As 2020 draws to a close, we look back at some of the year’s articles. My selection this year focuses on a few of the major trends, with an emphasis on tech.

Of course Covid-19 has been the defining global event, with our first story on the topic on January 10 in the first issue of 2020. The headline was ‘Wuhan mystery’ with the sub-heading: ‘Disease at city market sparks fears of another epidemic’. Much more on the pandemic would follow (the entirety of issue 482 was devoted to the outbreak, for instance).

Aside from the coronavirus, the Sino-US tech and trade wars were the stories that most dominated our pages.

And so to my 12 picks…

A key investment theme for the year was electric cars. In March we looked at how Tesla was doubling down on China

In the same month we pointed out how internet companies like Tencent were beneficiaries of the pandemic

Livestreaming e-commerce was another key trend and a huge driver of online sales

Another area of corporate and investor interest: the delisting of Chinese firms from US bourses

In a story about Meituan, we looked at how its soaring valuation meant the ‘ATM’ was now more relevant than the ‘BAT’

We met an eSports player who had dropped out of school to go pro. He told us what it’s like to be a professional gamer in China

In another interview, the scion of a Scotch whisky dynasty talked about winning customers in China – with help from female entrepreneurs in second-tier cities

A mid-year overview of China’s attempts to move up the value chain in semiconductors, specifically through SMIC, and the challenges it faced

An article on China’s push into quantum technologies – where it leads and where it lags

Chinese biotech made headlines in the capital markets, with Hong Kong welcoming one of the world’s largest IPOs for a pre-profit biotech firm

Late in the year we looked at another e-commerce trend – community group-buying or what we termed as the ‘Tuan economy’

Finally, we celebrated our 500th issue in June. For my recollections of how WiC got started, and a review of the people and companies that have featured most in our coverage, see this article

We hope you enjoy the holiday period. WiC will be back in early January.

Warm regards,

Steven Irvine, the Editor