PRC Economy and Industry: News and Discussions

[DavidD]

Gonna be impossible with the population density of China, so it sure would be nice for my relatives in China Good to see the government popping the bubble before it gets too big though.

As for the article itself, it's of note to qualify the 30% drop prediction with the statement that it will happen over a 5-10 year period and that's only in cities where the bubble is the greatest(i.e. Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen). In comparison, the when the American RE bubble burst, it dropped 30+% nation wide in 4 years.

Just a while ago (few weeks to be precise) there was no RE bubble in PRC. Now it is being managed for 30% depreciation over 5-10 years.

By the way what is the difference between a 30% drop in 4 years (USA) versus 30% drop in 5 years (your prediction for PRC)

One is nation-wide, one is mostly in 3 cities. The RE value in cities just a step below the likes of Beijing and Shanghai, such as in my paternal hometown of Wuxi(if you know China, you'd know that it's a big and wealthy city) is not even remotely close to what it's like in Beijing(sort of my maternal hometown).

[DavidD]

china car industry report
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/f ... 803950.stm

In 2001 China car sales was low and lower than India.
With a few years it jumped around and became a leading sales.
How is that possible. It is exactly like it was mfg and a show was put up with car sales. No of cars in eh road do not match up with the actual sales of the car.

Leading in sales isn't the same as leading in the number of cars, though if you head to eastern China, you'll find plenty of cars on the road(way too many IMO).

[Ambar]

china car industry report
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/f ... 803950.stm

In 2001 China car sales was low and lower than India.
With a few years it jumped around and became a leading sales.
How is that possible. It is exactly like it was mfg and a show was put up with car sales. No of cars in eh road do not match up with the actual sales of the car.

You sure about that,Acharyaji ? Although i don't have figures for 2001,i do have a August 2000 issue of Indian motoring rag 'Overdrive'. The total domestic 4-wheeler sales for the fiscal year 99-00 was around 320 thousand. I did find an old article from 2004 when India for the first time touched the figure of 1 million passenger vehicles (production),but the article also points out that this is still half the number of light passenger vehicles produced in China.

Whatever the sales growth disparity are between the 2 Asian giants,it is just staggering how far India and China have traveled in just 10 years.India from a total annual car sales of around 300 thousand in 99 to 1.7 million this year - that's almost 600% growth! And China from around 500 thousand/year in 2000 to an absolutely eye popping 9.5 million + this year! That's a growth of 2000%! Agreed, the subsides on cars/discount vouchers provided by Chinese govt has contributed to this 2000% rise in sales,but it does not take away the fact that atleast when it comes to auto sales,what took US 8 decades,China has achieved it in 10 years.

Though all these numbers are mind numbing,it does makes one wonder how stressed the demand on energy supply would be in years to come. I think a 200$/barrel of oil is certainly a possibility within the next 3 years.And if Indian roads are congested now,wonder how things are gonna look like in 5 years time!

[Vinu]

[quote=China from around 500 thousand/year in 2000 to an absolutely eye popping 9.5 million + this year! That's a growth of 2000%! Agreed, the subsides on cars/discount vouchers provided by Chinese govt has contributed to this 2000% rise in sales,but it does not take away the fact that atleast when it comes to auto sales,what took US 8 decades,China has achieved it in 10 years.
[/quote]

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/China/Oil.html

The above link talks about the Oil consumption of China from the year 2000. It is not even doubled from 2000 to 2010.
By considering the fact that Chinese car export is significantly less in numbers will it possible to feed the 2000% rise vehicles with just less than twice Oil consumption?

[DavidD]

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/China/Oil.html

The above link talks about the Oil consumption of China from the year 2000. It is not even doubled from 2000 to 2010.
By considering the fact that Chinese car export is significantly less in numbers will it possible to feed the 2000% rise vehicles with just less than twice Oil consumption?

I suppose it is, look at a similar graph for India, for example:

http://www.indexmundi.com/india/oil_consumption.html

My guess is that most of the oil is actually used for something else, plus many, many other factors.

[svinayak]

Could that oil be used for strategic storage under the pretext of higher consumption in PRC. Also this surplus oil imports could be diverted to other country in a secret arrangement - ? so that others would not be aware of it.

This storage is in anticipation of a long term shut down of global trade and collapse.

[DavidD]

Could that oil be used for strategic storage under the pretext of higher consumption in PRC. Also this surplus oil imports could be diverted to other country in a secret arrangement - ? so that others would not be aware of it.

This storage is in anticipation of a long term shut down of global trade and collapse.

I don't think there's any need for a pretext. The PRC openly stated that they want a 6 month strategic reserve which they're working actively toward achieving. I'm no energy expert, but I think there's heck a lot of more uses for oil than just for cars.

[naren]

Could that oil be used for strategic storage under the pretext of higher consumption in PRC. Also this surplus oil imports could be diverted to other country in a secret arrangement - ? so that others would not be aware of it.

This storage is in anticipation of a long term shut down of global trade and collapse.

Well, oil could be used as a form of diversification in investment, in addition to gold & T-bills. Considering the huge surplus PRC generates every year, I wouldn't be surprised.

[CT]China blew up the pipeline in Gulf of Meheeco, to raise the value of their "investments" ![/CT]

[Ambar]

Vinu,

China's oil consumption has almost doubled in the last 10 years,although there has been a 2000% increase in the number of passenger vehicle sales in China, i think the industrial consumption of crude oil significantly outweighs the consumption by automobiles,esp. in countries like China and India where most cars have engines capacity of 1.6 liters or under.As more and more Chinese and Indians get richer,so will be the desire to own bigger automobiles and at some point it is bound to have big dent on global oil demands.

China is way ahead when it comes to safeguarding its future energy interests.Not only have they made huge investments in central asia and Africa, they are also cozy-ing up with the leftist south Americans. China has been 'donating' tons of military equipments to Bolivia,Ecuador and Venezuela. China is hoarding up on lithium in Bolivia to feed China's growing alternate energy business.

If a future war between US and China is inevitable, then i would expect the first salvo to be shot in the Indian ocean..

[naren]

As more and more Chinese and Indians get richer,so will be the desire to own bigger automobiles and at some point it is bound to have big dent on global oil demands.

Money is not the only restriction. In India, eventhough many of the new ITvity generation could afford car, they prefer motor bikes. Reason is the roads are narrow, old & vehicle density is high. US scenario may not be directly mappable to India.

[Vinu]

,

China is way ahead when it comes to safeguarding its future energy interests.Not only have they made huge investments in central asia and Africa, they are also cozy-ing up with the leftist south Americans. China has been 'donating' tons of military equipments to Bolivia,Ecuador and Venezuela. China is hoarding up on lithium in Bolivia to feed China's growing alternate energy business.

Thank you.
Pardon me for an OT question in this thread but unable to resist. Do we have the equivalent energy pollicy?

[Ambar]

If we do have an energy policy then i am not aware of it.China is now a global leader in solar energy industry. One might have noticed the glow board 'Yingli Solar' during the recently concluded FIFA world cup,Yingli - a chinese company, is one of world's largest manufacturer of solar modules.
Although i did read an article that speculates about MMS' recent visit to KSA was to strengthen India's strategic energy supply goals,if an all out war between India and China breaks out,how much would KSA or other arab nations help India's oil supply is anybody's guess. Besides,with ever increasing middleclass in Asia, there is bound to be an exponential demand for energy and at some point in future there would be skirmishes as countries hustle each other in a race for energy supply.China spends close to 100 billion $ on alternative energy every year,and are leaders in battery propelled vehicles.Heck! They have wind and solar panels all over their cities that actually connects back to the main grid ( saw this on CNBC's special on 'cap and trade' - and thought it was cool).

India cannot rely on mid-eastern oil forever,we need to look for other sources for fossil fuels and start investing in R & D of alternative energy sources.

[harbans]

A decade back China's economy had barely crossed the 1 trillion USD GDP mark. It's oil consumption was X. Now it's GDP is almost 5 trillion USD, adds 9 times more vehicles on roads every year and it's oil consumption is <2X ?

How am i to believe that? Or am i missing something obvious? Alternate energy even a few 100 billion dollars of investment don't do the trick..

[wlin]

Could that oil be used for strategic storage under the pretext of higher consumption in PRC. Also this surplus oil imports could be diverted to other country in a secret arrangement - ? so that others would not be aware of it.

This storage is in anticipation of a long term shut down of global trade and collapse.

No, it is not because of storage. Most oil consumption in China is for industrial use. I can only get 2007 data. The oil consumption is 300 million ton. The petrol consumption is 55 million. Half of them is used by Transport, Storage and Post industry. The Household consumption is about 4.3 million tons which is 4 times of 2000 household consumption. With the recent car booming, I am sure the 2010 household consumption is much more than 2007 figure. But I doubt it will pass the Transport, Storage and Post industry. I think India should be the same thing.


Chinese just started to own their first car, so unlike State, there is no suburb yet. In small cities, the commute distance will be much shorter. In big cities, almost all resident area are well connected with public transport. So there is no real need to commute by car. I think Japan and Korea has the same pattern. So for Chinese car owners, if they lived in big cities, most of them still use public transportation for daily commute. Only on weekend, they will drive for shopping or travel. That is why in Beijing, the weekend traffic is worse than working days. Some funny things happened. One is the weekend traffic jam. The other is Beijing has traffic control. Every weekday, cars with two pre-announced plate ending numbers are required to stay at home. The 4 in Chinese sound like death, so few people use that number. For example, the plate with ending number 4 and 9 are not allowed on Thursday, then Thursday will have the worst jam.

To understand the Chinese car booming. You need to understand Chinese automobile industrial. The year 2000, Chinese produced 2 million automobiles, with 600 thousand cars. The others are trucks and buses. The average person are not supposed to own a car. So the majority of car sold to government, company and rich people. The government collect a lot of tax so the car is very expensive. There is no big domestic brand on the market so the only available brand is Volkswagen. The 70s Santana model sold around 200K RMB (25K USD) at 2000.

After 2000, the domestic brand like Cheery and Geely entered the market and sell car at a much lower price. Then China enter WTO, the Volkswagen monopoly is over. The US and Japan car maker entered China. This further draws down the price. And we have this lovely financial crisis. So the government withdraw a lot of tax. Currently the cheapest car in market cost 30K RMB. With 80K RMB, you got a pretty decent 4 door car. The foreign brand also cut their price. The Volkswagen bring their latest car model and sold them below half price of what they charged at 2000.

Meanwhile, China’s GDP grow from 2000’s 9.8 trillion RMB, to 2009’s 34 trillion RMB. And now the car price is at one third of 2000’s price. Add these two facts, we got a booming car market.

[wlin]

A decade back China's economy had barely crossed the 1 trillion USD GDP mark. It's oil consumption was X. Now it's GDP is almost 5 trillion USD, adds 9 times more vehicles on roads every year and it's oil consumption is <2X ?

How am i to believe that? Or am i missing something obvious? Alternate energy even a few 100 billion dollars of investment don't do the trick..

Chinese is a coal country. . The oil percentage of all energy is 23.2 in year 2000 and 19.7 in 2007. The coal consumption in 2000 is 12.8 trillion tons, in 2007 the figure is 25 trillion. 2010 the production will be 33 trillion tons. The consumption will be even higher because China will become the largest coal importer this year. Because China is not a big oil producer, so China government does not want to rely on oil to be its major energy source. If they can use coal, they will use coal.

For oil, the major consumption is for industrial use. Although the household consumption rise pretty fast, but still it got a long way to catch up.

[wlin]

Fortune Global 500 biggest companies

Year China India
2010 46 8
2009 37 7
2008 29 7
2007 24 6
2006 20 6
2005 16 5

Good. Now, 16 to 46 is a good growth. Do you have details /split up of which industry sectors those 46 companies are in ? That can give a good indication of which sectors grew fast , where the economic hotspots were and a dipstick into the nature of the PRC economy.

Are those company sizes by sales or by value of the companies? If value based and those "46" companies are largely govt controlled with a very small float in the Chinese stock exchanges, paying massive P/E ratios and the valuations are derived from that, I would take those with huge dollops of salt.

If sales based, I would like to see good proper double income accounting and GAAP financial statements , preferably listed in a stock exchange and closely tracked by analysts.

Fortune 500 is rated by sales. I am trying to break them into sectors. Most of them are public trared company and all resutls are follow GAAP rule and audited by big 4.

Energy Sector (8):
Sinopec (7, Oil)
State Grid (8, Power)
China National Petroleum (10, Oil)
China Southern Power Grid (156, Power)
China National Offshore Oil (252, Oil)
China Huaneng Group (313, Power)
Shenhua Group (356, Coal)
China Guodian (477, Power)

Banking, Insurance and Finance Sector (9):
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (87, Banking)
China Construction Bank (116, Banking)
China Life Insurance (118, Insurance)
Agricultural Bank of China (141 ,Banking)
Bank of China (143, Banking)
Citic Group (254, Investment)
People's Insurance Co. of China (371, Insurance)
Ping An Insurance (383, Insurance)
Bank of Communications (440, Banking)

Telecommunication Sector (3)
China Mobile Communications (77, Tele)
China Telecommunications (204, Tele)
China United Network Communications (368, Tele)

Construction Sector (3)
China Railway Construction (133, Railway Contractor)
China State Construction Engineering (187, Infra Construction)
China Communications Construction (224, Highway Construction)

Mining Sector (3):
China Metallurgical Group (315, Mining)
China Minmetals (332, Mining)
Aluminum Corp. of China (436, Mining)

Manufacturing Sector (14)
Dongfeng Motor (182, Auto)
Sinochem Group (203, Chemical)
Shanghai Automotive (223, Auto)
China FAW Group (258, Auto)
China South Industries Group (275, Auto and Defense )
Baosteel Group (276, Steel)
Hebei Iron & Steel Group (314, Steel)
Aviation Industry Corp. of China (330, Aerospace)
China North Industries Group (348, Defense)
Sinosteel (352, Steel)
Huawei Technologies (397, Telecomm)
China Datang Group (412, Telecomm)
Jiangsu Shagang Group (415, Steel)
Wuhan Iron & Steel (428 Steel)

Agricultural Sector (1):
COFCO (312, Agricultural)

Trade Sector (1):
China Resources National (395, Trade)

Railway Sector (1):
China Railway Group (137, Railway)

There are 43 mainland based companies. The other 3 are from Hongkang.
Cathay Life Insurance (281, Insurance)
Hutchison Whampoa (302)
Jardine Matheson (382)

[harbans]

Wlin thanks for the figures and the reasoning. Looking at the way you portrayed Beijing traffic particulars and jams it's quite reasonable to assume that China's public transport system has indeed reduced impact of oil consumption to a degree. What i still don't get however..

For oil, the major consumption is for industrial use. Although the household consumption rise pretty fast, but still it got a long way to catch up.

If i'm not mistaken China's GDP rise from 1t USD GDP to 5t in 10 years is a manifestation mostly of Industrial growth. Thats where the major oil consumption takes place apart from the weekends Chinese people take their cars out. Should'nt then oil consumption reflect more than 2X the 2000 figure.

[wlin]

Wlin thanks for the figures and the reasoning. Looking at the way you portrayed Beijing traffic particulars and jams it's quite reasonable to assume that China's public transport system has indeed reduced impact of oil consumption to a degree. What i still don't get however..

For oil, the major consumption is for industrial use. Although the household consumption rise pretty fast, but still it got a long way to catch up.

If i'm not mistaken China's GDP rise from 1t USD GDP to 5t in 10 years is a manifestation mostly of Industrial growth. Thats where the major oil consumption takes place apart from the weekends Chinese people take their cars out. Should'nt then oil consumption reflect more than 2X the 2000 figure.

The China industrial use for oil is for raw material not for energy usage. Like the chemical fiber, fertilizer, ethylene etc. The oil usage among industries is very different. For example, the machinery industry use much less oil than fertilizer industry, the same thing happened to auto, textile, food, medicine, Electrical, Communication Equipment, Computers etc. You can easily double those industry output without much more oil consumption. Of course, you need more energy. But that came from coal, hydro for China case.

In the past decade, the service sector contributes most to GDP growth not industry. For outside, it may look like industry but that is not true. Even in industry itself, the high added-value industry like Communication Equipment, Electrical, Computers, auto, machinery, medicine grows much faster than other industry.

[wlin]

Wlin thanks for the figures and the reasoning. Looking at the way you portrayed Beijing traffic particulars and jams it's quite reasonable to assume that China's public transport system has indeed reduced impact of oil consumption to a degree. What i still don't get however..

For oil, the major consumption is for industrial use. Although the household consumption rise pretty fast, but still it got a long way to catch up.

If i'm not mistaken China's GDP rise from 1t USD GDP to 5t in 10 years is a manifestation mostly of Industrial growth. Thats where the major oil consumption takes place apart from the weekends Chinese people take their cars out. Should'nt then oil consumption reflect more than 2X the 2000 figure.

The China industrial use for oil is for raw material not for energy usage. Like the chemical fiber, fertilizer, ethylene etc. The oil usage among industries is very different. For example, the machinery industry use much less oil than fertilizer industry, the same thing happened to auto, textile, food, medicine, Electrical, Communication Equipment, Computers etc. You can easily double those industry output without much more oil consumption. Of course, you need more energy. But that came from coal, hydro for China case.

In the past decade, the service sector contributes most to GDP growth not industry. For outside, it may look like industry but that is not true. Even in industry itself, the high added-value industry like Communication Equipment, Electrical, Computers, auto, machinery, medicine grows much faster than other industry.

In fact from India’s data, it shows the same pattern, in 2000, India consume 2.12 million bbl/day. In 2010, you consume 2.67 million bbl/day. That is 26% increase for 10 year.
http://www.indexmundi.com/india/oil_consumption.html

China consume 220 million ton in year 2000. And 2010, China will consume 420 million ton at least. From Jan-Apr, China consumes 140 million ton, since the major usage will be in Summer, so it safe to assume it 420 million consumption this year. That is almost double or 91% growth for 10 year. So it seems we have the same pattern.

[harbans]

Wlin thanks will look up on these figures further. Even in India's case i would be surprised if it did'nt double at the least in the last decade. But thanks anyways.

[derkonig]

Return of melamine milk in China.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-ta ... 2010-07-14
Seriously, what kind of subhumans are these people, if tainted milk powder was not enough, the powder in question dates back to 2008, heck, no milk powder that old is safe for consumption, tainted or not. I wonder what spin will the dlones put on it.

Besides, even Shanghai statistics & fraudulent numbers can't seem to stop the slide as the Chinese economy continues its collapse...
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chinas ... 2010-07-14

[DavidD]

The people who make the poisonous milk are despicable and deserve to be executed. What's even more infuriating is that it seems like they're actually getting away with it. Apparently after the last round of scandals, they found some scapegoats and punished them, while the real culprits got away scott free. Crap like that still happen way too damn often in China!



The economics data don't look so bad.

[naren]

China's economic growth rate slows to 10.3%

The pace of growth in the world's third-largest economy slowed in the second quarter, official figures show.

The slowdown came as the impact of a government stimulus package faded.

China recovered quickly from the global economic downturn, but was then faced with a boom that included a surge in house prices and fears that a speculative asset bubble was forming.

The authorities imposed limits on lending and investment.

[DavidD]

Eh, not the best news for China. I hope the growth rate slows down a bit more and stay under 10%, as I had expected Beijing's efforts to slow down the overheating economy to be a bit more effective. It's encouraging to hear that retail is still growing though, increasing internal consumption will be key for China's transformation into a less export-dependent economy in the future.

[shynee]

Property speculation leaves 64.5 million vacant homes in China

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – At least 64.5 million houses are lying vacant in China. This is sign that the property market is in for a tough time in the not so distant future. Indeed, the mainland’s real estate sector is dangerously overheated, and could threaten the country’s financial and social stability, a prominent economist wrote in an official newspaper today.
Yi Xianrong, an economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that estimates from electricity meter readings show that 64.5 million apartments and houses stand empty in China’s urban areas, many of them bought by people counting on a constantly rising property market.

Writing in the People's Daily, Yi said the level of empty housing was “shocking”.

“If this outsized property bubble does not burst, it will hurt residents' well-being, and also affect national financial security and co-ordinated national economic development,” Yi wrote. In his opinion, the overheated property market was misallocating resources, distorting prices and squandering the wealth created by economic growth.

Even though the article was published in the newspaper’s overseas edition, that it was published at all shows how much the government is afraid of the bubble and the instability it might generate.

[Hari Seldon]

One day china will rule the world. I can hardly wait for the day ....
/sarc off.

[svinayak]

http://www.danwei.org/scholarship_and_e ... ng_jun.php


FRAUD
Faked credentials, a ghost-written autobiography, and a diploma mill

It hasn't been a good week for Tang Jun. The former president of Microsoft China, former CEO of Shanda, and current head of Xin Hua Du Industrial Group was accused by Fang Zhouzi, a noted anti-fraud crusader, of falsifying his academic credentials. (See Global Voices Online and ESWN for background.)

Fang charged that, among other things, Tang falsely claimed to have obtained a PhD in computers from the California Institute of Technology, when in fact the school had no record of his degree. After a few days of silence, Tang went on the offensive. In an interview with the state media, Tang threatened to sue Fang for libel: never, in any venue, had he claimed to have received a doctorate from Cal Tech.

Immediately, Fang Zhouzi shot back with passages from Tang's autobiography, My Success Can Be Replicated (我的成功可以复制, 2008), in which he claimed precisely that. Was the electronic edition maliciously altered to smear his reputation, as Tang claimed? Well, a page from the print version contained the same claim.

http://www.danwei.org/government/religi ... _in_an.php

The participation of monks in the recent unrest in China's ethnic Tıbetan regions is likely to bring an increased government presence in Tıbetan Buddhist monasteries.

Adam Minter commented in a Shanghai Scrap post on the suggestion made by Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu last week that monasteries will be given more "patriotic education":

There is no additional information available on just what Meng Jianzhu meant when he claimed that the Tıbetan monasteries would be required to implement more Patriotic education, it seems unlikely to result in the unity that Document 19—now twenty-six years old—was trying to produce. That said, I feel fairly confident in claiming that an enhanced Patriotic curriculum in the monasteries will neither make them feel more free, or unified with China. Such an approach—coercive under any definition—is precisely what Document 19 labeled a “leftist” tendency worth stamping out. Whether it will be stamped out is something that I’m in no position to assess; but what is abundantly clear—to me, at least—is that the official thinking on the Tıbetan question is now located somewhere in the mid-1980s.

[svinayak]

== China news aggregators and translations from Chinese ==
* Fool's Mountain: Blogging for China
This new collaborative blog is a lively forum for debate. Posts mix original opinion pieces with translations from Chinese online sources and print media. It is run by Chinese professionals living in the US.

Global Voices China section
Global Voices translates and aggregates blogs from around the world, with the emphasis on developing countries. Global Voices co-founder Rebecca MacKinnon's interest in China has helped to make the China section of the site one of the most active, with frequent contributions by John Kennedy, Kelly Proctor, and Bob Chen.

ESWN

http://www.danwei.org/blogs/model_workers_eng_2008.php

[svinayak]

http://www.danwei.org/internet/china_me ... o.php#1978

Media and Visual Culture in the People's Republic of China
A timeline: 1978 to 2008
The first version of this timeline was commissioned and edited by Christine de Baan for the 'China Contemporary' exhibition at Nederlands Foto Museum in Rotterdam in 2006.

The original timeline was created by Joel Martinsen and Jeremy Goldkorn. This updated version was compiled and designed by Lydia Wallace and edited by Goldkorn and Martinsen.

Instead of being all-inclusive or comprehensive, this timeline aims to portray the flavour of each year to allow readers unfamiliar with recent Chinese media history to have an all-round feeling of what it has been like to live through the changes of the last 30 years.

[Carl_T]

I think we should have a bojitive newj thread for china.

[Vinu]

China consume 220 million ton in year 2000. And 2010, China will consume 420 million ton at least. From Jan-Apr, China consumes 140 million ton, since the major usage will be in Summer, so it safe to assume it 420 million consumption this year. That is almost double or 91% growth for 10 year. So it seems we have the same pattern.

Thanks wlin, for the great reasoning and analysis. It is insightful.
Going forward, (providing the growth of the auto industry in China) would we expect a big surge in the oil consumption?

[chaanakya]

I think we should have a bojitive newj thread for china.

I second that.

[wrdos]

- In 2001, China car sales was More than India
- The majority of China car sales is from the international big names such as GM, Volkswagen, Toyota, Ford, Hyundai and so on. It will not cost you more 15mins to get their sales data in China, if you don't want to believe the Chinese government's.

BTW, in 2010, auto sales in China will surpass the combination of US, Japan, Germany, Russia and India.

It will become even harder for you to believe, Acharya-ji

china car industry report
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/f ... 803950.stm

In 2001 China car sales was low and lower than India.
With a few years it jumped around and became a leading sales.
How is that possible. It is exactly like it was mfg and a show was put up with car sales. No of cars in eh road do not match up with the actual sales of the car.

[Sanjay M]

China Passes U.S. as World’s Biggest Energy Consumer, IEA Says

[DavidD]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100709/ap_ ... auto_sales

China's auto sales is slowing, but still registers a mind-blowing 47.7% increase from a year in the first half of the year.

[derkonig]

Chinese airlines are in trouble with multiple banks issuing sell/underweight status to them, seems the Chinese people are left with no money after being forced by their face conscious govt. to buy all those cars. Besides, what comlade DavidD will not tell you, is that the news link itself mentions that auto sales in China are slowing down rapidly, seems the Chinese are unable to afford cars anymore.
Real estate is crashing while Ordos like entities bloom, Chinese junk exports are falling, lesser said the better about their stock markets.
Heck, at this rate, we will soon hear of starvation deaths in China if not deaths from melamine poisoning.

[Suraj]

No mention of this on the news yet ?
Large China oil spill threatens sea life, water

China's largest reported oil spill emptied beaches along the Yellow Sea as its size doubled Wednesday, while cleanup efforts included straw mats and frazzled workers with little more than rubber gloves.

An official warned the spill posed a "severe threat" to sea life and water quality as China's latest environmental crisis spread off the shores of Dalian, once named China's most livable city.

They're facing quite a bit this summer - typhoons and floods that killed 700+, and now oil spills.

[Prasad]

Well well well

Motorola Accuses Huawei of Stealing Mobile-Phone Trade Secrets

[Purush]

Amazing pics of the chinese oil spill including a few of a man being rescued from drowning in the oil
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/0 ... china.html

A must-view image set.

[Purush]

Well well well

Motorola Accuses Huawei of Stealing Mobile-Phone Trade Secrets

More on ^

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/21/moto ... tealing-w/

Motorola just sued Huawei and over a dozen former employees for conspiring to steal its wireless trade secrets and other proprietary technology over a period of years starting in 2001. Yeah, it's crazy. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2008 against four former Motorola engineers and a company called Lemko, all of whom Motorola accused of conspiring to stealing trade secrets related to wireless technology. After years of discovery in the case, it appears that Motorola realized the conspiracy went much deeper than it originally thought, leading the company to file a new complaint on July 16th, in which it named Huawei and nine additional former employees, who allegedly schemed to steal plans for a 3G base station called the SC300.

According to the complaint, part of the scheme was ultimately blown up when one of the employees was arrested by Customs at O'Hare airport en route to China with $30,000 in cash and over 1,000 pages of documentation regarding Motorola's various communications networking tech, while another employee was caught buying Motorola phones in bulk and sending unlock codes and dump files to Lemko for reverse engineering purposes. Motorola also says that it doesn't yet know the exact relationship between Lemko, Huawei and some of the former employees because "file destruction software" was installed and run on computers before they were turned over as evidence, but the company claims that Huawei was aware it was receiving proprietary Motorola information the entire time it was in contact with the former employees.