HONG KONG – China is big enough to support two Disneyland resorts, a top executive said Sunday, amid concerns the company's new Shanghai park would draw visitors away from its one in Hong Kong.
Bill Ernest, president of The Walt Disney Co.'s parks in Asia, noted that in the U.S., where the population is about a quarter of the size of China's, there are already two major resorts — in Orlando, Fla., and in Anaheim, Calif.
"We think there's plenty of room," Ernest said at a groundbreaking ceremony for a long-awaited expansion of Hong Kong's Disneyland. "We think there's plenty of business there that supports both parks."
China's planning agency approved plans for a Disney theme park in Shanghai last month, part of a government push to develop China's biggest city into a global services center and tourist destination.
The Shanghai park has been estimated to cost $3.5 billion, though Ernest said it was too early in negotiations with the government to give any details about the resort's price tag, attractions or capital structure.
The addition of three new theme areas in Hong Kong's park will enlarge the resort by nearly a quarter over the next five years.
The $465 million expansion, announced in July, was considered a long-overdue move to lure more young adults and other visitors by addressing complaints the park was too small.
It opened in 2005 to great fanfare only to suffer disappointing attendance its first two years. However, visitor numbers in its third year grew by 8 percent, the Hong Kong government says.
Likely anticipating a Shanghai park, Hong Kong secured as part of the expansion two new areas, featuring "frontier town" and "rain forest" themes that will be unique among Disneylands worldwide when they open. The third area, based on the hit Disney-Pixar "Toy Story" films, will be exclusive in Asia.
The park is a joint venture between Hong Kong's government, which is separate from mainland China's, and the American entertainment giant, based in Burbank, Calif.
China’s Communists Mark 60 Years in Power With Parade (Update3)
By Bloomberg News
Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The People’s Republic of China marked its 60th anniversary today, staging a parade through the heart of Beijing to demonstrate the country’s rising global influence.
President Hu Jintao, wearing a black suit similar to one worn by People’s Republic founder Mao Zedong, joined former President Jiang Zemin and members of the ruling Politburo Standing Committee on the rostrum of Tiananmen -- the Gate of Heavenly Peace. It was there, on Oct. 1, 1949, that Mao declared the Communist Party’s victory in a civil war.
China was “able and confident in playing its global role,” Hu said in a speech, in which he vowed that the country would seek “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan. The island has been ruled for much of the past 60 years by the Nationalists, who fled there following their defeat at Mao’s hands.
Hundreds of missiles and tanks and thousands of soldiers from the world’s largest standing army paraded down Chang’an Avenue through Tiananmen Square following Hu’s speech. He had earlier reviewed the troops from an open-topped Red Flag limousine, yelling out “Hello comrades” and “Comrades it’s been hard on you.” Overhead, 151 military aircraft, including J-10fighter jets, flew past in 12 formations.
Hu and his fellow leaders are celebrating China’s newfound prominence on the global stage. China now produces in a day the equivalent of a year’s output five decades ago, and is poised to surpass Japan as the world’s second-largest economy by 2010. The Communists, who lifted 300 million citizens from abject poverty and raised the country’s international influence, must now meet increasing demands for domestic freedom and accountability.
‘Show-Off’
The celebration “is a show-off to beef up confidence in, and support to, the regime,” said Huang Jing, visiting professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. “Serious questions need to be asked how such a show of strength can translate into” transparency and tolerance for “ethnic, cultural and religious diversity.”
About 80,000 children in Tiananmen Square spelled out the Chinese characters for “national celebration” with red and gold placards to begin the celebration. Later, the placards read “obey the Party’s command” and “serve the people.”
The People’s Liberation Army displayed 52 types of new weapons, including unmanned aerial vehicles and aircraft with advance-warning radar. Five thousand soldiers marched through the square, past portraits of Mao and Sun Yat-Sen, Republican China’s first president after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912.
Nuclear Strike
Among the new weapons, according to China Central Television, was a cruise missile called the Long Sword. As a battery of Dongfeng (East Wind) intercontinental ballistic missiles on mobile carriers drove by, the CCTV commentator reminded viewers that China abided by a pledge never to make a first nuclear strike.
Up to 200,000 people took part in the parade, which included a flotilla of 60 vehicles bedecked with flowers and digital displays showcasing six decades of China’s political, scientific, technological and economic achievements.
Among those were floats with portraits of Mao, Deng Xiaoping, a leader who died in 1997, as well as Jiang and Hu. Each were accompanied by recordings of their famous speeches, and thousands of marchers surrounding the floats carried banners trumpeting catchphrases such as “implement and carry out scientific development.”
Disney Music
The celebration is an opportunity for the government to showcase its achievements to the country’s 1.3 billion people. CCTV’s broadcast of the event telecast preparations of the parade, complete with marching soldiers, jets and tanks, with the theme of Disney Co.’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” in the background. A commentator extolled the economic achievements of the People’s Republic in the minutes before the parade began.
Police kept most of Beijing’s 3.8 million private cars off of the roads today, and restricted access to the city center. South of Di’anmen Street, which bisects the inner city from east to west, police armed with machine guns blocked cars from heading toward Tiananmen Square this morning.
The PLA parade is the 14th since the army emerged victorious in the 1949 civil war against the Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, which now governs Taiwan.
China’s economy may surpass the U.S. by 2027, according to a projection by New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Foreign currency reserves are the world’s largest at $2.13 trillion, and the country is the biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities, with $800.5 billion at the end of July. The country’s largest lender, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., is the world’s biggest by value and its most profitable.
Opposition Banned
Economic growth and rising global influence have come at the cost of domestic expression. Opposition to Communist Party rule is banned while dissent, including the 1989 student demonstrations in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, is crushed.
As many as 800 million Chinese, 60 percent of the population, still live in the countryside, and rapid development has left millions of them behind. Still socialist in name, China has a wider income gap than Taiwan and South Korea have now, or had during their export-led industrializations.
The gaps are made wider by the spread of corruption. Graft has reached into the senior ranks of officials, with those convicted including the former parliamentary vice chairman Cheng Kejie and Shanghai party chief Chen Liangyu.
Ethnic Tensions
Even as Tiananmen Square is festooned today with 56 columns representing the country’s biggest ethnic groups, many Uighurs and Tibetans say they see China as an empire diluting their indigenous cultures.
The worst riots in six decades broke out in the past two years in Tibet and the Uighur’s homeland of Xinjiang, two provinces on China’s western fringe, spurred by income gaps along ethnic and religious fissures.
The world’s most populous nation has also become the largest consumer of commodities and one of the biggest energy users. China last year passed the U.S. as the biggest emitter of greenhouse gasses, and widespread pollution of its atmosphere and waterways is rarely checked by public opposition.
The smog that enveloped Beijing for three days before today’s parade lifted overnight after a light rainfall and the parade took place under clear blue skies.
US, China face off on trade, as Beijing targets American car imports
US, China talk trade as Beijing targets automakers
By ELAINE KURTENBACH | Associated Press | Oct 29, 09 8:30 AM CDT
Doggedly cordial trade talks between top Chinese and U.S. officials were overshadowed Thursday by Beijing's surprise probe into American auto exports, underlining tensions ahead of President Barack Obama's first visit to China.
The start of the formal talks ran two hours late as discussions over nuts and blts issues dragged on, and officials addressing the opening session referred constantly to the need to speak with "candor" _ in diplomat-speak a word often signaling differences of opinion.
But officials on both sides claimed deals were made on a number of rankling issues.
"We've made solid progress on a series of important trade issues that can help our countries achieve balanced and sustainable growth," U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told reporters.
Kirk said the U.S. side was "intrigued" by the timing of an announcement that China plans to investigate dumping allegations against the minuscule auto exports to China by the three big Detroit automakers.
He asserted the move did not spoil "very productive and necessary talks" between the two sides.
The Chinese side confirmed that such a preliminary review was underway.
"China must protect its industries and companies based on China's laws and World Trade Organization rules," said Commerce Minister Chen Deming, while pledging the probe would be transparent and fair.
If China concludes the car makers are getting government subsidies or are selling their products in China at below-market prices, China could raise tariffs on U.S. auto imports. But punitive measures against Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Chrysler would be unlikely to cause much harm since most of the vehicles they sell to the Chinese are made in China.
Despite the last-minute surprise, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said he believed the meeting in Hangzhou had "laid the foundation" for Obama's Nov. 15-18 visit to China.
The talks wrapped up with the signing of 11 technical agreements on cooperation in energy, high technology, tourism and other commercial issues.
China agreed to end a ban on imports of U.S. pork that was imposed last spring due to swine flu fears, and to crack down on rampant piracy of music and other copyrighted materials.
The U.S. side applauded China's commitments to draft rules to treat products made by U.S.-invested foreign enterprises in China as Chinese domestic products, rather than foreign ones, in government purchases.
Trade spats between the two countries worsened after the Obama administration last month announced up to 35 percent duties on Chinese-made tires, to be imposed for the next three years.
Still, U.S. officials have said they do not expect any of the various simmering disputes to undo progress in other areas, or to sour overall ties.
U.S. business needs China more than ever. China's economic recovery has surged ahead with growth in the last quarter a stunning 8.9 percent, leading other major economies by a large margin.
Earlier this month, the Obama administration refrained from designating China as a currency manipulator even though American manufacturers contend that China's management of its currency is a primary reason for the huge bilateral trade deficit.
Currency issues, which are handled by the Department of the Treasury, were not on the agenda for Thursday's talks, the 20th since the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade began meeting in 1983.
Trade has soared since then, to over $400 billion in total last year by U.S. figures, and China has gone from having virtually no private cars or major auto industry to being the world's largest auto market, as the U.S. market languished in recent months.
Ford Motor, General Motors and Chrysler export only about 9,000 cars to China a year, though they manufacture millions more inside China in the joint ventures they are required to operate with local partners if they want to manufacture for the fast-growing market.
GM so far this year has sold 1.3 million cars and trucks in China, most of them built there in a joint venture with Chinese automaker SAIC.
Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Nissan also export cars to China from plants in the United States, but those won't be included in the investigation, according to Steve Collins, president of the industry trade group the American Automotive Policy Council.
GM and Chrysler have received billions of dollars in aid from the government's $700 billion bailout fund, though Ford has not.
But the move would certainly rankle, given the prosperity being enjoyed by Chinese-based automakers at a time when their global rivals are struggling for survival.
Through September, 9.66 million vehicles were sold in China, up 34 percent from the same period last year. During the same time, U.S. sales plunged 27 percent to 7.8 million units, according to Autodata Corp., a research firm.
___
AP Economics Writer Christopher S. Rugaber contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.
Lonely Hearts Club: China's Gender Imbalance Could Leave 30 Million Men Without Wives
Thursday, October 08, 2009 By Dana Lewis
AP
SHANGHAI — Every weekend in Shanghai's 'People's Park Number Five,' they come — mothers, fathers, grandparents — all holding pictures and posters of young Chinese men and women who are looking for love.
Parental matchmaking isn't easy, according to one man who tells FOX News that he's been shopping for a wife for his 33-year-old son for six months.
His pitch to other parents is short and simple. "Got a home. Good looking. Good salary," reads his poster.
Because of China's one child policy to control its ever expanding population — now numbering 1.3 billion people — there has been a lopsided explosion of young boys. It's a cavernous gender gap that is unprecedented worldwide.
The ratio is up to 130 boys to every one hundred girls in some areas of China.
Traditional preferences for a son means that many women abort their baby if an early term sonogram shows it's a girl.
In the next 20 years, it's estimated that 30 million Chinese men won't be able to find wives. For mothers and fathers who visit the "People's Park" every weekend there's a lot more to it than just finding love for their kids. There's a tradition in China of the young looking after the old. The government hasn't paid pensions and provided health care for most Chinese. So many parents' social security is on the line.
In China's big cities, finding Mr. or Miss Right is easier. Many women migrate from small town China to Beijing or Shanghai to find work and marriage.
And because more and more women are working, attitudes among parents who once only wanted boys are changing.
"More than 50 percent of the population will be in the cities. So that means this will be very strong change of traditions, behaviour of couples, or women, including this kind of son preference," Bernard Coquelin, from the U.N. Population Fund told FOX News.
60 Years After Revolution, Mao's Popularity Surges in China
Monday, October 05, 2009 By Dana Lewis
AP
It was once Chairman Mao Zedong's very famous, very wide family limousine. Oddly enough, the car is now owned by American Laurence Brahm — lawyer, author, and collector of all things related to Mao.
"It's not easy to brake history and it's not easy to brake a Red Flag limousine either," Brahm jokes as he navigates the rusty car through a narrow Beijing street.
Mao, the leader of China from the Chinese Revolutoon in 1949 until his death in 1976, has made a comeback in recent years. And it's not only in Laurence Brahm's trendy Beijing restaurant, the Red Capital Club.
Ironically, Mao — who railed against capitalism — is now so popular that he has become a source of immense capital income across China. Mao's face is ever-present among souvenir vendors; he's on T-shirts, matches, even a revolutionary Mao alarm clock. And now, he's on the big screen.
Mao's status as the founder of modern day China is celebrated in a new state-sponsored film starring 200 of the country's biggest actors. In the film, Mao is depicted as the caring father of the nation, a leader who loves his soldiers and citizens. The filmmakers make few references to Mao's brutality, glossing over policies and political purges that resulted in the deaths of 40 to 70 million of his people.
"I think every culture, every people wants to have an icon and a hero. And very often they're kind of you know, the dirt of history gets covered over by the romanticism of an era," Brahm told FOX News.
And Mao has certainly taken on the role of icon with many in subsequent generations — the former leader's literature remains widely popular 60 years after his ascension to power. A bookstore in Beijing is seeing writings by the late Chinese leader fly off the shelves. Many of the store's customers claim that the global financial crisis supports Mao's belief that following the path of capitalism would lead the country to ruin and that communism is the true path.
"We started with nothing. Everyone had to work together. No rich, no poor," says Kong Dong Mei, granddaughter of Mao. She tells FOX News that her grandfather is a symbol of China's power and the spirit of communism.
So how would Mao, the champion of socialism, feel about his country 60 years after the Revolution?
On one hand, it was a dream of Mao's to see China emerge as a superpower. On the other hand, he wanted to close the gaps between rich and poor — gaps in wealth that are widening in modern China.
Mao was said to be fascinated by contradiction. And he once wrote, "The world is contradiction — contradiction is the world."
What's more contradictory than a communist government ruling a capitalist nation, with Mao as its modern symbol of unity?
The views and opinions are not necessarily the views and opinion of the owner.... though they probably are.
All right reserved. Copyright HARDIN REPUBLIC LLC, 2009.
