WorldcrunchThe Economic Observer is a weekly Chinese-language newspaper founded in April 2001. It is one of the top business publications in China. The main editorial office is based in Beijing, China. Inspired by the Financial Times of Britain, the newspaper is printed on peach-colored paper.
BEIJING — When recently visiting four Central Asian countries, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the starting point of the ancient Silk Road by which China exported its silk, china and jade to Europe was his own hometown of Xi’an. He suggested that China and the Central Asia countries, with a total population of 3 […]
BEIJING — The “Hierarchy of Needs,” an influential psychological theory put forth by American psychologist Abraham Maslow, tells us that humans have different levels of needs. From the most basic physiological necessities such as water, food and sex, to love, belonging and self-actualization. It is notable that security comes in second on the hierarchy after […]
BEIJING — “Better city, better life …” This was the theme of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, a nod to the ancient Greek scholar Aristotle who understood what people expect from urban life: to make their living a better living. But what is the reality in people’s lives right now? During China’s golden week — […]
BEIJING — As a Shaolin Temple disciple since childhood, Shi Xingfeng, president of Bojing Security Agency, often has to remind himself to hide the heroic spirit that often glows from the eyes of martial arts masters. “It’s professional discipline,” Shi says. “You’ve got to learn to be an invisible bodyguard.” As a matter of fact, […]
Since the opening-up of China, the hukou system — a household registration system that basically divides citizens into urban and rural categories — has come under increasing fire. As urban citizens enjoy a range of preferential public services such as free schooling and social security, migrant workers living in the same city but with rural […]
BEIJING — In October, a tour group of 20 of China’s top tycoons will be paying a different kind of luxury visit to America. The tour is organized by Gopher Asset, an asset management firm, and the aim is for these Chinese super-rich to investigate how Single Family Offices (SFOs) operate in the United States. […]
JIANGNAN – It’s that time of a year again for Chinese crab lovers. Connoisseurs of mitten crabs, this expensive seasonal delicacy, know that the crustacean is concentrated in Jiangnan, in the southern part of the Yangtze Delta, The autumn harvesting is carried out mostly very early in the morning before sunrise. Using the crab’s phototropism, […]
It’s a weekend morning. Y, a lesbian woman, changes out of her usual masculine attire and puts on an elaborate woman’s outfit to go and visit the parents of A, a homosexual man. The visit is to inform the parents that Y and A are getting married, and hope that they will approve of their […]
-Editorial- BEIJING – At the recent International Investment Forum, Justin Lin Yifu, the former World Bank chief economist, was asked how he personally invested his money. “All my money is in the bank, in fixed deposits,” he said, before adding with a smile, “When I sleep at night, they are still earning interest for me, […]
-OpEd- BEIJING — Apple released the iPhone 5c and 5s in Beijing last week, marking the first time ever that Apple has chosen the world’s biggest market for a launch. The company seems to hope that the two new smartphones will help the brand here, where it hovers alternately between fifth and sixth place in […]
China currently has just one-fifth the number of robots as Japan, and just one-third as many as the United States, but as manufacturing there grows, the country is poised for big bot growth.
Chinese companies justify shoddy products because of fierce competition. One businessman explains why this approach is nothing but a dead end.
LONDON — This is the fourth month that Shen has promptly received the 2,600 pounds ($4,050) from his tenants. The newfound landlord bought a London flat in January, having calculated that even if he doesn’t raise the rent, he’ll be still able to pay off the down payment in just five years. Shen is but […]
As the country plans to seize farmers’ land and move them into more populous, resettled areas to drive the economy, it’s clear who the losers will be.
To dodge fines in China for violating the one-child policy and give the advantages of an American passport, many Chinese women are flying to the U.S. to give birth. But there are risks involved.
Buyer beware: both prestigious boarding schools and summer tours have major drawbacks.
BEIJING — For more than 100 years now, the food additive commonly known at MSG (monosodium glutamate) has been used all over the world to make dishes more savory. But the Chinese in particular are losing their taste for the ingredient, having embraced an irrational fear of what authorities around the world regard as a […]
How do well-known foreign brands react when unscrupulous profiteers swipe their Chinese names?
Stiffer penalties for baby traffickers are all well and good, but what China really needs is to regain its moral integrity.
The European Union has implemented a stringent new set of toy safety regulations, which could leave some Chinese manufacturers on the losing end.
Recent cases of official malfeasance in China have been exposed not by newspapers but by reporters writing on their personal microblogs.
DENGFENG – Three years ago, the local government of Dengfeng City in central Henan Province ceded their controlling stake in the “Shaoling Monastery Scenic Area” to China National Travel Service (CTS). The price was very low in order to attract greater investment, and the CTS vowed to carry out several major construction projects around the […]
BEIJING – Mengyun seems satisfied with her new bedroom, even if it’s less than seven square meters and originally served as a kitchen. “This is the biggest room I’ve ever had in the four years I’ve lived in Beijing,” she says. “And it costs me only 950 RMB ($155) per month.” Peng, the head tenant […]
BEIJING – In China, politics is something that worries and tangles up the minds of businessmen, perhaps more than others. Two recent events shed new light on what we can call the political anxiety of Chinese entrepreneurs. The first incident came after the remarks of Liu Chuanzhi, the chairman of tech giant Lenovo, during a […]
Li Tianyi, son of a famous Chinese general, is currently being tried in a case of alleged gang rape along with four of his friends. Referring to this ongoing case, Yi Yanyou, a law professor at Tsinghua University, declared on his microblog account last week: “Even if it was rape, the harm of raping a […]
–OpEd– BEIJING – China’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Zhou Qiang recently declared that any miscarriage of justice is an affront to social fairness. The Chief Justice also announced a preliminary plan for promoting independent and impartial trials, respecting and protecting the rights of lawyers, and establishing a sound mechanism for preventing and correcting wrongful convictions. […]
–OpEd– BEIJING – In the past month, China’s State Council, Central Bank and Banking Regulatory Commission have all encouraged restructuring and reforming the nation’s financial institutions with private capital so that banks can take their own risks. Though the aspiration to establish private banks isn’t new, the fact that a number of top Chinese institutions […]
-Essay- BEIJING – Lately a friend of mine was particularly busy looking for a bottle of red wine of a certain year from a certain Spanish vineyard. It took him quite a lot of time and trouble and a lot of calling in favors to find the wine and get it brought back from abroad. […]
Liu Zhijun, China’s former Railway Minister, has received a “suspended” death penalty. He may get a reprieve. But one writer says it’s time for a vengeful China to abolish executions altogether.
BEIJING – An article last month in the Beijing Evening News declared that: “one-third of news going viral on microblogs are rumors.” Referring to a survey called China New Media Development Report, 2013, the article cited the “chaos” of China’s microblogging platforms. Since then, this form of media has received a wave of mainstream attention […]
BEIJING – Rupert Murdoch has filed for divorce from his wife, Wendi Deng, and the Chinese media is watching with great attentioin whether their ambitious female compatriot is going to get her share of the cake from her fabulously rich ex-husband. It’s likely though that many will be disappointed since it was disclosed long ago […]
TAIPEI – It was at 10 p.m., after she had attended yet another social event, that Lu Yuexiang was finally able to meet us at the restaurant. Lu, 48, is the chairperson of the Chinese Production Party, which she founded in 2010 to fight for the rights of mainland-Chinese immigrants in Taiwan. The party, which […]
Decades of unbridled industrialization has left much of China’s soil badly contaminated. Some are set to make millions cleaning it up.
-Op-Ed- BEIJING – It would seem that police brutality is not just for ordinary – powerless – citizens in China. A policewoman from central China’s Henan Province was recently arrested when visiting her daughter in the provincial capital Zhengzhou. Mistakenly accused of being sex workers, the woman and her daughter were beaten, tortured and detained […]
Since the 2008 melamine-tainted milk scandal, little has changed in the Chinese dairy industry. Interest groups and nationalism are to blame.
A school sex-abuse scandal has reignited concern for those left most vulnerable by China’s rapid migration and industrial expansion.
BEIJING – Who are the happiest people in China? In a survey conducted by Xiaokang (meaning basically well-off) magazine last year, in the eyes of the public, civil servant comes top of the list as a profession. However, the newly published 2012 China Workplace Mental Health Research Report has shown that officials’ own sense of […]
A recent visit to Beijing by a top Pyongyang envoy may be the precursor to reigniting of negotiations between the two Koreas. Eyes now on Xi Jinping’s visit with Barack Obama.
The first generation of entrepreneurs who built their businesses after the 1978 Chinese economic reform are giving way to their children, just as resentment against the rich explodes.
By 2015, Hunan Province alone plans to build seven new airports, joining the existing five that are losing money each year. What’s driving the boom.