Several interesting stories, including a nugget about upcoming college entrance requirements and the removal of English as a requirement (see the Xinhua story below). According to that story is this stat:
The Ministry of Education says that there are 50,000 companies specializing in English training, with the value of the market estimated at 30 billion yuan (almost 5 billion U.S. dollars).
Thanks to James M and Sinocism for some of the links:
- Is the Shanghai Tower the world’s first eco-friendly skyscraper? from China Dialogue
- Macau’s best casinos: Where to gamble, where to let loose from CNN
- Has China’s Debt Crisis Moment Arrived? from The Wall Street Journal (no, they’re going to bail them out even though it will cause even more long-term problems)
- English worth less in Beijing’s admission tests from Xinhua (could be a big game changer for the EFL industry here)
- Author: In China, ‘everyone is guilty of corruption’ from CNN (mostly true, especially outside of large cities)
- ‘When India and China Shake Hands’ from The Wall Street Journal (signed 9 agreements)
- In China, victory for wildlife conservation as citizens persuaded to give up shark fin soup from The Washington Post
- How the Chinese Learned to Embrace Independent Travel from The Atlantic
- China creates 50 bln tonnes of rain annually from Global Times
- Hollywood must think bigger about China, says producer Janet Yang from Reuters
- Xi urges overseas-educated talent to pursue Chinese dream from Xinhua (In 1978, China expanded the number of students sent to study abroad. By the end of 2012, 2.64 million had been sent abroad, among whom 1.09 million returned.)
- FTZ ‘Negative List’ Positively Disappoints Analysts from Caixin
- China: A place to call home from Financial Times (will have the same economic problems that all subsidized housing problems do across the globe, should just sell them on the open market)
- China Pushes Genetically Modified Food from The Wall Street Journal (so much fearmongering over GMO based on emotions rather than facts)
- China’s Internet Retail Sales Reached CNY1.3 Trillion from China Tech News (first 9 months of the year equals the total of all 2012)
- Report: Chinese Censorship Expanding Abroad from The Wall Street Journal