Foreign Journalists in China See Decline in Reporting Conditions

Andrew Jacobs
New York Times
Conditions for foreign journalists working in China have gone from bad to worse over the past year, according to a report issued on Friday by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China.

In China, a Search for Oscar Contenders

Edward Wong
New York Times
A film from mainland China has yet to win an Oscar, and Chinese officials are eager for the cultural validation that the award brings.

Media

09.10.14

iPhone 6: Designed in California, Leaked in China

David Wertime
China’s cyberspace is bursting with anticipation for the iPhone 6—never mind that it promises to cost more than most citizens make in a month. Apple, the U.S.-based company that designs and sells the iPhone, had scheduled a major announcement about...

Alibaba Begins Wooing Wall Street

Michael J. De La Merced
New York Times
On Monday, Ma, the company’s executive chairman and co-founder, told a crowd of more than 800 potential investors gathered for the first big marketing pitch for Alibaba’s initial public offering, that he was back to ask for a little more money.

Could China’s Anti-Japan Propaganda Hurt Alibaba’s Image at Home?

Offbeat China
With Alibaba's IPO price set between $60 to $66, the company’s market valuation could hit as much as $200 billion, if everything goes as planned.

Xi Calls for More Strategic Trust Between China, U.S.

Xinhua
Xi said China stands ready to build a new model of major-country relations with the United States based on non-confrontation, non-conflict, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

Cameroon’s Illegal Timber Finds a Market in China

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
Cameroon’s rain forests are rapidly vanishing due to widespread corruption, according to a new report from Greenpeace Africa. The environmental activist group alleges that much of the illegally-harvested timber from Cameroon ends up in China where...

U.S. Group Says China Could Be Violating Trade Accords

Neil Gough
New York Times
The US Chamber of Commerce, which is based in Washington, raises the possibility of a new approach to China’s increasingly vigilant antitrust actions: lodging a complaint at the World Trade Organization, which China joined in 2001.

National Security Adviser Susan Rice in China at Fraught Point in Relationship

Associated Press
Rice said Obama still considered China to be a priority and that her primary reason for coming to Beijing was to hammer out the agenda for the November meeting between Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Jack Ma Way

David Barboza
New York Times
At Alibaba, the founder Is squarely in charge ahead of the e-commerce giant's U.S. initial public offering.

For Australia, a Celebration of China in Theme Park Form

Bree Feng
New York Times
Get ready for Chappypie China Time, a $500 million, 39-acre Chinese culture theme park that aims to bring Australia a replica of the Forbidden City.

Can Frank Underwood Beat China’s Censors?

Adam Minter
Bloomberg
At first glance, the Chinese government’s announcement of regulations restricting foreign programming that can be shown on Chinese streaming-video sites would appear to be very bad news for business.

China Eases Credit Rules for Some Property Developers

Esther Fung
Wall Street Journal
The biggest of China's some 85,000 property developers are the only ones likely to benefit from this credit loosening. Authorities have been trying to streamline the number of companies as part of economic overhauls.

As Its Initial Offering Nears, Alibaba Gets Ready for a Splashy Debut

Michael J. De La Merced
New York Times
The Chinese Internet commerce giant's whirlwind tour, which will encompass 100 meetings in 10 days, will begin not in Hong Kong but in New York, where shares of the company are expected to begin trading on Sept. 19

The Struggle for Hong Kong

Economist
The territory’s citizens must not give up demanding full democracy—for their sake and for China’s.

Culture

09.04.14

‘Transformers 4’ May Pander to China, But America Still Wins

Ying Zhu
Hollywood made news this summer with the China triumph of Transformers: Age of Extinction, which broke all previous Chinese box office records. The Chinese box office even outsold the North American box office. But jubilation over the film’s...

Environment

09.04.14

Alibaba Founder Shoots Himself in the Foot with UK Hunting Trip

from chinadialogue
Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce platform Alibaba and chairman of The Nature Conservancy’s China Program, has drawn hostile fire from environmentalists after a British newspaper recently reported he hunted stags in Scotland in 2012. What’s more, Ma...

China Website Editors ‘Held for Extortion’

Damian Grammaticus
BBC
Eight people from the 21st Century financial news website and public relations firms were being investigated, Xinhua news agency said.

Caixin Media

09.03.14

Beijing Must Address Claims of Anti-Foreign Bias

Once mocked as a “toothless tiger,” China’s anti-monopoly law is finally demonstrating some bite, six years after it took effect.The three agencies responsible for enforcing it—the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of...

Conversation

09.02.14

Hong Kong—Now What?

David Schlesinger, Mei Fong & more
David Schlesinger:Hong Kong’s tragedy is that its political consciousness began to awaken precisely at the time when its leverage with China was at its lowest ebb.Where once China needed Hong Kong as an entrepôt, legal center, financial center,...

Rosneft Proposes Chinese Company Take Stake in Russian Oilfield

Jack Farchy and Lucy Hornby
Financial Times
Rosneft is proposing that China take a stake in one of its largest oilfields—a deal that would deepen energy ties between Moscow and Beijing at a time when the future of western companies in Russia is uncertain.

China Opposes Proposed EU Sanctions Against Russia

Sui-Lee Wee
Reuters
EU proposed sanctions against Russia over accusations Moscow was sending troops into Ukrainian territory, saying the European Union's push to draw up more measures would only complicate the crisis.

China Targeting Foreign Companies, American Chamber Says

Scott Lanman
Bloomberg
China is targeting foreign companies with opaque laws and rules, according to a group representing U.S. businesses there, contributing to a deteriorating environment for investment in the nation.

China-Africa Trade May Be Booming, But Big Problems Loom

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
Trade between China and Africa will break another new record this year as it’s expected to top $200 billion. As trade continues to grow, officials from both regions frequently point to these figures as evidence of steadily improving ties. However,...

China’s Toilet Paper Makers Flush With Cash

Shu-ching Jean Chen
Forbes
China’s invention of toilet paper in the 6th century, came well ahead of the availability of modern toilet paper in the United States, where inventor Joseph Gayetty first marketed it in 1857.

Sinica Podcast

08.29.14

Ghost Cities to Luxury Malls

Jeremy Goldkorn from Sinica Podcast
Remember the good old days when people didn't talk obsessively about real estate and housing prices, and dinner parties would feature conversations about art? Well, so do we, but with those days long gone we're delighted to host two...

Viewpoint

08.28.14

China’s Nicaraguan Canal

Carlos F. Chamorro
While Nicaragua was once a central concern—indeed, almost an obsession—of Washington, as Sandinistas and Contras seemed to be battling for the soul of the Western Hemisphere, in more recent times our small and quite impoverished country has slipped...

Massive Chinese Mining Deal in DRC Back on Track

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
The controversial Sino-Congolese mining deal Sicomines has been revived thanks to new financing from China's Exim Bank. This is one of Beijing's biggest natural resources-for-infrastructure deals in Africa. If successful, the deal would...

China Considering $16 Billion for Electric-Vehicle Chargers

Bloomberg
Increased state funding would be a tailwind for carmakers coping with consumer concerns over the price, reliability and convenience of electric vehicles. 

China to Allow Foreign Ownership of Hospitals

Fanfan Wang
Wall Street Journal
China will let foreign companies own and operate hospitals in some parts of the country as part of an effort to overhaul its health-care system.

Culture

08.27.14

Standing Up for Indie Film in China

Jonathan Landreth
In July, Transformers: Age of Extinction, the fourth in the action-packed series of Hollywood films about trucks turning into giant robots to save the world, became the first film to sell more than $300 million in tickets at China’s box office...

China’s Movie Industry: All That Glitters Isn’t Gold

Jeongwen Qiang and Chen Lin
Forbes
If we just looked at their success, on the surface, the Chinese film industry appears to be flourishing; but there is some cause for concern.

Beijing Independent Film Festival Shut Down by Chinese Authorities

Jonathan Kaiman
Guardian
Organizers forced to sign documents promising not to hold festival, as China's crackdown on freedom of speech continues.

Trust-busting in China

Economist
 Unequal before the law? China’s antitrust crackdown turns ugly, with foreign carmakers at the forefront.

Chinese Gadgets Signal New Era of Innovation

Paul Mozur
Wall Street Journal
Baseball Bat Sensors, Smart Bathroom Scales.

Environment

08.21.14

Who Will Feed China’s Pigs?

from chinadialogue
He's been called China’s richest chicken farmer, but Liu Yonghao has come a long way from his days breeding birds in rural Sichuan province.As the billionaire founder of the New Hope Group, China’s largest producer of animal feed, Liu’s rise...

Can China Save Africa's Elephants?

Adam Minter
Bloomberg
Poaching has not only reduced elephant populations, but it has also become unsustainable. The problem, beyond how many elephants are being killed, is the lack of surviving males in their prime years.

Heinz Recalls Four Batches of Infant Food in China

Sui-Lee Wee
Reuters
Heinz took action after food safety regulators in eastern Zhejiang province said they had found "excessive amounts of lead" in the company's AD Calcium Hi-Protein Cereal.

Infographics

08.19.14

Landed

Chinese are the largest foreign buyers of U.S. real estate, spending around $22 billion in total in from April 2013 to March 2014, about a quarter of the United States’ total sales to foreigners, according to a July 8 report by the National...

Can Enigmatic Chinese Businessman Complete Nicaraguan Canal?

Matt Schiavenza
International Business Times
As Nicaragua granted a 50-year concession to a new development authority that would build a canal through the country, President Daniel Ortega celebrated a moment that would cement “total and complete independence.”

Foreign Direct Investment Into China Falls to Lowest Level in 2 Years

Liyan Qi and Richard Silk
Wall Street Journal
 Government denies that antitrust probes Into overseas companies is to blame.

China’s Carbon Plans: Secrecy and Oversupply Darken Outlook

Stian Reklev and Kathy Chen
Reuters
The world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases risks repeating mistakes made in carbon trading in Europe by flooding its pilot markets with free permits.

Apple Stores User Data in China.

Jacob Axelrad
Christian Science Monitor
What does it mean for cybersecurity?

China Pushes Cleanup of Banks

Daniel Inman and Fiona Law
Wall Street Journal
Top four lenders are raising capital and 'Bad Banks' are being created to absorb soured loans.

China’s Second Continent: The Howard French Interview

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
China may be sincere in its belief that its engagement in Africa is not neo-colonial or imperial in nature but author Howard French argues that may be what ultimately happens if Beijing continues on its current path. In his provocative new book,...

Caixin Media

08.12.14

How Tianjin’s Top Cop Built Web of Corruption Over 40 Years

The fall of the public security chief, Wu Changshun, of the northern port city of Tianjin has rocked the local public security system and shed light on the graft network cultivated by Wu over 40 years.The Central Discipline Inspection Commission (...

China Says Over 150 “Economic Fugitives” at Large in the U.S.

Sui-Lee Wee
Reuters
The United States "has become the top destination for Chinese fugitives fleeing the law," the China Daily newspaper said, citing Liao Jinrong, director general of the ministry's International Cooperation Bureau.

China Jails Foreign Sleuths

Nicola Davison
Economist
A Shanghai court sentenced British corporate detective Peter Humphrey to 2.5 years in prison for illegally obtaining private information on Chinese citizens for pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline. 

China’s Energetic Enforcement of Antitrust Rules Alarms Foreign Firms

Neil Gough, Chris Buckley, Nick...
New York Times
Chinese regulators appear to be energetically expanding enforcement of the antimonopoly law, and foreign companies fear that they could become easy targets.

China Cracks Down on Messaging Apps

Ned Levin and Min-Jeong Lee
Wall Street Journal
China says rules aim to 'Help Build a Clean Cyberspace' and safeguard national security

Books

08.06.14

China’s Second Continent

Howard W. French
An exciting, hugely revealing account of China’s burgeoning presence in Africa—a developing empire already shaping, and reshaping, the future of millions of people. A prizewinning foreign correspondent and former New York Times bureau chief in Shanghai and in West and Central Africa, Howard French is uniquely positioned to tell the story of China in Africa. Through meticulous on-the-ground reporting—conducted in Mandarin, French, and Portuguese, among other languages—Howard French crafts a layered investigation of astonishing depth and breadth as he engages not only with policy-shaping moguls and diplomats, but also with the  ordinary men and women navigating the street-level realities of cooperation, prejudice, corruption, and opportunity forged by this seismic geopolitical development. With incisiveness and empathy, French reveals the human face of China’s economic, political, and human presence across the African continent—and in doing so reveals what is at stake for everyone involved.We meet a broad spectrum of China’s dogged emigrant population, from those singlehandedly reshaping African infrastructure, commerce, and even environment (a self-made tycoon who harnessed Zambia’s now-booming copper trade; a timber entrepreneur determined to harvest the entirety of Liberia’s old-growth redwoods), to those just barely scraping by (a sibling pair running small businesses despite total illiteracy; a karaoke bar owner–cum–brothel madam), still convinced that Africa affords them better opportunities than their homeland. And we encounter an equally panoramic array of African responses: a citizens’ backlash in Senegal against a “Trojan horse” Chinese construction project (a tower complex to be built over a beloved soccer field, which locals thought would lead to overbearing Chinese pressure on their economy); a Zambian political candidate who, having protested China’s intrusiveness during the previous election and lost, now turns accommodating; the ascendant middle class of an industrial boomtown; African mine workers bitterly condemning their foreign employers, citing inadequate safety precautions and wages a fraction of their immigrant counterparts’.French’s nuanced portraits reveal the paradigms forming around this new world order, from the all-too-familiar echoes of colonial ambition—exploitation of resources and labor; cut-rate infrastructure projects; dubious treaties—to new frontiers of cultural and economic exchange, where dichotomies of suspicion and trust, assimilation and isolation, idealism and disillusionment are in dynamic flux.Part intrepid travelogue, part cultural census, part industrial and political exposé, French’s keenly observed account ultimately offers a fresh perspective on the most pressing unknowns of modern Sino-African relations: why China is making the incursions it is, just how extensive its cultural and economic inroads are, what Africa’s role in the equation is, and just what the ramifications for both parties—and the watching world—will be in the foreseeable future. —Knopf {chop}

China Regulator Probes Microsoft, Accenture Offices

Colum Murphy and Eva Dou
Wall Street Journal
Inspection is latest move in country's antitrust investigation of U.S. tech companies.

Chinese Regulators Search Daimler Offices

CHRIS BUCKLEY and JACK EWING
New York Times
The German automobile giant Daimler has become the latest multinational company to bear the brunt a Chinese regulatory investigation, confirming on Tuesday that officials from an agency that enforces antimonopoly and pricing rules had searched its...

China’s Alibaba Pictures Confirms Zhang Qiang as CEO

Patrick Frater
Variety
Zhang, whose appointment was unofficially announced by the media last month, makes the unusual switch from public sector to private. Since 2011 has been vice president of China Film Group, the state-owned enterprise that dominates film imports and...

China Using Antimonopoly Law to Pressure Foreign Businesses

LAURIE BURKITT and COLUM MURPHY
Wall Street Journal
China is using its six-year-old antimonopoly law to put foreign businesses under increasing pressure, a development that experts say will intensify as Beijing seeks greater sway over the prices paid by Chinese companies and consumers.

In Twist, China Stock Market is Haven Amid Storm

Adam Shell
USA Today
When you think of safe-haven investments, Chinese stocks don’t normally come to mind. But shares listed in Shanghai have been soaring recently at a time when most stock markets around the globe have been sliding.

Forget Samsung, Xiaomi is China’s New Smartphone King

Charles Riley
CNN
The upstart Chinese smartphone maker has knocked Samsung off its throne in China, shipping more units than its South Korea-based rival for the first time in the second quarter.</p

Death Toll Rises to 75 in Chinese Factory Blast

Jack Chang
Associated Press
The death toll in for an explosion at a Chinese auto parts factory has risen to 75 people, as investigators fault poor safety measures and news reports reveal that workers had long complained of dangerous levels of dust.

China Using Antimonopoly Law to Pressure Foreign Businesses

Laurie Burkitt and Colum Murphy
Wall Street Journal
Experts say Beijing seeking greater sway over prices paid by Chinese companies and consumers.

What Microsoft Has Done Right (And Wrong) In China With Xbox One

Charles Custer
Forbes
Now that we have some details about the Chinese Xbox One—a price, a release date, game pricing and lineup, etc.—it’s possible to assess Microsoft’s chances of making a bigger dent in the market than gray-market consoles have.