Chinese President Xi Jinping’s supposed love of The Beautiful Game runs so deep that state media have even run cartoons of him depicting his futbol passion. But how much does he really like the sport?
Exhibit A.
Continue reading How much does Xi Jinping really like soccer?
The glut of “China isn’t at the World Cup, but…” articles has slowed (there is only so much to say, after all), though these pictures of President Xi Jinping are doing the rounds (h/t @niubi), unthinkable to depict the President in cartoon form just a few years ago.
Continue reading Weekly Wrap: Xi Jinping, Tour de France, Wimbledon, football $$
每届世界杯上都会出现一批新的英雄还有新的恶棍，但是这一届世界杯上，有个人却完美地将这两个角色融合在了一起。
Stories started to spread on Monday that Chinese home appliance chain Suning was set to buy a stake in Spanish megaclub Barcelona. If true, it would have blown news of Alibaba buying a 50% stake in Guangzhou Evergrande out of the water.
Continue reading Suning’s Barca deal continues Chinese trend
Despite effectively being blocked from doing anything of consequence in the US, Chinese telecoms group Huawei has been continuing its expansion plans in Europe and elsewhere, thanks in part to an increasingly successful soft power campaign that has seen the firm partner up with a variety of sports properties. In the last year alone, Huawei signed deals with: Continue reading PSG becomes Huawei’s jewel in the crown
Hong Kong hairdresser-turned-businessman and Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung Ka-sing was sentenced to six years in jail on Friday afternoon, after being found guilty of money laundering earlier in the week. Yeung’s story has been front page news in Hong Kong, with his colorful career encompassing everything from cutting Jackie Chan’s hair to meeting with Jia Qinglin – number 4 in Hu Jintao’s cabinet – and washing money for notorious triad bosses.
Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung Ka-sing, the Birmingham City owner, has been a very naughty boy. Here’s the summary:
Between 2001 and 2007 Yeung and his father reported no income but HK$721 million (US$ 93 million) somehow found its way into their five bank accounts. Yeung said he made some money working as a hairdresser to HK’s rich and famous, and then invested and gambled his way to riches (while keeping little or no documentation of any transactions). After a 53-day trial, the judge concluded Yeung was a liar and a money launderer, mixed up with triad bosses and other lovely people.
Continue reading Crops and Bobbers: Birmingham City and the Hong Kong hairdresser
Guangzhou Evergrande’s recent Asian Champions League victory gave Chinese soccer fans something to smile about again, even if the national team – comprised of many of those same Evergrande players – has yet to follow suit.
The ACL win gave Guangzhou entry into this year’s FIFA Club World Cup – a tournament in which, essentially, the UEFA Champions League winners get another meaningless trophy. Continue reading Rare FIFA wisdom for Chinese soccer
I spoke recently to the Beyond the Waves podcast about Scottish football’s recent deal with Chinese online broadcaster PPTV, and had a lot of fun doing it. The show touches on everything from the likely impact in China (or lack of it) from this deal and soccer watching habits in China to how Celtic’s Irish independence roots mirror separatist feelings in the east.
Continue reading Brave hearts behind Scottish football’s China venture
This Bloomberg article from yesterday highlighted Tencent’s huge stock market gain – the most in half a year – after a 35% increase in revenue from desktop games and WeChat messaging, while noting that Lionel Messi was hired to promoted WeChat earlier this year. What it failed to mention is that Messi’s Barcelona teammate Neymar has just agreed to join forces off the pitch as well as on it, by becoming another international face of WeChat, known as Weixin (way-SHEEN) in China.
Continue reading Neymar to join Messi in small screen venture
