Recruiting in China

CHINA has issued new rules to allow more companies to cooperate with foreign partners to explore for methane trapped in coal seams to boost energy output.

Companies designated by the State Council, China's Cabinet, will be allowed to set up the ventures with foreign businesses, according to a revised regulation posted on the Chinese government's Website yesterday. China United Coalbed Methane Corp used to be the only company allowed to enter such ventures based on a 2001 regulation.

The central government aims to boost the share of its energy produced from natural gas to 5.3 percent by 2010 from about three percent now to cut pollution and reduce reliance on coal and oil, Bloomberg News reported. China has 10 trillion cubic meters of extractable coal-bed methane reserves, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, the nation's top economic planner.

Asia American Gas Inc and China United Coalbed Methane won government approval to produce 500 million cubic meters of the fuel annually in northern China's Shanxi Province.

CISCO Systems Inc announced yesterday a partnership with Haier Group to explore home network markets in China, relatively new territory for both companies.

Cisco's cooperation with Haier, China's largest appliance manufacturer, helps them to expand consumer business, and Haier aims to profit from the growing integration of the Internet with home entertainment, industry insiders said.

Under the terms of the cooperation, Cisco and Haier announced their intention to explore sharing practices in group management and processes, financial management and controls, strategic investments and capitalization cooperation, construction of information infrastructure and home networking systems, Cisco said in a statement.

Qingdao-based Haier, with a global revenue of 107.5 billion yuan (US$14.3 billion) last year and 50,000 employees, is expanding its brand in international markets and the partnership with Cisco will help that.

Haier is also a large Cisco customer in China, and uses Cisco's network equipment.

"We are a market leader in China, but are working to establish a strong brand presence in overseas markets. We believe it is necessary to take advantage of Cisco's business practices as a model for efficient international expansion," said Zhang Ruimin, Haier's chief executive.

China's digital TV market revenue is expected to hit 150 billion yuan in 2007, 19 percent of the global market size, according to Gartner Inc, an IT research firm.

ENGINEERING, once a highly rated job in China, has lost its appeal for young Chinese, Xu Kuangdi, the ex-mayor of Shanghai and President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said yesterday.

Xu said this in his opening remarks to a forum in Shanghai to promote the reform and development of engineering education in China.

"The profession of an engineer is far less reputable today than it was in the 1950s," said Xu, who was the city mayor from 1995 to 2001.

He said most Chinese university students now hoped to make a lot of money by working for banks or scrambling to become Masters of Business Administration.

Xu said the hardships involved in becoming an engineer has also led to the decline - people who wanted to be engineers had to begin in workshops instead of sitting in offices.

Engineering has a special status in China where many of its leaders have had a background in engineering.

However the number of qualified engineers is failing to meet the demands of the country's rapid economic growth.

According to a 2004 statistic, engineers only accounted for four percent of the overall staff in Chinese businesses.

ONE of China's leading Web-based headhunters, 51job.com, has launched its 2008 nationwide internship program to provide more than 1,600 internship positions for university students.

Students will be given work at more than 100 companies in 12 major Chinese cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Dalian and Nanjing. Students can sign up for the program at the Website.

BEIJING (Reuters) - The chief executive of Microsoft Corp's Greater China business, Chen Yongzheng, has resigned, the world's largest software maker said on Wednesday.

In a statement on its China Web site, Microsoft said its global vice president, Zhang Yaqin, would take over as acting Greater China chief while it sought a permanent replacement.

The New York Times reported on its Web site that the National Basketball Association (NBA) had hired Chen to head a Chinese subsidiary that it is setting up, a move highlighting the growing importance of China to the sport and to the NBA.

Hong Kong's seasonally adjusted jobless rate nudged up from 4.1 percent in the May-to-July period to 4.2 percent from June to August, officials said yesterday. Increases in the jobless rate were experienced mainly in the communications, real estate and wholesale trade sectors, the Census Statistics Department of Hong Kong said.

Decreases in the underemployment rate, which held stable at 2.3 percent, were seen mainly in foundation and superstructure construction, and communications sectors, offsetting increases in welfare and community services and retail trade. Total employment grew by about 10,100 from 3,494,200 in May-July to an all-time high of 3,504,300 in June-August. Over the same period, the labor force swelled by about 18,500 from 3,652, 200 to a new high of 3,670,700.