China and Japan are each claiming the Diaoyu Islands are theirs.
A joke circulating in Chinese cyberspace gives an ingenious solution:
Diaoyu Islands belongs to which country? Answer: Bring a laptop computer there. If you can open Twitter, they belong to Japan. If you can't open Twitter, they belong to China!
【钓鱼岛属于哪个国家？】答：带台电脑去钓鱼岛，如果能打开twitter就属于日本，打不开就属于中国！
Now why didn't I think of that.
Thursday, 2 February 2012
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
Feeling Swarmed
 |
| The full page ad financed by some angry people |
It says, "Would you like to see Hong Kong spend HK$1,000,000 every 18 minutes on the children of non-Hong Kongers? Hong Kongers have had enough!"
The "anti-locust" ad was financed by internet users who raised more than HK$100,000 in less than a week.
"[Mainlanders] have already crossed our bottom line," said Yung Jhon, who refused to disclose his real name and was the organizer of the fund-raising campaign. "Why are mainland mothers flooding in to take up resources in public hospitals, getting our benefits and social welfare? Why do mainlanders... refuse to follow our rules and order? We can't accept that."
Web users coined the term "locusts" to describe mainlanders who consume resources in the city, from delivering babies here for residency, and splash out on property or luxury brands.
Meanwhile culture critic Jimmy Pang Chiming said the hostility reached a critical point and welcomed the ad. "It not only shows Hong Kong has freedom of speech, but also shows mainland leaders just how serious this cultural clash has become," he said, adding that the dispute reflected resistance towards mainland culture. "Hong Kong people do not want Hong Kong to become mainland China."
Denny Ho Kwok-leung, associate professor at Polytechnic University's Department of Applied Social Science said the ad indicated the tensions between locals and mainlanders would not end soon.
He also warned Hong Kong's government to maintain rule of law and freedom of speech. "It's very important to stick to the principles because if they cannot do that, people will lose their faith in the system, and Hong Kong will collapse in no time," he said.
There is also local resentment of more companies using simplified Chinese to attract mainland customers.
"We hope the authorities can pay attention to this worsening cultural clash," said Yung who claimed to be in his 20s and in the construction sector. "Now we will see if the government really listens to the people's voice."
We're watching to see what happens next.
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Budgeting for the Future
Hong Kong is eerily quiet this evening. Rush hour traffic was heavy, but not too bad and as I got home from the gym, there was hardly anyone on the streets.
Where did everyone go?
Perhaps the city is preparing to brace itself when it hears Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah's budget speech tomorrow afternoon.
In the past months and weeks we have heard of more banks laying off staff, restaurants and supermarkets raising the prices of food, and while rents and property prices are softening, it's only slightly.
Some media are speculating Tsang will hand out as much as HK$40.3 billion ($5.2 billion) in terms of tax rebates, utility subsidies and property rate waivers. He will also announce the sale of at least HK$10 billion in inflation-linked bonds.
Last week Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen admitted at the World Economic Forum at Davos that he has "never been as scared" about the global economic outlook. UBS AG is forecasting Hong Kong will experience a "shallow" recession in the first half of the year.
"Much of the ammunition is likely to be spent on countering economic hardship stemming from slowing growth and the widening income gap," said Kelvin Lau, an economist with Standard Chartered Plc in Hong Kong. "We expect the upcoming budget to be long on one-off concessions and short on new vision."
That was most certainly the case last year when John Tsang originally wanted to put HK$6,000 into every person's MPF or Mandatory Provident Fund for retirement and the huge public uproar forced him to hand out cash to every permanent Hong Kong resident living here and abroad. The mishandling of the incident cost hundreds of millions of dollars in terms of setting up the infrastructure and logistics of distributing the money.
Given Tsang's track record people are probably not expecting him to come up with any brilliant ideas for the long term. So they probably anxiously waiting to see what short-term stop-gaps he will come up with.
In the meantime a group is proposing that those who buy luxury goods should be taxed 3 percent.
This was the conclusion after a survey of 200 Hong Kong-based members of CPA Australia, a global accounting organization.
Loretta Shuen Leung Lai-sheung, chairwoman of the Greater China tax division of CPA Australia, said the proposed tax on luxury goods would not deter mainland shoppers in the city. That's because designer brands are taxed 30 to 50 percent for being imported and 17 percent for value-added tax on the mainland.
"This is a far cry from the levy across the border," Shuen said yesterday. "Another reason they [mainlanders] shop here is because of the authenticity and high quality of goods."
In 2010 the sales of luxury goods reached HK$50 billion; a tax of 3 percent would yield HK$1.5 billion in revenue for the government, she added.
Shuen said it was time the government look for long-term measures to widen the tax base because only one in five people in Hong Kong paid taxes in 2010, mostly coming from the middle class.
However some are concerned about the definition of luxury goods and who should be taxed.
"There are many issues needing to be addressed," said Yvonne Law Shing Mo-han, Deloitte's national chief knowledge officer. "For example, should we tax tourists or local shoppers or both? Should we tax local brands or foreign brands?" Law asked. "A plasma TV is a necessity to many families, but it may cost tens of thousands of dollars. A branded handbag is a necessity to many ladies, but it may be a luxury to others. How should be define luxury goods?"
While Shuen has the right idea, Law has a bizarre concept of what luxury goods are.
Financial gurus who try to help people manage their money boil it down to this -- a want and a need.
We can all probably agree that a high-end television that costs tens of thousands of dollars is not a necessity but a want.
A designer handbag that costs a few thousand dollars is probably a want than a need.
Sounds pretty straight forward to me. And what's wrong with taxing both tourists and locals? If they can afford it, surely they would have no qualms paying 3 percent more.
As the saying goes, if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it.
Where did everyone go?
Perhaps the city is preparing to brace itself when it hears Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah's budget speech tomorrow afternoon.
In the past months and weeks we have heard of more banks laying off staff, restaurants and supermarkets raising the prices of food, and while rents and property prices are softening, it's only slightly.
Some media are speculating Tsang will hand out as much as HK$40.3 billion ($5.2 billion) in terms of tax rebates, utility subsidies and property rate waivers. He will also announce the sale of at least HK$10 billion in inflation-linked bonds.
Last week Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen admitted at the World Economic Forum at Davos that he has "never been as scared" about the global economic outlook. UBS AG is forecasting Hong Kong will experience a "shallow" recession in the first half of the year.
"Much of the ammunition is likely to be spent on countering economic hardship stemming from slowing growth and the widening income gap," said Kelvin Lau, an economist with Standard Chartered Plc in Hong Kong. "We expect the upcoming budget to be long on one-off concessions and short on new vision."
That was most certainly the case last year when John Tsang originally wanted to put HK$6,000 into every person's MPF or Mandatory Provident Fund for retirement and the huge public uproar forced him to hand out cash to every permanent Hong Kong resident living here and abroad. The mishandling of the incident cost hundreds of millions of dollars in terms of setting up the infrastructure and logistics of distributing the money.
Given Tsang's track record people are probably not expecting him to come up with any brilliant ideas for the long term. So they probably anxiously waiting to see what short-term stop-gaps he will come up with.
In the meantime a group is proposing that those who buy luxury goods should be taxed 3 percent.
This was the conclusion after a survey of 200 Hong Kong-based members of CPA Australia, a global accounting organization.
Loretta Shuen Leung Lai-sheung, chairwoman of the Greater China tax division of CPA Australia, said the proposed tax on luxury goods would not deter mainland shoppers in the city. That's because designer brands are taxed 30 to 50 percent for being imported and 17 percent for value-added tax on the mainland.
"This is a far cry from the levy across the border," Shuen said yesterday. "Another reason they [mainlanders] shop here is because of the authenticity and high quality of goods."
In 2010 the sales of luxury goods reached HK$50 billion; a tax of 3 percent would yield HK$1.5 billion in revenue for the government, she added.
Shuen said it was time the government look for long-term measures to widen the tax base because only one in five people in Hong Kong paid taxes in 2010, mostly coming from the middle class.
However some are concerned about the definition of luxury goods and who should be taxed.
"There are many issues needing to be addressed," said Yvonne Law Shing Mo-han, Deloitte's national chief knowledge officer. "For example, should we tax tourists or local shoppers or both? Should we tax local brands or foreign brands?" Law asked. "A plasma TV is a necessity to many families, but it may cost tens of thousands of dollars. A branded handbag is a necessity to many ladies, but it may be a luxury to others. How should be define luxury goods?"
While Shuen has the right idea, Law has a bizarre concept of what luxury goods are.
Financial gurus who try to help people manage their money boil it down to this -- a want and a need.
We can all probably agree that a high-end television that costs tens of thousands of dollars is not a necessity but a want.
A designer handbag that costs a few thousand dollars is probably a want than a need.
Sounds pretty straight forward to me. And what's wrong with taxing both tourists and locals? If they can afford it, surely they would have no qualms paying 3 percent more.
As the saying goes, if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it.
Monday, 30 January 2012
Riding the China Auction Wave
Record prices at auctions in Hong Kong used to turn heads; now the astronomical numbers are pretty much commonplace with mostly mainland Chinese buyers snapping up all kinds of things from wines and artwork to stamps, coins and rare banknotes.
Olivier Stocker, chairman and chief executive of Spink, one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of collectibles, says more than half the buyers in Hong Kong are from the mainland in terms of both transaction values and volumes.
"The thing that distinguishes the Chinese collector is that he or she is more aggressive than other buyers," he says. "When they want something, they don't mind bidding a bit more to get it and once they have decided to buy something, they usually get it. European buyers are usually more conservative about price."
Spink used to have a stamp auction once a year and now plans to increase it to four times a year because of demand.
Last year's Spink auction in Hong Kong raised HK$80 million ($10.31 million) worth of stamps, banknotes, bonds and shares.
There seems to be a growing interest among the mainland Chinese to acquire rare collectibles associated with the history of their homeland -- or is there?
A few media report that many of them use auctions as a way to launder money or give cash bribes to people.
For example, an official may be given a gift of say rare stamps or a painting which is then put up for auction. In some cases, a bidding war is arranged in advance to push up the price. Once it's sold, the official gets the cash.
This results in creating an inflated market or perhaps even an artificial market for items that may not really have as high or any real value.
Auction houses must know this is happening -- and this eagerness of Spink and others to hold more auctions reveals their keen interest in getting in on the market while it's super hot.
But how long will it last? When will the bubble burst?
With China experts taking its fourth quarter GDP results at 8.9 percent with a heavy dose of skepticism as all indications from electricity use to import/export numbers are down, the mainland may be in for a hard landing, but so far seems to be in denial.
We'll have to see how many more record prices we see at auction this year.
Olivier Stocker, chairman and chief executive of Spink, one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of collectibles, says more than half the buyers in Hong Kong are from the mainland in terms of both transaction values and volumes.
"The thing that distinguishes the Chinese collector is that he or she is more aggressive than other buyers," he says. "When they want something, they don't mind bidding a bit more to get it and once they have decided to buy something, they usually get it. European buyers are usually more conservative about price."
Spink used to have a stamp auction once a year and now plans to increase it to four times a year because of demand.
Last year's Spink auction in Hong Kong raised HK$80 million ($10.31 million) worth of stamps, banknotes, bonds and shares.
There seems to be a growing interest among the mainland Chinese to acquire rare collectibles associated with the history of their homeland -- or is there?
A few media report that many of them use auctions as a way to launder money or give cash bribes to people.
For example, an official may be given a gift of say rare stamps or a painting which is then put up for auction. In some cases, a bidding war is arranged in advance to push up the price. Once it's sold, the official gets the cash.
This results in creating an inflated market or perhaps even an artificial market for items that may not really have as high or any real value.
Auction houses must know this is happening -- and this eagerness of Spink and others to hold more auctions reveals their keen interest in getting in on the market while it's super hot.
But how long will it last? When will the bubble burst?
With China experts taking its fourth quarter GDP results at 8.9 percent with a heavy dose of skepticism as all indications from electricity use to import/export numbers are down, the mainland may be in for a hard landing, but so far seems to be in denial.
We'll have to see how many more record prices we see at auction this year.
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