The way of the dragon

Greater China will be looking to draw on all the symbolism of the mythical creature in 2012 as it confronts transition and a world in a state of flux

Global economic crisis hits China’s exporters

As orders have tailed off, the cost of raw materials and labour have surged, with workers striking to demand higher pay.

China property market in crisis

Beijing’s pricking of the real estate bubble is resulting in a price war among developers desperate to survive, fuelling severe domestic and global repercussions

Wall Street jobs no longer an Ivy dream amid turmoil

America's 'best and brightest' are veering away from finance careers as investment banking goes bust

Asia may feel like world's ending next year

Here are eight risks that may get in Asia's way:

China needs new policy course as capital tide turns

China’s economy has surfed for years on a crest of hefty capital inflows, but the tide that brought gains in money supply is turning as global growth slows.

China real-estate prices must fall further: AgBank

Government adjustments to housing prices should aim for an up-to-25% downward revision, according to a report by Agricultural Bank of China, one of China’s big four state banks.

We won’t fall like USSR, Beijing vows

Articles mark 20th anniversary of Soviet collapse by pledging that China will adhere to its stability-based growth model, despite mounting challenges

China’s eyes in the sky ‘go public’

Beijing makes its home-grown Beidou satellite navigation system available for civilian use, posing a challenge to American dominance in the field

Mengniu shares sink after new scandal

China Mengniu Dairy lost one-fifth of its value on Wednesday after its shares plunged 26 per cent to their lowest level in more than two years after the nation’s biggest dairy company was hit by a tainted milk scandal over the Christmas holiday.

Carriers out to catch fake pilots if they can

Expanding mainland airlines seeking more staff are on alert for foreigners with fake credentials

Time Malaysia’s Proton took leave of Lotus

With state divesting itself of national carmaker, unprofitable British unit appears likely to be sold

China's other drug trade

The profits are on a par with that for illegal drugs, and the risks of getting caught far lower: no wonder the mainland's fake-medicines industry is growing, and that legal businesses are increasingly involved

China emerges as new job frontier for West’s youth

Hundreds of US, European interns are flocking to Asia for experience as work dwindles at home

Law to hit visitors working illegally

Legislators discuss fines, deportation for foreigners entering, working or staying on mainland illegally; draft law would also offer residency for role models

China official says Wukan protest shows rights demands on rise

The senior Chinese official who helped defuse a standoff with protesting villagers has told officials to get used to citizens who are increasingly assertive about their rights and likened erring local governments to red apples with rotten cores.

‘Arab Spring’ movement goes viral worldwide

All it took was a match from a 26-year-old Tunisian vegetable seller, Mohamed Bouazizi, in the city of Sidi Bouzid to start the fire of revolution sweeping through many parts of the Arab world.

Hard landing in China? Not in 2012: analysts

Politics is the main reason - it’ll be a year leading up to a power transfer in early 2013

A Village in Revolt Could Be a Harbinger for China

“What happened in Wukan is nothing new. It’s all across the country,” said Liu Yawei, an expert on local administration who is the director of the China program at the Carter Center in Atlanta.

Hong Kong remembers 'Black Christmas' of 1941

Christmas is a day of sombre remembrance for veterans of the second world war battle of Hong Kong, which fell to the Japanese on this day 70 years ago after 18 days of desperate fighting.

Shanxi coal chief fired as graft probe launched

Shanxi’s provincial government has sacked the head of China’s biggest coking coal company after the arrest of two robbers who stole more than 50 million yuan (HK$61 million) worth of cash and valuables from his home last month.

Future sold down the river

Beijing officials are proud of the restoration of a section of the Yongding, but greens say it's a waste of money and ignores an environmental crisis

Ethics training for officials far too late

Civil servants are having classes in moral standards: but the real problem is a lack of proper supervision

Nanjing massacre movie whips up passions as Noda visits

'What horrible people the Japanese are,' said student Zhao Lan, after watching the movie. 'How can they be that crazy and mad!'

Singapore sits moodily atop wealth pole

A disproportionate number of Singaporeans are among the world's wealthiest. So why the blues?

Chinese banks lure depositors despite warnings

On a recent brisk Beijing morning, the competition for depositors was in full swing at a Bank of Communications branch office.

China local debts dwarf ambitions

Provinces go deeper into the red to finish projects - from the Manhattan to highways to a stadium fronted by Olympic rings

A tax weapon that cuts both ways

Government needs invoices to assess taxes but firms avoid issuing them by giving clients freebies

Prices of resale HDB flats seen correcting

While HDB resale prices are expected to remain stable in 2012, with marginal softening of the COVs (cash-over-valuation), leading to an overall price correction of between 1 and 5 per cent, sales volumes could fall slightly as buyers assess their options beyond the resale market.

Rule change would stop firms hoarding land

Mainland property developers should start construction on idle sites within three months of receiving a government order, according to the latest amendments to draft rules aimed at curbing land hoarding.

Beijing keeps brakes on for homebuyers

Curbs designed to slow down housing development and limit price rises look set to stay in place in many mainland cities, sparking fears of a market slide

Party chief rant lights debate

One city official has brought on praise and mockery over remarks to villagers protesting against land seizures

Governments in a Hole as Land Sales Plummet

House-price controls have succeeded, but a subsequent property market slowdown is chilling China’s local governments

China another danger spot in world economy

The property bubble - much of it fuelled by credit from the unregulated shadow banking system - is visibly bursting

Cher - If I Could Turn Back Time

As U.S. Looks to Asia, It Sees China Everywhere

The last time the remote Australian city of Darwin played a significant role in American military planning was during the early days of World War II, when Gen. Douglas MacArthur used the port as the base for his campaign to reclaim the Pacific from the Japanese.

Her cheating heart

More wives are straying; changing social attitudes and earning power of women among reasons

As markets plunge, Asia's wealthy flock to art

In a spacious, luxury apartment perched on the leafy hills of Hong Kong, Kai-Yin Lo browses through a trove of Chinese art acquired over several decades, reflecting how her niche, scholarly pursuit has now hit the mainstream.

China villagers threaten to march on government offices

Protesting villagers in southern China said they will march on government offices this week unless the body of a local leader is released and four villagers in police custody are freed.

New breed of Chinese nationals making their way to Singapore

Now that she has made it to the promised land, Hunan native Gong Yan is determined that her new life in Singapore is going to work out even if it did not start out quite as planned.

Dealers raise discounts to spur luxury car sales

Mercedes-Benz and BMW cut prices on the mainland as slowing property and stock markets hit buyers

Foreign schools venturing into smaller cities

Harrow. Dulwich. Wellington. These brand-name British public schools have all set up shop in China, with one of them venturing beyond the big cities of Beijing and Shanghai.

Odds on a hard landing for China’s economy rising fast

It’s not just financial markets that are painting a grim picture. China’s real economy is also sending ominous signals of a slowdown in the property market

U.S. Navy eyes stationing of ships in Singapore

The U.S. Navy, underscoring the importance of “operating forward” amid tightening budgets and increasing threats to free seas, will station several of its new littoral combat ships in Singapore in coming years and is considering similar arrangements in the Philippines.

Imagine - John Lennon

We are the champion - Queen

Singaporeans dumping cars in Johor to claim insurance?

A Johor state assemblyman has alleged that Singaporeans are dumping their cars in Johor and claiming insurance on the pretext that the vehicles were stolen.

An ancient punishment returns to haunt China

Extended culpability for food safety lapses sets bad precedent for nation

New China sovereign fund of US$300b on the way

It will invest in real assets, given the dismal returns on US, Europe bonds

Chinese wines beat French in tasting, but it's not best vs best

Chinese wines took the top four places in a China vs Bordeaux blind tasting competition on Wednesday, but it wasn't exactly a thrashing of the world's most elite wines by Chinese upstarts.

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Hara-kiri, British-style

Is David Cameron putting his personal interests above those of the nation or is he just extraordinarily inept?

Remembering the massacre at Nanjing, 74 years later

China’s toxic shroud of secrecy

Calls are growing throughout the country for mainland authorities to admit that smog is choking the nation and release data on the deadliest particles

Marine base will not limit China, US says

Major deployment of marines in Darwin is about ties with Australia and there is no plan to contain Beijing in the region, defence envoy tells PLA chief

YEAH RIGHT, CUT THE BULLSHIT

Credit-cards-only rule to fight graft

Most expenses can no longer be paid in cash, officials told, as government seeks to curb abuse of public funds and assuage widespread anger over corruption

Investors say China heading for crisis

Amid signs of a downturn, a global financial industry survey shows a pessimistic outlook for the mainland economy in the next five years

China reels in the pirates

A decade after it joined the WTO, China has made strides in its war on piracy, but experts say the government’s controls are not watertight

Massive stock scheme revealed

Mainland regulators uncover 426 million yuan trading scam, but analysts say more must be done to address manipulation of the stock market

Global players’ woe over logistics boom

An expanding domestic logistics market on the mainland is squeezing out the big global firms and will see a Chinese rival grow in size to match them, say experts

Countries should note rule No 1 when heading for exit: don’t panic

Currency took two years to stitch together and so should take as long to dismantle, says economist

Hard-up Greeks swap their gold crosses for cash

Angeliki says her clients sell their gold crucifixes, baptism tokens or other religious objects, along with watches and pieces of gold. “When you are unemployed and have to pay the bills or taxes ... there is often no other solution,” she said.

The day Europe lost patience with Britain

It was billed as a summit to save the euro. It may be remembered as the day Europe lost patience with Britain, as most of the continent threw its lot in with EU founding members France and Germany and committed to binding their economies ever more tightly.

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China workshops struggle, but tougher times ahead

A broad and bruising downturn is sweeping through China's giant manufacturing sector, ensnaring thousands of factories already fighting for survival in the face of plunging profit margins.

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Ten years on, American business rethinks China dreams

Few in the United States would recognize Charlene Barshefsky or remember what she did. Not so in China where the former U.S. Trade Representative says she is stopped in the streets by ordinary people and thanked.

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Actor Wang Wei Died at 70-Years-Old

Hong Kong actor, Wang Wei ( 王偉) (1941 -2011) passed away at 70-years-old. His real name was Wang Wing Wei (王永偉). Through his father’s friend’s introduction, Mr. Wang started shooting popular Mandarin movies in 1963. In 1971, Mr. Wang joined the television industry, starring in many popular series, both at ATV and TVB, in which his performances were well-received.

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Beijing seeks extradition of runaway bosses

The government in Beijing is seeking the extradition of private entrepreneurs who have fled China to live abroad after defaulting on billions of yuan owed to state banks and loan sharks, two independent sources said, a rare move underlining concern over the scale of losses.

What the shadow market enthusiasts don’t tell you

The growth of off-balance-sheet and underground lending may look like a stealth liberalisation of mainland financial markets but is it really a healthy development?

Property tax scheme to cover more cities

Levy on home purchases will eventually replace restrictions on home-buying, finance official says

Vale’s China gamble falters

Brazil’s Vale made a successful wager in the 1960s to ship iron ore directly to Japan. But its attempt to do the same in China has run aground

Landlords call shots in Beijing office squeeze

Lease prices will keep rising as corporate demand is far outpacing supply, brokers say

Policy shift seen boosting sentiment

Mainland cut in bank reserves and support measures expected to encourage buyers, but critics play down gain unless controls end

Singapore home prices to fall 20%: Morgan Stanley

Prices of residential properties are expected to take a 20 per cent haircut, according to a report issued by Morgan Stanley Research.

Foreigners in China squeezed by pensions, taxes

Foreign companies that are looking to China to shore up wilting global sales have been hit by higher payroll taxes, surcharges to subsidize unions and other changes that are making conditions tougher just as economic growth slows.

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Sham-pagne! Château Lafite counterfeit scheme uncovered

The latest case in China's neverending piracy story involves wine bootleggers vending locally-refined (or in this case, maybe "unrefined") wine under the imported Château Lafite Rothschild labels.

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Chinese court rejects Apple lawsuit over iPad name

The Intermediate People's Court in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen rejected Apple's lawsuit against Proview Technology (Shenzhen). Proview, it said, lawfully registered the iPad trademark as long ago as 2000 for products in a number of countries including China, the Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper reported, citing court documents.

It's about time Apple get sued for stealing IP.

Read on...

Shell Strikes Shale Gas in China

Royal Dutch Shell has found shale gas in China, a development that could cap imports in a market natural gas producers are hoping will drive demand.

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16,000 Holocaust victims to get German pensions

This is a big difference between the Germans and the little Japs. That's why victims of Germans are willing to forgive. But the victims of the little Japs would never forgive and forget.

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China's thin margin for error in property policies

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BMW New 3-Series F30

Chinese city poised to introduce country's first Good Samaritan rules

Shenzhen publishes draft regulations to encourage people to come to each other's aid in the wake of the death of a two-year-old girl

Changing legal representatives not easy, say observers

Observers are questioning the effectiveness of a Singapore Exchange (SGX) directive to China firms listed here over the position of legal representatives, who play a powerful role in mainland firms.

Have car, will drive...with no plates

More drivers doing so to bypass traffic rules

Town plans to revive tax that provoked riots

Manufacturers in the country’s hub for children’s clothes fear the levy will cripple their operations

Jim Rogers: Faber's Wrong About China

Jim Rogers thinks Marc Faber has got it wrong about China, when he says the country is possibly headed for a hard landing, which would lead to a devastating impact on commodities around the world.

China Hard Landing Possible; Impact ‘Devastating’: Faber

A hard landing for China will have a major negative impact on global commodities and risk currencies, says Marc Faber, the editor of The Gloom, Boom & Doom report, who adds that he is more worried about a Chinese economic downturn than a recession in Europe.

China to Prepare for Social Unrest

Beijing has underlined its concern that an economic slowdown could lead to social unrest in China, with the country’s security chief urging local officials to do more to prepare for the “negative effects of the market economy”.

Romney’s dangerous anti-China rhetoric

Accusing Beijing of manipulating its currency and stealing US jobs is not based on any sound economic policy and everything to do with electoral politics

Taking hype about China with a big pinch of salt

Growth and size are not enough for fundamental changes in the global financial landscape

China should help Europe

A lot has been said about China being a potential rescuer of the eurozone. One view that has been put forth is that of Yu Yongding, a former member of China’s central bank monetary policy committee, who wrote in the Financial Times (Oct 31, 2011) that ‘Beijing will not ride to eurozone’s rescue’.

How China Can Defeat America

With China’s growing influence over the global economy, and its increasing ability to project military power, competition between the United States and China is inevitable. Leaders of both countries assert optimistically that the competition can be managed without clashes that threaten the global order.

Yunnan, the new gateway

Beijing plans investment in railways, roads and air links despite economic concerns and objections by neighbours to Chinese influence

Loan fears hit Shanghai bourse

Mainland property and bank shares slip after banking watchdog tells lenders to boost supervision of loans to developers and increase provisions for bad loans

How China Can Defeat America

With China’s growing influence over the global economy, and its increasing ability to project military power, competition between the United States and China is inevitable. Leaders of both countries assert optimistically that the competition can be managed without clashes that threaten the global order.

Distressed Portugal turns to ex-colony Angola for capital

The world-turned-upside-down of the European debt crisis reached a new extreme last week when Europe came pleading for lucre where it once only seized it: Africa.

Malaysia to relax laws on public assemblies

Malaysia will relax laws to allow peaceful public gatherings to be held without a police permit, part of a move to allow more freedom of expression as Prime Minister Najib Razak accelerates reforms ahead of a possible general election next year.

McDonald's, Target Dump Egg Supplier After Investigation

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China distracted by bubbles

Need for emerging markets to be focused on industries in order to be rich

Daiwa downgrades property outlook

It predicts multi-year downturn that will slash private home prices by 22-26% in a 3-year period

Japan balances between U.S. and China over trade, security

Japan assured Asia and key ally United States this week that Tokyo is not choosing sides between Beijing and Washington over sensitive trade and security issues, in a delicate balancing act to avoid past perceived mistakes of upsetting its partners.

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爱情转移 - 陈奕迅

China Said to Warn Banks on Property, Loans

China's banking regulator warned lenders that some projects backed by local governments may run out of funds, and loans to property developers are likely to sour as sales slow, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

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China Home Prices Fall Most This Year on Curbs

China's home prices fell in 33 of 70 cities monitored by the government in October, the worst performance since it expanded property curbs and scrapped the reporting of national average housing data this year.

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Beijing must not ease its curbs on the housing sector just when they’re biting

Hu Shuli urges the government to resist the pressure from interest groups to ‘save the market’, and press on with efforts to check speculation and moderate prices

Apple Launches Audit of Chinese Suppliers

Apple has hired an outside specialist firm to help audit the environmental practices of its suppliers in China following a series of critical reports by activists.

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Multinationals Turn to China's Version of Twitter

What do the International Monetary Fund, Louis Vuitton and Unilever have in common?

They are the among a clutch of Westerns institutions to join Weibo, China's most popular microblogging platform operated by Sina, which has quickly become the place to be to promote, lobby and win over a large, important audience.

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Chinese women rescued from den of vice in Angola

Police from China and Angola have jointly busted a criminal gang that abducted Chinese women and forced them into prostitution in Angola, China's Ministry of Public Security said on Wednesday.

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Domestic violence casts an ugly shadow

It never occurred to Li Wei that her second marriage would collapse, and be even uglier than the first. The “reliable, honest and loving” husband she had been looking for turned out to be an ill-tempered bully who beat her repeatedly over nine months.

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Where you stand on China depends on where you sit

Hedge-fund managers in Asia are more upbeat towards China than their counterparts in the U.S. and Europe, according to industry insiders, who see a growing correlation between China outlooks and where clients are based.

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Access to full smog data still out of sight

Environment minister says monitoring standards are being revised and won’t be improved overnight

Why More Women in Beijing Are Delaying Marriage

Beijing retiree Huang Guipu has spent the past two years setting up his 29-year old daughter, Huang Fei, on more than 30 blind dates. Much to Mr. Huang’s chagrin, however, not a single suitor has turned out to be Mr. Right.

Android gobbles up global smartphone share

Google Inc.’s Android mobile operating system gobbled up market share in the third quarter, with unit sales accounting for more than 52% of the global smartphone market, according to data from Gartner Inc. released Tuesday.

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Getting Away: Huanglong

High in the mountains of northern Sichuan, the skies are blue, the air is clear, and the landscape is the stuff of legend. Tucked away in a mountain crease, Huanglong National Park (黄龙国家地质公园) is one of southwest China's most spectacular and yet still relatively lesser-known natural areas.

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Android is three times bigger than Apple's iOS

Google's Android OS increased its dominance in the mobile operating system market, accounting for a whopping 52.5 per cent of all smartphones shipped globally in the last quarter - nearly three times that of iOS.

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Napa Valley dreams brew in Jade Valley

There’s much to cheer about in China’s Shaanxi, which dreams of becoming the Napa Valley of the East, while prospects have dimmed for Japan’s TV makers. China Correspondent Grace Ng checks out the wine industry in Shaanxi and Japan Correspondent Kwan Weng Kin reports on Japan’s ailing TV industry.

China to lift ban on Malaysian bird’s nest products

China recognises the presence of natural nitrite in bird’s nest and will lift the import ban on the products from Malaysia after determining a permissible level, Malaysian health minister Liow Tiong Lai said.

Macau junket operators get licence to lend

To get around debt collection issue, they get moneylenders’ licences in China

China vulnerable to asset bubbles, warns IMF

China’s biggest commercial banks face systemic risks if a combination of credit, property, currency and yield curve shocks that could be withstood in isolation were to occur together, the International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday.

China property market dip may have global impact

China’s property market, a mainstay of the world’s second-largest economy, has started to suffer a downturn that could have a knock-on effect on global trade in commodities, analysts warn.