One of Hong Kong's most famous night spots, the China City Night Club, has closed, a victim of higher rents and changing tastes, media reports said on Saturday.
Famed for its lavish decoration, raunchy Las Vegas-style dancing shows, hundreds of escort girls and a raft of regular celebrity customers, the China City Night Club was the first club to combine Chinese and Japanese debauchery.
world-class club
Described as Hong Kong's "only world-class nightclub" after it opened in 1982, the club became the place for businessmen to celebrate multi-million dollar business deals, spending as much as US$5,000 on food, drink and the companionship of a bevy of girls.
Celebrities were also enthusiastic patrons of the club that hosted visits by Brazilian football legend Pele and Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone.
The success of the nightclub mirrored the economic growth of Hong Kong as the former British colony capitalized on its position as the gateway to China.
In its heyday in the 1980s and early 1990s the club attracted more than 700 customers a night and raked in more than HK$1 million (US$128,000) a night.
eclipsed
But with the opening up of China and the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the nightclub went into decline. By the time it closed, the nightclub was attracting fewer than 100 customers a night and income dropped to less than HK$100,000 a night.
Speaking at the closing party, the nightclub's executive director Philip Ng said: "We've got customers from all over the world to share reminiscences about the time when millions of dollars worth of business deals were settled in the club and bottle after bottle of brandy were opened. But those days are no more."
Instead, Ng is planning to open another club, in a similar style, in the booming former Portuguese enclave of Macau, about an hour's ferry ride from Hong Kong.
Ng said that he believed the new club would more readily attract high-rolling gamblers from China who are being lured to Macau by its fast-growing casino industry.
Leading Taiwanese bicycle brands Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) and Merida Industry Co (美利達工業) on Sunday said that they have adopted measures to mitigate the impact of the tariff policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration. The US announced at the beginning of this month that it would impose a 20 percent tariff on imported goods made in Taiwan, effective on Thursday last week. The tariff would be added to other pre-existing most-favored-nation duties and industry-specific trade remedy levy, which would bring the overall tariff on Taiwan-made bicycles to between 25.5 percent and 31 percent. However, Giant did not seem too perturbed by the
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
TARIFF CONCERNS: Semiconductor suppliers are tempering expectations for the traditionally strong third quarter, citing US tariff uncertainty and a stronger NT dollar Several Taiwanese semiconductor suppliers are taking a cautious view of the third quarter — typically a peak season for the industry — citing uncertainty over US tariffs and the stronger New Taiwan dollar. Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科技) said that customers accelerated orders in the first half of the year to avoid potential tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump’s administration. As a result, it anticipates weaker-than-usual peak-season demand in the third quarter. The US tariff plan, announced on April 2, initially proposed a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese goods. Its implementation was postponed by 90 days to July 9, then
AI SERVER DEMAND: ‘Overall industry demand continues to outpace supply and we are expanding capacity to meet it,’ the company’s chief executive officer said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported that net profit last quarter rose 27 percent from the same quarter last year on the back of demand for cloud services and high-performance computing products. Net profit surged to NT$44.36 billion (US$1.48 billion) from NT$35.04 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, net profit grew 5 percent from NT$42.1 billion. Earnings per share expanded to NT$3.19 from NT$2.53 a year earlier and NT$3.03 in the first quarter. However, a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar since early May has weighed on the company’s performance, Hon Hai chief financial officer David Huang (黃德才)
RSS