Thursday, August 28, 2008

My impact on currency?

Living in different countries means the risk of currency conversion loss. and now I found my impact on current during a discussion with friends.

When I first moved to Hong Kong, the value of HK dollar started to fall versus RMB;
Then I moved the U.S., the value of US dollar started to fall too;
and I went to U.K. thinking of making some pound in order to make up the loss, the pound fell as well;

Now my friends asked where I am going next. "That's a top business secret". I said.

A trading opportunity for "short", definitely.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

From a girl's fake sing to a dancer's accidental fall

"The Olympic opening ceremony is stunning", everyone I met in London told me this. As a Chinese, I am very proud. There's one moment I feel something wet in the eye when I was watching the ceremony, not because of the beautiful scene, but because of thinking of all the people's effort behind this. For years, everyone has been working hard on the ceremony not for money, but for showing the world a beautiful country. They did it.

I had a big debate with an Australian friend when we were watching the ceremony because he kept saying Olympics is all about politics. "China should improve its human right before holding this Olympics", he said. A lot of politicians were there, and a lot of politics were involved, but there is only fair competition during the game. Athletes deserve a clean field to compete, and every country does too. If Olympics discriminate a country with one fourth of the world's population just because of politics, then I can't imagine the flame of the torch originated from Athen is still pure.

A few days later, he forwarded an email on the fake voice of the Chinese girl who was singing in the ceremony. He wants to prove his point. Look at the pictures of the two girls, you can see the one who showed up is "more cute" than the others. However, I can't help thinking the impact of this action on the girl who actually singed. Her name is Yang Peiyi. She has a beautiful voice, but she has to be behind the stage because of her "less-cute"look. She is just 7-years old, and what will she remember as she grow up? Also, to the girl who showed up, she will also remember she doesn't really sing in the ceremony, but get the position because she is better looking. What will happen to her?

In China's traditional saying, we will never judge a person based on his or her looking. But, I can understand why the director did this, though I don't agree. This is called groupism; people do this to make a better performance for the whole group, but they shouldn't ignore what will be the impact on individuals.

Chinese people are in the process of changing from a 100% of groupism to a mix of groupism and individualism, especially among younger generation. It's a good thing, and it's a right path for China to improve the human right situation.

When I am still "ashamed" by this fake sing, I found this story on a leading dancer who was expected to dance in the ceremony but fell off and hurt herself. Her name is Liu Yan. She may never stand up again. Zhang Yimou, the director of the ceremoney, visited her in the hospital. "You're the deepest pain in my heart," Zhang was reported as saying. "If I could see you stand up again, it would make me much more happier than any praise I've received."I was very impressed by this. Despite all the critics on Zhang's directing style, his words shows his respect to a single individual life, and that's the true Olympic spirit.


I replied my Australian friend a long long email, telling him China's history before and the change now. At last, I said, "let's try to open mind to each other, and understand each other much better than our parents do".





(liu yan)

Monday, August 04, 2008

Beautiful Cambridge Town



















King's College






Queen's college

















Punting in the river








Nice place with fresh pasty

Saturday, August 02, 2008

The intelligent Investor

There's one book accompanying me in London all the time, "The Intelligent Investor". The author Benjamin Graham is the teacher of Warren Buffet, and set up this theory of value investing. It is an easy-to-read book, especially with the new commentary by Jason Zweig. History always replay, so does the investment. Luckily, there's some value we can see from stocks. We are always tempted by ourselves, and the biggest enemy of successful investment is ourselves. Have to read it again to remember this theory more. A good investor is always well prepared, and this book is a must-to-read.