News on the Chinese Economy

Price caps on the menu?
Local media says ‘shadow’ price controls may already be underway in cities
Nov 26, 2010 (WiC 87)

In his new memoir Decision Points, George W Bush recalls asking Hu Jintao what kept him awake at night. The Chinese president replied: “Finding 25 million new jobs per year”. That answer reveals the economic tightrope China’s ...

Sailing into the sunset?
What does a maritime marriage say about Sasac’s M&A challenges?
Nov 26, 2010 (WiC 87)

"Without matchmakers on earth there will be no marriage, just as without clouds in the sky there will be no rain”. Such is Chinese legend on how marital union is sometimes best encouraged by a third party. And so it seems in industrial ...

Pipe dreams
Developing Xinjiang has become a top priority. Here’s why
Nov 19, 2010 (WiC 86)

"While we hold on to India, we are a first-rate power,” Lord Curzon once told his colonial colleagues. “If we lose India, we will decline to a third-rate power.” Were the former Indian viceroy alive today he might offer China similar ...

Give us a break
Foreigners lose tax incentives
Nov 5, 2010 (WiC 84)

It’s official: after three decades of chasing foreign capital, China no longer feels it necessary to offer fiscal incentives to overseas firms. Starting next month, foreign businesses will lose the last vestiges of the tax breaks they once ...

Cotton candy
Speculators blamed for recent run-up in price of textile commodity
Nov 5, 2010 (WiC 84)

Is a consortium of profiteers on China’s eastern seaboard secretly pushing up the price of an essential commodity? Cotton prices have more than doubled over the last year, hitting levels that haven’t been seen in more than a decade. ...

Poor trade winds
US and China in fresh dispute: this time over the green energy industry
Oct 29, 2010 (WiC 83)

When Samuel Slater smuggled British textile technology to the US in 1789, he knew he’d be tried for treason if caught. The secrets of Britain’s cotton mills made it the dominant export power of the time, and the ban on leaking them was ...

Quality not quantity
Why Beijing’s new ‘Five Year Plan’ puts less emphasis on GDP growth rates
Oct 22, 2010 (WiC 82)

Invitation only. That was the welcome for walk-in customers at the Jingxi Hotel in Beijing earlier this week, where a small group of China’s top bosses was gathered for a key meeting. The Jingxi is owned by the People’s Liberation Army (so ...

Power grab
Why China’s officials are shutting down businesses
Oct 8, 2010 (WiC 81)

The battle for the moral high ground can be a fractious one. Climate negotiations in Copenhagen late last year ended in stalemate. US and European negotiators want the Chinese ­– now the largest emitter – to do more to curtail carbon ...

“Let’s call it a draw”
A jailed tycoon nearly regains control of Gome, the firm he founded
Oct 1, 2010 (WiC 80)

To fans of the Sopranos it has an air of familiarity. They will no doubt recall the episodes of the hit TV show when mob boss Johnny ‘Sack’ Sacramoni ran the Lupertazzi’s mafia business from behind bars – giving instructions to his ...

Work experience
Why Henan students are on the factory floor
Oct 1, 2010 (WiC 80)

Li Wenqiang was planning to spend his National Day holiday (which starts today) catching up on schoolwork. But in early September, the 17 year-old and thousands of other Henan-based vocational students were told that after the week-long holiday, ...

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