Swiss firm showcases sports design
Swiss-based architect firm Burckhardt+Partners AG hopes its "harmony-with-nature" concept will be incorporated in the Wukesong Cultural and Sports Centre that will be home to the 2008 Olympics. The firm is one of two finalists in the Games' venue-designing competition. The company outlined last week at the Swiss Embassy its designs for the complex. (Business Weekly, 3 September)
Meanwhile, it has been learned that the Beijing authorities chose the Swiss design for actual construction. Congratulations!

Outbound travel boom forecast
National Australia Bank said that China could add 78 million outbound travellers to the 6.9 million last year (12.1 million including non-leisure travellers) if just 10% of its 784 million domestic tourists planned to travel overseas. Between 1995 and 2001, mainland Chinese travelling overseas for leisure increased by 23% annually. Analysts said the quota system of "approved destination status" countries had locked up the immense potential buying power of the mainland's prospective outbound travellers. (SCMP, 3 September)

CeBIT Asia opened in Shanghai
Telecoms and mobile computing are under the spotlight at Asia's largest information and communication technology show, CeBIT Asia. A total of 544 exhibitors are taking part in CeBIT Asia from 25 countries and regions. (China Daily, 3 September)

Chinese Central Bank rescues banks from deep bond losses
Just three months after China took a crucial step in the development of its bond market by selling 30-year treasurys, the country's central bank shocked traders with an offer to buy about one-fifth of the issue. The surprise action amounts to a bailout of state banks that have seen their investment in the 30-year government debt sour. (WSJ, 3 September)

Rules on land use tightened
The Ministry of Supervision and the Ministry of Land and Resources issued a joint circular as part of their fight against corruption involving the transfer of land-use rights. The circular states that all transactions on land-use rights for profit, such as tourism, recreation and real-estate development, should be carried out through a public listing, bidding or auction. (China Daily, 3 September)

Beijing to end land-use tax exemptions for foreign investors
Beijing's municipal authorities have eliminated land-use tax exemptions and reductions for foreign investors. Over the past two decades, provincial and municipal authorities have promised foreign investors various kinds of preferential policies as they competed for funds and technology. Officials from the Ministry of Land and Resources said the principle that foreign and domestic investors be treated equally is required by China's WTO membership. The withdrawal of land-use tax exemptions and reductions may start in other cities soon. (China Daily, 4 September)

Growth of up to 8.3% forecast for China's GDP
A strategic forecasting conference held by the Economist Corporate Network forecast that China's GDP will grow at an annual rate ranging from 7.5 to 8.3% between 2002 and 2006. They forecast that the world economy would grow by about 4% a year until 2006 - slowed down by the sluggish growth of the United States, the E.U. and Japan. (Xinhua, 4 September)

Guangdong raids 11 illegal banks
Guangdong police smashed a total of 11 secret private banks in five cities. Another 30 peripheral trading offices were also destroyed in the crackdown. Authorities say illegal banks earn huge profits from the illegal trading of foreign currencies and illegally helping local investors send foreign currencies overseas. (China Daily, 4 September)

13 Asians, 8 from China listed richest people under 40 by Fortune
According to Fortune, the 8 Chinese people in the list included Wang Wenjing, who transformed a USD 6'000 software startup loan into USD 328 million, and Liu Hanyuan, whose parents sold their pigs for USD 60 to fund the fish-farming experiment that became China's largest aquatic feed producer, netting USD 320 million. (People's Daily, 4 September)

Survey discloses bad service of domestic banks
Despite the ever-mounting competition in the banking sector with China's entry of the WTO, Chinese banks don't seem to have learnt how to make their consumers more pleased while delivering their service. Only about 10% of bank-goers feel satisfied with the service of the domestic banks, according to a new survey while%age of people reportedly unsatisfied with domestic banks' service stands at 20.3. (People's Daily, 4 September)

IMF: China should benefit from more flexible currency
In its annual "Article IV" review of China's economy, the International Monetary Fund praised China for maintaining solid economic growth amid a global slowdown, but suggested faster reforms toward a more market-oriented economy could boost employment and help the country cope with the costs of transition. Looking ahead, the IMF predicted, "The key challenges will be to achieve sustained rapid economic growth and maintain financial stability over the medium term, while successfully managing the social costs of the transition." (People's Daily, 4 September)

China sets up Qinghai-Tibet railway company
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company was officially founded by the Chinese Government in northwest China's Qinghai Province. The state-owned firm will be responsible for the construction and operation of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, the first rail route linking southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region with the rest of the country. Upon its completion, scheduled for 2007, the railway will be the longest and highest railroad in the world. (People's Daily, 4 September)

Floods cause huge losses nationwide
This year's flood season in China claimed 1'532 lives across the country so far. About 190 million people in China have been affected by the floods which have caused nearly RMB 68 billion in direct economic losses. The disasters destroyed about 1 million homes, damaged nearly 2.7 million rooms, affected 13.15 million hectares of crop land and inflicted damage on a large number of infrastructure facilities. (China Daily, 5 September)

Seven TV makers regain access to EU market
Seven Chinese colour TV makers finally won access to E.U. markets after an undertaking was signed with the EU. The undertaking was accepted by the EU after a 15-year-long anti-dumping investigation on Chinese-made colour television receivers which barred most of the Chinese products from the markets because of high duties. (China Daily, 5 September)

Bank and insurer link up
People's Insurance Company of China (PICC), signed an overall co-operation agreement with China Development Bank in Beijing. Under the agreement, PICC will provide commercial insurance and insurance risk evaluation services for China Development Bank, and the bank will provide financing service for PICC. (China Daily, 6 September)

Beijing to cut use of coal for green Games
Beijing is to further cut its coal consumption by one-third, from the present 26 million tons to 15 million tons, by 2007 to reduce air pollution before the 2008 Olympic Games. Air quality remains the top concern for the 2008 Games and there is some way to go from Beijing's present environmental status to an ideal Olympic site. More than 200 enterprises inside the Fourth Ring Road and in the southeastern suburbs will rearrange their industrial structure or simply move out before 2008 to reduce pollution in the area. (China Daily, 6 September)

World's longest bridge planned in Zhejiang
The world's longest cross-sea bridge will soon loom over Hangzhou Bay in East China's Zhejiang Province. The bridge, which starts in Cixi County in Ningbo and ends at Zhapu port in Jiaxing, will span a total length of 36 kilometres, making it the longest in the world. With a total investment of RMB 16 billion, the main construction is expected to begin around the end of this year. (China Daily, 6 September)

BIS flags liquidity of asset managers
The Bank for International Settlements warns China's asset management companies are facing combined annual interest obligations of more than RMB 30 billion on an estimated RMB 1.17 trillion in bonds issued to state banks and at least RMB 192 billion in loans from the central bank. The AMCs have issued long-term bonds to state banks to finance the debt takeover, which were to be paid off by selling off assets the AMCs assumed, but the BIS said it had been hard to find buyers. BIS also said the central bank could face potential risks as a lender to the AMCs. (Reuters, 7 September)

Chinese manufacturing slowed by skilled worker shortage
The latest statistics from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security indicate that just 3.5% of China's 70 million technical workers are classed as advanced-skills workers, compared to about 40% in most developed countries. The lack of qualified workers had a negative impact on production, with only 70% of Chinese products evaluated as up to standard, and substandard products causing losses of RMB 200 million each year. (Xinhua, 8 September)

China international investment, trade fair opens
The four-day sixth China International Fair for Investment and Trade opened in Xiamen in East China's Fujian Province. More than 240 foreign economic groups and organizations as well as some 20 famous multinational companies are attending the fair. Sponsored by MOFTEC, the event has become one of China's most prestigious fairs to attract foreign investment. (Xinhua, 8 September)