449 « Week In China

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Back Issue

WiC 449 (Apr 26, 2019)

Taiwan’s Trump?

Cross Strait, Internet & Tech, Talking Point Foxconn boss Terry Gou is running for president in Taiwan

The Financial Times described him last week as “Taiwan’s disrupter-in-chief”, while the Wall Street Journal went with “a brash billionaire” ...

Internet & Tech Tech tycoons under fire for trumpeting a ‘996’ work culture for…

After a lengthy wait Japan has introduced new laws to tackle one of the most notorious aspects of the country’s work culture: punitively long hours. ...

Dealing with disaster

Auto Industry Mercedes on auto show alert after angry sit-in at Xi’an showroom

Thirty year-old Wang Qian didn’t set out to become a consumer champion; she just wanted a new Mercedes Benz. But for two weeks this month Wang won ...

Project runways

Aviation Will Shenzhen airport’s expansion contest or complement Hong Kong’s?

China’s first time fliers are back in the news this year after at least five more cases in which superstitious passengers have thrown coins at their ...

The write stuff

Entertainment New hit show aims to improve the quality of Chinese songwriting

How much do songwriters get paid? In an era when music is primarily consumed online, just a sliver of streaming revenue is earmarked for songwriting ...

Supermarket sweep

M&A Jardine Matheson goes shopping in China via Yonghui investment

In 1842 the Scottish trading firm Jardine Matheson adopted the Chinese name Ewo. It means ‘happy harmony’ and Jardines would later use the name to ...

M&A Unigroup keeps low profile over French tech buy

“We feel like cabbages in a field. We’ve no idea what sauce we’re going to get cooked and eaten with.” Such was the fearful prognosis of a ...

Economy Is job loyalty on the wane in Chinese workplaces?

The Chinese for job hopping is tiaocao or “jumping troughs”. For Chinese employers it is huge headache, especially in boom cities like ...

China Consumer Why app developer Meitu thinks its future is in skincare

Every industry has its clichés. “Pivoting” qualifies as one in the world of start-ups and venture capital. Referred to as a shift in business ...

Crisis management

China Consumer Why JD’s Richard Liu is working 98 hours a week

Even by the nightmarish benchmark of his brief jailing in Minnesota last September, Liu Qiangdong has had a dreadful week. First, the same ...

Rise of the machines

Internet & Tech How automation and artificial intelligence are reinventing the workplace

WiC’s first references to China’s robot revolution featured people like Wu Yulu, a farmer-turned-inventor who merited mention in our fourth issue ...

The generation game

Economy How demographic trends are shaping the future

“Fewer and better births, a service to the nation” was the command from the Chinese authorities not much more than a decade ago. How times have ...

Disruptive demand

China Consumer How the world is counting on China’s consumers

Spending from China’s new breed of consumers has got cash registers ringing in some unlikely places. Regular readers of WiC will be familiar with the ...

Slim down the students

Planet China Nanjing Agricultural University has been running a course for a while…

Nanjing Agricultural University has been running a course for a while that has been very popular, but not very academic. It’s called ‘fat ...

Stimulating viewing

Cartoons Stimulating viewing

China’s economy grew 6.4% in the first quarter versus the same period last year, better than most analysts expected. The main take: that the ...

Sino-File “This has been a game changer. We’re only starting to see…

Jais Valeur, CEO of Danish Crown (Europe’s leading pork processor), tells the Financial Times that prices of pork are being driven up as the disease ...

And Finally Luxury comb maker Carpenter Tan makes renewed push for overseas sales

The comb has a special place in Chinese culture. Beyond untangling hair, they are sometimes offered as a token of love. They are popular gifts on Qixi, ...