#Wang Jianlin of the Dalian Wanda group.

[dlyarchitecture]

[juventudepsiquica]

Ser o maior bilionário da China pode ser um grande problema

Ser bilionário na China é bom, mas é bom evitar ser o maior deles. Ser um ricaço pode atrair atenção exagerada do Partido, que geralmente evita monopólios e endividamento excessivo.

E chegar ao topo da cadeia atrai esse tipo de escrutínio de uma autoridade toda-poderosa.

Wang Jianlin, fundador da coporação imobiliária Dalian Wanda Group Co. Ltd. e a pessoa mais rica da China  em 2016 , foi forçado pelo governo a se desfazer de seus ativos no exterior um ano depois, quando Pequim iniciou a sério uma campanha de desalavancagem corporativa. Hui Ka Yan,  o mais rico da China em 2017 , foi convidado a reduzir a dívida  depois que seu China Evergrande Group, o desenvolvedor mais endividado do mundo, cruzou as novas “ três linhas vermelhas ” do país .

O bilionário mais conhecido exemplificado por Pequim é, claro, Jack Ma, fundador do Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. De acordo com várias notícias, o presidente Xi Jinping  retirou pessoalmente a oferta pública inicial de US $ 35 bilhões do Ant Group  no início de novembro, furioso com as críticas contundentes do bilionário da tecnologia aos bancos estatais da China . Pony Ma, da Tencent Holdings Ltd., que nos últimos anos disputou o primeiro lugar com Jack, não foi poupado. Ele foi recentemente chamado pelos vigilantes de Pequim para  discutir questões de conformidade antitruste. 

Segundo o texto, a melhor forma de evitar chegar ao topo da cadeia é fazer grandes doações e diluir ações.

Se você precisa ser o mais rico da China, também deve ser o mais filantrópico do país.

[Bloomberg]

[correctsuccess]

Malaysia charges Top Glove over poor quality of worker housing BloombergChina Tycoon Who Lost $32 Billion Tries to Salvage an Empire(Bloomberg) -- Wang Jianlin was once Asia’s richest particular person, busy increasing his Dalian Wanda Group Co. by buying trophy belongings abroad, all aided by straightforward credit score.Now the 66-year-old doesn’t even determine amongst China’s high 30 richest folks, having misplaced about $32 billion of his private fortune... #Charges #correct_success #Credit_Cards #credit_score #Finance #Financial_health #Glove #housing #Malaysia #poor #quality #Top #worker

[olko71]

New Post has been published on All about business online

New Post has been published on http://yaroreviews.info/2020/12/jack-ma-makes-ant-offer-to-placate-chinese-regulators

Jack Ma Makes Ant Offer to Placate Chinese Regulators

Until recently, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma had a reputation for well-cultivated political ties.

Photo: ludovic marin/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

By

Lingling Wei

Close

Lingling Wei

Updated Dec. 20, 2020 7:09 pm ET

As Jack Ma was trying to salvage his relationship with Beijing in early November, the beleaguered Chinese billionaire offered to hand over parts of his financial-technology giant, Ant Group, to the Chinese government, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

“You can take any of the platforms Ant has, as long as the country needs it,” Mr. Ma, China’s richest man, proposed at an unusual sit-down with regulators, the people said.

The offer, not previously reported, appeared a mea culpa of sorts from Mr. Ma as he found himself face to face with officials from China’s central bank and agencies overseeing securities, banking and insurance. The Nov. 2 meeting took place a few days before Ant was supposed to go public, in what would have been the world’s biggest initial public offering.

Mr. Ma had angered Beijing by lashing out in a speech in October at President Xi Jinping’s signature campaign to control financial risks, saying it stifled innovation. Now, the regulators had called the meeting to voice their concerns about Ant’s business model.

His olive-branch offer at the meeting failed at saving the IPO and Beijing has since stepped up efforts to rein in China’s Big Tech giants.

“Ant Group cannot confirm the details of the meeting with regulators held on Nov. 2, 2020, because it is confidential,” a spokesman at the company said.

The suspension of Ant’s share sale of more than $34 billion that followed the Nov. 2 meeting was just the start. It was followed by a barrage of actions against what is dubbed the “platform economy,” or internet-based businesses championed by large tech firms.

Mr. Xi personally ordered Chinese regulators to investigate the risks posed by Ant, according to Chinese officials with knowledge of the matter, and to shut down Ant’s IPO.

People close to China’s financial regulators say there is no decision, for now, to take Mr. Ma up on his offer. One plan being considered involves subjecting Ant to tighter capital and leverage regulations, according to the people. Under that scenario, state banks or other types of state investors would buy into Ant to help cover any potential capital shortfall as a result of the tightened rules.

Days before Chinese fintech giant Ant Group was scheduled to go public in what would have been the world’s largest listing, regulators put plans on hold. WSJ’s Quentin Webb explains the sudden turn of events and what the IPO suspension means for Ant’s future. Photo: Aly Song/Reuters

“The Chinese state has already effectively nationalized some of the financial infrastructure Ant built, such as the interbank payment system that became NetsUnion,” said Martin Chorzempa, a research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics who specializes in China’s fintech sector, referring to the firm now controlled by the central bank that clears transactions between banks and third-party payment providers. “So there is a precedent for nationalizing platforms that are viewed as serving a critical policy purpose.”

The government under Mr. Xi’s leadership in recent years has shown a resolve to bring to heel private conglomerates viewed as undisciplined—however politically invincible their founders might have appeared.

Property tycoon Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group, for instance, has been forced to sell assets, shrink its business and pay back bank loans. Anbang Insurance Group, another private high roller, has been taken over by the state, while its founder Wu Xiaohui in 2018 was sentenced to 18 years in prison for fraud and embezzlement. In addition, HNA Group, an airlines-and-hotel conglomerate, has had to pull back on aggressive acquisitions overseas and sell assets.

Until recently, Mr. Ma also had a reputation for well-cultivated political ties. He hasn’t made any public appearance since his Oct. 24 speech.

For years, companies including Ant and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. BABA -1.68% , both controlled by Mr. Ma, and internet conglomerate Tencent Holdings had largely enjoyed relatively little government oversight of their quest to build and expand internet-based payment, lending and other businesses.

With Tencent’s WeChat and other apps developed by these firms, millions of Chinese consumers and small-business owners can make a purchase, hail a taxi, execute an investment or even take out a loan with a swipe on their smartphones. Firms such as Alibaba and Tencent have become so successful that Chinese leaders including Premier Li Keqiang regularly hail the use of the internet and big data as crucial in driving future economic growth.

Chinese President Xi Jinping personally made the decision to halt the initial public offering of Ant Group, which would have been the world’s biggest.

Photo: aly song/Reuters

However, Beijing’s leadership also has shown increasing unease with the wealth and influence these firms have built as well as the risks posed by their lightly regulated activities, such as online lending made popular by Mr. Ma’s Ant. In addition, the big tech firms in some instances have complicated the government’s own effort to use data and technology to tighten social control.

In November, China released draft regulations aimed at preventing these firms from colluding to share sensitive consumer data, forming agreements to block out smaller rivals and engaging in other anticompetitive behavior. Earlier this month, a meeting chaired by Mr. Xi of the Communist Party’s Politburo pledged to strengthen antimonopoly efforts next year and to “prevent the disorderly expansion of capital”—a message seen as portending a larger crackdown on internet giants.

Chinese officials say the leadership is particularly concerned that highflying entrepreneurs such as Mr. Ma keep attracting capital while exposing the financial system to greater risks.

Even before the halt of Ant’s IPO, for instance, regulators were already worried about the frenzy over the deal. The stock sale would have valued the company at more than the likes of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group.

Shortly after the Politburo meeting, China’s antitrust regulator fined Alibaba and a Tencent subsidiary for some acquisitions made in years past—again signaling the days of laissez-faire are over.

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The trend has its parallel elsewhere in the world. The U.S., for example, is stepping up its antitrust investigations into Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google to determine whether they abused their dominance of social media and online search and advertising, respectively, in the internet economy.

In China’s case, however, state-owned enterprises tower over the country’s telecommunications, financial services, airlines, energy and other sectors. By emphasizing “antimonopoly” now, Mr. Xi is squarely aiming at China’s internet giants that have harnessed unprecedented data on millions of Chinese consumers and businesses.

Alibaba and Tencent have sometimes heeded demands from law enforcement and other authorities to access user data, but they have so far resisted routinely sharing swaths of data that could help the government in other ways, such as building a consumer-credit scoring system akin to FICO used in the U.S.

The country’s central bank and traditional lenders don’t have the direct line to China’s free-spending younger consumers as Ant does. The company’s Alipay app is used by one billion Chinese, which has enabled it to collect troves of consumer data and use proprietary algorithms to assess individuals’ creditworthiness. But its data so far hasn’t been fully integrated into the central bank’s credit-scoring system, and such information gaps positioned Ant as a valuable partner to originate microloans for banks, especially smaller ones. In return, Ant pocketed handsome profits.

For now, regulators are debating whether Alipay or any other parts of Ant’s business represent monopolistic competition and if so, what actions should be taken against the firm.

“The odds of nationalizing at least parts of the company are not zero,” says a government adviser in Beijing.

—Jing Yang contributed to this article.

Write to Lingling Wei at lingling.wei@wsj.com

Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Appeared in the December 21, 2020, print edition as ‘Ant Group’s Ma Made Offer in Bid To Placate Beijing.’

[fabioferreiraroc]

Os signos do zodíaco com o maior número de bilionários

Uma empresa britânica analisou a data de nascimento dos 250 empresários mais ricos do mundo, que estão no topo da lista da Forbes, e descobriu quais são os signos com o maior número de bilionários. Pelos resultados da pesquisa, os librianos são os mais bem-sucedidos, correspondendo a mais de 10% do total dos analisados.

Segundo os preceitos da astrologia, cada signo tem características particulares, que podem interferir positiva ou negativamente no sucesso de cada pessoa. A empresa britânica UK Domain analisou a data de nascimento dos 250 empresários mais ricos do mundo, que estão no topo da lista da Forbes, e descobriu quais são os signos com o maior número de bilionários. Pelos resultados da pesquisa, os librianos são os mais bem-sucedidos, correspondendo a mais de 10% do total. Empresários como o estilista Ralph Lauren e Alice Walton, herdeira do Walmart, são alguns dos librianos de sucesso. A Bula reuniu esses e outros nomes conhecidos em um ranking, que elenca quais os signos com a maior probabilidade de produzir bilionários.

1 — Libra (23 de setembro a 22 de outubro): 27 bilionários

Famosos: O estilista Ralph Lauren, o empresário sueco Stefan Persson; Liliane Bettencourt, a maior acionista da L’Oréal; e Alice Walton, herdeira do Walmart.

2 — Peixes (19 de fevereiro a 20 de março): 22 bilionários

Famosos: Bernard Arnault, presidente da empresa de artigos de luxo LVMH;  Rupert Murdoch, acionista majoritário da News Corporation; e Michael Dell, fundador da Dell.

3 — Câncer (21 de junho a 22 de julho): 20 bilionários

Famosos: Richard Branson, fundador no grupo Virgin; Elon Musk, CEO da SpaceX e da Tesla Motors; e Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, herdeira de 25% do conglomerado Heineken.

4 — Touro (20 de abril a 20 de maio): 20 bilionários

Famoso: Mark Zuckerberg, fundador do Facebook.

5 — Leão (23 de julho a 22 de agosto): 20 bilionários

Famosos: Larry Ellison, cofundador da Oracle Corporation; Sergey Brin, cofundador do Google; e Sheldon Adelson, proprietário da Las Vegas Sand Corporation

6 — Escorpião (23 de outubro a 21 de novembro): 16 bilionários

Famosos: Laurene Powell Jobs, fundadora do Emerson College e viúva de Steve Jobs; Wang Jianlin, fundador do Dalian Wanda Group; e Bill Gates, criador da Microsoft.

7 — Gêmeos (21 de maio a 20 de junho): 15 bilionários

Famosos: Leonard Blavatnik, da Access Industries; David Thomson; presidente da Thomson Corporation; e Jim Walton, herdeiro do WalMart.

8 — Áries (21 de março a 19 de abril): 15 bilionários

Famosos: Steve Ballmer, empresário e ex-presidente executivo da Microsoft; Mukesh Ambani, o empresário mais rico da Ásia; Amancio Ortega, fundador do grupo Inditex; e Larry Page, ex-diretor do Google.

9 — Aquário (20 de janeiro a 18 de fevereiro): 12 bilionários

Famosos: Michael Bloomberg, fundador da Bloomberg L.P.; Paul Allen, cofundador da Microsoft; e Carlos Slim Helú, empresário de telecomunicações mexicano.

10 — Virgem (23 de agosto a 22 de setembro): 11 bilionários

Famosos: Warren Buffett, maior acionista da Berkshire Hathaway e investidor; Jack Ma, cofundador do Alibaba Group; e Jorge Paulo Lemann, brasileiro dono do grupo InBev e de outras corporações.

11 — Sagitário (22 de novembro a 21 de dezembro): 8 bilionários

Famosos: Simon e David Reuben, empresários indianos; e Abigail Johnson, presidente da Fidelity Investments Personal and Workplace Investing.

12 — Capricórnio (22 de dezembro a 19 de janeiro)

Famosos: Vladimir Potanin, dono do conglomerado russo Interros; Joseph Safra, fundador do banco Safra; e Jeff Bezos, CEO da Amazon.

Os signos do zodíaco com o maior número de bilionários Publicado primeiro em https://www.revistabula.com

[bdscuatui]

Tham vọng bành trướng toàn cầu của ông trùm BĐS Wang Jianlin đã phải nhận về "cái kết đắng", tập đoàn của vị doanh nhân này liên tục phải bán bớt tài sản nước ngoài để cứu vãn hoạt động kinh doanh.

Ông trùm BĐS Wang Jianlin (Ảnh: Getty Images).

Tập đoàn của tỉ phú Wang Jianlin phải tiếp tục thanh lí tài sản nước ngoài để trang trải bớt nợ nần. Wanda Hotel Development, công ty con thuộc tập đoàn Dalian Wanda Group đã đồng ý bán 90% phần vốn tại Vista Tower tại Chicago cho công ty bất động sản Mỹ Magellan Parcel với giá 270 triệu USD.

Theo Forbes, thương vụ trên dự kiến sẽ đem lại khoản l��i nhuận ròng trước thuế 94 triệu HKD (12,1 triệu USD) cho Wanda Hotel Development. Công ty đầu tư vào dự án nhà chọc trời 101 tầng Vista Tower kể từ năm 2014.

Báo cáo Wanda Hotel Development gửi cho sở giao dịch chứng khoán có đoạn: "Do dự án bất động sản tại Chicago vẫn đang trong giai đoạn xây dựng, việc chuyển nhượng sẽ giúp tập đoàn giảm bớt nợ nần trong hiện tại và tương lai".

Ngoài ra, tập đoàn Dalian Wanda dự kiến sẽ "chuyển hướng nguồn lực" sẵn có cho việc phát triển, quản lí và vận hành khách sạn và các ngành kinh doanh khác.

Ông Wang Jianlin, nhà sáng lập kiêm Chủ tịch của Dalian Wanda hiện có khối tài sản 14,3 tỉ USD. Dù đây là con số đáng nể, nhưng ông Wang từng nắm trong tay số tài sản trị giá tới 31,3 tỉ USD khi nắm giữ danh hiệu người giàu nhất Trung Quốc.

Ông Wang trở nên giàu có nhờ sớm nhảy vào cơn sốt bất động sản thương mại tại Trung Quốc trong thập niên 90 rồi sau đó biến tập đoàn thành đế chế giải trí toàn cầu. Ông Wang bị Jack Ma, Chủ tịch gã khổng lồ thương mại điện tử Alibaba "soán ngôi" vào năm 2017.

Sau khi thực hiện một loạt các vụ mua lại ở Mỹ và châu Âu trong vài năm, Dalian Wanda đã phải bán bớt tài sản kể từ khi rơi vào diện bị theo dõi bởi các nhà chức trách hồi tháng 4/2017.

Ông Wang phải bán số tài sản trong ngành khách sạn và du lịch tại Trung Quốc với giá hơn 9 tỉ USD trong năm 2019, tiếp đó là giảm tỉ lệ sở hữu tại câu lạc bộ bóng đá Atletico de Madrid và chuỗi rạp chiếu phim AMC. Tháng 3/2020, Wanda Sports Group đồng ý bán hoạt động kinh doanh sự kiện Ironman triathlon để nhận về 730 triệu USD.

Dalian Wanda gia nhập làn sóng các công ty Trung Quốc tìm kiếm các khoản đầu tư nước ngoài đầy tham vọng trong giai đoạn 2012-2016. Những công ty này hi vọng sẽ nổi danh toàn cầu, học hỏi từ đối tác quốc tế và giảm bớt sự phụ thuộc vào thị trường nội địa đang ngày càng trở nên chật hẹp. Tuy nhiên, những thương vụ họ thực hiện không phải lúc nào cũng mang lại kết quả tốt đẹp.

Tập đoàn của ông Wang vẫn sở hữu hãng phim Legendary Entertainment và một trong số những chuỗi rạp chiếu phim lớn nhất Trung Quốc. Dalian Wanda chịu tổn thất nặng nề trong năm nay do các rạp chiếu phim buộc phải đóng cửa vì COVID-19.

Dalian Wanda cũng có các khoản đầu tư vào lĩnh vực tài chính và hơn plaza tại Trung Quốc.

Nguồn Vietnambiz

[dailykoreanpop]

Son of China's wealthiest man Wang Sicong leaves negative comment about Luhan's dating news

Wang Sicong, an entertainment CEO (Banana Culture) and the son of China's wealthiest man Wang Jianlin of the Dalian Wanda Group, had a negative response to Luhan's dating news.

A couple days ago, Luhan shook the web by unexpectedly revealing his relationship with Chinese actress Guan Xiaotong.

SEE ALSO: Luhan admits he's in a relationship with Guan Xiaotong

In regards to the breaking news, Wang Sicong recently left comments on popular Chinese messenger platform Weixin. The businessman boldly expressed his honest opinion and stated, "Luhan has a complicated private life. He'll most likely break up with Guan Xiaotong within half a year. Watch him."

Chinese netizens seem to be agreeing with Wang Sicong as they commented, "Guan Xiatong is only 20-years-old. They're definitely not going to reach marriage", "I don't think they'll last long", "I guess it's all like that in the entertainment industry", "I think what Wang Sicong said is true."

© Allkpop

[cucircula]

Wanda opens doors to Chinese film metropolis but turns focus back home

QINGDAO, China (Reuters) – Wang Jianlin, the billionaire boss of China’s Dalian Wanda Group, said on Saturday he will turn the northern port city of Qingdao into a global film production hub as he launched a sprawling studio complex in a ceremony attended by hundreds.

    copyright © 2018

          from Wanda opens doors to Chinese film metropolis but turns focus back home via Wanda opens doors to Chinese film metropolis but turns focus back home May 09, 2019 at 12:22AM Copyright © May 09, 2019 at 12:22AM

[zehesterd]

Wanda opens doors to Chinese film metropolis but turns focus back home

QINGDAO, China (Reuters) – Wang Jianlin, the billionaire boss of China’s Dalian Wanda Group, said on Saturday he will turn the northern port city of Qingdao into a global film production hub as he launched a sprawling studio complex in a ceremony attended by hundreds.

copyright © 2016

        from Wanda opens doors to Chinese film metropolis but turns focus back home via Wanda opens doors to Chinese film metropolis but turns focus back home March 16, 2019 at 01:12AM Copyright © March 16, 2019 at 01:12AM

[newstinxahoi]

Trung Quốc mất 161 tỷ phú vì thị trường chứng khoán lao dốc năm ngoái

Dù mức giảm lớn, Trung Quốc vẫn đang có nhiều hơn Mỹ 74 tỷ phú.

Theo hãng nghiên cứu tài sản Hurun, số lượng tỷ phú Trung Quốc, bao gồm cả Đài Loan và Hong Kong giảm 161 người năm ngoái. Nguyên nhân là thị trường chứng khoán nước này lao dốc 25% và đồng NDT mất giá.

Thị trường chứng khoán Trung Quốc đã bị ảnh hưởng nặng nề trong năm 2018 vì kinh tế nước này tăng trưởng chậm lại và cuộc chiến thương mại với Mỹ. Thậm chí, giới phân tích dự đoán, tăng trưởng kinh tế của Trung Quốc sẽ chạm đáy vào cuối năm nay.

Theo Hurun, tính đến hết tháng 1, số lượng tỷ phú Trung Quốc giảm từ 819 xuống còn 658 người. Dù mức giảm lớn, Trung Quốc vẫn có nhiều tỷ phú hơn Mỹ với 584 người.

Ma Huateng – CEO Tencent là một trong những tỷ phú có khối tài sản bị bốc hơi nhiều nhất Trung Quốc khi chứng kiến mức giảm 19% xuống còn 38 tỷ USD. Cổ phiếu hãng công nghệ này bị ảnh hưởng mạnh vì cấm nhiều trò chơi của hãng.

Tài sản của Wang Jianlin – ông chủ Dalian Wanda Group cũng giảm 37% xuống còn 17 tỷ USD. Tỷ phú từng giàu nhất Trung Quốc này đã phải tập trung bán các tài sản như bất động sản và tập đoàn giải trí những năm gần đây.

Dù vậy, một số tỷ phú Trung Quốc vẫn giàu lên. Tổng tài sản của Jack Ma tăng hơn 20% lên 39 tỷ USD, giúp ông chủ Alibaba trở thành người giàu nhất Trung Quốc nhờ vốn hóa của hãng tài chính Ant Financial tăng vọt.

Một loạt thương vụ IPO cũng tạo ra những cái tên mới của Trung Quốc trong danh sách giới siêu giàu. Zhang Yong hiện là chủ nhà hàng giàu nhất thế giới sau khi chuỗi nhà hàng lẩu Haidilao niêm yết trên sàn Hong Kong năm ngoái. Zhang đang sở hữu khối tài sản khoảng 8,8 tỷ USD. Một tỷ phú mới khác là Zhang Yiming – nhà sáng lập startup ByteDace sở hữu mạng xã hội video phổ biến TikTok. Công ty này được định giá khoảng 75 tỷ USD.

Tú Anh (theo CNN)

[charvests]

Wanda opens doors to Chinese film metropolis but turns focus back home

QINGDAO, China (Reuters) – Wang Jianlin, the billionaire boss of China’s Dalian Wanda Group, said on Saturday he will turn the northern port city of Qingdao into a global film production hub as he launched a sprawling studio complex in a ceremony attended by hundreds.

  copyright 2018

from Wanda opens doors to Chinese film metropolis but turns focus back home via Wanda opens doors to Chinese film metropolis but turns focus back home December 08, 2018 at 07:00AM

[cpopwonderland]

Critically panned idol dramas see support from targeted demographic

It seems that China's generation gap is growing wider, at least when it comes to period dramas aimed at younger audiences.

Two new dramas that have debuted recently, Song of Phoenix (Simeiren) and Fighter of the Destiny (Zetianji), have both been harshly panned by critics, yet still have a large following among young TV viewers in the Chinese mainland.

The shows' secret? They star some of China's most popular young idols.

Fighter of the Destiny has Chinese superstar Lu Han as its lead and Uyghur model/actress Gülnezer Bextiyar as his main love interest, while Song of Phoenix stars 27-year-old heartthrob Ma Ke.

Harsh criticism

Song of Phoenix, a period drama based on the life of ancient Chinese poet and politician Qu Yuan (circa 343BC-278BC), brought in 2.18 percent of audiences when it debuted on Hunan TV on April 28, making it the king of its prime time slot. Phoenix most likely has another show to thank for this extremely high rating: the incredibly popular anti-graft drama In the Name of People. Phoenix's premiere came immediately before the series finale of People; as such many of the viewers tuning in to the period drama were likely those who were waiting to watch People.

Yet this warm welcome was short-lived. The following day, when the second and third episodes of the 81-episode series aired, audience ratings dropped to 1.27 percent. However, online, where a large percentage of young audiences consume media, the show is still performing strong. On streaming platform iQiyi, the show's first 10 episodes have received a total of 180 million views, for an average of around 18 million views per episode.  

Meanwhile, the first 22 episodes of Fighter of the Destiny have received a total of 2 billion views on iQiyi, for an average of 90.9 million views per episode. According to iQiyi data, 51 percent of the show's viewers are under 30 years old. Critically, however, both shows have extremely poor reviews. "Song of Phoenix looks beautiful… but many netizens have been left wondering why a decent historical figure such as Qu Yuan has been distorted so much," wrote one review from news site mini.eastday.com. "The show has an absurd plot and characters that just fall apart. Basically, except for some pretty faces, there is nothing worth admiring."

On Chinese media review site Douban, Phoenix has a 4.2/10 average from approximately 3,000 reviews, while Fighter holds a slightly higher 4.6/10 from more than 46,000 reviews. "A serious historical drama has been made into an idol drama. The dialogue is embarrassing, the CGI effects are embarrassing," netizen Yizhushen Zhiming wrote on Douban in his review of Phoenix. A professional tutor of young students, he added that his students are obsessed with the show, which has led him to worry that dramas such as these may mislead younger generations into thinking that what the show presents is real history. "Most of today's Chinese film and TV production companies rely on pop stars instead of producing quality works," he noted. Fighter hasn't escaped unscathed either. In addition to poor review, famous figures in China are also reportedly taking a swipe at the show.

According to the entertainment site yule.sohu.com, Wang Sicong - the celebrity billionaire son of China's richest man, Dalian Wanda Group Chairman Wang Jianlin - posted on his WeChat social media page that Fighter is the only TV drama he has seen in which "even the lead actor does not know how act."

Youthful tastes

Despite this criticism, both Phoenix and Fighter have managed to find fans among a section of the audience mainly composed of teenagers and young viewers in their early 20s. This of course has much to do with the ability of the shows' stars to attract eyeballs. "At first I watched Fighter of the Destiny because of Lu Han, but later I started to find the plot interesting, especially when the show focused on the lead character's fight against destiny. Because we post-1990 viewers are not a generation that believes in destiny, the show appeals to us," Duoduo, a 21-year-old college student in Beijing, told the Global Times.

Duoduo said she lives with five other young women. Among the six of them, half are Fighter fans. Thirty-something Feng Nan in Tianjin is a reporter who has been covering TV drama news for years. According to her, most of the fans who watch the two dramas are loyal fans of Lu, Gülnezer, and Ma.  

While Feng is also a fan of Lu, she admits his acting is far from great, noting that she was only able to sit through a few episodes of Fighter. "The younger generation fall in love with these types of works more easily because they have not seen many quality shows," Feng said. "There are also those who know they are bad, but want to keep up with current trends and have something to talk about with their friends."   There are fans, however, who say they watch these shows because they actually like them. Phoenix fan Peng Junjie, 22, told the Global Times that he is not obsessed with any of the idols in the show. He rushed to defend Ma's portrayal of Qu. "As long as he shows Qu's patriotism and grace in temperament, I can accept him in the role," he said. "Due to commercial considerations and audiences' aesthetic demands, it's very normal for attractive stars to appear in shows," Peng said, explaining that while the actual historic figure of Qu probably was not all that attractive considering the time period in which he lived, TV dramas tend to need a pretty face to bring in viewers.

Source: Global Times by Wei Xi

[dibamagazincom-blog]

Tencent Leads $5.4B Investment In Wanda Commercial Properties Unit

is leading a consortium of investors to acquire a 14% equity stake in Commercial Properties Co, the flagship subsidiary of ’s , for RMB 34B ($5.37B). The move by Tencent, Suning Holdings, JD.com and Sunac China Holdings to buy out minority private investors will help Wanda avoid potential payments and comes as it beats a retreat from property development. The unit is to be renamed Wanda…

[abucketandapen]

The Other Wanda Question

The Other Wanda Question

Embed from Getty Images //embed.gettyimages.com/embed/631875140?et=0c4yvCDaQq1e5vyyFYnDnQ&tld=com&sig=cBB5hCedDL6OTzCZE8yjE2nlkKTFI8d1BjPBwxXlBpg=

Apropos of my post last week about Wanda, a quick thought.

One of the issues that remains a matter of our ongoing fascination with Wanda revolves around a series of important questions that remain largely unspoken: Do Wang’s purchases in the US…

[thursdayfilebuzz]

Spain- China relations Chinese investment in Spain quadrupled in 2016 by Inigo De Barron / English version by Susana Urra. - March 06 2017 - http://elpais.com/ Country seventh biggest recipient of funds from Asian nation in Europe, receiving €1.7 billion Photo: Wang Jianlin, chairman of the Dalian Wanda Group. - by Mario Anzuoni Spain is increasingly attractive to Chinese investors. In 2016 they pumped €1.7 billion into the country, nearly four times more than the previous year. Spain has now become the seventh biggest recipient of Chinese investment in Europe, where Germany and Britain still attract the largest amounts. They were followed by Finland, Switzerland, Ireland and France, according to a report by Baker McKenzie. Last year, investment focused on infrastructure and entertainment; there was also significant real estate activity by the Dalian Wanda group, headed by the business magnate Wang Jianlin. The most important transaction by Chinese investors in Spain last year was the acquisition of Urbaser, the environmental unit of the ACS Group, by Firion Investment, an investment fund which China Tianying has a stake in. The fund paid over €1.17 billion, which could go up to €1.4 billion depending on Urbaser’s performance. The second biggest operation was the purchase of the soccer club RCD Espanyol for €200 million by Chen Yansheng, owner of toy car maker Rastar. The report by Baker McKenzie also mentions a deal that is still in the pipeline, involving the purchase by the China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC) of Aritex, a tech firm owned by Spain’s Comsa, for €167 million. According to Maite Díez, a partner at Baker McKenzie and an expert in Chinese investment, there is growing interest in Spain. “They are attracted by European companies in several sectors such as the food industry, because that gives them access to the supply chains,” she notes. “The goal is to offer high-quality products in China, where there is a growing demand.” This expert says that Chinese investors have made the most of the fall in prices triggered by the economic crisis in the West of 2008, and changed their strategy accordingly. “Before this, their interest lay in Latin America and Africa, where public corporations were buying raw materials to supply their own growing population. They would finance it through the mass export of cheap products to the entire world,” she adds. Soccer clubs After the collapse of Lehman Brothers, private Chinese firms started buying industrial, infrastructure, environmental, tech and distribution companies with an international focus. They are also interested in real estate, in finance and in entertainment, a sector where they have snapped up hotel chains, movie theaters, shopping malls and soccer teams. “The Chinese government is encouraging the creation of soccer schools in many regions, and encouraging its population to watch European soccer. That is why you see growing numbers of Spanish teams wearing Chinese advertising on their shirts, and playing schedules that are compatible with China’s time zone.” -- Steven Macdowall I am drawing the 'Umbrella' this month https://www.instagram.com/stevenhmacdowall