Rajeshni Naidu-Ghelani

Wang Jianlin aims for 20 percent of movie industry.

As the retail landscape develops in the region, Chinese tourists are traveling more to Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore than to Europe and the US.

Rapid development at the expense of China's natural environment has become a major cause for discontent in the world's second largest economy.

Even as the South Korean economy struggled through 2012, there was one bright spot — K-Pop sensation Psy's viral music video "Gangnam Style" — that helped bring a record number of tourists to the country boosting tourism revenues to a new high.

Taiwan, which had been plagued by economic disaster, appears on the road to recovery with the help of other Asian nations.