Insight & Opinion

20 May 2013

In feudal China, taking the imperial examinations was the only way for ordinary people to join the palace and make their mark.

Bio

Wang Xiangwei took up the role of Editor-in-Chief in February 2012, responsible for the editorial direction and newsroom operations. He started his 20-year career at the China Daily, before moving to the UK, where he gained valuable experience at a number of news organisations, including the BBC Chinese Service. In 1993, he moved to Hong Kong and worked at the Eastern Express before joining the South China Morning Post in 1996 as our China Business Reporter. He was subsequently promoted to China Editor in 2000 and Deputy Editor in 2007, a position he held for four years prior to being promoted to his current position. Mr. Wang has a Masters degree in Journalism, and a Bachelors degree in English.

5:24AM

Business, Banking & Finance, Comment, Insight & Opinion

Mr. Shangkong

George Chen

For HSBC, the first love is apparently not the deepest

20 May 2013

Remember that old saying: in business, there are no friends, no enemies, but only "interests"? Well, last week, HSBC's chief executive, Stuart Gulliver, gave the saying fresh meaning when talking...

Bio

George Chen is currently the financial services editor at the South China Morning Post. George has covered the financial industry since 2002 for Reuters and other media outlets. Shanghai-born and Hong Kong-based George is the author of Foreign Banks in China. He muses about the interplay between the two financial centres in Mr. Shangkong columns. facebook.com/mrshangkong

7:12AM

Business, Comment, Insight & Opinion

Monitor

Tom Holland

Plunge in gold price puts a bad idea out of its misery

20 May 2013

It looks as if the 20 per cent fall in the price of gold over the past six months has put the...

As the writer of the South China Morning Post’s Monitor column, Tom Holland attempts each day to make sense of the latest developments in business, finance and economic affairs in Hong Kong and mainland China.

4:18AM

Comment, Insight & Opinion

My Take

Alex Lo

Survey exposes racism's shameful face

20 May 2013

Are we among the most racist people in the world?

Alex Lo is a senior writer at the South China Morning Post. He writes editorials and the daily “My Take” column on page 2. He also edits the weekly science and technology page in Sunday Morning Post.

7 comments

1:51AM

Comment, Insight & Opinion

Column

Alice Wu

Security chief's remarks on rape are illogical and misguided

20 May 2013

Was Tess Durbeyfield raped or seduced?

Alice Wu fell down the rabbit hole of politics aged 12, when she ran her first election campaign. She has been writing about local politics and current affairs for the Post since 2008. Alice's daily needs include her journals, books, a multi-coloured pen and several lattes.

1:52AM

Comment, Insight & Opinion

Jake's View

Jake Van Der Kamp

iBonds are little help in easing inflation and a bad bet financially

19 May 2013

The game show here is that our government offers a three-year HK$10 billion bond issue,...

Jake van der Kamp is a native of the Netherlands, a Canadian citizen, and a longtime Hong Kong resident. He started as a South China Morning Post business reporter in 1978, soon made a career change to investment analyst and returned to the newspaper in 1998 as a financial columnist.

3:55AM

Comment, Insight & Opinion

Column

Philip Bowring

Taiwan's reaction to killing of fisherman is out of proportion

19 May 2013

Now it's Taiwan's turn to show some nationalist anger, and its target is the Philippines. Behind...

Philip Bowring has been based in Asia for 39 years writing on regional financial and political issues. He has been a columnist for the South China Morning Post since the mid-1990s and for the International Herald Tribune from 1992 to 2011. He also contributes regularly to the Wall Street Journal, www.asiasentinel.com, a website of which he is a founder, and elsewhere. Prior to 1992 he was with the weekly Far Eastern Economic Review, latterly as editor.

20 comments

3:55AM

Comment, Insight & Opinion

My Take

Alex Lo

We need a sober view of sexual violence

18 May 2013

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto and our own security chief Lai Tung-kwok have much in common.

6 comments

4:10AM

Comment, Insight & Opinion

Column

Michael Chugani

Anson Chan's misleading view of Britain's colonial influence on policy

18 May 2013

How true is it that, during colonial rule, our policymakers always placed the interests of Hong...

Michael Chugani is a Hong Kong-born American citizen who has worked for many years as a journalist in Hong Kong, the USA and London. Aside from being a South China Morning Post columnist he also hosts ATV’s Newsline show, a radio show and writes for two Chinese-language publications. He has published a number of books on politics which contain English and Chinese versions.

20 comments

4:10AM

Business, Comment, Insight & Opinion

Monitor

Tom Holland

After a stellar start, Japan's 'Abenomics' faces dim future

17 May 2013

In the six months since Shinzo Abe emerged as the likely winner of last December's election,...

4:06AM

Editor's Pick

Hong Kong cannot continue with its wasteful ways

With our three landfills reaching capacity in 2019, the waste management strategies that successive governments have raised, but failed to implement, can no longer be ignored. Each is...

3:04AM

Today's Poll

Should same-sex marriage be legal in Hong Kong?

Yes: 67%
No: 33%

20 May 2013

Insight

Dawn of 'Lionomics' promises new era of prosperity for China

China is formulating a new set of economic policies designed to support an economy that is growing at an astounding 7.7 per cent per annum, with inflation in single digits and acceptable...

1:52AM

China needs to make reforms in dealing with prostitution

1:51AM

Tacky district landmarks require rethink

1:51AM

Maverick Japanese mayor confuses prostitution with sex slavery

1:52AM

Real democracy for Hong Kong is in Beijing's best interests

1:52AM

Talking points

1:52AM

Who said it?