Latest Posts
Making banned documentaries – Ian Johnson interviews Ai Xiaoming
Ai Xiaoming is one of China´s leading documentary makers, and all of them are officially banned in the country. Journalist Ian Johnson sits down with her for the NY Review of Books and discusses how it is to make banned documentaries, and (amongst many other subjects) why China has no intellectuals.Read More →
Why China´s billionnaires look for European soccer clubs – Rupert Hoogewerf
European soccer clubs and their stakeholders look on with mixed feelings when yet another Chinese billionnaire sets his eyes on their clubs. But from the perspective of the Chinese billionnaires it makes perfectly sense, says Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of the China Rich List Hurun to the Telegraph.Read More →
The revival of islam in China – Ian Johnson
When it comes to reviving moral values in China, most attention goes to Christianity. But in an interview for the New York Times with Matthew S. Erie, author of China and Islam: The Prophet, the Party, and Law journalist Ian Johnson hears the Islam is a similar emerging religious force. Ian Johnson is the author of the upcoming book The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After MaoRead More →
An assertive China does not need the world that much – Arthur Kroeber
If the presidency of China over the G20 in Hangzhou has showed anything, it is that a more self-confident nation needs the rest of the world not as much as in the recent past, says political analyst Arthur Kroeber to LA Times. “The U.S. has less leverage to get things it wants.”Read More →
Foreign investments still restricted in China – Arthur Kroeber
Foreign companies and their business organizations used the G20 meeting in Hangzhou as an opportunity to point at the restrictions they face when they want to invest in China, while outbound investments from China go through the roof. You only have to look at the basic figures to see they are right, says author Arthur Kroeber of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know® to the South China Morning Post.Read More →
Chinese fashion brands go deep to purchase foreign names – Ben Cavender
Grass Fashion Co. in a 1 trillion won deal (US$900 million). That is more than V-Grass is worth, warns branding expert Ben Cavender in Bloomberg, and might be very hard to recover in sales.Read More →
Looking beyond the first-tier cities – Ben Cavender
China´s consumers have changed dramatically over the past decade, retail analyst Ben Cavender told a conference on fruit, for example only looking at first-tier cities is a wrong habit from the past, reports the Fruitnet. And the hypermarkets are dead.Read More →
The complicated relation between tech firms and the government – Kaiser Kuo
It´s complicated, says former Baidu communication director Kaiser Kuo about the relationship between China´s booming tech companies and the government. The outside world sees even private companies often as extentions of the government. Wrong, explains Kaiser Kuo in interview with the Young China Watchers.Read More →
Wealth management tools circumvented banking restrictions – Arthur Kroeber
While China´s financial regulators have tried to prevent previous market panics, smaller banks have behind their backs been expanding credit lines to wealthy clients, says economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know® to Dow Jones. The regulators now try to rein in those tools.Read More →
How beer in China goes upmarket – Shaun Rein
Beer has always been a poor-people product, but has been going upmarket, now China´s elite discover the more fancy beers, tells retail analyst Shaun Rein to the Boston Globe. Although, in the sales, craft beers in China hardly show up, that is going to change.Read More →
The Roma community in old Shanghai – Paul French
Author Paul French has added yet another subject to his long list of current and historical affairs with his latest book Gypsies of Shanghai: The Roma Community of Late 1930s and 1940s Shanghai and Their Role in the City’s Entertainment Industry. The book is small and cheap, Paul adds on his weblog, but it illustrates the amazing diversity of pre-war Shanghai.Read More →
Outbound tourism experts at the China Speakers Bureau
China´s economy might be slowing down a bit, outbound tourism keeps on booming like before. Chinese tourists spend more per capital than any other natonality. In 2015 120 million Chinese spent in total over 100 billion US dollar, a double digit growth compared to 2014.
While there are some sure winning among the top destinations, Chinese tourists are fast looking for new trends, and the government is able to steer tourist stream to other countries, when political strubbles occur. Both Japan, France and Taiwan had now and then those political problemsRead More →