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Sept 29 - 30, 2007
Foreign investment fund ‘to launch on Saturday - A government fund that is to invest part of China’s US$1.3 trillion (HK$10 trillion) in foreign currency reserves is due to be officially launched on Saturday, according to news reports. Financial analysts are watching the agency closely to see where it invests and its possible impact on financial markets. It is expected to be entrusted with US$200 billion, which would make it one of the world’s richest investment funds. The agency was likely to be called the China Investment Corp, Dow Jones Newswires and the mainland’s Securities Journal reported on Thursday. Both quoted unidentified sources. A mainland official who was involved in setting up the fund said he could not confirm the reports. Foreign reporters would be barred from the official opening ceremony, said Jesse Wang, chairman of state-owned Jianyin Investment. The central government created the fund in an effort to earn higher returns on its currency reserves, which have soared amid a boom in export revenues. A large portion of the reserves have been invested in safe but low-yielding United States Treasuries. Its creation comes at a time of tensions with the US over China’s swelling trade surplus and unease in the United States and elsewhere over Beijing’s growing economic and military might. Authorities said the agency would be modelled in part on Singapore’s government-owned Temasek Holdings, which invests in banks, real estate and other industries in China, India and elsewhere. A key question has been the possible impact of the new strategy on the market for US Treasury securities. The central government is a big buyer of Treasuries, helping to finance the American government budget deficit. Mainland officials have given no details of how much money might be diverted to other assets. The Chinese agency agreed in May to pay US$3 billion for just under 10 per cent of American investment firm Blackstone Group. Mr Wang, who was involved in negotiating the Blackstone purchase, told The Associated Press in May that the mainland agency was expected to try to avoid political strains abroad by purchasing minority stakes in companies rather than pursuing corporate takeovers. Chinese companies have been uneasy about foreign acquisitions since the uproar in 2005 over state-owned oil company CNOOC (SEHK: 0883)’s attempt to acquire US oil and gas producer Unocal CNOOC dropped its bid after American critics said it might endanger energy security. China Asset Management, the country’s largest fund house, said it raised the targeted US$4 billion (HK$31 billion) for its first global stock investment fund on the day of its launch for sale on Thursday, reflecting rising mainland interest in overseas markets. “The sale has been successfully completed. It’s oversubscribed in just one day,” the company, which has hired Baltimore-based T Rowe Price Group as its overseas investment adviser, said in a statement. The fund is the second overseas stock fund launched by a Chinese fund house under the country’s Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) scheme, which is partly aimed at easing upward pressure on the yuan. China Asset Management did not indicate when it would start investing.
The value of Hong Kong’s exports increased by 7.5 per cent to HK$243.2 billion year-on-year in August, latest statistics released by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) showed on Thursday.
Several United States carriers have won permission by the U.S. Department of Transportation to start new flights to China after the two countries signed an agreement to open up the skies, the companies said yesterday. Continental Airlines will fly between Newark, New Jersey, and Shanghai starting in March 2009. AMR Corp's American Airlines will fly between Chicago and Beijing, while Northwest will begin a service between Detroit and Shanghai at the same time. "We're obviously delighted with DOT's decision today," said Will Ris, American Airlines' senior vice president of government affairs. "We said in our application that America's Chicago gateway will provide increased network competition and customer choice in the growing China market." Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines Inc and U.S. Airways Group Inc - the only major U.S. carriers that operate globally without flights to China - were also awarded flights to China by the transportation department. Delta plans a daily flight starting on March 30, 2009 between Atlanta and Shanghai. U.S. Airways' daily service will begin on March 25, 2009, and will be between Philadelphia and Beijing. A bilateral aviation agreement reached by the two countries in May granted U.S. carriers more access to China, an aviation market expanding by 15 percent in recent years. Under the pact, U.S. carriers will more than double their round-trip flights to 23 by 2012. The rapidly growing Chinese aviation market has lured overseas carriers to bid for a stake in domestic counterparts. Singapore Airlines Ltd and parent Temasek Holdings Pte have signed to pay about 918 million U.S. dollars for a combined 24 percent stake in China Eastern Airlines Corp, the companies announced early this month. The deal still needs approval by the company board. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, Hong Kong's biggest carrier, paid 4.07 billion HK dollars(524 million U.S. dollars) in June last year to double its stake in Air China to 20 percent for more access to the Chinese market.
Sept 28, 2007
Hong Kong improves, mainland China slips back in global war on corruption - Hong Kong has been ranked 14th on a global list of least corrupt places in the world, one place better than last year and its highest position since the handover. The mainland was ranked 72nd in Berlin-based Transparency International's annual Corruption Perceptions Index covering 180 countries, compared to 70th last year. ransparency International said some of the world's poorest nations were seen as having the most dishonest political and business chiefs. Iraq, Somalia and Myanmar were perceived to be the most corrupt countries. More than two-thirds of the 180 countries scored less than five out of 10, indicating serious corruption. Hong Kong scored 8.3, the same as last year. In the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong was ranked fourth least corrupt behind New Zealand, Singapore and Australia. New Zealand, Denmark and Finland were the least corrupt. They each scored 9.4 but the anti-graft watchdog noted that even these countries needed to do more to combat corporate graft. "Despite some gains, corruption remains an enormous drain on resources sorely needed for education, health and infrastructure," Transparency International's chairwoman Huguette Labelle said when releasing the findings yesterday. Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption welcomed the index results. "It shows that corruption in Hong Kong is under effective control," a spokeswoman said. Regarding Transparency International's concerns about graft in the corporate sector, she said Hong Kong treated such crimes seriously and her organisation was organising seminars for corporate directors to educate them about corruption. The index score relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by businesspeople and country analysts. It ranges between zero, which is highly corrupt, and 10, which is very clean.
The central government may be building a stake in Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (SEHK: 0388), helping to fuel the rapid rise of the stock-market operator's share price, a British newspaper reported. The mainland's new foreign exchange reserve fund, which will manage US$200 billion, or the National Social Security Fund, which manages US$53 billion, could be buying shares, the Times of London said, citing sources close to the exchange. HKEx shares have soared 122 per cent since August 17, when the Hang Seng Index hit bottom amid fears of a meltdown in financial markets in the wake of the subprime crisis. The Hang Seng Index has risen 30 per cent over the same period. HKEx, which operates Asia's third-largest stock market, said in a statement that it had no explanation for the rise in its share price.
A former Hong Kong Monetary Authority official - who was also one of the original architects of the city's linked- exchange rate system - rounded on the administration yesterday, characterizing it as "complacent" and "inactive," suggesting the government lacks the energy to develop innovative policies to deal with key social and economic issues. The investment management arm of Dutch financial services group ING Groep is set to launch a new China fund it hopes will raise at least US$250 million (HK$1.95 billion) and round out its product offerings in the region. Bill Clinton will bring his philanthropic summit to Hong Kong next year, hoping that Asians will keep issues such as poverty, health and climate change on the agenda as the Indian and mainland economies grow rapidly. The former US president launched his third annual Clinton Global Initiative in New York yesterday, welcoming more than 1,200 people from 72 countries - among them 52 current and former heads of state, aid workers, company chiefs and celebrities including actress Angelina Jolie - to three days of brainstorming. At a meeting that rates action over talk, he will push those attending to commit to do good, hoping to build on US$10 billion of pledges made in the first two years of his summit. Ben Yarrow, a spokesman for Mr Clinton, said the Hong Kong summit aimed "to spark the same spirit of philanthropy and engagement in the business community in Asia".
People's Bank of China may raise home-loan rates by as much as 10 percent this week as the central bank seeks to further tighten the screws on speculators and hold down residential prices, China Daily said, citing an unidentified source. China Shenhua Energy (1088) has announced it will sell 1.8 billion A shares at the final offer price of 36.99 yuan per share - raising 66.6 billion yuan (HK$68.9 billion) and making it the largest domestic stock offering, surpassing the 58.05 billion yuan float of China Construction Bank (0939). Mainland courts have jailed six former officials, including a former secretary to Shanghai's one-time Communist Party chief Chen Liangyu, as authorities wrap up a massive corruption scandal, state media reports said yesterday.
Citic Securities, founded 12 years
ago, is the world's fastest-growing brokerage. The Beijing-based company has a
market capitalization of US$40.7 billion - US$8.8 billion more than Lehman
Brothers Holdings, US$24.4 billion more than Bear Stearns and US$16.4 billion
more than Charles Schwab Corp. Haitong Securities, the mainland's No2, also
eclipsed Bear Stearns as the seven largest United States brokers have lost US$37
billion in value this year. A year ago, Wall Street firms occupied the top five
slots while the mainland had none among the first 10. Citic has now claimed the
No4 position while Haitong, at US$22.1 billion, is eighth. Only Goldman Sachs
Group, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch remain larger than Citic. When global
banks with securities arms are added, Citic ranks No8 on a list that includes
Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, UBS and Credit Suisse Group. Citigroup, the largest
US bank, has a capitalisation of US$230 billion, while Goldman has a value of
US$91.2 billion. Citic's rise is reminiscent of that achieved by Japan's Nomura
Holdings in the late 1980s when the firm became the world's largest securities
firm. Nomura's shares have plunged 86 per cent since Japan's bubble economy
burst in 1987. Sixty-two percent of Chinese suppliers are increasing spending on quality control, according to a recent survey of more than 200 manufacturers by Global Sources, a global business-to-business (B2B) media company. New Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is planning to make his first state visit to Beijing in November as part of a drive to take ties with China to a new level. RIA Novosti of Russia, Sipa Press of France and Gamma of Eyede, also a French company, have been authorized to release financial information or photos in China.
French chain hotel giant to expand presence in China - Accor (worldwide) group, the world's leading hotel and tourism company, has announced its target to more than triple the total number of its chain hotels in China to 180 in the next three years. By 2010, Accor's network will include about 40 five-star Sofitel hotels and 100 economical ibis hotels in China. The French group has signed for 62 hotels in China in 2007 and has more than 20 hotels becoming operational so far this year. "We believe that the continuous growth of tourism in and out ofChina and the upcoming Olympic Games will create huge demand in hotel services," said Robert Murray, vice president for Accor China at a press conference in Beijing. Accor will also open three more hotels in Beijing before the 2008 Olympics, bringing the number of its hotels in the Chinese capital to seven. "There could be a drop in demand right after the Olympics but we are confident in China's booming economy," said Ray Stone, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Accor Asia Pacific. Since its entry into China in 1985, Accor has opened 50 hotels in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Xi'an, Chengdu and other major Chinese cities. The company operates more than 4,000 hotels in nearly 100 countries with 170,000 employees. With scores of corrupt officials fleeing to the United States, Canada and Australia, China needs to pace up negotiations with those countries to conclude extradition treaties, officials have said. "Besides, a number of officials have fled to European countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands," Gao Yuntao, deputy head of the international cooperation bureau of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), told China Daily. The country has so far signed extradition agreements with 29 nations but only three - Spain, Portugal and France - are developed nations. Returned professionals help drive economy - In 1992, 29-year-old Peking University professor Yu Kongjian was accepted as a doctoral candidate at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. "I've got to come back," Yu told himself. He set off for the United States carrying a spoonful of home soil his mother gave him on leaving Dongyu Village, Zhejiang Province. He did return, after three years at Harvard and two at the SWA Group, a global leader in landscape architecture. Yu opened his own company to put into practice what he had learned overseas. He chose the name "Turen", or Earth-man/natives. But the company's registration was turned down by officials because the name sounded "too earthy". "It was staff at Haidian Science Park's business incubator who spent a huge amount of time to help me finally register my company," Yu said. Still located in the park, Turenscape as it is known today, has gained world recognition, winning the American Society of Landscape Architects' award, the Oscar of the industry, for five consecutive years. Yu is among an increasing number of returned overseas students who have set up about 500 companies in Haidian Park, the earliest of its kind in the country. A total of 2,135 returned students, more than 90 percent of whom received at least a master's education, and the 1,641 companies they started up, are located in these special parks in Beijing. The parks claim to be a nationwide leader in providing services to emerging social groups. "The parks are like a greenhouse for us," Yu said. According to the Ministry of Education, China's overseas students totaled 1.067 million between 1978 and 2006. Today, 275,000 have returned, 42,000 in the past year alone. The students have contributed significantly to the economic development; in return, central and local governments have provided favorable conditions and services for them. Construction has begun on a freeway that will form a key part of a Central Asia highway network between Korla and Kuqa, in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The section of China's No. 314 national trunk road was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, said an official from Xinjing Uygur Autonomous Regional Bureau of Communications. The four-lane freeway would cover 296.5 km at a budgeted cost of 4.02 billion yuan (503 million U.S. dollars). The Asian Development Bank will lend 150 million dollars and the central government will pay 1.5 billion yuan (187 million U.S. dollars), while the rest is met by local governments. Construction would take three years to complete and the road would be open by 2010, said the official.
Sept 27, 2007
Warner Bros. has applied for local permits to shoot a portion of Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" in Hong Kong this fall. In director Christopher Nolan's follow-up to "Batman Begins," the caped crusader will leave Gotham for the first time in the history of the film franchise to fight evil in another city -- or cities -- although it's unclear whether Hong Kong will be called Hong Kong or a fictional metropolis. As it stands, the Warner Bros. project is hoping to touch down in the former British colony for a skedded nine days of shooting in November. Warners wouldn't confirm the reports. Pic, whose plotline is being kept under tight wraps, also is lensing in Chicago and London. "Dark Knight" returns Christian Bale to the bigscreen as Batman. Heath Ledger and Michael Caine also star. Hong Kong production services companies have been abuzz for months with talk of what may be the highest profile foreign shoot for several years. Warner has apparently applied for permits to shoot in the glossy business district of Central and neighboring Western. And one sequence could include the nightly Symphony of Lights laser show, a key tourist trademark for the city. Local politicos have suggested that helicopters and night shooting could cause traffic chaos and noise pollution. "We welcome the movie but want to ensure arrangements are hassle free," said Kwok Ka-ki, a local legislator. It is not clear whether the Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures production will make use of the new Shaw Studios. State-of-the-art facility has lain unused for best part of the two years since its skedded completion, though it has recently been home to some commercials, including one shot by Ridley Scott's RSA, and is hosting Josh Hartnett-starring movie "I Come With the Rain" by helmer Tran Anh Hung.
Johnnie To-helmed crimer "Exiled"
has been selected to represent Hong Kong in the foreign language Oscar category.
Selection was announced Monday by the Motion Picture Industry Association. Pic
preemed in Venice 2006 and was widely sold in int'l territories by Media Asia.
Magnolia Pictures released it in North America.
Despite the strong economic rebound, the number of people earning less than HK$5,000 a month has shot up drastically by 87 percent in the past 10 years to almost 419,000 according to an Oxfam study. Former security chief Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee will formally announce her candidacy for the Hong Kong Island by- election on Thursday. CITIC International Financial Holdings (0183) - the offshore financial flagship of Beijing-backed conglomerate CITIC Group - can use its mainland connections to help it grow into the premier offshore center for mainland companies. And a recent tie-up with one of Spain's largest banks will transform it into a regional player in the wholesale banking space. CIFH chairman Kong Dan is also chairman of CITIC Group. CIFH is the holding company for mid- sized Hong Kong lender CITIC Ka Wah Bank and asset management firm CITIC International Assets Management.
The central government said on Tuesday it has revoked the food production licences of hundreds of companies, including producers of rice and monosodium glutamate, in its latest crackdown on unclean or unsafe manufacturing practices. Mainland food, drug and other exports ranging from toothpaste to seafood are under intense scrutiny because they have been found to contain potentially deadly substances. Domestically, the problem occurs regularly. One of China’s major product safety watchdogs said in a statement posted on its website on Tuesday that it had recently revoked the food production licences of 564 Chinese companies. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said the decision was part of a “special campaign to ensure product quality and food safety and strengthen food safety supervision.” It didn’t say specifically when the licences were cancelled. It named the three worst offenders, but did not give details of their violations. They were the Shijiazhuang Good Cook Food Factory, a monosodium glutamate factory in Hebei province, the Hefei Wanmaomao Quick-frozen Food Company in Anhui province, and Kaiping Shagang District Xinfengsheng Rice Factory in the Guangdong province. The other companies had their food production licences revoked because they were found to be manufacturing goods they weren’t licensed to make, or because they had moved or were being renovated, it said. After an initial reluctance, the government has launched an aggressive campaign to win back consumer confidence by issuing new regulations, cracking down on violators and setting up a cabinet-level panel to monitor quality. Olympics a chance to build brand loyalty - What is in a brand? Until the past decade, it probably meant little for the average mainland consumer. Now, millions are bombarded with the biggest offensive yet by domestic and foreign companies ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. But qualifying for Olympic official sponsorship requires deep pockets that not many can afford. The Beijing Olympic Committee sets sponsorship at various levels – worldwide partner, Beijing 2008 partner, Beijing sponsor and Beijing supplier. Adidas reportedly paid a lofty US$100 million to secure its Beijing partner crown, elbowing out Nike and Mizuno, as well as the Li Ning (SEHK: 2331) company, a home-grown sports goods producer established by former Olympic gymnast Li Ning. Li Ning chief financial officer Tan Wee Seng says the company realised it would have been unfeasible to make a bid after taking into account the entrance fee and the returns. “Know yourself, know your rivals,” he said. “We are a very small company. When we invest $1, we want a $10 return ... we need speedy returns on investments.” The Li Ning company opted for a different route, one that has been the subject of contention in the mainland, with critics questioning whether it breached Olympic sponsorship regulations. Early this year, the company signed a two-year agreement with China Central TV (CCTV) for its sports journalists and anchors to don Li Ning sportswear until the end of 2008 in all programs aired on CCTV National Sports TV channel, as well as programs aired on the “Olympic Channel” during the Games. Mr Tan stressed it was a deal between two commercial entities and the company had adhered to regulations. “This is a good opportunity and we seized the opportunity.” Li Ning’s brand management effort reflects its knack for moving tactically instead of competing head on with international giants. It has also signed on various teams, including the Spanish and Argentinian basketball teams, and tied up with others in archery, athletics, ping pong and diving – events that Mr Tan says have accounted for 42 per cent of the country’s gold medal count. According to a recent CLSA survey on middle-class spending, Li Ning ranked as one of the top consumer choices because of its “innovative and imaginative marketing”. Branding efforts lately by mainland companies have hinged on the Olympics, though they will not be limited to the Games, as firms attempt to shake off their long-standing image as cheap manufacturers. Branding strategists say mainlanders’ increasing pride in their country is a boon to domestic companies in gaining market share. The Olympics will only rekindle more of the nationalist spark and confer status and credibility to home-grown brands. With less than a year before the Games open next summer, Olympic marketing is all the rage. This very development is also turning mainlanders into more sophisticated consumers and consciously or not, introducing them to brand loyalty. Chan Wai-chan, who heads McKinsey’s Greater China Consumer Practice, says the Olympics are only another channel for mainland companies to market themselves to the rest of the world, but does not change their overall branding strategy. Olympic marketing does not come cheap. After securing the rights, insiders estimate an additional minimal US$320 million is needed for the campaign. Li Ning’s Mr Tan says the company’s Olympic-related programs this year will account for half of its total marketing expenditure, rising from 10 per cent.
Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp (SEHK: 0763), the
mainland's two largest makers of wireless equipment, said they aimed to launch
new products with ultra mobile broadband (UMB) technology which allows video and
other data to be transferred to mobile devices 10 to 100 times faster than by
third-generation mobile telephones. Sept 26, 2007
A survey released here on Monday found that the deposit scheme enhanced public confidence in Hong Kong's banking system. The survey, conducted by Hong Kong Deposit Protection Board, showed that 67 percent of respondents were aware of the scheme, and among them, 76 percent knew the maximum protection limit is 100,000 Hong Kong dollars (about 12,800 U.S. dollars). With the exception of a few overseas-incorporated banks which are covered by a similar scheme in their country of incorporation, all licensed banks in Hong Kong are members of the scheme. The scheme protects customers' eligible deposits held with banks in Hong Kong which are members of the scheme. It will pay the customers compensation up to a limit of 100,000 Hong Kong dollars if the bank with which the customers hold their eligible deposits fails. Positive responses were gathered in areas including the perceived level of security of deposits at banks, and confidence in small to medium-sized banks. "The successful launch of the scheme last year marked an important milestone in the development of the financial safety net in Hong Kong. Building on a strong foundation established in the past year, we will continue to refine and enhance the functioning of the scheme to contribute to the well-being of depositors and the financial stability of Hong Kong," Chairman of the Board Andrew Chan said. Board's Chief Executive Office Raymond Li said that apart from maintaining the scheme's efficient operation, the board will work on strengthening public understanding of it. The board will also seek to enhance the campaign's effectiveness by diversifying the channels and means for disseminating the board's messages. Hong Kong recorded a 10 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.29 billion U.S. dollars) surplus in its balance of payment account in the second quarter, Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department said on Monday. The figure accounts for 2.7 percent of Hong Kong's gross domestic product (GDP), compared to a surplus of 12.4 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.60 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter, the department said. Of the major balance of payments components, there was a current account surplus of 26.2 billion Hong Kong dollars (3.37 billion U.S. dollars), compared to 62.8 billion Hong Kong dollars (8.08 billion U.S. dollars) in the previous quarter. With goods imports increasing faster than goods exports, the visible trade deficit rose to 46.2 billion Hong Kong dollars (5.95 billion U.S. dollars), from 35.4 billion Hong Kong dollars (4.56 billion U.S. dollars) in the same quarter last year. Overall, a combined visible and invisible trade surplus of 24.7 billion Hong Kong dollars (3.18 billion U.S. dollars) was recorded, smaller than that of 26.1 billion Hong Kong dollars (3.36 billion U.S. dollars) in the same period last year, the department said.
A thirst for quality stocks among mainland investors has allowed the A shares of several Hong Kong-listed mainland companies to command high offering prices.
People whose fingers are too dry, wet or unclean are likely to encounter difficulties with fingerprint verification when using the e-channels, the Immigration Department said yesterday. "To avoid delay, they should moisten, wipe or clean their fingers before entering the e-channels," a department spokesman said. The appeal was made as more than 9.8 million people are expected to cross the border by land, sea and air during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day Golden Week holiday period. Commenting on the coming week's cross-border traffic, the spokesman said about 16.6 percent more passengers than last year will cross the border, either entering or leaving the SAR, during the period. Of the estimated 9.8 million people, 7.6 million - or 18.6 percent more than last year - will pass through land control points. The peak period of cross-boundary traffic will fall between today and October 8 when about 4.14 million passengers - an average of 276,000 daily - will pass through the Lo Wu control point. This represents 55 percent of the total estimated cross-boundary passenger traffic and an increase of 3.7 percent over the same period last year. The number of departing passengers at the Lo Wu control point is expected to reach a peak of 200,000 on Saturday, while the peak for arrivals will be October 1, with 213,000 people returning to Hong Kong. Saturday will also see the total daily traffic reach 350,000. Lok Ma Chau passenger traffic will also be heavy with a forecast of about 2.1 million passengers, a daily average of 141,000 and an increase of 4.8 percent over last year. The two new control points at Shenzhen Bay and the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line will give more choice. Cathay Pacific (SEHK: 0293) and Air China (SEHK: 0753, announcements, news) are teaming up to block Singapore Airlines' bid to buy a stake in China Eastern (SEHK: 0670), as consolidation in China's airline industry heats up, market sources said last night. Shares of Cathay Pacific rose 10.7 per cent yesterday to a record HK$22.70 before trading was suspended pending an announcement of a price-sensitive proposed transaction. Shares in China Eastern closed at a record HK$9.72, up 12.4 per cent. Sources said Cathay Pacific was trying to acquire a stake in China Eastern. The holding, along with Air China's 11 per cent stake in the Shanghai-based carrier, could allow the two airlines to vote down Singapore's bid for China Eastern at a shareholder meeting in December. The deal requires the support of two-thirds of minority shareholders. The lure is China Eastern's Hong Kong-Shanghai services and Shanghai's possible role as an important international aviation hub for the mainland. China Eastern said it had no comment on the speculation about Cathay Pacific and that its transaction with Singapore Airlines would proceed. Cathay and Singapore Airlines have long been intense competitors.
Applications closed for the 44th Taiwan Golden Horse Awards on Thursday, and this year's blockbusters, "Lust, Caution", "Sun Also Rises" and "Secret" were among the entrants. Following their clash at the Venice Film Festival, directors Ang Lee and Jiang Wen will again compete, this time for the so-called Chinese Oscars, according to the Huashang Morning Post. New director, Jay Chou, reportedly applied for several awards for his directorial debut, "Secret", including the best-film, best-actor, and best-actress awards. The nominees for this year's awards will be announced October 27. The awards ceremony will take place on December 8. Ang Lee's Golden Lion winner "Lust, Caution" has been approved for release in China at the end of October after being shorn of some of its sexual content. Friday's Beijing News reported that the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) said the movie "was cut but not by much". "The shortened version will debut in late October," the SARFT source was quoted as saying. Earlier reports said that only seven minutes of the film, all deemed too sexually explicit, were cut by Lee himself and all four main sex scenes remained almost intact. It has been previously suggested the film could be cut by as much as 30 minutes. The movie's distributor in the Chinese mainland also confirmed the news but said it did not know the details. "Lust, Caution" won the top Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, Lee's second win in Venice following "Brokeback Mountain" in 2005.
A state-run cafe has opened in Beijing’s Forbidden City on the premises where Starbucks closed down earlier this year amid charges the US chain sullied the site, state media said. The “Forbidden City Cafe,” managed by the authorities that oversee the historic imperial quarters, serves both coffee and traditional Chinese tea, the Xinhua news agency reported late on Sunday. “We want to provide tourists with a package of products relating to the imperial palace and Chinese culture,” Li Wenru, deputy curator of the Forbidden City, was quoted as saying. In July, Starbucks closed its coffee shop, which it had operated in the Forbidden City since 2000, after declining to offer other brands for sale to customers. Sept 25, 2007
HSBC Holdings (0005) announced on Friday it will close its subprime mortgage subsidiary in the United States, saying it is "no longer sustainable." Independence not at risk: HKEx boss - The Hong Kong government's move to increase its stake in the local bourse will not hurt its independence - rather it could enhance its flexibility and smooth future development, said Ronald Arculli, chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (0388). There is a good chance the United States economy will fall into a recession within the next 12 months which would cause a ripple effect slowing down China's rate of growth, said Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia.
A showdown between Anson Chan Fang On-sang and Regina Ip Lau Suk- yee in the Legislative Council by- election in December will definitely create headlines and boost voter turnout, Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong founding chairman Jasper Tsang Yok- sing said on Friday. Cathay Pacific and Air China are teaming up to block Singapore Airlines' bid to buy a stake in China Eastern, as consolidation in China's airline industry heats up.
The ICAC has arrested four people, including two executive directors and a senior accountant of a listed company, for alleged bribery in relation to the acquisition of a bio-engineering company. A director of the bio-engineering company was also arrested during an anti-graft officers' operation, code-named "Wise Man", which started on Wednesday. In a statement released last night, the Independent Commission Against Corruption said the investigation arose from a complaint that alleged two of the listed company's executive directors offered "advantages" to the director of the bio-engineering company. The ICAC did not reveal the name of the listed company, but a commission source revealed the company was Extrawell Group. Extrawell's principal business is marketing and distributing pharmaceutical products on the mainland. Stock trading in the company has been suspended since Wednesday, following the arrest of the two directors. "The alleged advantages were said to be rewards for facilitating the acquisition of the bio-engineering company by the listed company at an inflated price," an ICAC spokesman said. "The acquisition was made through another firm that was allegedly controlled by one of the executive directors." The listed company's executive directors also allegedly offered advantages to an independent non-executive director of the company in return for the independent director's resignation to facilitate the acquisition of the bio-engineering company, the ICAC added. "It was also alleged that the listed company's executive directors and senior accountant conspired to use false documents in relation to the acquisition, with intent to deceive the board of directors and minority shareholders," the spokesman said. The Tourism Board will probably not need as much additional government funding for promotions in the next financial year as it has in the past, board chairman James Tien Pei-chun said yesterday. Henry Tang Ying-yen, then financial secretary, announced in March 2005 that HK$500 million in additional funding would be provided to support the board's new promotional activities in 2005 and last year. A total of HK$470 million was allocated for the 2006 Discover Hong Kong Year campaign, the further development of the family and business visitor sectors and promotion of the Quality Tourism Services scheme. Some HK$70 million was left over from the Discover Hong Kong campaign and was carried over to the current financial year. The government did not grant any additional funding this year. Under the Discover Hong Kong campaign, which ran until the Lunar New Year holiday this year, the board invited about 5,000 travel agents and 1,500 journalists to experience the city's top tourist attractions. The publicity would be worth about HK$1.36 billion, the board had argued. Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee, then board chairman, said the board had forecast the campaign would help boost total visitor arrivals last year to 27.14 million. However, last year's total was 25.25 million.
Sept 24, 2007
Mainland property developer Sino-Ocean Land (SEHK: 3377) Holdings raised HK$11.9 billion after pricing its Hong Kong initial public offering at the top of an indicated range, a source familiar with the deal said on Friday, when the market hit record highs. Investors have been crowding into mainland property stocks despite worries of a bubble, and Sino-Ocean Land’s top-end pricing bodes well for other mainland developers in the initial public offering pipeline, including Soho China and China Aoyuan Property Group, which are raising as much as US$2.1 billion (HK$16.4 billion) combined. Sino-Ocean Land sold 1.551 billion shares, or 36.6 per cent of its enlarged share capital, at HK$7.70 apiece in the third-largest Hong Kong IPO this year. The shares were scheduled to begin trading on September 28. Sino-Ocean, owned by China’s largest shipping firm, Cosco International, and state-run conglomerate Sinochem, focuses on mid- to high-end residential property in Beijing and plans to expand in northern China’s Bohai Bay region. Shares in developer Country Garden Holdings, which raised US$1.66 billion in an April IPO, have more than doubled from their listing price. Top-end pricing would value Sino-Ocean at 22 times forecast this year earnings and 15.5 times prospective next year earnings, a source said previously. Rival Beijing Capital Land, with 85 per cent of its land bank in the Bohai Bay region, trades at 17.3 times forecast earnings for this year, while Guangzhou R&F Properties (SEHK: 2777), with 48 per cent of its land in that region, trades at 36 times. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were the underwriters of the Sino-Ocean deal.
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Hong Kong:
The insurance arm of HSBC Holdings,
Europe's biggest bank, has received approval from China's insurance regulator to
form a joint venture insurance company, the South China Morning Post said on
Thursday. HSBC is the first insurer to receive approval to form an insurance
joint venture under the closer economic partnership arrangement between Hong
Kong and the Chinese mainland, the newspaper said. The move also marks the
latest foray by the European bank into insurance markets across Asia. On
Wednesday HSBC said it would open an insurance business in Taiwan Province, and
earlier this year it announced it was taking stakes or forming joint ventures to
tap insurance markets in India and Vietnam. HSBC Insurance will form a 50-50
venture with National Trust, a Beijing-registered trust and investment firm, to
establish individual insurance business, particularly life insurance,
nationwide, it said. The new venture, to be headquartered in Shanghai, could
begin operation as early as the second half of next year, it said. "The minimum
capital requirement for getting a nationwide licence is about 500 million yuan ,
however, the actual amount involved in the initial stage still has to be
decided, it said. The new venture will sell insurance services mainly through
HSBC's banking network and National Trust's business channels, and could also
distribute its insurance products through the branch network of Bank of
Communications , in which HSBC holds an 18.6 percent stake, it said. HSBC has
more than 40 branches and sub-branches in Chinese mainland, it added. Insurance
premiums in Chinese mainland rose more than 20 percent to 371.8 billion yuan
(US$49.5 billion) in the first half of this year.
Former security chief Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee on Thursday afternoon announced her
candidacy for December’s Legislative Council by-election – ending speculation
about her intentions in the contest. Mrs Ip will face her old colleague, former
chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang, in the contest for the seat left vacant
by the death of former DAB chairman Ma Lik. Announcing her decision at a hotel
conference room, Mrs Ip said she had always been thinking about participating in
a democratic election after her resignation in 2003. “After the passing away of
DAB chairman Ma Lik, I felt myself a person fit to fill up the position left by
him so I decided to run,” Mrs Ip told her supporters. Mrs Ip, now chairwoman of
the Savantas Policy Institute, admitted that she had caused much controversy in
Hong Kong when she tried to push through a drafted anti-subversion law bill in
2003. She resigned from as the secretary for security after 500,000 people
marched in the streets to protest against the proposals. The government
eventually shelved the bill. “For many years, I have been deeply reflecting on
the role I played in drafting the Article 23 bill. It caused much controversy
among the public. The people’s opposing voices to the bill are still clear in my
mind,” she said. “Looking back, I think there was much room for improvement in
the way I handled it,” she added. However, the former security chief said it had
not been her own decision to put forward the controversial bill, but the
“collective decision” of the then chief executive in council, which comprised
all politically-appointed ministers and Exco members.
The Hong Kong Institute of Education on
Thursday appointed executive councillor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung its new
president. Twelve of the 13 members of the institute’s council voted in support
of Professor Cheung at a meeting. One member abstained from voting. Professor
Cheung’s term will start in January and last for five years. As well as an Exco
member, he sits in various public bodies and is teaching at City University’s
public and social administration department. Describing his new job as a
“challenge”, Professor Cheung said his top priority was to help the teacher
training college in Tai Po to achieve university status. “The HKIEd is now in a
critical moment in its development. There will be a few important tasks for me.
First it is the quest for a university status,” he said. Professor Cheung said
the HKIEd and the government enjoyed friendly and constructive relations – but
admitted relations were tense at times. He said autonomy and academic freedom
were important. Professor Cheung said he would discuss the institute’s plans
with the University Grants Committee. “As far as I know, the University Grants
Committee has established a taskforce to study a blueprint earlier put forward
by the HKIEd. I haven’t taken up the post yet but I will participate in the
discussions in an appropriate manner,” he said. The HKIEd president had been
left vacant after the school did not renew its contract with Paul Morris earlier
this year. Professor Morris was a key figure in a row over alleged government
interference in the institute.
Cathay to strengthen ties with US - Cathay Pacific Airways (SEHK: 0293) plans to
strengthen ties between Hong Kong and United States through the launch of its
new twice daily direct flights, Cathay Pacific Airways chief executive Tony
Tyler said on Thursday. Mr Tyler was speaking at a business luncheon held by the
Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco and Hong Kong Association
of Northern California in San Francisco. He announced Cathay’s new twice daily
direct flight – chartering between San Francisco and Hong Kong – which would be
launched in mid-October. “Cathay Pacific is very much committed to building the
image of Hong Kong as a place in which to conduct business and trade and we have
been working hard to build links between Hong Kong and the United States, and in
particular California,” he said. The state of California is reportedly home to
one of the largest Chinese populations in the United States with an Asian
population estimated at five million – approximately one-third of the country’s
14.9 million. Cathay Pacific Airways reported a profit of HK$2,581 million in
its interim profits this year up 54.7 per cent from the HK$1,668 million
reported the previous year – a record for the company. In recent years, the
airline has worked hard toward appealing to more travelers and earlier in 2007,
it launched plans to install new seat designs and cabin interiors with enhance
inflight entertainment options in its carriers. It has recently taken
environmental measures against global warming, becoming the first airline in the
Asia Pacific region to announce a carbon offset scheme as part of its overall
environmental strategy. The airline was also ranked third best airline this year
by international airline survey company, Skytrax behind Singapore Airlines and
Thai Airways.
China:
International retail giants Wal-mart, Carrefour and Metro have told China's
Ministry of Commerce that they are satisfied with the quality of Chinese
products, more than 99 percent of which meet standards, ministry spokesman Wang
Xinpei said on Thursday. The qualification rate reached 100 percent of export
Chinese products purchased by U.S. firm Wal-Mart, 99.5 percent by France's
Carrefour, and 99 percent by Germany's Metro. The products mainly include
cleaners, hardware and household appliances, textiles, toys and food, retailer
representatives said in a meeting with the ministry. The Carrefour
representative acknowledged the efforts made by Chinese government to guarantee
product quality and food safety, and said it increased confidence in Chinese
products. Carrefour purchased 59 billion yuan (7.86 billion U.S. dollars) worth
of products in China last year, and planned to buy more. It spent 36.2 billion
yuan in the first half. Metro's purchase, though smaller in value, grew
significantly to 11.8 billion yuan in the first half, only 2.4 billion short of
the amount in the entire 2006. "We have been purchasing from China for nearly 26
years," said the Wal-Mart representative, "Chinese products are economic in
price and guaranteed in quality." Wal-mart has located its global purchasing
office in China. Around half of the purchased products would be exported, said
the representatives. 
Two local
residents walk along the well-groomed Century Avenue in Shanghai on September
26, 2007. National flags have been put up on both sides of 1-kilometer street,
to celebrate the upcoming National Day on October 1.
China's
unified premium price of 20 yuan for aviation accident insurance will end from
Dec. 1, China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) announces in Beijing on
Sept.26, 2007.
Chinese actress Li Xiaoran (L), model and TV host Pace Wu and actress Angie
Chiu(R), have their photos taken for an activity called "Pink Ribbon" in
promotional photo for a health magazine.
The
new archbishop of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Diocese said at his installation
yesterday that politics is not on the church's agenda. Observers say the
middle-lane approach indicates the Anglican diocese intends to keep smooth
relations with both Beijing and the SAR government. Paul Kwong, 56, told
parishioners that his church will not get involved in political movements,
including the call for universal suffrage, but will continue to work with the
government to better the lives of the people. He said societal atmosphere was
much happier now, but many problems such as poverty still needed to be
addressed. Solutions, for which the government and society must join hands, will
not come quickly, Kwong said. 
As a multi-instrumentalist songwriter,
Wang Lee-hom revels in having a lot of control over his work. And it goes
without saying that every song on his records bears his name. Yet the fact that
he isn't credited as either the songwriter or the lyricist for Falling Leaves
Return to the Root, the first radio hit from his new album Change Me, surprised
many, and plenty of his young fans have been intrigued by the identity of the
songwriter, one Kuang Yu-min. Kuang doesn't actually exist; he's the fervently
patriotic student activist that Wang plays in Lust, Caution, Ang Lee's film
adaptation of Eileen Chang Ai-ling's eponymous short story. "I think that's the
song Kuang Yu-min wrote for Wong Chia-chi," says the 31-year-old musician,
referring to Kuang's unrequited love for the film's main character, a fellow
student activist played by mainland actor Tang Wei. "I didn't realise this until
I wrote it, so that's why I didn't say it was composed by Wang Lee-hom. It's the
first song I wrote after we finished the movie. The record company was going,
`You've been away [making Lust, Caution] for eight months now and it's time for
you to start writing a new album'. So, when I first started writing the album I
was still very much in character." Wang's inability to emerge from Kuang's
shadow could be attributed to his lack of experience in serious drama - he was
not formally trained as an actor, and his first two films, China Strike Force
and The Avenging Fist, are hardly profound character studies. But the actor says
his obsession may also be down to his similarity to the character he plays.
Anson Chan Fang
On-sang took her by-election campaign to the streets for the first time
yesterday, and was soon mobbed by lunchtime crowds. Mrs Chan stepped out onto
the streets of Central around noon as workers streamed out of offices on their
lunch breaks. Surrounded by scores of reporters and cameramen, she soon found it
difficult to move - so the crowds came to her. Several people pulled out cameras
or mobile phones to take pictures. Mrs Chan was greeted by businesspeople in
suits, blue-collar workers in uniforms, young and old supporters, local people
and tourists. "The crowds have been very, very friendly. At least they come up
to you, they receive your platform declaration, and most of them say they will
support you," Mrs Chan said, adding that she enjoyed the new experience of
street canvassing and was encouraged by the enthusiastic response. 
Those who missed
the chance to catch a glimpse of the mid-autumn moon did so when clearer weather
and a fuller moon make for better skyward gazing. The Observatory's scientific
officer, Lee Kwok-lun, said the moon was not the fullest. "The full moon
actually occurs on September 27 at around 3.40am. The sky will also improve
tonight and the amount of cloud will also decrease, so the probability of seeing
the moon is greater," Mr Lee said. The mid-autumn full moon usually falls on the
15th day of the eighth lunar month and, according to the observatory, the last
time it occurred on the 17th day was in 2000. The next time will be in 2016.
Tonight's full moon will be one of the fullest seen in years when moon rise
occurs at night. Apart from this year, all mid-autumn full-moon rises from 2005
to 2016 occurred, or are due to occur, during the day.
China's lunar satellite launch open
to tourists - A computer-generated image of China's first lunar orbiter, Chang'e
I. Tourists are being invited to pay 800 yuan (105 U.S. dollars) to witness the
launch of China's first lunar satellite in Xichang, southwest Sichuan province.
A travel agency in Xichang, where one of China's major satellite launch sites is
located, has designed special travel packages for tourists wishing to view the
historic launch. "Tourists will have to pay 800 yuan to witness the launch from
two observation platforms 2.5 km from the site," Wang Cheng'an, a manager at
Xichang Jinying Travel Agency, told Shanghai Morning Post. Wang said the two new
observation platforms, which will be completed ahead of the launch on two
opposite hillsides near the site, are capable of holding 2,000 and 500 people
respectively. More than 300 people have already applied for the 2,500 places but
the successful applicants will have to pass security checks, according to the
agency. The lunar probe, previously scheduled to blast into space on Tuesday to
coincide with this year's traditional Mid-Autumn Festival, is expected to be
launched late October. The satellite project was approved by the Chinese central
authorities in 2004 as part of the three-stage "Chang'e Program," named after
the legendary Chinese goddess who flew to the moon, which aims to place an
unmanned vehicle on the moon by 2010.
China, France conduct joint naval drill
- The "China-France Friendship 2007" drill in the Mediterranean Sea off the
southern French port city of Toulon was the first of its kind between the two
navies in the Mediterranean.
Lithuanian dancers and Dancers from Cook Islands perform
with pans and spoons during the opening ceremony of the 7th China International
Folk Arts Festival (CIFAF) in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Sept. 25,
2007. As a grand art carnival initiated by China's Federation of Literary and
Art Circles in 1990, the triennial festival, featuring international, national
and grass-root flavor, is aimed to develop and promote exchange of folk arts
across the world. Starting on Tuesday, this year's CIFAF is acclaimed as the
largest ever in the country with nearly 460 artists from 22 countries and
regions staging indoor and outdoor performances.
Homebuyers at a real
estate exhibition in Dalian, Liaoning Province. The government may raise the
interest rate of mortgage lending to curb the fast rise in house prices and
speculation in the real estate market.
Cathay Pacific Airways
Ltd. and the parent company of its Chinese affiliate have backed off from a
planned joint bid for shares in China Eastern Airlines Corp., a report carried
by The Wall Street Journal network said on Monday.
Hong Kong's inflation rate is
expected to reach 1.8 to 2 percent - exceeding the government's official
forecast of 1.5 percent - as a weakening US dollar increases the cost of imports
and surging pork prices in the mainland continue spilling across the border.
"Featuring prominently on my radar screen is the specter of inflation,"
Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun- wah told a financial forum yesterday. "In
line with the trend in many parts of the world in recent years, inflation is,
indeed, creeping up slowly in Hong Kong as well." The SAR's inflation for the
year is likely to hit up to 2 percent because of a stronger yuan and rising food
prices worldwide, Tsang said. "These factors will not go away any time soon, and
they will continue to pose upside risks to Hong Kong's inflation rate in the
near term." Tsang said a weaker US dollar raises the cost of food imports, and
because of Hong Kong's currency peg to the greenback, there is little room for
any exchange rate or interest rate policy.
DBS Group Holdings, one of the largest financial services
groups in Asia, announced yesterday that vice chairman and chief executive
Jackson Tai is resigning, but stressed his decision has nothing to do with the
bank's exposure to collateralized debt obligations.
Anson Chan Fang On-sang came under
criticism for "acting like a minister and a bureaucrat" at last night's debate
with her rival pro-democracy candidate in December's legislative by-election. "I
thought I was talking to a government official," former lawmaker Lo Wing-lok
said during the 1-hour debate as part of the pro-democracy camp's selection
mechanism to pick its candidate for the Hong Kong Island poll to be held on
December 2. Chan - Hong Kong's "Iron Lady" and former chief secretary under the
Tung Chee-hwa administration - and Lo of the League of Social Democrats are
vying to represent the pan-democrats in the by-election to fill the seat vacated
by the death of pro-Beijing politician Ma Lik. Lo lashed out at Chan for lacking
a firm stance on various critical issues facing the territory. Ma Ngok, a
Chinese University associate professor who is one of three academics who
questioned the two contenders, said Lo appeared to have gained the upper hand in
the debate. "He was consistent and logical, but Chan had some baggage from her
past performance and spoke like the minister she used to be," Ma said. 
Dell Inc says it will begin selling personal computer products through Gome
Group, China's largest electronic retailer, in a move to win back consumers by
going beyond its direct-sales model. Under the agreement, Dell products will go
on sale next month at 50 Gome outlets, and will expand to more stores nationwide
in the first half of next year.
Awfully
Chocolate is a Singaporean franchise dessert shop and its Shanghai store was
opened by three young people.
Oscar-winning Taiwanese director Ang
Lee said on Sunday he has low expectations for his new spy thriller Lust,
Caution in the US, because it is a “very Chinese” film that may be alien to
American audiences. “Its pace, its film language — it’s all very Chinese. I also
used Western film noir. It’s a new start for me. It’s not very audience-friendly
for a market like the US It’s not their subject matter,” Lee told a forum for
young directors in Hong Kong. He acknowledged that Lust, Caution could
marginalise him in the US market after he gained mainstream recognition with
films like the kung fu hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the gay romance
Brokeback Mountain, which won him a Oscar for best director last year. Another
obstacle is the film’s restrictive rating in the US of NC-17 (no children under
17) which bans viewers younger than 17. Lust, Caution which won the top Golden
Lion prize at the recent Venice Film Festival, is based on a short story by
famed Chinese writer Eileen Chang. It’s about a group of patriotic students who
plot to assassinate the intelligence chief in the Japanese-backed Chinese
government during the World War II era. Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai
plays the intelligence official, Mr Yi, while newcomer Tang Wei plays Chinese
student Wang Jiazhi, who seduces Yi to pave the way for the assassination. The
movie also features Joan Chen from The Last Emperor and Chinese-American pop
star Wang Leehom. Hollywood trade publication Variety reported earlier that the
movie features lovemaking involving provocative sexual positions, implied oral
sex and full frontal female nudity. Using a baseball pitching analogy, Lee
likened his new movie to a “curve ball” for his producer James Schamus. Speaking
to reporters after the forum, Lee said an edited version of Lust, Caution — with
fewer sex scenes — recently cleared mainland censors. The mainland does not have
a ratings system, so Lee had to provide a version suitable for all ages. He said
the cuts did not compromise the movie’s plot and character development, but
dampens some of its emotional intensity. Lee called the sex scenes the “crux of
the movie.” “Many of the actors’ best performance came in the sex scenes. For
me, it’s an ultimate performance,” the director said. Lee also said he thinks
the Chinese-language movie market has the potential to overtake the
English-language market, but that it will take time to cultivate a film culture
in the mainland. “The mainland had denied its own cultural roots and the
development of film in the past few decades,” he said, apparently referring to
the political upheavals and strict ideological control under communist rule.
“When it comes to culture, you can’t organise the Olympics, train your athletes
to death and win the most number of gold medals, or hire the world’s best
designers to build the world’s biggest buildings,” Lee added. “To strive to
surpass Hollywood on this barren land is unrealistic,” he said. Lee also
revealed that Lust, Caution went over its US$12 million (HK$93.3 million) budget
and that he had to front another US$2 million (HK$15.6 million).
Hotel chef Lau
Chi-kit spent six months cloistered inside his kitchen, and came up with more
than 100 low-fat, low-salt and low-sugar dishes. Lau's main aim is to convince
diners that simple blanched vegetables and boiled meat can become perfect meals.
Twenty-three of the chef's dishes will be on the menu of Hoi Yat Heen Chinese
restaurant at Harbor Plaza hotel until the end of the month. Organic is the
chef's key word - he wants to revolutionize cooking conventions. Using a few
teaspoons of oil at most, Lau believes the key to a tasty dish is finding the
right combination. 
Mooncakes, a
traditional delicacy gifted to families and friends during the Mid-Autumn
Festival, have become an important ingredient in maintaining business and work
relations. With the festival falling tomorrow, the reception areas of almost
every office building are overflowing with boxes of mooncakes. The traditional
festival has become a Chinese Christmas of sorts, topping other occasions for
giving or receiving gifts. "We send presents to our clients during the
Mid-Autumn Festival, rather than the Spring Festival," said Elsa Wang, who works
for a public relations firm in Beijing. The company started budgeting months
earlier and has been delivering mooncakes as early as a month ago. "It doesn't
matter how much a package costs.... Mooncakes are the best way to say: Let us
keep in touch." Lin Jian, a guest writer on the Financial Times Chinese website,
wrote that the consumption of mooncakes has one simple purpose - to maintain
relationships. "How many mooncakes one gets measures his intangible value," Lin
wrote in his column. "The more coupons you receive, the more respect you have."
The market has reacted to the increasing demand with expensive packages to lure
high-end consumers. In Changchun, one vendor sells a box for 1,800 yuan (240
U.S. dollars) with a golf club as a complimentary accompaniment. About 250,000
tons of mooncakes were produced last year with revenue exceeding 11 billion yuan
(1.42 billion dollars). 
A
photo taken on September 18, 2007, shows the National Grand Theater lit up at
night. The Theater will have its first trial show on September 25. Located west
of Tian'anmen Square, the egg-shaped structure is 46.68 meters tall and reaches
a depth of 32.5 meters and is covered with more than 20,000 titanium tiles.
Actresses in Chinese ethnic
minorities dresses perfrom during a preview in Hong Kong, south China, Sept. 21,
2007. To celebrate the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, the Leisure and Cultural
Services Department of the Hong Kong Special Administration will present several
lantern carnivals and performances by Chinese ethnic minorities in Hong Kong as
from Sept. 22. 
"Lust, Caution" director Ang Lee and
lead actress Tang Wei arrive in Hong Kong on Friday. Movie director Ang Lee
arrived in Hong Kong on Friday with his lead actress, Tang Wei, to prepare for
the premiere of their Golden Lion-winning opus, "Lust, Caution". The film was
rated "Category III" in Hong Kong, meaning viewers younger than 18 are barred.
The premiere ceremony will be held Saturday night, and the film will open in
local theatres on Sept. 26. 
Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, nominated
by a search committee to become the next president of the Hong Kong Institute of
Education, said he will not resign from the Executive Council or the Consumer
Council but will rearrange his other appointments to concentrate on his new
role.
Stewardesses welcome the passengers
aboard a charter flight across the Taiwan Straits at the Gaoqi International
Airport in Xiamen, southeastern China’s Fujian Province, Sept. 21, 2007. A
Mid-Autumn Festival chartered flight with 166 passengers across the Taiwan
Strait took off in Xiamen for Taiwan on Friday afternoon. 
Chinese pop diva Faye Wong and her
actor husband Li Yapeng will hold a charity ball in Beijing on Tuesday night to
raise funds for their Smile Angel Foundation. This will be Wong's first public
appearance since she gave birth to her daughter Li Yan in May. Li Yan
subsequently underwent corrective surgery in the United States for a cleft lip.
The ball will be attended by many big-name Chinese stars including Zhao Wei, Xu
Jinglei and Na Ying. More than a hundred security guards have been hired to
maintain order, Shanghai Morning Post reported. Wong and her husband Li Yapeng
started the foundation in November to help children with cleft lips and palates.
The couple donated 1 million yuan (125,000 U.S. dollars) to start the foundation
which will be supervised by the Red Cross Society of China.
Mainland actress Fan Bingbing attends a
charity auction held in Beijing on Thursday night. A charity auction was held in
Beijing Thursday night, attracting some 500 celebrities to dedicate their love
to mothers and newborn babies in poor areas. Entertainment stars including Hu
Jing, Huang Yi, Lu Yi and pop band Yuquan took part in the event, which was
jointly organized by China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation and the organizing
committee of Top Essence exhibition. The auction items were all donated by
internationally-acclaimed brands and exhibiters of Top Essence. Over 1.5 million
yuan, or about 200,000 US dollars, were raised through the auction. All the
proceeds will be used to aid the lying-in women and their babies from poor
families. 
China moves to curb price hikes ahead
of national holiday - Measures will be taken across China to stabilize food
prices by ensuring a plentiful supply for the remaining months of the year,
particularly during the coming two holidays, the nation's top economic planner
announced on Friday.
Tourists walk
past illuminated Olympic rings featuring Fuwa - official Olypic Games mascots -
during a lamp festival themed with the Beijing Olympic Games at a park in
Beijing September 22, 2007.
An AIG-Huatai booth
at a Beijing exhibition. AIG will expand its range to cash in on demand for
higher-yielding investment products from China's growing middle class.
The
Chinese mainland is to impose a quota on investments on the Hong Kong stock
market, which will reduce capital outflows to a fraction of the US$100
billion-plus forecast when its outward investment scheme was announced last
month. Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC),
said there would be no limit on individuals. But he said there would be tight
controls on the total amount. Liu said there would be a "quota in general" and
when that was reached, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) would
reassess market activity. "They can lift and readjust the quota if necessary and
appropriate – it's a flexible ceiling," he told the Financial Times. It was the
first mention from China's financial authority of a quota on its plan to allow
individuals to invest in foreign stocks. Chinese officials refused to disclose
the level of the quota but it is reckoned to be lower than the amount of
investment expected by the Hong Kong market, which has soared in anticipation of
a flood of money from the Chinese mainland. The benchmark Hang Seng Index has
risen 26 percent since the SAFE announcement. The new scheme, known as the
"through-train to Hong Kong stocks" was announced by SAFE on August 20 and
required investors to open trading accounts with Bank of China's (BOC) branch in
the northern city of Tianjin. SAFE said investors would be allowed to open
accounts from any BOC outlet in the country and buy an unlimited amount of
foreign exchange for the purpose. But the scheme has been delayed by
disagreement between SAFE, CBRC, the central bank and the securities regulator.
The central bank's focus is on draining liquidity from the economy and making
the currency more flexible. The securities regulator wants to avoid extensive
overseas investment that could damage the booming domestic stock market, which
most analysts regard as overpriced. Jing Ulrich, chairman of China equities at
JPMorgan, said the government was considering restricting the plan to residents
of the big cities of Tianjin, Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen. Mr Liu said: "We
are supportive (of the scheme) but we are carefully looking at those banks who
are channeling public funds to invest in Hong Kong stocks or via Hong Kong to
invest in other markets to make sure they have a sound and solid risk control
system. They must show me satisfactory answers before they can do the 'train to
Hong Kong stocks'."
Workers and residents in Central and Western
should be prepared for chaos when Batman arrives in Hong Kong in November, a
district councillor warned yesterday. Kam Nai-wai, of the Central and Western
District Council, also warned residents to prepare ear-plugs as the producers
intend to use a helicopter in the late hours of the day. Kam's warning followed
a district council meeting yesterday at which the distributors for The Dark
Knight, a sequel to the hit movie Batman Begins, outlined how the caped crusader
intends to move from Gotham City to fight his enemies who are gathering in Hong
Kong. The filming locations will include the Central-Mid-Levels escalator, some
parts of Queen's Road Central and The Centre. Some areas are expected to be
closed to the public during the nine days of filming. The distributor of the
movie, Warner Brothers, told the council it is seeking the approval of various
government departments for the closure of some roads during filming. Kam said
the road closures could cause traffic chaos if done in daytime. "Warner Brothers
also said it will use a helicopter for the filming. Of course, we are worried
that the residents will be disturbed," Kam said. The representative from the
distributor assured the district council Queen's Road Central will only be
blocked around midnight and that daytime shooting will take place mainly inside
The Centre.
For the third time in two months, Hong
Kong investors yesterday found out two weeks after the fact that major
international investor Warren Buffett - through his Berkshire Hathaway holding
company - had offloaded shares in leading mainland oil producer PetroChina
(0857).
Monaste