Scientific American reports: "China posted its slowest growth in a quarter-century in 2015, official data showed Tuesday, confirming a loss of momentum in the world's second-largest economy that stands to worry economists worldwide. But some see a silver lining to China's cooling economy. The country's carbon dioxide emissions likely fell 3 percent last year thanks to its shrinking manufacturing production, declining coal consumption and booming renewable energy installation, Greenpeace said in a newly published analysis...For instance, fossil-fuel-related emissions in China decreased 3 to 4 percent last year, according to Greenpeace's analysis. The amount of carbon emissions avoided is roughly equal to Poland's total emissions...In 2015, China's coal output fell 3.5 percent, coal imports plummeted 30 percent and coal-fired electricity generation decreased 2.8 percent. There were similar decreases in coal-intensive heavy industry such as steel, cement and glass. 'Our previous expectation was that China would peak its emissions before 2025. But now we are confident that the emissions peak would arrive somewhere between 2020 and 2022,' Jiang said."
Reuters reports: "China's fragile shares ended higher on Friday, in a relatively muted response to hints of more policy stimulus in Europe and Japan that prompted a robust rally in battered oil prices and equities elsewhere...The stock markets and China's yuan currency have come under pressure as a raft of economic indicators have confirmed the country's declining growth, putting the world's second-largest economy at the top of global investors' worry list along with plunging crude oil prices. There were some rare nuggets of good news on Friday, with data showing a pick-up in lending to China's property market, and that urban unemployment was unchanged at 4.05 percent, comfortably below the government's target...'A depreciation is not in the interests of China's rebalancing; a too deep currency fall would not be good for consumption,' Xinghai said. Speculators have taken to using the yuan's cheaper offshore forwards market to wager China will finally devalue the currency around March or April."
The Associated Press reports: "Thirty-five restaurants across China, including a popular Beijing hot pot chain, have been found illegally using opium poppies as seasoning, one of the more unusual practices bedeviling the country's food regulators. Five restaurants are being prosecuted while 30 others, ranging from Shanghai dumpling joints to noodle shops in southwestern Chongqing, are under investigation, said the China Food and Drug Administration. Cases of cooks sprinkling ground poppy powder, which contains low amounts of opiates like morphine and codeine, in soup and seafood are not new in China, though it is unclear whether they can effectively hook a customer or deliver a noticeable buzz."