ABB success in Guangzhou
ABB Xiamen Switchgear has signed an RMB 83 million contract with Guangzhou Metro to design and manufacture gas-insulated switchgear for Guangzhou's City Metro Line II. This is the third big order for the joint venture this year following the award of similar equipment contracts for the Jiangsu Lianyungang Nuclear Power Plant and the Three Gorges Left Bank Power Plant. (China Daily, 4 December)

China to impose automobile purchase tax
China will begin to levy tax on the purchasing of automobiles from 1 January, 2001. The tax will be 10% of the purchasing price of the automobile and is designed to replace the existing fee that road transport authorities charge on the purchasing of automobiles. (Xinhua, 4 December)
Industry participants welcome the new sales tax which is in line WTO membership requirements and shall effectively replace existing car-purchase surcharges, under which car-buyers usually pay more for foreign cars. The levy ranges from 10% of the value of the car to 20% depending on the city in which the car is sold. (South China Morning Post, 7 December)

Rigid renminbi regime main barrier to A- and B share merger
According to the chairman of the Securities Regulatory Commission, China's rigid currency regime is the main barrier to merging the A- and B share markets, and this cannot be fully resolved until the renminbi is freely convertible. (Xinhua, 4 December)

Ford introduces first online dealer network
The new Web site will be the only business-to-consumer network in the Chinese auto industry, so far. (ChinaOnline, 4 December)

Economic slowdown could occur
According to the deputy bureau chief of the National Bureau of Statistics, the risk of a slowdown in China's economic growth next year cannot be underestimated. Slow growth in farmers' incomes and non-governmental investments are indicators of potential economic troubles, as are low retail prices and consistently high international oil prices. (ChinaOnline, 4 December)

Huaxia Bank to go public
The China Securities Regulatory Commission has approved the listing of Huaxia Bank, which will be the fourth listed bank in China. Among the more than 1'000 listed companies in China, only six are financial institutions. (ChinaOnline, 4 December)

Landmark copyright violation ruling
In a landmark decision regarding China's first copyright lawsuit between a Web site and traditional medium, the court pronounced that China Social Publishing House had violated Shanghai's Rongshu.com's copyright of material published on its Web site. Rongshu.com is a Web site for original literary works in Chinese. China Social Publishing House included nine copyrighted articles from the Web site without permission. (ChinaOnline, 4 December)

AT&T first foreign player in China's telecom sector
China has approved AT&T, the largest US telecom operator, to set up a USD 25 million broadband internet joint venture in Shanghai. AT&T will have a 25% stake of the joint venture, Shanghai Symphony Telecom, with the remaining shares going to Shanghai Telecom. (China Daily, 5 December)

China's NASDAQ-listed portal sites face hard times
The shares of the four Chinese portal sites listed on NASDAQ have all plummeted, as the American market has recently dropped across the board. Each of these companies has recently fallen to its lowest share price since its respective initial public offerings. (ChinaOnline, 5 December)

IT industry continues strong growth
The information technology industry showed RMB 556.4 billion in sales from January to October of this year, leading the energy industry, China's second biggest industrial sector, by RMB 32.1 billion and accounting for 8.5% of China's total sales of industrial products. (ChinaOnline, 5 December)

Ericsson to increase investment in China to USD 5.1 billion
Ericsson announced it would increase its hi-tech investment in China from USD 2.4 billion to USD 5.1 billion. This is part of the company's five-year development plan on the mainland. (Beijing Morning Post, 6 December)

68 accounting firms accredited
The People's Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance released a list of qualified accounting firms. Only the 68 accredited accounting agencies, including a Arthur Andersen joint venture, were given licences to carry out auditing businesses in China. The qualifications are subject to annual review. (Xinhua, 6 December)

Ford revs up for share of mainland car market
Ford Motor Co has won central government approval for a joint venture with Chongqing-based Changan Automobile Group. Ford is joining the race among foreign auto-makers to produce a small, affordable car for China's growing middle class. Ford and Changan would build a new plant to produce a "family car" priced in the RMB 100'000 range. (www.cbiz.cn, 6 December)

China Telecom plans overseas IPO
China Telecom, the nation's largest fixed-line operator, is planning what could become the biggest overseas share sale ever of any Chinese company. As competitors are raising money abroad and the need to acquire expensive technology is intensifying, the company is likely to list on foreign stock exchanges some time next year. China has 135 million fixed-line subscribers, the vast majority of them served by China Telecom. (China Daily, 6 December)

Toyota's first minibus to roll off production line
Toyota's first vehicle produced in China is about to roll off the production line in Chengdu, two years after the firm set up Sichuan Toyota Motor. (South China Morning Post, 6 December)

Seven Chinese companies may list on NYSE in 2001
The New York Stock Exchange announced that as many as seven mainland Chinese companies intend to go public next year, including China Telecom, China National Offshore Oil Co. and Shanghai BaoSteel Group Corp. (ChinaOnline, 6 December)

China's electricity consumption grows by 10%
China generated 10.3% more electrical power from January to October than it did during the same period last year. The manufacturing industries consumed 11.3% more electricity during this period, while the service industries consumed 13% more. The consumption of electricity by rural and urban residents rose 14.2%. (ChinaOnline, 6 December)

Silicon Valley in Beijing's Haidian District
Beijing Municipal government will inject RMB 1.5 billion in the next three years to develop Zhongguancun, a Chinese version of Silicon Valley. RMB 1 billion will be used for the infrastructure development of three hi-tech parks. RMB 500 million was set aside for research development projects. (Xinhua, 7 December) There was also a report recently asking: "how many Silicon Valleys does China need?"

Brand name recognition
Hongtashang, a domestic cigarette brand, tops China's most valuable brands for the sixth time in a row, with a brand value of RMB 43.9 billion. Haier, Changhong, TCL, three household appliance brands and Wuliangye, a liquor brand make to the top five in this year's list. (China Youth Daily, 7 December)

Tariff revenues rising as supervision tightens
China's tariff revenues hit a record RMB 201 billion during the first 11 months of this year (up 38.9% year-on-year) due to intensified nation-wide crackdowns on smuggling as well as to the surge of domestic demand and exports. (China Daily, 7 December)

China to invest nearly USD 11.6 billion to protect natural forestry
China will invest RMB 96.2 billion over the next 10 years in a natural forest protection project. RMB 78.4 billion of the total investment will be allocated by the central government, while the remaining RMB 17.8 billion shall come from local government coffers. The project will cover 17 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. (ChinaOnline, 7 December)

Chinese consumers want medical insurance most
According to a survey conducted in six cities by the China National Consumers Association, the five most needed types of insurance are medical insurance (57.3%), pension insurance (39.2%), accidental injury insurance (32.1%), life insurance (25.3%) and various kinds of insurance for children (21.6%). (ChinaOnline, 7 December)

Civil aviation revenues up nearly 10% over 1999
Revenues of the civil aviation industry in 2000 will reach RMB 85 billion, up 9.7% from 1999, the Civil Aviation Administration of China estimates. (ChinaOnline, 7 December)

CPI becomes China's major price indicator
China has adopted the consumer price index (CPI) as the major indicator of price changes in place of the retail price index (RPI) this year, the National Bureau of Statistics announced. The new method has added more consumption items into the survey base, including automobiles, cellular phones, housing and education. (Xinhua, 7 December)

Beijing seeks private, overseas funds for new subway
The Beijing municipal government has set up a company responsible for seeking overseas investment for the project, which will cost about RMB 12 billion. The No. 5 Subway Line is one of Beijing's 100 listed infrastructure projects seeking private funds. The projects also include sewage treatment plants, roads and water supply plants. Infrastructure projects in the capital have become a prerequisite as Beijing is working harder for the 2008 Olympic Games bid. (Xinhua, 7 December)

No new foreign investment in cell phone production
China will no longer open up mobile phone production to new foreign investment since the end of this year, and has put certain restrictions on the ratios between local production and imports in mobile phone components. Meanwhile, current domestic foreign mobile phone enterprises have to follow regulations to export at least 60% of the products to other countries. (China Daily, 8 December)

Foreign trade shows strong growth
China's foreign trade volume is expected to increase 26.2% from last year and reach USD 455 billion this year, according to a report of MOFTEC. Exports are expected to increase 23.1% year-on-year to USD 240 billion and imports to rise 29.7% to USD 215 billion. State enterprises and foreign-invested companies are still the two main forces behind China's rapidly increasing exports, but exports made by non-State enterprises are also growing at a fast rate. The report predicts that China's foreign trade will grow 8% in 2001. (China Daily, 8 December)

China becomes world's second largest foreign funds recipient
Statistics show that by the end of May, more than 180 countries and regions world-wide had invested in 349'500 ventures in China, involving a total contractual foreign investment of USD 632 billion. The used amount of foreign investment has reached USD 321 billion. Of the total foreign investment, 65.4% are in the industrial sector, and 32.9% in the tertiary industry. (Xinhua, 8 December)

General pattern of "South-North Water Diversion " project fixed
China is preparing to launch a project to divert water from south China to north China. The project comprises three routes. The eastern route will involve diversion of water from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to Shangdong Province, Tianjian municipality and the east part of Hebei Province. The central route is to divert water from the Hanjiang River to Beijing and Tianjin. The western route is to divert water from the Dadu River, the Yalong River and the Tongtian River, to the upper reaches of the Yellow River to increase water supply in the Ninxia Hui Autonomous Region, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Shaanxi Province. (People's Daily, 8 December)

Sinopec, BASF launch joint venture in Nanjing
China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation and Germany's BASF launched a USD 3 billion joint venture to build and operate an integrated petrochemical site in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. The 50-50 joint venture, BASF-YPC (Yangzi Petrochemical Corp) Company Ltd, is the second largest Sino-foreign chemical company after a USD 4 billion project in Guangdong Province of the China National Offshore Oil Corp and the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, which was established in October. (China Daily, 9 December)

1.59 million new firms licensed in six months
More than 400 new private companies received licences every day in the first half of the year. By June 30, China had licensed 1.59 million private companies, with almost 21 million employees. The number of firms was up 5.18% over the end of last year, and the number of employees went up 3.2%. (South China Morning Post, 9 December)