"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
Huge Crowds Turn Out for Hong Kong Pro-Democracy March – NYTimes.com Any public suggestion that the People’s Liberation Army might intervene here was politically unacceptable until very recently, but it is now raised as a possibility by some of Beijing’s advisers. “A showdown is getting more and more inevitable by the day, and some degree of violence is imminent,” said Lau Nai-keung, one of Beijing’s most prominent allies in Hong Kong. “If worst comes to worst, the P.L.A. will come out of its barracks.” Mr. Lau is one of the six Hong Kong members of the Basic Law Committee, a group under the National People’s Congress Standing Committee in Beijing that sets policies relating to Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law. // Things could get very bad in Hong Kong. This is exactly the kind of color revolution about which Beijing has long been so paranoid, and is prepared to combat. Compromise is likely seen from Beijing as just the first domino of something that could spread into Shenzhen, Guangdong and beyond. Beijing has many levers to push on before using the PLA…while I’d like to be caught up in the euphoria, a grinding, grim period ahead for HK looks like the most likely outcome. Wonder if this is a good time short the HK stock market…
Related: H.K. Police Clear Protesters After Decade’s Biggest Rally – Bloomberg At least 510,000 people took part in the march, Johnson Yeung of rally organizer Civil Human Rights Front told a cheering crowd, while police tallied 98,600 at its peak, broadcaster RTHK said. Both estimates are the most for the annual event since 2004. Marchers braving heat, rain and long delays.
Related: [视频]香港庆祝回归祖国17周年_
Related: 坚持以爱国者为主体的“港人治港”–观点-
Related: On day of Hong Kong mass protests, China’s army opens barracks to public | Reuters Many of the soldiers have yet to enjoy the bright lights of Hong Kong, a long-time R&R favorite for visiting western warships. Those stationed at Shek Kong, which in the 1980s had its own nearby bright lights and raunchy bar scene, have no internet access and no cellphones, said one 24-year-old soldier, who gave his last name as Huang. They get to call families back home in the mainland only once on weekends, watch Chinese state television together every night, and spend their time drilling and studying Marxist theory.//so no connection to or sympathy with local residents
Japan Moves to Permit Greater Use of Its Military – NYTimes.com The decision by Mr. Abe’s cabinet changes the long-held reading of the Constitution that had strictly limited Japan’s forces to acting in the country’s defense. The new interpretation will allow Japan to use its large and technologically advanced military in ways that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, such as coming to the aid of an American ship under fire or shooting down a ballistic missile aimed at the United States.
Related: MAJOR SECURITY SHIFT: Cabinet opens door for SDF to use force abroad; Abe says risk of war lessens – The Asahi Shimbun Despite huge protests around the country, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet on July 1 approved changes to Japan’s postwar security policy that could lead to the Self-Defense Forces’ use of military force in overseas battles. The Cabinet approved a document that revises the government’s interpretation of war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution to allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense. The document states that military force can be used as “a means of self-defense,” enabling future administrations to decide to dispatch the SDF on collective security operations sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council for military action against an invading nation.
Related: Is Japan targeting China in next move? – Xinhua For a nation that had a notorious history of invasion into China and other Asian countries, Japan’s move to allow self-defense forces to engage in battles overseas and fight for countries that have close ties with Japan will make the nation a major source of threat for Asia. Japan has a history of making sneaky attacks, as it did in launching wars with China, Russia and the United States in the recent 100 years. Now, Japan, with greater freedom to use military force, is making the world more worried. With all the historical and realistic concerns in mind, the question for Abe is that: is China on your military agenda?
Related: Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hong Lei’s Regular Press Conference on July 1, 2014 Due to historical reasons, Japan’s political moves in the military and security field have long been closely watched by its Asian neighbors and the international community. Recently, Japan’s ruling authority has been stirring up troubles on historical issues on the one hand, and taking unprecedented measures in the military and security field on the other hand, bringing great changes to Japan’s military and security policies. People cannot but question whether Japan is deviating from the path of peaceful development that it has been upholding since the end of WWII. We have noted that there are strong objections in Japan to the lifting of the ban on the collective self defence right. It is the general public of Japan that should have the final say on which way Japan should follow in terms of national development. We are opposed to Japan’s pursuit of its domestic political goal by deliberately making up the so-called “China threat”. We urge the Japanese side to earnestly respect the legitimate security concerns of its Asian neighbors and prudently deal with relevant issues. It must not undermine China’s sovereignty and security interests, nor shall it harm regional peace and stability.
Related: 安倍要把日本孩子重新送上战场(望海楼)–
Xu downfall is big step in Xi’s army reforms – FT.com $$ Mr Xi also rammed home the message of party control once again in March 15, when he established a committee to oversee the reforms. It was the same day that Mr Xu was detained pending investigation, a coincidence that some analysts have suggested was intended in part to send a signal to senior officers. In announcing the committee, Mr Xi once again listed the priorities for military reform and “obey the party’s command” was the first item. “The message was clear,” said Mr Johnson. “We’re moving in this direction, and you’re welcome to get on board. And if you don’t, you’re going into a padded room with no windows.”
Related: Corruption in China’s Military Begins With Buying a Job – Bloomberg once you have paid you, and your “backers”, expect a return on their “investment”, and as the fees to get promoted the required returns, generated through corruption, increase…it is going to be very hard to break this cycle, though this kind of military corruption historically has often been seen in the waning years of a dynasty, which Xi Jinping understands very clearly. The point about the “culture” is an interesting one. Corruption is not new to China, nor is it unique to the CPC…it is part of the 5000 years of history // “It’s impossible to weed out corruption at the basic level, because it’s embedded in the culture,” said retired Major General Xu Guangyu, a senior researcher at Beijing-based research group the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association. “The central leadership knows corruption is the number one enemy the army faces, and if strong-handed measures aren’t taken, it would weaken the army’s capabilities to fight a modern war.”…In its effort to professionalize its forces, China is following the example of the U.S. Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, by increasing incentives for bright minds to serve, paying college fees and a stipend to students if they enlist as trainee officers when they graduate. Even so, around 60 percent of college students who apply for military service fail the fitness exam, the state-owned China Daily reported in August.
Related: 全军和武警部队官兵：
Renminbi’s drop likely to prove temporary – FT.com The US Treasury, which has no problems with the Japanese government driving down the value of its currency, has been outspoken in its criticism of the Chinese change in its exchange rate policy, much to the anger of officials in Beijing. Currencies are always a reflection of both politics and the markets. At the moment, there are plenty of reasons to be down on the renminbi, though economic Armageddon is not among them, in spite of that deeply held belief of some of the more bearish hedge fund crowd…Moreover capital outflows, as Goldman Sachs notes in a recent report, have begun to stabilise. The money that wants to get out of China has mostly already left. // if true has implications for overseas property markets
Related: Lew Urges Yuan Gains, Sees No Global Risk From China Real Estate – Bloomberg “It’s undervalued and that is something that hurts Chinese consumers, it reduces their purchasing power,” Lew said today in Washington. “It’s fundamentally not fair in terms of trading practices, which is why we press on it so hard.” Lew, who will be in Beijing on July 9-10 for talks with Chinese leaders as part of the annual U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, also addressed concern over China’s excess real-estate supply and the possibility of a property bubble.
China’s Repression of Savers Eases – Bloomberg Yin is a beneficiary of an easing in China’s financial repression, a term that describes the way savers have suffered artificially low returns on deposits in order to provide cheap loans for investment. Measures used for the size of the toll — such as inflation-adjusted deposit rates, the gap between rates on loans and the pace of economic growth — have shifted in favor of savers in the past four years. The burden has dropped to the equivalent of about 1 percent of gross domestic product annually from 5 percent to 8 percent as recently as three to four years ago, estimates Michael Pettis, a finance professor at Peking University. That’s a shift of as much as 2.6 trillion yuan ($420 billion) to households from borrowers from 2010 to 2013. “It is a turning point,” said Chen Zhiwu, a finance professor at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and a former adviser to China’s State Council. “It will afford more growth opportunities for domestic consumption and the service sector.”// as of 7.1 the return for Alibaba’s Yu’e Bao had dropped to 4.2210%
Related: 余额宝规模增速、收益率均过高峰_金融频道_
The Debate Over Confucius Institutes PART II | ChinaFile Conversation Last week, ChinaFile published a discussion on the debate over Confucius Institutes–Chinese language and culture programs affiliated with China’s Ministry of Education—and their role on university campuses. The topic, and several of the responses we posted, resulted in a large number of additional responses, comments, and critiques both off and online. In particular, many readers asked for more specific examples of how Confucius Institutes operate in practice. In response, we continued to solicit contributions from people with firsthand experience of the program, which we had done the previous week with very limited success.
Cash trail leads to Clive Palmer ads | The Australian The documents filed yesterday show for the first time that Media Circus Network, an integral agency involved in Mr Palmer’s campaign, and Cosmo Developments received the Chinese funds that went missing last year. The potential consequences for Mr Palmer are considered so serious that China’s political leaders are being briefed on developments in Australia, according to high-level sources. This is because the millions of dollars that went missing from the NAB account were originally deposited by the Bank of China in Beijing, on behalf of the Chinese government for works related to the port that is part of an iron ore project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Related: Clive Palmer denies funding political campaign with Chinese money | The Australian CLIVE Palmer has denied he used Chinese government money to help pay for his federal election campaign, claiming it is a “complete untruth”. The political maverick and tycoon also attacked the Chinese, saying they were bringing their own workers to Australia and “destroying the rights of Australian workers”. The Australian revealed today that Brisbane media agency Media Circus Network — which was involved in Mr Palmer’s campaign — received $2.167 million in Chinese money allegedly siphoned from an account controlled by the businessman.
对症国企改制-财经网 cover story of latest edition of Caijing is on SOE reform, and the problems with current efforts // 国企是当下中国最大的改革红利所在，2014被称为“
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
Chinese bank sues local govt financing vehicle in rare public spat | Reuters Qilu Bank, based in the city of Jinan in the coastal province of Shandong, announced in its 2013 annual report — published online in Chinese and English — that it was suing a local government financing vehicle (LGFV) over unpaid debt. The bank said the Urban Construction and Comprehensive Development Company of Licheng District failed to make payments on a 35.4 million yuan ($5.71 million) outstanding loan, along with 6.1 million yuan in unpaid interest. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first official disclosure of a LGFV default on a bank loan,” wrote Nomura analysts in a research note distributed to clients on Monday.
Briton Peter Humphrey and wife face trial in GlaxoSmithKline saga | South China Morning Post Chinese prosecutors originally wanted to charge Humphrey and Yu with several offences, including some relating to illegal business operations. But they decided to drop all of them except for one of illegally buying information, a source close to the family said. Although each faced only one charge, they risked being jailed if found guilty, the source added.
Shanghai Trims List of Restrictions on Foreign Investment – NYTimes.com The municipal government cut the length of the 2014 “negative list” to 139 items from the 190 items listed in 2013. But the reduction change was mostly the result of eliminating rules repeated throughout the document, rather than tearing down barriers to foreign investment in the zone, which was introduced to much fanfare last year.
Rhodium Group » Made by China – in America? Last week China’s Shandong Tranlin Paper company announced an investment of up to $2 billion in a paper and fertilizer plant in Virginia, which is expected to create 2,000 local jobs by 2020. This is the latest example in a series of manufacturing investment announcements by Chinese firms in America. This note explores why local US production is becoming a real option for some Chinese firms and outlines the opportunities ahead.
China Developers Offer Buyback Guarantee in Weakest Home Markets – Bloomberg Hangzhou-based DoThink Group said it is offering to buy back more than 200 apartments in Wenzhou, ranging from 70 square meters to 190 square meters, through private equity unit Kylin Investment Management Co. The closely held developer has built more than 10 million square meters of homes and office buildings since 1993. “Many developers have tried various marketing methods to get cash back, but they all missed the root cause” of falling home sales, Kylin’s Chief Executive Officer Huang Dong said by phone from Hangzhou. “The key is lack of confidence and the uncertain outlook” of the property market.
Bullet train service starts on China’s most challenging railway – Xinhua Travel time from other central or east China cities to southwest China will also be significantly shorter, bringing new opportunities for residents who live in the steep and remote mountains. The Yichang-Wanzhou Railway stretches 377 km. It is considered a feat of engineering as it runs through a rugged region where the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau meets the Yangtze River Plain. The railway which started operation at the end of 2010 includes 159 tunnels and 253 bridges, accounting for about 74 percent of the line’s total. In the most extreme case, it took nearly six years to drill a tunnel through Qiyue Mountain due to complex and dangerous geological conditions.
China-Switzerland, China-Iceland FTA takes effect – Xinhua Under the agreement, 99.7 percent of imports from China to Switzerland will be exempted from customs duties, while 84.2 percent of Switzerland’s exports enjoy the same policy. Duties on China’s exports including textiles, clothes, auto parts and metalware will be reduced substantially. Trade between Switzerland and China increased 126 percent year on year to 59.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2013. China is Switzerland’s largest trade partner in Asia, while Switzerland is China’s fifth-largest trade partner in Europe.
Komatsu CEO Flags China Slump as Mining Nears Bottom – Bloomberg Komatsu’s sales in China, where economic growth is slowing, dropped dramatically in April and May and it will probably miss its annual target for the nation, Chief Executive Officer Tetsuji Ohashi said last week, citing delays to the start of some construction projects. At the same time, Ohashi said the bottom for mining machinery demand could be nearing. As a seller of equipment to both mining and construction companies, Komatsu is particularly vulnerable to fading growth in China, the world’s second-biggest economy and its biggest buyer of raw materials.
China Passes U.S. as Tech IPO Dynamo in Best Quarter – Bloomberg U.S.-based companies that went public this year have increased 21 percent on average since their debuts, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Their China-based counterparts have jumped 33 percent following U.S. offerings.
房产税有望年底出草案 遗产税推出可能性小_财经频道_一财网 there may be a draft plan for property tax by year end but inheritance tax likely many years off // 中国遗产税推出的可能性比较小。“这个税是不能开征的，
人民日报：楼市疲软房价下跌对经济拖累十分有限|楼市疲软|
Inquiry into Qingdao Company’s Loans Backed by Metals Collateral Continues – Caixin Banks urged police to investigate whether Dezheng Resources used duplicate receipts to get loans from different banks, sources close to the company say. It was not clear what police are involved. The stockpiles of aluminum ingots in Qingdao total about 100,000 tons, but banks have warehouse receipts for 300,000 tons, said a source from a large bank. Besides the receipts held by 18 domestic banks, trading companies and foreign banks also have receipts. The three-month aluminum future is priced at about 11,500 yuan per ton, according to the London Metal Exchange. Bank of China and China Minsheng Bank led the establishment of a creditor commission to handle the case. “Many banks want to seize the goods and there are few solutions,” said the source from a large bank. A source from the Qingdao banking regulator said Qingdao Port Group Co., the third-party supervisory company that manages the port, has not released information about the case.
Sinopec Sets Conditions for Non-state Investors in Sales Unit – Caixin China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) announced some conditions for private and non-state investors to join a restructuring of its sales unit on June 30, but the state-owned oil giant did not announce a detailed timetable. Sinopec said it would consider the investors’ industry status, brand value, reputation, financial ability, place of registration and shareholding situation. It would also take into account whether investors would become a Sinopec partner and said they should not have businesses that conflict with Sinopec’s.
Banks Start Using New Loan-To-Deposit Ratio on July 1 – Caixin The new rules differ from the old ones in both loan and deposit calculations, the announcement shows. Six types of loans can now be excluded from the formula. They include loans linked to the central bank’s re-lending program and proceeds from the sales of a special financial bond that raises money to support small and micro businesses. Loans made using money raised from bonds that investors cannot redeem for at least one year are also excluded under the new rules. These loans all have clear and stable sources of funding and thus do not need to be matched with general deposits, the regulator said. Two sources of funds have been added to the deposits side. One is the planned large-sum certificates of deposits (CDs) that can be issued to both companies and individuals. A foreign-invested bank can also count the amount of yuan deposits made by its foreign parent bank as long as the deposit’s maturity is longer than one year.
POLITICS AND LAW
人民日报评徐才厚被开除党籍：法纪面前没有例外–观点–
中央巡视组下一步会“打”向哪里 CBN on the CCDI’s inspection teams…notes that in certain instances they may report findings directly to Xi Jinping // 实际上，很多重大问题，
Slower CPC membership growth reflects stricter recruitment – Xinhua The Communist Party of China, the world’s largest political party, saw a slower membership growth rate last year as the Party began to enlist new members in a more “prudent” and “balanced” manner. The CPC had 86.69 million members at the end of 2013, up 1.8 percent year on year, according to figures from the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee. The growth rate was 1.3 percentage points down from the previous year, a department statement said on Monday, one day before the 93rd anniversary of the founding of the CPC. Last year, 2.41 million people joined the Party, 825,000 fewer than in 2012. The net increase was 1.56 million. It represented the first annual drop in newly enlisted members in the past decade.
Rights lawyers publicly shamed by China’s national bar association | South China Morning Post In a rare move, China’s national bar association named and shamed seven lawyers who have fought some of the country’s highest-profile human rights cases by calling them frauds in a statement published in an official newspaper. The statement has raised concerns that a further crackdown on outspoken legal professionals might follow soon…The statement appeared in Monday’s edition of the Legal Daily, a newspaper under Communist Party’s Legal and Political Affairs Commission.
Caught on Video: Wife and Son of Guangdong County Leader Destroy Office | Nanfang Insider A video has surfaced showing the wife and son of a senior county official in Guangdong destroying an office in a fit of rage. Caijing has confirmed that the man and woman caught on video are the wife and son of Cai Weibing, a deputy county head of Jun’an County in Foshan. The incident happened on May 28 at around 6pm, but their identities weren’t confirmed until recently.
省级常委兼任54城市一把手 高配原因不同
发挥组织优势 体现群众特点 积极培育和践行社会主义核心价值观 Li Yuanchao has the lead essay in the July 1 “Qiushi Seeking Truth”, on cultivating “Socialist Core Values”
“赶考”在继续 党性要加强—— 学习习近平同志关于新形势下加强党性修养的重要论述 2014年07月01日 07:43:32 来源： 《求是》2014/13 作者： 刘 源 Gen Liu Yuan in July 1 “Qiushi Seeking Truth” on strengthening Party spirit…common for a general to make comments about the overall Party like this? Might there be a bigger role for Gen Liu Yuan after the 4th plenum? // 当年，毛泽东同志带领全党进京“赶考”，告诫要牢记“两个务必”
Graphic: Taking Inventory of Bagged ‘Tigers’ – Caixin Caixin data show that during the past six months a total of 15 high-level party officials have been placed under investigation. Here is a timeline of officials netted since the party congress.
“于姐”插手的土地生意-财经网 Caijing looks at the corrupt dealings of Su Rong’s wife. She has also been detained // 江西新余市人大前主任周建华的实名举报与其自身被举报遭受了截然
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
Island’s answer to China-Japan dispute: Tourism | Marketplace.org If you took an actual pin and pressed it into a world map, the hole it would make would dwarf the size of the tiny speck of an island of Ishigaki in the East China Sea. The lush paradise is 88 square miles of jungle and white sand beaches. It’s 150 miles off the coast of Taiwan, and although it’s part of Japan, it’s 1,000 miles away from Tokyo. It’s surrounded by coral reef and turquoise water – making it one of the best diving spots in Asia. Tour operator Anichi Miyazato prepares a group of foreign tourists for a dive. In the distance, a fleet of Japanese coast guard ships loom over fishing and tour boats in Ishigaki’s tiny harbor. They’re here to patrol a chain of islands the Japanese call the Senkaku – and the Chinese call the Diaoyu – just 100 miles away.
Sinica podcast: Narendra Modi and Sino-Indian Relations This week on Sinica, Kaiser and Jeremy grab Ananth Krishnanin, correspondent for India’s national newspaper The Hindu, and drag him into our studio for a discussion of the state of Sino-Indian relations. In particular, we’re curious why Sino-Indian relations seem to have warmed up after the election of Narendra Modi despite the new Prime Minister’s seemingly nationalist agenda.
China Reaches Out to Myanmar on Maritime Dispute – NYTimes.com At first blush, Myanmar, hardly a naval power and not exactly a major diplomatic heavyweight, would seem an odd place for China to seek relief from its headaches in the South China Sea. But President Xi Jinping, who hosted Myanmar’s leader, President Thein Sein, in Beijing last weekend, did not pass up the opportunity to court him. That’s because Myanmar holds the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year, a moment atop the regional pecking order that Myanmar has sought as it moves to shed its authoritarian, reclusive past.
U.S.-China Ties Remain Strong Amid Rising Disputes | Brookings Institution I [Cheng Li] have just returned from several days in Beijing, where I joined seven other Brookings colleagues in a series of meetings with academics, entrepreneurs and senior government officials for conversations about the state of U.S.-China relations. Nearly all of our conversations addressed the sharp and surprising downward turn that the bilateral relationship has taken in recent months, with mounting tensions spanning a wide range of issues from maritime disputes to cyber security.
习主席的“丝路新语”–时政–人民网 several page spread in Wednesday People’s Daily on Xi Jinping push for “new silk road”
Putin slams Western containment policies, hails Russia-China ties – Xinhua President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday developments of the Ukrainian crisis testified to Western countries’ lasting attempts to contain Moscow, and hailed Russia- China ties as a paragon of international relations. “We must understand clearly that the developments provoked in Ukraine are a concentrated manifestation of the notorious policy of containment,” Putin told Russian ambassadors and permanent envoys. “Obviously, that policy has never been interrupted even after the end of the Cold War,” RIA Novosti news agency quoted him as saying.
坚持和平共处 推动合作共赢—— 纪念和平共处五项原则创立60周年 2014年07月01日 07:42:44 来源： 《求是》2014/13 作者： 王 毅 Wang Yi in July 1 “Qiushi Seeking Truth” on the 60th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence”
SolarWorld Seeks U.S. Investigation of China Cyber-Hacking – Bloomberg A unit of SolarWorld AG (SWVK) asked the U.S. Commerce Department to investigate a possible cyber-theft of communications by China during a trade dispute over solar-energy products. The company’s lawyers asked the department to determine whether Chinese industry benefited from alleged computer hacking in a filing with the agency today. In a separate document, the company asked the agency to review the trade cases.
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
China-Taiwan relations: Big brother comes wooing | The Economist Mr Zhang’s affability in Taiwan stands in sharp contrast to China’s relations with several other Asian nations, where rows have flared over contested claims to sea territories. More pointedly, it contrasts with China’s tone in the former British colony of Hong Kong, which reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 and now is beset by significant political turbulence as activists try to pressure China on electoral reforms. Lin Chong-pin, a Taiwanese former deputy defence minister, says China is still determined to regain Taiwan. Mr Zhang, he suspects, has been ordered to be charming by Mr Xi who, during his 1999-2002 tenure as governor of Fujian (the Chinese province closest to Taiwan), found that economic treats were useful for winning over some Taiwanese people. Beijing’s leaders have long used this strategy, Mr Lin says, but Mr Xi has taken it farther.
Macau Casino Revenue Drops 3.7%, First Decline in 5 Years – Bloomberg Total gross gaming revenue dropped 3.7 percent to 27 billion patacas ($3.4 billion) last month, the first decline since June 2009 when it fell 17 percent, according to Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. This compared with the median estimate of a 4 percent decline from nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
China Looks to Hong Kong Graft Fighter Amid Anti-Bribery Drive – Bloomberg In 1970s Hong Kong, graft was so bad expectant mothers had to bribe hospital orderlies for a glass of water or a bedpan. Today corruption monitor Transparency International ranks Hong Kong 15th cleanest of 177 countries. The city is transformed. Government services from birth certificates to driving licenses are produced with efficiency and ease. Public hospitals charge HK$100 ($12.90) a day for intensive care, or even sometimes waive all fees. The gambling monopoly, run by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, has become the city’s biggest taxpayer.
Chinese developers muscle in on Hong Kong as mainland market slows | Reuters Chinese developers are moving aggressively into Hong Kong, outbidding their cross-border rivals for prime sites as policy uncertainty and falling property prices on the mainland send them scouring for opportunities to invest overseas. The mainlanders see the southern territory as a lucrative market based on the absolute earnings enjoyed by Hong Kong-listed developers, which have beaten those of companies listed in mainland China over the past decade.
TECH AND MEDIA
China’s indigenous OS and the Windows 8 ban – LukeWrites.com Chinese policy makers are finally applying lessons learned for China’s economic boom: decentralize and see what works. The first iteration of Kylin and Green Dam were international embarrassments because of the centralized, nationalistic manner of their development. Software engineers were given unreasonable tasks that they were expected to complete in isolation. The move towards open source shows a mature pragmatism. In the end, this story is interesting because it raises one of the perennial questions about modern China: Can the state do it all on its own, or will it appropriate and adapt foreign technologies like Ubuntu and call them its own? To me, the latter seems more likely. Hello, Ubuntu Kylin
浙商开会炮轰马云是“小人” 博得全场掌声-手机和讯网 Alibaba’s Jack Ma has raised the ire of some fellow zhejiang bosses, and one even said at a public forum that if he does not change his style he will go down w/in 5 yrs // “宋马之争”引发了一场对马云放弃绿城转投恒大足球的“炮轰”。
LeTV Sues Xiaomi In Growing Copyright Wars | Young’s China Business Blog China was traditionally known for its rampant piracy, but is now suddenly becoming a strong copyright protection advocate with the rise of a new generation of video site operators looking to protect their intellectual property. In the latest twist of this new and somewhat unexpected trend, Internet TV operator LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104) has successfully sued fast-rising smartphone maker Xiaomi for copyright violations related to Xiaomi’s problem-plagued Internet TV set-top boxes.
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
北京大学生在天安门广场拍毕业照 Slideshow of Beijing college grads taking graduation pics in Tiananmen
randian – The (Continuing) Story of Ai—From Tragedy to Farce We have yet to see whether any of the presently executed moves (including this one), or any still to come will sufficiently displace the prevailing authoritarian dialectic of the continuing story of Ai to take us (provisionally, at least) somewhere different. Until then it looks as though, borrowing from Marx’s injunctions in “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon”, that events surrounding Ai are shifting ineluctably through repetition from tragedy to farce.
“千万别报”蹿红网络 引发造句热_国内_新京报网 难就业、苦加班、“没妹纸”、
网友原创萌漫《大大与足球》[1]- 中国日报网 netizen draws cartoons of Xi Jinping paying and watching football (soccer to American readers)…slideshow
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
北京研究“借风”吹散雾霾 把郊外的风引进城区_房产资讯_新民网 Beijing researching construction of wind corridors to better disperse pollution…and blow them towards Japan, the Koreas and US West coast? // 去年，本市PM2.5年均浓度为89.5微克/立方米，
China oil explosion highlights pipeline perils as cities expand – FT.com After the Qingdao explosion, Beijing ordered a safety check of the national pipeline grid. A CNPC official said pressure sensors in the Dalian pipeline detected the leak and shut off the flow of oil. Previous reports from energy experts linked to the military have found that many of China’s oil and gas pipelines lack even that safeguard.
China’s second-largest hydropower station in full operation | Shanghai Daily China’s second-largest hydropower station started full operation on Tuesday after its last generating unit completed a three-day test run late on Monday. With 18 large generators and a total capacity of 13.86 gigawatts, Xiluodu is the world’s third-largest station after the Three Gorges and Itaipu hydroelectric projects, according to its operator, China Three Gorges Corporation.
报告称污水厂80%污水经处理后仍为劣5类水|污水厂|
BEIJING
北京幼升小打破“潜规则”：找关系不灵了？ _要闻 _光明网 杨东平认为，取消“共建生”，取消的是国家部委、
北京四中原校长助理受贿4万受审-法治频道-新华网 forme
北京闲置度假村有望改建养老院 将出台相关政策_网易新闻中心 Beijing to propose turning idle vacation resort areas into retirement communities // 新京报讯 此前，北京市政协委员建议“将单位闲置度假村改为养老院”。