Chinese imports hit record high as trade surplus narrows

China has been trying to rebalance its export dependent economy to sustain growth

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Taken directly from BBC reporting:


China's imports hit a record monthly high in August, indicating a strong domestic demand despite concerns of a global economic slowdown.

Imports surged by 30.2% from a year earlier to $155.6bn (£98bn), government data released over the weekend showed.

Exports rose by 24.5% resulting in a trade surplus of $17.8bn, down from $31.5bn in the previous month.

The data comes at a time when China has been trying to boost domestic demand in a bid to rebalance its economy.

"August's export and import data showed China's economic growth is driven by domestic demand, not external demand and its growth is still very strong," said Li-Gang Liu of ANZ.

Growing demand

China's economic expansion in recent years has seen the rise of a more affluent middle class, with higher disposable incomes.

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“Start Quote

I expect Chinese export growth to be below 10% in the fourth quarter”

Shen JianguangMizuho Securities Asia

That has led to a growth in domestic demand, which has translated into higher import numbers.

"Growth of the Chinese middle class is well documented and it is something that will continue to drive growth," Kelvin Tay of UBS told the BBC.

Analysts said the recent appreciation in the Chinese currency had also played its part as the purchasing power of consumers had gone up.

The yuan has gained more than 5% against the US dollar in the last 12 months.

"If you had 100 yuan a year ago, you could buy X amount of things, today it is X-plus," he explained.

Global concerns

China's push to boost domestic demand has been driven not only by efforts to rebalance its economy but also by fears that demand from its key markets may dip in the wake of a global slowdown.

While its exports registered robust growth in August, analysts said that things are likely to get tougher.

"The European debt crisis and slowing US growth will be reflected in China's export data in the next few months," said Shen Jianguang of Mizuho Securities Asia.

China has said that keeping consumer price growth in check is its top priority

"I expect Chinese export growth to be below 10% in the fourth quarter," he added.

However, some analysts argued that a slowdown in the global economy may fuel a jump in Chinese exports.

They said China's biggest strength in manufacturing has been its low prices and in times of a slowdown, consumers are looking for more affordable goods which could prompt a surge in demand.

"Not many countries can make it as cheap as the Chinese," said UBS' Mr Tay.

Increased lending

Along with a rise in imports and exports, bank lending in China also quickened in August.

Chinese banks lent out 548.5bn yuan ($86bn; £54bn) during the month, more than forecast, despite government efforts to curb credit growth in the country.

China's central bank has raised interest rates five times since October last year and also increased the bank's reserve ratio requirement nine times during the same period in a bid to quell prices.

Data out last week showed the rate of inflation in China eased to 6.2% in August from 6.5% in the previous month.

Analysts said the latest numbers showed that not only were the government's efforts to control inflation working, they were not having the negative impact on growth that many people had worried about.

"All the talk of demand being dented due to credit tightening is far-fetched," Mr Tay said.

However, Mr Tay warned the combination of an increase in lending and a rise in domestic demand may see the central bank raise the cost of borrowing again in a bid to keep price growth in check.

"Based on the numbers that we are seeing, it will be premature to rule out a rate hike," Mr Tay told the BBC.

China has 5 Billion on-line stores!

In 2010, China's online shopping industry had a turnover of $80bn, and grew 87% year-on-year.

Taobao is owned by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and the brainchild of founder Jack Ma. It is a free-to-use online marketplace with some 800 million product lines - from food to clothes to technology. 

It boasts 50 million unique visitors a day and is the top destination for three quarters of the country's online shoppers.

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"Of course it's quite competitive, because there are hundreds of new stores opening every day on Taobao," says Ms Zhang.

"Considering that I haven't been doing this for that long a time, I need to gain experience and grow my own business step by step."

China's 420 million internet users spend around a billion hours each day online - and last year, 185 million made at least one online purchase.

Across China, online companies large and small are learning how to be effective e-commerce players - or fail like US goliath eBay, which was trounced by upstart Taobao back in 2006.

Online shopping now accounts for more than 5% of China's retail sales, and Taobao's sellers are behind 70% of the country's online transactions.

According to Boston Consulting Group, the volume is expected to increase fourfold by 2015.

In Chinese retail, trust is a rare commodity. There are plenty of fakes online, and buyers are often cursed by scams or shoddy goods. Still, consumer faith in e-commerce stores is remarkably robust.

E-commerce is changing the way Chinese consumers think about shopping: online, it is more social than a hard sell. It's a new engaging experience to savour.

China's consumers have the upper hand like never before - and it's not just because there are more traders at their fingertips than in the local High Street.

That's because, apart from its convenience, online shopping has shifted the balance of power from sellers to buyers.

Yang Jie built HanHan World through social marketing

Social commerce

HanHan's World sells what one might call chintzy Iphone covers. At its small office the team of three is busy chatting with potential customers via the site's instant messenger application, which also comes with video chat.

Customers can check how much HanHan's World sells and at what cost.

New sites on Taobao that want to compete with HanHan's World and move up the rankings have prove their worth by shifting volume and get good buyer feedback.

"In the beginning we promoted ourselves through product forums," explains Yang Jie, HanHan World's manager. "Due to good quality and our low prices, with barely any profits, we developed rapidly in a short time."

Online shopping in China is more than clicking on the "buy" button. The experience includes exchanging tips with other shoppers, discussing trends, and rating both products and service.

The interaction and communication generates trust.

"The ability of social networking combined with e-commerce or social commerce as I like to call it - where people are able to rate their providers, provide information to other purchasers - that level of experience is really overcoming the big weaknesses," says Duncan Clark, Chairman of BDA (China), an expert on China's e-commerce industry.

"Basically, there is a one-to-one connection being established. And that's breaking through the mistrust barrier if you will. So I think we can learn, actually - the West can learn from some of the developments happening in the Chinese e-commerce sector," says Mr Clark.

DangDang's Peggy Yu bets on the "latecomer's advantage

Latecomers' advantage

That said, even China's big e-commerce retailers, like Amazon look-alike DangDang, don't profess to be great technology innovators.

At its massive warehouse south of Beijing, most of the work is lifting, sorting, stacking, labelling, scanning, boxing, taping - before the trucks arrive to deliver 100,000 packages a day.

In China, the competition is about focusing on how to put the technology to work. This often means duplicating or tweaking existing ideas to get an edge in the market, cheaply and quickly.

"We should take latecomers' advantage," says Peggy Yu, chairwoman of DangDang. "To me that means, taking apart other success business stories and see how business can be conducted more effectively."

In this rapidly expanding, huge market of 600 cities, much of the focus now is on finance and management, and on solving the puzzle of how to deliver a fast reliable service to the regions far away from the eastern seaboard - and then grow market share.

In December 2010, DangDang - China's largest book seller - raised $272m by listing on Wall Street's Nasdaq stock exchange. The money was used to fund an expansion of its product range and establish regional warehousing.

DangDang's biggest problem is getting the supply chain to connect with its warehouses

But a big headache remains that is beyond the company's control: "I think the supply chain weakness is the biggest bottleneck to e-commerce in China," says Ms. Yu.

"Manufacturers in China are typically local businesses. And their distribution capacity is restricted to a very small region. But DangDang requires suppliers to deliver to our distribution centres throughout the country - so that we can ship to every single customer in the whole of China. And that is a real challenge for suppliers."

It's a fundamental offline problem for e-commerce in China.

Still, investors see China's scale and potential.

Another Amazon-styled mass market retailer, 360.buy, raised $1.5bn in April during a funding round - on top of a $500m investment round last December, that saw US retail giant Wal-Mart taking a stake.

What now, Taobao?

E-commerce in China is growing rapidly

At rival Taobao, these moves raised eyebrows.

Faced with a rapidly changing marketplace and freshly financed challengers with more focused product lines, in June parent company Alibaba split Taobao into three separate companies:

• eTao, a shopping search engine, to help drive customers;
• Taobao Mall, a fee-earning "online showroom" for some 70,000 companies, including many leading foreign brands; and, of course,
• the Taobao marketplace for small sellers like Zhang Qiaoli to grow her fledgling Kitty Lover business - a platform that is free for users, although Taobao earns from adverts.

"I think, Alibaba is going through some growth pains right now," says Duncan Clark. "It's become so large, so fast with Taobao that it's having to seek ways to adjust. And it's not entirely clear yet how they'll emerge."

Some analysts go further and warn that the split could be disruptive.

Alibaba's top managers are not used to criticism. But the group lost a lot of long-held goodwill during what one could describe as founder Jack Ma's "annus horribilis".

First, staff of Alibaba's international business-to-business online market place were caught up in a $6m fraud.

Then came widespread criticism of the transfer of Alibaba's valuable online payment company Alipay to a firm owned by Jack Ma himself. Foreign investors like US firm Yahoo and Japan's Softbank were furious.

Both matters have been resolved, but a bitter taste remains - despite Jack Ma's insistence that he shunted Alipay from Alibaba to comply with new Chinese regulations that bar foreign ownership of any payment company on the Chinese mainland.

Show on Canadian TV

Indian Democracy, Chinese Autocracy
Tiger vs dragon: China opened its economy to the world in the 1970s. India didn't follow suit until the 1990s. Despite China's 30-year head start, India's economy is quickly gaining ground, ready to overtake the Chinese economy. Who will win? And what does it mean to the North American economy?
Gordon Chang, columnist at Forbes.com, and author of The Coming Collapse of China.
Sarah Kutulakos, executive director and chief operating officer of the Canada China Business Council.
Gregory Chin, associate professor of political science at York University.
Partha Mohanram, associate professor at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
Douglas Goold, director, National Conversation on Asia & senior editor Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.
Join the discussion on The Inside Agenda blog » India versus me
All episodes of The Agenda with Steve Paikin are available on-demand in streaming video and audio & video podcasts at: tvo.org/theagenda.

China will not use force

China 'will not use force' in South China Sea disputes

Vietnam staged live-fire drills in the South China Sea on Monday amid rising tensions with China

China has said it will not resort to the use of force to resolve maritime border disputes in the South China Sea.

Several Asian nations claim territory in the South China Sea, which includes important shipping routes and may contain oil and gas deposits.
On Monday, Vietnam staged live-fire drills after weeks of rising tensions between the two nations.
Vietnam has also issued a decree specifying who would be exempt from military call-up in a time of war.
"We will not resort to the use of force or the threat of force," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.
He condemned any action that would exacerbate the dispute, and urged those involved to "do more that is beneficial to regional peace and stability".
As well as Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have rival claims in the area.
As chair of the regional grouping Asean last year, Hanoi actively promoted a multilateral approach to the problem. However, Beijing says it prefers to negotiate with individual states separately.
Responsibility
In an apparent message to China that Vietnam is willing to stand its ground, the Vietnamese government issued a decree earlier specifying which people would be exempt from military service during a time of war.
The decree lists eight examples where Vietnamese citizens would not be obliged to join a military call-up. They include people holding senior positions in state organisations and those providing essential services such as lighthouse operators.
The BBC's South East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey says the significance lies not in the exemptions themselves but in the timing of the decree.
The news comes a day after the Vietnamese navy conducted exercises it described as routine, but which at least one Chinese newspaper interpreted as a deliberate show of force.
Vietnam is engaged in a renewed row with China over sovereignty of two groups of islands in the South China Sea; the Spratly and Paracel islands.
Tensions have escalated following two separate confrontations involving Vietnamese and Chinese boats in recent weeks.
In a thinly veiled reference to Hanoi, Mr Hong implied Vietnam was to blame for the recent row.
"Some country took unilateral actions to impair China's sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, and released groundless and irresponsible remarks with the attempt to expand and complicate the issue of the South China Seas," Mr Hong said.
"This is where the problem lies."
The US has also expressed concern about China's rising naval ambitions in the region.
On Sunday, the Japan-based carrier USS George Washington left port for deployment in the region, which is almost certain to include the South China Sea.

China is different

The China doubters are back in force. They seem to come in waves - every few years, or so. Yet, year in and year out, China has defied the naysayers and stayed the course, perpetuating the most spectacular development miracle of modern times. That seems likely to continue.
Today's feverish hand-wringing reflects a confluence of worries - especially concerns about inflation, excess investment, soaring wages, and bad bank loans. Prominent academics warn that China could fall victim to the dreaded "middle-income trap", which has derailed many a developing nation.
There is a kernel of truth to many of the concerns cited above, especially with respect to the current inflation problem. But they stem largely from misplaced generalisations. Here are ten reasons why it doesn't pay to diagnose the Chinese economy by drawing inferences from the experiences of others:
Strategy
Since 1953, China has framed its macro objectives in the context of five-year plans, with clearly defined targets and policy initiatives designed to hit those targets. The recently enacted 12th Five-Year Plan could well be a strategic turning point - ushering in a shift from the highly successful producer model of the past 30 years to a flourishing consumer society.
Commitment
Seared by memories of turmoil, reinforced by the Cultural Revolution of the 1970s, China's leadership places the highest priority on stability. Such a commitment served China extremely well in avoiding collateral damage from the crisis of 2008-2009. It stands to play an equally important role in driving the fight against inflation, asset bubbles, and deteriorating loan quality.
Wherewithal to deliverChina's commitment to stability has teeth. More than 30 years of reform have unlocked its economic dynamism. Enterprise and financial market reforms have been key, and many more reforms are coming. Moreover, China has shown itself to be a good learner from past crises, and shifts course when necessary.
SavingA domestic saving rate in excess of 50 per cent has served China well. It funded the investment imperatives of economic development and boosted the cushion of foreign exchange reserves that has shielded China from external shocks. China now stands ready to absorb some of that surplus saving to promote a shift toward internal demand.
Rural-urban migrationOver the past 30 years, the urban share of the Chinese population has risen from 20 per cent to 46 per cent. According to OECD estimates, another 316 million people should move from the countryside to China's cities over the next 20 years. Such an unprecedented wave of urbanisation provides solid support for infrastructure investment and commercial and residential construction activity. Fears of excess investment and "ghost cities" fixate on the supply side, without giving due weight to burgeoning demand.
Low-hanging fruit: ConsumptionPrivate consumption accounts for only about 37 per cent of China's GDP - the smallest share of any major economy. By focusing on job creation, wage increases, and the social safety net, the 12th Five-Year Plan could spark a major increase in discretionary consumer purchasing power. That could lead to as much as a five per cent point increase in China's consumption share by 2015.
Low-hanging fruit: ServicesServices account for just 43 per cent of Chinese GDP - well below global norms. Services are an important piece of China's pro-consumption strategy - especially large-scale transactions-based industries such as distribution (wholesale and retail), domestic transportation, supply-chain logistics, and hospitality and leisure. Over the next five years, the services share of Chinese GDP could rise above the currently targeted four per cent point increase. This is a labour-intensive, resource-efficient, environmentally friendly growth recipe - precisely what China needs in the next phase of its development.
Foreign direct investmentModern China has long been a magnet for global multinational corporations seeking both efficiency and a toehold in the world's most populous market. Such investments provide China with access to modern technologies and management systems - a catalyst to economic development. China's upcoming pro-consumption rebalancing implies a potential shift in foreign direct investment - away from manufacturing toward services - that could propel growth further.
EducationChina has taken enormous strides in building human capital. The adult literacy rate is now almost 95 per cent, and secondary school enrolment rates are up to 80 per cent. Shanghai's 15-year-old students were recently ranked first globally in mathematics and reading as per the standardised PISA metric. Chinese universities now graduate more than 1.5 million engineers and scientists annually. The country is well on its way to a knowledge-based economy.
InnovationIn 2009, about 280,000 domestic patent applications were filed in China, placing it third globally, behind Japan and the United States. China is fourth and rising in terms of international patent applications. At the same time, China is targeting a research-and-development share of GDP of 2.2 per cent by 2015 - double the ratio in 2002. This fits with the 12th Five-Year Plan's new focus on innovation-based "strategic emerging industries" - energy conservation, new-generation information technology, biotechnology, high-end equipment manufacturing, renewable energy, alternative materials, and autos running on alternative fuels. Currently, these seven industries account for three per cent of Chinese GDP; the government is targeting a 15 per cent share by 2020, a significant move up the value chain.
Yale historian Jonathan Spence has long cautioned that the West tends to view China through the same lens as it sees itself. Today's cottage industry of China doubters is a case in point. Yes, by our standards, China's imbalances are unstable and unsustainable. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has, in fact, gone public with a similar critique.
But that's why China is so different. It actually takes these concerns seriously. Unlike the West, where the very concept of strategy has become an oxymoron, China has embraced a transitional framework aimed at resolving its sustainability constraints. Moreover, unlike the West, which is trapped in a dysfunctional political quagmire, China has both the commitment and the wherewithal to deliver on that strategy. This is not a time to bet against China.
Stephen S Roach, a member of the faculty at Yale University, is Non-Executive Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and author of The Next Asia.

China feels credit squeeze as expansion slows

China factories feel credit squeeze as expansion slows

The manufacturing sector been one of the biggest drivers of growth in the Chinese economy

China's manufacturers have started to feel the effects of the government's policy to reduce credit-fuelled growth in the country.

China's official purchasing manager's index (PMI) fell to a nine-month low, the latest figures showed.
The PMI, an indicator of conditions in the manufacturing sector, fell to 52 in May from 52.9 in the previous month.
Manufacturing is a key contributor to growth in China's economy.
Even though the figure remained above the threshold level of 50, indicating expansion in the sector, the drop from the previous month shows that expansion is slowing down.
"The continued fall in PMI in May, after the drop in April, shows the rising possibility of a slowdown in economic growth," analyst Zhang Liqun said in the report.
Credit squeeze

"There has been a strain on the ability of manufacturers to raise capital”  Michael Pettis Peking University

China has witnessed robust growth in the past few years, in the process going on to become the world's second-largest economy.

However, concerns of overheating and rising consumer prices have seen the government implement measures to slow down growth.
One of those measures has been to tighten the supply of credit.
Analysts say the move is starting to affect growth in the sector.
"There has been a strain on the ability of manufacturers to raise capital," said Michael Pettis of Peking University.
"The majority of the funds that are available in the market are being channelled towards infrastructure development or real estate development in the country," he added

China working toward fewer executions

China orders suspension of death sentences

By Michael Bristow BBC News, Beijing

China has apparently introduced new standards to reduce the number of criminals it executes.

The Supreme People's Court - the highest in China - has told lower courts to suspend death sentences for two years.
But this should only happen in cases where there is no need for "immediate execution", the court said.
China has introduced a number of measures over recent years to cut down the number of executions.
This latest development appeared in the annual report of the supreme court.
"Suspend the death sentence for two years for all cases that don't require immediate execution," read the report.
The court does not say why some cases might need to be carried out immediately, although in the past the government has instructed judges to be more severe in cases that involved crimes it was targeting.
Those benefiting from the changes will probably never be executed.
Criminals given a suspended death penalty usually have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
China does not reveal the number of executions it carries out each year, but it is thought to kill more people than any other country.
Four years ago the Supreme People's Court took back the right to review every death sentence handed out by lower courts.
The result has been fewer executions.
Earlier this year China reduced the number of crimes that carry the death penalty by 13 to 55.
"Strictly control and unify standards relating to the death penalty, and ensure that it only applies to a very small minority of criminals committing extremely serious crimes," read one section of the supreme court's report.

Asian Nuclear Pact

Japan nuclear: Kan, Lee and Wen agree early warning

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan (centre) is hosting the talks in Tokyo

The leaders of Japan, China and South Korea have agreed to set up an early warning system to alert each other of emergencies at nuclear facilities.

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan agreed to the measure after a meeting in Tokyo with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
The leaders said nuclear experts would also share more data in future.
Japan was hit by an earthquake and tsunami on 11 March, which wrecked the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Workers at Fukushima are still battling to control the stricken facility, which is leaking radioactive material.
China and South Korea have been critical of Japan's handling of the crisis in recent weeks.
But the BBC's Roland Buerk in Tokyo says the meeting was designed to show solidarity after the earthquake and tsunami.
In a joint statement the three leaders promised they would work more closely on nuclear issues.
"We decided to strengthen co-operation in information sharing. In addition, we also decided to start discussion on establishing early notification framework in case of emergency and exchanging experts," the statement said.

The BBC's Roland Buerk in Tokyo says that Japanese want to see greater collaboration

The three leaders also said that the international community needed to learn the lessons of the Fukushima crisis.
South Korea and China had previously expressed concern that the nuclear leak was having an impact on food safety across the region.
But Mr Kan has been keen to highlight that food from his country is not contaminated.
During a photo opportunity on Saturday, Mr Wen and Mr Lee both ate food in the Fukushima prefecture.
Mr Wen and Mr Lee are the first foreign leaders to visit Fukushima - about 220km (136 miles) north-east of Tokyo - since the disaster.
Mr Lee said South Korea would do all it could to help reconstruction work in Japan.
The leaders of the three countries have met on an informal basis for a decade. Since 2008, they have held an annual meeting.
The massive earthquake tsunami left more than 24,000 people dead or missing

Eating safely in China

She immediately stepped in. "I choose the apples that are pock-marked and are slightly bitten up by bugs," she told me while replacing the apples in my basket. "I figure if the fruit is good enough for the insect, it's good enough for me."
In China, she told me, the most perfectly formed, most appetizing piece of fruit is the scariest of them all.
With so many food safety scandals in China, everyone seems to have a philosophy on how best to eat. Avoid seafood. Never eat meat from the local market. Don't eat Chinese branded dairy products including cakes.
Probably the best and most consistent piece of advice I have gotten is to diversify your diet. "Rotate your poisons," a food safety expert advised me. It's enough to make you paranoid about eating anything at all.
Fear over additives, antibiotics, fake foods, and dodgy practices has grabbed hold of consumers here, some of whom are taking matters into the own hands by forming organic food buying clubs.
The government has recently ramped up efforts to tighten regulations and root out food safety violators in a state-backed media campaign.
The latest food safety report? Watermelons so juiced up with growth-enhancing chemicals that the fruit bursts open in the field. The CCTV report noted that few fruit markets are willing to buy the melons because they could erupt in transit -- oh, and irritate the digestive system if you eat them.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Chinese agricultural exports have grown significantly in the past decade with Japan, South East Asia, North America and the European Union all major customers. In February, the USDA said China's continued growth depended on three factors -- one of them being food safety conditions.
The World Health Organization's food safety official, Peter K. Ben Embarek, told me food safety is improving in China but more needs to be done.
"It's clear that the credibility of the system will suffer. The consumer will continue to lose confidence in Chinese products and consumers abroad will equally lose confidence in Chinese products," he said.
"And that will be unfair for all the producers and all the systems in place that are producing safe food in China."

Good news for China- HIV deaths fall

HIV-related deaths fall in China

China has come a long way in tackling HIV/Aids

Efforts to improve access to HIV drugs in China have cut deaths by more than 60% in seven years, researchers say. China introduced free anti-retroviral drugs in 2003, reaching more than 60% of patients by 2009.But experts say more needs to be done to speed up diagnosis and improve access to treatment in certain groups.

They include men, the elderly, migrants and ethnic minority groups, injecting drug users and people who have caught HIV through sexual contact.The findings are published online in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.
Lead author Professor Fujie Zhang, from the National Centre for Aids/STD Control and Prevention, in Beijing, said: "Given the size of the country, and the geographical spread of individuals with HIV... China's treatment coverage is remarkable... but it is far from the goal of complete coverage of people who meet the treatment criteria."
Commenting on the study, Terrence Higgins Trust clinical director Jason Warriner said: "We know that access to testing and treatment, in the form of anti-retrovirals, is vital both in preventing deaths from HIV and stopping more people becoming infected.
"The earlier people are diagnosed with HIV the greater chance they have of being able to lead a long and healthier life.
"But there also needs to be ongoing education and awareness of HIV to help prevent more people becoming infected in the future."

China power cuts set to increase on rising coal costs

China has started rationing electricity to try and stave off an energy shortage that government officials say could be the worst since 2004.

State-owned power generating companies are dealing with high global energy prices that have cut their profits.
China has also banned the export of diesel, to try to meet domestic demand.
Power cuts occur every summer, but this year rising coal costs and a drop in hydropower output mean they could be much more severe.
The China Electricity Council (CEC) said on Tuesday that China's five biggest power producers reported losses of 10.57bn yuan ($1.62bn; £995m) in their thermal power plants in the first four months of the year, according to the Xinhua news agency.
The figure was about 7.29bn yuan more than in the same period last year, said the CEC in a statement, which blamed soaring coal prices.
The CEC is warning that this poses "great risks" to ensuring power supplies during the peak season this summer, said Xinhua.
The five main power producers supply about half of the country's power, according to the CEC.
Analysts say China has not raised electricity tariffs significantly because of rising inflation worries.
China's price-setting agency was reported to have increased electricity tariffs in some parts of the country in April.
However, observers say the rise was too small to restore profitability for many coal-fired power generators.
Instead, manufacturers in some provinces say they are already being ordered by local authorities to limit electricity usage, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Some provinces have reportedly started rationing electricity earlier this year including Hunan, Zhejiang and Anhui as well as Shanghai and Chongqing.

Does China need more emporers?

China's Forbidden City admits plans for 'rich club'

By Michael Bristow BBC News, Beijing

The Forbidden City authorities now say there were plans for a private club inside the palace

have admitted that there were plans to open an exclusive private club inside the palace.

They had initially denied the historic site was being used for private profit.
Potential club members were apparently invited to a lavish opening ceremony inside the Forbidden City.
Media reports say they were being charged $150,000 (£92,600) each to join the club.
Photographs of the opening ceremony have been posted online.
They show attendants dressed as ancient warriors, as they might have done when emperors strolled the palace corridors.
Valuable museum pieces were said to be on display for the special guests, who dined on delicacies such as double-boiled superior fungus with Chinese herbs.
Another picture shows a welcome note prepared by the organisers. It says the club is intended as a meeting place for the "wise elites" in society.
The Forbidden City authorities say the club was being organised without their knowledge by the Beijing Palace Museum Royal Court Cultural Development Company, a firm linked to the museum.
"It made its own decision without approval from us to expand customer services and release membership invitation forms," the Forbidden City said in a statement.
Plans to go ahead and recruit members have now been scrapped.
The private club was being organised in the Jianfu Palace, a section of the Forbidden City that was built by the Emperor Qianlong in the 18th Century.
It burnt down in 1923 and was restored after several years of painstaking work in 2005, with money donated by a Hong Kong businessman.
The Forbidden City, in the heart of Beijing, was home to China's emperors in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Love this idea and it could work for China too

The virutous cycle comes to urban agriculture in this talk and I think it could feed a lot of people.

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Bob Dylan denies Chinese censored his songs

Bob Dylan denies China censored his choice of songs

Dylan's set lists change from one show to the next

Singer Bob Dylan has hit back at suggestions that he gave in to censorship during a recent series of concerts in China.

The folk-rock legend, 69, agreed to give authorities set lists before performances in Shanghai and Beijing.
He was criticised in print and online for ignoring 1960s-era protest songs.
Writing on his website, Dylan has now insisted he knew nothing of any censorship and says he and his band played all the songs they intended to.
Bob Dylan shot to fame in the 1960s as an icon of the anti-war movement in the era of the Vietnam War.
Songs such as The Times They Are a-Changin' and Like a Rolling Stone became synonymous with the counterculture of the 1960s, and Dylan became a poster-boy for a disenchanted generation.
Dylan's vast back catalogue spans 34 studio albums and hundreds of individual songs, many recorded since the 1960s and spanning a wide range of musical styles.
He is known for embarking on lengthy concert tours - known as the Never-Ending Tour - sometimes playing 100 times each year.
Set lists change regularly, and the famously stubborn singer-songwriter often confounds fans who turn up wanting to hear specific numbers from his 1960s heyday.
'New kind of sellout'
Defending his choice of songs for the China leg of his current tour, Dylan wrote: "As far as censorship goes, the Chinese government had asked for the names of the songs that I would be playing.

Bob Dylan's arrival in China was big news in the country

"There's no logical answer to that, so we sent them the set lists from the previous three months. If there were any songs, verses or lines censored, nobody ever told me about it and we played all the songs that we intended to play."
He had faced explicit criticism after the China shows, including from New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd.
"The idea that the raspy troubadour of '60s freedom anthems would go to a dictatorship and not sing those anthems is a whole new kind of sellout," she wrote.
Ms Dowd criticised Dylan for not mentioning artist Ai Wei Wei, who was detained by Chinese authorities in the days running up to his first show in China.
"He sang his censored set, took his pile of Communist cash and left," she wrote.
Bob Dylan has often shied away from the label pinned on him in the 1960s.
"The Chinese press did tout me as a sixties icon, however, and posted my picture all over the place with Joan Baez, Che Guevara, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg," he wrote on his website.
"The concert attendees probably wouldn't have known about any of those people.
"Regardless, they responded enthusiastically to the songs on my last 4 or 5 records. Ask anyone who was there. They were young and my feeling was that they wouldn't have known my early songs anyway."

The future of silk

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Is this really what China will be about?

Somehow this is not what I hope for or envison for China. As a Canadian I have hoped that ancient and venerable China will be smarter. less self absorbed and more willing to say NO to the excesses and self centeredness that western societies have so admired and bowed down to.

No rules for the rich: How China spends its new wealth

By Rebecca Marston Business reporter, BBC News

China is expected to import one-third of the world's luxury goods by 2015

 

Here's a story an upmarket wine merchant told me about a particularly memorable - and potentially instructive - evening.

A group of Chinese businessmen arranged to meet up one evening for a drink. They were asked to bring their best bottle of wine.
Here was a selection of some of the best-known fine wines in the world. Chateau Lafite 1962, Chateau Latour 1970 - bottles that cost in the region of $1,600 (£1,000) each.
On arrival, the host said: "Gentlemen, show your wines," and the guests presented their bottles for each other's approval.
The host then called: "Gentlemen, uncork your bottle," which they did.
He then indicated a vast silver punchbowl and ordered: "Gentlemen, pour your wine," which they did - into the punchbowl.
The mingled contents of some of the most distinctive clarets in the world were then ladled out between them.
It is a memorable anecdote. But it is also instructive, because it illustrates the way China's new rich approach established luxury goods.
Rich keep spending
As the country sucks up more and more of the world's luxury goods production, producers are growing in their understanding of Chinese tastes.

Would you like a mixer with that, sir?

Unlike China's middle class, which is suffering from high inflation, the rich feel no such drag upon their lifestyle.
BMW, which also owns the Rolls-Royce brand, almost quadrupled its first-quarter profits thanks in part to increased demand from China.
It joins a long list of leading luxury brands whose profits have been spurred by demand there.
According to Barclays Capital, the country now buys 12% of the world's luxury goods.
A research report from Barclays says this is set to grow by 20-30% a year. It means in five years' time China could be buying a third of the global luxury goods ouput.
That is a staggering growth rate, but if you look at the increase in the number of millionaires it is not hard to see how it could rise so fast.
There are around half a million Chinese millionaires, 31% more than in 2008, according to the most recent Merrill Lynch Cap Gemini World Wealth Report.
Donald Holdsworth, director of MatchPower in Australia, has been fascinated by China's growing love affair with luxury since the 1990s.
Little emperors
Why does he think the desire for luxury goods has seized the Chinese mind so firmly?

"In a conformist society where there's no freedom of speech, once a chance appears for you to express yourself without danger you are going to take it”

Donald Holdsworth Kinectic Associates

The answer, he thinks, is rooted in demographics: "The average age of a Chinese millionaire is 39 - that's 15 years younger than in the developed world.

"It happens to coincide with the start of the one-child-per-person policy - the year of the Little Emperors. These children were given the very best by their parents."
So the Little Emperors grew up with as many resources as could be mustered by their parents - at the same time as the economy shifted from communism to capitalism.
That, says Donald Holdsworth, sheds further light on Chinese tastes: "If you've grown up in a conformist society where there's no freedom of speech, once a chance appears for you to express yourself without danger you are going to take it.
"It's like unscrewing the top from a bottle of fizzy water."
That desire is just as well for the largely European producers of luxury goods.
LVMH - Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton - is the world's biggest luxury brand company with more than 50 of the best-known in its stable.
Overall, LVMH already makes about 40% of its profits from the country.

The taste for all-out show is likely to wane as fortunes - and their owners - mature

Others with growing profits in the region include Burberry and German carmaker Audi, whose latest sharp rise in profits were thanks in part to a strong growth in sales of luxury cars in China.
Prada is also exploring other ways of accessing China's wealth. Like other firms it is considering raising money by issuing shares via the Hong Kong stock exchange.
And then there is Gucci, which has pushed hard in China and has some 40 outlets across a string of Chinese cities.
Easy on the ear
The recent growth in the market is pointed up in sharp detail by Berry Bros and Rudd, the upmarket wine merchants.
Wine buying director Alun Griffiths says the Chinese wine market has been growing by 15-20% a year and his firm now does 25% of its business in Hong Kong.
Five years ago that figure was barely 6%.
Chinese tastes are certainly high-end; Bordeaux, which makes some of the most expensive fine wines in the world, is a favourite. But only a few chateaux seem to interest them.
Mr Griffiths says the wine is not necessarily bought for its taste, as the opening paragraph of this piece fully illustrates, but the name is important, too.
"Chateau Lafite sounds well to the Chinese ear, in a way that other Bordeaux wines don't. That may change, but it is the label they are choosing for the moment."
Showing off
Big names are key to wealthy Chinese buyers, in part because the market is new.

"As a wine lover it's a horror story, but you've got to let people do what they want”

Alun Griffiths Berry Bros and Rudd

Chinese tastes are likely to evolve, as has happened elsewhere.

Donald Holdsworth says if one looks at the UK market of the 1980s, Rolls-Royce cars were the favourite of the rich, giving way to the slightly more restrained Bentley, and these days to the less showy Audis and Mercedes.
"That will probably eventually happen in China, as it has in Japan, where they still love their luxury brands but in a less obvious display of wealth.
"Until then it will be a market that wants to show off."
Meantime, tales of fine wines in a punchbowl - or mixed with 7-Up or Coca-Cola - will doubtless continue to circulate.
But, as Alun Griffiths puts it: "As a wine lover it's a horror story, but you've got to let people do what they want with what they buy.
"After all, there are no rules for being rich."

The future with silk

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April trade Surplus in China

China's trade surplus beats forecasts, as yuan in focus

China's currency, the renminbi, has been a point of dispute between China and other countries.

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• US calls on China to spend more
• China posts shock trade deficit
• China sees trade surplus shrink

China's trade surplus in April was nearly four times bigger than expected, with exports far exceeding imports.

The trade surplus was $11.4bn (£6.9bn), according to the customs agency, whereas analysts had expected a figure of about $3bn.
In March, China reported an unexpected trade surplus of $140m.
The news comes during US-China talks on trade relations and will put the issue of the Chinese currency in the spotlight.
Many in the US, especially exporters, argue that China's currency is undervalued, making Chinese goods highly competitive in world markets.
China's exports grew 29.9% in April from a year earlier, while import growth slowed to 21.8% year on year.
"Today's trade data shows that Chinese exporters continue to benefit from a supportive exchange rate," said Brian Jackson from Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong.
"This number will likely add to the pressure from Washington for Beijing to allow faster currency appreciation, but more importantly should persuade Chinese policy-makers that a stronger yuan can be tolerated by the economy and is warranted as part of their efforts to curb price pressures."
On Monday, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said China was making progress "towards a more flexible exchange rate".
Rebalancing trade?
China reported a trade deficit of $1.02bn for the first three months of the year.
Some analysts say that government efforts to rebalance the economy by boosting domestic demand could cut down the full-year surplus.
"I think the trade surplus will continue to shrink as a share of the country's [gross domestic product], and China is seeing a more balanced trade structure," said Du Zhengzheng from Bohai securities in Beijing.

Is this the real China?

China's thirst for luxury is a boom for yacht builders

By Katie Hunt Business reporter, BBC News, Hong Kong

China's newly rich are discovering the pleasures of owning a super-yacht.

Sat on a sun-dappled deck of a 60-foot yacht sipping an iced-coffee and smoking a cigarette, Gordon Hui looks pleased with himself.

He has good reason.
Mr Hui, the boss of the Asia operations of UK yacht-builder Sunseeker, is poised to seal a massive deal worth potentially up to 20m pounds ($33m) to sell five yachts - two over a 100 feet (30m) - to a mainland Chinese customer.
"They've done their research. They are just coming to talk delivery times," he says in between meeting prospective customers at the Hong Kong Gold Coast Boat Show.
Mr Hui says the market in China for the deep-hulled, handcrafted luxury yachts that Sunseeker produces in Poole, Dorset has ballooned from "nothing" two years ago.
Since then Sunseeker, which makes 230 boats a year, has sold around 25 yachts to Chinese customers.
Taste for luxury
China's seemingly insatiable appetite for luxury is a boon for yacht-builders, and other makers of luxury goods, at a time when traditional markets in Europe and the US are struggling.

From a distance, Chinese-made yachts look like their European rivals

"They get the watch, they get the flashy car and then they get a yacht," says Silva Yim, the Hong Kong-based dealer for Princess Yachts, a UK company based in Plymouth.
But it is not all smooth sailing in China for the predominantly European makers of these rich man's toys.
No-one doubts that China's billionaires have deep enough pockets and a taste for ostentation that a super-yacht amply satisfies.
But high taxes, onerous regulation and a lack of suitable marinas and berths may limit the industry's expansion.
Yacht builders also face emerging competition from local upstarts keen to get a slice of this lucrative market.
Nestled among the Italian and UK-made yachts at the Hong Kong boat show were several Chinese-made vessels.
Karaoke dens
Yacht builders are keen to cater to the different tastes of their Chinese clients.

Samuel Wong is a launching a Chinese brand of super-yachts.

Mr Yim, of Princess Yachts which is now owned by LVMH Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton, says that the Chinese like to use their yachts for relatively short periods at the weekend with the family or to entertain clients.
He adds that open deck areas are smaller as Chinese are not usually devotees of sun-bathing and water sports.
Instead they prefer more inside space to host their guests.
One recent client asked for the master bedroom to be turned into a karaoke parlour, notes Mr Yim.
Not quite Monte Carlo
Despite an 18,000km coastline, extended trips around the Chinese coast are difficult because there are strict rules on where private boats can sail.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

My boss is flying to Europe next week to inquire about buying a private jet.”

End Quote Frankie Chan Chinese luxury rental company

Boat owners require special permits to travel on their yachts from province-to-province and large yachts are treated as commercial ships.

There is also a lack of marinas and the ones that do exist are hardly Monte Carlo standard.
"Once China opens up its coastline, it will become like a new French Riviera," says Albert Wu, general manager of the Gold Coast yacht club.
Demand for yachts is also growing despite a 43% tax on boats imported into China - although many buy and keep their vessels in Hong Kong to avoid paying the duty.
Made in China
From a distance, the 86-feet Accelera looks like the other Italian, US and British made yachts on display at the boat show, with its sleek hull and sharp lines.

Chinese like to use their yachts to entertain guests and business clients

But made at a shipyard in Zhuhai, a mainland Chinese city about two hours from Hong Kong, it costs HK$6.8m (£0.5m; $0.9m) - less than a third of the price of its international rivals.
Samuel Wong, executive director of the company that built the boat, says he chose Accelera as the company's brand name because "it sounded Italian".
His father's shipyard used to build fishing and houseboats but Mr Wong believes his new approach will pay off as the existing international super-yacht brands are not yet well established in China.
"The engine and electronics are the same as the international brands - it's our labour costs that are cheap," he says.
Inside the yacht, which boasts a karaoke lounge complete with a disco glitter ball, it smells synthetic and compares poorly to the glossy interiors of its European rivals.
But Mr Wong and the half a dozen other Chinese yacht builders that have sprung up are a tangible example of China's move away from mass production into higher value goods.
Bumper purchase
The buyer of Mr Hui's five Sunseeker yachts, Frankie Chan, is matter-of-fact about their bumper purchase when I contact him by phone.
Mr Chan is the vice president of Oursjia, a members-only luxury rental company based in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.
The company looked into to buying the yachts just three months ago in response to demands from some of their 500,000 clients.
They pay a membership fee of 20,000 yuan (£1,900; $3000), which gives them access to rent a car from the company's fleet of 3,000 luxury vehicles and or items from a range of designer furniture.
It estimates that 50,000 of its clients are potential users of the yachts, which come with their own captain and crew provided by Sunseeker.
And, it appears super-yachts are not the only items on their clients' wish lists.
"My boss is flying to Europe next week to inquire about buying a private jet," Mr Chan says.