More Flights to Lhasa
According to the southwestern branch company of Air
China, China's largest airline, more flights will be
introduced in July and August to the capital of the
Tibet Autonomous Region, Lhasa.
The two months are the prime time for tourism in Tibet,
and arrivals will rise dramatically during the period.
The company decided to increase two more flights from
Chengdu, capital of neighboring Sichuan Province, to
the Tibetan capital. It will operate two more flights
to meet demand in August.
The company is the exclusive operator of Chengdu-Tibet
flights, and it hopes the planned flight increase will
help alleviate the shortage of plane tickets on this
flight route. Booming tourism in Tibet has greatly increased
the number of visitors heading to 'the Roof of the World',
together with rising trips by business people and those
going to see relatives in Tibet as more people outside
Tibet go for business in the region.
But due to unfavorable weather both in Chengdu and
Lhasa, flights are often delayed and in peak times passengers
cannot buy tickets unless they book a week earlier.
Because of geographic reasons, the airport in Chengdu
is prone to heavy fog while the airport in Lhasa is
likely to be hit by sandy weather or covered by low-altitude
clouds. - Xinhua
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China's Economic Growth
Probably Accelerated in Second Quarter
July 16 (Bloomberg) -- China's economic growth probably
accelerated in the second quarter as demand recovered
from the SARS epidemic a year earlier. Growth is likely
to slow as government curbs on lending stifle investment.
Gross domestic product probably expanded 10.5 percent
from a year earlier after rising 9.8 percent in the
first three months of this year, according to the median
of 10 economists' forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.
Growth will slow to 8.2 percent this quarter, the survey
showed. The government is due to report second-quarter
growth at 10 a.m. today in Beijing.
Premier Wen Jiabao has tightened controls on investment
by state-owned companies to alleviate power shortages,
unclog transport links and tame inflation. Reports this
week showing a slowdown in factory production and money-supply
growth suggest his efforts are starting to work.
"We're at a turning point in a large, complex
economy,'' said Andrew Salton, who helps manage about
$2.5 billion at Standard Life Investments in Hong Kong.
" It's a lot like turning around a super tanker.
In the interim, the market might get a bit jittery because
of that kind of uncertainty.''
To contact the reporters for this story: Philip Lagerkranser
in Hong Kong at lagerkranser@bloomberg.net
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China to be World's
2nd Biggest Aviation Market by 2022
BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhuanet) -- China will become
the world's largest aviation market second to the United
States by 2022, said Adam Brown, Airbus Vice President
of Customer Affairs Division, during his recent visit
to China.
During the next 20 years, he said, the Chinese mainland
airlines will need to acquire no less than 140-billion-dollar-worth
1,316 mainline passenger jets, or aircraft with at least
100 seats, so as to accommodate growing travel demand
and to renew their fleets.
This puts China in second place only behind the United
States in the world's aviation market, he said. It also
means that one in twelve of all jetliners produced during
the next 20 years will be used by Chinese mainland airlines.
More than 150 A320 aircraft are already in service
with Air China, China Eastern, China Southern and Sichuan
Airlines, and a further 79 are on order, including eight
A319s for a new customer, Hainan Airlines, he said.
Brown also predicted that 332 planes needed by China
during the next 20 years will be larger twin-aisle types
with 300 to 400 seats. Starting as early as 2008, Airbus
envisages that the Chinese airlines will be operating
as many as 105 of these very large aircraft with more
than 63,000 seats by 2022, he said.
Airbus also believes that Chinese airlines will need
A380 freighters. This new type of plane will enter service
in 2008. Both FedEx and Emirates Airlines have already
announced plans to operate their A380 freighters to
China, and they are likely to be joined by other overseas
cargo carriers as they are granted traffic rights, he
said.
He said, Airbus predicts that the airlines of the Chinese
mainland will be among the world's largest users of
A380-type aircraft in the long run.
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China to Host First
Marathon in Tibet
BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The 2004 International
Half Marathon Championship will be held in Lhasa, capital
of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, in mid-September.
This is the first time for China to host a marathon
in this high-altitude region, reported CRIENGLISH.com.
The competitive events include a half marathon, five-kilometer
and 10-kilometer races. Moreover, amateurs can participate
in a five-kilometer walking race.
It is expected that more than 2,000 runners will take
part in the challenge.
They will start from the square in front of the Potala
Palace and finish at the Tibet race course, passing
by famous scenic spots such as the Dazhao Temple and
the Sela Temple.
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National Treasures on
Show in China Geological Museum
BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Some precious national
treasures are now on display at the re-opened China
Geological Museum in Beijing, reported CRIENGLISH.com.
The museum showcases many pieces from late Chinese
leaders, including Chairman Mao Zedong, General Zhu
De and Premier Zhou Enlai.
The collections, which were given by the former leaders,
include arts and crafts, mineral samples and fossils.
Other attractions include a replica of one of the capital's
greatest archaeological finds ever, the ancient skeleton
of an early humanoid known as Peking Man.
The world's biggest pure crystal, weighing in at 2.5
tons, is also on show.
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China's First Tobacco
Museum Opens in Shanghai
Shanghai, July 15 (IANS) :
China's first tobacco museum, one of the largest in
the world, opened in Shanghai Thursday, Xinhua reports.
The $22-million museum, funded by tobacco companies
and associations nationwide, has several exhibition
halls showcasing themes on tobacco history, trade, culture
and smoking and its control.
It also shows smoking sets used by historical Chinese
celebrities including the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
The construction of the museum began in April 2002.
The museum's founders chose Shanghai because it was
the birthplace of China's modern tobacco industry, said
the museum staff.
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China's Exit-entry Numbers
Jump 30%
BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhuanet) -- China's exit-entry
numbers rose 30.78 percent from last year in the first
half of 2004, hitting a record of 129 million, the Border
Exit-Entry Administration of the Public Security Ministry
said Thursday.
More than 7.47 million people from 225 countries and
regions entered China during the first six months of
2004. Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) represent
the largest flow to the Chinese mainland with 19 percent
and 16.7 percent respectively.
Countries that also had a high percentage of entry
applicants were Russia, the United States, Malaysia,
Singapore, the Philippines, Mongolia, Thailand and Britain.
About 40.7 percent of the entries were for sight-seeing
and recreation; 16.69 percent were on business trips,
statistics said.
The number of exits from the Chinese mainland rose
62.65 percent to 13.33 million. More than 73 percent
went to Hong Kong or Macao. Japan was the leading overseas
destination, followed by Russia, Thailand, ROK, Vietnam,
the United States and Singapore.
Recreational travels and business trips accounted for
respectively 20.69 percent and 19.30 percent of the
exit flow, theAdministration said.
In the half year, China's border checkpoints recovered
from last year's SARS outbreak and reported even more
people come and go than in the first half of 2002. The
statistics shows that the number was 107.88 million
two years ago.
Local customs offices caught approximately 35,200 violators
of China·¦s exit-entry laws and regulations, including
2,988 illegal exit-and-entry cases so far this year.
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"Red Tour"
Program to be launched in Mao's Birthplace
CHANGSHA, July 15 (Xinhuanet) -- A so-called "Red
Tour" program is to be launched in Shaoshan City,
hometown of late Chinese leader Mao Zedong, on July
31, with a goal of luring 1 million students from all
over the country during the summer vacation.
The program is jointly sponsored by the National Administration
of Tourism, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist
Youth League, and the Provincial Government of Hunan,
according to Thursday's press conference held by the
city authorities.
It has been organized to follow the instruction of
Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Communist Party
of China (CPC) Central Committee, and Li Changchun,
member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central
Committee Political Bureau.
Students will enjoy preferential prices when they visit
some memorial sites such as the old residence of Mao
and Peng Dehuai, ageneral of the Chinese armed forces.
Shaoshan has been made one of the bases for patriotic
education by the central authorities.
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Giant Shenzhen Tourism
Park out to Steal Disneyland Magic
Pamela Pun
In an illustration of how tough it is for Beijing to
rein in development, a Shenzhen-based state-owned enterprise
is moving ahead with plans for a giant three billion
Yuan (HK$2.83 billion) tourism centre in an effort to
beat the 2005 opening of Hong Kong's Disneyland.
The facilities, measuring 7.2 square kilometers, are
being built by Overseas Chinese Town Group (OCT Group),
which last year had more than 16 billion Yuan in annual
sales revenue.
Beijing's express order to halt the construction of
golf courses apparently has put a hold on two planned
18-hole courses, each occupying 1.1 sq km in the project,
in Sanzhoutian on the border between Shenzhen's Yantian
and Longgang districts.
However, Beijing's demand that excessive land development
be stopped as well apparently has had little effect.
According to the influential China Business Post weekly,
OCT Group will soon employ thousands of workers to speed
up construction in coming months.
Officials with Overseas Chinese Town and the Shenzhen
government said there is no timetable for resuming the
construction of the golf courses - one planned for public
use and the other for commercial purposes.
Contacted by The Standard, an official with the OCT
Group, which controls Shenzhen-listed OCT Holdings and
Konka Group, said postponement of the golf courses would
not affect other parts of the firm's development plans.
"The rest will continue as usual,'' he said. "
Phase one will open to tourists on National Day [October
1] of 2005,'' said the staff member, who declined to
be named.
That is about two months before Hong Kong's Disneyland
theme park is expected to open at the end of next year.
OCT Group, the operator of leading theme parks such
as Splendid China and Happy Valley in Shenzhen, was
spurred to build the new facility because of fears that
the Hong Kong Disneyland operation would cut into revenues
from its other tourism facilities in east Shenzhen.
Those facilities are a part of the municipal government's
plan to turn the east area into a new tourism and entertainment
resort.
Once in operation, the facilities are expected to
bring in more than four billion yuan in tax revenue
for the municipal government, according to China Business
Post.
The facilities are said to have three themes - environmentally
friendly tourism, vacation and sport entertainment,
with the 18-hole golf courses, a world tea ceremony
exposition park and mountain sightseeing high on the
list.
OCT Group's sales revenue was up 44 per cent year on
year.
Net profit in 2003 grew by 13 per cent over the previous
year.
The group's listed arm - OCT Holdings - is among the
top 100 firms listed on the domestic A-share market.
The Shenzhen municipal government, which gave its blessing
to the project when it kicked off four months ago, also
hopes property developers will pour in money to help
lift the east Shenzhen property market.
There are other problems surrounding the golf courses.
After investigating the project, 11 Shenzhen municipal
legislators said the project is located in the rain
catchment area of two reservoirs in Longgang District.
They fear water resources for nearly one million residents
may be polluted by tones of fertilizers and pesticides
flowing into reservoirs and rivers.
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