Shi Yuzhu is Chairman of Giant Interactive, one of China’s most successful online game companies. One of China’s richest men, he knows tech, understands customers, and is a genius at applying powerful marketing tactics. Still, he is no Steve Jobs
Tag: china
Like its competitors, the French brand must contend in China with widespread counterfeiting, which can undermine the luxury label’s good standing. Finding the niche customers who spend everything on quality remains Hermès’ long-term strategy.
Essay: Last week, in Guangdong Province, a two-year-old girl was hit by a van and a truck. As many as 18 passers-by walked or cycled away from the scene. China asks itself if the “national character” has been sapped of any sense of indiv
A new survey of small and medium-sized Chinese enterprises reports that rising costs of labor and raw materials are posing serious challenges as China’s boom shows first signs of backfires.
Essay: The OECD rated China at the bottom of its “How’s Life” survey. Though China is behind in living standards, the findings are questionable. Still, the survey itself is a reminder that Chinese are missing the real means of judging their lives: free el
Welcome to Guangxi Province, a land of karst mountains, rice farmers and – rock climbers. Yes, the famous karst mountains of Guilin in the south of China can now be climbed.
Public officials have been caught repeatedly in usury-related scandals in the wealthy southeastern city of Wenzhou. Not only is it a betrayal of public trust, it exposes an economic system that too often relies on illegal money lending.
Tucked in between Beijing and Tijanjin is a “village” with all the trappings of Rome, Florence and Milan combined. Welcome to Florentina Village, an Italian-themed outlet mall that’s already drawing upwards of 25,000 visitors per day.
Liang Wengen, founder of industrial giant Sany, will stand as a candidate for the Communist Party Central Committee. It is a sign that the status of the entire group of Chinese private entrepreneurs is rapidly changing.
Op-Ed: Chinese want to know how to combat the abuse of power by top officials who force demolition of people’s homes to make way for new development projects. But rather than focusing on cracking down after the fact, citizens must simply demand a say in w
The world’s second largest retailer, Carrefour, insists it is not pulling out of the massive Chinese market. Still, a closer look at the French company’s struggles offers a window into how quickly things can change when doing big busines
Economic difficulties in Europe and the United States may finally be landing to China. In Wenzhou, a mid-sized city near Shanghai, entrepreneurs are tightening their belts – and skipping town in some cases – as operating costs rise and loans become scarce
In the past few years, the Chinese government has decided to dust off quite a number of “dormant” taxes, including those levied on property and personal income, as well as a local education surcharge, all signs of both the causes and effects of its high-o
In Beijing, housing price per square meter is as high as $2,000, which means most people who work in the city can’t afford to live there. Government efforts at subsidized housing have fallen short, as China begins to pay the price for its modern
Outrage follows an investigation into the confiscation of a dozen infants from a poor rural area of Hunan province. There, local officials offered dozens of children up for adoption to foreigners after the biological parents failed to pay fines for violat
Some 18 months after clashing with Beijing authorities, Google seems to have found a major new way to break through in China. Not only does it avoid web censorship dilemma, its new strategy opens an opportunity for Google to capture the booming online adv
A crash on Shanghai’s metro system injures 260 just two months after a deadly high-speed rail line collision and subsequent cover-up sparked national outrage. And scant TV coverage again.
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China: Gold Vending Machines!
Beijing will be putting into service the first ever gold dispensing ATM during China’s National Day Holiday which begins Saturday. Officials are banking on customers buying gold on the fly out of nervousness about the world economic crisis.
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China Still Has Much To Learn From Japan
Essay: Much has been made of China moving past Japan as Asia’s leader. But a Beijing-based Japanese writer says Japan’s relative economic decline in the past 20 years hides the fact that it has built a model society for its citizens.
China is an eager customer when it comes to Latin America’s raw materials. But it has proven to be far more finicky when it comes to the region’s value-added goods. Even Pollo Campero, Guatemala’s far-reaching fried chicken chain, failed to gain a foothol
Essay: Recent cases of badly behaving sons of the rich and powerful has riled the Chinese public, raising real questions about whether a country’s ruling class is more powerful than the state itself.
Op-Ed: Too much attention is being focused on China’s role in helping bail out European and American debt crises. The best thing Beijing can do is focus on the domestic economy; for if it collapses, all will pay a heavy price.
The Chinese Industry Ministry has created a new system for monitoring information on all companies that produce food. With awards to the best and a black list for the worst, it is a long-awaited response to a 2008 scandal involving tainted baby milk.
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Europe’s Debt Crisis: A View From China
Op-Ed: Until now, says a top Chinese economist, Europe’s political leaders have failed to find the courage or foresight to solve the debt crisis. But maybe Madame Merkel is changing her tune just in time.
China is already America’s biggest creditor. Now it’s setting itself up as savior of the euro by buying government bonds and company shares. Just how much money is being invested is still not clear. One thing, however, is: China’s moves are very much calc
Chinese authorities have closed schools attended by the children of illegal migrant workers in the over-populated suburbs of Beijing. Other such schools may be shut down too.
A case just broadcast on local television reveals horrid conditions of 30 mentally disabled forced to work at a brick kiln. But it is hardly the first such story in China in recent years.
The often-tense relationship between Beijing and Moscow has not been helped by a 2009 regional trade pact. Expectations on both sides have never been met, as the dispute came to a head at a recent economic forum in Siberia. One problem: China would rather
Essay: Widespread allegations in China of corruption among experts in the antique business is a metaphor for a society where the highest forms of knowledge have become a means to an end.
Op-Ed: China has helped fund a major new project to build schools in Africa, raising the ire of some Chinese for not first taking care of kids at home. The writer lays out the local benefits of helping globally.
In the heart of Hong Kong, Chungking’s 17 stories are divided by price and “presentability.” They are home to travelers, traders, restaurants and prostitutes in a low-cost microcosm of our ever mobile world.
After her historic French Open victory, Li Na instantly became the apple of advertisers eyes to the tune of $42 million. Though she was knocked out of the first round of the U.S. Open, a whole star system is counting on her earning power to keep growing.
Analysis: The emergency evacuation of Chinese companies from North Africa is a harsh reminder that firms from China must do a better job of integrating in the local environment to realize their dreams of striking it rich in the Arab world.
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Ai Weiwei Has The Last Word. For Now
Since his release from detention, Chinese artist and political activist Ai Weiwei has been forbidden to make any political statements, but he can’t help himself. Communicating via social networks, and now a magazine essay, appear to be a matter of inner n
Commentary: The “stiffs” in the government have banned songs from an array of popular singers, though the reasons for the are anything but clear. The only thing we know is that the black list is a nice round number.
Commentary: China is busy with some serious self-examination about the national “condition” after the tale of a near disaster above Shanghai Airport when a Chinese pilot was determined – at all costs — to land first.
A new report shows China sliding faster and faster into an “aging society,” which creates both economic and social pressures on the world’s most populous country.
Bad blood abounds along the Chinese-Russian border. But the lives of the borderland’s Russian and Chinese residents are also intertwined. In the Russian city of Chita, university students have the option to study German or French, but tend to prefer Manda
Liu Changjiang, 58, was never planning on having children. But that didn’t stop a local health clinic in Henan Province from giving him a vasectomy. Though the surgery won’t affect China’s population numbers, it does help Changjiang’s village meet its ann
Since China organized the 2008 Olympic Games, its revolutionary national stadium – dubbed the “Bird’s Nest” – has been the symbol of a country turned toward the future. But it also serves as a reminder of the country’s unresolved internal tensions.