中国最有效的网络叫花子 – 王昊

(WSJ) There’s plenty of evidence that China’s economy right now is flush with cash. And then there’s Wang Hao.

Mr. Wang — best known on the Chinese Internet as Yu Men Hao, or Gloomy Hao — had already made his name on the Internet for his campaign announced to limit weekly living expenses to 100 yuan, or roughly $15, in face of the global economic downtown. It has since become so popular that tens of thousands of people have joined the campaign online (in Chinese, as are the others below), with some claiming to similarly contain their spending and others simply keeping track of daily expenditures. Continue (继续)

华尔街日报消息，北京最近对通胀势头表达了担心，但是目前应该不会改变放松的财政和货币政策。

(WSJ) Inflationary pressures from abroad and at home are likely on the rise in China as the economy recovers, the central bank said, in its first direct reference to the risk of higher prices since the global financial crisis hit.

But the People’s Bank of China signaled no reversal of its moderately loose monetary policy stance, aimed at spurring growth in the world’s third-biggest economy. Continue (继续)

中国经济评论消息, Invesco首席经济学家john greenwood近日在香港针对目前中国经济情况发表评论，表达了对目前经济反弹的担忧。

(CER) John Greenwood, chief economist at Invesco and the man who in 1983 proposed the currency board system used to control the Hong Kong dollar to this day, spoke at the FCC in Hong Kong yesterday. He gave his views on the state of the global economy and the prospects for Asia.

On Asia and its export dependency: Continue (继续)

香港里昂证券撰文指出，中国的消费似乎没什么长进。但是即使进步有限，中国的消费仍为GDP做出了重要贡献。

(CLSA) Is it possible that Chinese household consumption is rising by an amazing 17%, as signaled by the real rate of retail sales growth? In short, no – although consumption is still expanding at a healthy pace.

This growth is driven by several factors: a rapidly increasing level of consumer confidence, based on steady improvement in macroeconomic data; the absence of household debt; strong income growth in the past few years; mild deflation to mitigate the absence of wage growth this year; and strong demand for goods and services by the large number of Chinese who only recently earned enough money to move into the consuming class. Continue (继续)

中国经济观察撰文指出，最近中铝收购力托失败只是暂时的个例，不会阻挡中国公司继续收购海外资源型企业的大趋势。虽然中国公司在海外并购缺乏经验，但是学习的很快。这样的购并案例还会不断出现。

(CER) Put together a Chinese state-owned enterprise, a foreign country’s natural resources and a selection of that same country’s politicians, and sparks will fly. This is why certain types of outbound investment will always be a precarious balancing act for China.

As we discuss in this month’s cover story, China’s oil giants have learned their lessons the hard way. Now Aluminum Corp of China (Chinalco) has, too.

Chinalco’s first investment in Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto, paying US$14 billion for a 9% stake, was a surprise. The second, unsuccessful investment – US$19.5 billion, including US$7.2 billion in convertible bonds that would take its holding in Rio to 18% – was more predictable. Continue (继续)

新加坡消息，有文章指出中国最近的房地产升值属于投机泡沫，来源于银行的大量借贷和投资者对于通胀的恐慌情绪。文章同时预测这样的泡沫应该还会持续至少一年。也有专家持完全相反的意见。

(China Knowledge) Since March, housing prices in 70 major Chinese cities have stopped declining and begun to rise. But why has China seen such a strong rebound in its real estate market this year?

Estate sales area is also rising. In the first half of 2009, estate sales area in China rose 31.7% year on year. Sales area grew more than 100% in Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Tianjin and Suzhou. Continue (继续)

华尔街日报撰文指出，中国目前的经济复苏有很大的不稳定性。最主要的风险在于其银行的大规模放贷以及对国有企业的特殊照顾。最后文中总结中国目前经济事实上要比看上去虚弱，并规劝美国财长盖特纳看清本质以在和中国的对话中占得上风。

More discussion available here.

(WSJ) Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner hosts Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan in Washington today, and banking reform is certain to be a key topic. The Chinese side will want to focus on U.S. banking problems. Equal attention should be directed at China’s banking system. Continue (继续)

华尔街日报消息，美国国务卿希拉里克林顿和美国财长盖特纳撰文指出，中美关系在过去30年取得长足进步。这次中美战略对话将由两国多位高官出席，可见两国对此的重视。在这次战略对话中，美国准备就三个问题和中国磋商：1。经济合作；2。环境和能源；3。军事安全。最后希拉里和盖特纳指出中美应该同舟共济，共度难关。

(WSJ) When the United States and China established diplomatic relations 30 years ago, it was far from clear what the future would hold. In 1979, China was still emerging from the ruins of the Cultural Revolution and its gross domestic product stood at a mere $176 billion, a fraction of the U.S. total of $2.5 trillion. Continue (继续)

Movie Review – The Shaolin Temple – Zhang Xinyan – 1979

Between 1974 and 1979, after Nixon had opened up China, the Chinese National Wushu Team toured the world, including the White House, and people got to see what all the fuss was about. Wushu is the catch-all term for Chinese martial arts, and as a sport it takes the motions and athleticism of combat martial arts and turns them into a sort of performance art. During performances, kids and adults would demonstrate classic weapons techniques and hand-to-hand styles.

One of these kids was Li Lian Jie, a prodigy who went on to win gold medals in the Chinese National Martial Arts Contest from 1974 to 1979. Then the government produced a kung fu movie based on a folk tale about the monks at the legendary Shaolin Temple. Li was tapped to star, and the entire cast was filled with performers from various wushu teams in China. The movie came out, became a huge success that spawned two in-name-only sequels, and Li Lian Jie was dubbed Jet Li. You don’t like wirework? I’m not crazy about it either. You don’t like obvious stunt doubles? Ditto. So grab a copy of “The Shaolin Temple”, put the thinking side of your brain on hibernate, and watch some of the most amazing stuff you’ll ever see in a kung-fu movie.

There is an excellent webiste to introduce the Chinese martial art, the ancient Chinese history, and Tai Chi Quan. There are a lot of photographic description of Chinese history and the origin of martial art, and how can you get the most of it in Chinese Sword Guide.

So what do you get when you have wushu athletes instead of actors in a kung-fu movie? Some of the finest, real martial arts action ever put on film. You get a hint of it at the start, when we see a pack of teenaged monks practice with fighting sticks, moving in perfect timing with one another like a tougher version of “Riverdance.” Once the fighting really starts, characters go at each other, armed and unarmed, with the speed, grace and precision that can only come from a lifetime of practice. And the background for most of the action is beautiful rural Mainland China, not some studio set, and that alone gives the movie a feel that’s different from what was coming out of Hong Kong at the time. Continue (继续)

Movie Review – The Road Home – Zhang Yimou – 1999

This movie marked the cinematic debut for Zhang Ziyi, one of the famous Chinese actress for the moment.

Concerning itself with the relationship between the old and the new, and of city and country, “The Road Home” specifically involves a young man living in the city who returns to his beautiful, peaceful but poor birthplace to attend the funeral of his father, the much revered local teacher. The inconsolable mother insists that he receive an old-style funeral, rarely seen since the Revolution, for which dozens of men will be required to accompany the coffin on the way to the place of burial. As the son organises the event, he recounts the burgeoning relationship of his young parents for whose romance the dusty, winding country road proved crucial. Hence its importance to the funeral.

Movie Review – Shower – Zhang Yang (1999)

This film by Zhang Yang tells the story of a Shenzhen businessman who returns home to Beijing thinking his father – who runs a bathhouse – has died. It turns out, however, to just be a ruse used by his mentally retarded brother to get him home. Given his father’s failing health, the central character has to take stock of his family and future.

The director makes good use of cinematic space to show the two separate worlds of the sophisticated Shenzhenite and the more rough-cut father and son and as the movie progresses, uses it to convey how those worlds move closer.