Content about General

Unlucky Seven

The seventh government restructuring plan since reform and opening-up was issued by the State Council this month. These reforms will repay historical debts, because many similar departments of the planned economy completed such reforms 15 years ago.

Huang Yue and her family flew from the southern tip of China to the mountains near Yabuli town, located in the northernmost province of Heilongjiang, because she heard the snow was immaculate.

“We mainly came to see the snow,” says Huang, who lives in Guangdong province.

But the family stayed only one night at a Yabuli ski resort after skiing for two hours and paying for private lessons for their 10-year-old daughter. Though the family enjoyed the trip, Huang says they have no plans to return soon.

As part of the government restructuring plan released on Sunday, China will bring its maritime law enforcement forces under the unified management of one single administration, which will retain the name the State Oceanic Administration. This is an important step for China to better safeguard its maritime interests and achieve the goal of becoming a maritime power.

The coming of the Chinese Lunar New Year is often associated with change. But the next few days, when the nation gets ready to welcome the Year of the Snake, or even months, are unlikely to lead to higher shipments or better trade numbers for export-oriented Chinese companies as global uncertainties continue to drag down demand.

Though the final days of the Year of the Dragon were remarkable for many Chinese traders as exports rebounded to a seven-month high in December, a similar turnaround looks highly unlikely this time around.

DHgate.com, the business-to-business e-commerce website, has linked up with a Vietnamese partner to help local companies from there export overseas.

Diane Wang, its founder and chief executive officer, said on Tuesday that as Vietnam becomes a more important manufacturing base with its low costs, DHgate has joined hands with privately owned local conglomerate Sovico Holdings to provide e-commerce services to small companies from both countries.

China's vehicle exports topped the one-million mark for the first time in 2012.

The latest statistics from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that the country delivered a total of 1,056,100 units abroad in 2012, a 29.7 percent rise on 2011.

Though the year-on-year growth slowed to 30 percent from 50 percent in 2011, the rate is still much higher than the 4.3 percent increase for the domestic market.

Passenger cars accounted for 45 percent of the exports while trucks accounted for 27.9 percent, said the association.

"Negative factors," led by eurozone woes, were responsible for the trade target being missed, said a spokesman for the General Administration of Customs on Thursday.

Although there has been some recent recovery in both inbound and outbound shipments, the general situation facing exporters remains severe, Zheng Yuesheng warned.

Zheng described 2012 as "a really hard year".

Sales of imported vehicles in China showed a year-on-year drop for a second month in a row in November, placing even more pressure on dealers to decrease their inventories.

According to the General Administration of Customs, China imported 79,800 vehicles in November, down 26.1 percent year-on-year. Of those, 78,756 were passenger vehicles, a number down 25.9 percent.

The inclusion of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region into the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) will have a positive effect on the trading, manufacturing and services sectors of Hong Kong and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, contributing to the economic development and further economic integration in the region, says Jonathan Choi Koon-shum, former chairman of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce (CGCC).

Nonresident kids fight to attend big-city schools

As the deadline nears for education chiefs to draw up a clear gaokao policy, the public debate over whether the children of migrants should be allowed to take the national college entrance exam in major cities is growing in intensity.

In August, authorities in all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions were told by the General Office of the State Council to address the question by the end of 2012, saying yes or no.

The Beauty and Fitness Professionals General Union reports that employees of DR Beauty Group are being forced to sign termination letters without severance compensation. Since the death of a woman and the hospitalization of three other critically ill patients who received treatment at a DR Beauty shop, the company has been forced to close more than 10 of its outlets.

Employees have complained that they are being required to sign letters terminating their contracts and then to sign new contracts with four companies whose origins are unknown.