"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
Alibaba Group Said to Raise $21.8 Billion in Record U.S. IPO – Bloomberg The sale, which values Alibaba at $167.6 billion, is already the largest by any company in the U.S., and has the potential to break the global record — currently held by Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.’s $22 billion IPO in 2010 — if underwriters issue more shares.
Related: Jack Ma Planning Personal Roadshow With Clinton to Immelt – Bloomberg Starting with a private lunch tomorrow, after Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s trading debut in one of the largest initial public offerings ever, founder and Chairman Ma is slated to meet with more than 20 high-profile CEOs from General Electric Co. to BlackRock Inc. and the founder of KKR & Co. Later, he’ll head to a reception at New York restaurant Cipriani with investors and members of the media, according to people with knowledge of the events. Next week, he’ll attend the Clinton Global Initiative, to meet the political crowd…The lunch will be hosted by Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.
Related: Alibaba, With Its I.P.O., Mints Millionaires and Risk-Takers – NYTimes.com The initial public offering on Thursday, which valued Alibaba at $168 billion, will provide Silicon Valley-style payouts. At Alibaba and its affiliates, around 6,000 current and former employees owned stock worth nearly $8 billion before the I.P.O. And that sum represents only a piece of the shares doled out over the years to employees, some of whom cashed out earlier at lower, albeit still lucrative, prices.
Related: Alibaba’s New Campus Sets Up for a Big Party – NYTimes.com On Friday, the day of its listing, it finally has a fake that will inspire pride: A re-creation of the famed facade of the New York Stock Exchange. The structure, which has been put up in the main courtyard of the company’s new campus in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, will serve as the center of festivities Friday evening local time, when the company lists in New York.
Related: Dude, where are my socks? | the Anthill A few months ago I interviewed a young couple who ran a Taobao store from their flat in Yanjiao, a far-out district of Beijing. Their store is called Box Tie-Dye and they sell tie-dye clothes, which means tshirts, vests, tank tops and the like, hand-dyed in trippy colours. They dye the clothes themselves, in their sink. It’s all very hippie, and so not super representative of the Taobao ecosystem (electronics from Shenzhen is more the norm), but interesting nonetheless. Instead of writing it up straight, I figured I would place an order with them – for a single pair of socks – and then journal what happens to that order from the click of my mouse to the moment it arrives at my door.
Related: A US pothole on Alibaba’s road to global domination | New York Post “They would have to clean up the farm to be accredited with us. They have a lot of work to do,” said Steve McFarland, CEO of the Better Business Bureau’s Silicon Valley arm. The trade group has given Alibaba a big, fat “F” for failing to respond to 79 complaints in the last three years, nearly half of the 144 lodged against it, according to McFarland. The complaints — lodged against Alibaba.com, the company’s wholesale web site for businesses, along with AliExpress, its factory-direct web site for consumers — focus on fake goods, delivery issues and false advertising by sellers.
Related: After Years of Dominance, UnionPay’s Enemies Arrive at the Gates – Caixin Alipay and companies like it handle payments through their own network formed by separate clearing agreements with banks, circumventing UnionPay’s system. UnionPay says the operations violate regulations and it wants compensation. Neither party has given ground. The central bank has leaned toward requiring all payments be routed through UnionPay’s network over risk concerns. But its move has been criticized for favoring UnionPay and reinforcing its monopoly. The situation may be about to change. Sources close to the situation said the central bank has filed a proposal to the State Council, the country’s cabinet, for setting up standards and rules for a range of payment-related issues, including establishing a new bank card organization.
China, India should be partners for peace, development: Xi – Xinhua When China and India join hands for cooperation, it will benefit not only the two countries but also the entire Asia and the world at large,” said Xi when delivering a speech at the Indian Council of World Affairs. He said China-India relations have gone well beyond the bilateral scope and have assumed broad regional and global significance as they have become two major forces in the world’s multi-polarization process and two vibrant forces driving Asian and global economic growth. China and India should become closer partners for development while jointly pursuing their respective national renewal, Xi said // 携手追寻民族复兴之梦
Related: Straight talk on incursions sets the template for closer business ties and incremental progress on thorny issues : NATION – India Today While Xi did not have much to say that night, when Modi took up the mat-ter on September 18, the visiting President conveyed that he understood the concern and that China was sensitive to these issues. Xi also indicated that action had been taken on his side that could lead to a gradual deescalation. Modi was right about the pattern though, a fact that has befuddled India for a while now. It started in 2006, ahead of then-Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit, when the then Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Yuxi publicly underlined the Chinese claim that Arunachal Pradesh was a part of China, setting off a chain of angry reactions which only vitiated the visit. Then, in 2010, ahead of then-Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit, China began issuing stapled visas to residents of Jammu & Kashmir, making the point that the area was disputed. Recently, weeks ahead of new Premier Li Keqiang’s first visit in May last year, Chinese troops set up a tent in the Depsang plains in Ladakh, resulting in a face-off that almost derailed the trip.
Related: Troops face off at India-China border as nation’s leaders meet – The Washington Post Analysts said the standoff of soldiers in Chumar, sparked by the construction of a new road on the Chinese side, was one of the most intense in recent memory. In addition, Chinese yak and pony herders have allegedly pitched tents on Indian territory near the village of Demchok. Late Wednesday, Indian media reported that the troops in Chumar had begun to stand down, leaving some analysts mystified about the mixed messages China was sending — a show of military strength along the border that coincided with Xi’s efforts at one-on-one diplomacy. // Perhaps the consistent message China is sending is we want to improve the relationship but we will never concede territory that is rightfully ours?
Related: China not warlike, says Xi, as border standoff dominates India trip | Reuters But the mood was stern when Modi and Xi emerged from a long meeting to address reporters soon after officials confirmed that soldiers had pulled back from their positions in a western Himalayan region claimed by India and China. “I raised our serious concern over repeated incidents along the border,” said Modi, with Xi sitting to his right. “There should be peace in our relations and in the borders. If this happens, we can realize (the) true potential of our relations,” added Modi, a nationalist elected in May partly on promises to build a more assertive India.
Related: Xi’s visit will ‘deepen trust’ between India and China say experts… despite border spat and Tibetan protests | Daily Mail Online Chinese officials and leading strategic affairs experts told Mail Today they believe Xi’s three-day visit – and the 16 agreements signed on Thursday in fields ranging from multi-billion-dollar investments in industrial parks to railways cooperation and film co-production – would deepen the relationship at a time when two relatively new leaders were looking to establish a new paradigm for ties, while still grappling with old problems. Ma Jiali, a senior South Asia expert who has advised the Government on policy and is affiliated with the Party School in Beijing which trains future leaders, said in his estimation the visit “had gone very well and may well become a historical landmark in our relations”.
Related: Xi to announce new route for Mansarovar [And Mt. Kailash] – The Hindu still a multi-day drive, but G219 from Shigatse West is an excellent road // to The new route will now traverse through the city of Shigatse to the pilgrimage spot situated at a height of 19,500 feet, part of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. The route has a better highway owing to the infrastructure development there. The decision is a significant gesture for the pilgrims. The annual pilgrimage takes place by an arrangement with the External Affairs Ministry. Tour operators take pilgrims through the Nepal route.
China sticks to targeted support as leaders work on reform | Reuters When China’s top leaders gathered at the seaside resort town of Beidaihe last month, they agreed the economic focus for the rest of the year would be to put reform ahead of stimulus and accept growth could come in below their target of 7.5 percent. That means a major stimulus move, such as cutting key interest rates or bank reserve ratios is unlikely, but authorities are ready to step in if unemployment rises, according to policy insiders briefed on the secret discussions.
Deep Inside the Wild World of China’s Fracking Boom | Mother Jones Yet just as fracking technology has crossed over from the fields of Pennsylvania and Texas to the mountains of Sichuan, so have the questions about its risks and consequences. If fracking regulations in the United States are too weak, then in China the rules are practically nonexistent. Tian Qinghua, an environmental researcher at the Sichuan Academy of Environmental Sciences, fears that fracking operations in China will repeat a pattern he’s seen before. “There’s a phenomenon of ‘pollute first, clean up later,'” he says. “History is repeating itself.”
China power plants exempt from ban on using low-quality coal: sources | Reuters China’s bid to limit the consumption of low-quality thermal coal in major cities to help curb pollution will not apply to power plants, traders and utility sources said, exempting a sector responsible for half the country’s coal use. China said on Monday that from 2015 it would restrict the production, consumption and import of coal with high impurity levels in a bid to fight smog, much of which is caused by using coal for heating and electricity.
China hands drugmaker GSK record $489 million fine, sentences executives | Reuters A court in the city of Changsha also sentenced Mark Reilly, the former head of GSK in China, and other GSK executives to between two and four years in jail, according to state news agency Xinhua. However, Briton Reilly will be deported and will not face jail time in China, a source with direct knowledge of the case said.
Related: Meet the Glaxo Executives Convicted in China – China Real Time Report – WSJ A Chinese court on Friday sentenced five executives of U.K. drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline to between two to four years in prison for their role in bribing medical personnel and officials to boost drug sales there. But the executives – former Glaxo China head Mark Reilly and four Chinese executives below him – were also handed suspended sentences. Legal experts said that, if authorities follow the usual procedure, they wouldn’t go to priso
Related: 葛兰素史克中国公司被罚人民币30亿元-
Subcommittee Hearing: A New Era of U.S.-China Relations? | House Committee on Foreign Affairs – Ed Royce, Chairman Mr. Christopher K. Johnson Senior Adviser and Freeman Chair in China Studies Center for Strategic and International Studies; Mr. Gordon Chang Author // One Representative asks if the US should stop enforcing FCPA in China so that American companies can bribe Chinese officials more to help bring about the collapse of the CCP
Nudging China toward Overall Governance Reform – Caixin – Hu Shuli Editorial The budget law amendments hold the key to building a government based on rule of law and the country’s economic transformation. Under the old development model, the government behaves like it is omnipotent, with extensive powers that reach into every corner of our social and economic life. This kind of behavior is abetted by unconstrained fiscal management. By submitting government budgeting under rule of law, China moves closer to overall governance reform. The enactment of the revised law is just the first step. Given that the drafting of the law took a whole 10 years before it was passed, we can expect another major battle during its implementation, with interest groups seeking to protect their own.
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
Media Watch: Xinhua, People’s Daily in Rare Tussle, over Rate Cuts – Caixin The conflict quickly caught the attention of other media outlets and sparked discussions on websites and microblogging services over which argument was right. This happened just after the government published August’s economic data, showing that value-added industrial output slowed to the weakest level in more than five years. The conflict underscores the growing tension over how the central bank should react to the flagging economy. Beijing has sworn not to rely on easy money to stimulate growth, as it did after the 2008 financial crisis, but the central bank has repeatedly faced pressure to relax liquidity every time growth figures weakened.
China house prices fall for fourth straight month as downtrend deepens | Reuters Average new home prices across China fell 1.1 percent last month, a faster decline than the 0.9 percent drop seen in July, according to the Reuters weighted home price index, which was calculated from data issued by the National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday. The string of monthly price declines is now close to wiping out gains seen over the last year, which could further weaken buying interest and dampen consumer confidence. Compared to a year ago, new home prices were up just 0.5 percent in August, easing from the previous month’s 2.5 percent gain and the slowest annual growth in 20 months.
China investigates ex-chair of Guangfa Bank on suspicion of graft | Reuters The former chairman of China Guangfa Bank Co Ltd, part-owned by Citigroup Inc., is being investigated on suspicion of taking bribes, prosecutors said on Thursday, the latest official caught up in a widening corruption crackdown.
Making Ownership Matter: Prospects for China’s Mixed-Ownership Economy This new Paulson Policy Memorandum concludes that performance improvements will not automatically follow from private investment in state-controlled firms. Ultimately, performance improvements may require changes not contemplated by the Third Plenum. Put as bluntly as possible: the prospects for a mixed ownership economy will ultimately depend on the state’s willingness to cede control—not just ownership—of some of the nation’s largest enterprises to private interests.
500 Bln Yuan Question: Is PBOC Going to Ease Liquidity for Certain Banks? – Caixin A source from one of the banks who manages the lender’s financial market department declined to say whether the leaked information is accurate, but added: “Since everyone says it is true, it must be true.” A source close to the central bank declined to comment on whether it has made or is about to make the move. But he said the regulator carries out operations all the time and some of them are made without telling the market.
Chinese Property Investors Make Big Bets Overseas – WSJ Mr. Xu founded Advanced Business Park in 2003, hoping to capitalize on the rise of an entrepreneurial business class in China. The idea was to transform industrial wasteland into business parks for emergent companies. The London project is his first abroad. Mr. Xu said he was eyeing another opportunity near the current Royal Albert Dock site, as well as prospects in Paris, Frankfurt and New York. He focused first on the U.K., he said, because “the U.K. is a very small country. So if you didn’t snatch up the opportunities early enough, there wouldn’t be any opportunities left.”
Unsecured Nomura-backed loan, missing CEO add red flags to China lending Ultrasonic on Tuesday said CEO Wu Qingyong and his son, Chief Operating Officer Wu Minghong, had been missing since the weekend, and most of the company’s cash reserves in China and Hong Kong had vanished. On Thursday, the company said the pair had withdrawn the cash in two tranches. Just five weeks earlier, the CEO and Ultrasonic’s listed holding company had guaranteed the loan, extended by Nomura’s Hong Kong unit after extensive checks on the company and its customers, people involved in the loan talks told Reuters. CEO Wu was well known in Jinjiang City in the southeastern province of Fujian, where the company’s factory was located. He received an award from the provincial government last year in recognition of his contribution to the development of the Western Taiwan Straits Economic Zone, according to a government website.
Dim Sums: Rural China Economics and Policy: China’s “Seed Sovereignty” Strategy anyone know who is behind this blog? Interesting, too bad anonymous // The Chinese government is giving domestic seed companies tax breaks, engineering consolidations, and setting up a jerry-rigged system of supplying publicly-funded seed research to private companies to prop up its seed industry. The aim is to stem the dominance of multinational companies in China’s seed market and preserve “seed sovereignty.”
China to Allow Direct Car-Parts Sales Amid Antitrust Push – Bloomberg From next year, automakers will have to publicly release vehicle maintenance and technical information of newly introduced models, including those that are imported, according to the guidelines jointly issued yesterday by the National Development and Reform Commission and nine ministries. The move comes after authorities in the world’s largest auto market doled out the biggest antitrust fines in the country since relevant rules came into effect six years ago. The latest guidelines are meant to allow fair competition and give consumers more choice, according to the statement.
李克强考察上海自贸区 解析负面清单管理_政经频道_财新网 Li Keqiang inspects the Shanghai FTZ // 李克强表示，负面清单实际上支撑着政府的责任清单：
China railways brace for record passengers for upcoming holiday – Xinhua Chinese train bookings have surged and the country’s railways are expected to see a record number of passengers for the upcoming seven-day National Day Holiday that starts on Oct. 1. The China Railways Corporation said on Friday that tickets for train trips through the holiday became available for booking starting Sept. 9. As of Sept. 18, more than 85.6 million tickets were sold, up 13.3 percent year on year, according to the company.
POLITICS AND LAW
China to try former senior planning official for corruption | Reuters Liu Tienan was sacked in May last year. Luo Changping, deputy editor-in-chief of the investigative magazine Caijing, posted accusations on his microblog in late 2012 that Liu was involved in a number of illegal activities. Liu’s trial will open on Wednesday in Langfang in the northern province of Hebei, close to Beijing, the China News Service said, without providing further details.
What is Going on With China’s Constitution? | China Law & Policy But Xi is far from a constitutional convert, at least not in the Western sense. Even with this rhetorical debate at the upper echelons of the CCP, Xi’s constitutional dream is far from a free society that promotes individual’s civil rights. Rogier Creemers, a post-doctoral research officer at Oxford’s Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy, explained this to China Law & Policy. The State is merely a reflection of the society which it governs and according to Creemers, “the [Chinese] State is there to restore the Chinese nation back to its collective greatness. One of the key ways in which the CCP justifies its rule is that it knows best how to generate [that] development. In that sense, law should not be used to constrain the State in its search for national rejuvenation, but to consolidate the progress that has been made on the road towards it. In the economic realm, that means law very often is the outcome of years of policy experimentation, while in the criminal realm, it means vast powers for the State to deal with those who would oppose it, where necessary.”…Rule of law in China “is about delivering economic outcomes and a certain ideal of virtuous behavior by agents of the State” Creemer stated. Nothing in Xi’s rhetorical use of the Constitution diverges from that concept.
从“五四宪法”走过来的法治梦（中国道路中国梦）–观点–
Dalai Lama hails China’s Xi as ‘more open-minded’ – Yahoo News “Xi Jinping’s approach (is) more realistic, more open-minded” than that of his Chinese predecessor Hu Jintao, the Tibetan spiritual leader told reporters in Mumbai on Thursday. “Xi Jinping’s thinking (is) more realistic, more open-minded, so he can learn more things from India,” he continued.
Senior Inner Mongolia Official Latest to Run Afoul of Graft Investigators – Caixin CDIC’s inquiry into Pan Yiyang said to be linked to his time in the rare earth minerals industry
广州原副市长曹鉴燎被曝曾给情人1700万元分手费(图)_
晋媒论反腐:不能让商人当地下组织部长(图)_网易新闻中心
China’s corrupt media – China Media Project The 21cbh.com case stands as further proof positive that China’s media has entered an era of corruption. In the coming years, I’m afraid, we will continue to see cases and stories like these. “Age of Corruption” was the cover of the April 2013 edition of China Weekly, the magazine where until recently I was editor-in-chief. Our coverage in that issue sketched an outline of the present age in which we have found ourselves. In our political, economic and cultural life, we are in an age of corruption. And there is no better phrase to capture the ethos of our present-day media industry.
Corruption in media needs to be stamped out with decisive steps[1]- Chinadaily Several editors at Shanghai-based business news website 21cbh.com were detained last week for allegedly blackmailing enterprises. According to the police, the case involved a huge amount of money. Xinhua News Agency’s branch in Shanghai “automatically” ended a 3.5 million yuan ($590,000) contract with Bank of Communications last week after the central authority’s disciplinary inspection team found the contract actually was a way for the bank to buy good news or ignorance from the State-run media. The two cases came after President Xi Jinping vowed to reform the media last month and are believed to be a starting point for the authorities to deal with corruption in the media.
Why news extortion is so hard to uncover – China Media Project The tactic of using investigative reporting — what in China is called “supervision by public opinion,” or yulun jiandu (舆论监督) — in order to extort money from businesses is not unfortunately a new one. But in this case, the sheer scale and organizational nature of news extortion as a business model for internet media is astonishing. The 21st Century Business Herald web case is still under investigation, and it’s too early to determine the exact nature of these alleged crimes. But judging from the so-called “confessions” we have seen from the suspects involved, it seems likely there is merit to the accusation that negative reports were used for revenue generation at the website.
Beijing forms city’s own media watchdog to run after ‘immoral’ journalists | South China Morning Post The media ethics commission – comprising newspaper executives and reporters, media academics and spokespeople of government departments – was formed to place “more emphasis on ethics in the media industry of the city”, the Beijing Times reported.
2014年8月全国查处违反中央八项规定精神问题汇总表——
China separatism trial of Muslim scholar ends, verdict next week: lawyer | Reuters Tohti was on Thursday able to speak in his defence, his lawyer, Li Fangping, said, telling the court that he established the website to promote dialogue between Uighur and Han scholars and that he had publicly opposed separatism and violence. “They heard him, but whether they will consider it is hard to know,” Li told Reuters by telephone from Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi where the trial was held.
李鸿忠：严惩腐败必须纠正错误认识–新闻报道-人民网
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
China Navy Chief Seeks to Avoid Repeat of 2001 U.S. Crash – Bloomberg Wu told his American hosts that although China will continue to identify and closely check all reconnaissance activities off the Chinese coast, he didn’t want to see a repeat of the April 2001 Hainan incident when a Chinese fighter and collided with a U.S. Navy EP-3 surveillance plane. The Chinese pilot Wang Wei was killed during the collision, which caused the first diplomatic crisis of President George W. Bush’s administration after the U.S. aircraft made an emergency landing on Hainan Island. In Rhode Island, Wu refused to have a formal meeting with his Japanese counterpart on the sidelines of the forum, the Global Times said. Wu said it wouldn’t be appropriate for them to meet before a formal meeting between Xi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Banyan: Pax Sinica | The Economist But to note the potential conflicts among the different multilateral organisations China is promoting may be to miss the point. America’s leading role in Asia is based on a number of bilateral security treaties and a plethora of inclusive multilateral institutions, all open to Chinese membership. China itself is building all sorts of institutions: the SCO, CICA, the “BRICS” (grouping China with Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa), a Trilateral Commission (at present languishing) with South Korea and Japan and a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Their shared characteristics are that China has a big and sometimes dominant role and that the United States is not a member—and indeed was rebuffed when it sought to join the SCO as an observer. China is not just challenging the existing world order. Slowly, messily and, apparently with no clear end in view, it is building a new one.
Former US officer leaked secrets to Chinese girlfriend – Yahoo News A former US Army officer has been jailed for seven years for leaking confidential military information to his Chinese girlfriend in Hawaii. Benjamin Pierce Bishop, an ex civilian defense contractor and retired lieutenant colonel, also admitted retaining classified information at his home. // idiot. no relation
As possibility of third world war exists, China needs to be prepared – Global Times Han Xudong, NDU professor // In an era when a third world war may take place, an important topic for the Chinese military is how to develop its power to maintain its national interests. This should become the basis for its development, because since the founding of the PRC, the development of its military forces has been centered around maintaining its rights on the land. As the rivalry on the sea grows intense, China’s military development should shift from maintaining the country’s rights on the land to maintaining its rights on the sea. Meanwhile, China is standing at the focal point of rivalries. This requires China to develop its military power based on a global war. China is in the heartland of the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.
China marks anniversary of Japanese intrusion – Xinhua relatively subdued coverage this anniversary, perhaps a positive sign // Liu Yunshan (L, front), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, joins citizens to strike a big bell carved with “never forget national humiliation” to mark the 83rd anniversary of the 9.18 Incident, in Shenyang, capital of northeast China’s Liaoning Province, Sept. 18, 2014. On Sept. 18, 1931, Japanese troops blew up a section of the railway under their control near Shenyang, and then accused Chinese troops of sabotage as a pretext for attack. They bombarded barracks near Shenyang the same evening, beginning a large-scale armed invasion of northeast China. The incident was followed by Japan’s full-scale invasion of China and the rest of Asia, triggering the war against Japanese aggression.
Xi announces new aid for combating Ebola – Xinhua Chinese President Xi Jinping announced here Thursday an aid package of 200 million yuan (about 32.54 million U.S. dollars) for West African countries to combat Ebola, including Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The aid will include cash, food and materials, announced Xi who is on a state visit to India, adding that his country will also provide the World Health Organization with 2 million dollars in cash and give the African Union the same amount.
Asia Unbound » How Much Can China Offer in Africa’s Ebola Crisis? In short, China cannot become Africa’s savior in the current crisis. There is no evidence that Chinese leaders actually buy into the fantasy created by the state media. They might be convinced that allowing the latter to keep up the pretense helps spread soft power in Africa. But as Joseph Nye of Harvard University noted, soft power depends on credibility. By exaggerating its contributions to the Ebola outbreak, the state media is undermining China’s humanitarian efforts in Africa as well as its image internationally.
Senkakus see rise in China’s fishing forays – The Japan News The number of intrusions into Japanese territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture by Chinese fishing boats has been rapidly increasing since the start of this year, suggesting a change in China’s strategy. Two years have passed since Japan’s nationalization of the Senkaku Islands. Chinese government vessels, which carry similar equipment to Japan Coast Guard patrol vessels, have been less active. But the number of intrusions into territorial waters by Chinese fishing boats in 2014 has increased more than 25-fold compared with that of 2011, before the nationalization of the islands.
TECH AND MEDIA
Watchdog Repeats Order to Remove Net TV Apps from E-Stores – Caixin “The measures show that the regulator is determined to restructure the Internet TV industry,” said a person who works in the field. “The next step will be to crack down on unauthorized content providers.” The authorities are discussing amending a regulation covering Internet information services that was issued in 2000, sources with the knowledge of the matter said. The amendment would put in place stricter rules that might be imposed on Internet TVs and other devices, one of the sources said. Those measures would end video companies’ ambitious plans to take over living rooms, one veteran of the Internet industry said. The rules would mean only licensed providers could control the industry and strangle innovation.
Apple’s iPhone 6 gets one Chinese license, needs another before sales begin | Reuters Apple has not yet issued an iPhone 6 release date for China, one of its most important markets, leading to widespread speculation that it has encountered difficulty obtaining the requisite licences from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), which tests new phones before they may enter national telecom networks. Apple still needs to obtain a critical network access licence for the iPhone, after which sales may begin, Xinhua said.
Gold IPhones at $3,600 as China Delay Fuels Black Market – Bloomberg Four vendors nearby offered the 128-gigabyte iPhone 6 for delivery on Sept. 20 at the equivalent of about $2,441, compared with the Hong Kong price of about $927. Consumers typically waited at least three months for Apple to start selling new iPhones in China, triggering a flood of devices into the country’s black market. As many as 5 million may be smuggled into China before the new models are officially available, said Neil Shah, Mumbai-based research director for devices at Counterpoint Research.
Apple Looks For Chinese Police Link – For Its Payroll – China Real Time Report – WSJ The computer and iPhone maker is seeking a head of law enforcement at its China arm. The job posting – put on LinkedIn about six weeks ago but picked up by social media only this week – says the position involves handling requests for information from various law-enforcement agencies as well as courts and prosecutors. The qualifications would probably discourage most walk-ins. It calls for at least eight years of law-enforcement or legal experience as well as a background in working with government agencies.
传广电总局要求本周内所有视频网站TV版APP下架|广电总局|
China’s Tencent Wants to Make Movies (Just Like Everyone Else) – China Real Time Report – WSJ The latest company to catch it is Tencent Holdings, which announced Wednesday a new movie division called Tencent Movies+. The company outlined plans for its first seven original movies, one of which will be based on a novella by Nobel-prize winner Mo Yan. The others will be based on popular Tencent videogames and cartoons. The launch of the film production arm marks Tencent’s latest move in the space. It announced in June that it would invest in six local films. Tencent is also a major shareholder of Huayi Brothers Media Corp., a leading Chinese film studio.
Forsaking the Fluff, China Joins the Cloud – Caixin China’s view of foreign companies has soured since a 2013 scandal over information security tied to the U.S. National Security Agency. Thus, a foreign company’s level of success in the country will be closely related to how well its government and the Chinese government get along. Domestic companies are competing for government contracts. China Telecom and Alibaba Group, for example, have locked horns while competing for a few contracts over the past year. Alibaba started pursuing government cloud service business in late 2013, after China Telecom was already well-established in the business. Sources say China Telecom has won more than half of the contested deals, including several in Alibaba’s home province Zhejiang. In another wrinkle, some foreign companies have indicated that they do not want Chinese clients to audit their services and clients, even though Chinese cloud providers have no similar objections.
Television censor gets 10 years for taking bribes – Global Times A censor in China’s broadcast administration has been sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison for taking bribes from production companies for helping them get permits for their television shows. Li Ning, a censor with the television department at the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, received his sentence on August 11 for taking bribes of 300,000 yuan ($48,859), beginning in 2006 when he took the position, Beijing-based Legal Mirror reported on Wednesday.
Alibaba in funding talks with Snapdeal as it looks to enter India’s booming online retail space – The Economic Times China’s Alibaba has been in talks with Snapdeal as it looks to enter India’s booming online retail industry, according to two people aware of the development. Alibaba, whose mammoth share sale in the US is underway, is considering investment in Snapdeal as one of its options while it sizes up the online consumer market in this country. “India is a huge opportunity for Alibaba,” said a person directly aware of the matter.
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Video: The Chinese Central Perk cafe where everyone’s obsessed with Friends – Telegraph Hidden on the 6th floor of a Beijing shopping complex is a detailed replica of the Central Perk coffee shop, where staff and customers while away hours watching series back-to-back and sipping coffee on that sofa. The cafe manager Xue Huahua, who chose the Western name Rachel, was born in the same year as the show’s first episode.
北大毕业生建设22座乡村图书馆 陆续被叫停_网易新闻中心 核心提示：2007年，
Why is Ai Weiwei Breaking Into Alcatraz? | Arts & Culture | Smithsonian China’s most controversial artist selected America’s most notorious prison as the home for his new show
Li Na – LETTER FROM LI NA: My dear friends, For close to… 2014 has become one of the most significant years in my career and my life. This year was full of amazing highlights, which included winning my second Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open and sharing the extraordinary experience with my country, my team, my husband and my fans. It was also a year filled with difficult moments, such as having to deal with the inevitable – making the decision to end my professional tennis career.
Chinese Fans Celebrate Li Na’s Historic Career – NYTimes.com After reports of her impending retirement began emerging late Thursday, comments poured out on Chinese social media sites. The story led most newspapers’ sports sections on Friday and became the most discussed news topic on Sina Weibo, surpassing the initial public offering of the Internet company Alibaba and the independence referendum in Scotland.
The Origins of Uyghur Nationalism | Dissertation Reviews At long last, David Brophy has brought the Uyghurs of Central Asia down from one of the most durable perches of national mythmaking left in the twenty-first century. In its place, we now have a supremely commendable account of the true life cycle of the Uyghur project in Xinjiang. Shunned at birth by the Chinese, the Uyghur idea was adopted by the Soviets, set adrift during its tempestuous teen years, reconciled amid a reunion that could not last, cast out during a midlife crisis, and then finally dumped at the foot of the Chinese. Now a bitter old man, unwanted by the only father figures he has ever known, it should not surprise us in the least if the behavior of Uyghur intellectuals and activists today seems decidedly ambivalent.
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
China’s Trash Is Getting Dirtier – Bloomberg View On Tuesday, I spoke with Chen Liwen, a researcher with the environmental NGO Nature University in Beijing. Chen is one of the world’s leading experts on Chinese scrap peddlers (I’ve accompanied her on research dives in Beijing). She immediately started describing how skyrocketing land values were changing China’s trash ecosystem. “Remember how the scrap markets were all in the city? Now they’re being demolished for real estate developments,” she sighs. “When the recycling markets are destroyed, the waste pickers find other jobs and the cheap recycling stuff — glass, plastics, and wood — goes into the landfill.”
FOOD AND TRAVEL
67,000 passengers travel on Lhasa-Shigatse Railway in 1st month_News_Home 2012_China Tibet Online To meet the growing demand of the passengers, 16 temporary trains have been added from Lhasa to Shigatse including Train K9823 aside from the regular Train K9821 from Aug.18 to Sept.15. Train K9821 departs from Lhasa at 9 a.m. and arrives in Shigatse at 11:59 a.m.，and Train K9823 departs from Lhasa at 9:40 a.m. and arrives in Shigatse at 12:39 p.m. Every train has been fully packed since its operation started. “We will increase more temporary trains from Sept. 16 to 21,” the railway attendant said.
US tourism site for overseas Chinese gets $20M from Tencent Woqu, an online travel agency for Chinese looking to make a trip to the US, has secured a US$20 million series B round of funding led by Tencent, according to QQ Tech. Morningside Capital also participated in the round. Woqu acts as a one-stop shop for everything a Chinese citizen needs to travel to the US. Most of its offerings are for tours and attractions in the northeast region of the US, whether customers are visiting Hawaii, New York City, Alaska or California.
BEIJING
Saving the Clangs, Songs, and Shouts of Old Beijing – CityLab Colin Chinnery wants to record that sound. He also hopes to recreate—with the help of actors and sound technicians—the voices of the Red Guards shouting Maoist slogans during the Cultural Revolution, the wind whistling through the imported Canadian poplars that were planted in Beijing in the 1950s, and even the screech of the brakes on modern Beijing buses. Chinnery’s Beijing Sound History Project seeks to preserve history in a city that is rapidly destroying its own heritage every day. “There’s a goldmine of information and stories” that come from seeking out the sounds of Beijing, from its pre-revolutionary days to today, Chinnery says.
Jing Daily: From Brooklyn To Beijing: 798 Art Zone Lands On Vogue’s ‘Coolest Neighborhoods’ List Joining locales such as Shimokitazawa in Tokyo (#1), Södermalm in Stockholm (#3), Bushwick in New York (#7), and Silver Lake in Los Angeles (#12) on the exclusive list of 15 is Beijing’s Dashanzi Art District, which is more commonly known as the 798 Art Zone. Ranked at number 15, it’s the only neighborhood in China to earn a spot and is one of three neighborhoods listed in Asia.