"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
The DC dysfunction puts China in a difficult place. Any financial markets turmoil that occurs because of a failure of Congress to do its job could harm China’s economy, and especially its exports. The accumulation of massive foreign-exchange reserves, now at record levels, is a feature not a bug of China’s economic model, and in spite of increased talk of diversification China has few viable options beyond US government securities for those massive reserves.
A default or debt crisis that hits US Treasuries would not only would reduce the value of China’s massive holdings of US government securities but would also open the leadership to domestic criticism for having so much of China’s “hard-earned” money invested in the US. The heavily cited Xinhua piece calling for a “De-Americanized world” was written for the Xinhua English service and did not get huge play in domestic media. Between the huge holdings US government assets and the large number of officials with financial and family ties to the USA, excessive criticism of the DC dysfunction could be a double-edged sword.
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
Seeing Its Own Money at Risk, China Rails at U.S. – NYTimes.com China does not have many options beyond wringing its hands. Despite its efforts to steer its economy away from exports and toward domestic demand, China generates billions of dollars of excess cash that it needs to park somewhere. And for all the chaos in Washington, Treasury bonds remain a safer investment than most of the alternatives….“This is certainly a wake-up call for them that holding U.S. government securities is not risk-free,” said Nicholas R. Lardy, an expert on the Chinese economy at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “What they should be doing is quit adding to their foreign reserves.”
Related: China’s Biggest Reserves Jump Since 2011 Shows Inflow – Bloomberg China’s foreign-exchange reserves rose last quarter by the most in more than two years, a sign the government’s efforts to protect growth attracted money even as developing nations from India to Indonesia saw capital exit. Reserves were a record $3.66 trillion at the end of September, the People’s Bank of China said yesterday in Beijing, up from $3.5 trillion in June. The median projection was $3.52 trillion in a Bloomberg News survey of seven economists.
Related: China Said to Study Investing More Reserves in European Property – Bloomberg The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, seeking to diversify the nation’s investments, is looking at real estate and infrastructure projects with a focus on the U.K., France, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, said the people, who asked not to be identified as they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the matter. Valuations for such projects are currently at an attractive level, they said.
Related: SAFE to Buy Paris Shopping Center: Report-CaijingSAFE, which manages the country’s $3.4 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves, is among the potential bidders to buy the Beaugrenelle shopping mall situated in a prime location of the capital, the French newspaper Le Figaro reported.
CCTV series tells the story of Xi Zhongxun | South China Morning Post CCTV started its research 10 years ago and began production three year ago after it became public that Xi had been selected as successor to Hu Jintao . The series illustrates how the senior Xi took part in the Communist Party revolution, helping to found the guerilla bases in the northwestern provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu, and played an important role in establishing the mainland’s special economic zones. // 纪录片习仲勋-顶级首播_央视网 four episodes online so far
Related: [视频]纪念习仲勋同志诞辰100周年座谈会在京举行_新闻频道_央视网 Tuesday CCTV Evening News report on Xi Zhongxun Symposium // 大家在发言中回顾了习仲勋早年参加革命，出生入死、转战陕甘，创建革命根据地的英勇事迹；对他长期主持西北局工作，为夺取西北地区革命胜利、建立和巩固新生的人民政权作出杰出贡献给予高度评价；追忆了他在国务院协助周恩来总理工作长达10年，被大家誉为国务院的”大管家”，为新中国建设和发展作出的重要贡献；赞扬了他主政广东，为贯彻党的十一届三中全会路线、推动广东在全国率先改革开放作出的重大贡献；高度评价了习仲勋主持中央书记处日常工作，为拨乱反正、加强新时期党的建设、开创统一战线工作新局面作出的卓越贡献，以及他在全国人大工作期间，为坚持和完善人民代表大会制度、加强社会主义民主法制建设作出的极大努力。
Related: 李建國在紀念習仲勛同志誕辰100周年座談會上的講話–新聞報道-人民網 Li Jiangguo’s long speech at the Xi Zhongxun symposium…about a full page in today’s People’s Daily. Weren’t there rumors in January that Li Jianguo was in trouble for corruption? whoops…
Related: Chinese president’s father is getting a postmortem revival – latimes.com Xi Zhongxun, President Xi Jinping’s father, is the focus of tributes in Fuping. The city plans a theme park with a bigger statue of the older Xi, a native son.
China to ban new projects, strengthen market in new overcapacity plan | Reuters Margins in the targeted sectors, which also include shipbuilding, aluminium and glassmaking, have been affected for years by a capacity glut that has left many firms suffering heavy losses and reliant on government subsidy. The long-awaited plan, published by China’s cabinet, said it would focus on “establishing and perfecting” market mechanisms, marking a change of approach after years spent trying to strong-arm the sectors into submission.
Related: [视频]国务院印发《关于化解产能严重过剩矛盾的指导意见》_新闻频道_央视网 Tuesday CCTV Evening News on State Council guiding opinion on dealing w overcapacity// 《指导意见》根据行业特点，分别提出了钢铁、水泥、电解铝、平板玻璃、船舶等行业分业施策意见，并确定了当前化解产能严重过剩矛盾的8项主要任务：一是严禁建设新增产能项目，分类妥善处理在建违规项目。二是全面清理整顿已建成的违规产能，加强规范和准入管理。三是坚决淘汰落后产能，引导产能有序退出。四是推进企业兼并重组，优化产业空间布局。五是努力开拓国内有效需求，着力改善需求结构。六是巩固扩大国际市场，拓展对外投资合作。七是突破核心关键技术，加强企业管理创新，增强企业创新驱动发展动力。八是创新政府管理，营造公平环境，完善市场机制，建立长效机制。
Related: 国务院要求严控产能过剩 压缩8000万吨钢铁产能_网易财经 full text of State Council Guiding Opinion on dealing with overcapacity// 国务院关于化解产能严重过剩矛盾的指导意见 国发〔2013〕41号 各省、自治区、直辖市人民政府，国务院各部委、各直属机构：
Related: 山东钢铁经理：很多钢厂宁亏死不停产-财经网 seems like it will be very hard to implement the overcapacity plan // 为了实现经济效益和政绩，地方政府对行业的过分干预造成行业不能减产停产，已经成为行业产能难以削减的主因。钢铁企业规模较大，往往是就业和纳税大户。今年7月31日，中钢协称，上半年中国钢铁业再现全行业亏损，吨钢利润只有0.4元
人大重阳网|三中全会重点内容抢先知：涉及八个重点领域 text of report submitted by State Council’s DRC of suggested reforms for the upcoming Third Plenum…ambitious, no idea how much weight they carry or what the prospects for adoption are // 国务院发展研究中心为十八届三中全会提交了一份改革方案总报告，简称为“383方案”，即包含“三位一体改革思路、八个重点改革领域、三个关联性改革组合”的新一轮改革的基本思路和行动方案。
中国“裸官”报告-财经网 Caijing report on corrupt “naked officials” who have fled overseas // 除了国有企业负责人、中资驻外机构负责人和政府官员携款外逃，金融行业内负责人或者主管人员外逃，成为贪官外逃的重灾区。
Communist Party told to innovate online to thwart West | South China Morning Post The Communist Party’s capability was weak and outdated in dealing with ideological attacks by Western countries, which are skilled at creating new topics and “political rumours” via the internet, Liu, political commissar of the People’s Liberation Army National Defence University, wrote in a commentary in the army’s mouthpiece, the PLA Daily. The commentary is a departure from Liu’s previous statements. In July, he published an article in the party’s influential magazine Qiushi Journal to warn the PLA that it must embrace change or risk losing out to its international rivals. // clearly lays out one aspect of the case for the neutralization of the Big Vs…looking for data on how many of the top 100 Sina Weibo Big Vs hold foreign passports
Related: 刘亚洲：西方敌对势力妄图以互联网”扳倒中国”_网易新闻中心 Liu Yazhou’s commentary // 主动争夺制话语权。意识形态较量的实质是制话语权。谁拥有了制话语权，谁就能引导民众。历史表明，对于国家、政权与军队来说，制空权、制海权与制信息权非常重要，可以在“硬较量”中获胜；但如果失去了制话语权，则可能在“硬较量”未发生之前，国家就已分裂，政权就已易手。有人说，上世纪60年代之前，谁掌控了纸质媒体，谁就拥有话语权；上世纪90年代之前，谁掌控了电视媒体，谁就拥有更多话语权；而进入新世纪后，谁掌控了互联网尤其是微博客资源，谁就拥有最大的话语权。今天的互联网已经成为意识形态领域斗争的主战场，西方敌对势力妄图以这个“最大变量”来“扳倒中国”。各种反主流意识形态思潮混杂在政治性谣言甚至“心灵鸡汤”之中，在互联网上竞相发声，而且极具蛊惑力。要争夺制话语权，就必须重视舆论生态和媒体格局的深刻变化，与时俱进创新理念和手段。否则，新办法不会用，老办法不管用，硬办法不敢用，软办法不顶用，那就非常危险了。
Related: Busting China’s Bloggers – NYTimes.com Murong Xuecong // It’s easy to see why the government feels threatened. The most popular microblogging service, Sina’s Weibo, has more than 500 million registered members and 54 million daily users, and has become the most important space for citizens to participate in public life — and expose government lies. Microbloggers dare to question the legitimacy of the one-party state. They expose corruption. They shame criminals. And Big V bloggers don’t just express opinions; we act as information hubs.
GSK’s Reilly barred from leaving China – Telegraph why on earth did he return to China?// The British former chief of GlaxoSmithKline’s operation in China has returned to the country to “help” police with bribery investigations – but been barred from leaving, it can be disclosed…A pharmaceutical executive suggested Mr Humphrey was hired by Mr Reilly to investigate certain GSK employees and that he had subsequently helped Mr Reilly leave the country. “The police were really angry that Reilly left in the first place. They had put a travel ban on him. And Humphrey helped him leave,” he said. // murkier and murkier
Cockroach farms multiplying in China – latimes.com with photos and video // Farmers are pinning their future on the often-dreaded insect, which when dried goes for as much as $20 a pound — for use in Asian medicine and in cosmetics…Liu Yusheng, head of the Shandong Insect Industry Assn. eats fried cockroaches. Liu worries about the rapid growth of an industry with too many inexperienced players and too little oversight. // what could go wrong?
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
CITIC launches China’s first land-backed trust product | Reuters A trust company run by CITIC, one of China’s biggest investment firms, has launched the country’s first trust product backed by rural land rights, as Beijing plans land reforms to boost farm productivity and quicken urbanisation. Under the plan, CITIC Trust Co. will lease 5,400 mu (360 hectares) of land from farmers in Suzhou city, China’s eastern Anhui province, and then transfer the land rights to a farming company, according a statement issued by the trust firm. // 土地流转信托“破冰” 首单花落中信信托–第一财经日报
China Steel Binge Spurs Record Hiring of Iron-Ore Vessels – Bloomberg The jump in chartering reflects average monthly Chinese steel output that’s been about 10 percent higher in 2013, reducing the nation’s ore stockpiles to the lowest for this time of year since 2007. Imports of the raw material into China rose to a record last month. The demand is diminishing the fleet’s biggest capacity glut in three decades, spurring an almost sevenfold surge in rates since Jan. 2 that means ship owners are making money again for the first time in almost two years.
河南担保集资乱象：借款企业“黑吃黑”_财经频道_一财网 Henan guarantee companies also in trouble? First Financial says wave of bankruptcies in Henan// 担保公司倒闭背后，则是河南一些缺乏严格监管的担保公司，在迅速野蛮成长的同时，也在暴利面前逐渐偏离了既定的郑州模式。
投资者”天地侠影”被警方带走 或因质疑上市公司_网易新闻中心 person detained for questioning the finances of a couple of listed Chinese firms…// “警察来了。”10月12日10：20，曾因质疑广汇能源、天士力等上市公司而在网络上颇有名气的雪球用户“天地侠影”发布了上述4字微博，此后便再无更新。而据相关媒体报道，天地侠影已在上海被警方控制，或与其屡屡在网络发布质疑上市公司的调研报告有关。 // he was using investing discussion site Xueqiu.com, to which I am technically an advisor and in which Charles Xue is an investor…uugh…
World Bank support for China solar and wind power may have cost U.S. jobs – The Washington Post For U.S. firms such as Solar World, the impact of bank programs in China became obvious as they watched imports from the world’s second-largest economy gobble U.S. market share. “What you see is a serious problem when these loans go to fund massive overcapacity [in China] that ends up harming U.S. industries and U.S. workers as a result,” said Tim Brightbill, a lawyer at the Wiley Rein law firm who represented a coalition of U.S. solar companies that won penalties against Chinese manufacturers for “dumping” products in the United States at unfair prices.
The Rise of Chinese Trust Funds – Economic Observer A wealthy 55-year-old factory owner in Tianjin has a wife in China and a 25-year-old daughter studying in England. However, he also has an illegal second “wife” in the U.S. whom he has a 3-year-old daughter with. Until recently, the two wives were unaware of one another. However, his balancing act ran afoul when his legal wife got wind of his second marriage. The man doesn’t want to divorce his wife, nor does he want a dispute over the division of his property between his family members. Upon the advice from Zheng Jinqiao (郑锦桥), the CEO of Richlink Capital, he made a trust fund for his assets that distributes his property four ways so that he can secure the livelihood of his relatives and his daughters’ education. Zheng Jinqiao said that the trust assets are worth about 500 million yuan including cash, estates and company shares. If his wife insists on a divorce, then her portion of the earnings will fall according to a clause he set in the trust.
POLITICS AND LAW
Old Dreams for a New China by Ian Johnson | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books great article, the posters are all eye-catching, I have been taking pictures of them, but wonder if foreigners are the only ones who actually pay attention to them…growing up with the barrage of propaganda posters seems to make many just ignore them// Xi Jinping’s China Dream posters are linked to this earlier era of Communist sloganeering. The difference is that while the old posters touted Communist values, the new ones largely replace them with pre-Communist Chinese traditions—drawing on traditional folk art like paper cutouts, woodblock prints, and clay figurines to illustrate their message. This is a redefinition of the state’s vision from a Marxist utopia to a Confucian, family-centric nation, defined by a quiet life of respecting the elderly and saving for the future.
人民日报：新时期中国特色社会主义新闻事业的行动纲领–观点–人民网 Long piece on Theory page of today’s People’s Daily by Yang Zhenwu, chief editor of the People’s Daily, on studying Xi Jinping’s 8.19 ideological work conference…”a program of action for news in new period of socialism with Chinese characteristics?
Shanghai’s propaganda chief Xu Lin calls for tighter media control | South China Morning Post “Shanghai is at the forefront of the meeting of Chinese and Western thought,” Xu Lin, the head of the city’s propaganda department wrote in Monday’s People’s Daily. Therefore, the city must “strengthen the management” of newspapers, television stations, online platforms, forums and seminars, he wrote. Shanghai will strengthen its capacity to “guide public opinion” and expand its internet monitoring teams, he added.
习重推毛时代 “枫桥经验”被扣毛左帽子_中国_多维新闻网 枫桥经验出笼于社会主义教育运动（以下简称“社教运动”），是作为解决敌我矛盾被推广的。而习近平所提的枫桥经验，已然没有了阶级斗争为纲的政治大环境，更多指向的是如何依靠群众践行法治，如何解决社会冲突和矛盾。党报官媒在同声共振式的宣传过程中，忽略了对枫桥经验的缘起、发展等基本情况的介绍，也没有理清毛时代枫桥经验与习近平当前所提经验的侧重点和不同内涵，而是单刀直入将其与习近平的群众路线教育实践活动联系在一起，不免给公众造成一种“习正在沿着毛泽东施政路线越走越远”的错觉。
Pictures of demonstrations in Yuyao Did any foreign journalists go to to Yuyao when it became obvious a few days ago that the flooding and damage was significant?
Fei Chang Dao: Demonstrations Reported in Yu Yao, Baidu and Sina Weibo Begin Censoring “Yu Yao Demonstrations” Many residents in Yuyao also called for rational reflection on the city’s disaster warning and emergency response system instead of blind protest on Tuesday, while thousands of people gathered to criticize the government’s ineffectiveness in the disaster relief work following Typhoon Fitow brought severe flood to the city. The rally, organized by some residents through Weibo, text messages and WeChat, began early Tuesday morning in front of the city’s government building.
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
Li raises four-point proposal on upgrading China-Vietnam business cooperation – Xinhua Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday laid out a four-pronged proposal on further deepening business cooperation between his country and Vietnam. The rapidly growing economic and trade cooperation between China and Vietnam boasts great potential, and their common interests far outweigh their differences, Li said at a luncheon attended by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and representatives of the two countries’ business communities.
新时期深化中越全面战略合作的联合声明-新华网 PRC-Vietnam joint statement // 双方同意进一步深化在农业、科技、教育、文化、体育、旅游、卫生等领域的交流合作。双方同意继续发挥两国陆地边界联委会作用，认真落实年度工作计划。召开两国口岸合作委员会首次会议，推进陆地边境口岸开放工作，尽快正式开放峒中－横模国家级口岸。推动《德天瀑布地区旅游资源共同开发和保护协定》谈判尽快取得实质进展，尽快启动《北仑河口地区自由航行协定》新一轮谈判并达成一致，早日建成北仑河公路二桥、水口至驮隆中越界河公路二桥等跨境桥梁，为两国边境地区稳定和发展奠定基础。
U.K. to Ease Access for China Banks in Yuan-Hub Campaign – Bloomberg “With branches you’re not talking about a separately capitalized legal entity, so potentially there is a lower absolute capital requirement,” said Ian Gordon, an analyst at Investec Plc in London. // is the Bank of England happy with this, and does this mean every other country’s banks should expect the same treatment?
London to become hub for China’s yuan – Yahoo News Investors in London will be allowed to apply for licenses to invest yuan directly into China, Osborne announced. He said the Chinese central bank set an initial quota for London of 80 billion yuan ($12.7 billion). Tuesday’s announcement put London ahead in the race by global financial centers to gain a share of yuan-denominated business as Beijing gradually expands use of its currency for trade and investment.
伦敦市长体验北京地铁一号线_网易新闻 nice slideshow of Boris Johnson riding the Beijing subway. He looks like the kind of guy who would enjoy baijiu. Any chance he and Donald Trump source their hair from the same Chinese factory?
Now the Chinese Are Hacking Us Through Our Limos | Killer Apps Mandiant’s digital networks are routinely attacked by Chinese hackers. This is no surprise given that last February the firm published a detailed report of Chinese military intelligence groups attacking the computers of Western businesses. But what makes this attack on Mandiant different — and what makes it a warning to other American businesses — is the intimate knowledge that the hackers seemed to have about Mandia’s business. How did these Chinese hackers know which limo service the CEO uses?
Former Obama Asia advisor: Media’s US-China rivalry articles ‘represent lazy journalism’ | Transpacifica “Diaoyu islands doesn’t matter,” Bader said in a refreshingly frank and lighthearted discussion of the sticky Senkaku/Diaoyu island dispute between China and Japan. He continued: “If there were global warming—and there’d have to be a lot of global warming, because they’re pretty high—but if there were somehow miraculously global warming and these islands disappeared, no one would care. But China and Japan would still have issues.” The root of Bader’s argument on Japan and China is that the island dispute was nearly absent for decades before coming up, and that Sino-Japanese relations have hit an unusual rough spot that allows the island dispute to flare up. // other people who have held similar roles seem to disagree
Syria crisis prompts calls for China to toughen foreign policy – FT.com Western diplomats say China, unlike Russia, sells barely any weapons to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and, apart from a couple of small energy projects owned by state-owned oil group CNPC, Chinese investment in the country is “negligible”. So why has Beijing insisted on protecting the Assad regime at the UN, even though this damages its reputation in the region? The Libyan experience is key to understanding why China has taken its position, according to analysts, officials and diplomats in Beijing.
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
Death in Hong Kong Fuels Feelings of Discrimination – NYTimes.com surprised no mention of how badly many Hong Kongers treated mainlanders when HK was a colony and mainlanders were poor and “backwards”…the schizophrenic superiority/inferiority complex is getting worse, as are the politics // As more mainland residents come to Hong Kong for work, study or holiday, locals have been increasingly vocal in their disdain. Complaints include the coarse manners of some tourists and the rise in housing prices driven by wealthy investors. Mainland women coming to Hong Kong to give birth, giving their children residency status and a host of benefits that come with it, has also provoked anger.
Oil Security and Conventional War: Lessons From a China-Taiwan Air War Scenario – Council on Foreign Relations The Energy Report analyzes a potential air war between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan (also known as the Republic of China or ROC)—to enhance broader knowledge about fuel requirements in wartime. Insight gained from modeling such a conflict makes it possible to provide a rough estimate of potential fuel requirements and assess whether military demand could strain countries’ supplies in the present, as it did in the past. Kelanic ultimately concludes that oil and fuel supplies could become significant constraints on China and Taiwan in the event of war. She also argues that this prospect helps illuminate Chinese oil security strategies, including strategic stockpiling and efforts to diversity supply routes for imported oil.
TECH AND MEDIA
Chinese tech firms Huawei and Rekoo to invest in UK | theguardian.com Huawei is to build a $200m (£125m) research and development facility in Britain, with engineers working on smartphone design, software and broadband technologies. The location has yet to be announced, but the centre will boost Huawei’s British engineering headcount to 300 by 2017. Rekoo, which attracts 15 million daily gamers on personal computers and 10 million on smartphones, will become the first high-profile Chinese company to open an outpost in London’s Tech City development.
Huawei hires Serge Abou, former EU ambassador to China, as adviser | South China Morning Post The European Union’s former top diplomat to China has become a consultant for telecommunications company Huawei in Brussels. Huawei confirmed to the South China Morning Post that it had employed Serge Abou, the EU’s top representative to China between 2005 and 2011, after several requests were made. //What is the going rate for a retired, senior EU diplomat?
Alibaba Earnings More Than Double on Surging E-Commerce – Bloomberg Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders rose to $707 million in the three months ended June from $273 million a year earlier, according to a presentation released yesterday by Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO), which owns a stake in Alibaba. Revenue increased to $1.73 billion from $1.08 billion a year earlier.
Preserved Fetuses Available for Donation in China They’re available for sale from between $10,000 and $12,000, according to an English-language advertisement on Alibaba.com, the equivalent of Ebay in China. The company can supply 5,000 of them per year, the ad says. According to Chen Guoxin, the director of the company reached by telephone, the plastic babies are not actually for sale. On his own website, the price next to them is 0 yuan. This is because, he said, “it’s illegal to traffic human bodies in China.”
双11预售会场-美国捕捞季-天猫 Tmall.com, China’s Big B2C Shopping Marketplace Unveils Site for Curious Western Retailers | Alizila Tmall has positioned itself as an efficient, relatively low-cost way for Western brands to tap into China’s growing consumer spending while increasing brand awareness in the PRC… Tmall.com vendors generated more than RMB 200 billion in GMV last year. Tmall.com accounts for more than 50 percent of China’s B2C market….China’s growing appetite for foreign goods is being fueled by special promotions on Tmall.com and Juhuasuan, Alibaba Group’s group buying discount website. For example, the U.S. Agricultural Trade Office is currently holding an Alaskan seafood promotion on Tmall. This comes about three months after the agency sponsored a promotion of U.S-grown cherries during which more than 100 tons of the fruit were sold to Chinese buyers in less than three weeks
Cartoon controversy provokes values debate – CHINA – Globaltimes.cn Violence is also at the center of the issue. After a tragic case in which two brothers, aged 5 and 8 years old, were tied to a tree and set on fire by a 9-year-old boy and were seriously burnt in a village near Lianyungang in Jiangsu Province in April, the victims’ father blamed Xiyangyang for the violence. In a five-minute video presentation he submitted during a civil court case against the offender’s father and CPE in June, the plaintiff assembled clips from Series 1 to 170 – over 500 episodes – and claimed that in this period the wolf had been hit with a frying pan over 9,000 times and the goat had been boiled over 800 times.
Hugo Barra – Google+ – Xiaomi Week 1 I’ve just completed my first week at Xiaomi… The Chinese tech ecosystem moves at breakneck speed. I’ve never seen such fierce competition and such impassioned desire to build things fast. There’s a pervasive entrepreneurial spirit in companies both small and big. Xiaomi is every bit as fascinating and Google-like as I expected. The engineering floor is always busy with people building well into the night. The teams are small and scrappy, and speed (in both UX and execution) is always a top priority. Everyone at Xiaomi — engineers, PMs, designers and marketeers — is insanely focused on users and “doing the right thing”. We have a special term for our users — we call them “Mi fans”, and “Mi fans” always come first.
钱荒传言围剿凡客 陈年回应难抑质疑|凡客|供应商|陈年_互联网_新浪科技_新浪网 rumors swirling that one-time commerce darling Vancl almost out of cash
MIIT to Implement App Pre-Installation Regulations | Marbridge Consulting – China Wireless News On November 1, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) will begin enforcement of regulations for pre-installed smartphone handset software. The regulations were first released in April 2013. According to the new requirements, mobile terminal manufacturers applying for handset network access permits will be required to provide information about all preloaded handset software to the MIIT for vetting. As part of the new rules, handset manufacturers are prohibited from pre-installing any software that will collect or modify user information without the expressed permission of the user. // 下月起手机预装软件须向工信部报备|软件|手机|工信部_通讯与电讯_新浪科技_新浪网
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
China Factory Worker Fights Injustice With Ai Weiwei IOUs – Bloomberg After most of the IOUs were completed, Ai ordered roast lamb and threw a party to thank his volunteers. While Ai doesn’t remember He, the artist says the assistance he received helped him get through his tax ordeal… // yes, why remember the little people…
Cultural Revolution apology from marshal’s son – CHINA – Globaltimes.cn The son of Chen Yi, a late marshal who led China’s revolution, has made a public apology to his high school teachers for attacking them during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) amid a recent wave of reflections by perpetrators of the decade-long movement. Chen Xiaolu, 67, a former Red Guard and a student leader, as well as some of his classmates, paid a visit to the Beijing No.8 High School on October 7, and apologized to their teachers for what they did during the Cultural Revolution, a political movement launched by the late Chairman Mao Zedong.
A Muzzled Chinese Artwork, Absent but Speaking Volumes – NYTimes.com The Ullens Center decided that the current chill on expression in China — most obvious in the detentions in recent months of freewheeling commentators on China’s microblog sites — made it unlikely that “Silence” would be accepted, said the director of the center, Philip Tinari. The entire show would have been put at risk if “Silence” were submitted for approval, he said. Similarly, the organizers of a current show of Andy Warhol’s works at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing said they decided in advance not to hang Warhol’s well-known depiction of Mao.
银行为“抬老人到银行改密码”道歉 家属：添麻烦了_资讯频道_凤凰网 you think you have a bad experience in Chinese bank? a bed-ridden 75 year old man needed to change his ATM card password, bank in Xian would only do it if he came in person. So he had to be carried into the bank…story blowing up in Chinese media
Yet Another Way to Mock China’s New Rich – NYTimes.com Tuhao isn’t a new term. Combining the character tu, which means dirt or soil, with the character hao, which can mean despotic or bullying, it is translated in many dictionaries simply as “local tyrant.” Until recently, the phrase had been most commonly associated with a popular slogan used by the Communists during the 1930s: da tuhao, fen tian di (打土豪、分田地), meaning “overthrow the local tyrants and divide the land.” But in a bit of clever wordplay — a national pastime in China — Internet users have managed to deploy this traditional term with Marxist overtones against the new class of wealthy businessmen and officials, and their relatives, who are thriving in what is still supposed to be a socialist nation marching toward an egalitarian utopia. The tu now draws on its colloquial use as a synonym for unrefined or vulgar, and hao picks up a new tone from the Chinese phrase fuhao (富豪), which means rich and powerful.
Meet China’s Beverly Hillbillies – By Rachel Lu | Foreign Policy They are the tuhao — tu means dirt or uncouth; hao means splendor — and they are the Beverly Hillbillies of China. Or something like that: A crowdsourced translation call on China’s social media yielded “new money,” “slumdog millionaire,” the “riChinese” and “billionbilly.” When English falls short, French is on hand to help: Tuhao have the artistic sensibilities of the arriviste, the social grace of the parvenu, and the spending habits of the nouveau riche.
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
China milk powder crackdown is tough medicine for doctors, sales representatives | Reuters A crackdown on corruption in China’s infant milk formula sector has made sales representatives and hospital doctors fearful of talking to each other, putting a brake on marketing and possibly hitting revenue growth for foreign firms. Chinese media have repeatedly accused foreign milk powder makers, notably France’s Danone SA (DANO.PA), of paying bribes to medical staff in return for recommending their brands to new and expectant mothers.
China Opens Medical Service to Private Sector in Ground-Breaking Reform-Caijing “The opening-up to private capital in healthcare industry in the policy change is huge,” said an official with the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planner. The official described the new policy feature as “fei jin ji ru”, which means “all areas, unless legally restricted, shall be open to all social capital while all areas, as long as with free access to local capital, shall be open to foreign capital.”
China confirms new human H7N9 infection – Xinhua A 35-year-old man surnamed Liu tested positive for the H7N9 virus at the Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the statement. Liu, a company employee from Shaoxing County, was admitted to a township hospital on Oct. 8. He is in critical condition and is receiving treatment at a Shaoxing county hospital.
the solution to beijing’s pollution is…controlling barbecues? « livefrombeijing I don’t know how many other researchers out there would validate this 13% number. Still, this is at least one data point to suggest that cooking is not entirely insignificant and (perhaps) should not be laughed off as quickly and easily as I did earlier this year. Regardless of the exact contribution of cooking to Beijing’s overall pollution problem, this debate raises an important point that is sometimes forgotten in air quality discussion. When it comes to quality of life and health impacts, what matters is not citywide averages but what people are actually exposed to on a day-to-day basis. (In my work, I often argue that the 22% number thrown around for fraction of PM2.5 from motor vehicles is far smaller than the reality of exposure, since 3/4ths of Beijing’s population lives near a roadway.)
FOOD AND TRAVEL
Video: China bridge collapse caught on camera – Telegraph CCTV shows the moment dozens of visitors to a park in China’s Jiangxi Province are sent tumbling into the water, triggering a frantic rescue effort. // traveling in China not that fun any more, unless you like mobs
BEIJING
清华教授提议：外来人口想要落户北京应考试_资讯频道_凤凰网 Qinghua Professor suggests migrants pass a test before getting beijing Hukou // 在城镇化当中，我们忽略了什么问题？“城市农村化”现象是否会成为不可避免的趋势？又应如何“去农村化”？带着这些问题，本报记者专访了清华大学建筑学院教授、城市规划专家文国玮。
北京民企金吉列留学私卖进京户口指标 最高收费72万 -财经网 8 arrested for clever scheme to sell Beijing hukou registrations …one sucker paid 720k RMB..not sure if he gets to keep his // 金吉列公司为一家具有接收应届高校毕业生资质的民企，每年可申请数名进京户口指标。小夏、小刘的进京指标均属于金吉列公司。
楼市调控长效机制征意进尾声 北京现豪宅抛售潮_网易财经 surge in sales of expensive second-hand properties in Beijing over concerns about possible new real estate measures like property taxes…who are the buyers? // 本报记者从多家中介机构了解到，北京二手住宅新增房源以及成交量均在增长，新增房源量增长曲线已经高于新增客源量。其中大户型“豪宅”成交量几乎每月都在上涨。尽管从上海、重庆等试点城市来看，房产税迄今并未对当地城市产生实质影响，但一些拥有多套房的财富阶层，已经从政府所传递的种种声音中感觉到某种不安。