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☆ There Is No TikTok in China, but There Is Douyin. Here’s What It Is.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Claire Fu | Daisuke Wakabayashi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In China, there is no TikTok. After President Biden signed a bill on Wednesday forcing Chinese company ByteDance to sell its ownership of TikTok, the United States moved one step closer to an internet without the short video app. It is a staple of the Chinese internet the way TikTok is in the rest of the world. But because it has no presence outside China, Douyin, which means a “shaking sound” in Chinese, is not as well known globally. Will ByteDance succumb to political demands from Washington, or will it refuse to sell TikTok and face the consequences?

Persons: Biden, Douyin, Will ByteDance Organizations: ByteDance Locations: China, United States, U.S, Washington

☆ The Chinese Site That Rewired Online Shopping
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Daisuke Wakabayashi | Claire Fu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Pinduoduo, the Chinese discount shopping app, debuted nearly a decade ago, the tech giants Alibaba and JD.com dominated China’s e-commerce business. It was a combination of a game arcade, a shopping mall and a social network. Like TikTok, Temu is the foreign version of a highly successful Chinese company. As its popularity has grown in the United States, its business practices have also come under scrutiny. It has encountered criticism for its labor practices and failure to enforce intellectual property laws.

Persons: Pinduoduo, haven’t Locations: Temu, China, United States, U.S

The Chinese company NetEase said on Wednesday that it had struck a deal to distribute titles from Microsoft’s Blizzard Entertainment, restoring access to popular video games like World of Warcraft for Chinese gamers. More than a year ago, NetEase and Blizzard called an end to their long-running partnership when renewal talks turned testy, with both sides accusing each other of bad-faith negotiations. An uproar ensued among Chinese gamers, upset about losing access to a slew of popular titles from Blizzard’s parent company, the U.S. game developer Activision Blizzard. NetEase said on Wednesday that it had reached the new deal with Microsoft, which acquired Activision Blizzard in a $69 billion deal in October. The two companies said they had also agreed to distribute NetEase titles on Microsoft’s Xbox game device.

Persons: NetEase, we’ve, ” William Ding Organizations: Microsoft’s Blizzard Entertainment, Activision Blizzard, Microsoft Locations: U.S

☆ Furry Slippers and Sweatpants: Young Chinese Embrace ‘Gross Outfits’ at Work
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( Claire Fu | Daisuke Wakabayashi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When the weather turned cold in December, Cindy Luo started to wear her fluffy pajamas over a hooded sweatshirt at the office. Wearing cozy sleepwear to work became a habit and soon she didn’t even bother to wear matching tops and bottoms, selecting whatever was most comfortable. A few months later, she posted photos of herself to a “gross outfits at work” thread that had spread on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese app similar to Instagram. “I just want to wear whatever I want,” said Ms. Luo, 30, an interior designer in Wuhan, a city in Hubei Province. “I just don’t think it’s worth spending money to dress up for work, since I’m just sitting there.”

Persons: Cindy Luo, didn’t, ”, Luo, I’m Locations: China, onesies, “, Wuhan, Hubei Province

China passed revisions to an already stringent state secrets law, broadening the scope of the type of information that would be considered a national security risk in the world’s second-largest economy. Over the last year, China has targeted consultants and business executives in espionage cases as part of a push to limit the spread of information sought by investors and foreign companies. The amendments to the state secrets law, which were passed by China’s top legislative body on Tuesday and go into effect in May, include a new legal concept called “work secrets.” It is defined as information that is not an official state secret, but “will cause certain adverse effects if leaked,” according to the law’s text. “The law is vague and the definition of state secret so broad that it could include anything that the party-state decides it should,” said Diana Choyleva, chief economist at Enodo Economics, a London-based research firm focused on China. “It will also further complicate life for foreign firms and their employees based in China.”

Persons: ”, Diana Choyleva Organizations: Enodo Locations: China, London

☆ ‘Shawshank’ in China, as You’ve Never Seen It Before
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Vivian Wang | Claire Fu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

When a stage production of “The Shawshank Redemption” opened recently in China, it was cast entirely with Western actors speaking fluent Mandarin Chinese. But that may have been the least surprising part of the show. Chinese audiences’ interest in Hollywood films is fading, with moviegoers turning to homegrown productions. China’s authoritarian government has stoked nationalism and cast Western influence as a political pollutant. Censorship of the arts has tightened.

Persons: ”, Stephen King, — Locations: China

☆ Missing Chinese Banker Resigns After Investigation
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Claire Fu | More About Claire Fu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After disappearing nearly a year ago as part of an investigation by Chinese authorities, prominent investment banker Bao Fan has resigned as chairman and chief executive of China Renaissance Holdings, the company said on Friday. Mr. Bao, a deal-making banker for Chinese internet giants Alibaba and Tencent, went missing last February. China Renaissance initially said it had lost contact with Mr. Bao before later stating that he was cooperating with an investigation being carried out by the authorities in China. It fueled concerns about the lengths that Chinese authorities would go to bring power players in the domestic economy to heel, while extending its control over its financial regulatory system. In a filing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, China Renaissance said Mr. Bao was stepping down because of “health reasons and to spend more time on his family affairs.” The company did not explain the nature of the investigation Mr. Bao was under.

Persons: Bao Fan, Bao Organizations: China Renaissance Holdings, China Renaissance, Hong Kong Stock Exchange Locations: Tencent, China

☆ China’s Real Estate Crisis ‘Has Not Touched Bottom’
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Daisuke Wakabayashi | Claire Fu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The unwavering belief of Chinese home buyers that real estate was a can’t-lose investment propelled the country’s property sector to become the backbone of its economy. But over the last two years, as firms crumbled under the weight of massive debts and sales of new homes plunged, Chinese consumers have demonstrated an equally unshakable belief: Real estate has become a losing investment. The troubles of the country’s real estate sector were laid bare on Monday when a Hong Kong court ordered China Evergrande to wind up operations and liquidate the company, which is saddled with over $300 billion in debt. Like the industry it once ruled, Evergrande limped along for two years after defaulting on payments it owed investors. Evergrande, lacking the cash to pay creditors, tried to exude confidence that its apartments remained a sound investment.

Persons: Evergrande Locations: Hong Kong, China

Before the sequel to “Aquaman” was released in China last month, Warner Bros. did everything it could to sustain the original movie’s success. The Hollywood studio blanketed Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, with movie clips, behind-the-scenes footage and a video of an Aquaman ice sculpture at a winter festival in Harbin, a city in China’s northeast. It sent the franchise’s star, Jason Momoa, and director, James Wan, on a publicity tour in China — the type of barnstorming that had disappeared since the Covid pandemic. Mr. Momoa said China’s fondness for the first “Aquaman” was why the sequel was debuting in China two days before the U.S. release. “I’m very proud that China loved it, so that’s why we brought it to you, and you guys are going to see it before the whole world,” he said in an interview with CCTV 6, China’s state-run film channel.

Persons: ”, Douyin, Jason Momoa, James Wan, Momoa, “ Organizations: Warner Bros Locations: China, Harbin, China’s, U.S

In Shenzhen, a metropolis born of China’s economic prosperity, Paibang Village is a reminder of the city’s modest past and the challenges ahead for reviving the country’s property sector. Paibang is what China calls an urban village, a labyrinth of low-slung apartment buildings and mom-and-pop storefronts connected by a maze of alleyways and narrow roads. There are hundreds of them in Shenzhen, a municipality of 18 million people next to Hong Kong, and thousands of such villages across China. Now with China mired in an unyielding property crisis, policymakers want to revamp aging urban neighborhoods like Paibang to kick-start construction and spur local economies. Seven years ago, Paibang was chosen for an “urban renewal” by city officials, and in 2019 China Evergrande, one of the country’s biggest real estate firms, took control of the project.

Persons: Paibang, Evergrande Locations: Shenzhen, China, Hong Kong

As developing countries weigh the consequences of borrowing heavily from China for major infrastructure projects, anti-corruption officials in Nepal have begun an investigation into a flagship airport financed and built by Chinese state-owned companies. Nepal’s $216 million international airport in Pokhara, the country’s second-biggest city, opened in January. China agreed to provide loans to build the airport more than a decade ago. Nepal tapped China CAMC Engineering, the construction arm of a state-owned conglomerate, Sinomach, as the contractor. Nepali officials have asked Beijing to change the loans into a grant to ease the financial burden, but China has not agreed to do so.

Persons: CAMC Organizations: China CAMC Engineering, New York Times, Civil Aviation Authority Locations: China, Nepal, Pokhara, Beijing

He went on to accuse Israel of being a terror organization because its airstrikes on Gaza had caused civilian casualties. A Chinese state broadcaster recently hosted a discussion page on Weibo stating that Jews controlled a disproportionate amount of U.S. wealth. Among the comments on recent posts from the official social media account of Israel’s embassy in China were similar comparisons of Israelis to Nazis. It is hard to say whether the anti-Israeli positions in state media and antisemitism on the Chinese internet are part of a coordinated campaign. “If China felt that it was dangerous and problematic to allow antisemitic comments to flourish, the censors would stop it.

Persons: Hu Xijin, I’m, ”, Israel, Shen Yi, Carice Witte Organizations: Global Times, Communist Party, Weibo, Fudan University, country’s Communist Party Locations: Lebanon, Israel, Gaza, China, Beijing, Israeli

An accountant in northeast China deposited her life savings and received a letter guaranteeing her investment in a trust firm. Workers at a state-owned utility pooled money from friends and relatives believing that their investments were backed by the government. A man sank $140,000 into an account that he was told would make a 10.1 percent annual return. They have offered no timetable for when people will be paid, fueling concerns that one of China’s largest so-called shadow banks may be near collapse. Zhongzhi has not made any public statements about its finances, and it did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Persons: Zhongzhi, Zhongrong Organizations: Workers, Zhongzhi Enterprise Group Locations: China

Country Garden, China’s biggest property developer, told creditors that it had made a late interest payment, averting an immediate default on its debts and keeping the company financially viable for the time being. Last month, the company missed two interest payments totaling $22.5 million on bonds that had been sold in U.S. dollars. It had a 30-day grace period to make the payment or risk default. Country Garden told the bondholders that it had made the payment within the grace period, a person close to the company said on Tuesday. The delayed payments underscored the financial pressure facing Country Garden, which has been China’s top-selling homebuilder for the last six years.

Organizations: Garden

When Country Garden, the biggest developer in China’s increasingly troubled real estate sector, published its annual report in April, the cover design exuded hope: a phoenix spreading its wings. The company said the image showed that China’s economy was “back on track” and that this year would see “growth soaring to new heights.”That was wishful thinking. Shortly after the report’s release, China’s nascent economic recovery lost steam and an already sluggish real estate market started to collapse. For the past three years, as dozens of major property developers defaulted after years of excessive borrowing, Country Garden was an outlier. But last month, it missed two interest payments — signaling that it, too, was at risk of financial collapse, with $187 billion in debt.

Earlier this year, David Yang was brimming with confidence about the prospects for his perfume factory in eastern China. “It is disheartening,” Mr. Yang said. “The economy is really going downhill right now.”For much of the past four decades, China’s economy seemed like an unstoppable force, the engine behind the country’s rise to a global superpower. A real estate crisis borne from years of overbuilding and excessive borrowing is running alongside a larger debt crisis, while young people are struggling with record joblessness. And amid the drip feed of bad economic news, a new crisis is emerging: a crisis of confidence.

Persons: David Yang, Covid, Yang, Mr Locations: China

☆ China Suspends Report on Youth Unemployment, Which Was at a Record High
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Claire Fu | More About Claire Fu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Chinese government, facing an expected seventh consecutive monthly increase in youth unemployment, said Tuesday that it had instead suspended release of the information. The unemployment rate among 16- to 24-year-olds in urban areas hit 21.3 percent, a record, in June and has risen every month this year. It was widely forecast by economists to have climbed further last month. Fu Linghui, a spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics, said at a news briefing that the government would stop making public employment information “for youth and other age groups.” He said the surveys that government researchers use to collect the data “need to be further improved and optimized.”China’s youth unemployment rate has doubled in the last four years, a period of economic volatility induced by the “zero Covid” measures imposed by Beijing that left companies wary of hiring, interrupted education for many students, and made it hard to get the internships that had often led to job offers.

Persons: Fu Linghui, ” Organizations: National Bureau of Statistics Locations: Beijing

Government policymakers struggling to address the problem are now leaning on colleges to do more to find jobs for graduates. The job performance of school administrators was already tied to the percentage of their students who find employment after graduation. In some cases, the scrutiny is so intense that students resort to fabricating job offers to placate school officials. Over the last three decades, as China’s economy grew by leaps and bounds, more people attended college, seeing it as a pathway to promising careers. This year’s estimated graduating class of 11.6 million students is expected to be the largest ever, and future classes are expected to be even bigger.

Organizations: National Bureau of Statistics, China Macroeconomy, Renmin University of China Locations: China

During her first day of meetings in Beijing, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen criticized punitive measures the Chinese government has taken against American firms. I’ve made clear that the United States does not seek a wholesale separation of our economies. Ms. Yellen conveyed her objections to China’s top officials, including Premier Li Qiang, in what was the first visit to China by a Treasury secretary in four years. A Treasury Department official said Ms. Yellen had discussed the outlook for the economy in an informal discussion with her former counterparts that lasted more than an hour. “The United States will, in certain circumstances, need to pursue targeted actions to protect its national security,” Ms. Yellen said.

Persons: Janet L, Yellen, I’ve, Biden, Yellen’s, Li Qiang, Ms, “ I’ve, Mark Schiefelbein, Wang Yong, Wang, ”, Shi Yinhong, “, China’s, Michael Hart, “ We’ve, Mr, Hart, Liu He, Yi Gang, Li, Li’s, ” Claire Fu, Christopher Buckley Organizations: U.S, American Chamber of Commerce, Boeing, Bank of America, Cargill, Group, Bain & Company, Beijing, Biden, of, People, ., Center for American Studies, Peking University, “, Renmin University, U.S . State Department, Chamber of Commerce, Treasury, People’s Bank of China, Treasury Department Locations: Beijing, United States, China, American, Shanghai, U.S, States

☆ China Fines Ant Group $985 Million, in Sign Crackdown Is Over
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Claire Fu | More About Claire Fu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Chinese authorities announced a fine of nearly $1 billion for financial technology firm Ant Group on Friday, nearly three years after regulators halted the company’s plan for a record-breaking public offering that ushered in a period of intense government scrutiny of technology firms. The fine announced by China’s top securities regulator is seen as a sign that the authorities are wrapping up investigations into technology firms, bringing to a close a period of tough regulation for the industry. Officials said earlier this year that they would start to relax oversight of tech firms. The 2020 crackdown on Ant was followed by a record $2.8 billion antitrust fine for e-commerce giant Alibaba, Ant’s sister company, and a $1.2 billion penalty for ride sharing service Didi. Regulators fined Ant and its subsidiaries 7.1 billion renminbi ($985 million), and ordered the company to shut down its crowdfunding platform for medical costs, Xianghubao.

Persons: Ant’s, Didi, Ant, “ Organizations: Ant Group, China’s, Xianghubao, Regulators

☆ Congress Spotlights ‘Serious’ Forced Labor Concerns With Chinese Shopping Sites
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Ana Swanson | Claire Fu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The number of de minimis packages entering the United States has exploded in recent years, to 720 million in 2021, from 220 million in 2016. Based on data submitted by the companies, the report said that Temu and Shein alone are likely responsible for almost 600,000 packages shipped to the United States daily under the de minimis rule. Among teenagers, Shein was the third most popular e-commerce site behind Amazon and Nike, according to a Piper Sandler report issued this spring. As their popularity has grown, so has congressional scrutiny of the firms given their ties to China. Temu, which is based in Boston, is a subsidiary of PDD Holdings, which moved its headquarters to Ireland from China this year.

Persons: Earl Blumenauer, ”, Shein, Piper Sandler Organizations: United States, Customs, Nike, PDD Holdings Locations: United States, United, China, Oregon, Singapore, Boston, Ireland

When China suddenly dismantled its lockdowns and other Covid precautions last December, officials in Beijing and many investors expected the economy to spring back to life. Investment in China has stagnated this spring after a flurry of activity in late winter. Fewer and fewer new housing projects are being started. Extra stimulus spending now with borrowed money would spur a burst of activity but pose a difficult choice for policymakers already worried about the accumulated debt. “Authorities risk being behind the curve in stimulating the economy, but there’s no quick fix,” said Louise Loo, an economist specializing in China in the Singapore office of Oxford Economics.

Persons: ”, Louise Loo Organizations: Investment, Oxford Economics Locations: China, Beijing, Singapore

☆ 1 in 5 Young Chinese Is Jobless, and Millions More Are About to Graduate
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Claire Fu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Shu Xiang, 21, started looking for a job in February and still has had no luck. A financial management major at a college in Chengdu, China, Ms. Shu said she has received five responses to about 100 applications. Ms. Shu is one of nearly 12 million Chinese expected to enter the job pool next month at a difficult time. That is the highest level since China started announcing the statistic in 2018. But the youth jobless rate has remained high, even as the overall rate has ticked down two months in a row.

☆ China Is Cracking Down on Bankers. Here Are Some of the Targets.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Claire Fu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For years, Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has railed against greed and corruption in the country’s financial sector, making an example of a few prominent figures along the way. But recently, the anti-graft campaign has kicked into overdrive, sweeping up a who’s who from the country’s financial and insurance sector as Mr. Xi and the Chinese Communist Party seek to consolidate control over a critical facet of the economy. China’s anti-corruption officials warned bankers in February that it would “investigate and deal with the people who neglect the party’s leadership.” They directed the finance executives to embrace the party’s values and avoid emulating what they see as the West’s singular focus on money. In addition to the discipline campaign, China has carried out sweeping reforms of its financial regulatory system, while deeply embedding party officials into state-owned financial institutions.

☆ Death Toll in Beijing Hospital Fire Soars to 29
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Claire Fu | Daisuke Wakabayashi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Local officials apologized for the fire and said they would learn from the tragedy. “We feel deeply responsible and guilty,” said Li Zongrong, deputy head of Beijing’s Fengtai district, the area where the hospital is. They were being investigated for possible violations of safety management regulations that resulted in a major incident with serious casualties, the official said. Officials said the fire broke out in the hospital’s east building, which mainly treats critically ill patients. The average age of the hospital patients who died in the fire was 71.

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