Fast-food chain Ajisen (China) recently announced its entry into the high-end restaurant market by opening the first restaurant named Wakayama in the International Finance Center (IFC) of Hong Kong.

Anta Sports Products Limited, hand in hand with the Chinese Olympic Committee, held the Anta Award Clothing Release Ceremony for 2010 Olympic Winter Games, also as a farewell party for the Chinese athletes. The clothes shown in the ceremony were specially designed with the concept of "Chinese knot", to bestow good luck upon the athletes and to acknowledge traditional Chinese culture.

Recently, Colgate-Palmolive launched a new product called Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief in China, aimed at the higher-end of the toothpaste market. Different from its rivals such as Yun Nan Bai Yao, Sensodyne or Pro Health from Crest, Colgate-Palmolive positioned this product as the first toothpaste of its kind to make use of Pro-Argin, a new technology clinically proven to deliver instant and lasting relief against tooth sensitivity.

Recent news indicates that China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) is planning to enter the liquor market by acquiring a liquor brand.

Recently Shanghai Jahwa, the largest local cosmetics enterprise has officially launched a cosmeceuticals brand “Yu Ze”, marking its entry into the medical cosmetics market. The chairman of Jahwa, Ge Wenyao, stated that brands like Avene, La Roche-Posay and Vichy occupy nearly 60% of the current cosmeceuticals market in China, making it a strategic area for Jahwa.

As you might have heard, last week Google threatened to pull out of China. The news spread like a virus online and had a lot of people talking in China and around the world. The information first appeared on Google’s official blog in “A new approach to China”, posted by David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer of Google. The same day, the indices of GOOG went down by 1.3%. Rather than debate whether a retreat from China would be a good or bad move for Google, we would like to discuss the effect it could have on Google’s portfolio, partners, users, and competitors.