Monday, 31 December 2007

Learn Chinese - Baidu to offer news

BIZCHINA / Center

Baidu to offer news

(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-01-19 10:22

China's top search engine Baidu.com has obtained a license from the State
Council Information Office to offer news services, the Shanghai
Securities News reported.

The report said that the company is now recruiting editors in preparation
to launch the new service.

The move is believed to be a natural extension of Baidu's business, as
both searching and portal services generate revenue through advertising.

China's portal market is dominated by Sina.com, Netease.com and Tencent,
with a total market value of 10.1 billion yuan in 2006, according to the
Internet Society of China.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Related Stories 

� Baidu inks deal with EMI
===========================================================================
� Google, Baidu eye online video business
===========================================================================
� Chinese bloggers hit 19.87 million: report
===========================================================================

Learn Chinese

Chinese language - Gasoline and jet fuel drop boosts stock mood

BIZCHINA / Center

Gasoline and jet fuel drop boosts stock mood

(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-01-16 10:13

SHANGHAI: A drop in the price of gasoline and jet fuel was widely seen in
the stock market yesterday as a potential boost to profits of companies
in the transportation sector.

The government announced on Sunday that the prices of gasoline and jet
fuel were down by 220 yuan and 90 yuan per ton, respectively, after
international crude oil prices tumbled to a 19-month low.

Related readings:
PetroChina oil, gas sales soar to record in 2006
Oil price cut, but not taxi fares
A good start in reform
Energy: China spends an extra US$15.2b on oil import last year Gasoline
prices lowered, but not liberated

"The move will raise investor confidence in all those listed
oil-consuming companies," said Zhang Liyang, an analyst at Changjiang
Securitites.

He added the price reduction will lower cost and boost profits to
companies like China Shipping Haisheng and SAIC Motor.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 4.74 percent to close at 1,795 points
yesterday with stocks in nearly all oil-related companies showing
increases. SAIC Motor and Xingma Motor jumped to the daily allowable
limit.

Companies in oil sectors gradually recovered from a price plunge last
week that came on weakness in international oil prices. China Petroleum &
Chemical Corp (Sinopec) climbed 3.23 percent yesterday with a small
correction after dropping 14.34 percent since last Wednesday.

"The price cut will benefit some oil-consuming listed companies in the
long term, though the scale of cut is small," said Ma Ying, an analyst at
Haitong Securities. "The government will probably cut the fuel price
again if the international oil prices continue the downward trend."

Fund companies said the move would not affect their sentiment on
oil-producing companies like Sinopec.

"The gain in the chemical business of Sinopec is expected to cover their
loss in oil business caused by the price cut, " said Liu Shiqiang, an
analyst at Huotai Fund Management.

The price cut, the second in five years, ties domestic prices more
closely to international prices. Zhang said a meeting would be held by
the National Development and Reform Commission at the end of this month
to discuss the price mechanism for refined fuel oil.

(China Daily 01/16/2007 page14)

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Chinese language

Learn Mandarin online - IT: Experts see 3D Web as new marketing tool

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

IT: Experts see 3D Web as new marketing tool

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-01-05 14:20

Overseas tourists to China may get a preview of their destinations before
setting foot in the country as an online map offers them a look at the
attractions they will be seeing in the country.

Unlike other electronic maps, they will be able to "walk" in the streets
in a city like Shanghai, look around, or up and down, as in a
three-dimensional first-person computer game, with real street-side views.

A Shanghai-based Website has moved the streetside view of Shanghai and
Beijing on its server, using the panoramic photographing technology to
offer users a virtual tour of the two cities. It plans to launch 3D views
for 20 more Chinese cities this year. The view it offers is like that of
Microsoft Live Local, but runners of city8.com said the difference lies
in the panorama view it creates at a certain point.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Learn Mandarin online

Chinesepod - ADB funds Gansu hydropower program

BIZCHINA / Biz News

ADB funds Gansu hydropower program

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-12-19 19:50

BEIJING -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help provide cleaner and
more reliable energy in northwest China's Gansu province by lending up to
50 million U.S. dollars to support two medium-sized hydropower projects
in the remote, impoverished area near Zhangye City.

Related readings:
Environment: China,US & ADB tie-up
Nations sign eco-friendly pact with ADB
ADB acquires 4.99 percent stake in Chinese city bank
ADB loans North China railway project
ADB to fund railway project in China
Nations join forces to develop infrastructure
200 officials to attend 5th Ministerial Conference on CAREC
Women in Fiji highly marginalized - ADB
China's 2006 economy grows 10.4 pct - ADB

ADB's China office said on Tuesday that the loan would help finance
construction of a 50.5 megawatt power plant in Erlongshan and a 60 MW
power plant in Dagushan, part of the Heihe river hydropower development
scheme, which began construction in 1996.

The scheme involves seven medium-sized hydropower plants that together
will produce 645.5 MW of hydropower, said the ADB.

Two power plants are already in operation and two more will be in
operation by next year, one of which--the 102 MW power plant in
Xiaogushan--was funded by ADB.

With more than 80 percent of Gansu's electricity produced by coal-fired
power plants, 13 of the province's 14 cities fail to meet air quality
standards.

According to the ADB, Lanzhou is on the list of the 50 most polluted
Chinese cities. Not only is air pollution in Gansu dire, some parts of
the province, such as the Hexi corridor, suffer from chronic power
shortages.

"The project, an integral part of the provincial government's plan to
expand power generation at low cost, will help alleviate power shortages
in Zhangye and the Hexi corridor," says Ashok Bhargava, an ADB Senior
Energy Specialist.

On completion, the project will economize about 1 million tons of coal
per year. It is expected to be eligible for certified emission reductions
under the Clean Development Mechanism, a market-based financial
instrument that helps developing countries achieve sustainable
development and industrialized countries meet their emission reduction
targets.

The Erlongshan project is expected to be one of the first projects
eligible for carbon financing through the Asia Pacific Carbon Fund under
the recently ADB-approved Carbon Market Initiative.

The total project cost is estimated at 110 million dollars, of which
37.86 million dollars will be financed by domestic commercial bank loans,
and 22.14 million dollars by the city government and the Heihe Hydropower
Development Company.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Chinesepod

Sunday, 30 December 2007

Learn Chinese - Microeconomy: Central SOEs profit up 18.9%

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

Microeconomy: Central SOEs profit up 18.9%

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-12-19 10:59

China's 161 central State-owned enterprises (SOE) made a profit of 688.77
billion yuan (88.2 billion US dollars) from January to November this
year, up 18.9 percent year on year.

The total profit of central SOEs is expected to reach 720 billion yuan
(92.3 billion US dollars) in 2006, Li Rongrong, director of the
State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, said at a
press conference Tuesday.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Related Stories 

� More SOEs inducting independent directors
===========================================================================
� SOEs induct more outside directors
===========================================================================
� Profits of major SOEs rise fast
===========================================================================

Learn Chinese

Learn mandarin - No rush

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

No rush

(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-12-11 08:39

Will Chinese residents turn to foreign-funded banks next year?

In a recent survey of 3,384 persons conducted by the China Youth Daily,
10.8 per cent say they will go to overseas banks.

More than 72 per cent of those surveyed say they will stay with domestic
banks, and 16.4 per cent are taking a wait-and-see attitude.

Related readings:
8 foreign banks apply for registration Reports: Policy bank to reform
China's bank regulator issues reform guidelines
Ten foreign-funded banks to incorporate locally

More than 85 per cent of those surveyed say they have paid attention to
the news that foreign banks will be allowed to offer renminbi business to
Chinese residents under the new regulations.

The survey findings partly reflect the fact that the opening of the
banking sector marks a historic step in China's gradual opening of the
financial sector, but overseas banks are unlikely to have an immediate
impact on the domestic banking market.

"It is clear that foreign banks will increase their network expansion
when allowed to do all renminbi businesses," says Zhao Xijun, a financial
professor from Renmin University of China.

"Their growth will bring hotter competition to the domestic banking
market and further pressure on Chinese commercial banks," he says.

However, all-out competition will not emerge in the short term, he says.

"The focus will be on good corporate clients and increasing the number of
high-end individual customers," Zhao predicts.

A Moody's report on the outlook of China's banking sector agrees with
Zhao.

The report says overseas banks have the competitive edge in foreign
currency business with multinational corporations for trade finance,
treasury, and, probably, cash and risk management.

1 2 3 

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Learn mandarin

Learn Chinese online - More hatchbacks to come out this year

BIZCHINA / Center

More hatchbacks to come out this year

By Shangguan Zhoudong (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-11-30 08:45

Special coverage:
Auto China 2006   
Related publication:

Related readings:
New models to be displayed at Auto China 2006
Dozens of models on 2nd-half new car bulletin
62 new car models debut in 1st half

The Bora hatchback from FAW Volkswagen Automotive Co Ltd and the Elantra
hatchback will hit market at the end of this year.

The hatchback versions of the Dongfeng Yueda Kia Cerato, the FAW-Hainan
Automobile Corp Ltd Family and the Dongfeng Honda Automobile Company Ltd
Civic will hit the market in 2007.

China had 29 hatchback brands with sales reaching 631,879 units in 2005,
an increase of 33.6 percent year on year, up from ten brands and 102,895
sales in 2001.

In the first nine months of this year, China sold 577,848 hatchback cars,
up 24.5 percent from the same period last year.

......

The full text is available in the AutoChina.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Learn Chinese online

Learn Chinese - IT Industry: Telecom investment growth slows

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

IT Industry: Telecom investment growth slows

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-11-23 11:06

Investment in the telecom sector slowed in China in October, after rapid
growth in the first nine months, according to newly released statistics
from the Ministry of Information Industry (MII).

Chinese telecom operators invested 159 billion yuan (20 billion U.S.
dollars) in the telecom sector in October, up 13.9 percent over the same
month of last year.

Fixed assets investment reached 16.15 billion yuan, sharply down from
September's 23.61 billion yuan and less than the 17.2 billion yuan
investment in October last year.

According to MII statistics, fixed assets investment in the telecom
sector rose 17.7 percent year-on-year to 142.48 billion yuan in the first
nine months of the year, as against a 12.3 percent drop for the same
period last year.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Learn Chinese

Saturday, 29 December 2007

Chinese Online Class - Quick review: Nov 13-19

BIZCHINA / Weekly Roundup

Quick review: Nov 13-19

(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-20 08:55

A woman walks past billboards of foreign banks in Shanghai in this
September 24, 2006 file photo. [newsphoto]
Foreign bank regulations

Foreign banks operating in China will have to incorporate within the
country to offer bank cards and mass-market banking services in yuan,
less than a month before the industry fully opens, according to rules
issued by Chinese regulators last week. The rules will take effect on
December 11.

Overseas banks that do not incorporate locally must set aside two times
as much capital, or 200 million yuan (US$25.4 million), as those that do,
according to the rules.

They cannot issue bank cards and can take only large deposits, limiting
their ability to amass funds and grow through lending.

Administrative restructuring

The government will deepen the restructuring of the administrative system
to improve macro regulation, public services and fight corruption,
according to a release from a State Council executive meeting held last
week in Beijing.

The reform of the administrative system is a major task of the country's
political restructuring, said the release from the meeting chaired by
Premier Wen Jiabao.

Since 2002 the government has markedly enhanced its administrative
capability and it is now necessary to further improve its governance, the
release said.

Luxury tax

China is likely to raise the consumption tax on luxury items to boost its
role in fighting poverty.

"We are considering further increasing our tax rate on some high-end
luxury goods," Wang Li, deputy head of State Administration of Taxation,
told a fiscal and tax policy forum last week.

"China will continue to improve its consumption tax system to let it play
a bigger role in poverty alleviation," the tax official told the forum.

"In that process, we are striving to improve our personal income,
property tax and consumption tax regime," Wang said.

1 2 3 

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Chinese Online Class

Chinese Online Class - Yunfu beckons foreign investors

BIZCHINA / Investment Alerts

Yunfu beckons foreign investors

By Te Kan (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-15 10:54

The picturesque Panlongdong Provincial Scenery Area in Yunfu, Guangdong
Province

Yunfu, a city in the western part of Guangdong Province, is expecting
foreign investment to play an even bigger part in the city's economic
development during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-10).

According to Ou Zhenzhi, mayor of Yunfu, the municipal government will
try its best to attract more overseas investors to join the city's
economic construction during the period.

Ou said Yunfu's targeted annual economic growth is 12 per cent in the
next five years. This year, Yunfu's gross domestic product (GDP) is
expected to grow at 13.5 per cent.

To reach the goal, Yunfu has to open wider to the outside world and seek
more foreign financial support in the following years.

Currently Yunfu is competing with the prosperous cities in the Pearl
River Delta to attract foreign investment.

Ou said his government had introduced a series of preferential policies
targeting investors from around the world.

The series of preferential polices cover taxation, land use right, loans,
labour force and transportation.

The introduction of the preferential polices is aimed at letting foreign
investors earn their profits in Yunfu, a city that has abundant natural
resources.

"In addition to less taxes, foreign investors will pay less for land use
rights and the labour force and enjoy simplified approval procedures if
they set up their foreign-funded companies and joint ventures in the city
of Yunfu," Ou said.

Ou said Yunfu would try to become a new industrial production base for
the Pearl River Delta, as well as oriented to the Hong Kong and Macao
special administrative regions in the following years.

1 2 3 4 

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Related Stories 

� Better investment climate nurtures harmony
===========================================================================
� Quality of foreign investment stressed
===========================================================================
� Investment from green companies encouraged
===========================================================================

Chinese Online Class

Chinese Mandarin - Alcan keen to invest more in China

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Alcan keen to invest more in China

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-09 15:05

Alcan Inc, the world's second-largest aluminum producer, is in talks to
increase its investment with China's No 2 maker of the lightweight metal
to tap rising demand, Bloomberg News said.

The Canadian company is "looking at taking a larger position" by
investing in a 250,000-ton a year expansion at State-owned Qingtongxia
Aluminum Group, Cynthia Carroll, head of Alcan's primary metal group,
said. "We are very pleased with the progress that has been made."

Alcan, which paid about US$150 million for a 50 percent stake in a
150,000-ton production line at Qingtongxia in 2004, wants to increase
market share in China, where demand is forecast to double by 2015. Swiss
commodities trader Glencore International AG signed an agreement to buy
shares in Qingtongxia in August.

"Chinese aluminum smelters are worth investing in because they have good
prospects for profit in the next few years," said Liu Defei, an analyst
at Beijing Antaike Information Development Co by phone from Beijing
yesterday. Liu said aluminum prices are rising and the costs of alumina,
a raw material, are falling. Antaike advises the government on policies.

Aluminum for delivery in three months has risen 38 percent in the past
year on the London Metal Exchange as economic growth in China, the
fastest-growing major economy, increases demand for beverage cans and
cars.

"We continue to look at other opportunities in China," Carroll said in an
interview in Beijing. "Aluminum is the most sought-after metal in China."
She didn't say how much Alcan may invest.

Alcan set up its joint venture with Qingtongxia, in western Ningxia Hui
Autonomous Region, two years ago. The venture includes a 150,000-ton
capacity smelter, or the No 3 smelting line, and a coal-fired power plant.

"We are obviously still very much interested in the option on the No 4
smelting line," which was completed last year and has a capacity of
250,000 tons a year, James Zhao, director in charge of Alcan's Asia
primary aluminum business, said in e-mail response to Bloomberg News
questions.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Chinese Mandarin

Friday, 28 December 2007

Learn Chinese - IBM takes new direction with injection

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

IBM takes new direction with injection

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-10-24 14:28

International Business Machines Corp will launch a US$180 million venture
capital fund this week on China's high-tech sectors.

It is the first time IBM has directly invested through venture capital in
China. Previously, IBM had invested in Chinese start-up firms with
devices and patents.

IBM will manage the fund with Lehman Brothers, a US-based investment
bank, and the fund will be put into telecommunications, Internet (mainly
Web 2.0), new materials, environment-protection and energy sectors, the
Beijing Morning Post reported, citing sources at IBM.

The report said the investment would not cover China's real-estate
industry.

IBM's Beijing and Shanghai spokespersons were not available for comment.

IBM has cooperated with overseas venture capital firms before, including
the UK's 3i Investments Plc, to invest in Chinese startup high-tech
firms. One benefactor was YeePay, a Beijing-based third-party electronic
payment platform provider.

IBM provided them with servers, software and other services but did not
put capital into the projects directly, Claudia Fan Munce, IBM's vice
president said last year.

The growing Chinese IT industry, including Web 2.0 applications,
semiconductors and games, has seen IBM change its policy, industry
insiders said.

IT giant Intel has established a US$200 million tech fund to invest in
China. Cisco Systems Inc has invested US$400 million through venture
funds.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Learn Chinese

Learn mandarin - Australian steel firm opens plant in Suzhou

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Australian steel firm opens plant in Suzhou

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-10-18 14:24

Austrilia's BlueScope Steel Ltd will open a flat steel metallic coating
and painting facility in Suzhou today to tap increasing Chinese demand.

The facility cost 280 million Australian dollars (211.1 million U.S.
dollars) and is the company's biggest manufacturing facility in Asia.

The plant is located at the Suzhou Industrial Park in Jiangsu Province,
80 km west of Shanghai.

The new midstream facility has an annual metallic coating capacity of
250,000 tons and painting capacity of 150,000 tons and will provide
employment for approximately 300 local people, according to a company
statement.

It will produce a range of products for China's rapidly growing building
and construction markets as well as supply BlueScope's own downstream
network of operations, the statement said.

The plant "enables us to produce tailored product offerings to respond
even more quickly to market developments and opportunities," the
statement quoted Kathryn Fagg, the company's president for Asian building
and manufacturing markets, as saying.

A Shanghai analyst said foreign steel companies had more opportunities to
make high-end and tailored products in the Chinese steel market.

Last month, French steel pipe maker Vallourec SA said it would build a
plant to make products to serve China's oil and gas companies in
Changzhou, which is also in Jiangsu Province.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Learn mandarin

Learn Chinese - Port to benefit from preferential policies

BIZCHINA / Investment Alerts

Port to benefit from preferential policies

(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-10-12 09:08

DALIAN: The city's planned Dayaowan Bonded Port Area will integrate all
the preferential policies granted by the central government to bonded
areas, export processing areas and bonded logistics parks, according to
one of its leading officials.

The planned bonded port in Northeast China's Liaoning Province covers an
area of 6.88 square kilometres, consisting of a container terminal, an
automobile terminal and a logistics park, said Zhang Shikun, director of
Dalian Bonded Area Administrative Committee.

Dayaowan is one of three bonded port areas being constructed in the
country. The other two are Dongjiang Bonded Port Area in Tianjin and
Yangshan Bonded Port Area in Shanghai. The State Council, China's
cabinet, approved the construction of Dayaowan Bonded Port Area in August.

Zhang said the key task now was to maximize the area's effectiveness in
terms of international trade, export processing, storage and exhibition
of bonded commodities.

At the same time the port will extend its services to land ports in the
hinterland of the region, Zhang said.

More than 70 per cent of the region's containers are currently handled at
Dayaowan Container Terminal.

Six new berths are being constructed as part of the second phase of the
construction of the bonded port. In the near future, after its
third-phase project is completed, Dayawan Port, with a 7-kilometre-long
shoreline, will become a container complex with 21 container berths, and
an annual handling capacity of 10 million twenty-foot equivalent units
(TEUs).

"As a free-trade port with Chinese characteristics, the Dayaowan Bonded
Port Area can provide strong support for building Dalian into an
international transportation hub in Northeast Asia," said Xia Deren, the
city's mayor.

In 2003 the State Council approved the construction of an international
transportation hub in the city as part of its strategy to revitalize
Northeast China.

(China Daily 10/12/2006 page10)

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Learn Chinese

Learn mandarin - Economics

BIZCHINA / Macro Economy

Economics

(Wikipedia)
Updated: 2006-09-30 15:29

Economics is a social science seeking to analyze and describe the
production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. That is,
economics studies how individuals and societies seek to satisfy needs and
wants. Alfred Marshall informally described economics as "the study of
man in the ordinary business of life" in the late 19th century; the vast
number of topics to which the methods of economic theory have been
applied suggests to some that economics is simply "that which economists
do."

The word "economics" is from the Greek words  [oikos], meaning "family,
household, estate," and [nomos], or "custom, law," and hence means
"household management" or "management of the state." An economist is a
person using economic concepts and data in the course of employment, or
someone who has earned a university degree in the subject.

Economics has two broad branches: microeconomics, where the unit of
analysis is the individual agent, such as a household or firm, and
macroeconomics, where the unit of analysis is an economy as a whole.
Another division of the subject distinguishes positive economics, which
seeks to predict and explain economic phenomena, from normative
economics, which orders choices and actions by some criterion; such
orderings necessarily involve subjective value judgments.

Economic reasoning has in recent decades been increasingly applied to
social situations where there is no monetary consideration, such as
politics, law, psychology, history, religion, marriage and family life,
and other social interactions.

The approach to economics that is dominant today is usually referred to
as mainstream economics. The more specific definition this approach
implies was accurately captured by Lionel Robbins in 1932: "the science
which studies human behaviour as a relation between scarce means having
alternative uses." Scarcity means that available resources are
insufficient to satisfy all wants and needs; absent scarcity and
alternative uses of available resources, there is no economic problem.
Heterodox economics, including institutional economics, Marxist
economics, socialism, and green economics, sometimes make other grounding
assumptions, such as that economics primarily deals with the exchange of
value, and that labour (human effort) is the source of all value.

1 2 

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Learn mandarin

Thursday, 27 December 2007

Chinese Mandarin - A ticket to riches for bosses

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

A ticket to riches for bosses

By Jiang Zhuqing (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-27 10:53

Shanxi is China's biggest coal producing province, something that has
turned many colliery owners into the area's nouveaux riche.

With a taste for high living, including fancy cars and big villas, these
bosses seem to represent everything that is good and bad about China's
economic development.

It would be easy for most Shanxi coal bosses to buy several houses in one
go, said Jin Weidong, who owns a colliery in Xiaoyi, a city in Shanxi.
His mine produces 150,000 tons of coal annually.

Even owners of small mines can earn 4-5 million yuan (US$500,000
-625,000) a year. Bosses of bigger mines can earn as much as 100 million
yuan (US$12.5 million) a year, he claimed.

Houses are a must-buy for many of them.

"There are two reasons to purchase houses in big cities such as Shanghai
and Beijing," said Jin.

"One is to buy as an investment, the other is to seek a better place for
our children to be educated."

Once one buys a property in a real estate project, others often follow
suit without hesitation, said Jin.

Coal bosses, even though most of them only received a primary or middle
school education, have become synonymous with millionaires in Shanxi
Province.

Thousands of coal bosses, including those from other regions with large
coal deposits, have got on the list of the wealthiest in their hometown.

Of 31 men who qualified to be placed on China's 2005 energy rich list, 11
were engaged in the coal industry, according to Briton Rupert Hoogewerf,
who compiled the list.

The richest is Zhang Xinming, chairman of Jinye Coal Group, also in
Shanxi Province.
He was seventh on the list, with a personal wealth of an estimated 1
billion yuan (US$125 million), a figure that cannot be verified via
income tax bureaux.

1 2 3 4 

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinese Mandarin

Chinese Online Class - Education: Alert on fake overseas diplomas

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

Education: Alert on fake overseas diplomas

Updated: 2006-09-22 15:15

China's Ministry of Education warned students Thursday to beware of fake
university diplomas sold overseas, sometimes by internet in countries
such as Germany, France and Singapore.

"The ministry is strengthening efforts to authenticate foreign diplomas
of Chinese returning from study abroad in order to crack down on forged
diplomas and illegal practices," said a ministerial official.

Overseas Chinese embassies have asked Chinese students to report any case
involving selling or purchasing forged diplomas and are urging them to
register at the local Chinese embassy as soon as they arrive at an
overseas school so that the school and the future diploma can be
authenticated as quickly as possible.

Chinese students often seek advice on the validity of degrees issued by
overseas schools before they go abroad to avoid fraud.

Since 1978, more than 400,000 Chinese students have studied abroad, with
more than 100,000 returning to the country over the last two decades.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Related Stories

� Disabled students under Olympic sunshine
===========================================================================
� Yale, Beida students live and study together
===========================================================================

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� China halts foreign investment in brokers

� Chip makers file competing lawsuits

� Pension funds tightened up

� Market lifeless as investors cautious

� CGPI rising year on year in August

Today's Top News 

� Private firms powering Chinese economy

� Paulson takes softer line with China

� Minority culture well protected

� Deformed babies get free operations

� Thai leader: No elections for a year

Top Biz News 

� Private firms power the economy

� Central bank pleges to continue opening financial market

� Capital market reforms to 'help drive economic growth'

� Draft law to support aero-leasing industry

� China to halt imports of SK-II if problems show up again

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinese Online Class

Learn mandarin - New auto plant kicks off in Beijing

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

New auto plant kicks off in Beijing
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-18 11:29

Beijing Benz-DaimlerChrysler Automotive Co Ltd (BBDC), a joint venture
between German-US auto giant DaimlerChrysler AG and the State-owned
Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co (BAIC), celebrated the opening of
its new manufacturing facility in Beijing on Friday.

"It opens a new chapter in DaimlerChrysler's long history in China," said
Dieter Zetsche, chairman of DaimlerChrysler AG's board of management and
head of the Mercedes Car Group.

"It is also a milestone for the whole DaimlerChrysler group, for this
world-class manufacturing facility is also the first plant of our group
in the world to produce vehicles under the brands of both DaimlerChrysler
and Mercedes-Benz."

Pouring US$200 million into the BBDC plant is part of DaimlerChrysler's
US$1.5 billion middle-term investment in Northeast Asia and a pillar of
its strategy in this district, Zetsche said.

He added that DaimlerChrysler would be adding more sedan models into the
local production through BBDC.

The plant, located in the Beijing Development Area in the southeastern
part of the capital, has produced Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Mitsubishi
Outlander sedans since last December. It will soon begin producing
Chrysler 300C sedans for a launch in November.

With 20 months' preparation, the first phase of the facility has achieved
an annual production capacity of 800,000 units.

Gnter Butschek, president and chief executive officer of BBDC, told China
Daily that 4,100 Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedans have rolled off the
production line so far.

The company expects an annual production of 25,000 Mercedes-Benz vehicles
and 80,000 Chrysler and Mitsubishi Motors Corp (MMC) vehicles this year,
with room to expand as needed.

1 2 

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Related Stories

� Beijing Benz E-class sedans hit market
===========================================================================
� No more Mercedes-Benz cabs in Shanghai
===========================================================================

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� China halts foreign investment in brokers

� Chip makers file competing lawsuits

� Pension funds tightened up

� Market lifeless as investors cautious

� CGPI rising year on year in August

Today's Top News 

� RMB gains before US Treasury Secretary's visit

� More peacekeepers head to Lebanon

� 75th anniversary of invasion marked

� Man rejects first penis transplant

� Female space tourist blasts off

Top Biz News 

� New regulation on IPO takes effect

� China Re plans dual-listing in HK, Shanghai

� Shanghai, Guangzhou connected with Lhasa by train

� IMF plans to boost bigger say for China

� New vision sought for community health care

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Learn mandarin

Chinesepod - Measuring happiness

BIZCHINA / Review & Analysis

Measuring happiness
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-14 08:33

It is a real challenge to substantiate something that is insubstantial.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has this ambition. It is
considering drafting a happiness index of the Chinese people to better
direct our decision makers' policy-making.

The bureau said it would include more human factors, including the
happiness index, in its statistics system, reflecting more of the
non-economic side of people's well-being.

A security guard walks past a poster of a Chinese model in Beijing
September 13, 2006. China will formulate a new "happiness index" this
year to include living conditions, the environment and salary, state
television said on Wednesday. [Reuters]

While gross domestic product (GDP) is technically calculable, overall
domestic happiness would seem not to be. It is, in essence, the
psychological state of satisfaction, hedonic adaptation and social
comparison - which can hardly be represented in figures.

Tempted by the convenience of calculable indices in gauging the world,
economists have never given up the attempt to measure the spiritual side
of the people. So comes the so-called hedonomics, or happiness economics.

Various institutions and government departments in the developed world
have drafted similar human feeling indices to help assess public policies.

While the sense of happiness cannot be accurately calculated, it can to
an extent be reflected by using some scientific tools, such as meaningful
surveys.

The results can help us find out why people are dissatisfied and provide
clues for public policy-making.

The global trend to study people's happiness by economic methodology is a
sign of a focus shift from traditional material affluence to people's
spiritual well-being.

China is doing well to incorporate that trend. It is pushing economic
growth, but also attaching increasing importance to non-economic aspects,
a drive mirrored by the government's efforts to build a harmonious
society.

It has been recognized that unrestrained pursuit of GDP will not lead to
harmony. Inadequate attention to the environment and human development
will offset economic growth.

As a transitional society, China is especially vulnerable to such a
development trap. Money cannot buy happiness, nor can economic growth.

1 2 

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� China halts foreign investment in brokers

� Chip makers file competing lawsuits

� Pension funds tightened up

� Market lifeless as investors cautious

� CGPI rising year on year in August

Today's Top News 

� RMB gains before US Treasury Secretary's visit

� More peacekeepers head to Lebanon

� 75th anniversary of invasion marked

� Man rejects first penis transplant

� Female space tourist blasts off

Top Biz News 

� New regulation on IPO takes effect

� China Re plans dual-listing in HK, Shanghai

� Shanghai, Guangzhou connected with Lhasa by train

� IMF plans to boost bigger say for China

� New vision sought for community health care

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinesepod

Learn Chinese - Writers unblocked

BIZCHINA / Biz Who

Writers unblocked
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-11 11:36

A journalist's inquiring mind may be one of the most important talents
for a CEO who manages a billion-dollar business.

At least that is what John Makinson, Penguin Group's chairman and chief
executive, has found.

"I always ask questions," says the journalist-turned executive.

Penguin Group, the 70-year-old British publisher, is looking for
additional growth in emerging markets such as China.

John Makinson, Penguin Group's chairman and chief executive [China Daily]
Which means one question on Makinson's mind is: What can Penguin do in a
country where foreign publishers aren't allowed to publish?

"We are realistic about how rapidly we will be able to grow in China
until the regulatory regime for foreign publishing companies becomes more
relaxed," Makinson says.

"But we are committed to this market and want to participate as actively
as we can," he says.

Makinson's answer is to do three things in China: Partner with local
publishers, translate Chinese works into English for promotion in
overseas markets, and increase the sales of Penguin books to English
speaking Chinese readers and the growing expatriate community in China.
Makinson pins high hopes on the first two strategies because of their
large potential over the long term.

Bronte in Chinese

Penguin Group, the publishing arm of Pearson, recently announced at the
Beijing International Book Fair a licensing deal with a local partner,
Chongqing Publishing Group, to translate the Penguin Classics into
Chinese and sell under the Penguin logo in China.

Penguin has previously sold the rights to English-language titles to
Chinese publishers. But this is Penguin's first venture in China under
its own logo.

The first 10 titles include Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Hunchback
of Notre Dame and Oliver Twist. Each title will be printed at 10,000
copies and be sold at about 20 yuan (US$2.5) each starting from November.

Although such a relatively low price, which is average on the Chinese
market, will not immediately have a big impact on the British publisher's
global balance sheet, Makinson believes the partnership will help
establish Penguin's brand in the Chinese market.

He is confident that the books will have a long shelf life because of
their quality in translation, expert forwards and annotations.

Makinson, who worked 10 years as a journalist at Reuters and the
Financial Times, has attached a modern twist to the classics publishing
programme in China. Penguin will launch a Chinese website for the
classics and readers will be able to download audio materials about the
classics to an MP3 or iPod. The books can even be downloaded to an e-book
reader as soon as the books are published.

1 2 3 

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� China halts foreign investment in brokers

� Chip makers file competing lawsuits

� Pension funds tightened up

� Market lifeless as investors cautious

� CGPI rising year on year in August

Today's Top News 

� RMB gains before US Treasury Secretary's visit

� More peacekeepers head to Lebanon

� 75th anniversary of invasion marked

� Man rejects first penis transplant

� Female space tourist blasts off

Top Biz News 

� New regulation on IPO takes effect

� China Re plans dual-listing in HK, Shanghai

� Shanghai, Guangzhou connected with Lhasa by train

� IMF plans to boost bigger say for China

� New vision sought for community health care

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Learn Chinese

Wednesday, 26 December 2007

Chinese language - Trade: Investment, trade expo

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

Trade: Investment, trade expo
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-05 14:15

The second China-Jilin Northeast Asia Investment and Trade Expo began on
Saturday in Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin Province, with
fruitful results.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� China halts foreign investment in brokers

� Chip makers file competing lawsuits

� Pension funds tightened up

� Market lifeless as investors cautious

� CGPI rising year on year in August

Today's Top News 

� RMB gains before US Treasury Secretary's visit

� More peacekeepers head to Lebanon

� 75th anniversary of invasion marked

� Man rejects first penis transplant

� Female space tourist blasts off

Top Biz News 

� New regulation on IPO takes effect

� China Re plans dual-listing in HK, Shanghai

� Shanghai, Guangzhou connected with Lhasa by train

� IMF plans to boost bigger say for China

� New vision sought for community health care

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinese language

Chinese School - The Official Mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

   Chinadaily Homepage

  | Home | Destination Beijing | Sports | Olympics | Photo | 

  2008Olympics > News

The Official Mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

(Beijing2008.com)
Updated: 2006-08-29 17:05

Jingjing makes children smile--and that's why he brings the blessing of
happiness wherever he goes. You can see his joy in the charming naivety
of his dancing pose and the lovely wave of his black and white fur. As a
national treasure and a protected species, pandas are adored by people
everywhere. The lotus designs in Jingjing's headdress, which are inspired
by the porcelain paintings of the Song Dynasty (A.D.960-1234), symbolize
the lush forest and the harmonious relationship between man and nature.
Jingjing was chosen to represent our desire to protect nature's
gifts--and to preserve the beauty of nature for all generations. Jingjing
is charmingly na?ve and optimistic. He is an athlete noted for strength
who represents the black Olympic ring.

1 2 3 4 5 6 

Chinese School

Learn mandarin - ADB invests in city commercial bank in Hangzhou

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

ADB invests in city commercial bank in Hangzhou
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-08-24 14:56

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help reform China's commercial
banking sector on the city level by taking a minority stake in Hangzhou
City Commercial Bank, an ADB report said on Thursday.

ADB will invest up to 30 million U.S. dollars in Hangzhou City Commercial
Bank, one of the leading city commercial banks in China, equivalent to
about five percent of the total outstanding shares, the report said,
adding that the signing took place in Hangzhou on Thursday.

City commercial banks in China play a vital role in and around the cities
they serve, especially in the development of small- and medium-sized
enterprises. However, they have to address some significant issues before
they can improve, including strategic risk, poor corporate governance,
weak risk management, and low capital adequacy ratios

"Through this investment, ADB will be helping Hangzhou City Commercial
Bank in developing corporate governance and internal control procedures,
as well as in opportunities for commercial cooperation," said ADB
Principal Investment Officer William Willms.

Hangzhou City Commercial Bank is the fourth largest commercial bank in
Hangzhou, a city that thrives on private sector economy activity, with
about 26,000 corporate customers and 1.5 million individual customers,
said the report.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� China halts foreign investment in brokers

� Chip makers file competing lawsuits

� Pension funds tightened up

� Market lifeless as investors cautious

� CGPI rising year on year in August

Today's Top News 

� RMB gains before US Treasury Secretary's visit

� More peacekeepers head to Lebanon

� 75th anniversary of invasion marked

� Man rejects first penis transplant

� Female space tourist blasts off

Top Biz News 

� New regulation on IPO takes effect

� China Re plans dual-listing in HK, Shanghai

� Shanghai, Guangzhou connected with Lhasa by train

� IMF plans to boost bigger say for China

� New vision sought for community health care

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Learn mandarin

Learn Chinese - Middle class is burgeoning

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

Middle class is burgeoning
(Chinanews.cn)
Updated: 2006-07-12 10:38

A recent survey conducted by the MacKinsey & Company global consulting
firm showed that a large, complicated consumer group is taking shape in
China. Considered as the middle class group in large cities, their
consumption power will redefine China's consumption market.

China's growing economy has enabled millions of Chinese families to shake
off poverty. At present, 77% of Chinese families have made an income less
than 25,000 yuan a year. By 2025, however, MacKinsey predicts that only
10% of Chinese families will make an income even below this figure. By
then, urban Chinese families will be able to consume 20 trillion yuan a
year, making China one of the largest consumption markets in the world.

As the economy continues to grow, MacKinsey predicts that China's middle
class group will experience two developmental stages. Consumption groups
whose income levels have a clear-cut distinction between them will emerge
and disappear in certain periods. In 2010, a large number of lower
middle-class people will emerge in China, whose annual family income will
be between 25,000-40,000 yuan. In 2020, a higher middle-class group will
spring up, whose annual family income will range between 40,000-100,000
yuan.

According to MacKinsey's estimation model, by 2011, China will have 290
million lower middle-class people, forming the largest urban social group
by that time, and accounting for 44% of the urban population. The growth
of this group will reach its peak in 2015 when its consumption power will
reach 4.8 trillion yuan. The second change will occur ten years later
when about tens of millions of people will become upper middle-class
people. There will be 520 million such people by then, comprising over
half of the urban population, whose total dispensable income will reach
13.3 trillion yuan.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� 22 mln "leftover children"

� Spend US$63b on urban transit

� ASEAN-China, largest market

� This farmer grows robots

� High demand drives surge

Today's Top News 

� Liu Xiang makes 110m hurdles history

� Hu opposes moves that raise tension

� Cap urged on fat-cat SOE salaries

� Bombs on Bombay trains kill 147

� Hu: China opposes actions worsening Korea situation

Top Biz News 

� Cap urged on fat-cat SOE salaries

� China, EU close to resolve tariff dispute

� China opens bank sector to money brokers

� China to widen investment channels

� China's population to peak at 1.5b in 2030s

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinese language

Tuesday, 25 December 2007

Learn mandarin - Airports cope with increased security

BIZCHINA / Weekly Roundup

Airports cope with increased security
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-15 09:18

Five-year-old Rebecca Jin had to leave her favourite doll at Beijing
Capital International Airport yesterday, after airport security officials
found that it contained liquid.

Rebecca's mother Jin Zhaohui, 35, finally persuaded her daughter to give
up the doll by promising to buy her a new one in the United States.

"We knew that liquids and gels were forbidden on airplanes before we got
here," said Jin, who was travelling with her three children on a United
Airlines flight yesterday afternoon.

However, she did not expect that the doll, a "Fairy Barbie," contained
liquid in its wings.

As Rebecca liked the doll very much and did not want to leave it at
first, airport staff and her mother tried to cut the wings open to let
the liquid flow out. But as they lacked suitable tools, they had to give
up.

"There are many similar cases happening at the moment. People read the
news about liquids and gels banned on flights to the United States, but
they just do not reckon their face cream, lip balm or medicine is in the
forbidden category," said Yang Yan, a United Airlines employee working at
the airport.

Despite feeling exhausted after working non-stop for the past few days,
she said she was pleased that most passengers were showing understanding
and following her advice.

Due to tighter security checks, check-in time has increased.

"Security departments used to check an average 240 passengers per hour,
now they can only check about 130 passengers," said Li Wei, who is in
charge of security checks for flights to the US.

"Our staff are working over time. They do not even have time to go to the
washroom or drink some water," said Li.

In order to ease pressure on the 21 staff at channels 15 to 18 where
passengers for the United States pass through, Li has added 10 more
personnel.

There are also three guides handing out leaflets in the international
departure hall and suggesting passengers, especially women, put their
cosmetics into checked luggage before it is too late.

Page: 1 2

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� Multinationals performance

� Come, listen to the Singing Sand!

� Shanghai preparing Disneyland site

� Subway line to Beijing airport

� Airline recruits 40 foreign pilots

Today's Top News 

� Koizumi's war shrine visit strongly opposed

� Growth drives emissions higher

� China confirms new H5N1 human case

� Fixed-asset investment likely slowed

� Battles rage on eve of UN truce

Top Biz News 

� Growth drives emissions higher

� VC firm sets sights on traditional industries

� Bank's profit up 30% on widening margin

� Premier urges improvements on treasury management

� Resettled farmers to get financial support

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Learn mandarin

Chinese language - Cook together, a new fashion

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

Cook together, a new fashion
(Chinanews.cn)
Updated: 2006-07-28 15:01

"Are you bored with what you cook? If the answer is yes, and if you like
to have some homemade dishes this weekend, please come to my apartment.
Let's cook together!."

This is taken from an announcement in a community in Pudong district in
Shanghai, which has caught the attention of many. Five young people from
the neighbourhood answered it, and they gathered at the apartment of the
announcer last Saturday, throwing a banquet of five dishes.

Terry was the one who published the announcement. The six young people
came to his apartment after shopping for groceries in the supermarket and
started cooking.

Ray is from Sichuan province, and he cooked a "pockmarked grandma's
beancurd", a very famous Sichuan dish. Fei from Liaoning Province dished
out a large plate of fried meat to feed the six carnivores. Terry, as the
host, had a pot of steaming hot radish and spareribs soup ready well
before the gang of five arrived. CT stir-fried the stems of water
spinach, and he claimed that was a uique dish from Anhui. Being a bad
cook, Mu chose not to look on bu kept his hand full, helping the others
with trivial kitchen chores. Dinner was ready in less than an hour to the
satisfaction of each and everyone.

Ray, who often dined out with friends made on the Internet, said:
"Cooking by yourself is much more interesting, and homemade dishes are
always the most delicious."

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� White collars becoming tied up

� Gome seals China Paradise takeover deal

� Lean times ahead for developers

� Prices polarize steel market

� Leveraging China's potential

Today's Top News 

� Satellite to help predict earthquakes

� UN expresses shock at Israeli bombing

� Farmers to be better compensated

� Premier: Prevent economic overheating

� China to be No. 3 US export market

Top Biz News 

� Curbs placed on land use rights

� Crackdown on phone services irregularities

� Homebuyers cautious of taking the plunge

� China to widen investment channels

� China's population to peak at 1.5b in 2030s

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinese language

Chinese School - Boeing to continue investment in China

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Boeing to continue investment in China
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-07-19 15:32

Boeing will continue its investment in China in the next two decades to
ensure its status as a major provider of commercial airplanes to China,
the company's senior official said in an interview with Xinhua here on
Monday.

In Boeing's 2006 Current Market Outlook released last Wednesday,the U.S.
plane maker projects a need for approximately 27,200 new commercial
airplanes worldwide, and the Asia-Pacific region is believed to be the
largest market, Larry Dickenson, the senior vice president of sales for
Boeing Commercial Airplanes told Xinhua at the Farnborough International
Airshow in southern England.

"Our advantages are, if we have advantages... that we have been working
in China for 34 years," Dickenson said, adding the Boeing has helped
train about 15,000 Chinese professionals in maintenance,piloting and
executive training.

"We look at China as a strategic partner force. And its airlinehas
matured, and continues to grow primarily with Boeing equipment and Boeing
training. So we are going to work with China as a partner," Dickenson
said.

"We believe that as our products become more and more competitive, there
is no reason to believe that we should not be, continue to be the major
provider of airplanes to China in the future," said Dickenson.

When asked about whether Boeing is considering building an assembly line
in China just like its competitor Airbus, Dickenson said Boeing was
probably not going to change its strategy towards China, and it would
continue to invest in China in the areas of spare parts manufacturing,
maintenance, repair and air traffic control.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� China to see 3G commercial usage

� Women hard to find husband

� KFC sullies Chinese classic

� Most generous person in China

� Top importers & exporters unveiled

Today's Top News 

� Reform's intention to narrow wealth gap

� CNPC invests $500M in Rosneft's IPO

� New stage for China-US military ties

� Iraq civilian toll spikes to 6,000

� Tsunami kills over 300 in Indonesia

Top Biz News 

� Reform's intention to narrow wealth gap

� Investors store up properties ahead of new regulations

� Guangdong halts salary increases at monopolies

� China to widen investment channels

� China's population to peak at 1.5b in 2030s

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinese School

Learn mandarin - Samsung to build new chip assembly line in China

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Samsung to build new chip assembly line in China
(XFN-ASIA)
Updated: 2006-07-10 15:08

Samsung Electronics Co said it will build a new chip assembly production
line in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou.

Samsung spokesman Ken Noh told XFN-Asia that the new line would begin
operations in the first quarter of 2007, but declined to provide details
on how much Samsung would invest in the project.

He said the company has targeted chip sales in China of 5.5 bln usd in
2010.

Samsung currently operates three chip production lines at its Suzhou
plant. The three production lines in Suzhou test and assemble
semiconductors manufactured in South Korea.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� High demand drives surge

� Gold deposit discovered in Yunnan

� 22 mln "leftover children"

� Chinese cars target US auto show

� Crackdown closes 223 production lines

Today's Top News 

� Italy beats France for 4th World Cup title

� 2 Chinese missing in plane crash

� 6th East China Sea talks conclude

� New watchdog to fight academic fraud

� Seeking public views on lunar tunes is not crying for the moon

Top Biz News 

� Companies ask for 3G operation license

� Gov't to monitor public R&D funds to avoid fraud

� China to tighten control over textile export quotas

� China to widen investment channels

� China's population to peak at 1.5b in 2030s

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Learn mandarin

Monday, 24 December 2007

Chinese School - Welding equipment producer opens new firm in E. China

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Welding equipment producer opens new firm in E. China
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-07-07 16:43

ESAB, the world's biggest producer of welding equipment, has invested 30
million U.S. dollars in a second plant in China, the world's largest
welding products market.

The new plant, in the port city of Zhangjiagang, eastern Jiangsu
Province, will provide 170 jobs for local people and produce 30,000 tons
of solid welding wire and 10,000 tons of flux-cored wire, said Jon
Templeman, ESAB's chief executive officer said in Shanghai.

ESAB Welding Products (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd. is the second Chinese branch of
the London-based manufacturer, which established a welding and cutting
products company in Shanghai last October.

China is the world's largest welding products market, with an annual
consumption accounting for a fifth of the world total, and is growing by
five percent every year, according to an ESAB report.

ESAB's sales in China reached 14.9 million pounds in 2005, a year-on-year
rise of 28.4 percent and it planned to open five more plants in China in
next three to four years to meet market demand, said Templeman.

Founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1904 and now a major part of the
British Charter Public Limited Company, ESAB employs more than 6,500
people worldwide.  It reported global sales of 720 million pounds in 2005.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� Gold deposit discovered in Yunnan

� China has 22 mln "leftover children"

� Chinese cars target US auto show

� Crackdown closes 223 production lines

� Willing to become a family man?

Today's Top News 

� Hu urges restraint on missile test crisis

� Income system reform targets equality

� Graduates struggle to leave campus

� 43 killed in village explosion in Shanxi

� China urges calm over missile tests

Top Biz News 

� Housing market to slow or even fall

� ADB commits over US$17b loans to China

� Confidence remains high among China's consumers

� China to widen investment channels

� China's population to peak at 1.5b in 2030s

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinese School

Chinese Online Class - MP3 market shrinking in major cities

BIZCHINA / Investment Alerts

MP3 market shrinking in major cities
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-28 14:32

Recent data from German-based GfK research institute shows that the
market for MP3 players in China's seven major cities has fallen over the
past three months.

The sales of MP3 players in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan,
Shenyang and Xi'an have dropped an average of 12 percent in the past
three months, China Business News reported on Tuesday.

GfK data revealed that sales of MP3 players began to decline in China
last October and promotions by MP3 producers in March failed to reverse
the trend.

The researchers believe that market saturation and a lack of new design
and functions along with the introduction of MP4 players are the main
reasons for the decline in MP3 player sales.

GfK data showed that the sector appears to have grown too fast in 2004
and 2005, with the 630 MP3 player makers churning out 5,800 models.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� Only cohabiting during the weekends

� Divorce rise, reforms linked

� Raise threshold for auto exports

� Medicine exports face challenges

� Macro economy suffers 'difficult time'

Today's Top News 

� China urges North Korea not to test missile

� Beijing tops Shanghai in cost-of-living

� Hu inspects the Second Artillery Force

� China opens space center to reporters

� China central banker urges reserve diversification

Top Biz News 

� Mainland, Macao to strengthen co-op

� China's budget targets education, environment

� Income gap indicates China's economy status quo

� China to widen investment channels

� China's population to peak at 1.5b in 2030s

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinese Online Class

Learn Mandarin online - Make Lenovo a global brand

BIZCHINA / Biz Who

Make Lenovo a global brand
(People's daily online)
Updated: 2006-06-19 17:01

Lenovo Group Limited today is a household name in China. But it wants
more. It has been trying hard to become a household word in the world
since after its merge with IBM PC business.

As the most global Chinese company, Lenovo already enjoys surprisingly
high degree of international visibility. Its management team arrangement
is rather unique. William Amelio, a former Dell executive, has been
chosen to be Lenovo's new CEO. Among Lenovo top management team members
Chinese face could hardly be seen. In addition, the global headquarter of
Lenovo is not in Beijing but in Raleigh, the capital city of North
Carolina, USA.

At the moment Lenovo is still struggling to improve its profit
performance. Lenovo is still a relatively unknown brand for PC consumers
in the United States despite the extensive media coverage in recent
years. But Deepak Advani, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing
Officer of Lenovo International, said with confidence that Lenovo is well
on its way to become a truly global brand just like IBM. During a
recently interview in his office with Yong Tang, People's Daily
Washington-based correspondent, Advani told a story of how he is doing
the job of brand building for Lenovo and how culture shock has changed
the way Lenovo operates today.

Yong Tang: You look like having Indian origin?

Advani: Yes, actually I am Indian American. I was born in India. Then I
moved to America. I graduated from Wharton School of the University of
Pennsylvania. Then I became an IBM Vice President. I was in IBM for 13
years being the head of strategy and marketing for IBM PC business. IBM
is a very very international and global company. I spent a lot of my time
outside the United States, in Brazil, in Japan, in China. Today I have
became an executive of a Chinese company.

Thomas Freeman put it well, the world is flat. In the new world there are
more and more companies where your nationality or even the place you live
is not as important as the power of your ideas. For me, in fact someone
put a picture of me on the web and said I was a symbol of the new world:
someone who was born in India and lives in the United States but now does
marketing for a company in China. That is the reality of the world.

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� H5N1 virus may have mutated

� Avoid becoming a 'World Cup Widow'

� Large natural gasfield discovered

� Iron lady faces latest challenge

� China popular student destination

Today's Top News 

� Sino-African ties threat to none - Premier Wen

� Protesters call for Taiwan chief's ouster

� Chemical plant blast kills 16 in Anhui

� DPRK warned on possible missile test

� Mubarak, Wen discuss economic ties

Top Biz News 

� Screening of acquisition to tighten

� China helps Africa on desert control training

� Toy manufacturers facing tougher standards

� China to 'fine tune' monetary policy

� China's CITIC Bank seeking to list in HK

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Learn Mandarin online

Chinese language - China's trade surplus surges 44 percent

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

China's trade surplus surges 44 percent
(AP)
Updated: 2006-06-12 14:31

China's trade surplus expanded to $13 billion (euro10.billion) in May,
slightly lower than economists had expected, but a 44 percent increase
over a year earlier and the largest monthly surplus so far this year.

China's exports last month totaled $73.11 billion, up 25.1 percent from a
year earlier, matching expectations, according to customs data released
Monday.

Imports for May totaled $60.11 billion, up 21.7 percent from a year
earlier.

The $13 billion trade surplus in May compared with a $9 billion surplus
in May 2005, and a $10.5 billion surplus in April.

In the January to May period, China's trade surplus was $46.8 billion,
the data showed.

China's trade surplus has been soaring in recent months after hitting a
historic high of US$102 billion last year, more than triple the US$32
billion surplus in 2004.

The persistent surpluses have added to tensions over China's currency
controls, which its trading partners say keep the value of the yuan
artificially low, making the country's exports cheap in overseas markets.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� Not in a good mood? Take a day off

� MG Rover up and running again

� Godfather of information industry

� Cathay takes over Dragon Air

� Industry expects fewer iron ore traders

Today's Top News 

� Netherlands, Mexico, Portugal win cup openers

� China, Japan grope for rapprochement

� Zarqawi autopsy over, results withheld

� HIV/AIDS vaccine ends 1st-phase tests

� A dying al-Zarqawi tried to get away

Top Biz News 

� China's CPI in May rising 1.4 percent

� Yuan makes biggest weekly rise in 10 months

� China becomes major employment destination

� China's economy no cooling signs

� SAFE lifts forex quotas

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinese language

Sunday, 23 December 2007

Chinesepod - Central bank denies 500-yuan notes

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

Central bank denies 500-yuan notes
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-07 09:10

China has no plans to issue bank notes with a face value of 500 yuan
(US$62.5), the People's Bank of China said.

A central bank statement quashed wide-spread on-line reports that
500-yuan notes were in the works. Some rumour mongers even showed
pictures of the fake bank note.

"The rumors could affect the normal circulation of the RMB, China's
currency, and jeopardize the financial order. This is vile behavior," the
PBoC said, while pledging to launch an investigation with the public
security departments and industry and commerce regulators.

The PBoC also called on the public to stay on guard. The largest
denomination bank note for the  Chinese currency is 100 yuan.

Many financial analysts say issuing a 500-yuan note might trigger
inflationary fears.
Official figures show the consumer price index, China's leading inflation
index, climbed only by 1.2 percent in the first quarter of the year. The
broad money supply surged by 18.8 percent in the first quarter over the
same period last year, according to central bank figures.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� Baihetan hydropower station approved

� Godfather of information industry

� Case against man-bags

� Luxury cars are big boys' toys

� Full speed ahead for Shanghai express

Today's Top News 

� Chinese cabinet okays draft anti-monopoly law

� 55 dead as storms continue in S. China

� China reports new bird flu case

� Bush: Immigrants must adopt US values

� Official: SCO not an eastern version of NATO

Top Biz News 

� IPR protection strengthened, EU told

� Cabinet okays draft anti-monopoly law

� China eases restriction on foreign investment

� Nuke fusion reactor gives a headstart

� China, Arab nations sign action plan

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinesepod

Learn Mandarin online - Case against man-bags

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

Case against man-bags
(CRI)
Updated: 2006-05-31 16:41

You've seen them around... tucked beneath the arms of businessmen and
clutched casually in the hands of big spenders. It's bigger than a wallet
but smaller than a brief case... yes, it's the man bag. Usually brown or
black, and made of snakeskin or leather, these man bags are all the rage
among Chinese men, with the accessory now making its way into the
international fashion scene.

Every few years or so there is an attempt by the fashion industry to
persuade men that what is lacking from their lives is a handbag. The
latest efforts have been dubbed man-bags, a term which sounds oddly
testicular and that's will never sound attractive.

Various celebrities have been photographed carrying Mulberry or Louis
Vuitton man-bags and it seems it's even possible they paid for them
themselves. The idea, of course, is that other men who are not famous
will see well-known footballers and actors sporting their man-bags and
will then want to fork out an exorbitant sum to get one for themselves.

Well, that's how it usually works, and with phenomenal success, in the
world of women's fashion. But I don't think the male consumer is quite so
easily bagged. First of all an example for all men out there, if you see
a snapshot of David Beckham carrying a Louis Vuitton clutch bag, I would
hope your first reaction is not to gasp with envy and immediately run to
your local mall to purchase that very bag.

Page: 1 2

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� Trade talks should conclude

� Full speed ahead for Shanghai express

� Solar power plant for North

� Xie Qihua: Made of Steel

� China exports telecom project to Iran

Today's Top News 

� Three Gorges Dam takes the first strain

� 'China should expand military spending'

� Internet bar fire injured 27, all youths

� Hu urges scientists to help innovation

� China cracks down on exam cheats

Top Biz News 

� Spending on services rising in big cities

� Pension fund seeks deals with global asset firms

� China reduces lead emission in six years

� Nuke fusion reactor gives a headstart

� China, Arab nations sign action plan

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Learn Mandarin online

Chinesepod - Water consumption for per unit of GDP to drop 30%

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

Water consumption for per unit of GDP to drop 30%

Updated: 2006-05-29 09:26

China's water resources are to be used more efficiently with water
consumption for per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) to drop by 30
percent by 2010, according to the nation's water resources meeting held
Sunday in north China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

With its plan to turn itself into a water-efficient society, the country
is making substantial efforts to improve water utilization efficiency in
farm, industrial and service sectors, said Hu Siyi, vice minister of
Water Resources.

China suffers from serious water shortage. Among the 600 Chinese cities,
110 are seriously affected by water shortage, which also include 26
cities along the Yangtze River, China's longest. And the country's
freshwater resources amounts to 2,300 cubic meters per capita, only a
quarter of the world's average level.

According to the outcome of China's recent water resources assessment,
total water volume of the rivers and other water sources in northern
China ebbed dramatically by 12 percent while that rose by nearly five
percent in southern China.

In the past five years, 320 million people in China's countryside, or 35
percent of the country's rural residents, fail to have safe water supply
and up to 385 million 25.6 million hectares of cropland go without
irrigation facilities.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� Cities may alleviate housing woes

� Rural labor shortage beginning to be felt

� Xie Qihua: Made of Steel

� ICBC to open subsidiary in Moscow

� Good news in desertification control

Today's Top News 

� Russia, China close ranks in Central Asia

� China emerging from shadows of AIDS

� Court hears last appeal for fugitive Lai

� Taiwan's 'security report' hurts peace

� Yangtze river 'cancerous' with pollution

Top Biz News 

� Carrefour keeps pace with expansion

� In real-estate market, small now beautiful

� New moves to steer car sector stability

� Water consumption for per unit of GDP to drop 30%

� China, Japan start forum on energy saving cooperation

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinesepod

Chinese language - Sohu to resume messaging services

BIZCHINA / Zhang Chaoyang

Sohu to resume messaging services
(Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2005-08-01 14:41

Chinese Internet portal Sohu.com Inc will resume delivering multimedia
messaging services (MMS) Monday, a month before a one-year suspension was
scheduled to be lifted.

Sohu doesn't expect the move to affect its third-quarter earnings
guidance, which was issued Wednesday.

In a press release Friday, Sohu said China Mobile Communication Corp, the
country's largest mobile carrier, informed the company it decided to
resume multimedia messaging cooperation on its nationwide network Monday.
China Mobile had suspended the services for a year because of unsolicited
marketing by Sohu to some customers.

Sohu said it transferred its multimedia messaging services business onto
China Mobile's mobile information service center platform in June, so it
is "technically ready" to resume the MMS business.

Because it will need to rebuild the business after 11 months of
suspension, Sohu doesn't expect the service resumption to materially
affect its third-quarter outlook.

Earlier last week, Sohu reported its second-quarter profit fell 28
percent, to US$7.1 million, or 18 US cents a share, and said
third-quarter results would be weaker than expected, largely because of
disappointing advertising revenue growth.

The company projects third-quarter earnings of 18 US cents to 22 US cents
a share, on revenue of US$26.5 million to US$28.5 million. Analysts
surveyed by Thomson First Call, on average, estimate earnings of 22 cents
a share, on revenue of US$28.75 million.

Sohu said Friday it would leverage its resources to rebuild the
multimedia messaging services business and would cooperate with online
and wireless partner Walt Disney Co.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� Three Gorges Dam completed

� Foreign enerprises earn US$200b

� China's mobile users reach 416 million

� National accounting exam

� Beijing to build 110 star hotels

Today's Top News 

� Ties with Germany scale new heights

� US may ease rules on China exports

� Wen to stay up and watch World Cup

� Investors swoop on Bank of China IPO

� Pay rises by 16% for State sector workers

Top Biz News 

� China 'has to play bigger role in world economy'

� Microsoft signs up to China again

� Zurich gets go-ahead for Beijing branch

� Ties with Germany scale new heights

� Home brands account for only 5.8% of mobile phone exports

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinese language

Saturday, 22 December 2007

Chinese Online Class - Beijing to build 110 star hotels

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

Beijing to build 110 star hotels
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-21 09:06

Beijing will build 110 star hotels to cope with the demand for
accommodation during the 2008 Olympic Games.

"The planned 110 hotels will range from one star to five stars, with a
majority of them targeting high-end guests," Du Jiang, director of
Beijing Tourism Bureau, said at a seminar on economy hotels on Friday.

Although there is a great demand for economy hotels in Beijing, the trend
is to develop high-end hotels, Du acknowledged.

During the 2008 Olympic Games, most guests will be accommodated in
Beijing hotels, Du said. "But the hotels in neighboring Hebei Province,
which are about 100 kilometers away from Beijing, will be on stand-by."

According to the official, there are 56 hotels, including 8 four or five
stars hotels, within 100 kilometers of Beijing.

By 2007, the number of star hotels in Beijing is expected to reach 800,
providing approximately 130,000 rooms, Beijing's Vice Mayor Zhang Mao
said at the seminar.

According to an estimate, about 250,000 foreign tourists, regular
tourists and Games viewers will make Beijing hotels accommodate 550,000
people per day during the 2008 Olympic Games.

Currently, Beijing has 658 star hotels with a total of 109,000 rooms.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Related Stories

� Beijing awaits more low-cost hotels
===========================================================================

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� Cities may alleviate housing woes

� Rural labor shortage beginning to be felt

� Xie Qihua: Made of Steel

� ICBC to open subsidiary in Moscow

� Good news in desertification control

Today's Top News 

� Russia, China close ranks in Central Asia

� China emerging from shadows of AIDS

� Court hears last appeal for fugitive Lai

� Taiwan's 'security report' hurts peace

� Yangtze river 'cancerous' with pollution

Top Biz News 

� Carrefour keeps pace with expansion

� In real-estate market, small now beautiful

� New moves to steer car sector stability

� Water consumption for per unit of GDP to drop 30%

� China, Japan start forum on energy saving cooperation

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinese Online Class

Chinese Mandarin - WTO Commitments

BIZCHINA / Transportation

WTO Commitments

Updated: 2006-04-18 16:48

Travel Agency Sector's WTO Commitments
1.Limitations on market access

Foreign services suppliers who meet the following conditions are
permitted to provide services in the form of joint venture travel
agencies and tour operators in the holiday resorts designated by the
Chinese government and in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and
Xi'an upon accession:

1). A travel agency and tour operator mainly engaged in travel business
2). Annual worldwide turnover exceeds US$ 40 million. The registered
capital of joint venture travel agency/tour operator shall be no less
than 4 million yuan. Within three years after China's accession, the
registered capital shall be no less than 2.5 million yuan. Within three
years after accession foreign majority ownership will be permitted.
Within six years after accession, wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries will
be permitted and geographic restrictions will be removed.

2. The business scope of the travel agency/ tour operator is as follows:

1).Travel and hotel accommodation services for foreign travelers which
can be made directly with transportation and hotel operators in China
covering such operations;
2).Travel services and hotel accommodation services for domestic
travelers which can be made directly with transportation and hotel
operators in China covering such operations;
3). Conducting of tours within China for both domestic and foreign
travelers;
4).Travelers check cashing services within China.

Within six years after accession, there will be no restriction on the
establishment of branches of the joint venture travel agency/tour
operator and the requirement on registered capital of foreign-invested
travel agency/tour operator will be the same as that of Chinese travel
agency/tour operator.

3. Limitations on national treatment

None joint ventures or wholly-owned travel agencies and tour operators
are permitted to engage in the activities of Chinese traveling abroad and
to Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR and Chinese Taipei.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� BOC's public offering attracts HK citizens

� Foreign firms look to hotel sector

� Steelmakers to reject 19% iron ore hike

� Talks start over gov't contracts

� Boeing expects B747-8 success in Asia

Today's Top News 

� Smuggler suspect Lai to be returned on May 26

� US limits using of Chinese computers

� Chairman Mao portrait up for auction

� 21 killed as typhoon hits S.China

� Pay rises by 16% for State sector workers

Top Biz News 

� China bans import, export of endangered species

� China closes nearly 6,000 small mines

� UK offers aid to improve life in poorest areas

� Nation's first A380 pilot to receive training

� Export of fishery workers to Taiwan resumed

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinese Mandarin

Chinese Online Class - Opinions of The People's Government of Yunnan Province On the Improvement

of Investment Climate

BIZCHINA / Policies

Opinions of The People's Government of Yunnan Province On the
Improvement of Investment Climate
(yn.gov.cn)
Updated: 2006-05-17 11:17

To: People's Governments of All Ethnic Autonomous Prefectures and
Municipalities, Administrative Offices of All Prefectures, All
Commissions, Offices, Departments and Bureaus Directly under the
Provincial Government

We hereby issue opinions on the improvement of the investment climate in
Yunnan Province based on the proposal of Yunnan Provincial Committee of
the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in order
to put the important thought of Three Represents into full practice, to
carry out the spirit of the Sixteenth National Congress of the Communist
Party of China (CPC) and the Third Plenary Session of the CPC's Sixteenth
Central Committee, and to further transform government functions, create
a favorable environment for investors from outside the province,
accelerate the introduction and expand the size of external investments
into the province as well as drive rapid economic growth through massive
introduction of inward investment towards the realization of the great
goal of building a well-off society in the province in tandem with all
other parts of China. Your careful study and earnest execution of the
opinions are hence expected.

I.Improve the awareness and sense of urgency and responsibility for
attracting more investments into the province.
(I) Remarkable achievements made in attracting external investment. Since
China's adoption of the reform and opening-up policy, all regions and
sectors across the province have been proactive in opening up to the
outside world and taken every possible measure to attract business and
investments into the province, and these efforts have led to hard-won
achievements in that field.
As of the end of 2002, approval had been granted to the establishment of
2277 foreign-funded enterprises in the province with US$1.49 billion
foreign capital put into actual utilization.
As to the attraction of investment from other parts of China, 13595
cooperation projects had been implemented, with an amount of RMB���31.26
billion originating from outside the province. The external investment
has played a positive role conducive to the reform and development of the
province in that it has not only driven the development of some
industrial sectors, but more importantly, has broken the enclosed and
outdated mindset, brought advanced technologies and management into the
province, and therefore generated major and far-reaching impacts on the
acceleration of the province's reform and development.

(II) Problems existing in the attraction of external investments & their
underlying causes. Compared with the national level and the situation in
the more advanced provinces and regions, Yunnan province is faced with
problems including low gross and small size of the external investment
utilized, low registration level of contractual capital and low survival
rate of foreign-invested enterprises. In 2002, the total amount of
foreign investment utilized in the province only accounted for 0.33% of
the nation's total and 2% of the province's total fixed asset investment,
the foreign-funded enterprises in the province showed a low survival
rate, and the province ranked the second from the last out of the six
provinces in southwest China in terms of the total external investment.
The key reasons underlying the limited external capital are outmoded
mindset, slow government function transformation, red tape in
administrative licensing, low efficiency and poor policy implementation,
and so on. Therefore, it has become a must to solve the existing problems
and further improve the investment climate.

(III) Significance of attracting external investment & opportunities
facing the province. Improvement of the investment climate is of critical
and profound significance to the province in terms of expanding the scale
of external investment, stimulating the growth of the non-public sector
economy, optimizating and upgrading industry structure and enhancing the
international competitiveness of the province's economy, and sustaining
its rapid growth. At present, the province is faced with major
opportunities for further opening up to the outside world. The new round
of international and interregional capital and industry transfer, China's
implementation of the western development strategy and accession to WTO,
the establishment of China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)
Free Trade Area and the nation's participation in economic cooperation in
the Greater Mekong Sub-region have created rare opportunities for the
province in promoting its cooperation with the outside world and
attracting more external investments. We must firmly establish the
awareness of grasping every opportunity, strengthen the sense of urgency
and responsibility in our work, and take effective measures to create a
good climate for attracting external investments on a massive scale.

II. Deepen the administrative licensing system reform and improve
efficiency and service.
(IV) Sorting out and publicizing all external investment-related issues
requiring administrative licensing. All external investment-related
issues that require administrative licensing should be sorted out in
accordance with the requirements of the administrative licensing system
reform, and all those that do not conform to WTO rules and contradict to
market opening and fair competition should be abolished. Issues subject
to administrative licensing shall be amalgamated to the greatest extent,
made known to the public and implemented.

(V)   Fully reforming the external investment licensing system. Among all
external investment projects, governments and other competent authorities
shall only exercise review and approval formalities over those major ones
that are related to economic security, possible impacts on environmental
resources and the overall economic layout, and those of government
investment nature or those falling under the category as restricted
projects or industries; while all other projects shall be subject to
registration only instead of the original review and approval procedure.
The authorities in charge shall no longer review and approve project
proposals, feasibility study reports, charters of contracts, and the
investors can directly apply to the duly-authorized administrations for
industry and commerce for registration of the projects, and go through
formalities with appropriate authorities for permissions regarding land
use, resources, environmental protection and safety, etc.
(VI) Continuously enhancing efficiency. The working style of
"coordination in an integrated fashion" and the provision of
"one-stop-shop" service should be further improved. The review and
approval of external investment-related issues shall, in principle, be
handled in the external investment service center. All competent
authorities shall respectively appoint personnel in charge to work in the
said service center, and all review and approval formalities are
concluded in a "one-stop-shop" fashion. A public affairs transparency
system shall be introduced, whereas the criteria, procedures, authority,
responsibilities and time limits regarding review and approval of
external investment projects shall be publicized in order to receive the
supervision of all investors.
A case-by-case review and approval system shall be implemented for major
projects. For each major project involving an investment amount of or
above RMB���50million, the "joint-conference review system" may be
exercised to define all issues subject to review and approval at only one
such conference, and with all the review and approval formalities
concluded within 15 working days.
In the event of disagreement during the joint review, the government
leaders at the same level shall be responsible for coordination and shall
sign and release the review comments for approval. A major investment
project may be approved first depending on the credibility of the
investor and the needs of industry steering, with other pertinent
formalities to be fulfilled later.
An agent system shall be implemented. Agencies may be set up under
government authorities in charge of external investment affairs to handle
formalities on behalf of investors for permits of the construction
projects they invest in the province, but the agencies shall not operate
for profit-making. The said authorities shall work out specific measures
and report the same to the government at the same level for approval for
defining time limits for the handling of relevant formalities by such
government organizations or agencies as environmental protection, land
control, planning, city construction, fire prevention, and power, water
and gas supply, etc.
The process for e-government should be expedited. An online network among
relevant government authorities should be built as quickly as possible to
bring greater convenience to external investors in the handling of
matters like online application, registration, inquiry, annual inspection
and complaints, etc.

(VII)  Providing "full-process" services. The provision of follow-up
services to key investing enterprises should be strengthened; endeavors
should be made to offer good services before, during and after the
introduction of investment into the province, and coordination for
solving problems encountered by enterprises during their project
establishment, construction, production and operation should be
reinforced. For major investment projects, a service responsibility
system should be introduced where government leaders are personally
involved in facilitating such projects.

Page: 1 2 3 4 5

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Most Popular Stories in 48 Hours

� Cities may alleviate housing woes

� Rural labor shortage beginning to be felt

� Xie Qihua: Made of Steel

� ICBC to open subsidiary in Moscow

� Good news in desertification control

Today's Top News 

� Russia, China close ranks in Central Asia

� China emerging from shadows of AIDS

� Court hears last appeal for fugitive Lai

� Taiwan's 'security report' hurts peace

� Yangtze river 'cancerous' with pollution

Top Biz News 

� Carrefour keeps pace with expansion

� In real-estate market, small now beautiful

� New moves to steer car sector stability

� Water consumption for per unit of GDP to drop 30%

� China, Japan start forum on energy saving cooperation

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinese Online Class