On June 13, 2014, China Business News (also called First Financial Daily or Yicai) reported that, as of the end of 2013, 4.863 billion square meters of residential housing were under construction. Based on the annual average sales between 2009 and 2012, it will take five years to deplete the 4.863 billion square meters, assuming there are no other new developments after 2014. Thirty five major cities have hit a record high in their housing inventories. Twenty nine of them have shown an increase over last month. Three of those hit the hardest are Nanchang with an increase of 77.4 percent; Ningbo with 60.9 percent, and Jiujiang with 56.9 percent. According to analysts, using five to ten months as the normal time to deplete the inventory, starting from March 2014 it will take 100 months in Tangshan, 57 in Wuxi, 39 in Tianjin, 36 in Ningbo, 33 in Shanghai, 33 in Hangzhou and 30 in Xian.
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State Media on One Country, Two Systems
China’s two state media, Xinhua and People’s Daily, both published editorials on the white paper titled, “The Practice of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ Policy in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.” China’s State Council issued the white paper on June 10, 2014.
State Council Explains One Country, Two systems Policy in Hong Kong
On June 10, 2014, the Information Office of the State Council issued a white paper giving China’s explanation of the "one country, two systems" policy in Hong Kong, titled “The Practice of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ Policy in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.”
China’s Agricultural Population May Decline to 10 Percent
According to Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, China‘s agricultural population may decline to about 10 percent. Currently, about 40 percent of China’s population is engaged in agriculture.
Survey Finds Sixteen Percent of the Land in China is Polluted
On April 17, China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Land and Resources released an "Official Report on National Soil Pollution," based on an eight-year survey of over 6.3 million square kilometers of land across the country. The report found that about 16 percent of the country’s soil and 19 percent of its arable land were polluted to one degree or another. The vast majority of the pollution came from cadmium, nickel, copper, arsenic, mercury, lead, DDT and PAHs. The latest results contrast with the situation in October 2011, when 8.3 percent of the arable land was polluted.
In his government report earlier this year, Chinese premier Li Keqiang announced the initiation of a "Soil Remediation Project." However, Chinese scholars estimated that soil pollution prevention and remediation demands trillions or even tens of trillions in investment, while the central government’s budget for soil remediation during the twelfth five-year plan period, or 2011 to 2015, is only 30 billion yuan (US$4.8 billion).
Qiushi: Xi Jinping’s Diplomacy Strategy for the Communist Party
On June 3, 2014, Qiushi published a commentary by Wang Jiarui, director of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The commentary explained Xi Jinping’s strategy of diplomacy for the Party.
Corrupt Officials Are behind the Housing Market Downturn
New regulations have been proposed, to be implemented by the end of 2014, requiring the registration of real estate. Corrupt officials are trying to sell their real estate before the regulations take effect. According to Zhongyuan, a leading real estate brokerage firm in China, the effort to sell quickly has played a large role in the downturn of the housing market. Zhongyuan, one of the largest brokerage firms in China, has tens of thousands employees in over 30 major cities throughout China. Shi Yongqing, Zhongyuan’s founder, is pessimistic about the prospects for the housing market. “There are three indicators of a real estate bubble: over-building, excess credit, and prices that are too high. China’s housing market has all three. None of these problems can be solved easily.”
Beijing Tightens Control in Anticipation of Social Unrest
On May 30, 2014, China Youth Daily reported that Beijing has increased the level of its security by deploying over 850,000 “security volunteers” throughout the city to assist the police. These “security volunteers” patrol the streets and monitor the activities of their neighbors.