Often depicted as an angry dragon, China’s current circumstances called for a more melancholic take on the Guardian Weekly’s cover this week. Much of the world’s attention towards the world’s second-biggest economy of late has focused on its geopolitical ambitions, but a picture is emerging from within the country that could have equally profound consequences. A Covid-battered economy – tainted by slowing demand and a deepening property crisis – coupled with an ageing population, have left many analysts wondering if China’s economic rise is stalling. Set against increasingly cool relations…
Tag: Chinese economy
China May Ban Clothes That Hurt People’s Feelings. People Are Outraged.
In the 1980s, people in China could land themselves in trouble with the government for their fashion choices. Flared pants and bluejeans were considered “weird attire.” Some government buildings barred men with long hair and women wearing makeup and jewelry. Patrols organized by factories and schools cut flared pants and long hair with scissors. It was the early days of China’s era of reform and opening up. The Communist Party was loosening its tight control over society little by little, and the public was pushing the limits of self-expression and…
Have we reached peak China? How the booming middle class hit a brick wall
Holding her newborn daughter, Lynne, 33, feels apprehensive about the future. Her elder son, though adorable, is already draining the family coffers and he hasn’t even started school yet. His private kindergarten in Beijing costs 80,000 yuan (US$11,ooo) a year. Extracurricular classes, including 10 hours a week of English, sports, painting and online tutorials, cost another 60,000 yuan (US$8,300). She already knows that his five-month-old sister won’t get the same resources. “I don’t have the energy to jiwa again,” she says, using a Mandarin term for helicopter parenting. She longs…
Chinese economy out of deflation but faces threat of relapse
China’s consumer price index rebounded in August as the world’s second-largest economy emerged from deflation, official data released on Saturday suggested, despite sluggish domestic consumption that is complicating its post-Covid economic recovery. Last month’s CPI, the main gauge of inflation, rose 0.1% year on year, the national statistics bureau said. China briefly slipped into deflation in July for the first time in more than two years, with prices falling 0.3% year on year. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had anticipated a rebound in August of 0.2% year on year. Deflation indicates…
China Is Full of Risk For U.S. Companies
For decades, America’s corporate chieftains saw China as a money spinner. They gushed about its hundreds of millions of consumers, called it “one of the biggest opportunities” and made predictions that this would be “China’s century.” Now, those executives have come away from recent visits to the country with a more sober view. Western companies doing business in China are facing pressures that were unimaginable several years ago. The country’s economy is floundering and its relationship with the United States is strained. Three years of border restrictions and an effective…
Global economic fears deepen as service sector dips in China and Europe
Fears about the health of the global economy have intensified following downbeat news about service sector activity in China, the eurozone and the UK. Share prices fell in Asia and the pound dropped to a 12-week low against the US dollar after fresh signs of weakness in China triggered speculation that its post-lockdown recovery was running out of steam. Meanwhile, there were signs the steady rise in interest rates is leading to weaker service sector activity in both the UK and the 20-country eurozone. Markets were particularly rattled by news…
Country Garden shares jump after Chinese developer strikes debt deal
The share price of the ailing Chinese developer Country Garden has jumped by as much as a fifth after its creditors agreed a delay on debt repayments, offering some respite from the country’s crisis-hit property market. The company agreed over the weekend to extend the payment dates on a 3.9bn yuan (£430m) private bond, to the relief of investors who had thought it would default on payments due on Saturday. Country Garden will instead have three years to repay the debt, after it won a narrow vote with the backing…
Yang Huiyan: Country Garden owner who was once Asia’s richest woman
Just two years ago she was the richest woman in Asia with an estimated $29.6bn (£23.4bn) fortune, but now Yang Huiyan, the chair and majority owner of Chinese property developer Country Garden Holdings, is battling to save the company from collapsing into default. Country Garden, which was founded by Yang’s father – a farmer – in 1992, had grown to become China’s largest property developer, completing thousands of projects across the country. As the Chinese property bubble bursts, the company is now fighting for its very survival and Yang’s billions…
The Guardian view on the UK and China: Britain is muddling along in dealing with Beijing | Editorial
There’s an old joke about a lost traveller asking how to reach their destination. The local they stop helpfully tells them: “If I were you, I wouldn’t start from here.” The foreign secretary made it to Beijing on Wednesday, but finds himself in something of the same situation when it comes to China policy. In a report published the same day, the foreign affairs committee rightly diagnosed a lack of coherence in the UK government’s approach to date. James Cleverly began from an unenviable position. For too long, the west…
China continues coal spree despite climate goals
China is approving new coal power projects at the equivalent of two plants every week, a rate energy watchdogs say is unsustainable if the country hopes to achieve its energy targets. The government has pledged to peak emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2060, and in 2021 the president, Xi Jinping, pledged to stop building coal powered plants. But after regional power crunches in 2022, China started a spree of approving new projects and restarting suspended ones. In 2022 the government approved a record-breaking 86 gigawatts (GW) of…