Columnist

Sidney Leng

Sidney Leng joined the Post in 2015 after spending a year and a half working for US media including National Public Radio and Foreign Policy Magazine. He has been covering China's macroeconomic policies and financial regulations since 2016.

Hundreds of provincial leaders, ministers and top generals were summoned to Beijing on Monday to “study and learn” about risk control. Photo: Xinhua

Politics

Xi Jinping has issued a rallying cry, but what is China on alert for?

23 Jan 2019 - 10:27am 18

Nurses holding babies at the Xiyuege Centre, or “Lucky Month Home”, in Beijing. Since the late 70s, strict measures in the world's most populous country restricted most couples to only a single offspring with a system of fines for violators and even forced abortions. But concerns over an ageing population, gender imbalances and a shrinking workforce pushed authorities to end the restriction, allowing all couples a second child from January 1 2016. Photo: Agence France-Presse

China Economy

China’s birth rate falls to its lowest rate since 1961

21 Jan 2019 - 11:18pm

College students take the long and winding road into work outside a job fair in Zhengzhou, Henan province. Photo: Reuters

China Economy

Jobs in export-import industries wither in heat of US trade war

18 Jan 2019 - 9:09pm 17

A view of downtown Chongqing. The rise and fall of the city’s economy offers a micro view of China’s painful process of rebalancing its economy. Photo: Simon Song

China Economy

China’s painful economic transition in full view in city of Chongqing

19 Jan 2019 - 3:45am 10

Goldman Sachs at centre of latest bout of nationalism and resentment in China over Sinopec oil deal

China Economy

Will nationalist backlashes hurt China’s bid to attract foreign investment?

7 Jan 2019 - 8:31pm 6

Births in Liaocheng in Shandong province, one of China’s most populous provinces, were only 64,753 in the first 11 months of 2018, a fall of 26 per cent. Photo: Alamy

China Economy

China now facing the problem of not having enough babies

2 Jan 2019 - 11:32pm 37

There is still uncertainty as to how Beijing’s new income tax rules will apply to Hongkongers who cross the border to work. Photo: David Wong

China Economy

Is China’s new income tax law bad news for foreign workers?

1 Jan 2019 - 10:59pm 3

Xi Jinping addressed the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference on Saturday. Photo: Xinhua

Politics

Xi steers clear of trade war in glowing look back at 2018

30 Dec 2018 - 11:05pm 6

Three workers died when the ground gave way at the construction site. Photo: Weibo

China Economy

Shanghai warns developers after three die at construction site

30 Dec 2018 - 10:31pm 2

China’s top leadership has made stabilising employment a priority, including support for small private enterprises, which are the main driver of urban employment.

China Economy

China’s makers stave off trade war job losses – but for how long?

27 Dec 2018 - 5:00am 26

The conference came at a critical time for the world’s second biggest economy, with western liberal democracies turning increasingly hostile to China’s state-subsidised domestic growth model and its private economy is dogged with the negative effects of the trade war with the United States. Photo: AFP

China Economy

China decides to cut taxes on ‘larger scale’ in 2019

21 Dec 2018 - 11:25pm 48

Illustration by Lau Ka-kuen

China Economy

Can China’s leaders restore confidence in private sector?

20 Dec 2018 - 10:34am 9

China’s National Bureau of Statistics said authorities in Guangdong broke the law by publishing a monthly economic indicator. Photo: EPA-EFE

China Economy

Why did it take Beijing seven years to spot Guangdong was breaking law?

19 Dec 2018 - 9:27pm 5

China Economy

The rich Chinese daughters following in their father’s corporate footsteps

15 Dec 2018 - 9:34pm 8

Staff members work at the distribution centre of the Hengyang branch of China Post in Hengyang City, central China's Hunan Province, November 12, 2018. Photo: Xinhua

China Economy

China’s hopes of consumers rescuing the economy dashed

14 Dec 2018 - 5:12pm 18

The Politburo, headed by President Xi Jinping, has put the focus on a “powerful” domestic economy. Photo: CCTV

China Economy

China to rev up ‘powerful home market’ to shield economy from trade war

13 Dec 2018 - 11:17pm 83

China’s trade surplus with US hits record level as businesses scramble to beat tariff deadline

China Economy

China’s trade surplus with US reaches record level

8 Dec 2018 - 11:06pm 77

Students shield themselves from the sun as they line up at a job fair at a Guangzhou university last week. There are signs that China’s jobs market is weakening. Photo: Reuters

China Economy

China takes steps to support jobs as trade war hits employment

6 Dec 2018 - 1:02pm 5

Clock ticks for Chinese provinces struggling to hit their 2018 growth targets

China Economy

Clock ticks for Chinese provinces to hit their 2018 growth targets

26 Nov 2018 - 10:34pm 17

The two-month period from November to New Year’s Eve is a window of opportunity for turkey farmers in China to cash in on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Photo: AP

China Economy

Chinese turkey farmers gobble up their Thanksgiving profits

22 Nov 2018 - 7:11pm 2

China’s state media criticised Guilin University of Electronic Technology’s plan to scrutinise students’ electronic devices. Photo: Handout

China

University’s plan to screen phones, tablets slammed by state media

18 Nov 2018 - 12:02pm 4

A Chinese sales representative for Snake River Farms, a beef producer from Idaho, meets buyers. Photo: Sidney Leng

China Economy

What trade war? US states lining up business at China Import Expo

9 Nov 2018 - 11:52pm 27

Chinese tourism is likely to play a big role in US$10 trillion plans for imports into the services sector. Photo: Alkira Reinfrank

China Economy

Weakness a threat to Xi’s US$10 trillion import goal over 15 years

6 Nov 2018 - 10:55pm 1

President Xi Jinping used his speech in Beijing to underline China’s free-trade credentials and called for “cooperation, not confrontation” between nations. Photo: Reuters

China Economy

Xi makes fresh promises to open China’s economy, boost imports

8 Nov 2018 - 3:53pm 141

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at the opening ceremony for the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai. Photo: Reuters

China Economy

Xi promises greater opening of China's economy, pushes for global trade

5 Nov 2018 - 1:24pm 41

President Xi Jinping will seek to promote China as an advocate for globalisation and free trade when he opens the China International Import Expo in Shanghai. Photo: Reuters

China Economy

Xi set to sell Shanghai expo as symbol of China’s openness

4 Nov 2018 - 10:33pm 40

Shanghai’s National Exhibition and Convention Centre, the main venue for the expo. Photo: Xinhua

China Economy

China’s import expo to woo world with fashion show, matchmaking

31 Oct 2018 - 7:10pm 3

Deal signed during Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Beijing
Asia’s largest economies join hands while trade war rages on

China Economy

China and Japan sign US$29 billion currency swap to forge closer ties

26 Oct 2018 - 8:03pm 2

Fund aims to encourage combination of Russian software and Chinese hardware from tech hub base
Trade war brings Beijing and Moscow closer together

China Economy

China welcomes Kremlin-backed hi-tech investment fund to Shenzhen

26 Oct 2018 - 6:17pm 4

A Chinese task force has been working flat out to tackle the problems facing the country’s stock market and economy. Photo: AP

China Economy

China’s financial crisis team meets for 10th time in two months

22 Oct 2018 - 7:52am 44

Beijing plans to open up tropical island paradise to outside investment, and that includes access to the internet

China Economy

Go Hainan? China tries to woo the world to its Hawaii

16 Oct 2018 - 8:42pm 13

Despite Washington’s hopes, China’s surplus with the US rose 10 per cent in September to more than US$34 billion. Photo: Reuters

Economic Indicators

China’s trade surplus with US hits record high of US$34 billion

15 Oct 2018 - 11:07am 26

Chinese central bank governor Yi Gang (right) meets US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on the sidelines of the World Bank annual conference in Bali on Thursday. Photo: Handout

China Economy

PBOC chief meets Mnuchin amid trade tensions, stock plunge

12 Oct 2018 - 2:39pm 1

Xi Jinping at the opening ceremony for the 2016 B20 summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. Photo: Reuters

China Economy

China clashes with G20 group over state-owned firms

26 Oct 2018 - 3:55pm 26

China’s central bank is set to release US$110 billion into the financial system as Beijing looks to shore up confidence in its economy and markets. Photo: AFP

China Economy

China central bank moves to pump extra US$110 billion into economy

9 Oct 2018 - 4:27pm 132

US President Donald Trump announces the new trade deal in Washington. Photo: AP

China Economy

Beijing stays silent on new US trade deal with Mexico and Canada

4 Oct 2018 - 8:03pm 19

Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma says China and the US should work together to confront the challenges of coming decades. Photo: AFP

News

Alibaba’s Jack Ma warns against trade wars

2 Oct 2018 - 11:29pm 30

Chinese President Xi Jinping said state-owned firms should continue to become stronger, better and larger. Photo: Bloomberg

China Economy

Xi Jinping’s show of support for state-owned firms ‘no surprise’

28 Sep 2018 - 9:06pm 13

At a time when the Chinese economy is under pressure on multiple fronts, such as swine flu and the trade war, experts are asking: Why does China’s inflation look so stable?

China Economy

China data does not reflect true middle class price pressure, critics say

27 Sep 2018 - 10:30pm 2

Death tolls are down but damage bills are up as population and development pressures leave the region more exposed to disaster

China Economy

China counts cost of Mangkhut – and more billion-dollar storms

18 Sep 2018 - 4:28pm

Two weeks after the disaster which ruined hundreds of farms in Shandong province, there are price pressures and questions about how it was managed

China

Farmers struggle to pick up pieces, food prices soar after floods

7 Sep 2018 - 11:19am 1

Illustration by Lau Ka-kuen

China

Can China’s statistics be trusted? New economic data reignites debate

15 Oct 2018 - 12:10pm 56

The hotel in Harbin’s Sun Island resort area, after the fire that killed at least 19 people on Saturday. Photo: CNS.

Society

19 dead and 23 injured in hotel fire at Chinese resort

25 Aug 2018 - 10:52pm 5

The passenger had fallen asleep a seat someone else had reserved. Photo: Sina

Society

Rail passenger suffers public shaming for sitting in wrong seat

7 Jan 2019 - 3:47pm 15

After two previous attempts to set up the sport, success this time will depend on whether leadership can overcome reluctance to take political risks

Politics

Hainan’s horse racing and betting dream still has many furlongs to go

23 Aug 2018 - 8:17am 9

AFour top officials at ground zero of China’s latest vaccine scandal have been sacked and dozens of others disciplined. Photo: Reuters

Politics

Top officials sacked over China’s vaccine scandal

16 Aug 2018 - 11:28pm 9

Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He addresses the World Robot Conference in Beijing on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua

Politics

Join forces with China for a new robotics future, vice-premier urges

16 Aug 2018 - 4:51pm 4