Learn Chinese: December 2007

Monday, December 31, 2007

Chinese Online Class - Yunnan posts fast growth in trade with ASEAN

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

Yunnan posts fast growth in trade with ASEAN

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-01-22 11:08

Trade between southwest China's Yunnan Province and ASEAN members
amounted to 2.17 billion U.S. dollars last year, an increment of 630
million U.S. dollars, or 40.9 percent, from the previous year.

According to local customs sources, the trade volume, or 34.8 percent of
the province's total external trade, included 1.63 billion

Related readings:
China projects slower growth in foreign trade
Trade: Trade between mainland, Taiwan busts $100 billion mark
Nation now tops Mexico in US volume

U.S. dollars in export value, up 50 percent, and 540 million U.S. dollars
in import value, up 15.6 percent.

Myanmar continued to be the top trade partner of Yunnan, with bilateral
trade standing at 690 million U.S. dollars, or nearly one third of the
province's total trade with ASEAN members.

It is noteworthy that Yunnan's trade with Singapore soared 250 percent to
480 million U.S. dollars last year.

Nonferrous metals remained as leading exports by Yunnan. Last year the
province sold 330 million U.S. dollars worth of nonferrous metals to
ASEAN members, up 130 percent, the local customs sources said.

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Learn Chinese online - 'Divorce firms' enjoy brisk trade

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

'Divorce firms' enjoy brisk trade

(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-01-17 09:31

China's ever-expanding divorce rate has nurtured the growth of a whole
industry claiming to specialize in the business of breaking up.

In fact, the market for divorce services is so good that the Shanghai
Weiqing Marriage Consulting Company, widely known as China's first
"divorce company", opened its 28th franchise outlet on January 7 in
Hangzhou.

"During our first week, we received 40 calls from people seeking
counselling," said Li Peixiang, general manager and marriage analyst at
the Hangzhou outlet.

As of Monday, six clients had signed contracts with the new branch office
to secure counselling services.

Most of the clients said they were on the verge of divorce and looking
for help to win the biggest possible share of the property in the divorce
settlement.

Though the company has built its reputation helping people part ways, Li
said she wanted people to think of her company as a relationship
consulting company, rather than a "divorce company".

"We also provide psychological counselling to people who find themselves
caught in a web of friendship, love and unhappiness," Li said.

Marriage crises

She added that Hangzhou Weiqing's counsellors were focused on helping
their clients end their marriage crises, which is one of the principles
that Shanghai Weiqing asks its 28 franchise outlets to uphold.

Li said her company employs a team of professionals that includes
marriage analysts, psychologists and lawyers, all with appropriate
licenses.

After a face-to-face interview with their clients, the consultants assess
the client's marriage. If they feel the marriage is hopeless, they may
encourage divorce. If not, they will develop ways to save the marriage.

"Divorce is the last resort so long as there is a possibility of
reconciliation," Li said.

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Learn mandarin - Bulk of white collars suffer year-end blues

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

Bulk of white collars suffer year-end blues

By Jessie Tao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-01-08 16:21

A survey conducted by chinahr.com, a leading Chinese recruitment website,
shows over 90 percent of white collars felt anxiety and depression as the
past year came to an end and a new year took off, with half of them
planning to change jobs, according to Monday's Beijing Morning Post.

The undated photo above shows a white-collar employee taking a rest after
a hard day's work. [Nanfang Metropolitan News]

The results came from a poll of more than 1500 white-collar employees
with government departments and companies in 15 industries, such as IT,
finance, and manufacturing.

"Having lived a busy, humdrum and vain life for another year" was the
reason cited most for their year-end blues, accounting for 28.4 percent
of the respondents, followed by "falling short of set targets," cited by
26.7 percent. Just over 17 percent said they felt low because their work
didn't go smoothly, while 14.5 percent were simply worried about getting
old.

Lu, a programmer with a telecom equipment company, complained that he had
been working for a daily average of ten hours in the past year, but found
nothing recommendable in his annual performance report, not to mention a
promising career. The lack of a sense of achievement has left him with
enormous depression as well as frustration, especially after learning
that some of his college classmates have started their own enterprises
while his former colleague was promoted in a new company.

1 2

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Learn mandarin - China lowers gold trading threshold for private investors

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

China lowers gold trading threshold for private investors

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-12-26 09:57

In a move to attract small private investors, China on Monday lowered the
trading threshold at the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) from one kilogram
to 100 grams.

SGE sources said 100-gram gold bars, which debuted on Monday at an
initial price of 160 yuan (20.5 U.S. dollars) per gram, started spot
trading at an opening price of 157 yuan per gram and then remained flat
for the entire trading session, closing at 157 yuan per gram, a drop of
three yuan.

Related readings:
SGE lowers gold trading threshold China to open gold market wider
New rules to make gold shinier industry

During Monday's trading, only 0.4 kg or four gold bars of this type
changed hands, and transactions amounted to only 62,800 yuan.

However, business was brisk for other types of gold. 2,359 kg of two
other conventional types of gold were traded and 1,506 kg of gold listed
for trading delay (T+D).

An SGE spokesman blamed the poor market performance of the newly
premiered 100-gram gold bars on a the Christmas holiday season.

Industry experts still believe China's latest move will help diversify
gold investment channels in the country and standardize the market for
gold transactions.

In July last year the SGE proposed spot trading of gold by private
investors in cooperation with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
(ICBC). However, the one-kg 160,000 yuan (20,000 US dollars) threshold
turned off many private investors.

The volume of spot transactions by private investors in the first ten
months accounted for just 0.57 percent of total trading.

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Sunday, December 30, 2007

Learn Chinese - Per capita GDP of Guangzhou to surpass US$10,000

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

Per capita GDP of Guangzhou to surpass US$10,000

By Song Hongmei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-12-20 16:16

Guangzhou's gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to exceed 600
billion yuan (US$77 billion) this year, up more than 10 percent over
2005, said the city's mayor Zhang Guangning at a press conference on
Monday.

Mayor of Guangzhou Zhang Guangning (C) gestures at a press conference
held in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, December 18, 2006.
[chinadaily.com.cn]

Guangzhou, the capital city of South China's Guangdong Province, with a
registered population of 8.53 million, will see a per capita GDP of more
than US$10,000 this year, Zhang said that he is "fully confident" in the
local economic growth.

The per capita net income of rural residents in Guangzhou will rose 10
percent to reach 7,800 yuan, he said.

In the first three quarters, Guangzhou approved 158 projects with an
investment of more than US$10 million each, an increase of 10.5 percent
from a year earlier.

Statistics showed that the city's economy grew at an average yearly rate
of 13.82 percent in the 10th Five-Year-Plan period (2001-2005) and its
GDP in 2005 hit 545.12 billion yuan.

The mayor said Guangdong has been putting much effort into improving its
environment to make the city an environmentally friendly place for its
people to work and live in.

The city arranged seven major environmental protection projects with a
planned investment totaling 15 billion yuan in the past five years. Some
5.5-billion-yuan investment had been put into use during the period to
generate 13,100 hectares of green area. By 2005, the vegetation coverage
rate in Guangzhou rose to 36.38 percent with per capita public green land
at 11.32 square meters.

Over the past three years, the city's authorities also strengthened
pollution control over manufacturing enterprises. More than 600
heavy-polluting operations like cement moved out or shut down.

In addition, a comprehensive sewage treatment system has been established
in the city to ensure proper handling of household and industrial waste.
The government has set up and renovated four sewage treatment plants. The
rate of sewage treatment grew to 71.34 percent in 2005 from 26.3 percent
in 2000.

Thanks to the municipal government's efforts, ecological environment of
the city has been significantly restored. It was rated as a national
green city by the State Environmental Protection Administration.

Guangzhou will increase 136 square kilometers green area, and the sewage
disposal rate will top 90 percent in 2010 when the Asian games will be
held in the city, Zhang said.

Mayor of Guangzhou Zhang Guangning gestures at a press conference held in
Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, December 18, 2006.
[chinadaily.com.cn]

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Related Stories

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Chinese Mandarin - Hang Seng Bank to invest HK$1b in mainland market

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Hang Seng Bank to invest HK$1b in mainland market

By Zhang Jin and Lillian Liu (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-12-13 08:58

HONG KONG: Hang Seng Bank plans to increase its outlets on the Chinese
mainland to 30 by the end of next year and to more than 50 by 2010,
joining an expansion spree by overseas lenders, a senior executive said.

"We plan to invest more than HK$1 billion (US$128 million) to expand our
mainland network and service capacities by the end of 2008," Chief
Executive Raymond Or said in a statement yesterday.

The Hong Kong banking giant has also submitted its application to
incorporate on the mainland, and if this goes smoothly, "we will set up a
mainland subsidiary bank headquartered in Shanghai in the first half of
2007."

Related readings:
China banks fend off rivalry from foreign lenders
China's banking sector open to competition
New Jiangsu Bank set to open this month
No rush

The bank's development plan came shortly after the fifth anniversary of
the mainland's accession to the World Trade Organization and the day it
started to fully open its banking sector to overseas investors.

Hang Seng Bank currently has 15 branches, sub-branches and representative
offices on the mainland, fewer than rivals such as HSBC and Bank of East
Asia.

The bank has so far invested more than 3.8 billion yuan (US$487 million)
in the mainland. In September, the bank had a board meeting in Shanghai,
the first time it held such an important gathering on the mainland.

Like most overseas lenders, Hang Seng Bank will focus on the high-end
market.

That is also why the branches to be opened will mainly be located in the
Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta, two major economic engines and
the mainland's most affluent areas, Or said.

New outlets will also be opened in major cities such as Shanghai,
Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

"We just cannot compete with local banks (such as the Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China) in the mass market," he told reporters.

In Shanghai, for example, Shanghai Commercial Bank has around 200
branches, while Hang Seng Bank has just six.

"We would like to mostly and cautiously lend to and deal with foreign
enterprises and wealthy domestic clients that we are familiar with," said
Or.

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Chinese Mandarin

Learn Chinese online - Everybody turns to search engines

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

Everybody turns to search engines

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-12-01 14:25

As the Internet extends its tentacles into every aspect of daily life,
more and more Chinese are finding that they just can't live without
search engines.

Yang Yu, a 24-year-old office worker, is busy clicking key words on
search pages to find information and clues for her report.

"I use map search to find places I don't know, use food search to book a
suitable restaurant and use music search to find melodies", Yang told
Xinhua. "Search engines have become indispensable partners and helpers in
our lives."

Yang is only one of 119 million people in China who use search engines
more than 7 times a day.

For every ten netizens in China -- where the search engine market will
generate sales of 1.9 billion yuan (237.5 million US dollars) in 2006 and
is growing by 40 percent a year -- there are eight power searchers like
Yang.

Baidu, Yahoo and Google, the market leaders, are scrambling to increase
their market share.

Baidu's intimate understanding of Chinese people's search habits has seen
it improve content by strengthening cooperation with media groups and
closely observing netizen search behavior.

This has paid off. A report by I Search showed Baidu ranked first in 2005
with a 46.5 percent market share, compared with 34.5 percent in 2004.

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Learn mandarin - Too much pocket money for kids

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

Too much pocket money for kids

(chinanews.cn/chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-11-23 15:48

Parents may earn less than 800 yuan (US$101) monthly, but they may give
their child 300 yuan as pocket money every month.

Too much pocket money is given to children in Shanghai, showed a survey
conducted by Adolescence Center of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
The survey convers 3,800 students in elementary and secondary schools and
1,000 parents in the China's financial hub.

More than 69 percent of elementary and 28.9
percent of secondary school respondents say that they can get at least 50
yuan every month from their parents, and some even 300 yuan.

Meanwhile, elementary students can often receive large sums of money from
their relatives during the Lunar New Year, with 76 percent of them
getting 500 yuan, and 11.8 percent even 3,000 yuan.

This reporter finds that 4.7 percent of student respondents whose family
income is less than 800 yuan monthly receive 300 yuan every month.

Experts think these students must be extravagant spenders, but what
puzzles them is that only 4 percent of students from rich families (with
a family income of 10 thousand yuan or above monthly) get so much for
pocket money per month.

Having pocket money is good for children. It gives a sense of
independence, and a measure of choice in making decisions about how the
money is spent, analysts said.

However, too much pocket money is not good for children's development,
and parents need to give their children money based on the family's
economic conditions, said Sun Baohong, deputy director of the center.

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Saturday, December 29, 2007

Chinese language - Market maneuvers in China's auto industry

BIZCHINA / Auto Industry in China

Market maneuvers in China's auto industry

(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-20 16:20

1. Sizzling market growth

China's vehicle market has regained strong growth momentum this year
after a slow pace the past two years, beating estimates of most industry
analysts.

In the first three quarters of this year, sales of domestically-made
vehicles grew by a quarter to 5.17 million units with car sales rocketing
by more than 30 per cent. Full-year sales are expected to total 7 million
units, enabling the country to dwarf Japan as the world's second biggest
vehicle market.

Sales in 2005 and 2004 rose by 13.5 per cent and 15.5 per cent
respectively. Both of the growth rates in 2003 and 2002 were above 30 per
cent.

2. SAIC appointment

SAIC in June hired Phil Murtaugh, former chairman and chief executive
officer of GM China Group, as its executive vice-president. Murtaugh, 51,
takes the helm of SAIC's international operations.

The company expects Murtaugh, who has more-than-30-years experience in
the automotive industry, to help it branch out in the overseas market.
Murtaugh quit his post at GM China Group in April last year. He started
at GM China Group in 2000. SAIC has a 10 per-cent stake in GM Daewoo Auto
& Technology Co and a 48.9-per cent share in Ssangyong Motors Co from
South Korea. Last year, SAIC sold a total of 1.05 million vehicles.

Foreign brains like Murtaugh are badly needed for Chinese automakers
planning to expand in the overseas market.

3. Import tariff dispute

China in August decided to postpone by two years a plan to impose high
tariffs on some imported auto parts to help solve an auto trade dispute
with the European Union (EU) and United States. The plan will not be
implemented until July 1, 2008.

According to the delayed plan, imports of auto parts and components will
be treated as built-up vehicle imports and be imposed with a tariff of 25
per cent if these auto parts and components consist of 60 per cent or
more of a vehicle assembled in China. However, the EU, US and Canada
jointly lodged a complaint against China with the World Trade
Organization (WTO) in September. They claimed China's policy on auto
parts and component imports violate its WTO commitments and demanded an
investigation. A team was launched last month. But a spokesman from the
Ministry of Commerce said China's plan did not violate WTO rules and is
aimed at curbing tax evasion instead.

On July 1, China slashed tariffs on built-up vehicle imports to 25 per
cent from 28 per cent and tariffs on imports of spare parts to 10 per
cent from 13.8-16.4 per cent to complete its WTO commitments.

1 2 3 4

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Chinese Mandarin - IT: US firm works for atonement

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

IT: US firm works for atonement

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-15 16:43

Computer Associates (CA), a United States-based software provider, said
it will improve its corporate image and increase investment in China
after its former chief was involved in financial fraud.

CA's revenue in China, mainly from the telecommunications, banking and
government sectors, will reach US$88 million in 2009, spurred by an
annual growth rate of "at least 25 percent," said Jim Fisher, CA's
marketing vice president for the Asia-Pacific and Japan region.

China is a critical market for the company to achieve "double digit"
growth over the long term, given that growth in other regions is slowing,
Fisher said during an expo in Shanghai yesterday.

CA will find 18 strategic partners in China within next three years,
including Digital China and Deloitte, according to Agnes Wan, a CA
marketing director.

"They will have strong financial backgrounds, IT distribution channels or
regional influences so they won't overlap," Wan said.

Millions of small and medium-sized enterprises in China are potential
clients, Fisher said.

1 2

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Related Stories

� US software firm aims high
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===========================================================================

Chinese Mandarin

Chinese Mandarin - UK bank adds new site in Pudong

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

UK bank adds new site in Pudong

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-10 14:55

Standard Chartered Bank said yesterday it has spent US$40 million to
acquire four floors of a Pudong office building to serve as its future
personal banking call center on the Chinese mainland.

The United Kingdom-based bank bought 7,614 square meters of space in the
UC tower, a grade-A office building near the Century Avenue Metro
Station, a hub site that connects lines two and four and will ultimately
link four lines by 2010.

This purchase was Standard Charter's second in a year in the city's
financial hub.

In January, the bank acquired naming rights as well as the use of a prime
plot in Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone for more than US$40 million from
Shanghai Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone Development Co Ltd.

The oldest foreign bank in the mainland said it will relocate its
mainland headquarters, Shanghai branch and related functions into the
building, an office tower to be constructed by the Lujiazui company by
2008.

Standard Chartered is joining a number of overseas financial giants such
as HSBC and Citigroup to increase their presence in the mainland, which
is scheduled to fully open its financial sector by the end of the year
under the country's commitment to the World Trade Organization.

All three financial institutions have purchased naming rights to office
towers in Lujiazui after renting large amounts of space to raise their
profiles in the world's most populous consumer market.

Construction also continues on several office towers for major domestic
financial institutions such as China Merchants Bank, Ping An Group and
Minsheng Bank.

"The next few years will see a significant shift in terms of Lujiazui's
position against the market as a whole. Lujiazui will have much more
impact in the market and dictate rentals," said Nigel Barnes, director of
global corporate services, DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, a real estate service
firm.

The UC tower, developed by state-owned Shanghai Urban Construction Group,
a major builder of the city's infrastructure, has achieved an occupancy
rate of 85 percent since it went into operation in August.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Related Stories

� Banks facing four major risks and challenges
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� China's central bank to relax rules on foreigners
===========================================================================

Chinese Mandarin

Learn Chinese online - South Korean retail king to open on mainland

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

South Korean retail king to open on mainland

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-01 14:16

Lotte Shopping Co, South Korea's biggest department store operator, said
yesterday it plans to open its maiden store on the Chinese mainland in
the first half of 2008 to tap the country's booming consumer purchasing
power.

Seoul-based Lotte signed an agreement yesterday with Zhejing Intime
Department Store Co, an arm of China Yintai Holdings Co, to set up a
local venture, the South Korean firm said in a regulatory filing.

Both companies will take equal stakes in the Beijing-based venture, the
statement said, without disclosing the investment amount.

The duo will initially invest about US$10 million to open a store in
Beijing's Wangfujing area, Reuters reported early yesterday ahead of the
company statement, citing an unnamed source.

Lotte, led by Chief Executive Lee In Won, has been diversifying its
businesses in countries such as China and Russia as competition
intensifies in its US$120 billion retail market at home.

Economists expect South Korea's retail market to expand nearly 2.5
percent annually through 2008 while China's US$970 billion market will
grow at least 10 percent a year.

The Beijing store will be Lotte's second overseas outlet as the company
is on track to set up a department store in Moscow in the first half of
next year, according to the statement. Lotte also said it is considering
entering the Vietnam market.

Lotte raised 3.4 trillion won (US$3.6 billion) in an initial public
offering this year. The company said in January it plans to add six new
department stores by 2010 and 28 discount stores by 2007.

Lotte controls 44 percent of South Korea's 16.5 trillion won department
store market and 12 percent of the country's 21.5 trillion won discount
sector, according to Bloomberg data.

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Friday, December 28, 2007

Learn Mandarin online - Metallurgy: Baosteel aims to double steel output by 2012

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

Metallurgy: Baosteel aims to double steel output by 2012

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-10-25 14:39

Baosteel Group, the country's largest steel maker, expects to nearly
double its crude steel production to 50 million tonnes a year by 2012,
according to a speech by a Baosteel executive to be delivered on Tuesday.

Before 2010, Baosteel plans to achieve its crude steel production of 30
million tonnes and stainless steel production of 1.85 million tonnes,
said Zhang Bianbo, general manager of the No.1 raw materials department
at Baoshan Iron and Steel Co. Ltd.

(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.

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Chinese School - China hopes to enhance understanding with U.S. in energy exploitation

BIZCHINA / America

China hopes to enhance understanding with U.S. in energy exploitation

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-19 11:08

China hopes to enhance understanding with the United States in energy
exploitation, said a senior official with the National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC) on Wednesday.

Responding to criticism by the United States of China's exploitation of
petroleum in Africa, in particular Sudan, Zhang Yuqing, deputy director
of the Energy Bureau of the NDRC, said cooperation with African countries
in energy resources is mutually beneficial.

Speaking ahead of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Zhang
said, "If we aren't allowed to go to this place or that place, then where
should we go?"

He said that Chinese companies wanted to cooperate with American
companies in the United States but the state-owned China National
Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) Ltd. was forced to withdraw a bid for major
U.S. oil company Unocal after strong opposition from the United States.

China has always opened its door to other countries and many U.S.
companies have invested in energy in China, which accounts for more than
60 percent of the overall foreign investment in this field, Zhang said.

He said China and the United States should enhance communication and
understanding, and contribute to the development of the oil industry.

China imported 38.34 million tons of crude oil from Africa in 2005,
accounting for 30 percent of its oil imports.

By the end of 2005, China had invested in 27 major oil and natural gas
projects in 14 African countries, including Sudan, Algeria, Angola and
Nigeria.

Official figures show that the country imported 126.82 million tons of
crude oil in 2005.

Four African countries, namely, Angola, Sudan, Congo and Equatorial
Guinea, were among the top 10 oil exporters to China in 2005.

FOCAC is a mechanism for collective dialogue and cooperation jointly
established by China and Africa to cope with new challenges and
facilitate common development.

Since the launch of the FOCAC in 2000, two ministerial conferences have
been held in Beijing and Addis Ababa.

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Learn mandarin - Tariff

BIZCHINA / Trade

Tariff

(Wikipedia)
Updated: 2006-10-13 14:21

A tariff is a tax on imported goods. When a ship arrives in port a
customs officer inspects the contents and charges a tax according to the
tariff formula. Since the goods cannot be landed until the tax is paid it
is the easiest tax to collect, and the cost of collection is small.
Smugglers of course seek to evade the tariff.

An ad valorem tax is a percentage of the value of the item, say 10 cents
on the dollar, while a specific tariff is so-much per weight, say $5 per
ton.
A "revenue tariff" is a set of rates designed primarily to raise money
for the government. A tariff on coffee imports, for example (by a country
that does not grow coffee) raises a steady flow of revenue.
A "protective tariff" is intended to artificially inflate prices of
imports and "protect" domestic industries from foreign competition. For
example, a 50% tax on a machine that importers formerly sold for $100 and
now sell for $150. Without a tariff the local manufacturers could only
charge $100 for the same machine; now they can charge $149 and make the
sale.
A prohibitive tariff is one so high that no one imports any of that item.
The distinction between protective and revenue tariffs is subtle:
protective tariffs in addition to protecting local producers also raise
revenue; revenue tariffs produce revenue but they also offer some
protection to local producers. (A pure revenue tariff is a tax on goods
not produced in the country, like coffee perhaps.)

Tax, tariff and trade rules in modern times are usually set together
because of their common impact on industrial policy, investment policy,
and agricultural policy. A trade bloc is a group of allied countries
agreeing to minimize or eliminate tariffs against trade with each other,
and possibly to impose protective tariffs on imports from outside the
bloc. A customs union has a common external tariff, and, according to an
agreed formula, the participating countries share the revenues from
tariffs on goods entering the customs union.

If a country's major industries lose to foreign competition, the loss of
jobs and tax revenue can severely impair parts of that country's economy.
Protective tariffs have been used as a measure against this possibility.
However, protective tariffs have disadvantages as well. The most notable
is that they increase the price of the good subject to the tariff,
disadvantaging consumers of that good or manufacturers who use that good
to produce something else: for example a tariff on food can increase
poverty, while a tariff on steel can make automobile manufacture less
competitive. They can also backfire if countries whose trade is
disadvantaged by the tariff impose tariffs of their own, resulting in a
trade war and disadvantaging both sides.

There are two main ways of implementing a tariff:

An ad valorem tariff is a fixed percentage of the value of the good that
is being imported. Sometimes these are problematic as when the
international price of a good falls, so does the tariff, and domestic
industries become more vulnerable to competition. Conversely when the
price of a good rises on the international market so does the tariff, but
a country is often less interested in protection when the price is
higher. They also face the problem of transfer pricing where a company
declares a value for goods being traded which differs from the market
price, aimed at reducing overall taxes due.
A specific tariff is a tariff of a specific amount of money that does not
vary with the price of the good. These tariffs may be harder to decide
the amount at which to set them, and they may need to be updated due to
changes in the market or inflation.
Adherents of supply-side economics sometimes refer to domestic taxes,
such as income taxes, as being a "tariff" affecting inter-household trade.

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Chinese Mandarin - HK among world's safest cities

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

HK among world's safest cities

By Nicole Wong (China Daily HK Edition)
Updated: 2006-10-08 10:13

Hong Kong remains one of the safest cities in the world, according to the
United Nations International Crime Victim Survey (UNICV) on the Crime
Victimization in Hong Kong.

The survey was carried out from February to June 2006, by the HKU Centre
for Criminology and Social Sciences Research Centre (SSRC), with the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and the University of Tilburg's
Centre for International Crime Victimization.

A total of 2,283 Hong Kong household members aged 16 or above responded
to the computer-assisted telephone interviews.

As the fifth sweep of the UNICV, the 2005/06 survey involved over 30
countries and regions, ranging from South America, Africa, Europe to the
Asia Pacific. Participating in the survey for the first time, Hong Kong
stands out as a city with a remarkably low crime rate, compared to most
other Asian and Western economies.

On property crimes, only 0.4 per cent Hong Kong respondents came across
burglary in 2005, in comparison to 1.7 per cent in Sweden and 2.7 per
cent in the United States. About 2.2 per cent Hong Kong car owners
encountered theft from their cars, versus 3.1 per cent in Japan and 4.2
per cent in England and Wales.

The survey found 3.6 per cent Hong Kong respondents experienced personal
theft in 2005, while the figures stood at 6.5 per cent in Australia and
5.3 in Poland. Only 1.2 per cent Hong Kong males and females suffered
personal assaults, contrasting the 6.1 per cent in England and Wales and
6.4 per cent in Australia.

The overall crime victimization was fairly insignificant in Hong Kong
last year, as only 8 per cent of respondents reported at least one
standard crime in 2005, noted Roderic Broadhurst, head of Justice
Studies, Queensland University of Technology.

Absence of corruption

"Another significant finding is the absence of corruption in Hong Kong,
since none of the respondents reported corruption," said Broadhurst.
"It's the first time I witnessed zero corruption in a random survey on
crime rate."

Consumer fraud, however, may be on the rise in Hong Kong, since 21 per
cent respondents experienced it through various channels last year,
including shopping and telecommunications. The figure stood much higher
than that in Japan (2.3 per cent) or Canada (7.5), and was only second to
Cambodia (34 per cent).

1 2

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Chinese Mandarin

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Learn mandarin - China to enhance mulberry silk industry in the West

BIZCHINA / Investment Alerts

China to enhance mulberry silk industry in the West

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-09-27 16:02

By the end of 2010, two million mu (133,000 hectares) of mulberry
plantations will be developed in west China away from the traditional
hometown of China's mulberry silk industry in the east, the Ministry of
Commerce (MOC) has announced.

Huang Hai, Assistant Minister of Commerce, said that China launched the
project to develop mulberry plantations and a silk industry in west China
this year.

Output in China's east had dropped from 51 percent in 2000 to 41 percent
in 2005 due to industrial growth and a drop in cropland.

The project, the biggest-ever move by the Chinese government to develop
the mulberry silk industry, aimed to optimize the industrial structure in
the east, upgrade conditions in central China and strengthen the
development of the mulberry silk industry in the west.

Huang said the MOC had ratified mulberry bases in 15 provinces and
regions in central and west China.

By the end of 2010, China's pod output would rise by 2 to 3 percent to
870,000 tons, accounting for 75 percent of the world's total.

East China's Jiangsu Province, a major base for China's silk industry,
has seen the establishment of 30,000 mu (2000 hectares) of mulberry
plantations in west China's Guizhou Province and Chongqing Municipality
as well as north China's Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region.

Low labor and resource costs and preferential policies for investment in
west China were the major incentives, said experts.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Learn mandarin

Chinese Mandarin - Metro plans two more city stores

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Metro plans two more city stores

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-25 16:37

Metro AG plans to open two more Cash & Carry stores in Shanghai in the
next two years, its China operation chief said yesterday.

The world's third-largest retailer will also launch new stores in
Beijing, Jiaxing and Changzhou, Jean-Luc Tuzes, president of Metro
Jinjiang Cash & Carry Co Ltd, said. The company now operates 31 stores in
27 cities in the Chinese mainland.

One of Shanghai's two new stores will be located in suburban Qingpu
District, he said. The company has chosen Qingpu for its access to a
highway network that ensures "commuting time is short enough" for its
customers, a requirement for opening a new store, Tuzes explained. Other
requirements for a new store include a land parcel large enough to hold
300 to 600 parking spaces for customers.

Tuzes said his company is "trying to buy land" for the Qingpu store, but
it may also consider leasing.

Tuzes didn't specify on the location of the other Shanghai store.

Shanghai now has four Metro stores in the city, in Putuo, Hongkou,
Minhang and Pudong districts.

Metro Jinjiang will launch two stores late this year: one in Jiaxing,
Zhejiang Province, and one in Beijing.

"The new Beijing store will be located in Shibalidian," a suburb, Tuzes
said.

The executive also said a sixth Jiangsu Province store is scheduled to
open early next year in Changzhou.

Metro Jinjiang has opened an average three stores a year in China since
its first outlet in Shanghai in 1996, but it has decided to launch six to
10 stores in the next few years, after recognizing the country's huge
development potential. The move is also part of the company's global
strategy, which focuses expansion on emerging markets in Asia and East
Europe.

"The beauty of emerging markets" like China and Russia is that they are
very "adaptive and fast in movement," Frans Muller, member of the
management board of German-based parent Metro AG, said in a recent
interview.

Tuzes said expansion in the next few years will give priority to regions
headquartered in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. The central region,
centered in Wuhan, Hubei Province, apparently takes a back seat.

"We've adopted a plan of spiral growth" spreading from the three regional
headquarters, Tuzes said.

Biz Shop

Ripe time for Shanghai Port

The container throughput of the Shanghai Port reached 13.9574 million
TEUs in the first eight months of this year.

� New berth opens at Yantian Int'l Container Terminals

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Logistics China AutoChina
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Chinese Mandarin

Chinese Mandarin - New regulation on IPO takes effect

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

New regulation on IPO takes effect
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-09-19 15:26

China's regulation on the Issuance and Underwriting of Securities, which
took effect Tuesday, make it possible for the issuer of selected initial
public offerings (IPO) to adjust the ratio of shares for institutional
and public investors.

Under the rules published Saturday by the China Securities Regulatory
Commission (CSRC), an IPO issuer and the major underwriter can create a
"greenshoe" mechanism, which allows them to re-allocate shares reserved
for institutional investors to minority investors.

According to Article 32 of the regulation, the mechanism can be used if
the number of shares offered in the IPO reaches a "certain" size, and
demand for the shares far exceeds the offering.

A CSRC said the move would give public investors more opportunities to
buy new shares.

Analysts said the mechanism will probably be used in the upcoming IPO of
the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's biggest
commercial bank.

The commission will announce later this week its decision on ICBC's
request for an IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Chinese Mandarin

Chinese Online Class - China opens publication distribution, printing areas

BIZCHINA / Investment Alerts

China opens publication distribution, printing areas
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-09-14 14:32

A Chinese official on Thursday said China has met its commitment to the
World Trade Organization (WTO) to open its publication distribution and
printing sectors to foreign enterprises.

Liu Binjie, vice director of the State Press and Publication
Administration said although the Chinese government prohibits foreign
enterprises from being the sole publisher of their own books in China,
the distribution of approved books and publications is fully open to
foreign and domestic enterprises in China.

He said the Chinese government has ratified 38 overseas-invested
publication distribution enterprises to operate in China and 14 of them
are entitled to wholesale distribution rights.

"Enterprises with exclusive ownership, joint venture and share holder
enterprises are all allowed to operate in the publication and
distribution sector, " said Liu.

He also said the Chinese government has currently approved more than
2,000 printing enterprises with exclusive foreign ownership or jointly
invested by overseas and domestic capital to run businesses in China.

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Learn Mandarin online - Light Industry: Sourcing fair

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

Light Industry: Sourcing fair
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-12 10:30

More than 1,000 overseas companies from 35 countries and regions are
expected to visit the China International Apparel Sourcing Fair, China's
leading textiles and apparels sourcing event, according to fair
organizers.

The fair, to be held from September 19 to 21 at ShanghaiMart, has
attracted buyers including Li & Fung Ltd, Carrefour SA and Metro AG and
overseas retailers such as JC Penney Inc and Zara International Inc,
ShanghaiMart officials said.

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Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Learn Mandarin online - Transportation: Port sets record

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

Transportation: Port sets record
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-06 15:19

Shanghai International Port (Group) Co, operator of China's busiest
container harbour, handled a record number of cargo boxes in August
because of the nation's rising trade.

Container volume rose 21 per cent to 1.95 million 20-foot boxes last
month, the State-owned company said on its website. It handled 14 million
boxes between January and August, 19 per cent more than a year earlier.

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Learn Mandarin online

Chinese language - New Chinese words reveal annual hot topics in China

Chinadaily Homepage

2008Olympics > News

New Chinese words reveal annual hot topics in China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-08-30 19:00

HONG KONG, December 29 -- A list of popular new Chinese words published
on Thursday revealed the hottest topics, varying from public health to
international politics, that have been covered by Chinese press in 2005.

The top five new Chinese words on the list are "entering UN Security
Council," "Fuwa," "EU Constitution," "Streptococcus suis" and "Lien-Hu
Meeting," according to research results of the City University of Hong
Kong.

The five new words have been used most frequently over the year by
Chinese press in the four cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and
Taipei, showed the university's research conducted with a computer
software.

"Entering UN Security Council" refers to Japan's drive for a permanent
seat in the UN Security Council, which has drawn concerns from readers of
the four Chinese cities, said the university on its website.

"Fuwa" is the Chinese name of Beijing Olympic mascots, five dolls bearing
English names as the Friendlies. The popularity of the word has shown the
public's keen interest in the coming Olympic Games to be held in Beijing
in 2008.

The Chinese word "EU Constitution" came from the European Union's
controversial trial to become a political body from the current economic
one.

"Streptococcus suis" is the name of the pig pathogen affecting human
health in China's Sichuan Province earlier this year.

"Lien-Hu Meeting" refers to the historical meeting between Hu Jintao,
general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of
China, and the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party chief Lien Chan, who made
the first trip as a KMT chairman to the mainland since 1949 when the
mainland and Taiwan split after a civil war.

"These new words reveal once more hot topics in the individual cities and
those shared among them," said the university.

The Language Information Sciences Research Center of the university has
started to collect new Chinese words appearing on Chinese press in China
and Chinese-spoken countries such as Singapore since last year.

Chinese language

Learn mandarin - IT: Tencent's shares fall

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

IT: Tencent's shares fall
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-24 17:00

Hong Kong-listed Tencent Holdings Limited, China's biggest instant
message service provider, said yesterday its first half revenue more than
doubled year on year, led by growth in its Internet value-added services
like online games and voice chat.

But shares of Tencent fell yesterday as the company said it expects
enforcement of China Mobile's tougher measures on its service providers
will hurt its wireless value-added services, resulting in reduced growth
of subscriptions and a loss of existing customers. Its shares fell 2.31
percent yesterday to HK$16.90.

First half revenues rose by 112.9 percent from a year earlier to 1.350
billion yuan. Net profits hit 517.6 million yuan, a year-on-year increase
of 82.3 percent.

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Learn mandarin

Learn mandarin - Designer of the Chinese Seal

Chinadaily Homepage

2008Olympics > Designers

Designer of the Chinese Seal

By Li Qian (Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-08-21 20:55

The Chinese Seal of the Beijing Olympics has been drawing the world's
attention ever since its introduction to the public on Aug 3, 2003. The
designers are from the Beijing Shichuang International Layout Corporation.

Guo Chunning poses with the China Seal icon. [China Daily]
Guo Chunning, the designer of the original emblem started to work out a
design when the emblem-designing contest was launched on July 2, 2002.

Guo believes the Olympics is a festival, and tried to find some Chinese
elements to express this festivity. He focused on calligraphy in the
beginning, and personified the Zhuan-style Chinese character 'Jing' from
'Beijing'. He then chose a traditional Chinese seal as the form to
express his design.

After drawing more than 100 drafts on paper, he came out at last with a
satisfactory graph, which was chosen as a potential candidate by the
Beijing Organization Committee, and Gao was told to make some
modifications.

Shichuang put a group together to make the modifications, appointing
Zhang Wu group leader. Gao and designer Mao Cheng were members.

Originally Zhang wanted to exaggerate the original figure, while Guo
insisted on making it more elegant. They changed the original pattern in
numerous places and finally reached an agreement on the finished emblem.

Learn mandarin

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Chinese Online Class - Don't disgrace your country

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

Don't disgrace your country
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-17 09:43

Don't spit, litter or be loud.

Don't yell into the mobile phone, and wash your hands before and after
eating.

Well, generally, behave well.

These are not rules for kindergarten kids they are the basic "do's and
don'ts" China wants its citizens to abide by when they travel, at home
and abroad.

Yesterday, the Spiritual Civilization Steering Committee of the Communist
Party of China Central Committee launched an educational campaign after
gathering public inputs on how travellers should behave.

Expert groups and Party and governmental departments are compiling the
guidelines.

Civil servants and executives in State-owned enterprises are the
immediate target while the media will educate the general public.

The campaign will last till the end of 2008, when Beijing hosts the
Olympic Games.

China's tourism industry has been developing rapidly in recent years.
Last year, there were 31 million outbound travellers and 1.2 billion
domestic trips, according to the China National Tourism Administration.

The number of outbound travellers is expected to reach 100 million by
2020, but "the behaviour of some Chinese travellers is not compatible
with the nation's economic strength and its growing international
status," said the steering committee in a circular.

Many tourists clear their throats loudly and spit, take off shoes aboard
planes and trains, squat and smoke in public places, and often appear
uncouth.

In a typical example, chewing gum has to be repeatedly scraped off almost
every corner of Tian'anmen Square, one of the major tourist attractions
in Beijing.

Robert Lao, a retired senior Chinese-Canadian official, said the campaign
is timely as some travellers have marred the image of the country.

"Decent behaviour is a reflection of a country's character," said Lao,
who has organized many overseas trips for Chinese officials and now lives
in Beijing after working for the Canadian Government for more than three
decades.

"Travellers should also learn social conventions, table manners and
etiquette in different countries," said Lao.

"It's a demanding task, but it is important to win respect."

(China Daily 08/17/2006 page1)

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Chinese Online Class

Chinese Mandarin - Lodging, catering retail sales up

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

Lodging, catering retail sales up
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-08-02 11:34

Sales of China's lodging and catering sector reported a 15.3 percent year
on year increase to 492.86 billion yuan (US$61.6 billion) in the first
half of the year, according to the latest data from the Ministry of
Commerce.

The growth rate was 2 percentage points higher than the growth in China's
retail sales of consumer goods, said the ministry's market operation
department.

Statistics also showed that sales from the lodging and catering sector
accounted for 13.5 percent of the country's total retail sales of
consumer goods during the six-month period.

The department predicted that the sector's retails sales will reach
nearly 598 billion yuan in the second half of this year.

The ministry said from January to June, it approved 536 new
foreign-invested lodging and catering enterprises, with the contractual
use of foreign funds totaling 1.43 billion dollars, up 15.6 percent,
while the actual use of foreign funds amounted to 380 million dollars, a
rise of 48.6 percent.

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Chinese Mandarin

Learn Mandarin online - Economical wedding choice

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

Economical wedding choice
(Chinanews.cn)
Updated: 2006-07-21 10:43

Wedding ceremony is the happiest hour in life, but preparing for a
ceremony can be extremely expensive, especially for young brides and
bridegrooms. Now they have a new choice, to go shopping by groups.

A group wedding ceremony in China. [newsphoto]

Take wedding photography as an example, 30% off will be the best result
of negotiation of a couple, but a group of 10 pairs will surely make it
to 50% off! If they can find an online photo studio, the price might be
even lower, as online studios don't need to rent a shop.

There are two ways of group shopping. The first is the traditional way.
In this way, the brides and bridegrooms go to wedding ceremony agencies
by the groups, thus they can enjoy all the services at a reasonable
price. The second way is via the Internet. Today there are many websites
specializing in group wedding shopping, through which the couples can get
in touch with the wedding ceremony agencies all over China. The websites
also make it much easier to organize a group wedding shopping.

Experts say as the group-shopping market still needs to be regulated,
customers should choose these big agencies, and never forget to sign a
service contract with them. Remember to keep the invoices, in case
problems occur.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Learn Mandarin online

Learn Mandarin online - Highbrow magazines hit a low

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

Highbrow magazines hit a low
By Wang Shanshan (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-12 08:27

Like the last knights fighting a losing war, two Shanghai-based monthly
magazines Shu Cheng (Book Town) and Wan Xiang (Panorama Monthly) have
only recently published their first editions this year after financial
difficulties forced a six-month suspension.

When they temporarily stopped publication, the press wrote eulogies on
China's last "intellectual magazines," tailored to the reading tastes
of the cultural elite.
But their troubles are not recent. Since 2000, Book Town stopped
pubishing thrice, reportedly because of money problems. Panorama Monthly
kept running on a tight budget until it had a cash-flow crisis at the end
of last year.

Now, as the two try to sell their new editions and Book Town redesigns
its content and layout, the market seems fairly nonchalant.

"I don't think their sales can exceed their previous numbers (about
30,000 a monthl each)," said Xiong Hui, a bookshop manager.

For the time being, together with a couple of other titles published in
Beijing, China's "intellectual magazines" seem to have little chance of
overcoming financial challenges and dwindling reader interest.

Is it because the market has switched to "lowbrow" reading material, or
because the people who used to read these magazines have all but
disappeared despite growing numbers of university graduates?

The "intellectual magazines" had good readership among better-educated
urban dwellers in the 1980s and early 1990s.

But since then, other types of media have flourished.

Zhu Wei, editor-in-chief of Sanlian Lifeweek a current affairs magazine
based in Beijing since 1995 said the magazine market has been taken over
by a new breed of publications upscale current affairs magazines.

Page: 1 2 3 4

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Monday, December 24, 2007

Chinese Mandarin - 600,000 Chinese killed by overwork

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

600,000 Chinese killed by overwork
(Chinanews.cn)
Updated: 2006-06-30 09:32

With continued economic development, Chinese people's working hours have
become longer and longer, and death from overwork has also increased
sharply. It is estimated that overwork kills as many as 600,000 every
year.

Global Times reported that China has become one of the countries with the
longest working hours in the world. China's average hours at work have
surpassed that of Japan and South Korea. As overtime becomes "popular",
stories of young people dying in the office have become quite common.
Some white collars receive high pays but have to work under tremendous
pressure in the daytime and accompany clients in the evenings, which lead
to an irregular pace of life. However, facing the corporate system of
either promotion or elimination, they often work overtime "on their own
initiative".

Owing to the fierce competition in the job market, many people choose to
work overtime for fear of losing their jobs. Although the Labor Law
prescribes that working hours should be eight hours a day, overwork has
become China's job market culture, and excessive overtime is the primary
cause of death from overwork.

Many enterprises only focus on quick profits without realizing that the
work force is essential to the company's development. Overtime has become
a tally of bosses, and such a way of sacrificing the staff's health
aggravates the phenomenon of death from overwork.

Practitioners of industries with heavy mental stress are highly
vulnerable to death from overwork. Media workers, scientific researchers
and senior management staff of enterprises report the highest rate of
death from overwork. More and more Chinese people are confronted with the
threat of death from overwork.

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Chinese Mandarin

Chinese Mandarin - SK Telecom forges alliance with China Unicom

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

SK Telecom forges alliance with China Unicom
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-06-21 13:53

South Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom has secured a foothold in
China's fast-growing wireless telephone market by forging a strategic
alliance with China Unicom.

SK Telecom said it would buy convertible bonds worth about one billion
dollars from China Unicom, the country's second largest mobile phone
operator with 130 million subscribers, on July 5.

The three-year bonds will be converted into a 6.67 percent stake, it said.

SK Telecom, which controls more than half of South Korea's wireless
market, said the deal would allow it to gain access to China, the world's
largest mobile phone market.

In February, SK Telecom was allowed to launch a six million dollar
Internet service joint venture with China Unicom.

SK Telecom has expanded its business abroad due to competition which has
heated up in South Korea since January 1, when rules were changed to
allow mobile phone users to switch carriers without changing their mobile
numbers.

"The strategic alliance will help SK Telecom secure a foothold for direct
inroads into China, which is an attractive telecom market with growth in
both quantity and quality," SK Telecom CEO Kim Shin-Bae said in a
statement.

He said the deal was part of SK Telecom's plan to strenghten its
competitive edge in the global marketplace.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Chinese Mandarin

Chinesepod - Top ad firm Omnicom Group to set up joint venture in China

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Top ad firm Omnicom Group to set up joint venture in China

Updated: 2006-06-14 14:29

Omnicom Group, the world's largest advertising and communications holding
company, is teaming up with CITIC Guo'an Group, one of the top 10
advertising companies in China.
The two partners will set up a joint venture advertising agency, DDB
Guo'an Communications Beijing Co. Ltd., scheduled to open on July 3,
sources with Omnigroup said Tuesday.

The agency will be created through the merger of DDB China under the
Omnicom Group and Beijing Guo'an Advertising Corp, a subsidiary of CITIC
Guo'an. The US-based Omnicom will hold 52 percent of the new venture,
while CITIC Guo'an will own 48 percent.

John Wren, president and CEO of Omnicom, said that the partnership
reflects the approach his company has taken in every major market which
is to grow by co-operating with the best local players.

According to Wren, Omnicom's business in China currently accounts for
only a small portion of its global revenue, but the firm believes the
country is a key strategic market for its future growth.

Yan Gang, executive vice-chairman of CITIC Guo'an and chairman of Beijing
Guo'an, will be chairman of the new venture. He said the company is ready
to share its resources such as a cable TV network and sports advertising
channels with Omnicom in further co-operation.

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Sunday, December 23, 2007

Chinese Mandarin - Overeas investors bullish on property

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

Overeas investors bullish on property
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-06-07 15:12

Citigroup Inc's property unit plans to increase its investment in Chinese
mainland's real estate market tenfold to US$800 million in the next three
years, a senior company official said yesterday in Shanghai.

"We will buy all types of properties including office, retail and
industrial properties in China." Stephen Coyle, chief investment
strategist at Citigroup Property Investors, said in a real estate finance
conference.

Citigroup last year spent more than US$50 million for a 75 percent stake
in Novel Plaza, an office tower located in Shanghai's downtown area, as
its first move in the mainland's estate market.

The company joins rivals such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group
Inc in seeking investment opportunities in the nation's booming property
industry, where demand for offices, shops and homes has been fueled by
strong economic growth.

Some industry observers have attributed the housing price surge in big
cities such as Shanghai and Beijing partly to the increasing inflow of
overseas capital to the mainland's real estate industry.

Domestic newspapers were peppered with stories recently speculating that
authorities will enact new policies targeting overseas capital.

"We expect tighter approval procedures for overseas investments in
properties and restrictions on overseas financing for local investment
vehicles used to acquire existing properties." Ma Jun, an economist with
Deutsche Bank AG, said in a research note after China's government
announced a string of regulatory measures on May 29.

The measures unveiled last week, including higher taxes down payments on
housing transactions, didn't address the overseas investment sector.

Stanley Chan, managing director of Stanley & Partners Investment
Management Co Ltd, however, said overseas investment in the mainland
accounted only for 1.15 percent of the 1.8 trillion yuan (US$225 billion)
in property sales last year and would hardly affect housing prices.

Gu Yunchang, vice president of China Real Estate Housing Research
Association, said due to the absence of financing tools such as real
estate investment trusts, individual domestic investors lose the
opportunity to put their money in top-quality properties on the mainland.
Overseas institutional investors now acquire these income-producing
properties first and than inject them into REITs to be sold to overseas
capital markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

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Chinese Mandarin

Chinese School - Luxury cars are big boys' toys

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

Luxury cars are big boys' toys
By Mark South (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-06-02 09:31

It costs 3.5 million yuan (US$437,000), goes from nought to 100
kilometres-an-hour in less than five seconds and is one of the most
desirable cars on the planet.

But in a city infamous for its gridlocked streets, just what is the point
of having a Lamborghini?

In the Chinese mainland's richest and arguably most fashion-conscious
city, the appetite for supercars is growing. The problem is, with a
downtown street layout approaching its 100th birthday, Shanghai grants
owners little opportunity to put such vehicles through their paces.

"I mostly just use it to cruise around at the weekend or at night when
the roads are a bit more empty," said Fang, talking about his
two-month-old Lamborghini Gallardo. "If I take it out, I generally take
it straight back home because I don't want to leave it anywhere if I do,
when I come back it's always surrounded by people and has finger marks
all over the windows."

A high flyer in Shanghai's real-estate market, Fang who doesn't want to
disclose his first name owns another six cars including a convertible
Porsche and a Mercedes SL.
"I used to have a Ferrari, too, but someone crashed into me at traffic
lights and after that I sold it," he added.

Despite its sporting pedigree, Fang admitted his Italian supercar, which,
fortunately for him, has adjustable suspension so he can get it into his
garage without scraping the nose, has seen little high-speed action.

Page: 1 2 3

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Chinese School

Learn Mandarin online - Chinese president calls for timely coordination with Russia

? ?

CHINA / index

Chinese president calls for timely coordination with Russia

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-17 04:16

BISHKEK -- Chinese President Hu Jintao called here Thursday for timely
coordination between China and Russia of stance on bilateral ties and
major regional and global issues.

Hu made the remarks while meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin
on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization.

Both leaders commended the Russia Year in China and China Year in Russia,
a series of theme activities held alternatively in China and Russia in
last two years, proposing to make it a regular event.

"The work of the China-Russia commercial chamber of machinery and
electric products should begin at an early date," Hu said.

Echoing Hu, Putin also called for giving full play to the role of the
commercial chamber.

To further expand bilateral trade, Hu urged the two sides to speed up
negotiations on the construction of the pipeline to transport crude oil
and natural gas and expand mutual investment.

The two leaders proposed to strengthen cooperation between localities of
the two countries, with Hu calling for starting the implementation of
local cooperation strategy as early as possible and formulating a medium-
and long-term program for it.

Putin expressed willingness to strengthen cooperation between the Far
East region of Russia and China's Northeastern region.

Hu called for strengthening cooperation on protecting and using
trans-border water resources and hoped the two sides to step up talks for
inking an agreement in this regard.

Putin said Russia wishes to to enhance cooperation with China in energy,
electricity, civil aviation, telecommunication and environmental
protection.

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Chinese language - The Baidu Story

BIZCHINA / Li Yanhong

The Baidu Story
(www.baidu.com)
Updated: 2006-05-23 13:43

Many people have asked about the meaning of our name. "Baidu" was
inspired by a poem written more than 800 years ago during the Song
Dynasty. The poem compares the search for a retreating beauty amid
chaotic glamour with the search for one's dream while confronted by
life's many obstacles. ".hundreds and thousands of times, for her I
searched in chaos, suddenly, I turned by chance, to where the lights were
waning, and there she stood." Baidu, whose literal meaning is hundreds of
times, represents persistent search for the ideal.

Baidu chose a poetic Chinese name because it wants the world to remember
its heritage. As a native speaker of the Chinese language and a talented
engineer, Baidu focuses on what it knows best - Chinese language search.
Applying avant-garde technology to the world's most ancient and complex
language is as challenging as it is exciting. At least people here at
Baidu think so. As having diligently disclosed in the Prospectus of our
recent Initial Public Offering, we believe there are at least 38 ways of
saying "I" in Chinese. It is important that we master all the ways of
addressing oneself in Chinese because our users depend on us to address
every one of their daily queries. And trust us, pin pointing queries in
the Chinese language is an art rather than a science.

In addition to serving individual users, Baidu also serves as a media
platform for online marketing customers. It not only provides its
customers easy access to one of the largest online audiences in China but
also targeted groups with defined interests as indicated by queries.
Unlike traditional online advertising services which charge by flat fee,
our marketing products and services are performance based. Its Pay for
Performance model has taken the market by storm because it is cost
effective and measurable.

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Chinese language

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Learn mandarin - Xie Qihua: Made of Steel

BIZCHINA / Biz Who

Xie Qihua: Made of Steel
(Beijing Review)
Updated: 2006-01-07 09:56

Xie Qihua, holding the reins to China's biggest steel manufacturer, is
optimistic about the metal's future.

Xie Qihua has one strict rule: No interviews about her personal life.
Apart from this she is happy to answer any questions about Baosteel Group
and the steel industry as a whole.

The woman who manages the world's No.6 steel group with a 20-million-ton
yearly output has a gentle simplicity about her. But don't let external
appearances fool you; she's not known as the "iron lady" for nothing.
Baoshan Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. under Baosteel Group is a listed company
credited as being a stabilizing factor in the Chinese capital market,
something which is widely seen as being due to Xie's no nonsense attitude
and inspirational influence.

Apart from Board Chairwoman of Shanghai Baosteel Group Corporation, Xie
boasts a string of other titles that include Alternate Member of the 16th
Central Committee of Communist Party of China, President of China Iron
and Steel Association, "Top 100 Powerful Women in the World" and "Most
Powerful Business Leader of China." It's clear that this dynamic woman's
efforts in the business world are not going unnoticed.

On October 31, Forbes magazine published the list of "Top 50
Businesswomen in the World 2005." Xie Qihua and Ma Xuezheng, Chief
Financial Officer of Lenovo Group Limited, broke into the top 10
rankings. As if to confirm her power status, Xie was simultaneously
listed by the Wall Street Journal in their "Top 50 Businesswomen to
Watch" rankings, an honor of significant prestige.

Page: 1 2 3 4

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Learn Chinese online - S. China region to host commodity fair in Philippines,Singapore

BIZCHINA / Investment

S. China region to host commodity fair in Philippines,Singapore
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-18 13:39

More than 100 companies from South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous
Region will display and sell their commodities at a trade fair scheduled
from March 30 to April 9 in the Philippines and Singapore.

According to Lu Bing, chairman of the autonomous regional government,over
2,000 varieties of commodities in six categories will be on sale at the
fair, in Manila from March 30 to April 2, and in Singapore from April 7
to 9.

The event will focus on Guangxi's traditional industrial products, such
as ceramics, canned-food, agricultural machinery, building materials,
automobile, pulping and chemical products.

Meanwhile, products from hi-tech industries, including medicine
technology and electronic information will be on show at the fair.

Among the 100 exhibitors, there are 20 brand-known enterprises in the
sectors of machinery and automobiles.

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Learn Chinese online

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