Updated Archive Link to Alice Poon's Blog

This is an updated link to the archive page of the Alice Poon blog at Asia Sentinel:-

http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=21&Itemid=158

Here is a list of recent posts that you will find in the above link:-

- Misplaced Passion (Part 2) (China Current Events)
- Misplaced Passion (Part 1) (China Current Events)
- The Public Open Space Conundrum (Hong Kong Land Policy)
- Bridging the East-West Gap (China Current Events)
- Global Food Crisis and Corporate Titans (World Current Events)
- Readings on Tibet (China Current Events)
- A Tale of Two Chinese in Italy (Culture)
- Capitalism and Income Inequality (Social Justice)
- Hong Kong Bourse Needs Stronger Watchdog (HKEx)

Cheers,
Alice

Updated Archive Link to Alice Poon's Blog

This is an updated link to the archive of the Alice Poon blog at Asia Sentinel:-

http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=21&Itemid=158

Here is a list of my recent posts that you will find in the above link:-

- Kudos to Dr. Seuss (Culture)
- Man Must Make His Choice (China Current Events)
- Mother-Tongue Teaching A Flop (Hong Kong Culture)
- A Matter of Privacy (Civic Rights)
- Free Market and Fairness (Social Justice)
- A Debt of Gratitude (Hong Kong's Past)
- Chinese Corporate Culture (Culture)
- Hong Kong's Polarizing Fortunes (Hong Kong Land Policy)
- Bird's Nest and the Laborer (China Current Events)
- A Battle of Style and Gender (World Current Events)
- Lessons from Two Celebrity Tales (Hong Kong Current Events)
- The Orchid and Confucius (Culture)
- Uncultivated Reading Culture (Hong Kong Culture)

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

恭喜發財! 鼠年快樂!

Here is the link to the Archive Page of the "Alice Poon" Blog at Asia Sentinel (it's the fastest way to access my blogposts as this page is automatically updated and the posts are in date order with the latest at the top):-

http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=21&Itemid=158

Cheers,
Alice

New Additions to Blogroll

I've added two interesting new blogs (both are China blogs) to my blogroll:-

Absurdity, Allegory and China

醉人囈語

Happy New Year!

May I wish you all a very happy new year! I just wanted to remind readers that my blog is now located at Asia Sentinel's website under the Interactive Section (http://www.asiasentinel.com/).
The move took effect as of late October last year.

Here are links to my most recent blogposts at that site:-

Book Review: "We Deserve Better" by Hemlock

Happy Valley - An Extreme Makeover

A Gentrified Macau

I hope you like the design of my new blog!

Cheers,
Alice

CBRA's Review of "Land and the Ruling Class in Hong Kong"

Canadian Book Review Annual featured “Land and the Ruling Class in Hong Kong” as Editor’s Choice: Scholarly for the months of September and October 2007. Canadian Book Review Annual is an annual publication that provides the most comprehensive collection of authoritative reviews of English-language trade, scholarly and reference books published in Canada each year. Website:http://home.interlog.com/~cbra/index.html

The full review is as follows:-

4037 Poon, Alice. Land and the Ruling Class in Hong Kong. Richmond: Alice Poon, 2005. 162p. biblio. index. $23.50. ISBN 0-9738760-0-X. CCIP. DDC 333.33'7'095125.

"Oligopoly pays." That’s the chief lesson emerging from Alice Poon’s excellent survey of Hong Kong’s real estate and infrastructure economies. Although Hong Kong is often characterized as one of the world’s freest economies, it is in fact controlled by a handful of wealthy individuals and companies who stifle—rather than encourage—competition.

Poon dissects the sinews of Hong Kong "big money" and isolates its key components, those being legislative and legal sway over land and competitive policies. Hong Kong’s biggest fortunes owe their growth and security to dominance over a wide spectrum of businesses ranging from transport, public utilities, supermarkets, and food distribution to, most importantly, land development. Huge amounts of real estate are developed by a handful of large companies who control all aspects of supply, construction, and property management. Indeed, the usual hallmarks of classically defined competitive markets are nearly absent; instead, Hong Kong’s market structure suffers from steep barriers to entry and government policies that serve to bolster the market positions of a half dozen huge conglomerates.

The situation of near-anarchy for Hong Kong’s corporate heavyweights may make for impressive annual reports but does little to relieve Hong Kong’s mounting social and economic tensions. Poon carefully details how government "of the rich, by the rich, for the rich" in Hong Kong has damaged civil norms and deprived its population of economic security and well-being. Not surprisingly, articulate protest groups have lodged forceful criticism of "business as usual" and gained widespread support, proving that discontent is deep-seated and justified.

Poon’s concise, well-argued analysis is one of the few available English-language sources on Hong Kong’s predicament. While Hong Kong’s once-vigorous and argumentative press has lost its teeth following the takeover, new outlets such as blogs have assumed huge importance as a barricade for free expression and democratic principles. With Shanghai rapidly eclipsing Hong Kong as the banking and finance powerhouse for China’s breakneck growth, there’s a chance that competition may in fact re-emerge and make for the kind of "popular" entrepreneurship long absent in Hong Kong.

Gary Watson

My Blog in Asia Sentinel's New Interactive Section

This is the link to Asia Sentinel's new Interactive Section which contains a list of my latest blog posts:-

http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=20&Itemid=153

This is the link to my special blog page which contains the most recent post:-

http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=803&Itemid=158