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☆ Spicy Noodles and Pickled Fish: Chinese Eateries Move Into Hong Kong
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | Zixu Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The ravenous came for a taste of home in a dish of spicy fried beef or steamed fish head. It was opening night in Hong Kong at Return Home Hunan, a well-known chain from mainland China trying to wedge into the city’s competitive food scene. Huang Haiying, the restaurant’s founder, greeted customers in a bright red suit while waiters handed out red envelopes stuffed with coupons. Hong Kong is a difficult place to open a restaurant these days. But restaurant owners from mainland China, facing their own challenges at home, see an opening.

Persons: chiles, Huang Haiying, Ms, Huang, “ We’ll, ” Organizations: Return Home Locations: Hong Kong, Return Home Hunan, China

☆ Guilty Verdict for Chinese Activists Who Gave #MeToo Victims a Voice
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-14 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | Zixu Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A court in southern China on Friday found a prominent feminist journalist guilty of endangering national security and sentenced her to five years in prison, Beijing’s latest blow to civil society. A labor activist convicted of the same charge got a sentence of three years and six months. The activities that prompted the arrest and conviction of the two, Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing, involved organizing discussions, providing support to other activists and receiving overseas training. The legal action against Ms. Huang and Mr. Wang, which experts said was harsh even by China’s standards, signals the shrinking space for independent discussion of social issues. “We are seeing an almost zero-tolerance approach to even the mildest forms of civil society activism in China,” said Thomas Kellogg, the executive director of the Georgetown Center for Asian Law.

Persons: Huang Xueqin, Wang Jianbing, Huang, Wang, ”, Thomas Kellogg Organizations: Guangzhou, People’s, Borders, Protect Journalists, Georgetown Center, Asian Law Locations: China

☆ Israeli Troops Keep Up Assault on Rafah After Condemnation of Deadly Strike
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( Lauren Leatherby | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

The strike was conducted using two munitions with small warheads suited for this targeted strike. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s spokesman, insisted that their munitions alone, used in a strike in Rafah, could not have ignited the deadly fire that killed dozens of people at a camp. Those statements, however, did little to quell a chorus of voices demanding accountability and a halt to the fighting, which came amid reports of another deadly strike in nearby Al-Mawasi on Tuesday. Credit... Hatem Khaled/Reuters Still, he gave no indication that the Israeli military’s operation in Rafah would be interrupted. Israeli officials have argued that the ruling allowed it to continue fighting in Rafah because the military would not inflict such conditions.

Persons: Daniel Hagari, —, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Mawasi, David Cameron, Admiral Hagari, Hatem Khaled, China “, ”, “, Mao Ning, ” —, Alexandra Stevenson Organizations: Credit, Israel Defense Forces Israel’s, ., Reuters, International Court, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Locations: Blaze, Rafah, Al, Israeli, Gaza, Rafah’s, China, Israel, “

☆ Business-First Hong Kong Now Comes With a Catch: Beijing Politics
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Doing business in Hong Kong increasingly comes with a new risk: the political cost of upsetting Beijing. A former Wall Street banker was muzzled for writing a “Hong Kong is dead” column. In all areas of life, Hong Kong is hewing closer to mainland China, blurring distinctions that once cemented the city’s status as mostly free from the politics of Beijing. Legal rulings echo the courts in mainland China. The city’s transformation is being driven by a national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 and additional legislation passed by Hong Kong lawmakers in March.

Organizations: Wall Street, Google, Communist Party Locations: Hong Kong, Beijing, Chicago, China, Britain

☆ China Has a Plan for Its Housing Crisis. Here’s Why It’s Not Enough.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

China has a housing problem. It has nearly four million apartments that no one wants to buy, a combined expanse of unwanted living space roughly the area of Philadelphia. The plan, announced last week, is the boldest move yet by Beijing to stop the tailspin of a housing crisis that threatens one of the world’s biggest economies. China has a bigger problem lurking behind all those empty apartments: even more homes that developers already sold but have not finished building. By one conservative estimate, that figure is around 10 million apartments.

Persons: Xi Jinping Locations: China, Philadelphia, Beijing

☆ China Says It Will Start Buying Apartments as Housing Slump Worsens
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Chinese officials signaled their growing alarm over the country’s worsening real estate market on Friday, unveiling a plan to step in to buy up some of the vast housing stock and announcing even looser rules for mortgages. The flurry of activity came just hours after new economic data revealed that Chinese authorities are staring at a hard truth: No one wants to buy houses right now. Policymakers have tried dozens of measures to entice home buyers and reverse a steep decline in the housing market that has shown few signs of recovering soon. On Friday China’s vice premier, He Lifeng, indicated a shift in the government’s approach to dealing with a housing crisis that has prompted households to cut spending. He told policymakers that local governments could begin to buy homes to start dealing with the huge numbers of empty apartments.

Persons: Lifeng

☆ In China, Ruled by Men, Women Quietly Find a Powerful Voice
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In bars tucked away in alleys and at salons and bookstores around Shanghai, women are debating their place in a country where men make the laws. Others gathered to watch films made by women about women. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has diminished the role of women at work and in public office. There are no female members of Mr. Xi’s inner circle or the Politburo, the executive policymaking body. He has invoked more traditional roles for women, as caretakers and mothers, in planning a new “childbearing culture” to address a shrinking population.

Persons: China’s, Xi Jinping Organizations: Communist Party Locations: Shanghai

☆ Slide Over, Auntie: Young Chinese Find Tasty Meals in Senior Canteens
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ms. Xu ignored her. “If you come at 12 o’clock, the aunties will give you less food,” Ms. Xu said, speaking softly. Ms. Xu is familiar with the rhythms of the Tongxinhui Community Canteen because she eats there every day to save money. “Only when you save money will you feel safe,” she said. A devastating crash in the value of real estate, where most household wealth is tied up, has heightened a feeling among young working professionals like Ms. Xu that their situation is precarious, too.

Persons: Maggie Xu, Xu, Ms Locations: Shanghai, Tongxinhui, China

☆ Germany’s Leader Walks a Fine Line in China
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | Melissa Eddy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany tried to strike a delicate balance on a trip to China this week, promoting business ties with his country’s biggest trading partner while criticizing its surge of exports to Europe and its support for Russia. Mr. Scholz met with China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Tuesday, the culmination of a three-day visit with a delegation of German officials and business leaders. Throughout his trip, Mr. Scholz promoted the interests of German companies that are finding it increasingly hard to compete in China. And he conveyed growing concern in the European Union that the region’s market is becoming a dumping ground for Chinese goods produced at a loss. It was Mr. Scholz’s first visit to China since his government adopted a strategy last year that defined the Asian power as a “partner, competitor and systemic rival,” calling on Germany to reduce its dependency on Chinese goods.

Persons: Olaf Scholz, Germany, Scholz, Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Scholz’s Organizations: European Union Locations: China, Europe, Russia, Diaoyutai, Beijing, Ukraine, United States, European, Germany

☆ China’s Economy, Propelled by Its Factories, Grew at Start of Year
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Keith Bradsher | Alexandra Stevenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Chinese economy grew strongly in the first three months of the year, new data shows, as China built more factories and exported huge amounts of goods to counter a severe real estate crisis and sluggish spending at home. To stimulate growth, China, the world’s second-largest economy, turned to a familiar tactic: investing heavily in its manufacturing sector, including a binge of new factories that have helped to propel the sale around the world of solar panels, electric cars and other products. But China’s bet on exports has worried many foreign countries and companies, which fear that rising shipments of Chinese goods that are flooding economies elsewhere may undermine their own manufacturing industries and lead to layoffs. On Tuesday, China’s National Bureau of Statistics said the economy grew 1.6 percent in the first quarter over the previous three months. When projected out for the entire year, the first-quarter data indicates that China’s economy was growing at an annual rate of about 6.6 percent.

Organizations: China’s National Bureau of Statistics Locations: China

☆ China’s Young People Are Giving Up on Saving for Retirement
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | Siyi Zhao | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

China wants young people to put money away for retirement. Tao Swift, an unemployed 30-year-old, is not interested in hearing it. On social media forums and among friends, young people are questioning whether to save for old age. Over less than three decades, the country has changed from a young society to an aging one. Seven straight years of plummeting births are pushing up the day when there will be fewer people working than retirees.

Persons: Tao Swift, “, ”, Mr, Tao Locations: China, Chengdu

The temblor set off at least nine landslides, collapsing hillsides onto the Suhua Highway in Hualien, according to local media reports. The quake was centered in the waters off Hualien, according to the United States Geological Survey. The epicenter was about 10 miles under the earth’s surface, according to Taiwan. Here is the latest: In Japan, tsunami waves as high as 30 centimeters hit the shore on Yonaguni Island at 9:14 a.m. local time. People in China took to social media saying they felt the tremors as far as away as Hangzhou, Xiamen, and Shanghai.

Persons: Tobin, Motoko Rich Organizations: Rail, United States Geological Survey, Weather Administration, U.S . Pacific, Warning Locations: Taiwan, Japan, Hualien, Taiwan’s, Taipei, People, China, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Shanghai

For years, Apple dominated the market for high-end smartphones in China. But evidence is mounting that, for many in China, the iPhone no longer holds the appeal it used to. Meanwhile, sales for one of Apple’s longstanding Chinese rivals, Huawei, surged 64 percent. Analysts say its latest product, a $3,500 virtual reality headset released in February, is still years away from gaining mainstream appeal. For a decade, China has been the iPhone’s most important market after the United States and accounted for roughly 20 percent of Apple’s sales.

Organizations: Apple, Research, Huawei, Analysts Locations: China, U.S, United States, Beijing

The group got a dramatic second wind soon after the Taliban toppled the Afghan government that year. The attack raised ISIS-K’s international profile, positioning it as a major threat to the Taliban’s ability to govern. Counterterrorism officials in Europe say that in recent months they have snuffed out several nascent ISIS-K plots to attack targets there. And now the group has claimed responsibility for the attack in Moscow. “ISIS-K accuses the Kremlin of having Muslim blood in its hands, referencing Moscow’s interventions in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria.”

Persons: Biden, Michael E, “, Qassim Suleimani, Vladimir V, Putin, Colin P, Clarke, ” Organizations: Taliban, U.S, Islamic State, ISIS, military’s, Command, Counterterrorism, Soufan, Kremlin Locations: Kabul, Afghanistan, Moscow, State Khorasan Province, U.S, United States, Persian, Europe, Kerman, Iran, Gen, Iranian, Russia, New York, Chechnya, Syria

☆ China Evergrande Founder Accused of Exaggerating Revenue by $78 Billion
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | More About Alexandra Stevenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

China Evergrande Group exaggerated its revenue by more than $78 billion and committed securities fraud over two years before its spectacular collapse in 2021, a top Chinese regulator said. The China Securities Regulatory Commission accused Hui Ka Yan, the founder of Evergrande, of “making decisions and organizing fraud,” the company reported in a filing to the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges on Monday night. Xia Haijun, a former chief executive, was fined $2 million and also banned from financial markets, along with several other executives. The New York Times reported in December that questionable accounting and poor oversight led to Evergrande’s demise. Over the years before it defaulted on its debt, Evergrande had been treating money it received for apartments as revenue even though at times it had not built those apartments, the Times reported.

Persons: Hui Ka Yan, Hui, Xia Haijun, Evergrande Organizations: China, Group, China Securities Regulatory Commission, New York Times, Times Locations: Shanghai, Shenzhen

☆ China’s New Economic Agenda, a Lot Like the Old One: Takeaways
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

China’s annual legislative meeting — the National People’s Congress, when Communist Party leaders promote their solutions for national ills — opened for business. The event is a chance for the leaders to signal the direction of the economy and outline how and where the government will spend money in the coming year. Despite their reluctance to spend, China’s top leaders said the economy would grow around 5 percent this year. The growth target and other policies came in a report given to the annual session of the legislature. 2 official, Li Qiang, and is the marquee event in a weeklong gathering dominated by officials and party loyalists.

Persons: —, China’s, Li Qiang Organizations: People’s Congress, Communist Party Locations: Beijing

Shuen Chun-wa, 81, and her husband hurried toward a green bus with two dozen other Hong Kong residents, dragging empty suitcases. They had purple tour stickers on their jackets and were headed to shop in Shenzhen, a bustling Chinese city that sits on the northern side of the border with Hong Kong. She paid $9,000 in Shenzhen for a procedure that would have cost $25,000 in Hong Kong. So I went to Shenzhen.”Since China opened its borders in January 2023 after several years of pandemic isolation, Hong Kong residents have made Shenzhen a weekend destination to shop, dine and, yes, even visit the dentist. Hong Kong remains one of the most unaffordable cities in the world, and its battered economy and plunging stock market have made everyone more money conscious.

Persons: Shuen Chun, Shuen’s, ”, Hong Kongers Locations: Hong Kong, Shenzhen, ”, China

☆ What’s in Our Queue? Mahjong and More
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

What’s in Our Queue? Mahjong and MoreI’m the Shanghai bureau chief for The New York Times, and I’m currently based in Hong Kong while I wait for my visa. Here are five things I’ve been reading, playing, listening to and watching →

Persons: I’m, → Organizations: The New York Times Locations: Shanghai, Hong Kong

☆ China Evergrande Must Be Liquidated, a Judge Said. What Happens Next?
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After nearly two years of false starts, last-ditch proposals and pleas for more time, China Evergrande, a massive property company, has been ordered to dismantle itself. The worries in real estate, where most households put their savings, helped tip the economy into a downturn. The Evergrande bankruptcy will play out in Hong Kong and China. A Hong Kong judge, Linda Chan, on Monday ordered Evergrande’s liquidation and appointed Alvarez & Marsal, a firm that specializes in bankruptcy cases, to manage the unwinding. The firm’s role will be to help creditors — particularly overseas investors who made loans to Evergrande — get some of their money back.

Persons: Lehman, Linda Chan, Alvarez, —, Marsal Organizations: Lehman Brothers, U.S ., Hong, Marsal, Court, Alvarez Locations: China, U.S, Hong Kong, Beijing

☆ Evergrande Will Be Dismantled, a ‘Big Bang’ End to Years of Stumbles
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-28 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Months after China Evergrande ran out of cash and defaulted in 2021, investors around the world scooped up the property developer’s discounted I.O.U.’s, betting that the Chinese government would eventually step in to bail it out. The order is also likely to send shock waves through financial markets that are already skittish about China’s economy. Evergrande is a real estate developer with more than $300 billion in debt, sitting in the middle of the world’s biggest housing crisis. There isn’t much left in its sprawling empire that is worth much. And even those assets may be off limits because property in China has become intertwined with politics.

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

☆ As China’s Markets Stumble, Japan Rises Toward Record
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Joe Rennison | Alexandra Stevenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There’s a shift underway in Asia that’s reverberating through global financial markets. Stocks stemmed their slide only when Beijing recently signaled its intention to intervene but remain far below previous highs. But there’s one unforeseen reversal already underway: a change in perception among investors about China and Japan. Seizing on this shift, Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, addressed more than 3,000 global financiers gathered in Hong Kong this week for a conference sponsored by Goldman Sachs. It was the first time a Japanese prime minister had given a keynote address at the event.

Persons: Stocks, Fumio Kishida, Goldman Sachs Organizations: Asia that’s, Nikkei Locations: Asia, China, Stocks, Beijing, Japan, Hong Kong

China’s ruling Communist Party is facing a national emergency. To fix it, the party wants more women to have more babies. Chinese women have been shunning marriage and babies at such a rapid pace that China’s population in 2023 shrank for the second straight year, accelerating the government’s sense of crisis over the country’s rapidly aging population and its economic future. China said on Wednesday that 9.02 million babies were born in 2023, down from 9.56 million in 2022 and the seventh year in a row that the number has fallen. China’s total population was 1,409,670,000 at the end of 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Persons: China’s Organizations: Communist Party, National Bureau of Statistics Locations: China

☆ Apple to Offer Rare Discount on iPhones in China
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-15 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | More About Alexandra Stevenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ever bought a discounted new phone from Apple? But in China, Apple is slashing the price of some of its latest iPhones by $70 amid worries that Chinese consumers have cooled on the brand. That would save a buyer about 6 to 8 percent, based on prices on Apple’s China website. Cutting prices on high-end electronics to buyers in China is an unexpected move for Apple, one that highlights the challenges the American company faces in China, where patriotic shoppers are choosing domestic brands amid rising US-China tensions. Apple and its Chinese rival, Huawei, are on the front lines of a battle over technology between Beijing and Washington that has seen both countries restrict access to foreign technology.

Organizations: Apple, Huawei Locations: China, Beijing, Washington

☆ China Evergrande’s Crash Was Accelerated by Questionable Accounting
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Alexandra Stevenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Its longtime auditor had just resigned, and a nation of home buyers had directed its ire at Evergrande. Police on watch for protesters stood guard outside the building, and the new team of auditors were issued permits to get in. After six months of work, the auditors reported that Evergrande had lost $81 billion over the prior two years, vastly more than expected. China’s housing boom was the biggest the world has seen, and Evergrande’s rise was powered by rapacious expansion, the system that stoked it and foreign investors who threw money at it. When China’s housing bubble burst, no other company imploded in as spectacular a fashion.

Persons: Evergrande, — Organizations: China Evergrande Group, Evergrande . Police, Evergrande Locations: Guangzhou, China, Evergrande .

Once China’s most prolific property developer, China Evergrande has narrowly averted liquidation. A Hong Kong bankruptcy judge on Monday gave Evergrande another two months to work out a deal with foreign investors who lost money when the company defaulted two years ago with hundreds of billions of dollars in debt. It was an unexpected development in a bankruptcy lawsuit filed 18 months ago by one investor trying to get paid by forcing the dismantling of Evergrande. It was one of the country’s most successful companies and at the heart of the real estate industry, which drove one third of the nation’s economic growth. But years of overexpansion left it financially precarious, and when it defaulted, it had more than $300 billion of overdue bills.

Persons: China Evergrande, Evergrande, Jan, Linda Chan, ”, Neil McDonald, Kirkland, “, overexpansion Organizations: Hong, Ellis Locations: China, Hong Kong

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