According to Yunan Provincial Forestry Department, Yunan Province is suffering from an outbreak of pests in its forests. 610,000 acres of forests have a pest problem and the economic loss is nearly 400 million Yuan. The forest pest problem was caused by both the continuing drought and last year’s frost disaster.
Source: China News Service, May 17, 2010
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/cj/cj-gncj/news/2010/05-17/2286854.shtml
Xinhua recently republished a report by the Yangtze Evening Post, which is part of the Xinhua Network, on the news that the Development and Reform Commission is drafting “tougher” policies governing the housing market that will have a wider scope than the recent “National Ten Stipulations.” The timing of the announcement will be based on the evaluation of the effectiveness of the current round of housing market regulations. Sources say the new policies will attempt to define the role of the government in the market. It is believed that the “National Ten” is still fresh and the new policies should hold – though having a backup plan is necessary.
Source: Xinhua, May 15, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/house/2010-05/15/c_12104508.htm
The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) recently published the Culture Blue Book, which discusses tasks in the structural adjustments to the culture industry. The Blue Book suggests: (1) Adjust product structure, which should serve the need of both consumers and producers; (2) adjust enterprise organizational structure, which should encourage competition; (3) adjust ownership structure, which should introduce more diversity; (4) adjust technical structure, which pushes multi-layer technologies such as integrating networks of 3G mobile multimedia, the Internet, and traditional broadcasting networks; (5) adjust the regional distribution structure, which balances resources on a national level.
Source: Renmin, May 7, 2010
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/11539196.html
Cai Wu, China’s Minister of Culture, recently delivered a report to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the development of the culture industry. He admitted that there are several fronts where the industry is facing challenges: (1) the culture industry is does not have a large enough scale and the development level is not high; (2) the industry lacks leading enterprises and well-known brands; (3) the culture trade deficit remains high; (4) blind investments do exist. He believes that, to improve the situation, increased government investment and support from the financial industry are necessary.
Source: Renmin, April 29, 2010
http://culture.people.com.cn/GB/87423/11482720.html
The Journal of China’s Academy of Social Science, a government think tank, published an article stating that the external appreciation of the RMB might lead to domestic inflation. The Chinese RMB is facing two challenges: one from the international market to appreciate and the other from domestic market to depreciate. There are three reasons. First is that the settlement system for Chinese exports prohibits the free flow of foreign exchange – all exchange earned by exporters must be sold to the State at the official rate. The State has increased the money in circulation by 15,000 bn RMB for the $2,400 bn foreign exchange reserves. Second is that the relaxed monetary policy has led to staggering loans reaching 9,500 bn RMB. Third is that the various bank deposits represent potential purchasing power.
Source: China Review News, April 22, 2010
http://www.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1012/9/7/0/101297006.html?coluid=7&kindid=0&docid=101297006
The “Internet of Things” refers to utilizing the Internet and modern technology, such as RFID, censoring, GPS, and scanning, to identify, locate, track, and manage object movement. Deng Shoupeng, the Vice Chairman of the China Federation of IT Promotion pointed out at the “2010 Wireless Communication Application Conference,” that 2009 is the first year that China has entered the “Internet of Things” market. In 2010, the “Internet of Things” market in China will have reached 200 billion Yuan, including IC, censor, software, and other related industry chains. The size will grow to 750 billion Yuan by 2015.
Deng listed five areas in which China is currently lacking: standards, core technology to support the "Internet of Things," coordination among regions and industries, policies and regulations, and people who understand both the Internet and business.
Source: Xinhua, April 22, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/internet/2010-04/22/content_13399614.htm
Xinhua recently reported that nine government units, namely Peoples’ Bank of China, the Central Propaganda Department of the CCP, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Culture, the State General Administration for Radio, Film & Television, the State Administration of Press & Publications, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the China Securities & Futures Commission, and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, jointly released a guidline on financial industry support of the culture industry. The report called for successful implementation of the guidline in three areas: (1) widely publicizing the policies; (2) establishing a smooth bridge between financial and culture industries; (3) carefully performing groundwork.
Source: Xinhua, April 22, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/video/2010-04/22/content_13402020.htm
China has become one of the major luxury goods consumers in the world. A recent Bain survey showed that, in 2009, Chinese spent $9.6 billion on luxury goods, which accounts for 27% of the world total, while China’s GDP only accounts for about 5% of the world GDP. According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the consumption of luxury goods in Chinese will reach 40 billion USD by 2015; Bain’s estimation for 2015 Chinese luxury goods expenditures is 14.6 billion USD. According to another consulting firm, McKinsey, about half of the Chinese luxury goods are used as gifts.