Economist, Nov 26, 2011

choi

(1) Governing China |  The Guangdong Model; One Chinese province adopts a beguilingly open approach—up to a point.
http://www.economist.com/node/21540285'

My comment: In my view, one may forgo the first half and start from the paragraph that begins with the sentence "Perhaps the debate generates more heat in public than it does in the Communist Party itself.

(2) Women in China | The Sky’s the Limit; But it’s not exactly heaven.
http://www.economist.com/node/21539931

Quote:

"China is generally reckoned to be more open to women than other East Asian countries, with Taiwan somewhat behind, South Korea further back and Japan the worst.

"It starts at kindergarten, which may be of the Monday-to-Friday boarding variety, and can get very expensive even at that level: the best ones are vastly oversubscribed, and although they are state-run, you hear stories about parents being asked for 'sponsorship' of up to 200,000 yuan ($32,000) to get in.

Note:
(a) The report is translated into Chinese
中国的女人; 没有辽阔的天空 难以实现鸿鹄之志. Nov 27, 2011.
http://article.yeeyan.org/bilingual/235889/386793
(b) Pully CHAU  周 佩蓮

(i) Her English name sounds like Cantonese spelling of Chinese characters.
(ii) She departed Saatchi & Saatchi in January 2010 and joined Draftfcb in the following June.
(iii) Saatchi & Saatchi  盛世長城
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saatchi_%26_Saatchi
(founded by brothers Maurice (now Lord Saatchi) and art collector Charles [Saatchi] in 1970 in London; now headquarters  New York)
(c) Draftfcb  博達大橋
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draftfcb
(one of the largest global advertising agency networks; formed by the 2006 merger of Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB; dating back to 1873) and [ii] Draft; Headquarters  New York, Chicago)
(d) The article said of China: "The supply of female talent is abundant * * * but once you start funnelling it the numbers come down."

funnel (vt): "to move to a focal point or into a conduit or central channel <contributions were funneled into one account>"
www.m-w.com
(e) The "strident" in "stridently successful" is an adjective that means
"characterized by harsh, insistent, and discordant sound <a strident voice>; also : commanding attention by a loud or obtrusive quality <strident slogans>"
(f) BON TV
www.bon.tv/
(Blue Ocean Network)


(3) Reviving manufacturing | No Land of Giants; A lack of big companies hampers efforts to boost manufacturing.
http://www.economist.com/node/21540267

Quote:

"Stronger growth in other sectors means manufacturing has slumped from 25% of the economy to 11% today. Yet manufacturing output was rising before recession hit in 2008. Foreign firms like Nissan, Honda and Toyota opened car factories that became efficiency leaders in Europe, taking British car production back up to 1.5m vehicles a year. Some four-fifths of the output of such factories is exported.

"Apart from Rolls-Royce plc and BAE Systems, Britain has no really large, home-grown manufacturing firms.

Note:
(a) Imperial Chemical Industries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Chemical_Industries
(ICI;  founded in 1926 by way of the merger of four companies; based in London; In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire; Dutch firm Akzo Nobel bought ICI in 2008)
(b) EEF the manufacturers' organisation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EEF_the_manufacturers_organisation
(formerly the Engineering Employers' Federation)