Today’s China Readings April 25, 2012

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

  • An Exclusive Statement from Bo Guagua to The Harvard Crimson | News | The Harvard Crimson
    Harvard Kennedy School student Bo Guagua corresponded with Crimson staff writers Hana N. Rouse and Justin C. Worland on Tuesday via his Kennedy School and Google email accounts and sent The Crimson a statement, which is published verbatim below.
  • Bo Xilai’s wife ‘was in the room when Neil Heywood was poisoned’ – Telegraph
    Bo Xilai’s’s wife Gu Kailai, accused of murdering the British businessman Neil Heywood, confessed to police that she was in the room when he was poisoned, according to an account given to American diplomats.
  • [今日观察]3.15在行动:蜜饯竟然如此加工!(20120424)_经济台_中国网络电视台
  • 央视曝部分蜜饯厂家制作过程违规严重 上海来伊份等涉及-财经网
    检测结果显示,甜蜜素,糖精钠等甜味剂,胭脂红、苋菜红、亮蓝等着色剂以及用作漂白剂和防腐剂的二氧化硫都超过了国家标准要求的最大使用量。有的甚至超过国家标准要求的三倍多
  • China’s Carrier Fighter Fleet | Defense Tech
    Let’s start this Tuesday off with some photos of China’s entire carrier-based fighter fleet. Yes, this tiny fleet of perhaps four jets are the prototypes for the J-15 fighters that will soon be roaring off the deck of China’s first aircraft carrier, the ex-Soviet Varyag. Keep in mind that the J-15 is basically an updated (improved avionics, sensors and weapons) copy of the late 1980s-vintage Sukhoi Su-33 fighters that fly off the Varyag’s sister ship, the Russian navy’s Admiral Kuznetzov.
  • 8000余家“名单内”平台公司发债遇堵 – 市场 – 21世纪网
    4月24日,一位合资券商固定收益部负责人告诉本报记者,这意味着3月份以来城投债发行井喷的局面将难再现。
  • 中国人民银行—条法司
  • 缺口50亿:京东囤地千亩无钱建物流 – IT·科技 – 21世纪网
    从2009年开始,京东商城在全国密集购买仓储用地,如今,3年过去了,手握约1800亩土地的京东商城,仍在被仓储困扰。
  • Exclusive: SEC probes movie studios over dealings in China | Reuters
    U.S. regulators are investigating major U.S. movie studios’ dealings with China as the entertainment companies try to get a greater foothold in one of the fastest-growing movie markets in the world.
  • Apple Q2: it’s about China | beyondbrics | News and views on emerging markets from the Financial Times – FT.com
    How important is China to Apple’s growth?Consider this little tibit that came out of the conference call for Apple’s second quarter results on Tuesday: Sales in greater China during the first half of the year totaled $12.4bn, compared to $13.3bn for the WHOLE of 2011.

  • Chinese Authorities Doesn’t Want Apple to Win the iPad Trademark ? (Video) » M.I.C. Gadget
    A senior official from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) in China has said that Proview is the rightful owner of the iPad trademark. Fu Shuangjian, a deputy director of SAIC, giving the comment at a news conference in Beijing yesterday.
  • Baidu ADRs Sink in After-Hours Trade on Revenue Outlook – Bloomberg
    Baidu Inc. (BIDU), owner of China’s dominant Internet search engine, tumbled 11 percent in after- market trading in New York after forecasting second-quarter sales growth below analysts’ estimates.
  • Jon Corzine Is the Original George Zimmerman | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone
    It would be one thing if this was a country with a general, across-the-board tendency toward leniency for property crime. But we send tens of thousands of people to do real jail time in this country for non-violent offenses like theft. We routinely separate mothers from their children for relatively petty crimes like welfare fraud. For almost anyone who isn’t Jon Corzine, it’s no joke to get caught stealing in America.But these people stole over a billion dollars, right out in the open, and nobody is doing anything about it. Instead, we get a lot of chin-scratching legislative hearings, and an almost academic-style public discussion about whether or not a crime even took place. If there aren’t arrests in this case soon, ordinary people will correctly deduce that it simply isn’t a crime to steal in America, if the thefts are executed with a computer by white people in suits.

  • Containing Weapons of Mass Surveillance – By Rebecca MacKinnon | Foreign Policy
    President Obama is on the right track with Monday’s executive order, but the United States needs to get tougher on the global digital arms race.
  • China’s Accidental Spies-Pacific Standard
    Is an unassuming group of Chinese bloggers who are obsessed with military hardware doing the Pentagon’s work? Or Beijing’s?
  • Shide Group Mired in Financing Crisis, Massive Debt -Caijing
    With its quarterly bank loan interest surpassing 100 mln yuan and the monthly interest rate on private loans up to 4.5 percent, Shide Group is buckling under the immense pressure of nearly 12 bln yuan of debt.
  • Baidu Joins Hands with Kingsoft Powerword, Close Cooperation to Lead Online Dictionary and Translation Services
    Baidu and Kingsoft Powerword, China’s professional online dictionary and translation software, announced today that they’re joining hands to deliver free high quality translation services to online users. Kingsoft Powerword’s many years of accumulated resources as available on its website, PC client as well as mobile client will now be integrated into Baidu’s own self-developed world-class machine translation technology.
  • Avatar 2: Made in China?
    China has the market leverage to get what it wants from the foreign potentates who once dominated the film business. But what would China get in exchange for giving up some of its take at the box office to Mr Cameron? For one, Han Sanping, the powerful chairman of China Film Group, would affix his name to what could be one of the biggest blockbusters of all time, “Avatar 2” (and “3”, etc). Co-producing a James Cameron film would mark quite a symbolic turnaround for China, from the days of “Titanic”. Mr Han is often referred to in film circles as the godfather of Chinese film. If Mr Han wants a producer credit, Mr Cameron may find himself not terribly inclined to refuse.
  • China tops world in shopping-mall construction – Asia Stocks to Watch – MarketWatch
    HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — China dominates the world in terms of shopping-mall construction, with some cities little-known in the West throwing up retail centers on a scope unmatched anywhere else in the world, as developers place high expectations on the spending power of the Chinese consumer.
  • Henri Cartier-Bresson: ‘Red China’ in Color, 1958 – LIFE
  • Chinese demography: An upside-down pyramid | The Economist
    OUR correspondents discuss the impact that China’s ageing population could have on its economy-Video
  • Anthony Wong: I’m not a tongzhi, I’m homosexual, I’m gay: Shanghaiist
    Anthony Wong (黄耀明) of the popular Hong Kong band Tat Ming (达明一派) came out last night at the finale of the group’s four-night concert to mark the 25th anniversary of the band’s founding.
  • China Politburo’s Zhou Calls for Party Loyalty in Speech – Bloomberg
    Chinese Communist Party officials should uphold party principles and “be consistent” with the central committee, Zhou Yongkang, a member of the elite Politburo Standing Committee, said in a speech released today.
    Zhou, 69, said the party’s Political and Legislative Affairs Committee, which he heads, will hold training for party secretaries in the country so they can “more accurately grasp the central committee’s decisions and implement the Party’s lines and policies more conscientiously,” according to the March 26 speech, published today in the official People’s Daily.
    The appearance of the speech comes after the Financial Times and the Associated Press reported that Zhou is under investigation after he opposed the decision to strip ousted Chongqing party leader Bo Xilai of his Politburo post this month. Zhou’s speech may indicate that he has fallen back in line behind President Hu Jintao,
  • 中央党校:非大勇气大决心不能破除改革难题-中新网
  • New Target for Chinese Scalpers: German Visa Interview Appointments – China Real Time Report – WSJ
    recently heard from Beijing embassy staffers that both the US and UK are adding 100+ visa officers each across their posts in China to handle the massive Chinese demand for visas now that requirements have eased
  • Shared archive on foreigners|Society|chinadaily.com.cn
    China is likely to introduce a nationwide system to archive information about foreigners in the country, according to a draft law proposed to lawmakers on Tuesday.
    The suggestion, if put into practice, will replace current scattered records set up by different administrations to which access is limited to one government agency. Experts said the change would effectively crack down on people who overstayed their visas or worked illegally.
    The draft on regulating arrivals and departures from China was tabled before the National People’s Congress Standing Committee for a second reading. It was put before the top legislature in a first draft in December to allow the government to gather and store biometric data on foreign visitors “whenever they deem it necessary”, expanding the government’s right to collect such data.
  • 曝谢亚龙当庭翻供:曾遭刑讯逼供 被吊打+电击-财经网
    former CFA head on trial for bribery says he was tortured into confessing//
    谢亚龙在法庭表示,在审讯阶段自己被刑讯逼供,遭打、不让睡觉、被脱衣服浇冷水,还擅自扣留他妻子威胁,现在律师要求进入法律保护程序
  • 党政团三大喉舌集体发声 继续改革已成高层共识_多维新闻网
    党政团三大喉舌集体发声 继续改革已成高层共识_多维新闻网
  • 薄熙来事件应成中共改革契机_多维新闻网-作者:多维|来源:多维评论
    作者:多维|来源:多维评论 薄熙来事件应成中共改革契机_多维新闻网
  • Splendid moments of China-Russia joint naval drill – Xinhua | English.news.cn
    splendid photos
  • 重庆查BT,或涉实德系 – 经济观察网 - 专业财经新闻网站
    导语:据本报了解,大连实德系公司——重庆盛和建设有限公司采用的正是BT模式,于2009年7月29日,通过北碚区发改委,拿下了重庆北碚区同兴工业园区新蔡支路1.59亿元的建设项目。
  • Fallen Chinese official and wife rose in politics and business – latimes.com
    Gu did distance herself from the business and from Dalian, where it was considered an open secret that her husband was involved with other women. She traveled frequently to Singapore and Britain to handle the schooling of their son.Heywood, the British consultant, had been living in Dalian and arranged an introduction for the young man to attend Harrow. At least one of the trips, around 1999, was paid for by Xu Ming, the head of the Dalian conglomerate Shide and once ranked by Forbes as the eighth-wealthiest man in China.

    “Xu Ming paid for the trip to London, expenses, 100%, the tuition, everything,” said a source who was on one of the trips. Xu is believed to be in custody now in connection with the investigation.

  • Issue 565 16-04-2012 – Economic Observer News- China business, politics, law, and social issues
    The Chongqing government began investigating the financing of build-transfer (BT) projects that are currently underway in the city at the end of March. BT projects refer to those invested in and built by enterprises and then bought back by the government.
    ~ The EO learned that the Chongqing Shenghe Construction Co. Ltd (重庆盛和建设有限公司) might be one of the companies that is being audited as part of the investigation. The company was awarded a 159 million yuan construction project in the city’s northern Beibei District (北碚区) in 2009.
    ~ Chongqing Shenghe was once registered as a subsidary of Gaodeng International(Hong Kong) Investment Company (高登国际(香港)投资有限公司), which is an important offshore financing platform of Shide Group. Gaodeng planned to invest a total of 80 million dollars in Chongqing Shenghe.
  • 网易研究猪如何不打架:3亿元养猪场11月竣工_互联网_科技时代_新浪网
  • IFJ.org – Asia & Pacific – Chinese Journalist Removed for Voicing Food Safety Fears
    The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) urges China’s national broadcaster, China Central Television (CCTV), to explain the apparent disappearance of one of its journalists in April 2012. 

    The IFJ has learned that Zhao Pu, 40, a host of CCTV’s news bulletin program, was suspended from his position after forwarding a message using his Weibo microblog account which advised parents in China not to feed their children unsafe food products on 9 April.

  • 周永康不再受薄牵连 撰文称要力保十八大_多维新闻网
    【多维新闻】北京时间4月24日,中共党媒《人民日报》刊发中共九常委之一、中央政法委书记周永康3月26日在全国政法委书记首期培训班上的讲话,称“为党的十八大胜利召开创造和谐稳定的社会环境,是政法机关第一位的任务。任何政权和政党的前途命运最终取决于民心向背。”有分析人士认为这篇讲话的刊发表明一直为外界谣传可能受“薄熙来事件”牵连的周永康在政治问题上已经无碍。
  • In China, relatives of party officials build lucrative businesses on family contacts – The Washington Post
    BO HAS REALLY OPENED A CAN OF WORMS//
    By Andrew Higgins HONG KONG — When Chinese authorities launched an investigation in 2006 into potential foreign currency violations by Beijing Henderson Properties, the real estate developer called in some curious outside help. It turned to a Chinese investment company with no evident expertise in currency regulations and to a murky Hong Kong foundation with no dis­cern­ible offices and no listed telephone number.
  • China’s Biggest Banks Are Squeezed for Capital – NYTimes.com
  • Bo scandal ‘good’ for China, expert says – CNN.com
    The dramatic fall from grace of a man so close to the top of China’s hierarchy is “very positive” for the country’s political development, one prominent China expert has argued.
    The sudden sacking of Chongqing chief Bo Xilai in mid-March has handed the country’s leaders a rare opportunity to embrace “bold and genuine” reform, said Cheng Li, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
  • State-run press issues rare call for political overhaul
    Three top government and party organs simultaneously publish series of commentaries on sensitive topic in wake of Chongqing party boss’ removal…
    None made any direct reference to Western-style political reform, such as democracy and freedom of the press, but they all acknowledged that China was at a crossroads and urgently required all-round restructuring of its systems, including its political system.
  • South China Sea standoff stirred new wave of nationalistic sentiment in China, “The government has no balls and we want a war” | Offbeat China
    News about the standoff between China and the Philippines in South China Sea near Huangyan Island, aka, Scarborough Shoal, has been hitting headlines for a quite some time. Chinese netiznes, like in other cases with regard to China’s territory sovereignty, responded universally with support of Chinese government’s official stand. Yet, two recent news articles last night and this morning bring the nationalistic sentiment to a new high point. While netiznes still support the government’s sovereignty claim in the region, they feel disappointed, or even betrayed, by the government’s non-action.
  • The Gucci Maoists | Sinocism
    Some analysts argue China has two main political factions–Princelings and Communist Youth Leaguers. Bo Xilai is a princeling, but perhaps he represented a third way–the Gucci Maoists?
  • Bo Xilai’s Relatives’ Wealth Is Under Scrutiny – NYTimes.com
  • U.S. Saw Chongqing Top Cop as Risky Asylum Candidate – WSJ.com
    Current and former U.S. officials say Mr. Wang’s case was far different from Mr. Fang’s, and say they see little reason on human rights grounds for sheltering a local police chief who was allegedly offering details of local corruption.
    Candidates for asylum must not be suspected of committing criminal acts or being involved in politically motivated violence, according to U.S. officials and government regulations. American diplomats are prevented from offering political asylum to a foreign national until the person is physically inside the U.S. or at a port of entry.。。The Obama administration could face another fateful decision in the coming months concerning Mr. Bo’s son, Bo Guagua, who has been studying at Harvard. State Department officials wouldn’t discuss the son’s prospects on Monday but said: “He is a student in good standing at Harvard … You can draw your own conclusions from that.”
  • 清华博士老家遭拆写公开信续:省政府裁决被撤销-《财经网》
    虽然凶手大部分被判刑,但村民们并不满意。“他们只是被当做炮灰使了。幕后黑手没有揪出来,他们还会打人砍人。”村民刘福萍说
  • Planned palace upsets some neighbors in tony D.C. suburb – The Washington Post
    In an era of prosperity that has made the Washington area the nation’s most affluent region, the home going up in an exclusive Great Falls neighborhood could be its most potent and polarizing symbol yet: a 25,424-square-foot mansion modeled on the Palace of Versailles.
    “Le Chateau de Lumiere,” as its owners have dubbed it, will be among the largest homes ever built in the area, but it is also creating an outsize controversy worthy of Louis XIV himself….
    The grandness of the home stands in contrast to its low-profile owner, 38-year-old Young Yi, who a Virginia business license lists as the head of the 1st Class Sleep Diagnostics Center. The Northern Virginia chain, which treats sleep disorders, has grown to six clinics since it was founded in 2004.
  • 人民日报-加强新形势下政法委书记队伍建设 努力开创政法事业科学发展新局面 周永康
    (注:本文节选自周永康同志2012年3月26日在全国政法委书记首期培训班上的讲话)
  • 周永康:十八大前维稳是政法机关首要任务_新闻_腾讯网
    [导读]周永康日前表示,为党的十八大胜利召开创造和谐稳定的社会环境,是政法机关第一位的任务。树欲静而风不止。各级党委政法委书记要高度警惕、密切关注各种不良苗头动向。
  • 实德医疗惊梦-财经

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