Category: China

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China Life

Vaccine shot and Health care

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I am getting the Hepatitis B vaccine shot lately, already got two shots done, and will have the last one in about 6 months. Each shot cost me $35.00. Note this is the rate at County Health Dept, other places will be more expensive. Vaccination is not my favorite thing when I was a pre-school kid, I remeber I used to run around to avoid the village doctors giving me the shots. Because the doctors are friends of my mom, they used to laugh at me all the time. But I got all the shots regardless and continue to receive free shots in primary school, middle school.

vaccine pic

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China Stocks

The Mystery of Xinhua Finance

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Here is a Chinese article talking about the history of the Xinhua Finance, Xinhua Finance Media Limited (Nasdaq: XFML), and its founder Ms. Fredy Bush.

Quote the article, Xinhua Finance claimed “如果你生活在中国，清晨醒来打开电视就能看到收视率最高的节目之一：《财富早7点》。乘车上班途中，可以收听到中国国际广播电台EasyFM的节目。路过报刊亭可以见到《经济观察报》、《投资有道》和《基金观察》。”

This is not necessarily true, I could NOT see the “Fortune Morning (7 AM)” in Shanghai on TV. If a Financial TV program can not being viewed in Shanghai (the financial center of China), can it claim the highest rating? Let me quote Greenspan “it’s possible, but unlikely”. I was a listener of EasyFM; and I read Econ Observer paper once. Keep in mind, XFML did not own any of those media outlets, they merely have contracts with the respective owners.

It’s also interesting to see Xinhua News Agency, officially cut the ties with Xinhua Finance. I guess they were embarrassed by the latter.

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China

Dream come true: Hangzhou Bay Bridge

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The Hangzhou bay bridge, the bridge connects Ningbo (my hometown) and Shanghai, got completed (the structure). This will cut the travel distance (and time) from Ningbo to Shanghai dramatically. Here is a picture taken at Ci’xi, the bridge starting point at Ningbo side. This is the longest sea crossing bridge on the world as of now (36km, or 22.5 miles). The new bridge will not open until next year (according to BBC).

Hangzhou bay bridge
Picture curtesy of AP.

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China Stocks

FFHL Case Study: risks of investing in China

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(Update June 25) Fuwei has a news release regarding this today.

(Update June 19) The stock (FFHL) got a big lift (18%) today. Major’s rule No. 2: stock moves when Major mentions it at stlplace, e.g., EDU (mentioned in June 9) and FFHL. Some speculative Chinese stocks got big move too, e.g. EFUT is up 30% today.

Seriously I am not saying Fuwei is a bad company. Its previous owner got big problems though. Do your own research before jumping in.

(Original June 18) I’ve paid attention to Fuwei Film Holding Limited (FFHL) since its IPO, as you may notice I’ve mentioned it couple times in my blog. Obviously things have take a turn lately, if you checked its stock price. I did not follow all the details until read this Chinese news. Let me summarize it because the aricle is in Chinese and it’s a bit long. In simple words: the owners and founders of Fuwei are suspected in “transfer state owned assets to personal pockets” through a bunch of “financial engineering activities”; they are under “Shuang Gui” (arrest in a better name) right now.

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Business China Web

Software Localization in China

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Here is the definition from Per Dohler, a software localization guru: Localization is the process of adapting a product, in our context a software program, to a specific locale, i.e., to its language, standards and cultural norms as well as to the needs and expectations of a specific target market. A properly localized product also meets all the legal requirements in force in the user’s region. Wikipedia also has a good description. GiltWorld is a Chinese site dedicated to the software localization in China.

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China Stocks

Mindray Gaining Momentum in US

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Yesterday they did a presentation at Goldman Sachs 28th Annual conference (no web cast). Today they announced two new products getting FDA approval. The following picture is BC-3200, a hematology analyzer.

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Business China

New Oriental Education EDU ?

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I received an email from a friend asking me whether New Oriental Eudcation (EDU) will be a good investment or not. I was not warm to it initially, changed my mind and bought it in Jan., sold it in Feb., because I did not know how to evaluate it.  

First I want to say EDU is in a very sweet spot in Chinese private education market: English and test preparation. A little background, English is a very important skill in finding good jobs in China these days: from multinational companies to domestic companies, from private sector to goverment, and non-for-profit, all because the increasing interactions between China and the west in last 20 years.

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China Fun

Home Inns experience: the good, the bad

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Here is a happy Home Inns customer (from Google Finance). On the other hand, here is a not-so-happy Home Inns customer, Kunwei, who (I believe) has stayed in the US and Singapore for an extended period time before returning to China.

So how do we make all of these? Not too much. The thing I want to say is everyone has his/her own criteria. Also things normally acceptable to one person/group may not be acceptable to another person/group, e.g., men normally have greater tolerance over female on cleaness, smoke etc. I think majority of Home Inns customers are happy with the hotels. They got what they paid for: a clean room, and a comfortable bed.

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China Stocks

500 Points Less Harmonious

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All right, ever since the Chinese regulators found the silver bullet and pulled the trigger, the Shanghai composite index lost more than 500 points and a lot of people lost money or gave back the gains they already made, some of them are “crying foul” for the goverment action. Well, in stock market, just like in NBA, complaining to the referee usually won’t help. We should focus on what we can do to “stop the bleeding”, or “protect the gains”.

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China Stocks

IPOs in Shanghai and Shenzhen

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Hit new low in May. Here are the number of IPOs the first half of this year:

Jan: 9

Feb: 11

Mar: 5

Jan to Mar subtotal CNY 67.5 b

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