Friday______________________ May 3

Provinces report slower Q1 GDP growth

Provinces across China posted slower GDP growth in the first quarter, which now makes many provinces' annual GDP targets difficult to achieve, said experts.

Sichuan province grew 10.2 percent year-on-year in the quarter, 2.9 percentage lower than its growth in the first quarter of 2012. Henan province's GDP growth also dropped 2.9 percentage from a year earlier to 8.4 percent, according to figures released by local bureaus of statistics.

Guizhou province, which led the country's GDP growth in the last year, saw a 2.4 percentage first-quarter drop compared to 2012. However Guizhou still enjoyed a 12.6 percent growth, the nation's second-best performance after Gansu's 12.9 percent.

Housing prices continue to rise

Property prices in China's 100 major cities saw an 11th consecutive monthly increase in April despite government efforts to bring them down.

The average price of newly built apartments in the cities rose 1 percent from the previous month. Prices have risen for 11 consecutive months since June, according to a report from the China Index Academy, but the growth rate slowed as the government's latest tightening policies kicked in.

In March, the government implemented measures to cool the red-hot property market by reining in speculative investment.

The policies have pushed many Chinese investors to buy homes overseas. In February, SouFun International, a real estate and home-furnishing network platform, published a survey of its members who want to buy houses abroad. (Photo 1)

Monday_______________________ May 6

Rich looking overseas to preserve wealth

China's rich are getting richer, and they're investing more in foreign assets to preserve their wealth because of uncertain economic times, according to a report.

Privately held wealth on the Chinese mainland hit 80 trillion yuan ($13 trillion) last year, with more than 700,000 individuals holding 20 million yuan or more in investable assets, according to China Merchants Bank and US-based management-consulting firm Bain & Co.

Many of those surveyed said they were becoming increasingly concerned about potential changes in Chinese regulatory policies, financial market volatility and other business risks, according to the report. (Photo 2)

Luxury-vehicle sales decline

First-quarter sales in China's luxury-vehicle market, dominated by German brands Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, declined to 4 percent, far below the 13 percent annual growth in the passenger-car market, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Analysts attributed the decline to new guidelines to improve officials' working style, and strict policies to curb the use of public funds.

"Official cars have always led the way and influenced individual users' consumption decisions in China. The issue may hopefully set off a public trend for less-expensive vehicles in the short term," said Cui Dongshu, deputy secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association. "But the trend followed by individuals is hard to predict in the long run," Cui said.

Tuesday______________________ May 7

Customers favor local brands

Chinese customers are showing a growing preference for buying local products instead of foreign brands, according to a survey.

Six out of the 10 Chinese respondents endorsed foreign brands, according to the 2013 China customers' loyalty study conducted by marketing research firm Epsilon. However, local-brand supporters have grown to 43 percent from 31 percent in 2011, the report said.

"Since local brands started to improve quality, establish appeal and step up their sophistication, they have garnered a bigger share from Chinese shoppers," said Vivien Deng, client services director of Epsilon China.

Astronomers to develop biggest telescope

Chinese astronomers are helping develop technologies for what will be the world's biggest optical telescope.

The Thirty Meter Telescope, to be built at the summit of Hawaii's Mauna Koa volcano, is a $1.3 billion project led by California's public university system, the California Institute of Technology and the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy.

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2014. The telescope will have nine times the collecting area of the largest optical telescope now in use, and its images will be three times sharper, organizers have said.

It will be designed to observe planets that orbit stars other than the sun and allow astronomers to watch new planets and stars being formed. The TMT should also enable scientists to see about 13 billion light-years away for a view of the early years of the universe.

"The project will be an important milestone in the 400-year history of telescope development," said Xue Suijian, TMT project manager in the Chinese Academy of Sciences' National Astronomical Observatories.

Wednesday

______________________ May 8

GM gets approval for Cadillac plant

General Motors Co has been given the go-ahead to build a $1.3 billion Cadillac plant near Shanghai as it seeks to become a significant player in China's luxury car market.

Detroit-based GM is aiming its premium Cadillac sedans at wealthy buyers who see upscale vehicles as signifying success but tend to favor German brands BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz.

China's sales have grown in importance for GM at a time of difficulties in its European operations and modest results in its core North American market.

GM aims to triple Cadillac sales in China to 100,000 by 2015, as stated by brand president Bob Ferguson early this year. GM put its XTS Cadillac sedan on sale in February, and more than 2,000 of the cars sold in March, despite the $56,000 price. (Photo 3)

Baidu to acquire PPS video unit

Baidu Inc, the largest Internet search engine in China, is buying PPStreamInc's online video business for $370 million.

The move is aimed at challenging Beijing-based Youku Tudou Inc, which claims to be the No 1 video platform in China.

PPS will merge with iQiyi.com, a popular online video website acquired by Baidu late last year, according to a company statement.

PPS will continue to operate as a sub-brand of iQiyi. After the acquisition, iQiyi.com will become China's largest online video platform by number of mobile users and video viewing time, according to the statement. (Photo 4)

Thursday___________________ May 9

Yuan reference rate set at 19-year high

The daily reference rate of the yuan against the dollar was set at 6.1980 by the People's Bank of China, the highest in 19 years since China unified the official and market exchange rates at the end of 1993.

The daily fixing of the yuan rose 1.41 percent since the beginning of the year against the dollar, as indicators show that capital flows into the world's second-largest economy accelerated in recent months.

The yuan is allowed to trade within 1 percent in each direction around the daily reference rate.

Analysts have forecast continuous pressure on the yuan as major economies announced a new round of monetary easing.

China has seen four consecutive months of net foreign exchange purchases among the central bank and commercial lenders, which suggests continuous capital inflows.

Higher grain crop may cut imports

China may produce a higher grain crop this year, leading to a 17 percent reduction in the country's grain imports, according to a United Nations report.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said favorable weather conditions in parts of China may produce 555.537 million metric tons of grain this year compared to 541.831 million tons in 2012.

China's corn imports are expected to fall to 3.5 million tons, down 33 percent compared to the 2011-12 marketing year, which runs October to September for the crop, according to the report. This is seen as mainly a reaction to significantly raised corn prices due to drought in the US.

On Thursday, Feb 24, 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon and his wife Pat Nixon, left, visited a huge stone elephant, at the Ming Tomb, north of Beijing. Nixon's grandson Christopher Cox and his wife Andrea Catsimatidisat visited the same spot on May 4 as part of a trip retracing his grandfather's famous 1972 visit to China, which did much to thaw relations between the US and China. Andy Wong / AP

(China Daily 05/10/2013 page8)