BizChina

Australian golf great Greg Norman shocked people back home when word spread in May that his golf-course design business had closed its Sydney office and opened a new sales-and-marketing office in Beijing. "Everyone in the golf world knows that China is the place to be," says golf coach Hank Haney, who spent years tweaking Tiger Woods' swing. "Golf is growing and growing here, and there is no reason to think it will stop." Haney was in Beijing in June to announce plans for his first golf academy in China.

Like so much else in China, it all happened in the blink of an eye. Long seen as a bourgeois sport, golf was banned, in effect, after the Communist Party took power in 1949. Now China has 400 courses, virtually all of them built in the last decade and a half. Much of the credit for this golfing boom goes to a former Hong Kong paper-and-packaging tycoon named David Chu.

David Chu (Chu Shu-ho)

Chu is the founder and chairman of Mission Hills in Shenzhen, the world's largest golf club, according to Guinness World Records. It sprawls over 20 square kilometers of lakes and manicured lawn, and boasts not only 12 courses but also 51 tennis courts in a surreal stretch of nets that ranks as Asia's largest tennis center. It was a big bet when it opened in 1994, but it broke into the black 18 months later and has been immensely profitable for most of the past decade, according to officials at the privately held Mission Hills Group. Chu's total investment in Shenzhen has grown to $1.5 billion, but villas along the courses sell at prices that top $25 million, and a membership can cost $265,000.

Golf course construction in China is going full tilt from the rain forests of Hainan to the Stone Forest in Kunming, but greens fees are not the driving force. The catalyst is the residential real estate that surrounds the courses. Owners splash out on flashy facilities and courses designed by the biggest names in golf. "That ramps up the real estate value," explains American course designer Brian Curley.

Hence, David Chu has plenty of competition. Scattered around Shenzhen are scores of courses. Every big city across China has a dozen; small towns, beaches, even nature resorts are now seeking a slice of the action. Design firms find themselves fully booked. "For the past five years 80% of the work and 90% of our income comes from China," notes Neil Haworth, who heads the Singapore office of golf-course designer Nelson & Haworth.

China's passenger car sales in August increased 59.26 percent from one year earlier to 977,300 units, the China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATRC) said Wednesday.

The growth rate was 43.83 percentage points higher compared with that in July, the Tianjin-based CATRC said. China's auto sales, including those of passenger cars and commercial vehicles such as vans, lorries and tractors, totaled 9.46 million units in the first eight months of this year, up 31.53 percent year on year, it said.

China Huarong Asset Management Corporation (Huarong), one of China's four state-owned asset management firms, said Friday it has signed a cooperation agreement with Taiwan-listed SinoPac Financial Holdings Co. to jointly develop financial products and business models.

Under the agreement, the two companies will cooperate in business information, talent exchange, and development of new products and business models, Huarong said in a statement.

Huarong president Lai Xiaomin said the cooperation will promote cross-Strait economic exchange.

The Chinese mainland and Taiwan in June signed a landmark economic pact, the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), a systematic mechanism to enhance cross-Strait economic cooperation.