Posts tagged ‘New York’

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23/05/2014

The Secret Weapon Behind China’s Booming Online Retailers? Women – China Real Time Report – WSJ

The secret weapon for many of China’s booming e-commerce companies is women, who shop more, spend more and generate bigger profits. Though the income of Chinese women is generally lower than that of men, they are also more likely to spend on themselves.

As the WSJ’s Wei Gu reports:

A new crop of Chinese e-commerce companies has harnessed the power of female consumers. Shares of Vipshop Holdings Ltd., which specializes in branded apparel at big discounts, have soared 30-fold since the company went public in New York two years ago. Women are 75% of the customer base and provide 90% of the revenue.

The company said it chose apparel because it is more profitable than alternatives such as electronics, which appeal more to male buyers. VIPshop’s gross margin is a healthy 25%.

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The companies are embracing a research-supported stereotype: Devoted shoppers are disproportionately female. A third of Chinese consumers shopped online more than 40 times in 2013, according to iResearch, a Chinese Internet tracking firm, and 59% of those frequent shoppers were women.

“The ones that are succeeding in China’s e-commerce space are the female-dominated ones,” said Shaun Rein, founder of China Market Research. “The optimism level for female is considerably higher, and they drive retail sales.”

A survey of 1,000 Chinese consumers by China Market Research found that 62% of the women between 25 to 45 plan to spend more in the next six months than in the previous six months, compared with only 52% of the men in that age range. Younger women, aged 24 to 35, are the most optimistic of all.

If they found themselves with extra money, Chinese women say they would spend on clothing and health products, while also setting some aside as savings, according to Nielsen. Women in developed markets would spend on a vacation and pay off debt, as well as saving some. As many as 86% of Chinese women believe their daughters will do well financially, versus less than 40% of women in developed countries.

via The Secret Weapon Behind China’s Booming Online Retailers? Women – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

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07/01/2014

The Curious, and Continuing, Appeal of Mark Twain in China – NYTimes.com

There are few authors regarded as quintessentially American as Mark Twain. With his preternatural gift for capturing vernacular expression and his roguish wit, Twain is still widely seen as the founder of the American voice. More than a century after his death, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” Twain’s most celebrated work, remains a mainstay of middle school and high school English classes. Ernest Hemingway famously declared it the book from which “all modern American literature comes.”

For decades, one of Mark Twain's satires of American politics was required reading in Chinese schools.

Twain’s writings have won him literary fame in China as well. Although “Huckleberry Finn,” with more than 90 different translations in Chinese, is a favorite, a large portion of Twain’s popularity in China derives in fact from another, much more obscure work: a short story called “Running for Governor.”

A humorous account of Twain’s fictional candidacy in the 1870 New York gubernatorial election, “Running for Governor” was taught alongside the writings by Mao Zedong and other prominent Chinese thinkers and literary figures in middle schools across China for more than 40 years. In this time, it was read by several generations and millions of Chinese, making Mark Twain one of the best-known foreign writers in China and “Running for Governor” one of his best-known works.

“Just about anyone who has had a middle-school education in China knows Mark Twain and ‘Running for Governor,’ ” Su Wenjing, a comparative literature professor at Fuzhou University, said in a telephone interview. “And everyone remembers the specific cultural moment and social critique represented in the story, this is certain.”

Published in the literary magazine Galaxy just after the New York gubernatorial election in 1870, “Running for Governor” is a satire that takes aim at what Twain saw as the hypocrisy of the American electoral process and the dog-eat-dog nature of party politics. In the brief yet imaginative sketch, Twain finds himself nominated to run for New York governor on an independent ticket, only to be overwhelmed by a slew of false ad hominem attacks from several unnamed accusers.

via The Curious, and Continuing, Appeal of Mark Twain in China – NYTimes.com.

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19/12/2013

Outrage in Parliament, govt. vows strong action – The Hindu

Amidst outrage expressed by members in Parliament, India on Wednesday asserted that it will intervene “effectively and specifically” to ensure the return and restoration of dignity of its Deputy Consul General in New York who has been arrested on charges of visa rules violation.

File photo of Deputy Consul General in New York Devyani Khobragade.

Responding to concerns expressed by members across party lines in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid condemned the U.S. action and said he will not return to the House if he fails in his responsibility to bring back the arrested diplomat Devyani Khobragade.

Spelling out the series of steps initiated to scale down the privileges granted to U.S. diplomats in India, he said there was a “conspiracy” in which Ms. Khobragade was “virtually trapped”.

He said the diplomat is “innocent” and the U.S. action was unwarranted. “It is not illegality that she is accused of, but the illegality she refused to oblige,” he said.

Maintaining that the government was not over-reacting by taking a slew of measures against the U.S., Mr. Khurshid said the treatment meted out to Ms. Khobragade had “not happened out of blue” and there is a “history” behind it.

He asserted that the government is determined and “will intervene effectively and specifically to ensure that dignity of the diplomat is preserved.” Mr. Khurshid made suo motu statements in both the Houses after members expressed outrage with demands that a resolution be passed to condemn the U.S. action.

“It is my responsibility. We will bring back the diplomat (arrested in New York) and restore her dignity. If I fail to do it, I will not return to this House,” he said in Rajya Sabha.

In the Lok Sabha, he said, “First and foremost, our effort is to bring her out of this situation and then we will talk to the US government.”

via Outrage in Parliament, govt. vows strong action – The Hindu.

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09/11/2013

China’s outward investment: The second wave | The Economist

HAS China arrived at its Rockefeller Centre moment? In the late 1980s as Japan’s miracle economy was soaring, the Mitsubishi Estate Company bought the Rockefeller Centre in Manhattan, a landmark complex built by the eponymous oil and banking clan. Alas, Mitsubishi had to sell, at a big loss, after Japan’s asset bubble popped. Now it is Chinese firms that are seeking such trophies in New York.

Fosun International, a Chinese conglomerate, has just agreed to pay $725m for 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, a skyscraper near Wall Street, commissioned by David Rockefeller and completed in 1961. This follows a recent investment by Greenland, a Chinese state-owned firm, in Atlantic Yards, a big development in Brooklyn. Earlier this year a consortium involving Zhang Xin, a founder of Soho China, a private property giant, bought a stake in the General Motors Building in Manhattan.

It does not necessarily follow that this assault on New York will also end in tears. Whereas Mitsubishi overpaid, the Chinese investors seem to be negotiating reasonable deals. Michael Cohen of Colliers International, a property-services firm, says that although Fosun must modernise the ageing Chase tower, “The price per square foot appears to be a bargain.”

A shift is under way in China’s overseas direct investment (ODI), which is growing fast but is still dwarfed by foreign investment into China (see chart). The first wave largely involved state-owned firms, and was directed at acquiring energy, minerals and land in poor countries. Resource insecurity lingers—witness the 20% stake taken this week by Chinese state firms in Libra, a giant Brazilian offshore oilfield—but it is no longer the driving force. New motives propel the second wave.

China’s government is keen to boost the miserable yields it gets on its overseas investments, argues Thilo Hanemann of Rhodium Group, a consultant. So it is now encouraging state firms to invest in property in prime locations, and in infrastructure and other assets in mature markets. In Britain, they have invested in Thames Water and Heathrow airport. This week the British government said a consortium involving Chinese state firms could build a nuclear-power station in the west of England.

Private firms seeking brands and technology are also playing a big role in this second wave. Geely, a Chinese carmaker, bought Volvo of Sweden. Dongfeng, another Chinese firm, is said to be considering buying a stake in Peugeot-Citroën, an ailing French carmaker. On October 22nd Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce giant, said it would open a new division in America to invest exclusively in internet start-ups. And Lenovo, a computer-maker, is preparing a bid for Canada’s BlackBerry.

As a result, the share of Chinese ODI going to rich countries has shot up from just a tenth in 2002 to two-thirds last year. Like Japan before it, China could yet experience a crash. But the shift in investment from free-spending state firms seeking resources to frugal private ones chasing markets and innovation is a positive sign.

via China’s outward investment: The second wave | The Economist.

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30/09/2013

India and Pakistan Agree to Take Steps to Ease Tension – WSJ.com

India and Pakistan have agreed to take steps to reduce tension on the disputed part of their border, in a much-anticipated meeting that senior officials said made advances in the tense relations between these nuclear-armed neighbors.

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Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif met in New York on Sunday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. The talks went better than expected, officials from both sides said.

A series of deadly events in the weeks leading to the discussions had heightened tensions in the countries’ already-fraught relationship.

Washington believes normalizing relations between India and Pakistan would help stabilize the region, as the hostility between the two countries feeds a detrimental competition for influence in Afghanistan. And Islamabad‘s concern over its eastern border with India prevents it from dealing with the al Qaeda-influenced militant groups that menace its northwest.

“There is clearly a desire from both sides to have a much better relationship,” said India’s national security adviser, Shivshankar Menon, briefing reporters after the meeting. “We have actually achieved a new stage; we do have some understanding on how to move forward.”

Earlier Pakistan Extends Olive Branch to India. Mr. Sharif, who came to power in June and has a history of pursuing peace with India, had asked for the meeting.

For his part, Mr. Singh has a record of defying hawks at home to reach out to Pakistan. But how far he can go is limited by elections his party faces in India next year. Any supposed softness on Pakistan will be exploited by his conservative opponents.

via India and Pakistan Agree to Take Steps to Ease Tension – WSJ.com.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/political-factors/indian-tensions/

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01/03/2013

* China’s billionaires on rise

China Daily: “China has had more billionaires created by its stock markets this year than in the United States – 212 compared with 211 – a new survey revealed on Thursday.

China's Rich List – The Inside Story

According to the latest Hurun Global Rich List 2013, there were 1,453 people in the world with personal wealth of $1 billion or more at the end of January.

Another significant sign of more wealth being created in the East came with figures showing Asia was home to the highest number of billionaires, with 608, followed by 440 from North America and 324 from Europe, said Hurun researchers.

Among individual countries, the US and the Greater China area dominated with 408 and 357 respectively, followed by Russia, Germany and India.

Between them, the US and China now have half of all billionaires on the planet.

Moscow, with 76 billionaires, is the billionaire capital of the world, followed by New York, Hong Kong, Beijing and London, according to the report.

Mexican telecom czar Carlos Slim, 73, was ranked as the “Richest Man on the Planet” with a personal fortune of $66 billion, followed by US investor Warren Buffett with $58 billion in wealth.

Founder of fashion brand Zara, Amancio Ortega of Spain, shoots into the top three with $55 billion in wealth.

Real estate, telecommunications, media, technology and retail were the most common sources of wealth, the report added.”

via China’s billionaires on rise |Economy |chinadaily.com.cn.

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13/06/2012

* Gun Ring Involving U.S. Soldier Is Broken Up, Chinese Officials Say

NY Times: “The Chinese authorities said on Tuesday that they had detained 23 suspects here and had broken up an international gun trafficking ring that conspired with a United States soldier to smuggle firearms into China.

The Ministry of Public Security said that more than 100 guns and gun parts, and about 50,000 bullets, had been seized in the case, which is being jointly investigated with the American authorities. The announcement came weeks after United States officials arrested Staff Sgt. Joseph Debose, 29, a soldier with a Special Forces National Guard unit in North Carolina, on charges of illegal firearms trafficking.

According to the United States attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York, customs officers in Shanghai stumbled upon the smuggling ring in August after discovering a Beretta 9-millimeter semi-automatic handgun and other firearms hidden inside a stereo speaker in a U.P.S. package. After contacting U.P.S. in the United States, as well as the Department of Homeland Security, the authorities traced the package to two Chinese nationals in New York, using shipping documents and surveillance video from a U.P.S. facility in Queens. The two men eventually led the authorities to Sergeant Debose, who was acting as a gun dealer in North Carolina, prosecutors said.”

via Gun Ring Involving U.S. Soldier Is Broken Up, Chinese Officials Say – NYTimes.com.

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20/05/2012

* China dissident Chen Guangcheng arrives in the US

BBC News: “Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has arrived in New York to begin a new life in the United States.

The blind human rights lawyer caused a diplomatic crisis when he escaped house arrest to arrive at the US embassy in Beijing last month. Speaking outside New York University, where he has been offered a fellowship, Mr Chen said China had dealt with the situation with “restraint and calm”. But he raised concerns about ongoing reprisals against his family. “Acts of retribution in Shandong have not been abated and my rights to practice law have been curbed – we hope to see a thorough investigation into this,” he said, referring to the province where he was kept under house arrest. The activist thanked US officials and his supporters for their help and said he had come to the United States for “recuperation in body and spirit”.

Chen Guangcheng and his family were taken from a Beijing hospital, where he was being treated for a foot injury, to the capitals airport on Saturday. A crowd of activists, supporters and curious New Yorkers greeted Chen at the university apartment block in Greenwich Village where he and his family will stay. Wearing dark glasses and hobbling on crutches, he may not have looked like a conquering hero, but that is how he was treated. There were cheers and screams of encouragement. Some had brought flowers, while one woman was led away in tears after failing to secure a hug from her idol.

…

Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi described his arrival in the US as “a milestone in the cause for human rights in China“.”

via BBC News – China dissident Chen Guangcheng arrives in the US.

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