Mixed feelings over buying Japanese productsHonda, Canon, Fuji, Sony, Mitsubishi, Asahi, Sumitomo, Shiseido, Square Enix and Daiichi Pharmaceutical apart from being Japanese, these brands have something else in common. They are all immensely popular in China. Chinese consumers, with a collective memory of the eight-year Japanese invasion and Japanese prime ministers' constant visits to the Yasukuni Shrine that honors war criminals, have mixed feelings toward these leading brands. To a recent poll by China Daily on its website (www.chinadaily.com.cn), which posed the question "Have you bought any products made in Japan over the past two years, and why?", 45.63 percent of the respondents said "yes", while 44.04 percent said they had not, and the rest of the 1,065 respondents made no comment. Most people, the survey reveals, buy Japanese products because of their quality, after-sales service, design and affordability. "I don't care if the product comes from Japan or is made in China, I only care about its quality," said a respondent. Some consumers believe that the history of war is a political issue, with no relevance to business. A Japanese goods buyer said: "That's the real world. You buy what's value for money. There's no way one can deny that Japanese goods are quality products," but added that if any Japanese company got involved in politics in a "negative way", its goods would fall from her grace. But a great number of people said they were in two minds when buying Japanese goods. "Frankly speaking, products made in Japan are superior to ours, so we tend to buy them. It's rational consumer behavior," a respondent said. "However, in terms of politics, the Japanese prime ministers' visits to Yasukuni infuriates all Chinese people." Most respondents who do not buy Japanese commodities share the latter view. Many of those who participated in the survey believe the two nations share many common interests such as bilateral trade and investment and the Japanese government should strengthen bilateral ties. Bilateral trade volume reached 7.36 billion in 2006, up 12.5 percent over the previous year. Japan continues to be China's third-largest trade partner. By the end of November 2006, Japanese firms had invested .45 billion in China. Japan is now the second-largest source of foreign investment in China, after the United States. From January to October 2006, Chinese enterprises invested .18 million in Japan, with total investment from China reaching 9 million. This year is the 35th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan relations and the 70th anniversary of the "July 7 Incident" that marked the beginning of the War of Resistance against Japanese aggression.
KUNMING -- Fourteen people were killed and six others were injured after a bus veered off a road and plunged into a ravine in southwest China's Yunnan Province, a local government official confirmed on Thursday.The bus with 20 passengers on board veered off a highway in Maguan County of Wenshan Autonomous Prefecture of Zhuang and Miao Nationalities at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, said Liu Qingfu, deputy head of the publicity department of Wenshan prefecture.Fourteen people died at the scene. The injured have been rushed to a nearby hospital and are reportedly out of danger.The cause of the accident is still being investigated.
Foreign trade in east China's Shanghai port rose 20.3 percent year-on-year to 91.06 billion U.S. dollars in the first two months of 2008, official statistics show. The figure accounted for 24.9 percent of the country's total trade value of 365.93 billion U.S. dollars from January to February. Exports climbed 17.2 percent, 20.7 percentage points lower than the period from a year earlier, to 58.59 billion U.S. dollars. Mechanical and electronics products accounted for around 60 percent of total exports. Imports jumped 26.3 percent, 10.8 percentage points higher from the same period last year, to 32.47 billion U.S. dollars, the Shanghai Customs said. The surplus rose 7.6 percent to 26.12 billion U.S. dollars. The rate was 66.1 percentage points lower from a year ago. Export growth slowed as the Spring Festival holiday and the strongest winter blizzards in five decades closed factories and disrupted transport. The government policies introduced last year to reduce surging surplus also contributed to the slower pace, as shown in the steel and garment sectors. Imports, however, accelerated their pace as China bought more commodities and farm produce at higher prices. Through the Shanghai port 549,000 tons of agricultural products were imported in the two months, an annual increase of nearly 30 percent. Their average price was up 24.7 percent from a year earlier.
China Securities Regulatory Commission announced here on Friday that it has approved the initial public offering (IPO) plans of three domestic companies. They are the Sichuan-based software and equipment provider Wisesoft, nitrocellulose producer Sichuan Nitrocell Corporation, and husbandry company Shandong Minhe. It also approved the issue of three stock funds, bringing the total of newly approved funds of this kind to 18 since February. A bond fund also won approval. New funds approved since February equals half of all funds approved last year, which would injects more capital into the declining stock market. Though the market is less sensitive to new fund issue as more funds win approval, the accumulation of capital would possibly lead to positive short-term change in the market, analysts said.
View of a steel-making factory on the outskirts of Shanghai February 1, 2007. [Reuters] New export taxes on polluting and energy intensive industries will help reshape how China's economy grows, but alone are not enough to resolve its trade imbalances with the United States, a top Commerce official said on Sunday. Beijing said last week it would impose or increase taxes on a range of metal exports in an effort to control shipments of high-energy products and ease its huge trade surplus. "You cannot expect to resolve the trade balance by simply curbing export patterns," Vice Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said on the sidelines of a conference when asked about the changes. "These products make up a relatively small portion of exports. But the point is that this reflects changes in trade and economic growth, which will have advantages in the short term and even greater significance in the long term." The announcement of the tax changes came ahead of a "strategic economic dialogue" in Washington between high-level U.S. and Chinese officials at which China's huge trade surplus was a major bone of contention. But the high-level economic talks failed to ease trade rifts between the two economic giants, risking rising tensions ahead of the race for the U.S. presidency. Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi and a delegation of ministers left the U.S. capital on Friday, after days of talks that made modest advances but were overshadowed by a lack of concrete progress on the key issue of China's currency. From June 1, China will impose a tax of between 5 and 10 percent on exports of over 80 types of steel products, a bone of contention with both the United States and Europe. Exports would not slow down much this year since most contracts had been signed already, but next year could see a big fall-off, said Li Xinchuang, vice-president of the China Metallurgical Industry and Research Institute.
The central bank raised the reserve requirement ratio for banks by 0.5 percentage point yesterday to mop up excess liquidity resulting from a soaring trade surplus and increased money supply. After the increase, which will take effect on April 16, the ratio will be 10.5 percent for big bankers and 11 percent for smaller lenders. It is the third time this year the People's Bank of China has raised the ratio after similar rises in January and February. The bank reserve requirement refers to deposits banks are required to set aside as a reserve, which reduces their lending ability. "The move is directly aimed at mopping up excess liquidity," Zhao Xijun, finance professor at Renmin University of China, told China Daily, adding the ultimate objective is to maintain stable growth of the economy. In recent months, the trade surplus has expanded rapidly and money supply remained at a high. In the first two months, China's trade surplus amounted to .61 billion, a stunning jump of 230 percent over the same period last year. In February, M1, or cash in circulation and deposits, increased 21 percent year on year, a record high for the past 37 months, indicating increased liquidity pressure. Meanwhile, banks have accumulated 11.1 trillion yuan (.44 trillion) of idle funds that can be used for lending. In January and February, domestic banks extended new loans of 982 billion yuan (7 billion), about 260 billion (.6 billion) more than a year ago. As a result, urban fixed-asset investment has picked up to 23.4 percent year on year in the January-February period from about 20 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, reversing the trend of a slight slowdown since last July. On another front, the consumer price index rose to 2.7 percent, close to the warning line of 3 percent, in February. "The central bank has been closely monitoring the growth trends of the economy and is taking preemptive measures to keep it on the right track," said Zhao. Such a strategy is different from past years, when it seemed to have resorted to rather drastic measures to seek instant regulatory effect, said Zhao. The central bank raised interest rates three times in the past year; the most recent of which came into effect on March 18. Tang Min, chief economist with the Asian Development Bank in China, said yesterday that the adjustment in the reserve requirement ratio may be followed by another hike in the interest rate.
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Investors monitor the movement of stock prices at a brokerage firm in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province May 9, 2007. [newsphoto]China's main stock index hit a fresh all-time high after breaking a key barrier of 4,000 points due to the soaring blue chip stocks as investors shrugged off official warnings of a possible market bubble amid soaring corporate profits. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, the most widely watched indicator of the mainland's stock market, gained 1.60 percent to end at 4,013.08 points, breaching the psychologically important mark of 4,000 for the first time. That marks a gain of 50 percent so far this year on top of a 130 percent rally in 2006. Blue chip stocks showed strong performances. China Unicom, the nation's second largest wireless operator, jumped its daily limit of 10 percent to close at 6.35 yuan per share. Bank of China rose 7.77 percent to 6.10 yuan, while Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was up 5.47 percent to 5.78 yuan. The surge came after the Shanghai Composite Index was pushed to a new high in the previous session as new investor cash flooded in after the week-long May Day market recess and China's yuan broke the barrier of 7.70 against the US dollar. The consistent hitting of new highs since January was partly driven by the wave of money brought in by new investors. Some 4.787 million new A-share trading accounts were opened in April, more than the combined number of the previous two years, statistics from China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation. The figures for the new accounts are considered a rough indicator for the number of new individual investors entering the market. Analysts said the market may undergo drastic fluctation after the index breaks the 4,000 point mark, as worries about stock overvaluations build up. The stocks in the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets are trading at more than 40 times earnings per share on average, much higher than developed markets overseas. The growing bubble in the country's stock market is a concern, said central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan last week, adding he would closely monitor asset prices, the consumer price index and producer price index. Zhou's remarks added to speculation there could be an interest rate hike as early as next month. Xie Guozhong, former chief China economist for Morgan Stanley, suggested regulators should come up with certain policies to put the brakes on the surging stock market for the good of long-term economic development and social stability. "China's equity market is starting to show signs of getting out of control," said Zuo Xiaolei, chief economist of China Galaxy Securities in China Securities Journal on Wednesday The market rose even after the interest rate was hiked in March, and the bank reserve ratio was raised in April, said Zuo. "The neglect of policy and blindly pushing up the equity market fosters a big market risk," he claimed.
The country's top religious affairs official has pledged to continue support for the printing and publication of the Bible, even as the religious text here hit a milestone of 50 million copies published.Ye Xiaowen"The country respects and protects religious freedom," said Ye Xiaowen, head of the State Administration for Religious Affairs."And China has become one of the countries publishing the largest number of Bibles in the world."Ye made the remarks at a ceremony to mark the publication of the country's 50 millionth complete Bible by the Amity Printing Company over the weekend in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province.About 43 million copies of the Bible have been made for believers on the Chinese mainland, with copies in Braille and eight minority languages.The remaining 7 million were exported to more 60 countries and regions, mainly through a joint venture with the United Bible Societies (UBS) established in 1988.The accomplishment of 50 million Bibles is a major milestone in Bible publication in China, which satisfies the nationwide demand including those of the remote rural areas, UBS general secretary Rev Miller Milloy said at the ceremony.About 3 million copies of Bible have been rolling off the press annually in recent years, which forms the largest annual production by any Christian group, said the organization.Amity Foundation, the only one authorized in China to print the Bible, said there are 74 sales offices set up throughout the country for distributing the text."The printing company not only produces Bibles for Christians, it also donates its earnings to charity," said Bishop Kuang-hsun Ting, chair of the board of the Amity Foundation.Official statistics show that there were 16 million Christians in China by 1997 and the number is said to be growing, said Cao Shengjie, president of China Christian Council. The country also has 18 theological schools, with about 1,800 students.Ye gave the assurance at the ceremony that Chinese religious groups will provide help and service, including giving copies of the Bible to overseas athletes and tourists, during the Beijing Olympics 2008."The Amity Printing Company is well prepared to provide assistance to print copies of the Bible for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008," said Zhang Liwei, deputy secretary-general of the Amity Foundation.Li Zhanjun, director of the Beijing Olympics media center, also said earlier that a religious service center will be set up in the Olympic Village to offer services to Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and followers of other religions next summer.
Visitors walk around a Ryuga Mazda car on display during The Shanghai Auto Show in Shanghai April 21, 2007. A model stands next to a Kia Kue car during The Shanghai Auto Show in Shanghai April 21, 2007.Visitors pose for a photo next to a Cadillac Cien concept car during The Shanghai Auto Show in Shanghai April 21, 2007. A man takes a photo of the Ryuga Mazda car during The Shanghai Auto Show in Shanghai April 21, 2007.A visitor sits in a Volkswagen New Beetle Cabriolet car during The Shanghai Auto Show in Shanghai April 21, 2007.