US president Donald Trump is not necessarily wrong when confronting China on trade, but he has to realize he cannot solve the issue by himself, without allies, writes China veteran Harry Broadman in Forbes. “Mr. Trump’s insistence on handling China in a U.S. ‘go-it-alone’ manner is just plain wrong-headed.”Read More →

Very slowly the dreadful verdict of China’s approximately 30 million left-behind children on the country-side is slowly getting more coverage. Journalist Zhang Lijia, preparing a book on the issue, summarizes the problems for the New York Times. Why have they been forgotten?Read More →

The appointment of Liu He as president Xi Jinping’s economic top man has started speculations on his political direction, including a restart of reforms. We should not expect Liu to divert too much from the state-driven economic agenda Xi has already set out in the past few years, says leading economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know® to the New York Times.Read More →

Foreign companies would watch in fear media campaigns at China’s consumers day in the past. But this Thursday, consumer day will be a backdrop for upcoming months of tensions, now a trade war is looming, says business analyst Shaun Rein, author of The War for China’s Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order to Bloomberg.Read More →

The disruption caused by trade tensions is not going to give the US more market share for American companies, says leading economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know® to Bloomberg. And that is not what the US wants: “The USTR is not trying to bargain with Beijing: it is trying to force a deep change in behavior.”Read More →

Chinese insurance and investment conglomerate Fosun International snapped up Brazilian asset manager Guide Investimentos for US$52 million on Tuesday, reversing a trend of disinvestment after the central government came after conglomerates with excessive outbound investments. Shaun Rein, author of The War for China’s Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order, explains in the South China Morning Post why Brazil is such a popular destination.Read More →

President Xi Jinping is likely to extend his tenure beyond two terms, by changing the constitution. That is basically good news for investors, tells the economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know® to Bloomberg. Although in the long run, there might be some caveats.Read More →

China’s market economy has brought pros and cons to the women, says author Zhang Lijia of the bestseller Lotus: A Novel, on prostitution in China, to the BBC.“I think women have shouldered most of the cost and burden during the transition from a planned economy to the market economy,” she says. She is currently working on a book on the left-behind children in China.Read More →

Much of China and many Chinese have become wealthy. But just a few decades ago, remembers author Zhang Lijia of “Socialism Is Great!”: A Worker’s Memoir of the New China Spring Festival was the only moment in the year where food was abundant. At her website, she looks with a nostalgic view at those poorer times.Read More →

Chinese New Year is ahead and economists have their predictions about the country’s economy ready. Much of their gloomy prospects (Over-investment, too much debt, bubbly markets, faked data, Ponzi-like financial structures) depends on their location, observes business analyst Shaun Rein, author of The War for China’s Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order, according to Bloomberg. Those located in China tend to get the uptick in the economy better than those observing China from afar.Read More →