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Article featured in Business Beijing, August 2005
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Editor's Note

2005/08/14

Important things are happening quickly and often in China's financial industry, and writers and editors have to work hard and fast too keep pace.

We've tried to do that in this issue of Business Beijing with our "Cover Story" on China's July 21 revaluation of the renminbi currency (also known as the yuan) and its reference to a basket of currencies (see page 14), but there's no rest for financial writers these days as the reforms keep coming and coming.

Since July 21, China has announced that companies would be allowed to keep more of their foreign exchange earnings rather than converting them into yuan; it announced that banks would now be allowed to engage in a wider range of yuan trading in "forwards" and "swaps" on the mainland interbank market; and it announced the basket of currencies referred to on July 21, dominated by the US dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen, the South Korean won. But central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said the currencies of other key trading partners with China will also be considered in setting the value of the yuan.

American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) President Charles M. Martin reminds us that these reforms are taking place within a very fluid political-economic context (see page 19) and that some old issues still need attention.

Chances are, though, that Beijing taxi drivers are much more worried about finances at their local gas pump than they are about global financial regimes, as higher oil and fuel prices begin to have their effects in the car-crazy capital city. See this article before buying a new car (page 26).

We also touch on the ancient and modern in this issue with our stories on a new "buffer zone" that will add protection for the Forbidden City and surrounding areas, and the increasingly "Digital Beijing" profiled in "Street-smarts Redefined" on pages 30 and 34.

We hope you will find this issue of Business Beijing entertaining, informative and profitable.

Editor



 
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