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☆ What to expect from China's 'Two Sessions' meeting kicking off this weekend
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING — The Chinese government is set to announce its GDP target and new premier in coming days as part of its annual meeting. Known as the "Two Sessions," the parliamentary meeting gathers delegates from across China to discuss and approve national priorities. This year, the meeting is set to formalize government titles for the new premier, vice premiers and heads of different ministries. Xi is set to gain an unprecedented third term as president at the parliamentary meeting. The upcoming meeting is also set to review a "reform plan" for the ruling Chinese Communist Party and state institutions, state media said.

Workers make charging equipment for new energy vehicles at a workshop of Shandong Dingsheng Electric Equipment in Zaozhuang, east China's Shandong province. China's GDP grew by only 3% last year. On Sunday, the Chinese government is widely expected to announce a GDP growth target of around or above 5% for the year. "This year a likely rebound in the housing market (as well as the exit from its 'zero Covid' policy) will help China's GDP growth to improve," said Societe Generale. The bank is the most optimistic of firms surveyed by CNBC, with a GDP growth forecast of 5.8%.

☆ The U.S. and China have a culture clash around their telephone hotline
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

It isn't the first time China didn't answer the phone — a hotline set up for emergencies. Chinese culture is a reason why, said Shen Yamei, deputy director and associate research fellow at state-backed think tank China Institute of International Studies' department for American studies. She said she wasn't aware of what actually happened between the U.S. and China regarding the declined phone call. "The PRC did not do that," the secretary said, referring to the official name of China. Using a hotline to diffuse a potentially dangerous situation does imply there's a situation that needs to be diffused, Bodine said.

☆ China Renaissance says its missing founder Bao Fan is cooperating with a government probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

China Renaissance said this month it was unable to contact its founder and CEO Bao Fan. BEIJING — Missing Chinese investment banker Bao Fan is cooperating with a government investigation, his firm China Renaissance said in a filing Sunday. "The Board has become aware that Mr. Bao is currently cooperating in an investigation being carried out by certain authorities in the People's Republic of China," China Renaissance said in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange Sunday. In both filings this month, China Renaissance said its business continued to operate normally. Its shares hit a record low of 5 Hong Kong dollars (64 cents) on Feb. 17 but have since recovered slightly.

☆ China's online shoppers started the year cautiously, Alibaba says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

"From January to early February of this year, overall sales of online physical goods remained weak," Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang said Thursday during a quarterly earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript. Alibaba's Zhang was relatively cautious in his comments about the economic recovery. Alibaba's China commerce revenue in the last three months of 2022 fell by 1% to the equivalent of $24.64 billion, accounting for 69% of total revenue. Nationwide, catering sales fell by 6.3% in 2022, while retail sales overall dropped by 0.2%, according to China's statistics bureau. The two months' data are typically combined due to variations in the timing of the Lunar New Year holiday, which doesn't follow the Gregorian calendar.

☆ Baidu says its alternative to ChatGPT is coming to the public in March
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Sun Yilei | ReutersBEIJING — Chinese tech giant Baidu said Wednesday its artificial intelligence product Ernie bot is set to open to the public next month. "We will embed Ernie bot into Baidu search first and we'll open it to the public in March," Baidu CEO Robin Li said Wednesday during an earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript. Stock Chart Icon Stock chart icon Baidu 12-month share performanceDespite widespread assessments that ChatGPT is transformative for tech, businesses don't have a clear path to monetization yet. For Ernie bot, public partnership announcements include Baidu-backed video streaming platform iQiyi's plans for connecting to the bot for search and AI-generated content. Baidu-backed electric car startup Jidu — which is set to start deliveries this year — also said it plans to incorporate Ernie bot.

☆ China tech companies are closely watching ChatGPT's A.I. skills. Here's what they're doing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Big tech companies in the U.S. and China rushed this month to announce they are working on similar AI tools. PingCap launched "Chat2Query" for customers outside China in January that uses a publicly available application programming interface from OpenAI. "We think the revolution may not be in AI search but in every business," he said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC. Transformative potentialFang said he was directly inspired by OpenAI's early version of ChatGPT tech in 2020. In contrast, he said generative AI tech can immediately provide value since it operates where users are already producing and consuming content.

☆ 'China's Netflix' iQiyi launches an immersive VR ride based on its own show
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Human players appear as avatars in iQiyi's immersive Luoyang VR experience, which opened to the public in Shanghai in February 2023. Baidu -backed iQiyi is sometimes dubbed China's Netflix since the Chinese online video platform also sells TV series and movies to subscribers. Tickets cost 198 yuan ($29) to 398 yuan each, according to a Yelp-like entry on China's DianPing app. Zhang Hang, iQiyi vice president who heads the company's Dreamverse studio behind the VR project, previously told reporters he expected the VR experience could see about 40,000 visitors a year per store. Zhang cast the VR experience more as a movie than an interactive game.

☆ China formalizes rules for overseas IPOs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

BEIJING – China-based companies now have more clarity on whether they can list overseas in the U.S. The China Securities Regulatory Commission announced late Friday new rules that require domestic companies to comply with national security measures and the personal data protection law before going public overseas. The securities regulator's rules do not ban the variable interest entity structure commonly used by Chinese companies when listing in the U.S. The CSRC said its rules for overseas listings are set to take effect March 31. The new rules also call for IPO underwriters, typically international investment banks, to annually report to the CSRC their involvement with Chinese listings overseas.

☆ China Renaissance shares plunge more than 20% after it says founder Bao Fan is missing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Bao Fan, founder and chief executive officer of China Renaissance, speaks at a conference in California in 2016. BEIJING — Prominent Chinese investment banker Bao Fan is missing, his company China Renaissance Holdings said late Thursday. China Renaissance said it "has been unable to contact Mr. Bao Fan," according to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange. Bao is the firm's controlling shareholder, as well as chairman, executive director and CEO. Shares of China Renaissance plunged by more than 20% in Hong Kong trading Friday.

☆ Chinese EV startup Jidu plans to use ChatGPT-like tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Visitors look at a Jidu Robo-01 electric SUV during the 20th Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition at Canton Fair Complex on Dec. 30, 2022 in Guangzhou, China. BEIJING — Baidu's ChatGPT-like product is set to come to electric, assisted-driving cars, startup Jidu said Tuesday. Jidu, backed by Baidu and Geely , is using Baidu's Apollo system for the in-car user interface and assisted driving tech. The startup plans to deliver its first car this year. Jidu plans to use Apollo with Baidu's ChatGPT-like product, called Ernie bot in English, the startup said.

☆ China's economic recovery is off to a slow start
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Hector Retamal | Afp | Getty ImagesBEIJING — China's economic recovery is off to a modest start. Migrant workers have mostly returned to work after China's biggest holiday of the year, and children went back to school this week. It also remains to be seen how demand from China's growth picks up as businesses resume work and travel after the Lunar New Year holiday. Robin Xing, chief China economist at Morgan Stanley, pointed out that in-person meetings are particularly important for doing business in China, and that such interactions weren't easily feasible last year. Ting Lu chief China economist, Nomura

☆ Chinese EV brand Zeekr is now worth more than Xpeng
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Pictured here is a Zeekr electric vehicle charging station in Dongguan, Guangdong province of China, on Nov. 14, 2022. BEIJING — Geely -backed electric car brand Zeekr said Monday it's now valued at $13 billion after a $750 million raise from Chinese battery giant CATL and others. Zeekr is not yet publicly listed, but Geely said in December the brand filed confidentially for an initial public offering in the U.S. The new $13 billion valuation makes Zeekr worth more on paper than Xpeng , which had a market value of $8.01 billion, according to Refinitiv Eikon data accessed Monday. Nio and Li Auto are worth much more, with market valuations of $17.22 billion and $25.22 billion, respectively, the data showed.

☆ What do Chinese travelers want? Luxury 'star-rated' hotels, says new survey
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | Chris Dwyer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The research points to growing demand for high-end and luxury hotels in China now that the country has ended domestic travel restrictions — and a Covid wave has passed. watch nowThe report said that "37% of the consumers prefer higher star-rated hotels, up from 18% in 2020, with higher-income consumers showing even stronger appetites for luxury hotel stays (47% vs. 31% in 2020)." "The growing mid-/high-income population in China will fuel continued growth in demand for upscale hotels," the UBS report said. "At present, the number of upscale and luxury hotel guest room contribution and brand penetration rate in China are both lower than in North America." "China's hotel groups are still exploring the upscale hotel market, and we think acquisition of established overseas upscale brands may be their best option, and that founding joint ventures with real estate developers could provide property management resources for expansion into the upscale hotel market."

☆ Chinese IPOs are coming back to the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A handful of Chinese companies are starting to list again in the U.S.BEIJING — Chinese startups are raising millions of dollars in U.S. stock market listings again, after a dry spell in the once-hot market. The company raised $190 million in its initial public offering, more than initial plans — and one of the largest listings since ride-hailing giant Didi raised $4.4 billion in its June 2021 IPO. That listing ran afoul of Chinese regulators, who ordered a cybersecurity review into Didi just days after its public listing. As of the end of 2022, only six China-based companies had issued American depositary receipts in U.S. IPOs since the Didi fallout, according to Wind Information. But the dry spell in Chinese IPOs in the U.S. is starting to end as firms get more regulatory clarity.

☆ Web browser Opera is planning to incorporate ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this article OPRA300418-CN Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTOpera ranks among the top five mobile browsers by worldwide market share, according to Statcounter. Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Imageswatch nowNorway-based Opera, which also operates a browser specialized for gaming, had an average of 321 million monthly active users as of the third quarter. The company said its gaming browser business helped boost revenue in the third quarter, for 28% growth year-on-year to $85.3 million. Parent company Kunlun Tech is based in Beijing and listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange. Kunlun Tech's shares are up more than 40% for the year so far.

☆ Pressure on China’s factories grows as U.S. demand falls
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

China News Service | China News Service | Getty ImagesBEIJING — For some factories in China, it's not full steam ahead after the end of zero-Covid. The official Lunar New Year holiday in China ended Jan. 27, but the travel period runs until Feb. 15. He expects U.S. consumer demand to pick up later this year. China's exports to the U.S. barely grew in 2022, and the U.S. economy is expected to slow further in 2023. watch nowWhen asked by CNBC in January, China's customs administration acknowledged the pressure on China's exports from slowing external demand, and noted rising risks of a global recession.

Robin Li (or Li Yanhong in Chinese), founder, chairman and CEO of Baidu, introduces the new AI-powered digital assistant "Duer" during the 2015 Baidu Technology Innovation Conference on September 8, 2015 in Beijing, China. Shares of Baidu surged by more than 13% in Hong Kong as the company said it will launch its own artificial intelligence chatbot. The stock rose to $159.80 Hong Kong dollars per share, or 13.48% higher in Asia's morning trade. Google recently announced a similar service, Bard A. I.Ernie stands for "Enhanced Representation through Knowledge Integration," Baidu said, describing it as a "large language model" that was introduced in 2019. "What distinguishes ERNIE from other language models is its integration of extensive knowledge with massive data, resulting in exceptional understanding and generation capabilities," Baidu said.

☆ China urges calm after U.S. shoots down suspected spy balloon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

"What I want to emphasize regarding this unexpected accident is that both sides, especially the U.S., should remain calm," said China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning. BEIJING — China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning urged both sides to remain calm after the U.S. said it shot down what it called a Chinese spy balloon. "What I want to emphasize regarding this unexpected accident is that both sides, especially the U.S., should remain calm," Mao said in Mandarin, according to a CNBC translation. The U.S. military shot down the balloon over the weekend. China has called the balloon a "civilian unmanned airship" and said it was primarily conducting weather research before it was blown off course.

☆ U.S.-China relations just got more fragile
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken indefinitely postponed his visit to Beijing due to a Chinese surveillance balloon flying over the United States. Brown | AFP | Getty ImagesBEIJING — U.S.-China relations look increasingly fragile, analysts say, after a now-downed Chinese balloon forced U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to indefinitely postpone his trip to Beijing. "A key question is why the Biden administration decided to publicize this balloon but not previous [reported] ones," Wildau said. While discussion of the balloon — including memes — circulated on Chinese social media, China's official Chinese-language mouthpieces have been more muted so far. "That alone would mean the Chinese leadership would be more restrained and would not want to let this balloon situation blow out of proportion."

☆ Huawei turns to patents for a lifeline — including those in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

In 2022, Huawei announced it signed more than 20 new or extended licensing agreements for its patents. But the sheer number of patents filed meant Huawei ranked fourth last year by the number of patent grants in the U.S., IFI said. For Huawei, licensing its patents to other companies has the potential to claw back a bit of that revenue. Huawei did not break down specific figures, and only said it met its intellectual property revenue expectations for 2021. "I don't think they had a choice in terms of sort of boosting their licensing revenue."

☆ Optimism on Chinese stocks soars to five-year highs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Active foreign fund managers put $1.39 billion into mainland Chinese stocks in the four weeks ended Jan. 25, EPFR data showed. Active money managers are more involved with picking portfolio investments, while passive money managers tend to follow stock indexes. At the time, a few institutional investors had said it was time to buy Chinese stocks due to Beijing's emphasis on stability in a politically important year. He said inflows were also less aggressive when it came to U.S.-listed Chinese stocks. Pinduoduo , Baidu and Bilibili were among the U.S.-listed Chinese stocks that saw the largest inflows, the report showed.

☆ China's real estate crisis isn't over yet, IMF says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

China's real estate market has slumped in the last two years after Beijing cracked down on developers' high reliance on debt for growth. Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesBEIJING — China needs to do more in order to fix its real estate problems, the International Monetary Fund said Friday. Chinese authorities started to ease restrictions on financing for the sector over the last several months. Still, residential floor space sold in China dropped by nearly 27% last year, while real estate investment fell by 10%, according to official numbers. The IMF report pointed out that a significant portion of investors in Chinese developers' bonds have been affected.

☆ A potential U.S. ban on investment in Chinese tech could hurt these sectors
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The Biden Administration has said the U.S. is in competition with China and restricted the ability of American businesses to sell high-end chip tech to China. BEIJING — A ban on U.S. investment in Chinese tech could drive up market volatility — but some sectors may escape untouched, Bank of America analysts said. The White House is reportedly considering an executive order to ban U.S. investment into high-end Chinese tech, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, 5G and advanced semiconductors, according to a Politico report last week. "If there were a strict investment ban on US investors, it could create a significant supply of shares over the grace period and hence potential large volatility in the near term," Bank of America's Hong Kong-based research analysts said in a note Tuesday. "Potential long-term impact is less clear."

☆ Tourism is roaring back in China. But the $6 trillion consumer market is digging itself out of a deep slump
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

He's hopeful business improves this year – and allows Rêver to recoup the roughly 35% in revenue it lost last year. Within a retail sales slump of 0.2% to 43.97 trillion yuan ($6.28 trillion), catering sales dropped by a steeper 6.3%. He expects 7% year-on-year growth in retail sales. Hainan's recovery plansHainan, a tropical province aiming to be a duty free shopping destination, announced a goal for 10% growth in retail sales this year. That's after its retail sales fell by 9.2% last year.

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