DALIAN, CHINA: Local Currency

FROMMER’S:

Banks, Foreign Exchange and ATMs -- The main Bank of China branch is in a large tower on the corner of Yan'an Lu and Baiyu Jie, behind the Dalian Hotel on Zhongshan Guangchang (open Mon-Fri 8:30am-4:30pm). Traveler's checks and cash can be exchanged at window 32, and credit cards are handled at window 11 (both on the second floor). There are international ATMs next to the old Bank of China on Zhongshan Guangchang and inside the Nikko's shopping arcade.

LONELY PLANET:

Bank of China (Zhōngguó Yínháng; 8280 5711; 9 Zhōngshān Guǎngchǎng; 8.30-11.30am & 1-7pm Mon-Fri) Around the corner on Shanghai Lu is a 24-hour ATM.

China Merchants Bank (Shengli Guǎngchǎng) ATM; opposite the train station, off Jiefang Lu.

HSBC (cnr Renmin Lu & Zhigong Jie) ATM; accepts Cirrus, Plus, MasterCard and Visa cards.

SHANGHAI, CHINA: Fewer city residents say they're happy

2010-3-17

By Jane Chen 

FEWER people in Shanghai feel happy about their life than their peers in less developed cities, plagued by the cost of living, housing prices and medical bills, according to the latest survey cited by today's Guangzhou Daily.

Chongqing Municipality and cities in Jiangsu, Sichuan and Fujian provinces score the happiest in the survey, while Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai and cities in Zhejiang Province were the least happy.

The survey covered more than 70,000 people in 10 cities aged 20 to 40 with family income over 50,000 yuan (US$7,325) a year.
People with yearly family income between 110,000 and 200,000 yuan were the happiest. And those aged between 30 and 35 feel the happiest.

People living in second-tier cities are more satisfied with their life than their peers in larger ones such as Shanghai.
Shenzhen, a south China city that enjoys a high economic development, scored the lowest on the list but with a highest rate of mental diseases.

View Shanghai Daily Article

CHINA: Mainland agrees to discuss cross-Strait military security, mutual trust

2010-3-17

Source: Xinhua

THE Chinese mainland agrees to discuss the issue of military security and mutual trust across the Taiwan Strait at an appropriate time, said a mainland spokesman today.

"We maintain that (both sides) can contact and make exchanges on military issues and discuss the establishment of military security and mutual trust mechanism at a proper time," Yang Yi, spokesman with the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, told a press conference here.

"Related work should be done step by step, starting from the easy ones," Yang said.

Yang said the exchange of retired servicemen and relevant experts and scholars would be a good choice to begin the work.

The symposium held by the mainland and Taiwan on 60 years of cross-Strait relations in Taipei in November 2009, was a good start, Yang said.

The event was attended by more than 110 scholars from both sides of the Taiwan Strait. They discussed a string of issues covering politics, economy, culture and military affairs.

View Shanghai Daily Article

RUSSIA: On this day: 17 March

Designed and built in the Kharkov Tractor Factory in Ukraine, the T-34 tank made its way to Moscow and was first presented on 17 March 1940 at Red Square. The successful 400-mile journey from Ukraine was the first real test for the armored vehicle that was to become the best tank of World War II.

Its technical design was radical, a major step up from the pre-war light tanks, which were high-speed but lacked firepower and armor and were complex in construction. The T-34 medium tank was built simple and durable with excellent firepower, armor, mobility and shape. The tanks were mass produced before the German invasion and made a successful debut in battles against the Japanese headed by the legendary military commander Georgy Zhukov.

The Germans were advancing deep into Russia, closing in on Moscow and forcing the relocation of the entire Russian military industry to Siberia. New factories exceeded their pre-war production. Outnumbering the German tanks in the great battles of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) and Kursk, the T-34s crushed the enemy.

Western experts and even Russia’s opponents in the war still respond with admiration to the T-34 tank.

German General Friedrich von Mellenthin called it “the most remarkable example of an offensive weapon in the Second World War” and German Field Marshal Paul von Kleist said the T-34 was the best in the world.

More advanced than German tanks, they were the main ‘war-winning’ weapons against the Germans. In 1945, when summing up the results of the World War II, British Prime Minister Lord Winston Churchill had this to say when asked what he thought the best weapon was:

“There were three: the English canon, the German Messershmitt plane and the Russian T-34 tank. The first two, I understand how it was done, but I completely don’t understand how such a tank appeared…”

Another example of its popularity is its inclusion in Stephen Biesty’s “The Incredible Cross-sections,” an internationally known picture book about the greatest creations of mankind.

View RT Article

CHINA: China GDP 'to grow 9.5% in 2010'

China has been accused of keeping the yuan artificially low to help exports

Page last updated at 07:30 GMT, Wednesday, 17 March 2010

The World Bank has raised its 2010 economic growth forecast for China to 9.5% from 9%.

It said consumption by both businesses and households would grow strongly, even though government stimulus measures were being pared back.

But the bank warned that Beijing needed to cool inflation and try to cut the risk of a bubble in property prices.

It urged China to let its currency appreciate to contain prices and to stop the economy overheating.

"Strengthening the exchange rate can help reduce inflationary pressures and rebalance the economy," the World Bank said in quarterly update on the world's third largest economy.

Earlier this week, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao accepted that inflation would be a major challenge as Beijing tried to keep its recovery going.

However, he rejected criticism that China was keeping its currency undervalued in order to boost exports.

He said keeping the yuan stable was "an important contribution" to global recovery from the economic downturn.

Currency pressure

The yuan was tied to the dollar until 2005 when it was allowed to rise in value by about 20%.

The peg was reinstated in 2008 when the global economic crisis cut demand for Chinese products and factories began closing.

China is facing pressure, particularly from the United States, to let the yuan appreciate. A failure to revalue its currency and keeping it artificially low, is giving Beijing an unfair edge in trade, critics say.

China's GDP grew by 8.7% in 2009. Beijing's official growth target for 2010 is 8%.

View BBC News Article

JAPAN: Japan increases stimulus measures

Deflation tends to make consumers delay purchases as prices fall

Page last updated at 06:52 GMT, Wednesday, 17 March 2010

Japan's central bank has increased a stimulus measure aimed at encouraging financial institutions to lend more.

It has doubled to 20 trillion yen (£145bn; $220bn) the amount of cheap short-term loans it is offering banks.

The scheme, which lends money at a rate of 0.1%, was introduced in December to try to tackle the deflation which is threatening Japan's economic recovery.

The Bank also voted to hold interest rates at 0.1% - the level at which they have been since December 2008.

Bank pressure

Data released last week showed that Japan's economy grew by less than first estimated in the final quarter of 2009.

The Cabinet Office said the economy expanded by 0.9% between October and December of last year, down from its initial estimate of 1.1%.

That downward revision increased pressure on the Bank of Japan to ease monetary policy.

However, with interest rates already down to 0.1%, it does not have much room to move.

The continuing problem of deflation is bad for an economy as it tends to make consumers and businesses delay major purchases in the expectation that prices will fall further in the future.

Japan has a history of struggling with deflation. The 1990s are often referred to as Japan's "lost decade" because of its 10-year struggle with falling prices.

The period followed a collapse in prices in the housing market and the stock market at the end of the 1980s.

View BBC News Article