News » Society » In pictures: Beijing's deadly deluge

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• In pictures: Beijing's deadly deluge
• Beijing hit by deadly rain deluge
• Chariots of Fire's Liddell is Chinese 'hero'
• Beijing battered by rainstorms
• Adidas denies closure of factory linked to pay rise
• Made in China putting in an Olympian effort
• 1 killed in Jiangsu quake
• Adidas denies closure of factory linked to pay rise
• Made in China putting in an Olympian effort
• 1 killed in Jiangsu quake
• China appeals against WTO steel ruling
• China’s Baotou plans to start rare earths trading exchange
• China Foreign Deals Must Obey Market Principles, Regulator Says
• China Holds Frenchman Linked to Scandal
• Have You Heard…
• 3 students selected to attend 2012 APEC summit
• Downpour hits Beijing at noon
• Over 50 aftershocks after Jiangsu quake
• Agricultural authorities have culled about 95,000 chickens following an outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus in northwest China.
• Editors get walking papers

In pictures: Beijing's deadly deluge Posted: 21 Jul 2012 08:26 PM PDT Beijing suffers worst rain deluge in 60 years

Beijing hit by deadly rain deluge Posted: 21 Jul 2012 09:15 PM PDT The Chinese capital's heaviest rainfall in 60 years leaves 10 dead and strands thousands at the main airport.

Chariots of Fire's Liddell is Chinese 'hero' Posted: 21 Jul 2012 04:22 PM PDT Why Chariots of Fire's Eric Liddell is a Chinese hero

Beijing battered by rainstorms Posted: 21 Jul 2012 10:31 AM PDT STORMS that lashed large swathes of northern and southwestern China from Friday night through yesterday have killed at least 14 people, authorities said. And heavy rains are forecast to continue in China's northern regions and some southern parts over the next three days. In Beijing, rainstorms and gales that started around 10am yesterday have left at least four people dead and six others injured, police and medical workers said. Roofs at a construction site in the city's suburban Tongzhou District were blown off by strong winds, crushing five people, sources with the Beijing Emergency Medical Center said. Two people died on the spot, while three were taken to a nearby hospital. A third person in Tongzhou also died when struck by lightning. The fourth Beijing victim, the head of a police station in Fangshan District died of an electric shock from a downed electrical cable in water, while rescuing villagers. In another village in Tongzhou, strong winds blew off roofs, leaving three people injured, sources with the medical center said. Some 243 flights were cancelled and 272 others delayed for more than an hour as of 6:30pm last night, sources with the Beijing Capital International Airport said. And a stretch of National Highway 109 was cut off by a rain-triggered landslide in the Mentougou District, said the Beijing flood control and drought relief office. Rainstorm alert Beijing received on average 95 millimeters of rain by 7pm yesterday, according to the Beijing Meteorological Bureau. It was the heaviest rainstorm to hit the capital city in 60 years. The agency issued its first orange - the second highest - rainstorm alert warning since 2005 yesterday evening, as the rain is forecast to continue into tonight. In northern Shanxi Province, four people were killed with one missing yesterday, after the pickup truck in which they were traveling was carried into the middle of a rain-swollen river in the city of Shuozhou. It had been attempting to cross the river, rescuers said. In southwestern Sichuan Province, six people were killed in rain-triggered landslides in Weiyuan County, according to the provincial flood control headquarters. And more than 400 vehicles are stranded following rain-triggered mudslides that cut off sections of National Highway 314 in the Kirgiz autonomous prefecture of Kizilsu, in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, police said yesterday. Heavy rains will sweep China's northern regions and some southern areas over the next three days, the National Meteorological Center forecast yesterday. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Adidas denies closure of factory linked to pay rise Posted: 21 Jul 2012 09:00 AM PDT ADIDAS confirmed yesterday that it will close its only company-owned factory in China, signaling a strategic transition by the German sportswear giant to fully subcontracted production. The factory in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, will be shut in October to allow the company to "realign its global resources," according to Chen Qi, a spokesman with Adidas Greater China. "We will not move the factory anywhere else," Chen said, adding that China, as the company's second-largest market, remains very important. Workers at the factory, which employs less than 200 people, suspect that the closure might be caused by rising salaries. "The factory announced the closure not long after our salaries were raised," said a worker who requested anonymity. The worker said monthly pay at the factory had been kept at about 1,100 yuan (US$175) before 2010 and was raised by between 400 yuan and 600 yuan over the past two years. Chen, however, said there was no direct link.

Made in China putting in an Olympian effort Posted: 21 Jul 2012 09:00 AM PDT WORKERS are busy working in front of sewing machines in a manufacturing workshop in the northeastern coastal city of Dalian as the 2012 London Olympics approaches. Making uniforms for US Olympic athletes, Dayang Group Co Ltd has encountered controversy following complaints from a group of United States lawmakers, led by Senate majority leader Harry Reid, who last week chided the US Olympic Committee for not providing US Olympians with domestically produced uniforms. "I think they should take all the outfits, put them in a big pile and burn them and start all over," Reid said. Li Guilian, president of the Dayang Group, said the group had actually produced more than 3,000 formal outfits for the US delegation to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Ralph Lauren, a renowned US fashion designer, spoke highly of the quality of clothes made by the Dayang Group, adding that their quality persuaded him to work with the company again this year. "About 80 percent of our products are targeted at overseas markets," said Zhi Yong, an employee with the Dayang Group, adding that the company exports 5 million suits each year. "The Dayang Group has long-term strategic cooperation with overseas customers. This recent political event will not affect the development of the company, but highlight made-in-China products and our brand," said Li. Enterprises in east China's Zhejiang Province have also been rushing to churn out products for the London Olympics. Lu Zhuyuan, general manager of a local flag manufacturing company, said his company has made more than 4,000 flags for the event. "Two out of every 10 flags flying over the London Olympics are made by our company," said Lu. Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Institution under the Ministry of Commerce, said "made in China" represents an increasing advantage in terms of price competition, which in turn can help maintain a stable foreign trade environment. Relying on its huge domestic market, China has the advantage of a stable macroeconomic environment and market initiative in the global economy, Mei said. "As energy prices drop, lost manufacturing orders are likely to return to China," Mei added. Statistics show that in the first half of this year, Yiwu in Zhejiang, China's largest small commodity wholesale market, had exports of US$34.28 million to Britain, up 17.86 percent year on year.

1 killed in Jiangsu quake Posted: 21 Jul 2012 09:00 AM PDT FRIDAY'S earthquake in east China's Jiangsu Province has left one person dead and two people injured as of noon yesterday, according to a statement from the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The ministry said 13 houses collapsed and another 155 were seriously damaged by the quake, adding that statistics are still being verified. The China Earthquake Networks Center said a 4.9-magnitude earthquake hit Yangzhou City at 8:11pm Friday. The epicenter was monitored with a depth of 5 kilometers. A total of 53 aftershocks had been detected as of 7:30am yesterday, most of which were of a lower scale, said Zhang Zhenya, spokesman for the Jiangsu provincial earthquake bureau. Zhang added that these aftershocks are unlikely to lead to a devastating quake.

Adidas denies closure of factory linked to pay rise Posted: 21 Jul 2012 09:00 AM PDT ADIDAS confirmed yesterday that it will close its only company-owned factory in China, signaling a strategic transition by the German sportswear giant to fully subcontracted production. The factory in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, will be shut in October to allow the company to "realign its global resources," according to Chen Qi, a spokesman with Adidas Greater China. "We will not move the factory anywhere else," Chen said, adding that China, as the company's second-largest market, remains very important. Workers at the factory, which employs less than 200 people, suspect that the closure might be caused by rising salaries. "The factory announced the closure not long after our salaries were raised," said a worker who requested anonymity. The worker said monthly pay at the factory had been kept at about 1,100 yuan (US$175) before 2010 and was raised by between 400 yuan and 600 yuan over the past two years. Chen, however, said there was no direct link.

Made in China putting in an Olympian effort Posted: 21 Jul 2012 09:00 AM PDT WORKERS are busy working in front of sewing machines in a manufacturing workshop in the northeastern coastal city of Dalian as the 2012 London Olympics approaches. Making uniforms for US Olympic athletes, Dayang Group Co Ltd has encountered controversy following complaints from a group of United States lawmakers, led by Senate majority leader Harry Reid, who last week chided the US Olympic Committee for not providing US Olympians with domestically produced uniforms. "I think they should take all the outfits, put them in a big pile and burn them and start all over," Reid said. Li Guilian, president of the Dayang Group, said the group had actually produced more than 3,000 formal outfits for the US delegation to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Ralph Lauren, a renowned US fashion designer, spoke highly of the quality of clothes made by the Dayang Group, adding that their quality persuaded him to work with the company again this year. "About 80 percent of our products are targeted at overseas markets," said Zhi Yong, an employee with the Dayang Group, adding that the company exports 5 million suits each year. "The Dayang Group has long-term strategic cooperation with overseas customers. This recent political event will not affect the development of the company, but highlight made-in-China products and our brand," said Li. Enterprises in east China's Zhejiang Province have also been rushing to churn out products for the London Olympics. Lu Zhuyuan, general manager of a local flag manufacturing company, said his company has made more than 4,000 flags for the event. "Two out of every 10 flags flying over the London Olympics are made by our company," said Lu. Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Institution under the Ministry of Commerce, said "made in China" represents an increasing advantage in terms of price competition, which in turn can help maintain a stable foreign trade environment. Relying on its huge domestic market, China has the advantage of a stable macroeconomic environment and market initiative in the global economy, Mei said. "As energy prices drop, lost manufacturing orders are likely to return to China," Mei added. Statistics show that in the first half of this year, Yiwu in Zhejiang, China's largest small commodity wholesale market, had exports of US$34.28 million to Britain, up 17.86 percent year on year.

1 killed in Jiangsu quake Posted: 21 Jul 2012 09:00 AM PDT FRIDAY'S earthquake in east China's Jiangsu Province has left one person dead and two people injured as of noon yesterday, according to a statement from the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The ministry said 13 houses collapsed and another 155 were seriously damaged by the quake, adding that statistics are still being verified. The China Earthquake Networks Center said a 4.9-magnitude earthquake hit Yangzhou City at 8:11pm Friday. The epicenter was monitored with a depth of 5 kilometers. A total of 53 aftershocks had been detected as of 7:30am yesterday, most of which were of a lower scale, said Zhang Zhenya, spokesman for the Jiangsu provincial earthquake bureau. Zhang added that these aftershocks are unlikely to lead to a devastating quake.

China appeals against WTO steel ruling Posted: 21 Jul 2012 08:46 AM PDT Source: AFP GENEVA — China has appealed against a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling which found that it had imposed illegal anti-dumping duties on US electrical steel imports, the trade arbiter said on Friday. The decision by China to fight the WTO's findings from June 15 concerns "certain issues of law and legal interpretation," a WTO statement said. The dispute dates back to September 2010 when Washington accused China of breaching trade rules by not providing sufficient evidence for imposing duties. The WTO panel tasked with investigating the alleged abuses found that Chinese authorities had "improperly resorted to facts available in calculating the dumping and subsidy rates" in certain cases, and "that the manner in which (China) applied facts available was inconsistent" with trade rules. The WTO also agreed with US claims that China "did not comply with the 'objective examination' and 'positive evidence' requirements" in its analysis of the effect that US imports of grain-oriented flat-rolled electrical steel were having on its market.

China’s Baotou plans to start rare earths trading exchange Posted: 21 Jul 2012 08:50 AM PDT Source: Reuters (Reuters) – China's Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech will join six other firms to invest a total of 70 million yuan ($10.98 million) to start a rare earths trading platform in early August, the firm said in a statement late on Friday. Each shareholder will invest 10 million yuan and hold around 14.29 percent stake in the company, said Baotou Rare Earth, China's top rare earths producer. Baotou said the exchange will help to establish a unified physical trading platform, allowing more transparency in prices. China is the world's top rare earth producer and accounts for more than 95 percent of the global output. The exchange will help the country exert more control over the pricing of 17 strategically important rare earth metals on the global market. Currently, prices in China are published by several independent consultancies and most of the metals have fallen over the past few months due to weaker demand. The exchange will be located in Baotou city in China's Inner Mongolia region, home to nearly half of the world's light rare-earths production, Baotou said. ($1 = 6.3734 Chinese yuan)

China Foreign Deals Must Obey Market Principles, Regulator Says Posted: 21 Jul 2012 08:54 AM PDT Source: Bloomberg News | Photo: Getty Chinese companies making foreign acquisitions must obey market principles, follow "international rules of the game" and play down national interest, the nation's foreign-exchange regulator said. With China facing a window of opportunity to venture overseas, businesses must bear in mind return on investment, costs and cash flow, Yi Gang, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said today at a forum held at Peking University's China Center for Economic Research. "It would seem unnecessary to remind people about these basics, but it needs to be done in China," Yi said. China, which holds $3.2 trillion of foreign-exchange reserves, has been encouraging companies to buy assets overseas through a "going out" strategy to secure energy and commodity resources, buy technology and build internationally competitive businesses. Non-financial outbound investment rose 48 percent in the first half of the year to $35.4 billion while inbound investment fell 3 percent, commerce ministry data show. "Chinese companies have a good chance to venture abroad as many European and American companies are struggling," market valuations have "fallen significantly" and "overseas regulators are becoming more friendly to Chinese capital," Yi said. At the same time, "everyone, whether they be a state business manager or a private business owner, starts his story with 'I want to do something for China' or 'I want to buy resources for the country'," he said. Energy Acquisitions China's cumulative non-financial outbound investment at the end of 2011 was $322 billion, according to commerce ministry data released in January. The country will invest $1 trillion to $2 trillion overseas in the decade to 2020, the Rhodium Group, a New York-based firm that researches trade with China, said in a report last month. Resources and energy made up 92 percent of China's overseas mergers and acquisitions in the first quarter, according to a separate report from Hong Kong-based A Capital, a private-equity fund. China Petrochemical Corp. accounted for the largest deal, with the $4.8 billion purchase of a 30 percent stake in Galp Energia SGPS SA's Brazilian unit. While China Development Bank Corp., a state-owned policy bank, is at the forefront of providing financing for overseas deals, the foreign-exchange regulator has an entrusted loans office that makes foreign-currency loans to state banks and companies to help their overseas development and acquisitions. Low-Cost Financing Some companies not only ask for money, they also want "very low or even zero interest rates," said Yi, who has a doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois. "Some say 'I am using the money to buy oil for our country, and you are investing the money in U.S. Treasuries, so you must provide me very low-cost or even zero-cost financing'," Yi said, without naming any companies who have sought financial support. China, the largest foreign U.S. creditor, boosted its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities to $1.1696 trillion in May, data released July 17 show. Yields on five-year Treasury notes fell to a record low yesterday, declining three basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 0.57 percent at 5 p.m. New York time, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader prices. China's attempts to buy foreign assets have met with resistance. Opposition from U.S. lawmakers has derailed deals including a 2005 bid by Cnooc Ltd., the Hong Kong-listed unit of China's largest offshore energy explorer, to buy California's Unocal Corp. for $18.5 billion. Huawei Technologies Co., abandoned a joint bid with Bain Capital LLC for computer- equipment maker 3Com Corp. in 2008. Africa Boost Iceland's government last year denied Chinese billionaire investor Huang Nubo permission to buy land in the island's north, saying such a transfer of property would be "incompatible" with the country's laws. President Hu Jintao announced July 19 the country will offer $20 billion in new loans to Africa for infrastructure and manufacturing, underscoring China's push to tap the continent's natural resources and deliver its goods to African markets. China has invested more than $15 billion in Africa with projects covering 50 countries, Hu said, according to a Xinhua News Agency report detailing the pledge made at the Forum on China- Africa Cooperation in Beijing. Speaking at the same conference, South Africa's President Jacob Zuma warned that Africa's past experience with Europe "dictates a need to be cautious when entering into partnership with other economies." Yi, who is also a deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said companies need to play down the role of the government in overseas acquisitions. "In Africa, Latin America, Central Asia or our neighboring countries, the topic of resources is always a highly politicalized issue, and if you want to buy resources in a high- profile way, it will easily become a target for local government, the public, the media and politicians," Yi said. "Imagine, if a foreign company wanted to buy a large amount of land in China, what would be our response?"

China Holds Frenchman Linked to Scandal Posted: 21 Jul 2012 08:59 AM PDT Source: Wall Street Journal By Jeremy Page BEIJING—A French architect caught up in the scandal surrounding Bo Xilai, the former Communist Party official, was taken into custody in China after returning there from Cambodia to cooperate with a murder investigation into Mr. Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, Cambodia Information Minister Khieu Kanharith told The Wall Street Journal. Patrick Henri Devillers will be held in China for 60 days and then released if he isn't found to have been involved in any crime, the minister said. Another person familiar with the matter said Mr. Devillers hadn't been officially detained, but was being held under guard by Chinese authorities after returning to China on Tuesday night following his release from custody in Cambodia. France's Foreign Ministry said its embassy in Beijing had asked to meet with Mr. Devillers as soon as possible, and Chinese authorities had agreed in principle. China's Foreign Ministry and Public Security Ministry didn't respond to requests to comment. Mr. Devillers's situation is a cause for concern for the French government because China doesn't have an independent judiciary, and the Gu case is likely to be decided not by the courts, but by the party leadership that controls them, according to diplomats following the case. The Chinese government announced in April that Mr. Bo—once a rising political star—had been let go from his party posts while Ms. Gu was in custody as a suspect in a murder investigation in the death of British business consultant Neil Heywood. Mr. Devillers hasn't been charged or accused of any wrongdoing. He had close personal and business ties for several years with Ms. Gu, after getting to know her and her family in the northeastern city of Dalian where Mr. Bo was mayor in the 1990s. Mr. Devillers, who is about 52 and has been living in Cambodia for several years, was detained by police there on June 13 in response to an extradition request from China, according to Cambodian officials. After France urged Cambodia not to act without a sound legal basis, Cambodian authorities said in late June they wouldn't extradite the Frenchman, but were continuing to investigate him. Cambodian officials said Wednesday that Mr. Devillers had returned voluntarily to China to act as a "witness" in the investigation into Ms. Gu's case. Western diplomats at the time said they expected him to be treated as a free man upon his return. But Mr. Khieu, the Cambodian information minister, said Thursday: "China promised to detain him 60 days until September. He will be allowed to be free if China finds he isn't involved with the cases." Cambodia's police took the unusual step late Thursday of releasing a video interview with Mr. Devillers, apparently recorded shortly before his departure from Cambodia. "Now I'm leaving for Shanghai this evening, a stop before probably following on to Beijing to answer…to go and cooperate in the case of the investigation into Gu Kailai," Mr. Devillers tells an unidentified interviewer. "I reiterate that I'm leaving freely to this destination." Mr. Devillers is then filmed going through passport control at Phnom Penh airport's VIP area. Bernard Valero, a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry, said Friday that Mr. Devillers told French officials before leaving Cambodia that he was traveling voluntarily to China after making a deal with the Chinese government and would be at the disposal of Chinese judicial authorities. "Our embassy in China requested as soon as he left for China to meet Mr. Devillers as soon as possible. The Chinese authorities have agreed in principle. We now expect this meeting to take place very soon," Mr. Valero said. "We have daily contacts with the Chinese authorities both in Beijing and in Paris." Mr. Devillers and Mr. Heywood were both part of a small circle of friends and advisers around Ms. Gu in Dalian in the 1990s, according to several people who knew them all. Ms. Gu and Mr. Devillers were both consulting partners for Horas Consultancy, a company that advised businesses investing in Dalian and elsewhere in China in the 1990s, according to that firm's publicity material. The Frenchman, who was married to a woman from Dalian for several years, also shared a residential address with Ms. Gu in the southern British city of Bournemouth from 2000 to 2003, according to British public records. Ms. Gu, under the name Horus Kai, which she used in her foreign business dealings and on a book she wrote, and Mr. Devillers are also both listed as directors of a company called Adad Ltd. that was set up in the town of Poole, near Bournemouth, in 2000 and dissolved in 2003, according to the British public records. Neither Mr. Bo nor Ms. Gu has been reachable to comment since the government announced they were under investigation.

Have You Heard… Posted: 21 Jul 2012 09:00 AM PDT Have You Heard…

3 students selected to attend 2012 APEC summit Posted: 21 Jul 2012 02:15 AM PDT THREE university students have been selected to attend the 2012 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vladivostok, Russia, in September on behalf of all of the country's university students. The three representatives were chosen from nearly 10,000 contestants after several rounds of competition, which were conducted through mock summits held in key universities across the country. The competition was started in 2010 to broaden students' international knowledge and improve their understanding and analytical abilities regarding politics and economics.

Downpour hits Beijing at noon Posted: 21 Jul 2012 12:57 AM PDT Vehicles drive in torrential rain in Beijing today. A downpour hit Beijing at noon today. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Over 50 aftershocks after Jiangsu quake Posted: 20 Jul 2012 11:05 PM PDT A total of 53 aftershocks have been detected as of 7:30 am today after a 4.9-magnitude earthquake jolted east China's city of Yangzhou last night, local officials said. Most of the aftershocks were of a lower scale, with only four measuring between 3- to 4-magnitude, said Zhang Zhenya, deputy director and spokesman for the Jiangsu provincial earthquake bureau. Seismic experts predict that a devastating earthquake is unlikely to occur, according to Zhang. Yesterday's earthquake hit Yangzhou at 8:11 pm, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. The quake left one person dead and another slightly injured as of this noon, Zhang said.

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