Links for Thursday, February 18, 2021

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Baidu eyes on Cloud and self-driving EV for future growth
  Baidu reports solid profits, expects first EV within 3 years / KrASIA
  Baidu gains after predicting up to 26% jump in first-quarter revenue amid AI push / Yicai
  Chinese search giant Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) reported 107 billion yuan ($16.4 billion) in revenue for 2020, and 22 billion yuan ($3.44 billion) annual net income, almost 10 times compared with 2019.
  • AI Cloud service revenue jumped 67% in the last quarter of 2020, and the company expects it to keep the strong growth (in Chinese).
  • Baidu aims to launch an autonomous electric vehicle jointly developed with Chinese automaker Geely in three years.
• Weibo wants to cash in on Hong Kong IPO frenzy?
  China’s Twitter-like Weibo said to plan Hong Kong listing / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• “Keep burning cash” — community group-buying leader raises $3 billion
  Tencent-backed community group-buying platform Xingsheng Selected is wrapping up a $3 billion funding round (in Chinese), the fourth in the past 12 months. The latest round will be completed after the Lunar New Year holiday, giving Xingsheng an $8 billion valuation, a twofold jump from its $4 billion value six months ago.
  • Community group buying, which allows neighbors to purchase groceries in bulk at discounted prices through a community leader, was China’s hottest grocery shopping platform in 2020.
  • Tech giants including Alibaba, Tencent, and Didi Chuxing rushed into a price war to win more customers, which soon attracted government regulatory scrutiny.
• Flying car problems
  Highflying EHang gets lesson in stock market aerodynamics / Caixin (paywall)
• Economic signals
  Chinese consumers were big spenders during the Lunar New Year holiday / WSJ (paywall)
  “Consumption at major retailers and restaurants over the seven-day holiday, from February 11 to 17, hit 821 billion yuan.”
  China’s air passenger numbers down 45% year-on-year over Lunar New Year / Reuters
  China’s Lunar New Year retail, catering sales jump nearly 29% amid travel curbs / Yicai
  Jaguar Land Rover profit jumps as China paces recovery / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• COVID-19 drug gives biotech firm a boost
  China’s Junshi Biosciences gains on U.S. permit for COVID-19 antibody drug / Yicai Global
• IPO for backend ecommerce platform provider
  Ecommerce platform Dmall is said to plan U.S. IPO this year / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  Beijing DMall Ecommerce Co. is “an online retail service provider backed by Chinese supermarket Wumart Group.”
• Darlie: Colgate-Palmolive’s problematic brand
  Colgate-Palmolive not rebranding China’s Darlie/Black Person’s Toothpaste based on recent trademark filings? / National Law Review
  In 2020, in light of the Black Lives Matter movement, Colgate-Palmolive “announced they would consider rebranding (‘evolve’) Darlie (previously Darkie) toothpaste, which is known in Chinese as 黑人牙膏 (Black Person’s Toothpaste).”
  Have they changed their minds?
  Related on The China Project: After latest blackface incident, Africans in China grow weary of racial insensitivities.

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Bitcoin wastes a Pakistan worth of energy every year
  Bitcoin is now worth $50,000 — and it’s ruining the planet faster than ever / The Phoenix newsletter
  “The most recent data, current as of February 17 from the University of Cambridge shows that Bitcoin is drawing about 13.62 Gigawatts of electricity, an annualized consumption of 124 Terawatt-hours — about a half-percent of the entire world’s total — or about as much as the entire country of Pakistan.”
• Vaccines
  Hong Kong approves Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use / China Daily
• WHO inquiry into COVID-19 origins
  In hunt for COVID-19 origin, WHO team focuses on two animal types in China / WSJ (paywall)
  Related, on The China Project: WHO in Wuhan: A refusal to share raw data, or ‘standard scientific debate’?
• Fatal clinical trials?
  Hundreds of Chinese patients died in ‘redundant’ trials of proven drugs / Caixin (paywall)
  “Hundreds of Chinese heart disease patients died avoidable deaths, with more still suffering heart attacks and strokes, after 100,000 went untreated in unnecessary trials of widely used medication, new research suggests.”

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• India-China border thaw
  India-China border: New satellite images show Chinese troops have dismantled camps on disputed border near Ladakh / CNN
  China says disengagement of Chinese, Indian troops in eastern Ladakh going on smoothly / The Hindu
• Xinjiang
  U.S. House revives bill to ban goods from China’s Xinjiang / Reuters
• Myanmar protests
  Myanmar protesters urge China to condemn coup. Will Beijing act? / Al Jazeera
• Lawyers representing fleeing Hongkongers get disbarred
  China disbars lawyers on sensitive cases / NPR
• Who will Biden nominate for China ambassador?
  Rahm Emanuel, Nicholas Burns seen as potential China envoy / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “Ex-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns are among the leading candidates for U.S. ambassador to China.”
• Taiwan and the global chip shortage
  Biden team pressing Taiwan, allies on auto chip shortfall / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “President Joe Biden’s top economic adviser, Brian Deese, has sought the Taiwanese government’s help resolving a global semiconductor shortage that’s idling U.S. car manufacturing plants.”
• New Xinjiang law requires “national unity” promotion
  新疆维吾尔自治区民族团结进步模范区创建条例 / Xinjiang government
  Nathan VanderKlippe on Twitter: “The Xinjiang government has passed a major new regulation on national unity. It comes into force March 1, and obligates parents, teachers, religious teachers — and even restaurateurs — to promote national unity.”
• When business in China goes wrong
  Irish man barred from leaving China appeals to Beijing / The Irish Times
  Richard O’Halloran is a Dublin businessman barred from leaving China over a commercial dispute involving the company he works for.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• A hit movie and the mother-daughters bond
  Hi, Mom! box office hit sparks ‘when my mum was younger’ trend on Weibo / What’s on Weibo
  “One big discussion is focused on all the things daughters would tell their younger moms: ‘Please don’t marry Dad.’”
• Ceramic Chinese cuisine
  The taste of home / Neocha