Results tagged “autoindustry”

If you were President Obama, what's the best possible news you could hear from Hu Jintao during your upcoming visit in November? That the Chinese military will agree to keep their agreement to work more closely with the US military? That recent threats to potentially raise tariffs on US automakers were just a big joke? Or were you thinking something perhaps...a bit more...magical?

• Kashgar's Old Town Bulldozed; Is Uyghur Culture in Danger? [FarWestChina - gfw] "Within the narrow alleyways of this Old Town lie thousands of years of Kashgar’s history. Aged wooden doors and cobblestone paths have witnessed the passage of innumerable donkey carts, small Uyghur children and, in recent times, many foreign tourists. On the outside, these mud-brick walls seem at peace with their place in history but just beyond the padlocked door a crippling truth emerges. Squinting through the cracks in the doorway it is possible to see that these walls no longer house Uyghur inhabitants. Instead, they hide the heartbreaking destruction of Kashgar’s Old City. Over two-thirds of the city has already been leveled. History has been replaced by rubble; donkey carts by bulldozers."
• Chinese Singing Show To Go On, With a New Name and Conditions [WSJ] "While hugely popular, the shows also triggered hot debates. Some celebrated them for representing the victory of grassroots culture over official or elite culture, while others believed the show just encouraged young people to seek out overnight fame. Along with popularity came increased government scrutiny. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (Sarft) released a series of specific measures to regulate entertainment programs (particularly talent shows) in 2007 and a planned 2008 season of Super Girls was cancelled. A spokesman for Hunan Satellite Television told the media late last month that a revival of the televised singing competition had been approved by the Sarft, though not without several conditions attached."
• Singapore promotes Mandarin [Danwei] "According to a survey conducted on incoming primary students by the Singapore Department of Education, the number of Chinese-language households in Singapore has been declining since the 1990s. Today, only 40% of households use Chinese as a primary language, while English-language households have climbed from 26% in 1990 to 60% today. To reverse this trend, the Singapore Promote Mandarin Council launched The Chinese Challenge on March 30, fun quizzes that let Singapore citizens and permanent residents personally experience the breadth and depth of Chinese culture, deepen their understanding of Mandarin, and improve their grasp on the language."

• As Chinese art market crashes, many artists applaud [csmonitor.com] "Chinese artists were seen as ATMs," says Jerome Sans, director of the nonprofit Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing. "Maybe now they'll stop creating for the market and create for the mind."
• Wine producers pin hopes on China in tough times [AFP] "Wine producers are pinning their hopes for growth during the financial crisis on a country that only recently entered the ranks of the world's top ten wine drinking countries — China. Wine bars and speciality wine stores have flourished in Shanghai, which prides itself of being the nation's most cosmopolitan city, and have quickly become part of the landscape."
• Reports: China auto sales 1.03 million in March [Forbes] "Preliminary figures show auto sales in China rose to at least 1.03 million in March, exceeding U.S. sales for the third month in a row, state media reports said Wednesday. Sales data from 14 major auto makers, accounting for roughly 90 percent of total sales, totaled 1.026 million, the state-run newspaper Shanghai Securities News said, citing Chen Bin, head of the Department of Industry at China's main economic planning agency."

• Shanghai Scrap shows solidarity with Fox News's Roger Friedman by buying a copy of that leaked yet-to-be-released summer blockbuster, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. [Shanghai Scrap]
• He's not the first to do so either. Lost Laowai had already scooped up a fake DVD copy just days after the leak... and then took the time to school a fenqing on the differences between piracy and those looted relic heads. [Lost Laowai]
• Not quitting the new battle for currency supremacy, China is moving to globalize the yuan and promote it overseas - and Shanghai gets to be the command central. [LA Times]
• A cluster of old buildings first constructed in the Qing Dynasty are saved from urban demolition after a national survey of cultural relics finds that many exist in there. They're located in the Chenhang area in Minhang. [Xinhua]

• China targets an academic culture of cut-and-paste [csmonitor.com] "Plagiarism and sheer invention have flourished in Chinese academic circles, adds Stephen Stearns, a Yale University professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who taught two classes at Peking University in 2007, because 'at least until recently, the rewards were great and the punishment was trivial. It paid off.'"
• China clears Johnson & Johnson products after probe [The Times of India] "China’s State Food and Drug Administration has cleared baby products manufactured by Johnson & Johnson after a high-profile and widely publicized investigation to determine if they contained potential carcinogens. The Administration launched its probe on the basis of allegations leveled by an US based activist group."
• Beijing Redeploys Its Carmakers For Global Race [Forbes] "Dongfeng Automobile Co., Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. and Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. have been directed by Beijing to start acquiring smaller rivals in a race to transform themselves into the “Big Two” or “Big Three” in China’s auto industry."