GUANGZHOU, Guangdong Province – Seeing the jostling crowds at the Guangzhou auto show, it seems hard to believe that car sales have slowed in China.

Over two sprawling levels of a convention center here, flashy sports cars, minivans, SUVs, Jeeps, the odd concept vehicle, even RVs, beckoned people to imagine a shinier mobile lifestyle.

“We already have a small car, so we want a bigger car like a four-wheel drive,” said Tang Qing, a young well-dressed woman whose “small car” is a BMW.  “So the whole family can go out together.” 

“The GLK is the model I like,” she added, having just checked out that model of SUV at the Mercedes-Benz display.

Adrienne Mong/NBC News

The 2008 Guangzhou auto show draws huge crowds.

Tang exemplifies the young Chinese consumer over whom market researchers smack their lips.  China, according to one such survey, has more aspirational car buyers than any other nation in the world.  

And this desire for the trappings of a better life – combined with the growing means to realize material ambitions for the world’s largest population – has helped make China the biggest auto market after the United States.

For the past six years, the country has clocked more than 20 percent growth in domestic vehicle sales. Last year, 8.8 million vehicles were sold here. 

But this year sales have slowed considerably – owing to growing economic uncertainty abroad and at home. Analysts are forecasting growth of around 8 percent for this year. And Chinese carmakers are apparently apprehensive enough to have considered seeking a government bailout of their own. 

Against this backdrop, Tang appeared to be the rare luxury buyer the morning the NBC News team wandered through the auto show.

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BEIJING – As more than 500 Tibetan exile leaders gather in Dharmsala, India, this week to discuss their struggle against Chinese rule, their movement appears to be at a crossroads.

They are expected to debate whether or not they should abandon the Dalai Lama’s longtime attempt to compromise with Beijing, by pursuing a path known as the “middle way,” or if they should go for a last ditch attempt at independence.

AP

Tibetan Buddhist monks carry a portrait of the Dalai Lama in Dharmsala, India, on Monday.

But overshadowing those issues, and heightening the urgency of the gathering, is the age and health of the Dalai Lama himself – he is now 73-years-old and has had two hospital treatments since August.

He called the meeting in the Indian hill town that is the base of Tibet’s self-proclaimed government in exile, but was not expected to attend the meeting because he said he did not want to tilt the debate on future strategy.

But as the Tibetan spiritual leader, his continuing influence on the movement is undeniable.

And because of his overwhelming influence, China has already taken preemptive moves to control his replacement and Tibet’s future leadership – by controlling his reincarnation.

Last year the Chinese passed a law that gives Beijing the power to approve the reincarnation of living Buddhas or lamas, of whom the Dalai Lama is the highest in the Tibetan hierarchy.

In turn, the Dalai Lama has raised the possibility to forgo his rebirth, or to be reborn while still alive so that he, not China, can choose his successor….(read more)

BEIJING – As factories close up shop in the world’s largest manufacturing exporter, sending thousands of temporary, or migrant, workers without jobs onto the streets, the Chinese government faces potentially its biggest employment challenge in its thirty years of economic reform.

Two weekends ago, the State Council – or China’s cabinet – announced a massive economic stimulus plan, totaling $586 billion. Last Friday, details of the ten-point program finally emerged. Spending over two years will target rural and transport infrastructure, health, education, the environment, and helping to rebuild quake-devastated Sichuan Province.

VIDEO: Is China’s massive economic stimulus plan enough?

News of the plan has been widely welcomed around the world and in China, renewing hopes that the country can help offset the global economic turmoil. One economist here even likened it – in tandem with other recent reform measures – to a “New Deal with Chinese characteristics.”

But data continues to trickle in, revealing just how much the export slowdown has affected the Chinese economy overall.  This weekend, a vice commerce minister said the country had experienced negative foreign direct investment growth last month, the first time for China.  The official said Beijing would do more to create better conditions for multinational companies. 

A labor economist who spoke to NBC News in Beijing, and who thinks the plan isn’t enough to stem the growing tide of unemployment, says the focus should be on small and medium-sized enterprises. These, says Professor Wang Yijiang at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, are responsible for keeping 75 percent of China’s labor force employed.

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BEIJING – China is greeting the financial crisis with a sense of alarm.

“The economic crisis has arrived, are you ready?” asked one Chinese blogger recently.

It was one of the many tell-tale signs that the tumult is beginning to touch China’s once booming economy.

While Beijing has recently responded with a massive stimulus package to forestall a potential crisis, the Internet is abuzz with ordinary folks exchanging inventive tips to cope with the challenges ahead.

Reuters

A man holds a baby as he sits in front of a poster begging for work on a walkway bridge above a main road in Beijing on Nov. 5, 2008.

“Drink boiled water, not bottled water, and avoid entertaining guests,” wrote one Chinese blogger in a 23-point advisory.

Another blogger called on China’s youth “not to fear empty wallets or unemployment.” 

“We are young and can start again,” he said, and went on to describe how to outsmart the economic downturn. ”Don’t ask the boss for pay raise,” he advised. “Layoffs start with those with high salaries.”
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With a major gender imbalance as a result of China’s one-child policy, bachelors get their own day. NBC’s Adrienne Mong follows John, a 30-year-old computer programmer, in his quest for love at a speed-dating event in Beijing.  

VIDEO: Checking out singles on China’s “Bachelor Day”

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