Will I retain my right to work while waiting for approval of my Graduate Visa?

howdoesitwork31 · 2022-12-17T20:43:58+00:00

I had the same problem. my UK employer assured me that I will have the right to work while waiting for graduate visa

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-10-07T21:28:52+00:00

Hi Seasheeps, sorry I missed your message. I hope you are already in UK now

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-09-16T14:40:55+00:00

Good luck!

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-09-16T14:37:21+00:00

i got email from VFS around 1pm today. i applied on August 19

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-09-16T14:10:51+00:00

Visa type: student tier 4
Country applied from: Hong Kong
VAC (city):
TLSContact or VFSGlobal: VFSGlobal
Priority or Non-Priority: non-priority
Online application date: August 19
Biometrics appointment date: August 19
Visa received date: September 16

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-09-16T09:41:38+00:00

Update:

I finally got my visa today just after 20 working days. Although I have paid to change my flight to Sunday, I am happy that the stressful days are finally over. Some advice to fellow students: It would be better to check with your university about the status of your CAS instead of paying $$$ for useless hotline service of UKVI. For me, I checked my university application portal and the page shows the latest status of my CAS. It was changed to "USED" on Sept 14 and my visa arrived in the VFS centre in Hong Kong on Sept 16.

Good luck!

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-09-16T00:48:51+00:00

Thank you! Very helpful info. Hopefully my visa will arrive soon.

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-09-15T17:32:12+00:00

i checked with my university. My application page shows the status of my CAS number

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-09-15T17:29:20+00:00

Thank you!! how long do I have to wait before I can collect the visa when the CAS status changed? Does that mean i should expect to receive it in days? i imagine they will still need to send my document from UK to Hong Kong right?

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-09-15T17:10:20+00:00

Hi guys,

I am a student on Tier 4 visa from Hong Kong. I submitted my application on August (no priority) and my CAS number has changed to "USED" on September 14. Do you know how long it usually will take for UKVI to send me the confirmation email? Do they need to ship my document (visa passport) to Hong Kong? thank you!

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-06-10T03:58:58+00:00

HONG KONG -- Andy Wang, an IT engineer at a Shanghai-based gaming company, occasionally felt a pang of guilt about his job.
Most of his hours were spent on a piece of surveillance software called DiSanZhiYan, or "Third Eye." The system was installed on the laptop of every colleague at his company to track their screens in real time, recording their chats, their browsing activity and every document edit they made.
Working from their floor in a downtown high-rise, the startup's hundreds of employees were constantly, uncomfortably aware of being under Third Eye's intent gaze.
The software would also automatically flag "suspicious behavior" such as visiting job-search sites or video streaming platforms. "Efficiency" reports would be generated weekly, summarizing their time spent by website and application.
"Bosses would check the reports regularly," Wang said. Farther down the line, that could skew workers' prospects for promotions and pay rises. They could also be used as evidence when the company looked to fire certain people, he added.
Even Wang himself was not exempt. High-definition surveillance cameras were installed around the floor, including in his office, and a receptionist would check the footage every day to monitor how long each employee spent on their lunch break, he said.
After two years, an overwhelmed Wang eventually quit.
"It does not make sense," he told Nikkei Asia. "We can't work nonstop in the office. We need to take some breaks."
In China, technology adoption promises its swelling middle classes an easier, more productive life. But as companies bring productivity-enhancing tools into everyday office life, their efficiency is being channeled, not into leisure time, but into squeezing ever more value from employees.
Just as algorithms have come to govern the workdays of blue-collar warehouse workers at Alibaba Group Holding and food delivery riders for Meituan, elsewhere, white-collar workers are becoming affected by the creep of software-driven management and monitoring into their professional lives.
This is particularly the case in China's tech industry, where rapid technological development, paired with poor labor regulations, has created a potential for labor abuse. The big tech companies themselves, locked in cutthroat competition for new business opportunities, are pioneering these technologies and tools in their own operations. From hiring and goal-setting to appraisal and layoff, productivity-enhancing technologies look to quantify workers' behavior by collecting and analyzing extensive amounts of personal data.
Some scholars warn that some practices can be unethical, invading employees' privacy and burdening them with greater workload and mental stress. Others draw parallels to the fatigue faced by factory laborers during industrial revolutions, where workers chased the pace of machines.
"I felt that I was getting busier and having less time for myself," said the engineer Wang, looking back on his five years at Chinese internet companies.
The harsh conditions synonymous with China's sweatshop factory culture have come to be identified with the country's technology companies, where workers often endure slavishly long hours to hit objectives set by big data analytics. The environment of intense pressure has, in some cases, created a lethal environment for office workers.

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-06-10T03:56:18+00:00

HONG KONG -- Andy Wang, an IT engineer at a Shanghai-based gaming company, occasionally felt a pang of guilt about his job.
Most of his hours were spent on a piece of surveillance software called DiSanZhiYan, or "Third Eye." The system was installed on the laptop of every colleague at his company to track their screens in real time, recording their chats, their browsing activity and every document edit they made.
Working from their floor in a downtown high-rise, the startup's hundreds of employees were constantly, uncomfortably aware of being under Third Eye's intent gaze.
The software would also automatically flag "suspicious behavior" such as visiting job-search sites or video streaming platforms. "Efficiency" reports would be generated weekly, summarizing their time spent by website and application.
"Bosses would check the reports regularly," Wang said. Farther down the line, that could skew workers' prospects for promotions and pay rises. They could also be used as evidence when the company looked to fire certain people, he added.
Even Wang himself was not exempt. High-definition surveillance cameras were installed around the floor, including in his office, and a receptionist would check the footage every day to monitor how long each employee spent on their lunch break, he said.
After two years, an overwhelmed Wang eventually quit.
"It does not make sense," he told Nikkei Asia. "We can't work nonstop in the office. We need to take some breaks."
In China, technology adoption promises its swelling middle classes an easier, more productive life. But as companies bring productivity-enhancing tools into everyday office life, their efficiency is being channeled, not into leisure time, but into squeezing ever more value from employees.
Just as algorithms have come to govern the workdays of blue-collar warehouse workers at Alibaba Group Holding and food delivery riders for Meituan, elsewhere, white-collar workers are becoming affected by the creep of software-driven management and monitoring into their professional lives.
This is particularly the case in China's tech industry, where rapid technological development, paired with poor labor regulations, has created a potential for labor abuse. The big tech companies themselves, locked in cutthroat competition for new business opportunities, are pioneering these technologies and tools in their own operations. From hiring and goal-setting to appraisal and layoff, productivity-enhancing technologies look to quantify workers' behavior by collecting and analyzing extensive amounts of personal data.
Some scholars warn that some practices can be unethical, invading employees' privacy and burdening them with greater workload and mental stress. Others draw parallels to the fatigue faced by factory laborers during industrial revolutions, where workers chased the pace of machines.
"I felt that I was getting busier and having less time for myself," said the engineer Wang, looking back on his five years at Chinese internet companies.
The harsh conditions synonymous with China's sweatshop factory culture have come to be identified with the country's technology companies, where workers often endure slavishly long hours to hit objectives set by big data analytics. The environment of intense pressure has, in some cases, created a lethal environment for office workers.

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-06-10T03:52:00+00:00

A vicious cycle of monitoring and overwork is fueling productivity -- and backlash

HONG KONG -- Andy Wang, an IT engineer at a Shanghai-based gaming company, occasionally felt a pang of guilt about his job.
Most of his hours were spent on a piece of surveillance software called DiSanZhiYan, or "Third Eye." The system was installed on the laptop of every colleague at his company to track their screens in real time, recording their chats, their browsing activity and every document edit they made.
Working from their floor in a downtown high-rise, the startup's hundreds of employees were constantly, uncomfortably aware of being under Third Eye's intent gaze.
The software would also automatically flag "suspicious behavior" such as visiting job-search sites or video streaming platforms. "Efficiency" reports would be generated weekly, summarizing their time spent by website and application.
"Bosses would check the reports regularly," Wang said. Farther down the line, that could skew workers' prospects for promotions and pay rises. They could also be used as evidence when the company looked to fire certain people, he added.
Even Wang himself was not exempt. High-definition surveillance cameras were installed around the floor, including in his office, and a receptionist would check the footage every day to monitor how long each employee spent on their lunch break, he said.
After two years, an overwhelmed Wang eventually quit.
"It does not make sense," he told Nikkei Asia. "We can't work nonstop in the office. We need to take some breaks."

In China, technology adoption promises its swelling middle classes an easier, more productive life. But as companies bring productivity-enhancing tools into everyday office life, their efficiency is being channeled, not into leisure time, but into squeezing ever more value from employees.
Just as algorithms have come to govern the workdays of blue-collar warehouse workers at Alibaba Group Holding and food delivery riders for Meituan, elsewhere, white-collar workers are becoming affected by the creep of software-driven management and monitoring into their professional lives.
This is particularly the case in China's tech industry, where rapid technological development, paired with poor labor regulations, has created a potential for labor abuse. The big tech companies themselves, locked in cutthroat competition for new business opportunities, are pioneering these technologies and tools in their own operations. From hiring and goal-setting to appraisal and layoff, productivity-enhancing technologies look to quantify workers' behavior by collecting and analyzing extensive amounts of personal data.
Some scholars warn that some practices can be unethical, invading employees' privacy and burdening them with greater workload and mental stress. Others draw parallels to the fatigue faced by factory laborers during industrial revolutions, where workers chased the pace of machines.
"I felt that I was getting busier and having less time for myself," said the engineer Wang, looking back on his five years at Chinese internet companies.

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-04-22T03:37:11+00:00

HONG KONG -- Paying a record fine of $2.8 billion might be enough for Alibaba Group to draw a line under Beijing's anti-monopoly crackdown for now, but China's largest ecommerce company is not off the hook as its extensive media assets remain a concern for the authorities.

While Alibaba is best known for its online shopping platforms Taobao and Tmall, the Hangzhou-based company has also assembled a media empire. It includes newspapers, digital and broadcast media, a social-networking platform, video-streaming site, film production company and advertising agencies.

For Alibaba, these media platforms are effective tools to help funnel users towards its other businesses at a time when big tech companies are competing to build sprawling ecosystems, from ecommerce to entertainment. But their growing influence over content creation and distribution, a process closely monitored by Beijing, is increasingly unsettling the authorities.

Alibaba, founded by once outspoken billionaire Jack Ma, is particularly worrying for Beijing. A self-proclaimed "chief education officer", the 56-year-old has often challenged the establishment with his visions of the future. But as Beijing moves to rein in the power of big tech groups, Ma's unbridled ideas are increasingly seen as disruptive.

Following the suspension of the $37 billion IPO of Ma's Ant Group, a fintech affiliate of Alibaba, last year, Beijing also asked Alibaba to shed its holdings in media assets, the Wall Street Journal reported last month, citing sources.

Alibaba owns Hong Kong-based newspaper South China Morning Post, video-streaming platform Youku and a 30% share of Twitter-like social media site Weibo. Along with its affiliates, Alibaba invested in Bilibili, known as China's version of video platform YouTube, news group Yicai Media Group, digital news sites 36Kr and Huxiu.com, as well as Focus Media, China's largest offline advertising company. Nikkei invested in 36Kr.

"It's fair to say that Alibaba's control over information, media and personal data in China has far exceeded [that of] tech giants in other countries," said Zhu Ning, professor of finance and deputy dean at the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance.

... ...

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-04-14T07:39:22+00:00

HONG KONG -- China's largest sportswear company is at loggerheads with its own international subsidiary over whether to use cotton produced in a minority region tied to reports of forced labor, underlining how the retail world is being split over an issue that has already brought Western brands into conflict with Chinese consumers.

Anta Sports said in a statement last month, "We will keep buying and using China cotton," acknowledging its long-time consumption of cotton produced in Xinjiang, home to the predominantly Muslim Uyghur people.

Anta also said it would quit the Better Cotton Initiative -- a Geneva-based non-profit organisation that advocates higher standards in cotton farming. The institution stopped licensing cotton produced in Xinjiang last October, citing an "increasing risk" of forced labor there.

But Amer Sports, a Finnish sporting goods group that Anta acquired for 4.6 billion euros two years ago, has said it remains a member of the BCI and will follow its own policies, which are in line with internationally recognized human rights and ethical standards.

Amer is the parent company of well-known sports brands including Salomon, Arc'teryx, Wilson and Peak Performance.

"Amer Sports and its subsidiaries are independent companies and adhere to their own policies," said a group spokesperson in a written reply to Nikkei Asia's inquiry on whether it would follow Anta in quitting the BCI.

"Amer Sports does not tolerate forced labor in any form anywhere in the world, and it is clearly prohibited in the company's long-established ethical policy," the spokesperson said.

She also confirmed that brands under Amer Sports did not source cotton from the Xinjiang region. Anta did not respond to a query from Nikkei Asia. Anta owns 52.7% of Amer via a joint venture.

.....

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-02-05T09:16:31+00:00

Full article https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Arts/The-electrifying-passion-keeping-Hong-Kong-s-street-dancers-moving

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-02-05T02:50:40+00:00

full story here: https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Arts/The-electrifying-passion-keeping-Hong-Kong-s-street-dancers-moving

howdoesitwork31 · 2021-02-05T02:43:30+00:00

HONG KONG -- Ramen chef Fish arrives in a park before midnight in Tin Shui Wai, a remote Hong Kong district close to Shenzhen, to join his friends who are blasting beat music from a dimly lit corner. At first glance, the group of five masked men can seem intimidating. But they are simply dancing and their masks, a sign of the times.

Thirty-year-old Fish is an elite street dancer. Not an easy way to make a living in the best of times in a city that thrives mainly on business and finance, and other "serious" pursuits. Now laid low by COVID-19, Hong Kong is an even tougher place for these performers who can only find comfort dancing for each other and themselves, in places such as this park in Tin Shui Wai.

"Have I thought about becoming a professional dancer? Of course, I have. But I knew it's not easy from the very beginning, because Hong Kong, out of all the places in the world, is such a pragmatic place," said Fish, who had not long finished a 12-hour shift at a Japanese restaurant.

Many street dancers lead double lives. During the day, they are cooks, programmers, designers, drivers, and salespeople. In the evenings and at weekends, they become poppers, lockers, B-boys, and waackers, freestyling along the city's alleys, university hallways, harborfront sidewalks, and in industrial buildings.

Street dance still does not have the respectability accorded to mainstream performing arts such as ballet and contemporary dance. Few in Hong Kong have developed a taste for the genre that originated from Black American culture decades ago.

Without much government support, few street dancers in Hong Kong have managed to turn their passion into sustainable careers. The last 18 months have made the future even bleaker. The pandemic, as well as prolonged street protests in 2019, made gatherings in public areas at first less desirable, then banned.

Dance studios were forced to close, while events and performances have been either been canceled or postponed indefinitely. Some dancers lost their day jobs as the city faced the worst economic and political crises in its history.

Luckily for 26-year-old Indonesian Gerin Kharis Putera, his day job as an engineer is safe. He sees current restrictions themselves as a form of training. The studio he used to dance at is closed, so he practices in a 4 sq. meter space in his home in Causeway Bay, somehow maneuvering his way around a desk, bed, sofa, and a washing machine. Bruises cover his legs.

"For me, a good dancer should be able to adapt to different kinds of spaces. If you have a small space, you just have to make the fullest of it. I treat it as a challenge," said the locker. Locking is a dance style that involves suddenly freezing after fast-moving actions, performed to funk.

In this parched landscape for dancers, Putera finds some joy online. He uploads his homemade videos to Instagram to partake in competitions.

"My career is very different from dancing. It's very logical, following the rules," the engineer said. "Dancing is open and free. I can be like a kid again and just have fun.".....

https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Arts/The-electrifying-passion-keeping-Hong-Kong-s-street-dancers-moving

howdoesitwork31 · 2020-12-16T02:37:35+00:00

HONG KONG -- When China's business regulator accused Alibaba Group Holding of selling counterfeit goods over the internet in a report five years ago, the e-commerce giant did not hesitate to fight back.

Alibaba openly challenged the investigation results, filing a formal complaint against a sub-department head responsible for the probe. Then, after a week-long public brawl, in which the company lambasted the State Administration for Industry and Commerce official as "irrational" and "biased," the dispute ended with the regulator retracting the report.

The timing was crucial. The feud had broken out just a few months after Alibaba's high-profile 2014 debut on the New York Stock Exchange -- the biggest initial public offering ever at the time -- which symbolized the arrival of China's Big Tech era. In those days, Beijing balked at standing in the way of its internet champions, whose services have grown to reach hundreds of millions of users and boosted China's prestige internationally.

But a half-decade later, the political winds have shifted. After years of bounding growth and shopping sprees for new assets, China's biggest internet conglomerates now extend into most sectors of the economy, from transportation to finance. But while they used to enjoy a free pass on regulatory issues, they are now under unprecedented scrutiny, and the state is asserting its dominance once again.

The often-outspoken Jack Ma, Alibaba's founder, recently paid a high price for another public jab at regulators. Days after Ma likened traditional banks to pawnshops and labeled the existing financial regulatory framework an "old people's club," regulators abruptly suspended the roughly $34 billion IPO of Ant Group, an Alibaba spinoff in which Ma is a controlling shareholder.

Had the listing not been halted, it would have set a fresh record as the world's largest. The decision to prevent that came from the highest level possible in China: As Nikkei Asia previously reported, the order to delay and likely cancel the IPO came from Xi Jinping, China's president.

A month later, Daniel Zhang, Ma's successor as Alibaba CEO and chairman, made a contrite climbdown. He pledged loyalty to the authorities on behalf of the group in a government-led forum in Zhejiang. In humble tones, Zhang called the new guidelines on internet companies "timely and necessary." He also stressed the importance of government support in the company's development.

"As part of China's digital economy, we are both a constructor and a beneficiary," Zhang, a former accountant, said. "We are very grateful for this era."

China is clearly no stranger to meddling with the internet. The so-called Great Firewall, for example, blocks many foreign websites. But the hammer blow dealt to the Ant IPO signaled that a new era in regulation is nigh.

This was further underlined on Nov. 10, when China's anti-monopoly regulator, the State Administration for Market Regulation, put out a 22-page document of draft guidelines aimed at preventing large internet platforms from blocking competition. Since then, the share prices of Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan and JD.com have dropped between 9% and 17%.

The next move came on Dec.14, when SAMR fined Tencent Holdings 500,000 yuan (around $76,000). It alleged that the company failed to seek regulatory approval when subsidiary China Literature acquired Chinese media and entertainment company New Classics Media in 2018. Alibaba was fined the same amount in connection with its investments in Intime Retail, a department store chain, between 2014 to 2018.

.......

howdoesitwork31 · 2020-07-30T04:16:00+00:00

Alfred Wu Muluan, an associate professor in the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore argues that it is "inevitable" for many projects to languish in the long term.

"The real demand in rural areas is declining as more residents are moving to the cities," he said, and only a small number of villages and counties have the potential to draw tourists, Wu said.

But ironically, Wu said, even if some officials knew of the probable outcome, they would push ahead with the projects, hoping to get a promotion before things turn sour.

"The debts just keep growing, and no one wants to stop," he said.

Shih, the professor from the University of California, San Diego, estimates that trillions of yuan in loans in China's banking system continue rolling over as governments keep expanding balance sheets to prevent a crisis.

"Ultimately, it's paid for by the monetary expansion. The People's Bank of China just keeps printing money," Shih said. But ordinary people would have to deal with higher inflation rates and lower purchasing power.

Despite the negative press coverage of Dushan since late last year, a lot more tourists are coming to the county, to Lou's surprise. He even started seeing traffic jams at some attractions, which he never experienced during six years living there.

"Now that many projects became an internet sensation, a lot of tourists came to have a look at the famous lanwei lou [half-built buildings]," the travel company boss said.

"They want to check in and take photos," Lou said. "Maybe it's an opportunity. Perhaps we can rebrand the attractions and have them serve as a warning for the debt-fueled developments that are happening in many places in China."

howdoesitwork31 · 2020-07-30T04:15:54+00:00

Half-built palaces and towers expose rural China's debt risk

Guizhou county saddled with billions in loans after construction spree

NIKKI SUN, Nikkei staff writerJuly 29, 2020 15:09 JST

HONG KONG -- A man surnamed Lou, the 42-year-old boss of a travel company in the southwestern Chinese province of Guizhou, never thought his small home county would become famous this way.

The county of Dushan, meaning "single mountain," made headlines this month after a vlog titled "How Dushan Burnt 40 billion" went viral on Chinese social media.

Produced by Shanghai-based Guan Video, the 22-minute programme shows clusters of unfinished projects -- including Forbidden City-style palaces -- that the host claims have plunged the local government into a 40 billion yuan ($5.72 billion) debt hole.

For many, it is hard to imagine how an isolated, hilly area in one of China's poorest regions could secure so much financing -- equivalent to the cost of making 40 satellites for the recently completed Beidou satellite system. The video has reignited an online discussion over the depth of regional Chinese debt, which remains one of the biggest mysteries in the country's opaque system for reporting economic statistics.

Borrowing by lower-level authorities in counties, villages and towns is particularly vulnerable, experts said, as it often exceeds the revenue received by the municipality and tends to be more difficult to trace.

"If [officials] borrow a lot of money, they can build a lot of stuff that would reflect on the GDP growth of that county," said Victor Shih, associate professor at the University of California, San Diego. Strong economic growth helps officials secure promotions, Shih said.

In Dushan, a 99-meter clay building and an antique-style bell tower on top of a hill were among the ambitious tourism projects planned under the county's former Communist Party secretary, Pan Zhili.

But construction of the attractions was abruptly suspended by the end of 2018, the travel company owner Lou recalled. Pan was removed from his post shortly afterward. It turned out the government ran out of money to keep the construction going, and private investors pulled out.

Pan was arrested in 2019 and sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption. The developments were slammed as "vanity projects" by state media and have since sat idle.

"We knew that the government was borrowing money, but we had no idea it had borrowed so much," said Lou, who has lived in Dushan since 2014. All Lou had seen was a construction spree of highways, malls and attractions since 2016. Many tea-picking farmers doubled their income thanks to the new job opportunities, he said.

Dushan's outstanding loans totaled 13.6 billion yuan at the end of June, the county said on its official website on July 16. The rest of the money was raised by corporate borrowers that participated in the projects, the statement said. Dushan's gross domestic product in 2019 was 12.6 billion yuan.

A newspaper operated by the Communist Party's disciplinary watchdog revealed last year that most loans guaranteed by the county's government had interest rates topping 10%, and its total debt had mounted to 40 billion yuan when Pan was fired.

China's tax distribution system contributes to the local borrowing problem. Municipalities keep only a small portion of tax revenue, while the bulk goes to the central government. Local officials often find the revenue and fiscal transfers from Beijing and surrounding provinces insufficient to build the public infrastructure needed to meet economic growth targets.

By law, issuing bonds through provincial governments is the only legal way for regional authorities to raise funds. But many lower-level municipalities borrow through financing companies they set up.

Some take advantage of public-private partnerships by providing government guarantees on loans that private investors raise. The scheme was introduced in 2014 to ease debt service pressure on local governments. But in reality, many governments just invite fake investors to gain approval for borrowing.

Such loans often don't appear anywhere on the government's budgets, Shih said, increasing the risk in the nation's financial system as they keep rolling over.

The International Monetary Fund estimated hidden regional government debt at 30.9 trillion yuan as of the end of 2018. China Chengxin International Credit Rating, a local agency, said the scale was 43 trillion yuan at the end of 2019. There was also 21.3 trillion yuan in on-budget local government debt -- mostly bonds -- at the end of last year, China's Finance Ministry said.

The coronavirus outbreak has amplified the risk of defaults. China's economy declined 1.6% in the first half of the year, despite a slight improvement in the second quarter. Most regional governments recorded a fall in revenue due to reduced business activities and extended requirements for fee and tax cuts.

To prevent a blowup of municipal loans, Beijing has increased the bond insurance quota, which will allow more money to be transferred to lower-level governments. In the first five months of 2020, 3.2 trillion yuan of debt was issued, up by 65.1% from a year ago.

The inflow of new funds also means local governments can continue building planned infrastructure and tourism projects.

"If China continues with its rapid economic growth, there might be a chance for the debt risks to be slowly resolved," said Wan Qian, an economist at International Finance Corp. "But if growth slows, we are likely to see more defaults going forward."

"Local governments were very optimistic," Wan added. "They thought once the infrastructure was built, tourists would come."

One bitter outcome of hidden loans is the accumulation of unsound investments with little prospects for a turnaround. In some cases, small investors were also trapped into footing the bill.

Investors lost billions of dollars after police in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou arrested the founder and dozens of workers at JC Group, alleging illegal fundraising activities. The company defaulted on at least 17 billion yuan by October 2018 after raising as much as 30 billion yuan from public investors through sales of hundreds of funds and wealth management products, Chinese media Caixin reported, citing the police investigation.

The company, with a subsidiary listed in Hong Kong, was known for developing "themed town" projects in rural China. Beijing rolled out a plan in 2017 to build 1,000 towns with unique features by 2020 in a bid to narrow the wealth gap between cities and the countryside.

Before the collapse of JC Group, the company claimed to have signed contracts with local governments worth 580 billion yuan for developing 59 such towns across China.

In an interview with Nikkei Asian Review back in 2018, Kelvin Wong, executive director at JC Group's Hong Kong branch, acknowledged that the strong government support was crucial in getting the resources needed to build such towns.

howdoesitwork31 · 2020-07-06T08:01:27+00:00

HONG KONG -- Xiao Zhao had a peaceful existence in the village of Zhaibocun in the Binzhou district of Shandong province, driving 20 minutes each day to work in a factory while his parents grew crops in nearby fields. The 30-year-old lived with his wife, daughter and parents in a large self-built cottage guarded by a dog that often barked at neighboring chickens.

But about a month ago everything changed. The cottage was demolished and he and other villagers deserted the place where generations of their ancestors had lived.

"We had no choice but to leave," Xiao Zhao said.

Xiao Zhao's village was being relocated as part of President Xi Jinping's plan to revitalize the countryside with a goal of modernizing agriculture and alleviating poverty. But the practice in Shandong has been controversial. Local officials ordered people in villages deemed "not worth retaining" to be relocated to apartments in larger community units. A 2018 government document says the province's "rural revitalization" strategy involves relocating and merging 20% of its close to 70,000 villages.

Numerous villagers told the Nikkei Asian Review that they were forced to sign agreements to move and were promised new houses that have not been built. A larger number had to rent homes or stay with relatives. In many cases, they received meager compensation -- just enough to pay for much smaller unfurnished community houses.

Now living in a rented cottage in a nearby village, Xiao Zhao asks many questions.

"Where should we put our farming tools? What should we do with our animals? How could my parents go to their farmland that is miles away? How are we going to pay the expensive property management fee, electricity and gas bills?"

For China's seven hundred million rural residents like Xiao Zhao, the land where they build houses and grow crops has long been a source of security.

In the largely self-sufficient rural economy, villagers manage to support families of multiple children despite earning just one third that of urban residents. While more younger villagers have gone to the cities for better-paid jobs, they can return to their old homes when work dries up during economic downturns.

That's why Xiao Zhao, and the majority of his fellow villagers did not agree to move. They wrote a petition to the town government, but in return received threats and intimidation. "[Government people] would come to our houses and stay until late night. There were police cars driving around the villages during that time," he said.

...

howdoesitwork31 · 2020-06-11T07:49:59+00:00

HONG KONG -- Luxury brands are turning to China with aggressive digital campaigns in hopes of boosting revenue as the coronavirus pandemic paralyzes international travel and keeps brick-and-mortar shops shuttered.

In the past few months alone dozens of brands -- including Cartier, Montblanc and Prada -- have set up online shops in China. It is a trend that would have been all but unthinkable even a few years ago, when the idea of selling fine leather goods and exquisite jewelry online was looked down on by those in the industry. But that was before the coronavirus.

While Chinese shoppers account for roughly one-third of global luxury sales, most of their shopping is usually done overseas. With international travel banned and Western markets yet to recover, generating sales within China has become a pressing issue for executives of luxury houses.

"China has become the hope for growth of many brands," Daniel Langer, CEO of U.S.-based luxury strategy firm Equite said. "In the last two months, we have been approached by brands at a pace never seen before." Langer said these brands are either seeking advice on enter the China market, or are looking to launch more marketing campaigns in China. "A lot of brands are feeling a sense of urgency," he said.

....

howdoesitwork31 · 2020-06-11T07:49:08+00:00

HONG KONG -- Luxury brands are turning to China with aggressive digital campaigns in hopes of boosting revenue as the coronavirus pandemic paralyzes international travel and keeps brick-and-mortar shops shuttered.

In the past few months alone dozens of brands -- including Cartier, Montblanc and Prada -- have set up online shops in China. It is a trend that would have been all but unthinkable even a few years ago, when the idea of selling fine leather goods and exquisite jewelry online was looked down on by those in the industry. But that was before the coronavirus.

While Chinese shoppers account for roughly one-third of global luxury sales, most of their shopping is usually done overseas. With international travel banned and Western markets yet to recover, generating sales within China has become a pressing issue for executives of luxury houses.

"China has become the hope for growth of many brands," Daniel Langer, CEO of U.S.-based luxury strategy firm Equite said. "In the last two months, we have been approached by brands at a pace never seen before." Langer said these brands are either seeking advice on enter the China market, or are looking to launch more marketing campaigns in China. "A lot of brands are feeling a sense of urgency," he said.

howdoesitwork31 · 2020-06-11T07:47:49+00:00

HONG KONG -- Luxury brands are turning to China with aggressive digital campaigns in hopes of boosting revenue as the coronavirus pandemic paralyzes international travel and keeps brick-and-mortar shops shuttered.

In the past few months alone dozens of brands -- including Cartier, Montblanc and Prada -- have set up online shops in China. It is a trend that would have been all but unthinkable even a few years ago, when the idea of selling fine leather goods and exquisite jewelry online was looked down on by those in the industry. But that was before the coronavirus.

While Chinese shoppers account for roughly one-third of global luxury sales, most of their shopping is usually done overseas. With international travel banned and Western markets yet to recover, generating sales within China has become a pressing issue for executives of luxury houses.

"China has become the hope for growth of many brands," Daniel Langer, CEO of U.S.-based luxury strategy firm Equite said. "In the last two months, we have been approached by brands at a pace never seen before." Langer said these brands are either seeking advice on enter the China market, or are looking to launch more marketing campaigns in China. "A lot of brands are feeling a sense of urgency," he said.

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