I've posted articles about materialism a few times, and more or less was about HK people (women in particular). Well, here's this generations (and next and so on) luxury shoppers -- Chinese consumers from Mainland China. Of course, people in the industry knows that already (still doesn't stop some HKers with too much money and paid US$5.6m for Andrew Lloyd Webber's wine collection). Jewellers in HK knows that come Friday, Chinese from over the border would flock to HK and buy luxury watches, rings, and other bling. Even just being a normal joe on the train around this period, you can see girls dressed up to the tee for a weekend trip to HK.

This causes problems, as pointed out by FT's article about the property prices in a massive rise.

Not sure about the great power, but definitely great responsibility to keep the HK economy from bursting.

Now all this country (Ireland, I mean) has to do is to tap into this market, if they ever pull their finger out.

Check info about the CNY festival in Dublin at Dublin.ie -- Chinese Near Year 2011. Chinese New Year is on 1st-14th February 2011 and is the year of the Rabbit (metal).

Initially, I was starting to read WSJ¹, and my husband told me to check out a blog response². It's funny how close the poster of the blog article background is sort of similar to mine, born of 1st generation Chinese, parents not totally strict (i.e. piano lessons, gettings straight As, study all the time) and married to a non-Chinese guy. The attitude is certainly a lot different. From the WSJ's article, it represents a form of keeping up with the Joneses by bragging how well they brought their kids with their straight As, playing some musical instruments, etc. I don't really face these situations often, so don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for that. My lasting impression was when I went to visit my aunt in UK with my mom. We headed out to meet up with my Aunt's "friends" in London Chinatown for afternoon dim sum. Nothing unusual there, but surely they don't need to dress up to the tee in designer gear, all blinged up with gold, rolex watch and largest diamonds, and blabbing on about their kids. It was a horrible experience, that was when I was around 15 years old, and I'm in my 30s now! I just wonder how many the non-stereotypical Chinese/Asian parents are living near a large Chinese/Asian community, and does this have an affect on how they raise their children?

It was funny to read the blog and see that her parents considered her successful until she left Google (she thinks so anyway). I, too, had to explain why I left a Sun back in 2005. That was pretty hard considering my Cantonese is passable. I even had problems trying to explain what kind of company Sun was when I joined the company. I didn't even know the word for software engineer till after I left the company. It has changed since the 1st generation arrived in Ireland, and the 2nd generation's way of thinking is so different. I hope when I have kids of my own, I will not force what I would like them to do, but encourage them on what they want. Easier said then done I suppose. Would my wish for my future kids to speak Chinese be a bit too much to ask though, and is this a step towards the stereotypical way my kids are raised?

By the way, some interesting comments here, I especially like the end of this comment. Another comment³ led to this interesting article about the enrollment controversy in Canada.

¹ Wall Street Journal - Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

² Response to WSJ's article

³ Original comment with link to "enrollment controversy in Canada"

Initially, I was starting to read WSJ¹, and my husband told me to check out a blog response². It's funny how close the poster of the blog article background is sort of similar to mine, born of 1st generation Chinese, parents not totally strict (i.e. piano lessons, gettings straight As, study all the time) and married to a non-Chinese guy. The attitude is certainly a lot different. It's their form of keeping up with the Joneses by form of bragging how well they brought their kids with their straight As, playing some musical instruments, etc. I don't really face these situations often, so don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for that. My lasting impression was when I went to visit my aunt in UK with my mom. We headed out to meet up with my Aunt's "friends" in London Chinatown for afternoon dim sum. Nothing unusual there, but surely they don't need to dress up to the tee in designer gear, all blinged up with gold, rolex watch and largest diamonds, and blabbing on about their kids. It was a horrible experience, that was when I was around 15 years old, and I'm in my 30s now!

It was funny to read the blog and see that her parents considered her successful until she left Google (she thinks so anyway). I, too, had to explain why I left a Sun back in 2005. That was pretty hard considering my Cantonese is passable. I even had problems trying to explain what kind of company Sun was when I joined the company. I didn't even know the word for software engineer till after I left the company. It has changed since the 1st generation arrived in Ireland, and the 2nd generation's way of thinking is so different. I hope when I have kids of my own, I will not force what I would like them to do, but encourage them on what they want. Easier said then done I suppose. Would my wish for my future kids to speak Chinese be a bit too much to ask though, and is this a step towards the stereotypical way Chinese kids are raised?

¹ Wall Street Journal - Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

² Response to WSJ's article

I found that most country parks or trails are not that easy to get to unless you know the mini-bus or drive in HK. A hotel will be built near Ting Kok Road¹, close to a trail called Pat Sin Len². Read more...
(Source: The HK Standard)

¹ Google maps - Ting Kok Road

² Lonely Planet - Pat Sin Len

I can't believe it's 2011, beta site is still running. I'm going to poke to get some feedback.

Thanks to all those who still reads my posts, the forum is still a pain (stupid spammers signing up), there's no way to mark it read-only without turning off the board completely, and I don't feel like upgrading it. I will try to port it at some stage though, so it's still available to those who want to chat on the forum.

Anyway, to end on a bright note, I wish everyone a happy, prosperous and healthy new year.

Billy Waters¹ teaching English in China, interesting view on his first Christmas in China, it was in the Irish Times.²

¹ Billy Water's blog

² Irish Times article

What a nice story to read today. A Mainlander new to Hong Kong found herself shy of asking for directions especially on buses (this goes for most of us anyway), but she didn't want to be seen as ignorant, often gets lost on the buses. A volunteer program from KMB and Friends of KMB to help newcomers how to use the bus system, check routes online and phone. It really is a good idea.

More info:-
* Kowloon Motor Bus Company
* Friends of KMB
* “FRIENDS OF KMB” won Championship in “2009-2010 Best Corporate Volunteer Service Project Competition”

(Source: The Standard)

Interesting, with people's interests in learning Mandarin over here, Beijing Foreign Studies University has a course for teaching Irish. Its policy is to teach all the languages in the EU. Read more...

(Source: Irish Independent)

It's the cheesey craze in Mainland China (amongst those with money anyway). Money spent on weddings over there is just as high as over here!?! What happened to stuff being cheaper in Mainland China?

A company is offering couples to make a video of how they met, proposed, or even just something out of the movies, which basically what it is. It makes the special couple feel like they are movie stars.

I've seen lines of bride and grooms queuing up at Avenue of the Stars in Hong Kong, so they can have their wedding photos taken. And this is in really hot and humid over thirty degree heat! I know taking photos before the couple ties the knot a few months before is the norm over there, I even wrote about it contrasting on the run up to my own wedding .

Do Chinese couples over here as well as 2nd generation Chinese who get married do things differently than traditional Irish and/or Chinese weddings? I definitely did.

(Source: BBC Online)

A little late, had a last minute Christmas dinner to prepare yesterday as I didn't make it back home down in Limerick. We had back-up bought the day before, was disappointed I didn't make it back down, but spent Christmas with my family here in Dublin was an awesome alternative. Although I got to try out my cooking skills (not much of one, but luck things turn out every time). So I made:-

• Roast leg of lamb
• Roast stuffed roll of pork
• Stuffing balls (sausage meat, fresh chestnuts all the the way from Italy, breadcrumbs, seasoning)
• Roast potatoes ❅
• Mash potatoes ❅
• Red cabbage ❅
• Sides: green beans and carrots
• Gravy from chicken stock, juices of roast lamb, red cabbage

❅ My hubby helped with these, time was ticking and beeping at me, so an extra helper is nice to have.

Yep, all that for 3 persons!

I wonder what other Chinese families had for their Christmas meals, traditional Chinese or Western style dinner?

Anyhoo, hope you had a Happy Christmas, wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous new year. Enjoy the rest of your holidays!

So China is banning mixing English with Chinese in the press, but if English must be used, a Chinese translation must be provided. I wonder if this covers Hong Kong press as well. Cantonese-speakers are known for mixing in English word(s) into their normal conversation, so this spills into publications (more so in gossip columns, fashion, and other topical sections in mags/newspapers). Read more...

(via BBC News online)

So a Chinese teapot valued at €100 was sold for €50k by a bidder from Beijing over the phone.

The teapot was made in China during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng who ruled between 1723 and 1735.

Read more...

(Source: Irish Times Online)

Sad to see this, space is scarce in HK, so landlords have a full run of jacking up the rents, but firms are considering leaving HK. I wonder if the big developer's who own these buildings are suffering (their stock, I mean). This will dent HK as a financial hub. Read more...
(Source: Independent.ie)

We've been thrilled that thousands of children were able to escape the inner city for fresh air at one of our camps in upstate New York, or enjoyed their stay with volunteer host families this year.

(Via Edwin's Facebook comment) Alex Hofford Photography: Hong Kong Shark Fin Sidewalk.. Unbelievable, right? Disgusted? Totally.

Dressing up a panda so the baby panda won't freak out being picked up away from its mom. Check out the pics and article anyway, it's a hoot.
(Source: The Guardian online)

Whereas Ireland faces mass emigration of its young professionals because of its current crisis, HK's young are thinking of leaving due to HK's worsening pollution.
(Via BBC News)

A major HK-listed jeweler's stock fell when gold content in some 18K gold products were removed from sale as it didn't meet Beijing Association on its content of gold. The HK jeweler's spokesperson was reassuring people in HK that these products were only found in Mainland stores. Given I'm not surprised as they have a very big HK customer base, their other competitors like Chow Tai Fook must be taking advantage on this news. Also many Chinese will travel from the Mainland to HK to go shopping, especially for jewellery. Just have a look at some of the photos what you normally see in a typical jeweler's.

Read more:-

• Bloomberg - Chow Sang Sang Shares Fall After Removing Gold Items at Stores
• The Standard - Jeweler bites bullet in gold checks
• Global Times - Gold purity scrutinized

This is pretty heart-warming given the current bad news all round. A baby girl, Rachel, who was born in China to a Canadian father (born in Libya) and her Chinese mom but couldn't get citizenship as the couple's not married. Because of her father's origin of birth, Canada denied citizenship to her as well. Until they found a silver lining, the father of the baby's father was born in Ireland before emigrating to Canada and because of Irish citizenship rules, it's enough to give little Rachel her citizenship. After 14 months in limbo, she can now call Ireland her home. Told you it was heart-warming. :-) Read more...

(Via Independent.ie)