tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82880532468738651652024-03-06T02:28:39.493+08:00Asia One PercentAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13222848186685847220noreply@blogger.comBlogger191125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-77270820094428525212014-10-20T11:57:00.001+08:002014-10-21T10:09:32.914+08:00Communist or Capitalist - What's in a Name?<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
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<img alt="Support for Free Market System" class="attachment-large" src="http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2014/10/Inequality-01.png" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year's </span><a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/10/09/emerging-and-developing-economies-much-more-optimistic-than-rich-countries-about-the-future/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pew survey</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> on global attitudes towards future wealth is full of intriguing questions and results (is Life Success out of one's control? Will the next generation have a better future than yours? Is Inequality a major challenge? How important is education and hard work to success?). Not surprisingly, there is a strong correlation between a nation's economic growth and its people's overall levels of optimism. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Among the polling results, the question posed in the graphic above produced a particularly curious paradox: Vietnam and China, two of the world' s last remaining so-called Communist countries, are among the staunchest disciples of the free market economy. This result may be causing Karl Marx to stir yet again in his grave. More likely, however, he is remaining stock-still, having long ago abandoned delusions that his collectivistic prescriptions are still being followed anywhere.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Hope, mixed together with industriousness and dashes of ingenuity, is a powerful tonic for getting people off their butts in the quest to make money and improve their lots. In underdeveloped markets, people generally seem to believe that there is nowhere to go but up, so why not go for it. Meanwhile, the emerging markets of Asia have had a taste of growth and its people seem hell-bent on continuing to chase their fair share of it. Ironically, perhaps, it's the "old world' countries of Europe (and surprisingly Japan) that seem to have gotten lost in their belief in free enterprise and prefer to paw through what goodies there might be for doling around by the welfare state.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Another intriguing driver of hope lies in views towards wealth disparity, as laid out in the table below. Here also, Vietnam and China - two countries that have whoppingly wide wealth gaps and high Gini-coefficients, seem <em>least </em>concerned about the notion that there is a thin, dense layer of cream at the top of their economic cakes. These people might have chosen to take their pitchforks and protest banners out into the streets and seek to topple their lords and masters. Instead, the people of these countries simply want to keep their noses against the millstone and grind out more money and better lives for themselves. Good on 'em. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Inequality Seen as Major Challenge" class="attachment-large" src="http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2014/10/Inequality-11.png" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">One final note: the communistic North Koreans were not included in this survey. Had they been, there is little doubt that, given the importance over the past few years of the free-trade and black market for goods in keeping the citizens alive at even a subsistence level, they too would have also given the wild and wooly practice of capitalism a big thumbs-up. </span>pkimhkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14532334812229407343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-13252339153882547842014-10-10T11:18:00.001+08:002014-10-10T11:21:23.233+08:00Hong Kong - Cronyland<div align="center">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnQqEWRQK4c6johNmtlO7qbPELn3T9UrdUzuotEpTlfrGfxz2b2nDmbyVZb26RAakxUOgAiFSikeqMXNTWPd7fwLZFwoZNZxF1j6hobvp-TwgneET4tGKkX1H-vFjsBxdJNMn9IgtshgU/s3200/unnamed.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnQqEWRQK4c6johNmtlO7qbPELn3T9UrdUzuotEpTlfrGfxz2b2nDmbyVZb26RAakxUOgAiFSikeqMXNTWPd7fwLZFwoZNZxF1j6hobvp-TwgneET4tGKkX1H-vFjsBxdJNMn9IgtshgU/s3200/unnamed.png" height="640" width="313" /></a></div>
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At the risk of adding yet more blah-blah-blah to the global debate about Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement, the table above speaks volumes. Therefore, little else needs to be said. The table from The Economist was initially posted on this website in March of this year (for full report, read <a href="http://asiaonepercent.blogspot.com/2014/03/crony-nations.html?spref=bl">Asia One Percent: Crony Nations</a>). Some of the consequences of this level of economic disparity are now on full display in Hong Kong. Repression of economic, political and social opportunities in an advanced, educated society simply leads to baaaaad things.pkimhkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14532334812229407343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-15179327371304074442014-10-09T16:21:00.003+08:002014-10-12T12:47:45.712+08:00Robbing the Baron<br />
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<a class="colorbox init-colorbox-processed-processed cboxElement" href="http://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980w/public/2014/10/08/be205aafb73a6801a2ed7d11a5b5e503.jpg?itok=Qn-8Ky9c" rel="gallery-[field_images-1611699]" title="Cecil Chao declined to comment on the robbery. Photo: SCMP Pictures"><img alt="be205aafb73a6801a2ed7d11a5b5e503.jpg" class="lazyload-processed" src="http://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/486x302/public/2014/10/08/be205aafb73a6801a2ed7d11a5b5e503.jpg?itok=IyItppPN" data-original="http://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/486x302/public/2014/10/08/be205aafb73a6801a2ed7d11a5b5e503.jpg?itok=IyItppPN" height="397" style="display: inline;" title="Cecil Chao declined to comment on the robbery. Photo: SCMP Pictures" typeof="foaf:Image" width="640" /></a></div>
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<em>Hey, seen a maid sporting a Rolex?</em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No one should feel amused to hear that someone has been burgled. However, if that victim happens to be Hong Kong's Cecil Chao - the property billionaire who has made a second career of openly serial bachelorhood, and who has famously offered HK$500 million to any bachelor who can set his lovely lesbian daughter Gigi back onto the path of heterogamy - perhaps a little <em>schadenfreude</em> might be excused. As reported in the </span><a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1611699/cheuk-nang-tycoon-cecil-chao-latest-celebrity-victim-burglary"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SCMP</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, he is the latest of several burglaries in Hong Kong of tycoons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Mr. Chao's case, the storyline is that someone approached his 20,000 square foot mansion (modeled after Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water house) late at night, climbed in through Mr. Chao's latest girlfriend's bedroom window, made their way into a bathroom which contained a safe, pried it open, and then took off with six antiques, five watches and twenty items of jewelry worth HK$10 million (c. US$1.2 million). This incident happened when the property's CCTV happened to be shut down for repairs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">A few questions of curiosity immediately spring to mind:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Is it coincidence that the burglaries were made while much of Hong Kong's police force was preoccupied with the Umbrella Movement?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">How can this <strong>not </strong>be an inside job, since the thief was probably aware of the wonky CCTV system as well as able to negotiate the labyrinth of Villa Cecil to find the safe?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Why is there a safe in a bathroom anyway? Has Mr. Chao cornered the local market on Viagra and rhino horn powder? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Why does his girlfriend have or need her own bedroom? Is Stud-man Cecil only half the man he once was? Or maybe this is the modern-day version of <em>Raise the Red Lantern</em>, where the rich Chinese tycoon chooses between his many wives each night by hanging a red lantern outside her bed chamber.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">While authorities are investigating, Mr. Chao is not commenting. That's unfortunate, because it would be good to know if the HK$500 million reward for the lucky winning he-man is still on offer, or whether it will be revised. To, say, HK$490 million. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>
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pkimhkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14532334812229407343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-26562060352525206012014-09-30T22:51:00.004+08:002014-09-30T22:51:49.916+08:00A Night for Umbrellas<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">A stirring image of the third night of protests in Hong Kong related to the Umbrella Revolution. Lightning, thunder, heat and a couple of hundred thousand people willing to endure it out in the open.</span></div>
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pkimhkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14532334812229407343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-42024932843590088172014-09-29T14:56:00.000+08:002014-09-30T22:52:38.602+08:00A Season for Brollies<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH9arPjMwv9TlqsgBFnRCjEcDdz_KV3YVpUc8L5-hu1k28iwL3AYTgYqbkM8MgFMbzyzjPH7y9RRe0oIMERgBpgkRKNbZvJJa3eA3QeDbohdYYSESq076wghEijADy0Pzq2y2iQDpypa93/s1600/hong-kong-police-pepper-data.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH9arPjMwv9TlqsgBFnRCjEcDdz_KV3YVpUc8L5-hu1k28iwL3AYTgYqbkM8MgFMbzyzjPH7y9RRe0oIMERgBpgkRKNbZvJJa3eA3QeDbohdYYSESq076wghEijADy0Pzq2y2iQDpypa93/s1600/hong-kong-police-pepper-data.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The dragon snorts. Time to cover up.</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tis the season for umbrellas in Hong Kong. Late September is marked by residual days of summer, with either tropical sunshine or typhoons that blow in from the east across the South China Sea. On sun-splashed days, Chinese women shelter their hard-won alabaster skin from damaging UV rays under parasols, many brightly patterned, frilly or predictably <em>kawaii-</em>ed<em> </em>by Hello Kitty. Stormier days bring out a wider range of brollies, from the upscale Burberry variety to more pedestrian US$8.00 7-Eleven types to cheekier models emblazoned with messages such as "Shit, it's raining."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">This week, the good people of the Hong Kong SAR have found another reason to keep their favorite umbrellas close at hand. The menace has not been preceded by a UV rating, typhoon signal number or amber thunderstorm warning, but instead by red and black banners held aloft by the local police demanding that crowds (peaceful though they may be) disburse. Uncooperative crowds have then been pelted by clouds of tear-gas or pepper spray. The public's defense has been limited to donning plastic goggles and surgical masks, and ducking under a phalanx of nylon shields.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">This is the first time in almost fifty years (since 1967) that Hong Kong's police have used such aggressive crowd-control measures against its own people. Ironically, the complaints in 1967 were by left-leaning communist Chinese sympathizers against British rule, rather than democracy-craving citizens (mostly young students) protesting against Beijing's increasingly heavy handed governance. History, like storm systems, sometimes has a petulant way of coming full circle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">A long brewing irritation caused by a myriad of political, social and economic issues between Hong Kong and China over the past few years seems to be hitting full boil. How long the now erupted brouhaha will continue is anyone's guess. However, no analysts on either side of the current issue believe that amicability will be restored anytime soon. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's stock market, property prices and already-flagging retail sales will likely come under serious pressure, particularly given that the social unrest is occurring during a critical week for tourism and shopping - China's National Day holiday. The merchants and those who live off of their welfare may likely face tough times for some time yet. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">When people live at the feet of an active dragon, they need to expect to be hit with expectorants that inevitably get snorted out its nose from time to time. Sadly, umbrellas do not appear to be much of a shield against such peppery and tear-inducing snot. Looking ahead to the next few days, we should all hope and pray that they won't be tested against even more lethal projectiles. </span><br />
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<a class="irc_mutl" data-ved="0CAcQjRw" href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=JMg_EYN0nlIH_M&tbnid=_uX7gFkAqiP3RM:&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Farticle%2F2014%2F09%2F28%2Fus-hongkong-china-idUSKCN0HN03Q20140928&ei=kPIoVMWNPMy78gWW5IDoBg&bvm=bv.76247554,d.dGc&psig=AFQjCNGo1NSnegO0wNEgX6uQtPLEav_8QA&ust=1412055934952075"><img class="irc_mut" height="378" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSGNmh7aR8yo0o2JJQD_etlJaLz9_Y9Mtio2ZRawgRK92_n2JfSrg" style="margin-top: 38px;" width="570" /></a></div>
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<em>Guess which one is the Burberry</em></div>
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<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/28/world/asia/china-hong-kong-students/">http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/28/world/asia/china-hong-kong-students/</a>pkimhkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14532334812229407343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-35115295873379971032014-09-23T11:22:00.001+08:002014-09-23T11:22:08.584+08:00Blundering Indian Newscaster Told "Xi ya!"<br />
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" 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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As reported in this </span><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-29278596"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BBC article</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and other news sources, at least one Indian citizen will not recall fondly Xi Jinping's recent visit to India - the newscaster who inadvertently referred on-air to the Chinese President as "Eleven Jinping". The unnamed newscaster was summarily fired for the blunder.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">In the view of this blogger, the canning seems like unduly harsh punishment. First of all, the newscaster should be commended for knowing his/her Roman numerals. Too few people these days bother to study the classics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Secondly, perhaps the reporter was offering a subtle indictment of the Chinese government's recent heavy-handed clampdowns on human rights. Perhaps the steadily-consolidating power of the current Chinese leader seems rather imperious to more than a few observers. "Jinping the XI" does have a certain ring to it, particularly when considering that he is the eleventh person to act as China's head of state since the PRC was formed in 1949. Coincidence or not?</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In any event, the Indian newscaster is far from the first person to take liberties with Mr. Xi's name. As put together by the <strong>Foreign Policy </strong>magazine's<strong> </strong>editorial staff, here's a list of ten Xi headlines NOT to use: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Territorial disputes in the South China Sea: "Xi's Gotta Have It." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. A profile of his teenage years: "Xi was only 16." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. His second visit to Iowa: "There Xi Goes Again." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. His portrayal in Chinese state media: "Isn't Xi Lovely?" (Or "Xi Will Be Loved.") </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. A Chinese Gorbachev: "Xi Change." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. Bizarre policy choices: "Xi Moves in Mysterious Ways." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. A definitive chronicle of his speeches: "That's What Xi Said." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8. His meeting with Henry Kissinger: "The Old Man and the Xi." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9. On a conflict with the current head of the disciplinary committee: "He Said Xi Said." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10. His stylish sartorial choices: "Ain't Nothing But a Xi Thing."</span> pkimhkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14532334812229407343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-91094931920343122722014-09-17T20:27:00.001+08:002014-09-17T21:23:54.023+08:00The Louis XIII of Rolls Royce<div align="center">
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<img alt="Rolls Royce Phantom Extended Wheelbase Macau" border="0" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/54188a906bb3f7b617f059ed-1200-924/rolls-royce-phantom-extended-wheelbase-macau.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>The motor car</em></span></div>
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<img alt="Louis XIII Macau Hotel Stephen Hung" border="0" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5418919d69bedd090b8525a2-1200-2000/p90163511-highres.jpg" height="400" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" width="265" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>The casino</em></span></div>
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<img class="rg_i" data-src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS88RsXWg9neiHWCg1ubzXSsYaQDuyNxsk2uKPFCdjbnSBGdIFs" data-sz="f" height="320" jsaction="load:str.tbn" name="10n38noZpQD-oM:" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS88RsXWg9neiHWCg1ubzXSsYaQDuyNxsk2uKPFCdjbnSBGdIFs" style="height: 183px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: -2px; width: 183px;" width="320" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>The man (on the left)</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Luckily for the Rolls Royce Motor Car company, there's a new king in town, or at least as far as they are concerned. His name is Stephen Hung, he is a flamboyant 56 year old Hong Kong billionaire real estate developer, and he has just put in the largest order in history for the Rolls Royce Phantom. The deal is for a fleet of thirty of the uber-the-top cars, worth a total of $20 million, or roughly $667,000 a piece. As reported in this </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rolls-royce-hong-kong-macau-casino-2014-9"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Business Insider article</span></a>, <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the bespoke cars will be utilized by Mr. Hung's forthcoming Louis XIII Hotel and Casino in Macau, an ultra-luxury property catering to China's super-rich which might just make the palace at Versailles look like a university dormitory. The fleet of extended wheelbase Phantoms will ensure that the casino's top end clients will never have to confront Macau's chronic taxi shortage when they want to go casino hopping. Instead, they will be nestled in a gold-plated interior with diamond-studded timepieces by Graff. The opulent styling will match that of the hotel itself, which will offer accommodations costing as much as $130,000 per night. And both car and building seem to have taken creative inspiration from the man himself, who has been sporting red-dyed hair of late. As he has been quoted saying, he is at the point in life when he can do whatever he wants. These days, he seems to be in the mood to throw caution to the wind in the face of Macau's slowdown and Beijing's anti-corruption campaign, and make even extravagant French kings blush. </span> </div>
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pkimhkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14532334812229407343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-41995571330698089652014-09-15T17:39:00.000+08:002014-09-16T15:41:02.738+08:00College Admission - The Hedge Trade<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv5Hy50eMu75TwNN44f6iUmxKSHsZ8ajPru6YIdv83Tyr16LpCanyd_QVHEVH805qSLFyVRctWN5xTgYmm5PyyX07KRaXYt4pT9ZXa0XWPpoa-6GcUa53Qdi_zrs_Kp9PFmQAd8J0ETBAx/s1600/ivy+guarantee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv5Hy50eMu75TwNN44f6iUmxKSHsZ8ajPru6YIdv83Tyr16LpCanyd_QVHEVH805qSLFyVRctWN5xTgYmm5PyyX07KRaXYt4pT9ZXa0XWPpoa-6GcUa53Qdi_zrs_Kp9PFmQAd8J0ETBAx/s1600/ivy+guarantee.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>And get a hall named after you to boot!!</em></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"></span></em> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steven Ma of ThinkTank Learning is not your usual college consultancy CEO catering to Asia's aspiring Ivy League families. Sure, his San Francisco Bay Area-based practice provides tutoring for the SAT and the usual blend of guidance and motivation. However, he is willing to go the extra step and provide a money back guarantee of success. How does he do it and still maintain a viable business?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Like the former hedge fund manager that he is, through an algorithm, of course - a "secret sauce" formula based on the historical data that he has compiled from his clients over the years. In short, he crunches a candidate's GPA and other qualifications together with his/her targeted schools into his black box to arrive at a pricing proposal. For example, for a</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> U.S.-born high school senior with a 3.8 GPA, an SAT score of 2,000, moderate leadership credentials, and 800 hours of extracurricular activities, ThinkTank predicts a 20.4% chance of admission to New York University and a 28.1% shot at the University of Southern California. Based on those odds, Ma might charge a guaranteed consultancy fee of $25,931 for NYU and $18,826 for USC.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">For the particularly well-heeled and academically motivated client, Ma is also willing to tailor a more complex probability-weighted fee proposal that would look more familiar in Las Vegas, Macau or Wall Street than in the education sector. Consider the case of the wealthy Hong Kong CEO whose son dreamed of gaining acceptance from a good university. The problem is that Junior was not the brightest star in the far eastern sky. In fact, he was struggling with a C-ish average GPA and attended a small high school in Utah. With this client, Ma struck a deal as follows:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Client deposited US$700,000 as an ante, even before Junior began the application process</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Client and Ma agreed that a 3.0 GPA and 1600 SAT score were Junior's threshold achievement levels</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">If Junior failed to get accepted into a Top-100 school, Ma got zilch.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">If he got into a school ranked 81-100, Ma got $300,000. </span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">For a 51-80 ranked school, Ma got $400,000.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">For a top 50 school, Ma's payoff started at $600,000, and climbed by $10,000 for each higher ranking gained, up to $1.1 million for the #1 school in the US.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">What margin Ma pockets from such hefty success fees when all is said and done is up for some speculation. However, this case can't help but call to mind the old adage about having more money than brains. In the enigmatic and hypercompetitive world of college admissions these days, it sure seems to help to have at least one of the two. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">As with hedge fund trades, not all of Ma's bets have worked out as well as hoped. His experiences included having to refund $250,000 to the family of Chinese student who was rejected from seven Ivy League schools. As for Junior above, the story had a happy ending. He got into Syracuse (and is reported doing well there), ranked 62nd. Ma pocketed $400,000. </span></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-03/college-consultant-thinktank-guarantees-admission-for-hefty-price"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Businessweek/Bloomberg article</span></a></div>
pkimhkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14532334812229407343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-91321422581282904262014-06-18T05:57:00.001+08:002014-06-18T14:56:12.722+08:00My Tutor, My Rock Star<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw0DjJOEmOXYSt-tUv5hEqtCrVy1eCwSohVzsOy2fs-KAc4da9kCE1PxScSmoZjuDuAEh-AJqy-_kyTF0gpskewYYt3IHw0cbih2InEOzi78hobnIcUCITsjNKq1C2Gy-_b8y5HcBhvAs5/s1600/Hagwon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw0DjJOEmOXYSt-tUv5hEqtCrVy1eCwSohVzsOy2fs-KAc4da9kCE1PxScSmoZjuDuAEh-AJqy-_kyTF0gpskewYYt3IHw0cbih2InEOzi78hobnIcUCITsjNKq1C2Gy-_b8y5HcBhvAs5/s1600/Hagwon.jpg" height="460" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><em>Dreaming of a better education system</em></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">An exam question:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><em>Korea's college entrance exam process is increasingly considered to be
deleterious to public health because:</em><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">(a)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">it contributes to
a startlingly high incidence of myopia (75%) and a doubling of curvature of the
spine over the past ten years among testing-aged Seoul teenagers;</span></i></span></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">(b)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">an alarming
number of families are going broke supporting an extracurricular “cram school”
education that costs 12% of a household’s overall budget;</span></i></span></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">(c)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">it is the leading
cause for teenage suicides which is the highest rate amongst OECD countries;</span></i></span></span><br />
<em><span style="font-size: large;"></span></em> </div>
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">(d)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">a few popular
online private tutors who have reached superstar status have been able to earn
millions of USD per year by attracting tens of thousands of pupils, thereby
effectively negating any competitive advantage that the lessons purport to
confer;</span></i></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">(e)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">the English
curriculum is ultimately considered to be of little value because, while
students might know how to define words like “deleterious” and “myopia” in a
multiple choice exam, they can hardly converse well enough to order a pizza,
much less save their own skins in day-to-day life;</span></i></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">(f)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">all of the above.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The answer, sadly, is (f).<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Though the rigors of the Chinese college entrance examination (the Gaokao,
the subject of the previous blog article) are only now more widely coming to
light internationally, the arduousness of Korea's college entrance system has
long been well known. It has alternatively been admired for vaulting Korean
students to the top of the global academic heap (as measured by test scores) or
scorned for the mounting social costs forced onto a stressed out domestic
population. Recent public focus has turned towards the increasingly negative
impacts. In response, the government has been imposing regulations against
Korea’s infamously demanding network of “hagwon” tutoring schools, including
mandatory closing time of 10 pm, caps on hourly charges and a ban on front-running
study materials taught in school. Nevertheless, real change is difficult to
implement in hyper-competitive Korea society. Test-taking is a central tenet of
the country’s Confucian tradition. Parents will risk sending themselves to an early grave
or suffocating under a pile of consumer debt to keep Junior Kim up to snuff
with his/her peers. And society idolizes the best tutors and pays fortunes to them every year. How many other countries treat
bespectacled math or English teachers like Lady Ga Ga and Justin Timberlake?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Of additional concern is that some of the “hagwon” have developed a sufficiently
strong reputation to export their systems to neighboring countries such as
Taiwan. Asian students prepping for the US SAT are enrolling in increasing
numbers in “hagwon” systems to improve their shot at getting into strong
American universities. However, the growth of the “hagwon” system only creates a
vicious cycle of competitiveness among an expanding applicant pool that needs to outdo each other.
There should be real concern that the social ills endemic to such a rigid
system may also be exported.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">In an increasingly complex world, success requires flexible problem solving skills and creative thinking. Such attributes are too often inadequately exhibited through multiple choice exams. And living well - which should be every individual's goal - is a broad issue that has more than one correct answer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Check out this </span></span><a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c0b611fc-dab5-11e3-9a27-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=uk#axzz34vA7wkBT"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large;">FT
article about Hagwons</span></a><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></span><br />
<br />pkimhkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14532334812229407343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-79026256568152264482014-06-11T10:48:00.000+08:002014-06-11T15:35:40.168+08:00A Testing Test<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGWN2MMTa15mPtG9Wcfmh_cTkvCsnmZefZHBUh2ji-AoQo68sMF2Lh57fZgiEzP7nSK38-Q_N_oRdULqxWillruwjYYORtSJiHzRttUzCLRkwIL_O0TiDJiucP6_y50DhiZw9-7hIZ2jt/s1600/study.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGWN2MMTa15mPtG9Wcfmh_cTkvCsnmZefZHBUh2ji-AoQo68sMF2Lh57fZgiEzP7nSK38-Q_N_oRdULqxWillruwjYYORtSJiHzRttUzCLRkwIL_O0TiDJiucP6_y50DhiZw9-7hIZ2jt/s1600/study.jpg" height="456" width="640" /></a></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Heading for a good university? Or a re-education labor
camp?</span></i><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"></span> </span></div>
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">To those US-bound students
(and their concerned families) who just took the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)
last weekend: congratulations, but think that was tough? If so, just be glad
that you don’t have to sit the Gaokao – China’s equivalent of the college
entrance exam. Reports are that the SAT is a cakewalk in comparison. First of
all, the pressure to do well is far more intense – the two days of the Gaokao
can make or break a young person’s entire future, and Chinese teens don't have the
do-over opportunities that are available to SAT-takers should they happened to have been
feeling ill that day or simply caved into nerves. Secondly, the Gaokao math
section is reputedly much more intense; it makes the US test seem like a
color-by-numbers exercise by comparison.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Another Gaokao feature
that routinely furrows brows is the essay questions. The SAT essay prompts tend
to be relatively straightforward and often deal with personal growth and
morality. Examples:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">There
is no success like failure. Comment.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Should
you tell a friend the truth or avoid hurting their feelings?</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Is it
better to live for the present or prepare for the future?</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Does
character determine success in one’s life?</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Is reality
TV beneficial or harmful?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The Gaokao essay
prompts are hardly so straightforward. Some of them read like they were written
by a Zen Buddhist monk crossed with an aging hippie on dope. If you think that
Asian tests are only about rote learning and rigid guidelines, think again. The
Chinese essays require sharp interpretive skills and the ability to think
laterally. Courtesy of the shanghaiist.com website at the link below, a sample
of the mind-bending essay prompts that were included in this past weekend’s
Gaokao follows (Note: these are real questions posed to students in different
regions of China): </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Beijing: </span></i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The “old rules”
prescribed by parents demand respect for elders, speaking in a quiet and gentle
voice, and sitting or standing straight up. Recently, netizens have gone online
to discuss these traditions. What is your understanding of this issue?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Shanghai: “</span></i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The world
belongs to you only after you stand up.” Discuss.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Jiangsu Province:
</span></i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Some say that only youth is immortal, that young people do not believe they
will die some day. Is this naive? Are there things such as this in nature that
are eternal?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Fujian Province:
</span></i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">With the word “valley”, some people think “cliff”. Others think of the old
road built along the cliff. What about you?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Anhui Province: “</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The
authors say that the actors are allowed to change the screenplay, but the
directors say that they are not.</span><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">” Discuss.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Hunan Province: </span></i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">There was once a
very poor place. Many left it. Others stayed, and over a few years, turned
it into a beautiful village. Discuss.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Guangdong Province:
</span></i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Old black and white photos are few and far between. Because they are rare,
they are precious. These days, digital technology has seriously diluted the
value of photographic images. Thoughts?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Liaoning Province:
</span></i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Grandfather and grandson are standing on a hill. Grandson loves the neon
lights of the city, how colorful everything appears. Grandfather hates the neon
because it washes out the more beautiful stars in the sky. Discuss.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Every year, China observers try to discern if there are
common themes imbedded in the Gaokao’s questions. This year’s bring two
alternatives to mind for this blogger. First, the questions seem to grapple
with the effects of a rapidly changing society on its individuals – how does
one reconcile the old with the new? How should a person relate to a constantly
evolving environment? An alternative and more ominous motivation for
the Gaokao administrators to pose these questions recalls the Hundred Flowers
Campaign in the mid 1950s, when government officials invited multiplicities of
views to bloom amongst the intellectuals, just so the leadership could subsequently
brutally stamp out the undesirable weeds. Let's hope that we don't need to be so cynical. Life is stressful enough for the millions
of teenagers who toil away in hopes of securing a better future for themselves
and their families to have to worry that they may be headed for re-education rather than college.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://shanghaiist.com/2014/06/10/a_compilation_of_the_2014_gaokao_ch.php"><span style="color: blue;">http://shanghaiist.com/2014/06/10/a_compilation_of_the_2014_gaokao_ch.php</span></a><span style="color: black; letter-spacing: 0.6pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</span><br />
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pkimhkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14532334812229407343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-54573931161957646982014-06-06T09:00:00.000+08:002014-06-06T10:28:45.229+08:00Hitchhiker's Guide for the Wealthy Chinese<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<img alt="Hurun1" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49016" src="http://jingdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Hurun1.jpg" height="345" width="546" /><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Makes for a decidedly complicated packing list</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, you're a stinking-rich Chinese person. You own three houses for yourself and your family, and possibly one for an illicit lover. You also own seventy floors of mixed use real estate that are fully leased out right smack in downtown Hangzhou. You've furnished your homes with fine Italian leather seating, high thread count bed sheets, marble wall tiles, snazzy German kitchen appliances and an underground cellar full of dusty wine bottles next to a mirrored karaoke lounge. Your pockets are stuffed with an LV wallet, a fat wad of red 100 RMB notes, and an even fatter government bureaucrat or two.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Travel-wise, you've been to the major European cities and New York, done the Harrod's DFS thing, toured a few vineyards (one of which you ended up buying), and lost some money playing baccarat in Macau.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">You find yourself standing by the window of your teenage child's Park Avenue penthouse looking out at the foliage of Central Park. Suddenly, you are hit with an existential question that clenches your throat and leaves you gasping: <em>is this all there is?</em> Life suddenly feels devoid of purpose and meaning. You wonder why you bother to continue living. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Luckily, you are not alone. There are many like you who have faced such a crisis and come out just fine on the other end, thanks in no small part to a few enterprising travel agents. So long as you have a trip budget that can stretch to US$150,000 or so (on average), there are an innumerable variety of "experiential" holidays that will replenish your vigor and life mojo.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As shown in the table above, and in this </span><a href="http://jingdaily.com/chinas-thrill-seeking-wealthy-travelers-aim-for-adventure/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jing Daily article</span></a>,<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> the world is indeed a vast place full of wild and wonderful adventures. First of all, there's South America. Forget Argentina and Brazil. Try Bolivia. Don't ask why - just trust the survey. If that involves too much flora, fauna and hip-shaking Latin dancing, then there's always the South and North Poles. It'd just be you, your guide, a pair of tall unshaven dudes speaking Norwegian, and a few gazillion ice crystals. Alternatively, there's Bhutan, the ultimate anti-China. The people there are dirt poor because they live by something called the Gross Happiness Index and are deeply Buddhist. Who knows, you may even like the country enough that you might want to buy it and turn it into your own spiritual theme park. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Of course, if you are so far gone psychically that none of these destinations get your juices flowing, you can choose to chuck everything tied to this god-forsaken world and take your leave of it, literally, by heading into space. Think of it: no gravity to weigh you down, no airwaves that carry the nags and complaints of your employees and relatives to your tired ears. Just a vast, empty place that will leave you at peace in the company of your own ponderings. Mind you, the re-entry could be a bit of a doozy, and you and your vehicle can risk going down in flames. If that troubles you, there's always the one way journey option. Rather than worrying about what it might feel like to be reduced to a burnt rice wafer, you can spend the rest of your days floating above the human beehive, up where you rightfully belong - closer to the sun.</span> </span>pkimhkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14532334812229407343noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-64186209487650828332014-06-05T11:33:00.000+08:002014-06-05T12:08:10.489+08:00Days of Protest, not Shopping<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=eNzTbzh0de3nKM&tbnid=qSudOrjjsvg_CM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2013%2F06%2F05%2Fworld%2Fasia%2Fthousands-rally-in-hong-kong-on-tiananmen-square-anniversary.html&ei=pdGOU72iH8WF8gWe-4CQCA&bvm=bv.68235269,d.dGc&psig=AFQjCNE80yDOJVUo76O8FVCOhoTuKi2r5g&ust=1401955089203676"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/06/05/world/asia/05china_cnd/05china_cnd-articleLarge.jpg" height="403" width="600" /></a><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Jam-packed protests</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></em><br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=kpEFAbUERUZm0M&tbnid=OTbkCRfIgdhKLM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cpp-luxury.com%2Fbooming-luxury-sales-in-hong-kong-thanks-to-chinese-visitors%2Fcoach-flagship-store-hong-kong-nathan-road%2F&ei=BNKOU_GxHIOC8gXbsoLYCQ&bvm=bv.68235269,d.dGc&psig=AFQjCNFfvuXhp3GzeCJJZKnCsZXdtNilUg&ust=1401955151795117"><img src="http://www.cpp-luxury.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Coach-flagship-store-Hong-Kong-Nathan-Road.jpg" height="327" width="600" /></a><br />
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 10pt/normal tahoma;">
<em><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Empty luxury
stores</span></em></div>
<br />
<div style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 10pt/normal tahoma;">
<em><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"></span></em> </div>
<div style="font-family: tahoma; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Where have all the
shoppers gone? It’s a question that many luxury retail shops in Hong Kong
have been asking of late. Yesterday, on June 4 – the 25th anniversary of the
massacre in Tiananmen Square, the shop owners may have found the answer to that
question by heading out to Victoria Park, where upwards of 180,000+ people
gathered in a candlelight vigil to commemorate the event and raise their concerns
to the world.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: tahoma; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As reported in
this </span><a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1524898/drop-retail-sales-biggest-five-years-surge-number-mainland-visitors?utm_source=edm&utm_medium=edm&utm_content=20140604&utm_campaign=scmp_today" title="http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1524898/drop-retail-sales-biggest-five-years-surge-number-mainland-visitors?utm_source=edm&utm_medium=edm&utm_content=20140604&utm_campaign=scmp_today"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">SCMP article</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, the volume of luxury
retail buying in the SAR has fallen off faster than the glass face of a
cheap Shenzhen knock-off watch. The figures are startling. Jewelry and watch
sales plunged by 40% in April. Sales of consumer durables were down by a fifth,
and those of electrical goods and photographic equipment were down by 8.3 per
cent. Financial Secretary John Tsang said: “The drop is the biggest since February
2009. If the decline persists, it could affect the economy and the employment
situation.”</span></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: tahoma; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The abrupt change of
fortunes over the past couple of years for the retail sector comes as little
surprise to anyone who has taken note of the dismaying transformation of the
urban landscape into an antiseptic sprawl of shops selling $3,000 hand bags,
$300 jeans, $1,000 shoes and $100,000 watches in order to cater to a single
demographic – the cash-flushed tourist from the Mainland. Now that the parade of
well heeled Chinese has quieted to a peep as a result of the anti-corruption
campaign and the slowdown in the Mainland economy, Hong Kong is left singing the
double whammy blues of under-utilized retail space and a public that feels
disaffected and jilted by its leaders for shunting aside their welfare.
The luxury malls feel like ghost-towns during weekdays, while on weekends,
eyeballs get a lot more action than wallets. Meanwhile, tea shops
and family dinner tables are filled with locals who are increasingly
pissed as hell about it all. It’s a safe bet that no one is going to cry over
the demise of a bunch of Louis Vuitton, Valentino, or Vertu stores.
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: tahoma; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This year’s
June 4th protest has provided an occasion to reflect on interesting ironies about
China’s development over the past quarter century. Back then, the Beijing
protest was over government suppression of civil liberties in a society where poverty was also a widespread problem. In response to the uprising, the Chinese leadership liberalized the
economy in order to increase the welfare of the country’s citizens, while still keeping thumbs firmly pressed down on personal freedoms. In the ensuing twenty five years, stunning rates of economic growth did much to keep a lid on widespread public protests; people were loath to upset the apple cart while they were able to bake larger and sweeter pies from them. However, the</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
grotesque wealth inequality - much of it skewed in favor of the families of the bureaucrats who brutally crushed the student gathering - that has resulted from the government's go-go investment policies has been stoking public disgruntlement again.
In essence, suppression of economy liberties caused by an uneven playing field has now become as big an issue as
that of personal liberty.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: tahoma; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
<div style="font-family: tahoma; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The record crowds in Hong Kong that showed up to light candles and call out to Beijing and the world harbor a wide variety of concerns. They want to be able to directly choose their leader through free elections in 2017. They want those individuals and public institutions that are in a position to promote social equality to do more than look after themselves. They are outraged that rampant Mainland growth has imported pollution, inflation and scarcity for essentials such as quality healthcare, education, and safe foodstuffs. They want to be able to shop in their neighborhoods for things which they need everyday, rather than window-shop at glittery things they can only imagine owning without busting their budgets. But underlying it all, they want what anyone anywhere would want - fairness and freedom in a place where they have a sense of belonging. It would be sad (and potentially dangerous) to think that it would take another twenty five years to give those basics back to the people. It's not too much to ask for.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: tahoma; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
pkimhkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14532334812229407343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-85417832451987827052014-05-15T10:02:00.000+08:002014-05-15T10:23:34.168+08:00Of Money Supply and Mattresses<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidkbII1FYdYzYUMdtecNOxVReL2NPzSsQBtaKAaFlyy6z1onFYnUdbgRgC-Zj8zTD8xpX_G-odWUYuc76wWizlqUhXmseDX_ZtR3akRNZAUmnRK5mbCVdBoY9N72VCM37_dyYVNWjxpBY/s1600/unnamed+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidkbII1FYdYzYUMdtecNOxVReL2NPzSsQBtaKAaFlyy6z1onFYnUdbgRgC-Zj8zTD8xpX_G-odWUYuc76wWizlqUhXmseDX_ZtR3akRNZAUmnRK5mbCVdBoY9N72VCM37_dyYVNWjxpBY/s1600/unnamed+(2).jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Padding for a cadre’s good night sleep</span></em></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This entertaining <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/opinion/follow-the-money-china-style.html?hpw&rref=opinion&_r=0" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/opinion/follow-the-money-china-style.html?hpw&rref=opinion&_r=0">New York Times Op Ed penned by author Yu Hua</a> raises the lid on the variously creative ways that corrupt Chinese officials attempt to conceal their ill-gotten gains. The Op Ed piece is ostensibly an explanation of why the faster growth of China’s money supply relative to its GDP has not resulted in runaway domestic inflation. The hypothesis? That a large proportion of the money supply is in the form of bribe money that is socked away rather than put into circulation. While the intriguing economic theory is not substantiated with empirical data, the inventive means that bureaucrats have used to stash the cash are worth describing here:</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- $4 million in a safe deposit box;</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- $1.5 million in the bathroom of a new apartment, which subsequently developed a water leak;</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- $450,000 in a garbage heap next to his brother’s house;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- $3 million “wrapped in layers of plastic and hidden in a hollow tree trunk, beneath an ash heap, in a rice field and inside a latrine”;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- $200,000 in a rented luxury apartment. Despite wrapping the cash in plastic, it got moldy. Presumably, he should have reinvested part of the booty in a functioning air conditioner;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- $21.5 million (!) in cash and gold hidden away in a bureaucrat’s two houses. He later admitted that hiding the loot was a colossal headache.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s commendable that China’s reluctance to create a currency note worth more than RMB 100 ($16) is partially motivated by the desire to make cash-based corruption and money laundering more cumbersome. However, the bigger underlying problem of course is that such graft is still so rampant. And if the growing pile of dirty cash is not stemmed, at some point, inflation will indeed become a real problem. The iconic red RMB 100 notes may even become a cheaper material than cotton and coils for stuffing mattresses.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13222848186685847220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-91949249416221371802014-05-13T05:31:00.001+08:002014-05-13T10:49:32.036+08:00North Korean Memoir – A Transforming Read<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglgGpk2D7BrbhjvUiOdeFiydHcbzl2_EYZ-YHO5mDhB3uSbhAI8kiCqPr2zACBDYsgrZzQJ9QjBTCEqBawzm3rAjR1tCPIQese0-NXNPtyrzETI2HgKoDog-RFmNmIRxtGr9FK4Jbj9f0/s1600/unnamed+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglgGpk2D7BrbhjvUiOdeFiydHcbzl2_EYZ-YHO5mDhB3uSbhAI8kiCqPr2zACBDYsgrZzQJ9QjBTCEqBawzm3rAjR1tCPIQese0-NXNPtyrzETI2HgKoDog-RFmNmIRxtGr9FK4Jbj9f0/s1600/unnamed+(1).jpg" height="320" width="209" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Moving hearts, minds and the soul.</span></em></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This just-released book is the sort that can save lives – hopefully even 25 million of them. It is a memoir written by Jang Jin-sung, a North Korean defector and ex-poet laureate for Kim Jong-il, and translated into English by Oxford-educated Shirley Lee. It is the most absorbing read that this blogger has had in many years. Why is it better than the many noteworthy books on North Korea that have been published before? Because it was written by a high level insider - one of the country’s chief propagandists - who also happens to be an articulate and sensitive writer, with a vastly different perspective from that of a Westerner or a "common" (if there can be such a characterization) North Korean escapee. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's not just a searing indictment of the Kim dynasty or a political dissertation that details the organization and functioning of a Stalinist dictatorship. It's not just an intimate account of unimaginable human suffering that has been inflicted on a nation’s population over the past few decades by an evil regime. It's not just a thrill-a-minute international espionage story that follows two high-value defectors as they flee, starving and penniless, across the winter landscape of Korea and Northern China, hunted by security forces from both countries. In fact, it is all of these story lines, plus more. The range of its setting stretches from privilege to privation. It is a depiction of a place that seems surreal and hallucinogenic, though it is only too real. It is a story of a man’s awakening from a blinkered life to a wide world beyond his imagining – both its horrors and beauty. It is about his coming to terms with terrible truths and the equally terrible lies that he had helped to perpetrate. It is a buddy story about two young men on the run who share every human emotion possible – from valor to shame to frailty to brotherly love. And perhaps most importantly, it is an epic poem, written by a talented story teller. As such, the book touches the reader in ways that no other account of North Korea has done before. By interweaving original poetry and lyrical descriptions of artistic expression into a John le Carre thriller, there is something for everyone. It runs both wide and deep, like a restless ocean.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As such, it has the potential to reach an audience that is broader than any book on the subject. One can only hope that it does, and that by burrowing deeply into millions of readers, it changes the perspective and energy of the global dialogue on North Korea. Such change is desperately needed – evil on this scale needs to be combatted by more than just a handful of poignant, indomitable souls such as Jang Jin-sung, or a few politicians and international NGOs. At stake are millions of lives, and our very humanity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Jang Jin-sung's blog: <a href="http://www.newfocusintl.com/">www.newfocusintl.com</a>.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13222848186685847220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-3842874644151693232014-05-08T04:47:00.002+08:002014-05-08T09:53:51.212+08:00From PRC to UAE<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEjbgGb5h9345nfuidhjr9eZcbjkRNyRIxVzww8EmN55owHxxjdDSp5SMR7aLSZI7HC-tDUaxCQ-rYbhUXSTyDxTwEqYq_PvENmcBp4Eg1JYAYLxnrTtfjaupXEcqBdS8XJ-UlVbQACxM/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEjbgGb5h9345nfuidhjr9eZcbjkRNyRIxVzww8EmN55owHxxjdDSp5SMR7aLSZI7HC-tDUaxCQ-rYbhUXSTyDxTwEqYq_PvENmcBp4Eg1JYAYLxnrTtfjaupXEcqBdS8XJ-UlVbQACxM/s1600/unnamed.jpg" height="215" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mandarin spoken here.</span></em></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The UAE, led by its crown jewel principality of Dubai, is a jaw-dropping place. It’s a country that should barely exist, situated as it is where a bone dry desert meets a salty sea, with no fresh water for hundreds of miles around. However, money and cheap petroleum, if poured in with sufficient abandon, and a few rip-roaringly big desalinization plants can change anything. Once a series of trading posts between Arabs and the Indian subcontinent, the Emirates are now home to the ultimate in man-made superlatives and oddities. The world’s tallest building, by a huge 300 meter margin. A “seven-star” spinnaker-shaped hotel with enough gold leaf to fund a country's central bank. The world’s largest mall. The world’s biggest indoor ski facility. The world’s tallest hotel. The list goes on and on. And yet its population demographic is a throwback to a society from the nineteenth century: a small fraction of hyper-wealthy locals, dressed either resplendently in white thobes or ominously in black burkas, which lords over millions of foreigner workers (mostly from Southeast Asia or the Philippines) who live with few rights and close to the poverty line. The principal aim of the place? To attract wealthy foreigners with the lure of trading financial assets and living the good life in a sun-drenched, tax-friendly, first-class accommodated living environment. Over the years, Brits, Saudis and Russians have come in droves. And more recently, particularly since an inflated asset bubble burst in 2008, so have the Chinese. There is now a Dragon Mall especially catering for them. Mandarin language use has expanded. Festivals feature dragons, lion dances and firecrackers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not wanting to feel left behind in the paper chase for Chinese wealth, Dubai’s neighbor to the west – Abu Dhabi – has thrown off its more conservative, understated cloak and swung open its doors. As summarized in this</span><div style="display: inline;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://jingdaily.com/abu-dhabis-ambitious-chinese-tourist-promotions-pay-off-big-time/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title="http://jingdaily.com/abu-dhabis-ambitious-chinese-tourist-promotions-pay-off-big-time/"><span style="font-size: small;">report in the Jing Daily,</span></a> the efforts, like a pomegranate tree, have been bearing lush fruit. Over 32,000 Chinese visited Abu Dhabi in the first quarter of 2014, resulting in the best first-quarter tourist figures ever. Furthermore, in April, a massive group of 16,000 employees from the China branch of the Nu Skin direct-sales beauty company visited the UAE on a 10-day boondoggle. Such numbers are big enough to impress even those used to witnessing outrageous excesses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Potential constraints to the future growth prospects for Chinese in the UAE? Booze and casinos are still severely limited. But who knows going forward. After all, the UAE has already shown that, in a place where big money can transform anything, anything is indeed possible.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13222848186685847220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-56069285595587601152014-05-07T05:51:00.000+08:002014-05-07T09:55:09.269+08:00Oxbridge-upon-Yangtze?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXh9E98KMdGl-dZISR_Lfp2V454Mv3p2urTzc7UkmbqHuorVbEimEP8tSP_u9r3uXnp0_lFO12ARLbTQMY5P3tYb96bpVwjmuHaw7ZLBn9_PyaQ02vl9Aaiyp4R2nwwDQoAylet8B7EYI/s1600/image%5B1%5D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXh9E98KMdGl-dZISR_Lfp2V454Mv3p2urTzc7UkmbqHuorVbEimEP8tSP_u9r3uXnp0_lFO12ARLbTQMY5P3tYb96bpVwjmuHaw7ZLBn9_PyaQ02vl9Aaiyp4R2nwwDQoAylet8B7EYI/s1600/image%5B1%5D.png" height="376" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">It should come as no surprise that many of the best young (less than fifty years old) universities in the world are located in Asia. It should also stand to reason that many of the top schools are technology-focused. The table above lays out the Top 10, as compiled by </span><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/one-hundred-under-fifty" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/one-hundred-under-fifty">The Times Higher Education website</a><span style="background-color: white;"> in the UK. A few additional names and their rankings have been added from an alternative source of university rankings, provided by </span><a href="http://www.topuniversities.com/top-50-under-50/2013#sorting=rank+region=+country=+faculty=+stars=false+search=" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title="http://www.topuniversities.com/top-50-under-50/2013#sorting=rank+region=+country=+faculty=+stars=false+search=">QS</a><span style="background-color: white;">. As shown, at least four of the top five institutions hail from Asia. Interestingly, the two from Korea are not located in Seoul, but rather in provincial cities – Daejeon in the case of KAIST and Pohang in the case of POStech. While the names on this list don’t yet match the venerated and storied universities in the US and Western Europe, they are names to watch in the years ahead, particularly if the global academic brain drain begins to tip and then reverse itself, to flow from West to East.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13222848186685847220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-60274214865569723582014-04-24T20:31:00.001+08:002014-04-25T10:14:28.828+08:00Income Disparity: Don’t Monkey With It!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/meiU6TxysCg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Numerous studies have shown that social disgruntlement is more associated with relative wealth inequality rather than its absolute level. Citizens of poor countries are generally happy so long as all people are relatively poor. It’s when thine neighbor becomes better off than thou that serious and chronic grumblings set in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">No video</span> <span style="font-size: small;">demonstrates this phenomenon better than the one above, starring two capuchin monkeys. To us humans, the difference between cucumbers and grapes may be trivial, but to this pair, the delta feels like that between a Mercedes and a Hyundai. Magnify that amplitude to that of corporate pay disparity in the modern world, and substitute pitchforks and Molotov cocktails for cucumber bits, and one can imagine consequences being more troubling than cute. Hey 1%, beware of flying vegetables.</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13222848186685847220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-401887590523794972014-04-18T07:46:00.002+08:002014-04-20T09:19:29.527+08:00The Price of Comfort – $400 per hour<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpSFP_uPsocNDugnWbX2P71D506GAzQt3Sjaj9EP0YvfumbWIw_wwsiPdzz5_5CRIIHvvP9PV3rcxuGRiU_PtGvi_26ejIg5SLdfjr8sw5lEz8sPJt2wOQttnXPpt2vDlJJjUhr7A_rGo/s1600/unnamed-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpSFP_uPsocNDugnWbX2P71D506GAzQt3Sjaj9EP0YvfumbWIw_wwsiPdzz5_5CRIIHvvP9PV3rcxuGRiU_PtGvi_26ejIg5SLdfjr8sw5lEz8sPJt2wOQttnXPpt2vDlJJjUhr7A_rGo/s1600/unnamed-2.jpg" height="221" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A throne on high.</span></em></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">How much more would you pay to lie flat to sleep rather than recline back a few degrees? Or sip lukewarm generic champagne from a glass rather than ginger ale from a plastic cup? Or have a service provider obsequiously fawn over you rather than dismissively shove overcooked food in an aluminum box onto your fold-down table?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For an Asian traveler flying to a far-away destination such as London, New York or Toronto, the cost differential can be $7,000 or more ($2,000 for an economy seat vs. $9,000 for B-class. As for the price of a First Class seat, if you have to ask...). In normal circumstances, which excludes those times when you find yourself in a dentist chair or being stretched on a medieval rack, paying such a premium for up to sixteen hours of comfort would sound like sheer lunacy. However, getting a certain class of patrons (or more likely their employers) to pay up is the core business model that airlines have needed to execute to make money. And by and large, the most successful ones have been Asian, namely Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific. As reported in this riveting and amusing article in </span><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/04/21/140421fa_fact_owen?utm_source=tny&utm_campaign=generalsocial&utm_medium=twitter&mbid=social_twitter" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/04/21/140421fa_fact_owen?utm_source=tny&utm_campaign=generalsocial&utm_medium=twitter&mbid=social_twitter"><span style="font-size: small;">the New Yorker magazine</span></a><span style="font-size: small;">, the process is more difficult than at first imagined, particularly given the safety constraints that need to be faced. The airlines have paid many millions to outside design firms to create ever more comfortable, ergonomic environments for their coveted premium customers. The illusion to be created is that those hours spent in an aluminum tube at 12,000 meters in the air and in the company of total strangers (mostly sane, but not all) can be a pretty damned memorable part of a trip and can keep the busy executives bright eyed and bushy tailed on the ground. It’s a helluva trick, though a pricy one.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13222848186685847220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-48424240229109750202014-04-17T04:53:00.002+08:002014-04-17T08:05:54.878+08:00Bienvenue au Canada, les Riches Chinois!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpRYOk1k4yWJpfV4kmEbs3N26Yz8gmlM0N0IMQcrdwCxhz9A5ZSf12yJzuN7ZTkeigHSDSZV-xlC3bD2hW9Wqo9UxUY67_aXD7MuGmBnsUF3JKWrfgqmiweDcaGRudaKPTwQzK4grRTRE/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpRYOk1k4yWJpfV4kmEbs3N26Yz8gmlM0N0IMQcrdwCxhz9A5ZSf12yJzuN7ZTkeigHSDSZV-xlC3bD2hW9Wqo9UxUY67_aXD7MuGmBnsUF3JKWrfgqmiweDcaGRudaKPTwQzK4grRTRE/s1600/unnamed.jpg" height="224" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Parlez-vous Francais?</span></em></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Earlier this year, Canada closed an immigration provision - long popular with the wealthy Chinese - that allowed wealthy foreigners to “buy” their way into permanent residency in Canada. As previously reported in this blog, countries such as Portugal have tried to draw the attention of these well-heeled would-be residents left out in (or more literally, ‘of’) the cold. However, those still longing for the vast expanses of Canada need not fret – so long as they can passably speak French. According to this </span><a href="http://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1483670/under-new-rules-rich-chinese-should-learn-french-if-they-want-move" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title="http://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1483670/under-new-rules-rich-chinese-should-learn-french-if-they-want-move"><span style="font-size: small;">SCMP blog</span></a><span style="font-size: small;">, a loophole exists that would allow applicants to apply for Canadian residency through Quebec. An unlimited number of approvals will be granted to those who can pass “an advanced intermediate level of French demonstrated by a standardised test”. Once settled in their new country, <em>les immigrants nouveaux </em>can then immediately resettle to a place such as Vancouver (also known more colloquially as “Hongcouver”) with a more familiar-sounding population.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Clever. And a side benefit? They’ll be able to properly pronounce many more of the wine labels that lay in their <em>caves</em>. A glass of Ducru-Beaucaillou, anyone?</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13222848186685847220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-85331761616787891192014-04-16T14:00:00.000+08:002014-04-16T15:58:11.138+08:00Supporting Hong Kong’s Creative Industries – a Must-do<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this television spot on Hong Kong TVB Pearl's <em>Money Magazine</em> show, the <em>Nothing Gained</em> author discusses the need for Hong Kong’s government to use its bulging coffers to foster a long-horizon nurturing of the literary arts in Hong Kong. After all, without such creativity, societies can be advanced yet not civilized. Hey, Hong Kong: be the New York, not the Dubai.</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13222848186685847220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-86193123489583402422014-04-04T05:41:00.001+08:002014-04-04T22:00:38.652+08:00Tipped Over the Edge<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQhyfcrDJ2HADk0hXv9s0j276gMj-mrR2kzNmTt9P1fQAmMLjjupwpIRgky1UdzqRqXBek0K-IL56029NDdXpJdBF6TJ63heD_hZOgwkd-uyJqifVJGUt6r9ZcvzkkZCekTEJcOQR99kE/s3200/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQhyfcrDJ2HADk0hXv9s0j276gMj-mrR2kzNmTt9P1fQAmMLjjupwpIRgky1UdzqRqXBek0K-IL56029NDdXpJdBF6TJ63heD_hZOgwkd-uyJqifVJGUt6r9ZcvzkkZCekTEJcOQR99kE/s3200/unnamed.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In Mapo, Seoul: a </span></em><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">bridge to oblivion.</span></em></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/03/opinion/south-koreas-struggle-with-suicide.html?_r=0" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/03/opinion/south-koreas-struggle-with-suicide.html?_r=0">New York Times editorial</a> penned by novelist Kim Young-ha is the latest piece to highlight Korea’s alarmingly persistent epidemic of suicides. Korea’s suicide rate is the highest among OECD countries, accounting for 40 victims per day. Taking one’s life is the nation’s fourth-highest cause of death.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">An old adage asserts that, in nature, there is strength in numbers. Ask any fish swimming with its school. While often true, the problem in a conformist society like Korea’s lies with those who don’t get counted. Korea is famously intolerant of both individualism and failure. Therefore, the consequences for those cast outside of social norms by economic hardship, academic failure, health issues, or jilted romance is tragically severe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Over the centuries when the country’s citizenry fought against foreign invasion and poverty, a strong collective identity was necessary for survival. And during the go-go decades following the Korean War, there was sufficient progress – economic, spiritual, social – made to justify the ongoing subjugation of self and pluralism. Group-think was more than merely patriotic; it was good national policy. However, Korea has reached the level of maturity where fostering creativity takes on a much higher importance than before. In fact, it is a downright necessity. And creativity by definition is the celebration of the individual, the unique.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The notion of failure is hardly ever lauded <em>per se </em>anywhere; nevertheless, it needs to be accepted as a necessary by-product of acting courageously and attempting to forge ahead. Unfortunately for Korea, s</span>hame bears a huge emotional cost, much more so than the converse rewards of achieving success, which too often seems more like entitlement than aspiration. Until Koreans can accept that the bridge of life is forged with an alloy of both success and failure, their eyes will too often be diverted downwards as they cross, rather than looking ahead towards the other end of the span.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13222848186685847220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-88643295317356567272014-03-28T07:17:00.001+08:002014-03-28T09:56:56.466+08:00Golf Too Lowly? Try Polo.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-3_EKmmOAaTXcPRBKZp_uPUoA4SYnRuEljoK94LWWx17nkCRA3YeYMe_FzFn8nVxvma6DZQcLv9oKhHdTToyqb9ewKr5QMIbDa79k8rtm8V0vctGbHL58fa_7-bNTIJpXmAknXgkLKU0/s3200/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-3_EKmmOAaTXcPRBKZp_uPUoA4SYnRuEljoK94LWWx17nkCRA3YeYMe_FzFn8nVxvma6DZQcLv9oKhHdTToyqb9ewKr5QMIbDa79k8rtm8V0vctGbHL58fa_7-bNTIJpXmAknXgkLKU0/s3200/unnamed.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Ultra-luxurious polo clubhouse. In Tianjin, China.</span></em></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Polo has long been considered the sport of kings. Persian royalty invented it. Princes Harry and William play it. Ralph Lauren built a fortune selling its reflected glory on otherwise prosaic cotton T-shirts. So enough said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, polo is fast becoming the pastime of choice for China’s most discerning citizens. Or so hopes Pan Sutong, Chairman of the Goldin group. If Donald Trump were reincarnated as a Chinese billionaire, he’d likely bear a striking resemblance to Mr. Pan. They both believe that the good life comes gushing out of gold-plated bathroom fixtures. They share a passion for promoting <em>la dolce vita</em> to the <em>nouveau riche</em>. They both believe that the recipe for <em>savoir faire </em>comes printed on the margins of $100 notes. For Mr. Pan, he has travelled a long career arc, starting with cornering the market for karaoke machines in China – that essential piece of electronic hardware in those ubiquitous entertainment clubs that host business deals and ill-reputed activities – to building a gated community near Tianjin, China that focuses on first class wines, luxury housing, and horses. In his mind, nothing depicts success more than the sight of equines chasing after a small wooden ball on a perfectly groomed patch of Kentucky bluegrass. It’s true in England. So it must be for China. And golf is soooo pre-Xi Jinping. <em> </em> </span></div>
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<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-24/billionaire-developer-lures-rich-chinese-to-gated-polo-community.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-24/billionaire-developer-lures-rich-chinese-to-gated-polo-community.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/<wbr></wbr>2014-03-24/billionaire-<wbr></wbr>developer-lures-rich-chinese-<wbr></wbr>to-gated-polo-community.html</span></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13222848186685847220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-13480591059177251992014-03-21T04:58:00.005+08:002014-03-28T09:55:49.153+08:00Crony Nations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnQqEWRQK4c6johNmtlO7qbPELn3T9UrdUzuotEpTlfrGfxz2b2nDmbyVZb26RAakxUOgAiFSikeqMXNTWPd7fwLZFwoZNZxF1j6hobvp-TwgneET4tGKkX1H-vFjsBxdJNMn9IgtshgU/s3200/unnamed.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnQqEWRQK4c6johNmtlO7qbPELn3T9UrdUzuotEpTlfrGfxz2b2nDmbyVZb26RAakxUOgAiFSikeqMXNTWPd7fwLZFwoZNZxF1j6hobvp-TwgneET4tGKkX1H-vFjsBxdJNMn9IgtshgU/s3200/unnamed.png" height="400" width="196" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This fascinating chart was included in an </span><a href="http://www.economist.com/news/international/21599041-countries-where-politically-connected-businessmen-are-most-likely-prosper-planet" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title="http://www.economist.com/news/international/21599041-countries-where-politically-connected-businessmen-are-most-likely-prosper-planet"><span style="font-size: small;">article in The Economist</span></a><span style="font-size: small;"> that reports on the relative proportion of cronyism to wealth concentration in different countries. As shown, Asian nations fared poorly, accounting for seven out of the top ten places where wealth in crony sectors is highest relative to the overall economy. By way of definition, “cronyism” refers to sectors that rely on the doling out of scarce resources (e.g. land, natural resources, utilities, gambling licenses) to a few private interests by the government. The business model is more about extracting “rents” from the assets, rather than creating value through ideas or innovation. While governments are meant to regulate how much “rent” is charged to the public in order to ensure equitable pricing, it’s too easy to conclude that, due to inherent inefficiencies and outright corruption, the benefits have been heavily skewed towards the asset owners. In effect, the economic rents extracted from the market have been far higher than what a more free and fair market would normally dictate. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">When one thinks of cronyistic countries, certain names easily jump to mind – Russia, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Latin America, India. These places are resource rich and/or have strong governments that control almost every major facet of the economy. Most illuminating to this blogger is how Hong Kong and Singapore pop up in the top five, with Hong Kong out front by a country kilometer. The prominence of the two city states on the list is largely a result of the scarcity of land and the often-infuriating land policies that the governments have adopted that enrich property developers. However, particularly in the case of Hong Kong, there are stark and incontrovertible lessons about the inherently Darwinian nature of supposedly free economies to amplify the advantage of the strong over the weak. Close to 60% of total GDP in the hands of crony billionaires in a bastion of free enterprise?? The biggest surprise may be that such wealth concentration should not be a surprise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">One final note – why isn’t China ranked higher? Because the state itself is still the biggest crony. And the chart is not able to calculate and include pockets of hidden wealth that exist behind the thick, musty curtain of state ownership.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13222848186685847220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-34306208882548496982014-03-19T05:57:00.003+08:002014-04-05T09:08:11.901+08:00Pricey Hole-in-the-Wall<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK45oG3aKfmchS2wmZ5XsILcsxsGPjZUy3kDizNAtfm8qPoM-cOsi2dvKe0n-R3rwikspnmzjuesuumdGgOSjHtdz9INmgGq7Zqx5L-DmQx13YdqhoEPVw5w2819LVb7bOsp3OW-2aFvM/s3200/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK45oG3aKfmchS2wmZ5XsILcsxsGPjZUy3kDizNAtfm8qPoM-cOsi2dvKe0n-R3rwikspnmzjuesuumdGgOSjHtdz9INmgGq7Zqx5L-DmQx13YdqhoEPVw5w2819LVb7bOsp3OW-2aFvM/s3200/unnamed.jpg" height="247" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Selling a shitload of cameras, we hope?</span></em></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How much would you pay to buy this 130 square foot shop (the one crowned with the Canon logo)? Before you take a guess, consider that it is located in Hong Kong, specifically on a street (Matheson Street next to Causeway Bay’s tony Times Square) that commands the highest retail rents in the world. Even with that hint, chances are that your guess will be low.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Answer? Try US$23 million. That works out to a whopping $177,971 per square foot. The selling agent claims that the rental yield at that price would be a miniscule 1.5%. However, even that paltry percentage translates into $28,750 per month. Assuming an average sale price for an SLR camera at $800 and a 15% margin to the shop, that means 240 cameras need to be sold each and every month just to cover the rent. That would require a huge amount of selfie-seeking foot traffic to wander in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even the local business community, which has gotten desensitized to property prices rising into the stratosphere, think that this case is lunacy. It makes the average market observer wonder what the shop owner is sniffing. Maybe breaking open a few camera cases might reveal more than electronic components...</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.scmp.com/property/hong-kong-china/article/1448051/tiny-store-causeway-bay-shopping-district-sells-record" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title="http://www.scmp.com/property/hong-kong-china/article/1448051/tiny-store-causeway-bay-shopping-district-sells-record"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.scmp.com/property/<wbr></wbr>hong-kong-china/article/<wbr></wbr>1448051/tiny-store-causeway-<wbr></wbr>bay-shopping-district-sells-<wbr></wbr>record</span></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13222848186685847220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8288053246873865165.post-29498832028230474712014-03-07T11:24:00.001+08:002014-03-07T18:01:46.133+08:00Forbes' Asian Billionaire List - 2014<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrJ3-YhAY4ao9gTIqYLzuJVjOHSuargTxj487-kqHFPwpx99qoZefi-miwi2dzK19hPIRKkDtpOWWQqHYKSez3hxZX46tuju03meKs8e-dXqLih9sAEXNDaub4ad5rk_IL2Wr8aOaKpKw/s1600/image%5B1%5D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrJ3-YhAY4ao9gTIqYLzuJVjOHSuargTxj487-kqHFPwpx99qoZefi-miwi2dzK19hPIRKkDtpOWWQqHYKSez3hxZX46tuju03meKs8e-dXqLih9sAEXNDaub4ad5rk_IL2Wr8aOaKpKw/s1600/image%5B1%5D.png" height="403" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">China and Hong Kong up, Indonesia down</span></em></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As reported in the <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2014/03/03/inside-the-2014-forbes-billionaires-list-facts-and-figures/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title="http://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2014/03/03/inside-the-2014-forbes-billionaires-list-facts-and-figures/">Forbes 2014 list of billionaires</a>, the past year was generally a good one for the world’s wealthiest, given the rebound in the stock markets and continued recovery from the crisis years. There were 1,645 billionaires with a combined wealth of $6.4 trillion, up from $5.4 trillion the previous year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Asia, China stayed</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> at the front of the pack, extending its lead against all other nations other than the US (which had 492 uber-wealthy souls worth 10+ digits). Hong Kong continued to punch far above its population weight, just as the SAR’s Li Ka Shing continued to hold the trophy of Asia’s Wealthiest, with $31 billion. HK’s Superman stood only a whisker behind Google’s Sergey Brin and a couple of bucks ahead of Mark Zuckerberg. As reported in this blog a few weeks ago, Li KS is followed not too further back by the Macau casino magnate Lui Che Woo, who is eight places behind (and Asia’s second wealthiest), with $22 billion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Singapore fared well, adding six more names to the list from 2013. These newcomers may be sighing with relief for their good fortune given that, with the island nation now the most expensive place in the world to live, even the wealthy need a few more bucks in their pocket.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Asia’s big losers? First off, Indonesia, which had six fewer billionaires. The bursting of the natural resources bubble and decline of the rupiah knocked the wind out of the archipelago’s sails. But more importantly, Asia’s little guys also continued to fall backwards on the wealth disparity curve and as victims of inflation. While such dismaying social trends continue, ranking the world’s wealthy feels like a matter of curiosity and entertaining dinner party chatter, one that does little to address more fundamental issues.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One final note – the Forbes ranking is based on <u>measurable</u> wealth. The reality of affluence in countries across Asia, including in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, North Korea, Mongolia etc. is that much of the big bucks lie undercover and in the shadows, away from the public’s prying eyes. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13222848186685847220noreply@blogger.com0