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☆ Chinese travelers are opting for lower-cost domestic destinations over foreign tourist spots
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-29 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesBEIJING — Chinese travelers are increasingly opting for cheaper domestic destinations over foreign tourist spots. The top reason for preferring their home country was "abundant domestic travel options," the survey found, followed by "too costly" international travel. Local tourism has been a bright spot in China's recovery from Covid-19 controls that ended in late 2022. watch nowDuring a public holiday this year from May 1 to May 5, domestic tourism trips and revenue surged versus pre-pandemic levels in 2019, official data showed. Local authorities said performing arts subsidies from the local governments helped generate 48.3 million yuan in ticket sales to 230,000 people, stimulating about 460 million yuan in economic activity.

Persons: Oliver Wyman, Trip.com, Ashley Dudarenok, Ashley Dudarenok ChoZan Organizations: Nurphoto, Getty, International, CNBC, China Locations: China's Guizhou province, BEIJING, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Covid, Yangzhou, Luoyang, Qinhuangdao, Guilin, Zibo, U.S, Xi'an, Guangxi, Nanjing

☆ Strained Chinese cities struggle to pay home buying subsidies
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Chinese cities have promised subsidies and other incentives to prop up the ailing property sector but have failed to deliver, frustrating potential homebuyers. The 30-year-old now pays 6,000 yuan of her 8,000 monthly salary on the mortgage for the 1.1 million yuan apartment and another 1,800 yuan to rent another one, relying on her parents for other basic expenses. Weifang, with a population of more than 9 million and an economy larger than Croatia's, and dozens of other Chinese cities, have promised subsidies and other incentives to homebuyers to prop up the ailing property sector. But the real estate downturn also affects the ability of cities to lease land to developers, a key revenue source. This meant some local governments were unable to raise funds to pay the promised subsidies, frustrating buyers and casting doubts over future support measures.

Persons: Amy Wang, Wang, Christopher Beddor, Gavekal Organizations: People's, Communist Party Locations: Hangzhou city, Zhejiang province, China, Weifang, Shangqiu

☆ Chinese navy ships visit Myanmar amid heightened security tensions
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Three Chinese navy ships have arrived in Myanmar on a goodwill visit as part of renewed Chinese defence engagement amid Chinese concern about a surge of fighting between Myanmar junta forces and insurgents near the Chinese border. The Chinese task force would "conduct naval security exercises" with Myanmar, it reported. This month, the Chinese and Vietnamese navies conducted their 35th joint patrol in Beibu Gulf since 2005, while Chinese troops held a border defence exchange with armed forces from Laos. The Chinese naval visit comes as Myanmar junta forces are battling ethnic minority insurgents near the border with China, raising concerns in China, which has called for peace. Chinese troops have been conducting live-fire drills on their side of the border since Saturday so that People's Liberation Army (PLA) forces are "ready for any emergency", the PLA Daily reported.

Persons: China's, Sun Bo, Albee Zhang, Ryan Woo, Robert Birsel Organizations: Myanmar, Liberation Navy, Senior, United, Liberation Army, PLA, PLA Daily, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, Myanmar, Myanmar's, Yangon, Gulf, Aden, Somalia, United Arab Emirates, Southeast Asia, Beibu Gulf, Laos, China

As life in China returns to normal after the pandemic, hawkers are hitting the streets. They look to at least supplement their income amid an uneven economic recovery in which jobs and wage growth has been sluggish. For decades, street stalls and hawkers - common elsewhere in Asia - have been banned or tightly regulated in many Chinese cities, with authorities seeing them as unsightly. The tech hub of Shenzhen, which banned hawking in 1999, will ease restrictions on street stalls from September. Lanzhou in the northwest said this month it would designate areas for street stalls as it sought to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship.

☆ Inside the Barbecue City That Is China’s Hottest Tourist Destination
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The flame-shaped neon archway was visible from miles away, which was good since there was little other reason for anyone to be in that part of town, an expanse of fields outside an industrial city in eastern China. The lights flickered between icy blue and red-hot, leaping toward the night sky beside a jumbo sign: “Zibo Barbecue Experiential Ground.”And what an experience awaited. Inside this Coachella for barbecue, visitors could pose with a mascot dressed like a meat skewer. They could watch a concert against an LED backdrop of radiating flames. Zibo, a once-obscure chemical manufacturing city in Shandong Province, has suddenly strangely — thanks to, of all things, barbecue — turned into China’s hottest tourist destination.

☆ President Xi Jinping says he doesn't want a hodgepodge 'street stall economy' in Beijing, even as China's youth unemployment rates hit a record high
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke against having a "street stall economy" in Beijing last week. It cannot operate 'factories in alleys' and engage in the 'street stall economy," Xi said, according to Insider's translation of his speech which was first reported by state news agency Xinhua. "Street stall economy" in China refers to recent efforts by local governments to revive their regional economies and to create jobs by promoting small entrepreneurship. China's youth unemployment rates are at a record highXi's opposition to the "street stall economy" could dash local government efforts to boost the economy through small entrepreneurship, even as China's youth unemployment rate hit a record high of 20.4% in April. This means 11 million Chinese people aged 16 to 24 are out of work, per CNN's calculations on April 30.

☆ Xi Jinping says no to ‘street stall economy’ in Beijing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Hong Kong CNN —Chinese President Xi Jinping has opposed the lifting of curbs on street vendors in Beijing, signaling splits within government over a policy shift aimed at tackling rising unemployment. In a recent tour of the Xiongan New Area, a city south of Beijing, Xi unusually revealed his personal views about the “street stall economy,” according to a report earlier this week by China’s state-owned Xinhua news agency. “The capital city is first and foremost a political center, not a ‘hodgepodge’, where ‘factories in alleys’ and the ‘street stall economy’ are not allowed,” he said. It’s unclear whether the capital must now comply with Xi’s views and outlaw street vendors once again. But the recent policy reversal was made against a backdrop of growing challenges facing the world’s second largest economy.

☆ Can the Zibo barbecue frenzy save China from economic crises?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Zhu Zheng/Xinhua/Getty ImagesSo many tourists flocked into Zibo, now dubbed China’s outdoor barbecue capital, that even the local tourism authorities urged visitors to go elsewhere. A few may, but most won’t.”A shop owner shows off grilled meat during a barbecue festival on April 29, 2023 in Zibo, eastern China. The city Zibo became a tourism hot spot after videos of its barbecue went viral online. China’s economy is navigating a growing array of challenges. The informal trade might reduce unemployment temporarily, and give people feeling poorer a boost, but it “won’t save China’s economy,” Tsang said.

HONG KONG, May 3 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Chinese travellers are opening their suitcases again, but not their wallets. Domestic travel bookings during the holiday surged eightfold from a year earlier, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, according to online travel agency Trip.com (9961.HK). The return of Chinese holiday-goers should be a huge relief at home and abroad. Before the pandemic, domestic tourism contributed a whopping 11% of GDP and 10% of national employment, according to Fitch. The country's Big 3 carriers - Air China (601111.SS), China Southern (600029.SS), and China Eastern (600115.SS) - are grappling with high oil prices, a weak yuan and geopolitical tensions.

☆ China has kicked off one of its first long post-pandemic holidays, and an industrial town with cheap barbecue is so popular that authorities are telling people to go elsewhere
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Zibo's popularity exploded after videos of its affordable local barbecue went viral on social media. It's so popular that Zibo city authorities are urging people to visit during off-peak periods or to consider going to other places in the Shandong province instead. Zibo's popularity exploded over the last two months after college students' videos of the city's affordable local barbecue went viral on social media, according to state-owned China Daily. "Some customers arrived in the morning and waited until evening to enjoy a barbecue supper," Yang Benxin, the owner of a local barbecue eatery, told the Chinese Communist Party-owned People's Daily on Saturday. Zibo's vibrant tourism scene mirrors a recovery in the sector in China with 240 million trips expected over the five-day holiday, according to the government-backed China Tourism Academy, per Xinhua.

[1/5] Passengers wait to board trains at Shanghai Hongqiao railway station ahead of the five-day Labour Day holiday, in Shanghai, China, April 28, 2023. REUTERS/Aly SongBEIJING, April 28 (Reuters) - China is bracing for a record-high travel rush over the Labour Day holiday, with popular sightseeing spots selling out of tickets and some cities warning would-be visitors away as domestic tourism rebounds after Beijing ended COVID curbs. Authorities are expecting 19 million trips to be made across China's vast railway network on Saturday, the first day of the five-day holiday, which would be the highest number of rail trips made in a single day in the country's history. Over the 40-day Lunar New Year travel period in January-February this year, 348 million trips were made in total, or about 8.7 million trips a day on average, according to the National Railway Administration. China's aviation authority said it expects air passenger trips to reach a total of 9 million over the five days.

☆ В Китае футбольный клуб подписал 126-килограммового игрока
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-19 | by ( Mld Media Srl | ) noi.md time to read: 1 min

Новый игрок должен проводить на поле все 90 минут игры и выполнять все стандартные положения. Китайский миллиардер приобрел один из футбольных клубов страны и ввел своего сына, который весит 126 килограмм, в состав команды. Отмечается, что клуб Zibo Cuju выступает во второй лиге страны. Согласно договору, новый игрок должен проводить на поле все 90 минут и выполнять все стандартные положения, включая пенальти. По результатам пяти туров команда имеет в своем активе один зачетный балл и два забитых гола.

În timpul unui meci acţionarul majoritar l-a obligat pe antrenorul echipei, Hongy Huang, să-l introducă pe teren pe He Shihua Jr., fiul milionarului. Băiatul care a primit numărul 10 cântăreşte 126 de kilograme şi nu are nimic în comun cu fotbalul. În principiu numărul 10 îl primeşte cel mai talentat jucător din echipă, cel care a re o tehnică rafinată şi poate să facă diferenţa, în liga a doua din China numărul 10 îl primeşti numai dacă tăticul este patron. Decarul echipei Zibo Cuju din a doua ligă chineză are 35 de ani şi nu a mai jucat niciodată un meci de fotbal la profesionişti, până când tatăl sau să cumepere echipă. Cu toate că în echipa milionarului He Shihua, se afla un real talent, fiind vorba de numărul 10 al echipei, aceştia nu au reuşit în cele 5 etape jucate să părăsească ultima poziţie din campionat.

Persons: Huang Locations: China, profesionişti

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