Yup, that’s the guy, the face representing millions of Chinese retail investors chasing a red hot market.

Every time, there is a foreign piece on China’s stock market or about rabid Chinese speculators, you can bet that this mug shot is prominently displayed atop the article, thanks to Reuters, apparently. Shanghaiist is wondering if the man is aware of his cult celebrity status. Along similar lines: How well has he done in the market? What stocks is he buying now? Where can we get a pair of glasses like that?

P.S. - The title is a tribute to one of our favorite Simpson's episode

Jay Sheng is Shanghaiist's Business Editor. Email tips, news and gossip about business in Shanghai and China to biz at shanghaiist.com.

It’s been a while since we had any Meizu M8 news, but shame on you for thinking those damn brilliant reverse engineers down in Shenzhen weren’t hard at work. Two months after iPhone’s US launch, Meizu revealed the user interface scheme for its upcoming touch screen phone. J. Wong, the company CEO posted the following pics on an internet BBS. Looks pretty slick, but also quite a bit like the UI of iPhone. Not surprisingly, Chinese fans of Meizu are pretty excited over the release, but folks over at Engadget aren’t nearly as thrilled, and understandably so.

Controversy aside, this Shanghaiist still intends to buy an M8, if it ever sees the light of day, provided that the pricing is reasonable, especially now an 8G iPhone is only $399, and free unlocks are widely available.

More pics after the jump

A man on the inside sent us this Brand Republic story from late last week. If you've ever wondered why bloggers never link to the South China Morning Post or why you don't see any stories from them on Google News, here's why:

HONG KONG – South China Morning Post’s online publisher Chris Axberg is departing his role, after failing to agree with SCMP management on the business model of its online platform.

Axberg, who recently spearheaded SCMP’s relaunch of its online platform, confirmed his departure was effective from 28 September, bringing an end to an eight-year tenure with the company.

Sources indicated executive director, SCMP Group, Kuok Hui Kong was the front-runner to take the reins. Axberg said although he had advocated the SCMP’s online site becoming free for users with advertisers driving revenue, management had opted to retain a subscription-based model.

“It was really the case that this was as far as I could take them strategically having to work in those parameters, so now I’m looking forward to new opportunities in digital media.”

Subscription-only ... in 2007. They just don't get it. Even the Wall Street Journal gives us something for free. But based on what we hear from SCMP readers, we non-subscribers really aren't missing much.

Yesterday evening, China’s central bank hiked deposit reserve requirement another 50 basis points (1 basis point=0.01%) to 12.5 percent, the seventh such maneuver this year, and ten dating back to June 2006. “Deposit reserve” is a balance all retail banking institutions must maintain at the nation’s central bank, often expressed as a percentage of its total deposit. A higher reserve requirement means banks have less funds for lending or other investment projects. This latest move is a part of Beijing’s continuing effort to rein in excess liquidity (and the attending inflation) and slow down what appears to be an overheating economy. The People’s Bank of China has also raised interest rates four times this year for a total of 108 basis points. Currently, a one year savings account will net you somewhere around 3.6 percent. So far, China has favored a gradual approach in tightening its monetary policy, with frequent but modest tinkering along the way. But with inflation still soaring at 4 percent (or more, have you been to Carrefour lately), one has to wonder if the PBoC dropped the ball somewhere. Was there ever a time (or perhaps even now), a more drastic measure would have been more appropriate? There doesn’t appear to be any sense of urgency in fighting inflation coming out of the PBoC and a general lack of concern/appreciation for risk in China, very troubling indeed.

On a lighter note, World of Warcraft’s expansion pack, The Burning Crusade finally went live in China, six months after its American/European release. The9, the local operator of the WoW franchise saw a nice 5 percent pop in its stock. In related news, less than 24 hours (23.5 to be exact) after TBC server went live, a player named 银龙 or “silver dragon” has already reached level 70. The previous record was 28 hours, set by a French player, shortly after the European launch, once again proving our theory that Chinese online gamers are just nutz, and the French aren’t too far behind.

Jay Sheng is Shanghaiist's Business Editor. Email tips, news and gossip about business in Shanghai and China to biz AT shanghaiist DOT com.