Shen Yaoyi’s Long March Classic Fetches US $6.4 Million

IT is not unusual for old masters’ paintings to fetch RMB10 million or more at auction these days. The same is fast becoming true of contemporary Chinese artworks. Bidding for Shen Yaoyi’s Revolutionary Ideals Higher than Heaven at the China Guardian 2012 auction of Chinese oil paintings and sculptures started at RMB 8.5 million. The masterpiece nally sold for RMB 40.25 million (about US $6.4 million)-the highest-ever price for any of his works. Shen Yaoyi was born in Shanghai in 1943 and graduated from the Engraving Department of the Central Academy     

Focus

According to statistics released by Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, the deposited savings of Beijing residents exceeded RMB 1.2 trillion in 2008, averaging RMB 71,000 per capita. The figure in 1978 was RMB 930 million, averaging RMB 106.7 per capita. In terms of people＇s incomes, the per-capita disposable income leapt from RMB 365 in 1978 to RMB 24,725 in 2008,     

Sci-tech Info

Fundamental Sci-Tech Projects Begin The Ministry of Science and Technology has announced an RMB 250 million     

3G in Growth Spurt

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology （MIIT） said China＇s 3G users surpassed 20 million by May, and are expected to reach 150 million by the end of next year. The recent MIIT report shows that by the first quarter of 2010, the China Mobile TD network had covered at least 238 cities, while rivals China Unicorn and China Telecom have built 335 and 342 WCDMA networks respectively. In all, China＇s 3G base-stations have reached over 367,000. Meanwhile, the prices of 3G mobile phones have declined dramatically. Prices vary from RMB 3,000 to RMB 1,000, almost at par with 2G mobile phones. The commercial use of 3G mobile service in China went into its trial phase in April 2008.     

Chinese Oils Come into Their Own

LAST November's China Guardian auction saw the highest bid ever for a Chinese oil painting: Mao Zedong Inspecting RuralGuangdong by Chen Yanning sold for an incredible RMB 10.12 million. Contemporary Chinese Oils Surge in Value The 2005 China Guardian autumnauction chalked up a cool RMB 130 million in accumulated sales of 201 Chinese oil paintings and pieces of sculpture. Among the top 30 highes sellers were realist school artists Chen Yifei, Ai Xuan and Yang Feiyun, whose works s…     

Set of Vertical Scrolls Featuring the Four Noble Characters

Market Value: Although its pre-sale estimate was RMB 680,000-1.68 million (US $80,000-200,000), this set of vertical scrolls fetched RMB 2.882 million (US $350,000) at the China Guardian Auctions Company Spring 2005 auction. Wu Changshuo and His Paintings: Prominent contemporary Chinese painter and founder of Wu School seal cutting, Wu Changshuo (1844-1927) is widely acknowledged and respected within Shanghai painting circles. Wu was an accomplished calligrapher, painter, seal cutter, and poet. The saying that great minds mature slowly is exemplified by Wu. He started writing     

Baiyun International Airport,A New Hub for the Asia-Pacific Region

More than 500 planes land at and take off from Baiyun International Airport every day. They link nearly 100 Chinese and 30 international cities. The phase I project of the airport, built with an investment of approximately RMB 20 billion (US $2.4 billion),recently went into operation; it occupies an area of 16.5 square kilometers, and has an annual handling capacity of 25 million passengers and one milliontons of cargo. When all its projects are complete,Baiyun International Airport will have five runways,and an expanded annual handling capacity of 80 million passengers and 2.5 million tons of cargo.Baiyun International Airport looks set to be a key aviation hub in the Asia-Pacific reigion.     

China’s Fishery Pioneer

F OUNDED in 1945, the Da- lian Ocean Fishery Group in Northeast China’s Liaoning Province is a state-owned enterprise with assets of RMB 2 billion (US $250 million) and a staff body numbering more than 7,000. The group is located in the Dalian Bay Fishing Port, which encompasses a sea area of 1.2 million sq m and a land area of 1.09 million sq m. To its south, the Yellow Sea ocean navigation route links it with other major ports around the world, while to its north, modern rail- way…     

Focus

China: The World's Fifth Largest Ad Market China's advertising market continues to grow at an astonishing pace, and is currently worth about RMB 180 billion a year. That makes it the world's fifth largest ad market. However, half of that sum was generated in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong alone, and the top ten provinces with the highest business volume accounted for about 90 percent of the total. Net Dealers Rocket to 20 Million China's population of online merchants has soared to 20 million in the last three years. There are now more than 2,000 companies offering e-commerce services. With close to 17 million members, www.alibaba.com is by far the biggest company, and www.hc360.com comes in a distant second. The figures are rising every day. However, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Commerce, the trade volume for all e-commerce conducted in 2005 amounted to just RMB 300 billion. That figure accounts for a mere 3.5 percent of the total sales of small and medium-sized firms.     

Sci-tech Info

The Biggest Eye in Space
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope （FAST） project is underway in Guizhou Province, southwest China, with a total investment of RMB 627 million. Set to be completed by 2014, FAST will become the largest space telescope of its caliber, and is expected to remain so for the next 20 to 30 years.     

A Fight That Cannot Be Lost

A rare droughtplagued southwestern China for thefirst half of this year. In Yunnan and Guizhou provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region rainfall was merely half the average level for that time of year, leading to a record-low drawdown in local rivers. More than 16 million people and 11 million heads of livestock were craving water, and 43.48 million hectares of farmland were affected All told, the direct economic losses inflicted have reached RMB 19 billion. Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in southeastern Yunnan was among the worst hit areas： 1.13 million of its 3.4 million population face water shortages.     

A Growing Economic Development Zone

In 2007, Yangpu surpassed Haikou for the first time in terms of the growth of industrial added value. Within five years, the development zone alms to achieve a total fixed asset investment of RMB 50 billion, an annual industrial output value of RMB 100 billion, a local GDP of RMB 30 billion, a total tax income of RMB 12 billion, a local revenue of RMB 2 billion and an annual port throughput capacity of 70 million tons.     

Economy

正China’s Pension System:Three Employees Support One Retiree China’s 2013 Statistical Bulletin on Human Resources and Social Security Development indicates that the surplus of China’s pension insurance fund has cumulated to RMB 2.8269 trillion,with around three employees supporting one retiree.In 2013,the total number of people joining the national basic pension insurance system reached 819.68 million,an increase of 31.72 million over the previous year.The2013 overall input to the basic     

The New-look Jinglun Hotel

The Jinglun Hotel is soon to reopen after an RMB 82 million (US $10.25 million) refurbishment. Located in Jian-guomen Street at the heart of Beijing's eastern CBD, the four-star Jinglun was among the first group of hotels co-managed by Nikko Hotels International to     

Something About a Man in Uniform Novel Military TV Series Popular with Chinese Audiences

MY Chief and My Regiment, the latest warthemed series,dominated evening prime time on the Chinese small screen in the weeks following its debut in March. The word is out that domestic television stations paid a record RMB 1 million for the rights to a single episode. Its producers bragged ＂the figure actually reached RMB 1.5 million.＂ For many, the sum is too staggering to be true for a drama without big-name actors or romantic twists. Some suspect it is merely a promotional stunt. But the jostle among TV stations for preemption of the pilot broadcast was real enough.     

＂Just Peachy＂ in Pingu

THE winter of 2010 was the cold-est for 50 years in Beijing, and the unyielding chill delayed the flowering of peaches in Pinggu District by one or two weeks. But the peach farmers still managed to achieve an unprecedented bumper harvest, with output of 280 million kilograms and sales revenues of RMB 944.7 million, an admirable year-on-year increase of 2.84 percent and 26.56 percent respectively.For three decades now Pinggu, in the     

Foreign Friends Donate Funds to Qinhuangdao''''s Hope Project

Through the channels of friendship cities and other external contacts, the City of Qinhuangdaohas raised nearly 3 million RMB yuan for the buildingand renovation of 6 middle and primary schoolsunder the Hope Project.In 1994,Ikuo Hirayama,     

A Master at Work Qi Baishi’s Landscape Painting Compilation

QI Baishi (1864-1957) is regarded as one of the most renowned Chinese painters of the 20th century. His work Landscape Painting Compilation recently fetched RMB 194 million (US $30.55 million) at the China Guardian 2011 Autumn Auction, the highest priced work at that event. Record-breaking feats are nothing new for this particular work - in 1994 it set a price record for an auctioned Chinese artwork at RMB 5.17 million (US $810,000). Qi Baishi completed Landscape Painting Compilation in the fall of 1931 and presented it as a gift     

LETTERS

The Shanghai World Expo is imminent, and as a native
of Shanghai, I feel quite proud, The Bird＇s Nest and Water Cube have become iconic Beijing sites since their debut at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Almost every person coming to the capital pays a visit to these structures, seeing the sites of the opening and closing ceremonies, Linglong Tower, and the eye-catching Water Cube. According to the media, after the stadium opened to the public, the number of tourists received every day reached nearly 30,000, bringing in proceeds of RMB 210 million. This result is heart-stirring. As a tourism management major,     

Smart Agriculture

PULLING in RMB 40 million of revenue from a 14-hectare block of farmland - that’s RMB 2.86 million per hectare - sounds nigh-on impossible in this age of stiff competition and slim margins. And yet in 2010,Beijing Futong Horticulture Co.,Ltd.managed just such a feat. How did they do it?"It’s quite hard to earn decent profits by relying solely on traditional planting methods,"says Zhang Tianzhu,general manager of Futong Horticulture,affiliated with China Agricultural University. "Due to the high cost of land,labor and logistics in Beijing,strong profits are out of reach unless we get smart with our use of technology."