Hello Kitty Hello Kitty; Summer Plans; Investing in China

Hello Kitty

Not sure whether to be proud or a little bit embarrassed. I recently did a presentation on Canadian culture and listed a few celebrities, one of whom is Avril Lavigne. Most students recognized her which impressed me. And then I found out why. Her new song “Hello Kitty” is all but aimed at the Asian youth.

I can’t say the music and the video is all that bad. Maybe I’ve been in Asia for too long. Maybe it’s a lingering taste for Kpop and all its catchy hooks. In any event, say what you will about my taste in music but I think Avril might be onto something here. Will she alienate his Western fans? Probably. Will she break into a much larger Asian market? Also probably. Now I don’t know the reason why she did the song, whether it was a part of a collection or for some other special occasion but, for whatever reason, she made this video and I suspect that’s why she is currently known in China. Wikipedia didn’t have anything on why the song was made. Anyway, for all its cheesy Jpop glory, here is Avril’s catchy offering for the Asian market:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiaYDPRedWQ[/youtube]

Summer Running

Started running again in the morning. I gave up trying to avoid the air problem here in Beijing and have simply started running outside. It used to be that I’d go to the gym cause at least the windows would be closed. Well, no, now that it’s summer, they often open them to keep the air moving. So there’s no real escape from the bad air here. Some people have air purifiers in their homes, I don’t. Maybe I’ll end up with black lung disease even though I don’t really smoke. Geez, who would’ve thought travelling could be so hazardous to your health?

Still haven’t decided what to do this summer. Maybe I’ll just stay put again? One guy is heading to India for a month. I was entertaining the idea of taking the Trans-Siberian Railway into Russia and then into Ukraine to see how things are over there now. It’s an idea but who knows. Seems like a lot of work for what would be a short trip (2 weeks in each country?)

Investing in China

I’ve noticed a few of my students checking stock prices during class (because they can’t wait until break) which reminded me of the Wall Street saying “Beware of the shoe shine boy,” a maxim attributed to Joseph P. Kennedy. The story goes that if the kid shining your shoes (or, really, any minimum wage worker) starts giving you investing advice, it might be time to get out of the market. Now, no one has given me advice but, when I asked if the market was up or down one student looked at me and chuckled, “Of course it’s up.” That surprised me. As I write this, the Chinese markets (both the index based in Hong Kong and the one based in Shanghai) have been down for the last couple of days.

What about investing in China? In case you don’t follow the news, China has two major markets and a few minor ones and I’ve noticed them all being lumped together as “Chinese markets.” For instance, Hong Kong’s main index, known as the Hang Seng Index, has long been the “Chinese market” because it has been open to foreign investors longer than its Shanghai counterpart, probably because it was run by the British until 1997. However, Hong Kong is its own entity, full of Chinese and foreign money. Shanghai’s index, known as the Shanghai Stock Exchange or SSEC, however, is considered the “mainland index” which is where Chinese investors put their money, ie, those who live in the big country known as China and NOT on one of its islands (such as Hong Kong or Macau).

Recently those two indices were connected by way of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Connect program which enabled investors from the mainland and Hong Kong to trade on both exchanges without needing to go through a special broker.

Anyway, that’s all for now.


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