騎樓 & urban renewal

不一定是嶺南文化的專利，但是廣州、香港從前到處可見，可擋雨，防晒的建築特色現在買少見少了。更加可貴的，是這店前車水馬龍、客似雲來

"kei lau" are low-rises popular but not limited in Guangdong provinces where the covered walkway underneath shield passers-by from rain and sun while providing a customer-friendly store front on the ground floor. These buildings are rapidly disappearing due to gentrification and (over)developing, be it Canton(Guangzhou) or Hong Kong.



If It Works, Don't Fix It! Actually, if you are the Urban Renewl Authority (of Hong Kong), you should! However, the "fix" should ONLY be helping the existing landlords and tenents, rather than stealing from them and feeding the levelled plots of land to real estate developers. Haven't you heard of Décroissance from the radical Frenchies? Une terre si densément peuplée comme Hong Kong n'a pas besoin de développement. Comment renouveler ou régénérer les structures en voie de veillissement devrait être la priorité. Les gratte-ciel monstrueux qui coupent la circulation de l'air et les réseaux communautaires, NON, ne pas les rajouter SVP.

市建局若能手下留情，不用勞動庶民抗議示威，老街坊血脈沸騰，聲淚俱下，則不用建豪宅、搞活化亦可流芳百世。

58度C vs 85度C

商鋪在中國的名字是一個很有趣的議題。我曾經在別的地方提及BMW和衝著它的名字和標誌來的競爭者。
Looking at brand names in China brings you various business case studies. One case in point I blogged elsewhere on BMW and its illegitimate cousin.




然而往廣州和上海跑了一趟後，再發現有兩個不同的溫度：58度C 和 85度C。我想這不是甚麼物理化學的三相點，但這兩間公司名字的相似和他們的臺灣背景增加我對它們的好奇心。
58度C是食在廣州的珍珠奶茶般的飲品店。85度C呢？它則是在上海賣麵包、糕點和餐飲店。
58的涼茶只是一般，85的甜點（如西米布丁rice pudding、巧克力餅乾chocolate cookies）真的很有水準，還有熱奶茶也挺不錯，特別是在寒冷的一月份，我一星期裏喝了不少杯啊！ 我差一點忘記，85度C的麵包店開二十四小時呢！





After visiting Guangzhou in June and Shanghai in January 2009 respectively, I had the amazing time to spot and frequent another pair of business "relatives". Herbal tea at 58C was mediocre. The desserts and "milk" tea at 85C were quite impressive, given their competitive pricing by the latter targeting Starbucks. Another plus, 85C open 24/7, a testament to the first cosmopolitan status of Shanghai in China? In terms of the invisible hands behind, both 58C and 85C seem to have Taiwanese influence. These numbers may be so mystic that we have to buy lotto playing with their permutations!

Impression shanghaiaise -HSBC 上海印象- 滙豐銀行

從前位於上海外灘的香港上海滙豐銀行的舊址現在已經成為上海浦東發展銀行。大家也許能想像這企業在上海以至中國的潛在意義。



C'était le siège social de Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation à Shanghai. Le locataire ou propriétaire, dans un cas ou l'autre, est Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPD) actuellement. On imagine le pouvoir ou l'avenir nominal de cette entreprise à Shanghai ou même en Chine.

Since Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPD) is occupying the former headquarters of HSBC (by NO means Home Savings Bank of America, as a friend of mine who was geopolitically challenged answered INCORRECTLY with a straight face when asked what the acronym stands for!!! The correct answer appeared above in the French paragraph) at The Bund in Shanghai, one could only imagine the potential influence of this bank in Shanghai or even in China.

economic lesson of 2008

This article titled "The Worst Predictions About 2008" could be a warning to greed, or those who think they have tools to predict and play god:
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/dec2008/db20081224_028134.htm

I guess the market works because there are always people who think they could beat the system.
I wonder if any columnist or staff writer made any "way-off" during 2008 as well?