SUN WUKONG
'Devalue' call undermines
yuan true faith
China for two years has let its currency steadily appreciate against the US dollar, all the time berated by the US and other leading trade partners who insist the yuan should strengthen even faster. Now a Bank of China analyst argues that Beijing should throw its currency policy into reverse and devalue. What gives? - Wu Zhong
(May 13, '08)



China's weakness the greater danger
Claims that China is an emerging superpower overlook the reality that the ineffectually governed country will struggle for decades to get and stay beyond subsistence. The West, rather than fearing China's expansion, should be preparing for a dramatic setback in Chinese economic growth and resulting breakdowns in domestic order.
(May 12, '08)

Pressure grows on China's grain prices
Good harvests, subsidies and a mix of government controls have isolated China from the worst of international grain price increases. That is unlikely to last as farmland is lost to urbanization and impoverished farmers flee the land. - Sally Wang (May 12, '08)

Hong Kong savers seek yuan protection
Residents in Hong Kong and other parts of greater China are increasingly moving their savings into mainland accounts to escape the impact of falling local currencies and low interest rates. With the yuan forecast to gain 15% against the US dollar by the end of the year, the flood of transfers is likely to grow. - Olivia Chung (May 6, '08)

China faces trade war climate challenge
China's growing economy has brought the country to the center of the debate on curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Its reaction to moves by the US Congress to tax imports from other major greenhouse gas emitters could prove crucial in determining the most effective means of forcing international action on global warming.
(May 5, '08)

China's inflation carries long-term risks

Tax cut reverses shares plunge
The Chinese government has scored at least a temporary success with its latest move to halt the plunge in the country's stock market, among the world's worst performers this year. Shares jumped almost 10% after an overnight cut in stamp duty, raised 11 months earlier, helped return confidence to investors. (Apr 24, '08)

   Chinese shares rocket (AFP)

US media the last hurdle for China buyouts
Chinese companies looking to expand overseas are already aware of potential hostility from Washington to encroachment on US companies. Yet even if legal barriers were not thrown up, another bar could prove insurmountable - the antagonistic US media. - Thomas H Wilkins (Apr 23, '08)

Guangdong keeps value in clear-out
Chinese government efforts to clear low-value manufacturers out of Guangdong province and encourage production there of more up-market goods may be bringing results if the exodus of shoemakers from the key manufacturing and exporting hub is any guide. - Olivia Chung (Apr 21, '08)

SUN WUKONG
Guangdong looks for
closer delta embrace
A rising star of China's Communist Party is looking to create a unified trade zone incorporating Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong province, a move that would help his own ascendancy while giving a boost to the Pearl Delta region, where industry is being eroded by rising costs. - Wu Zhong (Mar 11, '08)

SPEAKING FREELY
Don't be lazy, snooze at work
Asia's culture of napping has reached a new level in China, where the state has authorized sleeping on the job, at least for a little while. It's time to wake up to the age of the "cubicle nap" and experts say the results are eye-opening. Increased productivity, safety and morale surely put to bed any Western notions of the dangers of a work-day doze. - Matt Young (Mar 6, '08)

China looks to stamp duty cut
Pressure is building on the Chinese government to cut the stock trading stamp duty as a means of injecting new life into a market that has slumped from the record highs of last year. - Olivia Chung (Mar 6, '08)

China confirms inflation enemy number one
Premier Wen Jiabao told China's Parliament on Wednesday the government would take more steps to curb inflation and cool the economy. His determination was underlined by setting a GDP growth target well short of non-government forecasts. - John Ng and Olivia Chung (Mar 5, '08)

Iran gas: China waits as India wavers
The possibility of India buying Iranian gas by way of a pipeline running through mutual neighbor Pakistan has been a talking point for the past decade. Yet as Islamabad and Tehran prepare to sign a gas purchase agreement this month, India is holding back amid security concerns and US disapproval of the plan. Energy-hungry China may seize the opportunity. - Siddharth Srivastava (Mar 5, '08)

Taxmen hover over $22bn Ping An fund plan Ping An Insurance shareholders vote this week on a plan by the firm to raise more than US$22 billion by selling shares and bonds. Their decision might be swayed by the Chinese tax authority's move to run a rule over the insurer's acounts. - Sally Wang (Mar 4, '08)

Total recall in China
Headline-grabbing incidents of toxic Chinese-made products - from toys with lead paint to contaminated fish and adulterated drug products - mask the progress the country has made in cleaning up its act. More can be done and will be, if civil aviation safety and action over doping in sports are any guide. - Dali L Yang (Mar 4, '08)

HK-Macau bridge planners take costly option
A proposed 36-km bridge to straddle the Pearl River Delta between Hong Kong and Macau is to be developed under the build-operate-transfer system of funding, with a 50-year operating period. It is a remarkable choice given the wealth of the local governments involved. - Henry C K Liu (Mar 4, '08)

China business looks homewards
An appreciating currency and government policies that add to the expense of selling products overseas are encouraging China's exporters to look to domestic markets to maintain sales momentum. (Mar 3, '08)

SPEAKING FREELY
Cultural bias a drag on China business
Visitors to China easily assume a superior stance when faced with aspects of the country not to their liking. Business leaders risk losing out when they dismiss its apparently monolithic political culture as one without prospect of change. - Matt Young (Feb 28, '08)

Discounts mark China property price slide
China's government may be having some success in its efforts to cool the country's housing market. Land in Shanghai is selling at less than half the prices fetched last November, while developers are breaking new ground with discounts. (Feb 28, '08)

China turns up heat on hot money
Illegal banks responsible for moving billions of yuan across China's borders, notably into mainland and Hong Kong stock markets and property, are to get increasing attention from authorities concerned about the country's financial stability. - Olivia Chung (Feb 27, '08)

SUN WUKONG
Shares drive may drown a golden goose
The Chinese government, keen to reduce the amount of cash in the economy, is encouraging more companies to raise money in the stock markets rather than through bank loans. The result is a plethora of proposals for new share issues by listed companies such as insurance giant Ping An, whose need for the cash is open to question. - Wu Zhong (Feb 26, '08)

SPEAKING FREELY
China has poll breather on yuan pressure
Calls by the Group of Seven and the International Monetary Fund for faster appreciation of the yuan, allied to China becoming the US's biggest supplier of imports, are unlikely to stir Beijing into action this year, with US politicians and the public distracted by the battle for the White House. - Tim Brown (Feb 25, '08)

China's green race against urban surge
An unprecedented move to the cities by China's rural population will create huge demands for new housing over the next two decades - and concomitant pressures on the environment. Developers are taking some steps in the right direction to limit the damage. - Josh Adams (Feb 22, '08)

Squeeze to follow China freeze
The Chinese government looks set to step up its efforts to squeeze cash from the economy as January figures indicate numerous interest rate rises and curbs on bank lending have failed to do their job. Yet higher borrowing costs will hurt farmers and businesses trying to rebuild from a winter savaging. - Olivia Chung (Feb 21, '08)

Chinese bonds signal early end
to 'tight' money
The Chinese government made clear its determination to rein in inflation with an end-of-year announcement that monetary policy would be tightened. Yet the country's bond market suggests that nothing has changed - even that the policy direction might soon be reversed. - Mark A DeWeaver (Feb 21, '08)

China tightens grip on grain
Increased harvests in China are failing to meet growing demand for grain, raising concerns over China's ability to feed itself and prompting the government to curb the flow of grain exports. - Olivia Chung (Feb 20, '08)

China stakes much on new stock board
China is resurrecting plans to launch a growth board for listing small companies as a route to encourage more start-ups, further develop its venture capital industry, and soak up liquidity in the booming economy. - Candy Zeng (Feb 15, '08)

Wealthy sovereign, poor citizen
China's willingness to pour funds into the likes of Blackstone is a vote of confidence in the future of America's economy. Yet the Chinese government could instead distribute the foreign reserves it garners to its poorest residents. Only a few dollars a day; but when was the last time someone offered to triple your income? - Richard Komaiko (Feb 13, '08)

Macau loses as Asia’s Las Vegas
Revenues pulled in by southern China’s gaming haven are set to surpass southern Nevada’s. That won’t make it Las Vegas and Macau should be thankful. - Muhammad Cohen (Feb 12, '08)

China helps create a future for Congo
China's agreement to take on big infrastructure projects in the Congo in return for copper and cobalt reserves aroused deep suspicions and claims of neo-colonization. Yet the deal could help transform the African country's economy - and save President Joseph Kabila's political future. (Feb 11, '08)

Asia's SMEs see healthy outlook
Asia's small-business entrepreneurs are looking to expand domestically and internationally this year, as the prospects in strong regional economies outshine the creeping gloom from the US. - Olivia Chung (Feb 11, '08)

China’s retail rethink
Mall developments boasting Prada boutiques and Tissot displays are a growing feature of China's booming economy. But many are bedevilled by poor management, poor location, poor design, poor choice of tenants and worse, prices way beyond even the country's growing middle class. The way ahead for most is downmarket. - Josh Adams (Feb 8, '08)

Poisoned dumplings kill $500m merger
China-made snacks that sickened Japanese consumers, nourished conspiracy theories and gave a queasy turn to Beijing-Tokyo relations also nauseated executives at the world's third-biggest tobacco company as the poisoned dumplings killed off a US$500-million merger plan. (Feb 7, '08)

No cooling China's economic engine
The blizzards that have knocked out chunks of China's industry and wrecked the holidays of millions of workers will likely prove merely a storm in a teacup when it comes to their effect on the country's runaway economic growth. - Zhou Jiangong (Feb 7, '08)

Profits high from China's online 'opium'
A government warning that online gaming is a form of spiritual opium has failed to halt China's millions of players entering fantasy worlds and driving up the profits of the game providers. - Catherine Jiang (Feb 6, '08)

India's Suzlon catches wind in China
China's determination to use more wind-generated power is pulling it ahead of India in the newly popular sector. It is also creating openings for Suzlon and other companies based across the Himalayas. - Pallavi Aiyar (Feb 6, '08)

SUN WUKONG
Protection(ism) against the big freeze
Heavy snowstorms have helped expose a flaw in China's efforts to hold down food prices, as authorities in the free-wheeling city of Guangzhou make a pig's dinner of market forces. - Wu Zhong (Feb 5, '08)

China's aviation in take-off mode
Links with Boeing and Airbus have helped leaders of China's aviation industry recognize key tricks of the trade, from Six Sigma methodology to customer service. Amid continuing restructuring, an indigenous rival may be ready within 20 years to take on the Western giants. (Feb 4, '08)

Last call for Guangdong shoemakers
Shoemakers in China's richest province are among thousands of businesses forced to close under the weight of rising costs and government pressure to modernize business in Guangdong. - Olivia Chung (Feb 4, '08)

Fund pioneer quits China bull ring
A pioneering mainland China fund manager is taking a lone path once more - by turning his back on what many in the business still believe is a bull market with legs.- Candy Zeng (Jan 31, '08)

Macau adds up gambling debts
Macau, growing fat on a casino boom, is starting to look beyond the mainland and gambling for future business. Some folk, though, are looking at the city itself, and are wondering if more than cash has been thrown away with the gambling chips. - Muhammad Cohen (Jan 30, '08)

Inflation gloom in China snow chaos
China's worst snow storms in 50 years may help to drive up inflation, say analysts. Stranded travelers bear witness to that, as hard-won wages disappear to buy rail-station lunch boxes and bus fares home. - Catherine Jiang and Olivia Chung (Jan 29, '08)

Price freezes squeeze Chinese farmers
A government-imposed freeze on prices for household necessities is welcomed by urban consumers. Yet the bulk of China's population lives in rural areas, where farmers are finding little relief from rising wages and other costs. (Jan 28, '08)

China's small banks head to market
China's city-based banks, though dwarfed by financial behemoths such as ICBC, are riding the country's wave of prosperity by cashing in on their local-market knowledge. Now they aim to soak up cash sloshing around in savings accounts by selling shares. - Olivia Chung (Jan 25, '08)

China: Partner or predator in Africa?
China's links with Africa, frequently portrayed as imperial or in conflict with US interests, in fact present a huge opportunity for all parties involved. Along with strategic targeting of aid, African governments hold the key if they improve laws and regulations and ensure technology transfer in deals with foreign firms. - (Jan 24, '08)

China expansion fastest in 13 years
Slowing economic growth towards the end of last year may indicate that government efforts to rein in the Chinese economy are starting to bite. Even so, GDP growth of 11.4% in 2007 was the fastest since 1994. - John Ng (Jan 24, '08)

SUN WUKONG
China investors face taxing challenge
Overseas businessmen in China familiar with the rule of law in their home countries can have a tough time coming to terms with the ways of local Chinese officials. The results can deter investments in the areas that need it most. - Wu Zhong (Jan 23, '08)

Angel savaged by Hong Kong bears
The upturn in Hong Kong and other Asian stock prices after the overnight US interest rate cut came too late to save numerous retail investors caught in the market stampede.
- Olivia Chung (Jan 23, '08)

China sees opportunity in US recession
A recession in the United States could have negative effects on the booming Chinese economy. Yet the present crisis also creates opportunities for China's banks and other businesses, flush with cash, to buy overseas assets. And influence US political backrooms at the same time. (Jan 23, '08)

China's SOEs brave declining markets
China Coal is leading a parade of large companies selling shares into mainland stock markets that last year lapped up record-setting IPOs. The latest sales may help to soak up excessive liquidity, but similar demand is not guaranteed. - John Ng (Jan 22, '08)

China's short-term price fix
Chinese consumers may welcome the latest efforts by the government to rein in the rising cost of food and other necessities, but analysts warn that any slowdown in price rises will be a temporary affair. - Olivia Chung (Jan 18, '08)

China tightens squeeze on economy
The Chinese government has imposed a range of price controls on essential products and for the 11th time in barely a year raised the reserve ratio for commercial banks as it continues its efforts to rein in the economy. (Jan 17, '08)

Labor law strengthens Chinese union
China's Labor Contract Law, introduced on January 1, joins a litany of legislation designed to protect workers' rights and interests, while on the factory floor these remain precarious and are routinely ignored or violated by management. Even so, the new law presents an opportunity to create a genuine and effective collective bargaining system. (Jan 17, '08)

Sour market looks sweet to China's developers
Chinese property developers are lining up to build on US$7 billion raised through share sales in Hong Kong last year, even as share prices plunge and government measures to rein in the property market start to bite. - Olivia Chung (Jan 16, '08)

SPEAKING FREELY
Investing in China: Fool's gold?
The enthusiasm of US investors to pour money into China belies the differing histories of the two countries. China, its take on the present colored by precedents such as the opium wars, is not of a mind to let foreigners take profits made in the domestic market out of the country. Variations on the theme abound. - Thomas I Palley (Jan 15, '08)

China's yuan, trade surplus climb
China's currency continues to hit new highs after foreign exchange reserves passed US$1.5 trillion and the country's trade surplus jumped almost 50% in 2007 from a year earlier. Slowing export growth towards the end of last year won't halt demands from the US for an even stronger yuan. (Jan 14, '08)

China imposes price freeze to curb inflation
As Chinese consumers contend with rising costs for basic necessities, particularly food, the government this week imposed a price freeze on gas, water and public transport and pledged to impose severe penalties on companies that raised prices without approval. (Jan 10, '08)

No holding back China IPO market
After a year in which mainland China topped New York and London in money raised through initial public offerings, the domestic markets are set for an even stronger 12 months, particularly if the government gives the go-ahead to Shanghai listings by China Mobile and other overseas incorporated Chinese companies. - Olivia Chung (Jan 9, '08)

SUN WUKONG
Shanghai breaks with
market principles
Shanghai, a key player in China's dramatic transformation into a capitalist economy, is moving to ban Chinese who come from elsewhere in the country from buying housing in the city. The action flies in the face of free-market principles and Beijing, an opponent of protectionism in international business, should crack down on it at home. - Wu Zhong (Jan 8, '08)

Experimental drugs flourish in China
Critically ill foreigners are turning to China for potential cures as the country moves to the front of the global biotechnology industry with drugs and gene therapy treatments unavailable elsewhere. The progress is linked to an absence of clinical trials and a regulatory environment that falls short of Western standards. (Jan 8, '08)

QDII funds get bite of China's A-shares
A scheme designed to give Chinese retail investors a chance to put money into overseas stocks and bonds will now give access to the country's super-charged yuan-denominated A-shares. Some commentators claim the change is ridiculous, even as the scheme will also be expanded outside China beyond the present limit of Hong Kong. - Olivia Chung (Jan 7, '08)

China's consumers let the side down
A tearaway economy means Chinese consumers have never had it so good in terms of choice or cash to spend. Yet the country's shoppers are disappointing a government keen to see their spending as a counterbalance in the economy to overseas trade. Instead, they are holding back in the face of ever higher prices for housing and basics such as food. And then there is the attraction of the stock market. (Jan 7, '08)
 
SUN WUKONG
Jitters for Hu before
the big party
President Hu Jintao has emerged from the shadow of predecessor Jiang Zemin in time to celebrate China's 30 years of surging economic growth and play host to the world at the Beijing Summer Olympic Games in August. By then, his government and its key institutions will have undergone a bureaucratic revolution of their own. It should be party time - but Hu faces a nervous 12 months before the year and his leadership can be billed a success. - Wu Zhong (Jan 3, '08)

China piles up interest
China's latest interest rate hike was made against a much more complicated background than five previous rounds of increases. As the yuan continues to appreciate against the US dollar, the latest move means more capital will flow into the country, which could add to already excessive liquidity even while making it more expensive for banks to hand out loans. (Jan 3, '08)

Tax bonus for China's low earners
Fast economic growth has helped to pile up cash in central government coffers more than expected. Beijing has decided that the beneficiaries should include the country's low earners, who have been hit particularly hard in the past year by rising food prices. (Jan 2, '08)

China wages a cool war
The government in Beijing finished the year as it started, raising interest rates as of December 21 and earlier in the month increasing the bank reserve requirement ratio in a bid to cool an economy threatening to boil over. Expect more of the same in 2008. - Olivia Chung (Dec 21, '07)

China's auto industry cleans up its act
The infamously noxious air that shrouds China's cities may be clearing as automakers gear up production of hybrid-powered vehicles. Already, a major Chinese company has teamed up with the government to purchase a high-tech car engine plant in Brazil from auto giants DaimlerChrysler and BMW. - Daniel Allen (Dec 20, '07)

Beijing builds up business with Arab world
The recent visit to Beijing by a senior Jordanian trade official underlines China's growing links with the Middle East. Trade between the country and the Arab world could double over the next two years, driven by China's energy needs and its business community's hunger to develop overseas markets. (Dec 20, '07)

International vendors in lap of China luxury
China's growing coterie of hugely wealthy individuals is attracting the attention of international suppliers of top-end products and services, from banks such as Standard Chartered to automakers Porsche and Ferrari. Barring economic upsets, the size of their potential customer base, already the world's fifth largest, looks set only to grow. - Olivia Chung (Dec 19, '07)

SPEAKING FREELY
Christmas is made in China
The festive season and its plethora of gift-giving brings its own special messages on the state of the global economy. Most loudly, the tags make it clear China is home to Santa Claus's workshop; less obvious amongst the wrappings is the question of whether the US can restore the values that were once that country's hallmark. - Lester R Brown (Dec 19, '07)

China rubber demand stretches Laos
Chinese investors are pouring money into developing rubber plantations across Laos. Local farmers benefit, earning as much as eight times the profit they would get from opium production. At the same time, forests are being cleared in an unsustainable manner, land-use rights are trodden on and control over the industry is left in the hand of foreigners. - Brian McCartan (Dec 18, '07)

China deepens ties with Pakistan
The opening of Pak-China Investment Co offices in Karachi this week aims to help the two countries expand business ties and triple bilateral trade to US$15 billion in the next five years. The murder of several Chinese workers in Pakistan over the past three years looks like holding back potential deals. - Syed Fazl-e-Haider (Dec 18, '07)

'Property flu' floors China's housing market
Real estate companies are falling like dominoes as China's property market begins to retreat in the face of the central government's credit-tightening controls. The most visible victim (and villain) is a Shenzhen property mogul who vanished in November, allegedly leaving an estimated US$23 million deficit and a slew of shuttered businesses. - Candy Zeng (Dec 17, '07)

Foreign deals scare Taiwan banks
With HSBC's recent acquisition of Taiwan's debt-burdened Chinese Bank, the stakes are higher for Taiwanese banks to meet and beat new foreign competitors, who include ABN Amro Holding, Standard Chartered and Citigroup. The foreigners ultimately have China's lucrative market in their sights, but unless Taiwan banks can raise their game, they may be left in the dust. (Dec 17, '07)

China triumphant after US talks
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson left the latest round of Sino-US economic talks in Beijing with a bagful of agreements, yet he could claim little progress on key issues. The Chinese side was more upbeat after handing out promises on opening the country's stock market along with stern words on how Beijing intended to handle the value of its currency.- John Ng (Dec 14, '07)

A stock crash is just what China needs
Oversight of corporate governance in China plays second fiddle to political considerations and the legal system offers little help to those minority shareholders with grievances. A crash, long predicted, in the Chinese stock markets may help to change all that. - Sheridan Prasso (Dec 14, '07)

CHAN AKYA
Inflation - China's lost battle
China has lost its battle with inflation, recording the highest figures in recent history last month. In the face of burgeoning domestic demand, the inability of Chinese authorities to control money supply lies at the heart of the matter. Lacking policy will, the authorities are also losing credibility with their people, which will result in greater social unrest next year. (Dec 14, '07)

China's labor law a last straw for Taiwanese
China's new labor law, considered one of the world's strictest, is driving away Taiwanese investors. Along with formalizing workers’ rights on overtime, pensions and layoffs, the law expands the role of trade unions and is estimated to increase operational costs about 30%. That's too much for the Taiwanese, and many entrereneurs in the exodus are considering new investment destinations, including a return home. - Ting-I Tsai (Dec 13, '07)

Sino silence in subprime swamp
China has emerged as a leading and growing buyer of US debt, notably bonds linked to the troubled American housing market. Yet as world markets are roiled to the point of seizure by the subprime mortgage crisis, the Middle Kingdom remains silent over the scale of its holdings, the risk of huge losses they entail, and why it continues its purchases as the value of the US dollar slides. - Max Fraad Wolff (Dec 13, '07)

SUN WUKONG
Pig turns to bullish in China market
Where most stock markets are a continuous struggle between bulls and bears, investors in China have to keep an eye out for the Pig, the too-frequently visible hand of the government and its acolytes as they try to guide prices towards what they see as a healthy level - determined by social concerns as much as market economics. - Wu Zhong (Dec 11, '07)

China eases markets before US meetings
China has trebled the size of quotas granted to foreign institutions seeking to invest in its stock markets. The move comes ahead of important trade and economy meetings with the United States at which China can expect demands for more action to limit the size of its trade surplus and that it open up more to overseas interests. (Dec 11, '07)

China tries a harder liquidity squeeze
Chinese commercial banks will have to salt away more money following the central bank's weekend announcement of a rise in their key reserve requirement ratio. The increase, in advance of the usual start-of-year credit boom, is double this year's nine previous hikes as the government fights to hold back inflation. (Dec 10, '07)

Chinese face up to plastic-free shopping
Shops in the booming Chinese city of Shenzhen this year will hand out almost 2 billion plastic bags that could take 200 years and more to decompose. Concerned authorities claim support for a ban on the giveaways, even as inflation-hit residents say this will add to their living costs. (Dec 7, '07)

Shenzhen nuzzles closer to Hong Kong
The booming city at the forefront of China's involvement with global business over the past 20 years has officially put development of closer ties with neighbor Hong Kong at the core of its plans for the future. A common capital market is one feature of the proposed twin city, despite obvious obstacles such as currency controls in the mainland. - Olivia Chung (Dec 6, '07)

China to tighten monetary policy
Rising inflation and fears of an overheating economy have encouraged a key annual government meeting to change China's "prudently expansionary" monetary policy of the past decade to "tight". Fiscal policy will remain unchanged as the government continues to pay for major construction projects, economic restructuring and the cost of meeting environmental goals. (Dec 6, '07)

China's new banking charges need rethink
The country's central bank thought it could cut commercial-banking queues by allowing customers to carry out transactions at the bank and outlet of their choice, independent of where their account is held. Instead, high charges imposed by China's dominant lenders have frustrated the initiative and left clients with little choice but to pay up - or keep on waiting. (Dec 5, '07)

THE BEAR'S LAIR
The coming China crash
The investment strategy of its recently created sovereign wealth fund exposes the fault line at the core of China's economy - the absence of a rational system of capital allocation that has resulted in bad debts on a scale matching the country's US$1.3 trillion in foreign reserves. Come the inevitable liquidity crisis, Beijing faces the prospect of years of low growth or a similarly long period of economic collapse. - Martin Hutchinson (Dec 4, '07)

China's foreigners kept hungry for real estate
More than 100,000 foreigners live in Beijing but recent regulations are making it difficult for them to capitalize on demand for accommodation in an otherwise increasingly internationalized city. (Dec 4, '07)

China's toddler tycoons
China's booming stock market is benefiting not only neophyte adult investors, but also children as young as five. Due to the vagaries of the legal and economic systems, the identities of the adults behind these youngsters aren't known or even required to be disclosed. But some individual brokerage houses are drawing the line and requiring full disclosure. - Catherine Jiang (Dec 3, '07)

US-China trade: A smile and a grimace
Beijing's decision to repeal a slew of tax breaks and subsidies for exporters has given US trade officials something to smile about. But as the move will also affect firms in which foreigners hold a stake, at least some of the cost will be borne by US investors and partners. (Dec 3, '07)

China looks warily at mineral merger
A possible merger of mining giants between Australia's BHP and Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto gives mineral-and-energy hungry China the jitters over the likelihood of a supplier that could call the shots for contracts and prices. Certainly, if a merger is created, the tables will be turned, but not necessarily for too long. - Andrew Symon (Nov 29, '07)

China shares take hit from tax fears
A new tax return form has reignited fears among more affluent Chinese that their government, keen to rein in booming property and stock markets, may tax capital gains. The prospect of the taxman taking his cut has helped to depress stock prices. Yet a survey claims most of the country's small share investors made a loss over the past year. - Olivia Chung (Nov 29, '07)

HK and the hookah of Islamic investment
The launch of the Hang Seng Islamic China Index Fund marks Hong Kong's entry into the world of Islamic banking. The benefits of tapping into the billions of dollars of oil revenues that are flowing into the Muslim world could be huge. But the city still lags rivals in embracing the followers of the Koran. - Kent Ewing (Nov 28, '07)

Job protection scares China's workers
A labor law passed this summer aims at protecting job security in China. In what critics claim is more than a coincidence, companies such as Huawei Technologies and Wal-Mart are rewriting contracts or axing jobs before the law comes into effect at the turn of the year. - Candy Zeng (Nov 28, '07)

SUN WUKONG
China Railway listing signals
Hong Kong's direction
The mainland China share market, marked by high valuations and volatile price movements, is increasingly influencing the direction of its more internationally flavored and Hong Kong counterpart. For better or worse, a dual-listing by China Railway Group is set to take this harmonization a stage further as it prepares to price its Shanghai stock higher than its Hong Kong listed shares. - Wu Zhong (Nov 27, '07)

China's richest province wants more
Guangdong, China's wealthiest province, is set to overtake Taiwan's gross domestic product this year, and has already outstripped two other "little dragons", Hong Kong and Singapore. Now the province has set its sights on beating South Korea, but the odds aren't good. - Olivia Chung (Nov 26, '07)

Short success an ill omen for China
With its economy surging 11% and the stock market up almost 300% this year, the figures look good for China. But demand for a fund cashing in on share-price declines could presage  the