Shaq to Shill for Chinese shoes
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal has signed a five-year contract with Chinese sportswear brand Li-Ning, the company said Monday.
The deal to promote the new "Shaq Dunkman" line will be marketed exclusively in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Terms of the deal weren't revealed.
"O'Neal is a wonderful NBA player, he has great character, is passionate and is a hero on the court, reminiscent of oriental heroism and of the Li-Ning brand," said Mr. Zhang Zhiyong, CEO of Li-Ning.
O'Neal, who was in Beijing for the announcement, said he first became aware of the Li-Ning-brand shoes when he saw the Spanish National Basketball team wearing them. "I'm excited and happy to finally be able to work with the Li-Ning brand and look forward to a very bright future."
China is poised to become the next hot market for basketball shoes with Nike leading the pack, followed by Adidas in second place and Li-Ning as the third largest vendor of the shoes.
More than one billion Chinese have watched NBA games in the past year, according to the NBA. The association has eight offical marketing partnerships in the country since 2005, included China-specific deals with McDonald's, Nokia and China Mobile, according to the NBA press release.
Chinese NBA star Yao Ming has promoted Reebok shoes in China, while last year the Cleveland Cavaliers' Damon Jones starred in commercials for Li-Ning and wore its shoes in NBA games.
Wal-Mart Bows to Unions in China
BEIJING (Reuters) -- Retailing giant Wal-Mart will let officials from China's state-run trade union to form and join unions, a company spokesman said Friday as the two sides continued talks on the controversy.
Jonathan Dong, a spokesman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in China, confirmed the company had agreed to open its Chinese stores to the state-run union. "We're working together now to achieve that goal," said Dong, adding that the two sides were still negotiating details.
Dong said Wal-Mart's 60 stores in China would be open to forming unions, but it was up to employees to decide whether to set up unions in their stores.
Earlier this week, the All China Federation of Trade Unions had warned the world's largest retailer not to act against union members or workers who wanted to join the union.
"The law says it's a voluntary action of the associates," he said, referring to Wal-Mart employees. "Wal-Mart will give union officials the opportunity to explain the benefits of joining."
Asked why Wal-Mart had agreed to allow unions in China while it resists them in other countries, Dong said: "The union in China is fundamentally different from unions in the West. ...The union has made it clear that its goal is to work with employers, not promote confrontation."
Dong said the two sides were still discussing whether the 2 percent of wages that China's union is authorized to take would apply to all employees of a store or just union members.
Dong said Wal-Mart now has 32,000 employees in China, with 60 stores in 30 cities. He said the company would open between 18 and 20 more by the end of 2006.
So far, six stores had formed unions, he said.
Most foreign firms do not have unions in China, but usually offer much better benefits than Chinese firms which do have unions. But these unions are ineffective and do not, in general, represent the rights of the workers.
Foreign companies are worried that they will be at a disadvantage if a union with new legal rights is imposed on them.
Cost to Hunt a Yak: $40,000?
BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- The government would auction licenses based on types and numbers of wild animals, ranging from about $200 for a wolf, the only carnivore on the list, to as much as $40,000 for a yak, the Beijing Youth Daily said.
The auction, taking place on Sunday in Chengdu, capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, would be the first of its kind in Chinese history, it added.
"Some animals are from the first and second category of national wildlife protection, but with the strict limitations in place, the hunting could not destroy wild animal populations," the daily said.
The report made no mention of the endangered giant panda, some 1,500 of which survive in nature reserves in southwestern China.
Five western areas, including Qinghai, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces and the autonomous regions of Ningxia and Xinjiang, are involved in the auction.
Hunting of animals is popular with Chinese who like to eat exotic meats or use animal parts in medicines for their perceived aphrodisiac or medicinal properties.
But the hunting licenses would be available only to foreigners, given China's strict rules on gun control, the daily said.
"Hunting is not slaughtering," it quoted an official at a wild animal protection department as saying.
Proceeds from the auction would be used for wild animal protection, the report said.
D'oh! China Primetime Ban for Homer
BEIJING, China (AP) -- D'oh! China has banished Homer Simpson, Pokemon and Mickey Mouse from prime time. The Monkey King and his Chinese pals get the top TV viewing hours to themselves.
Regulators have barred foreign cartoons from TV in the "Golden Hours" of 5 to 8 p.m. beginning Sept. 1 in an effort to protect China's struggling animation studios, news reports said Sunday.
The ban hasn't been formally announced, but newspapers already were criticizing it Sunday as the wrong way to improve programming for Chinese children, who they said clearly prefer foreign animation.
"This is a worrying, shortsighted policy and will not solve the fundamental problems in China's cartoon industry," the Southern Metropolis News said. "The viewing masses, whether adults or children, will have no choice but to passively support Chinese products."
Foreign cartoons, especially from Japan, are hugely popular with Chinese children, and the country's own animation studios have struggled to compete with a flood of imports.
Communist leaders are said to be frustrated that so many cartoons seen by China's 250 million children are foreign-made, especially after efforts to build up Chinese animation studios.
Chinese animators produce hundreds of hours of programs a year but aren't known for flair or originality. They draw on traditional stories such as "Journey to the West," about the adventures of the Monkey King, and have yet to invent characters to match the appeal of Mickey Mouse or Japanese icons such as Pokemon.
The cartoon campaign comes amid efforts by President Hu Jintao's government to tighten control over other pop culture, ranging from movies to magazines and Web sites.
TV stations have been told to limit foreign programming, stop showing scary movies in prime time and have their hosts dress more conservatively and use fewer English words on the air.
Most cartoons on China Central Television, the national broadcaster, are Chinese-made. But more freewheeling local broadcasters show everything from "The Simpsons" to Japanese, South Korean and European cartoons dubbed into Chinese.
Film studios have been pushed to merge in order to create big, well-financed competitors. Officials have set up 15 animation centers to nurture the industry, invoking communist guerrilla vocabulary by dubbing them "production bases."
"The reason for the SARFT regulation is clear. It is to protect domestic cartoon production," the Southern Metropolis said.
The newspaper cited what it said was a recent study that found that 80 percent of Chinese children surveyed liked foreign cartoons and disliked domestic animation.
Chinese studios employ thousands of skilled animators, but many focus on doing work subcontracted by the Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros. and other Western or Japanese studios.
Broadcasters were told to limit use of foreign cartoons in 2000 at a time when Japanese animation dominated the market. In 2004, the government stepped up controls, saying Chinese cartoons had to account for at least 60 percent of the total shown in prime time.
In February, regulators banned programs that mix animation with live characters in an apparent effort to protect Chinese studios, which don't produce such programming. Regulators haven't released details, but the ban could affect popular children's TV shows such as "Blue's Clues" from the United States and Britain's "Teletubbies."
The government also protects Chinese film studios by limiting imports of foreign titles. But that strategy appears to have backfired by creating a market for pirated movies, which both foreign and Chinese studios say robs them of box office revenues.
Beijing also has thrown up barriers to other pop culture.
In April, the government disclosed that it was no longer granting publishing licenses for foreign magazines in an effort to protect its domestic industry. That came after a joint venture that published a Chinese edition of the American music magazine "Rolling Stone" was forced to dissolve after a single issue.
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