HK's Pathetic Vaccine Rate Keeps City Isolated

An elderly couple (right) takes a selfie after getting the jab

 

Hongkongers are still dragging their feet when it comes to vaccinations for Covid-19, and health experts are saying the city needs to have 80 to 90 percent of the population inoculated before social-distancing restrictions could be further relaxed.

Professor Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, co-convenor of the Expert Committee on Clinical Events Assessment Following Covid-19 Immunization, says the government's strategy of "zero infections" is unrealistic and would rather see more people vaccinated.

Hung warns elderly to get inoculated

"We can maintain the zero-infection streak, but Hong Kong cannot isolate itself forever as we are an international business hub. Our strategy needs to change over time," Hung said. "But without achieving a very high vaccination rate of up to 90 percent, we don't have the conditions to open up."

So far 42.2 percent of the 7.5 million residents are fully vaccinated, and the numbers across different age groups vary wildly.

Those aged 40-49 leading the way at 62.8 percent with second doses, followed closely by the 50-59 group at 56.3 percent. Even those aged 30-39 are trailing at 53.7 percent.

But perhaps the most pathetic are those 80 and above at an appalling 6.9 percent fully vaccinated, and those 70-79 at 24.5 percent. 

Interestingly 54.2 percent of women have gotten the vaccine compared to 45.8 percent of men.

Many elderly are worried about side effects, but Hung said the jabs are safe for them, including those with diabetes and high blood pressure, and that less than 2 percent suffered serious side effects, such as facial paralysis, or strong allergic reactions.  

Only 42.2 percent of population is vaccinated

He warned people over 75 years old who contract Covid-19 are much more likely to die than younger patients.

But will the elderly heed Hung's call?

Many are worried the vaccinations are fatal -- there were news reports early on of seniors getting vaccinated and dying a few days later, mainly from preexisting health issues, but that was enough to scare the elderly from getting jabbed.

They also feel that with so few cases in the community that they don't see the need in getting vaccinated.

Meanwhile those who have been vaccinated are waiting for everyone else to get on board the inoculation wagon, but by the time we get to 90 percent we will probably need booster shots.

It's never ending...

 

Shopping Dead Zone

Build and they don't come -- empty stalls and no shoppers at The Boxes

 What a disaster.

A few years ago when local residents were complaining about mainlanders crossing the border and snapping up all kinds of things from baby milk powder to cosmetics, clothing and handbags in shopping malls in Hong Kong, there was an idea to prevent them from coming into town and shop right at the border.

This way some entrepreneurs could make some money, and the shoppers could save time coming into town to get what they needed.

However, San Tin Shopping City -- also called The Boxes -- for the container-style shops -- didn't finally launch until this February and the tenants there have been losing lots of money ever since.

The site where San Tin Shopping City is located

Project advocate and lawmaker Wong Ting-kwong, who represents the import/export sector, admitted business at The Boxes was stagnant, with losses of HK$2 million a month -- or HK$18 million in total in the past nine months.

Business is also slow because some tenants haven't even opened for business yet and may not even bother, as the mall is seeking a three-year renewal from the Town Planning Board, which will be made on Friday.

Wong says currently only 47 tenants had signed contracts with the mall, which has 216 shop lots, and only 27 shops had opened their doors due to uncertainty of the temporary land-use permit, which will expire on September 16.

As a result tenants' rents we waived until this month, hence the HK$18 million loss.

On a recent weekday, only a handful of places were open. One of the tenants, Mrs Liu of Lan Hang Kitchen said they were told some 200 coaches would come here, but this transportation arrangement was never made.

"Honestly, we are disappointed, she said. "We have spent a few hundred thousand dollars on the facilities and decorations based on the belief the mall would attract at least 5,000 visitors a day. But it didn't happen."

Mainlanders want to shop in malls like these, not containers

To save money, Liu has been handling the business by herself.

"At the worst times, there is zero business, a situation we often come across. A few days ago I only sold one can of coke worth HK$8," she said.

Hardly a good situation. Wong will be getting a lot of heat for this disastrous attempt at diverting mainlanders to an open air space filled with container-like shops. Who wants to shop in a place like that?

There are so many convenient transport links to get people into town that San Tin Shopping City is a joke.

Anyone else have other brilliant ideas?

Art Basel Sneak Peek

Subodh Gupta's Start.Stop, with tiffins and pots moving on sushi belts

This afternoon I had an opportunity to preview Art Basel and this year was perhaps more commercial than ever. Usually the media have a chance to quickly wander around for an hour or two before VIP clients come in, but today there was no such head start.

Ethereal moving piece by Japanese artist Shinji Ohmaki

Instead at 2pm the doors were flung open -- not without security being hawk-eyed about people carrying backpacks -- and everyone flooded in, reporters and collectors alike into two floors in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

At about 3.30pm the first sale of the day was already made -- a 1975 Willem de Kooning painting named Untitled XII sold for US$35 million. Throughout the afternoon I saw many well-heeled clients -- or as my colleague liked to call them Beijing Bourgeois Bling -- were talking to gallery staff about pieces they liked, and no doubt prices too.

Bluebird Planter featuring real flowers by Jeff Koons

Another colleague reminded me that many of these pieces sold were prearranged earlier. So much for impulse buying. The fair is really about the business of art, though we did see a few pieces that were interesting.

This year the biggest name is Jeff Koons, and he was showing some pieces, including a massive bird made of stainless steel decorated with real flowers called Bluebird Planter. There were a few large works called Encounters pieces that are meant to be more accessible and usually catch people's attention.

Shinji Ohmaki's Liminal Air Space-Time is like watching fish swim in a tank -- a light white fabric billows gracefully up and down, kind of like a massive jellyfish bobbing in mid-air.

Performance art of cleaning giant bowls and plates

Another Encounters work is Start. Stop by Subodh Gupta, featuring tiffin boxes and pots riding on sushi belts in concentric circles. The artist recalls the fate of the "dabbwallas", the men who would courier these tiffins filled with home-cooked lunches in a rapidly changing urban environment.

Dining is also the theme of Chou Yu-cheng's Encounters piece Refresh, Sacrifice, New Hygiene, Infection, Clean, Robot, Air, Housekeeping, www.agentbong.com, Cigarette, Dyson, Modern People.

On the platform are giant plastic white bowls, plates and chopsticks and a woman in navy blue overalls wipes them like performance art. In front is a Dyson robot vacuum cleaner that wanders on its own on the stage.

Look up close and they are patriotic Hong Kong pins

On the silly side of things is an Aeron chair spinning inside a plexiglass box, slow then fast, then slow again. It's by American Glenn Kaino, called The Siege Perilous. Uh ok....

Another sculpture looked like an inukshuk, a sculpture of rocks put together by the Inuit that is meant to point the direction to something. But this one here at Art Basel was armless.

At one gallery, there was a pile of gold and red metal things on the floor. I examined it closely to find it was a red flag, and one would immediately think it was from China, but in fact it had a bauhina on the top left corner and below the Chinese characters for "Hongkonger", though the characters were not written nicely...

Looks similar to an inukshuk, right?

In any event, another ho-hum Art Basel for us plebeians. There must be so much to these art works that we just can't understand...

Cries for Sympathy Leave Bad Taste

This year there weren't fireworks to mark the start of the Year of the Dog

The Year of the Dog wasn't as boisterous this time with the cancellation of the fireworks on the second day of the new year.

It was the seventh day after 19 people died and 66 injured in a horrific bus crash in Tai Po and in Chinese tradition it is believed on that day the souls of the dead visit their loved ones for one last time.

Many restaurants like this one capitalize on the fireworks

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor made the right decision out of respect for the victims and their families, but that decision wasn't easy to make -- as expected local businesses were financially hit by the fireworks cancellation.

"On the surface, it seems like it would not be a big deal to cancel [the fireworks], but there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes that travel agencies have to take care of... there are bound to be losses," tourism sector legislator Yiu Si-wing said on a radio show on Saturday.

Yiu added restaurants with a view of Victoria Harbour, where the fireworks are usually held, would be affected the most. "According to my understanding, one-third of the customers had backed out of their reservations," he said.

During the same radio program, Travel Industry Council chairman Jason Wong Chun-tat suggested the government should give priority to the affected industries if the government was going to organise any activities in the future.

Jason Wong hopes travel and restaurants get help in the future

Yes fireworks are a big deal in the city -- hundreds of thousands of people turn up on both sides of Victoria Harbour to get a good spot to watch them. Some make reservations at restaurants with a view, prepared to pay a bomb for their vantage point.

However with the cancellation of the pyrotechnic show, restaurants probably lost out the most, having ordered a lot of fresh (and expensive) ingredients beforehand and with many customers cancelling -- perhaps a bit to easily -- they took a big hit.

But these businesses were capitalizing on an event they didn't have to pay for in the first place. They would still have business (probably not at prices as jacked up) anyway because of the view.

Yiu says there are losses in the restaurant industry

More importantly, can we have some respect for the dead? For these legislators to hint there should be sympathy for the tourism and restaurant sectors is too much. Lives were lost -- can you put a price on that?

This also demonstrates how tough things are in the restaurant and tourism sectors to make a buck -- with rents sky high, customers are really paying the rent than enjoying good food and service at a decent price.

Many establishments are just trying to keep their heads above water these days as 2018 is going to be another challenging financial year.

The legislators were also probably hoping they could get the sympathy of Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po ahead of the upcoming budget speech at the end of the month. But he seems pretty tight lipped -- about everything.

Blaming Occupy for Closing Shop

Carnegie's in Wan Chai is closing down after 25 years in business

It's been a tough year for restaurants and bars in Hong Kong.

A number of them have closed down, citing rising rents, or the clientele they used to target (ie bankers) are fast becoming extinct.

Reading some of the news articles, the owners of some of these establishments cite the Occupy protests in 2014 severely impacted their businesses, and after the 79-day protest, their customer base never recovered again.

W's Entrecote didn't see customers come back after Occupy

It's really interesting to hear them say that -- it's several of them, not just one or two, and it makes you wonder why that is or how could that even be possible, that it is a lame excuse.

But perhaps the hassle of going to these areas forced patrons to head elsewhere and they found other bars and restaurants to patronize that they felt had better atmosphere, or better value for money, or better food on offer and didn't bother to come back.

So maybe Occupy influenced consumers' habits in where they went to eat and drink,  and also it's capitalism -- if people aren't interested in your products and/or services, they will go elsewhere, leaving you in the dust.

This bar cites road closures during Occupy impacted business

It's even more acute in Hong Kong where overhead costs are so high and profits are razor thin. If you don't have a solid game plan in place that is executed well, nothing can save you.

Some of the places that have recently closed are past their prime, or becoming too old school for millennials who are looking for something more exciting or interesting.

As the saying goes, the only constant is change.

China: World's Highest Risk for Fraud

It's not easy doing business in China -- just ask local executives in the Middle Kingdom.

Commercial investigative firm Kroll has found some interesting numbers.

73 percent of China-based executives are affected by fraud, up 6 percent from last year. China is the most vulnerable in nine out of 11 types of fraud types, making these executives the most afraid of risks of fraud than anywhere else in the world. The annual survey interviewed 768 senior executives worldwide.

Other numbers:

87 percent of Chinese executives say they are vulnerable to theft of physical assets or shares, much higher than the global average of 62 percent.

81 percent of Chinese executives worry about theft of their corporate information, compared to the global average of 51 percent.

81 percent of Chinese executives worry their companies will face the risk of corruption and bribery, compared to the global average of 40 percent.

Other risks:

74 percent worry about cheating by suppliers;

71 percent about having intellectual property stolen;

69 percent about internal fraud;

69 percent misappropriation of company funds;

65 percent conflict of interest;

65 percent regulatory compliance;

64 percent market collusion;

63 percent money laundering.

The global average for the above numbers is between 26-49 percent.

It is also interesting to add that Kroll found 35 percent of Chinese executives surveyed had invested in staff due diligence, considering 72 percent of fraud causes are because of insiders.

And only 53 percent of Chinese executives hired companies to do due diligence on their partners or vendors even though 74 percent of them felt vulnerable to fraud by vendors and suppliers.

What does this say about China?

There isn't much of a culture of corporate governance, and how it is important to have internal controls.

Wonder how Chinese executives manage to sleep, if at all...

Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Still out of Touch

John Tsang and Gregory So (right) attending the Wine and Dine Festival

Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah is at it again.

On his latest government blog post, he wrote in Chinese despairing that entrepreneurs in Hong Kong were hamstrung from making profits because they had to pay more money for low-skilled labour.

He wrote that workers like dishwashers were making HK$12,000 ($1,548) a month, but that put pressure on small and medium-sized businesses.

Tsang came up with this latest notion after visiting the Wine and Dine Festival which closes tonight at the Central harbourfront.

While he observed the city's low unemployment rate at 3.3 percent this quarter, and for all of last year at 3.4 percent indicated stable employment, but he expressed concern for small and medium-sized businesses in the dining, retail and recycling sectors.

"Hiring staff was their greatest difficulty," Tsang wrote. "A restaurant owner said he couldn't find anyone to do a dishwashing job in the city centre even if he offered HK$12,000 a month.

"The market has a huge demand for such low-skilled labour, causing a continuous rise in salaries for these jobs, and increasing the burden on entrepreneurs."

He warned that businesses could not survive the rising labour costs and the adverse economic situation could collapse, which would lead to an increase in unemployment and less spending power.

Uh, excuse me -- how about telling greedy landlords that they are charging so much rent that they are the ones who are killing these businesses?

It's not the labour costs -- this is the market rate for dishwashers because no one wants to do this job. It's hard work, having to stand in a hot room, cleaning dishes non stop. Oh maybe Tsang has never had to do the dishes in his life and doesn't understand how laborious it is.

Can he blame people for wanting to find less back-breaking work for almost the same salary?

Perhaps Tsang should wash dishes for that restaurant owner for a day to see what it's like, and maybe he'll appreciate why dishwashers have to be paid at least HK$12,000 a month.

Does he not understand that as Hong Kong becomes more of a service industry, particularly in hospitality, that we will need low-skilled workers in restaurants, hotels and retail outlets who can serve guests, prepare food, open doors, and clean up after them?

He is only hearing one side of the story, and not bothering to hear what workers in retail, hospitality and recycling have to say about the long hours they have to work and at times how tedious their job nature can be for little pay.

Can someone explain to me again why Tsang is our financial secretary?

Worry about the Next Generation

Who's going to take over Dalian Wanda if Wang Jianlin's son won't?

Economists must find it interesting to watch how businesses develop in China, as private companies only began running again three decades ago.

As we have seen, some family-owned businesses have flourished spectacularly, the best example of which is Dalian Wanda run by Wang Jianlin, who recently purchased World Triathlon Corporation, which runs Ironman Triathlon Races for $650 million.

However, Wang's son, Sicong, has already said he does not want to take over the cinema and property conglomerate.

Wang Sicong's dog has two Apple watches. Does yours?

Maybe he's too busy playing with his dog, whom he recently purchased two Apple watches for each front paw.

However Wang Sicong is not alone in refusing to join the family firm. A study has found that only one in five of the mainland's second generation is keen to take over, which may spell trouble in the next decade.

The majority of second generation rich or fuerdai (富二代) would like to start their own business, while the rest would rather take traditional career paths.

The research was conducted by Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, and led by its associate dean, Professor Jin Li. The school is also launching a program in conjunction with the University of Oxford and Harvard Business School, aimed at executives of family businesses in China.

"Chinese family businesses are at a historic turning point," says Eric Thun, an associate professor in Chinese business studies at Oxford. "At the same time as confronting the challenges in the domestic market that are common to all Chinese firms, many are making leadership transitions from the first to second generation."

The study covered two years, based on interviews with more than 500 family-owned Chinese firms. Only 20.5 percent of those surveyed expressed an interest in following in their parents' footsteps, while nearly 70 percent wanted to start their own business; the rest wanted a traditional job like a doctor or lawyer.

Wang Sicong has set up his own gaming company

This latest finding spells trouble for China's economy because family-run businesses play a major role, with more than 85 percent of the country's private companies are family-owned. By July last year 747 of these firms were listed on the mainland stock exchange.

It's also an interesting contrast to family-run businesses in Europe and North America that have gone through several generations; but if not many second generation kids in China don't want to take over the family business, what's going to happen?

As expected, the profiles of the fuerdai reveal more than half of them have studied abroad, two-thirds of which majored in business management -- knowledge that would serve them well in guiding the family firm forward.

However, the study found many appeared to lack self confidence in dealing with businessmen from their parents' generation as well as senior staff within their family firm's management.

Another important issue is the kids feel too much pressure in living up to their parents' legacies, which could threaten business stability, the report said. This is the opposite thinking of the parents, who are focused on the best interests of the family and have high expectations for their child -- only child in most cases.

About two in every five entrepreneurs hoped their children would take over the business, while 55 percent said they would allow professionals to manage the company, but still have the family has main shareholders.

It sounds like there is no real nurturing of children to grow into the family business. In many multi-generational family businesses, young children are always encouraged to help out on the weekends or summer holidays, not just to have an extra pair of hands, but to see how they like the work.

And with many studying business management, but instead wanting to do something else may indicate the parents were trying to plan their children's career path without the kid having much say in what they wanted to study in university.

But the intimidation the fuerdai feel in taking over the business is palpable -- Chinese parents always seem to have very high expectations, sometimes to the point of being unrealistic. Wang Sicong has had a habit of shooting his mouth off, making outrageous comments that must leave his father red in the face with embarrassment.

So in this case maybe it's a good thing Sicong has decided not to take the reins of the family business...