159 replies to this topic

[Martian]

Shanghai becomes world's busiest container port


Cargo ships loaded with containers dock at a port in Shanghai, in this Sept. 17, 2010 file photo. [Photo/Xinhua]

Shanghai claims world's busiest container port - People's Daily Online

"Shanghai claims world's busiest container port
13:34, January 09, 2011

Shanghai replaced Singapore as the world's busiest container port in 2010, thanks to the growing Chinese trade and booming business generated by the World Expo held in Shanghai last year, China Daily reported Saturday.

Shanghai's port handled 29.05 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2010, China Daily cited a statement by the municipal government as reporting.

That compared with the 28.4 million TEUs handled by the Port of Singapore in 2010, which was up 9.9 percent from 2009, according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.

Shanghai's cargo throughput rose to around 650 million tonnes in 2010, maintaining its top global spot, according to the statement.

China's State Council, or cabinet, has set an aim of making Shanghai a leading shipping center by 2020 -- the same year by which the government hopes the city will become a global financial center.

Shanghai's port is operated by Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.

Source: Xinhua"

Note: Thank you to "Brotherhood" for the newslink.

[aziqbal]

Martain do you have a list of the highest GDP per capita of the top Chinese citys? How many citys in China have GDP per capita above the $10,000 mark?

[Martian]

In 2009, 15 Chinese cities had a per-capita GDP over U.S. $10,000.

Martain do you have a list of the highest GDP per capita of the top Chinese citys? How many citys in China have GDP per capita above the $10,000 mark?

City view of Shenzhen. (Shenzhen municipality)

In 2008, there were 11 cities (with 93.85 million people) in China with a GDP per-capita over $10,000 U.S. dollars (e.g. 11,430 USD to be precise).

http://maxxelli-blog.com/2010/04/gdp-per-c...chinese-cities/

"Recent research has shown that Chinese cities with GDP exceeding 10,000 dollars per capita has increased to eleven this past fiscal year; and when calculated with the most recent census in the cities, that number figures to nearly 100 million people with that average GDP.

Kotra, a South Korean trade and investment company with offices based in China, has announced on April 4th that their most recent calculation of China GDP for the 2009 fiscal year has shown that averages per capita has exceed 10,000 USD in five more Chinese cities: Ningbo, Dalian, Weihai, Zhuhai, and Beijing.

In 2007, Shenzhen and Suzhou were the first two cities in China to have their GDP exceed 10,000 dollars per capita; in 2008, Guangzhou, Wuxi, Foshan, and Shanghai followed suit; and then this year five more cities rounded up the number to eleven cities in total that have all averaged above 10,000 dollars GDP per person.

“In particular, electronic, automobile, information technology, textile, and service industries have grown rapidly in these cities,” Kotra researchers noted.

The total GDP for the eleven cities reached 1.0727 trillion USD for the past fiscal year, and census count for the cities stand at 93.85 million; GDP per capita calculates at 11,430 USD. Shenzhen residents have the highest average with GDP per capita reaching 13,754 USD; Guangzhou takes second place with GDP averaging at 13,015 dollars per person; Suzhou ranks third with 12,211 dollars per person."

----------

For 2009, using an exchange rate of 1 U.S. dollar = 6.63 Yuan, I counted at least 15 cities. The number of cities may be undercounted because the data for some of the cities is from 2008. There is a couple of cities right on the borderline. A city with a per-capita GDP over 66,300 Yuan meets your threshold of U.S. $10,000. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_citie..._GDP_per_capita)

----------

During 2010, China experienced 10% growth. I expect the number of cities with at least a per-capita GDP of U.S. $10,000 to be close to 20 cities. Unfortunately, it will take a while until the latest 2010 per-capita GDP data is compiled and released.

http://www.articlesbase.com/international-...me-3644365.html
"The top ten cities in order of decreasing disposable income are:

Shenzhen
Shanghai
Guangzhou
Wenzhou
Hangzhou
Beijing
Suzhou
Dongguan
Tianjin
Wuxi"

[aziqbal]

Thanks Martain!!

if 20 citys are above the $10,000 mark that is what is interesting, yeah we know the total GDP but what counts is the standard of living in each city, being a rich country doesnt mean the people are rich so these figures count I guess

cant wait for the economic figures for 2010 to come out at the end of this qaurter

[Martian]

China surpassed Japan in 2009 GDP

China's revised 2009 GDP is $5.15 trillion. Japan's GDP in 2009 was $5.07 trillion. We now know that China surpassed Japan in GDP at the end of 2009. China's 2009 revision is important because the economic base has now grown bigger. China's 2010 GDP growth of 10 percent will be calculated using the revised GDP figure for 2009.

China's 2009 GDP growth rate revised up to 9.2% - International Business Times

"China's 2009 GDP growth rate revised up to 9.2%
By Amy Wong | January 11, 2011 1:11 PM EST

China  on Tuesday revised up its gross domestic product (GDP)  growth rate in 2009 to 9.2 percent from the previous 9.1 percent.

In a statement on its website, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) gave no explanation for the revision, but a chart breaking down the output figures indicated all the additional gains came from the tertiary, or service, sector.

After the revision, China's GDP at current price was 34.0903 trillion yuan (5.15 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2009, up by 39.6 billion yuan from the previous figure, the NBS said.

After the verification, the value added output of the service sector was 14.8038 trillion yuan, up 39.6 billion yuan from the figure released in July.

This was the second revision of the 2009 GDP growth figure. The Chinese government in July revised its preliminary verified GDP growth in 2009 to 9.1 percent, up from 8.7 percent due to higher contributions from secondary and service industries.

The NBS will release China's GDP growth figures for the fourth quarter and the whole of last year on January 20."

China Overtakes Japan as World's Second-Biggest Economy - Bloomberg

"Japan’s nominal gross domestic product for the second quarter totaled $1.288 trillion, less than China’s $1.337 trillion, the Japanese Cabinet Office said today. Japan remained bigger in the first half of 2010, the government agency said. Japan’s annual [2009] GDP is $5.07 trillion, while China’s [unrevised 2009 GDP] is more than $4.9 trillion."

[烟花易冷]

终于能够回复了..To Pakistan's brother say hello

[macau boy]

终于能够回复了..To Pakistan's brother say hello

[aziqbal]

thats means Chinas GDP for 2010 will pass the $5.65 trillion mark and GDP per capita will be around $4350 mark

by prediction is that by 2015 China will have GDP figure of $7000 per capita, now i remember reading back in 2005 that in 2020 China will have GDP of $5000!! how wrong they were back then, no one could have predicted these numbers even 3-4 years ago

by 2015 China will have matured alot

[marchpole]

thats means Chinas GDP for 2010 will pass the $5.65 trillion mark and GDP per capita will be around $4350 mark

by prediction is that by 2015 China will have GDP figure of $7000 per capita, now i remember reading back in 2005 that in 2020 China will have GDP of $5000!! how wrong they were back then, no one could have predicted these numbers even 3-4 years ago

by 2015 China will have matured alot

Using year-end RMB-$ exchange rate, GDP for 2010 will be very close to $6 trillion.

For 2011, my ballpark guess is $7-7.2 trillion.

And for 2015, no less than $12 trillion.

[macau boy]

Using year-end RMB-$ exchange rate, GDP for 2010 will be very close to $6 trillion.

For 2011, my ballpark guess is $7-7.2 trillion.

And for 2015, no less than $12 trillion.

No one will believe these figures only two years ago. Now they seem more than reasonable.

I recall when the 3Qt. 2010 figues was announced, the japs went ballistic because China overtook japan as the no. 2 in national economic size. In fact, now final figures showed that we were no.2 in 2009.

[Martian]

China's 2010 GDP hits U.S. $6 trillion

If we use the current exchange rate, China's 2010 GDP hit U.S. $6 trillion (e.g. 39.5 trillion Yuans / 6.5997 Yuan per dollar = U.S. $5.99 trillion).

However, the accepted method of calculating GDP is to use the 12-month average of the currency exchange rate. For 2010, the average exchange rate was 6.7692 Yuan per U.S. dollar (see Monthly Exchange Rate Average (Chinese Yuan, American Dollar) 2010 - x-rates). The official GDP for China in 2010 will be U.S. $5.84 trillion.

China's National Bureau of Statistics has shown a historical pattern of revising China's GDP upwards later in the year. For all intents and purposes, China's 2010 GDP is within a hair's breadth of U.S. $6 trillion.

UPDATE 1-China's economy grew 10.1 pct in 2010 -official | Reuters

"UPDATE 1-China's economy grew 10.1 pct in 2010 -official
Sat Jan 15, 2011 4:22am EST

* China 2010 GDP rises 10.1 pct to 39.5 trln yuan-official

* Says China faces pressure to meet 4% CPI target this year

BEIJING, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The Chinese economy grew around 10.1 percent last year, the deputy head of China's top economic planning agency told Reuters on Saturday, which amounts to the fastest pace of annual growth in three years.

Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said the country's gross domestic product totalled about 39.5 trillion yuan ($6 trillion) in 2010.

The 2010 growth rate accelerated from a revised 9.2 percent expansion seen in 2009.

But Zhang noted that China may struggle to meet its 2011 inflation target of 4 percent as domestic labour costs climb and global commodity prices soar.

"There are many factors that are putting upward pressure on domestic prices, and we must note that imported inflation is intensifying this year," he said at a trade forum.

Zhang reiterated the government aims for growth this year of 8 percent in China's economy, the world's biggest, but stressed that the task of keeping prices stable will top Beijing's agenda.

He said uncertainties around the pace of recovery in the world economy could weigh on China's key export sector in 2011.

"We may face big difficulties in growing our exports in the future," he said.

To get around that, Zhang said, Chinese exporters should endeavour to move up the manufacturing value chain and place less emphasis on volume and more on quality.

His assessment of China's outlook is less upbeat than that of China's Commerce Minister Chen Deming.

Chen said on Friday China's exports and imports will grow at a faster pace this year than in 2010.

Chinese exports jumped around 31 percent in 2010 from a year ago, while imports leapt nearly 39 percent. (Reporting by Aileen Wang and Koh Gui Qing, editing by Jane Baird)"

China's yuan hits new record high at 6.5997 per USD

"China's yuan hits new record high at 6.5997 per USD
English.news.cn   2011-01-13 10:52:04

BEIJING, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese yuan strengthened to a record high against the U.S. dollar on Thursday to reach 6.5997 per dollar.

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency, also known as the renminbi (RMB), was set 131 basis points lower than Wednesday's 6.6128, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System. (story continues)"

[marchpole]

The 10.1% growth for 2010, if official, is subject to revisions(twice) and the final figure may be around 10.5%.

JANUARY 14, 2011, 5:34 A.M. ET.

China Yuan Up Late On Record Low Central Parity

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110114-704219.html

SHANGHAI (Dow Jones)--China's yuan rose against the U.S. dollar late Friday, hitting the highest intraday level under the current system after the central bank set a record low dollar-yuan central parity.

On the over-the-counter market, the dollar was at CNY6.5900 around 0830 GMT, down from Thursday's close of CNY6.6046. It traded between CNY6.5870, the dollar's lowest intraday level since the yuan began regularly trading in 1994, and CNY6.6077.

The People's Bank of China set the dollar-yuan central parity rate at 6.5896, down from Thursday's 6.5997, following the dollar's weakness overseas after sucessful bond auctions from Spain and Italy increased risk appetite. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. dollar against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, was at 79.155 late Thursday in New York, down from 80.019 late Wednesday.

The PBOC has guided the central parity lower in the past four days.

"The central bank will likely continue to set the fixing lower before President Hu Jintao's U.S. visit from Tuesday to Friday," said a Shanghai-based foreign bank trader. He said the dollar could extend its losses in overseas markets Friday.

"Some banks are (also) buying the dollar today, as they think the U.S. currency will rebound after Hu's trip," the trader added.

Offshore, one-year dollar-yuan nondeliverable forwards was at 6.4360/6.4420, little changed from 6.4360/6.4400 late Thursday.

[macau boy]

The 10.1% growth for 2010, if official, is subject to revisions(twice) and the final figure may be around 10.5%.

This number game is getting more interesting by the day.
Now, if figures do not look right, there is one more excuse: "Not my fault, blame the exchange rate."     

[Tipu-786]

  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12203391

16 January 2011 Last updated at 18:13 ET
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China's Hu Jintao: Currency system is 'product of past'
Hu Jintao, December 2010 Hu Jintao is due to visit Washington this week


Chinese President Hu Jintao has said the international currency system dominated by the US dollar is a "product of the past".



Click the above link for whole Report

[Martian]

China overtakes United States as world's-largest electricity consumer

In 2010, China became the first country in the world to smash through the 4,000 terawatt-hours threshold. China consumed 4,190 terawatt-hours of electricity. The United States fell into second place by consuming only 3,876 terawatt-hours of electricity. All hail the new king!

China's power consumption up 14.56 pct in 2010 -Xinhua | Energy & Oil | Reuters

"China's power consumption up 14.56 pct in 2010 -Xinhua
Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:18am GMT

BEIJING Jan 17 (Reuters) - China's total power consumption in 2010 rose 14.56 percent year on year to more than 4.19 trillion kilowatt-hours, official news agency Xinhua said, citing data from the China Electricity Council."

2011 Electricity Demand To Fall Slightly On More Normal Temps - EIA - WSJ.com

"2011 Electricity Demand To Fall Slightly On More Normal Temps - EIA
* JANUARY 11, 2011, 2:16 P.M. ET

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Electricity demand consumed across the U.S. is expected to fall in 2011 after surging higher last year on extreme hot and cold temperatures, according to the Department of Energy's short-term energy outlook released Tuesday.

Electricity consumption closely tracks growth in economic activity. But last year unusually hot and cold weather caused demand to rebound sharply as households cranked up their air conditioners and heaters, depending on the season. This activity snapped a rare two-year decline in power demand, caused by the housing crisis that deepened into the worst economic downturn seen in the U.S. in decades.

Total U.S. energy consumption, which rose 4% last year to 10.62 billion kilowatt hours a day, is now expected to significantly lag economic activity amid the return to "more normal temperatures," according to the Energy Information Administration's monthly short-term energy outlook."

[Calculation: 10.62 terawatt-hours a day * 365 days per year = 3,876 terawatt-hours of electricity consumed by U.S. in 2010]

----------

Electricity - consumption(kWh) 2010 country ranks, By Rank

Rank.....Country.............Value (kW-hours)............Date of Info
1..........United States....3,741,485,000,000.......2009 (actual, see below)
2..........China................3,643,000,000,000.......2009 (actual, see below)
3..........European Union....2,884,000,000,000..........2007 est.
4..........Russia................1,023,000,000,000..........2007 est.
5..........Japan.................1,007,000,000,000..........2007 est.
6..........India.....................568,000,000,000...........2007 est.
7..........Germany................547,300,000,000...........2007 est.
8..........Canada..................536,100,000,000...........2007 est.
9..........France...................447,200,000,000...........2007 est.
10........Brazil.....................404,300,000,000...........2007 est.

References:

United States: International Energy Statistics

China: China's power consumption grows 6% in 2009_English_Xinhua

[harrypotter]

OK Martian, sometimes I think you need to drop your overzealous tone, not everything is worth celebrating, and being number 1 in certain areas is not necessarily a good thing.

[Martian]

China leapfrogs U.S. wind power industry to become #1


A wind farm in Roncheng, China

China leapfrogs U.S. wind power industry | Greenspace | Los Angeles Times

"China leapfrogs U.S. wind power industry
January 24, 2011 | 10:24 am
by Tiffany Hsu

Chinese turbines are now harnessing more wind power than machines installed in the U.S., according to a trade group Monday.

For the first time ever, the Asian giant’s capacity –- the amount of electricity that can be generated using wind –- blew past the U.S. to soar 62% to 41,800 megawatts. American-based turbines can produce up to 40,180 megawatts, a 15% jump from the beginning of 2010, according to a report from the American Wind Energy Assn.

The U.S. wind market had a rough year overall, ending 2010 with 5,115 megawatts of new installations –- just half of the record amount put up in 2009. The fourth quarter saw just 3,195 megawatts erected, a slide from the 4,113 installed in the same period in 2009.

The association blamed short-lived government subsidies.

But after a key incentive, the 1603 federal Treasury grant program, was extended for a year in December, the wind industry began to perk up. As 2011 begins, roughly 5,600 megawatts of wind power capacity is under construction, the trade group said.

Some new projects being hammered out include electricity prices set at 5 cents or 6 cents per kilowatt hour, which would make wind power competitive with natural gas, the association said.

“Our industry continues to endure a boom-bust cycle because of the lack of long-term, predictable federal policies, in contrast to the permanent entitlements that fossil fuels have enjoyed for 90 years or more,” said Denise Bode, the group’s chief executive, in a statement.

Companies have built utility-scale wind projects in 38 states so far. Texas leads the pack with 10,085 total megawatts of capacity, followed by Iowa with 3,675 megawatts.

California, which features the windy Altamont Pass and Tehachapi regions, lags in third place with 3,177 megawatts installed."

[Martian]

China is now the world's third most-popular destination


Popular tourist destinations in China

China now the world's third most popular destination

"China now the world's third most popular destination
January 27, 2011 - 11:02AM

China has replaced Spain as the world's third most visited country, behind France and the United States, figures from the UN World Tourism Organisation showed yesterday.

China had 55.98 million international arrivals last year, up 10 per cent, edging past Spain, which received some 53 million foreign tourists, a rise of 1.4 per cent, according to figures released by the Madrid-based body.

France remained in top spot, with 78.95 million visitors, followed by the the United States with 60.88 million, up 2.8 per cent and 10.9 per cent respectively.
Advertisement: Story continues below

In 2008, the United States overtook Spain to become the number two destination.

The UNWTO said previously that global tourism rebounded strongly from the economic crisis, jumping 6.7 per cent in 2010 on the back of strong growth in emerging economies, such as China.

"It is clear that the strong players of Asia are going to continue to be the strong players, not only China, but particularly China," UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai said last week.

"The world is changing, the geopolitics of the world is changing, the centres of gravity are changing and we can't expect tourism to be away from that."

AFP"

Note: Thank you to Brotherhood for the picture collage.

[Martian]

Jiangsu stays ahead among global capital investments


Nanjing, China's Jiangsu Province

Jiangsu stays ahead among global capital investments - People's Daily Online

"Jiangsu stays ahead among global capital investments
16:22, January 28, 2011

Last year Jiangsu Province, a rich coastal province in eastern China, achieved an actual foreign investment of more than 28 billion US dollars, which is up 12.54 percent over the previous year.

The investment size maintains the first place in China for eight years despite the global recession during the past few years, according to the press briefing held on Jan. 27th by the Commerce Department of Jiangsu Province.

Foreign capital utilization was better structured in year 2010. Growth rates of the actual utilized foreign capital of both primary and tertiary industries were higher than that of secondary industry, respectively by 49 and 15 points, as Zhu Min, Director-General of the Commerce Department of Jiangsu Province, elaborated on the achievements.

He also pointed out that the inter-regional development was better balanced. The actual utilized foreign capital of northern Jiangsu increased by 35.17 percent and middle Jiangsu by 18.1 percent, respectively 22.63 and 5.57 points higher than the provincial average.

Another factor contributing to progress was the soaring number of large-scale projects signed.

Additionally, the channels of using foreign capital became more diverse. New foreign M&A projects reached 148, up 52.58 percent over the previous year. Other sources include 10 newly-registered investment companies with foreign investment, six venture capital companies, and 20 Co.,Ltd. firms with foreign investment.

By Li Yancheng, People's Daily Online"

Note: Thank you to Brotherhood for the post.

[marchpole]

China plans to spend big on nuclear power, high-speed rail
By Benjamin Kang Lim
BEIJING | Tue Feb 1, 2011 1:53am EST

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/01/...-54552420110201

(Reuters) - Nuclear power and high speed rail will top the focus of China's plan to invest $1.5 trillion in seven key industries and shift the world's number two economy away from its role as a supplier of cheap goods, sources said.

State-owned enterprises, rather than the government, will play the main role of channeling the investment, said one source with ties to the leadership.

China envisages high-end equipment manufacturing, including high-speed rail and aviation equipment, becoming a pillar of economic growth alongside energy-saving and environmentally friendly technologies, biotechnology and new generation information technology such as telecoms and the Internet.

The other strategic sectors are alternative energy, advanced materials and alternative-fuel cars.

"China needs to innovate if it is to compete against multinationals in the international arena," said Qiu Gang of the Beijing office of Samsung Economic Research Institute.

"China hopes to become an industrial giant by 2015."

It is that push by emerging economies, and China in particular, into high-end manufacturing that was seen as behind U.S. President Barack Obama's call in his speech to Congress last week for a "Sputnik moment", fed by spending in education and research, to make sure the United States does not lose its technological edge.

A source with ties to the leadership told Reuters in December that the State Council, or cabinet, is considering investing up to $1.5 trillion in the sectors. The government has not publicly stated any figure.

The amount is part of a 2011-2015 five-year plan which needs approval the National People's Congress, or parliament, which holds its annual full session in March.

Analysts have expressed scepticism over the size of the investment which equates to about 5 percent of China's gross domestic product on an annual basis.

But they say it is an indication of the government's determination to force a structural shift in the economy.

A second source with leadership ties dismissed the doubts and said nuclear energy and high-speed rail would be the flavour of the decade, rather than wind or solar power.

"State-owned enterprises will play the leading role," the source said, requesting anonymity due to sensitivities.

The private investors will be given incentives such as tax breaks and low interest bank loans, with national and local governments chipping in.

The government is expected to unveil preferential policies later this year, possibly allowing private enterprises to use intellectual property rights as collateral to obtain loans.

HIGH-SPEED RAIL

The cabinet spokesman's office and parliament, reached by telephone, declined to comment.

China's high-speed rail network has been developing rapidly over the past decade, reaching a total of 8,358 km (5,182 miles), the world's longest.

The government plans to invest up to 4 trillion yuan in high-speed rail between 2011 and 2015, according to the China Securities Journal.

During Chinese President Hu Jintao's U.S. visit in January, General Electric Co (GE.N) signed a deal to bring Chinese high-speed rail technology to the United States, and for GE to manufacture locomotives for China.

A spending spree on railways was an important part of China's 2008-2010 stimulus package.

NUCLEAR POWER

China has lumped nuclear, solar and wind energy in one group as new, or alternative, energy.

China had just 10.8 gigawatts of nuclear power capacity at end-2010. The official nuclear target for 2020 of 40 GW is still less than 5 percent of its current installed electricity generating capacity.

However, officials said that goal is likely to be raised to 80 GW or more for 2020.

The National Development and Reform Commission, the country's powerful economic planner, has said that the wind-power industry is already suffering from overcapacity.

And last week, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology warned against blindly pursuing the development of new strategic sectors.

R&D INVESTMENT

Nomura International (HK) Ltd said in a research paper that the five-year plan could give boost research and development investment by over 4 trillion yuan.

"The re-industrialisation is designed to move China away from an export-industrial model to a domestically focused one," Nomura said.

"This will not be all through cash disbursements but achieved by tax credits, privileged import tariff reductions and presumably easier credit and trade finance terms."

R&D spending currently accounts for 1.5 percent of GDP in China. That figure is expected to increase to 2.0-2.5 percent over the next five years, Nomura said.

The value-added output of the seven strategic industries together account for about 2 percent of GDP now. The government has said it wants them to generate 8 percent of GDP in 2015 and 15 percent by 2020.

By pushing these sectors, China would be making a big bet that technology can help bridge the gap between limited supplies of commodities and the rapidly growing demand that has propelled it to become the world's second-biggest economy.

(Additional reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

[Martian]

World #1 Casino Hub: China's Macau is four times larger than Las Vegas


Macau Wynn


Macau Venetian


"Hong Kong to Macau ferry takes about one hour."

Macau January Casino Revenue Grows 33% to $2.3 Billion - Bloomberg

"Macau January Casino Revenue Grows 33% to $2.3 Billion
By Marco Lui - Feb 1, 2011 3:26 AM ET

Casino revenue in Macau, the world’s largest casino hub, surged 33 percent in January as Chinese gamblers placed more bets on baccarat and other card games.

Gambling revenue for the six companies that run casinos in Macau, the only place in China where they’re legal, rose to 18.6 billion patacas ($2.3 billion) last month from 13.9 billion patacas a year ago, according to data from Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.

China, which contributes more than half the number of Macau’s tourist arrivals, may post economic growth of 9.5 percent this year, according to the median estimate of eight economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Macau’s visitor arrivals rose 15 percent to 25 million last year with 83 percent coming from mainland China and Hong Kong, according to government data compiled by Bloomberg.

Casino gambling revenue in Macau rose 58 percent to 188.3 billion patacas last year. That’s more than four times greater than the $5.62 billion for the Las Vegas Strip, according to government data.

Wynn Macau Ltd., the Hong Kong-listed casino unit of Wynn Resorts Ltd., fell 3.7 percent to HK$20.85 at the 4 p.m. close of trading in Hong Kong, while billionaire Stanley Ho’s SJM Holdings Ltd. slid 3.7 percent to HK$12.58.

Sands China Ltd., the local unit of billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas-based company, declined 1.5 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Marco Lui at mlui11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Longid in Hong Kong at flongid@bloomberg.net"

[marshall]

World #1 Casino Hub: China's Macau is four times larger than Las Vegas

Having the world's largest casino is not  positive if you ask me.  Casinos are parasitic economic enterprises that create nothing valuable for society.  The same statement applies to many financial enterprises such as Goldman Sachs which creates nothing valuable to society but nominally would be great to have as a business in your back yard even though they are basically more respectable versions of a casino.

[bosnam]

Chinese President Hu Jintao has said the international currency system dominated by the US dollar is a "product of the past".

Respect for this.

[Martian]

China surpasses the United States as the world's foremost manufacturer

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Stefan-K...e-manufacturing

Is the US still ahead of Chinese manufacturing?
By Stefan Karlsson
February 9, 2011

Some economists say it is, but they're using the wrong metrics.


An employee installs tire rims at a factory of Zhengxing Wheel Group Co. Ltd in Hefei, Anhui province in China on January 20. Guest blogger Stefan Karlsson writes that even though China's GDP is lower than the US's, it has surpassed the US in manufacturing. (Photo credit: Jianan Yu / Reuters / File)

Mark Perry, Scott Sumner and some other economists have recently linked to this article by Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby, where he claims that a UN database shows that the value of U.S. manufacturing is still (or more correctly was still in 2009) larger than the value of manufacturing in China.

This would strike you as odd, considering that you can for example see news of how China is the by far biggest consumer of copper and other industrial metals as well as oil and coal and how Chinese car sales and sales of other durable consumer goods as well as Chinese goods exports are greater than in the United States.

And if you look at the U.N. statistics page, you can see that at current exchange rates, the value of manufacturing in China was $2.05 trillion, more than the $1.78 trillion value of U.S. manufacturing.

Jacoby seems to have gotten his numbers by looking at the alternative indicator of "constant 2005 U.S. dollars". But the problem with using this indicator is that it overlooks the massive real appreciation of the Chinese yuan during this period, especially with regard to the manufacturing sector. And as I pointed out a few days ago, when comparing economic might, it is the value at current exchange rates which is relevant.

And if you were to look at [domestic] purchasing power adjusted numbers in a consistent way, China's superiority would be even greater because the general price level in China is still much lower than in the U.S.

The indicator "constant 2005 U.S. dollars" makes no sense at all in this context since it by using a past real exchange rate will neither reflect domestic purchasing power nor economic might (international purchasing power).

While the overall GDP of the U.S. remains higher than in China, and probably will continue to do so for about a decade, because its service sector is much greater than China's, China has in fact surpassed the United States in manufacturing. Jacoby's use of an irrelevant indicator could perhaps be excused by the fact that he isn't an economist (though that would raise the question of why he writes about economic issues), but Perry and others don't have that excuse.


Stefan Karlsson
Stefan is an economist currently working in Sweden.

[Martian]

World's largest exporters: #1 China, #2 United States, #3 Germany

#1 China: $1.58 trillion in 2010 exports

#2 United States: $1.28 trillion

#3 Germany: $1.264 trillion ($16 billion less than U.S.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/business....html?src=busln

"As U.S. Exports Soar, It’s Not All Soybeans
By FLOYD NORRIS
Published: February 11, 2011

AMERICAN exports of goods rose 21 percent in 2010 to $1.28 trillion, as the world trading system shook off the effects of the financial crisis, according to figures released on Friday.

It was the sharpest rise in American exports since 1988, and it enabled the United States to pass Germany and again become the world’s second-largest exporter, behind China. The margin between the United States and Germany was only $16 [billion], a difference of just 1.2 percent, and could vanish as preliminary figures are revised.

But assuming the difference holds, it was the first time since 2002 that United States exports exceeded those of Germany when both were measured in dollars. A major reason for that was the weakness of the euro during the year as Europe was forced to bail out first Greece and then Ireland. Germany’s exports rose 18 percent when measured in euros, but just 13 percent in dollars.

Both countries fell further behind China, whose export volume rose 31 percent, to $1.58 trillion.

The increase in American exports came as manufacturing employment in the United States rose by 0.9 percent in 2010, the first annual increase since 1997. But the level of exports remained slightly below the amount recorded in 2008, before the financial crisis took hold.

The accompanying charts show the trends over the last decade in overall exports and within the manufacturing sector, whose importance has slipped but which still provided 74 percent of the country’s exports in 2010.

The sharpest decline in exports came in the category of computers and electronic products. In 2000, that sector accounted for a quarter of all manufactured exports. By 2010, its share was barely more than one-eighth.

To some extent that may reflect the decline in prices for computers. Since the figures are in current dollars, a constant volume would show up as a decline in prices. But it also probably reflects a trend toward moving computer assembly operations overseas, particularly to China.

Exports of chemical products rose particularly rapidly during the decade. In the charts, the chemical products are combined with products based on petroleum, coal, plastics and rubber. That sector’s exports rose at a compound annual rate of 9.5 percent during the decade.

The textile industry has been in decline for decades, but exports of fabric and clothing still amounted to $15.9 billion in 2010.

The export of agricultural products, including fish and lumber, rose 18 percent during the year to $65.7 billion. Exports of processed food, beverages and cigarettes, which are included in the manufacturing industry, were up 17 percent to $56.2 billion.

The figures belie a popular image of the United States as no longer making products, and being largely dependent on food exports. The total of agriculture-related exports in 2010, $122 billion, is less than the value of exports of either chemical or transportation products."

[Martian]

China is officially world's 2nd-largest economy: $5.879 trillion

China is officially world's 2nd-largest economy at $5.879 trillion. Japan falls into 3rd-place at $5.474 trillion.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/n...o-1226005619359

"China moves to world's No.2 economy as Japan's GDP shrinks
UPDATED Andrew Monahan
From: Dow Jones Newswires
February 14, 2011 11:15AM


Against a backdrop of a snow-capped Mount Fuji, skyscrapers soar at Yokohama port, south of Tokyo. (Picture: AP. Source: The Australian)

JAPAN ceded its spot as the world's second biggest economy to China in 2010, with a contraction in the fourth quarter as the strong yen contributed to an export slump, the end of auto subsidies depressed car purchases and a new tobacco tax hit cigarette sales.

The Japanese economy's fall from its 42-year reign in the number two spot behind the US comes as pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Naoto Kan to halt further decline. But merely achieving moderate growth ahead may prove difficult as the government grapples with a staggering public debt, prolonged deflation and low approval ratings.

Real gross domestic product contracted 1.1 per cent in annualised, seasonally adjusted terms in the October-December period, slowing sharply from a revised 3.3 per cent expansion in the previous period, government data showed today.

The result marks the first contraction since a revised 1.9 per cent pull back in July-September 2009. It compares with the median forecast for a 2.4 per cent contraction in a poll of economists by Dow Jones Newswires. In on-quarter terms, real GDP contracted 0.3 per cent, compared with revised 0.8 per cent expansion in the July-September period.

Japan's nominal GDP for 2010 was Y479.223 trillion, or $US5.474 trillion ($5.465 trillion), falling below the $US5.879 trillion figure for China in the same year.

While China's economy surpassed Japan's based on quarterly data for the two countries in the March-June period, today's reading marks the first time that China has done so on a full-year basis, the standard generally used for global rankings.

China's success story overshadows the fact that Japan's economy expanded for all of 2010. Growth in the first three quarters of the year meant that even with the poor showing in the fourth quarter, Japan's real GDP for the full year expanded 3.9 per cent on year.

While China overtakes Japan, it is also helping it along. Japanese exports to China hit a record Y13.087 trillion in 2010. The rapidly growing Chinese market for everything from cars and high-tech electronics to beverages is galvanising corporate Japan.

Naoki Izumiya, president of the beer-maker Asahi Breweries, said last week that the company's business in China has "increasing potential and appeal," a remark that rings true for various Japanese firms.

Continued growth in the Chinese economy as well as further pick-up in the US is expected to help Japan's economy bounce back in the first quarter of 2011.

Some analysts said that the numbers were stronger than expected but did not necessarily bode well for the economy since part of the rise was due to higher inventories, which could result in a slowdown in production if consumption remains weak.

Mizuho Research and Consulting senior economist Norio Miyagawa said he now expects full-year 2011 growth of less than 2 per cent. "Japan's weak consumer spending will likely keep weighing on the economy," he said.

Economy Minister Kaoru Yosano put the issue of China's growing economic clout growth in a positive light, saying that its high growth rate benefits all of Asia.

"We are pleased to see China's economy rapidly developing," he said in comments to reporters soon after the figures were announced.

A rebound can come none too soon for Japanese workers. Smaller northern winter bonuses dragged down earnings late last year. The jobless rate hovers around 5 per cent as firms hesitate to ramp up hiring, except for contract positions that pay less and offer fewer benefits.

The bleak jobs situation is hurting personal spending. Many young Japanese don't enjoy the kind of job stability and wage growth their parents did. New cars and other high-priced goods are out of reach for many in this younger generation.

Consumer spending, which accounts for nearly 60 per cent of Japan's GDP, was down 0.7 per cent on quarter, compared with a revised 0.9 per cent rise in the previous quarter.

Government purchasing incentives for fuel-efficient cars expired in September, weighing on car sales in the fourth quarter.

Consumption also suffered as smokers bought fewer cigarettes, after a tax introduced in October pushed up prices.

The falls overwhelmed a jump in sales of flat-panel televisions and other electronics covered by an incentive program for environmentally friendly products that was scaled back in December.

Domestic demand contributed 0.2 percentage point to the rate of GDP contraction, after adding a revised 1.0 percentage point to the GDP expansion in the previous quarter.

External demand, or exports minus imports, contributed 0.1 percentage point to the GDP contraction, after subtracting 0.1 percentage point from the GDP expansion in the previous quarter.

Exports fell 0.7 per cent on quarter, due in part to the strong yen, after rising a revised 1.5 per cent in the previous period. The contraction was the first since exports slid in the January-March quarter of 2009 as trade plummeted amid the global financial crisis.

The fall in exports came as the yen surged during the period, making Japanese goods more expensive overseas and eating into profits sent back to Japan.

Tokyo intervened in currency markets for the first time in more than six years in September, but the attempt failed. In early November, the US dollar sank to Y80.21, its lowest level in fifteen years and near the post-World War II record low of Y79.75.

Capital expenditure, which accounts for 16 per cent of GDP, rose 0.9 per cent on quarter, slowing from a revised 1.5 per cent gain in the previous quarter.

Despite some easing recently in price falls, entrenched deflation continues to weigh on business investment by pushing up real borrowing costs and prompting consumers to delay purchases as they wait for prices to fall further. That is one reason firms have remained reluctant to spend more despite generally strong earnings, economists say.

The GDP deflator, the broadest measure of price trends, was minus 1.6 in the quarter, compared with a revised minus 2.1 in the July-September period.

One bright spot during the period was real estate. Private residential investment increased 3.0 per cent on quarter, higher than a revised 1.8 per cent rise in the previous period. Discounted mortgage rates and a government purchasing incentive scheme for environmentally friendly properties have encouraged more people to buy homes despite anaemic growth in income."

[Martian]

According to U.N., China has been the world's largest manufacturer since 2008

To verify for yourself that China has been the world's largest manufacturer since 2008, click on the link to U.N. statistics:

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/snaama/dnllist.asp

Under the category of "GDP and its breakdown at current prices in US Dollars," select "All countries for all years - sorted alphabetically."

After opening the spreadsheet, look at cell #691 for "China (manufacturing)." Look at the two right-most columns on the spreadsheet. It will show that China's manufacturing sector produced $1.87 trillion dollars in 2008 and $2.05 trillion in 2009.

In comparison, look at cell #3471 for "United States (manufacturing)," the U.N. data show that U.S. manufacturing accounted for $1.79 trillion dollars in 2008 and $1.78 trillion in 2009.

The U.N. data conclusively show that China has been the world's largest manufacturer since 2008.

[aziqbal]

I remember when China overtook Germany in exports around 5 years ago and its such a exciting time right now as China grows and keep eye on how things are changing around us as we speak, these are fascanating times and makes for fascanating reading and observation, these things used to take decades now China does them in few years and we can actully see the change happening

[macau boy]

Five years ago China's annual GDP was barely over two trillion dollars.

[Martian]

China has collateral on U.S. debt

Hamish McRae: Obama too is forced down the austerity road - Hamish McRae, Commentators - The Independent

"But if the tension between the US and China gets really nasty, we cannot rule out the possibility of the US refusing to honour all or part of its foreign debts. A future Congress might claim they were unfairly accumulated – that China abused its trading relationship with the US – and therefore should be repaid at a discount."

----------

My reply in the comment section:

This is a flawed idea. China has collateral in the form of U.S. foreign direct investment in China. If the United States renege on its debt to China, the Chinese government will retaliate and seize sufficient American factories (e.g. GM plants), service businesses (e.g. KFC), and intellectual property (e.g. Coca Cola bottling plants producing secret Coke formula) to offset the reneged debt.

[Archangelesk99]

China has collateral on U.S. debt

Hamish McRae: Obama too is forced down the austerity road - Hamish McRae, Commentators - The Independent

"But if the tension between the US and China gets really nasty, we cannot rule out the possibility of the US refusing to honour all or part of its foreign debts. A future Congress might claim they were unfairly accumulated – that China abused its trading relationship with the US – and therefore should be repaid at a discount."

----------

My reply in the comment section:

This is a flawed idea. China has collateral in the form of U.S. foreign direct investment in China. If the United States renege on its debt to China, the Chinese government will retaliate and seize sufficient American factories (e.g. GM plants), service businesses (e.g. KFC), and intellectual property (e.g. Coca Cola bottling plants producing secret Coke formula) to offset the reneged debt.

I agree with the former poster and as usual, your "conclusions" continue unabated to have gaping holes in them    That so called capital is immaterial because there's no way that foreign capital is worth 2 trillion $ in real market value, especially in China.  As the debt USA owes china swells to 4 trillion $ and beyond, which is worthless because the usa will only repay back in paper, it will NOT be covered by the seized capital.  I had pointed this out months ago........and as far as intellectual property........what intellectual property old fellow????  China already knows every secret of every foreign plant in china.  I guarantee it!  

China is hoping for one thing and one thing alone, and she's probably done the arithmetic on it......that her internal economy will completely take over....it already is able to a large part absorb recessions in usa

[Martian]

It would be incorrect to believe that China is powerless in the event of an American repudiation of its debt.

China can take the following retaliatory measures:

1. For compensation, seize American corporate physical properties, service businesses, and intellectual properties located in China.

2. Sue the United States government at the world court and pursue American government assets worldwide.

3. In the event that Europeans refuse to recognize China's legitimate legal claims for repayment of defaulted U.S. debt obligations, China has the option of seizing European corporate physical properties, service businesses, and intellectual properties located in China. In return, China will assign the fair value of the European assets located in China to the appropriate European countries. Europeans will become owners of American debt through an involuntary China offset.

4. China is free to replicate Coke and American pharmaceuticals for sale worldwide until China has recouped its American debt and interest.

[Archangelesk99]

It would be incorrect to believe that China is powerless in the event of an American repudiation of its debt.

China can take the following retaliatory measures:

1. For compensation, seize American corporate physical properties, service businesses, and intellectual properties located in China.

2. Sue the United States government at the world court and pursue American government assets worldwide.

3. In the event that Europeans refuse to recognize China's legitimate legal claims for repayment of defaulted U.S. debt obligations, China has the option of seizing European corporate physical properties, service businesses, and intellectual properties located in China. In return, China will assign the fair value of the European assets located in China to the appropriate European countries. Europeans will become owners of American debt through an involuntary China offset.

4. China is free to replicate Coke and American pharmaceuticals for sale worldwide until China has recouped its American debt and interest.

wow your replies are getting dumber and dumber so this is the last time I'm going to reply on this topic to you

1.  I already answered that in the last post
2.  world court/IMF/UN are owned by usa.  I broached this months ago
3.  china won't do that because it will alienate EU as well, precisely what usa wants!!!
4.  when it tries to do things like this there is a resounding "substandard" cry sent through mass media propaganda by the usa/uk.  Again, despite what your fantasies tell you the combined Anglo-Saxon-EU (western) economies are still 30 trillion $ in nominal terms, more than half of the world.

Contrary to the delusions dancing with glee in your mind, China is still a developing nation and  must continue to tread carefully, steadily for the next 2 decades.  China's ascendancy is assured in 20 years but your ways will lead to her naught........luckily the chinese leadership is nowhere near as rash as you because it's keenly aware that USA/UK especially will try/is trying every dirty trick known to mankind and is careful for that very reason.

cheers good fellow, think it over hahahaha!!!    

[Martian]

Ranking China's real manufacturing economy, exports, and total energy consumption

4.  when it tries to do things like this there is a resounding "substandard" cry sent through mass media propaganda by the usa/uk.  Again, despite what your fantasies tell you the combined Anglo-Saxon-EU (western) economies are still 30 trillion $ in nominal terms, more than half of the world.

You seem easily impressed by big numbers, but you fail to understand the qualitative aspect behind the GDP numbers.

On paper, the GDPs for the United States and Europe seem impressive. However, a closer examination reveals that the majority of the U.S. and European economies are composed of services (e.g. legal services, insurance, banking, advertising, real estate brokers, etc.) that don't really produce anything tangible.

While the U.S. and Europe are both heavily regulated and have an economy dominated by financial services (e.g. selling "paper"/stocks/bonds/options/derivatives to one another), China practices real capitalism that produces real manufactured goods.

China is the world's largest manufacturer (e.g. over $2 trillion dollars in her manufacturing sector), world's largest exporter (e.g. over $1.58 trillion in exported goods), and world's largest energy consumer (e.g. over 4,000 terawatt-hours).

When we look at the hard data, China's real economy/manufacturing sector is larger than the United States. China also consumes more energy per year than the United States or the entire European Union.

In conclusion, China is larger than the United States or the European Union in a comparison of hard metrics (e.g. manufacturing sector or total energy consumption). China already possesses sufficient economic power to rebuff economic bullying by the United States or the Europeans.

[Martian]

"Americans now consider Asia more important than Europe by a 47%-to-37% margin"

Tom Silva: America's China Fix

"America's China Fix
by Tom Silva
Senior Vice President of Marketing and Strategy, The Alter Group
Posted: February 16, 2011 01:02 PM

America's interest in China has reached the level of obsession. So much so that growing numbers of Americans now see China -- incorrectly -- as the world's leading economic power. According to Pew Research's January survey, 47% of respondents cite China has a bigger economy than the US. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. The media is fixated on China, surpassing the previous high watermarks of China coverage -- in 1972 during Nixon's détente, and 1989 when a lone protester with a shopping bag faced down a column of tanks in Tiananmen Square. Americans now consider Asia more important than Europe by a 47%-to-37% margin (in 1993, those numbers were reversed). Asked about their interest in news from overseas, 34% of Americans say they are very interested in news from China, while far fewer say the same about France (6%), Germany (11%), Italy (11%) and even Great Britain (17%). [article continues]"

----------

My reply in the comment section:

"Growing numbers of Americans now see China -- [correctly] -- as the world's leading economic [manufacturing] power."

To verify for yourself that China has been the world's largest manufacturer since 2008, click on the link to U.N. statistics:

United Nations Statistics Division - National Accounts

Under the category of "GDP and its breakdown at current prices in US Dollars," select "All countries for all years - sorted alphabetically."

After opening the spreadsheet, look at cell #691 for "China (manufacturing)." Look at the two right-most columns on the spreadsheet. It will show that China's manufacturing sector produced $1.87 trillion dollars in 2008 and $2.05 trillion in 2009.

In comparison, look at cell #3471 for "United States (manufacturing)," the U.N. data show that U.S. manufacturing accounted for $1.79 trillion dollars in 2008 and $1.78 trillion in 2009.

The U.N. data conclusively show that China has been the world's largest manufacturer since 2008.

[marchpole]

Comparing the GDP of China's Provinces to Countries
Feb 17 2011, 11:00 AM ET
By James Fallows

Inner Mongolia is the Size of Chile

by Damien Ma

The title reflects my recent obsession with Inner Mongolia, after a visit to a rare earth high-tech zone there last November (and having been elbowed out of a doughnut shop on Sunday morning as Inner Mongolians were buying up the entire store of donuts it seemed). But the purpose of the comparison is that after having written on China becoming a $5.8 trillion economy, I thought it might be interesting to compare provincial economies to countries to see how many country-sized economies are in China. Californians, for example, probably bask in the glory of the fact that they live in the 8th or 9th largest economy in the world and can simultaneously produce a Lindsay Lohan and a Steve Jobs.

I happened to come across a Chinese report that compiled 2010 growth rates and GDP figures for individual Chinese provinces. (This exercise may also be a partial and limited answer to my fellow guest blogger Edward Goldstick's dispatch on China's 12th five-year plan, a topic on which I've written extensively in my day job.) So using World Bank GDP numbers for various countries, which were only up to 2009 unfortunately, I did a quick comparison (confession: I did not tally up the GDPs to see if they totaled $5.8 trillion).

In order from largest GDP to smallest:

1. Guangdong: 12.2% growth, $689 billion

2. Jiangsu: 13.5% growth, $620 billion =  Turkey: $614 billion

3. Shandong: 12.5% growth, $597 billion = Indonesia: $540 billion

4. Zhejiang: 11.8% growth, $411 billion = Sweden: $406 billion

5. Henan: 12% growth, $333 billion = Greece: $329 billion

6. Hebei: 12.2% growth, $306 billion = Denmark: $309 billion

7. Liaoning: 13% growth, $265 billion = Thailand: $263 billion

8. Sichuan: 15.1% growth, $256 billion

9. Shanghai: 9.9% growth, $255.6 billion

10. Hunan: 14.5% growth, $241 billion = Finland: $238 billion

11. Hubei: 14.8% growth, $239 billion = Colombia: $234 billion

12. Fujian: 13.8% growth, $209 billion = Ireland: $227 billion

13. Beijing: 10.2% growth, $208.7 billion

14. Anhui: 14.5% growth, $185.8 billion = Egypt: $188 billion

15. Inner Mongolia: 15% growth, $176 billion = Chile: $163 billion

16. Shaanxi: 14.5% growth, $151.8 billion

17. Heilongjiang: 12.5% growth, $150 billion

18. Guangxi: 14.2% growth, $144 billion

19. Jiangxi: 14% growth, $143 billion

20. Tianjin: 17.4% growth, $138 billion = Algeria: $140 billion

21. Shanxi: 13.9% growth, $137.7 billion

22. Jilin: 13.7% growth, $130 billion = Hungary: $129 billion

23. Chongqing: 17.1% growth, $119.5 billion = Kazakhstan: $115 billion

24. Yunnan: 12.3% growth, $109.4 billion

25. Xinjiang: 10.6% growth, $82.1 billion

26. Guizhou: 12.8% growth, $69.6 billion

27. Gansu: 11.5% growth, $62 billion = Libya: $62 billion

28. Hainan: 15.8% growth, $31.1 billion = Uruguay: $31.5 billion

29. Ningxia: 13.4% growth, $24.9 billion = Kenya: $29 billion

30. Qinghai: 15.3% growth, $20.5 billion = Turkmenistan: $20 billion

31. Tibet: 12.3% growth, $7.7 billion = Papua New Guinea: $7.9 billion

These are of course rough equivalents. And for some provinces, I didn't see a close enough proximate GDP. I know, I know, the figures are also far from a comprehensive look at economic performance, as measurement of per capita welfare, quality of growth, social welfare and so on are not reflected.

But the intention in juxtaposing provinces with countries is to help visualize how China is composed of--based on total output anyway--literally developed, middle income, and poor developing countries, from Sweden to Turkmenistan. It also highlights the regional disparity that you often hear Chinese officials talk about--for example, the wealthiest province (Guangdong) is roughly 10 times richer than the poorest (Tibet).The second point is to note how growth is shifting into interior China, as Qinghai and Ningxia, two of the poorest provinces in China, are growing incredibly at 13-15%. Meanwhile, Shanghai, for all its glitz and glam, was the only one that had a "paltry" single-digit growth rate. (Amy Chua would've given Shanghai a D- for economic performance.)

The last point is also related to the 12th five-year plan, billed as China's "economic rebalancing act". But it is not just a rebalancing from a production and export-intensive model to a more consumption-based economy. It is also meant to be a rebalancing of political and economic power beyond the coast to the "continent" if you will. Some of these dynamics have begun naturally, but the financial crisis brought a sense of urgency in further developing the interior. Judging by some of the growth targets individual provinces have set, the interior provinces are clearly more ambitious in their growth prospects as they play catch-up to the coastal behemoths. If nothing else, I think this means more doughnut shops in Inner Mongolia.  

As to Edward's points on national plans, I hope to address it more fully later.

Damien Ma is a China analyst at Eurasia Group.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/a...ountries/71377/

[marchpole]

China's 12th Five-Year Plan: Is It So Wrong to Plan Ahead?
Feb 15 2011, 4:10 PM ET
By Edward Goldstick

Having just read Damien Ma's report about the current "standings" on the global economic scene when I remembered an email from a Taiwan-based electronics display industry intel shop with this eye-catching graphic that leads to the report that follows:



Overview of China's 12th Five-Year Plan

Abstract: China's 12th Five-Year Plan makes it clear that the county, which overtook Japan in 2010 to become the world's number two economy, has now turned its attention from the pursuit of national strength to increasing its people's prosperity. It places far greater emphasis on internal markets and domestic demand than ever before, and includes industrial structures that emphasize added value. China's 12th Five-Year Plan also sets out seven major new strategic industries, for which investment is projected to reach CNY10 trillion over the next five years; the sheer scale of the commercial opportunities created needs no further explanation. This report looks at the core directions for development in China's 12th Five-Year Plan.


I have no intention of spending $999 for the entire report, but I find the breadth of the presentation interesting as represented by the table of contents*; however, I would like to offer three gut-level opinions when considering the conceptual value of "planning" on this scale as compared to the still relatively uncoordinated, ad hoc, and reactive approach that is typically American:

1)  I might be taking a risk if I suggest that Japan's renowned MITI (Ministry of International Trade and Industry) was a fundamental force that guided Japan's resurgence in the post-war period but that it was not fundamentally responsible for the real estate bubble and the stagnation of the Japanese economy that led to the Lost Decade and the difficulties that have endured since... so how a government exploits the surpluses that accumulate during periods of growth is as important and the planning that leads to that opportunity.

2) It is perfectly true that central planning under the Soviet regimes was overwrought with heavy industry and gargantuan conceptions that failed to take into account the practical needs of real people (that led to consumer-oriented washing machines designed after those in industrial laundries designs but that would not fit through the doors of ordinary homes).

3) Many commentators argue that the current strength of the Chinese economy is entirely built upon an export industry that presumes US consumers as its principal clients.  My understanding is that this was not the case during the first ten years or so when significant investments were made to abate poverty in rural areas and distant provinces to develop a workforce that could then energize the quasi-capitalistic industrial activities that followed... so what if they now manage to use the relative wealth that returns to the countryside as a foundation for a multiplying domestic consumer demand?

There seems to be an assumption in the air that the Chinese "need us" as consumers as much as we need them as producers (and as lenders), so what happens if the goal of invigorating their internal demand that in many multiples of our own comes to fruition?

While I certainly would be interested to hear what Mr. Ma (or Jim Fallows, for that matter) have to add (or subtract) from my observations, the first reaction that I had when I read this was to wonder whether Liam Casey ("Mr. China"?) was discovering that his clients are increasingly designing products specifically for the domestic markets of China (and Asia, in general)...

P.S.:  I'll go out on a limb and suggest that the biggest difference between Egypt and China when it comes to the discontent of the median citizen with access to information is that the Chinese citizen will read about the new Five-Year Plan in the China Daily (though perhaps with the flourishes that have often amused us in translation in Fallows' blog) while the Egyptian citizenry will have seen little of all that investment and activity unless they are (or should I say were) fortunate enough to be connected with the powerful few... and even then, the actual coherence and visibility of any planning is probably minute and hardly reliable.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/a...an-ahead/71245/

[Martian]

I indirectly challenged the American Media's credibility

Earlier this month, I indirectly challenged the American media's credibility. If you want a good laugh, read the article by USA Today (link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/st...56/1?csp=34news) as they bashed China:

"We cannot continue to let China flaunt the rules," Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said. If action isn't taken, "we may never recover as a country. This is serious stuff."

Economists agree that the yuan is undervalued by 25% to 30% against the dollar; some put it as high as 40%. The result is that Chinese goods are increasingly cheaper in the United States and U.S. products more expensive in China.

If I was ignorant of the truth, I would be pretty upset too! My God, according to USA Today, those Chinese are cheating and undervaluing their currency! It is a pretty upsetting article until you read the second comment (reproduced below), which is located at the end of the article. Ooops! Never mind! Ha ha ha. I posted the truth for the entire country to see.


USA Today forgot to tell its readers that China's currency has already appreciated 30% in the last six years.

I thought I would share the story before I forget it in another few weeks.

I also posted in the comment section of YouTube videos regarding China's currency. See example below.

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGHyzz-xMc

I should tell you the rest of the story. For days prior to my posts, the Western Media only printed stories about China undervaluing its currency by 25 to 40% and there were a few sporadic articles that mentioned China had appreciated its currency by 7% since 2010.

Eighteen hours after I posted my comment everywhere (that China's currency had appreciated by 30% in the last six years), Reuters published its first story that China had appreciated its currency by 30% since 2005. After Reuters, major publications also published the fact that China's currency had appreciated by 30%. The exception was CNN. CNN wrote that China's currency had appreciated by "over 20%."

The Western media have a choice. They can tell their readers the truth or I'll do it for them.

[Martian]

Huawei looks unstoppable at $32 billion in revenue and growing

The moral of the story is: if you throw a sufficient number of Chinese engineers at a problem then world industrial leadership is within your grasp.


Huawei has 15.7 percent market share in telecom equipment and is world #1 this year. The official announcement will come in April.

Reference: Reuters - Top gear: China's Huawei outmuscles Swedish rival

"Annual sales are forecast at around 200 billion yuan ($31.7 billion), around two-thirds of which, some $21 billion, are from telecoms gear, putting it ahead of Ericsson's 2011 network sales of $19.8 billion. Ericsson, which has a market value of more than $31 billion, has led the mobile telecom equipment market for at least the past decade."

Huawei - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

History

Huawei Technology in Shenzhen, China

Early years

Huawei was founded by Ren Zhengfei in 1987, with an initial registered capital of RMB21,000.[13] Established in Shenzhen, Huawei started off as a sales agent for a Hong Kong company producing Private Branch Exchange (PBX) switches. By 1990, Huawei began its own independent research and commercialization of PBX technologies targeting hotels and small enterprises.[14] After accumulating knowledge and resources on PBX business, Huawei achieved its first breakthrough into the mainstream telecommunications market in 1992, when it launched its C&C08 digital telephone switch, which had the largest switching capacity in China at the time. By initially deploying in small cities and rural areas, the company gradually gained market share and made its way into the mainstream market.[15]

In 1994, Huawei established a long distance transmission equipment business, and launched its own SONET integrated access network, combining broadband and narrowband services in a single platform, and SDH product line. Huawei generated sales of RMB1.5 billion in 1995, mainly derived from rural markets in China.[14]

International expansion

In 1997, Huawei won its first overseas contract,[16] providing fixed-line network products to Hong Kong company Hutchison Whampoa.[15] Later that year, Huawei launched its wireless GSM-based products and eventually expanded to offer CDMA and UMTS. In 1999, the company opened a research and development (R&D) center in Bangalore, India to develop a wide range of telecom software.[14] From 1998 to 2003, Huawei contracted with IBM for management consulting, and underwent significant transformation of its management and product development structure. After 2000, Huawei increased its speed of expansion into overseas markets, having achieved international sales of more than US$100 million by 2000[16] and establishing an R&D center in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2001, Huawei established four R&D centers in the United States, divested non-core subsidiary Avansys to Emerson for US$750 million and joined the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). By 2002, Huawei’s international market sales had reached US$552 million.[14]

In 2004 Huawei continued its overseas expansion with a contract to build a third-generation network for Telfort, the Dutch mobile operator.[14] This contract, valued at more than $US25 million, was the first such contract for the company in Europe.[17]

In 2005, Huawei’s international contract orders exceeded its domestic sales for the first time. Huawei signed a Global Framework Agreement with Vodafone. This agreement marked the first time a telecommunications equipment supplier from China had received Approved Supplier status from Vodafone Global Supply Chain. The agreement established the terms and conditions for the supply of Huawei's solutions to any one of the Vodafone operating companies worldwide.[18] Huawei also signed a contract with British Telecom (BT) for the deployment of its multi-service access network (MSAN) and Transmission equipment for BT's 21Century Network (21CN), providing BT and the UK telecommunications industry with infrastructure necessary to support future growth.[19]

In May 2008, Huawei and Optus developed a mobile innovation centre in Sydney, Australia, providing facilities for engineers to develop new wireless and mobile broadband concepts into "ready for market" products.[20] In 2008, the company embarked on its first large scale commercial deployment of UMTS/ HSPA in North America providing TELUS's new next generation wireless network and Bell Canada with high-speed mobile access.[21]

Huawei delivered one of the world’s first LTE/EPC commercial networks for TeliaSonera in Oslo, Norway in 2009. The company launched the world's first end-to-end 100G solution from routers to transmission system that same year, to help meet the rapid growth of network traffic and enhance router efficiency and reliability.[14]

In July 2010, Huawei was included in the Global Fortune 500 2010 list published by the U.S. magazine Fortune for the first time, on the strength of annual sales of US$21.8 billion and net profit of US$2.67 billion.[22] In late 2010 it was reported that Huawei is planning to invest around US$500 million (Rs 2,200 crore) to set up a telecom equipment manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, India and $US100 million to expand its R&D center in Bangalore.[23][24]

Investment and partnerships

Huawei has focused on expanding its mobile technology and networking solutions through a number of partnerships. In March 2003, Huawei and 3Com Corporation formed a joint venture company, 3Com-Huawei (H3C), which focused on the R&D, production and sales of data networking products. The company later divested a 49% stake in H3C for US$880 million in 2006. In 2005, Huawei began a joint venture with Siemens, called TD Tech, for developing 3G/ TD-SCDMA mobile communication technology products. The US$100 million investment gave the company a 49% stake in the venture, while Siemens held a 51% stake.[14] In 2007, after Nokia and Siemens co-founded Nokia Siemens Networks, Siemens transferred all shares it held in TD Tech to Nokia Siemens Networks. At present, Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei hold 51% and 49% shares of TD Tech respectively.[25]

In 2006, Huawei established a Shanghai-based joint R&D center with Motorola to develop UMTS technologies.[14] Later that year, Huawei also established a joint venture with Telecom Venezuela, called Industria Electronica Orinoquia, for research and development and sale of telecommunications terminals. Telecom Venezuela holds a 65% stake while Huawei holds the remaining 35% stake.[26]

Huawei and American security firm Symantec announced in May 2007 the formation of a joint-venture company to develop security and storage solutions to market to telecommunications carriers. Huawei owns 51% of the new company, named Huawei Symantec Inc. while Symantec owns the rest. The joint-venture is based in Chengdu.[27]

Grameenphone Ltd. and Huawei won the Green Mobile Award at the GSMA Mobile Awards 2009.[28] In March 2009, the Wimax Forum announced four new members to its Board of Directors including Thomas Lee, the Vice Director of the Industry Standards Department at Huawei.[29]

In 2008, Huawei launched a joint venture with UK-based marine engineering company, Global Marine Systems, to deliver undersea network equipment and related services.[30]

Recent performance

In April 2011, Huawei announced an earnings increase of 30% in 2010, driven by significant growth in overseas markets, with net profit rising to RMB23.76 billion (US$3.64 billion; £2.23 billion) from RMB18.27 billion in 2009.[31] In 2010 sales outside China continued to be the main driver of Huawei’s business. Overseas revenue rose 34% to RMB120.41 billion in 2010 from RMB90.02 billion in 2009, fueled by regions including North America and Russia. Revenues from China rose 9.7% to RMB64.77 billion, as the country's big telecom operators reduced their investment last year.[32]

Huawei's revenues in 2010 accounted for 15.7% of the $78.56 billion global carrier-network-infrastructure market, putting the company second behind the 19.6% share of Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, according to market-research firm Gartner.[32]"

[Martian]

Huawei Unveils the "World's Fastest Smartphone"

"Huawei Unveils Quad-Core Ascend D Smartphones
By Chloe Albanesius
February 26, 2012 10:34am EST

[The world's fastest smartphone: Huawei quad-core Ascend D in black.]

BARCELONA—Huawei kicked off Mobile World Congress here by introducing the quad-core Ascend D quad, which the company has dubbed the "world's fastest smartphone."

Huawei also unveiled the Ascend D quad XL and Ascend D1.

The Ascend D quad and quad XL boast a 4.5-inch, 1280-by-720 HD touch screen that Huawei said is the "most compact" option on the market thanks to an "infinity" screen design.

The devices run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the most recent version of the mobile OS. The Ascend D will run a 1.2-GHz Huawei K3V2 processor, while the Ascend D quad XL will include a 1.5-GHz chip.

Both devices include 32-bit true color graphic processors, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with 1080p full HD video capture and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera with 720p video capture.

The Ascend D includes a 1800mAh battery, while the Ascend D quad XL boasts a 2500mAh battery.

The Ascend D1, meanwhile, also includes a 4.5-inch screen, runs Ice Cream Sandwich, and the 8-megapixel rear-facing and 1.3-megapixel front-facing cameras. But the Ascend D1 will run a TI OMAP4460 1.5-GHz chip and a 1670mAh battery.

The Ascend D quad and D1 measure 8.9 x 64 x 129mm, while the Ascend D quad XL comes in at 10.9 x 64 x 129mm.

All three smartphones include 8GB of memory and 16GB of RAM.

The devices will not initially be 4G LTE-capable, but it's expected by Q3 or Q4, Huawei said.

Huawei promised "excellent" outdoor screen quality, which will enable use even in direct sunlight. The company also said the Ascend smartphones will include 330 pixels per inch (PPI); the iPhone 4S includes 326 PPI, Huawei was quick to point out.

Huawei also talked up the voice quality of the new Ascend devices, which include dual microphone noise reduction thanks to the company's Audience earSmart technology. Huawei said this will decrease background noise - if a friend leaves you a message from a noisy bar, for example.

The Ascend D quad devices will be available in China, Australia, Europe, Asia-Pacific, North and South America, and the Middle East in the second quarter. The Ascend D1 will be available in the same markets starting in April.

The devices will originally come in white and black, but more color options will be available at a later date.

Pricing was not announced.

Huawei shipped 20 million devices last year, which it hopes to increase to 60 million this year, thanks in large part to the Chinese market."