30 April 2015

Gentlefolk

We are off to Xian later today, for the May Day long-weekend.  I wanted to get this post done before our departure. 

As you know, I compile a monthly summary of news items, with a focus on news in/on China.  

There is so much competition within Western media outlets that usually only the unusual, sensational, or bizarre in any country gets a mention. Hopefully this summary will give you a better idea of some of the things happening in China.

The events/items included are not necessarily the headlines, but rather things which caught my eye.

These news items were sourced from The China Daily newspaper 1 - 27 April 2015 (finishing before the end of the month this time, as we are leaving from Xian tomorrow).  This time I’ve added some late items from ABC News.

Actual events usually occurred a day or two before they appeared in the China Daily newspaper. 

Currency shown is US$, and the exchange rate used this month is US$1 = Yuan 6.2.

Remember that the China Daily is a government newspaper whose main purpose in life is to make the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese Government look good.  But if you strip away the propaganda, there is still quite a lot of interesting stuff in the paper.  .

Events which made the news in China in April 2015

(a) Domestic (in China) events and news

1 Apr	China’s milk consumption tripled in the 10 years to 2014, to 14.3 liters per person. The two big dairy groups are Yili and Mengniu (25% & 22% market share respectively). In 2014 Yili spent $480 m on investments in NZ, Italy and USA.  It has established an R & D Center at Wageningen University in Holland.
	5,000 illegal foreign workers detained in the Pearl River Delta.
	The Ministry of Education announced greater emphasis on teaching traditional Chinese culture.
2 April	An estimated 7.5 million college students will graduate in mid-2015.  53% of them hope to have a starting salary of at least $1,000 per month; 45% expect less.
	Liu Tie Nan, former head of the National Energy Administration, is alleged to have received about $380 million in bribes. Former Security chief, Zhou Yong Kang, was indicted for corruption.
	In the last 5 months Shanghai Composite Index has risen 60% to 3,961; ‘penny stocks’ have led the way; stockbrokers opened 4 million new trading accounts in March; more than $200 billion is invested in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets every day; most new traders did not finish High School.   The Hong Kong stock market is also attracting attention from Mainland investors.
4 April	At the end of 2014 China had 16,000 km of high-speed rail. The Beijing to Shanghai service carried more than 100 million passengers in 2014, making a profit for the first time. In the first 2 months of 2015 China invested $29 billion in infrastructure (railways $8b; roads $19b; waterways $2b) an increase of 17% over the same period in 2014.
6 Apr	Estimated that 17,000 Chinese now have assets of more than $80 million each.
	The Ministry of Transport announced that there were 832 million air passenger arrivals & departures in 2014: 761m domestic; 71m international. Three airports, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, accounted for 28% of the total. Only about 30% of flights leave on time; to improve punctuality, the Air Force has agreed that 10 new air corridors will be established.
8 Apr	Explosion at a paraxylene (PX) plant in Fujian; 19 injured; 2nd explosion in two years. Dangerous chemical. 40,000 nearby residents will be relocated 15 km away.
	Champion hurdler Liu Xiang, first Chinese Olympic gold medal winner in track & field (110m hurdles Athens 2004), announced his retirement.  According to Forbes his earnings totalled about $80m, mainly from sponsorships.
	In 2014, 79% of iron ore was imported.  To assist local miners hurt by falling prices, the govt announced that the resource tax will be reduced by 60%.
9 Apr	Popular CCTV host Bi Fu Jian, 56, was sacked after comments he made criticising Mao Ze Dong at a private dinner became public.
	The municipal govt of Beijing announced that from 1 January 2016, vehicles which do not meet “Emission Standard 2” will not be permitted within the 6th ring road.
	The city of Fushun, Liaoning Province, has launched “Lei Feng TV Channel” which focuses on good people doing good deeds.
	China has 22 operating nuclear plants with a capacity of 17 Gigawatts; another 26 are under construction (another 30 GW).
	Beijing subway now has 18 lines, totalling 527 km; planned to increase to 1,000 km by 2020. Construction costs have doubled in the last 6 years, to $160m per km.
	The retail price of 90 octane petrol will increase to $0.94 per liter.
	At the end of 2013 there were an estimated 245 million migrant workers (121 m in 2000). Main source provinces: Anhui; Sichuan; Hunan; Henan; Guizhou; Jiangxi.  Main destination provinces: Guangdong; Zhejiang; Shanghai.
15 Apr	The Ministry of Agriculture announced that it will re-evaluate “super hybrid rice” following poor harvests in Anhui.
	Q1 2015 China’s GDP grew 7%, the slowest rate since 2008. Q1 foreign direct investment (FDI) into China totalled $35 billion. Sales of Passenger Motor Vehicles (PMV) in China in Q1 totalled 6.6 m units worth $134 billion.
	The Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) announced purchase of Russia’s advanced S400 surface-to-air missile system.
	“Fast & Furious 7” took $68 million in its first day in China, setting a new box office record.
17 Apr	In 2014 the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) received 928,000 invention patent applications; it granted 233,000 invention patents in 2014.
	Following arguments about “parallel trading”, residents of Shenzhen restricted to one visit to Hong Kong per week.
18 Apr	Govt announced a 12% cut in budget for spending on overseas travel, official vehicles and entertainment, to $1.03 billion in 2015.
	Pudong District of Shanghai celebrated its 25th anniversary.  A remarkable transformation.  Of the Fortune 500 companies, 308 now have offices in Pudong.
	Apple announced the opening of its 19th Mainland store, in Hangzhou.  Supplies of the premium brand of Apple Watch, at more than $1,000 each, sold out in the first day. Apple said that it will partner Sun Power Inc and Shengtian New Energy to build two 20 MW solar farms in Sichuan Province.
20 Apr	The Peoples Bank of China, the central bank, lowered the reserve ratio for the second time in two months; will release an estimated $197 billion to support slowing economic growth.
21 Apr	President Xi Jin Ping made an official visit to Pakistan.  He witnessed the signing of 51 agreements and MOUs totalling $46 billion.
	American basketballer Stephon Marbury has helped the Beijing team win 3 CBA championships.  He has applied for a Chinese “green card” (permanent residence).
24 Apr	The Best Movie award at the Beijing International Film Festival went to “The beginning of time” (Mexico).  Over 100,000 tickets were sold to 930 films during the Festival.
	Revenue of the two government lotteries, the Sports Lottery and the Welfare Lottery, totalled $613 billion in 2014.
	Mercedes Benz was fined $57 million for ‘price fixing’; it forced dealers to have same prices for new cars and parts; and prices of spare parts were hugely inflated.  MB sold 281,588 cars in China in 2014.
	Baoding in Hebei Province was named China’s most polluted city for the 5th consecutive month.

(b) International events

1 Apr	Australia beat New Zealand to win its 5th Cricket World Cup (ODI). A record 93,013 spectators at MCG. Captain Michael Clark retired from one-day cricket.
	121,000 visited the British Museum’s exhibition “50 Years that changed China, 1400 – 1450”.
	ChemChina announced that it will buy 65% of Pirelli (Italy) for $8 billion.
	Arrival of Solar Impuse 2, in Chongqing, piloted by Swiss pair Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg.  The aircraft is powered by 17,248 solar cells. Their journey started in Dubai on 9 March, with the aim of circumnavigating the world (35,000 km). The flight from Mandalay to Chongqing, a distance of 1,459 km, took 20 hours. Their next leg is a relatively short hop to Nanjing, and then on to Hawaii.
	For the first time Tiger Woods, 39, was ranked outside the top 100 golfers (104th).  In his career he won 79 PGA titles and was #1 for 683 weeks.
2 Apr	In January 2015 the US unemployment rate fell to 5.5% (6.7% in Jan 2014); the mortgage interest rate was 3.7% (4.4% a year earlier); house prices were up 4.6% on 12 months ago, although some cities (such as Denver, Dallas, Miami) recorded increases of over 8%.
4 Apr	Global leaders optimistic about progress made in nuclear talks with Iran, but Israel expressed its displeasure.
	In March 2015 Port Hedland in Western Australia had a through-put of 36.6 million tonnes of iron ore, of which 31.2 mt went to China.
7 Apr	Ronaldo scored 5 goals when Real Madrid beat Granada 9 – 1.  He has now scored 36 goals this La Liga season, compared to Messi with 32.
	Of the 50 most congested cities in the world, 15 are in China, including: Chongqing; Tianjin; Beijing; Guangzhou; Chengdu; Shanghai; Shenzhen; Fuzhou
9 Apr	Shell announced a $70 billion take-over of gas specialist BG Group, increasing Shell’s reserves by 28%.
	NCAA College Basketball: Duke beat Wisconsin 68 – 63 (Mens); while the Connecticut Huskies beat the Notra Dame Fighting Irish 63 – 53 (Women).
10 Apr	White policeman Thomas Slager videoed shooting black Walter Lamar Scott in the back in Charleston, South Carolina.
11 Apr	Researchers who tracked 3,500 babies for 30 years found that babies who were breastfed for 12 months had an average IQ four points higher than babies who were breastfed for shorter periods; they also had higher average earnings.
13 Apr	President Barack Obama and President Raul Castro shook hands.
	Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) won the F1 Shanghai Grand Prix; his team-mate Nico Rosberg was second.
15 Apr	57 countries have indicated that they wish to be ‘founder members’ of the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank which will be headquartered in Beijing.
	Novak Djokovic (Serbia) got “Sportsman of the Year” and Genzebe Dibada (Ethiopia) “Sportswoman of the Year” at the annual Laureus Sports Awards. Retired tennis champ Li Na was recognised for “Exceptional Achievement”.
18 Apr	300 American troops arrived in Ukraine to provide training for the Ukraine military.
	NBA playoffs start this weekend.  The Warriors had the best overall record (67-15) in the regular season.
20 Apr	Messi scored his 400th goal for Barcelona, in 471 games.
21 Apr	Following sinking of ship with possibly 900 deaths, emergency meeting called in Europe to discuss flood of migrants from Libya.
22 Apr	Chinese conglomerate Fosun has taken a 20% stake in Cirque du Soleil.
	Egyptian court sentenced ex-President Morsi to 20 years in prison for killing of protesters in 2012.
23 Apr	President Xi Jin Ping attended the 60th anniversary celebrations of the 1955 Asia – Africa Conference in Bandung, Indonesia.
	Interpol issued warrants for the arrest of 100 corrupt officials and businesspeople who have fled to other countries.
	In 2014, 586,000 Chinese visited Bali (up 51% on 2013); more expected this year.
	A maglev train in Japan was clocked at 603 km per hour.
	Tesco, UK’s largest supermarket chain, reported a loss of $8.6 billion.
27 Apr	Strong earthquake hit Nepal (and parts of Tibet).  Much damage and many dead & injured. China sent emergency team and supplies.
29 Apr ABC News	Convicted drug smugglers Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed in Indonesia. Riots in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray in police custody. Dortmund beat Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of the German Cup.  It was 1:1 after extra time, so they went to penalties.  Incredibly, of the first 4 Bayern players three missed (Lam, Alonso, Neuer) and Aussie goalie Mitch Langerak blocked Gotze’s attempt.

next week I hope to do a post on our visit to Xian, internet willing!

Best wishes, keep safe and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah

English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao

www.upc.edu.cn

Thursday, 30 April 2015