Voices & Focus

Voices

Liu Jinping: Chinese Realty Market Needs Fortification

Experts point out that a high level of foreign capital in the Chinese realty market threatens the housing security of the common people.

Liu Jinping, realty specialist, recently commented that the large amount of foreign capital entering the Chinese realty market is a risky phenomenon. The People’s Bank of China Report on Monetary Policy Execution in the Second Quarter states that foreign capital entered the Chinese realty market on a massive scale during the first half of 2007, and that the growth rate of the corresponding period hit 68.7 percent. The foreign investment field has now expanded from business to residential buildings. “Foreign capital pours oil on the fire of ever-rising house prices. Worse still, free entrance of foreign capital has heightened the high level of marketization in this area, which threatens the housing safety of the Chinese common people,” said Liu, also pointing out that market should not forfeit its national boundary in the interests of economic globalization. The Chinese realty market must be fortified and a reasonable proportion of it to be open.

CASS Blue Book: Pressure on Chinese Energy Resources

China develops wind energy.

China has entered the latter half of the mid-stage of industrialization, which it will fully realize around 2015 to 2018, according to the first Blue Book on Industrialization published by the Institute of Industrial Economics of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Eastern China, especially the Yangtze River, Bohai Sea Region and Pearl River Deltas has already entered this phase, while the northeastern and western regions are still at the early and mid stages. Beijing and Shanghai, furthermore, have realized industrialization and entered the post-industrialization phase. The report states that increased demands resulting from consistent economic development have exerted serious pressure on China’s energy resources. At present the US, at 10 tons of standard coal, is the highest per capita energy resource consumer. In Japan, -- the most energy saving conscious country -- this figure stands at 4.6 tons. Even according to this standard, and China's population standing at 1.5 billion, it will consume six billion tons of standard coal -- or three times its current amount -- owing to its massive population.

Focus

HSBC Gets Approval for Rural China Market

HSBC becomes the first foregin bank with a branch in rural China.

The HSBC recently confirmed that it had received approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission to set up an HSBC Rural Bank in Zengdu Count in Hubei Province. This makes the HSBC the first foreign bank to break into rural China. Zengdu County, which has a population of two million, has developed rapidly in recent years. The HSBC branch there is scheduled to open at the end of this year, with an initial staff of 25 people. The word is that HSBC gained experience in the rural finance market through its business in Brazil, India and Mexico, which it will apply to this new branch, in its provision of appropriate financial service to rural communities and firms.

30 Million Homosexuals in China

Professor Zhang Beichuan of Qingdao University estimates that there are 30 million homosexuals, of the age range 15 to 60, in China, two thirds of whom are gay and bisexual men. A specialist survey among relatively young gays living in big cities with a good education revealed that 30-35 per cent of respondents had been driven to the point of committing suicide by prejudice and that most suffered from loneliness and depression. Since the year 1997, homosexuality has not been legally classed as criminal, and since 2001, homosexuality no longer appears on the Chinese Classification and Diagnostic Criteria of Mental Disorder psychosis list.

State-owned Capital Concentrated in Six Major Industries

Adjustment to state-owned economy structure has achieved good results in the past four years.

Li Rongrong, director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council recently stated that adjustments to China’s state-owned economy structure have achieved good results in the past four years. The state-owned economy is concentrated in the six main industries encompassed by energy resources, transportation and metallurgy. To date, at least 77 central enterprises have joined in 41 instances of restructuring, and the number of central-government owned enterprises has been reduced from 196 to 157. In the meantime, the amount of capital under state control is increasing, more than 80 per cent of state-owned assets being concentrating in the fields of war industry, mineral resource exploitation and significant machinery manufacture. State-owned enterprises will also take on appreciable crude oil, natural gas and ethane production, and be responsible for the country’s entire telecom service.

Travel Is Top Priority among China’s Affluent

According to the MasterCard Worldwide China Affluence Index, 92.6 percent of the nation's affluent households spent around US$10,000 on leisure and recreational activities in the year 2006, among which travel took priority. The index revealed that 43.3 percent of respondents had traveled at least three times on the Chinese mainland that year, and that 30 percent had taken at least three overseas trips. Hong Kong was the most popular overseas travel destination; 85.6 percent of China's wealthy went there last year. Other hot destinations are Macao (51.7 percent), Thailand (34.8 percent), Singapore (30.5 percent), Japan (18.7 percent) and EU countries (less than 10 percent). The survey also indicates that the affluent social sector is growing fast. The number of household with an annual income of US $25,000 is expected to reach to 8.5 million in the year 2015.

2007 China International Confucius Cultural Festival

Students of Chinese from the University of Colorado attending a ritual at the Confucius Temple in Zhengzhou.

The teachings of Confucius born in 551 B.C., constitute the bedrock of traditional Chinese culture. The Confucius Cultural Festival has been held annually in Qufu since 1984. Celebration activities at the 2007 China International Confucius Cultural Festival from 20-28 September in Qufu, Confucius' birthplace in eastern China's Shandong Province, included a get-together of overseas Chinese and foreign nationals of Chinese origin from around the world, the UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy award ceremony, and the preliminary meeting for next year’s Global Confucianism Conference -- a top world forum for research into Confucianism. There were also business events such as the 8th China Patent & High-tech Products Expo and the China (Jining) International Modern Agricultural Expo.