"The majority of Chinese entrepreneurs don't realize the true lucrative potential in intellectual capital such as intellectual property, brainpower and corporate culture," Wang Liwen, secretary general of the China National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Forum. Wang made the remarks while briefing journalists on the upcoming fourth Symposium on China-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Entrepreneurs Exchanges.

    SMEs in China, which are mainly developing labor-intensive industries, are deemed a high risk in the financial crisis because they are vulnerable to fluctuations in external demand and lacked brand consciousness, Wang said. <...]]> Business Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:02:37 +0800 /articles/08/1122/163713/MTYzNzEzOiyGBnP6.html ]]> Business Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:02:31 +0800 /articles/08/1122/163712/MTYzNzEyeFgzLEy9.html     BEIJING, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said Friday it would conduct more checks of listed companies in a bid to avoid malpractice in stock trading.

    Majority shareholders of listed companies, relevant parties involved in mergers and acquisitions and securities brokers would all be subject to examinations, the CSRC said in a draft revision.

    In the past, local regulators would only examine listed companies when monitoring stock trading practices, according to regulation published in 2001.

    CSRC also said future examination would focus on corporate governance and information disclosure of listed companies, in order to avoid insider trading and price manipulation to protect the interests of small investors.

    Also Friday, the regulator announced huge fines for companies and individuals for p...]]> Business Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:02:25 +0800 /articles/08/1122/163711/MTYzNzExNoRPiNAU.html     URUMQI, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- A huge coalfield with 23 billion tonnes in reserve has been discovered in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the regional land resources department announced on Friday

    The coalfield, about 800 meters underground, covers an area of more than 300 sq km in Shanshan County in the Turpan Basin.

    The coal reserve, rich in low-sulfur steam coal, is close to the Lanzhou (Gansu's capital) - Xinjiang railway, the only rail line connecting Xinjiang to the inland cities.

    It is also 800 km nearer to China's inland than the region's largest Zhundong coal production base, which could cut transportation cost by 40 yuan (5.8 U.S. dollars) per tonne.

    Xinjiang, with estimated coal reserves of 1.82 trillion to 2.19trillion tons, has 40.5 percent of China's total coal reserves. With an annual product...]]> Business Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:02:16 +0800 /articles/08/1122/163707/MTYzNzA3s24Z0Zri.html By Jellymon

Creative Social, an event organized by digital agency Profero, is a gathering of creative directors from advertising agencies from around the world and is taking place in Shanghai this week.

Jellymon was asked to speak at the event with a host of other interesting local creative types including, DJ V-Nutz (V-Nutz organized a mashup of Chinese traditional music and hip hop), Dodo, a product designer, 23 year old Hong Kong film maker Heiward Mak who’s first feature film High Noon has just been released and Journalist and Shanghai historian Stella Dong who’s known for her book Shanghai: the Rise and Fall of a Decadent City.

We were asked to put together a little exhibition featuring 4 local brands Inky, CHairMAN, MRKT by TWOFS and At.Between. We also picked three Chinese artists/designers to work with on our New School Nankeen Sheets. The term Blue Nankeen describes a type of hand-printed fabric of artistic refinement and primitive simplici...]]> Business Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:21:13 +0800 /articles/08/1121/163692/MTYzNjkytL9olb9s.html The tiny Shanghai English-language media scene is abuzz with gossips and rumours over just what is going to happen to SH Mag next. Asia City, the publisher of SH which owns similar magazines in regional cities like Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, has apparently put up a "FOR SALE" sign over the magazine.

It seems the news isn't such a tight-lipped secret anymore because a copy of the media kit that they've been showing to interested buyers somehow made its way to our mailbox anonymously. We looked through the five page document, and it looks like a "sale" isn't exactly the best word to describe what Asia City is looking at. The buyer will be expected to keep the SH branding and format (as well as SH's wonderfully fugly "new" website which Asia City will continue to host), and will produce local content with the "guidance" of Asia City which will also provide other things like regional content and image libraries.

And, oh, all that is going really ...]]> Business Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:40:07 +0800 /articles/08/1121/163670/MTYzNjcwlQqaiQjE.html Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

    The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.72 percent to 1,969 points, while the Shenzhen Component Index rose 0.22 percent to 6,711 points.

    Combined turnover eased to 121.445 billion yuan (17.34 billion U.S. dollars) from the previous day's 127.427 yuan.

    Losses outnumbered gains by 608 to 240 in Shanghai and 557 to 163 in Shenzhen.

    The Shanghai index opened lower, tracking a sharp overnight decline on Wall Street, but rebounded in the afternoon as property stocks rose. It weakened in the final half hour or so of trade.

    The volatility indicated that investor sentiment was boosted by rises in regional markets and expe...]]> Business Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:03:24 +0800 /articles/08/1121/163669/MTYzNjY5mSrpba66.html     MACAO, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Macao's inflation rate, as measured by the Composite Consumer Price Index (CPI), eased to 8.82 percent in October from 9.07 percent of the previous month this year, according to the figures released on Friday by the city's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

    Macao's inflation rate for October 2007 was 6.18 percent.

    The DSEC figures showed that the Composite CPI for October 2008 stood at 126.76, of which the price indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages; health; clothing and footwear soared by 17.72 percent, 14 percent and 7.41 percent year-on-year respectively.

    Among the subgroups of Food and non-alcoholic beverages, notable increase was observed in the prices of rice (65.54 percent), fresh beef (56.56 percent), canned meat (47.92 percent), fresh fish (30.10 percent), vegetables (27.38 percent) and f...]]> Business Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:03:18 +0800 /articles/08/1121/163668/MTYzNjY4OI8Qp4KB.html Business Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:27:46 +0800 /articles/08/1121/163635/MTYzNjM1Z0oM65O1.html Business Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:14:04 +0800 /articles/08/1121/163626/MTYzNjI2VAjAcdir.html     HONG KONG, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong and Peru signed a Cooperation Arrangement on Trade and Investment Facilitation on Thursday in Peru, a press release from the Information Services Department of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said on Friday.

    According to the press release, Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Rita Lau signed the cooperation arrangement with Peruvian Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Mercedes Araoz Fernandez. The signing ceremony took place at the margins of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation's Ministerial Meeting in Lima, Peru.

    Lau said both sides had concluded the cooperation arrangement following the signing of the Joint Statement on Strengthening Trade and Economic Relations between the two economies on May 30.     

    "The successful signing of the coo...]]> Business Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:02:57 +0800 /articles/08/1121/163618/MTYzNjE41apXJtQx.html Business Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:59:38 +0800 /articles/08/1121/163609/MTYzNjA5apoEVmge.html Latest clip from our favourite satire site The Onion:The curmudgeonly Poyuan Wei thinks the only thing wrong with the Chinese Government is that they are not tough enough on dissidents.

The CPI revealed some welcome relief in core inflation (excluding food and energy prices) in October that mitigates some of the upside surprises through midyear, while continued weakness in starts and permits through October reflects the deteriorating conditions for new home builders.

Here is Action Economics' rundown of the Nov. 19 reports:

The U.S. CPI report, with its big 1.0% October headline drop and surprising 0.1% core drop as well, revealed a pull-back in the headline year-over-year gain to 3.7% from 4.9%, alongside a decline in the year-over-year core pric...]]> Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:49:09 +0800 /articles/08/1121/163551/MTYzNTUxIhonoKhe.html Raw footage from NoCommentTV of President Hu's recent trip to Cuba as part of his ongoing whirlwind tour across Latin America. Many Chinese students and future diplomats receive their Spanish language training in Cuba. In return for a performance item put up by Chinese students singing Guantanamera, Raul Castro (brother of Fidel Castro) took centrestage and sang The East is Red《东方红》which he says he learnt in 1953. The song lauds Mao Zedong as saviour of the Chinese people and was once China's de facto national anthem during the Cultural Revolution. Castro sure has lots to sing for. Yesterday's China Daily reported that China has deferred for 10 years an unspecified trade debt Cuba accumulated in 1995, and made an additional $80 million donation toward its hospital modernisation programme.

For those of you that are interested, the lyrics and English translation of The East is Red follow after the jump:

东方红，太阳升， 中国出了个毛...]]> Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:28:46 +0800 /articles/08/1121/163529/MTYzNTI5LcguR8wH.html     HONG KONG, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's year-on-year consumer price growth drop to 1.8 percent in October mainly due to the government's relief measures, the Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong said Thursday.

    The department said underlying inflation dropped to 5.9 percent, mainly reflecting the tapering of food and energy price inflation.

    With international commodity prices retreating and the U.S. dollar strengthening, inflationary pressures from the external front are receding, the department said. These factors, coupled with the slowdown in domestic demand and the Hong Kong government's relief measures, should lead to progressive easing in inflation.

    Food prices, excluding meals bought away from home, recorded a 14.9 percent year-on-year increase, with the price of rice rising by 55.1 percent, beef by 28 percent,...]]> Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:02:24 +0800 /articles/08/1121/163528/MTYzNTI4X4fXflhv.html     Hong Kong, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Asian economies are not immune and will not be entirely spared from the effects of the global economic slowdown, Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) Executive Director Hans Genberg said Thursday, hoping the pledge made by G20leaders followed by concrete actions.

    "Our integration with and dependence on the wider world economy is such that we must hope the pledge made by all G20 leaders at their meeting last weekend in Washington will be followed up by concrete actions to stabilize the world's financial markets, to stimulate aggregate demand for goods and services, and to keep an open international trading system," Genberg said in the HKMA's weekly Viewpoint column.

    He said the close link between the region's economic fortunes and those of the United States and Europe stands in sharp contrast to predictions made.

    Noting th...]]> Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:02:17 +0800 /articles/08/1121/163527/MTYzNTI3e1ujtLW8.html     BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC)said here on Thursday the quota on cocoons and certain silk thread products will be removed starting January 1, 2009.

    According to a statement on the MOC website, related exporters no longer need to apply for an export quota license when the policy becomes effective.

    The 2008 quota was 26,000 tons for silk threads and 300 tons for cocoons.

    The move is expected to boost silk and cocoon sales in light of an economic slowdown in the Chinese textile industry.

The EconomyXinhua: China lobbies against protectionism at APEC summitFT: China on the verge of FTA with PeruReuters: China, Cuba rework debtAFP: China Eastern and China Southern Airlines get bailed outIHT: Chinese automakers look for their own bailoutThe Guardian: China to reform fuel taxesAP: Job outlook in China 'grim'

Civil UnrestThe Telegraph: Rioters attack police in GansuBBC: Protestors in Gansu up in arms over land claimsAP: Two police officers arrested after student beaten to deathChina Daily: Chongqing taxi drivers strike againXinhua: 400 petitioners descend on Beijing's City Hall

Melamine ScandalUSA Today: US opens FDA office in BeijingForbes: Beijing to help dairy industry outNYT: China tightens dairy industry regulations

Free SpeechCS Monitor: Tibetan writer takes on BeijingThe Guardian: Did the Olympics help free speech in China?IHT: China lifts its policy on suppressing negative newsIHT: China tries to be more tran...]]> Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:19:00 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163504/MTYzNTA0bvkeaBV9.html Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:50:28 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163501/MTYzNTAxz2cIbUcN.html Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:17:51 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163494/MTYzNDk05B6yul9l.html For those planning on hibernating this winter, it just got easier to add those crucial extra layers of fat. Dunkin' Donuts just opened in Shanghai, much to the delight of Marc van der Chijs and probably many other people. SH mag says, "This is supposed to be store number one of one hundred." SH also suggests our city might be in the midst of a "donut war." Aussie brand Donut King opened this month, as well. Our money is on the Americans.

Dunkin' Donuts546 Fuzhou Lu, near Hubei Lu福州路546号, 近湖北路

Donut King1649 Nanjing Xi Lu, near Huashan Lu南京西路1649号, 近华山路

Sadly, we couldn't find the classic "It's time to make the donuts" commercial. Hopefully the embedded one will do.

Performers:LI li - pipa (琵琶)LIU zhen - erhu (二胡)LU cong - dizi (笛子)MA jiajun - erhu (二胡)Gene JACKSON - drumsBob JAMES - pianoTetsuo SAKURAI - bassJack LEE - guitarXIA tao - gu qin (古琴)

Tickets are available at JZ Club or through Smart Shanghai, and are 100, 200, 300, 400, or 500 kuai. There will also be tickets for sale at the door.

Start time: 7:30pm (2 sets of approx 1 hour with 15 minute break)Friday 21 November 2008Shanghai Centre Theatre南京西路1376号710室1376 Nanjing Road West, Suite 710Tel: 6279-8600

...]]> Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:35:37 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163492/MTYzNDky93E999BQ.html Adam Schokora of Danwei points us to this audio recording of a "disgruntled customer lecturing a telephone operator at a well-known, city-wide food delivery company based in Shanghai". Do a bit of research and you'll find there's only one food delivery company in town that delivers Blue Frog and it happens to be an advertiser on Shanghaiist. Does the voice of this douchebag sound familiar to any of you readers out there? We say unleash the foreign internet mobsters on this guy!

    The new projects, and those already announced, total 67 billion yuan (9.8 billion U.S. dollars) of investment over the coming five years in the world-famous scenic city, the local government said on Thursday.

    The new projects announced include 165 km of expressways within the city and the upgrading of the local airport, said an official of the city's development and reform commission, which are in addition to the construction of 401 km of railways.

    The central government previously announced that railway lines will be built within Huangshan city totaling 150 km of the Beijing-Fuzhou high speed railway, 147 km of the ...]]> Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:03:03 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163446/MTYzNDQ2AWuXyv27.html     BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- China has been studying a fuel tax reform to replace the current road tolls imposed upon vehicles, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner, announced here on Thursday.

    The announcement came after media reports said on Wednesday that the government was likely to impose the fuel tax as early as next month.

    The NDRC together with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport has jointly held discussions on related issues including abolishing road and waterway maintenance fees, lowering refined oil prices and improving the fuel pricing system.

    The planner didn't specify when to launch the long-awaited reform.

    The introduction of a fuel tax in China was first proposed in 1994 but has been delayed amid concerns that it would impose too great a...]]> Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:02:57 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163445/MTYzNDQ16yTmIdZb.html Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

    BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- China has earmarked another 1 billion yuan (147 million U.S. dollars) to be spent in the fourth quarter, which ends in about six weeks, to improve rural reproductive health care programs.

    The money represents previously planned spending that is being brought forward to the fourth quarter, as part of government efforts to boost the economy amid global economic and financial turmoil.

    The funds will be used to upgrade medical equipment in reproductive health care centers and improve family planning services, pre- and post-natal care and disease prevention, Wang Pei'an, deputy director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC), said on Thursday.

    The central government has already allocated 400 million yuan this year for reproductive he...]]> Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:02:50 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163444/MTYzNDQ0XRs0xc92.html     HAIKOU, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- China opened a new bonded harbor on Thursday in a major step toward a free trade zone operation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

    The Yangpu Bonded Harbor Area is China's fourth such facility to have preferential tax rates. The harbor, with a first phase of 2.3 sq. km., will cover 9.21 sq. km. when its three stages are completed. It is located in the Yangpu Economic Development Zone (YEDZ), in south China's Hainan Province. It has passed an inspection by the General Administration of Customs.

    The three other bonded harbor areas are in Yangshan of Shanghai, Dongjiang of Tianjin and Dayaowan of Dalian, Liaoning Province.

    Speaking at a ceremony to launch the Yangpu port, Vice Governor Jiang Sixian promised to make good use of policies involving the port and help turn Hainan into a fre...]]> Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:02:44 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163443/MTYzNDQzaDt7FxR0.html Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

     HONG KONG, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong stocks dipped 517.24 points, or 4.04 percent, to close at 12,298.56 on Thursday.

    Turnover moved up to 44.62 billion HK dollars (5.76 billion U.S. dollars) from Wednesday's 38.91 billion HK dollars (5.03 billion U. S. dollars).

    BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's Human Resources and Social Security Minister Yin Weimin described Thursday the country's employment situation as "grim", noting that adverse effect of the global crisis on employment may further unfold.

    The worsening global economic situation had weighed upon the country's employment since October, with unemployment occurred at some enterprises, especially labor-intensive small and medium-sized ones, when they were shut down or halted operation, Yin told a press conference here.

    The minister expected the country's employment would face more difficulties in the first quarter of next year, but improvement was expected in the second quarter when government measures to boost domestic demand began to take effect.

    He also said labor unrest was ...]]> Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:02:25 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163404/MTYzNDA0VTleL0KJ.html Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

    BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese equities outperformed regional markets in Thursday's morning trade, buoyed by rises in telecom and textile shares.

    The benchmark Shanghai index lost 1.2 percent to finish at 1,993.2 points, and the smaller Shenzhen index advanced 0.53 percent to 6,715.48, compared to losses of more than five percent in Hong Kong and Japan after an overnight plummet on Wall Street.

    Textile companies mostly rose after the country's cabinet said late Wednesday it would further increase tax rebates for light industry to alleviate cost burdens on exporters.

    The Shanghai-based Sinotex Investment & Development surged 9.88percent to 3.56 yuan. The Shenzhen-listed China Garments rose 4.51percent to 2.78 yuan.

    The telecom sector continued to...]]> Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:02:15 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163403/MTYzNDAzKM7xM02z.html Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:33:02 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163402/MTYzNDAyfdN3rH0y.html Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:51:41 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163400/MTYzNDAwdHFVwG5V.html Business Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:57:28 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163391/MTYzMzkxFxXtFtUe.html Via Andrew Sullivan we learn of this extraordinary project:

Here is a basic search for Shanghai. And for China. And, while we're at it, Beijing and Peking. You can get a lot more specific than that, too. For example this search will show you guys playing football on People's Square.

The photos are all in fairly large formats, too (with a watermark in the corner). Perfect for computer desktops.

A word of warning: If you were planning on getting some real work done today, do not click on any of the links above. The collection is fascinating, and sucks you in.

Post links to your favorite photos in a comment.

    BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's share prices opened 2 percent lower on Thursday, following a more than five-percent overnight plummet on the Wall Street.

    The Shanghai Composite Index opened at 1,977.21 points, down 40.27 points, or 2.0 percent, from the previous close.

More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here).

    Individuals close to Beijing's top decision-making circles told China Daily on condition of anonymity that the new pricing measures are already laid out to replace the old ones nationwide.    "The aim is to complete China's fuel tax reform and to encourage energy conservation and emission control," they said. "So despite the short-term ups and downs in oil prices in the global market, one cannot expect a long-term downward trend in oil prices in China."

    Up to now, China's crude oil prices are determined by the global market forces but its prices for refined oil products have remained under government regulation.

(Source: China Daily)

    The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Ministry of Supervision issued a circular here Wednesday, planning to address problems that harmed farmers' interests.

    The CCDI and ministry will supervise related government departments so they don't harm farmers interests when they handle cases of subcontracting farmland usage rights, the circular said.

    Farmland in China is owned by the state, but farmers can use the land by signing contracts which mean they must pay a certain amount of the land's output.

    The CPC had just issued a new policy document in mid October to allow farmers to "lease their contracte...]]> Business Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:02:37 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163305/MTYzMzA12NlzSNw9.html     BEIJING, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- A senior official of the Communist Party of China on Wednesday urged relevant departments to clear up long-delayed court verdicts to maintain social stability in face of the global financial crisis.

    "To execute the verdicts is in urgent demand for tackling the global financial crisis and to boost economic development," said Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee at a tele-conference.

    It will also help ease social conflicts and maintain social stability, Zhou said.

    If cases were delayed because the verdicts were not appropriate, they should be corrected first, he noted.

    Officials found to be corrupt will be severely punished, he said.

    China started an eight-month campaign Wednesday to clear up a backlog ...]]> Business Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:02:29 +0800 /articles/08/1120/163304/MTYzMzA0vuKf6VMq.html     BEIJING, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Tax rebates for China's light industry should be increased to alleviate cost burdens on exporters, the cabinet said here on Wednesday.

    China also plans to remove unreasonable administrative fees and charges on industry players, and offer more, said a statement released after the executive meeting of the State Council presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.

    Through the foreign trade development fund, set up by the central government, active assistance will be made to boost exports and help companies' promotion and acquisition efforts in the international market, members said at the meeting.

    The tax rebate rate has been raised three times this year in China. The most recent increase came Monday. It covered a list of 3,770 items which account for 27.9 percent of the country's total exports.

    Items inc...]]> Business Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:02:21 +0800