Chinese New Year does not seem very long ago (not to mention Easter), but now the May Day “golden week” holiday is already upon us. Prepare for many Chinese businesses to be on holiday from Tuesday 1st (or even Monday 30th), through until Monday 7th May. The China Travel Industry Blog has previously reported on […]

Following the release of China’s first quarter growth figures (11.1 percent, as reported here) there has been surprise in many quarters at the continuing heat in the market. While the GDP debate has often focused on whether there will be a hard, soft of bumpy landing, Standard Charted have come up with a different view. […]

Stats are still on an upward trend…notwithstanding the stock market’s latest wobble. Foreign trade hit US$457.74 in Q1, according to People’s Daily: “According to China Customs, the total value of China’s foreign trade was US$457.74 billion in the first quarter of this year, up 23.3% from last year. Export was valued at US$252.09 billion, up […]

Further to the recent post on organisations that connect companies with Chinese graduate interns, I was contacted by Nottingham University, which also offers a programme. Details can be found below. For those that may not be aware, Nottingham (in the UK) also has an innovative China campus (in Ningbo), as well as a large number […]

The People’s Daily reports that Chinese enterprises are becoming more socially responsible. On the up-side: “The results of a questionnaire distributed by the Chinese Entrepreneur Survey System (CESS) to 4586 enterprise operators were published on April 14. Some 95.8 percent of them believe that “a good enterprise must have a strong sense of social responsibility”, […]

China’s surging stock markets, have now overtaken Hong Kong in terms of market capitalisation, according to the FT. “The Shanghai and Shenzhen markets overtook Hong Kong on Monday while the market was closed, according to figures on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong website, and maintained that position after it resumed trading yesterday…The market capitalisation […]

HSBC has hit an unexpected regulatory snag in China, according to the FT. HSBC invested US$1.75 billion to buy 19.9 percent (the maximum allowed for an individual foreign investor) in the Bank of Communications (BoCom)three years ago. This was done as part of a long-term strategy and the deal included an agreement that the stake […]

“China” and “trade” make for good headlines, and plenty of column inches, every time new figures are published. The latest set of reports (from a variety of sources noted below) include: • Exports from China: Up 27 percent in 2006, to US$969 billion (making China the number 3 manufacturing exporter after Germany and the US […]

While the foreign fast-food giants have been taking a bashing over relations with staff, another big international brand – Danone – has been facing partnership (and PR) problems. Danone has a 51 percent joint venture with one of China’s biggest brands, Wahaha…but it is now also reported (by Reuters) to be preparing litigation against Wahaha’s […]

The spotlight has been on big-name MNCs in China again over the past couple of weeks. As mentioned in a recent post on corporate social responsibility (“CSR”), three big, foreign fast-food chains were accused of paying staff below the minimum wage in Guangzhou. Despite all the noise the initial investigation created, it has now been […]