Links for Thursday, December 17, 2020
Notable China news from around the web.
MORE NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:
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The booming business of toys
Lego plans physical store expansion in Chinaย / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
See also: Chinese toy maker Pop Mart surges nearly 80% in Hong Kong debutย / Reuters -
Punishment for Luckin
China’s Luckin Coffee to pay $180 million fine in fraud caseย / AP
Context: Luckin to be delisted from Nasdaq after fraud scandal. -
Fashion and textile manufacturing
Wrangler re-enters China jeans market after lengthy COVID delayย / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
Chinaโs pandemic-driven textile export boom probably wonโt lastย / Caixin (paywall)
โAfter years of textile manufacturing moving away from China as costs cut into slim profit margins, export orders are booming this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic,โ but they are unlikely to continue. ย -
Chinese millennial consumers love DTC brands like Allbirds and Everlane ย
Why Chinaโs millennials are targeting these Silicon Valley brandsย / Jing Daily ย -
TikTok plows on as Trump ban vanishes from headlines
Walmart partners with TikTok to sell merchandise while livestreamingย / Reuters via CNA -
โItโs not a classic Corvette, itโs SongSanโs SS Dolphin. And itโs a gas-electric hybrid.โ
A 1958 โVette translated into modern Chineseย / NYT (porous paywall) -
How to sell financial products to young Chinese people
Inside the cutthroat world of China mutual fund livestreamingย / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
โIn a Shenzhen milk-tea shop popular with social media influencers, mutual fund manager Deng Jingdong pins a lapel mic to his shirt, stares down the barrel of a camera, and starts livestreaming to his 400,000 viewers.โ -
Beijing to subsidize foreign companies?
China to provide financial support to key foreign companiesย / Bloombergย (porous paywall)
โChinaโs government said it will provide financial support to some foreign companies to help them offset the impact of the pandemic and resolve funding difficulties.โ -
More media scrutiny on Alibaba facial recognition to identify Uyghurs
Alibaba facial recognition tech specifically picks out Uyghur minority – reportย / Reuters
Chinaโs Alibaba pushed software to help firms identify Uyghurs through facial featuresย / AP via HKFP
Alibaba offered clients facial recognition to identify Uyghur people, report revealsย / Guardian -
Political risks for Alibaba and Tencent
Analysis: Xi sees Alibaba and Tencent as rising threats to powerย / Nikkei -
U.S.-China silicon wars and TSMC
Taiwan semiconductor maker caught in the U.S.-China rivalryย / LA Times (porous paywall) ย -
China โ where movie theaters arenโt dead
Imax may add over 400 theaters in China by 2023 with new dealย / Bloomberg (porous paywall) -
โTighter monetary policy, widening a divergence with other large economiesโ
Chinaโs central bank going it alone spurs an influx of capitalย / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:
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Plastic pollution
China biodegradable plastics ‘failing to solve pollution crisis’ย / BBC
โA massive increase in biodegradable plastic production in China is outpacing the country’s ability to degrade the materials.โ -
Will Chinaโs sanctions on Australia help end the coal era?
China battles the worldโs biggest coal exporter, and coal is losingย / NYT (porous paywall) -
COVID-19 vaccination plan
China to vaccinate 50 million people for Lunar New Yearย / SCMP (porous paywall)
POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:
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U.S.-China military tensions and strategy
U.S. stood up by China at military safety meetingย / WSJ (paywall)
โPeopleโs Liberation Army no-show at scheduled bilateral dialogue is the first in memory, U.S. defense official says.โ
New U.S. maritime strategy sets sights on Chinaย / U.S. Naval Institute News
โThe Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard released their clearest argument yet for what they need to do to be prepared to take on China โ not in a hypothetical future scenario, but in the day-to-day competition happening now on the seas.โ -
โChinese public vastly overestimates Chinaโs global image and popularityโ
How information bubble drives the Chinese publicโs views of Chinaโs global standing and fuels grassroots nationalismย / China Data Lab -
Risks of war
Competition with China could be short and sharpย / Foreign Affairs (porous paywall)
Michael Beckley and Hal Brands argue that โthe risk of an American war with China is โgreatest in the next decadeโ as โhistorically, the most desperate dashes have come from powers that had been on the ascent but grew worried that their time was running short.โโ -
โAnother blowโ for Huawei
Sweden can go ahead with 5G auction that bans Huawei gear, court rulesย / Caixin (paywall) -
Gangs of Hong Kong
Former Wo Shing Wo triad heads among seven arrested in Hong Kong temple during initiation ceremony for new recruitย / SCMP (porous paywall) ย
Context: Wo Shing Wo (ๅๅๅ hรฉ shรจng hรฉ)ย / Wikipedia -
On-again off-again EU-China deal
EU and China revive hopes of investment deal this yearย / FT (paywall)
Last week: Scrapped China talks cast shadow over planned EU investment dealย / Bloomberg (porous paywall) -
Repression of Uyghurs
She tweeted from Sweden about the plight of her Uyghur cousin. In Xinjiang, the authorities were watchingย / CNN
SOCIETY AND CULTURE:
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LGBT+ culture
In Chinaโs voguing houses, queer millennials strike a new poseย / Sixth Tone
The ballroom scene โ a subculture where performers compete in extravagant dancing, lip-synching, and modeling contests โ is quietly starting to take off in Chinaโs major cities, creating a space for LGBT millennials like Zhao to cut loose and explore their identities safe from the prying eyes of more conservative friends, relatives, and classmates. ย
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Sex ed in the countryside
The young teacher determined to talk sexย / Gushi
โWord that Li Yan decided to start talking about sex in her class quickly spread in the small county seat.โ -
Should minors be responsible for their parentsโ debts?
Henan court revokes spending sanctions on deceased debtorโs 9-year-old childย / Sixth Tone ย -
COVID town, party town: Photos of Wuhan
One night in Wuhan: COVID-19’s original epicenter re-learns how to partyย / Reuters
‘I tried to become part of Wuhan’: Agency Photographer of 2020 โ Hector Retamalย / Guardian





