Monthly Archives: January 2011

Footage Of China’s First Aircraft Carrier

Footage has appeared on the internet said to be the disused aircraft carrier hull China bought from Russia in 1998 and has been fitting out in Dalian. Work on the 58,500-ton Varyag appears to have been progressing rapidly. In the second … Continue reading

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Filed under Defence

Central Bank Announces 2011 Monetary Growth Target

The central bank has put some hard numbers on the switch it announced at the end of last year to more prudent monetary policy. The People’s Bank of China, in its quarterly monetary policy report, says it wants to slow … Continue reading

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Filed under Economy

North China Plain Drought Leaves Millions Facing Water Shortages

The three months of drought across the North China Plain is now leaving millions short of drinking water, Xinhua reports, and there are concerns the situation will worsen. The lack of rain has affected the wheat growing belt across six … Continue reading

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Revolt In Egypt. Who Knew?

Two days of street protests in Egypt calling for the ousting of President Hosni Murbarak are proving troubling for Beijing’s propaganda meisters. They follow a similar popular revolt in Tunisia that overthrew the government. Our man in London reports that … Continue reading

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Unintended Consequences Of Yuan Revaluation

Our man with his ear to the ground moving and shaking the global elite at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos sends word that amidst a general half-glass full/glass half empty sentiment towards China’s commitment to revaluing its … Continue reading

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Filed under China-U.S., China-Vietnam, Economy

Some China Cities Slowly Getting Greener

Urbanization and industrialization is a filthy business. Industry pollutes. More of it just pollutes more. As nation after nation has gone through the industrialization phase of rapid development, each has had to trade-off the benefits of growth and their environmental … Continue reading

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Filed under Environment

Dragon Mother To American Dream Mom

This is why we love the interconnected world. Dragon mother Amy Chua, the Yale University law professor whose book on alpha-mom parenting, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, has whipped up such a storm of controversy and publicity in the … Continue reading

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Filed under Politics & Society

China’s Next-Gen Multinationals

For the past five years, Boston Consulting Group, a management consulting firm, has published an annual list of 100 companies from emerging economies that it reckons have the potential to become multinationals. All of what it calls its global challengers are fast … Continue reading

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Filed under industry

China and America’s Stealth Fighters: Spot The Difference

China may have reversed engineered the J-20 stealth fighter it has been ostentatiously leaking pictures of in recent weeks from a U.S. F-117 stealth jet shot down by Serbia in 1999 while on NATO duty during the Kosovo war. That … Continue reading

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Filed under China-U.S.

China’s Open Throttle

Quite how fast is China’s economy growing? The Financial Times’s Lex column run’s Li Keqiang’s informal but crunchy measures of economic growth, the ones mentioned in a Wikileaked U.S. embassy cable from 2007: electricity consumption, rail cargo volume and bank … Continue reading

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