All posts by LKY - 167. page

Xinhua published a series of front page articles calling on all levels of regions and government bodies to be on guard against the extreme weather condition. In recent months, China has been hit by stormy and rainy weather in the south and extreme heat in the north. China Daily reported that as of July 5, 75 people had died, 13 were missing, and 39 million people were affected by the flooding in the south.

On Monday July 6, the China Ministry of Finance announced a 170 million yuan emergency fund for the southern regions, including 13 provinces that had suffered from the flood. The article calls on the regions to take the responsibility and cooperate with each other to ensure “winning the battle against the flood.”

Source:
[1] China Daily, July 6, 2009
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/zgzx/2009-07/06/content_8380361.htm
[2] Xinhua, July 8, 2009
http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/szch/20090708/

The biggest challenge that Chinese export businesses face next to currency is compliance with the “technical barriers to trade,” the international product standards issued by the WTO. According to the National Bureau of Quality Inspection, 36.1 percent of export businesses failed to comply with the WTO’s “Technical Barriers to Trade.” In 2008, they suffered financial losses of US$50.5 billion.

Research data suggests that the top five countries or regions that affect China’s export businesses are the EU, U.S., Japan, Russia and Latin American countries. The top five businesses that suffered the most are electric parameters, agricultural production, textiles/garments/shoes/hats, and wood/paper/non-metasl and chemicals/minerals/metals. 

Source: Xinhua, June 25, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2009-06/25/content_11602642.htm

Reports yet to be released by the Academy of Social Sciences suggest that 40 percent of small to mid size businesses were hit by the financial crisis and went bankrupt, while 40 percent of the remainins businesses are struggling for survival. Most of them lack the assets to secure business loans.

 Small to Mid size businesses account for 99 percent of the total businesses in China, contributing 60 percent of the GDP and 50 percent of the national tax income. They provide over 75 percent of the job opportunities for local regions.

Source: Huan Qiu, June 28, 2009
http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-06/499644.html

For the first few months of 2009, China’s culture industry experienced double digit growth of 17 percent, while its book sales grew 20 percent and movie ticket sales were up 40 percent compared to the same period last year. In order to capitalize on this growth, China has instituted a series of plans to include the culture industry in its national “Eleventh Five Year Plan” and make it a new area to stimulate domestic demand.

Ministry of Cultural is speeding up formation of guidelines, organizing national conventions, and encouraging non-public enterprises to enter the culture industry. Below are a few examples:

• On April 24, the Ministry of Culture signed a cooperative agreement with the Bank of China to establish a long term strategic partnership to secure financial funding for new culture enterprises and projects.
• On May 18, during the 5th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair in Shenzheng, 3.5 million visitors were at the expo, 830,000 more than the previous time.
• On June 15, the Shanghai Cultural Equity Exchange, a platform for the trading of property rights, creditor’s rights and equity rights of culture products was formed. There were 500 active projects being traded including 50 from foreign countries.

Source: Xinhua, June 18, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/society/2009-06/18/content_11563116.htm