China has announced the ban on micro beads – solid plastic particles of less than one millimeter – in cosmetics by the end of 2020, writes China lawyer Mark Schaub at the China Law Insight. “The clock is ticking for cosmetics companies – domestic and international alike. Alternative ingredients need to be sourced quickly,” says Mark Schaub.Read More →

Gamers are increasingly becoming a group of luxury buyers in China, overlapping other segments, says marketing expert Arnold Ma at OZY. “Chinese luxury buyer demographics overlap with hobbies normally associated with a younger audience, such as gaming,” Arnold Ma says.Read More →

Shanghai-based VC William Bao Bean, general partner at SOSV, who is also the managing director of two SOSV accelerator programs—MOX and Chinaccelerator, explains how India is becoming the next bet for his startup accelerator after China, in an interview with Kr-Asia.Read More →

Private companies in China have become more important than sometimes appreciated, says Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of the Hurun Research Institute in its latest report, according to the South China Morning Post. They have grown eight times in the past decade, pay most taxes and create most jobs. “Creating value is more than making sales,” says Rupert Hoogewerf.Read More →

China is profiling itself as a stabilizing actor on in world politics, after the US killing of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani, says political analyst Victor Shih at the South China Morning Post. However, China’s presentation of itself as respectful of the sovereignty of other nations does not square with numerous examples of China looking to use its economic sway to influence other nations’ diplomacy or politics, Shih said.Read More →

Getting customers in the China market was already expensive and the 2019 capital winter makes live for startups even harder, says William Bao Bean, managing director of the Shanghai-based SOSV. That might be bad news initially, but makes them more competitive in the longer run, he says according to Pymnts, quoting the Financial Times.Read More →