Bitcoins in China: the end of a love story ?

The Chinese central bank has issued a warning about bitcoins. According to the Chinese authorities, the bitcoin has no real meaning and no legal protection.

This is a news that come at the moment when bitcoins seem to be successful: for example, a restaurant in Beijing is accepting bitcoins as a way to payb the bill. This is possible, the Chinese central bank has not banned bitcoins, it said that people can use them as long as they are aware of the risk they take.

Avoid money laundering and any other illegal use. What is illegal remains illegal, this is not great news...

Still, there is a lot of bitcoins flowing into China the last few months, this is the reason why the central bank has made this warning.

In the meantime, China Telecom made an offer where users can buy phones using bitcoins while Baidu make it possible to buy its firewal

l using bitcoins.

In China, there are some specific risks, people escape financial controls when they move money overseas. But bitcoins are not regulated: people buy bitcoins with RMB, and then they buy US dollars. It is a way to avoid the rules about currencies in China;

The warning has had effects: since it occured, the value of the bitcoin fell 25% within 2 days. This shows how it is related to China.

The Chinese central bank is not alone. The Netherlands central bank saif that the bitcoin trend even worse than the tulip bubble that occured in Holland three centuries ago, because at the end people at least had a tulip when with bitcoins they will have nothing.

There is no bitcoin central bank, nobody is held liable. Is it a bubble ?

12 millions of bitcoins are available, what is their value. The thing is that the bicoins issuing algorithm is rather cautious, new bitcoins are rare. Bitcoins can be the future of money, or they can be nothing. What is money ? Can you buy an apartment in China with bitcoins ? So far, it is impossible, so maybe bitcoins have no value at all...

Tuhao, let's be friends

The language is evolving. This is true about Chinese language and true as well abut English language.

So, do you now what a Tuhao is ?

It is a word that has become very popuar recently in Chinese language. You can write like this : 土豪. And actually, it is not a new world, it is a quite ancient one. Used at firts to describe some low level nobility, it became at the beginning of the century a world to descrite a king of lang tyrant and then almost disapeared in order to come back now with a new usage.

The word is still pejorative, it describes someone that has mede a quick fortune in the contemporary China. And there is quite a few with the economic boom of the lats decades. They have very bling taste, buy expensive products without thinking aboud good taste or anything ike that. It is about showing off.

If you look at the two character, it refers to the land, dust, earth. The second one is a knight.

So, if you ade a fortune recently and love to display your money, you are a Tuhao. On Weibo and Weixin, the Chine equivalents of twitter, there have been tons of jokes about Tuhaos. A lot of them have revolved around the new iphone with a golden color which seems to have become a symbol of Tuhaoism... There has been at least a million Tuhaomessages in the three last month, thats quite a few. The trend is so strong that an english dicionnary, the Oxford English dictionnary, is thinking about including it in its next edition, saying that it is reminiscent of another word that apeared recently in English : bling.. So will there be a new wrd in English in 2014 derivateing from Chinese. This is under study but seems likely.

The basic sentence about Tuhao on the Chinese web is : Tuhao, let's be friends. It is the meaning of the word that has two connotations : money is important, so it's good to have Tuhao friends. Sarcasm and atrraction at the same time. People desipese them but people are jealous of them. There is many new words appearing in the English language and the pace of creation of new words is always going faster, and the word in Chinese has an irony attached to it which is lost in traslation. A Tuhao is something else than a nouveau riche.

Chinese people are very creative on the interne. Tarditional Changyu, these classical sentences used as mottos to describe all kinds of situations are very ppular in China and gain new lives when they are used in new contexts. Chinese people loves to create new words and Tuhao is a good example.

Another thing, this word is the proof of a deep change in Chinese society, when ou criticize tose bling people who have no taste, it means that the luxury image in China becomes more mature.

Sources :

Beijing Relocation

Shanghai Daily

China Daily

Marketing Buzzz

Importants annoucements from the Chinese government : liberalization of the economy to come soon

This might be a really important date in the history of China, following the experiment in Shanghai with a free-trade zone. There is no precise date annouced, but this is coming soon to a town near to you. This is a strong signal sent to the world economy and foreign investors.


What are the announcement that have been made and why are they so important ?

1. Freedom of circulation
   

In China, the Hukou sstem has exsted for decades. This is an interior passport that restricts the freedom of circulation for Chinese citizens. Now, this time seems to be over, or soon will be ovre. This means freedom of circulation in the most popualated country in the word, really a revolution, nothing less. It means that the government wants to develop further the Chinese large cities. The measures will first benefit the small villages, and later on middle sized cities. Expect more migrant workers in the streets of Beijing and Shanghai in the years t come.

2. Public companies with private capital
   

Another big change : the large Chinese public companies that have such an importante within the economy are going to be able to accept private investors. The opening of their capital to private funds might change everything in the Chinese economy. There will be a live test in the new Shanghai free trade zone.

3. Distinction between public control and management within public companies
   

The structure at the top in Chinese public companies can be overcompicated and favor opacity. New measures are going to better distinbguish the management from the state regulators or controllers.

4. A convertible yuan
   

The yuan will become convertible. When ? Still unknown.

5. Interest rates : liberalization
   

The interest rates are strongly regulated, there will be some adjustments to these rules in order to have more liberty in the setting of interest rates.

6. Private banks allowed
   

Another big change : private banking in China, yes, it's possible.

7. Land rights transfers
   

Land is property of the state in China, this is not going to cahnge but the land rights that are granted to people will be transferable, this might mean large concentration trends in agriculture.




The liberalization raises some questions : is China heading towards a free eceonomy. Maybe not yet, the simplest remark is to notice that everything in these measures is managed via the centrak state.


China remains a country with a strong centralized governement and strong public companies, this is not about to change soon.






Source : Scout Real Estate
Market Study China
Time
BBC

When is the heating turned on in apartments in Beijing ?

Heating systems in apartments in Beijing is quite varied, from floor heating to other more classical methods, but the main point is that in most of the compounds the heating is centralized so that you cannot decide when to turn it on or to turn it off.


This is really annoying some years, since you are about to discover (if you don't already know it) that Beijing winters are really harsh.


At some point you have to ask to your real estate agent or directly to your property management to know the exact date they turn the heating on.


There is nationalwise reasons for this system: China is afraid because of the importantce of the ressources needed, such as natural gas and coal. There is a state planning at the level of the whole country. Coordination is complicated, for Beijing city alone, every day in winter 41.000 tons of coal are needed, this is huge. There is environmental implications as well and this is a rising concern for Chinese leaders, sometimes coal factories have to be closed to lower air pollution levels.


The date is every year around the november 15^th, this is when Beijing begins heating. Some years this date can be a little bit earlier, up to one month earlier but this must be justified by exceptional meteorological conditions. This means that some years you might have a difficult month of october in your apartment when everything begins to freeze. There is all kinds of solutions then, essentially add some blankets...


Additional heating system are chosen, you can turn the air conditioning on on heating mode or purchase additional independant electric heaters you install in the living area.


The date can be different in some compounds. First of all, compounds considered as “diplomatic compounds” have the right to turn the heating on a monthe earlier, around October 15^th. Many luxury serviced aparment compounds have the same system of turning the hearing early on.


Some apartments have actually independant heating systems, with the issue that they tend to be more expensive. Another issue is that the heating can be too powerful, leading people to open windows in winter to cool down their apartment. In this cases, independant heating is of course more convenient.



Tip: you should aks about it to your real estate agent when you get in the apartment.

Beijing and the One Child Policy : a spectacular change occuring ?

The Chinese leaders have made important announcments regarding the one child policy last week. The date when the new measures are going to be applied is not yet revealed but it should be quite soon and obviously represents a shift in the way Chinese consider their demography.

The thing is that there is a demographic bomb, as some experts says, in China's demography and its population getting older.


What is new in the new measure announced ? Quite simple, until now to be allowed to have two kinds in China, both parents had themselves to be single childs, but when the new measure will be adopted, couples where only one of the parents is himself a single child will be allowed to have two kids.


The experts, such a Wang Feng, scholar at the Tsinghua University believe that further loosing of the one child policy are going to occur in the incoming years. This is a serious change of point of view among Chinese leaders. It is even believed that all the restrictions regarding children will be suppressed in a near future.


The current Chinese law has been adopted in 1979, to avoid a demographic boom and to ensure a smoother developemnt of the country and better living standards for China.

Some exceptions do exist now, especially in the countryside, for ethnic minorities and couples in rural areas. If the first children is a girl, it is allowed to have a second kid.

This means that the one-child policy doesn't apply to around 37% of the Chinese couples (at least this is the figure in 2007) and the fees that couple have to pay when they have additional kids is quite low for a growing number of Chinese couples that do not hesitate to pay it and have new kids.

This means that the new measure onl represent 10 million of couples, that is not so many people compared with teh overall Chinese population and this won't change a lot the demographic trends in the country.

Nevertheless; this is a very important swith in the demographic planning of the country, and might be the beginning of the end for this system.

The fear of overpopulation is over, with a birth rate in China of 1.5 child per women, quite far from the 2.1 rate which is necessary to ensure population stability, in a society obsessed with access to real estate.

The new demographic problem in China the the ageing population, consequence of three decades of birth control.

Proposed by: Scout Real Estate Beijing

New regulations from Beijing!

New regulations from Beijing! 

China is preparing to loosen the grip of the state of the economy , tackling the powerful public groups while encouraging private sector investment , with a burst of reforms announced Friday .

Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party

The list of these reforms the second world economy , adopted by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at the end of a completed Tuesday plenary session was delivered by China's official Xinhua news agency in a long document. If major societal changes are announced - the relaxation of the one-child policy to reduce the death penalty and the abolition of re-education through labor - much of decisions aimed at strengthen " the role of the market " in the economy. The state groups who enjoy comfortable monopolies over entire sectors , will see their room for maneuver to reduce : " By 2020 , they will pay 30 % of their profits to the government, against a current ratio 5% to 15 % , "said new China , noting that " part of their capital will be transferred to the social security fund " very faulty for years.

113 large companies in various sectors, from energy to finance to transportation, depend directly on the central government. Reducing the huge liquidity available to these groups , the measure would force them to manage their investments more efficiently , and thus moderate their excess production capacity, an endemic problem , told AFP Liu Ligang , an economist at the bank ANZ Australian- New Zealander . According to him, " it will even result in a more competitive environment." The general opinion , any reform of the public sector will, however, complicated by fierce resistance of these groups , which thrive on the lack of competition and their close relations with the authorities at all levels . The Party also multiplies the signals with respect to the private sector : " Firms in non- public capital will be allowed to take stakes in projects " initiated by state groups, according to new China without specifying how much . The plenum has called for the state groups are " owned by both private and public capital ." The authorities allow the creation of smaller banking institutions and financial institutions to private capital , said the Party document . Only a handful of private banks are currently allowed to operate in China !

Regulations restricting private investment in several service sectors will be relaxed , also notes new China. Beijing also confirmed its commitment to accelerate the liberalization of interest rates. China's central bank had raised in July its controls on lending rates , but the rates for deposits are strictly supervised. " This reform program is extremely ambitious , but the impact on the economy and markets will depend crucially on how they are implementations ," warned Wang Tao , an analyst at UBS in Hong Kong. Party leaders also undertake to move towards free convertibility of the yuan - ie the ability to buy and sell freely the Chinese currency - a long- term repeated regularly by the government. Convertibility without control might at first be realized in the free zone recently launched in Shanghai (east).

The government should just create new zones , and extend the reforms previously launched on an experimental basis on limited areas , noted the official news agency . As real estate prices continue to soar , a property tax - already implemented in two cities - could be " extended to other cities," the document adds Party , not to mention timing.

Local governement ! 

For their part, local governments heavily indebted , " will be allowed to diversify their incomes by raising funds through bond issues " - which will give them a source of income other than real estate transactions. So far, only a few cities, including Shanghai, issue their own bonds. Furthermore, " the consideration of debt levels in the evaluation of management ", " lower participation of local governments in enterprises" , as " the management of certain costs by Beijing " administrative levels of below will help " curb any swelling of local debts ," said Wang Tao.

Finally , farmers will be granted rights to " possess, use and transfer the land they cultivate , and can use their property rights as collateral " for financial transactions , said new China. So far , all agricultural land are officially owned by the state, which gives enjoyment to farmers.

Tips about renting an apartment in a Beijing Hutong

Beijing Hutongs are these alleys in the Chinese capital city located mostly in the second ring road, that are what is left from the antique Beijing. Renting an apartment there can be great but be warned, the dream can be a kind of nightmare i you are not careful about a few things.

There is actually, to be oversimplistic but clear, two kinds of Hutongs. The renovated ones and the non renovated ones. The renovated Hutongs are simply fantastic to live in, but tey are now dramatically expensive. A few years ago, Chinese people tried to flee those areas that are associated with poor people in bad housing in China, but this is changing. The renovated Hutongs are now more and more expensive, rents have reached records heights and this is now very difficult to find an affordable one. If you have such financial means, take the opportunity, you won't regret it. Amazing places are for rent now.

If you can't rent a renovated Hutong, have a look on the non renovated ones or the ones that have been renovated but are still affordable, they do exist. You can find your dream Hutong by looking around, but this is not necessarily easy and you have to be a little bit careful.

You have to see generally the standard of the Hutong you are about to rent, is it a general good state or not, and have a look at very basic things such as the way the door closesn if it closes. This is true for the door of your apartement but check as well the door of the whole courtayrd that gives access to your apartment, to avoid bad surprises such as burglars.

Of course, have a look on the bathroom and if there is a bathroom, since many hutongs have common bathrooms are outside of the apartment, in a kind of spartiat comfort. Check if there is enough water pressure, if the water is hot and the state of the kitchen.

It is more convenient to rent a place which is not too far away inside the hutongs since this is going to be difficult to get there. It can be difficult to have your taxi to get you there and parking a car will be impossible, you ll have to rely on your feet and maybe the subway (but there is few subway stations inside the hutongs).

The intimacy can be a problem in the Hutongs since the accomodation are kind of imbricated. Check quickly the neighbours and make sure they are not some kind of lunatics.

See as well that the hutong you are going to live in has passed treatment against bugs.

Now, with these simple ideas go and look for your Hutong, the best type of apartment you can find in Beijing.

Where is the best place to settle a wineyard in China? China and its new wines.

There is a quest currently going on in China, with essential things are at stake: where is the best place to produce wine in China? Teams of experts are exploring the country, doing experiments, observe the soil, the surrounding, measure the humidity, plan new kinds of grape. This is in China today and this is something complicated in a country that wants everything big.


The things are going on, and on the places that have been experimented great hopes are rising, because betwenn 2007 and 2012, the wine consumption in China has more than doubled and the furure looks even more promising with an expected 40% increase before 2016.


Many actors from all over the world are trying to find the most suited location, many french groups, leaders in this field are leading the search.


For Domains Baron de Rotschild, the best place should be in Penglai, which is an humid peninsula in the east of Shandong province. LVMH, with its brands Moët & Chandon, Veuve Cliquot and Dom Pérignon have chosen the Ningxia province, a province in the south and are trying to design a sparkling wine there. There is another attempt in Yunnna well under way since the first producton is expected there this year.

Nothing is yet sure and everything is uncertain. There is no place with ideal weather, Ningxia is arid, Shandong has heavy rains during the year, Yunnan in mountain areas has a tempered weather but with a tropical influence as well.

Everything needs to be proven in any of these locations, Nigxia seems to be the leader in favourite place, currently. In september 2011, Wine produced from Ningxia won some awards, including a prestigious prize in teh London World Decanter awards.

Good wine can be produced there but there is a market issue: Chinese people are not aware of it.

The good quality of wine is a long and complicated process, in all those places producing good quality of wine will take years. Experiments and adjustments will be made before good wine can be produced there.

Wine is not something really new in China, it has been inroduced in 1892 in Shandong with Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, Shandong. The difficulty there s to adapt the wine production to the heavy humidity, specific techniques have to be designed. The quality results are uncertain there as well as it is being improved.

The funny thibg is that there is couterfeit bottles of the abovementioned brands in areas where the production has not begun. This is the Chinese effect.

Source : AFP

Cafés, Coffee, Tea and consumer lifestyle in China

There is still strong appeal for Western lifestyle in China, and a large part of the population that is attracted by such places belongs to this category in China. The values there are quality of life, and with western culture comes coffee drinking and alcohol. The coffee prepared in a professionnal way and good quality wine is type of products that are favored by them, together with the specific atomosphere of coffee shop and bars. This is something growing as a trend in China and its middle class looking for apartments.

Cafés

The top brands with most success are UBC Café, with 25% of market share, but this brand has a speciality in third tiers cities. In first and second tier cities, Starbucks and Costa Cofee still have more important market shares. The market is nor really mature and is expected to grow steadily around 9% in the incoming years.

The rise of Chinese consulers within the last decades has been spectacular and many changes are still to be expected, even if the economy is slowing ; The customers are more mature and more sophisticated, and they are caring more about the quality of the food and drinks.

Coffee

This implies a change in the food consumption habits. Coffee sales are growing, with 10% growth a year, an impressive figue but lightly slower than in the previous years. The growth is sustained thanks to Cafés but as well thanks to domestic consumption.

Nestlé is still the leader on this market, with 72% market share in value sales. The company is doinbg a lot of research, a lot of marketing, a very efficient distribution network and a very good image, a very good reputation built in China, and the value sales are still increasing in 2012 and 2013.

The prospects are stable, the coffee demand is expected to grow by 9% in the next years. The Chines consumer is expected to drink more coffee per capita, with a more sophisticated consumer behaviour that leads to the consumption of premium coffee.

Tea

In the same time, the tea market is evolving differently. Bad news about overuse of pesticides in China have let to consumer confidence about tea. This might explain a slower growth in 2012 and 2013.

The leading brands are Guangdong Strong and Xiangpiaopiao. Packaged tea is developping while loose tea is loosing advantage. Package tea is expected to become the norm.

Market data evolution ; Home furnishing and Home improvement in China

Home improvement
The home improvement market in China is evolving, with an evolution of the population which is now urbn population for 52,6% in 2012, one percent more than in 2011. This implies a demand for new houses, there is a context for new houses and home improvement. this is simple : there is a double digit growth in 2012.

A company has gained nation recognition on this market, but the market is extremely fragmented and there is no real leader : Hangzhou Nabel group has only a 2% market share. The company is having a lot of communication activity, with a lot of prospects.

The government in China is determined to control housing prices, which means that the housing industry might have lowe growth rate. Still there is governemental plans to build 36 millions affordable homes to help young Chinese people to access he new « Chinese dream ».

Another trend is that landlords that want to have substantial gains on their real estate sales have an incentive to renovate the apartments. This might be an evolution towards a much more mature market.

Furniture

About the furniture market, there is a strong cultural trend : the culture of parents buying houses for their children makes that there is a constant demand for home furnshing products. The prices are now so high that the burden of buying a new apartment is now shared by parents and children. Still, parents buy home furnishing products for their children, home textile and furniture. This incentive has helped this economic area to grow in 2012.

Among the leaders in this area, IKEA in China, with 5 billion RMB sales in 2012 and is planning to open new stores in 2013. Still, a large part of the market is very fragmented. The growth prospect is expected to be around 8% in the incomn years, which is not really a strong growth compared with the past trend on this market, but then again, China is still growing, people coming from the Chinese rural areas are going to make growth.

This market has important prospects if the Chinese market becomes more mature. These are fragmented markets with hundred of tousands of small producers that will continue to domainate the market, while there is a growing sector of cheap furniture for exportation is positive for the furniure industry.

Serviced apartments to rent in Beijing CBD

The place in Beijing that is most suited to serviced apartments is Beijing CBD. This is the city's business hub, with Fortune 500 companies settlements in Beijing (sometimes their China's headquarter, 100 of those companies have office in the Beijing CBD).


The Beijing CBD project has been an amazing urban lansdcape change in 10 years. The project was launched in 2000 and since then everything is going very fast. The most iconic tower in this project is currently the CCTV tower and its design that was a tremendous challenge for structure engineers.


Actually more tha half of foreign companies in Beijing are located in this area, at the point that it is difficult to plan the future for the area with so much activity. The Beijing CBD needs to be extended, and solutions are being found up north in Wangjing, while IT companies are favored to move to Zhogguancun, in the west of Beijing.


There is currently even embassies in the area, if the original diplomatic district was in Sanlitun, it has moved and now embassies are spreading across Beijing. In Jianguomen, close to this area you find embassies of Great Britain, Koweit, Thailand, Mongolia.


This is a logical place to rent a serviced apartment in Beijing, and currently you can find the following compounds with very high end serviced apartments. Visit this page for more links.


Serviced apartments around Central Park


The core of Beijing CBD, with the nice Central Park restaurant area for a western luch in Beijing. The compounds are:

• Jing Guang Center 京广中心
• Kerry Residence 嘉里中心(北京嘉里公寓)
  
  
  

Serviced apartments in Guomao


The most impressive towers in CBD with the China World Trade Center Tower III.
You can rent serviced apartmets in:

• China World Apartments 国贸公寓 ,
  
  

Serviced apartments close to Ritan Park


A pleasant large park in the east of Beijing, you might like the following compound:

• Asia Pacific Building 亚太大厦.

Serviced apartments in the Hujialu area


At the limit of the CBD, a nice place with parks. Here are the best compounds:

• Forte International Apartment 复地国际公寓,
• Riverside Baroque Palace 山水铂宫酒店式服务公寓,
  
  
  

Serviced apartments in the Hujialu area


West of the Beijing CBD, a large choice for services apartments:

• The St Regis (St Regis Residence) 国际俱乐部,
• Meihua Century International 美华世纪公寓,
• Luxury Apartment 丽舍公寓,
• Center Service Apartment 长安驿公寓.

Zhonguo Zun, or “Z15” tower is about to rise in Beijing

There is a competition going on in the world of arhitecture, the super tall towers. Competition is especially strong between towers in Chinese cities, and compared with Shanghai and Shenzhen, Beijing seemed to stay behind with towers “only” 300 meters high when others are struggling to buid their 600 meters high towers.


So far, the three highest towers in Beijing, are the China Wolrld Trade Center III tower, the high rise building of Guomao, that peaks at 330 meters, the second one is the Fortune Plaza tower, with 250 meters of height and the third one is 250 meters high as well, the highest tower of the Yintai Center called the Park tower. The Beijing CBD is still being planned, with dozens of high rise towers still to be built, as well as a new extension in Wangjing, and some iconic ones such as the CCTV tower with its strange shape that was a challenge for the building teams.


Next to this CCTV tower, something high is going on. A new tower is being built, inside a large project called the CITIC Plaza that will feature 15 towers. The superstar of this project is the tower number 15, the Z15 that has a more poetic name, the Zhonguo Zun.


Zun is the name of an ancient Chinese vessel, with an elegant shape with a large opening at the top, and indeed the new Z15 tower has an elegant shape, curved, that maximalizes the surface at the top and the base. This allows the tower to be very stable at the base, while reducing the “wind load” of the buiding.


The Z15 Tower will be 528 meters high, and is under the responsibility of artcitects TP Farrels, master designers in the project are Gavin Erasmus and Stefan Krummeck, more details about the people involved and the structure engineers here. The Farells project have been distinguished among the 60 competitors for the project.


This represents 120 floors, so far there should be 60 floors of Grade A office space, 20 floors of serviced apartments and 20 floors of a six star hotel. High end retail space will be included inside the CITIC Plaza.


The total surface area inside the tower is 300.000 sqaure meters and it will feature spectacular views on Beijing and the tower will certainy be an iconic landmark in Beijing.


The whole CITIC Plaza project should be a nice place to spend time in Beijing, since the Zun vessel in culture Chinese symbolizes common goodwill, the place is designed to be welcoming and warm, a place you have a comfortable leisure time.


The architects put the stress on the sustainability of the whole project and the laest developments in technology will be used to dismisish the environmantal impact of the tower and its carbon consumotion, as it is currently an important issue in Beijing.


A subway station will give direct access to the tower.

New warning system for pollution in Beijing

Pollution in China does not seem to go much better these days, but there is definitively something new this year : the Beijing authorities put this problem forward and do not try to deny it at any price. New measures are being implemented.

The worst case month so far has been january 2013 in Beijing, but the month of october has been quite grey too and the people coming from all over China as tourists during the national holidays have witnessed a grey skyline (let s say no skyline at all).

This was a strange event that the first golf tournament to be held in China to see the competitors wearing masks to avoid the worst effects of pollution on the lungs.

The Beijing and Tianjin authoroties have decided new measures, a red alert in case of pollution, which means 3 days with heavy rate of microparticles in the air. In this case, half the cars would be prevented from circulating on the streets as long as the red alert lasts.

Public transportation would be strenghtened and schools closed.

Another level would make a list of 300 factories around Beijing to close for a few days.

The announcement also made of Zhao Huimin , a member of the municipal administration to become a star in China when he explained that the fact that Chinese people cook a lot a fry things in their kitchen is a part of the explanation why there is pollution in Beijing. Quickly the Beijing municipal bureau stated that it was inaccurate but there was a lot of laughter around in the public.

The plan as a whole is much more ambitious since cars in Beijing would be limited at 6 millions, maximum to be reached in 2017 (actually there is already 5.3 million cars in tthe streets), the promotion of smaller cars, in addition to the list of 1.200 compa,ies that would have to adopt measures.

The great issue with the fight against pollution in China is that more and more cities are concerned with the development of the country and the emerginbg of a new lifestyle, so that theis kind of measures will have to be implemented everywhere, something that could harm the economic devemlopement of the country that relies on manufacturing and car isdustry to sustain growth in the future.

The measures thar will have to be taken are not easy to design and this is a true challnege for China.

Sources :

The Economist

Living in Beijing

NBC Behind the Wall

Daxue Consulting

Rent an apartment in Xidan and Fuxingmen

Most of the expatriates in Beijing live in the east of the city, in the districts centered on Chaoyang, but there is important economic and administrative activity in the west as well, and one of the most important places in Beijing is located at the West of the Changan avenue, with Xidan and the Finance Street up to Fuxingmen.

All these places are located in the Xichang district of Beijing, this is not far from the seats of many Chinese administrations and central power, the Tiananmen place is not far at the west.

Let's say it, this is an important landmark in Beijing, with business hubs and banks, as well as a large shopping mall area in Xidan. Chinese people love to get there, foreign people in Beijing not so much, but Xidan is an area that counts and you may have to live there for professionnal reasons.

Close to Jirong Jie : Beijing's Financial Street.

Beijing is not one of mainland China's most important financial centers, but still there is quite important financial institutions there. Finance in China in settled in other cities , Shanghai and Shenzhen, but central banks authorities that have authority on the Chinese financial and monetary system are in Beijing. Insurance companies are located there too, so this is actually a really important financial center.

Some foreign companies such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and UBS are there.

However, there is not enough foreigners in this area to attract any international school, this is definitely not a place suited for expat with kids.

One of the main shopping place in Beijing

For centuries, this area has had a very intense commercial activity. You have now many of the most luxurious shopping mall in Beijing and China there, among the mst famous ones, the Xidan Joy City, Seasons Place, Grand Pacific, lines up in Xidan, which is quite impressive to see with sophisticated lightnings at night. The very last of those shopping place is the Galeries Lafayette that have opened their Chinese flagshipstore there.

This is a place for culture with many theaters around, especially the magnificient National Center for Performing Arts, also called the Beijing Opera House, the largest bookshop in Beijing, Xidan Bookstore and many other venues.

If you chose to live in Xidan, yo may consider the following places :

Feng Qiao Apartment 丰侨公寓,

Feng Hui Yan 丰汇园.

Tai Yang Yuan 太阳

West Endpoint 西城晶华,

Feng Qiao Apartment 丰侨公寓,

Feng Hui Yan 丰汇园.

Sources :

Scout Real Estate

Wikipedia

Architectural Record

Marketing China

Rent an apartment in Liangmaqiao

You are looking or an apartment well located, close to Beijing business hubs, not too far from the historical center, with international schools, the Beijing international airport easy to reach, with a large expatriate community, not far from Sanlitun and its night life and close to the foreign embassies? You are looking for an apartment to rent in Liangmaqiao.

Foreigners sometime call this area “Lufthansa”, because of the very large shopping mall there, located in the Lufthansa building, one of the first foreign shopping malls that has been settled in Beijing, and is still an important landmark named after the german airline that has its Beijing office in the building.

The liangmaqiao area is known above all for its embassies, this is the diplmatic area of Beijing, this includes many of the major ones such as the embassies of the United-States, Japan, South Korea, France, Israel, India, Qatar, Malaysia

The area is a bit compartimentalized; because of large avenues and unoccupied land mixed with the security of the embassies. One of the drawbacks of living there is the dificulty to circulate in the neughborhood.

You have some attractions there, such as the “Lady Street”, Nuren Jie, a place dedicated to wmen's clothes where you can find anything, bargain, buy various qualities of stuff and have fun.

The Solana commercial center next to Liangmaqiao is a major landmark in Beijing, with dozens of restaurants of all kinds, Chinese, western, Asian, large shops with all the international major brands in a large area you can stroll quietly with your children.

Another curiosity, the Liangma flower market.

Two important international schools in the area: the Canadian school and the German school.

Here is a list of Apartment compounds in Liangmaqiao:

Mixxion 九都汇

US United Apartments US 联邦公寓,

Beijing Garden 北京花园, 

Landmark Palace 亮马名居

Concordia Plaza 嘉和丽园,

Somerset Fortune Garden 福景苑 

Four Seasons 四季世家 

Liangmaqiao DRC 亮马桥外交公寓 

Guang Ming Apartments 光明公寓.

Ocean Express 远洋新干线 

Ocean Honored Château 远洋公馆

No. 8 Palace 霄云里八号 

No. 8 Royal Park 霄云路八号 

You'll see more details and links to descriptions here, or search on the various websites.

Sources:

Wikipedia

Time Out Beijing

Yahoo

Renovation of courtyards and renovation of apartments in Beijing

There is a strong evolution going on in real estate in China and especially in Tier I cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

The price increase has been curbed down in China these 2 past years. The problem is simple, the Chinese authorities fear that tere might be the rashest crisis in China caused by a terrible housing bubble, the biggest ever. There is as well a social problem together with the same proble, since the emerging Chinese middle class which is just emerging has now difficulties to find affordable accomodation in Beijing. This might cause discontent in the public opinion.

For these reasons, the price have been curned down. Actually, the rise in the last twenty years have been unbelivable, an apartment could see its value double in less than 4 years, and some landlords have built fortunes just by buyibg and selling apartments. In such a context, there was no need for renovation, and no interest in it. All the apartments were new, and the investment to renovate an a flat was not worth it.

This has changed and new trends are emerging. The price curbing policy has been a success (at least in Shanghai, it is not that clear in Beijing where there was a 16% price increase last year, only 3% in Shanghai).

In such a context, it is not that easy to maximize the profit when selling an apartement. The solution is to renovate them to have a better price when selling it.

There is as well a cultural shift. Chinese people want to live in better environments, this can be illustrated by the great success in the renovation of Hutongs.

The courtyards were usually a place Chinese people tried to flee when they lived in Beijin. The places were dirty, poorly managed, the location were perceived as far from the business hubs. A whole generation of Chinese city dwellers has longed to leave the traditionnal housing to go in a very modern apartemet, perceived as profgress. Now that China is opening on the world, some Chinese people can compare better what a renovated home can bring for a pleasant life. The renovation is clearly a new trend, some Hutongs are magnificiently decorated and design is smething that interest Chinese people more and more.

The result might be a changing urban environment and better living standards. What will Chinese interiors look like in a few years when things can go so fast in China ?

What s certain is that places that were neglected like Hutongs, old apartement compounds and bad quality accomodation is drawing the attenion of investors. This is the sign that the real estate market becomes more mature.

Sources:

Financial Times

Forbes

Beijing Relocation

Wikipedia