China surpass US in web dominance

Beijing - No.1 again. I did an article once about China being No.1 and now the news that China has become the world's largest Internet market. The first nation to unseat the United States in worldwide Web domination.

China has 220 million internet users at the end of 2007 verus US, 217 million. All this means that e-commerce will soon take off in China with its huge Web population serving a potential customer base. China is already the world's largest factory. Besides exporting to the world, China will also be buying goods and services from the world.

An additional note is that 23 per cent of China Internet users access the Web from mobile devices. The nation is leapfrogging in technological advancement, consolidating its position as a superpower in more ways than one.

Ref: ST Mar 18, 2008

Renaissance in China

China - Every where I go there will always be some article about China. China's development and growth has been more than phenomenal. In November, I went to Sydney and everyone is talking about China. Why? because China is now Australia's largest export market and it is the real reason for the strong Australian dollar and booming economy. Sydney taxi drivers talk about how China has made Western Australia a booming state and made many people there rich.

In such a short period of time, China has become an economic Juggernaut:
- World largest mobile phone subscribers and still growing...
- 3rd largest economy in the World - by end of 2007, China will overtake Germany to be the 3rd largest economy in the World
- Bringing more than 100 million people out of poverty in 10 years

World's Largest Steel Producer - China surpassed the US to become the World's largest steel producer in 1997 (10 years ago). China's mills have increased their output five fold over the decade, to about 38% of the world's total.
Reference:
IHT

World's Largest Exporter - In September 2005, OECD stated that China could be the World's largest exporter by 2010, but during the first six months of 2006, China has surpassed the United States as being the world's largest exporter. Only five years ago, the United States exported more than double the amount of China.
Reference:
Manufacturing News
OECD press release

World's biggest CO2 Emitter - The International Energy Agency has predicted that China's carbon emissions would not equal those of the US until 2010 . But in 2006, accordingly to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, China has already overtaken US as the world's biggest CO2 emitter.
Reference:
IEA Press release
Guardian UK
NY Times

Beijing Duck, so delicious

BEIJING - You have not tasted Beijing till you had your Beijing Duck. I have tried numerous Beijing Duck but this restaurant in Beijing was the best ever. Beijing or Peking Duck it is the same. Peking is the former name for the Brits that cannot pronounce Beijing.

Restaurant: Beijing DaDong Roast Duck Restaurant -

The dish is mostly prized for the thin, crispy skin with authentic versions of the dish serving mostly the skin and little meat. Most Chinese restaurants will make two dishes out of one duck -- one with thin slices of skin with a small layer of fat, or none at all, underneath, and another one with the duck meat. The latter is often a stir-fry dish or made into duck soup.

Smog covered Beijing...

BEIJING - The flight from Singapore took about 5hrs to reach Beijing. The plane was packed like on most SQ flights. The last time I was in Beijing was more than 7 years ago. I don't remember the city being covered with so much smog. It would be amazing to see how the municipal government plans to rid of the smog covered city especially since the Beijing Olympics is only next year.

Apart from that, there are many foreigners everywhere trying to catch a glimpse of what ancient Beijing was. Beijing has a rich culture and for new comers it would be good to visit the Great Wall of China, Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, Summer Palace, etc. I have visited these places of interest before and would like to revisit them again next trip.

I stayed at the Trader Hotel (part of the Shangri-La group) @ 1 Jian Guo Men Wai Avenue. The Shangri-La group is owned by a rich Malaysian tycoon family - Kuok, whose family are called the sugar king. They now based themselves out of Hong Kong. The hotel is situated very central and of course near the customer's location. Beijing is easy to navigate as they have 3 big Ring roads around the Forbidden City but the traffic is just bad with about 4 million vehicles plying the Beijing roads and not much of public transport.

The air pollution could be caused by the 4million vehicles plying the roads and also the numerous constructions around the city. Beijing is booming with huge foreign investments pouring into its economy. The Chinese government is also pumping cash into Beijing to built up the city infrastructure to be ready for the Beijing Olympics on 8.8.08. This is a very auspicious Chinese date - signifying great prosperity.

2nd trip to Guangzhou

You can feel the summer heat when you alight from the aircraft at Guangzhou International Airport. Unfortunately, there are no air-conditioning in the aero-bridge so you can feel the heat hitting your skin straight away. The Guangzhou airport is huge and modern.

The taxi took about 45 minutes to reach The Garden Hotel (located at 368, Huanshi East Road) - a five star international hotel. The wall-to-wall panel at the reception area was impressive in gold colour of Chinese impressions. I was expecting a 'shoe-box' size room but surprisingly the rooms are spacious, clean, nicely decorated and comes with free internet access. The lobby is spaceous and gives a grandeur feeling to the hotel with the focal point being the water fall in the garden - with obvious reasons why it is called "The Garden Hotel". A very centrally located hotel with their staff ever willing to help.

This is my second trip to Guangzhou - the last time was via a train from Hong Kong for a day meeting. The city has a dull overcast due to the ever increasing industrial estates polluting the sky which can be felt as far as Hong Kong during certain times of the year.

The local restaurant I tried has a wide Guanzhou cuisine. Bing Sheng - very crowded and the food is local and the price is reasonable too.

The other restaurant was at The Garden Hotel - Peach Blossom restaurant. This is a Cantonese gourmet dishes - the restaurant was well decorated and the food is very good.

Upon my departure, at the immigration check point - you will come across a customer service panel just in front of the immigration officer - you can rate the service by pushing either one of the four buttons. I push the Excellent service and the lady officer said thank you and she smile - probably that simple effort would give her enough points to jump to the next promotion.

Shop, shop till you drop...

Do you know where the largest Mall in the World is? Clue...somewhere in Asia.

I think Malls are finding it hard to be distinct - there are so many malls in Asia that a "Unique Selling Point" is important. Most of the Malls today, have customer service and their level of services are very high - some distinct themselves by call it "Concierge" but basically means the same thing. To attract customers back over and over again is tough - there must a certain awe to going shopping, dinning or be entertained there.

Asian countries are touted to house many of the world's most unique malls and the largest in the World. The malls are known to provide "shoppertainment" with a variety of popular retailers to an array of in-house entertainment such as indoor skiing to theme parks.

Asia is also home to some of the top shopping destinations in the world - Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok. Other countries like Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur are working hard to be in that shoppers leaque. In Singapore, an annual event "Great Singapore Sale" held around mid May and end in July is a place where you shop, shop till you drop...

Singapore - we have the mega shopping distict the "Orchard Road" - it is a long road with many shopping centres and megamalls lining the two sides of Orchard road. The most popular is Ngee Ann City which houses Takashimaya. Good bargains can be found during the Great Singapore Sale. The latest Mall to come onto the Singapore shopping scene is ViVo City located near the harbour front and opposite Sentosa. This is the largest Mall in Singapore.

Bangkok - The luxurious and famous mall is The Siam Paragon but MBK shopping centre (near National Stadium station) is my favourite because it houses over 2,000 retailers in an eight storey mall. Bangkok megamalls are Central World and Seacon Square (was a target of Bangkok bombing on 31 Dec 2006)

Kuala Lumpur - KL have their huge and massive malls with theme parks like Berjaya Times Square . The Cosmo's World located at Berjaya Times Square is the largest in-door theme park in SE Asia. My family spent the whole day at this Theme Park and it was fun - the most exciting station was "Robo Crash" - the electric bum cars which was really fun. Would guess that they might have taken this about 8-9 times. The most scariest was "Space Attack" - which both my wife and my eldest son went was gravity defying. On the whole we had a good time.

The Berjaya Times Square is KL largest shopping mall and has Asia's largest indoor theme park. The Midvalley Megamall (the Golden Screen Cinema @ Midvalley is the largest in Asia with a 18-screens Cineplex). Starhill Gallery and Suria KLCC are well-known Luxury Malls.

KL shopping district is Bintang Walk (stretches from Mariott Hotel to Lot 10 Shopping Centre) where you can find many shopping centres with a leisure concept of alfresco cafe and entertainment outlets. The famous night market is @ Petaling Street (located at Maharajalela monorail station) commonly called "Chinatown" closes at 2am in the morning. I like to walk around this place to experience the colour, sights, sound - people from all walks of life bargaining or just being spectators of this night-life. Just a caution to beware of pick-pockets.

Hong Kong - the most popular is Pacifc Place.

Largest Mall in the World - three of the world's largest mall are in Asia
South China Mall, in Dongguan, China is the largest mall in the world. It has leasable space for over 1,500 stores in approximately 6.5 million square-feet (600,000 square metres) of total floor area.

Golden Resources Shopping Mall, in Beijing, China is the 2nd largest mall in the world. It is 1.5 times the size of Mall of America.

Central World in Bangkok, 3rd largest mall in the world and the largest mall in South East Asia.