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☆ Your Neighbors Are Retiring in Their 30s. Why Can’t You?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Amy X. Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Even before he really knew what it meant, Allen Wong wanted to be rich. What “rich” seemed to dangle was something simpler, more elementary, more a feeling than anything else: freedom from pain. “I didn’t want to be absent from my family and only show up a few hours each day after work. Wong’s father was ousted from his business, sank into a depression and committed suicide; his mother tripped down a spiral of mental illness. Suddenly, Wong’s entry-level computer programming job was the household’s only source of income, and there was a world financial crisis going on.

Persons: Allen Wong, Wong, “, ”, Wong’s, doggedly Organizations: Lamborghini Locations: Guangzhou, Hong Kong, New York City, Chinatown

☆ HSBC CEO announces surprise retirement
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Hong Kong — HSBC has announced its chief executive Noel Quinn will retire — a surprise departure by its hard-nosed leader of five years who has overseen a sweeping series of asset sales across the globe. “We do hope that the next CEO would lay out more plans, execution-wise, to further increase the bank’s businesses in Asian countries,” he added. “I’ve held intensive leadership roles since I took on a commercial bank role in October 2008, so I’m personally ready for a change,” Quinn told reporters on a call. HSBC also faced criticism in recent years from Western lawmakers over its dealings with China amid growing geopolitical tensions. The London-headquartered bank also announced $3 billion worth of share buybacks on top of $2 billion in share purchases announced in February.

Persons: Noel Quinn, —, Georges Elhedery, Quinn, ”, Simon Yuen, “ I’ve, I’m, ” Quinn, “ It’s, Mark Tucker, “, ” Tucker, China’s Organizations: HSBC, HSBC’s, Management, China’s Ping An Insurance Locations: Hong Kong, Asia, United States, France, Argentina, Canada, Europe, China, The London

☆ Google says crypto fraudsters are making it look bad
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google is suing two crypto scammers it says threatened the integrity of its platforms. Scammers tricked Google Play into hosting 87 fake crypto apps, conning over 100,000 users, Google says. The lawsuit alleges the fraudsters tricked Google into accepting their apps on its app store, Google Play, by misrepresenting their identity, location, and intent. Advertisement"By using Google Play to conduct their Fraud Scheme, Defendants have threatened the integrity of Google Play and the user experience," the lawsuit states. "Defendant's scheme has thus impaired Google users' confidence and trust in Google, its services, and its platforms."

Persons: Scammers, —, Halimah DeLaine Prado Organizations: Google, Service Locations: New York, Shenzhen, China, Hong Kong

☆ Spending in Shenzhen: Chinese used to escape to this former British colony. Now Hongkongers are heading in the opposite direction
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-24 | by ( Chris Lau | Veronica Lin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Hong Kong CNN —With Hong Kong’s sky-high cost of living, residents like Andy Tsui have been looking for alternative ways to have more fun and spend less. Rather than spending his cash in his hometown of Hong Kong, he’s been crossing the border into mainland China to splurge instead. Such trips are noteworthy because, for much of Hong Kong’s modern history, the traffic has been largely — conspicuously, even — in the other direction. Hong Kong used to be the place where Chinese would escape to, not from. In 2023, just 26 million mainlanders — about half of the 2018 crowd — visited Hong Kong.

Persons: Andy Tsui, he’s, boba, ” Tsui, Justin Robertson, Noemi Cassanelli, CNN Hong Kong’s, Hong Kong —, misbehaving, —, ”, Steve Tsang, Hong, Shenzhen’s, Hongkongers, Gilles Sabrie, Hongkonger Eddy Lam, Lam, Cherrie Leung, Qilai Shen, Hugo Sin, “, Gary Ng, John Lee, Tsang Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, CNN, Shoppers, Yuen, Britain, Newspapers, Hong, Hong Kong Immigration Department, China Institute, SOAS University, Huawei, Tencent, Bloomberg, Getty, Sam’s Club, Costco, Sam’s, Walmart, Hong Kong, Shenzhen hasn’t, Xinhua, RTHK, SOAS University of London Locations: Hong Kong, China, splurge, Peking, Shenzhen, East, Hong, People’s Republic of China, British, Beijing, London, Bay Area, San Francisco , New York, Tokyo, Kowloon, Coco, Shanghai, “, Inner Mongolia, Taiwan, Japan, Mainland China, Hong Kong’s, Britain, Canada, Australia, Bay, ”

☆ Life in the US got boring, so I moved to China. I'm lonely and single, but I plan to stay.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Danielle Marcano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The woman who interviewed me for the teaching job in China was based in Boston. Our training center decided to start teaching students from home. Despite my accomplishments in China, I'm still asked by some family members why I'm not married. I'm not opposed to dating Chinese men, but I often worry about the language barrier and cultural differences. It's a similar mindset I had when I found the opportunity to work in China in the first place.

Persons: Danielle Marcano, —, they'd, I'd, Danielle Marcano Yantai, I've, haven't, Hong Kong —, I'm, they'll Organizations: Service, SEPTA, America, Lakers Locations: Philadelphia, China, Downtown Philly, South Philly, LA, Boston, South Korea, Yantai, Yangma, Beijing, Los Angeles, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Hong, Shenzhen —

☆ Louis Vuitton stages dramatic runway show in Hong Kong
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Stephy Chung | Oscar Holland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Many of the looks were completed with naval accessories, like raffia bucket hats and Louis Vuitton Keepall 25 bag hand-embrodiered with seashells. Musician Ma Siwei and actor Dylan Wang at the Louis Vuitton Men's fashion show in Hong Kong, China. Louis Vuitton opened its first boutique in Hong Kong in 1979. Many of the looks were completed with naval accessories, like raffia bucket hats and Louis Vuitton Keepall 25 bag hand-embrodiered with seashells. “I definitely knew I wanted Hong Kong to be my second stop after Paris,” he said of his Louis Vuitton show schedule.

Persons: Hong Kong CNN — Louis Vuitton’s, Pharrell Williams, Pont, Hong, Anson Lo, Song, ”, Williams, ” —, —, Louis Vuitton, Ma Siwei, Dylan Wang, Billy H.C, Kwok, Virgil Abloh, Louise Delmotte, “, Louis Vuitton’s, junkboat, Dior, Louis Vuitton's, Lam Yik, Tyrone Siu, Reuters Louis Vuitton’s, Lorraine Schwartz, it’s, ” Williams, “ You’re Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Hollywood, CNN, Louis, Paris, Vuitton, National Security Law, Hong Kong Tourism Board, ”, Bloomberg, Getty, K11 Group, Stars, Victoria, Reuters, Reuters Louis Vuitton’s womenswear Locations: Hong Kong, Asia, Hong, Victoria Harbour, American, Paris, Hawaii, China, Victoria Dockside, Huangpu, Shanghai, South Korea

☆ Yellow-crested cockatoos find an unlikely urban refuge in Hong Kong
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Rebecca Cairns | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

Hong Kong CNN —It’s dusk in Hong Kong Park. On a sweltering summer day in Hong Kong Park, nestled between skyscrapers in the urban center of the Asian metropolis, a yellow-crested cockatoo perches on a branch. Noemi Cassanelli/CNN Yellow-crested cockatoos nest in old trees, typically more than 100 years old, which form cavities in the trunk. Hong Kong, despite its urban sprawl and concrete veneer, is a stronghold for several endangered species, including Chinese pangolins, Hong Kong groupers, and the black-faced spoonbill. (According to the AFCD, it has “not received any report related to poaching of yellow-crested cockatoos in the past three years.”)Extremely picky about where they roost, the yellow-crested cockatoos use cavities that form in the trunks of trees that are typically older than 100 years.

Persons: Hong Kong CNN —, –, Astrid Andersson, it’s, ”, Andersson, Quadrupling, Noemi Cassanelli, Cassanelli, CNN Andersson, CNN There's, they’ve, “, Tom Booth, Fox, It’s, ’, Fiona Woodhouse, Woodhouse, Hong Kong’s, Jovy Chan, Chan, “ They’ve Organizations: CNN, Hong Kong CNN, Press, University of Hong, Timor Leste, International Trade, Fisheries, Conservation Department, CITES, Scottish wildcats, ADM Capital Foundation, Society for, Bird, Cultural Services Department, Facebook, Hong, SPCA HK, WWF Locations: Hong Kong, Swedish, Indonesia, Timor, Australia, University of Hong Kong, Hong, ”, Mainland China, HKD28,000, Indonesian

☆ Florentijn Hofman’s ‘Rubber Duck’ returns to Hong Kong — and now there are two
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Oscar Holland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A decade since it famously appeared in Victoria Harbour, Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s “Rubber Duck” sculpture has returned to Hong Kong. “Double duck is double luck,” Hofman said in a statement. One of artist Florentijn Hofman's "Rubber Duck" sculptures famously appeared in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour in 2013. In the years since first arriving in Hong Kong, “Rubber Duck” has appeared in the waters of cities such as Seoul and Los Angeles. Ahead of the installation, images of the pair have been pasted on the side of the city’s trams and at subway stations around Hong Kong.

Persons: Florentijn, peng ”, ” Hofman, . Cheng, Jiang Zemin Organizations: CNN, Ducks, Victoria Harbour, South China Morning, Social Locations: Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong, Tsing, France, Osaka, Sydney, Sao Paolo, Hong, Victoria, South, Weibo, Seoul, Los Angeles, Keelung, Santiago , Chile

☆ Metals-rich Indonesia’s IPO market is so red-hot it’s thrashing Hong Kong and India
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

It has overtaken Hong Kong — long one of the top IPO markets — for the first time since 1995, and is outpacing economic powerhouses India, South Korea and Japan. Global IPO slowdownPart of Indonesia’s IPO success this year can be explained by lackluster performances elsewhere. The US IPO market, usually the world’s largest, has suffered given its reliance on particularly rate-sensitive tech companies, Lee said. Mining company Harita Nickel raised $660 million in its market debut last month, Indonesia’s biggest listing so far this year. “Our increasing conviction in [Indonesian companies] comes from how its government maximizes the potential of its bountiful raw materials,” he wrote.

☆ HSBC spinoff: Bank's top execs face tense shareholders in Hong Kong calling for a breakup
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Quinn addressed those complaints head-on Monday, saying “our profits in Hong Kong and the UK are no longer being dragged down by underperformance elsewhere. Mark Tucker, chairman of HSBC, left, and Peter Wong, chairman of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, departing following the bank's shareholders meeting in Hong Kong on Monday. They argue that if the lender cordoned off its activities in Asia, it would no longer have to expose Hong Kong shareholders to requests in other jurisdictions. Christine Fong, a district council member in Hong Kong, said she represented about 500 small shareholders who had been affected by the dividend cancellation. An HSBC bank branch in Hong Kong last July.

☆ Asia's 'best restaurants' list is out — and it's no surprise which country made the list 17 times
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

William Drew, director of content for Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, said Japan's strong performance is "no surprise." The top 50 restaurants in AsiaThis year commemorates the 10th anniversary of the "Asia's 50 Best Restaurants" list. Asia's top 50 restaurantsThe list of "Asia's 50 Best Restaurants" for 2023 are: 1. Ten restaurants that ranked among Asia's best 50 restaurants last year fell into the 51-100 ranking this year. Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2023Labyrinth also rose 29 spots to No.11, winning the "Highest Climber" award.

☆ This 26-year-old from Hong Kong is transforming a ‘dinosaur industry’ — one luxury watch at a time
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

As a young, avid collector of luxury watches, Austen Chu said he was scammed "many times" when he bought timepieces from the secondary watch market. Not only did his obsession with watches help him overcome those bad purchases, the experiences also propelled him to start his own consignment-based platform for luxury watches, Wristcheck. The luxury watch market is what calls a "dinosaur industry" that can be "intimidating" for the younger generation to get into, Chu said. WristcheckBy starting Wristcheck, Chu hoped to provide more transparency and accessibility to his peers. After all, Gen Z is projected to make up a third of the luxury market by 2030, due to a surge in wealth creation and the influence of social media.

☆ Xi promotes China as peacemaker on first trip to Russia since Ukraine invasion
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Jennifer Jett | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

In this grab taken from video, China's President Xi Jinping, left, speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Moscow, Russia, Monday, March 20, 2023. Russia, China and the U.S. are not members of the court. "I am pleased to once again set foot on the soil of our friendly neighbor Russia," Xi said in a statement after arriving in Moscow on Monday for the three-day state visit. Xi said his Russia trip was intended to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries in a world faced with "damaging acts of hegemony, domination and bullying." The Chinese Foreign Ministry has not confirmed reports that Xi may hold a virtual meeting with Zelenskyy after his trip to Moscow.

China’s official count 0 2.5 million 83,150 deaths Model based on Shanghai outbreak 1.6 million deaths LOW ESTIMATE HIGH ESTIMATE Estimate using travel patterns 970,000 deaths Estimate using recent testing data 1.5 million deaths Estimate based on U.S. death rates 1.1 million deaths China’s official count 0 2.5 million 83,150 deaths Model based on Shanghai outbreak 1.6 million deaths LOW EST. But China’s official Covid death toll for the entire pandemic remains strikingly low: 83,150 people as of Feb. 9. Four separate academic teams have converged on broadly similar estimates: China’s Covid wave may have killed between a million and 1.5 million people. Why official data underrepresents China’s outbreak83,150 deaths China’s official count on Feb. 9 0 2.5M 83,150 deaths China’s official count on Feb. 9 0 2.5 millionChina has a narrow definition of what counts as a Covid-19 death. But the work was unwavering in its ultimate conclusion: Ending the “zero Covid” policy was likely to overwhelm the health care system, producing an estimated 1.6 million deaths.

☆ A license plate that only has the letter 'R' on it just sold for $3.2 million in Hong Kong — and it's not even a record in the city
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Felise Seah | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Hong Kong license plate that only has the letter 'R' was sold for $3.2 million on Sunday. But over in Hong Kong, a license plate that only has the letter "R" was sold for about 25.5 million Hong Kong dollars, or $3.2 million, at a Lunar New Year auction organized by the Hong Kong Transport Department on Sunday, according to an announcement by the agency. The news outlet further reported that the license plate "R" was expected to net at least HK$10 million, citing registration plate dealers who spoke to the media before the auction. The quest for a novelty car plate is not just limited to Hong Kong. A rare California license plate with the letters "MM" was sold at $24.3 million in 2021, taking the top spot for the most expensive license plate sold in the world, according to Luxe Digital.

☆ China says Covid deaths and severe cases have fallen over 70% since peak
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

China abruptly ended its strict zero-Covid policy in early December after three years and infections surged across the world’s most populous country. The CDC said the number of critically ill patients in China peaked on Jan. 4 at 128,000 cases and fell to 36,000 cases by Jan. 23. The number of deaths in hospitals, meanwhile, reached a daily peak of 4,273 on Jan. 4 and fell to 896 by Jan. 23. Visits to fever clinics fell 96.2%, from a peak of 2.867 million on Dec. 22 to 110,000 on Jan. 23. On Jan. 12, authorities announced that nearly 60,000 people with Covid had died in hospitals since China dismantled its strict zero-Covid policy.

HONG KONG — Marvel films are set to be released on screens in mainland China for the first time in more than three years, the endgame for an apparent ban in the world’s second-largest movie market. The China Film Administration, a division of the ruling Communist Party’s propaganda department that approves all foreign film releases, gave no official explanation for the blocking of those films. Marvel’s brief announcement did not mention the earlier films or say why “Black Panther” and “Ant-Man” were being released. Marvel fans in China welcomed news of the two new releases. Others lamented the films that had not made it to Chinese theaters.

China’s 9.56 million births are a decrease of almost 10% from 2021, when about 10.6 million babies were born. The figures announced Tuesday are the start of what is expected to be a long decline in China’s population, which the U.N. says could reach 800 million by the end of the century. Although many countries around the world are experiencing population decline, this is the first time China’s population has contracted since 1961, after a three-year famine spurred by then-leader Mao Zedong’s industrialization drive, which is estimated to have killed tens of millions of people. While the one-child policy was effective in curbing population growth, critics say it resulted in rights abuses and a disproportionate number of men compared with women, especially in the countryside. If Chinese officials really want to encourage children, they should “give money to those who have more babies,” she said.

HONG KONG — Satellite images taken over multiple cities in China show heightened activity outside crematoriums and funeral homes, appearing to contradict the country’s low official Covid-19 death figures and illustrating the severity of the outbreak in the world’s most populous nation. Other images from cities around the country show a greater number of cars parked outside funeral homes compared with similar periods in past years. The satellite images are consistent with firsthand NBC News reporting in Beijing, where officials say the outbreak has already peaked. Construction equipment was visible at the Tongzhou funeral home during a visit on Dec. 22, while workers in white hazmat suits could be seen unloading caskets from a steady stream of vans at the Dongjiao funeral home during multiple visits that week. With some funeral homes no longer allowing memorial services, reporters have witnessed families instead holding them at hospitals, where empty caskets are being stored outside in alleys.

HONG KONG — On the first day of unimpeded travel between mainland China and Hong Kong, Olivia Gai was one of the first in line. On Tuesday, the Chinese embassies in South Korea and Japan said they would stop issuing short-term visas for travelers to China. The South Korean Foreign Ministry says its restrictions on travelers from China are based on science. According to some estimates, China’s Covid death toll could reach 1 million or more in the coming months. Nonetheless, more countries have begun requiring negative Covid tests for travelers from China, and at least one country, Morocco, has banned arrivals entirely.

☆ Alibaba shares hit 6-month high after Jack Ma cedes control of Ant Group, amid a broad rally in Asian shares
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The gains also come on the back of a broader market rally in Asian shares, thanks to China's reopening. A top Chinese central banker suggested over the weekend Beijing's tech crackdown is coming to a close. The Hang Seng Tech Index — an index that tracks the 30 largest tech companies listed in Hong Kong — closed 3.2% higher. Shares of Hong Kong-listed Chinese tech giants Tencent and NetEase closed 3.6% and 2.6% higher respectively. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed 1.9% higher, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.6%, and the Shenzhen Composite Index rose 0.7%.

☆ Hong Kong to resume hamster imports a year after mass cull over Covid
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Marie Brockling | Dorothy Kam | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

HONG KONG — Hong Kong is lifting a ban on the importing of hamsters for sale, a year after it ordered more than 2,000 hamsters and other small mammals to be culled in an effort to prevent pets from spreading Covid-19 to people. The Hong Kong government ordered the culling last January after a small virus outbreak was traced to a pet shop called Little Boss that had imported hamsters from the Netherlands. Hong Kong residents who had recently purchased hamsters were advised to surrender their pets, shops selling hamsters were temporarily shut down and an import ban was enacted. But at the time of the Hong Kong government’s decision last year, the Chinese territory was following a strict “zero-Covid” approach in line with mainland China, leading officials to act aggressively. In recent weeks both Hong Kong and mainland China have relaxed anti-Covid restrictions that minimized cases and deaths but also caused widespread public frustration.

Although international travel may not return immediately to pre-pandemic levels, companies, industries and countries that rely on Chinese tourists will get a boost in 2023, according to analysts. Elsewhere in the world, Cambodia, Mauritius, Malaysia, Taiwan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Philippines are also likely to benefit from the return of Chinese tourists, according to research by Capital Economics. Saxon said he expected China’s outbound international travel to fully recover by the year end. “Generally, individuals are pragmatic and countries will welcome Chinese tourists due to their spending power,” he said, adding that countries may remove restrictions quickly when the Covid situation improves in China. “It will take time for international tourism to get going, but it will come rushing back, when it happens.”

The incident reflects what the U.S. calls a concerning trend of unsafe intercept practices by the Chinese military. The U.S. Air Force RC-135 aircraft was in international airspace on Dec. 21 when it was intercepted by a J-11 fighter jet from the Chinese navy, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement. The Chinese jet positioned itself about 10 feet from the RC-135’s wing and then drifted within 20 feet of its nose as the American plane maintained its course and speed, leading it to take evasive maneuvers. China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, where it has territorial disputes with Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and others. Austin also raised the issue at a meeting in November with Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe.

☆ As ‘zero-Covid’ nears end, Chinese remember whistleblower doctor
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Dorothy Kam | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Weeks later, as the coronavirus shut down cities in China and began spreading around the world, Li died from the disease after contracting it at work. This week, Chinese officials announced they were abandoning key pillars of President Xi Jinping’s “zero-Covid” strategy, including broad lockdowns, mass testing and quarantine in centralized government facilities. Many social media users rushed to tell Li, flooding his profile on Weibo, a Twitter-like platform, with expressions of gratitude, celebration and grief. The latest easing of restrictions comes after mass protests across China against the “zero-Covid” controls, with some demonstrators calling for Xi to step down. Some Weibo users vowed to make Li proud as case numbers rise.

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