Asia picks its words of the year, and they are a bunch of sad characters

Asia picks its words of the year, and they are a bunch of sad characters

By Herman Wong @hermanywong

December 29, 2013

Asia has chosen some somber words to sum up its year. China Realtime Report rounded up the character of the year (kanji of the year in Japan) from five Asian nations, which were based on polls or selected by a committee. Unlike Oxford Dictionaries’ choice for word of the year, these characters capture a sense of people’s anxiety and, in one case, of collective achievement.

房 fang: house or home (China)

Even as real estate inflation in China is cooling down, the cost of buying a home in first-tier cities is still sky-high, smaller cities face rumors of collapsing prices, and the rent is too damn high.

假 jia: fake (Taiwan)

A year of political and food safety scandals has left the Taiwanese unsure of what to believe.

霾  mai: haze (Singapore)

Pollution in this city-state hit historic levels this year.

涨  zhang: inflation (Malaysia)

A recent poll showed that 67% of Malaysians were worried about rising inflation, which could increase to 4% in 2014 from slightly more than 2% this year.

輪 wa: circle (Japan)

This character was chosen to represent how the Japanese people worked together to win the right to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, and how they endured the natural calamities that have struck the country.

Loan Sharks Smell Blood in China Waters; Credit China Is Part of a New Breed of Shadow Lenders

Loan Sharks Smell Blood in China Waters

Credit China Is Part of a New Breed of Shadow Lenders

JASON CHOW

Dec. 29, 2013 8:39 p.m. ET

Sitting in an empty Papa John’s PZZA -1.07% pizza restaurant, real-estate developer Yang Boqun said he would somehow catch up on loan payments for 150 million yuan ($24.7 million) he borrowed to finish a five-story shopping mall in the eastern Chinese city of Jinhua. Read more of this post

Walmart in drive to expand Sam’s Club chain in China

December 29, 2013 5:30 am

Walmart in drive to expand Sam’s Club chain in China

By Tom Mitchell in Beijing

The Sam’s Club on the outskirts of China’s capital is not, technically speaking, a drive-through operation. But almost all of the customers at the Walmart-operated discount warehouse drive there to shop and are prepared to pay as much as Rmb175 ($30) for a bag of imported Massachusetts cranberries. Walmart’s international expansion of its Sam’s Club chain, which in China targets increasingly affluent customers in the country’s largest cities, is a key part of the US retailer’s strategy to offset stagnant sales in its home market. Read more of this post

The national drive to develop sea transportation has made China’s northern-most sea port of Dandong a new hub in the booming northeastern region

China’s northern-most port rises

Xinhua | Agencies
Published on December 28, 2013 11:13

The national drive to develop sea transportation has made China’s northern-most sea port of Dandong a new hub in the booming northeastern region.
The port, located in Dandong, Liaoning Province at the northern extremity of China’s coastline, is expected to reach a total cargo turnover of 120 million tonnes this year, exceeding the benchmark of 100 million tonnes for the first time. The volume in 2012 was 96 million tonnes. Read more of this post

Opportunity beckons amidst China’s smog problem

Updated: Monday December 30, 2013 MYT 11:07:14 AM

Opportunity beckons amidst China’s smog problem

SHANGHAI: As China’s smog levels crept past record highs in early December, the phone lines at pollution-busting kit maker Broad Group lit up with Chinese customers worried about hazardous pollution levels that have gripped China this year. Read more of this post

Firms help spur a running craze in China

Firms help spur a running craze in China

Staff Reporter

2013-12-30

More and more people in China are taking up running, with its popularity fueled by private running groups and promotions hosted by various companies including sporting goods giant Nike and China’s largest residential real estate developer Vanke, reports Guangzhou’s 21st Century Business Herald. Read more of this post

China’s art market has cooled down significantly this year due to slower economic growth, rampant counterfeits and speculations

Replicas strangling China’s art market

Staff Reporter

2013-12-29

China’s art market has cooled down significantly this year due to slower economic growth, rampant counterfeits and speculations, reports the Chinese language Economic Information Daily. Read more of this post

China says poor performing SOEs to be ‘severely dealt with’

China says poor performing SOEs to be ‘severely dealt with’

5:36am EST

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China will evaluate the performance of its state-owned enterprises in 2014 and “severely deal with” companies that perform poorly, are continuously loss-making or do not meet safety standards, state news agency Xinhua said on Sunday. Read more of this post

China says Communist Party leaders must not smoke in public, help colleagues quit

China says Communist Party leaders must not smoke in public, help colleagues quit

1:08am EST

BEIJING (Reuters) – Communist Party officials must not smoke in public places or buy cigarettes using public funds, and should encourage their colleagues to quit smoking, a top Chinese government body said in a circular on Sunday evening. Read more of this post

China Cash-for-Votes Scandal Shows Xi’s Graft Challenge

China Cash-for-Votes Scandal Shows Xi’s Graft Challenge

A cash-for-votes scandal in China’s southern city of Hengyang that snared more than 500 lawmakers underscores the challenges facing Xi Jinping as he enters his second year in charge of the world’s second-biggest economy. Read more of this post

Utilities Feeling Rooftop Solar Heat Start Fighting Back

Utilities Feeling Rooftop Solar Heat Start Fighting Back

If you wonder why America’s utilities are rattled by the explosive growth in rooftop solar — and are pushing back — William Walker has a story for you. A flip-flop wearing Walker stands in his driveway pointing to a ubiquitous neighborhood feature – solar panels on the roofs of five of six houses nearby. He lives in Ewa Beach, a development on the sultry leeward coast of the Hawaiian island of Oahu built on land cleared of sugar cane fields. Read more of this post

US carmakers grapple with CNG vehicle demand

December 29, 2013 3:33 pm

US carmakers grapple with CNG vehicle demand

By Robert Wright in New York

US carmakers are struggling to reconcile customers’ growing interest in running vehicles on newly abundant natural gas with the logistical challenges of supplying the technology for the still-niche market, according to senior automotive executives. Read more of this post

Speculators ‘Throwing Money’ at Natural Gas on Icy Blast: Energy

Speculators ‘Throwing Money’ at Natural Gas on Icy Blast: Energy

Hedge funds got more bullish on natural gas as a blast of cold air swept across the U.S., pushing prices to the highest level in more than two years. Money managers increased net-long positions, or bets on rising prices, by 33 percent in the week ended Dec. 17, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Bullish wagers advanced for a fourth week and to a six-month high. Read more of this post

Hong Kong in quest for youth as ageing population looms

Hong Kong in quest for youth as ageing population looms

Sunday, December 29, 2013 – 14:14

Aaron Tam

AFP

HONG KONG – Schools replaced by care homes and a once-vibrant economy dulled by one of Asia’s oldest populations: experts fear this is the Hong Kong of the not-too-distant future. Read more of this post

Some shops and ATMs in Hong Kong started to refuse HK$1,000 (US$130) banknotes after police found several counterfeit notes and arrested suspects

HK shops refusing HK$1,000 notes during holiday scare

Staff Reporter

2013-12-30

Some shops and ATMs in Hong Kong started to refuse HK$1,000 (US$130) banknotes after police found several counterfeit notes and arrested suspects, reports the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. Read more of this post

‘Common man’ leader talks of revolution in India

‘Common man’ leader talks of revolution

Sunday, December 29, 2013 – 10:42

Devidutta Tripathy and John Chalmers

Reuters

DELHI – There was no motorcade, and none of the traditional trappings of power: the leader of India’s upstart “common man party” arrived on a crowded metro train on Saturday to be sworn in as chief minister of Delhi, India’s capital. Read more of this post

Indian Bank Risk Rises on Sour Loans as Profitability Declines

Indian Bank Risk Rises on Sour Loans as Profitability Declines

The risk to India’s banking industry rose in the six months through September as bad loans surged and profitability slumped, the central bank said. The average gross bad-loan ratio may increase to 4.6 percent of total lending by September 2014 in a “baseline scenario,” the Reserve Bank of India said in a financial stability report posted on its website today. The ratio advanced to 4.2 percent as of Sept. 30 from 3.4 percent in March, the report showed. Read more of this post

The Men Who Would be King in 2014; The chemistry and momentum is clearly with a charismatic Modi but will he have the numbers to become India’s next prime minister?

The Men Who Would be King in 2014

by Rajdeep Sardesai | Dec 27, 2013

The chemistry and momentum is clearly with a charismatic Modi but will he have the numbers to become India’s next prime minister? For almost three decades, Sharad Pawar has been India’s prime minister-in-waiting. A few years ago, when journalists asked him if he had finally given up on his prime ministerial ambitions, the Maharashtra leader candidly admitted that with a party of less than 10 MPs, his chances for the top job were virtually nil. But then, he cheekily added, “If Deve Gowda can do it, I guess anyone can aspire to be prime minister!” Read more of this post

Saving Indonesia’s fisheries: Plenty more fish in the sea? The government tries to preserve a fecund part of the coral triangle

Saving Indonesia’s fisheries: Plenty more fish in the sea? The government tries to preserve a fecund part of the coral triangle

Dec 21st 2013 | ALILA TIMUR, ALOR ISLANDS | From the print edition

HE LEARNED to fish the turquoise-coloured seas of the Alor archipelago in eastern Indonesia from his father. But it is not a vocation Samsul Osman wants for his own four children. He says that these days traditional fishermen like himself must paddle their outrigger canoes far out to sea for a catch of skipjack tuna that sells for about 60,000 rupiah (about $5). Sometimes his family goes hungry. The other fishermen sitting cross-legged on the white sand at Alila Timur, where traders come to buy tuna to sell at the markets of Kalabahi, the islands’ sleepy capital, nod their heads. Fish stocks are dwindling. Read more of this post

Japan’s Sony has decided not to sell its lithium ion battery unit, in a gamble that it can turn the business around with a weak yen and growing demand for smartphone batteries

Updated: Monday December 30, 2013 MYT 10:12:28 AM

Sony to give up on sale of its battery unit

TOKYO: Japan’s Sony Corp has decided not to sell its lithium ion battery unit, media reported, in a gamble that it can turn the business around with a weak yen and growing demand for smartphone batteries. Read more of this post