Design competition collects faces for Cable 8

By Zhang Dongya

Six projects from the US, Iran and China won the first Architects in Mission (AIM) international competition last Friday at Cable 8 Creative Center, the last factory in Beijing’s central business district (CBD).

The competition was held by ZNA, a Boston-based architecture and urban design firm aiming to collect ideas for the future development of the factory.

The first prize went to Iran architects Massoud Afsarmanesh and Ali Afsarmanesh, who designed a glass cover to place over the old space and function with it.

“They won the competition because their project was doable and practical. Their model was fluent, bright and eye-catching,” said Darren Chang, senior architect of ZNA.

“Since China is promoting large, landmark structures, their design was exactly the kind we need,” he said.

Other works like the third-prize winner “Civilian Gardens of a Big City,” submitted by Chinese competitors Wu Yang and Han Xili, placed rentable gardens in Cable 8 in an attempt to fuse rural agriculture and the urban balcony.

“We hope the awarded projects will get influence Cable 8’s decision makers when they consider making the transformation,” Chang said.

Similar folk creations and academic competitions have influenced the development decisions of other governments abroad, he said.

“We hope this could also happen in China, even if it is a long shot,” he said.

Cable 8 is located in the former Beijing Electric Wire and Cable Factory on Jianguo Road.

The factory complex, built in 1958, began its transformation into a culture and creative center three years ago.

Eight of its 20 buildings were redecorated. However, the architecture – typical of industrial buildings of the 1950s and 1970s – was left untouched. They have since become home to art galleries, design offices, photography studios, advertising agencies and clothing shops.

The juxtaposition of old and new elements in each design is intended to raise awareness of the country’s ties to its recent industrial past – a visual reminder of why it today enjoys prosperity.

Cable 8 appears on many industry tour lists in the city, but how it will further transformation is unclear.

“Actually using one of the designs will be difficult and complicated. It must balance the demands of the developers, architects and the government. Technology usually becomes secondary,” Chang said.

ZNA said they it would continue the competition next year with new topics on urban design. It is targeting college students who are majoring in architecture and young architects who have fewer than five years of work experience.

Crash exposes shady safety record of regional airlines

By Chu Meng

The country’s flight safety record of 2,102 consecutive days without a crash came to an end last Tuesday when a Henan Airlines Embraer ERJ-190 jet crash-landed a Lindu Airport in Yichun, Heilongjiang Province.

The crash killed 42 passengers and injured 54.

The country’s last severe air crash was an Eastern Airlines Bombardier CRJ-200, which crashed in Baotou, Inner Mongolia on ovember 21, 2004, killing all 53 people on board and two on the ground.

Last Saturday, national aviation regulators ordered China Express Airlines to suspend its regional flight operations from September 1 after an incident in which the tip of a wing on its CRJ-200 plane scraped the ground during a landing at Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport.

Death of a regional airline

Ma Xueqian, a 47-year-old airport cleaner in Yichun, has witnessed two of Lindu’s most noteworthy events: the airport’s opening on August 27, 2009, and the plane crash on August 24, 2010“I never imagined this would be how the airport celebrated its first anniversary,” Maaid.

The opening of Lindu airport brought new opportunities to the city, and many residents visited the airport on its opening day to welcome the first passengers from Beijing.

But the crash has marred the airport’s imae.

Sadder than Ma and others who depend on the airport was the one-year-old Henan Airlines, a subsidiary funded by Shenzhen Airlines.

The Henan Administration for Industry and Commerce announced last Friday that it would revoke the disgraced airline’s right to use Henan in its name for having “misled the public and tarnished the province’s imageThe State Council’s probe of the crash is ongoing, and in place of its findings are growig fears over the country’s air travel safety.Henan Airlines was previously known as Kunpeng Airlines. It was re-launched as Henan Airlines this March after its headquarters moved to Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province, in September 2009.

It was founded as a joint operation between Shenzhen Airlines and two overseas companies in 2007.

CEOs wanted for state companies

By Huang Daohen

Nineteen of the country’s biggest state-owned companies are opening up their top management positions to global candidates, according to a recruitment advertisement publised Monday in major newspapers.

The advertisement, placed by the central organization department of the Chinese Communist Party and the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), is the government’ latest effort to raise the competitiveness of its state-owned companies (SOEs).

SASAC is the highest government body under the state council and oversees operations of the country’s 129 biggest state-owned corporation. In a notice, the cabinet agency asked candidates from home and abroad to help SOEs become more efficient and profitable.

State-owned companies have hired overseas executives before, but Monday’s advertisement was the ighest-level recruitment to date.

This time, the government is filling five general manager positions for Dongfeng Motor, China State Construction Engineering, China Travel Service (Hong Kong), State Nuclear Power Technology and Chinatex Corporation, according to the notice.

While many assumed Chinese citizens would be preferred during the recruitment, an officer at the SASAC surnamed Meng who answered the phone Tuesday said the recruitment would be fair and equal.

“Every position has its own criteria. Unless it says otherwise, then everybody can apply, be the Chinese citizens or global candidates,” Meng saidMeng said fluent grasp of a foreign language, overseas work experience and familiarity with the management of large SOEs would be the common criteria for the positions.

Such senior management positions used to be directly appointed by the government. But SOEs have found themselves lagging in overseas expansion. The SASAC has been posting similar recruitment drives since 2003.

Meng said the executives recruited in previous campaigns had won high praise within the enterprises.

SASAC currently employs 123 high-ranking managers.

Other positions offered in Monday’s advertisement included deputy general managers at China National Administration of Coal Geology, China National Gold Group and China uangdong Nuclear Power Holding, and other jobs at China Shipping Group, China Resources and China National Building Material Group.

Loosened yuan bond market – McDonald’s sets benchmark for China with yuan bond sale

McDonald’s Corp’s yuan bond sale, the first by a foreign company in Hong Kong, may pave the way for a new global debt market as China seeks to capitalize on its status as the engine of the world’s economic recovery.

McDonald’s, which opened its first 1,000 restaurants faster in China than in any other country outside the US, sold 200 million yuan of 3 percent notes due in September 2013. Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores, the world’s largest retailer, said in March it was considering selling bonds in yuan.

As the fastest-growing major economy, China changed its rules in February to let foreign companies issue yuan-denominated bonds through Hong Kong to strengthen its position as a financial center and promote the Chinese currency for global commerce.

Yuan bonds issued by Chinese companies have returned 6 percent this year, their best performance since 2005, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch index tracking 1.38 trillion yuan of debt.

“This is going to become a popular trend,” said Donald Straszheim, a Los Angeles-based senior managing director and head of China research at International Strategy & Investment Group. “There are hundreds of global companies wanting to do more business in China and they will want to be involved in the country’s evolving credit market.”

Company proposes 3D bus to beat jams

 

Rendering of the bus on the road

 

By Huang Daohen

To beat increasing traffic congestion and carbon emissions, a Shenzhen company is putting forward a new solution: a vehicle that runs above all others.

Called a “straddling bus,” the futuristic vehicle is extra wide and tall and takes up no road space, as its passenger compartment allows cars to pass underneath, its developer Shenzhen Huashi Future Parking Equipment said.

The bus spans two traffic lanes and runs on solar and electric power generated by panels on its roof. It travels at an average speed of 40 kilometers per hour.

The bus would be green, unaffected by congestion and requires far less to build than a light rail or subway system.

Song Youzhou, president of Huashi and owner of the superbus’ patent, said the project is expected to reduce traffic jams by 25 to 30 percent on major roads. Song, who called the bus the “3D Express,” said the idea came to him when he was stuck in a traffic jam last year.

“Why isn’t there a vehicle on the roads driving over the others? There is so much space above us,” Song said.

Song’s 3D Express debuted at the Beijing International High-Tech Expo in May and gained public attention. Though the project still has a few technical problems to overcome, Song said he received many inquiries from transport officials in several countries.

Beijing will be the first city to test the project. Mentougou District said it plans to start building a 9-kilometer route this year.

“The design is in line with our concept of green transportation and our vision of the future,” said an official surnamed Zhang in the district. “Though we are still waiting on approval from the municipal government, we hope to start construction and operation as soon as possible.”

Zhang said a 100-kilometer route will be put in place across the city if the test is successful.

Huashi said the cost of construction is about 50 million yuan for a 25-mile network. The vehicles will be built by the China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock.

Not everyone is convinced the project is operationally and commercially viable. “The notion of cars proceeding underneath a moving bus sounds crazy. The success of the project is, in large part, dependent on the willingness of drivers to actually drive under the bus,” said Wang Jin, an editor at Auto magazine.

“The one thing you can’t control is other drivers on the road, and they are the biggest risk,” he said.

Court moves to solve foreign investment disputes

By Zhao Hongyi

On August 16, the China Supreme People’s Court issued new regulations on foreign investment disputes to frame a basis for the settlement of cases involving foreign investments companies.

Identify and solve disputes

“This document is a first draft of the first part of the regulations,” said Sun Jungong, a spokesman for the Supreme Court. “More regulations will be written as we mediate disputes.”

He said he hopes the regulations give local courts standard measures to use when settling the disputes – ones which will benefit all parties.

The regulations focus on conflicts involving foreign limited liability companies, including the effectiveness and legal consequences of equity transfer and anonymous investment.

In equity transfer cases, many investors use the time gaps between signing contracts and official approval for their own benefit. “The rules provide standard punishment for dishonest behavior,” said Liu Guixiang, a Supreme Court judge.

The new rules also specify various conditions for anonymous investment and nullify contracts where investors violate regulations or attempt to escape legal responsibility.

“Conflicts involving share transfer, anonymous investment and liquidation have seen a sharp increase, and the legal problems resulting from these cases can be extremely complicated,” the court said in a statement.

More A380 flights serving China travelers

 

By Huang Daohen

Passengers will be seeing more of the world’s biggest aircraft this year as international airlines grab more of China’s international market with regular flights abroad on Airbus’ A380 superjumbo.

 

German airline Lufthansa will be the first European airline to offer A380 services from Frankfurt-Beijing starting August 25, Lufthansa’s Beijing office said.

 

But before the A380 lands in Beijing, Lufthansa is offering Chinese passengers an opportunity to try their hand at flying a simulated superjumbo, said Arved von zur Muhlen, managing director for Lufthansa China.

 

The company has placed a high-tech simulator at city hotspots like Yansha Mall, 3.3 Sanlitun, 798 Art Zone, Wangfujing Shopping Street and Solana Lifestyle Shopping Park, Muhlen said.

 

The simulators will be around until September 4, and visitors will have a chance to win a free ticket on the A380’s maiden flight to Frankfurt.

 

Lufthansa said the flight will depart three times per week on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays. A380 flights are already open for booking, Muhlen said.

 

But the German airline was not the first international carrier to bring the A380 to China. Emirates, the Dubai-based international airline and largest buyer of A380s, said in March that it would deploy the superjumbo on its daily flight to China starting August 1.

 

International airlines have depended heavily on the Chinese market for recovery, a Xinhua business critic said.

 

AirPlus International, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, said the company hopes to accelerate growth in China to offset losses suffered during the global economic downturn.

 

Expansion in China is a strategic priority, AirPlus president Patrick Diemer said. The company’s objective for 2010 is to regain the 65 percent settlement volume it lost during the recession.

 

Domestic carriers are also planning superjumbo flights, with China Southern Airlines – the nation’s largest airline by fleet size – having ordered five from Airbus.

 

China Southern Airlines will receive the aircraft in late 2011.

Foreign companies less popular – Grads pick state-owned employers

Alibaba chief executive officer Jack Ma speaks during a job fair in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. Many graduates cite Ma as their inspiration for joining Alibaba. IC Photo

By Zhao Hongyi

State enterprises have overtaken foreign and private enterprises as the top destination for job-seeking graduates this year, according to the 2010 annual survey of 200,000 students conducted by ChinaHR.com.

Among the Top 10 employers named, eight were state-owned. Foreign companies made up 21 of the 50 best employers in last year’s poll.

Some 34 percent surveyed choose state enterprises, 23 percent preferred foreign enterprises and 18 percent choose joint ventures.

Many students had gloomy expectations for private employers or jobs with NGOs. Only a quarter of the surveyed students chose these employers.

“The number of students choosing state enterprises has been increasing over the years from 17.9 percent in 2007 to 23.1 percent and 34.1 percent this year,” Ouyang Hui, researching director of ChinaHR.com, said.

“The number choosing foreign enterprises, joint ventures and private enterprises has been dropping,” he said.

The reason is the stable employment state enterprises provide, and their full coverage of welfare, he said. With the world economy still in turmoil, other enterprises are downsizing their recruitment plans and cutting jobs.

“State-owned enterprises are forming standard management and recruitment systems, improving their market performance and revenue, and that means there may be a chance for big salary increases down the road,” Ouyang said.

That access to new talent has enabled Chinese enterprises to explore the world market, according to a report by Wall Street Journal. The Shenzhen-based Huawei is playing an increasingly large part in the world telecommunication industry due in part to access to new local talent, the report said.

Yang Sulin, an engineering graduate, stayed at a foreign company for nine months before shifting to a job at the state-owned China Aviation Procurement.

“The competition in foreign companies is fierce and changes are frequent,” Yang said. “You don’t know what will happen tomorrow or the next year.”

Yang was laid off when his company downsized its China business.

“State enterprises are more reliable and stable even though workloads are increasing,” he said, “but I enjoy all the welfares and like the job experience.”

Of students polled, only 55 percent said they would look for a job – 89 percent planned to look for a job last year. Only 1.8 percent said they would study abroad.

“The percentage of students choosing work as the first option has been increasing since 2003 and the number choosing to continue their education either at home or abroad has been decreasing,” according to Ouyang. “This tells us that students are becoming more rational in their approach to higher education overseas.”

Facing a tough job market, students are desperate for work. In 2003, 15 percent planned to start a business, but only 1.4 percent intended to this year despite government appeals to the contrary and generous subsidies for start-ups.

Hotel Duxiana comes to hutong

By Zhang Dongya

Swedish hotel Duxiana, a branch of Swedish bed-producer Dux, opened its first Beijing location in Shijia Hutong, Dongcheng District last Sunday.

“Dux beds have won the support of Shanghai and Beijing’s elite, which has given us confidence that this arm of our brand will succeed here,” said Kong Tao, the general manager of Dux in China.

Duxiana has 40 rooms in Beijing, each equipped with a Dux bed. The cost of a suite ranges from 1,880 to 3,980 yuan.

“Most hotels pay attention to the customers’ visual enjoyment, but Duxiana values comfort the most. We use Dux beds so all visitors can experience the quality of our finest product,” Kong said.

Duxiana has a franchise to sell Dux beds. Lodgers who are satisfied with the beds can buy one directly at a preferential price.

The hutong location was selected to give the hotel a closer connection to Chinese culture. Its design is inspired by the traditional courtyard, and all furniture and decorations adhere to Chinese style.

Dux beds are owned by many international celebrities including David Beckham and Madonna, and now are a top choice for China’s rich. The most popular model in China is the Dux 8888, which costs 156,000 yuan.

Founded by the Ljung family in Sweden in 1926, Dux specializes in upholstered furniture and beddings. Its beds feature spring coils made from Swedish steel, which is flexible and allows the bed to adapt to the user’s body shape.

Duxiana is used as the brand’s special shop, and its first location outside Sweden was opened in Shanghai in 2005.

The bed giant has eight hotel stores on the mainland, including several locations in Beijing, Hangzhou, Kunming and Shenzhen.

Investment environment going worse?

Many Western media have grumbled about the alleged deterioration of China’s investment environment. They say discrimination toward foreign investors is growing, and foreign enterprises are having a hard time staying in business.

But entrepreneurs and economists from around the world are divided on whether this deterioration is real.

Take complaints seriously

Jason Ding, vice president, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants (Greater China)

In the 2010 Business Confidence Report conducted for the European Chamber of Commerce in China, we found 48 percent of interviewees said local trade protection and a dislike of foreign investment were the top non-market risks. This was at a time when most people worried about the global economy, Chinese economy, competitiveness and rising labor costs.

Thirty-nine percent of our interviewees said they were troubled by how unevenly the government applies its laws and regulations. They also complained about overly complex registration guidelines, intellectual property protection and obtaining visas and procedures for working permits.

We should be cautious with these complaints. Managing leaders usually do not raise such concerns arbitrarily. These complaints are not a “conspiracy” to break China – I believe these worries are their true feelings. It shows they are targeting long-term business strategies and expecting our system to improve: they are not in it for short-term profits.

Opening up is a policy to which China has been committed for three decades. Its investment environment has been improving over the years, especially in business law and intellectual property protection.

All these seemed to be going well during the first half of this year when the central government released its document stating how it would further improve its use of foreign capital.

The Guidelines for Foreign Investment published by the Ministry of Commerce have been revised four times since they were first published in the early 1980s. Each step has further opened investment sectors. China has opened nearly 100 of the sectors listed by the World Trade Organization – far more than the average of 54 sectors seen in most developing countries.

In 1998, the central government banned all direct-sales businesses. But considering the big domestic direct selling giants and foreign players, it lifted the ban only a few years later.