Chinese high rollers have transformed Macau and Singapore into two of the world's top gambling destinations. Now, Australia wants a slice of that market too. Peter Gotting of Australia Network News reports.
Australia's casinos betting big on Chinese gamblers
How China's super rich differ from their western counterparts
"There's two things that stand the Chinese super-businessman out from this Western counterparts. The first that he's self-made. So in Europe, take America, about a third or a quarter of them inherited their money. Here's there zero inherited money because 30 years ago there was no money, no money in the market at all. "
Chinese tourists spent US$7.2 billion overseas in January
Chinese nationals accounted for the largest share of luxury goods sales in overseas markets during the month of January, with total sales of approximately $7.2 billion USD recently. The amount sees the a nearly 30 percent increase from the same period last year, when Chinese on vacation spent $5.6 billion USD on luxury items.
Ningbo entrepreneur first in China to own an entire island
A heretofore unknown Ningbo businessman has been catapulted into the media limelight for becoming the very first person in China to own an entire island. Huang Yimin (黄益民) coughed up 3.44 million yuan ($540,000) on Tuesday to own the property rights of the island for 50 years.
Top 50 of Hurun Rich List 2011 announced
The Hurun Report has published the top 50 names of this year's Hurun Rich List 2011. Liang Wen'gen, co-founder of heavy machinery company Sany, rose from fourth place to top the list this year with a wealth of $11billion, buoyed by China's economic boom. He edged last year's list-topper Zong Qinghou of drinks conglomerate Wahaha into second place. Zong has seen his wealth shrink from $12 billion to $10.7 billion following profit margin squeeze in the industry, this despite Wahaha chalking up an impressive 30% sales increase. Robin Li Yanhong of Baidu continued his rise on the list to finish at third place this year with a fortune of $8.8 billion. He was helped in no small part by Google's quasi-withdrawal from the Chinese market which allowed Baidu to consolidate its position in the online search market.
China home to half of millionaires in 10 Asian countries by 2015
Swiss private banking group Julius Baer has released its first Asia Wealth Report, an analysis of the High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) landscape in ten leading economies in the Asia-Pacific region.
Report: 72 multimillionaires die of unnatural causes
"SEVENTY-TWO Chinese multimillionaires were reported to have died of unnatural causes or passed away at a young age since 2003, a report said yesterday. A total of 72 deaths of persons who each had personal assets exceeding 100 million yuan (US$15.51 million) were reported since 2003. Fifteen were killed by others, 17 committed suicide, seven died in accidents, 14 were executed and the other 19 died at an early age due to illness, New Culture View newspaper reported yesterday. The average age of those who died from illness was only 48, with cardiovascular ailments and cancer the biggest killers." [Shanghai Daily]
Crooked comrades consider US the No.1 destination for fleeing
Ah, America. The Land of Opportunities to Hide Out Indefinitely, and Store your Ill-gotten Assets.
China now has over a million millionaires!
Or so says the BCG Global Wealth survey, which measured 262,000 new millionaire households in China (a 31% jump) in 2010. Now with 1.11 million millionaire households, China moves into 3rd place, behind Japan (1.53 million) and the U.S. (5.22 million).
Marrying a billionaire -- yes, it can be taught!
Ladies, why live such a tough life working so hard, running the rat race to improve your own social mobility when you can just find a billionaire and marry him? And that's exactly what one school in Beijing is offering to teach you -- for as low as US$46 an hour, you can learn how to win the heart of a rich man!
Today in Luxury: Shanghai-based company wants to blast your remains into outer space!
Yongjia Internet Technique Co Ltd is currently exploring the possibility of offering 'space burial' services from China, whereby they cram your remains into a lipstick-sized tube, attach you to a rocket, and blast you into space. You then orbit for a while (depending on how much you pay, of course) as another piece of China's space junk, and eventually burn up. Sounds like a business almost as wasteful as it is useless. But then again, rich people who decide they want to shoot their ashes into outer space aren't exactly doing it to save the planet. They're probably doing it because, well, it sounds AWESOME.
Watch: Helicopter lands on university campus to pick up student
On March 19 at approximately 3.40pm, a red helicopter landed on the field in the south campus of Dezhou University in Shandong province. Lots of bemused students watched as a female student boarded the helicopter and flew away. This video, taken by a student at the university on his mobile phone, gained 320,000 views within the first three hours of its appearance on Youku.
Gordon Gecko meet Zhang Xin (aka "Chinese money")
Zhang Xin embodies the tagline of the recently released Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Besides being one of China’s lady billionaires, CEO of Soho China, ex-Goldman Sachs employee and mother of two, she can now add Hollywood movie star to the list. Ok, ok, let’s not get ahead of ourselves - but she does have a short cameo in the film starring Michael Douglas and Shia LaBeouf. Her character represents an unnamed Chinese company that the fictional Goldman character refers to as “Chinese money.”
Today's Links: Red tourism, Rich people, and Reincarnation from activist to advisor
- China's communists celebrate with 'red tourism' [AFP] "Sixty years after founding the People's Republic of China, the communist regime is keeping the revolutionary fires burning while promoting its version of history through "red tourism" destinations such as that in the eastern city of Wuhu."
- Google to "Develop" 10,000 Hangzhou SMEs [JLM Pacific Epoch] "Google plans to "develop" 10,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province over the next three years, reports Today Morning Express quoting Google Greater China Director and General Manager of Sales Song Zhongjie. Song said Google plans to double its Zhejiang distributors and employees in 2009. The Hangzhou government aims to help 10,000 SMEs enter the e-commerce industry each year, said Song."

