Highlighted links for Monday, October 10, 2022

Below are links to other noteworthy reports published in the last 24 hours from and about China.

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

Humans are too risky to be money-making celebrities
Ageless and scandal-proof: Chinese tech groups bank on virtual influencers / FT (paywall)
“Computer-generated avatars are considered a safer option by companies as Beijing cracks down on human celebrities deemed politically outspoken or with questionable morals. Over the past year, Chinese investment and tech groups including Tencent and ByteDance have ploughed hundreds of millions of dollars into companies that develop digital influencers.”

CATL batteries are flying off the shelves
Battery maker CATL surpasses 2021 output in just eight months / TechNode
“Chinese battery maker CATL sold about 18 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of batteries and enjoyed a nearly 40% global market share in August, according to figures compiled by industry tracker SNE Research.”

The sudden death of a Huawei executive
Huawei executive Ding Yun dies at 53 / TechNode
“Ding Yun, deputy chairman of the supervisory board of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei, died of a sudden illness on Friday, according to an announcement on the firm’s discussion forum.”
Top executive at two of Huawei’s business groups dies suddenly / Caixin (paywall)
Huawei veteran Ryan Ding Yun, who led two of the company’s major businesses, dies suddenly at age 53 / SCMP (paywall)

South African labor unrest chokes up China-Africa supply chains
Massive supply chain disruptions expected on key China-Africa trade route due to South African labor unrest / China-Global South Project (paywall)
“Key strategic resources exported via South African ports to China are expected to face severe disruptions in the coming days and weeks in response to the declaration of force majeure by [South Africa]’s state-run logistics operator Transet in response to the escalating labor strife with its unions.”

More Chinese firms are listing at home
Chinese IPOs at home surge to highest proportion in two decades / Bloomberg (paywall)
“Chinese firms selling shares for the first time are favoring local exchanges rather than going to more traditional listing venues. Initial public offerings in mainland exchanges represented about 90% of the $89 billion raised by China-based companies listing at home, in Hong Kong or New York.”

Haidilao’s piping-hot dollar bonds
Chinese hotpot eatery Haidilao’s bonds jump on buyback plan / Bloomberg (paywall)
“Chinese hotpot chain Haidilao’s dollar bonds jumped by the most on record after the company announced a plan to buy back as much as $240 million of the notes.”

Pink diamond breaks auction records
Pink diamond sells for $49.9m, breaks auction record / Al Jazeera
“Originally estimated at $21 million, the 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star diamond was sold for $49.9 million at Hong Kong auction.”
Rare ‘fancy vivid pink’ diamond sells for £52 million in Hong Kong auction / Guardian
Pink diamond sells for record $49.9m at Hong Kong auction / Bloomberg (paywall)

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENT:

COVID zero faces another test as new variant emerges
New Omicron variant reaches China / Caixin (paywall)
“The northern Chinese city of Hohhot is battling the country’s first outbreak of [a] new Omicron subvariant, BF.7, which is thought to be more transmissible and better able to evade the immune system than other strains.”

Lack of psychiatric counseling regulation in China
What do counseling and cosmetology have in common? / Sixth Tone
“The answer is very little. But in China, their licensing requirements were almost identical.”

Measuring weather in outer space
China launches ASO-S satellite to study the sun and space weather / Space
“A Chinese spacecraft has taken flight to study the sun and improve space-weather predictions.”
China’s first solar observatory aims to solve mysteries of the Sun’s eruptions / Nature

POLITICS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

China’s hefty fishing fleet
A clear look at China’s deep-sea fishing / NYT (paywall)
“Graphics produced by The Times’s International desk show how China out-fishes the competition, casting right up against the edge of the law.”

China laps up Russian oil
China is the wild card in the energy war with Russia / NYT (paywall)
“Slower growth in China has braked the rise in world energy prices and Russian riches, but Beijing has also stepped up its purchases of Russian fossil fuels.”

Beijing tries to temper COVID-zero frustrations ahead of Party Congress
China urges ‘patience’ as COVID cases rebound ahead of key congress / Reuters
“China called for ‘patience’ with its COVID policies and warned against any ‘war-weariness’ as local cases soared to their highest since August, days ahead of a pivotal Communist Party congress.”
COVID defies China’s lockdowns, creating chaos ahead of top meeting / NYT (paywall)
“Tourists are stranded, residents confined at home. COVID flare-ups and the accompanying lockdowns are causing disruptions ahead of a key Chinese Communist Party meeting.”
China’s tolerance for Xi’s unyielding COVID fight is cracking / Bloomberg (paywall)
China on high alert as COVID cases rise ahead of Communist Party Congress / FT (paywall)
China imposes lockdowns as COVID-19 surges after holiday / AP

Six days until the Party Congress
Xi briefs Central Committee on Party Congress work report / Caixin (paywall)
China’s top leaders meet to make final party congress arrangements / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
‘You cannot say it out loud’: How Xi changed China over a decade / Bloomberg (paywall)
No promotions for women at China’s party congress? / SCMP (paywall)

China pushes digital economy in Nigeria
China harps on digital economy to eradicate poverty in Africa / Guardian Nigeria
“China has urged Nigeria to leverage the digital economy to eradicate poverty” at the Africa-China Economic Partnership Agenda Conference (ACEPAC), in Lagos.

Former head of CMB ousted
Ex-chief of China Merchants Bank expelled from Party for corruption / Caixin (paywall)
Tián Huìyǔ 田惠宇, “a former president of China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd. (CMB) (600036.SH -5.50%), has been expelled from the Communist Party and removed from public office for severe violations of law and party discipline — a euphemism for corruption — the country’s top anti–graft watchdog said Saturday.”

Rioting arrests three years after the Hong Kong University protest siege
8 convicted of rioting in Tsim Sha Tsui during siege at Hong Kong’s PolyU in 2019 / HKFP
“A Hong Kong court has found eight people guilty of rioting on Monday. They were arrested in areas of Tsim Sha Tsui in the early hours of November 19, 2019, when the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) was occupied by pro-democracy protesters and blockaded by police.”

Xi’s hidden backstory
Xi Jinping’s secretive life probed in new podcast The Prince / FT (paywall)
“The title of The Prince, a new podcast from The Economist about Chinese leader [Xí Jìnpíng 习近平], is a reference to Machiavelli’s leadership manual, and to what series host Sue-Lin Wong calls ‘a Machiavellian story of power — how it’s won, how it’s wielded and how far you can fall when it’s taken away.’”

• Last week on Live with Lizzi Li: The hidden story behind Xi Jinping.
• Also from the Economist: China wants to change, or break, a world order set by others. “It may yet succeed,” writes David Rennie, in a seven-part series.

Uyghurs and the UN
The UN abandons the Uyghurs / WSJ (paywall)
The WSJ editorial board writes: “If pathological optimists still think the UN Human Rights Council cares about human rights, they might want to note events last week. A motion was made in Geneva to debate China’s abuses against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang province, and the council voted 19-17 not even to discuss it.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

Is a Chinese soy sauce company selling unsafe products locally and exporting the good stuff?
Soy sauce ‘double standards’ stir massive controversy in China / Sixth Tone
“A controversy over food additives has generated billions of views on Chinese social media — and thrust an unsuspecting condiment maker into the spotlight.”

Chinese students abroad have different views on identity politics on racial justice
How Chinese students abroad navigate race and nationality / Sixth Tone
“Chinese international students in the U.S. are often criticized for a lack of engagement in racial justice. But how do the students themselves view their struggle?”

Life under lockdowns in China
“I just want to go home” — Xishuangbanna’s COVID lockdown strands tourists / What’s on Weibo
“Uncertain times for tourists trapped in Xishuangbanna: ‘They don’t know when the lockdown will be lifted and when they can go home.’”
Friday night fences in Shanghai’s Changning district / What’s on Weibo
“Green fences bring back memories of Shanghai’s lockdown earlier in 2022.”