Digitally China: Recent Episodes

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We need your help to create Season 2 of Digitally China!

Just got a few short questions for you here: https://radiichina.com/digitally-china-2019-wrap/

As many of our loyal listeners might have felt, Digitally China has been taking a short break. But don’t worry, we’ll be coming back with Season 2 in no time.

Throughout the 26 episodes of Season 1 we’ve really appreciated all the support and feedback from our fantastic listeners who have tuned in to the bi-weekly series. Thanks to this feedback, Season 2 of Digitally China will see a few changes. We will fine-tune the format a bit and use each episode to deep-dive even more into the exciting Chinese tech ecosystem.

If you’ve listened to the “The War of a Thousand Groupons” or “From 8 to 800 Million Internet Users,” these episodes give you an idea of the direction we want to take for the new Season 2 — but we still want to hear your thoughts and ideas on what topics to cover and how we can do better.

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This episode of Digitally China is about Brian Wong, his experiences from being part of the early days of Alibaba but at the same time also a story about how it was to first-hand be part of how China grew from almost nothing to the largest internet market in the world.

The location is a hotel in San Francisco, the year is 1999. The internet hype is in its peak. United States at this moment have over 100 million internet users, 10 times more than the much larger country in the East, China. While his friends are leaving school to join the company that seems to be the next big thing, Google, Brian is instead meeting a fairly unknown entrepreneur at that time with the first name Jack who enthusiastically is talking about his company, Alibaba.

As many of his friends on the west coast of the US, he believes that technology will change the world. But instead of staying in his hometown and the Middle Kingdom of innovation, Palo Alto, he moves to Hangzhou to work with e-commerce in country that barely have internet users.

In this episode we’re listening in on Brian’s story, reflecting on the learnings from the growth of the Chinese technology sector, what we can learn from it and how it will impact the rest of the world.

Guests:

· Brian Wong, VP at Alibaba

Hosts: Tom Xiong & Eva Xiao

Producer: Jacob Lovén & Katarina Andersson

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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In the latest Digitally China we’re looking back on history. Meituan-Dianping is China’s clear market leader within group buying, offline discovery and online-offline services today. But it wasn’t that clear a few years back. In fact, the opposite was true, with the American giant Groupon entering China backed by a powerful partner in Tencent. In a hyper-competitive environment, there were suddenly thousands of group-buying services all fighting for the position that Meituan has today.

For a sense of what that time was like, we interviewed Tim He, who was a senior executive of Gaopeng, the Chinese subsidiary of Groupon when they entered the market. Tim, who took a break from Harvard to go back to China to take on the daunting task of trying to win in such an enormous, sprawling market, takes us through some of the incredible stories from that exciting period.

As a seasoned investor at one of Europe’s most renowned venture firms, Kinnevik, Tim also reflects on learnings from the Chinese technology sector as well as the success factors behind today's “super apps” of China.

Topics covered in this episode

• How Groupon entered the Chinese market
• The group-buying industry
• How to operate in a market with thousands of competitors
• What lessons can you learn from China that are applicable for Western markets?
• The success factors behind super app companies such as Meituan-Dianping, Alipay and more

Guests:

· Tim He, investor at Kinnevik and previous senior executive of Gaopeng, the Chinese Groupon.

Host: Tom Xiong

Producer: Jacob Lovén & Katarina Andersson

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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The business of selling clicks and fake accounts is the scourge of social media today, where anyone from wannabe influencers to political saboteurs can purchase likes, followers, and even comments.

In China, the issue is so severe that nearly a third of the country’s internet traffic last year was rated “abnormal”, according to third-party advertising data monitor Miaozhen Systems.

And though Chinese social media platforms from WeChat to Weibo to RED have repeatedly cracked down on fake and bot accounts, the shady business behind the “like” economy is alive and well.

In this episode of Digitally China, we’ll explore the factors that drive the creation and selling of fake engagement metrics in China, the impact, and the process and cost of actually buying them.

Episode outline:

• Reasons motivating people to purchase fake engagement
• How to buy followers and price comparison between platforms
• Why platforms can’t get rid of the fake engagement business
• Impact of fake metrics on brands and the saturation of Chinese social media platforms

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In the latest episode of Digitally China, Tom is joined by Jill Tang, co-founder of Ladies Who Tech, an influential Chinese organization focusing on entrepreneurship and gender diversity in China.

As someone who works in the unique cross-section of tech, diversity, multinational companies, and market-entry in China, Jill shares her observations and thoughts on how multinational companies can be more gender inclusive in China, and how China's younger and more international workforce is changing work culture in the country.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Ladies Who Tech & gender diversity at companies in China

• Entrepreneurship, different types of entrepreneurs and startups

• What multinational companies in China do well and can be better at

• Market-entry for foreign brands to the complex Chinese market

Guests:

· Jill Tang, co-founder Ladies Who Tech

Host: Tom Xiong

Producer: Jacob Lovén

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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Companies around the world are latching onto social commerce, but in China, where mobile payments are ubiquitous and consumers are extra wary of fake goods, the integration between social media and online shopping has been especially fast.

That doesn’t mean it’s a silver bullet for brands though -- or even the multi-billion dollar internet celebrity industry, where influencers are tasked with advertising products without appearing too commercial.

In this episode of Digitally China, we’ll discuss Xiaohongshu or RED, which is often compared to Instagram and Pinterest.

The fast-growing app, which is popular among young, female urbanites in China, has over 85 million monthly active users and is valued at $3 billion following a $300 million funding round last year led by e-commerce heavyweight Alibaba.

But the e-commerce side of RED is still behind more price-conscious competitors like Pinduoduo — and the app hit its latest roadblock earlier this week, when it was pulled from Chinese app stores.

We’ll cover some of the challenges the app is facing as it tries to grow its e-commerce business – monetizing its vibrant user community -- and manage the thousands of influencers on its platform.

Episode summary:

· Xiaohongshu backstory and introduction

· Xiaohongshu vs. competitors

· Xiaohongshu’s content quality problem

· Success cases of brands working with influencers

· Cosmetics: an industry where Chinese brands have really optimized social media and ecommerce

Guests:

· Elijah Whaley, chief marketing officer at Parklu, an influencer marketing tech firm in China

· Huo Qiu, a fashion and cosmetics influencer with over 1 million followers on Weibo and about 30,000 followers on Xiaohongshu

Hosts: Eva Xiao and Tom Xiong

Producer: Jacob Lovén

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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In China’s fast-growing tech industry, it’s easy to focus on exciting new products and businesses while overlooking one of the most important elements of any company: the talent.

Inthis episode, we look at how the recruiting process at Chinese tech firms does -- and doesn’t -- differ from that of multinational firms, and how China's new wave of tech professionals view their career options.

EpisodeOutline:

• Incentives/disincentives for working at multinational firms vs. Chinese internet companies
• The importance of 996 or working overtime
• Probation and the concept of “hire fast, fire fast”
• Unstructured vs. standardized hiring practices
• China’s gender discrimination problem

Guests:

• Vincent Wang, a senior associate at executive recruiting firm Atkins & Associates
• Ben Jiang, who runs the India bureau of Krasia, an Asia-focused tech media platform
• A Zhen, a product manager and team leader for front-end development at a Shanghai-based internet company

Hosts: Eva Xiao and Tom Xiong

Producer: Jacob Lovén

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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Corporate offerings such as secondary listings and IPO’s from Chinese tech companies are accelerating. This year alone we have seen 161 such events, which is already 72% of entire last year.

Why do Chinese tech companies turn to public markets to raise capital? Why are the Hong Kong stock exchange increasingly popular? And how does the domestic Chinese stock market fit in all this for tech companies?

In the latest episode of Digitally China we are interviewing the co-host of China Tech Investor podcast James Hull to get an understanding of the latest trends and what all of this means for Chinese technology companies.

Topics covered during this episode:

• The rush to IPO from tech companies around the world
• Differences between Hong Kong and US public markets
• The future of domestic public listings in China

Hosts: Eva Xiao and Tom Xiong

Guest: James Hull, founder of HullX and co-host of China Tech Investor podcast

Producer: Jacob Lovén

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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(The previous publication was not the full version due to a technical bug. This is an upload of the full episode - sorry for that!)

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei is one of China’s largest success stories in tech.

No other domestic tech firm has been able to grow its business overseas around the world and beat the competition the way the Shenzhen-based company has, despite keeping a relatively low profile.

But over the past six months, Huawei has found itself increasingly in the limelight and under public scrutiny. After the arrest of one of its top executives in December and an escalating trade war, the Chinese telecoms company has become a symbol for both China’s technological rise and ambition -- and the threat that poses to Western countries like the US.

To take a closer look at the company -- at a more human-scale -- we decided to dive into the people and unique ‘wolf’ culture of Huawei, from its dark history of employee suicides to inspiring “war” stories, where company staff brave earthquakes and civil war to serve clients.

So what makes the company tick? How does it produce both die-hard loyalists and Huawei-haters? In this episode, we explore the following topics:

• Huawei’s management system and how it works
• Founder Ren Zhengfei’s influence on Huawei
• Militaristic Huawei slogans and sayings
• Company training and “boot camp”
• The trade-offs of a “wolf” culture

Host: Tom Xiong and Eva Xiao

Producer: Jacob Lovén

Guest: Shen Rui, an ex-Huawei employee who worked there 2011-2015

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Chinese telecoms giant Huawei is one of China’s largest success stories in tech.

No other domestic tech firm has been able to grow its business overseas around the world and beat the competition the way the Shenzhen-based company has, despite keeping a relatively low profile.

But over the past six months, Huawei has found itself increasingly in the limelight and under public scrutiny. After the arrest of one of its top executives in December and an escalating trade war, the Chinese telecoms company has become a symbol for both China’s technological rise and ambition -- and the threat that poses to Western countries like the US.

To take a closer look at the company -- at a more human-scale -- we decided to dive into the people and unique ‘wolf’ culture of Huawei, from its dark history of employee suicides to inspiring “war” stories, where company staff brave earthquakes and civil war to serve clients.

So what makes the company tick? How does it produce both die-hard loyalists and Huawei-haters? In this episode, we explore the following topics:

• Huawei’s management system and how it works
• Founder Ren Zhengfei’s influence on Huawei
• Militaristic Huawei slogans and sayings
• Company training and “boot camp”
• The trade-offs of a “wolf” culture

Host: Tom Xiong and Eva Xiao

Producer: Jacob Lovén

Guest: Shen Rui, an ex-Huawei employee who worked there 2011-2015

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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Together with Jonas Leijonhufvud and Sven Carlsson, the authors of a new book telling the inside story about Spotify and the fight for global dominance in music streaming we are discussing if ByteDance actually have a shot at beating the giants.

ByteDance, the company behind the huge International success TikTok, or Douyin as its called in China is really on the offense. Fueled by the position as the 3rd most downloaded app in the world 2018 and a valuation of 75 billion dollars, ByteDance have recently both announced plans to enter messaging to directly compete with Tencent and Facebook as well as launching a smartphone.

And now, reported first by Bloomberg ByteDance seem to have far advanced plans on getting into music streaming to compete with Spotify, Tencent Music and Apple Music. Already positioned among hundreds of millions of teens around the world with a short video and music app - this actually doesn’t seem that crazy.

In this episode of Digitally China we are discussing:

• TikTok’s current position on the market
• The challenges of monetizing through music streaming, learnt from Spotify and Apple Music
• How music streaming companies work with record labels and how that would impact TikTok’s ambitions
• The validity of TikTok’s presumed music streaming service and how their position among teenagers around the world could support that

Host: Tom Xiong

Producer: Jacob Lovén

Guests: Jonas Leijonhufvud and Sven Carlsson, reporters at Dagens Industri and authors of the book Spotify Untold

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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Gaming is one of the most profitable industries in China’s tech sector. It’s the cash cow powering the rise of Tencent, the multi-billion dollar firm behind WeChat. It's also an industry with some of the most notorious examples of copying, but also the most stringent rules -- which Chinese game developers and gamers tirelessly find creative workarounds for.

China is the largest gaming market in the world by revenue, raking in almost $40 billion last year, despite a 9-month licensing freeze that prevented game developers from monetizing new games. But as the Chinese government rolls out more rules to increase controls on an already tightly regulated market -- banning blood, mahjong games, and more -- what will happen to China's vibrant gaming community, and how will tighter content restrictions impact the country's game developers?

Topics covered in this episode:

• Publication numbers and censorship
• Copycat products and Chinese game quality
• Creative freedom and the future of gaming in China

Guests:

• Haohai and Li Motian, two hardcore gamers based in China
• Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at market research and consultancy firm Niko Partners
• Wang Miaoyi, a Beijing-based independent game developer

Hosts: Eva Xiao & Tom Xiong

Producer: Jacob Loven

Music rights: Licensed by Epidemic Sound

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In this special episode of Digitally China Tom is joined by Emmy Teo, co-founder of the New Retail startup FUSE and advisor to up & coming consumer brands in fashion and furniture.

Chinese companies have for a long time had access to the best supply chain in the world, enabling scalable production of a wide range of products. But only in the recent years we have seen that unique skillset being combined with what western companies usually see as their differentiator: the ability to create attractive brands, especially in the lifestyle sector. In this Digitally China episode we are discussing domestic brands, how much they have progressed and the possibility of them overtaking established brands such as Zara or IKEA.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Up & coming Chinese fashion and furniture brands
• The future of lifestyle segment
• The current and future differences between modern domestic brands and western equivalents

Host: Tom Xiong

Guests: Emmy Teo

Producer: Jacob Lovén

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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With the recent news of Amazon exiting China with their e-commerce business combined with the departure of Uber a few years ago, many observers' have questioned if a foreign tech company can be successful in China.

But then we heard about OYO, an Indian startup having recent success in China hosting thousands of rooms in what is in theory a very hard market to penetrate.

In this episode we are discussing OYO with reporter Huizhong Wu, trying to understand why they can be successful in China while so many western brands fail.

Topics covered in this episode of Digitally China:

• What is OYO?

• What's the difference between an Indian startup and a Western?

• What are the usual challenges of foreign brands entering China?

Hosts: Eva Xiao and Tom Xiong

Guests: Huizhong Wu

Producer: Jacob Lovén

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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Recently a leaked e-mail from JD.com have been widely spread, being probably the most concrete example of the 996 culture from certain tech companies in China. Among many things, the leaked e-mail indicates that people working less overtime should be fired.

In this episode of Digitally China we are trying to figure out how widely spread 996 is, how it impacts people and what effect the recent backlash in this hotly debated topic will have.

To understand the culture of working overtime in tech and how it is different from other industries, we interviewed contributors of the recently famous 996.ICU project on GitHub, Xu Ming and Xiao Yang.

Topics covered in this episode of Digitally China:

• The background of 996
• How 996 in tech is different compared to other industries
• How widely spread 996 is
• The recent criticism against on 996, going viral on GitHub
• How the Chinese tech industry might change going forward

Hosts: Eva Xiao and Tom Xiong

Guests: Xu Ming and Xiao Yang

Producer: Jacob Lovén

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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Over the past five years, China’s internet industry has seen dizzying growth, with each year hitting record-levels of funding. In the second quarter of 2018, Chinese startups raised more venture capital than startups in North America for the first time. 

But at the end of last year, the industry started winding down -- fast. Rumors started about mass layoffs at different tech firms, from ecommerce giant JD to Quora-like Zhihu. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs braced themselves for a “capital winter.”

So is China’s startup scene finally facing the music after years of cash-burning growth? Is this just a market correction or a sign of worse things to come?

In this episode, we will cover:

• Stories from the good old days of China’s startup industry
• Factors contributing to the slowdown
• The impact on China's tech industry and human cost of market correction

Guests: 

• Gu Xi, marketing partner at Higgz, a Beijing-based AI education startup focusing primarily on improving high school students’ learning capabilities.
• Chauncey Jung, a freelance writer based in Canada who focuses on technology, politics, and current affairs in China.

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This latest episode of Digitally China has a special format, partly recorded live from D-Congress, one of the largest e-commerce conferences in Europe where co-host Tom Xiong and producer Jacob Lovén moderated panels with Chinese e-commerce experts.

In this episode we’ll listen to excerpts from Shenyi Wu (former CFO of Pinduoduo and RED) and Julie Chen (former Sequoia Capital China) that have founded the new western-focused e-commerce platform Flamingo.shop. Together with them we discuss how the Chinese e-commerce market have become the global leader, what the secret sauce behind social e-commerce is and how this has a potential to disrupt Amazon.

We also get to listen to Tingting Fang, Brand Director of JudyDoll which is one of the fastest growing cosmetics brands in China. Just founded 18 months ago, they have already surpassed established companies such as L’Oreal by utilizing social e-commerce and the new ways to both engage and sell products online.

Topics this episode covers:

• What is Social E-commerce?
• Why was Pinduoduo able to grab market-share from much larger players such as Alibaba?

Guests: Shenyi Wu, Julie Chen and Tingting Fang.

Hosts: Jacob Lovén and Tom Xiong.

Production: Jacob Loven.

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China ispowered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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In a country where WeChat rules supreme, Bytedance is attempting the impossible. Last month,the Beijing-based startup launched its own social networking app called Duoshan.

It wouldn’t be the first time Bytedance has made larger, more established tech companies nervous. It runs TikTok, a video-sharing app that has quickly grown popular worldwide -- a rare feat for a Chinese tech firm -- inspiring Facebook to launch its own competing app called Lasso.

The startup has also already started butting heads with Tencent. Last year, the heads of both companies became embroiled in a public spat on WeChat, where the Bytedance CEO accused Tencent of copying Douyin -- the Chinese version of TikTok -- and blocking it in WeChat to slow its growth. A few months later in a separate case, Tencent sued the startup for 1 RMB ($0.15) for defamation.

As large tech firms solidify their monopolies around the world -- Google dominates search, Tencent owns social -- it is becoming increasingly difficult for newcomers to challenge tech giants on their own turf. So will Duoshan be successful? And is Bytedance the company that can finally break Tencent’s hold on social?

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

• The promising features of Duoshan -- and their disadvantages
• China’s younger generation and the appeal of disappearing videos or “stories”
• Bytedance’s AI edge
• Bytedance’s success with TikTok and foray into gaming, another important business for Tencent

Guest: Ashley Dudarenok, founder of Alarice International, a Hong Kong-based digital marketing agency that focuses on Chinese social media.

Hosts: Eva Xiao and Tom Xiong

Production: Jacob Loven

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China ispowered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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With DJI's recent 150 million USD embezzlement scandal we are investigating what happens when Chinese tech companies grow too fast. What compromises are made to enable a fast growth that also increases the risk of embezzlement and internal fraud?

Together with our external guest Alex with in-depth experience from both Accenture and large Chinese e-commerce companies we are discovering:

• How embezzlement and internal fraud are being done in Chinese tech companies?

• Is there any difference between China and the US?

• How will this impact the fast-growing Chinese tech sector.

• Will this issue be fixed, or is it even necessary?

• The misconception of publicly listed companies.

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Haigui or “sea turtles” are a special part of China’s far-flung diaspora. A term that describes Chinese nationals who study or work overseas before returning to the motherland, sea turtles have become huge contributors to China’s fast-growing tech industry, from top tech executives to VCs.

But how do overseas Chinese view the pros and cons of staying or returning to China? And what motivates haigui, especially those in high-tech industries, to come back?

In this episode, we talk to a few sea turtles and US-based Chinese AI engineers to understand their experience and perspective of China vs. US tech industry, and what it says about China’s race to become a global tech leader.

Some topics that will be covered in this episode:

• China’s 996 work culture
• The bamboo ceiling
• Compensation at US vs Chinese tech firms
• The breakdown of barriers between Chinese and US tech

Guests:

• Mike Lei, CTO of Mobvoi, a Beijing-based artificial intelligence company, whose investors include Google, Sequoia Capital, and ZhenFund.
• Ji Zhanglong, a Silicon Valley-based machine learning engineer at Facebook.
• Andy Liu, founder of Futureform, a Beijing-based design agency that specializes in product and UX design for AI related products.

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In this pilot episode we are checking out the business model of Luckin Coffee originally published October 23 2018. Is the "digitalisation of coffee" just a hype or actually something that has value? With guest expert Greg Savarese.

Hosts: Eva Xiao and Tom Xiong.

Production: Jacob Loven.

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China produced with RADII (radiichina.com).

Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Distributed and powered by Radii, an independent media platform exploring China from all angles. All music licensed.

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One of the most hyped up words of 2018, AI or Artificial Intelligence has lately been portrayed as something that can enslave the human kind by everything from tech founders (Elon Musk) to tv shows (Black Mirror).

This week’s episode we have a special guest, Nicholas Young, to talk about this topic. Understanding what AI actually is, what it is used for currently, how the future will look like and discussing if we actually already are enslaved to AI.

Nicholas Young is an entrepreneur running the fintech startup Karakul based in Shenzhen. Born in the United States, Nicholas moved to China to pursue his passion around entrepreneurship and tech. He has held multiple product and innovation centric roles in China after finishing MBA at Stanford University with the most recent being leading the innovation team within the AI department of JD.com, China’s second largest e-commerce company.

Throughout the episode we will:

• Clarify what AI actually means and what it is used for
• The impact of AI on society, user behavior and our dependency on Social Media
• The future of AI, if Elon Musk is right and questioning whether we maybe already are enslaved?

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A few weeks ago, in December 2018, Tencent Music did their highly anticipated IPO on the New York Stock Exchange valuing the company to $21.3 billion. Often being described as the "Spotify of China", we're looking into what Tencent Music actually is and what they might represent for the future of music, globally.

With a user base of more than 800 monthly active users and revenue of around $2 billion the detail that has impressed the most is their profit margin of 20%. Or actually even the fact that they, as a music streaming company, even are able to turn a profit.

In this episode we'll go through what Tencent Music is, how they are different compared to Spotify, if they can influence the global music industry and hypothesise about why they didn't merge with Spotify, something rumoured earlier in 2018.

Episode summary:

• What is Tencent Music and how come they are profitable?
• What are the differences between the music industry in China and the west?
• Music streaming as a part of a music ecosystem - will we see the same development outside China?
• Asia - the future battleground - what will happen?

Guest: Jonas Leijonhufvud, journalist at DI Digital and currently writing a book about Spotify.

Hosts: Eva Xiao and Tom Xiong.

Production: Jacob Loven.

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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When it comes to buzzwords in the tech industry, "new retail" ranks high on the list. For the past few years, Alibaba has popularized the catchphrase to describe smarter, more high-tech ways of serving customers in brick-and-mortar shops -- by linking online and offline data -- from facial recognition-powered payments to smart mirrors that lets customers "try on" cosmetics before buying them.

But beyond the shiny add-ons that consumers see, the real impact of new retail - especially for physical stores -- is more invisible: the supply chain and inventory.

In this episode, we'll piece apart what new retail actually means for brick-and-mortar shops, why ecommerce platforms are moving offline, and how traditional brands are trying to catch up with JD and Alibaba before they get left behind.

Episode summary:

• what is "new retail" and why are ecommerce platforms so gung-ho about it?
• case study: how the fashion industry -- where customer demand is volatile and products are always changing -- could really benefit from new retail
• why are traditional brands struggling to streamline their physical shops and are Alibaba and JD solution providers or competitors?

Guest: Sicheng Peng, general manager and president of 7thonline APAC,

Hosts: Eva Xiao and Tom Xiong.

Production: Jacob Loven.

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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A "new social" is on the rise led by TikTok. But despite soaring user numbers, will they survive the competition from giants like Facebook and Tencent? In this episode, we look into TikToks journey from startup to half a billion users.

Hosts: Eva Xiao and Tom Xiong.

Production: Jacob Loven.

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

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When you think of ecommerce in China, Alibaba is probably the first name that comes to mind. And no wonder - the internet giant has built a multibillion dollar empire off a sophisticated ecommerce, logistics, and payments trifecta.

But WeChat, China's most ubiquitous and popular messaging app, often goes unnoticed. Thanks to built-in payments, the app's social newsfeed, and one-on-one chat, these 'micro' shopkeepers are able to operate lucrative businesses from their phone -- and connect with customers in a more intimate way than Taobao, Alibaba's online bazaar. 

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Eva and Tom have been looking into the development around "Project Dragonfly". Why has Google's interest in China increased lately and what's their potential on the world's largest Internet market? Will they actually be able to enter China after 8 years of "absence"?

Thoughts on the episode? Do not hesitate to give us your feedback by emailing us at podcast@digitallychina.com.

Hosts: Eva Xiao and Tom Xiong.

Production: Jacob Loven.

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

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In this pilot episode we are checking out the business model of Luckin Coffee. Is the "digitalisation of coffee" just a hype or actually something that has value? With guest expert Greg Savarese.

Thoughts on the episode? Do not hesitate to give us your feedback podcast@digitallychina.com

Hosts: Eva Xiao and Tom Xiong.

Production: Jacob Loven.

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Distributed and powered by Radii, an independent media platform exploring China from all angles. All music licensed.