Jing Daily’s Top Posts for the Week#
In case you missed them the first time around, here are some of Jing Daily’s top posts for the week of April 25-29:
Interview: Alison Mary Ching Yeung, Creative Director of Mary Ching Footwear
With the world’s attention on the booming mega-cities of China, Chinese fashion brands are quickly stepping into the spotlight. As the economy grows rapidly, so have the taste, habits and purchasing power of the Chinese people. As a consequence, local Chinese brands are moving to fulfill demand both at home and abroad. While in par, these up and coming Chinese brands are quick to learn successful retail strategies, marketing campaigns and powerful advertising from foreign brands entering China.
As the founder of Mary Ching, my vision is to create the first iconic Chinese luxury footwear and accessories brand. Vogue Editor Angelica Cheung once told me, “Keep doing what you do, as you are the only one doing it.” Her statement reflects how big the opportunity still is today in China.
CHAR Brings Contemporary Australian Cuisine To Shanghai’s Bund
Perched atop the Hotel Indigo on the Bund, CHAR is the newest in the ever-growing Shanghai restaurant scene. Focusing on premium-quality beef and seafood, CHAR is currently the only restaurant in China that imports Blackmore’s Wagyu beef from Australia, complementing its menu with fresh local produce. CHAR’s sophisticated interior, designed by Hirsch Bedner Associates, features a fine dining area, open grill kitchen, wine and cocktail lounge, two terraces, and three private dining rooms.
Executive Chef Julie Donohoe expertly applies her Australian training to CHAR’s menu, particularly in dishes like its signature “Char Indulgence,” which highlights the quality of Blackmore’s Wagyu, raised for 600 days using traditional Japanese methods. Among Shanghai’s steadily increasing number of steakhouses, CHAR is also unique in presenting touches such as a selection of handcrafted steak knives, as well as paintbrushes for applying sauces and selection of exotic salts.
High-End Chinese Tea Makes New European Inroads
This week, the Tieguanyin Association of Anxi, Fujian province — “China’s tea capital” and the hometown of Tieguanyin (铁观音, “Iron Goddess of Mercy”) oolong tea — signed an partnership agreement with a European representative to see Anxi Tieguanyin once again enter the European premium tea market, following a 100-year absence. During the signing ceremony, five of the most prestigious tea farms from Anxi announced they would join together as a single group under the unified brand name “Anxi Tieguanyin” for all European operations. The five tea enterprises involved in the Anxi Tieguanyin effort are Eight Horses (八马), Hua Xiang Yuan (华祥苑), Zhong Min Wei Shi (中闽魏氏), Ping Shan (坪山) and San He (三和).
Anxi Tieguanyin, one of China’s “Ten Famous Teas” (中国十大名茶), is considered by many to be China’s quintessential oolong tea. Anxi county, which lies adjacent to Xiamen in China’s southeastern Fujian province, has the ideal geographical and climatic conditions to grow and process Tieguanyin, and as such Anxi Tieguanyin has been highly prized among tea aficionados for centuries.
Jiepang, China’s Foursquare, Teams Up With 2011 Strawberry Music Festival
Running from April 30-May 2 at the Tongzhou Canal Park, the third annual Strawberry Music Festival will present three days of non-stop music from hundreds of Chinese and international groups. Unlike its last two incarnations, this year’s Strawberry Music Festival will also be held simultaneously in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, making it, according to the Chinese-language news portal Hexun, by far the largest festival yet.
The Suzhou “annex” isn’t the only change we’ll see this year, though. Fresh off the heels of its recent partnership with Burberry, Jiepang, the Chinese answer to location-based service Foursquare, will join together with the Strawberry Music Festival to promote Jiepang’s newly launched NFC (Near Field Communication) function.
Han Han: “Having The Time Is The Greatest Luxury”
At a recent charity event at Shanghai’s Hyatt on the Bund, the popular blogger and author, occasional F1 racer, and Hublot spokesperson Han Han discussed his budding love affair with high-end timepieces. Held in celebration of the recent Taobao auction of a one-off Han Han Hublot watch, at the event Han Han and Jean-Claude Biver of Hublot presented a check for 260,000 yuan (US$40,000) to the Jet Li One Foundation, 160,000 yuan of which came from the auction and the other 100,000 yuan donated by Han Han himself.
Following the presentation of the check by Han and Biver, the always witty Han Han spoke with MSN China’s Luxury Channel about his recent foray into product endorsement, his interest in luxury watches, and whether he considers himself a philanthropist.