Highlights from the EO print, issue no. 353 – 354, February 4^th – 11^th 2008  

Chinese Enterprises Struggling Amidst Snowstorm 
Cover Story 
Apart from escalating costs, some Chinese enterprises have also been slapped with lawsuits for delayed delivery of consignments as China combats one of the worst snowstorms in decades. The prolonged snows between late January and early February cut power and closed roads all over southern China. As production lines shut down and shipments queued along afflicted highways, many businesses were unable to get shipments to their destinations on time. These companies are braving a tough time ahead, as they will have to resolve lawsuits in the aftermath of the snowstorm.
Original article: [Chinese]

Emergency Insurance Measures Initiated
Cover
The Chinese government has initiated a fast-track approval mechanism for insurance claims on losses resulted from the snowstorm that brought chaos in southern China. The directive to set up "green-lane" compensation, including on-the-spot payment for small claims under 3,000 yuan, was issued by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission on February 1^st. According to the commission, as of end of January, the estimated economic losses in 17 provinces stood at 32.67 billion yuan with 3.519 billion yuan worth of insurance compensation had been issued.
Original article: [Chinese]

Government Duties after the Storm
Editorial, cover 
The heavy snowstorm in southern China has taken the authorities and the public by surprise and resulted in ad-hoc emergency and relief responses as the disaster unfolded. The incident has highlighted the lack of China's natural disaster monitoring and warning systems; and has also amplified problems stemming from systemic defects, such as an energy sector strained by a lack of reasonable pricing-mechanisms; and the bottleneck of holiday transportation to shuttle a migrating workforce to and from home can trace its root to unbalanced development between rural and urban areas. The government, as the provider of public services and a crisis manager, has the duty to look further into disaster relief and rehabilitation after the storm blows over.
Original article: [Chinese]

Economic Consequences of Heavy Snowstorm
News, page 2 
In the aftermath of a snowstorm that damaged vast agricultural fields, a shortage of food products and resulting price rises are expected. On the other hand, as billions worth of infrastructure, housing and amenities were destroyed, the rehabilitation and rebuilding process is expected to boost investment and benefit certain sectors, such as energy, iron and steel, construction, engineering, railway and transportation. Market watchers believe the task to control inflation will become increasingly hard in the short run after the snowstorm.
Original article: [Chinese]

Charity Funds Affected by Corporate Tax Law
News, page 3 
The newly implemented Corporate Tax Law that came into effect on January 1^st may harm the capacity of charity funds to carry out public work, as the law requires non-profit organizations investing in business operations to pay 25% of corporate tax. In recent years, charitable trust funds looking for self-reliance and sustainable funding have made strategic investments for "returns", which is then channeled into charity projects. The new law treats such returns as profits resulted from business operations, but several members from China's political advisory body – the National Committee of Political Consultative Conferences – are planning to call for tax exemptions for such non-profit organizations at the upcoming national level meeting.
Original article: [Chinese]

Policies Barometer
News, page 4 
The EO draws special attention to 14 central government ministers and analyzes the direction their core policy will take this year. Among the strategies expected to be deployed which will impact China's business and economic environment include tightening monetary policy, making structural adjustments for imports and exports, increasing tax collection by local government, and reforming salaries, healthcare, and landuse.
Original article: [Chinese]

Yahoo China to Truly Enter the Alibaba's Ecosystem
Corporation, page 19 
After nearly three years after being acquired by the Alibaba Group, Yahoo China is undergoing another round of restructuring to be truly integrated into the former, China's most prominent electronic commerce framework. Yahoo China terminated about 100 staff in January, abolished its new media, search engine and communication units and replaced them with website operation, email operation, technical engineering and market communication departments. Sources disclose that the move aims to realign Yahoo China’s operations to focus on a new generation of electronic commerce platform that combines search engine, community networking and business operations for aspiring entrepreneurs – to be integrated with Alibaba’s other services in the future.
Original article: [Chinese] 

Incentives for Cars Powered by Alternative Energy
Automobile, page 25 
The Chinese government is drafting regulations that will promote research and development of cars that use alternative energy and conserve resources. Incentives such as soft loans, subsidies and tax cuts are said to be on the drawing board as the government gathers experts’ opinion from academic institutions, car makers and related authorities.
Original article: [Chinese]

Call for Liberating Chinese Education System
Observer, page 35
Lui Daoyu, a Chinese educator, talks about the need for an overhaul of the Chinese education system. He believes education, like a market economy, can perform better with minimal government intervention.
Original article: [Chinese]