小树 在 上 海 种 树

By GEORGE CHEN in New York
STAFF WRITER OF TreeBar.net

在纽约的时间过的很快，马上就要开始我的新一段旅程了，即将开启的旅程有些属于安排之外。

撇开政治，除了纽约，每到人们谈起美国，还有一个名字也是非常具有特殊意义的：好莱坞。我的下一站就是位于西好莱坞（West Hollywood）比华利希尔顿，在那里有一个和中国有关的经济会议。说实话，我也很好奇为什么一个经济会议会安排在好莱坞举办，不过对我来说也不失为一次很有意义的旅程。

好莱坞位于加州的洛杉矶，这里人都习惯性把加州简称为CA，把洛杉矶简称为LA。和纽约不同，洛杉矶似乎面积大很多，而且是有好多个城市呈发散状规划而成的，在完成好莱坞的采访工作后，我会去同样位于LA的海滩城市Santa Monica小憩两天，之后再飞往伦敦开始我下一阶段的工作。

让我有点担心的是美国国内愈演愈糟的航班延误问题。美国航空公司（American Airlines）昨天取消了1000多个航班，今天稍微好一点，但是还是有几百个航班受影响，据说周末是最糟糕的阶段，过了就好。还好我是下周才去LA，之后的行程就全部交给英国维珍航空公司（Virgin Atlantic）了。

我从上海飞纽约的时候是途径伦敦转机，中间碰到一些技术问题，最后航班被迫取消，不过说实话，VA的服务还是很到位的，不仅把乘客安置在Hilton London，每个人还有额外积分奖励，第二天再飞纽约的时候，大家还得到了免费的升舱享受。这和我在国内的飞机经历相比，实在是有天壤之别。

人无完人，谁不会犯错误，但是如何弥补和改善，也许才是区别好人和恶人的一个重要因素。

图片注释：美国纽约第五大街上的Gucci专卖店，瞬间驶过的黄色Ford牌出租车早已成为纽约的城市标志性风景之一。（Copyright by George Chen. All rights reserved.）

更多有关纽约、Ellis Island以及曼哈顿市区的博物馆、艺术作品等视频、照片可以在以下这个链接浏览：
http://www.flickr.com/photos/treebar/collections/72157604318352540/

有关2007年的《欧洲印象》专栏的文字和图片链接可以在这里找到：
http://georgeschen.blogbus.com/c1749566/

By GEORGE CHEN in New York and London
STAFF WRITER OF TreeBar.net

三月下旬在纽约工作一段时间，四月中旬会去洛杉矶参加一个三天的会议，然后下一站就是伦敦。

旅程很紧张，但是还是喜欢拍下自己觉得有意思的影像和大家分享。有关纽约的影像可以在如下链接找到：
http://www.flickr.com/photos/treebar/sets/72157604232318431/

伦敦的照片也专门做了一个album，虽然目前还只是在Heathrow转机时候以拍的“纪念照”和乘坐Virgin Atlantic的空中“航拍”照片，更多的影像会在四月下旬抵达伦敦后呈现：
http://www.flickr.com/photos/treebar/sets/72157604227653082/

有关2007年的《欧洲印象》专栏的文字和图片链接可以在这里找到：
http://georgeschen.blogbus.com/c1749566/

图片解释：纽约第五大街上的古老教堂和现代建筑在三月的明媚春光下相映成趣。

By GEORGE CHEN in Shanghai
STAFF WRITER OF TreeBar.net

SHANGHAI, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley's once rocky partnership with China International Capital Corp could earn the Wall Street firm a neat profit of nearly $800 million as Beijing seeks a buyer for a stake in China's top investment bank.

While several powerful foreign firms covet Morgan Stanley's 34.3 percent holding in CICC, potential investors also include Chinese state-owned giants such as Baosteel Group, China's top steel maker, which Beijing may prefer as it wants to keep tight control of CICC, Chinese investment bankers and regulatory sources who are familiar with the matter said.

CITIC Securities , China's top broker, is also interested in the CICC stake though it has not held formal talks on a deal, said the sources, who declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media ahead of any deal.

Senior CICC executives may not want Morgan Stanley to team up with CITIC Securities in a move that could solidify its rival's leading position in domestic markets, the sources said.

Other potential foreign buyers include Starr International, closely held by Maurice Greenberg, ex-chairman of American International Group Inc , which also has close ties with CITIC Securities after they launched a private equity joint venture targeting China deals last year, the sources said.

Morgan Stanley is expected to exit its relationship with CICC after striking a deal to launch a new Shanghai-based investment banking venture with a local partner.

Late last year, subprime-hit Morgan Stanley sold a $5 billion stake to Beijing-controlled China Investment Corp. Selling its remaining CICC holding at a decent profit would give it a further financial cushion.

Morgan Stanley paid just $37 million for its slice of CICC when the Chinese bank was founded 13 years ago, and its holding in the country's most influential and profitable investment bank could fetch at least 5-6 billion yuan (US$689-$826 million), industry watchers said.

While Morgan Stanley is the seller, Beijing will have ultimate say over who buys the stake as any deal needs the approval of securities regulators.

"Any new partner to replace Morgan Stanley in CICC will have no chance to shake Beijing's control of CICC and they all know this very well before they approach," one of the sources said.

CICC is 43.35 percent held by Central Huijin, an investment arm of China's central bank. Headed by Zhu Yunlai, son of former Premier Zhu Rongji, CICC is regarded as a national champion.

"Beijing wants an investor who has no ambition to control CICC but only wants to share the profits of CICC. In other words, it will be purely a financial investor," one source said.

While private equity firms are among those looking to buy Morgan Stanley's stake, Beijing's desire to keep control may rule out independent-minded buyout firms such as U.S.-based Carlyle Group [CYL.UL], which has struggled to close deals in China.

A spokesman for Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

NO FORMAL TALKS

Morgan Stanley has not held formal talks with any firm for a CICC stake sale partly because some private equity houses that are interested have yet to complete due diligence on CICC, the sources said.

The stake may also be sold to more than one buyer if there is no single acceptable investor for the entire stake.

"If you ask me who are interested in the stake, I can give you a long list of potential buyers, but I believe most of them will disappear after they finish due diligence because the deal may be too expensive for them," said a second source.

"In this case, the stake is likely to be sold to more than one investor," the source added.

Morgan Stanley signed a strategic cooperation agreement late last year with China Fortune Securities, which is controlled by several Shanghai firms. The partners are seeking Beijing's support to set up an investment banking joint venture, Reuters reported on Dec. 7. ([ID:nSHA89513])

There is no rule prohibiting a foreign firm from having two Chinese investment banking joint ventures, but Beijing is not expected to bless such an arrangement, sources close to the situation said. Rival banks are still looking to set up their first brokerage ventures in China.

While CICC has sponsored more than $100 billion worth of IPOs, Morgan Stanley's relationship with its partner has at times been shaky.

In the early days, Morgan Stanley had the right to appoint senior executives including a chief executive. Beijing finally won a management power game after promoting Zhu and other Chinese staff to key jobs at CICC early this decade.

"After the experience with CICC, Morgan Stanley now prefers a small and less powerful local partner in China as all it wants is an investment banking licence," said a Chinese investment banker close to China Fortune.

China Fortune will transfer its investment banking licence to the proposed venture with Morgan Stanley in which the U.S. bank is expected to have management control, and appoint senior executives, including a chief executive, the sources said. ($1=7.260 Yuan)

By FU TAO in San Francisco and XU MING in Beijing
STAFF REPORTERS OF Caijing Magazine

“还记得你的初吻吗？”上周，27岁的加州伯克利分校博士研究生Caricia ECV Catalani收到一封电子邮件。她吃惊地发现这来自她12年前的男朋友，自己第一个接吻的对象。

“那不是一个很让人怀念的吻，我们也多年没有联系。”Catalani笑着对《财经》记者说，“不过收到他的信感觉挺不错。”她在信中得知昔日的恋人有了妻子和孩子，也回忆起自己的中学时光。

让Catalni找到老朋友的，是目前风靡北美的社交网站——Facebook（www.facebook.com）。“Facebook”本意为“花名册”，通常为美国大学里发放的印有学校社区人员的名单，以帮助大家互相认识和联络，但现已经成为全美最知名的社交网站品牌。

该网站由美国哈佛大学学生Mark Zuckerberg于2004年2月创办。开始只是用于哈佛大学本科生之间的交流，但之后迅速扩展到美国、加拿大等地学校。现在，任何用户输入有效电子邮件地址和自己的年龄段，即可加入。

在Facebook上，人们不仅能够认识新老朋友，还有很多人像Catalanni一样，找到失散多年的朋友。在短短三年多时间，Facebook迅速崛起为全美浏览量最大的网站之一。根据第三方网站流量排名服务商Alexa的数据，截至2007年7月，Facebook已经在全美网站中排名第七。而仅仅在10个月前，它的排名还只是第60名。

与此同时，坊间频频传出Facebook将被收购的传闻，竞购者包括雅虎（yahoo）和Google等。而据《华尔街日报》9月24日报道，最新的意向买家——微软意欲以3亿—5亿美元收购Facebook 5%的股份。这意味着Facebook的市场估值将达到60亿—100亿美元。

相对于其他社交网站，Facebook除了拥有大量活跃的用户之外，还有一个很强的优势：真实、精准的用户信息，而这也正是其最受广告商青睐的一点。正因此，以广告收入为主的Facebook在创立不久便走上了良性循环的轨道。据雅虎预测，到2015年，Facebook将年盈利10亿美元，而其在2006年盈利已达5000万美元，约每周100万美元。

加州大学伯克利分校新闻学院的萧强副教授认为，Facebook的成功之道在于，在浩瀚繁杂的网络信息海洋中，提供了更为准确和可靠的用户信息。

“社交网站最大的问题就是信息太杂，所以很多人用了以后觉得很乱而弃之不用了。”萧强说，“Facebook有自己的特色。它在选择链接朋友以及朋友的朋友时，加上了一个核实的功能。”

与其他只需要昵称即可注册的网站不同，Facebook强调用户的真实信息，使得社交网络更为可靠。

正是这种可靠和方便使得在路透社上海分社工作的陈澍爱上了Facebook。陈澍告诉《财经》，他最初对此“不屑一顾”，因为此前他尝试过的许多社交网站感觉并不方便。但他很惊讶地发现，在Facebook上面找到了路透社分布在全球各地的很多同事，“甚至连我们的全球总编辑也很喜欢Facebook，通过它和全球的记者和编辑进行交流。”

尽管Facebook在保证信息的真实性上比其他社交网站更好一些，但一方面仍难以避免用户捏造信息，另一方面又可能因为难以保护用户隐私，而给用户带来伤害。

27岁的Timothy Lesls对此深有感触。他告诉《财经》记者，自己非常喜欢通过Facebook和朋友联络，交换照片，还在Facebook上找到了十年没有见到的中学同学。但是，有些人会把自己的照片放在网上，“有一些是我很不愿意在网站上大面积公开的照片，还有人会不停地添加朋友的链接数量，不管他们是不是自己的真正朋友，”Lesls说，“我不喜欢这种做法。”

“Internet”一词的创造者、著名网络社会学家Howard Rheingold教授分析说，“由于缺少保密措施，Facebook很容易使得个人隐私泄露，不管是政府、商家甚至你爱管闲事的邻居，都可能获得你的隐私信息。那些不喜欢你的人，就可以跟踪、利用甚至伤害你。”

据《华尔街日报》报道，美国纽约首席检察官Andrew Cuomo日前针对Facebook在黄色信息管理方面的调查显示，该网站在对黄色信息的过滤以及用户举报方面存在着严重的过失。调查人员今年8月底曾以虚假信息注册为一个14岁的高中女孩。一周之后，该虚假帐户就收到了黄色信息。目前Facebook已经表示，将制定新的措施，确保在24小时内对用户在黄色信息方面的投诉与举报做出及时处理。

据《华尔街日报》报道，纽约司法部门将对包括Facebook、Myspace等在内的社交网站开展类似的大调查。

而在中国，类似的社交网站也开始涌现，比如校内网（www.xiaonei.com）、底片网（www.dipian.com）、花名册（www.faceren.com）、chinay.com（www.chinay.com）、亿友网（www.yeeyoo.com）、占座网（www.zhanzuo.com）等。

校内网是其中较为知名的一家。该网站创办于2005年12月，于2006年10月被千橡互动公司收购，目前拥有注册用户1200多万。

成立于2002年的千橡互动旗下还经营着猫扑网(mop.com)、UUme.com、DoNews.com、RenRen.com、魔兽世界中国(Wowar.com)等多个以WEB2.0理念为导向的网络品牌。有意思的是，最早投资千橡互动的投资者之一——Accel Partners同时也是美国Facebook最大的投资人。这使得外界对于校内网在中国的发展更多了一些期待。同时，千橡互动首席执行官陈一舟曾于1999年创建“Chinaren”校友录，该网站曾经在国内颇为流行。

陈一舟告诉《财经》，尽管校内网模仿了Facebook，但他们也根据中国的网民特点做出了相关调整。比如校内网针对中国特点强调“班级”的概念。“在美国没有‘班级’的概念，他们所谓的‘class’实际上是一个年级，是同年入学的校友，而中国的概念更为特定，分为更小的群体。”此外，校内网推出了“校内通”等即时通讯工具，并打通了所有的高校群体，使他们不限于一个校园。

五季互联网咨询服务公司合伙人、互联网分析专家洪波分析说，Facebook针对的是平时有一定联系，但缺乏深层次了解的用户。而在中国，校内网其实是根植在已经有很深的人际交往的基础上的。因此，中国的社交网络其实是一种变种的BBS、扩大化的BBS或者说丰富化了的BBS。

尽管形式不同的社交网站在中国已经兴起，但远未到Facebook那样的成熟和火爆。“现在还是‘烧钱’的阶段，还远没有达到‘数钱’的时候。”洪波说。

那么，Facebbok 能够在中国移植成功吗？

“尽管形式上可以仿制，但是能否成功复制模式很难说。因为一个网站有特定的生存与发展的环境。”萧强举例说，韩国的社交网站ohmynews之所以成功而难以复制，正是在于韩国人习惯于填写自己的身份证号码，这样使得该网站的信息提供者的身份能够得到确认。

中国的“Facebook们”依然在艰难创业。而在美国，即便是对如日中天的Facebook，也有很多人怀疑其商业价值。对于微软等大公司的收购报价，怀疑者更将其视为新一轮网络泡沫的信号。

Howard Rheingold就认为Facebook的价值已经被大大高估了。“作为社交网站，Facebook主要功能在于进行社交信息的传递，却并不能很好地实现群组交流。这对青少年的重要性要大于那些年纪更大的人，因为青少年正在形成自己的个性并寻找自己认同的圈子。”

随着Facebook的进一步扩大，其用户已扩展到成年人。那么Facebook是否还能够保证拥有同样比例的活跃用户呢？

“你一天内会多少次用到facebook？你可以从中找到答案。”Howard Rheingold说。

Source: http://www.caijing.com.cn/newcn/zmb/syyjs/2007-10-19/34283.shtml

By GEORGE CHEN in Shanghai
STAFF WRITER OF TreeBar.net

SHANGHAI, Oct 11 (Reuters) - China's big and cash-rich banks, led by Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), are in talks to make acquisitions overseas -- treading a path that proved painful to Japan's big lenders two decades ago.

Beijing-run ICBC , which has surpassed Citigroup as the world's biggest bank by market value, is looking for small acquisitions in Asia, Europe, the United States, South Africa and the Middle East, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.

ICBC is in talks for a controlling stake in ACL Bank , a small Thai lender. A source said the Chinese bank had already finished due diligence but had not yet agreed on price.

ICBC, which raised $21.9 billion in the largest-ever initial public offering last year, is also reviewing potential deals in South Africa and the Middle East, as Chinese companies step up their presence in both regions to secure natural resources.

Credit Suisse , which has a fund venture with ICBC, and Goldman Sachs , which bought a stake in ICBC before its IPO, are helping it search for deals in Europe, sources said.

ICBC is also in talks for a stake in a small bank in Vietnam -- attracted by a large pool of ethnic Chinese clients there, and is on the hunt for deals in Japan and South Korea to serve Chinese businesses there.

The bank has made its overseas aspirations clear.

"ICBC aims to transform itself into a diversified bank from a plain-vanilla one and focus on international business rather than just the domestic sector," Chairman Jiang Jianqing said in June.

In August, ICBC agreed to pay $583 million for 80 percent of Macau's Seng Heng Bank. It was advised by Goldman Sachs. Last December, it bought 90 percent of PT Bank Halim Indonesia.

Early this year, ICBC was in informal discussions with Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) for a potential tie-up but gave up after HSBC Holdings Plc launched a bid to acquire KEB, the sources said.

"Eventually, ICBC wants to create a global network of wealth management services as more and more rich Chinese people are now travelling or living abroad," said a source close to ICBC. "Overseas expansion will also boost ICBC's corporate banking and international financing business," he added.

BUYER BEWARE

A roaring domestic stock market and a fast-growing economy have made China's state-controlled banks, once burdened with mountains of bad debt, among the world's most valuable.

Japan's banks also felt confident during the country's bubble economy of the 1980s and ventured abroad, paying top-dollar and trying unsuccessfully to apply Japanese practices overseas.

Christopher Ryan, chief executive of ING Investment Management in Asia Pacific, said it made sense for Chinese banks to serve their customers overseas. He also expressed caution.

"Buying anything in a country with which you have limited familiarity is very difficult," Ryan told the Reuters Wealth Management Summit in Hong Kong this week.

"So if we look back to the 1980s, and we look at the rapid expansion of Japanese banks during the 1980s and some of the difficulties that those Japanese banks had as a result of that expansion, I'm hoping that Chinese banks don't fall into the same situation."

INDUSTRY TREND

ICBC is not the only Chinese bank thinking globally.

On Monday, China Minsheng Banking Corp. , said it will buy 9.9 percent of San Francisco-based UCBH Holdings for more than $200 million in the first investment by a mainland Chinese commercial bank in a U.S. bank.

China CITIC Group has held talks with Bear Stearns for a potential deal which may allow China's top financial conglomerate to set up a joint venture with the U.S. investment bank or directly invest in it, industry sources said.

In July, China Development Bank, which lends at the direction of the government, agreed to pay as much as 9.8 billion ($13.9 billion) euros for a stake in the UK's Barclay's .

Chinese banks have Beijing's blessing to look overseas.

Last month, China's central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan urged Chinese banks to take stakes in overseas financial firms, saying it would support China's foreign investment policy and balance a flood of foreign money entering China's banking sector.

In the United States, ICBC has applied to the Federal Reserve for approval to open a branch in New York.

So far, only two Chinese banks -- Bank of China and Bank of Communications -- operate U.S. branches, partly because some U.S. lawmakers are concerned about its financial security and money laundering.

(Additional reporting by Wei Gu in Hong Kong and Victoria Bi in Shanghai)

Reviewed by GEORGE CHEN in Shanghai
STAFF WRITER OF TreeBar.net

What’s wrong with the world, mama
People livin’ like they ain’t got no mamas
I think the whole world addicted to the drama
Only attracted to things that’ll bring you trauma
Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism
But we still got terrorists here livin’
In the USA, the big CIA
The Bloods and The Crips and the KKK
But if you only have love for your own race
Then you only leave space to discriminate
And to discriminate only generates hate
And when you hate then you’re bound to get irate, yeah
Badness is what you demonstrate
And that’s exactly how a n**** works and operates
N**, you gotta have love just to set it straight
Take control of your mind and meditate
Let your soul gravitate to the love, y’all, y’all

People killin’, people dyin’
Children hurt and you hear them cryin’
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek

Father, Father, Father help us
Send us some guidance from above
‘Cause people got me, got me questionin’ me
Where is the love (Love)

Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love
The love, the love

It just ain’t the same, always unchanged
New days are strange, is the world insane
If love and peace is so strong
Why are there pieces of love that don’t belong
Nations droppin’ bombs
Chemical gasses fillin’ lungs of little ones
With the ongoin’ sufferin’ as the youth die young
So ask yourself is the lovin’ really gone
So I could ask myself really what is goin’ wrong
In this world that we livin’ in people keep on givin’ in
Makin’ wrong decisions, only visions of them dividends
Not respectin’ each other, deny thy brother
A war is goin’ on but the reason’s undercover
The truth is kept secret, it’s swept under the rug
If you never know truth then you never know love
Where’s the love, y’all, come on (I don’t know)
Where’s the truth, y’all, come on (I don’t know)
Where’s the love, y’all

People killin’, people dyin’
Children hurt and you hear them cryin’
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek

Father, Father, Father help us
Send us some guidance from above
‘Cause people got me, got me questionin’
Where is the love (Love)

Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love
The love, the love

I feel the weight of the world on my shoulder
As I’m gettin’ older, y’all, people gets colder
Most of us only care about money makin’
Selfishness got us followin’ our own direction
Wrong information always shown by the media
Negative images is the main criteria
Infecting the young minds faster than bacteria
Kids act like what they see in the cinema
Yo’, whatever happened to the values of humanity
Whatever happened to the fairness in equality
Instead in spreading love we spreading animosity
Lack of understanding, leading lives away from unity
That’s the reason why sometimes I’m feelin’ under
That’s the reason why sometimes I’m feelin’ down
There’s no wonder why sometimes I’m feelin’ under
Gotta keep my faith alive til love is found

People killin’, people dyin’
Children hurt and you hear them cryin’
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek

Father, Father, Father help us
Send us some guidance from above
‘Cause people got me, got me questionin’
Where is the love (Love)

Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love (The love)

Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love (The love)

By GEORGE CHEN in Shanghai
Thu Sep 20, 2007 1:54am EDT

SHANGHAI, Sept 20 (Reuters) - China Film Group is reviving a plan to list part of its assets on one of the domestic stock markets as early as 2008 after it failed to win approval for a Hong Kong IPO two years ago, sources familiar with the situation said on Thursday.

China Film Group, the country's biggest film producer and distributor, also expects to bring in new partners from home or abroad through the sale of an equity stake, which could occur before or after its initial public offering, the sources told Reuters.

A China Film Group official declined to comment on the matter.

The company, based in Beijing, recently sent its IPO proposal to the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT), the country's media watchdog, for feedback and approval, the sources said.

"Before it talks to the China Securities Regulatory Commission, it has to win support from SARFT," said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified. "That's common practice in China's media sector."

The China Securities Regulatory Commission, the country's securities watchdog, is in charge of IPO approvals.

It is not known how much capital China Film Group wants to raise from the IPO as it is still in talks with potential underwriters and no decision has been made, the sources said.

China Film Group was established in 1999 after the State Council, China's cabinet, decided to merge several state-owned film companies, including Beijing Film Studio and China Film Equipment Corp, into one group.

China Film Group also owns CCTV 6, a nationwide movie broadcaster sometimes referred to as China's HBO, which is likely to be included in the assets for the group IPO, the sources said.

FROM BEIJING TO HOLLYWOOD

China's first public film showing was in Shanghai in 1896. Its film industry boomed in the 1920s and 1930s, gaining popularity around Asia, but declined in the decades after the Communists won the Chinese civil war and took power in 1949.

In the past two decades, Chinese filmmakers have struggled to compete against Hollywood blockbusters, despite government controls on the number of foreign films entering China.

Recent global award-winning movies produced or distributed by the group include "The Promise" by Chinese director Chen Kaige and "Curse of the Golden Flower" by Zhang Yimou.

"China Film Group, as an industry leader, has become an important way for Chinese movies to expand in overseas markets," said Han Sanping, the group's chairman, in a June speech posted on the company's Web site (www.chinafilm.com).

"The door is now open for Sino-foreign cooperation and fund-raising and we need to be innovative and to keep pace with the times," Han said, citing China's rapid economic growth and globalisation as factors driving those changes.

The group applied to SARFT with a plan to float shares in Hong Kong in 2005 but failed to win Beijing's support, mainly because the government was keen to keep tight control over the media sector at the time, the sources said.

They added, however, that Han told a recent internal staff meeting that the top management of the group had put an IPO plan on the priority list of its working agenda for next year, and it had already been in discussions with some potential foreign investors for a tie-up.

"It is likely that foreign investors may have the opportunity to take a minority or symbolic stake in the firm, which will still be tightly controlled by the government, before or after the IPO," said another of the sources.

China Film Group is also the country's biggest movie importer. Its current foreign partners, usually in movie production or importing, include Time Warner Inc, Viacom Inc and Walt Disney Co.

By GEORGE CHEN in Shanghai
STAFF WRITER OF TreeBar.net

This week I was always thinking of a question after I had some brief talks with my colleagues and ex-colleagues who once worked as journalist.

We talked about the typical journalism based on Chinese standard such as what you can learn from the official news agency like Xinhua or what Shanghai's Fudan University can teach you at class, i.e., Fudan has the top journalism school in China, or referred to the international standard -- Reuters or our respected rivals.

Personally, I am somehow worried about the future of the journalism in China. Most of the top positions in media world in China such as editor-in-chief for "mainstream media" such as Shanghai's Jiefang Daily or the country's only national English-language newspaper China Daily, are in face held by journalists who believe in the Chinese standard of journalism -- in their words -- for the sake of world peace and state security.

Meanwhile, many of my friends who worked for Chinese media have eventually decided to leave the media world for richer jobs like investment bankers or PR managers in the past few years or just months, making me even more concerned about the future of the journalism in China.

On the other hand, global news organisations such as Reuters and Bloomberg are becoming more and more influential in China. For instance, Reuters recently revamped its Chinese-language online service Reuters.com.cn and the company also hired more young Chinese for its domestic services based on international standard. However, some of them are willing to learn but don't want to learn too deeply as they may think of international journlism just as shortcut to richer career in the near future.

More and more Chinese journalists who once had ambition for news career from global perspective left the media world and there is no wonder that they can really do a good job for big international companies such as General Motor or Citigroup for PR or marketing roles, while Fudan continues to educate the next generation of Chinese journalists based on the Chinese standard for mainstream media. That's the way that how journalism works in China nowadays.

What can we do with it? Someone believes there is life, then we have hope.

(This article was based on online communications between the author and his Reuters colleagues. It was edited when published to the blog. All rights reserved and reproduction in whole or in part without permission from the author is prohibited.)

By GEORGE CHEN and DAVID LIN

SHANGHAI, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch is wrapping up talks with Chinese industrial conglomerate VcanLand Group to set up a property joint venture in the world's fastest growing major economy, two sources familiar with the situation said on Thursday.

The proposed venture, in which VcanLand aims to take a greater-than 50 percent stake, would focus on investments in commercial property projects such as office buildings and hotels in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin near Beijing, the sources told Reuters.

The deal is expected to be signed as early as October. Merrill Lynch and VcanLand, one of the biggest property developers in Tianjin, were finalising legal and financial details of the joint venture, the sources said.

Tianjin-based VcanLand planned to inject some property projects, which were still under construction, into the joint venture, in which Merrill Lynch would inject capital to boost its purchase of land in downtown Tianjin, the sources said.

One of the projects, which will be part of assets owned by the joint venture, will be a five-star hotel.

"VcanLand has projects but needs more money to support its development, while Merrill Lynch has money and wants to expand in China's property markets. It's a win-win cooperation," said one of the sources.

RISING STAR

In May, VcanLand announced it had set up a joint venture with China-focused private equity firm Prax Capital, which invested 200 million yuan in a residential property project in Tianjin.

The Chinese government has chosen Tianjin as one of several regional financial, transportation and manufacturing hub cities to be developed in northern China.

"Tianjin has huge potential for commercial property business as it is now a fast rising star among all the major cities in northern China, with support from the central government," said the source.

"Nobody has doubts about the economic growth in Tianjin, so you can imagine how many hotels, service apartments and office buildings that the city wants to serve guests from other Chinese provinces or abroad."

Representatives at VcanLand and Merrill declined to comment.

The Chinese government has taken a series of measures to crack down on what it regards as an overheating property market. It has tightened the supply of credit to developers, raised bank reserve requirements and interest rates, and imposed a property transaction tax.

Global investors, such as Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs , still see China as a top pick in Asia's property market after Japan, because the potential for profit more than compensates for the risk from regulatory uncertainties.

But some industry watchers, including Andy Xie, Morgan Stanley's former Asia economist, have warned that market bubbles may be emerging in some first-tier Chinese cities such as Shanghai, where the price for a downtown apartment can exceed $20 million.

VcanLand Group Chairman Defu Lee told Reuters in an interview in May that the firm had hired investment bank JPMorgan last year to advise on an initial public offering in Hong Kong, which stalled mainly over a lack of support from regulators.

By TONY MUNROE and GEORGE CHEN in Shanghai
Thu Sep 6, 2007 12:02PM EDT

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered (STAN.L: Quote, Profile, Research) (2888.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it hopes to roll out credit cards in China by next year and is ramping up its private banking operations in order to tap into surging personal wealth in the country.

The London-based lender, an emerging markets specialist that won approval for local incorporation earlier this year in China's long-restricted banking market, still needs permission from regulators to launch credit cards.

"If we can get the regulatory approval ... hopefully next year (we will start issuing cards)," said Christine Ip, head of consumer banking at Standard Chartered Bank (China) Ltd, during the Reuters China Century Summit.

She said Standard Chartered hopes to be able to offer a dual-currency card to its higher-end customers and small and mid-sized corporate customers.

The bank does not plan, however, to issue cards aggressively to quickly build up a customer base.

"We don't want to give away cards. We see credit cards as part of a holistic customer proposition," Ip said.

She also said starting up a credit card operation was a costly undertaking that did not generate instant returns.

"For the first two or three years, investing in credit cards will not be a profitable business," she said.

Less than 1 percent of China's population has credit cards, and more than half of those accounts are inactive, according to McKinsey & Co.

Credit card profits in China could hit $1.6 billion by 2013, McKinsey said. About 50 percent of the market is now in the hands of the country's four biggest state banks.

SERVING THE RICH

Standard Chartered's private banking business, which covets the burgeoning population of Chinese with net investable assets of at least $1 million, already has an office in Beijing and will open one in Shanghai next week, Ip said.

Within a year, Standard Chartered aims to open two more private banking offices and is looking at cities in eastern China, including Hangzhou and Ningbo, as well as in the west, with Chongqing and Chengdu two possibilities.

"It will take time to build the momentum," Ip told the summit.

Trustee services, estate planning and tax planning are currently off-limits to private banks, while China's closed capital account limits opportunities to invest abroad.

"We are just in the start-up stage. There are not too many products we can offer, unlike in a mature market like Hong Kong, or Singapore, or even Korea," said Ip, who used to work at rival HSBC Holdings (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research)(0005.HK: Quote, Profile, Research).

Private banks are still awaiting regulations that might expand the range of offerings they can provide to their wealthiest clients, Ip said.

China is home to more than 140,000 people with net investable assets exceeding $1 million.

In March, the China Banking Regulatory Commission gave four foreign banks, including Standard Chartered, the go-ahead to start locally incorporated businesses. The others are Citigroup Inc. (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research), HSBC and Bank of East Asia (0023.HK: Quote, Profile, Research).

Local incorporation is a requirement before Beijing will allow foreign banks broader access to China's retail banking market, with around 16 trillion yuan (about $2 trillion) in household deposits. (US$=7.539 yuan)

(Additional reporting by Kim Soyoung in Shanghai)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/summit/TheChinaCentury07
Video: http://www.reuters.com/news/video/videoStory?videoId=65722