People take photos of characters from the Japanese manga series “Chiikawa” at a pop-up store in Hong Kong. (Photo by Echo Wong)
Tea Leaves

China's stressed young people find solace in Japanese manga

Struggles facing ‘Chiikawa’ characters resonate with youth amid economic slowdown

31 July 2024
Plaza 66, located on the ritzy Nanjing Road in downtown Shanghai, is the major breadwinner for Hong Kong's Hang Lung Properties but has suffered from changing consumer behavior.
Property

Hong Kong developer Hang Lung's shares sink 15% after profit cut

Revenue decline at high-end mainland shopping malls 'worse than expected'

30 July 2024
Hong Kong's premier shopping mall Harbour City. "The strength of the Hong Kong dollar," which is pegged to the strong U.S. dollar, has dealt a further blow to the city's retailers, a government spokesman says. (Photo by Shinya Sawai)
Retail

Hong Kong retail hit by Shenzhen rivalry, weak mainlander spending

Wharf REIC slips to net loss while major chains report double-digit sales declines

29 July 2024
A Country Garden construction site in Kunming, China, in September 2019. The embattled developer's wind-up case in a Hong Kong court has been adjourned until January 2025.
China debt crunch

China property winding-up sagas show difficulty of recovering assets

Country Garden gets six-month respite as other cases highlight 'enforceability' problem

29 July 2024
The Hong Kong Jockey Club is transforming this training facility in Guangzhou's Conghua District into a full-fledged racecourse. (Hong Kong Jockey Club photo)
Travel & Leisure

Hong Kong Jockey Club eyes mainland opportunities despite betting ban

Club plans regular Guangzhou races from 2026, may seek to take bets in home city

27 July 2024
Racing at Sha Tin Racecourse on July 14: Deng Xiaoping promised that "horses will still run" for 50 years after China's resumption of control over Hong Kong in 1997. (Photo by Shinya Sawai)
Editor-in-Chief’s Picks

Letter from Nikkei Asia's editor: Hong Kong Jockey Club builds a lead

Shin Nakayama shares his weekly reflections and recommendations

26 July 2024
iFlytek, a U.S.-sanctioned leader in China's AI industry, presents its products at this year's Hong Kong book fair. (Photo by Kenji Kawase)
US-China tensions

China's iFlytek exec says U.S. sanctions have 'destroyed' market mechanism

AI leader invests in Hong Kong hub and seeks to expand presence in Japan

25 July 2024
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical is grappling with a scandal surrounding a red yeast supplement suspected of being linked to more than 80 deaths. (Photo by Koji Uema)
Pharmaceuticals

Activist investor Oasis buys 5% stake in scandal-hit Kobayashi Pharma

Hong Kong fund becomes 4th-largest shareholder in Japanese drugmaker

25 July 2024
Sha Tin Racecourse on July 14: The Hong Kong Jockey Club has to compete for the attention of locals now keen to spend their time and money in Shenzhen or beyond. (Photo by Shinya Sawai)
The Big Story

Hong Kong Jockey Club sprints to success beyond horse racing

Soccer betting and alignment with government priorities secure status

24 July 2024
Japan's stock market hit a record high in February and has since gone higher after a 34-year wait.
Opinion

Japan's corporate governance reforms show way for China, South Korea

But oversight remains an area of weakness compared to Europe and the U.S.

23 July 2024
Hong Kong's regulatory environment makes it easy for foreign nationals to create shell companies to evade sanctions.
International relations

Hong Kong plays leading role in sanctions evasion: report

New analysis spotlights Chinese city as transshipment hub of goods to sanctioned nations

22 July 2024
A Poly Developments real estate complex in Yichang, in China's Hubei Province. The state-owned company is one of the few that still rung up more than 100 billion yuan in contracted sales in the first half.
China debt crunch

China-listed developers with 100bn yuan in 1st-half sales dwindle to 5

Evergrande, Country Garden sink; military-backed Poly rises with state peers

19 July 2024
GAM Investments, a unit of Zurich-listed GAM Holdings, is scaling back in Hong Kong and moving some staff to Singapore.
Wealth Management

Swiss asset manager GAM set to close Hong Kong office

Local peer to distribute, manage funds as market faces tepid returns

19 July 2024
As of the end of June, 14 Hong Kong listed companies have announced delisting plans in the first half year, and one has completed the transaction. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
Markets

Delistings outnumber IPOs by value in Hong Kong so far this year

China slowdown is factor cited by companies with plans to go private

19 July 2024
Selina Cheng, a former reporter at the Wall Street Journal and newly elected chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, speaks to media in Hong Kong on July 17.
Hong Kong security law

Hong Kong journalist group's new chair says she lost WSJ job over role

Selina Cheng's complaint spotlights concerns over dwindling press freedom

17 July 2024
Georges Elhedery, HSBC's new chief executive, is pictured in Dubai in 2017.
Finance

HSBC names Georges Elhedery new chief executive

Current CFO to replace veteran Noel Quinn, who announced retirement in April

17 July 2024
Juneyao Airlines, top, and Air China are on different earnings trajectories. (Source photos by Getty Images and Reuters)
Transportation

China's big three state airlines lag behind profitable private peers

Earnings previews show trio losing $1bn despite double-digit passenger growth

12 July 2024
The Cirrus Aircraft booth at an aviation exhibition in Las Vegas in 2021. The company was founded in the U.S. in 1979 and acquired by a Chinese state group in 2011.
IPO

U.S.-based Chinese state-owned aircraft maker Cirrus lists in Hong Kong

Company operates under watchful U.S. eyes since 2011 purchase by CAIGA

12 July 2024
Claw machine, or UFO catcher, shops are cropping up in Hong Kong's premier retail districts like Causeway Bay, left and Mong Kok, right. (Source photos by Ken Kobayashi and Peggy Ye)
Business Spotlight

Hong Kong's rise of the claw machines reflects property fall

Young entrepreneurs use arcade games to grab low-rent opportunities

12 July 2024
CK Hutchison is reviewing options for its European telecom unit, intending to reduce its holding in the overall business, sources tell Reuters.
IPO

Hong Kong's CK Infrastructure weighs overseas secondary listing

Plan is being considered more for Western exposure than to raise funds

11 July 2024
A view of the construction site of a residential project developed by Vanke in Nanjing
China debt crunch

China Vanke 'deeply apologizes' for $1bn loss

Moody's withdraws Country Garden's rating due to 'insufficient information'

10 July 2024
A portrait of I.M. Pei taken in 1965 when he was selected to design the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Dorchester, Massachusetts. (© John Loengard/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock)
Arts

'Superstar' architect I.M. Pei gets first retrospective

Hong Kong exhibition presents a hoard of previously unseen material

6 July 2024
The preference shares were issued to the Hong Kong government as part of the Cathay Pacific group's recapitalization financing in 2020. 
Markets

Cathay Pacific to buy back HK government's remaining preference shares

$1.2bn stake left over from group's recapitalization financing in 2020

5 July 2024
DBS, Singapore's biggest lender, has been fined for allegedly running afoul of Hong Kong's anti-money laundering regulations.
Finance

Hong Kong fines DBS for breaching anti-money laundering rules

Singapore's biggest lender hit with $1.28m penalty over alleged past failures

5 July 2024
The Taiwan Stock Exchange partnered with the Singapore Exchange for the first time to host a pitch event for institutional investors in the city-state, held at SGX in April. (Singapore Exchange and Taiwan Stock Exchange)
Taiwan tensions

Singapore hooks Taiwan companies shunning China's investors

Taiwanese firms chase funds in city-state as cross-strait tensions rise

4 July 2024