In Japan Is Back Abe ”speaks openly about the mistakes he made in his first term, Abenomics, Japan’s wartime record (and his own controversial statements on that history), and the bitter Senkaku/Diaoyu Island dispute with China.” Some highlights:

I have never said that Japan has not committed aggression. Yet at the same time, how best, or not, to define “aggression” is none of my business. That’s what historians ought to work on. I have been saying that our work is to discuss what kind of world we should create in the future…

About the Yasukuni Shrine, let me humbly urge you to think about your own place to pay homage to the war dead, Arlington National Cemetery, in the United States. The presidents of the United States go there, and as Japan’s prime minister, I have visited. Professor Kevin Doak of Georgetown University points out that visiting the cemetery does not mean endorsing slavery, even though Confederate soldiers are buried there. I am of a view that we can make a similar argument about Yasukuni, which enshrines the souls of those who lost their lives in the service of their country…

We have never agreed with the Chinese to shelve the issue of the Senkaku Islands. To say that we have in the past is a complete lie by the Chinese.

In Beijing’s Brand Ambassador Cui “sets out his vision for U.S.-Chinese relations, discusses whether China is a revisionist power, and how it plans to deal with cyber security — and Japan.” Some highlights:

So we are ready to integrate ourselves into the global system, and we are ready to follow the international rules. Of course, these rules were set without much participation by China, and the world is changing. You cannot say that the rules that were set up half a century ago can be applied without any change today. But what we want is not a revolution. We stand for necessary reform of the international system, but we have no intention of overthrowing it or setting up an entirely new one….

As far as China is concerned, we have three key elements to our policy on the Korean Peninsula. First, we stand for stability. Second, we stand for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Third, we stand for peaceful means. These three elements are interrelated; you cannot have one at the expense of the other two….

These [Diaoyu] islands were originally Chinese territory, but at the end of the nineteenth century, because of the war between China and Japan, Japan took action to put these islands in its own territorial jurisdiction. When the United States returned Okinawa to Japan [in 1972], it also included the Diaoyu Islands. We were against that and made it very clear at the time. So there has been a consistent Chinese position on the sovereignty of the islands. There is no doubt about that.

On the other hand, we also understand such issues will take time to resolve, and we are not in a hurry to resolve them overnight. When China and Japan normalized relations with each other [also in 1972], the leaders of both countries decided to put such disputes aside. And I think that was a very wise policy. We had tranquility over these islands for many years, until the Japanese government decided to nationalize the islands last year.

This week’s Sinica Podcast is an interview with yours truly. In what may be the China watching variant of jumping the shark, I chatted with hosts Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn in An Evening with Bill Bishop. We are old friends, excuse some of the humor…

Today’s Links:

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

China president takes charge of sweeping economic reform plans: sources | Reuters Xi will present the reforms at a key meeting of the ruling Communist Party later this year that will set the agenda for the next decade, signaling his seriousness to see breakthroughs, the sources told Reuters. Some of the sources cautioned that the reforms could face resistance from vested interests, especially state firms.

Oceanauts honored as “heroes” – Xinhua | English.news.cn what does James Cameron think of the Jiaolong? does the us have any state-backed programs in this area now, or is it all private sector? // Seven oceanauts with China’s manned submersible Jiaolong, which proved capable of diving 7,000-m-plus deep, have each been given the title of “Manned Submersible Hero.” The honor, bestowed by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council, was announced Friday at an award ceremony jointly held by the State Oceanic Administration and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.//and top item on Friday CCTV Evening News 

Deleterious Neglect: Will the U.S. Navy Surrender Maritime Asia? | The Diplomat all the money going into COIN and IED detection won’t help against China// Having gone unchallenged for decades, and facing budget cuts, the U.S. Navy is in danger of losing its capability to challenge the PLA in its near seas…. Beijing’s immediate goals and its likely opponents fall within reach of the abundant shore-based armaments festooning Fortress China. Combining land- with sea-based implements of marine combat yields a force far more formidable than side-by-side comparisons of surface fleets would indicate. The PLA Navy, then, may not need a surface fleet symmetrical with the U.S. Navy’s — in terms of flattops, air wings, destroyers, etc. — to get its job done. Observers must apply standards unique to China to determine whether China’s Navy has struck the right balance of capabilities. Comparing it to a globe-spanning navy like America’s reveals little.–Toshi Yoshihara and James Holmes are professors of strategy at the U.S. Naval War College

Another H7N9-hit Chinese province ends emergency response – Xinhua | English.news.cn East China’s Zhejiang Province ended its level-IV emergency response to the H7N9 bird flu outbreak after no new human infections had been reported there in the past 28 consecutive days. Medical observations on all those who had close contact with the H7N9-infected people in Zhejiang have ended, and there have been no further infections, said a statement from the seventh meeting of the Zhejiang provincial prevention and control mechanism for human infections of H7N9, which was held on Thursday.

Anti-graft chief stresses intra-Party supervision – Xinhua | English.news.cn Wang said the CPC faces challenges both at home and abroad, but the fundamental challenges, including work style malpractices and corruption, rest within the Party itself. He added that inspection work will be strengthened this year. // People’s Daily’s coverage of his remaks more interesting 王岐山在中央巡视工作动员暨培训会议上强调, 巡视要发现问题形成震慑　遏制腐败现象蔓延势头 

Taiwan Directs Anger at Philippines as Ma Frustration Simmers – Bloomberg Ma is seizing the moment to press President Benigno Aquino for a formal apology as Taiwan grocers pull Philippine goods from stores and travel agencies cancel trips, an approach that risks denting efforts to boost trade ties in Asia. His reaction may say more about Taiwan’s feeling of weakness in a region of emerging powers that don’t officially recognize its government. “The whole world is bullying us, so we have to bully someone weaker than us,” said George Tsai, a political scientist at Chinese Culture University in Taipei.

Rebuilding the Fengtongzhai Honey Cooperative | Indiegogo I donated, fundraising set up by a Sinocism subscriber, looks to be a good way to donate to Lushan earthquake reconstruction// Rebuilding the local honey cooperative in Baoxing County, Sichuan Province, China, after the earthquake on April 20th, 2013…One of the two hardest hit counties was Baoxing County, home of the Fengtongzhai Honey Cooperative. Our project goal is to crowdfund the money for 100 beehives to rebuild and expand the honey cooperative. This project will help the community start down the path to recovery, while preserving the local ecosystem that is crucial to the giant panda.

Cannes: China Buzzing Over Jia Zhangke’s ‘A Touch of Sin’ – The Hollywood Reporter trailer looks very good// Chinese social media lights up after a trailer for the director’s Cannes competition entry appears online, revealing scenes referencing some social ills in the country.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Dongguan suspends free services as debt crisis bites | South China Morning Post In a telling sign of the mainland’s mounting local government debt crisis, some towns in Dongguan – one of the richest cities – are being forced to suspend free public services and infrastructure projects.

China Economic Watch | An Estimate of Excess Borrowing by Chinese Corporations None of this is to say that China is on the verge of a debt meltdown. Many Chinese enterprises, especially private enterprises, have relatively healthy interest coverage ratios. It does, however, call attention to the sheer volume of corporate debt that is on pace to be issued over the next several years. If you believe that market interest rates are important to allocating capital correctly, you should be concerned at the scale of debt being issued in a distorted environment.

China property: bigger index, bigger bubble | beyondbrics A new housing index covers more cities than any other available gauge, reaching into many of the smaller towns where development has been most frenetic. And lo and behold it has produced a striking conclusion: that property prices are rising twice as fast as official data suggests.

China’s Aluminum Producers Seen Having to Make Cuts Amid Surplus – Bloomberg China has cut output 1 million metric tons this year and will probably reduce it 2 million tons by 2015, with about 24 million tons produced this year, according to Marco Georgiou, an analyst at CRU in London. Aluminum fell 3.8 percent this year in China and 10 percent in London. “It will be manageable surpluses only if curtailments of around 4-5 million tons are implemented over the next five years,” Georgiou said by e-mail yesterday. “This is based on demand growth stabilizing in the high single digit level and that smelters continue to ramp up in the northwest.”

Ugly row at Shanghai beauty group | beyondbrics Disputes between managers and shareholders aren’t new in Communist China. But now a public row has erupted in one of the country’s oldest businesses – a one-hundred year-old cosmetics manufacturer called Shanghai Jahwa.

Changing of the Guard – Economic Observer  Ma Weihua (马蔚华) stepped down from his position as president of China Merchants Bank on May 9 after serving a record 14 years in the position. Since the former central bank official was appointed to the position, the financial institution has transformed itself from a small regional bank into a market leader among China’s joint-stock banks with almost 100 branches around the country.

POLITICS AND LAW

Top Communist Party unit to tighten rules on rapid promotions | South China Morning Post The main story on page two of the party mouthpiece People’s Daily yesterday, headlined “Strict standard must be applied to making exceptions for regular promotions of cadres”, said “anomalies in promotions should by no means become an excuse to defy the existing principles and regulations, nor a pretext for seeking personal gain”. It is an open secret that “Zhong Zuwen ” – the author of the commentary – is a pseudonym for the Central Organisation Department.

Communication essential for Yunnan chemical project |Society |chinadaily.com.cn At 9 am on Friday, Kunming’s Mayor Li Wenrong opened his new micro blog to solicit suggestions on the latest developments in Yunnan’s provincial capital. The blog is being seen as a major a step forward in strengthening his communication with local communities, especially in light of recent events surrounding controversial plans for a chemical plant in one of the best-known tourism destinations in Southwest China.

Kunming mayor stays true to his promise and opens microblog account | South China Morning Post Li had promised to open the account on Thursday, when he met with hundreds of protesters on Kunming’s streets. The angry crowd had ignored official intimidation to voice their opposition against a petrochemical project on the city’s outskirts.

南方周末 – 成为一名县长有多难 Southern Weekend on how hard it is to become a County chief..60% about personal relations, 40% about work results// 山西一县政协副主席：”书记碰头会上干部必须定下来，不能再变动了，然后再开常委会”；一甘肃贫困县副局长：”干部提拔60%要看人际关系，40%要看工作成绩”；河南一副县长：”组织部长把人选一念，大家举一下手就通过了”，该县副书记说，”一定要记住：党管干部”。

央视主持人张羽否认卷入刘铁男案：捕风捉影_资讯频道_凤凰网 CCTV anchor Zhang Yu denies any involvement in the Liu Tienan case// 张羽态度坚决地回应说：“捕风捉影！”华西都市报记者再问：“既然此消息是捕风捉影，你是否有声明之类的东西发布？”张羽表示：“有了我会告诉你。”

北京”部委一条街”转型接待工薪族 烤馒头热卖_网易新闻中心 The Beijing News on how Xi’s 8 rules hitting some Beijing restaurants hard // 全聚德烤鸭首次全国性打折优惠，在部分门店推百元内自助餐；此前辽参、佛跳墙热卖的同和居，尝试增加早餐和外卖量；嘉和一品将在社区试点设立“早餐自动配送站”……昨日，北京市商务委称，受中央8项规定的影响，北京餐饮企业纷纷调整经营谋划转型，使得大众餐饮逆势而上，同比增长一成多。

公务接待“四菜一汤”标准走样 大盘套着小盘_新闻_腾讯网 another look at how local officials are getting around the “four dishes and a soup” anti-gluttony rules // 随着“反对浪费”呼声渐高，作为当年公务接待的一条标准，“四菜一汤”屡屡被基层干部群众所提及。然而，本刊记者走访多地了解到，由于缺乏刚性细则和可操作性，“四菜一汤”逐渐出现标准走样现象，并未对遏制公款大吃大喝起到应有效果。

武当山旅游区办公楼被指极尽奢华 人均453平米|武当山|奢华|人均_新浪新闻 criticism of extravagant new official office building in Wudang Shan…not very Daoist// 近日，《中国经营报》记者分别前往湖北十堰、襄阳等地实地调查发现，十堰市派出机构武当山旅游经济特区管委会人均办公面积达到453平方米，是国家标准的25倍。

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

China supports peace in Middle East, Xi says|Politics|chinadaily.com.cn China would like to further strengthen communication and coordination with Saudi Arabia to maintain peace and stability in the Middle East, President Xi Jinping told Saudi Arabia’s visiting foreign minister on Friday.

Samaras Seeks China Investment to Revive Battered Greek Economy – Bloomberg Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras promised to give the “red-carpet treatment” to foreign investors as he visited China to help revive an economy that contracted for the 19th straight quarter. Leading a delegation of business leaders from companies including Alpha Bank SA (ALPHA), Gaea Products SA and Dynagas Ltd., Samaras told a business forum that China should see Greece as a gateway to investment in the rest of Europe.

Working with Chinese contractors | Global Development Professionals Network | Guardian Professional There are many generalisations about ‘the Chinese’ in Africa, but what’s it really like to work with them? Les Roopanarine speaks with those who study China’s impact on African development

Shan State Army denies MOGE attack–Interfax The attack sparked further concerns that China’s ambitious dual oil and gas pipelines would be delayed because of a conflict between the Kachin Independence Army and the Burmese government which erupted in 2011 – ending a 17-year ceasefire which had previously terminated decades of hostilities.

Beidou set to spread its wings in region|Science-Tech|chinadaily.com.cn China’s Beidou navigation system is set to increase its presence in the Asia-Pacific region, with Pakistan expected to become its fourth overseas customer later this month. Huang Lei, international business director of Beijing BDStar Navigation, which helps promote Beidou, or Compass, in the international market, told China Daily the company will build a network of stations in Pakistan to enhance the location accuracy of Beidou.

TECH AND MEDIA

Sohu.com Seeks Investors in Search Engine Unit for Growth – Bloomberg Zhang, who has a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, took a sabbatical to address some personal issues and was away for about a year till January. “I missed out on some things, but that’s life,” said Zhang. “My goals in life have changed, and work is very important now.” // what changed?

China cracks down on over-the-top anti-Japan dramas | South China Morning Post China’s television regulator has ordered a crack down on dramas about the country’s battles with Japan during and before World War II and demanded they be more serious, state media said on Friday, following viewer complaints about ludicrous storylines

China market: Several smartphone components in short supply–DigiTimes the pace of inventory build-ups have been unable to catch up with the growth in demand for smartphones in China and other emerging markets, said the sources, noting that overall shipments of smartphones by China-based makers for domestic and overseas sales have skyrocketed to 30 million units a month recently compared to 20 million units in the first quarter of 2013.

‘Mobile is eating the world’ — Benedict Evans I’ll be presenting these slides (or something pretty close to them) on 29 May at BEA in New York. They give a pretty good overview of where the industry sits today.

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

The Brian Lehrer Show: Gatsby From Afar – WNYC Evan Osnos, China correspondent for The New Yorker, talks about what international readers and movie-goers learn about the U.S. from The Great Gatsby.

Xinhua Insight: Dalai Lama’s hometown faces urbanization – Xinhua | English.news.cn The 14th Dalai Lama’s birthplace, an obscure, out-of-the-way village in the mountains of northwest China’s Qinghai Province, is now facing the dilemma of urbanization and an urge to maintain its traditions. The village of Hong’ai, formerly known as Taktser, is located in Ping’an County in Haidong Prefecture.

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

Organ donor cards hard to implement in China, official says | Reuters A system of donor cards indicating consent for organ transplants will not work in China as families will insist on having the final say, and many people see nothing wrong in using organs from executed prisoners, an official said on Friday

FOOD AND TRAVEL

Let’s Burger Plus | Flickr – @maoxian Would I return? Obviously not, but maybe if the prices were half what I paid I’d give them another chance. It doesn’t matter what I think, there are so many Chinese now who can afford to drop $30 on lunch that places like Element Fresh, Wagas, Let’s Burger, etc. which serve “exotic” food to the locals can not only survive, but thrive. The rising middle class in China is real, and it’s a force.

Chinese tourists warned over bad behaviour overseas | World news | guardian.co.uk Wang Yang, one of China’s four deputy prime ministers, said that while other countries had welcomed Chinese tourism, the quality of some travellers was not high. He said: “They speak loudly in public, carve characters on tourist attractions, cross the road when the traffic lights are still red, spit anywhere and [carry out] some other uncivilised behaviour. It damages the image of the Chinese people and has a very bad impact.

BEIJING

Weibo blows up after famous Beijing playboy allegedly assaults reporter: Shanghaiist Wang, the son of a wealthy real estate developer in Beijing, is famous for his lavish lifestyle: expensive sports cars, celebrity girlfriends, and a mansion beside the Forbidden City. He was previously accused of pointing a firearm at another Beijing fuerdai. // see correction below. apologies, got my Wang Shuos confused Friday

CORRECTIONS

“公子”打人何以成了新闻_时事评论_新京报网 CORRECTION: a different Wang Shuo, not the writer. Apologies

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

Teams to Draft Reform Topics for Party Congress Set up – Caixin The central government has formed seven task forces to draft reform plans for the third plenary meeting of the Communist Party’s 18th National Congress slated for this autumn. Comprehensive economic reform measures are expected to be unveiled at the party congress. The task forces are divided by sectors, namely: finance; the fiscal system; land; production prices; trimming bureaucratic review; the income gap; and the hukou, or household registration, system. Policy suggestions from these task forces will be discussed at the meeting and the reforms are expected to take effect next spring, sources close to the central government said.

China Premium Liquor Maker Moves to Lower Margins Amid Anti-Corruption Campaign-Caijing Kweichow Moutai Company Limited (SSE: 600519), maker of the most revered liquor in China, said Thursday it is looking at new targeting audience beyond officials while expressing willingness to accept lower-margin at a time when government’s crack-down on corruption crushes Moutai sales. Sales directly or indirectly related to public spending by officials on vehicles, receptions and oversea trips, known as “three public consumptions”,  account for roughly 40 percent of overall sales, Yuan Renguo, CEO of the state-run company, told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday.

Chinese protesters oppose petrochemical plant in Kunming–Marketplace  Today, hundreds of protesters shut down traffic in the Chinese city of Kunming to dramatize their opposition to a proposed petrochemical plant. It’s the latest in a series of ‘not in my backyard’ or NIMBY protests in recent weeks throughout that country. // local governments also believe in NIMBY, when it comes to protests. remarkable that these brave folks hit the streets given the steps the Kunming authorities took to prevent a protest…a few hundred to a couple of thousand people out of a municipal population of 6-7 million showed up

Related: Unstoppable: Kunming’s environmental protest movement takes a powerful turn | East by Southeast from an eyewitness. Dalian mayor also met with PX protesters in 2011. I think it is more likely the unstoppable force will be the coming crackdown on those who took to the streets, when they were explicitly told not to. anyone remember the names of the 2012 Qidong protesters who are now in jail? They were a little rougher on their mayor, who I believe lost his job over the poor handling of the incident// And then at 4:30pm Kunming city Mayor Li Wenrong met the marching protesters outside of a military compound. Megaphone in hand, he apologized to the group and gave a traditional bow.  He passed the megaphone from protester to protester offering a rare opportunity of free speech and direct communication with a Chinese government official.

守住中央钱袋子 习近平放权王岐山金融打虎_中国_多维新闻网 Duowei says Wang Qishan going to clean house in financial industry in big corruption crackdown. Interesting timing for financial industry IPOs like Galaxy securities?// 【多维新闻】北京时间5月16日，据中国监察部网站报道，现任中共政治局常委、中纪委书记王岐山就落实中央八项规定，在4月22日至26日5天时间里，分别约谈派驻中央和国家机关各部委的纪检组长。同时又有接近中共高层的消息人士向多维新闻透露，一直深谙中国金融领域贪腐情况严重的王岐山，正在试图动用自己的全部力量，借助此次反腐时机，整顿整个大陆金融系统，以保证中国政府的财政安全。该消息人士表示，“目前的一系列动作仅仅是个开始，此次‘整风’远未结束，只是刚刚从部委开始，还会陆续‘刮’到各金融机构。而且习近平给了王极大的信任和支持”。

US seeks to calm tensions, sources say – Taipei Times The US may be playing a major behind-the-scenes role in trying to calm growing tensions between Taiwan and the Philippines over the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman last week, a US Department of State official indicated on Wednesday.

Related: Taiwan sends officials to investigate slaying |HK Macao Taiwan |chinadaily.com.cn Special envoy rebuffed, returns to Philippines–Taiwan dispatched a large investigative delegation to the Philippines, among other punitive measures, after Manila’s fence-mending efforts failed to quell escalating tension over the Philippines’ killing of a fisherman from Taiwan.

发改委退休高官曾联名举报刘铁男 内部称其目中无人|刘铁男|发改委|倪日涛_新浪财经_新浪网 China Newsweek with many more details on Liu Tienan case…not just a simple Weibo expose. Caijing had a november 2011 article that revealed some of the corruption, without mentioning his name, retired NDRC officials sent a joint letter to the NDRC before the 18th Party Congress accussing Liu of corruption//　此前，《中国新闻周刊》记者获悉，国家发改委部分部级退休高官，在获取刘铁男涉嫌贪腐的部分证据之后，向中纪委实名举报。而中纪委对刘铁男的调查，亦早在2012年5月即已开始。其后，刘铁男接连遭遇仕途滑铁卢，并在2012年年底为千夫所指。

Related: 影星陈好和央视主持张羽疑卷入刘铁男贪腐案_新闻_腾讯网 A star (Chen Hao) and a CCTV anchor (Zhang Yu) may be caught up in the Liu Tienan case // [导读]2006年上半年，陈好和央视名嘴张羽分别买入ST黑龙280.3万股、217.26万股，陈好净赚2700万元。此时正是中竹控股介入重组ST黑龙敏感时期。中竹控股实际控制人倪日涛被认为和刘铁男结成官商同盟。

Caterpillar Settles Outstanding Issues Relating To Siwei Acquisition if there were really fraud would they have paid anything more? sounds like horrible due diligence by CAT. vindication for Emory Williams and John Lee? // As part of the resolution of outstanding issues between the parties, Caterpillar’s total outstanding obligations of $164.5 million to the MML Parties, which were part of Caterpillar’s obligations relating to its acquisition of ERA, were reduced by $135 million to $29.5 million.. Caterpillar and the MML Parties have also mutually released all their claims relating to the acquisition of ERA.

多地取消禽流感预警 鸡苗价格涨幅逾十倍 _财经频道_一财网 per Xinhua, several cities have ended their H7n9 warnings..summer here, hope this means we can breathe easier until next winter// 随着疫情得到控制，肉鸡等相关市场开始回暖。根据新华社全国农副产品和农资价格行情系统监测，进入5月以来，国内多地白条鸡、鸡蛋等价格止跌回升，鸡苗价格也有较大涨幅。

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Wenjiang’s Empty Houses – Economic Observer Wenjiang District in Chengdu has the highest urbanization rate among outer lying districts of the city, but this hasn’t boded well for economic development. Instead, Wenjiang has a lot of houses and very few people, with city coffers that now over-rely on real estate.

Chinese graduates face toughest job market ever | beyondbrics According to Shanghai Evening Post, the situation is even more severe than it was in late 2008, when the global financial crisis was at its height. The Post reported that by the end of April, only about 30 per cent of graduates had signed employment contracts in Shanghai, 10 per cent fewer than in previous years. In Beijing, the number is 26.6 per cent of college graduates and 36.59 per cent of postgraduates as of mid April, according to the Beijing Evening News.

Foreign Investment in China Misses Estimates Amid Growth Concern – BloombergInvestment rose 0.4 percent from a year earlier to $8.4 billion, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement today in Beijing. That was less than the 5.7 percent gain in March and the 6.2 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of eight analysts.

Economic reforms: Walking the talk | The Economist Stimulus does not need to be at odds with reform. Cutting taxes or increasing social spending would both stimulate the economy and help rebalance it towards consumption and services. Likewise, many structural reforms, such as removing barriers to entry in industries now dominated by state-owned enterprises, would also simultaneously help to boost spending. The Chinese economy clearly needs reform and may soon need revival. There is no reason why the leadership cannot do both

Possible PCAOB deal | China Accounting Blog | Paul Gillis I expect the agreement will be announced as part of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue between the U.S. and China scheduled to take place in early July. Once the SEC gets the requested working papers, I expect it will dismiss the case against the firms. That removes the most urgent risk that the accounting firms might lose the right to practice. Accordingly, this agreement likely removes the risk that U.S. listed Chinese companies will be delisted.  For the PCAOB, the agreement is a painful compromise. There is no deal allowing for inspections

China Cuts Investment Red Tape as Li Shows Stimulus Reluctance – Bloomberg sounds almost Reagan-esque…cutting taxes and red tape. but will people be asking in a few months “where’s the beef”?// The red-tape reduction is part of Premier Li Keqiang’s efforts to pare the government’s role in the world’s second-biggest economy after a new Communist Party leadership took over in March. In comments published this week, Li signaled that policy makers are reluctant to use stimulus to counter a slowdown, saying China must rely on market mechanisms to aid growth.

Cabinet acts to reduce red tape[1]|chinadaily.com.cn Of the 133 approval requirements to be canceled, 117 were posted on the government website, while the remaining 16 are pending law amendments or remain State secrets. Approval is no longer required from central government agencies for activities ranging from foreigners touring China in their own vehicles to companies investing in large oil and gas fields.

人民日报-国务院取消和下放133项行政审批等事项 放权，不搞形式不避重就轻（政策解读） People’s Daily publishes the list of the 133 items (except the ones it can’t) , have not seen a full English list yet

133项审批权改革出炉背后_财经频道_一财网“ 更大的改革现在才开始。”一名曾经的国务院简政放权专家组成员对《第一财经日报》记者说。新一届国务院成立58天，就部署行政体制改革和机构职能转变，向自己“开刀”，取消和下放了133项行政审批事项。5月13日，国务院召开全国电视电话会议对此进行了部署；两天后，国务院办公厅公布此次取消和下放的行政审批项目的具体目录。 “政府职能转变是由表及里、触动既有利益格局的深层次改革。”中央编办、国家发改委、人力资源和社会保障部负责人称。

CITIC Capital’s Take Private Deal for AsiaInfo-Linkage: Is There A Chinese Way to Do an LBO? | China Private Equity Are we seeing the birth of “Leveraged Buyouts With Chinese Characteristics”? Or just some of the craziest, riskiest and unlikeliest buyout deals in worldwide history? That’s the question posed by the announcement this week that China buyout PE firm CITIC Capital Partners is leading the “take private” deal of NASDAQ-listed AsiaInfo-Linkage Inc., a Chinese software and telecommunications services that company whose shares have halved in value from over $20 during the last two years.

Jade Becomes Rarer Amid Demand From China – NYTimes.com “Jade is getting rarer and we have more demand from China, so it’s really a question of demand and supply,” Ms. Sek said. “Prices are going up. For the past two years they actually went up very fast, because the buying power of the Chinese went up so quickly. This year, the market is steady. It’s just stabilizing, and there is still a very strong demand.”

POLITICS AND LAW

China: What’s Going Right? | ChinaFile So, it is no idle exercise to make a balance sheet of its progress by asking: “What’s right in China?” Compared to the past, the progress is enormous. Compared to a more idealized future, China still has a long way to go. But, then nobody pretends it’s otherwise. In this, China is hardly unusual.

Ministry Tells Local Gov’ts to Protect Peasants’ Land Rights – Caixin The requirements in the ministry’s notice reinforced the central government’s long-term commitment to protecting farmers’ land rights, but their wording shows unusual determination to crack down on violations, a source in the ministry said. That is because some central government leaders were shocked by the deaths of peasants involved in land disputes, he said.

“60后”丁薛祥任中央办公厅副主任_财经频道_一财网 值得关注的是，在去年5月18日的中共上海市第十次代表大会上，时任上海市委书记俞正声作了题为《创新驱动转型发展为建设社会主义现代化国际大都市而奋斗》的报告。为了写好该报告，上海市委从2011年8月5日就启动起草工作，是历次报告起草工作启动最早的一次。当时，俞正声亲自担任起草领导小组组长，时任上海市市长韩正、时任上海市委副书记殷一璀，以及丁薛祥等人担任副组长。

China to issue real estate registration rules by June 2014 – Xinhua | English.news.cn China will issue real estate registration rules by the end of June 2014, Hu Cunzhi, vice minister of land and resources, said Thursday.

汪洋再添新职 获上将章沁生辅佐_中国_多维新闻网【多维新闻】北京时间5月15日，中国政府网刊登人事调整通知：国务院副总理汪洋兼任国家防汛抗旱总指挥部总指挥、国务院抗震救灾指挥部指挥长两职；解放军副总参谋长章沁生身兼任防汛抗旱总指挥部副总指挥、抗震救灾指挥部副指挥长两职。分析人士认为，汪洋与章沁生两人一度均被认为是中共十八大的失意者，此外二人均被外界认为是在中共官场上相对较强势和现代同时又具有一定争议性的人物。二人共事是否会碰撞出某种形式的火花也引起外界的关注。此外，这也在一定程度上体现了李克强主政的新一届政府更趋于主动、强势和现代化的特点。

Beijing Observation: Regressing Further from “Five Nos,” by Gao Yu | Seeing Red in China In late April, the General Office of the Communist Party issued Document No. 9 to the county/military division level across the country. The document is called the Minutes of the 2013 National Conference of Propaganda Chiefs — Briefing on the Current Situation in the Field of Ideology with Liu Yunshan’s speech, in its entirety, attached to it. Documents of the CCP General Office are only second to those of the Central Committee, and they must be signed by the entire Standing Committee. So this is not just about Liu Yunshan anymore.

封口权力世袭说 中宣部清理红二代任职信息_中国_多维新闻网【多维新闻】近日“红二代”、“官二代”的擢升被频繁提及，尤其是有关官员子女被“火箭提拔”和“子承父业”的新闻报道屡屡见诸于报，“权力世袭”一说再次兴起。不过值得注意的是，有关门户网站编辑5月14日透露，接到据信是来自中宣部的关于“红二代”出任领导职务消息不得发布的禁令，这被看作是中共为了破解目前官场权力世袭说而采取的封口令。

人民日报登署名仲祖文文章：破格提拔干部要从严_新闻_腾讯网仲祖文–严格标准、严格程序、严明纪律，坚决整治不正之风、确保选人用人风清气正，是中央三令五申的明确要求。选拔任用干部包括破格提拔干部，一定要落实从严治党方针，选人标准决不能降低、选人程序决不能成为摆设、选人结果决不能失去公正，对违规用人、失察渎职的要严肃查处、坚决追究责任。

解放军报–一同感受信仰的力量！–一同感受信仰的力量！ ——对话12集历史文献纪录片《苦难辉煌》总编导、执行总撰稿徐海鹰 PLA daily interview with director and head screenwriter for the 12 part documentary “Glory and Suffering”// 近日，这面旗帜上又多了一抹令人赞叹的亮彩——自5月13日起，由中共中央党史研究室、国防大学和解放军电视宣传中心联合摄制的12集历史文献纪录片《苦难辉煌》，每晚在央视综合频道《魅力纪录》栏目播出，引起了强烈的社会反响和追剧热潮。

南方周末 – 成为一名县长有多难  Southern Weekend on how hard it is to become a County chief..60% about personal relations, 40% about work results// 山西一县政协副主席：”书记碰头会上干部必须定下来，不能再变动了，然后再开常委会”；一甘肃贫困县副局长：”干部提拔60%要看人际关系，40%要看工作成绩”；河南一副县长：”组织部长把人选一念，大家举一下手就通过了”，该县副书记说，”一定要记住：党管干部”。

New police tech displayed at exhibition[1]|chinadaily.com.cn The Fifth China (Beijing) International Exhibition and Symposium on Police Equipment and Anti-terrorism Technology and Equipment was held at the capital’s Exhibition Center from Wednesday to Friday.

常艳：我的事就是档案引发的“惨案”_深度_新京报网 Beijing News interview with the woman whose essay took down Yi Jinqing…life has not been easy since her expose// 去年年底发表“写实小说”后，常艳在网上发表致歉信然后销声匿迹。4月27日，常艳在新浪开通实名认证微博，陈述她与山西师范大学的人事纠纷，称希望学校尽快解决她的去留问题。她希望继续留在学校，“看大门、做工勤岗也愿意”。山西师大回应，常艳去年7月已提出辞职，学校从11月份起已停发工资。

央视播专题片揭露达赖集团如何操弄自焚事件_新闻_腾讯网 CCTV report on Dalai Lama’s role in inciting self-immolations

China bans travel for activist–Australian Financial Review A Chinese environmental activist has been denied a passport in order to prevent him accepting a freedom of speech award in the United States.. Wu Lihong, who spent three years in jail after exposing the toxic state of the Tai Lake outside Shanghai, is to be honoured by the Visual Artists Guild at a dinner in Los Angeles next weekend.

MGM China Sees Macau’s VIP Gaming Business Continuing to Pick Up – Bloomberg unless Macau sees a hit should we assume more thunder than rain so far in corruption crackdown? but only been 6 months, Macau should not get complacent that crackdown not going to get real?// High-rollers from China’s mainland curbed spending amid a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy last year. In the first quarter, the city’s VIP baccarat revenue rose 9.8 percent to 57.82 billion patacas ($7.2 billion) from a year earlier. “Everyone was speculating some negative impact, but the leadership change wasn’t an impact,” Bowie said, referring to the government transition in mainland China. “There’s also a level of resilience in terms of how China market is performing relative to the global market.”

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

China threatens own trade action if EU opens telecoms case | Reuters ”If the European side insists on opening an investigation, the Chinese side will according to WTO rules and Chinese law take firm measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests, and the consequences must be borne by the party provoking the friction,” Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman Shen Danyang told reporters in Beijing.

E.U. Considers Emission Fines on Chinese and Indian Airlines – NYTimes.comThe commission said the eight Chinese carriers could face fines totaling €2.4 million, or $3 million, and the two Indian airlines face total fines of €30,000. So far the emissions rules apply only to flights within Europe, and European carriers and most non-European airlines have complied. Still hotly debated, though, is the planned expansion of the system next January to include international flights in and out of Europe.

Japan and Abenomics: Once more with feeling | The Economist this week’s cover story// The Shinzo Abe shaking up Japan’s economy seems a different man from the one whose previous premiership was marked by nationalistic posturing. He isn’t

Japan: Abe’s master plan | The Economist Shinzo Abe has a vision of a prosperous and patriotic Japan. The economics looks better than the nationalism

Japanese mayor ready to apologise to comfort women – Channel NewsAsia Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto on Thursday offered to meet former “comfort women” to apologise for their suffering after causing an international storm when he said they served a “necessary” role in wartime.

Gordon Chang’s Story of Belonging – YouTube Gordon Chang, author of “Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On The World” and “The Coming Collapse Of China”, tells his story of growing up as the only minority in his community.

Russian church in China has first service in 51 years | Capital News The head of the Russian Orthodox Church held a service in a historic Shanghai church on Wednesday, its first in more than half a century, as worshippers said they hoped the building would be returned to them.

China Air Traffic Congestion Worsened by Military Control – Bloomberg The country’s air force controls airspace and allots only 20 percent to civil aviation. With China’s three biggest airlines planning to add at least 273 planes in the next three years, traffic congestion that already delays 25 percent of flights is set to worsen. “At present, the limited airspace resource has restricted the development of civil aviation,” said Li Jiaxiang, the head of Civil Aviation Administration of China. “We will strive to further open up the airspace,” he said in Beijing yesterday.

China Matters: The Tiger and the Fox I think public-arena US pundits are a little bit behind the curve here.  We’re now drifting away from the comfy post-World War II narrative of “Japan is completely dependent on us” and “everybody wants to club together to contain the Chinese” to the brave new world of eroding US dominance, the emergence of China as an economic linchpin, and “US objectives are hostage to Japan’s forward Asian policy”. China seems to sense an opportunity here.

U.S. sees China launch as test of anti-satellite muscle: source | Reuters The U.S. government believes a Chinese missile launch this week was the first test of a new interceptor that could be used to destroy a satellite in orbit, one U.S. defense official told Reuters on Wednesday.

TECH AND MEDIA

Interview: CNN’s Kristie Lu Stout on Haw Flakes, Twitter and Tracking China | Asia Society nice mention of Sinocism, now I have to figure out how to get on her show…

Sina Posts Loss as China Slowdown Damps Online Advertising – Bloomberg Sina Corp. (SINA), owner of China’s largest Twitter-like service, posted a first-quarter loss as an advertising slowdown damped revenue and the company spent more on developing mobile applications.

How China Fell in Love with Fruit Ninja | TechRice Fruit Ninja is the #2 smartphone game of all time, said Phil Larsen the CMO of Halfbrick Studios in an interview at the GMIC. So how did this slasher of satisfyingly squishy fruits move into China?

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

Art in China: On script and cutting edge? – CNN.com Editor’s note: Each month, CNN’s Kristie Lu Stout sits down with three China experts to discuss what’s really driving the world power and economic giant. This month’s episode will discuss Chinese contemporary art. See here for air times for CNN’s “On China.”

An apology that is 47 years late | Offbeat China 47 years ago in 1966, the famous “May 16 Notification” was released under Mao’s personal supervision, marking the official start of China’s 10-year Cultural Revolution.  47 years later, a long-overdue apology quietly went viral on Sina Weibo, China’s most dynamic microblog service.

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

China’s Hukou System: A Passport to Health (Part 3/3: Hukous and education) | Asia Health Care Blog In this concluding installment, Bradley explores the link between the Hukou system, education and health. How does the link between Hukou’s and educational opportunities affect health outcomes?

BEIJING

The last hutongs of Beijing | FundedByMe – Fund your project through social networks interesting project, I donated// We aim to single out 8 of the most interesting hutongs left in Beijing, go there and perform interviews in Chinese with at least one citizen on each street. Together with the citizen’s personal story, we will also add historical facts and make a profile of each particular hutong. Of the collected material we will make a coffee table book in full color. Apart from the 8 streets, we will do a opening chapter on the hutong’s history, complete with maps and accurate facts. There will also be an ending chapter on the future of the hutongs, as we predict it, including commentaries and interviews with people familiar with the matter. In addition, we also want to make a website concerning the remaining hutongs of Beijing, their location and status, that can be easily updated with news about demolition or reconstruction.

北京闹市区人行道现无名尸 据称头部四肢均不见|尸体|无名尸体|碎尸_新浪新闻 headless ,limbless body found in zhushikou at 4am thursday–beijing evening news// 京华时报讯(记者卢宝厉) 昨天凌晨4点多，一具尸体出现在珠市口西大街与煤市街交叉口西北角的人行道上。据目击者称，尸体头部和四肢均不见踪影。

前门大街多家店铺关门停业 – 新华财经 – 新华网 New Qianmen shopping street, developed by SOHO China, is not just an architectural but also a business mess? // 记者发现，在前门大街主街上，还有不少临街商铺的大门被锁住。一些已撤店铺的品牌标志还依稀可辨，如美特斯邦威、周大福等。另据了解，去年，运动品牌361°、李宁等品牌店在租约到期后，也没再续租。据新京报记者不完全统计，整条主街有110余家商铺，有27家店铺处于关闭状态，占比近25％。在正常营业的店铺里，有鸿星尔克、森马等国产服饰店，也有ZARA、ONLY、H&M、哈根达斯等国际品牌店，还有馄饨侯、张一元、老北京布鞋、全聚德烤鸭等北京老字号。不过多数店内顾客稀少。

BOOKS AND LITERATURE

Independent publishers scoop PEN awards for translation 10. Chūchù (出处)by Diao Dou, translated from the Chinese by Brendan O’Kane. Published by Comma Press 11. Maofan Shu (冒犯书)  by Chen Xiwo, translated from the Chinese by Nicky Harman. Published by Make Do Publishing

“公子”打人何以成了新闻_时事评论_新京报网 CORRECTION: a different Wang Shuo, not WS the writer. Apologies  // 5月15日晚，“京城四少”之一的王烁因开车和对方发生纠纷并动手打人，被打者是北京某报女记者及其丈夫。昨天上午，当事人表示，王烁在电话中道歉，双方和解。她说整个道歉过程王烁仅说了一句话，“这件事我做得不对，对不起。” 这虽然看上去是一起普通的民事纠纷事件，却成了新闻，因为涉嫌打人者王烁有“京城四少”的特殊身份，以及此人曾之前屡屡惹出事端而备受关注。实际上，2011年，王烁因涉嫌非法持有枪支、弹药罪，故意毁坏财物罪，被公诉至东城区法院。那么，这个有前科的“京城四少”为何再生事端？而当初案件究竟判决结果如何，时至今日也欠缺公众一个清晰交代。

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

China: High and dry – FT.com In a sign of the gravity of the problem, Beijing is planning to pour Rmb1.8tn ($291bn) into water-related infrastructure projects such as irrigation and dams under the current five year plan – a sum that is greater than the annual gross domestic product of economies such as Egypt and Chile…The country’s growth and political stability are increasingly threatened by the widespread degradation of its air and soil. China’s energy sector is particularly threatened by water shortages.

China: what we think we know is wrong | openDemocracy Kerry Brown appears to be taking aim at Cheng Li and the princelings vs. Communist Youth League framework//  The lazy shorthand of forcing the highly mobile, dynamic and shifting allegiances of modern Chinese politicians into simple frameworks no longer works. It’s time to think way harder about how these networks – at the centre of a society that is itself profoundly networked – really operate. That at least is the one great lesson I learned from events in China in the last year.

Related: From the Soil: The Foundations of Chinese Society: Xiaotong Fei: Amazon Brown says this book is more relevant to understanding Chinese politics. Certainly this classic is a still a must-read//  This classic text by Fei Xiaotong, China’s finest social scientist, was first published in 1947 and is Fei’s chief theoretical statement about the distinctive characteristics of Chinese society.

城镇化规划重启修改　抑地方冲动 新华社——经济参考网 Economic Information on the drafting of the Urbanization Plan document, sounds like local governments went nuts with proposed projects and building, now getting smacked down?…commodities markets have too much hope placed on China’s urbanization?// 据《经济参考报》记者了解，目前城镇化中长期发展规划核心起草小组正就规划所涉及的难点问题深入探讨，并听取有关部门、地方政府、机构和专家的意见。“此次征求意见范围较之前有所缩小。”一位接近发改委的人士说。“重新修改的根本原因是地方对‘初稿’的误读，造成了很不好的影响。一说到发展城镇化，地方便盲目上项目，认为这就是发展，其实不然。城镇化应是经济发展到一定阶段顺其自然的产物，欲速则不达。”上述人士表示，正是由于地方对城镇化根本意义的误读，对“初稿”的反应仍是项目至上、开发圈地，因此，规划修改重点便是改变地方政府固有发展观念，避免地方在城镇化发展过程中走弯路。

Related: 新型城镇化需要何种金融服务体系–金融时报 Chinese Financial News on what kind of financial system is needed to support “new-style urbanization”

寻找金融支持新型城镇化的切入点-金融时报 another article in today’s Chinese financial News about urbanization and how to finance it

人民日报-城镇化：在比较中走新路（学术随笔） 马宏伟 People’s Daily theory page today on “Western Urbanization” compared to China’s planned “new-style Urbanization”// 西方的城镇化不同程度地存在对人的压榨和剥夺问题…我国新型城镇化应坚持以人为本，既重视加快发展、提高效率，也重视成果共享、增进公平。产业发展、就业创造、城镇建设、公共服务等都应以人为核心，都应考虑弱质产业、困难群体的利益，实现科学发展、和谐发展，努力使城镇化的代价最小、收益最大。这既是后发优势的体现，也是社会主义的本质要求。

七不讲打响头炮 习式运动整风强势开场_中国_多维新闻网 Duowei continues to suggest Party Rectification campaign forthcoming // 多维新闻注意到，出于对中共执政危机的清醒认识，习近平上台后按部就班地推行着自己的整党大计。按照既定的思路，始而在民怨最大、迫在眉睫的党员腐败问题上，以“既打苍蝇又打老虎”魄力动用雷霆手段，以期立竿见影重拾民心；继而在更宏大也更有难度的改进作风问题上进行表面化的威慑与规约，如中共中央政治局下达“新八项注意”；再次在攸关中共生死存亡党员思想信仰尤其是群众路线上进行全面的“入心入脑”教育（多维新闻在《整党借助运动式 习近平治沉疴下重药》一文中曾有专门论说）。而其实抛开“七不讲”禁令的干扰，从众多官方报道中可以窥视到中共下达的这份“通报”核心目的即为重树中共党员个人的理想信念以及“三个自信”，这与其稍早前中共宣布下半年展开的群众路线教育实践活动在思路上似乎一脉相承。分析人士认为，这次大范围的学习“通知”运动可能正是即将开展的整风运动的前奏。

Related: 舆论场：“拥毛派”联盟_中国_多维新闻网【多维新闻】前有类似“延安整风”运动的“照镜子、正衣冠、洗洗澡、治治病”的群众路线实践活动的中央精神传达，后有习近平在十八大精神研讨班上论述改革开放前后两个历史时期言之凿凿的“两个不能否定”，再加上紧随其后的中共喉舌《光明日报》那篇《“两个不能否定”的重大政治意义》，李慎明发表在《红旗文稿》上的《正确评价改革开放前后两个历史时期》，以及李铁映杜绝颜色革命的呼吁、胡锡进公开为毛站台等，“拥毛派”联盟气势汹汹而来，势不可当。

[视频]新闻媒体积极响应为实现中国梦传递正能量倡议活动_新闻频道_央视网 CCTV Evening News report on event in which key news media pledge to transmit positive energy for the Chinese Dream// 央视网消息(新闻联播)：本台消息，由中国记协与中央主要新闻单位、部分重点新闻网站和首都新闻单位共同发起的“以强烈社会责任感为实现中国梦传递正能量”的倡议得到新闻媒体积极响应，收到良好效果。

As China’s social media takes off, Beijing’s censorship campaign heats up – CSMonitor.com Chinese government censors are silencing influential opponents by shutting down their social media accounts on the pretext of a campaign against online rumors, victims of the practice say.

Chinese internet: ‘a new censorship campaign has commenced’ | World news | guardian.co.uk Murong Xuecun, who has had his accounts deleted, explains how bloggers compare being silenced on the Chinese internet to being put to deat

人民日报- 从明清文献看钓鱼岛的归属（厘清钓鱼岛问题③） 万 明 today’s People’s Daily has part 3 of “clarifying Diaoyu Islands issue” series, by a different CASS scholar// 综上所述，钓鱼岛由中国人最早发现、命名，并由中国历代政府实施有效管辖，其主权归属十分清楚，钓鱼岛及其附属岛屿在19世纪末被日本窃占之前早已不是“无主地”。明清文献提供了有力的历史证据，构成了钓鱼岛归属于中国的完整证据链：钓鱼岛自14世纪70年代以来已确定为中国固有的领土，在中国政府有效管控之中，中国对其拥有无可争辩的主权。（作者为中国社会科学院历史研究所研究员）

Related: INSIGHT: China’s new claims over Okinawa may harden Japanese resolve – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun Scholars in Japan and elsewhere, meanwhile, warn Beijing may be shooting itself in the foot by arousing fears of a creeping campaign to nibble away at Japanese territory. “If China’s goal is to hold talks with Japan over the Senkakus, articles like these are counterproductive,” said M. Taylor Fravel, a Chinese foreign policy expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “As a result, Japan has an even stronger incentive now to stand firm with China and not hold talks.”

Abe throws full support behind Murayama statement – The Japan News In contrast to an earlier remark, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed full support Wednesday for a 1995 statement in which then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama expressed deep remorse for Japan’s wartime aggression against its Asian neighbors. Abe reversed course in an apparent bid to appease China and South Korea, which were angered by his views on history, and because the United States had expressed concerns about the situation.

Related: Hashimoto sticks to guns on sex slaves – The Japan Times Osaka Mayor and Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) coleader Toru Hashimoto refused Wednesday to back down from his comments about the necessity of the “comfort woman” system during the war or the desirability of legal brothels in Okinawa for U.S. military personnel.

China Granted Access to Arctic Club as Resource Race Heats Up – Bloomberg The eight-member council at a summit today in Kiruna, Sweden, also granted observer status to Japan, India, Italy, Singapore, and the Republic of Korea. The European Union application was deferred until members are satisfied that issues of concern — largely Canadian objections about EU restrictions on seal products — have been allayed.

Related: China and the Arctic: What’s the fuss?–Lowy Interpreter–Linda Jakobsen Rejecting China’s desire to participate as an observer in discussions pertaining to the Arctic future is not a sensible approach. As I have argued, Arctic Council member states can both protect their own interests and support permanent observer status for China and others.

China ministry urges end to forcible land requisition: paper | Reuters China’s land ministry has issued an emergency notice calling for an end to forced, illegal land requisitions, the state-run People’s Daily reported on Wednesday, stepping up efforts to defuse one of the biggest sources of public protest in China.

Related: 中央领导批示 国土部严防违法征地_政经频道_财新网 近日，国土资源部针对违法征地发“紧急通知”；财新记者经采访知悉，这并不意味着征地政策及制度近期会有新变动，主要是为落实中央领导近期关于征地冲突多发的批示

人民日报-征地须守住“非暴力”底线（人民时评） 刘志权 客观地看，征地是推进城镇化的必然之举。合理的征地和补偿安置，既能促进地方产业布局的升级调整，也是解决农民贫困和就业问题的契机。

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Li Signals Reluctance on Stimulus to Boost China Growth – Bloomberg “To achieve this year’s targets, the room to rely on stimulus policies or government direct investment is not big — we must rely on market mechanisms,” Li said in a May 13 speech broadcast to officials around the country, according to a transcript published last night on the central government’s website. Relying on government-led investment for growth “is not only difficult to sustain but also creates new problems and risks,” he said.

That sighing sound you hear from China | FT Alphaville Today, BAML’s Ting Lu cut to 7.6 for both 2013 and 2014, from 8 per cent and 7.7 per cent, respectively. It seems that April data has dampened any hopes that the Q1 surprise of just 7.7 per cent growth was due to simple base effects such as a missed leap year day or variations in the Chinese New Year holiday.

China’s capital inflows up in April – Xinhua | English.news.cn China’s forex purchase position reached 27.363 trillion yuan (4.41 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of April, suggesting continuous capital inflows amid continued bets on yuan appreciation, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) announced Wednesday The PBOC said the figure marked the fifth straight month of rises, resulting in a net increase of 294.35 billion yuan in April, up from March’s increase of 236.30 billion yuan.

Chinese Banks NPL up 16.8%, Ratio Rises to 0.96% in Q1-Caijing Non-performing loan (NPL) outstanding of Chinese commercial lenders surged 16.8% in the first quarter from a year earlier, while the NPL ratio continued climbing to 0.96%, said China’s top banking regulator Wednesday.

Playing the Long Game – Caixin Ning Gaoning is not a typical official people usually find in China’s mega state-owned companies (SOE), and what he is doing others often found impossible – letting professional managers run SOEs.  While most SOE chiefs rose from the bottom, the 55-year-old Ning has extensive training on economics and management. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Shandong University and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh in the United States.

Chinese developers see land prices surge in Jan-April – Xinhua | English.news.cn It marked the fastest growth in the past two years, as the supply of high-quality land in major cities promoted fierce competition and drove prices up, said Liu Weiwei, an analyst with E-house China. The report said the total area of land sold for property development dropped 8.6 percent year on year from January to April, narrowing 13.4 percentage points from the pace of decline seen in the first quarter.

Rino International Settles SEC Executive-Spending Lawsuit – Bloomberg Dejun Zou and Jianping Qiu, husband and wife, will pay investors at least that much money to resolve allegations that they also engaged in a scheme to overstate revenue at the Dalian, China-based maker of water-treatment equipment, according to federal court filings today in Washington. Zou is Rino’s chief executive officer, and Qiu is chairman.

Telecoms Prepare to Answer Tax Man’s Call – Caixin As the central government accelerates its efforts to reform the country’s tax system, a pilot program to change collection methods for businesses is expected to expand soon and will probably cover the telecoms sector. The State Council, the country’s cabinet, said in early May that a nationwide switch from a business tax to a value-added tax (VAT) should be completed by 2015, a move designed to reduce tax burdens.

城市轨交审批权下放 又一波地铁潮来袭_财经频道_一财网 Li Keqiang’s move to push some approvals down to local levels may mean a surge in construction of local subways/rapid transit, other infrastructure projects. if they can find the money// 多位专家指出，由于很多准备修建地铁的城市是当地省的中心城市，如果审批权下放至省一级发改委层面，这些城市的轨交项目进度将明显加快。

环渤海动力煤价格创新低 国储启动难止跌势 | 每经网 coal prices keep dropping// 5月8日到14日，环渤海地区发热量5500大卡动力煤的综合平均价格报收612元/吨，比前一报告周期（4月24日到5月7日）下降了1元/吨。是2012年11月14日以来的第22次下跌。 有观点认为，本轮煤炭价格大跌是煤炭市场的供大于求所致。值得注意的是，最新消息显示，国家发改委下达了2013年国家煤炭应急储备任务，今年安排国家煤炭应急储备任务670万吨。但在业内人士看来，价格由市场决定，煤炭行业当前低迷的状况还将持续。

China’s fledgling brokerage juggernauts | Business Spectator The Securities Association of China tracks 114 such companies, but most people outside China could barely name a handful. Even for those who know a bit about China’s markets, what is much less appreciated is how far these businesses are already pushing to ape the riskier activities that Western investment banks exploited readily until the financial crisis.

POLITICS AND LAW

丁薛祥任中央办公厅副主任（图/简历）–组织人事-人民网 Duowei’s report about Ding Xuexiang’s promotion to deputy director of general office of CCP was correct. Ding accompanied Xi Jinping on his Tianjin trip, reported in Tianjin press with his new title// 中国共产党新闻网北京5月16日电（记者 董宇）今天出版的《天津日报》头版头条刊发了习近平总书记到天津市考察的新闻报道。报道最后说，中共中央政治局委员、中央政策研究室主任王沪宁，中共中央政治局委员、中央书记处书记、中央办公厅主任栗战书，中央财经领导小组办公室主任、国家发改委副主任刘鹤，人力资源和社会保障部部长尹蔚民，农业部部长韩长赋，中央办公厅副主任丁薛祥随同来津。据了解，此前丁薛祥任上海市委常委，市委政法委书记。

Is ex-NPC chief Wu Bangguo’s son latest descendant to be promoted? | South China Morning Post An unusual Xinhua report (上海市管幹部任前公示 吳磊擬任上海市經信委副主任 _ 新華網移動版) has led to speculation that China’s state-run news agency has taken a subtle shot at the promotion of a son of one of China’s most powerful political figures. The cryptic report led to online debate on whether Wu Lei, a 37-year-old official soon to be promoted, could be the younger son of Wu Bangguo, the recently retired head of China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress.

‘A Long Ride Toward a New China’ – NYTimes.com Every summer, the 59-year-old Chinese blogger Zhang Shihe rides his bicycle thousands of miles to the plateaus, deserts and hinterlands of North Central China. In this Op-Doc video, we meet Mr. Zhang, known to his many followers online as “Tiger Temple,” as he goes to great lengths to document the stories of struggling rural villagers whose voices are seldom heard in China’s state-monitored media.

刘铁男案涉事商人3月被抓 或已交待官商勾结情况_网易财经 报道《中国式收购：一名部级高官与裙带商人的跨国骗贷》、《倪日涛浮沉》的记者张鹭15日对本报记者表示，他从权威渠道获得的信息显示，2013年3月，刘铁男事件中的关键人物、商人倪日涛被抓了。他表示，“倪日涛被抓或许直接导致刘铁男严重违规被做实。”

铁道部窝案：罗金保不是部长中间人-财经网 中纪委将罗金保找去后，本意是要了解丁书苗与刘志军的事情，结果组织一拍桌子，罗金保吓得把任职以来知道的事都讲了，除了说出自己的受贿数额，还交代自己曾因为去山西打猎，向原大同市公安局局长申公元借过一支猎枪，还有250发子弹

May 16, 1966–Circular of the CC of thc CPC on the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 47 years ago today…original chinese text,  getting play on Sina Weibo today

China to tighten management of teachers |Society |chinadaily.com.cn Law-breaking and unethical teachers, like the school principal arrested on suspicions of molesting children in south China’s Hainan province, must be weeded out, the vice minister said.

Helicopter drama over debt issue |Society |chinadaily.com.cnZ hang Hongwei, the company’s former general manager, was among the men. He claimed that the helicopter’s owner – Jia Fuxiang, general manager of Hubei Yinyan General Aviation – owed him about 2 million yuan ($325, 350). He ordered the helicopter’s pilot, Li Jun, to fly to his private airport in Pingyuan county to negotiate the debt, the statement said. The helicopter was initially hired by the Xiajin government’s forestry authority to spray pesticide at a local park.

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

U.S. Envoy Talks With Chinese About North Korea – NYTimes.com “I think this is all a work in progress,” the diplomat, Glyn B. Davies, said at a briefing for reporters in Beijing. “The Chinese have said to us that they will faithfully implement U.N. Security Council sanctions and are doing so. And, as I’ve said before, we take them at their word.”

Japan on Alert Over Submarines Near Its Territorial Waters – WSJ.com Japanese media said government officials believe the submarines were likely to have been Chinese. China’s Foreign Ministry didn’t respond to requests to comment. While the submarines didn’t violate international maritime law—they didn’t enter the 12-nautical-mile territorial waters near the areas in question—their sightings rattled Japanese officials and led the government to issue a warning that an order deploying the military to maintain maritime security could be issued if submarines enter Japan’s territorial waters.

Premier eager to return to India[1]|chinadaily.com.cn There are so many reasons for China to choose India as the first stop of Premier Li Keqiang’s overseas debut after taking office. And for the premier himself, there is one more reason — to return to the land where he once set foot 27 years ago. Li told a visiting delegation of Indian young people on Wednesday that the trip left an impression that will last in the rest of his life.

China Retains Position as the Largest Foreign Creditor of U.S. – Bloomberg China’s holdings of Treasuries fell 0.1 percent in March to $1.25 trillion, while Japan reduced its stake by 0.05 percent to $1.1 trillion, according to data released yesterday. China held 11 percent of the U.S. debt, compared with 9.7 percent by Japan. China’s stake reached a record $1.31 billion in July 2011.

Will The Navy’s New Killer Drones Hunt Terrorists or Fight China? | Danger Room | Wired.comIn short, the X-47B and related drones are for conflicts just short of World War III. The Predator-style models are for the small wars, chasing terrorists and insurgents in what Work calls the “global manhunt.” Choosing one over the other, even for reasons of cost, could determine what kinds of wars the Pentagon is prepared to fight — and by extension the kinds of wars policymakers might be tempted to fight.

China missile hit highest suborbital level since 1976: scientist | Reuters Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said the rocket was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in western China, and China said the rocket carried a science payload which studied the earth’s magnetosphere. He said the rocket could possibly be used in the future to carry an anti-satellite payload on a similar trajectory, but there was no evidence to indicate the launch was intended to test such a capability.

Dreaming of China in the Pacific Islands–Lowy Interpreter In a new Lowy Institute Analysis paper, published today, I attempt to put the rhetoric around the seemingly non-stop rise of China in the Pacific Islands into perspective. My analysis finds that if China’s aims in the region are to be described in terms of geo-strategic competition, then on the available evidence, it is not a particularly committed competitor in the Pacific Islands.

Beijing to get new media center |Society |chinadaily.com.cn A comprehensive media center will be built by the Beijing Service Bureau for Diplomatic Missions by 2015, facilitating the work and life of the increasing number of foreign journalists in China. Qian Hongshan, director-general of the Beijing Service Bureau for Diplomatic Missions Qian Hongshan, director-general of the bureau, told China Daily in an exclusive interview that the bureau will renovate the Diplomatic Residents Compound (DRC) in Jianguomenwai in Beijing and establish a new media center that will combine a work area and accommodations.

Does upsetting China matter? – Global Public Square – CNN.com Blogs Reports suggesting that India withdrew from a planned naval exercise with the United States last month out of fears it might upset Beijing are only the latest reason to grapple with an increasingly pertinent question: What are the costs these days of hurting the feelings of the Chinese people? Finding the answer to this question – and a way to overcome associated potential problems – has become ever more urgent as China’s perceived assertiveness has grown. And two recent diplomatic spats in particular are worth paying attention to: the fights China has picked with Britain and Norway.

Kerry team starting to fill in at State – In the Loop – The Washington Post We’re hearing that Danny Russel, a 20-plus year State Department veteran who is senior director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Counsel, is heading over to Foggy Bottom to be assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.//and Evan Medieros expected (to (and should) be promoted up to succeed Russel.

Pentagon Continues Use of China Satellite in New Lease – Bloomberg The use of China’s Apstar-7 satellite will be extended under a $10.7 million lease through the government solutions unit of a U.S. company, Harris CapRock Communications, the Pentagon said today in an e-mailed statement.

China’s digitalized troops begin to take shape – People’s Daily Online China’s digitalized troops used to be a core secret of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), but they were made known to the public in the Chinese white paper on national defense in 2013 through an authoritative channel. The white paper entitled The Diversified Employment of China’s Armed Forces published that the PLA Army is “prioritizing digitalized troops”. The PLA Army is not “building” its digitalized troops but “prioritizing” them. Obviously, the Chinese military has had digitalized troops.

HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN

Taiwan Plans Drill After Rebuffing Philippines Over Death at Sea – Bloomberg Taiwan’s defense ministry deployed a Kidd-class destroyer and fighter jets as part of the military drill, Liu Hsun-cheng, a ministry spokesman, said by phone yesterday. The Coast Guard will send four ships to join the exercise in the Bashi Channel, Shih Yi-che, a spokesman, said by phone. Earlier yesterday, Ma recalled his representative from the Philippines and froze the hiring of workers from the nation because he believed Aquino’s response so far had been inadequate, his government said in a statement.

TECH AND MEDIA

Tencent beats the street with Q1 2013 revenue of $2.16 billion and $645 million in profit – The Next Web Chinese Internet giant Tencent, often ranked the third biggest Web firm on the planet, has announced Q1 2013 profit of RMB 4.04 million ($645 million), up 16.8 percent on the last quarter, from revenue of RMB 13.54 billion ($2.16 billion), up 11.5 percent on Q4 2012. Income came in ahead of analyst estimates of $3.75 billion.

Tencent’s WeChat to Tap Mobile Users’ Pockets With Games – Bloomberg Tencent is working “aggressively” on assembling a pipeline of games for its WeChat instant messaging service, which is known as Weixin in mainland China, the Shenzhen-based company said. Billionaire Chairman Ma Huateng is counting on the app to help boost revenue and earnings growth as consumers spend more time on their smartphones and tablet computers.

Cannes: Fan Bingbing is International Artist of the Year, Says THR The Hollywood Reporter will honor Fan Bingbing, China’s leading movie star and fashion icon, as International Artist of the Year at an exclusive cocktail party during the height of the Cannes Film Festival at the Mouton Cadet Wine Bar atop the Palais des Festivals in Cannes on May 18. The award recognizes a rising global celebrity whose work has the power to affect entertainment around the world.

传广电总局出新规重审抗日剧 抗日传奇剧将禁播_资讯频道_凤凰网 GAPPSARFT cracking down on fantastical war of resistance against japan TV shows? // 5月15日，据悉，新组建的国家新闻出版广电总局正在内部整合、制定三定方案，有望6月底出台。有权威人士透露，关于规范卫视黄金档电视剧播出的通知将下发，其中特别规定：所有抗日剧都需重新审查，抗日传奇剧、戏说剧等将禁止播出。记者多方调查得知，5月份，唯有《裂变》一部抗战剧过审，而6月即将播出的《火线三兄弟》、《战雷》、《上阵父子兵》很可能胎死腹中。

因特网两牌照发放在即 云服务产业望获提振 – [中国证券网] 因特网数据中心（IDC）和因特网接入服务（ISP）牌照发放在即。业内人士认为，牌照的发放为互联网企业自建机房提供了政策上的保障，有助于推动云服务产业的发展。

行业内公开的秘密？医药电商违规售处方药_财经频道_一财网 本报调查发现，一些处方药在金象网、京东好药师、开心人网上药店、百济新特药网等知名医药电商网站上均有售，不用处方就能直接实现订购。

新华社首次发布《中国新兴媒体发展报告》 – 新华传媒 – 新华网 报告共分六大章节，约十万字，详细描述了２０１２年我国新媒体产业发展总体态势和发展特色，已制定出台的一系列产业扶持政策等。报告对２０１２年一年中互联网、移动通信和数字技术在新媒体产业中的具体应用进行了分析梳理，认为技术与通信设施的发展是中国新兴媒体崛起的动力与基石，而企业参与、市场需求推动和不断丰富的媒介形态则是新媒体产业发展的活力与依托。报告同时认为，在新兴媒体时代，国内主流媒体加大创新力度，积极探索“移动化传播”，不断推出符合时代发展潮流的新型传播模式。

中国新兴媒体发展呈现崛起之势 – 新华时政 – 新华网 新华网北京５月１５日电（记者宋南）《崛起的中国新兴媒体—中国新兴媒体发展报告（２０１２－２０１３）》１５日由新华社新媒体中心对外发布。这是新华社作为国家通讯社首次发布新媒体产业报告。

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

Fathering seven children in a one-child society: Famous director’s kids spark big debate in China | Marketplace.org Mr. Zhang is also a prolific father, according to state media. At least seven children with up to four women, a big no-no in a country that’s restricted most urban couples to one child for the past three decades. Yet in this scandal, Chinese social media sites are lighting up not about the one-child policy, but about what this says about the gap between China’s rich and poor.

Ford Foundation Appoints Elizabeth Knup to Lead Its China Office smart hire. who replaces her at Pearson?// The Ford Foundation today announced the appointment of Elizabeth D. Knup as head of its office in China, based in Beijing. Knup has led a distinguished career developing stronger ties between China and the rest of the world in the education, not-for-profit, and business sectors. The early part of her career focused on strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations and working on expanding educational opportunities in China. Most recently she served as chief representative of Pearson PLC, one of the world’s foremost education and publishing companies.

Heavenly Stems | Sinoglot The ten Heavenly Stems, sometimes called the Celestial Stems, date back to the very earliest records of writing in China. These characters appear to be very old indeed and seem to have marked the days of a ten day week. The characters themselves are not terribly common in modern Chinese, with only one appearing in the first 1000 characters, and five more appearing in the 3000 most common characters.

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

China gives environmental approval to country’s biggest hydro dam | Reuters China’s environment ministry has given the go-ahead for the construction of what will become the country’s tallest hydroelectric dam despite acknowledging it will have an impact on plants and rare fish. The dam, with a height of 314 meters (1,030 feet), will serve the Shuangjiangkou hydropower project on the Dadu River in southwestern Sichuan province.

CNPC: A Global Oil Giant With Chinese Characteristics – China Real Time Report – WSJ CNPC’s announcement, while hardly unusual for such a critical role in China’s ecosystem of state-owned enterprises, is a reminder of how deeply entwined the Communist Party, government and its biggest state-owned enterprises remain. Mr. Liao new role will make him rank him No.2 at CNPC behind Zhou Jiping, who was promoted to become chairman in April.

Shanghai battery factory canceled over protest |Society |chinadaily.com.cn Shanghai Guoxuan New Energy said on Wednesday it had withdrawn its investment for the Songjiang program and would return the planned factory site to the local government, without claiming any compensation. The company gave in after hundreds of residents of Songjiang, in Shanghai’s southwestern outskirts, held three protests against the planned factory out of concern about potential wastewater and gas emissions from the plant.

The Pollution Crisis and Environmental Activism in China: A Q&A with Ralph Litzinger | Dissent Magazine The last year has seen a dramatic uptick in press coverage of Chinese environmental issues. There have also been a number of books published on the subject, with more due out soon. So this seemed a good moment to get in touch with my friend Ralph Litzinger, an anthropologist based at Duke University. He has been tracking the topic closely, while also writing about other important issues

多家央企因环保数据弄虚作假被处罚_公司频道_财新网 在环保部公布的脱硫设施不正常运行、监测数据弄虚作假的15家企业中，中国华电旗下就有三家企业“榜上有名”

China May Not Import CO2 Credits as UN Seeks New Market – Bloomberg China, the world’s largest greenhouse-gas emitter, probably won’t import carbon credits for two decades as global diplomats craft a new emissions market that will increase supply, the nation’s climate negotiator said. Using offsets from outside China in that period is an “unlikely scenario,” Su Wei said in an interview in Bonn earlier this month. “Rather, internally we will have a lot of offsetting credits.”

FOOD AND TRAVEL

The Hakka Cookbook: Chinese Soul Food from around the World: Linda Lau Anusasananan: Amazon Veteran food writer Linda Lau Anusasananan opens the world of Hakka cooking to Western audiences in this fascinating chronicle that traces the rustic cuisine to its roots in a history of multiple migrations. Beginning in her grandmother’s kitchen in California, Anusasananan travels to her family’s home in China, and from there fans out to embrace Hakka cooking across the globe–including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, Peru, and beyond. More than thirty home cooks and chefs share their experiences of the Hakka diaspora as they contribute over 140 recipes for everyday Chinese comfort food as well as more elaborate festive specialties.

Hakka Dishes That Helped Define Chinese-Restaurant Cooking in America – NYTimes.com When “The Hakka Cookbook” appeared last year, I immediately set up a cooking date with its author, Linda Lau Anusasananan, who lives in the exotic and far-flung city of San Mateo, south of San Francisco.

山东毒姜产业链调查_21世纪网-21cbh.com in-depth look at the Shandong poison ginger// 近日，央视焦点访谈报道，潍坊峡山区农民使用剧毒农药神农丹种生姜。神农丹主要成分是一种叫涕灭威的剧毒农药，50毫克就可致一个50公斤重的人死亡。 21世纪网实地调查，村民坦承确实有一部分姜农在用神农丹，而且大家也都知道，因为使用了神农丹的姜在喷洒后的三天需要人“盯着”。“用了药之后得在地上盯三天，小孩、牲畜不让靠近，牲畜很容易被熏死，而且这样的死肉还不能吃。” 食品安全底线一次次被突破，“毒生姜”估计也非最后一波。身在农业大国，放心菜却在哪里？

CCTV Investigates “Foreign” Milk Formula Brands – Economic Observer Some brands of infant milk formula being sold in China are falsely claiming to be foreign brands or imported products, according to a series of reports aired on China’s state broadcaster yesterday.

JOBS AND EVENTS

A Shared Future for the U.S. China Military Relationship –National Committee on US-China Relations Featuring Admiral Samuel J. Locklear III, U.S. Navy; Commander, Pacific Command,  Tuesday, May 21, 2013, 4:30 to 6:00PM program, 6:00 to 7:00PM reception , New York Institute of Technology Auditorium

Xinhua agrees with Bai and his guests that Real-name whistleblowing fuels China’s online anti-corruption efforts:

The power of Chinese netizens as an anti-corruption force has been demonstrated once again as a senior economic policy maker was removed from his post after his alleged indiscretions were reported by a journalist on the Internet…

The landmark downfall of Liu suggested the ruling party welcomes netizens to join the anti-corruption campaign in a rational, legal way and encourages them to report officials’ wrongdoing under their real names, according to Zhou Shuzhen, a politics professor with Renmin University of China.

From April 19, a number of major news and commercial portals have provided links on their homepages to official tip-off websites of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the Party’s organization department, as well as the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Supreme People’s Court and the Ministry of Land and Resources…

A statement on the portals promotes the use of real names by whistleblowers, warning against fabricated reports, fake evidence and framings. “Those who slander others will be seriously dealt with and even be held legally responsible,” it reads.

Though the role of the Internet in fighting corruption has proved effective, some false or malicious tip-offs offered by anonymous netizens have harmed innocent people, tarnishing the victims’ reputations and breaching their privacy, pointed out Xin Ming, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

The 21st Century Herald reports (刘铁男双重权力审批 寻租空间大增) that Liu Tienan was a candidate to be an alternate member to the Central Committee of 18th Party Congress but was not elected.

It may be noteworthy that an NDRC vice-chairman fell just before Li Keqiang’s important talk on transforming government and administrative functions and streamlining approvals?

Luo Changping has a new book out that examines 120 high-level corruption cases. 《高官反腐录》, published in March by the Nanfang Daily Press, is mostly a collection of stories that appeared in Caijing Magazine over the last few years but does contain some new revelations. Officials from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Supreme People’s court jointly wrote the preface.

Luo, who is only 32 years old, has written an important book for those who want more insight into Chinese politics.

Today’s Links:

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

Supersizing Small Cities in China – Economic Observer This is the first in an ongoing series from the EO looking at the issue of urbanization in China. When we talk about urbanization in China, many often think of the rapid expansion of megacities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, but it’s also about the changes sweeping through smaller cities and counties across the country. This week, we look at the debates surrounding plans to encourage the further expansion of the urban population in what was once a small county-level city in the central province of Hunan.

China joins central banks’ call for Bloomberg answers | South China Morning Post Sources close to senior officials at the People’s Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) told the South China Morning Post that both institutions had raised concerns with Bloomberg executives in Beijing in the face of a broadening privacy scandal at the data provider.

China’s Li Warns Econ Under Pressure; Little Room For Stimulus | MNI China’s Premier Li Keqiang said the economy is facing downwards pressure but warned that there is little room for stimulus or official investment to take up the slack.

China furious as Japan reopens war wounds – Telegraph Abe associate told the Nelson Report tuesday that Abe did not intentionally sit in the plane w “731″ to send any kind of message…damage is done// footage emerged on Tuesday of Shinzo Abe…posing with his thumbs up inside the cockpit of a T4 training jet…On the outside of the jet, however, the number 731 was painted prominently. Largely forgotten in Japan, the number still stirs painful memories in China….It is not clear whether Mr Abe intended the insult, but the video of his tour quickly circulated around the Chinese internet. “This brigade of the Japanese army committed serious crimes during the war and there is ironclad and irrefutable proof of its atrocities,” said Hong Lei, a spokesman for the Foreign ministry.

Related: S. Korea ‘shuts out Japan’ from intl diplomatic meet – The Japan News South Korea has invited U.S. and Chinese officials to an international seminar on diplomatic issues scheduled to be held in Seoul next month, but Japan has yet to receive an invitation, according to government sources. The apparent snub has displeased Japanese officials, and raised fears that Seoul is bypassing Tokyo at a time when they should be presenting a united front against North Korea.

JCCI postpones China visit because of tense bilateral ties – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun The Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry has decided to postpone sending special delegates to Beijing for a meeting scheduled May 26-30 because of the poor state of relations between the two countries, sources said.

Abe cautious on creating new war memorial as Yasukuni substitute – The Japan Times “How bereaved families would feel about such a new war memorial is a very big issue,” Abe told the House of Councilors Budget Committee, although adding that Japan may need a monument that lacks religious affiliation where people can place flowers, noting other countries have such sites.

S. Korea, China have ‘misperceptions’ about Yasukuni: Abe－ 毎日ｊｐ(毎日新聞) Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday that the contentious Yasukuni Shrine is “a quiet commemorative place” and there are “misperceptions” about it amid objections from South Korea and China to recent visits to the war-linked shrine by his Cabinet ministers. “There are a number of misconceptions (about the shrine). If you go there, you’ll see right away if it’s a symbol of militarism,” Abe told the upper house budget committee. “It is a quiet commemorative place.”

China indignant at Japanese politician’s “comfort women” statement – Xinhua | English.news.cn ”How Japan treats its past will decide its future,” Hong said, adding that its neighbors, as well as the international community, will have to wait to see what choice Japan makes.

Exclusive: EU to warn China it may levy duties against Huawei – sources | Reuters EU trade chief Karel De Gucht is set to win support from the bloc’s executive on Wednesday to send the warning letter and show China’s new president, Xi Jinping, that Brussels is serious about countering what it says is state support. “We want to send a warning to the Chinese, a letter of intent that if they don’t change their practices, there will be duties,” said one person involved, adding that De Gucht had the full backing of European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Manila to apologise to Taipei over fisherman’s shooting | South China Morning Post Manila will send a senior envoy to Taiwan to apologise for the death of a fisherman killed by the Philippine coastguard, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister David Lin said last night at a briefing attended by Antonio Basilio, the Philippines’ representative in Taipei. Speaking within an hour after the expiry of Taipei’s deadline for a response from Manila, Lin said Taipei would also take part in a joint investigation into the incident last Thursday and hold talks on fishing in the disputed waters.

Why Can’t China Make Its Food Safe?—Or Can It? | ChinaFile Conversation

Related: Chinese premier urges tightened food safety supervision – Xinhua | English.news.cn Li said recent scandals involving adulterated mutton have aggravated public concern over food safety, and a tough approach must be maintained toward such violations. “Perpetrators must pay such a high price that they can not afford,” he said. “Although we have a tight budget, we should invest enough in strengthening supervision measures at the grassroots level,” the premier said.

人民日报-重典治乱才能捍卫餐桌（今日谈） 郑 平 “重拳方有效，重典才治乱”，“让不法分子付出付不起的代价”。在国务院机构职能转变动员电视电话会上，李克强总理关于食品安全监管的一番话，引起强烈共鸣。在掺假羊肉、“毒生姜”等事件接连发生之际，“重典治乱”这一共识更加凸显。

China’s easy riders | Photographers Blog Last weekend, around 1,000 Harley Davidson enthusiasts from all over China met at the exclusive resort of Qian Dao Lake, in Zhejiang Province, southeast of Shanghai, to celebrate the 5th Harley Davidson National Rally in China, as part of the company’s 110-year anniversary.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

President makes surprise visit to job fair – Xinhua President Xi Jinping paid an unexpected visit to a job fair in Tianjin on Tuesday, in a move that experts said reflects top leaders’ concerns over the job market. Xi arrived at a human resources center in the port city in the morning, surprising many students and company representatives. “Employment is the basis of people’s livelihood, and is also an issue confronting the whole world,” Xi said when he visited the fair, Xinhua News Agency reported. “Without economic growth, the employment issue can’t be solved.” Talking to village official Yang Daixian, Xi shared his secret for doing a good job — the capability to solve practical issues. “Intelligence quotient and emotional quotient, which is more important? EQ is important for adapting to society, although it should be used together with professional knowledge and techniques,” Xi said.

Big Reforms on the Way for China’s Economy? – Damien Ma – The Atlantic When Deng passed away in 1997, the Chinese economy was just under $1 trillion. It is now an $8 trillion-plus behemoth with far-reaching global interests. The reforms of today, whatever shape they make take, will necessarily be different from those more than 30 years ago, because China itself has transformed dramatically. The expectation of change must also be tethered to the reality of today’s institutional interests and political dynamics. Under the initial burst of reforms, changes were profound both in their scope and speed, largely because China was starting from such a low base.

Chinese austerity hits Diageo’s sales – FT.com Sales of Diageo’s baijiu, a clear grain spirit popular in China, slumped 40 per cent in the first quarter of this year as the world’s biggest distiller became the latest casualty of China’s crackdown on conspicuous consumption. The rapid deterioration in fortunes at Shui Jing Fang, one of the first Chinese household names to be taken over by a foreign company, comes as other makers of high priced spirits have suffered falling sales amid the chill winds of austerity with socialist characteristics.

ANALYSIS: China Data Don’t Show Xi’s Campaign Has Slowed Sales | MNI Anecdotally, there’s no question that the anti-corruption campaign has had an impact: state and private firms are spending less on entertaining officials, while government departments have cut budgets to reflect a more austere political environment. But the data doesn’t support the idea that Chinese retail sales growth is a victim of Xi Jinping’s clean up. Even without the campaign, the data suggest that growth would have continued to slow. A corruption crackdown is a compelling argument for slowing sales, but the data show only a small portion of overall sales are likely affected by it.

China Fiscal Revenue Growth Slows to 6.7% in First Four Months -Caijing The lower-than-expected growth in revenue is mainly due to the tepid GDP growth, the structural tax reduction policy as well as a slowing growth in exports, said the ministry. Government spending, on the contrary, registered a robust growth for the first four months, up 13.6% when compared with the same period last year, while the central government and local governments spent 6.7% and 14.9% more from a year earlier.

China Regulatory Imposes More Bans On Internal Bond Trading | MNI China Foreign Exchange Trade System, the Shanghai-based interbank bond market regulator, said in a statement that banks, brokerage houses, fund management companies, insurance companies and trust companies are prohibited from allowing the trade of bonds between accounts opened under the same legal entity.

China boosts regulatory defences before likely end to domestic IPO ban | beyondbrics Steven Sun of HSBC writes in a note on Tuesday that Xiao Gang, the new chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission “has clearly demonstrated a bias toward risk control.” Not only did he not attend the annual brokerage industry innovation conference this year, but also he is stepping up its efforts to punish IPO-related fraud, says Sun. Sun highlights the example of Wanfu Biotechnology, a company which was found by the CSRC this month to have manipulated its revenue figure before and after its IPO in 2009.

Errors of Aggression Catch up with Underwriter – Caixin puts the SEC to shame// Ping An Securities Co. has been slapped with a fine by the securities regulator and will lose its stock underwriting license for three months because of its sloppy work in underwriting the initial public offering of a company that turned out to be a fraud…As part of the punishment, CSRC has ordered Ping An Securities to hand over revenue of 25.5 million yuan earned by underwriting the IPO of the fraudulent company, Wanfu Biotechnology (Hunan) Agricultural Development Co. Ltd., in 2011. It also fined the brokerage firm twice that amount. Two individuals who played a crucial role in the underwriting, Wu Wenhao and He Tao, were each fined 300,000 yuan and both barred for life from securities underwriting. Several others who worked on the case were punished. Ping An Securities will also set up a 300 million yuan fund to handle investor compensation.

Trust Regulator Cai Esheng ‘to Step Down’ – Caixin Cai Esheng, the vice chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) who has been in charge of regulating trust companies for years, will retire soon, a source inside the regulator says. Cai would be replaced by Yan Qingmin, the assistant to CBRC chairman Shang Fulin, the source said.

前4月房企购地均价涨21% 国五条地方层面被弱化_新浪房产_新浪网 local land sales and prices surging, new real estate rules basically ignored in many cities?// 提要：14日，位于北京西南三环之内的丰台区花乡夏家胡同地块开始挂牌竞价。该地块为二类居住用地，挂牌出让起始价13.1亿元，出让面积14.4万平方米，规划建筑面积7.663万平方米。剔除配建的1万平方米公共租赁房，起始楼面地价约1.97万元/平方米。

“限价令”下不降反增 京住宅预售量涨两成 | 每经网 new real estate repression policies really slowing down Beijing market? combine real housing demand in tier 1 cities with massive money printing and limited investment options, and you just can’t keep people away from property// “国五条”下的限价政策，让开发商遭遇了 “推盘难”，但在经历了一个多月的预售证监管后，北京楼市的预售量却不降反增。 根据中原地产市场研究部统计数据显示，从预售项目看，从4月1日到5月13日，北京预售期房住宅项目为18个，少于2012年同期的25个，但预售住宅的套数明显上涨，4月1日到5月13日，预售套数达5794套，同比2012年同期的4766套增加了21.6%。

China on track to overtake US in non-financial corporate debt – FT.com China is forecast to surpass the US as the world’s largest corporate debt market for non-financial companies in the next two years, according to a report from Standard & Poor’s. The rating agency expects the debt needs of companies in China to reach upwards of $18tn by the end of 2017, accounting for a third of the forecast $53tn in new debt and refinancing needs of global companies in the next five years.

China Aluminium Co. to stop making aluminium… | Black China  That’s what it sounds like, according to the news coming out of Beijing this week.   Chalco is to sell off at least 8 assets, including it’s mothership smelter in Henan province.   The assets being sold include some downstream companies, such as Northwest Aluminium, a rolling mill outside Beijing. But here’s the rub, which hasn’t been made so clear in the official announcements.   The buyer for these assets, according to my sources, will be Chalco’s unlisted parent company Chinalco.   The press release indicates that Chinalco may be a buyer of some of the assets, but what is in the press release is not what they are planning.

天津私募调查：集资最高年收益120% 涉案超万人|天津私募调查|跳楼|天津韩驰_21世纪网 big, nasty case of fundraising in Tianjin gone bad…// 核心提示：“如果你错过了浦东、错过了深圳，还能错过天津滨海新区？”， 在这一宣传语的指引下，许多人涌向了“私募天堂”之称的天津，希望可以获得更多的财富。而天津的私募基金给予投资者承诺的年收益最高达120%。如今，这一切都成了噩梦。

统计局林业局酝酿新绿色GDP核算_财经频道_一财网 project to calculate “green GDP” to be restarted? heard last one killed as it showed negative growth in every area in which it was calculating this alternate measure of GDP// 记者本月10日获悉，国家林业局、国家统计局已决定联合启动新一轮“中国森林资源核算及绿色经济评价体系研究”项目。

POLITICS AND LAW

人民日报-在国务院机构职能转变动员 电视电话会议上的讲话 李克强 People’s Daily prints full text of Li Keqiang’s remarks Monday

China firm on transforming gov’t function: paper – Xinhua  The Chinese government has resolutely vowed to transform its function and reform the administrative system to create a favorable environment for development, the People’s Daily said Tuesday. Such efforts have seen progress over the last two months, with the abolishment or delegation of 133 administrative approval items, the paper said in a commentary.

Full Text: Progress in China’s Human Rights in 2012 – Xinhua | English.news.cn The Information Office of the State Council, or China’s Cabinet, issued a white paper on Progress in China’s Human Rights in 2012 Tuesday. Following is the full text:

Healthy environment vital, says white paper |Politics |chinadaily.com.cn Environmental protection was an entire chapter for the first time in the central government’s white paper on human rights progress. The government has worked hard to ensure that people can enjoy a good ecological environment, according to the white paper, entitled Progress in China’s Human Rights in 2012.

国土部急令：杜绝暴力征地 引发群体性事件将追责-财经网 Ministry of Housing and Land Resources issues urgent order banning violent land seizures, says officials causing mass incidents will be held responsible // 严格实行监督问责。对违法违规征地、采取暴力方式征地等侵害农民利益行为，引发群体性或恶性事件的，要按照有关规定对有关责任人员严肃追究责任。同时，要严格文明执法，防止因执法不当引发相关恶性事件。

独家：丁薛祥入中办 习近平布局人事盘_中国_多维新闻网 Duowei on another important Xi Jinping personnel appointment, says he has brought Ding Xuexiang, who worked for Xi when Xi was Shanghai party secretary, up from Shanghai to be deputy director of general office of CCP and director of the state chairman’s office. Duowei speculates Ding likely to succeed the much older li Zhanshu at 19th, says Xi still getting his own people in place around him, expects more personnel shifts // 自2012年中共十八大确立以习近平为首的新一届领导层后，中国政坛已经经过历时半年的大规模人事调动，截至目前仍未结束。对此，有接近中共高层的消息人士向多维新闻透露，曾在习近平任上海市委书记一职时任办公厅主任、现任上海市政法委书记的丁薛祥将担任中央办公厅副主任、中国国家主席办公室主任一职。有传言认为他可能在十九大之时接替栗战书，继续辅佐习近平…消息人士透露，虽然习近平接任中共总书记一职已逾半年，但是他目前在中央层面仍然面临着无人可用的情况，因此“习家军成型”的说法很难成立，这也意味着中国政坛的人事调整仍未结束，在接下来一段时间内仍会不断有所变动。对此消息人士表示，从某种情况来说，中办主任一职的选择最能体现习近平这种无人可用的境况。该人士透露，中共决策层之所以在十八大之前“临阵”选择栗战书，最主要的原因在于1950年出生、现任中央委员、又有足够地方执政经验的栗“绝对可靠”，能够“压得住场面”。而且其低调、务实的风格也很符合中办主任这个位置以及习近平本人的要求

‘Not a single person’ persecuted in the Anti-Rightist Movement, says vice director of CASS | South China Morning Post China’s intellectuals, scholars and bloggers were outraged on Tuesday after Li Shenming, a vice director at the China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), claimed that “not a single person” was persecuted during the infamous Anti-Rightist Movement launched by Mao Zedong in 1957.  The remark appeared in an article titled “Appropriately evaluating the periods before and after China’s reform and opening-up”. It was published in the Party theory journal Seeking Truth. In a lengthy essay, the former secretary to Wang Zhen, one of China’s revolutionary commanders who was well-known for his hard-line political views before his death in 1993, enthusiastically defended Mao Zedong’s leadership and economic and political “accomplishments”. // 李慎明：正确评价改革开放前后两个历史时期–理论–人民网 was in Tuesday’s Sinocism, the source is Red Flag Journal (红旗文稿), not Seeking Truth, though it appeared on the Seeking Truth web site

万人迷陈好涉刘铁男贪腐案引关注_中国_多维新闻网 actress Chen Hao (google images of Chen ) caught up in Liu Tienan case?// 多维新闻】近日，中国前发改委副主任刘铁男因涉嫌严重违纪正式接受调查的新闻无疑是网上的热点。刘铁男案更多细节被爆料，女星“万人迷”陈好也牵扯其中，因持股暴富受到关注。

Schoolmaster, official face child molestation charges – Xinhua | English.news.cn A schoolmaster and a government official in south China’s Hainan Province were suspected to have molested children after their alleged “inappropriate behavior” with female pupils in hotels, local police said Tuesday.

Chinese Suggestions for Improving Internet Disappear – Bloomberg Thriving microblogging culture has become China’s de facto town square. But as more alleged rumors and critical commenters are quieted or deleted this center of civil society becomes a less interesting place to visit. “Sad to say we can’t comment,” wrote a commentator to Pan Shiyi’s original tweet on Tuesday afternoon. “Sina becomes more and more like the People’s Daily,” she added, referring to the newspaper that serves as the official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party. Soon, her comment was gone.

海南家长质疑鉴定前后矛盾：初查5人处女膜破裂_资讯频道_凤凰网 The Hainan student molestation case horrific

Daughter of a Detained Chinese Rights Activist Speaks – NYTimes.com About a dozen other people, many part of the activist Xu Zhiyong’s New Citizens Movement that is calling for officials to declare their assets, have been detained for “illegal assembly.” But Ms. Liu’s charges are more severe; subversion can result in lengthy jail terms (the Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo is serving an 11-year sentence on the same charge). Reportedly, her detention came after she and several other activists held up banners in public calling on officials to disclose their assets.

Dui Hua Human Rights Journal: China Plots National Verdict Database Appeals for public access to court documents may have gained new ground in China. Following a recent upsurge in reporting on miscarriages of justice, plans to establish a national database of court decisions became the main topic of discussion at a meeting convened by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) on May 8 and 9. The meeting appears to be part of new SPC President Zhou Qiang’s effort to increase the transparency and credibility of the judicial system.

Censored Sina Weibo posts translated into English by HKU project | South China Morning Post The Chinese internet is a closed book for most English-language speakers,” said Henry Williams, a student from Britain. “By creating WeiboSuite, we want to make a very important part of it much more accessible to journalists across the world.”

‘I am scared’: Chinese creator of White House petition seeks help after police visit | South China Morning Post Please delete the petition,” a security agent told the blogger. The blogger, who did not want to be named, told the South China Morning Post that the agent had tracked her down from her registration information on Weibo and invited her to “tea”, an euphemism for a police interrogation. The agent had insisted that she withdraw the post from the White House website, she said. But the US website does not allow petitions to be deleted.

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

Cooling China-N Korea ties hit border town – FT.com “We had been selling scores of these every month, whatever the North Koreans wanted,” Ms Tan says, pointing to a sign with dump trucks, earth diggers, fuel tankers and street-sweeping vehicles. “Now we’re doing well if we can sell five. They no longer have money to buy anything.” Shifting economic tides are partly to blame, but politics cast an even longer shadow.

王传宝：美联社遭窃听，伤了西方新闻自由_评论_环球网 Global Times commentary page weighs in on DOJ’s surveillance of AP phones, says it harms western freedom of the press // 如果不需要美国法庭的允许，擅自进行此类调查，美国媒体引以自豪的新闻自由必将受到巨大伤害，新闻自由的边界一退再退，何时是个头，也是一个问号。所以，美联社必须抗争，其他媒体也不会对此置身事外。白宫新闻发言人卡尼声称白宫没有介入司法部的调查。这或许能够给美联社的抗争找到一点信心。结果如何，拭目以待。（作者是南京政治学院新闻传播系教授）

Suspicious powder found at US consulate in Guangzhou | South China Morning Post ”On Monday, we found an unidentified substance in an envelope and we are now carrying out an investigation,” said a consulate employee who wished to remain anonymous. “The office which was affected is closed, but not all the consulate offices are closed,” he added. The envelope was found at the consular section at the Tianyu Garden Building in Tianhe district, which handles visa applications and provides assistance to US citizens in southern China, the employee revealed.

Twitter / yu_miles: The Final Jeopardy question … not the soft power Beijing wants…but none of the three contestants got it right// ”Because Internet censors block mentions of this 1989 date, Chinese bloggers write it as “535″”

China’s push into Central Asian gas Xu Qinhua, executive director of the Centre for International Energy and Environment Strategies in Beijing and an expert on China’s foreign energy policy, spoke to Interfax about the country’s energy strategy in Central Asia and around the world.

Why Netanyahu and Abbas Went to China – Tablet Magazine  Instead of lauding growing Sino-Israeli ties, the media, especially in the Arab world, followed Beijing’s lead and celebrated China’s support of the peace process. To sell this narrative, the Chinese media made sure to underline that Abbas was on a ‘state visit’ in contrast to Netanyahu’s mere ‘official visit.’ Far less attention was devoted to the fact Abbas was invited only six days before Netanyahu arrived in China, with Beijing covering the cost of the Palestinian leader’s brief visit to make it happen. Abbas dutifully played his part, stating in an interview (that was widely circulated in the Arab world) that Netanyahu’s visit would in fact be beneficial to the Palestinians.

Back to reality – May 2013 – Armed Forces Journal – Military Strategy, Global Defense Strategy The Chinese regional military threat is primarily conventional and must be checked by conventional capabilities. While it would be foolhardy for the U.S. military to completely forget the lessons of the past decade and refuse to prepare units for counterinsurgency and stability operations, it would be equally myopic to decide that these operations ought to be an organizational priority in years to come. When China has used offensive military force to assert its political will, it has not been a particularly subtle affair in terms of either manpower or effect. Thus, a doctrine and equipment set that is built around small platoons running around the battlefield in up-armored Humvees and MRAPs is a recipe for disaster. The People’s Liberation Army will not be defeated by COIN, and if America wishes to lend credible assistance to its allies, it will need to do so in terms of a conventional capability, supported by adequate training and equipment, that can defeat the PLA on conventional terms.

India, China to order 100 naval ships each by 2032 – Economic Times The new orders would include nuclear and conventional submarines and new aircraft carriers, a balanced mix of destroyers, frigates, smaller units, amphibious and logistics vessels, Coast Guard and maritime patrol forces, said Bob Nugent, the vice-president of AMI International.

AsiaEye – Official Blog of the Project 2049 Institute: China’s Military Power and America’s Poor Pacific Hedge As one former commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet recently remarked, “if you look at the number and quality of U.S. ships and aircraft stationed in the Western Pacific to defend Japan and Taiwan and others from a potentially hostile China, you’ll notice that they are basically the same as they were in the 1990s when China’s capabilities were a fraction of what they are today. You have to ask, are we keeping up? Numbers matter in this business after all.”

Chinese Nuclear Developments Described (and Omitted) by DOD Report – FAS Strategic Security Blog The complete deletion of the table overview of China’s missile forces is striking because the Pentagon for years has been complaining about a lack of transparency in China’s military modernization. Ironically, this complaint was repeated when the Pentagon briefed this year’s report… Instead of assisting Chinese nuclear secrecy, the United States should push for transparency and accountability. Authoritative overviews of Chinese nuclear force developments are important to enable the public to assess implications of China’s nuclear modernization and to counter attempts by those who use the uncertainty created by lack of information to hype the threat in order to justify excessive military spending.

[视频]纪念韩先楚同志诞辰100周年座谈会在京召开_新闻频道_央视网 symposium in Beijing celebrating 100 anniversary of birth of Gen. Han Xianchu held in Beijing, makes CCTV Evening news, big play in People’s daily, PLA Daily// 韩先楚曾任兰州军区司令员，中央军委委员、常委，六届全国人大常委会副委员长，1955年被授予上将军衔。中共中央政治局委员、全国人大常委会副委员长李建国在座谈会上讲话，他在全面回顾韩先楚同志的生平业绩和卓越贡献后说，我们要继承和发扬老一辈无产阶级革命家的光荣传统，谦虚谨慎、艰苦奋斗，埋头苦干、锐意进取，不断夺取全面建成小康社会、加快推进社会主义现代化新的更大的胜利，努力实现中华民族伟大复兴的中国梦

HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN

Taiwan Runs Short of Volunteers in Military Shift – ABC News A Taiwanese plan to end mandatory military service and shift to an all-volunteer force is running into a problem: not enough volunteers. Such forces are generally considered superior to conscripted ones, because those serving want to be there. Taiwan wants to field a leaner and meaner military of 176,000 volunteers by 2015, in place of its current complement of 235,000 volunteers and conscripts.

Hong Kong’s Anti-Graft Agency Investigates Former Head – Bloomberg  Hong Kong lawmakers and Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying earlier said they will review spending at the ICAC under Tong. He spent at least HK$218,000 ($28,000) on gifts during his term in office, including a HK$4,140 ornament to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of China, according to a document submitted to the city’s legislature.

内地反腐风暴波及澳门赌场：贵宾厅业务持续下滑|澳门|博彩|赌场_新浪财经_新浪网 People’s Daily [CORRECTION, the source is First Financial] says corruption crackdown is hitting the VIP gambling business in Macau

Galaxy Says VIP Demand Improving as Profit Rises – Bloomberg “There have been positive signs that demand in the VIP segment is regaining momentum,” Galaxy said in today’s statement, referring to the high-stake gamblers who provide most of Macau’s revenue. VIP gamblers curbed spending last year as China’s economy weakened.

Las Vegas Sands Loses Trial Over Macau License Claims – Bloomberg The jury in Las Vegas today returned a verdict in the second trial over Richard Suen’s claim that meetings he helped arrange for Adelson with Chinese government officials in Beijing were instrumental to Sands getting permission to operate casinos in the former Portuguese colony in 2002. The Nevada Supreme Court in 2010 reversed a $43.8 million jury award for Suen

TECH AND MEDIA

Hon Hai Profit Misses Estimates on Slowing Apple Orders – Bloomberg Weakening orders for Apple Inc. (AAPL) products and a slowing global computer market drove revenue down 19 percent from a year earlier. Sales may decline further this period as Hon Hai awaits new products to be introduced in the second half.

YHOO: Goldman, Cantor Up Targets to $30 on Alibaba Value – Tech Trader Daily – Barrons.com Goldman–Reflecting its continued growth acceleration, we are raising our estimated valuation for Alibaba to $70 bn from $35 bn, based on 8X our estimated 2013E sales. Comparable Chinese internet companies Baidu (BIDU) and Tencent (are currently trading at an average of 6X 2013E sales. Alibaba’s 2010-2013E revenue CAGR of 75% is 1.4X the average CAGR for Baidu and Tencent. We note that for each $10 bn appreciation in the value of Alibaba, the implied value of the Yahoo! stock accretes by $1.25.

人民日报-网络经济吸纳千万人就业（寻找经济增长新亮点） People’s Daily page 1 on Internet industry employing 10m+ people, part of continuing series about new bright spots for economic growth

Jing Daily: Fan Bingbing’s Star Power Crosses Borders At Cannes Can’t wait for her new movie, out this summer, directed by eva jin // She is being pursued by many international luxury brands and fashion designers alike, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which will be awarding her with its International Artist of the Year award on the third day of the festival. According to the publication, “Fan’s reputation as an actress and trend-setter stretches across China and the world.” She previously attended this year’s Oscars with producer Bill Mechanic and Chopard’s Caroline Scheufele, and has attracted attention for her bold fashion choices at previous Cannes festivals.

‘Django Unchained’ Reopens in China With Nudity and Screenings Reduced – The Hollywood Reporter Django’s shortfall could be accredited to the scale of its release, with the film taking only 10.3 percent of the 68,000 screenings across the country on Sunday. The film was slated to take up about 17 percent of shows in China for its original release on April 11 before the country’s film regulators intervened.

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

The Silk Road of Pop The Silk Road of Pop”  tells the story of Ay, a young music fan. Apprehensive about her own life choices as a young Uyghur woman in China and curious about the outside world, she turns to music for answers and is drawn to musicians who mirror her struggles in their songs.  The film follows the trails left by Ay’s interest in music, documenting her influences and portraying her musical idols. A breathtaking journey unfolds, leading to traditional musicians uncovering the age-old roots of the Uyghur music culture in Kashgar, metal bands combining local folk music & Western hard rock in their wild performances, and hip-hop crews honing their skills in the smoky basements of communist block towers.

Family of writer Lao She donates paintings by Qi Baishi – People’s Daily Online The descendants of writer Lao She have donated 16 pieces by the renowned artist Qi Baishi, their family friend. Eight paintings went to the National Museum of Modern Literature, and another eight will be auctioned for charity at the China Guardian Spring auction in mid-May.

Lao She’s Art Collection Auctioned Amid Enthusiasm – NYTimes.com For China’s newly rich and hungry art collectors, the combination of Lao She, one of the country’s most beloved 20th-century writers, and Qi Baishi, one of its most famous 20th-century painters, was irresistible: on Saturday evening, the second day of the China Guardian 2013 Spring Auctions in Beijing, 16 paintings from the private collection of the writer who killed himself during the Cultural Revolution sold for 167.6 million yuan, or $27 million, the auction house said.

Angry owner destroys Maserati Quattroporte in China | CarNewsChina.com – China Auto News The owner choose today, May 14, as the day for his ‘protest’ because it coincides with the start of the local Qingdao International Auto Show.The smashing took place at 10:30 this morning, straight in front of the exhibition hall. Many Chinese auto journalists in town, so maximum publicity was guaranteed.

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

Fake-condom factory busted in Fujian |Society |chinadaily.com.cn Police confiscated more than 2 million bogus condoms labeled Jissbon, Durex and Contex in the factory and its warehouse. While a knock-off prophylactic is priced at 1 yuan (16 cents), it costs less than 0.2 yuan to produce. In February, police noticed that prices of brand-name condoms sold at a store on taobao.com, the country’s biggest e-commerce marketplace, were unreasonably low, and they bought some products to check, according to a police officer surnamed Xu with the bureau’s economic investigation team, which handled the case. After the products were proven to be fake, police took action. // who buys condoms on Taobao? perhaps Zhang Yimou could use this as a defense?

人民日报：国人大多不了解PX项目 容易“有罪推定”_资讯频道_凤凰网 People’s Daily commentary contributor on the Kunming PX concerns, says PX projects “misunderstood” // 事实上，“信任”的确是此次PX风波的关键词。心理学研究表明，隔着一层“无知之幕”，出于自我保护的本能，人们总是倾向于相信坏消息。虽然PX属于低毒类化学物质已是世界常识，其生产、运输、贮存的技术也相当成熟；虽然早有美国休斯敦PX工厂距城区仅1.2公里、日本横滨PX工厂与居民区只一路之隔诸多实例，但对于我国大多数公众来说，PX还是一个陌生概念。缺乏对PX相关信息的充分了解，缺乏对企业和地方环保承诺的信任，公众猝然接触PX，心理上容易对PX项目“有罪推定”，甚至视之为洪水猛兽，也就难免催生恐慌心理、负面想象，甚至出现各种“风波”。

Mixed signals and smokescreens: Kunming’s government responds to Anti-PX protests | East by Southeast Despite pressure, public response is mounting and the local government’s efforts to stem the next protest are only providing more publicity for it by drawing more attention to the protesters’ cause.  Organizers are passing messages through the social media sites Weixin and Weibo on how to prepare for the protest scheduled two days from now in front of the highest government administration complex in Yunnan (let’s see if that gets blocked).  Also on Kunming’s streets, EbSE is noticing more “No PX” stickers and posters attached to car doors and inside car windows.

北京要求“两桶油”等83家企业自行公开污染数据_网易财经 Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau requests that 83 enterprises, including petrochina and sinopec, disclose pollution data// 昨天，北京市环保局印发通知，要求在今年11月底前，北京市范围内的83家国家监控的重点污染源企业自行公开其废水、废气的自动监测数据。这83家企业包括中石化、中石油、蒙牛、燕京等大企业。

China’s Tangshan to Cut Power to 199 Polluting Plants Next Week – Bloomberg The city, 170 kilometers (106 miles) east of the capital Beijing, will cut power from May 20 to iron and steel facilities including three ore-sintering lines of Tangshan Iron & Steel Group and two at Guofeng Iron & Steel Group. In addition, it will shut outdated facilities at 31 companies, 136 unlicensed quarries and 28 other illegal manufacturers by May 31, according to the statement.

China’s Hukou System: A Passport to Health (Part 1/3) | Asia Health Care Blog Despite reforms to the hukou system in the last 30 years, however, discriminatory policies towards China’s rural population still exist.  Current hukou policies are having unintended consequences on the health and well-being of over 260 million rural-to-urban labor migrants;[1] nearly 20% of China’s population.[2]  This special three part series attempts to describes the current hukou system’s effect on  social determinants of health by exploring three separate phenomenons affecting rural-to-urban labor migrants: (1) access to health services, (2) access to housing, and (3) access to child education

China’s Hukou System: A Passport to Health (Part 2/3) | Asia Health Care Blog In Part I, Bradley explained how the Hukou system impacts access to care. In this installment Bradley tells us how the hukou system impacts the ability to get housing, and how that, in turn, further impacts health outcomes.

FOOD AND TRAVEL

国内贴牌洋奶粉乱象:交5100元可贴新西兰商标_网易新闻中心 针对目前国内贴牌洋奶粉乱象，昨天，央视新闻直播间播出了记者关于贴牌洋奶粉的调查。调查中，记者只需交5100元就可贴新西兰奶粉商标，只需花一万多元，就可拥有一个原产地新西兰的品牌

东海渔业资源濒临绝境 鱼苗刚放下海就被捞掉了_网易财经–来源: 钱江晚报(杭州) fishing stocks in East China Sea nearly depleted? 

BEIJING

Hubert Keller’s Burger Bar in Beijing: Mongolian yak never tasted so good | Beijing Boyce Two likely reactions of diners at Burger Bar when it fully opens in Parkview Green. One: these burgers are awesome! Two: where can I sell a kidney to pay for them? Burger Bar is the brainchild of chef Hubert Keller, known for his restaurant Fleur de Lys in San Francisco, and first opened in Las Vegas. It has been / will be holding private tastings and should be officially grilling burgers in Beijing within a month.

BOOKS AND LITERATURE

Amazon.com: Anxious Wealth: Money and Morality Among China’s New Rich: John Osburg Who exactly are China’s new rich? This pioneering investigation introduces readers to the private lives—and the nightlives—of the powerful entrepreneurs and managers redefining success and status in the city of Chengdu. Over the course of more than three years, anthropologist John Osburg accompanied, and in some instances assisted, wealthy Chinese businessmen as they courted clients, partners, and government officials.

Book Review: China’s Economy, in Thrall to its Underworld | Tea Leaf Nation Anxious Wealth examines relationship cultivation and gender roles among contemporary Chinese elites.  The book draws upon several years of ethnographic data culled from countless evenings accompanying businessmen entertaining clients, partners, and state officials.  While the book locates itself in the context of anthropological literature on consumption and social class, there are insights here useful for businesspeople, policymakers, as well as cultural observers.

The government continues to state that it is pushing forward with significant changes. An Australian journalist, John Garnaut, one of the top foreign reporters in China, wrote on Monday that “China is drawing up a blueprint for sweeping reforms aimed at averting an economic crisis” to be delivered to the Third Plenum of the 18th Party Congress, expected to meet in October. Third Plenums have a special place in Chinese history; the December 1978 Third Plenum of the 11th Party Congress kicked off the “reform and opening up” policy.

The next phase of reform will probably be much more complicated and painful than the program Deng Xiaoping set in motion, and assuming it moves forward we should expect it to be messy and fitful at times. Too much hope may be placed on the upcoming Third Plenum, but there is still reason for optimism about the prospects for much deeper economic changes.

The main reason I remain optimistic is that the leadership, and especially Xi Jinping, seem very clear that without more change there will be no fulfilling the “Chinese dream.”

On Monday Li Keqiang called for less political power in market economy (Xinhua):

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday called for less political power in the market economy in order to motivate creativity of market players and achieve transformation of the government.

On a nationwide tele-conference about the functional transformation of the institutions of the State Council, or the cabinet, Li urged officials to properly handle relations between the government and the market as well as society, delegating unnecessary powers and managing businesses that the government is responsible for.

The focus of government work should be shifted to creating a favorable environment for development, providing quality public services and maintaining social equity and justice, Li added.

Li said the transformation of government is important and urgently needed for maintaining the continuous and healthy development of the economy amid the present goal of stabilizing growth, controlling inflation and preventing risks. It is also an objective requirement of economic and social development.

Monday’s CCTV Evening News Report had a four minute report on Li’s comments, People’s Daily gave it page one coverage Tuesday and ran a commentary on it–人民日报-坚决打好政府职能转变攻坚战 本报评论员.

While economic reforms look set to deepen, political reform in any liberal, Western sense is not in the cards. Chris Buckley, reporting from Hong Kong for the New York Times, writes in Chinese leaders warn of ‘dangerous’ Western values that:

The Chinese Communist Party has warned officials to combat “dangerous” Western values and other perceived ideological threats, according to accounts on Monday of a directive that analysts said reflects the top leader Xi Jinping’s determination to preserve top-down political control even as he considers economic liberalization.

Will a playbook that appears to borrow heavily from Deng Xiaoping work when there is a middle class, an Internet population of hundreds of millions and expectations that are far higher than they were 35 years ago?

Today’s Links:

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

Park to snub Japan by visiting China first – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun Fresh off her visit to the United States, new South Korean President Park Geun-hye is making plans to visit China around the end of June, sources said, in an apparent snub to Japan and a break from tradition. A visit to Japan is nowhere to be found on Park’s calendar or in her upcoming plans, as the two countries continue to have chilly relations over territorial and historical issues.

Related: Suga rushes to smother LDP’s latest brush fire over war – The Japan Times Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga was again forced to go into damage control mode Monday after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s own policy chief said on NHK the previous day that President Shinzo Abe disagreed with the findings of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal…The tribunal found Tokyo guilty of waging wars of aggression upon China and other countries during its bid to colonize Asia.

Abe poses inside jet plane numbered 731 at ASDF base – World News – SINA English there are no coincidences with this kind of stuff. This looks to be Japanese-style dog whistling to Abe’s far right constituency. Not helpful. “At least it wasn’t a Zero” is what one wag wrote…// The number 731 reminds people of Unit 731, which was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.

BBC News – Japan WWII ‘comfort women’ were ‘necessary’ – Hashimoto A prominent Japanese politician has described as “necessary” the system by which women were forced to become prostitutes for World War II troops.

The Trust Deficit – By He Yafei | Foreign Policy Obama’s “pivot” to — or “rebalancing” toward — Asia and the Pacific, in both words and deeds, has aroused a great deal of suspicion in China. These suspicions deepen when the United States gets itself entangled in China’s dispute with Japan over the Diaoyu Islands and in the debates over maritime issues in the South China Sea. Should this ill-thought-out policy of rebalancing continue and the security environment worsen, an arms race would be inevitable. China, despite its intention to pursue a strategy of peaceful development, might be forced to revisit some aspects of its policy for the region. That is something China abhors. We understand that a peaceful and prosperous world starts with your neighborhood — just as a stable and good Sino-U.S. relationship also starts in our two countries’ neighborhood, the Asia-Pacific region.

Related: Responding to He Yafei: Who’s to blame for the downturn in U.S.-Chinese relations? | FP Passport Orville Schell, Arthur Ross director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society, called He “one of China’s most experienced, smartest and most articulate diplomats” but said that Beijing “often has a difficult time realizing that China has, in effect, become a Great Power.” That newfound status, he explained, makes the country’s aggressive behavior more worrying than before.

Hedging: The Real U.S. Policy Towards China? | The diplomat Clearly the utilization of a hedging strategy demonstrates that U.S. policymakers are undecided on whether China constitutes a threat. Hedging is not simply defined by a state’s actions, but by its intentions. In May 1941, although Germany’s relationship with the USSR looked like hedging, it was not. While Germany was enacting two opposing policies of balancing and engagement with the Soviet Union, it had in fact already decided on war in November 1940. This illustrates a crucial difference between U.S.-China relations and German-Soviet relations: U.S. policymakers are genuinely uncertain which line to pursue.

Managing the hazards of online society – China Media Project In the recent Study Times interview, Fu Siming (傅思明), a professor at the Central Party School, talks about the need for more effective “online social management.” Just as China’s leadership needs to innovate its “social management” in the real world, says Fu, so does it need to update and enhance its “regulation” of the virtual world.

Related: 2013/09_求是理论网 interesting essays in recent Red Flag Journal on the Internet and how to deal with it

China launches new crackdown on internet celebrities – Telegraph see my dealbook column last week about this campaign and where it fits in a broader efforts // The campaign appears to have sent a firm message however. Yao Bo, a commentator and restaurateur with close to 900,000 followers said a number of his friends had seen their accounts shut down. “Some of the accounts are shut down for criticising government policy, others for reporting bits of information. I now feel I need to watch what I say before I post something,” he said.

央视搜索_《魅力纪录》 20130513 苦难辉煌（1） Part 1 of new 12 part historical documentary “苦难辉煌” (“Suffering and Glory”), aired Monday night on CCTV, online as well. Worth watching

Related: 央视搜索_读书《苦难辉煌》 CCTV interview with NDU professor Jin Yinan, author of book 苦难辉煌 that has now been turned into 12 part documentary on CCTV

[视频]历史文献纪录片《苦难辉煌》今晚播出_新闻频道_央视网 央视网消息(新闻联播)：12集历史文献纪录片《苦难辉煌》今晚起在我台综合频道十点半档的《魅力纪录》栏目播出。该片多角度，全景式地再现了中国共产党团结和带领全国各族人民英勇奋斗的征程，重点刻画了从大革命失败到土地革命战争兴起，从第五次反“围剿”失败到抗日战争兴起，中国共产党的这两次历史性转变

Anatomy Of A Chinese Airport Rumble – Beijing Cream more China airport chaos, absurd video// As China Eastern’s lone combatant is dragged off to a back office, some female employees have managed to get around the counter and directly photograph the water bottle thrower’s face. Soon the argument re-centers around the bottle thrower, the Aunties and a gaggle of female employees.

Yuan appreciation nears limit: experts – People’s Daily Online The Chinese yuan has limited room to appreciate further and may be depreciated to foster the country’s struggling exports and the broader economy, according to experts and insiders Sunday. On Friday, the central parity rate of the yuan hit 6.2016 against the US dollar after advancing to a record high of 6.1925 in the previous day. So far, the yuan’s central parity has strengthened 881 basis points this year, while last year it gained 146 points. ”The current rising yuan has put many export-oriented Chinese companies under escalating pressure,” Tan Yaling, head of the China Forex Investment Research Institute, told the Global Times Sunday, noting that as far as she is concerned, a 6.5 yuan rate against the US dollar is the upper limit for exporters’ survival.

油品升级“雾霾”-财经网 cover story of latest Caijing on the challenges of improving quality of gasoline to help reduce smog..subscriber content// 由于成品油价格管制，中国大炼化企业普遍用化工业务补贴炼油业务。政府促其加大炼油投资、升级油品质量的同时，却频频叫停化工项目，显然不是解决雾霾问题的长久之道

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

China’s Investment Slows as Production Trails Estimates: Economy – Bloomberg The data may test the new leadership’s tolerance for slower economic expansion as President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang implement policy changes to improve the quality and efficiency of growth. The central bank warned last week that while the foundation for stable growth isn’t yet solid, stimulus policies could trigger inflation. 

China Luxury Car Market Q1 Growth Slows to 8.34% on Govnt Spending Control -Caijing The premium-car market in China slowed to 8.34% in the first three months, a whopping decline of as much as 80% from the same period in the previous year.

Investment Company Asks: Can We Legally Short Sell? – Caixin Is it legal in China to short a company’s shares and then publicly question its financials with prepared research reports? This is the question a domestic investment company formally asked China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) in a letter in March. The matter drew attention because of the significant weight it carries in the country’s nascent short-selling industry.

China April Home Sales Fall 13% as Property Curbs Take Toll – Bloomberg “The decline largely had to do with the high March sales because developers supplied a lot of homes ahead of the government’s curbs,” said Jeffrey Gao, a Shanghai-based property analyst at Macquarie Capital Securities. “But the government may issue more harsh policies if home prices continue to climb.”

北京楼市“限价令”升级 房价审批需副市长签字_网易新闻中心 Beijing officials under so much political pressure to rein in housing prices that any project pre-sales approvals will have to be signed off by the vice mayor with responsibility for housing// 经本报记者多方采访了解，作为商品房预售审批单位，就算是楼盘预售审批过了建委的“关”，该项目也不一定能拿到预售证。

李稻葵：决策层年底前将对房地产调控政策进行调整_财经频道_一财网 Li Daokui says government may adjust real estate repression policies later this year, to make sure prices do not drop too fast, bubble doesn’t burst// 在调整经济预期方面，李稻葵表示，决策层可能在今年年底对房地产调控政策作出调整。他表示，决策层称将采取更合理、更谨慎的调控政策，以防止房地产价格迅速下滑，泡沫破灭。

Heavy Industry’s Reverberating Slump – Economic Observer Both heavy and light industries have been hurting over the past several months, and few say there’s any relief in sight. Slumps in heavy industries like steel are reverberating throughout the economy. Results from a recent survey of small and medium-sized enterprises are also very discouraging.

Chinese shadow banking: three different ones | FT Alphaville That’s a big (click to enlarge) chart from Moody’s on how they define “shadow banking” in China, via a Q&A comment on the growth of the sector.

China’s recovery is “painfully slow” | beyondbrics  On retail sales, the rise was almost entirely driven by one thing: the sharp sell-off in gold last month. Many Chinese consumers took the drop in prices to snap up jewellery, which led to a gold supply shortage in jewellery chains, retail banks, and even the Hong Kong gold exchange. As shown here, courtesy of ANZ, jewellery, medicine and cars were the only areas to show growth momentum in April vs March

Issue 619 13-05-2013 – Economic Observer  It would cost the Chinese government at least 1.8 trillion yuan if they tried to in one go settle the 160 million rural migrant workers that travel outside their home province in search of work in cities, according to a new report from researchers at the Chinese Academy of Governance

Chinese vice premier meets with Warren Buffett – Xinhua | English.news.cn Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang (R) meets with Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2013

CITIC, Temasek group to buy Chinese software firm Asiainfo | Reuters The price is 2.8 percent higher than Asiainfo’s closing price of $11.68 on Friday and the same as CITIC Capital’s initial bid in January 2012. Asiainfo’s buyout is another example of private equity firms teaming up with founders of U.S.-listed Chinese companies to take them private after a series of accounting scandals dented investors’ faith in such companies.

Episode 6 – China’s Ghost Towns | VICE on HBO | Fridays at 11PM Fifteen years ago, China changed its policy so people could buy their own homes. Real-estate investments boomed, and new cities began popping up each year, many inspired by western design and mimicking iconic locales like Paris and lower Manhattan. The problem is: people don’t live here. One ghost city in Inner Mongolia, built to house one million people, is now an empty shell of unoccupied skyscrapers and abandoned construction sites. VICE checks out this and other urban failures to figure out how China’s preoccupation with growing its GNP turned “supply and demand” into “build now, sell later.” // Red Bull for China Bears, though not sure how much more we will actually learn from this

POLITICS AND LAW

刘铁男被举报后3个月突击审批50多个项目_网易新闻中心 Liu Tienan approved 50 projects in the 3 months after he was accused of corruption..sounds like there may be a lot of nervous officials and executives who had dirty dealings with Liu // 核心提示：媒体称，刘铁男在被举报后，能源项目审批的步伐和节奏明显加快，卸任局长前3个月，新审批的能源项目在50个以上。内部人士称，刘铁男在任时重大事项决策一人说了算。在电网规划问题上，刘铁男表面上表示尊重各方面专家意见，但在批项目时仍然我行我素。

刘铁男被查精神几近崩溃 在办公室打吊瓶支撑|刘铁男|能源|项目_新浪财经_新浪网 more detail on the Liu Tienan case. His wife and son detained before he was // 据能源局的人说，刘铁男在被举报之后，虽然经常在国家能源局网站上刊登活动情况，但实际在工作和生活中明显不愿见人，由他主持的全国能源工作会议人数缩减到最小范围。今年上半年，刘铁男的儿子先于刘铁男被限制自由调查，妻子郭某也在接受调查。刘铁男的精神几近崩溃，曾在办公室中打吊瓶勉强支撑。

今日舆情解读：还有多少位“刘铁男”在“潜伏”–舆情频道–人民网 interesting people’s daily public opinion monitoring center report on reactions to the Liu Tienan case. can foreigners subscribe to the premium service? the free content seems very useful// 另一方面，消息甫出，舆论的矛头首先指向当初义正言辞为其辟谣的能源局。媒体和网民纷纷要求能源局为此事作出解释与表态，能源局一时间陷入被网民倒逼的尴尬境地。此案一方面显示了实名举报、微博反腐这一渠道的日渐规范，以及中央此番反腐决心的坚定；但在另一方面，也将政府部门发言人制度在实行中的一些弊端暴露无遗。在这个网络舆情汹涌澎湃的微博时代，唯有事实才是最具有说服力的东西，时依然遵循着陈旧的宣传逻辑，一时为领导代言的护主心态，以掩饰事实、逃避质疑为本能反应在冰冷的事实面前也只能无奈地承认自身的无能，公众呼吁国家能源局出面道歉也就成为一件顺理成章的事情。

官方承认黑龙江犯人殴打犯人网络视频属实_网易新闻中心 disturbing video of prisoners beating prisoners in Heilongjiang…officials confirm real

Chinese SOEs and “invisible benefits” | beyondbrics Chinese people are used to hearing about the extraordinary benefits enjoyed by employees of big state-owned enterprises. But the size and scope of such benefits still delivered a shock when the National Audit Office released its annual reports on 10 SOEs and further exposed the extent of the problem…“Many [invisible benefits] are even better than in the iron rice bowl days,” wrote Bill Bishop, publisher of Sinocism, a daily newsletter on China. “No wonder people want to work at these firms, and people who don’t work there tend to not like them.”

China: inequality in death, as well as life | beyondbrics However, such denials are not likely to convince the public or parts of the media. The Xi’an Evening News questioned: “Although the city’s Civil Affair Bureau denied the report [by China Insight], it didn’t offer any strong evidences to refute it, such as the proportion of the public graveyard [at the Fushan cemetery]. Therefore, it cannot shake off people’s doubts.” On Sina Weibo, microbloggers fired back with sarcastic comments. “I would like to pay more tax if it’s built to bury them [officials] alive,” wrote one.

中共再提意识形态斗争 七不讲真伪难辨_中国_多维新闻网【多维新闻】北京时间5月13日，有某亲中共的港媒报道称中共中央办公厅日前印发《关于当前意识形态领域情况的通报》的通知。该媒体援引重庆市某部门党组学习此通报的报道称，“中央对当前意识形态领域值得注意的七个方面的突出问题分析深刻、态度坚定，对意识形态领域斗争的尖锐性、复杂性有更加清醒的认识。”有舆论分析称，这份通报极有可能就是此前大陆网络盛传的“七不讲”传言的官方版本。多维新闻此前也多次在求证“七不讲”内容的真实性，但并未得到印证。

Secret Central Committee Document Calls for Loyalty, Warns for Western Influence | China Copyright and Media importantly for foreign observers, this Circular seems to renew the focus on foreign hostile powers who are supposed to have an obsession with Westernizing and dividing China. In fact, some of the terms used in reporting about the Circular seem to be derived from an article published in the Party magazine Dangjian (党建) in July of last year. As a relatively high-profile official Party publication, under the direct control of the Central Propaganda Department, it can be assumed that Dangjian content accurately reflects the positions of the CPD – which seems to have become increasingly powerful over the last few years.

Xu Zhiyong: On the New Citizens’ Movement – China Digital Times (CDT) In an April 12 blog post, Xu describes how the police pulled him from a flight to Hong Kong and questioned him about the New Citizens’ Movement and public dinners he has helped organize to discuss issues of civil rights and democracy. Both this blog post and his April 23 essay on the New Citizens’ Movement are translated below

李慎明：正确评价改革开放前后两个历史时期–理论–人民网 old school. but old school does not mean not very relevant to today// 笔者认为，习近平同志的讲话与党的十八大报告一样，都科学、正确、准确地评价了以毛泽东同志为核心的党的第一代中央领导集体的伟大功绩，这深得党心、军心和民心，具有重大意义。 在一些人的印象中，毛泽东根本不会搞经济建设，只会搞阶级斗争。这是一种误解。毛泽东在经济建设上也确实有失误，我们应认真记取。但说毛泽东不懂经济，不会搞经济建设，不是事实。

Hainan province teacher, city official arrested over sex assault of six girls | South China Morning Post Year-six classmates found groggy at hotels in Hainan’s Wanning and Haikou cities after being abducted before school and held for two days// a top topic on Weibo

Reform can end loose talk of a Chinese revolution – FT.com Without constitutional rule, the country will struggle to avoid turbulence, says Deng Yuwen… So while revolution is unlikely, the Communist party needs to plan ahead, introducing policies and plans that guard against plausible revolutionary scenarios. This means more freedom of speech and political freedom, improving governance, raising living standards and reducing inequality. The more political and social reform that takes place, the less likely it is that China will have another revolution….The writer is an independent current affairs commentator

Asia Unbound » The Dalai Lama’s Self-Immolation Dilemma If the self-immolations have failed to galvanize international support, why hasn’t Dalai Lama used his moral authority to issue a public statement asking for Tibetans to stop the practice? It is widely believed that self-immolation cases would drop significantly if he makes such a move.  But Dalai Lama is facing a major dilemma over this issue.

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FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

Special Report: Chinese Premier on first foreign trip to demonstrate diplomacy of new leadership – Xinhua | English.news.cn Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is to pay official visits to India, Pakistan, Switzerland and Germany next week, his first foreign trip as China’s new head of government…

China’s pragmatic Middle Eastern surprise | Business Spectator Chinese President Xi Jinping had the rare opportunity to receive both Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu within days of each other last week. In a move that astounded international diplomats, President Xi issued a ‘four point peace plan’ to Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, while the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a press release days later offering to host an Israeli-Palestinian peace summit in the future.

Drones and the Rivalry Between the U.S. and China – NYTimes.com The arms race between the world’s largest navies undermines the likelihood of attaining a new balance of power, and raise the possibility of unintended collisions as the United States deploys hundreds, even thousands of drones and China scrambles for ways to counter the new challenge. And drones, because they are cheap and don’t need a human pilot, lower the bar for aggressive behavior on the part of America’s military leaders — as they will for China’s navy, as soon as it makes its own inevitable foray into drone capabilities (indeed, there were reports last week that China was preparing its own stealth drone for flight tests).

Beijing’s ‘Bitskrieg’ – By John Arquilla | Foreign Policy “bitskrieg”? please…like US doesn’t do this, far more effectively than China?// What’s coming from Beijing is, in a word, “bitskrieg.” The Pentagon report describes this as a three-phase process. First, there is a “focus on exfiltrating data” so as to gain vital information needed about military command and control systems as well as the points in our critical infrastructure that are vulnerable to disruption by means of cyberattack.

Top U.S. admiral puts cyber security on the Navy’s radar | Reuters As a contingency in case satellites are jammed, contaminated with a computer virus or hit by a missile or a directed-energy weapon, he said the Navy was going “back to the future” by looking at high-frequency relays used during the Cold War. “That part of the electromagnetic spectrum is still out there. It’s not as well traveled as it used to be so it’s actually cleaner,” he said. “We’re actively working on that.”

Washington’s Pacific Pivot Seen in Aussie’s Appointment to US Army | Defense News | defensenews.com Two-star Australian Army Gen. Richard Burr was appointed to the senior ranks of the US Army Pacific contingent in January, where he has been deputy commander for operations, commanding Gen. Francis Wiercinski said.

Beijing’s Blue Berets: UN Peacekeeping and the Evolution of Chinese Diplomacy – Anna Richardson – The Atlantic With little fanfare, in the space of 20 years, China has steadily increased its commitment to UN peacekeeping missions. Today, the country contributes more peacekeeping troops than any other permanent member of the UN Security Council, with 1,860 “blue beret” peacekeepers deployed across nine different UN missions. By contrast, the United Kingdom has 298 peacekeepers in the field, the United States a mere 118.

Chinese Automakers Quietly Build a Detroit Presence – NYTimes.com Chinese-owned companies are investing in American businesses and new vehicle technology, selling everything from seat belts to shock absorbers in retail stores, and hiring experienced engineers and designers in an effort to soak up the talent and expertise of domestic automakers and their suppliers. While starting with batteries and auto parts, the spread of Chinese business is expected to result eventually in the sale of Chinese cars in the United States.

赵启正撰文答“信仰之问”：我们的信仰是文化信仰_资讯频道_凤凰网 文化是民族的血脉，是人民的精神家园，中华民族生生不息、延绵至今，一个重要原因就在于我们有文化信仰。在新的时代条件下，我们应当坚持信仰的自觉，更加珍视我们祖先传下的信仰，同时亦应展现更加进步、更加包容、更加自信的胸怀。当我们于“中国制造”之外与世界共同分享“中国精神”之时，我想一些外国友人对我们的“信仰之问”也会随之冰释。 （作者为中国人民大学新闻学院院长、全国政协外事委员会前主任）

解放军报–深刻理解把握党在新形势下的强军目标 ——习主席在十二届全国人大一次会议解放军代表团全体会议上的重要讲话新思想新观点新论断学习释义 编者按:　根据军委、总政领导指示，总政宣传部组织有关专家，围绕习主席在十二届全国人大一次会议解放军代表团全体会议上讲话的新思想、新观点、新论断，作了学习阐释，现摘录部分内容刊发，供部队官兵深入学习理解。

East China Sea Fleet conducts covert raid training in western Pacific – Xinhua | Pictures

人民日报-南海舰队常态化战备巡逻南沙 同渔政、海监有效联动

US, Chinese athletes share friendship|Society|chinadaily.com.cn Former swimmer and coach Du Du (left) and Jim Guaghran, a coach during a visit to China in 1973 by US swimmers and divers, meet on Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN

Taiwan Tries to Regain Its Lead in Consumer Electronics – NYTimes.com Fostering innovation has become a mantra among corporate leaders and government officials alike in Taiwan this year because the island’s huge consumer electronics industry has run into serious trouble. Worldwide sales of PCs, for which Taiwanese companies control over 90 percent of the final design and manufacturing, are declining steadily. Sales of smartphones, for which Taiwanese companies control less than a fifth of the market, are rising briskly. Tablets based on the Android operating system, which most Taiwanese companies, with the exception of Asus, have been slow to embrace, are also on the same upward trajectory.

TECH AND MEDIA

Three China Mobile Investments Lose 3.2 Bln Yuan, State Auditor Finds – Caixin China Mobile has not released financial details for the deals, but industry analysts say the investment in Paktel has resulted in losses. Investments in Phoenix Satellite Television and PDB are believed to have provided sound returns. The auditor also said it found financial and operational problems at China Mobile, including misconduct in bidding, contract management and customer information protection.

SoftBank leans on banks in effort to disrupt Dish’s Sprint bid – FT.com The Japanese telecoms group, which owns one third of Alibaba, is telling banks that their chances of being involved in the Chinese e-commerce group’s mammoth share listing could be under threat if they help Dish raise the $9bn it needs to fund its competing bid, according to two people familiar with the situation…While SoftBank is a major shareholder in Alibaba, it is unlikely to be able to dictate to the Chinese group’s management. However, it could make life very difficult for an individual bank to be involved if it set itself against one.

Alibaba’s Extravaganza – Digits – WSJ When Mr. Ma announced in January that he would step down as CEO, he said that he was “no longer young for the Internet business.” During his speech Friday, he said to many employees in the audience: “I won’t be returning…I will be no use anyway because you will do a better job.” The three-hour-long event ended with many young Alibaba employees on stage singing and dancing to a song called “Alibaba” by Taiwanese singer Frankie Gao. The chorus part of the song went: “Alibaba is a happy youngster.”

Jack Ma’s Last Speech as Alibaba CEO–TechInAsia– Building a company to this size, I feel humbled and proud. But what we have contributed to society is only just a start for Alibaba. What we achieved today, has greatly surpassed the efforts we have put in. This society, at this time, for Alibaba to continue to prosper, we have to solve problems in society. There are so many problems in society and these are opportunities for everyone. If there isn’t any problem, then there’s no need for all of you. All people of Alibaba, please continue to serve small businesses. Because small businesses are where most of the Chinese dreams live. 14 years ago, we set a mission that there will be no business too hard to do, helping small enterprises to grow. Today, this mission lies in your hands. People say e-commerce and the internet created an unfair advantage. But my understanding is that the internet created a truly fair platform.

Alibaba’s Jack Ma and actor Jet Li open tai chi school in China | South China Morning Post looks nice, want to go. At the age where I should take up Tai Chi 

人民日报-手机恶意软件读取用户隐私，窃取银行账号 手机安装软件 当心引狼入室（热点解读） 本报记者 余建斌 people’s daily on dangers of malware apps….when is app store regulation coming?

移动支付国家标准将出 15股重大机遇 – [中国证券网] China to soon issue national standard for mobile payments// 日前中国移动表示，移动支付手机销量将倍增，相关国家标准即将出台，这意味着相关概念股潜力无限。

10 HAXLR8R startups return from China to unveil ready-for-market hardware | VentureBeat SAN FRANCISCO- Hardware is in the midst of a Renaissance. Today at HAXLR8R’s demo day, ten hot hardware startups presented their products after completing a 15-week accelerator program in Shenzhen China. The program is designed to help entrepreneurs with innovative hardware concepts and prototypes and help turn them into commercial realities.

Qihoo Tumbles as Production Sinks Chalco: China Overnight – Bloomberg Qihoo 360 Technology Co., a software developer based in Beijing, slumped after short seller Carson Block said the company is a “fraud.” // Block needs to provide evidence for this kind of allegation. Muddy Waters has performed valuable services for investors but this is incendiary stuff, especially given the media’s amplification of whatever he says. Remember Citron’s claims Qihoo was a fraud? how did that short trade work out for them? Still waiting for Block’s follow up report on New Oriental after his initial one last summer. He promised a followup, seems strange taken so long to issue it…I have no interests in either Qihoo or New Oriental

Rui Ma: Rui Ma Discusses 500 Startups’ Plans for China – newsle 500 Startups has invested in Chinese companies before, but, by bringing Rui Ma on board as its first Venture Partner in Beijing, McClure made a stronger commitment to China before “things really start moving” there. That’s according to Ma herself, who caught up with The Next Web at the GMIC event in Beijing last week.

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

Expensive Kindergarten Link Classes Hard to Justify–Education News china One class for RMB 200, a year’s worth of 48 classes for RMB 9600. These are not for students preparing to go abroad for high school, but instead cram courses training organizations are promoting to final-year kindergarten students to prepare them for interviews with top elementary schools. These classes, commonly referred to as kindergarten link classes, are a type of prep class that link kindergarten and elementary school education.

Five Years After A Quake, Chinese Cite Shoddy Reconstruction : Parallels : NPR sadly we will probably know at some point given the geology of the area// Five years after the massive Wenchuan quake in China’s Sichuan province left about 90,000 dead and missing, allegations are surfacing that corruption and official wrongdoing have plagued the five-year-long quake reconstruction effort.

Fei Chang Dao: Sina Weibo Censors “Our Lhasa is on the Verge of Destruction” On May 13, 2013, the official Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily published an article on page four of its hard copy edition entitled “Lhasa’s Old Town ‘Big Demolition Big Construction’ False (For Confirmation – See the Truth Behind the Uproar

Researchers find trickery in ancient Chinese divination – Xinhua | English.news.cn social management via turtle shells…// ”We have learned from our experiments that the appearance of certain crack patterns is basically controllable,” said Hou Yanfeng, a researcher at an archaeology laboratory under the Henan Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage. “During the Shang Dynasty, the emperor was the leader of the diviners. Thus, it is possible that he controlled public opinion via oracle bone divination,” he said.

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

Officials vow to stop rally over Kunming chemical plant | South China Morning Post The authorities in Yunnan’s provincial capital, Kunming, have attempted to thwart a big rally planned for Thursday to protest against a petrochemical refinery and a related paraxylene (PX) plant in nearby Anning , warning such a gathering would be illegal. Deputy mayor Zhao Ligong , who is also Kunming’s police chief, told some concerned residents and a local green organisation at a meeting on Sunday that “any public gathering on May 16 would be illegal, and no approval [for the protest] would be granted even if an application was made”, people who attended the meeting said.

FOOD AND TRAVEL

China nabs high-end liquor forgery gangs – Xinhua | English.news.cn The counterfeit high-end liquor included Feitian Moutai, an expensive brand of Kweichow Moutai. The profit from one bottle was more than 1,500 yuan (244 U.S.dollars), according to the ministry.

BEIJING

Beijing cracking down on illegal barbecues|Society|chinadaily.com.cn Operators of illegal barbeques face fines of up to 5,000 yuan ($813) and may have their facilities confiscated, authorities said. The city administration office steps up inspections on illegal roadside barbecues every May, and residents can file noise and pollution complaints by dialing 96310. The city’s environmental protection bureau began regulating illegal outdoor barbeques in 2000, but controlling the problem has been difficult.

北京：烂尾多年终被拆除 亚洲最大游乐园夭折–图片频道–人民网 pictures of teardown of never competed Wonderland amusement park in Changping, Beijing// 2013年05月12日，北京昌平荒废10多年的亚洲最大游乐园沃德兰游乐园最近被拆除。

北京拟禁止中介代收房租 由租赁双方直接划转_网易新闻中心 Beijing to crack down on real estate agents…good// 《北京市房地产经纪管理办法》征求意见稿中，明确规定拟禁止房屋托管，即中介代收房租赚取差价。对于 些与购房者、租房者切身利益相关的问题，也作出规定，例如，拟规定中介费在房屋过户后缴纳，以及续租时不得收取中介费。公众可在本月24日前，将书面意见和建议反馈至市住建委。

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

China plans revolution to head off fiscal crisis–The Age–John Garnaut China is drawing up a blueprint for sweeping reforms aimed at averting an economic crisis, sources with close ties to the leadership say. The reforms are aimed at revitalising the world’s second-largest economy amid deepening fears about a trend of rising corruption, wasteful investment and local government debt. Liu He, who leads the party’s Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs, has been given the task of preparing a seven-point blueprint for the Third Plenum of the 18th Communist Party Congress, which is due in about October, according to a source with close ties to several members of the Politburo Standing Committee. //Liu’s appointment to the NDRC was covered by Bloomberg in March, with experts saying his appointment very positive, so much hope now riding on the Third Plenum…

全国城镇化会议一再推迟 规划仍有修改空间_财经频道_一财网 First Financial reporting a national Urbanization conference has been delayed, leadership not satisfied with draft plans…how much are investors counting on urbanization to help commodities prices?// 时至5月，被喻为“最高规格”会议的全国城镇化会议召开时间一再推迟。 近日，接近政府人士向《第一财经日报》表示，会议一再推迟的原因可能是高层对已具雏形的城镇化发展规划不满意，草案可修改空间还很大。 媒体报道称，城镇化总体发展规划有望7月会审。记者从发改委人士处获悉，年内将出台一批城镇化的相关政策。其中，年中前后将出台总体规划，各相关部门在年末会推行一批配套政策。

国家酝酿重拳治理产能过剩 新华社——经济参考网 Economic Information says aggressive plan to deal with industrial overcapacity is imminent// 《经济参考报》记者从权威人士处获悉，化解部分行业产能过剩已经成为调整产业结构的重要任务，国家准备出台“关于化解产能过剩指导意见”，国家发改委同工信部等多部委正对此积极调研并制定相关意见，不久将以书面形式报送国务院。

China to Investigate Top Economic Policy Maker – NYTimes.com The Xinhua report did not detail the official allegations against Mr. Liu. But Mr. Luo, a deputy editor of Caijing Magazine in Beijing, said he was sure they were related to his accusations. “I know there’s a direct connection, but I can’t say any more,” Mr. Luo said in a telephone interview. “I had felt panicky before because nothing was happening, but I’ve breathed a sigh of relief now that this has happened,” he said, referring to the inquiry.

Related: 刘铁男落马内幕：情妇反目后提供关键举报信息_网易新闻中心 Liu Tienan’s jilted mistress turned on him, especially after he made death threats, called Luo Changping from overseas before he made his online accusations. Luo credits her with giving him important initial information// 核心提示：5月12日，监察部网站发布信息，国家发改委副主任刘铁男涉嫌严重违纪被调查。2012年12月6日，媒体人罗昌平曾向中纪委实名举报刘铁男，罗昌平称刘铁男情妇从日本打来越洋电话，因此获得重要的初始信息。据称刘铁男与情妇因利益关系反目后，多次对女方发出死亡威胁。

Disclosure delays help fuel online rumors |Society |chinadaily.com.cn this is the approach getting lots of play in official media recently…crackdown on one hand, be more responsive on the other// Official delays in releasing information on issues people find important is one of the main reasons rumors spread on the Internet, an expert said

Related: [视频]【本台短评】都不捧场 谣言难成气候_新闻频道_央视网 CCTV Evening News Saturday on online rumors// 互联网虚假信息能不能成气候，要看大家给不给它捧场。谣言止于智者，对于网民来说，这意味着不轻信不盲从，不带着成见偏见下结论。谣言更止于治理，对于各级政府来说，这意味着该公开的不捂着，该发布的手要快，不让公众猜疑，不让谣言发酵。公众有理性，政府有效率，谣言就不容易跑在真相前头。

互联网发展的难题与解题_观点频道_财新网 互联网既是技术产业的产物，亦是经济社会发展的投影。中国的互联网走到今天，新的管理层所负挑战与责任更大，其作为空间也更大–财新记者 杨大明

国信办开展规范互联网新闻信息传播秩序行动_网易新闻中心 SIIO launches 2 month action to standardize news and information dissemination online 

每周舆评：舆情乱象根在哪里 网络时代信任何来-财经网 surprised most of the media has missed the coordinated new campaign to better manage online discussion and public opinion..series of steps announced and rolled out over the last few weeks, along with new Internet management leadership appointment (鲁炜任国信办主任、国新办副主任–组织人事-人民网)…// 当然，近期国家打击大V“故意传播谣言”的行动正在降温舆论场，近日即有“萧山君子”、“何兵”两个新浪微博客账号因“故意传谣”分别被注销和暂停。接下来，国家互联网信息办部署将在全国范围内开展为期两个月的规范互联网新闻信息传播秩序专项行动。

Popular Chinese Writer Murong Xuecun’s Microblog Scrubbed from Sina Weibo · Global Voices

Okinawa discussion aimed to show sovereignty over Diaoyu: academics – CHINA – Globaltimes.c“We wrote the article in order to reject the Japanese claim over the Diaoyu Islands. Japan asserted that it holds sovereignty over the islets because they were part of Ryukyu, but actually in history they were never part of that chain,” Li said… “It is not our intention to talk about ‘China’s claim’ over Ryukyu as they neither belonged to China or Japan. But Japan’s repeated provocation on the Diaoyu Islands made it necessary for us to clarify these historical points,” Li said.

Related: Ryukyu issue offers leverage to China – Global Times if Japan seeks to be a pioneer in sabotaging China’s rise, China can carry out practical input, fostering forces in Okinawa that seek the restoration of the independence of the Ryukyu Chain. If Japan, binding itself with the US, tries to threaten China’s future, China should impose threats on the country’s integrity. This is a fair game. Japan is the most active provoker in China’s international strategic environment. Friendly relations with Japan can barely be realized through China’s repeated tolerance. Japan must be forced to give up its role as a political pirate and stop its endless disturbance and confrontation.

Exclusive – Airbus to China: We support you, please buy our jets | Reuters China’s decision to ease a boycott of some $11 billion in Airbus jet orders followed a high-level appeal from the planemaker urging Beijing to recognize its support over a trade row with Europe, a letter seen by Reuters shows. It gives a glimpse into the intensity of the lobbying in the dispute, which helped persuade the European Union to freeze a law on regulating international aviation emissions.

China to simplify foreign exchange rules on foreign direct investment | Reuters The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) will abolish 24 regulations regarding foreign exchange registration, account openings, remittance, and conversions, the agency said in an announcement posted to its website on Saturday. The move inches China closer to making its currency, the yuan, convertible under the capital account, and follows a previous round of FDI-related deregulation by SAFE in November last year.

Related: Xinhua Insight: China ready to free capital flows? – Xinhua | English.news.cn China’s cabinet pledged on Monday to steadily introduce market-oriented interest rate and exchange rate system reform measures, permitting individual investors to buy foreign equities and mapping out “operational” plans to make the Chinese yuan convertible under the capital acccounts. ”It’s not a surprising move. The regulators have been inching towards an opened capital account,” said Yao Wei, China economist with Societe Generale. “An opened capital account will make China’s financial market more efficient, more transparent, and up to international standards.” Since China’s cabinet did not provide a roadmap regarding easing control over the yuan, analysts believed the authorities will deal with the currency cautiously.

Analysis: Bullish yuan herd leaves China fundamentals in the dust | Reuters Investors and companies have been pouring funds into China in recent months, helping send the yuan to a series of record highs. But with evidence of a slowdown mounting, investors thinking of joining the rush into yuan would do well to remember 2011 and 2012, when fears of a Chinese hard landing sent the yuan, or renminbi, tumbling.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

China April New Yuan Loans, Money Supply Exceed Estimates – Bloomberg Lending was 792.9 billion yuan ($129 billion) in April, the People’s Bank of China said in Beijing. That compares with the median estimate of 755 billion yuan in a Bloomberg News survey and 1.06 trillion yuan in March. M2 money supply rose 16.1 percent from a year earlier, compared with the median economist forecast of 15.5 percent. Aggregate financing, a broader measure of credit, was 1.75 trillion yuan compared with a record 2.54 trillion yuan in March.

China’s new loans drop, reinforcing monetary prudency – Xinhua The country’s social financing, a measure of funds raised by entities in the real economy, amounted to 1.75 trillion yuan in April, an increase of 783.3 billion yuan from last year. By the end of April, the broad measure of money supply (M2)…increased 16.1 percent year on year to 103.26 trillion yuan, the figures showed. //above 2013 target

China issues new rules targeting wealth management fund pools: sources | ReutersChina’s bond market regulator closed off a loophole on Friday that allowed banks that sell high-yielding wealth management products (WMPs) to evade regulatory requirements by moving money between the WMP accounts they manage and their own proprietary accounts, bond traders at four Chinese banks told Reuters.

China Baosteel Cuts June Prices, First in Seven Months-Caijing China’s leading steel maker Baoshan Iron & Steel (Baosteel) has announced to cut its main steel product prices for June by around 3 percent in its first reduction in nine months. The cut, although modest, has reflected a worsened supply glut and concerns of the recovery strength in the country. Analysts are expecting its domestic peers such as Anshan Iron and steel and Wuhan Iron and Steel to follow suit, with prices moves by Baosteel, the country’s largest steel producer, usually setting the tone for the wider steel sector in the country.

Yum’s China Sales Slump 29% in April on Chicken Safety Concern – Bloomberg Analysts projected a 27 percent drop, the average of five estimates compiled by researcher Consensus Metrix. Sales dropped 36 percent at KFC while gaining 5 percent at Pizza Hut, the Louisville, Kentucky-based company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. Yum’s same-store sales fell 13 percent in March in the Asian nation.

China’s Import Data Doubted by Nomura as Tariff Revenue Slumps – Bloomberg China’s “surprisingly strong” import growth in the first four months may have been inflated by fake invoices as companies circumvented capital controls to move funds into China, according to Nomura Holdings Inc.

Analysis: $58Bln Hot Money Channeled into Mainland From Hong Kong Disguised as Trade Payments-Caijing Assume China’s export growth to Hong Kong was normal last year, cash flows disguised as trade payments into the mainland could reach around 58 billion U.S. dollars so far this year, accounting for 8.3 percent of overall export, according to a calculation by the China Securities Journal.

Swiss Watches Unworn as China Tackles Graft: Chart of the Day – Bloomberg The CHART OF THE DAY shows Chinese imports of Swiss-made watches tumbled 24 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier for a third straight decline, while shipments to Hong Kong sank 9.3 percent, according to trade data from Switzerland. The lower panel compares shares of Hengdeli Holdings Ltd. (3389) and Emperor Watch & Jewellery Ltd. (887), the biggest watch retailers traded in Hong Kong, versus the Hang Seng Index, Swatch Group AG and Cie. Financiere Richemont SA, the owner of the Cartier brand.

Bloomberg Used Private Data To Spy On Ben Bernanke And Tim Geithner – CNBC will be interesting to see how China reacts to this. How many terminals are in official offices, beyong state owned banks and financial institutions? Did/does Wang Qishan have one, for example?// Both the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury Department are examining the extent to which Bloomberg-terminal usage by top officials might have been tracked by Bloomberg journalists, CNBC has learned.

新国五条逃税暗道：三种方式省掉40%应缴税额|地税局|中介|避税_新浪财经_新浪网 nice look at three ways to get around the new real estate taxes// 《财经国家周刊》记者经过长期调查发现，实际上在北京市二手房市场也有类似黑市交易。只要政策“风平浪静”，这种逃税生意就会满街兜售，成为某些房产中介公司为购房客户提供的“增值服务”。

涨了31亿！上海一终止出让地块“重现江湖”_财经频道_一财网 price for a plot of land in shanghai’s Qingpu district 3.1B RMB higher than it was 4 months ago// 上海青浦一地块在终止出让四个月后又重新挂牌出让，但与前一次的挂牌价格相比，重出江湖的身价飙升了31亿元

POLITICS AND LAW

薄熙来未能出席恩师丧礼 被指和薄一波很像_中国_多维新闻网 sounds like an interesting funeral sunday for one of Bo Xilai’s primary school teachers, Guan Minqing..BXL did not attend…Duowei says his sister Bo Jieying and first son Li Wangzhi attended the ceremony at Babaoshan//【多维新闻】据大陆媒体报道，中共前政治局委员薄熙来的恩师、北京第二实验小学特级教师关敏卿遗体告别礼于12日上午在北京八宝山举行。薄熙来的二姐薄洁莹、长子李望知代表薄前去送别并敬送花圈。据悉现场另有很多曾接受关敏卿教育的中共元老子弟出席.

央视今晚将播出大型历史文献纪录片《苦难辉煌》 Tonight CCTV starts showing the 12 part historical documentary “Suffering and Glory” (trailer) based on 2009 book by a National defense University professor…national rejuvenation and the Chinese Dream // 　12集历史文献纪录片《苦难辉煌》根据国防大学教授金一南原著改编而成，是一部成功再现党的历史的精品力作。它多维度、宽视野、全景式再现了中国共产党自成立至长征胜利和全面抗战爆发这一历史阶段，中国共产党团结和带领人民英勇奋斗的壮丽征程和革命精神，重点刻画了从大革命失败到土地革命战争兴起、从第五次反“围剿”失败到抗日战争兴起的两次历史性转变。

党报：胡耀邦指导真理标准讨论邓小平支持_网易新闻中心 Friday was 35th anniversary of “practice is sole criterion of truth” article, symposium held, interesting historical discussion// 本报讯 经中央党校校委批准，由中央党校报刊社主办的“解放思想、改革开放、凝聚力量、攻坚克难——纪念《实践是检验真理的唯一标准》发表 35周年座谈会”于2013年5月10日在中央党校举行。

央企隐性福利：中移动发数千万健身卡 中版集团贴659万交通费 | 每经网 Audits expose some of the great benefits central SOEs give their employees…many even better than in the iron rice bowl days, no wonder people want to work at these firms, and people who don’t work there tend to not like them…// 近日，审计署公布了针对10家央企的审计报告，除了查出多起重大经济案件线索，央企名目繁多、五花八门的隐性福利也纷纷遭起底曝光，部分央企虚列开支项目、违规给员工发放福利，资金动辄千万甚至上亿元.此前，

人民日报官微：新闻发言人怎会沦为“家奴”？-搜狐滚动面对实名举报，相关政府部门将作何反应，则更令公众关心。人们注意到，刘铁男被实名举报后，国家能源局新闻办负责人不但立即否认，更声言要“报案、报警”。对此，@人民日报　昨日作出严肃批评： “从被实名举报，到新闻办负责人否认严斥，再到今天证实接受调查，刘铁男的”剧情”跌宕起伏。实名举报在先，组织调查在后，这再次说明，创造条件让公众监督，是反腐制度化不可或缺的正能量。同时也要警醒：新闻发言人本是公职，怎会沦为”家奴”，为个人背书？”

The Son also Rises: nepotism doesn’t disappear in China, it just gets a promotion | South China Morning Post There have been more reports that children of senior officials have been asked to quit their lucrative banking or private equity jobs and join state firms or government departments. That probably helps explain the surge of reports about children of officials riding the family rocket to promotion.

Court orders retrial in intl purchasing case|Society|chinadaily.com.cn On Monday, a higher court in Beijing overturned the original ruling over a former flight attendant who bought goods overseas to sell in China and handed down an 11-year sentence, and ordered a retrial of the case, Beijing News reported.

媒体揭秘中宣部中组部干部推荐书目_网易新闻中心 从推荐书目的内容来看，后几批的推荐书目逐渐向强实践性与通俗性发展。其中甚至还出现了纪录片等影视作品，如《复兴之路》、《国情备忘录》等。

Feng Shui Grows in China as Officials Seek Success – NYTimes.com According to a 2007 report by the Chinese Academy of Governance, 52 percent of the nation’s county-level civil servants admitted to believing in divination, face reading, astrology or dream interpretation.

The Supreme People’s Court: Reforming the Chinese courts the Party Way | Supreme People’s Court Monitor In April 8, 2013, the Supreme People’s Court announced that its Communist Party (Party) Committee was implementing an  “educational movement to improve judicial work style” (judicial work style movement)  in the second quarter of 2013.[i] Zhou Qiang, the newly appointed president of the Supreme People’s Court, is also the head of its Party Committee.  This clunkily named announcement, written in densely packed Party jargon, is has critical implications for the Chinese court system and all those affected by it, domestic and foreign.  Unpacking the announcement requires a Chinese political jargon decoder and a strong cup of coffee.  This posting will explain why the announcement is so important by highlighting:

成都数百公务员身份莫名消失 疑被李春城占用_网易新闻中心 这一切都发生在成都市前市委书记李春城主政期间。一位四川地方法制局人士对南方周末记者称，李春城主政成都期间，破格快速提拔了不少领导干部，占用了大量公务员名额。据《新京报》一篇报道称，在随李春城来到成都之前，其妻曲松枝只是某医院勤杂人员，成都市卫生局专门设置一个科教处并以处长职位委任之。据《南方周末》

Cultural Revolution Redux? Economist Ruffles Feathers of China’s Hawks – China Real Time Report – WSJ Liberal economist Mao Yushi is used to ruffling feathers on occasion. But lately he has made some of China’s hawks even more agitated than usual. In a campaign that some have likened to the political persecution that took place under the Cultural Revolution, the 84-year-old scholar has been the target of abusive, late-night phone calls, a wave of attacks on microblogs as well as disruptions of his lectures. He has been denounced as a traitor and targeted by demonstrators.

‘Don’t teach freedom of press or Communist Party mistakes’, Chinese academics told | South China Morning Post Wang Jiangsong, a philosophy professor at the China Institute of Industrial Relations in Beijing, said that on Tuesday he had seen the receipt of notice sent to his university’s leadership, instructing it to forbid lecturers from mentioning seven controversial issues in their classes. The seven topics were freedom of the press, a civil society, civic rights, historical mistakes committed by the Communist Party, elite cronyism, and an independent judiciary.

江青拍摄的毛泽东坐像拍得34万元(图) _资讯频道_凤凰网 340k rmb for jiang qing’s picture of mao at lushan// 中新网北京5月10日电(鲍文玉) 华辰2013春季拍卖会影像专场今日在京举行，江青作品《世界人民心中最红最红的红太阳毛主席》照片，以34万元价格成交。

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

Israel Pushes for China Investment as Xi Focuses on Peace – Bloomberg Before Netanyahu and Abbas arrived in the country, China offered to host a meeting between them to break a stalemate in peace negotiations deadlocked since 2010. Though the two didn’t take up the idea, the suggestion marked a new assertiveness in a region where Xi may also be trying to ease a standoff between Israel and Iran, a source of Chinese oil. “Beijing is certainly upping its game in the Middle East,” Willy Wo-Lap Lam, an adjunct professor of history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, wrote in an e-mail. “China is a major importer of Middle-East oil, yet its clout there has so far been limited. The Xi administration hopes that it can exert more influence in defusing the Iranian crisis given China’s huge investments in oil facilities in Iran.”

China offers subtle signals of encouragement for Netanyahu | The Times of Israel By granting the PM plenty of leadership face-time, a web chat, and the rare privilege to address future leaders, Beijing indicates to Israel that it seeks to be an honest broker with a greater Middle East role

Taiwan asks Philippine response to fisherman killing in 72 hours – Xinhua | English.news.cn Ma demanded the Philippines to apologize, clarify the truth and punish people held responsible, offer compensation for the death and the damage to the fishing boat, and start negotiations with Taiwan on a fishery agreement as soon as possible, according to a statement posted on the website of Taiwanese authority.

China’s navy forms 1st carrier-borne jet force – Xinhua | English.news.cn A carrier-borne aviation force has been formally established as part of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, military sources said on Friday. The forming of the force, approved by the Central Military Commission (CMC), demonstrates that the development of China’s aircraft carriers has entered a new phase, the sources said. The force comprises carrier-borne fighter jets, jet trainers and ship-borne helicopters that operate anti-submarine, rescue and vigilance tasks.

Boundary tensions challenge Li Keqiang’s visit – The Hindu With Chinese Premier Li Keqiang telling Indian officials on Friday that his decision to make India the destination of his first overseas visit was “carefully thought out,” both countries, officials say, are facing an increasingly difficult challenge to ensure that the visit, in nine days’ time, will meet expectations amid lingering boundary tensions. While External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid wrapped up a two-day visit here on Friday evening, Indian officials will stay on in Beijing for an additional day of talks with Chinese officials in charge of boundary affairs and with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to resolve outstanding issues.

China’s Evolving ‘Core Interests’ – NYTimes Editorial The right-wing nationalists who took power in December may be equally unwilling to put Japan’s past behind it, although the government of the new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, took a positive step on Tuesday when it said it would abide by official apologies that the country made two decades ago to victims of World War II. China and Japan have strong economic ties and are critical to regional stability. Both will lose if they stumble into war or otherwise cannot resolve this escalating dispute. Though efforts are under way to find a mutually face-saving solution, using loaded phrases like “core interests” to describe the islands only adds to the political and emotional sensitivities and will not advance that goal.

New Komeito to back postwar Constitution: policy draft – The Japan Times New Komeito, the junior member of the ruling coalition, will pledge to protect the pacifist Constitution for the Upper House election, opening a rift with nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party, a policy draft showed Sunday. The draft, obtained by Kyodo News, also said New Komeito will try to re-establish regular meetings between Japanese and Chinese leaders to mend diplomatic relations frayed by Japan’s nationalization of a tiny set of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea last September and by historical disputes.

A Dangerous Rift Between China and Japan – WSJ.com–Ian Burama Things, in short, are back to square one: Pax Americana containing China, with Japan as Washington’s loyal vassal. This might seem a stable, even comfortable, position from the U.S. point of view. In fact, it isn’t. For a long time, the Chinese put up with the U.S. being the policeman of East Asia, because the prospect of a more independent, fully rearmed, even nuclear Japan would be worse. But Japan’s role as a kind of cat’s paw of American dominance, with Japanese nationalists compensating for their subservience by indulging in bellicose talk, will be the source of ever greater tensions, which are bad for everyone, including the U.S

INSIGHT: Abe stands firm on definition of ‘aggression’ amid international outcry – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun Government officials thought they had found a way to quell the international criticism that erupted after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suggested that Japan’s wartime actions should not be defined as “aggression.” Abe, however, did not follow their script. Although he says Japan caused much damage and suffering before and during World War II, he has refused to acknowledge “aggression” on the part of the Japanese military.

Why the world is reading Gillard’s defence paper–Sydney Morning Herald In the world of words, symbols and psychology that is occupied by Chinese military strategists, the Gillard white paper is an exemplar of their success. Sun Tzu has been validated and a victory has been won. In the minds of those who steered the Australian white paper, in contrast, the new conciliatory language was a costless concession for the sake of other aspects of the relationship, but the basic strategic settings remain unchanged. The two sides are playing in the same strategic contest but by different rules.

Pentagon’s China guru David Helvey: friction is “inevitable” but mil-mil relations are “as good as its been” | The E-Ring Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia David Helvey sat with the E-Ring on Wednesday for a rare on-the-record interview about the state of relations between the Pentagon and the PLA, and their joint role in managing the North Korean nuclear standoff of the past two months…”The Chinese war-fighting commands, if you were to call it that, are reflected along military regions which are organized along interior lines. So it doesn’t go outside of China,” he explained. Most militaries, in fact, do not have officers directly comparable to U.S. combatant commanders, who command troops deployed over vast regions of the globe. Instead, the United States has tried to engage with several parts of the PLA in lieu of “a direct fit” by talking to regional commanders…

Is this China’s First Killer Drone? | Danger Room | Wired.comIt’s worth noting that China is the last major aerospace power to debut a jet-powered, low-radar-signature killer drone prototype. The U.S. has led the pack, test-flying no fewer than five UCAVs since the late 1990s and even bringing one unarmed variant, the RQ-170, into frontline service. Europe has the Neuron and Taranis models in development and Russia is working on a version of the MiG Skat.

PIX & PUBLISH Prince Charles’s man in China offers to help David Cameron improve relations with Beijing – Telegraph Sir David Tang, who leads the Prince of Wales’s charity in China, offers to help improve relations between David Cameron and the Communist regime.

China, Vietnam pledge closer bilateral ties – Xinhua | English.news.cn The sixth meeting of the China-Vietnam steering committee on cooperation was held in Beijing on Saturday, with the two sides agreeing to further advance bilateral ties.The meeting was co-chaired by Chinese state councilor Yang Jiechi and Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Thien Nhan.

Melting Ice Opens Fight Over Sea Routes for Arctic Debate – Bloomberg When the U.S., Russia and six other major stakeholders of the Arctic Council meet May 15 in the northernmost Swedish city of Kiruna, they’ll be joined by nations with observer status, including China and the European Union, that are angling for an elevated status in the diplomatic club and a greater say in the region’s future.

Clashes likely to delay Myanmar-China pipeline start-up: official | Reuters The official said operations were likely to be delayed due to recent clashes between government forces and ethnic militia fighters in Shan state, as well as “fierce fighting” with the Kachin Independence Army in Kachin, a northern state that borders China. The pipeline will be a conduit for gas from the Shwe fields off the coast of Rakhine, a western state bordering Bangladesh, to China’s Yunnan province

Around China: Jiaolong poised for South China Sea mission – Xinhua | English.news.cnThe crew are expected to leave Qingdao, a port city in east China’s Shandong Province, for the 103-day mission on June 5. As the first oceanauts for the country’s independently developed sub, the crew are aged between 29 and 34 and have helped in the development of the vessel. Among the three, only the eldest, Ye Cong, has had overseas training. He took a short course on Alvin, the U.S. manned deep submersible, in 2005.

Despite its extravagance, Chinese aid not always welcomed in Africa – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun Plans are in place to construct a new port 65 km to the north. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) initially considered providing assistance. But word of China’s funding surfaced abruptly around the time Xi’s latest visit was proposed. Chinese media reports said a Hong Kong enterprise will undertake the project, which is said to be worth $10 billion, or 40 percent of Tanzania’s gross domestic product.”..Japan nowadays cannot afford to lay out such a big sum,” a JICA official said.

With an Eye on College, Chinese Students Enroll in New York Private Schools – NYTimes.com New York City private schools have always been the province of the city’s young and wealthy, students whose home lives and educations can inspire both disdain and envy. But these students are the children of Shanghai real estate magnates, shipping giants, luxury hotel owners and doctors from coastal regions bordering the East China Sea. They are also part of a small, but growing, cadre of teenagers from wealthy families in China who are attending school in New York City. According to the Department of Homeland Security, 638 Chinese students with visas attended high schools in the city in 2012, up from 114 five years earlier. // one enjoys the tasting menu at Per Se, possibly after a tiring shopping session at Bergdorf Goodman…

去年8万中国人获美国绿卡 入籍人数连降四年_特色频道_财新网 2012年，全球又有103万人获得美国绿卡，虽然中国仍是美国新移民的第二大来源国，但人数却出现三年来的首度下滑，入籍人数也连续第四年下降。

TECH AND MEDIA

Alibaba Shows Net Profit of US$ 642 Mln in Q4 – Caixin Alibaba Group turned a net profit of US$ 642 million in the last quarter of 2012, up more than 170 percent compared to the same period a year earlier…It was the first time that a single quarter’s net profit of the e-commerce giant exceeded that of Tencent Holdings Ltd., the largest internet company in the country…Tencent had a net profit of US$ 565 million in the fourth quarter of last year, a company financial report shows, and the figure for rival Baidu Inc. was US$ 449 million.

李开复对 Facebook们曾提的那些入华建议-看点-@虎嗅网  good Huxiu interview with Kaifu Lee// 对于海外互联网公司的入华问题，或许这句台词用在创新工场CEO李开复身上再合适不过。一方面，李在微软、谷歌期间多年的中国拓展经验使其深谙中国特色与国情，另一方面，李一直保持着与硅谷最热门互联网公司（Facebook等）高层的频繁往来，熟悉美国人的诉求与心里。事实上，这些年，他对微软、谷歌、Facebook、亚马逊等都提过一些在华发展或者入华建议——不过遗憾的是，这些公司除了微软，最终都并未付诸实践。

Audit office criticizes China Mobile’s anti-graft system – People’s Daily Online China Mobile, China’s largest telecom operator, was found to have had problems in bidding and investment involving billions of yuan, according to an audit report released by the National Audit Office on Friday.

人民日报：移动终端传播色情信息 应强化监管|移动终端|监管|人民日报_互联网_新浪科技_新浪网　采访中，一些市民表示，视频播放软件、微信等新技术为公众带来了诸多便利，但涉黄漏洞要引起警惕。多位学生家长忧心，利用无线宽带和移动终端浏览“黄网”隐秘性强，家长、老师不易监管。现在中小学生都加着多个QQ群、微信群等，对智能手机运用娴熟。但未成年人自控能力差，难以抵御不良诱惑，且很容易扩散感染。

The Significance of Amazon Appstore’s Launch in China — [contextChina] / 太平洋中国通 Regardless of whether the Amazon Appstore turns out to be a harbinger of the Kindle’s release in China, its establishment is an important development on its own account.

Weekend Confidential: Jack Ma of Alibaba – WSJ.com Mr. Ma says his first order of post-CEO business will be “to sleep for three months.” He may not have that much time. He will still direct strategic and leadership development of the company, which includes helping U.S. businesses use Alibaba’s platforms to sell to customers in China and abroad. On the side, he plans to open a tai chi club with the actor Jet Li, build an entrepreneurship university in Hangzhou and continue to work on several social and environmental initiatives, including one with the Nature Conservancy.

马云李连杰建太极禅院：会员制服务 私塾授课(图)_科技频道_凤凰网 Jack Ma’s Tai Chi club looks nice

Alibaba Billionaire Ma Steps Down as CEO Before Likely IPO – Bloomberg Billionaire Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., said he plans to focus on environmental protection and education as he steps down as chief executive officer of China’s largest e-commerce company before an initial public offering.

Sina Weibo Will Monetize Through E-Commerce, Not Ads, Alibaba CTO Jian Says | TechCrunch “Weibo is pretty mature right now,” said Alibaba CTO Wang Jian in an interview. “It’s not in a fast growth period.” “I think the best way to monetize Weibo is through e-commerce, not by ads,” Jian said. “That’s what I believe. That’s my personal thought. Weibo has a very good chance to integrate with the Alibaba business.”

Apple accused of tax evasion and spreading pornography by mainland legal group | South China Morning PostT he China Association of Consumer Protection Law, in a report published by the Legal Daily newspaper, accused Apple’s online stores in China of not paying import taxes for software that they sell to mainland consumers… “Apple uses the internet to by-pass Chinese customs and reach Apple iPhone users directly,” said He Shan, the head of the association, in the report. “Apple must pay customs duties to our nation.”

Rare Move: Chinese Telecom Rivals Team Up For App Payments – WSJ China Unicom is joining up with China Mobile  — and in the future possibly China Telecom— to offer a single standardized payment plugin that could be used by the country’s many app developers and app stores.

Chinese Angel Investor: ‘Mr President, Tear Down This Wall’ – Forbes change is coming, says Xu Xiaoping, an entrepreneur-turned-angel investor in digital startups. And not a moment too soon, so that China’s Internet companies can start to take on the world. “Mr President, tear down this wall,” he says, with a grin. When might the Great Firewall be dismantled? Within five years, Xu predicts. Otherwise, he warns, China will forever lag behind in innovation, one of the government’s favoured slogans.

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

Sinica Podcast–Humor in China This week on Sinica, hosts Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn are delighted to invite guests David Moser and Jesse Appell on our show for a discussion on the differences between Chinese and American senses of humor, asking why these two cultures feel so different and where – if anywhere – they meet?

Laowai Style! Foreigner in Beijing’s Gangnam Style Parody! 《老外Style》江南style模仿版 – YouTube

Jesse Appell: Connect China and the west through humor CCTV News – CNTV English “Laowai Style” received one and a half million views on the internet, and that number is still rising. But Jesse said he himself hasn’t really felt any changes in his life from the video’s immense popularity.

人民日报-拉萨老城“大拆大建”不实（求证·探寻喧哗背后的真相） 正在进行老城区保护工程，淡化其商业功能 本报记者 韩俊杰 People’s Daily denies rumor that hit Weibo May 4 that Lhasa’s old city to be torn down, rebuilt // 5月4日，有微博称“我们的拉萨快被毁了！救救拉萨吧！”并贴出“大拆大建”的照片，指责拉萨老城被过度商业开发。大拆大建老城文物、建筑等内容是否属实？拉萨被过度商业化了吗？带着这些疑问，人民日报“求证”栏目记者走进拉萨市老城区的核心——八廓街区一探究竟。

三成剩女愿意接受二婚男 53%自己解决性生活_时尚频道_凤凰网 interesting survey by a fashion magazine of 35,500 single women on what they want in a husband// 导语：凤凰时尚一项涉及35500多位单身女人的调查显示：有3成的单身女性愿意接受二婚男人。其中调查还涉及为何单身，理想伴侣是什么？以及个人生活时间如何分配，和如何自行解决性生活。

Oversight of foreign experts to improve[1]|chinadaily.com.cn ”We will also ask foreigners to sign a declaration that they do not have a criminal record, with a promise to strictly obey laws in China, before issuing them the work permit required for a working visa.” Xia said the administration will also require educational institutions and intermediary agencies that are qualified to hire foreigners to set up special posts to verify the applicants’ curriculum vitae, making full use of the Internet and information provided by child protection organizations in the applicants’ countries of origin.

Ancient Buddhist temple in China bogged down by fake monks and debt | South China Morning Post A provincial city’s ambitious plans for turning an ancient Buddhist temple near Xian into the world capital of Buddhism and listing it on a stock exchange have stagnated, leaving the temple surrounded by fake monks and sham Buddha statues.

Chinese mourn for Wenchuan Earthquake victims – Xinhua |  Pupils mourn for victims who died in a massive earthquake five years ago in the old county seat of Beichuan, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, May 12, 2013. A memorial event was held in Beichuan on Sunday to mark the fifth anniversary of the deadly earthquake which havoced Sichuan on May 12, 2008

Author unravels mystery of plot that toppled China’s last emperor – Telegraph in 1912, as China boiled with revolution, his own adoptive mother, the Empress Dowager Longyu, signed abdication papers forcing him from the Dragon Throne.  Ever since, students of the end of the imperial dynasty have puzzled over why she appeared so willing to do so. Now Jia Yinghua, a 60-year-old historian and former government official, has discovered the answer: she was bribed with 20,000 taels, or 1700lb, of silver, and warned she might end up being beheaded if she refused.

In China, Vulnerable Women, Unwritten Rules : The New Yorker In both cases, the essential dynamic was similar: a sudden perception that a woman of modest power was being abused by others in a position of authority, and the true nature of things was being covered up. Very few of the people commenting on the case had ever met either of the women in question, and yet their cases resonated with a broadly felt sense that a deeper set of unjust principles underlie the way that crime, punishment, and power are handled. Those principles have come to be known as the qian guize—the “unwritten rules”—and to fall victim to them is to be, as they say in Chinese, “unwritten ruled.” Not long ago, I asked the man who coined the term how it came to be. His name is Wu Si, and he is the editor of Yanhuang Chunqiu, a pugnacious magazine devoted to history and politics

Monkey ‘survived bear mauling’ in animal Olympics show – Telegraph The monkey that was attacked by a bear when an animal Olympics event in China went badly wrong was apparently not injured and both creatures have resumed performing the same act, a zoo official claimed.

OF COURSE Radicals | Sinosplice I bring this up because over and over again, I run into claims of a “secret” to or a “new method” for learning Chinese: radicals. Yes, it’s a bit of information you might not know when you first take an interest in Chinese, so it’s definitely worth stating explicitly to any new learner. But it’s not a “revolutionary way” to learn Chinese. It’s one of the fundamental building blocks of the Chinese written language. In fact, the Chinese themselves coud not possibly commit to memory the huge quantity of characters that literate adults know if the system did not somehow build on itself

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

人民日报-广东以环保责任考核破解执法怪圈 市长治污不力 将被一票否决 本报记者 邓圩 Guangdong mayors to be penalized now if they do not deal with pollution? so says People’s Daily

环境污染治理市场望扩容 涉三大领域 – [中国证券网] what are some us or hk listed forms that would benefit from unannounced policy moves and investments to address china’s environmental crisis?// [编者按]目前国务院已责成环保部牵头，就全国大气污染防治、全国水污染防治和全国农村环境保护三项内容，拟定有关行动计划。业内人士认为，我国大气、水和农村环境污染防治领域的市场空间，将在政策刺激下进一步扩容。

China Policy Institute Blog » NGOs, Adaptive Capacity, and Hydropower Politics in China The increasing environmental protests in China are testimony to the fact that the environment has become a hotbed of popular discontent..The enormous improvement of Chinese environmental and resettlement legislation since the beginning of the reform period means that the Chinese central government has recognised this link at least in theory, has learnt from past policy failures, and has become responsive to nation-wide discontent.

Biohit Targets China as Key Market for Cancer-Prevention Product – BloombergA genetic mutation common among east Asian people inhibits their ability to process acetaldehyde, Korpela said. Half the world’s stomach cancer cases occur in eastern Asia, mainly in China, according to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Shanghai Residents Protest Battery Plant Over Potential Pollution · Global Voices  Several thousand miles away to the east, in the Songjiang district of China’s financial hub Shanghai, angry protesters ventured out on a weekend with banners in hand, and one goal in mind—to drive out any plant project that could damage their livelihood. Residents worry the lithium plant would cause heavy metal pollution in an area that provides much of the drinking water to the city of 200 million.

BEIJING

安徽女孩北京坠亡续：京温商城赔偿死者家属40万_网易新闻中心 400,000 RMB compensation for the Anhui woman who died in a fall at Beijing’s jingwen Building. Jingwen management paid, reason being they had a security lapse that allowed her to enter the building after hours//  人民网合肥5月11日电  近日，安徽庐江籍女子袁某在北京京温服装商城内坠楼引起社会各界关注。据最新了解，5月10日，该案双方就赔偿已达成协议，京温服装商城在停止营业后未能及时清理闲杂人员，让袁某深夜能够逗留在商城内，存在管理上的疏漏，赔偿死者家属各项损失共40万元。

北京簋街 汉族餐饮店与藏族摊贩群殴 – YouTube video of Han Chinese restaurant workers and Tibetan (or Qiang?) peddlers brawling on Beijing’s “Ghost street” Sunday, uploaded to Youtube by Ai Weiwei

BOOKS AND LITERATURE

Enigma of China: An Inspector Chen Novel (Inspector Chen Cao): Qiu Xiaolong: Amazon Zhou Keng—a trusted princeling, son of a major party member—was head of the Shanghai Housing Development Committee when a number of his corrupt practices were exposed on the internet.  Removed from his position and placed into extra-legal detention, Zhou apparently hanged himself while under guard.  While the Party is anxious to have Zhou’s death declared a suicide, and for the renowned Chief Inspector Chen to sign off on that conclusion, the sequence of events don’t quite add up.

Publisher’s Weekly Review: The Enigma of Crime: An Inspector Chen Novel by Qiu Xiaolong The dilemmas of being an ethical cop in a police state have rarely been as neatly delineated as in Qiu’s superb eighth novel featuring Chief Insp. Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Bureau

JOBS AND EVENTS

Kaiser Kuo Meet the Media Guru is hosting an event in Milano the 30th of May in which Kaiser Kuo will recount the development of Baidu and and its international strategies.He will highlight the key elements to understand the ecosystem of social media in China, as well as how the Internet is changing the civil society and how digital technologies are impacting the economic system of the Middle Empire.

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

人民日报-论钓鱼岛及其附近海域自古以来 就是中国疆域组成部分（厘清钓鱼岛问题②） 李国强　侯毅 People’s Daily Friday has part 2 of the CASS scholars arguments about China’s Diaoyu-related maritime claims, this whole argument looks to be about reiterating the point that the Diaoyus are unquestionably China’s, not about taking Okinanwa and other Ryukyus, though why then did MOFA spokesman not clarify?// 可见，中国政府历来将钓鱼岛视为中国疆域的组成部分，不仅从未承认日本的非法占有，而且行使了管辖权。无论从历史、地理还是从法理的角度来看，中国对钓鱼岛拥有无可争辩的主权。这是无可争辩的事实。（作者分别为中国社会科学院中国边疆史地研究中心研究员、助理研究员）

Related: China Newspaper Challenges Japan’s Claim on Okinawa – China Real Time Report – WSJ The paper — which focused mostly on the issue of the Senkaku islands — stopped short of calling Okinawa a part of China. “Our so-called ‘reconsideration’ is absolutely not saying the Ryukus belong to China or the Ryukus should belong to China,” said Li Guoqiang, one of the authors of the commentary, in an interview on Wednesday. Mr. Li, a researcher at the state-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the ongoing territorial dispute prompted his commentary. “We’re pointing out the facts, telling the Japanese government that if there are questions about the Ryukyus, then they can’t even begin to talk about the Diaoyus,” he said

China and the Middle East: Playing the peacemaker? | The Economist In the end there was no handshake, nor was one ever likely. China’s rising political and economic might, and its growing appetite for energy, mean it has more at stake in the Middle East than it used to, but it still lacks the clout to knock heads together. Chinese aid to the Palestinian side is dwarfed by what America and others give. And despite growing bilateral trade and technology ties, China “is in no position to coerce Israel to do anything it doesn’t want,” says Robert Ross of Boston College. Nor is it clear that China really has any desire to involve itself more deeply. It may seem as if China wants to play a bigger role, says Yin Gang of China’s Academy of Social Sciences, but the truth is that it is outsiders who really want this. “We have enough problems in our own neighbourhood.”

Related:  人民日报-习近平会见以色列总理 President Xi meets with President Netanyahu, gets People’s Daily and CCTV Evening News [视频]习近平会见以色列总理_新闻频道_央视网 top billing as expected

Chinese president meets Israeli PM, pledges efforts for peace in Middle East – Xinhua ”(We) hope that Israel and Palestine will make joint efforts and take credible measures to build mutual trust step by step, as well as resume peace talks at an early date,” he told Netanyahu during Thursday’s meeting. China will continue adhering to an impartial stance in order to facilitate talks, make contributions to resolving problems and realize peace and stability in the Middle East. During the meeting, Netanyahu said he appreciates China’s commitment to the peace process in Middle East, adding that Israel is willing to communicate with the Chinese side on the issue.

北京女子散布“保安强奸京温女孩”谣言被控制_新闻_腾讯网 Beijing woman who spread rumor that “security guards raped a woman at the jingwen building” has been detained by Beijing police..the death of the woman from Anhui and the belief in a coverup sparked Wednesday’s protest // 昨日，经警方工作，已将在互联网散布谣言的一名嫌疑人马某（女，28岁，北京市丰台区人）控制。经审查，马某供认，其听到有人议论京温商城坠楼安徽女青年是被人强奸后跳楼，便在其微博上自行编写发布内容为“京温女孩被七名保安强奸，警察拒不立案”等博文。

Related: 学习时报_2013-05-06_党校教育专刊 理论科研_提高领导干部网络社会管理能力– 访中央党校政法部傅思明教授 interesting interview in Study Times with Fu Siming, a professor at the Central Party School, about how the leadership can improve their “Internet Social Management” abilities…lots of smart people here working on the challenge of managing the Internet. whatever readers may think of those attempts, it is dangerous to underestimate either the resolve, the adaptability or the skills the government is bringing to bear on this// 傅思明，中央党校政法部教授，博士生导师。研究方向：宪法、行政法、突发事件应对法。国务院行政审批制度改革工作专家咨询组成员、北京市政府立法工作法律专家委员会委员… 总之，对于虚拟社会管理，不能沿用计划经济体制下那一套管理方式和工作方法。要多引导，少禁止；多对话，少命令；多解释，少指责。尽量化解可能出现的社会矛盾。同时要建立健全网络管理队伍，始终保持对网络舆情的高度敏感，做好预案，及时应对。

两个故意传播谣言微博账号被注销和暂停 – 新华时政 – 新华网 one sina weibo account deleted, one suspended for spreading rumors. He Bing’s account suspended, he has 416k followers, see this week’s Dealbook column for background on the latest efforts to rein in Weibo  //  新华网北京5月10日电 记者从国家互联网信息办网络新闻协调局了解到，“萧山君子”、“何兵”两个新浪微博客账号因故意传谣分别被注销和暂停。

The Jamestown Foundation: The “Two Incompatibles” and PLA Self-Assessments of Military Capability Recently, a Beijing-based defense attaché from a NATO country was reported saying, “Our assessment is they [the People’s Liberation Army] are nowhere near as effective as they think they are” (Foreign Policy, May/June 2013). Though the foreign officer did not provide further details, contrary to this attaché’s assertion, a large body of evidence in the official domestic Chinese military and Communist Party media suggests People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers—ranging from the senior leadership to operational and tactical commanders as well as staff officers—do not judge the Chinese military to be anywhere near as effective as many foreigners do. ..Some readers may be skeptical and assume this evaluation is part of a grand strategic deception plan (Sun Tzu said, “All warfare is based on deception”), but nearly all instances of the “Two Incompatibles” and most functional assessments are found in newspapers and journals directed at a Chinese audience. They have not been included in any of the externally-oriented defense white papers.

Related: [视频]歼-10复杂气象下考核加受油_新闻频道_央视网 video of mid-air refueling of J-10 in complex weather conditions makes Thursday CCTV Evening News

Inside the Ring: China reins in North Korea – Washington Times Gertz// Clear signs are emerging for the first time indicating that China is responding to U.S. pressure to help modify belligerent behavior by Beijing’s fraternal communist ally in North Korea…U.S. pressure was delivered to the Chinese during meetings with Chinese official Wu Daiwei in Washington and in meetings in Beijing between Secretary of StateJohn F. Kerry and senior Chinese officials.

China condemns “barbaric” shooting of Taiwanese fisherman – Xinhua | English.news.cn The spokesman for the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Thursday strongly condemned the reported fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Filipino military.

Huawai Founder Ren Zhengfei Speaks To Media For First Time | Stuff.co.nz The founder and president of Chinese technology giant Huawei, Ren Zhengfei, has used a visit to New Zealand to speak to the media for the first time in his career. Ren, 68, had never previously consented to media interviews inside or outside of China, but this morning fielded questions from a handful of journalists at Wellington’s Museum Hotel on topics ranging from his personal view of China’s human rights record to a rumour he will soon retire.

Closer Look: Divining Clues on the Future of Reform – Caixin A regular State Council meeting on May 6 chaired by Premier Li Keqiang showed some clues about the new leadership’s mid- and short-term reform plans. Experts see it as a prelude to the third plenary meeting of the Communist Party’s 18th National Congress slated for this autumn, during which economic reform measures are expected to be unveiled.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

JP Morgan: China’s Shadow Banking Totals 36Tln, 69% of GDP at End of 2012-Caijing The total size of shadow banking which is about 69% of GDP or 27% of bank assets by the end of 2012, is still relatively small when compared with the size of the economy and the banking system, said JP Morgan.

The Myth of the Housewife Gold Titans – Economic Observer  With the scores of Chinese women snatching up gold products as prices plummeted, many have credited them with single-handedly stabilizing the price. However, this is likely very exaggerated.

The People’s Money: Why Chinese Stocks Are Alluring – WSJ.com how many times has this been said over the years?// Chinese stocks are cheap compared with their history, too. They are trading at a 27% discount to their historical average price-to-earnings ratio. By comparison, stocks in Indonesia and the Philippines are both trading at premiums of more than 40% compared with their historical averages. China’s steep discount looks excessive considering economic growth has remained solid. “By any standard, China’s GDP growth is still among the highest in the world, but stock valuations are among the cheapest in the region,” said Mingchun Sun, Asia economist for Daiwa Securities. “Now is a good time to go against the crowd and take a more positive stance on China.”

After rough patch in China, Yum looks to repair image | Reuters U.S.-listed Yum, which has over 39,000 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants in more than 130 countries, has launched a campaign called “Operation Thunder” to reverse the loss of confidence in China, its biggest market. It also appears to have a tie-up with Shanghai-based consultancy CIC, one of the largest social media management firms in China that harvests over 100 million consumer comments online every month from a range of Chinese social media sites. Sam Flemming, the chief executive CIC, told Reuters he could not comment on Yum’s media strategy because of a “client relationship” between his firm and the U.S.-listed chain.

PBOC Says China Shouldn’t Be ’Blindly Optimistic’ on Inflation – Bloomberg China will continue to pursue a prudent monetary policy to keep prices stable, the People’s Bank of China said in its first-quarter monetary policy implementation report. The bank will also further push forward interest-rate liberalization and reform of mechanisms for forming the yuan’s exchange rate, according to the report.

Steel Industry Forges Ahead with Reform – Caixin After nearly three decades operation, Jiangsu-based Shagang Group, one of the country’s largest private steel makers, is legitimate in the eyes of regulatory authorities. Shagang is among the 45 steel companies that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in early April had met regulations issued in 2012 to officially enter the industry. Fifteen of the companies are privately owned. For many steel companies like Shagang the news is remarkable because it means finally getting full legitimacy from the regulator.

Too Much Trust in Local Finances – China Real Time Report – WSJ According to data issued Wednesday by the China Trustee Association, a government-backed industry body, trust companies funneled 461 billion yuan ($75.2 billion) worth of new funding to infrastructure projects in the first three months of 2013 (here in Chinese http://www.xtxh.net/sjtj/15547.html)–-more than in the preceding six months combined.

北京二套房贷首付调至七成_中国经济网 70% downpayment now required to get a mortgage when purchasing a second home in beijing// 记者从多家银行了解到，央行营管部公布的“二套房贷首付调至7成，贷款利率依然为基准利率的1.1倍”的二套房贷细则，在北京已经开始全面施行。

NDRC Takes Aim at Pricing of Enterprise Bonds – Caixin The regulator of enterprise bonds has ordered underwriters to change their preferred pricing mechanism so issuance can be more transparent, several sources with knowledge of the matter say. This is the latest effort by authorities relevant to the bond market, which also include the central bank and the securities regulator, to clean up the interbank bond market and close regulatory loopholes, after several executives from large financial institutions were arrested over suspected financial crimes that took advantage of the trading mechanism.

80次“出口”如何套取海量热钱_财经频道_一财网 first financial looks at the trade data (and system) is gamed // 一笔1000万元的货物“出口”80次，可以贡献8亿元亮丽的出口数据。 刘涛（化名）是深圳一家电子出口企业老总，这个“深喉”昨天向《第一财经日报》记者揭开了一些外贸企业出口虚增的“暗道”，其中一大隐蔽手法是，境内企业通过伪造出口获得境外贷款的资质，由此套取外汇入境。如此这般，这笔“本金”既可以获得利率和汇率的差价收益，也可以用来购买银行短期理财产品。

Factory women: Girl power | The Economist So desperate have some factories become for cheap labour that they are allowing men to work on production lines once exclusively reserved for women. But this does not mean China’s factory women are giving up and going home. The toy workers, many of them in their 30s or 40s, who have been working at the factory since it opened some 20 years ago, are typical of their generation of migrants. They have become urban and their children know nothing else. “We can’t plant fields now”, says one. No, agrees another, “We can’t go back”.

China April Passenger-Vehicle Sales Rise 13% on New Models – Bloomberg Wholesale deliveries of cars, multipurpose and sport-utility vehicles climbed to 1.44 million units in April, according to the state-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News had a median estimate of 1.404 million units.

China’s Vision for a ‘New’ Urbanization – China Real Time Report – WSJ The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s state planning agency, is due to produce a report later this year laying out a path for a new kind of urbanization. Li Tie, director general of the NDRC’s China Center for Urban Development, said the report involves a “new model of city development,” which would include three main parts:

Is There Political Peril in Letting China’s Cities Grow? – China Real Time Report – WSJ The reason megacities are so dangerous politically, Mr. Wallace argues, is because they bring together masses of people and make it easier for them to organize and protest. “Having a preponderance of the urban population reside in a few large cities, especially the capital, represents a mixed blessing: increasing the risk of turmoil along with (the) economic development” that comes from urbanization, Mr. Wallace writes in his paper. Mr. Wallace notes that China has used its hukou household registration system to keep migration controlled.

Jeremy Wallace – Research Cities, Redistribution, & Authoritarian Regime Survival (forthcoming, Journal of Politics). How does redistributive policy affect the survival of authoritarian regimes? I argue that redistributive policy in favor of cities, while a temporary measure reducing urban grievances, in the long-run undermines regime survival by inducing urban concentration. I test the argument using cross-national city population, urban bias, and non-democratic regime survival data in the post-WWII period. The results show that urban concentration is dangerous for dictators principally by promoting collective action, that urban bias induces urban concentration, and that urban bias represents a Faustian bargain with short-term benefits overwhelmed by long-term costs.

Paying for the great urbanization of China | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists what can be done to make this huge urbanization successful for China, and for the world? There are four realms that Chinese leaders must tackle: urban layout, transportation, and buildings must be rethought, and the financial incentives that drive today’s development patterns must be flipped. This last issue, finance, is perhaps the most neglected, but it drives all the other decisions, and so cannot be ignored.  If China is to develop in an environmentally and economically sound way, it is going to need a new way of financing the infrastructure required for more livable, healthy designs of its cities.

POLITICS AND LAW

李春光先生的微博 新浪微博-随时随地分享身边的新鲜事儿 Zhu Ling family’s lawyer responds to the Beijing Public security bureau statement on the case, posted on Weibo

Chinese Leader Praises Mao Instead of Burying Him — And Splits Weiberati | Tea Leaf Nation A recent editorial on Guangming Daily, one of the Communist Party’s mouthpiece newspapers, has revealed that in a January meeting, the new Chinese leader had pointed out: Had Deng Xiaoping completely repudiated Mao Zedong in 1981, would our Party have been able to survive? Would the socialist system have been able to survive in our country? No, they would not have been able to survive, and that would have lead to chaos in China. // 党报披露：习近平指若全盘否定毛泽东 党还站得住吗？-财经网 习近平同志在论述改革开放前后两个历史时期的关系时，明确提出：“不能用改革开放后的历史时期否定改革开放前的历史时期，也不能用改革开放前的历史时期否定改革开放后的历史时期。”

江青所拍“毛泽东在庐山”照片在北京拍卖(图)_资讯频道_凤凰网 Jiang Qing’s famous picture of Mao Zedong in a wicker chair in Lushan goes up for auction in Beijing today, estimate 30-50,000 rmb, bet will go much higher, will make a great gift to someone// 江青于1961年拍摄的毛泽东在庐山坐像（手工上色），将于5月10日在北京华辰春季拍卖会上拍，估价3至5万元人民币。

Kong Qingdong ordered to apologise for calling Beijing student ‘dog, traitor’ | South China Morning Post this disqualify Kong from a seat in that Jiang/Bell mooted Confucian house of lords? // A Beijing court has ordered controversial Peking University scholar Kong Qingdong to apologise to a law student for calling him a “dog” and a “traitor” online.  Kong, who claims to be a descendant of Confucius, is one of China’s most prominent nationalistic internet voices. On Wednesday, the Haidian District People’s Court in Beijing ordered him to pay 200 yuan (HK$253) in damages to Guan Kaiyuan, a 22-year-old law student at the China Institute of Industrial Relations in Beijing, and cover 1,000 yuan in administrative costs.

The Jamestown Foundation: Binding the Baton: Expanding Police Power, Improving Accountability While the new zhengfa team has made significant personnel and organizational changes, it is basically cleaving to established practices regarding operational doctrines and approaches. In line with the imperative that President Xi has put on upgrading the technological standards of both the army and police, more resources are being spent on developing and procuring state-of-the-art equipment.

人民日报-严禁“以园养园”　确保公园姓“公” 住建部将检查公园违规建餐馆会所 规划要让市民出行300—500米见公园绿地 crackdown may be coming on illegal clubs and restaurant inside parks…this mean Beijing’s Jianyi Gongguan is in trouble?

人民日报-永葆共产党人的政治本色 张本正　薛保国 □共产党人的政治本色，是共产党人政治生命的基因，是党的事业枝繁叶茂的根系。它集中体现为坚定理想信念、永远服务人民、坚持务实进取、保持艰苦奋斗等精神特质。 □丢掉本色，就是忘记过去，就意味着背叛。永葆政治本色，是共产党人毕生的不懈追求。为此，要在不断加强学习、提升党性修养、自觉躬行实践上下功夫。

人民日报-改进作风须乘势而上（思想纵横） 谢兵良 are we going to get some sort of a Party Rectification campaign in the near future? // 乘势而上，可以从“三个结合”入手。一是树立正面典型与剖析反面例子结合。及时回头看，既认真总结、宣传各地落实八项规定的好做法、好经验，表扬和树立正面典型，加强引导，汇聚改进作风的正能量；又查找、分析存在的不足和问题，通报和曝光反面例子，加强警示，形成改进作风的威慑力。二是突破难点与整体推进结合。既抓住重点、难点，出重拳把当前群众反映强烈的公款大吃大喝、公车私用等问题解决好，打好攻坚战，积小胜为大胜；又通盘考虑，步步为营，打好组合拳，整体推进。三是集中教育与制度建设结合。将改进作风与即将开展的群众路线教育活动结合起来，既通过集中教育活动增强改进作风的内生动力，增强党员干部的自觉性；又进一步深化改革，加强顶层设计，为加强作风建设提供坚强的制度保障。

Revolutionary’s descendant Ye Zhonghao emerges on political stage | South China Morning Post Ye Zhonghao, the 30-year-old secretary of the league’s committee in Yunfu , was also “elected” as a delegate to the league’s national congress during its Guangdong provincial congress late last month, the online version of People’s Daily reported yesterday.

杨继绳：周有光的眼光-财经网 在世界公民眼里，祖国就是祖国，政府就是政府，二者不是一回事。政府是匆匆过客，而祖国永恒；政府有优劣之分，而祖国永远是美丽的。爱国和爱政府不能划等号。党和政府也不能划等号，党更不能和国家划等号

北京“小官大贪”案件频现 情人多成突破口_新闻_腾讯网 新京报讯 昨日，昌平区检察院反贪局通报，过去5年共立案侦查各类贪污贿赂案件78件98人，涉案案值1.06亿元。这些案件中，超过六成是“身边的腐败”，涉及工程建设、医药卫生等多个领域，“小官大贪”成为特点。

Blind activist’s brother bashed in China Chen Guangfu says his family has endured a campaign of harassment beginning last month, ahead of the first anniversary of the escape of his brother Chen Guangcheng from house arrest to seek asylum at the US mission in Beijing.

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

Chinese vice premier, U.S. treasury secretary discuss ties – Xinhua So Wang Yang is China’s point man for those talks?// Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang discussed bilateral relations with U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew by phone on Thursday. Wang made the phone call in the capacity of a special envoy to Chinese President Xi Jinping while Lew is a special envoy to U.S. President Barack Obama. In the phone call, the two special envoys exchanged views on a broad range of issues such as China-U.S. economic ties, the global economic and financial situation and the preparatory work for the fifth China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

The Jamestown Foundation: China’s Response to Pentagon Report “Baseless, Counterproductive” What is remarkable about Beijing’s statements about the annual report is that they reveal what might be a growing divorce between the propaganda and policy systems. At the very least, China’s counterproductive response—translated into English for foreign consumption—suggests an uncertain commitment to dialogue over the challenges in U.S.-China relations.

Abe clarifies history stance / Suffering of Asian nations recognized – The Japan News Abe still weaseling around the “invasion” term. unhelpful, US needs to be more forceful in encouraging him to be more constructive// Meanwhile, with regards to the definition of the term “invasion,” Abe said on April 23 that the term has not yet been clearly defined in academic and international contexts. During the Diet committee meeting Wednesday, Abe said, “There are various arguments in the academic field…But as a politician, I will not pry into it.” After Abe’s series of remarks on his perception of history, China and South Korea have intensified their criticism, particularly in connection with the recent visits by members of his Cabinet to Yasukuni Shrine, where Class-A World War II criminals are enshrined together with the war dead.

时事：毛泽东点头冲绳归日本 _国际_多维新闻网【多维新闻】中国外交部1964年关于冲绳主权一事，向各地大使馆发出了写有“当然应该归还日本”的电报。日媒称，这得到了毛泽东的点头同意。日本时事通讯社5月9日报道称，中国外交部1964年，关于“美国施政下的冲绳”主权一事，按照毛泽东的意愿，向各地大使馆发出了写有“当然应该归还日本”的电报，向外交部门做出了明确的指示。日本时事通讯社称其在中国外交部档案馆找到了作为“外交文件”保留的原电报副本。

BBC News – Japan protests over Chinese article on Okinawa sovereignty He told a news conference on Thursday that Tokyo had told Beijing via diplomatic channels that it strongly protested if the article represented an official stance, Kyodo news agency reported. China said the article was written by the authors in their capacity as researchers, Mr Suga said.

Border dispute exposes faultline in China-India relations – FT.com Zhang Xiaodong, a scholar at the Shanghai branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in an article published last week that Beijing was in fact following a strategy of grabbing opportunities to expand its range of control across the region. He applauded the strategy but said China was ill-advised to open a new front with India in this game at the same time disputes were flaring with Japan and in the South China Sea because this raised the risk of its neighbours teaming up against Beijing.

China-PLA: 2nd comes right after 1st–Lowy Interpreter  As the recent Carnegie study on China’s Military and the US-Japan Alliance in 2030 puts it, the status quo is unsustainable. The question is whether the US and its allies insist on maintaining US primacy by matching or surpassing China’s military growth and accompanying this with an offensively-oriented strategy, or whether they are content to see US-led primacy eroded gradually in favour of a more cooperative (though at times tense) form of balancing.

N. Korea asks China to hire idled Kaesong workers – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun North Korean authorities asked their Chinese counterparts to hire North Korean workers withdrawn from the symbolic inter-Korean joint venture in the Kaesong industrial complex, according to a local government source here. It is believed that cash-strapped Pyongyang sought to maintain a valuable source of hard currency by switching partners to China, which, as it turned out, declined the proposal, according to the source.

Boris trumps PM with visit to China – Telegraph Boris Johnson is to visit China for a trade mission even though the Beijing government is furious with David Cameron for meeting the Dalai Lama

人民日报-雄鹰放飞强军梦 ──记爱党报国、爱军精武的藏族连长拉巴次仁

Rocks, maps, lines… Arbitrate! A Primer to the Philippines’ South China Sea Arbitration Challenge to China | East by Southeast Earlier in January this year, the Philippines submitted a unilateral challenge to China on certain key aspects of their ongoing dispute in South China Sea (SCS) maritime delimitations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS). This challenge will take the form of an arbitration case before the International Tribunal on the Law of the Seas (ITLOS). To the uninitiated, this move is intriguing but unclear as to its real-world implications for international maritime law or the future of SCS geopolitics. The following primer attempts to translate the dense jargon of maritime law, distill the meanings behind subtle diplomatic language of Claimant States, and untangle the intricate web of geopolitical maneuvering to provide a clearer, layman picture of this case and its implications for the SCS disputes.

MOC queries World Bank China business report – Xinhua | English.news.cn The Ministry of Commerce disagrees with the depiction of China’s business environment in a report released by the World Bank, spokesman Yao Jian said on Thursday. The report, publicized in October of 2012, compared business regulations and implementation in 185 countries and regions, among which China ranked 91st. [ Yao said the report could help China build a better business environment fitting "the world standard, the rules of the World Trade Organization and more benefits for enterprises".

TECH AND MEDIA

‘Iron Man 3’ – ‘So Young’ Duel Smashes Chinese Box Office Records. Are Hollywood’s Fortunes Turning? | chinafilmbiz 中国电影业务 Good for China’s producers and distributors, yes. For Hollywood, it’s hard to get too enthused. This past week was a positive blip in what continues to be a confounding and rather distressing trend for American studio films in China.

Lenovo Will Debut First Africa Smartphone in Nigeria by Year-End - Bloomberg The Chinese company, the world’s second-biggest maker of personal computers, picked Nigeria because, unlike in South Africa, it doesn’t have to work with local telecommunications companies in order to sell its phones, according to Graham Braum, general manager of Africa for Beijing-based Lenovo. South Africa is Africa’s biggest economy while Nigeria is the second largest.

阿里巴巴将入股高德：成第一大股东 布局O2O|阿里|高德|阿里巴巴_互联网_新浪科技_新浪网 Alibaba buying 20-30% stake in Autonavi? I've own (a handful) of shares in AMAP for months, on the bet someone would buy them //　多位消息人士确认，阿里巴巴即将入股高德(Nasdaq:AMAP)，占股约为20%~30%左右，或成为第一大股东，消息暂定于下周一公布。

China market: Rising popularity of tablets with 3G functionality to benefit MediaTek, Qualcomm With branded vendors including Acer and Asustek Computer now foraying into the US$149-169 tablet segment, white-box tablet makers in China have been forced to use more 3G chips for production differentiations and performance upgrading, the sources noted.

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

Domestic violence by men 'shocking': survey[1]|chinadaily.com.cn An international survey on domestic violence that interviewed more than 2,000 Chinese found that half of male respondents confessed they have physically or sexually abused their wives or girlfriends. James Lang, program coordinator of Partners for Prevention, a regional joint program by four United Nations agencies including the UN Population Fund, said “some preliminary findings are shocking”.

陕西法门寺被曝每个功德箱都有创收指标_网易新闻中心 核心提示：近日，媒体报道陕西法门寺每一个功德箱都有创收指标，每一尊佛像都有天价的供养标价。清净之地成叫卖之所，其间充斥诳语与骗局。法门寺景区明码标价背后，是建立“世界佛都”的宏大计划。

Inside the Home and Studio of Ye Yongqing – WSJ.com He is one of a large number of artists who have set up studios in this area of the Yunnan province, southwestern China, in recent years. Many consider Mr. Ye the godfather of this growing artistic community, which has helped burnish Dali’s reputation as a tourist destination.

Bear Vs. Monkey Bicycle Race Ends With Bear Eating Monkey–Deadspin video, somewhere in China

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

China doesn’t want your trash anymore—and that could spell big trouble for American cities – Quartz What’s going on is this: the Chinese government just launched Operation Green Fence, forbidding the import of certain types of solid waste, including unwashed plastics and other illegal waste mixed in with the good stuff. This is a problem for the US because China is the primary source of demand for its to-be-recycled plastic exports (pdf):

MEP Upholds that Soil Pollution Data is a “State Secret” – Economic Observer After controversially declaring soil pollution data a “state secret,” the Ministry of Environmental Protection is still refusing to reverse its decision, saying it will release the data when it’s ready.

四川石化将邀请公众实地考察彭州石化项目_资讯频道_凤凰网 成都商报讯 记者从中国石油四川石化有限公司了解到，从近日起，公司将采取多种形式，在法定的正式验收之前，有序邀请公众考察彭州石化项目，听取意见，接受监督。

FOOD AND TRAVEL

‘Red Obsession’ Documentary Traces China’s Bordeaux Wine Boom – China Real Time Report – WSJ In March 2011, Warwick Ross began shooting “Red Obsession,” his new documentary about China’s impact on the Bordeaux market. It was good timing, he now acknowledges, having captured the height of the wine boom. “The arc we saw over the rest of the year was Shakespearean in proportions,” he said in an interview. “There was arrogance, greed and hubris among the French. We had no idea it would unravel like that.”

BEIJING

Series of measures to protect Hutong – Xinhua | English.news.cn differing definitions of “protection”// Photo taken on April 27, 2013 shows a view of old houses which has been renovated at Nanluoguxiang, one of Beijing’s oldest hutong neighborhoods, in Dongcheng District in Beijing, capital of China. Local administration has taken a series of measures to protect Hutong, ancient architecture and courtyards in Dongcheng District, including renovation and putting up brands with Chinese-English bilingual introduction for old buildings.

Today’s People’s Daily has a piece on the Zhu Ling case in its page 5 commentary section saying that transparency is the best antidote–人民日报-朱令案，公开是一剂解毒良药.

ChinaFile has a very informative, ongoing conversation about this tragic case. The groundswell of public opinion has forced some movement by the authorities, but might there be a backlash once things settle down? Managing social media is so important now that there is a rumor going around that each of the top leaders has his own “social media” secretary.

Those salacious online exposes (New Yorker) of official corruption look to be a thing of the past as the tips are now being channeled into official outlets and at least one activist pushing for asset disclosure is in big trouble (Reuters). Xinhua reports that informant webpages help China gather corruption tip-offs:

Informant webpages opened on China’s major online media outlets last month have been effective in encouraging netizens to provide anti-corruption tips in an orderly manner, authorities said Wednesday. The State Internet Information Office (SIIO) made the remarks in a statement hailing a simultaneous move by websites run by the Xinhua News Agency, the People’s Daily, as well as firms Sina, Sohu and Netease, to open special informant webpages on April 19.

Wednesday’s CCTV Evening News also covered the officially sanctioned tip sites–国内主要网站网络监督专区广受关注.

Citizens want more transparency, the government says it will provide more transparency, but could more transparency be more destabilizing than opacity? No one can accuse Xi Jinping of having an easy job.

Today’s Links:

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

China Refuses to Confirm Okinawa Island Belongs to Japanese – Bloomberg “The fact that this view is carried by the People’s Daily signals that Beijing may be upping the ante,” Willy Wo-Lap Lam, an adjunct professor of history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, wrote in an e-mail. “This is psychological warfare and a classic Chinese negotiation tactic — trying to intimidate the opponent by raising the stakes.”  Okinawa, the largest island in the Ryukyu chain, hosts U.S. military installations including Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. The scholars’ comments came in an article about China’s claim to the Diaoyu Islands.

Related: Chinese nationalists eye Okinawa – FT.com – July 2012 “Challenging Japan’s sovereignty over the Ryukyus would indeed be a break from the past,” says Taylor Fravel, a Chinese security expert at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who argues that Beijing has tended to limit its territorial claims for the sake of clearly defined borders. Chinese questioning of Japanese sovereignty over Okinawa is based on the prefecture’s roots in an independent state known as the Ryukyu Kingdom that won control of the archipelago in the 15th century.

China reiterates sovereignty over Diaoyu Islands – Xinhua | English.news.cn Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islets are part of China’s inherent territory and have never been part of Liuqiu or Okinawa, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said at a Wednesday press briefing.

Beijing Puzzles Over Urban Growth – WSJ.com  While China has some of the world’s largest cities, it also has about 160 cities in the 200,000 to 1,000,000 population range. The fear of urban planners is that the government will try to develop them all, leading to a mishmash of highways, industries and pollution. China’s government hasn’t bought into the bigger-is-better argument so far, but it is listening to new ideas. The country’s new premier, Li Keqiang, who has made urbanization a focus of China’s economic reform plans, said the government had received 500 proposals on the subject at a March meeting of the largely ceremonial parliament. China’s planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, says it will release a blueprint to guide urban-growth policies later this year.

钢铁等产能过剩化解方案拟定 严控新增项目-新闻频道-和讯网 Shanghai Securities News says plan nearly done to address overcapacity in steel, concrete, other industries// 记者8日从权威渠道获悉，为化解钢铁、水泥、平板玻璃等多个行业的产能过剩问题，相关部门已拟定方案并将上报中央决策层。总的来看，今后将严控产能过剩行业新增项目，而违规建设项目将被严厉整治。

Related: “刺激政策”等不来 钢铁水泥业绩“闪腰”_财经频道_一财网 有钢铁企业人士称，本预计“再来一个四万亿”但判断落空，部分重工业企业再拉亏损警报。//pain for firms in steel, concrete, other industries who were hoping for a new stimulus package

China’s Subdued Inflation Gives Li Room to Revamp Prices – Bloomberg China’s consumer price index rose 2.4 percent in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said today in Beijing, compared with a median forecast of 2.3 percent in a Bloomberg News survey. The producer price index fell 2.6 percent, after March’s 1.9 percent drop.// producers can’t raise prices, too much overcapacity?

No-one is impressed by China’s amazing April trade figures | FT Alphaville The good news is China’s April trade figures are super high! The bad news is no-one believes them, which is fair enough because just a few days ago the Chinese foreign exchange authority virtually said that the export numbers are not reliable — it plans to crackdown on companies that appeared to be over-invoicing for exports as a way of skirting capital inflow restrictions. The promise of a crackdown was taken seriously, but it’s believed to be much too late for the April data.

Chinese Director Zhang Yimou Embroiled in Controversy Over Country’s One-Child Policy – The Hollywood Reporter While Chinese law still limits families to a single child, various reports in the Chinese press allege the renowned director may have as many as seven children with four women.// may have been ratted out by former business partner, no word on how many of the kids have foreign passports–揭张艺谋张伟平决裂内幕 16年”情路”全记录[图]–文化–人民网 张艺谋和张伟平之间戏剧性的关系变化，确实就像恋人一样，从初相识，历经了蜜月期和打拼期，甚至在合作16年，诞生11部作品后迎来了“中年危机”，最后上演无言的结局。//no reports so far that they all lived in a copy of the Raise the Red Lantern set

Seeking Asian Female | Quirky Documentary about a Love Match Made Online | Independent Lens | PBS Two strangers — a white American man and a young Chinese woman — pursue a marriage brokered through the Internet. They get more than they bargained for when she moves to America to be his bride in this quirky documentary

China Dips a Toe Into Mideast Diplomacy – NYTimes.com Despite the spotlight on the visits by Mr. Abbas and Mr. Netanyahu, China is likely to remain a muted political actor in the Middle East, analysts of the region said. Beijing sees little to gain from being entangled in distant and often seemingly intractable disputes, said Yin Gang, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. “China is a long way from the Middle East, and it can’t even reach a good solution to its own regional problems: North Korea, the Diaoyu Islands, the Philippines, Vietnam,” Mr. Yin said. “Even if China becomes a superpower with an economy on par with the United States’, it still won’t play a major role in the Middle East.”

Related: China, Israel boost cooperation|China Daily Premier Li Keqiang told visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “the new Chinese government attaches great importance to developing relations with Israel”, according to a news release issued by the Foreign Ministry. This is the first visit by an Israeli prime minister to China since then-prime minister Ehud Olmert’s trip in 2007.

人民日报-李克强同以色列总理内塔尼亚胡会谈时强调 拓展双边务实合作　推动中东和平进程 Li meeting with Israel’s Netanyahu gets page 1 treatment in People’s Daily, 3rd item on Wednesday CCTV Evening News. So far no reports of a meeting with Xi Jinping. Palestinian Authority’s Abbas got the full Xi treatment, including welcoming ceremony hosted by Xi, not Li.

Commentary: China plays greater role in Mideast – Xinhua | English.news.cn The leaders did not hold direct talks in Beijing but China’s hosting of the two emphasized its active involvement in Mideast affairs and highlighted its role as a responsible power. The turbulent situation in the Middle East and the Palestinian-Israel conflict in particular, over the years have been knotty problems that defy any immediate solutions. Western powers have often attempted to settle the impasse but their efforts seem to be of no avail. The volatile Mideast situation calls for China’s extra leverage and other increased international efforts…China could adopt a low profile by hiding its capacities and biding its time, and it is also able to make due contributions to the stalled peace process in the Middle East and world peace at large.

Chinese popular sympathies swinging against Israel – OP-ED – Asian Review – Globaltimes.cn For both Israel and Palestine, a faster reconciliation in the short term between the two is best for both, particularly Israel. The longer we wait for the final peace deal to be made, the more likely the Middle East will see a more pro-Palestine China wanting to voice its opinions. In the long run, China’s pro-Palestine inclination will work more and more against Israel, in contrast to the strong pro-Israel inclination of the US. With the weakening US influence in the region, and the growing clout of China, the odds are not favoring Israel. The author is director of the Institute of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Peking University, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Sino-Western Communications, and also serves as Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Peace Studies at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Chinese Economist Proposes Limits on Overseas Investment for Individuals -Caijing Investments abroad by individual Chinese could be capped at $100,000 -150,000, or 50% of their portfolio, Li told a regular meeting of the State Council on Monday. Li is Director of the Center for China in the World Economy at the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, and the Mansfield Freeman Professor of Economics. Guidance and protection is needed for those individuals investing abroad at the early stage since overseas investment could be highly risky, said Li.

China Dowry Filled With Gold Signals Gains for Jewelers – Bloomberg Retail sales of gold across China tripled on April 15 and 16 as the metal fell, according to the China Gold Association. Consumers kept buying over last week’s national Labor Day holiday

China opens new front in war as yuan speculation distorts export data | Reuters China’s central bank signaled on Wednesday it was prepared to change its monetary strategy to fend off inflows of speculative capital, as Beijing struggles to control a tide of cash washing in from overseas markets. The move came as April exports blew past expectations, which appeared on the surface to indicate that both China’s economy and global demand were on the mend. But economists were quick to suspect the figures were artificially inflated by investors who were disguising speculative bets on the yuan currency as trade payments.

China brokers boost prop trading profits – FT.com Chinese securities brokers are boosting the profits they make from proprietary trading and other investment activities even as these are being outlawed among western banks following the financial crisis. The country’s securities regulators have handed a boost to this business by cutting the capital that brokers must hold against their prop trading activities and expanding the kinds of assets in which they can invest. // what could go wrong…

Seeking control and confidence, China diary buys KKR milk stake | Reuters China Mengniu Dairy Co Ltd’s (2319.HK) deal to buy a $410 million stake in China’s largest unpasteurized milk producer is a strategic move to rebuild trust after a series of scandals left local brands’ reputations in tatters.  Mengniu, twice hit by accusations it sold tainted milk, said on Wednesday it would buy 26.92 percent of China Modern Dairy Holdings Ltd (1117.HK) from private equity firms KKR & Co LP and CDH Investments. The deal will lift Mengniu’s stake in China Modern to about 28 percent.

Guest post: Chinese multinationals – non-state companies rise to the challenge | beyondbrics The rise in China’s outbound investment is a divisive subject. On the one hand, some worry that Chinese multinationals will emerge as powerful competitors by leveraging their economies of scale and cheap funding. On the other hand, many firms are excited about the opportunities to collaborate with Chinese partners in their home markets. For the most part, however, the hype is still greater than reality, and subsequent waves of investment will be very different to the one the world is currently witnessing.

China Stock Market Recap – 1Q2013 (CapitalVue) This report includes aggregates earnings growth and valuation for the overall A shares market, as well as detailed breakdown of performance for 84 industries.

EU agrees China solar panel duties in boldest move yet | Reuters The European Commission agreed on Wednesday to impose punitive import duties on solar panels from China in a move to guard against what it sees as Chinese dumping of cheap goods in Europe.

How Chinese Subsidies Changed the World – Usha C.V. Haley and George T. Haley – Harvard Business Review Because of massive Chinese subsidies to several industries, no free trade exists and markets have failed. To survive, U.S. and European companies must seek government support to open Chinese markets and to protect themselves from subsidized products domestically. And national governments and trade blocs must heed these calls. If they don’t significantly increase pressure on Chinese governments and businesses, the devastation that Chinese subsidies have wreaked on other countries’ economies will continue.

Solar Subsidy Recipient Suing Treasury for More | National Review Online In its suit, SolarCity says two of the company’s subsidiaries received smaller-than-expected grants. The company doesn’t say exactly how much funding it applied for originally, but it says the final grants issued by the Treasury Department were $8 million less than was proper under the law. // when are subsidies OK?

POLITICS AND LAW

蔡名照任中宣部副部长国新办主任|蔡名照|中宣部|主任_新浪新闻蔡名照任中宣部副部长、中央外宣办主任、国新办主任

China’s press censors in spotlight as Caixin Century Weekly suspends legal section | South China Morning Post Reports about legal affairs in the May 6 issue of Caixin Century Weekly were instead run under other sections. An insider from the magazine, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the legal section had been suspended due to “some pressure” that required the magazine to focus more on economic reports rather than legal affairs.

Sea cucumbers, abalone off the menu in China frugality drive | South China Morning Post High-end caterers in Beijing and other big cities have borne the brunt of Xi’s austerity drive, which he launched in November in an attempt to tackle pervasive corruption and allay criticism of the lifestyles led by some officials. As the number of lavish official banquets has dwindled, the sale of pricey delicacies such as sea cucumbers and abalone has plunged, suppliers said

Mao Zedong granddaughter’s addition to rich list prompts debate | South China Morning Post With family assets estimated at 5 billion yuan (HK$6.25 billion), Kong Dongmei , granddaughter of the late leader, and husband Chen Dongsheng are 242nd on the 2013 New Fortune 500 Rich List, media reports said yesterday. Chen is chairman of Beijing-based Taikang Life Insurance, and Kong is a major shareholder and executive. She is the daughter of Li Min , Mao’s only surviving child with second wife He Zizhen , and joined the start-up insurance company in 1992 after graduating from the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

穗试水统一城乡户口引户改猜想 新华社——经济参考网 户口簿首页不再出现“非农业家庭户口”或“农业家庭户口”字样，而统一登记为“居民户口家庭户”——广州市公安户政部门近日关于换发户口簿热点问题看似简单的说明，引发了人们对于户籍制度改革加速推进的猜想。

国家发改委“割肉” 煤炭经营许可证酝酿取消 |煤炭|经营许可证|发改委_21世纪网 NDRC abolishing licences for coal production? big deal for coal market, sign of some reform momentum at NDRC?// ：一位熟悉此次改革方案研究的人士评价称，“对于国家发改委而言，取消煤炭生产许可证等同于割肉，也是煤炭市场革命性的变化。现阶段，发改委对煤炭经营实行总量控制，向各省分配配额，权力很大。”

刘锋：“左派”从哪里来，到哪里去？-财经网 Caijing commentator Liu Feng on the ”leftists”// 主张、口号越是动听，越要注意它可能存在的伪装，社会平等、公正有两种，一种有社会自由和个人自由，另一种没有社会自由和个人自由。中国曾经历过那没有社会自由和个人自由的所谓社会平等、公正的苦难时代，再也不希望中国重蹈覆辙…刘锋为法学博士，独立学者，微博名“锋语彩虹” //disturbing video (part 1, part 2, part 3 on Youku) from 5.4 Maoist gathering in changsha 

叶剑英曾孙叶仲豪当选为团中央十七大代表_资讯频道_凤凰网 在本次团代会上，团市委书记叶仲豪同志当选为共青团广东省第十三届委员会委员和团中央十七大代表

Siweiluozi’s Blog: Translation: SPC Directive on Handling Suits Related to Internet “Management” Several days ago, I came across this interesting document via a weibo post by Beijing lawyer Zhou Ze. Dating from 2009, it is an internal directive from the Supreme People’s Court instructing lower courts on how to handle lawsuits arising from Internet “management” (which, if it wasn’t already clear, is a euphemism for censorship).

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

Defaming China cannot cover US evil acts – People’s Daily Online This year the Pentagon annual report made harsh accusations against China instead of cautious comments in the past. The report also shifted its focus from economic areas to political and economic areas, which clearly showed the U.S.’ intention of reversing its negative image as an international cyber peace buster. By the report the U.S. also set up an imaginary enemy so as to get more financial support and legal basis for its cyber army expansion. It is well known that actually the U.S. is the “hackers’ empire”, which has had a lot of cyber espionage targeting not only hostile countries but also allies in political, military, scientific, commercial and other fields.

Maritime law enforcement to double air patrols |Politics |chinadaily.com.cn China intends to double its offshore air patrols by 2015, according to a government report released on Wednesday. China’s Ocean Development Report (2013), which was released by the China Institute for Marine Affairs under the State Oceanic Administration, emphasizes the importance of offshore air patrols to the country’s maritime law enforcement. According to the report, by 2015 the country’s marine surveillance force will include fixed-wing aircraft with a range of more than 4,500 kilometers.

中国对黄岩岛测量标识实物照片首次公布（图） – 新华国际 – 新华网

China and India’s rivalry extends to the Arctic – Yahoo! News While the recent troop standoff in a remote Himalayan desert spotlights a long-running border dispute between China and India, the two emerging giants are engaged in a rivalry for global influence that spreads much farther afield. From Africa to the Arctic, the world’s two most populous countries are bumping up against each other in their search for resources and new markets. Their rivalry is spilling over into global diplomacy and international institutions where Beijing and Delhi have elbow-jabbed over development loans and a seat for India on the U.N. Security Council.

Indian FM kicks off 2-day China visit |Politics |chinadaily.com.cn Indian Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid will start a two-day visit to China on Thursday, which experts said demonstrates both sides’ maturity to deal with border disputes and emphasis on relationship development.

South Korea’s Park Sees U.S. Ties as Key in Facing North – Bloomberg Park’s speech at a joint meeting of Congress followed talks the previous day with President Barack Obama, in which the two leaders sought to demonstrate unity between the U.S. and South Korea in response to North Korean belligerence. Obama said May 7 the longtime allies are “as united as ever.”

Poll: Japanese choose South Korea over China, but South Koreans like China better – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun Japanese overwhelmingly prefer South Korea to China, but South Koreans favor China by an almost equally wide margin over Japan, according to a joint poll by private Japanese and South Korean organizations. The survey, released on May 7, also found that a large proportion of the respondents’ view of the other country turned negative over the past year, which was marked by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s visit to the Takeshima islets in August, a first by any South Korean president.

Premier Repeats Japan’s Admission Of War Aggression – WSJ.com Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday appeared to try to ease tension with neighboring countries by repeating Japan’s admission of and apology for the suffering it caused its former colonial subjects. Abe’s remarks came amid growing concern in China and South Korea over what could be considered historical revisionism among Japan’s top officials.

China-Japan trade shows sign of pickup in April－ 毎日ｊｐ(毎日新聞) Two-way trade totaled $27.13 billion in April, down 2.4 percent from a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs said. The rate improved from a 14.7 percent decline in March. Chinese exports to Japan dropped 1.2 percent in the reporting month, and Chinese imports from Japan slid 3.3 percent, it said.

中国军网_中国营 和平梦 ——成都军区第14集团军某工兵团赴黎巴嫩维和纪事 coincidental timing for this page PLA Daily piece on Chinese peacekeeping troops in Lebanon?

The Ryukyus and Taiwan in the East Asian Seas: A Longue Duree Perspective :: JapanFocus The Ryukyu archipelago is composed primarily of coral reefs. The restored palace in Naha raises the question of how a large-scale political system emerged on these islands; on Taiwan, which is far larger and richer in natural resources, a political and economic order of comparable sophistication did not appear until later. Is there a connection between the decline of the Ryukyu kingdom and the rise of Taiwan? What can be learned from the Ryukyus’ transformation from a kingdom and a Chinese tributary state to a Japanese prefecture—and from Taiwan’s incorporation by China, then by Japan, and then by China again, as well as its subsequent rise as an economic force? In both the Ryukyus and Taiwan, the characteristics of kingdom and nationhood have been heavily conditioned by the location of these insular territories in relation to China and Japan. Drawing on the author’s research on related issues [1], this article will address these questions by examining the longue durée in East Asian maritime history, spanning the fourteenth to the twenty-first centuries.

HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN

Japan, Taiwan fail to set fishing rules – The Japan News TAIPEI (Jiji Press)–Japan and Taiwan failed to agree on fishing rules for waters around the Senkaku Islands, Okinawa Prefecture, at the first meeting of a joint fishery committee in Taipei on Tuesday.

Clearing the Men’s Room for Thatcher by Jonathan Mirsky | NYRblog | The New York Review of BooksThat night, Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, a Tory MP, and one of those who, during her third term, deposed Prime Minister Thatcher, gave a dinner party for her to which my wife and I were invited. After the meal, Lady Thatcher sat on a couch; guests were led up to it, chatted for a few minutes, and then made way for another guest. Near midnight I was on the couch, telling Lady Thatcher that when she gave her speech the next day she must mention that many international business deals with China were concluded across the border in Hong Kong, where there was (and is) a rule of law. She said that was news to her but no, no, no, the speech was already written. After half an hour still on the couch she looked over at the heavy-eyed Patten and the few remaining guests and asked what he thought. He said, “It would be insane to get between Margaret Thatcher and Jonathan Mirsky.” Finally, she agreed to include what I suggested in her speech.

TECH AND MEDIA

“Iron Man 3″ sweeps Chinese box office – Xinhua | English.news.cn ”Iron Man 3″ took in 410 million yuan (66.02 million U.S. dollars) in its first five days after debuting on Wednesday, knocking off a domestic drama to be No.1 at the Chinese box office. “So Young,” a domestic film about love on a campus, finished second with 340 million yuan in the week ending on Sunday, China Film News said on Tuesday.

Rumor: Lenovo to Acquire Wandoujia | Marbridge Consulting – China Wireless News According to an industry source, Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer Lenovo (0992.HK) is currently in negotiations to acquire Android handset assistant application and Innovation Works-incubated startup Wandoujia to expand the Lenovo LeStore app store //skeptical. wandoujia has been raising another round, hear business is going well, cracked $1m USD monthly revenue in Q1

WeChat’s Monthly Active Users Reach 190 Mln | Marbridge Consulting – China Wireless News At the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) in Beijing today, Hou Xiaonan, deputy GM of Chinese internet and mobile services firm Tencent’s (0700.HK) open platform, stated that monthly active users of Tencent’s WeChat (Weixin) mobile messaging service have reached 190 mln, while monthly active users of its mobile QQ Browser have reached 500 mln

搜索引擎格局再生变：百度360腾讯竞购搜狗|搜狗|百度|腾讯_互联网_新浪科技_新浪网 rumors that Baidu competing with Qihoo to buy Sohu’s Sogou sesrch business…hard to see how a Baidu purchase would pass an anti-monopoly review// 新浪科技讯 5月8日晚间消息，投资界消息人士透露，搜狐旗下搜狗正寻求出售，目前百度、360、腾讯均在竞购，其中360竞购最为积极，但是百度出价更高，目前谈判正在进行中。

张朝阳：我们这代人实际是没价值观也没原则_行业动态_投资界 Sohu CEO Charles Zhang says his generation has no value system or principles // 我们这代人实际是没价值观的，也没原则。所以有丛林法则，各种各样的原因你可能就成功了。你开始利用而不是遵守原则，利用的尺度很大。最后你放弃了谦卑，开始自我膨胀。神经原可塑性原理就是说，你管理不好自己就到负面，思维很容易陷入。尤其当你获得很多、自我膨胀时，神经原可塑性原理就会从负面角度来攻击你。

360搜狗合并疑已谈定 互联网寡头之战将加剧_科技频道_凤凰网 Qihoo merging in Sohu’s sogou? would make a significant search player, on mobile and pc

Who Benefits If China Allows Investors to Buy Overseas? Baidu, That’s Who – Emerging Markets Daily – Barrons.com Should the new policy be established, we believe Chinese individual investors who invest in global stock markets will first invest in companies familiar to them. Consequently we believe it is likely that these investors will invest in Chinese Internet stocks such as Tencent, (0700.HK), Baidu (BIDU), Youku Tudou (YOKU), Qihoo (QIHU), and others. // and they popped wednesday…think this is overblown as a reason

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

Call for attention to dyslexic children – Xinhua | English.news.cn Wu Xiping, an office worker from Beijing, had been concerned about her 11-year-old son’s bad writing until two years ago when she accidentally found out the boy has dyslexia. It is a terminology she has never heard before, neither have many other Chinese parents

A Battle to Become Art Capital of China – NYTimes.com The decision to donate to an institution outside mainland China was not taken lightly. “My first impulse was to give these artworks to a museum in Beijing or Shanghai,” Mr. Sigg, a former Swiss ambassador to China, said in an interview. But he said he was concerned that works by artists who are blacklisted in China’s state-run museums might never be exhibited in public. Before making a gift to one of these state citadels of culture, he said, he “wanted China to reveal its standards of censorship — what could be shown and couldn’t be shown in the collection.” Because such details were not provided by the authorities, Mr. Sigg said, he opted for the M+ in Hong Kong

A Canvas That Stretches to China – Scene Asia – WSJ Charles Billich// The Wall Street Journal: You have a special relationship with China, starting with your involvement in the Olympic bid. Until recently you had a home in Beijing. What draws you to the country?

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

Ministry responds to public concerns about pollution |Society |chinadaily.com.cn On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Ministry revealed how the government has handled 13 cases of pollution in the first three months of 2013.

Govt environmental transparency in doubt |Society |chinadaily.com.cn More than 60 percent of respondents to a recent survey said they are unsatisfied with, or unclear of, transparent government information regarding environmental protection. The survey, conducted by the Public Opinion Research Center under Shanghai Jiao Tong University, aims to find out residents’ attitudes toward the country’s environmental protection and how they evaluate government performance in this sector.

FOOD AND TRAVEL

Starbucks, Nestle Square Off in Bid for Dominance of China’s Coffee Market — [contextChina] / 太平洋中国通 Much has been written about the proliferation of cafes on the Chinese mainland. Starbucks plans to have 1,500 stores in China by 2015. Costa Coffee has stated that they will have 2,500 cafes in China by 2018. Even McDonalds has gotten in on the act, opening small coffee outlets on street corners across the country. All of these developments have been driven by surging demand for coffee in China – the Chinese coffee market has grown at rates of 15 percent annually in recent years and is expected to expand from its current size of 70 billion renminbi ($11.27 billion) to 1 trillion renminbi ($160.94 billion) over the course of the next ten years. Significantly less attention has been paid to how the evolving strategies of Nestle and Starbucks stand to bring them into direct competition for dominance of China’s coffee market.

BEIJING

Death of girl at mall triggers large protest |Society |chinadaily.com.cn very unusual in Beijing, worrisome for authorities, especially given the anniversary 26 days away. expect a tenser than usual month ahead in Beijing? // Demonstrators and police were injured on Wednesday when a protest triggered by the death of a Beijing female sales clerk turned ugly. Yuan Liya, 22, died after plunging from the seventh floor of a mall last week, and police say initial findings point to suicide. However, by Wednesday morning, hundreds of people had gathered outside the Jingwen coat wholesale outlet in the capital’s Fengtai district to call for further investigations into the tragedy.

South Beijing Teeming With Police In Response To Protest After Death Of Allegedly Gang-Raped Girl [UPDATE] – Beijing Cream lots of pictures// A massive police and paramilitary presence has descended upon Fengtai District around Jingwen Clothing and Apparel Shopping Mall, the scene of either a suicide or murder last Friday.

媒体称北京出租车公司每月可收4亿份儿钱 – 延展阅读-新华网  北京出租车调价听证方案前日公布，其中未涉及对出租车公司份儿钱的调整。 对此，北京市发改委有关负责人表示，北京正抓紧研究相关问题，并将于近日出台相关政策。

北京市发改委：此轮出租车涨价收益全部归司机 – 地方联播 – 新华网　为了鼓励司机出车，北京将改变政府和企业现在的燃油补贴方式，提高燃油补贴效率，调动司机积极性，多劳多得。在补贴总额不变的情况下，把一部分补贴与驾驶员出车天数、工作时间、出车率等运营指标挂钩，按月直接发给司机；其余补贴拿出来建立保障奖励机制。据了解，现在北京市的燃油补贴政策是出租车每车每月1425元，并没有跟出租车司机的运营情况相挂钩。

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

人民日报-论《马关条约》与钓鱼岛问题（厘清钓鱼岛问题①） 张海鹏　李国强 CASS scholars write in today’s People’s Daily about the Treaty of Shimonoseki and the sovereignty of the Ryukyu Islands, including the Diaoyu Islands and Okinawa. Commonly held here belief that Okinawa is China’s as well, this piece may stir things up…

Related: Contempt for China leads to insults, conspiracy theories against Okinawans – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun–April 30–Many of the posters said the Okinawans were deliberately trying to weaken Japan’s defenses and give China the upper hand in the territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Typical comments were “left-wingers in Okinawa are Chinese spies” and the protesters are “receiving funding from China.”

Why Is a 1995 Poisoning Case the Top Topic on Chinese Social Media | ChinaFile her name is no longer censored on weibo, media are reporting on the case, interviewing her family, still no official statement from government. Beijing has to respond to this in a positive way, but the ultimate media backlash may be severe. The Party does not like to be pushed into a corner// The Zhu case certainly proves that online vigilantism works, at least as far as getting mainstream media attention is concerned. However, it also demonstrates a Catch-22 for those waiting for justice to be done in China—making a splash online may be the only way for victims of crime to get the attention of the public, but online vigilantism could take on a life of its own by reaching a foregone conclusion without the benefit of a full investigation. And that could ultimately cloud the truth.

Related: 永远的22岁 重访18年前清华铊中毒女生朱令和她的亲友们-上海频道-东方网 Liberation Daily reporter visits Zhu Ling and her parents// 本报记者昨晚联系得知朱令父母的明确表态:他们不上网，之前不知道有所谓“白宫请愿”一事，如今的态度是既不参加也不支持，包括前段时间有网友发起的“金融战(做空某公司)”等过激行为，他们都不赞成，他们的生活重心还是在照顾朱令身上，他们也依然相信正规的途径和渠道，所以也一直在拒绝某些媒体的采访。记者此前采访中，也多次听到好几位帮助他们家的志愿者，均有类似表示。一家已帮助朱令家近10年的基金会有关人士昨夜则告诉记者，他们的目标是提供经济援助，而并不以追惩凶手为目的。

Chinese netizens are taking over the Whitle House…petition site: “Hello! Comrade Obama” | Offbeat China this is not helpful in the long run, plays right into the hands of those who see hostile foreign forces attacking China// Seeing the impact, some netizens apparently reach the conclusion that the While House petition is a good, or a fun, tool to attract attention to their appeals. Therefore, after “occupying” Obama’s Google+ page in February, 2012, Chinese netizens now have their eyes on the White House petition site. Among all the petitions submitted by Chinese netizens, there are political ones, environmental ones and even ones that deal with individual rights. But what they care the most seems to be tofu soup (豆腐脑, doufunao).

Mother of China’s Poisoned Victim Insists on Disclosure of Investigation Findings-Caijing Zhu Ling, a Tsinghua university student, was reportedly to be poisoned in 1995 by a suspected roommate with thallium, which led to her permanent paralysis.  Zhu’s mom has been asking for disclosure of investigation results since October, 1995, but was constantly turned down and told “the police has already done what they can”.

大麦歌(朱令作品) if you want a good cry over the Zhu Ling case, watch this video

中共宣传体系大调整将展开_中国_多维新闻网【多维新闻】Duowei says personnel changes underway in Propaganda System, including that the State Information Internet Office will spin out from the State Council Information Office, will be headed by Lu Wei, no official confirmation//  伴随杨振武出任中共机关报《人民日报》的总编辑，中国宣传系统的部门分工与人事调整料将启动。蔡名照将再次出任中宣部与国新办的要职，而年轻的鲁炜则会成为正式独立出来的互联网管理领域负责人。此轮布局是习近平重塑意识形态的重要步骤，究竟会展现出何种新意惹人注目。..了解中共宣传体系的人都清楚，外宣办、国新办、国信办是三块牌子，但属于一个部门。外宣办和国信办更是密不可分，属于传统对外宣称部门。国信办是随着互联网的飞速发展，为适应新的媒体发展形势于2011年5月份正式挂牌，自挂牌以来就一直有传闻称将会独立出去，结束互联网管理“政出多门”的局面。在李克强政府规划中，国信办将正式独立，整合工信部、文化部、广电总局等多头管理局面。

April New Loans Decline, Regulators Alert on Hidden Risks-Caijing Four biggest state-owned banks extended a combined 245 billion yuan in new loans in April, compared with 370 billion in January and 330 billion in March, the 21st Century Business Herald reported, quoting sources from the banks. The four banks—Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, and China Construction Bank—usually account for 30 percent of new yuan loans issued by China’s whole banking system.

U.S. Accuses China’s Military in Cyberattacks – NYTimes.com To bolster its case, the report argues that cyberweapons have become integral to Chinese military strategy. It cites two major public works of military doctrine, “Science of Strategy” and “Science of Campaigns,” saying they identify “information warfare (I.W.) as integral to achieving information superiority and an effective means for countering a stronger foe.” But it notes that neither document “identifies the specific criteria for employing a computer network attack against an adversary,” though they “advocate developing capabilities to compete in this medium.” It is a critique the Chinese could easily level at the United States, where the Pentagon has declined to describe the conditions under which it would use offensive cyberweapons. //China engaging in cyber attacks or cyber espionage?

Related: U.S. report on China’s military baseless, counterproductive – Xinhua | English.news.cn The U.S. Department of Defense released on Monday a report on China, making groundless assessment on the Asian country’s military and security development. This unwise move is not only self-contradictory as Washington has been claiming to boost military ties with China, but also harmful to the aspiration of both countries to forge a cooperative partnership based on mutual respect, mutual benefit and a win-win situation.

China and Cyberwar – New York Times Editorial But for anyone broadly interested in the possibility of a global disruption caused by government-directed hackers, the report suffers from one conspicuous omission: It does not address America’s own role in the expanding world of cyberwarfare nor that of other countries with active programs, like Russia, Britain and Israel. The report said that the primary goal of China’s cyberattacks on the United States was to steal industrial technology but that many intrusions were designed to obtain insights into American policy makers’ thinking. The report also warned that information gathered on American defense networks, logistics and military capabilities could be exploited during a crisis.

人民日报-抹黑中国难掩“黑客帝国”恶行 钟声 People’s Daily–Zhong Sheng responds to latest US DoD report’s cyber espionage claims about China, takes “pot calling kettle black” line// 在大肆炒作“中国网络威胁论”的同时，美国网络扩军备战的步伐突飞猛进。在大幅削减军事开支的情况下，美国计划将网络司令部编制扩大5倍，2014年美国网络安全经费大幅增至177亿美元。2013年3月，北约推出《塔林网络战国际法适用手册》。该手册虽非北约正式文件，但观点与美国国务院的意见如出一辙，显然是要为美国打网络战披上合法的外衣。

Asia Unbound » Three Thoughts on Cyber and the Defense Department’s Report on the Chinese Military Third, despite the announcement of a U.S.-China working group on cybersecurity during Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to China, and General Fang Fenghui’s declaration that China was willing to set up a cyberserurity “mechanism” during a meeting with chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin E. Dempsey, the report does not give much reason for optimism that the two sides will find common ground on the rules of the road. For the first time, the report calls China out for playing a “disruptive role in multilateral efforts to establish transparency and confidence building measures in international fora such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum, and the United Nations Group of Governmental Experts.”

Unpacking the Riches of the Pentagon’s China Report – China Real Time Report – WSJ Perhaps the DoD report’s single greatest advancement of public knowledge concerns China’s nuclear submarine programs.

U.S. Defense Department criticizes China’s claims to Senkaku Islands – The Japan News  ”In September 2012, China began using improperly drawn straight baseline claims around the Senkaku Islands, adding to its network of maritime claims inconsistent with international law,” the Defense Department said Monday.The baselines are drawn to define territorial waters. China has set its baseline around the Senkaku Islands so that it can claim the islet chain is part of its territory. China has submitted its claim to the United Nations without discussions with Japan. Tokyo says it cannot tolerate even the drawing of such a line around the islets. // China responds to this claim–中国公布钓鱼岛领海基线完全符合国际法和国际实践——国防部网站  新华社北京5月7日电  记者许栋诚、侯丽军报道：外交部发言人华春莹7日在例行记者会上表示，中国政府根据《联合国海洋法公约》有关规定，确定并公布钓鱼岛及其附属岛屿的领海基点基线完全符合相关国际法和国际实践。

Beijing to hike taxi fares – Xinhua | English.news.cn According to the plan released by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, the base fare will go up from 10 yuan (1.6 U.S. dollars) to 13 yuan for the first 3 km.Meanwhile, the rate per km after the first 3 km will rise to either 2.3 yuan or 2.6 yuan from the current 2 yuan, according to the plan. To encourage taxi drivers to get behind the wheel in the morning and evening rush hours, the waiting fee charged during traffic jams will also be increased to a rate of 2 km per five minutes from the current 1 km per five minutes.

Why China is welcoming both Israel’s Netanyahu and Palestinians’ Abbas – CSMonitor.com In the Far East we are No. 1, says Yin Gang, one of the countrys most prominent Middle East experts. In the Middle East we are No. 12. // I have some updated comments on China’s role here, yesterday’s newsletter’s statement “In what could be a momentous shift in China’s foreign policy” was not well received by several readers…

Related: Why China Won’t Solve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict | TIME.com “I can give you a one word answer: ‘No,’” says Gerald Steinberg, professor of political studies at Bar Ilan University in Israel. “The Chinese are trying to be Europeans. They want to be global actors, and the way to be global actors is to claim that you have something to offer. They have good trade relations with Israel, but there’s a huge gap in terms of understanding the perceptions of the region.” The reality, Steinberg says, is that no country except the United States is trusted enough by both sides to serve as broker to peace talks — but especially by Israel, which sees itself as persecuted and misunderstood by a world that does not understand its situation the way Americans do 

China unveils peace plan based on 1967 lines | The Times of Israel China has traditionally maintained a low profile in Middle East diplomacy, but in recent years has tried to play a more active role in the region as part of its quest for markets, resources and diplomatic influence. Beijing has sought stable relations with both sides in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, but Israel’s weekend airstrikes on Syrian military targets created a turbulent start to China’s diplomatic foray.

Abbas concludes visit to China with ‘great success’ – China.org.cn In a news conference on Monday night, Abbas said Palestine agrees with President Xi Jinping’s four point proposal on the Middle East peace process. Abbas has briefed President Xi Jinping about the latest developments in the Palestine-Israel relationship.Abbas said he would not meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his stay in China, and he asked China to pass on Palestine’s stance to Israel.

‘Prisoner X’ sabotaged spy mission to recover bodies: report | The Raw Story The broadcaster interviewed a Lebanese man, Ziad Al Homsi, a former commander of Lebanese forces in the Bekka Valley, who said he was recruited by Mossad in 2007 after being lured to China for a convention. In Beijing he was contacted by a Syrian named George Attar, who claimed his brother in Europe was working to return the remains of missing Israeli solders.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

China Export Gains Top Forecasts as Imports Exceed Estimates – Bloomberg   China’s export and import growth unexpectedly accelerated in April amid a government probe into reports of inflated trade data. Shipments abroad rose 14.7 percent, the General Administration of Customs said today in Beijing, compared with the 9.2 percent median forecast of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Imports advanced 16.8 percent, while the trade surplus of $18.2 billion was higher than projected.

Latest China bailout reveals risk of local government’s hidden debts | Reuters In the latest case of an apparent bailout, CITIC Trust announced late last month that an unnamed party had agreed to purchase 1.3 billion yuan ($210.87 million) in high-interest loans to a steel plate manufacturer in Hubei province, in central China. CITIC had packaged the loans into a wealth management product (WMP) for sale to wealthy investors at an expected yield of 10 percent. The investors will now be repaid in full. Official media cited unnamed sources predicting the government of Yichang city, Hubei, was the buyer. A senior CITIC Trust executive had previously told Reuters it expected the city government to step in and pay the debt.

Inside Business: China private equity bitten again by Fang – FT.com “There is an overwhelming and still unsated appetite among institutional investors around the world to increase their asset allocation in China,” said Peter Fuhrman, founder of China First Capital. Mr Fang weighed up the arguments for and against returning To the Chinese private equity fold. He concluded the time was right. And the record shows that whichever way Mr Fang goes, the market tends to follow.

China to Press Ahead With Hukou Reform – Economic Observer The reform will make it easier for migrant workers to settle in cities by gradually removing obstacles to obtaining a residence permit and by introducing a uniform system across the country.

发改委徐林：城市群不是规划出来的_经济频道_财新网 NDRC researcher Xu Lin–and urban class can’t be “planned” into existence..interesting comments on urbanization in China// 【财新网】（记者 霍侃 于宁）新型城镇化被许多人认为是未来十年中国经济社会发展最为重要的战略之一。政府在其中需扮演怎样的角色？国家发改委发展规划司司长徐林表示，城市群不是规划出来的，更不是人为划定的，而是市场力量和技术力量推动形成的。在这个过程中，政府可以做一些顺势而为的事，但必须小心翼翼。

China Said to Tighten Approvals for Local Government Bond Sales – Bloomberg The National Development and Reform Commission, which approves bond sales by companies that local governments set up to finance projects, will more strictly review applications for debt with credit ratings below AA+ sold by issuers with debt-to- asset ratios exceeding 65 percent, said the people, who asked not to be identified as they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the order.

鄂尔多斯近半煤矿停产 遭遇10年来罕见萧条_网易财经 bad times for coal, even worse times for Ordos// 5月7日，沈川石告诉记者，煤炭贸易之外，其另一主要业务为煤炭汽运，但很多个体的煤矿都关掉了，只有神华、冀中能源、兖煤集团等在当地的大矿还在勉强生产，“下游要煤的人也寥寥无几”。

“中国最好银行”换帅 王歧山前秘书接任|马蔚华|王歧山|招商银行_21世纪网 China Merchants Bank head Ma Weihua stepping down, to be replaced by a former secretary of Wang Qishan?// “行里通知明天召开高层干部会议，说行领导有变化，”招行某高层向本报记者称，“马行长因为到了退休年龄，也很正常。”对此，马蔚华5月7日向本报记者回应称，无可奉告。“董事会还没有召开，也没发公告。”

北京4月楼价涨幅全国居首 最严限价令挂钩“乌纱帽”|楼价|限价令|乌纱帽_21世纪网 Beijing officials under real pressure to rein in property prices// 核心提示：现在北京2013年趋稳的年度房价控制目标已经分解到各区县，工作不力的，将进行约谈和问责。上述接近北京住建委的人士表示，据其了解，北京市相关领导已经放话，房价控制目标直接挂钩相关负责人的“乌纱帽”。

A Shift in the Goals of China’s Rich Abroad – China Real Time Report – WSJ Three out of five wealthy mainland Chinese are looking to immigrate out of China while another third own investments abroad, Bain said in its “China Private Wealth Report, 2013,” based on a survey conducted earlier this year of 3,300 “high-net-worth individuals” with at least 10 million yuan (US$1.6 million) in investable assets.

西藏2000亿交通投资盛宴开席 多家公司受益-交通建设 交通基础设施 西藏旅游 西藏经济 西藏发展-东方财经-东方网 200 Billion RMB in infrastructure investment planned for Tibet// 西藏自治区政府近日召开会议，将加快公路交通基础设施跨越式发展，到2020年力争完成公路建设投资2000亿元，全区公路总里程突破11万公里，一级及以上公路里程超过1200公里。目前，西藏多地已开始加快上马市政交通基础设施项目

POLITICS AND LAW

Supreme People’s Court judge urges end to wrongful convictions | South China Morning Post One of China’s most senior judges has called for an end to miscarriages of justice by the nation’s courts after two cases of wrongful convictions have highlighted inadequacies in its legal system. “If more of these wrongful criminal convictions appear, they will become an unprecedented challenge to the People’s Courts,” Shen Deyong, the executive vice-president of the Supreme People’s Court, wrote in the People’s Court Daily on Monday.

Condemning innocent worse than sparing guilty: senior justice – Xinhua | English.news.cn A senior Chinese judge has called for efforts to prevent miscarriages of justice, saying it is even preferable to spare guilty people than to hand down wrongful punishment to the innocent. Shen Deyong, executive vice president of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC), made the remarks in an article published in the Monday edition of the newspaper People’s Court Daily.

Lawyers get an advocate[1]|chinadaily.com.cn Shen Deyong, vice-president of the Supreme People’s Court, has called on judges to respect the role of lawyers, especially defense lawyers, who are part of the legal community and can help judges avoid handing down wrongful verdicts. “We should fully understand that lawyers are an integral part of the legal community, an ally of the courts and an irreplaceable force in preventing wrongful convictions,” Shen said in an article published on Monday in People’s Court Daily, a newspaper affiliated with the top court.

浙江5名青年坐冤狱17年续：官方称已锁定真凶_新闻_腾讯网 浙江高院立案复查1995年萧山5青年劫杀出租车司机案有了最新进展。3名假释者已从浙江高院获悉，复查结果有望6月出炉，再审程序将视复查结果启动。 新京报记者获悉，劫杀出租车司机案嫌疑人项生源，去年底被萧山警方抓获后，目前已由杭州市公安局移送嘉兴市检察院审查起诉，案由是“涉嫌故意杀人”。

陕西“房姐”曾为两个孩子办北京户口 被骗67万_资讯频道_凤凰网山西籍一男子自称能帮人办北京常住户口，两年来骗取他人150多万元。近日，榆林市中级人民法院对该案进行审理宣判。这起诈骗案件中，“房姐”龚爱爱也是受害人之一，她为两个孩子办北京户口被骗67.2万元。

人民日报-改革需要“狮子型”干部（人民论坛） 韩文君 Reform needs lion-like cadres—people’s daily // “政治路线确定之后，干部就是决定的因素。”如何使用干部推动改革发展？最近一位地方领导同志提出：要重用那些政治上强、能够驾驭全局、敢抓敢管的“狮子型”干部。这一形象的提法引人深思，因为现实中“狮子型”的干部能干事、能成事，却往往“一将难求”。

人民日报-用什么终结“一闹就停”困局（人民时评） 金苍 commentator in People’s Daily on how to better deal with citizen concerns over large industrial projects like PX plants// 全面深化改革，怎么改、改什么，或许还有争议，但从矛盾最突出的地方改起，却是肯定的。从这个角度说，PX项目的冲突，既揭示了中国社会当前的矛盾纠结，也指出了改革的突破口和切入点。虽然从政务公开到微博问政，新形势下交流对话的尝试也取得了很好的效果，但与群众的权利诉求相比，仍有距离。统筹各个职能部门、统筹中央部门和地方政府，建立公众表达的平台、疏通权利救济的渠道，才能下好这盘大棋。 习近平同志曾说，要防止出现“把我们党和人民群众隔开”的无形之墙。让权力与权利平等对话、政府与公众良性互动，才能打掉这堵无形之墙。

Video: Evan Osnos on the ‘High Bar’ of the New ‘Chinese Dream’ | Asia Society But what is the Chinese Dream? Who can realistically attain it? What are the obstacles Xi faces in trying to turn dream into reality? We asked these questions and more to Evan Osnos, China correspondent for The New Yorker and 2007 winner of Asia Society’s Osborn Elliott Prize.

21 Chongqing officials punished over sex video – Xinhua | English.news.cn A total of 21 government officials and executives of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality have been punished over a sex video scandal, local authorities said on Tuesday. Of the 21, 15 are government officials and six are SOE executives, according to a statement issued by the information office of the Chonqing municipal government.

重庆拟对雷政富给予开除党籍、开除公职处分_网易新闻中心 拟对雷政富给予开除党籍、开除公职处分，对其涉嫌犯罪问题于今年1月依法移送司法机关，目前检察机关正在审查起诉中；南岸区原区委书记夏泽良已由司法机关另案处理；长寿区原区长韩树明涉嫌严重经济问题，正在接受组织调查；其余18名党员干部因严重违反社会主义道德，分别受到党内警告、严重警告等纪律处分，正在履行相关程序。

Whistleblowers providing bulk of China’s corruption clues – Xinhua | English.news.cn Of all the corruption cases handled by discipline watchdogs in 2012, the public has contributed 41.8 percent of the clues, according to Zhang Shaolong, deputy director of the letters and calls office under the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

中纪委5年收到网络举报30.1万件次 随着互联网的普及，网络监督日益成为一种反应快、影响大、参与面广的新兴舆论监督方式。通过网络曝光，纪检监察机关确实筛选出一些党员干部违纪违法案件的线索，也查处了一批腐败分子。同时，也要看到，网络信息具有较为明显的不确定性，有的网络信息内容还不够真实，有的是情绪的宣泄，有的客观上造成了案件线索的泄露，给调查核实带来不利的影响。我们认为，通过网络曝光违纪行为，不属于法定的举报行为，纪检监察机关也难以防止曝光者遭受打击报复。我们希望公众按照相关法律法规的规定，通过正规渠道反映问题，参与和支持反腐倡廉建设。纪检监察机关将进一步加大信访举报核查力度，提高信访举报办理水平，以实际成效取信于民

中纪委官员：严禁到公共场所拦截正常上访者_网易新闻中心 中新网5月7日 中央纪委信访室正局级纪律检查员、监察专员兼副主任张少龙今日表示，各级纪检监察机关要坚决杜绝一切“拦卡堵截”上访群众的错误做法，严禁到来访接待场所和公共场所拦截正常上访群众

Chinese Maoist tour group ridiculed for travelling to North Korea | South China Morning Post The Maoist nostalgics visited China’s reclusive northeastern neighbour from April 13 to 16, when tensions between North and South Korea brought the peninsula to the brink of war. The tour was organised by people behind neo-Maoist website Utopia. The trip was chronicled in a travel diary written for the Southern People Weekly. The anonymous traveller’s depiction of the journey, however sarcastic, is a testament to how much ultra-leftists have adapted to the freedoms and affluence of modern China.

New study shows children of officials earn more in first professional job – CHINA – Globaltimes.cn Recent graduates whose parents work for the government are more likely to receive a higher starting salary, mainly because of their parents’ political influence and resources, according to recent research from Tsinghua University. Researchers found that graduates with officials in their family can earn 15 percent more at their first job out of college than others with the same academic abilities, the Beijing Evening News reported on Monday.

政务微博“大V”之道：会卖萌、有态度、干实事_财经频道_一财网 根据《2012年新浪政务微博报告》，目前全国已有超过6万政务微博。这还不包括在其他微博平台（如腾讯、搜狐）上的数据。数万官方微博呈现出来的面貌也不尽相同，有的一本正经“板着脸”，有的则被网友追捧大赞“说人话”。 从2010年开始，政务微博也经历了一个从最初个别新鲜存在到如今遍地开花的发展过程，在此背后，政务微博每天都在发生着什么样的故事？《第一财经日报》记者调查显示，这是一个充满想象力的新型舆论场。

马晴燕：微博在中国的真相-中国政治发展　无论如何，诸子百家，百家争鸣，百花齐放，是标准的盛世特征。微博在中国成为各种异见表达的合法平台，微博在日益扩大社会对多元政治观点的容忍度，这是中国式民主的进步。 微博，说到底是人类通讯方式的一种发明，是科技进步。传说“阿拉伯之春”是靠“面簿”和“推特”推动的，这种说法并不可信。在需要使用鸽子、鸡毛信、没有电话的年代，无数次革命也发生了。如果没有推特，“阿拉伯之春”恐怕还是会发生吧？同样，中国的未来会怎么样，跟微博的关系也不会太大。

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

China Cuts Ties With North Korean Bank – NYTimes.com The state-controlled Bank of China said on Tuesday that it had halted all dealings with a key North Korean bank in what appeared to be the strongest public Chinese response yet to North Korea’s willingness to brush aside warnings from Beijing and push ahead with its nuclear and ballistic missile programs

How China and Russia Came Together on Natural Gas Deal – Caixin Previously, Russia dominated the talks with China, industry analysts said. However, as the world’s natural gas situation has changed over the years, China gradually gained leverage. European countries have been Russia’s main natural gas export destinations for years, but this has changed. Europe’s import channels have become more diversified as it can import gas from the regions such as the Middle East and West Africa. Also, there has been friction between Russia and countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Austria over gas prices. This has spurred Europe to be less dependent on Russian gas, which changed the Sino-Russian talks. “This time the negotiations ran smoothly,” the source close to CNPC said.

No apology from Downing Street over Dalai Lama meeting – Telegraph In an escalation of the row between China and the UK, Downing Street made it clear that ministers “will decide who they meet and where they meet them”. Beijing is demanding a public apology after the Prime Minister last year held talks with the Tibetan spiritual leader. There are fears that the dispute could put at risk Chinese investment in Britain, which was worth £8billion last year.

Chinese Cyber-spying on QinetiQ Probed by Pentagon – Bloomberg The U.S. Defense Department is investigating intrusions by Chinese cyber-spies into the computer systems of defense contractor QinetiQ North America, the Pentagon said. For three years, hackers linked to China’s military infiltrated QinetiQ’s computers and compromised most if not all of the company’s research, which includes work on secret satellites, drones and software used by U.S. special forces in Afghanistan and the Middle East, Bloomberg News reported May 2.

Top US Admiral Says Shift to Asia on Track Despite Budget Cuts | Defense News | defensenews.com Adm. Jonathan Greenert told AFP in an interview he will seek to “reassure” partners during a nine-day trip to Japan, Singapore and South Korea that mounting pressure on military spending will not derail Washington’s much-publicized shift towards Asia. Of the navy’s current fleet of 283 ships, 101 are deployed and 52 are in Pacific waters, with plans to increase the US presence in the region to 62 ships by 2020, he said.

中国军网_美国的道德标准有几重？ ■罗朝文 does the US government ever complain about criticism of the US in official Chinese media? // 从来就没有什么救世主。美国的多重道德标准，表面看来只是反映出其一贯的霸道和自私，而在更深层面上则是根深蒂固的“美国例外论”在作祟，自信是“上帝的选民”，美国就可以违反常规、特立独行。然而，事实告诉我们，美国当不了世界的救世主，美国的道德标准也不可能衡量一切，所谓“光荣与梦想”的光环下，也许只有对自身利益最大化的追求，才是所谓“上帝的选民”孜孜不倦秉持的最终标准。

中国军网_打赢“舌尖上的战争 ”军人作战饮食区别于一般饮食的特殊之处，是其明确的军事目的、特殊的保障群体、独特的保障形式。即便是在异常艰苦的作战环境中，军人饮食也必须适应打仗需要。这方面，我军有更多的发言权。抗美援朝期间，志愿军战士“一把炒面一把雪”的吃苦精神值得我们永远景仰。同时，我们也不应忘记，志愿军在远离后方、长驱转战的作战环境中，在生火做饭即遭敌机轰炸的战场态势下，正是炒面这种虽然近乎原始但便于携带、取食方便的战时食品，维持了官兵作战的基本体能所需。

解放军报–中华民族共同坚守的理想信念–——论中国梦的精神实质和丰富内涵作者：国防大学中国特色社会主义理论体系研究中心–National Defense University Socialism With Chinese Characteristics Theoretical System Research Center page 1 in today’s PLA Daily on the Chinese Dream//

TECH AND MEDIA

Chinese giant Tencent is relying on WeChat to fuel international growth, with a strategy influenced by Facebook – The Next Web CEO Tony Ma explained during his keynote at the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) in Beijing today, he believes that the mobile messaging app will determine the fate of Tencent’s long-term strategy.

Tencent Finds ‘Preliminary’ WeChat Solutions for Carriers – Bloomberg Tencent worked with operators for the past month to resolve the situation, Ma said at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing yesterday without providing details. Tencent’s move comes as the popularity of its WeChat service eats into the text-messaging revenue of carriers including China Mobile Ltd. (941), the world’s largest phone company by subscribers

Competitors Try Curbing China Mobile’s 4G Urge – Caixin The wireless Internet technology race is intensifying a long-standing rivalry between China’s largest mobile phone operator, China Mobile, and its smaller competitors China Telecom and China Unicom. Since 2011 China Mobile customers in 15 cities nationwide have been accessing the Internet through the telecom’s exclusive, high-speed, 4G application network called TD-LTE. It’s a trial service the telecom hopes to expand nationwide after winning a government license, probably by the end of the year.

Evernote Says Cyber Breach Which Cost Millions Wasn’t From China – Bloomberg The attack wasn’t state-sponsored and appears to have come from identity-theft groups, Chief Executive Officer Phil Libin said in an interview in Beijing today. An investigation with the help of U.S. security firm Mandiant Corp. is nearly finished and details will be available in a few weeks, he said.

Evernote Takes on China With Apple’s Singular IPhone Approach – Bloomberg The strategy has paid off for Evernote in China, which will overtake Japan as Evernote’s largest user base outside the U.S. in the next few months, Libin says. There are four million Evernote users in China and five million in Japan. The company’s China service, which started a year ago, is adding more than 10,000 users daily, accounting for more than 10 percent of global user growth.

If you aren’t using Sina Weibo with your Chinese students, you’re missing out. | LukeWrites.com Sina Weibo, China’s most popular microblogging website. Given the growing number of Chinese students in western universities and high schools, knowledge of Weibo (pronounced “way-bwuh”) is essential – if you work with Chinese students, Weibo  is without a doubt the best way to extend learning outside of class.

China busts website with “unprecedented” piracy scale – Xinhua | English.news.cn Beijing police have arrested 11 suspects allegedly involved in a major online provider of high-definition film downloads, whose scale of piracy was described by anti-illegal publications authorities as “unprecedented.” Illegally run under a Beijing-based technology company allegedly set up by the main suspect surnamed Zhou, silu.com reportedly boasted more than 400,000 registered members and offered unlicensed downloads of 18,772 films and TV series that ranged from arthouse world cinema to domestic and foreign blockbusters, according to a statement released on Tuesday by the National Anti-Pornography and Anti-Illegal Publications Office.

Alibaba’s quarterly revenues surge 80% – FT.com In a note to its own quarterly accounts filed on Tuesday, Yahoo reported that Alibaba’s revenues in the final three months of 2012 had climbed to $1.84bn, while net income rose by 156 per cent to $650m. The disclosure revealed that headlong expansion had not slowed at Alibaba despite the company’s increasing size. The 80 per cent growth rate in the quarter topped the 74 per cent seen in the 12 months to last September and almost equalled the 81 per cent advance in the 12 months to September 2011.

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

SPIEGEL Interview with Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei – SPIEGEL ONLINE Ai Weiwei of China is one of four artists who will represent Germany at the Venice Biennale in June. In a SPIEGEL interview, the artist discusses how he will participate in the event despite a travel ban imposed on him by the Chinese government.

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

Japan, China, South Korea to exchange pollution info – The Japan News Japan, China and South Korea agreed Monday to launch a policy dialogue to combat air pollution problems such as particulate matter PM2.5, which is especially serious in China. In a joint statement adopted at a two-day annual meeting among their environment ministers here on the same day, the three countries said their working-level officials will promote exchanges of information on measures to tackle the problems and technologies for monitoring air pollution to reinforce three-way cooperation further.

Where there’s smoke there’s China–The Age China, which emits one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gases, is about to embark on a massive and ambitious experiment in emissions trading.

The Silence Around Tibet’s Ecological Crisis – Hongxiang Huang – The Atlantic China faces serious environmental challenges nationwide, and Tibet is no exception. As announced in the country’s 12th five year plan, Tibet was slated to become a mining center and a hydropower engine. While the environmental impacts of mining are well-known, those of hydropower are less so.

China reports four more bird flu deaths, toll rises to 31 | Reuters Four more people in China have died from a new strain of bird flu, bringing to 31 the number of deaths from the mysterious H7N9 virus, with the number of infections rising by two to 129, according to Chinese health authorities.

FOOD AND TRAVEL

Police destroy counterfeit red wines in Shanghai – Xinhua | English.news.cn Police destroy counterfeit red wines in Shanghai, east China, May 7, 2013. Local police smashed over 3,000 bottles of counterfeit red wines worth of more than 40 million Yuan (approximately 6.5 million US dollars).

I had a qu today | 300 Shots at Greatness The guy pulls a brick off the top and takes it into the sunlight for better viewing. He cracks it in half so I can check out the dark veins of microorganisms and the mold forming inside. The source of all baijiu was right there in front of me and, unexpectedly, he offered it to me. Explaining that it could be awkward to carry around, he said he’d have someone stick it inside of a plastic bag for me.

BEIJING

凯德集团北京地安门项目易主 万科接盘延续高端路线 | 每经网 公告中“御府”项目原系新加坡凯德集团旗下所持有的一个住宅项目，之前的案名为“御府77”，这一项目虽然体量不大，占地面积仅为0.4万平方米，但由于紧邻景山公园，稀缺性不言而喻。 “此次出售项目所获收益将用于新项目以及加强现有业务运营能力。”凯德集团相关负责人6日就项目出售一事回复《每日经济新闻》记者称，此举系集团正常的资产策略考虑，也符合凯德一贯坚持的本地收入用于本地投入的原则。而根据凯德方面发布的消息显示，因该项目转让所获得的利润为4600万新币，折合人民币2.3亿元。

Beijing’s Ditan Book Market Bites the Dust – Economic Observer For 22 years Beijing’s book lovers have been heading to Ditan Park, a former temple to the god of Earth just to the north of the city’s center, to pick up bargains at an outdoor book market that’s held every Spring and Autumn. However, organizers say that the cost of holding the market has now become too high and that retailers, under pressure from online stores and piracy, are no longer willing to take part. For the second year in a row the market will not be held this Spring.

BOOKS AND LITERATURE

Ginger vendor’s memoir attracts spotlight |Books |chinadaily.com.cn It was a dream come true for Yao Qizhong when his book Diary of a Ginger Vendor was published in March. The 40-year-old Fuyang native, from Anhui province, was no different from other migrant workers who hailed from all over China to work in Beijing. But he became a media sensation in 2012 when he wrote a 200,000-word book about his life. The book, published by Beijing TimesChinese Press, is a memoir about Yao’s poverty-stricken childhood and his life as a migrant worker in Beijing after 2002.

Shanghaiist Book Club: Badlands, by Paul French: Shanghaiist We are proud to announce a new monthly feature: The Shanghaiist Book Club. Here’s how the book club will work: Shanghaiist staff and readers select a China-related book each month (we’ve chosen the first one ourselves). You read the book. We create a special book club post to talk about the books and you join the discussion in the comments.

As to what a good outcome might be, here are a couple of guesses.

Xi may really be able to bring the two parties to the table and get a deal, thus cementing his reputation as a global statesman, helping China's image as a constructive, rising power, and benefiting China's relations with the Middle East and the Muslim world.

Or China may believe that by taking such a high-level, high-profile role in the issue, one that appears more favorable to the Palestinians than what the US has advocated, China wins in the Middle East regardless of the outcome. In fact a "recalcitrant" Israel, however friendly its relations with China may be, might help reinforce the idea that China is aligned with the majority of the Middle East while the US is on Israel's side.

These are guesses, but we can have a high level confidence that Xi Jinping would not be making such a big deal if he had not worked through how to make it a win for China. And it would seem to fit nicely with Xi's diplomatic agenda and his recent trip to Russia, Africa and the BRICs summit. END UPDATE]

In what could be a momentous shift in China’s foreign policy, Xi Jinping has taken up the cause of Middle East peace and directly inserted himself into the process. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are both visiting China.

Xi and Li Keqiang’s Monday meeting with Abbas were the top items in official media ( 人民日报-习近平同阿巴斯总统会谈时强调 中方坚定支持巴勒斯坦人民的正义事业, 《新闻联播》). Xi Jinping called for Middle East talks (China Daily) and offered a four-point proposal for settlement of Palestinian question (Xinhua).

Aggressively trying to solve the Palestinian question will help China’s relationship with the Muslim world, needed given China has a large Muslim population and is increasingly reliant on oil imports from the region. It might also further damage US standing in the region. But how many well meaning, highly skilled diplomats have tried and failed to solve this issue?

China certainly has the financial resources to throw money towards a possible solution, but will Israel go for it, especially as Xi’s four point proposal includes “credible steps to stop settlement activities”? What might Netanyahu ask for in return, especially regards to China’s relationship with Iran? How seriously is the US taking this initiative? What is the likelihood Xi can orchestrate something like the “Camp Xiangshan Accords”?

I was skeptical of the Economist’s claim that the “Chinese Dream” was somehow inspired by Tom Friedman. James Miles, author of the cover story, has taken to the Analects blog to explain The Chinese dream: The role of Thomas Friedman:

Mr Friedman, then, was front and centre of Chinese media discussion of the Chinese dream in the days leading up to Mr Xi’s speech. Oriental Outlook’s cover package referred to no writings on the topic other than Mr Friedman’s column. (Quotations were altered to omit Mr Xi’s name: his impending elevation was still technically a secret). It may well be that the column happened to coincide with independent plans by Mr Xi to develop a Chinese-dream theory. (Its message that China should have its own dream certainly dovetailed nicely with Mr Xi’s nationalist bent: there has been no repetition by Mr Xi of anything like the “one world, one dream” slogan that China devised for the Beijing Olympics in 2008). But a link with Mr Friedman is hard to dismiss.

While I am dream mode I should note that the China Copyright and Media blog has published a full translation of the recent Seeking Truth essay The Chinese Dream Infuses Socialism with Chinese Characteristics with New Energy, written by “秋石 Autumn Stone”.

My Dealbook column this week looks at the Alibaba-Sina Weibo deal and China’s Changing Internet Landscape:

All this activity and wealth creation is happening inside of what the Economist magazine, in an excellent recent report on China’s Internet, termed a “giant cage.” But there are recent signs that the government is concerned the cage may need strengthening.

On May 2, China’s State Internet Information Office declared war against online rumors because they “have impaired the credibility of online media, disrupted normal communication order, and aroused great aversion among the public.” One report suggests the regulators have some of the most influential users of Sina Weibo, those with millions or tens of millions of followers, in their sights. Online rumors have been a real problem, but crackdowns against them can be used for broader goals….

The regulators may not always succeed the first time, but it would be a mistake to assume they will not keep pushing the issue, especially when propaganda work and ideology are so core to the party’s control. At the end of March, the State Council released its task list for the next five years, and one of the items is an Internet real name registration system by June 30, 2014.

The Alibaba deal is about strengthening mobile positioning and spurring social commerce. The government would probably be pleased to see Weibo shift from being a hotbed of social and political commentary and critiques to more of an online shopping arcade that, through integrated online payment functionality, has the voluntary real name registrations of many users.

Just as China’s leadership is clear it will pursue economic reform without structural political reform, so it also appears intent on building a commercially vibrant yet managed Internet, an “Internet with Chinese characteristics.”

Tuesday’s Global Times has a commentary arguing that the verified, celebrity Weibo users have a special responsibility to fight rumors–社评：“大V”对抵制网络谣言负有特殊责任_评论_环球网.

Never a dull moment…

Today’s Links:

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

Reduced red tape to boost economy |Economy |chinadaily.com.cn China’s cabinet announced detailed plans on Monday to deepen economic reform, cutting government interventions that hinder robust growth. It will cancel or delegate power to lower levels for 62 items previously subject to central government administrative approval, after similar approaches removed 71 items last month, according to a statement released after an executive meeting of the State Council chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.

Related: 人民日报-李克强主持召开国务院常务会议 研究部署2013年深化经济体制改革重点工作 决定再取消和下放一批行政审批事项

国务院列出今年改革清单 温州金改力争推QDII2|国务院|温州|金改_新浪财经_新浪网

从国务院常务会议看今年改革三大特点 – 新华时政 – 新华网   新华网北京５月６日电（记者　刘铮、韩洁）国务院总理李克强６日主持召开国务院常务会议，研究部署２０１３年深化经济体制改革重点工作。会议确定今年在行政体制、财税、金融、投融资、价格、民生、统筹城乡、农业农村、科技等重点领域和关键环节加大改革力度。

China Names Yuan Convertibility Plan as Goal This Year – Bloomberg China will this year put forward a plan for allowing yuan capital-account convertibility as part of measures to loosen control over its currency and interest rates, the nation’s cabinet said. The yuan plan will also include creating a mechanism that allows investments overseas by individuals, the State Council said in a statement today after a meeting led by Premier Li Keqiang on the focus of economic reforms in 2013. Other measures include improving controls on risks from local government debt, expanding trials of value-added taxes on companies and pushing forward changes to the country’s household-registration system.

新华网：舆论呼吁及时澄清“朱令案”传闻-财经网  State Media taking up the case of Zhu Ling, this from Xinhua saying that the public opinion groundswell about the case needs to be answered // 近20年来面对此案的种种传言，甚至是直指司法不公的传言，警方并没有及时予以澄清。目前这种“全民福尔摩斯”式的以讹传讹，无论对于受害者朱令，还是“嫌疑人”孙某，都是不公平的。

Related: Censorship Feeds Criticism of Chinese Poisoning Case – Bloomberg Why did China’s leading social-media platform recently ban users from performing searches for a woman poisoned in 1995? Attempts to answer that question — and to censor the answers — have sparked some of the most politically potent online commentary on Chinese leadership, privilege and corruption in recent memory. // ban seems to have been lifted

 朱令妈妈：没人告诉我结案了_网易新闻中心 China Radio interviews Zhu Ling’s mother // 今天下午@央广高速广播 主持人 @许川 对朱令妈妈进行了访谈，根据天涯网友的文字直播，整理了一份文字记录。朱妈妈表示会继续申请信息公开，她说：这是我一个特别重要的期望。我希望给朱令一个交代，给所有关心朱令的网友们一个交代。

Presumption of guilt stirs more questions – OP-ED – Globaltimes.cn The public has quickly jumped to assume the guilt of both Sun and related officials. In all likelihood, if there had been solid evidence the perpetrator would not have gone unpunished. Sun’s family background was not distinguished enough to prevent security organs from investigating the situation at a top university in China // but what this implies is that there are some who do have those connections, as many have pointed out on weibo about the chinese version below

环球时报：朱令案，舆论需冷静，官方应回应|孙维|朱令|舆论_新浪新闻 至少从概率上说，一件投毒致残案如果证据明显，并且有家属执着要求声张正义，作案人能在中国逍遥法外的可能性很小。孙维“家庭背景”的硬条件在北京算不上很显赫，她的亲属即使有心阻止在中国顶尖大学里投毒致残案的调查，也绝不会像网上一些人想的那样容易。

Obama, minister of China petitions? – China Media Project The online petition, made through the Obama administration’s “We the People” platform, alleges that Zhu Ling’s former Tsinghua roommate, Sun Wei (possibly known now as “Jasmine Sun”), had both motive and opportunity to poison her roommate. It asks that Sun, who some believe now resides in the United States, be deported and face investigation.

China Needs Justice, Not Equality | Foreign Affairs China’s new leaders have interpreted recent unrest as being fueled by anger about inequality. But most Chinese find the gap between rich and poor relatively unproblematic. If the Xi administration hopes to settle the country, it needs to starts focusing on the real reasons citizens are taking to the streets: injustice and corruption. MARTIN KING WHYTE is a professor of sociology at Harvard University.

Related: and there is much discussion in the media, and from official sources, about injustice//   [社论]信仰法律实现正义，“到了必须下决心的时候”_要闻_南都网  摘要：如何防范冤假错案，公众对这一命题的关注，丝毫不输职业法律人，各界对此的讨论随着诸如聂树斌、佘祥林及至浙江叔侄等典型个案的媒体报道而反复进行，几近疲惫。

沈德咏：我们应当如何防范冤假错案 Deputy head of China’s Supreme People’s Court on preventing wrongful convictions // 一段时期以来，相继出现的刑事冤假错案给人民法院带来了前所未有的挑战，如不妥为应对，将严重制约刑事审判工作的发展，已经到了必须下决心的时候。错案一经发现，惟有依法及时纠正、匡扶正义，方能让民众对国家法治树立起信心。同时，相比较错案的纠正，我们必须要更加重视“防患于未然”，要做“事前诸葛亮”，使潜在的可能发生的冤假错案无法形成。坚决守住防范冤假错案的底线，不仅是我们刑事审判部门和法官应尽的职责，也是由于司法审判的最终判断性质所决定的。

学习时报：最危险的是穷人失去向上流动的希望 – 新华时政 – 新华网 Study Times–The most dangerous are poor people who have lost hope of upward mobility//  改革开放以来，经济社会的发展为人们提供了广阔的发展空间，个人通过奋斗和劳动创造了美好生活。但是，在人民生活不断改善、人民福祉逐步增进的同时，必须清醒地认识到社会分层“凝固化”和社会流动“缓慢化”的趋势，并采取切实措施加以解决，让中国梦在时代进步中焕发出绚丽的光彩。

U.S. Intelligence on North Korea Proves Elusive – NYTimes.com When President Obama and South Korea’s new president, Park Geun-hye, meet for the first time at the White House on Tuesday, intelligence officials and outside experts say, they will be working, by necessity, from a deeply incomplete understanding of their common adversary. At a time when the United States has learned to conduct drone strikes with increasing accuracy in Pakistan, and direct cyberweapons at specific nuclear centrifuges deep under the Iranian desert, its understanding of North Korea’s leadership and weapons systems has actually gotten worse.

Related: The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea – U.S. Neglecting N.Korean Nuke Problem, Says China ”Beijing believes that Washington lacks the will and capacity to address the issue because it is too focused on Syria and the wider Middle East,” the source said. “It seems Beijing has notified Seoul of its concerns both directly and indirectly.” Beijing worries that Washington has given up trying to persuade North Korea to denuclearize and instead turned its attention to deterrence, which leads to a proliferation of nuclear weapons and missiles in the region, the source added. // which China will hate if it means deploying more missile defense and other military assets closer to China…

Obama, Park to show united front on North Korea – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun President Barack Obama and South Korea’s new leader Park Geun-hye will seek to present a strong front against North Korea’s nuclear threats when they meet at the White House on May 7. But they also want to leave the door open to talks with Pyongyang.

DoD “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2013″ Report Just Released | Andrew S. Erickson In extremely welcome change from last year, the 2013 report is detailed and substantive.

Related: Espionage fuels China’s fast-paced military buildup: Pentagon | Reuters In its 83-page annual report to Congress on Chinese military developments, the U.S. Defense Department also highlighted Beijing’s efforts to develop advanced-technology stealth aircraft and to build an aircraft carrier fleet to project power further offshore. ”What concerns me is the extent to which China’s military modernization occurs in the absence of the type of openness and transparency that others are certainly asking of China,” David Helvey, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, told a Pentagon briefing on the report.

Pentagon Lifts Veil on 7 New Obscure Chinese Weapons | Danger Room | Wired.com The latest installment (.pdf) of the Pentagon’s annual report on Chinese military developments, released today, highlights some of these lesser-known but still potentially world-changing weapons.

China to crack down on faked export data – FT.com The SAFE statement, published late on Sunday, was the first major action taken by the government to address the problem. “This is clearly a sign that the authorities recognise that companies channelling inflows into China dressed up as exports is actually a serious issue, that it is happening and that they want to do something about it,” said Louis Kuijs, an economist with the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Related: Yuan Falls as China Cools Market – WSJ.com The rules appear to have scaled back investors’ expectations of further gains by the yuan in the short term by effectively limiting banks’ ability to bet against the dollar versus the yuan in China. But analysts say the yuan’s longer-term outlook remains bullish because of China’s huge trade surplus and sound economic fundamentals.

Navigating China’s perilous health care system along the Street of Eternal Happiness | Marketplace.orgLike nearly all Chinese, Yao is covered by a state health insurance plan. But she’s discovered that it doesn’t pay for much of her treatment. Yao and her husband Tang Jin Lin say that after two years in and out of hospitals, her doctors still don’t know what’s wrong with her. ”It’s useless!” yells Tang, “They’re just trying to check her quickly, prescribe some drugs, and move on to the next patient. They’re not trying to figure out what’s really wrong with her,” he says. Yao interrupts her husband: “We’ve gone through all of our retirement savings seeing these doctors.” // 看病难，看病贵

Baidu Buys PPS Video for $370 Million, Now China’s Biggest Video Platform–TechInAsia Chinese search company Baidu announced today that it has acquired PPS.tv’s streaming video service for $370 million. The acquisition bolsters Baidu’s video offerings (it already owns iQiyi) and puts it in a position to challenge market leader Youku-Tudou for a bigger share of China’s web video marketplace. By some user counts, this acquisition makes Baidu the proud new owner of China’s biggest video platform.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Yum says not affected by China mutton scandal | South China Morning Post Yum Brands said its roughly 450 Little Sheep hot pot restaurants in China are not involved in a fake mutton scandal that is the latest tainted food saga to rock the country that is the fast-food chain’s largest market.

China Quake Zone’s Absent Men Show Labor Supply Curbing Growth – Bloomberg Like rural communities across China, Zhang’s village in southwestern Sichuan province is home these days mainly to the old, the weak and the young. The able-bodied men have left to seek work in the cities.

China’s new securities regulator has a China dream, too | beyondbrics When Xiao Gang, the new boss of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, used ‘China dream’ as the theme of his first public speech following his appointment back in March, he was making an obvious echo of president Xi Jinping’s evoctaion of a ‘China dream’. Xiao’s speech was published on CSRC’s website to just before China’s May 4th Youth Day.

China’s great rebalancing, or: where does the investment go? | FT Alphaville These signs of slowdown in services growth raises the question of where Chinese growth is now coming from, given that April manufacturing PMIs also disappointed. Importantly, what does it say about the composition of China’s economy, which the country’s leaders acknowledge needs to move from an unusually heavy reliance on investment towards more consumption-based growth?

POLITICS AND LAW

Chinese ministry restricts official meals to canteens in austerity measure | South China Morning Post A new document aiming to cut costs and streamline operations at China’s top authority for land and resource planning included a decree ordering officials to keep wining and dining to canteens. The Ministry of Land and Resources released on Sunday its first whitepaper this year listing 20 new measures to “further improve the working style of the ministry and its relevant organs and establish closer ties with the masses”, the Beijing News reported on Monday.

开国元勋后代井冈山纪念朱毛会师85周年_网易新闻 5月4日，毛泽东外孙孔继宁、朱德外孙刘建、陈毅之子陈昊苏、何长工之子何光晔等众多开国元勋后代、红军后人齐聚江西井冈山，纪念朱毛会师85周年。1928年4月28日，朱德和陈毅领导的南昌起义部队与毛泽东领导的秋收起义部队在井冈山脚下会师

石家庄平山官员——“皇帝哥”火了-石家庄吧 | 微吧 一起扎堆吧！河北省石家庄市平山县古月镇北冶乡沕沕水村村民向乡长张栋礼下跪求情，要求释放被抓捕村官。

胡耀邦故居成全国重点文保单位 去年获批4A景区_网易新闻中心 Hu Yaobang’s home now a protected cultural site// 国家文物局表示，对于名人故居，此次评选增加了从严把握的三条原则：即与本人做出的重大贡献或发生的重要历史事件没有紧密关联的不列入，已有一处故居旧居列入“国保”单位的原则上不再考虑第二处列入，新中国成立后复建的不列入。

Province to probe ‘fake’ student dictionaries |Society |chinadaily.com.cn Hubei provincial authorities have vowed to investigate the government procurement of 3 million dictionaries reported by media to be low quality. It was the second time in weeks that dictionaries a local government bought for students have had problems. ”We have stopped handing out the dictionaries and will investigate the whole procurement process,” the Hubei Department of Education said in a statement on its website on Monday. “Any wrongdoing will be dealt with seriously.”

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

China seeks to water down key World Bank report – FT.comChina is leading an effort to water down the World Bank’s most popular research report in a test of the development institution’s new president, Jim Yong Kim. According to people close to the matter, China wants to eliminate the ranking of countries in the Doing Business report, which compares business regulations – such as the difficulty of starting a company – in 185 different nations.

FBI Agents Association endorses Rep. Mike Rogers to bureau’s new leader – The Washington Post The FBI Agents Association released a statement of support for Rep. Mike Rogers (Mich.), a former agent, and urged President Obama to nominate him when Mueller’s term ends in September. // China would probably not be happy about this

China sends fishing fleet to Nansha Islands – Xinhua | English.news.cn A fishing fleet is about set sail for Nansha Islands at the Baimajing Harbor in Danzhou City, south China’s Hainan Province, May 6, 2013. Thirty Chinese fishing vessels on Monday set off for the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea. The fishing ships, each with a capacity exceeding 100 tonnes, will stay around the Nansha Islands for 40 days

PacNet #30A – The US Rebalancing to Asia: Indonesia’s Maritime Dilemma | Center for Strategic and International Studies The Indonesian archipelago straddles a strategic location at the crossroads of two oceans and two continents – the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and the Asian and Australian continents. In between, and connecting the two regions, are three critical maritime chokepoints for global trade: the Straits of Malacca-Singapore, Sunda, and Lombok-Makassar. The Straits of Malacca and Singapore are partly administered by Malaysia and Singapore, while the Sunda and Lombok-Makassar Straits are located within the Indonesian Archipelagic Sea Lanes (ASL). At a glance, these features might seem a geostrategic blessing. Recent developments in the maritime strategic environment, however, could complicate Indonesia’s strategic calculus.

细化钓鱼岛实战 解放军模拟对日定点清除_多维新闻网 Duowei on the recent PLAN exercise to practice attacking an island //【多维新闻】在中美就协防钓鱼岛一番唇枪舌战后，中国官方媒体日前报道的解放军动态格外引人注目。央视近日报道，解放军北海舰队航空兵日前演练多机种远程对海岛精确打击；《解放军报》5月6日称，南海舰队某猎潜艇大队4月25日在某海域展开了一场攻防对抗演练，在近似实战的环境中磨砺反潜硬功；中国军网5月2日公开东海舰队歼-10机群4月27日演练偷袭格斗制敌的消息。

Defence White Paper pulls its punches on China－－Lowy Interpreter The most striking feature of the 2013 Defence White Paper is the growing gap between Australia’s strategic policy aspirations and the crunch in defence spending. Nowhere is this more evident than in the ambitious rhetoric over the strategic construct of the ‘Indo-Pacific’, where Australia’s grand plans to play an active role in promoting a stable environment coexist uncomfortably with the fact that defence expenditure as a proportion of GDP is at its lowest point since 1938. Like the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper, DWP 2013 paints a grandiose picture of Australia’s regional ambitions, but fails to deliver on the means to achieve it.

Chinese National Security Decision-making: Processes and Challenges | Brookings Institution This paper examines three processes of China’s national security decision-making: the decision-making at the top level, the policy-coordination process conducted through the National Security Leading Small Group (NSLSG), and the informational process for national security decision-making. Generally speaking, the supreme decision-making authority in China is monopolized and exercised through the collective leadership of the Politburo Standing Committee; this is especially true with regard to “strategically important” issues, such as Sino-U.S. relations.

Anti-Dumping or Blatant US Protectionism? How the US Tried and Failed to Destroy a Great Chinese Entrepreneur | China Private Equity As an American citizen, I’m more than a little disgusted by what the US government did in this case: it made that 2009 announcement, declaring a preliminary finding, without really checking its facts. Had Yao not acted quickly, hired lawyers and proved his case, his business would have been sunk, and Americans would end up paying much more to decorate their gifts. Had Commerce wanted to, it would have taken almost no time or effort to establish that Yama, as the largest Chinese ribbon exporter, was likely getting nothing from the Chinese government. But, they didn’t bother.

Work in progress – The Hindu It is still unclear what caused the People’s Liberation Army to move troops into the Depsang Plain. There is speculation that it might have done so to convey its displeasure at the recent infrastructure development undertaken by India in Ladakh. Given that a diplomatic mechanism already exists to regulate and draw down mutual deployments along the LAC, it would be unwise for any stakeholder on the Chinese side to try and unilaterally force an outcome through provocative actions. Indeed, Beijing must realise that its attempts to resolve long-standing disputes with countries across Asia through coercive tactics will only rebound on itself.

Government Lab Reveals It Has Operated Quantum Internet For Over Two Years | MIT Technology Review Richard Hughes and pals at Los Alamos National Labs in New Mexico reveal an alternative quantum internet, which they say they’ve been running for two and half years. Their approach is to create a quantum network based around a hub and spoke-type network. All messages get routed from any point in the network to another via this central hub.//US ahead of China on this? remember the PLA daily piece on a Chinese research breakthrough noted in yesterday’s Sinocism

HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN

Leopards found extinct in Taiwan as public begins to growl – CSMonitor.com A team of zoologists have been looking for the Formosan clouded leopard, indigenous to Taiwan, for 13 years. Last week they announced it was extinct.

Nation not taking asthma, allergies seriously: group – Taipei Times More than 20 percent of Taipei first-graders suffer from asthma and 50 percent of them have allergic rhinitis, the Taiwan Association of Asthma Education said yesterday.

TECH AND MEDIA

China Money Network − Tristen Langley: Start-ups Within Chinese Internet Companies Generate Great Value – Tune in for China’s Financial Markets and Investment Opportunities In this episode of China Money Podcast, co-founder of Amalfi Capital, Tristen Langley, talks with our host, Nina Xiang, on Alibaba Group’s $586 million acquisition of an 18% stake of Sina’s Weibo, her investment firm’s winning and losing bets, and the future challenges facing China’s e-commerce industry.

[视频]互联网企业抢占移动互联市场_新闻频道_央视网 Monday CCTV Evening News on the Alibaba-Sina deal, questions how the two firms will integrate user data without violating Sina Weibo’s data protection policies//  以阿里巴巴入股新浪微博为例，数据交换的深度合作是这次双方合作的主要内容，而在《新浪微博个人信息保护政策》中明确写到，“未经您本人允许，新浪微博不会向任何第三方披露您的个人信息”。这次阿里巴巴入股新浪微博后，也就成为了微博的股东，这样的规定在现实中到底能不能执行，还有待检验。

France Names Wong Kar-wai Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters – Scene Asia – WSJ France’s enduring love affair with Wong Kar-wai continued over the weekend, as the country named the Hong Kong filmmaker a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters.

Caixin – China Economics & Finance now goes all-digital -Starting May 2013, we will officially cease print publication of Caixin – China Economics & Finance. The first digital-only issue goes out on May 1, 2013. At the same time, we will set up a paywall system for Caixin Online (english.caixin.com), which goes live on May 3, 2013. These changes are a key step in our shift to digital-only product offerings for Caixin English.

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

Seeking Visibility for China’s Art – NYTimes.com China’s art market, though its growth slowed significantly last year, is an established part of the art world, ranking second in size behind the U.S. market in 2012 and ahead of Britain’s, according to a recent report. In fact, Chinese collectors — scouring the world for deals, or “panning for gold,” as The Art Newspaper’s new Chinese edition put it — have become a common sight (or, often, voice at the end of the telephone) at auctions around the world, even in small towns in Europe.

Going Global: Markups and Product Quality in the Chinese Art Market – Federal Reserve Bank of New York why is the New York Fed using its resources on this? what i am missing? // We analyze two reasons for export prices to be different across markets–namely, quality differentiation and variable markups–and attempt to parse their relative importance and some of their underlying drivers. To overcome the substantial measurement issues in this task, we consider a particular industry as a special case: Chinese fine art. The simplicity of the supply side of art vis-á-vis marginal cost and the wealth of data on its quality characteristics make it possible to separately identify the markup and quality components of international relative prices for Chinese artworks.

Punk in China – video | Music | guardian.co.uk When the Sex Pistols appeared on the BBC singing God Save the Queen, China was still in the grips of the Cultural Revolution – most music was banned, and Mao ruled supreme. Nearly 40 years later, punk is alive and kicking in Beijing

FOOD AND TRAVEL

Nongfu Spring to sue over quality claims[1]|chinadaily.com.cn In an online statement on Monday, the company said it is seeking 60 million yuan ($9.7 million) in damages from the paper, which it accuses of defamation. Zhong Shanshan, chairman of Nongfu Spring, appeared at a news conference in the afternoon that descended into a war of words with reporters from The Beijing Times, who insisted reports about the water quality had been “factual” and “well-grounded”.

BEIJING

北京出租车调价方案今日发布 15天后听证_网易财经 hearings on planned beijing taxi price increases. a cabbie told me the other day he does not expect his income to go up as the gas subsidy (油补费) will be eliminated…1425 rmb/mo he said, some from government, some from cab company. he claimed cab companies would end up making more money since they would save on their share of the cab subsidy. if true expect it to come out in chinese media at some point// 此前有媒体曾报道称，北京将从6月起出租车价格全面调整，起步价或将上调到15元，每公里收费上调到2.4元。市交通委则表示，出租车上调的价格收益，全部归出租司机所有。

北京新政欲破“打车难” – 经济观察网 － 专业财经新闻网站 导语：高峰时刻，一边是闲置的资源，一边却是旺盛的需求。作为主管部门，如何整合资源，调节需求？北京市交通委在近期交出了答卷——欲通过调整租价结构、改变出租车经营权限等组合措施，为“打车难”破题。

刘远举：出租车企业用押金“绑架”司机 抵制改革-财经网 以“押金”、“风险保证金”等形式存在的收费加大、加固了公司和司机之间的权利不平等架构，使公司可以转嫁改革成本给司机，迫使司机成为自己的拳头，最后，形成对改革的有效抵制。

Police struggle to stop jaywalkers as Beijing launches road safety campaign | South China Morning Post Some police lamented what they considered a manpower shortage. One officer told the Beijing Times that three or more officers were needed to effectively stop all the jaywalkers at an intersection. When more than a dozen people ignore a red light at once, which happens frequently, an officer is able to stop maybe one or two people in the lead, while the other violators continue on their way.

JOBS AND EVENTS

The Road to Reform: European Chamber Annual Conference 2013Time 2013-05-09 | 09:00 – 17:00 Venue: China World Summit Wing, Address: No.1 Jianguomenwai Avenue, Beijing