SHE IS a leading lady of Asian cinema, and the star of more than 75 films. But for two days, she went almost unrecognised in Scotland - until she walked down the Royal Mile and encountered a group of stunned Chinese tourists.

Yesterday, the actress Maggie Cheung was back at the centre of attention in Edinburgh for the launch of Cinema China, a UK-wide celebration of Chinese films.

The event opened with Centre Stage, the film in which Cheung portrays the tragic Chinese star of silent film, Ruan Lingyu. Over the next ten days, 20 classic films from 80 years of Chinese movie-making will be screened in 20 cities across the UK.

Cheung, 42, told how she had turned down 30 to 40 roles since she appeared as a drug-addicted aspiring singer in 2004’s Clean, winning the best actress award at Cannes.

“It’s actually very hard to take on something right now,” she said. “I’m going through a phase of wanting to have a life. I do read film scripts, but I just need something that is so ‘wow’.”

Cheung is best known in the West for the likes of the martial arts action film Hero; the director Wong Kar-Wai’s In the Mood for Love, and Clean, which was directed by her ex-husband, the French director Olivier Assayas.

In Asia, the former Miss Hong Kong may be better known for playing the girlfriend of a police detective opposite Jackie Chan, but she has won best actress awards for a dozen films at festivals ranging from Hong Kong and Hawaii to Cannes and Berlin.

Cheung arrived in Edinburgh without the entourage of a major star. She was travelling with her boyfriend, whom she declined to name because they are not a “golden couple”, she said. She went walking on Gullane beach and shopping in Edinburgh. “I bought a couple of kilts which I hope to wear before I leave,” she said. “I am hoping to turn kilts into fashion.”

Cheung lived in Kent between the ages of seven and 17 after her family moved back to the UK, and she now divides her time between Hong Kong and Paris.

She came to the festival because she was “totally curious about Edinburgh”, she said. “I’ve always imagined Scotland to be something like this. But it’s not until you are here that you breathe the air, feel the light.”

She said Scotland should lead the way in relaxing laws to allow more Chinese into this country. Chinese people have only recently been allowed visas to travel, she said, but would-be emigrants find it hard to reach Europe or the United States.

“It’s good for a country to have many cultures. That’s what gives life to the place and brings new things. If Scotland starts, I’m sure England will follow,” she said.

Chinese movies still run into rows over censorship, with one recent Chinese production granted permission for a showing at the Berlin Film Festival only after a series of cuts.

In a Communist country, rules won’t change overnight, she said. “They are like a parent. When they say no, it’s no,” she said, adding that some Chinese directors exaggerate the problems to get press attention in the West.

Cheung appears today in a film “masterclass” as part of the festival. “I don’t feel I have any right to teach,” she said. “I can talk about my experience, how films were made, how they happen. It’s the passion and the acting side of it, of making films.”

Cheung began making films in Hong Kong in the 1980s when the economy was booming and actors were offered a film “every other day”, she said. “These films usually had no budget, no trailers - we were eating lunch on a doorstep, my make-up was done in the street, we changed costumes in a caf lavatory.”

There were no rules in the trade, and directors would lock actors and crew in the studio until a scene was finished.

“I devoted my life to cinema from the age of 19 for a good 20 years. All of the 1980s up until the mid 90s, I didn’t have a life. I was making ten films a year, sleeping in the studio, sleeping in cars.

“Now I have made something out of my career, but I feel if I don’t start living for me now, it’s a bit late,” she said.

The cycle of making a film, she said, from meeting the director to doing your make-up, to promoting it round the world, was all too familiar. Now, if she couldn’t make a film she could be proud of - one to add to her “collection” - she would rather not make one at all.

Financial markets are driven by what John Maynard Keynes called “animal spirits,” the most powerful being fear and greed. One widely tracked gauge of fear is the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, which measures the market’s expectations for near-term volatility as conveyed by S&P 500 index option prices. Higher readings point to increased investor anxiety.

Currently, the VIX is trading at multi-year lows, suggesting that fear is in deep hibernation. But when combined with the strength in global markets over the past three years — the S&P Global 1200 is up roughly 100% since March 2003 — many market participants are concerned that the complacency implied by the VIX is spreading, leaving global stock markets vulnerable to attack by the dreaded bear.

Not likely, in the opinion of S&P Equity Strategy. We believe the reason for the complacency is less the sloth of bulls than the fact that equity fundamentals are, in a word, excellent. Liquidity is ample and inflation is low, both of which serve to depress interest rates and fuel unprecedented global M&A activity. At the same time, attractive 2007 growth prospects and low p-e-to-growth ratios are lending important valuation support to global stock markets.

In this climate, investors concerned about a spike in volatility should watch for any deterioration of these fundamentals. We do not believe, however, that such an erosion is nigh. Modest portfolio rebalancing is certainly appropriate in light of recent gains. But given the difficulty of successfully timing the market — requiring both a graceful exit at the top as well as a cool reentry at the bottom — S&P Equity Strategy does not currently advise significantly reducing equity exposure.

Global equity valuations are historically low, especially given healthy 2007 earnings expectations. Despite a consensus 2007 earnings growth projection of 9%, above the historical average, the S&P Global 1200 index is currently trading at a p-e of only 14.6, a 12% discount to its long-term average of 16.5.

We believe conservative valuations reflect fears of a U.S. economic recession, led by a collapse of the housing sector, and the potential negative impact on global growth and corporate profits. However, increasing domestic demand in Europe, Japan, and key emerging markets (which now account for 50% of global GDP growth) is creating a macroeconomic landscape wherein the world is less dependent on exports to the U.S. to maintain a healthy expansion. In addition, fears of a U.S. slowdown have been widely telegraphed and are now fully discounted, we believe, in valuations, both domestically and internationally. As a result, we believe consensus 2007 global GDP and profit growth estimates are achievable and should enable continued strong equity performance.

In addition, low global interest rates are supporting equity valuations by lowering both the cost of capital and the appeal of competing asset classes like fixed-income. We believe this will continue in 2007, thanks to abundant liquidity stemming from benign global inflation, historically low corporate default rates, record Chinese foreign exchange reserves, and a growing cache of petrodollars.

In conclusion, S&P recommends staying with a 60% equity allocation that dedicates 40% to U.S. stocks. Specifically, we advise 34% in large-cap, 4% in mid-cap, and 2% in small-cap issues. In addition, we advise a 20% international equity allocation, with 15% in developed markets and 5% in emerging markets.

ONCE they were a dominant force, but the laird is fast becoming an endangered species in the Western Isles.

From today more than half the Western Isles will be in public or community ownership and only one in four tenants will have a private landlord.

The latest in a series of community takeovers will be completed this morning when the 56,000-acre Galson Estate in Lewis officially passes into local control.

Galson has a population of 2,000, covering 22 villages and more than 600 crofts. The estate was once a candidate for Scotland’s first hostile takeover under crofting community right-to-buy legislation, before a deal was reached with the Graham family, who were the owners for 80 years.

Norman Thomson, chairman of the Galson Estate Trustees, said: “This is a great day for the people who live in the villages on Galson Estate. It is also an historic day for the whole of the Western Isles and for Scotland.

“The people of Galson are now in charge of our own affairs but we face big challenges. Jobs keep communities alive and Galson is no different. We will be seeking to attract new industries and support people with new ideas.”

Galson Estate, known as Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn (UOG) in Gaelic, will be managed by ten trustees.

The trust has already started several projects, including a wind farm with between one and three turbines in one of the villages, and there are plans to develop green and cultural tourism.

The buyout means that 50.3 per cent of the Western Isles landmass is now in community or public ownership.

Prof Jim Hunter, a historian and land reform campaigner, said the changing pattern of ownership is significant, with

only two privately-owned estates in Skye. The remainder are now owned by public bodies, charities and communities.

Prof Hunter said: “In Skye and the Western Isles the private landlord is becoming a creature of the past. It’s extremely interesting and in relation to the history of the last 200 years it is a quite extraordinary development and, in my view, an extremely welcome one.”

Galson was bought for 600,000 with 510,000 coming from the Scottish Land Fund and 127,000 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). Community fundraising and donations from Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council), Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the John Muir Trust made up the balance.

This is the second largest community buyout after South Uist Estates, which was purchased by the community in December for 4.5 million with 2 million coming from both the Big Lottery Fund and HIE. The other contributions were made by SNH and the council.

South Uist had been owned since 1961 by a syndicate of nine families, who also agreed to sell to avoid a hostile takeover.

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