State-owned companies had a record year in 2017

The South China Morning Post reports that “total profit at enterprises owned by China’s central government rose 15.2 percent in 2017 to 1.4 trillion yuan (US$217.5 billion).”

• The profits were the highest ever in absolute terms, while the growth rate in the sector was the highest in five years.
• The results “vindicate plans the Chinese government announced in 2015 to overhaul its lumbering and debt-ridden state sector,” according to the SCMP.
• In recent years, the number of companies directly administered by the central government fell to 98 from 117 in 2012. The remaining enterprises “have been under pressure to improve their management to attract private capital.”

• The internet of toys
  Lego builds partnership with Tencent / Caixin
• Cryptocurrencies
  Bitcoin drops as China renews crackdown on cryptocurrency / Quartz
• Online reservations for Chinese New Year travel
  China railway website sees 5.93 billion clicks per hour as busiest travel season starts / TechNode
• Alibaba and intellectual property
  Alibaba releases first annual IP protection report 1 day before listed as “notorious market” by USTR / TechNode
• Political correctness for companies in China
  Marriott pulls banned ‘books’ from China hotel to avert backlash / Bloomberg
• Chinese car brands abroad
  Geely to use Volvo’s Europe plants to manufacture new car brand Caixin
• New energy
  China’s hunger for solar boosts clean energy funding near record / Bloomberg