Blue-collar workers in China have started to make a lot of money, but are mostly ignored as a force in domestic consumption, says business analyst Shaun Rein, author of The War for China’s Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order to CGTN from Shanghai. The focus is on billionaires or youngsters, but the fast emerging wealthy blue-collar workers are forgotten, he argues.Read More →

The Euromonitor divided up China’s luxury consumers into five categories, to make life easier for marketers selling to them. Marketing veteran Ashley Dudarenok, author of Unlocking the World’s Largest E-market: A Guide To Selling on Chinese Social Media, applauds the effort, but thinks the market in China is more complicated than that, she tells in the Jing Daily.Read More →

One of the purposes of Trump’s trade war is convincing US companies to leave China. But they are not yet ready to move, says economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®, in the Channel News Asia. And when they move, they might before countries like Vietnam over the US, he adds.Read More →

China routinely dismisses accusations it is copying the behavior of former colonial powers in Africa, but is missing the point, says journalist Howard French, author of China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa, at the Sydney Morning Herald.Read More →

Marketing veteran Ashley Dudarenok explains on her daily vlog why thinking that China is cheap is a misconception. Picky Chinese consumers like to consume, but not necessarily what you have to offer, she tells. So, decent market research is an important starting point. Ashey Dudarenok is a speaker at theRead More →

For investors the prospects for North-Korea are similar to China in 1978, says superinvestor Jim Rogers, author of Street Smarts: Adventures on the Road and in the Markets,  according to the Korean medium Hankyoreh. “If North Korea introduces reforms and openness, it will achieve rapid economic growth in the double digits or higher.”Read More →

Tencent watcher Matthew Brennan has an in-depth look at how the recent reorganization of the internet giant reflects on the internet in China, especially how the company that became big through WeChat and B2C moves towards a more industrial approach, he writes on his weblog at China Channel.Read More →

Most Western media reports focus on the oppression of religion in China, and miss one of the most important developments in the country when it comes to religion, argues journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao in the China Zentrum. “Faith and values are returning to the center of a national discussion over how to organize Chinese life.”Read More →

Alibaba’s chairman Jack Ma has unveiled his eagerly awaited succession plan, including a transfer of power to the current CEO Daniel Zhang. A very smart move, says business analyst Shaun Rein, author of The War for China’s Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order to the Nikkei Asian Review.Read More →