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THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

CPC to hold key session Nov. 9-12 – Xinhua During the meeting on Tuesday, they listened to a report about opinions solicited within and outside the Party on a draft decision of the CPC Central Committee on major issues concerning comprehensively deepening reforms. The draft decision will be submitted for review at the third plenary session. Reform and opening up are a “great revolution” by the Chinese people under the CPC’s leadership in the new era. Deepening reforms requires the improvement and development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, according to the statement.

Related: 讨论拟提请十八届三中全会审议的文件 审议《党政机关厉行节约反对浪费条例》–时政–人民网 CCTV Evening News/ People’s Daily on the just completed Politburo Meeting, announcement of the Third Plenum dates, approval of Regulation on Strictly Enforcing Thrift and Fighting Waste in Party and Government Departments // 会议强调，改革开放是党在新的时代条件下带领全国各族人民进行的新的伟大革命。党的十一届三中全会召开35年来，我们党以巨大的政治勇气，锐意推进经济体制、政治体制、文化体制、社会体制、生态文明体制和党的建设制度改革，不断扩大开放，成就举世瞩目。面对新形势新任务，全面建成小康社会，进而建成富强民主文明和谐的社会主义现代化国家、实现中华民族伟大复兴的中国梦，必须在新的历史起点上全面深化改革，不断增强中国特色社会主义道路自信、理论自信、制度自信。全面深化改革，必须高举中国特色社会主义伟大旗帜，以邓小平理论、“三个代表”重要思想、科学发展观为指导，坚定信心，凝聚共识，统筹谋划，协同推进，进一步解放思想、解放和发展社会生产力、解放和增强社会活力，坚决破除各方面体制机制弊端，努力开拓中国特色社会主义事业更加广阔的前景。

China suspects Tiananmen crash a suicide attack: sources | Reuters Police are still investigating and have yet to determine the identities of the three people in the vehicle, according to the sources. But Beijing police said late on Monday they were looking for two suspects from the restive far western region of Xinjiang in connection with a “major incident”. The sources said that the men were suspected of lighting a flammable material on the vehicle. “It was no accident. The jeep knocked down barricades and rammed into pedestrians. The three men had no plans to flee from the scene,” said the source who has ties to the leadership…One eyewitness, who asked not to be identified due to the incident’s sensitive nature, said she saw the vehicle knock down three or four people, and that it had a white banner with black lettering on it streaming from the back.

Related: Chinese police launch manhunt for eight after Tiananmen jeep crash | South China Morning Post The suspects include a 21-year-old Sichuan-born male named Liu Ke. The name suggests the suspect is Han Chinese. His registered address is a residential complex belonging to police in Changji , Xinjiang , an autonomous region known for ethnic tension between Turkic-speaking Muslim Uygurs and Han Chinese. The seven others have ethnic Uygur names and come from Xinjiang, the same police notice said. The notice listed five Xinjiang vehicle number plates, including one of a motorcycle, that are of interest to police.

Related: China Focuses on Ethnic Minority in Beijing Car Explosion – NYTimes.com If the incident at Tiananmen Square proves to be the work of Uighur assailants, it would suggest that the region’s seething discontent can no longer be confined to China’s far-off frontier, a vast expanse rich in oil and gas that borders Pakistan, Afghanistan and several Central Asian countries. Yang Shu, a professor who heads the Institute for Central Asian Studies at Lanzhou University, said he thought the incident had the hallmarks of a suicide attack. He said it was only a matter of time before the violence that plagues the region seeps into the Chinese heartland. “There is a spillover effect from these terrorist acts that extends beyond Xinjiang,” he said. “This should be a warning for authorities that the sphere of their activities is expanding.”

Related: China leaders were nearby during apparent Tiananmen Square attack – latimes.com “It is clear that China does not have a counter-terrorism capability. Their capabilities are very rudimentary, and they need to develop them,” said Rohan Gunaratna, a Singapore-based terrorism expert who has written widely on Uighur separatism. He attributed the attack to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a shadowy group based in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region. Witnesses said that police were unable to stop the car, which traveled nearly 500 yards from an intersection before exploding. Besides Xi, Premier Li Keqiang and the five other members of the Politburo Standing Committee — the innermost circle — were in the Great Hall of the People, on the west side of the square, abput 200 yards away.

Related: World Uyghur Congress urges calm and caution after Beijing incident on October 28, 2013 » World Uyghur Congress The WUC is right to be concerned. If it turns out that the attackers were Uighurs then the coming response will be harsh. And the argument that there are no Uighur terrorists would no longer be viable, which will make the WUC’s advocacy outside of China much harder

China’s anti-pollution drive risks running out of gas | Reuters A chronic shortage of natural gas is hurting China’s plan to move away from burning coal to heat homes and offices, raising the prospect of more choking air pollution this winter and beyond. The problem is worst in northern China… “I suspect we will have severe incidents of air pollution in Beijing again this winter,” said Alvin Lin, China Climate and Energy Policy Director for the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council.China sees natural gas as the way to cleaner air. Authorities have said Beijing’s urban core should use only gas for heating. But domestic output cannot keep up with demand.

Spike in divorces linked to tax loophole – Chinadaily.com.cn Beijing’s divorce rate has increased by more than 40 percent in the first three quarters of this year from the same period last year. Experts said that might be because couples are seeking to avoid a property tax imposed earlier this year…In March, the nation introduced a nationwide 20 percent individual income tax levied on capital gains by home sellers. Previously, only a 1 percent individual income tax was levied on the sale price. The tax hike increased the cost of existing second-hand home transactions and affected speculative purchases in the property market. However, the regulations allow couples with two properties who divorce and put one house in a former spouse’s name to sell their residential property tax-free under certain conditions. They are then able to remarry. //distortion upon distortion in the real estate market

The Chinese Are In Love With Bitcoin And It’s Driving The Digital Currency’s Prices Into The Stratosphere – Business Insider China now ranks second behind the U.S. for number of Bitcoins created weekly. // remember online game gold farming…wonder if some of those famers are now into bitcoin. Do not see how this ends well…

China’s top court urges judicial independence, end to interference | South China Morning Post China must rid its courts of corruption and stop officials interfering in decisions, a paper on reforms by the top court said on Tuesday, referring to a judicial system that answers to the Communist Party and almost never sides with defendants. The paper, published on an official website managed by the Supreme People’s Court, comes ahead of the third plenum of the ruling Communist Party’s 205-member Central Committee next month, a key meeting of party elite where economic and social reforms are expected to emerge.

Related: 最高人民法院关于切实践行司法为民大力加强公正司法不断提高司法公信力的若干意见_法治中国_中国网 为深入贯彻落实党的十八大关于加快建设社会主义法治国家的重大部署和习近平总书记关于法治建设的重要论述，积极回应人民群众对于新时期人民法院工作的新要求和新期待，切实践行司法为民，大力加强公正司法，不断提高司法公信力，充分发挥人民法院的职能作用，现提出如下意见。// 司法为民 apparently a term that came into vogue in 1942-43 Rectification movement

China central bank seeks to reassure money markets after rate spike | Reuters China’s central bank sought to reassure money market traders that a spike in short-term interest rates does not signal a dramatic tightening of liquidity, sources said, in an apparent move to avoid a repeat of a credit panic that roiled markets in June. The People’s Bank of China also warned against “excessive leverage”, or borrowing, that would leave banks overexposed to sudden spikes in demand for cash, said the sources, who attended a closed-door meeting between a PBOC official and traders from major financial institutions late last week.

China’s Chilling Effect for Investor Research – Caixin Shanghai investor Wang Weihua’s final microblog post October 12 was brief and ominous: “The police are coming.” Three days later, Wang’s family said he’d been taken into custody by police officers who traveled more than 3,600 kilometers to Wang’s Shanghai home from Urumqi, a city in China’s far west….Wang, 42, may have crossed a legal line by writing and publicizing investment analyses about Guanghui Energy Co. Ltd., a Urumqi-based conglomerate whose shares are traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. In blog postings and articles published online over nearly a year starting in October 2012, Wang said Guanghui executives had played accounting tricks, inflated profits in financial reports and used back-door transactions to manipulate stock prices.

 

THIRD PLENUM

三中全会11月9日召开 房产税扩容再入议题_财经频道_一财网 China Business News says expansion or property tax on the cards at Third Plenum, urbanization plan will finally be released in late November // 前述知情人士表示，目前改革的方向是对房产税的试点要扩大，但征收方式不同于上海和重庆，具体情况还在探讨中。 “房产税改革是和城镇化发展联系在一起的。11月下旬，城镇化发展方案也将会公布。”这位知情人士称。 房产税改革试点扩大也符合大部分智囊机构及学术机构的预期。国务院发展研究中心此前发布的引发市场热议的“383”改革方案中提到，要扩大房产税试点范围，尽快完善相关制度，一定过渡期后全面推开，并明确为区县级政府主体税。

能源领域对内对外开放有望提速_证券时报网 Energy sector opening to come from Plenum? // 中国证券报记者获悉，能源领域破除垄断、加快对内对外开放或将成为三中全会一揽子全面深化改革中的重要组成部分。具体来看，可能包括以下几个方面：加速向社会和民营资本放开被几大石油公司垄断的上游油气资源，放开原油成品油和天然气的进出口权，以及放开中游油气管道、原油成品油储备和LNG接收储运装置建设。而将石油天然气管网业务从上中下游一体化经营的油气企业中分离出来，组建若干家油气管网公司，则更可能是未来长期的改革方向。

十八届三中全会11月9日召开_重点_新京报电子报 Beijing News looks at what to expect at the Plenum

Political Gridlock, Beijing Style – WSJ.com–China’s World-Andy Browne hard to see how markets will not be disappointed, expectations so high…buy on the rumors, sell on the Plenum, then by again as investors start to think there may be more to the reforms than believed? // the art of the politically possible will likely trump what may be best for the country’s long-term economic interests. In other words, the Third Plenum is expected to produce just the kind of muddle-through compromises more associated with messy democracies—and starkly on display recently in Washington—than top-down authoritarian regimes like China’s. For that, many in China blame the power of vested interests. These wealthy and connected groups within state-owned enterprises and the upper echelons of the party are producing, some claim, China’s own version of political gridlock.

十八届三中全会_腾讯新闻_腾讯网 QQ News special site for the Third Plenum

 

BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE

The Dim Sum Dollar Carry Trade – By Daniel Altman | Foreign Policy Under the stewardship of Zhou and his bosses in the Chinese Politburo, the renminbi has been allowed to appreciate moderately against the dollar every year since 2010. Except for a slight depreciation last year, the currency’s climb in value has been virtually linear. This is good news for investors who borrow dollars, trade them in for renminbi, and then use the cash to buy dim sum bonds. As the renminbi rises, so do the value of the bonds’ coupon payments and principal. For many investors, this trade has been an almost guaranteed winner. The yields paid by the bonds themselves are not as high as they might be for dollar-denominated bonds, since the issuers are well aware of the potential gains by the renminbi. But the dim sum bonds have still been lucrative for investors — to say nothing of the banks and law firms helping to organize their sales. //what could go wrong?

CCB Said to Be Close to Deal to Buy Brazil’s BicBanco – Bloomberg China Construction is trying to capitalize on the growing presence of Chinese companies in Brazil, and acquiring a bank is the easiest way for the Beijing-based lender to obtain a license there, the person said. State companies including China National Petroleum Corp. and Cnooc Ltd. won a concession to develop Brazil’s biggest oil discovery in the Libra oilfield auction on Oct. 21, partnering with Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA.

With tough market at home, China’s heavy gear makers gain traction overseas | Reuters Other Chinese machinery makers, including Sany Heavy Industry (600031.SS), Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology (000157.SZ) (1157.HK) and XCMG Construction Machinery (000425.SZ), are also turning to emerging markets for growth as they wrestle with cut-throat competition at home, exacerbated by a supply glut – partly a legacy of heavy stimulus spending in the wake of the global financial crisis. Zoomlion and Sany are due to announce January-September results later on Wednesday. Smaller rival Liugong on Tuesday said its third-quarter profit rose 2.6 percent, while XCMG’s net income dropped 45.5 percent.

PBOC Sets Up Pilot for Easing Forex Controls in Shanghai FTZ – Caixin Current talks between the People’s Bank of China and other financial regulators have agreed that yuan flows out of the country through those experimental accounts should be unhindered. But there is less agreement over the role the accounts should play in foreign exchange flows into China. While most regulators believe that some restrictions are needed so money enters gradually and selectively, opinions diverge as to the criteria and standards of enforcement, the source said. It is not clear yet when the plan would come into effect. But concrete progress has been made because the first batch of pilot participants have been chosen, the source close to the Shanghai government said.

Good times are back for Chinese cement firms amid building frenzy in south, east | Reuters Top cement firms are expected to benefit from construction projects in eastern provinces such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang and Guangdong in the south, and a government push to consolidate the overcrowded sector.

Sinopec Profit Precedes Li’s Plan to Reduce State Role – Bloomberg “The proposed reforms in terms of opening oil and gas sectors wider to private investment in China will benefit big state-owned companies in the long term,” Shi Yan, an analyst at UOB-Kay Hian Ltd. in Shanghai, said by phone yesterday. “Competition will force the giant firms to improve their efficiency in order to survive in the market.”

 

POLITICS AND LAW

CPC leadership approves anti-extravagance rules – Xinhua The Communist Party of China (CPC) leadership on Tuesday approved a regulation to fight waste and extravagance among Party and government departments, calling for strengthened supervision and harsher punishments for violators. “In recent years, some Party and government departments occasionally competed for ostentation and extravagance, which led to huge spending and waste as well as strong reactions from the people,” said a statement released after a Tuesday meeting of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau. At the meeting, which was presided over by CPC leader Xi Jinping, the political bureau approved and agreed to publicize the Regulation on Strictly Enforcing Thrift and Fighting Waste in Party and Government Departments.

遵义落马书记曾感慨送礼者无孔不入 自称不缺钱_新闻_腾讯网 Investigation of the Zunyi Party Secretary may stem from connections to the Liu Tienan case // [导读]有遵义公务员称，廖少华落马或与今年5月凯里市长洪金洲落马有关。据媒体报道，洪金洲落马与原国家发改委副主任刘铁男被调查有关。

Civil rights movement gains momentum in China, alarms government – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun The gathering, held on the last Saturday of each month, was part of the New Citizens’ Movement, a new channel in the fight for freedom and democracy in China. The network does not have a clearly defined leader or organizational structure. But its calls for a government that protects people’s legal rights have raised such concerns in Beijing that the Chinese leadership under Xi Jinping has taken action.

习近平著作《干在实处 走在前列》昨日再版发行_证券时报网 南都讯　习近平署名的著作《干在实处　走在前列———推进浙江新发展的思考与实践》昨日起由中央党校出版社再版发行，该书曾于2006年12月首次出版…

人民日报刊文：取消养老金双轨制宜全国同步_资讯频道_凤凰网 机关事业单位退休制与企业职工养老保险制“双轨”并存，是我国养老保障制度实践中最为突出的一个问题。它作为以往改革不同步的遗留问题，反映的是两大群体养老权益的不平等，这种不平等已从老一代延伸到年轻一代，导致了日益尖锐的社会矛盾并影响着人们的择业偏好。 因此，取消养老金双轨制势在必行，而解决办法只有一个，这就是为机关事业单位建立与企业职工相似的社会养老保险制度，真正实现缴费义务平等、制度结构相同、待遇计发办法一致。

A Parade of Public Confessions Shapes Public Discourse in China – NYTimes.com The latest bout of public confessions has a different tone, argues Mr. Fu, the law professor. Whereas during the Maoist era a public confession and the exhibiting of a condemned prisoner showed the party’s control over life and death, modern displays reveal the party’s difficulties in guiding public opinion. “CCTV is not there to demonstrate power, it’s there to demonstrate weakness,” he said. “They are not at a commanding height in these controversial decisions. The only thing they can do is force a confession and say you should not talk about this case.” Mr. Fu says that such blunt methods, while temporarily effective, can cause longer-term harm to goals like cultivating the rule of law

徐显明任中央综治委办公室专职副主任|山东大学|综治委|徐显明_新浪新闻 徐显明，男，汉族，1957年4月出生，山东莱西人，中共党员，法学博士，教授，博士生导师。1975年参加工作。1978年考入吉林大学法律系，获法学学士、硕士学位。1985年执教于山东大学，1991年破格晋升为副教授，1992年破格晋升为教授。行政工作历任教研室主任、系主任助理、系副主任、系主任、院长、校长助理、研究生院院长、副校长。2001年9月任中国政法大学校长。2008年11月任山东大学校长。现任第十一届全国人大常委会委员，全国人大法律委员会委员，中国法学会副会长，中国法理学研究会会长，世界法哲学与社会哲学大会中国分会主席。

 

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

China warns Japan against hyping external threats – Xinhua The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday urged Japan to stop hyping up external threats and explain the true intent of its military buildup. Spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the comments at a routine news briefing, responding to a reporter’s question on media report that the Japanese Defense Minister Onodera Itsunori accused China of having intruded upon the waters around the Diaoyu Islands, called the Senkaku Islands by Japan.

新华国际时评：“三无”安倍何谈“领袖”-国际频道-新华网   Xinhua goes after Abe and his “Three Nos”–No beliefs, no sense of historical responsibility, no bottom line toward rightists…nice accompanying cartoon // 无信者何谈“领袖”？ 无历史担当者何谈“领袖”？ 对右翼无底线、穷兵黩武者何谈“领袖”？

China strengthens military inspections targeting corruption – Xinhua China’s Central Military Commission (CMC) on Tuesday issued documents ordering strengthened military inspections in order to unearth corruption and irregularities. Approved by President and CMC Chairman Xi Jinping, the documents detail rules for the People’s Liberation Army to establish inspection systems and norms in order to supervise the army.

Xi hails Hebei-Iowa friendship – Xinhua In a message to mark the 30th anniversary of the sister province/state relationship between China’s northern Hebei province and the U.S. Midwest state of Iowa, Xi said cooperation between Hebei and Iowa has made headway in various fields in the past 30 years and that the bond has brought tangible benefits to people in both regions.

China urges fairness after Australia maintains Huawei ban – Xinhua China on Tuesday urged joint efforts with Australia to provide a fair environment for enterprises from both nations after Australia maintained a broadband ban on Chinese telecom firm Huawei. “China has always opposed pleading national security as an excuse for disturbing normal economic and trade cooperation between two countries,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily news briefing.

China decommissions 1st nuclear submarine – Xinhua The submarine’s nuclear devices have been properly disposed of and scientists have decontaminated the warehouse where nuclear items were stored during the past 40 years. The submarine will be used as an exhibit after it is released from military service, according to the newspaper. China’s first nuclear-powered submarine, the Long March No. 1, was launched in 1970. It was commissioned to the PLA navy in 1974.

International network to forecast PM 2.5 levels heading for Japan – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun We want to be able to forecast in the near future the extent of polluted yellow sand that may reach Japan,” said Nobuo Sugimoto, the project leader for the research, who heads the Advanced Remote Sensing Section at NIES. Tiny yellow sand particles are contained in the PM 2.5 that is blown toward Japan. As yellow sand generated in western China is blown by winds in an eastward direction, it passes over industrial and urban regions of China. Toxic elements, such as black carbon and sulfates, become attached to the yellow sand in that process.

Engaging China in proliferation prevention | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Today, Chinese industry is on the cusp of attaining production capability for a wide variety of strategic commodities that are high on the list of procurement priorities for nuclear and missile programs of concern. Simply stated: Nuclear proliferation from or through China may pose the single biggest risk to the international community’s nonproliferation efforts. Nonetheless, over the past two decades, China has slowly expanded its commitments to and implementation of nonproliferation measures. The latest such step was the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s announcement that it will implement UN sanctions on all trade with North Korea.

Construction on China-U.S. nuclear security center begins – Xinhua Construction on a nuclear security center jointly financed by China and the United States began in Beijing on Tuesday. Construction of the Center of Excellence on Nuclear Security is scheduled to be completed by 2015, according to Wang Yiren, vice chairman of the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA). Located in the Changyang science and technology park in the southwestern outskirts of Beijing, the center will be equipped with environmental labs, response force exercise facilities, test sites for physical protection, and buildings for technology display and training, experiments and scientific research.

Investors become like bulls in a China shop–Sydney Morning Herald A Sydney property developer who is working with Chinese investors told me that if Chinese stopped buying in areas that are popular with Chinese home buyers, the value of these local markets would fall by about 25 per cent. These local bubbles are having a ripple effect, pushing buyers into other areas of the Sydney market. The same is happening in parts of Melbourne, where segments of the market are booming thanks to Chinese demand.

Here’s Why China And India Are Trying To End A Long-Held Dispute Over A Barren Strip Of Land – Business Insider At a time when economic growth in both countries is beginning to slow, improving relations could help support both economies. In a speech delivered at the Central Party School, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pointed to “eight specific areas” where he sees opportunities for China and India to cooperate more. Here are the key talking points from his speech via The Hindu:

ABC apologizes for ‘Kimmel’ joke[1]|chinadaily.com.cn ABC is apologizing for a skit broadcast on its Jimmy Kimmel Live show in which a young boy joked about killing all the Chinese people rather than pay back the money the US owes that country.

 

HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN

Nuclear waste deals signed with China, legislator says – Taipei Times Former premier Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) and former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) both instructed the signing of unpublished agreements with China regarding the storage of Taiwan’s nuclear waste in Gansu Province in China, a lawmaker said yesterday in a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan.

 

TECH AND MEDIA

Baidu Profit Beats Estimates on Rising Mobile Search Revenue – Bloomberg stock surging after hours // Net income rose 1.3 percent to 3.05 billion yuan ($498 million) from 3 billion yuan a year earlier, Beijing-based Baidu said in a statement today. That surpassed the 3 billion-yuan average of 10 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue rose 42 percent to 8.89 billion yuan, compared with the 8.79 billion-yuan average of 18 estimates.

Apple Expands China Business, Moving Beyond Big Cities – Bloomberg Apple’s “one-size-fits-all” approach is more challenging in China, said Robin Li, co-founder and chief executive officer of Baidu (BIDU) Inc., China’s largest search engine. It will take more than new stores to draw in customers, Li said. Mobile phones need to be more customized for the Chinese market, and buyers in the country tend to prefer larger screens and the ability to personalize their devices with software tools to tap out messages more quickly in Chinese, he said. “Chinese characters are very different from English — you need an input method engine to do that,” Li said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “Apple does not have a good one, and they do not allow good ones to be uploaded in the App Store.”

China: Baidu’s financial foray shows online finance rush | beyondbrics The success of Yu’erbao highlighted the huge opportunity of online finance in China. Other companies are eyeing the market too: Tencent, the online game company and chat provider, has introduced its own third party payment service and confirmed that it is applying for a banking license as a minority shareholder.

Alibaba to Start Public Testing of a Messaging App to Link Its Users – Caixin Alibaba said on October 28 that those selling items on the consumer-to-consumer website Taobao and the business-to-consumer site Tmall can publish details of their products on their accounts on the new app, called Weitao. The app also offers an instant messaging service. The new Alibaba app can be seen as an attempt to compete with the hugely popular Tencent Holdings messaging app WeChat, also known as Weixin. Weitao’s functions are similar to those of WeChat because anyone with an account can chat with another account holder. It was unclear whether Weitao will, like WeChat, have both voice and text messaging options.

WeChat to Open APIs to All Verified Business Accounts WeChat has developed a set of APIs for businesses or public organizations to build custom features or interact with their audiences. Only a small group of selected WeChat Official Accounts have tried it out. As we introduced before, with the APIs, some businesses or organizations have developed services as powerful as some HTML5 web apps that users can do voice searches, book hotels, manage flights, subscribe to news services, etc. Now it is reported that WeChat will open most APIs to all the verified Official Accounts today and charge a 300 yuan (less than $50) annual fee (source in Chinese). Some such as that for payments will not be fully opened.

Keanu Reeves Bowed to Chinese Censors to Make ‘Man of Tai Chi’ – NYTimes.com In an interview on Canadian television that aired Monday night, Mr. Reeves acknowledged that his creative plans had been thwarted by the powerful forces that rule the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. Notoriously tetchy about plot lines that might remind audiences of mainland China’s darker realities, the censors forced Mr. Reeves and his band of modern-day gladiators to take their mortal combat elsewhere. “They didn’t want underground fighting in mainland China, in the capital of China,” he said on the show, “George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight.” “So in Beijing there’s no underground fighting. And there’s no corrupt police officers.”

 

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

No changes to family planning policy |Society |chinadaily.com.cn Authority denied there will be changes to the family planning policy that has been in place for more than 30 years, the Beijing-based Legal Evening News said on Tuesday. An anonymous official from the National Health and Family Planning Commission denied on Tuesday a report by China Business News that said the central government will allow couples nationwide to have two children if either of the spouses is an only child.

Meet the Makers – NYTimes.com Groups like Teach for China, which hosted the Teach for All network at village schools here, are too new to determine whether they can make a difference in helping their lowest-performing schools succeed. But if raw idealism and willingness to take up the hardest challenges count for anything, you have to be hopeful. Traveling here last week was like spending four days with 32 Malala Yousafzais from 32 different nations

Tom Friedman Is Too Optimistic About China’s Schools – Bloomberg The New York Times recently published “The Shanghai Secret,” a column by Thomas Friedman that explained how Shanghai’s students received the world’s top scores on the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment exams…Yet for all its merits, Friedman’s view of Shanghai’s education system (not to mention his previously proclaimed affection for China’s “reasonably enlightened” autocrats) is out of sync with the Chinese public’s own skepticism of its test-focused educational system. It was particularly ironic that Friedman’s Sino-utopian column was published the same day that a national discussion emerged in China about implementing reforms that could begin to move schools away from a focus on test success.

Another Massive Photoshop Fail in China | FP Passport Now viral in China: A failed attempt at photo doctoring. On the evening of Oct. 29, Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, lit up with mockery at an image (above) posted online Oct. 12 by the government of Ningguo, a small city in China’s central Anhui province, purporting to show vice-mayor Wang Hun pay a friendly visit to an elderly woman. There’s only one problem: The image, which appears to show Wang floating above a particularly tiny woman, has clearly been modified.

《焦点访谈》 20131029 假将军行骗记_新闻频道_央视网 CCTV “Focus” on men posing as senior military officers swindling people out of a lot of cash in exchange for “favors”

randian – Li Songsong: We Have Betrayed the Revolution In the wake of the near disastrous reception of the exhibition “The Revolution Continues: New Chinese Art” at the Saatchi Gallery in 2008-2009, contemporary art from the People’s Republic of China has had something of a bad press internationally. Indeed, one anonymous commentator has recently described contemporary art from China as nothing short of the worst case of sub-prime realty currently for sale on the international art market. Li Songsong’s exhibition at Pace, London suggests that such criticism is, in part at least, misplaced.

 

FOOD AND TRAVEL

Click and clink: Amazon selling wine in China|Business|chinadaily.com.cn Amazon China has been partnered with seven US wineries, most in California, to sell wines on its website since September. All selections are made from grapes sourced from low-yielding, high-quality vineyards and priced between $20 and $65 a bottle…For the first six months of 2013, California’s wine exports to China totaled nearly $34 million, up 7 percent from the prior year. The state’s wine shipments to the Chinese mainland have been on a decade-long upswing, starting from a modest $3.4 million in sales in 2002 to $74 million in 2012.

多地催熟染色脐橙在售 部分赣南脐橙检出苏丹红_新闻_腾讯网 央广网北京10月29日消息(记者吴喆华 实习记者彭文卓)中国之声《新闻纵横》今天关注：近日，有北京媒体报道称，九月底以来，市面上一些黄澄澄的赣南脐橙，其实是催熟染色过的。随后，辽宁、黑龙江、福建、上海等多地媒体相继曝出当地有“催熟染色”脐橙在售。//careful buying navel oranges here..reports of all sorts of trick to have them ripen faster, none good for health

 

BEIJING

村主任为拉票号召村民挖断邻村水管解决用水问题_网易新闻中心 water wars and local democracy in Tongzhou, Beijing. Court orders one village committee to pay 18k rmb compensation to another village after a village leader, trying to win votes, urged his villagers to cut the water pipe in the neighboring village, so their village would have more water…// 京华时报（微博）讯 村委会主任为了在换届选举期间拉选票，用广播号召村民挖断邻村农户水管，以解决本村村民的用水问题。记者昨天获悉，通州法院一审判决村委会赔偿邻村受损村民1.8万元。

京城土豪聚会如海天盛筵 被骂肉类批发市场(图)_新闻_腾讯网 pictures hitting the Internet of a crazy party in Beijing over the October Holiday…my invitation must have been lost in the mail // 曾经闹得轰轰烈烈的三亚“海天盛筵”，有了青出于蓝胜于蓝的京城版。昨天，有网友发帖爆料，自己国庆期间跟着朋友混入京城五环外一神秘山庄，亲见各种土豪、富二代与各路明星大咖、各型号美女模特云集，饮酒狂欢。期间，大妞们豪放脱衫下泳池、玩游戏，土豪更是兴奋得“直接过去就摸”。

Beijing Police Strive to Save Women From Their ‘Mistakes’ – NYTimes.com The Beijing police have helpfully offered women an online lecture on driving. Under the rubric “Women Drivers Please Take Care To Avoid These Mistakes,” the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau generously listed tips on its official Sina Weibo page on Tuesday for confused women who somehow find themselves behind the wheel.

 

BOOKS AND LITERATURE

Simon & Schuster and Yilin Press in Deal for Worldwide EBook Distribution | Publishing Perspectives In October at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Simon & Schuster and Yilin Press announced a new distribution and publishing agreement that will expand the availability of electronic editions for works in Mandarin for readers worldwide.

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