Inside Story - Debating China's security apparatus

Interesting very fresh report here - no further comments from my side. Just watch and think what is right or wrong.

Todays HK CE hopefuls debate .......& BO XI.......and more

between the 3 CE hopeful candidates.....for what this was for ?
1,200 people are allowed to select the next CE & there is a televised discussion between
Tang, Leung & Ho. For the 1,200 people to get straight ?
One interesting question from one guy from the audience was about the influx of pregnant
mainland women to Hong Kong to give birth in Hong Kong and achieve the right of abode for the newborn - even if mother & father is not a HK resident.
Both Tang & Leung answered that question like snakes: None of them even dared to ask to amend the BASIC LAW in that point.
Beijing calling.
Hopefully next weekennd the whole (s)election will end in that desaster that none of this 2 phoney, fake guys will get a majority - god bless Hong Kong !

Besides this Bo Xi Lai was def sacked - even just a few days ago he said, that he is only feeling tired or exhausted........When last night in a remote city in Canton province this news was coming on TVB (yes they had HK TVB there)....suddenly the smart China Firewall showed some nice & stupid advertising.....all the bad news about Leung & Tang was not censored just to show how BAD the people & political situation is in Hong Kong.

When I see all the dirt on the streets in the not so super fancy cities like Shanghai or Beijing it is always a kind of pity to see how China wants to emerge to the world economic power number 1. Only hardware (means: people with bad equipment backdated to the early 50's working in hundreds on shabby construction sites) will not make it - it is the software running the show.

See you later & thank you for reading that blog.The guy singing in this Zappa video reminds me about that Blah Blah the Hong Kong people had to suffer tonight on that debate - CHEERS !And then here a little bit more ZAPPA for you !

Beijing Fashion Week

This one from chinaSMACK - jusyt enjoy here - click it !

Here just 3 photos - no further comment just find it out your self.

Dead Men Talking - Ding Yu Show stopped

Finally the horrible show of Ding Yu from the Henan TV channel has found a sudden end: Stopped by the central Government, because of "internal problems". Real reason maybe that tonight the BBC will air a documentation about this so-called "documentation of people before they are executed".Here is a little bit older footage about this TV-Show from Ding Yu - normally at least 30 - 40 million people were watching this on Saturday night (PRIMETIME):

Fake austrian village

Yes - chinese copy everything - now here they copy a whole village (maybe only some parts of it.....) from Austria.HALLSTATT - yes - please read & see here. According to latest news nobody want to buy any of that houses, villas there.Please enjoy the following: And see another link with more info just here - click ! Copy is below.

The Alpine village of the Far East: Chinese build bizarre replica of Austrian town (only problem is, no-one wants to live there)

By Simon Parry In Hallstatt, China

Last updated at 3:16 PM on 29th January 2012

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We are on a dirt track snaking its way uphill through rice paddies and groves of yellow bamboo. Behind us, spread out across a vast, smoggy plain, are the homes of tens of millions of dirt-poor migrant workers who struggle to earn a living in some of the most polluted cities on the planet: Huizhou, Dongguang, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the clustered sweatshops of southern China. Yet there in front of us, as we turn a final corner through the dust, is an Alpine vision.

A neo-Gothic church rises like a mirage. It is surrounded by the spotless wooden roofs of well-tended chalets, scores of them, a picture-postcard village set beside an artificial lake. Welcome to Hallstatt, the UNESCO-listed Austrian resort. Welcome to Hallstatt, China.

Never afraid to ‘borrow’ or imitate, Chinese planners have now designed what might be called the ultimate counterfeit: a settlement copied wholesale for the benefit of wealthy industrialists and located just an hour or so by chauffeur-driven limousine from their grim factories in the smoky distance.

A workman helps recreate the mountain of idyll of Hallstatt, complete with a lake, concert hall and luxury homes

News of the plans for a fake version of the idyllic lakeside village generated a mixture of astonishment, amusement and even a little outrage last summer when it was revealed that ‘spies’ from a Chinese developer had been secretly preparing detailed blueprints on furtive European trips, posing as tourists.

Six months later, as the villas near completion and the developers still smart at the controversy, we decided to play the Chinese at their own game by posing as buyers, the first Westerners to set foot inside this new settlement.

‘You won’t find anything like this anywhere else,’ the young salesman tells us brightly as we stood looking out across the man-made lake at the resort. It looks a good deal muddier than the sparkling original.

‘This is the only genuinely Austrian town in the whole of China.’

No expense has been spared. The original buildings have been copied and reproduced with startling precision.

Horse-drawn carriages and flocks of white doves will be imported to lend authenticity. The prices are amazing, too: a new villa here built in the style of a 300-year-old lakeside home is being offered at between £200,000 and £500,000, higher than the real thing in Austria.

There is, however, a flaw in this otherwise impressive feat of construction: no one is buying.

China’s real-estate market, booming as recently as last summer, has gone into freefall. For the moment at least, Hallstatt, Austria, will keep the prize for visitor numbers.

This sudden reversal of fortune might generate a few wry smiles among lovers of the original. But the state of the Chinese property market is no laughing matter; in fact it has caused waves of alarm as the world’s second biggest economy heads for a crisis of confidence.

China is growing at its slowest pace for more than two years and property prices, which have grown fivefold in the past decade, are projected to shrink by as much as one fifth in the next year to 18 months. The price of new homes in China fell for the third consecutive month last December, official statistics show, with annual growth in real-estate investment slowing to its weakest pace for a year.

The real thing: The genuine Austrian Christuskirche which has been ripped off by the Chinese

The property ‘bubble’ is a source of grave anxiety for economists and a potential disaster for China’s newly monied classes, who for years have snapped up luxury homes, often leaving them empty to preserve their treasured ‘brand new’ status, apparently secure in the knowledge their value could only rise.

Unable to invest abroad (the regime does not permit individuals to send money out of China) and with precious few options for domestic investment, tycoons and middle-class buyers have put their faith and their money in real estate. And this, in turn, has become one of the engines driving China’s extraordinary development.

Finding that so much of China’s ‘growth’ is paper profit based on empty bricks and mortar is scarcely better news for us in the beleaguered West. China’s expansion has fuelled the global economy, driving demand for raw materials and creating an enormous appetite for consumer goods and foreign luxuries.

When he visited Asia this month, Chancellor George Osborne spoke of China’s critical role in keeping the world afloat and of his desire to see wealthy Chinese buy imported ‘Rolls-Royces made in Sussex, Bentleys made in Crewe, and Burberry clothes manufactured in Yorkshire’.

The China Investment Corporation, a state-controlled sovereign wealth fund, immediately obliged by purchasing nearly nine per cent of the company behind Thames Water. And in this most auspicious of Chinese new years – the Year of the Dragon – there is no doubt that individual consumers would like to follow suit.

But the crisis consuming China’s real estate market – which accounted for 13 per cent of its economic activity in 2011 – is cowing the country’s big spenders and their appetite for British Bentleys or Austrian-style chalets.

Nor is it just the rich who have seen the value of their investments plunge; legions of middle-class city dwellers have ploughed their life savings into urban property, too. In recent months, apartment owners have erupted in protest as they watch developers slash prices for neighbouring – and identical – properties because of shrinking demand. And such protests hint at a social disquiet that terrifies China’s leaders.

One of their darkest fears is the prospect of an uprising by the country’s middle classes who, in an unspoken pact, tolerate single-party rule in return for prosperity and continuing economic growth.

All of which makes salesman Xu Kaigin eager to impress as he leads us past a cordon of security checkpoints and points to a huddle of villas that he thought might appeal to us. We had introduced ourselves as expatriates from Hong Kong looking for investment properties in southern China, where thousands of Westerners do business.

One of their darkest fears is the prospect of an uprising by the country’s middle classes who, in an unspoken pact, tolerate single-party rule in return for prosperity and continuing economic growth

The developers believe that even if Chinese buyers don’t snap up these villas, they might well appeal to homesick Europeans such as us.

‘Magnificent, isn’t it?’ asks Mr Xu, gesturing towards a painstaking replica of Hallstatt’s 1860 Protestant Christuskirche (Church of our Lord) at the heart of a cluster of town- centre buildings.

‘This is more beautiful than anything you can buy anywhere in China. It is authentically Austrian and just like the real thing. I am sure Americans living in China will love it here too – they like European things just like we Chinese do.’

On the slopes behind us, chalet-style villas take shape as cranes lift imported trees into place along arid, steep, red hillsides crudely cleared of native bamboo and sub-tropical undergrowth. The villas, he assures us, will be ready for occupancy by May.

The replica church, Mr Xu tells us, might be a restaurant, a sports venue or a concert hall. One thing is more certain: here in communist China, where religious freedoms are tightly restricted, it won’t be used for Christian worship.

The village is a surreal distortion. While the church and the cluster of Alpine buildings look as Austrian as lederhosen, many of the Hallstatt features simply don’t measure up. The fake lake, for instance, is not just muddy, it is 50 times smaller than the original, a stagnant shallow pool. Then there is the vista of two-mile-high snowy mountains that surround the real thing. The version in front of us is ringed by parched yellow hills, a few hundred feet above sea level.

And while the 800 residents of the real Hallstatt breathe pristine mountain air, China’s ‘Alpine’ residents (if there are any) will gaze out only as far as the smog allows across the nation’s black industrial heartland. Pollution is chokingly high here in Guangdong province, known as the workshop of the world, causing sickness in almost half the residents.

Whatever it might lack in natural assets, China’s Hallstatt more than makes up for in hyperbole. A plush, leather-bound brochure presented to us by Mr Xu makes extravagant promises about the golden future awaiting buyers when the bulldozers finally move out.

‘You can go to Viennese cake shops, a beer house and a romantic Austrian-style square,’ it gushes. ‘There will be a famous international school and kindergartens so children can have a wonderful childhood and get the best education.’

Faking it: China's hallstatt with its replica Austrian church near the smog-shrouded town of Boluo

Artists’ impressions and digitally manipulated photographs show doves taking off outside the church, a space grandly named Culture Square; couples relaxing on park benches as horse-drawn carriages glide past. And waterfalls cascading through lush green gardens full of exotic Alpine flowers that, the brochure promises, will bloom all year-round. The facilities will include a mountain-top swimming pool, the region’s only mountain sports club, and restaurants serving the best of European cuisine.

There are some geographically improbable extras, too. Hallstatt, China, will include a replica of the street where Mozart was born, Getreidegasse, complete with a Mozart library and a period ironmonger. Getreidegasse is actually in Salzburg. The neighbouring street is named after Vienna’s Belvedere Palace, 200 miles from the real Hallstatt, although mercifully the developers have stopped short of trying to reproduce the 18th Century castle.

Wealthy Chinese are the world’s biggest buyers of fine French wines, and a taste for European culture is seen as a mark of sophistication. Luxury homes are often modelled on French chateaux while historic neighbourhoods in China’s own cities are bulldozed to make way for glitzy apartment blocks and shopping malls. China might have thousands of years of history and culture, but such things don’t seem to count.

In a country with greater political freedom, tycoons with a fondness for the European lifestyle might choose to invest in the real thing: a genuine three-storey 18th Century home in the real Hallstatt, overlooking the lake is currently on the market for £330,000. But stringent government restrictions on moving money overseas mean that even the wealthiest must make do with China’s Hallstatt.

The sudden appearance of an Austrian village in the neighbourhood has caused head-scratching in surrounding villages, where families eke out a living by growing rice or working in factories making electrical cables.

‘It looks very strange,’ says 79-year-old Yan Yuxi as building trucks trundle past her simple, single- storey stone house in Boluo town, less than a mile away. ‘This is a simple place. Why do rich people want to live out here?’

Showing off her pension book, the great-grandmother – who lived through China’s civil war and its communist and cultural revolutions – says: ‘I am very poor and I only have welfare to live off. But some people today have so much money they can’t spend it all. I don’t understand it.’

Her neighbour, a 45-year-old taxi driver called Mr Yu, is similarly underwhelmed.

‘Many expensive homes have been built in this area but they’re not real homes. Rich people just buy them for show and to make money from,’ he says. ‘They don’t live in them and I don’t think they’ll do us any good.’ Even salesman Mr Xu concedes that the fantastical images in the brochure showing families playing in the sunshine may not be an entirely accurate portrayal.

‘I think people will live here because it is such a beautiful place,’ he says before adding, hesitantly: ‘It is true that some Chinese businessmen do buy as an investment and usually they do not live there. There will be a mixture here.’

China already has a nationwide blight of empty luxury homes. In Shanghai, more than half are kept empty, turning moneyed suburbs into eerie bejewelled wastelands.

The half-finished 'Alpine' homes but there are no people to fill them

Ordos in coal-rich Inner Mongolia, a gleaming new city built in the desert for mining tycoons, is a ghost town for the same reason, with fewer than 50,000 residents in a city catering for one million.

The same fate has befallen Thames Town, the English-style development built near Shanghai in 2006, which a visitor last year described as being ‘like the set of The Truman Show’ deserted but for a handful of couples having their wedding photographs taken with ‘British’ backdrops.

And just 50 miles south of China’s Hallstatt, on hills above the industrial city of Shenzhen, rows of immaculate Swiss-style villas built five years ago stand empty – without a single curtain at the windows.

Six months after the Austrians were scandalised by the copycat Chinese, the original Hallstatt’s website now carries a droll motto: ‘Hallstatt – the original. Photographed a million times. Copied once.’

Accusations of counterfeiting – combined with an official complaint to UNESCO from the town’s mayor – have clearly stung the Chinese developers.

When I ask Mr Xu if the town really is an exact copy of the Austrian original, he looks flustered and replies: ‘No, no, not at all. We just took the idea and the atmosphere and adapted it.’

He then walks away to make calls on his mobile phone.

Families in nearby villages are bemusted by the Austrian scene on their doorstep

‘That was a Mr Zheng from Beijing,’ he says, without conviction. ‘He wants to know the price of the villas. You see? People from all over China, and overseas, want to live here.’

Exactly how many villas have been sold so far, I ask Mr Xu.
‘None at the moment,’ he admits, but he says that some are reserved for VIP clients. These, we learn, are lowly paid government officials who – and here one can reasonably speculate – will pay little or nothing for the privilege of owning a luxury villa.

By now, though, we have asked too many questions. Mr Xu announces that our visit is over and hurries us back to our hotel, where a display model of the Hallstatt development in the lobby is inexplicably dismantled and put away.

Trying to explain Mr Xu’s sudden change of mood, our translator says: ‘I think he is worried you might not be buyers but that you might be from Austria, to see what is going on here. It is a very sensitive subject.’

With China’s real-estate slump threatening to become folly of monumental proportions, Austrian spies ought to be the least of worries for the champions of this Alpine oddity.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2093067/How-Chinese-building-exact-replicas-Austrian-village--houses-sold.html#ixzz1oAPzXjIF

Some strange installations

Actually the Hotel I was staying the last week was quite good: Clean rooms, free internet (surely CHINA internet - no YouTube, no Facebook, no Hong Kong Jockey Club and so on........), free breakfast - all for RMB 180 / per night. I was surprised - it was good & pleasant. Surely some little mishaps like so often.A sprinkler + a/c strangely installed at the top of one wall & a MAN PISSIOR in the bathroom (besides the normal toilet). Pictures here:

BACK HOME NOW

DEAR READERS - TOO TIRED - MORE THE NEXT DAYS - SOME PHOTOS ETC THANKS !

Chinese Immigrant who Went the Wrong Way Insulted Hong Kong Immigration Officer

Click here to read on BADCANTO.


A video titled with “蛻變中的蝗蟲在深圳灣入境大堂對入境長官及所有香港人的羞辱” (a metamorphosing locust insulted immigration officer and all Hongkonger at Shenzhen Bay customs) was uploaded today and it has already became the hottest topic on Youtube and forums. The info of the original uploader says that the woman, who is a new immigrant of Hong Kong, didn’t have permit but she insisted to use the more convenient e-channel to cross the border. In the video, she insulted the immigration officer for not being able to understand Mandarin and implied that Cantonese is not a human language. She also said Hong Kong was nothing special even though she is a new immigrant of there.



And here some comments from viewers:

Comment from Youtube (original video)

hws209: Bit**: “Hong Kong is nothing special!”. Then move back to China, idiot
ZeroKong0213 : The immigration officer has backbone!
ohs : She is a new immigrant. Is this crazy? She is a Hongkonger but doesn’t use Cantonese.
andy1002: This is the core of (Hong Kong) core value. Spirit of Hong Kong.
lullyluk: If she thinks that Hong Kong has nothing special, then don’t apply to be a Hongkonger. There was no Mandarin education in the past. You can’t tell the officer to speak your language. He does nothing wrong. That’s a crazy Mainland Chinese woman.
kennethchoi58: Chinese have to speak Mandarin only?
jackyyip2002: Those useless government official make front line disciplined services suffer from the temper of Mainlander. Don’t need to give face to this government. It’s right to treat this kind of Mainlander harsher.
HKThomas2011: Speak Cantonese in Hong Kong area. Hongkonger speak Cantonese. Go back to country if don’t understand. Hongkonger is indeed nothing special. However, (we) are better than Mainland locust. They has no humanity, conscience…they don’t qualify to be human.

 charles198964: Just don’t give a sh**. Not only Hong Kong is “nothing special”, according to the thinking of many Mainland Chinese, “America is nothing special since China own billions of treasury bond.  Hongkonger still want the backup of Britain. Britain is in decline now. China should just stop providing Hong Kong electricity and water and let Hongkonger find their English daddy. No matter how rich Macao is, it’s still a small island. Taiwan is nothing special. It’s part of China. Japan is just a lapdog of America. The economy of Korea is weak and Korea is divided into half. The north of Korea is not a country at all. Besides, ancient Korea gave money to China for protection. ” The conclusion for (Mainland Chinese) is they are the smartest, greatest, biggest a**hole. If they want, they can own the world.

kyubihihana: Mandarin is everything? In Shanghai, Shanghaiese have rights to speak Shanghaiese. Beijing (people) have rights to speak Beijing dialect Mandarin. Hakka people have rights to speak Hakka. Hongkonger have rights to speak Cantonese. Don’t like Hong Kong? Go back to China. Don’t stay and complain.
lau928 : The knowledge that Chinese look down on Hongkonger is a common sense. Everybody knows. Now, it has developed that every Chinese can insult Hong Kong civil servants crazily in public even when they are at fault. Do you want to be “blood is thicker than water” with these “cousins”?

You want more ? Then read this from GEOEXPAT - JUST CLICK HERE !

Wukan elections !

Please read here - this is an interesting story in 2 ways.
1) There are some elections in a smal place in China !
2) The government (at least it seems) does not dare to interfere ! Why ?
     Because they maybe know how many things have been done WRONG by the government officials:
     Just click here for full story - and below the copy of that:
     quote
Wukan village voters elect representatives

Updated: 2012-02-13 08:06

(China Daily)

Print Mail Large Medium Small 0

Turnout reported to exceed 80% as eligible residents cast secret ballot
WUKAN, Guangdong - More than 6,000 villagers of Wukan in South China's Guangdong province, who made headlines with a protest over illegal land use and other issues, voted for deputies on Saturday in the second round of democratic elections for new leadership.
The voting, presided over by an 11-member election committee chosen on Feb 1, lasted from 9 am to 3 pm at a village school.
Yang Semao, director of the election committee, said that 6,466 secret ballots were cast for group leaders and 6,475 were cast for villagers' representatives.
The election was held to select a team of 107 village representatives and seven group leaders.
The election results were announced late on Saturday. The outcome was that the number of village representatives was increased to 109, as two groups each had two candidates with an equal number of votes.
Yang said turnout exceeded 80 percent of the 7,923 villagers who registered to vote and the election results are therefore valid.
However, Saturday's voting failed to elect seven group leaders, as all the candidates got less than 50 percent of each group's votes.
Another election will be held to fill the seats of group leaders.
Wukan has about 12,000 villagers, 8,222 of whom are of legal age and therefore eligible to vote, though not all of them registered to vote.
Those who applied for group leader candidacy were required to get supporting signatures from at least 100 voters, while village representative candidates were required to get at least 50, according to local election procedures.
"This is to make sure the candidates are well-grounded and trusted by the villagers, and to ensure fairness in the upcoming village committee election," said Yang, director of the election committee.
Villager Lin Shuzhen, who is illiterate, asked her 16-year-old son to read the election instructions for her and fill out her ballot.
Volunteers also stood by to help other illiterate villagers fill out ballots.
"The voting process was smooth and orderly," said Lin Zulian, the village's Communist Party of China secretary. "The villagers took an active part in the voting, and they are more familiar with the procedures compared with the previous round of voting for election committee members on Feb 1."
Lin was appointed secretary after last year's protests.
Lin and the election committee will summon the new deputies to meetings to discuss election procedures for the new village committee.
"I hope the deputies who eventually stand out will all be capable people of integrity," said Huang Deping, a villager in his 50s. "I hope they will safeguard our rights and interests and help us manage our land well."
On Sept 21-22 last year, villagers in Wukan, which is administered by the city of Lufeng, began to protest against village authorities over issues related to land use, financing and the election of village officials, with large protests in the village on Nov 21 and 22.
The villagers gathered again on Dec 11 after Xue Jinbo, a man who was suspected of organizing the November demonstrations, died while in police custody.
Officials from a provincial work team in charge of handling the village's unrest conceded that the residents' major demands were reasonable and "some mistakes" had been made by local officials.
They also announced that last February's election of the former village leaders was invalid and new elections were to be organized.
The previous election drew complaints from the villagers, who complained that a list of candidates was never published and that some of the candidates were also election organizers, both of which go against local election laws and regulations.
According to this year's election procedures, the election committee will be dissolved after the new village committee is formed, although the deputies will continue to perform their duties.
Under the new village leadership, the deputies will attend village committee meetings, report the villagers' suggestions and complaints to the village committee and keep the villagers informed of decisions made at the deputies' meetings.
Xinhua

(China Daily 02/13/2012 page5)

Guo Meimei says she was ‘deeply sorry’

Here some explanations from Guo Mei Mei & her mother on the Larry Lang Live Show. According to this all the money comes from her mother who made millions on the stock market in the early 90's just with a few thousand start capital. Believe it or not !
quote
2011-August-5 08:53 Shenzhen Daily
GUO MEIMEI, the woman who embarrassed the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) by flaunting her lavish lifestyle online, said all her luxury possessions were gifts from an entrepreneur and her mother who had no links with the charity group.

The 20-year-old unemployed woman who posted photos of her collection of Hermes bags and a Maserati car on her microblog, said, during “Larry Lang Live” — a Chinese Business News television program Wednesday, that only two of the Hermes bags she showed were authentic — one was a gift from her mother and the other was from Wang Jun, a real estate developer in Shenzhen.

Guo said Wang once told her he planned to invest in a company which had some ties with the RCSC and joked he could get her a manager’s position. Guo said she then changed her identity on her microblog from “actress-singer” to “General Manager of Red Cross Commerce” to show off to her friends.

She never expected this would ignite anger online with many Internet users claiming she must have used public donations to fund her lifestyle and that she landed the position through her relationship with a deputy head of RCSC, whose name was also Wang Jun.

Guo said Wang, the real estate developer, later withdrew his investment from the China Red Cross Bo’an Asset Management Co. after the scandal broke in June.

“I was deeply sorry,” said Guo.

Guo’s mother, Guo Dengfeng, who also appeared on the show, saying she had raised her daughter alone after a divorce. They had an affluent life due to successful stock market investments.

Before her daughter was born, Guo Dengfeng was already a millionaire and owned two properties in Shenzhen bought with money made on the stock market. (SD-Agencies)
unquote

Here a photo of Guo on that talkshow - I will try to find the whole show as a video.

Effect of China’s New Social Insurance Law on Foreign Employees/Employers

Important to read this for all foreigners employed (legally !) in the mainland. It still seems unclear when this will come in effect - but it will come in effect (sooner or later). Question is if this is just a measure to drive out foreigners to work in China and to put pressure on foreign companies to hire more local staff instead of foreigners (if local staff can fill same position - same quality ?) as foreign or so-called "expats".
For the last 30 years or more "foreigners" (this also means Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan etc.) have contributed a big portion to the success of China's position in the world economically & otherwise. Honestly speaking it is my belief without that help from the outside China would not be where it is today. Please read the below info about the plans for now - lets see and wait:
quote
Effect of China’s New Social Insurance Law on Foreign Employees/Employers
Posted on July 26, 2011 by China Briefing
Jul. 26 – China’s new Social Insurance Law (SIL) – which just took effect on July 1 – has attracted more attention than ever from foreigners living in China because of the provision set out in Article 97 which has been frequently translated into English in the following manner:

“Expatriates working in China may participate in social insurance schemes in accordance with this law.”

While China has already issued a document specifically clarifying foreign employees’ participation in the country’s social welfare system, it still has not made it 100 percent clear specifically which types of foreign individuals will be included in the scheme, and precisely how the new law will impact their paychecks and welfare. In his recent presentation, Adam Livermore, regional manager at Dezan Shira & Associates, introduced China’s social welfare system in detail at an event held by Servcorp in Beijing and cast a light on the new law’s potential effect on foreign employees.

Introduction of China’s social welfare system
China’s social insurance system is comprised of pension, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, maternity insurance and work-related injury insurance. The table below offers a general range of SIL contribution rates across the country and should help foreigners (and their employers) in China figure out how much more they may need to pay once they are involved in the country’s social welfare system. It is important to note that foreigners in every city should learn the actual contribution rates applicable in their area, since the rates can vary considerably by region.

However, for a foreign individual who earns a salary three times higher than the average social salary in his/her city, the amount the individual and the individual’s employer needs to contribute is:
■Employer/employee contribution rates to mandatory benefit = three times the city’s average monthly social salary × the applicable contribution rates

For example, the social average monthly salary for Beijing is currently RMB4,201, so the maximum amount of salary that employers/employees will have to account for in terms of social welfare contributions is RMB12,604. Please note that this figure will also vary across regions.

The clarification and confusion arising from “The Interim Measures for the Participation in Social Insurance of Foreigners Employed in China”
Having realized that the administration of foreign employees within China’s social welfare system may be more complex than for Chinese citizens, the central government issued a document entitled “The Interim Measures for the Participation in Social Insurance of Foreigners Employed in China (Draft for Comments)” on June 10 in an attempt to clarify issues related to the pension refund as well as the compliance to international social insurance treaties. It explicitly states that:
■Expatriates are required to participate in the Chinese social insurance system and pay the social insurance premiums in accordance with relevant regulations
■Where a foreigner departs China prior to the stipulated age for receiving pension, his/her individual account will be retained. If the foreigner reenters China for employment, the contribution period can be calculated cumulatively
■Upon written application by the foreigner, the social insurance agency may pay the foreigner the amount in his/her individual account in one lump sum and terminate the basic pension relationship
■Upon the foreigner’s death, the amount remaining in the individual pension insurance account can be inherited
■For foreigners who are nationals of countries that have entered bilateral or multilateral treaties relating to social insurance with China, his or her social insurance participation will be handled in accordance with such treaties

However, in his presentation, Livermore pointed out there is still confusion regarding the new document that may need further legal explanation from the government.

First of all, it is not clear who exactly will be included in the program. Livermore believes foreigners employed by Chinese entities (including representative offices) holding work permits will most likely be included, and foreigners employed by overseas entities but staying over 183 days in China during a year may also be required to participate in the scheme. Citizens of countries with bilateral agreements in place (currently Germany and South Korea) may be partially exempted if they can prove they are making contributions in their home country.

Secondly, it remains unknown when foreigners’ participation in the scheme will actually be implemented and whether implementation in different cities will vary. Since the new SIL already became effective on July 1, there is a possibility that foreigners’ contributions may be backdated at a later date to July 2011. However, some experts speculate that actual implementation will likely commence from 2012, as backdated contributions may add complications to effective administration of the system.

Thirdly, experts are still wondering whether foreigners will need to contribute to all the five social insurance items. According to Livermore’ presentation, it is likely that foreigners will at least be subject to pension and medical insurance contributions, the two most important components of China’s social insurance system.

Based on such speculation, questions arise concerning how exactly foreigners can claim their pension contribution back when they plan to leave China and whether they can actually benefit from their contributions. For example, no regulations so far have clarified the precise procedures to redeem pension as a lump-sum or the proportion of pension foreigners will finally obtain. In addition, if a foreigner has worked in China for 15 years and is eligible to claim his/her own pension, there is no clear guidance yet that shows the individual how to collect it.

Since the quality of medical services covered by medical insurance is one of the major concerns of most foreigners living in China, it is also essential that future regulations clarify whether foreigners’ contributions to medical insurance will at least partly cover the cost incurred from using international clinics.

While foreigners may also be forced to contribute to work-related injury insurance, maternity insurance and unemployment insurance, further explanations may be needed from the government to justify the contributions. For example, will practices of maternity insurance be consistent between Chinese nationals and foreigners under the current regulations that do not restrict foreigners to the one-child policy? How do foreigners out of employment benefit from unemployment insurance when they are not legally allowed to stay in the country if not employed?

The “Interim Measures” document is only a draft so far and it remains unclear whether or how the Chinese authorities will adjust the implementation details based on different social voices. However, from the perspective of foreign employees, it is critical that the new regulations be made fair and transparent enough to allow them to benefit from the welfare system in proportion to their contributions.

The bright side
While many foreign employees in China may worry about losing more money out of their paychecks to the social welfare system, they may also want to look on the bright side.

First of all, if the pension contributions – the largest portion of the individual contribution – can be redeemed tax-free, foreigners may effectively end up paying slightly less individual income tax.

Secondly, more bilateral treaties may be put in place once all the related regulations are officially released, and that will allow citizens of more countries to enjoy conditional exemptions from the social mandatory system.

Third, compared to other countries, caps on contributions in China are still relatively low.

It is also hoped that, in the long term, foreigner participation in the Chinese social welfare system will drive the various state insurance systems – particularly the medical insurance system – to function more effectively, so an increasingly robust and transparent system will offer more benefits to both Chinese nationals and foreigners.

Dezan Shira & Associates is a boutique professional services firm providing foreign direct investment business advisory, tax, accounting, payroll and due diligence services for multinational clients in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and India. For further information and clarification on China’s new Social Insurance Law, please email info@dezshira.com or visit the firm at www.dezshira.com.
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Most important is: How to get your money back !

One more for the weekend ! HangZhou ZhongCe Rubber Co ,Ltd

In 1958 a LTD company was established in Hangzhou making rubber products - HangZhou ZhongCe Rubber Co ,Ltd.
I am not an expert - in 1958 there was already LTD companies existing in China ?
This is some "kind of advertisement" - enjoy:

Update: Wenzhou train accident: Get the cash & shut up !

Oooops - quick money for the relatives / families of the Wenzhou train accident.
That S M E L L S !
Please read here
quote
Wenzhou Train Crash Families Paid Off by Authorities
Urged to sign quickly and cremate the bodies fast for a bonus

By Chen Yilian
Epoch Times StaffCreated: Jul 29, 2011

Family members grieve after identifying a loved one's body. (STR/AFP Getty Images)

The compensation agreement offered to families of victims of July 23’s Chinese bullet train collision by the Ministry of Railways has raised eyebrows. In exchange for the payment, the families must cremate the victims as soon as possible. And the agreement includes a “bonus” for quick cremation, which has inevitably been viewed as a means of trying to stem more negative fallout.

The Ministry of Railways stipulated that the families who accept the negotiation and sign the agreement shortly after the crash could receive an amount in the tens of thousands of yuan as a cash bonus.

So when a family member of Lin Yan, a victim of the crash, for example, signed an agreement with the Steering Committee of the Incident Management Task Force at 1:00 am on July 26, she received 500,000 yuan ($77,600): 450,000 yuan ($69,840) was compensation, while 50,000 yuan ($7,760) was a bonus for signing the agreement soon after the incident.

Family members that accept financial compensation are also reported to be signing away their rights to pursue legal action against the authorities in future.

After hearing about this, Shu Kexin of the Chinese People’s University Public Policy Research Center commented in his blog that using the term “bonus” gives the impression that the authorities are eager to finalize the incident quickly, with minimal fuss, and that they don’t care enough about the families.

A resident of Wenzhou City surnamed Cheng told The Epoch Times that this incident should be dealt with from a humanitarian perspective. He said: “Urging the families of the victims to sign the agreement as soon as possible is trying to smooth over the incident, so as not to make things worse. However, family affection is priceless, and it is meaningless no matter how much money is paid, as the beloved ones can never come back. Being a third party, I think the amount of the compensation, 500,000 yuan, is way too low.”

The family member of another victim named Li Jianzhong, 44, concurred: “Now that the identity of the victims has been confirmed, I wonder why the authorities do not allow the families of the victims to claim the remains. That’s the first thing that should be dealt with. Now that they are dead, the amount of compensation is of secondary importance.”
The handling of the disaster has faced much similar criticism. People wonder why the wrecked cars, along with victims’ remains, were buried so quickly and why names of the victims were not released promptly—and have still not been released. Though it had been announced that there were no signs of life in the fallen cars, an injured child was later rescued.

Another contested issue is why the Railway Ministry, which is responsible for the accident, should be allowed to conduct its own investigation; many are now calling for an independent investigation.
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Nice !
I am quite curious how & when they will get this payout.
Cash ?
By TT from Beijing into their bank account if they have one ?
So in generally a persons life is less than USD 100,000 worth in China.
Good to know.
Here the list of the victims - it was said that 2 Americans also have died - this must be the number 6 & 26 on the list.

Mr Wang Guangya is talking..........

The general manager from Beijing overseeing the Hong Kong SAR & Macao made some comments about Hong Kong civil servants. The first hit out was indirectly against the 1997 ended british administration. But he did hit out more - very nice packaged and very indirect - but it seems he has meant the top of the Hong Kong "Government". So ? 2046 is still some time to go.......but guys like Mr Wang will mostly not have the pleasure to see that day of the 1st of July 2046 !
Here some of the news readings about that:
Very short message from RTHK - click it !
And here our beloved THE STANDARD - click it !
SCMP: Civil servants hitting back - click it !
China Daily: HK Edition - click it !
Harmony seems to be one of the most favourite words of chinese officials:
"On the upcoming elections, Mr Wang hoped that they could be conducted in a harmonious way."
With elections I guess he means the next HK CE "election" which is conducted by 1,200 people - isn't it ?
Happy (ahhh harmonious) elctions from my side then !
A harmonious cheers from Mr Wang himself here (but it looks like water only...............):

Update: Wenzhou train accident

Mr. Wen going there himself - then you need to consider the problem as serious or the other way around the concerns of the Government as very serious.
Please see the video here:

Up-date: Train accident

China wants to sell / export their train - technology ? Yes maybe workable - but do not export
your managers or officials please ! They are weak & corrupt !

Riot in south China after death of fruit vendor

It seems they never learn. Please read the below and think about it.
quote
BEIJING (Reuters) - Angry residents in a southern Chinese city went on the rampage after officials apparently beat to death a disabled fruit vendor, a state media said on Wednesday, in the latest incident of social unrest in the world's second-largest economy.

The China Daily said that thousands of people gathered on the streets of Anshun in Guizhou province on Tuesday afternoon, throwing stones at police and overturning a government vehicle.

The riot was sparked after urban management officers -- a quasi-police force that enforces laws against begging and other petty offences -- were suspected of beating the vendor to death, the newspaper said.

"The unidentified vendor died in front of the gate of a market ... which led to the gathering of the local people," it cited a government statement as saying.

"Before the incident occurred, urban management officers were working in the area," it added, saying the statement gave no other details.

The newspaper showed a picture of an urban management vehicle which had been overturned, along with smashed windows and doors that had been torn off.

Xinhua news agency said around 30 protesters and 10 police officers were injured in the unrest.

The elder brother of the dead man has "consented to (an)autopsy and asked police to seek justice", it added. "Police are questioning six city management staff members involved in the case."

Footage on China's popular Youku.com website, the country's answer to YouTube, showed a large crowed gathered in the street, and what seemed to be a body on the ground shaded by umbrellas.

An overturned vehicle could be seen in the distance, along with many police officers and a black armored car used by China's riot police.

Reuters could not authenticate the footage, nor when it was taken. Calls to the Anshun government seeking comment went unanswered.

"It was a total mess," one onlooker surnamed Jiang told the China Daily. "The people threw stones at the police officers and my feet were hit by flying rocks."

Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper said that the police used water cannons to disperse the protesters, who finally left the scene late in the evening.

In 2008, crowds stormed police and government headquarters in another part of Guizhou after allegations spread that police had covered up the rape and murder of a local teenage girl, seeking to protect the son of a local official.

China's stability-obsessed rulers get nervous about any sort of protest or unrest.

Earlier this month, a court in the southern export hub of Guangdong province jailed 11 people for their roles in riots that hit a city there in June.

In 2007, China had more than 80,000 "mass incidents", up from more than 60,000 in 2006, according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Many involved no more than dozens protesting against local officials over complaints about corruption, abuse of power, pollution or poor wages.

No authoritative estimates of the number of protests, riots and mass petitions since then have been released.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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I am trying to find the related video footage of this riot. Here it is some footage at least:

See the police arriving here:

Train crash - some up-dates here

So now is "blaming time" - 3 officials already sacked. Also blamed "foreign technology" - see following info here:
quote
Bombardier falls after Chinese train crash
A high-speed train crash in China that killed at least 38 people is dragging down shares of Bombardier Inc.

While the cause of the worst rail disaster in the country since 2008 is still unknown, the trains were built by a joint venture between Bombardier and China Southern Locomotive. The signaling system was manufactured by General Electric Co.

Shares of Montreal-based Bombardier fell more than 5% to $5.80 in Monday morning trading, but some Chinese railway equipment companies declined double-digits.

“Some industry participants believe that investment in rail infrastructure will be put on hold until an official safety review takes place,” Benoit Poirier, analyst at Desjardins Securities, told clients.

He noted that Bombardier has three JVs and seven Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprises in China, under which it manufactures rolling stock, propulsion equipment and signaling equipment. It has also delivered thousands of rail cars to the Chinese market.

Bombardier generated 13% of its Transportation revenues in the Asia-Pacific region in fiscal 2011, with the majority likely related to China, Mr. Poirier noted.

“It remains to be seen if development of new rail lines in China will be compromised given the accident,” the analyst said. “However, a slowdown in the development of the very high-speed rail system could be beneficial to Bombardier’s regional aircraft business. In addition, the train crash could reduce the nascent threat of Chinese manufacturers taking market share away from Western manufacturers in international train contracts.”

Chinese state media said a high-speed train hit a second train that had lost power after being struck by lightning. Reports suggest lightning also caused a failure in the signaling system that would have warned the second train about the one in front of it.
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Here some YouTube footage of how the mess was quickly removed after the accident - somebody was saying: "Made in China buried in China"
Government buried the fragments of train before investigation. Bullet train crash in China. 

Dozens die as bullet trains collide in Zhejiang

Click here please
Accident with 2 trains - safety concerns coming up now. The speed of construction is too high.
The security is too low. Corruption is too high and favours un-safe solutions.

Update Lai Changxing:Chinese fugitive faces quick deportation after Federal Court loss

Here the last news for the Lai Changxing case. It seems very soon he will be back to China - please read here:
quote
Chinese fugitive faces quick deportation after Federal Court loss
SUNNY DHILLON
VANCOUVER— Globe and Mail Update
Published Thursday, Jul. 21, 2011 8:50PM EDT
Last updated Friday, Jul. 22, 2011 3:03AM EDT

Hailing assurances from the Chinese government that it will not torture or execute Lai Changxing as “strict, clear and unequivocal,” a Federal Court judge ruled against the high-profile fugitive, setting the stage for his deportation and ending a legal saga that has long hampered relations between Ottawa and Beijing.

Mr. Lai, who’s accused of masterminding a multibillion-dollar smuggling network that imported consumer goods in the city of Xiamen, had asked the court to stay a deportation order issued against him. The 52-year-old feared that like his brother and accountant he would meet a mysterious prison death.

But Mr. Justice Michel Shore said the assurances provided by the Chinese government nullified those concerns, capping a deportation fight that began when Mr. Lai was picked up at a Niagara Falls casino in 2000.

“It is assumed that the assurances of the Chinese government, as per its written promises, will be kept, as the Chinese government’s honour and face is, and will be, bound and kept respectively, by the monitoring for the lifetime of the applicant...,” Judge Shore wrote in his ruling, issued late Thursday.

Judge Shore said a new contractual government to government climate has been created by the assurances and Mr. Lai’s life is in China’s hands. He said the assurances, which also allow Canadian officials to visit Mr. Lai and sit in on some of his court hearings, “augur hope for a different way to be taken, in a newly unfolded path to which the Chinese government’s signature has been officially affixed for the commitments undertaken. The future, yet to be seen by both countries and others, will stand as witness to the outcome.”

The judge isn’t the only one to recently address a new relationship between Canada and China.

Mr. Lai was arrested just days before Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird headed to Beijing to bolster ties between the two countries. During his trip, Mr. Baird called China an “important ally” and asserted a “strategic partnership” on matters such as energy, natural resources, and international affairs. It was a change in tone from the early days of the Stephen Harper government, when comments about human rights annoyed China, and Mr. Harper initially chose not to visit. Mr. Baird indicated the Conservative government felt little sympathy for Mr. Lai’s plight.

In a statement posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s website, spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said: “We welcome the court's decision in Canada.”

When Mr. Lai will be deported remains unclear. The Canada Border Services Agency had first indicated it would remove him on July 25. But hours before the judgment was issued, a government lawyer said he could be sent back as early as Saturday. Judge Shore said Mr. Lai was scheduled to be “removal ready” on Friday.

“The CBSA does not share information about when a removal order will be enforced for the safety and security of all those involved,” a CBSA spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail. She said under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, removal orders must be enforced as soon as possible and that’s what the agency is committed to doing.

How long officials can keep the removal under wraps remains to be seen, with dozens of reporters following the case, creating a circus-like atmosphere at each hearing.

Darryl Larson, one of Mr. Lai’s lawyers, had indicated to reporters Wednesday that Mr. Lai might be able to extend his time in Canada by asking the court to weigh in on a certified question. But David Matas, Mr. Lai’s other counsel, clarified those remarks Thursday and said his client could only ask such a question if the court ruled in his favour.

When asked if Mr. Lai had any legal options left if the court ruled against him, Mr. Matas simply told The Globe and Mail: “No.”

During the federal court hearing, Mr. Matas had scoffed at the assurances provided by the Chinese government. He said they didn’t go far enough, wouldn’t keep his client safe, and wouldn’t ensure he received a fair trial.

He told the court Canadians were only promised access to “open court,” meaning officials couldn’t attend any hearings closed to the public – common practice for politically sensitive proceedings. He added that it would be next to impossible to find a lawyer to represent Mr. Lai who wasn’t influenced by the Communist Party, since the government had turned him into the “poster boy” for corruption.

But Judge Shore said none of the issues raised by Mr. Lai, due to the Chinese government’s assurances, amounted to clear and convincing proof necessary to support his irreparable harm claim.

“Mr. Lai has provided no evidence in support of his stay motion that he would now be at risk upon return to China, due to the specific assurances provided.”

“Furthermore, it is apparent that Mr. Lai has been negotiating his return to China with the Chinese authorities,” the judge wrote, referring to evidence put forward by government lawyers. “This willingness to engage in negotiations to return to China belies the alleged risk of return to China.”

Judge Shore called Mr. Lai a “common criminal fugitive” who had full access to Canada’s immigration process over the last 11 years.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail two years ago, Mr. Lai admitted skirting the law, but said he was merely taking advantage of perceived loopholes at a time of murky custom regulations.

He’s been held at a Maple Ridge jail since his arrest two weeks ago.

In 2007, the Federal Court came to Mr. Lai’s rescue by overturning an Immigration Canada finding that he faced no risk if returned to China. The judge in that case ordered a new report, with more emphasis on the risk of torture. It took the government agency four years to complete its assessment.
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