CSG news update -- 2006-05-22

[China Study Group <chinastudygroup@gmail.com>]

China Study Group news update

Share of world production falls as China surges
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/b91cbc3c-e92f-11da-b110-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2006-05-22
Peter Marsh
Britain's share of the world's manufacturing has fallen from 3.8 per cent to 3 per cent in the past decade, according to the Vienna-based United Nations Industrial Development Organisation.  Over this period global manufacturing output has expanded 34 per cent, from $5,772bn to $7,747bn (Â...

Rapid growth drains key river, causing shortages of water
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/05/22/278658/Rapid_growth_drains_key_river__causing_shortages_of_water.htm
Xinhua | 2006-05-22
CHINA'S rapid economic development and its increasing thirst for water has dried up most of the tributaries on a key river that winds through 26 large and medium-sized cities, a water conservation agency reported yesterday.  The Haihe River valley, with an area of 320,000 square kilometers, co...

Modern China's founding legend: heavy on myth?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0522/p01s02-woap.html
Christian Science Monitor | 2006-05-22
Robert Marquand
BEIJING – For China, it's Paul Revere's ride and Washington crossing the Delaware in one.  The Luding Bridge battle is the most famous moment in the Long March, itself the defining legend of modern China. The Red Army is hotly pursued in 1935. Soldiers hoof it 24/7 for 140 miles. They mu...

Move to ban overseas grip in SOEs to keep control
http://en.ce.cn/Business/Macro-economic/200605/22/t20060522_7048180.shtml
Shanghai Daily | 2006-05-22
China intends to enhance scrutiny over foreign investment in state-held equities at listed firms even as it pushes forward reforms with overseas help while ensuring it does not lose control in pivotal sectors.  Regulators, while allowing foreigners to take larger or even controlling interest in st...

A Mao Portrait on the Block Causes a Stir in Chat Rooms
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/22/arts/design/22mao.html
New York Times | 2006-05-22
David Barboza
In a decision that is stirring wide debate in Chinese Internet chat rooms, a Chinese-American collector plans to sell a renowned official portrait of Mao at auction in Beijing on June 3.  Some argue that the 1950 portrait, the model for a big painting of Mao in Tiananmen Square, should go to a nat...

China offers 1 billion dollars for Nigeria's railway rehabilitation
http://en.ce.cn/National/Government/200605/22/t20060522_7046707.shtml
Xinhua | 2006-05-22
The Chinese government is to assist in the rehabilitation of the ailing Nigerian railway system with a grant of 1 billion U.S. dollars, Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iwuala said in Abuja Sunday.  The minister told at a joint news conference on a two-day international conference on "Financ...

Foreign-funded enerprises gain 200b USD in profits in China
http://en.ce.cn/Business/Enterprise/200605/21/t20060521_7039935.shtml
Xinhua | 2006-05-21
Foreign-funded enterprises have recorded more than 200 billion U.S. dollars in post-tax profits in China since the 1990s, a senior Chinese commerce official said.  Li Zhiqun, director of Foreign Investment Department of Ministry of Commerce, announced the figures on Saturday at a forum of "Investi...

Manufacturers eye China's interior
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/df582e0c-e8e6-11da-b110-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2006-05-21
Geoff Dyer
Chinese manufacturing companies are rapidly increasing their investment in central regions of the country as they search for more reliable sources of labour and new consumer markets.  The municipality of Chongqing, one of the principal industrial hubs in the centre-west and more than 1,000 miles f...

In China, a Giant Statistics Problem
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-xinhua20may20,1,5825782.story
LA Times | 2006-05-20
Evelyn Iritani
Call it No. 6 — with an asterisk.  Late last year, China proclaimed itself the world's sixth-largest economy, edging out Italy. That proud moment wasn't triggered by surging exports of textiles, toys and cellphones. The government simply made a "statistical revision," boosting its 20...

Minimum wage to rise
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=5&art_id=18980&sid=8031225&con_type=1&d_str=20060519&sear_year=2006
Reuters | 2006-05-19
Beijing and Shanghai are poised to increase minimum wages following similar rises in southern China, providing fresh evidence that the fast-growing economy is pushing up costs.  Minimum salaries in the capital will rise 3.4 percent to 600 yuan (HK$582) a month later this year from 580 yuan a month...

Fixing the Property Market
http://www.morganstanley.com/GEFdata/digests/20060519-fri.html#anchor6
Morgan Stanley | 2006-05-19
Andy Xie
The State Council has issued six guidelines to local governments and ministries to cool the property market:  (1) increase supply of affordable housing (e.g., small units, low-rent investment properties) with numerical targets;  (2) leverage tax, credit and land policies to guide demand (e.g., r...

Cultural Revolution? What revolution?
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HE19Ad01.html
Asia Times | 2006-05-18
Fong Tak Ho
HONG KONG - Forty years after the launch of the Cultural Revolution by Mao Zedong, one could be excused in China for missing the anniversary of the start of the event that launched the country into a decade of bloody political and social turmoil.  Since Tuesday, all official Chinese media organs h...