CSG news update -- 2007-06-15

From China Study Group <chinastudygroup@gmail.com>
Date Fri, 15 Jun 2007 02:00:29 -0700



China Study Group news update

China's Factory Investment Surges 25.9 Percent
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0dSucwh4tk8&refer=home
Bloomberg | 2007-06-15
Nipa Piboontanasawat
China's factory and property investment surged, adding to speculation that an interest-rate increase is imminent after exports, industrial production and inflation accelerated.  Fixed-asset investment in urban areas rose 25.9 percent in the first five months from a year earlier to 3.2 trillion...

SOE restructuring picks up momentum
http://en.ce.cn/Business/Macro-economic/200706/15/t20070615_11766453.shtml
China Daily | 2007-06-15
The restructuring and streamlining of key State-owned enterprises (SOEs) is gaining momentum and the target of reducing their number to less than 100 could be met two years ahead of schedule.  The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) had planned to cut the number of...

Hedge funds hungry for China opening
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=22&art_id=46773&sid=14050608&con_type=1&d_str=20070614
Reuters | 2007-06-14
Charlie Zhu
Hedge funds, known for flexing their financial muscles around the globe but still largely shut out of China, hope the quickening pace of Beijing's reforms will open new gateways into the world's fourth-largest economy.  Chinese officials remain suspicious of overseas hedge funds, after wit...

The Chinese footprint growing across Africa
http://iht.com/articles/2007/06/14/africa/letter.php
International Herald Tribune | 2007-06-14
Howard W. French
ADDIS ABABA: I had a jarring exchange after boarding a packed Ethiopian Airlines flight to Beijing recently following an extended African trip.  One of the last passengers to board, a Chinese man, stopped at my row and gestured to the empty window seat, urging me to move over, so that he could enj...

`Princeling,' poet tackle bubbling economy
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=22&art_id=46774&sid=14050047&con_type=1&d_str=20070614
Bloomberg | 2007-06-14
Allen T Cheng and Zhang Dingmin
Signs that China's economy is at a boiling point are hard to miss. Sparks rain down on Beijing from night-and-day construction. Inflation is accelerating. Investors clamor to buy stocks valued at 45 times earnings.  To cool expansion in the world's fastest- growing major economy, Premier W...

Keeping China's best and brightest at home
http://atimes.com/atimes/China/IF15Ad01.html
Asia Times | 2007-06-14
Kent Ewing
HONG KONG - As Western countries worry over China's rise on the international stage, they hold a key advantage in the competition for power and influence: many of China's best and brightest go abroad for a university education, enjoy their lives in the West, and never return home to share th...

217 rescued from slavery in brick kilns
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-06/14/content_894635.htm

Xinhua | 2007-06-14
ZHENGZHOU -- Police from central China's Henan Province say they have rescued 217 people, including 29 children, who had been working as slaves in brick kilns in the province.  Police said they detained 120 suspects including 13 in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital.  More than 35,000 police ...

Social ecology approach needed for China's poor
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2007-06/12/content_892118.htm
China Daily | 2007-06-12
Sun Liping
Effective measures have been taken in the last few years to raise the living standards of low-income groups to prevent society from becoming further polarized.  What is more important, however, is to improve the status of the disadvantaged groups in the market and give opportunities for developmen...

Giving privileges to rich people hurts social justice
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2006-08/21/content_669193.htm
China Daily | 2006-08-21
Sun Liping
A number of new events are worth our attention.  First, a directive issued by the Zhangzhou Education Bureau, Fujian Province, states that children of "big taxpayers" can get 20 points more in their senior high school entrance exam.  By "big taxpayer," it means private entrepreneurs who turn ove...