:00:00. > :00:00.Sandra Bullock, is up for Best actress. Time for Asia Business
:00:00. > :00:19.Report. Has inflation eases in China,
:00:20. > :00:26.authorities seek ways to rebalance the mainland's economy.
:00:27. > :00:27.The art of making noodles by hand. We find out why this is a vanishing
:00:28. > :00:40.profession. We start off in China, where the
:00:41. > :00:44.world's second-biggest economy said inflation eased in December from the
:00:45. > :00:51.month before. Data shows inflation climbed in December from earlier,
:00:52. > :00:55.below forecast and within the confidence owned. They have been
:00:56. > :00:59.looking to rebalance the economy amid slowing growth. Authorities
:01:00. > :01:03.have been announcing some key reforms. Stock will among the
:01:04. > :01:07.announcements this week was that China could have up to five private
:01:08. > :01:12.banks opened within the next 12 months. They will be tightly
:01:13. > :01:16.supervised by the authorities, but it is being seen as a move to open
:01:17. > :01:22.up the country's tightly controlled financial sector. The theme of
:01:23. > :01:28.liberalisation continues with a couple of announcements in relation
:01:29. > :01:33.to the free trade zone. Authorities said telecommunications and internet
:01:34. > :01:39.could well be owned by foreign companies. There is a catch. These
:01:40. > :01:43.companies will have to base all their infrastructure in the Shanghai
:01:44. > :01:47.free-trade zone. In terms of computer users, particularly those
:01:48. > :01:52.who play games, this week has been a big one. China has announced it will
:01:53. > :01:56.overturn its ban on gaming consoles, which has been in force
:01:57. > :02:02.for 14 years. That means Chinese consumers could get their hands on
:02:03. > :02:04.the Xbox or PlayStation. The catch is that foreign companies wanting to
:02:05. > :02:10.sell these devices in China will have to make them from the Shanghai
:02:11. > :02:14.free-trade zone. Liberalisation within the Chinese economy is seen
:02:15. > :02:21.as absolutely critical to future economic growth. What happens in the
:02:22. > :02:24.Shanghai free-trade zone is being carefully watched by analysts,
:02:25. > :02:29.because it could well be ruled out across the country. -- rolled out
:02:30. > :02:40.across the country. Companies in China display their
:02:41. > :02:42.wares this week in Las Vegas. This show attracts some of the biggest
:02:43. > :02:51.technology companies from around the world. We sat down with the head of
:02:52. > :02:55.Netflix, a video streaming company set on changing the way we watch
:02:56. > :02:59.television. Netflix, the streaming service, has
:03:00. > :03:05.made quite a splash this year, announcing that its new series of
:03:06. > :03:16.House Of Cards Sentence Case Will Be Shown In Ultrahigh Definition. --
:03:17. > :03:24.will be shown in ultrahigh definition. There is this bringing
:03:25. > :03:27.together of the internet and television so people can watch what
:03:28. > :03:34.they want to watch when they want to watch it. What is changing is to
:03:35. > :03:41.become applications. On your Android phone, on your iPad, on your Sony
:03:42. > :03:44.TV, on your XBox One, all these applications that allow you as a
:03:45. > :03:48.consumer to watch the videos you want to watch on your own schedule.
:03:49. > :03:52.How important has it been for you to start making your own content rather
:03:53. > :03:58.than relying on buying stuff in from TV companies in Hollywood? We
:03:59. > :04:01.realised that with each country there is a unique set of licensing
:04:02. > :04:06.issues, and we weren't getting everything with the same release
:04:07. > :04:09.date, and some countries were having to wait behind other countries and
:04:10. > :04:15.it makes no sense. We had to do our own shows, and when we do our own
:04:16. > :04:21.shows, then they are available around the world at the exact same
:04:22. > :04:25.time. Does the rest of the industry, the established industry, see was a
:04:26. > :04:31.threat? Mostly, they save we want you to pay $10 million for the show,
:04:32. > :04:37.and we say, I can only pay 1 million, and they say, come back
:04:38. > :04:44.when you can play 10 million. -- pay $10 million. Sometimes we compete
:04:45. > :04:49.with sky, with other contributors, but mostly they have realised that
:04:50. > :04:56.Netflix is an additional service. For example, in the US there are
:04:57. > :04:59.over 30 million subscribers. And yet cable and satellite subscribers have
:05:00. > :05:04.remained constant at 100 million and not conquer. You made a big deal
:05:05. > :05:08.about ultrahigh definition television, what is exciting about
:05:09. > :05:13.that? Daily Telegraph ultimately, ultrahigh definition will be the
:05:14. > :05:19.first format that is internet only. It is focused on internet delivery.
:05:20. > :05:24.Broadcast on cable or satellite, they won't have ultra HD at least in
:05:25. > :05:29.the next five years. It will be internet delivery. You have
:05:30. > :05:38.concentrated on growth rather than profits, are you following the
:05:39. > :05:42.hammers en route? Were similar in that way. The internet is an
:05:43. > :05:49.interesting opportunity, and we will continue to invest in content,
:05:50. > :05:52.improving service, improving what we do and expanding into other
:05:53. > :05:59.countries for many years ahead. The chief executive of Netflix.
:06:00. > :06:07.In other business news, the big French food conglomerate which is
:06:08. > :06:11.set to sue New Zealand's dairy giant following a food scare last year
:06:12. > :06:19.which saw some food products recalled across Asia. The French
:06:20. > :06:30.firm said the recall had caused serious damage to business. Moody's
:06:31. > :06:42.has downgraded Qantas to below investment grade. Last month,
:06:43. > :06:47.standard imports also cut the carrier's credit rating to below
:06:48. > :06:54.investment level. The use of bitcoin is set to be
:06:55. > :07:02.banned from next week on another Chinese website. This comes ahead of
:07:03. > :07:07.a public offering of shares expected later this year by Ali Baba. We are
:07:08. > :07:13.looking at the world's vanishing profession is, this time, Taiwan. We
:07:14. > :07:18.discover the art of making noodles by hand. In Chinese culture, noodles
:07:19. > :07:23.are written for breakfast lunch and dinner, especially for special
:07:24. > :07:28.occasions such as birthdays and weddings. It symbolises something
:07:29. > :07:33.that is long-lasting. Now there were only a handful of masters making
:07:34. > :07:39.them the centuries-old traditional way.
:07:40. > :07:43.This is one of only two people in this village making noodles by hand.
:07:44. > :07:46.The use to be ten families here making noodles the traditional way.
:07:47. > :07:54.It is a trend moving throughout Taiwan. This man is a
:07:55. > :07:58.third-generation noodle maker. He grew up watching his grandparents
:07:59. > :08:02.and parents make noodles by hand. His long working day begins at the
:08:03. > :08:07.break of dawn, by mixing flour, salt and water. It might seem hard to
:08:08. > :08:17.imagine, but this it blob of dough will be turned into noodles that are
:08:18. > :08:23.really 1/10 of a centimetre thin. This machine only gets the go so
:08:24. > :08:27.thin, the work will have to be continued by hand. He leaves the
:08:28. > :08:32.noodles to lengthen on this bamboo racks. They will need to be about
:08:33. > :08:37.four metres long. He makes fast work of it, but it is not as easy as it
:08:38. > :08:44.looks. This way of making noodles is centuries-old, and is believed to
:08:45. > :08:47.have been brought from China. The ancestors of most highways people
:08:48. > :08:50.come from there. It was passed down from one generation to another, and
:08:51. > :08:58.this man may be among one of the last ones. TRANSLATION: The money we
:08:59. > :09:01.earn is earned in a hard way. If it looks like it is going to rain we
:09:02. > :09:06.have to take the noodles inside, otherwise our efforts are wasted.
:09:07. > :09:14.These noodles are made with just flour, salt and water. Behind them
:09:15. > :09:18.at hours of hard work. This family began working at 5am today, and
:09:19. > :09:22.won't finish until 7pm. All they will make is about $100. Although
:09:23. > :09:26.the next generation is not interested in doing this kind of
:09:27. > :09:32.work, he says he cannot imagine a world without handmade noodles.
:09:33. > :09:35.TRANSLATION: Handmade noodles taste better. They are smoother. I don't
:09:36. > :09:43.want my children to do this kind of work, but if they want to, I won't
:09:44. > :09:48.object. After all that hard work, the family sits down for a lunch at
:09:49. > :09:51.Worcester and noodles. The noodles are not pushy, but flexible. It is
:09:52. > :09:57.really one of the best noodle dishes I have ever had. There is no telling
:09:58. > :10:05.whether this product of hard work and patience will survive the
:10:06. > :10:11.changing times. Here is a quick look at the Asian
:10:12. > :10:25.markets. Stocks are currently weak in mid-morning Thursday trade. The
:10:26. > :10:33.Nikkei is down by 206 points. The Hang Seng down by about 46 points.
:10:34. > :10:40.Thank you for investing your time with us.
:10:41. > :10:47.Our top stories: There are growing fears of a humanitarian disaster in
:10:48. > :10:56.the Central African Republic, where after months of religious violence
:10:57. > :10:57.the UN says half the country population is