Why do Chinese banks, swimming in savings, invest in U.S. Treasury bills when rates of return are far higher at home? The answer may lie in disparity among Chinese firms in productivity and access to credit

By Douglas Clement, Editor, The Region

In recent decades, few phenomena have been as globally significant as China’s astonishing economic transformation. Over a matter of years, it has transitioned from a poor nation dominated by small farmers and enormous, plodding state-owned enterprises into a dynamic economy where private companies shape international markets and annual GDP growth surges past expectations. As this is written, economists predict that China will soon eclipse Japan as the world’s second-largest economy, and it is arguably only a matter of time before the United States, too, places second.

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By Sophie Liu-Othmer
       
It was dark with only a few distant stars in the sky.  Shadows of mountains protruded into the sky like menacing ghosts.  My father was pulling our wooden cart.  I could hear my father’s breath in front and his feet stumping through the mud.  The wooden axle on the two wheels made a sharp squeak, like an excited mouse.
 
Mommy murmured from under thick covers, “Darling, move closer to me.”

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Minnesota export trends turned around in the first quarter of 2010, gaining 17 percent from the same period a year ago – the first year-over-year quarterly increase since the third quarter of 2008. The state exported US$3.9 billion in manufactured exports in the first quarter of 2010, representing a gain of US$569 million from the first quarter of 2009.

Minnesota's exports grew slightly less than U.S. manufactured exports, which gained 20 percent during the same period.

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Op/Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis

Aug. 23 – For many years now, as I’ve traveled China on business, I’ve been skeptical of the GDP growth figures. From Shenzhen to Changchun and from Wuhan to Kashgar, via Chongqing, buildings have been going up, rather like mushrooms after a rain storm, as signs of the new prosperity and growth of China.

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By Liu Wei, China Daily

Opening the Chinese movie market will benefit both China and the United States, a top U.S. film industry leader says.

Robert Pisano, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, told China Daily that discussions are ongoing between the Chinese and U.S. government on whether to further expand the fastest growing film market in the world.

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Loudi student: Li Yang
Interviewer: Fartun Abukar

Li Yang was born in May 24, 1994. She is 16 years old. Her American name is Betty. She is the only child in her family and she feels special about that because her parents can put their full love on her. Sometimes she feels like she needs a brother but Li Yang says, “it’s OK”.  She has been in the United States for three days only. Her school gave her and other Chinese students the opportunity to come to America. It is an Educational Exchange. They are going to be in the United States for only 15 days. After that they will go back to China. After nine days in Minnesota, they are going to New York, Washington and Boston. They are nine students and three teachers. 

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