Gwynn Guilford

Update: In the latest gaffe by Japanese deputy prime minister Taro Aso, he advocated using the Nazi party’s tactics to amend Japan’s pacifist constitution during a speech to an ultra-nationalist group: “I don’t want to see this done in the midst of an uproar … Doing it quietly, just as in one day the Weimar constitution changed to the Nazi constitution, without anyone realizing it, why don’t we learn from that sort of tactic?”

Last Friday (July 26), New York state governor Andrew Cuomo signed a law banning the trade, consumption or possession of shark fins. New York’s not the first state; Maryland, California, Delaware, Illinois, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii have already enacted similar bans. And while a Texas recently bill failed, one is currently in the works in Massachusetts.

For decades, China’s economic development model emphasized cheap industrial growth at all costs. Those costs are now becoming apparent, at least in terms of the human toll from water and air pollution. But the consequences of soil pollution, which the government deems a “state secret,” have been less clear.

There was more news out of the euro zone that things are finally stabilizing: some 24,000 fewer people were out of work in June, compared with May, according to Eurostat (pdf).

In the last month or so, Chinese authorities have smacked down foreign makers of infant formula, fancy cars and cabernets. But if you think they might be getting exhausted, think again. The government-owned China Film Group (CFG) owes a minimum of $143 million to American studios, as The Hollywood Reporter details, and it’s refusing to cough it up until the studios agrees to a smaller box office cut.

The heatwave that settled over China for more than a month now is proving unrelenting, breaking 104 °F (40 °C) in more than 40 cities this month. Temperatures are projected to climb to almost 106 °F along the eastern seaboard and in Xinjiang over the next few days. Here’s how things currently look across the country, via IT Times (registration required):

A month ago China’s president, Xi Jinping, said that local government officials will no longer be promoted solely on the basis of how fast they make the economy grow. But it’s evidently a little too soon for the new regimen to have filtered into economic results.  For the first half of this year, the GDP reported by local governments added up to a total of 28.0 trillion yuan, or $4.57 trillion, estimates Caixin, one of China’s leading economic magazines. The central government’s GDP figure was only $4.04 trillion.

Both Vietnam and China claim the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. That’s why China’s building an army garrison there. But when it comes to making a mark on the territory, China’s tourists might be more aggressive than its army.

This article has been corrected.

Construction on Sky City officially kicked off last weekend in Changsha, capital of Hunan province. Broad Group, which is building Sky City, is shooting for an April 2014 completion. By May or June, the 30,000 people it plans to accommodate (pdf) can start moving in. That also means that in the time it takes to gestate a human baby, Broad will finish a structure that hits 2,750 ft (838 meters)—ten meters higher than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s current tallest building.

Orders for Taiwanese exports flopped unexpected in June, falling 3.5% on the same month last year, the fifth straight month of declines. That slowdown appears to be dragging industrial production down with it; last month, that metric fell 0.4% on the previous year, upsetting expectations for a 2.8% rise. Here’s a look at export orders:

The Chinese government’s official broadcast media says that ice cubes served in KFC were 12 times dirtier than toilet water—and 19 times the national bacteria level standard.

China’s foreign exchange balance fell 41 billion yuan ($6.7 billion) in June, putting the country’s overall holding of foreign exchange at 27.4 trillion yuan. That’s the latest sign that the new rules on foreign trade invoicing continue to block speculative inflows of cash. Though it’s too early to tell for certain, the data may also suggest that capital is seeping out of China, possibly due to bets that the yuan will weaken or growing concerns about economy’s state. The 41-billion-yuan decline was the first in seven months, and compares with a net increase of foreign exchange holdings of 66.9 billion yuan in May and 227.5 billion yuan in April.  Here’s a look at how that position has varied over the last couple of years:

Prime minister Shinzo Abe’s coalition won at least 76 of 121 contested seats in elections for Japan’s upper house of parliament, based on early voting results. The coalition—comprised of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its smaller ally, New Komeito—will now control both houses of parliament for the first time since 2007.

When temperatures in the southern megacity of Shenzhen hover around 90 degrees this time of year, people head to outdoor swimming pools in droves. But they might want to consider a drier way to cool off. Recent tests by Shenzhen authorities found that 14 out of 140 pools had overly high levels of bacteria, chlorine and urine.

Stodgy central banks aren’t generally known for making sudden, mind-blowing moves—especially those that are directly controlled by their country’s government.

Between December of 2012 and June of 2013, 26 million people—about the population of Nepal—started using the internet on a regular basis in China, according to China Internet Network Information Center’s latest semi-annual report (pdf). That brings China’s total internet-using population to 564 million. And for the last few years, that number’s been rising at a rate of more than 9% each year. 

On July 17, a Chinese journalist blew the whistle on the chairman of one of China’s most powerful state-owned enterprises, China Resources, alleging that he had lost shareholders billions of dollars by deliberately overpaying for the 2010 acquisition of Shanxi Jinye Coal. The reporter, Wang Wenzhi, works for Economic Information Daily, which is owned by state-run Xinhua, so it’s no wonder he took to Sina Weibo to publish his views.

This item has been updated.

This post has been updated.

There’s a fun game that happens at the beginning of each quarter: figuring out what China’s GDP growth really is. Let’s kick off a round of that with what China’s GDP growth rate would look like if it used the international standard for measuring its growth.  

As China’s richest man, Zong Qinghou probably knows a thing or two about wealth. Poverty, however…

The 7.5% GDP growth China reported on Monday was no surprise. Roughly in line with the government’s target growth rate for 7.5% in 2013, it was also consistent with the government’s message of late that it would prioritize structural reform over growth.

The European Union, the world’s biggest seafood market, is having to choose between cheap illegal fish and happy local fisherman.