Though it was inevitably bound to happen, China officially surpassed Germany as the world's largest exporter by actually increasing their exports for the first time in fourteen months, which is no small feat in the beleaguered global economy. China's ascension to the top of the global supply chain came after official statistics were released for December: impressively, China managed to increase their exports by over 17% since this time last year. And while we can't imagine ever doubting the government's statistics, we have to wonder: with all this economic turmoil, exactly who's buying all these new goods? more ›

Danwei directed us to the embedded six-month old video of a short local NBC News piece on a Chinese-made three-wheel "car" available from a dealer in Webster, New York (it's actually available in several places in the U.S., like Michigan). The Webster dealer (we think this is his MySpace page ... yes, MySpace) claims women love the Wildfire WF650-C. The jury is still out on that one. more ›

The latest projection from the World Bank's Beijing office has some bad news: China's GDP growth may slow down to 7.5% in 2009, the lowest in 19 years. Given China's position as the world's manufacturing powerhouse and weakness in the global economy, net export growth is set to slow down from 11% this year to 3.5% next year. With overall imports substantially outpacing exports, this would be the "first time in many years that net external trade has made a negative contribution to growth". [Reuters] more ›