All Roads Lead to China: Business News, Analysis, and Insights from China

With so much going on in China, and only a limited amount of bandwidth, I have created this weekly post to highlight articles that I feel are (1) important, (2) relevant, and (3) interesting.

This week there are 4 articles that I have chosen to highlight as each are quite interesting, they are all relevant, and there are issues within each that I think you the reader should be aware of.

If you have an article that you feel needs to be mentioned, please do so in the comments section.

The New American

for those of you who have lost the adrenaline rush of being in China, or are looking for a great sotry, check out this article about Barrett Comiskey.  Someone I have met through my  Crossroads events, I guess what made this for me is just seeing how people I know live in China and enjoying the ride.

The long march backwards

There are a number of studies, stories, and books that I am beginning to see debunking the “china” we have all come to know and love (this MIT Study on China’s Energy for one), and the this book review provides some insights into one that I am looking forward to reading:

Original research on China is rare, largely because statistics, though plentiful, are notoriously unreliable. Mr Huang has gone far beyond the superficial data on gross domestic product (GDP) and foreign direct investment that satisfy most researchers. Instead, he has unearthed thousands of long-forgotten pages of memoranda and policy documents issued by bank chairmen, businessmen and state officials. In the process he has discovered two Chinas: one, from not so long ago, vibrant, entrepreneurial and rural; the other, today’s China, urban and controlled by the state.

New markets, on-trend releases drive growth

Looking for a new market opportunity?  Check out Global Sources coverage on Make-up brushes this month!  Seriously, big gains there.  Of course, if make-up brushes are not your thing, sign up for the alerts.  Global Sources has some of the best supplier based research around

Xian coal stock declines to 300,000 tonnes

A topic that I have covered a lot of ground on previously, the ability of China to efectively move coal has become one the limiting factors of its economy.  Yhy this article is important to  note is that we are not in peak energy season YET, and they are already short 15% compared with the same period of the previous years.

That could spell trouble later on this year.