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China Construction Bank (CCB), the country’s third-largest lender, said its net profits increased in the third quarter.

According to a release posted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s website Friday night, CCB’s net profits grew 11.95 percent to 25.6 billion yuan (3.74 billion U.S. dollars) from July-September.

Net interest income rose 14 percent to 57.1 billion yuan in the third quarter. Net earnings were 0.11 yuan per share, based on domestic accounting standards. That’s up 10 percent from the same period last year, the release said.

From Jan. to Sept., the lender’s net interest income totaled 168.2 billion yuan, up 20.73 percent year on year. The amount of bad loans, in the same period, was 6.63 billion yuan less than the end of last year. CCB’s total amount of bad loans currently is 78.54 billion yuan.

At the end of September, the lender held subprime mortgage securities valued at 244 million U.S. dollars, according to the release. It also had 191 million U.S. dollars in bonds issued by Lehman Brothers and 1.51 billion U.S. dollars in bonds issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The government’s latest tax initiatives, which exempt first time property buyers from paying the stamp tax, helped buoy the country’s cooling real estate sector.

China also lowered the down payment from 30 to 20 percent for first time home buyers which strengthened the property market.

Analysts said these adjustments boosted CCB’s profitability as it is the nation’s leading mortgage lender.

Stocks headed for a lower open on Wednesday as a larger-than-expected 2.5 percent drop in June new orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods revived worries that the economic recovery might be weak.

Falling commodity prices also looked set to weigh on shares of natural resource companies, and investors fretted about the impact of an overnight sell-off in Chinese stocks.

Concerns that authorities might take measures to cool the 80-percent gain in Shanghai shares this year sent Chinese stocks down 5 percent (.SSEC) — their biggest daily decline in eight months.

But the slide in durable goods orders, the largest drop since January, drove stock index futures to the morning’s lows. Investors sought more evidence that the economic recovery is gaining traction in order to sustain the market’s latest run-up.

“Durable goods orders were weaker than expected, but if we take out transportation, the data was a bit better than expected,” said Steve Goldman, market strategist at Weeden & Co in Greenwich, Connecticut.

“The fall in futures today is a reaction to being overbought so much and the Chinese market falling about 5 percent last night. China is looking for some type of a reversal.”

S&P 500 futures shed 7.2 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures dipped 42 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures were off 7.50 points.

Concerns about China also weighed on global commodity prices, with U.S. front-month crude falling 2.9 percent or $1.95 to $65.28 a barrel. The Select Sector SPDR Energy exchange-traded fund declined 1.7 percent.

The benchmark S&P 500 is up 44.8 percent from the 12-year lows of early March.

For 200 years, Dezhou in east China’s Shandong Province has been famous for braised chicken cooked in soy sauce with special spices.

But today the city of 5 million people has shifted its specialty from cuisine to solar energy.

Here a State-level pilot energy-efficient building project has been under construction since January. The first four of 12 apartment buildings, each either 12 or 15 floors, will be handed over to buyers in June next year, said Cheng Muwen, deputy director of the city’s development and reform commission.

The compound, which will eventually contain 1,900 households, will have solar-powered heating and air conditioning systems installed in the roofs of the apartment blocks.

Power supply for lighting in the compound’s public areas and gardens will be produced by photovoltaic devices.

“The Dezhou City government requires all real estate projects to incorporate energy-saving measures, or they will not be approved,” Cheng said.

In the past decade, Dezhou has gradually gained a reputation as a solar-powered city. Street lamps and lighting in the parks are equipped with small-scale solar panels, and solar-powered water heaters reflect the sun on apartment building roofs. In addition, the city is powering traffic lights using the sun’s rays.

“About 80 percent of residential buildings in our city are equipped with solar water heaters,” said Xu Jie, director of the energy saving office of the city government.

Dezhou, positioned between latitudes 36.24 and 38 degrees north, does not receive any more sunshine than its counterparts.

Major support for the city’s energy programs comes from approximately 100 private solar-power enterprises in the city. They contribute to 16 percent of China’s solar-powered water heating and have an annual revenue of 5 billion yuan.

Himin Group, the largest, which claims it sells 3 million square meters of solar-powered vacuum tubes a year, has made its own office building an eco-friendly model of solar energy applications.

Green plants grow on the roof, solar panels hang on outside walls, and windows are equipped with highly efficient heat-absorbing glass and blinds that automatically open or close according to temperature changes inside.

“There is no traditional air conditioning system but it is still very cool inside,” said Han Changming, a Himin employee who has an office in the building.

Cold water runs through pipes in the ceiling, fueled by solar power. In the winter, warm sunshine outside will be turned into heating inside via the same pipes.

“The air from the ventilation system is gentle and comfortable like natural breezes,” Han said.

Besides the office building — with about 800 employees - there is a five-star hotel with 500 rooms powered by the same energy-efficient arrangements.

The hotel, which started trial operations Thursday, will be the main venue of the fourth World Solar Cities Congress in September next year.

These are part of the Himin Group’s ambitious plan to build a “Solar Valley” in a 333-hectare-area in Dezhou’s suburbs.

“We are aiming to build a world-class research and manufacturing center of renewable energy as well as a center that promotes energy-saving ideas,” said Huang Ming, the company’s president.

Located in the northwestern part of Shandong, away from more developed coastal regions, Dezhou has a long farming tradition but since the 1990s has been exploring possible methods of industrialization.

“We are very eager to develop industry but if we head in the wrong direction, the harder we work the more damage we will do,” said Lei Jianguo, the city’s Party chief and most senior official.

Finally, the city fathers elected for solar energy. In May, the city announced it would make itself into a low-carbon city.

It is not accidental that Dezhou is trying hard to replace petroleum and coal energy with renewable and clean forms.

Two weeks ago, the State Council (the Cabinet) pledged China would try its best to reduce energy intensity by 20 percent during 2010 and increase the ratio of renewable energy to 10 percent of total energy consumption.

It decreed long-term development strategies developed by governments at all levels should include plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This week in Beijing, China’s top legislature is reviewing a draft resolution on climate change, which will accelerate the country’s attempts to tackle the pressing challenge of global warming.

Prof. He Jiankun, deputy head of the national expert commission for climate change, said in an interview with Xinhua: “As China is on its way to realizing industrialization, consumption of petroleum and coal will continue increasing and so will greenhouse gas emissions. That’s why we are so eager to develop renewable and clean energies.”

He said the supply of renewable energies had increased by 60 percent from 2005 to 2008, but he did not give figures.

Despite the work being done in the area, many factors have been holding back the wide application of renewable power sources such as solar energy.

“Builders of most existing high-rises in big cities did not consider solar energy applications in advance and it is very difficult to equip an existing building with solar devices after it has been built,” Huang Ming said.

Cost is another problem. “It does not cost much to have solar water heaters but it costs twice as much to build an entity like our office building,” he said.

Qi Jianguo, an economic and environmental policy researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) said, besides the cost, another weak point was the instability of power grids as solar generators could not produce energy at night.

“China still needs to work hard to update technologies in this field. And developed countries, which are leading research, should lend a hand,” he said.

As one of its international efforts, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has chosen two Chinese cities, Shanghai and Baoding in northern Hebei Province, as pilot areas for low-carbon building.

The WWF will help the cities develop energy-efficient building experience and renewable energy applications suitable for conditions in China.

When typhoon Morakot pounded Taiwanon Aug. 8 leaving heavy casualties in its wake, Fang Guokai in Hunan Province suffered pangs of anxiety about his elder brother Chenxi on the island.

A phone call relieved him. His brother’s families in Taipei were safe and unharmed.

Guokai, 78, and his wife Wang Moxun have just returned from Taiwan in June after a one-month visit to Chenxi and his wife. Most excitingly, Guokai was able to stay with his brother for a month, their longest family time together since Chenxi left the mainland in 1949.

It was the Fangs’ first, and very probably the last visit to Taiwan after 60 years of waiting.

The brothers were raised up in an affluent rural family in Putian City, southeastern Fujian Province, a coastal city opposite Taipei about 200 km across the Taiwan Strait.

Born in 1918, Chenxi joined the army of the Kuomintang (KMT) in1940 after a year of study at a well-established military academy in Jiangxi Province.

He fought for the KMT in the Chinese war against the Japanese invaders. During the four-year civil war with the PLA, the KMT troops were defeated. They began to flee southward in early 1949.

Chenxi, then a battalion commander, tried to take the whole family to flee with him. Failing to take his parents, his wife and daughter out of the mountain village due to the chaotic situation, he fled alone further southwards.

“I was really, really sad at the time,” Chenxi says in Taiwan over a telephone interview. He still remembers the heart-breaking moment when his son Jianzhong, then ten, who climbed onto a military vehicle, crying and begging to go with him. Chenxi refused and dragged him off the vehicle.

In 1949, nearly 2 million KMT army and their families fled the mainland to Taiwan. On Oct. 1 that year, the People’s Republic of China was established in Beijing.

It marked the beginning of lasting confrontation and division between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. For several decades, the mainland vowed to liberate Taiwan by force while the KMT pledged to recover the mainland by the same means.

Fleeing the mainland, Chenxi was stationed on Jinmen (or Kinmen) Island, less than 10 kilometers off Xiamen’s coastline. He participated in a battle in late October 1949 between the KMT army and some 8,700 PLA troops from the 10th Army Corps of the Third Field Army, who landed on the island in an attempt to seize it.

The battle ended with the PLA troops failure. Two months later, Chenxi escorted PLA POWs to Taiwan.

At the same time in Putian, Guokai enlisted as a soldier in the10th Army Corps of the Third Field Army. After months of training, he became an artilleryman.

In late 1950, Guokai was stationed in Xiamen, where he was preparing a full-on assault to liberate Taiwan.

“Without the Korean War, the chances that the PLA would have attacked Taiwan were high. And my shells would have burst around him,” Guokai says, grinning.

In February 1953, Guokai took part in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea as the Chinese People’s Voluntary Army.

In 1958, Guokai was transferred to civilian in Hunan Province, working as a teacher at an engineering industrial college for four years.

In 1962, he began to work at a local ordnance factory. Soon, he noticed that his overseas connection with his brother had made him become “a person with questionable family background.” He was a technician, but kept away from field production.

The outbreak of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), during which personal issues were exaggerated with political overtones, brought Guokai more trouble due to the overseas connection. “The Red guards” searched his house and took away personal belongings. He was not considered for pay rises or promotion.

His wife recalls the raid at midnight in September 1968. “I was a bit scared. I had been pregnant for around eight months and Lao Fang (Guokai) was not at home. My two children were frightened and crying,” she says.

They (Red guards) couldn’t find any so-called evidence, and repeatedly accused me of being dishonest.

Guokai didn’t know of the raid until he returned home the next day. But he was not afraid and felt lucky he had fought in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, which the CPC deemed as agreat victory.

“Had I not participated in the War nobody would have known the consequences (of having an overseas connection). The war gave me a certain political stock,” he says.

His worry was justifiable. In political movements since 1949 such as the 1957 Anti-Rightist campaign and the Cultural Revolution, some innocent people, including Chenxi’s son Jianzhong, suffered political persecution or even lost their lives because of their overseas connections.

Jianzhong was imprisoned for five years for being born into “a reactionary family” and for his writings against economic policies during the “bloom and contend” drive in early 1957. He was sent to Jiangxi to serve his sentence. His grandfather was hard hit by the sentence and died less than two months later.

All these were unknown to Chenxi on the other side of the Strait.

In 1956, he rejoined and returned to KMT’s Jinmen defense zone. In August 1958, he survived fierce shelling when the PLA unleashed a massive artillery bombardment on the island.

In late 1959, he retired from the army and became a civil servant.

Now in a settled residence, Chenxi managed to resume communications with a fellow townsman in Putian, an Indonesian who had been in contact with his relatives there after 1949.

Chenxi obtained vague information about his families in the years since he left. He was saddened to hear his wife had died of an illness in 1952.

In April 1963, Chenxi married again. With the help of his Chinese Indonesian friend, he was able to send letters back home. And around 1969, he received a first letter from his daughter.

In 1970, Guokai went back to Putian for a visit and his mother told him Chenxi was still alive in Taiwan. Guokai was excited, but pretended to be cool and unaware of anything about his brother.

The misfortune of being perceived as having an overseas connection was cleared with the end of the Cultural Revolution.

After the mainland endorsed the reform and opening-up in 1978, hostility and political confrontation at the two side of the Taiwan Strait began to ease gradually, despite deep mistrust.

On Jan. 1 1979, the National People’s Congress, the mainland’s top legislature, issued an open letter to Taiwan, which started with “Dear Compatriots in Taiwan.”

For the first time, it called for the solution of all disputes between the two sides through peaceful means, and an early realization of the three direct cross-Strait links of transport, mail and trade. The PLA shelling of Jinmen, which was carried out from time to time after 1958, was terminated on that day.

Almost overnight, the troublesome overseas connection turned into an envied, shining object.

Economically, at that time, the mainland was very undeveloped, whereas Taiwan was affluent, and an overseas connection might bring benefits. Politically, the mainland authorities encouraged its citizens with such connections to interact more with their family members and friends in Taiwan.

On Nov. 24 1979, Guokai wrote his first letter to Chenxi. After45 days, he received a reply — the first letter from his brother in 30 years. He read the letter again and again in tears.

Chenxi wrote: “No moment has gone without missing our elderly parents and you and others back home…. Though I really want to help you overcome economic difficulties, my capacity falls short of my wishes. Whenever thinking about this, I feel extreme grief.”

Chenxi was almost penniless during the 1970s. He didn’t earn much as salaries of Taiwan’s civil servants were low. And he had been somewhat spendthrift when young, so didn’t have any savings.

Since then, the correspondence between the two brothers has continued. There was no direct mail service across the Strait until last December, and they had to send letters via Hong Kong or Indonesia. The longest delivery took three and a half months for one of Guokai’s letters in 1988 to reach its destination.

Chenxi wrote letters in traditional Chinese with a brush, while Guokai in both simplified and traditional Chinese with a pen. After 1949, the mainland developed a simplified set of characters, with fewer strokes and simpler design, while overseas Chinese and KMT-occupied Taiwan maintaining the old style.

Chenxi says he can read most simplified characters. Though simplified, their forms still existed and it’s easy to figure them out.

Now they are too old for pen or brush, they seldom write letters. Occasionally, Guokai takes out the store of more than 40 letters and reads them one by one with tears.

The mainland had been making overtures during that time, but Taiwan had been implementing the “Three Nos” policy — no contact, no negotiations and no compromise with the mainland — after the mainland established diplomatic ties with the U.S. in 1979.

In October 1987, Taiwan announced to lift the 38-year-old ban and allow its residents to visit relatives on the mainland. But it wouldn’t allow the mainlanders to come to Taiwan.

“Visiting a Mainland relative” became then the top catchphrase on both sides of the strait. Since there was no direct transport, Taiwanese compatriots had to travel via Hong Kong.

An eager Chenxi acted earlier. He wrote to Guokai and Jianzhongin August to apply for a visa to Hong Kong.

On Oct. 12, Guokai entered Hong Kong via Shenzhen. After 38 years of separation, the bothers’ meeting seemed quite calm. “We were looking at each other for a few seconds, and didn’t cry or hug,” Guokai recalls.

Chenxi agrees. “We were cool-headed since we knew about each other from several years of exchanging letters.”

Four days later, Chenxi entered the mainland. The entry was secret for him since it would be Nov. 2 before the family visits were to start.

The first family visit, lasting about 40 days, aroused in Chenxi many emotions. In his first letter to Guokai after returning to Taiwan, he wrote: “The day I have long anticipated came eventually. The pleasure in my mind is beyond words.”

Since 1987, Chenxi makes a family visit every other year. He is now over 70 and every journey home via Hong Kong has been wearing. The first journey back to Putian took him more than 30 hours by plane and bus.

Last December, the mainland and Taiwan started direct transport and mail services. Now, a family visit trip takes Chenxi about four hours.

Guokai says the ties of brotherhood have remained strong during the past 60 years despite CPC-KMT political confrontation. “The bond can’t be broken,” he says. “Cross-Strait exchanges have been a common aspiration of people, and no political element could stop it forever.”

Chenxi too says his relations with Guokai have been unaffected by their different political beliefs. In fact, “I am more than 10 years older than Guokai. An old Chinese saying goes, the elder brother is like the father. So, it is my responsibility to take care of him,” he says.

As for the reunification of the mainland and Taiwan, Chenxi believed independence has no future for Taiwan.

“Peaceful reunification will take quite some time, 50 years at the earliest and 100 years at the most, due to the difference of politics, economies and ideology,” says Chenxi.

But the chances of a war are small. He says, “as the mainland grows stronger, it can finally achieve the result of ‘winning the war without fighting it’, and realize reunification.”

No lines, no patterns, no drawings … simply a piece of bright red paper, a pair of scissors and deft hands were all Wang Li, a well-known Chinese paper-cutting artist, needed to make magic unfold in front of a group of American students at LaSalle Language Academy in Chicago on Tuesday.

Moments later, after Li had skillfully zigzagged through the square of folded paper, an exquisite paper-cut emerged: a dragon’s head. The students were absolutely in awe of Li’s stunning presentation, which resembled a magician’s pulling a rabbit out of a hat. One clever student who had correctly guessed what Li was making received the paper cut as a gift.

Emma Wang, an 11-year-old student, was simply stunned by Li’s presentation. “It is such a fun way to learn Chinese and its culture,” she exclaimed.

“I can’t believe he does it so fast, and it is really cool!” Sabine Zinserling said.

Lena Doughty was impressed by how quickly Li had cut out the dragon’s head. “It is good to see how he does it, and it does help us understand Chinese culture better,” she remarked.

After watching the demonstration of the paper-cutting master, the students were given the chance of wielding scissors themselves by cutting out a Chinese vase.

Z. J. Tong, founder and president of the Chicago Chinese Culture Institute, sponsored this cultural activity along with the Chicago Confucius Institute.

Standing by Li’s side, Tong told the students about the history and meaning behind this unique and endangered Chinese art form, which has existed for centuries.

“The oldest surviving paper-cut is from the 6th century. From the 7th to the 13th centuries, it became very popular and was spread to the rest of the world in the 14th century,” Tong said.

Tong was also asked about the meaning and function of paper-cuts. “They are mostly decorations for walls, windows, doors and lanterns during Chinese festivals. They represent good luck, prosperity, health or harvest,” he answered.

Li was taught the art of paper-cutting from his grandmother at the age of six. He has become so adept at it that he can cut out many traditional Chinese designs without following any patterns. Li, who is currently a member of the Chinese International Art Association, has won a number of prizes in China.

“I am very excited to be here to show American students our traditional Chinese paper-cutting,” Li told Xinhua. “Our traditional Chinese culture not only needs to be passed down from generation to generation, but also needs to be communicated to other cultures.”

When asked why he had started such a cultural exchange program, Tong said: “Many Americans are learning Chinese now, especially in the Chicago Public Schools, where about 12,000 students are learning Chinese. This kind of cultural exchange will help American students better understand our country and our culture, and I am very glad to be able to help promote cultural exchange between China and the United States.”

Jialing Chen, a Chinese language teacher at LaSalle Language Academy, told Xinhua: “I currently have about 80 students learning Chinese here. They were very excited when I told them about the paper-cutting activity. It indeed promotes their understanding and stimulates their interest in learning Chinese language, culture and history.”

Elisabeth Heurtefeu is the principal of LaSalle Language Academy. The academy currently teaches five different languages in its World Language Program. Being an open-minded cosmopolitan herself, Heurtefeu is passionate about bringing different cultures together in her school.

“We were very interested in hosting it because we love to introduce Chinese culture to our students,” she explained.

Heurtefeu is planning to visit China with Chen in a couple of weeks to explore the possibility of a cultural exchange program between her school and a Chinese school.

“I am very excited about the upcoming visit to China, and we are looking forward to starting a partnership with a Chinese school in the near future,” she said.

Bridget Veritch, World Language Program Coordinator, is also enthusiastic. “Our Chinese program is becoming very popular at our school, and next year we expect to have about 100 students. It is wonderful to have a Chinese artist come here today. Any hands-on activity can help students learn so much. You can see how interested they are.”

During his three-week visit, Chinese artist Li held popular presentations at about 20 public schools in Chicago.

The 2008 Model Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) commenced here Thursday with 134 participants spending two days canvassing on the theme of “Vision and action: towards a win-win solution”.

The two-day conference was organized by the All-China Youth Federation (ACYE) and Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF). Most of attendees are students.

They would discuss on an array of topics including resources conservation, competence for sustainable growth, and new global challenges, said Ambassador Nguyen Quoc Khanh, deputy executive director of ASEF.

Lu Yongzheng, vice president of ACYE, said this event played a constructive role in enhancing friendship among youths and symbolized the consensus of ASEF leaders to encourage young people’s participation.

Shen Wei, President of Executive Committee of Asia-Europe University Alumni Network (ASEFUAN), a co-organizer of the event, told Xinhua that this was the biggest-Model ASEM activity with participants coming from 39 Asian and European countries.

Shen described this event a prelude to the coming 7th ASEM Summit that would be held in Beijing on October 24 to 25, with leaders from 45 ASEM members expected to attend the meeting.

Liu Jieyi, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister, said all the conference members should possess a broad picture of global scenario and learn to “mutually respect each other” and seek common ground while reserve differences.

“I really appreciate this kind of communication in which people would speak not for the country where he or she is from. Young friends could talk in a frank way and deepen understanding of each other,” Liu added.

Katrin Buchmann, who is studying at the College of Europe and representing India in this meeting, said she was quite interested in the topics like terrorism, food crisis and climate change.

Jaime Reis, a composer from Portugal, said “I have never been engaged in such an interesting and diverse meeting. I’m confident we will all create real synergies to increase our personal projects to achieve a better, plural and harmonious world giving our vision and preparing actions towards a win-win solution.”

Costume jewelry is the easiest way to add charm, style and elegance. It is also the most economic fashion investment available in tough times.

Key themes for next season’s “bling bling” trends, as predicted by American jewelry brand Guess at a recent fashion show, are vintage-inspired styles mixed with a touch of romantic rock ‘n’ roll spirit.

Also, look for statement sizes and gold plate tones like antique gold and burnished gold.

While styling, don’t be afraid to put layers upon layers, and enjoy the mix-and-match fun.

Retro glamour is evoked in the multiple-strand tassel necklace featured above with rich texture in its mixed golden metal finishes and intricate braidings. The fringe treatments help add fluidity.

Big, bold romantic rock ‘n’ roll pieces, like the bracelet on the model’s wrist, are must-have fashion pieces throughout 2009. Both the bracelet and the necklace feature pearlized enamel stars to accentuate the romantic spirit of the collection.

After playing petty criminal Dao Ge in director Ning Hao’s national hit Crazy Stone in 2006, actor Liu Hua is hailed as one of the most popular supporting actors in Chinese film.

Liu carries this claim well in two of the latest films to hit the big-screen, continuing to impress audiences with stellar, raw performances.

In You Owe Me RMB 105,000, a black humor comedy by young director Ji Yu, Liu helps immigrant worker Er Wang seek their rightful wages from their sly, cunning boss. In a cat-and-mouse game, they use the most ridiculous means to get their boss to cough up their salaries.

With clever scriptwriting by Shu Ping, who wrote the lines for director Zhang Yimou’s Keep Cool decade ago, Liu makes it easy for audiences to laugh along with him.

Meanwhile the ups and downs of a local community in southern Beijing is the centre of director An Zhanjun’s new film, Glittering Days. In this film, Liu plays a lazy, idling Beijinger from the city’s southern Xuanwu District.

Adapted from a classic drama of the same name, the movie tells the story of a local family who has been living in the same courtyard for generations. When they finally get the chance to move into a brand new apartment, which they have been longing for all their lives, they realize just how much they miss their narrow, crowded hutong, filled with old memories.

The picture is a profound reflection on traditional Beijing life as it struggles to move forward without forgetting past ways. Veteran actress Jin Yaqin compliments this film with her role as an old mother who is very much nostalgic of her youthful days.

Other films now showing at cinemas:

Dada’s Dance

Dada is the neighborhood coquette who lives with her divorced mother and works at a pool hall. The boy next door, Zhao, has a crush on her.

One morning she catches him spying on her as she dances, but continues to flirt with him. Her mother’s new boyfriend also has eyes for her. But when he reveals that she’s adopted, Dada packs her bag and leaves town with Zhao to search for her birth mother. Directed by Zhang Yuan.

The Founding of a Republic

The film centers on the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, and features 200 big-name actors. Directed by Han Sanping and Huang Jianxin, the film is a gift to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Cow

Directed by sixth generation director Guan Hu, the film is set in the winter of 1940. Peasant Niu Er’s job is to protect the village dairy cow, which supplies milk for wounded Chinese soldiers. When all the other villagers are killed by enemy Japanese troops, Niu remains committed to protecting the cow. Starring comic Huang Bo and Yan Ni.

Retail sales grew 0.6% in the U.S. in June. That beat expectations, but it shows how the American consumer is continuing to cut back on spending, shopping and dining out. Meanwhile China’s economy remains robust, with gross domestic product growing 7.9% in the second quarter, making it a must-win market for even the largest businesses, like the restaurant company Yum! Brands, which generates a third of its revenue in China. General Motors has enjoyed a 43% increase in sales through July this year in China, year over year–even as it has gone through bankruptcy in the U.S.

Traditionally companies double-down during recessions and focus on their core target markets. This is no longer enough; they need to look for growth in developing markets like India and China, whose economies have remained buoyant. They should look especially to the women of China.

That one consumer segment has defied the analysts and kept on spending like it’s 2007. China’s overall retail sales rose 15% in the first half of this year, and that growth was driven in large part by women under the age of 35, buoyed by China’s $586 billion stimulus package and a stock market that has risen around 80% since January. My firm, the China Market Research Group, recently surveyed female consumers in China, and 80% of them said they expected to spend more in the next six months than in the last six.

Women have become a major driving force behind China’s economic growth–yet they remain little understood in the West as an influence on household budgets. Not only are they exerting influence on decision-making in their own homes; they’re also making purchase decisions for their parents when they live in the same house or neighborhood.

Many Americans harbor images of Chinese women shaped by movies like The Last Emperor, where they’ve tended to be docile concubines with bound feet. Zhang Yimou, the Stephen Spielberg of China, has made films depicting the plight of women in ancient China as virtual slaves. It’s not like that anymore.

Chairman Mao famously said, “Women hold up half of the sky.” Millions of girls since the late 1970s have been raised as little princesses in one-child families. While much has been made of the statistic that there are 117 males for every 100 females in China (because of abortions), it’s also true that in urban areas there is much gender parity. Even in the rural areas the situation is quickly evolving, as the spread of urbanization means less need for hands for farming.

Women now contribute about half of household income, up from 20% in the 1950s. Their educational opportunities have greatly grown, and they’ve entered the white-collar workforce. At my own strategy consulting firm, women outnumber men three to one. They now spend as much as men on luxury consumption, accounting for 50% of luxury purchases from companies like Louis Vuitton and Gucci. A woman, former Vice Premier Wu Yi, ranked by Forbes as the second most powerful woman in the world in 2007, was former Treasury Secretary’s Henry Paulson’s counterparty during America and China’s strategic economic dialogue talks that year.

While their peers in the U.S. have cut back on spending in the recession, Chinese women are spending more than ever before, but they have also shifted their habits to become less frivolous and impulsive. Understanding how they think and what they buy will be critical for foreign firms trying to sell to them.

A Chinese woman might typically spend $100 in a shopping outing, as before, but now she’ll buy not 10 items but six more expensive ones. She’ll look for products like a handbag she can use daily instead of a shirt to wear once a month. She wants cosmetics that last longer. She is cutting back on impulse purchases, spending more time before entering a store to do research online on what she wants to buy, consulting blogs and search engines and Web sites like Sina and Baidu.

Companies that want to tap into Chinese women’s optimism need to recognize this trend toward value. Women are becoming less price sensitive and more sophisticated about the brands and products that they finally buy. Companies can no longer rely solely on price and discounts to sell to women. They need to connect emotionally and forge a strong brand position.

Women are also extremely influential in big-ticket family purchases such as homes and even televisions that traditionally have been up to men. Men might make the final purchase decision on a car or a TV, but our research suggests that women have equal say. The vast majority of men told us that their wives must approve all purchases that affect how the home looks or are above a certain price level. In Shanghai, we found that many women control their households’ finances. They keep the bank accounts in their own names and give their husbands a weekly allowance.

Many women born under the one-child policy implemented in the late 1970s are now becoming mothers. They’re also becoming the major breadwinners for their retired parents, who look to them for help with soaring housing and medical costs.

These young women are greatly concerned about the safety of the products they buy for their children. If Americans worry about the “Made in China” label, Chinese women worry even more, for they have to deal with it every day. Many choose where they shop based on whether they think they can find genuine and non-toxic products. One 32-year-old woman in Tianjin told us, “I shop at Wal-Mart ( WMT - news - people ) because I trust that the products its sells are real and safe. To ensure safety, I am willing to spend more.”

We’ve found many affluent women flying to Hong Kong or Korea to buy baby formula, even before last year’s melamine scandals. In general they trust foreign brands more than domestic ones. As a 34-year-old woman in Zhengzhou told us, “Foreign firms are less likely to cut corners in the production and quality control process.” The vast majority of females in 15 cities told us that they would spend 20% or more for products for their babies if they felt they could fully trust that they were safe. This covers everything from clothing to food products to soaps. The fear Chinese consumers have of being hurt by tainted merchandise affects every kind of purchase decision.

Chinese women are emerging as one of the most confident bodies of consumers in the world. And they have the money to keep on spending. To be successful selling to them, you have to cater to their emotions and concerns more than ever before, even when selling products that men traditionally buy. As Chinese women work harder, raise children at the same time, and pay for their parents, they want to spoil themselves and relax a little. They are willing to pay a premium for safe and healthy quality products that let them do so.

Hurricane seasons are arriving early and hanging around longer during the past century, and the big storms are forming earlier, some climate scientists say.

Plus, the area of warm water able to support hurricanes is growing larger over time. The Atlantic Ocean is becoming more hurricane friendly, scientists say, and the shift is likely due to global warming.

“There has been an increase in the seasonal length over the last century,” Jay Gulledge, a senior scientist with the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, told LiveScience. “It’s pretty striking.”

A study Gulledge co-authored with other climate scientists found a five-day increase in season length per decade since 1915.

Hurricane season officially starts June 1, but the first named storm of the 2008 season, Tropical Storm Albert, formed on May 31. The first hurricane of the season, Hurricane Bertha, formed on July 1, reaching hurricane strength on July 7, relatively early in the season for a major storm.

In the last decade, more strong storms have been forming earlier in the season, said hurricane researcher Greg Holland of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

While this trend hasn’t been formally linked to global warming because climate models can’t reproduce individual storms, Holland thinks it’s likely that the warming caused by manmade greenhouse gases is a major factor in the seasonal shift based on observations of changes in recent decades and the predictions models are making for the changing conditions in the Atlantic basin.

The length of the hurricane season is “one of the potentially big signals” that could change in response to global warming, Holland said.