They say Beijing's show is nowhere near as professionally run as the ones in Detroit or Frankfurt. And they're particularly upset by the fact that, unlike the Americans and the Germans, Beijing doesn't reserve the most exhibition space for domestic producers.

People say the government prefers to see the foreign carmakers hog the spotlight; it doesn't want to encourage the local industry which it accuses of helping to overstimulate the economy by churning out too many cars.

Geely Automobile chairman Li Shufu is said to be keenly unhappy with this state of affairs. On the day the vehicle show opened, he was in Beijing but not to promote the company's 2007 models. Instead, he was in talks with the National Development and Reform Commission, trying to get permission to build new plants. He's angry apparently because the government has given foreigners such as Toyota permission to build new factories while denying the same opportunity to domestic carmakers.

Rather than settle for the small area allocated to Geely at the car show, Mr Li put his new models on display in the showroom of Geely University, the car design and production college that he set up several years ago on the outskirts of the capital.

Education catching on

From Geely University to Giordano University.

Last week, the casual wear retailer announced that it will set up a 'university' in Dongguan to train staff and franchisees in leadership and service quality.

Lai See had to chuckle when recalling the recent response of Giordano chairman Peter Lau Kwok-kuen to Credit Suisse analyst Marisa Ho's barb about the chain needing to educate its customers on the intricacies of its new, more upmarket Tsim Tsa Tsui store.

'Why is there a need to educate them?' Mr Lau wondered on that occasion.

He obviously feels differently about the people who sell Giordano's goods.

Blogger claims 26 million readers

Still not convinced of the power of the internet to make a star out of just about anyone?

Consider the case of Ma Shanji, who has proclaimed himself the mainland's top blogger.

Pacific Epoch, the China technology news tracker, reports that Mr Ma moved his current events blog from Sohu to Sina on November 22.

Lucky Sina. Mr Ma - who while employed in a government finance office has found time to publish more than 5,000 articles in newspapers and magazines - claims his Sohu blog has had more than 26.5 million visits since it opened on January 26.

Grand plan coming together

Four months ago, William Lo Wing-yan resigned as an independent non-executive director of scandal-plagued Ocean Grand Holdings. He said he was just too busy, though investment analysts and corporate governance hands were sceptical at the time.

Following an interview with Mr Lo, however, Lai See can appreciate how he really may be too busy implementing his grand plans to revive investor confidence in fashion retailer I.T of which he is vice-chairman and chief financial officer.

'We want to be more transparent. We want shareholders to know what we are doing,' he said.

I.T aims to triple its earnings in five years and, after several false starts, it hopes to make its first acquisition next year. The company has hired two people from investment banks to help it size up acquisition candidates. Mr Lo's busy schedule also involves talking with staff - shortly after he joined I.T in May he locked up senior management in a two-day brainstorming session.