Arthur Kroeber by Fantake via Flickr Local governments in China depend for their income mostly on the sales of land, not on tax revenue. As debts went up and only the larger cities have still enough land to sell off, that methods might not be sustainable in the long run,Read More →

Paul Krugman via Wikipedia Last month our Shaun Rein explained why Jim Chanos was wrong when he said that China would be worse than a thousand Dubai’s. This week in Forbes he goes up a notch in the food chain and tells us why economist and Nobel price winner PaulRead More →

Kaiser Kuo by Fantake via Flickr When we started in January our little sequel “Why Google is leaving China”, people asked us if it would not be an option for Google to stay in China. Even in the early start of the problems Google inflicted on itself, the question wasRead More →

Mark Schaub by Fantake via Flickr The battle stories on doing China business in the past illustrate how much China has changed for the better. Shanghai-based Lawyer Mark Schaub recalls in the book A Changing China, produced by the Chna Speakers Bureau, how his legal profession has become much moreRead More →

Kaiser Kuo by Fantake via Flickr (Now updated with the original speech at YouTube)In his speech at the famous Austin SXSW China’s prominent internet watcher Kaiser Kuo closed his keynote with a few scenario’s Google has in China. Google threatened to leave China in January after hacker attacks in December, said it wouldRead More →

Victor Shih by Fantake via Flickr A massive bailout of China’s major banks might be one of the options to let them recoup much of the 2.4 trillion Renminbi (255 billion euro) spend during the recent financial rescue operation, says professor Victor Shih to BusinessWeek today. “The most likely case isRead More →

by Fantake via Flickr China’s billionaires keep on collecting more wealth and the Hurun founder, Rupert Hoogewerf, the China rich list, expects them to reach the global top in 15 years, when the economy keeps on growing, he tells the People’s Daily. The newspaper focuses on Zong Qinghou, the ownerRead More →

Zhang Lijia by Fantake via Flickr Author Zhang Lijia of the bestseller “Socialism Is Great!”: A Worker’s Memoir of the New China might be building fame fast outside China, but her interview with the Global Times is a breakthrough. While no political activist, she is also not always toeing the officialRead More →

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr Wishful thinking has led many analysts to call for an appreciation of China’s currency, the Renminbi or Yuan. Shaun Rein goes against that trend and says that an appreciation soon would hurt the recovering export industry too much and might cost up to 5Read More →

Kaiser Kuo China’s authorities have gone far in an effort to curtain pornography, even by disallowing individuals to register domain names on the internet. It is not a very efficient strategy, says Beijing-based Internet-watcher Kaiser Kuo to China International Business.  According to Kaiser Kuo, a Beijing-based digital media consultant who worksRead More →

Arthur Kroeber by Fantake via Flickr China faces this year unprecedented challenges, tells Arthur Kroeber the Wall Street Journal on the day the annual National People Congress (NPC) starts its meeting. “Last year, Beijing had a simple strategy and a simple message: lend as much money as necessary to keepRead More →