439 Archives | Week In China

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WiC 439 (Feb 1, 2019)

Searching high and low

Internet & Tech, Talking Point How more bad press for Baidu could have sparked a service…

The Onion, which labels itself as “America’s finest news source”, once awarded Kim Jong-un the title of “sexiest man alive”. Not known for ...

See you in court

Telecoms US files criminal charges against Huawei

The storm clouds have been gathering above Huawei for months and there was news of two fresh lightning bolts from federal prosecutors in the United ...

Society Predictions for Year of the Pig

One of Chinese literature’s most famous characters is Zhu Bajie, a mythical figure that’s half-human, half-pig. Zhu is smart but lazy, openly ...

Banking & Finance Will new securities regulator be boon for market?

In most countries the announcement of a new regulator for the securities market barely musters a mention in the newspapers. Not so in China, where the ...

Backing away from a bargain

China Consumer Why e-commerce platform Pinduoduo won’t honour “hacked” giveaways

When Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific sold a batch of first-class tickets between Vietnam and North America at economy-class prices last month it tried ...

China Consumer Could Luckin Coffee be the next Ofo?

It was one of the stellar ‘unicorns’ in China’s bicycle-sharing industry. During its heyday, the start-up attracted as much as $2.2 billion in ...

Red Star The football star who made it to Europe

Who is he? Wu Lei is a top striker, who was last season’s Chinese Super League player of the ...

Internet & Tech The freeze on Tencent’s gaming business thaws in January

Winter “is coming” for China’s mobile gamers, but there are signs of spring in the air for game developers. After a nine-month regulatory ...

Not so diplomatic

China and the World Canadian ambassador fired for Huawei remarks

When two pandas were born at Toronto zoo in 2016, Canada’s leader Justin Trudeau helped to name them. He had just been elected and he had promised to ...

Automatic for the people

Internet & Tech Chatbots are starting to take on more customer service roles

Call centres rarely muster much enthusiasm among their customers, but they wouldn’t have been possible without breakthroughs in automatic call ...

Staging a retreat

Entertainment Girl band SNH48 downsizes from 200 members as cost pressures take…

Last August, South Korean K-pop sensation BTS broke Taylor Swift’s record for the biggest YouTube video debut, racking up 45 million views for video ...

King of the Casanovas

Planet China One of the roles that transformed Richard Gere into an international…

One of the roles that transformed Richard Gere into an international star was his performance in the 1980 movie American Gigolo, in which he ...

A chill in the air

Cartoons A chill in the air

China is going downhill fast – if you believe the people touting its skiing revolution. According to research cited by China Daily, 21 million ...

Sino-File “There are now more auto designers in Shanghai than in any…

David Hilton, head of design at GAC Motor in Guangzhou, tells the Wall Street Journal that Shanghai has become a magnet for design talent from ...

The delivery girl who arrived

And Finally The romantic choice of ‘Hong Kong’s Lara Croft’ sparks surprise backlash

She is called “Hong Kong’s Lara Croft”, a reference to the heroine in Tomb Raider. Zhu Qianpei (or Chu Chin-pui in Cantonese) first ...