Category: China

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China Stocks

Investing in Chinese Banks

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These days I saw more and more banks in Shanghai. Beside the addition of domestic banks such as Bank of Shanghai, which has root from Shanghai City Credit Union, many foreign banks such as Citi Bank opened branches and they also do the Ren Ming Bi business. Why suddenly we have so many banks? I remember 10 years ago we have the big four: ICBC, Bank of China (specialize in foreign currencies), Agriculture Bank and Construction Bank, plus Bank of Communcations, and the Cedit Unions I mentioned. Now it’s a total different ball game.

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China

One Bedroom Apartments in Shanghai

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Nowadays the stock market in Shanghai is hot, the real estate market is not. This Chinese article says in year 2006 the Shanghai housing price dropped about -0.5%. While not a significant drop, this plus the recent raise of interest rate makes potential home buyers weary. But I think the buyers need not worry if they know what they want, do the homework, and plan to stay for long term. There are still bright spots in the real estate market. Among those there is one bedroom apartment close to metro stations: the influx of college educated workers like to rent those apartments so that they can get to work, and enjoy the urban living style. Read this Chinese article if you are interested. 

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China

The Power of Blogs and Web News

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One news caught me attention this morning. I read about a “Haigui” tourist got beaten in Sanya when travelling there with his family. And they were treated very badly even at local police station. The news is spread in several well known overseas Chinese web sites. Obviously things have turned around, now the vice Mayor of Sanya issued appology.

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China

Economy Indicators

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Ever since I come back, one thing amazes me is how fast China has adopted the western economy indicator and system overall: CPI, PPI, central bank, China Security Regulatory Commission, China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Insurance Regulatory Commission, etc. These are all good, especially the regulatory committe are made of real smart people nowadays. Except sometimes people tend to over react to those indicators and the comments from the head of those committes.  

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China Web

GMail in China

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I wrote about GMail a while ago. In that post I complained GMail is not reliable in China. One reason I can think of is that Google has not moved its servers to China. It has no plan to do so in the near future according to CnAnalyst. In this Chinese post Keso says the China’s contribution to Google’s revenue is not material at this time. This could partly explains why they have not moved the servers. Google is still building traffic (not monetizing) in China because they have plenty of cash now. Another reason is they want to protect their IP (intellectual property).

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Business China

Chinese Business Newspapers

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Since I came back, I have read some local business newspapers. No more Xin Ming Evening news, my favorite back in 90s. I read newspaper to get information, and more importantly, get some analysis and local perspective. One may ask why don’t I just go to Internet, e.g., baidu, sina, yahoo finance china, etc. My answer is I can not get some of the anlysis from the web, also I am an old fashioned guy. I am sharing my observations for some of the paper I have read. There is an excellent discussion about all this in this Chinese article if you are really curious.

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China Stocks

Ajisen Ramen and E-House IPO

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I mentioned the Ajisen Ramen 味千拉面 a while ago, see this post. Today from what I read from China-CBN, they are going to do IPO in Hongkong, the symbol will be 0538.HK. Like the Huiyuan Juice, I think this will be a hot one. Please be aware I am not endorsing Japanese noodles here. As matter of fact, I found a better place than Ajisen Ramen near my work place, that’s a Chinese one.

Separately, I heard this rumor from Pacific Epoch that E-House is going IPO in NYSE this year. E-House is a real estate broker in China. Don’t confuse it with Jinfeng Investments (600606.SS), which has provided similar service in the past and has the 金丰易居 brand. Note the founder of E-House has worked for Jinfeng.

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China

New Shanghai Library

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I visited the new Shanghai library the first time. Not sure whether the library was built before or after I left Shanghai in 1997, the old libaray was located near Nanjing Road, and People’s Square. Anyway, I was amazed by the number of knowledge hungry people in the library.

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China

Shanghai Real Estate Spring Expo

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I went to the Shanghai Real Estate Spring Expo, at Shanghai Expo Center on Yan’an Road. Again it has been more than 10 years since I visited Shanghai Expo Center last time. The expo itself is very crowded, and some developers offer free bus ride to and from the Expo Center to demo unit. I feel some people have to buy the house because in Chinese tradition, one has to buy the house if he is getting married.

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China Stocks

Bought Some Shares in Shanghai

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Finanlly I bought some A Shares in Shanghai Stock Exchange this afternoon. This is more than 10 years after my last purchase 🙂

I realized Chinese domestic stock market is still not widely open to foreign investors. There is a thing called QFII, stands for qualified foreign instiutional investors. Here is a good explaination for QFII from Havest Fund. I believe Morgan Stanley and others have QFII funds. There are also many mutual funds investing in Hongkong and asia pacific. You can ask them if you are interested. As an alternative, investors can look at Chinese ADRs traded in NYSE, Nasdaq, and H Shares in Hongkong Stock Exchanges. Personally I don’t think domestic market is mature enough for average joe in the UK, US, etc.