China cuts interest rates again to spur economic growth

[tonbridgebrit]

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/hysteria-over-china-become-ridiculous-205736987.html

"So let us return to reality. The economic facts are in plain view. China is not slowing. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) is picking itself up slowly after a "recession" in early 2015.

Car (HKSE: 0699-OL.HK - news) sales give us a steer. They collapsed early last year and touched bottom at 1.27m in July. Sales have been rising every month since, surging to a record 2.44m in December thanks to lower taxes. New (KOSDAQ: 160550.KQ - news) registrations were up by 37pc for GM (NYSE: GM - news) and 36pc for Ford and Mercedes (Xetra: 710000 - news) .

House prices have been climbing for three months. The nationwide index was up 1.6pc in December. Shanghai rose 15.5pc and Shenzhen 47pc. Even (Taiwan OTC: 6436.TWO - news) the "Tier 3 and 4" cities are coming back from an epic glut.

The economy did indeed hit a brick wall early last year due to a fiscal shock and ferocious monetary tightening (passive) in late 2014. That was the time to lambast the Chinese authorities for errors of judgment, and some of us did so."


(this is from the much respected Daily Telegraph newspaper from Britain).

[thaibeachlovers]

Replying to #420 ( too long to quote ).

No need to fret, your Boyz only need to insist that everyone in China buy whatever they make ( or be shot for being unpatriotic ) regardless if they can afford it or not. If a few million starve, so what- they are only peasants.

Thailand sells loads of cars, despite the people not being able to afford them, and they don't shoot people. So, how hard can it be for the Boyz!

[tonbridgebrit]

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-yuan-fall-further-no-085933553.html


"REUTERS - The Chinese yuan will slide to a multi-year low in the coming 12 months based on expectations of more monetary policy easing, continued outflows of capital and further pressure from a relatively strong dollar, according to a Reuters poll.

But the survey of over 50 currency strategists taken this week suggested a sharp depreciation of the yuan, at least by June, was unlikely."

"The yuan, also known as the renminbi, has lost over 1 percent so far this year and is down almost 6 percent since early August, when the People's Bank of China devalued it."



Oh, so the Chinese yuan has lost over 1 percent so far this year !!!!!
And 6 percent since early August !!!!!
How much have we all lost against the Japanese yen so far this year ? How much since early August ?

[Publicus]

Caixin Insight Group in Beijing is an independent market analysis company that does nevertheless have occasional runs-in with the CCP Boyz, one of their analysis having been arrested toward the end of last year.

Caixin is reliable, credible. So here is from Caixin Chief Economist Dr. He Fan...

"The Caixin China General Manufacturing PMI for December is 48.2, down 0.4 points from the reading for November. This shows that the forces driving an economic recovery have encountered obstacles and the economy is facing a greater risk of weakening.

"The government needs to pay more attention to external risk factors in the short term and fine-tune macroeconomic policies accordingly so the economy does not fall off a cliff. It needs to simultaneously push forward the supply-side reform to release its potential and reap the benefits."

https://tenkofx.com/en/analytics/forex_news/forex/China_Caixin_Dec_PMI_continued_to_deteriorate_in_December/

PMI of 50.0 is neutral while > shows growth and < shows recession/depression. The past seven quarters CCP China PMI at Caixin and everywhere else too has been below 50.0. That at the minimum is a solid undeniable recession in PMI.

Speaking of the yuan and the CCP forex reserves, in January the party's People's Bank of China sold off more forex to the tune of $140 bn. This brings the CCP forex reserves down to $3.19 Trillion.

As reported....

"China's foreign reserves were reduced by $512.6 billion for the whole year of 2015 to $3.33 trillion. In terms of absolute amount, this is still the world's largest. Analysts said, however, what's worrisome is the speed with which the balance is declining due to investors' concerns about the economy's health.

"The Barclays report said, 'The fact that the foreign reserves balance declined by a large margin implies the flight of foreign investment money out of China is accelerating, which in turn will put a pressure on the yuan's depreciation'."

http://english.hankyung.com/news/apps/news.view?c1=01&nkey=201602061004191

There are btw eight major or prominent currencies that are more easily tradable than the yuan: USD, Euro, Yen, GBP, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar, Australian and also the NZ Dollar respectively, South African Rand. Then comes the RMB/Yuan.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/08/top-8-currencies-to-know.asp

[Publicus]

CCP Boyz have been playing fast and loose with their foreign reserves. Global markets are getting very nervous about it.

Based on US Treasury Department tracking of CCP foreign reserve activity, from purchasing to holdings in trust to sales, $1 Trillion is missing in Beijing.

The conclusion comes from the Treasury Department's analysis of the CCP foreign exchange account versus the foreign currencies stash in the People's Bank of China which is the (party's personal) central bank.

As of July last year, the forex reserve totaled $3.65 Trillion. Yet the PBOC foreign currencies account showed a greater value of $4.31 Trillion.

Presently, after CCP Boyz moved $513 billion of forex last year, and another $99.5 billion in January, its official foreign reserves are at $3.32 Trillion. That is a reported trillion dollar difference in the same account ($4.3 Trillion vs $3.3 Trillion).

The obvious conclusion is that the CCP Boyz have been engaged in unreported clandestine activities involving the forex account. Global markets which have already been shaken by the series of crises throughout last year are now worried CCP's buffer of forex is not true or reliable either.

US Treasury Dept knows what it sells to whom when. It tracks the activities of Beijing purchased treasuries (all treasuries of everyone or government) via Euroclear based in Belgium and by banking trust activities in Switzerland where CCP purchased treasuries are held in trust (CCP doesn't actually have 'em in China).

So where is the $1 Trillion that is unaccounted for? Here's the current analysis....

"Market players are becoming increasingly concerned that China's foreign reserves might have been shifted to sovereign wealth funds and other financial instruments for unexplained purposes. Reserves have also been used to finance the China-led Silk Road Fund and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

"China has aggressively invested in resource development in Africa and Latin America over the past decade or so, which may account for some of the missing cash.

"The recent collapse of global commodity prices threatens the profitability of these African and Latin American projects. A substantial chunk of this investment must have been been wasted. That raises questions about whether the numbers on China's foreign reserves and the central bank's foreign-denominated assets are also being fudged.

"The European sovereign debt crisis began with Greece's effort to hide its fiscal deficits. Doubts about the level of China's foreign reserves could spark new a financial crisis. Financial market watchers will be keeping a close eye on whether China is unloading U.S. Treasurys."

http://asia.nikkei.com/Features/Market-Turmoil/Does-China-really-have-3.6tn-in-foreign-reserves?page=1

Additionally, US TreasDept has for the first time revealed the CCP forex reserve had a record high of $1.8 Trillion of treasuries, in June 2014, but that the amount is now some $900 billion.

"If reserves [currency] represent a significant war chest, the pace at which they are melting in recent months is just bad", said Rajiv Biswas, an analyst at IHS Global Insight in Bloomberg News.

http://theinsidekorea.com/2016/02/09/china-foreign-reserves-fall-99-5-billion-in-january/

Edited February 19, 2016 by Publicus

[tonbridgebrit]

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/china-crude-oil-imports-hit-045314184.html



"China's February crude oil imports jumped 20 percent on year to their highest ever on a daily basis, as prices at their lowest in more than a decade drove buying from a group of new importers and state and commercial stockpiling.

The world's second-largest oil consumer imported 31.80 million tonnes of crude last month, or a record 8.0 million barrels per day (bpd), data from China's General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday."

Right, so China is now importing a record amount of crude oil. It's 20% greater than what it was a year ago.
Are there still people out there who are convinced that China's economy is crashing ? Get real, the Chinese crash was something that was in the imagination of a bunch of dreamers.

[LawrenceChee]

At this time with this low price , China is doing the hoarding thing ....which is great as they have space and this thing does not rot or expire

I agree with you at the next rebound , this oil will be cheap for the national companies to use as a resource

Not any different from us buying stuff at Makro for a good dea

[Publicus]

CCP Boyz have been doing this for a long time as their national strategic petroleum reserve is roughly equal to the petrol in the cars parked in the lot outside.

CCP currently has 30 dayze of petroleum reserves. It needs much more so it's working assiduously to get that up the the global norm of 90 days of reserves. It's slow going so the Boyz are still working at it up to the present moment.

Bloomberg reports that between January and September of 2014, “China bought about 440,000 barrels a day more crude than it consumed.” Bloomberg calculated the surplus by deducting the quantity processed by Chinese refineries from the total of imports and domestic production.

Read more: Why Is China Stockpiling Millions of Barrels of Oil? | Investopedia http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/021015/why-china-stockpiling-millions-barrels-oil.asp#ixzz42IM3ei3x

Meanwhile...

.China's trade falls sharply in February

March 08 2016

Imports shrank 13.8 percent to $93.5 billion, an improvement over January's 18.8 percent decline.

Imports of a number of key commodities also declined over the month, with iron ore down 10 per cent, coal down 11 per cent and copper 5 per cent, although oil imports bucked the trend and increased in February.

Mr Yeung noted that despite the Lunar New Year distortions, the average 12.6 per cent decline in exports over January and February, when compared with the overall 1.7 per cent drop in the fourth quarter of 2015, showed China's external profile had worsened. (emphasis added)

http://cbsport.org/2016/03/chinas-trade-falls-sharply-in-february/

The RMB/yuan remains under intense and an unrelenting pressure. Soros and other currency vultures are shorting it and Xi Jinping is furious because Xi is convinced Soros and US banks have decided to squeeze the fat out of the CCP economy. Maybe Xi is right but who knows.

Reforms have gone bust as the CCP is too entrenched to accept change. So Xi and PM LiKejiang are now trying Reagan supply side economics. Sort of like Gorbechev did

CCP lost $1 Trillion of capital outflows last year and the bleeding continues. It's lost a trillion bucks out of its forex reserves since June, and CCP is projected to lose another $1 Trillion of reserve reversal this year. That's 50% off the forex reserve.

The clock is ticking....

[sandyf]

There are btw eight major or prominent currencies that are more easily tradable than the yuan: USD, Euro, Yen, GBP, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar, Australian and also the NZ Dollar respectively, South African Rand. Then comes the RMB/Yuan.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/08/top-8-currencies-to-know.asp

The Yuan is now the eighth currency to be identified in the IMF's COFER.

[LawrenceChee]

There are btw eight major or prominent currencies that are more easily tradable than the yuan: USD, Euro, Yen, GBP, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar, Australian and also the NZ Dollar respectively, South African Rand. Then comes the RMB/Yuan.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/08/top-8-currencies-to-know.asp

The Yuan is now the eighth currency to be identified in the IMF's COFER.

Good luck getting through your points ....there are some posters whose sole entertainment is to sprout anti Chinese sentiments much like that racist Trump idiot who is offending everyone except his Mother Edited March 8, 2016 by LawrenceChee

[Publicus]

There are btw eight major or prominent currencies that are more easily tradable than the yuan: USD, Euro, Yen, GBP, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar, Australian and also the NZ Dollar respectively, South African Rand. Then comes the RMB/Yuan.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/08/top-8-currencies-to-know.asp

The Yuan is now the eighth currency to be identified in the IMF's COFER.

Good luck getting through your points ....there are some posters whose sole entertainment is to sprout anti Chinese sentiments much like that racist Trump idiot who is offending everyone except his Mother

Some certain people have absolute contempt of democracy, same as the CCP Dictators in Beijing.

CCP has begun getting the fat squeezed out of it and its moribund and petrified bureaucracy and culture upended.

The wild ride has already begun. Globally these actions are supported because it was last year the CCP demonstrated beyond doubt it is incompetent, confused, confounded, speeding down the road. So there will be a radical adjustment imposed on it by external forces and factors that CCP itself is incapable of implementing.

Game over due to Tilt.

[thaibeachlovers]

There are btw eight major or prominent currencies that are more easily tradable than the yuan: USD, Euro, Yen, GBP, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar, Australian and also the NZ Dollar respectively, South African Rand. Then comes the RMB/Yuan.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/08/top-8-currencies-to-know.asp

The Yuan is now the eighth currency to be identified in the IMF's COFER.

Good luck getting through your points ....there are some posters whose sole entertainment is to sprout anti Chinese sentiments much like that racist Trump idiot who is offending everyone except his Mother

Some certain people have absolute contempt of democracy, same as the CCP Dictators in Beijing.

CCP has begun getting the fat squeezed out of it and its moribund and petrified bureaucracy and culture upended.

The wild ride has already begun. Globally these actions are supported because it was last year the CCP demonstrated beyond doubt it is incompetent, confused, confounded, speeding down the road. So there will be a radical adjustment imposed on it by external forces and factors that CCP itself is incapable of implementing.

Game over due to Tilt.

Soooooooo, if China goes into the deep doo doo, is it more or less likely to start a world war? I would say more, but what do you think?

[LawrenceChee]

There are btw eight major or prominent currencies that are more easily tradable than the yuan: USD, Euro, Yen, GBP, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar, Australian and also the NZ Dollar respectively, South African Rand. Then comes the RMB/Yuan.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/08/top-8-currencies-to-know.asp

The Yuan is now the eighth currency to be identified in the IMF's COFER.

Good luck getting through your points ....there are some posters whose sole entertainment is to sprout anti Chinese sentiments much like that racist Trump idiot who is offending everyone except his Mother

Some certain people have absolute contempt of democracy, same as the CCP Dictators in Beijing.

CCP has begun getting the fat squeezed out of it and its moribund and petrified bureaucracy and culture upended.

The wild ride has already begun. Globally these actions are supported because it was last year the CCP demonstrated beyond doubt it is incompetent, confused, confounded, speeding down the road. So there will be a radical adjustment imposed on it by external forces and factors that CCP itself is incapable of implementing.

Game over due to Tilt.

There are also a big certain group of people that are as dumb as supporters of Trump

He is egoistic , dumb , shifts his words around but that's democracy you can possibly elect an idiot

I'm unsure if this is one of the reasons why most Arab springs or "liberated countries" by the west have rejected this form of democracy

Universally , I think people distrust governments , want lowest taxes possible, great and safe schools for their children , a great infrastructure and a passport that will get you places with no questions

I frankly see governments as an organ of service like most Chinese ....they don't view the CCP as "gods" or people who can be elected to solve it all ....the Chinese much prefers to save for a rainy day and depend on your family first than believe any form of government

But yes when they need a passport or get a land title deed they trudge to the Govt offices because there is no choice much like a lot of Thai posters here go to the Amphur ....we don't like them , heck we didn't elect them but yeah we need them from time to time and pray the queue is not too Long !!!!

[sandyf]

There are btw eight major or prominent currencies that are more easily tradable than the yuan: USD, Euro, Yen, GBP, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar, Australian and also the NZ Dollar respectively, South African Rand. Then comes the RMB/Yuan.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/08/top-8-currencies-to-know.asp

Moodys have placed South Africa on review for downgrade.

Nothing stays still.

[sandyf]

Some certain people have absolute contempt of democracy, same as the CCP Dictators in Beijing.

CCP has begun getting the fat squeezed out of it and its moribund and petrified bureaucracy and culture upended.

The wild ride has already begun. Globally these actions are supported because it was last year the CCP demonstrated beyond doubt it is incompetent, confused, confounded, speeding down the road. So there will be a radical adjustment imposed on it by external forces and factors that CCP itself is incapable of implementing.

Game over due to Tilt.

Soooooooo, if China goes into the deep doo doo, is it more or less likely to start a world war? I would say more, but what do you think?

When the UK moved away from a manufacturing economy the 'deep doo doo' scenario prevailed but no war as far as I can remember.

"Some certain people have absolute contempt of democracy," the US is a world leader in this field, desperately trying to forget the past.

[Publicus]

Good luck getting through your points ....there are some posters whose sole entertainment is to sprout anti Chinese sentiments much like that racist Trump idiot who is offending everyone except his Mother

Some certain people have absolute contempt of democracy, same as the CCP Dictators in Beijing.

CCP has begun getting the fat squeezed out of it and its moribund and petrified bureaucracy and culture upended.

The wild ride has already begun. Globally these actions are supported because it was last year the CCP demonstrated beyond doubt it is incompetent, confused, confounded, speeding down the road. So there will be a radical adjustment imposed on it by external forces and factors that CCP itself is incapable of implementing.

Game over due to Tilt.

Soooooooo, if China goes into the deep doo doo, is it more or less likely to start a world war? I would say more, but what do you think?

CCP risks too much by initiating or engaging in a war per se. CCP don't want it, would suffer too much from it presently, can't fight anyway throughout history.

CCP did invade Vietnam in 1979 (disastrously) and before that surprise invaded territory in northern India the CCP brazenly claims as Chinese, in 1962; CCP ceased the initially successful incursion once the Indian also huge armed forces regrouped, to successfully preclude their counterattack, which would have otherwise occurred.

Unless trends in the South China Sea are reversed, there will very likely be a small scale, low intensity as the Pentagon calls 'em, military confrontation of some kind.

Last week the US in an unprecedented SCS move put the USS John C. Stennis CVN 74 Carrier Strike Force 3 to the Sea, to include the the super high tech strategic guided missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay, the forward deployed command ship of the US 7th Fleet in the Pacific; the guided missile cruiser USS Antietam, the guided missile destroyers USS McCambell, USS Stockdale, USS Chung-Hoon and the Marine force landing ship USS Ashland. There of course as always is no mention of the attack submarines of the "Silent Service" as it is always called that accompany such a naval force at sea, but it's for sure there are two of 'em at the least.

This was precipitated by the revelation by means of satellite and other recon/intelligence sources to include in Taiwan CCP has placed missiles on Woody Island in the Paracels, which is its largest natural island. The anti-aircraft missiles are the HQ-9 which have a range of about 125 miles or 200km and include two batteries of eight surface to air missiles each. Unlike previously, when US recon had discovered CCP missiles on a CCP manmade island at Mischief Reef and CCP immediately withdrew them, CCP says these batteries of missiles are there to stay.

Australia is also flying recon planes over this area and in December CCP said it would be "unfortunate if one of them suddenly dropped out of the sky." CCP Chinese people have for a long time been convinced by Beijing that all these islands and the SCS are theirs, absolutely, positively, no question.

Expect the worst at some point from the aspect of some kind of shootout and series of firefights in the air and on the Sea and from under it. It's been said for several years now the only thing to fear more than a rising China is a falling China. I don't believe CCP want to do this during the election campaign in the US. But then again there is the law of probability once military assets start getting put into place and this is occurring increasingly.

SecDef and hawk Ashton Carter says US will continue freedom of navigation patrols in what CCP says are its territorial waters so expect more of the same fairly soon again, this time supported by the Stennis Carrier Strike Force to include its Air Wing Seven of 90 strike craft in the immediate presence of the next patrol. The very immediate presence of.

Xi Jinping and CCP have become convinced US is actively engaged in taking down the CCP economy, as if the CCP weren't doing it on their own.

Edited March 9, 2016 by Publicus

[Publicus]

This has been the rule since 2012. Last year and now this year however the rate is rapid instead of steady, precipitous instead of serious.

China's exports are plunging

The world isn't buying what China is selling any more, and it's a big problem for the Chinese economy.

Export growth in US dollar terms plunged to -25.4% in February year on year from -11.2% in January, according to data released on Tuesday.

Overall, today’s trade data, together with high-frequency data and leading indicators, suggest that growth momentum weakened further in January-February.

http://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-exports-data-plunging-25-2016-3?nr_email_referer=1&utm_content=BISelect&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_campaign=BI%20Select%20%28Tuesday%20Thursday%29%202016-03-08&utm_term=Business%20Insider%20Select

Capital flight continues which forces an appreciation of the yuan. So CCP has to buy usd to depreciate the appreciating yuan to help exports. This nowhere helps exports anywhere near enough.

Buying usd means the continued drawing down of forex reserves to make the purchases: $1 Trillion since June and another $1 Trillion expected this year (50% reserve reversal). CCP state corporations need usd to pay down foreign denominated debt. CCP however still can't get the rate of debt increase below the decreasing rate of gdp growth.

Retail sales growth critical to reform are down to 11% from 14.5% growth in 2014 so that too is in reversal. Retail sales growth at 14.5% annually would need 150 years to get to the gdp ratio of consumer sales to that of the USA as a percentage of gdp.

Edited March 9, 2016 by Publicus

[Publicus]

More reversals in the CCP economy, finances, trade, this time in the yuan in its much heralded international global transactions.

Yuan Loses Luster in Global Trade

China’s tight grip on the currency and a lack of yuan-denominated assets have limited its appeal for use in cross-border payments

The yuan is losing its luster as a means of settling cross-border transactions, a development that trading companies blame in part on the Chinese government’s reluctance to loosen its grip on the currency.

“Given the yuan’s volatility and the authorities’ murky policy intentions, it’s hard to see interest in using the currency among our customers,” said Zhou Lin, finance director of Ningbo United Group Import & Export Co., a trading firm from China’s east coast that exports steel products and garments and imports coal and wood.

"Demand for [yuan trade settlement] will only shrink further,” Mr. Zhou predicts.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/yuan-loses-luster-in-global-trade-1457950712

Mr.Zhou Lin is doing business in the CPP China so he's being polite and restrained.

The harsh reality is that the CCP ruling the world by establishing the global currency is another present and ongoing bust of what always was a crackpot and delusional Middle Kingdom Revived scheme. The RMB/Yuan in the IMF basket of SDR currencies as already turned from paper to dust

Use of the yuan in global trade as a part of CCP's total global trade in yuan shot to 31% in August. In February it decreased by 21%, which is the first reversal ever in the use of the yuan in global trade. It is also dangerously precipitous, same as just about everything that happened in 2015.

Easy come easy go for the Boyz and their party-state monopoly money. Game over. It's only a matter of time before the play money runs out.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Publicus

[LawrenceChee]

Seems it frustrates some posters no matter what they write....it's annoying the Chinese CCP will continue to get better , learn from errors and get to a better point for their people

The folks at USA needs to understand China has grown in the right steps while the USA has regressed in many

So the catchup is for the states to get better ....while China continues to be silent in the background and buildup on its policies correctly

[Publicus]

The post is further evidence of the CCP and Chinese fantasy world of the always delusional Middle Kingdom.

Never admit failure.

Save face no matter what the severe and drastic cost.

Reforms have failed due to CCP institutional intransigence. So now CCP are trying Reagan supply side economics. Same as Gorby did before the wall came crashing down. We're now finally at long last moving inexorably to the Big Thud.

Bottoms up fellas.

[Publicus]

Seems it frustrates some posters no matter what they write....it's annoying the Chinese CCP will continue to get better , learn from errors and get to a better point for their people

The folks at USA needs to understand China has grown in the right steps while the USA has regressed in many

So the catchup is for the states to get better ....while China continues to be silent in the background and buildup on its policies correctly

First rule of Chinese interaction is to focus on the other guy.

Deny deny deny.

[LawrenceChee]

Seems like the USA does a lot of that when they discover no weapons of mass destruction .....still

Saddam's fault right ?

Strange you would like to make a lot of decisions and opinions on people you have never met ...closet communist ?

[Scott]

Perhaps a suspension would help settle this little off-topic feud. I am quite inclined to issue them for baiting and trolling.

[sandyf]

Perhaps a suspension would help settle this little off-topic feud. I am quite inclined to issue them for baiting and trolling.

And not before time, the offensive anti Chinese remarks have been allowed for far too long.

[LawrenceChee]

President Xi has made a public announcement today that environmental protection is key to China's survival and I am Glad he had said that

The key initiatives started in the recent meeting was putting a KPI to officials with environmental goals

If they fail that , they are subject to a state audit ...I applaud that

China needs to slow growth , close these polluting factories down and shift off to higher end production

I was in Beijing and Shanghai for 4 days and the air quality there made Chiangmai current pollution looks like Hawaii

I applaud the slow growth initiatives and protection to the resources

[Publicus]

The most recent term for the thorough and irreversible destruction that had already occurred to China's air, land, water, is a nuclear winter effect.

Chinese scientists have warned that the country's toxic air pollution is now so bad that it resembles a nuclear winter, slowing photosynthesis in plants – and potentially wreaking havoc on the country's food supply. Beijing and broad swaths of six northern provinces have spent the past week blanketed in a dense pea-soup smog that is not expected to abate until Thursday. (emphasis added)

Beijing's concentration of PM 2.5 particles – those small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream – hit 505 micrograms per cubic metre on Tuesday night. The World Health Organisation recommends a safe level of 25.

The worsening air pollution has already exacted a significant economic toll, grounding flights, closing highways and keeping tourists at home. On Monday 11,200 people visited Beijing's Forbidden City, about a quarter of the site's average daily draw.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/25/china-toxic-air-pollution-nuclear-winter-scientists

Too late for the North of the CCP China in respect of the whole of the environment. This most directly impacts the vital and massive population concentrated at Beijing-Tianjin, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Dalian. This territorial sliver of the northeast CCP China has more people than the three countries of North America. (The population of China is difficult to comprehend to people outside of East Asia.)

The only good news is that the South of the CCP which is the geographic base of most reformers is quite salvageable (south of the Yangtze). CCP reformers, currently in their most severe decline ever as Xi purges 'em left and right, have always been more attentive to the environment despite absolutely no incentives from Beijing to do so.

CCP for 25 years had focused only on Big Data GDP so CCPs got advanced based on big gdp almost exclusively, "man-made" data as it has largely and almost always been. (Current PM Li Kejiang, when in 2007 had been boss of fast-developing Liaoning province which abuts North Korea, confided in his fluent English to the US ambassador that Beijing's data is "man made.")

Now that the economy and financial system are in their terminal velocity structural decline, CCP is trying to talk sense to the Chinese people on environment. So many Chinese people are spontaneously demonstrating publicly in protest, CCP has waived its strict rule prohibiting public protest without a permit (as if permits had ever been granted for such purposes ).

CCP had made yet another gross error when it 30 years ago concluded Chinese people would accept environmental pollution, degradation, destruction during industrialisation in the same ways Western peoples took it as a fact of life throughout the 19th century.

CCP Dictators completely missed the entire 20th century, especially the post 1970 intensive and comprehensive attention to environment throughout the West. CCP misread everything in respect of environment. Same as in everything else.

[LawrenceChee]

The good thing is the CCP is committed to change unless the pork barrel politics of the west

The Chinese have taken lessons from well meaning friends ;rightly so the Scandinavians who are the best at it for environmental protection and putting in committed plans to shut factories , install clean energy and is fast outpacing America who still refuses to rectify the Kyoto agreement because they know they have no political guts to push this through

The Chinese has wisely adapted the agriculture of the New Zealand ( no GMO or mad cow disease) , rail technology from Siemens and Japan , ship building from the Norwegians and the list goes on

I just hope they don't take financial advice from certain western countries who are in deeper s*** than China

[tonbridgebrit]

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/china-home-prices-rise-3-014119360.html

From the Reuters report above [China's home prices rose at their fastest clip in almost two years in February thanks to red-hot demand in big cities, but risks of overheating in some places combined with weak growth in smaller cities threaten to put more stress on an already slowing economy.

Average new home prices in 70 major cities climbed 3.6 percent in February from a year ago, quickening from January's 2.5 percent rise, according to Reuters calculations based on data released by the National Statistics Bureau (NBS) on Friday.]


Oh, so China's economy is suppose to be collapsing ?? The boom in real estate prices in places like Beijing and Shanghai continues. There are still a vast number of people in China's vast rural interior who are trying to get into Beijing and Shanghai. China's economy will NOT collapse as long as the USA and the EU continue to import a mountain of manufactured goods from China. For anybody who has a condo in Beijing or Shanghai, did YOU sell it two or three months ago because YOU saw all the negative news about China ??

[Scott]

Off-topic post removed.

[ExpatOilWorker]

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/china-home-prices-rise-3-014119360.html

From the Reuters report above [China's home prices rose at their fastest clip in almost two years in February thanks to red-hot demand in big cities, but risks of overheating in some places combined with weak growth in smaller cities threaten to put more stress on an already slowing economy.

Average new home prices in 70 major cities climbed 3.6 percent in February from a year ago, quickening from January's 2.5 percent rise, according to Reuters calculations based on data released by the National Statistics Bureau (NBS) on Friday.]

Oh, so China's economy is suppose to be collapsing ?? The boom in real estate prices in places like Beijing and Shanghai continues. There are still a vast number of people in China's vast rural interior who are trying to get into Beijing and Shanghai. China's economy will NOT collapse as long as the USA and the EU continue to import a mountain of manufactured goods from China. For anybody who has a condo in Beijing or Shanghai, did YOU sell it two or three months ago because YOU saw all the negative news about China ??

2016-03-18T014119Z_1_LYNXNPEC2H028_RTROPTP_3_CHINA-ECONOMY-HOUSING_original.jpg

Condo prices also rose in Bangkok in 1996, but we all know what happened in 1997, right?

Exports are down by 20-25%, so maybe the mountain of manufactured goods is more like a small hill now.