Marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok explains the difference between TikTok and its Chinese sister Douyin at her website Chozan. In 2025, Douyin was named China’s most valuable brand, with a valuation of US$105.8 billion. That marked a 26% increase from the previous year, driven by the platform’s deep integration into everyday digital life. In March 2025, Douyin reached 1 billion monthly active users in China. What exactly is Douyin?Read More →

Internet giant Alibaba and leading university Peking University have joined forces to set up a new consumer index, the China Online Consumer Brand Index (CBI). Consumer expert Ashley Dudarenok highlights how the attitude of consumers has shifted in the world’s second economy over the past few years, as noted in Jing Daily.Read More →

Alvin Wang Graylin, author of Our Next Reality: Preparing for the AI-powered Metaverse, worked in both the US and China on AI and compares the strategy of both countries. While China focuses on a multipolar approach, with mainly economic targets, the US does the opposite and looks at military strategies, he tells Veronica Hylak at Hey AI.Read More →

China’s technology, design, and culture are part of a fusion that reshapes the country, says innovation expert Ashley Dudarenok in an analysis by the state-owned China Daily. “It’s a holistic shift, where tech meets culture, design, and daily life, and this wave is just starting,” according to Ashley DudarenokRead More →

When DeepSeek took on ChatGPT last year, the Chinese innovation took the world by surprise. Today, more Chinese companies are competing on world markets, achieving varying levels of success. Whether we talk about EVs, fighter jets, consumer retail, container ships, self-driving cars, or the movie industry, the world has to pay attention to what is coming from China. Innovation expert Ashley Dudarenok has begun adjusting her traditional speaking topics to reflect new developments.Read More →

AI tools to generate videos, like TikTok, have been challenged by a new wave of innovations using AI as filmmakers, says Winston Ma, author of The Digital War: How China’s Tech Power Shapes the Future of AI, Blockchain and Cyberspace at CNBC. “Just like TikTok took the global markets by storm with short videos in the mobile internet age, Chinese AI companies could well lead the Generative AI revolution in visual digital entertainment,” said Ma.Read More →

A decade ago, China launched its ambitious “Made in China 2025”. And while the phrase has disappeared, the industrial ambitious have no, writes China veteran Kaiser Kuo at the World Economic Forum. Today, that strategy appears to be entering a new phase — one we might call “Made in China 2.0,” he says. Read More →

China veteran Kaiser Kuo examines the ten Chinese companies, which are booming in China’s economy, despite the pressure it is under. Most names might be new to the non-Chinese, but these ten are worth putting on your China watch list, if they are not yet, he writes at the World Economic Forum: CATL (宁德时代), Envision Energy (远景能源), Haier (海尔集团), Huawei (华为), JinkoSolar (晶科能源), LONGi Green Energy Technology (隆基绿能科技股份有限公司), Meituan (美团), Pop Mart (泡泡玛特), Seres Group (赛力斯), Xiaohongshu (小红书 / RedNote),Read More →

BYD surprised everyone by successfully taking on Tesla. Economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®, explains how China’s approach allowed to take on Tesla and came out as a winner, he tells Dwarkesh Patel.Read More →

Innovation expert Ashley Dudarenok says human programmers will still be needed in her vlog. But AI is already replacing a range of jobs in China. For example, Alibaba introduced its first AI employee, Tongyi Lingma, last summer, and it made huge inroads into the work process, she notes.Read More →