"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Today’s issue is a long, catchup one. Apologies in advance for typos, between meetings and if I don’t send it now it will not go out today.
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
1. Foreign Tech Firms Cast Wary Eye on Proposed Anti-Terror Law – Caixin Some see the CBRC’s move as encouraging domestic financial institutions to scrap network solutions provided by foreign suppliers. The movement is sometimes called “De-IOE” because it seems to take special aim at three big American companies: IBM Corp., Oracle Corp. and EMC Corp., a powerhouse trio with deep roots in corporate IT departments across the country. Germany’s ambassador to China, Michael Clauss, said the new tech requirements for banks put Chinese suppliers at an advantage. He also expressed concern that the new cyber securities policies “could make market access for foreign companies in China much more difficult.” The central government’s procurement documents show that one-third fewer foreign tech products were bought last year than in 2012. Cisco Systems, which provided 60 types of products to the central government in 2012, sold nothing in 2014.
2. Jailed Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu wants Tony Abbott’s help–Sydney Morning Herald Fairfax Media can reveal for the first time that Hu’s confession of bribery was made in response to an explicit promise that co-operation would directly lead to freedom. “He pleaded guilty on the basis that he’d be immediately expelled to Australia,” a source in contact with him says. This news has implications for Rio Tinto, which sacked Hu for his “deplorable” bribe-taking and has remained silent about the industrial secrets that he was convicted of stealing on the company’s behalf.
Related: A Chinese prisoner’s dilemma as man begging for release from Australian prison risks upsetting the delicate relationship with China-Sydney Morning Herald In the early hours of November 16, 2010, when the high-flying Sydney banker and his glamorous wife Niki Chow should have been flying to Spain to seal the $100 million sale of their London-listed travel business, Matthew Ng (pronounced “Ung”) was stripped of his wedding ring, his Buddhist amulet and all his clothes.
3. How the New York Times is eluding censors in China – Quartz Times executives would not discuss the technical specifics of the company’s new strategy, except to say that there was one, and that it was working. “The only thing I can say is that we have a very strong tech team that works tirelessly to make our journalism accessible to readers in China,” Craig Smith, the paper’s managing director for China, told Quartz. More than two years after the block, the New York Times’ online audience in China has rebounded, and is growing fast, Smith said. “We’re now back to about where we were before the restrictions set in October of 2012, and we’re still growing,” said Smith said, speaking specifically of readers of the Chinese-language version of the Times. He would not specify how big that audience was, beyond “millions” of unique users a month. Advertisers are showing interest in the Chinese language website again, he added.
Related: Errata Security: Pin-pointing China’s attack against GitHub Using my custom http-traceroute, I’ve proven that the man-in-the-middle machine attacking GitHub is located on or near the Great Firewall of China.
4. 《新闻1+1》 20150406 新的环保法，治得了沙漠排污吗？新闻频道央视网(cctv.com) CCTV’s “News 1+1” on the continuing problem, despite many orders from above, including from Xi Jinping, of pollution dumping in the desert in Inner Mongolia and Gansu…asks if the new environmental law has enough teeth to stop these abuses, very critical of the polluter and the local officials
Related: Chinese riot police crush grasslands protest over chemical pollution – The Washington Post Tensions have been rising in Inner Mongolia in recent months, as herders protest pollution and land grabs by mining and mineral resources industries, the mainstay of the region’s economy. Herders say that their grasslands and livestock have been poisoned and that little compensation has been paid for losses and land seizures. Villagers said more than 2,000 riot police officers were deployed over the weekend near Daqintala village in Naiman county in the eastern part of Inner Mongolia, to break up a protest involving about 1,000 locals over pollution originating from the Naiman Chemical Refinery Zone.
5. Explosion of Once-Scuttled Chemical Plant Riles China’s Web | Foreign Policy After a massive factory explosion, the Chinese web is reverberating with the sound of a thousand bitter “I told you so’s.” On April 6, a chemical plant in the southern coastal city of Zhangzhou went up in flames captured in photos circulating online (and pictured above), releasing a tall column of black smoke along with shock waves so powerful that local residents thought there had been an earthquake. But this wasn’t just any factory. It produced paraxylene, a substance that many believe to cause harmful side effects; and it was this very factory which in 2007 sparked a rare and successful NIMBY (i.e. not in my backyard) demonstration which eventually compelled local authorities to relocate it. Now that the factory has come to an ill-fated end, its detractors feel vindicated.
Related: 福建漳州当地官员曾保证PX工厂不会发生爆炸社会政经频道首页_财经网 – local official once told reporters the PX plant would never have an accident // 在回答记者“古雷将来有发生这种爆炸的可能性吗”这个问题时，曾平西回答道：“肯定不会，因为古雷规划好了，将来输油管线就不经过居民区。
6. China Steps Back – NYTimes.com China, in other words, is deliberately forgoing some of its leverage, including in the very organization it is setting up. And it is doing so because it wants the cover and the legitimacy that will come from the participation of other countries. Creating the A.I.I.B. is not Beijing’s attempt at world domination; it is a self-imposed constraint, and a retreat from more than a decade of aggressive bilateral initiatives. And the more China channels its international investments through multilateral institutions, even ones of its own making, the lesser the risk that it will become all-dominant. Ho-fung Hung is associate professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University and the author of the forthcoming book, “The China Boom: Why China Will Not Rule the World.” // but what about the Silk Road Fund, the country specific funds that will work with it, and the “One Belt One Road” Initiative? Are they also a “retreat”? The AIIB is part of an overall strategy and should not be viewed in a vacuum.
Related: China cannot believe its luck over new investment bank – FT.com China’s strategic volte face has benefited from an almost comic series of mis-steps by its great geopolitical rival. US congressional reluctance to sign off on reforms giving China and other developing nations a greater role at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund has been compounded by the Obama administration’s inability to, as they like to say on Capitol Hill, “count the votes” on the AIIB. It is one thing to oppose an institution behind-the-scenes and fail quietly; it is quite another to do so brazenly. Worse for Mr Obama, his standing in the Asia-Pacific region will deteriorate even further if he cannot secure congressional “fast-track” authority to seal the deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks, which pointedly exclude China. Should TPP fail, then the economic component of the US president’s “pivot” towards Asia will — to Beijing’s surprise and delight — have completely unravelled.
7. Beneath China’s GDP Slowdown | Brookings Institution China is likely nearing the limits of its unprecedented growth, as gains from mass urbanization and economic formalization ebb. But its economy is not monolithic and, as the pace of expansion slows, understanding where growth is happening and why is crucial for those both inside and outside China. A recent report from the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and Tsinghua Center offers this ability—tracking the growth patterns of the world’s 300 largest metropolitan economies, including the 48 largest in China. Together, those metro areas are the country’s economic engines—home to 28 percent of the country’s 1.3 billion residents, they generate 56 percent of national GDP. And their economic performance continues to outpace that of the rest of the world: 40 of China’s 48 metropolitan areas are in the top 100 of global economic performance for 2014.
8. Why From China’s Biggest Bear, Hugh Hendry Became One Of Its Biggest Bulls | Zero Hedge China bears used to love Hugh Hendry, now they hate him. Perhaps one reason Hendry changed stance is because unlike some of the more metronomic China bear pundits and analysts he actually has the responsibility of managing other people’s money and so has to deal with the world as is? // Considering that Chinese equities are the best performing market in USD terms (second only, oddly enough, to Russia) in 2015, one can see why after a disappointing 2012 and 2013, and modest 2014, Hendry has hit 2015 out of the park with a bang, generating a 10.6% return in the first two months of the year. So is Hendry still bullish on China’s stock market prospects? Why yes, and then some. But is he is contrarian just for the sake of being contrarian? Does he see something in China that nobody else does? Or is he simply right… or wrong, as the case may be? We will let readers decide. Here is his full “managers’ commentary” from his most recent letter to investors dedicated entirely to China. So much is written about China, and of late very little has been bullish. The notion of impending renminbi devaluation has taken root as traders worry that the dollar rally has pulled its reluctant Chinese counterpart higher, especially against the euro and the yen. Indeed, it seems that shorting the renminbi has become the new equivalent to the JGB short in macro circles. But having shared these doomsday prophecies back in 2010, when the consensus was less negative, I have recently become less concerned about China. Here’s why.
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
Call made in China for national housing bank to prop up property – Business Insider BEIJING (Reuters) – China should establish a national housing bank to optimize use of the country’s housing provident funds, which have over 3.7 trillion yuan ($597.45 billion) at their disposal, according to an article written by an official with Ministry of Housing and Urban, Rural Construction.
Cloud Live Says Will Miss Payment in 2nd China Onshore Default – Bloomberg Business The big data provider, which shifted into that industry in July after corruption probes hurt its former restaurant business, will fail to meet an April 7 deadline to pay investors who had exercised an option to sell back notes, the company said in statements to the Shenzhen stock exchange on Monday. Failure to pay would constitute the second default on an onshore yuan debenture.
500.com Public announcement regarding online lottery sales in China – Apr 3, 2015 Nasdaq-listed, glad I don’t own it…// To assist the competent government authorities to implement the Public Announcement, the Company plans to voluntarily and temporarily suspend all of its online lottery sales services starting from April 4, 2015. During this temporary suspension period the Company expects that it will not generate any revenue. The Company will continue to work with China Sports Lottery Administration Center for the development of the pilot program for online sales of sports lottery. // 8部委整顿网络售彩 500彩票网“躺枪”
一汽三年反腐迎来高潮：徐建一被指躺钞票上睡觉|一汽集团|徐建一|反腐新浪财经新浪网 The Beijing News with more details on Xu Jianyi and the corruption at First Automotive Works.
一人多户或于5月底放开（附股）-手机和讯网 Chinese punters will be able to open more than one brokerage account in their name probably by the end of may, but will be linked so regulators have an overall view… // 上交所日前表示，中国证券登记结算有限公司(中国结算)和上证所将积极完善相关方案，在维持指定交易制度的基础上允许投资者一人开设多个证券账户：投资者可以在多家证券公司开设账户，每个账户指定一家证券公司。对此，华泰证券(601688)指出，一人一户限制预计5月底前放开，利好大型综合券商和低佣金、互联网平台完善的券商。 为了防范证券盗卖行为，上海证券市场自1998年始实施全面指定交易( 投资者只能选择一家证券公司，作为其证券买卖的唯一“中介”)制度。一直以来，投资者均表示，指定交易带来诸多不便，如因工作地变动需要在另一家券商营业部开户，或者投资者想销户遇到百般阻挠等问题。
Starbucks Exec Apologizes For Accusing Bay Area Man Of Being Chinese Spy Trying To Steal Trade Secrets « CBS San Francisco Starbucks has apologized to a man after one of its executives accused him of trying to steal trade secrets and take them to China. Bay Area native Daniel Lui was at a Seattle Starbucks roastery on a business trip, when he said the company executive came up to him. “I wanted to let you know we’re very open with all our technology and all of our equipment, and if you want to take any of it to China you’re totally free to do that,” Lui said the exec told him.
China to develop city clusters along middle reaches of Yangtze – Xinhua China on Sunday unveiled a plan to develop city clusters along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in a move to create a new economic growth engine and promote new urbanization. They will mainly consist of urban clusters around Wuhan in Hubei Province, the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan city group in Hunan Province and clusters around Poyang Lake in Jiangxi Province, said the State Council, China’s cabinet. The clusters cover a total area of 317,000 square kilometers and are a pillar of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. They will also be key areas to implement the “Rise of central China” strategy, deepen reform and opening-up and promote a new type of urbanization, the State Council said in a statement on the government website. // 中国20大城市群规划上马：长江中游打头阵，合肥落选
经济参考网 – 假PPP苗头隐现或滋生新风险 政府融资平台“曲线”抢滩PPP Xinhua’s Economic Information on the risks from local governments switching from LGFvs to PPPs… // 地方政府融资平台大限渐近、前途依旧模糊，然而可以明确的是，今年平台融资渠道将进一步收紧。《经济参考报》记者从多渠道获悉，在此背景下，政府融资平台纷纷采取多种方式“曲线”抢滩PPP（Public-Private-Partnership）模式，希望借力实现转型或者暂时保留融资造血功能。这些平台主要是通过与其他社会资本进行不同形式的合作，从而完成自身身份的转换，进而参与PPP项目。不过，记者也了解到，有些合作方式借PPP之名，成为地方平台变相融资的工具，并有可能滋生新的风险。
经济参考网 – 自贸区提速备战挂牌时刻 政府职能转变、负面清单、贸易投资便利化自由化、金融改革等百余项改革措施将同步亮相 万事俱备，只欠东风。《经济参考报》记者近日从多方获悉，虽然挂牌时间还未最终确定，但随着总体方案的通过，广东、福建、天津、上海自贸区已提速备战最终挂牌时刻。目前准备工作已大致就绪，只待最终揭幕的发令枪响。此外，挂牌当天四地还将推出标志性改革创新举措百余项，包括政府职能转变、负面清单、贸易投资便利化自由化、金融改革等多个方面。
上海再现排队买房 融绿万科慎谈涨价 | 每经网 lines again at some new Shanghai housing developments, some developers considering raising prices–NBD // 核心提示： 3月30日楼市新政出台当晚22时许，上海融绿黄浦湾、御园都销售十分火爆，千万身家以上的人群，都连夜排队来买房。数据显示，31日晚上，上海融绿单日成交达到了4亿元。
China’s Stocks Resume Rally to Seven-Year High on Stimulus Bets – Bloomberg Business would not be surprised to see a bit of a pullback when it hits 4000, maybe this week…but any pullback will be seen as a “buying opportunity”, even though it has come too far too fast. The Xin Jinping bull market looks to have legs. Didn’t the Reagan Bull Market start when the US economy was a mess? // The Shanghai Composite Index rose 1 percent to 3,903.43 at 9:58 a.m. The gauge has soared 90 percent over the past 12 months, the best performing major global index among 93 measures tracked by Bloomberg, on speculation the central bank will continue to lower borrowing costs and on increased use of leverage to buy stocks.
China’s online retail trade expands in 2014: report – Xinhua China’s online retail trade volume grew 49.7 percent year on year to 2.8 trillion yuan (450 billion U.S. dollars) in 2014. The online trade took up 10.6 percent of total retail volume in 2014, a 32.5 percent expansion, according to a report by the China E-Commerce Research Center (CECRC) on Thursday. The report was compiled on trade figures of China’s e-commerce giants such as Tmall.com, JD.com and z.cn. Tmall.com, the online shopping mall of Alibaba, took the lion’s share, with its trade reaching 763 billion yuan.
退休副总吴振芳成中海油一号落马高管公司频道财新网 former Deputy GM of CNOOC We Zhenfang under investigation // 据国务院国资委纪委4月2日消息，今年63岁的中国海洋石油总公司原党组成员、副总经理吴振芳涉嫌严重违纪，目前正接受组织调查。这是中央第二巡视组3月1日进驻中国海洋石油总公司后披露的第一名落马高管。
证监会公安部部署查处内幕交易证券中证网 CSRC and PSB agre to jointly investigate insider trading // 证监会、公安部2日共同在广东深圳召开查处内幕交易案件集中部署会议，部署涉案地证券监管机构和公安机关采取有力措施，加大打击内幕交易等违法犯罪的工作力度，切实维护市场秩序。
Glitch in Rongsheng Rescue Sheds Light on Shady Investor – Caixin In early March, debt-ridden shipbuilder Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group Holdings cancelled a planned 3 billion yuan warrant issuance to the private equity firm Kingwin Victory Investment Ltd. Behind the cancelled deal is the detention of Wang Ping, the controller of Kingwin Victory and chairman of Cypress & Kingwin Capital Group Ltd. Sources close to the matter said Wang was arrested on February 23 in Zhuhai, in the southern province of Guangdong, by police from Beijing on charges of fraud in investment funds…Before his latest target, Wang had purchased the country’s largest building materials chain, Oriental Home; software developer named 35.com; and Walmart’s Chinese partner, SZITIC Commercial Property Co.
The Chinese Billionaire Zhang Lei Spins Research Into Investment Gold – NYTimes.com Starting 10 years ago with $20 million from Yale University’s endowment, Mr. Zhang was an early backer of companies like Tencent and JD.com, businesses that have shaken up traditional industries across China. Now he thinks these companies could stir things up globally. // I believe 6B+ of the 18B under management is his own money…brilliant guy
Guangdong Plans Subsidies to Manufacturers Who Install Robots – Caixin The government of Guangdong Province says it plans to offer subsidies to nearly 2,000 companies to buy robots over the next three years as part of a program to upgrade its manufacturing industries. Makers of automobiles, motorcycles, home appliances, electronics, clothing and building materials will be targeted by the program, the government said on its website on March 21. The government of the southern province wants 600 manufacturers to add robotics to production lines this year, 650 next year and 700 in 2017.
民间借贷“惹祸”？ 河北多地现中小开发商钱紧停工房产新京报网 民间融资模式的风险、去年房地产行业整体的不景气使得河北一些中小开发商陷入泥潭，邯郸、香河多个楼盘停工。业内人士称中小开发商的资金链断裂同此前一直盛行的依靠民间借贷集资建房模式不无关系。// trouble for real estate developers in Hebei and their underground creditors
POLITICS AND LAW
Disgraced senior official faces raft of charges – China Daily China’s former security chief Zhou Yongkang was charged with bribery, abuse of power and intentional disclosure of state secrets, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said on Friday. The indictment was brought in on Friday by the Tianjin Municipal People’s Procuratorate No. 1 branch to the Tianjin Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court. Zhou is the highest-ranking official investigated in the fight against corruption since 1978, when China’s reform and opening-up was launched. In July, Zhou, who retired from the Politburo Standing Committee in 2012, was placed under investigation for suspected serious disciplinary violations by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. He was arrested in December, expelled from the Party and placed under investigation by the top prosecuting department, accused of a series of offenses, including accepting bribes and leaking State secrets. // quite a quick process so far compared to recent precedents of cases against Politburo members
Taking Feminist Battle to China’s Streets, and Landing in Jail – NYTimes Lawyers for the detainees, who include Zheng Churan, 25, affectionately known as Big Rabbit, say the women have been subjected to near-constant interrogation. The detentions took place early last month on the eve of International Women’s Day as the women planned a public awareness campaign about sexual harassment on public transportation. Now, as security agents from Beijing fan out across the country hunting down the volunteers who took part in the women’s theatrical protests, many young feminists have gone into hiding.
U.S. Geologist Expresses Gratitude After Release From Chinese Prison – WSJ Texas geologist Xue Feng emerged from more than seven years in Chinese prison on Friday feeling gratitude–not grievance–about a chilling ordeal where he was pegged as a thief of national secrets. In an open letter of thanks to his supporters dated Friday and posted online Sunday, Mr. Xue reflected only in broad terms about his pre-Thanksgiving detention in Beijing starting in November 2007 after “what was originally planned as a mundane business trip scheduled to last merely one month turned into much more.”
What Did China’s First Daughter Find in America? – The New Yorker On a sunny morning last May, a member of Harvard’s graduating class received her diploma and prepared to depart from campus as quietly as she had arrived. Xi Mingze—the only child of Xi Jinping, the President of China, and his wife, the celebrity soprano Peng Liyuan—crossed the podium at Adams House, the dorm that housed Franklin Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. She had studied psychology and English and lived under an assumed name, her identity known only to a limited number of faculty and close friends—“less than ten,” according to Kenji Minemura, a correspondent for the Asahi Shimbun, who attended the commencement and wrote about Xi’s experience in America.
北京试水科级干部“报家底”特别报道新京报网 近日，领导干部个人事项报告已悄然拓展至北京部分区县科级干部。其中，通州将作为副处级后备的科级干部纳入申报；顺义在科级干部报告基础上，新增配偶、子女等信息。专家称，申报主体延伸到科级，对奠定反腐基础大有意义。
党风廉政建设和反腐败斗争形势与任务之六——系列六——中央纪委监察部网站 another in series of CCDI essays on the corruption crackdown. Interesting series, I am unconvinced by some of the recent commentary that somehow the crackdown is slowing down // ●坚持有腐必反、有贪必肃，老虎苍蝇一起打，以零容忍态度惩治腐败，表明了执政党的旗帜、立场、态度；当前目标任务是坚决遏制腐败蔓延势头，纠正“四风”、防止反弹。 ●要把管党治党的责任具体化，党委书记要敢于担当，抓住党员领导干部这个关键少数，用好以上率下这个工作方法，领好班子、管住干部。 ●要运用辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义驾驭现实，用历史、哲学、文化思考支撑信心。 ●我们要以扎扎实实的成效取信于民，让群众不断看到、感受到、享受到更多全面从严治党的成果。
著名科学家孙家栋： “没有纪律任何事情都办不成” CCDI website running an interesting series of interviews with famous authors discussing the importance of fighting corruption..this one with Sci-fi author Sun Jiadong
“四有”书记谷文昌（时代先锋）–时政–人民网 top story in today’s People’s daily on long dead Fujian county leader Gu Wenchang // 他已经去世34年，却仍为当地民众深深怀念； 他带领群众植下的满岛木麻黄，如今已长成防风固沙的茂密森林； 习近平总书记撰文称赞他“在老百姓心中树起了一座不朽的丰碑”； 老百姓尊他为“谷公”，“先祭谷公，后祭祖宗”，成为当地多年的习俗； 他就是谷文昌，福建省东山县原县委书记。
人生一粒种 漫山木麻黄–时政–人民网 all of page 4 of Tuesday’s People’s Daily about Gu Wenchang // 我们共产党人好比种子，人民好比土地。我们到了一个地方，就要同那里的人民结合起来，在人民中间生根、开花。 ——毛泽东 清明，敬宗祭祖。94岁的何赛玉则不是，她带着儿子、孙子、重孙一家十几口，拜的是外乡人谷文昌，而且这一拜，已经几十年。 60多年前，福建省东山县山口村，是远近闻名的“乞丐村”，何赛玉一家每年外出逃荒，她的亲人，就死在逃荒路上。这段历史，让她刻骨铭心。“如果没有谷文昌，我们村、我们家当年还在要饭。我们家没有祖坟，谷公就是我们家的‘祖’。”重重的闽南口音，满是浓浓的感情。
人民日报评论员：闻鼙鼓而思良将–观点–人民网 supporting p1 People’s Daily editorial about Gu Wenchang…seems a follow-on to the meeting Xi held with select county leaders..they are on the front lines with the masses and far too many of them are blood-sucking “tiger-flies”, as they have been throughout many dynasties… // 全面建成小康社会、全面深化改革、全面依法治国、全面从严治党，我们正迈入一个新的时代。鼙鼓敲响，我们的事业需要千万个谷文昌，需要打造一支对党忠诚、敢于担当、清白做人的干部队伍，需要锻造更多可负重、能奉献的“铁肩膀”，需要激扬那种以天下为己任、以人民为信念的伟大精神和真挚情怀。 清明时节，东山岛上，林涛阵阵。鬓染霜白的老人，领着子孙，来到谷文昌陵园，深情拜祭。在此，我们向谷文昌，向建党90多年来一代代优秀共产党人，致以最崇高的敬意；同时更期待，对照谷文昌这面明镜，聆听时代的巨浪涛响，每一位党员干部都能认真思考：我，能成为这个伟大时代的“四有”良将吗？
人民日报刊文：有些地方的特殊利益群体导致“车改进展缓慢”舆论场澎湃新闻-The Paper People’s Daily says some local governments are ignoring the reforms for official use of cars
原南京市长季建业因受贿一审获刑15年政经频道财新网 15 years in jail for former Nanjing Mayor Ji Jianye, he won’t appeal // 山东烟台中院今日上午公开宣判原南京市长季建业受贿一案，季建业被判有期徒刑15年，并处没收个人财产人民币200万元；被告人季建业当庭表示服从判决，不上诉
Chinese President’s war on corruption finds its way to Brighton-Sydney Morning Herald President Xi Jinping’s “You Die, I Live” war against corruption seems a long way from the beachside cul-de-sacs of Brighton. But it has come right to the doorstep of Zheng Jiefu, an Australian resident property developer, who has been trapped in a mafia-style shakedown involving China’s former deputy spy chief and the country’s most wanted man. Mr Zheng’s quandary is that he doesn’t know whether the Mitsubishi four-wheel-drive that parked in front of his mansion last Wednesday night, and tailed him around Melbourne’s bayside suburbs for two hours, was working for President Xi’s corruption fighters or against them. // somehow connected to Guo Wengui case, though hard to be sympathetic to Zheng; it is very unlikely he could build a 2B USD conglomerate in China in 2008 by being clean
Tibet party boss says temples must be propaganda centers-Reuters Writing in the influential fortnightly party magazine Qiushi, Tibet’s Communist Party boss Chen Quanguo said the more than 1,700 temples and monasteries and 46,000 monks and nuns had to be seen by the government as “friends”. “Let the monks and nuns in the temples and monasteries have a personal feeling of the party and government’s care and warmth; let them feel the party’s benevolence, listen to the party’s words and follow the party’s path,” Chen wrote in Qiushi, which means “seeking truth”. He called for temples and monasteries in the region to be outfitted with radios and televisions, as well as newspapers and reading rooms.
Dad to U.S., China: Find my daughter’s killer – CNN It’s been more than six months since Tong’s mother and father were notified of her death. They remained quiet in their sorrow and figured U.S and Chinese authorities would find their daughter’s killer. They decided to speak up now, hoping it might force investigators to do more. “We are miserable, as the killer is still at large,” the father says. The last person to see Tong alive, police records show, was her 23-year-old boyfriend, Xiangnan Li, a Chinese student studying business at the University of Iowa. Iowa authorities say they want to talk with Li. He and Tong stayed in a hotel together in early September. The same weekend, police say, Li bought a one-way plane ticket to China and vanished.
Disgraced Tianjin Police Boss Said to Have Embezzled 400 Mln Yuan – Caixin Wu Changshun, 62, former chief of the public security bureau in the northern port of Tianjin, was detained by the party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) over corruption charges in July. Graft fighters have completed their investigation into Wu, and on March 26 sent a notice that summarized their findings to Tianjin cadres responsible for legal matters, sources who have seen the document said. The notice said investigators found that Wu’s crimes involved a total of 7.4 billion yuan worth of assets. He was also found to have spent more than 10 million yuan on bribes and accepted 84 million yuan from people seeking jobs and promotions. The notice quoted party general secretary Xi Jinping as saying in a meeting of the CDIC that the extent to which Wu had gone to amass fortunes for himself by breaking laws and regulations, even after the new administration came into office, is “unheard of” and it shows that Wu “has utterly no respect for heaven or law.” // Was Zhang Gaoli, who used to run Tianjin, at that meeting?
美国参议员腐败案再曝“钱主政治”（深度观察）–国际–人民网 People’s Daily finds propaganda value in the Sen. Menendez indictment
Late Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang can be laid to rest – a decade after death | South China Morning Post The family of late liberal Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang said on Sunday they had finally received approval for the burial of his ashes, a decade after his death. “They [the authorities] have agreed to have them buried together,” Zhao’s son-in-law Wang Zhihua said, referring to the late leader and his wife Liang Boqi , who died in late 2013.
New app collects Xi’s wisdom_Xinhua // The free app, developed by the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, makes available Xi’s books including “The Governance of China” and “Shake off Poverty” alongside quotations and a collection of his speeches. Commentaries on Xi’s thoughts by experts from the school are also provided.
外媒报道习近平讲话APP:每个人都能找到兴趣点|APP|学习中国_新浪新闻 Xinhua says foreign media praising the new “Study Xi” app
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s secret battle with factions | The Australian Cheng Li’s comments in a speech in Australia, he is sticking with his princeling-tuanpai construct // The Politburo Standing Committee, China’s peak decision-making group, that emerged at that congress was no longer balanced, Li said. Of the seven members, six were from the Xi-Jiang princeling faction, and only Li Keqiang, who became Premier, from the tuanpai. “Xi received tremendous support from the top leadership. What happened next was quite dramatic.” Some of the most powerful figures in the Chinese firmament fell or were dragged down by corruption investigations, including Bo Xilai, the principal princeling rival of Xi; Ling Jihua, Hu’s chief adviser and head of the party’s United Front Work Department; and Zhou Yongkang, former chief of China’s security structure and member of the PBSC whose family and friends ran the country’s strategic oil and gas industry. The anti-corruption campaign has targeted “tigers” — heavyweight figures — and less important cadres, “flies”. Li said four of the tigers brought down were formerly associated with the princeling faction, “so you can’t say the campaign is driven purely by factional politics”. But the campaign had created gaps in the ranks that could be filled by the next generation from within the faction, Li said. “Xi’s real challenge now is the consolidation of power so that he has his own people within both civilian and military hierarchies. That’s still very slow to take place.” He pointed out that while Xi’s allies clearly controlled the Politburo and its standing committee, the central committee of the party, comprising 376 people, presented a different picture, with Hu’s tuanpai camp holding a majority. “In that regard, Xi still has an uphill battle. His relationship with Jiang and Hu remains complicated.” It was too early to say how the dynamics of top-level politics in China will play out, Li said.
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
Vietnam Party Chief’s Visit to China Raises the Bar for U.S.-Vietnam Relations | cogitASIA CSIS Asia Policy Blog Trong’s visit to China ahead of his U.S. trip will not tamp down Hanoi’s enthusiasm for engaging with the United States. Vietnam’s leaders are plugged into the strategic reality of the region and will continue to advance ties with the United States when and where it serves their country’s interests. The timing of Trong’s visit to China actually raises the bar of expectations for his visit to Washington. Since Hanoi is under pressure to demonstrate, both to foreign partners and the domestic audience, that it maintains an independent foreign policy, the onus will be on Trong to prove that his Washington trip will be just as, if not more, productive than his visit to Beijing. Both the United States and Vietnam now have an interest in making sure that Trong’s visit to Washington will be accorded high importance and serve the long-term purpose of furthering U.S.-Vietnam ties. U.S. officials should be careful not to regard the visit as merely a photo op carried out at Vietnam’s request
U.S. naval ships visit central Vietnam – Xinhua Photo taken on April 6, 2015 shows U.S. destroyer USS Fitzgerald docking at Tien Sa port in Da Nang, Vietnam. U.S. destroyer USS Fitzgerald and coastal combat ship USS Fort Worth docked at central Vietnam’s Da Nang city’s Tien Sa port on Monday to start a five-day goodwill visit to the city.
Spotlight: Mongolia apologizes for attack on Chinese tourists by neo-Nazi group – Xinhua Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj said here Friday that extreme nationalism is harmful, and Mongolia should be a responsible, friendly and open country. He said this in response to a recent incident in which an extremist group in Mongolia attacked and insulted several Chinese tourists. On March 28, several Chinese citizens were attacked by a Mongolian neo-Nazi group known as Khukh Mongol (Blue Mongolia) while traveling on the Burkhan Khaldun mountain in Khentii province, eastern Mongolia. The extremists forced one of the Chinese tourists to kneel down.
PacNet #19 – Origins of misperceptions between China and the US | Center for Strategic and International Studies Professor Yan Xuetong of Tsinghua University recently wrote that in the future China and the US will compete for high-quality friends. China has a long way to go to catch up with the United States in this regard, but China has made its initial endeavors. Through its “One Belt, One Road” Strategy, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Silk Road Fund, the BRICS New Development Bank, and other initiatives, China is trying to leverage its advantage in infrastructure (in both capacity and capital) to try to resolve long-standing problems in almost every developing country (and even some developed countries). This also helps to relieve China’s over-capacity problem to some extent. This smart diplomatic initiative seeks to win the hearts of other countries and fulfill China’s responsibilities as a responsible great power. It is also China’s comparative advantage when competing with the United States for high-quality friends.-Deng Zhenghui is Director for Research, China Energy Fund Committee International Center.
China disagrees with U.S. sanctions program on overseas cyber attackers – Xinhua “Cyber security concerns the common interests of all countries. The international community should jointly solve the issue of cyber attacks through dialogue and cooperation, and based on mutual respect and trust,” Hua told a regular press briefing. She reiterated China is firmly opposed and committed to fighting against cyber attacks in any form. In the executive order, Obama said increasing malicious cyber-attacks on U.S. targets from the outside poses an “unusual and extraordinary” threat to national security, foreign policy and economy of the country.
Historical revisionism exposed in Japan’s newly reviewed textbooks – Xinhua Some reviewed textbooks to be used in the next year, in line with the country’s increasingly right-leaning politics under the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration, revised their expressions over Japan’s wartime atrocities during the World War II and colonial rule on the Korean Peninsula. On the infamous Nanjing Massacre committed by the then Japanese Imperial Army, some reviewed textbooks stated that “captives and civilians were involved in” the tragedy and “casualties were exposed,” compared to the original words like the Japanese Army ” killed many captives and civilians.”
Chinese honor war heroes on Tomb Sweeping Day – Xinhua The Chinese public honored the nation’s revolutionary martyrs and war heroes to mark China’s Tomb Sweeping Day, which falls on Sunday. A website launched Friday by the Chinese government to commemorate revolutionary martyrs has attracted nearly 200 million visits, with thousands of comments posted to praise their contributions. On the Twitter-like Sina Weibo, “Commemorating the martyrs” has become one of the trending topics. More than 657,000 Weibo users wrote comments and 5.6 million users sent virtual wreaths.
Authorities eavesdrop on social media chat of Chinese military brigade’s wives | South China Morning Post An army unit in China has started monitoring soldiers’ wives chat on social media to ensure they don’t give away any “secrets”, according to a report on the People’s Liberation Army website. A number of supervisors, usually the wives of Communist Party officials, are paid to keep across the chat among a group of about 50 wives whose husbands serve in a brigade in the 20th Army Group, the report said.
Exposed: How China’s Navy Went Global | The National Interest Not only does China now maintain a permanent counter-piracy escort flotilla in the Indian Ocean, it also routinely conducts naval exercises and operations beyond the First Island Chain, which stretches from the Kurile Islands near Russia through Japan, the Ryukyu Archipelago, Taiwan, and the Philippines to Borneo Island. These changes illustrate growing PLAN capabilities and raise the prospect of changes in Chinese maritime strategy and an expanded PLAN geographic role.
Navy to get 3 new nuclear subs – People’s Daily Online China Central Television showed a satellite picture earlier this week of three submarines anchored at an unidentified port, saying the vessels are China’s most advanced Type-093G nuclear-powered attack submarines, just completed by a Chinese shipyard and a waiting delivery. With a teardrop hull, the submarine is longer than its predecessor, the Type-093, and has a vertical launching system, the report said. Another article carried by the People’s Liberation Army navy’s website said the Type-093G’s wing-shaped cross-section is designed to improve speed and mobility as well as reduce noise, and that the vertical launcher is capable of delivering the country’s latest YJ-18 supersonic anti-ship missile.
China deputy premier-level politician to visit Japan – The Japan News Ji Bingxuan, vice chairman of China’s Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, will head a group of parliamentarians that will visit Japan from Wednesday to Saturday, according to government sources. This is the first time a Chinese deputy premier-level official will visit Japan since high-level political exchanges between the two countries ceased after China’s reaction to the Japanese government’s nationalization of some of the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture in September 2012.
American man fighting for return of his son after wife abducts child to China After a difficult divorce, Meid, a 34-year-old IT worker in Utah and former US Marine, and his wife Yu Na reached agreeable terms which included joint custody of Alex. Meid had fears that Yu Na might try to take Alex away, but his wife was insistent that she be allowed to travel to China with her son… Yu Na and Alex are now living with her parents in Dalian, Liaoning. Meid is doing everything in his power to get his son back, but because China is not a party to the Hague Abduction Convention, Chinese officials have no obligation to recognize foreign custody orders or assist in international child abductions.
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
Key China paper calls Hong Kong election people’s ‘ardent expectation’ | Reuters In a front page commentary, the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily said that the election was an “important mission” under Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law. “Universal suffrage in accordance with the law for (choosing) the chief executive is the ardent expectation of mainstream public opinion in Hong Kong,” the newspaper said. This is also the consistent position of the central Chinese and Hong Kong governments, it added.
TECH AND MEDIA
E-Commerce Firms, Investors Take Note as China’s Shoppers Look Overseas – Caixin how many of California’s water-sucking almonds are sold online in China now? // Many Chinese people like Miss Pang have been using the Internet to buy foreign products on overseas websites. The goods get shipped back to China through intermediaries and end up at their doorsteps like any other online purchase. This is assuming buyers can overcome problems related to language and overseas payments, and the purchases do not get held up at customs. Despite these problems, the trend has caught the attention of entrepreneurs and investors, who are betting China’s e-commerce firms can work out the wrinkles.
莆田系大战百度：三日内或重启会谈要闻一财网 just how much of Baidu’s search revenue comes from ads placed by the Putian association of private hospitals, with which baidu is now in a big dispute? CBN says some say it is the largest single source…坊间一致认为，以莆田系医疗的体量和高度依托搜索引擎的营销模式，莆田系已确定无疑是百度广告收入的最大来源。 Baidu Retreats on Chinese Private Hospital Advertising Boycott market clearly worried
To Lift Brand, Xiaomi Fosters Phone Fan Club – WSJ congrats to Xiaomi PR // Five-year-old Xiaomi has achieved this success partly by making its customers feel part of an exclusive club, such as by throwing parties for them every few weeks across China. Now Xiaomi is trying to prove it can make this model work in the rest of the world, for a multitude of products. It is especially challenging given that part of what has fueled Xiaomi fans is a sense of national pride, that Xiaomi can become the first Chinese global brand that is actually edgy.
湖北省委邀雷军上课“抢抓互联网+”，李鸿忠主持集中学习中国政库澎湃新闻-The Paper 据湖北日报4月3日报道，武昌洪山礼堂座无虚席。省委理论学习中心组就加快实施互联网+行动和创新驱动发展战略在此举行扩大学习。著名企业家、小米科技公司董事长兼首席执行官雷军应邀作了题为《互联网+助飞实体经济》的专题讲座。省委书记李鸿忠主持集中学习。 省委副书记、省长王国生，省政协主席杨松，省委副书记张昌尔，省委常委王晓东、阮成发、侯长安、张岱梨、尹汉宁、傅德辉、黄楚平、王君正、贺家铁，省人大常委会党组书记、常务副主任李春明等听取讲座。// Xiaomi’s Lei Jun gives a talk to Hubei Provincial leaders
China Escalates Hollywood Partnerships, Aiming to Compete One Day – NYTimes “Because of the importance of the Chinese market to Hollywood, no one wants to make movies that offend China,” says T.J. Green, a former Warner Bros. executive who now runs Apex Entertainment, which builds cinemas in China. “Some may see that as self-censorship.” That is the price of market entry. A few years ago, the Chinese authorities whetted Hollywood’s appetite by raising the quota on foreign film imports, allowing Hollywood to receive a bigger share of the box-office profits and approving more coproductions with local partners.
一季度电影票房创历史新高 全年有望冲击400亿要闻一财网 去年刚刚来到300亿门口，今年又有望冲击400亿元票房历史新高。如今，中国票房增幅力挫全球票房冠军北美，然而，连续多年票房暴涨还能持续多久?// China film box office continues to surge
China Kicks Off New Web Crackdown | Foreign Policy It looks like the Chinese web may be in for another round of spring cleaning. On April 2, China’s National Sweep Out Porn, Strike At Rumors Office announced that three major domestic companies had been investigated and fined for pornographic content posted to their online platforms: web search giant Baidu, news site NetEase, and Momo, the Alibaba-backed mobile dating app whose December 2014 IPO in New York raised $216 million.
Bloomberg to increase hiring–China Daily hear that Bloomberg journalists are again getting visas. // Global financial information service provider Bloomberg LP is planning to ramp up its hiring in China this year, as part of its efforts to further localize its operations in the country, a top official said on Wednesday. The New York-based privately owned company will hire more news professionals in China, especially those who can write in the local language about what is going on in the markets, said Peter Grauer, the company chairman, in an interview with China Daily.
China Protests Google’s Website Security Certificate Decision – Bloomberg Business China Internet Network Information Center said on its website Thursday that Google’s decision was “difficult to understand and accept,” and urged the U.S. company to fully “consider the rights of users.” CNNIC also said it would ensure its existing users aren’t affected.
[视频]“净网2015”通报第一批案件新闻频道央视网(cctv.com) Thursday CCTV Evening news reports on the indecent content found on Baidu, Netease and Momo services
内容同质化求快不求真 新媒体需治“七种病”–舆情频道–人民网 没有人怀疑新媒体正在改变这个世界，改变着人们的生活。但置身前所未有的新媒体环境中，不少人也都曾感受到快速发展中泥沙俱下、良莠不齐的困扰。新闻的真假该怎么判断，媒体的责任该如何担当，为了“博眼球”“走流量”而滋生的浮躁肤浅浮夸的情绪，对新媒体的健康良性发展时有侵害。 正如一枚硬币有正反两面，在充分认识和肯定新媒体发展的巨大能量和价值之时，理性分析其中存在的问题，推进各方的思考和探讨，对新媒体的健康发展也有着积极意义。新媒体存在哪些“病症”？病因何在？如何对症下药？近期，本报记者进行了调查采访。
展讯“杀入”4G芯片 放言五到十年冲刺世界第一科技一财网 一位业内人士对记者表示，从企业角度来看，目前展讯与联发科差距还比较大，5年超越太难，无论技术积累，还是研发投入，二者的差距太大。一个数据可以看出双方技术投入的悬殊，2014年，联发科的研发投入总计14亿美元，而展讯总收入也只不过12亿美元。
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Traffic woes increase on urban area roads – China Daily Nearly a third of the world’s 50 most congested cities are in China, with Beijing ranking 19th, according to a traffic congestion report covering more than 200 cities worldwide. Taipei is the most congested city in China, ranking 13th on the list. Chongqing ranks 15th, making it the most congested city on the Chinese mainland, followed by Tianjin (17th) and Beijing, according to the report. Of the top 50 cities with the highest congestion levels, 15 are in China. The report was released by TomTom, a global leader in navigation and mapping products, with headquarters in Amsterdam.
妻子晒合影为张艺谋庆生：拍好电影家里交给我娱乐腾讯网 my spouse made the cake for Zhang Yimou’s 65th birthday…a Great Wall, the subject of his new movie. Nice pics
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
China to Conduct Probe of Faked Air Pollution Data, Xinhua Says – Bloomberg Business China’s environmental protection watchdog will launch a two-year probe to root out falsified air quality data, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Some local governments make monitoring stations fabricate or tamper with air quality data to help meet national pollution standards, Xinhua reported, citing Environmental Protection Vice Minister Wu Xiaoqing on Wednesday. Fake data “severely compromises” the credibility of the government, Wu is cited as saying.
State Grid announces clean electricity transmission routes – Xinhua SGCC spokesperson Zhang Zhengling said that the routes will include two extra-high voltage alternating-current projects and five extra-high voltage direct-current projects, which will link different regions when completed. The company will also construct facilities with a capacity for 27 million kilowatts (kw) to integrate power generated by renewable energies such as wind and solar per year, Zhang said at a press conference in Beijing.
经济参考网 – 首个省级可再生能源配额制出炉 并网难题将缓解，风电、光伏获极大利好 日
Prepare to Give Public Air Pollution Forecasts, Ministry Tells Big Cities – Caixin The ministry told major cities around the country to have the system to provide forecasts of smog levels for the coming few hours to a few days ready by October 31, environmental vice minister Wu Xiaoqing said at a conference. The cities that will provide the forecasts, which will appear on the ministry’s website, are provincial capitals, other big cities in the east and China’s four municipalities, namely Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing. Wu did not say when the forecasts will be available to the public.
China arrests environmental reporter suspected of extortion | Reuters Beijing police have arrested an environmental reporter and his associates in an apparent extortion scandal, as China works to crack down on corruption in the news media. A string of corruption scandals in China’s news media has shaken the faith of the public in the largely state-controlled industry and in response, the media regulator unveiled tougher rules last year. The group’s ringleader, surnamed Chen, is accused of blackmailing businesses into paying hundreds of thousands of yuan to delete embarrassing online reports about their activities on a website for environmental news, the official Xinhua news agency said.
China to standardize energy conservation by 2020 – Xinhua China will put in place a system of conservation standards to cap energy consumption for all major energy-intensive industries by 2020, according to a circular issued by the State Council, China’s cabinet, on Saturday. According to the circular on boosting work to standardize energy conservation, 80 percent of the country’s energy efficiency standards should be on par with international standards in the same time frame.
Pfizer to Cease Vaccine Sales Business in China – WSJ Pfizer Inc. is ceasing vaccine sales operations in China after the Chinese government failed to renew an import license for one of its products, a move that the company said will cause a shortage of the treatment in China.
A New Cancer Drug, Made in China – WSJ China’s spending on pharmaceuticals is expected to top $107 billion in 2015, up from $26 billion in 2007, according to Deloitte China. It will become the world’s second-largest drug market, after the U.S., by 2020, according to an analysis published last year in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice. China has on-the-ground infrastructure labs, a critical mass of leading scientists and interested investors, according to Franck Le Deu, head of consultancy McKinsey & Co.’s pharmaceuticals and medical-products practice in China. “There’re all the elements for the recipe for potential in China,” he said.
AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ISSUES
Dim Sums: Rural China Economics and Policy: High Corn Seed Prices Reflect Disdain for Soybeans in China China’s domestic policies are gradually pricing its soybean crop out of the market, encouraging unimpeded imports to dominate the soybean market. Corn prices are sustained at a high level and corn imports are limited by import quotas and the threat of GMO rejections. The northeastern provinces are becoming a giant corn and rice mono-crop–most of the corn going into government reserve bins. If market forces were allowed to operate, China’s surplus of corn would push Chinese corn prices down and reduce area planted in corn this year. Instead, authorities are preventing prices from falling and encouraging an even bigger corn crop this year.
China to reform supply and marketing cooperatives – Xinhua China plans to overhaul rural supply and marketing cooperatives to make them better serve their regions, according to a decision by central authorities. The decision, made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, was made public on Thursday. Reform will include expanding the cooperatives’ business scope and serving the whole agricultural sector. // top story on Thursday CCTV Evening News, 6 minute report [视频]中共中央 国务院 关于深化供销合作社综合改革的决定
EDUCATION
China’s Dickensian Boarding Schools – Bloomberg Data gathered by independent researchers show that Chinese boarders lag emotionally and academically. “The boarding kids are the ones who cause the most trouble,” says the principal of a junior high school in Shaanxi that has a mix of boarding and day students. “Their emotional development isn’t very good because they haven’t grown up with their parents,” he says. “They don’t study or do their homework, and when they come to class they just play with their mobile phones.” He adds that a request for permission to hire more “life teachers,” to help boarders with psychological issues, was rejected by the township education bureau.
Search for justice after China school abuse – BBC News Last December, a teacher at the school – a man named Li Jian – was sent to prison. For years, he had abused the Zhangs’ son and several other teenage boys. We’ve changed the family’s name to protect the boy’s identity. Li Jian was jailed for less than three years – and not charged with rape Li Jian admitted to forcing the students back to his home. There, they were bound and gagged, tortured and raped, a court heard. Li Jian threatened his victims with death if they told anyone what took place in his apartment.
学区房价，啥时不再疯涨？（民生视线）–财经–人民网 去年以来，北京市幼升小、小升初教育改革赢得各方点赞：堵住了“条子生”“共建生”，更多普通家庭的孩子享受到了优质教育资源。 不过，为了进入这些好学校，很多家庭又购买高价学区房。这几年房市起伏，学区房却始终坚挺。一平方米学区房，动辄十几万元。北京如此，其他大中城市的许多家庭也面临同样的烦恼。// because of school enrollment reforms home prices near good schools are soaring
FOOD AND TRAVEL
华润万家卖假茅台被告牵出黑幕 假酒供应商成谜_中国经济网――国家经济门户 Beijinger wins suit against a subsidiary of China Resources for selling fake Moutai to supermarkets, exposes some of the rampant fake liquor trade // 正规超市里也能买到假酒?近日,在北京发生的一起消费者维权官司,让超市售假问题得以曝光——大型国有企业华润集团旗下的华润万家因售卖假茅台,被消费者孙先生告上法庭,北京市二中院终审判定华润万家败诉,退还孙先生货款并给予10倍赔偿。
BOOKS AND LITERATURE
文学的本质从未改变（文化讲坛）–文化–人民网 People’s Daily talks with author Liu Qingbang about literature in the Internet era..such a generational disconnect between the establishment and most netizens // 网络时代，文学创作发生了哪些变化，作家应该如何应对网络的挑战，创作出“无愧于我们这个伟大民族、伟大时代的优秀作品”？日前，著名作家刘庆邦做客人民日报、人民网《文化讲坛》，从自身体会谈他对网络时代文学创作的看法。
BEIJING
Gov’t Support for Beijing Firms Hiring Locals ‘Is Discrimination’ – Caixin Experts say plans by capital to give subsidies to companies who hire Beijingers would break equal employment law
经济参考网 -北京四环房价将迈入8万时代：住宅用地基本没了 some bullish predictions for Beijing real estate prices. More believable if the government got rid of the anti-market housing purchase restrictions in the city, but those appear to be as much political and social as they are about economics
Cars the main culprit for Beijing’s smog: govt figures | Liu Qin – China Dialogue Cars, localised coal burn and construction cause two-thirds of Beijing’s smog, meaning curbs on heavy industry in neighbouring provinces are only a partial solution to the capital’s toxic air
腾讯新闻-北京试点18种植物吸附PM2.5 Beijing testing planting 18 types of tress that may absord PM 2.5 // 北青报记者了解到，北京市园林科学研究院的研究团队通过对蓝靛厂桥南、六郎庄北路、姚家园北路等三处绿化带进行了历时两年多的监测，发现绿地内全年可以消减PM2.5浓度10%至20%。原因是这些地方公共绿地植物配置比较合理。选用了吸附PM2.5能力更强的绿化植物，并加以合理搭配，起到了较好的降尘效果。 通过改造绿化带、变换树种以达到降低PM2.5的方法今年将扩大应用。本市将改造部分道路绿化带，将其调整为滞尘能力更强的乔木、灌木和草坪，利用生态方法改善空气质量。
北京新任公安局局长王小洪:地铁安保是反恐重点–时政–人民网 new Beijing police chief Wang Xiaohong visits subway, says subway security key focus for anti-terrorism work
Top Ten Laozhihao: Reinventing Tradition for Modern Beijing | the Beijinger China’s laozihao, or “time-honored brands,” are shops, restaurants, and other brands with a special government distinction marking their established history. Most of the original laozihao were family-run businesses, becoming state-run during the Cultural Revolution. Although the majority remains state-owned today, and many are chains, some were given back to the original families. The requirements are that the business was created before 1956, is profitable, and provides products with unique characteristics. As such, most of the food-related laozihao are located in Qianmen and other older quarters of the city. Below are our top picks for a taste of old Beijing.
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