"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
1. Xi Dangles $1.25 Trillion as China Counters U.S. Refocus – Bloomberg Speaking to executives at a CEO gathering in Beijing, Xi outlined how much the world stands to gain from a rising China. He said outbound investment will total $1.25 trillion over the next 10 years, 500 million Chinese tourists will go abroad, and the government will spend $40 billion to revive the ancient Silk Road trade route between Asia and Europe. “China’s development will generate huge opportunities and benefits and hold lasting and infinite promise,” Xi said. “As China’s overall national strength grows, China will be both capable and willing to provide more public goods for the Asia Pacific and the world.”
Related: China’s Xi Pledges $40 Billion for Silk Road Infrastructure Fund – Bloomberg The fund’s goal is to “break the connectivity bottleneck” in Asia, the official Xinhua News Agency cited Xi as saying during a meeting with officials from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Tajikistan. Representatives from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization were also present, according to Xinhua.
2. Obama Faulted for Thin Team of Aides to Manage China Ties – Bloomberg The administration’s leading China hand is Evan Medeiros, 43, senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council. Medeiros, who reports to Rice, was a political scientist at Rand Corp. before joining the White House in 2009. Though well-regarded, he lacks the same access to Obama enjoyed by his predecessor, Jeffrey Bader, 69, a veteran diplomat who left in 2011, say two people familiar with the relationship…“The Chinese have felt for some time that they don’t have a go-to person in this administration, somebody that they feel really understands China,” said Bonnie Glaser, an analyst at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. The White House says the change is deliberate. “China policy is now a team sport with numerous cabinet members deeply engaged all the time,” said Medeiros. “Gone are the Kissingerian days of just one ‘go to’ person for China, which Beijing used to great effect for their interests.”
Related: Obama, Xi to meet in Beijing amid political and economic strains – The Washington Post “We’re aware of how they characterize the United States, our motives and policies,” Evan Medeiros, Asia director at the National Security Council, said at the Center for American Progress earlier this year. “What concerns me most is that by promoting some of these negative images of the United States, it probably constrains the political space for Chinese leaders to grow cooperation.”
Related: China’s ‘New Type’ of Ties Fail to Sway Obama – NYTimes.com The Obama administration is unwilling to hand China a commitment to a principle that different Chinese officials define differently, Mr. Lieberthal said. As a result, Mr. Obama and his aides have tried to keep the “great power” language promoted by Mr. Xi at arm’s length. “Xi hasn’t repudiated it,” Mr. Lieberthal said, “and we don’t repeat the phrase.”
Related: From Occupy Central to Tibet, China sees ‘hostile foreign forces’ – CSMonitor.com The trend is “quite disturbing,” says Susan Shirk, a senior China policymaker in the Clinton administration. “It seems that Xi Jinping is throwing China and the US into a new ideological cold war // sure looks that way
3. Who Gave Ground? China, Japan Tweak Translations to Claim Victory – Japan Real Time – WSJ At a quick look, the two statements look similar. But in some areas of the four-point agreement they chose words with slightly different meanings to best describe their political positions. These differences are spotted in the two areas where their disagreement has been the most prominent: a territorial dispute and wartime history. On the East China Sea tensions, Japan’s statement said the two sides recognized they had different “views” on what has caused tensions to rise in recent years. China’s statement uses a word that was translated as different “positions” in its official English statement. The original Chinese word could also mean “assertion.” // looks very positive though a bit early to tell
Related: Yang Jiechi Meets National Security Advisor of Japan Shotaro Yachi China and Japan Reach Four-Point Principled Agreement on Handling and Improving Bilateral Relations official PRC statement
Related: 杨洁篪会见日本国家安全保障局长谷内正太郎 中日就处理和改善中日关系达成四点原则共识 official Chinese statement..the language about the Diaoyu/Senkaku/E. China Sea waters // 三、
Related: Regarding Discussions toward Improving Japan-China Relations ｜ Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan official Japanese statement
Related: China-Japan easing a welcome surprise – Global Times Of course, Chinese public should not be too conceited about Japan’s change of gesture, believing that China must always be tough to “crush Japan.” China believes that cooperation benefits both sides, and confrontation hurts both. Therefore, while sticking to its principles, China will also seek to choose policies in accordance with Japan’s new moves.// The original
Related: Commentary: Thawing China-Japan ties require strategic perspective – Xinhua As China and Japan have reached a four-point principled agreement, a unmistakable albeit nascent sign for a thaw in bilateral ties, some observers begin to weigh in on the possibility of a top-level bilateral meeting here in the coming days. But first of all, the watchers need to listen carefully to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s latest remarks on China-Japan relationship, which have pointed out a clear direction to the eventual improvement in the two-way ties. When meeting with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida on Saturday, Wang urged Japan to break completely from its militarist past, stick to the path of peaceful development, and pursue a positive policy toward China. Despite all the present quarrels, disputes and enmities between the two sides, it is worthwhile to revisit the “old good days” of the bilateral ties and do some soul searching, especially for the Japanese side.
Related: China’s media claims victory after Japan ‘agreement’ on isle, historical issues | The Japan Times an editorial in Saturday’s nationalistic Global Times tabloid, which is controlled by the ruling Communist Party, said the agreement is clear evidence Abe has given in to Beijing’s view. “Now that Japan has agreed to sit down with China to talk about crisis management, it is equal to admitting that the disputes over the Diaoyu Islands’ sovereignty have become the new reality,” the paper said in an editorial. “Abe’s . . . striving to meet Chinese leaders have shown that his reckless practices can no longer be sustained,” it added. Still, Friday’s statement was carefully worded, and Japanese media insisted that it did not amount to a recognition of a dispute over the islands.
4. Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Exchange Link Will Start in One Week – Bloomberg Bourses in the two cities will allow trading through the program from Nov. 17, regulators said in a joint statement today, as China seeks to promote wider use of the yuan by allowing more investors outside the mainland to buy the nation’s equities. The Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect permits international money managers to purchase a net 13 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) a day of Chinese stocks, while also providing a route for mainland investors to buy Hong Kong shares.
Related: China’s $9 Trillion Untapped Market Spurs U.S. ETF Frenzy – Bloomberg Money managers including BlackRock Inc. and CSOP Asset Management Ltd. have now registered almost 40 ETFs tracking the country’s domestic shares and debt with U.S. regulators, six times the number of existing funds…Equities in the biggest emerging market are heading for the best annual gain since 2009, outpacing shares of mainland companies listed overseas amid speculation government plans to ease capital controls will narrow the valuation discount on domestic securities.
Related: If You Like Shanghai Stocks You’re Going to Love Shenzhen – Bloomberg Shenzhen’s benchmark equity gauge is trading near an all-time high relative to shares in Shanghai, China’s biggest stock market. Bank of America Corp. and Templeton Emerging Markets Group say that once Chinese policy makers agree on a start date for the Shanghai-Hong Kong trading link, which was expected last month, a Shenzhen equivalent will follow within two years. Technology, consumer and health-care stocks make up almost half the Shenzhen Composite Index (SZCOMP), where companies have an average market value of $1.3 billion, while state-backed banks and industrial monoliths dominate the Shanghai Composite Index.
5. A Family Divided: The CCP’s Central Ethnic Work Conference | The Jamestown Foundation The conference affirmed the need to accelerate development in ethnic areas with a special focus on addressing livelihood issues such as employment and education. At the same time, Xi stressed that these “material” concerns need to be complemented with a new focus on “spiritual” issues. Some minority cadres interpret this as paying closer attention to the religious needs of ethnic minorities (Xinhua, October 23); yet, there is clear evidence that Xi Jinping shares the concerns of Ma Rong and others about the weak identification of some ethnic minorities toward the nation. National identity, Xi has often made clear, should always trump narrow religious and ethnic affiliations.
6. MEXICO CITY: Mexico scraps high-speed rail project won by China over corruption worries | Mexico | McClatchy DC poor Chinese execs, they probably thought they understood Mexican political process and corruption… // Opposition senators had lambasted Ruiz Esparza hours before the cancellation for what they said was a bidding process that appeared designed to discourage competitors and favor the Chinese-led consortium. “It appears that a multimillion-(dollar) project has been rigged,” Sen. Javier Corral, of the center-right National Action Party, told Ruiz Esparza during a Senate hearing Thursday. He charged that the consortium had access to information that “placed all other bidders at a disadvantage” and they were “forced to withdraw from the competition.”
Related: Mexico revoking rail deal due to domestic factors: China – Xinhua Mexico decided to withdraw a high-speed rail deal with a China-Mexico joint consortium because of domestic factors, China’s economic planner said on Saturday. It had nothing to do with the Chinese enterprise and the Chinese government hopes that the case could be settled properly as soon as possible, said a spokesperson with the National Development and Reform Commission. It is surprising to hear Mexico decided to scrap the rail deal as the Chinese enterprise has been strictly following the public bidding procedures and requirements, and the bidding content complies with the requirements of the Mexican government, the spokesperson said.
7. 曝北大方正CEO李友私吞数百亿资产-搜狐新闻 exp
8. ‘Re-education’ campaigns teach China’s new ghost city-dwellers how to behave | Cities | The Guardian The region of Ordos made headlines in 2010 for the pre-built metropolis that had everything but people. Now, however, Kangbashi city is rapidly filling up with country people who are being encouraged to live in cities and diversify China’s economy. For ageing farmers who’ve spent their whole life on the land, however, becoming “urbanites” is a tall order.
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
Xi’s “new normal” theory – Xinhua In his speech delivered to over 1,500 business leaders from the Asia-Pacific region at the APEC CEO Summit on Sunday, Xi, for the first time ever, sketched out a full picture of Chinese economy’s “new normal.” “A new normal of China’s economy has emerged with several notable features,” the President said. First, the economy has shifted gear from the previous high speed to a medium-to-high speed growth. Second, the economic structure is constantly improved and upgraded. Third, the economy is increasingly driven by innovation instead of input and investment, he added. // and makes it clear no large-scale stimulus coming? full text of his speech 习近平在亚太经合组织工商领导人峰会开幕式上的演
China President Says Risks To Economy ‘not That Scary’ – Business Insider “Some people worry that China’s economic growth will fall further, can it climb over the ridge?” Xi said. “There are indeed risks, but it’s not so scary. “Even at growth of around 7 percent, regardless of speed or volume, (we) are among the best in the world,” he said, noting that China’s economy remained “stable”. The remarks from Xi came a day after data showed annual growth in Chinese exports and imports cooled in October, in another sign of fragility in the economy that could prompt policymakers to take further action to stoke growth.
China Greenlights $113 Billion On Infrastructure Projects – Reuters China’s top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), approved 21 infrastructure investment projects between Oct. 16 and Nov. 5 with a total investment value of 693.3 billion yuan ($113.24 billion), the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday, citing state radio. The projects included 16 railways and five airports, with the aim of propping up a decline in real estate investment, Xinhua said.
China’s Economic Slowdown Reflected by Multinationals – WSJ Many big companies saw business get worse from the second to the third quarter. While some of the results were predictable, there were unexpected winners and losers. China is growing at its slowest rate since 2009, but that still-strong growth is no longer boosting sales across the board like it used to. “The relationship with GDP and revenue is breaking down in many industries,” said Ben Simpfendorfer, founder and managing director of Silk Road Associates, which consults with companies on strategy . “For most foreign companies, those who have the ability to manage in a slow growth environment will do better.”
Rare Credit Shrinkages Show Local Strains – China Real Time Report – WSJ “Contractionary” isn’t a word you typically associate with credit in Chinese. Over the last six years, debt in world’s second largest economy has ballooned, led by banks and supported by an increasingly complex array of shadow lenders. But as China’s economy continues to slow, it appears that some things we took for granted can no longer be counted on. In the third quarter, Shandong and Heilongjiang provinces and the Tibet autonomous region experienced a credit retrenchment.
China Exports Bolster Economy as External Demand Strengthens – Bloomberg Overseas shipments increased 11.6 percent from a year earlier, exceeding the 10.6 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of analysts. Imports rose 4.6 percent, compared with projections of 5 percent, leaving a trade surplus of $45.4 billion, the customs administration said today.
China’s high employment cause for short-term comfort, long-term concern | Reuters The official urban unemployment rate was 4.07 percent at end September, barely changed from 4.08 percent three months earlier, but even the government thinks that understates joblessness and is busy testing a wider survey-based measure. “Despite sluggish growth and continued credit market woes, the labor market remains remarkably stable – with hiring steady, the jobs outlook stable and profit margins rising at the their fastest pace in a year,” said Leland Miller, president of China Beige Book International, citing the result of the research firm’s third-quarter private survey.
China Regions Show Economies Differ as Slowdown Deepens – Bloomberg Of China’s 31 provinces and municipalities, 19 recorded a slowdown, three posted the same pace and nine saw a pickup in the January-September growth rate from the first half, according to Bloomberg calculations of data released by the governments or state media. All are missing their own expansion targets.
Singapore casinos brace for battle as VIP volumes fall | Reuters Around half of that VIP business comes from customers from China, which is in the midst of an economic slowdown, while a crackdown on graft now in its second year is making it harder for wealthy Chinese to take money out of the country and discouraging conspicuous consumption. Visitors from China were down 30 percent to 871,000 in the first half of 2014, according to Singapore’s tourism board.
中国版马歇尔计划成焦点 5领域出海再掀热潮 Securiti
Lunch with the FT: Guo Guangchang – FT.com $$ Over vegetarian food, the billionaire behind China’s biggest private conglomerate [Fosun] talks about Cultural Revolution-era cuisine, learning from eastern and western sages, and what tai chi and investing have in common
POLITICS AND LAW
APEC anti-graft law enforcement network starts operation – Xinhua | English.news.cn An anti-graft law enforcement network that promotes cooperation in crackdown on corruption, bribery, money laundering and illegal trade among the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies has started operation, according to statement from the disciplinary watchdog of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The network consists of anti-corruption and law enforcement personnel from the APEC member economies. It includes a chairman, liaison personnel and a secretariat, the CPC’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a statement on its website on Saturday. // APEC反腐败国际合作的新篇章——
胡德平：贪腐高官与党是对抗性矛盾_大评论_新京报电子报 lo
Chinese political cartoonist, fearing for his safety, hopes to start new life in Japan | The Japan Times Prominent Chinese cartoonist Wang Liming hopes to start a new life in Japan, saying he is afraid his safety will be threatened if he returns to his home country amid intensifying restrictions there on freedom of expression. Wang, known as “Rebel Pepper,” has grown to prominence via social media networks since uploading sarcastic and critical works about Chinese politics in 2009. The 41-year-old has about 1 million followers on the Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo.
Journalists’ story-telling must base on facts: official – Xinhua | Journalist reporting in China must be based on facts, highlight the nation’s progress and people’s real life, senior leader Liu Yunshan stressed on Friday. To better tell the Chinese news, journalists should first understand “what to tell, how to tell and how to tell them well,” said Liu, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau, while greeting journalists at China’s annual top journalism awards. “The true stories are the most wonderful and the people’s stories are the most vivid,” said Liu, before China’s Journalists’ Day that falls on Nov. 8.
罗昌平团队首轮招兵买马 Luo Changping quits journalism on Journalist Day, announces that he is going to run a mobile Internet company. He will bringing the German product testing and review firm OKO-Test (founded by a journalist 30 years ago) into China. Sign of the times, and of the depleted state of journalism in China
Former chief justice proposes Constitution committee in legislature – Xinhua Former chief justice Xiao Yang has advocated to set up a Constitution committee in the national legislature to advance rule of law. Xiao, also former president of the Supreme People’s Court, said Friday at a forum, ruling the country in line with the Constitution is an effective way to tackle problems China is currently facing. He proposed the Constitution committee, under the National People’s Congress (NPC), to deal with amendments, explanations, essential issues stipulated by the Constitution and oversee significant cases that jeopardize national economy and people’s livelihood.
What does the 4th Plenum mean for death penalty reviews? | Supreme People’s Court Monitor In a press report in Southern Weekend last month, the Supreme People’s Court (the Court) revealed that an important legal reform related to death penalty reviews is forthcoming–institutionalizing legal representation in death penalty reviews. It appears that this development has not yet been reported in the foreign press.
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
Pakistan says will help China fight Xinjiang militants | Reuters Pakistan Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif told Xi that his country would “continue to resolutely fight the East Turkestan Islamic Movement terrorist forces”, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement following the meeting in Beijing. Pakistan will increase its coordination with China on Afghanistan too, so as to “jointly maintain regional peace and stability”, Sharif said.
Xi unveils ‘Asia-Pacific dream’ “We have the responsibility to create and realise an Asia-Pacific dream for the people of the region,” Xi told a gathering of business and political leaders on Sunday before the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit this week.
Building Strategic Trust in the U.S.-China Relationship NBR spoke with Paul Haenle, director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing, to discuss the role of strategic trust in the U.S.-China relationship. Mr. Haenle stressed the importance of presidential bilateral meetings for identifying strategic areas that the United States and China can collaborate on. He also noted the domestic constraints in both countries to achieving strategic trust and offered suggestions for how the two sides could overcome these challenges to their strategic relationship.
A Changed China Awaits Mr. Obama – NYTimes – Nick Kristof Then there’s something a bit more personal: China doesn’t seem to want to give me a visa. I’ve been visiting China for more than 30 years and lived in Beijing for five. I speak Mandarin and have been alternately hailed by Chinese authorities and detained by them. But I’ve had cordial relations with the last few foreign ministers, and, until now, I’ve always received visas. The Chinese leadership is blocking some visas for New York Times employees because it is upset by Times coverage of profiteering by families of senior officials.
In the name of the father: the ancestors haunting APEC-Sydney Morning Herald Abe has stated his desires plainly and Xi has signalled indirectly, including by toning down the maritime incursions to a bare fraction of what they had been earlier in the year. What had been almost daily Chinese maritime incursions into Japanese-controlled waters has dropped to almost perfunctory levels. “It used to be four, six or even eight ships [regularly] but now it is only three or four,” said a high-level Japanese official, who recently attended the first high-level maritime co-operation forum between the two countries in 28 months. “Chinese ships now enter Japanese territorial waters every two weeks, for exactly two hours.” But Chinese maritime and air activities in the “contiguous zone”, he said, have not diminished at all.
An interview with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – The Washington Post He sat down in his office this past week with The Washington Post’s Lally Weymouth to discuss the economy, ties with China and whether he trusts President Obama. Excerpts:
China, Russia sign energy agreements – Xinhua China and Russia signed agreements on Sunday to boost their energy cooperation, including a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop a second route to supply China with Russian natural gas. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin witnessed the signing of a series of bilateral cooperation agreements, including an MOU of the China-Russia West Route natural gas pipeline and a framework agreement between China National Petroleum Corporation, China’s largest oil and gas producer, and Russia’s energy giant Gazprom.
Graft fight sees PLA prosecutor Li Xiaofeng promoted | South China Morning Post A programme aired by China Central Television on Friday showed footage of Major General Li Xiaofeng attending a People’s Liberation Army General Political Department work meeting last Wednesday. The 60-year-old was shown wearing a uniform that indicated he had been promoted to deputy commander of military command. Local media said Li was probably promoted prior to Army Day on August 1, and noted that his tenure had been extended by three years, as he had been expected to retire at 60 in line with military convention.
独家对话罗援：红色元素是解放军抹杀不了的胎记_资讯频道_
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
President Xi voices support in safeguarding rule of law in Hong Kong – Xinhua Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday voiced support to Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and his government’s efforts to safeguard the rule of law and maintain social order in Hong Kong. Xi made the remarks while meeting with Leung, who is in Beijing to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting slated for Nov. 10-11. The central government “fully affirms and supports” the efforts of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) chief executive and the HKSAR government to govern in line with law, especially their great deal of work to safeguard the authority of rule of law and maintain social order, Xi said.
China’s Espionage Against Taiwan (Part I): Analysis of Recent Operations | The Jamestown Foundation In this two-part series, the first part will evaluate China’s recent intelligence operations against Taiwan and explore the operational implications. The second part will discuss the organizational landscape of Chinese intelligence operations against Taiwan…With at least 20 distinct cases of espionage in the last decade, Taipei’s friends in the United States have justifiable concerns about the security of U.S. defense systems sold to Taiwan. Former American Institute of Taiwan director Bill Stanton summed up these concerns at a conference last year when he said China’s intelligence successes “undermine U.S. confidence in security cooperation with Taiwan”
TECH AND MEDIA
Twitter to Open Office in Hong Kong – WSJ – WSJ Shailesh Rao, Twitter’s vice president for Asia Pacific, the Americas and emerging markets, told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that the office will mainly house sales staff, though he declined to say how many. The office is set to open in the first quarter of 2015. “The real main focus of the office will be sales,” Mr. Rao said. “Building sales capability to work with agencies and advertisers domestically in Hong Kong and Taiwan and those Chinese advertisers looking to go global.”
Form F-1–Momo Files for US IPO China SNS/messaging app Momo has filed for US IPO. F-1. Alibaba owns 20.7%, Matrix 19.9%, Sequoia 5.6%, Jack Ma’s Yunfeng 5.6%. This very much looks like a bubbletop deal but with Alibaba in the IPO should get done no problem // We generated 63.0% of our net revenues from membership subscription fees in the first half of 2014. We also began to generate revenues from mobile games, paid emoticons and mobile marketing services in the second half of 2013. We believe our large, engaged user base makes Momo attractive to mobile marketing customers and our platform partners. Our revenues more than quadrupled from US$3.1 million in the second half of 2013 to US$13.9 million in the first half of 2014. We had net losses of US$3.8 million, US$9.3 million and US$8.3 million in 2012, 2013 and the first half of 2014, respectively.
Oscars : pourquoi « Coming Home » ne représentera pas la Chine LeMonde story that says Zhang Yimou’s film “Coming Home” was not china’s pick to for Oscar nomination attempt because LeTv is an investor in the film, and leTV is in the midst of scandal around one of its investors, Ling Wancheng, who is Ling Jihua’s brother // a rough english translation via Google Translate
Alibaba Said to Seek Hollywood Film Deals in Content Push – Bloomberg Alibaba prefers to invest in specific films rather than in movie studios, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the strategy isn’t public. The Hangzhou-based company wants to become a more significant distributor of content by using customer shopping and viewing data to forecast what productions will become hits among Chinese, the person said.
US-China Film Summit: The Training Wheels Are Coming Off, But That’s Not Necessarily a Good Thing | Asia Society One might expect the most accomplished Chinese producers to welcome their newfound sway over once-mighty Hollywood, but Yu Dong, CEO of the Bona Film Group, China’s only Nasdaq-listed movie studio, said that while China’s movie business has made strides in the global arena, it was “not there yet” due to things such as a lack of a ratings system. Yu, a veteran distributor turned producer, cautioned that the practice of Chinese companies such as Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent to track the behaviors of their vast consumer base has meant that filmmaking decisions increasingly are being driven by the perceived need to reach mobile-phone dependent youth first, foremost, and at any cost. “The Internet companies are having a huge impact. They want us to cast films using big data to determine what the audience born after 1980 wants. The new generation born after 1990 is dominating production decisions,” Yu said.
Xiaomi lines up $1.5B in fresh capital-FT Xiaomi, the fast-rising Chinese smartphone maker, is in talks to raise close to $1.5 billion in new capital at a valuation set to exceed $40 billion, in the largest private financing for a venture-backed company since Facebook in 2011. Negotiations with investors including DST– the Russian internet company that also backed Alibaba, Facebook and Airbnb – are yet to be finalized, according to people familiar with the discussions… “They see themselves as more than Apple”, said the person with knowledge of Xiaomi. “They want to ‘out-Apple’ Apple in the sense that they’re integrating hardware, software, content and services into a broad ecosystem.”
Xiaomi tablet sales disappointing｜WantChinaTimes
Letter of Commitment on Self-Discipline Management of Posts and Comments | China Copyright and Media In order to deeply implement the spirit of ruling the country according to the law of the 4th Plenum of the 18th Party Congress, implement the State Internet Information Office’s demands of “managing the Web according to the law, running the Web according to the law, and using the Web according to the law”, this website hereby openly makes the following commitment, in order to perfect self-discipline management of posts and comments.
Xinhua Insight: China’s chip industry awaits boom despite challenges – Xinhua According to a research report issued last year by the State Council, China’s cabinet, China has the capacity to produce around 1.2 billion cell phones, 350 million computers and 130 million color TVs a year. Yet, Chinese companies have been reduced to worker bees for the international companies that take the lion’s share of profits through patent fees on chips.
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Lack of regulation behind spate of food and medical scandals, says People’s Daily | South China Morning Post Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily has blamed the lack of proper legislation in China as the main cause behind a string of food safety, medical malpractice and academic fraud scandals in a report on Friday. The lack of rule of law has led to a decline in morality among Chinese professionals, the newspaper warned, highlighting two recent cases in which unethical practices were uncovered.
The Art World’s High-Roller Specialist – WSJ – WSJ Ms. Xin’s quick ascent comes amid China’s expanding clout on the global art stage. Most specialists are art experts who build up a career doggedly over decades. Ms. Xin, however, never saw a work of art until she was 19. But since she joined the auction business nearly seven years ago, she has homed in on finding masterpieces—and collectors who could afford them. Now, her clients like restaurateur Zhang Lan [South Beauty founder] tend to pay top dollar for whatever she recommends. Even Christie’s owner, François Pinault, has enlisted Ms. Xin to advise on his private collection of Chinese contemporary art. Collector Susan Liu, who works for a New York hedge fund, said Ms. Xin’s specialty is teasing out aesthetic similarities between artists, East and West.
刘志丹之女刘力贞逝世 习近平彭丽媛曾送花圈-今日头条-手机光明网 Xi Jinping sends a wreath to the funeral of the daughter of Liu Zhidan, Xi’s mother dispatched Xi Yuanping to the family home to give condolences and to attend the funeral. Xi Zhongxun was jailed along with Liu Zhidan in 1935 and then was purged in 1962 as part of an “anti-Party clique” for support of a biography of Liu Zhidan.
揭秘林彪集团后代们的现状：林豆豆依旧像公主_网易新闻中心 P
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Popular Mental Health Treatment Has No Benefits, Experts Say – Caixin Patients in China have been lured into spending large sums to be treated by a piece of equipment called an EFG, but doctors say there’s no evidence of its effectiveness
China’s First Cold Snap Will Once Again Expose Serious Natural Gas Shortages and Drive Historically High LNG Import Demand | China SignPost™ CNPC researchers estimate this winter’s gap between supply and demand could grow to 13.6 billion cubic meters—roughly twice as large as last winter’s gap and approximately 42% more gas than was delivered to the municipality of Beijing in the entire year of 2013. Over the past seven years, China’s gas supply deficit has burgeoned dramatically, and as of June 2014, stood at nearly 45% (Exhibit 1). In recent months, domestic gas supply increases have tapered off and the supply deficit is now likely even more acute than it was during the summer, increasing China’s dependency on pipeline and LNG imports.
多地污水处理厂超负荷运转 排放招标成污染源_新闻_腾讯网 Economic Information investigates wastewater treatment plants, says many overloaded, big sources of water pollution
China Becomes Latest Country to Sign South Africa Nuclear Accord – Bloomberg The framework agreement, which is a precursor to procurement, was signed by South Africa Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson and her Chinese counterpart Wu Xinxiong, the Pretoria-based Department of Energy said today in an e-mailed statement. South Africa is planning agreements with other countries including Japan as it decides how best to procure as many as 9,600 megawatts of nuclear energy by 2030. The country, which through its state-owned utility has installed capacity of about 42,000 megawatts, is struggling to meet power demand and on Nov. 2 had rolling blackouts, a consequence of decades of underinvestment in generation.
BEIJING
‘The Sky Is Really Blue, But It Isn’t for Us’ For others, however, the biggest worry is what will happen after APEC. “Small-sized factories speed up their production to make up for the loss; small cars all take to the road; people flood to hospital to see the doctor as they should have done earlier,” Beijing-based columnist Zhang Shanshan wrote on Weibo. “After ‘APEC blue,’ I predict there will be ‘revenge smog.”
北京4.4平米学区房卖出135万 不能住人只为上学_新闻_腾讯网 more on rising prices of homes zoned to Beijing’s top primary schools. One, tiny at 4.4 sq m, went for 300,000 RMB…a result of the recent reforms to beijing school enrollment