I was a typical patriot before 2008. I believed that “hostile foreign forces” were responsible for most of my peoples’ misfortunes. As a soccer commentator covering games between Japan and China, I wrote lines like, “Cut off the Japanese devils’ heads.” I saw Japanese soccer players as the descendants of the Japanese soldiers who brutally killed Chinese civilians in the 1937 massacre of Nanjing. I used to curse CNN for its anti-China commentaries. I was one of the protesters who stood in front of the U.S. consulate in Chengdu and raised my fist after the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999.

But my patriotism began to come into question as I stood in front of the ruins of Beichuan High School. It became clear that the “imperialists” did not steal the reinforced-steel bars from the concrete used to make our schools. Our school children were not killed by foreign devils. Instead, they were killed by the filthy hands of my own people.

I still believe that we should “build a New Great Wall with our flesh and blood” but now I also believe the Great Wall should protect our flesh and blood.

Li Chengpeng has become a popular blogger and has five million followers on Sina Weibo. He also ran for local election in Chengdu. Read more by and about Li via CDT, including an essay he wrote about his experience volunteering in the earthquake zone, “The True Story of the Miracle Survival of the Students and Teachers of Longhan Elementary School in Beichuan.” Read also more about the Sichuan earthquake of 2008.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Li Chengpeng, nationalism, patriotism
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

China’s reform and China’s rise have simultaneously been plunged into the deep end. These are two separate zones, not just one. They both are impacting the future of the Chinese people. We cannot attend to just one; both must be taken into account. China is groping for stones in the midst of the great river of human history. China was pushed into this river. There is no escape route from reform, nor is there an escape route from ascendance. The only way out is to move towards the other shore.

“Retweeted” 577 times and left with 487 comments as of May 14 (a few retweets have since disappeared), Hu’s post has its supporters and detractors. But as often happens on his Weibo, the detractors here are more vocal. Deng Bolun has translated select comments. Read the original post and all of the comments on Weibo.

PinchHim: What does “rise” mean? Is it the ability to face off with the U.S. military? Based on this standard, the 200-some small- and medium-sized countries never have and will never rise. They’ll never cross the river, will they? China’s rise won’t be marked by a military rise, but the rise of human rights. If there is no rise of human rights, China won’t withstand a single blow in a military face-off.
把掐他：“崛起”是什么意思？ 有能力与美国军事对峙才叫崛起？按照这个标准，世界上二百多个中小国家，从来没有，也不可能崛起，它们是不是永远过不了河了？中国的崛起，标志不是军事崛起，而是人权的崛起。没有人权的崛起，中国在任何军事对抗中都将是不堪一击的。

FutureOfFutureOfFreedom: The officials aren’t even willing to publicly announce their personal wealth. What’s the use of reform!
自由未来的未来：官员连个人财产都不敢公布，改革有嘛用！

SillyLittleWeasel: Groan. Editor Hu wants to outline an even scarier future for those of us who can’t afford to see a doctor or buy a house. He tells us, “You’re all very happy now.”
傻瓜阿狸：哼哼，胡编想给看不起病，买不起房的我们勾画一个更可怕的未来。告诉我们，你们现在很幸福。

DesertPoplarHy: What is the opposite shore like? Like North Korea or Taiwan?
沙漠胡杨hy：对岸是什么样的。是朝鲜还是台湾？

SunJianguoOk: Where is the opposite shore? What’s there? Does it have the human rights, freedom and constitutional democracy that other earthlings enjoy? Solid policy comes from deliberation; a country’s nature and fundamental structure are very important. Ours needs to be reconstructed. A foundation must be lain for long-term development. The one-party system is definitely not going to work. Peaceful, rational and good-intentioned competition must be allowed! Oppose civil war, palace coups, brutal in-fighting and disgusting internal conflict! China will go toward a civilized rebirth! With freedom lighting the way!
孙 建国ok：对岸在哪儿？对岸有什么？有地球人都有的人权，自由，宪政民主吗？具体的政策出于商讨，国家的性质与基本架构很重要，需要建立重构，以为未来长 远发展奠定基础。一党制肯定不行了，要允许和平理性善意的竞争！反对内战，宫廷政变，残酷内斗，恶性内讧！中国走向文明新生！自由照亮前路！

JiaoChengJun: I completely disagree with the notion that Chinese reform has gone into the “deep end.” The concept is vague, it confuses everyone. Just say it. Should China Westernize? Should it have a separation of powers? Should multiple parties rotate through power? Why are you so talkative?! You should just ask the people.
焦成君：非常不同意中国改革进入到什么‘深水区’的提法。概念模糊、让百姓糊涂。就直说吧，中国要不要全面西化、要不要三权分立、要不要多党轮替不就完了吗还啰嗦个啥！下面就该问问百姓吧。

UnmatchedHunger: Mr. Hu’s ass-kissing garbage talk. Two deep ends? Reform and rise don’t happen simultaneously? So-called logic and complexity are just fig leaves to coverall you  lackeys! Grope your mom’s stones and cross the river, there’s obviously a bridge!
盖世太饿：胡氏舔菊废话体。两个深水区？改革和崛起没有交集？所谓理性、复杂都你们这些狗奴才的遮羞布！摸你妈的石头过河，桥明明就在那！

MaoMaoLovesFreedom2010: The masses crossed the river long ago. It’s just you and your master that still pretend to be holding on to the river stones as a matter of life and death!
毛毛爱自由2010：人民群众早就过河了，就你和你主子还假装摸着石头死活不放手呢！

YuZhengzhi: The only way out is for the Chinese Communist Party to pocket its pride and stop making empty calls for “serving the people.” Instead it should accept accountability to the people by realizing competitive elections for People’s Congress representatives, then gradually establishing a civil society of freedom, democracy and rule of law.
余正之：唯一的出路就是中国共产党放下架子，不是空喊“为人民服务”这样的假话，而是接受人民的监督，先推进实现人大代表公开全民竞争选举，逐步建立自由、民主、法治的公民社会。

DukeOfHarmony: Sh*t, ten years into reform we were told we’re in the river, 20 years later we were told we’re still in the river, and 30 years on we’re still told we’re in the river. It’s getting deeper and deeper! If we keep going, won’t the entire population be “reformed” into the sea? How come we never make it to shore?
大公大同：靠，10年了告诉我们在河里，20年了告诉我们还在河里，30年了告诉我们仍然在河里，还越来越深！继续下去，是不是把全国人民“改革”进大海里啊？怎么老是上不了岸？

GraceLHY: Editor Hu’s style is my favorite. Every character is a Chinese character. Each sentence is disconnected from the next. He wrote 140 characters but said absolutely nothing. None of it resembles the Chinese language~
雍容LHY：胡总这种风格我最喜欢了，每个字都是汉字，每一句都和另一句没关系，写了140字还是啥都没说，全不像汉语~

Pekinggdq: The problem is you’ll never reach the other shore.
pekinggdq：问题是你永远到不了对岸.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Deng Bolun, Global Times, Hu xijin, sina weibo, weibo
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

I’m taking my Godfather into battle!

Hot Topics:

• BJDaily (BJ日报): Beijing Daily
• Show-Off Girl (炫富女), Ma Lihong (马力宏): Weibo user Yang Zilu (@杨紫璐) wrote that her godfather chartered a plane for 8.88 million yuan for himself and Yang to see the London Olympics, posting snazzy photos as well. Some netizens think the “Lihong” Yang mentions is not the pop star Wang Lihong, but instead Zhejiang Province Communist Party Party Provost Ma Lihong.
• Ma Chi + Ferrari + Singapore (马驰+法拉利+新加坡): Reportedly, Ma Chi is the wealthy Sichuan man who died while driving recklessly in Singapore.
• Liu Mingze (刘明泽): Blogger Han Han sued Liu Mingze in January following allegations by Fang Zhouzi that Han Han’s writing is produced by ghostwriters. Liu is said to have sent information about the ghostwriters to Fang. But Han Han withdrew his case against Liu just one day after he had filed at the Shanghai Putuo District Court. Danwei details the Han Han v. Fang case.

Internet “Nicknames” for Security Chief Zhou Yongkang, an alleged backer of Bo Xilai:

• Zhouyong (周永)
• zyKang (zy康)
• zYongK (z永K)

Note: All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

CDT Chinese runs a project that crowd-sources filtered keywords on Sina Weibo search. CDT independently tests the keywords before posting them, but some searches later become accessible again. We welcome readers to contribute to this project so that we can include the most up-to-date information.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beijing Daily, Bo Xilai, Fang Zhouzi, Ferrari, filtered words, Han Han, sensitive words, sina weibo, Wang Lihong, weibo, Zhou Yongkang
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

If you are interested in participating in this project by submitting and/or translating terms, please contact the CDT editors at CDT [at] chinadigitaltimes [dot] net.

天朝 (tiān cháo): Celestial Empire

The Celestial Empire is an ancient name for China. Recently, netizens have used the term sarcastically to refer to China under the current government. Oftentimes the term is used to suggest that China’s leaders are self-important and have a China-centric view of the world.

网络用语，中国大陆网民对中华人民共和国的称呼，多见于与动漫相关的网站，使用时往往带有讽刺或称颂色彩。

Dragon, symbol of the Celestial Empire

Character combining the characters for “Celestial” and “Kingdom.”

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: GMH Lexicon, word of the week
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

What ails China’s lending environment, and why won’t an RRR cut fix it? MarketWatch’s Craig Stephens thinks banks might have a supply-side problem, battling higher funding costs as their expanding suite of wealth management products – and the higher returns they offer investors – squeezes their margins. But Bob Davis and Tom Orlik write in The Wall Street Journal that the problem lies on the demand side, that the government can no longer “turbocharge the economy as they have in the past” by pushing state-owned banks to churn out new loans because the system lacks an ample supply of borrowers willing to take them:

The hesitation to borrow runs across the Chinese economy, from massive state-owned steelmakers struggling with overcapacity to small exporters trying to figure out when the European crisis might abate.

“We don’t need any expansion of credit because we are playing it safe,” said Stanley Lau, managing director of Renley Watch Manufacturing Co., a Hong Kong watch exporter that manufactures in southern China.

“Because of growing uncertainty over the economy, a lot of businesses are reluctant to borrow and, instead, they have decided to put their project or expansion plans on hold,” a senior executive at one of China’s largest banks said.

Even beyond the steelmakers and manufacturers, the troubles plaguing China’s cooling property market don’t help banks’ lending prospects either. Average home prices in 70 Chinese cities fell again in April, as the government continues to demonstrate a commitment to a price correction that it began in 2010. And while property prices may rebound in the 4th quarter as supply begins to ease, one research analyst told China Daily, housing ministry official Zhang Xiaohong told local media on Friday that Beijing won’t reverse its course and that “There is still room for property developers to continue to adjust prices to boost sales volume, but there is no more room for property speculation.” For now, reports Robin Kwong in The Financial Times, developers can only continue to push their large inventories of unoccupied properties:

This dynamic is reflected in the plight of Number 8 Royal Park, a super-luxurious development in Beijing where liveried footmen have been chaperoning potential buyers to assay opulently decorated 520 sq m apartments. The developer is still holding firm on its price tag of over $10m, but sales appear to have stagnated. Staff are still urging clients to buy flats in the same two towers that were on offer a year ago.

The Globe and Mail’s Mark MacKinnon points out that the Chinese government’s handling of the housing market reflects not just an attempt at a market correction, but also a play for political preservation:

That bubble is now deflating, although some economists say the market is still overvalued and that falling property prices will not constitute the main drag on GDP this year.

“You can make a pretty strong case that it’s overvalued, the property market, so I personally don’t think there will be any reversal…I think they’ll hold the line,” said Alaistair Chan, China economist with Moody’s Analytics, who said this year’s forecast for GDP growth may end up around 8 per cent from their previous prediction of 8.2 per cent.

Just as important for China’s government, though, is that restricting property prices to try to keep them within reach of the rising middle class is seen as key to preserving political stability. For an authoritarian regime obsessed with maintaining a “harmonious society,” this has been a relatively dramatic year, with labour protests, self-immolations by Tibetan activists, continuing food inflation and a rare and colourful political scandal involving the murder of a British businessman that felled one of China’s most popular politicians – all ahead of an expected transfer of power at the top that is supposed to begin with the Communist Party’s national congress in October.

As a result, some property developers are settling in with what they have, and downgrading any ambitions of big acquisitions.

Wen Calls for Growth

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao took time during his weekend trip to Wuhan to reiterate the government’s aim of fine-tuning the economy to support growth, according to The China Daily:

“The relationship between maintaining growth, adjusting economic structures and managing inflation, must be properly handled,” Wen said in comments reported by Xinhua News Agency. “We should continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy while giving more priority to maintaining growth.”

The government, he said, will continue to carry out anticipatory adjustments and fine-tuning, boost domestic consumption and promote steady and relatively fast economic growth.

Even if he was only repeating the same long-deployed talking points, Chinese stocks rose today and Bloomberg News reports that Wen’s comments led analysts to speculate that the fine-tuning may become a little more heavy:

The shift in language suggests authorities are “seriously concerned about growth” and “ready to introduce further measures,” Bank of America Corp. said in a research note today. The government on May 12 cut banks’ required reserves for the third time in six months following data that showed trade, industrial production and lending were below forecasts in April.

“The April data has been a wake-up call for China,” said Alaistair Chan, a Sydney-based economist at Moody’s Analytics. “There will probably be some stimulus measures through monetary policy, more bank lending and infrastructure projects being brought forward.”

The Battle For Securities Reform 

Caixin catches up with Guo Shuqing, who took over the helm at the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) last October and has already begun to put his stamp on the job with a flurry of recent regulatory changes. The CSRC’s top priority, and “core challenge” of reform, Guo says, is in the arena of public listing:

Guo has said that a registration system for public listings is in fact not so different in nature from China’s current approval system. In the United States where a registration system is used, regulatory agencies conduct even stricter checks on companies than do their Chinese counterparts. The key is how to define the roles and responsibilities of the regulators, the exchanges and other intermediaries.

In this light, the recently released guidelines on share issue reform tackle the technical details but fail to address the underlying problems of the system. Rent-seeking can’t be eradicated without changing the vetting system. Take the newly appointed officers of the CSRC. As they become familiar with the job, and the temptations for corruption that come with it, won’t they also become less inclined to change the system? Based on the historic lessons at home and abroad, support of the top leadership is vital for a reformer.

Reforms are easier when the stock market is at a low ebb, but they will only get harder and harder. It will be a long-drawn-out war.

Is China Deleveraging?

The Wall Street Journal’s Tom Orlik writes that while China’s credit-fueled growth (which saw the ratio of credit to GDP rise to 173% by the end of 2011) may have saved China’s economy from the global financial crisis, the trend has begun to reverse amid an environment ripe with inflation, an overheated property market, among other things. It’s good for the ratio to come down and it should continue to come down, but this comes with consequences that Beijing can temper in a number of ways:

The government has options for responding. It could further lower the reserve requirement ratio, which would encourage firms to take on more loans as it lowers the cost of capital and signals that the government intends to keep demand on track—buoying confidence about future orders and profitability.

A further step would be to relax the floor on lending interest rates. China’s banks are currently allowed to lend at a discount of up to 10% to the government-set benchmark. People’s Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan said in April that the next step in interest rate reform could be liberalizing the lending rate—suggesting the floor could be lowered.

Beijing also has room to ratchet up its own spending. There are signs that this is already underway. Investment funded from the state budget grew 29% year-on-year in the first four months of this year, partially offsetting a meager 4.2% increase for investment financed by bank lending.

© CDT Money for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: China Securities Regulatory Commission, economic growth, fine-tuning, GDP, Guo Shuqing, middle class, property market, reserve requirement ratio, stock market reform, Wen Jiabao
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

In his latest contribution to his series for CDT, cartoonist Crazy Crab of Hexie Farm celebrates the news that activist Chen Guangcheng is reportedly on a flight headed for the U.S. after his long saga involving a dangerous escape from de facto house arrest, refuge in the U.S. embassy, and then two weeks in a hospital in Beijing while his fate was decided. When Chen spoke with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton upon his departure from the embassy, it was reported that he told her, “I want to kiss you!” Later, Chen clarified that he had said, “I want to see you.”

Read more about Hexie Farm’s CDT series, including a Q&A with the anonymous cartoonist, and see all cartoons so far in the series. Hexie Farm also runs the Dark Glasses. Portrait website in support of Chen Guangcheng. More of his cartoons featuring Chen Guangcheng are part of a Foreign Policy Magazine slideshow. “9 Ways of Looking at Chen.”

[CDT owns the copyright for all cartoons in the Hexie Farm CDT series. Please do not reproduce without receiving prior permission from CDT.]

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chen Guangcheng, hexie farm
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

If you are interested in participating in this project by submitting and/or translating terms, please contact the CDT editors at CDT [at] chinadigitaltimes [dot] net.

法律不是挡箭牌 (fǎ lǜ bú shì dǎng jiàn pái): the law is not a shield

This statement was made by Jiang Yu, the Foreign Ministry Spokesman.

During China’s short lived attempt at following the “Jasmine Revolutions,” of the Middle East, foreign journalists attempting to cover the “revolution” were roughed up by police. At a press conference, journalists asked what law they had violated. The following are Jiang Yu’s comments (translated by Human Rights in China).

Question: Can you clearly tell us the specific clause of Chinese law that we have violated?

Answer: The violation is of relevant regulations regarding the need for an application when going places to interview people. Don’t use the law as a shield. The real problem is that there are people who want to see the world in chaos. They want to make trouble in China. For people with these kinds of motives, I think no law can protect them. I hope everyone will sensibly recognize this problem. If you truly are reporters, then you should behave in accordance with the journalists’ professional standards. While in China you should respect China’s laws and regulations. Looking at the past two situations, those journalists who were waiting for something to happen did not get the news they expected. If during those two days there were people who incited and instigated you to go somewhere for an illegal assembly, I suggest that you promptly report that to the police, in order to, one, protect Beijing’s law and order, and two, protect your own safety, rights, and benefits.

Jiang’s comments were extremely controversial, with many netizens wondering ““what good is the law if it doesn’t protect us?.” Perhaps the most notable response to Jiang Yu’s comments was an editorial in the Southern Weekend by Chen Youxi (陈有西). A partial translation of Chen’s comments are below, as translated by the China Media Project.

During the “Cultural Revolution” there was nothing left of the law, and this caused the entire nation to slide into civil strife. Injustice prevailed everywhere, and even the chairman of the republic [Liu Shaoqi] could not be protected. To a large extent it was in drawing lessons from this tragedy that our past 30 years of opening and reform have been not just 30 years of economic reform, but also 30 years of rapid development in building a legal system.

“The law should not be used as a shield” is perhaps just a momentary slip of the tongue, but it reveals the hidden thoughts of a number of officials, and it is worrisome. It gives people the impression that China’s legal system is little more than a slogan or an accessory, something that can be used when it suits the purpose. When the government requires the law, the law can serve as a set of mandatory rules the population must respect; when it seems the law restrains one’s hand, it can be set aside. It’s as though the law is one-directional, serving to check the population but not to check power. If the law comes to be used as a tool, then clearly it is seen as something without sacred importance and not deserving of reverence — just as something utilitarian.

More recently, cartoonist Crazy Crab of Hexie Farm used this phrase when depicting a Foreign Ministry press conference following the expulsion of Al Jazeera correspondent Melissa Chan from China.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: foreign journalists, Foreign Ministry, GMH Lexicon, word of the week
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

China’s trade partners feel the pain of “deceleration” in both directions, including the ports of Southern California. And with China’s economic growth under siege both at home and abroad, economists don’t believe Saturday’s RRR cut will solve the economy’s problems by itself and instead see it as a prelude to a broader economic stimulus policy by the government. From The New York Times:

“We expect more aggressive delivery of policy stimulus via quantitative easing, substantial tax breaks, fiscal spending and investment deregulation in the coming months to ensure a soft landing,” Qu Hongbin, the co-head of Asian economic research at HSBC, said in a report.

…

Interbank lending rates have been sinking in China, a sign that the banks have plenty of spare cash even without being told that they can hold smaller reserves.

The cut in the reserve ratio should be seen “more as a signaling device used by the government to show its willingness to loosen policy in light of the significant weakening in activity growth in April,” Yu Song, an economist at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a research report.

The state-run China Securities Journal hinted on Monday that any broader economic stimulus package would likely involve another RRR reduction, but MarketWatch’s Craig Stephen pointed out that attempts to expand lending might be met by a “demand deficit” as the amount of profitable investment opportunities continues to shrink. Still, Reuters reports that economists had already rushed to update their growth forecasts after the week’s bad news:

“We were wrong and we revise down growth forecasts,” was the straight-to-the-point heading in the message line of an email sent to clients by Ting Lu, China economist at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong after Friday’s torrent of data drowned his call of a Q2 GDP bounce to 8.5 percent.

He now expects growth of 7.6 percent in Q2 and 8 percent for the year versus 8.6 percent previously. The consensus forecast for 2012 growth in the benchmark Reuters poll before Friday’s data was 8.4 percent.

Lu is struggling to understand why the April data was so far away from market expectations and thinks a new reporting system requiring China’s 700,000 biggest manufacturers, representing 90 percent of the total value added in the factory sector, to submit numbers directly the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing – rather than local offices – might be the root cause.

Whatever is behind the drop-off, the new consensus view is that Beijing will have to raise its game to stop the rot.

With research analysts across the street cutting growth forecasts, and with the ongoing political standoff in Greece weighing even further on the confidence of investors, mainland stocks fell to their lowest level in three weeks on Monday and slid again on Tuesday to a 1-month low.  China’s Ministry of Commerce poured fuel on the fire by announcing on Tuesday that foreign direct investment (FDI) declined for a sixth straight month in April. Whether because of a lackluster global economy or a slowing Chinese machine, or both, one economist told Bloomberg TV that all signs seem to point in the same gloomy direction:

“Trade data was bad, production data last week was bad, and this time FDI is also pointing to the same direction,” Zhang Zhiwei, chief China economist with Nomura Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong, said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. The reports show a “very weak economy at this moment,” with chances of an interest-rate cut rising though “still below 50 percent,” Zhang said.

In his Bloomberg View column, William Pesek writes that “nobody beats the system” and reminds anyone who hoped for unimpeded economic growth in China that “no industrializing nation has ever avoided a financial crisis.” Even The China Daily noted that the slowing growth rate is “within expectations” though not indicative of a hard landing. Tsinghua University’s Patrick Chovanec told The Financial Times that despite the desire of many to write off a slow first quarter as “just a little dip,” April’s data shows that “those forecasts were mostly a triumph of hope over reason”:

“China’s been riding an investment boom over the last three years that everyone recognised was unsustainable and now we’re seeing what unsustainable looks like,” Mr Chovanec says. “The unravelling of this investment boom is happening with nothing to replace it and that means China is in store for much lower GDP growth than we’ve become accustomed to.”

Spotlight: State-Owned Monopolies

China made another move to limit the dominance of state-owned enterprises this week, part of its plan to structurally reform the economy, as the Supreme Court established new rules that will open the door for more antimonopoly challenges and allow plaintiffs to more easily make their case. From The Wall Street Journal:

The rules, which will go into effect June 1, are meant to “improve the competitiveness of enterprises and promote the healthy development of a socialist market economy,” said a court statement issued Tuesday.

Legal experts say the rules will lower the burden on plaintiffs to prove the existence of a monopoly. They also appear aimed at addressing mounting pressures from both inside and outside China to scale back the power of the nation’s vast state-owned firms and make way for more competition from private companies.

…

The new rules say plaintiffs in antitrust cases can now prove a defendant’s market dominance by using a defendant’s old and existing company statements, press releases and website information that state its leading market position. Third-party market analysis can also be used if agreed on by plaintiffs and defendants, and if an agreement can’t be reached the courts will appoint an expert, the rules say.

Luxury Brands Still Growing:

Amid the market slowdown, The China Daily reports that international luxury brands such as Gucci recognize the need to retool their China strategy:

“Yes, the rate of expansion will be slower than in the previous years,” Patrizio di Marco, president and CEO of Gucci, told China Daily.

Some other luxury brands, including LV and Chanel, will also slow their expansion in China starting this year, business analysts said.

Rather than just expanding their stores in China, the leading luxury brands are starting to pay more attention to upgrading their current stores.

Despite the slowdown, Gucci will relocate and enlarge some of its stores in China.

“It’s not (store) numbers, it’s how you engage with your customers that counts,” Di Marco said.

While growth in the sector may continue to slow, and several potential roadblocks exist, a new report by CLSA Asia Pacific Markets expects that China will continue to lead the global luxury boom. From The Wall Street Journal:

Mainland-Chinese customers generate roughly one-third of Gucci and Prada’s world-wide sales, he added, and it’s not uncommon for rich Chinese to spend one-quarter of their disposable income on luxury goods.

They are also, Mr. Fischer pointed out, becoming more discriminating. Gucci and other retailers are stocking fewer logo-emblazoned items in their Chinese stores as shoppers begin to gravitate to more subtle displays of wealth.

Other News

• Hong Kong’s securities regulator has proposed new rules that would leave banks criminally liable if they act as IPO sponsor for a company that lies to investors.
• The Chinese government cut fuel prices for the first time since October, a move which helps motorists but will hurt the bottom line of the country’s oil refiners.
• China’s National Development Reform Commission has ruled that private equity funds must raise 100% of their money from local sources if it wants to be treated as a local fund, a blow to foreign firms who already face a higher hurdle than their mainland counterparts.
• At Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder’s meeting this weekend, Warren Buffet was asked how long it would take for China to see a great company like Coca-Cola.
• Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse will move bankers to the mainland and apply for a stock trading permit as it seeks to take advantage of looser restrictions on foreign investment banks in China.
• Ford is trying to play catch-up with its rivals in China but faces headwinds, according to Reuters.

© CDT Money for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: domestic demand, economic stimulus plan, foreign direct investment, Fuel Prices, GDP, hard landing, imports, IPO, legal reform, lending, luxury brands, monetary policy, monopoly, private equity, required reserve ratio, state-owned enterprises
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

The title comes from a previous Foreign Ministry press conference, when then-spokesperson Jiang Yu answered foreign journalists’ questions about why they were roughed up while reporting on so-called Jasmine Revolution protests by telling them, “The law is not a shield!” (Read more via CDT’s Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon).

Read more about Hexie Farm’s CDT series, including a Q&A with the anonymous cartoonist, and see all cartoons so far in the series. 

[CDT owns the copyright for all cartoons in the Hexie Farm CDT series. Please do not reproduce without receiving prior permission from CDT.]

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Al-Jazeera, foreign correspondents, Foreign Ministry, hexie farm, press freedom
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Ambassador Locke and Qin Feng in friendlier times.

U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke has recently taken the spotlight. But official and online attitudes toward him couldn’t be more different: on the one hand, netizens have jokingly referred to him as “Head of the Chinese Petitions and Appeals Department who takes an American imperialist salary.” [Chinese netizens have recently taken to calling the U.S. Embassy the "Office for Petitions and Appeals after both Chen Guangcheng and Wang Lijun sought refuge there.] But in editorials published last Friday in four major Beijing papers, he was denounced for his handling of the Chen Guangcheng incident. At the same time, Weibo’s search engine function blocked results for the combination of “Gary Locke + Petitions Office.”

The niece of former Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, Hong Kong Satellite TV Chief Reporting Officer Qin Feng, wrote a scathing post on her registered Weibo account suggesting Locke be expelled from China. By the time Qin Feng deleted her own post, it had been resent more than 7,000 times and commented on nearly 5,000 times:

Gary Locke, that banana man, with his white heart. Is there still any doubt? I remember, last year before he came, the public had had such great hope for him. Look at his performance now! A foreign representative sets off infighting on someone else’s land (of course I know that the embassy is regarded as U.S. territory, but is he always at the embassy?). What kind of behavior is this? Are there any regulations for a situation like this, something like being able to expel foreign dignitaries that openly interfere with internal affairs?

The post was later deleted, probably by Qin herself. She gave an explanation for the vanished rant:

I started to curse without thinking and so learned the paranoia of many netizens. I said Locke treacherously interfered in our internal affairs, not anything else at all about him as an honest official, nor that we shouldn’t reflect on Chen Guangcheng’s journey to the government. In 140 characters I just wanted to have a little chat, and instead I was besieged from all sides.  You all really take Weibo too seriously and expect too much from me.  Summer’s nearly here and our internal heat is building. We must flush it out from the source. We’ll all feel relieved.

搞 不清楚就开骂，也让我认识到部分网友的偏执狂。我说骆家辉阴险干涉内政，并没有说他其他方面比如廉政做得不好，也没有说陈光诚事件一路走来政府不需要反 思。140字只找出一个点谈，就遭到围攻，各位真是太把微博当回事儿了，也大出我的意料。立夏了，火气大，从根源消除，让大家清爽舒心一点吧。

Below is a sample of how Qin was besieged. More comments from CDT Chinese. Translated by Deng Bolun.

Fuhedesai: There’s infighting? What kind of infighting? Who’s the leading character? Who does a blind man fight with? This is a good five times better than America’s clown.
复合德赛：有内斗了吗？内斗的情况如何？主角是谁？一个失明的人，跟谁斗啊？大活宝，比美国的大活宝好五倍。

dlensPhoto_329: I don’t understand how Locke instigated infighting in the Celestial Empire. A few hundred people spending heaps of the taxpayer’s silver to imprison a single blind man. Was this also instigated by Locke? Without a cause, where do the consequences arise?
d镜头摄影_329：我不明白老骆是怎么挑拨天朝内斗的?几百人花着纳税人的大把银子囚禁一位盲人,难道也是老骆给挑起来的?没有前因,哪来的后果?

YoungPrince: If he doesn’t try, then Obama won’t forgive him. If he doesn’t try, the American people won’t forgive Obama. This has nothing to do with ethnicity. This has to do with the values of the American people! Besides, Chen and Bo are different. It’s not infighting, it’s a violation of the law!
普林斯青：他不出手，奥巴马饶不了他，他不出手，美国人民饶不了奥巴马，这与是什么族裔无关，这与美国人的价值观有关！另外，陈与薄不同，不是内斗，是侵害！

RicePlace: reply to  RadishCake: You’re a media person. In a situation in which you have no proof, you open your mouth irresponsibly and say that Locke instigated high-level infighting. Aren’t you just showing everyone your IQ? Even if Minister Li is your relative, don’t be so disgusting, alright?
一地大米：回复@蘿蔔特糕:你身为一个传媒人，在没有证据的情况下就信口开河说骆家辉挑拨高层内斗，这不是在公众面前秀你的IQ吗？就算李部长是你亲戚，你也别这么恶心好不？

WangXiaoyu: Qin Feng as Li Zhaoxing himself describes her: I held her when she was about half a year old, called her “Feng Feng.” In elementary school, when other students were going to the the zoo, she would follow her father to the museum to receive education. Every year during Spring Festival she would go to the Monument to the People’s Heroes with a bouquet of flowers. When she was studying in New Zealand, Vice Premier Qian Qizheng and other leaders praised her and her classmates for attacking “Taiwan separatists” and evil cult members.
王 晓渔：李肇星笔下的侄女秦枫：她大约半岁时我抱过，管她叫“枫枫”。上小学时，当别的孩子星期天去动物园玩的时候，她就常跟着父母到一些博物馆去 接受熏陶，逢年过节还会向人民英雄纪念碑献上一束小花。在新西兰留学时，她曾和同学一道抨击“台独”和邪教分子，受到钱其琛副总理等领导同志称赞。（《枫 声》）

distant201201: Then don’t let your cousin and Li Zhaoxing’s son Hehe Li study in the United States. Take the lead and return to China. Fix a few more roads for the common people. Make transportation a bit more convenient. Realize direct elections sooner rather than later. Thanks.
悠悠201201：让你表兄也就是李肇星的儿子李禾禾别在美国工作了，带头回到中国吧，多给老百姓修点路，让交通更方便点，早日实现直选。谢谢。

CannotResist: Let’s forcefully surround and watch former Minister of Foreign Affairs Li’s niece’s comment on driving out Ambassador Gary Locke…
忍俊不住: 强力围观李前外交部长侄女发帖咨询驱逐骆家辉大使。。。。。。

MsYiTongsYutong: When will people finally understand that not all Chinese are PRC Chinese? They grow up eating American bread and drinking American milk, so what would make them partial toward China?  It’s just us who grow up drinking melamine and and eating Sudan Red G, and still live on, who are real Chinese.
依桐小姐的雨桐：华人不是中国人的道理有些人什么时候才能明白？人家从小吃着美国的面包喝着美国的牛奶长大凭什么要求人家偏向中国？只有我们这些从小喝着三聚氰胺，吃着苏丹红长大而依然能活到现在的孩子才是真正的中国人。

ronseattle: Qin, “instigate infighting in the country you’re stationed in”: who are the two so-called parties in this infighting? Are their strengths comparable? What will be the negative influences of this infighting on the people?
ronseattle：秦，“挑拨驻在国内斗”，这所谓内斗的双方是谁啊？他们实力相当吗？这内斗的结果对人民有何消极影响？

PretendingToBeInNewYork: This really is old Uncle Li Zhaoxing’s style. Brainless and heartless too.
假装在纽约: 很有其舅姥爷李肇星的风采。脑残心也残。

ZhangFachengsWeibo: Who’s anguish has Locke prodded? Ah, I see.
张法成的微博：骆家辉戳到了谁的痛楚，额明白了。

Orange_cn: Heh heh, you said it as if the blind man’s years of imprisonment and beatings in Linyi, Shandong were nothing. When the blind man escapes the fire pit and runs off to the U.S. Embassy, this becomes America’s intentional instigation of Chinese infighting! This kind of irrational argument is born from the same stuff as the Beijing Daily. Are the Chinese mouthpieces all like this?
Orange_cn：呵呵，说得好像山东临沂方面这些年对盲人的囚禁殴打都不算什么，盲人逃出火坑跑到美国大使馆就成了美国人故意挑起中国内斗了！如此强词夺理的逻辑，和北京日报真是一脉
相承啊，中国的喉舌都是如此特点？

SpiritsTrust: What do we call internal affairs? Is it closing the door to beat the wife to your heart’s content? When turning on the national machine that wantonly tramples human rights, never again is it internal affairs.
灵魂的信： 什么叫内政？是关起门来为所欲为的打媳妇？开动国家机器肆意践踏人权之时便不再是内政。

BrightMoonPrinceOfQin: At the bottom of their hearts, the common people are completely clear about what this is. What do you think you’re still hiding from us here? Public trust of the government has already become a burden.
秦时明月君：什么事情，老百姓心底都一清二白，你还在这儿装什么呢？ZF公信力已经为负了

SunChuanHsiang: Does “Banana Man” count as an insult? Miss.
SunChuanHsiang：“香蕉人”算不算侮辱？小姐

Yuanye8848: I’m warning you little girl, quit this nonsense about abuse from violent netizens. If you want to talk about cultural standing, I’m far above you. I’ll be a post-doc when you’re still suckling at the tit!!!
yuanye8848：警告小姑娘：别胡说八道这是网络暴民骂你，要说素质，我比你高得多，我做博士后时，你还在吃奶！！！

DeepMoanInTheNest: Hi, I’m from the countryside, lived in the countryside for more than 20 years. Maybe you don’t understand the seriousness of how local officials violently enforce the law. In other words, if you or someone else have been passing your days in a democratic society, you wouldn’t last half a day in Mr. Chen’s environment. If Ambassador Locke hadn’t show up–think about it–where would Mr. Chen hide? Where else could he be taken care of? Or how would you hope Ambassador Locke handles it, Reporter Qin?
沉 吟小窝： 你好，我是从农村出来的，在农村生活了二十多年，可能您不了解基层机关暴力执法的严重性，换句话说，如果是您或者是其它身在民主社会生活过人，自在陈先生 在环境中可能半天也待不下去，如果没有骆大使出面，您想象一下，陈先生能躲在何处。何处能够收容与他，或者说秦记者能希望骆大使如何处理？

Unicorn_Silver: Internal affairs? What are internal affairs? What do the internal affairs of your second red generation have to do with us?
Unicorn_Silver ：内政？什么是内政？你们红二代的内政关我们屁事？

Belconnen: “Locke treacherously interfered with internal affairs”? Chinese citizen blind Chen was forced nearly to death by the Chinese government and then requests help from America. America then responds with help. Is this what you mean by “interference with internal affairs”? If so, I represent myself in thanking America’s interference with the internal affairs. In China, there are too many people who are harmed by public power. I hope America comes everyday and interferes with our internal affairs!
Belconnen：“骆家辉阴险干涉内政”？ 中国公民盲人陈被中国政府逼得快要死了，然后求助于美国，美国便出手相助。这就是你说的“干涉内政”？ 如果是的话，我代表我个人感谢美国政府干涉中国内政。在中国受公权力迫害的人太多了，我希望美国天天都来干涉中国的内政！

Tonglifu: Why erase that comment? Ms. Qin?
通利福貎亚愤怒乌托邦：为啥删掉那个帖子呢。秦女士？

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Gary Locke, netizens' voices
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall