It has a hotshot new designer known for dressing Beyonce and is experimenting with monthly product launches on social media. Now Burberry is moving past its famed camel check prints with new logo-style branding meant to give its handbags and other wares the kind of covetable cachet top luxury rivals like LVMH's Louis Vuitton have long enjoyed. It's a gamble as fans of the British label digest the unfamiliar monogram - a motif of interlocking "Ts" and "Bs" in a nod to founder Thomas Burberry - splashed onto everything from hoodies to high heels. But the makeover, part of a bid to revive stagnant sales, also reflects a growing battle among high-end brands to lure young shoppers in markets like Asia, including with instantly recognizable items they can flaunt - leading to a recent proliferation of logo-driven launches by Burberry rivals too. Burberry's revamped image is set to get its first real test on Tuesday, with first quarter sales that should reflect the higher proportion of designs … [Read more...] about In makeover mode, Burberry bets on new branding to boost sales
Traditions of chinese new year
In the age of online maps, who needs street directories anymore?
SINGAPORE: During Chinese New Year last year, retiree Kenneth Tang wanted to visit his sister-in-law at her home in Upper Bukit Timah, in a relatively secluded area he was unfamiliar with.Instead of getting driving directions with a few taps of his smartphone, the 64-year-old sat in his living room, put on his reading glasses and studied the route on the pages of his 2018 street directory.“I think GPS is more convenient and better in many ways, but I use road directories because I can have a better idea of how to get to the place I am going to,” he told CNA.Mr Tang said the directory allows for more flexible alternative route planning in the event of congestion, and gives a clearer picture of nearby car parks – crucial for peak times when every lot has been snapped up.“I use road directories also because I have been using it for years, long before GPS was available,” he added. “My friends and I who are from the older generation have been … [Read more...] about In the age of online maps, who needs street directories anymore?
Richness of Chinese literature draws Nan Chiau students
The bookshelves in Lim Qi Xin's home are filled with classical poems and Chinese literature. Influenced by her family, Qi Xin picked up The Legend Of The Condor Heroes, written in traditional Chinese, when she was 10 and was immediately drawn in. The 15-year-old told The New Paper: "The characters are rich in their emotions. The way they expressed themselves through the nuances in the story drew me in and from then, I was hooked." She went on to read other classical texts and when she was in Primary 6, she made the decision to enter Nan Chiau High School for its Chinese Literature elective. At Nan Chiau, students study a mix of classical and modern poems, and books by popular Chinese writers, both local and foreign. It is one of the secondary schools that will introduce the Language Elective Programme next year. Students at Nan Chiau can take literature as a formal subject starting from Secondary 3. Mr Tang Jui Piow, the acting head of the Mother Tongue Language Department, said … [Read more...] about Richness of Chinese literature draws Nan Chiau students
Havana’s Chinatown dreaming of a new lease on life
HAVANA: Nestling alongside Havana's old town, surrounded by colonial buildings and swept by the exhaust trails of passing 1950s American convertibles, stands a large arch with an ornate roof.It's the entrance gate to Havana's Chinatown, once the biggest in Latin America, whose residents are now dreaming of recovering its past glory.Here, taxi drivers joke that it's the only Chinatown in the world without any Chinese, a testament to the assimilation of a migrant community that first arrived in Cuba in the middle of the 19th century."Since its creation, it was an open Chinese neighborhood that produced this mix between the Chinese and the country's original population," said Teresa Maria Li, director of the local House of Traditional Chinese Arts.Li comes from a family with a Chinese grandfather and a Spanish grandmother."First of all I feel Cuban. But deep inside I have the Chinese gene and I defend it vigorously, with a sense of belonging."After lunch at Lung Kong old people's … [Read more...] about Havana’s Chinatown dreaming of a new lease on life
China’s Xi appeals to youth patriotism on centenary of student protests
BEIJING: President Xi Jinping appealed to China's youth on Tuesday (Apr 30) to love the country and dedicate themselves to the Communist Party, warning on the centenary of student-led protests there was no place for those who ignored the country's needs.The May 4 Movement of 1919 started out as anti-imperialist student protests against a decision at the Paris Peace Conference, after World War I, to award Japan control of German concessions in China's Shandong province.It soon encompassed a broader debate about how China should modernise, having only just overthrown the emperor and ushered in a republic in 1911.The issue of student protests is especially sensitive in China this year, which also marks three decades since the bloody suppression of pro-democracy protests on and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Jun 4.Speaking to officials and youth delegates at the Great Hall of the People, Xi said China's young should be grateful to the party, the country, the society and the … [Read more...] about China’s Xi appeals to youth patriotism on centenary of student protests