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合资公司将大力拓展美中互利旗下高端医疗服务品牌和睦家医院网点，并大力整合双方的医疗器械业务。
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Xu Qian and Guo Zhijun, from If You Are the One's first migrant worker special

China’s matchmaking reality TV shows are a much more harmonious place following an early June overhaul meant to root out materialism, fakery, and vulgarity.

The shows, such as Jiangsu TV’s If You Are the One (非诚勿扰, a personals-ad line meaning “sincere inquiries only”), pitted sharp-tongued women against eager suitors and featured sharp-tongued banter from both sides, but their methods drew criticism even as they brought high ratings: some contestants were called gold-diggers, others became embroiled in unrelated scandals involving risqué photos and sex tapes, and shows were accused of deliberately fomenting class unrest. For example, the mother of one bachelor described her ideal daughter-in-law in this way: “She can’t be a rural girl. If her family isn’t well off, then sometimes it would her mom coming in from the countryside, and other times it will be her older brother….then our home would be a hotel!”

After SARFT stepped in, vulgarity was eliminated by the ejection of controversial contestants, materialism was countered by a the addition of a professor from a Party school, who represented the moderating voice of the establishment, and then on July 18, the rural population was placated with a special episode of If You Are the One devoted to migrant workers.

In the piece translated below, Liu Yuan, publicity director for the editorial department of Jiangsu TV, which produces the program, explained why the station decided to focus on migrants. It’s interesting to note the term translated “migrant workers” in the piece is 外来人员务工, literally “staff from outside,” rather than the more traditional 农民工, or “peasant laborers.” Huang Han, the Party school professor, went even further and advocated calling these post-80s migrants “new urbanites” (新市民). A second migrant worker special was broadcast the following week, to mixed reviews.

Why Jiangsu TV held a special migrant worker episode of If You Are the One by Liu Yuan

Last Sunday night, If You Are the One began the first special episode of its half-year of broadcast: a special episode titled “Migrant Workers.”

For half a year, over a hundred thousand single men and women have applied to take part in If You Are the One, and among this group, we discovered a special population – migrant workers born in the 1980s. Coming from the countryside, they are pursuing careers in the city, and they believe that through self-reliance and hard work they can create a place for themselves in there. They are young and have their own dreams and desires for love, and they hope that they can find a partner with whom they can weather the storms and build a happy life. Our producers discovered that many of these migrant workers filled out two application forms when applying to the program: one for the production team, and the other to keep as a memento….

Our idea was further solidified after we gathered background material. According to figures from the 2009 Report on Next-Generation Migrant Workers released by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, there are currently 100 million post-80s migrant workers, nearly 80 million of them single. This is an immense social group, a group that is right by our side as we take advantage of the so-called “happy life” brought to us by rapid economic development. They may be humble wait staff in a restaurant, stylists in a salon, sales clerks at a shop, or maybe they are screws on a production line, the core members of an enterprise, or perhaps they have just opened a shop at the gate to your neighborhood and have begun their own urban dream…

And unlike their parents’ generation, during the course of producing the program and interacting with these post-80s migrant workers, we discovered that we can learn from the many outstanding characteristics of these “new urbanites.”

First, their ideas and they way they express them are guileless and imbued with traditional Chinese values. Although their expression may be somewhat simplistic because of their fairly low level of education, both content and style are simple and honest. For example, Li Dafeng said forthrightly, “my partner’s parents are my parents”, “if the man has a problem, I will take care of him my entire life”, and Chen Xiangdong was willing to contribute two-thirds of his income to finance his older brother’s life at college. These are impressive words and actions.

Second, they have escaped their parents’ reliance on physical labor and desire instead to find wealth through mastery of technical skills. In the first episode, we saw five men who studied skills ranging from hair styling and product testing to cooking and electrical equipment and who became outstanding professionals in various fields. These next-generation migrant workers have realized that technology is important for personal growth and thus have begun to enter the ranks of the “technologically rich.” This is admirable.

Third, they have entrepreneurial aspirations. Next-generation migrant workers are no longer satisfied with simply working for other people. As they work hard, they dream of going into business for themselves. Take Wang Shaojie, bachelor #1, for example: he wants to open a chain of hair salons. Guo Zhijun, bachelor #4, wants to open a restaurant, and Cai Naiji, bachelor #5, wants to run his own laundry. Although their dreams are not identical, they do share one common element: practicality. These next-generation migrant workers have demonstrated through practical thinking their increased awareness and broadened horizons.

Fourth, they have realized the importance of knowledge. Although they might not be well-educated, next-generation migrant workers attach great importance to increasing their own knowledge outside of their jobs. For example, after Chen Xiangdong, bachelor #3, shuts off his machine at 8 every night, he reads books to deepen his knowledge.

And it is this simple language and these plain values that have brought a breath of fresh air to the program. Their language may not be flowery, but it has an extra measure of straightforwardness and tolerance. Their aspirations may not be grand, but they are honest and sincere….

There was a warm response to the broadcast of this episode. Media outlets across the country did publicity and reporting, and the Southern Daily in particular had a headline that moved me: “The female guests on this episode If You Are the One are the most beautiful!” Once again I thank our friends in the media for their support! In addition, many enthusiastic viewers actively discussed the program on the official website and in forums; the official website received more than 100 posts. One comment on Sina said that despite the sheer numbers of single post-80s migrant workers – 80 million – the media had previously paid scant attention to their feelings. But their goals for life and love both brought a breath of fresh air to the program. And another netizen summed up a few characteristics of the special episode: first, the performance of the migrant workers was sufficiently sincere, despite their somewhat reticent speech and shy behavior, their speech could be summed up in a single word – honesty – and from their questions for the female guests we could get a sense that they were looking for people to share their lives with. Their questions were pragmatic – were the women concerned about the man’s age or aspirations and so forth. Finally, the migrant workers gave us a sense of inspiration and ambition: each of them had a goal toward which they were struggling, and they were more aware than others of their age of what they needed and what practical efforts to take to obtain it.

Staging the special migrant worker episode of If You Are the One, we believe, is not only an endeavor in the public interest but is also one that has implications for society at large. Using the public media platform of the program, we were able to show off the attitudes of a group of next-generation migrant workers, enabling more urban residents to understand their brothers and sisters who have made such great contributions to the cities, and promoting communication and interaction between all sectors of society. It is our small contribution toward building a harmonious society. In addition, for Jiangsu TU, a member of the mass media, it is also an important manifestation of our sense of social responsibility.

Links and Sources

• Liu Yuan via Outlook Online (Chinese): Why Jiangsu TV held a special migrant worker episode of If You Are the One
• ACFTU (Chinese): Study of the New Generation of Migrant Workers (2010)
• China Newsweek (Chinese): Profile of Huang Han: I'm the one that's non-mainstream
• Chutian Metropolis Daily via Netease (Chinese): If You Are the One embroiled in another peasant bigotry controversy
• Netease entertainment (Chinese): If You Are the One does its first migrant worker special episode, Good reviews for migrant worker episode of If You Are the One, Another migrant worker episode for If You Are the One
• Earlier on Danwei: Surviving a dating reality show, Dating show contestant banned for sexy modeling?

Tags: If You Are the One, migrant workers, reality show

This article is from Danwei.org

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BP would be blocked from winning future drilling permits in the US because of its safety record under energy legislation passed by the House of Representatives

US growth slowed to an annualised rate of 2.4 per cent in the second quarter but robust business demand suggested that the economy would avoid a feared “double dip” that could drag the world back into recession

Italy appeared to be heading for early elections or a government shake-up after Silvio Berlusconi moved to expel dissidents from his People of Liberty party, reducing his parliamentary majority to a thread

Asil Nadir, the tycoon and alleged fraudster, is due to return to Britain after almost 20 years, but will not face punishment for fleeing the country because his bail was never properly set, a court has ruled

Europe’s top politicians are united in seeking to send out a message of moderation this summer, as they stay close to home for the holidays

A senior Beijing official’s reference to China as the ‘world’s second-largest economy’ has sparked excited speculation that Asia’s new powerhouse may have already reached a long-looming milestone by surpassing Japan

US relief at Islamabad’s retention of its powerful army chief will be tempered by documents on WikiLeaks that allege the ISI backed Afghan militants while he was in charge

BP engineers are preparing to pump thousands of litres of heavy “mud” into the top of the ruptured Gulf of Mexico well that has caused the worst oil spill in US history.

China’s military has condemned a US intervention in the dispute over maritime borders in the South China Sea, less than a day after Beijing said it had conducted a large naval exercise in the area

Russia called in the army to combat fires sweeping across the drought-stricken European part of the country and forcing thousands of people to flee

Indian paramilitary forces opened fire on angry anti-India protestors in several different parts of the troubled Muslim-majority state of Kashmir, killing at least three people

Senior US officials are expected to visit Iraq in August amid mounting concern that Washington will complete a significant troop withdrawal from the fragile country with no new government in office

Rise partly reflects VAT increases in southern European countries hit by the crisis over public finances, with price pressures expected to remain moderate in the months ahead

汤姆•莫雷是欧洲最活跃的私募股权公司可再生能源团队的负责人，他在接受谭•科普塞的采访时，谈到了经济衰退时如何融资，如何对变化中的法规作出反应，以及如何进入瑞典市场。

汤姆·莫雷是西欧可再生能源市场的顶尖投资者，在可再生能源和常规能源项目上都有丰富的经验。他现在为英国的私募股权企业HgCapital公司工作，手中掌握着高达3.03亿欧元（3.89亿美元）的欧洲可再生电力项目基金。



谭·科普塞（以下简称谭）：作为一个开场白，请简单介绍一下您的工作内容。

汤姆·莫雷（以下简称莫）：2002年，HgCapital将气候变化和可再生能源定为主要的投资方向。我们对这一部门进行了研究，决定向风能、太阳能和小水电等成熟技术的部署方面进行产业规模的投资。我们得出结论：有形资产的拥有将给投资者带来最好的风险调整收益。我们的投资者主要是来自欧洲、英国和美国等全球各地的养老基金，各国政府从很早之前就在努力吸引它们进入这个部门，以实现低碳能源的未来。

谭：你能举一个关于成功经验的具体例子吗？

莫：最受到认可的投资项目是哈瓦斯纳斯，这是瑞典最大的陆上风能发电场，正是它开创了瑞典风能部门项目融资的先河。哈瓦斯纳斯目前已经实现并网发电。

实际上，斯堪的纳维亚所有的发电产业，无论可再生还是常规的，都曾经全部属于Vattenfall（瑞典）、富腾（Fortum，芬兰）和StatKraft（挪威）等国有公司。我们进入了一个没有此类项目长期银行融资先例的市场。瑞典还有一个新的支持系统，即以英国模式为基础的绿色证书体系（这是一个国家交易机制，用认证书证明来自可再生能源的电力的买卖情况）。

我们必须对绿色证书市场进行彻底的研究，这项工作之前做的并不充分。我们进行了发展预测，并探究了价格制定的来源。我们争取了北欧电力交易所（Nord Pool ）的电力资源，这个交易所使得电力生产商和零售商能够在这种难以捉摸商品上获得稳定的价格。在英国，公用事业公司将和可再生能源企业签署15年的电力收购协议，但瑞典则不同，企业只能奋力挤入北欧电力交易所的市场。

我们必须和伙伴通力合作才能进行这项非常复杂的的建设。这个拥有48台风力发电机的项目位于一个非常偏远的森林地带，为此我们修建了50公里地方公路、铺设了35公里地下电缆，并架设了20公里地面高压线。为了与高压电网相连接，我们还修建了一座大型变电所，每座风力发电机下面都埋下了重达700吨的水泥基座。所有这一切都位于瑞典中部茂密的森林腹地，如果有人受伤的话，救护直升机要飞两个小时才能到达。在一个如此偏僻的地方这实在是一个了不起的基础设施。

很多人都认为修建风力发电场非常容易。这完全是一种“即插即用”式的想法。建设的复杂程度是你难以想象的。我们必须把所有因素都考虑进来，必须把银行拉进一个从不知道项目融资为何物的部门。然而我们只用了大约四个月就搞定了一切，这实在是一种破天荒似的创新融资。项目经过为期两年的建设，在7月9日按照预算交付使用。现在它已经开始运营，我们也开始盈利。这是可再生能源产业如何从小产业走向更大、更成熟的一个鲜明例子。

谭：近两年全球的经济状况非常艰难，而可再生能源的预付成本比传统能源形式要高得多，请问你如何在经济衰退中实现项目的融资？

莫：在我们看来，我们在经济危机期间的融资与平常并无区别。我们注意的焦点总是放在最高质量的项目上。我们不想冒技术风险，也不打算使用最大的风力发电机。我们寻求的是对更好的能源进行投资。所以我们不会在德国做太阳能，尽管那里的上网电价非常优厚，但却没有很好的光照。我们认为项目长期的价值还在于资源，不管是风能、太阳能还是水能。所以我们的着眼点是对更好的资源投资，并尽可能把最好的设备用在这里。

我们一向的做法就是进行相当保守的金融和合同架构，以便减小和分散风险。比如，在瑞典风力电厂的建设过程中，主吊车（重700吨，高120米）连根翻倒在路上，这究竟是由于驾驶员的失误还是道路塌陷已经无从考究。全欧洲只有三台这样的吊车，好在我们与一家承包商有协议，因此得以在短短三星期内让另一台吊车赶到现场。这一点非常重要，因为你不可能在十二月的瑞典进行风力发电机的安装，必须在夏秋两季完成。

只要有了质量的保障，就永远不怕没有融资。

谭：很显然政府政策和法规对这个产业来说非常重要，这对你们的工作有什么影响？

莫：无论可再生能源、常规能源、石油、天然气还是核能，整个能源部门都是政策驱动的，也都受到补贴。如果你在这个产业有多年经验，就会明白必须和政府及政治家建立起稳定的关系。政策总是在发展的，因此我们如今看到的这些变化并不会对我造成多大困扰。

在开始投资之前，你必须弄清目前可再生能源和低碳政策的目的何在。这个目的是双重性的。首先，要在争取进行常规电力定价的同时，给予可再生能源一个市场份额和发展空间。其次，要把这个产业提升到产业化水平，以降低其生产成本，使其具有竞争力。如果你能按照真实成本对常规电力进行定价，再参照这一价格降低可再生能源的成本，到某个点上使两者能够会合，这样就不用再对可再生能源技术进行补贴了。

这需要很长时间才能实现，但如果我们看一下太阳能光伏产业的例子，就能看到切实的希望。德国、西班牙以及意大利（稍微弱一点），都表示要发展太阳能光伏产业。它们期待这一产业带来的就业、生产的繁荣，期待规模的扩大，期待更多太阳能发电的入网。那么它们怎么做呢？做法就是推出鼓励政策。而收到的效果就是产业热烈的回应。过去几年中，太阳能光伏产业的生产能力和效率都发生了戏剧性的增长，我们看到了太阳能薄膜和多晶硅电池板的繁荣。这一切促使太阳能电池的价格在过去两年半中下降了60%，未来两到三年还有望再下降20%到30%。按照这一趋势，政府绝对可以开始下调太阳能发电的价格，因为预付资本成本已经实现减半。这就是这一政策发挥效用的方式。

谭：你在全世界的能源市场都有丰富的经验。请比较一下在欧洲投资和在美国中国有什么不同。

莫：我们就拿美国西欧和中国拉丁美洲以及其它新兴市场作比较。在权利的可执行性、法规的稳定性、市场对外国投资的开发性以及对外国投资的尊重上，欧洲和美国具有比较好的传统，而其它市场通常是没有的。但很明显一些国家在不断改善。中国曾经做过对外国投资有损害的事情，拉丁美洲也承诺要维持电力行业对外国投资者的税收，但常常无法实现。

我真正能够进行比较的是欧洲和美国。美国喜欢通过减税的方式来促进投资，特别是在可再生能源部门。因此它的鼓励机制通常以税收抵免的方式出现，刚刚又增加了补助金的方式，因为能使用税收抵免的人寥寥无几。

欧洲的补贴方式是账面上的，即生产者获得更高的电价收入；美国的补贴则是账面下的，即电价不变，但政府减少对生产者的税收。

这其中的意思就是由于税收抵免体系的运作方式，美国能吸引的潜在资本来源比较少。要想利用税收抵免的优势，你必须成为美国收入税的纳税者，必须有缴税收入来充抵税收抵免的金额。这正是为什么AIG、互助人寿保险公司甚至高盛等大型金融企业都拥有风力发电场，就是因为它们可以用税收抵免来抵消投资银行或者保险收入（要缴的税款）。

这同时也意味着包括养老基金在内的常规投资市场的更多成员无法在美国投资，因为它们并不在美国付什么收入税，税收抵免对它们没有任何意义。通常外国投资者在美国的缴税收入非常少，因此这个体系对它们也没有什么太大作用。在欧洲，由于政府对可再生能源产业的补贴通过提高收益的方式实现，所以就拥有更广泛的投资来源，包括养老基金、个人资本、企业资本和公用事业等等。换句话说，欧洲可以获得的资本来源要深得多，广得多。


谭·科普塞，中外对话发展主管。

汤姆·莫雷，HgCapital公司可再生能源团队负责人。

首页图片来自HgCapital

Tom Murley leads the renewables team at one of Europe’s most active private-equity houses. He tells Tan Copsey about finding finance in a recession, responding to regulation – and building turbines in the Swedish forest.

Tom Murley is a leading investor in the western European renewable-energy market, with extensive experience of both renewable and conventional energy projects. Working for HgCapital, a private-equity group in the United Kingdom, he has primary responsibility for a €303 million (US$389 million) fund for European renewable-power projects.




Tan Copsey: To start with, could you give me a sense of what you do?

Tom Murley: In 2002, HgCapital identified climate change and renewable energy as major investment themes. We researched these sectors and decided we wanted to invest in the deployment of the proven technologies – wind, solar, small hydro – on an industrial scale. We concluded that owning the physical assets would provide the best risk-adjusted returns for our investors. Our investors are primarily global pension funds, European, UK and American – very long-term capital that governments want to attract to this sector to build a low carbon energy future.

TC: Could you give me an example of a particular success story?

TM: The investment for which we have received the most recognition was Havsnas, the largest onshore wind farm in Sweden and through which we opened the Swedish wind-energy sector to real project finance. Havsnas has just come on line.

Virtually all Scandinavian power generation, renewable or conventional, had been owned by state-owned utilities – Vattenfall, Fortum, StatKraft. We went into a market that had no history of long-term bank financing for this kind of project. There was also a new support system - Sweden has a green-certificate system [a national trading scheme in which certificates proving that certain electricity comes from renewable power are bought and sold] – based on the UK model.

We had to analyse the green certificate market from the ground up, something which had not been adequately done before. We developed proprietary forecasts and a view of where pricing was heading. We hedged for the power in the Nord Pool market [this allows electricity producers and retailers to secure the price of a volatile commodity] Sweden is not like the UK where utilities will sign 15 year power-purchase agreement. One has to enter the Nord Pool market.

We had to put together construction of a very complex project with our partners. There are 48 turbines on this project in a very remote, forested location. We built 50 kilometres of internal roads, lay 35 kilometres of underground cabling and string 20 kilometres of above ground high-tension grip cabling. We built a major substation connecting the high-voltage grid and put up 48 turbines, each one of which has a 700 tonne concrete foundation. All in the middle of the forest, in the middle of Sweden, where things like the medevac [medical evacuation] helicopter, should someone get injured, is two hours away. It is significant infrastructure in a very remote location.

A lot of people think that building wind farms is easy. That it is kind of “plug and play”. This is on a scale that is probably as complex as you get until you move into offshore wind. We had to put all of those elements together and bring banks to a market that had never known project financing and we did that in about four months. It really was innovative, ground-breaking financing. The project had a two year construction period and was handed over on July 9 on budget. It is operating and we’re making money. It is a real example of how the renewables industry is moving from a small industry to a larger, much more sophisticated industry.

TC: These are very difficult economic times and the upfront costs for renewable energy are much larger than traditional forms of energy. How do you finance these projects in a recession?

TM: In our view, we finance these projects the same way as when we’re not in a recession. What we have always focused on are the highest quality projects. We don’t take technology risks, we’re not going to use the latest wind turbine. We seek to invest in better resource. So we don’t do solar in Germany. They have a wonderful feed-in tariff, but there’s not that much sunshine. We believe the long-term value is with the resource, whether it is wind, sun or water. So we look to invest in better resources and put the best possible equipment on that.

What we’ve always done is to work to fairly conservative financial and contractual structures that mitigate and properly allocate risk. So, for example, in Sweden when we were building the large wind-farm, the main construction crane – 700 tonnes, 120 metre boom-- basically fell off the road. Whether it was a driver error or whether the road collapsed underneath it, no one really knows. There are only three such cranes in Europe. We had structures with a contractor so we got one of the replacement cranes on site within three weeks. This is important because you can’t erect these turbines past December in Sweden. You have to do this in the summer and the fall months.

For that quality proposition there has always been, and there always will be, a banking market.

TC: Obviously government policy and regulation is very important in this sector. How does that affect what you do?

TM: The entire energy sector – renewable, conventional, oil, gas, nuclear – it’s all policy driven and is subsidised. If you’ve been a long-term player in this sector you realise that you have to incorporate regular interface with governments and politicians. Policy is always evolutionary, so the changes we’re seeing today don’t particularly bother me.

You have to take a step back and say what is the purpose of the current renewable energy policies and low-carbon policies? It is twofold. First, to give renewables a share of the market and growth space, while we appropriately price conventional electricity. Second, to try to bring this industry to commercial scale so we can reduce its costs and it can become competitive. When you price in the true cost of conventional power, and then you match that with driving down the cost of renewable power, at some point the two will meet and the technologies will no longer require subsidy.

That will still take a long time, but if you take a look at the solar PV sector, for example, we’re actually seeing success. Germany, Spain and to a lesser extent Italy, said they wanted a solar PV industry. They wanted the jobs, the manufacturing, they wanted the scale, they wanted more of this on the grid. So what did they do? They put out an incentive. What happened was the industry responded brilliantly. The PV industry dramatically increased manufacturing capacity and efficiency over the last few years. We are seeing thin-film. We are seeing greater efficiency in crystalline panels. All of that has contributed to a 60% drop in the price of solar panels over the last two and a half years. It is probably going to drop another 20% to 30% over the coming two or three years. And in that scenario it is absolutely appropriate for governments to start reducing the solar tariff because the upfront capital cost has been halved. This is how this policy is supposed to work.

TC: You have experience in energy markets around the world. What’s different about investing in Europe in comparison to the United States and China?

TM: Let’s take the United States and western Europe versus China, Latin America and emerging markets. Europe and the United States offer a history of legal enforceability of rights, stability of regulation, an openness of markets to foreign investment and a respect of foreign investment that has not always existed in other markets. Clearly some are getting better. China has done things before that have been harmful to foreign investment. In Latin America, promises to maintain tariffs to foreign investors in the electricity sector have failed to materialise at certain times.

What I can really contrast are Europe and the United States. The United States likes to promote investment through tax-breaks and this has been particularly true in the renewable sector. So the support scheme comes in the form of tax credits and right now it is also coming in the form of grants because there are fewer people who can use the tax credits.

In Europe the support comes above the line – we get paid more for the electricity. In the US the support comes below the line – this means you get paid the same amount for electricity but they take away the tax burden for you.

What that means is the United States, because of the way the tax credit system works, attracts a smaller pool of potential capital. To take advantage of the tax credit, you have to be a US income tax payer and have taxable income to offset the tax credit. This is why large financial houses like AIG, John Hancock or even Goldman Sachs were owning wind-farms – because they would take the tax credits and offset their investment banking or insurance income with the tax credits.

But it also means that large parts of the institutional investor market, including pension funds, can’t invest in America because they don’t pay any income tax and so a tax credit isn’t any good to them. Foreign investors typically have very little US income so this system also doesn’t work particularly well for them. In Europe, because this support comes in the form of enhanced revenues, you can have a much broader investment pool. So you have pension funds, individuals, corporates, utilities. Europe is able to access a much deeper and broader pool of capital.


Tan Copsey is development manager at chinadialogue.

Tom Murley leads the renewable energy team at HgCapital.

Homepage image from HgCapital

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