Great rejuvenations

As we came back still somehow under-rested from the latest National Day holiday, we were astounded to discover a sudden feeling of rejuvination upon eyeing the newswires. Morning after morning we saw new beginnings dominate the headlines, making us feel young as we did at the start of the holiday, before all that Moutai.

To begin, a new day dawned for the beleaguered Chaori Solar, which at last announced its restructuring plan to avoid liquidation. Shareholders will recoup somewhat higher than zero collateral from their original investment. But most refreshing of all was word that the EU and China were considering burying the hatchet over illegal subsidy allegations. That particular hatchet looks like it will be buried thrice over, in the backs of Ericsson, Huawei and ZTE, all of whom get a raw deal under the rumored terms of reconciliation. But the axe has to fall somewhere if Brussels and Beijing hope to end their longstanding standoff.

While the latest PMI info made it seem like China could use a shot in the arm, the country’s property markets might take heart in Ping An’s offering of loans for down payments on residences. Always strong on traditional Chinese values, the filialy pious insurance giant will generously accept collateral in the form of a buyer’s parents’ home in exchange for the chance to pay money toward another. 

Meanwhile one-time mobile phone top-dog HTC attempted to reinvent itself with an appeal to that most modern of narcissistic images, the selfie. With users able to buy both a dedicated camera and smart phone for taking quickie self-portraits, maybe the company can divert eyeballs away from its flagging sales and dwindling brand interest. (Though perhaps the latest discovery of gutter oil sales on the island was attention-grabbing enough to do the job for them.) And Beijing, most self-interested of cities, renewed a policy from its pre-Olympics days ahead of the upcoming Apec summit: it restricted the number of cars on the road in hopes of controlling the massive front of lung-ravaging pollution that has settled over the country’s Northeast. 

And CY Leung, Hong Kong’s chief exec, will likely look to reinvent his own image now that a leaked document showed him accepting a secret payment from an Australian engineering firm while in office. The territory’s triads were having their own payment problems, complaining of a drop in profits after the protests began. And Tiger Asia Management felt the sting of regulators’ renewed vigor when it was slapped with a four-year trading ban in a ruling this week.

But at least someone is raking in profits thanks to the hubub in Hong Kong: Macau casinos got a boost from tourists looking for a less raucous autonomous region in which to holiday. So chin up, dear readers. Winter may lie ahead, but spring is always around the corner.