Bosideng is led by Chinese billionaire Gao Dekang, a member of the list of 25 Influential Chinese in Global Fashion published this year by Forbes China, the licensed Chinese-language edition of Forbes.

FORBES: China's Down Leader Bosideng Buys "Jessie" Chain In Move To Diversify

Malaysia's media, never the most outspoken, has been further cowed over the past year by the takeover of a Chinese-language paper by a group sympathetic to the government, and the sacking of some of the more adventurous journalists at an English-language one.

ECONOMIST: More are held indefinitely

This year there was no test of memorised basic knowledge in the Chinese language exam in Shanghai - only reading comprehension and creative writing.

BBC: China's educational elite