Bamboo Innovator

Forget the huddled masses: Treating immigrants as a charity case is not working: time to change course

Forget the huddled masses: Treating immigrants as a charity case is not working: time to change course

Nov 9th 2013 |From the print edition

IMMIGRATION reform in America is stuck. Blame Emma Lazarus, who wrote the 1883 sonnet anointing the Statue of Liberty a “Mother of Exiles”, urging the old world to send “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”.

Lazarus is only accidentally to blame for the partisan deadlock that grips immigration reform, raising the ghastly prospect that a broken system will remain unfixed until after the 2014 mid-term elections, and possibly the presidential contest of 2016. Lazarus wrote her poem to help raise funds for the statue’s pedestal. She ignored the stated purpose of the colossal sculpture (a French-built homage to America’s republican government) focusing instead on her concern over Jewish pogroms in Russia. Her words were almost forgotten, surviving on a plaque on an inner wall of the pedestal. They achieved fame decades after her death, as the statue became associated with the immigration station on Ellis Island and Nazi persecution made refugee policies urgently political. In 1945 the poem, set in bronze, was moved to the statue’s main entrance. Soon afterwards it was put to music by Irving Berlin. Read more of this post

China Premier Li Keqiang: “Stirring up vested interests is more difficult than stirring up one’s soul”; In China, Gov’t and Business Go Together Like Horse and Carriage – Sort of

11.07.2013 19:10

Closer Look: In China, Gov’t and Business Go Together Like Horse and Carriage – Sort of

It’s love, one entrepreneur says, but not marriage, and making progress on improving the relationship will be tricky

By staff reporter Gao Yu

(Beijing) – Premier Li Keqiang met with scholars and entrepreneurs on October 31 in the capital to discuss the economic situation. It was the third such meeting Li has held since taking office in March. Read more of this post

Domestic films set to dominate box office; This year, Chinese films accounted for 58% of box-office revenue, compared with 48.5% in 2012

Domestic films set to dominate box office

Updated: 2013-11-05 10:50

By Huang Ying ( China Daily)

Domestic movies are expected to conquer the Chinese market this year, after being beaten by importedproductions for the first time in four years in 2012, industry observers said. Read more of this post

The debate on lifting equity share control

The debate on lifting equity share control

Updated: 2013-11-07 10:37

By Wayne Xing ( chinaautoreview.com)

This year’s Global Automotive Forum held in Wuhan triggered a heated debate among automotive circles about whether China needs to relax the 50:50 equity control policy over investment by foreign automakers in whole vehicle assembly plants. Read more of this post

Zhejiang’s once-booming solar industry remains in darkness

Zhejiang’s once-booming solar industry remains in darkness

Staff Reporter

2013-11-07

Beijing has come up with several policies to support the domestic solar industry, however the sector is continuing to face difficulties, the Beijing-based China Enterprise News reports. Kaihua county in Quzhou in eastern China’s Zhejiang province is an important cluster for the domestic solar industry. The local industry grew rapidly between 2006 and 2008, reaching its peak during 2009 and 2010, seeing between 70 to 80 companies, the paper said. Read more of this post

China faces a long battle for blue skies

China faces a long battle for blue skies

(Xinhua)    20:02, November 07, 2013 Read more of this post

Chinese movie stars deny involvement in insider dealing

Chinese movie stars deny involvement in insider dealing

2013-11-07 03:45:31 GMT2013-11-07 11:45:31(Beijing Time)  Xinhua English

By Jia Xiaoguang, Sina English

Famous Chinese actress Li Bingbing and actor Ren Quan officially denied their alleged activities in an insider dealing through which they might have profited multi-millions, according to a report on November 7. Some whistle-blower posted the tip-off on the microblog service Sina Weibo yesterday. Li and Ren, described as being “in a relationship” in the post, became shareholders of Xiangyun Feilong Renewable Technology Co. Ltd through a Beijing-based fund company this June. Read more of this post

48 Chinese carmakers set for chop amid industry shakeup

48 Chinese carmakers set for chop amid industry shakeup

Staff Reporter

2013-11-07

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) recently released a list naming 48 Chinese carmakers for their poor performance with an aim to reduce the number of car manufacturers in the country, reports the Chinese-language China Business Journal. The companies whose names were cited still have a chance to continue operating as long as they can pass an evaluation by October 31, 2015, a source told the paper. Read more of this post

Credit cards in South Korea: A swipe at profits; It is getting harder to make money from the world’s most prolific card-users

Credit cards in South Korea: A swipe at profits; It is getting harder to make money from the world’s most prolific card-users

Nov 9th 2013 | SEOUL |From the print edition

SOUTH KOREA is a notoriously competitive society. But how do those who play its fierce status games know when they have won? Probably when they are invited to apply for “the black”, a credit card issued by Hyundai Card, a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor. Cast in “liquidmetal”, a trademarked alloy suited to armour-piercing ammunition, the card is heavy. It is also rare. Only about 2,000 have been issued and only 9,999 ever will be. To qualify, a holder needs high social standing as well as high net worth. The card charges a stiff membership fee and offers a variety of benefits: members were, for example, invited to a mock Christie’s auction, featuring works flown in from New York. But the main reason people want the black card is that it is so difficult to get. Read more of this post

Pollution In China Blamed For Increasingly ‘Ugly’ Sperm Counts

Pollution In China Blamed For Increasingly ‘Ugly’ Sperm Counts

TOM PHILLIPS, THE TELEGRAPH 5 MINUTES AGO 0

Shanghai doctor tells local newspaper that two thirds of the city’s semen stocks are below World Health Organisation standards, as concerns over China’s toxic environment grow

Shanghai’s semen is facing an unprecedented crisis with experts labelling pollution as one of the “major culprits” for the mega-city’s increasingly dismal sperm quality, Chinese media claimed. Only one-third of the semen at Shanghai’s main sperm bank meets World Health Organisation standards, the Shanghai Morning Post reported on Thursday. Read more of this post

If You Think China’s Air Is Bad …Drinking water has become a casualty of rapid industrialization

November 7, 2013

If You Think China’s Air Is Bad …

By DAMIEN MA and WILLIAM ADAMS

For visitors, China’s water problem becomes apparent upon entering the hotel room. The smell of a polluted river might emanate from the showerhead. Need to quench your thirst? The drip from the tap is rarely potable. Can you trust the bottled water? Many Chinese don’t. What about brushing your teeth? Measured by the government’s own standards, more than half of the country’s largest lakes and reservoirs were so contaminated in 2011 that they were unsuitable for human consumption. China’s more than 4,700 underground water-quality testing stations show that nearly three-fifths of all water supplies are “relatively bad” or worse. Roughly half of rural residents lack access to drinking water that meets international standards. Read more of this post

China eyes adopting international law to spark life into trade zones

China eyes adopting international law to spark life into trade zones

Tue, Nov 5 2013

By Saikat Chatterjee and Michelle Chen

HONG KONG (Reuters) – China is considering the use of international law in a big push to get free trade zones up and running to promote the use of the yuan in global trade, which could challenge Hong Kong longer term as the main offshore center for the currency. Sources said Chinese leaders have been discussing the adoption of an international legal system in the free trade zones (FTZs) for the first time to help lure foreign companies, although views are varied. Read more of this post