Welcome to Jing Daily’s China Luxury Brief: the day’s top news on the business of luxury and culture in China, all in one place. Look below for the top stories for December 13, 2013.#
1. Could Mid-Market Be The Way To Go For Slumping Baijiu In 2014?#
"Kweichow Moutai Co Ltd reported its weakest first-half profit growth since 2001, and its annual growth is expected to post at the slowest rate since it listed. Furthermore, its bottle prices have plummeted: a 2,000 RMB ($330) premium bottle was sold on discount website JiuXian for almost half that."
2. The Wizard Of Macau#
"'When we work with Stephen he's always eager to have something special,' says Bastien, as he produces one of the designs Graff has prepared for Hung. It is a watch face adorned with diamonds in the shape of Hung's own visage. A line of rubies is planned to represent Hung's signature look: a swath of bright red hair sweeping across his forehead."
[WSJ]
3. Chinese Tax Bureau Admits To Keeping Personal Pleasure Resorts#
"Taxmen in Heilongjiang province were discovered to be keeping at least two luxury mountain resorts and a farm, built with taxpayers’ funds, that supplied a private cache of fresh meat and produce to officials."
[SCMP]
4. China CCTV Starbucks Report Set Off Storm Inside Network#
(Flickr/ ♥braker)
"'I couldn't find you a single person at CCTV who genuinely agreed with that report. Everybody thought it was very silly,' said the person with direct knowledge of the segment."
[Reuters]
5. Fosun Group’s Guo Guangchang: Marrying Chinese Momentum To Global Resources#
Club Med in Guilin.
"The new tourism group is overseeing our traditional assets like the Yuyuan Garden shopping mall in Shanghai, as well as Club Med, the French chain in which we invested as a minority shareholder three years ago, and Folli Follie, the Greek fashion group we invested in two years ago."
6. LVMH Targets Underprivileged Chinese-Americans For Retail Training Program#
Louis Vuitton in New York City. (Flickr/Ze Carlos Barretta)
"Luxury retailers find a challenge in locating Chinese-speaking retail staff to serve the massive number of Chinese tourists entering their stores across the world. As a result, luxury conglomerate LVMH has teamed up with the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), Parsons The New School for Design, and the poverty-fighting Robin Hood Foundation to create a special retail training program for Chinese-Americans."
7. Gold Mao Statue Worth 100m Yuan Unveiled In Shenzhen#
"A team of 20 artists took eight months to complete the 100 million-yuan (HK$126million) work, which is accented with precious stones and rests on a base of white jade, CNR said."
[AFP]
8. Fairmont Nanjing Opens Its Doors#
"'The city of Nanjing is one of the fastest growing travel destinations in China and we are delighted to open Fairmont Nanjing at such an opportune time,' said Martin Leclerc, General Manager, Fairmont Nanjing."
