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Charlotte Parsons

We hear that China Merchants Holdings has a new chairman.

Qin Xiao just took the helm of the Ministry of Communications-backed mainland group.

For China International Trust and Investment Corp (Citic) Beijing, it marked the end of an era.

He was their vice-chairman, and had worked at the State Council-backed company for a decade and a half.

A reporter asked Mr Qin to comment on his feelings about the job switch.

Was it strange leaving Citic Beijing? How did the new job measure up?

Said Mr Qin: 'It's difficult for me to compare the two places, as I worked at Citic Beijing for 15 years but only 15 days in China Merchants.

'You'd have to ask me this question 15 years later to get a fair comment.' Hmmm . . . Lai See  wonders if that comment isn't part of a new mainland government tactic that's to be used in Hong Kong for the next 147 years.

After that, someone will have to come up with a new way of evading comparisons between Chinese and British rule.

Mystic musings: You know that 'Real Astrology' in HK Magazine?

Well author Rob Brezsny just launched the 'Free Will Astrology Newsletter'.

This boasts of being 'The only bit of astro-poetism to compare and contrast: 'To survive war, you must become war' [Rambo] and 'To survive love, you must become love' [Rimbaud Rambo].'

Impressive.

Most of that letter is just horoscope business as usual.

Mr Brezsny maps out the various fates awaiting the various signs.

Naturally the world is full of wonderful people, and no one is about to be sacked, dumped or maimed.

But what followed those forecasts surprised us.

It appears to be a bit of advertising. 'Cleanliness is next to Goddessliness' it began.

'Psychic Janitors  is the only cleaning service that scours the toxic wastes from your brain via first-class telepathy.

'As a special introductory offer, Psychic Janitors  will clean out a childhood trauma and the residue from an ill-fated love affair absolutely free of charge'.

Lai See's  thinking of hiring them to clean all the angels out of her flat. We've just learned the place is crawling with them.

That information pops up in the newsletter's Bonus Oracle section.

It seems 14th century cabalists calculated the number of angels as 301,655,722.

But today the number has soared to 677,323,117,002.

According to the astrologer, that figure was the product of painstaking research conducted by the radiant homeless guy in front of the post office.

That's quite a population explosion in the heavenly host sector. Mr Brezsny has done some calculations of his own and concluded that this would mean that every person on earth has 112 angels.

Except in China. They've got a strict one cherub policy.

Short straw on pints: Hong Kong University's Dr David Higgins snapped this photo (below) of 'Unhappy Hour' in Macau.

It appears the bar has decided to helps patrons reduce calories and hangovers by only relinquishing one of every three beers purchased.



Qin gives signal for time out