Frenzied Marketing to the Chinese?

The signature quilted look on the handbag is distinctive

We are amused to see how desperate luxury brands are in chasing the mainland Chinese market.

After all, its brand-conscious consumers are the ones propping up the Eurozone economy.

A local business columnist made the observation that some brands that used to be understated chic are now making their logos bigger and shinier.

A friend of mine who has worked and lived in Geneva for many years once told me that you probably would find there are more and bigger Bally stores in Hong Kong than Switzerland, the birthplace of the label famous for its women's handbags and shoes. My friend also reminded me that Asian consumers may also find designs by Bally in Europe too "low-profile" from the perspective of the size of their logos. In Asia, the bigger the logo, the more high-profile and attractive it will be. And it is not only what Chinese consumers prefer, but also Indian people, according to some luxury salespeople.

Chinese dragons embroidered on Ferragamo handbags

He cited the examples of Burberry and Salvatore Ferragamo, both of which emblazon their handbags and shoes with logos to ensure everyone else looking at the wearer will immediately know what they are wearing, and thus give a boost of self-esteem to the wearer who also has a much lighter wallet.

With Chinese New Year fast approaching, some are on shopping sprees to buy brand-name gifts for clients or bosses in the hopes of having favours returned.

As for Burberry, we can spot that signature tartan miles away...

It's a pity that Ferragamo seems to have resorted to these design/marketing tactics when many loyal customers buy their shoes for the reason that the brand is stylishly low key.

The Italian fashion house also has a handbag that is appropriately in fire engine red, with a golden dragon embroidered on the leather, as well as a scarf of the same design.

Originally launched in time for the Year of the Dragon, there is only a limited number of the handbags, but it seems they are still showing them in the boutiques which probably means not all of them are sold yet.

Microfilm poster for Cartier's Chinese romance

And then there is Cartier.

It recently launched its latest engagement ring called Destinee and accompanying it is a video promoting the theme of "True love has a colour and a name".

The French jewellery brand has created three other short movies and this is the fourth.

The story?

Set in Paris, a group of friends celebrate a wedding. The setting is romantic, held outdoors in a garden, floral arrangements abound and rose bushes. Two of the invited guests used to be a couple, but don't know the other is coming and there is an awkward moment.

The guy is a handsome young Englishman, and the girl?

Chinese.

She's played by Taiwanese actress Michelle Chen who recently starred in You Are the Apple of My Life.

Check it out:



We get the feeling the whole story is contrived... why an English guy when every other person is French? And why a Chinese girl who doesn't seem to have any connection with these people?

Perhaps it requires a cynic to suspend belief for seven minutes.

But we're sure the Chinese will lap it up... or will they be annoyed by what they may see as imperialist connotations of a Chinese girl marrying a laowai?

Protest Ends in Draw

A compromise has been reached in the Southern Weekly saga, with the journalists agreeing to go back to work and it is believed the Guangdong propaganda chief Tuo Zhen who started the stand off will eventually step down.

The agreement was reached after the provincial party chief Hu Chunhua stepped in to negotiate between the parties on the condition the staff returned to work and no punishment would be meted out.

A source close to the matter added Hu implied that Tuo would eventually be removed, but he wouldn't leave immediately to save face, a usual political tactic.

Earlier the central authorities wanted to blame the incident of pushing for press freedom on "external forces", ie foreigners or overseas activists connected with blind human rights campaigner Chen Guangcheng.

A Global Times editorial said just that, trying to whip up anti-foreign fury in the hopes of directing anger elsewhere.

In fact, the central propaganda authorities ordered all media across China to reprint the fiery nationalistic editorial, but only a few obeyed.

This resulted in at least one casualty. Dai Zigeng, publisher of The Beijing News resigned after he refused to publish the government-sanctioned editorial.

According to three witnesses, Dai told his Communist Party bosses, "I now verbally submit my resignation to you," he said in the early hours of Wednesday.

It was not immediately known of they officially accepted his resignation or not.

However the editorial was published in today's paper, though buried in the back pages of the front section, and without any staff signatures.

The Beijing News is co-owned by Southern Media Group which also owns Southern Weekly.

So it seems the flare-up over press freedom has died down for now, but surely tensions will still be there between editorial and their censors.

While Tuo will slowly fade from the scene, it doesn't mean the government will not continue to control what its media outlets will say, but may have a harder time making them more complicit in its agenda.

As this incident has ended in a draw, we admire Southern Weekly's staff courage in speaking out and drawing attention to the stifling editorial conditions they work in.

What's also interesting is the government's push in recent years to make state-run media even more financially independent, pushing them to have IPOs and such. By becoming less reliant financially on the government, perhaps these media outlets will become more "free"?

We shall see.

Reformer Rises Again?

People come to watch the unveiling of Hu Yaobang's statue in Dachen island

Something interesting is happening in a coastal city in China.

A statue of former Chinese Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang, whose death sparked the Tiananmen Square democracy protests, has been erected in Dachen island at Taizhou in Zhejiang province, according to an article in the China Youth Daily.

The bronze statue has him looking into the distance, and the fact that it was even set up perhaps signals the government is quietly beginning to rehabilitate him politically.

Hu was known for championing reforms

He had been dismissed as Party General Secretary in 1987 after he allowed students in Beijing to hold protest marches calling for democratic reforms. The rallies erupted again after he died, culminating into the massacre in Tiananamen Square on June 4.

Before then, Hu had played a major role in leading the Communist Party out of the Cultural Revolution by rehabilitating hundreds of purged officials and starting a series of reforms and relative openness.

His son Hu Deping continues to speak out on behalf of his father, saying in November that reining in the party's unchecked power was the only way to modernize China.

According to Hong Kong media, last year Hu held talks with incoming Chinese President Xi Jinping, discussing political reforms and that Xi pledged to make changes.

However, China watchers caution not to be too optimistic.

Joseph Cheng, a political analyst at the Chinese University of Hong Kong said the statue did not equal to full rehabilitation.

Memorial for Hu in Tiananmen Square

"There is a bit of tolerance from the part of the leadership," he said. "This doesn't amount to a change of verdict."

Nevertheless we are intrigued by this latest development. This start could lead to finally lead to giving Hu the recognition he deserves in modern Chinese history.

Protestors 1, Management 0

The row over editorial influence at Southern Weekly has escalated into a strike with protestors gathering in front of its offices today in Guangzhou.

Reuters reported hundreds of people were there, protesting against censorship. One banner read: "We want press freedom, constitutionalism and democracy."

Demonstrations are not welcome in China and it is telling that the police did not do much if anything to break up the gathering. Perhaps the new party chief in Guangdong Hu Chunhua is anxious to show he is open and flexible to protests.

It remains to be seen if new leader Xi Jinping will wade into the controversy, thus revealing who's side he's really on.

The strike was called by editorial staff after management took over the paper's official microblog and said the New Year editorial was written by its staff and not a last-minute change by Guangdong propaganda officials. Management also blamed an editor for a mistake in the article.

Staff fired back by writing on another microblog denying management's account and announced they were striking. The letter was also signed.

"The statement [on the official microblog] does not represent the opinion of the editorial staff. It is a result of pressure applied by the authorities on the... management," the message said. "The editorial staff will fight against the falsified statement... Until the issue is resolved, we will not do any editorial work."

The Southern Weekly journalists also wrote on their own microblogs that Guangdong propaganda chief Tuo Zhen, who they claimed had changed the annual New Year essay, had held meetings with management yesterday.

I last reported the journalists posted an open letter calling for an investigation into the alleged editorial interference, and since then a second petition issued by 27 academics from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan have called for Tuo's resignation.

Having worked in Chinese state media for three years, I have seen first hand how it is controlled by the propaganda department. Instructions are usually issued verbally on the phone to avoid any paper trace. These commands are typically given to the chief editors who then disseminate the orders to their underlings, again orally or in terse text messages. Staff are expected to understand the meaning and not to question the instructions; everyone must do as they are told otherwise it's quite easy to figure out who is out of line.

But Southern Weekly is an anomaly amongst Chinese state media because it is physically far from Beijing and close to Hong Kong that is has a tradition of being more critical of the government and more daring in exposing issues like corruption and breakdowns in rule of law. As a result, readers have come to value the publication and hold it up as China's closest thing to press freedom.

And so when Tuo began meddling in the paper's content and style, the staff were upset and so were the readers.

Already the paper has gained celebrity support. "Hope for a spring in this harsh winter" is what actress Li Bingbing wrote on her microblog that has 19 million followers, while another actress, Yao Chen quoted Russian Nobel laureate and dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn: "One word of truth outweighs the whole world."

How will this controversy continue or end?

It's quite unprecedented that a demonstration was allowed to take place; now we shall see how management, and more specifically the top echelons of power respond.

How they react will determine China's direction, whether it becomes more open or closed, and it will also affect how the people react.

The ball is now in their court.