"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Cognitive dissonance is needed in any discussion of the Chinese Internet.
There is an unprecedented campaign underway to rein in online rumors and bring social media to heel. Beijing has launched several rounds of rumor control campaigns in the last few years, but none has approached the current one in its overall scope, the intensity of the official media coverage, the number of arrests and the impact on Weibo activity. The logical next step may be implementation of a real real-name registration requirement, rather than the current, loophole-ridden version. That is just a guess, but the systems exist and the technical implementation is not unreasonably onerous. Political will has been the missing ingredient.
And yet, business on the Chinese Internet is booming and investors do not seem care about the crackdown.
Sina’s stock is up nearly 50% since the first signs of the campaign appeared in April. Tencent, listed in Hong Kong, crossed $100 billion in market capitalization for the first time Monday. The stock is up again Tuesday morning, probably on the news that it is investing $448 million for a 36.5% stake in Sohu’s Sogou search engine unit, which looks to be combined with Tencent’s lagging search engine Soso (at least it should not be hard to agree a name for the combined entity…).
My Dealbook column this week looks at the crackdown as well as the prospects for Twitter in China, on the eve of its IPO:
Sina Weibo has increasingly challenged the Chinese government’s traditional control of the media, leading the government to try repeatedly to rein it in without completely neutering it. Those efforts have never fully worked, as the China Insider column of May 6 noted in discussing a coming crackdown on Weibo and online rumors…
Twitter has opportunities to sell advertising to Chinese enterprises, but it is probably under no illusions that it can expand into the Chinese Internet. The company, along with other global Internet firms, may do well to pay attention to the Chinese government’s efforts to win allies for its approach to managing the Internet.
Last week, Lu Wei, the head of the State Internet Information Office, gave the keynote speech at the fifth China-United Kingdom Internet Roundtable. In his speech, called “Liberty and Order in Cyberspace,” Mr. Lu presented a vision of the Internet as a medium to be managed. That vision is far different from the one articulated by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her speech in January 2010, “Remarks on Internet Freedom,” in which she argued that “it’s critical that its users are assured certain basic freedoms.”
The actions by the American government to exploit the Internet and use it for surveillance, as disclosed in some of the classified documents provided by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, may help China sell its view of Internet governance to many countries around the world. And that would not help the efforts of Twitter and other American Internet firms that are increasingly looking to international growth.
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
鲁炜：把网上舆论工作作为宣传工作重中之重|互联网|鲁炜|网络_新浪新闻 State Internet Information Office Head Lu Wei writing in today’s People’s Daily on putting online public opinion work at the center of propaganda work // 《 人民日报 》( 2013年09月17日 16 版)…// 习近平总书记在全国宣传思想工作会议上发表的重要讲话，强调根据形势发展需要，要把网上舆论工作作为宣传思想工作的重中之重来抓。这是中央对网上舆论工作的新部署新要求，充分体现了党中央的与时俱进和对互联网发展趋势的准确把握。我们要深入学习贯彻讲话精神，贯彻积极利用、科学发展、依法管理、确保安全的基本方针，解放思想、实事求是、改革创新，以更加奋发有为的精神状态，全面提升网上舆论工作水平，牢牢掌握网上舆论工作的领导权、管理权、话语权，进一步巩固马克思主义在意识形态领域的指导地位，巩固全党全国各族人民团结奋斗的共同思想基础。
Related: China intensifies internet crackdown – FT.com “With this legislation the party is trying to regain ownership over public discourse,” said one normally outspoken professor of politics at one of China’s top universities, who asked not to be named because of fear of reprisal. “It is equally important to the party to control both public opinion and the barrel of the gun.”
Related: Online rumours like Cultural Revolution denunciation posters, says party journal | South China Morning Post The magazine said online rumours were no better than ”big character posters”, hand-written signs put up in public places during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution to spread propaganda, often denouncing people and institutions as counter-revolutionary or bourgeois. Qiushi said online rumours, like the posters, were often published under a cloak of anonymity and containing slanderous information. Party leaders have called out for a halt to the posters “resurrecting themselves online”, it said.
Related: 让网络空间清朗起来_2013/18_求是理论网 the Seeking Truth Essay that compares online rumors to big character posters…it is a very interesting piece, this section also enlightening, more pressure coming on commercial sites to rein in their news sections? // 必须指出，网络乱象与一些微博大V脱不了干系。微博的传播机理有一个非常显著的特点，就是在分散传播权利的同时，也在加剧传播的集权化，粉丝数和转发数决定微博的影响力。理论上，微博用户人人享有发言权、传播权，但实际上这种权利是极不平等的。拥有众多粉丝的大V，其微博的传播呈原子裂变方式扩散，一传十、十传百、百传千千万，可以在最短时间内形成集群传播效应。微博粉丝还有着很强的“马太效应”，粉丝数越多的微博用户，粉丝增长速度也越快。而一个独立用户的微博作品，如果没有粉丝参与转发，就如一滴水落入大海，瞬间消失得无影无踪。网络大V如果成了“网络大谣”，其危害可想而知。网络乱象更大的责任应由网站特别是主要门户网站承担。商业门户网站奉行“流量为王”的经营理念，一些网站靠不同于官方话语和态度的新闻信息来增加网站流量，突出网站的媒体功能，导致商业门户网站实际上成了资讯门户网站。其实，网络商务和为网民提供各种实用信息服务才是商业门户网站的正业，过度开发媒体功能是资源错配
Related: As Beijing’s online rumor crackdown intensifies, Chinese bloggers seek to “un-verify” themselves | Offbeat China Many of those who plan to unverify themselves or those who already did are the less popular accounts with only a few thousands of followers. The big-v status, which once brings followers and credibility, now is more likely to bring trouble. In their eyes, the big “V” has changed from a badge of honor and popularity to a badge of danger.
Related: 铲除滋生谣言的土壤_2013/18_求是理论网 another Seeking Truth article, on sweeping away the soil that allows rumors to flourish // 制止谣言，还有赖于法治建设。以谣言的重灾区——互联网为例，网民在享受言论自由权利的同时，必须遵守国家法律法规，理性地表达自己的意见，自觉维护信息传播秩序。网民既不能造谣，也不能传谣，对那些未经证实、荒诞不经的信息，要做到“多闻阙疑、慎言有余”。网站是大众媒体，负有传播真实信息的法律责任，不能成为谣言发布平台。针对网络谣言蔓延的汹涌势头，有关部门要做到“执法必严，违法必究”，出重拳、下猛药，大幅提高造谣、传谣者的违法违规成本，从根本上铲除网络谣言滋生的土壤。
Tencent Market Value Tops $100 Billion on China Internet Growth – Bloomberg Shenzhen-based Tencent, which went public in 2004, is the largest Internet company in Asia and has a market capitalization greater than SoftBank Corp. (9984), McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) and Boeing Co. (BA) It trails a handful of technology companies worldwide, including Apple Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. and Facebook Inc. (FB)
Related: Tencent Buys $448 Million Stake in Sohu Search Unit to Win Users – Bloomberg Tencent Holdings Ltd. (700), Asia’s largest Internet company, paid $448 million for a stake in China’s third-largest search engine to expand its Web offerings in the world’s largest market. Tencent bought a 36.5 percent stake in Sohu.com Inc. (SOHU)’s Sogou search unit with an option to increase the investment to 40 percent, according to a joint statement by the companies. Sohu will remain the controlling shareholder.
Minimum growth rate set at 7 percent|Economy|chinadaily.com.cn For the first time since the beginning of China’s complex economic transition, a government official said on Monday the minimum level of annual economic growth acceptable to the central government is 7 percent. But based on recent economic data, for August in particular, China is almost certain to be able to achieve growth no lower than 7.5 percent in 2013, Yang Shubing, a senior official at the National Policy Research Office ofthe State Council, said at a news briefing. Yang said that in coming years China will have to achieve minimum growth of 7 percent to double the size of the economy from 2010 to 2020, as promised at the 18th Communist Party of China National Congress last year.
Navy opens its hatches to China | UTSanDiego.com Why would the U.S. Navy open its hatches to the naval power that’s not only modernizing but is developing long-range attack weapons and pressing territorial claims against American allies in Asia? A sailor in San Diego posed a similar question to the head of the U.S. Navy during a town-hall meeting. Because China’s maritime rise can’t be ignored, said Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the U.S. Navy’s top officer who hosted the Chinese contingent in San Diego and Washington, D.C., last week.
China in Central Asia: Rising China, sinking Russia | The Economist LESS than a decade ago little doubt hung over where the newly independent states of Central Asia had to pump their huge supplies of oil and gas: Russia, their former imperial overlord, dominated their energy infrastructure and markets. Yet today, when a new field comes on stream, the pipelines head east, to China. As if to underline the point, this week China’s president, Xi Jinping, swept through Central Asia, gobbling up energy deals and promising billions in investment. His tour left no doubts as to the region’s new economic superpower.
Related: Xi Jinping’s New Silk Road: Chinese foreign policy, energy security and ideology–The Conversation–The Middle East’s position as China’s bridge between Asia and Europe is a critical part of the Chinese government’s pitch to embed a “New Silk Road” as a centrepiece of its economic policy. From building a new rail link that will connect central China’s emerging logistics and manufacturing hub of Chengdu to Germany, to building the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as an enabler of regional currency convertibility and transport agreements to bolster regional trade, Central Asia and the Greater Middle East are emerging as key pillars of Chinese foreign policy. Xi Jinping’s foray into this fascinating area of foreign policy is just as much about appealing to a domestic political audience as it is about building China’s global influence and countering US hegemonic power.
Related: Continental China – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace– C. Raja Mohan Russia, the traditionally dominant power in Central Asia, is reluctant to contest China’s rise. The American interest in the region has been episodic and could diminish further after the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. India, a potential power in inner Asia, is burdened by a perennial conflict with Pakistan that blocks its access to the region. Favourable regional circumstances, coupled with Beijing’s purposeful policies, have dramatically raised China’s weight in Central Asia within a generation. China is well on its way to becoming the most important external power on the subcontinent’s northwestern marches.
Related: EDITORIAL: Japan should push democracy, not just deals on resources, in Central Asia – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun For Central Asian countries as well as Mongolia, China is a dominant stakeholder in their trade and foreign investment. They have no choice but to rely on their neighbor’s economic power to help them build their countries and develop their natural resources. That is the reality in the region. Given the geopolitical situation there, Japan should not pit itself against China. Japan’s focus should be to assist this region in ways that China, with its one-party rule and state-led economy, would find difficult. For example, Japan’s assistance should be about helping things like democracy, fair market economies and positive investment environments take root and thrive in those countries.
镇书记边吃边骂老百姓被拍疑因损害他人利益|老百姓|党委书记|国土_新浪新闻 hidden camera catches a well-fed Chengde, Hebei official gorging at a banquet, while saying mean things about the common folk…the lobster and the crab make the video, along with the zhonghua cigarettes and the wu liangye…looks to be a setup, wonder where the camera was hidden. but he may be toast
Danone’s Baby-Food Brand Probes Report of China Doctor Payments – Bloomberg Danone shocked, just shocked…? // Danone’s (BN) Dumex said it will immediately start an investigation into a Chinese media report that alleged the brand made payments to hospital doctors and nurses to sell its baby formula products. Dumex paid hundreds of thousands of yuan annually to doctors and nurses at hospitals in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin amid “fierce competition” among baby-formula makers, the state-owned China Central Television reported yesterday, citing an unidentified former sales manager from the brand. // 天津医院喂新生儿多美滋致上瘾 护士承认收钱_新闻_腾讯网 video of the CCTV report
A Look Back at the Zhu Rongji Era – Caixin a different era, when China was relatively much weaker and the Iraq debacle and the 2008 crash had not yet disillusioned so many about America’s competence, and hurt the careers of more than a few officials who had pushed for more American-style financial system reforms // The Americans and Chinese so warmly mingling in New York last week personified the feelings of eager anticipation, hope and open-ended possibilities in the Sino-American relationship, in spite of its immense ups and downs. Zhu, remembered, was a tower of modesty, strength, dignity and realistic patriotism. Like their Chinese friends, the Americans at the New York “book launch” expect something big to happen this November. They think of Zhu’s accomplishments with respect: page after page, document after document, we find no sloganeering, no imperial posturing, no anti-foreign outbursts. We watch now, hopefully but apprehensively, to see what the expanded version of reform and opening, repeatedly discussed by Premier Li Keqiang, will turn out to contain, and what it will mean for our two nations’ ability to secure their futures, together or separately.–The author is former president of U.S.-China Business Council and current president of Robert A. Kapp & Associates
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
控风险 地方政府信用评级箭在弦上 新华社——经济参考网 credit rating system coming for local governments? how can that be immune from political or financial pressures? And a CASS scholar estimates local debt may now exceed 20 Trillion RMB // 地方政府性债务持续膨胀引发各界担忧，而意在“把脉”债务风险的地方政府信用评级已箭在弦上。16日，社科院金融研究所与中债资信评估有限责任公司正式签署中国地方政府评级合作框架协议，并发布地方政府主体评级方法和模型。“未来，地方政府一定要自主发债，发债就需要评级，而评级就需要第三方机构。”业内人士称，探索建立规范的地方政府举债融资机制，完善地方政府债务管理体系，并通过科学的评级模型来判断债务风险，既有必要也非常紧迫。
绕道463号文 地方政府仍“兜底”信托产品_财经频道_一财网 First Financial discovers that some local governments may be finding ways to get around restrictions on fund raising…shocked…// 尽管针对政信合作的监管持续升级，但由财政“兜底”的信托产品仍旧屡见不鲜，地方融资平台“暗度陈仓”时有发生。《第一财经日报》日前独家获取一份由中江国际信托股份有限公司（下称“中江国际”）发行的“中江国际·银象60号投资龙岩高新园区开发建设有限公司应收账款集合资金信托计划”（下称“银象60号信托计划”）的相关推介材料，显示福建省龙岩市财政局承诺安排资金为地方融资平台“兜底”，并由地方政府予以确认。“这种政信合作类信托计划，且由地方政府及财政局出具‘兜底’性质的确认函，明显违背463号文。”上海某信托公司销售负责人在接受《第一财经日报》采访时表示。
China bank regulator encourages innovation while warning on risks | Reuters Shang Fulin, the chairman of China Banking Regulatory Commission, said on Monday that CBRC will encourage financial innovation, while ensuring that banks don’t remain on the hook for risks they have supposedly transferred off-balance-sheet. “Some off-balance-sheet innovative business lines have gotten inter-tangled with (on- balance-sheet) deposit and lending business,” he said. “We need to segregate lending, wealth management, brokerage, and securities investment businesses, implementing protective barriers around each, while encouraging innovation within each segment,” the chairman said.
境外投资核准制有望转为备案制 新华社——经济参考网 streamlining and relaxation of approvals for outbound investment coming? // 《经济参考报》记者日前从权威人士处获悉，国家发改委、商务部等相关部门正积极推进境外投资审批制度改革，研究进一步减少项目核准的范围，下放核准权限，还将探索从现行“核准制”转向“备案制”为主的管理方式。
Ship Costs in China Surge to 16-Month High in Sign Imports Gain – Bloomberg The China Coastal Bulk Freight Index, a measure of commodity transporting rates between the nation’s ports, advanced to 1,141.17 points on Sept. 13, a seventh weekly gain, according to data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange. The measure has advanced 8.2 percent since the start of the year. The increase is a sign of rising demand from China because coastal ships transport both domestic and imported cargoes to smaller Chinese ports from the nation’s bigger facilities, according to Pareto Securities AS, an Oslo-based investment bank. Imports of coal and iron ore are on course for a record this year, according to Clarkson Plc (CKN), the largest shipbroker. Rates for Capesize ships delivering both rose almost sixfold to $30,020 since the start of June, Baltic Exchange data show.
Banks Putting Less into Non-Standard Assets, CBRC Says – Caixin The portion of bank wealth management money invested in non-standard assets has fallen to 29 percent of the total, an official of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said on September 14. The ratio is calculated based on banks’ reports about their wealth management plans that were submitted to the regulator last month, said Wang Yanyou, director of the CBRC’s Business Innovation Regulatory and Collaboration Department
Chinese cities: three trends you should know | beyondbrics China’s urbanisation is taking place at 10 times the pace of the first (that of the UK) and is 100 times the scale, according to McKinsey. Working out what’s going on can be pretty hard. So, a final thought post-WEF in Dalian: industry experts share three Chinese “big city trends” – in real estate, consumption patterns, and employment.
China Steels Teeters amid Financial Risks: Official-Caijing China’s iron & steel industry needs to act swiftly to defuse financial risks as the companies are running out of cash, Xu Kuangdi, president of the Chinese Society for Metals, told a forum on Friday. Over 30 of 86 big and medium-sized steel companies reported a debt-to-assets ratio of above 75 percent in the first half of the year, government data shows. 20 companies posted a debt ratio of above 80 percent while five of them are actually insolvency, with their debt ratios above 100 percent. The 86 companies tracked by China Iron and Steel Association owed a combined of 3 trillion yuan at the end of June, of which 1.3 trillion were bank loans.
Alibaba Teams Up With China Minsheng on Financial Services – WSJ.com and Jack Ma and Shi Yuzhu are good buddies // China Minsheng said in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange Monday that through cooperation with Alibaba it will offer wealth-management products, credit-card operations, and electronic banking. Minsheng is China’s 10th-largest bank, and the biggest that isn’t state-controlled. The move marks another step into electronic banking for Alibaba, which has signaled its growing ambitions in financial services. It also lets Minsheng, which has targeted smaller customers as part of its expansion strategy, tap into the e-commerce company’s big customer base.
共同构建全球金融安全网- 钟声 《 人民日报 》 Zhong Sheng in People’s Daily on the 5th anniversary of the Lehman collpase, on the building a global financial safety net and the importance of the new BRICS bank // 五年前，美国雷曼兄弟银行申请破产，一场金融风暴席卷全球。这场危机暴露了全球金融治理体系的脆弱一面，同时也让人们意识到，以合作抵御金融风险对世界的稳定是多么重要。不久前在圣彼得堡举行的二十国集团领导人第八次峰会期间传出信息，金砖国家就建立初期规模为1000亿美元的应急储备安排再度进行磋商。作为全球金融体系中举足轻重的建设性力量，金砖国家设立应急储备安排具有重大意义，有利于促进全球经济增长和全球金融市场稳定。
China: leaving other Brics for dust in new index | beyondbrics Those suggesting that China is a Bric apart will only be encouraged by the latest Global Dynamism index from accountancy firm Grant Thornton in conjunction with the Economist Intelligence Unit. The country is not just ahead from the other Brics, it is out of sight. In the ranking of 60 countries, looking at 22 business and economic indicators, China has surged 17 places in the ranking to 3rd place, behind only Australia and Chile. Meanwhile, Russia has fallen 3 places (to 43rd), India has dropped 6 places to 48th, and Brazil has tumbled 11 places to 42nd. South Africa – the extra “S” in Brics, has fallen 10 places to 52nd.
State Council Allows Reverse Mortgage Pilot Programs – Caixin A recent decree issued by China’s cabinet allows the elderly to conduct reverse mortgages starting next year in an effort to increase financing for the country’s daunting elder care needs. The State Council document, issued on September 13, said that reverse mortgage pilot programs will be carried out in 2014 to open more financing channels for the burgeoning elder care industry.
SINOCISM PREFERS CASH OVER MOONCAKES. CONTRIBUTE HERE. HAPPY MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL!
POLITICS AND LAW
消息称十八届三中全会初稿已下发至省部级官员_证券时报网 reports that 1st draft of the third plenum report has been circulated to provincial/ministerial-level officials // 消息人士周末对大智慧通讯社表示，目前十八届三中全会报告拟定稿已经下发至省部级官员，征求意见。据介绍，中共中央总书记习近平7月在武汉讲话要求“更好发挥市场在资源配置中的基础性作用”，可视为11月报告的基调。
Six Chinese officials stand trial for torture in landmark case | Reuters Six Communist Party officials will stand trial in China on Tuesday on charges of torturing a man to death during an internal investigation in a case that has exposed the secret workings of the party’s judicial system. Yu Qiyi, 42, a chief engineer for a state-owned investment firm in the eastern city of Wenzhou, drowned in April after being dunked repeatedly in a bucket of ice-cold water, state media said last week. His case sheds light on the detention of party officials under a system lawyers say is rife with abuse.
网曝广东端州街道领导组织集体观看钢管舞|钢管舞|公款|淫秽_新浪新闻 team-building, Guangdong local official style. Local official takes some of his staff to a pole-dancing show…caught on camera, pictures put online. whoops.
首都机场爆炸案今日公开开庭审理_网易新闻中心 Ji Zhongxing goes on trial today. He detonated an incendiary device in the Beijing airport in July
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
Chinese FM to meet Kerry Thursday: State Department – Xinhua U.S. State Department said Monday that Secretary of State John Kerry will host Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for a bilateral meeting Thursday. During a daily press briefing, State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said the meeting between Kerry and Wang Yi is a regular consultation covering a range of bilateral, regional and global issues.
China’s World: Philippines Looks to Revive U.S. Naval Base – WSJ.com bringing back the once-spurned Yanks won’t be so simple. The reasons illustrate the way that China’s rapid rise as a regional military power—one that now possesses fleets of modern warships, nuclear-powered submarines, ballistic missiles and stealth fighters—has reshaped the calculus for Pentagon planners in Asia since that vote to eject the American forces. For a start, the Philippines itself would have to reverse a constitutional ban on allowing a foreign power to establish a permanent military base. But assuming that was possible, America still wouldn’t be interested. Bases are potential sitting ducks for Chinese missiles. Plus, they are expensive. At a time of budget cuts, it’s far cheaper to sign a treaty with friendly countries guaranteeing access for U.S. forces than to pay rent. In military-speak, America wants “places not bases.” As important, U.S. military moves in Asia now must be weighed against the risk of provoking China at a time when tensions over territorial claims in the South China Sea are running high.
中国船厂仍在不停建造054A级056级新型护卫舰_高清图集_新浪网
Orders are Xi’s latest salvo in bid to clean up military | South China Morning Post Two orders governing soldiers’ off-duty behaviour and how the military promotes Communist Party cadres represent the latest push in President Xi Jinping’s effort to professionalise the People’s Liberation Army. In his capacity as chief of the decision-making Central Military Commission (CMC), Xi ordered more restrictions on soldiers’ conduct while off base, including increased military police powers. He also called for military leaders at all levels to establish fairer systems for recruiting and cultivating party members.// 中央军委发规定：军地发生纠纷军方应迅速平息–时政–人民网
China committed to int’l space cooperation: official – Xinhua China is the third country after the United States and Russia to acquire the technologies and skills necessary for space rendezvous and docking procedures, as well as supply manpower and materials for an orbiting module via different docking methods, key steps toward the country’s goal of building a permanent manned space station by 2020. Since its first manned space mission in 2003, China has sent 10 astronauts and six spacecraft into space.
Former NSA director’s view of the Internet looks a lot like China’s–Washington Post–Hayden portrayed the Internet as a source of danger, a threat to national security severe enough to warrant a level of government intervention and monitoring that might make many citizens uncomfortable. As it happens, this is awfully close to the view that the Chinese Communist Party takes of the Web. While the U.S. and Chinese governments obviously handle it in very different ways, for example with censorship widespread on the Chinese Internet, it’s striking to see the similarities in how the two governments seem to think about the Web.
China’s Latest Top-Secret Military Site Is Visible on Google | TIME.com Lin is just at the beginning of his career, but in a sign of how far these skills can take him, Singer points to one of the heavyweight champs of the open-source community. “Certainly one of the most important thinkers on U.S. Navy issues, is a guy who goes by the name Galrahn,” Singer says. Galrahn is the user name of a man who has no connection to the Navy, and simply created a blog, Information Dissemination, which became the hub for arguing back and forth on Navy strategy. “Pull any Navy officer,” Singer says, “and ask, ‘Who are the top thinkers out there right now?’ He would be listed in it.” No wonder, then, that the CIA set up a center for open-source intelligence in 2005, to distill the facts of online chatter from the rumors and drip-feed them into daily memos.
Implementing the Chinese Dream–The National Interest–Yang Jiechi China’s diplomatic work under new conditions, which got off to a good start, has proceeded from a stage of planning to one of all-around implementation. Taking stock of the overall development, we find ourselves still in an important period of strategic opportunities in which much can be accomplished. Yet we also face complex and daunting challenges. The important achievements of innovations in diplomatic theory and practice have not only laid a solid foundation for our diplomatic work in the immediate future, but also pointed out its correct direction. We should earnestly study and fully appreciate the essence of these innovations, draw inspirations from them and apply them in our diplomatic practice. We should build on the good beginning and forge ahead in a pioneering spirit. While continuing to improve on strategic planning, we should give greater play to the leading role of leadership diplomacy, vigorously grow relations with other major countries, step up friendship and win-win cooperation with our neighboring countries and other developing countries and move the international order in a more just and equitable direction. We should work hard to popularize the new thinking and new ideas of Chinese diplomacy, implement the Party’s mass line and people-oriented diplomacy, and endeavor to make new progress in our diplomatic work, thus creating a more enabling external environment to make the Chinese dream, the great renewal of the Chinese nation, come true.–Yang Jiechi is State Councilor and Director of the Office of the foreign affairs Leading Group of the CPC Central Committee, People’s Republic of China. Yang previously served as foreign minister.
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
China urges Britain to stop interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs – Xinhua China on Monday expressed “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” to a newspaper opinion piece by a British minister and has urged Britain to immediately stop interfering in Hong Kong’s internal affairs. “The British minister of state at the foreign office (Hugo Swire) issued an article in a newspaper in which he openly made irresponsible remarks on Hong Kong’s political system. The Chinese government expresses strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to it,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing.
隐秘的中联办_UGC精选 中联办这个外界看来隐秘的机构，对于香港人来说并不陌生。这里是香港仅有的三个只升国旗、悬挂国徽的机构之一，在关键场合、关键时刻，香港人总会听到中联办代表中央发出的声音。
TECH AND MEDIA
China Unicom Reservations for New IPhones Pass 100,000 Units – Bloomberg Apple unveiled the 5S and 5C models for the networks of China Unicom and China Telecom Corp. (728) last week as it tries to stem a declining share in the world’s largest mobile-phone market. That goal may be challenged by reduced support from carriers looking to reign in costs with China Telecom announcing subsidies on the iPhone 5C and 5S that analysts estimate are about 15 percent less than offered for the earlier model.
Commentary: China taking center stage in IT world China-based smartphone and tablet makers’ influence in the IT market has been growing rapidly and according to Digitimes Research’s latest figures, among the 950 million smartphones shipped globally in the first half of 2013, about 330 million, or 34.3%, were supplied by China-based makers, rising 48.9% on year
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
出版界承诺共倡精品抵制低俗 向少年儿童传递正能量 《 人民日报 》Children’s publishers promise to fight vulgar and obscene content in kids publications. page 1 People’s Daily Tuesday// 本报北京9月16日电 （记者张贺）明天，应该送给我们的孩子什么样的出版物？今天，加强精品力作生产，坚决抵制低俗之风，成为出版界的共同承诺。为进一步贯彻落实中宣部等五部门联合下发的《关于加强少儿出版管理和市场整治的通知》精神和要求，充分发挥行业协会作用，加强行业自律，16日上午，中国出版协会少儿读物出版工作委员会召开出版界多出优秀少儿读物抵制低俗之风座谈会。// 全国少儿出版单位反低俗联盟倡议书 《 人民日报 》
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
China’s profitable trade in stuffed rare animals | Lü Minghe – China Dialogue “Natural death and loss” have therefore become common events in Chinese zoos. “The official price for a live tiger is sometimes less than 20,000 or 30,000 yuan. If you can have it die a “natural death”, you can make a lot more money,” explained the same source. And there’s no shortage of business for the taxidermists. Businesspeople and government officials are the purchasers and collectors – products are often given as gifts between the two groups. “It’s a sign of status and quality, and it’s easier to accept than cash,” said the same source. Purchases are often made due to animals appearing in Chinese idioms – there is one about the ferocity of tigers, while the Chinese word for deer is homophonous with part of an idiom about getting rich. And monkeys and elephants, the kings of the animal kingdom, are also popular.
Doomed deer freed to feed China’s elusive tigers | South China Morning Post High in the mountains of northeastern China, conservationists looking to preserve the endangered Amur tiger – the world’s largest living feline – are releasing deer into the area for the big cats to kill and eat. Hundreds of the animals, also known as Siberian tigers and scientifically as Panthera tigris altaica, once roamed the lush pine and oak forests of Manchuria in large numbers, but only around 20 still survive in the wild.
A secret weapon in the battle to save the snow leopard?: Tibetan monks and endangered cats | The Economist A new study of the snow leopard’s habitat across the Tibetan plateau has found that Tibetan Buddhist monasteries may be better equipped than formal preservation programmes to protect the endangered cats from poaching, retaliatory killing by farmers and other deadly perils. The key is their ability to extend their influence across administrative boundaries and maintain safe space for the animals. The research, led by Juan Li of Peking University and sponsored by the wildcat protection group Panthera, focused on the snow leopard’s habitat on the Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve
FOOD AND TRAVEL
China to become No. 2 market for Starbucks–USA Today Americans who like to joke about having a Starbucks on every street corner soon may have an unlikely partner in on the joke: the Chinese. Early next year, China will replace Canada as the global coffee giant’s second-largest market, where Starbucks plans to open its 1,000th store sometime before the end of 2013. As it expands in China – where Starbucks announced the opening of two iconic, flagship stores on Monday – Starbucks is experimenting both with the interior and exterior designs of its new stores in a bid to appeal to Chinese customers.
Illy in China: no catering to local taste | beyondbrics Even as it looks to grind away Nestlé’s and Starbucks’ lead in China – a market that’s posting double-digit growth and which is worth about $1.5bn last year – the company says it has no plans to “localise” it product for the Chinese market. “You don’t like our espresso? Then drink our cappuccino. But that’s about as far as I’ll go in adapting to local taste,” Andrea Illy, the company’s third-generation family CEO, told beyondbrics on the sidelines of the WEF in Dalian, China. “Our strategy is executed in exactly the same way in any country.”
World’s highest civilian airport starts operating – Xinhua The world’s highest-altitude civilian airport started operating on Monday in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, dramatically shortening travel time between “the last Shangri-La” and the provincial capital. Daocheng Yading Airport, located in Daocheng County, Garzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, will cut the traffic time between the county and the provincial capital of Chengdu from two days by bus to 65 minutes by plane. The airport is 159 km from Yading Nature Reserve in the eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Yading is known as “the last Shangri-La” and “the last pure land on the blue planet” for its scenery.
Chinese Tourists Spend, and Offend, Freely – NYTimes.com Now it is China’s turn to face the brunt of complaints. They gawk, they shove, they eschew local cuisine, and last year, 83 million mainland Chinese spent $102 billion abroad — overtaking Americans and Germans — making them the world’s biggest tourism spenders, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. Their numbers have also placed them among the most resented tourists. Mainland Chinese tourists, often laden with cash and unfamiliar with foreign ways, are tumbling out of tour buses with apparently little appetite for hotel breakfast buffets and no concept of lining up.
BEIJING
北京学区房冲击“10万大关” 11平米平房卖230万-教育频道-新华网 home prices in good Beijing school districts soaring…one 11m place went for 200k/rmb/m…the prices are not irrational given the disparity between the top and average primary schools and the near impossibility (and the huge cost in “gifts”, the kind that don’t come with receipts) of getting your child in to a top school unless you are zoned for that school // 位于北京市二环内、西城区文昌胡同的一套11平方米的平房，只是简单装修，但价格高至230万元，单价为20万元/平方米。销售人员向《中国经济周刊》表示，该房源是北京实验二小学区房。另一套15平方米的平房，总价为250多万元，17万元/平方米。
北京：拥堵日将“接踵而来” -新华时政-新华网 especially nasty traffic in Beijing this week…pictures for those who don’t live here to enjoy it in person
China Focus: Beijing subway failure raises concerns – Xinhua Subway Line 4, a major underground service that runs 50 kilometers through western Beijing from north to south, suspended its operation after a signal failure at 7:22 a.m.. As one of the busiest subway lines in the nation’s capital, the line carries more than one million people each day since it went into operation in 2009. The disruption forced commuters to use buses and taxis, leading to severe traffic congestion on major roads.
CORRECTIONS
Yesterday’s comments on the item (河南游客阿里山吐痰 台湾男子劝阻遭围殴_台湾频道_凤凰网) about the mainland tourists beating up a Taiwanese man on LAishan who admonished one for spitting incorrectly wrote that the tourists were from Hunan Province. They were from Henan Province