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Thread: 2020 Year of the Rat

  1. #16
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    Flash Sales for 2020 Year of the Rat

    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, because they evaporate in a day.

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

    Gene Ching
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    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  2. #17
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    Jackie & Donnie aren't the only players...

    ...There's Jiang Zi Ya: Legend of Deification, The Rescue, Detective Chinatown 3, All’s Well End’s Well 2020, 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


    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
    Vanguard
    2020 Year of the Rat
    Gene Ching
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  3. #18
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    Aw crap...shoulda seen this coming.

    China delays blockbusters as cinemas empty out under state orders to control Wuhan virus outbreak
    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


    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.


    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
    Legend of Deification
    Detective Chinatown III
    Coronavirus
    Gene Ching
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  4. #19
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    The U.S. repercussions of cornovirus Chinese cinema quarantine

    U.S. Release of Chinese New Year Films Canceled as Coronavirus Crisis Escalates
    5:43 AM PST 1/23/2020 by Patrick Brzeski


    '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
    The Rescue
    Lost in Russia
    Detective Chinatown III
    Coronavirus
    Gene Ching
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  5. #20
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    Day 2 of our CNY Flash Sales

    CHINESE NEW YEAR FLASH SALE! 25% OFF on Wing Chun Dummies! Today ONLY!

    Gene Ching
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  6. #21
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    Gong xi fa cai



    22 JANUARY 2020 / ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT / JOE KUKURA
    Legendary Musician and Performance Artist Laurie Anderson Arrives at SFJAZZ This Weekend
    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.



    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 and Mike Patton. Yes, this is how I'm celebrating Chinese New Year tomorrow.
    Gene Ching
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  7. #22
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    Chollywood falls ill

    JANUARY 23, 2020 11:13AM PT
    How the Wuhan Coronavirus Infected the Chinese Film Industry
    By REBECCA DAVIS and PATRICK FRATER


    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
    The Rescue
    Lost in Russia
    Detective Chinatown III
    Legend of Deification
    Coronavirus
    Chollywood rising
    Gene Ching
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  8. #23
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    Free on Huanxi Premium

    Too bad I don't have Huanxi Premium.

    Chinese Comedy 'Lost in Russia' to Debut Online for Free After Coronavirus Cancellations (Exclusive)
    6:25 PM PST 1/23/2020 by Patrick Brzeski


    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
    Lost in Russia
    Coronavirus
    Gene Ching
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  9. #24
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    Our latest exclusive web article

    Gung Hay Fat Choy! READ Chinese New Year 2020: Year of the Iron Rat by Gene Ching

    Gene Ching
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  10. #25
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    Happy Friday Flash Sale for CNY

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




    PRO TIP: This 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. I filled one with BBs to increase the weight.
    Gene Ching
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  11. #26
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    Happy New Year!!!

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  12. #27
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    Happy New Year!!!

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  13. #28
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    political forecasts

    Hong Kong feng shui masters say worst is over for Carrie Lam, unrest will continue but weaken in Year of the Rat
    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


    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.


    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.”

    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.


    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.


    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.”


    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
    Gene Ching
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    Continued from previous post

    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.


    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.”


    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.”


    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.”
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    Gene Ching
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