SENTENCE REDUCTION FOR FORMER TOP OFFICIAL’S WIFE

Bogu Kailais suspended death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment， the Beijing Higher Peoples Court announced on December 14.

Bogu Kailai， 57， wife of Bo Xilai， former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China （CPC） and former Party chief of Chongqing Municipality， was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve， in the November 15， 2011 murder of British businessman Neil Heywood at a Chongqing hotel in August 2012.

Bogu Kailai is serving her term at the Beijing Yancheng Prison. The prison proposed commuting her death sentence. According to the Chinese law， a suspended death sentence can be commuted to life imprisonment after two years if the prisoner has not intentionally broken the law while serving his or her sentence.

Prior to her imprisonment， she was a lawyer and founded her own law firm.

Novel Incentive for Sorting Garbage

Changsha Evening Newspaper December 15

Beijing is adopting an innovative way to encourage waste classification through the application of quick response codes. Under the new system residents who register for an account on Chinas most popular instant messaging app， WeChat， will receive reward points that they can swap for commodities and even cash when they sort their garbage. Although the actual effects of the garbage classification reward program is unknown yet， the move should get a thumbs up.

The push for garbage classification has advanced sluggishly and mostly fruitlessly in much of China because of the lack of workable means and poor public awareness. Citizens tend to mix all waste together in a bag and throw it away in the nearest trash bin， turning a blind eye to garbage-sorting instructions. In fact， some waste like batteries， if buried in the ground， will cause permanent damage to the land by making it barren.

The application of quick response codes and rewards may encourage people to classify garbage， but without drastically raising public awareness of the need to sort waste， the use of pure economic means may not lead to a drastic change. Besides financial incentives， punishment for mixing garbage should be implemented.

Private Delivery Industry： Dark Horse

Oriental Outlook December 17

Chinas private express delivery service industry， started in 1993， is booming with the development of e-commerce. The volume of packages in China between January and October was 15.6 billion， generating a revenue of 213 billion yuan（$32.9 billion）. Private delivery companies， previously considered as illegal businesses running in the dark before 2009 due to policy constraints， became a dark horse in Chinas economy.

About 60 to 70 percent of express orders come from online shoppers. The volume of business in the express industry has kept growing by 50 percent for four successive years under the economic downward pressure. By collaborating with Taobao.com， a top e-commerce company in China， YTO Express has become the number one delivery provider with an average volume of 10 million per day.

To get more orders， many express companies have to lower the price， resulting in a fall of profit rate—from 30 percent in 2005 to below 5 percent in 2013. A small profit margin results in ho-mogeneous and poor services， which in turn jeopardize their development. Unlike these companies， SF Express is thriving by targeting the middle- and high-end market and providing premium service.

To avoid price wars and provide differentiated services， express companies have begun to collaborate with each other. SF Express， STO Express， ZTO Express and YUNDA Express， in June 2015 decided to build an online smart express box to speed up delivery. Integration and the reshuffle of the express delivery service industry are inevitable.

Reforming State-Owned Farms

Caijing Magazine December 14

The Chinese Government on December 1 approved and released a proposal to reform state-owned farms （SOFs） by corporatization and integration.

SOFs aimed to pool armymen who were transferred to civilian work to open up wastelands for farming after the Peoples Republic of China was founded in 1949. As a legacy of Chinas planned economy era， the SOF system is a trinity of government， enterprise and social organization with its own courts， hospitals， schools and other public service institutions. By now， China is dotted with 1，780 SOFs with a population of 14 million and an area of 370，000 square km.

SOFs， with abundant land and resources， have provided various high-quality farm products including grains， beans， cotton， rubber， milk and sugar. But there is a pressing need for reforms. In 2014， the output value of the SOF system was 642 billion yuan （$99 billion）， much lower than expectation for such an agricultural giant. Worse still， excessive centralization of power and the defective management system in SOFs have resulted in income gaps among employees， property right disputes， and loss of state assets.

According to the proposal， the Chinese Government will split the trinity by turning SOFs into market-oriented companies and transferring their public service functions to local governments in three years. In fact， reforms have taken place in SOFs in Beijing. Since 1998， Beijing SOFs have been transformed into competitive modern agricultural groups.

FORMER NBA PLAYER GRANTED ‘GREEN CARD

Former NBA All-Star guard Stephon Marbury was recently granted the Chinese “green card，” or permanent residence card.

The New York native has become the first foreign athlete to join approximately 5，000 expats who have been given the permit since China introduced the policy in 2004.

Apart from exempting holders from the trouble of reapplying for a new visa every year， the permit makes it easier to open a bank account for business purposes， apply for a drivers license or buy a house.

The 38-year-old came to China six years ago and has led the Beijing Ducks to three Chinese Basketball Association championship titles since 2012.

“The persistent high cost of financing is hurting business sentiment. Reforms of the financial system should allow companies to expand the issuance of long-term debts and rely less on bank credit.”

Li Daokui， an economist at Tsinghua University， responding to a statement released after a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held on December 14， which said China should continue to keep economic growth at a proper range and advance structural reforms in 2016

“With an age difference between two companies of nearly 100 years， this is truly a mix of the old and the new.”

Alibaba Group Executive Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai Chung-hsin， in a letter to South China Morning Post readers on the newspapers website after the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. announced a full acquisition of Hong Kongs oldest English-language newspaper on December 11

“Suspicious commutation and early release， bullying， the unnatural death of detainees and escapes are major law enforcement issues people are concerned about. They demand justice in criminal penalties.”

Shen Guojun， a senior official of the Supreme Peoples Procuratorate （SPP）， responding to a SPPs announcement to tighten supervision over sentence reduction， parole and serving time outside jail， with a focus on sentence alterations for the rich and the powerful on December 16

“Higher interest rates by the U.S. central bank will cause further capital outflow and weaken the yuan. In order to stem the capital outflow and defend the currency， the Peoples Bank of China would have to raise the interest rate， which is contrary to its objectives.”

Sung Won Sohn， a professor of economics at California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo， California， responding to the U.S. Federal Reserves interest rate rises on December 16