Tibet Landslide Rescue Work Suspended

Rescue work at the site of a landslide that buried 83 miners in southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region was suspended on Monday for fear of further slides.

By Monday afternoon, rescuers had retrieved 36 bodies from the site of the massive landslide, which happened on Friday.

Rescue work was later suspended after geological experts found four cracks with lengths of more than 600 meters on the mountain top, posing risks of a subsequent landslide.

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Xinhua News via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/ectYiZN0UAQ/

Chinese companies pull out before strict IPO audit deadline

A record number of Chinese companies lining up for initial public offerings (IPOs) terminated their applications in the latest round of IPO investigations that require financial reports be filed to the top securities regulator before March 31.

A total of 76 applicants abolished their IPO plans between March 25 and 29, compared with a record of 48 that withdrew applications in about three months since January, Monday’s China Securities Journal (CSJ) reported, citing the latest data from China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

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English.news.cn via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/w_QG9j60zC0/

Manufacturing index points to growing recovery

Improved production bodes well for overall economy, analysts say

Industrial activity maintained a moderate recovery in March, with economic indicators reflecting positive growth.

“The economic environment in Europe seems to have improved, but it has not brought us the sharp increase in orders we had expected for the first quarter,” said Zhang Wenhua, owner of a company in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, that exports machinery to Europe.

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Chen Jia， Yu Ran via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/SHoqheoYkvA/

Apple alters policies as it apologizes in Chinese

APPLE CEO Tim Cook apologized to Chinese customers in a statement in Chinese posted on the company’s website yesterday, denying the company was arrogant and saying it had adjusted some of its after-sales services to meet China’s requirements.

Apple has been criticized for treating Chinese customers differently from others in a China Central Television program about its iPhone and iPad repair policy on March 15, Consumer Rights Day.

The People’s Daily published a series of stories criticizing what it said was Apple’s arrogant attitude and double standards.

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Zhao Wen via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/T6yaOB7I58s/

Illegal dead pig trade put pork on Shanghai tables for years

PIGS which died from disease or for other reasons were sent to Shanghai markets and restaurants over the past few years because farmers in a neighboring province were reluctant to pay for their proper disposal.

“You Shanghai residents just don’t realize how many dead pigs you have eaten before,” Xinhua news agency quoted a restaurant owner in Jiaxing as saying.

“In the past years, dead pigs were transported to Shanghai via mini-vans,” the owner said.

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Xu Chi via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/LI5gzF9teho/

2 Chinese Cities Move to Cool Overheated Housing Market

In an effort to cool the resurgent property market, two of China’s biggest cities announced over the weekend that they would put in place a series of new restrictions and penalties on housing sales.

In the nation’s capital, the Beijing municipal government said that unmarried individuals would now be allowed to purchase only one residence. The city also increased the minimum down payment for buyers of a second home and imposed a 20 percent capital gains tax on owners’ selling a residence.

In Shanghai, an identical capital gains tax was announced and took immediate effect, and city officials pledged to install and enforce other measures aimed at stabilizing housing prices. The stiffer capital gains taxes take the place of a 1 percent to 2 percent transaction tax that was previously assessed on the final price of the property being sold.

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David Barboza, New York Times via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/aQc9a23OrBE/

Taiwan to allow China firms to buy bigger stakes in local banks

Taiwan will ease rules to allow Chinese banks to buy bigger stakes in local banks and permit more Chinese firms to invest in its financial industry, the island’s financial regulator said on Monday, marking a major advance in cross-strait ties.

Taiwan will allow mainland banks to buy as much as 15 percent in unlisted local bank and financial holding companies, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) and the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said in a joint briefing.

The stake allowed to be invested in a financial holding’s banking unit will be raised to 20 percent. The rules will take effect in 60 days.

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Faith Hung, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/mQIjAVNPm4c/