27 Archives | Week In China

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Back Issue

WiC 27 (Aug 21, 2009)

Letting off steam

Energy & Resources, Talking Point A new study on China’s reliance on coal-fired power hits the…

As Britain’s more environmentally conscious citizens were hauling their newspapers and empty bottles down to the recycling bins earlier this month, ...

Dotcom that pays dividends

Internet & Tech Alibaba offers its shareholders a nice surprise: some cash back

Those that remember the heady days of dotcom investing, will also remember “cash burn” – a term invented to assuage befuddled shareholders and ...

A negotiated retreat

China Ink, Energy & Resources The China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) has struck a deal…

A success for the Chinese negotiators? The agreed price is 3% below that set in earlier negotiations between Asian steelmakers and ...

Ignoring the instructions

China Consumer Home improvement giants ponder next move

The experience of assembling the average piece of flat pack furniture from your local home improvement chain usually promises to be a lengthy and ...

A not-so-hot August

Banking & Finance Stocks in Shanghai plunge almost 20%. Time to get bearish…

While you were on holiday... the bull market in China may have ended. That was the talk on Wednesday, with the Shanghai A-share market closing at ...

Sport Volleyball hero returns from the US to coach in Guangzhou

In 1981, the world watched Lady Diana Spencer marry Prince Charles. Drawing less international attention, but a massive Chinese audience, was another ...

History Lessons Caught out by envy, not the enemy

The Northern Song Dynasty under Emperor Taizung of Song (939-997), alternated between warfare and diplomacy in its dealings with the ethnic Khitans of ...

Society China’s divorce rate rockets

A 29 year-old woman in Chong-qing recently posted a personal ad for marriage that required candidates to complete a written test. Claiming that she ...

Five years in the making

Entertainment China’s latest attempt to produce an international blockbuster movie

Another week, another historical movie. Regular readers of WiC will have noted the striking number of films (as well as television series) that are set ...

A city of bad elements

Environment How mercury has poisoned Wanshan

In Wanshan they have a saying: Don’t drink the water, and don’t eat the vegetables. And with good reason. Until recently, Wanshan was the centre ...

Who’s Hu Leading Himin into hot water

The 50 year-old from Shandong is another business leader lucky to be of university age just as the Cultural Revolution ended. He later became an oil ...

Economy Free trade gets regional boost

"It is difficult to achieve the status of a global power without first becoming the dominant power in one’s own region,” writes Martin Jacques in ...

Forget Uncle Sam

Economy China wants its scientists to come home

Publish a book with a patriotic angle, and then wait for the press to bite. As a promotional tactic, it seems to work well enough for mainland ...

Planet China Liu Yang is on a mission, and it is not one…

Liu Yang is on a mission, and it is not one his wife is very happy about. The 35 year-old has sunk his life savings into a cheese shop in Beijing. Le ...

Changes ahead in the Cathay cockpit?

Cartoons Changes ahead in the Cathay cockpit?

Newspaper headlines cried ‘Red skies ahead’ as Air China increased its stake in Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific to 29.99% this week. The deal saw ...

Upwardly immobile

And Finally Why China’s wealthiest villagers cannot afford to leave home

Locals describe the village of Huaxi as China’s socialist Disneyland. The per capita income is seven times the national average. And its 60,000 ...