Categories
Economics Trend Watching

Economy in Germany: employees cope with workplace stress better than most

A recent poll has revealed that German employees are coping with stress somewhat better than people from other industrialised nations.

Categories
Consumer Behavior Economics Trend Watching

Economy in Brazil: inflation wipes the gains of “Plano Real”

The price shock that brought inflation in the highest mark in 28 years caused an abrupt loss of achievements of Brazilians since the Real Plan.

Categories
China Information Technology Trend Watching

Internet in China: Internet population hit 384 million in 2009

China’s population of Internet users jumped by nearly a third to 384 million at the end of 2009, an official report showed recently, just a few days after Google threatened to retreat from the expanding market […]

Categories
China

Living in China: Shanghai’s Cancer Casualties

Cancer was contracted by 350 people in every 100,000 in Shanghai, according to new figures issued recently by the city’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention […]

Categories
China Consumer Behavior Economics

China, Socialism & Consumer Behavior: 6 in 10,000 people are multimillionaires?

6 in every 10,000 people in China have a personal wealth of more than 10 million yuan ( nearly 1.5 million US dollars), shows the recently issued “Hurun Wealth Report 2009”. After the report came out, it immediately raised a lot of doubts among netizens: “Have Chinese people really become so rich?” […]

Categories
China Innovation

China, Technology, Innovation and the Environment: Self-innovation key for China’s industrial modernization

China should focus on self-innovation rather than over-reliance on technology imports to achieve the industrial modernization, according to a blue paper issued by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) recently. The report was made upon CASS’s survey on the country’s 15 key industries. The result showed inadequate investment in self-innovation in China, which has held back the country from faster industrialization […]

Categories
China

Living in China: Hong Kong employees work 48.8 hours per week

Hong Kong full-time employees work an average of 48.8 hours every week, 22 percent more than the work time recommended by the International Labor Organization (ILO) , a survey released recently has found. The survey, commissioned by non-profit organization Community Business by random phone interviews in July/2008 with 1,011 full-time employees, also found that one third of the respondents said they would consider leaving their current job for a better work-life balance.

Categories
China Trend Watching

Internet in China: Students look to the Web for sex education

More than half of high school students consider the Internet the best way to learn about sex, a survey conducted by a Shanghai family planning body and the city’s accidental pregnancy hotline has found, Xinmin Evening News reported recently. The survey, covering 1,684 middle school students, revealed that 68 percent of high school boys and 46 percent of high school girls learn about sex from Websites, the newspaper said […]

Categories
China Economics Trend Watching

Living in China: More people in Shanghai unhappy about Income

More citizens of China’s eastern metropolis of Shanghai were not satisfied with their salaries and may postpone buying houses or cars, a survey shows. The income index for the second quarter of this year set a record low of 114.8 points, 3.8 points lower than that of the first quarter and 7.5 points lower than the last quarter of 2007, according to the survey on consumption confidence conducted by Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SUFE)…

Categories
China Trend Watching

Living in China: Study finds obesity may be a growing problem among kids in Shanghai

Researchers are concerned that obesity may become a bigger problem among children in Shanghai after completing a study that found kids here have almost the same average height and weight as those in the United States, Shanghai News Times reported. The research team, under the leadership of Jiang Yifang, dean of children nutrition at the Children Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, found that boys aged 10 to 15 were slightly taller and heavier on average than those in the US…