Links » Cream » Houston Hoping Linsanity Channels Yao

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• Houston Hoping Linsanity Channels Yao
• Will Hu Jintao’s Taiwan Strategy See Results?
• Photo: Red, by Christopher Cherry
• Ai Weiwei Tax Evasion Appeal Rejected
• Does U.S. Olympic Uniform Hoopla Miss the Point?
• Luxury Loses As China Slowdown Reinforces Regime Change
• Frenchman Linked to Bo Arrives in China
• China and Russia Again Veto Syria Resolution
• The Daily Twit – 7/19/12: Rising Costs, Increased Lending and More CO2
• New iPad China Launch is Nigh. Break Out the Water Cannon and Teargas.
• Sheldon Adelson’s Macanese Hooker Problem

Houston Hoping Linsanity Channels Yao Posted: 19 Jul 2012 11:49 PM PDT The Wall Street Journal reports that New York Knicks fans aren't alone in their disappointment over the news that Jeremy Lin will play for the Houston Rockets next year: As unhappy as some U.S. basketball fans may be at news that the NBA's New York Knicks decided not match the Houston Rockets' offer for point guard phenom Jeremy Lin– and some are very unhappy indeed – at least folks in China will be pleased with result, right? After all, Lin is going to the team that forever won the adoration of Chinese basketball fans by helping homegrown basketballer Yao Ming become a global megastar. Judging by reaction on Chinese social media sites, not so much. "Good luck, I guess. In the past, there was a Chinese guy named Yao who was also tricked into wasting years with [Houston]," one user of Sina Corp.'s Weibo microblogging service wrote in reaction to the news, expressing a sentiment widely repeated elsewhere on the site. The Rockets hope that Lin's arrival will boost the team's relevance in China and fill the void left by the 2011 retirement of Yao Ming, according to The New York Times. TIME's Sean Gregory cuts through the hype and examines the likely commercial impact of Lin's move: According to Forbes, Houston's overall revenues increased 87% between 2002, the year the Rockets drafted Yao, and 2010, the year before he retired. Operating income jumped from $7 million in 2002 to $36 million in 2010, a more than a five-fold increase. The team's value soared from $255 million in 2002 to $443 million in 2010, a 97% jump. Having the big guy clearly didn't hurt. Further, given Houston's prior ties to the Chinese market because of Yao, the team is in better position than most to benefit from Lin's strong performances. "Culturally, the Chinese market is built on long-term relationships," says Swaangard. Chinese brands looking to increase their presence in the U.S. — and boost their prestige back home — partnered with the Rockets. For example Anta Sports Products Ltd., a Chinese athletic shoe company with 4,000 retail outlets in that country, inked a four-year arena signage deal with the Rockets back in 2007. Yao helped secure the 20-year, $100 million naming rights deal for Houston's arena, which opened in 2003. Toyota was looking to expand sales in China, and signed on after Yao's rookie year. With so many Rocket games being broadcast in China during the Yao era, multinational American companies like Anheuser-Busch and Adidas purchased bilingual Mandarin-English arena signage at the Toyota Center that television viewers could see. (NBA teams don't have to share arena signage revenues). After drafting Yao, Rockets owner Leslie Alexander founded Rocket Capital, a private investment company that "specializes in investments in emerging markets with a strong focus on the Greater China region." Rocket Capital has invested in Chinese railway, auto, tea, and mining companies, among others; it has also poured millions into the Hong Kong's IPO and equity markets. With Lin on board, and Yao maybe opening some doors, Alexander could gain access to more opportunities in China that could further benefit the franchise financially. "The fact that the Rocket brand is a big deal in China makes Jeremy Lin more valuable to the team," says George Postolos, the Rockets president and CEO from 2002-2006 who now holds the same positions with the Houston Astros. "The Rockets aren't starting from scratch. Adding Jeremy Lin to the picture is a natural extension of what they've done."   © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: basketball, Houston Rockets, Jeremy Lin, Linsanity, NBA, New York Knicks Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Will Hu Jintao’s Taiwan Strategy See Results? Posted: 19 Jul 2012 10:41 PM PDT Could outgoing Chinese president Hu Jintao be reaching for cross-Strait relations' holy grail before year end? While his policies have sought to reel Taiwan through increased economic ties, Parris H. Chang of The Diplomat ponders the end game of Hu's "new way forward" on reunification: As Hu Jintao comes closer to stepping down from his leadership post at the CCP during its upcoming 18th Party Congress in the fall, he may feel a sense of urgency. There are signs that Beijing is mounting pressure on President Ma and the KMT to accelerate cross-strait political talks, map out confidence-building measures to end hostility, and to conclude a peace agreement that would be meant as a foot in the door for Taiwan's eventual unification with China. Are Hu and his advisers reasoning that through Ma's reelection in Taiwan's democratic process, he now possesses the mandate of the people to decide Taiwan's political future without interference by the U.S. and other foreign influences? If China and Taiwan reach an agreement on national unification through peaceful means, they will sidestep the provisions of the Taiwan Relations Act and remove the foundation for the U.S. intervention. For Hu's gambit to work, he will need President Ma's close and active collaboration. But will Taiwan's leader cooperate? At present, Ma has other, more pressing worries at home and the cross-strait relationship is not his top policy priority. In fact, he is suffering from a poor approval rating–as low as 15 percent– due to a string of official corruption scandals, unpopular domestic policy decisions, and his inept leadership. It stands to reason that he has no intention to arouse serious political backlash on the sensitive subject of China-Taiwan ties where many could perceive Taiwan's political talks with Beijing as the prelude to Ma's sellout of Taiwan to China. Hence, Ma has countered with a "three-no" formula consisting of "no independence, no unification, and no use of force" as his cross-strait policy. In essence, Ma wants to freeze the status quo in Taiwan's relations with China and, in a subtle manner, is effectively saying "no" to Hu's offer to engage in political talks with Beijing. © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Cross-Strait relations, cross-strait trade, Hu Jintao, Ma Ying-jeou Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Photo: Red, by Christopher Cherry Posted: 19 Jul 2012 09:36 PM PDT © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Ai Weiwei Tax Evasion Appeal Rejected Posted: 19 Jul 2012 09:23 PM PDT A court in Beijing's Chaoyang district has rejected Ai Weiwei's appeal of a 15 million yuan fine for tax evasion, according to BBC: Supporters say the fine is politically motivated and Mr Ai wanted the court to overrule the penalty. "We will keep appealing, until the day comes when we cannot lose," Mr Ai said via Twitter. His lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, who was in court for the verdict, told reporters that the ruling was "totally without reason". Ai also claimed on his Twitter account Thursday that he was barred from appearing in the Beijing court to hear the verdict [translated by CDT]: Today, I was once again confined to my house, and police did not allow me to appear before the court to receive the judgment. This country has once again proved to the world that law and fairness do not exist here. Speaking to reporters from his Beijing studio after the verdict, Ai reiterated his disappointment. From AFP: "China keeps telling other countries they are a rule of law country… But we only hope they implement the laws they themselves drew up," he added. See also previous CDT coverage of Ai Weiwei and his detention on tax evasion charges last year.   © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Ai Weiwei, dissidents, rule of law, tax evasion Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Does U.S. Olympic Uniform Hoopla Miss the Point? Posted: 19 Jul 2012 07:56 PM PDT Despite the raucous raised by U.S. politicians over the revelation that America's Olympic uniforms are made in China, The Wall Street Journal's John Bussey asks: Who Cares? Election seasons often bend sensibility, and this year is no different. Populism gets votes. It also distracts from tackling the big China issues that actually matter to U.S. business: protection of intellectual-property rights, market access, forced transfer of U.S. technology to China, and the ability of China's state-owned enterprises to crush competitors. These days that agenda is largely on the back burner. Says an executive with a U.S. manufacturer that has operations in China: "The comments reflect either a lack of understanding of comparative advantage and how trade works (the Chinese are really good at producing low-cost uniforms, the U.S. is really good at innovative technology and advanced manufacturing—which would you rather be?), or cynical politics. More likely both." He doesn't want to be named and get his company in trouble with the politicians. It's "grandstanding," says another manager with a tech multinational. "There are far more important bilateral business and trade issues for both countries." Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has stayed silent on the issue, which The Guardian ties to his involvement in a similar uniform controversy during the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, and Bloomberg Businessweek's Larry Popelka urges readers to stop whining about a few "Made in China" tags because outsourcing is good for American businesses. For the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, however, Robert J.S. Ross writes that critics should focus less on where the uniforms are madeand more on how they are made: Lost in the wind of words is what should be central to the question of sourcing: conditions for the workers. If China's workers were sharing in the full fruits of growth, we would have a much smaller volume of American clothing made there. As it is, more than 98% of the dollar value of the Ralph Lauren clothing line is made abroad, much of it in China. Without more disclosure from the company as to which firms and factories make its goods, we can know only that Chinese apparel workers earn, officially, somewhere between 93 cents to just over $1 an hour; unofficially, they are often paid less than the official minimum, which varies by province and city. Days off are rare, despite laws that entitle them to one day off a week. A late 2011 investigation by China Labor Watch of factories producing for major American brands found employees who said they worked 30 days a month. There is a reason for this: Because wages fall so far behind rising living costs, workers need overtime pay to survive. Many other abuses are common in China's export factories. Workers are housed in dorms where conditions are often crowded and the food poor. The first month's wages are often withheld, so if the workers quit because of bad conditions, they must forfeit a month's wages. There is no right to form independent unions in China; only theCommunist Party'sAll-China Federation of Trade Unions is permitted, and it is usually a part of management, not responsible (or even known) to the workers. Exhaustion haunts the factory floors of China's export sector, and since last year, allegations of suicides caused by desperation have received worldwide attention. Bloomberg's Adam Minter, meanwhile, points out that the Chinese media feels burned by the uniform debate: Most commentators focused on what they perceive to be the narrow-minded hypocrisy of cynical American politicians. Take this inflammatory but representative tweet on Sina Weibo, China's most popular microblog, from Yang Rui, a notoriously jingoistic host on the English-language channel of the state-owned China Central Television: I just finished the live London Olympic countdown broadcast. Regarding American senators wanting to burn those "made-in-China" uniforms in an election year, I just said one sentence in the prologue: It's a joke, right? I asked: Would they like to burn those "made-in-China" iPhones? Most iPhones are made in China, so they also take away Americans' jobs? How much does Apple earn in China? This publicity stunt in an election year is so disgusting. Yang's tirade is extreme only in tone. Insofar as he blames Reid's comment on the overheated rhetoric that emerges from U.S. presidential campaigns, he's fully in the mainstream. The more moderate "CCTV Commentators," a group Sina Weibo account registered to CCTV's stable of editorial commentators, tweeted this wary observation on July 17: Some American politicians complain about the made-in-China uniforms. There will always be voices that attack globalization during election years, or when the U.S. economy is in the doldrums. © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: London Olympics, outsourcing, Ralph Lauren, sweat shop, U.S. election 2012 Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Luxury Loses As China Slowdown Reinforces Regime Change Posted: 19 Jul 2012 04:05 PM PDT China has a unique relationship between its politics and certain high-end industries. Bloomberg reporters Vinicy Chan and Crystal Chui suggest that anti-graft measures have dampened the luxury market to some extent: [Mainland customers'] pullback shows how the slowest economic expansion in three years and an effort to curb corruption are starting to ripple through China's 22-billion euro ($27 billion) luxury market, where CLSA Ltd. estimates that almost a fifth of spending is on corporate gifts. That will likely hurt makers of pricey brands such as Cartier seller Cie. Financiere Richemont SA (CFR), Swatch Group AG (UHR) and Hong Kong jewelerLuk Fook Holdings International Ltd. (590) "Lower earnings resulting from China's economic slowdown may lead to companies spending less on business gifts," said Luk Fook Chief Financial Officer Paul Law. "Corporate gifting helps foster business relationships: You can cut the red tape and speed up approval processes when you have good relations." These gifts include cigarettes, Maotai liquor, Rolex and Longines watches, Louis Vuitton wallets, and gold bars carved with lucky characters. Some disagree over the factors that caused the decrease in China's appetite for luxury goods: Gifting is important in Chinese personal and professional life and is centered around the idea of reciprocity. Even though companies and government officials may be under public scrutiny there will still be demand for gifts because "corporate gifting is so prevalent in China's business practices," said Law, who sees economic pressures as a bigger threat than the anti-graft measures, which can be hard to enforce. In what could be perceived as an attempt to win back the China market, Louis Vuitton today took the unprecedented move of running a full-page ad on the front cover of the official China Daily newspaper. In response to reports of an industry slowdown, several luxury brands announced today that their sales in China are still robust and not experiencing a downturn. See Also: Officials' Luxury Watches Set Off Alarms and China Targets Corruption With Expense Crackdown via China Digital Times. © Wendy Qian for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: alcohol, anti-corruption, anti-graft, luxury goods, official corruption Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Frenchman Linked to Bo Arrives in China Posted: 19 Jul 2012 03:52 PM PDT According to AFP's interviews with Cambodian police, Frenchman Patrick Henri Devillers, who is believed to have close ties to Bo Xilai and his wife Gu Kailai, has returned to China to help the investigation into the political scandal involving the couple. Bo, former Party Secretary of Chongqing, is being investigated for several disciplinary problems, while Gu has been accused of involvement in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood: Architect Patrick Devillers, arrested in Phnom Penh last month at Beijing's request, was freed on Monday and he boarded a flight for Shanghai the following day "by his own will," deputy national police chief Sok Phal said. "He said he is going there to be a witness," the official said, adding that China had asked for his release. "The French embassy supported this 100 percent." [...] China had requested Devillers' extradition and his arrest on June 13 for unspecified offenses, sparking a diplomatic tussle between Beijing and Paris, which warned Cambodia not to send the architect anywhere without a clear legal basis. Financial Times reporters Hugh Carnegy and Gwen Robinson have additional details about the extradition: However, some government officials privately told western business sources in Phnom Penh that there was a lot of negotiation between the French government and the Chinese to persuade Mr Devillers to go. They suggested that certain guarantees had been negotiated, including for Mr Devillers' safety. [...] The French ministry said: "In the framework of this consular protection, we have made sure that Mr Devillers' rights would be respected. In particular, we have ensured that he has been able to choose his own lawyer and to receive from his lawyer the appropriate advice regarding his situation. See also: Frenchman with Ties to Bo Arrested in Cambodia via China Digital Times and Bo Family Bought Luxury Flats in London via the Financial Times. Read more about the role of both Bo Xilai and Gu Kailai in the ongoing scandal. © Wendy Qian for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Bo Xilai, cambodia, corruption, extradition, France, gu kailai, Neil Heywood, Patrick Henri Devillers Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

China and Russia Again Veto Syria Resolution Posted: 19 Jul 2012 02:41 PM PDT Following Wednesday's bomb attack on the Syrian parliament which killed key members of the ruling party, the longstanding conflict there between rebels and the government has sharply deteriorated as violence spiraled out of control. In response, the United Nations Security Council today voted on a resolution to permit sanctions against the Syrian government, but it was voted down by Rusiia and China, President Bashir al-Assad's staunchest allies. From AP: The 11-2 vote, with two abstentions from South Africa and Pakistan, was the third double veto of a resolution addressing the Syria crisis, now in its 17th month, by Damascus' most important allies. The key stumbling block was the West's insistence that a new resolution be drafted under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which could eventually allow the use of force to end the conflict, and threaten non-military sanctions against the Syrian regime if it didn't withdraw troops and heavy weapons from populated areas within 10 days. Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the resolution should never have been put to a vote because the sponsors knew it had no chance of adoption. "We simply cannot accept a document under Chapter 7, one which would open the path for the pressure of sanctions and further to external military involvement in Syrian domestic affairs," he said. The official Xinhua News Agency defended the Chinese government's position in an editorial on Friday: The draft resolution proposed by Western countries is "seriously problematic", with uneven content that is intended to put pressure on only one party in Syria, China's permanent representative to the UN Li Baodong said here Thursday after exercising veto over the draft resolution. "Experience has proven that such practice would not help resolve the Syrian issue, but instead would only derail the issue from the track of political settlement," Li said, adding "It will not only further aggravate the turmoil, but also result in spillover of the problem to other countries in the region, undermine regional peace and stability, and ultimately impair the interests of the people in Syria and the region at large." But China's decision – the third such veto on Syria – was strongly criticized by other Security Council members. From Bloomberg: Western diplomats today attacked Russia for putting first its historic links and economic interests with Assad. Syria is an arms customer and hosts Russia's only military base outside the former Soviet Union in the port of Tartus. "The effect of their actions is to protect a brutal regime," U.K. Ambassador to the UN Mark Lyall Grant told the council after the vote. "They have chosen to put their national interests ahead of the lives of millions of Syrians." Read more about China's role in the Syria crisis and in the United Nations Security Council via CDT. See live updates on the situation from The Guardian. © Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: diplomacy, middle east, Syria, UNSC Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

The Daily Twit – 7/19/12: Rising Costs, Increased Lending and More CO2 Posted: 19 Jul 2012 05:41 AM PDT The big China story today? Dunno. You tell me. Here are a few things worth reading: Want China Times: Adidas to leave China for Southeast Asia amid rising costs — Sign of the times. Something tells me that if you sat down a typical China basher from the West and forced them to read about how labor and other costs in China are forcing some manufacturers to other countries, they'd pass out in shock. Foreign Policy: China catches up with Europe on C02-per-capita, Australia still on top — Sounds like a big headline, but a lot of folks today have been poking holes in the methodology. Either way, I'm scared. LA Times: Warner, China Film clash on 'Dark Knight' debut against 'Spider-Man' — China Film Group apparently doesn't yet understand the movie biz. And @bokane asks the rhetorical question whether Warner Bros. or CFG has more leverage in this negotiation. Indeed. Guardian: Chinese newspaper shakeups raise fears of growing pressure on media — Tania Branigan discusses the latest industry news. Lots of folks hunkered down waiting for this year to just be over with already. Also Sprach Analyst: China's big 4 banks doubled lending in 1st half of July — And so it begins. Good news or bad, depending on your perspective. Caijing: PE Insider：Nothing Wrong with VIE Itself — A VIE apology column. Intriguing. I still might blog on this, if I can ever figure out what the author is trying to say. Forbes: Stock Bearers Think They've "Learned" About New Oriental Education — Things already seemed pretty bad for New Oriental after the SEC investigation of their VIE was announced. Now Muddy Waters is getting in on the action. Reuters: US SEC delays court action seeking Deloitte China audit papers — Your latest dose of news on the continuing auditor oversight fun and games. Bloomberg: California Shark Fin Sales Ban Challenged in Group's Suit (h/t @niubi) — Fascinating, although ultimately a loser. This is a U.S. federal case citing commerce clause and equal protection violations brought by a San Francisco Chinatown association. China Daily Show: Tibet closed for routine maintenance — I for one am glad that they're fixing the place up. That's nice. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

New iPad China Launch is Nigh. Break Out the Water Cannon and Teargas. Posted: 19 Jul 2012 04:22 AM PDT Paul Mozur of the Wall Street Journal asks a valid question: "Can Apple Launch in China Without Incident?" If you recall, the last one didn't go all that well, depending on your expectations: The big question for the China launch of the new iPad on Friday isn't whether it will sell well, but if the retailer can keep the police out of it. When the iPhone 4S launched in January, hundreds of customers waited overnight outside the Apple store in Beijing's tony Sanlitun shopping district. But when the surrounded store didn't open as expected the next morning, at least one fan pelted the facade with eggs and by midmorning authorities had moved in to disperse the mass of expectant customers thronging the outside of the store. It will probably be different this time. For one thing, demand for the product, which has been on the market in places like Hong Kong for a while now, has slackened. Not only have large numbers of the new iPads been brought into the country to be sold on the gray market, but also lots of folks are not too thrilled to pay Apple prices for an upgrade that many find underwhelming. But just in case, Apple is switching from a fight-through-the-crowds-to-get-your-new-toy approach to something with more control: Apple has decided to institute the reservation policy it used successfully to keep scalpers at bay in the Hong Kong Apple store. Fanbois can request a reservation online, leaving ID details, between the hours of 9am and 12pm to give them a chance of picking up the device in-store the following day. So no problem? Yes, if everyone out there understands the new policy and doesn't show up anyway. "Pre-order" — that's clear, right? It's just like when you "pre-board" an aircraft, which I assume means that you get on before you get on. Makes perfect sense. I'm sure that all those 14-year-old rich kids who are used to immediate gratification will be poring over that reservation policy instead of just going to the Apple Store with outstretched hand and credit card, don't you? This could still be a crowd control problem, so as a public service, here are a few things Apple may wish to consider at its Beijing Sanlitun Village store: 1. Close it. Rent is ridiculously high anyway, and think of all those other things you can do with that rent money. Most of the cultists who show up will keep buying your stuff online anyway, and as for all those folks who show up and never buy anything, screw 'em. 2. With the proceeds from the store closing, hire John Hodgman as your full-time spokesman, and dub him into Chinese. Better yet, buy a high-end Chinese tutor (a pretty one) and get Hodgman fluent in Mandarin as fast as possible. Money well spent, I'd say. 3.  To fight against scalpers, require all pre-order information to include fingerprint and retina scans, which will be hard-coded into a new security layer for all Mac devices sold in the PRC. Then again, scalpers are tough bastards, and Apple may not want to encourage the practice of harvesting migrant laborers' fingers and eyeballs. Ick. 4. Partner with Google and launch an international anti-censorship campaign. Your product launch worries will then be of secondary importance. 5. Give up on the market and turn everything over to Xiaomi. It's inevitable anyway, at least according to some patridiots™ out there. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: apple, ipad

Sheldon Adelson’s Macanese Hooker Problem Posted: 19 Jul 2012 02:43 AM PDT This isn't really a China news topic, but don't you just love a good hooker story? And it does involve Macau, so close enough. The fact that this particular one involves a billionaire American who is one of the largest campaign donors to the Republican Party (motto: "Like it, buy it!") is the icing on top of the cake. You know, one of those huge hollow ones with a hooker inside? Sheldon Adelson, which strangely enough is Woody Allen's real name (well, probably something like that), is in court fighting with an ex-employee, Steven Jacobs. Normally when you seen two names like "Sheldon Adelson" and "Steven Jacobs," you immediately think co-producer credit on a San Fernando Valley skin flick like "Shaving Ryan's Privates" or "Good Will Humping." But no, Adelson and Jacobs aren't in the adult movie industry, nor are they Brooklyn Zionists or in the schmatta business. No, these guys are casino moguls. You see, Jacobs used to run the Macau Sands for Adelson, who owns the Las Vegas Sands empire, and they had a bit of a falling out. In the ensuing litigation, Jacobs has claimed that Adelson personally approved allowing/hiring hookers in the Macau Sands. According to the Associated Press, Adelson is not amused: Las Vegas Sands Corp. chief and leading Republican political donor Sheldon Adelson is firing back at his former Macau casino executive's claim that Adelson personally approved prostitution at company properties in the Chinese gambling enclave. Now, I'm no expert on Macau. Never been there, in fact. I'm also not big on casinos or gambling. So while prostitution is in fact legal in Macau, I normally wouldn't venture my opinion on whether the Sands allowed it. On the other hand, you gotta figure that most of the patrons of the Macau Casino are rich Chinese guys, and I do know something about their proclivities. Let's put it this way. Of the nine different apartment buildings I've lived in over the years in China, I've been deluged with hooker advertisements in at least six of them. Every time I take out the trash, I have to sweep up all the little hooker pics/adverts from in front of my door. I've often wondered where those photos come from and who makes the adverts. Do they swipe pics from social media sites? Is there an online clearinghouse for sultry photos that can be used by aspiring hookers with graphic design needs? And it's not just me. Pretty much anyone you talk to who travels within or to China, particularly on business, will tell stories about the late night phone calls or even the girls who show up at the door unannounced, hoping for a spur-of-the-moment decision. If it's right in front of you, it's very difficult to say no. I have the same problem with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Wait, what were we talking about again? Oh right, Sheldon Adelson's hooker problem. So do I know for sure whether the Macau Sands gave the green light (red light?) to hookers? Not for sure, but this is a guy who gave millions of dollars to help elect Newt Gingrich president. This man is no mensch with high moral standards, although he certainly likes to portray himself as some sort of Super Jew (not to be confused with the 2013 movie of the same name by the Coen Brothers currently in post-production). Do the patrons of the Macau Sands want hookers? Well, look, after a number of years, your nagging Shanghainese wife just doesn't get the job done for you anymore. And sometimes you need a break from both your mistress in Shenzhen and your down-market girlfriend in Zhuhai. A trip down to Macau for some power gambling, karaoke and a bit of the old in-out-in-out might be just what you need. Would Adelson really stand in the way of that sort of pent-up demand? I just don't see it, but I could be wrong. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Sheldon Adelson

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