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It’s been sometime since my last posting, but overwhelming developments and trends in China have compelled me to set aside everything else to write down current observations. Tides are changing ever rapidly in our current times, and it may be a long time before we will be able to become too comfortable economically or politically. Not surprisingly, the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests and slowdown of the Chinese econ

  The week started with Panasonic, a huge Japanese global corporate, making not just a “cost of living adjustment” to salaries for its expats working in China, but actually a “cost of not living” adjustment to expat pay. What was most shocking in their announcement this week is that such a pay adjustment is not applicable to Chinese employees. I guess in their view, the life of a foreign expat is worth more than

  The question of how government economic reform will play out will certainly be an ongoing debate. There are the naysayers that say that the hugely debt perpetuated economic growth will eventually unravel and end in a severe economic downturn. However, the Chinese communist government is still very powerful and very much in control. Unlike, other “free” economies, they still have the ability to counter balance

This week, it’s all about the renminbi. Some say, Beijing has instigated the steepest fall in the value of its currency since the devaluation of 1994, when the export boom began. The main reason being to slow down the strengthening of the currency, which has hit a record high, and this could result in reducing China’s competitive position in the export market vis-à-vis other developing economies. However, the central

Last week I experienced one of the most aesthetically beautiful and rare acts of nature that I’ve ever had the pleasure of observing.  As I’ve looked at most every masterpiece in the western world, I don’t say this lightly. As I was doing my evening walk in Point Dume, I turned the corner and saw a pink painted sky.  It was done in a painterly hand, with brilliantly coloured pink strokes of various

The other day as we were on the way to Trader Joe’s for grocery shopping, Max and Sabrina screamed out “there’s God!” Of course I looked around and asked “where” and they answered “over there”. I thought nothing more about it, until the following week when we were driving over Kanan Road from Malibu to Agoura Hills, and they screamed yet again “there’s God!” Now I’m thinking, is this divine intervention??  I suppose,

You’re probably wondering, how could these two possibly be connected! Leave it up to US magazine, featuring Kate with the baby Prince George on the front cover, and Million Dollar Listing on the back cover.  Needless to say, Madison Hildebrand, the Renaissance man is featured in the center. I cannot claim any credit for such an astute observation.  It was actually my 4 year old daughter Sabrina, who saw the magazine

I’m thrilled that this will be my first blog posting! I had no idea that an English tea party in Malibu could be so glamorous. That is to say, a proper English tea party, as those of us Brits or in my case British American, have perfected. My greatest challenge here was finding thinly sliced white bread for my cucumber sandwiches, which of course are my favorite. I also included egg mayonnaise, otherwise known in Ame