The Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Recent Episodes

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A weekly round-up of top business and financial news from China's leading financial magazine, Caixin, produced and hosted by the Sinica Podcast's Kaiser Kuo, featuring full stories from Caixin and conversations with Caixin writers and editors.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The U.S. Senate targets American investments in China, China’s first U.S. IPO under new listing rules moves a step closer, Beijing plans to relax rules on foreign firms investing in bad-debt managers.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business brief: WeChat lets users link overseas cards for everyday payments in China, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry visits China Rio Tinto warns of slowing iron ore shipments as China recovery falters, and China vows to create a bigger, better, and stronger private sector.

In addition, Kelly Wang gives the latest on China's efforts to lower drug prices and the impact it's having on big pharma.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Tesla and Chinese rivals signal a truce in the EV price war, top property developers see June’s new sales take a dive, and China's commerce minister encourages investment by foreign drugmakers

In addition, Yukun Zhang discusses the reasons behind China's lackluster credit demand.

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On this week’s episode, Chinese entrepreneurs mobilize for an AI race with the U.S., food-delivery giant Meituan buys an AI startup for more than $200 million, and LVMH’s billionaire CEO kicks off his China tour to woo local consumers.

In addition, Kelsey Cheng explains the restructuring of Alibaba.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: VC giant Sequoia reorganizes and spins off its China unit under geopolitical concerns, China puts drafting a national AI law on its legislative agenda, and Chinese education companies race to develop ChatGPT-like products,

In addition, we speak with Kelsey Cheng about Huawei's struggling automotive business.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Guangzhou eases Covid curbs, UBS economist predicts China to fully reopen in the third quarter of 2023, housing sales slump persists despite rescue efforts.

Plus, Kelsey Cheng of Caixin Global discusses new options for retirement savings as households look to diversify from real estate.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China’s property sales remain sluggish despite government efforts, Tencent wins new game license after 17-month drought, and Alibaba posts surprise loss amid crisis in consumer confidence

In addition, Caixin Global finance reporter Yukun Zhang talks about the downfall of Tian Huiyu, the once high-0flying banker and former president of China Merchants Bank who has been investigated for corruption charges and expelled from the Communist Party.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China cuts quarantine time for international travelers, China’s home-grown GPS rival is fitted in almost every new smartphone shipped in the country; and carmaker BYD launches its first luxury EV brand in a challenge to high-end foreign brands.

In addition, Jonathan Breen talks about how Beijing is addressing abuse of the cough medicine DMX.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Chinese Miners Ordered to Divest From Canadian Lithium Projects. Plus, Chinese bank moves to recoup billions of unpaid Evergrande loans, and how Apple supplier Foxconn is trying to stop workers from fleeing Covid lockdown.

We also speak with Caixin Global editor Josh Drummer about the success— and the challenges — of EV battery giant CATL as it seeks to expand into international markets.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief:

Wildfires rage in Sichuan and Chongqing as a heatwave and drought turn forests into tinderboxes and reservoirs evaporate; Huawei's Ren Zhengfei warns of dire difficulties ahead for the telecoms equipment giant; a labor scam in Hong Kong fleecing people lured to Southeast Asia with the promise of high-paying jobs is uncovered; and SMIC announces plans for a massive new wafer fab in Tianjin.

In addition, we speak with Nandini Venkata about the fallout from a leaked high school entrance exam in Shanghai.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief:

China’s central bank lowers two key interest rates by 10 basis points; China’s Foreign Ministry releases a white paper on Taiwan; Beijing defends its controversial decision to suspend climate cooperation with the U.S.; Hainan continues to wrestle with a COVID outbreak; fast-fashion giant Shein overtakes Amazon in app downloads; and ByteDance shells out $1.5 billion to acquire a private hospital through subsidiaries.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global’s Nandini Venkata about the new virus that’s been discovered in China.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Sino-U.S. relations continue to suffer in the aftermath of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial trip to Taiwan; the U.S. expands its ban on the sale of semiconductor design equipment to China; Chinese electric vehicle battery maker CATL sues a rival over alleged IP infringement; troubled property developer Evergrande abandons plans to build a massive soccer stadium in Southern China; and China’s two largest online game publishers see zero new titles approved in the latest government list.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global’s Nandini Venkata about Alibaba’s turbulent ride in the U.S. as it faces a potential delisting over the ongoing audit controversy.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief:

U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping hold a call lasting over two hours ahead of a possible visit to Taiwan by U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and a congressional delegation; Beijing will stick with its “zero-COVID” strategy despite the economic hit; and China’s digital currency gets some new measures to combat privacy violations and prevent laundering.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global’s Nandini Venkata about why Chinese company Miniso is under attack by short-sellers.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief:

Beijing backs down over the use of "quarantine bracelets" after online backlash; Didi served with large fines for violations of data and personal security laws; Hong Kong cops bust a fake marriage ring, arresting over 100 individuals; and U.S.-China tensions flare over Nancy Pelosi's plans to visit Taiwan next month.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global financial news reporter Yukun Zhang about the scandal involving village banks in Henan province.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief:

A senior executive has left ByteDance, the company behind TikTok after his hardware initiatives were unsuccessful; a knife attack in a Shanghai hospital results in multiple injuries to hospital staff; Hong Kong eases some COVID control measures; an iron ore mining project in Guinea is once again on hold after the Chinese and Guinean sides fail to come to an agreement; and a major Chinese contract manufacturer for smartphones plans a public listing.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about a worrying outbreak of the flu — yes, the flu, not COVID — in South China.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief:

Xi Jinping swears in Hong Kong's new chief executive, John Lee, and says that Hong Kong must be governed by "patriots;" a Hong Kong investor sues to have embattled developer Evergrande liquidated; China is on track to increase coal production by 200 million tons in 2022; and Chinese cities reduce spending for the second half of the year amid economic slowdowns and fiscal shortfalls.

In addition, we speak with Manyun Zou about China's green energy trading market.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The USTR is still wavering on easing tariffs as Katherine Tai sees tariffs as "leverage" against China; Xi Jinping calls economic sanctions a "double-edged sword" in his opening speech at the BRICS Summit; TikTok's Chinese sister company Douyin wins rights for digital broadcast of the World Cup; and EV maker NIO responds after two people are killed when one of its pilot cars crashes through a wall at a parking garage and plummets three stories.

In addition, Nandini Venkata, Caixin Global's podcast producer, joins Kaiser to discuss the scandal in Henan over abuse of the COVID health code app.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China’s top regulator quashes rumors of a revived Ant Group IPO; the debate over IVF for single women in China heats up; China’s defense minister Wei Fenghe spits some fire at the Shangri-La Dialogue; and new COVID outbreaks threaten openings in Shanghai and Beijing.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global financial reporter Yukun Zhang about mass COVID testing, one of the main weapons in China’s anti-COVID arsenal.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: A kerfuffle in China over images in textbooks; the chairman and CEO of a financial services company faces a two-year ban on securities trading; the numbers are down again this month as Shanghai and other Chinese cities emerge from lockdown; EU says that China will take advantage of Russia’s energy woes; and a bit reshuffle at Ant Financial.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about Amazon’s decision to pull one of its most popular products — the Kindle, and the Kindle bookstore — out of China.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: USTR Katherine Tai is still not saying whether the Biden administration will lift some tariffs on Chinese goods; Chinese companies listed in the U.S. face a November deadline to resolve the longstanding audit issues; Luckin Coffee reports its first-ever operating profit; Airbnb checks out of China; and Beijing targets stimulus at airlines and consumers in hopes of reviving an economy clobbered by COVID lockdowns.

We also speak with Nandini Venkata, Caixin Global's podcast producer, about the difficulties of traveling out of Shanghai as lockdowns appear to come to an end.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief:

Ridesharing giant Didi Global says it will not complete a cybersecurity review before its pending delisting from the NYSE; Hong Kong authorities bust a money-laundering scheme; and Joe Biden dangles the possibility of dropping Trump-era tariffs, even as Beijing bridles at changes to the language on a State Department “fact sheet” on Taiwan.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata for an update on China’s COVID-19 outbreak and unpopular lockdowns, as well as the latest on mRNA vaccines.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief:

The Beijing leadership doubles down on its controversial “Dynamic Zero-Covid Strategy”; foreign companies feel the pinch from the Covid lockdowns, especially in logistics, according to a new European Union Chamber of Commerce survey; China’s regulators appear to back off a bit from their ongoing crackdown on China’s fintech sector; the Asian Games, scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, have been postponed; and China’s central bank extends a $15 billion credit line to fire up the coal sector.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about the horrifying story now making the rounds on the internet of an elderly woman mistakenly believed to be dead and zipped into a body bag at an elderly care facility.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief:

Beijing scrambles to control a COVID-19 outbreak in the capital, undertaking mass testing; leading commercial drone maker DJI suspends operations in both Russia and Ukraine; asset management companies report soaring profits — as do makers of COVID test kits; and three Chinese nationals are dead after an apparent suicide attack at a Confucius Institute in Karachi.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata for the latest in the case of Richard Liu, the founder of e-commerce giant JD.com, who was acquitted of rape charges but is being sued for damages by the original plaintiff, who claims that Liu assaulted her in September of 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief:

The lockdown in Shanghai continues as residents scramble to find sources of food and officials move against price gouging; the intercity logistics sector feels the pinch of the lockdowns, according to new research; TSMC sees revenues and profits growing healthily amidst huge demand for chips; the head of a joint ICBC-Goldman Sachs fund steps aside amidst speculation that he may be implicated in the investigation of two of his employees; and China — the world’s largest importer of crude oil — will be paying through the nose as energy prices soar.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global financial reporter Yukun Zhang about the fate of NFTs in China.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief:

China’s ambassador to the United Nations calls for an investigation into the killings of civilians in Bucha, in the Kyiv suburbs; more grim allegations of human trafficking emerge in China; China’s top securities watchdog says new rules governing overseas IPOs will be fast-tracked; Bain reports declining private equity activity in China as exits decline; and JD.com founder Richard Liu steps down as CEO — the latest high-profile tech leader to relinquish day-to-day operational control as regulations tighten.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global deputy copy desk chief Joshua Dummer about the COVID-19 situation in Shanghai.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief:

China’s ambassador to the United States says that China’s relationship with Russia does have a bottom line; Chinese consumer drone powerhouse DJI is upbraided over its inability to ground drones used by Russian forces in Ukraine; Shanghai battles an outbreak of the Omicron variant; ZTE shares jump as the company is released from probation by the U.S.; Weibo is added to the list of noncompliant U.S.-listed Chinese companies, and is threatened with potential delisting; and Chinese real estate developer Sunac files for an extension on payments on a $630 million onshore bond.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata for the latest on the tragic crash of a China Eastern plane — a Boeing 737 — a week ago.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief:

A Boeing 737 flying from Kunming to Guangzhou plummeted suddenly in mountainous Guangxi with 132 aboard; Biden and Xi speak by video conference about Ukraine; Chinese ambassador to the U.S. Qin Gang denies that China had any foreknowledge of the Russian invasion and calls claim that Russia asked for military assistance “disinformation;” China’s economy performs well in the first two months of 2022 — but the reasons for that aren’t cause for optimism; China’s top securities regulator moves to keep foreign listings open; HNA is in hot water again as its aviation group chairman, Bao Qifa, is taken away by police; more restrictions on online fandoms in China; and social media and gaming giant Tencent plans to downsize.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about China’s battle with a new subvariant of Omicron.

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Chinese ADRs tumble on American bourses after the SEC announces possible delistings targets over accounting kerfuffle; nickel prices soar after China’s Tsingshan makes a bad bet on the metal’s futures; disgraced Luckin Coffee survives a bid to pull the plug and liquidate assets; as the Two Meetings comes to an end, Premier Li Keqiang announces that he will step down after finishing his second term this year; China reports 3300 domestic COVID cases as Shenzhen goes into lockdown and Shanghai edges closer to it; and Xi Jinping joins France’s Macron and Germany’s Scholz in a call for a negotiated end to the Russian war in Ukraine.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global financial news reporter Kelsey Cheng, who discusses how Western sanctions on Russia may impact China.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief:

China sets its lowest GDP growth target yet, at around 5.5%; the renminbi surges against the ruble as sanctions bite against Russia; an AmCham survey finds fewer U.S. firms in China making a profit; Huawei’s tax troubles in India deepen; a new American ambassador takes up his post in Beijing; Hong Kong continues to battle an Omicron wave; and China is hinting that it is reconsidering its dynamic zero-COVID strategy.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global finance reporter Yukun Zhang about the huge penalties levied against livestreaming e-commerce celebs.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief:

A private lender could lose 10 million yuan in Ethereum following a court ruling on crypto loans; Huawei encounters difficulties in India; China cracks down on counterfeit Olympic mascots after “Bing Dwen Dwen” surges in popularity; Hong Kong battles an Omicron wave; and China’s oil imports decline for the first time in two decades.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global’s Joshua Dummer about the disturbing case of the woman shown chained to a wall in a Douyin video.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Beijing plans to announce sweeping standards on fintech and the digital yuan; Hong Kong steps up the fight against COVID-19; Beijing pushes back its target for peaking steel industry carbon emissions by five years; and three people are suspected of human trafficking after a disturbing video of a woman in shackles goes viral.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global financial news reporter Guo Yingzhe about the speculative bubble now forming around the Beijing Winter Games mascot Bing Dwen Dwen.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Over 300 positive cases so far within the Olympic closed-loop; the Winter Games fuel a rise in interest in winter sports in China, with travel and spending on the rise; NASDAQ-listed electric vehicle maker Faraday Future is in trouble over misleading vehicle pre-sales figures; the IMF pushes Beijing to address slowing growth with more aggressive fiscal policy; and China’s vaccine makers are looking likely to enjoy significant profit growth for 2022.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about Beijing’s efforts to stamp out illegal after-school tutoring companies.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The hardships faced by a migrant worker who tested positive for the Delta variant have sparked widespread sympathy after his movements, and his backstory, were published online; Huawei’s venture capital investment arm, Hubble, looks to bolster Huawei’s chipmaking capabilities; and China’s real estate developers face continuing problems as bills come due.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about the results of an investigation into how Zhengzhou mishandled last summer’s deadly flooding.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China’s GDP grew 8.1% in 2021 on low comparisons; flight cancellations continue as several Chinese cities experience Omicron variant cases; Beijing further tightens rules on after-school tutoring companies; China’s big mobile payment providers come one step closer to enforced interoperability; and embattled developer Evergrande’s automotive unit produces its first car, but the market isn’t impressed.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about the controversial explanations offered by authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong for COVID-19 cases in the respective cities.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Major layoffs at short video company Kuaishou; India orders Chinese mobile phone giant Xiaomi to pay $90 million in import taxes; China overtakes Japan to become the world’s largest importer of LNG, or Liquified Natural Gas; and China Mobile makes its debut in a “homecoming listing” on the Shanghai Stock Exchange after being kicked off an American bourse.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about the COVID-19 situation in China — in Xi’an, where some pregnant women have been turned away from hospitals for failing to produce valid COVID tests; in Hong Kong, where public anger over a birthday party attended by many officials has boiled over; and in Tianjin, where the first community transmissions of the Omicron variant were reported late last week.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: electric vehicle startup Xpeng gets in trouble for abusing facial recognition tech in its showrooms; the stridently nationalistic editor-in-chief of the Global Times steps down; the U.S. Treasury Department expands its list of Chinese companies on its blacklist to include drone maker DJI and dozens of other companies over Xinjiang surveillance and alleged Iran exports; Hong Kong's bourse weighs allowing SPACs — special-purpose acquisition companies — to sell shares; and the top Chinese planning body unveils its big priorities for 2022.

We also talk with June Deng, research analyst at Caixin Insight, about ride-sharing giant Didi's intention to list in Hong Kong after its abrupt announcement that it would de-list from the New York Stock Exchange.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: A possible end to the chip shortage that has crippled auto manufacturing in China; downgrades of a dozen Chinese real estate developers from the three major credit rating agencies; Beijing launches a new free online tutoring platform in the wake of its crackdown on cram schools; British businesses in China report difficulty in attracting and retaining foreign talent due to China’s COVID restrictions; and once again, Hong Kong is the region with the world’s highest life expectancy.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about a promising new type of stainless steel developed in Hong Kong — a material that may significantly help in the fight against COVID-19.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Investors get the jitters over the Omicron variant, rattling aviation stocks; Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi announces its impending delisting from the NYSE; China’s Vice Premier Liú Hè 刘鹤 says China is on target to hit its 6% GDP growth target for 2021; Evergrande looks increasingly dire and desperate; and the possible on-screen poisoning of a cat has Chinese audiences in an uproar over alleged animal cruelty.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast editor Nandini Venkata about a woman whose efforts to secure drugs to treat her child’s epilepsy have landed her in legal trouble.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Two Chinese nationals have been killed, with 10 held for ransom and two still missing, after an attack in the Democratic Republic of the Congo just a few days after the kidnapping of five in a separate incident also in the DRC; Chinese ties with Lithuania near the breaking point over Taiwan; the U.S. Commerce Department adds more Chinese companies to its “entities list;” Beijing orders Alibaba and Baidu to clean up their cloud services in a bid to prevent on telecommunications fraud; Meituan incurs its biggest quarterly loss since Q3 2018; leading Chinese AI company SenseTime looks set to list in Hong Kong without a cybersecurity review from Beijing; and China’s birthrate drops to its lowest in over 40 years.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global financial news reporter Tang Ziyi about the trials and tribulations of foreign financial services companies operating in China.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Henry Kissinger weighs in on the Xi-Biden virtual summit; China and the U.S. will ease visa restrictions on each others’ journalists; Beijing is set to go after carbon-intensive industrial crypto mining operations; China pledges $30 billion toward reducing carbon emissions from burning coal; Alibaba shares fall 11% as the e-commerce giant lowers its full-year forecast; and six people are jailed after trying to cover up the escape of three leopards from a wild animal park in Hangzhou.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global company news editor Kelsey Cheng about how Chinese companies — and regulators — are responding to Facebook’s “Metaverse.”

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China’s Ministry of Commerce assures people that its suggestion that people stock up on staples for the winter was just a routine seasonal reminder; China’s exports climb year-over-year for the 13th straight month; Beijing prepares to introduce punitive measures aimed at “separatists” calling for Taiwan independence; quarantine requirements may soon be dropped for travel between the mainland and Hong Kong; and Merck looks to introduce new COVID-19 therapeutic to the Chinese market.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global company news editor Kelsey Cheng about what’s different with this year’s Double 11 — November 11 — online shopping extravaganza.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Boeing’s 737 Max planes look likely to be cleared for landing again in the lucrative China market; China’s Foreign Ministry tells U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to stop playing the “Taiwan Card;” Beijing reminds its government agencies not to discriminate against foreign-invested enterprises in procurement; steel output shrinks again in keeping with Beijing’s efforts to curb overcapacity and reduce CO2 emissions; and three of China’s leading power generation companies see huge losses on rising coal prices.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global deputy multimedia editor Heather Mowbray about the plight of uninsured gig economy workers in China.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Beijing moves to stabilize coal prices in hopes of addressing shortages that have resulted in power outages and rationing; a Hong Kong real estate billionaire takes a $13 million loss in sell-off of bonds from embattled developer Kaisa; under pressure from regulators, Tencent and Alibaba begin tearing down some of the walls in their respective walled gardens; Huawei wins a big energy storage contract in Saudi Arabia; 13 people have been arrested in connection with the falsification of emissions data in Hebei; and Beijing denies reports that it has tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global companies reporter Manyun Zou about the crackdown on online gaming and its impact on game companies.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China’s central bank rebukes Evergrande but tries concerns over contagion from its massive debt crisis; prices soar in China for lithium, a key component of batteries for electric vehicles; European businesses ask for clarity in power policy amid shortfalls and rationing; the U.N. Biodiversity Conference wraps up in Kunming, Yunnan, with a pledge by over 100 nations to commit to protecting biodiversity; and Microsoft shutters LinkedIn in China.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about the end of after-school tutoring in China as experienced by parents.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Food delivery giant Meituan has been fined over half a billion dollars by China’s antitrust regulator; Beijing dangles unprecedented access to its enormous domestic market if it’s allowed to join the CPTPP; concerns over contagion from the Evergrande crisis loom; box office rebounds dramatically over Golden Week with the release of a big-budget war epic; and China’s Vice Premier Liu He meets virtually with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai in what could signal a truce in the ongoing trade war.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global financial news reporter Yukun Zhang about the causes of China’s current power shortages.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou returns to China; Huawei budget smartphone brand Honor recovers market share; Beijing cracks down hard on cryptocurrencies, effectively banning all crypto activity; embattled conglomerate HNA’s chairman and CEO both detained in China; questions emerge over banks with exposure to Evergrande; and multiple Chinese provinces suffer power shortfalls, including blackouts, and may face rationing.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about exploding lithium batteries, back in the news in China after two e-bike batteries caught fire — one causing a deadly apartment fire.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: U.S.-China tensions rise over Taipei’s move to change the name of its representative office in the U.S.; Apple offers its latest smartphone at a price it hopes will grow its share in China; Stanford faculty call for an end to the U.S. Department of Justice’s controversial “China Initiative” over ethnic and racial profiling; the chairman of embattled Evergrande puts an expensive Hong Kong home up for sale; and Chinese internet companies fall in line when ordered by Beijing to promote “positive content.”

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global financial news reporter Lin Jinbing about a bad land deal in Korea by Huarong, one of China’s four major distressed debt management companies.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Major Chinese tech companies are ordered to do more to protect gig workers; Xi Jinping and Joe Biden speak by phone for the second time since Biden’s inauguration; Germany’s ambassador to China, Jan Hecker, dies tragically after just two weeks on the job; Fujian health authorities mobilize after new COVID-19 cases emerge in the South China province; and a court rules that China’s search engines cannot bury negative search results.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about real estate behemoth Evergrande Group’s struggle to deal with its mountain of debt.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Chinese online game companies wonder whether new rules may mean it’s game over soon; the entertainment sector is ordered to rid itself of unethical or unpatriotic celebs, and take “sissy men” off the air; ride-hailing companies are ordered to clean up their act; global warming pow-wow between John Kerry and Xie Zhenhua in Tianjin; and President Xi Jinping wants to establish a Beijing-based stock exchange for small- and mid-size companies.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about ByteDance’s decision to end the practice of six-day work weeks every other week — and what this may mean for the tech sector.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China’s UN ambassador calls on the WHO to investigate Fort Detrick and the University of North Carolina for alleged “lab leaks,” apparently in reaction to U.S. allegations of a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology; the epidemiologist known as “China’s Dr. Fauci” has been cleared of academic fraud allegations; China’s infamous “996” work hours are declared illegal by a Chinese court; AI facial recognition giant SenseTime applies for an IPO that could weigh in at $2 billion; and Beijing seeks to allay fears of massive income redistribution.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global financial news reporter Guo Yingzhe about “Special-purpose acquisition companies,” or SPACs, and why they may be targeted by Hong Kong securities regulators.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The White House announced retired career diplomat Nicholas Burns as President Biden’s latest nomination for U.S. ambassador to China; China’s top transport authority called on ride-hailing firms to cap the commissions they take from drivers and disclose them publicly; and according to Xinhua, China’s top leaders have pledged to better control “reasonably adjusting excessive” income and encouraged high-earning groups and enterprises to give back to society.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global company news reporter Kelsey Cheng about how a photo taken by a Caixin photographer launched a debate about non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Beijing banned primary and middle schools in the capital from using overseas textbooks; the Cyberspace Administration of China launched a national crackdown on illegal surveillance, resulting in tracking down 25,000 illegal webcams' access permissions and confiscating 1,500 sets of covert listening devices; and China’s medical beauty industry is subjected to regulatory scrutiny on financial and medical risks.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global financial reporter Tang Ziyi about China’s carbon market.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: After Beijing announced strict new rules, China’s biggest private education companies said they are no longer offering Chinese students tutoring services led by staff who are not in China; Chinese gaming companies’ shares plunged due to a looming clampdown on the gaming sector after another state media report condemned gaming addiction; and Foxconn will buy a semiconductor factory from Taiwanese memory chip supplier Macronix International for $91 million.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about the shocking allegations against an Alibaba manager.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will now require additional disclosures from Chinese companies seeking to sell stock in the United States; Tesla lowered the price of its Model 3 electric cars in China by 15,000 yuan ($2,320) because of reductions in production costs; and China’s former Commerce Minister said that Beijing needs to make progress on intellectual property protection, predictability of government policy, and favorable talent policies if it wants to keep foreign companies in the country.

In addition, we speak with Caixin company reporter Matthew Walsh about the massive regulatory crackdown on the education sector in China.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China unveiled its self-developed maglev train capable of traveling up to 600 kilometers per hour; shares of Chinese education firms collapsed in New York after the Chinese government issued sweeping new regulations to restrict after-school tutoring services; and the State Council released supportive measures for the newly announced three-child policy.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global general news reporter Wang Xintong about the flooding last week in central China’s Henan Province.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China Southern Airlines will be the first Chinese airline to test a COVID-19 vaccine “passport” in the form of a mobile app; EHang’s flagship autonomous passenger drone has won approval for firefighting; and U.S.-based company Beyond Meat is launching an online store on one of China’s largest ecommerce platforms, JD.com.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global financial reporter Tang Ziyi about China’s first official nationwide emissions trading system.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Huawei CFO Mèng Wǎnzhōu 孟晚舟 is denied a request to admit bank records as evidence in her legal battle against extradition to the United States; Tencent adopts a facial recognition system to prevent minors from playing its online games during the night; and Meituan plans to trial food deliveries by drones in Shanghai.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about the Cyberspace Administration of China’s punitive actions against ride-sharing app Didi Chuxing.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: American brokerage Morgan Stanley downgraded China’s real estate sector; The Caixin China General Services Business Activity Index falls to the lowest rate since April 2020; and the Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccine has been found to be safe and effective for children as young as three years old.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about the slowdowns facing the U.S. IPO of Chinese ridesharing app Didi Chuxing.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: A new report shows that companies from China are growing in global esteem; Chinese short-video company Kuaishou wins broadcasting rights for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics; and Apple Daily, one of Hong Kong’s most popular newspapers, printed its final edition last week.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about the recent crackdown on cryptocurrency markets in China.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Reports show that China’s Sichuan Province plans to shutter all bitcoin mining operations in the region; Huawei Technologies has extended a recent move into the high-tech microchip sector with a new investment in high-powered lasers; and the Australian trade minister has announced he will refer China to the World Trade Organization for dispute resolution over 200% tariffs on Australian wine.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about the company Aìhuíshōu (爱回收) and its recent IPO in New York.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The Chinese embassy in the United Kingdom has criticized a statement made by leaders of the G-7; Tech giant ByteDance is now aspiring to become a technology supplier for companies hoping to digitize; and a Hong Kong-based tech startup has created a robot that uses artificial intelligence to diagnose patients.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global company editor Matthew Walsh about the increasingly popular fast fashion app SheIn.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China adjusts its family planning policy to allow people to have up to three children; Tencent’s cloud computing arm adds four new internet data centers in Thailand, Germany, Japan, and Hong Kong; and 11 Chinese tutoring companies are fined by the country’s marketing regulator for false advertising and pricing fraud.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global financial news reporter Tang Ziyi about the yuan’s recent surge against the U.S. dollar.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: In an effort to reduce energy consumption, China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region prepares to crack down on bitcoin mining; a new study analyzes the potential environmental impact of 5G technologies; and China’s yuan surges to a three-year high against the U.S. dollar.

In addition, we speak with Nandini Venkata about an ultramarathon in Gansu province where extreme weather claimed the lives of 21 contestants.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Twenty-one marathon runners die in a storm in northwestern China; ByteDance co-founder Zhāng Yīmíng 张一鸣 announces that he will step down as CEO of the company; and Yuán Lóngpíng 袁隆平, the “father of hybrid rice,” passes away at age 90.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global financial news reporter Timmy Shen about the recent crash in cryptocurrency prices and what this means for the future of the market.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China purchases a record 1.36 million metric tons of corn from the United States; according to China’s General Administration of Customs, exports rose by 32.3% year-on-year in April; and the Sinopharm vaccine receives approval for emergency use by the World Health Organization.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about the potential delisting of Chinese telecommunications companies from American stock exchanges.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Tesla finds itself under pressure from Chinese regulators to share vehicle data with a passenger; China’s top health authority launches an investigation into medical malpractice after a whistleblower reveals widespread misconduct in the treatment of cancer patients; and ByteDance turns away from a near-term initial public offering.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about proposed “trial guidelines” to regulate the livestreaming industry in China.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: First-quarter profits from China’s centrally administered state-owned enterprises are up 31% from the same period in 2019; an industry report shows that China became the world’s largest buyer of chip equipment in 2020; and the Hong Kong government announces that Chinese mainland residents can begin to travel to the island without a 14-day quarantine starting in mid-May of 2021.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global new media producer and editor Heather Mowbray to discuss the latest on the Chinese vaccine rollout and efficacy on the Chinese mainland.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The U.S. Senate directs the U.S. government to adopt a policy of “strategic competition” with China; ecommerce giant JD.com and Visa have agreed to jointly launch an online merchant subsidies program; and Inner Mongolia sets the stage to decrease the region’s production capacity of steel, coking coal, and ferro-alloys.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about the $2.8 billion fine that Alibaba recently received from China’s anti-monopoly regulator.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Semiconductor prices continue to rise; the fintech arm of Chinese ecommerce giant JD.com withdrew its application for an IPO in Shanghai; and China’s central bank begins cross-border tests of the virtual yuan.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata, who tells us about doctors and researchers who are turning to paper mills and ghostwriting companies to help write fraudulent research papers.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China imposes sanctions on nine British individuals for “spreading lies and misinformation” about labor conditions in Xinjiang; Foreign residents aged 18 and above will be able to receive China-made COVID-19 vaccinations in Beijing; and a state-owned offshore oil and gas producer reports a 59% decrease in profits last year.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about a crackdown on the industry that has cropped up around extracurricular courses offered in China.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China and the new U.S. administration under Biden finish their first face-to-face meetings in Alaska; Pinduoduo’s chairman announces his departure from the company; and Beijing and Shenzhen begin a trial program to manage multinationals’ cross-border use of funds.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global financial news reporter Tang Ziyi about Vanguard, one of the world’s largest asset managers, and its decision to begin a joint venture with Ant Group.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Foreign nationals are slowly being allowed to return to China, provided they’ve been inoculated with a Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccine first; Huawei and Hikvision are added to a new blacklist by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission; and a massive dust storm blankets huge swathes of northern China, causing business slowdowns and traffic jams.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global’s economic and finance news chief, Lin Jinbing, to discuss policy developments emerging from this year’s Two Sessions meeting in Beijing.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China sets a target for economic growth above six percent as the country’s economy continues to rebound from the coronavirus; China formally ratifies the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in the Asia-Pacific region; and data reveals that Chinese exports jumped 60.6% in dollar terms in the first two months of 2021 compared to last year.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young who tells us about a Wuhan semiconductor manufacturer which has now been shuttered.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The reigning champions of China’s premier soccer league cease operations; Chinese President Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 declares “total victory” in the government’s mission to eradicate poverty; and expansion in China’s manufacturing sector continues to slow.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global reporter Tang Ziyi about a public relations disaster at one of China’s biggest ecommerce platforms, Pinduoduo.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The China-Laos railway is set to open for use in December 2021, with plans to extend to Thailand and beyond; China considers easing capital controls to allow citizens to invest in overseas securities and insurance products; and Beijing increases its rare earth mining quotas, up 27.6% from the previous year.

In addition, we speak with Flynn Murphy of Caixin Global, who tells us about how design flaws in China’s statin drug trials led to tragic results.

Correction: The drug trials that had design flaws were for statin drugs, not COVID-19 drugs, as originally stated.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Joe Biden and Chinese President Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 speak over the phone for the first time since Biden has taken office; the BBC is taken off the air in China after actions by China’s National Radio and Television Administration; and Lunar New Year rail travel plunges 70% from last year.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata about yet another fraud scandal at a private men’s health clinic in China’s northwestern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: A former Beijing deputy mayor has been arrested for accepting roughly $20 million in bribes; short-video app Kuaishou saw its shares nearly triple on its first day of trading in Hong Kong; and the expansion of China’s services sector continues to slow.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about Huawei’s involvement in a domestic scandal in China.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The Indian government permanently bans several apps owned by China’s largest internet companies, with WeChat, Taobao, and TikTok among them; growth in China’s manufacturing sector slows slightly while the debt-to-GDP ratio surges; and German insurance company Allianz is given the go-ahead to set up China’s first wholly foreign-owned insurance asset management firm.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global podcast producer Nandini Venkata, who tells us about a story making the rounds recently regarding a nursing home accused of scamming its elderly residents.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Hong Kong imposes its first COVID-19 lockdown; Shenzhen will hand out roughly $3.1 million to migrant workers, provided they stay in the city they are currently based in to discourage traveling during the upcoming Lunar New Year; and new data from China’s National Energy Administration reveals that a record-setting 72 million kilowatts of wind power capacity was installed in 2020.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young, who shares with us the story of Lín Qí 林奇, the head of a popular Chinese game studio, who was poisoned and tragically died on Christmas Day last year.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The U.S. adds nine Chinese companies to a Department of Defense blacklist for alleged ties to Chinese military organizations; President-elect Joe Biden appoints two senior National Security Council officials to Asia-Pacific and China positions; and stronger-than-anticipated demand for personal protective equipment drives China’s trade surplus to a record-high level.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about two brewing workplace crises at two Chinese companies.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: COVID-19 reemerges in the city of Shijiazhuang, a former top financial official is sentenced to death, and the death of a young employee has many questioning the effects of China’s incredibly demanding work culture.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about China’s leading chipmaker, SMIC, and how internal clashes have spurred resignations from the executive suite.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Tensions continue to rise with three Chinese companies being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange; latest figures show China’s manufacturing continues to recover and concerns persist over a possible property bubble; and China’s top legislative body confirms it will begin its annual session on March 5.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global’s podcast producer, Nandini Venkata, who discusses the recently signed EU-China investment treaty.

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China’s Chang’e-5 space capsule returns to Earth carrying lunar samples; bilateral investment treaty talks between China and the EU have entered the “final phase”; and the Chinese government is strongly considering setting up a new disease control agency in the wake of COVID-19.

In addition, we speak with Caixin business and technology reporter Anniek Bao about Sweden’s courts upholding the ban on Huawei’s 5G equipment in the country.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Solar power is forecasted to become China’s third-largest energy source, overtaking wind energy; Standard & Poor’s has joined other major index providers in dropping Chinese stocks with ties to the military; and China’s top decision-making body vows to strengthen anti-monopoly efforts in the country.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global reporter Tang Ziyi to discuss the second-order effects of the suspension of Ant Group’s IPO.

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This week on the Caixin Sinica Business Brief: China allocates more than $9 billion to encourage domestic domestic institutions to invest in foreign capital markets; European global credit rating giant Experian reverses its month-old plan to exit the Chinese mainland; COVID-19 cases surge in Hong Kong prompting strict social distancing measures; and a shortage of 40-foot containers in Shanghai demonstrates China’s export dominance during the pandemic.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about the removal of several Chinese stocks from British stock index compiler FTSE Russell.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China delists the final 832 counties in Guizhou Province from its national poverty list; India’s government bans 43 more popular Chinese apps from domestic app stores, with AliExpress and DingTalk among them; and Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam pledges carbon neutrality for the territory by 2050.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about problems ailing Chinese rental realty company Danke as well as the untimely fate of Fosun’s investment in Cirque du Soleil in China.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Chinese President Xi Jinping announces that China will “actively consider” joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership; China’s national legislature approves an amended copyright law that increases maximum penalties for copyright infringement tenfold; and the Malaysian state government of Melaka terminates a major $10.5 billion Belt and Road Initiative project in the country.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global’s podcast producer, Nandini Venkata, about recent fraud allegations against JOYY Inc.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: In a sign that may signal warming business relations between China and the U.S., China’s Foran Energy Group has signed a first-term, five-year deal with an American liquefied natural gas producer; continuing a six-month expansion, China’s domestic manufacturing rises to the highest levels since January 2011; and China bans visitors from six countries due to rising COVID-19 cases.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about the now-stalled Ant Group IPO and what may come next.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China unveils its 14th Five-Year Plan, which details a goal of GDP per capita levels similar to those of Spain, South Korea, and Italy; a Caixin exclusive reveals that China may be getting ready to scrap a key element of the way it sets the daily reference rate for the yuan; and China signs more debt-freeze deals with poorer nations as they continue to wrestle with the coronavirus.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global reporter Tang Ziyi about the upcoming IPO of Ant Financial and how investors and the market are reacting to the listing.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Sweden bans Chinese telecommunications giants Huawei and ZTE Corp. from its 5G network; China’s central bank announces its digital currency will be able to be used without an internet connection; and one of China’s largest fast-food chains rolls out artificial meat options made from seaweed proteins.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global’s general news reporter, Matthew Walsh, about Xi Jinping's pledge for China to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China reports 4.9% economic growth in the third quarter; President Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 made remarks on the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone; the Shenzhen Stock Exchange admits to a 32-minute technical error in its trading system; and budget household goods retailer Miniso raises $608 million in a New York IPO.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about Lenovo reclaiming its spot as China’s top PC maker, as well as a viral social media post about a case of smartphone identity theft.

CORRECTION: The story on Chinese retail outlet Miniso incorrectly states the amount raised at $6.08 billion, when the correct number is $608 million. We apologize for the mistake.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Shenzhen will provide approximately $1.5 million of coupons to residents to test the digital yuan, China’s virtual currency; coverage of the 2020 NBA finals returns to television in China; and SMIC, China’s largest chipmaker, finds itself caught in the U.S.-China tech war with new export restrictions.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about Meituan and Pinduoduo and how the two companies could be gaining ground on Alibaba’s dominance in China’s internet and technology industry.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The proposed ban on TikTok downloads has been blocked by a U.S. judge, revenues for Chinese travel agency Trip.com fall 64 percent year-on-year as international travel remains low due to pandemic concerns, and Xi Jinping says China aims to be carbon neutral by 2060.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global general news reporter Matthew Walsh, about the death of a nurse in Wuhan who was on the front lines of the COVID-19 outbreak.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The fate of WeChat in the United States remains in limbo, Washington further tightens the screws on Huawei, and Trump approves a TikTok-Oracle deal.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young, about the makeup of the board of TikTok Global.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai releases its latest survey, China allows increased foreign ownership of virtual private network (VPN) services, China Electronics Corp. launches cloud services, Tokyo-based SBI Group considers leaving Hong Kong, and a six-month investigation into the harsh working conditions of delivery drivers.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about Huawei’s push to develop and launch its own smartphone operating system, HarmonyOS.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: New technology export controls from Beijing now threaten the sale of TikTok, financial analysts predict that the Chinese yuan could remain strong against the U.S. dollar into 2021, and China’s banking regulator approves the first foreign-owned money broker to operate in the country.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doung Young, about the consumer electronics company Oppo and its opportunity to gain ground on Huawei through increased smartphones sales in 2020.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China’s rare earth exports plummet to a five-year low, down 20.2% in the first seven months of 2020; the deputy CEO of French telecom operator Bouygues announces it will dismantle 3,000 Huawei mobile antennas by 2028; and Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi posts higher-than-expected profits by finding new markets in Europe and Latin America.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global journalist Flynn Murphy, who shares the story of a man in Hong Kong who had been reinfected with COVID-19 after already contracting the virus, and provides an update on China’s efforts to roll out a vaccine outside the Phase 3 medical trials already underway in the country.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Despite the Trump administration’s threat to ban WeChat, Apple and other companies have been given assurances by the White House that they will continue to be able to offer, and to use, the wildly popular app. A vaccine candidate for African swine fever enters a new stage of trials. Chinese electric-vehicle maker Nio Inc. launches a battery rental service to decrease the upfront cost of purchasing a cleaner vehicle. This and more in top business and finance news this week.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about China’s wheat imports, which have more than doubled in the first seven months of 2020 compared with the same period last year — signaling the possibility of a food shortage due to China’s severe summer flooding.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: President Trump orders ByteDance to sell the U.S.-based assets of its popular short-video app, TikTok; the share of trade conducted in U.S. dollars between Russia and China falls below 50% for the first time; China expands a pilot program for its state-backed digital currency; former financial big shot Lai Xiaomin is accused of taking a record 1.79 billion yuan ($258 million) in bribes; and more.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about Luxshare, the little-known mainland Chinese company that now makes iPhones.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Microsoft has confirmed it is in ongoing discussions with ByteDance to acquire the U.S.-based operation of TikTok; Samsung and Apple (among others) pledge $1.5 billion to invest in mobile phone manufacturing in India; and Ant Group hopes to raise a record-breaking $30 billion in its concurrent IPO in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global general news reporter Matthew Walsh about his recently published piece on the growing anxieties and classroom disruptions faced by Chinese international students in the U.S.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China reports 3.2% YOY growth in the second quarter of 2020; the United Kingdom, reversing course on a previous decision, will not install more Huawei equipment in telecommunications infrastructure and will remove existing installed equipment by 2027; and the U.S. government reverses a policy that could have affected up to 1.1 million foreign students.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about two prominent Chinese chipmakers' decisions to file for an IPO.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: TikTok revealed that it has deleted 50 million videos from its platform in the latest transparency report published by the company, The People’s Bank of China is considering extending a grace period for companies to comply with new asset management rules to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, and Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is set to experiment with digital currency on its platform in partnership with China’s central bank.

In addition, we speak with Doug Young, Caixin Global managing editor, about the ongoing feud between the now-divorced cofounders of former major ecommerce company Dangdang.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Urban unemployment rates in China rise to 5.9% despite lower numbers of daily coronavirus cases in the country, TikTok’s fate in the United States hangs precariously in the wake of an announcement by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and the French government hedges its bets on the future of Huawei in its domestic telecommunications infrastructure.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: A Chinese jewelry company promises gold bars as collateral for loans — but something else is below the surface. Profits are up for industrial enterprises, but it’s still been a rough first half of 2020. Beijing changes the rules for Apple’s App Store for games that charge money. China’s regulators look like they’ll be allowing commercial banks to offer securities services to compete with foreign financial services companies as the sector opens up. And Didi Chuxing introduces driverless cabs in Shanghai.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global Managing Editor Doug Young about a dustup between the CEO and the board of directors at chipmaker ARM’s Chinese joint venture company.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Yum China Holdings, Inc., operator of large fast-food chains such as Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken, has filed confidentially for a Hong Kong listing, U.S. companies will be allowed to work with Huawei on setting global 5G standards, and local governments begin to provide incentives for up-and-coming livestreamers in an effort to revitalize the Chinese economy through e-commerce.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Seventy-nine newfound COVID-19 cases in Beijing threaten to send the city back into lockdown, American Express receives approval to start bank card clearing services in China, and a 24-hour hostage situation involving one of China’s richest men ends with five arrests.

In addition, we speak with Doug Young, Caixin Global’s managing editor, about Chinese internet giant NetEase and its secondary IPO in Hong Kong as China-U.S. tensions continue to rise.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The Trump administration calls for tighter controls on U.S.-listed Chinese companies that engage in fraud, Beijing city authorities criminalize “slander” against traditional Chinese medicine, and the resumption of this year’s Chinese Basketball Association season on June 20, without spectators.

In addition, we speak with Doug Young, Caixin Global managing editor, about the ongoing border dispute between China and India.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China’s Premier Li Keqiang sent out a powerful signal that the country could join Asia-Pacific’s largest free-trade pact, China’s national legislature has approved the nation’s first civil code, and Chinese drone operator EHang gets state approval to have its drones used for air logistics in China.

In addition, we speak with Doug Young, Caixin Global managing editor, about the dwindling number of international flights that are entering and exiting China due to the pandemic.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Premier Li Keqiang announces that Beijing won’t be setting a numerical GDP growth target for 2020, Nestlé invests $100 million into a plant-based food factory in China, and the United States Department of Commerce Entity List expands to include several research firms, as well as Chinese national security, surveillance, and cybersecurity companies.

In addition, we speak with Doug Young, Caixin Global managing editor, who tells us about the changing conditions for Chinese companies that want to list publicly on United States stock exchanges.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Pinduoduo overtakes JD.com as China’s second-most-valuable online retailer, automaker BYD announces that it will reapply for U.S. regulatory approval to ship N95 face masks to California, and American soybean exporters could reclaim some of the export market lost to Brazil under the U.S.-China trade deal.

In addition, we speak with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about Luckin Coffee’s meteoric rise and fall and some corporate restructuring in an effort to salvage the business.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: the United States Department of Homeland Security clamps down on Chinese journalists working in the U.S., the director of Shanghai’s COVID-19 clinical expert team says there is “no chance” that the coronavirus pandemic will end this summer, and online education companies in China see massive spikes in net revenues.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about China’s tech sector and which companies could be making a move toward an initial public offering in the coming months.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Automaker BYD swaps car production for face masks, ByteDance-owned short-video app TikTok’s downloads soar to over 2 billion, and Australia joins China and the European Union in calling for a new trade dispute system within the WTO.

We also speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about plummeting smartphone shipments from China at a time when global supply chains and demand are being severely impacted by the coronavirus.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Companies struggle to cope with the coronavirus-induced economic slowdown, top Hubei officials get ousted, and the government takeover of private charity donations causes a stir.

In addition, we speak with Tanner Brown, head of breaking news at Caixin Global, about the impact of local debt on small- and medium-sized enterprises in China.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Trump and Xi reaffirm their commitment to implementing the phase one trade deal, a number of manufacturers overhaul production lines in China, and financial regulators lower interest rates to alleviate pressure on small businesses.

In addition, we speak with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about some of the industries that have been hit the hardest by the coronavirus outbreak.

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This week’s episode of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief covers the Wuhan coronavirus, which has now spread globally, including to the United States. Kaiser and Ada Shen answer questions about how far the virus has spread, how governments are responding to the outbreak, and the impact on markets in China and around the world.

In addition, we speak with Tanner Brown, head of breaking news at Caixin Global, about the challenges that healthcare providers and medical staff are facing in China as the spread of the virus continues within the country.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: A phase one trade deal between the United States and China is met with skepticism, the yet-to-be-contained coronavirus continues to spread from its origin in Wuhan, and central authorities dip into the national pork reserve in an attempt to prevent greater increases in pricing before the Lunar New Year.

In addition, we speak with Tanner Brown, head of breaking news at Caixin Global, about the trade deal between the United States and China last week and what to expect moving forward.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China’s trade boss heads to Washington to ink the start of a trade truce, Tesla serves up its first cars in China, and video app Douyin reveals it isn’t just millennials who are fueling its rapid growth.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about how African swine fever is continuing to impact the pork industry in the country.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The groundwork is laid between Chinese and U.S. trade negotiators on a deal, Huawei wins a major stake in Germany’s 5G network, and car sales in China sputter, down 5.4 percent in November from a year earlier.

In addition, we speak with Doug Young, Caixin Global’s managing editor, about Ucommune and its plans to IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Chinese and U.S. trade negotiators scramble to strike a deal before tariffs ratchet up once again on December 15, economic forecasts say China’s real GDP could slow for the third year in a row, and a former anti-corruption official is placed on the naughty list.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about Huawei’s continued woes. The company’s access to U.S. banking systems could be eliminated, and it has sued the Federal Communications Commission over a ban on its equipment being used in rural networks in the United States.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China’s state-owned telecommunications operators begin to eye 6G; Y Combinator’s YC China shutters its China operations; and the Chinese pork industry shows signs of life after the outbreak of African swine fever last year.

In addition, we speak with the head of breaking news at Caixin Global, Tanner Brown, about corruption at two state-owned banks in China.

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This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: military technology, gene editing, and quantum computing enter China’s primary school curriculum, China lifts a four-year ban on U.S. poultry, and Singapore becomes a prime destination for investors looking away from Hong Kong.

In addition, we speak with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about Didi’s IPO plans and Alibaba’s attempts to raise $13 billion in a second listing in Hong Kong.

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This week, on episode 103 of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: Beijing’s former vice mayor pleads guilty to taking $19 million in bribes, Alibaba inches toward a second IPO in Hong Kong, and an update on the tepid and tentative trade agreement being hashed out between Beijing and Washington.

In addition, we talk with Caixin-Global managing editor Doug Young on the travails of Didi’s carpooling service, Hitch.

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This week on episode 101 of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China rolls out 5G service, Switzerland gives Huawei the green light, and Alibaba eyes a second IPO after a glowing earnings report.

In addition, we talk with Tanner Brown, head of breaking news at Caixin Global about the findings of a climate change report and the potentially catastrophic effects on southeastern China.

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This week on episode 101 of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: sluggish third-quarter GDP growth in China, African swine fever ravages the domestic pork supply in China, and with the help of a Tencent-backed company, Star Wars novels will be translated into Chinese for mainland audiences.

In addition, we talk with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about the rising concerns in Congress surrounding TikTok and censorship on the platform.

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On this 100th episode of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The trade deal that will pause the U.S.-China trade war, the Hong Kong protests and the NBA, the backlash against Blizzard Entertainment, and more.

In addition, we talk with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young on Apple’s pulling of the app HKmap.live and the fallout of a tweet supporting Hong Kong sent by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey.

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Welcome to the 99th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors.

This week:

  • We find out that China’s large oil refiners are facing uncertainties after a drone attack in Saudi Arabia halved the country’s supply of crude oil.
  • We note that a FedEx pilot was temporarily detained in southeastern China after authorities found hundreds of air-gun pellets in his luggage prior to boarding a commercial flight to Hong Kong, marking the delivery firm’s latest setback in the country.
  • We report that aircraft manufacturer Airbus plans to launch on-demand helicopter services in China's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area for short-distance urban trips.
  • We discuss the sudden death of a male panda in Thailand, which has provoked nationalistic outrage on Chinese social media.
  • We hear that China’s mobile game developers have steadily restored revenue growth this year from a sharp slowdown last year during a government suspension of new-title approvals.
  • We chat about Chinese tech giant NetEase, which will build its third pig farm as the government vows to boost domestic pork production in response to the African swine fever epidemic.

In addition, we talk with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about Japanese lifestyle brand MUJI, which apologized for calling parts of Shanghai the “French Concession,” and Shanghai Disneyland’s lifting its ban on bringing in food from outside the park after customers’ complaints.

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Welcome to the 98th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors.

This week:

  • We report that stock markets reacted positively after U.S. President Donald Trump said last week he’d consider an interim trade deal with China despite preferring a permanent one.
  • We note that Chinese auto sales fell for the 14th time in 15 months, extending what’s already been a historically prolonged slump in the world’s largest car market.
  • We chat about European brewer AB InBev, which said it had resuscitated its application to list its Asia unit in Hong Kong, two months after pulling out of its previous plan.
  • We hear that the London Stock Exchange Group has rejected a takeover proposal from Asian rival Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, saying the bid has fundamental flaws.
  • We find out that China’s central bank has appointed Mu Changchun 穆长春, a deputy director of its payment and settlement department, as the new head of its digital currency research institute.
  • We analyze premium liquor brand Kweichow Moutai’s pivot to gene-sequenced microbes in its pursuit of the next lip-smacking tipple.
  • We discuss how the weakening yuan has put a boom in Chinese outbound travel in recent years in reverse gear.
  • We dive into Shanghai Disney Resort’s new policy of letting visitors bring their own food into the park.

In addition, we talk with partner producer Tanner Brown, head of the breaking news team at Caixin Global, about a mosquito factory in Guangzhou, where scientists are trying to control mosquito populations and combat the diseases they carry, such as dengue fever and Zika.

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Welcome to the 97th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors.

This week:

  • We hear that China and the U.S. agreed to hold yet another round of trade talks in Washington in early October, after a phone call with the two sides’ highest-level trade officials.
  • We note that the Shanghai government has asked China’s dominant ride-hailing company, Didi Chuxing, to clean up its act.
  • We chat about Alibaba’s plan to pay $2 billion to acquire cross-border ecommerce platform Kaola from NetEase.
  • We discuss frenzied scenes at the opening of the first Chinese mainland branch of U.S. wholesale giant Costco in Shanghai last week.
  • We analyze dating platform Momo’s release of a face-swap, or deepfake, app called Zao, whose popularity soon turned to privacy concerns after it was revealed that the user agreement gave Momo permanent global rights over people’s images they submitted.
  • We report that U.S. plant-based meat producer Impossible Foods is seeking to bring its alternative meat product to dining tables in China, but regulatory hurdles will pose the biggest uncertainty of its journey.
  • We find out that controversial artificial intelligence specialist and IPO candidate Megvii (pronounced MEG-VEE) is finding itself at the center of yet another debate, this time on how its products may infringe on students’ privacy.
  • We dive into Huawei’s new 5G chip, which will power the company’s coming Mate 30 smartphones, the world’s first all-in-one 5G system on a chip, at a trade show in Berlin.

In addition, we talk with Caixin Global reporter Olivia Ryan about dengue fever, a transmissible disease that’s spreading now in China.

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Welcome to the 96th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors.

This week:

  • We hear that new U.S. tariffs kicked in during the past weekend and several companies released striking financial statements.
  • We analyze why Hong Kong is on the verge of a recession as recent government data showed that in the second quarter, the city’s GDP grew only 0.5 percent more than for the same period last year.
  • We chat about former star NBA player Jeremy Lin, who has signed a contract to play with the Chinese Basketball Association team the Beijing Shougang Ducks.
  • We note that the man who raped and murdered a Didi passenger last year — triggering national outrage over the safety of the company’s services — was executed on Friday.
  • We report that the World AI Conference took place over the weekend in Shanghai, where tech industry leaders like Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Tesla’s Elon Musk mingled with government officials and top scientists to discuss the future of AI.
  • We find out that Tesla has won exemption from a 10 percent Chinese tax on automotive sales, sidestepping trade tensions with the U.S. following CEO Elon Musk’s visit to the country.

In addition, we talk with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about Baidu’s second-quarter earnings for 2019 and how its sliding revenue affected its business strategies.

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Welcome to the 95th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors.

This week:

  • We discuss how Hong Kong protesters brought the city’s airport to a standstill.
  • We analyze how the deepening tariff war between China and the U.S. knocked China down to third place in the U.S.’ trade table in the January-June 2019 period.
  • We note that the price of solar power has become lower than grid-supplied electricity in hundreds of cities across China, marking an important inflection point in the country’s deployment of renewable energy.
  • We report that a former senior legislator in northern China’s Inner Mongolia may have set a record for the country’s officialdom, though not a laudable one.
  • We find out that Hong Kong’s government slashed its 2019 growth forecast and announced a $2.4 billion package of measures to support the economy as the city faces threats from the impact of a global slowdown, the U.S.-China trade war and mass protests.
  • We chat about a new study which found out that the Chinese public generally worries less about the climate crisis than other countries do.
  • We hear that Hu Kun 胡昆, a senior Communist Party official at the Shanghai Futures Exchange, died over the weekend from unknown causes.
  • We note that leading Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing is lowering its minimum passenger age from 18 to 16, allowing minors to ride without their parents’ supervision.

In addition, we talk with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about a recent setback in Chinese sci-fi ambitions at the box office.

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Welcome to the 94th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We discuss how China’s yuan dropped below seven per dollar as the trade war escalated. We note that troubled Hengfeng 恒丰 Bank has received official approval for a restructuring plan that involves investments from a provincial government and a unit of China’s sovereign wealth fund. We dive into the story of Hu Huaibang 胡怀邦, the former chairman of policy lender China Development Bank, who is under investigation for allegedly using his position to funnel billions of dollars of dodgy credit to fallen energy and financial group CEFC China Energy and prop up the heavily indebted real estate conglomerate HNA Group. We analyze Huawei’s new operating system “Harmony,” which marked the Chinese smartphone giant’s latest step toward creating its own software ecosystem. We report that several Chinese automakers’ sales of new-energy vehicles hit the skids in July as the industry navigates government subsidy cuts. We hear that Foxconn and customer Amazon face renewed criticism from a labor advocacy group for allegedly slashing wages and flouting labor laws at a Chinese factory as pressure from U.S. tariffs mounts. We find out that Tesla’s Shanghai facility is on track to officially start production at the end of this year, the company said Wednesday in a message posted to its official Weibo account. We chat about mini-programs — bare-bones applications that run instantly on web platforms — which are the new front line as China’s internet giants battle for traffic and corporate business, and the country’s biggest search engine is keen to get in on the act. In addition, we talk with Tanner Brown, head of real-time news at Caixin, about deadly heat waves in China. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about recent news about Huawei.

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Welcome to the 93rd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that Li Jinxing 李金星, a Chinese rights lawyer who made his name fighting against wrongful convictions, is now contesting an official decision to revoke his license for “improper remarks on the internet.” We discuss a recent investigation into FedEx conducted by the Chinese government, which disputed the American courier’s explanation for “misdirected” Huawei parcels, saying that it also discovered other clues that the company had violated laws and regulations. We report that Hong Kong picked the next head of its de facto central bank last week, amid social unrest that has shaken the financial hub recently. We hear that Chinese telecom giant Huawei’s 5G-ready smartphone, the Mate 20 X, will formally go on sale on Aug. 16, marking the second launch of a handset supporting fifth-generation wireless technology produced by a Chinese company. We find out that Nur Bekri, the former head of China’s National Energy Administration, pleaded guilty to accepting millions of dollars’ worth of bribes during a court trial that makes him the latest high-profile former official to fall foul of an ongoing government crackdown on corruption. We analyze Interstellar Glory Space Technology, which has become the first private Chinese space company to successfully launch a rocket into orbit, marking an important milestone in the development of the country’s commercial space industry. We chat about new materials released by the Minnesota police regarding JD.com founder and chairman Richard Liu, who was accused of rape by a Chinese student at the University of Minnesota.   In addition, we talk with Tianyu Fang, reporter for Caixin Global, about Justin Sun, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur who raised eyebrows by cancelling a $4.6 million lunch with Warren Buffet.

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Welcome to the 92nd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We discuss Beijing’s recent report of the lowest level of air pollutants in the first half of this year since the city started recording related data 35 years ago, reflecting years-long efforts to combat air pollution. We note that Google has removed around 60 apps developed by the Shanghai-based, U.S.-listed software firm CooTek from its Play store and banned the company from its advertising platform, Google AdMob, for allegedly engaging in malicious ad practices. We find out that after German carmaker BMW announced that it is extending its collaboration with high-precision map producer NavInfo, the company is now teaming up with Chinese internet giant Tencent to use big data to research and develop autonomous driving technologies. We report the new partnership between China’s ecommerce colossus Alibaba and Sinopharm, one of the country’s major drug companies, to dispense over-the-counter medicines. We hear that Vietnam’s container throughput surpassed Hong Kong’s in the first half of this year, possibly in part due to trade diversion amid the trade war between China and the U.S. We analyze Google’s cancellation of plans to launch a censored version of its search engine in China, according to a company executive. We chat about China’s dominant ride-hailing company, Didi Chuxing, which held a press conference to convince the public of the safety of its Hitch carpool service a year after two women were murdered by their drivers in separate incidents.   In addition, we talk with Tanner Brown, co-producer of this podcast and head of breaking news for Caixin Global, about China’s plan to replace the country’s zip codes with unique location data generated by three-dimensional mapping technology, in the hopes of lowering delivery costs and speeding up the development of automated delivery services.

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Welcome to the 91st installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that China’s exports of goods fell 1.3 percent year-on-year in June, down from a 1.1 percent increase in the month before but higher than the median forecast of a 1.4 percent slide from economists polled by Bloomberg. We discuss Justin Sun, the Chinese blockchain entrepreneur who’s paying $4.5 million to have lunch with Wall Street legend Warren Buffett, and his recent lunch invitation to President Donald Trump. We report a Huawei press event last week, where the Chinese telecom company’s chairman said that the U.S. says it is easing restrictions on Huawei sales. However, there is no progress in sight. We find out that almost half of migrant women interviewed in four major Chinese cities have experienced some kind of domestic violence, and many are unfamiliar with China’s three-year-old Domestic Violence Law, according to a new report on this matter. We hear that worldwide shipments of personal computers increased 1.5 percent in the second quarter, fueled by businesses upgrading to the latest Windows software from Microsoft. China-based Lenovo Group held the No. 1 spot over U.S. rival HP amid a trade war between the two countries. In addition, we talk with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about a Chinese real estate company getting into education and recent news about Moutai, China's leading liquor brand.  

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Welcome to the 89th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that Wal-Mart, Target, Macy’s, and hundreds of other companies and associations made a plea to President Donald Trump not to impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods, and to return to the negotiating table to strike a trade deal with Beijing. We discuss whether China’s baby-formula makers will ever overcome the melamine contamination scandal that killed six infants in 2008. We hear that the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will eliminate any “vermin” among its ranks, chief executive Charles Li has told reporters, referring to recent reports of internal corruption on the bourse. We find out that China’s credit reporting system now has data on nearly 1 billion citizens as well as 26 million businesses and other types of entities. We report how Didi is back on regulators’ watch lists again after a driver for the ride-hailing company hit four people in Shanghai last week, seriously injuring one, while rushing to avoid inspectors. We analyze a new report from BMW, which shows a 33 percent sales jump in China during May after a shift to local production of its X3 sport utility vehicle boosted deliveries, defying a yearlong pullback in the world’s largest auto market. In addition, we talk with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about Chinese ecommerce juggernaut Alibaba and its proposed listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

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Welcome to the 88th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that China struck back this week in the trade war with the U.S., releasing a white paper outlining its stance and taking several moves against American entities. We explain why we expected China’s manufacturing to slip into contraction in May, but things were worse than anticipated, as export orders fell sharply amid continuing U.S.-China trade war pressures. We analyze Ma Chaoqun 马超群, a former deputy Party secretary at a state-owned water company in the resort city of Qinhuangdao, who has been accused of accepting bribes worth over $14 million. We hear that cheaper Tesla cars set to hit the Chinese market soon could lure price-sensitive buyers away from budget-friendly domestic brands, but local electric-vehicle makers Nio and Xpeng say they aren’t fazed by the change. We report that China’s rapidly growing short-video industry is threatening to overtake its long-video peer due to its social-media friendliness and the vast number of Chinese mobile users. We find out that shares in companies that make electronic tolling systems — which allow cars to whiz past unmanned tollbooths without stopping — have begun soaring. In addition, we talk with David Kirton, reporter for Caixin Global, about Chinese rare earth elements. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global in Beijing, about a Hong Kong restaurant that’s in the news.

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Welcome to the 87th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We analyze the latest updates on the U.S.-China trade war. We chat about a new study that has estimated the economic cost of air pollution in China’s smoggy northeast. We hear that a think tank suggested Beijing steer Chinese cities toward clean air by banning the sale of new fossil-fuel-powered vehicles by 2030. We note that China and Japan are making it easier for investors to put money into each other’s stock markets through so-called exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with the two countries approving six such funds. We learn the news that a massive graft network surrounding the former Party chief of Shaanxi Province surfaced as investigations took aim at more family members and associates of the disgraced official. We discuss the arrest of Yuan Renguo 袁仁国, who was the former chairman of Kweichow Moutai, the world’s most valuable liquor maker. We find out that Baihang 百行 Credit Scoring, a central bank credit bureau, has been struggling in its first year to collect the quality data that it needs to meet China’s goal of revamping its patchy credit-reporting system. We report that Chinese smartphone and appliance maker Xiaomi has fired a vice president for “obscene” behavior. In addition, we talk with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about what’s going on with Baidu and the tough times it’s going through. We also chat about Luckin Coffee, the ambitious Chinese coffee chain that's going after Starbucks and went public on Nasdaq this month.

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Welcome to the 86th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We discuss how the U.S.-China trade war is dragging on after Trump raised tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. We hear that investors have shown greater-than-expected interest in China’s Starbucks challenger Luckin Coffee, oversubscribing the company’s U.S. IPO several-fold. We learn that Netflix is acquiring the rights to another show from Alibaba’s Youku video service, increasing efforts to serve Chinese viewers around the world. We analyze the shutdown of the Melbourne office of China’s second-largest online seller, JD.com, as it has come under growing pressure to show investors it can be profitable. We note that China is beefing up control of the deadly pig contagion ravaging its mammoth pork industry, ordering mandatory testing for African swine fever at more than 10,000 slaughterhouses nationwide. We learn the news that China’s rural migrant worker population grew at a decade-long low last year. We chat about the removal of Chinese liquor-maker Moutai’s chairman from his post, with a source saying that the dismissal may have been related to him abusing his power and manipulating the market. In addition, we talk with Tanner Brown, co-producer of this podcast and head of real-time news at Caixin Global, about a case of corruption.  

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Welcome to the 85th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We hear that China Unicom has become the first Chinese carrier to offer 5G wireless telecom services to the public in selected cities, putting China among the global frontrunners in rolling out the super-fast mobile technology. We discuss China’s securities regulators’ plan to ease profit requirements and speed up the review process for IPOs. We analyze a new report that says Chinese consumers are increasingly willing to pay for quality content online, including music and video. We note that profits have tumbled by three quarters at a pair of suppliers to China’s top two bike-sharing operators. We learn that the fast-growing but little-known chain Coffee Box 连咖啡 has received $31 million in new funding — jointly raised by its founders and local VC firms Qiming 启明 Venture Partners and Gaorong 高榕 Capital. In addition, we talk with Fran Wang, economics reporter for Caixin Global, about the outbreak of swine fever in China. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about China-based private coffee chain Luckin Coffee, which has filed to raise $100 million in a U.S. IPO.

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Welcome to the 84th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We discuss new data that shows China’s economic growth stabilized in the first quarter of 2019, as market confidence recovered on the back of policy support and progress in Sino-U.S. trade war negotiations. We analyze a recent report that says China's stimulus measures may increase corporate debt and reverse progress made in deleveraging the economy. We hear that despite a stimulus cooling, China is still considering new subsidies to encourage household purchases of home appliances as part of a policy package designed to expand domestic consumption. We report that China’s pension system is expected to run dry well before that generation retires in 2035. We note that more details have emerged in the new civil lawsuit brought against Chinese billionaire Richard Liu by the woman who accused him of rape last year. We learn that Lei Jun 雷军, the CEO of phone and home-electronics maker Xiaomi, may have received compensation worth over 330 times of that handed to Tencent’s head last year. In addition, we talk with Jing Xuan Teng, reporter for Caixin Global, about the child modeling industry in China. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about the ecommerce titan Amazon, one of the world’s biggest companies, and what’s going on with it in China.

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Welcome to the 83rd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that U.S.-China trade talks are trickling along with few public disclosures. Meanwhile, there is no big movement on Huawei’s house-arrested Meng Wanzhou or the detained Canadian citizens. And Trump keeps tweeting about how much he cherishes Kim Jong-un, but we’ve yet to see real progress there. We discuss the relaxation of hukou rules. Under new regulations, all restrictions for household registration are eliminated in cities with an urban population of 1 million to 3 million. We hear the news that Hong Kong again topped this year’s most expensive housing market list, in a ranking done by U.S. real estate services and investment company CBRE Group. We analyze Didi’s valuation, which hit the skids when the company came under pressure as a growing number of its partners, many of them car makers, set up rival ride-sharing services. We report that the website of Visual China Group, a partner of Getty Images, has been down since Friday after it made a copyright claim to the world’s first photograph of a black hole. We chat about a libel case filed by developer SOHO China, which accused a WeChat blogger of raising false claims about its building’s feng shui. We learn that prompted by so much official corruption in China, an underground industry has emerged in which chiefs target officials, who cannot report the crimes to authorities, because the officials themselves have gotten the items illicitly. In addition, we talk with Caixin managing editor Doug Young about some IPO news from China.

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Welcome to the 82nd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We discuss some vague progress in the seemingly never-ending U.S.-China trade war. At the Boao Forum for Asia, Premier Li Keqiang 李克强 said the trade frictions between the two countries shouldn’t even be called a war, stating, “The purpose of trade is to avoid war. If you were doing business with a knife, then it wouldn’t be business anymore.” We chat about a recent report from a U.K. watchdog, which said that further issues have been identified in Huawei’s engineering processes that pose additional risks to Britain’s telecom networks. We analyze a new report from Huawei, which released data for its performance last year. It hit a sales record of $100 billion in 2018, up 20 percent year-on-year, with net profit climbing 25 percent. We hear the news that top Chinese liquor brand Kweichow Moutai’s Shanghai-listed stocks closed at a record high of $128 last Friday as the company reported strong profit growth in its 2018 earnings report. We report that China will issue 5G wireless communications licenses by year-end as the country pushes aggressively into the cutting-edge technology that could power everything from self-driving cars to telemedicine. We learn that JPMorgan Chase and Nomura Holding won approval to set up new securities joint ventures in China with majority foreign ownership as regulators followed through on a promise to open up the country’s financial markets. We note that shares of Chinese companies linked to growing cannabis plunged last week after several firms were asked to disclose progress on industrial cannabis projects. In addition, we talk with Caixin managing editor Doug Young about the IPO of a Chinese online education company and a string of recent news in the auto industry in China.

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Welcome to the 81st installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We report that high-level U.S. officials are visiting Beijing this week for yet another round of trade talks. Meanwhile, China’s Vice Premier, Liu He 刘鹤, is set to visit Washington in a few weeks. We discuss an explosion at a chemical plant in eastern China, which has killed at least 64 people and seriously injured nearly a hundred. We discuss the development of the so-called Jing-Jin-Ji 京津冀 cluster, a planned city cluster that will integrate Beijing, nearby Tianjin, and Hebei Province. Its progress is lagging behind other major city integration projects, a new government report has found. We hear the news that electric car-maker Tesla is suing a former engineer who left the company to join a rival Chinese startup, accusing him of stealing trade secrets, including source code. We learn that a police officer is currently being tried in Hunan province for taking more than $6 million in bribes over seven years in order to change individuals’ driving records. We note that Hong Kong residents have been cleared to open mainland accounts at Bank of China’s Hong Kong branches under a pilot program without having to visit the mainland. We chat about Liu Guiping 刘桂平, the new president of China Construction Bank, China’s second-largest bank by assets. In addition, we talk with Tanner Brown, breaking news editor for Caixin Global and co-producer of this program, about a mysterious opulent villa built illegally in the middle of a national park in China.

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Welcome to the 80th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We report that China’s local governments are short on funds this year. To plug gaps in their budgets, local governments are looking at different solutions, including tapping rainy day funds and leftover budget surpluses, as well as slashing spending on travel, official banquets, and even some proposed social welfare programs. We discuss the new Foreign Investment Law passed by China, which is designed to improve the openness, transparency, and predictability of the investment environment for foreigners, establish equal treatment for all investors, and address concerns of foreign investors around technology transfers — a focal point of trade tensions with the U.S. We note that Vietnam has benefited as multinationals have accelerated moving their production out of China amid the trade war with the U.S. We hear the news that China became a net importer of several rare earth elements last year for the first time since 1985 — a trend that may continue as the government reduces mining. We chat about a new food safety scandal at a private school in Chengdu, which has dropped its food supplier in response to students’ complaints about spoiled cafeteria food. We learn that the World Anti-Doping Agency is reopening a case that cleared Chinese swimmer Sun Yang 孙杨, a three-time Olympic champion, of wrongdoing after he destroyed a doping control sample in September. We analyze some controversial remarks by a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics, who said that the revision of China’s economic growth data for 2017 was not a move calculated to make China’s 2018 growth data look better. We find out that increasing demand and uncertain supply may imperil the source of the water that Beijing receives from the south of the country. In addition, we talk with Caixin Global reporter Zhao Runhua about a Chinese television show that’s sparked a lot of conversation online about social issues.

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Welcome to the 79th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We discuss the death of Chu Shijian 褚时健, China’s “King of Tobacco.” We analyze some recent news about China’s ambition to build 5G networks worldwide. We report that China’s 3 million qualified individual investors can now apply to trade stocks on the Nasdaq-style high-tech board, which will open for business in Shanghai by mid-year. We chat about the opening of a Communist hero-themed KFC in the middle of China. We learn that Apple's latest iPhone models are being massively discounted in China for the second time this year as online retailers across the country struggle to move them. We hear the news that China’s customs bureau is holding thousands of Tesla’s at ports in China — due, apparently, to misprinted labels on certain Model 3 vehicles. We note that so far this year, 350 listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen have given notice that a major shareholder will sell at least some of its shares in their companies, with 160 such notices issued since March 1. In addition, we talk with the podcast’s co-producer Tanner Brown about the two big political meetings happening in Beijing, the lianghui 两会.

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Welcome to the 78th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We learn that U.S. officials are preparing a final trade deal that President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, could sign in weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. We discuss Global Index giant MSCI’s decision to increase the weighting of mainland China in its indexes by raising the inclusion factor from 5 percent to 20 percent, marking another milestone for Beijing’s drive to boost Chinese stocks’ global exposure. We analyze a new study that shows China’s response against President Trump’s tariffs is hitting U.S. exporters harder than their Chinese counterparts. We note that Didi Chuxing has confirmed the establishment of a joint venture with Germany’s Volkswagen, the latest sign yet that ride-hailing companies and automakers have turned from competition to collaboration to better tap the Chinese commuter market. We learn that tech giant Huawei said that Saudi Arabia will fully embrace its next-generation 5G infrastructure technology, giving it some rare good news after several months of defending itself against accusations that its gear poses national security risks. We dive deep into the story of Don Miller, who amassed around 7,000 cultural relics from all over the world, including Chinese jade objects, stoneware, coins, and wood carvings dating from the Neolithic period to the Qing dynasty. In addition, we talk with Lu Gang, a reporter at Caixin Global, about the Two Sessions, a major political event happening this week in Beijing. We also chat with Mo Yelin, a reporter at Caixin Global, about the latest news in the Chinese auto industry.

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Welcome to the 77th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We dive into the closure of 28 Confucius Institute programs by Canada's province of New Brunswick because of what it called the Institute's "one-dimensional perspective of China." We learn that a Chinese Supreme Court judge confessed last week to taking the key legal documents from a case involving a long-running contract dispute, in a surprise development to a widely watched scandal involving the country’s top court. We report that China’s top banking regulator is stepping up an anti-money-laundering campaign by imposing new restrictions on financial institutions — as the government tries to rein in risky transactions. We note that recent national curbs on actors’ paychecks seem to be making it cheaper to produce video content in China. We analyze China’s first court devoted to financial cases, which is aiming to give the country greater influence over international judicial practices in the high-stakes industry. We discuss this week’s corruption news involving Fang Fenghui 房峰辉, former chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army, and Zhao Jingwen 赵景文, former executive director and Party committee member of state-owned investment conglomerate Citic Group. We hear about good news from Chinese pharmaceutical company Zhejiang Jinhua Conba Biological 浙江金华康恩贝, which has received approval to grow cannabis for medicinal and other industrial purposes in Yunnan Province. In addition, we talk with Jing Xuan Teng and Olivia Ryan, reporters at Caixin Global, about a story titled “Why aren’t people in China dying of the flu” and some new studies of Chinese mental health. We also chat with Charlotte Yang, a reporter at Caixin Global, about a Chinese film featuring Peppa Pig and the sci-fi blockbuster The Wandering Earth (流浪地球 liúlàng dìqiú).

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Welcome to the 76th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We discuss the seemingly never-ending trade talks between China and the U.S., which made what both sides called progress last week in Beijing. We report that China’s trade surplus more than doubled in January, driven by stronger exports, as businesses rushed to fill orders before the Lunar New Year holiday at the beginning of February. We learn the news that Lai Xiaomin 赖小民, the former chairman of China Huarong, one of the nation’s four largest distressed-asset managers, has been formally charged with corruption and bribery. We hear about the death of Yu Min 于敏, one of the major contributors to the development of China’s hydrogen bomb. We note that China's ride-hailing leader, Didi Chuxing, announced mass layoffs in a meeting at the company’s Beijing headquarters on Friday morning. We take a close look at Huawei, a telecom equipment maker that has been embroiled in several scandals lately. We analyze Hong Kong’s push to stop the rising trafficking of endangered species through its territory. In addition, we talk with Doug Young, the managing editor of Caixin Global, about the wine scene in China. We also chat with David Kirton, a reporter with Caixin Global, about China’s major audit of companies in the country’s opaque power grid.  

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Welcome to the 75th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that Yang Hengjun 楊恒均, an outspoken writer and former Chinese official who has been an Australian citizen for nearly 20 years, has been detained in Beijing for more than a week. We report that growth in China’s personal-consumption spending bounced back last year, as authorities stepped up efforts to encourage consumers to open their wallets. We hear that eight regions in China, including Beijing, are predicting slower economic growth this year, in the latest sign of a worsening economic outlook for the world’s second-largest economy. We learn the news that two Chinese farms housing tens of thousands of pigs have been blamed for mismanaging and attempting to conceal African swine fever cases. We discuss Beijing’s decision to name 10 of its largest state-owned firms “World Class Enterprises,” a designation that means the government will likely focus resources on them to make them more competitive at home and abroad. We analyze the rebranding of Chinese bike-rental company Mobike after it was bought by internet giant Meituan Dianping. We take a close look at the deal between Alibaba’s film unit and Huayi Brothers, one of China’s leading independent studios, which is the latest of a growing string of high-profile tie-ups as it tries to claw its way back to profitability. We dive into a recent study that reveals what the average Chinese person does every day. In addition, we talk with Doug Young, the managing editor of Caixin Global, about China's rapid growth in the retail industry. We also chat with Charlotte Yang, a reporter with Caixin Global, about zombie companies in China.

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Welcome to the 74th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that Polish authorities arrested a Chinese Huawei executive in Poland last week on charges of spying. We report that the Communist Party committee in charge of China’s prosecutors, courts, and police is probing a high-profile scandal involving documents that went missing from the Supreme People’s Court. We hear that Elon Musk, the CEO of electric-car maker Tesla, visited Beijing last week after the company broke ground for its $5 billion factory in Shanghai. We analyze new data about China’s fertility rate in 2018, which shows a grim picture of China’s future demographics. In addition, we talk with Caixin Global managing editor Doug Young about Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi. We chat with David Kirton, reporter for Caixin Global, about a controversial Singapore-based businesswoman, who became one of the new directors of a port operator based in Guangdong Province and now chaired by a former prime minister of Thailand. We also have a conversation with Noelle Mateer, Caixin Global’s Culture editor, about junk food in China — but specifically about Coca-Cola and its obesity policy.  

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Welcome to the 73rd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that U.S. and Chinese negotiators are set to meet this week in Beijing, their first face-to-face talks since Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump agreed to a 90-day truce to their trade war last month. We report that China has become the first nation to land a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon last week, in what has been called a groundbreaking achievement for the country’s growing space program. We analyze weak demand for the iPhone in China, which shows that Apple’s flagship product is being hurt by its high price and the rise of cheaper rival devices in the world’s biggest phone market. We hear that China’s securities regulator imposed record penalties in 2018 on dodgy market players, reflecting the country’s continued crackdown on market misconduct. We learn that international airlines will get to decide whether to hop over from Beijing’s current international airport to the colossal new $12 billion one when it opens in September, China’s air regulator said, giving the market a say in the major airline realignment. We discuss the spread of Chinese-made apps in India’s consumer-facing tech scene, where they are increasingly following the playbook developed in their home market. In addition, we talk with Tanner Brown, this show’s co-producer and the head of Caixin Global’s Breaking News desk, about China’s population situation and the central government’s population policies historically. We also chat with Charlotte Yang and Fran Wang, both reporters at Caixin Global, about eight interesting or particularly representative economic keywords that collectively encapsulate the issues facing the Chinese economy.

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Welcome to the 72nd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We analyze a new report that shows China’s economy is facing mounting downward pressure in November, adding to concerns that the world’s second-largest economy is further slowing. We note that China’s yuan hit a 10-year low against the U.S. dollar in October and there is little expectation the yuan will strengthen significantly. We hear that Canadian embassy officials in Beijing were allowed access to two Canadians who were detained last week. Their arrests came just after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟) was arrested in Vancouver at the request of the United States, which says she was involved in financial transactions that violated U.S. sanctions on Iran. We learn that former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman has been hired by beleaguered Chinese tech giant ZTE to conduct what the company says will be an “independent” national security assessment of its products. We discuss the fall of Zhang Shaochun (张少春), former vice minister at the Ministry of Finance, who pleaded guilty to accepting $10 million in bribes this week. Zhang was dismissed from public office and expelled from the Party in September. We report that the Shanghai Sharks, the city’s basketball team, apologized after fans allegedly yelled, “Why didn’t your team get murdered during the Nanjing Massacre?” during a match against Nanjing Monkey King, a team that comes from the city that saw mass killings of civilians by invading Japanese troops in 1937. In addition, we talk with Charlotte Yang, reporter at Caixin Global, about what’s happening with the Made in China 2025 initiative amid the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about Apple in China.

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Welcome to the 71st installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We analyze how Donald Trump and Xi Jinping struck a deal at the G-20 summit in Argentina and what it is about. We note that Chinese students have become such an important source of revenue to U.S. higher-education institutions that the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is paying half a million dollars a year to insure against a fall in Chinese student numbers. We discuss a recent article by the Intercept, which reports that Google executives were so worried about internal opposition to its controversial China search engine project that they went against company policy to hide major details from security and legal teams. We learn that according to the National Health Commission, roughly 30 percent of the country’s estimated 1.25 million HIV-positive individuals are unaware of their status. We hear that expensive urban homes have fueled wealth inequality in China, allowing the country’s richest to consolidate their assets in properties that do little to encourage sustainable economic growth. We report that Beijing has confirmed speculation that the China Broadcasting Network will be the country’s fourth 5G carrier, a development which an analyst described as “illogical.” In addition, we talk with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about China’s recent upgrade of its train network. We also chat with Jingxuan Teng, reporter at Caixin Global, about an artificial rainfall project in western China’s Qinghai province and how it has been criticized by scientists as unfeasible and delusional.

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Welcome to the 70th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We analyze a report from Moody’s, which shows that China’s massive, murky lending to sub-Saharan countries, though good for growth, increases their credit risks and can obstruct alternative sources of loans. We dive into the controversy surrounding China’s drive to get ahead in 5G technology. We find out that unhygienic transportation of pigs is to blame for the spread of deadly African swine fever across China, authorities said. We hear that China announced plans to ban private kindergarten operators from getting funding through public listings following a public outcry over several cases of child abuse by kindergarten teachers. We learn the news that Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess will take over his company’s business in China next year, after the current China head retires. We report that former PetroChina president Zhang Jianhua 张建华 has taken the helm at China’s energy agency. We discuss the gaming industry in China, where some gaming giants are still reeling from a halt on government approvals for new titles. We note that China’s education ministry has told universities to stop making financial aid applicants beg for the cash in public speeches. In addition, we talk with Olivia Ryan, reporter at Caixin Global, about how a middle school principal in China got fired after staffers uncovered a cryptocurrency mining scheme utilizing school computers. We also chat with David Kirton, reporter at Caixin Global, about China setting its sights on the darkest depths of the ocean to satisfy mining needs. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 69th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We find out that Li Yang 李扬, head of the National Institution for Finance & Development, has forecast that China’s economic expansion may be entering a long-term “downward spiral” as all three engines of growth — investment, exports, and consumption — slow down. We report that car sales in China declined for a fifth consecutive month, bringing the world’s largest market closer to its first annual drop in two decades. We note that China will launch a high-tech stock board in Shanghai and experiment with a registration-based IPO system, President Xi said last week at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai. We hear that an order has been issued for the arrest of Lai Xiaomin 赖小民, the former boss of China Huarong Asset Management, indicating that the Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog has obtained evidence that Lai broke the law. We learn the news that a consortium led by China Telecom has been granted a “provisional” license to run one of the Philippines’ telecom networks, a win that analysts said was born from the “political advantage” of good ties between the two countries. We analyze Xiaomi’s move to enter the British market, as it tries to show the world it can compete with big names like Apple and Samsung not only geographically but also at the high end of the market. We discuss leading hotpot chain Haidilao’s decision to open its first store in Europe soon, introducing the boil-it-yourself style of dining to a market in which authentic Chinese cuisine is still marginal. We dive deep into a report by the China Chamber of Commerce of Foodstuffs and Native Produce, which found out that all the tea in China is apparently not enough for the nation’s increasingly wealthy consumers, who are turning to foreign cuisines, with imports of overseas foods swelling past $60 billion last year, according to a new report. In addition, we talk with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about this year’s Import Expo in Shanghai and its potential impact on the trade hawks in Washington. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 68th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We find out that stocks jumped and the yuan strengthened on Friday after presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump had what Trump called “a long and very good conversation” about trade. We report that Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai says the company’s controversial project to develop a search engine for the Chinese market was an “experiment.” We hear that President Xi Jinping reaffirmed support for the country’s struggling private enterprises as the government steps up measures to bolster a cooling economy. We learn the news that China is set to end the years-old practice of verbal guidance as a way of regulating its stock market, in an effort to reduce trading interventions and create a fairer environment for investors. We discuss the fall of Feng Lizhi 冯立志, the former number two of China’s Welfare Lottery system, who is currently being investigated for corruption — the latest in a string of similar cases. We analyze China Railway Corp., which recently reported its best-ever performance for the first three quarters, with its normally sizable losses shrinking dramatically as it benefits from national environmental protection policies that are pushing more companies to use rail to transport goods. We learn the news that much of North China saw heavy smog this weekend, but officials were eager to deny reports that there had been a slackening of efforts against air pollution. We note that Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has unveiled its “hotel of the future,” which has robot receptionists and door locks powered by facial recognition. In addition, we talk with Olivia Ryan and David Kirton, reporters for Caixin Global, about what happened with the Brazil election and what it means for China. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 67th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that a full-blown trade war with the United States will bring “substantial impacts” to the Chinese economy, dragging down growth for 15 manufacturing-related sectors, according to a top government think tank in China. We discuss the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province. We hear that online media giant Bytedance has nearly finished a new fundraising round that should total about $3 billion, as it seeks a lofty valuation that would make it China’s third-largest internet company. We analyze a recent report that found out China has quietly opened its cinemas to more foreign films, with movie imports exceeding the official annual quota for the first time since 2016. We learn that China’s leading hotpot chain, Haidilao, which debuted its shares in Hong Kong last month, launched its first “smart” concept restaurant this weekend with the hope of resolving one of its biggest branding crises: rat infestation. We report that lawmakers from the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress suggested that if workers of the powerful National Supervisory Commission or its local branches committed crimes such as abusing suspects during corruption investigations, then prosecutors should be allowed to investigate them. We find out that U.S. electric-car maker Tesla is planning to produce two models in its Shanghai factory, with one of them slated to roll off production lines next year. We learn the news that despite measures to loosen China’s family planning policies, experts think gender imbalance caused by decades of enforcing birth restrictions will last for years to come. In addition, we talk with Olivia Ryan, reporter for Caixin Global, about the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE), a nonprofit environmental research organization based in Beijing, and a new study released by it on China’s environmental targets. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor at Caixin Global, about Malaysia and its reevaluation of some of the deals that the previous administration had made. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 66th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We find out that China’s economy grew at its slowest pace in nearly a decade in the third quarter, as top officials sent a slew of rarely seen coordinated messages to stem a stock-market sell-off driven by worries over a deepening trade war with the U.S. and weakening domestic activity. We note that Science and Technology Daily, the official newspaper of China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, called an interview published in a Heilongjiang Province newspaper “seriously misleading” because of the interviewee’s opposition to genetically modified organisms. We hear that banking giant HSBC could become the first foreign company to list its shares in China under an initiative to link the London and Shanghai stock exchanges, giving the 153-year-old lender an opportunity to return to its roots. We learn that JD.com will launch a flagship online store on Google’s shopping platforms to sell directly to American consumers by the end of the year, hoping to carve out a bigger U.S. footprint even as trade tensions between the U.S. and China grow. We discuss a Beijing couple’s discovery of a hidden camera in an apartment leased from rental agency Ziroom, which has prompted public anger at a time of widespread anxiety over skyrocketing urban rents and poor protection of tenants’ rights. We report that China’s soccer authority is considering caps on investment, player salaries, and transfer fees for the soccer season beginning in 2019. We analyze a flurry of corruption-related developments in Chinese banks. In addition, we talk with David Kirton, reporter for Caixin Global, about why Beijing’s recent embrace of “competitive neutrality” may not be enough to ease the concerns of G-20 countries that SOEs aren’t playing fair. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor at Caixin Global, about a few stories this week on energy in China. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 65th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We find out that Chinese stocks fell to four-year lows last week, following a sharp decline in the U.S. We hear that two years after becoming one of the world’s 10 most valuable public companies, social networking giant Tencent has passed a less flattering milestone by crashing out of the same elite club. We learn that Alibaba founder Jack Ma 马云, who plans to become a teacher after retiring next year, has reclaimed the title of richest man in China, with a fortune of $39 billion, according to the latest Hurun Rich List. We discuss a new report that finds out that the value of Chinese outbound mergers and acquisitions slumped in the first half of the year, as countries that included the U.S., Germany, and Australia imposed restrictions on deals, and China tightened controls on overseas spending. We note that the U.S. Treasury Department has found that China isn’t manipulating the yuan, as the Trump administration prepares to issue a closely watched report on foreign currencies, sources told Bloomberg. We dive into an outlook report published by the OECD and the UN, which predicts that China’s dinner tables will be getting meatier over the next decade, which will have a significant impact on the international agriculture trade. We report that Hong Kong is planning a total ban on electronic cigarettes. If passed, the ban would place the city alongside over a dozen countries that have outlawed e-cigarettes, which typically allow users to inhale nicotine and flavorings heated by battery-powered elements without the burning that traditional cigarettes require. We analyze the news that veteran regulator Yao Gang 姚刚, a former vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for taking bribes and insider trading. In addition, we talk with Fran Wang, economics reporter for Caixin Global, about an interview with Yi Gang 易纲, the head of People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor at Caixin Global, about a company called Brilliance Auto and its partnership with BMW. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 64th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that China stocks went for a wild ride last week, with the benchmark index hitting it lowest level in years Monday, then rebounding with its best weekly performance since 2016. We discuss how Nur Bekri (努尔·白克力), director of the National Energy Administration and a vice chairman of the country’s economic planning agency, was placed under investigation for suspected corruption. We hear that China canceled plans over the weekend to hold trade talks with the U.S. We learn that the Executives of Bank of China’s Guangdong branch may soon take a pay cut to compensate lower-income employees. We find out that Jack Ma said there is “no way” Alibaba will be able to meet an earlier pledge to create 1 million U.S. jobs due to deteriorating U.S.-China trade relations. We explore how China plans to ban foreign TV shows in prime time and to limit overseas content on streaming platforms. We report that China’s top film regulator has signaled it will ban companies from subsidizing online movie-ticket sales. We learn that China’s tobacco sales returned to near-record highs three years after a significant hike in tobacco taxes in the world’s largest producer and consumer of cigarettes. In addition, we talk with Caixin Global reporter David Kirton about the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, in particular how Premier Li Keqiang talked about the Belt and Road initiative at the forum. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 63rd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that China’s largest ride-hailing platform Didi Chuxing said it will resume late-night ride-hailing service after upgrading its safety measures. We explore the effects of the disappearance of Fan Bingbing, China’s biggest female film star, and how the Communist Party of China weighs in on everything from the appropriateness of costumes to the salaries of movie stars. We hear about how the revised tax code has made it easier to levy taxes on foreign employees’ offshore income, and what that may mean for China attracting foreign talent. We discuss risk aversion in mainland stocks, as Hong Kong stocks follow their mainland counterparts’ fall into bear market territory amid some of the weakest turnover in years. We find out that the operator of Alipay, one of China’s two dominant mobile-payment apps, has announced it will spend $150 million over the next three years to speed up the development of “mini apps.” We analyze how China has scrapped several family planning departments, fueling speculation that the country may be on the verge of ending its decades-old restrictions on family size. We dive into a new report from the American Chamber of Commerce in China that says two-thirds of American businesses in the country are feeling a pinch from tit-for-tat protective tariffs in the U.S.-China trade war. We learn that China is investigating a former top lottery official on allegations of corruption — the third misconduct case involving a lottery chief in just over a year. In addition, we talk with Caixin Global reporter David Kirton about petrochemical plants in China. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about the IPOs of electric car maker Nio in New York, and superapp Meituan-Dianping in Hong Kong. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 62nd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We discuss how China said it will control the total number of online games and new titles in operation, explore establishing an age-reminder system, and take measures to restrict the amount of time that minors spend on the games. We note that top plastic surgery app, SoYoung, has emerged as the country’s latest billion-dollar startup. We hear that the number of crimes committed in Chinese schools has officially seen a two-year decline, but experts say the problem continues to be serious. We find out that Japanese automaker Suzuki announced that it is bowing out of the race for the Chinese market as its more-compact car models are increasing being left in the dust by hulking domestic rivals. We analyze the controversy caused by a mandatory-to-watch educational show produced by the Ministry of Education and state broadcaster CCTV. We chat about the most bizarre thing to possibly ever happen at a kindergarten: the principal pole-dancing in a midriff-baring outfit.  In addition, we talk with Fran Wang, Economics Reporter with Caixin Global, about Chinese stocks' downward trend. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about the sexual misconduct allegations against Richard Liu, and the impact of those accusations on his company, JD.com. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 61st installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that China is confronting claims that its overseas investment is saddling developing countries with unsustainable levels of debt, as Beijing hosts a major gathering of African leaders to discuss development priorities for the next few years. We learn that Money-losing iQiyi, which operates a streaming service similar to Netflix, could receive a new lifeline thanks to a hit period drama that has engrossed audiences at home and abroad. We hear that Zhou Xiaochuan 周小川, the long-serving governor of the People's Bank of China, will take a seat on the Advisory Council of China Investment Corp, China’s sovereign wealth fund We discuss a new report showing that China’s leading liquor-makers saw profit for the first six months of this year surge 40% on average, with the industry’s total profit hitting $10 billion. We find out that China’s state-owned oil giants struck black gold in the first half of 2018 as an uptick in global oil and gas prices pushed upstream profits skyward. We analyze how the 25% tariffs the Trump administration slapped on Chinese auto imports in July made Ford cancelled plans to export its Focus model from China to the U.S. We dive into a new report suggesting that the rapid development of artificial intelligence in China is expected to exacerbate structural unemployment, according to a new report. We chat about the news that embattled telecom-equipment maker ZTE said it will return to profitability in the third quarter, as it rebounds from a devastating conflict with Washington that resulted in massive recent losses. In addition, we talk with Caixin Global reporter Jing Xuan Teng about several signals from Beijing to end birth limits. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about a handful of scandals surrounding the major Chinese ride sharing company Didi and how they will affect the whole ride sharing industry. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 60th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that smartphone maker Xiaomi’s Hong Kong-listed shares fell last week, despite revealing in its first earnings report since its July listing that it had made a profit in the second quarter. We discuss the downfall of Chinese celebrity monk Shi Xuecheng 释学诚, who has resigned after two former colleagues accused him of sexually harassing female disciples. We learn that China’s decades-old hukou household registration system effectively shortens migrant workers’ careers by 15 years, according to a prominent legislator. We hear that LinkedIn’s Chinese competitor Maimai just closed a new $200 million fundraising round, putting it in so-called “unicorn” status — a startup with a valuation of at least $1 billion. We find out that a group of Chinese companies stole up to billions of pieces of user data from 96 tech companies — including from e-commerce giant Alibaba — in the country’s latest case of privacy violation. We analyze a new report suggesting that China’s online population surpassed 800 million this summer, with the number of people using the internet to manage their finances or hail rides expanding particularly quickly. In addition, we introduce a new segment called “Five Things.” This week, we chat about five things that you should know about next month’s sixth forum on China-Africa Cooperation, or FOCAC, in Beijing, where delegates from dozens of African countries are expected to meet Chinese officials. Finally, we talk with Coco Feng, business reporter for Caixin Global, about Australia banning Huawei and ZTE, China's leading telecommunications companies, from providing equipment for its 5G network and lotteries in China. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about Chinese tech giant Tencent’s abrupt removal of its highly anticipated game Monster Hunter: World from its WeGame digital game marketplace only days after it was released. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 59th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that China’s central bank is set to appoint two new deputy governors in an effort to bring in more expertise to tackle systemic financial risks. We learn that the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is preparing to revise rules to crack down on the practice known as a “reverse takeover,” or “backdoor listing,” as part of efforts to clean up the market, improve the quality of listed companies, and offer better protection to investors. We hear that Medlinker, a Chinese social networking platform for doctors, has become the country’s latest unicorn with a new fundraising round that boosts its valuation to more than $1 billion. We find out that Chinese authorities are closing the loopholes that have allowed film and TV stars to minimize their tax payments after a furor over A-lister Fan Bingbing’s finances brought shady practices into the limelight. We discuss Starbucks’s ambition to enter China’s booming food-delivery sector by partnering with Alibaba's on-demand delivery service, Ele.me. We discover that Heineken is spending $3 billion to acquire a 40 percent stake in the owner of China’s biggest beer-maker, ramping up its efforts to tap into the world’s largest beer market. In addition, we talk with David Kirton, reporter for Caixin Global, about Germany's move to block Chinese company Yantai Taihai Group from buying a local producer of specialized machinery tools, which is seen as the latest sign that Berlin is toughening its stance on Chinese investments in strategic and security-related sectors. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about Google’s rumored return to China and the many controversies surrounding it. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 58th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We discuss the strong debut of Chinese discount shopping site Pinduoduo on the Nasdaq last week, following a $1.6 billion IPO — one of the biggest listings by a Chinese company this year. We hear that a man set off a homemade explosive device outside the U.S. embassy in Beijing last week, injuring only himself in what Beijing police called an “isolated public-security incident.” We note the rise of Huawei’s share of the domestic smartphone market in the second quarter, which soared 27 percent, marking the highest share for any brand since 2011. We note that China is set to introduce a “cooling-off” period for divorces to address a spike in the rate of separations. We find out that China has sentenced a former top banking regulator to 16 years in prison for accepting tens of millions of yuan in bribes. We learn that Zhu Jun 朱军, a household name in China and a venerable CCTV host, has become the latest prominent figure in the country to be accused of sexual assault. We analyze new research that suggests China’s schoolchildren are overweight, have poor eyesight, and don’t get enough sleep. We discover that China’s primary schools are getting crowded at an alarming rate, which is largely driven by the shuttering of rural schools. In addition, we talk with Fran Wang, economics reporter for Caixin Global, about China’s crackdown on its asset management industry. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about the failed merger between San Diego–based Qualcomm and Netherlands–based NXP (Next eXPerience) after Beijing delayed it for over 20 months. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 57th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We hear that China’s currency continued weakening last week and hit its lowest level in a year as escalating trade tensions between China and the U.S. eroded market sentiment. We analyze a new report that shows that China’s currency grew more international over the course of last year thanks to a sound Chinese economy and closer trade ties among countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. We find out that two U.S. companies specializing in hyperloop, a futuristic transport technology using high-speed pods zipping through sealed tubes, have secured funding from Chinese sources to advance their high-cost development. We learn that Britain has joined the U.S. and Australia in voicing concern about leading Chinese telecom-equipment maker Huawei, saying it has “only limited assurance” that the company’s products pose no national security threat. We discuss the rumors that Beijing could be contemplating a merger between China Telecom and China Unicom given that they have simultaneously announced a series of top executive moves. We discover that Chinese car-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is taking its service to Japan by launching a joint venture with Japanese conglomerate SoftBank. We note that English soccer giant Arsenal F.C. was duped out of $179,000 by a phony representative of China’s largest electric-vehicle maker, BYD. We are informed that China has received its first delivery of liquefied natural gas from one of the world’s most ambitious energy projects, in Russia, north of the Arctic Circle, just seven months after it began production. In addition, we talk with Coco Feng, business reporter with Caixin Global, about Google’s latest move in China. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about appliance maker Vatti, a Chinese sponsor of the World Cup champion that gave refunds to some customers after promising such rewards if France’s team won the tournament in a marketing campaign. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 56th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We hear that a majority of American companies don’t support their president’s use of retaliatory tariffs to achieve U.S. trade goals. We analyze new data that shows that new-energy vehicle sales in China during the first half of the year doubled to 400,000 units. We note that Tesla has signed agreements with Shanghai to set up a vehicle assembly plant that will have the capacity to produce 500,000 all-electric autos per year. We find out that Guangzhou’s Sun Yat-sen University has suspended a professor accused of harassing and assaulting multiple women, as China continues to grapple with sexual harassment in academia. We explore Apple’s new plan to launch a $300 million fund to promote clean energy in China, representing the latest green initiative in one of its largest global markets. We learn that China is assessing the “ideological implications” of online talent shows, including those produced by internet giant Tencent and video site iQiyi, to prevent them from becoming “overly entertaining.” We discover that bike-sharing giant Ofo plans to slim down its Asia operations to four overseas markets — Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore — as it focuses on its most promising areas in a bid to become profitable, a knowledgeable source told Caixin. We discuss the story of Xu Chaofan 许超凡, former head of a Guangdong branch of the Bank of China, who allegedly embezzled nearly $500 million yuan and fled to the U.S. In addition, we talk with Fran Wang, senior economics reporter at Caixin Global, about the U.S.-China trade war. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about Xiaomi’s long-awaited IPO and Canadian-based fast-food chain Tim Hortons’ plan to enter China. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 55th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We analyze the threat of a trade war between the United States and China, as it has become a reality. We explore how Chinese stocks were unfazed by the trade tensions. We learn that several prominent banks and private investors have been left in the lurch since the boss of a licensed Shanghai wealth management firm disappeared early last week. We hear that China Communications Construction (CCC), which was building a major section of a $20 billion railway in Malaysia, said it has suspended the project at its client’s request. We discover that Shenzhen-listed construction company Jiangsu Yabaite 江苏雅百特 Technology faces delisting for fabricating information in its financial reports. We find out that passengers flying to the U.S. now face extra scrutiny if they hand-carry a quantity of powder larger than a Coke can — a new rule that market observers said might become a common practice in other parts of the world. We discuss how Dying to Survive (我不是药神 wǒ bùshì yào shén), China’s most discussed film of late, has surprised observers with its portrayal of social problems amid the country’s heavily censored environment. We note that China’s movie receipts expanded 18 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2018, after surpassing North America in single-quarter takings for the first time ever. In addition, we talk with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about the death of Wang Jian 王健, the chairman of HNA (formerly Hainan Airlines), while he was on a tourist excursion during a business trip to France on July 3. Doug also tells us about China's restaurant review and delivery giant Meituan entering the dockless bike share business that China pioneered. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 54th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We explore how China’s solar industry will suffer after the government decided to cut a series of subsidies that have fueled the industry’s boom for nearly a decade. We note that China plans to impose restrictions on the pay of film and television stars as it grapples with a tax-evasion scandal that has rocked the entertainment industry and ensnared top actress Fan Bingbing 范冰冰. We learn that Huawei is not apologizing for flying Australian lawmakers to visit its Chinese headquarters, after a think tank listed it as the biggest corporate sponsor of overseas travel for the country’s national politicians over the last eight years. We hear that shares of Chinese dating app Momo fell by sharply last week after a short seller accused the company of concealing important information from investors. We discuss Shenzhen’s OptimumNano Energy, the world’s fourth-largest manufacturer of batteries for new-energy vehicles, which told its workers to go on leave for six months as intense competition and high material costs have driven its finances into the red. We discover that China’s biggest electric-vehicle carmaker BYD is going to plow $4 billion into quadrupling its car battery output through 2020, despite overcapacity in the industry. We analyze how China’s removal of restrictions on foreign investments in gasoline stations will clear the way for global oil giants like BP to operate more wholly owned stations in the country. We find out that Beijing’s traffic police are in trouble for allowing the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to monopolize traffic-fine payments in the capital. In addition, we talk with Tanner Brown, an editor and product director for Caixin Global, about a 19-year-old woman who recently killed herself after being allegedly sexually assaulted by her teacher, and what this case says about suicide in China. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 53rd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We find out how, in a surprising reversal, smartphone maker Xiaomi said over the weekend there is no timetable for its mainland share offering, and that it will first complete its listing in Hong Kong. We learn that China’s big three national wireless carriers are scrapping domestic data-roaming fees. We note that China’s bike-sharing market is expected to shift into a slower lane this year. We explore JD.com’s deal with Google under which the U.S. search giant will invest $550 million in China’s second-largest ecommerce company, furthering both firms’ international expansion ambitions. We discuss the debt-ridden Chinese financial conglomerate Anbang Insurance Group, previously controlled by once high-flying tycoon Wu Xiaohui 吴小晖, which is now nearly entirely owned by a state-run insurance bailout fund that injected almost $10 billion into the company earlier this year. We discover that China and Nepal have signed an agreement to develop a cross-border railway and the improvement of road links between the two countries. We hear that China has paid its final $580 million tranche to Sri Lanka as part of a deal that gives Beijing control over the strategic Hambantota deepwater port. We analyze how at least 25 senior officials overseeing China’s prison system have fallen from grace over abuse of power linked to commutations. In addition, we talk with Jason Tan, a business reporter at Caixin Global, about the many recent developments with Chinese telecom giant Huawei. We also chat with Coco Feng, also a business reporter at Caixin Global, about sports lotteries in China. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 52nd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We find out about an additional 25 percent duty imposed by the Trump administration on about $50 billion of Chinese imports that contain “industrially significant technologies.” We note that China’s economic growth showed signs of losing steam in May as fixed-asset investment, industrial output, and retail sales all trailed analysts’ estimates. We explore China’s decision to pull money from provincial-level pension funds to create a national pool to address growing pension deficits in poorer regions. We discover that a Chinese menswear company faked a collaboration with well-known New York streetwear brand Supreme. We learn that the U.S. Supreme Court has weighed in on a 13-year-old antitrust dispute involving several Chinese vitamin C makers and exporters. We hear the news that Xiang Junbo 项俊波, the former chairman of China’s insurance regulator, pleaded guilty at his corruption trial in Jiangsu Province. We discuss Didi Chuxing’s introduction of a “same-sex rides” policy after a woman was killed using the ride-hailing service. We analyze a new survey that shows that an increasing proportion of China’s brightest overseas talent is being lured back home. In addition, we talk with Jing Xuan Teng, reporter at Caixin Global, about high-speed rail and Hong Kong. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about the evolving story on ZTE, the Chinese telecom equipment manufacturing company that’s gotten into hot water with the U.S. and had a near-death experience. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 51st installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that Chinese telecom company ZTE has reached a deal with the U.S. to pay a $1 billion fine to end crippling American sanctions. We hear the news that Foxconn Industrial Internet has become China’s most valuable tech company after its shares surged 44 percent in its trading debut last week. We learn that Chinese internet giant Tencent is in talks with the authorities to make its WeChat app a digital alternative for residents entering and exiting Guangdong Province, Hong Kong, and Macau. We analyze China’s recent release of detailed information on 50 fugitives who allegedly committed economic crimes, as authorities continue to pursue what Beijing deems dirty officials and dodgy businessmen who have fled abroad. We discuss General Motors’ plan to launch 10 more new-energy vehicle models in China from 2021 to 2023, doubling the 10 it has already planned currently. We discover that short-video app Douyin now has more daily downloads in China than any other free app, pushing it squarely ahead of rival Kuaishou. We explore recent scandals surrounding China’s highest-paid celebrity, actress Fan Bingbing, who is denying accusations that she evaded taxes by signing multiple contracts for the same movie roles. We find out that over half of the adult population in China now either has high blood pressure or is on course to develop it, but few are aware of the problem. In addition, we talk with Liu Xiao, reporter at Caixin Global, about a series of highly anticipated guidelines released by China’s securities regulator lately, which set the scene for the country’s foreign-listed tech titans to trade shares at home. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about a tech story regarding memory-chip makers and a solar story regarding overcapacity and subsidies. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 50th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We acknowledge a new report that found out that the cost of living in Beijing and Shanghai has become relatively cheaper in the last three years compared with other major cities around the globe. We analyze some new data that suggests that while Americans born today can expect to live for a few years longer than their Chinese counterparts, China’s newborns will experience more “healthy” years. We note that Jia Yueting 贾跃亭, founder of LeEco, once a star Chinese tech company, has been barred indefinitely from traveling via train and air in China. We learn that China’s railway builder ran into another setback to its overseas expansion aspirations after the new Malaysian government announced it will scrap a bullet-train project linking its capital to its southern neighbor Singapore. We hear the news that China’s top securities regulator may punish six mutual funds for alleged insider trading by their managers. We discuss that Google has released the new app Files Go, which is customized for mainland Chinese users, in its latest small step back into the world’s largest smartphone and online market. We discover that China said it would cut import tariffs by more than half on a wide range of consumer goods starting in July, aiming to boost domestic consumption and balance its foreign trade amid heightened tensions with the U.S. In addition, we talk with Fran Wang, senior economics reporter at Caixin Global, about how the new consumer tariff cuts fit into the bigger trade picture. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about the latest in the Chinese auto and dairy sectors. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 49th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We analyze internet company Sina’s plan to launch a secondary listing in Hong Kong. We note that U.S. electric car startup Tesla has received tentative approval from the Shanghai government to manufacture cars in the city. We learn that the Trump administration has reached a deal to put Chinese telecommunications company ZTE back in business. We discuss that China may scrap or scale back proposals to ban the online sale of prescription medicines after two drafts of the plan garnered strong opposition. We discover that American dating platform Seeking Arrangement is expected to hit regulatory obstacles in China after achieving rapid popularity. We hear that China said it cannot explain what happened to an American citizen working at a U.S. consulate who reported suffering from abnormal sounds and pressure leading to a mild brain injury. We dive into the news that a man who was imprisoned for 25 years before having his conviction overturned is asking the Chinese government for $2.6 million in compensation. We find out that China’s average flight delay soared 50 percent to 24 minutes in 2017. In addition, we talk with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about three corporate stories regarding Aecon, Canada’s largest publicly listed infrastructure builder, Chinese technology giant Foxconn, and American retail company Costco. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 48th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note social networking giant Twitter’s first-ever client event in China to expand its footprint in the country. We learn that a resurgent and refocused Baidu was the big winner among China’s top internet companies in the first quarter of the year, while an overinflated Weibo moved to the bottom of investors’ lists as its red-hot growth showed signs of cooling. We hear that after Baidu’s COO, Qi Lu 陆奇, announced he would step down due to personal and family reasons, the company’s stock price plummeted. We explore a new report that found that around 62 percent of Chinese use ride-hailing platforms, compared with 23 percent in the U.S. and 29 percent in Germany. We discuss the news that Li Ning 李宁, an education official seen tucking into an endangered animal in viral photos last year, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for unrelated corruption charges. We find out that Chinese top judicial authorities have raised the amount of compensation given to people who are wrongfully imprisoned, but the amount still falls short of what legal experts argue is adequate. In addition, we talk with Fran Wang, economics reporter with Caixin Global, about Beijing’s ongoing push to regulate wealth management products. We also have a conversation with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about the latest with Chinese multinational technology company Lenovo and hotpot chain Haidilao. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 47th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We analyze the two-day meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in northeastern China’s port city of Dalian, where the two leaders voiced support for the easing of tensions and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. We note that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called on Sino-Japanese relations to get back on track during his long-awaited official visit to Tokyo. We hear that Sun Zhengcai 孙政才, once a rising political star in China, was sentenced to life in prison last week for bribery. We learn that Wu Xiaohui 吴小晖, the onetime high-flying founder of Anbang Insurance Group, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for fundraising fraud and embezzlement at his financial empire. We discuss the news that China’s regulators are drafting rules to put the country’s freewheeling financial conglomerates under stricter oversight in a bid to control risks created by the companies’ aggressive and often debt-fueled expansions. We explore new data that suggests that the Chinese film industry surpassed North America in quarterly box office revenue for the first time, raking in $3 billion from January to March. We delve into Chinese short-video platform Douyin 抖音, which was the most downloaded non-game app on Apple’s App Store in the first quarter, edging out big international names. We find out that shares of Lenovo fell to their lowest price since 2009 after it was announced that on June 4, the world’s second-largest PC maker would again be dropped from Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index. In addition, we talk with Liu Xiao, reporter for Caixin Global, about the problematic nature of debt, especially local government debt and the very high debt-to-GDP ratio. We also have a conversation with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about domestic smartphone sales in Q1 and the latest about ZTE. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 46th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that a North Korean nuclear test site near the border with China has collapsed, leaving it vulnerable to radiation leaks. We analyze President Donald Trump’s new remarks on U.S.-China relationships, which indicated that the two countries would have a “very good chance at making a deal” on trade. We learn that leading Chinese travel platform Ctrip has invested in a U.S. supersonic airplane startup, Boom Technology, as high-speed technology soars back toward commercial use. We explore new data about China’s smartphone market, which performed worse than any other major global region in the first quarter of this year, with demand down by 6 percent as the market suffered from saturation. We discuss the news that Manbang Group, operator of a market-leading mobile app that matches truck drivers with shippers, closed a funding round of $2 billion from a group of investors led by China Reform Fund and Japan’s SoftBank. We hear that several competitors in the Chinese ride-share market are revving their engines, as Didi Chuxing currently has 90 percent of the market. We find that the global #MeToo movement claimed a small victory in China after a prominent academic at the prestigious Shanghai Jiaotong University was removed from his post over alleged sexual harassment. In addition, we talk with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about sexism in China’s high-tech world, and Chinese telecom giant Huawei, which is now under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over alleged violations of U.S. sanctions related to Iran. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 45th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We note that Hainan Province is flinging open its doors to international tourists, granting visa-free stays to 59 nationalities amid a push to transform itself into “China’s Hawaii.” We find out about digital payments leader Alipay’s launch of its service on buses. We learn that Putuoshan Tourism, the official travel agency of Mount Putuo, or Putuoshan, has postponed its IPO in the wake of a controversy over commercializing the country’s religious sites. We discuss that China will further open its car market by allowing foreign automakers to take full ownership of their local joint ventures by 2022. We explore a recent report by China Orient Asset Management, a state-controlled asset management company, which indicates that Chinese banks have likely understated their bad debt. We hear that China’s central bank said it will cut the amount of cash that most banks are required to hold as reserves — a move to release cash into the banking system. We analyze China’s endorsement of “online hospitals,” an emerging concept that Chinese internet giants Alibaba and Tencent have bet on. We discover that Chinese authorities have released a doctor who called a well-known “medicinal” liquor a poison, after news of his three months in detention provoked national anger. In addition, we talk with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about China’s biggest telecom equipment makers such as ZTE and their problems with the U.S. We also chat with Liu Xiao, reporter for Caixin Global, about a story regarding Ant Financial. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 44th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We analyze China’s trade deficit number in March, which reached nearly $5 billion, marking the first monthly deficit since January 2017. We discuss Xi Jinping’s reiterated promises to open up the country’s economy to foreign investors at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2018, saying change would come “as soon as possible.” We learn that a second allegation of sexual misconduct has been leveled against Shen Yang 沈阳, a former professor at Beijing’s prestigious Peking University, who was previously accused of raping a student before she committed suicide 20 years ago. We acknowledge long-awaited guidelines by Beijing to allow out-of-towners to apply for full access to the capital’s public services. We hear that four popular Chinese news apps, including top news aggregator Jinri Toutiao, have been removed from major mobile app stores — the latest regulatory blow amid the country’s tightening scrutiny over online content. We note that a slew of major Chinese social media platforms have swiftly removed content deemed to “violate core socialist values” as authorities tighten their grip on online content. We explore shared-workspace provider WeWork’s acquisition of Naked Hub, one of its China-based rivals. We delve into Chinese social media giant Tencent’s ambition in the burgeoning Wi-Fi business on China’s fast-running bullet trains in hopes of extending its access to the massive data of urban travelers. In addition, we talk with Joshua Drummer, editor at Caixin Global, about AI-powered robots and banking. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about Didi Chuxing, one of China’s big internet companies, and its expansion outside of China. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 43rd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We pay attention to the return of Tiangong-1, China’s first space station, which was launched in September 2011 and has been at the center of several milestones for China’s space program. We delve into a recent report published by Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, which shows that Beijing’s Peking and Tsinghua universities are letting their students down in terms of helping them learn and grow on campus. We learn the news that Wu Xiaohui 吴小晖, the former chairman of financial giant Anbang Insurance Group, admitted to a court that he had been involved in a fundraising scheme that took in more than 723 billion yuan from illicit insurance sales. We hear that China will lower value-added tax rates as part of a tax cut package, saving 400 billion yuan each year for businesses in targeted sectors. We note that Sunac, the Chinese property giant that poured some 17 billion yuan into debt-plagued tech giant LeEco a year ago, admitted that its investment was a “failure” and has written off the losses. We acknowledge some new rules that put China’s $15 trillion asset-management industry under stricter scrutiny. We discuss the central government’s decision to set up a court in Shanghai to specifically handle financial cases, in order to plug regulatory gaps. We explore China’s approval of its first delivery drone license, which has been given to a subsidiary of logistics giant SF Express. In addition, we talk with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about why this is an interesting time for Chinese IPOs and Geely’s move to use a plant in Belgium to make its vehicles, marking the first time a Chinese car will be produced in Europe. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 42nd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we note that China’s legislature elected Yang Xiaodu 杨晓渡, a veteran leader of a Party-based anti-graft organ, as the first chief of the country’s newly formed anti-corruption agency created under President Xi Jinping's effort to extend his battle against corruption. We explore the launch of car-hailing services by Meituan-Dianping, one of China’s largest online services platforms. We dive deep into China’s new efforts to tighten regulations on online videos by calling for local governments to scrub from the web parodies and adaptations that are based on copyrighted content. We hear that profit for Tencent’s online publishing unit, China Literature, grew 15-fold last year compared with the previous year. We learn the news that 10 Chinese smartphone makers have vowed to join forces to challenge the growing dominance of WeChat — China’s largest social media platform — by creating something called Quick App. We discuss the potential of U.S-listed tech giants Alibaba and JD.com becoming the first companies to make secondary listings on the mainland through the issue of so-called China Depositary Receipts (CDRs). In addition, we talk with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about the latest news on the tariff situation between the U.S. and China, and Tencent’s biggest shareholder, Naspers, cutting its stake in the company. We also chat with Caixin reporter Poornima Weerasekara about the controversy over China’s building of a hydropower dam. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 41st installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we learn about a sweeping plan approved by the National People’s Congress of China, the country’s legislature, to tackle a series of issues such as slow economic growth, environmental degradation, and market volatility. We discuss a recent study that found that 90 percent of Chinese mobile apps offering personal financial services have flaws in their privacy policies that may put consumers’ information at risk. We hear that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has warned the Trump administration about a proposed move to impose steep tariffs on Chinese imports. We note that an amateur car racer in China found he lost control of his Mercedes-Benz after his vehicle got stuck in cruise control at 120 kph (75 mph). We are informed of good news from bike-sharing leader Ofo that it has secured nearly $900 million in its latest fundraising round. In addition, we talk with Jing Xuan Teng, business reporter for Caixin Global, about the retirement of Li Ka-shing, one of East Asia’s business titans. We also have a conversation with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about Leshi, the debt-ridden company whose shares plunged sharply after the resignation of its chairman, and China’s plan to test commercial-quality 5G wireless services next year. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 40th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we learn about the latest data on China’s exports, which hit a three-year high in February, greatly surpassing market expectations. We note China’s determination to take “powerful” measures to defend its interests against the tariffs on imported steel and foreign-made aluminum issued by Trump last week. We explore why delegates to this year’s two big political meetings in Beijing are urging the central government to spend more on preschool education and childcare facilities. We discuss how Chinese regulators are targeting social media accounts that are used by cryptocurrency exchanges to continue reaching Chinese investors despite being banned on the mainland six months ago. We hear that outbound travel from China hit another record last year due to rising incomes, favorable exchange rates, and easier visa processes. We find out that Foxconn Industrial Internet, a unit of the world's largest contract electronics manufacturers, which assembles Apple's iPhones, won speedy approval for its IPO in China. In addition, we talk with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about Chinese stock market trends in general and some recent IPO-related stories. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 39th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we learn about how one of the biggest donkey-hide supplement makers in China lost millions of dollars due to a dustup over the potency of the traditional Chinese medicine. We discuss the news that the Chinese government has suspended the distant-water fishing activity of a company involved in a shark-smuggling case near Ecuador. We hear that leading Chinese online video site iQiyi has filed an IPO in New York, seeking to raise up to $1.5 billion. We study some new guidelines released by China’s top prosecutor, which aim to curb the misuse of psychiatric hospitals by police and hospital managers to incarcerate political dissidents, activists, and petitioners. We explore how China’s metals industry lashed out against U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on two metals that China exports to the U.S. in large quantities. We note that China’s movie theaters have smashed the monthly box office record for a single market, taking in $1.6 billion in February, thanks to the success of domestic blockbusters during the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday. In addition, we talk with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about Chinese phone maker Xiaomi’s prospects for its expected IPO and China’s private conglomerate CEFC China Energy, whose founder and chairman has been placed under investigation. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 38th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we learn that Chinese shares posted their worst weekly performance in two years, falling nearly 10 percent, as markets in both the mainland and Hong Kong plunged following a similar correction in the U.S. and other global markets. We explore the latest trade numbers of China, which suggest that China’s imports jumped the most in 11 months in January while exports remained strong. We are surprised by Ehang Intelligence Technology, a Guangzhou-based aerial vehicle maker, which released footage showing its signature passenger-carrying drone taking several people on a ride through the skies. We note the latest move by United Airlines to pull back the thrusters on new flights between the U.S. and China, following major additions over the last two years that have led to excess capacity. We find out about a new deal made by Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn to invest $18 million in a cryptocurrency bank being set up by a former partner at Goldman Sachs. We hear that users across the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan can now use the same Didi Chuxing app to hail taxis and shared cars, as the company continues its expansion outside the mainland. We follow a new feature introduced to China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo. Named “New Era,” the new section promotes pro-government news stories on Weibo’s “trending” function — a response to government criticism of the search feature. In addition, we talk with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about DreamWorks Animation’s sale of its stake in its China joint venture Oriental DreamWorks, and what it tells us about the prospect of U.S.-China collaborations. We also have a conversation about baijiu (白酒 báijiǔ), the infamous Chinese liquor, and why Luzhou Laojiao 泸州老窖, a well-known baijiu-maker in China, launched its own perfume. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 37th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we learn about a man in China who was awarded 1.9 million yuan ($301,796) in compensation last week after being wrongfully convicted of molesting dozens of women last year. We explore some new data released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), which suggests that the country had 772 million internet users by the end of 2017 and that 97.5 percent of them used mobile phones to surf the web. We hear about the news that Hong Kong’s legislature has voted to completely end the city’s ivory trade by 2021, weeks after the Chinese mainland’s ban took effect in January. On the topic of Hong Kong, we also note that the city’s property market is on fire, and it’s only expected to get hotter. We hear good news from Xiaomi that sales for the smartphone maker surged in last year’s fourth quarter as the company extended its comeback. We cover some environmental protection workers in Hunan Province who were found to be using mist cannons to water down pollution readings in two recent cases. In addition, we chat with Caixin Global reporter Coco Feng about the latest in livestreaming — a game that people are playing for cash prizes that’s really giving a jolt to livestream sites. We also talk with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about Alibaba Group Holding’s announcement to purchase a 33 percent stake in fintech affiliate Ant Financial Services Group, and Baidu, which has been sued by news aggregator Jinri Toutiao for unfair competition as the pair’s battle for advertising market share intensifies. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 36th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we hear about the news that 630,000 fewer babies were born in China in 2017 than the year before, despite the government’s efforts to encourage couples to have a second child. We explore the resilience of China’s economy, which accelerated for the first time in seven years in 2017. We note that Shanghai’s subway passengers are now able to use a mobile app to pay their fares. We discuss Japanese housewares retailer Muji’s first hotel in Shenzhen. We discuss China’s dwindling demand for smartphones, which prompted Apple to reduce the price of its flagship iPhone X. We learn about Google’s opening of its fourth China office in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen. In addition, we talk with Caixin Global reporter Jingxuan Teng about China Unicom’s decision to offer stock options to employees under its mixed-ownership reform program. We also have a conversation with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about the news that Alibaba's Taobao was included on a U.S. government list of "notorious" markets for trade in pirated goods, and the latest news on China’s outbound investment. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 35th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we look at China’s new economic data, which suggests that the 2017 rate of the country’s economic growth was around 6.9 percent, marking the first acceleration in seven years. We learn that an ambitious deal between Dalian Wanda and IBM to join forces in China’s booming cloud-computing market appears to be in serious jeopardy. We discuss global hotel giant Marriott International’s apology following online anger toward its description of Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Tibet as “countries” in a recent customer survey. We hear about a burning oil tanker that exploded on a ship in the East China Sea on January 6. We explore the story of Yao Ning 幺宁, a controversial prosecutor who rose to fame under disgraced Party heavyweight Bo Xilai 薄熙来 and has recently come under public scrutiny after posting a statement about her handling of a 2009 case linked to a veteran Beijing lawyer, Li Zhuang 李庄. We note the latest move by leading shared-car services provider Didi Chuxing to drive into China’s shared-bike business. In addition, we talk with Caixin Global senior editor Aries Poon about China’s New Third Board and what it’s doing to boost liquidity and attract a better class of companies. We also converse with Caixin Global editor Michael Bellart about efforts made by the central bank of China to try to improve security for QR-code-based payment. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 34th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we discuss how China is strengthening oversight of preschools with measures including a requirement for more cameras in classrooms, following several highly publicized child abuse scandals in recent months. We analyze reports that China will roll out a list next year outlining which areas are off-limits for investment by both foreign and domestic capital. We examine how poor planning and soaring natural gas prices have left thousands in northern China without heat this winter. We look at the news that China Mobile is launching mobile services in the United Kingdom. We note that Beijing’s Party chief seems to have gone into damage-control mode due to backlash from migrant evictions. We explore what it means that yet another bike-sharing startup is drawing criticism for failing to return user deposits. In addition, we talk with Caixin senior editor Doug Young about what Google’s plans for an AI lab in Beijing really mean for the Silicon Valley giant, and with Caixin finance reporter Leng Cheng on new microlending regulations. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 33rd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we analyze how Twitter is flitting around the edges of the world’s largest internet market, although it’s blocked in China. We explore why Ford and Alibaba initiated a major strategic collaboration in online car-related services. We examine Alipay’s latest move to sign an agreement with Shanghai Shentong Metro Group. We look at the news that China may have to raise personal income taxes and finally introduce a real estate levy to create room for a reduction in its corporate tax as it seeks to stay attractive to investors. We discuss a state-owned bus company that has run four buses with self-driving capabilities through a 4,000-foot predetermined route in downtown Shenzhen. We delve into a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which warned China about financial risks. In addition, we talk with Caixin senior editor Doug Young about some corporate news regarding Weibo, and a Africa and China story about China’s changing relationship with the continent. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 32nd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we explore China’s manufacturing data for November, which shows that domestic investment momentum has remained intact, while external demand recovered further. We learn about the news that China’s banking regulator fined China Minsheng Bank, the country’s largest privately owned bank, for selling 1.65 billion yuan ($249 million) of fake wealth management products. We investigate how a private company in China has been sued for bribing jailers to secure a cheap prison-labor deal. We look at the recent child abuse scandal around RYB Education, whose shares plunged last week after the company was pelted by a barrage of class-action lawsuits. We discuss five things you need to know about China’s new-energy vehicle policies. In addition, we talk with Caixin senior editor Doug Young about the state of corporate gift-giving culture in today’s China, and how it differs for government officials, state-owned enterprises, and private enterprises. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 31st installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we analyze why China plans to grant overseas investors greater access to the country’s financial market. We look at Apple’s removal of the popular Skype voice and instant messaging service from its China app store after being informed it violated local rules. We are amazed at the news that two Boeing 747 jumbo jets were sold in an online auction on Alibaba’s Taobao. We explain how a deadly fire in Beijing slowed deliveries across the city. We discuss the demise of Wuhan Huantou, a local government-backed bike-rental service in the capital of Hubei Province, in the face of pressure from the shared bikes that have flooded into cities across China. We learn that Air China has suspended flights from Beijing to North Korea’s capital due to weak demand. We explore how Chinese social networking giant Tencent briefly passed U.S. peer Facebook in market value to become the world’s fifth-most-valuable company. In addition, we talk with Caixin senior editor Doug Young about microlending in China, and have a conversation with Caixin editor Poornima Weerasekara about a child abuse scandal in a Beijing kindergarten. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 30th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we look at the new regulations issued by the China Banking Regulatory Commission, which were specially designed for the nation’s three state-owned policy banks, clarifying their business positions and enhancing oversight of risk control. We learn the news that Panama opened its first-ever embassy in China last week, with Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi overseeing the inauguration. We hear good news from online retailer JD.com, which reported its best-ever quarterly results. We analyze why China’s investment and aviation conglomerate HNA Group removed the head of its tourism unit, which runs HNA’s flagship Hainan Airlines, in a major leadership reshuffle. We explore U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm’s new investments in nine Chinese startups, including AI star SenseTime Group and on-demand bicycle firm Mobike. We discuss why China Huishan Dairy Holdings asked its lawyers to begin provisional liquidation of the heavily indebted company. In addition, we speak with Caixin editor Poornima Weerasekara about the child abuse scandal at a Ctrip daycare center in Shanghai, and have a conversation with Caixin reporter Coco Feng about Apple, which is working on a fix for its iPhone X smartphones after reports that their screens are unresponsive when cold. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 29th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we take a look at China’s trade figures for October, which remained strong in both exports and imports. We hear good news from China’s Twitter-like microblogging platform Weibo, whose profit tripled to a record $101.1 million in the third quarter. We learn the latest from Chinese smartphone companies, as Oppo gained ground on Huawei and tried to reclaim the title of top dog in the world’s largest market. We explore the news that shares of China Literature, Tencent’s online publishing unit, doubled in price during their Hong Kong debut last week. We take a deep dive into a story about Guizhou Dongjiu, a Chinese liquor-maker that is facing accusations of illegally misleading consumers after it cited a study suggesting that its products have health benefits. We analyze Trump’s first state visit to Beijing, during which China said it has “mapped out a new blueprint” with the U.S. to remain partners, as opposed to rivals. In addition, we speak with Caixin senior editor Doug Young to get a better grasp of Trump’s state visit and its significance in U.S.-China relations. We also talk about Kentucky Fried Chicken as the chain celebrated its 30th anniversary in China last week. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 28th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we discuss how sales of the latest iPhone helped Apple post its first China growth in almost two years. We analyze two news items about Alibaba — that its co-founder Joe Tsai is buying a 49 percent stake in the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, and that the company reported a staggering 146 percent year-on-year profit increase in its latest quarter. We explore Tesla’s ambition to tap the new-energy car market in China by promoting hundreds of thousands of its moderately priced electric vehicles. We delve into a recent statement from China’s cyberspace authority that Beijing will create a database of online news practitioners, a blacklist of “fake news” platforms, and a mechanism for users to report fake articles. In addition, we speak with Caixin senior editor Doug Young about Alipay and Didi Chuxing, the two sector leaders that are following a global expansion path similar to many Chinese service operators by making their services available first to millions of Chinese traveling overseas. Also with Doug Young, we talk about a new agreement between China and the U.S. to recognize each other’s aircraft product-safety systems, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s third trip to China, during which he visited President Xi Jinping, smartphone maker Xiaomi, and the prestigious Tsinghua University. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 27th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we hear about the death of Lu Guanqiu 鲁冠球, founder and chairman of Wanxiang Group Corporation, the largest automotive parts firm by revenue in China. We take a look at a new report that shows that the Chinese mainland added an average of two new billionaires every week last year, helping Asia replace the U.S. as the world's most fertile cradle for individual wealth. We explore the debut of China’s next-generation rail cars in Shanghai, which are expected to add huge flexibility to China’s high-speed train fleet. We analyze the latest move by JD.com to welcome back thousands of mom-and-pop merchants to its online shopping malls. We take a deep dive into the news that China’s ruling Communist Party has downsized its powerful Central Military Commission in a major reshuffle. In addition, we speak with Caixin senior editor Doug Young about McDonald’s China’s decision to change its name from Maidanglao (麦当劳 màidāngláo) to Jingongmen (金拱门 jīngǒngmén), which is Mandarin for “golden arches.” We also have a discussion with Doug about three newly U.S.-listed China-concept stocks and some viral images in China that show a man helping himself to food he’s delivering. We also talk to Caixin researcher Yu Bokun, who recently spoke with North Korean merchants and experts about how the tightening sanctions are affecting China-North Korean businesses. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 26th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we take a look at China’s latest economic data on GDP growth in the July-September period. We delve into the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party, which kicked off last week with a three-hour, 23-minute speech by Party chief Xi Jinping. We learn why Yukon Huang, the World Bank’s former country director for China, defended the organization’s lending to Chinese governments. We study the feud between Apple and chip supplier Qualcomm about patent infringement. We explore the news that Wu Aiying 吴爱英, former Minister of Justice, has been expelled from the Communist Party of China. In addition, we talk to Caixin reporter Poornima Weerasekara about the narrowing wealth gap between China’s cities and countryside. We also speak with Caixin senior editor Doug Young about the company Qudian, which made its first public filing for a New York IPO last week, the recent closure of many golf courses in China, and the long-running battle between Qualcomm and Apple in Chinese courts. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 25th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we explore how China’s tech giant Tencent secured a new license to sell insurance products on its popular messaging apps WeChat and QQ. We analyze the latest move by the Ministry of Environmental Protection to implement more than two dozen research programs on air pollution. We take a look at Beijing Daxing International Airport, a new hub operated by China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines. We learn about how Chinese farmers are using crop-dusting drones to overcome labor shortages. We study the case of Yousan, an umbrella-sharing startup that recently rolled out its shared umbrella concept in Shanghai and Suzhou, as well as in the nearby city of Nanjing. In addition, we talk to Caixin senior editor Doug Young about an unusual crowdfunding service run by the rail operator of Xi’an, and Costa Coffee’s buyout of its South China partner, Yueda, following a similar move made by its largest rival, Starbucks, a few months ago. We also speak with Caixin reporter Fran Wang about China’s latest economic data report on trade numbers. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 24th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we analyze S&P’s decision to cut the long-term sovereign credit rating on China by one notch to A+ from AA-, the fifth-highest level, and change the outlook to stable from negative. We take a look at China’s high-speed trains, which are getting faster and faster in the past few years. We study the news that Google will pay one billion dollars for assets related to its longtime collaboration with smartphone manufacturing partner HTC. We learn about a recent move by China’s leading online travel agent Ctrip to open its first offshore call center in the U.K. We explore why a school authority in China’s Hunan Province has reversed a decision to dock the pay of two teachers for refusing to take a quiz on their city’s National Civilized City campaign. We also examine a point-based system launched by the local authorities in the Xiongan New Area economic zone to allocate affordable rental properties to migrants. In addition, we talk to Caixin senior editor Doug Young about an Alibaba-backed logistics company called BEST Inc., which raised $450 million in the largest IPO in the U.S. for a Chinese company this year, and South Korean retail giant Lotte Group’s recent move to sell many of its stores in China. We also speak with Caixin reporter Raffaele Huang about the latest open water swimming craze in China. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 23rd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we look into the new China-backed plan to build a high-speed railroad between the Russian cities of Moscow and Kazan. We analyze why U.S. high-tech chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor decided to terminate its plan to be purchased by a China-backed buyer. We examine how conglomerate Citic Group and Beijing Capital Agribusiness Group struck a deal with British fowl specialist Cherry Valley Farms. We learn about the U.S. debut of Yang’s Braised Chicken Rice, a popular fast-food chain from China. We also dive into the newly released data of China’s investment, industrial output, and retail sales in August, which all suggest a downward momentum. In addition, we talk to Caixin senior editor Doug Young about the new plan by China’s ecommerce company JD.com to roll out an office-based automated food service concept targeting white-collar workers, and the new government clampdown aiming at online chat groups. We also speak with Caixin reporter Liu Xiao about the latest news in the world of cryptocurrencies. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 22nd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we tell you how the deaths of over 100 goats that ate spring onions exposed to a highly toxic pesticide have sparked public outcry over the lack of regulations curbing the overuse of such chemicals in China. We look at the news that a baby girl in the interior city of Xi’an was named after the smash-hit mobile video game Honor of Kings 王者荣耀. We explore the latest move by Alibaba, the operator of the country’s largest online sales platform, to build its own mall at its headquarters in the eastern city of Hangzhou. We examine how a social media post accusing well-known establishments in Beijing of cleanliness breaches triggered hygiene checks by authorities at the city’s five-star hotels. And we explain why the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, the country’s top insurance regulator, is banning booze from all of its offices and subsidiary departments. In addition, we talk to Caixin editor Poornima Weerasekara about a pregnant woman’s suicide and the bigger picture of giving birth in China. We also chat with Caixin senior editor Doug Young about why a photo of the drummer from the 1980s band Black Panther holding a glass thermos filled with tea went viral on the Chinese internet, and the rumors about Wang Jianlin 王健林, the founder and chairman of Wanda — that he was detained, or prevented from flying. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 21st installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we examine how Haidilao 海底捞, one of the most popular hotpot restaurants in China, is in hot water after a media exposé, which allegedly showed rats and all sorts of other sanitation problems in it, went viral. We analyze the news that Wanda Group’s shares plummeted as much as 10 percent over rumors — denied by the company — that its founder and chairman, Wang Jianlin 王健林, had been detained by Chinese authorities. We dive into the report that the Chinese ship detained by Ecuadorean authorities in mid-August for supposedly illegal fishing off the Galápagos Islands belongs to Fuzhou Honglong Ocean Aquatic, a private company registered in Fujian Province. We explore why some of China Huishan Dairy’s creditors, including the Bank of China, are escalating their opposition to the company’s debt-restructuring plan. We look at why some of China’s biggest cities have called a timeout on the companies responsible for crowding sidewalks with shared bikes. We investigate why leading rail equipment maker CRRC is falling far short of its ambitious goal to use exports to offset slowing growth at home. And we learn about the investigation launched by the Chinese police against Guo Wengui after a former female employee claimed that he repeatedly raped her. In addition, we talk to Caixin senior editor Doug Young about Alibaba and its efforts to build business offline. We also chat with Caixin reporter April Ma about a Chinese startup that used images of WWII-era “comfort women” — sex slaves — to make animated GIFs (the kind that are popular on instant-messaging apps). We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 20th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the week’s news, read by Kaiser and Sinica rotating co-host Ada Shen. This week, we learn about a high-speed railway linking China and Thailand, whose construction is set to begin in October after two years of setbacks and delays. We look at why BYD Auto Co. Ltd., one of China’s leading electric-vehicle (EV) makers, says it plans to launch “mini and small-size” EVs within two years. We investigate why South Korean carmakers in China are running empty. We explore the proposed lifting of restrictions by China’s aviation authority to limit the number of Chinese airlines allowed to operate international routes from China to key destinations in certain countries. We study the news that a privately run website for military buffs is getting a big state salute with an investment by state media People’s Daily. We examine how China’s restaurant-meal-delivery industry is being shaken up by a long-anticipated buyout that leaves just two main contenders in the booming market. We analyze how a patient who complained about “tasteless food” at a public hospital was detained by the police and why China’s netizens are outraged by what they call “police overkill” in suppressing voices online. In addition, we talk to Caixin senior editor Doug Young about China’s high-speed trains and the recent move by Ford Motor Co. to form an electric-car joint venture with China’s Zotye Automobile. We also chat with Caixin reporter Li Rongde 李荣德 about a deeply disturbing story on how young boys are being recruited for paid fights. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 19th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the week’s news, read by Kaiser and Sinica rotating co-host Ada Shen. This week, we explore how China’s cyberspace regulator is now faulting Alibaba’s popular online shopping site for selling goods that have already been banned. We learn about Chinese action film Wolf Warriors 2 (战狼2 zhàn láng), which just broke the China box office record and became the highest-grossing film ever screened in the country. We examine a set of legal interpretations released by China’s top court and prosecutor’s office to eliminate data falsification in drug research. We discuss how Chinese smartphone makers are conquering the Indian market. We look at why Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox are stumbling to get access to the China market. We delve into why leading pig-farming companies in China have seen their profits fall this year. We study the news that a group of farmers in eastern China’s Shandong Province is taking the provincial environmental authority to court in hopes of forcing the government to investigate alleged contamination of crops last year. We analyze the rise of home prices in Beijing by a mere 9.6 percent in July from a year ago. In addition, we talk to Caixin senior editor Doug Young on the tea package dispute between the two leading brands of herbal tea in China, and chat with Caixin reporter Dong Tongjian about the most recent money supply numbers released by the central bank. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 18th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the week’s news, read by Kaiser and Sinica rotating co-host Ada Shen. This week, we discuss how Alibaba teamed up with its hometown Hangzhou to boost the city’s rental market by establishing an online property rental platform. We explore McDonald’s plan to expand its number of restaurants across China to 4,500 within five years. We learn about why one of China’s largest online literature platforms sued its largest provider. We examine the news of China considering forbidding privately owned banks from joining with unlicensed lenders to create larger loan pools. We look at the rise of China’s foreign exchange reserves for the sixth consecutive month. We study Visa’s application to China’s central bank for a license for a domestic bank-card clearing business. We also talk to Caixin senior editor Doug Young on Tencent’s blockbuster mobile game Honour of Kings, and why it was criticized by various state media, and chat with Caixin reporter Liu Xiao about recent moves by LeEco. Finally, we bring you three complete stories: How did collusion networks become an increasingly common form of stock-market manipulation in China? How will Wanda transform itself into a management company in Hong Kong? Will China successfully make more banks swap equity for debt by issuing new, detailed regulations? We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.  

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Welcome to the 17th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the week’s news, read by Kaiser and Sinica rotating co-host Ada Shen. This week, we learn about how China’s new regulations on overseas investment by state-owned enterprises serve as part of the government’s ongoing fight against capital outflows and financial risks. We examine the news of Beijing’s resolve to build a world-class microchip sector with a $100 billion spending spree on new production facilities. We study China’s cooling real estate market and property developer Sunac’s plans to roll over some of its existing debt by issuing $1 billion in new bonds. We discuss how Chinese brands such as Huawei and Oppo consolidated their status as the world’s fastest-rising forces in the global smartphone market. We talk to Caixin senior editor Doug Young on Huawei and rumors of eavesdropping software, and we chat with Caixin reporter Fran Wang about China’s manufacturing data and broader economy. In addition, we bring you five complete stories: Will China’s huge internet stocks continue to grow — or are they ready to blow? Which payment technology will win the market? Scan-to-pay or touch-and-go? What did the ex-head of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority say about the city’s economy? How has internet giant Tencent extended its gaming drive to the U.K.? Why are rural grandmothers suffering from quiet depression in fast-evolving China? We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 16th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the week’s news, read by Kaiser and Sinica rotating co-host Ada Shen. This week, we hear how a recent study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that two in five migrant laborers returning home fail to find work because they lack skills. We examine the recent prison sentence of five tour guides who forced clients halfway through their trips to cough up more money than was originally agreed upon. We discuss how the China Construction Bank has restored the credit limits on some credit cards belonging to employees of LeEco after unilaterally cutting the limits to 1 yuan ($0.15) while it conducted credit-risk assessments on the cardholders. We look at China’s largest peer-to-peer lending platform — Hongling Capital — and how it plans to get out of the online lending business within three years, citing a poor track record of people repaying loans. We learn how Alibaba has found that internal theft is now the top cause of customer data leakage in China — the world’s largest ecommerce market. We talk to Caixin senior editor Doug Young about two big stories surrounding HNA Group’s investments, and to Caixin Global reporter Amy Ma about how one Chinese city is trying to deal with the problem of drones. In addition, we bring you four complete stories: How the tragic deaths of four kindergartners in buses during the recent heat wave in China have triggered a major outcry over the state of schools in rural China. How a new documentary released with the blessings of, if not indeed at the behest of, the state features corrupt officials confessing on camera to having taken bribes. How demand is booming for virtual currencies — and not just for Bitcoin, but for homegrown Chinese digital currencies. Why shares of Kweichow Moutai, China’s best-known baijiu distiller, are soaring on a very bullish outlook. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 15th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the week’s news, read by Kaiser and Sinica rotating co-host Ada Shen. This week, we hear how R&F Properties replaced rival Sunac China Holdings to purchase over 70 Wanda Group hotels. We examine the news of the Chaoyang District Police announcing they will hire 2,400 native Beijingers to conduct door-to-door “safety” checks on the city’s migrant residents. We look at how beleaguered tech company LeEco defaulted on a $75 million bond that was due on July 7. We discuss China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection banning imports of solid waste by the end of this year. We learn about China unveiling a national development plan for artificial intelligence industries, outlining ambitions to become a world leader in AI by 2025. We talk to Caixin senior finance reporter Aries Poon about the significance of the recent National Financial Work Conference, and we chat with Caixin senior editor Doug Young about the vexing phenomenon of flight delays in China. In addition, we bring you five complete stories: How Chinese students studying overseas — over half a million of them — are spending over 56 billion dollars annually. How a newly reached agricultural agreement between China and the U.S. may result in U.S.-grown rice being imported into China. How Red Bull’s business in China — where a local partner is at the end of a 20-year lease agreement and there’s now wrangling over trademark rights — will fare while Red Bull’s big rival in the energy drink industry, Monster, tries to muscle in. How a primary school in Zhejiang has landed itself in trouble for requesting background checks only for migrant parents in a policy seen as discriminatory. The life of Zhang Zhongpei, the long-serving director of Beijing’s Palace Museum, who died at the age of 83. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 14th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the week’s news, read by Kaiser and Sinica rotating co-host Ada Shen. This week, we hear how Apple will build its first data center in China by partnering with the provincial government in southwestern Guizhou Province. We examine how a former phosphate-ore trader has acquired China broadcasting rights for the English Premier League. We look at Chinese actress Fan Bingbing’s lawsuit against the fugitive Chinese businessman Guo Wengui in the U.S. for defamation. We look into the drop in overseas M&A activity by Chinese firms in the first half of the year. We talk to Caixin senior writer Fran Wang about stronger-than-expected Chinese exports and imports in June, and we chat with Caixin senior editor Doug Young about Chinese firm Wanda selling a large chunk of its assets. In addition, we bring you four complete stories: How beloved foreign TV shows suddenly disappeared from the popular video-sharing site Bilibili, prompting complaints from users. How a shortage of general practitioners and a shortage of qualified doctors are stymieing China’s efforts to reform its healthcare system. How spending by Chinese traveling overseas is now shifting from shopping to sightseeing. How LeEco, the cash-strapped company that is unable to pay angry suppliers, can no longer stock its own ecommerce store with its smartphones. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 13th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the week’s news, read by Kaiser and Sinica rotating co-host Ada Shen. This week, we hear how the National Financial Work Conference, the long-awaited quinquennial meeting on financial reform, is slated for mid-July. We examine how the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a step closer to issuing its first bonds after Moody’s became the first international credit ratings firm to assign the lender a ranking. We cover the fact that mergers of Chinese-listed companies picked up in June, signaling that China may allow more publicly traded firms to improve their quality through consolidation. We report on the French jet manufacturer Airbus saying that China’s state-owned aircraft purchaser has agreed to buy 140 of its aircraft. We talk to Caixin senior editor Doug Young about Tencent limiting play time for younger players of the popular online game Honor of Kings. We also chat with Caixin editor Tanner Brown about how gay rights in China are taking small steps forward. In addition, we bring you four complete stories: The village official who’s fed up with the red tape and the less-than-cooperative residents who are impeding his efforts to fight poverty. The umbrella-sharing service that’s facing challenges from people stealing the umbrellas after the start-up launched in Nanchang. How Mobike, another company in China’s booming — or perhaps bubbling — sharing economy has started selling branded raincoats. How BreadTalk, the Singapore-based bakery you find in just about every Chinese mall you’ve ever been to, is now expanding with a new joint venture in China and Thailand specializing in spicy pork-rib broth. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 12th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the week’s news, read by Kaiser and Sinica rotating co-host Ada Shen. This week, we hear how a flight from Shanghai was delayed for almost six hours due to a passenger tossing coins at the engine for good luck — one fell inside, leading to the opposite effect. We report on how China Eastern Airlines started construction on a 13 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) aviation facility at the new mega airport going up in southern Beijing. We cover the world’s first clearinghouse dedicated to third-party online payments, which went live in China last week. We examine the Rio Tinto shareholders’ approval of a $2.69 billion sale of the company’s coal unit to Chinese coal producer Yancoal Australia. We discuss ChemChina’s announcement of the completion of its $49 billion takeover of Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta. We talk to Caixin senior editor Doug Young about the dismantling of the futuristic “car-straddling bus” in Qinhuangdao. We also chat with Jingxuan Teng about the attempts to unify new long rail lines running between China and Europe. In addition, we bring you four complete stories: The tie-up between Amazon.com and China Mobile to release the first co-branded Kindle e-reader. The new trend of robot-operated convenience stores, starting in Guangzhou and set to quickly expand throughout the country. How Chinese social media commentators are divided over an attack on a customer by a deliveryman. How an environmental activist who was convicted of blackmailing a Chinese oil giant has had his sentence commuted. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 11th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the week’s news, read by Kaiser and Sinica rotating co-host Ada Shen. This week, we hear how Ford — and possibly Tesla — plan on building production factories in China. We cover the news that China’s banking regulator has asked lenders to assess their risk exposures to companies active in overseas acquisitions. We examine how financial regulators have barred online microlending services from targeting students, after several high-profile cases exposed young borrowers falling prey to loan sharks charging high interest rates. We talk to Caixin reporter Liu Xiao about government efforts to take some of the air out of the property bubbles and what that means for loan accessibility for developers. We also chat with Caixin Global finance reporter, Leng Cheng, about China’s A-Shares entering the MSCI stock market Indices. In addition, we bring you three complete stories: How Wang Shi, one of the popular and widely-admired “philosopher capitalists” of China’s reform era, is stepping down from his position as chairman of Vanke. How Tencent and Wanda are teaming up to bring China’s wildly popular online literature to the big screen. The banning of three major platforms, including Sina Weibo, from video and audio streaming as part of a major crackdown on content by Chinese authorities. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the 10th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the news, read by Kaiser and Sinica rotating co-host Ada Shen. This week, we hear how the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank approved its first equity investment, for infrastructure development in India. We examine the news that China has approved imports of new varieties of genetically modified corn and soybeans, and that global toy-maker Mattel will embark on a new joint venture to create play clubs in China with private equity giant Fosun Group. We give an update on the kindergarten bombing in eastern Jiangsu Province. We also talk to Caixin Global editor Doug Young about a massive overhaul planned for Shanghai's landmark department store, and chat with Caixin reporter Li Rongde 李荣德 about the brain drain of China's rust belt in the northeast. In addition, we bring you five complete stories: How a poorly done Chinese remake of a popular Japanese television drama has drawn fire from audiences in China. How social fitness apps and a growing middle class has sparked interest in running in China, prompting many cities to hold marathons. The ongoing crackdown against celebrity gossip on the wildly popular app Weixin, otherwise known as WeChat. China’s crayfish craze and how farming the “little lobsters,” as they’re called in Chinese, has become a massive and growing industry. How Chinese netizens are angry that the ubiquitous Xinhua Dictionary is now charging for word lookups on its smartphone app. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the ninth installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the news, read by Kaiser and Sinica rotating co-host Ada Shen. This week, we hear how Alibaba has overtaken its rival Tencent to become the most valuable company in China by market cap. We look into how Chinese banking regulators are clamping down on the use of Chinese bank cards overseas in an effort to curb illegal activity. We tell you how the SEC has pushed back its timeline for approving the purchase of the Chicago Stock Exchange by a Chinese buyer. We find out how China's new planned city, Xiongan, is being designed with Chinese principles of yin and yang in mind. We talk to Caixin Global editor Doug Young about a Tsinghua-built AI robot that took the math portion of China's infamous gaokao college entrance exam, and chat with Caixin’s Fran Wang about some of the new trade numbers for May. We also bring you four complete stories: How China’s Belt and Road initiative may help to boost the yuan as a settlement currency in Asia. How Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is now expressing support — albeit conditional support — for Belt and Road. What Shenzhen has planned for people who don’t sort their garbage. How China’s internet regulators are clamping down on the social media accounts of online paparazzi. We’d love to hear your feedback on this new product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the eighth installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the news, read by Kaiser and Sinica rotating co-host Ada Shen. This week, we look at the corruption case of Wang Bao'an 王保安, the former head of the statistics bureau who received a life sentence for 153 million yuan ($22.5 million) in ill-gotten gains. We chat with Doug Young about the quick delisting and relisting to the New York Stock Exchange of Mindray, China's largest medical equipment manufacturer, and with Poornima Weerasekara about the full-size Titanic replica in landlocked Sichuan Province. We also bring you four complete stories: How gambling debts have led to the suspension of the top coach of the Chinese women’s table tennis team, Kong Linghui 孔令辉. How Chinese-built railroads are putting growth in East Africa on the fast track. How a growing number of Chinese couples, desperate for children, are turning to surrogacy despite its being illegal. An in-depth look at Wang Bao'an, including details of how Chinese media interpreted his case as a signal that more than 100 million yuan in bribes may set a new standard for the "extremely corrupt." We’d love to hear your feedback on this new product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

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Welcome to the seventh installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the news, read by Kaiser and Sinica rotating co-host Ada Shen. This week, we look at the crackdown on "fake equity, real debt" by China's financial regulators, at the downgrade by Moody's of China's sovereign credit rating, and at the upcoming IPO of Shenzhen biotech giant BGI. We chat with Poornima Weerasekara about the reasons for the box office success of a Bollywood film about a family of wrestlers, and with Doug Young about Chinese companies' acquisitions of a Australian condom maker and the popular gay dating app Grindr. We also bring you five complete stories: The latest chapter in the Rise of the Machines sees a Chinese weiqi (Go) champ defeated by a Google AI system. The connections between dirt-dishing billionaire-on-the-lam Guo Wengui and former British prime minister Tony Blair, who helped connect Guo with funds from the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Beijing's "stores without doors" struggle to cope after the city government walls over many illegal storefronts around the capital. The Chinese government reacts to a scientific fraud scandal after a German academic journal retracts over 100 cancer-related papers for plagiarism and fake peer reviews. Poor pay, along with physical and verbal abuse, provokes a critical shortage of nurses in China’s hospitals. We’d love to hear your feedback on this new product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Welcome to the sixth installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the news, read by Kaiser and Sinica rotating co-host Ada Shen. This week, we look at some of the big numbers from the Belt and Road Forum, which concluded after two days of clear skies in Beijing. We hear about "combustible ice," a source of methane gas that can be found in permafrost and under seabeds. We look at Alibaba's earning results, which owe at least some of their shine to the tremendous penetration that mobile payment platform Alipay is making. We then speak with Caixin Global editor Doug Young about the state of mobile payments in China, and with Caixin macroeconomics reporter Fran Wang about some of the macro numbers for April. We also bring you five complete stories: China Unicom admits to huge falsification of revenues in Shaanxi Province. Chinese smartphone brands are faring very well in the fast-growing Indian smartphone market. Ant Financial plans to seek a massive loan for a planned acquisition of MoneyGram. A massive algae bloom in Yunnan’s Erhai Lake is hurting tourism and agriculture in the region. Poor practices of supposed conservation workers threaten a 600-year-old early Ming heritage site in Anhui Province.   We’d love to hear your feedback on this new product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Welcome to the fifth installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the news. This week, we look at the Belt and Road summit being held in Beijing on May 13-14, and at the new trade deal between the U.S. and China — part of the "100-day plan" proposed by Xi Jinping at the Mar-a-Lago summit last month — that will put American beef back on the menu in China. We speak with Caixin editor Doug Young about the potential downside of Chinese largesse toward Djibouti, and talk to reporter Li Rongde 李荣德 about his piece on a hack of hospital prescription data tied to Chinese pharmaceutical companies. We also bring you four complete stories: A long-running dispute between a small grain storage company in Henan Province and a huge state-run giant, which has resulted in the tragic loss of 160,000 tons of wheat How China’s mega payment platform Alipay has pushed into the U.S. market The death of Chinese diplomat Qian Qichen 钱其琛, who normalized relations with Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and played an important role in the return of Hong Kong and Macao to China The massive backups plaguing Shanghai, one of the world's busiest container ports, and an exploration of the reasons why We’d love to hear your feedback on this new product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Welcome to the fourth installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the news. This week, we look at China’s slumping PMI numbers, Apple’s sagging sales in China, and the biggest dust storm in Beijing in recent years. We also feature four stories from Caixin: An IPO by popular hotpot chain Haidilao’s sister company Migrant workers staying closer to home as wage disparities narrow A hutong historian’s efforts to preserve the lore of Beijing’s beloved back alleys China’s efforts to bring 22 fugitives now hiding abroad back to China to face trial We’d love to hear your feedback on this new product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Welcome to the third weekly installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the week’s news. On this week's Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, Chinese ride-hailing champ Didi Chuxing raises a huge round, insurer Anbang bleeds cash, another financial watchdog falls to the anti-corruption campaign, and Netflix finally enters China. Plus, Coco Feng comments on drone woes for airport operators and Doug Young discusses a big merger in the co-working space sector. There are also full stories on the runaway billionaire Guo Wengui 郭文贵 getting sued by a hedge fund, a trade case brought by a bankrupt American solar panel maker that may raise tariffs on Chinese solar panels, and worries over post-earthquake construction in Yunnan Province. We’d love to hear your feedback on this new product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Welcome to the second weekly installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the week’s news. This week, we cover the China-made passenger jet that is set to take off, the lawsuit of a fish farmer from a “cancer village” over his dead daughter, anti-corruption moves, popular TV shows, and more. We’d love to hear your feedback on this new product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Today, SupChina introduces the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the week’s news. We’d love to hear your feedback on this new product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@supchina.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.