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China Economics Trend Watching

Watch Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat 3.0” talk at MIT OpenCourseWare

Back in 2000, Tom Friedman recounts, the world began to shrink and flatten, under the influence of digital interconnectivity. Elaborating on his World is Flat thesis, Friedman describes how this new global order puts creative, entrepreneurial individuals in the driver’s seat, and poses distinct new challenges and opportunities. The digital platform that connects Bangalore, Boston and Beijing enables users from any of these places to “plug, play, compete, connect and collaborate,” and is changing everything, says Friedman […]

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China Information Technology Trend Watching

Watch Michael Anti’s “Behind the Great Firewall of China” Talk at TED

Michael Anti (aka Jing Zhao) has been blogging from China for 12 years. Despite the control the central government has over the Internet — “All the servers are in Beijing” (also known as “The Great Firewall of China”) — he says that hundreds of millions of microbloggers are in fact creating the first national public sphere in the country’s history, and shifting the balance of power in unexpected ways […]

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China Consumer Behavior Trend Watching

China, Socialism & Consumer Behavior: Rising cost of luxury goods slows to 2009 level

Price increases for luxury goods and services in China this year are at their slowest level since 2009 but continue to outpace inflation, according to a report by the Hurun Research Institute. China’s Luxury Consumer Price Index, which measures price changes in 62 luxury items, rose 4.94 percent in June from a year earlier, 2.79 […]

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China Trend Watching

Education in China: Textbooks come with obsolete cassettes

Parents often complain that it’s difficult to use the outdated tapes since many no longer have cassette players […]

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China Economics Trend Watching

Architecture & Urban Planning in China: dominating skyscraper construction in 2012

Nine of the 20 tallest buildings under construction in the world are located in China, according to the latest research by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat […]

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China Trend Watching

Education in China: 43 percent of Shanghai students consider studying overseas

More than 40 percent of the students in key, city-level high schools in Shanghai are considering studying overseas as undergraduates, according to a survey released recently by the Shanghai Education Commission […]

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China Consumer Behavior Economics Trend Watching

China, Socialism & Consumer Behavior: Chinese middle class to fuel global luxury spending

Millions of consumers entering the middle class in China will help to hold the pace of growth in global luxury spending at 10 percent annually for the next four years despite a slowing economy […]

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China Information Technology Trend Watching

Information Technology in China: Smart City plans for Shanghai

Can you imagine such a “smart city” life? It can become a possibility in Shanghai as early as 2015. Presently, the system to build a smart city is having a trial operation in suburban Minhang District and gradually it will cover the whole city, Shanghai city officials revealed recently […]

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China Consumer Behavior Economics Trend Watching

China, Socialism & Consumer Behavior: private aviation market in boom

China’s private aviation market is on the verge of experiencing a sonic boom. Since 2008, the number of jets registered on the mainland has tripled to 137, and experts expect that digit to soar past 1,000 by the end of the decade […]

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China Trend Watching

Living in China: 1 million Shanghainese residing overseas

More than 1 million Shanghainese are residing overseas, either living or studying in 159 countries and regions around the world, with the United States being the most popular destination, authorities said recently. The number of overseas Chinese with Shanghai hukou (permanent residence permit) and Shanghai native with foreign citizenship reached 1.02 million, surging 50 percent within […]