Always something...
Deepak Chopra
—Deepak Chopra - 02 - Heart Meditation
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Monday, November 25, 2013
literASIAN
Asian Literature
Asian lit festival gets graphic
Graphic novels and storytelling explored at inaugural literASIAN: A Festival of Pacific Rim Asian Canadian Writing
Graphic novels are linked to the past and the future say participants in Vancouver’s inaugural literASIAN: A Festival of Pacific Rim Asian Canadian Writing, which runs in Chinatown Nov. 21 to 24.
“In China, the comic book form became really popular in the Qing dynasty [in the] 1860s, 1870s,” said Colleen Leung, a documentary filmmaker who’s moderating a Nov. 23 evening session called Storytelling and the Graphic Novel.
She said stories that were passed on orally and morality tales were written and illustrated in comic books in the late 1800s for the largely uneducated population.
Leung, who was the first Chinese-Canadian on-air news reporter for BCTV Vancouver in 1987, first became interested in comics as a kid.
She read her father’s large-format Second World War comics about fighter pilots “and those nasty Germans” and her mother’s comic books from 1960s China that sometimes depicted gruesome morality tales akin to Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm.
“And then we just kind of pooh poohed [the form] because what do we get after that? Archie comics, very light, fluffy kind of stuff. And then it just became a niche market, if you wanted to collect superheroes you could do that.”
Now Leung reads “emotion-packed” graphic novels by Chris Ware and Canadians Chester Brown and Seth. She’s pleased Asian-Canadians are exploring the form.
The free Storytelling and the Graphic Novel event includes:
• award-winning independent filmmaker and storyteller Ann Marie Fleming, who animated the story of her famous magician great-grandfather and then depicted the tale in an full-colour illustrated memoir called The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam;
• actor Laara Ong, who’s selling her graphic novel Shanghai Blues 1939 on iTunes to raise money for and interest in a pair of related plays she wants to produce;
• architect David Wong, who’s written a graphic novel called Escape to Gold Mountain about the history of Chinese people in North America based on historical documents and interviews with elders; and
• writer Terry Watada, who’s Nikkei Manga-gatari is a historical recollection of memories, with one of the stories following a Japanese soldier who fought for Canada in the First World War and then returns and struggles to feel validated.
“I want to know how all these people are going to interact,” Leung said. “They’re all using the graphic novel and yeah they’re Asian, or they have Chinese or Japanese in their background, but they have different approaches... they have different reasons for writing these.”
Leung says the form demands a strong story and carefully considered dialogue and images. She also notes graphic novels are accessible to children with learning disabilities, those disinterested in reading, new immigrants and elderly people.
She wants to hear “more voices from more diverse communities” in graphic novels.
Jim Wong-Chu, a founding member of the decades-old Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop, which publishes Ricepaper magazine, said its members recognized the society’s need to nurture a new generation of more diverse Asian-Canadian writers, including refugees, mixed-race scribes and fantasy and science fiction authors. The hope is that sessions on graphic novels will attract younger writers.
The festival includes readings, workshops, panels and the book launch for Lives of the Family: Stories of Fate and Circumstance by Denise Chong, author of The Concubine’s Children.
There’s also a book fair of Asian-themed writing.
“Some of [the books] are quite rare,” Wong-Chu said. “When I was younger, 30-odd years ago, every time I’d come across an Asian book of any kind I’d buy it, so my library is very cluttered and a lot of people are now de-cluttering so they’re donating the books to us.”
The fair will include first editions and rare books, DVDs and memorabilia of Asian-North American hockey players.
The festival closes with a 10-course banquet at the Pink Pearl Chinese Restaurant, where a Community Builder Award will be presented to publisher Brian Lam of Arsenal Pulp Press.
Most of the festivities happen in Chinatown at the UBC Learning Exchange and the festival includes a literary walking tour of the area.
Leung is particularly passionate about the festival’s focus on graphic novels.
“It’s great the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop [which is mounting the literASIAN festival] is promoting [the graphic novel],” she said. “They recognize it’s growing in popularity and it’s a heck of a good way to tell a story.”
For more information, see literasian.ricepapermagazine.ca.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Yoga
Started Meditation at an early age ;-)
but not till I discovered this joyful teacher, Clara Oss-Roberts
Then I discovered together Dana Flynn at Laughing Lotus who sent me back to Level 2. I became intrigued...
Photo Credit Nadine Somjen
Then I discovered together Dana Flynn at Laughing Lotus who sent me back to Level 2. I became intrigued...
Photo Credit Nadine Somjen
And thru Dana Flynn, i was blessed to be taught by Keith Borden who is an amazing being.
I have been blessed to have some amazing teachers. I like to start the week on Monday morning's with the inspiring Tina James:
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Monday, November 18, 2013
Ping An
Asian Life Co
The Chinese insurance company plans to sell up to $4.2 billion of six-year domestic convertible bonds.
Ping An Insurance (Group) has received regulatory approval to issue up to Rmb26 billion ($4.2 billion) of domestic convertible bonds, according to an announcement on the Hong Kong stock exchange website on Thursday evening.
The company, listed both in Hong Kong and Shanghai, first announced plans for the CB in December 2011 so it has been a long wait. However, the timing of the approval is a bit surprising as observers hadn’t expected the insurer to get the go-ahead from regulators until after Sinopec had issued its planned domestic CB of up to Rmb30 billion.
Sinopec, which is officially known as China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, received approval for the bond from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) in early July this year, but has yet to complete the deal. The company’s internal approval from shareholders expired in mid-October, but Sinopec is asking them to extend it for another 12 months at an extraordinary shareholders meeting on November 26.
The expectation that Ping An would have to wait for Sinopec was based on a belief that the regulators would want to see how well the market is able to absorb one major deal before approving another multi-billion dollar transaction. Based on the proposed size, both of these deals will exceed China Minsheng Banking Corp’s Rmb20 billion ($3.2 billion) transaction in March, which is the largest A-share CB to come to market this year.
Domestic Chinese CBs are very equity-like as they come with low conversion premiums – typically no more than 5% versus the latest market price as most issuers fix the conversion price at the regulatory floor, which is either the 20-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP) or the VWAP the day before the announcement of the terms.
Together with the downside protection and the annual coupons, this makes them popular with investors. And since the regulators don’t approve that many CBs per year, each deal tends to attract huge demand. According to sources at the time, the Minsheng Bank CB received more than $200 billion worth of orders, highlighting the strong appetite for good quality A-share paper.
The Ping An deal, which as per earlier announcements will have a six-year maturity, is interesting because the CBs will be treated as equity even before conversion. This is a possibility open to insurance companies, depending on how the local regulators interpret the guidelines. Ping An is the first company in China to receive approval to treat its CBs this way.
When it first announced the plans for the deal in December 2011, Ping An said the CB would help to boost its solvency margin ratio, which has come under pressure as its various business segments are experiencing rapid growth. It also noted that it needs to increase its risk buffers as the domestic Chinese economy is facing a slow-down in growth and an increased risk of policy shifts as economic uncertainties persist.
While almost two years has lapsed since then, all of that still hold true.
Since the initial announcement, Ping An’s Hong Kong-listed shares have traded in a range between HK$50 and HK$70 and on Thursday closed in the middle of that range at HK$61.25. The stock has recovered from a low of HK$48.84 in early July, but is still down 5.6% year-to-date.
CICC, Credit Suisse Founder Securities and Goldman Sachs Gaohua are joint bookrunners for the Ping An CB.
The same banks, together with Citic Securities and Deutsche Bank’s Chinese joint venture Zhong De Securities, are also mandated for the Sinopec transaction. -- FINANCE ASIA
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