Beijing to clean up its language

April 29, 2007
BEIJING -- On the floor at Beijing's Capital Airport a sign reads: ''Careful Landslip Attention Security.''
On a billboard, this mysterious message: ''Shangri-La is in you mind, but your Buffalo is not.''

Beijing officials have promised to crack down on bad English in preparation for the 2008 Olympics and they've asked the public to help police bad grammar and faulty syntax.

With 500,000 foreigners expected for the Olympics, taxi drivers who can't speak English -- or signs that mangle the language -- could be an embarrassment and distract from the $40 billion being poured into rebuilding the city for the Games.

Liu Yang, who heads the ''Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program'' for the city government, said 6,500 ''standardized'' English-language signs were put up last year on Beijing roads.

Liu said a language hotline may be set up for the games to encourage the public to report nonsense English.

AP

Trial runs on subway for Beijing Olympics to start in June

BEIJING (AP) - Trial runs on a subway line that will serve the Beijing Summer Olympics start at the end of June, state media reported Sunday.

Construction of the No. 5 line, which cuts through the heart of the city, is finished with workers building the last station, Ding Shukui, deputy manager of the city's rail traffic company, was quoted as saying by Xinhua News Agency.

"Trial operations begin on June 30,'' Ding said.

The 27.6-kilometer (17.1-mile) north-south line runs through the eastern part of the downtown area. Construction began in late 2002 and cost 12 billion yuan (US$1.55 billion; euro1.14 billion), Xinhua said.

The subway cars will also be equipped with a wireless communication network so live broadcasts of the Olympics can be shown on televisions in each car.

Beijing has 95 kilometers (56 miles) of mass transit rail lines but by the Olympics, which start in August 2008, there will be nine lines totaling 200 kilometers (124 miles), Xinhua said, including the 28.1-kilometer ( 17.5-mile) airport extension from downtown to the new Beijing Capital International Airport which opens June 30 next year.-AP

 

Auto Art Exhibition warms up for Art Beijing 2007

The undated photo shows artist Zhao Bandi's Panda team performing in Shanghai's Volkswagen, as a demostration of art work for Volkswagen's Olympic Art Exhibition.(CRIENGLISH.com Photo)

 

  BEIJING, April 25 -- As a warm-up event to Art Beijing 2007, Volkswagen's Olympic Art Exhibition is scheduled to tour Shanghai, Beijing and Berlin starting from May 22.

    The exhibition will showcase auto-related art works that center on the Beijing Olympics, created by Chinese artists Zhao Bandi and Ji Dachun.

    Zhao Bandi came to public spotlight with performance art in which he and his team dressed in toy panda costumes and acted in ordinary daily situations.

    For this exhibition, the artist took his Panda team to Shanghai's Volkswagen and shot a short video program featuring the life and work of auto workers of the factory. By such experiment, artist Zhao hopes his pandas performers can help bring life back to the "cool" auto making world.

    While artist Ji Dachun, demonstrated his art talent by painting in five colors of the Olympic Rings on a Volkswagen car, hoping to give it a new life.

    The exhibition will last six days at Shanghai business center Xintiandi.

    As part of a biggest ever contemporary art scene, Art Beijing 2007 is due to show up at Beijing's Agriculture Exhibition Center from September 20 to 23.

 

Beijing Hyundai plans new mid-size sedan

Apr. 24, 2007 (China Knowledge) – Beijing Hyundai Motor, a joint venture between Hyundai Motor and the Beijing Automotive Industry in China, said it plans to independently build a new mid-size sedan to be released in China in 2010. The project will be developed at Beijing Automotive's new R&D center which is under construction and should be completed in May 2008.

Beijing's public transport to go greener

Green vehicles make for blue skies.

At least that's the philosophy behind a decision by Beijing transport authorities to replace more than 2,500 aging air-choking buses with new-generation clean people movers before next year's Olympic Games.

Feng Xingfu, deputy general manager of Beijing Public Transport Holdings Ltd, said 2,810 environmentally friendly vehicles would be purchased, and at least 80 percent of the buses would come fitted with diesel engines that meet the European IV standard for emissions.

Beijing transport authorities will also add another 160 electric-powered trolleybuses to the new green fleet.

Another 300 buses that run on compressed natural gas will be rolled out, bringing their total number to 4,000, Feng said.

"Compared with the European III standard, European IV has cut particle emissions by a further 80 percent," Feng said.

"European IV buses will have more engine power and improved fuel efficiency."

Meanwhile, battery electric vehicles, which have been serving parts of Shanghai for nearly a year, will get their Beijing debut during the Games.

"Compared with the traditional oil-fuelled bus, the battery electric bus only accounts for one-third of the energy cost, with no pollution," Shuai Hongyuan, head of Ruihua Group, which developed such green autos with the State Grid Corporation, said.

"And a full battery recharge can keep a vehicle running for about 300 kilometers."

Wang Yundan, deputy director of Science and Technology Department from the State Grid Corporation, a 2008 Beijing Olympic Games partner, said China had taken the lead in developing such technology in battery electric vehicles.

He said China would further promote electric-powered vehicles by building more recharge stations.

In addition to battery-powered vehicles, experts have called for more biofuel-run vehicles on Beijing's roads.

At the third Global Botanic Gardens Congress held last week in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province, Hu Hongjun, a botanic researcher from Chinese Academy of Sciences told Xinhua that Beijing could become China's first city to use biofuel technology on a large scale.

By 2010, China plans to plant 13 million hectares of Jatropha trees, from which 6 million tons of biodiesel can be extracted every year as a source of clean energy, according to the State Forestry Administration (SFA).

Statistics show that the number of newly registered automobiles in Beijing is growing at a rate of 1,060 a day.

There are currently 2.97 million automobiles in the capital. That number is expected to exceed 3.3 million by the start of the Olympic Games in 2008.

Authorities will discourage automobile use during the Games to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality.

Source: China Daily
 

Beijing Netcom Signs Olympic Media Transmission Deal

April 24, 2007
Beijing Netcom has signed with Deutsche Presse Agentur for the German company to use Beijing Netcom's network to broadcast Beijing Olympics to European countries.

This is the first foreign media to sign with Beijing Netcom on communications services for the upcoming games.

Zhao Jidong, general manager of Beijing Netcom and vice president of China Netcom, the parent company of Beijing Netcom, disclosed that during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Beijing Netcom will provide broadband transmission service for re-broadcasting service providers and media across the world.

Beijing Netcom has already constructed a special VIP network for the Olympic Games and the network has extended to North America, Europe, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia.

Beijing's oldest opera hall to be demolished, replaced with modern theatre

April 23, 2007 - 15:09

BEIJING (AP) - Beijing's oldest opera hall, built during the Ming Dynasty, will be torn down to make way for a modern theatre, state media reported Monday.

The Guanghe theatre, declared unsafe in 2000, dates to the final years of the Ming Dynasty, which lasted from 1368-1644, Xinhua News Agency said. Initially the villa of a rich salt merchant, it was rebuilt several times, most recently in 1955.

In the 1970s, it was a venue for top Peking Opera performances, but audiences dwindled and the theatre fell into disuse.

Beijing once had about 40 opera houses, most of them south of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, but few remain, Xinhua said.

"We intend to build a modern, professional venue," said Ma Dekai, chief of cultural facility construction in the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture.

The Beijing government has been criticized in recent years because many traditional areas and buildings have been torn down to make way for modern buildings or roads.

Silicon Valley veteran opens Beijing office

By Richard Waters in San Francisco

Published: April 24 2007 01:59 | Last updated: April 24 2007 01:59

Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, one of the blue-bloods of the US venture capital business, has taken the first step beyond its Silicon Valley roots by opening an office in Beijing and raising $360m to invest in technology start-ups in China.

Kleiner's move represents a watershed for the Valley's famously insular private financing community. Based on close personal relationships and local connections, Valley firms have hesitated before turning overseas, in spite of their dominance of the overall US and global venture capital markets.

Silicon Valley rivals Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners and Mayfield have already set up in Beijing, sometimes after lengthy internal debates about whether they could successfully build personal networks and apply techniques learnt in the clubby atmosphere of Silicon Valley's Sand Hill Road. "The opportunity is so enormous, if you want to be in the venture industry going forward, you really need to have a presence here," said Ted Schlein, a Kleiner partner.

He added that the move to China did not reflect a belief that opportunities to back new technology start-ups in the US were shrinking, but rather: "We think there are some big enterprises that will be created here."

He put Kleiner's relative lateness into the market down to the need to find local venture capitalists with strong reputations and networks of their own.

"We were willing to wait until we got the absolute best people," he said.

The firm said it had hired four general partners to head its new offices in Beijing and Shanghai, led by Tina Ju and Joe Zhou. Ms Ju has specialised in early-stage internet investments, backing a number of leading Chinese companies.

Her former firm, TDF Capital, will form the basis of the new Kleiner operation.

Beijing to let yuan rise about 3pc a year: Adviser

April 23 2007

BOAO (China): Beijing will probably continue to let the yuan rise only at a modest rate amid concern that a faster pace could hurt exporters and attract speculators, a top adviser to China's leadership said.

Justin Lin Yifu, a Taiwan-born economics professor at Peking University and one of China's most influential policy advisers, said that the yuan would probably only appreciate by about 3 percent a year against the dollar in the foreseeable future.

"The Chinese government's wording of 'keeping the yuan rate stable' means it will continue the existing pace of appreciation, which is about 3 per cent a year," Lin said in an interview.

Any faster pace than 3 per cent a year could push many exporters out of business, and a rate of 4 per cent was likely to stimulate speculation on the yuan, Lin said, citing the gap between US and Chinese interest rates.

Many of China's trade partners assert that the yuan is significantly undervalued, giving Chinese exporters an unfair advantage in global markets.

The yuan has risen by just 5.1 per cent against the dollar since the central bank revalued it by 2.1 per cent and decoupled it from a dollar peg in July 2005.

Lin said that even the frequent post-revaluation highs of the yuan on the onshore market were mainly the result of the central bank's plans to allow more two-way movement in its value - not a sign that it would let loose on the reins outright.

Still, that increased volatility was an important part of the central bank's aim of letting the yuan become more flexible, Lin said. - Reuters

Emirates soon to launch double daily flights from Dubai to Beijing

Monday, April 23, 2007

Emirates have announced that double daily flights from Dubai and Beijing will commence on the 1, April, 2007.  This means an increase to 12 flights every week, and then from July 1 the carrier will launch a double daily non-stop service. 

"China is the new economic powerhouse and the world is beating a path to its capital Beijing. Since the launch of our Dubai-Beijing route last September, we have experienced strong demand from countries on our network and consistently high seat load factors. We are in the business of creating convenient global air networks for our customers – both passengers and cargo – and the upcoming Olympic Games in 2008 will increase the tempo of demand for our services to Beijing," said Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline. 

 "Our second daily to the city is win-win for customers, stakeholders and our business, which is the reason we earmarked the city for double dailies so soon after our launch. We are extremely grateful to the Chinese government and the airport authorities for their continuing support. Emirates is confident that our twice-daily flights will accelerate bilateral ties between the two countries in the political, social, cultural, trade and tourism spheres," continued Clark.  

Emirates will serve the second daily with an Airbus A340-300 offering 267 seats in a three-class configuration – 12 seats in First Class, 42 in Business and 213 in Economy – and 13 tonnes of belly-hold cargo capacity. With the second daily, the airline will offer capacity in excess of 3,700 seats and 180 tonnes of cargo to Beijing every week.

The increase in services follows the growth of relations between the two countries.  The UAE and the China National Tourism Administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Chinese citizens' outbound travel to the UAE earlier this month, which is projected to significantly increase the growth of Dubai's tourism and MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) markets.

China’s economy could grow by 10.9% in 2007

BEIJING: China's economy could grow by 10.9 percent in 2007, up from 10.7 percent last year, according to a study quoted in state press Saturday that will increase concerns about overheating.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences forecast follows official figures released Thursday showing growth of 11.1 percent in the first quarter, despite efforts to slow the economy.

Investors and analysts expect further measures to put the brakes on China's economic engine, such as an interest rate hike. But they are not sure whether the plans will work.

As in the past, the authorities have set a target of eight percent growth in gross domestic product, which international organisations including the World Bank say is almost certain to be exceeded this year.

The World Bank forecasts the rate of growth will shrink to 10 percent in 2007 before a sharper slowdown in 2008, due to strict measures adopted by Beijing. afp

Bill Gates: Microsoft to build R&D parks in Beijing, Shanghai

 

   BOAO, Hainan Province, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced here Saturday his company will build research and development parks in Beijing and Shanghai in a bid to expand its business in China.

    Gates said the parks will be built to meet the growing research and development demand in China and help ameliorate Microsoft's relationship with its clients and partners.

    The chairman did not offer details of the new move.

    Gates attributed Microsoft's success to innovation and teamwork, saying that the move will hopefully help the company establish a sound relation with its trade partners and the Chinese government to tap human resources and promote regional prosperity.

    Microsoft established its first China-based office in Beijing back to 1992, since then the company has dedicated to long-term research and development in the country.

    The company established the China R&D Group in January last year, a milestone of its development in the world's most populous country.

    China is embracing unprecedented opportunities, said the group chairman Zhang Yaqin, the Microsoft products made in China will increasingly embody Chinese talents' originality, he added.

    Gates arrived in Beijing Thursday for his 10th visit to China, during which he met with Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi and visited the prestigious Beijing University and Qinghua University in Beijing.

    The Boao Forum for Asia, established in 2001, is a non-governmental organization serving as a platform voicing for Asia's future. The 2007 conference, with the theme "Asia Winning in Today's Global Economy -- Innovation and Sustainable Development", will run from Saturday to Sunday in Boao.

Poor air, clogged roads bad news for Beijing

Stephen Wade
Associated Press
Apr. 21, 2007 12:00 AM

BEIJING - Sooty air and chronic traffic congestion in the Chinese capital is still troubling the International Olympic Committee with the 2008 Beijing Olympics just 16 months away.

An inspection team - known as the IOC Coordination Commission - wrapped up three days of talks Thursday with Beijing organizers. Hein Verbruggen, chairman of the commission, said the concerns marred the largely problem-free preparations for the Summer Games.

Verbruggen said the IOC wasn't sure plans by Beijing organizers would work to clean the air and unsnarl traffic during the 17-day Olympics. advertisement 
 
 

The torch relay also hit a snag, with Taiwan balking at a compromise to bring the torch to the self-governing island, which claims independence from China. The torch relay is supposed to embody Olympic ideals, but it's also highlighting a political issue in China.

Verbruggen generally praised the Beijing organizers, saying "the attention for the games is mounting; there is vibration all over.

"I must say that it's almost an emotional feeling you have when you imagine that in some 470 days athletes will be able to perform in this magnificent environment."

In focusing on the problems, Verbruggen said Beijing organizers had kept their promises, but China's booming economy was polluting the air quicker than solutions could be found to clean it.

"We've asked for the contingency plans," Verbruggen said. "The effects of those plans will be calculated so we know if it is enough to guarantee that the quality of the air will allow the athletic performances that we expect to happen here."

He said the booming economy, with billions being spent to modernize China's capital, had led to "the enormous amount of construction sites in this country, the dust problem and so on. This is of utmost importance to the athletes, who are the most important part of the games."

Verbruggen said Beijing's clogged roads were worrisome, despite plans announced Wednesday to open at least two new subway lines before the Olympics and proposals to cut car usage by 20-30 percent during the games.

"It's totally clear with the current congestion you see in Beijing on a day to day basis, that this is something which we will obviously have to avoid during the Olympic Games," he said.

Beijing has about 3 million cars, and will have about 3.3 million by the Olympics.

Economists Worry China's Economy Will Overheat

Beijing Bling
Economists Worry China's Economy Will Overheat

By SCOTT McDONALD
The Associated Press

BEIJING

The signs of a surging economy are everywhere: flashy luxury cars, glitzy shopping malls, expensive restaurants and construction cranes in many neighborhoods.

For most Chinese, this is a good thing. It means more jobs, higher incomes and rising affluence. But China's leaders, fearful of accelerating inflation and the risk that all this investment could collapse in a debt crisis if borrowers go bankrupt, are trying to apply the brakes.

How well they succeed is taking on an increasing global importance, as a slide in stock prices in Asia and then Europe on Thursday demonstrated. The reaction came after Beijing reported its economy expanded in the first quarter a sizzling 11.1 percent from the same quarter a year ago and that inflation was the highest in two years.

Stocks later stabilized in the United States - unlike the panic selling on Feb. 27 that sent the Dow Jones industrial average plunging 416 points in the worst one-day rout since the Sept. 11 attacks. But the "China effect" on investors around the world remains palpable, due in large part to just how important trade with China has become for most nations.

On Thursday, the State Council in China vowed that it would take steps to keep the economy from overheating. It has said the same thing several times in the past year, to little avail. The economy keeps exceeding growth expectations even though interest rates have been increased three times in the last year and curbs have been imposed on investments in real estate, the auto industry and other fields.

The latest evidence that the restrictions haven't taken hold: Beijing reported Thursday that fixed-asset investment countrywide grew a stunning 23.7 percent during March.

But the real shocker for investors was the news that the consumer price index in March rose 3.3 percent, its highest since hitting 3.9 percent in February 2005. China has said it wants to keep inflation less than 3 percent for the whole year after it increased 1.5 percent in 2006.

It has Chinese economic officials worried.

"If this type of fast growth continues, there is the possibility of shifting from fast growth to overheating. There is that risk," Li Xiaochao, spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics, said at a news conference.

China's Cabinet also quickly stepped in after the announcements. A statement posted on the council's Web site following a meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao said the government will work to "reduce the country's large trade surplus, limit rapid growth in house prices and maintain basic price stability."

While China's leaders want rapid growth to reduce poverty, they also are trying to slow an investment boom in real estate and other industries where they worry that overspending on unneeded factories and other assets could ignite inflation or a debt crisis.

The news comes amid increased trade tension between Beijing and Washington, with the U.S. threatening to impose punitive tariffs on Chinese goods if it doesn't end currency controls blamed for contributing to the trade gap. Last year, the United States reported a record $232.5 billion trade deficit with China.

Asian markets fell ahead of the report in anticipation that the numbers would be stronger than expected and prompt Beijing to raise interest rates or take other measures to slow growth in China, a major regional trading power.

The nervousness was increased because Beijing delayed the release of the figures by five hours without an explanation.

As it turned out, quarterly gross domestic product did beat forecasts for 10.3 percent growth, according a poll of economists by Dow Jones Newswires. It was the highest growth rate since the second quarter of last year, when growth reached 11.5 percent, the fastest in a decade.

Shanghai's benchmark index - which had set records for most of the last two weeks - tumbled 4.5 percent, while stocks in Japan fell 1.7 percent and those in Hong Kong dropped 2.3 percent. European markets also opened lower.

Economists projected that another rate hike is coming soon.

No forecasts for the full year were given by the statistics bureau, but Stephen Green, chief economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Shanghai, wrote in a report that first-quarter growth was higher than his "bullish expectations" and that he had raised his forecast for 2007 GDP growth to 10.6 percent from 9.6 percent.

The statistics bureau said urban disposable incomes climbed 19.5 percent in the first quarter, while rural incomes went up 15.2 percent, the biggest increase in a decade.

The state-run Xinhua News Agency announced last week that China's foreign reserves, already the world's largest, had climbed past $1.2 trillion, and Li said first-quarter growth in the value of exports was up 27.8 percent, compared with an increase of 18.2 percent in the value of imports.

Beijing plans to use ‘huge umbrella’ to keep athletes dry

BEIJING: Beijing will use aircraft, missiles and cannon in what could amount to a huge umbrella over the city to keep athletes dry during next year's Olympics, state media reported yesterday.

The August 8-24 sporting extravaganza will happen during normally arid Beijing's rainy season when hail as well as water is often seen, the Beijing Times said.

But the weather bureau plans to use advanced techniques to force rain clouds to unload as far away as 90km from the capital, the paper said.

Zhang Qiang, the head of the city's artificial weather management office, told the newspaper that five aircraft and several batteries of cannon and rockets will be used during the Olympics.

The system will be tested this year to ensure that it can work next August when rain is expected to fall once every three days, he said.

No details were released on exactly how the plan will work but artificial rain is normally created by seeding clouds with chemicals such as silver iodide spread by rockets and planes.

China claims a successful record of influencing the weather by artificial means. Earlier this year official media reported that snowfalls had been artificially generated by cloud seeding in the north of the country. – AFP