Category: Winter 2014

In my previous post, I talked about China’s slowing down economy. As President Xi pushes reform and a slows growth, analysts say that 2014 will be a turning point.  With the action plan for air pollution prevention and control in September 2013, China has started to ease surpluses in production capacity and achieved tangible results.… Continue reading 2014 key to China’s economic reform →

The recent patch of growth is one of the slowest that China has experienced since the late 1990s. Although its GDP grew roughly 7.7% in 2013 is really high from a US perspective, China feels like it has slowed down. However, TIME argues that we should welcome this. TIME describes China as: “the economy was… Continue reading Should China slow down? →

In a report published Wednesday, Li Wei, the director of the State Council’s Development Research Center, addresses China’s growing dependence on coal and oil. According to the report, China will consume 800 million tons of oil a year by 2030, a 60 percent increase from 2013. Of that 800 million tons, China will import about… Continue reading China’s Growing Energy Dependence →

In 2008, the American embassy in Beijing attempted to publish information measuring the amount of smog, but was denied by China’s government. However, now China seems to be becoming more receptive to this idea, as the government is releasing data that was formerly kept secret. This is major news for Chinese environmental activists because now… Continue reading A Small Breath of Fresh Air →

China has had difficulties with international agriculture trade as it has opened its markets in the past decades.  The story of the Chinese soybean is one such problem.  In the early 2000s, China mostly grew its own soybeans.  However, as markets opened further and trade restrictions were removed, China succumbed to increasing domestic demand and… Continue reading China’s Corny Problem →

The Documentary “The Baidu Billionaire: Inside the Google of China” features Robin Li, CEO and cofounder of Baidu Inc., explaining Baidu’s success and lack of interest in expanding to other countries. Robin Li, who studied Information Technology in Peking University, believes that “China is a big market and it takes a long time to expand… Continue reading “The Google of China” →

China and Taiwan met for the first time formally in 65 years since the country split in 1949. China has never accepted or acknowledged Taiwan as an independent country. According to US intelligence, “The Chinese government keeps around 1,200 missiles pointed at Taiwan” just in case they decide to declare independence. Tensions are high to… Continue reading China and Taiwan Formally Talk →

In light of the current olympics in Russia, I thought this would be a good time to examine how the 2008 olympics effected the Chinese economy. The traditional argument for a developing nation hosting the olympics is that the influx of tourism and international attention will provide a launching point for the economy. In other… Continue reading The Beijing Olympics Economic Ramifications →

While China has traditionally been an isolated nation, in the past half century that has changed drastically. Originally, this opened many markets for Chinese goods and fostered rapid growth of the Chinese economy. However, this has also increase the level of outside influence in China. This new outside influence has ramped up an economic down… Continue reading Outside Influence on China’s Economy →

In 2013, China’s consumption of gold increase by 41 percent, exceeding 1,000 tons for the first time, and making China the worlds leading consumer of gold. The increase in gold consumption was spurred on by the expectations that U.S. Federal Reserve will scale back its monetary stimulus, causing the drop in gold prices; the first… Continue reading China’s Gold Demand →

Some are preparing for a new global financial crisis due to the enormous “splurge” in Chinese lending and quality of lending in China’s shadow banking industry. This was prompted by two things: when a fund promoted by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China almost defaulted, and the fact that China has lent around $15… Continue reading New Global Financial Crisis? →

In recent years China has seen an increase in wealth management products. This has been a result of the country’s restrictive financial system that offers limited investment techniques for the growing population of wealthy Chinese. These new wealth management products have on average a yield that is two percent higher than what bank deposits offer.… Continue reading Big Chinese Internet Companies Are Competing Head-On Against Chinese Banks →

Since the 1970s, China has been producing films with the same Communist themes and propaganda, even though their film industry has changed dramatically. Their daily television shows have also embraced this trend. The second Sino-Japanese War is shown in both films and televisions quite frequently, because it left such a bad taste in China’s mouth.… Continue reading China’s Television War on Japan →

The Lunar New Year is a major holiday in China. It is a week long event where tens of millions of people head home to celebrate with their families or vacation abroad in places such as Hong Kong, Seoul and Singapore. This year, however, heavy snowfall in central and eastern China has resulted in numerous… Continue reading Inclement Weather Causes Major Delays During Lunar New Year →

According to CNN Money and research firm Hurun, about 2/3 of wealthy Chinese (with more than 1.6 million dollars in the bank) have emigrated, or are planning to. As you can see in the map, some hotspots where they move into are:  Europe, the U.S., Canada, and Hong Kong. However, an interesting fact is that this… Continue reading China on the Move →