Economy
Anhui experiments with sales of rural land in 20 counties – BUSINESS – Globaltimes.cn
The government of Anhui Province issued a decree on November 12 to allow rural land designated for construction in 20 counties to be sold, another experiment in changing China’s rigid rural land policy.
The experiment in the eastern province of Anhui also allows farmers in the 20 counties to sell the land designated for them to build their houses on, expanding farmers’ source of income.
The country’s land is divided into rural and urban usage. The law says rural land is owned by the collective and it must be expropriated by governments before it can be sold on the market. The experiment in Anhui, as well as a recent move in Shenzhen, in the southern province of Guangdong, in early November to put a parcel of rural land onto the urban market, represents an attempt by local governments to end their own monopolies.
Chinese Balk at Child-Rearing Costs – China Real Time Report – WSJ
** And if there’s greater demand for powdered milk…**
Beijing’s announcement Friday that couples will be able to have two children if one spouse is an only child was, for the most part, a welcome surprise. A survey on Sina Corp’s Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, showed the majority of nearly 26,000 users who responded the next day would have another child under the new rule. Their reasons ranged from being able to ease the burden on one child having to take care of retired parents to ensuring that the kids won’t be lonely growing up.
Yet roughly 37% still said they would opt out of having another child.
It’s “unaffordable,” wrote one Weibo user. “A semester of kindergarten alone costs almost 10,000 yuan.”
China Leadership Pledges Expansion of Economic Freedoms – Bloomberg
In the biggest expansion of economic freedoms since at least the 1990s, China’s leaders vowed to expand farmers’ land rights, loosen the one-child policy and encourage private investment in state businesses.
Couples can have two children if either parent is an only child, the Communist Party said in a statement yesterday fleshing out policies set at a four-day conclave this month. Farmers will get more rights over collectively owned rural land, while the household registration system that impedes internal migration will be scrapped in towns and small cities.
China to claim more gains of state-owned capital – Xinhua | English.news.cn
BEIJING, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) — Thirty percent of the gains of China’s state-owned capital will have to be handed back to the government by 2020, according to a decision issued on Friday by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
At present, the proportion ranges from zero to 15 percent. The money will be used to improve people’s livelihood, said the decision.
The lengthy policy document — officially named “a decision on major issues concerning comprehensive and far-reaching reforms” — was approved by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, a four-day key meeting which ended on Tuesday.
China to build power plants in Yemen, expand ports | Reuters
(Reuters) – China will build power plants in Yemen with total output capacity of 5,000 megawatts and expand the Arab country’s main container ports, the Yemeni president said after his return from a visit to China, state news agency Saba reported.
Saba news agency cited Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi as saying late on Friday that he has agreed with his Chinese counterpart during the visit to “work to set up power plants… using gas and coal and with production capacity that will reach 5,000 MW.”
FTZ’s ‘negative list’ policy to be modified |Shanghai Free Trade Zone |chinadaily.com.cn
Officially launched on Sept 29, the FTZ adopted a “negative list” approach, which specifies bans or restrictions on certain types of foreign investment.
The Shanghai municipal government released the list around the time of the launch, covering 1,069 businesses in 89 divisions within 18 main categories. There are also 190 regulations on the conduct of business in the FTZ. Any sectors not on the list are open to foreign investors.
Xi’s four-point plan gives reason for optimism – FT.com
China’s new president hinted at bold new reforms on Tuesday, when the Chinese Communist party’s Central Committee issued a document that was as sweeping in scope as it was short on detail. That apparent contradiction enabled optimists and cynics to focus on either aspect of the communiqué from the so-called Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee.
On Friday, Xi Jinping and the party followed up on their “guideline” document more rapidly than anyone expected. On balance, it appears that the optimists have been proved right.
Companies
Sina Recalibrates with Mobile Focus
Charles Chao, chief executive of Chinese portal service Sina, told analysts in the conference call following its Q3 financial results that the company would consider acquiring into other areas – especially mobile Internet. According to the company’s latest results, its net revenue increased 21% year-over-year to US$ 184.6 million while net income grew by a whopping 157% year-over-year to 25.4 million.
The numbers all look good but there’s always more than meets the eye. The fact behind the rosy financial statement, is that Sina’s non-ad revenue increased only 4% year-over-year, the company itself must have recognized the imperative to look into opportunities in other areas in addition to ad sales, which is declining on desktop-side.
A Chinese e-commerce site that helps Chinese manufacturers sell goods globally is getting into big trouble for one very creepy product being sold on its site. It has been spotted that DHgate has one Chinese merchant who’s selling disturbingly life-like child-size, sex dolls. As you can see in the product page images below, the doll’s figure is far from fully-formed and the shape suggests that of a nine or ten year old girl:
Regulator sets final penalties for trading error by Everbright |Companies |chinadaily.com.cn
The China Securities Regulatory Commission on Friday announced formal penalties for an insider trading case involving China Everbright Securities Co Ltd, levying a fine of 523 million yuan ($85.7 million) and banning four managers from the nation’s financial markets for life.
On Aug 16, a flaw in Everbright Securities’ trading software generated 23.4 billion yuan in erroneous buy orders on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The brokerage eventually completed 7.27 billion yuan worth of transactions.
In response to the orders, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index surged 5.96 percent within three minutes, prompting many investors to buy stocks.
Posted from Diigo.
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