Export weakness in July may have continued into August, which contributed to the decline of the HSBC PMI, which has a higher weight than the official PMI for export-oriented companies in the coastal region, noted Zhiwei Zhang, an analyst for Nomura Securities in Hong Kong.

FORBES: China Won't Save The World Economy

The region's nimbler, more market-oriented colleges have been helped by the new practice of dividing education into chunks (bachelor's and master's degrees, for a start), with work sandwiched in between.

ECONOMIST: Central European universities