"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
U.S., Philippines reach 10-year defense agreement amid rising tensions – The Washington Post “This is the most significant defense agreement that we have concluded with the Philippines in decades,” said Evan Medeiros, the National Security Council’s senior director for Asian affairs, adding that the United States wants “a constructive relationship with China” but also is determined to pursue policies based on its strategic objectives and those of its allies. “And as those threats evolve, the nature of our alliances and security partnerships will evolve as well, whether it’s Japan or South Korea,” Medeiros said.
Related: U.S. Beefs Up Military Options for China as Obama Reassures Allies in Asia – WSJ.com Under the U.S. options, any new moves in the region by China to assert its claims unilaterally would be met by an American military challenge intended to get Beijing to back down. U.S. officials said the White House would be prepared to step up military deployments in disputed waters in the South and East China Seas, in a more direct challenge to Chinese claims there than the U.S. has taken in the past. The steps can be taken without risking a shooting war, officials say, citing intelligence that suggests there are divisions within the Chinese military establishment about how to respond.
Related: The False Cry of the Pivot Deniers-Foreign Policy The rebalancing to Asia is real and the president isn’t there right now to salvage a phantom policy. By Ely Ratner
President Xi vows intense pressure on terrorism – Xinhua |Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to resolutely crack down on terrorism and secessionism with high intensity to safeguard national security. Xi made the remarks on Friday at the 14th group study session on national security and social stability by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. Calling terrorism the common enemy of the people, Xi urged improving counter-terrorism systems and abilities and the public to build a “wall of bronze and iron” to fight against terrorism. “(We must) make terrorists become like rats scurrying across a street, with everybody shouting ‘beat them!'” Xi said. //CCTV Evening News Saturday on the study session-[视频]
China Orders 4 U.S. Shows Off Streaming Sites – NYTimes.com Interviewees at video companies were unsure what the final regulations would look like, but they said the new policies could affect the number of shows websites could broadcast, how the shows were censored and cooperation models with foreign copyright holders. According to a senior employee at another leading Chinese video website, who was not authorized to speak to the news media, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television is considering at least two measures, either of which would force video websites to overhaul their business models. //Bad for Youku et al. In additional to the ideological “benefits”, may also be a moneymaking opportunity for CCTV if it forces all foreign show buying through them and helps stem ratings decline
Related: The big ban theory: China’s censorship and sensibility | Offbeat China A backlash is most definitely in order. In China, fans of US TV shows are mostly likely to be well-educated and better-off young urbanites, who also happen to be the most vocal group online, or influencers of online public opinions, if you will. “Beijing just switched to North Korean mode.” Many of them sarcastically commented.
Related: [视频]“扫黄打非・净网2014”
Alibaba IPO Marks China Moving Beyond Smokestacks of Mao – Bloomberg A blend of government policy and consumer demand is nudging China away from state-led heavy industries such as steel and cement toward a demand-led, market-driven model of electronics and services. Technology’s advance may help deliver the higher wages, jobs and productivity gains the nation needs to maintain economic growth and raise living standards…Sales from electronics totaled 7.7 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion) in 2013, compared with 7.6 trillion yuan from steel smelting, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics. In 2012, sales of electronics totaled 6.9 trillion yuan, trailing the 7 trillion yuan for steel.
Related: 揭秘淘宝“刷单军团”：地下组织庞大 获佣金敛财_财经_腾讯网 The Beijing News investigates they way Taobao merchants goose their ratings and sales…quite organized, some operations massive // 新京报记者调查发现，这些“刷单军团”组织严密，
Related: Knockoffs Thrive on Alibaba’s Taobao – WSJ.com “We keep complaining” to Taobao, said Mr. Hon. “The [counterfeiters] stop doing this for a while, and then a few months later, they resurface and open up another store.” Dahon’s struggle highlights a big unsolved problem for Taobao operator Alibaba, which is preparing to list in the U.S., in what’s expected to be one of the world’s largest public offerings ever. // Alibaba make a good and cheap investment in US lobbyists to get the company removed from the USTR list of “notorious markets” for counterfeit goods
Related: Alibaba’s Jack Ma Sets Up Philanthropy – WSJ.com Mr. Ma and Joe Tsai, who founded Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. 15 years ago, have set up trusts funded by share options that represent about 2% of the company’s current equity, Alibaba said Thursday. The company didn’t put a value on the stake, but the move precedes a highly anticipated initial public offering in New York this year that could value Alibaba at up to $150 billion, if not more. That would value the trusts at roughly $3 billion.
Chinese vice premier raps Abe but voices hope to mend ties with Japan | The Japan Times Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang on Saturday criticized Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s stance toward China during a meeting with Tokyo Gov. Yoichi Masuzoe, but expressed hope of improving bilateral relations…Masuzoe said he and Wang, one of four deputy premiers in China and who mainly oversees commercial affairs, agreed on the importance of promoting cordial ties between Asia’s two biggest economies through exchanges between municipalities, business organizations and students, while acknowledging it may prove difficult to resume official high-level contact anytime soon.
Related: Chinese ships return to disputed waters after Obama visit to Tokyo | South China Morning Post but not while Obama was in Japan // Two Chinese coastguard ships sailed into waters around disputed islands in the East China Sea on Saturday, the Japanese coastguard said, two days after US President Barack Obama declared his support for Japan.
Hebei is warning for whole Chinese economy – beyondbrics – – FT Will likely get much worse for Hebei in Q2 and Q3 as Beijing has promised to have air clean for this Fall’s APEC meeting // Significantly, the fall in industrial output is policy-led, not market-led. While first quarter steel production in Hebei province fell 4.6 per cent year on year, output in the rest of the country rose 4.9%. Steel production in Jiangsu province rose 11 per cent, partly to compensate for production cuts in Hebei. These developments serve to illustrate how far Beijing is prepared to go to ensure that its policy objectives – in this case a reduction in pollution levels in the north of the country – are met.
New Weapons in the War on Pollution: China’s Environmental Protection Law Amendments | Barbara Finamore’s Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC On Thursday, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, approved major amendments to the country’s Environmental Protection Law (EPL), the first since the law was enacted 25 years ago. These amendments are a game changer.
New York Times strikes a blow to China’s efforts at censorship – Washington Post Editorial Amazon’s Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post. Amazon just disclosed in its recent earnings call (Amazon’s international arm hit by spending in China – FT.com ) that it has been increasing investment in China. The Bezos-owned Washington Post praises The New York Times for China reporting that the CCP sees as an assault on its rule. Bezos, WaPo, Amazon can all say it is absurd to link, but trying telling that to Beijing given how it expects China billionaires to behave, and how it has already conditioned Hollywood and Bloomberg to behave. This could get interesting
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
政治局会议透出四大投资亮点：信息消费成新引擎_21世纪网
Private Investors Seen Curbing Local Debt Blowout: China Credit – Bloomberg China will open up bidding for 80 projects in industries now dominated by the state, according to an April 23 government statement citing a meeting chaired by Li. The yield on 2017 notes of Chifeng City Infrastructure Investment & Development Co., a road-building LGFV in Inner Mongolia, fell 124 basis points this year to 6.40 percent, exchange data show. “As long as the infrastructure project’s cash flow is certain, private capital would be willing to invest,” said Li Ning, a bond analyst in Shanghai at Haitong Securities Co., the nation’s second-biggest brokerage. “With the government rolling out measures to support local financing, investors are treating LGFV bonds as safe-haven assets.”
In wealthy Chinese city, debt guarantees spark default contagion | Reuters Chinese media have reported on a credit crunch developing among steel and textile manufacturers in Hangzhou city, 175 km (110 miles) south of Shanghai in Zhejiang province, as the failure of some to repay loans pushes their burden onto healthier firms.
China Economic Watch » Blog Archive » How Vulnerable are Chinese Banks to a Real Estate Downturn? more than many think
Xinhua Insight: Property bubble will not wreck China’s economy – Xinhua “It can be said that China’s property bubbles are now the biggest risk in its economy, but bearish talk of a collapse of the whole economy smells of ulterior motives,” Wang Xiaoguang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Governance, told Xinhua.
上海郊区一楼盘7.2折甩卖 业内称或是降价开端_新闻_腾讯网 new home price cuts starting in Pudong, Shanghai..place near Shanghai Disney offers places at 28% discount, though this development is old and has a history of problems, may not be a great indicator of overall Shanghai market but will certainly not help sentiment // 昨天，
杭州楼市第二波降价开始 别墅卖出公寓价_21世纪网 more home price cuts in hangzhou, this round at villas in the suburbs // 4月下旬引发第二波降价，
杭州被传将松绑房产限购 业内称不会空穴来风_新闻_腾讯网 Rumors that Hangzhou may loosen some of its real estate repression policies
China’s Wuxi City Eases Some Property Rules As Home Sales Slip – WSJ.com Authorities in the city have loosened eligibility requirements for gaining an urban household registration, making it easier for rural migrants to get social benefits if they buy an apartment in the city. / while Tianjin is ending a program that allowed outsiders to get a hukou if they bought property in the municipality
Chinese tourists: The Beverly Hills economy depends on … China–CNBC “I would say that as much as 60 percent of our business in some stores—and even some stores might report more than that—comes from Chinese shoppers,” said Julie Wagner, who runs the bureau. Chinese alone account for 60 percent of sales on Rodeo Drive, according to the study.
上海自贸区半年印象（全面深化改革进行时）–财经–人民网
The Chen family’s ship comes in, after four generations – FT.com In mourning for his father, the young man who slipped out of newly-Communist Shanghai in 1950 took with him little other than the paper contract representing his family’s lost fortunes. That paper contract, carefully preserved through decades of anguish, was the key piece of evidence that brought about an unprecedented commercial war reparations payment this week by Mitsui OSK, one of the world’s largest shipping lines, to the Chen family, heirs to the man who landed as a refugee in Hong Kong 64 years ago.
The Chinese take Manhattan: replace Russians as top apartment buyers – Yahoo News Reuters asked five of the top real estate brokerages for their ranking of foreign buyers in New York City. The Chinese ranked first in both volume and value of sales in all their estimates. Opinions differed on just how the Russians, Europeans and South Americans stacked up next.
China’s Central Bank Looks for Better Monetary-Measuring Tools – China Real Time Report – WSJ Pan Gongsheng, a vice governor at the People’s Bank of China, said this week that the financial sector has rolled out so many innovative products in recent years that it has become much more difficult to calculate the nation’s money supply. The PBOC didn’t name names, but recent financial innovations have included wealth management products and fast-growing online investment funds like Yu’e Bao – all of them offering investors higher returns than traditional bank deposits.
BTC China Halts RMB Withdrawals-Coindesk-The meetings were reportedly more grave in tone than on previous occasions, suggesting the PBOC would soon set stricter rules about how its earlier edicts should be followed. As well as preventing users from funding their bitcoin exchange accounts, the new guidelines could eventually limit their ability to withdraw from bitcoin and litecoin into yuan as well.
POLITICS AND LAW
Fight against Corruption Complements Reform Drive – Caixin -Hu Shuli-The central leadership has accomplished two feats since it took over: its decision to implement comprehensive reforms and its dogged fight to root out corruption. One complements the other: reforms involve a fundamental restructuring of relations between social groups, and that inevitably encroaches on the turf of corrupt vested interests. It is the reason resistance against administrative reforms has been so fierce. People who support reform must also back the fight against corruption. Without rooting out the rot, reform will get nowhere. Much now depends on the resolve of the top leadership. Beyond netting corrupt officials, the government must soon turn its attention to improving the institutions to prevent corruption.
CPC official stresses implementation of anti-decadence campaign – Xinhua Launched in June 2013, the campaign has now entered its second phase, which is scheduled to run from January to September and target more low-level departments and leaderships. The first phase focused on central and provincial-level departments.
网友曝政府部门培训中心疗养院吃喝玩乐一条龙_网易新闻中心-
Hermes holds first sale in China as frugality drive bites｜Companies｜Business｜
As China cracks down on official extravagance, Scotch sales suffer | South China Morning Post The sales drop was a blow to smaller, niche whisky producers, which had seen a resurgence in interest from newly wealthy Chinese buyers. Scotch sales in Hong Kong also went into reverse last year, albeit by a smaller amount. The latest sales figures from the Scottish Whisky Association show that 16.7 million bottles of Scotch were sold on the mainland last year, a 27 per cent drop from the 22.9 million bottles sold in 2012.
多地要求取消专职秘书 官员与秘书常前后脚落马_网易新闻中心 looks like an official secretary cleanup coming…lots of officials may lose dedicated ones, last week media started playing up a speech Xi Jinping gave in 1990 on how to be a good official secretary…they are gateways to leaders and often major sources/enablers of corruption // 4月24日，《人民日报》
李克强重庆考察 为十八大后首位访渝政治局常委_21世纪网 Li Keqiang visits Chongqing, first PBSC member to do so since the the 18th Party Congress
向旧习惯说不，向潜规则叫板-时政频道-新华网 signed piece from Shen Haixiong, deputy chief editor of Xinhua, in latest issue of Liaowang on saying no to old habits and challenging “unwritten rules”…changing behavior that has existed through most all the dynasties is not an easy task
Two more senior China Resources bosses held in wake of Song Lin graft probe | South China Morning Post China Resources Capital Holdings chief executive Wu Ding, 49, was taken away hours after the Communist Party’s anti-graft agency said last Thursday that it was probing Song, two sources said on condition of anonymity. “Wu [Ding] is a close friend of Song and has connections with some senior officials.” Wang Hongkun, the executive director of China Resources Land, was detained the same day, different sources said. The detentions of Wu and Wang showed the investigation into China Resources was widening, the sources added.
广东茂名窝案细节:原书记崩溃供出百名官员|茂名窝案|罗荫国_
陕北煤田转卖获百亿 矿权人否认周姓商人牵线_网易新闻中心-网易新闻客户端 Fol
Jia Qinglin joins growing parade of retired leaders | South China Morning Post Zhang Ming, a political scientist at Renmin University in Beijing, said the former leaders were sending a message that they remained unaffected despite speculation that Xi’s campaign was targeting former officials.
China’s most mysterious profession: Temporary worker | Offbeat China Temporary worker 临时工 has almost become a synonym of “handy scapegoat” – whenever something bad happens, especially when the government is involved, it’s always the temporary workers’ fault. They shoulder the blame so often that sometimes one couldn’t help but wonder what China’s “in the system” government employees are doing. The irony is that by China’s currently law, it’s illegal to use temporary workers.
Liu Qibao: Expand Strength to Move Cultural Structural Reform Forward | China Copyright and Media This speech of Propaganda Department director Liu Qibao was published first by Xinhua, on 28 March 2014.
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
人民日报钟声：互联网治理，规范和标准是关键–观点–人民网
U.S. Says It Built Digital Programs Abroad With an Eye to Politics – NYTimes.com Another ham-handed effort that will justify China’s paranoia about foreign subversion on the Internet// The United States built Twitter-like social media programs in Afghanistan and Pakistan, like one in Cuba, that were aimed at encouraging open political discussion, Obama administration officials said Friday.
Intelligence industry research project launched in E China – Xinhua The Nanjing Research Institute of Intelligence Industry was created by the Institute of Automation under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IACAS) in partnership with the Nanjing Qilin Technology Park. Located in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, the research base consists of an institute, a technology park, a company and a foundation, in addition to a center for international communication, according to the IACAS. The intelligence base will concentrate on five intelligence-related fields during its initial stage, including high-performance microprocessors, intelligence information and big data, intelligent medical equipment, advance process control and intelligent device, as well as cultural technology and visual industry.
China SSBN Fleet Getting Ready – But For What? – FAS Strategic Security Blog Apart from how many Jin SSBNs China will build, the big question is whether the Chinese government will choose to operate them the way Western nuclear-armed states have operated their SSBNs for decades – deployed continuously at sea with nuclear warheads on the ballistic missiles – or continue China’s long-held policy of not deploying nuclear weapons outside Chinese territory but keeping them in central storage for deployment in a crisis.
China’s African Adventure-Foreign Policy China’s African envoy, Zhong Jianhua, has blitzed the region in recent months trying to help craft a solution for South Sudan’s internal strife, a stark contrast to the much-criticized, stand-off position China held just a few years ago when Khartoum ran roughshod over civilians but kept sending plenty of oil to Beijing. In February, Zhong told Reuters that China’s hands-on approach to South Sudan represents a “new chapter” in Beijing’s millennial foreign policy. Earlier this year, Zhong offered to facilitate mediations between the country’s warring factions designed to wind down the fighting.
Understanding China’s Assertiveness since 2009: The Rising Power Hypotheses | cogitASIA CSIS Asia Policy Blog This blog (and the associated paper) offers three hypotheses that contribute to explaining China’s assertiveness: 1) a “rising trend” hypothesis; 2) a “cycle of deterioration and amelioration” hypothesis; and 3) a “redefinition of strategic rivals” hypothesis.–Dr. Yasuhiro Matsuda is a professor of international politics at the University of Tokyo Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies and a visiting scholar with the Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
Chinese sculptors hope N.Korea’s orders for leaders’ waxworks will save business – Global Times Zhang remains the only foreigner to be given the award “People’s Artist” by the North Korean government. Things haven’t always been so rosy for Zhang’s career in wax. In the past, the Chinese people had such powerful reverence for their leaders it bordered on worship. But as this reverence waned, so too did the commercialization of their wax figures. Now, Zhang has been planning to commercialize the museum by developing celebrity wax sculptures instead of the great men.
Communist Mouthpiece Says it Complained to Twitter About Parody – NYTimes.com People’s Daily, the flagship paper of China’s Communist Party, continued its assault on the Twitter account @relevantorgans that parodies the country’s rulers, saying it violates Twitter’s rules. People’s Daily, representing a ruling party that has blocked access to Twitter for China’s citizens since 2009, posted its complaint, its second in two days, on its own Twitter account.
Wartime documents show details of Japanese atrocities – Xinhua A total of 89 wartime documents made public on Friday show details of atrocities Japanese troops committed in China during World War Two (WWII). The files, once kept by the invading Japanese army in Northeast China, are a response to Japan’s right-wing politicians’ denial of Japan’s wartime crimes in China, experts said.
China believes arms firm did not violate rules in Syria | Reuters Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang repeated an earlier statement that chlorine has wide industrial uses. “We believe that the Chinese company, when it was engaged in this business… did not violate relevant international conventions,” he told a daily news briefing. “Of course, we will take an earnest and responsible attitude in investigating this matter,” Qin added.
U.S. Confronts Consequences of Underestimating North Korean Leader – NYTimes.com Almost everything American intelligence agencies and North Korea-watchers thought they understood two years ago about Kim Jong-un, the North’s young leader, turns out to have been wrong.
Chinese spies read Australian MPs’ emails for a year: report | Business Spectator A cyber-attack on the Australian parliamentary computer network in 2011 may have given Chinese intelligence agencies access to lawmakers’ private emails for an entire year, the Australian Financial Review reports. The newspaper, citing government and security sources, said new information showed the attack had been more extensive than previously thought and “effectively gave them control of” the entire system.
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
Chinese Vice President Warns Hong Kong Over Protests – NYTimes.com “Regarding some people who have launched the Occupy Central movement, Li Yuanchao pointed out that Occupy Central is unlawful, would delay universal suffrage and wreck the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong,” reported Ta Kung Pao, a Hong newspaper aligned with the Chinese government. According to the paper, Mr. Li said that the party leadership was “adamantly opposed to Occupy Central.”
Controversy over urinating toddler threatens to escalate as state media, angry netizens weigh in | South China Morning Post State media weighed into the debate over a mainland child urinating in a Hong Kong street on Thursday, stating that both the youngster’s parents and those who so vocally objected to their actions needed to “raise their level of civilisation”.
Taiwan to Simulate Chinese Carrier Attack in Upcoming Training Exercise | USNI News The Taiwanese military will train to repel an attack from China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier and its battle group as part of a planned May exercise, according to local press reports. The simulated sea assault from the Liaoning battle group will be part of Taiwan’s large scale Han Kuang military exercise which will simulate a full scale war against the island country, according to a Wednesday report in Taipei Times quoting an unmanned Taiwanese defense official.
TECH AND MEDIA
The Real Sale Numbers of Xiaomi: Its Opportunities and Risks | Huxiu Concealed by its halo is the query of “hunger marketing” that will follow Xiaomi and Lei Jun wherever they go. What are the real sale numbers of each version of Xiaomi phone? What will Lei Jun plot in 2014? With these questions, we explored the main mobile phone supply chains in mainland. By interviewing more than 20 employees and former employees of Xiaomi, we obtained some reliable information:
Twitter: a batch of cookies by @ccsweets with edible, scannable wechat qr codes for a brand marketing event. why doesn’t Twitter have QR codes?
DJI Official Site | The Future of Possible Chinese firm bringing drones to the masses
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Chen Yizi, a Top Adviser Forced to Flee China, Dies at 73 – NYTimes.com Chen Yizi, who helped reshape China’s economy in the 1980s but who was deemed a counterrevolutionary after defending the student-led protests that filled Tiananmen Square in 1989, died in exile on April 14 in Los Angeles. He was 73.
Cheng Chui Ping, a Smuggler of Immigrants, Dies in Prison, but Is Praised in Chinatown – NYTimes To the authorities, Cheng Chui Ping was the “mother of all snakeheads,” a ruthless businesswoman who smuggled thousands of Chinese emigrants into the United States. Prosecutors said she ran a smuggling ring that amassed a $40 million fortune in two decades putting desperate passengers on faulty ships.
Are US universities choosing rich Chinese students over Asian Americans? – Quartz American universities, especially elite schools, have been suspected of admitting a disproportionately low number of Asian American students given their high test scores and academic performance. Over the past five to six years, these schools—faced with less private and public funding—have also started depending on international students who pay full tuition to pick up the bill. “Asian Americans now face a double barrier to entry at US universities,” writes the Caixin author Wu Yuci.
CT Loo: champion of Chinese art … or villain? – FT.com He was the son of a peasant opium addict who became the 20th century’s pre-eminent dealer in ancient Chinese art. But to some, he was a criminal who ransacked his country’s patrimony
Christian estimate ‘inflated’ – CHINA – Globaltimes.cn An assertion by a US-based academic that China will be home to the world’s largest Christian congregation by 2030 is inflated and not rooted in fact, said officials close to religious affairs authorities. “The estimate is unscientific and obviously an exaggeration. China advocates religious freedom and we are not against people’s right to believe in any religion. In this respect, an estimate of the number of Christians makes little sense,” an official told the Global Times on condition of anonymity. The Christian community in China is estimated to grow to 160 million by 2025 and the figure will exceed 247 million by 2030, according to Yang Fenggang, director of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University in Indiana.
People’s Daily Editorial Fanned Flames of 1989 Protest – NYTimes.com – NYTimes.com On April 26, the truculent words in the editorial, titled “It is necessary to take a clear-cut stand against turmoil,” dominated airwaves and front pages, and they had a profound effect on the confrontation that convulsed China in 1989 — but not the one intended by the men who created it. Ever since, players in the drama of 1989 have wondered how differently things might have turned out without the editorial’s repeated use of that incendiary word “turmoil.”
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
学者称水质情况很糟糕 但多糟是国家机密|深度处理水厂|合格水源地_新浪新闻 Chi
央视曝光鸡西石墨污染黑洞：居民饮用水漂浮油状物 新华社——经济参考网 CCTV on water pollution in Jixi, Heilongjiang, from black graphite…mentions the connection between “green” electric bikes and the pollution that results…black graphite is needed for the batteries // 电动车，凭借“绿色环保”的金子招牌，可谓是赚足了眼球，
北京因地下水超采形成约1000k㎡漏斗区 中心在朝阳区-新闻中心频道-新华网 Beijing’s water table in deep trouble
In Land That Values Ivory, Wild Elephants Find a Safe Haven – NYTimes.com At a time when tens of thousands of elephants across Africa are being slaughtered to feed the Chinese appetite for ivory, it turns out the best place to be a wild elephant may be here in the tropical forests of southwest China. Over the past two decades, the number of Asiatic elephants in Yunnan Province in China has roughly doubled, to nearly 300 //New York Times should have a Yunnan Bureau, might help with reporter flight from smoggy Beijing
FOOD AND TRAVEL
Airline CEO: Hawaii isn’t Chinese-friendly–USA Today The CEO of Hawaiian Airlines says Hawaii’s hospitality industry must do more to make Chinese visitors feel welcome.
JOBS AND EVENTS
ChinaFile Presents: Evan Osnos. The New Yorker correspondent discusses China’s ‘Age of Ambition’ | New York | Asia Society 14 May 2014 6:30pm – 8:00pm 725 Park Avenue (at East 70 Street), New York, NY //The book on Amazon