With the conclusion of the civil service exam last weekend, over a million of China’s best and brightest are now crossing their fingers for a position somewhere in the government. Getting the job might not be the end of their troubles, however, as a recent poll shows that over 45% of Chinese officials apparently feel they are “powerless” in a “vulnerable” economic position. more ›

It overtook Germany in 2009, and now China has overtaken Japan to become the world's second-largest economy. Yi Gang, China's chief currency regulator, mentioned the milestone in an interview with China Reform Magazine on Friday. Of course, Japan's individuals are overall much wealthier - China's per capita income has risen gradually, but is still but a fraction of both Japan and Germany's. But with 4 to 20 times the amount of people as anywhere else, any small increment helps propel the entire country up to the top spot - depending on how fast the exchange rate rises, China could leapfrog past the U.S. in 2025. more ›

Despite fears of the great economic recession destroying China's economy with the rest of the world, the average disposable income for Shanghai residents rose 8% since last year to 21,871RMB per person. That only counts for city residents, but even those not lucky enough to have the right hukou have still seen their annual salary raise: the average income for city dwellers is 15,051 RMB, which is 4.4% higher than last year. We've got some ideas, but what do you think all that extra pocket cash is being spent on? more ›

One of our favorite Chinese sites seems to have run afoul of the net nanny: vip.bokee.com has been on again off again, but perfectly viewable with a proxy. Using the proxy we saw an article about a list published in a Chengdu newspaper of the top-grossing authors in China, at least based on royalties from the sales of their books. At the top of the list was a Guo Jingming, a young author (born in... more ›

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences recently published a report about how much income you need in order to be classified as white-collar in various Chinese cities. At the top of the list was Hong Kong, where you needed to make at least 18,500 RMB. As for some of the other cities:The benchmarks in some major cities at the upper end are: 8,900 yuan ($1,194) in Macao, 5,350 yuan ($717) in Shanghai, 5,280 yuan ($708)... more ›