Grueling Gaokao Tests China's College Seekers

Consumer spending is what China needs now: Wen Jiabao

(NEWSER) - China's premier today called on his countrymen to spend big to boost the national economy because international markets aren't up to the job. "Expanding domestic demand, particularly consumer demand, is essential to ensuring China's long-term, robust economic development, and is the focus of our economic work this year," Premier Wen Jiabao told the National People's Congress. To that end, Wen pledged greater support for health care, social security, jobs programs, and public housing to put more money in people's pockets, reports AP . The government will also back more paid vacations and greater consumer credit, he vowed. His address underscores a new government concentration on bolstering consumer spending in China rather than a focus on exports and low-cost labor. More»

Shanghai ranks at the top in all three areas

(NEWSER) - China is emerging as a world powerhouse, and that extends into the classroom. Shanghai teenagers outscored their peers around the world on the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey, and Hong Kong also ranked high in all three areas: second in math and science, fourth in reading. This was China's first year participating in the tests, a generation after the Cultural Revolution badly damaged the country's school system, Time notes. More»

(NEWSER) - China's version of eBay is flourishing despite a crawling global economy and critics accusing the company of abetting black marketeers, the New York Times reports. Started 6 years ago, Taobao.com offers free listings, which forced eBay out of China and lured 120 million users who generate $15 billion in annual sales. Analysts say that number will double next year. “It’s their Amazon and eBay combined," says one expert. More»

The exercise showed China to be the savviest economic operator

(NEWSER) - Last month, the Pentagon hosted a new kind of war game, focused not on a “shooting war,” but on how hostile states might damage the US economy, Politico reports. Instead of decorated military brass calling the shots, shirt-sleeved hedge fund managers, academics, and executives played out scenarios shifting the global balance of power through financial moves. The outcome: China won while the US and Russia got beaten by trying to beat each other. More»

Unexpected 2.2% fall has analysts fearing major crisis for powerful economy

(NEWSER) - China’s exports have taken a sudden, unexpected hit from the global economic crisis, possibly an early indication that the world’s fourth-largest economy is on the verge of crisis. Exports, expected to rise at least 15%, shrunk instead by 2.2%, marking the first such fall in 7 years for the Asian giant, the Daily Telegraph reports. More»