Comments for China Outsider

Comment on China’s Urban Nightmare by Zehai Peng

Zehai Peng — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 09:10:23 +0000

This by no means is a coincidence that only happens in Shanghai. It also happened in some inner provinces like my own one Hunan. I think for officials in each level of jurisdiction, urbanization is always in their political agenda. Not only because it is a way to knock the higher positions in their political career, but also people can actually see those buildings as a symbol of higher living standard.
Large pile of capital has been therefore devoted to urbanize the city: land, capital and labour.
Since those officials wanted to move higher as quick as possible, they will be more likely to push and complete as more projects as possible when they are still in the office. Maybe not all officials think the same way, but afterall its a very common one. Fast-paced urbanization is therefore not difficult to be understood. Since the time and budgets are both limited with in a certain period of time, then it’s possible that each project is being built with lower quality…
This story could go on and on.
And… it’s just my own explanation to this.

Comment on China is Number One Yet Again by Simon

Simon — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:55:11 +0000

Or “elite” university graduates sell pork:
http://www.chinasmack.com/2008/stories/1300-graduate-students-compete-to-sell-pork.html
:-)

Comment on Walmart with Chinese Characteristics by nobody

nobody — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 12:26:18 +0000

i have to say your viewpoint is quite special. did you take those pics by yourself?

Comment on Happy New Year! Quick, make those Skype calls home before its too late! by Zehai

Zehai — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 17:09:04 +0000

I don’t think its technically possible to strip the VoIP from Skype itself, i assume all Skype traffics are currently routed through a single server. I mean afterall they can’t ban Skype as a whole, it’s still an IM. There is no explicit law that gives them the power to do so.
Still disappointing! Last time I check China is still a WTO member state.

Comment on China is Number One Yet Again by Thomas Rippel

Thomas Rippel — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 06:09:58 +0000

It is all just part of this overblown narrative of China taking over the world. They can produce numbers like this all day long, but at the end of the day, look at what happens to the majority of China’s 7 million university graduates every year. Churning out a million engineers a year is nothing but a label with no meaning behind it if at the end of their degree all they get is a piece of paper. I’ve met people who got bachelors degrees in ‘basketball management’, ‘sports english’ or ‘classical guitar’. Good luck in life with that.

Comment on Taxi Driver Tales: The Economics and Culture of Renting and Buying in China by Thomas Rippel

Thomas Rippel — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 05:44:25 +0000

Thank you for your comment!
I think the central bank here has very limited wiggle room. They can not increase interest rates much more. If they do so, the amount of hot speculative money flowing into China is just going to be too overwhelming. After all, who can imagine a better investment than a high interest bond where you a guaranteed that the currency will also significantly appreciate.
As to the housing prices, it seems like this is really what keeps the economy running at high tilt! Everyone is on the edge, scrambling to make more money to pay for a mortgage. Its one gigantic rat-race. The real question is what would the consequences be when housing prices stop rising? What can keep the economy going? Certainly not exports, with wages rising rapidly and the RMB appreciating. It find it quite worrisome.

Comment on Taxi Driver Tales: The Economics and Culture of Renting and Buying in China by Zehai

Zehai — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:14:51 +0000

Have to say, i love you blog. What you have write in this entry is absolutly true. However, these purely cutural decisions bring unintened economic consequences. People have less disposable income if taking their morgage into account. I personally believe this is the leading cause of the inadequate domestic demand for good/service. In this economic background, increase export became increasingly important for domestic manufacturers because they need to keep the factory running. And by doing so, the China’s multilateral trade deficit is being built up. Liquidity is limited and Central bank can do nothing but to increase the interest rate to halt the investment. But according to the microeconomic theory, the domestic spending will, again, further decline as a consequence.

Ideologies drive poors to buy a house that they can barely afford, and encourage riches to invest in a way they can benefit. As long as population growth rate is positive, there will be just more people wanting to buy properties every year.

Correct me if i am wrong.

Comment on China is Number One Yet Again by Simon

Simon — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 02:00:35 +0000

Couldn’t agree more, read the same article and thought to myself that all the people who in all seriousness want to learn from the sucess of the Shanghai students obviously haven’t been to China yet.

Comment on China’s Lack of Creativity: Maybe Expressing their Emotions Could Help! by zynga

zynga — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:00:49 +0000

lol a few of the remarks most people write crack me up, every so often i ponder if they in actual fact read the content articles and items before placing a comment or if perhaps they only just skim the titles and craft the first thought that one thinks of. nevertheless, it’s enjoyable to read smart commentary occasionally rather than the same, outdated blog vomit which i normally notice on the web i’m off to enjoy a smattering of hands of facebook poker goodbye

Comment on What if… by How To Violate Chinese Law And Get Away With It. Don’t Even Go There. | Manufacturer China

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:48:14 +0000

[...] on this subject, I just read a very interesting post, entitled, “What If….” over at the China Outsider blog. The what if is Google offering and widely publicizing a [...]