Airbus Wins $18 Billion China Deal, Plans Jet-Completion Site

Andrea Rothman and Helene Fouquet
Bloomberg
Airbus Group SE wins an order from China for 75 A330 jets worth $18 billion as it finalizes an agreement to open a facility for fitting out and painting the plane.

Chinese Stocks Fall Into a Bear Market

Keith Bradsher
New York Times
China’s central bank cuts interest rates and fails to stem the route in Chinese share prices; the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets closes with steep losses.

Caixin Media

06.30.15

Tesla’s Ambitious Quest for Traction in China

Tesla Motors chief executive Elon Musk was mobbed like a pop star last year while introducing Chinese consumers to his U.S. company’s Model S electric car.Amid the frenzy, the American billionaire-entrepreneur ambitiously predicted China would...

Media

06.26.15

‘Why Do Chinese Lack Creativity?’

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian
On June 19, the University of Washington and elite Tsinghua University in Beijing announced a new, richly funded cooperative program to be based in Seattle and focused on a topic that has become a sore point in China: innovation. Republican...

Techies Are Trying to Get Chinese Consumers to Rack Up Debt

Issie Lapowsky
Wired
In recent years, as the growth of the Chinese economy has slowed—thanks to declining demand for exports and new real estate projects—the government has been desperate to get its thrifty citizens to spend, spend, spend and drive economic growth from...

South Africa Tourism in Crisis as Chinese Reject New Visa Regulations

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
South Africa’s tourism sector is in crisis as a series of new visa regulations have prompted dramatic falls in arrivals, particularly from the world’s largest source of tourists: China. The number of Chinese visitors to South Africa has plunged a...

China's Alibaba to Remove Listings with Confederate Flag Imagery

John Ruwitch and Jane Lanhee Lee
Reuters
Alibaba pledged to pull down links to products with Confederate flag imagery in the wake of the shooting in South Carolina.

China Reveals Misuse of $2.7 Billion in Lottery Funds

Sui-Lee Wee
Reuters
China uncovered the misappropriation of $2.72 billion from its state lottery program, used to buy and build office buildings and hotels.

China Invests in the World

Shannon Tiezzi
Diplomat
China’s outward foreign direct investment for the first five months of 2015 is up 50 percent from the same period in 2014, says Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

China to Boost Textile Industry in Xinjiang

Shanghai Daily
China's cabinet issued a guideline on Thursday to bolster the textile and garment industry in the western Xinjiang region in the hope of increasing local employment and exports.

South Africa Tourism in Crisis as Chinese Reject New Visa Regulations

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden, David...
The number of Chinese visitors to South Africa has dropped 32 percent after new visa regulations make travel difficult.

China's Alibaba Pictures Investing in Paramount's 'Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation'

Abid Rahman, Georg Szalai
Hollywood Reporter
Alibaba Pictures says 'Mission: Impossible 5' will be its first Hollywood investment.

Alibaba is Selling US E-Commerce Site 11 Main Just a Year After it Opened

Josh Horwitz
Quartz
Alibaba’s been more tentative in the U.S. than it has in China, because it is a latecomer in a mature market.

China Voice: Cooperation Prevails Over Confrontation in China-U.S. Ties

Xinhua
The dialogues will help pave the way for President Xi Jinping's state visit to the U.S. in September.

The Village and the Girl

Carrie Gracie
BBC
The destruction of rural China became for pig farmer Xiao Zhang a liberation and an opportunity.

Hunt for Deep Panda Intensifies in Trenches of U.S.-China Cyberwar

Jeremy Wagstaff
Reuters
Deep Panda is one of several hacking groups that cybersecurity companies accuse of hacking U.S. networks.

Attack Gave Chinese Hackers Privileged Access to U.S. Systems

David Sanger, Nicole Perlroth and...
New York Times
Chinese intruders' attack gave them “administrator privileges” into Office of Personnel Management computer networks.

State Department Stays Quiet About Exit from Chinese-Owned Waldorf Astoria

Mahita Gajanan
Guardian
UN general assembly will be held at different hotel for first time in decades.

Chinese Stocks Drop 10% From Peak

Bloomberg
China’s benchmark stock index tumbled from this year’s peak amid growing concern that the country’s longest-ever bull market has propelled valuations to unsustainable levels.

CAA China’s Leader on Censorship, Why China Needs a Global Hit and Translating for Spielberg

Clifford Coonan
Hollywood Reporter
The first U.S. talent agency with full-time representation in China marks 10 years in Beijing.

Hong Kong Vetoes China-Backed Electoral Reform Proposal

Donny Kwok and Yimou Lee
Reuters
The rejection was expected and will likely appease activists who demanded a veto of what they call "fake" reforms.

‘Jurassic World’ Speaks A Universal Language

Neda Ulaby
NPR
Jurassic World was No. 1 last week in China, where only about 30 Hollywood movies may screen officially each year.

Nicaragua Canal Protest: Thousands Oppose Atlantic-Pacific

BBC
Some protesters, who were mostly farmers, accused President Daniel Ortega of selling Nicaragua to the Chinese.

China’s Unsettling Stock Market Boom

New York Times
After a peak in October 2007, prices fell about 70 percent over 12 months. This time, the risks are bigger and broader.

Sinica Podcast

06.15.15

The People’s Republic of Cruiseland

Kaiser Kuo, Jeremy Goldkorn & more from Sinica Podcast
We have enough favorite writers on China that we’ve had to develop a sophisticated classification system just to keep track of everyone. That said, one of our hardest to place within the long-form taxonomy is Chris Beam, who you may have heard on...

Investors Flee China Funds in Historic Rush

Alanna Petroff
CNN
Chinese funds just experienced the biggest exodus of money ever.

Conversation

06.11.15

How Will Beijing Treat Myanmar’s Symbol of Democracy?

Jurgen Haacke & David Mathieson
Burmese opposition leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who spent 15 years under house arrest in Myanmar, is visiting the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing for five days this week, through Sunday. Also courted by...

China’s Troubling Robot Revolution

Martin Ford
New York Times
China may face a staggering challenge as it attempts to adapt to the realities of a new age.

China Blacklists 38 Cartoons, Violence, Porn Cited

Clifford Coonan
Hollywood Reporter
Among the banned are a 2014 animated TV series set in a Tokyo after a terrorist attack has destroyed the city.

Tencent Customers Come for the Music, Stay for the Perks

Juro Osawa
Wall Street Journal
Internet giant tries to pull off something few have achieved in China: get people to pay for digital music.

The $6.5 Trillion China Rally That’s Making Stock-Market History

Kyoungwha Kim
Bloomberg
 The sum is the value created in just 12 months of trading on Chinese stock exchanges, a rally some say has gone too far.

Uber Spends Heavily to Establish Itself in China

Paul Mozur and Mike Isaac
New York Times
Fat with almost $6 billion in venture capital, San Francisco-based Uber is doling out bonuses up to three times its fares.

Americans Buy a Fifth of China’s Exports

Bloomberg
Americans bought almost $1 out of every $5 worth of goods that China exported in May, the highest share since August 2010.

Obama Vows to Boost U.S. Cyber Defenses Amid Signs of China Hacking

Jeff Mason and Mark Hosenball
Reuters
U.S. officials said the probe into a massive breach of federal government networks has yielded growing signs of a direct Chinese role.

Alibaba’s Jack Ma Visiting U.S. to Lure Businesses Into China

Spencer Soper
Bloomberg
Ma is looking for revenue beyond China, where the nation’s economy is projected to grow at its slowest pace since 1990.

Conversation

06.06.15

Should the U.S. Change its China Policy and How?

Hugh White , Mary Kay Magistad & more
The past several months have seen a growing chorus of calls for the U.S. to take stock of its policy toward China. Some prominent voices have called for greater efforts by the U.S. and China to forge “a substantive sense of common purpose,” while...

Feeling Valued

Economist
The IMF changes its tune on China’s currency.

China in Focus as Cyber Attack Hits Millions of U.S. Federal Workers

Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom
Reuters
Hacks possibly compromised the personal data of 4 million current and former federal employees.

Survivor Accounts Raise Questions About Yangtze Ship’s Final Moments

Andrew Jacobs
New York Times
Four days after the ship, the Oriental Star, flipped over in a ferocious storm, leaving 442 dead or missing.

NO! China is NOT Exporting Convict Labor to Africa!!!!

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
Fifteen minutes into almost any conversation about the Chinese in Africa, the question about Chinese labor invariably comes up. “The Chinese are exporting convicts to work on construction sites,” according to one of the pervasive myths, or, “Chinese...

Alibaba to Invest in China Business News

Wei Gu and Gillian Wong
Wall Street Journal
E-commerce giant to pay about $200 million for a 30% stake.

Chinese Democracy Isn’t Inevitable

Daniel Bell
Atlantic
Can a political system be democratically legitimate without being democratic?

Media

06.02.15

Chinese Netizens to Fiorina: You’re Right, We Don’t Innovate

David Wertime
Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and a declared Republican candidate for U.S. president, evidently has strong opinions about the capacities of Chinese people. “Yeah, the Chinese can take a test,” Fiorina told an Iowa-based video blog...

Chubby Blue Cat Hints at Thaw in Ties Between China and Japan

Vanessa Piao
New York Times
In September, three Sichuan newspapers attacked the animated cat Doraemon as a tool of Japan’s “cultural invasion.”

Made in Chindia: Giants Take Different Manufacturing Paths

Clement Tan
Bloomberg
Made in Chindia: Giants take different manufacturing paths http://www.livemint.com/Politics/5dpo7KGpdaYBigaTctF8BJ/Made-in-Chindia-Giants-take-different-manufacturing-paths.html

Reports

06.01.15

Chinese FDI in Europe and Germany

Thilo Hanemann and Mikko Huotari
Mercator Institute for China Studies
The authors have—on the basis of a unique transaction dataset—analyzed the newest trends of Chinese direct investment in Germany and the E.U. The study is able to clearly establish that the new wave of Chinese investment offers exceptional...

Media

05.29.15

Is the Shanghai Stock Market Bubble Finally Bursting?

David Wertime
A customer strolls into a bookstore, goes the popular Chinese joke, and tells the salesperson: “I’m looking for a book with no killers, but much bloodshed; with no love, but great regret; with no spies, but constant paranoia. Can you make a...

Chinese Racist Views Towards Blacks and Africans

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
When riots broke out in the U.S. city of Baltimore in May 2015, the reaction across the Chinese social web was sadly predictable as Internet users posted countless anti-black racist comments. However, what was interesting about their posts is how...

Should Authors Shun or Cooperate With Chinese Censors?

Elliott Spirling, Chan Koonchung, John...
New York Times
A PEN American Center report found some books were expurgated by Chinese censors without the authors knowledge.

Sex Trade Goes Underground in China’s ‘Sin City’

Johan Nylander
CNN
More than 2,000 hotels, saunas and massage parlors were shut down in Dongguan. 

Chinese Stocks Surge Most Since 2008 for World’s Biggest Rally

Kyoungwha Kim
Bloomberg
Rally buoyed by optimism around government plans to boost foreign access to the nation’s markets.

Star Wars to Screen in China for First Time Ever

Time
The Shanghai International Film Festival will screen the original six films.

HP Sells Control of China Units for $2.3 Billion to Tsinghua

Tony Robinson
Bloomberg
HP Sells Control of China Units for $2.3 Billion to Tsinghua http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-21/hp-says-tsinghua-holdings-to-buy-control-of-chinese-asset

This American VC Thinks He’s Getting Out of China Just in Time

Bloomberg
The 52-year-old began venture investing in China in 2009 and ended up putting money into 50 startups.

Conversation

05.21.15

Censorship and Publishing in China

Andrew J. Nathan, Zha Jianying & more
This week, a new PEN American Center report “Censorship and Conscience: Foreign Authors and the Challenge of Chinese Censorship,” by Alexa Olesen, draws fresh attention to a perennial problem for researchers, scholars, and creative writers trying to...

PLA Daily Warns of Internet's Revolutionary Potential

Song Miou
Xinhua
The military should not only safeguard traditional national sovereignty and security, but also "protect ideological and political security on the invisible battleground of the Internet".

Liu Xiaobo Locked Up in China, Locked Out of Translation of Paul Auster Novel

Chris Buckley
New York Times
Liu Xiaobo’s arrest was cut from the Chinese translation of Auster's novel without his knowledge.

Q. and A.: Luo Yufeng, a.k.a. Sister Feng, on Life as a Manicurist in New York

Vanessa Piao
New York Times
Sister Feng, whose real name is Luo Yufeng, is an Internet celebrity with more than 4.7 million followers on Sina Weibo

Media

05.20.15

China Liked TPP—Until U.S. Officials Opened Their Mouths

After a brief but frightening setback for proponents, U.S. congressional leaders looked set on May 13 to pass legislation for an eventual up-or-down (“fast-track”) vote on what would be one of the world’s largest trade accords, the U.S.-led Trans-...

Books

05.19.15

No Ordinary Disruption

Richard Dobbs, James Manyika, Jonathan Woetzel
Our intuition on how the world works could well be wrong. We are surprised when new competitors burst on the scene, or businesses protected by large and deep moats find their defenses easily breached, or vast new markets are conjured from nothing. Trend lines resemble saw-tooth mountain ridges.The world not only feels different. The data tell us it is different. Based on years of research by the directors of the McKinsey Global Institute, No Ordinary Disruption: The Four Forces Breaking All the Trends is a timely and important analysis of how we need to reset our intuition as a result of four forces colliding and transforming the global economy: the rise of emerging markets; the accelerating impact of technology on the natural forces of market competition; an aging world population; and accelerating flows of trade, capital, and people.Our intuitions formed during a uniquely benign period for the world economy—often termed the Great Moderation. Asset prices were rising, cost of capital was falling, labor and resources were abundant, and generation after generation was growing up more prosperous than their parents.But the Great Moderation has gone. The cost of capital may rise. The price of everything from grain to steel may become more volatile. The world’s labor force could shrink. Individuals, particularly those with low job skills, are at risk of growing up poorer than their parents.What sets No Ordinary Disruption apart is depth of analysis combined with lively writing informed by surprising, memorable insights that enable us to quickly grasp the disruptive forces at work. For evidence of the shift to emerging markets, consider the startling fact that, by 2025, a single regional city in China—Tianjin—will have a GDP equal to that of the Sweden, or that, in the decades ahead, half of the world’s economic growth will come from 440 cities including Kumasi in Ghana or Santa Carina in Brazil that most executives today would be hard-pressed to locate on a map.What we are now seeing is no ordinary disruption but the new facts of business life—facts that require executives and leaders at all levels to reset their operating assumptions and management intuition.—PublicAffairs{chop}