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Issue 135
WiC 135 (Jan 20, 2012)
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Not so cross Straits
Cross Strait, Talking Point Ordinary Chinese fascinated by Taiwan election. Beijing pleased Ma won

In December, Guo Zhiyong, a 35 year-old man from Xinjiang, was so excited by Taiwan’s upcoming presidential election that he decided to travel to the ...

Playing the percentages
Auto Industry GM battles for number one spot. But it wants its 1%…

"A new car or van sold every 12 seconds,” crowed the press release announcing the results of General Motors’ joint ventures in China last year, ...

A flaming disaster?
Society Will the Year of the Dragon breathe fire or profits?

The Year of the Dragon, which begins on Monday, is traditionally regarded as a propitious year to have a baby. That’s because many Chinese believe ...

Petrol politics
Energy & Resources Chinese firm hit with US sanctions over Iran

Last week WiC wrote about Washington’s hopes of persuading the Chinese to buy less Iranian oil. There has been no public indication that Treasury ...

Monopolist, moi?
Economy Debates rage about domination of state firms

The Chinese claim to have invented most things and ‘monopoly’ is one of them. Not the board game, which was the brain child of American citizen ...

Hold the front page
Media Fancy buying shares in the Party’s media arm?

Although it is unquestionably a challenge to find something fresh to say about China’s annual parliamentary meeting – the National People’s ...

Not fit for purpose
Rail & Infrastructure New train internet booking system gets flak

A project “fitting for the 21st century” is how plans for HS2, a new high-speed railway for the UK, were announced this month. But although HS2 ...

Can foreign firms milk it?
China Consumer China’s dairy scandals should ensure boom times for Nestlé and Danone

Scandal seems to flow as easily through China’s much-maligned dairy industry as its core product, the milk. Two weeks ago we reported that toxins ...

Capital converter
Banking & Finance More Chinese companies are using convertible bonds to raise funds

Insurance companies need cash. As we reported a few months ago (see issue WiC121), rapid industry growth means that insurers must raise capital to meet ...

Shanghai-ed
China Consumer Land costs explain factory closures in Shanghai

It is no coincidence that Nestlé and Danone have both singled out their Shanghai operations for their recent factory cutbacks. And as it turns out, ...

In the blood
Healthcare China’s hepatitis B sufferers face wide-ranging discrimination

When describing her fight against prejudice, Xiao Jing uses a gardening metaphor. Her struggle is “to help people rid themselves of the weeds of ...

Flowers blossom for Zhang
Entertainment It’s the most expensive Chinese movie ever – and half of…

Christian Bale first came to prominence as a teenager, starring in a film about Japan’s invasion of China. In Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the ...

The world of weibo
Red Star Liu Dong

Liu Dong is a 23 year-old employee at internet search engine firm Baidu, who works in its human resources department. How did her photo go ...

Cop out
Society For those that think China a police state, read on...

It could have been a scene from the Keystone Kops, those incompetent policemen of the silent movie era. Except that it ended up rather more seriously, ...

Hogwash
Planet China What do Sun Yat-sen University and Hogwarts have in common? More…

What do Sun Yat-sen University and Hogwarts have in common? More than you think. Based in Guangzhou and regarded as one of China’s top universities, ...

Into the red
Cartoons Into the red

The first fine wine of the year has been sold at three auctions in Hong Kong – events watched closely by investors for an idea of prices in ...

It’s no yolk
And Finally Shandong man in latest report of hard-boiled horror

Like the proverbial bad smell, stories on China’s mysterious bad eggs just won’t seem to go away. The latest reports come from the Qilu Evening ...

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