Economy/Resources - 220. page

China Daily recently republished a report on the State Council’s decision to straighten out the financial and market exchanges that facilitate trade activities in stocks, futures, and other financial products without official approval. The State Council’s decision was distributed in the form of an official document which sets the goal of this campaign as the reduction of national financial risks. It was estimated that hundreds of such exchanges will be impacted or completely closed. In the “decision,” all financial institutes with the word “exchange” in the name will need the central government’s approval or at least government approval at the provincial level. In the past few years, more than 300 exchanges have been established across China, doing business in a number of categories such as precious metals and agricultural products. The government has not established laws to regulate these facilities, so no administrative procedures have been put in place to monitor them.

Source: China Daily, November 26, 2011
http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/hqcj/lc/2011-11-26/content_4492907.html

On November 21, 2011, the 11th China Internet Media Forum was held in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Over 300 representatives from the central government, Xinhua News, People’s Daily, China News Service, Internet media companies, and academia attended the forum. A Deputy Chief of the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party Central Committee spoke at the forum. He stated that there are three trends worth noting: first is that the Internet is becoming more like media and increasingly impacts society; second, the Internet is getting more “mobile;” and third, micro-blogs and other social media are rapidly gaining momentum.

The statistics released at the forum show that the number of Internet users in China is approaching 500 million, that close to 350 million Internet users use cell phones to browse the Internet, and that 900 million cell phone users may be potential customers of the mobile Internet. The most significant trend in Chinese Internet is the burgeoning growth of the social media micro-blogs, with users topping 300 million. Led by the State media, the attendees adopted the Wuhan Declaration, a pact to “vigorously promote socialist core values.”

Source: China News Service reprinted by Huanqiu, November 21, 2011
http://china.huanqiu.com/hot/2011-11/2193180.html

On November 21, 2011, China Securities Journal published an article under the name of Chen Bingcai from the Chinese Academy of Governance titled, “The Fall of Housing Prices Will Benefit Industrial Restructuring.”

Chen claimed that the decline in the price of housing is a trend that will be helpful to an industrial structural adjustment. He suggested that China can endure a 50% decline in housing prices. First, Chinese banks can still get back the principle on their mortgage loans because housing prices have increased 50% to 80% over the last two years. Second, lower home prices are good for the lower end consumers. Third, a drop in real estate prices will not affect owners who occupy their homes (and therefore intend to keep them).

Source: China Securities Journal, November 21, 2011
http://www.cs.com.cn/xwzx/05/201111/t20111121_3135719.html

Wuhan Evening News recently reported that over 30 billion tons of polluted water has flown through the Yangtze River since 2006. Zang Xiaoping, the Deputy Chief of the Yangtze River Water Resources Protection Bureau, commented in an interview that – although pollution indeed is intensifying – the rate of increase in water pollution is slowing down. Zang said the Yangtze River discharges a total of 1 trillion tons of water into the sea annually and 30 billion tons of polluted water is only a small percentage. He said that the pollution level will not result in “fundamental” health threats. Large cities along the river are enhancing their pollution control, but Zang is “worried” about the pollution caused by the development pace of small cities, which are, currently, the primary contributors to water pollution.

Source: Wuhan Evening News, November 13, 2011
http://cjmp.cnhan.com/whwb/html/2011-11/13/content_4919640.htm

Radio Free Asia (RFA) recently reported that the news is spreading widely in the Chinese media that the prices of agricultural products have been dropping. As an example, key Chinese cabbage producers saw a sharp drop in prices – 90% compared to last year. Even if they sold out their entire inventory of products, the farmers could hardly recover their basic costs. Famous Chinese economist Hu Xingdou suggested that this pattern of the price dropping every other year resulted mainly from unbalanced information between the farmers and the market. The lack of a futures market for agricultural products and the lack of organized farmer’s associations have contributed to farmers’ inability to manage market risks. Nor has the government lent a helping hand to the farmers. The recent adjustments in the macro economy had a negative impact on the capital market for investment in agricultural products.

Source: Radio Free Asia, November 10, 2011
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/s-11102011095715.html

People’s Daily recently republished an article on the latest development in the collapse of the Ministry of Railway’s problematic construction plans. The report stated that over 10,000 kilometers of construction work had to be suspended nationwide. Together with the 13,000 kilometers currently under construction, the gap in funding is around RMB 1 trillion. For the time being the Ministry of Railways has collected RMB 200 billion to fill the gap. The State Council is coordinating a “blood transfusion” campaign to save the troubled Ministry of Railways. Tax adjustments and government bonds are also being considered.

Source: People’s Daily, November 6, 2011
http://auto.people.com.cn/GB/16147703.html

On October 29, 2011, Radio Free Asia published an article based on China’s official media reports regarding the rapidly declining rural population in China. From 2005 to 2009, China lost over 7000 rural village committees each year. An average of 20 administrative villages disappeared each day. Due to the large numbers of the rural laborers migrating to cities, the problem of abandoned arable farmland is very serious, affecting the stability and security of the country’s agriculture and food supply.

China’s farmers do not own the land they work on. On behalf of the state, local authorities can take away their farmland legally or illegally, at any time. According China’s Ministry of Land and Resources, in the first three quarters of this year alone, local authorities across China took away 37,000 farms for other illegal uses, an increase of more than 4% compared to the same period last year, .

As the authorities grab more and more farmland, farmers have lost interest in farming. They simply do not know when developers will confiscate their land in order to sell it. Besides, Chinese farmers cannot make much money or even lose money from farming due to the fact that the prices for seeds, pesticides, and utilities are increasing so rapidly.

Source: Radio Free Asia, October 29, 2011
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/jz-10292011003613.html

On October 28, 2011, Xinhua republished an article originally from Xinmin Evening News titled “China Has the Most Elderly People in the World; 30 Million Men Will Have to Remain Single Due to the Gender Ratio Imbalance.”

According to last year’s national census data, 70% of China’s population is between 15 years old and 59 years old. Meanwhile, children under 14 years of age account for only 16% of the total population. Over the next 10 years, the proportion of young people in China will significantly decrease. In the 21st century, China will always have more elderly people than any other country in the world.

In addition to an aging population, another major challenge facing China is the gender imbalance at birth. At present, there are 15 million more males than females in China. The imbalance in the sex ratio will continue to rise over the next 10 years. As a result, nearly 30 million men will not be able to get married.

Source: Xinhua, October 28, 2011
http://pdf.news365.com.cn/xmpdf/20111028/XM111028A106.pdf
http://news.xinhuanet.com/society/2011-10/28/c_111131402.htm