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- Chinese around the globe boiling with anti-Japanese sentiment
- China is only one factor in US manufacturing jobs loss: think tank
- Multinational jobs no longer stable in China
- Guangzhou boasts best average pay among China's major cities
- Tesco to close four supermarkets in China
- CatchPlay's CEO charged with corruption
- 20 LED enterprises in China forge sales alliance
- Foreign bank issues credit card in China for the first time
- China's coal mining still a high-risk industry: official
- Desperate steel traders forge documents for credit in China
- International experts meet in Jiangxi for lake conservation
- People in China more willing to keep foreign currencies
- Cross-strait cruise market set to flourish
- Taiwan and China to strengthen 4G mobile cooperation
- Fatal bridge collapse in Harbin prompts public uproar
- Taiwan triumphs at Go contest in France
- Peking University to probe allegations of sexual misconduct
- Disqualified Olympic badminton players still hailed in China
- Beijing man pricked by HIV-infected needle in taxi
- Jaguar Land Rover roars into China as quality UK cars hit exports overdrive
| Chinese around the globe boiling with anti-Japanese sentiment Posted: 26 Aug 2012 05:06 AM PDT Chinese around the world are erupting into a fevered protest pitch in the latest wave of anti-Japanese sentiment over the issue of the Senkaku islands, reports by our sister newspaper, Want Daily. An... | ||
| China is only one factor in US manufacturing jobs loss: think tank Posted: 26 Aug 2012 04:38 AM PDT A report from a labor-friendly US think tank published Friday said China is to blame for the loss of 2.1 million manufacturing jobs in the US. A US business representative said a higher productivity ... | ||
| Multinational jobs no longer stable in China Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:38 AM PDT The recent slew of staff cuts by large foreign corporations in China signals a shift in the country's attitude towards working for multinational companies, reports Duowei News, an outlet run by overse... | ||
| Guangzhou boasts best average pay among China's major cities Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:38 AM PDT Twenty-two provincial capitals and four municipalities in China have published their average annual wage levels for 2011. Guangzhou tops the list with 57,473 yuan per capita (US$9,043), followed by Be... | ||
| Tesco to close four supermarkets in China Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:38 AM PDT The British supermarket chain Tesco will shut down four stores in China by the end of next month following layoffs at the company and the reorganization of its property department in July, according t... | ||
| CatchPlay's CEO charged with corruption Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:26 AM PDT CatchPlay's chairman Timothy Chen filed a breach of trust and illegal possession suit against his good friend and partner Wayne Chang, who is also a CEO for the company, last week, the Commercial Time... | ||
| 20 LED enterprises in China forge sales alliance Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:06 AM PDT Twenty LED enterprises in China are considering partering to set up a purchase platform and exclusive stores to cut costs and expand their sales channels, potentially enabling them to enter the commer... | ||
| Foreign bank issues credit card in China for the first time Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:06 AM PDT Citibank China issued its own credit card in China Thursday, becoming the first foreign bank to launch a credit card under its own name, reports the Chinese-language Beijing Business Today. Citibank... | ||
| China's coal mining still a high-risk industry: official Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:02 AM PDT A spokesman for China's work safety regulator said on Friday that coal mining remains a high-risk industry in the country despite improvements over the past decade. Speaking at a press conference in ... | ||
| Desperate steel traders forge documents for credit in China Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:02 AM PDT As a continuing slowdown hits the global steel and iron market, Chinese companies have suffered meager net profits in the first half of this year. Some steel traders in Shanghai have even forged docum... | ||
| International experts meet in Jiangxi for lake conservation Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:02 AM PDT Water conservation and environmental protection specialists from 19 countries have gathered in Jiujiang city in eastern China's Jiangxi province for a seminar on lake conservation and regional develop... | ||
| People in China more willing to keep foreign currencies Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:02 AM PDT Chinese people were more willing to keep foreign currencies and sell their yuan-denominated assets in July, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange has indicated. Individuals and insti... | ||
| Cross-strait cruise market set to flourish Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:02 AM PDT Leisure cruises across the Taiwan Strait connecting Taiwan, mainland China and Hong Kong will experience high growth in the years ahead as the world cruise market is shifting toward East Asia from Ame... | ||
| Taiwan and China to strengthen 4G mobile cooperation Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:02 AM PDT Taiwan and mainland China are expected to sign two memorandums of understanding on setting up new mobile telecom service standards when officials and industry leaders of the two sides hold meetings on... | ||
| Fatal bridge collapse in Harbin prompts public uproar Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:02 AM PDT Friday's collapse of a costly bridge in northeast China's Heilongjiang province and the subsequent loss of three lives have led residents and netizens alike to complain about shoddy construction and i... | ||
| Taiwan triumphs at Go contest in France Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:02 AM PDT A team of Go players from Taiwan has snatched four gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the World Mind Sports Games that concluded in France on Thursday. Among the 30 countries participating ... | ||
| Peking University to probe allegations of sexual misconduct Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:02 AM PDT Peking University, China's most prestigious school, is to set up an ad hoc team to investigate allegations that faculty members had sex with the hostesses of a restaurant on its campus, reports the lo... | ||
| Disqualified Olympic badminton players still hailed in China Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:02 AM PDT They were similarly disqualified from the Olympics for bringing their sport into disrepute, but the differing treatment of Chinese and South Korean badminton players when they arrived back home has ra... | ||
| Beijing man pricked by HIV-infected needle in taxi Posted: 25 Aug 2012 04:09 PM PDT A Chinese man, 37, was pricked by the needle of an HIV-infected syringe left in the back of a taxi in Haidan district, causing fear and raising concern among commuters. 
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| Jaguar Land Rover roars into China as quality UK cars hit exports overdrive Posted: 25 Aug 2012 04:09 PM PDT Modern assembly lines are creating jobs and driving George Osborne's 'march of the makers' Golden Port Motor Park, a swish car dealership in the suburbs of Beijing, is a prime destination for Chinese professionals shopping for a status symbol. But the sleek emporium is also the new frontline for European car makers fighting for sales outside their declining home markets. Here, vying for wealthy Beijingers' attention alongside the glittering showrooms of Audi, Maserati and Porsche is the vast flagship showroom for Britain's own Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). JLR embodies the boom in UK car exports that is making the automotive sector one of the few industries capable of keeping pace with George Osborne's "march of the makers". In the first three months of this year there was a quarterly trade surplus in cars – the value of exports exceeded imports by £564m – for the first time since 1976. Premium cars, from Bentleys made in Crewe to Minis manufactured in Cowley, are helping drive the surplus and JLR was a standout performer: in the three months to 30 June, its Chinese sales soared by 91%. Inside Golden Port, a sharply dressed salesman says the sleek new Range Rover Evoque is catching the eye of young consumers, while the Jaguar XJ is the choice for the older businessman. The brands' Britishness is a draw, he says, "but Chinese people like imported cars in general". The boom has been a key factor in JLR expanding production at its Halewood plant in Merseyside this month, hiring 1,000 more workers to launch a three-shift, 24-hour operation. The plant will now churn out even more Evoques. One of the longest-serving employees at Halewood, 60-year-old Jimmy Owens, says the factory was labelled as one of the industry's most militant when he joined in 1968. Back then, the plant was taking on former dock workers and there was a culture clash with managers at Ford, which owned the site until India's Tata acquired JLR in 2008. "Ford's management at the time was very authoritarian and we were taking guys from the docks who had to be tied to the line, and then we had the conflicts and the strikes," says Owens. The problems saw the plant labelled as "militant" for decades, he adds. Des Thurlby, JLR's head of HR, concurs: "This was a shining light for the worst kind of plant." Like Owens, however, he believes there were problems on both sides: "I don't blame the unions. I am sure management were difficult and not great at man management. And there was a lot going on in the whole of UK society at the time, industrial strife and everything else." In the 1960s and 1970s, says Thurlby, "if you had come into the factories it would have been complete chaos." Now, he says: "You will not see lots of cars lying around with bits hanging off, waiting for repair. It's right first time, ready to be shipped off to China or somewhere else." The renaissance was helped by Britain's willingness to embrace the modern manufacturing practices pioneered in Japan that have given UK sites a reputation for efficient, low-cost production to go with factors such as flexible employment regulations and access to seaports. Halewood is now a paragon of modern production: assembly lines have an andon cord, which halts production when an employee spots a problem and pulls it. If that had been around in the 1970s and 1980s, says Owens, it would have created disruption. "If you stopped the line in those days all hell would be let loose." Owens, now a production manager, says the plant's industrial problems came down to a refusal to listen on both sides. "The style of British management was not great. It was 'you do as I say' and we did not listen. Now we listen." The major changes came after 2000, says Owens, when Jaguar – then a Ford unit – took over the sites and adopted more Japanese-style production techniques. At JLR now instead of a foreman calling the shots, production operators have a team leader drawn from their workforce. Instead of staff engineers conducting a time study by watching people on the line with a stopwatch, says Owens, it is the people on the production line who will carry out the study. "People are given ownership of doing the job," says Owens. It is not just JLR that has modernised. Mark Fulthorpe, an analyst at IHS Automotive, says the presence of high-class manufacturers such as Toyota, Nissan, Volkswagen and BMW in the UK bodes well for the long term. The sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone is casting a shadow over the industry, he says, otherwise "things look pretty stable", pointing to the financial muscle behind British manufacturers: JLR is backed by an Indian conglomerate, Bentley is owned by Volkswagen while BMW stands behind Mini. Last year, Britain produced nearly 1.4m cars, with more than eight out of 10 sold abroad. However, there are warnings that this golden age might not last. One of the industry's most prominent trade unionists says the success of Halewood and its peers must be backed by an activist industrial policy. Tony Woodley, former general secretary of Unite, remains involved in the industry as an executive officer with the union and this year helped to broker the deal that saved Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant from closure. The lack of a home-owned major player is cause for concern. "We don't have a British car industry," says Woodley, because ultimate decisions about the future of plants are made abroad, by owners such as BMW and Toyota. He believes that a weak euro and strong demand from developing countries have benefited UK-based producers, but obscured the lack of a coherent, well-funded UK manufacturing policy. Woodley, who once built cars at Ellesmere Port, says the boom could disappear quickly: "If we don't make the right decisions now, then this growth, these jobs, will be shortlived and we will be gone within the decade. There is no doubt about that." Meanwhile, at an upmarket residential compound outside the Golden Port complex, JLR's success continues. Ernie Hu, a 40-year-old IT executive, slides his Jaguar XF into a space outside a smart townhouse. He appreciates the "exquisite craftsmanship" of the British-built vehicle and believes it showcases his style and individuality much more than the ubiquitous Benzes and BMWs. "I'm sure when people see me in this car, they think it's more expensive than it actually is," he says. guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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