12,800 on shopping, higher than the former record holders from the oil-rich Middle-East countries, according to the Daily Mail.

 

BEIJING

Beijing official blamed Chinese way of cooking for air pollution | Offbeat China In the past week, during Beijing’s best time of the year – fall, smog rose to hazardous level again. Officials in this “City of Smog” are desperately in need of some refreshing excuses when talking about the city’s choking air. So there we have Zhao Huimin, director of the Beijing Foreign Affairs Office, who pointed fingers at Chinese cooking, one of the few things that most Chinese uniformly take pride in.

北京环保局否认烹饪油烟系PM2.5主要来源_资讯频道_凤凰网 now doing damage control over the cooking contributes to pollution comment

Beijing Neighborhood Preservation: Is Design the Solution? | New Republic TNR now have a full-time Beijing correspondent? // Compared to this legal and economic briar patch, design feels a little beside the point. Tricking out the hutongs with colorful stools and shiny cubicled toilets might make them more yuppy-friendly, but it doesn’t change the fundamental threat to their existence: an appetite for maximizing economic return. “It’s good to have a bit of a show, to get these people in the government thinking that design can really change this,” says Gaddes, “but we know that it can’t.” In the end, the real creativity required will be less aesthetic than political: Bringing together rival parties, negotiating contracts, and upgrading the neighborhood one property at a time. It’s this unsexy work that will decide Dashilar’s future. If the result happens to look like a giant armadillo, all the better.