"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner

Subscribe Now

Spread the word by forwarding this email to your friends, follow me on Twitter @Niubi or Sina Weibo @Billbishop, support Sinocism.

There is still no resolution to the Southern Weekend mess. Reuters reported that Guangdong chief Hu Chunhua offered a deal in Chinese paper censorship row but the Wall Street Journal says that those talks have stalled. The publisher of The Beijing News (新京报) reportedly has resigned in protest (Shanghaiist) over the forced publication of a Global Times editorial about the Southern Weekend incident.

David Bandurski of the China Media Project makes a very important point about what triggered this incident:

As the Southern Weekly crisis develops, we should bear in mind that this did not begin as a face-off between pro-reform voices and status-quo Party conservatives. While the incident has now prompted calls for freedom of speech in China, the root issue was that propaganda officials in Guangdong — the spiritual heart of China’s reform and opening — upset the status-quo by exercising censorship to such an intrusive extent that the situation became unacceptable to working journalists, most of whom had already made an uneasy peace with media controls.

The crisis at the Nanfang Media Group is not just about whether Xi Jinping is serious about the ostensible new openness and responsiveness attributed to him by sustained state propaganda. It is about whether China could be moving backward on the issue of media freedom, which would send worrying signals about the overall direction set by the new leadership.

In this week’s China Insider column at Dealbook I look at the Southern Weekend mess and the risks it poses for Xi Jinping and the expectations he has raised in his first eight weeks in office:

A hopeful to the Southern Weekend situation might be that Mr. Xi realizes the benefits of listening to the liberal media and netizens and renounces the actions around censorship of the Southern Weekend editorial.

But Mr. Xi and other officials may believe that giving any ground on this issue would open the flood gates to many other aggressive calls for change that, while couched in support for the Communist Party and the Constitution, in reality would likely undermine the Party’s rule.

Mr. Xi increasingly looks to be a staunch Dengist, meaning he believes in pursuing major economic reform while maintaining the unchallenged rule of the Communist Party.

Loosening controls on the media flies in the face of the Party’s decades of focus on ideological work and propaganda control. One or more midlevel officials involved in this mess may need to be sacrificed for expediency, but significant change is unlikely.

Without change, however, an expectations gap for many Chinese will continue to grow.

Today’s Links:

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

Solzhenitsyn, Yao Chen, and Chinese Reform : The New Yorker – And therein lies a problem. For the journalists at Southern Weekend—and, crucially, the widening circle of ordinary middle-class Chinese who are taking an interest in them, thanks to people like Yao Chen—that bargain is no good. They are not willing to play along with the idea that the President’s gestures of reform morally counterbalance the ham-fisted daily humiliation of censorship. They were supposed to go along quietly, but instead, they are posting photos like the one of a dozen men and women wearing Guy Fawkes masks and holding posters that said, “Four courses and a soup are not real reform. Only press freedom is real reform.”

Southern Weekly issue prompts soul-searching over media’s role – Globaltimes.cn– Those external activists are expecting direct confrontation between Chinese media and the current system. But nowadays, China’s attention is on developing the economy and improving livelihoods. The public doesn’t want to see uncertainty in the country’s future.China’s media development needs reform. But media reform should be in line with China’s politics. We must actively and bravely promote media reform, but meanwhile, avoid radical reform that is out of step with political development and China’s reforms as a whole.

China to Rectify Local Governmental Debt -Caijing China’s local governmental debt, which dates back to the late 1970s, ballooned after the country launched its 4 trillion yuan stimulus plan. After a brief pause in 2011, local governmental debt surged again in 2012. Maturity mismatch, the practice of rolling over debt, and weak solvency, which have long haunted China’s local governmental debt, have now become the biggest uncertainties looming over the Chinese economy, affecting policymakers’ judgment of macroeconomic trends and their choice of policies. The notice stresses the need to keep a close eye on local government debt risks and curb local governments’ illegal financing activities. It notes that illegal financing practices by local governments have been gaining momentum recently in some regions, such as building public welfare projects through illegal fund-raising and buy-backs, injecting capital into or backing local government financing vehicles (LGFVs), and issuing bonds via finance companies, trust companies, and financial leasing companies.

Something is afoot in Chinese shadow finance | FT Alphaville This post is not about another Chinese shadow financing innovation, or the possible or actual blowing up of said innovative products. Nope. Something even worse… Although the new Chinese leadership seems so far unenthused about major reforms, a few strategists have detected signs in the past couple of weeks that the country’s authorities are preparing to crack down, somehow, on shadow financing.

Authorities vow measures to stabilize vegetable prices – Xinhua | English.news.cn– food prices rising fast, likely to continue…food inflation a dangerous dissatisfaction accelerant// Relevant Chinese authorities are moving to rein in soaring vegetable prices fueled by supply shortages amid the cold weather.The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is studying ways to reduce circulation costs, and some local authorities have already moved to use price regulation funds to stabilize prices, a source the NDRC, the country’s top economic planner, told Xinhua Tuesday.The Ministry of Commerce said that it has ordered local commerce authorities to release government reserves of farm produce in a timely manner, adding that efforts will be made to promote links between production and sales.

The Jamestown Foundation: Soothing Tones on China’s Rise Strike Dissonance – The newly-appointed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping’s talk of China’s national rejuvenation has generated a lot of concern in foreign analyses about the implications of the just-completed leadership transition. Although “The Great Renewal of the Chinese Nation” (zhonghua minzu weida fuxing) is a long-time justification for reform, Xi has returned it to a place front-and-center in Chinese propaganda, calling the achievement of national rejuvenation the “the greatest dream of the Chinese nation in modern times” (PLA Daily, December 13, 2012; People’s Daily, November 30, 2012). Such sentiment suggests to some that Xi’s China will be more sensitive to slights against China’s dignity or possibly even more aggressive internationally. Perhaps as a response to these concerns, official Chinese press carried a series of articles and editorials, especially at the end of December, to reassure foreign audiences about Beijing’s intentions. Such soothing lines about China’s behavior, however, are unlikely to receive an attentive hearing, because they suggest the problems of resolving China’s rise require other countries to give way.

Bar street booze seized – Globaltimes.cn– Beijing police detained five suspects and confiscated over 37,000 bottles of fake foreign alcohol which was sold to bars along the Sanlitun Bar Street, police told the Global Times Monday.Police received tip-offs from residents last September, and then raided five gangs who produced and sold fake beer and foreign alcohol worth over 1 million yuan ($160,400) in Tongzhou and Chaoyang districts last December.The fake alcohol was then sold to Sanlitun bars, although none were named.

Under Cover – By Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | Foreign Policy  expect to hear more about the Chinese Media Reciprocity Act// It is clear that the Chinese Communist Party controls and manipulates domestic and foreign media operating within its country to maintain its illegitimate grip on power. But why does the U.S. government look the other way and allow numerous Chinese state media organizations to operate in our country without requiring any reciprocity?

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

CDB Cancels Loans for Ping An Deal – Caixin- The Hong Kong branch of China Development Bank (CDB) has been ordered by its Beijing headquarters to cancel loans that would have been used to finance an acquisition involving the nation’s second largest insurer, a source from the bank said.The source said the decision was reached because of Caixin report over the problematic financing of the deal.The bank had intended to lend HK$ 44 billion to Thai business conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group (CP). CP planned to acquire HSBC’s entire 15.57 percent stake in Ping An Insurance Co. for US$ 9.4 billion, or HK$72.7 billion.

China Loan Share Seen at Record Low as Data Show Risks – Bloomberg – New yuan loans probably dropped 14 percent last month from a year earlier, according to the median projection in a Bloomberg News survey of 37 analysts ahead of data due by Jan. 15. That would give bank lending a 55 percent share of aggregate financing for 2012, based on UBS AG estimates, the least in figures dating to 2002.The decline underscores the waning ability of official loan data to capture the scale of debt in the world’s second-largest economy as borrowers and investors turn to less-regulated, higher-return shadow-banking products. The People’s Bank of China is putting greater emphasis on aggregate financing and the International Monetary Fund says the growth of nonbank credit poses “new challenges to financial stability.”

China Growth Can Beat 8% for 20 Years on Reform, Lin Says – Bloomberg – China’s economy has the potential to grow 8 percent annually over the next 20 years should the nation reduce support for state companies and unshackle banks, according to Lin Yifu, a former World Bank chief economist.“We can be quite optimistic,” Lin, who now teaches at Peking University in Beijing, said at a New York Stock Exchange conference on China’s economy yesterday. To harness its potential, the country needs to widen income distribution and cap “widespread” corruption, he said.

A Hard Landing In China Part 1 – Evolution And Response | Zero Hedge – Soc Gen looks at scenario for China, hard landing not their expected one. but..// The difference between our central scenario and this risk scenario is merely the pace at which China corrects its structural problem of a production economy out of proportion to the consumption economy. Under our central scenario, investment will decelerate gradually and consumption increase moderately faster to partially offset the drag. This will only be possible if the new leaders proceed steadily with necessary reforms to improve investment efficiency, liberalise vital sectors and grow consumption sustainably. On the other hand, an abrupt correction doesn’t have to mark the end of China’s growth story, like Japan in the 1990s. It is the top leaders’ choices during the difficult times ahead that will determine the fate of the Chinese economy. The key is not to waste a crisis.

Interview with a Chinese diamond trader – Tough trading conditions | Asia Cracked– I rang up one of my mates, a Beijing diamond trader, to find out what’s going on. He had some very interesting insights into Chinese diamond demand, the rough / polished stone price squeeze, an increase in late payments, diamond bosses going AWOL, higher retailer inventory, diamonds as an investment and the carat size favoured by his customers. He currently has a downbeat view of of the Chinese diamond industry, which reflects the negative flow-on effect from China’s current corruption crackdown.

China to Encourage Dividend Payouts to Lure Investors – Bloomberg – Companies that fail to do so will need to disclose the reason in annual reports, the Shanghai exchange, the nation’s main bourse, said in a dividend-payment guideline on its website yesterday. There was no mention of penalties in the statement.“This is the first time the Shanghai exchange has issued such a guideline on dividend payments,” said Wu Kan, a Shanghai-based fund manager at Dazhong Insurance Co., which oversees $285 million. “This makes dividend payments for companies more implementable and is positive for the market.”

POLITICS AND LAW

The Jamestown Foundation: What Direction for Legal Reform under Xi Jinping – New language in official pronouncements now suggests Chinese leaders intend to reverse at least some of these policies. This appears to be linked directly to internal party efforts to curb the power of political-legal committees in the wake of the Bo Xilai scandal (“Year-End Questions on Political-Legal Reform,” China Brief, December 14, 2012). This shift has allowed activists some greater space to advocate for reforms to state practices, including the reeducation through labor (RETL) system. Central authorities, however, remain committed to maintaining party political control, rendering it unclear how far such legal reforms will be permitted to proceed. Ironically, some of the key linguistic shifts have not originated (at least on the surface) from Xi himself. Rather, they came from former Party General Secretary Hu Jintao during the run-up to the November leadership handover.

The Jamestown Foundation: Regional Chief Selections Highlight Continuity in Leadership Development-Willy Lam – Hu Chunhua, who took over from the reformist Politburo member Wang Yang as Guangdong party secretary in mid-December, is a veteran party functionary with scant exposure to areas such as finance, foreign trade or high technology. Having spent 19 years in Tibet and three years in Inner Mongolia, Hu has ample experience dealing with tough law-and-order situations, including defusing the anti-Beijing plots of Tibetan and Mongolian separatists. It is doubtful, however, whether the fast-rising star can satisfactorily accomplish the task, first set by predecessor Wang, of turning the Pearl River Delta from “world factory” into a global innovation hub. It is perhaps significant that upon taking over his Guangdong job, Hu hewed to the CCP tradition of giving top priority to establishing a trustworthy and combat-ready corps of cadres rather than reforming institutions and systems of governance. “We must put together a [ruling] team that is united, capable, influential and full of combative [spirit],” the Hubei-born Hu told local officials (Guangzhou Daily [Guangzhou], December 19; China News Service, December 19).

人民日报-改革必须协调推进（人民观点） ——深化改革方法论之四 – 　十八大提出“五位一体”总布局，明确了全面改革的方法论。搞好经济、政治、文化、社会、生态文明五大建设，要求在深化改革中，要让政府与市场各归其位，权利与权力规范有序，效率与公平相互促进，精神与物质相得益彰，生态与发展和谐共生。在这千帆竞发的时代洪流中，各项改革相互促进、良性互动，就能形成强大合力，最大限度凝聚社会共识，最大程度释放改革红利。 恩格斯说过，人们创造历史的活动，如同无数力的平行四边形形成的一种总的合力。全面改革，正是为了激发这种“总的合力”。但“全面”并不意味着平均用力。今天的改革，不是“愉快的郊游”，而是啃硬骨头、涉险滩。只有既整体推进，又重点突破，勇于冲破思想观念的束缚，勇于突破利益固化的藩篱，勇于破除阻碍生产力发展的体制机制障碍，全面改革才能获得新动力，中国发展才能闯出新天地。

人民日报-让崇清成为一种风尚（人民论坛） – most read article on people’s daily today about making esteem for clean officials a style/trend// 清，求之不易，守之维艰。正所谓，“利以义制，名以清修”，“多栽莲藕水自清”。常受清水洁流的浇灌，心灵之花才不会枯萎；常有清风正气的熏陶，生命之树才会葳蕤生长。每个人尤其是党员干部，只有不断增强自我净化、自我完善、自我革新、自我提高的能力，才能让清气充盈生命的价值，让清风吹拂生活的每一天。//so what is the lotus?

Grassroots officials vulnerable to ‘public image crisis’ |Society |chinadaily.com.cn– Village heads, county-level officials and law enforcement officers are among the officials most vulnerable to a “public image crisis,” according to a report by a public administration expert.The past year has seen more government officials rocked by scandals, according to Tang Jun, director of the crisis management center at the Renmin University of China and author of the 2012 Report on Image Crisis of Officials.

统计称去年被查贪官95%有情妇 网友:反腐靠二奶_新闻_腾讯网 – report from a People’s University Institute says 95% of corrupt officials have mistresses..wonder what the other 5% have// “2012年，官员形象危机处于高危状态，危机事件高发、易发，官员形象的形势更加严重，社会负面影响增多。”中国人民大学危机管理研究中心主任唐钧主持的《官员形象危机2012报告》即将发布，他说，新媒体时代下信息传播的速度和广度都发生了变化，官员形象、政府形象的维护都面临巨大挑战。

邓聿文：如何“特赦贪官”又不失民意-财经网 – Deng Yuwen column on Caijing.com about how to give amnesty to corrupt officials without losing support of the people..sugests requiring public asset disclosures start for when officials get promoted..so lots of local officials will no longer want to be promoted?// 我们其实是可以做到事实上赦免贪官而又不冒失去民意的风险。办法就是启动政府官员的财产公示，并在新提拔官员中率先进行

刘铁男出席全国能源工作会议 曾被举报巨额骗贷_网易新闻中心 – Liu Tienan makes an appearance..//核心提示：1月7日，全国能源工作会议在京召开，国家发展改革委副主任、国家能源局局长刘铁男作了报告。2012年12月6日，《财经》杂志副主编罗昌平在微博上实名举报刘铁男涉嫌伪造学历、与商人结成官商同盟等问题。罗昌平报道还详细披露了刘铁男涉嫌骗取巨额贷款的内幕。

Greasing Up a Railroad – Caixin – Luo Jinbao, former chairman of China Railway Container Transport Ltd., went on trial December 24 in a court in Qiqihaer, Heilongjiang Province, on charges of bribery and illegal possession of firearms. The verdict has yet to be announced. Troubled by depression for two years, Luo appeared despondent in court. His arrest, almost a year ago, marked the beginning of a cluster of cases revolving around railway projects in the northeastern province. Luo, a 56-year-old Shanxi native, is accused of taking 47 million yuan in bribes from companies and individuals when he served as the director of the railway bureaus in Hohot, Inner Mongolia, and Urumqi, Xinjiang autonomous region, and when he was the head of a government committee overseeing preparations for the Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan railway route.

铁道部官员被搜出4千万财物 企业称不送礼没法活_网易新闻中心 – 核心提示：2012年7月，铁道部宣传处前处长陈宜涵和丈夫铁道部运输局车辆部副主任刘瑞扬涉案被查。2人家中和刘瑞扬办公室搜出近4千万元财物和8个房产证。刘瑞扬手中新产品资质认证权力成企业送钱目标。1名涉案企业老总下属称，送礼也是为了企业的生存，不送礼就没办法活。

传谷俊山已被批捕 涉案200亿包养5情人_多维新闻网– Duowei on rumors that Gen Gu Junshan officially arrested, sums/properties involved staggering per the rumor..but only 5 mistresses//【多维新闻】北京时间1月7日有大陆网民称原解放军总后副部长谷俊山被正式批捕。涉案金额200多亿，房产300余处，另有5个情人。目前该消息尚未得到官方证实。微博认证为“大众网副总编辑姜长勇”网民在自己的微博上称：“元旦前总后原副部长谷俊山被正式批捕。据初步核查，谷涉案金额200多亿，房产300余处。住7,000多平米小楼，护工60余人管理房院。另有5个情人。其中一个歌星、两个影视小星、一个主持人、一个高级白领。”该消息迅速得到转发。

中诚广场利益反刍链：一座“被烂尾”楼盘的幕后官商圈子|楼盘|中诚广场|烂尾楼_21世纪网 – crazy story of corruption behind one of guangzhou’s most famous unfinished/abandoned commercial real estate projects, which is now partially occupied as the courts unravel the debtor messes// 核心提示：根据当事人的叙述，这栋价值10亿的烂尾楼先后被黄松有、杨贤才、陈同海、黄光裕、李薇等一批落马官商或明或暗有所染指，直接涉案的司法人员多达71名。中诚广场的曲折历史，显示出司法执行利益场内，若缺少权力制衡，官员、商人、律师各色人等自行其事的复杂后果。

湖南纪委官员：副厅长已上缴儿子婚宴礼金10多万_资讯频道_凤凰网 –

China to register all clergy – Xinhua | English.news.cn– China’s religious affairs authorities will register all clergy members by the end of the year, in a move to help the public identify fake religious staff.At a national conference on religious affairs Tuesday, Wang Zuo’an, State Administration for Religious Affairs director, said in most of the country’s provincial-level regions, more than 95 percent of clergy members have registered.

Chinese official stresses patriotism among monks – Xinhua | English.news.cn– Senior official Yu Zhengsheng called on monks and nuns to be patriotic and observe the law and monastic rules during an inspection tour in southwest China’s Sichuan Province from Jan. 6 to 8.Yu, a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the call at a seminar held with Tibetan Buddhist representatives in Sichuan’s Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

[视频]俞正声赴四川甘孜调研_新闻频道_央视网 – CCTV Evening News on Yu Zhenghsheng’s visit to Ganzi in Sichuan..this sign that he has CPPCC? // 央视网消息(新闻联播)：中共中央政治局常委俞正声近日赴四川省甘孜藏族自治州调研，看望慰问各族干部群众，就新形势下进一步做好民族地区工作广泛听取意见和建议。

俞正声：要继续深入开展对达赖集团斗争_网易新闻中心 – 核心提示：日前，中央政治局常委俞正声在四川藏区调研时表示，帮助群众解决实际问题，开展法制宣传教育。要继续深入开展对达赖集团斗争，为经济发展、民生改善创造有利的社会政治环境。他还表示，希望藏传佛教人士支持政府依法管理寺庙，引导僧尼持戒守法。

Accident cover-up officials to warrant aggravated penalties – Xinhua | English.news.cn– According to a statement issued on Tuesday by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC), the legal interpretation has for the first time specified criteria in convicting criminal offenses of power abuse and dereliction of duty. It explains what kind of scenarios will be considered as “resulting in grave damages to public assets, interests of the state and the people.”These scenarios include accidents involving a fatality or fatalities, three or more serious injuries, or nine or more minor injuries; incidents involving more than 300,000 yuan (48,210 U.S. dollars) of economic losses; incidents exerting baleful social influences.

中国网事：“兰考大火”该有一个怎样的了结？ – 地方联播 – 新华网 – 一问：６名官员岂能担７条生命全责？面对汹涌民意，兰考终于有所回应，县民政局等６名“比芝麻还小的官”被停职检查。然而网民却难掩失望：这个结果如何抵得过７条生命之重。

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

Tokyo Protests to China Over 4 Ships Near Islands | TIME.com– The latest incident was the 21st and longest intrusion by Chinese vessels into what Japan considers its territorial waters around the islands since that purchase, the coast guard said.Deputy Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki summoned Ambassador Cheng Yonghua to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the four Chinese government ships entered waters off the islands for about 13 hours Monday until early Tuesday, ministry official Masaru Sato said.

人民日报-日本不要瞎折腾 钟 声 – Zhong Sheng says in today’s People’s Daily the Japan must stop its “illegal” dispatch of boats and planes into’s China’s Diaoyu Islands maritime zone and airspace//40多年前，中日两国老一辈领导人就钓鱼岛问题达成谅解和共识，为中日邦交正常化铺平了道路。钓鱼岛问题如何走到今天这个地步的，没必要再次详述，对此国际社会清楚得很。偷鸡不成蚀把米，这是日本自己找的。不思悔改，接着折腾下去，日本的感受只能更糟。…日本多次出动船只和飞机非法进入中国钓鱼岛海域和领空，这种非法活动必须停止。

Chinese surveillance fleet busy due to island dispute – Xinhua | English.news.cn– China Marine Surveillance (CMS) patrol ships had a busy year in 2012 due to the escalation of a territorial dispute between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands, according to CMS officials.CMS sailors were not permitted to take turns going on holiday last year, with some sailors spending as long as four months at sea.Only a few of the CMS’s vessels are capable of reaching the Diaoyu Islands.

Japan PM orders stronger surveillance near disputed isles | Reuters – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered his defense minister on Tuesday to strengthen surveillance around islands at the heart of a territorial feud with China, Kyodo news agency reported. Deputy Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki summoned the Chinese ambassador earlier in the day to protest against an “incursion” by four Chinese maritime surveillance ships near the islands, officials said.

Japan Explores War Scenarios with China– The Diplomat–As Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party national defense task force announced on Jan. 8 that it would increase the nation’s defense budget by more than 100 billion yen ($1.15 billion), three of five scenarios explored by the defense ministry recently involve the Self-Defense Forces squaring off against the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). While contingencies involving North Korea’s ballistic missiles and Russia were among the scenarios the defense ministry explored, the top three all involved a crisis in the East China Sea. The first scenario examined a war between China and Japan over the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku islands in the East China Sea.

China and Japan step up drone race as tension builds over disputed islands | World news | The Guardian – so how will the US react if china has armed drones and uses them on what it defines as separatist threats to Beijing, say in xinjiang or tibet, and then argues that they have modeled their drone program on America’s?// Both countries claim drones will be used for surveillance, but experts warn of future skirmishes in region’s airspace

Xi: China-Russia ties prioritized in Chinese diplomacy – Xinhua | English.news.cn– Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Tuesday said that promoting relations with Russia is a priority for Chinese diplomacy as he met with a Russian delegation here in Beijing.Xi, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, told Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev that China will continue to push forward a bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination.Patrushev is in Beijing to attend the eighth round of the China-Russia strategic security consultation from Jan. 8 to 9, co-chairing the discussion along with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo.

China Voice: Cold War mentality fuels U.S. satellite export prejudice – Xinhua | English.news.cn– It is time for the U.S. to abandon its Cold War mentality in which a powerful country with a different political system must be an antagonist.A man of words and not deeds is like a garden full of weeds, and a superpower that calls itself a “responsible player” in the global arena should take more care to hoe its rows.

人民日报-我的中国梦（报告文学）（与雷锋同行）– “deification” of Luo Yang continues..is this “in step with Lei Feng” a recurring series?//至此，歼—15舰载机终于拨开神秘的面纱，展示在世人面前。同时，这也表明，作为中国自行设计研制的首型舰载机，歼—15已经完全具备与世界各国现役舰载机并驾齐驱的能力！罗阳陨落了。但他的梦想已经起飞。他的笑容，他的笑声，写满了中国的万里空疆！　祖国，终将铭记那些忠于祖国、奉献于祖国的人！

China to surpass US by 2049: report|Economy|chinadaily.com.cn – Experts at a Chinese think tank said China is likely to surpass the United States in an all-around way by 2049, the year the People’s Republic of China will celebrate its centennial anniversary.According to a report released Tuesday by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will be realized and the country will surpass the US as long as it nurtures sound “national health”.

Chinese man pleads guilty in $100 million stolen software sting | Reuters Corporate victims in the case included Microsoft, Oracle, Rockwell Automation,, Agilent Technologies, Siemens, Delcam, Altera Corp and SAP, a government spokesman said. U.S. officials and the Chinese man’s lawyer, Mingli Chen, said the case was the first in which a businessman involved in pirating industrial software was lured from China by undercover agents and arrested. The businessman, Xiang Li, of Chengdu, China, was arrested in June 2011, during an undercover sting by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents on the Pacific island of Saipan, an American territory near Guam

HONG KONG AND TAIWAN

Leung Ping-kwan, who died Saturday, Defined Hong Kong With His Poetry – NYTimes.com – Leung Ping-kwan, the poet and intellectual who celebrated and defined Hong Kong, had just been released from hospital and sat, surrounded by spilling boxes of books, his trademark flat cap on his head, in his home in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay district the last time I saw him, on Dec. 9.

Taiwan Opposition: China Downgrading Our Identity | TIME.com– Taiwan’s opposition has warned that Chinese authorities are seeking to make Taiwanese entertainers identify with the mainland by influencing their choice of language.Opposition lawmakers said Tuesday China has asked Taiwanese entertainers working there to refer to the mainland as “the interior,” instead of terms that make it appear as a foreign country, separate from Taiwan.

U.S.-Taiwan Relationship: Overview of Policy Issues Shirley A. Kan, Wayne M. Morrison-CRS (PDF) –

TECH AND MEDIA

What Tencent Executive Says about Weixin O2O Business-Technode-Dai Zhikang became the head of Tencent’s lifestyle e-commerce division after Comsenz, a startup he founded, was acquired by Tencent in 2010. His team released Weixin membership card in mid-2012, a loyalty program for users to subscribe to merchants’ Weixin accounts and for businesses to do CRM. Unlike other low-key Tencent executives, Dai occasionally accepted interviews. On the latest one, he talked about the online-to-offline service, or O2O, his team was building on top of Weixin.

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

媒体称山西苯胺泄漏事故发生11日后才上报|苯胺泄漏事故|水污染_新浪新闻– Shanxi chemical leak coverup appears worse..first financial reporting that the leak actually occurred on 12.26 not 12.31, and that shanxi never reported it. rather, handan municipal officials got a report of pollution in the river, reported it up to the hebei provincial environmental protection authorities who immediately reported it to the MEP in Beijing..//《第一财经日报》记者今天上午在邯郸市采访时独家获悉，“12·31”山西苯胺泄漏事故最早上报的并不是山西省，并且泄漏时间也不是12月31日，而是更早的12月26日。邯郸市政府一位负责人透露，“5日，邯郸市得到浊漳河水污染的报告后，立即向河北省环保厅上报，河北省环保厅接到报告后，感到情况比较严重，也立即向环保部报告。接着，环保部反馈给山西省环保厅。”但记者还未就此向环保部门及山西省有关方面获得证实。

天脊集团早有前科 水库附近现“癌症村” | 每经网 – apparently there is a cancer village near the shanxi chemical plant responsible for the recent leak// 核心提示： 记者从此次事故肇事者——天脊集团出发，顺着化工厂的排污渠，沿途看到各种车辆，海军、武警、消防官兵以及当地老百姓纷纷加入到污染清理中。

人民日报-“喝水问题”简单吗（人民时评） – Beijing trying to deal with problems with drinking water around China, calling for more action and accountability…// “温饱阶段喝安全水，小康阶段喝健康水。”党的十八大，把全面小康社会从“建设”改为“建成”。一字之变，既是奋斗目标，更是郑重承诺。而这种承诺的兑现，就在食品安全里，在空气里，在自来水里，在每一个普通百姓的生活中。兑现这种承诺，就要把握好“简单与复杂定律”，公共部门为民服务的努力“复杂”了，百姓的日常生活就“简单”了。这也是一种辩证法。

[焦点访谈]傍上鱼翅的粉丝(20130108)_新闻频道_央视网 – CCTV jiaodian fangtan program on fake shark fins..point beijing you have no idea what you are getting when you order shark fins..also made the cctv evening news tuesday night

FOOD AND TRAVEL

Everyone wants a Chinese tourist in 2013: How 30+ countries plan to lure them in by Skift– If you’re in travel anywhere in the world and don’t have an evolved and nuanced China strategy, you aren’t a serious player in 2013. What follows is a list of 32 countries that are actively strategizing and employing methods to increase Chinese visitor arrivals in 2013 to build a more lucrative tourism market:

Subscribe Now