China Newsbase
Fast, easy search of the China news that matters
The China News Database was last updated at 07:24PM on June 7, 2023.
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1,007 articles matching the search query.
This week on TikTok: The new space race and Blizzard-NetEase fallout
Want more like this? Subscribe to The China Project’s official TikTok channel, ChinaVibe, where Susan St.Denis explains complex topics about China clearly and simply in TikTok’s fast evolving visual and verbal language.
Editor’s note for January 27, 2023
A note for Access newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn.
Activision Blizzard and NetEase’s feud, explained
The messy breakup has it all: disgruntled gamers, changing power dynamics, and even shade-throwing beverages.
China declares underage gaming ban effective, but report shows teenagers aren’t studying more. Here’s why.
Getting Chinese teenagers focused on studying and exercising seems to be an endless battle when there are so many entertaining things to do on screens.
Tencent to block Chinese gamers' access to foreign, unapproved games
Tencent will block access to foreign games by closing a service that allows Chinese gamers to play overseas games, due to “an adjustment in business operation strategy,” the company announced on Wednesday.
China approves new online games as crackdown eases
China has approved new online games in a sign that the long recent crackdown on the industry may be easing. But the list of new licenses granted for 45 games doesn’t include those from foreign developers or Tencent, which is now perhaps the world’s most important gaming company. Reuters says that “companies had bent over backwards after facing heavy criticism from authorities for being non-compliant.”
China Ends Video Game Freeze By Handing Out First Licenses Since July
Gaming licenses get approved again: After nine months without a single new video game title approved for release in the Chinese market, the National Press and Publication Administration resumed gaming approvals on April 11. Of the 45 titles approved, industry leaders Tencent and NetEase were “noticeably absent,” Bloomberg reports, but the stocks of many gaming companies, including industry leaders, rose by 6–8% in pre-market trading in response to the news.
Chinese gaming engine company Cocos raises $50 million · TechNode
Open-source gaming engine company Cocos raised $50 million in Series B funding.
Chengdu: China’s future gaming and tech hub
Gaming entrepreneurs are flocking to set up shop in Chengdu, as younger Chinese people flee the stresses of urban life.
‘Too much to eat and not enough to do’ — phrase of the week
Eating too much food is a metaphor for being lazy in Chinese. It’s how one NPC delegate attending last week’s Two Sessions was criticized on social media.
Are video games China’s next cultural export?
The rise of MiHoYo’s ‘Genshin Impact’ should make people reconsider the viability of China’s culture factory.
ByteDance invests in AI-powered female virtual assistants
A story from the The China Project A.M. newsletter. Sign up for free here.
Tencent off-loads share in gaming company
Tencent has off-loaded $3 billion worth of shares in the Singapore-based gaming and ecommerce firm Sea, in a move to align its portfolio to match the priorities of Beijing’s “common prosperity” and sustainability push.
China’s Cultural Crackdowns: A guide
From classrooms to phone screens to celebrity idols, the Chinese government is tightening its control over Chinese society. As culture reaches a new level of strategic importance, The China Project takes stock of the disparate changes to society in the past few years.
China’s game licensing freeze could soon thaw, as stocks jump at the news
Regulators will restart video game approvals later this month, ending the longest licensing freeze since 2018, and bringing relief to developers increasingly looking to international markets.
EDG’s League of Legends win exposes ugly side of gaming world
Seasoned players in China say the gaming world is rife with casual misogyny and discrimination. EDG’s recent win, while celebrated across the country, also resulted in public displays of harassment of women.
Overseas gaming a rare bright spot in Tencent’s weak Q3 report
Tencent has its slowest revenue growth in 17 years, but overseas gaming may be a lifeboat. This story is from the The China Project A.M. newsletter — sign up for free here.
Zhang Weili falls in split decision at UFC 268
Rose Namajunas vs. Zhang Weili 2 went very differently than the first fight, when Namajunas surprised Zhang with an early knockout.
Yahoo shuts down remaining China services
Yahoo has ended its 22-year presence in the Chinese market, a largely symbolic move after many of the internet company’s services had already stopped operating in China years ago.
miHoYo joins Alibaba, Tencent, picking Singapore as key international hub
Gaming company expands to Singapore: miHoYo, owner of the massive hit video game Genshin Impact, is the latest of several Chinese companies placing bets on the business-friendly city-state.
Tencent pits its own Honor of Kings and League of Legends against each other
League of Legends: Wild Rift is starting strong in China, and that's not good news to Tencent's biggest gaming cash cow
Chinese games set global records amid crackdown at home
Tencent’s Pokémon Unite and Honour of Kings, as well as miHoYo’s Genshin Impact, have achieved record-breaking downloads and revenue.
New Chinese video games must follow socially conservative rules
A story from the The China Project A.M. newsletter. Sign up for free here.
China’s Gaming Body to Bar Local Games on Foreign Platforms
The agreement with over 200 domestic companies is aimed at controlling gaming addiction among young players.
Chinese Tech Companies Vow to Tear Down Their ‘Walled Garden’
The country’s leading internet platforms are being pressured to allow posting of competitors’ links.
Shanghai summons video gaming companies for a lecture
Major Shanghai-based gaming companies include Bilibili, miHoYo, Lilith Games, Giant Network and XD Inc
China’s Red New Deal: Tracking all the different crackdowns on companies going on right now
Updated October 26: The China Project’s tracker of all of China’s different crackdowns — now affecting 19 different industries or interest groups.
China’s gaming giants rush to comply with Beijing’s time limit for kids
Tencent rolled out an update to its signature mobile game Honour of Kings to comply with the new rule, while its esports arm TJ Sports said it would overhaul its tournaments.
Beijing restricts kids to three hours of gaming per week
Another day, yet another set of rules to govern China’s internet companies. Today it’s gaming in the regulators’ crosshairs, and the rules will be tough on China’s teenagers.
Visualizing Life Inside China’s Tech Bubbles
Two Beijing-based artists on how they brought the isolation at the heart of China’s Silicon Valley to life.
Hainan Duty Free Uses QR Codes on Items to Deter ‘Daigou’ Trade
An increasing number of people are buying products from the island province’s retail outlets and reselling them on the mainland — all while avoiding taxes.
Chinese state newspaper calls for higher taxes on gaming industry
China’s gaming industry needs to be taxed just any other traditional industry, according to an op-ed from one of the country’s influential state newspapers, joining the growing debate on how video games should be viewed and regulated.
Chinese newspaper labels gaming ‘spiritual opium’, names Tencent
The report from Xinhua-affiliated Economic Information Daily marks a strong attack on the country’s gaming industry and its leading player. However, the piece shows few signs that it represents the government’s official stance.
China’s gaming stocks on wild ride on state media’s broadside
Chinese gaming stocks plunged after state media slammed games as ‘spiritual opium’ and ‘electronic drugs’ amid Beijing’s crackdown in the technology space.
For China’s Most Beloved Team, It’s the End of an Era
The country’s women’s volleyball team was unceremoniously ousted in the group stage of this year’s Olympics, but they’re still the popular favorites.
Less Than Eden: China’s Rural Returnees Face an Uncertain Future
Lost amid the fantasies of a rural utopia is the reality — and diversity — of life on the ground in the countryside.
Watching the Watchers
Chinese artist Ge Yulu has found a devious way to defy the country’s growing network of surveillance cameras: Staring back.
China is the world’s next video game streaming hub
Computer gaming is moving to the cloud. Tencent and other Chinese companies look set to dominate the next generation of networked games.
