Daily Archives: September 26, 2021

Like a few other projects under the Marvel Studios umbrella, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was temporarily halted as the world began to shut down in early 2020 as a result of the ongoing global pandemic. Because of that, the production had to take certain liberties to make sure the film was out on time. That includes building Macau from the ground up using computer-generated imagery despite the region being an actual, real-life metropolitan area.

Due to the various travel restrictions that quickly began to form, Marvel Studios and the team at RodeoFX put their heads together on what to do. Under normal circumstances, the film's second unit would travel to Macau and film blank plates the studio's visual effects vendors would then alter for the movie. Since time was of the essence, Ara Khanikian and his team at Rodeo opted to go the "from-scratch" route.

Luckily for the team, the second unit had shot some scouting footage by the time travel shutdowns were in place they were able to reference. Between that and extensive use of Google Maps, Khanikian and his team were able to perfectly recreate a city usually home to 650,000-some residents.

The team started at the primary skyscraper, a fictional building, used in the movie. From there, RodeoFX fleshed out the city. Those buildings closest to the skyscraper got a premium treatment, with accurate modeling, textures, and the works because those were the buildings that'd actually make the cut in the film.The further you got out from the building, the less detailed the building models became.

"We wanted to avoid building every single building accurately, because that would have been just insane in terms of the amount of work," Khanikian tells ComicBook.com ."So we were looking at it going, 'Okay, well, you know what, behind our hero skyscraper is an area that looks a lot like the slums,' so we kind of analyze how they look and they have a repeating pattern the way that they're built and then we would build a little city block of slums and then just duplicate them with a lot of variation of height and textures and this and that."

Regardless, the team always wanted to be as accurate as possible, no matter the cost.

"We wanted it to make sure that it stands on its own, no matter what the shot is. So that in all of these shots, we can just plug and play Macau and just render it out with the proper camera and then concentrate on just matching the lighting with the scaffolding, the building, the skyscraper, all of that, dialing that work in terms of lighting and CG and leaving Macau, just letting it be, basically, and only fine tune it if we needed to in a shot," he adds.

Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Ringsis directed byDestin Daniel Crettonand produced byKevin FeigeandJonathan Schwartz, with Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Charles Newirth serving as executive producers. David Callaham & Destin Daniel Cretton & Andrew Lanham wrote the screenplay for the film, which is now in theaters.

What did you think of Shang-Chi's MCU debut? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or byhitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!

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Shang-Chi VFX Teams Had to Build Macau Digitally Because of COVID Shutdowns - ComicBook.com

Recent crackdowns have proven that few sectors are safe from Beijings control, says the FTs Lex column. No industry looks as vulnerable as Macaus gambling market. Shares in the territorys casino operators fell sharply amid a regulatory review that may end up cutting the number of casino licences in the worlds largest gambling hub. Should the new laws limit the number of licences below six, some operators could go out of business when all current permits expire in June 2022.

Even if that doesnt happen, it is clear that Macau will be more demanding than in past years, says Katrina Hamlin on Breakingviews. Operators may face unprecedented micromanagement, including state representatives scrutinising daily operations, and stricter oversight for junkets, which organise visits and credits for high rollers. Theres even a suggestion that firms may require government approvals to pay dividends.

The message for markets extends beyond Macau, says Shuli Ren in Bloomberg: China is serious about its common prosperity campaign. Hence shares in Hong Kongs four biggest property developers also tumbled after reports that Beijing has asked the territorys real-estate billionaires to resolve the citys housing crisis. The high cost of property in Hong Kong is often blamed for fuelling the widespread political protests in 2019. Investors now fear developers could be forced to donate some of their large land banks to the government.

Deflating Hong Kongs real-estate bubble wont just mean squeezing the tycoons it will also require a big shake up in tax policy, adds Jacky Wong in The Wall Street Journal. The territory earns twice as much from land sales as income tax, which is partly why tax rates have stayed so low until now. Hong Kongs housing market has produced immense wealth for some... Leaner times could be ahead.

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Xi Jinping's crackdown spreads to Macau and Hong Kong - MoneyWeek

As of 9am on Sunday (September 26), 230 thousand people have been tested for COVID-19 over the last two days. A total of 172,279 thousand joined the NAT mass testing programme which started on Saturday at 3pm, while another 58,901 have already been tested on their own since 3pm on September 24 (Friday).

In total so far 129 thousand specimens have already been analysed and all tested negative, according to the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre. as cited by TDM Radio Macau (Chinese channel).

The 230 thousand figure accounts for slightly more than one third of the local population.

All citizens are asked to undergo the nucleic acid test (NAT) in the designated 52 testing stations set up across the SAR which will be operating round-the-clock until September 28, 3pm. These include 31 general NAT stations, seven caring stations and 14 self-paid units.

Those who hold certificate of a negative NAT carried out in the 24 hours prior to the beginning of the mass testing campaign (September 25, 3pm) are exempted from taking a new test.

The mass nucleic acid testing campaign runs until 3pm on Tuesday (September 28).

The Civil Protection Operations Centre urges those who havent done nucleic acid test should enter the system:https://eservice.ssm.gov.mo/allpeoplernatestbook/to make a booking as soon as possible, to avoid clustering together on the 3rd day, leading to long waiting time.

The estimated waiting time at each NAT station can checked athttps://eservice.ssm.gov.mo/aptmon/aptmon/en

The move comes after two new cases of COVID-19 were reported on Friday night and on Saturday morning respectively. Cases number 65 and 66 are ofof security guards working at Golden Crown China Hotel. These cases are related to a previous one confirmed on Friday, of a 31-year-old male resident of Turkish nationality who tested positive for COVID-19 in a nucleic acid test carried out Thursday night and had arrived in Macau, via Singapore, from Turkey, on September 18th.

The Macau SAR is under state of immediate prevention since 12am, Saturday (September 25).

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COVID-19: 230,000 tested as of 9am, no new positive results - Macau Business

Experts call for the creation of a mechanism of legal cooperation in environmental governance and collaborative environmental governance in the Greater Bay Area

MB September 2021 Special Report | GreenMacau

On the other hand, the O3 pollution in this region has been worsening year by year, which is widely affecting the air quality and residents health in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The assessment is included in the 2020 Reporton theStateof the EnvironmentofMacau published by the Environmental Protection Bureau (DPSA, the acronym in Portuguese).

In face of this, DSPA recommends that studies be carried out on the emission and regulation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and continues to insist on constant inspection of gasoline vapour recovery at filling stations, but Macau alone can solve nothing.

And Macaus future direction will be shaped by the GBA development plan in all domains, the environment included.

The problem in this area, as in others, is how to reconcile three different legal systems, especially those in the Mainland and Macau with that of Hong Kong, all of them based on very different models.

The coexistence of the three legal systems implies that the environmental protection laws of each region govern only the respective region, with no effect on the other regions, according to the most complete study on the subject, published in Macau by Feng Zehua and Zhan Pengwei.

The two Chinese academics add, Thus, regarding issues related to the governance of the land and hydrographic basins, joint governance of coastal and offshore territories and joint governance of the environmental atmosphere, due to the jurisdiction limits of the respective environmental protection laws it is not possible to efficiently achieve the expected objectives of joint governance.

Feng and Zhan list several examples: firstly, today the severe pollution of the waters surrounding Hong Kong and Macau have to do with daily industrial pollution from the nine cities in Guangdong that lie upstream, so the separate application of laws in these three regions undermines joint governance on environmental issues affecting the different cities.

The coexistence of three legal systems is a unique feature of the GBA, but it is also an obstacle that must be overcome in this type of cooperation, particularly with regard to environmental governance Feng Zehua and Zhan Pengwei

Second, the authors state that differences regarding the enforcement of laws governing ecological and environmental issues is one of the indicators of the social responsibility assumed by the governments of Hong Kong and Macau towards their citizens, but they emphasize in the case of the nine cities of Guangdong, under the direction of the Central Government, the focus is always placed on the promotion of economic development, ignoring the importance of protecting the environment, which results in different environmental protection measures being adopted by the Public Administration.

Furthermore, regarding differences in the legal sphere, according to Feng Zehua and Zhan Pengwei there are non-governmental organizations in Hong Kong and Macau that can bring legal action in the public interest in favour of environmental protection, while in the nine cities in Guangdong only prosecutors can bring lawsuits in the public administrative interest with regard to the environment, which affects the articulation between the laws of the three regions jointly governing the same issue.

In short, they conclude, the coexistence of three legal systems is a unique feature of the GBA, but it is also an obstacle that must be overcome in this type of cooperation, particularly with regard to environmental governance.

Both authors show concern over the problem how it will be possible to resolve the differences resulting from the inequalities of the legal positions of the cities included in the GBA in the short term, and therefore propose the creation of a mechanism of legal cooperation in the environmental governance of the GBA.

Another Mainland scholar proposes a solution with points of contact: collaborative environmental governance is the proposal of Ying Ren of the Green Development Law Research Centre, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.

Mr Ren agrees with the legal problems existing in the field of environmental supervision and therefore puts forward countermeasures and suggestions to further improve the supporting mechanism of environmental supervision in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area under the environmental protection law.

According to Ying Ren, taking up environmental supervision must be the starting point to comprehensively improving the systematic guarantee of in-depth cooperation among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.

Its core issues include two aspects. One is exploring the innovation of a collaborative governance system with environmental supervision as the starting point. The other is the dynamic balance between the right to development and the protection of environmental rights.

Cooperation has continued to be deepened

The DSPAs response to Macau Businesss question on coordination mechanisms within the GBA is laconic, stating only that, based on the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, the cooperation in the field of ecological protection between Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau has continued to be deepened, and exchanges and cooperation in various aspects have been strengthened, joint prevention and treatment has been promoted, and they are working with a commitment to improving environmental quality at the regional level.

An example of this cooperation is the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Pearl River Delta Regional Air Quality Monitoring Network, comprising 23 air monitoring stations located in Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macau designed to monitor six major air pollutants: SO2 (sulfur dioxide), NO2 (nitrogen dioxide), O3 (ozone), RSP (Respirable Suspended Particulates), FSP (Fine Suspended Particulates) and CO (carbon monoxide).

The network publishes annual reports on the monitoring results and on long-term pollution trends of the PRD as well as quarterly statistical monitoring results.

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Special Report GBA and the case for legal synchronization - Macau Business

Environmental science expert Wai Ming To is sceptical on solar or wind energy being developed in Macau. He argues instead that the city can do slightly better is to adopt smart/intelligent building systems that optimize the use of electricity for air-conditioning, and air and water heating

MB September 2021 Special Report | GreenMacau

For the first time, a Macau-based scholar was included among the top 2 per cent of world scientists based on citation impact for the year 2019. Professor Wai Ming To of the Macau Polytechnic Institute has research interests encompassing environmental science, technology and management, energy analysis, total quality management and services management, among others. Macau Businessinterviewed Professor To, who declared it is very unlikely that Macau can be a sustainable, energy-efficient city in the short and medium term.

Limited space, high population density and an economy based on mass tourism will these factors prevent Macau from being a beautiful city of leisure, or is it still possible to make Macau the site of sustainable development?

Wai Ming To The factors listed in your question limited space (Macaus land area is about 30 km2), high population density, and an economy based on mass tourism will definitely have an adverse effect on Macau as a beautiful city of leisure from residents and tourists perspectives. With its limited resources, Macau should focus on sustainable development, not sustained development whose focus is primarily on economic growth without acknowledging the existence of a finite carrying capacity a limit on what Macau can bear. In fact, a local higher education institution estimated that Macaus optimal tourism carrying capacity is less than 110,000 person-times per day, or 40.1 million person-times per year. It was reported that among 104 days surveyed in 2017, the number of visitors per day exceeded the optimal daily rate on 21 of those days (around 20 percent of the days surveyed).

Do you believe Macaus biggest environmental problem to be the effects of excess municipal solid waste, or are there other more important issues?

WMT People, including residents and tourists, generate a huge amount of municipal solid waste. However, solid waste may not be obvious to most people as an environmental problem. Macaus environmental complaints were mostly against noise issues such as community noise (about 8000 cases in 2020) and air pollution such as oily fumes from commercial kitchens (about 260 cases in 2020). Community noise and air pollution directly affect residents well-being and constitute a nuisance.

People have been educated to practice reduce, reuse, recycle (the 3R principle) for years. Unfortunately, they have seldom put the principle into practice over the past twenty years

Is it because people dont take the solid waste problem seriously that it isnt alleviated? Is there a lack of collective awareness?

WMT Municipal solid waste is primarily transferred to Macaus Incineration Plant for treatment. Most residents put their garbage into the waste collection units and forget about its impact on the environment. People have been educated to practice reduce, reuse, recycle (the 3R principle) for years. Unfortunately, they have seldom put the principle into practice over the past twenty years, when Macaus economy was good and people had more and more money to spend. That is a lack of collective conscience, as you said.

Now lets talk about renewable energies: do you think Macau will be able (in the medium term) to be a sustainable, energy-efficient city?

WMT Macau is a small city and has many high-rise buildings. Thus, solar energy is not efficient due to the shadowing effect of adjacent buildings and the small ratio of rooftop area to total floor area. Additionally, Macau does not have an onshore/offshore wind farm that can produce a steady supply of electricity. The only way Macau can do slightly better is to adopt smart/intelligent building systems that optimize the use of electricity for air-conditioning, and air and water heating. This means it is very unlikely that Macau can be a sustainable, energy-efficient city in the short and medium term.

Solar energy is not efficient due to the shadowing effect of adjacent buildings and the small ratio of rooftop area to total floor area

The Central Government allocated 85 square kilometres of territorial waters to Macau in 2015. Does that present an opportunity to build offshore wind farms?

WMT Building an offshore wind farm requires substantial investment on the part of the Macau Government and the Macau Power Company (i.e. CEM). Additionally, a team of experts would need to be appointed to assess whether an offshore wind farm is feasible within the 85 km2of territorial waters given to Macau by the Central Government.

Do you think the most decisive role (for the changing of habits) belongs to the Government or to the citizens? Is there enough awareness of these issues in Macau?

WMT The Macau Government plays a more important role in promoting environmental awareness. The Macau Government should work closely with educational institutions (from kindergartens to tertiary institutions) to improve environmental awareness among the next generations.

Among the top 2 per cent of world scientists

Wai Ming To is a Professor of Management in the School of Business at the Macau Polytechnic Institute. He received his PhD from Imperial College London and serves as an expert in the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Peoples Republic of China.

Professor To is among the best scientists in the world, according to a list, published by a research team from Stanford University (USA), of the top 2 per cent of the worlds most-cited scientists in various disciplines.

I was surprised to learn that I was included as one of the worlds top 2 per cent scientists based on citation impact in the year of 2019, he answers Macau Business. Nevertheless, it did not change my attitude towards doing research. I just want to collaborate with my fellow researchers to improve our understanding of how people feel, perceive and behave in organizations and different hospitality settings and how big the impacts we produce on the environmental, social and economic systems are.

One of his primary research topics is the haze problem in Macau, Hong Kong and Shenzhen. We demonstrated that haze problems in these three cities follow an Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) a hypothetical, inverted-U-shaped relationship between an environmental change and a citys economic development. For example, Macaus haze hours per year first increased, from 3 hours in 1986 to a peak level at 766 hours in 2007, and then improved as Macaus economy continually evolved (only 57 hours in 2016). Additionally, my fellow researchers and I have collected Chinas fisheries data and have realized that China has done a great job keeping marine and inland capture fisheries at a relatively low level over the past two decades. Chinas fisheries are primarily based on aquaculture production. We are going to analyse all this data (on haze and the fisheries) carefully and publish the findings in international journals.

Wai Ming To also intends to explore a number of interesting topics in Macaus service sector with past and present colleagues. The topics include consumer perceptions of the ethics of retailers, the diningscape in restaurants, and the use of social media for work (particularly in light of the Covid-19 pandemic) in Macau.

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Special Report - It is very unlikely that Macau can be a sustainable, energy-efficient city in the short and medium term. - Macau Business