Gady Epstein, China's Developer's Lament; Zhang Xin and her husband are the
most familiar faces of a real estate boom in China. That doesn't make them a
popular couple. Forbes, Mar. 12, 2010.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0329/billionaires-2010-asia-pacific-real-estate-vantone-china-high-rise-anxiety.html
("This is the Chinese economy in a nutshell--sellers selling a product for
which there's no natural demand, buyers buying whether they need it or not.")
Note:
(a) Zaha Hadid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaha_Hadid
(born an Iraqi; British citizen; currently Professor at the University of
Applied Arts Vienna in Austria; a deconstructivist architect)
(b) disserve (vt): "to serve ill: IMJURE, DAMAGE, HARM"
(c) open-faced (adj): "having a frank, ingenious or undisguised face"
(d) Hong Huang 洪晃
(e) Barings Bank
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barings_Bank
(founded in 1762 as the John and Francis Baring Company by Sir Francis
Baring; was the oldest merchant bank in London until its collapse in 1995
after one of the bank's employees, Nick Leeson, lost £827 million ($1.3
billion) speculating—primarily—on futures contracts)
(f) wildcatter(n): "1. one taht drills wells in the hope of finding oil in
territory not known to be an oil field 2. one that promotes unsafe and
unreliable enterprises"
All English definitions are from Webster (3rd ed, 1961).
(g) Beijing Vantone Co. 北京万通地产股份有限公司
www.vantone.com
(h) Soho New Town SOHO 现代城
My comment: While reading this, I was thinking Chinese were jealous. Then I
recall the run-up to Beijing Olympics of 2008, when many homeowners from
Qianmen protested and were treated badly. Ms. Zhang Xin could have washed
her hand at the time, instead of now. People do bad things and then blame
everything on the government, as if they are innocent victims--Nazi Germany
and Culture Revolution of China come to mind.