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Ben Kwok

Bridge tactician Deng still inspires power players
Thanks  to Deng Xiaoping,  bridge has become a popular mind game among mainland senior officials and executives of state-owned big corporations.
Knowing it  was the favourite pastime of the once-paramount leader, a sizable   chunk of the mainland leadership - in their  younger days - learnt how to play bridge, a game  for which the two  richest Americans, Bill Gates  and Warren Buffett,   regularly find time.
It is also a passport for making it to the top - former premier Li Peng,  Premier Wen Jiabao  and Vice-Premier Wu Yi  have all gathered for a  game   once in a while.
For no other reason than respect,  Deng remained honorary chairman of the Chinese Contract Bridge Association (CCBA) for 10 years after his death,  succeeded by former vice-premier  Li Lanqing   only this past Wednesday.
National Social Security Fund chairman Xiang Huaicheng  was appointed  CCBA chairman in the  Great Hall of the People on the same day.
Mainland officials who showed up  for a celebrity competition included former Politburo member Ding Guangen,  Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan,  state councillor Chen Zhili,  Beijing mayor Wong Qishan  and party secretary of Anhui province Guo Jinlong.
Bridge is also  de rigueur for top businessmen on  the mainland.
'Almost everyone I know in the top seat at telecoms, banking and oil companies knows bridge,' said Patrick Choy Kwok-hung, a  Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference delegate.
Bridge has not yet made it into the Olympic Games  but it is definitely on its way. Soon after the Beijing Olympics, a 2008 Beijing World Mind Sports Games is to be hosted in the Olympic Village.   More than 2,000 participants from 100 countries  will compete in five mind games  -  bridge, Go, draughts, chess and Xiang Qi (Chinese chess).
The International Mind Sports Association  estimates there are 700 million players  active in these games worldwide.
Good concentration is a key requirement for such games - definitely a problem for those with ordinary minds  such as Lai See.
Starchy response to IPO
It is quite mind-boggling for  punters on initial public offerings to see  China Starch (stock code 3838)  post a zero gain on its  trading debut.
It had all the ingredients for success. First, it is a China stock. It also has a super lucky stock number (in fact, we found that only Soho China  - stock code: 410 - among a dozen  offerings  out this month and  due next month did not have either a lucky '3' or '8').
The company even chose the first day to announce a 278 per cent gain  in interim profit.
The stock was up 6.7 per cent  yesterday.
The lesson: don't just buy stock with the names beginning with China, but also look at what is following the name.
In this case, starch is  stiff and chalky stuff, which suggested it might not  move.
Keeping pirates from pirates
This could be tempting but also potentially  dangerous.
The latest City Telecom   television advertisement shows characters  such as Jack Sparrow  from Pirates  of the Caribbean  and a soccer player squeezing   into a pipeline,  to create a picture of what could happen to customers  using the old telephone system while struggling for high-speed connections.
The advert claims that  City Telecom users could download a 90-minute DVD movie in 41 seconds, compared  with 113 minutes  from a rival provider
We have no question about the speed, but we wonder if there is a legal way to  download a non-pirated Pirates movie or a real-time European soccer match?
Golden week shines bright
More than anytime before, Hong Kong has enjoyed a real golden week, with a strong rally  in  mainland stocks pushing the Hong Kong market value to beyond HK$20 trillion.  Enjoy your golden holiday!

