Last week investors were disturbed by changes that might be coming in Japan and the US - compounded by a rather lackluster domestic economy.

HSBC's China Purchasing Managers' Index, a measurement of activity within the manufacturing sector, showed a new low - but for obvious reasons. Because the economy is growing more slowly than the last decade's average, powered primarily by the manufacturing activity, it is inevitably reflected in the PMI.

But wait a minute, there were bright spots. A movie directed by a Hong Kong director, entitled American Dreams in China, took 200 million yuan (around $35 million) in box office revenues in the first week of its release on May 17, enough to qualify as a movie business success in China.