Shanghai China Snippets Observations about living in Shanghai and China in general

August 5, 2005

Chinese Banks | It Is Fun To Be One

Filed under: China Business — Shanghai @ 12:05 pm

Just read on Fons’ Blog that the Bank of China is bailing out the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China with some pocket money

China’s central bank has agreed to give the country’s four debt clearing agencies 459 billion yuan ($56.6 billion) to buy bad assets from top state lender Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the China Securities Journal reported on Friday.
The four would buy the bad assets from ICBC as part of the process of cleaning up the bank’s finances before an eventual planned public listing

No doubt the listing will be a success.

Source: Reuters

Opening Up by Closing Down

Filed under: Chinese Multi Media — Shanghai @ 6:20 am

The Chinese goverment is contemplating new regulations to protect it’s culture.

A preface says the rules are intended to help China’s “opening up” to the outside world. …..

The regulations will:

… spell out what parts of China’s government are responsible for overseeing what parts of the media and entertainment industry, and they promise to make it more difficult for foreign companies to bring in books, the Internet and video games, and performing acts ..

Spell out the consequences:

“Import of cultural products contrary to regulations will be punished according to the circumstances, and in serious cases the import license will be revoked,” the rules state. “In the near future there will be no more approvals for setting up cultural import agencies.”

And clarify the aim:

A preface says the rules are intended to help China’s “opening up” to the outside world. But analysts and broadcasters said they were part of an effort to clamp down on foreign influence on culture.

source: NY Times: China Issues New Restrictions Aimed at Protecting Its Culture

August 3, 2005

Shanghai Traffic

Filed under: Shanghai Life — Shanghai @ 1:47 am

I was walking the street and as normal trying to avoid all sort of vehicles bumping into me. All went well. At times the little green man was lighting up and I had to wait until the red guy was back before starting to walk. Other times I was stuck in the middle of the road and pretended to live the life of a traffic agent.

Occasionally I heard a shout from behind which made me freeze at the spot so the bike could continue its way on the sidewalk. There were even moments I hid between other pedestrians when crossing the street so they would be my buffer. I must admit that is not very brave behavior but I am sure my insurance company loves it.

Then it happened. I was crossing yet another street, then backtracking and decided to give in to the BMW that wanted to use the same stretch of the road. The BMW stopped though. The driver nodded, gestured with his hand that I should continue my journey on the zebra crossing.

This made me very insecure, was someone playing a trick, was this a Chinese version of candid camera. If I did continue, would the car suddenly accelerate? I calculated my chances, nodded back friendly and gestured him to go first. It’s too dangerous to get used to this kind of politeness.

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