Consumer spending might only slowly recover in China, marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok sees interest in health and wellness booming, she writes in the Jing Daily, “This boom reflects a profound transformation in consumer priorities, with a growing emphasis on physical fitness, mental well-being, and preventative healthcare,” she adds.Read More →

Shanghai-based business analyst Shaun Rein, in an extensive interview at Forbes, says that after a very bearish 2024, China’s economy has found its way upwards because of Trump. “People rallied together and said, ‘We’ll deal with lower incomes. We’ll deal with bad sales. We want to make Trump bend’, he tells Forbes.Read More →

After more than a week of confusion after US President Trump imposed and maintained massive tariffs on Chinese goods, one thing is sure, says Shanghai-based business analyst Shaun Rein, author of  The Split: Finding the Opportunities in China’s Economy in the New World Order. The Chinese will not kowtow to Trump, he tells Moats, and they have won round one.Read More →

Shanghai-based business analyst Shaun Rein, author of The Split: Finding the Opportunities in China’s Economy in the New World Order, looks at what Western media miss when they report about China in a wide-ranging discussion with Cyrus Janssen. They wrongly assume China is unstable and often miss the essence of what happens in the country. For example, when the government cracked down on Alibaba founder Jack Ma. What that was about was not a political struggle, but an effort to create a level playing field, where the larger IT companies did not dominate the market anymore, Rein says.Read More →

2024 was a bumper year for BYD, but it might face tough challenges to maintain its current lead in the automotive market, says marketing analyst Arnold Ma, founder of Qumin, in Campaign Asia. “Initiatives such as reducing carbon footprints, ensuring fair labour practices, and engaging in community development that resonate positively with stakeholders should continue to stay in focus,” he writes.Read More →

China’s government is trying to encourage giving birth to children and marriage to offset a fast-aging population. But author Zhang Lijia discovered on a tour in the country China’s women abandon the idea of getting married, she writes in the South China Morning Post. “I believe this trend is driven by educated urban women. It is in line with the trajectories of more developed countries. Once women have a good education and good jobs, they become less keen on marriage,” she writes.Read More →

Independent Australia reviews Ian Johnson’s latest book Sparks: China’s Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future and supports his effort to avoid pressure from the government to forget the past. “Johnson gives us access to some of the recent events that have already been obliterated from Communist China’s official history, from the murderous disasters of Mao’s crackdowns on critical thinking to the cult rise of Xi Jinping.”Read More →

Reuters reviews China’s latest blockbuster “Upstream”, casting a rare and harsh light on the country’s biggest economic pain points. “An uncertain job market, downward mobility, and the hardscrabble life of millions who are working gig jobs.” Marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok sees a profound change among the previously optimistic consumers, who pushed ahead the country’s economy in the past, she tells Reuters.Read More →