7 « Week In China

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WiC 7 (Mar 20, 2009)

Coke deal gone wrong

China Consumer, Talking Point Why the Ministry of Commerce has blocked Coca-Cola’s bid for Huiyuan

Zhu Xinli, founder of China Huiyuan Juice Group, has argued that there is little place for sentiment when it comes to selling companies. In his view, ...

At the vanguard

Auto Industry Rural drivers are next in line for auto subsidies

White Van Man is a British stereotype of recent times. A bad-tempered driver of small, colourless commercial vehicles, he still enjoys affectionate ...

A highly refined dream

Energy & Resources Liu Deshu finally gets his refinery. But the stakes are high

Robert the Bruce was on the point of giving up, when he famously saw a spider spinning a web. No matter how many times the web unravelled, the spider ...

Show me the money

Banking & Finance, China Ink Premier Wen Jiabao is “a little bit worried” about China’s dollar-denominated…

Which assets is he most worried about? The Chinese press focus mostly on US Treasuries, with the state media reporting that its ...

The Xiaolan revolution

Banking & Finance A communist party secretary and his banking experiment in Guangdong

In this era of internet banking and high tech finance, it may seem odd that China is copying a banking model established in the UK in 1810. But ...

Red Star Zhang Yimou

Born in Xian, Shaanxi, the internationally acclaimed director Zhang Yimou is one of the most popular and prolific Chinese directors in the Fifth ...

History Lessons Welcome all talents

Before Qin Shi Huangdi (China’s first emperor) unified the kingdom, the Warring States Period was marked by constant warfare between seven states. ...

Society Chickens live high life in luxury villas

In a tale that throws dramatic light on the state of China’s luxury real estate market, four villas in Guangzhou have been turned into a ...

University challenge

Society Where have all the rural graduates gone?

According to Confucius: “If a son is uneducated, the father is to blame.” But what responsibility does the grandfather hold? A remark by Wen ...

Entertainment New movie tracks demise of the ‘iron rice bowl’

A Westerner has to live 400 years to experience the same drastic changes that a Chinese “witnesses in 40.” So wrote the famed Chinese novelist Yu ...

Monkey business

Society Who needs Disneyland when you have Monkey Kingdom?

I did not issue a fatwa to kill Mickey Mouse,” complained Sheikh Muhammad Al-Munajid a couple of years ago. The Syrian cleric was anxious to ...

Mind your language

Society Mandarin starts to go global

Have you ever considered how confusing it is to students of the English language students that the place you play golf – a golf club – is the same ...

Shanghai surprise

Entertainment A stunning new opera talent emerges from China

Foreign travellers to Shanghai often end up leaving with more than they arrive with. But even by Shanghai’s dizzying standards, leaving the city with ...

Titanic choices

Environment Growth versus the environment

It would be a rare person to stand on the deck of the Titanic and worry about the rainforests. When the ship’s going down, the concern is with more ...

Booze up (or down)?

China Consumer A bizarre new strategy to fight the downturn

For anyone who has ever done business in Sichuan, the name Wuliangye will be all too familiar. It is one of the province’s most famous brands, and it ...

China Consumer Times are tough, but can China’s new rich do without their…

Thirty years ago, Deng Xiaoping famously said, “to get rich is glorious.” The evidence suggest that China’s newly monied elite continues to ...

Planet China There are a lot of people who lie about their age;…

There are a lot of people who lie about their age; particularly as the years creep by. Mostly it is harmless vanity. But the Guangzhou Daily reports on ...

Cartoons The love boat

Rapprochement was in the air at Keelung harbour near Taipei this week. Sixteen hundred Chinese tourists disembarked from the Legend of the Seas, the ...

Kicking the habit

And Finally, Tobacco China’s government worries about the nation’s addiction to nicotine

China can be described as a smokestack in more ways than one. Often used to describe its high pollution levels, the term could just as easily refer to ...