3 h. ago China shoppers swap boutiques for bargains, fuelling US$30 billion luxury resale boom

At a shopping centre in Shenzhen’s coastal business district, a store’s entrance feels more like a security checkpoint than a retail gateway. Customers check their bags, don white silk gloves, and pass through a gate. Beyond the checkpoint, which also seems incongruent with the outer facade resembling a typical multi-brand fashion shop, lies a 2,000-square-metre (21,527-sq-ft) showroom. Inside, luxury handbags are not displayed under artful lighting. Instead, they are tightly arranged in...

Economics

9 h. ago Customers fill in to Beijing's new consumer robot shopping centre

Customers fill in to Beijing's new consumer robot shopping centre  France 24

Economics

35 h. ago Power outage briefly leaves 5,000 Hong Kong households in darkness

A power outage briefly left Hong Kong’s Kowloon City, a densely populated neighbourhood, in darkness on Thursday, with traffic lights malfunctioning, people trapped in lifts and about 5,000 households affected. Police said they received a report at 4.18pm that people were trapped in a lift at Kowloon City Plaza and the shopping centre was in total darkness. The case was later classified as “assistance not required”. At 5.04pm, another report was filed with the force concerning malfunctioning...

Politics

39 h. ago China’s Hainan launches separate customs regime allowing tariff

China’s southern Hainan province implemented a separate customs regime on Thursday, as Beijing seeks to develop the island into an offshore financing and duty-free hub and position it as a strategic hedge against rising external trade barriers. The new customs regime creates two distinct customs boundaries for Hainan: one separating the island from overseas markets, and another dividing it from the rest of mainland China. Most overseas goods entering the island – which is roughly the size of...

Politics

6 d. ago China husband makes wife kneel, beg him to buy down jacket in shop, sparking public outrage

A video of a woman kneeling in a shopping centre in central China, pleading with her husband to buy her a down jacket, has gone viral on social media, igniting widespread outrage against the man. The clip was recorded in early December outside a clothing store in a shopping centre in Xiaogan, Hubei province. In the video, the woman is seen on her knees, begging her husband to purchase a 299-yuan (US$40) down jacket for her. Meanwhile, the husband berated her for several minutes, according to a...

Economics

1 week ago China’s AI developers to welcome Nvidia’s H200 chip shipments, analysts say

China’s artificial intelligence developers are expected to welcome Washington’s go-ahead for Nvidia to ship its H200 AI chips to approved customers on the mainland, according to analysts, even as Beijing continues to drive the country’s tech self-sufficiency efforts. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, US President Donald Trump said he had informed his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, of that decision “under conditions that allow for continued strong national security”. Xi had...

Politics

1 week ago Tech war: China’s AI developers to welcome Nvidia’s H200 chip shipments, analysts say

China’s artificial intelligence developers are expected to welcome Washington’s go-ahead for Nvidia to ship its H200 AI chips to approved customers on the mainland, according to analysts, even as Beijing continues to drive the country’s tech self-sufficiency efforts. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, US President Donald Trump said he had informed his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, of that decision “under conditions that allow for continued strong national security”. Xi had...

Events

1 week ago Schiaparelli picks Hong Kong’s Landmark for first flagship Asian store

Schiaparelli, a fashion house known for its unique and surreal designs, is set to make its Asian debut with a permanent outlet in Hong Kong, according to Hongkong Land. The shop in Landmark, one of the city’s premium shopping centres in the main Central business district, was set to open in January, said Alexander Li, head of retail at the commercial real estate developer and landlord. “It will be Schiaparelli’s first boutique in Asia and they chose Hongkong Land’s Landmark as the first place to...

Politics

1 week ago Fashion house Schiaparelli picks Hong Kong’s Landmark for first flagship Asian store

Schiaparelli, a fashion house known for its unique and surreal designs, is set to make its Asian debut with a permanent outlet in Hong Kong, according to Hongkong Land. The shop in Landmark, one of the city’s premium shopping centres in the main Central business district, was set to open in January, said Alexander Li, head of retail at the commercial real estate developer and landlord. “It will be Schiaparelli’s first boutique in Asia and they chose Hongkong Land’s Landmark as the first place to...

Politics

2 w. ago Man hurt after truck carrying pig carcasses crashes into Hong Kong store

A man was injured when a truck carrying pig carcasses crashed into a convenience store in Hong Kong on Tuesday morning. Police said they received a report at 8.24am that a medium-sized truck had smashed into a shopfront on Gage Street in Central. The man, a customer at the store, sustained injuries to his forehead and was sent to Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam for treatment, according to the force. Video clips and photos circulating online show that the truck was carrying pig carcasses, and...

Events

3 w. ago Hong Kong’s national security police arrest 2 over alleged seditious online posts

Hong Kong’s national security police arrested a man and a woman for allegedly publishing social media posts with seditious intent and funding activities that endanger national security. According to an insider, officers arrested the pair on Monday, at Kwai Chung Plaza, a shopping centre and private housing estate in the Kwai Tsing district. The force said they had arrested a 32-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman for committing an act that had a seditious intention under the Safeguarding...

Events

3 w. ago Wall of Hong Kong’s Lee Theatre Plaza catches fire at lunchtime

An exterior wall of a shopping centre in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay caught fire during the lunch hour on Tuesday. Multiple videos circulating online show the artificial plants lining the wall of Lee Theatre Plaza – opposite Times Square and running from the ground to the third floor – were engulfed in flames. Police said they received multiple reports that a billboard in Causeway Bay had caught fire at 12.53pm. The Fire Services Department deployed a water jet and rescue team equipped with...

Events

3 w. ago New Apple Store Opening In Livat Centre Shopping Mall, Beijing

New Apple Store Opening In Livat Centre Shopping Mall, Beijing  ilounge.com

Economics

3 w. ago Chinese man wins ‘lying flat’ contest by resting on mattress for more than 33 hours

A 23-year-old man in China has won a “lying-flat competition” by resting on a mattress for 33 hours and 35 minutes. The contest, sponsored by a domestic mattress brand, kicked off at 10.18am on November 15 at a shopping centre in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, northern China, the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald reported. Its title borrowed the popular slang term “lying flat”, known as tang ping in Chinese. This refers to a mindset which rejects hard work and chooses doing the bare minimum to get by which has...

Politics