Caixin

China’s tech sector has been making mass layoffs, freezing hiring and cutting pay since 2022, and there is little sign of a bounce-back. Cost reductions, efficiency enhancement or talent structure optimisation are often the words these companies use. But what is really weighing on the job market are sluggish business growth, intensified market competition and the unprecedented challenges of the business landscape amid new technology.

The market for Chinese developers’ dollar-denominated bonds has seen a meltdown over the past two years, losing 87% of its value, sparking renewed calls for a fresh approach to stimulating the property market.

More than 1.2 million Chinese studying overseas are expected to return home this year, but the hunt for a job this year could be tougher than in past years for these overseas graduates. In the countries where they studied, Chinese graduates are also finding it hard to secure a job. With global economic growth slowing and unemployment rising, some countries have accelerated the pace of stabilising their job markets this year, including tightening visa rules.

To maintain Huawei’s consumer products sales channels, Richard Yu, chairman of Huawei’s smart car unit, created Huawei Smart Selection model to partner with automakers to make cars and sell them at nearly 60,000 Huawei phone stores across the country. But the Smart Selection model is not without variables and risks from its partners. Caixin Global journalists tell us more.

China's economic boom has driven the flourishing of private entrepreneurship and led to the emergence of tens of millions of family businesses in the country. But many of these businesses are facing a challenge now: who will be their successor? Caixin journalists tell us more.

A broader depression has been weighing on the country’s supermarket sector, especially for big-box retailers that are fighting the rising tide of competition from online shopping platforms and smaller physical stores.

The Chinese national team won the first e-sports gold medal at the Asian Games, marking a landmark moment in the country’s gaming history. But with Beijing cracking down on youth gaming addiction and parents frowning upon it as a professional career path, what will it take for e-sports to go mainstream in China?

Cybercrime scams and the related kidnappings have exploded since 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent economic downturn fuelled the number of such crimes, including fake online romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes. Scam centres were concentrated in Cambodia, but have now been found in Laos and Myanmar, and at least four other Asian countries have become human trafficking hubs.

Bear bile has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for more than a thousand years with proven efficacy in treating certain liver and gallbladder diseases. Its popularity in China has made a comeback after a scientific research paper found that a compound in bear bile might help protect people from Covid-19.