I just read an incredible interview of Gao Xiqing (高西庆) by James Fallows in the Atlantic entitled “Be Nice To The Countries That Lend You Money“.  Gao is the President of China Investment Corporation, the sovereign wealth fund of China. Read this article. Here are some of my notes: Dollar strength is purely a temporary thing because foreign lenders need dollars to pay back their creditors.  But the dollar is going down long term. We are in a new era of deleveraging where we can’t support the same leverage levels.  This is a fundamental and permanent change.

I first came across the character 囧 (jiǒng / jiong3) on chinaSMACK and proudly sported a chinaSMACK t-shirt in Hong Kong to impress my friends and relatives with how “with-it” I was.  Here’s chinaSMACK’s definition: A popular Chinese character/pictogram often used on the Chinese-language internet to express being shocked, amused, or stupefied. Possibly originated from Taiwan, and similar to “Orz” which looks like a person kneeling/bowing. Before we continue, a quick confession if I may.  I furtively include ChinaSMACK in my Google Reader, and enjoy…

Social media, and the blogosphere, are playing a historic role in the transformation of China. Because mainstream media in China continues to be regulated and controlled, social media will step in to play the role that free press has played in the positive (and mostly stable) development of Western liberal democracies.  China’s ruling party did not choose social media, but China’s people did.  And now, social media promises to play a big part in the progressive development of the country. I read John Kennedy’s excellent reflections on this year’s CNBloggerCon and…

CNBloggerCon 2008.  I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard covering an event before as a blogger.  In addition to dealing with the logistics of the visiting China 2.0 bloggers and Robert Scoble, and coordinating our liveblogging efforts, I also took photos like a paparazzi.  My 280-photo CNBloggerCon 2008 Set is at my Flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elliottng/ and is all licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike license (by-nc-sa) so feel free to reuse. I earlier posted CNBloggerCon Pictures Part 1 and CNBloggerCon Pictures Part 2…

Thanks to Bill Bishop (see below), I read Brad Setser’s post entitled “If you only read one thing on China this fall” praising the World Bank China Quarterly report by David Dollar and Louis Kuijs.  In fact, there is a online Q&A with the authors  in a live online discussion on December 1, 2008 at 8am EST, which is 13:00 GMT/UTC and 9pm in Beijing. More information here. I’ll follow Setser’s lead and not try to summarize the 23 page report.  But here are my quick takeaways: Export - Slowing growth has so far affected different segments at different…

High School Library, ISB Misspending my virtual youth 0928 hrs. Lonnie Hodge, who I would fairly say is something of a fan of Baidu, takes the search company's CEO Robin Li to task over his failure to show up to do his keynote at last month's ad:tech confab in Shanghai, ostensibly for a "sore throat." Most of the attendees to whom I spoke shared varying degrees of pique that Li didn't show up, and Hodge in particular sees this as emblematic of Baidu's disdain for Cluetrain-style engagement: Baidu, or any company, would do well to join the party (not that one...)…

In the Hutong Scoffing at pessimism 1952 hrs. Richard over at AsiaBizBlog (just blogrolled - not sure what took me so long) is less than impressed with the idea that the FDA will open an office in China. He believes, not without justification, that the office will be a non-factor in the effort to improve the quality of China's exports of non-farm foods, medicines, and medical devices. Watching the Watchers I tend to agree. Unless the FDA is prepared to seriously staff-up its efforts, even getting deep access to factories (by no means a given, as Richard points out) will not be enough to…

In the Hutong There's something about a high-fiber snack... 16:23 hrs. In the flurry of news about plans to reform land use in China, much of the coverages focuses on the new potential for Chinese farmers to either pay to farm the land of others, or to indeed expand their own plots by renting more land, thus building scale and offering the greater potential for profit. I think a lot of people noted this, and after checking to ensure that neither Monsanto, John Deere, nor DuPont was in their stock portfolio, dutifully forgot it. There is, however, more to this story. Not Your…

In the Hutong No place else I'd rather be 1158 hrs. Covering this year's Zhuhai Air Show, The Economist takes a look at China's first domestically-produced jetliner, the AVIC1 Commercial Aircraft Corporation's ARJ-21, and on the eve of the regional jet's maiden test flight takes a moment to consider its commercial prospects. Their verdict: don't count China out. Many foreign analysts doubt that Western airlines will ever be prepared to buy Chinese aircraft. But, as in other fields, China is playing a long game. Much of the debate about the ARJ-21 thus far has…

In the Hutong Using music to tame The Beast 1145 hrs. AdAgeChina.com just posted my Viewpoint article on Obama and public diplomacy. My core point: If Obama is to keep his hard choices from backfiring with China, he must make his case to both the Chinese government and the Chinese people. And make no mistake, Obama will need China. One only need look at the issues the new president will face to see how important the help of the PRC will be to his success. At the very least, China will be essential in forging a global energy and environmental regime, bringing security to Central Asia, ensuring…