July 16 - Our Publisher, Chris Devonshire-Ellis has just returned from a ten day tour to the remote, ethnic Tibetan parts of China. This is his report on the social state of the region: (more…)

June 26 - Tibet reopened to tourists Wednesday, three and a half months after the Chinese government banned visits by foreigners in the wake of violent anti-government riots and protests.

The first group of foreign tourists, from Sweden, arrived at the Lhasa airport on Wednesday morning, said Tibetan Tourism Bureau spokesman Liao Lisheng.

“Tibet is open now to all travelers from home and abroad,” he said.

China threw a curtain around Tibet and areas in nearby provinces with sizable Tibetan populations after the March violence, citing the safety of foreign tourists and journalists.

But a notice on the bureau’s website said life in Lhasa had returned to normal, noting the June 21 torch relay “provided a more solid foundation for a stable society,” the Associated Press reported. (more…)

May 13 - Our readers will be aware of the
earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan province in China that struck on Monday and that has claimed over 10,000 lives to date.

Dezan Shira & Associates supports the international charity Care for Children (CFC) in China. CFC works with the Sichuan and Chengdu Civil Affairs government for disadvantaged children in: Chengdu, Guangyuan, Deyang, Zamtang, Maoxian, Neijiang, Zigong, Bazhong, Mianyang and Yibin in Sichuan Province in addition to Chongqing City.

We have heard from their project worker in Chengdu, Ms. Tang Yisu, that there were thankfully no fatalities in the Chengdu orphanage. We have an update on the damage to orphanages in the region as follows from their China Director, Robert Glover. The quake aftermath poses dangers due to lack of sanitation, clean water and concerns over disease outbreaks as well as major construction work required to repair damaged facilities and replace supplies.

A CFC report from Robert Glover in Sichuan on the status of the 13 orphanages located around the epicenter of the quake showed six of them had sustained damage to their buildings: cracked walls, weakened foundations and broken facilities. There were no accounts of death or injury to any of the children or their foster families. The 66 children staying at the Mianyang orphanage have been moved to a military outdoor shelter. CFC has not been able to contact the remaining seven orphanages located in closer to the epicenter of the Wenchuan earthquake due to interrupted telecommunications services. Please click here for the full report. (more…)

May 13 – The death toll from the 7.8 magnitude quake that hit southwest China’s Sichuan province has reached 9,219. Those killed numbered 8,993 in Sichuan, 132 in Gansu, 85 in Shaanxi, eight in Chongqing and one in Yunnan, according to sources.The death toll is expected to increase as earthquake relief and rescue efforts progress.

Chinese president Hu Jintao has made earthquake rescue and relief top priority at all government levels with the army, armed police, paramilitary forces, and medical personnel deployed to quake-hit areas.

The State Disaster Relief Commission and the Civil Affairs Ministry has issued a Level I emergency response plan to deal with the disaster. The Level I emergency plan is for the highest degree of natural disasters.

More…As of Tuesday morning, the Sichuan provincial seismological bureau reported more than 1,180 tremors up to six magnitude.

Following the quake, major highways and expressways have been closed in Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces. In addition, the expressway linking the provincial capital of Chengdu to Mianyang city has been shut-down since 2:28 pm Monday.

May 12 – Thousands are feared dead in the aftermath of a massive earthquake that struck Southwestern China’s Sichuan province on Monday. The 7.8 magnitude quake struck Wenchuan county at 2:28 p.m., leveling buildings and trapping those inside. Xinhua reported that 3,000 to 5,000 people were feared dead in Beichuan county near the quake’s epicenter. Roughly 80 percent of buildings in the county had been detroyed according to disaster relief officials. Current estimates are placing the dead at over 7,600 with as many as 10,000 injured, though that figure is expected to rise throughout the night as relief efforts intensify.

Earlier in the day, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs said that the earthquake killed at least 107 people in the provincial capital of Chengdu, neighboring Chongqing, Gansu and Yunnan provinces. Up to 900 teenagers were feared buried when their high school buildings in suburban Chengdu collapsed. By the evening, at least 50 bodies have been pulled from the rubble. (more…)

May 12 (Updated 17:00) - A major earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale struck Sichuan province in Southwest China at 2:28 p.m. on Monday.

The earthquake, centered in Wenchuan county – 146 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital of Chengdu – was felt as far away as Taiwan and Bangkok.

The U. S. Geological reported that aftershocks measuring 6.0 and 5.4 on the Richter scale followed the initial quake. On CNN, Bonnie Thie, country director for the Peace Corps, said that the aftershocks continued throughout the afternoon. State media is reporting that the aftershocks could continue into the evening, measuring from 2.2 to 6.0 in size.

The magnitude of the quake virtually assures that damage will be extensive and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is on his way to the area to personally oversee the relief effort. The government has already pledged aid for quake victims and the military has been deployed.

The remoteness of the region has limited damage and death reports, though Xinhua is now reporting that four primary students were killed and more than 100 injured when two schools collapsed in Chongqing.

May 12 - A major earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale struck Sichuan province in Southwest China at 2:28 p.m. on Monday.

The earthquake, centered 146 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital of Chengdu, was felt as far away as Taiwan and Bangkok. There have been no reports of damage yet, but the magnitude of the quake would suggest that it could be extensive.

Office buildings in both Beijing and Shanghai – which swayed for up to three minutes following the quake – were evacuated as a precaution against further aftershocks.

Land line and mobile communication networks throughout the country have been erratic for the hour following the quake. Public street announcements in Beijing are urging people to continue to evacuate office buildings and all offices along Jianguomen and Chang An Avenues appear to have been evacuated.

More to come as this story develops.

Foreign criticism often misguided

By Chris Devonshire-Ellis

April 9 - With so much talk recently of Tibet for various reasons, and so much Western paranoia about even mentioning the name of the country (blogs running the name as T*bet or T1bet displays rather a lack of confidence, or a somewhat bizarre notion of harboring anti-China naughtiness. It’s almost become a trendy fashion to mistype the capital city that cannot, apparently be actually spelt for great fear of the Chinese police shutting them down) we decided to dig out an old, long deleted back issue of China Briefing about the investment environment there, which we ran in 2002 (click on cover to download the pdf).

Then, China Briefing hadn’t quite reached the glossy professionally produced standards it has today, but it was at the time – pre-blogging of course – pretty much the only source of China investment information available concerning FDI legal and tax issues about China, at least for free. 40,000 print copies were produced for this issue and distributed across China, and online. The issue followed meetings I had with the Tibetan autonomous regional government, at the time headed up by Guo Jinlong, the Party Secretary. Guo, now the mayor of Beijing, spent some time with me explaining the issues China faced with Tibet, and was a generous host, treating us to Tibetan banquets, dancing and singing. He was also obviously a man who enjoyed getting out and about in Tibet’s harsh sunshine; he had become very dark tanned indeed. (more…)

April 7 - Investing in China’s Western regions has long been a favorite topic of China Briefing – the magazine released its first overview of them way back in 2002 in an out-of-print issue that we have resurrected for you. The region was subsequently covered by us again in 2003 and we also produced a financial comparison, again in the magazine, about investing in China’s central and western regions some 18 months ago (click on the relevant cover to download the issue).

Foreign businesses in the Western regions, as the Senior Partner of Dezan Shira & Associates, Chris Devonshire-Ellis advises, have all been centered on the local market, and with just a few exceptions, not for export at this stage of the regions development. (more…)

April 7 - The increase in used foreign direct investment in China’s western regions exceeded the nation’s average by 128 percentage points in the first two months this year, said an official of the ministry of commerce on Sunday.

During the first two months, the western regions’ actual use of foreign investment was US$1.393 billion, more than double the same period of 2007. A total of 254 foreign companies were approved to invest in the region, said a ministry spokesperson at the ongoing 12th Investment and Trade Forum for Cooperation between East and West China.

Ji Xiaofeng,a ministry official in charge of foreign investment management attributed the increase to the nation’s encouraging policy for foreign investment to the middle and western regions. She said the ministry was advocating a transfer of foreign investment from the eastern regions to the western areas and encouraging local governments to use the investment in an innovative way. (more…)