Another cornucopia of links, mostly China-related.  I wonder if encryption usage will become more prevalent by companies and individuals?  Maybe not though because it can be complex and cumbersome to use… although as David Veksler has mentioned, it is good “best practices” to prevent proprietary information from leaking at your company by utilizing encryption.  Perhaps services like Silent Circle will become more popular as time goes by?

• Is Beijing pleased Snowden fled to Hong Kong? by Bill Bishop (probably not in the long run. even if he talks, i doubt Snowden will tell them anything they don’t already know since they try to do the same thing with their agencies/telecom SOEs domestically — GFW is one of the biggest known dragnets pre-PRISM)
• Inside the NSA’s Ultra-Secret China Hacking Group from Foreign Policy
• NSA hacks China, leaker Snowden claims from CNN (doubt he’s working directly with PRC, otherwise he would have flown to Beijing or Shanghai, not HK… although it is curious as to why he didn’t go to iceland in the first place.  it’s no secret that the US was doing this from hawaii and other locales, heard that from several former military officers in asia mention this over beers in the past.)
• The end of the expat dream? Foreigners facing increasingly competitive Chinese job market from Shanghaiist (maybe not end, but slow decline with all of the “sea turtles” returning and creating competitive job market)
• Why it’s Still So Hard to Find Safe Baby Formula from The Economic Observer
• Reining in China’s Testosterone from The Economic Observer (both Ray Kurzweil and Michael Anissimov are cited)
• Audit Office Shines Light On Local Government Debt from The Wall Street Journal
• MakerBot’s Replicator 2 joins Amazon’s newly launched 3D printer store from Engadget (i wonder how much both companies will spend on fighting predatory lawsuits/patent trolls)
• Baidu Sues Qihoo 360 In China For Search Engine Sitemap Format Plagiarism from China Tech News (if you can’t beat them, sue them)
• No-one turns up to welcome China’s football team in Hefei from Danwei (in their defense, Hefei is a really crappy city.  been there 6-7 times, dislike it each time primarily because of environment.  still the team is horribad and i don’t think hiring beckham as an image ambassador will help it)
• 6 a minute in China told they have cancer from Sina (that’s a lot of medical costs)
• How much investment is optimal? by Michael Pettis
• EMC, JD.com Form Big Data Cloud Computing Strategic Cooperation In China from China Tech News
• Body Shop tells Cambridge girl she needs to speak Chinese from BBC (in the UK, company apologized)
• Politics Checks in for China Hotel Industry from The Wall Street Journal
• China’s new superhero! Stan Lee’s Universe from CNN (the college students i taught thought it would be weird to have an asian superhero, i don’t see why?)
• Chinese Telecom Equipment Makers Make African Inroads from China Tech News
• iOS 7 will play nice with both Tencent and Sina Weibo from Shanghaiist
• China’s Gome Gross Margin Declines While Closing 43 Stores In Q1 2013 from China Tech News
• Will Manny Ramirez ‘Hit-and-Run’ From Taiwan? from The Wall Street Journal
• Obama, Xi Make Deal on Greenhouse Gases from The Wall Street Journal
• Beijing tops happiness ranking for 5 yrs from China Daily (wow, seriously?)
• Lenovo Officially Opens U.S. PC Manufacturing Operations from China Tech News
• Welcome back, TechCrunch, TechNode’s Official Partner from TechNode (without the flamboyance and hyperbole?)

A smorgasbord of China-related links.  Xi and Obama are meeting out in Sunnylands right now (good VF article covering Sunnylands last year).  I wonder if Xi’s wife (Peng Liyuan) will dump her iPhone now that Apple is allegedly part of the NSA PRISM program.  Thanks to Sinocism for several of the links.

• Governments Move in on Taxi Apps from The Economic Observer (protectionism for SOEs)
• It’s Official? Alibaba doing more business than Amazon + eBay from Alizila
• U.S. Loses Supercomputer Title to China, For Now from The Wall Street Journal (another white elephant ‘face project’ — no useful apps for it, see China’s Not-so-Super Computer)
• Facebook and Twitter go live in China – but only for Chengdu business forum from South China Morning Post (laowai would pay big bucks for an ‘expat’ package, China Telecom is leaving money on the table…)
• Like the sun, newspaper circulation rises in the east and falls in the west from The Economist (this is actually a technologically myopic strategy by PRC planners, especially when state media outlets open bureaus overseas.  the younger demographic obtains all of their information from the internet, very few, if any — buy print media aside from niche magazines.  continual funding of these is of course a matter of propaganda but also a financial albatross)
• China’s State Sector Strikes Back from The Wall Street Journal (how to truly privatize/reform these SOEs and satiate special interests?)
• Corruption on College Campuses from The Economic Observer (none of my students want to work in a factory or on a farm, nor do their parents want them to.  will go to great lengths to get “degrees.”  See What are Chinese colleges like?)
• Survey: Chinese millennials are highly optimistic about the future from Shanghaiist (undoubtedly materially better off than any other generation of Chinese on the mainland, will that growth rate continue for their own offspring?)
• Renren.com Teams With Youku-Tudou To Grab More Online Video Users from China Tech News
• Infographic: Chongqing girls are cheapest to marry, Shanghai women most expensive from Shanghaiist (I have many stories from first hand experience and/or observation)
• Korean Culture: Why do korean girls point two fingers up when they get their picture taken? from Quora (a lot of laowai/expats ask me this too, because it is common across east asia)
• In China, Big Data is Becoming Big Business from BusinessWeek (not sure there are many opportunities for foreign firms to work directly as a data provider or host, probably can do contracts for vendors/supply chain)

Despite the political issues and bilateral hacking, there is an ever growing amount of trade between the US and China.  This is great — win/win.  See the Bastiat link at the end for why.  Thanks to Sinocism for some of the links.

• China’s migrants bring new habit home: online shopping from Reuters
• In China, an Empire Built by Aping Apple from The New York Times (a couple of my good friends have a Xiaomi 2, it is great, especially for its price… ~2000 rmb)
• Goldman Sachs Joins Alibaba Loan Team as IPO Nears from Caijing (what i’d give to have some of that pre-IPO stock)
• SMIC forms joint venture to establish new wafer fab in Beijing from Digitimes (spoke with a couple semiconductor engineers… they predict that SMIC will probably always be behind both TSMC and Intel on the manufacturing curve internationally.  they will probably do well competing in the greater china region because of guanxi)
• US to replace EU to be China’s largest trade partner in 2013 from China Daily ($450 billion in bilateral trade between US and China, amazing)
• China’s Rich Are Traveling Less, Spending More from The Wall Street Journal (kind of a small sample size to draw that from… needs to hit the magic 384 number)
• Chinese travelers remain biggest overseas spenders from China Daily (nice chart)
• Let Me Not See Old Age in China from The Wall Street Journal (the elderly save because they have few investment vehicles that actually generate revenue and because of the repressive financial structure.  watch Michael Pettis discuss this at the april wine country event)
• Full Details Uncovered on Chinese Top Supercomputer from HPCWire (and how useful will it actually be?  see this WSJ piece for counterbalance)
• Beijing To Build 1,200 4G Base Stations By End Of 2013 from China Tech News (i’d be he willing to pay 3x the price to get uncensored net access)
• China’s Online Literature Behemoth from The Economic Observer (one of the advantages the chinese marketplace had was it lacked the horrendous IP litigation that only enriches law firms and rent seekers, it has now adopted the counterproductive IP system of the West)
• A Factory Burns in China by Evan Osnos
• A Big Market – China’s Smartphone OEMs from Digits to Dollars (not sure any laowai can make a break in this segment unless it is somewhere along the supply chain for ARM)
• Why wealthy Chinese buy their insurance in Hong Kong from Financial Times (i know a manager at AIA if anyone wants some quotes)
• Debt on Local Gov’ Financing Platforms Forces Regulator into Balancing Act from Caixin (the question is, will banks be allowed to act like banks or will they have to flip over the debt again?)
• Indicators present muddled picture of China’s factories from CNN|Money
• America’s China mistake from Los Angeles Times (wow this is so bad.  chang has been wrong for over a decade, why does anyone republish his stuff?  no, there won’t be a war between the US and China anytime soon, if ever.  for the very reasons Bastiat noted over 150 years ago.)

Upcoming political meetings between Xi and Obama, relatively slow news other than that.  Some of the links are from Sinocism.

• China in soft power push with foreign students from CNN (lots of scholarships supposedly available for laowai)
• Love and marriage: China plays the dating game from CNN (i wonder what longitudinal studies will find with this, culturally very different than arranged marriages)
• Smithfield Foods to be bought by Chinese firm Shuanghui International from The Washington Post
• Scotch Makers Target China With Premium Bottles from The Wall Street Journal (waiting for ron burgundy, anchorman…)
• Will the Real Chiang Kai-Shek Medal Please Stand Up? from The Wall Street Journal
• Aging Chinese Face a Bleak Picture from The Wall Street Journal (opportunities for NGOs and non-profits)
• What China Can Learn From America’s Hot Dogs from The Wall Street Journal (facility hygiene for one thing)
• Short Seller Seeks Valley ‘Pretenders’ from The Wall Street Journal
• The Return of the Red Flag from Caijing (gov’t push to buy chinese luxury car brands, will it be anymore successful in the long run for the competitiveness when the brands go overseas?)
• China’s Flawed Balance-of-Payments Position from Project Syndicate (great write-up of something that is typically filled with hyperbole)
• China’s Shadow Banks: The credit kulaks from The Economist (about wealth management products.  see what my friends explanation of how it works.  i am still a skeptic, not because of the lack of regulatory oversight, but because of the lack of transparency by the firms and what looks like ponzi-style schemes — hard to investigate when press freedom is severely curtailed).
• Tencent Adds Literature Website to Its Offerings from Caixin (just a couple more days of “free” music on the mainland, wonder how long bootleg books will be tolerated)
• Eat your heart out: Chinese e-commerce firm delivers packages within hours from Engadget

A number of stories from a variety of segments.  Several are from Sinocism.

• Where Art Meets Luxury Shopping from The Wall Street Journal
• Capitalist Fantasy Tops China Box Office, Spurs Debate from The Wall Street Journal
• Chinese Enterprises Struggle Overseas from The Economic Observer
• Buyout Offer Brings China Into the Orbit of Club Med from The New York Times
• Mr. China Goes To San Francisco from TechCrunch
• CNNIC: China’s Smartphone Mobile Internet Users Reach 330 Mln from Marbridge Consulting
• Chinese tourists’ spending in the U.S. takes off from Los Angeles Times
• Beijing and Shanghai Ban Monetized Taxi-Finder Apps, But Free Ones are OK from Tech In Asia
• Special Report: Why China’s film makers love to hate Japan from Reuters
• The Ultimate Resume-Booster: Communist Party Membership from Tea Leaf Nation (very true, had some former students who had a much easier time getting a job and have already been promoted… guanxi)
• In China, ‘cancer villages’ a reality of life from CNN
• Mengniu becomes the first company to provide customer service via WeChat from Shanghaiist (they need all the help they can get)
• China’s Not Just Urbanizing — It’s ‘Townizing’ from Tea Leaf Nation
• Hooray for Chollywood from The Wall Street Journal

Big mix of links today.  Certainly wouldn’t want to be a new college grad in China without awesome guanxi.

• Recent video presentation with Michael Pettis (Youtube) – author of The Great Rebalancing
• Dongguan suspends free services as debt crisis bites from South China Morning Post (been there twice, home to the world largest mall, 95% of which is vacant.)
• A Global Oil Giant With Chinese Characteristics from The Wall Street Journal
• Can China breathe life into ‘ghost towns’? from CNN
• Scientists taking Chinese medicine west from CNN
• Chinese Wineries Take Home 20 Awards In World Competition from Jing Daily (GWW received a silver)
• Beijing’s Latest Worry: College Grads from The Wall Street Journal (skillset mismatch)
• Just turned three? Time to get an MBA from Shanghaiist (mini-adults, where did your childhood go?)
• Residents Decry Beijing’s Shuttering of Online Doctor-Appointment System from The Wall Street Journal (bring your hongbao)
• 15 year old dies following 400m endurance run from Shanghaiist (overworked, lack of sleep, no childhood)
• Nuance May Join Hands With Kaixin001.com In China from China Tech News (voice recognition in social media)

Clearing the tabs of some article published in the last few weeks.  Thanks to Melissa for two of them.

• Seeking College Edge, Chinese Pupils Arrive in New York Earlier from The New York Times (lots of potential money to be made from international students in both countries but do language skills dilute the analytical skills going forward?)
• More girls taking up smoking, study finds from Shanghai Daily (not a good trend for anyone except funeral parlors)
• Tech Companies Banking On More Smartphone Shopping from The Wall Street Journal (alibaba and tencent using location-based targeted ads)
• What Time Is It? Shanda Will Soon Unveil Chinese Smart Watch from China Tech News (first Pebble-like device?)
• Hershey Keen for Piece of China from The Wall Street Journal
• ‘Cadmium Rice’ Is China’s Latest Food Scandal from The New York Times (the rice from Cambodia is so far, so good, not sure I’d trust any from southern china right now)
• Excitement Abounds for New Third Board from Caixin (over-the-counter exchange for non-public securities)
• China’s Entrenched Gender Gap from The New York Times (OCP, gender imbalance and institutionalized alienation for women over the age of 27 is not helping the situation)
• An apology that is 47 years late from Offbeat China (about the start of the cultural revolution)
• China property: bigger index, bigger bubble from Financial Times
• With 1.4 Million Users, Taobao Launches Hong Kong Official Site from Tech In Asia
• A Battle to Become Art Capital of China from The New York Times
• Yum’s China Sales Slump 29% in April on Chicken Safety Concern from Bloomberg

Anecdotatly it is hard to say what direction luxury is heading since it is such a large segment now.  Government crackdown on big Party dinners still in effect, not sure if government officials want to be made an example of (including receiving traditional gifts like watches).

• Has luxury peaked in mainland China? from South China Morning Post
• Chinese consumers’ demand for luxuries growing: survey from Xinhua
• Picking up a loaf of bread and a Gucci bag from China Daily
• ‘He Ain’t Ugly, He’s My Robot’ – Creative Use of Garbage in China Results in One Man’s Robo Pal from Rocket News 24
• Desperate Chinese College Student Takes Doctor Hostage from China Smack
• Seeking Help — For China’s Labor Market from The Wall Street Journal
• How China’s Push for World-Class Universities Is Undermining Collegiality from The Chronicle of Higher Education
• Forget the Headlines: Chinese Buying Big in US from CNBC (cheap houses)
• After Cadmium Scare, Hong Kong Rice Worth Jail Risk? from The Wall Street Journal (bought some imported rice from Cambodia)
• Hershey targeting 7.5bn yuan Chinese milk candy market from Shanghaiist
• 5,000 city users to put 4G services to the test from Shanghai Daily (but still no access to the other internet)
• An Investment Company Tries Its Hand at Farming from Caixin
• Local Governments Rush to Build Airports from The Economic Observer (how will they pay this back if their is oversaturation?)
• China Development Bank Calls Meeting as Bundled SME Bond Sours from Bloomberg
• CNY 3.5 Tln of LGFVs to Come Due in China in Two or Three Years from Caijing (will banks be forced to roll the loans over and over again?)
• Hidden Bad Loans Raising Ponzi Risk from Caijing
• China Tightens Rules on Bond Issuance from The Wall Street Journal
• Alibaba Intending to Dig Deep for E-commerce Gold from Caixin
• China offers India a “handshake across the Himalayas” from Reuters ($100 billion in bilateral trade by 2015)

Another relatively slow news week.  Big skillset mismatch with new college grads, sympathize with (unemployed) former students at the colleges I taught at.  Thanks to Xiao for a couple links.

• Disruptions: Helper Robots Are Steered, Tentatively, to Care for the Aging from The New York Times (this is relevant to the aging population in China as well)
• India-China Agreements: No. 1, Buffalo Meat from The Wall Street Journal (beat the US to market access)
• Li Keqiang discusses trade, border disputes with Indian prime minister from Shanghaiist
• iPad obsession hurting child’s development, warns expert from People’s Daily (will this impact apple’s or other tech firm revenue earnings? probably not in short run, if ever)
• Inflation Deflated? Evaluating the ‘Alibaba Index’ from The Wall Street Journal (uses a different methodology, not apples to apples)
• First-tier cities barely livable, report says from China Daily (believable, i have worn a mask daily this past month, air has been quite poor this year in Shanghai which is actually “less worse” than BJ or GZ)
• Amid Austerity, A Lush New Temple to Luxury Wines in Shanghai from The Wall Street Journal
• The world’s tallest building will be in the middle of an empty field in China from Quartz (what will the vacancy rate be like in 2 years?  who is financing it?)
• China’s red-hot property market shows no signs of slowing from CNN|Money (while environmental quality might be poor, many people from the countryside dream of working in “the big city” — deleterious effects for arbitrarily calculating what the rate should be for property)
• Art in China: On script and cutting edge? from CNN
• An Estimate of Excess Borrowing by Chinese Corporations from Peterson Institute for International Economics
• Chinese graduates face toughest job market ever from Financial Times (7 million new college grads, only 30% have signed contracts for a job)

Slow news week, pretty bearish too.  There are a few bright spots.  Thanks to Larry M for sending in a couple of the stories:

• Kingsoft Establishes New Chinese Network Cloud Security Subsidiary from China Tech News
• How AXA Became a Player in China from The Wall Street Journal (spoke with a sales manager at AIA, see big growth opportunities due to lack of market penetration <5%)
• How China Fell in Love with Fruit Ninja from Tech Rice (see it everywhere on the subway and at restaurants)
• China’s Lenovo Will Launch Smartphone In Africa This Year from China Tech News
• The UK’s fastest growing tourist group endures the slowest visa process from Quartz (oops, someone doesn’t want free money)
• Alipay.com, 58.com Team For Used Goods Trading from China Tech News
• Censors shut down Weibo accounts to crack down on rumors from Shanghaiist (good luck convincing lawoai to use your product in their countries)
• Watch: Vice takes a stroll through Shanghai’s Thames Town from Shanghaiist (mentioned this in Chapter 17, still haven’t visited it yet though)
• Cloud computing modernizes education in China from ZDnet
• Oversight of foreign experts to improve from China Daily (doubt it will do much in short-term, so many scrubs able to forge necessary documents)
• Alibaba Shows Net Profit of US$ 642 Mln in Q4 from Caixin
• Alibaba’s Extravaganza from The Wall Street Journal
• China ready to free capital flows? from Xinhua (i’ll believe it when i see it)
• China’s debt: a crisis in the making? from CNN|Money
• Zhang Yimou Investigation Sparks One-Child Debate from The Wall Street Journal (reform has been discussed since before i came to asia, doubt it’ll happen anytime soon, if ever)
• Cultural Revolution Redux? Economist Under Attack from The Wall Street Journal (mao yushi, one of the most interesting, open-minded economists on the mainland)

Mostly China-related links from the past couple of weeks.  Thanks to those who sent them in, see Sinocism for more:

• China Names Yuan Convertibility Plan as Goal This Year from Bloomberg (believe it when i see it)
• April New Loans Decline, Regulators Alert on Hidden Risks from Caijing
• Alibaba’s quarterly revenues surge 80% from Financial Times
• Baidu Acquires PPS for $370 Million, Claims It’s Now China’s Biggest Video Platform from Tech In Asia (i have used PPS off and on for years)
• ‘Baby’ Ye makes Tour history as China showcases young golf talent from CNN
• The only fix for China’s managerial shortage from Financial Times
• Five-year visas for foreigners on way from China Daily
• One-third of Chinese adults have high blood pressure: expert from Xinhua
• Top 10 attractive Chinese cities for foreigners 2012 from People’s Daily (shanghai is top, followed by beijing)
• Hong Kong Lays Out Welcome Mat for More French Expats from The Wall Street Journal (foreign exchange program between FR & HK, 200 students each way)
• China’s Scandal-Tainted Dairy Industry Takes a Step Forward from The Wall Street Journal
• New regulation limits antibiotics’ use for patients from Shanghai Daily (antibiotics are consumed like candy here, see Ch 19)
• Too Much Trust in Local Finances from The Wall Street Journal
• Shanghai cooked food stores shut down over fake mutton from Reuters (not good for Yum! shareholders… and consumers in general)
• Amazon Appstore officially launches in China from Shanghaiist
• Brides with bling from Financial Times (weddings in India, huge spending)

Nearly all China-related business news.  Check out Sinocism for more (still too busy to re-curate them).  Check out the first interview with Shaun, great info.

• ‘Protectionism is a fact of life in China’: Interview with Shaun Rein from Shanghaiist (great interview)
• Sina sells Weibo stake to Alibaba for $586m from Financial Times
• Chinese Renminbi overtakes Russian Rouble to reach #13 as a World Payments Currency from SWIFT (still a mere 0.63% marketshare)
• Chinese Social Media Travel Website Gains USD15 Million Investment from China Tech News (mafengwo.cn)
• US Exports to China by State 2003-2012 from The US-China Business Council (unsurprisingly lots of agriculture, machinery, computer tech)
• China becomes biggest PC market in 2012 – IHS report from BBC
• Rethinking Luxury Car Brands as Chinese Military Changes Rules from The Wall Street Journal
• The only fix for China’s managerial shortage from Financial Times (opportunities to train new managers)
• Taiwan’s Hon Hai To Build New Plant In Indonesia from China Tech News (Foxconn looking for new markets and cheaper wages?)
• HTG Explains: How the Great Firewall of China Works from How To Geek (it’s an okay explanation, see Ch 20 for more references)

A few links regarding China.  Read Sinocism for more (been too busy to peruse it).  Thanks to James for some links.

• Verizon report: China behind 96% of all cyber-espionage data breaches from Network World (orly? skeptical of FUD)
• China’s Organic Food Cooperatives Must Overcome Trust Deficit from Tea Leaf Nation (source tells me it is very hard for foreign companies to export organic food into china due to new local protectionism)
• Is there a Chinese housing bubble? from Shanghaiist (interview with Christopher Dillon, author of Landed China)
• UNSW woos Chinese students by accepting Gaokao scores for admissions from Xinhua (smart way to get Chinese students to matriculate to your overseas school)
• What are the hardest languages to learn for English speakers? from Voxy (infographic. korean is easier than Chinese… it uses an alphabet)
• Important Clarity on a Controversial Chinese Bank Product from The Wall Street Journal (see wmp explained)
• With One New App, Every Sina Weibo Post Can Be Easily Translated into English from Tech In Asia
• China NGOs turn to WeChat to aid quake rescue from South China Morning Post
• HP Launches Moonshot Server In China from China Tech News (get in before the wave of 64-bit ARM chips arrive this winter…)
• Breeding a Generation of Angry Web Users from The Wall Street Journal (but what can they actually do…)
• Creating Chinese Couture from The Wall Street Journal
• Iron Man 3 to have special China version, additional Chinese characters from Shanghaiist (one world, two cinemas?)
• California’s ‘Chinese Dream’ from The Atlantic
• China Seeks Soft Power Influence in U.S. Through CCTV from NPR (but as bill bishop has noted, who pays attention to this “old” or traditional media outlets when everything is now digital and social?)

A few links regarding China.  Read Sinocism for more (been too busy to peruse it).  This past week was the annual Shanghai Auto Show, hence all the cars news.  Thanks to Kevin for a couple of the links.

• China’s Top Apple Hackers Launch a Pirate iOS App Store from Tech In Asia
• Thousands of Thumbs Down for Chinese Red Cross from The Wall Street Journal
• Amid Electric Push, China’s Cars Get Bigger from The Wall Street Journal
• $300 Million Scholarship for Study in China Signals a New Focus from The New York Times
• SOE Salaries Outstrip Profits from The Economic Observer (who ultimately pays for this subsidy then?  tax producers which then depresses consumption)
• Honda’s Ito: Chinese Drivers Don’t Want Green Cars from The Wall Street Journal
• Luxury Car Makers Brace for Slower China Sales from The Wall Street Journal
• VW takes aim at China to fix budget car Achilles heel from Reuters