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Economist, Feb 24, 2018

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发表于 2-27-2018 17:01:25 | 显示全部楼层 |阅读模式
(1) Region development | The Bribe Factory; Debate about how to revive China's north-eastern rust belt holds lessons for the country as a whole.
https://www.economist.com/news/c ... ns-chinas-rust-belt

"MAO ZEDONG called China’s three north-eastern provinces—Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning—the country's 'eldest son.' 共和国长子 In the Chinese tradition the family's future rests on that child’s shoulders. * * * Mao made the north-east the centre of heavy industry.

"In 1978, on the eve of Deng Xiaoping's economic opening, Liaoning, the most populous of the trio, had the third-largest economy among mainland China's 31 provinces. Its GDP was 20% bigger than that of Guangdong, the southern province with the biggest population. * * * By 2016 Liaoning had fallen to 14th among provinces by income and had only one third of Guangdong's GDP. In 1978-2016 its share of China's output [ie, GDP] fell by more than half.

"Three unusual features account for some of the region's problems. First, Maoist planning left it more dependent on state-owned enterprises (SOEs) than other areas. In China as a whole 17% of industrial jobs are in SOEs. In Liaoning the share is 40%; in Heilongjiang 55%. These firms are inefficient and many are unprofitable. Houze Song 宋厚泽 of the Paulson Institute, a think-tank, calculates that the return on assets of Liaoning’s SOEs fell from 3% in the mid 2000s to minus 1% in 2015—ie, they were losing money.  Second, the region, which has 109m people, is ageing fast, even by Chinese standards. At 39.2 years, Liaoning's median age  * * * is the oldest in the country. The north-eastern provinces have a [total] fertility rate—a measure of how many children women are likely to have [in her lifetime] —below one. The only other provincial-level areas that have such ultra-low fertility are the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin. * * * Third, the north-east has an unusually strong collectivist tradition. Song Changtie manages a textile firm in the coastal province of Jiangsu, having lived in the north-east for 30 years. He wrote last year that Chinese people from other regions 'cannot imagine how accustomed' north-easterners are to government control.

"Other provinces have failing SOEs. Half a dozen [provinces in China] have declining populations [does not say they move out or age out]. The region is not, on average, poor (see map). And although it is near the bottom of China's league table of growth, the north-east is growing fast by the standards of rust belts globally. According to official figures, its GDP expanded by almost 7% a year in 2011-16, though the Liaoning provincial government admitted to falsifying its accounts for 2011-14, so the official statistics are suspect.  All of which makes the question of how to revive the region more than a parochial one. It is, says Andrew Batson of Gavekal Dragonomics, a research firm, 'a proxy debate about the future of China: should there be more interventionist industrial policy or more free-market solutions?'

Dandong is "China's largest private port. In 2005 the municipal government sold most of its stake in the facility.

Note:
(a) "Controversy flared last August with the publication of a 500-page report on Jilin, commissioned by the province from a well-known Chinese economist, Justin Yifu Lin"  吉林经济结构转型升级研究报告(征求意见稿)
"Guo Qiang of the Central Party School in Beijing"  中央党校教授 郭强
"Sun Jianbo, the founder of China Vision Capital"  华新资本 孙建波
"A car company in Liaoning, called Brilliance Auto, shows what can happen. In 2002 the provincial government took over what was then a thriving concern. It pushed out the founder" and then has mismanaged it." 华晨汽车集团控股有限公司 (based in 辽宁省沈阳市)

(b) English dictionary:
(i) parochial (adj; Did You Know? --> Late Latin noun feminine parochia gave rise to English noun parish and adjective parochial): "confined or restricted as if within the borders of a parish : limited in range or scope (as to a narrow area or region) : PROVINCIAL, NARROW"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parochial
(ii) "Local governments in the north-east mollycoddle their industrial champions by giving them preference in procurement contracts. But their protectionism has not helped."
(A) mollycoddle (n and vt; Did You Know?)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mollycoddle
(B) Coddled Eggs. recipetips.com, undated
www.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/t--1186/coddled-eggs.asp
(how to: in the shell and in coddling dish)

Coddling an egg is different from poaching an egg.
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 楼主| 发表于 2-27-2018 17:07:47 | 显示全部楼层
(2) Europe's flourishing gunmakers | Trigger Happy; Firms in Europe prosper from Americans' love of firearms.
https://www.economist.com/news/b ... arms-market-europes

Quote:

"America's market for small arms—defined as revolvers, pistols, rifles and shotguns. * * * This year they [Americans] are likely to buy 14.5m such firearms

"Foreign firms' share of American firearms sales rose from 10% in 1980 to a peak of 45% in 2007, before dropping to 33% in 2016. The lion's share of these came from Europe, which accounted for three-quarters of the 3.7m imported handguns in 2016, for example. Austria alone, home to Glock, exported 1.3m handguns to America.

"Sig Sauer accounted for 12.3% of pistol sales in 2016, and Glock 7.8%; respectively they are the third- and fourth-biggest sellers of pistols [in United States; note: This ranking is about pistols only -- year after year, No 1 is Sturm, Ruger & Co, Inc, followed by Smith & Wesson; Rich Duprey of the Motley Fool has written many news reports about market shares of each and all firearms in America]. What explains Europe's success? It has technically capable firms with long histories and skilled workers.

Note:
(a) firearm (n): "a weapon from which a shot is discharged by gunpowder —usually used of [ie, about] small arms"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/firearm
(b)  
(i) "Glock Ges.m.b.H. is a weapons manufacturer headquartered in Deutsch-Wagram, Austria, named after its founder, Gaston Glock" )1929- ; Austrian).
(ii) Deutsch-Wagram
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsch-Wagram
(literally "German-Wagram;" a town "about 15 km (9 mi) northeast of" Vienna center; "Wagram was first mentioned in * * * 1258 * * * It was named after a now silted up meander of the Danube river, where the waves (German: Wogen) crushed against the shore (Rain)" )

(c)
(i) SIG Sauer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIG_Sauer
(SIG Sauer GmbH is a Swiss-German company, formed in 1976 as a partnership between Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft [German for Swiss Industrial Company] (SIG) of Switzerland and JP Sauer & Sohn [German noun masculine for son] of Germany; Headquarters Eckernförde, Germany)
(ii)
(A) Eckernförde
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckernförde

section 1 Name: "The name of Eckernförde is of mixed origin, but derived from the name of a Danish castle formerly located near the current town, which is also reflected in the name of the town district of Borby. This fortification is listed in the 13th century Liber Census Daniæ as Ykærnæburgh. In 1441, the town used an official seal listing its name as Eherneborgh. The first syllable corresponds to the modern Danish word 'egern' meaning squirrel while '-förde' is Low German meaning fjord." (citations omitted)

(B) The previous quotation is confusing, because it should have said the "Danish castle" and "fortification" is one and the same. See
Talk: Förden and East Jutland Fjorde
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta ... East_Jutland_Fjorde
("Here is a quote from the German [Wikipedia] article for Eckernförde * * * A rough translation: * * * 'Politikens Nydansk Ordbog': (quote) 'Eckernförde' (Southern Schleswig): 1st part [of the word]: 'ikorni' (ancient Danish meaning 'squirrel'), [this syllable is] also seen in 'Ykærnæburgh' in Liber Census Daniæ, a disappeared castle near the town, from which 'Borreby' takes its name. 2nd part [of the word] is German 'förde,' derived from ancient low German 'vurt,' ie the crossing of a stream") (brackets original -- except the first pair)

(d) Beretta
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beretta
(The Beretta [which is a surname] forge was in operation from about 1500; [privately held] Beretta has been owned by the same family for almost five hundred years [company website says 15 generations]; Headquarters Brescia, Italy [second largest city in Lombardy region, after Milan which is 50-mile air distance to the west])
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 楼主| 发表于 2-27-2018 17:15:49 | 显示全部楼层
(3) Transplants and biotechnology | Mix and Match; Stem cells and gene editing may turn domestic animals into organ factories.
("transplantable organs are scare and demand for them is increasing. As life in general, and cars in particular, become safer, the supply of bodies with healthy organs in them is shrinking. Meanwhile, people are living longer")

My comment: There is no need to read the rest. The quotation crystallizes the cause of ever more demand for organs.

(4) Chinese fiction | The Dragon of Salvation.
(book review on Jin Yong (translated by Anna Holmwood), A Hero Born (Legend of Condor Heroes I). MacLehose Press, Feb 22, 2018)

Quote:

"As he built his e-commerce empire, Jack Ma, the co-founder of Alibaba, proudly sported the nickname 'Feng Qingyang 风清扬.' The moniker was borrowed from a cunning swordsman in a novel by Jin Yong.

"His [author's] real name is Louis Cha. Now 93 * * * He has been honoured by Queen Elizabeth and awarded two doctorates (one honorary, one for research) by Cambridge University [officially University of Cambridge].

" 'A Hero Born' is the first of the 12 volumes of the 'Legends of the Condor Heroes,' written in the late 1950s. Set in the year of 1205 * * * 'Three generations of useless emperors' have brought the Song dynasty to its knees.

"Enter the dragons of salvation: an 'eccentric' kung-fu clan known as the Seven Freaks of the South 江南七怪, and the militant Taoist monks of the Quanzhen sect [全真教, a sect of Taoism; 金代由王重阳于山东宁海所创:zh.wikipedia.org]. They are first rivals, then collaborators.

"Bereaved and exiled by traitors, the hero Guo Jing 郭靖 grew up on the Mongolian steppes. He joins the entourage of Temujin 铁木真, a great warrior who will become Genghis Khan.

Note:
(a) Regarding quotation 2. "2005年,剑桥大学授予金庸荣誉文学博士名衔,金庸随即以81岁高龄赴剑桥大学攻读历史学碩士、博士學位。"  zh.wikipedia.org for 金庸.
(b) About quotation 3. Xing Yi, Legends of the Condor Heroes: A Tale of Loyalty and Betrayal. Telegraph, Dec 4, 2017
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/world/c ... s-of-condor-heroes/
("The publisher, MacLehose Press, said the translated work will come in 12 volumes, covering the three books [or The Trilogy 射雕三部曲]: Legends of the Condor Heroes 射雕英雄传; Divine Condor, Errant Knight 神鵰俠侶; and Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre 倚天屠龍記")
(c) There is no need to read the rest of a very short review.
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