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Three High Speed Railway Lines in Guangdong Forced to Stop Construction Due to Lack of Funding

Yang Cheng Evening News reported that three high-speed railways in Guangdong Province stopped or postponed construction work and entered the “winter sleep” phase in advance due to an interruption in the chain of financing. It has been reported that China’s Ministry of Railways owed 130 billion yuan (over US$20 billion) to the construction company. Some peasant workers have not received their wages for more than half a year.  

Source: Yang Cheng Evening News, October, 27, 2011
http://www.ycwb.com/epaper/ycwb/html/2011-10/27/content_1241444.htm

Study Times: The Hard Requirement behind Soft Power

Study Times, a publication of the Party School of the CCP’s Central Committee, published an article to clarify some of the important issues related to the cultural development that the 6th Plenary Session of 17th Congress of the CCP mapped out. The article said that one views culture as “soft power” when comparing it to the economy and military “hard power.” However, that does not mean that it lacks a solid foundation. Actually, there is a “hard requirement” behind “soft power.” The article pointed out that culture, as a phenomenon and a product of spirit, has multiple properties. Above all, ideology is one of its most fundamental properties. Culture reflects the political and economic interests of a certain class. Culture has a very clear ideological property, as well as powerful ideological function.

What Western society currently promotes as “universal values” is a manifestation of culture reflecting an ideological property and playing an ideological role. [Therefore], when others are holding up the banner of ideology, we cannot give up on ourselves.

The article concluded that the reason the CCP took the action it did at the 6th Pleanary Session, to develop the socialist core value sytem as the fundamental task of cultural development, was because the socialist core value system is the fundamental manifestation of socialist ideology, the spirit of prospering the nation, and the essence of socialist advanced culture. It determines the direction of Chinese style socialism.

Source: Study Times, October 24, 2011
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2011/10/24/03/03_35.htm

“Only with Determination and Being Unafraid to Perish Together Can We End the South Sea Game”

Huanqiu (Global Times) published a commentary following the announcement that the U.S. and the Philippines would conduct joint military exercises. The article suggested China should take a hard stance toward the U.S. even if it would mean "to die with the U.S. all together." The following is an abstract of the article:

“China champions a harmonious world. However, the U.S. and other countries viciously utilize that intention. They use it as a tool to blackmail and extort China to affect its diplomatic policy. China should change to a different way of thinking. When others repeatedly apply pressure, China does not need to so ‘determinedly’ insist on a peaceful position. Let others come to beg China for peace. As long as China is firm in its reasoning and powerful in its strength, those nations whose own security and interests are their priority will be more likely to give up the idea of disrespecting and tricking China.”

When the spokesperson for China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry was asked if the article represented the government’s position, she responded that the media had the right to express its own opinion, and believed that what the media said was based on the truth and the facts while maintaining a responsible attitude.

Source: Huanqiu, October 26, 2011
http://mil.huanqiu.com/Observation/2011-10/2121200.html
http://mil.huanqiu.com/Observation/2011-10/2117710.html

Xinhua: Housing Prices Are Dropping in China

Xinhua reported that recently some real estate developers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou have reduced their housing prices in order to promote sales. For example, the “Beijing Business International City” apartment complex is selling at 15,000 yuan per sq. meter (U.S. $256 per sq. ft), down from its peak of 25,000 yuan. “Long Hu Li Cheng” in Shanghai gave the buyers a 280,000 yuan (U.S. $43,000) discount, or 20 to 30% off the list price. This has attracted a lot of buyers, but has also greatly agitated the earlier buyers who purchased properties at a higher price. The earlier buyers are demanding refunds of the “lost value” or even that they be able to return the properties to the developers.

The article listed three groups of developers who are considering the decision of whether to reduce the price of property. The first group conducts quick sales in a short period to recover their capital investment. It tends to include limited developers with only spotty action and does not impact the overall market price. The second group is the small to mid-sized developers who might be forced to lower prices because of pressure to repay loans. There was a burst in real estate trusts after 2009 with an interest rate of 15% or more. The trusts must be paid back between September of this year and the end of next year. The third group is the big companies that have sufficient capital. They face a pricing dilemma. If they don’t lower their prices, the properties won’t sell; but if they do lower their prices, there might be complicated disputes with owners who paid higher prices earlier.

According to statistics, of 70 large or mid-size cities, the housing prices in 17 of those cities were lower in September than a year ago; 29 kept the price the same; and for the cities with an increased price, the increases were all below 0.3%.

Wen Jiabao recently expressed that it is critical to control the real estate market and maintain a healthy growth of the market (Ed: not to have a dramatic drop in prices). Officials from Shanghai and Beijing all expressed their determination to “unswervingly control the real estate market and ensure that housing prices remain ‘flat or with only a slight decrease.’”

Source: Xinhua, Oct 26, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2011-10/26/c_111125641.htm

SARFT to Step up Regulation of Entertainment Programs on Satellite Channels

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, or SARFT, recently issued an order for nationwide satellite channels to “improve the quantity of news programs and to regulate some broadcasters so as to prevent the trend of vulgar or ‘overly entertaining’ programs, and to satisfy the public’s demand for varied, multilevel, and high quality viewing.”

The order emphasized that "satellite channels are mainly for the broadcast of news propaganda and should expand the proportion of news, economic, cultural, science, educational, children’s, and documentary programming." Each satellite channel has been directed to run at least two hours of news broadcasts daily between 6:00 a.m. and 24:00 a.m., produce at least two episodes of news programming daily between 6:00 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. each of which shall be at least 30 minutes long, and launch an ideological and moral education program to promote “Chinese traditional virtue and the socialist core value system.” It also imposed the restriction that all nationwide satellite channels as a whole have no more than nine entertainment programs daily between 7:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., with up to two programs for each channel not to exceed 90 minutes in total.

The order required that the provincial radio and television administrative authorities are to establish professionally staffed and dedicated review agencies to track the issue of programs being overly entertaining and vulgar. Where there are problems in political and value orientation, style, and tone, actions may include measures such as criticism, instructed corrections, warnings, an adjustment of air time, or being taken off the air, depending upon the nature and severity of the problem.

Source: Xinhua, October 25, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-10/25/c_111122939.htm

Xinhua on the Requirements for Developing Chinese Culture

On October 19, 2011, Xinhua published an article on developing Chinese culture. The Sixth Plenary Session of 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, which closed on October 18, 2011, put forward specific requirements for the establishment of the socialist core value system in the development of Chinese culture.

 

"Give priority to the social impact of cultural products with the aim of having a win-win situation for both social and economic benefits." "Fully implement the principle of the Party supervising and managing talent in the area of culture."

 

 “Adhere to the guiding position of Marxism; firmly believe in the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics; promote the national spirit with patriotism as the core and the spirit of the times with reform and innovation as the core; establish and practice the socialist concept of honor and disgrace.”

 

Source: Xinhua, October 19, 2011

http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2011-10/19/c_122173122.htm

More Deadly Production Accidents in October

According to Worker’s Daily, by October 17, 2011, ten major production accidents had occurred across China, making October of 2011 the highest work accident occurrence month this year. Work safety in China is now in a grave situation.

On October 21, 2011,  Luo Lin, head of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), said at the National Safety Production Video Conference that more major accidents had occurred in the beginning of the fourth quarter than in the same period for the last 3 years. In October of 2010, there were 6 major production accidents across China. This October, by October 17, 2011, 10 major production accidents occurred in China with 151 casualties and missing people. The accidents involved several industries, with the most being in coal mining.

Source: Worker’s Daily, October 22, 2011
http://news.workercn.cn/c/2011/10/22/111022041037643367619.html

Secret Asset Transfers, Followed by Bankruptcy and Move to Canada

On October 22, 2011, China Business Journal published a report on an investigation into secret transfers of assets to Canada for entrepreneur emigration.

While the whole nation has been discussing whether to rescue the debt-ridden small and medium enterprises in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, business owners from Wenzhou and Yiwu in Zhejiang have been getting ready to emigrate abroad. Some business owners obtained bank loans using their businesses as collateral and transferred the borrowed money abroad for entrepreneur emigration to Canada; other entrepreneurs transferred their assets overseas through different channels long ago, just waiting for the right time to declare bankruptcy. Many Yiwu entrepreneurs have left businesses behind in China, which remain only as empty shells.

Source: China Business Journal, October 22 2011
http://www.cb.com.cn/1634427/20111022/290307.html