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learn mandarin – Typhoon Lionrock makes landfall in east China’s Fujian

chinmanbjcn — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 08:21:24 +0000

An advertisement board totters in gale at a crossing of Jiuzhen Township of Zhangpu County, southeast China’s Fujian province, Sept. 2, 2010. Tropical storm Lionrock, the eighth of this year, made landfall on Fujian early Thursday morning. Under the impact of Lionrock, torrential rain was seen along the coast of Zhangzhou City, and the rain was the heaviest in Dongshan and Zhangpu counties. (Xinhua/Jiang Kehong)

Tropical storm Lionrock, the eighth of this year, made landfall on east China’s Fujian Province early Thursday morning, local meteorologists said.

The storm landed at Gulei Town of Zhangpu County at around 6:50 a.m. with a speed of 82.8 km per hour near its center.

Under the impact of Lionrock, torrential rain was seen along the coast of Zhangzhou City, and the rain was the heaviest in Dongshan and Zhangpu counties.

No casualties have been reported.

Local meteorologists have warned residents of mudflows and landslides that might be triggered by the tropical storm.

The meteorologists forecast that rainfalls would be up to 100 to 200 mm in Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, Xiamen and Putian cities of Fujian from Thursday to Friday.

By 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, 162,200 people in the province had been evacuated to safe places, and 50,703 fishing ships had been back to harbors.

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learn Chinese online – S Korea’s trade surplus tops 2.07 bln USD in August

chinmanbjcn — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:16:21 +0000

South Korea’s trade surplus marked 2.07 billion U.S. dollars in August, standing in positive territory for the seventh consecutive month, a government report showed Wednesday.

The trade surplus, however, more than halved from July when the figure posted 5.51 billion U.S. dollars, according to the report by the Ministry of Knowledge Ministry.

While exports rose 29.6 percent year-on-year to 37.52 billion U. S. dollars, imports climbed 29.3 percent to 35.45 billion U.S. dollars, the report showed.

Most sectors saw a gain in exports, with semiconductor and car part exporters saw outbound shipments spike 59.6 percent and 60 percent, respectively, in addition to automobile exports that expanded 27.5 percent on year.

Imports, on the other hand, rose on a gain in the nation’s purchase of natural resources, the report showed.

In the first half of 2010, South Korea was ranked the seventh- largest exporter in the world, rising two notches from a year ago, following China, the U.S., Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and France.

For the whole year, South Korea is expected to post a surplus of 32 billion U.S. dollars.

learn Chinese – Chinese official urges development of Chinese brands for export

chinmanbjcn — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:15:56 +0000

China needs to raise the proportion of Chinese brands in its exports, to improve the nation’s trade quality and efficiency, a senior official said here Wednesday.

Chinese brands make up less than 10 percent of China’s exports, said Fu Shuangjian, deputy director at the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), at the 2010 China Trademark Annual Meeting, which kicked off Wednesday in Xining, capital city of west China’s Qinghai Province.

Excluding overseas invested companies, less than 20 percent of Chinese exporters have registered trademarks in China, while less than 5 percent have registered trademarks abroad, said Fu.

China exports products across the world, but they are often low value-added products, added Fu.

Chinese exporters are weak at product development and marketing, said Li Shunde, a law scholar who heads the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Intellectual Property Research Center.

China is encouraging domestic companies to file more international trademark applications, to compete in the global market and better protect its trademark rights.

The SAIC will boost efforts to protect trademarks at home, and it will also encourage domestic companies to buy foreign trademarks and have their own brands registered overseas, Fu added.

China’s exports grew 38.1 percent in July to 145.5 billion U.S. dollars, according to the General Administration of Customs. The growth rate was above the 35.2-percent growth rate of June.

learn Chinese online – Japan central bank relaxes monetary grip at extraordinary meeting

chinmanbjcn — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:36:45 +0000

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) on Monday eased its monetary policy at an extraordinary policy board meeting on Monday.

The Japanese central bank decided to keep its key interest rate steady at 0.1 percent at the meeting.

The BOJ will also expand its lending program of three-month loans by unveiling a fresh 10 trillion yen six-month low-interest loan program to financial institutions. Consequently, the total loan amount will reach 30 trillion yen (about 350.55 billion U.S. dollars).

The meeting came at a time when the government is widely expected to announce an outline of a new stimulus package possibly as early as Tuesday in a bid to parry the yen’s rise.

BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa cut short a trip to the U.S. and returned to Tokyo on Sunday, a day earlier than originally scheduled, for the hastily convened gathering.

The country remains under pressure to safeguard its fragile recovery, with weak gross domestic product growth of an annualized 0.4 percent in the second quarter pointing to a slowdown.

Economists suggest that such measures will help to lower interest rates in the market place and steady the yen at a rate that isn’t pummeling Japanese exporters.

TOKYO, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) — Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on Friday that the government would approve basic policy for fresh stimulus measures.

Kan told reporters that Japan would take “decisive action” when necessary against excessive currency fluctuations, Kyodo News reported. Full story

Japan’s jobless rate falls for 1st time in 6 months

TOKYO, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) — Japan’s jobless rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 5.2 percent in July from 5.3 percent the previous month, dropping for the first time in six months, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a preliminary report on Friday.

According to the data the number of jobless people stood at 3. 31 million, down 28,000 from the same time a year earlier, as more jobs became available in the recording month. Full story

Japan’s CPI falls 1.1% in July for 17th straight month

TOKYO, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) — Japan’s consumer price index (CPI) fell 1.1 percent in July from a year earlier, marking the 17th straight month of decline, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a preliminary report on Friday.

According to the report, the core CPI stood at 99.0 against the base of 100 for 2005, in the recording month and in Tokyo’s 23 wards specifically the core CPI fell 1.1 percent from a year before in August. Full

learn Chinese – China’s listed banks first-half net profit up 46 pct

chinmanbjcn — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:34:39 +0000

China’s listed banks reported a 45.67-percent rise in combined net profits year on year during the first half.

Combined net profits of the 16 listed banks reached 343.4 billion yuan (50.5 billion U.S. dollars), according to figures in their first-half business reports released by the banks.

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPD) said late Sunday in a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange that its first-half net profits rose 33.92 percent due largely to a lending boom and increased commission fees, reaching 9.08 billion yuan.

Bank of Beijing announced Sunday its first-half net profit jumped 33.47 percent year on year to hit 3.9 billion yuan.

Of the 16 listed banks, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Construction Bank (CCB), Bank of China (BOC), and Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), or the “big four” commercial banks, accounted for 74.5 percent of the total net profits, with ICBC being the top earner reporting 84.6 billion yuan of net profit.

Three other banks, including the Bank of Communications, China Merchants Bank, and China CITIC Bank, had reported net profits exceeding 10 billion yuan each.

Chinese School – China’s stocks rally, led by commodity,consumer companies

chinmanbjcn — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:34:04 +0000

Chinese shares advanced the most in two weeks on Monday, led by the strong performance of commodity and consumer stocks.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed at 2,652.66, up 41.92 points, or 1.61 percent.

The Shenzhen Component Index increased 268.59 points, or 2.43 percent, to end at 11,303.33.

Combined turnover expanded to 238.21 billion yuan (35.02 billion U.S. dollars) from 155.5 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

Gainers outnumbered losers by 851 to 18 in Shanghai and 1013 to 18 in Shenzhen.

learn Chinese – S. Korea’s current account surplus rises to 16-month high in July

chinmanbjcn — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 09:22:17 +0000

South Korea’s current account surplus in July hit a 16-month high on the back of record-high ship exports, the central bank said Friday.

According to the Bank of Korea (BOK), South Korea’s current account posted a surplus of 5.88 billion U.S. dollars in July, compared with a revised 5.1 billion U.S. dollar surplus a month ago.

The July figure stood at the highest level since the nation saw a surplus of 6.64 billion U.S. dollars in March 2009.

South Korea’s current account stood in positive territory for the sixth straight month, with a combined surplus of 17.6 billion U.S. dollars for the first seven months of this year.

The sharp gain owes much to strong exports, with goods balance posting a record surplus of 7.38 billion U.S. dollars, up from 6. 41 billion U.S. dollars a month ago.

The service account, however, marked a deficit of 1.66 billion U.S. dollars, similar to June’s 1.67 billion U.S. dollar deficit, mostly due to an increase in South Koreans’ overseas trips.

While the capital account posted a net outflow amounting to 47. 3 million U.S. dollars, the portfolio investment account marked an 8.63 billion U.S. dollar net inflow during the cited period, the BOK said.

For the whole year, the BOK predicted the current account surplus to top around 21 billion U.S. dollars, revising up its earlier projection of 10.5 billion U.S. dollars on the back of robust exports.

Thanks to brisk trade conditions, the South Korean economy grew 7.6 percent in the first half of 2010 from a year earlier.

Chinese School – ICBC to raise 25 bln yuan in convertible bonds next week

chinmanbjcn — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:20:47 +0000

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) said Thursday it is to issue 25 billion yuan (3.68 billion U.S. dollars) of convertible bonds next Tuesday.

The bonds convertible into yuan-denominated Shanghai-listed A shares will be six years in term from Aug. 31 2010 to Aug. 31 2016, said a statement by the ICBC to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The bonds are priced 4.2 yuan per share and the interests rate will be 0.5 percent in the first year, 0.7 percent in the second year, 0.9 percent in the third year, 1.1 percent in the fourth year, 1.4 percent in the fifth year and 1.8 percent in the sixth year.

The funds will be used to reinforce the lender’s capital, the statement said.

The bank’s capital adequacy ratio (CAR) was 11.98 percent by the end of the first quarter and the core CAR was 9.58 percent.

The lender’s shares opened slightly up Thursday at 4.09 yuan per share in Shanghai.

Chinese language – Philippine president admits negative impact of hostage crisis on economy

chinmanbjcn — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:33:37 +0000

MANILA, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) — Philippine President Benigno Aquino III admitted on Wednesday the negative impact of Monday’s hostage- taking incident on Philippines’ economy.

Aquino, however, expressed optimism that the incident would not have a long-term effect on the country’s economy, particularly on the tourism industry.

“Well, it (tragedy) will impact negatively,” he told reporters at a press conference held at the presidential palace on Wednesday.

The president also tasked the Department of Tourism to “re- engender the confidence of tourists” on the Philippines.

There were reports that some tourists have canceled their trips to the Philippines following the hostage-taking incident, in which eight tourists from Hong Kong died.

The government is targeting an economic growth of 5 percent to 6 percent for this year.

MANILA, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) — Philippine Vice-President Jejomar Binay and Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo will go to Beijing to submit a report on the hostage incident after investigation is over, said Philippine President Benigno Aquino III Tuesday.

Aquino made the promise at Tuesday’s meeting with Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao. Full story

Chinese President, Premier offer condolences for Hong Kong victims of hostage crisis

BEIJING, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday expressed their condolences to the families of the eight Hong Kong tourists killed in a hostage crisis in the Philippines.

In a joint letter to Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, chief executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Hu and Wen expressed their deep sorrow for the families of those killed and consolation for the injured.

China Travel – Ukraine postpones immediate grain export quotas

chinmanbjcn — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:31:39 +0000

KIEV, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) — The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine does not plan to introduce quotas on grain exports in the immediate future, Minister of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine Mykola Prysiazhniuk said Wednesday before the Cabinet’s meeting.

Asked by reporters whether the government would introduce quotas for the 2010/11 season as had been announced earlier, Prysyazhnyuk said “not yet” .

“This issue is not on the agenda of today’s Cabinet meeting,” he told reporters.

The possibility of introducing export quotas will depend on the volume of exports, the minister added later.

It was earlier reported that the Cabinet was considering the introduction of quotas in the amount of 1 million tons for barley and 1.5 million tons for wheat by the end of 2010 due to fears of a domestic food shortage.

Ukraine, one of the world’s top grain exporters, had exported about 3.0 million tones of grain this marketing year (July 2010/June 2011), including about 700,000 tonnes in July, while the figure was a total of 4.0 million tones in July-August 2009.

Ukraine’s grain harvests have been hit by severe frosts in the winter and a torrid summer.

Meanwhile, analysts said the main factor that stabilized the world grain market is improving of weather conditions in Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan which create normal conditions for planting of winter grains.