America's North Shore Journal » Entries tagged with "China"
China Boosting Taiwan Ties
The mainland said on Wednesday [January 7 2009] that it will continue pushing forward dialogue and consultation with Taiwan in the new year by “firmly holding the main theme of peaceful development of the cross-Straits relations”. Yang Yi, spokesman of the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remark at a press conference here. Yang spoke highly of the recent speech of Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, at a December 31 workshop to mark the 30th anniversary of the mainland’s “Message to Compatriots in Taiwan”. Hu’s speech summed up 30 years’ experience in developing cross-Straits relations in a comprehensive way, and he made a series of new proposals to develop the relationship, according to the official. “This important speech is of great significance for us to accomplish … Read entire article »
Filed under: China, China's Economy
Chinese Job Losses Mount
The numbers are huge, but in China they are still a small percentage of the overall workforce. That is, if the reports are accurate and not understated. The potential for a civil backlash is growing. Nearly 5 million migrant workers had returned home by the end of November, accounting for 5.4 percent of rural migrant workers, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said. Many of them had lost their jobs as the global financial crisis took its toll across the country. The 4.85 million migrant workers were mainly from 10 provinces including Sichuan, Hebei, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan. Meanwhile, employers in the provinces of Guangdong, Jiangsu, Fujian and Shandong, as well as Shanghai, have sacked 2.45 million people, accounting for 5.2 percent of the workforce in these areas, the ministry said. Shanghai … Read entire article »
Filed under: China, China's Economy
China Mines Uranium in Niger
A battle is unfolding on the stark mountains and scalloped dunes of northern Niger between a band of Tuareg nomads, who claim the riches beneath their homeland are being taken by a government that gives them little in return, and an army that calls the fighters drug traffickers and bandits. It is a new front of an old war to control the vast wealth locked beneath African soil. Niger’s northern desert caps one of the world’s largest deposits of uranium, and demand for it has surged as global warming has increased interest in nuclear power. Growing economies like China and India are scouring the globe for the crumbly ore known as yellowcake. A French mining company is building the world’s largest uranium mine in northern Niger, and a Chinese state company … Read entire article »
Filed under: China
Chinese Economy Threatened By Deflation
It is foolish to accept Chinese economic figures at face value. China remains a centralized communist state. It has no incentive to produce honest data on its economy, nor do the people in the trenches have any incentive to report the economic truth up the line to their superiors. Everything about the economy of China should be treated with suspicion. As the risk of deflation looms large on top of weaker exports and declining private real estate investment, China’s economy may continue to slow down in the quarters immediately ahead but regain growth momentum in the second half of next year, according to a Morgan Stanley report released on Wednesday. In its China Economics Outlook for 2009, the Hong Kong-based Morgan Stanley Asia forecast China’s baseline GDP growth would be around 7.5 … Read entire article »
Filed under: China, China's Economy
Chinese Suicide Rate Climbs
A TWO-year-old boy was orphaned in the southwest Chinese city of Chongzhou when his parents drank pesticide after a nasty row. The tragedy, reported in the state media last month, bears testimony to the dark side of reform – suicide rates that are now among the highest in the world. On average, a Chinese person takes his or her own life every two minutes, giving the world’s most populous nation a dismal record as it prepares to celebrate 30 years of otherwise spectacular economic reform. “With the reforms, society has become more complicated,” said Huo Datong, the first psychoanalyst to practise in China. “Individualism has become more pronounced and psychological problems have become more and more serious,” he said from Chengdu, a city in the southwest. Since reform kicked off in 1978, the Middle Kingdom … Read entire article »
Filed under: China
China Continues Influence Expansion
China on Sunday announced a massive USD 2.61 million military assistance package to Nepal in its bid to checkmate India’s influence over the Himalayan country. The liberal assistance includes USD 1.45 million for procurement of military equipment apart from USD 1.16 million promised by Beijing during Nepal Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa’s visit two months ago. Chinese deputy Chief of Staff Lt Gen Ma Xiaotian, who is currently in Nepal on a five-day visit, announced the package of 18 million Chinese Yuan (USD 2.61 million) as part of its plans to boost defence cooperation with Kathmandu. An agreement was signed with Nepal today by a 10-member military delegation, led by Ma, after meeting Nepal Defence Minister Thapa, the Defence Ministry said. The Chinese military delegation that arrived here yesterday is scheduled to meet Prime … Read entire article »
Filed under: China
Sichuan School Rises From Quake Rubble
No blackboards or chalk can be found at the Jianyong May 12 Experimental School, about a 90-minute bus ride from this city, the capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province. Those teaching tools have been replaced by high-tech gadgets known as interactive whiteboards. Inside classrooms, touch-sensitive displays are connected to computers and digital projectors to show computer images. That is the new reality of the May 12 Experimental School in a city that was hard-hit by the 8.0-magnitude quake earlier this year. When contacted by Xinhua on Thursday, principal Tao Ancai was in good spirits. His school, he said, should be ranked as a leader among compulsory education schools in China for being so high-tech. “All 30 classrooms have interactive whiteboards, and all 50 teaching staff get a laptop to facilitate teaching,” said Tao. Xu Yunmen, … Read entire article »
China Factory Output Down
China’s manufacturing output fell sharply in November, just the latest sign that the global economic slowdown is impacting on its economy. The official purchasing managers’ index declined to 38.8 in November, from 44.6 in October, with any figure under 50 indicating a contraction. The fall was caused by a sharp drop in new orders, especially from abroad. China’s President Hu Jintao has warned that the global financial crisis is hitting the country’s competitiveness. BBC … Read entire article »
Filed under: China, China's Economy
Ancient White Chinese Buried With Cannabis
The Journal of Experimental Botany reveals one of the oldest known botanical experiments. The grave of a tribal shaman in western China has turned up some high-grade pot. The Yanghai Tombs near Turpan, Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region, China have recently been excavated to reveal the 2700-year-old grave of a Caucasoid shaman whose accoutrements included a large cache of cannabis, superbly preserved by climatic and burial conditions. [snip} To our knowledge, these investigations provide the oldest documentation of cannabis as a pharmacologically active agent, and contribute to the medical and archaeological record of this pre-Silk Road culture. … Read entire article »
Filed under: China, Hard Science, Science
Coming Soon: Future Posts
- Declaration of War 1812 (in 130 days)
- USS President vs HMS Belvidera (in 135 days)
- General Hull Invades Canada (in 154 days)
- First Battle of Sacketts Harbor (in 161 days)
On Y!CN
- Radioactive Gravel from Japanese Nuke Disaster Used in Buildings
- Fuel Supplies Reach Nome
- Fuel Convoy Reaches Nome
- Russians Sail to Rescue of Ice Bound Alaska Community
- Pope Embraces Anglicans in U.S. with New Ordinariate
- Nebraska Nuke Plant Placed on Special Inspection Status
- Radioactive Water Leaks at Japanese Nuke Site
- Japan Damaged Nuke Plants Still Not Under Control
Social Links
