"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Just links today, lots on the PBoC-engineered liquidity squeeze, still not sure what the goal was, but plenty of speculation out there:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
China Money Rates Retreat After PBOC Said to Inject Cash – Bloomberg The one-day repurchase rate dropped 384 basis points, or 3.84 percentage points, to 7.90 percent as of 9:33 a.m. in Shanghai, according to a weighted average compiled by the National Interbank Funding Center. That is the biggest drop since 2007. The seven-day rate fell 351 basis points to 8.11 percent. They touched record highs yesterday of 13.91 percent and 12.45 percent, respectively.
Related: Chinese monetary policy, with Maoist characteristics | FT Alphaville Fascinating, right? Because it all suggests this is a very deliberate move to direct China’s credit into more effective investments — things that will actually make some kind of return, rather than requiring debt rollovers and the like. Yet there might be even more to it. Are the PBoC’s efforts part of a broader political shift? // not good what has happened this week, but not as dire as some of the unhelpful, hyperbolic commentary from some Western pundits/blogs like Zero Hedge et al would lead you to believe. Even Bloomberg TV said this morning some of Thursday’s comments were “overblown”. It is worrisome that there has been no public statement from PBOC.
Related: Review & Outlook: China’s Credit Crunch – WSJ.com To their credit, they are evidently serious about pronouncements that future growth will be driven by reform, starting with market-based interest rates. If a reckoning for past wasteful lending does come, there will inevitably be political implications. Some observers have attributed new leader Xi Jinping’s emphasis on nationalism as preparation for this trial. One can only hope that Chinese citizens will support the transition ahead because they understand a more market-oriented economy will be more prosperous and fair, and better provide the public goods like clean air and safe food.
Related: Is it policy? China edition | FT Alphaville Nonetheless, we expect a painful deleveraging process in the next few months. Some defaults will likely occur in the manufacturing industry and in non-bank financial institutions. In particular, we see risks in local government financing vehicles, trust companies, property developers, credit guarantee companies, and leveraged manufacturers in industries with over-capacity problems. The non-performing loan ratio will likely rise, and we expect GDP growth to trend down to 7.2% y-o-y in Q4.
Related: Echoes of Mao in China cash crunch – FT.com “It is quite possible that the central bank’s policies have some connection to Xi’s campaign,” said Willy Lam, an expert on Chinese politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “It seems to be much more serious than the short anti-corruption campaigns launched by Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin [Mr Xi’s predecessors over the past two decades].” In monetary policy terms, the central bank could certainly be said to be waging war on hedonism and extravagance. The seven-day bond repurchase rate, a key gauge of liquidity in China, surged 270 basis points to more than 10.8 per cent on Thursday – a punitively high rate that could force cash-hungry banks to call in the riskiest of their loans. // not so sure about this claim by Lam
Related: Blood & Treasure: we’re all Dengists now For many years, critics of China who identify with this mythical phoenix like creature called ‘the markets’ have been telling China that it needs to do something about its debt problem. Eventually Beijing, says ‘Oh, OK’ and deliberately stages – not allows to happen, but deliberately stages – a Lehman event across its banking system. This was not a response to a crisis: the PBOC could have pumped more money into the system this time just as it had done before. It’s an act of will.
Related: 稳健货币政策透露哪些政策考量–金融时报业内人士还就实行稳健货币政策的其他因素进行了分析。首先，我国货币供应尽管总量充裕，但资金利用效率低，一味地放宽货币供应无法从根本上解决“货币空转”问题。一方面，制造业去库存仍在延续；另一方面，投资拉动经济增长的边际效益不断下降。我国经济最需要解决的是优化结构、实现转型，单纯通过注入货币流动性对实现此目标作用不大。其次，在广义货币长期两位数的高增长过程中，我国银行体系积累了一定规模的不良资产，出于防范金融风险的需要，货币政策也会以稳健为主。
Related: 暴跌与钱荒“双杀” 上市公司信托投资遇险-上市公司-中国证券网 钱荒来袭，一方面是部分资金链紧张的上市公司可能爆发危机，另一方面，一些手握充裕资金的公司则进退自如，甚至可能从中获得超额收益。
Related: BOC denies monetary default amid fund shortage rumor – Xinhua The BOC statement came after the official Sina Weibo account for 21st Century Business Herald said the bank had defaulted on Thursday afternoon, deferring transactions for half an hour due to a fund shortage, citing anonymous sources. BOC responded in a post on its official Sina Weibo that it has never had monetary defaults and had timely completed all outbound payments on Thursday. BOC also said that the rumors are “seriously unfounded” and the bank reserves the right to pursue legal action against those who started the rumors out of malicious intent.
Related: 致歉声明|致歉|声明_21世纪网 21st Century Business Herald apology for its report, now denied, that Bank of China had a default
Related: China’s Financial Quandary: Get Used to It | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation The finance media are discovering that China has trapped itself with bad monetary policy, joining a long list of countries in this situation. The media should next realize that China faces not a crisis but a long-term problem of untangling the effects of bad decisions made over several years. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) clearly suffers from too-loose credit. This reduces the impact of additional liquidity, along the lines of pouring buckets of water into a lake and hoping for a flood. Beijing built its own trap with its panicked 2009 lending, which was wrongly praised by many. The extent of the problem has been obvious for some time.
China’s Communist party takes page from Mao’s playbook – FT.com “This is a very big thing for the party’s style. There has been nothing like it for at least the past decade,” says Wang Wen, the former commentary head of the party tabloid Global Times who now leads a think-tank at Renmin university….”There have been a lot of demands for reform, calls for the publication of officials’ assets, for one-person-one-vote elections. Those are very difficult, even impossible in the near future,” says Mr Wang. “So the leadership is going for something that is possible: they tackle the party’s style. This does matter because there are a lot of complaints about corruption and bureaucracy, and it is something everyone can agree upon.”
Chen Guangcheng and the Commandeering of Our China Human Rights Policy | China Law & Policy long history of US-China policy focusing on ideology and political correctness over competency, guess we will never learn, naive to hope for any thing better?// In very simplistic terms, the politics behind our China human rights policy used to be easy – the left supported human rights in China above all else. The right was more about business ties to China before human rights (or as a way to achieving human rights). But the rise of the religious right, especially the pro-lifers, within the Republican Party has changed that dynamic. Nothing demonstrates that more clearly than the changing politics behind the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC)….In the present Congress, Rep. Smith is CECC’s co-chair, meaning that he will wield less influence than he did as chairman. But he is still on the Commission and he also currently chairs the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Under his tenure, many of the hearings on China focus on these narrow issues with some of the same witnesses testifying. But more than anything, what is happening with Chen Guangcheng is a sad state of affairs – it appears that he is being used by pro-life advocates in an attempt to commandeer the U.S.’ human rights policy in China.
Abe confidante secretly visited China to reboot ties | The Japan Times A special adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe secretly visited Beijing earlier this week in an apparent effort to improve strained relations with China, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga admitted Thursday at a news conference. Earlier in the day, TV Asahi reported that Shotaro Yachi, former vice foreign minister and a long-time ally of Abe, made an unofficial visit to Beijing to see high-ranking Chinese officials there. Suga confirmed the report at the press conference but declined further comment.
Related: Inside the Ring: NSA contractor threat – Washington Times President Obama told Chinese President Xi Jinping that the United States would back Japan in any armed conflict over the Senkaku islands that are the subject of a major Chinese-Japanese dispute. A U.S. official said the president’s comments were intended to avoid a military miscalculation by Beijing, which in recent weeks has ratcheted up tensions with military incursions near the uninhabited islands that the Chinese call Diaoyu. The private U.S. warning — made during the June 8 “walk in the desert” by the two leaders and their translators at their Palm Springs, Calif., summit
Tea Leaf Nation: For Some Chinese Cadres, A Grisly End an article published in June in the South Review (南风窗), a Guangzhou based magazine, provided a rare glimpse into the system responsible for bringing the Communist Party’s wayward comrades to book. The story was also later featured on China’s main micro-blogging portal Sina before being deleted from both locations.
Related: Deaths of Chinese Officials Under Detention in Corruption Cases Raise Concern – NYTimes.com Reports of the abuse of criminal suspects can often generate public concern in China, but sympathy for officials who have died in shuanggui custody is tempered by greater anger over corruption.
北京1处经适房被曝成部委福利房 仅为市价1/5|部委|公务员|经适房_新浪新闻 expose of cheap, subsidized housing in Beijing for government and SOE workers // 最近，位于北京东四环外寸土寸金的广渠路，一个名为“广华新城”的经济适用房项目，被曝定向销售给中央部委和中石化等央企。据媒体报道，未来其售价可能只在1万元/平米左右。这在区域商品房价已经达到5万元/平米的背景下，显得分外惹人注目。定向经适房又面临着“公务员分福利房”的质疑。
Alipay’s Investment Service Attracts 1 Mln Users in Week – Caixin The service, Yu E Bao, was jointly launched by Alipay, the online payment service of Alibaba Group, and Tian Hong Asset Management Co. on June 13. It allows individuals to buy money market funds or other financial products using idle cash in their Alipay accounts. Tian Hong developed a currency fund product called Zenglibao to connect with Alipay’s Yu E Bao service. Alipay said users can use fund in their Yu E Bao accounts for online payment activities… Alipay said the annual return for investors was 4.68 percent by June 18, compared to about 3.25 percent for one-year bank deposits.
Related: 人民日报-金融行业需要搅局者（感言）Jack Ma writes in today’s People’s Daily that the financial industry needs someone to stir things up..and that he is doing, with Ali’s SME loans and the newly launched Yu’E bao // 中国不缺银行，但是缺乏一个对10年以后经济成长承担责任的金融机构。今天的金融，确实做得不错，没有今天的支撑20％客户这样的金融机构，中国的经济30年来不可能发展到今天。但是靠今天这样的机制，我不相信能够支撑30年后中国所需要的金融体系。很多问题不是今天造成的，而是历史造成的。我们很难改变历史，但我们可以改变未来。今天做准备，10年以后才有机会。今天我们引进开放，可能会有问题，但是今天的问题就会变成10年以后的成绩。
Related: 余额宝刺激金证股份创新高_证券时报网 近日天弘基金联合支付宝、金证股份联合发布“余额宝”。支付宝用户可通过向余额增值账户充值，直接在线购买货币基金。这一全新直销系统由金证股份开发，同时据公司董事透露，金证股份今年以来与数家基金公司商谈创新项目合作，即将陆续成行。 借余额宝概念异军突起，金证股份近几日逆势连续大涨。昨日又有消息称，余额宝上线仅6天，客户数量就突破了百万大关，发展势头相当迅猛。相应的，该股昨日再度逆势上涨5.22%，复权后创出上市新高。本周四个交易日该股累计涨幅达30.21%。
Related: 余额宝6天狂揽百万用户 金融业渠道面临变革 | 每经网 核心提示： 尽管支付宝推出的余额宝一经面世便面临诸多争议，但距其悄然上线仅6天，这款产品用户数已突破100万。
父子街头怄气 奔驰宝马追着撞-20130621新闻直通车-凤凰视频-最具媒体品质的综合视频门户-凤凰网 dad in Mercedes and son in BMW get in a dispute in traffi..and repeatedly ram each other, before dad charges out of his car with a belt and chases his son..all caught on CCTV. OIC (only in China)?
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
Economists React: China Manufacturing Gauge Slides in June – China Real Time Report – WSJ Some economists were particularly concerned over a sharp slump in the new export orders index, to 44 from 48.9 in May. With investment banks already cutting their China growth estimates, the new reading contributed to a slide in stock markets. Analysts weigh in:
‘Snowden Effect’ Boosts Chinese Security Stocks – WSJ.com Disclosures by U.S. technology companies that they received thousands of requests from the U.S. government to share data may put more pressure on Chinese banks and state-owned companies to use domestic providers. Among the mainland-listed Chinese Internet-security companies, Beijing Venustech Inc is a leading one. The company, founded by a Chinese graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, counts the Chinese government, military, telecommunications networks and banks among its clients. The company’s first-quarter revenue rose 58%, thanks to robust demand and an acquisition. After rising 8% in the past five days, the stock now trades at 53 times next year’s forecast earnings.
奇瑞重工狂飙遗祸：多地曝农机“质量门” | 每经网 Chery farming equipment seems not to work very well // 核心提示： 奇瑞重工在市场上四处并购、投建新厂的同时，却暴露出违背农机技术创新基本规律，粗放型扩张的野心，后果是，产品质量问题层出不穷，配件和售后严重滞后。
Developer Gary Barnett Seeks Help From China for Next Tower After One57 – WSJ.comNew York developer Gary Barnett has nearly completed construction on one of the most expensive condominium towers in history. Now he is looking to China to back an even larger and taller tower a block away. Mr. Barnett, founder of Extell Development Co., is in early talks with the state-owned Export-Import Bank of China for a loan of about $1 billion to build the soaring condo and hotel skyscraper just south of Manhattan’s Central Park, according to people familiar with the discussions.
SEC charges China MediaExpress, CEO with fraud | Reuters The Securities and Exchange Commission charged defunct company China MediaExpress and its chief executive officer on Thursday with misleading investors, the agency’s latest case alleging fraud at a U.S.-listed China-based company.
北京地税否认上报房产税方案 地方官员：征管非常困难_财经频道_一财网 Beijing officials say no property tax plan for the city has been submitted // 北京地税昨日通过官方微博发表声明称，未上报过房产税试点方案，未接到上级部门有关工作部署的通知。
高速路网目标上调 带来新一轮投资潮？_财经频道_一财网 昨日，国新办就5月获批的《国家公路网规划(2013年~2030年)》（下称《规划》）举行发布会。按照规划，到2030年，中国将建成总规模约40万公里的国家公路网，投资约4.7万亿元。交通运输部总规划师戴东昌称，要将国家高速公路里程由现在的8.5万公里提高到11.8万公里。此外，未来我国收费公路占总里程将降至3%。
鄂尔多斯千亿巨债压顶：缓发公务员工资向煤矿追缴税费-财经频道-金融界 some Ordos news to excite bears // 近日，鄂尔多斯公布了1-5月份财政收支数据，财政总收入同比降低15.8%，公共财政收入同比降低10.5%。今年以来，鄂尔多斯财政收入均为负增长，增速在内蒙古垫底。 据消息人士透露，鄂尔多斯债务规模接近千亿，今年打算化解掉20%的历史债务。债务支出进一步挤压了财政支出的空间，财政收支矛盾加剧。一个直观的表现在于，当地公务员的工资开始缓发，不少从月初移到下旬发放。而地方政府拖欠企业的项目款，不少也尚未还上
北京公车采购增加本地自主品牌|公务用车|自主品牌|采购_新浪新闻 地方政府公车采购本土品牌汽车，是非常明智的做法。一方面税收归自己，肥水不流外人田；同时也能起到很好的广告效应，帮助车辆打入市场。 ——湖北省统计局副局长叶青
Bad loans rise sharply in Shanghai bank sector | South China Morning Post At the Shanghai branch of Beijing-headquartered China Citic Bank – listed in Shanghai and Hong Kong – the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio jumped to about 5 per cent of total outstanding loans this month, far higher than the national average of about 1 per cent, according to sources familiar with the matter. A 5 per cent NPL ratio translates into about six billion yuan (HK$7.5 billion) of bad loans, the sources added. “It’s not just Citic Bank. Other banks’ Shanghai branches are also facing trouble and could wind up with similarly huge bad loans on their books,” one of the sources said.
POLITICS AND LAW
S China school girl rapists sentenced – Xinhua | English.news.cn A former school principal and government clerk who raped primary school girls in hotels in May were respectively sentenced to 13 and half and 11 and half years in jail on Thursday.The trials were held behind closed doors. //and very fast, raising suspicions online
Xi urges to reinforce youths’ belief in CPC | China Daily Xi made the comments during a group talk with the new leadership of the Central Committee ofthe CYLC, which was elected earlier Thursday. Prior to Xi’s speech, Qin Yizhi, newly-elected first secretary of the Secretariat of the 17th CentralCommittee of the CYLC, reported on the just-concluded 17th national congress of the CYLC.
舆论场：习近平大扫除_中国_多维新闻网 作为喉舌报，《人民日报》从17日起就已进入“备战”状态。一篇题为《党的群众路线的由来》的文章算是铺垫。次日，该报在评论版刊发“党的群众路线新思考”系列评论的第一篇——《群众路线是“执政生命线”》，其中明确将群众路线划定为中共执政的生命线。19日，也即习近平携六大常委共同出席党的群众路线教育实践活动后的第二天，该报在第二版显要位置刊发社论《保持与人民群众的血肉联系》。从独篇到系列评论，再到社论，规格不断升级，文章内容也从刚开始的普及逐步深入。可以预见的是，“党的群众路线新思考”系列评论还将继续跟进，《人民日报》在此轮整风运动中发挥的作用才刚刚开始。
Report: Seat in China’s Parliament Pays Dividends for CEOs – China Real Time Report – WSJ The kudos of NPC membership has a measurable positive impact on their business interests, according to a new study. Getting a CEO on to the NPC provides a one-off boost to a company’s share price of about 3%, Rory Truex of Yale University found.
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
China, Russia vow to expand practical cooperation – Xinhua | English.news.cn Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Thursday that their countries would build on the previous consensus and expand practical cooperation. “China would like to work together with Russia to maximize the potential for bilateral economic cooperation and translate the best ever political relationship into results of practical cooperation,” Zhang, who arrived here Wednesday to attend the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, said at a meeting with Putin.
Putin says Rosneft close to $60 billion China oil deal | Reuters “A large-scale contract, without any exaggeration, has been prepared by Rosneft. Supplies to China are expected in volumes of hundreds millions of tonnes of oil. And this in total worth over $60 billion,” Putin said during a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli at an economic forum in St Petersburg.
Pyongyang Perseveres | Foreign Affairs A new book offers useful insights into the North Korean mindset, but it overlooks the regime’s durability and the reformist bent of its new leader, Kim Jong-un. The regime is here to stay, and the United States should pursue more peaceful relations. JOHN DELURY is an Assistant Professor at Yonsei University’s Graduate School of International Studies
Why Is China Talking to the Taliban? – By Andrew Small | Foreign Policy Over the last year, China has been expanding its direct contacts with the Taliban and sounding them out on security issues that range from separatist groups in the Chinese region of Xinjiang to the protection of Chinese resource investments, according to interviews with officials and experts in Beijing, Washington, Kabul, Islamabad, and Peshawar. While Beijing would like to see the reconciliation talks succeed in preventing Afghanistan from falling back into civil war, it is not counting on their success, and thus is preparing to deal with whatever constellation of political forces emerges in Afghanistan after the United States withdraws.
The Chimerica Dream: Two Nations, Two Dreams, One Pacific Sun Tzu, the ancient author of The Art of War, must be throwing a rice wine party in his heavenly tomb in the wake of the shirtsleeves California love-in between President Obama and President Xi Jinping…But the ultimate shark fin’s soup on China’s recent banquet card was an editorial in the Communist Party-controlled Global Times…
人民日报-网络安全拒绝“双重标准”（人民时评） 斯 壮 互联网的问世，营造出人类有史以来最大的“面具帝国”。经典的说法是，“在网上，没有人知道你是一条狗”。而随着美国中央情报局前雇员爱德华·斯诺登近日的爆料，这句经典描述的另一层含义被表达得淋漓尽致——“在网上，不知道有多少条狗正盯着你”…中国的互联网管理，从不奢谈“绝对自由”，任何人的网络言行，必须约束于法律允许的框架之内。但在这种务实的原则之下，我们充分尊重公民的合法表达权利，高度重视个人信息的保护。在我们看来，那种一边高呼取消网络管制、力倡“信息自由流动”，一边暗中监听监看公民隐私；一边以受害者的姿态非难别国发起网络战，一边又组织跨国网络攻击的做法，不仅十分虚伪，而且居心叵测。
Senators Urge Additional Review of Smithfield’s Sale to Shuanghui – NYTimes.com The letter is the latest sign of political discomfort with the sale of Smithfield to Shuanghui International, one of China’s biggest meat processors. While both companies have said repeatedly that the transaction poses no national security risk to the United States – the merger being spurred by a desire to export more American pork to China, not the other way around – many lawmakers have remained skeptical that food safety standards here will not be compromised.
China in Focus #12: Science and Security in China – All Things Nuclear It is easy to dismiss an old general’s diatribe on financial war as one man’s paranoia, but in the absence of meaningful bilateral scientific and technological cooperation on the world’s most pressing and complex problems, from climate change to global finance, the Chinese military’s energetic effort to compete with the United States in the new domains of space and cyber should not be understood as a means to realize “irredentist aims.” It is an end in itself. The lesson Chinese military and political leaders derive from their century of humiliation, and drum into their children, is that China must never again allow itself the contentment of settling for achievements that shy away from the cutting edges of scientific and technological development, especially those that can be turned against them by a powerful foe.
Argentina caught a Chinese ship trying to steal 180 tonnes of its squid – Quartz An unlicensed Chinese jigger hoarding some 180 tonnes (200 tons) of fresh squid was caught fishing off of Argentina’s coast late on Tuesday (June 17). The country’s coast guard has since boarded and seized the ship, which is being escorted to the Patagonia port on Argentina’s southeastern coast. But the incident was hardly the first.
[视频]航母海训 歼-15舰载机多次起降_新闻频道_央视网 J-15 carrier take off and landings make the Thursday CCTV Evening news
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
Taiwan bookstore chain Eslite’s Shanghai plans in doubt after censors order blackout | South China Morning Post A well-publicised plan by Taiwan bookstore chain Eslite to open a branch in what is to become Shanghai’s tallest building may have hit a snag as the mainland’s propaganda department suddenly ordered a news blackout on the project. On Wednesday, Eslite and the Shanghai Tower made a joint announcement that the chain, founded in Taiwan about two decades ago, planned to lease 6,500 square metres of space in the record-breaking 632-metre skyscraper in Shanghai, which is still under construction. Then, yesterday, the mainland’s propaganda department suddenly ordered local media not to report the news.
TECH AND MEDIA
Zhou Hongyi Wants to Shoot Penguins (i.e. Tencent) Like Neo from The Matrix–TechInAsia gotta love Zhou Hongyi, the most colorful of the Chnese Internet moguls, all of whom are throwing stones from glass houses when they complain about Zhou // I told you Qihoo wasn’t going to be happy about Tencent taking a step into the mobile security sphere. And if you have any doubts that Qihoo CEO Zhou Hongyi still harbors some serious ill will towards Tencent (whose logo and mascot is a penguin), then check out what he said Thursday afternoon at a film industry event with Keanu Reeves
李彦宏、周鸿\十年未了仇：百度做杀毒再战360|百度|奇虎360卡巴斯基|腾讯_21世纪网 wonder how much hope Baidu’s antivirus product has
Zynga China Reportedly Laid off 18% Employees, GM to Resign It is reported that Zynga China has laid off about 30 employees, about 18% of the total. That’s just the layoff rate we read in this post by Zynga CEO. Andy Tian, general manager of Zynga China, may resign soon. When reached out by local media, he just said “it’s better to confirm with me several days later or next week.
Awfully Successful: Is ‘Switch’ China’s Worst Blockbuster Ever? – China Real Time Report – WSJ “After reading so many sharp and funny comments about how terrible this film is, I cannot wait to go to the cinema and see how bad it really is,” one Weibo user wrote, in a sentiment repeated widely online. “Weibo enables everyone to join in on blasting the film and turns it into a public carnival.” said Zhao Pengxiao, a film director who teaches in the Beijing Film Academy. “Many people go to watch the film simply to join the fun and avoid being regarded as out of fashion.”
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
毛泽东专用瓷碗香港拍卖 800万成交成标王(图)_新闻_腾讯网 Set of porcelain used by Mao sells at auction for 8 million RMB // 中新社香港6月20日电(记者 邓霞)湘绣湘瓷艺术精品拍卖会20日在香港落槌，一套名为“釉下五彩毛瓷碗”的毛泽东专用瓷碗被拍出800万元(人民币，下同)，成为该场拍卖会的“标王”。
Stampede over Beckham injures 7 in Shanghai-AP A security officer and others attempt to carry a policewoman injured in a stampede by fans of David Beckham at a university in Shanghai on Thursday, June 20, 2013. Fans eager to see the soccer superstar stormed a police cordon Thursday in a stampede at a Shanghai university that injured seven people including five security personnel.
高清：贝克汉姆造访同济大学发生球迷踩踏事故–图片频道–人民网 pictures from the Beckham Shanghai chaos
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
First space lecture opens new horizons for China – Xinhua our kids watched part of the recording this morning before school // More than 60 million students and teachers at about 80,000 middle schools across the country also watched the live broadcast on TV. Nie Haisheng, commander of the crew, made a show of putting his legs into a meditation position while floating in the air. Such a show can only be seen in martial arts movies but unable to be achieved by any Kungfu masters in reality on Earth. //seen some commentary that it is noteworthy that all the Chinese astronauts are military officers. Weren’t all the early US astronauts, and the USSR astronauts, all military officers? Isn’t that how these programs develop?
人民日报-中科院20日发布报告，预测未来5—10年中国19项重大科技突破 转型中国，需提升科技权重
青海：牧民捕获棕熊送交警方后发现遭剥皮_资讯频道_凤凰网 一只棕熊死于青海德令哈市森林公安分局之手。陆续上传到网上的屠熊照片，遭到部分环保人士的批评。棕熊属国家二级保护动物，6月19日，它被发现孤独地出现在德令哈市尕海镇的牧场上，牧民和当地森林公安将之抓获后交由警方“保护”，不久却发现遭剥皮砍掌。昨日，有新华社记者在采访当地后透露，官方称熊是因处理不当窒息死亡的，之所以剥皮是按上级要求制作标本，用于科研。
FOOD AND TRAVEL
China’s GM soybean imports stir up controversy | Luna Lin – China Dialogue Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, has been awash with criticisms of the Ministry’s of Agriculture’s decision to green light imports of three more strains of genetically modified (GM) soybeans. A picture of mice with swollen bodies which was said to be the result of GM food testing went viral online.
Dairy measures start at source–China Daily The move is designed to allow greater supervision of the production process, help ensure foodsafety and restore consumer confidence in the industry, officials said. Other measures include adopting stricter management standards to supervise the baby formulaindustry and registering all foreign producers. The measures were drafted by central government departments including the China Food andDrug Administration and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
New Model of Organic Farming Sprouts Up in Suburbs of Big Cities – Caixin A new model of locally organized organic farming has taken root in Beijing and Shanghai in recent years, and an academic says it could be a viable way for the industry to blossom. The model – an alternative to large-scale organic farming – sees farmers in the suburbs of large cities grow produce on their own or in groups. They then sell the fruits and vegetables to city-dwellers. Du Xiangge, a professor at China Agricultural University, said recently that this approach could be an efficient way to develop the industry.
The care-hire experience: Trouble on the Tibetan plateau | The Economist ON THE Tibetan plateau, China’s fast-growing, car-loving middle class finds its dream: vast open spaces, roads that wind up mountains and across yak-speckled grasslands to monasteries whose red-robed monks seem to live a world away from the travails of coastal mega-cities. I wrote about this Tibet-driving fantasy in December after taking to the wheel along the 1,800km (1,100-mile) middle-class trail from Beijing to Xining, the capital of Qinghai province, on the plateau’s edge. The recent rapid growth of a car-hire industry is helping to fuel such dreams. But let the renter beware.
BEIJING
Galaxy Soho’s Homophobic Statement Was Apparently Result Of “One Bigoted Mid-Level Manager,” Beijing Cream Two days ago, That’s Beijing reported that SOHO sent a message to organizers of the beer festival saying the LGBT Center was not welcome at the event because they ”clashed with the architecture.” That statement was apparently “the result of one bigoted mid-level manager,” Setzer told us over email. That mid-level manager “has been reprimanded and SOHO is in direct contact with Great Leap Brewing and the LGBT Center to show support for the event,” Setzer said. The LGBT Center will have a tent, among the 19 or 20 official tents at the beer festival.