QUINTESSENTIALLY ASIA - Autumn 2011

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DISCREET is the theme for the launch edition of Quintessentially Asia. Within its covers you will find well-hidden restaurants, bars, islands, hotels and all sorts of treats. As befits a magazine that has ambitions to be a new and authoritative voice in Asia we reveal the secrets of an emerging class, the Hanistocrats, the men and women who are reshaping tastes in China. We spend time sifting through the soon-to-be-auctioned jewellery collection of Elizabeth Taylor and unveil for the first time some of the mysteries that surround this iconic star. And we dig deep to reveal how China’s new found and seemingly insatiable appetite for gold has helped to cause a spike in illegal mining, part of this magazine’s mission to raise social issues and change Asia for the better. But we don’t stop there – technological wonders reveal themselves in the Bentley Continental that took us to a mysterious Estonian island and we have fun sifting through the treasures of watchmaker IWC and fashion house Pringle of Scotland. And finally, our cover image: Who is that girl? Is she a ballerina fresh from an epic performance, wearing masterpiece jewellery given by a wealthy admirer? Or is she a Cinderella, playing dressup as she asks the cards to say what her future will hold? For us the image is iconic. The cards, some of them depicting emperors, some empresses, some Mao’s medals and some old Chinese trademarks are echoes of China’s past, while emerging from them is a young, rich, confident woman with her eye on a bright future. And so the cover reveals a great deal, about who we are and what this magazine will be – an insider’s bible exploring Asia’s cutting-edge themes with ears and eyes in the places that count. So now the secret is out. And you are holding it in your hands. But don’t tell anybody.