Forbes China has released its first overseas investment "risk list" for Chinese investors. Like all risk rankings, they gauged things like regional political stability, government corruption, legal system factors, and indicators of social stability and economic opportunities. Whether the Chinese follow these risk assessments is another thing entirely. more ›

Ah, the old accoutrements of modern civilization bait n' switch! How shrewd. Reuters is reporting that the Chinese government is going to make it rain something fierce on the Tibet Autonomous Region, to the tune of 300 billion RMB ($47 billion USD) over the next four years. The figure more than doubles the 138 billion RMB spent on Tibet from 2006 to 2010. more ›

That partnership we all hoped would one day somehow magically lead to easier bank account transfers back home is now a great deal smaller. Bank of America announced their plan on Monday to sell $8.3 billion worth of its China Construction Bank shares (about half of their 10% stake in the company) in a effort to boost capital. CCB's Hong Kong-listed shares rose more than 4% in wake of the news. BoA's shares also went up, but that probably had more to do with Warren Buffet's recent $5 billion investment in the bank. more ›

As part of their "spectators" series, Netease put out this excellent photo set taken of the "Chinese Pioneers in Africa" (拓荒非洲的中国人) this week. We've seen some excellent galleries on the subject before, but not often from Chinese media. These pictures capture the life of the Chinese living in Africa in Côte d'Ivoire, Angola, Zambia, South Africa, and Senegal. more ›

A few links to start off your day: more ›

Shanghai has announced plans to invest 400 billion yuan 40 billion yuan into its tourism industry during the next five-year plan. [Correction: we originally reported 400 billion, the correct figure is 40 billion.] While Shanghai Disneyland and Happy Valley's "second phase" construction will suck up most of the money, there are also 11 other projects in the works, including ecological parks and nature resorts, as well as the Fengxian 'Oriental Venice' project. more ›

The Heritage Foundation has again published their infographic tracking Chinese investment abroad. The totals do not include bonds and only include transactions over $100 million. We posted their graphic for 2009 last year, and comparing it with 2010's figures shows huge growth of investment in places like Brazil and Nigeria, which more than tripled in both countries. If you're interested, be sure to read the Heritage Foundation's full analysis, which includes trends over the past few years and investments by sector (energy and power were by far the winners this year.) more ›

Jim Chanos has never visited my friend's neighborhood, but he would love it. It is the apotheosis of everything he says is wrong with the Chinese real estate market, which more than a year ago, the influential short-seller famously outlined. more ›

What's the best investment you could possibly have made with your money this year? We'll give you some hints: you probably like your broccoli sauteed in it, vampires can't stand it, and you should avoid eating it before a first date. Of course, we're talking about...garlic! Yep, the plant of the year in China has seen its value increase exponentially: one kilo of garlic is now worth over 6 yuan wholesale, up 286 percent since March. more ›

• Chinese Scientists Reprogram Cells to Create Mice [WSJ] "Two teams of Chinese researchers working separately have reprogrammed mature skin cells of mice to an embryonic-like state and used the resulting cells to create live mouse offspring. The reprogramming may bring scientists one step closer to creating medically useful stem-cell lines for treating human disease without having to resort to controversial laboratory techniques. However, the advance poses fresh ethical challenges because the results could make it easier to create human clones and babies with specific genetic traits."
• Chinese Art, Still Invest-Worthy [GlobalPost] "Compared to the stock market, or nearly any other place one can put one’s money these days, Chinese contemporary art still looks like a very good investment. Recent art auctions in Hong Kong have registered sales at the high end of their estimates, even though the targets the auction houses are setting for themselves are less ambitious today than previous years. The owners of some of the best Beijing galleries said the shakeout promises to be a positive development for dealers, but also for artists. No one likes a bubble and there was growing concern that easy riches were destroying creativity by encouraging Chinese artists to go after major sales, rather than the real thing."
• It's Electric: Chinese Streets Full of Popular Electric Bicycles [FOXNews] "The bicycle was a vivid symbol of China in more doctrinaire communist times, when virtually no one owned a car. Even now, nearly two decades after the country began its great leap into capitalism, it still has 430 million bicycles by government count, outnumbering electric bikes and scooters 7-1. But production of electric two-wheelers has soared from fewer than 200,000 eight years ago to 22 million last year, mostly for the domestic market. The industry estimates about 65 million are on Chinese roads."