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 October 4-8:
Hong Kong Retailers Expect Mainland Chinese To Clean House During Golden Week Holiday
China is in the midst of its second “Golden Week” of the year, which for high-end retailers in Hong Kong translates to throngs of tourist-shoppers from mainland China. This week, the Hong Kong Tourism Board expects around 760,000 mainland tourists to visit the city, a rise of 30% over last year, and many of these visitors are coming with only one thing in mind: high-end, tax-free shopping. As Hong Kong’s Standard reported yesterday, the World Trade Centre in Causeway Bay — a popular spot for Golden Week shoppers — estimates a 27% increase in business over last year to HK$16.5 million (US$2.1 million) and a 22% rise in shoppers to 550,000.
According to another store manager, Chinese tourists have been spending an average of HK$10,000 per person, a rise of about 50% over last year.
Chinese-American Fashion Designers Looking East
At this year’s CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) awards, Chinese-American designers Jason Wu and Alexander Wang took home Swarovski Awards for Womenswear and Accessory Design respectively, touching off a wide-ranging discussion on the growing Asian-American influence in the fashion industry. Last week, Jing Daily explored the place of Chinese and Chinese-Americans in China’s emerging fashion market by looking at the growing potential of Chinese models, and now we’d like to turn the spotlight onto designers.
Chinese-American fashion designers are notable among the Asian-Americans rising in the ranks to become critically acclaimed American designers. At this year’s Spring 2011 New York Fashion Week, Asian Americans fared well with the critics, earning high overall ratings on the New York Times Scorecard roundup each day. Focusing on Chinese-American designers in particular, Jing Daily was interested to see if their heritage has helped boost their sales in China. Here, we look at how they are approaching the Chinese market and their reception there.
Records Tumble At Sotheby’s Asian Art Auction Series In Hong Kong
We’ve kept a close eye on the Asian Art Auction series taking place at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong this week, where strong bidding for top-quality contemporary and traditional art, watches, wine and jewelry brought in a grand total of HK$3.08 billion (US$400 million) — a new record for Sotheby’s Hong Kong and more than its spring and autumn 2009 auctions combined. What stands out about this week’s series, aside from its record-breaking total, is the buying habits of Chinese buyers.
It’s well accepted from an industry viewpoint that Hong Kong, and increasingly mainland, Chinese buyers are highly particular about the items they’re buying but see no problem going far beyond estimates for important works of art or specific vintages of wine.
Last night, Jing Daily had the privilege of attending the first installment of the “Archaeology of Beers: Tastings of Ancient Ales” lecture series at the China Institute in New York, hosted by Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery and Dr. Agnes Hsu, the China Institute’s Resident Scholar and Consulting Archaeologist to the UNESCO World Heritage Center. Taking us through the history of brewing across different cultures and throughout history, the Dogfish Head beers and stories shared by Calagione and historical background presented by Hsu provided attendees with an educational experience that engaged all five senses.
Introducing his company and its mission, Sam Calagione kicked off the evening by treating attendees to a glass of Midas Touch — a recreation of proto-beer residue discovered in Turkey in the tomb of King Midas. First brewed in 2000, Midas Touch was Dogfish Head’s first collaboration with Dr. Patrick McGovern of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the pioneers in the field of molecular archaeology, and remains one of the brewery’s most awarded beers.
Dispatch From Paris: Chinese Artists Included In This Year’s “Nuit Blanche”
This past Saturday marked the 9th edition of “La Nuit Blanche” in Paris. For those unfamiliar with the term, “Nuit Blanche” literally translates to “White Night” or “Sleepless Night.” La Nuit Blanche is an all-night arts festival that takes place every year, promoting artistic installations and performances at several public and private Paris museums, galleries and cultural centers. During La Nuit Blanche, the doors of these institutions are flung open to the public, allowing them to take in the artwork free of charge.
Started in the late 1990s and finally conceptualized internationally by Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë in 2002, over the past 8 years the event has been reproduced around the world in major cities such as St. Petersburg, Berlin, Munich, Montréal, Toronto, Madrid, Lima and Shanghai, which held China’s first Nuit Blanche on June 1st, 2007.