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Media Watch  
 
VOL.7 November 2015
Media Watch
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UNNECESSARY PANIC

China Economic Weekly

October 12

Hong Kong-based tycoon Li Ka-shing, dubbed the richest man in Hong Kong, sparked a heated debate in the last two years by steadily selling his company's assets on the Chinese mainland. The public speculated he had lost confidence in the Chinese market. Critics said Li's retreat was "immoral" against China's economy slowing down.

China Economic Weekly looks at this issue. Insiders believe Li's move should not be interpreted wrongly. It was simply a commercial decision to maximize profits. As an astute businessman, Li has successfully bought properties at a low price and sold them at a higher price throughout his career.

While selling the assets in China, he poured billions of dollars into the UK and became its biggest overseas investor. Together with other moves, this is regarded as his preparation for retirement. Also, while maintaining the family business empire, Li is laying foundation for his successor to globalize the business.

OFFLINE WAR

Caijing Magazine

October 12

China's three Internet giants, Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu, are encountering challenges and crises. Alibaba's market value depreciated by $140.7 billion over the past 10 months. Baidu's stock price plunged 35 percent in the past year. Tencent, with the best performance among the three, experienced a stock price decline of 20 percent over the past year.

These three giants had dominated China's Internet in the past 20 years and witnessed double-digit business growth. But with the emergence of mobile Internet, they are undergoing tougher competition. To achieve a breakthrough, they have stretched their business to offline sectors, extending operations to finance, logistics, and even manufacturing.

Internet giants are likely to find the offline war even fiercer. They are not able to control offline businesses as they can with online ones. Insiders think instead of competing with offline businesses for market share, Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent should focus on building better commercial infrastructure like they used to do.

NO WALK IN THE PARK

Oriental Outlook

October 15

Some 150 million visitors spend over 12 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) in China's theme parks every year, portending great market potential, according to the Shenzhen-based consulting firm Qianzhan Industry Research Institute.

There are four types of theme parks in China: amusement parks such as Happy Valley in Beijing; film studios such as the Hengdian World Studios in east China's Zhejiang Province; theme parks such as the Window of the World in Shenzhen; and parks featuring activities inspired by a specific theme such as ocean parks.

Although Chinese theme parks are global leaders in terms of size and number of visitors, this sector is beset by problems, with about 75 percent of parks struggling to make up deficits.

Compared with their foreign counterparts that have distinguishing characteristics and amenities, Chinese parks are rather similar to one another. Many have been built simply to drive up the price of the surrounding land and commercial properties.

Theme parks should be built more prudently with a view to both environmental protection and economic development. The goal should be providing premium entertainment facilities for tourists and improving people's quality of life. The government should plan and manage the development while the parks develop their own distinctive character.

MESSAGE OF MEGA MARRIAGE SHOW

Global Times

October 16, 2015 

The fairytale-themed wedding of movie star couple Huang Xiaoming and Yang Ying, also known as Angelababy, is still on people's lips, long after it took place at the Shanghai Exhibition Center. Reports say Huang splashed out more than 200 million yuan ($31.5 million) to marry Angelababy, including buying her a 130-million-yuan villa as a wedding gift.

Incidentally, the wedding came shortly after this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Chinese medical scientist Tu Youyou. Tu said jokingly that the award money was "too little, not enough to buy half a living room in downtown Beijing." A scientist's entire life's work was dwarfed by a celebrity couple's wedding extravaganza.

Maybe people can't compare two such different careers. A movie star's success is also built on his or her own hard work. But people should be aware of the effects flaunting money can have on the public.

As public figures, stars are socially influential. Huang said to the Southern Metropolis Entertainment Weekly after the wedding that he anticipated public criticism and controversy. People will congratulate him on the marriage, however long it lasts, but perhaps stars like him should think just what kind of message they're sending when they turn a "lifetime" commitment into a celebration of their wealth. 

 

 

 

 

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