Xi's Q&A + China Congress + Wuxi Real Estate

choi

(1) Patrick B Pexton, Bowing to China. Washington Post, Feb 24, 2012.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/op ... QA76VfYR_story.html


Note:
(a) The article said, "The next day, The Post ran an unusual explanatory correction about the interview." The "correction" is a tag that led to a photo copy (in pdf format) of Washington Post, Feb 14, at page A2.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/to ... 4&bk=A&pg=2

One may elarge the "correction" section of the page--and that section only--by clicking the section.
(b) Mr pexton is the ombudsman of Washington Post.
(c) ombudsman (n; Swedish, literally, representative; First Known Use 1959):
"1: a government official (as in Sweden or New Zealand) appointed to receive and investigate complaints made by individuals against abuses or capricious acts of public officials
2: one that investigates, reports on, and helps settle complaints"
www.m-w.com
(d) I am more familiar with the ombudsman at New York Times. Since a handful of years ago, the Times hired a outsider (outside the New York Times Company) to serve the ombudsman to serve and represent readers, on a one-year term. If a reader complains to editor and is not satisfied with a response, if any, he can complain to the ombudsman. The Times publishes ombudsman's column every Sunday, in the page immediately before the editorials (in the weekly section This Week in Review).

(2) Michael Forsythe, China Congress of Billionaires Makes Capitol Hill Peers Look Like Paupers. Bloomberg, Feb 27, 2012.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/20 ... k-like-paupers.html

The first two paragraphs:

"The richest 70 members of China’s legislature added more to their wealth last year than the combined net worth of all 535 members of the US Congress, the president and his Cabinet, and the nine Supreme Court justices.

"The net worth of the 70 richest delegates in China’s National People’s Congress, which opens its annual session on March 5, rose to 565.8 billion yuan ($89.8 billion) in 2011, a gain of $11.5 billion from 2010, according to figures from the Hurun Report, which tracks the country’s wealthy. That compares to the $7.5 billion net worth of all 660 top officials in the three branches of the US government.

(3) Ester Fung, Builders Feel Bite in China. Wall Street Journal, Feb 27, 2012http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 41810644679188.html
(Xi Shui Dong development in Wuxi, developed by SPG Land Holdings Ltd)

Note:
(a) In print there is a contrast of two images: an artist's rendering (painting) and what is there now (a photo).
(b) Press release: First Launch of SPG’s Xi Shui Dong, Wuxi, Won Overwhelming Response; All launched units were sold out in 4 hours. SPG Land Holdings Ltd, Sept 27, 2009 (in English).
http://www.spgland.com/uploadfile/en/press/p090927.pdf

(4) Jeremy Page, Mysterious Document Gives New Rights to China’s Migrant Workers. China Real Time, Feb 24, 2012.
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealti ... as-migrant-workers/

The first ttwo paragraphs:

"China’s government has published long-awaited regulations allowing millions of migrant workers from the countryside to obtain permanent urban residence permits — and therefore access to public services — in small and medium-sized cities.

"But the notice was originally issued a year ago, on Feb. 26, 2011, according to the document and online statements from local governments, raising the question of why authorities took so long to make it public.

(5) Joanne Chiu, China Premier’s Son Propels Satellite Stock. Deal Journal (a brand of WSJ), Feb 24, 2012
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/ ... ls-satellite-stock/
(Wen Yunsong, Premier Wen's son who earlier co-founded private equity firm New Horizon Capital, was elevated as chairman of China Satellite Communications Co, one of whose subsidiary is APT Satellite Holdings Ltd)

(6) Te-ping Chen, Mandarin Overtakes English as Hong Kong’s Second Language. China Real Time, Feb 24, 2012
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealti ... gs-second-language/
(Hong Kong’s latest official census report reveals the proportions of Hong Kong residents who report they can speak Cantonese, Mandarin or English are 96%, 48% and 46%, respectively)

Quote: "The census results do not indicate how many of Hong Kong’s current Mandarin speakers are immigrants from mainland China. However, the proportion of Hong Kong’s population born in China, Macao or Taiwan has dropped slightly since 2001, down to 32% last year.