News on the Chinese Economy

Big is beautiful
Lipton's tea and why the government wants to consolidate industries fast
Nov 20, 2009 (WiC 39)

If you are trying to understand the direction of Chinese industrial policy, there are clues in the success of a long-departed Glaswegian tea merchant. Sir Thomas Lipton first blended his Yellow Label tea in 1890. Today Lipton enjoys leading ...

From rich to poor in 3 hours
If you’re looking for a shocking contrast, drive to Hebei
Nov 6, 2009 (WiC 37)

China is a country of contrasts. And one particular measure doing the rounds at the moment is how long it takes to drive from the 21st century skyscrapers of Beijing to some of the country’s poorest rural hovels. The answer is about three ...

Spend more, make more
Is China coming round to the need to save less money?
Oct 30, 2009 (WiC 36)

Amid the welter of numbers to emerge from China in recent days, two are particularly striking. Between September 26 and October 8 (the holiday period known as Golden Week) consumers bought 26 million televisions, a surge of 120% on the same ...

V for victory, the R is over
With export factories short of people, can there still be a recession?
Oct 9, 2009 (WiC 34)

Stories of factories struggling to find the workers to fill their new export orders sounds like good news for the rest of us. At least, that is what devotees of the ‘V’-shaped recovery seem to think. If the bosses are complaining that ...

Week spending
What happens when 1.3 billion people get the week off? They travel and shop
Oct 2, 2009 (WiC 33)

The French commitment to liberte, egalite and fraternite is a famous one. Some now claim that “holiday” would make for a topical addition to the nation’s republican birthright. Certainly, a mandatory minimum of 35 days ...

Genghis Khan’s billionaires
You might be surprised to discover where China second richest city is…
Sep 25, 2009 (WiC 32)

Legend has it that Genghis Khan stopped at Erdos to admire the area’s lush grasslands and herds of deer. He was so captivated by the place he decided to build his mausoleum there. Eight centuries on and the picturesque landscape is now being ...

A Legend is reborn
Against the grain: Lenovo’s parent slips out of state hands, not into them
Sep 18, 2009 (WiC 31)

John Trumbull is not as famous an artist as Rembrandt or Cezanne, but one of his paintings is probably much more familiar to many of us. It appeared on the old US two dollar banknote and depicts the signing of the Declaration of ...

Tyres now, chickens next?
Last week the Obama administration raised import duties to 35% on Chinese tyres. China is threatening to retaliate against American…
Sep 18, 2009 (WiC 31)

Why target tyres? The Chinese media puts together a pretty convincing rebuttal of Washington’s case. At least 10,000 US jobs will be lost through the ban, says Xinhua, which is more than the 5,000 that Obama hopes to ...

The empire strikes back
Why China’s private sector businesspeople are becoming worried
Sep 11, 2009 (WiC 30)

Centuries before the city of Wenzhou became famous for its commercial prowess, there was another city in China associated with business success. During the 15th century, Jingdezhen became the centre of the country’s porcelain ...

Case for diminished capacity
Chinese leadership worries about over-investment
Sep 4, 2009 (WiC 29)

"We cannot be blindly optimistic,” Premier Wen Jiabao was warning last week. In which case he might want to get on the phone to the People’s Daily, in light of a euphoric piece penned recently by the newspaper. In the editorial at the ...

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