Tonight:
5°c
Displaying wealth in China has historically been a risky business. Too big a house and the Emperor took it, probably with your head as well. Come the revolution, it was still unwise to let the party official or Red Guard see what you had in case they took a fancy to it. Today it's the taxman and the outcome can be quite similar.
Shanghai people keep things private. Even charitable giving is low key. Business is different; own a large slug of a listed company and little stays secret. Not many would bother to calculate the big figure but public acts of consumption or generosity do attract attention. And that's not all bad for business.
Zhu Jun is one of the new breed of rich fortysomething Shanghainese who have grown up in commercial post-Mao China. He founded Nasdaq-listed online gaming company The9, which operates games under licence. Earlier this month, it was announced that one of its main licences would not be renewed. The news received quite a lot of popular attention in Shanghai. Unusual for a commercial item? Well, actually not in this case.
Zhu is well known as he owns the Shanghai football team, Shenhua. Acquired in 2007, they were runners-up in the China Super League last year. Football in China is very popular and, although most fans don't rate local teams, Shenhua are as good as they get.
Know me, know my company, know my football team. And in case that's not enough he's just given a tidy donation to support the ailing Shanghai basketball team. Whatever happens to the business, he's earned some useful brownie points around town.
* Shifting Christmas stocks has been a problem for some foreign retailers here. Marks & Spencer missed the sleigh on a number of items. Mince pies are still a big display in their Nanjing Road store and very popular with expats. Unfortunately, this promotion can't last much longer as the best before date is 30 April.
* The advancement of Shanghai as a financial hub starts to gather pace. A finance training college is being established with government funding as part of Jiaotong university. It's being compared with the Whampoa military academy set up in 1924 to train the new Chinese army. Probably quite appropriate in today's markets.
