Content about home

China will grow relatively quickly for a long time, and its market will be open and fair, President Xi Jinping said on Monday, soothing fears over the Chinese economy.

Meeting more than 30 foreign and domestic business leaders at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2013, Xi said China's market potential is huge thanks to the country's rapid agricultural modernization, industrialization and urbanization.

"China's economy will go upwards instead of downwards for a long time," Xi said.

Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady of British politics who died on Monday at 87, played a key role in China’s relationship with the United Kingdom, especially in the peaceful handover of Hong Kong, experts said.

Britain’s first and only female prime minister, Thatcher died peacefully at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke, her family announced. She governed Britain from 1979 to 1990.

Around 25 years ago, many Hong Kong factory owners, including Willy Lin Sun-mo, managing director of Milo’s Knitwear (International) Ltd, moved their manufacturing facilities from Hong Kong to Guangdong province on the mainland to take advantage of cheap labor and low rental costs.

At that time, a worker’s wage was as little as 8 yuan per day. Currently, wages at Lin’s Dongguan factory have risen beyond 60 yuan per day — almost more than seven times what they used to be.

Even though only a few customers go to Xiao Huang-biao's food stand each day, the Taiwan native does not regret coming to the Chinese mainland to seek his fortune.

Xiao, 52, arrived on the mainland from his hometown of Kaohsiung five years ago. In 2012, he opened a snack stand selling southern Taiwan food in Pingtan county, Fujian province, where his wife comes from.

Properties in the former US industrial city Detroit started to fall to as low as $100, attracting Chinese investors who have found their investments in the Chinese property market becoming harder under the central government's tightening policies.

As real estate hits rock bottom in Detroit, Chinese investors are planning to purchase properties there, the People's Daily reported.

There are more than a dozen properties priced lower than $100, with some extreme cases on offer for $1.

No country should be allowed to damage world peace or throw a region into chaos for selfish gains, President Xi Jinping said on Sunday.

The remark shows China's determination to maintain regional peace as tensions in northeastern Asia run high, analysts said.

"Countries - big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor - should all contribute their share in maintaining and enhancing peace," Xi said at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2013, which attracted more than 2,500 political and economic leaders from around the globe.

Lucy Chuang has a personal reason to rejoice in Hollywood filmmaker Ang Lee’s winning the Oscar for best director for Life of Pi at the 85th Academy Awards. The Beijing Institute of Technology graduate feels Lee’s triumph will create greater interest in China and the Chinese language and culture in Dubai, the Middle Eastern city where she has been running the Dubai Chinese Learning Center (Dubai CLC) since 2007 to promote both.

The former English teacher started the center out of motherly concern but now it has become part of the emirate’s cultural scene.

The Qingming Festival is traditionally a time for courtship, making sure the spirits are content and enjoying picnics and other outdoor activities with the coming of the better weather, report Cang Wei and Song Wenwei in Nanjing.

Many people think that Tomb-Sweeping Day, or the Qingming Festival, is for Chinese people to offer remembrances to their ancestors, but in ancient times, it was also a time for people to enjoy the arrival of spring and pray for love.

An apology and a string of warranty policy adjustments made by Apple Inc in China underscore the growing importance of what has become the company's second-largest market.

Apple's softened stance also suggests the Chinese market is now considered "too big to fail", said market watchers.

In a statement issued on the company's Chinese website on Monday, chief executive officer Tim Cook vowed to revamp its repair and warranty terms and apologized for any misunderstandings stemming from poor communication with customers.

The contributions foreign (mainly Filipino and Indonesian) domestic helpers make to Hong Kong are seldom questioned. When our daughter was very young, we hired a Filipino maid to care for her. Without her help, either my wife or I would have quit the jobs we loved so much.

I am sure many families with small children are still doing the same. As such, the live-in domestic helpers are very much part of the family. They provide an indispensable service.

After the best of times, it is now the worst phase for the shipping industry, with hopes of a fast turnaround dashed.

Ship owners and charterers had remained optimistic during the first couple of weeks of 2013, but the order book for new vessels in the last couple of months has all but killed those hopes. Times are likely to remain challenging until the next year at least.