Note: Many in the SCMP reports are not new, according to information in the Web. Perhaps the importance of SCMP reports is that for the first time, Mr Xu identifies himself as the source of the information. The report cites
(a) Minnie Chan, Mission improbable. South China Morning Post, Jan 19, 2015. www.scmp.com/news/china/article/ ... s-deal-buy-liaoning
(i) "Standing on the deck of the vessel in the snow and chill of a wintry day in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on January 28, 1998, Xu [Zengping 徐增平] , a PLA basketball player-turned-businessman, said he was awed by the strength of the steel leviathan."
Mykolaiv
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mykolaiv
(a city, and the administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast)
(ii) "Xu, best known in Hong Kong for his Palace-of-Versailles-style [’有港版「梵爾賽宮」之稱’] home on The Peak"
Victoria Peak 太平山
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Peak
(locally as The Peak; 552m)
(iii) In 1996 "Xu was head of Chinluck Holdings [Chinluck Group Ltd 創律集團有限公司 (Chinluck is close to Cantonese pronunciation for 創律)], a Hong Kong-based company with interests in trading, catering, culture, entertainment, and property, among others. * * * Xu made a name for himself organising cross-border cultural events, including a stunt in which late Taiwanese entertainer Blackie Ko drove a car over the Hukou Waterfall 壺口瀑布 on the Yellow River in 1997 [以庆祝香港回归: zh.wikipedia.org]."
柯受良
zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/柯受良
(昵称 柯小黑; 出生 浙江省漁山列島 (1953); 美軍第七艦隊與國軍的協助下，1955年2月大陳島撤退時，兩歲的柯受良隨父親追隨國軍到台灣; 柯家在浙江沿海一帶有200年的捕魚歷史，屬於閩南民系福佬人; 死於哮喘發作 (2003 in Shanghai)
(iv) "To that end, in August 1997, Xu set up a Macau shell company, Agencia Turistica e Diversoes Chong Lot [Limitada 澳门创律旅游娱乐公司，香港创律集团的子公司], and spent HK$6 million getting the necessary documents for a casino. * * * Xu plied the Ukrainian sellers with fiery, 62-per-cent-proof Chinese liquor called erguotou 二锅头." 作者: choi 时间: 1-22-2015 13:44
(b) Minnie Chan, Mission Impossible II. South China Morning Post, Jan 20, 2015. www.scmp.com/news/china/article/ ... rcraft-carrier-home
(i) "To raise the cash, Xu had to sell his palatial home on The Peak at 37 Deep Water Bay Road 深水灣道 [Deep Water Bay is a bay] in 1999 and mortgage his 280,000 sq ft property on Peng Chau."
Peng Chau 坪洲
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peng_Chau
(a small island)
(ii) "'Ji Shengde 姬胜德, the former naval intelligence chief, entrusted Xu to do the deal,' the source said. 'But Ji was sacked and given a suspended death sentence in 2000 for his role in a Fujian smuggling scandal.'"
(iii) "It's like I had three army regiments before the deal, but now I'm just left with a cookhouse"
cookhouse (n): "a building for cooking" www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cookhouse
(ii) “According to China's Carrier 中國航母, a book published by China Development Press 中国发展出版社”