大家好，今天给大家分享一些关于深圳机场附近停车便宜的知识，也会解释一下深圳机场的停车费用。如果你正在寻找停车便宜的地方，那么本文或许能帮到你。现在就开始吧！

去深圳宝安机场T3航站楼接人，车停在哪里方便

去深圳宝安机场T3航站楼接人的话，可以选择停在P1、P2室内停车场，这样比较方便。 P1、P2停车场位于T3航站楼的GTC（地面交通中心）内，距离T3航站楼比较近，可以通过GTC东侧13号门、14号门和西侧16号门、17号门到达。

深圳宝安机场T3航站楼GTC（地面交通中心）是一个地上三层建筑，部分地下是地铁，首层是停车库、设备用房等，二层、三层是公共空间和商业区。 GTC楼外有P1、P2、P3三个社会停车场，其中P1、P2是室内停车场，P3是露天停车场。

深圳机场停车费

深圳宝安国际机场的P1、P2、P3停车场收费标准如下：

15分钟内免费，1小时内收费10元，2小时内每半小时1元；

7小时内每半小时2元；24小时内每半小时3元；24小时之后每半小时5元。

首日封顶80元，次日封顶90元，之后每日封顶100元。

深圳宝安国际机场的P4停车场收费标准如下：

离航站楼比较远，需要乘坐摆渡车；

小车首日封顶50元，次日封顶60元，之后每日封顶72元。

深圳宝安国际机场周边也有便宜的停车场，收费标准如下：

机场周边有一个24小时免费接送停车场；

停车费每日大约30元；

24小时免费接送到航站楼；

你可以在手机APP上预订。

深圳机场停车场一天多少钱

深圳宝安国际机场的P1、P2、P3停车场一天的收费标准如下：

15分钟内免费，1小时内收费10元，2小时内每半小时1元；

7小时内每半小时2元；24小时内每半小时3元；24小时之后每半小时5元。

首日封顶80元，次日封顶90元，之后每日封顶100元。

深圳宝安国际机场的P4停车场一天的收费标准如下：

离航站楼比较远，需要乘坐摆渡车；

小车首日封顶50元，次日封顶60元，之后每日封顶72元。

深圳宝安国际机场周边的停车场一天大约30元；24小时免费接送到航站楼；你可以在手机APP上预订。

希望以上信息对你有帮助，谢谢！

P1或P2停车场

根据提供的信息，为了方便接人，建议将车停放在宝安机场的P1或P2停车场。以下是详细的建议和停车场信息：

• P1停车场：
  • 位置：一层为A区和B区，负一层为C区和D区。
  • 便利性：靠近电梯门，便于接人。
  • 收费标准：15分钟内免费，第一小时收费10元，第一小时后每小时收费2元。连续停放超过24小时后收费3元/小时，首日56元，之后72元/天。

• P2停车场：
  • 位置：一层为E区、F区，负一层为G区、H区。
  • 便利性：同样靠近电梯门，便于接人。
  • 收费标准：与P1停车场相同。
• P3停车场：
  • 位置：L区、M区、N区、大巴区。
  • 便利性：虽然也可以接人，但相对于P1和P2停车场，距离航站楼稍远。
• GTC到达厅：
  • 位置：从GTC东、西两侧社会停车场到航站楼四楼值机岛步行用时约7-13分钟，从南侧停车场到航站楼步行用时约8-15分钟。

综上所述，为了方便接人，建议选择P1或P2停车场，因为它们距离航站楼最近，且设有上客口，便于乘客快速找到车辆离开。同时，这些停车场的收费标准也相对合理，提供了较好的性价比。

In a lengthy message posted on its site Thursday, the company gave an in-depth explanation for the controversial update. To make amends, Apple will temporarily drop the price of replacement batteries to $29 starting in late January. The price will go back up to the usual $79 in 2019.

Customers are upset with the company over a software update that deliberately slowed down older phones in some situations to extend battery life. Some thought it was a ploy to get people to upgrade to new devices. A number of people have filed lawsuits over the feature and are seeking class action status.

The feature will stay on phones, but Apple says an upcoming iOS update will “?give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone’s battery.” It did not say if it will give them the ability to turn the feature off or on.

“We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize,” said the message.

The company confirmed the slowdown last week, but said it was part of a power management feature meant to prevent older batteries from shutting down suddenly.

“First and foremost, we have never — and would never — do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades,” the post said.

Related: What to do if you think Apple’s slowing down your phone

A year ago, some iPhone users reported their devices were shutting down unexpectedly even when they showed some battery power left. It wasn’t caused by defective batteries, according to Apple, but normal issues with aging lithium ion batteries.

To address the issue, Apple included an update in iOS that would slow down a phone during peak processing events to prevent the battery from shutting off. It affected the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and iPhone SE. Apple later rolled out the same update for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus devices. It did not tell customers how the update worked at the time.

Apple says users began reporting slower performance in the fall, when iOS 11 was released. The company said it first assumed it was caused by a “normal, temporary” lag caused by a new operating system update, and small bugs in the iOS.

“We now believe that another contributor to these user experiences is the continued chemical aging of the batteries in older iPhone?6 and iPhone?6s devices,” said the company.

Apple calls its lithium ion batteries “consumable components” in the post, meaning they’re meant to be replaced. But because of the iPhone’s design, the process is not as simple as popping in a fresh battery.

To switch out a battery on an iPhone, you have to go to an Apple retailer or ship your phone to Apple. You can also use a third-party service or order a kit to do it yourself, though those options will void an existing warranty.

Upgrading to a new battery will clear up any slowdowns related to the update, said Apple.

Keeping up with new developments in science, tech, and innovation during 2017 was a bit like trying to tread water during a tsunami.

From a dramatic solar eclipse and breathtaking advances in gene-editing technology to the detection of ripples in space-time predicted by Einstein more than a century ago, the stories just kept coming. Here’s a recap of seven we deem especially noteworthy.

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE

On August 21, the moon slipped in front of the sun, blocking the light from our host star to give Americans a total solar eclipse unlike anything we’ve seen in a century. The long-anticipated event — nicknamed the Great American Eclipse — was visible along a path that stretched across the continental U.S. from Oregon to South Carolina.

A “diamond ring” effect is created during a total solar eclipse as seen from Clingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee on Aug. 21.

Missed it? Your next chance to witness a total solar eclipse will come on July 2, 2019 — but it will be visible mostly in South America. The next total solar eclipse whose path of totality crosses the U.S. will occur on April 8, 2024.

GRAVITATIONAL WAVES DETECTED

In a discovery that rocked the world of astronomy and physics, scientists announced in October that they had detected ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves. Einstein predicted the existence of such waves — in this case produced by the collision of a pair of neutron stars some 130 million years ago — in his general theory of relativity. But this was further proof that Einstein was right.

This artist’s impression shows two tiny but very dense neutron stars at the point at which they merge and explode as a kilonova. Mark Garli / University Of Warwick

The ability to detect gravitational waves could help astronomers piece together clues about everything from the evolution of the universe to the nature of dark matter, an elusive substance that is thought to make up 70 percent of the cosmos.

FAREWELL, CASSINI!

After spending 13 years orbiting Saturn, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft ended its prolific mission by plunging into the atmosphere of the ringed planet on September 15. The school-bus-sized space probe launched into space in October 1997 and arrived at Saturn in June 2004. During its lifespan, Cassini studied Saturn and its rings and moons in unprecedented detail, snapping more than 453,000 pictures in the process.

MODIFIED HUMAN EMBRYOS

In July, researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland announced that they had created viable genetically modified human embryos. The unprecedented feat was made possible with the help of a revolutionary gene-editing tool known as CRISPR-Cas9.

None of the modified embryos was allowed to develop into a baby. But the study ignited a fierce ethical debate about whether CRISPR should be used to correct disease-causing mutations.

SOMERSAULTING ROBOT

The year saw all sorts of cool new robots, from Peeqo, a bot that communicates using GIFs, to the adorable companion robot Kuri. But the most impressive bot of 2017 was an improved version of Atlas, a humanoid robot first developed by Boston Dynamics in 2013. In November, the company released a dramatic video showing Atlas performing a series of increasingly difficult box jumps, ending with an impressive finale: a perfectly executed backflip.

Atlas keeps its balance when jostled or pushed and can get up if it tips over.Boston Dynamics

But don’t worry: Atlas isn’t designed to compete against humans in the gym, but to carry out search and rescue missions and perform tasks deemed too dangerous for humans.

GREAT PYRAMID SECRET REVEALED

Scientists in Egypt announced in November that they had detected apreviously unknown “void” inside the Great Pyramid of Giza. It was the first time since the 19th century that a major interior structure was found within the 4,500-year-old pyramid, which is located along the Nile River a few miles from Cairo, Egypt.

This 3D view shows the hidden structure inside the Great Pyramid of Giza.ScanPyramids Via AFP – Getty Images

To make the discovery, the archaeologists used special detectors that “see” high-energy subatomic particles called muons. The same technology may make it possible to find hidden features in other archaeological features.

WEATHER UPS AND DOWNS

Weather-related stories were hard to ignore in 2017. In June, President Trump shocked the world when he announced that the U.S. would pull out of the Paris Agreement, a multinational treaty to combat climate change. And then there was the devastating hurricane season, which produced a pair of major hurricanes that devastated Puerto Rico and other Caribbean Islands as well as the parts of the mainland U.S.

But the year also saw the rise of several “green” solutions to weather-related problems, including the creation of “living shorelines” and rain gardens to save coastal communities from flooding and rising seas. And researchers developed a technology to scrub carbon dioxide from the air and put it back into the ground — think of it as a carbon “vacuum cleaner” — and explored somewacky but promising ideas for how to control the weather.

Via:NBCNEWS

WPP and Millward Brown today announced the fifth annual BrandZ? Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands, with internet service company Tencent becoming the most valuable Chinese brand for the first time, and newly-listed online retailer Alibaba entering the ranking at No.2. Both brands leapfrogged long-time leader China Mobile, which had held the top spot since the ranking launched in 2011.

The 2015 ranking, carried out by marketing and brand consultancy Millward Brown in conjunction with WPP, clearly shows a rapid rise in the brand value of technology and tech-related retail brands. Technology companies have become brand powerhouses, and as a result the technology category has now surpassed financial institutions as the highest value category ($106.9 billion), contributing 23% of the Top 100’s total value.

Brands from private enterprises (also known as ‘market-driven’ brands) dominate in terms of value growth, rising 97% since 2013, while SOEs (state owned enterprises) declined 9%. Whereas five years ago the Top 5 brands were all SOEs, three of this year’s Top 5 – Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu – are market-driven. Together the three represent around half (48%) of the value of the Top 10, led by Tencent which nearly doubled in value in the past year alone.

The total brand value of the Top 100 Chinese Brands is $464.2 billion, a rise of 59% since the ranking launched in 2011. This growth has outpaced that of the BrandZ? Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands (+41%), and has also surpassed the most valuable brands in Brazil (which fell 40% in value from 2011-2014) and Latin America (which have grown only 3% since the Latam ranking launched in 2012).

Analysis of the brands in the Top 100 as a stock portfolio proves that investment in brand-building delivers strong shareholder return. Between July 2010 and October 2014 the brands in the Chinese MSCI stock index increased 4% while those in the Top 100 appreciated 32%.

Retail, cars, technology are the fastest growing categories
Retail was the fastest growing category, with a phenomenal increase of 3,827% due to the inclusion of new entrant Alibaba. Even without taking Alibaba’s value contribution into account, the category grew by 64%, after a year of successful innovation by brands. The car category grew 141% in value after new entrant Great Wall enjoyed success with its SUV sales, and technology increased its value by 78%, again driven by consumers’ positive response to the creativity and innovation of brands in the category.

Meanwhile, lower economic growth in China and government policy changes contributed to a decline in seven categories including alcohol, apparel and financial institutions.

Five-year trends
Now in its fifth year, the BrandZ ranking of China’s most valuable brands shows evidence of a long-term trend: the rise of ‘market-driven’ brands and the relative slowdown among SOEs. Looking at the Top 50 brands over the past five years, the brand value of those that are market-driven has grown 278%, compared with 6% for SOEs. Currently, the total value of the Top 100 is roughly evenly split between market-driven brands (47%) and SOEs (53%).

While SOEs remain significant contributors to the ranking (and play key roles in China’s broader economy), their performance highlights the increasing competition SOEs currently face in the Chinese market.

As Chinese companies improve the way they develop and execute marketing strategies, the gap between Chinese brands and multinational brands in China is also narrowing. Consumers increasingly see little difference between the two – choosing brands based on the value they offer, rather than provenance (their history as a business in China). Five years ago Chinese and multinational brands were 26 points apart on the BrandZ? Brand Power Index, which measures a brand’s competitive position in its category. Today their scores are almost identical.

Other key trends highlighted in this year’s report include:

• The convergence of technology and retail. Retailers are adopting more technology as consumers’ shopping behavior changes, partnering with technology brands to deliver digitalized products and services, mobile payment solutions and online to offline (O2O) commerce solutions, for instance.
• The growing global presence of Chinese brands. Two brands derived over half of their revenue from outside China in 2014: technology company Lenovo (+62%) and ZTE, the telecom equipment maker (+53%).
• Innovation and creativity is flourishing. Brands are responding to increasing market competition, and the rising demand for innovation from Chinese consumers who are more sophisticated and better informed. This trend can be seen particularly clearly at the intersection of technology and retail.

David Roth, CEO EMEA and Asia, The Store, WPP’s global retail practice said: “2015 marks the fifth year of the BrandZ? China ranking, giving us a clear insight into how brands have strengthened during an extremely dynamic period. Those which have grown in value have constantly innovated, based on a sound understanding of rapidly evolving technology and consumer behavior. Investment in brand, innovation and connecting with consumers will now be the critical success factors for brands operating in increasingly competitive categories.”

Doreen Wang, Global Head of BrandZ, Millward Brown, commented: “Consumers increasingly accept Chinese brands because they see them as meaningful and dynamic, not only because they’re well-known. The big question now is what brands must do to be accepted in international markets. Success will depend on understanding consumers’ behavior and needs, integrating technology to improve the brand experience and playing on China’s unique identity to offer meaningful points of differentiation.”

The Top 100 table can be downloaded here and a pie-chart of the Top 10 here. For the full rankings and analysis, including a detailed report, graphics, videos and infographics, visit the resource download page.

The BrandZ? Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands (previously Top 50) – now in its fifth year – is part of the suite of BrandZ rankings which also includes the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands, the BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Latin American Brands and the BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Indian Brands.

Background and methodology
The brand valuation behind the Top 100 was conducted by Millward Brown. The methodology mirrors that used to calculate the annual BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking, which reaches its tenth year of publication in 2015.

The ranking combines financial data from Bloomberg and Kantar Worldpanel with consumer opinions gathered from interviews with over 405,700 Chinese consumers in total since the ranking first launched in 2008, and 23,000 in 2014. The BrandZ? Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands is the most definitive and robust ranking of Chinese brands available.

• The brands ranked in the BrandZ? Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands 2015 report meet these four eligibility criteria:
• The brand was originally created by a mainland Chinese enterprise.
• The brand is owned by a publicly traded enterprise.
• The brand reported positive earnings for the period covered by the ranking.
• Banks derived at least 20 percent of their earnings from retail banking.

The BrandZ rankings are the only valuations in the world that take into account what people think about the brands they buy, alongside rigorous analysis of financial data, market valuations, analyst reports and risk profiles. Consumer perception of a brand is a key input in determining brand value, because brands are a combination of business performance, product delivery, clarity of positioning and leadership.

The 2014 WPP BrandZ^TM Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands study, commissioned by WPP and undertaken by Millward Brown, has been unveiled today. The ranking shows that China is increasingly a consumer-driven market amid the government’s increased emphasis on rebalancing the domestic economy.

Market-driven brands (private companies without government backing) in the Top 50 of the ranking enjoyed value growth of 27 percent – three times that of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) at 9 percent.

This is the first year the study has been expanded from 50 to 100 brands. A year-on-year comparison of the Top 50 shows an increase in total value of 13 percent in 2014 compared to last year, when it dropped 1.6 percent. China Mobile continues to be the nation’s most valuable brand, retaining the No.1 spot for the fourth year running with a value of US$61.4 billion, up 21 percent on 2013.

Technology, last year’s highest growing category, continues to rise in brand value – this year technology brands increased their value 28 percent overall. Tencent (US$33.9 billion) rose two positions to No.3 after growing its value 68 percent, and is the leading market-driven brand.

Most categories achieve value growth
Brand value increased in 11 categories, including technology: financial institutions (7%), airlines (9%), oil and gas (8%), insurance (11%), telecom providers (17%), apparel (21%), home appliances (36%), food and dairy (62%), health care (67%) and travel agency (98%).

The alcohol category declined 6 percent in value overall as baijiu and wine brands felt the impact of the reduction in government spending on entertaining, and faced fierce competition from foreign brands.

An expansion of the ranking from 50 to 100 brands has seen brands in eight new categories enter the ranking this year: cars, catering, education, furniture, hotels, jewelry retailers, personal care and real estate. This reflects consumers’ increasing purchasing power and changing shopping habits – they are spending more on leisure activities and taking care of themselves, while continuing to aspire to own a car and a home.

Among the Top 50 brands in the ranking, 12 feature for the first time: China Minsheng Bank; Vanke, Poly Real Estate, Evergrande Real Estate and Country Garden (real estate); PICC and New China Life(insurance); Yanghe and Lu Zhou Lao Jiao (alcohol), Belle (apparel), NetEase and 360 (technology). BYD(cars) made a comeback at No.49 having dropped out of last year’s ranking.

Top risers and big turnarounds illustrate successful brand building
Health care brand CR Sanjiu (No.48) is the joint biggest riser with a brand value increase of 86 percent (US$841 million), driven in part by Chinese consumers’ growing attention to personal wellbeing. The third highest riser Yunnan Baiyao (up 72 percent, to US$3 billion) also benefited from this trend.

Dairy brand Yili grew 86 percent (US$5.1 billion), making it the other top riser in the ranking and China’s 15th most valuable brand, due in part to rebuilding consumer trust with its ‘open factory’ campaign, which allowed the public and the media to see the production process. Mengniu turned a 31 percent decrease in 2013 into a rise of 30 percent in this year’s ranking (US$3.1 billion) with the same strategy. Tencent(US$33.9 billion) was the fourth top riser with value growth of 68 percent, followed by Shuanghui (US$2.7 billion), up 60 percent.

Bucking the downward trend in the alcohol category, beer brands Tsingtao Beer, Snow Beer and Harbin Beer all achieved double-digit value growth thanks to creative interactions with consumers. Travel service provider Ctrip boosted its value 47 percent after a 39 percent decline last year, having continuously innovated to stand out from the competition with developments including a new mobile hotel booking app.

Key trends highlighted in this year’s research report include:

• The rise of the market-driven brands. While SOEs contribute 71 percent of the total value of the Top 100, a direct comparison of the Top 50 shows that market-driven brands are enjoying faster growth – 27 percent compared with SOEs’ 9 percent. Brand contribution, a BrandZ metric of the influence of brand alone, is stronger for market-driven brands than SOEs, indicating they have huge potential for development. Young brands – those that have been operating for 20 years or less – contribute to nearly 50 percent of the total value of the Top 100.
• Chinese brands lag behind foreign competitors on meaningful difference. While consumers bonded with Chinese brands on the basis of their price and ‘fame’, they find foreign brands stronger on meaningful difference – a key ingredient in a strong brand, which stimulates consumer loyalty and value growth. This shows where Chinese brands need to focus to better compete against foreign brands.
• Globalization continues. The Chinese brands that get the highest proportion of their revenue from overseas markets are Lenovo (57%), Air China (34%) and China Eastern Airlines (33%). Global consumers are more likely to buy from Chinese brands in the computer, technology or home appliance categories.

The BrandZ Top 20 Most Valuable Chinese Brands 2014

For the full rankings and analysis, download the full report.

David Roth, CEO EMEA and Asia, The Store, WPP’s global retail practice said: “We are entering the era of a rebalancing China and this is already having a big impact on brands, as seen in the 2014 rankings. When the world’s most populous nation fuels its growth on domestic consumption, a more market-driven economy of strong brands will be essential for competitive success. Our analysis reveals a look into the future of brands in China: there is a new breed of younger, market-driven Chinese brands positioning themselves for growth.”

Doreen Wang, Head of Branding, Millward Brown China, commented: “As the BrandZ^TM Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands study shows, strong, market-driven brands that focus on understanding consumers’ needs and continuous brand building grow their value faster. Strong brands are built on relevance, salience and meaningful difference – and Chinese brands must invest in delivering these attributes through developing an emotional bond with consumers, being ready to meet emerging needs and becoming more market oriented. Those brands that are planning to go global, meanwhile, should consider whether their products are in one of the categories favored by global markets, and also leverage in their communications those aspects of Chinese culture appreciated by overseas consumers.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The BrandZ^TM Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands (previously Top 50) – now in its fourth year – is part of the suite of BrandZ rankings which also includes the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands and the BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Latin American Brands.

Background and methodology
The brand valuation behind the Top 100 was conducted by Millward Brown Optimor. The methodology mirrors that used to calculate the annual BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking which is now in its eighth year.

Commissioned by WPP, the ranking combines financial data from Bloomberg and Kantar Worldpanel with consumer opinions gathered from interviews with over 405,700 Chinese consumers in total since the ranking first launched in 2008, and 19,000 in 2013. The BrandZ^TM Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands is the most definitive and robust ranking of Chinese brands available.

The brands ranked in the BrandZ^TM Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands 2014 report meet these three eligibility criteria:

– The brand was originally created by a Mainland China enterprise.
– The brand is owned by a publicly traded enterprise.
– The brand reported positive earnings for the period covered by the ranking.

In addition, the financial institutions category includes only banks that derive at least 20 percent of their earnings from retail banking.

The BrandZ rankings are the only valuations in the world that take into account what people think about the brands they buy, alongside rigorous analysis of financial data, market valuations, analyst reports and risk profiles. Consumer perception of a brand is a key input in determining brand value, because brands are a combination of business performance, product delivery, clarity of positioning and leadership.

– Brands are becoming more important to Chinese consumers and businesses
– Technology brands see biggest rise
– Chinese brands strengthen overseas presence

BEIJING, CHINA — The third annual BrandZ? Top 50 Most Valuable Chinese Brands study, commissioned by WPP and undertaken by Millward Brown, is released today. This year’s ranking shows that brands are becoming more important to the Chinese consumer. Despite a challenging economic environment, strong brands outperformed their competitors and the broader stock market.

China is not immune to the global economic environment, and this year the total value of the BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Chinese Brands fell to US$320,224 million, down 1.6 percent on 2012. Despite this, brands continued to grow in importance. The BrandZ Top 50 Brands Portfolio outperformed the MSCI China Index, by 11.4 percent as of September 2012.

This year, China Mobile retains the number one spot in the rankings with a brand value of US$50,589 million. Leading financial institutions also continue to head up the rankings – with ICBC and China Construction Bank in positions two and three respectively.

China’s technology brands have seen tremendous growth, as Chinese consumers spend even more time – and money – on Internet and mobile platforms. Baidu has moved up two positions to number four and Tencent has moved from position 10 to number five.

China’s private sector and entrepreneurs are seeing growing success in building Chinese brands, with the share of non-State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in the Top 50 rising to 27 percent from 22 percent in 2011.

David Roth, CEO The Store, WPP said: “As the growth rate of the Chinese economy slows, brands become a more important discriminator of consumer choice. As this study shows, strong brands help Chinese companies grow faster. This is set to accelerate as the Chinese economy rebalances. This, combined with the requirement for more Chinese companies to be successful overseas, will drive the necessity for creating strong Chinese brands as a critical factor for success.”

Adrian Gonzalez, Head of Greater China, Millward Brown said: “Building strong brands domestically is a vital template for the increasing number of Chinese brand owners exploring international markets. This year’s BrandZ Top 50 gives an insight into how an expanding group of privately-owned Chinese brands are growing value by meaningfully differentiating their brands.”

Strong Brands Outperform the Stock Market
An analysis of the BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Chinese Brands as a “stock portfolio”’ over the past two years shows that it consistently outperforms the MSCI China stock market Index. While the total return on investment (ROI) for all companies in the MSCI China Index was -5.6 percent in September 2012, the BrandZ Top 50 Brands Portfolio provided a 5.8 percent ROI. This proves that companies with strong brands are able to deliver better value to their shareholders.

Newcomers
Four new brands have joined the rankings this year. Bank of Communications leapt into the rankings for the first time in position 15, its success due to both financial and brand factors. Key also to its inclusion is that 20 percent of its earnings came from retail banking, a key eligibility criteria for this ranking. The beer brand Harbin joined the ranking in position 39, it linked its advertising to key sports events and carved a distinctive space in a competitive category. The apparel brands Youngor and Semir were the other new entrants this year in positions 45 and 49 respectively. Youngor benefited from a shift in taste to smarter attire and Semir continued its focus on youth whilst investing in retail outlets and the supply chain.

Overcoming Category Challenges – Top Risers and Category Leaders
Coupled with a flagging international economy, certain categories are facing increasingly tough competition domestically. Still, there are several standout brands that have grown in value despite a challenging year, these include:

Septwolves
– Men’s apparel brand Septwolves has increased its brand value by 44 percent and is second only to Tencent in this year’s list of fastest risers. By focusing on its strategy to become the top-tier apparel brand in the lower-tier cities, and by carefully controlling its expansion, Septwolves has sidestepped competition from foreign brands and the issues of excess inventory that have affected some of the other brands in the apparel category this year.

Hainan Airlines
– Chinese airlines faced a difficult environment due to increasing competition from domestic high speed rail and rising fuel prices, resulting in a 22 percent decline for the entire category. However, Hainan Airlines bucked the trend with a 23 percent increase in brand value, moving up five places in the ranking. Hainan Airlines has built a strong brand and reputation for excellent customer service under its Customer First strategy; in 2011 it became the first Chinese airline to be awarded five stars by Startrax. By concentrating on the customer, and by remaining heavily focused on the Chinese domestic market, Hainan Airlines, which first entered the rankings last year at No. 46, has become one of this year’s top risers to No. 41.

Gree
– The closure of a white goods subsidy programme at the end of 2011 badly affected the home appliances category, resulting in a 14 percent drop for the sector. However, Gree has been able to maintain its brand value. Sticking to its core markets of air conditioning, creating a clear message and offering its customers a wide choice of models, Gree has grown to control over 50 percent of the market in China and become the number one air conditioner brand in the world.

Chinese Brands Overseas
Chinese brand builders are increasingly active overseas across many categories and include both State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and market-driven organizations .

Lenovo
– Lenovo (No. 24), this year became the world’s largest PC maker by volume, according to Gartner, with overseas revenues representing 58 percent of total revenues.

Tencent
– Tencent launched its WeChat service (a version of Weixin for non-Chinese markets) which is enjoying growing popularity.

Haier
– Haier engaged in activities to strengthen awareness of the brand overseas including a sponsorship of the Science Museum in London and renewal of basketball sponsorship in the USA. It also invested heavily in e-commerce.

Chinese Consumers’ Shifting Tastes
For Chinese consumers, brands are becoming more important than ever, playing an increasingly significant role in their consumption choices – a trend that is well-established in first-tier cities and becoming more deeply entrenched in China’s lower-tier urban populations. While brand competition is intensifying in both top and lower-tier cities, companies face the choice of becoming a smaller brand in top-tier cities or a bigger brand in lower-tier cities. SeptWolves (No. 38) and Youngor (No. 45) are brands taking advantage of this strategy.

Chinese consumers are increasingly brand selective when making purchase decisions. This provides exciting opportunities for the companies who invest in their brands now.

The U.S. Supreme Court returns to the issue of affirmative action in higher education for the first time since its 2003 decision endorsing the use of race as a factor in admissions. This time around, a more conservative court is being asked to outlaw the use of Texas’ affirmative action plan and possibly to jettison the earlier ruling entirely.

The justices will be looking at the University of Texas program that is used to help fill the last quarter or so of its incoming freshman classes. Race is one of many factors considered by admissions officers. The rest of the roughly 7,100 freshman spots automatically go to Texans who graduated in the top 8 percent of their high school classes.

The challenge to the University of Texas program comes from Abigail Fisher, who filed a lawsuit with another woman when they were denied admission there in 2008. They contended the university’s race-conscious policy violated their civil and constitutional rights. By then, the two had enrolled elsewhere.

The other woman has since dropped out of the case and the state has said that Fisher is a senior at Louisiana State University whose impending graduation should bring an end to the lawsuit.

The simplest explanation for why affirmative action is back on the court’s calendar so soon after its 2003 decision in Grutter v. Bollinger is that the author of that opinion, Sandra Day O’Connor, has retired. Her successor, Justice Samuel Alito, has been highly skeptical of any use of racial preference.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, a dissenter in the 2003 decision, probably holds the deciding vote, and he, too, has never voted in favor of racial preference.

As a result, said Supreme Court lawyer Thomas Goldstein, “No matter what the court does, it is quite likely that the UT program is going to be in big trouble.”

The challenge to the Texas plan has gained traction in part because the university has produced significant diversity by automatically offering about three-quarters of its spots to graduates in the top 10 percent of their Texas high schools, under a 1990s state law signed by then-Gov. George W. Bush. The admissions program has been changed so that now only the top 8 percent gain automatic admission.

More than eight in ten African-American and Latino students who enrolled at the flagship campus in Austin last year were automatically admitted, according to university statistics. Even among the rest, both sides acknowledge that the use of race is modest.

In all, black and Hispanic students made up more than a quarter of the incoming freshmen class. White students constituted less than half the entering class when students with Asian backgrounds and other minorites were added in.

“For decades, the defense of racial preferences was, ‘We’d love to find a way to get diversity without using race, but it’s just not possible. There’s just no other way.’ And Texas found another way,” said Richard Kahlenburg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation and prominent advocate of class-based affirmative action.

The university says the extra measure of diversity it gets from the slots outside automatic admission is crucial because too many of its classrooms have only token minority representation, at best. At the same time, Texas argues that race is one of many factors considered and that it “is impossible to tell whether an applicant’s race was a tipping factor.”

The Obama administration, 57 of the Fortune 100 companies and large numbers of public and private colleges that could be affected by the outcome are backing the Texas program. Among the benefits of affirmative action, the administration argues, is that it creates a pipeline for a diverse officer corps that it called “essential to the military’s operational readiness.” In 2003, the court cited the importance of a similar message from military leaders.

But lawyers for Fisher, of Sugar Land, Texas, said the race-blind method under which the university automatically admits most of its students has been successful. They say Fisher, who has since graduated from Louisiana State University, was excluded because of her race, and they point to a handful of African-American and Latino students who were admitted with lower scores than hers.

“If any state action should respect racial equality, it is university admission,” Fisher’s lawyers said in their written submission to the court.

The university says that a fuller picture of the process shows that white students with lower scores also were admitted, while many more minority students with higher scores than Fisher also were not offered admission.

The galaxy, which was found using data from the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes, is seen when the universe was only 500 million years old.

A munchkin by today’s standards, the galaxy’s mass was 200 million times the mass of the sun, compared with 700 billion solar masses for the Milky Way or 10 billion solar masses for the Milky Way’s smaller companion, the Large Magellanic Cloud.

But the newly discovered galaxy’s age – and the preponderance of hot, massive stars it hosted – place it among a category of objects that researchers say helped convert a fog of neutral hydrogen gas permeating the ancient universe into the transparent cosmos we see today.

The process, known as re-ionization, is thought to have started around 400 million years after the Big Bang, a sudden release of an enormous amount of energy that cosmologists have tagged as the birth of the universe.

Over the next 600 million years, stars and galaxies formed and the universe continued to expand. Radiation from the first generations of stars – and particularly from emissions stemming from the actions of super-massive black holes at the hearts of the rising number of growing galaxies – ionized the intergalactic hydrogen, in effect lifting the fog.

Relics of this period, 13-billion-year-old stars, populate the halo of the Milky Way, notes Wei Zheng, an astronomer at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the lead author of a formal report of the discovery, which is being published in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature.

In a sense, the galaxy he and his colleagues have uncovered opens a window on the infant stages of our own galaxy.

“This is just like being an archaeologist” hunting for evidence of early civilizations, Dr. Zheng says. “You know it must be there. It’s exciting to see the real pieces.”

The ability to study these galaxies and their role in the universe’s evolution is expected to take a big leap forward when NASA launches the James Webb Space Telescope, currently slated for lift-off sometime in 2018.

The team’s report is not the first claiming evidence for galaxies during this crucial time in the evolution of the universe. Over the past eight years, a few groups using ground- and space-based telescopes have reported detections of infant galaxies at comparable distances – some 13 billion to 13.3 billion light-years away.

But uncertainties in the analysis of these previous detections are large, researchers say, owing to the faintness of the objects and to the limited amount of data researchers could gather on telltale signs in the galaxies’ light that help estimate distance.

In overcoming the faintness issue, Zheng and his colleagues had a strong ally in Albert Einstein. Among the well-validated predictions of Einstein’s theory of general relativity: Intense gravity can bend light. And it can magnify light in a process known as gravitational lensing.

The galaxy Zheng’s team observed lay behind a galaxy cluster tipping the cosmic scales at 2 million billion solar masses – making it one of the most powerful gravitational lenses known. The lensing effect brightened the early galaxy’s light substantially, making it possible to gather enough data to estimate the galaxy’s size – tiny enough that it could get lost in the disk of the Milky Way – as well as its mass and the relative abundance of younger and older stars.

The data were gathered by the Hubble Space Telescope, as part of a long-term project to use galaxy clusters and gravitational lensing to test theories about the nature of dark energy. In addition, the team used the Spitzer Space Telescope. Hubble can capture images at wavelengths ranging from ultraviolet at the high end to near-infrared at the low end. Spitzer can detect objects via light well into the infrared range.

The ability to detect light at longer, infrared wavelengths is critical for detecting objects at such distances. The universe is expanding at an increasing pace, and astronomers long ago established that the farther away an object is, the faster it is receding. This phenomenon in effect stretches light from a distant object to longer, redder wavelengths, a feature astronomers have dubbed red shift.

In its immediate neighborhood, the newly discovered galaxy would shine most brightly in the ultraviolet. By the time that light reached Earth, the universe’s expansion has stretched the light into infrared or near-infrared wavelengths.

Thus, the combined capabilities of the two telescopes, plus the brightening from gravitational lensing, allowed the team to estimate the galaxy’s distance with the highest precision yet achieved for such an observation, Zheng says.

The team also was able to infer something about the galaxy’s age and population of stars in the galaxy from the measurements Spitzer made, Zheng says. The proportion of older to younger stars teased from the galaxy’s bulk light emissions point to a galaxy no older than about 200 million years.

This was a fecund period for star formation, other researchers have noted. Although solid observations of baby galaxies such as the one Zheng’s team uncovered are clearly rare, more-readily spotted galaxies that fall within the next several hundred million years of cosmic evolution boosted their star formation rates 10-fold over that period, according to a paper published last year in Nature by a team led by University of California at Santa Cruz astronomer Rychard Bouwens.

Since its official opening in October 1991, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has established itself as an intellectual powerhouse, energizing the community’s transformation into a knowledge-based society, and securing a place on the academic world map in record-breaking time.

An innovator in research and teaching, HKUST is the only science and technology research university in Hong Kong, and the only one to offer an all-PHD faculty. Its groundbreaking work in science, engineering, business, humanities and social science is successfully pushing back the boundaries of the information age. Such advances are assisted by the University’s top-class facilities.

Locally, the University is active in society through science camps, online courses for secondary school students, and lifelong learning programs; just some of the activities that bring HKUST and the community together. Nationally, alliances with Mainland universities and collaborative work with municipal governments are setting the pace for future cooperative efforts.

Globally, connections with leading institutions are actively pursued through academic partnerships with the world’s top universities, and memberships in such organizations as the Association of East Asian Research Universities and Association of Pacific Rim Universities.

HKUST brings forward the vision of the future. On its award-winning Clear Water Bay campus, the life to come is being shaped today.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is a young and dynamic university devoted to education and research particularly at the postgraduate level.

Founded in 1991, HKUST comprises five schools ? Science, Engineering, Business and Management, Humanities and Social Science, and the Fok Ying Tung Graduate School in Guangzhou.

We also have various institutes, such as the Institute for Advanced Study of HKUST, and the HKUST Shenzhen Institute based in Shenzhen.

Our world-class international faculty members, coming from diverse backgrounds, are all PhD-qualified. Our undergraduate and postgraduate students represent a large number of nationalities.

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