huangthomas

Disney's China Move: A Big Growth Opportunity for Mickey

There is a Disney land in Hong Kong already.

Dollar-Yuan Diplomacy: My 15 Seconds

Japanese adopt Chinese ideograph (characters) in their language, called "kanji". The same character is pronounced differently in their respective language. In Chinese, "jing" is reserved for the capital of the nation. Beijing means "northern capital". Since it is not capital of Japan, it is referred to as Peking by Japanese. In Japanese, the same character (kanji) is reserved for capital of Japan and pronounced "kyo". Japanese capital Tokyo means "eastern capital". Confused? Never mind, just enjoy your Peking duck. By the way, the best place to have Peking duck is in Taipei, followed by Hong Kong.

On China's 8.9% GDP Growth

Tony:

Mathematically you are absolutely correct. Culturally you a little off. 8.9 is a "correct" number. "9" is a number revered in Chinese culture. Phonetically, 9 means long, forever..... Chairman died on September 9 (9.9) suggesting he would be remembered, worshipped forever. He returned to Beijing in 1949 triumphantly on September 9. When Chinese central bank raise the interest rate, it is by 0.18, 0.27, 0.36, 0.45%..... (not by 0.25, 0.50, 0.75%...).They are all multiple of 9. In China, culture is more important than mathematics.

China: Unhappy with U.S. Trade Policies, Launches Retaliatory Investigation

This is paranoid and hallucination during economic hard time. Go out and find a job!

Time to Replace the 'R' in BRIC?

Korea is a developed country and a member of OECD. I am still searching for replacement of Russia, such as Romania (yak!), Rwanda.......


On Oct 22 11:35 PM ozymandias888 wrote:

> How about BICK? Swap out Russia for Korea?

Simcere Gains Majority Control of Vaccine Subsidiary

The most urgent thing for Chinese vaccine makers to do is to receive international approval and acceptance of their vaccine. We have shortage of Type A (H1N1) vaccine in the United States, but the Chinese vaccines are not acceptable. Next vaccine could be H5N1 avian influenza(bird flue) vaccine, which Chinese vaccine manufactures have experience far ahead of other vaccine makers.

Liberalization and Wealth Inequality in China

Is "income inequality" a problem in China? The answer is "yes and no". The Gini coefficient for China is 0.46 and the nominal figure for the US is 0.40. These are data provided by the governments to UN and World Bank. American CIA knows rich American have wealth and income in tax heavens. CIA data shows that it is 0.45 for the US, which may not have statistically significant difference from 0.46 for China. The problem with China is low per capita GDP, 4.4% of that of the US (without correction for PPP). The low per capita GDP sinks large number of the rural residents into poverty.

I don't agree with the notion that Chinese government is intentionally keep the wages low to stimulate export. The low wages can be
attributable to the policy of Mao, who tripled Chinese population from 400 million to 1.3 billion during his 30-year rule. When large number of people searching for finite number of jobs, the wages will naturally go down. This year the job market in China is tight, but the college graduates increased substantially. The college graduates are competing with migrant workers, only 2% have high school diploma, for a $240 a month jobs. It is market economy at work.

Michael Jackson: Lessons Learned for China's Economy

It is futile trying to compare two systems. To average American, the government is bailing out Wall street and banks. Recovery? It is jobless. Close to half-million Americans are still losing their jobs every month and housing foreclosure is still picking up speed.

As far as China is concerned, it is the precipitous drop in export which caused damage to the economy. The banks are basically healthy. Fixed investment in the infrastructure is not effort wasted. If they don't do it today, they still have to do it tomorrow. China has been falling behind infrastructure construction since western industrial revolution hundreds of years ago. There is a lot of catch-up to do. This type of investment, however, only serves to stuff the GDP number, but doesn't stimulate vibrant natural organic growth of the economy as a whole and does not really help 20 million of unemployed, unskilled migrant workers (only 5% have high school education). Chinese approach is a product of the political system. As long as they can grow GDP 8% a year, it is considered "job accomplished". But some may argue that a stuffed turkey is still a turkey,

The monetary policy is creating another asset bubble, especially in the real estate market. It is almost unreal.

Can China Sustain 8% Growth?

It is a national policy to grow economy at least 8% through thin and thick to lift the rural population out of poverty. The national budget always provides funds for 8% growth. Therefore, the answer is definitely YES. When the current world financial crisis is over, China will go back to double digit growth which they have enjoyed for the last decade or two.

China's Third Quarter GDP Report: Warnings for Investors

The skepticism is well justified.

How to Deal with Corruption in China

Here is the ranking of corruption among Asian countries and regions: The most corrupt is Philippines followed by Indonesia and Thailand. India has slightly higher ranking than China. The below average are Malaysia, Taiwan, Macao. And, as expected, the lowest rankings go to Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

How to Deal with Corruption in China

The question regarding corruption is not yes or no. It is the degree to which we are referring to. It is generally accepted that the Scandinavian countries are the least corrupt societies and the worst are the ex-communist countries. There is a world forum to rate the degree of corruption in major economy.

UK has a long term policy of paying civil servant well to prevent official corruption, which is always at the core of corruption. Singapore and Hong Kong, the previous British colonies also pay the civil servants well. The president of Singapore used to receive a salary much higher than the president of the United States and at one time it was twice that of the United States President. For that reason, I pointed out the low pay schedule of the Chinese official as one of the major reasons for corruption.

Historically Chinese officials receive only token salary from emperors (six to seven bags of rice a year). They have to take care of their own finance. Official corruption has been rampant in Chinese history. PRC follows the same system of low pay to civil servants. Corruption is inevitable.

Jim Rogers on the Next 10 Years

Learning Chinese means Chinese as the first foreign language, which has been shifting from French, German, and Japanese. All students should master the English first. Do you know close to 30% of our high school graduates can't write or read English?

Remember we used to say that the 21st century belong to Japan. Japanese economy peaked in 1998 and has been on the slippery slope since then. China should be careful in accepting that title. It is a western trick. They are trying to set you up for something, such as beat you down with protectionism.

China Needs to Look Within for Solutions to the Falling Dollar

American dollar is American currency. China may hold a little more than one trillion of US dollars. Why China should be concerned or responsible for our own US$ problem? Mr. Morici, go ahead and suck your thumb and the problem may go away.

How to Deal with Corruption in China

Corruption is part of Chinese culture for thousands of years. The system encourages corruption. Imagine that a chief of prefecture receive a monthly salary of $350. It is incurable. Try to learn to live with it.