China Economy: News & Discussion

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China Customs Official Apologizes for Incorrect Data
By Bloomberg News - Apr 12, 2013


A Chinese government spokesman said he gave incorrect and "groundless" investment data sourced from the Internet at a briefing this week, underscoring concern that official numbers may not be credible. (I hope it was not sourced from DFI... :rofl:)

Zheng Yuesheng, spokesman and head of the statistics department at the Beijing-based General Administration of Customs, said in a statement yesterday that he "expresses deep apologies" for citing unconfirmed figures from online sources he didn't identify.

Zheng was referring to remarks he made at a customs administration press conference on April 10 where he also acknowledged concerns that China's export data may be overstated. During the briefing, held to discuss March and first-quarter trade figures, Zheng said the nation's top economic-planning agency had approved about 7 trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion) of investment projects in the fourth quarter of 2012, including new roads, railroads and airports.

He gave the (groundless) figure when discussing the improvement in first-quarter trade to illustrate the recovery in China's economic growth.

"The information was sourced from relevant reports on the Internet, which were groundless and must be corrected," Zheng said in a seven-line statement on the agency's website.

Customs Investigation

China's exports rose 10 percent in March from a year earlier, increasing less than forecast for the first time in four months, while shipments to Hong Kong jumped 92.9 percent, which researcher IHS Inc. said was the most in 18 years.

Zheng acknowledged that the practice of false trade declarations exists and said the agency is investigating the issue. At the same time, he stood by the customs administration's data and said differences between China's reported exports to Hong Kong and the city's data for imports from the mainland stem from different statistical methods.

Gains in overseas shipments exceeded forecasts by at least 7.5 percentage points in December, January and February, the first time that's happened in three straight months in the eight years Bloomberg has compiled analyst estimates for the data.

The unprecedented run of better-than-forecast export growth prompted skepticism of the data at banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Nomura Holdings Inc., casting doubt on the strength of the recovery.

Inflating Shipments

Overstated exports would mean China is failing to get the boost from global demand that the data suggest as the new government under Premier Li Keqiang seeks to sustain an economic rebound.

Theories include companies inflating the value of shipments to bring money into China, according to Nomura, and exporting the same goods twice as local governments seek to boost data, Goldman Sachs says.

Exports fell to major partners in March including the U.S., European Union, Japan, South Korea and Canada. The main exception was shipments to Hong Kong, which rose to $48.4 billion, accounting for 27 percent of total exports. Sales to Taiwan rose 44.9 percent, while Taiwan this week reported a 1.2 percent decline in imports from China.

"The breakdown of exports by destination veers towards the absurd," IHS economists Xianfang Ren and Alistair Thornton said in a note April 10. "There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that exporters are faking orders" and using a practice to obtain export-tax rebates, IHS said.

China Customs Official Apologizes for Incorrect Data - Bloomberg


* characters in red are insertions by the poster.
 

huaxia rox

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China Focus: China's GDP growth slows to 7.7 pct - Xinhua | English.news.cn

BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- China's gross domestic product (GDP) growth unexpectedly slowed to 7.7 percent in the first quarter of 2013, down from 7.9 percent during the final quarter of 2012, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday.

The rate was weaker than most market forecasts, but still stayed above the 7.5-percent full-year target for 2013 set by the government last month.

According to preliminary statistics, the GDP totaled 11.89 trillion yuan (1.9 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first three months.

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huaxia rox

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Karbonn Titanium S5 vs. Huawei Ascend G510: Battle Between India and Chinese Smartphone Makers Intensifies - International Business Times

Since the start of the year, the Indian market has seen a slew of big-screen handset releases from both domestic and international companies. And surprisingly, the country's smartphone business is pre-dominantly ruled by local manufacturers thanks to the affordability of the devices.

Now, Chinese smartphone makers known for their cheap feature-phones have joined the race to get a formidable market share in the lucrative low-cost phablet segment.

After China's second biggest smartphone maker Gionee forayed into the India market, another company Huawei has come up with an affordable big-screen smartphone, Ascend G510, to give a stiff challenge to Indian rivals such as Micromax A116 Canvas HD, Karbonn Titanium S5 and Lava's Xolo Q800.

It will be a daunting task for the Chinese maker to be able recreate the cult status that Micromax smartphones have gained. But can it match Ascend G510 to the second popular Indian smartphone - the Titanium S5?

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huaxia rox

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Up Again, China Buys More 'Made In America' - Forbes

We may have an ever-expanding trade deficit with China, but the world's No. 2 economy is doing a good job trying to chip away at it. China beat its import record of Made in America goods again this year, importing $108.6 billion worth of American products last year, the U.S. China Business Council said Thursday.

China imported a record $102 billion in 2011 and $89.5 billion in 2010. The numbers keep rising.

"The US-China trade relationship strengthens America's economy and creates well-paying jobs for many American workers across the country. In 2012, China remained the United States' third-largest export market, purchasing nearly $109 billion in US goods last year," USCBC President John Frisbie said. "As its economy and middle class expands, China will continue to play a significant role as an export market for a wide selection of US goods. Some estimates forecast that China may have nearly 600 million middle class consumers by the end of the decade."

U.S. exports to China remain a bright spot for many companies, particularly with European demand weakening. Although China's economic growth also slowed last year, growth in U.S. exports to China still expanded 6.5%, representing an increase of $6.6 billion, Frisbie said.

In 2012, 30 states exported more than $1 billion worth goods to China, with another 10 states exporting more than $500 million.

Though China continues to be the third-largest destination for U.S. exports, USCBC said the United States' share of imports into China has fallen to 7% from 10% in 2000. In 2012, the United States was the fourth-largest source for Chinese imports, following the European Union, Japan, and South Korea.

Despite a lot of the political rhetoric against China, the country is buying American and companies of all sizes are benefiting.

"There is a lot of demand coming from China and our companies are looking at it, small and mid-sized," said Wes Aubihl, assistant deputy chief of export assistance at the Ohio Development Services Agency in Columbus. Ohio exports to China doubled in the last five years from $1.5 billion to over $3 billion in 2012, Aubihl told Forbes back in February.

"Chinese companies are buying industrial machinery, electrical machinery and medical equipment," Aubihl said, adding soybeans to the mix of the state's top four export items.

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asianobserve

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China as the World's Biggest Economy? Not Anytime Soon
By: Dhara Ranasinghe and Rajeshni Naidu-Ghelani
CNBC
10 May 2013

China's fast-growing economy has been forecast to overtake the U.S. as the world's biggest economy as early as 2016, but economists say this is unlikely to happen as structural reforms slow the pace of growth and a stronger Chinese yuan dampens exporter competitiveness.

In March, a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said China was on track for a fourth straight decade of fast growth and will overtake the U.S. as the world's largest economy in 2016, after adjusting for price differences.

Yet, economists have started to question whether China can over take the U.S. as the world's No. 1 economy.

One of the main reasons they give is that China is trying to rebalance its economy from one that is driven by investment and exports to a more consumption driven one which could further slow growth.

Plus the appreciation of the Chinese yuan means China no longer enjoys the same competitive advantage overseas as it did a few years ago. The yuan has strengthened roughly 10 percent over the past three years.

And finally, the U.S. economy is likely to gain momentum of its own in the years ahead thanks to developments such as a boom in U.S. natural gas production.

"In 2014 or even by the end of this year, we're expecting a pretty strong rebound in the U.S. with annual growth of 3-4 percent, while China is on a structural slowdown," said Lombard Street Research Economist Freya Beamish. "If China makes the right reforms, to rebalance its economy, which is the good scenario, then China would only be growing by an annual rate of up to 5 percent."

"If you look at the decade as whole 2010-2020, then that's not a particularly fast rate of catch-up," she added.

China, which has grown at an average rate of 10 percent annually over the past three decades, overtook Japan as the world's Number 2 economy in 2010 and its rapid economic development has stunned the world.

Still, in a bid to move to a more sustainable long-term growth path, Beijing is encouraging domestic consumption to play a greater role in driving growth.

China's economy unexpectedly slowed in the first three months of this year, growing 7.7 percent from a year earlier compared with a 7.9 percent rise in the previous three months on slower industrial output and investment.

Major Crossroads

Analysts said that just because China's economy had grown rapidly in the past, that did not mean it would continue to do the same in the future.

"China is at a major economic crossroads, and faces a very challenging adjustment in its economic growth model," said Patrick Chovanec, chief strategist at Silvercrest Asset Management in New York.

"The worst mistake you could make for any economy -- not just China -- is to simply extrapolate past trends into the future. History rarely follows straight lines," he said.

Vishnu Varathan, a market economist at Mizuho Corporate Bank in Singapore added: "I'm also wary of straight-line projections for economies. One reason, with regards to China, is that the economy is slowing down to a new normal, while the U.S. is getting a boost from an energy revival."

"The U.S. also has dynamic demographics because of immigration, while China has an aging population," he added.

Playing economic catch-up also takes a long time, even for China which has come a long way quickly, analysts said.

"China has come quite some way, but is still miles away from where it would like to be and where it could be in terms of productivity and levels of GDP per capita, which is about 13-14 percent of what it is in the U.S. –so it still has a massive amount of catching up to do," said Louis Kuijis, chief China economist at Royal Bank of Scotland.

China as the World's Biggest Economy? Not Anytime Soon
 

huaxia rox

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9 most popular USA brands sold in China

By 2030, roughly two-thirds of the world's middle class will be in the Asia Pacific region, largely in China, according to a report by Ernst & Young. Currently at around 150 million people, the Chinese middle class is expected to reach 1 billion.

Representing a $250 billion market for American companies today, according to estimates of the U.S.-China Business Council, iconic and newly forged brands alike are looking at enormous opportunity. Some of the nation's biggest brands are already Chinese market leaders in their particular segments. Apple sells more tablets than any competitor in China and Gillette more razors than any other brand. While some of these companies are facing increased competition internationally and from China-based firms, others appear to be pulling away from the pack.

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huaxia rox

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Chinese tourists' spending in the U.S. takes off - Los Angeles Times

Chinese tourists have become the highest-spending overseas visitors to the U.S. and valued customers for U.S. shopping centers and tour bus operators.

Minutes after arriving by bus at an outlet mall in Cabazon, a dozen or so Chinese tourists hustled out to buy luggage that they planned to stuff with high-end clothes, shoes and bags.

But not Guoshing Cui, a Samsung supervisor from Guangzhou. He made a beeline for the Coach store, where he picked out three expensive handbags. He paid more than $800 from a wad of $100 bills.

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China's Rapid Growth Has Taken an Awful Toll
By Yanzhong Huang

Emerging from the ranks of one of the world's poorest nations to second only to the United States, China is destined for a place in the history books. But history may also record the heavy price paid by the Chinese people and will continue to pay for years to come.

China's steady rise against the backdrop of a sluggish global economy has emboldened Chinese leaders to claim "firm confidence" in their development model. Meanwhile, seemingly robust authoritarian capitalism in China has convinced some American scholars that the model offers a viable alternative to Western-style democracies. According to Asian expert Joshua Kurlantzik, China's system in many ways poses "the most serious challenge to democratic capitalism since the rise of communism and fascism in the 1920s and early 1930s."

Contrary to the image of the China juggernaut, though, multiple crises have struck over the past decade. The sheer size of China's economy and population only highlights the magnitude of health, environment and social challenges.

Take air pollution. In northern China, readings of particulate matter no more 2.5 microns in size - or PM2.5, the most harmful types of toxic smog - have reached 40 times the maximum level allowed by the World Health Organization. The health consequences of such air pollution are enormous: A 2010 study conducted by the WHO and a group of universities found outdoor air pollution contributed to 1.2 million premature deaths in China, accounting for almost 40 percent of the global total. And according to a recent Deutsche Bank report, China's air quality will become 70 percent worse by 2025, due to the increases in coal burning and vehicle and industrial emissions, which combined, already contribute to 85 percent of PM2.5 air pollution in China in 2013.

Water pollution is another price paid for China's meteoric economic rise. As a result of the rapid industrialization and poor regulation of the disposal of chemical products, over 70 percent of lakes and rivers in China are polluted, and nearly 40 percent of those rivers are deemed "seriously polluted." Nearly one-quarter of Chinese lack access to safe drinking water. WHO recently estimated that nearly 100,000 people die annually from water pollution-related illnesses in China.

Some 20,000 dead pigs [1] found in the Huangpu River in March added to concerns about food-safety regulations. A 2011 study published by Chinese researchers estimated that more than 94 million people in China become ill annually because of bacterial foodborne diseases, of which, about 8,500 people die. These numbers likely underestimate China's food safety crisis, because statistics on health conditions caused by tainted food are often excluded. According to a 2011 research conducted by Nanjing Agricultural University, 10 percent of rice sold in China contained excessive amounts of cadmium, and some researchers estimate that as much as 70 percent of China's farmland is contaminated with toxic chemicals. The widespread production and consumption of toxic chemicals in industrialization and agricultural production have polluted water and air and contaminated farmland, contributing to the emergence of as many as 400 so-called "cancer villages," [2] areas where rates of cancer are unusually high. Overall, China has had an 80 percent increase in cancer rates compared with 30 years ago.


Rapid growth has a price.

The economic boom in the past decades has also been associated with a widening wealth gap. According to a report from China's Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, the Gini coefficient - measured on a scale of 0 to 1 with higher figures associated with greater inequality - was 0.61 in 2010. While it's not atypical for a fast developing economy to experience increasing inequality, China's level of inequality is comparable to that of the Philippines and Russia and much worse than that of Japan, the United States and many countries in newly liberalized Eastern Europe. Based on the study of Wang Xiaolu, an economist at the independent National Economic Research Institute in Beijing, analysts have estimated that the wealthiest 10 percent of Chinese earned 65 times that of poorest 10 percent. High inequality has increased the danger for China to tumble into the "middle-income trap" - getting stuck at a level of development that falls short of that of more advanced economies. Worse, the government's failure to address this social crisis may pit the underprivileged against an entitled minority.

The existing sociopolitical crises in China are exacerbated by entrenched corruption. The market-oriented economic transition has created new opportunities and made corruption more pervasive than in previous decades. More than 10 years ago, two eminent Chinese scholars suggested that some 80 percent of the Chinese government officials were corrupt, and the situation has not improved. A conservative estimate by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace put the cost of corruption in China at about 3 percent of GDP annually, or about $200 billion. Similar to a Greshamite system, which rewards bad behavior, making it rampant and driving out good behavior, China's corruption has reached a level that touches almost every sector and every member of the society. According to a nationwide survey conducted in October 2011, about 82 percent of responders agreed that China has experienced a significant moral decline over the past decade, and more than half of respondents did not think that complying with ethical standards was a necessary condition for success.

In discussing the development paths taken by nations in a March speech delivered in Moscow, President Xi Jinping remarked, "Only the wearer knows if the shoe fits his foot." As the social cost of development becomes increasingly unbearable, even those who benefited from the rapid economic growth do not think the existing model fits China anymore. When Beijing was engulfed by thick toxic smog in January, an actress born and raised in Beijing wrote: "The flood of emigration and every other type of temptation were not enough to get me to leave this lovable city. Today, this thought keeps circling in my mind: 'Where will I go to spend my later years?'"

The regime's call for more confidence in the system is also not echoed by China's new rich, who vote with their feet by choosing to emigrate. According to a report issued by the Bank of China, 14 percent of those with a net worth of 60 million yuan, or $10 million, have already emigrated, and an additional 46 percent favorably regard relocation. Lack of confidence in the system is also suggested by money leaking out of China. Despite China's restrictions on capital movement, as much as $3.72 trillion left the country over the past decade.

Clearly, the profound sociopolitical problems are threatening China's great achievements. Until China can address the immeasurable, if not irreversible social costs of development, it would be next to impossible for the nation to take a leadership role in the international system,
what it sees as its rightful position. It's hard to imagine, for example, that the country can regain its greatness if the Chinese people do not have clean air to breathe, safe water to drink, or uncontaminated soil on which to live and farm. Thus, it's imperative to reexamine the China development model and make addressing domestic social-political problems a priority. Unfortunately, the alluring story of China's rise can blind one to its dark side. checkTextResizerCookie('article_body');
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Yanzhong Huang is a senior fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations and an associate professor at the John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations. He is the editor of Global Health Governance and author of Governing Health in Contemporary China.


Indian Strategic Studies: China's Rapid Growth Has Taken an Awful Toll
 

huaxia rox

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BBC News - France criticises China's anti-dumping probe into EU wine

The French government has labelled a Chinese anti-dumping probe into wine imported from the European Union (EU) "inappropriate and reprehensible".

China launched the investigation a day after the EU imposed anti-dumping levies on Chinese solar panel imports.

Dumping refers to firms selling goods below their fair value, which the EU alleges China's solar panel makers have done, undermining local manufacturers.

China said it "resolutely opposes" the "unfair" levies by the EU.

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huaxia rox

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Toyota to make batteries in China as country warms to hybrid cars | Business Spectator

Japan's Toyota Motor Corp is moving to set up a joint venture in China with a local Chinese company to produce batteries for the country's fledgling electric-gasoline hybrid car market, a Beijing-based company spokesman said on Thursday.

Takanori Yokoi, Toyota spokesman, said the Japanese automaker is in discussions with Hunan Corun New Energy Co in the southern China province of Hunan to jointly produce nickel-metal hydride batteries for hybrid models Toyota plans to start selling in China around 2015.

Toyota previously said it was working to design key hybrid components in China to make those China-only hybrid models more affordable.

The move comes as Toyota – and other automakers in China, both indigenous Chinese and foreign – gear up to try to kick-start sales of conventional hybrid cars in China in anticipation of changes in China's industry policy aimed at nurturing demand for "new energy" cars to include conventional hybrids.

Until now, under the current policy, China provided generous subsidies for private purchases of all-electric battery vehicles and heavily electrified "near all-electric" plug-in hybrids, but only limited support for conventional hybrids. A growing number of industry insiders and experts believe the Chinese government would boost purchase subsidies significantly for conventional hybrids as early as this year.

Toyota's Yokoi said the Japanese automaker, which has bet big on gasoline-electric hybrid technology since the late 1990s when it began selling the Prius hybrid, plans to launch in China two relatively affordable hybrid models around 2015. One model would be for and marketed by Toyota's joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co, one of China's big state-owned auto enterprises. The other would be for its joint venture with another state-owned auto maker FAW Group.

China is warming to gasoline-electric hybrid cars as it tackles an addiction to fossil fuels, and local indigenous Chinese car makers are heeding the call.

Automakers like state-owned SAIC Motor Corp and Brilliance Auto are developing the fuel-saving technology pioneered by Toyota. Executives at BYD Co, a Chinese battery and automaker part-owned by a Warren Buffett company, have told Reuters the company plans over the next few years to stop selling gasoline-fueled cars and sell only hybrid and other new-energy cars.

According to a notice Corun New Energy filed with the Shanghai stock exchange, Toyota and the Hunan-based battery producer plan to set up a joint hybrid battery company in the eastern China city of Changshu.

The joint-venture company, which is expected to be called Corun PEVE (China) Automotive Battery Co, would be owned 41 per cent by Primearth EV Energy Co, a joint venture between Toyota and Japan's Panasonic Corp, 5 per cent by Toyota's China unit called Toyota Motor China Investment Co and 4 per cent by Toyota affiliate Toyota Tsusho Co. The joint venture is pending approval by the Chinese government.

The China side investing in the venture includes Hunan Corun New Energy and Changshu Sinogy Venture Capital Co, which would own 40 per cent and 10 per cent of the venture, respectively.
 

huaxia rox

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Despite politics, Chinese investment in US grows - The Times of India

RALEIGH (North Carolina): The biggest-ever Chinese acquisition of a US company faces hurdles in Washington from lawmakers and regulators, but in much of America, Chinese investment is quietly booming.


With over $10.5 billion of deals by Chinese companies in the United States so far this year, 2013 is on pace to be the largest year ever for mergers and acquisitions of US firms by Chinese companies, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Almost every week, the North Carolina state government receives a "a wonderfully overwhelming amount of inquiries" from Chinese companies looking to set up shop, says April Kappler, the state official in charge of drawing investment from Asia.

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huaxia rox

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Best-selling New Cars in May - ChinaAutoWeb

Sales of automakers in China increased 9.81% from a year earlier to 1,761,500 units in May, data from CAAM (China Association of Automobile Manufacturers) show. Compared with the previous month, deliveries dropped 4.36%. The commercial vehicle market, which shrank in 2012, saw recovering demand, with May sales up 12.88% on year. Passenger car sales climbed 9.04% to 1,396,900.

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Top 20 best-selling SUVs
Rank Models Makers Deliveries
1 Haval H6 Great Wall 15,673


probably for the first time our homemade brand got this achievement.
 

huaxia rox

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Japan's Sharp Ties Up With Chinese Electronics Firm To Set-up Cutting Edge LCD Panel Factory - International Business Times

Sharp Corp of Japan on Thursday announced it had entered into a $2.9 billion partnership with state-owned China Electronics Corp to set-up a cutting edge LCD panel factory in China that will mass-produce LCD screens for TVs, computers and tablets.

Majority owned by China Electronics Corp, the plant will begin production in June 2015. It targets tp manufacture 60,000 LCD panels per month, measuring 2.2 x 2.5 meters. These panels can be divided into smaller sizes for consumer products.

To realize the alliance, Sharp would have to hand over to China Electronics its prized IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) panel technology. IGZO displays consume only a measly 10th of the battery power of conventional displays.

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huaxia rox

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BYD wins $30m bus supply contract in US - Automotive Business Review

Chinese automaker BYD Motors has secured a $30m bus supply contract from Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) in the US.

Under the deal, the automaker will be responsible for production and delivery of about 25 units of new all-electric buses to the Metro.

The firm order includes initial purchase of five low-floor 40ft buses by Metro's Advanced Transit Vehicle Consortium (ATVC) and South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Metro Board Chair-person Michael Antonovich said, "Metro already operates the nation's largest compressed natural gas bus fleet, but this initiative sets Metro on a new course for transitioning to even cleaner electric buses that will be assembled right here in Los Angeles County at the BYD manufacturing plant in Lancaster.

Following the period of testing and evaluation of the five buses on the basis of operating and maintenance costs, lower life cycle costs compared with its current fleet, Metro is expected to buy the remaining 20 buses.

The contract is part of a Metro's plan to test clean air prototype buses prior to the next replacement bus procurement in 2016.

BYD electric buses are claimed to use iron phosphate rechargeable batteries, which can offer travel range of 155miles between charges with a full passenger load.
 

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Oil companies begin 'fracking' in China's most dangerous earthquake zone
The Chinese want to join the shale gas revolution, even if it means drilling for oil in China's earthquake hot bed in the Sichuan region, where nearly 70,000 died in an earthquake in 2008.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc and China National Petroleum have started 'fracking' operations in the province.

Oil companies begin 'fracking' in China's most dangerous earthquake zone — RT Business

Western China is facing problems like flood, earthquakes etc. Fracking in earthquake prone areas and construction of huge dams may force people in Western China to fight for freedom from China. That will be good for us.
 

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China authorizes first pilot city of Russian ruble use

Chinese cabinet has authorized Suifenhe City at the China-Russia border as the country's first pilot zone where Russian ruble can function equally as renminbi, local government sources told Xinhua on Sunday.

Under the new policy, the Russian ruble can be freely deposited and withdrawn at local banks. People can pay their bills with rubles in Suifenhe, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

It is the first time since the founding of the People's Republic of China that a foreign currency is allowed to function on a par with renminbi in a designated area in Chinese mainland.

An official with the Suifenhe Branch of the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, said the policy would help crack down black market transaction of rubles, and to place the exchanges under proper regulation.

Analysts said the new policy could contribute to the formation of a direct exchange rate between renminbi and Russian ruble, and help promote renminbi use in Russian cities.
 

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A great way to celebrate the end of Chinese New Year is to note the progress in Shenzhen. My, how far you've come.

China Estimates 2013 Growth at 7.6% as Challenges Seen Ahead - Bloomberg


Commercial and residential buildings stand illuminated at night in the Luohu district of Shenzhen, China. China's GDP reversed a two-quarter growth slowdown in the July-September period, as Premier Li Keqiang spurred factory output and investment in the world's second-largest economy to meet the expansion target. (Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg)
 

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A great way to celebrate the end of Chinese New Year is to note the progress in Shenzhen. My, how far you've come.

China Estimates 2013 Growth at 7.6% as Challenges Seen Ahead - Bloomberg


Commercial and residential buildings stand illuminated at night in the Luohu district of Shenzhen, China. China's GDP reversed a two-quarter growth slowdown in the July-September period, as Premier Li Keqiang spurred factory output and investment in the world's second-largest economy to meet the expansion target. (Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg)
Trees. Where are the trees? Thousands of hectares of concrete. Nothing to collect and hold rainwater, allow it to percolate, and support bacteria, fungi, insects, small animals, birds, larger mammals. An entire ecosystem wiped out for concrete towers. Copying the deforested west.
 

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