Economy/Resources - 248. page

On March 24, the PLA’s General Staff Department and General Political Department issued a joint directive, requiring the army and armed police force to “resolutely implement the important instructions from President Hu Jintao to spare no effort to support local governments in winning the tough battle over drought relief.” 

Beginning on March 5, the Ministry of Land and Resources sent 30 research groups, led by nearly 100 bureau-level senior officials, to 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities to research land usage by local governments. Their reports showed that the local governments have a strong desire to take farm land for urbanization. There is a great land supply shortage. For example, Anhui Province has a need for 83,000 acres of land for construction, but its land usage quota from the central government was only half of that amount. It’s a common problem among other provinces. There are also tough issues in land management, mineral resource integration, and farmland management system reform.

Source: China News Service, March 23, 2010
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/estate/estate-tdxw/news/2010/03-23/2185501.shtml

People Net, the online presence of Chinese state daily news Renmin, recently reported that the Da Ming Gong Project received a loan of RMB 6 billion from the National Development Bank. This is the National Development Bank’s largest culture investment. Da Ming Gong is the name of the emperor’s palace of the Tang Dynasty. The project is to build a culture park at the location of the palace. The Park, in the City of Xi An, will be open to public on October 1, 2010.

Source: Renmin, March 19, 2010
http://culture.people.com.cn/GB/87423/11176285.html

Li Yi, the Minister of Industry and Information Technology, recently commented on the overcapacity issues, referring to industries such as steel, concrete, nonferrous metals, aluminum, coal,  chemicals, and others. Li mentioned that the central government tends to continue proactive fiscal policies and moderately easy monetary policies. On the industrial side, the policies focus on homegrown innovations, small and medium sized businesses, new industries and technological reforms. Expansion in the industries with overcapacity problems will not be supported. These industries will be controlled by (issuing) fewer loans and (allocating) less land.

Source: Global Times, March 12, 2010
http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2010-03/743507.html

According to the latest Ministry of Railways’ plan, by 2012, China will beat Japan and Germany when it comes to the longest high-speed railway system. The Ministry of Railways’ new blueprint outlines “four vertical” and “four horizontal” passenger lines that connect the northeast, north, central, west, east, and southern parts of China.

The Ministry of Railways is aggressively raising funds. It will push provincial governments and bring in private capital to support and be involved in the construction and management of the railroad systems.

Source: China Securities Journal, March 4, 2010
http://paper.cs.com.cn/html/2010-03/04/content_54964.htm?div=-1

In addition to having high mortgage payments for living quarters, the post-80s generation now also faces large expenditures for holidays, China News Service reported.

A website survey of white collar workers showed that, for the Chinese New Year in February, 55% spent more than 5,000 yuan [Ed: the average white collar worker’s monthly income is between 2,000 and 3,000 yuan]; more than 80% spent one or two months of their income; and 20% spent more than a quarter of their annual income.

Analysts claim that this has become a problem for all Chinese. Heavy spending is a reflection of the “face culture,” where each wants to outdo the other, including ones family members. The result is excessive financial burdens.

Nowadays, a common joke is, “I am short of nothing but money.”

Source: China News Service, February 25, 2010
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/sh/news/2010/02-25/2137081.shtml

Some Chinese government top advisors outlined the strategies for China’s economic development and transformation according to China New Service, which quoted Hong Kong Wen Wei Po’s report. The suggestions included two spaces (internal demand space and innovation space), four strategies, and four economic transforming paths.

Four strategies:
1. Expand internal demand: developing and advancing consumer demand.
2. Industry transformation and upgrade: increasing mid- to high-end industries’ competitiveness.
3. Human resource quality improvement: expanding the job market, improving social benefits, education and training.
4. Saving energy.

Four economic transformation paths:
1. Retrain jobless farmland laborers as city laborers.
2. Develop the manufacturing industry in the area of R&D, design, brand development, supply chain, and post-sales service.
3. Increase the service industry’s percentage of GDP.
4. Put more information technology into operation in the industrial sector.

Source: China News Service, February 26, 2010
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/cj/cj-gncj/news/2010/02-26/2139654.shtml

The State Council recently approved the Yangtze to Hanjiang Project, with an investment of RMB 6.2 billion. It is estimated that the construction work will start in March at the earliest. The project is to build a canal between the Yangtze River and the Hanjiang River in Hubei Province. It will be the largest modern canal in China and the largest water resource adjustment facility in the province. The canal will be around 67 kilometers in length and 3.7 billion cubic meters in annual water volume. The central governement will fund the entire project.

Source: Xinhua, February 26, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2010-02/26/content_13051910.htm