Archive
Reuters blog archive
from The Great Debate UK:
How much longer can China carry on like this?
Breakneck economic growth alongside staggering (and rising) inequality, much of it attributable to blatant corruption, seems like an explosive mixture, but until very recently, I would have said that there was at least a 50-50 chance that China could stay on track for another generation (albeit with some slowing in its growth rate). In recent months, however, I have noticed one or two straws in the wind to suggest that the odds may have tilted against the maintenance of the status quo.
For the masses, the bottom billion, the Party's original promise of an end to famine, the iron rice-bowl, has turned into something like a-chicken-in-every-pot, which the Party seems well capable of delivering for the foreseeable future, so I can't see a problem there.
But viewed from the Government Compound in Beijing, the masses are nowhere near as important as the mighty middle class, for whom the deal is more complicated, but amounts to the guarantee of an endlessly growing supply of consumer durables, housing, medical care, university places and foreign holidays in exchange for tame acquiescence in the current regime. In short, they can aspire to a Western standard of living, but not to Western freedoms. The odds against this sort of social contract holding for another generation seem to me to be lengthening.
From close up, China looks like Dickensian England, supersized and speeded up. With rivers as filthy as the Thames at its mid-nineteenth century worst and far worse air-quality, it is a society throbbing with the same raw, untamed energy, the same life-or-death struggle to survive, the same extremes of altruism and cruelty, the rich as arrogant and the poor as ubiquitous as in Victorian England, with the submerged underclass eking out a living in trades you never knew existed. The middle class, prosperous, often contemptuous of the poor, may look as self-satisfied and confident as the nineteenth-century nouveau riche, but underneath it all, they are only too well aware that, once you fall, the bottom is a long, long way down. The new rich can easily become the new poor, and the skilled worker is rarely more than one accident or illness away from sudden, total penury.
from Photographers Blog:
China’s next “top” model?
Guangzhou, China
By Tyrone Siu
It was hard to imagine that Liu Qianpina was related to the word “model” when I first met him. To me, the 72-year-old former farmer looked no different from those typical types of grandfathers you see sitting in the park every day, usually playing chess with a group of friends or dozing off on a bench. Except that Liu has a very cool name, MaDiGaGa, and is now in the spotlight among the modeling world.
One hand on his hip, lower legs crossed, with his head looking up in the air - posing in front of the camera was no difficulty for Liu. He did not need any instructions from the photographer before he changed his pose to present his figure. It was not hard to notice that, when compared to other models who pose for a living, Lui did not appear natural and smooth. But for a model who started styling at the age of 72, he's made a very good start that most would envy.
from Breakingviews:
Low valuations don’t make China stocks a bargain
By Wayne Arnold
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Conventional gauges of value make China’s stocks tempting, particularly amid signs growth may be picking back up. But even if the economic rebound lasts, stocks haven’t been great proxies for corporate growth. Even China bulls should be ursine on the country’s equities.
from Ian Bremmer:
What do we know about China’s new leadership?
As China obsessives know, it is tough to read tea leaves when the water is as opaque as that surrounding China’s Politburo. In the wake of the Chinese leadership transition, we’re left to sift through the news in search of answers. There is plenty we do not know about the process or what its outcome will bring, but when it comes to underlying themes we can understand, it is possible to make some predictions.
Start with solidarity. In the most telling example of Chinese political unity, the Politburo, the elite political body that makes all of China’s major decisions, went from nine people to seven to consolidate control of the political process. The Communist Party is now more unified than before and is less likely to tolerate dissent from within. The stability of the Communist Party is paramount. All else will fall in line.
from Photographers Blog:
House in the middle of the road
Wenling, China
By Aly Song
“Right now, buying a house like this would cost me more than 2 million yuan, but the government only offered me 260,015 to move, where could I go?” 67-year-old Luo Baogen said while smoking a cigarette in front of his partially demolished “nail house”, standing alone in the middle of a road in Wenling city, China’s eastern Zhejiang province. “Nail house” refers to the last houses in an area owned by people who refuse to move to make room for new developments.
About 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Shanghai, this house quickly became an Internet hot topic after local news reports bearing dramatic photographs went public last week.
from Breakingviews:
China’s nemesis: bribes, banquets and backslapping
By John Foley
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Corruption is to China what bad weather is to Britain - a source of constant complaint, and a fact of life. But the rise of the Internet and slowing growth mean China can’t continue along its old path. Incoming President Xi Jinping and his chief graft-buster Wang Qishan have a chance to slay the beast. Enforcement, education and the market will be their most effective weapons.
from Breakingviews:
New risk factor for China stocks: divorce
By Wei Gu
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.
Broken marriages are an unwelcome new risk factor for China investors. Shares in Longfor Properties dropped 4 percent on Nov. 20 on news that its founding couple had divorced and split their controlling stake, sparking fears of a covenant breach. Family feuds are growing more common, and investors are taking a share of the strife.
from Photographers Blog:
Choreographing our China congress coverage
Beijing, China
By Petar Kujundzic
Is there anyone against? – “Meiyou” (There is no one)
The last time I covered an important Communist Party congress was in my own country almost 23 years ago. I was the only photographer for Reuters there, shooting black and white and sending a few pictures to the wire using a drum analog transmitter. The last congress of the Yugoslav Communist Party, which ruled the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1945 until 1991, ended with a split within the League of Communists and ushered in years of violence and civil conflict... but that is a totally different story.
Last week’s 18th Chinese Communist Party Congress, by contrast, was a highly choreographed affair — no drama. In fact, during the preparation, the question arose: How do you cover one of the world’s top stories when it’s considered visually “boring.” At the same time, how do you deal with the difficulties of restricted access, especially if you are a foreign journalist in China?
from Breakingviews:
PICC seeks strength in numbers ahead of IPO
By Wei Gu
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.
The People’s Insurance Company of China is all about the power of big numbers. The insurer’s 17 investment banks have helped it sign up 17 “cornerstone” backers in advance of its $3.6 billion Hong Kong offering. Though they’re hardly big-name value investors, they improve the likelihood of getting the deal done.
from Ian Bremmer:
In Syria, a rare Chinese foray into foreign policy
This month, a curious thing happened in the annals of diplomacy. A country offered up a peace plan to put an end to a seemingly endless civil war in Syria. This country was not one of the usual foreign policy suspects -- it was not the United States, it was not in Europe, and it wasn’t Syria’s neighbor. It was a country that has no real experience in playing the world’s policeman. But, seeing a world filled with retired officers, it decided to try on the uniform for itself. China has taken another step into the spotlight of the world stage.
This is what happens in a G-Zero world -- a world without any specific country or bloc of countries in charge. China has long been content to watch world events play out and then react, trusting that another country would step in to put volatile situations to rest. But that’s not happening with the Syrian conflict and its spillover into the broader Middle East. Americans feel that the issue doesn’t affect them enough to intervene. Europeans, as a Union, don’t seem to be particularly interested, even if some smaller countries are. And with those powers on the sidelines, suddenly the Chinese have a much bigger problem -- a civil war that could metastasize into regional instability. The Chinese have far too much at stake in Iraq and Iran for that to happen: 11 percent of China’s oil imports come from Iran, and it is on track to be the chief importer of Iraqi oil by 2030.
