tdaxp

You read the headline right.

In an effort to promote economic growth, Beijing has made it hard for Chinese to invest money oversees. (This policy also artificially strengthens the Chinese Yuan against other currencies, but that's a post for another time.) However, as the urban component of China's economy grows at about 10% a year, and bubbles pop up everywhere from the Shanghai stock market to the coastal realty market, something had to give.

As so often in China, what "gave" were government controls, and a number of stories (by Forbes, The Standard, and Simon World) discuss new rules that will allow Chinese to invest in the Hong Kong stock market. As Hong Kong is a global financial city, this means that Chinese dollars will be more open to investment around the world than ever before. While this is only on a trial basis, it's enough to help the Hong Kong exchange rise 12.4% It's also another step to China emerging as a "normal economy" whose currency floats freely.

Forbidden City Cop's plot, such as it is, is of the evil Gum Kingdom's quests to conquer the Chinese Empire. The simpleminded and friendly Emperor is no match for the clever Gum barbarians, and from the offer of a concubine to the capture of a space alien, the Emperor believes & accepts every Gum entreaty. It's up to doctor who moonlights as an Imperial Bodyguard and inventor, Ling Ling Fat ("008", Stephen Chow), to save the day.

Chow's films are a combination of lighthearted physical comedy and commentary on culture. The recent Shaolin Soccer (2001) is a masterful example of this, combining the rise of an improbably sports team (a la The Longest Yard) with a realist examination of contemporary urban China. Forbidden City Cop is an earlier example of the same themes, deftly combining western imports (UFOs, the Academy Awards, spy thrillers) with traditional (ancient heroes, an Empire in distress) and contemporary (kung fu) themes.



The only downside was the subtitles, sometimes hardly readable because of their positioning on the screen. Still, the film was funny and cute, and I recommend it. I rate it 8 / 10.

Rent from Greencine. (Currently out of stock at Amazon.)