China ended 2023 with the world’s worst-performing equity market as the blue-chip CSI 300 Index fell for the third straight year, plunging 35% over 36 months, making it difficult for private equity and venture capital firms to exit their investments. How will these firms deal with the country's stock slump?
Internet
Society
Recent news reports featured a Chinese man who slept on the streets of New York, who turned out to be a doctoral degree holder educated in Fudan University and the US. The story of how he did not return to China after getting a scholarship and became a US citizen but ultimately ended up on the streets drew reactions from the Chinese, who questioned why China should take him back.
Technology
China’s internet content industry has finally cultivated its first group of paying customers following years of heavy spending and heated competition. Maintaining momentum, however, will be a tall order.
Technology
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.
Society
Zaobao correspondent Chen Jing recaps this year’s Halloween parade in Shanghai, which saw young people expressing their thoughts on current affairs through their costumes. Will Halloween celebrations be as boisterous next year?
Society
A livestreamer’s comments over the cost of an eyebrow pencil recently brewed a public opinion storm in China. While the incident may be stirred by the livestreamer’s insensitive comments, it speaks to the public’s deeper discontent with the grim economic outlook and employment prospects. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Chen Jing tells us more.
Society
Tourism in China is still recovering following the pandemic, and some areas see a surge of tourists after going viral on the internet. One such place is Tianjin, whose claim to fame is a group of “diving grandpas” diving off the 6-metre-high Shizilin Bridge, despite signs prohibiting such activities. Sadly, they have declared that they will stop doing so. How long will other such ground-up activities last?
Economy
Tencent is pushing hard into the crowded social video market through its three-and-a-half-year-old Channels platform, a function embedded in WeChat. It has hopes of deriving associated revenue from livestreamed e-commerce. But how will this platform compare to frontrunners in the field such as Douyin and Kuaishou?
Technology
Major staff cuts at the metaverse units of ByteDance and Tencent have highlighted the sometimes disorganised ways that big tech firms have handled investments in new businesses. Now, grand development plans have been shelved, not so much because of a looming regulatory risk, but because of the difficulties of navigating a vaguely defined sector with patchy overall demand.