Wenchang, we have a problem – China’s latest business and technology news
A summary of the top news in Chinese business and technology for July 3, 2017. Part of the daily The China Project newsletter, a convenient package of China’s business, political, and cultural news delivered to your inbox for free. Subscribe here.
Caixin reports that “a rocket carrying China’s heaviest satellite failed mid-flight after its launch on Sunday, casting a cloud over the large-load carrier’s role in deploying the Chang’e-5 lunar probe later this year.” The Long March-5 rocket, China’s newest type of rocket designed to carry heavy payloads, blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on Hainan Island carrying a 7.5-ton satellite designed for telecommunications experiments. Xinhua News Agency said that “an anomaly occurred” and the rocket failed to enter orbit.
In response, electric car and space entrepreneur Elon Musk tweeted: “Sorry to hear about China launch failure today. I know how painful that is to the people who designed & built it.”
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Environment
As Beijing joins climate fight, Chinese companies build coal plants / NYT (paywall) -
Censorship
China’s Great Firewall gets tougher as popular VPN shut down / Bloomberg -
Asian economics
China’s Hong Kong bond link gets underway to muted reaction / Bloomberg
China was the real victor of Asia’s financial crisis / Financial Times (paywall) -
Science and technology
China genomics giant drops plan for gene-edited pets / MIT Technology Review -
Virtual reality
China’s booming beauty business offers augmented reality for investors / Caixin
Remember Nokia? It’s planning a comeback in China, banking on fitness apps and virtual reality / SCMP
