Tuesday 09 March 2010 at 05:04 am
While everyone knows that NBA center Yao Ming will become a father this summer, the big buzz in China is about whether the baby will be an American.
The Shanghai native's personal life is closely followed by his many fans at home, from his 2007 Shanghai wedding to fellow basketball player Ye Li to last month's reports the couple is expecting a baby girl in July.
The 2.25-meter star, sidelined this season with a broken left foot, recently returned to the United States with Ye, igniting speculation that the baby will be born there.
Yao's baby would automatically be an American citizen if born in the US.
However, Chinese law does not recognize dual citizenship.
A few say it would be a betrayal of China and that the Chinese team could be denied a future basketball star.
But most support Yao and don't care which country claims the baby.
"Yao Ming is an individual, not a political tool," said one comment on popular basketball Website Hoop China.
"He has the right to choose where his child is born and what kind of medical care and education will be available to her. His child's citizenship has nothing to do with loyalty."
Yao and his camp have been tight-lipped on the pregnancy and have not issued any public statements on the matter.
It is not clear if Yao and his wife are indeed planning to have the baby in the US or how they will handle any citizenship issues.
'Private matter'
Yao spokesman Zhang Mingji declined to comment on the baby, saying it was a private matter.
He said Yao was still recovering from his injury and was returning to the US to continue treatment.
A number of Chinese celebrities - including actor Jet Li, actress Gong Li and director Chen Kaige - have in recent years been criticized for becoming naturalized citizens of other countries.
Chinese are subject to stringent visa requirements and some of the celebrities argued it was easier to travel internationally with passports from countries like Singapore or the US.
Baby Yao has captured the imagination of fans in China, who wonder what her basketball skills will be like, with a superstar father and 1.9-meter mother who is a former center for China.
Scientists have predicted the girl will grow up to be about 1.86 meters.
Tuesday 09 March 2010 at 05:03 am
Compared with some colleagues' motions on important state affairs, Chen Fei, a 55-year-old farmer lawmaker, came to the annual legislative session with a proposal on how an ID card can be eco-friendly.
"An ID card has information on both sides. When you want to photocopy it, you have to use the photocopy machine twice," he said.
He handed in a proposal that all key information should be printed on only one side of the card during the annual full session of the National People's Congress, the country's national legislature, which began on Friday.
"Some might think a tiny problem like this does not need attention at such an important session," he said. "But I think it is related to saving energy and reducing emission of greenhouse gases since there are plenty of occasions for everyone to photocopy his ID card."
He also proposed charging customers when they use disposable appliance at hotels.
In the past three years, all proposals Chen submitted as an NPC deputy were related to protecting the environment.
He is also well known for his environmental gestures, such as presenting bamboo baskets and handkerchiefs to fellow lawmakers at the annual session.
As a farmer in Yongjia of in eastern Zhejiang Province, Chen was elected deputy to the NPC in 2008.
In 2000, he was shocked to find trees in his rural hometown covered with plastic bags that had been blown up by a storm.
"They looked ugly. My son also told me that they were poisonous. I decided that I could not let it be," Chen said.
Since then, at his own expense, Chen has handed out bamboo baskets to people, hoping that they can stop using plastic shopping bags, first at local bazaars and later during the campaigns in big cities, including Shanghai and Beijing.
"Electing me as an NPC deputy is an indication itself that our country is more and more aware of environmental issues," he said.
While Chen continued handing out baskets and even managed to send some to the Copenhagen summit last year, the country banned the free use of plastic shopping bags in June 2008.
"Last year I made a proposal to continue the ban. Recently I received a feedback report from the Ministry of Commerce. Some of my advice has been taken," Chen said.
In 2009, the Chinese government pledged to reduce carbon dioxide emission intensity per unit of GDP by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 against 2005 levels.
In the government work report submitted by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to the NPC session on Friday, there included various measures to improve energy efficiency, as well as build sewage plants and plant trees.
At this year's session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, media representatives can download manuals from the official website and notices are sent by e-mails and text messages on cell phones instead of using papers.
"Everyone can contribute to the great campaign of the country if he can take care of some tiny details in his daily life," Chen said.
Tuesday 09 March 2010 at 05:03 am
Donations exceeding 5 billion yuan (732 million U.S. dollars) have been allocated to reconstruction in the area hit by the 8-magnitude May 12 earthquake of 2008, the Ministry of Civil Affairs announced Tuesday.
The ministry had received quake-relief donations of 5.06 billion yuan by Oct. 31, 2009, all of which has been channeled into the southwest China quake zone, said a statement on the ministry's website.
More than 4.5 billion yuan had been channeled to the governments of quake-hit provinces, and 528.6 million yuan to governments of provinces that provided quake-relief materials, said the statement.
Worst affected Sichuan Province received more than 1.9 billion yuan, Gansu Province more than 1.75 billion yuan, Shannxi Province 812 million yuan, Yunnan Province 1 million yuan and Chongqing Municipality 59.4 million yuan.
The rest of the donations, 6.22 million yuan, had been used in developing a donation information database, subsidizing Customs officers in quake-hit areas, and purchasing rehabilitation devices for children.
Apart from the 5 billion yuan in donations, quake-relief donations listed as "special Party membership fees" of 7.98 billion yuan donated by the Communist Party members across China had also been allocated.
Tuesday 09 March 2010 at 05:02 am
Toyota has dropped from the top 10 list of the best selling cars in China this month, for the first time in years.
According to statistics released by China Passenger Car Association, in February, FAW Toyota - the Japanese automaker's joint venture in China - disappeared from the Top 10 sales list for the first time.
Although Toyota China said its total sales rose 30 percent in February from a year earlier to 45,400 units, the figure continued a sharp decrease from 72,000 vehicles in the previous month.
In January, the recall-plagued brand encountered the first drop of 16.3 percent from last December, however, in an aggressively growing auto market.
Public opinion appears to be negative on Japanese brands in general, as seen in a recent Internet poll.
According to a survey conducted by Chinese website sina.com, 73.6 percent of online respondents said they would not buy Toyota or Honda branded cars after the recalls, with only 16.4 percent maintaining Japanese cars are still their preference in terms of choices.
The online poll was conducted on 258,000 participants between March 1 and March 8, 2010. Sina.com was not able to provide a demographic breakdown of the survey's online respondents.
Akio Toyoda, the Japanese automaker's president, forecast last week during a visit to Beijing that the company's 2010 sales would hit 800,000 units this year in China, up from 709,000 in 2009.
He was here to apologize to Chinese consumers for Toyota vehicle sticky accelerator pedals.
To salvage sliding sales and a public opinion nightmare, Toyota has kicked off a series of sales incentives to lure buyers in China.
"We cannot sit still and wait any more," said Niu Yu, Toyota's spokesman last Friday in Beijing.
Toyota will offer buyers zero-interest financing for some of its models, and its venture FAW-Toyota is also providing a year's premium of car insurance and two years of 24-hour roadside assistance to new buyers, in addition to free fuel cards for potential customers who test-drive its cars.
Moreover, some dealers have reduced the price of the recall-involved RAV4 vehicle by 8,000 yuan, a model buyers had to add 6,000 to 10,000 yuan to get the vehicle right away or wait for at least two months, before the quality crisis.
Tuesday 09 March 2010 at 05:02 am
SAIC Motor, the listed arm of Chinese auto giant Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), Tuesday announced car sales totaled 555,757 units in January and February, up 67.16 percent from a year earlier.
Sales for February alone were up 45.6 percent to 248,435, compared with 170,526 in the same period of last year, according to a company statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange website.
Shanghai GM, SAIC's joint venture with General Motors, sold 148,762 vehicles in the first two months, up 108.97 percent from a year ago, while sales of its venture with Volkswagen were 128,593, up 56.32 percent.
Monday 08 March 2010 at 12:52 am
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Friday that the government is to strictly control the launching of new projects this year in an effort to curb redundant investment.
Government investment at all levels should be concentrated in the most important areas and be mainly spent to carry on and complete existing projects, Wen said in the government work report he delivered at the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature.
Nevertheless, Wen urged local governments to advance reconstruction work in areas devastated by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake that hit southwest Sichuan and its adjacent provinces in May 2008.
NPC deputy Lu Xiulu agreed that the government needs to properly control investment to avoid over-depending on it to power economic growth.
"Government investment needs to be kept at a certain scale, but last year's 30.1 percent growth rate is obviously unsustainable," said Lu, also deputy director of the Development and Reform Commission of the southern Guangdong Province.
In the report, Wen said the government will strengthen and improve the supervision of investment.
"For projects financed through the public treasury, relevant departments need to exercise oversight of the entire course of the project," Wen said.
He also vowed to prevent the construction of "image projects" in the name of boosting domestic demand.
The term "image projects" refer to those built largely for displaying local governments' achievements rather than for use by ordinary people.
Wen said the government should ensure public investments are spent promoting social and economic development and improving people's livelihood. "That should be able to stand the test of practice and history."
China put out an economic stimulus package of 4 trillion yuan (587 billion U.S. dollars) to finance projects over two years to 2010 in a combat against the global financial crisis.
The massive stimulus plan has stirred public concerns over corruption as a large part of the money goes to infrastructure construction.
Up to 44 percent of the respondents to an online survey by the people.com.cn, website of the People's Daily, voted that "malpractice and corruption is a serious problem in the construction area."
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China (CPC) reported in December a total of 88 cases involving 198 CPC officials were found to misspend money from the stimulus package a year after its launch.
In February, the State Council issued a regulation on the implementation of the Audit Law, aiming to step up supervision on areas highly prone to corruption.
The regulation stated that construction projects whose government investment exceeds 50 percent, and those with less than 50 percent government investment but with construction and operation being controlled by the government, must accept auditing.
Monday 08 March 2010 at 12:51 am
America-born al-Qaida spokesman Adam Gadahn has been arrested in Pakistan, reports said Sunday.
Gadahn, one of the most wanted persons in the United States, was captured in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, Pakistani security officials were quoted as saying.
Gadahn, 31, has appeared several times on videos threatening the West. A U.S. court charged the America-born al-Qaida spokesman with treason in 2006, making him the first American to face such a charge in more than 50 years.
Earlier on Sunday, a video was released on a website showing the al-Qaida leader calling on Muslims in the United States to launch attacks against the country and undermine the U.S. economy.
He called for "carefully timed and targeted attacks" to undermine the West's struggling economies, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors al-Qaida announcements.
However, news of his detention cannot be verified independently, said security officials on condition of anonymity.
Gadahn grew up in California and converted to Islam before he moved to Pakistan in 1998 and attended an al-Qaida training camp six years later, according to media reports.
U.S. intelligence agencies had offered a 1-million-U.S.-dollar reward for information leading to Gadahn's arrest.
Monday 08 March 2010 at 12:51 am
Rain and snow will continue to hit most parts of China over the next two days, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) forecasted on Sunday.
A new cold front is expected to sweep north China over the next two days, bringing strong winds and a temperature drop, while the previous one will be still in China's southern part, said the CMA in a statement on its website.
Parts of Shaanxi, Shanxi and Hebei provinces as well as the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region are forecasted to see heavy snow from March 7 to 9, while rainfall will ease in southern part of the country, it said.
Temperatures in those regions would go down by six to eight degrees centigrade, with some areas experiencing a even sharper temperature decline of 10 to 12 degrees centigrade, according to the CMA.
The CMA expertise warned that the freezing weather might cause damages to wheat in the north and cole in the south and asked local governments to take relevant protective measures.
Monday 08 March 2010 at 12:51 am
Overseas media have been paying great attention to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's government work report on sustaining a healthy and rapid economic development in 2010.
Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper said in an editorial that people can see from Wen's report that China is aiming to promote a sustainable economic development and protect social fairness and justice in the new year.
China is pursuing an economic transformation from the original export and investment-driven economy to a domestic consumption-dominant one, said the newspaper.
However, the goal is not easy to be achieved, said the report. To keep a sustainable growth, China must shift its emphasis to the "quality" of the economic development.
French newspaper Le Figaro pointed out in an article that the dilemma China currently faces is that on the one hand the economic policy must not hamper the economic growth, yet on the other hand economic stimulus measures must not lead to an overheated economy and cause an inflation bubble.
In order to achieve this goal, China must change its model of economic development and stimulate domestic spending, the article said.
Reuters said Wen's report shows that China would continue to maintain an "appropriately easy monetary stance and an active fiscal policy" in 2010, encouraging domestic spending, adjusting economic structure, and stabilizing export at the same time to ensure an 8-percent GDP growth in the new year.
The article also noted that the report has given equal importance to the reform of the natural resources tax and the improvement of people's livelihood.
The U.S. Chinese Biz News in a commentary referred to 2010 as a crucial year for China to fend off the global financial crisis, as the country should achieve all the targets of the 11th Five-Year Plan and lay a solid foundation for the 12th Five-Year plan, adding that it is also a period of transition for China to adjust its economic structure and improve people's livelihood.
The commentary said in 2009 China's economy went through a U-turn recovery and achieved admirable growth after being hard hit by the global economic crisis.
It is a common concern of the deputies to the NPC and CPPCC as well as the rest of Chinese people to see whether China's economy could make a smooth transformation in 2010 in current complicated situations, said the commentary.
For both developed countries and emerging markets, economic transformation and upgrading is the only way leading to a fast and sustainable development, the commentary said.
It added China is in an urgent need of a transformation of its economic growth pattern at a time when the country is facing periodic adjustments and the world is embroiled in an economic downturn.
The Japanese business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun quoted Chinese Premier Wen as saying China expects its economy to grow around 8 percent in 2010 and the government is committed to achieving an economic transformation based on an economic growth model powered by the domestic demand.
However, China should prevent an overheated economy and forestall a risky bubble in the real estate market in the process of transformation, the newspaper said.
An article on the Japanese Sankei Shimbun's website also quoted Wen as saying that 2010 is a crucial year for China to continue to combat the global financial crisis, maintain a steady and rapid economic development and accelerate the transformation of the growth pattern. It added China is adjusting its economy to an energy-efficient model.
The Wall Street Journal said in an article on its website that one year after a financial crisis hit world economy, China has shifted its focus to preventing a real estate bubble, managing capital inflow and revaluing its currency in an effort to promote the economic restructuring.
Monday 08 March 2010 at 12:50 am
A male beggar whose rugged looks were compared to a Japanese movie star and whose clothes were described by Internet bloggers as coordinated and fashion-conscious is no longer a mystery to the public.
Family members reunited with the vagabond-looking man last week after several years on the streets in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province.
Nicknamed "Brother Sharp" for his clothes, Cheng Guorong, 34, checked out of Ningbo Mental Hospital where he was admitted after he gained publicity for his looks, Guangzhou Daily reported Sunday.
Cheng, a native of Shangrao, Jiangxi Province, is the father of a 10 and 11 year old.
He became a hot topic on the Internet after a Japanese website said he looks like pop star Hiro Mizushima.
In one photo, Cheng is dressed in multiple layers of clothing, including a full-length coat over a shorter jacket, along with a shirt, sweater and heavy snow pants. His thick hair is soiled and he walks down a street looking like a character in a Mad Max movie.
The beggar became a media topic after a factory owner took his picture last month outside Tianyi Plaza in Ningbo and posted it online.
The British newspaper, The Independent, carried a photo of the beggar on Thursday and described him as "walking with a model's measured gait, and wearing a rag-tag but well coordinated overcoat on top of a leather jacket."
There was speculation that Cheng served as a solider in Nanchang, Jiangxi in 1998, and went to Ningbo to work in 2002.
His fiancéwanted to meet Cheng in Ningbo, but she was killed in a car crash. After the accident, Cheng was in shock and was fired.
A college student at Zhejiang Institute of Finance told his father that "Brother Sharp" looks like his neighbor's brother Cheng Guosheng in hometown in Shangrao.
The local media then contacted Cheng Guosheng, who brought his 60-year-old mother to Ningbo last week when the beggar brother was admitted to a mental hospital with the help of local government officials.
The younger brother said the beggar went to work in Ningbo in 2002, and lost contact with the family in 2003.
The younger brother also said his big brother was not aware that his wife and father both died in car accidents.
"My big brother is reserved and has a strong sense of self-respect. He thought he did not make lots of money so he had no 'face' to contact the family," the younger brother said.
The beggar brother was mentally healthy when he left home at 23, but hospital staff said he is now insane.
"His mental status is stable but there are signs of insanity," said Liu Tanglong, director of the medical branch at the mental hospital. "He does not like to communicate with others but he likes to write down his answers on paper. He said he does not want to be famous."
Family members took "Brother Sharp" out of the hospital on Friday, even though doctors suggested he needed observation.
