"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
Chinese President’s Visit to South Korea Could Nudge U.S. Off Its Regional Perch – NYTimes.com Mr. Xi will arrive in Seoul in the wake of Japan’s decision on Tuesday to reinterpret its pacifist Constitution to allow its military to play a more assertive role in the region. The announcement is deeply unpopular here and in China, its intended target. “Xi can’t afford to miss this opportunity to make bad relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea as bitter as possible,” said Chun Yungwoo, the national security adviser to the former South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, in an interview here. He noted that the timing of Mr. Xi’s visit was coincidental, but that “China is trying to draw the Republic of Korea as far away as possible from Japan and the United States.”
Related: Ahead of Xi visit, envoy talks ties-INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily President Xi Jinping’s visit to South Korea will certainly become the most important milestone in the history of exchanges between the two countries,” said Chinese Ambassador to Seoul Qiu Guohong. Ahead of Xi’s arrival in Seoul Thursday for a two-day visit, Qiu sat for an exclusive interview with the JoongAng Ilbo at the Chinese Embassy in Myeong-dong in central Seoul on Friday afternoon, right as the two countries simultaneously announced Xi’s schedule.
Related: Xinhua Insight: China-ROK relations their “best in history” – Xinhua Observers said it is quite rare in China’s diplomatic arrangement that the president pays a state visit to only one country in an overseas trip. “The trip, Xi’s first visit to the ROK since he took office last year, could be seen as a return visit for ROK president Park’s state visit to China in June 2013, demonstrating that China is attaching great importance to China-ROK ties,” said Qu.
Related: Xi Arrival in South Korea Marked by North Korean Missile Tests – Bloomberg The strengthening ties between China and South Korea and their mutual mistrust of Japan risk complicating the Obama administration’s re-balancing to Asia by sustaining the wedge between the U.S.’s closest allies in the region. China has also moved to improve ties with President Vladimir Putin’s Russia to the north and newly-elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the west, as it hedges against U.S. influence. “China’s medium- to long-term objective is to bring the Korean peninsula firmly inside its sphere of influence, marginalizing both the U.S. and Japan as political, economic and security players,” Ronald Huisken, senior fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of Australian National University, said in an e-mail.
Related: 不能任由日本肆意冲击国际秩序(钟声)–
港媒：习近平访韩 马云李彦宏等随访_财经频道_一财网 Baidu’s Robin Li, Alibaba’s Jack Ma, Huawei’s Ren Zhengfei accompanying Xi Jinping to South Korea // 在习近平访韩的第二天,将出席在首尔举行的、史上规模最大的“
Related: 习近平访韩背后：中日韩“三国演义”_共识网
[视频]习近平会见美国前财长鲍尔森_新闻频道_央视网(
Related: Xi urges positive energy in China-U.S. ties – Xinhua Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday called for more communication between China and the United States, and urged the two sides to inject “positive energy” into their bilateral ties. Xi made the remarks in a meeting with U.S. former Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson at the Great Hall of the People. The two sides should give full play to mechanisms such as the Strategic and Economic Dialogue (SED) to strengthen communication and discuss cooperation, Xi said. The sixth China-U.S. SED will be held in Beijing on July 9 and 10. Xi said China always views and handles the relationship with the United States from a strategic and longstanding point of view, which will “not change for a short period or over a single incident.”
Uphill Fight Ahead for Hong Kong’s Democracy Movement – NYTimes.com Michael DeGolyer, the director of the Hong Kong Transition Project, a 26-year-old coalition of academics who have been studying the territory’s political evolution from a British colony to a Chinese territory, expressed caution about whether Tuesday’s march had been large enough to change political calculations in Hong Kong’s government and in Beijing. “It wasn’t this enormous, overwhelming turnout that everyone would be stunned by — it was big,” Mr. DeGolyer said. Organizers estimated that 510,000 people joined the march, while the police calculated that the largest number of people simultaneously participating at any one time during the eight-hour march was 98,600
Related: Hong Kong Protesters Say More To Come If China Won’t Bend – Bloomberg “If the government does not treat our demand seriously this time, I would join the demonstration a second time,” Tong said after her release. The hardening resolve of young people increases pressure on Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying who has pledged to seek a consensus on the election issue. “The governments are very intransigent,” lawmaker Emily Lau said in an interview. “They always stick to their points without any room for negotiations. If they continue to do so, Hong Kong will have to pay a heavy price, and so will Beijing.”
人民日报三评徐才厚案：军队形象不容玷污–观点–人民网 T
Related: 【舒立观察】徐才厚腐败落马 再谈反腐无禁区_观点频道_财新网 Hu Shuli on the Xu Caihou case, corruption in the military, the continuation of the corruption crackdown // 徐才厚落马，是反腐深化的又一标志，但绝不会是反腐的尾声。
Related: Chinese general to fight corruption–John Garnaut from 2012 A RISING star of the People’s Liberation Army has promised a “do-or-die” fight against powerful corrupt generals, bringing military politics to the fore of China’s critical leadership transition. General Liu Yuan, son of the former Chinese president, Liu Shaoqi, warned corruption had grown so deep and widespread in the armed forces it threatened the existence of both the PLA and the Communist Party.//find it interesting that Liu Yuan has this essay in latest issue of Qiushi, not sure exactly what this signals “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 Garnaut is now on Twitter, posted this today along with the above 2012 article: “Career regret: forgot quote about bagging “tiger” in http://tinyurl.com/l6bdwyu
Related: 新华网刊文:
Related: 习近平对徐才厚施予政治极刑的思维：
China Expels 3 Officials in Corruption Inquiry – NYTimes.com The ruling Communist Party in China expelled three government officials on Wednesday who had ties to Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the powerful Politburo Standing Committee. The expulsions were the latest sign that officials were preparing to announce charges against Mr. Zhou himself.
Related: 冀文林余刚曾任同一领导秘书 谈红任警卫秘书_新闻_腾讯网 Adultery seems to be an increasing common charge for corrupt officials, media notes that Ji Wenlin and Yu Gang once were both secretaries to a “certain senior leader”…which everyone knows is a reference to Zhou Yongkang // 这7人包括海南省原副省长冀文林，
Related: 冀文林在海南：行事强势 爱讲圈子_国内_新京报网 The Beijing News with some more details on the Ji Wenlin case // 在海口，冀文林有两个显著的标签，第一是强势，第二则是讲圈子。
Secretive agency leads most intense anti-corruption effort in modern Chinese history – The Washington Post The anti-corruption agency has existed in some form since 1927. But for much of its history, its investigations were often seen as shams, used to justify the expulsion of low-ranking cadres or senior officials who had lost internal power struggles. Now, its investigations have become far more aggressive and publicized, and the agency is taking on higher-ranking leaders. The commission is secretive and highly compartmentalized, but several current and former staffers and party officials talked about its operations on the condition of anonymity.
Related: 中纪委办案 那些鲜为人知的细节 int
Related: 省级纪委大幅增设纪检监察室–时政–
Related: 不动产统一登记条例蹉跎7年后再次难产|
Related: 习近平:党内一小部分人不惩治不足以平民愤_
Related: Macau overtakes Switzerland in income tables – FT.com $$ some signs have emerged in recent months that growth is easing. In June, Macau saw its first year-on-year decline in gaming revenues since 2009, in a fall that analysts attributed to punters diverting money to the World Cup. But casinos have also been hit by the slowdown in the Chinese economy in addition to austerity and anti-corruption campaigns by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Speaking recently in Macau, Steve Wynn, chairman and chief executive of Wynn Macau, said Mr Xi’s campaigns had barely had an impact, but added that luxury retail sales were “off by a small amount”. “I am sure the new president of China is going to make a very important impact on China as he goes forward, but right here in Macau, things seem the same to us,” said Mr Wynn.// not sure this quote will help Wynn in Macau
Closer Look: Beijing Plans 10,000 Rapid-Charging Stations, but They Won’t Support Tesla – Caixin ongoing efforts to revise China’s standards for charging technology are plagued with technical disputes, and incompatibilities between those standards and the technology used by Tesla Motors Inc. mean that the charger network won’t support the company’s electric car models. According to the plan by the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, the city will focus its efforts in the short term on building rapid chargers at major transportation hubs including airports and train stations, as well as at public parking facilities, expressway service areas and other public places. The plan envisions that every spot within the Fifth Ring Road will be within 5 kilometers of a station.
Related: 中央财政护驾新能源车 充电设施补贴政策可望落地_行业资讯_中证网
Area of lakes expands in Qinghai-Tibet plateau – Xinhua Before the 1990s, the lake area in the region was shrinking, but began to expand after that, said Zhang Guoqing, an assistant researcher with the institute. The rapid thawing of glaciers and increased precipitation contributed to the expansion of lakes, Zhang told Xinhua on Wednesday. Due to global warming, glaciers in the region have shrunk by 15 percent in the past 30 years. Annual runoff from glaciers rose from 61.5 billion cubic meters to 79.5 billion cubic meters during the same period, which replenished the surface water, rivers and lakes, he said.
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
Premier Li says downward pressure still exists for Chinese economy | Reuters Li gave no figures or details and few direct quotes in the comments on the Chinese government’s official website, but also addressed the disconnect between government finances and the difficulty of business getting financing. “Our local and central governments have amassed a large amount of funds,” Li said. “Some have been idle for a long time and must be used … to promote economic development and improve people’s lives.” It has been getting harder and more expensive to finance firms in the real economy, Li said. These costs must be decreased, especially for small and medium enterprises, he added.
China services sector booms in June, suggest economy steadying-Reuters–The services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) compiled by HSBC/Markit rebounded to 53.1 in June from 50.7 in May, well above the 50-point level that demarcates expansion in activity from contraction.
Beijing crackdown on insider trading ‘rats’ sparks industry exodus | Reuters More than 100 asset managers have quit their jobs so far this year, almost twice as many as in the same period last year, according to Chinese data provider iFund. Industry sources reckoned a good many of the departures were due to fears of being caught up in the investigation. A focus of the investigation is so-called “rat trading”. This involves fund employees using illegally obtained inside order information to front-run client orders, that is building positions in advance of a buy or sell instruction in order to take a risk-free profit when the transaction is executed.
HEARD ON THE STREET: Steer Clear of China’s Aluminum Crush – WSJ these cuts may be a head fake, considering China quickly reduced production in late 2008 only to restart it when demand improved the next year. Meanwhile it has ramped up aluminum-making capacity, with roughly 3 million tons of new smelter space in the past year, especially in its northwest Xinjiang province. By the end of 2015, this province alone will be able to smelt more than double all the aluminum that Russia—the world’s No. 2 producer—made last year, according to data from Paul Adkins at Beijing-based consultancy AZ China.
Record Bond Sales Show Li Focused on GDP Over Debt: China Credit – Bloomberg When Premier Li took office last year he stressed the need for painful reforms to pare the influence of the state, wean industries with overcapacity from debt and ease access to funds for smaller enterprises. The latest filings of more than 4,000 publicly traded non-financial Chinese companies show $2.05 trillion of obligations, up from $1.8 trillion at the end of 2012, with the 10 biggest state-owned borrowers accounting for 18 percent of the liabilities. “The government may have sped up the approval of corporate bonds to help stabilize the economy,” said Xu Hanfei, a bond analyst in Shanghai at Guotai Junan Securities Co., the nation’s third-biggest brokerage. “The issuance may continue to increase in the third quarter because that’s when rising bond sales help the government’s stimulus measures work.”
China Allows Banks To Set USD/CNY Rate Freely For Clients | MNI In a document dated July 1, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said banks are allowed, with immediate effect, to set US dollar/Yuan exchange rates based on market supply and demand. The move is aimed to further improve the the market-oriented exchange rate formation mechanism, the document said. Previously, the regulator capped the spread between banks’ US dollar/yuan buying and selling prices at 3% from the central parity for clients. However, the People’s Bank of China will still set the yuan’s daily central parity against the US dollar and other currencies and limit the daily trading band at 2% on both sides against the dollar in the interbank market.
China to try GSK couple ‘in secret’ – FT.com $$ The British investigator and his American wife and business partner detained in China because of their work for GlaxoSmithKline will be tried in secret as concerns grow about their health, according to people close to the family. US consular officials were informed on Wednesday by Chinese authorities that they would not be able to attend the trial of Peter Humphrey, and his wife, Yu Yingzeng, “on grounds of privacy”, a family friend told the Financial Times. The trial, originally scheduled for July 29, has been delayed until August 7.
China’s Beer Drinkers Grab a Warm One as Coors Alters Can – Bloomberg Drinking cold liquids is widely seen as undesirable in China. Warmer beverages are considered healthier for digestion, an idea that also stems from the traditional habit of boiling water to make it safer to drink. In light of this custom, “we dropped the temperature for the thermochromatic ink, and it still turns blue, but it’s not so cold,” Peter Swinburn, chief executive officer of Molson Coors, said in an interview last week.
Goldman’s Buy-China Call Has History on Its Side – Bloomberg Chinese stock bulls, battered by the world’s worst first-half losses, now have history on their side. While this year’s 3.4 percent drop in the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI) thwarted optimistic forecasts by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, the second half has proven a much better time to buy during the past decade. The gauge of Chinese shares traded in Hong Kong rose an average 12 percent from July to December, versus a 1.1 percent gain in the first six months.
北京放松高端住宅限价令：价格超4万楼盘获批增多|
济南楼市放松限购待批 新华社——经济参考网 looks like Jinan is about to end housing purchase restrictions // 继呼和浩特实质性放松限购后，7月2日，
下半年微刺激将与改革并肩前行 新华社——经济参考网 Xinhua’s Economic Information says that reform and the micro-stimulii will go hand in hand in 2H 2014… //
China PBOC: Expansion of Targeted RRR Cut Depends On Eco-Press | MNI Any decision to expand targeted reserve cuts will depend on the broader economic situation, a central bank official said, according to a report by Radio Television Hong Kong. Xu Zhong, vice director of the financial market department with the People’s Bank of China, told a press conference that the central bank will decide whether there is need to expand the scope of targeted reserve cuts based on changes in the economy. The central bank cut reserve ratios for some banks twice this year in a bid to boost lending to agriculture and small business sector providing they satisfy a set of criteria.
浙江永康“美女老板”乌干达被抓 传卷款上亿元跑路_21世纪网 Yu Youjing, a Zhejiang boss on the lam from fraud charges, was arrested in Uganda…Yu’s case has attracted attention in part because she is known as a “beautiful boss” // 2日晚，记者从浙江永康警方获悉，北京时间当日凌晨2时许，
A star fund manager’s guide to China | Business Spectator Bolton is not too concerned about the country’s financial challenges such as the debt problem and shadow banking. He believes the central government has ample resources to deal with the immediate challenges, transferring money to cash-strapped local governments and state-owned enterprises. “Some of those predicting a sharp and painful slowdown for China are wrongly projecting onto its economy the constraints of western democracies, which often behave very differently to China. I believe using only western experiences to predict the future in China are dangerous,” he said. On this point, China Spectator believes Bolton has made the right call. Beijing’s complete control over the country’s financial system will ensure problems such as a credit freeze between banks would not happen in China during a crisis (There will be no Minsky moment for China, March 25, 2014).
Petrochemicals latest China commodity to be hit by potential fraud | Reuters police in northern China are investigating another suspected fraud at Tianjin Port near Beijing, police and trade sources said, involving “mixed aromatics”, a refinery product commonly used for blending petrol. The use of commodities, from traditional copper sheets to perishables such as soybeans and rubber, to raise finance has been increasingly popular in recent years as Chinese policymakers have sought to tamp down rapid credit growth.
China M&A rulings create hot competition for antitrust lawyers | Reuters “From last year, I really feel like spring has come,” said Zhaofeng Zhou, counsel at Taylor Wessing in Beijing. “At the beginning, headhunters wouldn’t call you because there were too few jobs, but now they call you all the time.” While recruitment of competition lawyers has been growing since China introduced anti-trust law in 2008, headhunters say there has been a sharp uptick in the past year, even for foreign law firms that are shrinking in other practice areas.
POLITICS AND LAW
Government depts urged to correct financial wrongdoing – Xinhua At a State Council meeting on Wednesday, departments and institutions named in the annual audit report were ordered to list their problems and give a detailed timetable for each correction. The corrections must be finished before the end of October, and the results will be publicized after being reported to the top legislature, according to a statement from the meeting, which was presided over by Premier Li Keqiang. The National Audit Office’s (NAC) 2013 report exposed the malpractice and corruption of a number of government departments, banks and state-owned enterprises, concerning theft of poverty relief funds, embezzlement, luxurious overseas trips and feasts. For instance, the Ministry of Culture and two public institutions embezzled 104 million yuan (17 mln U.S. dollars) and spent 30 percent of it on gifts and giving out allowances. The eight state-owned banks, including the ICBC, were found to have lent 375 billion yuan to companies barred from gaining such loans.// 李克强：整改审计问题 给公众“交明账”_财经频道_一财网
Graphic: A Look Below the Surface at ‘Sangong’ Spending, Profits SOEs Gave Up – Caixin A look at two key government reports shows government spending still is not clearly explained to the public and a party goal for SOEs profits is far from being achieved
China gets tougher on SOE corruption – Xinhua “Chinese SOEs have become a field for the play of power and money and collusion between officials and businessmen. Thus, they are an unavoidable part of the anti-corruption drive,” said economist Hua Sheng. China has thousands of SOEs and 113 of them are directly administered by the country’s central authority. These enterprises are deemed the backbone of the economy, but their monopolies in many areas, unchecked spending and corruption have long been a source of public complaints. The latest crackdown on SOE corruption is viewed as the government’s effort to clear obstacles in the push to reform wasteful and inefficient SOEs. “Corruption poses a major threat to the steady progress of planned SOE reforms,” said Li Jin, chief researcher with the China Enterprise Research Institute. He cited insufficient self-regulation and the absence of outside supervision as major problems.
揭秘北京”假官”：多冒充军官或副职 亦假亦真难分辨-时政频道-新华网 Procuratorate Daily looks at the phenomenon of people posing as fake officials in Beijing to scam money // 6月23日，
[视频]中共中央办公厅印发《2014——
China bans Ramadan fast in Muslim northwest – AP Students and civil servants in China’s Muslim northwest, where Beijing is enforcing a security crackdown following deadly unrest, have been ordered to avoid taking part in traditional fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Statements posted Wednesday on websites of schools, government agencies and local party organizations in the Xinjiang region said the ban was aimed at protecting students’ wellbeing and preventing use of schools and government offices to promote religion. Statements on the websites of local party organizations said members of the officially atheist ruling party also should avoid fasting
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
Australia and India to strengthen military ties-Sydney Morning Herald Australia and India are deepening military ties and reviving the spirit of a controversial four-way democratic coalition with Japan and the United States, in response to growing concerns about China. Momentum towards full bilateral naval exercises, intelligence sharing and a safeguards agreement for uranium exports has been propelled by the May election of a strong Indian leader, Narendra Modi, who in November is likely to become the first Indian prime minister to visit Australia since 1988.
China urges against US comments on HK affairs – China.org.cn “The development of Hong Kong’s political system is China’s internal affair. The Chinese government resolutely opposes any interventions by any other countries and expects the relevant country to stop making irresponsible comments on Hong Kong’s internal affairs,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at the daily press briefing. Hong’s remarks came after a U.S. State Department spokesperson commented on the march in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
Chinese Military Modernization and Force Development: Chinese and Outside Perspectives | Center for Strategic and International Studies By Anthony H. Cordesman JUL 2, 2014 The Burke Chair at CSIS has developed a new analysis of the trends in Chinese military strategy and forces entitled Chinese Military Modernization and Force Development: Chinese and Outside Perspectives. This report provides a comprehensive update of previous Burke Chair studies…The goal behind this report is not to present the authors’ view of the balance, but rather to provide the basis for an unclassified dialogue on the military developments in China, including the size and structure of the country’s current and planned military forces
承载历史开拓未来的全新合作共赢之路–时政–人民网 mor
罗昌平的微博_微博 apparently Xu Caihou has very good calligraphy // 康生的字也很好，还有秦桧。
TECH AND MEDIA
Chinese Audiences Bemused by ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’ Product Placement – The Hollywood Reporter The audience recognized Lenovo computers from previous installments, but there were some eyebrows raised at people drinking C’est Bon water, a local brand. Shuhua milk? And Chinese protein products? Construction Bank? Possibly the weirdest product placement in the film, despite the proliferation of Stars and Stripes, is that for the Chinese political system, which is single-party, nondemocratic rule by the Communist Party. In Age of Extinction, Thomas Lennon plays the U.S. Chief of Staff as a bumbling buffoon, repeatedly squashed by steely Kelsey Grammer.
China’s Xiaomi smartphone shipments nearly quadruple in first half | Reuters The Beijing-based Xiaomi shipped 26.1 million handsets in the first six months of the year, it said in a press release on Wednesday. This was more than it shipped in the whole of 2013 and almost quadruple the 7.03 million units for the first half of last year. Sales for the first six months rose 149 percent from a year ago to 33 billion yuan ($5.32 billion), Xiaomi said.
Xinhuanet May Not Enjoy Same IPO Success as People’s Daily Online, Analyst Says – Caixin The issuing P/E ratio of People’s Daily Online was about 46, and the closing price of its shares on the first trading day was 73.6 percent higher than its issuing price of 20 yuan per share. But it could be difficult for Xinhuanet to pull off similar success because investors see more clearly that the two share the same problems, the analyst said. Neither company has high-profit-margin businesses, such as games and mobile added-value services, which similar websites like Sohu and NetEase operate, the analyst said. Also, both of them rely too much on website advertising for revenue. Unless Xinhuanet can figure out a way to continuously attract the fickle attention of Net users and transform its brand awareness into profitable businesses, its ad revenue may fall short of expectations, the analyst said.
Weibo: Tencent’s Quick Take On 58.com; Xiaomi Tries On Vancl | Young’s China Business Blog Alibaba vice president Che Pinjue reposts one article detailing how Yixun’s sales have plummeted since the JD tie-up was first announced just 4 months ago, amid a mass exodus of employees. (microblog post) Former Yixun executive Lin Wenqin, who made the move to JD.com, was more philosophical about the change. He commented on his microblog how he and others who made the move formally had their former Tencent email addresses discontinued last week. (microblog post) Finally there’s Xiaomi, the cash-rich smartphone start-up that officially became an acquirer with its recent disclosure that it purchased 30 percent of online video site Xunlei (Nasdaq: XNET), which made a New York IPO last week. Now Xiaomi co-founder and CEO Lei Jun is hinting that his company could purchase a strategic stake in Vancl, the struggling online clothing seller whose CEO Chen Nian is personal friends with Lei. Lei was one of the investors who gave Vancl a lifeline earlier this year in the form of $100 million in new funding (previous post). Since then Lei has been steadily hyping Vancl on his personal microblog.
马云回应浙商：投资不能义气用事_财经频道_一财网 Jack Ma responds to the attacks on him by fellow Zhejiang bosses…yes potential Alibaba investors should care about this..Jack Ma has made a lot of enemies over the years, some also very powerful // 在6月27日下午的2014浙商(夏季)论坛上，
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
原教科院院长袁振国涉学术不端_政经频道_财新网 former head of the National Institute of Education Sciences (NIES) Yuan Zhenguo accused of plagiarism, last year was accused of corruption, though not charged with anything (yet). The online complaint alleges Yuan plagiarized work by William Wiersma // 财新记者近日接到举报称，国家教育咨询委员会委员、
人民日报-Evergrande Football School Ad Evergrande Football School buys full page ad in Thursday’s People’s Daily …says looking for students nationwide…interesting choice of ad placement, though cadres have football playing kids too, and some might even be good, and/or useful…
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Tibetans Got High-Altitude Gene From Archaic Humans – Bloomberg Earlier studies identified a version of a gene called EPAS1 as being responsible to Tibetans’ ability to adjust to their environment 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) above sea level. An analysis of the variant, which isn’t found in other peoples, showed it in the remains of a Denisovan, the name for a species of human that lived about 41,000 years ago. The findings, reported today in the journal Nature, suggest that interbreeding between modern humans and Denisovans provided the right genetic ingredients to enable their Tibetan descendants to thrive on the world’s highest plateau. In a broader sense, they also point to interbreeding between humans and other hominins as a key to survival in new environments.
粮地不粮用威胁粮食安全 新华社——经济参考网
江水进京，水质安全有保障（深阅读·关注江水进京·水质安全）-
FOOD AND TRAVEL
“毛泽东号”载客列车首发跑京九线 passengers can now ride the Mao Zedong express train from Beijing west to Fuyang..,previously it was a freight train…quite the Mao Badge on the locomotive // 2014年7月1日13时38分，
China Eastern Sets Up Budget Carrier, Rivals May Follow – Bloomberg China United Airlines, a subsidiary of the Shanghai-based company, has been converted into a low-fare unit as of today, China Eastern said in a posting on its microblog account. The aim is to make this China’s biggest budget carrier, it said.
BEIJING
Beijing expects healthy air by 2030 – China – Chinadaily.com.cn The Chinese capital’s fine-particulate pollutant intensity is expected to drop to the internationally recognized safe level in 16 years, environmental authorities said. Pan Tao, head of the Beijing Municipal Research Institute of Environmental Protection, said the concentration of PM2.5 – particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrograms or less per cubic meter – is likely to be reduced regularly to no more than 35 micrograms per cubic meter by 2030. “Improving air quality in the city is not going to be an easy task,” Pan said on Tuesday during the 2014 Beijing International Academic Symposium on Urban Environment.
北京警方布控近千座加油站 检查标准高于奥运会-中新网 Beijing doing safety inspections of all the 995 gas stations in the city, to protect against attacks and unauthorized sale of gasoline…says much higher inspection level than during the 2008 Olympics // 北京7月2日电 (记者 于立霄)针对当前严峻的反恐形势，从7月2日起，