Because the business news cycle was very slow in China this past summer, many of these links are a couple months old but their stories are very relevant today.  A few stories involve other Asian countries.  Special thanks to James M and Sinocism.

• KFC parent Yum warns of delay in China sales recovery from Reuters
• Young Chinese snubbing factory jobs, says billionaire boss from The Telegraph
• A new partnership to bring Coursera to the hundreds of millions of Chinese learners across the world from Coursera
• Tencent Jumps Deeper Into Chinese Internet Book Publishing from ChinaTechNews
• What Percent Are You in China? from The Wall Street Journal
• US failures could teach China’s automakers how to succeed from China Economic Review (i would wager that political and policy pressure allows local car manufactures to succeed, especially at the top, luxury level)
• China Cracks Down on Televised Singing Competitions from The Wall Street Journal (from this summer onward, still in effect)
• China urbanization cost could top $106 billion a year: think-tank from Reuters (i spoke with one financial expert here at the beginning of the year, he noted that if urbanization and reforming the hukou could be done, it would have been done already — costs are probably substantially higher than these estimates)
• Hollywood Studios Haven’t Been Paid by China in Months (Exclusive) from The Hollywood Reporter (have not heard if this has been cleared up, doubt it will be the last time that China Film Group tries to pass taxes onto others)
• Chandhok confident Indian GP will survive from CNN (not sure i’d want to attend with that air quality…)
• Bribery increases medicine prices by 20%: expert from China Daily (hongbao and maintaing guanxi)
• Bribery serves as life-support for Chinese hospitals from Reuters
• China to Audit Local Debts as It Cautions a Detroit-Like Crisis from Caijing (audits should also be audited)
• 60-70% of honey in Jinan is fake from Danwei (really have to be picky in terms of what you buy, even at grocery stores like CityShop)
• Soccer stars on treadmill to boost globalization drive from CNN (pretty cheap to play a simple game — just need some open space and a ball)
• Closer Look: Guangdong Officials Wisely Came Clean on Soil Pollution from Caixin (wont be the first or last time this happens in guangdong, let alone other provinces)
• One of the world’s most popular SF novels finally coming in English from io9 (talking about Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin)
• China’s Disappearing Official Problem from The Wall Street Journal (this was from the beginning of the summer, many more have disappeared in Chengdu during the recent world conference)
• SMEs’ Chronic Credit Crunch from The Economic Observer (this was from the past July, condition apparently has not improved much in the past quarter for SMEs, they dont have enough guanxi with SOE banks)
• Inner Mongolia Property Mogul Bites the Dust from Caixin (wasnt the first and wont be the last mogul due in part to the guanxi system)
• Hollywood’s Hope for Cash in China Blinds It to Censorship from The Wall Street Journal
• Chinese Directors Express Doubt Over Censorship Reforms from The Hollywood Reporter
• China is getting fatter: survey from China Daily
• China’s Higher Education Bubble from Caixin
• Chinese newborn, allegedly sold by doctor, is returned to parents from CNN (sadly quite common in rural areas still due to the OCP and the desire to have boys)
• Xiaomi Buddies Up With Tencent, Launches New Budget Smartphone For Just $129 from Tech In Asia (this is 3 months old but the Xiaomi-series of phones have been an instant success — great value for the price, the new Xiaomi 3 has fantastic specs for a paltry sum)
• Beijing reels in ‘unsafe’ air every other day from South China Morning Post (would not want to live there until <insert extremely long date>)
• North Korea: A sneak peek through the keyhole from CNN
• Could cricket have a big future in China? from BBC
• Guangzhou Nears Debt Red Line, Its Figures Show from Caixin (this is 3 months old too, heard it has not gotten any better, having to bail out local villages and SOEs)
• China starts 5-year ban on new gov’t buildings from Xinhua (i’ll believe it when i dont see it)
• In Paris, Chinese Shopping-Tour Buses Go Out of Fashion from The Wall Street Journal (could just be Paris but could be a challenge for everyone if SME growth doesnt pick up)
• Flurry: China Has 261 Million Active Smartphones And Tablets, 65% On Android from Tech In Asia (i bet the new numbers increase by ~10% over the past quarter)
• 4 decades after war ended, Agent Orange still ravaging Vietnamese from McClatchy
• Why is it so damn hard to understand China’s mobile market? Introducing the China App Index. from TechRice (if anecdotal evidence from my subway commute is any indication, top 5 are: some form of chat app, book app, casual game, movie and music apps)
• NFL Drives Deep Into Chinese Territory With Planned Online Store from Alizilla (been a couple months, wonder what the results have been)
• Foreign NGO registration rules eased from China Daily (still will be challenging environment to operate as a foreign NGO)
• Closer Look: SOEs Can Brag They Are Big – but Not Strong from Caixin
• China bars Glaxo exec from leaving country from CNN|Money (he still hasnt been able to leave)
• China’s Last Gunslingers from National Geographic
• Confinement Spa for New Mothers in China from PRI (very traditional)
• Jin Xing: China’s sex-change pioneer from CNN
• India to overtake U.S. on number of developers by 2017 from ComputerWorld (quantity over quality, or both?)