"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Just links today:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
人民日报-论钓鱼岛及其附近海域自古以来 就是中国疆域组成部分（厘清钓鱼岛问题②） 李国强 侯毅 People’s Daily Friday has part 2 of the CASS scholars arguments about China’s Diaoyu-related maritime claims, this whole argument looks to be about reiterating the point that the Diaoyus are unquestionably China’s, not about taking Okinanwa and other Ryukyus, though why then did MOFA spokesman not clarify?// 可见，中国政府历来将钓鱼岛视为中国疆域的组成部分，不仅从未承认日本的非法占有，而且行使了管辖权。无论从历史、地理还是从法理的角度来看，中国对钓鱼岛拥有无可争辩的主权。这是无可争辩的事实。（作者分别为中国社会科学院中国边疆史地研究中心研究员、助理研究员）
Related: China Newspaper Challenges Japan’s Claim on Okinawa – China Real Time Report – WSJ The paper — which focused mostly on the issue of the Senkaku islands — stopped short of calling Okinawa a part of China. “Our so-called ‘reconsideration’ is absolutely not saying the Ryukus belong to China or the Ryukus should belong to China,” said Li Guoqiang, one of the authors of the commentary, in an interview on Wednesday. Mr. Li, a researcher at the state-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the ongoing territorial dispute prompted his commentary. “We’re pointing out the facts, telling the Japanese government that if there are questions about the Ryukyus, then they can’t even begin to talk about the Diaoyus,” he said
China and the Middle East: Playing the peacemaker? | The Economist In the end there was no handshake, nor was one ever likely. China’s rising political and economic might, and its growing appetite for energy, mean it has more at stake in the Middle East than it used to, but it still lacks the clout to knock heads together. Chinese aid to the Palestinian side is dwarfed by what America and others give. And despite growing bilateral trade and technology ties, China “is in no position to coerce Israel to do anything it doesn’t want,” says Robert Ross of Boston College. Nor is it clear that China really has any desire to involve itself more deeply. It may seem as if China wants to play a bigger role, says Yin Gang of China’s Academy of Social Sciences, but the truth is that it is outsiders who really want this. “We have enough problems in our own neighbourhood.”
Related: 人民日报-习近平会见以色列总理 President Xi meets with President Netanyahu, gets People’s Daily and CCTV Evening News [视频]习近平会见以色列总理_新闻频道_央视网 top billing as expected
Chinese president meets Israeli PM, pledges efforts for peace in Middle East – Xinhua “(We) hope that Israel and Palestine will make joint efforts and take credible measures to build mutual trust step by step, as well as resume peace talks at an early date,” he told Netanyahu during Thursday’s meeting. China will continue adhering to an impartial stance in order to facilitate talks, make contributions to resolving problems and realize peace and stability in the Middle East. During the meeting, Netanyahu said he appreciates China’s commitment to the peace process in Middle East, adding that Israel is willing to communicate with the Chinese side on the issue.
北京女子散布“保安强奸京温女孩”谣言被控制_新闻_腾讯网 Beijing woman who spread rumor that “security guards raped a woman at the jingwen building” has been detained by Beijing police..the death of the woman from Anhui and the belief in a coverup sparked Wednesday’s protest // 昨日，经警方工作，已将在互联网散布谣言的一名嫌疑人马某（女，28岁，北京市丰台区人）控制。经审查，马某供认，其听到有人议论京温商城坠楼安徽女青年是被人强奸后跳楼，便在其微博上自行编写发布内容为“京温女孩被七名保安强奸，警察拒不立案”等博文。
Related: 学习时报_2013-05-06_党校教育专刊 理论科研_提高领导干部网络社会管理能力– 访中央党校政法部傅思明教授 interesting interview in Study Times with Fu Siming, a professor at the Central Party School, about how the leadership can improve their “Internet Social Management” abilities…lots of smart people here working on the challenge of managing the Internet. whatever readers may think of those attempts, it is dangerous to underestimate either the resolve, the adaptability or the skills the government is bringing to bear on this// 傅思明，中央党校政法部教授，博士生导师。研究方向：宪法、行政法、突发事件应对法。国务院行政审批制度改革工作专家咨询组成员、北京市政府立法工作法律专家委员会委员… 总之，对于虚拟社会管理，不能沿用计划经济体制下那一套管理方式和工作方法。要多引导，少禁止；多对话，少命令；多解释，少指责。尽量化解可能出现的社会矛盾。同时要建立健全网络管理队伍，始终保持对网络舆情的高度敏感，做好预案，及时应对。
两个故意传播谣言微博账号被注销和暂停 – 新华时政 – 新华网 one sina weibo account deleted, one suspended for spreading rumors. He Bing’s account suspended, he has 416k followers, see this week’s Dealbook column for background on the latest efforts to rein in Weibo // 新华网北京5月10日电 记者从国家互联网信息办网络新闻协调局了解到，“萧山君子”、“何兵”两个新浪微博客账号因故意传谣分别被注销和暂停。
The Jamestown Foundation: The “Two Incompatibles” and PLA Self-Assessments of Military Capability Recently, a Beijing-based defense attaché from a NATO country was reported saying, “Our assessment is they [the People’s Liberation Army] are nowhere near as effective as they think they are” (Foreign Policy, May/June 2013). Though the foreign officer did not provide further details, contrary to this attaché’s assertion, a large body of evidence in the official domestic Chinese military and Communist Party media suggests People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers—ranging from the senior leadership to operational and tactical commanders as well as staff officers—do not judge the Chinese military to be anywhere near as effective as many foreigners do. ..Some readers may be skeptical and assume this evaluation is part of a grand strategic deception plan (Sun Tzu said, “All warfare is based on deception”), but nearly all instances of the “Two Incompatibles” and most functional assessments are found in newspapers and journals directed at a Chinese audience. They have not been included in any of the externally-oriented defense white papers.
Related: [视频]歼-10复杂气象下考核加受油_新闻频道_央视网 video of mid-air refueling of J-10 in complex weather conditions makes Thursday CCTV Evening News
Inside the Ring: China reins in North Korea – Washington Times Gertz// Clear signs are emerging for the first time indicating that China is responding to U.S. pressure to help modify belligerent behavior by Beijing’s fraternal communist ally in North Korea…U.S. pressure was delivered to the Chinese during meetings with Chinese official Wu Daiwei in Washington and in meetings in Beijing between Secretary of StateJohn F. Kerry and senior Chinese officials.
China condemns “barbaric” shooting of Taiwanese fisherman – Xinhua | English.news.cn The spokesman for the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Thursday strongly condemned the reported fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Filipino military.
Huawai Founder Ren Zhengfei Speaks To Media For First Time | Stuff.co.nz The founder and president of Chinese technology giant Huawei, Ren Zhengfei, has used a visit to New Zealand to speak to the media for the first time in his career. Ren, 68, had never previously consented to media interviews inside or outside of China, but this morning fielded questions from a handful of journalists at Wellington’s Museum Hotel on topics ranging from his personal view of China’s human rights record to a rumour he will soon retire.
Closer Look: Divining Clues on the Future of Reform – Caixin A regular State Council meeting on May 6 chaired by Premier Li Keqiang showed some clues about the new leadership’s mid- and short-term reform plans. Experts see it as a prelude to the third plenary meeting of the Communist Party’s 18th National Congress slated for this autumn, during which economic reform measures are expected to be unveiled.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
JP Morgan: China’s Shadow Banking Totals 36Tln, 69% of GDP at End of 2012-Caijing The total size of shadow banking which is about 69% of GDP or 27% of bank assets by the end of 2012, is still relatively small when compared with the size of the economy and the banking system, said JP Morgan.
The Myth of the Housewife Gold Titans – Economic Observer With the scores of Chinese women snatching up gold products as prices plummeted, many have credited them with single-handedly stabilizing the price. However, this is likely very exaggerated.
The People’s Money: Why Chinese Stocks Are Alluring – WSJ.com how many times has this been said over the years?// Chinese stocks are cheap compared with their history, too. They are trading at a 27% discount to their historical average price-to-earnings ratio. By comparison, stocks in Indonesia and the Philippines are both trading at premiums of more than 40% compared with their historical averages. China’s steep discount looks excessive considering economic growth has remained solid. “By any standard, China’s GDP growth is still among the highest in the world, but stock valuations are among the cheapest in the region,” said Mingchun Sun, Asia economist for Daiwa Securities. “Now is a good time to go against the crowd and take a more positive stance on China.”
After rough patch in China, Yum looks to repair image | Reuters U.S.-listed Yum, which has over 39,000 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants in more than 130 countries, has launched a campaign called “Operation Thunder” to reverse the loss of confidence in China, its biggest market. It also appears to have a tie-up with Shanghai-based consultancy CIC, one of the largest social media management firms in China that harvests over 100 million consumer comments online every month from a range of Chinese social media sites. Sam Flemming, the chief executive CIC, told Reuters he could not comment on Yum’s media strategy because of a “client relationship” between his firm and the U.S.-listed chain.
PBOC Says China Shouldn’t Be ’Blindly Optimistic’ on Inflation – Bloomberg China will continue to pursue a prudent monetary policy to keep prices stable, the People’s Bank of China said in its first-quarter monetary policy implementation report. The bank will also further push forward interest-rate liberalization and reform of mechanisms for forming the yuan’s exchange rate, according to the report.
Steel Industry Forges Ahead with Reform – Caixin After nearly three decades operation, Jiangsu-based Shagang Group, one of the country’s largest private steel makers, is legitimate in the eyes of regulatory authorities. Shagang is among the 45 steel companies that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in early April had met regulations issued in 2012 to officially enter the industry. Fifteen of the companies are privately owned. For many steel companies like Shagang the news is remarkable because it means finally getting full legitimacy from the regulator.
Too Much Trust in Local Finances – China Real Time Report – WSJ According to data issued Wednesday by the China Trustee Association, a government-backed industry body, trust companies funneled 461 billion yuan ($75.2 billion) worth of new funding to infrastructure projects in the first three months of 2013 (here in Chinese http://www.xtxh.net/sjtj/15547.html)–-more than in the preceding six months combined.
北京二套房贷首付调至七成_中国经济网 70% downpayment now required to get a mortgage when purchasing a second home in beijing// 记者从多家银行了解到，央行营管部公布的“二套房贷首付调至7成，贷款利率依然为基准利率的1.1倍”的二套房贷细则，在北京已经开始全面施行。
NDRC Takes Aim at Pricing of Enterprise Bonds – Caixin The regulator of enterprise bonds has ordered underwriters to change their preferred pricing mechanism so issuance can be more transparent, several sources with knowledge of the matter say. This is the latest effort by authorities relevant to the bond market, which also include the central bank and the securities regulator, to clean up the interbank bond market and close regulatory loopholes, after several executives from large financial institutions were arrested over suspected financial crimes that took advantage of the trading mechanism.
80次“出口”如何套取海量热钱_财经频道_一财网 first financial looks at the trade data (and system) is gamed // 一笔1000万元的货物“出口”80次，可以贡献8亿元亮丽的出口数据。 刘涛（化名）是深圳一家电子出口企业老总，这个“深喉”昨天向《第一财经日报》记者揭开了一些外贸企业出口虚增的“暗道”，其中一大隐蔽手法是，境内企业通过伪造出口获得境外贷款的资质，由此套取外汇入境。如此这般，这笔“本金”既可以获得利率和汇率的差价收益，也可以用来购买银行短期理财产品。
Factory women: Girl power | The Economist So desperate have some factories become for cheap labour that they are allowing men to work on production lines once exclusively reserved for women. But this does not mean China’s factory women are giving up and going home. The toy workers, many of them in their 30s or 40s, who have been working at the factory since it opened some 20 years ago, are typical of their generation of migrants. They have become urban and their children know nothing else. “We can’t plant fields now”, says one. No, agrees another, “We can’t go back”.
China April Passenger-Vehicle Sales Rise 13% on New Models – Bloomberg Wholesale deliveries of cars, multipurpose and sport-utility vehicles climbed to 1.44 million units in April, according to the state-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News had a median estimate of 1.404 million units.
China’s Vision for a ‘New’ Urbanization – China Real Time Report – WSJ The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s state planning agency, is due to produce a report later this year laying out a path for a new kind of urbanization. Li Tie, director general of the NDRC’s China Center for Urban Development, said the report involves a “new model of city development,” which would include three main parts:
Is There Political Peril in Letting China’s Cities Grow? – China Real Time Report – WSJ The reason megacities are so dangerous politically, Mr. Wallace argues, is because they bring together masses of people and make it easier for them to organize and protest. “Having a preponderance of the urban population reside in a few large cities, especially the capital, represents a mixed blessing: increasing the risk of turmoil along with (the) economic development” that comes from urbanization, Mr. Wallace writes in his paper. Mr. Wallace notes that China has used its hukou household registration system to keep migration controlled.
Jeremy Wallace – Research Cities, Redistribution, & Authoritarian Regime Survival (forthcoming, Journal of Politics). How does redistributive policy affect the survival of authoritarian regimes? I argue that redistributive policy in favor of cities, while a temporary measure reducing urban grievances, in the long-run undermines regime survival by inducing urban concentration. I test the argument using cross-national city population, urban bias, and non-democratic regime survival data in the post-WWII period. The results show that urban concentration is dangerous for dictators principally by promoting collective action, that urban bias induces urban concentration, and that urban bias represents a Faustian bargain with short-term benefits overwhelmed by long-term costs.
Paying for the great urbanization of China | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists what can be done to make this huge urbanization successful for China, and for the world? There are four realms that Chinese leaders must tackle: urban layout, transportation, and buildings must be rethought, and the financial incentives that drive today’s development patterns must be flipped. This last issue, finance, is perhaps the most neglected, but it drives all the other decisions, and so cannot be ignored. If China is to develop in an environmentally and economically sound way, it is going to need a new way of financing the infrastructure required for more livable, healthy designs of its cities.
POLITICS AND LAW
李春光先生的微博 新浪微博-随时随地分享身边的新鲜事儿 Zhu Ling family’s lawyer responds to the Beijing Public security bureau statement on the case, posted on Weibo
Chinese Leader Praises Mao Instead of Burying Him — And Splits Weiberati | Tea Leaf Nation A recent editorial on Guangming Daily, one of the Communist Party’s mouthpiece newspapers, has revealed that in a January meeting, the new Chinese leader had pointed out: Had Deng Xiaoping completely repudiated Mao Zedong in 1981, would our Party have been able to survive? Would the socialist system have been able to survive in our country? No, they would not have been able to survive, and that would have lead to chaos in China. // 党报披露：习近平指若全盘否定毛泽东 党还站得住吗？-财经网 习近平同志在论述改革开放前后两个历史时期的关系时，明确提出：“不能用改革开放后的历史时期否定改革开放前的历史时期，也不能用改革开放前的历史时期否定改革开放后的历史时期。”
江青所拍“毛泽东在庐山”照片在北京拍卖(图)_资讯频道_凤凰网 Jiang Qing’s famous picture of Mao Zedong in a wicker chair in Lushan goes up for auction in Beijing today, estimate 30-50,000 rmb, bet will go much higher, will make a great gift to someone// 江青于1961年拍摄的毛泽东在庐山坐像（手工上色），将于5月10日在北京华辰春季拍卖会上拍，估价3至5万元人民币。
Kong Qingdong ordered to apologise for calling Beijing student ‘dog, traitor’ | South China Morning Post this disqualify Kong from a seat in that Jiang/Bell mooted Confucian house of lords? // A Beijing court has ordered controversial Peking University scholar Kong Qingdong to apologise to a law student for calling him a “dog” and a “traitor” online. Kong, who claims to be a descendant of Confucius, is one of China’s most prominent nationalistic internet voices. On Wednesday, the Haidian District People’s Court in Beijing ordered him to pay 200 yuan (HK$253) in damages to Guan Kaiyuan, a 22-year-old law student at the China Institute of Industrial Relations in Beijing, and cover 1,000 yuan in administrative costs.
The Jamestown Foundation: Binding the Baton: Expanding Police Power, Improving Accountability While the new zhengfa team has made significant personnel and organizational changes, it is basically cleaving to established practices regarding operational doctrines and approaches. In line with the imperative that President Xi has put on upgrading the technological standards of both the army and police, more resources are being spent on developing and procuring state-of-the-art equipment.
人民日报-严禁“以园养园” 确保公园姓“公” 住建部将检查公园违规建餐馆会所 规划要让市民出行300—500米见公园绿地 crackdown may be coming on illegal clubs and restaurant inside parks…this mean Beijing’s Jianyi Gongguan is in trouble?
人民日报-永葆共产党人的政治本色 张本正 薛保国 □共产党人的政治本色，是共产党人政治生命的基因，是党的事业枝繁叶茂的根系。它集中体现为坚定理想信念、永远服务人民、坚持务实进取、保持艰苦奋斗等精神特质。 □丢掉本色，就是忘记过去，就意味着背叛。永葆政治本色，是共产党人毕生的不懈追求。为此，要在不断加强学习、提升党性修养、自觉躬行实践上下功夫。
人民日报-改进作风须乘势而上（思想纵横） 谢兵良 are we going to get some sort of a Party Rectification campaign in the near future? // 乘势而上，可以从“三个结合”入手。一是树立正面典型与剖析反面例子结合。及时回头看，既认真总结、宣传各地落实八项规定的好做法、好经验，表扬和树立正面典型，加强引导，汇聚改进作风的正能量；又查找、分析存在的不足和问题，通报和曝光反面例子，加强警示，形成改进作风的威慑力。二是突破难点与整体推进结合。既抓住重点、难点，出重拳把当前群众反映强烈的公款大吃大喝、公车私用等问题解决好，打好攻坚战，积小胜为大胜；又通盘考虑，步步为营，打好组合拳，整体推进。三是集中教育与制度建设结合。将改进作风与即将开展的群众路线教育活动结合起来，既通过集中教育活动增强改进作风的内生动力，增强党员干部的自觉性；又进一步深化改革，加强顶层设计，为加强作风建设提供坚强的制度保障。
Revolutionary’s descendant Ye Zhonghao emerges on political stage | South China Morning Post Ye Zhonghao, the 30-year-old secretary of the league’s committee in Yunfu , was also “elected” as a delegate to the league’s national congress during its Guangdong provincial congress late last month, the online version of People’s Daily reported yesterday.
杨继绳：周有光的眼光-财经网 在世界公民眼里，祖国就是祖国，政府就是政府，二者不是一回事。政府是匆匆过客，而祖国永恒；政府有优劣之分，而祖国永远是美丽的。爱国和爱政府不能划等号。党和政府也不能划等号，党更不能和国家划等号
北京“小官大贪”案件频现 情人多成突破口_新闻_腾讯网 新京报讯 昨日，昌平区检察院反贪局通报，过去5年共立案侦查各类贪污贿赂案件78件98人，涉案案值1.06亿元。这些案件中，超过六成是“身边的腐败”，涉及工程建设、医药卫生等多个领域，“小官大贪”成为特点。
Blind activist’s brother bashed in China Chen Guangfu says his family has endured a campaign of harassment beginning last month, ahead of the first anniversary of the escape of his brother Chen Guangcheng from house arrest to seek asylum at the US mission in Beijing.
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
Chinese vice premier, U.S. treasury secretary discuss ties – Xinhua So Wang Yang is China’s point man for those talks?// Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang discussed bilateral relations with U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew by phone on Thursday. Wang made the phone call in the capacity of a special envoy to Chinese President Xi Jinping while Lew is a special envoy to U.S. President Barack Obama. In the phone call, the two special envoys exchanged views on a broad range of issues such as China-U.S. economic ties, the global economic and financial situation and the preparatory work for the fifth China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue.
The Jamestown Foundation: China’s Response to Pentagon Report “Baseless, Counterproductive” What is remarkable about Beijing’s statements about the annual report is that they reveal what might be a growing divorce between the propaganda and policy systems. At the very least, China’s counterproductive response—translated into English for foreign consumption—suggests an uncertain commitment to dialogue over the challenges in U.S.-China relations.
Abe clarifies history stance / Suffering of Asian nations recognized – The Japan News Abe still weaseling around the “invasion” term. unhelpful, US needs to be more forceful in encouraging him to be more constructive// Meanwhile, with regards to the definition of the term “invasion,” Abe said on April 23 that the term has not yet been clearly defined in academic and international contexts. During the Diet committee meeting Wednesday, Abe said, “There are various arguments in the academic field…But as a politician, I will not pry into it.” After Abe’s series of remarks on his perception of history, China and South Korea have intensified their criticism, particularly in connection with the recent visits by members of his Cabinet to Yasukuni Shrine, where Class-A World War II criminals are enshrined together with the war dead.
时事：毛泽东点头冲绳归日本 _国际_多维新闻网【多维新闻】中国外交部1964年关于冲绳主权一事，向各地大使馆发出了写有“当然应该归还日本”的电报。日媒称，这得到了毛泽东的点头同意。日本时事通讯社5月9日报道称，中国外交部1964年，关于“美国施政下的冲绳”主权一事，按照毛泽东的意愿，向各地大使馆发出了写有“当然应该归还日本”的电报，向外交部门做出了明确的指示。日本时事通讯社称其在中国外交部档案馆找到了作为“外交文件”保留的原电报副本。
BBC News – Japan protests over Chinese article on Okinawa sovereignty He told a news conference on Thursday that Tokyo had told Beijing via diplomatic channels that it strongly protested if the article represented an official stance, Kyodo news agency reported. China said the article was written by the authors in their capacity as researchers, Mr Suga said.
Border dispute exposes faultline in China-India relations – FT.com Zhang Xiaodong, a scholar at the Shanghai branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in an article published last week that Beijing was in fact following a strategy of grabbing opportunities to expand its range of control across the region. He applauded the strategy but said China was ill-advised to open a new front with India in this game at the same time disputes were flaring with Japan and in the South China Sea because this raised the risk of its neighbours teaming up against Beijing.
China-PLA: 2nd comes right after 1st–Lowy Interpreter As the recent Carnegie study on China’s Military and the US-Japan Alliance in 2030 puts it, the status quo is unsustainable. The question is whether the US and its allies insist on maintaining US primacy by matching or surpassing China’s military growth and accompanying this with an offensively-oriented strategy, or whether they are content to see US-led primacy eroded gradually in favour of a more cooperative (though at times tense) form of balancing.
N. Korea asks China to hire idled Kaesong workers – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun North Korean authorities asked their Chinese counterparts to hire North Korean workers withdrawn from the symbolic inter-Korean joint venture in the Kaesong industrial complex, according to a local government source here. It is believed that cash-strapped Pyongyang sought to maintain a valuable source of hard currency by switching partners to China, which, as it turned out, declined the proposal, according to the source.
Boris trumps PM with visit to China – Telegraph Boris Johnson is to visit China for a trade mission even though the Beijing government is furious with David Cameron for meeting the Dalai Lama
人民日报-雄鹰放飞强军梦 ──记爱党报国、爱军精武的藏族连长拉巴次仁
Rocks, maps, lines… Arbitrate! A Primer to the Philippines’ South China Sea Arbitration Challenge to China | East by Southeast Earlier in January this year, the Philippines submitted a unilateral challenge to China on certain key aspects of their ongoing dispute in South China Sea (SCS) maritime delimitations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS). This challenge will take the form of an arbitration case before the International Tribunal on the Law of the Seas (ITLOS). To the uninitiated, this move is intriguing but unclear as to its real-world implications for international maritime law or the future of SCS geopolitics. The following primer attempts to translate the dense jargon of maritime law, distill the meanings behind subtle diplomatic language of Claimant States, and untangle the intricate web of geopolitical maneuvering to provide a clearer, layman picture of this case and its implications for the SCS disputes.
MOC queries World Bank China business report – Xinhua | English.news.cn The Ministry of Commerce disagrees with the depiction of China’s business environment in a report released by the World Bank, spokesman Yao Jian said on Thursday. The report, publicized in October of 2012, compared business regulations and implementation in 185 countries and regions, among which China ranked 91st. [ Yao said the report could help China build a better business environment fitting “the world standard, the rules of the World Trade Organization and more benefits for enterprises”.
TECH AND MEDIA
‘Iron Man 3’ – ‘So Young’ Duel Smashes Chinese Box Office Records. Are Hollywood’s Fortunes Turning? | chinafilmbiz 中国电影业务 Good for China’s producers and distributors, yes. For Hollywood, it’s hard to get too enthused. This past week was a positive blip in what continues to be a confounding and rather distressing trend for American studio films in China.
Lenovo Will Debut First Africa Smartphone in Nigeria by Year-End – Bloomberg The Chinese company, the world’s second-biggest maker of personal computers, picked Nigeria because, unlike in South Africa, it doesn’t have to work with local telecommunications companies in order to sell its phones, according to Graham Braum, general manager of Africa for Beijing-based Lenovo. South Africa is Africa’s biggest economy while Nigeria is the second largest.
阿里巴巴将入股高德：成第一大股东 布局O2O|阿里|高德|阿里巴巴_互联网_新浪科技_新浪网 Alibaba buying 20-30% stake in Autonavi? I’ve own (a handful) of shares in AMAP for months, on the bet someone would buy them // 多位消息人士确认，阿里巴巴即将入股高德(Nasdaq:AMAP)，占股约为20%~30%左右，或成为第一大股东，消息暂定于下周一公布。
China market: Rising popularity of tablets with 3G functionality to benefit MediaTek, Qualcomm With branded vendors including Acer and Asustek Computer now foraying into the US$149-169 tablet segment, white-box tablet makers in China have been forced to use more 3G chips for production differentiations and performance upgrading, the sources noted.
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Domestic violence by men ‘shocking’: survey[1]|chinadaily.com.cn An international survey on domestic violence that interviewed more than 2,000 Chinese found that half of male respondents confessed they have physically or sexually abused their wives or girlfriends. James Lang, program coordinator of Partners for Prevention, a regional joint program by four United Nations agencies including the UN Population Fund, said “some preliminary findings are shocking”.
陕西法门寺被曝每个功德箱都有创收指标_网易新闻中心 核心提示：近日，媒体报道陕西法门寺每一个功德箱都有创收指标，每一尊佛像都有天价的供养标价。清净之地成叫卖之所，其间充斥诳语与骗局。法门寺景区明码标价背后，是建立“世界佛都”的宏大计划。
Inside the Home and Studio of Ye Yongqing – WSJ.com He is one of a large number of artists who have set up studios in this area of the Yunnan province, southwestern China, in recent years. Many consider Mr. Ye the godfather of this growing artistic community, which has helped burnish Dali’s reputation as a tourist destination.
Bear Vs. Monkey Bicycle Race Ends With Bear Eating Monkey–Deadspin video, somewhere in China
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH
China doesn’t want your trash anymore—and that could spell big trouble for American cities – Quartz What’s going on is this: the Chinese government just launched Operation Green Fence, forbidding the import of certain types of solid waste, including unwashed plastics and other illegal waste mixed in with the good stuff. This is a problem for the US because China is the primary source of demand for its to-be-recycled plastic exports (pdf):
MEP Upholds that Soil Pollution Data is a “State Secret” – Economic Observer After controversially declaring soil pollution data a “state secret,” the Ministry of Environmental Protection is still refusing to reverse its decision, saying it will release the data when it’s ready.
四川石化将邀请公众实地考察彭州石化项目_资讯频道_凤凰网 成都商报讯 记者从中国石油四川石化有限公司了解到，从近日起，公司将采取多种形式，在法定的正式验收之前，有序邀请公众考察彭州石化项目，听取意见，接受监督。
FOOD AND TRAVEL
‘Red Obsession’ Documentary Traces China’s Bordeaux Wine Boom – China Real Time Report – WSJ In March 2011, Warwick Ross began shooting “Red Obsession,” his new documentary about China’s impact on the Bordeaux market. It was good timing, he now acknowledges, having captured the height of the wine boom. “The arc we saw over the rest of the year was Shakespearean in proportions,” he said in an interview. “There was arrogance, greed and hubris among the French. We had no idea it would unravel like that.”
BEIJING
Series of measures to protect Hutong – Xinhua | English.news.cn differing definitions of “protection”// Photo taken on April 27, 2013 shows a view of old houses which has been renovated at Nanluoguxiang, one of Beijing’s oldest hutong neighborhoods, in Dongcheng District in Beijing, capital of China. Local administration has taken a series of measures to protect Hutong, ancient architecture and courtyards in Dongcheng District, including renovation and putting up brands with Chinese-English bilingual introduction for old buildings.