Samantha Pearson, Lessons in Cultural Awareness: China is Brazil's biggest trading partners, but bridging the divide in business norms often proves a challenge. Financial Times, May 19, 2011.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d93c484a-8194-11e0-8a54-00144feabdc0.html
Excerpt in the window of the print: 'When [the Chinese] do finally decide, they want it done in two days, but by that point the Brazilians have given up hope of a deal'
Quote:
"'Did you know you can order snake blood at restaurants over there?' a Brazilian government assistant tells his horrified colleagues
"the Chinese executive who is asking is unlikely to be the one making the decisions. Instead, his or her job is often to gather as much information as possible and report to the boss back home. This practice tends to feed into Brazilians’ paranoia about China’s state intervention in their economy as it is never clear if the person calling the shots thousands of miles away is actually working for the government. * * *
'This is all very new for us,' says Sérgio Amaral, a former Brazilian minister of development, industry and foreign commerce. 'You never know if you’re dealing with a private company or the state.'
-------------------------Separately
(1) 中国旱灾是天灾还是人祸? VOA Chinese, May 18, 2011
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/20110518-china-mother-nature-122187419.html
Note: James T Areddy, China Limits Manufacturers' Power Use; As Yangtze Runs Low, Tone of Officials Turns Shrill; Factories Feel the Pinch. Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704281504576328900613529080.html
(low river levels and high coal prices threaten the country's worst seasonal power shortages in several years)
(2) David Pilling, Why Beijing Must End Inflation--Or Else. Financial Times, May 19, 2011.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/1bf6dc04-817c-11e0-9c83-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1MpSekTxH
Quote:
"Even if they can’t put prices up overtly, many companies have ways of getting around price controls. Manufacturers of soft drinks, crisps, milk and yoghurt have resorted to the old ruse of shrinking the packet size but keeping the price the same.
"The [Chinese] government has tried to blame external factors.
"electricity price controls have led to energy shortages. Producers have cut output because tariffs have not kept pace with the rising cost of coal. Incentives to increase vegetable supplies have worked – too well. Farmers have been unable to unload extra cabbages, which have rotted in the field. The state’s concerns about inflation are rational.
Note:
(a) Reading the last sentence, it suddenly dawns on me the economic consequence of a seemingly innocuous observation.
wuliaoer, 又回国了一趟. Mitbbs.com, May 16, 2011
http://www.mitbbs.com/article/TopArticle/31360707_3.html
("很多人自己在家里用花盆种菜")
(b) In reports of both WSJ and FT, tariff is used. It does not mean "duty" here.
tariff (n; Italian tariffa, from Arabic taʽrīf notification): "PRICE, CHARGE"
www.m-w.com