Latest news with #Shandong
Wall Street Journal
a day ago
- Science
- Wall Street Journal
New DNA Evidence Reveals Female-Led Society in Ancient China
Scientists in China have discovered one of the oldest known matrilineal societies—where family lines and inheritance are traced through a community's women, not its men. Archaeologists unearthed the settlement of the female-dominated Neolithic Dawenkou culture in the Shandong province of eastern China near the estuary of the Yellow River—considered the birthplace of Chinese civilization.
The Mainichi
a day ago
- Business
- The Mainichi
Japan says China boosting military capabilities in broader areas
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's Defense Ministry is concerned that China is expanding the operational capabilities of its military over a wider area, its annual report said Tuesday, reflecting heightened vigilance against increasingly assertive activities by Chinese forces in the western Pacific. Also taking into account security threats from North Korea and Russia, the ministry's 2025 white paper said that Japan is on track to meet its goal of raising defense-related outlays to 2 percent of gross domestic product, "fundamentally reinforcing defense capabilities" amid U.S. pressure for higher spending. China has been "increasing operational capabilities in more distant areas," the document said, adding that it conducted over 1,200 landings and takeoffs from aircraft carriers in the Pacific in total last year. Among the latest moves not covered in the paper are simultaneous operations by two Chinese aircraft carriers, the Shandong and Liaoning, in the western Pacific in early June this year, which Japan confirmed for the first time ever in the waters. The paper, summarizing the nation's security challenges and defense activities in the year ended this March, said China's "intensified military activities" have led to a situation that could "seriously impact Japan's security, which is a cause of grave concern." China is also trying to enhance its capabilities to carry out "gray zone" operations, aggressive actions that fall short of armed attacks, by strengthening coordination between the military and the People's Armed Police Force, such as the coast guard, the paper said. "Overall, we kept our serious view unchanged on the current security environment," which is "the most severe and complex" in the post-World War II era, a government official told reporters. The paper also said that China may have "rehearsed some parts of military operations toward the reunification with Taiwan, including invasion operations," in surrounding areas of the self-ruled democratic island that Beijing regards as a breakaway province to be brought into its fold. Regarding North Korea, the document described it as "posing an even more grave and imminent threat to Japan's security than before," with Russia's military activities in the Indo-Pacific region "posing a strong security concern," both the same expressions as in the 2024 report. Russia and North Korea have been stepping up their military partnership amid Moscow's prolonged full-scale invasion of Ukraine since 2022, which North Korean troops have joined, while Pyongyang is continuing its missile and nuclear weapons development. The paper pointed to the possibility that Pyongyang would receive military assistance from Moscow, such as "the transfer of nuclear and missile technologies." Japan decided in 2022 to gradually increase its defense expenditure including related costs for the following five years with a target of 2 percent of GDP in fiscal 2027. The nation's annual defense budget had long been capped at around 1 percent of GDP, or around 5 trillion yen ($34 billion) under its war-renouncing Constitution. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has been adding pressure on allies since taking office in January with his "America First" pledge, prodding NATO members to vow to invest 5 percent of GDP for defense and related expenses by 2035. In the white paper, the Defense Ministry emphasized that it has secured "the necessary and sufficient budget," with outlays in fiscal 2025 totaling 9.9 trillion yen, equivalent to 1.8 percent of GDP in fiscal 2022.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
China's June oil throughput surges as state-owned refineries ramp up operations
July 15 (Reuters) - China's crude oil throughput in June rose 8.5% from a year earlier, official data showed on Tuesday, as state-owned refineries increased operations and saw a recovery in profit, according to consultancies. The world's second-largest oil consumer processed 62.24 million metric tons of crude in June, or about 15.15 million barrels per day (bpd), according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. The daily processing rate rose 8.8% from May to the highest level since September 2023, according to Reuters calculations based on the data. Refineries undergoing maintenance in June involved a total capacity of 107.7 million tons per year, down by 22.2 million tons from May, according to Chinese consultancy OilChem. The utilisation rate at independent refineries fell by 2 percentage points from May to 67.9%, while state-owned refineries' utilisation rose 5.3 points to 79.95% in June, data from consultancy Sublime China Information shows. State-owned refiners posted a profit of 1,121 yuan ($156.40) per ton in June, up 83% from May and up 155% from a year earlier, as crude input costs dropped by 306 yuan per ton while product prices rose, according to OilChem. Meanwhile, Shandong-based independent refiners earned an average profit of 355 yuan per ton from processing imported crude in June, down 6.2% month-on-month, as rising feedstock costs outpaced gains in product prices. JLC, another Chinese consultancy, projected that the average operating rate of state-owned refineries will reach around 83.5% in the third quarter, up 5.13 percentage points from the previous quarter and slightly higher than a year earlier. NBS data also showed that China's domestic crude oil production in June rose 1.4% from a year earlier to 18.2 million tons, or 4.43 million bpd. Crude output for the first half of the year rose 1.3% to 108.48 million tons, or 4.38 million bpd. Natural gas production increased 4.6% year on year to 21.2 billion cubic metres in June, with output in the first six months rising 5.8%, the data showed. (Metric ton = 7.3 barrels for crude oil conversion) ($1 = 7.17 Chinese yuan)
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- South China Morning Post
As China swelters, the business of keeping cool takes off
Tourists having fun at a scenic spot in Rongcheng City in east China's Shandong province. Photo:... Tourists having fun at a scenic spot in Rongcheng City in east China's Shandong province. Photo: Xinhua share
South China Morning Post
4 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Plunging pork and poultry prices put pressure on Chinese farmers
China's major protein categories – from pork to poultry – fell into a severe state of oversupply in the first half of this year, with prices declining across the board and widespread losses throughout the supply chain. Analysts said weak end-market demand and high inventory levels are weighing heavily on the breeding sector, and that while marginal improvements are expected in the second half of the year, the overall scope for recovery remains limited. The trend highlights the fragility of China's economic recovery under persistent deflationary pressure, with losses now common among livestock farmers. Many farmers have taken to social media to lament their plight. 'I haven't made any money since February, and I can't afford to replace the cages even though they're broken,' a farmer in Shandong province said on Monday in a post on Douyin, China's version of TikTok, adding that she was losing over 300 yuan (US$42) a day on her more than 6,000 egg-laying hens. China's consumer price index, a key gauge of inflation, entered positive territory in June for the first time since January, but food prices were down 0.3 per cent year on year, the fifth straight month of decline, Lynn Song, Greater China chief economist at Dutch bank ING, said on Wednesday. Most types of food remained in deflationary territory, with the price of pork, down 8.5 per cent, and the price of eggs, down 7.7 per cent, exerting the most downward pressure. Aquatic products, up 3.4 per cent, and fruit, up 6.1 per cent, were among the few categories that saw price increases.
