Reports
11.27.12Is China Over-Investing and Does it Matter?
Luo Xiaoyuan
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Now close to 50 percent of GDP, this paper assesses the appropriateness of China’s current investment levels. It finds that China’s capital-to-output ratio is within the range of other emerging markets, but its economic growth rates stand out,...
Caixin Media
11.26.12When Tradition is Flattened by Policy
A “tomb-flattening policy” in Henan province has sparked intense controversy, with millions of tombs reportedly destroyed by local authorities in a quest to turn graveyards into farmland.The policy can be seen as a historical extension of land-...
ChinaFile Recommends
11.25.12Lobbying, a Windfall and a Leader’s Family
New York Times
Wen Jiabao's relatives grew extraordinarily wealthy during his leadership, with most wealth coming from Ping An Insurance shares.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.20.12China WIll Build the Tallest Building in the World in Just 90 Days
Gizmodo
Sky City and its 2,749 feet distributed over 220 floors will grow in just 90 days in Changsha city, at the rate of five floors per day.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.19.12The Key to Bringing Democracy to China
Foreign Policy
For many years, Western leaders have couched the argument for greater political openness and democratization in China in moral terms, citing the universality of both human rights and the aspirations for freedom and independence. In May, defending...
ChinaFile Recommends
11.18.12China’s Xi May Unveil Plan for Change Late 2013, CICC Head Says
Bloomberg
China’s new leadership, headed by Xi Jinping, will probably unveil new market-oriented changes in late 2013, according to Li Jiange, head of the country’s biggest investment bank.Li, chairman of China International Capital Corp. and a vice...
Caixin Media
11.17.12As 18th Congress Ends, a Peek into the Process
Over the past twenty years, economist Zhang Zhuoyuan has witnessed and actively participated in building the nation’s economic policy.He participated in the drafting of reports at each of the Communist Party’s three previous national congresses,...
ChinaFile Recommends
11.16.12China's 'Affluent' Population to Hit 280 Million by 2020
Wall Street Journal
As China tries to shift from a manufacturing-based economy to one driven by consumption, it hopes to double its consumer base.
Environment
11.15.12An Insight into the Green Vocabulary of the Chinese Communist Party
from chinadialogue
After years of neglect, the environment is gradually gaining more attention from China’s leaders. The most noticeable manifestation of this is in their vocabulary.Six months ago, Hu Jintao, speaking at the opening of a study session for provincial...
Viewpoint
11.14.12Are You Happier Than You Were Ten Years Ago?
“Many Chinese feel that they have not participated in the economic benefits of an economy that has been growing very rapidly,” says Michael Evans, a vice chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group and head of growth markets for the Wall Street...
ChinaFile Recommends
11.14.12Opinion: Don't Expect Radical Reforms in China
Financial Times
If Li Keqiang walks on stage second it will suggest the premier post has been upgraded to a position of greater political clout.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.14.12Zhou Seen Exiting PBOC as China Installs New Economic Leadership
Bloomberg
Top finance official Vice Premier Wang Qishan will move to a new role and Commerce Minister Chen Deming is also likely to exit.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.12.12China's Loans Unexpectedly Fall as Money Supply Misses Forecast
Bloomberg
Central Bank governor warns China is still deal with the effects of five years of financial crisis overseas.
Caixin Media
11.12.12Weighing Risks Amid a Wealth Management Boom
Is China’s wealth management business a booming profit volcano for investors, or just another smoke-and-mirrors pyramid scheme?It’s a question dividing the nation’s bankers and banking regulators as investors of all kinds pour cash into bank-...
ChinaFile Recommends
11.11.12China, at Party Congress, Touts its Cultural Advances
New York Times
Party guidance is the "soul” of China's moves to privitize and promote industries that can spread soft power abroad.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.10.12China Turns Corner on Economy as Party Chooses New Leaders
Reuters
The world's No2 economy has stopped slowing, the economic planning agency said, forecasting 2012 GDP growth of 7.5 percent or more.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.09.12Two Rising China Leaders Say Open to Wealth Declarations
Reuters
After report on Wen Jiabao's "hidden riches," Guangdong and Shanghai party bosses said officials will eventually have to declare assets.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.09.12China's Economy to Overtake U.S. Economy in Four Years, Says OECD
Guardian
A Paris-based think tank said China's economy will be larger than the combined eurozone economies by year's end and will overtake the US by the end of 2016.
Viewpoint
11.09.12Pragmatism and Patience
Hamid Bilgari, Vice Chairman of Citicorp, the strategic arm of Citigroup, is a leader in international investment banking.
Bilgari says that pragmatism and patience are the dominant qualities exhibited by cultures facing major change, such as...
ChinaFile Recommends
11.08.12China: Does It Have to Become more like us?
BBC
Economic history teaches us that China is likely to get stuck in the middle: neither a poor economy nor a rich one.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.08.12China's Communist Party Congress Opens with a Warning
Christian Science Monitor
Outgoing President Hu Jintao warned that the Communist Party faces 'collapse' if it fails to clean up corruption.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.07.12Debating China’s Economic Future
Wall Street Journal
Is China’s economic growth destined to plunge down to 3% to 4% a year, or can it be sustained in the current 7% to 8% range? China Real Time has asked heavyweight experts Michael Pettis of Peking University and ...
Reports
11.06.12Investment-Led Growth in China: Global Spillovers
Luo Xiaoyuan
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Over the past decade, China’s growth model has become more reliant on investment and its footprint in global imports has widened substantially. Several economies within China’s supply chain are increasingly exposed to its investment-led growth and...
Reports
11.05.12The Spillover Effects of a Downturn in China’s Real Estate Investment
Luo Xiaoyuan
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Real estate investment accounts for a quarter of total fixed asset investment (FAI) in China. The real estate sector’s extensive industrial and financial linkages make it a special type of economic activity, especially where the credit creation...
ChinaFile Recommends
11.05.12China Leads in Foreign Direct Investment
Forbes
China reclaiming from the FDI leadership had as much to do with the fall off in FDI into the U.S. as it had to do with events in China.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.05.12When Madison Met Handan – A Tale of Two Cities
Wall Street Journal
It’s unlikely that many of the 60 Chinese investors who visited Madison in September had heard of the Wisconsin state capital and home of the University of Wisconsin Badgers before agreeing to visit the U.S. Similarly the city of Handan, the Chinese...
Caixin Media
11.02.1218 Reforms for the Party’s 18th Congress
China’s leadership handover comes at a critical moment for society and the economy, and changes are in order.The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party this month comes at a critical time described by economist Wu Jinglian as “a tipping...
ChinaFile Recommends
10.25.12Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader
New York Times
Wen Jiabao's son, daughter, younger brother and brother-in-law have become extraordinarily wealthy during his leadership.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.23.12Better Ways to Deal with China
New York Times
Pushing China around like a bulked-up version of 1980s Japan doesn't fit a long-term U.S. objective: drawing China into the club of prosperous, rule-bound and democratic nations.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.23.12An Alternative Look at China’s Labor Markets
Wall Street Journal
Unemployment is arguably the most important, but least well measured, factor in China’s economy. Low unemployment and rising wages signal economic health, making it less likely that the government will rush to pump up growth. The reverse –...
ChinaFile Recommends
10.23.12Candidates Debate Rise of China; China Debates Reform
Deal Book
China's presumptive next president, Xi Jinping, may wish his economy were the juggernaut many Americans think it is. He will inherit an economy in desperate need of reform and rebalancing. As discussed in an earlier China...
ChinaFile Recommends
10.21.12Europe and China Don't Need a Trade War: EU Trade Chief
Reuters
De Gucht says EU won't back down from fight againt unfair Chinese competition, but mutual self-interest will prevent trade war.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.20.12China's Consumer-led Growth
Economist
Official data show that consumption contributed over half of China's growth so far this year, more than investment's contribution.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.20.12China Is Wary of U.S. Candidates’ Tough Talk
New York Times
Concern among Chinese officials, executives and academics is growing that U.S. attidudes toward China won't cool post-Election Day.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.18.12China Faces Tough Choice on Growth
Wall Street Journal
China's latest evidence of sputtering growth underlines a dilemma for its incoming leaders: They can shore up the economy by doubling down on an exhausted growth model, or take a risky political bet on reforms that could worsen the slowdown in...
ChinaFile Recommends
10.18.12Foxconn Workers Have Fun Sometimes
Atlantic
James Fallows' pics from inside a Chinese factory making many famous Western electronic brands.
Books
10.18.12China and the Credit Crisis
China’s arrival on the world scene in the 1990s was the largest part of globalization. It brought many benefits worldwide: lower prices to Western consumers, large profits to multinationals, huge windfalls to commodity-rich countries, and employment and strong export growth to China. China’s emergence as a major global supplier and trader helped to create a boom which brought global growth with lower inflation and, for a time, an illusory stability, and also made China into the largest financer of the developed world.But Western politicians, regulators and bankers, their vision limited by national boundaries, did not understand at the time the true causes of the global economic boom of the Millennium. They attributed it largely to a revolution in risk management and their own wise policies. China and the Credit Crisis argues that if the role played in the new prosperity by globalization and an emerging China had been better understood, more appropriate policies and actions may have been adopted by central bankers and regulators which could have avoided the financial crash in 2008, or at least greatly limited its impact.China and the Credit Crisis goes on to examine the larger role that China will continue to play in a post-crisis world.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.17.12A Time-honored Tradition: Election Year and China-bashing
Washington Post
China's two decade explosive growth overshadows a struggling corruption-plagued communist state.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.17.12U.S. Presidential Debate Sees Candidates Flex China Muscle
Xinhua
Although the yuan rose nearly 30 percent since 2005, U.S. politicians are still taking jabs at China's currency regime.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.17.12Analysis: Lost in Debate - Reality of U.S.-China Ties
Associated Press
U.S. presidential politics vilifying China obscures how deeply entwined the two countries have become.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.16.12Economists Predict Slower Growth for China
Marketplace
Tsinghua University economist Patrick Chovanec thinks China’s actual GDP growth is around four percent.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.16.12China and Its Trade Tactics are Coming to the Debates
New York Times
China's economic relations with U.S. could feature hotly in next Presidential debate.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.16.12Chinese Netizens Debate the Merits of Owning a Luxury Car
One couple asks if they can own a BMW on a combined income of $2,100 a month.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.16.12China Now Eats Twice As Much Meat as the United States
Telegraph
Chinese demand for meat has quadrupled over 30 years and the nation now eats a quarter of the world supply.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.15.12Romney Can Invoke Japan Overtaking China as U.S. Lender
Bloomberg
China is poised to lose its place as the U.S.’s biggest creditor for the first time since the height of the financial crisis, blunting one of Mitt Romney’s favored attacks in the presidential campaign.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.15.12How a High-Speed Rail Crash Exposed China’s Corruption
New Yorker
This was not a bus plunging off a road in a provincial outpost; it was dozens of men and women dying on one of the nation’s proudest achievements—in a newly wired age, when passengers had cell phones and witnesses and critics finally had the tools...
ChinaFile Recommends
10.15.12American Politics and Chinese Data
Deal Book
In the midst of increasingly heated election rhetoric about China, Beijing has released some important economic data as its currency hits record highs. Both Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul D. Ryancriticized...
ChinaFile Recommends
10.15.12China Economic Figures Shore Up Global Markets
Associated Press
Markets rose Monday on news of China's Sept. inflation falling to 1.9 percent from 2 percent in Aug.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.13.12Ryan Criticizes Obama Administration China Policy
New York Times
Romney Republican running mate slams President for delaying report on currency manipulation.
Reports
10.12.12Chinese Direct Investment in California
Daniel H. Rosen
Asia Society
To build the case for a robust response to these opportunities and looming risks, this report analyzes Chinese investment in California in depth, mining a unique database for insights about California’s comparative advantages, the Chinese firms most...
ChinaFile Recommends
10.12.12Forbes China 100 Richest List
Forbes
Forty-five of China’s 100 biggest fortunes slipped from last year’s FORBES ASIA Richest List.
Sinica Podcast
10.12.12No Ancient Wisdom, No Followers
from Sinica Podcast
As China continues to subsidize inefficient state enterprises on a massive scale, an increasing number of critics—domestic and foreign—are questioning whether current policies mark a rejection or corruption of the vision championed by reformers like...
ChinaFile Recommends
10.10.12Censorship Reaching 1,000 Miles Exposed on China’s Twitter
Netizens exposing public servants' taste for expensive timepieces has sparked an online and newspaper crackdown. On October 9, Wang Keqin (@王克勤), an Economic Observer (@经济观察报) reporter posted on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, that...
ChinaFile Recommends
10.10.12Noda Calls for China Talks as Island Spat Threatens Growth
Bloomberg
PM calls for talks to contain economic damage from dispute with Japan's No. 1 trade partner.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.10.12Over A Distressed Europe, It's Super China To The Rescue
Forbes
China is considering lending even more money to bail out the region’s recessionary economies.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.10.12Five Points on the Deeply Flawed U.S. Congress Huawei Report
Transpacifica
Chinese telecomms firms painted as shady, but evidence to back up allegations is hidden in report's classified sections.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.10.12As Romney Repeats Trade Message, Bain Maintains China Ties
New York Times
China-related holdings by funds in which Mr. Romney has invested are a reminder of how he inhabits two worlds.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.10.12China Gets Back to Work
New York Times
After China's Golden Week holiday, a round-up of important recent stories on economy and politics.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.10.12China's Multimillionaires Mapped
Guardian
There were 7,905 multimillionaires in China at the end of 2011, an increase of 41% compared to 2007 - but how are they distributed across the country? WealthInsight, specialists in data on high net worth individuals, have released the...