Syndicated articles from In partnership with © The Financial Times Limited 2014. All Rights Reserved. Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in anyway. Edition 2178 FT | 27 Oct 2014 ANALYSIS By James Kynge Thrift as a virtue is embedded deep within China’s culture. The written ideograms for words such as “save” and “store” sparkle with the feel-good symbols for grain, fields, silk and children. By contrast, the character for debt shows a man standing forlornly one imagines - next to a pile of cowrie shells, an ancient form of IOU. Children are taught that “diligence is a cash cow and thrift is a gold mine”, while adults are warned in one somewhat humorous proverb that “going to bed early to save candles is not economical if the result is twins”. Money, or the lack of it, was also a main motive behind the Communist party’s decision to open the economy to foreign investors more than three decades ago. So acute was the cash crunch then that when in 1974 Deng Xiaoping - the subsequent architect of capitalist reforms prepared to lead a delegation to the UN, he found that only USD38,000 in foreign currency remained in state coffers to pay for his trip. So why, given such potent reminders of the importance of money management, has China’s government in the past five years swerved so much off the financial straight and narrow? Total debts owed by the government, companies and households have ballooned to 240 per cent of gross domestic product, virtually double the level at the time of the global financial crisis. This ratio, it is true, remains modest next to some in the west; US debts stand at 322 per cent of GDP, Ireland’s at more than 400 per cent, while Greece and Spain are at about 300 per cent each. But the speed of increase in China’s leverage has been beyond parallel, and because of elevated Chinese interest rates (estimated by Fitch, a credit rating agency, to average 7 per cent) the cost of debt servicing has risen much faster than in other indebted bloomberg The journey from luxury to thrift will be a test of Beijing’s mettle A man walks past Audi AG vehicles displayed at a dealership in Shanghai, China To change from a thrifty lifestyle to one of luxury is easy, to shift from luxury back to thrift is hard Chinese proverb countries. This year China is set to pay an interest bill of about $1.7tn, an amount not far short of India’s entire GDP last year ($1.87tn) but larger than the economies of South Korea, Mexico and Indonesia. Ironically, the spending splurge that generated these debts took place as Beijing kept up atavistic exhortations to be thrifty. Under Hu Jintao, the president during the financial crisis, billboards setting out “Eight Honours and Eight Shames” were erected in cities across the country, telling people to “work hard and live plainly; do not wallow in luxuries and pleasures”. Xi Jinping, the current president, has cranked up the tempo still further with a national frugality campaign. One answer to the question of why Beijing has fallen so rapidly into hock is that it had little choice but to do so; the liabilities represent the costs incurred from responding to the global crisis. The collapse of US demand in 2008 hammered China’s export sector, throwing roughly 30m people out of work in a matter of months and obliging Beijing to launch a stimulus programme that drew impetus from the ambitions of local governments to demonstrate their manifest destiny. A dowdy northern provincial capital became famous for building the second largest building in the world, after the Pentagon, to serve as its administrative headquarters. New roads, railways, ports, airports, bridges and industrial parks took form everywhere. Some 9,700 sq km in new urban precincts equivalent to about 25 cities the size of Detroit - sprang up between 2008 and 2012, according to Caixin, a Chinese magazine. In some places “ghost cities” with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants per square kilometre now stand as monuments to the triumphs of local exuberance over actual demand. The bill for most of this frenzy has fallen upon local governments and their thousands of “financing vehicles”. Indeed, their debts and contingent liabilities form the fastest growing part of China’s total liabilities, alongside those of the heavy industrial companies that made the steel, cement and equipment that fed the construction boom. But aside from providing the stimulus to revive a flagging economy, the rising tide of Chinese debt also derives from subsiding economic competitiveness. Thus when Chinese officials this week announced the slowest quarterly GDP growth rate - 7.3 per cent - in five years, they did so with a warning that the world should prepare itself for a “new normal” of slower economic expansion. What they did not hint at was the increasingly central role that the welter of unpaid loans is playing in sapping China’s commercial dynamism. Companies are affected because, according to estimates by Standard Chartered bank, some 32 per cent of new credit these days is used simply to pay off the interest on existing debts. Consumers are compromised because overall debt service charges now equate to about $1,290 out of the annual per capita GDP of $6,800. Local governments still the main agents of investment - are also feeling the pinch, as was clear from a finance ministry proposal this week to allow them to issue new bonds purely to fund the repayment of their maturing liabilities. Fitch sees the confluence of these pressures creating a fundamental inflection point in one of the greatest growth narratives in history. China’s rapid “catch-up” phase - during which growth averaged 10.2 per cent over three decades - is giving way to a credit-fuelled expansion that is getting progressively slower. Managing this will not be easy. To quote one Chinese proverb: “To change from a thrifty lifestyle to one of luxury is easy, to shift from luxury back to thrift is hard.” Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2014 27.10.2014 Syndicated articles from F2 © The Financial Times Limited 2014. All Rights Reserved. Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in anyway. PROFILE By Ming Liu The Soviet-style apartment block in Beijing, set behind a luxury sports car dealership and a showroom for a private aircraft manufacturer, doesn’t seem like the kind of place someone who is used to broadcasting to 85m television viewers would choose to live in. It is also a far cry from the gleaming China Central Television (CCTV) headquarters, the distinctive tower nicknamed “big trousers” by locals - as much a reference to its design as it is a fitting metaphor for the state broadcaster’s size and reputation. Founded in 1958, CCTV’s 40 channels are today beamed around the world to a potential 1bn viewers, with programming that ranges from news and academic lectures to variety shows and historical dramas. The state-owned national broadcaster, always led by a senior Communist party official, is also regularly described as a mouthpiece for the Chinese government. James Chau, 36, has worked for CCTV for more than a decade; first as a primetime news anchorman and today as a special contributor focusing on major news and special events. He also has 1.6m followers on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. Inside his ground-floor, two-bedroom apartment, warm light from an inset balcony floods the living room, which has a curved jade-colored sofa and a large painting of a grandmother and two children posing in a rural Chinese setting. Dressed in a brown blazer and white trousers, Chau is all smiles and has a disarming sense of humor - two characteristics he has put to good use throughout his career. He was the first Chinese journalist to interview Aung San Suu Kyi, arguably the world’s most famous living dissident, while other interviewees have included Robert Mugabe (who after the show asked Chau if he was married, and why not), China’s first lady Peng Liyuan, and fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg (who told him that if she were a 20-year-old today, she would live in Beijing rather than New York). Chau was also the first journalist to secure a one-onone interview with Malaysia’s defense minister and acting transport minister after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March. Chau recalls the first time he visited his apartment. “[The building was] so ugly on the outside. But the friends I was with said, ‘Give it a chance. You don’t know what’s inside’. It’s sort of a metaphor xinhua Live from Beijing for life - that content is more important than the packaging.” The apartments were originally built for senior government officials and Chau has lived here for 10 months. The flat is three times larger than his previous home but Chau moved here for personal reasons, following a loss in his life. “I wanted an unfamiliar space that was not associated with anyone. I feel calm when I walk in”. Ground-floor living and the unassuming exterior also feels safer to him than any of the modern high-rises he has lived in previously. Beautiful artworks hang on the walls - as well as more unusual objects such as the lightbox-mounted X-ray of his mother’s shoulder (“She almost always wears pearls; apparently when being X-rayed for a dislocated shoulder, too”). Born in London, his father was raised in Hong Kong while his mother was born to “ethnic Chinese parents from Indonesia and Malaysia”. Chau entered the Royal Academy of Music aged 12 to study piano but stopped playing at 16 after a car accident. After receiving his masters at Cambridge he moved to Hong Kong to work in television and, 10 years ago, moved to Beijing. “I didn’t know anybody. I came to China to learn - not just about a rising power but about a country which in itself contains the biggest chunk of the human family. I wanted to learn what most of the world was doing”. He landed his role at CCTV after speculatively calling the broadcaster and asking for a job. “It’s about having guts and honesty and knowing what you want - and what you can offer in return,” he says. When asked what it is like being western-born and educated but working, ultimately, for the Chinese govern- racy protest. Unsurprisingly, CCTV’s coverage of what became known as the Umbrella Revolution was decidedly pro-Beijing. Yet, Chau later insists: “If we look at it broadly, this has been an object lesson in responsible democracy. The authorities have made their point, the protesters have made their point and they went back to their respective work. This leaves open the argument You are working for a combination of elements - a news station, government agency and a country CCTV’s James Chau ment, Chau gives the kind of response one might expect from a star journalist at a state broadcaster. “You are working for a combination of elements - a news station, government agency and a country. Quite often what you read in the paper and watch on television gives you a clear idea of where China is headed next - what policy it may be testing out further. Being the first to share that is very special - it makes the station a true influencer”. Days after this interview, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Hong Kong as part of a pro-democ- to dialogue - and Beijing has always said that, in any situation, it is open to dialogue.” Chau leads the way into the “red room” - painted, partly, as a nod to “Forbidden City red” and partly as homage to the photographer Lord Snowdon, formerly Princess Margaret’s husband, and who Chau interviewed when he was at Cambridge. The red room is a multifunctional space - study, guest room, retreat - where Chau sees himself spending more time in the future. In August, Chau announced emotionally on air that he was stepping down as an anchor- man to become a special contributor for CCTV. It would give him the opportunity to escape the “everyday humdrum of going to the studio” as well as enabling him to cut down on travel to make time to finish his book - a collection of interviews with “global thought leaders” such as Arianna Huffington and Muhammad Yunus. Chau also wants to focus on his HIV/Aids work (he is a goodwill ambassador for UNAIDS - the joint UN programme on HIV/Aids, for which Chau was appointed in 2009, as UNAIDS’s first ambassador to China). Several other journalists have also left CCTV recently but under very different circumstances. Nearly a dozen top CCTV employees have been targeted in the sweeping anti-corruption campaign of China’s president Xi Jinping, which has ensnared both businessmen and government officials. Some 63,000 have been punished, from stripped party memberships to death sentences. Did Chau know any of the CCTV staff who have been detained? “I knew one person in particular whom I worked with when I was coming up. So that came as a surprise.” When pushed further, Chau again tows the party line. “I think no one needs to be afraid, apart from the people who are corrupt themselves,” he says. “I support the president’s anti-corruption campaign, as do all Chinese people. Who wouldn’t? It costs the country billions every year and everyone is sick of it . ” Warming to his theme, he continues: “This is going to be the legacy of this presidency because [Xi] has the courage, capacity and opportunity now - not to say that others haven’t been wanting to do it. He has taken this incredible bold step to create a new standard here.” Chau’s bed, which is made up in white and blue trimmed sheets, is framed by white curtains that hang from the ceiling. “I had this madcap idea recently in London. I didn’t want a four-poster - I find it very old, and my ceilings aren’t high enough - so, with two guys and a drill, we created this effect ourselves.” Of the design, he adds, smiling: “It’s a bit English, a bit Napoleonic - which is all a bit aspirational of me to say, because that makes me somewhere between a queen and an emperor.” Given the worsening air pollution in China, does Chau have any air filters? If he does, they are well concealed. “I actually have three. But I hide them because they’re ugly.” Still, Chau says the pollution hasn’t deterred him from staying on in Beijing, as it has so many expats as well as locals. “It’s not going to keep me from living here - and living my dream.” Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2014 mon 27.10.2014 特刊 Music that lives (and uplifts) in the hands of Jordi Savall David Ignaszewski U Physical Geography The Mediterranean Sea: This is indeed a rare opportunity for music lovers living in and familiar with the Pacific Rim to hear a wide range of music from the Mediterranean dating back to a millennium ago. The title of this concert, Mare Nostrum (“Our sea”), stems from Roman times, when founders of the Empire referred to that expanse of water bordering the southern tip of Europe and northern shores of Africa, extending eastward to modern-day Turkey and Israel, Syria and Lebanon. Although Gibraltar is the western gateway opening to the Atlantic Ocean, we should not forget the ancient islands within the Mediterranean with fascinating histories, among them Cyprus and Rhodes. Normally we associate water and ancient civilizations with naval battles (for which there had been plenty among European nations onward from Napoleon as well as tracing backward to the Christian alliance’s ongoing conflicts with the Ottoman Empire). But belligerence aside, the Mediterranean Sea has proven to be a gainful trading route for many centuries, through which the Near East and Western Europe shared many a living tradition, let alone the abundance of food and great weather that the region enjoys even today. Jordi Savall’s Odyssey Savall is perhaps most popularly known as the viola da gamba player who arranged and recorded the music for the 1991 French film Tous les matins du monde (“All the mornings in the world”), recounting the story of 17th-century viol master Marin Marais (played in the film by the actor Gerard Depardieu). But Savall had little to do with France in his early life. He was born an hour outside Barcelona (the northern part of Spain that is defiantly Catalan, with its own distinct language and cultural traditions). As a young boy, Savall sang in choirs, later on taking up the cello. By the 1970s, he established himself as a viola da gamba virtuoso all over the Europe, organizing early music ensembles and taking every opportunity for solo displays. That sense of musical discovery, to say nothing of his travels throughout Europe, was rather a throwback to the troubadour tradition. As a musical ambassador, Savall unearthed musical repertoire long neglected, breathing new life in performances and recordings, the latter of which he has made F3 Acclaimed musician plays in Macau By Joanna C. Lee NESCO’s “Artist for Peace” Jordi Savall brings a multi-cultural experience that crosses East and West, past and present. His curated programs feature “centuries-old songs and dances glow with sadness and jump for joy,” according to New Yorker critic Alex Ross. FEATURE more than 160 to date. Scholar, Curator, Teacher, Producer, General Impresario: As mentioned earlier, Savall’s popular success in Tous les matins du monde made him a star (he won a French “Oscar,” the César Award) and catapulted him as a champion for early music. Fame came with its challenges, and rather than rest on his laurels, Savall extended his horizons, developing new projects and new ideas in the past two decades that truly merit him as a leading “mu- As musicians, we have the capacity to understand people from different cultures Jordi Savall sic humanitarian.” His recording, Jerusalem City of Two Peaces: Heavenly Peace and Earthly Peace (accompanied by a 400-page glossy hardback book), won him the MIDEM Classical Award in 2010. For him, spreading peace and engaging with audience and musicians alike are paramount. “As musicians, we have the capacity to understand people from different cultures,” he has said. “Every time you play music from other cultures, it means you have a certain sympathy [and respect]. This is essential for any kind of dialogue, and in our projects, we involve music from different cultures because we have so much to learn from them. With music, we can help people understand our history.” World Music: Illuminating New Paths and Familiar Sounds Instruments featured in this concert originate from around the Mediterranean. Some of them travelled from one region to another, attesting to the fact that music is uni- versal, crossing lands and seas, as well as spanning many centuries, despite wars and battles and religious differences. Apart from the vielle (medieval fiddle) that is Savall’s own expertise, there is the rebec, another ancestor of the violin family that can be traced to the Arabian peninsula and Morocco. In fact, the rebec was such a popular instrument that it was ubiquitous in teahouses throughout the Ottoman Empire. You might even find instruments that look vaguely familiar on a Chinese stage. The kaval, an end-blown flute originating from mountain shepherds throughout the Balkans, has different tunings depending on whether they are from Turkey or Greece. It is definitely a distant cousin of the Chinese xiao. The oldest pictorial recording of the oud dated from 5,000 years ago. This Arabian equivalent of the European lute (which is related to the guitar) also spread eastward in the form of the pipa. The kanun is associated in playing technique with the zheng, while the santur spread around Europe as a hammered dulcimer best known for gypsy music, but also looks uncannily familiar to Chinese eyes as a variation of the yangqin. Together these instruments weave a sonic fabric that is at once familiar and new to ears familiar with Asian musical traditions. The Purity and Immediacy of the Voice The three singers featured in this program hail from different countries sharing Mediterranean waters: Israel, Turkey and Greece. Religious and spiritual songs in the evening connect with each other, to the universe, and to all deities. This penchant for the voice for Savall must have begun with the love for his late wife Montserrat Figueras (1942–2011), who had shared the “Artist for Peace” title with him. Figueras’s striking vocal prowess, her indefatigable spirit, and her expressive persona had been vividly captured in the many recordings she made with Savall. Of all musical instruments, the human voice is the most intimate, with the ability to convey love and admiration hardwired into all civilizations. While instruments travelled from one region to another and repertoire evolved, the voice has remained more distinct, tied to specific lands, languages and dialects. Regardless, melodies that are soulful and joyful can resound in any setting. This concert promises to be one that introduces but also inspires. We must remember that Christian, Sephardic, Turkish and Arabic communities had existed side by side, sometimes on more friendly terms than in others. And breaking barriers, even in the smallest gesture of a musical performance, is one way of moving to a more peaceful understanding of the world we live in. Joanna C. Lee is a Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre of Asian Studies at the University of Hong Kong concert on nov 29 The Macau Cultural Centre presents the iconic musical collector Jordi Savall and the Hespèrion XXI in their debut concert at the Grand Auditorium on November 29 (Saturday). Brought as one of CCM’s 15th anniversary programmes, this Mediterranean musical journey will bring the audience into an exquisitely curated repertoire, travelling along ancient and meaningful compositions performed with now rare instruments. F4 NATURE 27.10.2014 mon 自然 By Michael Graczyk, Austin A frigate carrying French colonists to the New World that sank in a storm off the Texas coast more than 300 years ago is being reassembled into a display that archeologists hope will let people walk over the hull and feel like they are on the ship’s deck. The 1686 wreck of the 54-foot oak frigate La Belle — in an expedition led by famed Mississippi River explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle — is blamed for dooming France’s further exploration of what would become Texas and the American Southwest. But La Salle’s short-lived Fort St. Louis near the shipwreck site in Matagorda Bay, about 100 miles southwest of presentday Houston, also convinced Spain to boost its presence in the region to ward off a feared French territorial expansion. “In a very real way, it’s responsible for our Hispanic heritage we have today,” said Jim Bruseth, curator of the La Belle pro- ap photo Remains of French ship being reassembled in Texas Work to reassemble the 54-foot oak French frigate La Belle begins at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, Texas ject at the Bullock Texas State History Museum. “They had nobody here, and it started the process of settling Texas. “History oftentimes turns on seemingly small events,” Bruseth said. “We have that actual ship, the remains of it here, that’s the icon of that event.” Beginning Saturday, visitors to the Austin museum will be able to watch Bruseth and other archaeologists put the wrecked ship back together and talk with them as they work. The reassembly is expected to be complete by spring. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s like a dinosaur, big and dynamic and magnetic,” said Peter Fix, one of the assembly team members and chief conservator for Texas A&M University’s Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation. “Once we get the framing up it’s going to look like a big beached whale, a bone carcass. And that’s dynamic and hopefully it will pique curiosity.” The keel and other large structural pieces of La Belle — resembling old railroad ties — were discovered in 1995 by Texas Historical Commission archaeologists. Researchers built a dam around the site, pumped it dry, then retrieved the nearly intact hull that had been preserved in up to 6 feet of mud. In 2012, the 600 waterlogged pieces were taken to Texas A&M, where the timber was stored at 60 degrees below zero in the world’s largest archaeological freeze-dryer to remove more than three centuries of moisture. Once the assembly is finished, the hull will be encased in a glass cabin-like structure so people can have the sensation of being on the ship’s deck, peering into the hull and its cargo holds “and understand that they’re not looking at just a bunch of dirty old boards,” Fix said. La Salle was the first European to travel the Mississippi River south to the Gulf, claiming all the land along the river and its tributaries for France in 1682. Three years later, he sailed from France with more than 300 colonists aboard four ships including La Belle to establish a settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi — a destination he missed by 400 miles. By then, one ship had been lost to pirates. Another ran aground and sank. A third eventually headed back to France, leaving La Belle as his only lifeline. That was severed with its sinking. Then the colony at Fort St. Louis was ravaged by disease, rattlesnakes, water shortages and Indians. Its inhabitants died or were killed while La Salle led a handful of men inland, where he wound up killed by some of them. The museum exhibition also includes cannons and rifles, ammunition, cooking utensils, tools, building materials, trinkets like beads, bells and mirrors and even some of the 1,603 Jesuit rings recovered. “We couldn’t be any luckier in that sense,” Bruseth said. “Rather than the ship being empty when it wrecked, everything he had left that you need for a colony was in the Belle.” AP ASK THE VET by Dr Ruan Du Toit Bester Feline Obesity Causes O besity causes in felines may be various starting from genetics to lack of exercise and an inadequate diet. You must be aware of the possible causes and try to prevent obesity in your pet, as this is associated with many health problems. Genetic Factors Just like in humans, certain cats are prone to being overweight. This is due to the genetic information inherited from the parents. Medical Conditions Certain medical conditions will cause obesity in your pet: - Hormonal imbalance, which can affect the metabolism and may lead to weight gain - A heart condition, which will not allow the pet to exercise and he can easily gain weight, due to inactivity - Arthritis, which will also make certain movements painful and the cat will refrain from moving Older pets may also be more prone to obesity, as the cat will be less active and will sleep more. If he eats the same food, he will most likely gain weight. Inadequate Diet An inadequate diet can lead to weight gain. The cat may eat more than he needs and all the excess energy will turn into fat. Many owners tend to over feed their cats in Macau. The cat should have a diet that is adjusted to his size, breed and age. You should work closely with your vet to find the amount of energy your pet needs for his daily activities and administer the exact same amount. You should also make sure that the cat eats quality food that contains fewer fillers, which can contribute to obesity. Lack of Exercise The lack of exercise can contribute to weight gain. A sedentary cat is very likely to become obese. This is due to the fact that he consumes more food than he needs and all the remaining energy will be deposited. A cat can easily become obese if he fails to exercise. The amount of exercise required by a cat will depend on his breed and age, but he will need to play or consume his extra energy each day. On average, cats need around 15 to 30 minutes of exercise per day. Exercise may not be recommended if the pet has arthritis or a heart condition. In this case, the diet has to be adjusted so that the pet eats only as much as he needs. Dangers of Obesity Obesity can present certain health dangers, so you need to prevent obesity in your cat. Obesity is linked to these health problems: - Heart problems, as the heart has to work extra to pump blood to the fat tissues as well - Early onset of arthritis - Diabetes, which can occur if the cat can no longer assimilate the blood sugar properly Obese cats will have a lower life expectancy. Consult your vet if you suspect your pet may be overweight. The vet can establish if your cat has a normal weight and make certain diet and exercise recommendations. If you have any questions regarding your pets health e-mail us at [email protected] Hope this helps Till next week Dr Ruan Ask the Vet: Royal Veterinary Centre Tel: +853 28501099, +853 28523678 Emergency: +853 62662268 Email: [email protected]
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