2020 Year of the Rat

[GeneChing]

NEW ITEM: 2020 Year of the Rat T-shirts (https://www.martialartsmart.com/95-2020r1.html) and Hoodies (https://www.martialartsmart.com/95-2020r2.html)!

https://smhttp-ssl-73310.nexcesscdn.net/pub/media/catalog/product/cache/e322c11f72dc2651f2609b16afbb40a5/9/5/95-2020r1_1.jpg

T-SHIRT (https://www.martialartsmart.com/95-2020r1.html)

https://smhttp-ssl-73310.nexcesscdn.net/pub/media/catalog/product/cache/e322c11f72dc2651f2609b16afbb40a5/9/5/95-2020r2_1.jpg

HOODY (https://www.martialartsmart.com/95-2020r2.html)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ELrmVYiUwAAdKss?format=jpg&name=medium

[GeneChing]

New yum cha, butterfly themed HK$20, HK$50 notes to be released in time for lai see to insure widest circulation, HKMA says (https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3044218/hkma-says-new-yum-cha-butterfly-themed-hk20-hk50-notes-be)
New notes to arrive on January 14, the same day customers can start exchanging notes for lai see
The HK$20 notes will be themed around tea gatherings, while the HK$50 notes will feature butterflies
Enoch Yiu
Published: 8:00am, 2 Jan, 2020

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1200x800/public/d8/images/methode/2020/01/02/6ff74808-2c71-11ea-8334-1a17c6a14ef4_image_hires_081217.JPG?itok=JHnmKLI5&v=1577923943
The new HK$20 and HK$50 notes are presented during a press conference by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Photo: Winson Wong

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority will launch new HK$20 and HK$50 notes on January 14, the same day customers can start exchanging old notes for new currency in preparation for Lunar New Year, it said on Wednesday.
The notes will be released by the city’s three note-issuing banks, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of China (Hong Kong).
The HK$20 notes will be themed around yum cha, or tea gatherings, while the HK$50 notes will feature butterflies. Of the 2.36 billion banknotes in circulation in Hong Kong worth a combined HK$503.9 billion (US$64.5 billion), the HK$20 notes represent the highest share at 35.7 per cent, while the HK$50 dollar notes represent 10.4 per cent.
“The HK$20 banknote is the most circulated banknote in Hong Kong, and is part of the lives of Hong Kong people. Similarly, yum cha is a favourite [activity], as many Hongkongers like to go and enjoy dim sum lunches and tea with their family and friends. This is why we picked yum cha as the theme for the HK$20 banknotes,” Edmond Lau, the HKMA’s senior executive director, said.
“We chose to launch the new HK$20 and HK$50 banknotes on the same day the public can go to the banks to exchange notes for lai see money, as this is an effective way of widely circulating the new notes,” he added.
Lai see money is handed out to children and young people who are unmarried during the Lunar New Year holiday, and cash – usually HK$20 and HK$50 notes – is preferred despite the growing popularity of digital payments. According to some estimates, at least HK$10 billion in lai see changes hands each Lunar New Year holiday.

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/01/02/6d2f3b0c-2c81-11ea-8334-1a17c6a14ef4_972x_081217.jpg
SCMP Graphics

Every year, the city’s three note-issuing banks prepare on average 350 million notes – including 55 per cent newly printed notes – in all denominations for lai see, according to HKMA statistics. These banks have printed a combined 260 million of the new HK$20 notes and 85 million of the new HK$50 notes, which Lau said were sufficient to meet the public’s needs.
The two new notes are the latest and last batch to be issued under the 2018 design series. The HKMA announced the designs of the new banknotes with the latest security features in 2018, but has launched them at different times.
The HK$1,000 note that celebrates Hong Kong as a smart international financial centre was launched in December 2018, the HK$500 note that features the city’s natural beauty was introduced in February 2019, while the HK$100 note featuring Cantonese opera was launched in September last year.
Lau said the more than 240 types of butterflies found in Hong Kong were the inspiration for the new HK$50 notes. While the HKMA decides on security features and sets the theme, the three note-issuing banks come up with the designs.
Older notes will continue to be legal tender, Lau added.

THREADS
2020 Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)
LaiSee (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?1200-LaiSee-and-Lion-Dance-traid-related)
Tea (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?49674-Tea)

[GeneChing]

http://chinafilminsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/111438.98504937_620X620-576x1024.jpg

Five Chinese New Years to Release in IMAX (http://chinafilminsider.com/headlines-from-china-five-chinese-new-years-to-release-in-imax/)

Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Chan’s Leap, a film about the China’s national women’s volleyball team, has been set to hit over 660 IMAX theatres in China on January 25, 2020, the first day of the Chinese New Year, according to an official announcement released today. Along with the previously announced films including Detective Chinatown 3, Lost in Russia, The Rescue, Vanguard, there will be five Chinese films to be shown on IMAX screens during the lunar new year holiday. Among them, Detective China town 3 was entirely shot by ALEXA IMAX cameras. This makes Detective Chinatown 3 the fourth commercial film worldwide and the second in Asia that is shot by ALEXA IMAX. IMAX China also unveiled a special poster today, which features comics avatars of characters in the movies.

I feel so behind. I've not seen any of these films. :o

THREADS
2020 Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)
Detective Chinatown 3 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71600-Detective-Chinatown-3)
Lost in Russia (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71505-Lost-in-Russia)
The Rescue (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71207-The-Rescue)
Vanguard (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71202-Vanguard)

[GeneChing]

Nike's "Year of the Rat" Collection Celebrates Chinese New Year With Bold Patterns (https://hypebeast.com/2020/1/nike-jordan-brand-year-of-the-rat-collection-chinese-new-year-release-dates-info)
Nodding to the brand’s rich history in China by way of Yuxian paper-cutting-inspired graphics.
Footwear
Jan 6, 2020
By Ross Dwyer

https://image-cdn.hypb.st/https%3A%2F%2Fhypebeast.com%2Fimage%2F2020%2F01%2F nike-jordan-brand-year-of-the-rat-collection-chinese-new-year-release-dates-info-11.jpg?q=90&w=1400&cbr=1&fit=max

2020 marks the Year of the Rat on the Chinese Zodiac calendar, so Nike and Jordan Brand are celebrating the rodent-centric festivities with a special capsule of shoes and apparel. Presenting silhouettes both classic and modern, the capsule uses colors and embellishments inspired by previous CNY packs and traditional Yuxian paper-cutting. This supplies a dual-pronged nod to the Swoosh and the Jumpman’s rich history in China.

Both brands bring unique offerings to the table: Nike switches between sportswear and basketball with the Air Max 1, Air Force 1, Air Max 720 and two styles of Kyrie Irving‘s Kyrie 6 for men. Women recieve an Air Force 1 Shadow, Air Max 270 React, and new Joyride Run 2, while a unisex Air Max 90 finalizes the offerings, some of which are also available in kids sizes. Meanwhile, Jordan Brand’s entries consist of the Air Jordan 13 and Air Jordan 34.

These 10 silhouettes are split between four Yuxian patterns, each of which nods to a different impactful moment in brand history — three of which are associated with China, one of which is not. Each shoe applies its patterns and graphics in a different fashion, ranging from debossed detailing on the uppers to printed graphics on the midsole and more. There’s also a full collection of apparel to accompany the footwear.

https://image-cdn.hypb.st/https%3A%2F%2Fhypebeast.com%2Fimage%2F2020%2F01%2F nike-jordan-brand-year-of-the-rat-collection-chinese-new-year-release-dates-info-01.jpg?q=90&w=1090&cbr=1&fit=max

Each pattern tells a unique tale. The first is centered around the Cortez, and nods to 1972 — the year that Nike was founded. The second pattern features a Nike Sportswear logo front and center in a medal along with a racing track and a koi fish. This is a tact acknowledgement of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, where China earned its first-ever gold medal and Nike began a sponsorship with the Chinese track and field team. Next up is a pattern inspired by 1996, the year that saw the Air More Uptempo release and China’s basketball team make it the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games in Atlanta. The final pattern acknowledges 2008, a watershed year that saw Beijing host the Olympic Games — at which Nike debuted the ultra-innovative Hyperdunk.

Some silhouettes from the Nike and Jordan Brand “Year of the Rat” collection have already released, while the rest are slated to arrive on the Nike webstore over the course of January. 'bold' or gaudy?

[GeneChing]

https://smhttp-ssl-73310.nexcesscdn.net/pub/media/catalog/product/cache/e322c11f72dc2651f2609b16afbb40a5/9/5/95-2020r1_1.jpg
Rat Seal T-shirt (https://www.martialartsmart.com/95-2020r1.html)

https://smhttp-ssl-73310.nexcesscdn.net/pub/media/catalog/product/cache/e322c11f72dc2651f2609b16afbb40a5/9/5/95-2020r3_1.jpg
Golden Mice T-shirt (https://www.martialartsmart.com/yearoftheratshirt.html)

https://smhttp-ssl-73310.nexcesscdn.net/pub/media/catalog/product/cache/e322c11f72dc2651f2609b16afbb40a5/9/5/95-2020r2_1.jpg
Rat Seal Hoody (https://www.martialartsmart.com/95-2020r2.html)

https://smhttp-ssl-73310.nexcesscdn.net/pub/media/catalog/product/cache/e322c11f72dc2651f2609b16afbb40a5/9/5/95-2020r4_1_1.jpg
Golden Mice Hoody (https://www.martialartsmart.com/yearoftherathoodie.html)

https://smhttp-ssl-73310.nexcesscdn.net/pub/media/magestore/bannerslider/images/y/e/year-of-the-rat-apparel.jpg

[GeneChing]

Hennessy celebrates Lunar New Year and 150 years in China with Zhang Huan collaboration (https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/leisure/article/3045194/hennessy-celebrates-lunar-new-year-and-150-years-china)
As the Year of the Rat nears, Zhang unveiled his artwork, Eaux-de-Vie, alongside Hennessy master blender Renaud Fillioux de Gironde at one of the distilleries outside Cognac in southwestern France
Tracey Furniss
Published: 4:00pm, 12 Jan, 2020

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1200x800/public/d8/images/methode/2020/01/09/c6442fba-1fbe-11ea-acfb-1fd6c5cf20a4_image_hires_103402.jpg?itok=-UWqwu21&v=1578537248
Chinese artist Zhang Huan with his artwork Eaux-de-Vie. Photo: Hennessy

Hennessy hosted a special event at its headquarters in Cognac, southwestern France, for the unveiling of Chinese artist Zhang Huan’s masterpiece Eaux-de-Vie in celebration of Lunar New Year 2020.
Zhang, who also created a special Lunar New Year edition of the Hennessy collection bottle, was there to unveil his work of art alongside Hennessy master blender Renaud Fillioux de Gironde at one of the cognac-maker’s distilleries outside the main town.
It is the first time Hennessy has collaborated with Zhang, commissioned to celebrate 150 years of Hennessy in China, and the start of a new cycle in the Chinese zodiac with the Year of the Rat.
Capturing the spirit of Hennessy, the over five-metre-long artwork is a dreamscape inspired by Hennessy’s famous library of eaux-de-vie.
The celebrations continued into the night at the Hennessy Château de Bagnolet with a special dinner of Chinese and French fusion dishes.
The special Chinese New Year edition of the Hennessy collection by Zhang Huan is now available.

There are several Rat commemorative liquors coming. It's a decent marketing ploy.

[GeneChing]

http://www.kungfumagazine.com/admin/site_images/KungfuMagazine/upload/5741_Horoscope-wheel.jpg

See what your future holds for the Year of the Metal Rat with our Kung Fu Horoscopes!

Note that the initial predictions for the year and the first period were published in our WINTER 2020 issue (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71573-Winter-2020), which hit newsstands in mid-November. Note that some of Master Sun's predictions are on point already.

The three new period predictions are in our SPRING 2020 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71664-Spring-2020), which is currently at press and will hit newsstands around Valentine's Day.

THREADS
Chinese Zodiac (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?40462-Chinese-Zodiac)
2020 Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)

[GeneChing]

Hong Kong / Politics
Hong Kong tourist arrivals drop 14 per cent year on year in 2019 amid anti-government protests (https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3046132/lunar-new-year-fireworks-show-hong-kong-cancelled-over-anti)
Arrivals drop to 55.9 million in 2019 from 65.15 million the previous year, caused by 14.2 per cent decline in mainland Chinese tourists and fewer overnight visitors
Lunar New Year fireworks show also cancelled amid safety fears, though light show at Victoria Harbour and performances in West Kowloon Cultural District stay on schedule
SCMP
Denise Tsang and Alvin Lum
Published: 11:11am, 15 Jan, 2020

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1200x800/public/d8/images/methode/2020/01/15/1ea4553a-373f-11ea-9933-e21be988cd59_image_hires_204152.jpg?itok=WdtLPJU5&v=1579092121
The traditional fireworks for Lunar New Year will not be repeated in 2020, in another blow to the city’s events programme. Photo: Martin Chan

The number of visitors to Hong Kong dropped by 14 per cent last year amid the ongoing protests roiling the city, tourism authorities revealed on Wednesday, as the government announced that the signature Lunar New Year fireworks show would be cancelled.
In 2019, arrival figures dropped to 55.9 million from 65.15 million the year before, dragged down by a 14.2 per cent decline in mainland Chinese, who accounted for the bulk of visitors to the city, the Tourism Board said.
Overnight visitors, who spend more, tumbled 18.8 per cent to 23.76 million.
The news came as Hong Kong continues to be gripped by civil unrest, sparked by the now-withdrawn extradition bill. The campaign has since morphed into a wider movement against the government and police, often ending in violent clashes between demonstrators and officers.

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/01/15/3114db6c-3772-11ea-9933-e21be988cd59_1320x770_204152.JPG
The months-long anti-government protests have affected Hong Kong’s tourism sector badly. Photo: AFP

“Hong Kong’s tourism industry has faced exceptional challenges over the past year, but I have every confidence in our resilience and appeal as a world-class travel destination,” board chairman Pang Yiu-kai said. “We are working tirelessly on a major global promotion that will rebuild the city’s image as a destination and help our tourism industry recover.”


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v67S6X9mebw
Secrets of Hong Kong’s pyrotechnic power

He referred to the online platform called “Hong Kong is On”, which was launched early last month and provides more than 500 offers on flights, hotels, dining, retail and attractions.
Despite its efforts to promote the city, the government chose to axe the signature fireworks at Victoria Harbour, which were scheduled for the second day of Lunar New Year celebrations on January 26, blaming the “current situation”.
Tourism lawmaker Yiu Si-wing earlier said the government had safety concerns, as the protests engulfing the city showed little sign of abating.
“When it comes to safety issues, the decisions are understandable.”
The 20-minute-long fireworks have been at the heart of the Lunar New Year festival for years.
The last time they were cancelled was in 2018 in the wake of a bus accident in Tai Po that claimed 19 lives and injured at least 60.
Yiu said it was disappointing the fireworks had joined a growing list of axed events.

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/01/15/b6cfcb42-3743-11ea-9933-e21be988cd59_1320x770_204152.JPG
Yiu Si-wing has confirmed the usual fireworks for Lunar New Year will not happen in 2020. Photo: SCMP
The months-long protests prompted the city’s tourist arrivals to contract 39.1 per cent in the second half of the last year, offsetting the 13.9 per cent growth in the first half. More than 40 jurisdictions have issued travel warnings or advisories against heading to Hong Kong.
Home affairs minister Lau Kong-wah attributed the government’s decision to drop the Lunar New Year fireworks to “the current situation”.
“After careful assessment, we decided to cancel the fireworks based on public safety concerns,” the minister said on Wednesday.
He added the light show at Victoria Harbour and performances in West Kowloon Cultural District would not be affected.
Convenor of the pro-democracy camp Tanya Chan Suk-chong said she could not understand the logic behind the cancellation, saying it had dealt another blow to Hong Kong’s reputation.
Referring to the strength of police firepower and proposals for more weaponry, she said: “I don’t understand why police have no confidence in ensuring public safety.”
Chan said the administration lacked the will to properly govern the city, and urged Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to respond to the anti-government protesters’ five key demands.
Pro-establishment lawmaker Lau Kwok-fun said the cancellation of the fireworks was disappointing but understandable.
“Over the past seven months, some large-scale events have been cancelled amid protests,” Lau Kwok-fun said.
“We hope the protests come to a complete stop. The government should also have more dialogue with the public.”
Aside from the fireworks blow, it was previously announced the Lunar New Year celebration would be watered down, with a three-day carnival replacing the parade through southern Kowloon.
The traditional New Year’s Eve fireworks, organised by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, were also cancelled due to safety concerns.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: fireworks axed in new blow to tourism

THREADS
Hong Kong protests (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?23536-Hong-Kong-protests)
2020 Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3yHJuRkfUI


Warner Bros. Pictures
8.15M subscribers
In the latest “Detective Chinatown” film from writer/director Chen Sicheng’s hit series, Chinatown detectives Tang Ren (Wang Baoqiang) and Qin Feng (Liu Haoran) head to Tokyo to join Japanese investigator Noda Hiroshi (Satoshi Tsumabuki) on a high-profile case involving the murder of a powerful businessman… and the prime suspect is the president of the lethal Black Dragon Gang. But they’re not the only ones taking on the challenge, as detectives from “CRIMASTER World Detective Rankings” also converge in Tokyo to help catch the killer. The main cast also includes Tony Jaa, Masami Nagasawa, Shota Sometami and Tadanobu Asano. In select theaters January 24!

A U.S. limited-theatrical release for CNY. I may just have to check this out...:cool:

THREADS
Detective Chinatown 3 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71600-Detective-Chinatown-3)
2020 Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)

[GeneChing]

Friday, January 17, 2020
Highlights of 13th International Lion Dance Competition in Singapore's Chinatown (http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-01/12/c_138697959.htm)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-12 09:55:22|Editor: Xiaoxia
SINGAPORE-LION DANCE COMPETITION-CHINESE NEW YEAR

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-01/12/138697959_15787940140731n.jpg
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-01/12/138697959_15787940141221n.jpg
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-01/12/138697959_15787940141551n.jpg
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-01/12/138697959_15787940141931n.jpg

Lion dance performers compete in the 13th International Lion Dance Competition as part of the Chinese New Year celebrations held in Singapore's Chinatown, on Jan. 11, 2020. (Xinhua/Then Chih Wey)

At least they could tell us who won...:rolleyes:

THREADS
Chinese Lion Dance (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?1093-Chinese-Lion-Dance)
2020 Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)

[GeneChing]

MartialArtSmart (https://www.martialartsmart.com/) will be rolling out some big sale items starting this week. :cool:


How Lunar New Year became a shopping holiday for Western brands (https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/1/20/21069477/lunar-new-year-brands)
Gucci, Nike, and Sephora have released new merchandise for the Year of the Rat.
By Terry Nguyenterry.nguyen@voxmedia.com Jan 20, 2020, 7:30am EST

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cTG76g-fTMDuVsUdZmz9uKqaKE4=/0x0:4000x3000/920x613/filters:focal(1680x1180:2320x1820):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66132455/GettyImages_1192820584.0.jpg
Brands like Gucci and Adidas Originals have partnered with Disney to release limited-edition capsule collections for Lunar New Year. Wang Gang/VCG/Getty Images

This story is part of a group of stories called The Goods

The stretch of time between end-of-year celebrations and Valentine’s Day is usually bleak. People are physically and financially drained from the holidays, and there’s not much to celebrate — a dry spell that has led brands to create a deluge of fake holidays like National Shortbread Day (January 6) and National Shop for Travel Day (January 14).

Within the past decade, a spate of brands both luxury and affordable have adopted a new holiday into their calendars, one that’s already celebrated by more than a billion people annually: Lunar New Year. In the US, the holiday is generally referred to as Chinese New Year, but Lunar New Year seems like a more accurate description, given that the event is also observed by non-Chinese people.

What is Lunar New Year?

While Lunar New Year 2020 officially falls on January 25, the holiday is celebrated across multiple days and even weeks in places like China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Under the Gregorian calendar used by most countries worldwide, the new year starts on January 1. Lunar New Year is the celebration under the lunisolar calendar — which is based on cycles of the moon — and typically falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice.

The specific celebrations and formal dates encompassing the holiday vary by country and culture, but it’s an important day reserved for festivities to ring in the new year. Celebrants host elaborate meals with extended families, exchange money or gifts for good fortune, party in the streets, and set off fireworks. Lunar New Year in China, which is called the Spring Festival, has 15 days of festivities, South Korea’s Seollal celebration lasts 12 days, and Vietnam’s Tết Nguyên Đán is a week long.

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/izYiLXACfaykTbhJwqcgCX8ZCNs=/0x0:3680x2449/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3680x2449):format(webp):no_upsca le()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19606816/GettyImages_1193890427.jpg
China has 15 days of festivities prepared for its Lunar New Year celebration, which is called the Spring Festival. Costfoto/Barcroft Media/Getty Images

There are numerous other lunar calendar-based celebrations that fall later than January 25, usually during or after the spring equinox. For example, Losar, the Tibetan new year, begins on February 24, while Cambodia starts its new year celebration on April 14.

It’s likely that the growth of Asian immigrant populations in the US, especially those of Chinese, Korean, or Vietnamese descent, has contributed to the overall popularity and cultural awareness of Lunar New Year. The largest celebrations from these communities typically occur in urban centers like Los Angeles, New York City, or San Francisco.

Lunar New Year is a holiday steeped in tradition. It’s also an occasion to spend.

As with most holidays, Lunar New Year has become an opportunity for retailers to sell shoes, jackets, or handbags on the premise of being culturally observant. While there are various other lunar-based celebrations in the months that follow, Western companies have notably latched onto Lunar New Year, given the scale of its celebration.

Well-known Western brands like Apple, Gucci, Nike, and Sephora have launched new advertising campaigns and capsule collections overseas, primarily aimed at Chinese customers, but these activities have also bled into the American market. Malls, shopping centers, and entertainment venues in major US cities are hosting attractions tied to Lunar New Year. Despite the financial gains made from it, however, Lunar New Year is not yet a federal holiday.

The commodification of major holidays and events is nothing new. Brands have long had a corporate incentive to pander to customers by aligning themselves with certain political and social goals. Yet there’s a stark disconnect that emerges when brands try to commercialize a holiday, especially one tied to cultures that celebrate it abroad like Lunar New Year.


DESPITE THE FINANCIAL GAINS MADE FROM IT, HOWEVER, LUNAR NEW YEAR IS NOT YET A FEDERAL HOLIDAY
“There’s this flattening of the world taking place in regards to marketing trends and themes,” Deb Gabor, a brands expert and CEO of Sol Marketing, told Vox. “It mostly started with the luxury brands, but we’re seeing more and more mainstream brands doing this,” like Sephora and online beauty companies.

Lunar New Year appears to be yet another branded holiday where products are marketed with culturally specific colors, themes, and motifs — with the intention of courting an Asian market that holds significant spending power. Brands, especially luxury retailers, are actively chasing China, which will be the world’s largest apparel market by 2030. The “Lunar New Year effect,” as Gabor called it, is reflected in how American retailers are participating in Chinese shopping events, like Singles Day.

According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, Chinese consumers in 2019 spent $149 billion across the week-long Chinese New Year holiday. China is also a hot spot for luxury retailers, spending about $7 billion each year on brand-name goods, according to McKinsey.

Every year, retailers have the opportunity to create new merchandise that correlates with the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, which symbolizes a given year. A person’s zodiac sign depends on their birth year, and even American consumers have a semblance of knowledge of the zodiac, if not their affiliated animal. Given our collective enthusiasm at identifying ourselves through unscientific, ambiguous ways, brands are relying on zodiac imagery to sell their products.
continued next post

[GeneChing]

Brian Suda
✔
@briansuda
sees what you’re up to Apple. Alot of the emoji engraving options also match the Chinese Zodiac animals so you can engrave the year of your birth.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENYqWY_UUAAEYsl?format=jpg&name=small
2
1:01 PM - Jan 3, 2020
Twitter Ads info and privacy
See Brian Suda's other Tweets
2020 is the Year of the Rat, which might not be the cutest animal on earth, but that hasn’t stopped fashion retailers and makeup brands from releasing rat-related merchandise: Gucci and Adidas Originals have both partnered with Disney on capsule collections that feature Mickey Mouse, arguably the most famous rodent in the world.

Rag & Bone has a pizza rat sweater, and Moschino released products with its Mickey Rat logo (which looks like Mickey Mouse but with a long jagged snout). Other retailers have opted to use more traditional motifs, like Nike, which has a series of subtly intricate shoe designs inspired by traditional Chinese paper cutting.

Despite their best efforts, Western companies haven’t escaped the inevitable criticism (mostly by Western consumers) that they’re commodifying a cultural holiday for their bottom line. In addition to Lunar New Year, brands have also capitalized on China’s Mid-Autumn Festival and the Muslim holiday Ramadan.

In a 2015 piece for Racked, Fareeha Molvi wrote about the slow commercialization of Ramadan, and about grappling with how her culture “could be the next lucrative frontier,” like other holidays before it. “At its core, Ramadan is about doing more with less. Literally, you’re asked to do more good deeds while physically consuming less,” she wrote.

When companies try to co-opt a cultural holiday for material gain, they risk subverting or even trivializing the tradition behind the event. Despite Lunar New Year’s deep-seated traditions, it has devolved into somewhat of a consumerist holiday: It’s tradition for people to buy loved ones gifts or exchange money (which encourages spending), and it’s even considered good fortune to ring in the new year with new stuff.

For the most part, Asian consumers abroad don’t appear to take issue with the cultural marketing. Nike and Apple have received praise for releasing poignant ads that focus on family and tradition. However, foreign customers are quick to notice failed marketing ploys and point out where brands have erred. For example, Burberry’s Chinese New Year campaign in 2019 featured stoic, heavily stylized family portraits, which Chinese netizens found creepy and tone-deaf.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvtwWhKdxhM

Amid tensions between China and the US over trade and geopolitics, however, Chinese shoppers might not be as receptive to Western brands’ Lunar New Year efforts. They’ve become especially wary of American companies and critical of international retailers overall, according to a Wall Street Journal piece on how America is losing the Chinese customer.

“This past Christmas is a good indication that [retailers] don’t have much up their sleeves besides promotions and discounts,” Gabor said. In a way, Lunar New Year has been a saving grace for some retailers, another opportunity to get more customers to buy.

That might change in the future, as surveys show how Chinese shoppers prefer to buy from domestic brands, partly for patriotism’s sake. On Singles Day, the country’s largest shopping holiday, up to 78 percent of respondents surveyed said the trade war would affect their purchase of American brands. It doesn’t help that a string of missteps in 2019, which left companies scrambling to scrap together corporate apologies, has soured China’s perception towards Western brands.

It was just in 2018 that a Chinese fast-fashion company had to set up shop in London to gain appeal in Beijing. The opposite effect might be taking place now. Analysts predict that Chinese shoppers alone are expected to spend as much as $156 billion on new year festivities. Still, it’s uncertain whether it’ll benefit the bottom line of Western companies.

I'll be posting the MartialArtSmart (https://www.martialartsmart.com/) CNY sales across our social media and on our forum announcements (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/announcement.php?f=2).

[GeneChing]

Combine CNY migration with a highly transmutable new disease and it's a 'perfect storm' for the transmission of the coronavirus (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-Wuhan-Pneumonia).

It's Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat). Remember what rats did during the Black Plague?


China confirms 139 new cases of SARS-like mystery virus as CNY approaches (https://shanghai.ist/2020/01/20/china-confirms-139-new-cases-of-sars-like-mystery-virus-as-cny-approaches/?fbclid=IwAR3QK_e2K1hSVtoGD1tRiLm7V0wLB2fACqo11H3j PG-VVc2NWPw_q61awAM)
The world's largest human migration will see millions travel out of the epicenter city of Wuhan
by Alex Linder January 21, 2020 in News

https://i2.wp.com/shanghai.ist/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/wuhan-virus.jpg?w=1024&ssl=1

Just ahead of the height of the Spring Festival travel season in China, reports of pneumonia caused by a mysterious new strain of coronavirus are beginning to spread across the country.

Thus far, all those infected with the virus spent time in Wuhan, a mega-city in central China that also serves as one of the country’s main transportation hubs. The outbreak began in December but concerns have now been heightened with Chinese authorities reporting a significant increase in the number of people affected.

Health officials in Wuhan announced on Monday they identified 136 new cases of the virus over the weekend, bringing the total number of those infected in the city all the way up to 199.

Of the new patients, 33 are reported to be in serious condition while three have been classified as critical with one of those patients dying. This brings the number of the dead from the virus up to three. The first, a 69-year-old man, died last Wednesday.

Meanwhile, authorities in Beijing have reported two cases of pneumonia patients with the virus while those in Shenzhen have reported one. All three of these individuals are said to have arrived from Wuhan.

Likewise, two cases have been reported in Thailand, one in Japan, and one in South Korea with all the infected travelers having originated from Wuhan.

https://i2.wp.com/shanghai.ist/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/wuhan-virus2.jpg?w=800&ssl=1

Authorities have pinpointed Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market as the possible epicenter of the outbreak. The market has been shut down for disinfection.

Thus far, the virus has not been proved to transmit via human-to-human contact, though Chinese authorities have said that they can not rule out the possibility. For its part, the WHO has said that human-to-human transmission is likely considering other coronavirus outbreaks like SARS, which wreaked havoc in southern China in 2002/2003, killing at least 774.

The response to that catastrophic outbreak was hindered by an attempted government cover-up. Already, experts have accused China of grossly underestimating the number of people infected by this new virus, projecting that there may well be more than 1,700 infections in Wuhan.

China has insisted that the new virus is controllable. Infrared thermometers have been installed at airports, train stations, and bus stations across the city. Of course, this comes weeks after the virus first appeared.

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvFsNBmy56M

[GeneChing]

Happy Year of the RAT! Get 20% Off Sitewide at MartialArtSmart!

Use the coupon code RAT2020 at checkout.

Offer ends January 28 2020 Midnight PST

https://smhttp-ssl-73310.nexcesscdn.net/pub/media/wysiwyg/Chinese-New-Year-Sale-2020_1_.jpg (https://www.martialartsmart.com/cny)

More to come... :cool:

[GeneChing]

For this Chinese New Year, MartialArtSmart will be offering a week's worth of Flash Sales with Chinese oriented high ticket items. I'm going to post them here even though I usually don't post Flash Sales within the forum itself, just in the announcements (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/announcement.php?f=15), because they evaporate in a day.

CHINESE NEW YEAR FLASH SALE! Over 30% Off on Qingtong Swords! Today ONLY!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EO5RT-vVAAAUUyY?format=jpg&name=small (https://www.martialartsmart.com/45s-56.html)

[GeneChing]

...There's Jiang Zi Ya: Legend of Deification (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71621-Legend-of-Deification-Jiang-Ziya), The Rescue (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71207-The-Rescue), Detective Chinatown 3 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71600-Detective-Chinatown-3), All’s Well End’s Well 2020, The Grand Grandmaster (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71691-The-Grand-Grandmaster)...surely more too. Right now, my bet is on The Rescue.


CNY showdown: Donnie Yen's Enter The Fat Dragon to challenge Jackie Chan's Vanguard (https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/cny-showdown-donnie-yens-enter-the-fat-dragon-to-challenge-jackie-chans)

https://www.straitstimes.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_pictrure_780x520_/public/articles/2019/12/29/yq-c5-29122019.jpg?itok=zqoFvWI-&timestamp=1577613893
Enter The Fat Dragon, starring action hero Donnie Yen (left) will be rolled out in cinemas at the same time as Jackie Chan's Vanguard.PHOTOS: SCREENGRAB FROM ENTER THE FAT DRAGON/FACEBOOK, SCREENGRAB FROM WEIBO

PUBLISHED DEC 29, 2019, 5:50 PM SGT
Loh Keng Fatt

Jackie Chan has competition for box-office revenue during Chinese New Year next month.

Enter The Fat Dragon - starring another action hero, Donnie Yen - will be rolled out in cinemas at the same time as Chan's Vanguard.

Yen's movie is likely to benefit from the publicity earned by the actor's current box-office smash Ip Man 4: The Finale.

Yen portrays an overweight policeman in Enter The Fat Dragon, which is directed by Wong Jing.

While the fight scenes were a breeze for him, he reportedly was floored by the hours needed to put on makeup and a fat suit to portray the character.

Niki Chow, who plays the wife of Yen's character, said her knees buckled when she heard that there was a fight scene involving the couple.

According to HKET.com, she said she was afraid that her lack of fighting skills would result in many takes before the director was satisfied.

Chow made sure she rehearsed the scene with Yen multiple times so that she would not be caught off-guard by his fast moves.

THREADS
Enter the Fat Dragon (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70631-Enter-the-Fat-Dragon-redux-with-Donnie-Yen)
Vanguard (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71202-Vanguard)
2020 Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)

[GeneChing]

China delays blockbusters as cinemas empty out under state orders to control Wuhan virus outbreak (https://www.scmp.com/business/markets/article/3047391/chinas-box-office-reels-deadly-wuhan-coronavirus-outbreak-release)
The release of seven highly anticipated blockbuster movies has been put off indefinitely as China takes steps to contain the deadly pneumonia epidemic
Media stocks face the brunt of sell-off on the last day of trading before the long holiday, with a key gauge slumping 3.8 per cent
Zhang Shidong in Shanghai
Published: 7:10pm, 23 Jan, 2020

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1200x800/public/d8/images/methode/2020/01/23/e5f2c412-3db3-11ea-a16e-39b824591591_image_hires_201752.jpg?itok=7f0xV2n_&v=1579781878
A bicyclist wears a face mask in front of a display for the upcoming Lunar New Year, in Beijing. Chinese health authorities urged people in the city of Wuhan to avoid crowds and public gatherings, as the new viral illness could spread further. Photo: AP Photo

China’s studios have indefinitely delayed the release of seven highly anticipated blockbusters just before the start of the Lunar New Year holiday, yielding to government orders to avoid public gatherings to contain the spread of a deadly viral outbreak.
The postponement of the films, including Boonie Bears: The Wild Life, Legend of Deification and Detective Chinatown III, comes at an inopportune moment as the country’s box office is struggling to recover from a second consecutive year of slowing growth.
Tickets will be refunded because of the quickly spreading epidemic that broke out in the central city of Wuhan in December, producers said in separate statements on Thursday.
The government orders came just a day before the start of China’s long Lunar New Year holiday, casting a shadow over the movie industry that was pinning its hopes on a recovery in box-office revenues during the nation’s most important festival.

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/01/23/e59a94b8-3db3-11ea-a16e-39b824591591_972x_201752.JPG
The release of Detective Chinatown III has been delayed to contain the rapidly spreading virus outbreak. Photo: Weibo

Cinemas, along with restaurants, airlines, etc are taking a beating amid concern that quarantine measures would empty out public places precisely at the most important holiday for the nation of 1.4 billion people.
The industry is already grappling with shrinking investment amid increased government scrutiny over the past year.
A gauge of China’s media stocks slumped 3.8 per cent on Thursday, underperforming a 2.8 per cent decline in the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index on the last trading day before the holiday, on concerns the sector will endure a prolonged slowdown.
Wanda Film, owned by billionaire Wang Jianlin, plunged 7 per cent to 17.29 yuan in Shenzhen. Beijing Enlight Media slid 5 per cent to 10.57 yuan after saying it will pick up another time slot for the release of its animated movie Legend of Deification. China Film, which distributes movies and runs a theatre chain, sank 4.8 per cent to 13.81 yuan in Shanghai.
China’s box-office growth slowed to 5.4 per cent in 2019. It was the second consecutive year that industry growth slowed down, as investment shrank amid the increased regulatory scrutiny of content approval and crackdown on tax evasion. Some 1,900 companies producing movies and TV dramas shut down last year, according to the Securities Daily.
China is taking all steps possible to contain the spread of the coronavirus, imposing a lockdown in Wuhan. All public transport in and out of Wuhan, including trains, buses and ferries, stopped at 10am on Thursday as the central government imposed a quarantine to try to contain the spread of a coronavirus that has killed 17 people and infected hundreds more.
China reported 571 cases of pneumonia caused by the virus and 17 deaths, in 25 provinces as of Wednesday, according to the National Health Commission. The outbreak coincided with the nation’s busiest transport season, when an estimated 3 billion tourist trips will be made over the holiday.
Airlines, tourism and consumer companies were among the worst-hit stocks on concern the spread of the epidemic will discourage travelling and deter spending. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), which infected more than 8,000 people and killed almost 800 in 2003, slashed China’s monthly retail sales growth by half and chipped two percentage points off quarterly economic expansion that year.

Additional reporting by Yujing Liu

THREADS
2020 Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)
Legend of Deification (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71621-Legend-of-Deification-Jiang-Ziya)
Detective Chinatown III (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71600-Detective-Chinatown-3)
Coronavirus (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-Wuhan-Pneumonia)

[GeneChing]

U.S. Release of Chinese New Year Films Canceled as Coronavirus Crisis Escalates (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/us-release-chinese-new-year-films-canceled-coronavirus-crisis-1272301)
5:43 AM PST 1/23/2020 by Patrick Brzeski

https://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/landscape_928x523/2020/01/screenshot1.jpg
'Detective Chinatown 3'

Warner Bros. was set to release Wanda's 'Detective Chinatown 3' on Saturday, giving the action comedy the biggest North American outing to date for a Mandarin-language movie.
China's major movie studios are scrapping the North American release plans for their big Lunar New Year blockbusters after being forced to shelve the projects at home because of the growing coronavirus outbreak.

On Thursday afternoon, the leading studios in Beijing announced simultaneously that all seven of the major films that were set for release on Saturday, the first day of the weeklong Lunar holiday, would be put on hold.

Chinese New Year is the biggest box office period in the world by far, and the coming week was expected to generate as much as $1 billion in ticket sales revenue (think the Christmas/New Year's corridor on steroids). But with confirmed cases of the coronavirus climbing to nearly 600, medical authorities in China warned the public against congregating in crowded places, and distributors interpreted that as applying to cinemas. There were fears that even if the releases went ahead, theaters would be deserted.

Warner Bros had picked up the North American rights to what was looking to be the holiday season frontrunner, Wanda's action comedy sequel Detective Chinatown 3. Warners had set the film for a continent-wide, North American release on Friday. The studio described the release plans — spanning 150 cinemas with limited IMAX engagements — as the biggest outing for a Chinese-language film in recent memory.

Sources at Wanda tell The Hollywood Reporter that the Warners release will be put on hold in tandem with the China release delay.

Dante Lam's patriotic action adventure film The Rescue, produced for upwards of $90 million, was similarly set for a significant North American opening courtesy of China's own CMC Pictures. A source close to CMC says those plans also have been scrapped.

Hong Kong-based Huanxi Media would have been the studio to watch this Chinese New Year season. The fast-growing studio had two of the season's most-buzzed-about projects, Xu Zheng's comedy smash Lost in Russia (a sequel to his beloved 2015 blockbuster Lost in Hong) and Leap, Peter Chan's decade-spanning sports drama, starring Gong Li and Huang Bo, about China's national volleyball team. Both projects had been generating strong word of mouth throughout the industry in Beijing, and a source at Huanxi said the studio was in advanced discussions to sell the U.S. rights to both projects. "These discussions will definitely be impacted now," the source said.

The Chinese studios had several good reasons for making sure their most important movies of the calendar didn't open offshore before at home in China.

The Chinese theatrical market is profoundly trend driven, with online buzz driving or dampening the box office momentum of a film within hours of its release. Chinese films also still make the vast majority of their money in their domestic market. Last year's Chinese New Year champion The Wandering Earth (2018), for example, earned $5.8 million in North America compared to $690 million in China. Studios, naturally, would be very reluctant to risk having the buzz surrounding a comparatively low-value U.S. outing travel back to China to affect the movie's real earning potential. A pirate copy of a tentpole hitting the internet before it opens in China could be even more devastating.

Chinese distributors also are required to get special permission to open a film overseas before its local release, so it's not clear whether going ahead with the U.S. openings would have even been legal.

As news surrounding the coronavirus has worsened, shares in many of China's leading film companies have plummeted on the local stock markets this week. Distributors and theaters are working with ticketing platforms to offer refunds on the more than $50 million in tickets that had pre-sold just for Saturday. The Beijing film industry appears to be in a collective holding pattern, waiting anxiously with the entire country to see how the next phase in the coronavirus crisis will unfold.

THREADS
2020 Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)
The Rescue (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71207-The-Rescue)
Lost in Russia (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71505-Lost-in-Russia)
Detective Chinatown III (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71600-Detective-Chinatown-3)
Coronavirus (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-Wuhan-Pneumonia)

[GeneChing]

CHINESE NEW YEAR FLASH SALE! 25% OFF on Wing Chun Dummies (https://www.martialartsmart.com/20-50.html)! Today ONLY!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EO-i5NQUwAAPEbJ?format=jpg&name=medium

[GeneChing]

https://img.sfist.com/2020/01/s8_hero_laurie_mike_highres.jpg

22 JANUARY 2020 / ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT / JOE KUKURA
Legendary Musician and Performance Artist Laurie Anderson Arrives at SFJAZZ This Weekend (https://sfist.com/2020/01/22/laurie-anderson-residency-at-sfjazz-packs-o-super-lineup/?fbclid=IwAR3bipF_CmkBTWqiBLtgEUEypJ2w__KxZqsaTLZM P0nwYjds5VjQoQk_13A)
Sunday’s solo performance is sold out, but Laurie Anderson’s Thursday, Friday, and Saturday collaborations have seats available if you act fast.

We’ve had experimental composer Laurie Anderson pop into our fair city before, but never with the variety of notable guests and wildly unconventional concepts as with her latest SFJAZZ artistic director residency that begins tomorrow and runs through Sunday. Each show is totally nuts and different! KPIX explains that Ms. Anderson will be in town all weekend, and the multimedia performance art legend behind the eight-minute, surprise early-80s hit “O Superman” will expand her onstage repertoire with Ming dynasty texts, cello jazz, and more at SFJAZZ’s Miner Auditorium.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkfpi2H8tOE

Anderson’s Saturday night collaboration with Mike Patton is described as “Almost Sold Out” on the SFJAZZ website, so fans of the Faith No More and Mr. Bungle frontman will want to snap up those tickets quickly. Per that site, the pair will be performing a set of Ming dynasty texts “Jixiao Xinshu — the famous military manual written in the 16th century by Ming dynasty general and Chinese national hero Qi Jiguang,” set to music. Anderson will be on keyboards and violin, with Patton on the vocals, and presumably there will crazy **** happening in the background.

Thursday and Friday’s shows will both incorporate rock and jazz cellist Rubin Kodheli. Thursday’s jazz strings trio performance adds wildly accomplished studio bassist Christian McBride to the mix (that one’s also “Almost Sold Out”), Saturday is a duet with Anderson and Kodheli playing “what Anderson calls their combined ‘hyper-instrument’ — part acoustic, part electronic. Sunday night’s solo show is sold out.



Sidenote: SFJAZZ has quite the weekend next weekend too, with two shows with the great Mavis Staples. Staples, 80, was a 2016 Kennedy Center honoree.

SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director Laurie Anderson series, Thurs. Jan 23 - Sun. Jan. 26, 7:30 p.m., Miner Auditorium, 201 Franklin Street, (415) 788-7353


Laurie Anderson + Qi Jiguang (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?59759-Qi-Jiguang-s-chapter-on-boxing-in-English) and Mike Patton. Yes, this is how I'm celebrating Chinese New Year (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat) tomorrow. :cool:

[GeneChing]

JANUARY 23, 2020 11:13AM PT
How the Wuhan Coronavirus Infected the Chinese Film Industry (https://variety.com/2020/film/asia/wuhan-coronvirus-infected-chinese-film-1203477077/)
By REBECCA DAVIS and PATRICK FRATER

https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/coronavirus-shutterstock_editorial_10536867a-res.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1
CREDIT: YONHAP/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

Just days ago, no one would have predicted that China’s most lucrative film-going season was about to be derailed by the escalating epidemic of a novel coronavirus that is now rapidly spreading through the country and beyond.

Variety takes a look at how the box office in the world’s second largest film market has been overturned by a public health crisis that has made gathering in enclosed cinema spaces a health risk.

Pre-Sales and Promotion

Earlier this week, it seemed to be business as usual for the Spring Festival holiday release window. Production teams collectively spent a reported $144 million (RMB1 billion) on publicity for the seven blockbusters scheduled to release this Friday and Saturday, the eve and New Year’s Day of the new lunar year of the rat. The holiday is a time for family gatherings, when millions who’ve saved up all year take one of their few vacations, and head back to their hometowns. It is the largest annual human migration in the world.

It seemed that the biggest setback would be a marketing blow to Peter Chan’s volleyball drama “Leap,” which suddenly changed its Chinese title from “Chinese Women’s Volleyball” to “Win the Championship” the day before pre-sales began.

The new name, unknown to viewers bombarded with posters and materials for the other, is the same as the short made by rival director Xu Zheng that was included in the widely viewed propaganda film “My People, My Country,” and has caused confusion. Chan’s title change decision appears to have been a way to avoid fallout from dissatisfaction within the sports community of how the women’s team is portrayed, rather than government censorship.

Pre-sales for the seven films had already reached a reported $67.5 million (RMB468 million) by Thursday morning. “Detective Chinatown 3” had pulled ahead as the front-runner, setting a new pre-sale record by selling more than $14 million (RMB100 million) worth of tickets in just 23 hours.

Monday: Concern Mounts

By Jan. 20, concerns ramp up about the spread of the coronavirus due to mass travel ahead of Chinese New Year, as the death toll and infection tally mounts. Chinese authorities report three deaths and more than 200 cases in the country and confirm that the disease can in fact spread through human-to-human transmission. Since the first case outside of China was discovered on Jan. 13, the virus has spread to Thailand, Japan and South Korea. On Jan. 21, the first reported case is found in the U.S., in Seattle.

Ticket sales in Wuhan were mounting swimmingly before Sunday (Jan. 19), accounting for around 2% of the national box office, on average. But from Sunday onwards, ticket sales rapidly declined, dropping from 2.2% of the national total to 0.5% in the space of three days. From Monday, film company shares begin to fall, including those for Wanda Film and China Film.

On Wednesday (Jan. 22), China’s major ticketing platforms Maoyan and Tao Piaopiao put out official statements announcing unconditional refunds for any tickets bought in Wuhan.

The same day, Chinese authorities announce a quarantine for the entire city of Wuhan and its 11 million residents, effective from the next day. Travel restrictions are planned to shut down public transit out of the city. Chaos ensues as residents fight to get out of the metropolis before lock down sets in Thursday morning at 10AM local time, with Chinese reports estimating that some 300,000 fled.

Thursday: Box Office Meltdown

By Thursday (Jan. 23) morning, the hashtag “Why don’t the spring festival films change their release dates?” is a top trending item on Weibo, China’s Twitter-equivalent. Production teams are faced with a lose-lose decision: risk angering the public by keeping their film in the line-up, or pull out and lose millions in P&A.

Official film Weibo accounts start to slash promotional material and instead boost posts cheering for “frontline medical workers.” Then, in quick succession, all seven issue statements that they are formally withdrawing their titles. No future release dates have been announced.

Animations “Boonie Bears: The Wild Life” and “Jiang Ziya” pulled out first. “Now that the epidemic is happening, we must stand impregnably united, and focus on the disease prevention and saving lives,” the “Jiang Ziya” promo site said. “We salute those working on the front lines of the epidemic and apologize to theater workers nationwide.”

The other titles swiftly follow. “Movies are just a part of life; life and safety are more important, since ‘movies are short and life is long,'” said the team behind “Leap.” It said it was pulling out after “careful consideration of the risk of disease transmission in a confined space.”

Lam’s “The Rescue” was on-brand and adopting the most rousing tone, writing: “At the moment, many medical and rescue personnel are sticking to their posts, stepping forward bravely at the key moment of danger and disaster! The movie ‘The Rescue’ is about exactly this kind of spirit. Let us as millions, all of one mind, with unshakeably unity, win the battle of preventing an epidemic!”

“Lost in Russia” director Xu Zheng wrote a post expressing his gratitude to Hengdian Film, his producer Huanxi Media, and the marketing team, whose early work has been washed away. “All this is less important than eliminating the hidden dangers of the disease!”

Ticketing platforms Maoyan and Tao Piaopiao now promise to refund all tickets without question, a process that may take up to a week. Cinema chains say they have been overwhelmed with calls from patrons asking for refunds.

Cinemas in Wuhan and other nearby locked-down cities have been entirely shut down, and authorities have issued a mandatory face mask policy there for public spaces. Cinemas elsewhere remain operational for the moment, advertising that they have boosted disinfection measures and ventilation for theaters.

Large-scale cultural activities like temple fairs have been cancelled, and cultural institutions such as museums have slashed activities to reduce visitor tallies. The Forbidden City in Beijing will be shuttered from Saturday.

Over the course of the day, China has locked down some 20 million people in Wuhan and neighboring cities by indefinitely banning planes and trains. The death toll has risen to at least 17, with some 517 affected. The virus has now been detected in Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and the U.S. and U.K. The WHO is currently mulling whether to declare the epidemic a global health emergency.

On Thursday – the last chance for business before a recess of five full trading days for the spring festival holiday – shares of a number of major film companies plummeted. Wanda Film closed almost 7% lower after falling 20% over the previous five trading days, and China Film closed nearly 5% lower, down 17% over the past five trading days.

THREADS
2020 Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)
The Rescue (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71207-The-Rescue)
Lost in Russia (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71505-Lost-in-Russia)
Detective Chinatown III (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71600-Detective-Chinatown-3)
Legend of Deification (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71621-Legend-of-Deification-Jiang-Ziya)
Coronavirus (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-Wuhan-Pneumonia)
Chollywood rising (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?57225-Chollywood-rising)

[GeneChing]

Too bad I don't have Huanxi Premium. :(


Chinese Comedy 'Lost in Russia' to Debut Online for Free After Coronavirus Cancellations (Exclusive) (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/chinese-studio-release-comedy-lost-russia-online-free-coronavirus-cancellations-1272552)
6:25 PM PST 1/23/2020 by Patrick Brzeski

https://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/landscape_928x523/2020/01/lostinrussia.jpg
Huanxi Media
'Lost in Russia'

The film was expected to be one of the big theatrical blockbusters of the Lunar New Year season for studio Huanxi before the epidemic shuttered cinemas nationwide.
China's leading film studios were forced to cancel the holiday release of their biggest movies of the year yesterday after the growing coronavirus epidemic cast a pall over the country's annual Lunar New Year festivities.

Now, rising film company Huanxi Media is responding to the setback with a bold but fan-pleasing move: The studio has decided to release its much-anticipated comedy tentpole Lost in Russia online for free.

Lost in Russia, directed by and starring comedy superstar Xu Zheng, was widely expected to be one of the big winners of China's 2020 New Year box office, which, prior to the coronavirus outbreak, was forecasted to generate as much as $1 billion in ticket sales over the coming week. The first two films in the Lost In franchise earned a combined $473 million in 2012 and 2015 — at a time when China's box office was much smaller than it is now.

Huanxi told The Hollywood Reporter Friday morning that Lost In Russia will be made available for free viewing over its in-house streaming platform Huanxi Premium at midnight tonight. Before the coronavirus cancellation, the film was set to get a huge nationwide theatrical release today.

The move is all but certain to delight fans, as mass moviegoing has become a big Lunar New Year tradition in China, and cinemas across the country are currently shuttered because of the government's advice to avoid congregating in crowded places.

Lost in Russia's Chinese title roughly translates to "Awkward Mother." The film follows the bumpy journey through Russia of a manipulative older Chinese mother and her middle-aged son who still wants to rebel and escape his mother's smothering influence. Xu, famous for his comedy touch, said his goal was to make viewers reflect on the often funny but deeply loving nature of the mother-child relationship in China.

In a blast of promotional material set to be released midday in China announcing the free streaming plan, Huanxi told the anxious Chinese populace to "stay safely at home and watch Lost in Russia with your mom."

Aside from its obvious promotional savvy — and public health benefits — Huanxi's move has an interesting business logic. Underlying the plan is a surprise new deal with internet powerhouse ByteDance, the company behind China's wildly popular Toutiao and Douyin services, and the international social media phenomenon TikTok.

On Friday, Huanxi revealed that it has entered into a cooperation agreement with ByteDance that will involve the companies working together to leverage Huanxi's premium film and television content across both of their video platforms. Under the deal, ByteDance will pay Huanxi a one-time fee of 700 million Hong Kong dollars (just under $100 million). The two companies' video services will pool content, cross-promote and also share advertising and transactional video-on-demand revenue.

The giveaway of Lost in Russia (the local equivalent of Disney deciding to open the paywall to Disney+ and release a new Avengers movie for free) — at a time when hundreds of millions of Chinese are nervously stuck at home with little to do — ensures that the new partnership starts with a bang. The attendant advertising revenue of the free online release could also prove enormous.

In a Friday filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, where Huanxi is listed, the company said that the current partnership with ByteDance constitutes a "phase 1" agreement that will run for six months. The two parties are currently at work in negotiating a longer-lasting "phase 2" deal, which will entail the joint development of their longform streaming channels, as well as shared investments in producing and acquiring high-end film and TV content.

Huanxi also has retained the theatrical rights to Lost in Russia, should it decide to bring the film out in cinemas after the public health crisis is resolved.

The late-hour surprise online release was made possible by the fact that Huanxi fully owns Lost in Russia, a rarity in China, where nearly all major films are co-financed and cut up into small equity pieces (star Xu Zheng is a significant shareholder in Huanxi and one its founding partners). The company previously had inked a minimum guarantee agreement with distributor Hengdian Film, which was promising a minimum box office performance of RMB 2.4 billion ($345 million) for Lost in Russia. That agreement was voided late Thursday and Huanxi is expected to return the RMB 600 million ($86.5 million) fee that Hengdian had paid for the theatrical rights.

Huanxi also has a large stake in Peter Chan's widely anticipated Chinese New Year film Leap, an inspirational sports drama about China's Olympic volleyball team. Leap and the various other Chinese New Year theatrical tentpoles — including Wanda's comedy action sequel Detective Chinatown 3, Dante Lam's patriotic action epic The Rescue, and animations Boonie Bears: The Wild Life and Jiang Ziya, among others — are currently in a holding pattern, awaiting official indications of how the coronavirus emergency will unfold.

THREADS
2020 Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)
Lost in Russia (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71505-Lost-in-Russia)
Coronavirus (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-Wuhan-Pneumonia)

[GeneChing]

Gung Hay Fat Choy! READ Chinese New Year 2020: Year of the Iron Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1531) by Gene Ching

http://www.kungfumagazine.com/admin/site_images/KungfuMagazine/upload/5741_Horoscope-wheel.jpg

[GeneChing]

CHINESE NEW YEAR FLASH SALE! 30% OFF on Dragon Head Kwan Dao! Today ONLY!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EPEAOLnUwAA7UfU?format=jpg&name=small
(https://www.martialartsmart.com/45-88ss.html)

PRO TIP: This Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat) Flash Sale item is the model of weapon that we are using for our Heavy Guandao Championship at the 2020 Tiger Claw Elite KungFuMagazine Championships (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71553-2020-Tiger-Claw-Elite-Championships-amp-KUNG-FU-TAI-CHI-DAY-May-16-17-San-Jose-CA). I filled one with BBs to increase the weight. :cool:

[GeneChing]

CHINESE NEW YEAR FLASH SALE! 35% OFF Pro-Leg Stretchers! Today ONLY!! Today ONLY!

https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/s960x960/82900197_10158459423794363_1987873613784547328_o.j pg?_nc_cat=108&_nc_ohc=ZRwU0sz-RqsAX9SzXKU&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.xx&oh=a94bf8e70a258531dad1168410f69760&oe=5E920CB3 (https://www.martialartsmart.com/20-60.html)

[GeneChing]

CHINESE NEW YEAR FLASH SALE! 70+% OFF Legendary Grandmasters DVDs! Today ONLY!! Today ONLY!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EPO1m_vU8AE5LjP?format=jpg&name=medium (https://www.martialartsmart.com/dvd-og020.html)

[GeneChing]

Hong Kong feng shui masters say worst is over for Carrie Lam, unrest will continue but weaken in Year of the Rat (https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3047581/hong-kong-feng-shui-masters-say-worst-over-carrie-lam-unrest)
Soothsayers offer glimmer of hope for city, saying Rat won’t be as savage as the Pig
Hong Kong economy likely to stay bad; Rat expected to be good for Donald Trump
Ng Kang-chung
Published: 9:00am, 25 Jan, 2020

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1200x800/public/d8/images/methode/2020/01/24/bb049bd8-3e88-11ea-a16e-39b824591591_image_hires_191947.JPG?itok=9qP9HuGx&v=1579864811
Hongkongers may be in for a less tense time this year after the upheaval of 2019. Photo: SCMP

Hong Kong’s feng shui practitioners are predicting another uneasy 12 months for the city with the arrival of the Year of the Rat.
But they offer a glimmer of hope, saying the Rat will not prove as savage as the Pig, who arrived this time last year to deliver anti-government protests, chaos, and a sharp downturn in the economy.
Feng shui – literally, “wind” and “water” – is the ancient Chinese art of geomancy, which practitioners use to foretell what lies ahead.
The Chinese zodiac comprises a repeating cycle of 12 years, each with a designated animal possessing its own characteristics, with effects not only on those born in that year, but also on those born under other animal signs.
The arrival of the Metal Rat this year marks the beginning of a new cycle of the zodiac.

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/01/24/3ae37326-3e41-11ea-a16e-39b824591591_1320x770_191947.jpg
Carrie Lam’s zodiac sign clashed with the Pig last year. Photo: Reuters

The Post asked some of the city’s leading feng shui practitioners what the Rat will bring for beleaguered Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, politics, the economy and US President Donald Trump, who is seeking re-election in November.
Better year ahead for ‘Rooster’ Carrie Lam
The city’s leader was born in 1957, the Year of the Rooster. Overall, the Year of the Rat promises to be good for Roosters, particularly in their careers.

Last year, Carrie Lam’s sign clashed with the Pig and her boss was also too weak to support her
Priscilla Lam
Geomancer Priscilla Lam, who gained prominence by predicting that Trump would win the 2016 US presidential election, expected Hong Kong’s leader to remain in her job, despite persistent rumours that she would be replaced over her handling of the ongoing social unrest.
“Carrie Lam faces very big pressure, but the worst is over,” she said. “Last year, her sign clashed with the Pig and her boss was also too weak to support her. So, she had a very difficult time over the past 12 months.”
https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/01/24/62cb8c3e-3e87-11ea-a16e-39b824591591_1320x770_191947.JPG
Priscilla Lam says Carrie Lam can expect an easier life this year. Photo: May Tse
Asked who she meant by Lam’s “boss”, the geomancer said: “The central government’s liaison office.”
Beijing’s top representative in Hong Kong, Wang Zhimin, was replaced recently by Luo Huining.
“Now Lam’s got a new supervisor, and she can get along well with the new boss. She can expect an easier life in the year to come,” she said.
Raymond Lo Hang-lap, who has been declared a “grandmaster” by the International Feng Shui Association in Singapore, also predicted a relatively smooth year for Lam.
“She might have a career boost. The moon is present and dominates, and this favours female Roosters,” Lo said.
His predictions were based on how the five elements – metal, earth, water, wood, and fire – interact based on the movement of the sun and moon to create auspicious or inauspicious forces.

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/01/24/5ca041ec-3e41-11ea-a16e-39b824591591_1320x770_191947.JPG
Raymond Lo also predicts a smoother year for Carrie Lam. Photo: Winson Wong

He accurately predicted the death of international terrorist leader Osama bin Laden in 2011 and the break-up of Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes in 2012.
His advice for Hong Kong’s leader: “Stay focused in career and business, and refrain from complacency and making careless mistakes.”
Celebrity geomancer Yunwenzi, or Master Cloud, who last year correctly predicted the rise of a radical social movement and great split in Hong Kong society, said another eventful year lay ahead.
“Young people will feel restless and tend to resort to violence. So there could be more conflict and disputes in society,” she said.
Relying on the ancient Chinese art of divination called Qimen Dunjia for her predictions, she said 2020 was represented by an “unrestful dragon” and Hong Kong could expect a lot of ups and downs.
“The internal social disputes will linger, but the atmosphere could turn less tense later in the year,” said Yunwenzi, whose clients include Credit Suisse and the designer Vivienne Westwood.

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/01/24/39fd870c-3e88-11ea-a16e-39b824591591_1320x770_191947.JPG
Yunwenzi expects the atmosphere may turn less tense later in the year. Photo: SCMP

Lo agreed, though his interpretation was based on 2020 being a Metal year while the Rat was a Water element.
Both are “cold” elements and in their effect, people might choose to use violence to achieve their goals.
“But with metal sitting on the water element, the Rat lacks support and is weak. So the unrest will gradually die down,” he said.
Eric To Chung-yin, a third-generation master Chinese astrologer, said: “The Metal Rat symbolises a year of change. Change is not necessarily bad. If Carrie Lam can try to change her governance style and perhaps listen more to people’s views, the social unrest might be over sooner.”
Economy: Good year for some sectors only
The outlook for the economy is not good, the geomancers said, and it all had to do with the water element prevailing.
“The fearful energy of the water element cycle is going to take over and prevail. Pessimism, cynicism, and despair will set in and contribute to the economic recession,” Lo said.
The past Year of the Pig marked the exit of the fire element, which will not return until the Year of the Snake in 2025.
Lo said 2020 and 2021 “belong to the water element” and added: “Without the fire element, the general economic atmosphere will remain gloomy and the pace of growth will slow.”

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/01/24/874b4adc-3e8b-11ea-a16e-39b824591591_1320x770_191947.JPG
Eric To says the Metal Rat represents a year of change. Photo: May Tse

However, he said the fire element prevailed over some sectors such as energy, restaurants and entertainment, and they could expect a better year ahead. But he had no good news for the shipping, transport, and media sectors, saying they could expect hard times.
Yunwenzi had similar predictions, and also expected the US-China trade war to drag on because “the US will stir up more trouble”. continued next post

[GeneChing]

There could be some corrections in the first half of the year, but it will gradually pick up
Yunwenzi
Despite the looming recession, she did not expect Hong Kong’s property market to collapse. “There could be some corrections in the first half of the year, but it will gradually pick up. Prices will not drop by more than 10 per cent,” she said.
She warned investors there could be “a great impact” on stock markets in the summer and advised them to invest in sectors such as environmental protection, infrastructure and natural energy.

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/01/24/c0a14ce4-3e42-11ea-a16e-39b824591591_1320x770_191947.jpg
The widespread social unrest was not predicted by many feng shui practitioners. Photo: AFP

Since Hong Kong’s pan-democratic camp swept last November’s district council elections, taking control of 17 out of 18 district councils, all eyes are on this year’s Legislative Council elections in September.
Like most political observers, Lo expected pro-Beijing candidates to face an uphill battle, though he had these words of comfort for them: “It will not be a big defeat though, not like the district council elections last year.”
Priscilla Lam said the pro-government camp would be able to draw on female Rooster Carrie Lam’s likely good fortune to perform fairly well in the Legco elections, although she declined to elaborate.
‘Dog’ Donald Trump can expect a good year
Donald Trump was born in 1946, the Year of the Dog. The Rat Year was good for Dogs, the geomancers said.
“There are several lucky stars on the Dogs’ horizon,” Eric To said. “Largely, Dogs can succeed in the areas they wish to pursue, but they should pay attention to details in their work, because missing parts can land them in trouble.”

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/01/24/ea0388ae-3e88-11ea-a16e-39b824591591_1320x770_191947.JPG
Donald Trump may get some help from the Metal Rat. Photo: AP

Agreeing, Lo expected the Metal Rat to help Donald Trump survive his ongoing impeachment trial and improve his chances of re-election.
A more cautious Priscilla Lam was not ready to predict the outcome of Trump’s bid for a second term.
“Actually, as a president, he is not particularly great. But his rivals were too weak so he made it the last time. Let’s wait and see who will emerge as his opponent before assessing his chances,” she said.
As for Chinese President Xi Jinping, Lo noted that he was born in 1953, the Year of the Snake, and that might mean not a very good year ahead.
“The Snake clashed with the Pig last year,” Lo said. “This year, the clash will continue. So China could very well continue to be under pressure in its economic relationship with the US and the Western world.”

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/01/24/59b2829a-3e89-11ea-a16e-39b824591591_1320x770_191947.JPG
President Xi Jinping was born in the Year of the Snake, and that might mean not a very good year ahead. Photo: AFP

How accurate are the predictions, anyway?
At the beginning of the Year of the Pig last year, few feng shui practitioners foretold the widespread social unrest about to befall Hong Kong, though some insist they saw trouble ahead.
Eric To said: “We did foretell that Carrie Lam would be in deep trouble in the Year of the Pig because the Rooster clashes with the Pig. But the scale of the mess she created was a bit unexpected, I have to say.”
To those who dismiss the geomancers’ predictions as being no better than guesswork, To has this to say: “People think the purpose of predictions is to tell you exactly what is going to happen, but that may not be 100 per cent the case. The purpose of fortune-telling is to give you information to help you create your own future.”

THREADS
Feng Shui (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?9565-Feng-Shui)
Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)

[GeneChing]

CHINESE NEW YEAR FLASH SALE! 30+% OFF on the Sword of Guojian! Today ONLY!!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EPTczaoU8AEE1xo?format=jpg&name=medium (https://www.martialartsmart.com/45s-57.html)

Remember MartialArtSmart is giving a 20% Off discount Sitewide with the coupon code RAT2020 (at checkout). Offer ends tomorrow Midnight PST

https://smhttp-ssl-73310.nexcesscdn.net/pub/media/wysiwyg/Chinese-New-Year-Sale-2020_1_.jpg (https://www.martialartsmart.com/cny)

THREADS
2020 Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)
The Sword of Guojian (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70423-The-Sword-of-Guojian)

[GeneChing]

It's really more like sick days off.


China extends Lunar New Year holiday in bid to fight coronavirus (https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/480046-china-extends-lunar-new-year-holiday-in-bid-to-fight-virus)
BY ZACK BUDRYK - 01/27/20 08:53 AM EST 9

https://thehill.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumb_small_article/public/coronavirus2_012720getty.jpg?itok=z_E5sMul
China extends Lunar New Year holiday in bid to fight coronavirus
© Getty Images

Chinese officials on Monday announced they would extend the Lunar New Year holiday in hopes of keeping citizens home and reducing the risk of the spread of the coronavirus that has killed at least 81 people.

The Chinese government said in a statement that it will push back the end of the holiday from Sunday to Thursday to “reduce mass gatherings” and “block the spread of the epidemic,” The Associated Press reported. Officials hope the extension will prevent the potential spread of the disease risked by tens of millions of travelers returning to work by plane, train or bus. Schools are slated to remain closed indefinitely.

Individual cities across China have also taken action to reduce the spread of the virus, with Shanghai extending the holiday to Feb. 9 and ordering the closure of all religious events and sports stadiums.

Premier Li Keqiang visited the city of Wuhan, believed to the origin point of the outbreak through a wildlife market, on Monday to “guide epidemic work,” according to the Cabinet, later visiting a supermarket and mingling with shoppers.

“To get the epidemic under control in Wuhan and the good health of people in Wuhan will be good news for the whole country,” Li told the crowd, the AP reports. “We wish the people of Wuhan a safe, healthy and long life. Let’s go, Wuhan!”

The U.S. consulate in Wuhan said it plans to evacuate diplomats and other American citizens on Tuesday, while the French plans to fly its citizens out of the area and quarantine them in France, while the France-based automaker PSA Peugeot Citroen is moving foreign employees of its Wuhan factory and their families to another city, where they will be quarantined.

U.S. officials confirmed a fourth case of the virus on Sunday, with a patient being diagnosed with it in Los Angeles County.

THREADS
2020 Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)
Coronavirus (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-Wuhan-Pneumonia)

[GeneChing]

The coronavirus panic is turning the UK into a hostile environment for east Asians (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/27/coronavirus-panic-uk-hostile-environment-east-asians)
Sam Phan
Stereotypes are spreading as quickly as the virus. On the bus, in the street, people have started treating us as if we’re infected

Mon 27 Jan 2020 11.15 ESTLast modified on Tue 28 Jan 2020 09.19 EST

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d46eedec63e40d387ecf300a54458fd466246726/0_0_5926_3556/master/5926.jpg
‘The virus has spread to at least eight other countries including Thailand, Japan and the US, and it’s ‘highly likely’ it will reach the UK, according to Public Health England.’ Photograph: Amer Ghazzal/REX/Shutterstock

The atmosphere on my morning commute is tense. As panic over the coronavirus deepens and dominates the headlines, as an east Asian I can’t help but feel more and more uncomfortable. On the bus to work last week, as I sat down, the man next to me immediately scrambled to gather his stuff and stood up to avoid sitting next to me.


Perhaps it did not occur to these people that I, as a UK citizen, was no more likely than them to be carrying the virus
On the train over the weekend, a group sat opposite me chattering about their weekend plans. One of them seriously advised the rest, “I wouldn’t go to Chinatown if I were you, they have that disease.”

As I made my way towards Chinatown in London, an elderly woman and her friend on the escalators at Leicester Square underground station were casually talking about how dangerous the area now was, and she complained she was obliged to go there for a meeting. “At least I’m old, I have nothing left to lose,” she laughed.

In another loud conversation, I overheard a woman talking about how terrified she was that her friend, who had spent some time working with Chinese students, might have infected her with the virus.

In light of current events, we east Asians in the UK are on high alert, paying close attention to how people interact with us. It is not their concern about health that is problematic, but the stereotyping of all east Asians as a coronavirus risk. At times such as this, even a simple bus trip can feel like a hostile environment.

A friend at a university library experienced something similar: as soon as they sat down at a desk, the person in front of them packed up their things to leave. We’re noticing odd things like this that we never saw happen before.

Perhaps it did not occur to some of these people, so happy to talk loudly in front of me, that I was also concerned about the virus – or that I, as a British citizen, was no more likely than them to be carrying the virus. They grouped all east Asian people together, without factoring in that perhaps we were British or, if not, we were from unaffected areas of China, or even came from other countries in the Chinese diaspora. We were all the same to them.

The virus that originated in Wuhan has spread to at least eight other countries including Thailand, Japan, Australia and the US, and it’s “highly likely” it will reach the UK, according to Public Health England.

As it spreads, the virus has revealed more and more stereotyped judgments about Chinese people. I have also heard accounts from east Asians, even if they are not Chinese, who have recently been profiled while travelling at airports or on trains due to the ignorant perception that all east Asians are Chinese.

George Osborne, editor of the Evening Standard, proudly tweeted his newspaper’s cartoon of a rat with a face mask to supposedly commemorate the lunar new year. Piers Morgan mocked the Chinese language on Good Morning Britain with a tired “ching chang chong” joke. East Asians have been accused of instigating the virus by having “revolting” eating habits. Most Asians know these stereotypes all too well.

These insulting depictions don’t reflect the reality of being Chinese at all, and encourage the misguided perception of more than one billion people being a monolithic and singular group in which everyone speaks, acts and looks the same. In fact, there is a huge diversity.

Language and culture vary massively within the region. Speakers of Hokkien would not be able to converse with people who speak Hakka. And despite Mandarin being the lingua franca, there are more than 200 dialects spoken across China. In fact in Wuhan itself, a beautiful and diverse city with more than 3,500 years of history, many of its population of 11.8 million speak a Wuhan dialect.

Elsewhere, natives of Aksu look completely different to the majority Han Chinese. And the food, too: dim sum from the south of China is vastly different from the tangy, spicy flavours of Sichuan.

This week, my ethnicity has made me feel like I was part of a threatening and diseased mass. To see me as someone who carries the virus just because of my race is, well, just racist.

As the lunar new year celebrations take place across the world, let’s take a moment to think about the way in which east Asians are perceived and how important it is to see us in all our diversity, as individual human beings, and to challenge stereotypes. The coronavirus is a human tragedy, so let’s not allow fear to breed hatred, intolerance and racism.

• Sam Phan is an MA student at the University of Manchester

THREADS
Coronavirus (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-Wuhan-Pneumonia)
Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)

[GeneChing]

https://img.sfist.com/2020/01/sf-chinatown-dragon-lanterns.jpg

29 JANUARY 2020 / SF NEWS / JAY BARMANN
Elderly Chinatown Residents Targeted For Red Envelopes During Lunar New Year (https://sfist.com/2020/01/29/elderly-chinatown-residents-in-sf-and-oakland-targeted-for-red-envelopes-during-lunar-new-year/?fbclid=IwAR38g-7eIqvRz8VXi8cXMNw1WOFK9fxfzDj9JvdNkF3Z9I0Ya99wOI61 jho)

During Lunar New Year celebrations this week, law enforcement is going on high alert in both San Francisco's and Oakland's Chinatown to deter thieves from targeting a longstanding gift tradition.

The tradition of exchanging red envelopes filled with cash — often given to children by seniors — during the Chinese New Year festivities has become well known among criminals, according to the Oakland police. And the OPD is consequently stepping up patrols in Oakland's Chinatown and elsewhere in the city where such gift exchanges might be happening, as KRON 4 reports.

Reports of crimes associated with the red envelope tradition date back at least a decade in San Francisco. Back in 2011, the SFPD was warning Asian merchants in Chinatown and the Bayview about displaying valuables during the holiday season. And, similarly, the New York Times reported in 2014 on the uptick in pickpocketing and other thefts during Lunar New Year time in New York, often centered around red envelopes.

Oakland police and other authorities in the East Bay say they will be on alert for such crimes over the next three weeks — and cops in six different East Bay cities say they are mobilizing to prevent these robberies.

Elderly Chinatown residents have complained loudly over the last year about a perception that they have been increasingly targeted for petty crimes — and sometimes violent robberies — by criminals from outside the neighborhood. In one high-profile case last July, a 56-year-old man and a 69-year-old man were beaten and robbed in broad daylight in SF's Chinatown, and the two suspects arrested were from Oakland.

The annual Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco is happening next weekend, on February 8.

Photo: Eduardo Santos

This makes me sick. :mad:

[GeneChing]

‘Drama. Competition. Fear’: Those lucky red envelopes for the Lunar New Year yield much more than cash (https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-01-24/lunar-new-year-celebration-envelope-cash)

https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/38ab83f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6720x4480+0+0/resize/840x560!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2Fc9%2F531006a844 45afa8476bcc00c10a%2Fla-photos-1staff-478554-me-0115-lunar-new-year-cash-09-gem.jpg
Cal State Los Angeles student Kenny Chang, 18, looks over red envelopes used for the Lunar New Year at the Tak Shing Hong Market in Monterey Park. Many families stuff money into the packets that are given to children and relatives to bring good luck in the new year. “It’s the Asian parents’ way of giving love since they really don’t express it,” Chang said. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

By ANH DOSTAFF WRITER
JAN. 24, 2020 3 AM

Until she’s married, Alice Liu expects to welcome the Lunar New Year counting the treasured crispy bills she receives from older relatives to mark the red-gold, multigenerational festivities.

“How much we get depends on how close we are to the giver,” said the 27-year-old from Chino Hills. “And it’s a dance.”

That’s because when younger folks gather around their elders to share wishes for good health, before they receive bountiful gifts of cash -- a venerable Asian tradition known as red packets or red envelopes -- the proper response “is to be humble, to refuse,” Liu said.

“Do our parents and grandparents accept? Of course not. But you play around while deep down, we all want the money,” Liu added, laughing. The funds could come in handy as she searches for a job.

Of all the traditions surrounding the biggest holiday in many Asian communities -- from cleaning the house and wearing new clothes for a fresh start, to lighting firecrackers to chase away evil spirits -- it may be the ubiquitous “hongbao,” as it’s called in Chinese, or “li xi,” as it’s known in Vietnamese, that inspires the most talk with endless comparisons over which relatives are big spenders and which are tightwads.

“Drama. Competition. Fear. The exchange of lucky money can involve all of these things. It’s like a soap opera that you can’t remove yourself from,” said John Tu, a businessman from Diamond Bar, in between sips of espresso at the sleek Atlantic Times Square, a development fusing shops and residential living in the heart of Monterey Park.

In anticipation of the Year of the Rat, dawning Saturday, he reflected on meeting people “who literally go into debt to meet all the financial obligations” that this season requires.

https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/50a3ba0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4705x3267+0+0/resize/840x583!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F73%2F6e%2F0c3b8ded4b 3f8f8f08c8f378d684%2Fla-photos-1staff-478554-me-0115-lunar-new-year-cash-05-gem.jpg
A shopper looks for decorations, red envelopes and other items for Lunar New Year celebrations at the Tak Shing Hong Market in Monterey Park.(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

“The pressure is constant. You need to go all out and wine and dine the extended family -- not to mention these envelope gifts,” he continued. “And you should see when the youngsters open them. They’re shouting: ‘What did you get? Look what I got!’ They can’t help but brag and compare.”

Experts worry that the ancient custom has lost meaning. A tradition that began with modest, symbolic amounts tucked into envelopes has grown over the top, requiring spending huge sums under a sense of obligation. Meanwhile, the pool of people benefiting from the largesse has grown beyond immediate family members to the occasional mailman or trash collector.

“In the early days in Vietnam, the envelopes didn’t have much money because people were poorer and often, only the men of the family went to work. In modern postwar times, with more jobs, more financial benefits, families can be more generous and they feel they must pass on the tradition so that the younger generation will continue it when it’s their turn,” said Kim Dzung Pham, senior lecturer in the foreign languages department at UC Riverside.

https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/1eb9279/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6720x4480+0+0/resize/840x560!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fa1%2F97%2Fb345db2749 cdbb54728606609303%2Fla-photos-1staff-478554-me-0115-lunar-new-year-cash-02-gem.jpg
Red envelopes are sold for Lunar New Year celebrations at the Tak Shing Hong Market in Monterey Park.(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Her practice is to give to “the best of my ability,” yet she finds it “unfair” having to hand out another round of cash when one has just given the first round to the same recipients at Christmas. “Wouldn’t it be more reasonable to donate the money to nonprofit groups?”

But the politics of the red packet are so intense that they can force some people to scrimp or to strategize -- at once eager to do it right or to find a way around the restrictions.

Many would agree that the main issue is how much to give. As the new year nears, community banks report a run on the popular $2 bills that are staples in gifts going to acquaintances, co-workers or to combine in multiples to leave behind as tips.

Still, questions remain: Is giving $10 too little? Is $50 too much?
continued next post

[GeneChing]

https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/add9882/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6259x4209+0+0/resize/840x565!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2c%2F31%2F78cbd9f54b 21a8e64cc092a7f26d%2Fla-photos-1staff-478554-me-0115-lunar-new-year-cash-03-gem.jpg
15-month-old Ethan Liao and his mother, Judy Liao, 28, background, are looking forward to celebrating the Lunar New Year. Liao said she follows the Chinese tradition of putting money in a red envelope and giving it to relatives for good luck in the new year. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Judy Liao, a cashier at Chengdu Taste restaurant in Alhambra, said she believes that $20 is the average. That’s what she has designated for young relatives or the children of her friends. Netting such money usually ends with marriage, when those who receive transition into those who give.

For her own kids, each will open a gleaming envelope to find $100. A mere $50 for her son or her daughter “is not very enough. Maybe he thinks toys will be better,” she said, cradling 15-month-old Ethan. But, she added: “I must save. This is tradition. I do not skip.”

In fact, after toiling for months, she has set aside $3,000 for the Lunar New Year, intending to honor both her mother and mother-in-law with $500. Liao and others stressed that presenting a “correct” sum to the matriarchs and patriarchs of the family is a top priority. Once in a while, they even hand over the dollars early in case grandmas and grandpas are short of cash and need to re-gift it.

Born in Hunan, China, Liao said if she were celebrating at home, she would choose to dole out something like 168 Chinese yuan, equal to just over $24, since it contains auspicious numbers.

Jay Yang said he would “make a big deal if I were back in Taiwan.” To the fortysomething hairstylist from West Hollywood, “this holiday is not as loud or as visible here in the U.S. The atmosphere isn’t the same, but I can appreciate that people try.

“What’s important is it’s about love for one another. Even my mother still gives me a little money to bring good luck.”

That cultural concept of good luck has compelled mainstream brands to try to cash in on the action, with Nike recently premiering its first-ever Lunar New Year ad. It shows a girl who’s been told by her mother not to take “hongbao,” much to the dismay of a crafty aunt who conspires to outsmart her. As the child ages, trying to deny the dollars turns into an annual showdown against her elder.

Greeting this holiday -- on the heels of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s -- then having to head into Valentine’s Day means that consumers never stop spending, some say.

That’s why Eric Chang, a photographer from Glendale, is careful to keep to a ritual of saving what’s inside his red envelopes in a separate account stashed in his native country, Taiwan.

Already, he worries about the future when he gets hitched and is required to start giving red envelopes. He envisions opting for the “safety of my finances” over culture. “There’s so much pressure. I think I will just take my kids out to buy some candy.”

In certain families, the politics surrounding the holiday can become so volatile that members stop speaking to each other -- sometimes permanently.

About a decade ago, Tony Lee, now in his late 30s, happened to skip observing the holiday, choosing to go camping with college buddies instead. Shocked, his mom accused the Rosemead writer of being disrespectful. His dad angrily asked why he didn’t prepare the envelopes ahead of time “so that your brother and sister and cousins’ kids weren’t left empty-handed.”

“I am the firstborn and my grandfather was very old,” Lee explained as he stocked up on holiday sweets and pears at Tak Shing Hong, a neighborhood market in Monterey Park. “It turned out to be his last celebration. My parents thought I was irresponsible since I can go to Mexico any time of the year -- but why at the new year?”

For many months Lee, who is Korean-Chinese American, stopped being invited to family reunions. But this weekend he fully plans “to be present” to “mingle among the generations,” he said. “You don’t want to be the black sheep. You need to rise to the occasion.”

And then there are rivalries.

https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/aec7899/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6720x4480+0+0/resize/840x560!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6b%2Fbc%2F35beb2774e 92a49178e251114512%2Fla-photos-1staff-478554-me-0115-lunar-new-year-cash-04-gem.jpg
Cashier Rachel Yung stands behind boxes of red envelopes used for Lunar New Year celebrations at the Tak Shing Hong Market in Monterey Park.(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Joe Huang has always paled in comparison to his older brother, who’s a doctor. “I’m only an engineer,” the 42-year-old Arcadia resident said wistfully, “not having the big bucks and not the fancy medical school. That’s why I have to spend way more.”

He brings lunch to work during the months of November and December so that when the new year unfolds, he can afford to dole out at least $100 to all the nieces and nephews, including his sibling’s three kids. “I make sure to save the $200 for the ones in college.”

Lisa Dao, 39, of Los Angeles recounted how at first her Caucasian husband was befuddled by the tradition. The two, who met in Houston, annually set aside $1,500 to $2,000. “He didn’t understand why we had to spend so much and why we had to give to so many.”

In her husband’s family, wads of cash were associated with lottery winnings or gambling. For Christmas, relatives drew names and weren’t required to shop for gifts for multiple generations. In Dao’s circle, however, as the oldest of four, the Vietnamese American office manager is expected to set a strong example and follow cultural norms.

“I already disappointed the parents by marrying outside the culture. The least I could do is to shell out the money,” she said.

“The Asians are very strict about doing things for the sake of appearance,” added her husband, Tim Harper. “Save face, save face -- that’s what it’s all about. They do their utmost to preserve the reputation, and while I respect many customs, I can’t always be completely supportive.

“To me, it’s a lot of money that can be better kept in a mutual fund or used for home improvements.”



Anh Do
Anh Do is a Metro reporter covering Asian American issues and general assignments. A second-generation journalist, she has worked at the Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times, Orange County Register and Nguoi Viet Daily News, the largest Vietnamese-language newspaper in the U.S.

This has been a rugged CNY with the coronavirus outbreak. Celebrations are being cancelled worldwide, even in places in the U.S. that aren't affected in anyway yet. Nice to see a cultural news piece that's unaffected by the virus.

[GeneChing]

Chinese New Year 2020: The Year Of The Coronavirus (https://www.acsh.org/news/2020/01/27/chinese-new-year-2020-year-coronavirus-14538)
By Alex Berezow, PhD and Phillip Orchard — January 27, 2020

The biggest political and economic effects of pandemics come, not from the disease itself, but instead from public panic and panicked government responses.

https://www.acsh.org/sites/default/files/styles/article-content/public/images/novel_coronavirus_cases_copy.jpeg?itok=lm_nhylO
Credit: Geopolitical Futures

Phillip Orchard is an Analyst with Geopolitical Futures. This article was authored in collaboration with ACSH's Dr. Alex Berezow and originally published at Geopolitical Futures.

Grappling with internal political pressures, a slowing economy, an open rebellion in Hong Kong and an unresolved trade war with the U.S., Chinese leaders may have already been in a less-than-celebratory mood heading into this year’s Lunar New Year festivities, which begin Jan. 25. The last thing the government needed was an outbreak of infectious disease, particularly when hundreds of millions of people are expected to travel throughout the country and beyond. Not only is that exactly what happened, but the disease – a new type of coronavirus – is unknown to science.

The severity of the virus (known as nCoV or the Wuhan Virus) is uncertain, nor is it clear if it will mutate and spread. The World Health Organization has yet to label it a global health emergency. But it’s certainly not yet contained. As of Thursday, there were more than 653 confirmed cases across seven countries, including the United States, and 18 people had died. And despite repeated assurances that it had matters under control, the government on Wednesday began locking down Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei, where the outbreak started, and three nearby cities. Doctors in Wuhan are reportedly expecting the number of infections to exceed 6,000, and local authorities are planning to build a special hospital in just six days to handle the epidemic.

There’s reason to believe the disease isn’t nearly as big a threat to public health as the one posed by the SARS outbreak in 2003, which killed nearly 800 people. Inevitably, though, the biggest political and economic effects of pandemics come from public panic and panicked government responses, not the disease itself. And given Beijing’s checkered track record for managing these sorts of emergencies over the past two decades, the Communist Party of China’s very legitimacy might just prove to be on the line.

How Bad Is It?

Coronaviruses come in a variety of strains. Some, such as the one that’s one of the many causes of the common cold, are relatively harmless. Others, such as those responsible for SARS and MERS, are potentially lethal. The dangerous coronaviruses seem to be linked to animals. SARS may have originated in bats and then spread to humans via civets, which are eaten as a delicacy in China. MERS also came from bats but spread to humans via camels, once again, perhaps through consumption of raw camel milk or meat. It is therefore reasonable to suspect that the new coronavirus is linked to animals that are eaten. Indeed, the reason China is always likely to be ground zero for the next influenza pandemic is that millions of people regularly come into contact with livestock. As Smithsonian Magazine wrote, “Many Chinese people, even city dwellers, insist that freshly slaughtered poultry is tastier and more healthful than refrigerated or frozen meat.”

Whatever the source, it’s now been confirmed to be capable of being transmitted from one human to another. Even so, the new coronavirus will have a limited direct impact on public health. SARS appeared in 2002, spread quickly around the globe in 2003, infected 8,096 people and killed 774. Then, with the exception of a handful of cases, it mostly disappeared. MERS has infected 2,442 people and killed 842. It still lingers throughout much of the world, particularly in the Arabian Peninsula. And though the reported case-fatality rates for both seem high – 9.6 percent for SARS and 34.5 percent for MERS – bear in mind that many mild cases probably went unreported. The real case-fatality rate is likely lower.

https://www.acsh.org/sites/default/files/novel_coronavirus_cases.jpg

The damage inflicted directly by the disease is therefore highly unlikely to have much long-term impact. But, particularly in China, the potential economic and political implications can’t be dismissed.
continued next post

[GeneChing]

Economic Impact

The problem with new outbreaks is that the public and public officials alike can’t exactly wait until all the facts become clear before taking preventative measures. And it doesn’t take much for fear of the unknown to grind public transportation systems to a halt, empty out shopping centers, movie theaters and restaurants, and, most important, persuade revelers to just stay put this year during the Lunar New Year rather than join the hundreds of millions of people who take part in the world’s largest annual human migration.

The costs add up quickly. The SARS outbreak in 2003, for example, dented Chinese gross domestic product by as much as $30 billion, reducing annual growth by between 1-2 percent. Globally, the bill for the pandemic ran up to as much as $100 billion.

Not all economic activity will be lost for good. Short-term hits to the sorts of sectors most exposed to the epidemic – mostly ones tied to consumer spending – often lead to supercharged recoveries. Chinese growth drivers where short-term disruption would have longer-lasting effects, such as manufacturing exports, industrial production and investment, stayed mostly intact in 2003. Indeed, while Chinese GDP growth dropped from 11.1 percent in the first quarter of 2003 to 9.1 percent in the second, it bounced all the way back to 11.6 percent a year later.

Still, even if nCoV proves more manageable than SARS, there are reasons to think the impact this year will be worse. For one, the SARS epidemic occurred on the heels of the dot com crash, when consumer spending across the region was already somewhat suppressed. (Incidentally, the resulting reduction of international travel may have helped contain the spread of the virus.) For another, locking down an urban area as large as Wuhan – a city at the center of one of China’s most important internal shipping routes along the Yangtze – will be immensely disruptive.

https://www.acsh.org/sites/default/files/China-Coronavirus.png

Moreover, a substantial portion of the lost holiday spending will never be recovered. This is a problem for Asia Pacific nations that, unlike in 2003, are now highly dependent on Chinese tourists. All told, Chinese people took an estimated 130 million more trips abroad in 2018 compared to 2003, and before the outbreak, the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute predicted that more than 7 million Chinese people would head overseas during the Lunar New Year this year. In Thailand, which has already reported four cases of nCoV, foreign tourism accounts for as much as a fifth of economic growth. Around 57 percent of visitors to Thailand last year were Chinese, including more than 2 million in January and February alone. Japan, which hosts the 2020 Summer Olympics, is estimating an economic loss of nearly $25 billion if the virus spreads as widely as SARS.

The biggest difference for China this time around is that the economy can’t as easily shrug off a major shock. In the early 2000s, annual GDP growth was still climbing well above 10 percent. Today, with a long structural slowdown well underway, Beijing is running up staggering debts just to keep growth from swan-diving below 6 percent. Add to this an unresolved trade war with its largest export customer – along with its scramble to implement critical but growth-sapping measures to stave off a financial meltdown before the next global slowdown strikes – and the epidemic starts to look like the sort of thing that could derail Beijing’s best-laid plans for avoiding an economic reckoning.

Political Impact

The outbreak will also complicate a broader, existential challenge weighing on the CPC: preserving its very legitimacy with the public. Delivering steady gains in prosperity is, of course, at the center of this challenge. But breakneck economic growth has become impossible to sustain – and was never going to be sufficient, anyway. The wealthier a country becomes, the more its citizenry demands quality of life that can’t be sourced solely from rising GDP, things like clean air and water, medical services, social safety nets and responsive, corruption-free governance. This is why President Xi Jinping has encouraged the party to shift its focus to “high-quality growth,” and it’s why he’s put environmental and emergency management initiatives at the center of his sweeping reform agenda. No amount of propaganda or censorship can convince his people that a smog-choked sky is actually blue or make devastation from an earthquake disappear.

The 2003 SARS outbreak laid bare the political risks of mismanaging a public health emergency. The government came under withering public criticism for covering up the scale of the epidemic (inadvertently worsening panic), impeding the World Health Organization’s investigation, and moving slowly to contain the outbreak. Bungled government responses to a number of other crises, such as the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, a high-speed rail accident in 2011, and a string of scandals involving tainted milk, tainted vaccines and fiery industrial accidents likewise prompted fierce public outcry. Beijing received higher marks in subsequent health scares, particularly the H171 bird flu outbreak in 2013. And this time around, initially at least, it received international praise for its improved transparency and swiftness in moving to contain the virus. Chinese authorities had isolated and published the nCoV genome by the second week in January, allowing foreign governments to develop critical testing procedures for the virus. Xi addressed the emergency personally last week, ordering “all-out prevention and control efforts.” China’s top political body responsible for law and order said officials who withheld information would be “nailed on the pillar of shame for eternity.”

But facts on the ground are once again giving the public reason to doubt its government’s candor and capability. Authorities have been claiming for more than a month that the virus is “preventable and controllable.” Now, they’re taking extreme measures like locking down the Wuhan metro area, home to some 19 million people, and making belated mea culpas. The government has also struggled to abandon its practice of reflexively cracking down on independent sources of information, despite commands to do so from on high. This has led to contradictory messaging and suppressed information that might have helped contain the virus. Chinese censors initially ordered local media outlets to stick to reprinting official reports, according to the Financial Times, effectively silencing independent reporting. And in early January, eight people were reportedly detained for posting information about the outbreak on social media. As also happened in the SARS outbreak, moreover, the government’s rigidly enforced top-down decision-making structure has once again worsened matters by incentivizing, for example, hospitals to under-report cases and local authorities to go forward with high-profile public gatherings deemed politically important.

For all the criticism they are receiving, authorities in Beijing are trying to address a problem that would bedevil any government. China is very large and very dense. As happened with SARS, panic would almost certainly do more damage than the disease itself. And Beijing may reasonably conclude that resorting to drastic measures may truly be in the public interest, even if they’re at odds with public sentiment. Perhaps more than any government, Beijing has given itself the power to surveil its citizenry, to shut down cities, to silence unfounded rumors on social media – all without permission. Such powers certainly could come in handy in this sort of crisis.

But by hoarding authority – by insisting on the right to micromanage the country – the CPC has raised the bar for what the public expects in response when the country is under attack, whether from foreign powers, economic forces or viral mutations. This is a problem when tight centralization has also, paradoxically, created a rigid top-down institutional culture that’s ill-suited to respond nimbly to public demand. When faced with a crisis, the machinery of the state is programmed to default to the tools it knows best. Censorship, disinformation and problem-solving by brute force are hardwired into the Chinese system, often making it at once flat-footed and prone to overcorrection. Yet, the more pressure intensifies, the more Beijing is doubling down on this model. And the stakes riding on its bet are getting higher.

Alex Berezow is Vice President of Scientific Communications at the American Council on Science and Health. Both he and Phillip Orchard are Analysts with Geopolitical Futures.

THREADS
2020 Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)
Coronavirus (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-Wuhan-Pneumonia)

[GeneChing]

About that global economy...


Budweiser APAC takes a hit in China as biggest Lunar New Year campaign runs into coronavirus outbreak (https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3052600/budweiser-apac-takes-hit-china-biggest-lunar-new-year-campaign)
Sales to nightclubs and restaurants has come to a halt amid the public health crisis sparked by coronavirus outbreak
Net profit fell 2 per cent in 2019, partially due to weaker sales to nightclubs and restaurants last quarter
Yujing Liu
Published: 12:04pm, 27 Feb, 2020

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1200x800/public/d8/images/methode/2020/02/27/c75b3c3a-5912-11ea-b438-8452af50d521_image_hires_120432.JPG?itok=rF0ffO3F&v=1582776277
Packs of Budweiser beers are displayed in a Shanghai's supermarket. The brewer says on February 27 that there’s “almost no activity in the nightlife channel and very limited activity in restaurants.” Photo: AFP

Budweiser Brewing Company APAC, the most profitable brewer in Asia, said revenue in China plunged in the first two months of this year as nightclubs and restaurants were shut across the country amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The Asia-Pacific unit business of Anheuser-Busch InBev estimated its China sales to have declined by US$285 million in January and February compared to the same period last year, it said in notes to its 2019 financial results on Thursday. The hit is equivalent to about 4 per cent of its revenue last year, based on its latest accounts.
Profit also declined by US$170 million over the period, the company said in the report, referring to its normalised earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation or Ebitda. That is about 8 per cent of its full-year figure in 2019. The company’s top beer brands in China include Budweiser, Corona, Hoegaarden and Harbin.
“The impact of the virus outbreak on our business continues to evolve,” Budweiser said in the financial report. “We have observed almost no activity in the nightlife channel and very limited activity in restaurants.”
Other retail channels also recorded a meaningful decline, it said, but e-commerce sales growth accelerated significantly.
The viral outbreak has so far infected more than 82,000 people and killed at least 2,800, mostly in mainland China. The hit put a halt to a strong start in the opening three weeks of 2020 just as Budweiser was launching its largest ever Lunar New Year campaign, prompting the brewer to also shut some of its breweries including in the epicentre of Wuhan.
Budweiser said it has reopened over half of its beer factories in China and obtained permission to reopen the rest, except for one in Wuhan, after the country extended the Lunar New Year holiday by a week to contain the virus.
The firm also expressed concerns over its business in South Korea, where the novel virus is spreading rapidly, adding to pressure from price competition last year. South Korea recorded a surge in infection and death this week, stoking concerns about a wider contagion.
Budweiser said net profit fell 2 per cent to US$994 million last year, while revenue was little changed at about US$6.55 billion. Still, total volume sold last year declined by 3 per cent from the previous year, mainly “due to a challenging industry and competitive environment in South Korea and softness in the China nightlife channel,” it said.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Budweiser fell by 3.1 per cent to HK$23.55 as of 10:40am local time, bringing the loss to 13 per cent from its IPO price of HK$27. Budweiser raised US$5 billion in its listing plan, one of the five biggest IPOs in the world’s last year.




Yujing Liu
Yujing Liu is a business reporter with a passion for understanding and explaining the fascinating complexities of China’s economy and society. Originally from Beijing, she joined the Post in 2017 after graduating from the University of Hong Kong with a degree in politics and journalism.

THREADS
COVID-19 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-(COVID-19)-Wuhan-Pneumonia)
Beer... (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?6266-Beer)
2020 Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)

[GeneChing]

ASIA MARCH 2, 2020 5:14AM PT
China’s Box Office Loses Up to $214 Million in Two Months Due to Coronavirus (https://variety.com/2020/film/asia/china-box-office-coronavirus-1203520600/)
By VIVIENNE CHOW

https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/china-cinema-closed.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1

View of a closed cinema after the Chinese government discouraged public gatherings due to a virus outbreak, in Beijing, China, 27 January 2020. China warned that the coronavirus outbreak is accelerating further, deepening fears about an epidemic that has affected more than 2,700 people worldwide and killed at least 80 people in the country.China coronavirus outbreak accelerating further, Beijing - 27 Jan 2020
CREDIT: WU HONG/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK
China’s box office might have lost as much as RMB 1.5 billion ($214 million) in the first two months of this year due to the coronavirus outbreak, but a nationwide resumption of movie theaters and production is unlikely to happen any time soon.

“Judging from the current situation, the film industry is not equipped to resume business yet, and we have not approved industry’s demands to resume business as of now,” said Chen Bei, deputy secretary general of the Beijing municipal government.

Local data company Ent Group has estimated that box-office receipts in January and February have totaled only RMB 220 million ($31.3 million), compared to RMB 1.45 billion ($217 million) in the same period in 2019 and RMB 1.51 billion ($241.6 million) in 2018.

Ent Group estimated the decline in box office could be as high as RMB 1.5 billion ($214 million) due to the fact that the Lunar New Year holiday season started on Jan. 25, much earlier compared with the usual beginning of or mid-February. “An early holiday season should’ve given more time for the box office to grow,” the report said.

But cinemas were forced to shut down just before the Lunar New Year holiday and Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province were locked down on Jan. 23.

The estimated figures came after the release of a joint directive from Beijing Center for Diseases Prevention and Control, and Beijing Municipal Film Bureau on Feb. 26, which stipulates strict guidelines for cinema operators and film crews if they wish to resume business.

Cinema operators must seek approval from the authorities to re-open movie theaters and adopt stringent measures such as selling tickets on alternate rows, requiring movie-goers to register with their real names and personal details, and auditoriums to be thoroughly disinfected after each screening.

Film crews with less than 50 people can resume filming in Beijing if they are approved, but only if their body temperature does not exceed 37.3 degree celsius. All film crew members must wear masks throughout the production, except for performers.

But film crews with more than 50 people will not be allowed to resume filming in Beijing until the plague is gone. Crew members travelling from affected areas such as Hubei province are not allowed to take part in any production in the city.

Ent Group added in the report that cinemas in China are not likely to re-open in March. As of March 2, Covid-19 has already infected more than 80,000 in mainland China and killed 2,914 people.

THREADS
Chollywood rising (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?57225-Chollywood-rising)
covid-19 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-(COVID-19)-Wuhan-Pneumonia)
Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)

[GeneChing]

ASIAMARCH 8, 2020 9:37PM PT
Shanghai Disney Resort, Closed in January due to Coronavirus, Set to Partially Reopen Monday (https://variety.com/2020/biz/news/shanghai-disney-resort-disneyland-reopen-china-coronavirus-1203527299/)
By REBECCA DAVIS

https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/shanghai-disney.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1
CREDIT: IMAGINECHINA/AP

The Shanghai Disney Resort has said it will reopen some of the shopping, dining and entertainment options on Monday, though the main theme park will remain closed to prevent further spread of the coronavirus.

The move is the “first step of a phased reopening,” it said in a statement posted Monday to its website. The resort has been closed since January 25.

Certain facilities at Disneytown, Wishing Star Park and the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel will operate with limited capacity and at reduced hours, and parking lots will reopen, the resort said. The Disneyland theme park itself will stay closed as the park “continue(s) to closely monitor health and safety conditions.”

Visitors will be required to wear masks during their entire time within the Disney Resort area, submit to temperature screenings upon arrival, and “present their Health QR code” when entering dining areas.

Walt Disney Co. owns a 43% stake in the Shanghai Disney Resort. It is one of four Disney-branded theme parks in Asia, alongside one in Hong Kong, which has also remained shut since late January, and two in Tokyo.

In an earnings call, Disney said a two-month closure of the Shanghai park could cost $135 million in lost earnings, while a two-month of closure of Hong Kong could cost $145 million.

In Japan, the Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea parks shuttered for a two-week period starting Feb. 29 to stem the spread of coronavirus, and are expected to re-open on March 16. In a normal year, they welcome about 30 million visitors.

This has got to be so tough. I'm sure Shanghai Disney was looking to cash in on the Year of the Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)(mouse).

THREADS
Coronavirus (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-Wuhan-Pneumonia)
Chinese Theme Parks (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?62642-Chinese-Theme-Park)

[GeneChing]

CNY is FEB 12, 2021


China has lychee-flavoured Oreos for CNY (https://mothership.sg/2021/01/lychee-flavoured-oreos-china/)
Not cookie cutter.

Lean Jinghui | January 12, 2021, 01:53 PM

https://static.mothership.sg/1/2021/01/collage-6.jpg

Oreos has produced a lot of different flavours over the years.

In China, some of these very unique flavours have included Wasabi, Green Tea Cake, and Blueberry Ice Cream.

The lychee-flavoured Oreos are the latest cookie craze to hit China's convenience stores. According to social media, the Oreos are only available between November 2020 and April 2021.

Each box comes with 8 small packets, in different designs to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
There's even one with a cow imprint as 2021 is the year of the ox.

https://static.mothership.sg/1/2021/01/a5EdNgq_700bwp.jpghttps://static.mothership.sg/1/2021/01/ayM5pwY_700bwp.jpg
Image via 9gag
According to Sina, the Oreos are definitely sweet, because "life is as sweet as honey".

Currently, the lychee-rose oreos can be bought via Ebay at US$22.99 per box, or via T-mall/Taobao.

Top image via 9gag


threads
2020 Year-of-the-Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)
2021 Year of the Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)