"I wake up this morning and find the radio, TV and print media all going on and on about how the property market is entering a winter season as real estate prices tumble. I don't understand -- are these macroeconomic adjustments here to help stabilise economic development, or are they here just to make property prices fall? Is there any country in history that has managed to grow its economy stably after a property bust?"
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Photo by Mike Chen found via the Shanghaiist Contribute page.more ›
Results tagged “property”
Real estate tycoon Ren Zhiqiang wonders aloud about falling property prices
37 workers wounded after asking for wages in Wuhan
A property developer in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, not only refused to pay its 2,000 migrant workers' wages on time, but also beat them up when they had the audacity to demand for payment, leaving 37 wounded.
More protests over property discounts, this time in Jiading
Last weekend, hundreds of angry homeowners in Pudong faced off riot police and smashed up the office of their real estate developer for offering discounts of up to 30% for units in their apartment complex. Yesterday, a similar, smaller-sized protest took place in Jiading.
Is the bubble finally bursting? Shanghai developers slash home prices, owners revolt
Hundreds of angry homeowners gathered last weekend to protest what could become a growing trend of price slashing in housing markets around China. Developers of a Pudong apartment complex started offering discounts of up to 30%, enraging buyers who had already invested in the development, as they essentially watched a chunk of their money evaporate. Hundreds gathered in the face of riot police to trample the developers' offices and show their general discontent.
Ordos: Still empty, still building
Two years ago, Al Jazeera's China correspondent Melissa Chan visited the city of Ordos in Inner Mongolia and found an entire town raised from the desert in just five years, complete with gleaming skyscrapers and futuristic buildings. Only problem was, nobody was actually living there.
Watch: Living in Hong Kong's tiny apartments
The WSJ speaks to one woman who says Hong Kong's skyrocketing apartment prices are increasingly out of reach for her and her family.
Shanghai courts rule ex-girlfriend of American man entitled to RMB670,000 from apartment
"AN American man has reached an agreement with his ex-girlfriend in dividing their apartment after mediation through a district court. The American, identified as Jerry, agreed to pay 670,000 yuan (US$103,077) in compensation to his ex-girlfriend surnamed Lu while she would transfer her ownership of the apartment, now valued at 4.8 million yuan, to Jerry. Jerry, 47, was sent by an American construction planning and design company to work in Shanghai in 2002. He fell in love with Lu, 17 years younger than he, in 2004. The two planned to marry and Lu asked Jerry to buy an apartment. With Lu's help, Jerry bought an apartment for 1.44 million yuan on Xikang Road. Both of their names were on the deed. The couple never married and broke up two years later. Lu's name remained on the deed even though she married another man. In September, Jerry sought sole ownership of the apartment and filed a lawsuit with the Jing'an District People's Court. The American said he had paid for the apartment and Lu had previously agreed to transfer her ownership after she accepted 80,000 yuan in compensation. But Lu didn't take her name off the deed, he told the court. Lu argued she contributed by negotiating with the real estate agency. She also told the court she paid for decoration. Judges said that Lu didn't deserve half because they never married." [Shanghai Daily]
New housing regulations prevent expats from owning more than one house
Has the Shanghai laowai (老外) bug got into you? Have you been thinking of making Shanghai your new home? If so, then before you settle down you might want to check out these new regulations. According to China's Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development, purchases of apartments/houses by foreigners could be restricted or even capped in a move to combat speculative money from overseas.
China's housing investment is preposterously large
The more we hear about China's housing market, the more outrageous it seems. China's real estate investment grew by 75% last year: in total, 4.4 trillion yuan was spent last year, a large part of which was fueled by 9.5 trillion in new loans. If you need a physical gauge for just how much that is, chew on this: over the course of the year, China sold 937 million square meters of space, nearly twice as much as in 2008. In order to curb housing market mania, Wen Jiabao announced new curbs on lending to manage credit growth, but with the enormous contribution that housing makes to the national GDP, we'd be surprised if anything but a crash will stop people from buying new houses.
Today's Links: Typhoon Sepat, Maglev Museum and Chinese bed recall
Shanghai prosecutors have charged former property tycoon Zhou Zhengyi with misappropriation of funds, bribery and forging value-added tax receipts, said a government source.
Today's Links: Canada, chocolate and burning puppies
"Almost half of counter-espionage efforts in Canada target Chinese spies, the head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service told a senate committee on Monday."
"In the prosperous metropolis of Shanghai, migrant workers even joined in performances, singing and dancing and taking part in games to show their talents."
"The century-old Hershey, synonymous with chocolate in the United States but relatively unknown abroad, must learn how to get products to shelves in countries where most shoppers buy from small family-owned grocers and street vendors."
"The Food and Drug Administration is enforcing a new import alert that greatly expands its curtailment of some food ingredients imported from China, authorizing border inspectors to detain ingredients used in everything from noodles to breakfast bars."
"A popular buzzword on the Internet these days is the Japanese phrase for 'orgy party' -- Google the term ranko party and you'll come up with hundreds of thousands of hits." NSFW.
"An incident of burning dogs in the city of Nanjing drew nearly 17000 comments from web users on Thursday and triggered a huge debate about dog rights."
"On March 16, 2007, China adopted a new Property Law, set to become effective on October 1, 2007. This post will be the first in a fairly long series of posts explaining China's real estate laws."
"The current stock market mania in China's mainland has as much in common with the Tulipmania of the 17th century, as it does with the Internet boom of the late 1990s."
"The dogs yelped in the middle of night and disturbed the sleeping humans. The problem can be solved by killing them."
"The Shanghai-based News Times reported Wentworth Miller as having been invited by Zhongbo Media Group, who have bought the rights from Fox to shoot an online video adaptation of the American hit TV drama."
"It is probable that melamine is not the major or only culprit in the pet food illnesses and deaths. So then what exactly is causing the recent spate of pet illnesses and deaths?"
"One stroll through M50 leaves me marveling over Shanghai’s capacity to take a novel or original idea, and turn it into absolute crap."
"China has inaugurated what is believed to be the world's tallest pagoda, which at almost 154 metres reaches even higher than the Great Pyramid of Egypt, state media said today." It's in Changzhou, which we think is in Jiangsu.
"Canada's Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said he was assured by his Chinese counterpart Monday that a Canadian Muslim activist serving a life sentence in a Chinese jail for alleged terror links was not tortured."
"Only one in a 1,000 children in China's financial hub want to grow up to be a common worker, once hailed as the vanguard of class struggle, a Communist Party newspaper said on Monday a day before the Labour Day holiday."
"The 17th China International Bicycle & Motor Fair is scheduled on May 4-7, 2007 in Shanghai New International Expo Center. The theme of 2007 edition is 'Science makes dream come true, Innovation creates incentive'."
"Any doctor found to be involved in such activities will have their licences revoked, while clinics or hospitals will be suspended from doing organ transplant operations for at least three years, it said."
"Paul, Hastings, Janofsky &Walker is putting its stamp on China. Literally.The firm is paying at least $40,000 toward the construction of a facility in China's remote Longqui village that will soon bear its name: the Paul Hastings Hope Elementary School."
"U.S. Congress members [criticized] Beijing's test of an anti-satellite weapon, its military buildup, its policy of forced abortion, its support of ruthless regimes, and its repatriation of North Korean refugees in violation of international law."
"The man, in his 50s, was reportedly hit in the neck by a bullet from a police warning shot as he rode a motorbike with his son 300 metres from the scene of the demonstrations Tuesday afternoon."
"Alibaba, which is part-owned by Yahoo! Inc, plans to list its core business-to-business operation that helps match suppliers in China and elsewhere with purchasers over the Internet, the China Financial Online website said."
"After years of suffering, powerless 'victim' states have turned pollution forecasting into a fine art, setting up sophisticated systems to predict transnational pollution invasions."
"Dr. Zhang Xiaopeng, a leading researcher in world table tennis, explains the sport's playing styles ahead of the world table tennis championships."
For more del.icio.us links, visit the Shanghaiist Contribute page, which is updated throughout the day.
Photo by shanghaistreets found via the Shanghaiist Contribute page.
Buy a house by going to the museum
Property agents in Shanghai have come up with a novel way of giving house buyers important information about the home they intend to buy. Ask them about neighbourhood construction plans for malls, motorways and high rise appartments and they may take you to the third floor of the Urban Planning Museum in People's Square. There lies the model of the grand plan of the city centre for Expo 2010.
Today's Links: Bibles, free coffee and property rights
"China Digital Times has noted a Wall Street Journal article that reports on heightened sensitivities around the subject - sensitivities that may have resulted in the current issue of the business magazine Caijing being pulled and revised."
"A member of China's parliament has demanded the immediate closure of a Starbucks coffee shop set up inside Beijing's Forbidden City, the Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday."
"Ads for soft drinks and fashion magazines have crept onto Chinese campuses - not only spoiling the ambiance but undermining the very essence of education in the arts and sciences."
"The majority of the foreign visitors expected during the 2008 Games have religious beliefs, and we should cater to their needs," said Liu Bainian, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
"What is the truth about the 'green paint on the mountain in Fumin county, Yunnan' incident that shook up the nation? Does the local government bear any responsibility? Was this the act of an individual businessman?"
"In a joint statement released late Sunday, the Supreme People's Court, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Justice and the country's top prosecutor also said condemned prisoners should not be paraded through the streets and suspects should not be tortured."
"The government took its assault on the internet gaming world a step further this week with an announcement that it perceives the explosion in virtual currencies used in a variety of online gaming forums – everything from Second Life to World of Warfare to virtual poker rooms – as a serious threat to its national security."
"The overall airport reconstruction project in the western China region will cost 52 billion yuan (6.5 billion US dollars), including an input of 9.6 billion yuan (1.2 billion dollars) and the sum is higher than the input for the same use in east China, according to media reports from the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC)."
"Apple has sent a letter to Shanghai Municipal Consumer Interest Protection Commission and said that it will make improvements on its after-sales service, which has seen many complaints from Chinese users."
"Until now, one kind of establishment has eluded the city: the boutique hotel. But a new wave of these hotels are opening this year, providing yet another lure to entice the young international travelers who are already flocking to this city, whose transformation is occurring at breathtaking speed."
"Yet nearly three months later, the deal's appeal among consumers and financial community is waning after an initial burst of interest, according to Tom Group Inc., one of Tom Online's largest shareholders."
"China expects to start making large commercial aircraft developed domestically by 2020, an aviation industry official said Monday, raising the possibility of competition for Boeing and Airbus in the country's booming market for new planes."
"More than 200 top athletes of extreme sports from America, Brazil, Japan and other Asia-Pacific countries and regions will compete for over US$100,000 on X Games Asia 2007 this May in Shanghai." America? Brazil?
"Thousands of residents in the districts of Xuhui, Minhang and Pudong have already been told that move they must. Many feel taken by surprise. Expressions of opposition have proliferated on the internet."
"Bookshop owners in Shanghai are snapping at an influx of camera-wielding pirates taking photos of pages to avoid paying for pricey books, local media reported on Monday."
"A fierce strike from midfielder Yu Tao seven minutes into the second half, however, gave Shenhua victory over Shandong on Sunday and earned the team a share of a two million yuan ($258,300) bonus from multimillionaire owner Zhu Jun."
"Silvercross, the iconic British pram company that supplied generations of Windsor babies, has struck a deal to sell its products in China, becoming the latest UK company to cash in on the booming Chinese middle class desire for heritage brands." Pram?
"Traffic authorities in Shanghai will link cycling lanes around the city this year to create a network of lanes with no obstructions, as one of several measures to improve conditions for drivers and cyclists in the city."
"The Shanghai Call Centre, which was launched almost a year ago, provides both English and Chinese information about tourist destinations, culture, sports, trade, medical care and other issues concerning daily life in Shanghai."
"Please note: supermarket is fine tuned for convinience, not neccessary for price, or quality. If you want more fresh vegetables, and fruits, many some local market is better, such as the Beicai Market nearby."
"China will intensify controls of the growing numbers of bloggers using the Internet to lay bare their thoughts, politics and even bodies, the country's chief censor has announced."
"All company-operated and licensed Starbucks stores in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Greater China will be giving away free Tall (12-ounce) cups of coffee to anyone who drops by."
"I want to use the blog to not only discuss the development of Chinese Movie Database, but also the movie news that interests me, and my experiences of movie going, and perhaps other things."
"A Chinese lawmaker has proposed a tax on urban dog-owners to curb growing numbers of the animals and to fight rabies, state media has reported."
"A new property law is a breakthrough, even though it raises hopes that one-party rule may dash"
For more del.icio.us links, visit the Shanghaiist Contribute page, which is updated throughout the day.
Photo by Mike Chen found via the Shanghaiist Contribute page.
Chinese co. sues for IPR protection in US, hell freezes over
As the convential wisdom goes, China will not respect other's intellectual property rights (IPR) until its own IPR needs protection. If this is true, then IPR in China recently took a significant step forward as the Financial Times is reporting that a litigious Shenzhen USB flash drive manufacturer Netac has hired Morgan Lewis & Bockius to sue New Jersey computer hardware manufacturer PNY Technologies for infringing upon Netac's patent for USB flash memory drives, or key drives (that's US Patent #6,829,672 for you IP boffins out there).
Extra! Extra! Evangelists, Tibetan princesses, and mobile phone TV
Photo by 2dogs taken from the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site.
A tale of two people: Zhou Zhengyi and Zheng Enchong
Shanghaiist is no law expert, but we just learned that there are no extradition agreements between China and Hong Kong. Back in 2003, the property tycoon (and then richest man in Shanghai at $320 million USD) Zhou Zhengyi was arrested in Shanghai for falsely reporting the holdings of his company as well as manipulating stock prices, and got slammed with a three year sentence. Here's basically what happened:
Extra! Extra! Fast trains, big fires and the smuggler's blues
Photo of Glen Frey, whose song "Smuggler's Blues" was a hit in the mid-80s, from eaglesfans.com.
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