The Chinese government is working on specific regulations for collecting royalties from television, radio stations for using music works, a senior official said in Beijing over the week.However, it has not been decided when the regulations will be publicized, Liu Binjie, director of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) and the National Copyright Administration (NCA), was quoted as saying.The Chinese government's efforts in combating piracy and protecting intellectual property rights (IPR) have resulted in more shops and restaurants signing up to pay royalties on the ubiquitous background music that had long been used for free.Background music played at department stores or hotels -- also called "muzak"-- received legal protection in China in 2001 under revisions to the Copyright Law. The law states that both live and mechanical performances enjoy the same rights. Up to now, most big hotels, department stores and supermarkets in Beijing and Shanghai have paid fees to the Music Copyright Society of China (MCSC) for using the songs under their administration, according to sources.And Karaoke bars in China's main cities were made to pay 12 yuan (US.50) a day in royalties to music artists for each room, according to a regulation set by China's National Copyright Administration late last year.However, most television and radio stations in China are still using music works without paying any royalties.The Music Copyright Society of China is now negotiating with television and radio stations on copyright fee payments, China Press and Publishing Journal reported.The Music Copyright Society of China is the country's only officially recognized organization for music copyright administration.The association has now administered copyrights for over 14 million music works by 4,000 members.Public venues including hotels, restaurants and department stores are charged with different standards by the society. The usual fee is 2.54 yuan (US.9) per square meter per year for a department store of 10,000 to 20,000 square meters to use the music, the society said.
BEIJING -- China and Japan will start the seventh round of talks on the East China Sea issues in Tokyo, Japan on Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang Tuesday told a regular press conference. Director of Chinese Foreign Ministry Department of Asian Affairs Hu Zhengyue and head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Kenichiro Sasae will attend the talks as top negotiators, according to Qin. China and Japan were divided by the issue of the demarcation of the continental shelf of the East China Sea. Qin said China insisted on shelving the disputes and engaging in joint development, and hoped that related issue would be properly solved through negotiation. "We expect to make in-depth and full discussion with Japan during the upcoming seventh round of talks," the spokesman noted.
XI'AN -- A fire burnt up trees and shrubs on a mountain that shrouds one of the most famed imperial mausoleums in the ancient city of Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, but no damage was caused to the cultural relics, local museum officials said on Sunday.The fire broke out around 2:00 p.m. Saturday on the western part of a mountain that encased the tombs of a powerful Chinese empress Wu Zetian and her husband Gaozong in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The Qianling Mausoleum, as the tombs are called, reportedly houses the most precious possessions of the two rulers, including paintings, ceramics, calligraphy works and jewelry articles.The fire was fanned up by sandstorms which struck the area on Saturday, said Fan Yingfeng, curator of the Qianling Museum.More than 100 local villagers and 15 fire-fighters managed to put out the fire around 3:10 p.m. on Saturday. About 30 trees and a few shrubs were lost to the blaze.Initial investigation showed the fire was caused by a deserted cigarette end in the dry grasses."Although the fire didn't cause any major damage, it reflected an urgent need to educate residents in neighboring villages to guard against fire risks," Fan said.He said lessons should be learnt from the destruction of a 600-year-old Namdaemun gate in Seoul, one of the most treasured landmarks in the Republic of Korea. The two-tiered gate was set ablaze by a man upset over a land dispute.
The country's trade surplus last month continued its downward trend, with efforts to curb exports paying off and imports rising, authorities said on Friday.Figures from customs authorities showed the trade surplus last month was .49 billion, below December's .7 billion and the record high of .1 billion set in October last year."For the first time since May, the trade surplus is under billion," customs said on its website.Exports rose 26.7 percent from a year earlier to 9.66 billion, while imports rose 27.6 percent to .17 billion, the government agency said. Import growth outpaced exports for the fourth month in a row.Experts said the surplus dropped due to policies put in place last year to curb exports. The authorities had introduced a raft of policies since early last year, including VAT cuts, to discourage exports of energy-intensive, polluting products."China's policies to encourage imports and cut the trade surplus are also helping a lot," Zhang Xinfa, an economist with Beijing-based China Galaxy Securities, said.As a result of the tightening policy, the processing trade last month was .85 billion, up 15.8 percent year on year. But the growth rate slowed by 9.9 points compared with the same period last year.The appreciation of the yuan also played a role in curbing exports."Many exporters are facing difficulties due to rising costs and the yuan's appreciation, and export momentum will ease in the coming months," Li Yushi, a researcher on trade with the Ministry of Commerce, said.According to Li Peng, spokesman for Asia Footwear Association, more than 1,000 shoe factories in Guangdong province closed down last year.The firms went bankrupt due to high costs driven by the removal of an export tax refund, a stronger yuan, rising raw material prices and labor costs, Li said.The stronger yuan also makes imports cheaper, which is one reason behind the strength seen in Friday's data, Zhang said.The European Union remained as China's largest trade partner last month, with bilateral trade of .28 billion, up 30.1 percent year on year.The EU was followed by the United States. Trade between China and the US last month increased by 12.2 percent year on year to .23 billion, despite looming recession in the US economy.China's trade surplus last year stood at 2.2 billion, with total trade volume hitting a new high of .17 trillion, up 23.5 percent from a year earlier.
The government will get tough on those involved in illegal activities and speculation to cool the country's booming property market, a leading construction official said Thursday."We are in the middle of a campaign to regulate the property market and will crack down hard on anyone engaged in illegitimate activities such as stockpiling land and bidding up prices," Qi Ji, vice-minister of construction said at a press conference."We will expose and punish unscrupulous developers and do everything we can to prevent price hikes driven by non-market factors," he said.Qi said the government will also introduce differentiated tax and credit policies to deter people from buying property for investment purposes and control the demand for large apartments.Citing Beijing as an example, Qi said one of the key factors behind the skyrocketing prices was the influx of buyers from outside the city."Figures show more than a third of the commodity houses in Beijing were bought by people from outside the city," he said.And the figure is more than 50 percent for high-end properties in central areas, he said.The situation has led to an imbalance between supply and demand in these areas and prices are soaring, Qi said.House prices in the capital showed a year-on-year increase of 11.6 percent last month, the highest this year.Qi said governments must put greater emphasis on the development of low and middle-priced housing and small to medium-sized apartments to stabilize housing prices.In an effort to help ease the housing problems of low-income families in urban areas, the State Council recently rolled out a series of policies including the establishment of a low-rent system, the construction of more affordable homes and a large-scale program to renovate shantytowns.Qi said 10 million low-income families nationwide have housing problems, most concerning a lack of living space of less than 10 sq m per person."They cannot afford houses on the open market, which is why governments must help them," he said.
Another two closed-end stock funds have received official approval from China's securities regulator, Xinhua learned from a company source here on Friday. The China Nature Asset Management Co. Ltd's Tianzhi Fund and the Dongwu Fund run by Soochow Asset Management Co., Ltd received regulatory approval from the State Securities Regulatory Commission Friday. The Tianzhi stock fund will open through China Communication Bank, China Construction Bank, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Industrial Bank Co., Ltd, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, CITIC Bank, Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd, and with big brokers. The Dongwu fund is to be issued by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank, the Postal Savings Bank, Huaxia Bank and qualified individual brokers. Both companies declined to say how much they expected to reap from the listing. Four stock funds launched by Bank of China Investment Management Co., Ltd. and AXA SPDB Investment Managers, CCB Principal Asset Management Co. and China Southern Fund Management Co., respectively, received official approval in the first half of February. Of the four, CCB Principal Asset Management's Jianxin Fund and the Nanfangshengyuan Fund run by China Southern Fund Management Co. made their debut on Feb. 18. Market analysts said the launch of these funds was expected to bring a new round of fresh capital into the sliding stock market. China's securities watchdog suspended the launch of new funds late last year in reaction to the surging domestic stock market. The Shanghai Composite Index nearly doubled last year.
扬州怎么快速除去眼袋
NEW YORK - The overheating of the Chinese stock market is a structural problem that will be resolved by developing more financial products and cracking down on illegal activities, a Chinese securities regulatory official said Thursday. Hu Bing, deputy director-general of the market supervision department at the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said at a conference in New York that authorities are seeking to roll out more products to broaden investors' options, such as real estate investment trusts, or REITs, as well as listed infrastructure funds. Other eventual offerings will include derivatives products such as stock-index futures and warrants. These products will be launched "when conditions are ready," Hu said at a China Investment Forum sponsored by Merrill Lynch and Institutional Investor. He said he couldn't provide a clearer timeline for when those products would be ready. Hu acknowledged a "liquidity surplus problem" that is contributing to the overheating of the Chinese stock market and noted that hot-money inflows coming in through illegal channels are exacerbating the problem. Tackling the liquidity issue is a long-term project that "cannot be resolved just by (raising) the interest rate," Hu said. "So the structural problem has to be resolved using structural measures." Earlier this week, the Chinese government tripled its stamp tax on stock trades in an effort to rein in the equity market. The Shanghai Composite Index more than doubled in 2006 and is still up around 50 percent so far in 2007. Hu said China's capital markets are still young and face a "golden opportunity" to develop their depth and breadth. The majority of individual investors rely on rumors or inside information to make their decisions, leading to speculative gains in stocks, he said. Hu said authorities are stepping up efforts to crack down on insider trading, "but because this is a transitioning society in an emerging market, it will take a long time."
Migrant workers who were previously farmers will get the same labor rights as their counterparts from towns and cities starting next year, under a new regulation by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MLSS)."No discriminatory restrictions should be set against the rural laborers entering cities for employment," the Employment Services and Employment Management Regulation issued on Wednesday stated.Under the regulation, all laborers cannot be discriminated because of ethnicity, race, gender, and religious belief when seeking employment.Farmers-turned-laborers or those without local household registration can also register for unemployment at local public labor service agencies if they have worked in a place for half a year and more.Employment units should go to local public service agencies to register laborers or terminate their contracts."The provisions reflect tremendous progress in the country's labor policies," Mo Rong, the vice-president of the labor science research institute under the MLSS, told China Daily.Mo said policies toward laborers from rural areas have been changing with the times - in the early 1980s, they were forbidden to migrate to cities, but this restriction was later lifted with the provision that the laborers brought their own "grain tickets" in the face of a grain shortage.Since the 90s, the laborers have moved freely between rural and urban areas under the regulations of respective cities. The first great wave of migrants heading to cities occurred in 1992."They could finally 'float' between rural regions and cities without policy limitations after 2000," Mo said, referring to the country's policy improvements in the area."Laborers from rural areas will now be able to enjoy many free employment services in the cities with the new regulations," Mo added."These are possible under the auspices of a good amount of government subsidies."With the new regulation, employers are now forbidden to refuse women work except when such jobs are stated as unsuitable as stipulated by the State."When an employing unit recruits female workers, it shall not stipulate in the labor contract any content which restricts female workers from getting married or having child," said the ministry.Those suffering from infectious diseases are now also protected from discrimination.In particular, laborers cannot be denied work based on Hepatitis-B tests unless the job already prohibits carriers of the disease according to laws, administrative rules and regulations set by the administrative department of health under the State Council.Such employment units can be fined as much as 1,000 yuan (5) along with other compensation liabilities.
China's State-owned Sinochem Corporation, one of the world's top 500 companies, had profits of more than eight billion yuan (US.1 billion) in 2007, up 95 percent over the previous year, the firm said on its web site.The Beijing-headquartered company didn't elaborate on these figures. Preliminary estimates showed that revenue topped 200 billion yuan, up 19 percent. Total assets exceeded 100 billion yuan. Sinochem, which began as a trading company in 1998, is involved in a range of businesses including agriculture, energy, chemicals, finance and real estate.Sinochem International, one of its subsidiaries, said last month that it would buy part of the business of Monsanto Company, a US-based agricultural company.Under the terms of the agreement, Sinochem will purchase the assets related to Monsanto's pesticide business and certain other assets in China's Taiwan Province and countries including the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The country's campaign to improve product quality and food safety has yielded very good results, Vice-Premier Wu Yi said in Weifang, Shandong Province, October 26, 2007. [Newsphoto]Weifang - The country's campaign to improve product quality and food safety has yielded very good results, Vice-Premier Wu Yi said on Friday.Despite that she urged: "We have to win this special war against poor product quality and supervision, enabling our people to eat without fear."Wu said the government has raised its investment in agriculture, especially in pesticide supervision and fertilizers management and to prevent fake products from entering the sector.Besides, authorities will strengthen supervision and inspection on vegetables and other food products in major cities, bringing all wholesale markets within the authorities' monitoring system.Officials are already monitoring all wholesale markets for agricultural products in 676 medium- and large-sized cities, Minister of Agriculture Sun Zhengcai said.Latest data suggest 94 percent vegetables and 95 percent aquatic products in cities have pesticide residue below the danger level.Also, more than 97.4 per cent of the pigs are slaughtered in registered abattoirs. The authorities closed down 602 illegal and 4,051 slaughterhouses in the first half of this year alone.Concerns over Chinese products safety prompted the government to formed a cabinet-level panel on food safety and quality control under the vice-premier in August.Eight categories of products are under the panel's scanner, including pork, drugs, agricultural products, processed food, toys and electric wires. The "special war" is aimed at improving product quality in four months.At a meeting in Weifang, Shandong Province, Wu lauded the province's advanced practice in product quality and food security management."Shandong's experience in standardized plantation of vegetables, aquatic products and some other agricultural products has been proved effective and worth promoting nationwide," Wu said.It brings irrigation and the condition of cultivable areas, particularly where chemicals are used, under a quality control system, which will be overseen by local officials, Shandong Governor Jiang Daming said.The province has taken the lead in the country to set up internationally recognized systems of quality standards, quality testing, attestation and supervision, securing a high standard of food quality from every link of production, processing and transportation.And more than 400,000 people in the province have attended into food safety education training sessions since August.