Picture of the Day: Pink Peonies

Beautiful peonies in bloom already!

It's that time of year again when my mother's peonies are in bloom!

This year we counted 30 buds that will blossom this year, thanks to organic compost to fertilise the soil.

A week ago the buds were coming out and then boom! They have unfurled into a massive mass of brilliant fuchsia and pink petals.

When examined closely the petals are quite delicate, and like sakura, these peonies fade soon after blooming.

Is it no wonder that Chinese painters liked to paint peonies, which are known as the "king of flowers", perhaps because of their size. Peonies represent wealth, honour, prosperity and success. 

We are taking pictures of them everyday, capturing their spirit and beauty before they disappear... for another year.

Vanity Plates Flaunt Vanity Wealth

Single digit license plates can command high prices at auction

After real estate in terms of square footage and location, Hong Kong vanity license plates are another way to show off one's wealth. With a car, everyone around town can see how much you spent on the plates. And the fewer letters or numbers the better.

Forty-nine plates went under the hammer on Sunday at an annual Lunar New Year auction held by the Transport Department. And it seems that even though the local economy is struggling, the uber wealthy have no problems shelling out for vanity plates.

Lucky numbers are also in high demand

One that just had the letter "S" went for HK$14.2 million, while "88" was sold for HK$11.4 million.

Bids for the letter "S" started at HK$5,000, but a prospective bidder cut to the chase and offered HK$8 million as soon as bidding started. 

Single-letter plates are considered a sign of status and "S" is closely related to the Superman logo. There were already predictions ahead of the auction that this plate would go for around HK$10 million.

Meanwhile the digits "88" had the second-highest price, with bidding lasting for 13 minutes.

Another plate, "183" went for HK$725,000, while "BB18" was sold for HK$430,000.

To put these auction prices into perspective, he most expensive license plate in Hong Kong is the letter "W" at a whopping HK$26 million in 2021, and "R" was HK$25.5 million in 2023. 

When it comes to just numbers, someone paid HK$18.1 million for the plate "28". 

Only in Hong Kong...

Chinese Money Flows into Hong Kong Again

Hong Kong is again attracting mainlanders with deep pockets

In April this year a huge money-laundering scandal rocked Singapore -- where 10 Chinese nationals were charged with laundering US$2.2 billion involving real estate, watches, luxury handbags, jewellery, and lots of bottles of alcohol.

It was revealed in court that these men, with passports from Vietnam, Vanuatu, Cyprus and Dominica managed to live a crazy rich Asian lifestyle in the Lion City, paid for by money made from scams and online gambling.

The fact that they were able to live in Singapore without any scrutiny for years shocked residents and resulted in a massive review in policies, particularly banks tightening rules, particularly around clients with multiple passports.  

As a result, the Chinese are moving their money by the truckloads back to Hong Kong, where there is less scrutiny of the source of wealth.

How much is coming in? US$44 billion, three times the amount last year. 

With lots of money, come the wealth managers and banks in Hong Kong are on a massive hiring spree these days.

Swiss private banker Julius Baer has expanded its office space by 40 percent to house all the staff they are adding, while Bank of Singapore in Hong Kong is boosting its number of staff by 30 percent. Standard Chartered wants to double its staff in wealth management, and same with Citigroup.

It's also not just the uber wealthy looking to move their money to Hong Kong, but even those with assets ranging from US$5 million to US$10 million.

The Hong Kong government is also enticing the rich to come over -- those who invest HK$30 million in the city can get residency -- and 500 have applied.

However the tricky part is for banks to verify the applicants' assets over the past 24 months, which won't be easy.

Nevertheless, it seems that the wealth management sector in Hong Kong is seeing lots of dollar signs in the long run.

"I'm getting three to four calls daily from clients regarding immigration-related matters including the capital investment entrant scheme," said Patrick Yip, vice-chair for Deloitte China. "Many of the wealthy Chinese are looking for options. They want to be able to travel with a 'user-friendly' passport and get education overseas for their kids."