Welcome to the sixth installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it includes a business news roundup, conversations with Caixin reporters and editors, and a selection of complete stories from the news, read by Kaiser and Sinica rotating co-host Ada Shen.
This week, we look at some of the big numbers from the Belt and Road Forum, which concluded after two days of clear skies in Beijing. We hear about “combustible ice,” a source of methane gas that can be found in permafrost and under seabeds. We look at Alibaba’s earning results, which owe at least some of their shine to the tremendous penetration that mobile payment platform Alipay is making. We then speak with Caixin Global editor Doug Young about the state of mobile payments in China, and with Caixin macroeconomics reporter Fran Wang about some of the macro numbers for April. We also bring you five complete stories:
- China Unicom admits to huge falsification of revenues in Shaanxi Province.
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Chinese smartphone brands are faring very well in the fast-growing Indian smartphone market.
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Ant Financial plans to seek a massive loan for a planned acquisition of MoneyGram.
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A massive algae bloom in Yunnan’s Erhai Lake is hurting tourism and agriculture in the region.
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Poor practices of supposed conservation workers threaten a 600-year-old early Ming heritage site in Anhui Province.
We’d love to hear your feedback on this new product. Please send any comments and suggestions to sinica@thechinaproject.com.
