Duty Free Group enters Cambodia

(China Daily) China Duty Free Group Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China International Travel Service Group Co Ltd, will open its first foreign duty-free shop in December, the group said on Monday.

The shop in Siem Reap, Cambodia will be the first non-airport duty-free shop in that country.

It will be near the famed Angkor Wat Temple. 

The group received a business license for the shop in August.

The shop, which covers 4,500 square meters, is still under construction and preparing for next month's opening, the company said in a statement.

The company will open another duty-free shop in Phnom Penh next year, it said. It will cooperate with Nagacorp Ltd, a local hotel company in Cambodia, to operate that shop, to be located at Naga World, a Nagacorp mall that gets about 2.5 million visitors annually.

The two shops will provide an array of perfume, watches, tobacco, wine and other products. Chinese outbound travelers are the major target consumers of the shops.

Last year, 470,000 Chinese residents visited the country, up 38 percent year-on-year, according to Cambodia's Ministry of Tourism.

Minister of Tourism Thong Khon has forecast that the country will attract 800,000 Chinese travelers by 2015.

China's duty-free industry has found its way into foreign markets, aiming to provide Chinese travelers with a good shopping experience in addition to a quality travel experience, Hu Zhimin, vice-president of CITS, said at the China International Travel Mart in Shanghai, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Dai Bin, director of the China Tourism Academy, said the opening of the China Duty Free Group shops in Cambodia represents an important step by the group in exploring overseas opportunities and the projects will promote the group's globalization.

China Duty Free Group has also signed an agreement with Nagacorp to cooperate in duty-free projects in third countries including Japan, South Korea, Mongolia and Russia.

Duty-free business has become a significant business for CITS. In the first half of this year, income from duty-free sales was 3.45 billion yuan ($562 million), up 10.9 percent year-on-year, according to the group's financial report.

Source: By Wang Wen(China Daily)

Tang Dynasty offices discovered

Chinese archaeologists recently found in the ruins of Daming Palace what is believed to be the zhongshu sheng, an office responsible for drafting and issuing imperial edicts during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).

According to excavation team leader Li Chunlin, of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Archaeology Institute, a 50-square-meter room has been unearthed in the west of the office ruins, and a relatively small room in the north of the office has also been found.

The team began excavating in 2010 a 5,200-sq-m area northwest of Huanyuan Hall and Xuanzheng Hall, the main buildings of the Daming Palace, the Tang Dynasty imperial palace. The area was made the focal point of a projected five-year excavation from 2011 to 2016, approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, after many Tang cultural relics were found there.

Two excavations, in 2011 and 2012, unearthed ruins of roads, walls, channels and an incomplete yard, said Gong Guoqiang, another excavation team leader.

Gong said that the third excavation on the site began in a 1,500-sq-m area in October, and the complete layout of the yard should be unearthed by the end of the year.

Experts say the room recently discovered might be the zhongshu sheng, because it was located in the west side of the Xuanzheng Hall. Historical records indicate that the zhongshu sheng and menxia sheng were in the west and east sides of the hall.

Archaeologists found hundreds of artifacts around the office ruins, and many of them bore inscriptions in Chinese characters reading "official" that were used by imperial officials.

During the Tang Dynasty, the central government set three sheng, or offices, and six ministries. The zhongshu sheng was for drafting and issuing imperial edicts, the menxia sheng was for checking such edicts, and the shangshu sheng was for managing government affairs. The three sheng were directly under the management of the emperor and were higher than the six ministries.

Such ruins of central governmental offices have never before been discovered, Gong said, and they provide information for the research of the ancient government structures.

The ruins of Daming Palace are located in the northern suburban of Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province. The city was the Tang Dynasty's capital. It covered 84 sq km and had a population of over 1 million. In ancient times, it was called Chang'an and was one of the largest and most prosperous international cities in the world.

Source: china daily

Picturesque scenery in Hongcun Village

Hongcun Village is located in Yixian County at the foot of the southwestern slope of Mt. Huangshan, Anhui Province.

With morning mist, stone bridges, white walls, water lily ponds and hills, it has been described as a village out of a traditional Chinese ink painting. Besides halls, pavilions and temples, the village has 160 ancient residences. These architectures, with fantastic stone carvings, were built during the Ming and Qing dynasties and widely regarded as the best historic sites in China

Source: people's daily

Billionaire Kwok Says Hong Kong Protest Weakening Hotel Bookings

(Bloomberg)  Billionaire Thomas Kwok said that Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests are weighing on bookings at Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd.’s 16 hotels, which include The Ritz-Carlton and the Four Seasons.

Revenue at the Ritz was about 10 percent below expectations for September and October, Kwok, a co-chairman, told reporters after the company’s annual meeting in Hong Kong today. The firm’s other hotels had gaps of about 5 percent to 10 percent, he said.

Street occupations are entering an eighth week, as students press the Chinese government to drop restrictions on how candidates will be nominated in the city’s first one-person, one-vote election of a chief executive in 2017. The protests and limited prospects for export gains are clouding the economic outlook, the government said Nov. 14.

“For the moment, the impact is mild but we can see room booking orders for coming months are noticeably weaker than last year’s,” said Kwok.

Sun Hung Kai had HK$3.93 billion ($507 million) of revenue from hotel operations in the year ended June 30, according to an exchange filing.

Kwok is on trial in the High Court in Hong Kong, where he denies charges including conspiring to bribe former Chief Secretary Rafael Hui. He didn’t discuss that case at today’s briefing.

Source: Bloomberg News by Michelle Yun and Zijing Wu

Top attractions in Xi'an, China

(china.org) Xi'an, located in northwest China, is known all over the world as the home to the Terracotta Army and the eastern terminus of the Silk Road.

 Xi'an also rivals Athens, Cairo and Rome as one of the four ancient capitals in the world as the city has a history of more than 3,100 years, in which more than 1,100 years was as the capital city for 13 dynasties (there are still some debates over the number of dynasties which use Xi'an as their capital).

Terracotta Army (兵马俑)

The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of the China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. It became the Eighth Wonder of the World and a UNESCO world cultural heritage site in 1987. The Terracotta Army is one of many treasures and objects buried with the emperor to accompany him in his afterlife. 

It was discovered in 1974 by a group of farmers who were digging a well. The Terracotta Army is one of the most significant archeological excavations of the 20th century. It is a sight not to be missed by any visitor to China.

Admission: 110 yuan (includes Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, Museum of Qin Terracotta Army, Museum of Terracotta Acrobatics, Museum of Terracotta Civil Officials and Museum of Stone Armor)

Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (March 16 to Nov. 14); 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Nov. 14 to March 15)

Tel: +86 29 81399170

Website: http://www.bmy.com.cn/template/gzb/index_en.aspx

How to get there: Tourism Bus 5 (306) from the east square of Xi'an Railway Station to Bing Ma Yong

Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum (秦始皇陵)

Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum is the mausoleum of the China's first emperor, Qing Shi Huang (personal name Ying Zheng). Ying Zheng began the construction of his mausoleum when he was still the king of the Qin State during Warring States period of China in 247 BC. It took 38 years to complete.

The tomb is located on Li Mountain in the south and overlooks the Wei River to the north. According to traditional Chinese geomancy, the lay of the land from Li Mountain to Hua Mountain is shaped like a dragon. The imperial tomb is just right at the eye of the dragon. Tourists are not allowed inside the mausoleum but can visit the surrounding gardens and mountains. A reconstruction of the mausoleum, located to the west of the original, allows the visitors to see the interior of the mausoleum.

Admission: 110 yuan (includes mausoleum, Museum of Qin Terracotta Army, Museum of Terracotta Acrobatics, Museum of Terracotta Civil Officials and Museum of Stone Armor)

Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

How to get there: Tourism Bus 5 (306) from the east square of Xi'an Railway Station to Bing Ma Yong

Big Wild Goose Pagoda (大雁塔)

Big Wild Goose Pagoda is a Buddhist pagoda in southern Xi'an. Built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty, it is well preserved and has become one of the emblems of the city. It is part of the Da Ci'en Temple complex, where there are regular music shows in the square's fountain, as well as pleasant parks and Western eateries nearby.

Admission: 50 yuan entrance fee; 30 yuan to climb pagoda Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tel: +86 29 85535014

Website: http://www.xiandayanta.com/english/egindex.htm

How to get there: Bus 5, 19, 21, 23, 24, 34, 41, 44, 109, 224, 237, 242, 400, 408, 501, 521, 526, 527, 601, 606, 701 to Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

Huaqing Hot Springs (Huaqing Palace) (华清池)

Located at the northern foot of Lishan Mountain, 30 kilometers from Xi'an, Huaqing Hot Spring is famous for its amazing spring scenery and the romantic love story of the owner and his favorite concubine. The garden was built by Emperor Xuanzong (685-762) during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) near hot springs at the foot of the mountain so he could frolic with his favorite concubine, Yang Guifei. During his reign, the emperor spent a large sum of his funds to build a luxurious palace, reflecting the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.

Address: 38 Huaqing Road

Admission: 40 yuan (December to February); 70 yuan (March to November)

Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tel: +86 29 83812003

Website: http://www.hqc.cn/en/index.asp

Forest of Stone Steles Museum (Xi'an Beilin Museum) (碑林博物馆)

Forest of Stone Steles Museum, initially established in 1087, is the largest and oldest museum of steles in China and has a large collection of 3,000 steles from the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. These stone steles record the development of Chinese culture and cultural exchanges between China and other countries.

Address: 15 Sanxue Street

Admission: 45 yuan (March to November); 30 yuan (December to February)

Hours: 8 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. (March to November, last entry 6 p.m.); 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (December to February, last entry 5:15 p.m.)

Tel: +86 29 87210764

How to get there: Bus 14, 208, 402, 512, 223, 704 to Wen Chang Men

Drum Tower (钟鼓楼)

The Drum Tower and Bell Tower, located in the heart of Xi'an, are called sister buildings. They are the symbols of the city. The Drum Tower offers an imposing view of Xi'an. Initially built in 1380, the drums were used to signal the running of time and on occasion were used as an alarm in emergency situations. In 1996, a new drum was put into the Drum Tower and is the biggest drum in China. The Drum Tower also has a museum with regular musical performances.

Bell Tower (钟鼓楼)

The Bell Tower, built in 1384, once marked the geographical center of the ancient capital. In 1582, it was moved a kilometer east. The tower is made of brick and timber and almost 40 meters high. 

During the Ming Dynasty, Xi'an was an important military town in Northwest China, a fact reflected in the size and historic significance of its bell tower.

Admission: 27 yuan each, or 40 yuan for a joint ticket

Hours: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. (April to October); 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (November to March)

Tel: +86 29 87288397

Website: http://www.xazgl.com/ewzjj.asp

How to get there: Bus 4, 6, 7, 8, 15, 32, 43, 45, 201, 205, 206, 215, 218, 221, 222, 251, 300, 604, 611, 612, K630 to Bell Tower.

Tang Paradise (大唐芙蓉园)

Xi'an is the capital city of China's prosperous Tang Dynasty and the Tang Paradise is the first park in China modeled after a royal garden to give a full display of Tang Dynasty (618 – 907) culture. It covers about 165 acres in southeast Xi'an, of which about 30 percent is water. The park also features song and dance performances about grand ceremonies during the Tang Dynasty.

One of the wonders at the Tang Paradise is its spectacular water film, the largest of its kind in the world. Its screen is a film of water, which can create a special kind of optical effect. The fan-like water screen and beautiful night integrated perfectly. The film is set in the Tang Dynasty for visitors to relive the gloriousness of that time. The wonderful movie begins at 20:40 every night.

Address: 99 Furong West Road, Qujiang New District

Admission: 90 yuan (March to November); 68 yuan (December to February)

Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Tel: +86 29 85511888

Website: http://www.tangparadise.cn/en/index.php

How to get there: Bus 21, 22, 23, 24, 212, 237, 609, K619, 715, 720 to Tang Paradise or Tang Paradise South Gate.

City Wall (城墙)

Xi'an's City Wall is one of the oldest and best preserved city walls in China and one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world.

Construction of the first city wall of Xi'an began in 194 BC and lasted for four years. The existing wall was started during the Ming Dynasty in 1370 and encircles 14 square kilometer of the city.

The City Wall has 18 gates, which are all open for tourists to ascend the wall. No matter which gate you choose to enter, you can tour the whole circle of the wall.

Admission: 40 yuan

Hours: 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. (spring and summer); 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. (fall and winter)

Tel: +86 29 87282976

Website: http://www.xacitywall.com/english.htm

How to get there: Bus 6, 11, 12, 23, 46, 215, 239, 302, 600, 603, 608, 713, 910, K600, K618 to South Gate; Bus 8, 22, 27, 29, 33, 37, 43, 45, 102, 203, 218, 232, 235, 252, 300, 527, 602, 604, 714, 903 to East Gate; Bus 6, 26, 28, 33, 37, 39, 104, 107, 117, 205, 206, 208, 214, 216, 229, 236, 238, 310, 336, 506, 511 to North Gate; Bus 4, 10, 15, 23, 31, 201, 205, 206, 215, 221, 222, 223, 300, 302, 407, 504, 611, 701, K630 to West Gate.

Taste Xi'an cuisine (品尝西安美食)

Xi'an cuisine is well known throughout China and visitors to Xi'an must not come and go without tasting local snacks. Due to Xi'an's geographical location in the center of China, its snacks adopted various materials from both north and south China. Local cooking features frying, sauting, braising and frequent use of salt, vinegar, capsicum and garlic. Among the great variety of local snacks, Yang Rou Pao Mo (crumbled unleavened bread soaked in mutton stew), Rou Jia Mo (Shaanxi Sandwich), and Cold Rice Noodles are the most popular.

A renowned place to try local snacks is Muslim Street beside the Drum Tower. It is also a great place to go bargain hunting for small items of aircrafts.

Daming Palace Site (大明宫国家遗址公园)

Daming Palace was the grandest and most significant palace complex in Xi'an (then Chang'an) during Tang Dynasty (618-907) where Tang emperors lived, dealt with state affairs and met with officials.

It has been rebuilt and opened to the public on October 1st, 2010. About two thirds of the park is free to get in. The other one third features cultural heritages and exhibition and needs admission fee.

Hanyuan Palace was the main palace, where grand ceremonies were held. It was also an important international exchange center. On every New Year's Day, ambassadors from various countries came and participated in the grand ceremonies held here. The majestic palace not only reflects Tang Dynasty's prosperity, but also represents the highest architectural level of that time. It is said that the Forbidden City in Beijing was built after the layout of Daming Palace.

Address: 78 Xuanwu Road

Admission: 60 yuan

Tel: +86 29 86708192

Website: http://english.dmgyz.com/

How to get there: Bus 2, 216, 262 to Tongjia Lane; Bus 16, 17, 22, 38, 46, 104, 209, 801 to Taihua Road

Source: china.org by Wang Yanfang

China-U.S. Visa Deal a Problem for Agencies Helping Chinese Emigrate

(WSJ) A deal to ease visa requirements between China and the U.S., combined with Beijing’s crackdown on corruption, spells trouble for the industry serving Chinese who want to emigrate.

That business is already under pressure as countries such as Canada shut down programs that effectively allowed rich people to buy citizenship. China is the top source for investment-based immigration in countries such as the U.S., Canada, Australia, Cyprus and Portugal.

The deal, reached Monday between U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping to ease visa restrictions and grant 10-year multiple-entry visas for tourists and businesspeople, will reduce demand from rich Chinese for permanent residency in the U.S.

“With a 10-year visa, some people won’t bother getting a green card,” said Bernard Wolfsdorf, a California-based immigration attorney at Wolfsdorf Rosenthal.

Chinese looking to buy permanent residency sometimes pay tens of thousands of dollars in fees to the agencies, which are based in China and overseas. The visa deal came as China agreed with other Asia-Pacific countries to set up a regional network to track down corrupt officials.

At the Investment Immigration Summit held in Hong Kong this week, industry executives were concerned. “People are waiting for the hammer to fall,” said Jean François Harvey, the organizer and global managing partner at Harvey Law Group. “There’s a lot of nervousness in China.”

China is also set to cooperate with the U.S. in providing bank-account information on U.S. citizens and green card holders in China. In return, it wants to get information from the U.S. about corrupt Chinese officials who have fled to other countries.

Immigration consultants say the sons and daughters of government officials and bosses at state-owned enterprises can account for up to half of the applicants for U.S. immigration-based visa applications in places like Beijing.

In China, authorities are scrutinizing the immigration agencies that serve the rich. Several immigration lawyers in China and Hong Kong said police have visited trying to get information about their clients, though they were quick to add that they insisted on attorney-client privilege.

“There’s lots of money to be made in this field,” said Eugene Chow, principal at Chow King & Associates. “But you may be on the wrong side of the fence. Today’s hero in China may be tomorrow’s public enemy.”

At the moment, demand is strong under programs that grant people visas if they make investments, buy property or just bring cash into a country. The U.S. EB-5 visa program, which allots 10,000 visas a year to foreigners who create jobs and invest at least $500,000, hit its quota in August for the first time. Waiting times have increased from a few months to two to three years.

But foreign governments are becoming more careful about the people they allow into their countries and some are expressing regrets about opening their doors to rich immigrants. “We should have insisted on a security check on every applicant, because some people are unscrupulous,” said Denzil Douglas, prime minister of the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, which has a popular immigration-visa program.

Canada has ended a program similar to the U.S.’s EB-5 offering, saying it didn’t bring enough economic benefit and “significantly undervalued” Canadian residency.

Chinese hoping to emigrate are also realizing they may not be safe in small countries that are less likely to stand up to China. It took more than a decade for Chinese fugitive Lai Changxing to be extradited from Canada. But in Fiji, Chinese authorities working with local police went in and seized an executive suspected of running off with company money just three days after the formal start of the investigation, the Chinese government said.

For ordinary Chinese who merely want to travel, the new 10-year visas will be a game changer. Until now, they could only get visas for a maximum of one year.

The U.S. has also streamlined the visa process for Chinese. The number of Chinese who received U.S. nonimmigrant visas jumped five times from 2004 to 1.4 million in 2013. For every six nonimmigrant visas the U.S. issued globally in 2013, one was given in China, up from one in every 20 in 2004.

This easing by the U.S. may be followed by other countries such as the U.K., which has been criticized for not making things simple enough for Chinese travelers.

The long-term U.S. visas will be a boon for the travel industry. The White House expects the number of Chinese visitors to the U.S. to now quadruple to 1.8 million a year.

“With more options, wealthy Chinese are more likely to rethink the cost and benefit of a U.S. passport,” said David Lesperance, a U.S. immigration lawyer at Lesperance Associates.

Source: Wall Street Journal by Wei Gu

Details of Shanghai Disney Resort disclosed

(Xinhua) Shanghai Disney Resort disclosed new details on Thursday evening, including an 800-room hotel that will be the world's first to be themed on the American animation Toy Story.

Another hotel, the 420-room Shanghai Disneyland Hotel, will be inspired by Art Nouveau with a touch of Disney imagination, according to a press release.

In addition, the resort's lakeside Disneytown will include a shopping, dining and entertainment district that covers 46,000 square meters.

The Spice Alley will provide a variety of Asian cuisine, while the Walt Disney Grand Theater will host the global premiere of the Mandarin version of the Lion King.

"The Shanghai Disney Resort will [...] offer the same spirit of 'shared family entertainment' that Walt Disney first introduced nearly 60 years ago," said Philippe Gas, Shanghai Disney Resort General Manager.

The Shanghai Disney Resort is Disney's sixth resort destination worldwide. Construction began in 2011 in the Pudong New District, and it is slated for opening by the end of next year.

At 3.9 square kilometers, the size of 56 football fields, it will be the first Disney park on the Chinese mainland.

Apart from the "Treasure Cove", the first Pirates-themed land in any Disney park, Shanghai Disneyland will also feature many Chinese elements, like the "Garden of 12 Friends", based on the 12 animal signs of Chinese horoscope.

Source: xinhua via china daily