415 Archives | Week In China

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WiC 415 (Jun 29, 2018)

Internet & Tech, Talking Point Google invests in Chinese e-commerce giant alongside Tencent and Walmart

Forget about Alibaba and Tencent. The most dominant internet combo of recent times is Google and Facebook. Combined, the two firms account for more ...

How to lose $46 billion

Banking & Finance Xiaomi’s much-hyped IPO has seen its valuation chopped from $100 billion

It prides itself on building “amazing products at honest prices”. Yet it seems Xiaomi Corp does not believe that same credo applies to the ...

China Consumer Younger Chinese men are becoming big buyers of cosmetic products

Han Wei takes about half an hour to complete his seven-step grooming routine every morning. At his dressing table there is facial cleansing milk, ...

Going round in circles

Rail & Infrastructure As Beijing completes its Seventh Ring Road, a short history of…

If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it.” So sang Beyonce in her iconic 2008 hit Single Ladies. China’s traffic planners, ...

Preparing for the worst

Rise of the RMB Central bank cuts reserve requirements as yuan drops against the dollar

Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, is threatening to “punch back” if Donald Trump’s administration persists in putting tariffs on his country’s ...

Time for a tax cut

Economy China’s finance minister proposes income tax reforms

Income tax was first introduced to the United Kingdom in 1799 as a means to raise funds for the war against Napoleon. In America, it was legalised by ...

A touch of Harry in the night

Entertainment The hardest working woman in television returns with a new hit…

Children in China were a little late to discover the delights of the Harry Potter franchise but that didn’t dampen their enthusiasm for the youthful ...

Flushed with success

Society Indian film about toilets proves surprise China hit

A romantic comedy about going to the loo – that film would never get made, right? Wrong. Bollywood produced a movie about exactly that last year. ...

Eyes in the sky

Aviation Consumers showing more interest in data privacy

In March this year Baidu’s founder Robin Li claimed that the Chinese are not “overly concerned about data security”. He went on to say that ...

Internet & Tech ‘Staffless shelves’ get a makeover as retail revolution continues

China’s tech sector is intent on finding ways to do without human labour. One of the latest trends – staffless shelves – are one such ...

Internet & Tech Shopping centre giant has another go at ‘smart retail’

If 2017 was something of an annus horribilis for Wang Jianlin (see WiC375), this year is turning out better for the founder of Wanda. As a leading ...

The last supper

Planet China A police officer is never truly off duty. That seems to…

A police officer is never truly off duty. That seems to be one of the morals of an arrest this month in the city of Xuzhou in Jiangsu province. The ...

Height of frustration

Cartoons Height of frustration

Disney’s theme parks like to be described as “the happiest places on earth”. Try telling that to an irate father whose child was denied entry ...

Fight for the future

Sino-File “China has targeted America’s industries of the future, and President Trump…

Peter Navarro, the hawkish White House trade adviser, talks about China’s tech ambitions, which he added in areas like AI and robotics could ...

And Finally What’s inside China’s most high-tech temple

Longquan Monastery is an unusual sanctuary albeit one that was set up on the outskirts of Beijing more than a thousand years ago. The man who ...