94 « Week In China

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WiC 94 (Feb 4, 2011)

Internet & Tech, Talking Point Facebook’s big, but Taobao could be the world’s biggest unlisted dotcom

For most unmarried folk in China, last year’s Singles Day wasn’t the most romantic of days. Since the emergence of shopping site Taobao, Singles ...

Auto Industry Did China employ industrial spies in France?

"Harlot, yes, but traitor, never” is a dramatic denouement in anyone’s book, but especially in the face of a French firing squad. Disappointingly, ...

Property China’s skyscraper obsession explained

In Alicia Keys catchy homage to the Big Apple, she sings it’s the “concrete jungle where dreams are made of”. That jungle is largely a result of ...

Banking & Finance Why DangDang’s CEO thought Morgan Stanley did a poor job on…

Perhaps DangDang – often described as China’s Amazon.com – should be interviewing Eminem to head up its investor relations, or adding a parental ...

China Consumer Carrefour apologises for overcharging Chinese customers

WiC cannot say for sure whether Carrefour sells punchbags at any of its 182 stores in China but Chen Bo must feel like one. The spokesperson for the ...

Internet & Tech Lenovo reboots strategy with Japan deal

Ronald Reagan once quipped of his administration: “Our right hand doesn’t know what our far right hand is doing.” The former president was poking ...

Society Why a Chinese website is so feared by local officials

"A very good day to get out anything we want to bury.” That was Jo Moore’s ill-advised take on the events of 9/11, emailed to a press officer 20 ...

Sport Why a tennis ‘rebel’ has become nation’s new role model

"When your troops begin to lose it’s like a mountain falling down”. So goes a much-quoted Chinese proverb, one that Li Na may have pondered this ...

Who’s Hu Victor Koo

Born in 1966, Hong Kong-native Victor Koo flew to the US for his education, graduating first from University of California at Berkeley, followed by an ...

Society Predictions for Year of Rabbit

A crafty rabbit has three different entrances to its burrows says Chinese legend – a reference to the smart individual having more than one plan. ...

Planet China It’s time for red envelopes in China this week. These hong…

It’s time for red envelopes in China this week. These hong bao (known as lai see in Cantonese, and literally meaning ‘red packet’) are the ...

Cartoons Metal bashing

Pricing an IPO in the week of China’s Lunar New Year – when the nation practically grinds to a halt – never looked the most sensible strategy. ...

And Finally Chinese tycoons in debut conservation project in Sichuan

China’s wealthy class may be known for setting records in conspicious consumption (one of our favourites at WiC is the woman who paid $586,000 for a ...