Learn Mandarin Online: 2007

Monday, December 31, 2007

Chinese language - Lenovo may speed into F1

BIZCHINA / Center

Lenovo may speed into F1

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-01-24 15:47

Lenovo Group Ltd will probably sign a deal with Williams next month to
become a sponsor of the Formula One team, the world's third-biggest
personal-computer maker said yesterday.

Related readings:
Lenovo tries to step out from Big Blue shadow
Lenovo logs into advertising campaignLenovo first with Vista-ready PCs

The deal would be just the latest move by Lenovo to use sports promotions
to improve its global brand awareness after it acquired IBM's PC unit in
2005.

"The details haven't been decided; the results will be announced next
month," a Lenovo spokesperson based in Shanghai said yesterday.

Lenovo signed a marketing agreement with the National Basketball
Association last year. The computer maker will deploy its notebooks and
desktop PCs, including Thinkpads, in all 30 NBA arenas for coaches,
referees and statisticians to keep track of game and player stats.

In the first quarter last year, Lenovo became a sponsor of the Winter
Olympics in Torino, Italy. The computer maker also hired soccer star
Ronaldinho to promote its products.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Chinese language

Learn Chinese online - New tool could be answer for A shares

BIZCHINA / Weekly Roundup

New tool could be answer for A shares

(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-01-19 09:22

The China depository receipt (CDR) has been on the cards for years, but
it is now more likely the investment tool will be introduced this year.

Demand for Chinese A shares continues to push the stock market to new
highs. A massive inflow of new funds to the market has added to supply
pressure and pushed regulators to speed up their approval of new share
issues.

About China depository receipt

* The CDR is a certificate issued by a Chinese bank that represents a
pool of foreign stocks traded on local Chinese exchanges.

* Foreign companies can use the investment tool to allow both Chinese
institutional and private investors to buy their stocks.

* The CDR is derived from the American depository receipt, a product that
trades in the United States but represents a specific number of shares in
a foreign corporation.

Meanwhile, with the revival of the Chinese stock market from a four-year
slump after the share reform, an increasing number of overseas-listed
companies are eager to list in Shanghai .

Analysts believe it is high time the CDR was introduced, to add a new
investment product and to further open the Chinese capital market.

The CDR is a certificate issued by a Chinese bank that represents a pool
of foreign stocks traded on local Chinese exchanges. Foreign companies
can use the investment tool to allow both Chinese institutional and
private investors to buy their stocks.

The CDR is derived from the American depository receipt, a product that
trades in the United States but represents a specific number of shares in
a foreign corporation.

Red chips to return

Though still a new concept for domestic investors, the CDR is likely to
gain momentum this year with the return of red chips stocks of companies
incorporated and listed in Hong Kong with their core business on the
mainland.

Red chips such as CNOOC Limited, China Insurance International Holdings
and COFCO International Co Ltd, have all expressed a desire to list in
Shanghai.

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(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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� 'A shares' to be open to non-Chinese investors
===========================================================================

Learn Chinese online

Learn Chinese - Chip giant Intel plans new China plant

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Chip giant Intel plans new China plant

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-01-16 09:12

Intel Corp., the world's top chipmaker, plans to invest in a major new
plant in China to make leading-edge chips, its biggest investment in the
country to date, two sources with knowledge of the plan said.

The plant will make 65-nanometre multi-core processors, the sources, who
asked not to be identified, told Reuters. This would make it Intel's
first such manufacturing facility in Asia.

Intel, which has invested about $1 billion in China to date, already has
major test and assembly plants in Shanghai and the interior city of
Chengdu.

One source said the investment in the new plant would total a "couple
billion" dollars. Both sources declined to give further details of the
project, such as the location and timing, although one said the
investment could be announced in coming months.

Chip sophistication is measured by how small individual circuits are,
with 65-nanometre considered one of the most advanced technologies in
mass production today.

An Intel spokesman in Asia had no comment on Friday.

Intel is in the midst of a major overhaul, including price and job cuts
and new product roll-outs, as it works to stave off recent advances by
rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc., which has gained market share in the
last few years.

Intel, which entered the China market in 1985, has over 6,000 employees
working on assembly, testing, research and development and sales and
marketing in 16 cities there, according to the company's Web site.

Until now, most foreign chipmakers have used China for lower-technology
test and assembly work, with few doing more sophisticated production in
the market.

Intel said last month it would make China an independent sales and
marketing region from the beginning of 2007, underlining the country's
growing importance as the company's second-largest consumer market after
the United States.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Learn Chinese

Learn Mandarin online - Bank of Beijing opens Tianjin branch

BIZCHINA / Biz News

Bank of Beijing opens Tianjin branch

By Zhang Lu (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-09 09:02

Bank of Beijing, one of China's largest city commercial banks, plans to
open at least 10 outlets in the northern city of Tianjin, including the
city's Binhai New Area, in the next three years, the bank's top
management said yesterday.

The bank, the second of the country's 117 city commercial banks to be
allowed to venture beyond its home base, yesterday opened its Tianjin
branch, the first one outside Beijing.

Earlier this year, the Bank of Shanghai opened a branch in Ningbo in East
China's Zhejiang Province.

Such an expansion will help city commercial banks compete when their
bigger foreign rivals launch renminbi services for individuals at the end
of this year, in line with China's World Trade Organization commitments.

"The establishment of the Tianjin branch is a strategic move to better
integrate resources, build networks and meet growing customer demands,"
said Yan Bingzhu, chairman of Bank of Beijing.

According to him, expanding into Tianjin is a natural choice, given the
close economic and geographic relationship between Beijing and the city.

The central government's decision to make Tianjin a financial hub in the
north, and designate the Binhai New Area as an experimental zone for
comprehensive reforms, has brought development opportunities for
financial institutions in the city.

A group of foreign banks have shown interest in setting up outlets in the
Binhai New Area, said Zhang Hua, chief of the Tianjin bureau of the China
Banking Regulatory Commission.

"Japan's Mizuho Bank has applied for it and is likely to be the first to
win approval to set up a branch in the area by the end of the year,"
Zhang said.

Cui Jindu, Tianjin's vice-major, said the city welcomes financial
institutions from home and abroad to develop businesses.

Jiang Deyao, assistant president of Bank of Beijing, was appointed as the
head of the Tianjin branch, which will focus on both corporate and
individual services by using its brand advantage and its strategic
partner ING's strength in products and technology.

The branch, on its opening day, signed co-operation deals with six
companies in Tianjin, including Tianjin TEDA Investment Holding Co and
Tianjin Fisheries Group.

"The expansion into Tianjin shows our transformation from a local
commercial bank to a national one," Yan said, adding that it is only "the
first step in the bank's national expansion." In addition to expansion
in Tianjin, Bank of Beijing will speed up its expansion in cities around
the Bohai Area.

It is also planning more outlets in the Yangtze and Pearl River Delta
regions, officials revealed earlier.

With better performance than most city commercial banks, Bank of
Beijing's capital adequacy ratio stood at beyond 13 per cent by the end
of September.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Learn Mandarin online

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Chinesepod - Newspapers free for villagers in Huizhou

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

Newspapers free for villagers in Huizhou

By Song Hongmei (Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-12-23 10:20

Huizhou, a city in South China's Guangdong Province, begins sending free
newspapers to its villagers on Thursday, in a move to help them stay
updated with the country's and the city's economic and political policies
and developments, especially those regarding building a new socialist
countryside.

Huizhou, a city in South China's Guangdong Province, launched a program
of sending free newspapers to its villagers on Thursday.

The People's Daily and the Huizhou Daily, the state and local daily
newspapers, will be sent to 1,052 villages every day in Huizhou, free of
charge, as of January, 2007.

The program is sponsored by the Huizhou branch of China Mobile, China's
largest mobile operator. The move is in response to the country's call
for building a new socialist countryside, aiming to enrich villagers'
social lives, spread knowledge and promote rural development in a
harmonious way, said Wen Naizhan, general manager of China Mobile's local
branch.

The Huizhou government has attached great importance to the development
of its rural areas.

1 2

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Chinesepod

Chinese Mandarin - Tourism: InterContinental to manage luxury hotel at Olympic center

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

Tourism: InterContinental to manage luxury hotel at Olympic center

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-12-18 14:20

InterContinental Hotels Group will manage the Beijing Olympic Center's
first luxury hotel under its InterContinental Hotels and Resorts brand.

The 350-room InterContinental Beijing North will be developed by Beijing
North Star Company Limited, one of China's leading property groups and a
key player in the development of Beijing's Asian Games and Olympics
centers.

The hotel will be located close to the proposed National Convention
Center, which will be the capital's largest convention venue.

Edmond Ip, InterContinental Hotels Group's chief operating officer,
Greater China, said: "The upcoming Olympics will have a positive long
term impact on the economies of Beijing and China as a whole and we are
proud to be appointed to manage the Olympic Center's first luxury hotel."

This is InterContinental Hotels Group's second Olympic signing in China.
In June, the Group announced plans to launch InterContinental Qingdao,
which will be part of the coastal city's integrated Olympic Water Sports
Center.

InterContinental Hotels Group is the largest international hotel operator
in China, with a portfolio of 59 hotels across four brands. The company
is on track towards having 125 hotels open in China by the end of 2008.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Related Stories

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Chinese Mandarin

Learn mandarin - Toys 'R' Us opens Shanghai store

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Toys 'R' Us opens Shanghai store

(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-12-09 09:21

Toys "R" Us, the world's largest retailer of toys and infant and juvenile
products, opened its first flagship store on the Chinese mainland in
Shanghai on Friday, bringing the total number of outlets in Asia to 47
and expands its network to 31 countries.

The newly opened store in Pudong New Area is 2,500 square meters and has
more than 4,500 different kinds of toys, making it the largest toy store
on the mainland.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Related Stories

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Learn mandarin

Learn mandarin - IT: Huawei seeks $1b of debt to buy 3Com stake

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

IT: Huawei seeks $1b of debt to buy 3Com stake

(Shenzhen Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-29 14:37

Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies Co., Bain Capital LLC and Silver Lake
Partners plan to borrow about US$1 billion to buy 3Com Corp.��s stake in
a joint China telecommunications venture, said bankers involved in the
deal.

Huawei Technologies, China��s biggest maker of network switches and
routers, started making offers to buy 3Com��s 51 percent in their Hong
Kong-based venture Huawei-3Com Co. on Nov. 15. Marlborough,
Massachusetts-based 3Com is also trying to buy Huawei Technologies��
portion, valuing the venture at more than US$1.8 billion, said the
bankers, who declined to be named because bidding is still taking place.

Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, ABN Amro Holding
NV, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc
will provide the debt to Huawei Technologies, said the bankers. The
borrowing includes about US$600 million of six-year loans and a
seven-year bond, according to the sources.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Saturday, December 29, 2007

Chinese Mandarin - Carlyle to invest in outdoor ad firm

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Carlyle to invest in outdoor ad firm

(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-22 08:48

US private equity firm the Carlyle Group yesterday announced it will
invest US$20 million in Time Share Advertising & Communications (TSM),
one of the largest outdoor media companies in China.

TSM is the nation's first outdoor media company to provide low-cost
advertising using idle outdoor billboard space across the country.

"This is our second investment in China's out-of-home media advertising
space after Focus Media. We are confident of continued exceptional growth
in this segment," said Carlyle's Asia Growth Capital Group Managing
Director Wayne Tsou, who declined to reveal further financial details.

Carlyle is also impressed by TSM's innovations since it was established
last year. TSM has so far set up 36 branch offices in provincial capital
cities across China.

The company provides a nationwide platform to tap into the highly
fragmented outdoor billboard market, which has almost 600,000 billboards
controlled by over 60,000 owners.

"Our diversified advertising platform has become China's largest outdoor
advertising supermarket that meets the needs of a wide range of
advertisers. It is a breakthrough from traditional, single-location
billboard advertising with little flexibility," said TSM President He
Jilun.

China's outdoor advertising market witnessed average annual growth of 20
per cent over the past five year, becoming the fastest growing part of
the nation's advertising sector.

Statistics show that the outdoor advertising sector accounted for 14 per
cent of last year's total advertising revenue.

Carlyle will only invest in the leading company in any given industry in
China, such as TSM, or in companies exhibiting great potential, said Tsou.

In May, Carlyle's Asia Growth Capital Group spent 230 million yuan
(US$29.1 million) buying shares in Shanghai Anxin Flooring Co Ltd,
China's largest manufacturer and distributor of solid wood flooring.

Last month, Carlyle agreed to cut the stake it sought in Xugong Group
Construction Machinery Co Ltd from 85 to 50 per cent.

The company had offered US$375 million for an 85 per cent stake in Xugong
in October last year, which would have been the biggest foreign
acquisition of a controlling stake in a leading State-owned company in
China.

(China Daily 11/22/2006 page10)

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Chinese Mandarin

Chinese Mandarin - Best Buy sees continued China growth

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Best Buy sees continued China growth

(Shenzhen Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-17 14:34

A Best Buy Co executive said the top US consumer electronics chain plans
further expansion in China, which it sees as potentially the world's
biggest economy.

"We expect to open two to four more Best Buy stores in the next 12
months," said Best Buy vice chairman Allen Lenzmeier on Thursday.

Best Buy has already opened a store in Shanghai, which Lenzmeier
described as a "branding statement" to get Chinese to know the company.

It also has a majority stake in domestic retailer Jiangsu Five Star
Appliance Co. Lenzmeier said Best Buy would open up to 40 more stores of
its stores in addition to the 130 it already has.

Best Buy has previously said it wants to participate in what it expects
will be the world's biggest economy in 20 years.

Key to any expansion, Lenzmeier said, was learning the culture and how
Best Buy could fit into it.

He said the Shanghai store was different from most US stores in its
four-story configuration and in the products it sold. One entire floor
was devoted to mobile phones, he said.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Chinese Mandarin

Learn Chinese online - IT: China needs more website editors

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

IT: China needs more website editors

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-11-14 14:10

The demand for website editors in China is set to soar with predictions
of a 30 percent growth in demand in the next decade and warnings of
inadequate training programs.

China has more than three million website editors, but was still facing a
shortfall in qualified personnel.

The lack of professional training accounted for the shortfall, the
Shenzhen Economic Daily quoted a teacher surnamed Wang with the Shenzhen
Senior Technical Institute as saying.

Wang said at least two thirds of the website editors in China's
e-commerce, business and gateway websites should receive further training
in on-line editorial work.

In China, most website editors used to be newspaper journalists, website
administrators or graphics designers and lacked professional training.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security has listed website editors as
a new profession and held a trial exam last December in China's northeast
Heilongjiang Province aimed at standardizing the professional
qualification. The exam categorized editors into four grades covering
both primary and advanced levels.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Learn Chinese online

Chinesepod - IT:Profit rises at e-gamer

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

IT:Profit rises at e-gamer

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-08 15:14

China's biggest online game company posted a 22 percent increase in
third-quarter earnings year on year as a result of higher revenue,
Beijing-based NetEase.com reported yesterday.

The Beijing-based firm also forecast that fourth-quarter profit may drop
as much as 19 percent as a result of falling revenue from its core online
game and advertising sectors.

The company said it earned 314.8 million yuan (US$39.8 million) in the
third quarter, up 0.2 percent from the previous three months.

Total revenue for the past quarter increased 24 percent from a year ago
but dropped 0.6 percent from the second quarter to 571.9 million yuan.
Eighty-two percent of revenue came from online games.

William Ding, NetEase chief executive officer and director, attributed
the revenue decrease from the second quarter to intensified competition
from other game companies, particularly their free-to-play games, and
complaints by some players of the company's popular "Fantasy Westward
Journey," in which they "mistakenly identified an image in it as a
Japanese flag," the company said.

NetEase experienced a severe drop in the number of users around
September, and it may be difficult for the company to resurrect user
levels, officials said.

Company officials said that they are working on their own free game to
attract more online traffic. It could debut in about five months, they
said.

NetEase replaced Shanghai-based Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd
earlier this year as the biggest player in terms of revenue in China's
fast-growing online game market. Other major competitors are The9 Ltd and
Tencent Holdings Ltd.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Chinesepod

Friday, December 28, 2007

Chinese Mandarin - Friendly environment attracts investment

BIZCHINA / Investment Alerts

Friendly environment attracts investment

By Xiao Qiu (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-10-30 10:59

Thanks to its enhanced infrastructure development over the last three
years, the Yanghe Industrial Development Zone has seen rapid growth in
foreign investment.

The zone, located in the industrial city of Liuzhou in Southwest China's
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, has so far realized infrastructure
investment of more than 1.2 billion yuan (US$150 million) since its
establishment three years ago.

Currently, Yanghe Bridge, the western section of Yanghe'nan Road, the
eastern section of South Ring Road, Liushi Road and the northern section
of Yuejin Road, with investment of more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$137.5
million) have all been put into operation.

By the end of last year, the number of enterprises having begun
construction or production within the zone had increased to 30, sources
with the administrative committee said.

Latest official statistics show that a total of 48 enterprises, including
world-renowned names of Lear, Siemens and Atlas Copco, have signed
contracts with the zone's administrative committee to invest in the
Yanghe Auto Machinery Park, which is one of the major development parks
within the zone.

The contractual investment for these projects totals nearly 2.6 billion
yuan (US$325 million), with 20 enterprises having been put into
production so far.

The area also witnessed 17 more investment projects signed in the first
eight months of this year, with contractual investment reaching 614
million yuan (US$76.75 million), the zone's official website said.

Specifically, the Yanghe Industrial Park within the zone has seen a total
of six new land development projects signed during the first eight
months, with investment worth up to 447 million yuan (US$55.8 million).

In Yanghe Industrial Park, the number of investment contracts signed
during the period totalled five and combined contractual investment hit
120 million yuan (US$15 million).

1 2

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Chinese Mandarin

Learn Mandarin online - General Atlantic to invest in Shanghai

BIZCHINA / Center

General Atlantic to invest in Shanghai

By Lillian Liu (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-10-24 09:28

HONG KONG: General Atlantic, the leading global private equity firm that
funded China's top PC maker Lenovo's takeover of IBM's PC arm, said it
will invest in a Shanghai-based technology-driven company by the end of
this year.

Senior management from the group, which specializes in long-term
investment, declined to give further details, but said the Shanghai
project is relatively small compared to the company's other investments.

Vince Feng, managing director of General Atlantic's Asia operation, told
China Daily that the total investment would be somewhere below US$100
million.

"This is a relatively small project by comparison with our other big
global investments... It is a fast-growing and dynamic company based in
Shanghai," said Feng.

Feng said the company, which selects eight to 12 investments every year,
is prudent in picking its targets.

"Our targets must have excellent performance and, most importantly, an
open-minded and dynamic management team on whom we can count and trust. I
think very highly of the former and current upper management team of
Lenovo, and am impressed by their extraordinary attitude towards business
and life," he added.

General Atlantic invested US$100 million in Lenovo's acquisition of IBM's
PC arm. China's biggest PC manufacturer by output paid US$1.25 billion
for the unit, splitting the deal into US$650 million in cash and US$600
million in Lenovo shares.

Another two investors behind the Lenovo-IBM deal Texas Pacific Group and
Newbridge Capital invested US$200 million and US$50 million respectively.

Under the terms of the investment, the three funds cannot sell the shares
within a year of the transaction.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Learn Mandarin online

Learn Chinese online - Rosy future for budget hotels in China

BIZCHINA / Investment Alerts

Rosy future for budget hotels in China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-18 10:06

Budget hotels in China are booming. Their recipe of "two-star lobbies,
three-star rooms and four-star beds" is increasingly popular with
tourists and occupancy rates are going through the roof.

During the week-long National holiday, occupancy rates at about 3,000
budget hotels in Beijing reached 90 percent, according to the municipal
tourism bureau. Major tourist destinations such as Shanghai, Qingdao,
Hangzhou and Ningbo reported similar rates.

Jinjiang Inn, China's largest budget hotelier, had opened 139 hotels with
19,812 rooms by June this year and has almost doubled capacity each year
for the last three years.

Other domestic operators like Home Inn and Motel 168 are expanding
through franchising and certified operations, which are key expansion
models for budget hotels in China.

"The budget hotel boom shows that recreation tourism is gaining
popularity among ordinary Chinese people," said Wei Xiao'an, a researcher
with the Tourism Research Center of China's Academy of Social Sciences.

According to Wei, budget hotels are a relatively new concept in China and
do not yet have an official definition, but industry insiders say budget
hotels have "a two-star lobby, three-star rooms and four-star beds."

1 2

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Learn Chinese online

Chinesepod - Tianjin uses more foreign direct investment

BIZCHINA / Investment Alerts

Tianjin uses more foreign direct investment

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-11 15:22

Tianjin, an industrial center in northern China, used 2.5 billion U.S.
dollars of foreign direct investment, or FDI, in the first eight months
of the year, a year-on-year growth of 17.2 percent, local trade officials
announced on Tuesday.

Between January and August, Tianjin approved the establishment of 723
foreign-funded enterprises. The projects represent 9.2 billion U.S.
dollars of investment, including 5.4 billion U.S. dollars in contracted
foreign capital, said officials with the city commerce commission.

Of the total contracted foreign capital, 2.8 billion U.S. dollars, or
52.43 percent, went to the service sector. The share was 10 percentage
points higher than the same period of last year,the officials said.

In the January-August period, transport and warehousing enterprises
posted a 169-percent year-on-year growth in contracted foreign
investment, the officials added.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Chinesepod

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Learn Mandarin online - Moody acquires significant stake in China's top rating agency

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Moody acquires significant stake in China's top rating agency

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-09-30 15:00

The Chinese government has approved the purchase by international rating
agency Moody of a significant stake in China Cheng Xin International
(CCXI), the mainland's largest rating agency.

People familiar with the deal told Xinhua Moody will set aside ten
million U.S. dollars for a 49-percent stake -- the current upper limit
set by the government -- in a joint venture with the CCXI.

The transaction marks the first acquisition in the financial sector
following a regulation issued by the Ministry of Commerce in earlier
August aimed at standardizing foreign acquisition of domestic assets.

"With the rapid development of China's capital market, the domestic
rating business is bound to open wider to the outside considering its
critical status in the capital market," said Mao Zhenhua, chairman of
CCXI.

The new joint venture would focus on ratings for short-term and long-term
financing bonds and some other financial products, as well as commercial
banks and insurers in China, said Ye Min, chief executive officer of the
joint venture.

Moody, founded in 1900, makes assessments that are recognized worldwide.

CCXI, the first mainland rating agency approved by the People's Bank of
China in 1992, is the largest and most influential rating company on the
Chinese mainland.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Learn Mandarin online

Learn Mandarin online - New investment in central region

BIZCHINA / Center

New investment in central region

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-09-27 09:31

The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) will boost the development of central
China with new measures to encourage investment, said Minister of
Commerce Bo Xilai on Tuesday.

Bo made the comments at the forum on attracting investment to west and
central China at the First Central China Trade and Investment Expo
(CCTIE) in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province.

The MOC plans to attract 10,000 enterprises from overseas and the coastal
region of China to invest in central and west China in three years.

To reach this goal, the MOC would promote the five "abilities" of central
China: the ability to conduct international cooperation; to accept
industrial transfers; to innovate brands; to develop modern logistics;
and to "go out" overseas.

The CCTIE was one of a series of measures in the campaign and was
expected to be a platform for cooperation between domestic and foreign
businessmen, said Bo.

The expo will be held annually in the six central provinces Hunan, Hubei,
Henan, Anhui, Shanxi and Jiangxi by turn.

The ministry, with other government departments, would issue new policies
to attract investment from overseas and coastal China, and select areas
of competitive advantage as new bases for processing trade, he said.

The MOC would encourage the six provinces to create "famous brands for
export" and support the revitalization of traditional brands.

Bo said the ministry would establish a public information service to
accelerate investment and logistics development in central and west
China, focusing on the development of electronic businesses, modern
logistics and chain operations.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Learn Mandarin online

Chinese School - Next most livable place?

BIZCHINA / Investment Alerts

Next most livable place?
By Li Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-22 13:58

Despite roaring bulldozers, snail-paced traffic and overwhelming dust on
windy days, it is believed the central-northern area of Beijing, where
several main Olympic venues are being built, will be one of the most
livable places in the city in the near future, according to a recent
survey conducted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

At the moment, the central Olympic district, 10 kilometres north of the
Forbidden City, only ranks 91st out of 134 residential districts covered
in the survey of people's perceptions of the livability of the areas,
according to the survey.

The central Olympic area under construction

The survey, with a random sample of 11,000 residents in the urban area of
Beijing, was carried out to evaluate the living conditions of different
areas of the city. A total of 7,647 valid questionnaires were collected.

Safety, health, convenience, amenity and sustainability were the major
criteria that respondents needed to take into account when scoring the
neighbourhood where they lived, said Zhang Wenzhong, a researcher of the
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research under the
Chinese Academy of Sciences, who led the survey team.

1 2 3 4

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Chinese School

Chinese Online Class - New vision sought for community health care

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

New vision sought for community health care
By Hu Yan (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-18 09:56

Improvement in community health care and the establishment of a universal
health care system are key to revamping the country's troubled system,
experts said over the weekend.

More than 300 senior officials, researchers and representatives from
different sectors of the nation's health care industry gathered at
Shanghai-based China Europe International Business School to discuss "New
Horizons for China's Medical Reform."

Although the government has continued to pump in cash into the health
care system expenditure reached 66 billion yuan (US$8.25 billion) in
2003, double the spending in 1998 a common public complaint is that
"seeing a doctor is difficult and expensive."

Authorities last year concluded that reform of the health care system
over the past two decades was "basically unsuccessful," and urged a new
template.

Regarding the future health service model, many speakers at the forum
stressed that accessibility to health services and efficiency are the key
issues.

Shi Guang, a professor at the China Health Economics Institute of the
Ministry of Health, said the future health system should be composed of a
primary health care system for public health and basic medical services,
and secondary and tertiary medical institutes mainly for emergency and
critical care.

Experts said the government should channel annual health care outlays
more than 5 per cent of the GDP on public health services and
government-run hospitals, instead of covering most medical institutes
which can rely more on social support and investment.

On average, the subsidy from the government accounts for less than 8 per
cent of public hospitals' revenue. So they rely on income from drugs and
diagnostics, which results in doctors often over-prescribing drugs and
expensive medical tests.

Dr Henk Bekedam, the WHO's China representative, advised the nation to
follow the European model of family doctors serving as gatekeepers of
residents' health in the community health care system.

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Chinese Online Class

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Chinese language - Retail therapy

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

Retail therapy
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-11 10:24

Shopping in hypermarkets, Eric Wu often keeps an eye out for store
managers' photos hanging on the wall. If he is impressed by the
performance of the sales people, he may even jot down the name of the
manager.

Wu, a consultant at Career International, one of the nation's largest
headhunters, specializes in the retail sector and last year, he and his
team poached more than 30 senior executives for retailers.

"Retail people are 'hot' these days, as almost every retailer has an
expansion plan," says Wu.

The demand for retail talents will only intensify as the government
orchestrates the amalgamation of domestic retail enterprises in major
cities to form giant groups that can face up to the might of such foreign
behemoths as Carrefour and Wal-Mart.

This programme, first mooted in 2004, has begun to take shape, first in
Shanghai and more recently in Beijing. The success of such mega-mergers
will have a far-reaching impact not only on the retail landscape of the
country but also on all the businesses along the huge supply chain.

After decades of rapid economic growth, China is starting to show the
potential of an enormous consumer market. Retail sales are expected to
expand by 13 per cent to 7.5 trillion yuan (US$937.5 billion) this year,
making the nation the world's seventh-largest retail market.

The Ministry of Commerce says the figure will balloon to 10 trillion yuan
(US$1.25 trillion) by 2010 at an annual growth of more than 11 per cent.

The rosy prospects have already lured a slew of the world's top retailers
into the market, including France's Carrefour SA and US-based Wal-Mart
Stores Inc, which have spent years preparing for the boom.

Last year was undoubtedly the starting point of their rapid expansion, as
China lifted most restrictions on foreign retailers at the end of 2004,
including limits on the number of stores, location and the ownership
ceiling, thanks to its commitments to the World Trade Organization.

1 2 3

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Chinese language

Learn Chinese - How do youngsters buy homes

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

How do youngsters buy homes
By Liu Mo (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-05 13:34

Youngsters should rely on their parents to help them buy a house because
of high prices, over 70 per cent of 10,000 online voters think.

The remaining 3,000 believe young people who have already graduated from
university and have a job should pay for a house themselves.

The survey was conducted by a major real estate website www.focus.cn.

Eighty-five per cent, 86 per cent, 74 per cent and 88 per cent of people
surveyed in Beijing, Nanjing, Chengdu and Tianjin respectively in another
investigation conducted by the website said that it was common for young
people to use their parents' money to buy a house.

One IT worker who has just bought a house before getting married
complained that it would have taken him at least five to 10 years to make
enough money for a down payment.

"By that time my wife to be would have left me," he was quoted by Ma Lei,
an editor of the website, as saying.

Hu Jinghui, vice-manager of the 5i5j real estate company, also supported
to use of parents' money to buy a house.

He said young couples do not have enough money to pay for down payments
as they have usually worked for less than five years.

House price in cities like Beijing were also too high.

He added that to buy a second-hand house of 60 square metres in urban
Beijing would cost around 500,000 yuan (US$62,000). Down payments and
furnishing the home will cost 200,000 yuan (US$25,000) more.

Third, he said many families wish to reduce the amount borrowed as
interest payments mount up.

Lastly, Chinese parents often help a son who is about to marry buy a
house, he said.

However, Chen Xu, a Beijing-based lawyer, said: "A more reasonable course
of action would be to first rent a house, then buy a small one and
finally buy a bigger home."

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Learn Chinese

Chinese Online Class - Construction: Supply of new homes doubles

BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

Construction: Supply of new homes doubles
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-29 15:49

New housing supply more than doubled in the city from a week earlier,
with half coming onto the market on August 18, a date developers believe
will bring good luck to their housing sales.

Thirty three units of 575,000 square meters and 14 units covering 238,000
square meters were launched in the market on August 18.

Transactions, however, remained unchanged as buyers were still digesting
the regulatory measures, such as a rate increase, and intended to observe
the market for a little longer.

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Chinese Online Class

Chinesepod - 100 tons of milk powder returned

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

100 tons of milk powder returned
By Guan Xiaofeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-24 08:32

Quality supervisors have returned more than 100 tons of American milk
powder after it was found to contain potentially dangerous levels of
nitrate.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and
Quarantine yesterday said 102 tons of milk powder had been returned to
the United States.

The administration said the powder, worth US$200,000, had not entered the
Chinese market.

Following the discovery of excess levels of nitrate in the milk powder,
the administration issued a warning, urging local quality inspection
bodies to step up inspections of imported milk powder to ensure consumer
safety.

Experts warned excessive consumption of nitrite-tainted foods can cause
poisoning and may even result in death.

The Beijing Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau examined three
batches of the milk powder, produced by US company West Farm Inc, on June
7 and June 14. The three batches registered nitrite levels of 2.7mg/kg,
2.8 mg/kg and 4.4mg/kg.

China's national safety limit for nitrates in food stuffs is 2 mg/kg.

Li Yuanping, the administration's food safety director, said the milk
powder was imported as a raw material for food production.

In 2004, at least 13 babies died of malnutrition and nearly 200 fell ill
after they were fed with a fake milk power made in East China's Anhui
Province.

China has been struggling to control a rise in the number of
food-related health scares in recent years.

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Chinesepod

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Chinese Online Class - Interest rates up again to cool down economy, 08/2006

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

Interest rates up again to cool down economy, 08/2006

By Zheng Lifei (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-19 09:11

China's economy grew 11.3 per cent in the second quarter, the fastest
pace since 1996, prompting economists to call on the government to take
stronger macro control measures to cool it down.

"It (the rate hike) comes as no surprise, actually it should have come
earlier," said Yuan Gangming, an economist with the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences.

"The first rate increase (in April) largely failed, as shown by robust
investment and credit growth in the last two months. This indicates the
central bank should have moved much earlier."

The central bank has increased the reserve ratio the proportion of
deposits a bank is required to have with the central bank twice this year
in a bid to curb rapid credit growth, a policy that some economists say
is ineffective.

"Rate hikes are more effective than increasing the reserve ratio," Yuan
said.

The increase for both the long-term deposit and lending rates is larger
than that for short-term deposit and lending rates, a move that the
central bank said was designed to curtail fixed asset investment and
long-term lending demand.

The five-year deposit rate is up by 0.44 of a percentage point to 4.14
per cent, while the rate for loans over five years or longer has been
raised by 0.45 of a percentage point to 6.84 per cent, the central bank
said.

1 2

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Chinese Online Class

Chinese Online Class - Drive-thru restaurants speeding ahead in China

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Drive-thru restaurants speeding ahead in China
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-08-14 10:57

Fast food maker McDonald's will open its fourth and fifth drive-thru
restaurants in east China's Zhejiang Province by the end of this year as
more Chinese take to the road in their own vehicles.

While drive-thru pickup windows are almost as ubiquitous as the double
arches in Western countries they are a rarity in China. As millions of
Chinese become first-time car owners they're also catching up on the art
of fast food purchasing.

"Drive-thrus are the future of McDonald's in China," said Jeffrey
Schwartz, CEO of McDonalds (China) Co. Ltd in Hangzhou, capital of
Zhejiang.

McDonald's has already opened three drive-thrus in China, with two in
south China's Guangdong Province and one in Shanghai. The fourth
drive-thru will be opened by the end of August in Zhoushan and the fifth
late this year in Hangzhou.

McDonald's has 770 restaurants and plans to open 100 more every year.
More will feature drive-thru windows, he said.

McDonald's China and China's top oil refinery China Petroleum and
Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) signed an agreement in June to open
drive-thrus at some of Sinopec's 30,000 gas stations.

Sinopec will provide the space and McDonald's will operate the
restaurants.

Soon after McDonald's and Sinopec announced their cooperation agreement,
McDonald's rival KFC announced it would open 100 drive-thrus in China in
three years, up from the four it currently operates.

KFC, which opened its first restaurant in China in 1987, has more than
1,200 restaurants in the country.

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Chinese Online Class

Learn Chinese - Yuncheng rolls out red carpet for investors

BIZCHINA / Investment Alerts

Yuncheng rolls out red carpet for investors
By Jia Jingqi (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-25 14:05

With a batch of well-selected projects, Yuncheng is going to attract
investors from both home and abroad at the 2006 Shanxi (Hong Kong)
Investment Attraction Fair that opens today in the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region.

"It is the first time that Yuncheng and even Shanxi Province hold an
investment promotion fair outside the province," Zhang Maocai, secretary
of the Yuncheng Committee of the Communist Party of China, told China
Daily in an exclusive interview.

Eleven major cities and prefectures of North China's Shanxi Province will
showcase their projects for overseas investment at the fair that will
last until July 27.
"Governments at various levels have attached great importance to this
fair," Zhang said, adding that Yuncheng, which cherishes this great
opportunity, has fully prepared for it.

Yuncheng, the southwestern gate of North China's Shanxi Province, is
active in implementing the opening-up policy.

According to Zhang, the city has made strides in areas of agricultural
processing, aluminium magnesium alloy production, precision casting, fine
chemistry, modern logistics, water saving technology, disposal of garbage
and sewage, as well as many advances in the cultural and tourism
industries.

"And this time, there are more than 100 investment projects, with an
emphasis on the service sector, infrastructure, public service,
environmental protection, social work, and State-owned enterprise
reform," Zhang said.

"We highly value this opportunity," Zhang said, adding that the
hinterland city has to open up further, co-operate with developed areas
such as Hong Kong, where capital, technologies, and talented human
resources are concentrated, and get ready for industries to come in from
outside of China.

"I believe the Hong Kong fair will inject new and robust momentum to
Yuncheng's growth, which is also our main aim for this business trip."

Page: 1 2 3

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Learn mandarin - VC investment to scale record

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

VC investment to scale record
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-18 15:07

Venture capital firms' investment on the Chinese mainland will hit a
record US$1.5 billion this year, fueled by capital poured into the
Internet, telecommunications and semiconductor industries, a venture
capital research firm has reported.

In the first half of 2006, VC investment on the Chinese mainland reached
US$772 million, up 128 percent year-on-year, according to a recent report
by the Beijing-based Zero2ipo Inc.

"Usually speaking, the first half of the year is not a peak season for VC
investment," Zero2ipo said in the report. "We expect to see a spike in
the second half."

VC investment in the information technology sector was US$562 million in
the first half, 73 percent of the total volume. Of this, Internet firms
got US$276 million and telecom companies raised US$152 million while
US$49.86 million went to the integrated circuit industry, according to
Zero2ipo.

"We are seeking more opportunities in the Chinese Internet industry,"
said Neil Shen, founder and managing director of Sequoia Capital China,
which has established a US$200 million fund to invest in China.

Sequoia Capital, a US-based VC firm, has invested in a Shanghai-based
Internet company 51.com, providing "Myspace" service.

Intel Capital China, with a US$200 million fund, has also invested in
four Chinese companies in the high-tech industry.

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Learn mandarin

Monday, December 24, 2007

Chinese language - Biggest listed private equity firm invests in food chain

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Biggest listed private equity firm invests in food chain
(China Daily HK)
Updated: 2006-07-06 14:48

3i Group Plc, Europe's biggest listed private equity firm, said yesterday
it has led a US$25-million investment in Little Sheep, an Inner
Mongolian-based food chain with more than 700 outlets on the mainland.

3i will take an undisclosed stake with co-investor Prax Capital, aiming
to profit from the mainland's rising consumer class and fund the roll out
of new Little Sheep outlets on the mainland and expand into international
markets.

"The reason we like food and beverage so much is the lifestyle change in
China, the increasing middle class and their consumer power," said Wang
Daizong, a 3i vice president who focuses on the mainland.

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Chinese language

Learn Chinese online - Siemens sets up venture capital arm in Beijing

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Siemens sets up venture capital arm in Beijing
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-06-27 13:37

The venture capital arm of Siemens has been formally set up in Beijing to
tap into opportunities in China's innovative technology sector.

Ralf Schnell, president and chief executive officer of Siemens Venture
Capital (SVC), said the company's plan is to complete at least two to
three deals within the next 12 months.

"SVC's investment budget in China is not limited, and will depend on the
quality of investment opportunities available," Schnell said.

He said opportunities in China are driven by the Chinese Government's
"independent innovation" strategy, challenges presented in the
sustainable development of China, and the booming venture capital market
in China.

"Fostering entrepreneurship in innovative technologies will increasingly
become a priority in future," he said.

In 2005 venture capitalists invested US$1.1 billion in more than 200
deals in China, according to Zero2IPO, a venture capital market research
company in Beijing.

He said in addition to seeking profits by investment in start-ups, SVC
looks for companies with leading-edge technologies that can benefit
Siemens' business and its customers.

Since it was launched in 1999, SVC has invested some 700 million euros
(US$875.4 million) in over 100 start-ups and 30 venture capital funds,
mainly in the United States, Europe and Israel.

Prior to the launch of the office on the Chinese mainland, SVC mainly
made indirect investments in venture capital funds rather than directly
investing in start-ups.

SVC will primarily focus on companies that are expanding rather than
firms at the beginning stage, said Schnell.

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Learn Chinese online

Learn Chinese online - Twin cities to be more connected

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

Twin cities to be more connected

By Te Kan (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-06-19 08:54

Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, with its unique geological
position, will have a bright future in its co-operation with the adjacent
Far East regions of Russia, said a top government official during the
17th China Harbin International Fair for Trade and Economic Co-operation
(Harbin Fair).

Speaking at the projects promotion briefings of the Amur Region of Russia
and the city of Heihe of Heilongjiang Province, Wang Limin, vice-governor
of Heilongjiang, said the two places are highly complementary to each
other and predicted a huge potential for future co-operation.

Their geographical locations mean Heihe, a border city in the
Northeastern part of Heilongjiang Province and the city of
Blagoveshchensk, in the Amur Region, are twin cities separated only by
the Hengjiang River (called Amur River in Russia), the Sino-Russian
border river.

They are also called the "Sino-Russian twin cities" along Heilongjiang's
more than 3,000 kilometre border with Russia.

In 1995, China and Russia reached an agreement to build a
cross-Heilongjiang River bridge from Heihe to Blagoveschensk, as a move
to boost border trade between the two countries.

Zhang Jingchuan, mayor of Heihe, said that preparatory work from the
Chinese side on the construction of the bridge was already finished, as
the National Development and Reform Commission had approved the project.
Heihe is now waiting for the Russian side.

Zhang said that the feasibility study of the project has been approved by
the Russian side and only needs approval from certain departments.

"I hope the two countries can kick off the construction of the
long-awaited bridge during the 2006 Year of Russia in China, or the Year
of China in Russia next year," Zhang said.

Heihe has already designated an area of about 10 square kilometres on the
Chinese side of the bridgehead as a future special trade zone, according
to Zhang.

1 2

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Learn Chinese online

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Learn Chinese - China, US discuss closer financial cooperation

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

China, US discuss closer financial cooperation
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-10 11:17

Top finance officials from China and the United States met on Friday to
discuss bilateral financial and economic cooperation and agreed to boost
dialogue in this field.

During a meeting with U.S. Secretary of the Treasury John Snow, Chinese
Finance Minister Jin Renqing said cooperation between the Chinese Finance
Ministry and the U.S. Treasury had been fruitful in recent years.

Finance officials will meet at a session of the China-U.S. joint economic
committee later this year to discuss financial and economic cooperation
and financial reforms, Jin said, adding that the discussion should
contribute to the further growth of China-U.S. relations, as was agreed
by the top leaders of the two countries during Chinese President Hu
Jintao's U.S. visit in April.

The Chinese finance minister is here to attend a dialogue on Saturday
between finance ministers of the Group of Eight (G8) leading
industrialized nations and those of six other countries -- China, India,
Brazil, Australia, South Korea and Nigeria.

Snow, for his part, said the economic relationship between the United
States and China was the most important economic relationship in the
world and the smooth development of the ties benefited the people of both
countries.

China was playing an increasingly key role in international affairs and
any discussion between the G8 or G7 and other countries would be
incomplete without China's participation, Snow said.

Earlier in the day, Jin also discussed financial cooperation with Russian
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and expressed his hope that China and
Russia could enhance dialogue on microeconomic policy through finance a
ministers' discussion mechanism to boost cooperation between the two
countries.

G8 finance ministers gathered on Friday in this northern Russian city for
a two-day meeting that is expected to focus on discussion on global
economic growth, the impact of oil prices on growth, and energy security.

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Chinese Mandarin - Tianjin Binhai New Area

BIZCHINA / Investment Alerts

Tianjin Binhai New Area
(baidu.com)
Updated: 2006-06-07 08:53

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Chinese Mandarin

Chinese Online Class - HSBC rolls out another branch in Shanghai

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

HSBC rolls out another branch in Shanghai
By Wang Zhenghua (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-05-31 09:10

HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, rolled out a new sub-branch yesterday in the
city in a move to quicken its expansion in China.

The bank's fifth outlet in Shanghai, the Kirin Plaza sub-branch, is
designed to meet the needs of both retail and commercial banking
customers.

The lender has expanded its network presence in China to 23 outlets,
including 12 branches and 11 sub-branches.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong-based Hang Seng Bank 62 per cent owned by HSBC,
opens a fourth sub-branch in Shanghai today.

"We are delighted to be able to extend our services to one of Shanghai's
most dynamic districts," Richard Yorke, chief executive officer of HSBC
China, said yesterday.

"The four Chinese cities that we are focused on (Beijing, Shanghai,
Shenzhen and Guangzhou) correspond in terms of the number of inhabitants
to a reasonably large European country," he said.

"It therefore makes sense to capture this attractive retail market by
opening up sub-branches," he said. "It's important for a bank to be close
to its customers, especially in a country as large as China."

China is regarded at the heart of HSBC's strategy, and its importance is
reflected in the scale of the bank's investment.

As of 2005, the lender's total equity investment had exceeded US$4
billion the largest of any foreign investor.

It includes an 8 per cent stake in Bank of Shanghai, a 19.9 per cent
stake in Ping An Insurance and a 19.9 per cent in Bank of Communications,
the country's fifth largest lender.

It has filed applications for representative offices in Hangzhou and
Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang Province, and Dongguan in South China's
Guangdong Province.

The lender has obtained the approval to set up a branch in Hangzhou,
which is expected to open later this year.

Foreign lenders have begun to look beyond providing only retail and
commercial banking services.

At yesterday's press conference prior to the opening ceremony in Kirin
Plaza, HSBC's President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Smith said:
"It's sensible for HSBC to co-operate with new ventures."

He said the bank would not rule out the possibility of linking up with
the Bank of Communications in fund management, as long as government
policy allows the deal.

Fund management has become a focus for foreign banks since the launch of
the qualified domestic institutional investors (QDII) scheme last month.

Under the scheme, qualified financial institutions, such as commercial
banks, insurers and fund companies, are allowed to invest overseas.

Many Hong Kong banks believe they have the capability to help maximize
returns.
Also, the Interim Provisions on the Administration of Overseas Investment
by the National Social Security Fund took effect earlier this month,
indicating China has finally cleared all the hurdles necessary to allow
the fund to invest overseas.

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Chinese Mandarin - To strengthen yuan may ripple across Asia

BIZCHINA / Worldwide Reaction

To strengthen yuan may ripple across Asia

By ANDREW BROWNE (WSJ)
Updated: 2006-05-16 10:36

HONG KONG -- Beijing, in a move that ends weeks of stalling and should
help President Bush contain complaints in the U.S. about China, gave the
go-ahead for a stronger Chinese currency.

China's central bank allowed the yuan to briefly break through the
symbolically important level of 8.0 to the dollar. The move came just
days after the U.S. Treasury Department drew back from confrontation with
China by determining that Beijing wasn't manipulating its exchange rate
to artificially boost its exports.

The dollar has been falling against currencies around the globe in recent
weeks, with quiet acquiescence from Washington, where concerns are
mounting over the gaping U.S. trade deficit and the political fallout it
entails. Monday, the dollar briefly fell below 110 yen, its lowest level
in eight months, amid expectations that U.S. interest-rate increases are
coming to an end just as Japan prepares to raise its rates. News on the
yuan also spurred selling against the yen: Signs of a strengthening yuan
tend to lift the yen due to Japan's proximity to China.

Washington has been pressing China and its neighbors to allow stronger
currencies to help cut their huge trade surpluses with the U.S. by making
their exports more expensive in dollar terms. Economists say Beijing's
move might add momentum to currency appreciation around Asia that could
help to unwind global economic imbalances.

Before the start of trading in Shanghai Monday, the Chinese central bank
lowered its daily trading benchmark for the yuan to the point where one
U.S. dollar fetched fewer than eight yuan, a psychologically important
level that it had maintained as a barrier for weeks. By breaching that
level, the bank sent a signal that it will allow the yuan to advance at a
faster pace, traders and economists say.

Since authorities revalued the currency by 2.1% to 8.11 against the
dollar in July, this is the first time the yuan has traded below 8.0 to
the dollar. Since the revaluation, the yuan has climbed only an
additional 1.3% for total appreciation of 3.4%, a considerably slower
rate than the strengthening of other currencies around Asia.

China allows the yuan to rise or fall 0.3% each trading day against a
midpoint benchmark. The "central parity" is announced by the central
bank, and Monday it set that point at 7.9982 compared with 8.0082 on
Friday. The highest level the yuan had reached previously was 8.0022.

However, the yuan didn't remain less than 8.0 to the dollar Monday. After
touching a high of 7.9972, It closed at 8.0030 to the dollar. That
compared with a closing level of 8.0061 last Friday.

"You will see a faster pace of appreciation" for the rest of the year,
says Fan Jianjun, a financial analyst at the Development Research Center,
a Chinese cabinet think tank.

The news about the yuan made Chinese stocks surge on hopes among domestic
investors that a stronger currency will draw in more foreign-equity
investors. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 3.8% to finish at its
highest level in 25 months.

The Chinese move comes at a propitious moment for Mr. Bush's
administration. U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow is scheduled to testify
tomorrow and Thursday before the House and Senate banking committees
about his decision not to brand China a currency manipulator in the
report on global currencies. Mr. Snow can point to the latest yuan
appreciation as evidence his diplomacy with Beijing is working.

"Greater flexibility in China's exchange rate is a positive development
both for China and for the global economy," Treasury spokesman Tony
Fratto said in a written statement.

"When China reformed its currency regime in July 2005, it established a
mechanism for greater daily fluctuations in relative currency values, and
we encourage Chinese authorities to show more confidence in allowing this
mechanism to work," he added. "However, it's important to note that there
is no specific target for RMB/dollar currency values. Currency values are
best set in open, competitive markets."

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, co-author of a bill
that would impose 27.5% tariffs on imports from China, issued a measured
statement in response to the currency's appreciation. "The fact that the
yuan finally dipped below 8 is good news, but only if it portends further
movement," he said. "The Chinese government knows that reducing controls
on the currency is very important to creating a level playing field in
world trade."

Pressure on Beijing to allow a faster rate of appreciation hasn't all
been coming from Washington. More important from Beijing's point of view,
say many economists, is China's need for a stronger currency to tackle
signs of economic overheating and prevent a crash. Booming exports have
flooded the economy with cash and led to runaway bank lending and
investment. A stronger yuan will help slow the export momentum.

Figures released Monday showed that broad money supply -- including cash
in circulation and deposits in banks and brokerage firms -- rose 18.9% in
April from a year earlier. This helped propel expansion in yuan loans
during the month by 15.5% compared with the same month last year. Loan
growth in March was 14.7%.

Adding to the incoming flood of cash, foreign direct investment in the
first four months of this year totaled $18.48 billion, a rise of 5.8%
from the same period last year, official data showed.

The immediate impetus for the yuan's advance through the 8.0 level was
last week's U.S. Treasury decison not to label Beijing a currency
manipulator. The yuan had been on track to appreciate 3% to 4% against
the dollar before the momentum died in April as Beijing waited for that
decision.

Many economists expect the yuan's rise to pick up pace from earlier this
year. Jonathan Anderson, chief Asia economist for UBS, said he expects
about 5% appreciation for the whole year.

The yen also strengthened Monday. In the late afternoon in Japan, the
dollar was down 0.3% on the day at 109.71 yen, off the day's low of
109.35 and not far from an eight-month low of 109.29 hit on Friday.
Monday's news on the yuan added to the market's yen-buying momentum,
traders said.

The dollar has been falling against currencies around the world during
recent weeks, a process that Washington is tacitly encouraging as a way
to narrow its gaping trade gap.

In Asia, central bankers take their cue on exchange rates from the
currencies of the region's two giants -- Japan and China. The yen has
gained sharply against the dollar this year, pulling up currencies such
as the Singapore dollar, the Korean won and the Indonesian rupiah.

Mr. Anderson says the yuan's resumed climb against the dollar "will serve
as a further catalyst" to boost other currencies around the region. "To
have all of Asia moving, including the yuan, is a big move collectively,"
he says.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Chinese Mandarin

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Chinese School - Sohu aiming to take industry lead

BIZCHINA / Zhang Chaoyang

Sohu aiming to take industry lead
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-03-04 08:46

Charles Zhang, chairman and CEO of the Chinese Internet company Sohu.com
Inc, is aiming to grow his firm into the country's No 1 Internet portal
and search engine service provider, taking the lead from Sina Corp, even
though the latter is in acquisition talks with the largest online game
operator in China, Shanda Interactive Entertainment.

"Our new goal is to become the biggest online media platform and search
engine provider in China," said Zhang in an interview in Beijing, adding
that he has no intention of selling his firm in the face of stiffening
competition from its market rival.

He said online advertising and search engine services will be the focuses
and growth engines of his company this year.

Sina is the biggest Chinese Internet portal and online advertising
company, but the possible acquisition of Sina by Shanghai-based Shanda
may be the incentive Sohu needs to achieve its goal.

Zhang said that although the two companies are big players in their
respective fields and are believed to be complimentary to each other,
consolidating resources is much more complicated.

He believed the acquisition would bring more opportunities than threats,
as Sina's management is consumed with the potential merger and
formulating defences.

Shanda had acquired about 19.5 per cent of Sina's outstanding shares by
February 10 from open market purchases and has become the company's
biggest single shareholder.

However, Sina threw a fly into the ointment on February 23, by trying to
force Shanda into management talks, rather than let them take control of
the company by other means, meaning talks may drag on.

Sohu is believed to be one of the firms that would be seriously affected
by any Shanda-Sina deal, as the two companies' strengths could combine to
force Sohu further down the market pecking order.

But Zhang said that with its rapidly growing online advertising business,
Sohu had narrowed the gap on China's premier Internet portal over the
past year.

NASDAQ-listed Sohu reported advertising revenues of US$55.7 million in
2004, 89 per cent higher than those in 2003, while its arch-rival Sina
Corp's revenues from online advertising rose by a lesser 59 per cent
year-on-year to US$65.4 million in 2004.

Zhang believed his company's Internet matrix strategy played an important
role in increasing Sohu's influence on netizens and advertisers.

Sohu operates four websites: the Internet portal Sohu.com; the alumni
website Chinaren.com; the real estate information website Focus.cn; and
the online game portal 17173.com.

The growth of Focus.cn has been significant in attracting more
advertising contracts. According to market researcher Shanghai iResearch
Co Ltd, the real estate sector became the fifth largest Internet
advertiser last year.

Besides Sohu's progress in this regard, its search engine service also
played a part in last year's growth in advertising revenues.

Sohu has more than 80,000 small and medium-business customers advertising
through its search engine, via 1,000 agents across the country.

The company recently released a new version of its search engine - Sogou
2.0 - to the market, in an attempt to lure more users through faster and
more accurate search results.

As for Sohu's wireless value-added services, including a short messaging
service, multimedia messaging service and Wireless Applications Protocol,
Zhang believed the market's decline had bottomed-out, after months of
adjustments.

He said wireless services only accounted for about 25 per cent of Sohu's
total revenues, which is a reasonable proportion.

Most of China's NASDAQ-listed Internet companies such as Sina, Tom Online
and Linktone rely on wireless services through sharing revenues with
mobile operators, but regulatory campaigns on pornographic and other
illegal content and the country's dominant mobile operator China Mobile's
use of a new billing and management platform have dampened the once-hot
sector.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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Chinese School

Chinese School - Countdown on the Three Gorges Dam

BIZCHINA / Investment Alerts

Countdown on the Three Gorges Dam
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-19 10:48

Construction workers cast the last concrete unit for the main section of
the mammoth Three Gorges Dam on Friday morning in the middle reach o f
the Yangtze River. The final concrete placement is due to finish on
Saturday, which will mark the completion of the dam's main wall. [Xinhua]

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