Risk averse

Reforms needed if banks are to lend to small firms instead of playing safe with State enterprises.

Global experience 'crucial for growth'

Regulators 'need to step cautiously'

Stability achieved; now, efficiency

A delicate balancing act

Golden Week brings joy to retailers

Though concerns over the economy still persist, consumer spending, backed by fresh government incentives, continued to rise in China during the Golden Week holidays (Sept 30-Oct 7), bringing much cheer to businesses and industry.

IN BRIEF (Page 2)

New media improves transparency

I look back at my more than 20 years going to China and, without doubt, the Chinese people today live far better lives. Both material goods and personal freedoms have never been greater.

Investment fall is nothing to fret about

Managing risk on the world stage

No longer just a factory for the world

The rise of the robots

Rising labor costs, innovation drive prompt companies to use more machines in manufacturing.

Automatons' steely eyes fixed on the prize

IN BRIEF (Page 14)

Siasun's metallic touch

Waiting for the tide to turn

Looking for light

Bing seeks big bang in hits

News release: Major goes micro

The threat at the tip of 2 billion fingers

Developing a recipe for food you can trust

Socks around the clock

Some people wait their entire lives to realize their ambitions. Zhu Cheng is about to fulfill his lifelong dream of establishing China's first socks museum at the age of just 27.

Sails fly again on glorious junks

Behind the Masks of the Face Changers

Fuzhou's old heart beats on

When the American coffeehouse chain Starbucks unveiled plans for a redesign of its outlet in the city of Fuzhou recently, it was clear that locals were in for a special treat.

Drinking in success

A romantic gesture by Frenchman Alexander Cros won the heart of his fellow business-course student and ultimately led him to forge a new and flourishing career on the other side of the world, in China's fast-growing wine industry.

Learning exchange

First writes

It's very rarely that a young writer gets a novel published, even more so that it goes on to be a big seller and a film.

Loyalty to the throne

This talk examines the discourse on imperial authority and dynastic loyalty in late imperial China. Its focus is the veneration and commemoration of the loyalists who died serving Emperor Jianwen (1377-1402), whose throne was usurped in 1402.

Events

'Reduce the role of the State'

There is a parallel between the Chinese economy over the past 30 years and a lazy student who suddenly has decided to open his books, says Zhang Weiying, one of China's leading economists.