In the past I was very happy with the China Daily website. It was easy to find back articles and download them. I am a heavy user as the newspaper does carry a lot of information. The printed version is still a good source of information to read what is going on and what is the propaganda of the day.
But capitalism has moved into the government newspaper. Now they want to make money and charge to search and view articles. That could still be acceptable if it would work.
It does not. It is one of the worst websites now and since many weeks we do not see any improvement. Total chaos. You want to subscribe? Well good for you, silly foreigner. Every foreigner who succeeds should get a special medal. Our (Chinese) office gave up. Some Chinese friend then found a way around. Problem solved? Nope.
The nitwits or rather empty brain-headed staff in the website section do not let you “log in” as a paying subscriber. Actually if you are logged in (whatever that means), you will have a hard time logging out: there is no login/logout page. OK, so you think you are logged in? Yep, looks like. Sorry, you can’t read the article, you need to subscribe! What the f###! I paid!
The website witnits staff has never heard about cookies. Search is busted. There are so many problems, I would need several pages to explain.
End result: foreigners will slowly figure out China Daily is closing the door on them. Maybe its is becoming a state secret? So far so good to promote China. Or maybe the bosses are just internet illiterates. Or Global Times is secretly boycotting China Daily and organizing a coup. Spare us from that!
I just wonder how “subscribers” in the EU, USA or other parts of the world will be able to use the website. Slowly the overseas sections are crumbling into the Beijing mess.
I did sent requests for assistance through the indicated “channels”. Obviously nobody ever replied, most probably because they don’t know what to say.
Now every time I need an article I need detective work to get it. As a paying subscriber, that is.
And then that Chinese guy wants to buy the NYT or whatever? Kidding right?
China Daily is again proving what we all know: for building a website you NEVER let Chinese touch it. They either screw it all up or put so many bells and whistles on it you can’t read the articles.
All sad because China Daily is supposed the door to China. A promotion.
Oh, yes. It seems Shanghai Daily’s website (paying) does work. But that is Shanghai.
Gilbert this morning on BBC Radio, live
I was at the BBC’s Beijing Office this morning for a live interview by BBC World Service, Business Matters, arranged by Lucy Burton, Business Journalist, BBC in the UK. Beijing time 9 to 10 am, UK time 01 am to 02 am.
I was (alone) in the radio room, listening to the one hour program and being interviewed a couple of times.
Topics covered were the latest world news, protests in Turkey, protests in Thailand, Greenpeace Activists released in Russia, Romanian Orphans – 23 years on –, Mao’s birthday in China, Gilbert’s book “Toxic Capitalism” and more.
I think every interview – and I’ve had many – is different and this one was certainly a new experience. All went pretty well and you can feel those people at the BBC know their job. All smooth.
Maybe more to come, I don’t know…
Listen here, I come up after some 18 minutes: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01nbn6l
How many Wechat users?
I am still in doubt. According to some international surveys, in the list of the world’s largest social networks, ranked in terms of reported or estimated global Monthly Active Users or MAUs, WeChat (236 million MAUs) stands at position 10. Some write in China Daily: 500 million users with 100 million outside of China. Or some say 400 million. Anybody has a better opinion?
The “international view” (BI Intelligence), gives this ranking:
1.Facebook (1.15 billion MAUs)
2. YouTube (1 billion MAUs)
3. Qzone (712 million total users), China
4. Sina Weibo (500 million total users), China
5. WhatsApp (350 million MAUs)
6. Google+ (327 million MAUs)
7. Tumblr (300 million monthly unique visitors)
8. LINE (275 million total active users), Japan
9. Twitter (240 million MAUs)
Reciprocity in business between China and the EU?
I am much in favor of the draft law in the EU called “The reciprocity Law”. The idea is simple: level playing field between the two trade groups. To put it simple, if a non-EU company wants to do a public project in the EU, they can do it as long as a EU company could do the same in the foreign country. Karel De Gucht has been trying to promote the idea, but with little success so far.
Our Chinese friends are getting “upset” by market access issues in the EU while they are being allowed to undertake projects there that are impossible dreams for EU companies in China. See as an example ( from the FCCC Newsletter):
“The Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG) has signed a deal with British firms to develop a business district – Airport City – around Manchester Airport. Described as one of the largest construction projects in the country since the 2012 London Olympics, it will cost GBP800 million. Manchester Airport’s operator MAG, GMPF, a pension fund based in the city, and British construction group Carillion would work alongside BCEG on the project. The development would eventually create 16,000 jobs for the region. The Airport City Project will see the construction of offices, hotels, warehouses and sites for advanced manufacturing and logistics covering an area of 418,000 square meters. Manchester Airport is used by more than 20 million passengers annually.”
Nice. Now tell that to a EU construction group that would love to do the same in China. Kidding, right? Basically all international construction companies were forced to pack their bags and leave as regulations effectively barred them from doing anything other than some vague “consulting”. The list could go on and on
Not to be surprized, London Mayor Boris Johnson arrived in Beijing recently with a business delegation to attract Chinese sovereign funds, banks and developers to fund an overhaul of the British capital in the years to come. “Our Mayor’s interest is about new infrastructure,” said Gordon Innes, CEO of London and Partners, the official promotional organization for the city.
Of course, our poor EU has fallen down so much that it now needs the Chinese money.
The Chinese have also become major players around the world in buying up massive real estate volumes (London, Paris, New York, anywhere). Now, as a foreign investor in China, good luck to you. You barely can buy an apartment as a foreigner. Reports the FCCC Newsletter:
Dubai has become one of the latest hotspots for Chinese real estate buyers. Dubai state-owned Nakheel, the developer of the man-made island Palm Jumeirah, has hired Chinese-speaking staff to cope with the new rush of clients from China. According to the Consulate General of China in Dubai, over 270,000 Chinese nationals live in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). “Apartment prices rose 15% in the last 12 months but they are still 19% below their peak in 2008, the year before the global financial crisis hit the Dubai real estate market,” said Craig Plumb at Jones Lang LaSalle.
State-controlled developer Greenland is investing in a New York property project valued at more than USD5 billion, becoming the latest Chinese real estate company to venture overseas. It signed a memorandum of understanding on October 2 with Forest City Ratner to develop the Atlantic Yards Apartment Project in Brooklyn. It will take a 70% stake in the development, anchored by the Barclays Center, home of the National Basketball Association’s Brooklyn Nets.
China bigger oil importer than U.S.
As I predicted in my book Toxic Capitalism and in several of my seminars, it has happened and even faster than expected. As reported by the FCCC Newsletter and other media, China passed the United States in September as the world’s biggest net oil importer, driven by faster economic growth and strong auto sales, according to U.S. government data. Chinese oil consumption outstripped production by 6.3 million barrels per day. The U.S., with a population about one-third the size of China’s, still consumes far more oil per person than China. In September, Americans used 18.6 million barrels per day of oil and other liquid fossil fuels, while China used 10.9 million, according to the EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook. U.S. production was 12.5 million barrels per day, while that of China was 4.6 million. China’s economy, the world’s second-largest, is cooling but still is forecast to grow by nearly 8% this year, well above forecasts for the U.S.
At the same time China is also increasing its imports of natural gas, through pipelines and through LNG shipments. The Factory of the World needs all the energy to deliver the goods to the West.