"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Huawei probably already disliked Retired General Michael Hayden, but they must hate him now, after this interview with the Australian Financial Review in which he says unequivocally that Huawei spies for China:
The former head of the US Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, Michael Hayden, believes Chinese telecommunications manufacturer Huawei Technologies is a significant security threat to Australia and the US, has spied for the Chinese government, and intelligence agencies have hard evidence of its activities.
The retired four-star general told The Australian Financial Review it was his “professional judgment” that Huawei supplied sensitive intelligence to Chinese officials…
General Hayden said he was approached to join Huawei’s American board. “Two or three years ago Huawei was trying to establish a pretty significant footprint here,” he said. “And they were trying to get people like me to endorse their presence in the US.
“I reviewed Huawei’s briefing paper. But God did not make enough slides on Huawei to convince me that having them involved in our critical communications infrastructure was going to be OK. This was my considered view, based on a four-decade career as an intelligence officer.”
The full transcript of the Australian Financial Review interview with Gen. Hayden is available here.
The Rhodium Group has an important post about PRISM and Its Implications for US Businesses in China:
At the end of June, the state-backed China Economic Weekly ran a cover story (中国经济周刊–美国“八大金刚”渗透中国大起底) calling eight US companies – Cisco, IBM, Google, Qualcomm, Intel, Apple, Oracle and Microsoft – “guardian warriors” that had “seamlessly penetrated” Chinese society. The Weekly called Cisco “the most horrible”, given its significant – more than 50% – market share in China’s information infrastructure in financial, military, government and transportation sectors. The magazine also ran a long list of ‘the Eight’s’ projects within China, including Cisco’s upgrades of the People’s Bank of China’s Intranet, IBM’s facilitation in building the Yunnan province police bureau’s database, and Microsoft’s improvements to China Eastern Air’s information technology.
Last month I suggested in a Dealbook column that in the wake of Snowden’s revelations Cisco and other American technology firms were now at risk of “being Huawei’d in China.” The Rhodium authors argue that “Beijing would probably be the biggest loser if an anti-US tech campaign goes into full swing”. Perhaps, but security concerns may trump other considerations.
The cover image of the “Eight Guardians” story is creative:
If you are interested in interning with Sinocism please submit the draft work by Friday. I am still planning to put a DC dinner together, likely the week of 29th at a disappointing Chinese restaurant in Northwest DC.
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
Expanding Territory for Financial Reform – Caixin Abridged translation of this week’s cover story // The Chinese government’s latest interest rate liberalization efforts are intertwined with parallel banking initiatives taking shape in Beijing. Caixin has learned, for example, that the central bank has finished a draft plan for what would be the nation’s first bank deposit insurance system. The draft has been submitted to the legal office operating under the State Council, the cabinet, which has the power to approve or reject the plan. What’s not known is whether the plan might be publicly unveiled before the end of the year.
Related: Liberal Urge Gaining Support for Bank Policy – Caixin A source at the research office of the central bank, the government’s official interest rate setter, told Caixin that in the near-term “it’s likely the fluctuation band for borrowing and lending rates can be loosened further” by the government. China’s benchmark rates as of July 18 were 6 percent for one-year loans and 3 percent for one-year deposits. But once the music starts, said central bank sources, liberalization would probably proceed step-by-step, starting with the removal of the lending rate floor. As of mid-July, banks could lend to their best commercial customers at no less than 4.2 percent.
Exclusive – Japan survey ships prepare for deployment, tension with China rises | Reuters Japan has ordered geological survey ships to prepare for possible deployment to the East China Sea after it detected Chinese drilling near the disputed maritime border, a source with direct knowledge of the order told Reuters on Thursday. A plan by Chinese state-run oil firms to dramatically expand gas drilling in the disputed East China Sea, which threatens to further damage ties between Asia’s two biggest economies, was first reported by Reuters on Wednesday.
INTERVIEW-China asks EU for aid in curbing pollution – EU environment chief | Reuters China has asked the European Union to help it tackle some of its most severe pollution problems, the EU’s environment commissioner said on Thursday, underscoring Beijing’s concerns about addressing a key source of social discontent…Janez Potocnik, the EU Commissioner for the Environment, told Reuters in an interview that China had asked the European Union for help in tackling pollution related to heavy metals and water and waste treatment.
Nuclear activism: Limiting the fallout | The Economist A rare protest prompts the government to scrap plans to build a uranium-processing plant. Is anti-nuclear activism on the rise?
Related: Public trust crisis threatens China’s nuclear power ambitions | Reuters China has 15 nuclear reactors currently in service. In the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan, Beijing cut its 2020 nuclear power capacity target to 58 gigawatt (GW) from 80-90 GW. But the new goal still represents a nearly four-fold increase from the current capacity and makes China the world’s largest nuclear market.
China’s income inequality slowly improving, survey finds | South China Morning Post China’s Gini coefficient of income inequality was 0.49 last year, slightly down from 0.51 in 2010, according to the China Development Report on People’s Livelihood 2013 based on the China Family Panel Studies. This is a research project of the Institute of Social Science Survey at Peking University. The study’s researchers interviewed 14,960 households representing 57,155 people…Despite a softening Gini index, the China Family Panel Studies figure also confirmed a staggering income gap, with the top 5 per cent of households’ income last year being 234 times that of the lowest 5 per cent, whose annual per capita income was about 1,000 yuan (HK$1,250).
Related: 有成员在体制内工作的家庭收入明显较高_财经频道_一财网 北大中国社会科学调查中心昨日发布的“中国家庭追踪调查”数据显示，中国家庭收入两极分化严重，2012年收入最低的5%的家庭收入累计占所有家庭总收入0.1%，而收入最高的5%家庭的收入却占所有家庭总收入的23.4%，是前者的234倍。 调查表明，2012年全国家庭人均纯收入均值为13033元。但收入最低的5%的家庭人均收入只有1000元，5%-10%范围内的家庭人均收入只有2000元，而收入最高的5%家庭的人均收入则高达34300元。
Retiring U.S. Envoy Faults Hong Kong and China on Snowden – NYTimes.com Stephen M. Young will leave his post as the top American representative here by the end of the month, and in departing remarks to reporters he said the Snowden case raised serious questions about the legal autonomy Hong Kong is supposed to enjoy from mainland China under the agreement by which Britain handed its former colony over to Beijing in 1997. “There was a China factor here,” he said in suggesting that the Chinese government steered Hong Kong into letting Mr. Snowden flee to Russia on June 23. ‘’China let us down.’’
In China and U.S., Mutual Distrust Grows, Study Finds – NYT Americans view China in a markedly less favorable light than two years ago, and Chinese attitudes toward the United States have also soured, a sign that the two countries are drifting apart at the level of public opinion, according to a Pew Global Survey to be released on Thursday. // Pew Report: China vs. the United States – Document – NYTimes.com
What the ‘Unofficial’ Data Say About China’s Economic Slowdown in 6 Charts – China Real Time Report – WSJ Overall the alternative indicators paint a picture that is not radically different to the official numbers. Sequential growth is weak, and some low-profile indicators suggest it may be slower than reported. Consumption growth is disappointing and investment is playing a bigger role in driving the economy. Labor markets are holding up, with the services sector doing better than manufacturing. Inflation is subdued for consumer prices but with worrying signs in property. With debt levels high, the space for a stimulus is limited.
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BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
China urges local governments to speed up spending to support the economy | Reuters China urged local governments on Thursday to speed up spending this year’s budget to support economic growth but said it would keep overall policy stable and focus on pushing through reforms. Beijing is reluctant to take broad action to stem a slowdown in the economy, such as relaxing monetary conditions, but analysts said there had been signs of more targeted measures in recent days, such as expanded lending to small businesses and the agricultural sector.
Property Markets in Smaller Cities ‘Troubled by Oversupply’ – Caixin The property markets in China’s smaller cities are increasingly troubled by oversupply, the CEO of a real estate services company says. On July 16, the real estate research institution CRIC Group released a ranking of 288 cities in the country according to the risks they faced. About 200 cities on the list were smaller, or third tier, cities. Of the 50 cities that faced the most risk, all but one were these tier-three cities. The top five cities whose property markets faced the most risk were in Gansu and Inner Mongolia. Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, was the only medium-sized city. Its property market was considered the 12th riskiest.
China June Home Prices Rise as Big Cities Post Record Gains – Bloomberg Prices climbed in 69 of the 70 cities the government tracked last month from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement today, matching the data in May. The southern business city of Guangzhou posted the biggest increase with a 16 percent advance from a year earlier. Prices climbed 13 percent in Beijing and 12 percent in Shanghai. All three cities had their biggest gains since the government changed its methodology for the data in January 2011.
Closer Look: SOEs Can Brag They Are Big – but Not Strong – Caixin CASS expert argues that for the sake of the country’s economic security state-owned firms should stop growing
Investors Sue China Resources Power over Cheating -Caijing any change in the short position in the company the days before the allegations hit Weibo? // Six shareholders of China Resources Power Holdings Company Ltd have filed a lawsuit against 20 board directors of the company for buying defective assets and keeping it from investors. The HK-traded company was accused of purchasing mining rights of two mines from Jinye Group, a private company in Shanxi, which was proved not the owner when the deal was announced. Documents showed mining right of one had already been expired in 2007 while the other had ended in 2009, long before the deal was nailed in 2010.
China June FDI Grows at Fastest Pace in Two Years -Caijing FDI rose 20.1% from a year earlier to $14.4billion last month and totaled $62.0 billion in the first six months, up 4.9 percent from the same period of 2012, said the Ministry of Commerce Wednesday on its website.
上海老凤祥豫园等金店涉金价操纵遭发改委调查_新闻_腾讯网 NDRC price supervision and anti-monopoly bureau investigating several gold stores in shanghai for manipulating prices// 人民网北京7月17日电 记者从多个渠道证实，包括上海老凤祥、豫园商城在内的多家上海金店正被国家发改委价格监督检查与反垄断局调查。调查主要针对老凤祥等上海金店通过“上海黄金饰品行业协会”平台，垄断上海黄金饰品零售价格。
家庭农场将出认定标准扶持政策 新华社——经济参考网 Economic Information–standards and assistance policies coming for family farms// 《经济参考报》记者了解到，农业部农村经济体制与经营管理司日前召集专家学者研讨家庭农场问题。农业部经管司一位负责人透露，家庭农场的认定标准和扶持政策正在研究当中。中国人民大学农业与农村发展学院副院长孔祥智则称，关于家庭农场的一系列政策有望年内出台，届时可能由农业部、工商总局、财政部、人民银行、保监会等部门联合发布…孔祥智认为，如果在全国范围内推行并辅之以一系列优惠政策，引导数万个专业大户注册、转化为家庭农场，家庭农场必然会在短期内井喷式发展，并在达到一定数量后稳定下来，以家庭农场为主要形式的新型农业经营主体将成为我国农产品商品生产的主体。
多起定增、重组胎动 房企再融资将开闸？_财经频道_一财网 沉寂三年之久的上市房企重组事项，在2013年7月前后扎堆上演，引发市场对房企再融资开闸的想象。 而这一传闻已在开发商中引发连锁反应，部分企业紧急奔赴北京进行求证，另有开发商则开始忙于准备上报资产重组方案。
领跌全国两年 温州房产调控最没压力_财经频道_一财网 housing prices in wenzhou keep falling…already crashed 40-50% from peak// 国家统计局昨日公布了6月份全国70个大中城市住宅销售价格，与69个城市新建商品住宅价格同比上涨不同，唯独温州出现下降…一位资深温州房地产开发人士认为，目前温州新建商品房价格比最高峰时下降了30％~40％，在此基础上，下半年还极有可能下降10％左右，明年温州房价依然处于下降通道。
银监会与林业局正式出台林权抵押贷款政策_财经频道_一财网 银监会有关负责人表示，《意见》的出台，是完善林业信贷担保方式，健全林权抵押贷款制度的重要举措，将进一步改善农村金融服务，调动林农和林业生产经营者的积极性，促进信贷资金合理配置，突破林业经济发展的资金瓶颈，实现林业得发展，林农得富裕。
我国经济发展仍保持较好态势（经济形势专家谈）- 人民日报 制造业产能过剩严重，化解任务非常艰巨。我国的产能过剩主要是体制性和结构性因素造成的，呈现行业面广、绝对过剩程度高、持续时间长等特点。目前，过剩行业的投资仍在增长，有可能导致过剩程度进一步加剧。在潜在经济增长率下降的背景下，如果不能加快淘汰落后和兼并重组，过剩行业的利润会继续下降，优秀企业也难以发展壮大。
POLITICS AND LAW
观察站：习近平时代的帝党之局_中国_多维新闻网 more from Duowei on Xi’s key aides // 自从习近平担任中共总书记后，由其旧部组成的“习家军”已俨然成型。日前，在中共成立92周年之际，习近平在用人上再次作出新的定位。习近平作为“太子党”的一份子，他同时也在中共党内拥有多方面且跨派系的政治资本和联系。有党内观察人士分析称，从习近平从政经历来看，任职于浙江、上海时期的老部下或将成为习近平时代的“帝党”，而习近平曾经任职17年的福建或避而不谈不作人选。..与习近平关系最为密切的现任中组部常务副部长陈希，生于1953年，是福建莆田人，1975年作为工农兵学员进入清华大学化工系，与此同时，习近平也以知青的身份被选拔到该系读书。两人同窗、同龄，据称还是睡上下铺的室友，关系非常密切…习全面接班出任党政军一把手之后，陈希于今年4月被任命为中组部常务副部长，成为习近平在组织系统的操盘手。有分析认为，尽管中组部由赵乐际领衔，但是习近平通过提拔陈希掌握人事大权，未来其角色必然吃重。
马昌博：李克强的新秘书-搜狐评论 on Shi Gang, now head of Li Keqiang’s office // 中南海内部的新闻总能引起国人的集体兴趣，此次公众关注的是总理的秘书。跟往常一样，人们从一个蛛丝马迹中发现了这个引人注目的政治新闻中国政府网“国务院研究室”一栏中，副主任石刚的名字后面被加上括号，注明他“兼总理办公室主任”。
中纪委确认收到举报华润材料 已走程序_网易新闻中心 人民网北京7月18日电 记者王文志实名举报华润集团董事长宋林等人渎职一事受到社会广泛关注，人民网财经致电中纪委举报电话12388获知，中纪委已经收到该举报，现已在程序处理中。 记者王文志供职于新华社《经济参考报》，7月17日，他对华润集团董事长宋林进行了实名举报，称宋林等华润高管在山西一项收购案中存在严重违规操作，涉嫌渎职甚至巨额贪腐行为。人民网财经了解到，中纪委相关部门已经接收了该举报，并已经在程序处理中，“请耐心等待”。
Chinese Law Prof Blog: Tsinghua Law prof Yi Yanyou in hot water over rape comments Prof. Yi’s remarks don’t come out of nowhere – he is in fact channelling a distinction well known in traditional Chinese law (it is codified in the Qing Code) between woman of good family (良家妇女) and licentious women (犯奸妇女). If, for example, a man saw a women engaging in illicit sexual intercourse with another and then raped her afterward, then because she was a licentious woman it could not be called rape but should instead be classified as illicit intercourse by trickery (“又如见妇人与人通奸，见者因而用强奸之，已系犯奸之妇，难以强论，依刁奸律”). (I’m relying for my translation on the Grand Ricci dictionary, which translates 刁奸 as “seduire une femme par la ruse”; that may not be correct as a translation of the legal term.) For more on this, see Vivien Ng, “Ideology and Sexuality: Rape Laws in Qing China,” Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 46, no. 1 (Feb. 1987), pp. 57-70. Although the distinction finds no formal expression in modern Chinese law (not to my knowledge, anyway), here we see it alive and well in legal culture, so to speak, and expressed in exactly the same words as it was centuries ago.
Foreign NGO registration rules eased |Politics |chinadaily.com.cn International NGOs will find it much easier to become registered in China, as registration approval power has been handed over by the Ministry of Civil Affairs to provincial civil affairs authorities. The move is part of the reforms the ministry has initiated to make NGO operations in China easier.
Leading liberal fights back against hypocrisy charges | South China Morning Post The eldest son of late party general secretary Hu Yaobang, a key reformist and liberal, has dismissed allegations that he has a hidden luxury home in an upscale Beijing estate, amid further allegations of his other siblings’ ties to scandal-hit businesses. In a microblog posted yesterday Hu Deping , who is also a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, invited his detractors to back up their claims and disclose details of the purported property.
Xu Zhiyong Arrested: How Serious Can Beijing Be About Political Reform? | ChinaFile
China Cracks Down on Corruption Whistleblower · Global Voices Renowned Chinese anti-corruption sleuth Zhu Ruifeng has withdrawn from the online world and his website and four personal microblogs blocked in mainland China on the heels of his exposing the alleged corrupt dealings of Chinese Communist Party (CPC) chief secretary in southeastern Fujian province. Only a day after Zhu’s website Remin Jianduwang reported on how Fan Yue, the former inspector of the general office of the party’s Central Committee, allegedly used his influence to elevate Chen Rongfa, the party’s chief secretary of Jinjiang city in Fujian province, Zhu suddenly disappeared from social media. Some online sources said he was arrested and netizens started to look for him by calling out his name in their microblogs. In the late afternoon of July 17, 2013 Zhu delivered a message through another microblogger that he is safe but that all his microblogs have to take a summer vacation [zh].
Young Chinese People May Just Not Be That Into Western-Style Democracy – Damien Ma – The Atlantic A new study shows that the country’s youth have an increasingly lukewarm attitude about democratic political systems.
清华学者：人民社会优于西方公民社会|公民社会|群众路线|人民社会_新浪新闻 胡鞍钢《 人民日报海外版 》( 2013年07月19日 第 01 版)–人民社会是中国的重大理论创新和实践创新。与西方公民社会相比，人民社会更具优越性。其建设方法是不断改善民生，社会治理方法是坚持走群众路线。 “人民，只有人民才是创造世界历史的动力。”同样，人民，只有人民才是实现“中国梦”的最大动力。实现“中国梦”，需要凝聚13亿人民的力量，建立一个人人共建、人人共享的社会体制，形成一个人人平等、人人幸福的社会生态。这就不同于西方国家的公民社会，而是一种源于中国文化、符合中国国情、具有中国特色的全体人民所构成的社会主义社会。
李昭任新疆工作协调小组办公室副主任(图/简历)-时政频道-新华网 据国家民委网站消息，中央决定，李昭任国家民委副主任、党组副书记、中央新疆工作协调小组办公室副主任。 国家民委党组7月16日上午召开会议，宣布李昭任职决定。党组书记王正伟主持会议。王正伟在会上宣读了党中央和国务院关于李昭任命的有关决定，并代表国家民委党组对李昭表示欢迎。
河南农妇因上访被关精神病院132天 起诉警方_网易新闻中心 Henan woman sues police after they put in her in mental institution for petitioning // 中新网郑州7月18日电 7月18日下午，曾经卷入“被精神病”事件的河南省周口市农妇吴春霞起诉当地公安局行政违法一案在河南省高级人民法院二审开庭审理。在两个小时的庭审中，双方激辩，法庭未当庭宣判。
辽宁辽阳城管充当企业”打手” 打记者伤维权居民_网易新闻中心 据新华社电近日辽宁《华商晨报》记者采访辽阳市一起居民与商业楼盘开发企业的纠纷，称自己被当地城管局行政执法人员打伤住院，引起了舆论关注。新华社记者18日来到辽阳就此采访事件原因及处理情况，却连吃闭门羹。
Chinese nightmare: Elderly street vendor died during clash with chengguan | Offbeat China According to Deng’s family and several eye witnesses, the killing strike was a knock on the head by a steelyard weight by a chengguan officer. Deng was once awarded “model farmer”in his township, but in his dying hands was the badge of the chengguan officer who hit him…The story doesn’t just stop there. The real war started when local authorities decided that they wanted the body. That evening, many of Deng’s fellow villagers and several hundreds of local residents volunteered to protect the dead body. About 200 anti-riot police were sent to disperse the crowd. Inevitably, clashes happened.
临武官方回应“警察抢尸”：是协助家属转运遗体_资讯频道_凤凰网 新京报讯 针对前日发生的一名瓜贩与城管争执中死亡事件，湖南临武县昨日下午召开新闻通报会。据悉，警方已经控制6名涉事城管人员，并经家属同意对死者遗体开展法医检验。临武县长贺遵庆代表县委县政府对死者邓正加表示沉重哀悼，对死者家属表示慰问，对事情发生表示深深歉意
China’s government spends less in 2012 – Xinhua Less money was spent on official expenses last year, according to final account reports issued by central government departments on Thursday. Spending on overseas trips and official vehicles and receptions stood at 7.43 billion yuan (1.2 billion U.S. dollars) last year, representing a decrease of 559 million yuan from the budget figure.
中央部门昨起晒“账本” 购房补贴与福利房被指双重福利_财经频道_一财网 除了“三公经费”，《第一财经日报》记者注意到，购房补贴也成为各部委一项不小的开支。 国家发改委、财政部、国土部、中国气象局等部门已公布“账本”显示，2012年购房补贴一项的支出分别为790.03万元、2142.44万元、3453.70万元、16465.66万元。 根据财政部的定义，购房补贴是自1998年停止实物分房后，对房价收入比超过4倍以上地区的无房和住房未达标职工发放的住房货币化改革补贴资金。
“一顿饭”的分量有多重（人民论坛） top read story on people’s daily online version this morning…some hungry officials still missing their banquets…// “一顿饭”的分量有多重？有时，它重于整个世界。抗战期间，陈嘉庚在延安和重庆各吃了一顿饭，一顿只有蔬菜和群众送来的一只母鸡，一顿则是八百大洋的豪宴。一俭一奢，高下立判，陈嘉庚由此断定“国民党必败、共产党必胜”。品味这“一饭之悟”，让人备感发扬艰苦奋斗等作风之重要，疾感破除“四风”等积弊之迫切。正如习近平总书记指出的，党面临的“赶考”远未结束。“不做寿，不送礼，少敬酒……”西柏坡立下的“六条规矩”，依然考验着每一个共产党人。
[视频]三部委联合推荐优秀图书影视片_新闻频道_央视网 央视网消息(新闻联播)：中宣部、教育部、共青团中央三部委近日联合向青少年推荐100种优秀图书和100部优秀影视片，引起了全国青少年广泛的共鸣。 推荐的图书和影视片涵盖面广，知识性、思想性、艺术性强。包括《董存瑞》《铁道游击队》《建国大业》《兔侠传奇》等百部影视片。百种图书既有传统文化作品，也有社会科学类，还有著名的文学著作。
原世代投资集团总裁禹晋永案开审_网易新闻 an interesting case of dirty real estate developer–yu jinyong–in beijing that has been mostly ignored. he was a weibo bully until his downfall, and during the huangyan/scarborough shoals tensions last year went on weibo to announce that he had fired his family’s two filipono ayis…nasty guy // 7月17日，备受关注的原北京凯爱投资有限公司法定代表人禹晋永涉嫌合同诈骗一案在北京市海淀区法院开庭，检方指控禹晋永以虚构项目招投标的形式骗取北京中科软科技股份有限公司52.2万元。庭审中，禹晋永对指控罪名及事实均予以否认
Dream of the Red Future: Will the Chinese Dream Become an Enduring Classic? | World Policy Institute Against this backdrop, debates within international media over whether or not the Chinese dream is just empty propaganda seem largely irrelevant. A more relevant prism perhaps through which to view it is renowned political anthropologist Clifford Geertz’s concept of the “theater state.” A theater state, asserted Geertz, is one in which the symbolism employed by the state not only convey the power of the elite but enact it. In its interpretations of the Chinese dream, much international commentary takes on the guise of the fairy Disenchantment, foretelling the fate of an anachronistic authoritarian state destined for demise. Rebuking Xi’s dream, this well-established, neo-liberal trope sees increasing economic wealth, power, and individualism leading to the regime’s eventual collapse. In artfully weaving the “interpenetration of reality and illusion,” to maintain its own legitimacy, however, the CCP has a proven track record of rhetorical prowess. So while the varied interpretations of the Chinese dream out there make for compelling reading, my money is on Xi’s version becoming the enduring classic.
Son-in-law of Chinese vice-premier sets up Hong Kong fund | South China Morning Post Vice-Premier Wang Yang’s son-in-law recently launched a Hong Kong-based hedge fund focused on mainland equities, joining a growing number of young family members of top officials who have set up asset management businesses in the city. Nicholas Zhang, who married Wang’s only daughter some years ago, started Magnolia Capital Management this year with some of his former colleagues from the Hong Kong offices of Soros Fund Management and UBS, said sources familiar with the situation who declined to be named.
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
中央军委印发《军队实行党风廉政建设责任制的规定》_网易新闻中心 《规定》结合军队实际，明确规定了各级党委、纪委和领导干部在党风廉政建设中的具体责任，以及检查监督和责任追究的制度措施。
From university campus to boot camp |Society |chinadaily.com.cn The PLA began recruiting college graduates in 2001, and since then about 8,000 students from national defense classes have joined every year. Yet military chiefs want to attract even more well-educated recruits, and they have introduced a new round of policies with that goal in mind. “It’s urgent that we have more highly educated soldiers, given the fact war now relies much more on information technology,” said Zhang Xiaohui, a spokesman for the PLA General Political Department.
Venezuela to maintain policies toward China|Asia-Pacific|chinadaily.com.cn The new government of Venezuela will continue to prioritize its relations with China and expects to learn from China’s development, Venezuelan Vice-President Jorge Arreaza said in Beijing on Thursday. Arreaza, who began an official five-day visit to China on Wednesday, made the remarks while meeting Vice-President Li Yuanchao at the Great Hall of the People.
N. Korea moving to import oil from Iran – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun In talking to The Asahi Shimbun, a source knowledgeable about talks being held between Beijing and Pyongyang quoted North Korean officials as telling their Chinese counterparts around December that their country had agreed with Iran on the prospective oil imports. The North Korean officials were also quoted as saying they were hoping to build an oil refinery, and asking for Beijing’s cooperation in the construction plan. Chinese officials visited North Korea from May through June to discuss details and prices of the equipment, the source added.
China hits U.S., South Korea with solar material duties, skirts EU decision | Reuters China’s Commerce Ministry issued preliminary anti-dumping duties on imports of U.S. and South Korean solar-grade polysilicon on Thursday, but made no decision on tariffs on European Union exports of the raw material used to make solar panels. Beijing’s move, a widely expected hit on U.S. and South Korean producers, coincides with difficult talks between the EU and China to defuse a conflict over alleged dumping of Chinese solar panels in Europe.
Inside the Ring: New naval harassment in Asia – Washington Times A Chinese website, Sinocism, posted photographs of what it described as a “fierce confrontation” between the USNS Impeccable, an electronicspy ship, and a China Maritime Surveillance ship. // hah, that description of Sinocism makes you wonder about Gertz’s sourcing and fact-checking rigor…
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
Chocolate-shaped Ivory Seized in Macao Two South African travelers failed to smuggle 34 kilograms of ivory into Macao on Wednesday, as local customs officials found 15 suspicious chocolate boxes in their luggage.
TECH AND MEDIA
Chinese Directors Express Doubt Over Censorship Reforms – The Hollywood Reporter Chen went on to express the worry that the risks of censorship for so-called “ordinary films” will now fall completely on the shoulders of producers and filmmakers, as they won’t know whether their movie fits what is allowed until after it is completed, rather than at the outset. He also said that he is concerned that some directors will become even more cautious by trying to guess what the censors’ tastes are.
NFL Drives Deep Into Chinese Territory With Planned Online Store | Alizila The National Football League plans to tackle China’s fast-growing consumer market by opening an official store on Tmall with the help of Export Now, an e-commerce service provider that removes many of the trade barriers inherent to selling in the PRC.
Why is it so damn hard to understand China’s mobile market? Introducing the China App Index. | TechRice So to help foreign developers understand the market, I launched at initiative at our China app store, Wandoujia. The China App Index is a monthly report with data for our top new and fastest-growing apps.
The Demanding Off-Hour Escapes of China’s High-Tech Workers – NYTimes.com Here on the gritty outskirts of Zhengzhou, the capital of central Henan Province, the nocturnal menagerie reveals a little-explored aspect of the global supply chain, the off-hour escapes that give the masses of workers the motivation to return to the assembly line. The hands that make the world’s electronics belong almost entirely to young people with dreams of their own, and a lifetime of contented industrial drudgery is not among them.
Tencent to Establish Open Financial Platform | Marbridge Consulting Lai said that Tenpay will coordinate with WeChat and Tencent’s Mobile QQ IM client to offer mobile payment services across all platforms. Furthermore, Tenpay will partner with mutual funds and commercial banks to offer users financial products similar to third-party payment processor Alipay’s account balance fund investment service Yu’e Bao. Tenpay is also planning on partnering with financial insurance companies to offer financial protection to users of Tenpay Express Checkout and WeChat’s new payment features.
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
A Rite of Passage to Nowhere | ChinaFile review of Tiny Times Taking a page from the book of popular East Asian “idol dramas” that cater primarily to youth in their teens and twenties, the film features popular singers, actors, and actresses, cast regardless of any actual acting ability. Good idol dramas frequently feature teen romance, in which brooding characters with dark secrets and painful pasts elicit pathos and real emotion. Tiny Times, however, has done away with complex story arcs and character development. The film looks great but ultimately lacks substance.// sounds wonderfully trashy, can’t wait to see it
The generation gap: Living large | The Economist That day might be near. On July 15th the Party-run People’s Daily ran an op-ed that was critical of “Tiny Times”. The editorialist was prepared to draw big conclusions from what is after all a bit of cinematic candy floss: “The capitalistic manoeuvres of an individual or a small group might have succeeded, but the humanistic development and communication of an era will have spun out of control.” Despite its detractors, “Tiny Times” is flying high. Mr Guo has announced plans to release “Tiny Times 2” this August, a full four months earlier than scheduled. For now the box-office appeal of its freewheeling, materialistic characters is just as frothy as the Champagne they swill.
探访浙江农村歌舞团_网易新闻 slideshow of a rural dance troupe
Chinese reporter returns home to sell kabobs |Society |chinadaily.com.cn Zhu Changzhen, 45, verified by Sina Weibo as an investigative reporter for the Henan-based Dahe Newspaper, said in a statement that he wants to return to the street-food profession after understanding that “human beings are the most precious things,” a message delivered by late Chinese leader Mao Zedong decades ago.
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Sino-U.S. scientists sequence Mongolian genome – Xinhua | English.news.cn Scientists from China and the U.S. have finished sequencing the genome of Mongolians living in northwest China’s Qinghai Province, according to the research team responsible for the sequencing. The sequencing and drafting of the genome was published on Thursday in the science journal PLoS Genetics. The research is expected to aid in the treatment of altitude-related diseases.
把生态文明融入四个建设– 人民日报 融入社会建设。首先是信息的公开透明。环境是公共资源，环境问题涉及人民群众利益，环境信息的公开透明是更好地发现和解决环境问题的重要前提。其次是公众参与，包括参与影响环境的建设项目的决策和执行过程，参与环境政策、规划的制定和执行监督等。群众维护健康、改善环境的强烈愿望是环保工作最强大的动力，群众的支持和参与是政府采取政策措施的重要社会基础。第三是充分发挥社会组织的作用，特别是发挥已登记注册的各类环保社团的作用。它们可以成为政府和公众沟通的桥梁、纽带，反映公众的环境诉求，传递和解释政府的政策规定和环保作为，监督和指导企业改善环境管理，是一种重要的社会润滑剂。（作者为中国环境科学学会理事长）
Guangzhou to Invest $2.3 Billion to Clean Waters: Daily – Bloomberg Guangzhou plans to spend 14 billion yuan ($2.3 billion) to clean “black and smelly” river waters by 2016, the China’s southern city’s daily newspaper reported. Twelve sewage and rainwater-treatment plants will be built over the next four years because more than a third of the riverways are contaminated, the Guangzhou Daily said, citing Mayor Chen Jianhua.
BEIJING
Beijing suspends for-profit study tours after Asiana crash | South China Morning Post Beijing’s municipal education authorities have ordered the city’s primary and secondary schools to suspend all overseas study tours organised through for-profit tour groups following the deaths of three mainland pupils in an air crash in the United States nearly two weeks ago, the Beijing Daily reported yesterday.
Street barbecues cause PM 2.5 levels to surge – Xinhua The PM 2.5 levels, relating to the fine particulate matter which causes severe damage to one’s lungs, around street barbecues in Beijing is about one thousand times higher than the readings taken before the charcoal starts to burn, The Beijing News reported according to their own on-the-spot investigation
北京规定出租房单个房间最多住2人 不得分割出租_网易新闻中心 中新网7月18日电 北京住建委、规划委、公安局、卫生局等部门今日联合发布通知，明确出租房屋人均居住面积标准。《通知》规定，北京出租房屋人均居住面积不得低于5平方米，单个房间不得超2人(有法定赡养抚养义务关系的除外)。
BOOKS AND LITERATURE
Amazon.com: Lessons from China eBook: Amy Werbel In Lessons from China, Fulbright Scholar and American Studies Professor Amy Werbel paints a vivid portrait of China’s rising generation of university students. Seeing Frederick Douglass, Andrew Carnegie, the Vietnam War, Malcolm X, Timothy Leary, and Betty Friedan through their eyes reveals as much about China’s present realities as it does about America’s past. Perhaps most importantly, Chinese students’ responses to questions about censorship, revolution, war, and feminism are good indicators that this generation is unlike any that has come before.
American History Through Chinese Eyes | Tea Leaf Nation “We were not going to China to make the United States look better than it is — but rather to share what it feels like to be in a classroom in which everyone is free to scrutinize history without fear,” explains Werbel. A professor of Art History at the State University of New York, Werbel taught courses on American culture from the Civil War to World War I and on America in the 1960s at Guangdong Foreign Studies University between August 2011 and July 2012. Werbel’s new book Lessons from China: America in the Hearts and Minds of the World’s Most Important Rising Generation chronicles her experiences in and out of the classroom. The book captures Werbel’s Chinese students in their own words as they grapple with America’s tragic and transcendent past and, in doing so, inevitably reflect upon their own country’s past, present, and future.
JOBS AND EVENTS
Positions Vacant | China Policy – Part 17 several jobs in Beijing