News » Society » Drivers blamed for deadly highway accident in northwest China
News » Society » Drivers blamed for deadly highway accident in northwest China |
- Drivers blamed for deadly highway accident in northwest China
- Chinese factories turn to Bangladesh
- 19 dead, 28 trapped after China colliery blast
- 9 dead, 44 trapped after China colliery blast
- 50 miners trapped after coal mine blast
- Plane turns back after 'threat'
- Scholars infuriated by dictionary's use of English
- Officer 'fully liable' for accident
- Home of butterfly lovers fails to fly with tourists
- Grassland doctors help save babies' lives
- Officials punished after blast death toll cover-up
- Workers celebrate laying of subway tracks
- VIDEO: China's private jet market 'booming'
- Ford eyes China’s wealthy drivers with coastal plant
- Clinton set to take U.S. Asia push to South Pacific
- China’s aircraft carrier: in name only
- Have You Heard…
- China Retailers Lose Steam, Deepening Wen’s Challenges
- Death toll from capsized Chinese fishing boats off S. Korea up to 7
- Road cave-in traps taxi
| Drivers blamed for deadly highway accident in northwest China Posted: 29 Aug 2012 06:45 PM PDT The drivers of both the bus and the methanol-loaded tanker were found to break traffic laws and cause the fatal rear-ended collision which left 36 dead in northwest China's Shaanxi Province last Sunday. The driver of the double-decker sleeper bus died in the accident while the two drivers of the tanker have been put under police control. They may face criminal charges, an investigation team set up by the State Council announced yesterday. The accident happened in Yan'an City at around 2am on Sunday, when the bus crashed into the tanker and caught fire on the Baotou-Maoming Expressway. The 39-seat bus was full at the time of the crash, with three survivors sent to local hospitals for treatment. The identities of 35 people have been confirmed and the compensation plan for the victims' relatives has been drafted. http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2012-08-30/034925063454.shtml |
| Chinese factories turn to Bangladesh Posted: 29 Aug 2012 03:04 PM PDT China factories turn to Bangladesh as labour costs rise |
| 19 dead, 28 trapped after China colliery blast Posted: 29 Aug 2012 06:19 PM PDT NINETEEN miners have been confirmed dead and 28 others are still trapped underground after a gas blast occurred in a coal mine yesterday afternoon in the southwestern province of Sichuan, Sichuan Daily said today. |
| 9 dead, 44 trapped after China colliery blast Posted: 29 Aug 2012 06:04 PM PDT NINE miners have been confirmed dead and 44 others are still trapped underground after a gas blast occurred in a coal mine yesterday afternoon in the southwestern province of Sichuan, local government said today. |
| 50 miners trapped after coal mine blast Posted: 29 Aug 2012 10:30 AM PDT ABOUT 50 miners are trapped underground after a gas blast at a coal mine in southwestern Sichuan Province yesterday. A total of 120 miners were working underground when the blast happened at around 6pm in the mine in Panzhihua. As of 9:30pm, 70 people had been rescued and brought to the surface but the others remained trapped. |
| Plane turns back after 'threat' Posted: 29 Aug 2012 10:07 AM PDT An Air China flight heading to New York returned to Beijing last night after "receiving a threatening message." The Boeing 747 - flight CA981- landed at Beijing Capital International Airport at around 8:30pm about eight hours after it had set off for John F. Kennedy Airport. "The flight returned to Beijing for the sake of passenger safety as it received a threatening message," the carrier said on its Weibo microblog shortly after the landing, without giving any further details. Everyone was asked to get off the plane and airport police carried out security checks on the taxiway, according to passengers. The airport later announced that "nothing abnormal has been found after the overall inspections." Photographs posted online showed dozens of uniformed police on the taxiway while passengers lining up for inspection. The Boeing 747 flight took off again at just after midnight to take the passengers to their destination, the airlines said on its website. "We had little idea that the plane was flying back until it landed at the Beijing airport again," said Wang Qiang, a passenger onboard who was going to New York to take part in an international conference. Wang said he suspected the plane might be flying back because of the route information on the screen in front of him but a flight attendant told him there was "something wrong with the screen." Shortly before landing, there was an announcement that the plane was encountering some turbulence and attendants asked passengers to close all the window shades. "But when we opened the sunshades again, we saw the ground of Beijing," another passenger said. The pilot told passengers the plane had received a threatening message and all passengers needed to go through inspections. "I have never seen so many police officers waiting at the runway," the passenger said. All the passengers kept calm and had cooperated with the police carrying out the security checks, the airport authority said. |
| Scholars infuriated by dictionary's use of English Posted: 29 Aug 2012 10:07 AM PDT AN editor has come under fire over the inclusion of 239 English words, mostly acronyms or abbreviations, in the latest edition of the Modern Chinese Dictionary. She was accused of being disrespectful to the Chinese language and causing it "severe damage." However, Jiang Lansheng, chief editor of the sixth edition published on July 15, said the additions were to make it easier for people to know the meaning of English words in everyday use, yesterday's Beijing Youth Daily reported. Jiang was responding to a petition signed by more than 100 scholars from across the country saying the editors had damaged the language and might even have broken the law. They said printing the English words was encouraging readers to replace Chinese words with English ones. "A Chinese dictionary serves as the standard for the use of the Chinese language. Now that the Chinese dictionary collected English words to replace certain Chinese words, it is a serious damage to the Chinese language," Li Minsheng, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was quoted by the newspaper as saying. The scholars also said adding English violated the Law on Standard Spoken and Written Chinese. "The adding of English words into the Chinese dictionary indicated that it is normal to allow words of English and other foreign languages to replace Chinese words," Fu Zhengguo, a reporter with People's Daily and a petition organizer, told the newspaper. Fu said the inclusion of words such as NBA and GDP would result in a language that was a "bizarre mixture of Chinese and English." Fu said the petition had been submitted to the General Administration of Press and Publication, China's publishing watchdog. Jiang said she respected the scholars' opinions but added: "Which of our country's laws requires that Chinese dictionaries cannot explain English letters?" She said: "In people's daily life they meet a lot of English letters such as ATM, GDP and CPI, but how can they know the meaning of those words? That should be the responsibility of a dictionary as a reference book." "We chose words according to the frequency of their use and relevance to people's daily life," Jiang said. "A reference book collects English words not to encourage others to replace Chinese words, but simply to make it easier for readers to know them." This year's edition was not the first to include English words. There were 39 in its third edition and more than 120 in the fifth. "If they keep growing, we could have over 10,000 English entries in 100 years," said Fu, who has proposed that English words should be translated into their Chinese equivalents before including them in the dictionary. Fu's concerns were not shared by Mei Deming, a professor of the English language at Shanghai International Studies University. "Language is always developing while absorbing new elements," Mei said. And at a meeting of linguists in Beijing last night, most agreed with the use of some short English terms. Jinan University's Guo Xi said: "Languages borrow from each other when the two are in contact. A living language must absorb new elements." Su Peicheng from Beijing University said he couldn't find any laws that said putting English words in Chinese dictionaries illegal. |
| Officer 'fully liable' for accident Posted: 29 Aug 2012 09:34 AM PDT A POLICE officer behind the wheel of a patrol car when it hit and injured seven people last week in the southwestern Chinese city of Nanning should take full responsibility for the accident, local police said yesterday. The officer, identified by the surname Liao, was driving and another officer was in the car when it hit two electric cyclists and then another five pedestrians near a market at around 5pm on August 21. The police bureau in Nanning said it had completed its investigation which found Liao fully liable for the accident. However, Liao was not likely to go to jail, as tests for alcohol in his blood had proved negative, it said. The bureau said Liao had been driving at a speed of 45kph in a 40kph area and failed to take proper measures to prevent the collisions. Two people were seriously injured, but their injuries were not life-threatening. As of yesterday, three of the seven injured had been discharged from hospital. The accident hit the headlines after an account was posted on Weibo, saying the police car hit civilians and dragged an electric bike for more than 100 meters before stopping. Questions were raised over whether the officers were drunk and whether they had attempted to flee the scene, as the car did not immediately stop after hitting the pedestrians. The bureau said the car stopped about 60 meters past the spot where the collisions occurred, a reasonable distance, and there were no signs the driver had accelerated after hitting the pedestrians. It said that Liao was on duty at the time of the accident as he and the other officer were on their way back to a police station after a meeting downtown. Liao was not illegally using the car for personal reasons. |
| Home of butterfly lovers fails to fly with tourists Posted: 29 Aug 2012 09:00 AM PDT VISITORS to Runan County, branded the hometown of the "butterfly lovers," China's answer to Romeo and Juliet, find a scene of desolation. A lone archway stands in front of a run-down village. Dying trees flank an empty promenade leading to two ramshackle gravestones, whose fading epitaphs suggest they belong to Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, figures portrayed in classic Chinese folklore as having turned into butterflies after society rejected their union. Most structures are new, hinting at the place's great ambitions not so long ago, but now the scene tells a story of how a Chinese town eager to dig up its cultural gold in the rush toward prosperity has ground to an embarrassing halt. The story began years ago, when many Chinese localities zealously contended to be recognized as the hometowns or resting places of historical celebrities or mythological figures, hoping such fame could bring in tourists and investment. In 2005, Runan County in central China's Henan Province was recognized as the hometown of Liang and Zhu by the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Society. At the time, six Chinese cities argued the couple belonged to them. Knowing the impoverished farming town could not fund the project, officials in Runan reached out for investors. One entrepreneur promised 200 million yuan (US$31.5 million) in investment. The government then leased land from villagers to plant trees befitting scenic spots. They built a promenade and in 2011 unveiled an archway bearing the inscription "Hometown of Liang and Zhu." But the tourists stayed away and the businessman suddenly withdrew due to "economic problems." |
| Grassland doctors help save babies' lives Posted: 29 Aug 2012 09:00 AM PDT HERDSMEN living on the remote Zhuaxixiulong grassland in Gansu Province used to depend on luck when it came to the survival of their newborn children. Now, they can rely on doctors. The township hospital in Zhuaxixiulong, in Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County, has seen 31 expectant and new mothers this year, with all the babies receiving a clean bill of health, said Li Yu, the hospital's deputy head. Li said every pregnant woman admitted to the hospital is given five physical examinations before delivery, as well as regular checkups for both her and her infant for the following three months. The services were nonexistent 12 years ago, when many expectant mothers refused to give birth in hospital due to their inconvenient location, poor economic conditions and a tradition of home births, Li said. "When they felt the baby was coming out, they sought help from 'experienced' elderly women in the village. But as a result of improperly conducted births, many babies contracted pneumonia right after birth and died before their fifth birthday," Li said. But conditions have changed since then, with hospital births becoming the norm, helping to reduce infant mortality rates. "More than 1,500 babies are born in our county each year, and 99 percent of pregnant women give birth in hospital," said Jia Sandan, director of the county's maternal and child health center. The shift is part of the government's decade-long efforts to promote hospital deliveries and improve health care for newborns in rural areas. According to Ministry of Health statistics, the mortality rate for children under the age of five dropped from 61 deaths per 1,000 births in 1991 to 15.6 per 1,000 births in 2011. Government has set a target of reducing the ratio to less than 13 by 2020. But the infant mortality rate in rural areas is nearly three times that of urban areas, with premature births, pneumonia, congenital heart disease and accidental asphyxia claiming many children. To narrow the yawning urban-rural gap, the central government launched a campaign to promote hospital births in central and western rural areas in 2000, expanding it nationwide in 2009. The campaign provides a subsidy of 400 yuan (US$62.92) for women who choose to give birth in hospitals. From 2009 to 2011, the central government poured 7.9 billion yuan into the program, raising the country's rural hospital birth rate to 96.7 percent from 92.3 percent in 2008. (Xinhua) |
| Officials punished after blast death toll cover-up Posted: 29 Aug 2012 09:00 AM PDT THE head of the work safety authority in central Henan Province has been sacked and several other officials dismissed or suspended for covering up the death toll of a fireworks factory blast. The June 18 explosion at the Dongtun Fireworks Factory in Huaiyang County left 28 people dead and 20 injured, but local officials initially reported just seven deaths and 14 people with injuries. The head of the county, Hu Jingxu, and two deputy directors, Lei Tingjun and Zhang Haiyang, were suspended while the director of the county's work safety bureau, Fan Minhua, and several other major county officials were sacked, the Henan Administration of Work Safety said. An initial investigation found that five workers had been killed at the scene and two died after emergency treatment failed. But local villagers had their doubts about the accuracy of the casualty numbers and alerted provincial authorities early this month. The province's work safety bureau, after checking with villagers and the local hospital, found that the death toll was 21 higher than local officials had said and there were six more injured. Of the 20 injured, nine have retuned home but 11 remain in hospital. At the time of the blast, the factory was operating illegally as it had been ordered to suspend production after the expiry of its license. |
| Workers celebrate laying of subway tracks Posted: 29 Aug 2012 09:00 AM PDT Construction workers wave flags to mark the completion of rail network for subway Line 1 in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The laying of the 25.36-kilometer-long tracks were completed today. The subway is scheduled to start operations in September next year. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| VIDEO: China's private jet market 'booming' Posted: 29 Aug 2012 09:46 AM PDT Aircraft manufacturers say that thanks to China's strong economy the country could become one of the largest markets in the world for private jets in the next 10 years. |
| Ford eyes China’s wealthy drivers with coastal plant Posted: 29 Aug 2012 09:13 AM PDT  Source: Reuters By Deepa Seetharaman | Photo: Getty Aug 29 (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co and its Chinese partner will begin building its first factory on China's coast, where the U.S. automaker can easily access the country's growing number of affluent buyers. Building vehicles in Hangzhou – a city of more than 6 million people to the south of Shanghai – draws Ford closer to China's wealthier population along the coast. It also provides Ford with an accessible port so it can export vehicles in the future, although Ford said it is now focused on building cars for the Chinese market. "Hangzhou is really critical because of the market that it serves, and it diversifies our operations," Chief Executive Alan Mulally said after a groundbreaking event in Hangzhou on Wednesday. "The customer base here is fantastic." Since 2006, Ford has poured nearly $5 billion into China with the aim of doubling capacity, employees and dealers by 2015. The plant in Hangzhou will be able to build 250,000 vehicles when it opens in three years. LINCOLN LUXURY Ford is the latest in a long list of automakers vying to launch or expand top-tier brands in China, where luxury car sales are expected to surpass those in the United States within 8 years. It plans to bring its Lincoln brand to China by 2014. At an event at a converted Buddhist temple in Beijing on Tuesday, Ford executives said Lincoln could win over buyers partly by drawing on its legacy of building iconic cars like the Zephyr and Continental. But they also said China represented a rare chance for Lincoln to reinvent itself and skirt past its stale image, which has hurt sales in the United States. "We have a chance to be different here," Ford's global marketing chief Jim Farley said. "We see the opportunity in China for the first time to launch Lincoln from scratch. China could teach us things we could incorporate into the experience side in North America." By offering a premium car with Lincoln, Ford could be more attractive to dealers, helping the company gain traction in the Chinese market, Booz & Co consultant Bill Russo said. LOW-COST APPEAL, TOO The U.S. automaker is also launching 15 Ford brand models to China by 2015. One of those will be a low-cost car to appeal to buyers in China's fast-growing cities in the West. That model will rival the Chevrolet Sail, a car developed by General Motors and its Chinese partners that sells for less than $10,000. Earlier this week, Mulally and other top executives marked another groundbreaking of the automaker's third assembly plant in Chongqing, home to Ford's massive manufacturing hub. The complex is close to China's rapidly developing inland cities, where Ford is looking to win buyers with low-cost models. Ford chose to build a factory along China's east coast after deciding to break up its three-way tie-up with Japan's Mazda Motor Corp and China's Changan Automobile Co Ltd. China approved that restructuring, which carves up the joint venture assets between Mazda and Ford, earlier this week and it is now being reviewed by Chinese regulators. Mazda was not involved in selecting a site for the factory. "This was a Changan Ford decision and a Changan Ford process," Joe Hinrichs, Ford's head of Asian and African operations, told Reuters. |
| Clinton set to take U.S. Asia push to South Pacific Posted: 29 Aug 2012 09:16 AM PDT  Source: Reuters By Andrew Quinn (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will venture to the South Pacific this week as she takes Washington's bid to reassert itself against China to a remote corner of the world where the power rivalry is increasingly apparent. Clinton's trip will also include stops in Indonesia, Brunei, East Timor and China, all of which are expected to include discussions on the South China Sea, where competing territorial claims by Beijing and its neighbors have created Asia's biggest potential military flashpoint. "We don't want to see the disputes in the South China Sea or anywhere else settled by intimidation, by force. We want to see them settled at the negotiating table," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news briefing. "And we have also consistently been calling for increasing transparency in the Chinese military posture." Beijing has accused Washington of sending the wrong signals on the South China Sea, part of its push back against the Obama administration's "pivot" to Asia that many Chinese analysts see as a campaign to contain rising Chinese power and influence in the region. NURTURING RELATIONSHIPS In the South Pacific, Clinton will have a chance to personally emphasize the benefits of U.S. friendship to a group of tiny nations that regularly line up with Washington on international issues but which are also now being heavily courted by Beijing. The United States hopes to boost the forum as a regional alliance to combat shared threats such as climate change, encourage economic development and protect marine stocks in the face of overfishing. China has nevertheless been scaling up its economic assistance to Pacific Island states, pledging a total of more than $600 million since 2005, according to figures compiled by Australia's Lowy Institute. Clinton's hosts in the Cook Islands — a self-governing territory associated with New Zealand — will be able to show off a new, Chinese-financed courthouse and police headquarters while other island states have received grants for official cars, airport repairs, hospital construction and language courses. While much of China's historic engagement with the region has been to counter diplomatic advances by its rival, Taiwan, it has now moved beyond that, said Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East West Center in Hawaii. "It is now probably more accurate to see the growth of Chinese influence in the South Pacific as not necessarily part of a scripted and controlled plan by the Chinese government," Roy said. "It has become broader, part of China's economic and government interests going abroad and seeking the room that comes with being an emerging power." Clinton's trip will take her out of the United States as Democrats gather next week for a convention to nominate President Barack Obama for a second term. Clinton, who as America's top diplomat was not expected to attend, has said she plans to step down at the end of Obama's current term. But she will stand in for Obama himself at a meeting of leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Vladivostok on September 8-9, the State Department said. |
| China’s aircraft carrier: in name only Posted: 29 Aug 2012 09:20 AM PDT  Source: Reuters By David Lague (Reuters) – When Japanese activists scrambled ashore on a disputed island chain in the East China Sea this month, one of China's most hawkish military commentators proposed an uncharacteristically mild response. For a notable hardliner, it was one of the least bellicose reactions he has advocated throughout a series of territorial rows that have soured China's ties with its neighbors in recent months. More typical was General Luo's warning in April that the Chinese navy would "strike hard" if provoked during a dispute with the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. One possible reason for General Luo's restraint, military analysts say, is he knows it could be towards the end of the decade before China can actually deploy the new carrier to the disputed islands or any other trouble spot. Despite public anticipation in China that the carrier — a refitted, Soviet-era vessel bought from Ukraine — will soon become the flagship of a powerful navy, defense experts say it lacks the strike aircraft, weapons, electronics, training and logistical support it needs to become a fighting warship. "There is considerable uncertainty involved, but it could take anything from three to five years," said Carlo Kopp, the Melbourne, Australia based co-founder of Air Power Australia, an independent military think tank. SEA TRIALS The refitted carrier, commonly known by its original name, Varyag, returned to Dalian in northeast China last month after its ninth sea trial, according to reports in the official Chinese media. Some Chinese military researchers had speculated earlier that it would be commissioned into the navy this year. However, senior People's Liberation Army officers have played down these expectations, making it clear the 60,000-tonne carrier was far from operational readiness and would undergo an extensive schedule of trials and exercises. "The Great Wall wasn't built in a day," Colonel Lin Bai from the General Armaments Department, was quoted as saying on official government news websites after the Varyag returned to port. Even when the Varyag is operational, it will only have a limited operational role, mostly for training and evaluation ahead of the anticipated launch of China's first domestically built carriers after 2015, military analysts say. Reports in unofficial Chinese military blogs and websites say China planned to build these carriers at Jiangnan Shipyard's Chanxing Island shipbuilding base near Shanghai. However, professional and amateur analysts who study satellite images of Chinese shipyards have been unable to find any evidence of construction. In its annual report on the Chinese military published earlier this year, the Pentagon said construction may have started on some components of the indigenous carriers. SYMBOL OF BUILD-UP While an effective carrier may be years away, the program has become a symbol of China's three-decade long build-up that has seen a sprawling land-based force with largely obsolete weapons transformed into a trimmed down, better trained military with modern warships and submarines, strike aircraft and an arsenal of precision missiles. For the Chinese navy, the addition of carriers has been a top priority as it builds a force capable of deploying far from the Chinese mainland. Senior commanders have long argued these warships would enhance Beijing's capacity to enforce claims over Taiwan and hotly disputed territories in the South China Sea and East China Sea. Chinese military analysts have speculated the Varyag will be based at China's new naval base at Yalong on the southern tip of Hainan Island, close to the disputed Spratley and Paracel Island groups. Carriers and their long-range strike aircraft would also enhance the PLA's capacity to protect key sea lanes that carry China's massive foreign trade, they say. The commissioning of complex and expensive warships has considerable domestic propaganda value for the ruling Communist Party as a demonstration that China is becoming a top-ranked naval power. The U.S. Navy's fleet of 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers allow it to control vast areas of the earth's surface and airspace. Only a handful of other nations including Britain, France, India and Russia deploy militarily effective carriers. "Aircraft carriers are incomparable and cannot be replaced by other weapons," wrote Senior Captain Li Jie, a researcher at the Chinese Naval Research Institute in an August 21 commentary published on websites linked to the Chinese military. "If a big power wants to become a strong power, it has to develop aircraft carriers." CLOSING TECHNOLOGICAL GAP China originally bought the Varyag in 1998 claiming it wanted to turn the ship, which had been stripped of its engines and anything of military value, into a "floating casino". The extended period of trials and preparations for the carrier suggests it has yet to get it on a wartime footing, let alone close the technological gap with more advanced navies. One major challenge China faces is building a fleet of specialized fixed wing aircraft and helicopters to operate from a carrier's flight deck. China is working on developing a new strike aircraft, designated the J-15, that appears to be a reverse-engineered version of Russia's Su-33 fighter, according to photographs and video footage published on Chinese websites. The Su-33 is the Russian jet that would have flown from the carrier if it had joined the Soviet navy. China already has fully imported and domestically built versions of similar Russian fighters, but experts say adapting flight control software, avionics, weapons, radars and airframes for much more demanding carrier operations is complex and expensive. "There are a whole range of engineering and operational tasks the Chinese need to work through before they have an aircraft they can reliably operate from a carrier," says Kopp, who studied China's aircraft carrier aviation program for a research paper his think tank published earlier this year. What appeared to be a mock-up of the J-15 was seen on the Varyag's flight deck when it berthed at Dalian last month. The Chinese navy is also short of helicopters for anti-submarine warfare, airborne early warning and search and rescue missions, according to Chinese and Western military analysts. CARRIER STRATEGY It also will need to develop a strategy and doctrine for deploying and protecting the carrier on missions far from the Chinese coast, they say. U.S. carriers rely on a screen of supporting surface warships, supply vessels and nuclear attack submarines for protection. China's determination to operate carriers is sending a strong signal about its determination to enforce its territorial claims, analysts say. In a study on China's maritime strategy published earlier this year, Japan's National Institute of Defence Studies, the Japanese military's policy research arm, said basing China's first aircraft carrier at Hainan would shift the balance of power in an area of intense territorial competition. "Should the Varyag be deployed to the South China Fleet, it would enable China to demonstrate its dominant naval power to the disputing states, which in the end could trigger a new arms race in the region," the study said. |
| Posted: 29 Aug 2012 09:09 AM PDT Have You Heard… |
| China Retailers Lose Steam, Deepening Wen’s Challenges Posted: 29 Aug 2012 09:25 AM PDT  Source: Bloomberg News China's retailers from clothing to computers are reporting weaker sales growth, undermining Premier Wen Jiabao's goal of relying more on consumer spending for expansion as the economy cools. The reports show an extra drag on the second-largest economy after export growth almost stalled in July and factory output missed forecasts. The year's fastest decline in industrial companies' earnings and a stock market at a three- year low mean income gains may slow, giving consumers less money to spend and boosting odds Wen will add stimulus. "The pressure on retail sales is growing bigger and bigger," said Shen Jianguang, Hong Kong-based chief Asia economist at Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd. "When exports are fragile and investment is weak, if companies started to reduce their production or workforce, how can it be possible for consumer spending to stay strong?" Retail sales missed economists' forecasts in three of the last four months and Mizuho said they will stay weak. Sales increased 13.1 percent in July from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Aug. 9, compared with the median 13.5 percent estimate of 32 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1 percent to the lowest since Feb. 2, 2009, after companies' reports of profit declines, wiping out yesterday's gain that was the biggest in three weeks. Government Spending The official data include government purchases and aren't adjusted for inflation or broken down by consumer or government spending. Fiscal spending is rising at a faster clip than retail sales, up 37 percent in July from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Finance. After adjusting for prices, retail sales rose 12.2 percent in July and 12.1 percent in June, the NBS said. "Consumers have generally become more conservative in their spending, especially on certain higher-end discretionary products," Natural Beauty Bio-Technology Ltd., which sells skin-care items in China, said in an Aug. 16 filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange. Corporate profits and stock markets may be keys to the direction of consumer spending. China's industrial profits fell in July by the most this year, an Aug. 27 government report showed. A record number of Hong Kong-listed companies since the start of June have predicted lower profit or a loss for a specific period, based on data compiled by Bloomberg News. Shanghai's stock benchmark is close to the lowest level since February 2009. Asian Slowdown Policy makers across Asia may need to consider more stimulus as Europe's debt crisis hits exports and confidence. South Korea's current-account surplus rose to a record in July as imports declined, a government report showed today. In the U.S., the Commerce Department's first revision to second-quarter gross domestic product may show a gain of 1.7 percent compared with an initially reported 1.5 percent increase, according to the Bloomberg survey median. In the first three months of the year, the economy expanded 2 percent. The Federal Reserve releases its Beige Book survey of economic conditions in 12 U.S. districts, two weeks ahead of the Sept. 12-13 policy meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. In Europe, Italy's June retail sales rose 0.4 percent from the previous month and data on German inflation are due, while Brazil's central bank may be poised to cut interest rates for a ninth straight meeting. Wage Headwinds "Consumer spending is decided critically by income, and as we can see, China's industrial profits are falling at a faster speed in July, which means more headwinds for employee compensation, wages and bonuses," said Zhang Zhiwei, chief China economist at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong. "For non- wage income such as investment income from property and stock markets, you don't have to be an expert to tell that most people are actually losing money, so overall consumer disposable income is actually very weak." Retail sales growth may slow another one or two months before a possible rebound next quarter, Zhang said. Wen signaled in March that leaders are determined to cut reliance on exports and capital spending in favor of consumption, saying in a speech to legislators that "expanding domestic demand, particularly consumer demand, which is essential to ensuring China's long-term, steady, and robust economic development, is the focus of our economic work this year." Wang Tao, China economist at UBS AG in Hong Kong, said in a report yesterday that "if protecting growth is a more important short-term goal, rebalancing will have to wait." Stimulus Efforts The People's Bank of China cut interest rates in June and July for the first time since 2008 and has lowered banks' reserve requirements three times starting in November. Authorities have accelerated approval of projects and local governments have announced trillions of yuan of investment- spending goals in the next few years. Shares of Parkson, based in Beijing with shares listed in Hong Kong, fell 6.5 percent on Aug. 27, the most since October, following the Aug. 24 report of slowing sales. Barclays Plc analysts cut their rating on the company to "underweight" from "overweight" and said earnings in the next 12 months are likely to "remain lackluster." At Parkson's seven-floor Beijing store located across the street from the central bank's headquarters, Li Ruidong said yesterday that he's cut back on shopping there and prefers low- end malls to Parkson, whose luxury brands include Armani, Cartier and Hermes. Catching Up "My salary can't catch up with the rise in prices, and I have a daughter to feed," said Li, 39, a bank employee. Zhang Hong, a 42-year-old housewife who lives near the store, said she likes to try clothes on at Parkson, then purchase the items online. "I only buy coffee and eat McDonald's here," Zhang said. Wholesale deliveries of passenger vehicles gained 11 percent to 1.12 million units in July, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said Aug. 9, compared with the 1.16 million average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Changchun-based FAW Car Co., which makes passenger cars with Volkswagen AG, said yesterday it swung to a loss in the first half as sales fell 35 percent. Hengdeli Holdings Ltd. (3389) of Hong Kong, the retail partner of Swatch Group AG in China, said last week it expects sales growth to slow in the second half as shoppers curb spending on luxury watches. Growth Engine Consumer spending may still contribute more to expansion than other parts of the economy. Compared with volatility in exports and investment, consumption is still a "stable growth engine," said Zhu Haibin, the chief China economist with JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Hong Kong. Zhang Ping, the head of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic-planning agency, said the nation's growth is stabilizing and policy measures are bearing fruit, the official Xinhua News Agency reported today. Some companies are counting on the government to aid revenue. Trinity Ltd., the high-end menswear retailer that sells Gieves & Hawkes and Cerruti in China, expects sales to accelerate next year as authorities take steps to boost growth, Managing Director Sunny Wong said Aug. 23. Parkson said China has room to "further adjust its macroeconomic policies." At the same time, "consumer confidence has weakened as the overall economic outlook is uncertain," Zhu said. "The biggest problem at present is weak domestic demand — if policy efforts can boost corporate sector investment and profitability, consumption may come naturally." |
| Death toll from capsized Chinese fishing boats off S. Korea up to 7 Posted: 29 Aug 2012 03:54 AM PDT TWO more bodies have been pulled out of waters off South Korea's southern island of Jeju after two Chinese fishing ships capsized yesterday in the wake of Typhoon Bolaven, the coast guard said today. The bodies were found near the wreckage earlier in the day, raising the death toll to seven, according to spokesman Ko Chang- keon of the Seogwipo Coast Guar. Eight people remain missing. The coast guard rescued 12 fishermen, and six others swam or were washed ashore. Search efforts involving a helicopter and patrol boats will continue for the missing if circumstances permit, Ko said, as another typhoon is lumbering toward South Korea. Typhoon Bolaven, the hardest to hit South Korea in almost a decade, left 17 people dead, including the seven Chinese fishermen, after battering the country yesterday with strong winds and heavy rain as it moved along the west coast of the country. The powerful storm cut off power to hundreds of thousands of South Koreans, damaged property, and temporarily halted a major joint exercise between South Korean and US forces. South Korea is now on watch for another typhoon, Tembin, expected to bring downpours and gale-force winds to the country starting Thursday. The typhoon will pummel the country with downpours of more than 30 mm per hour, and in some regions, such as the south and west coasts as well as parts of Jeju island, heavy rainfalls of 150 mm are projected, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). |
| Posted: 29 Aug 2012 02:40 AM PDT People try to lift a taxi from a 3-meter-deep pit in a road in Handan, north China's Hebei Province. The road collapsed suddenly this morning and swallowed the passing car. The taxi driver and a passenger have been sent to a hospital for examination while an investigation is going on to find the cause of the cave-in. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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