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When Communism meets Capitalism, it sells…

By no means do I have an artistic mind, but simply being a normal human being, I can distinguish something which is eye-catching, creative, and meaningful, from those of inferior in terms of these criteria. Across the Globe, from London to Hong Kong, Beijing to New York, these pieces by Wang Guangyi (王广义) achieved great success in every auction event. With no doubt, he is one of the stars and top-selling contemporary artists in the world, representing Asia. Other Asian contemporary  artists that I like includes Yoshimoto Nara, (奈良美智), and Zhang Xiaogang (张晓刚).

Remember one day (about one or two years ago), I walked down the infamous Bond Street in London, and stopped by a newly open art gallery. Through the window I looked into the space and a piece from this ‘Great Criticism’ Series caught my eyes. It was shocking. The concept is simple, but the collision of value system from two worlds with eye-catching colour is effective in offering people a world of imagination - artistic, humorous, and ironic… well I wish I have a larger word bank to describe. Anyway, at the end of the day, all I can conclude is when communism collides capitalism, it sells…

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Tags: Arts, wang guangyi, yoshimoto nara, zhang xiaogang

失落隨想

好像很久沒有update了，其實之前都會有寫一些東西，不過就是沒有按那個‘publish’鍵，也不曉得為什么。

幾個小時前剛剛出完‘夜街’回來，其實很久沒有晚上出去了。今天只是和朋友們去看了出電影，然后找了個地方喝了兩杯茶。但卻不知為何，回家以后覺得很down很失落。

以前大學的時候，就算晚上出去玩回家后都已經倒下就睡，如果有今天這種感覺現在都已經影像模糊了。今天真的很怪，整晚完全沒有酒精也沒有強勁的音樂，但是這種失落感真的讓人很不爽。更令人難過的是腦子里一直有一些以前不好記憶的flashback，而且不止今天，最近幾周晚上我也一直repeat同樣內容的夢——真的很折磨人，我覺得我快瘋了。

算了，說說別的。今天看了一出電影——wanted，老實說這電影雖說特效不錯，但storyline真的超扯超爛的。

……無話可說了……

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投資日志26/06/08 - 推薦股票

以下列表中為近期券商推薦股票，另附個人意見

股票名稱	股票代號	券商推薦	個人推薦
瑞福進取	150001		推薦
招商銀行	600036		推薦
景興紙業	002067	推薦
冀東水泥	000401	推薦	推薦
洵興股份	002098	推薦
金地集團	600383	推薦
宜科科技	002036	推薦
中金黃金	600489	推薦	推薦
新華醫療	600587	推薦
桂林旅游	000978	推薦
上海萊仕	002252	推薦

 

Disclaimer: Investment can rise as well as fall. The author of this article is excluded and not be responsible for any loss and/ or liability incurred by anyone investing based on the opinion of this article.

Tags: China, Recommendation, Stock, 投资日志

Risks Transpiring in Asia

Pessimistically speaking, recent economic development in individual Asian countries/ regions has revealed some interesting facts which may combine and echo into speculation of a potential crisis rivals the AFC ‘97. (Photo: Landing or Crashing? - by me)

Things have really gone worse around the globe after the housing bubble burst in the US and the UK. With recovery 6-12 months ahead, some recent figures released by these Asian economies has indicated troubles with this enormous engine which has been fuelling the world economy in the past few years. The economic figures are shown below, which deserve a good study.

China:

GDP Growth 2007: 11.9% (fuelling inflation growth)

Current Inflation: April 8.5%; May 7.7% 

Food as % of consumer price basket: 32%

Current Interest Rate: 7.47% (Lending market for commercial property market virtually stalled)

Risk of housing market crash (already happened in some parts)

Reconstruction projects after the Sichuan Earthquake probably drives up GDP and Inflation a bit despite the government’s effort to cool down the economy

As oil price breaches US$130, there is more pressure on inflation, if not SOE oil company’s profitability (downstream price control by the government, and China is an NOI)

Hong Kong SAR:

Inflation pressure (Latest: 5.4%)

Soaring property price 28.2% year on year (triumph goes to Singapore 29.8%), unsustainable

Echo by low interest rate level (-ve real)

There could be an outflow of capital in the financial market (daily average trading volume dropped by 40-50%)

India:

High inflation: current at 8.1%

Food as % of consumer price basket: 60%

Slowing growth: current - 9%, forecast ‘08 - 7.8%

Stock market: average P/E 28

Forecast budget deficit ‘08: 9.4% of GDP

Vietnam:

The current financial disaster zone

Current Inflation: 25%

Current Interest rate: 12%

Falling value of currency: Vietnamese Dong (1 year future down 40% against US$ - unconfirmed)

Stock market: fallen almost 60% since Jan 08

Falling property market: 20-50% (unconfirmed)

Social instability: 300 strikes in the past 6 months

All data comes from the Economist, the Time, and other online or government sources. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of these figures. I think we should all put these bits of pieces into a bigger picture and reconsider our position in terms of investing…

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Tags: Asia, China, Economy, GDP, Hong Kong, India, Inflation, Interest Rate, Real Estate, Risk, Vietnam

看圖說話：懷念太陽咖啡

Once upon a time, 在倫敦Soho, 唐人街, 和Convent Garden的交匯處有一家我蠻喜歡的咖啡店。咖啡店的名字已經就不起來了，可能是我一向不善于記名字。里面除了有像火車硬座似的木制桌椅、各種誘人的點心和現點現做的薄餅外，最特別的要數那超級可愛、親切、人性化的咖啡（形容詞像可可粉一樣，看完上面的照片后自己可以隨便加）。

其實在咖啡上繪下圖案的做法應該不止他們一家。有一次我在另外一家咖啡店也看到過，只不過下入為主讓我認定這是這家店的特色。以前三不五時約上三五知己在此小聚是我現在的美好回憶。可是人去樓空，當初在這兒認識的朋友至今大多離開，而這家店亦易手搖身變成一家意式餐廳。這杯Latte和那火車硬座似的木制桌椅一樣一去不復返。現在每次經過看入店內我都奢望它能回復原貌。

Two years after two years, two years after two years, ten years coming lar… 在英國這么多年，不曉得為什么我越來越覺得這里很陌生，也不曉得到底還有什么值得我留下。也許是那咖啡店隔壁的算命老人說我注定一生是個旅行者的預言開始靈驗了，也許是我的“人群恐懼癥”或“憂郁自閉癥”嚴重了，又或許只是我只是擔心太多得了“幻想癥”而已。

咖啡店的名字我忘了，里面的食物其實我也不太感興趣，就連Latte的味道究竟是否比Starbucks的好喝我也分不清楚。生命中的點滴隨著時間逝去，卻在記憶中留下一絲線索，讓人回憶、回味……

Tags: Coffee, 看圖說話