source: news.abs-cbn.com
Showing posts with label Chinese Lunar New Year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chinese Lunar New Year. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Sparkling Chinese New Year dance
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Asia rings in Year of the Sheep with fireworks, festivities
China officially counts the New Year as starting from January 1 but culturally its citizens place greater importance on the lunar computation of days, reflecting centuries of traditional practice.
Ahead of the festivities, President Xi Jinping proffered a Lunar New Year's greeting to a gathering of more than 2,000 people inside Beijing's ornate Great Hall of the People.
"We are proud of our great country and we are proud of our great people," he said in the speech on Tuesday, which was also attended by other top leaders, including Premier Li Keqiang.
Wednesday night, or lunar New year's eve, was marked by loud booms as people shot off firecrackers in various parts of the country, filling the air with the pungent smell of explosives.
Indoors, hundreds of millions of Chinese tuned in for the annual televised Spring festival gala, which lasts for about four hours and is broadcast nationwide, featuring singing, dancing, skits and comedy performances.
Social media users, however, complained Thursday that the show was ruined by Communist Party sermons against corruption, which has been the pet policy of Xi since becoming head of the party.
The performance included comic dialogues criticising the endemic culture of bribe-taking.
"It was the most disgusting Spring Festival gala," read a post on microblog Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter. "It was just for the state leaders, not for common people."
"The gala is a political performance, the so-called anti-corruption-themed performances are for licking the shoes" of state leaders, another user said.
The day varies annually due to the nature of the lunar calendar which follows the cycles of the moon. It was celebrated last year on January 31, which marked the Year of the Horse.
Traditional astrology in China attaches different animal signs to each lunar year in a cycle of 12 years.
Lunar New Year is also celebrated in other parts of Asia, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, North and South Korea, Mongolia and among ethnic Chinese communities in Southeast Asia.
Fortune tellers in Hong Kong said that the Year of the Sheep should be calmer in general than the previous Year of the Horse, which was characterised by catastrophic international air accidents, brutal terror attacks, global political upheaval, a resurgent Ebola virus and war.
In Taiwan, President Ma Ying-jeou prayed for "safety, health and happiness for the country" in the coming year while attending a religious ceremony in New Taipei city late Wednesday.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
8 predictions for the super-rich in Year of the Goat
Wealth-X gave 8 predictions for the ultra high net worth (UHNW) population in China for the coming year:
1. Social mobility will drive an increase in China’s UHNW population in the lowest wealth tiers;
2. UHNW wealth is expected to grow at a faster rate than the Chinese UHNW population, with an additional $80 billion of wealth being created during the year;
3. Flows of UHNW wealth outside of China will increase, with 5 percent more of UHNW assets held in foreign businesses;
4. Tier 1 cities will increase in relevance with 60 percent of China’s UHNW population calling the four cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou home by the end of the year;
5. Public wealth is expected to grow faster than private wealth in China with an additional $45 billion held in public companies;
6. Luxury spending in China will decrease by 4 percent due to the government’s anti-corruption crackdown;
7. Chinese philanthropy will increase this year, with a 24 percent rise in the number of private foundations established;
8. The number of UHNW expatriates in China will increase by 40 percent over the course of the year.
The Goat is the eighth zodiac sign in the 12-symbol Chinese horoscope.
Wealth-X data shows that 8.4 percent of the world's UHNW population was born in the year of the Goat, the fourth most common Chinese Zodiac sign for UHNW individuals.
Goat UHNW individuals have the lowest proportion of fully self-made UHNW individuals and these individuals are 10 percent wealthier than the global average for UHNW individuals.
Although only six percent of all Goat UHNW individuals are involved in the technology sector, the most prominent "goat" is Bill Gates.
Gates, who founded Microsoft, is the world's richest man. He was born in 1955, another year of the Goat.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
PSE index closes above 7800 for 1st time
Wednesday morning, as part of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations.
New Year cheer may have spread in Asian markets, including the Philippine Stock Exchange where the main index closed above the 7,800 level for the first time.
Asian investors were optimistic ahead of the European Central Bank's meeting on bailout conditions for Greece, though trading was relatively quiet as markets in China are closed for the Lunar New Year.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index closed Wednesday’s session at 7,803.45, up 0.1 percent and the 13th time it set a new record this year. The PSEi's previous record close was 7,793.40 on February 17, 2015.
The main index also set a new all-time intraday high at 7,840.39.
Among the day's big gainers were Emperador Inc, Alliance Global Group, SM Prime Holdings and LT Group Inc.
"We are optimistic that emerging markets like the Philippines will remain resilient amidst uncertainties in the Eurozone. On the local front, we expect corporate profits and dividend stories to continue to lift the market,” said PSE President and CEO Hans B. Sicat
At the foreign exchange market, the peso slightly strengthened to P44.23 against the US dollar.
Indonesia at record high
Meanwhile, the Indonesian key stock index rallied to a record high on Wednesday amid optimism about the domestic economy after an unexpected rate cut by the central bank, while Malaysian shares snapped three days of gains in a shortened trading session.
The Jakarta composite index was up about 1 percent at 5,393.27, after climbing to an all-time high of 5,415.38.
Interest rate sensitive stocks led the gains, boosted by foreign-led buying, Thomson Reuters data showed.
Indonesia's central bank unexpectedly cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 7.5 percent after market close on Tuesday.
The move officially ended Bank Indonesia's tight-bias cycle which started in May 2013, while lower interest rates boded well for domestic demand, broker Bahana Securities wrote in a report. It upgraded its estimate for 2015 GDP growth to 5.45 percent from 5.30 percent.
"While surprising, we applaud BI's looser monetary policy, which we think indicates its efforts to support President Jokowi's expansive fiscal policy this year, particularly given expectations of subdued inflation on lower global oil prices," Bahana said.
Kuala Lumpur composite indexended the day down 0.1 percent amid weaknesses in financial shares. RHB Capital dropped 2.8 percent, the worst performer on the index, and Public Bank PUBM.KL fell 1.3 percent, the third worst.
Data showed annual inflation in Malaysia fell to a more than five-year low of 1.0 percent in January as oil prices skidded, but economists do not expect the central bank to follow others and respond by cutting interest rates.
Other Southeast Asian stock markets traded in positive territory while Asian shares rose amid signs Greek banks will continue to receive emergency funding despite a breakdown in debt talks between Athens and euro zone finance ministers.
Singapore and Malaysia will remain closed through Friday for the Lunar New Year holidays.
Indonesia and the Philippines will be shut on Thursday, while Vietnam will remain closed through Feb. 23. - With Reuters
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
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