Author: alimondaf18

No longer content simply to build movie sets and provide extras in Hollywood films, Chinese film studios are moving up in the value chain. Partnering with American studios, they are helping develop, design and produce world-class films and animated features. With a bigger role in the creative process they are reaping more financial and artistic rewards.… Continue reading China Partners with Hollywood, Seeking to One Day Compete →

China claims to have lifted 620m people out of poverty since reforms started  in the 1970s. Even when using the World Bank’s number of 500 million, China has done a great job of alleviating poverty. However, much work remains to be made to consider China’s reforms an absolute success. China’s poverty relief programs leave much to… Continue reading Alleviating Poverty in China Still a Work in Progress →

A large number of Chinese Tesla drivers are suffering from buyers’ remorse. For starters, their cars are being delivered months after the promised date and after sales service has been spotty. The biggest problem, however, is that most of them are suffering from what’s known as “range anxiety”. Due to the scarcity of charging stations in… Continue reading Tesla Struggling to Adapt to Chinese Market →

Buoyed by the explosive growth of the cruise industry in China, the world’s two largest cruise operators, Royal Caribbean  and Carnival are redoubling their presence there. China’s growing middle class represents such a promise for Carnival that it expects the overall number of outbound cruise passengers from China to hit the 1 million market for the first… Continue reading Cruise Companies See Promise in China →

Pirelli, an Italian tire maker, is the latest Italian business to be acquired by a Chinese company. On March 22nd China National Chemical Corporation (CNCC),  a state-owned conglomerate, agreed with Pirelli’s controlling shareholders to buy Camfin, a holding company which owns 26% of the tire maker. This is a first step before launching a takeover bid… Continue reading China’s Buying Spree of European Assets →

On March 13th a man was discovered smuggling 146 IPhones from Hong Kong into mainland China. In financial terms, he was carrying anywhere from US$76,000 to US$181,000 in product (depending on which models and options he had). Chan Shih, 30, was spotted walking “at a really slow pace with a strangely stiffened back” while carrying only… Continue reading Chinese Consumers’ Prohibited Love for IPhones →

While in 2014 pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong made a lot of noise around the world, this current year protests against the large number of Mainland Chinese that visit Hong Kong every year have taken center stage. Although far smaller in size, the current protests are more violent and similarly fuelled by resentment of the mainland’s encroachment. At issue has been… Continue reading Mainland Chinese Unwelcomed by Many Hong Kong Citizens →

Each year a larger share of China’s youth is pursuing higher education outside the nation’s borders. Although this trend started as a quest for the prestige that came with degrees from certain foreign institutions like the Ivy Leagues, Oxford or Cambridge University, it has now grown to encompass almost any institution in the developed world. The boom… Continue reading Chinese Students Looking West →

On paper, China seems to be poised to drastically increase its natural gas production in the upcoming decade. With 50% more shale gas reserves than the United States, the world’s largest natural gas producer, China can potentially satisfy its voracious domestic energy demand. However, while the introduction of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the… Continue reading Can China Make the Changes Necessary to Tap its Huge Shale Gas Reserves? →

It is common knowledge that in the 1960s a consortium of central banks colluded to maintain the international dollar-denominated gold price at the US government-set rate of $35 dollars per ounce. Known as the London Gold Pool, this consortium sought to control the price of gold by manipulating the London Gold Fix. Twice a day, at 10:30… Continue reading China Taking the World Gold Market by Storm →