China Cultural Chronicles October 29, 2012
- Sealine Beach in Doha, Qatar
- Frightful fun for the family
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下载安装Flash播放器When pumpkins, witch hats and spiders make their annual appearance it's easy to tell that Halloween is approaching.
Celebration of the Western holiday has become increasingly popular in China, due to the number of expats that have moved to the country's major cities.
Nowadays it's just as likely to be celebrated by young Chinese and there's plenty for them to do this year.
Happy Valley, a popular amusement park in Songjiang district, has prepared a full list of activities to welcome Halloween visitors.
The entire park will be filled with pumpkins, some made into houses and pyramids.
In addition to pumpkin bowling and pumpkin carving lessons, visitors will also get a chance to make pies and porridge made of pumpkins.
Five themed haunted houses will be another highlight, while a nighttime parade of ghosts and ghouls should be entertaining.
Many downtown clubs and bars will also host Halloween parties and if you take a trip to the Old Pier and its fashionable bars there will no doubt be a lot of people in Halloween costumes to brighten up the atmosphere.
- Stylish encounters at Aloft
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下载安装Flash播放器Aloft plays host to Chinese and foreign bands taking part in the annual Beijing Midi Music Festival.
In an era of identikit hotels, Aloft Beijing stands out, reports Zhao Xu, citing its innovative approach to hospitality.
Aloft Beijing has a stylish unpretentiousness that endears the hotel to clients searching for a "fun stay".
"We once had a customer who's the CEO of a big multinational company, who stayed at the St. Regis Beijing during work days but would come over here during the weekends," says Kevin Zhang, the hotel's executive assistant manager.
Nestling half-hidden behind the conspicuously luxurious Four Points Hotel on Yuanda Road, Haidian district, Aloft ensures it is not overshadowed by forging an image that combines laid-back homey-ness with a galvanizing youth culture, for what Zhang described "a sassy, savvy" clientele.
Nothing is more eye-catching than the titles designated to the various areas inside the hotel. The lobby is called "re:mix", the snack bar "re:fuel", and the work-out area, "re:charge".
"Putong is the sound one makes jumping into the water," says Zhang, pointing to the name of the hotel's swimming pool. "Our pool is only big enough to make a few splashes. So one is more likely to 'putong' than to swim lengths."
The hotel's "inclusiveness" is underwritten by a clearly iterated design language, best translated as "no walls, no limits".
On its ground floor, which covers the extensive resting-dining-entertaining area, one can move unimpeded and watch others engaged in a multitude of activities. With guests lying around on cushions scattered on the "re:mix" floor, the general atmosphere resembles a public beach.
When the sky darkens, the lights dim and the clamor mounts. People come out of their hotel rooms to join a scene that's played out almost every night on the ground floor.
"To see clients who are previously strangers striking up conversations with one another are among my best moments," says Zhang, who recalls an Australian man who stayed with his family at the nearby Four Points, but would go to Aloft every other night, just to sit at the bar and chat.
Aloft Beijing forges an image that combines laid-back homey-ness with a galvanizing youth culture.
"If you believe in 'encounters', then Aloft is the place to be," he comments.
With 182 of its 186 hotel rooms that are 32 square meters in size and cost 700 yuan ($110, before discount) per night, the hotel targets the style-conscious who are reluctant to squander money on 350-count linen bed or a fancy glass of vintage wine. More importantly, all of Aloft's beds are window-facing, allowing sunlight to stream onto the sleeper's face at dawn.
"Partly as a result of our mid-range price, we encourage a do-it-yourself spirit, which, if you come to think of it, is a chic notion very popular among independent travelers," Zhang says.
That means no trainer in the workout area, no lifeguards beside the pool and no mini-bar inside the rooms. Clients are expected to take laundry to the front desk to wash, and can grab a quick bite at the snack bar before heading out for a day's exploration.
"Ours is a quintessential American hotel transplanted to Beijing. We want to capture the fast tempo and free will of an American existence," the manager says.
This American-ness even extends to dogs, which are welcome provided they are under 18 kg.
"One of our favorite customers is a Taiwan girl working in Shanghai. She brought her dog to Beijing for glaucoma treatment and stayed with us for two months," says Jayce Guo, communications manager, pointing to a picture pasted on the hotel wall in which the girl poses with her sunglasses-wearing dog. "We would like to see them come back, the dog without the glasses."
Talking about the hotel's special cachet, Guo cites "music the heartbeat of our hotel".
Over the past three years, Aloft has played host to Chinese and foreign bands taking part in the annual Beijing Midi Music Festival, a wild celebration of original music.
"I remember one night, an Australian band that was staying here returned from its performance, drank all the beer and played for everyone in the lobby," she says.
Now and then, local talents are also invited to play at Aloft. Everyone is encouraged to join in, including hotel employees.
"They slip out of their work clothes and into party dresses," Guo says. "Then the question is: Shall we dance?"
- Chinese shopping habits changing
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下载安装Flash播放器China's "new mainstream customers", according to Mckinsey & Co, are defined not only by their income but also by a new way of living and spending.
A group of new mainstream customers is emerging in China, rapidly advancing in size and purchasing power, the 2012 annual report of Chinese consumers released by Mckinsey & Co said.
More than 10,000 respondents, including a large sample of the middle class, in 44 cities took part in the study, the report said.
It defines "new mainstream customers" as those with an annual income above 106,000 yuan ($16,000), with markedly different spending behavior than the broader mass shoppers, who still comprise the vast share of Chinese customers. This group mainly lives in first-tier and second-tier coastal cities, is younger and more reliant on the Internet.
The new mainstream customers are willing to trade up, rely on the Internet more to conduct searches, take emotional considerations more into account when making purchases, trust brands and prefer online shopping, said Max Magni, partner and head of McKinsey's Greater China consumer practice.
"Instead of the big, trustworthy brands that many companies have used to good advantage up until now, more diverse portfolios of brands and niche products will be advisable," said Magni.
The report found that if the trend of China's growth unfolds as projected, roughly maintaining a GDP growth rate at about 7 percent, the new mainstream shoppers will comprise nearly 400 million people by 2020.
According to the report, the structure of Chinese shoppers will largely change. The new mainstream group is expected to occupy 51 percent of all households by 2020, up from 14 percent now. Meanwhile, the upper mass group, which makes up 54 percent now, will shrink to 25 percent in 2020.
New mainstream customers are defined not only by their income but also by a new way of living and spending, Magni added.
China will gain itself a position among "upper-middle income" economies by World Bank standards by 2020, an economics expert predicted on Oct 9.
China's annual per capita GDP is likely to top $10,000 by 2020 from last year's $5,530, Cai Zhizhou, an economics professor at Peking University, was quoted as saying in a report in the 21st Century Business Herald.
- Riverside retreat
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下载安装Flash播放器A Panorama Oasis Room with a dipping pool.
Banyan Tree debuts in Shanghai on a secluded North Bund greenbelt, Matthew Fulco reports.
Shanghai's geography is a boon for imaginative hoteliers. The 113-kilometer Huangpu River, the last major tributary of the Yangtze River, before it empties into the East China Sea, cleaves the city of more than 20 million into east and west. Massive tankers move millions of tons of cargo along the Huangpu around the clock, making Shanghai the world's busiest container port. Viewing the activity from afar at twilight, against the luminous backdrop of the Lujiazui skyline, you can sense the city's ambitions. Those in the right company might even feel romantic.
That emotional resonance means the view sells. It's the main attraction in a city famed largely for its commercial prowess.
At Banyan Tree's resort on the North Bund, which launched earlier this month, postcard river views form the cornerstone of a guest experience new to the city, says Pancho Llamas, general manager of the property and a 10-year veteran of the Singapore-based hospitality group.
"Many hotels offer a room with a view. We provide a view with a room," he says, adding that all 130 rooms and suites look onto river vistas, a first for Shanghai.
Oversized windows and an arched floor plan accentuate the grandeur of the scenery, creating a sense of drama as you gaze out at the water and skyscrapers. Even from the third floor, you feel the city is at your feet.
Intriguingly, Banyan Tree has outfitted the tonier guestrooms with indoor dipping pools by the window, judging wisely that the waterside location would put guests in the mood for a swim. The azure-colored pools look as if they were airlifted from one of Banyan Tree's more luxuriant locales in Southeast Asia, adding an exotic flavor to the rooms that couples will enjoy. Before taking a dip in the pool, just be sure you're feeling vigorous. The New Age greeting music playing from the television might otherwise induce slumber.
Pancho Llamas, general manager of Banyan Tree Shanghai on the Bund.
Banyan Tree Shanghai On The Bund is the group's fourth "urban resort" after properties in Bangkok, Macau and Seoul, created "so the leisure market can enjoy the city", Llamas says.
To Banyan Tree's credit, the North Bund resort enjoys as idyllic a location as central Shanghai can offer. You don't need to be a feng shui master to appreciate the river panorama and leafy greenbelt, the latter spanning nearly 2 kilometers along the Huangpu River.
The hotel lies just far enough from the action to feel secluded, tucked away on a quiet block in the vestiges of a traditional Shanghainese neighborhood in the historic Hongkou district. Conspicuously absent are the hordes of wide-eyed tourists that frequent the central Bund thoroughfare along Zhongshan East Road.
That air of seclusion will attract celebrities eager for anonymity, Llamas says.
Guests, he predicts, will come largely from the domestic market, where the Banyan Tree brand is well established and has longstanding partnerships with many travel agencies.
As the hotel's first helmsman, Llamas aims to win hearts and minds once operations are stabilized.
"You have to surprise and impress guests," he says. "Luxurious facilities are just a small part of that. It's more about creating a vivid emotional experience, something that lingers in the memory long after the end of a stay here.
"If a guest wants to be chauffeured in a Rolls Royce, we can arrange that. But if the guest is a little more adventurous and wants to tour the city on the back of a motorbike, we can do that, too."
Banyan Tree enthusiasts will cheer the group's plans to open a second Shanghai hotel next year just down the river on the South Bund. Slated for a launch in the third or fourth quarter of 2013, the Shanghai Riverside will feature thirty traditional Chinese villas. Banyan Tree may arrange a boat to shuttle guests between the two Bund properties, Llamas says.
Overall, Banyan Tree has big plans for China, with more than 10 projects in the pipeline scheduled to launch by the end of next year across the country from Tianjin to Tibet.
Llamas, meanwhile, looks forward to experiencing winter in China.
"This is the first place I have lived where it gets cold in the winter," he says. "I am going to take my family skiing up North."
- Xiamen economy thrives on culture
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下载安装Flash播放器After several years of accelerated development, cultural industries are poised to become a major driver of the economy in Xiamen.
After several years of accelerated development, cultural industries are poised to become a major driver of the economy in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province, local officials said.
Official statistics show that the added value of the city's cultural industries reached more than 18 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) in 2011, a 45.1 percent surge year-on-year, accounting for 7.1 percent of the city's GDP.
The figure hit 8.95 billion yuan in the first half of 2012, a 26.2 percent rise compared to the same period last year, with the number of employees in these sectors totaling 143,200.
"Xiamen is now among cities that boast the most competitive cultural industries," said Xu Xiangming, deputy director of Xiamen's cultural bureau.
According to a report issued by Taipei's Cultural Creative Industry Association, Xiamen ranked ninth in cultural and creative competitiveness nationwide in 2011.
Cultural industries are projected to generate more than 40 billion yuan in added value annually by the end of 2014 and become an "important engine" to fuel the city's economy, Xu said.
Eight sectors prioritized
To realize this goal, the Xiamen city government has decided to prioritize eight cultural sectors over the past few years.
On top of the list are the animation and online game industries, Xu said.
To better boost their development, the Xiamen Software Park has earmarked a 160,000-square-meter zone for the industries, including such resources as motion capture systems and audio extractors that are available for public use.
Now a national animation industrial base, the park has attracted dozens of animation companies, including local ones such as G-Bits and Blue Bird Cartoon and companies from Taiwan, such as CGCG, according to the website of the software park.
The park is also home to many online gaming companies, including the Youjia Network, which generated 487 million yuan in sales revenue in the first half of the year, a nearly 30 percent rise compared to the same period last year.
Youjia Network and another two companies in the park have also been included on the list of major national export-oriented cultural enterprises, according to the park's administrative committee.
Culture-themed tourism has also started to boom in Xiamen. The coastal city, known for sightseeing, is growing into a popular destination for exhibitions and related cultural events, such as the Cross-Straits Cultural Industries Fair, according to local government officials.
Established in 2008, the fair is now "the most important platform for improving cultural exchanges across the Straits", said Huang Qiang, deputy mayor of Xiamen.
Over the past four years, the annual event has attracted a total of 2,451 exhibitors, of which 827 are companies from Taiwan, and more than 400 deals totaling 60 billion yuan have been signed, according to statistics from the event's official website.
Other events Xiamen has hosted in recent years include the China International Piano Competition, the Cross-Straits Book Fair, the International Animation Festival, the Cross-Straits Folk Arts Festival, and the Zheng Chenggong Cultural Festival.
Local officials said the city has also launched an effort to build cultural theme parks and introduce cultural performances, which will attract visitors, raise Xiamen's profile and help boost the city's economic development.
Another sector on the city government's list of development priorities is digital content and new media.
"We have good infrastructure to develop the industry" because Xiamen is among cities implementing a national pilot program for integrating telecom networks, cable TV and the Internet, Xu said.
Responding to rising demand for digitalized animation, China Mobile, the world's largest mobile phone operator by number of subscribers, launched its animation center in Xiamen in April 2010.
Now the center has 375 companies, which generated 90 million yuan in revenue in the first half of 2012, Zeng Dafeng, the center's deputy head, told Yangcheng Evening News, adding that revenue is expected to reach 300 million yuan by the end of the year.
Another two major telecom operators in the country, China Unicom and China Telecom, have followed suit to establish similar operations in Xiamen.
By combining modern art with modern means of communication, they will help build Xiamen into a base of digital content and new media that has influence throughout the nation and the world, Xu said.
The Xiamen city government has launched financial rewards to stimulate the development of cultural industries.
For example, companies that are listed by ministerial-level departments as demonstration bases can receive 200,000 yuan in funding from the city government, and major programs featuring participants from Fujian and Taiwan are entitled to zero-interest loans up to 1 million yuan for two years, according to a policy promulgated in 2008.
The government is also making efforts to enrich the talent pool for local cultural industries.
In addition to local training programs, it is attracting high-level professionals worldwide with a competitive package of benefits, local officials said.
- Sunset landscape allong the River Ma Chu, Tibet 2012
reurinkjan has added a photo to the pool:
Like to see the pictures as LARGE as your screen? Just click on this Slideshow : www.flickr.com/photos/reurinkjan/sets/72157630983897338/s...
Photo: Looking over the river Ma chu into the mountain range of Jentsa གཅན་ཚ། county (Chentsa).
Machu a great river of north-east Tibet. The Tibetan name is "river of the peacock" (Tibetan: རྨ་ཆུ་ Wylie: Ma chu).
Also called Yellow River in China, the sixth-longest in the world at 5,463 kilometers (3,398 mi).
Total basin area is 742,443 km² (290,520 mi²).
Machu River, which becomes the Yellow River (Huang Ho) in China.
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