Rail Links From China To South East Asia’s Blue Water Ports

BBC is carrying a story for no apparent reason about the upgrading and expansion of railways in Southeast Asia. What caught this Bystander’s eye was how many of the proposed and improved lines radiate from China.
One is a line from Guangzhou to Hanoi being funded by the Asian Development Bank and France. Another is a [...]

Work Starts On China’s Tallest Building

Real estate market slump or no, construction has started on what will become China’s tallest building when it is completed in 2014.
The 632-meter Shanghai Center in the city’s Lujiazui financial center will tower over the Jin Mao Tower and the newly opened Shanghai World Financial Center by 212 meters and 140 meters respectively. Those are [...]

Gome’s Huang Mystery Deepens

The mystery surrounding Huang Guangyu, founder and chairman of retail chain Gome Electrical Appliances (see “Gome’s Huang MIA“), has taken a further twist.
The day after Beijing police confirmed that Huang, 39 and China’s second richest man, was under investigation for unspecified economic crimes, the company said its chief financial officer, Zhou Yafei, was also being [...]

More Taxi Driver Protests Break Out

Chaozhou in Guangdong has joined a lengthening list of cities where taxi drivers have staged protests, many of which have turned violent (here via BBC).
The Chaozhou protests are over unlicensed cabs operating in the city, about which, the taxi drivers complain, the authorities have done nothing. Earlier this week drivers in Guangzhou threw bricks at [...]

China’s Growth Slowdown Accelerating In November

Red flag on the economy raised by Zhang Ping, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission: economic indicators for November are showing an accelerating rate of slowdown in growth. Zhang was speaking at a press conference following the announcement of the 108 basis points cut in interest rates. “The crisis is spreading all over [...]

China Cuts Interest Rates For Fourth Time

China’s newly announced cut in interest rates, to 5.58% from 6.66% for the central bank’s one-year benchmark rate, to take effect on Thursday, is the fourth cut since mid-September and biggest since the Asian financial crisis in 1997. The People’s Bank of China has also lowered the reserve requirements it imposes on banks, by 1% [...]

New Rail Line To Xinjiang To Be Built

A concrete infrastructure spending proposal: 120 billion yuan to build a 1,900 kilometer passenger rail line to from Gansu to Xinjiang, Xinhua repots. The new line will run parallel to the existing Lanxin railway, which will be turned over to freight exclusively, easing a bottleneck to the transport of Xinjiang’s oil, coal and cotton to [...]

BHP Billiton Drops Rio Tinto Bid Cheering Steelmakers

A rare piece of good news for China’s beleaguered steelmakers: BHP Billiton is walking away from its bid for Rio Tinto. Aluminum Corp. of China, Chinalco and other Chinese steelmakers were among the most outspoken about fears that the combination of two of the largest natural resources companies would have too much control over iron [...]

Gome’s Huang MIA

What has happened to Huang Guangyu, chairman and founder of retailer Gome Electrical Appliances, China’s second-richest man and no stranger to financial scandal?
The company issued a statement (.pdf) to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today saying in effect that it hadn’t a clue. Gome suspended trading in its shares before the market opened.
Huang, 39, who [...]

China’s Provinces Throw Billions Into Stimulus Pot, Nicely Cooking The Numbers

The muddied details of China’s 4 trillion yuan stimulus measures announced earlier this month became no clearer with reports by state broadcaster CCTV that projects planned by provincial governments will add 10 trillion yuan to the pot. Among stimulus measures announced in the past week, CCTV said, were 3 trillion yuan to be spent by [...]