China is building a new radio telescope in the mountain of Guizhou province, in southern China. Upon its expected completion in 2016, it will be the biggest in the world, with a diameter of 500 meters. The project is expected to enable the surveying of neutral hydrogen in the Milky Way and other galaxies, the [...]
Just read an article on the BBC, hypothesizing whether China is going to overtake the USA on science. The title of the article is a little misleading, as the contents refer to the number of scientific publications. To overtake as a leader in scientific research, I think there’s still a long way to go for [...]
Technological development has been running counter to control, especially in countries where control, not just of of user identity, is considered crucial. Economic and technological developments come hand in hand, there is simply no way to have only one. However, as development brings new ways of communication, new ways of life, new ways of doing [...]
In a previous post, I was talking of the so-called decadence card, which is part of the problems in the e-payment industry in China. Companies that are providing e-payment services are not registered as financial institutions, therefore, they are not subject to the same People’s Bank of China (PBOC) regulations on financial institutions. However, their [...]
The charge card industry in China is worth hundreds of billions of RMB a year, operating on the margin of the jurisdiction of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). The card issuing companies are not registered as financial institutions, therefore, are not subject to the same regulations as financial institutions. The cards come in different [...]
As the buzzing of the vuvuzula fills every stadium in South Africa, and after watching the match featuring France against South Africa, this reminds me of a very funny story told by a friend a few years earlier. This friend of mine went to Chongqing for vacation. He was looking at the menu in a [...]
Financing has always been a hard problem in China, especially for small and medium businesses. It is understandable that banks are reluctant to lend to small businesses, as credit evaluation system is almost nonexistent, although governments at different levels have been trying to establish some kinds of measures and evaluation mechanisms. Businesses may need an [...]
Scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China, in Hefei, and from Tsinghua Universtiy, in Beijing, have succeeded to transport quantum information over a free space distance of 16 km, from a source at Badaling in Beijing to a destination in Huailai in Hebei province (see map below). Quantum information teleportation is not [...]
A new amendment to the Law on Guarding State Secrets is being reviewed by the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee. The new amendment requires telecom and Internet operators to detect, report and delete information that disclose state secrets. It also stipulates that they have obligation to work with authorities on investigations. The amendment also [...]
Someone who is not yet familiar with the Chinese banking industry recently asked me what is the role of China UnionPay, as he sees the logo on credit cards, debit cards, ATMs, etc. After explaining to him, I realised it might a good idea to put it here, in case someone might find it useful. [...]