Tag tells energy used in product (Jul 3)
A Chinese researcher at a state-owned energy think tank said that in the future the amount of energy it takes to produce a product will be found on product packaging. Mr. Jiang Kejun said the research institute in Beijing is working to analyze the energy consumption of products used in people's daily lives. "For example, the amount of energy used to make an A4 size sheet of paper is about 0.1 kilowatt-hours," he told a Chinese publication.Well, that energy tag may help plastic bags regain some share lost to paper bags, since the production of paper bags uses more energy than plastic bags.But, researchers, especially those who advise governments on policies, should really look at the whole picture rather than one single parameter. What about carbon footprint? What about reusability? What about recyclability? And, how much energy does it cost to produce the energy tag, starting with figuring out the amount of energy in every commodity? Will it be worthwhile?


How To Get What You Want From The Chinese Government, Part II. Make It Win-Win. (Jul 3)
In The Subtle Art of Lobbying the Chinese Government , Alistair Nicholas of Off The Record posted on our post on how to lobby the Chinese government. Nicholas noted something very important I left out in my post. Our post focused on who to lobby and the logistics of lobbying, but it left out what to say to get the government to go along. Off The Record filled in that missing element rather well: My key learning over 20 odd years of lobbying both successfully and, sometimes, unsuccessfully across three countries are that politicians the world over are all the same. If you want them to support your cause you need to figure out what’s in it for them and offer a deal they can’t refuse. I’m not talking about delivering brown paper bags stuffed with cash or other bribes. * * * * Before you approach a politician for help you need to (with apologies to John F. Kennedy) ask not what your government can do for you but rather what you can do for your government. This is the same in China as in...


Introducing the Jinan precision Segway assault squad! (Jul 3)
An "anti-terrorism" drill in Jinan:Yeah, these guys won't be difficult to target at all...Also featured in this quite clearly made-for-TV exercise, a demonstration of that most selective and discriminate of urban pacification weapons, the flame thrower. Imagethief wants to know why they didn't put the flame-thrower guys on the Segways. That would have been really impressive.




Finally! PN introduces China resin pricing (Jul 2)
Plastics News and its partner CBI (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. are bringing global readers the latest resin pricing intelligence in the Chinese market from on the ground.The China Price Monitor is supplied by CBI with up-to-date China market prices of polyolefin resins. It monitors supply/demand trends, imports and exports, plant closures and production outages. Readers will find the report rotate on a weekly basis between 1) high density polyethylene, 2) low density and linear low density polyethylene, and 3) polypropylene. CBI has a professional team dedicated to the report, making about 200 calls to buyers and sellers in China each week for each issue. The CBI China Price Monitor, with brief commentary in both Chinese and English, offers open access to all readers.


Foreign Businesses In China And Illegality Per Se (Jul 2)
When I would judge mock trials at the University of Washington Law School. One of the things on which I always criticized the lawyers-to-be was for talking like a lawyer. I would ask if they described a guy getting out of a car as "a person descending from a vehicle" and before they started law school. Is "lawyer language" one of the reasons why everyone (except my dear mother) hates lawyers? This is my long handed way of apologizing for using Latin in the title, but I figure regular readers know I usually prefer Bob Dylan. But I digress. Knife Tricks blog has a post entitled, "Chinese Law Relating To Publishing By Foreigners: No, on my recent post on how foreign companies are allowed to operate illegally in China until the day they are not. As I said in that post: The problem with operating a business illegally in China is that past history is simply not a good indicator of future performance. We know foreign businesses that have operated illegally in China for 15 years without a p...


My Own Personal Visa Hell (Jul 2)
Ah, the pleasures of obtaining a new China visa just a month before the Olympics! I went into New York yesterday to drop off my application and paperwork for a Z (working) visa and was completely and utterly rejected. Seems that my working permit indicates that I'll be living in China for purposes of employment, while my invitation letter says I'll be participating in a vague-sounding "exchange program". My employer ensures me that this is the same phrasing they've used to obtain Z visas for other foreign experts in the past... but as you all know, what used to be good enough isn't cutting the mustard these days. A new invitation letter is on the way, but since it's issued by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs there's no telling how long it'll take. My flight back to Beijing on July 17 is in serious jeopardy. Not that I'm the only one complaining, by any means. Having it out with a visa officer in the line next to mine was what I think — using my super-powers of et...


Reopening the Wengan Case (Jul 2)
Chinese police reopen investigation into girl’s death after huge protests Police defend riot measures in SW China protests The Chinese government has announced that they are reopening the case of the girl that died of a supposed suicide in Wengan. From The Guardian: It quoted a vice-chief of the county, Xiao Song, as saying a preliminary investigation had [...]


Boycott Kung Fu Panda (Jul 1)
‘Artist’ calls for Pandaland boycott of Kung Fu Panda So I wrote recently about how much I enjoyed Kung Fu Panda and soon afterwards, I was informed that there was some kind of boycott being organized in Sichuan over the movie. I dismissed this as just rumors on the internet for a while until I finally [...]


How Low Will Chinese Stocks Go? Renewable Energy Push and a News Roundup (Jun 30)