Forbes China's newest rankings of the top 100 mainland Chinese cities for doing business suggest that as a business destination, Kunming and western China lag behind much of the rest of China but are starting to catch up.

This year Kunming was rated China's 60th-best city for doing business by Forbes. The ranking may not be impressive in itself, but Kunming was one of the fastest-rising cities in the list, jumping 37 places from its previous ranking of 97.

Not surprisingly, Forbes ranked Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen the top three mainland cities for doing business. Provinces with the most cities on Forbes' list include Jiangsu, which has 16 cities on the list, and Zhejiang and Shandong, which have 14 cities each.

What may be surprising to some, this year's rankings – the sixth time the magazine has published the list – suggest an increasing level of competition between Chinese cities. They also reflect the rising economic clout of China's central and western regions vis-à-vis the country's coast, where external demand and investment, which have contracted during the global recession, play a bigger role in local economies.

All major economic hubs in central China moved up in the Forbes rankings this year, including number 14 Wuhan (up 19 places), number 25 Zhengzhou (up 37), number 28 Changsha (up eight), number 61 Nanchang (up two) and number 62 Taiyuan, which made its first appearance on the list.

The once laggard region of western China has also been rising in economic importance. Remaining at number 12, Chengdu leads the way for western Chinese cities including number 24 Chongqing, number 31 Xi'an and Kunming. Three western cities made their debut on the list, with Nanning – Kunming's major rival for Southeast Asian markets – entering at the 54 spot, Guiyang at number 92 and Lanzhou at 93.

India's national government has decided not to go forward with plans to rebuild the Stilwell Road connecting northeast India's Assam State with Yunnan in China, according to a BBC report.

The decision follows a continuing impasse regarding the long-disputed border shared by China and India. Recent talks between the two countries ended with no resolution of border issues and a promise to talk more in the future.

The Stilwell Road is a former World War II supply route built in 1944 under the supervision of US General 'Vinegar' Joe Stilwell. The 1,700-kilometer (1,000-mile) road once connected Kunming with the city of Ledo in Assam state, with most of the road passing through northern Myanmar's Kachin state.

Several prominent officials in Assam state had been pressing for the reopening of the Stilwell Road in recent years, which they had viewed as being a potential source of economic growth which could stabilize India's occasionally restive northeast.

In 2006, more than 10,000 demonstrators demanded that the government reopen the road. Some analysts have estimated that as much as one-fifth of bilateral trade between China and India could pass through a revived Stilwell Road.

In addition to New Delhi's reluctance to reopen the Stilwell Road, the government of Myanmar has been cool to the idea of an international highway passing through Kachin state, much of which is controlled by the Kachin Independence Army, which has had a ceasefire with Myanmar's ruling junta since 1994.

The Chinese portion of the road, which heads westward from Kunming, has been completed for several years. Progress in Myanmar, where more than half of the road is located, has been slow. In 2007, India became the last of the three countries to start work on the road.

The Indian government's reversal of its decision to rebuild the Stilwell Road suggests that despite recent diplomatic breakthroughs between the two Asian powers, there are concerns bubbling beneath the surface. These concerns are likely to include Indian worries about China diverting the Brahmaputra River, Chinese involvement in the arms trade around Assam and China's stance toward Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing calls 'South Tibet'.

Nazeeb Arif, a native of Assam state and former secretary-general of the Indian Chamber of Commerce who is a major proponent of rebuilding the Stilwell Road, told the BBC that trade with China would be a boon to the region's economy, which lags behind much of the rest of the country:


Although New Delhi's unwillingness to rebuild its portion of the Stilwell Road is a major setback to pan-Asian transport integration, China will likely continue to increase its connectivity with the rest of South Asia, especially Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Earlier this week, the Nepalese government recently approved the launch of direct flights between Kathmandu and Kunming. The thrice-weekly flights will be plied by China Eastern Airlines and will make Kunming the third mainland city after Beijing and Guangzhou to have direct air links with the Nepalese capital.

The Kunming government is opening its doors to 40 economists from around China and the globe with the hope of finding candidates who can help build the city into a trade, transport, finance and culture hub, according to a kunming.cn report.

Taking a cue from the municipal governments of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou – all of which have recently hired staff from overseas – Kunming is in search of candidates with doctorate degrees in economics to work in positions such as deputy county chief, assistants to directors of development zones and deputy directors of selected municipal departments, the report said.

Candidates should be under the age of 40 and preferably have a background in urban planning, international trade or finance. Although Chinese media is promoting this as a global talent search, one of the conditions for applicants is that they hold Chinese citizenship.

Successful applicants will work a trial period of one to two years before being assigned their posts.

The invitation to economists from beyond China's borders suggests that the city government is in need of fresh perspectives and ideas as it attempts to build Kunming into China's gateway to Southeast Asia and India.

Interested candidates must apply before May 20, interested parties can receive application forms by emailing gkzp@km.gov.cn.

The words 'tennis powerhouse' are not generally associated with China, but the PRC has made great progress in recent years in terms of establishing itself as a rising star in the tennis world – witness Li Na coming in second at this month's Monterrey Open and Zheng Jie (pictured above) making it to the semifinals at Wimbledon last year.

In an effort to spur greater interest in tennis at the grassroots level, China's sports authorities announced the creation of a new national amateur tennis league – the China Open Rating Tour (CRT) – which will launch next month. As China Daily explains:


The tournament will be divided into six regions, with seven cities hosting competition. The regions and cities include: North (Beijing), Northeast (Shenyang), Central (Wuhan), East (Shanghai), South (Guangzhou) and West (Kunming and Chengdu).

Amateurs and retired professionals of any age – or nationality – are invited to apply to compete in the CRT via the league's official website.

Zheng Jie image: ydl169.com

China's State Council announced yesterday that Chinese university graduates who relocate to western or central China will be eligible for a full refund of their tuition fees. The program was one of several measures aimed at improving employment prospects for university graduates.

With 6.1 million new graduates entering a bleak domestic job market and an official unemployment rate of 12 percent among recent graduates, the central government is hoping to move educated students into towns and villages in western and central China, where they would be entering smaller but less competitive labor pools.

According to labor experts at the China Academy of Social Sciences, many university graduates would rather work low-skilled jobs in China's wealthier coastal cities than take skilled positions in the country's interior cities.

A recent Guangzhou Daily report said that in the past half year more than 2,000 university graduates had applied to work as domestic helpers in the city of Guangzhou, some of them holding Master's degrees.

The 'Go West' refund for graduates was announced after a State Council meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, the second such meeting aimed at addressing domestic labor concerns. A meeting on December 10 focused on migrant workers.

Other measures announced yesterday include university refunds for graduates who join the army, incentives for graduates to seek employment in small- and medium-sized enterprises and preferential loan policies and taxes for graduates who start their own companies.

Restrictions related to hukou were also removed for graduates who take jobs outside of their cities of official residence, not including the centrally administered municipalities of Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin and Chongqing.

Image: news.qq.com

Five years after SARS and the specter of the masked palm civet have faded from China's collective consciousness, consumption of wildlife – including threatened and endangered species – is back on the rise, according to a report released last week by the international wildlife trade monitoring organization Traffic.

The report, "The State of Wildlife Trade in China", concluded that medicinal plant and animal populations were under threat from widespread habitat loss combined with 10 percent annual growth of the Traditional Chinese Medicine market. Between 15 and 20 percent of medicinal plants and animals are now endangered, according to the report.

Kunming and five other cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Harbin and Chengdu – were the subjects of consumer attitude surveys conducted by Traffic in 2007. The report found that the belief that wild animals in particular were unpolluted and special, serving as an emotional motivator for consuming wildlife, while the nourishing and tonic aspects of wild animals served as a 'functional' motivator.

Forty-four percent of respondents of the survey, conducted from December 2007 to February 2008, said they had consumed wildlife within the previous 12 months. Within this group, 36 percent said they had consumed wildlife as food, while 16 percent had consumed wildlife in medicines or tonics. Respondents with high levels of income and education were found to be more likely to consume wildlife.

Not surprisingly, Guangzhou residents consumed the most wildlife, followed by Kunming residents. They were followed by residents of Harbin and Chengdu, respectively.

Growing demand and diminishing supply of wildlife were cited in the report as alarming trends which demand shifts in current government policy toward endangered and threatened species.

While there is little chance of anyone eating a panda in China, enforcement of other less-protected animals around the country could be more effective.

An excellent local example of this ineffective enforcement is the protected kanglang fish which is widely available at restaurants around Fuxian Lake, 70 kilometers southeast of Kunming, and has become a famous local delicacy partly because it is increasingly rare and expensive.

Related articles:

Yunnan's Buddhist temples preventing fish extinction

Protecting China's last elephant herd

Fuxian Lake and the disappearing kanglang fish

Kunming Airlines (昆明航空公司) announced that it will launch its first flights in January of next year, according to Kunming media reports.

Kunming Airlines CEO Wang Qingmin (王清民) told reporters that Kunming Airlines is receiving investment from Shenzhen Airlines and will also draw support from the airline's management and IT systems.

Kunming is building what is expected to be China's fourth-largest airport which is expected to drive the city's emergence as the main air hub between China, Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Wang said Kunming Airlines has a 15-year development plan it calls its '3-5-7 Plan', which involves three stages of strategic development. In the airline's first three years (2008-2010) the airline will assemble a fleet of 30-40 planes and establish an extensive flight network throughout Yunnan. During this stage the airline will also establish routes to China's provincial capitals and economically developed cities on the mainland, eventually connecting these cities with major Southeast Asian destinations.

In the following five years (2010-2015) the airline plans on upgrading its fleet to 80-100 planes and establish hubs in Xi'an and Guangzhou while strengthening its trunk and branch routes.

During the seven years after that (2015-2022) Kunming Airlines will expand its fleet to 150-200 planes and establish hubs in Tianjin and Hangzhou and will focus on developing its international reach.

Shenzhen Airline's involvement in Kunming Airlines brings needed credibility to the new airline, which was formally established in 2005. Established in 1993, Shenzhen Airlines has been profitable for the last 14 years and is China's largest privately held airline. Specific terms of Shenzhen Airlines' investment in Kunming Airlines have not been released.

Related articles:

Kunming to get new airline

Kunming to build China's 4th-largest airport

Kunming-Singapore rail link, Yunnan Airport Group seeking investment

First came the great winter storm of 2008, then the devastating Wenchuan earthquake, whose official death toll now stands at nearly 70,000. Now China is coping with its third major natural disaster of the year as heavy rains and floods batter the country's south.

Continuing heavy rains in Yunnan and across southern China since June 6 have led to 57 deaths and 1.27 million people fleeing their homes, with more rain expected throughout the region over the coming days. According to Xinhua reports more than 17 million people have been affected by the flooding with more than 10.6 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) in damage incurred so far.

The rains have led to the swelling of rivers in China's south, with key manufacturing province Guangdong experiencing its worst flooding in 50 years. On Monday, Guangdong's provincial flood control bureau ordered local governments in Guangzhou and eight other cities to reinforce river embankments and make evacuation preparations.

Although damage in Yunnan has been relatively light compared to Guangdong and other lower-lying areas including Jiangxi, Guizhou and Hunan provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, rains here are a major concern as many of the flooding rivers – including Guangdong's Pearl River – have their headwaters in Yunnan.

China's National Meteorological Center is forecasting more rains in southern parts of the country - including Yunnan - over the next few days.

Image: Xinhua