Changing China
Giant on the move
The Other China Stimulus
By Zhou Xin
As the world watches how Beijing’s $585 billion stimulus package can create opportunities for investors, they might be overlooking another mini-stimulus that is coming in a matter of weeks: the lavish celebration the government will be staging to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1.
On top of what is expected to be a huge military parade through central Beijing, massive firework displays are expected to light up the capital and other big cities around the country.
Although overall spending figures are secret, speculation about the windfall profits that the country’s only listed fireworks firm could reap from the event have caused its share price to, well, explode over the last month or so.
Panda Fireworks shares have more than doubled in value over the past month, even amid a more than 14 percent fall in the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index over the same period. (See the chart plotting their values and relative performance.)
from Global News Journal:
North Korean Revolutionary Tunes Sink to Bottom of the Sea
By Jon Herskovitz
North Korea says somewhere up in the sky, a satellite it launched at the weekend is beaming to earth two revolutionary paeans: "Song of General Kim Il-sung" for the founder of the reclusive state and "Song of General Kim Jong-il," for the son who succeeded him when he died.
‘Shout fewer slogans and do more practical things!’
Slogans, mottos, concepts, call them what you will, but the 2008 Beijing Olympics does not lack for pithy phrases.
Slogans, or kouhao, often sit better in the Chinese language where they are made up of fewer characters than the more cumbersome English translations.
The Ju basketball dynasty
While based in China as a chief photographer in the early 1990s I had the good fortune to make the acquaintance of a sports journalist and in turn an entire family with a remarkable basketball legacy. So much so that official government film documentaries were produced highlighting their sporting achievements. Aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces have all competed at college level, professionally or on a national team.
My journalist friend’s accomplishments were impressive. Starting at the age of 2-1/2 her parents had to place her, for the next three years, in the national sports committee’s boarding kindergarten. It was a place where China’s sporting elite could leave their children while they competed for the Party and national pride.
Beijing shopping surprises
I love to shop – I’m not afraid to admit it. And I passionately believe you can never have too many T-shirts, shoes or bags (and that you should never underestimate the power of a good moisturiser either).
One of the great joys of living in China, and especially in Beijing, is the shopping.
