Ventures Dialogue

This year February 14th is not only Valentine’s Day, but also marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival as it is sometimes called. As with the Chinese calendar, the new year coincides with the first day of their first lunar month and according to it, 2010 is the year 4707.

Parades and festivals will be on the top of every one’s list, but it is also a time for traditions and customs. According to our friends over at the Hong Kong Tourism Board, flowers are a mainstay for looking ahead and encouraging good tidings for the next 12 months. Narcissus and peonies signify prosperity, kumquats in offices point to success in business, plum blossoms encourage romance, and tangerines strengthen marital bliss. Purchasing new clothes and shoes are also encouraged to bring on new starts. The color red will also be ubiquitous as it is believed to be lucky in the Chinese culture. To find out what 4707 has in store for you, visit the HK Tourism Board’s website to see your horoscope.

Hong Kong’s Chief  Secretary Mr  Henry Tang  says the  Government is determined to make Hong Kong Asia’s cultural hub, and the West Kowloon Cultural District will have enormous potential to become the cultural focus for the Pearl River Delta.

Addressing at a reception held in New York City on January 12, Mr Tang said the West Kowloon project will transform Victoria Harbour into “Asia’s West End” with a Broadway skyline making Hong Kong the cultural hub of Asia.

“People who have visited the two cities, New York and Hong Kong, often draw a number of comparisons. They are both cities that never sleep. We each have shimmering skyscrapers, great shopping, wonderful food and a spectacular harbour. We are both international business and financial centres and melting pots for culture.” Continue reading ‘Hong Kong’s West Kowloon to be Pearl River cultural focus’

Question: What retailer in China has over 250 stores in 90 cities and is considered a trusted and upscale retailer?

Answer: Walmart

Surprised?  While Walmart China may not be your first thought, check out this podcast from the Economist as Ed Chan, head of Walmart’s operations in China, discusses how Walmart is viewed in China, the role of the emerging middle class is playing in redifining the chain, and much more. 

Photo by Str1ke

You can now look to China as the third biggest market for fine art, behind the US and Britain.

“At Sotheby’s in Hong Kong last month a world record for a piece of Chinese furniture was set when a Qianlong-period throne made of precious zitan wood and carved with dragons fetched just under HK$86m ($11.1m).”

An excerpt from the Economist

Photo by Hong Kong dear Edward

Chinese Character" in traditaional Chinese on the left, simplified Chinese on the right.

There is an interesting article  from the Economist.com, a news agency, about China’s plans to revise their written, character-based language.  An expert reads:

“fierce debate is now being rekindled with the government’s announcement of plans to issue later this year a new list of character modifications, aimed mainly at correcting certain “oversimplifications” undertaken in the past. ”

The article cites some contend that these changes go beyond standardizing the language, but speak to a greater concern to that of alterations to China’s cultural identity.  Others go a bit further, and point out that changes to the system mean added costs for such things as updating signs, textbooks, and software.

For a little background, Cantonese and Mandarin are the two main spoken Chinese languages.  In total, there are about seven main variations including Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, and other minority languages.  While the spoken language has evolved over the years, the written language on the other hand has not varied as much. 

For the Chinese system, the characters are called hanzi, and are traditionally ordered and and read vertically.  The characters themselves are divided into two systems: traditional and simplified.  The former is used in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and most other Chinese communities, save for Singapore and Malaysia.  The traditional form dates back to the Han Dynasty Western Han (202 BCE-9 CE) and Eastern Han (25-220 CE).  The simplified system, on the other hand, was created in the late 1950s under Mao Zedong to encourage universal literacy.

Photo from Wikipedia.

This is the second in a series of stories about prominent Canadians in Hong Kong and their reflections on current and potential opportunities between Hong Kong and China, and Canada.  Part 1 discussed the reasons for the mutual fondness between Hong Kong and Canada.

The connection between Hong Kong and Canada, for many, begins with a blackboard.  Twenty thousand mainland Chinese students are currently studying at Canadian universities.  Ten thousand Hong Kong students are studying at Canadian universities and 55% of those are in Ontario, and still more Hong Kong born will venture to Canada as early as high school.

This connection to education is another integral reason for the close link between Hong Kong and Canada, according to Dr. William Yip, a Hong Kong born entrepreneur who himself graduated from Concordia University in 1967.

According to Dr. Yip, a Canadian education is considered the first choice in Hong Kong.  The importance of a foreign education is explained in two ways:  one, for a population of 7 million people, there are only nine universities in Hong Kong with limited enrolment.  Secondly, in Hong Kong, education is considered the key to success, and English education, in particular, is highly valued. Continue reading ‘Canadian reflections on Hong Kong – Education strengthens connections’

Perhaps the most significant of all Chinese holidays, today January 26, 2009 marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Ox.  Sometimes referred to as the Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year falls on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar.  Celebrations continue until the lantern Festival, the 15^th day of the lunar month. 

The Ox symbolizes prosperity through fortitude and hard work.  People born under this sign are said to be stable, dependable and persevering.  This holiday is not only celebrated by the Chinese, but in many other Asian countries such as Korea, Mongolia, Bhutan, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand.  Other countries also celebrate the holiday, but to a lesser extent.

New Year traditions usually involve gift giving, New Year markets and fairs, and of course fireworks.  No new year’s celebration would be complete without them.  You might also notice the abundance of the color red.  Red is associated with happiness and believed to scare away evil spirits and bad fortune.  Check out your horoscope to discover what the Year of the Ox has in store for you, courtesy of Hong Kong Tourism Board. 

photo by yewenyi

Now back in Canada after a busy and satisfying trip, I thought I’d share a few more impressions of Hong Kong.

One of the clear differences between Hong Kong and Canada is the sheer number of people in a relatively small place.  The population of about 7 million lives in a small part of Hong Kong.  As I said in my first post, it has caused the city to build up instead of out.  Schools for instance, occupy buildings of multiple floors.  The Canadian International School which I’ll write about in a later story, has 9 floors and is built on a narrow piece of land.  Stores and restaurants can be found on upper floors of a building which give no hint as to commercial space on the ground floor levels, leaving you to wonder how people ever find them. 

In fact, there are stores and market stalls everywhere.  I’ve never seen so many.  Every luxury brand in the world appears to be present in the market, with many locations throughout the city.  Local businesses sell every kind of product imaginable in what, not unlike in Toronto, seem to be themed areas.  For instance, from the window of my car, I observed an area with nothing but sewing items:  buttons by the thousands in one block, fabric swatches displayed from floor to ceiling in another, tiny commercial spaces filled with spools of threads of every colour.  In another part of the city one tiny store after another was displaying lighting fixtures of every shape, colour and size, and so on.  The photo above is from the open market stalls in the SoHo area which sell meats and vegetables as well as other merchandise. Continue reading ‘Parting impressions of Hong Kong’

My first full day in Hong Kong has been a busy one.  Shuttled from one interview to the next, I’ve had the fortune of meeting many nice people, all of whom wish to see a greater number of Canadian businesses active here in Hong Kong.  Over the next few days I’ll share some of their insights.

But first, I’ve just come from the Hong Kong Young Fashion Designers’ Contest 2009 and what a show it was!  New and innovative designs presented by young local talents to a symphony of lights and music – it was an amazing show.  19 finalists were selected from nearly 200 entries to showcase their collections in front of a star studded group of judges from the industry and the media.  There was much awe among fashion officionados that organizer, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), was able to entice Ennio Capasa, a well known Italian fashion designer, and Japanese fashion designer Keita Maryama, to join the panel.

The show was divided into three categories:  Casual & Jeans-Wear Group, Contemporary Day-Wear Group and Party & Evening-Wear Group.  In addition, a special presentation was made by ex-winners and finalists of the Hong Kong Young Fashion Designer’s Contests from previous years.

It was a lavish display of texture, colour and sensuality and unlike anything I’ve seen before.  It had every element of a professional runway show that you might find in any of the fashion capitals of the world. It’s hard to believe that most of the designers are students just at the beginning of their careers.  If the excitement on the faces of tonight’s winners is any indication, these talented young designers hope the ranks of past winners who have created their own labels or become leading designers in the local fashion and garment industries.

Today has been a day of many firsts for me. 

• First time travelling to Asia
• First time flying business class
• First time watching the documentary March of the Penguins (on the plane)
• First time being met at an airport by someone with my name on a sign (I’ve always wanted to experience that)
• First time to lay eyes on Hong Kong 
• First time staying where when they turn down your bed they lay a kerchief on the floor and slippers at the ready

 With jetlag tugging at my eyelids, here is a smattering of first impressions.

1. It’s okay to wear your Lululemon yoga pants in Business Class! I agonized over this, wondering if I was going to look like a layabout among the many suited business people sharing the roomy front section of the Boeing 777 with me. But I need not have worried. People were wearing jeans, yoga pants, sweatshirts, ballcaps – all kinds of casual clothes. Whew! Am I glad I decided to opt for comfort!

2. Business class is definitely worth the money. All 5′2 of me could stretch out flat in my little reclining bed and the food and refreshments were quite satisfying. The toiletry bag was full of nifty things including some energizing foot spray which put a little sprite in my step after the mind numbing journey. Earlier in the flight in a clumsy effort to unfold the little eye mask a little energizing spray landed in my eye. This is not recommended.

3. Fifteen and a half hours is a long time in the air. It’s been quite a few years since I took such a long flight and I’d forgotten how slowly time creeps along. Almost as long as the journey must seem for the Emperor Penguins as they shuffle their way from the sea’s edge to their breeding grounds.

4. The March of the Penguins is a fabulous documentary by National Geographic. I laughed. I cried. I marvelled at their sacrifice for their offspring, their navigational prowess, and their innate sense of timing. Humans could learn much from their huddling behaviour on cold windswept terrain.  

5. Okay, so I didn’t find Mr. Hui, the driver picking me up, standing with my name in bold letters on a black and white sign. Mr. Hui was however, very informative on the half hour drive into the city from the airport, pointing out new residential areas, government subsidized apartment buildings, the bridge to Mainland China and the shipping harbour that we heard about from Carla Kearns in her series. Perhaps I was overrating the sign experience anyway.

6. I was quite surprised by the mountains surrounding Hong Kong, even though I’d seen so much of them in photos and research for the trip. The amount of green space still caught me off guard. One of the other first impressions, this one not a surprise, was the fact that in Hong Kong they build ‘up’. As compared to the way we’ve built ‘out’ in Canada. Towering apartment buildings or condos, of all shapes and even colours (like purple and green) greet you in clusters wherever the topography allows it. The traffic on the highways was extremely light, confirmed by my driver as a result of the fact that most people in Hong Kong don’t own cars. Public transit is excellent, made easier than in Canada due to the small footprint left by this city of about 7 million people.

One of the towering buildings in the downtown is my hotel, Island Shrangri-La where the service is out-of-this world, I have a real doorbell on my room (we don’t even have a doorbell on our house at home) and the staff think 15 above zero is cold! 

Sleep is calling me now at 8:40 p.m. Hong Kong time, and 7:45 a.m. Ontario time.  Until tomorrow.