https://www.scmp.com/rss/11294/feed Michael Standaert is a freelance journalist and correspondent with Bloomberg Industry Group based out of Shenzhen since 2010. Apart from the South China Morning Post, his work has also appeared in The Guardian, Al Jazeera and YaleEnvironment360, among others. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com On December 2, 2020, a reporter posing as a Mexican buyer received the following text message from a man in China calling himself Mr Chen: “I think you know the product you need 125541-22-2, 79099-07-3, 103-63-9, 40064-34-4 is very sensitive in Mexico, it is easier to pass China customs, but not easy to pass Mexico customs, so even if you confirmed that you really need to book such goods, your company should also consider using our trading company to sign contracts with you, and change the name... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3123109/chinas-fentanyl-connection-suppliers-fuelling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3123109/chinas-fentanyl-connection-suppliers-fuelling?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Feb 2021 23:15:07 +0000 Sara Wong, a 20-something from rural Hunan province, China, sits upstairs in a smoky Shenzhen iced-tea shop, lamenting not only the state of the environment – but the dearth of authentic discussion over what should be done about it. She has little time for many of the self-professed environmental campaigners who have cropped up in China over recent years, singling out in particular a local group that had been planning an “environmental awareness flashmob” dance. She says most such groups operate... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2119391/have-chinese-missed-takeaway-xis-environmental-message?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2119391/have-chinese-missed-takeaway-xis-environmental-message?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Nov 2017 04:00:30 +0000 Down a dead end road in the New Territories area of Kong Nga Po, a stone’s throw from pig pens, fish ponds and an organic farm, a pile of still-smoking ash spills from a Maersk container. A worker operating a crane is ripping open bags of cooled ash. Some ash falls into the bed of a truck, the rest into the vegetation along the road. The smell of burnt plastic is overpowering. Asked what has been burned, the worker responds: “It is from those things over there.” He points to blocks of baled... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2108339/welcome-hong-kong-worlds-dumping-ground-electronic-waste?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2108339/welcome-hong-kong-worlds-dumping-ground-electronic-waste?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Aug 2017 00:45:45 +0000 Just five years ago, freelancers and entrepreneurs in search of co-working spaces in China were relegated to searching for cafes with readily available outlets to plug into, or renting small apartments with like-minded souls in the cheapest places they could find. There was little sense of community for scattered innovators. Yet with repeated government calls for innovation, and funding to cover rental and other costs for start-ups in an increasing number of cities like Shenzhen (深圳), Beijing... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2096317/sauna-office-how-co-working-spaces-are-luring-chinas-young?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2096317/sauna-office-how-co-working-spaces-are-luring-chinas-young?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Jun 2017 00:01:09 +0000 While Jeff Bezos’ space travel company Blue Origin – with two turtles on its coat of arms – unveiled new rockets last week, a Chinese company in Shenzhen is preparing to launch an actual turtle into near-space possibly as early as this month. The reptile astronaut of Shenzhen-based Kuang-Chi Science, who is called Taigong Gui, or “Space Turtle”, is currently awaiting permission to board the Traveller II Beta that is expected to be launched this month from a remote location in Inner Mongolia... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2020079/shenzhen-company-entering-turtle-tourisms-space-race?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2020079/shenzhen-company-entering-turtle-tourisms-space-race?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Sep 2016 07:30:00 +0000 With all the depressing news on the global economic front, there might not be a better time to start an MBA on the mainland. Or at least that's the word from students enrolled in International MBA programmes at Tsinghua and Peking universities in Beijing. Many, like Jeff Chien, 25, a first-year student in the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, are betting on an economic upturn. 'The rules are going to be entirely different two years from now,' said Mr Chien, a Taiwan-born,... https://www.scmp.com/article/663566/students-turn-economic-crisis-opportunity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/663566/students-turn-economic-crisis-opportunity?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:00:00 +0000 This has certainly been a trying year for China - snowstorms brought much of the country to a halt at the end of January, the May12 earthquake in Sichuan took more than 70,000 lives and reconstruction in the province will take years, unrest in Tibet and Xinjiang have left the nation's western regions politically unsettled, inflation and food prices have risen steadily, stock markets slid far enough to wipe out much of the gains made in the past eight years, and food safety crises such as the... https://www.scmp.com/article/654617/now-games-are-over?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/654617/now-games-are-over?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Hoteliers bank on success of Beijing Olympics to boost tourist numbers following slump in August While tourist numbers during the Beijing Olympics weren't as rosy as predicted, the Games should raise the profile of the city as a destination, or at least that's what hoteliers are banking on. Visits by international tourists dropped by 7.2 per cent during August year-on-year, according to the city's tourism administration, and domestic visitors were down a staggering 41.7 per cent. The question... https://www.scmp.com/article/654616/travel-tourism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/654616/travel-tourism?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Recently introduced regulations, new government policies and the dour global economic climate are adversely affecting the mainland's luxury property market, according to analysts. Regulations imposed on buyers late last year and the drying up of credit lines in China, especially in the real estate market, have cut developers off from traditional sources of capital - revenue from property sales, and bank loans. 'We have certainly seen a significant slowdown in transaction volumes throughout... https://www.scmp.com/article/654615/luxury-market-weakens-financial-storm-rages?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/654615/luxury-market-weakens-financial-storm-rages?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:00:00 +0000 BEHIND THE STEELY realism of Shanghai author Tang Ying lingers the girlish fantasies of the sentimental love-story writer. Since she started writing in the 1980s, her 30 novellas, two novels, and four collections of short stories have meshed heart-tugging narratives and knife-edged jaundiced dispassion, pushing and pulling readers through something of a drawn-out, bipolar lovers' spat. Recent titles - such as Senseless Journey (2003), No Love in Shanghai (2002), and Asexual Partners (2001) ... https://www.scmp.com/article/477188/tugging-heartstrings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/477188/tugging-heartstrings?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Nov 2004 16:00:00 +0000 If prominent 'underground' playwright Zhang Xian gets a knock on his Shanghai door and a visit by the authorities one evening, he'll be expecting it - although he's not sure what form the visit will take or even why. He's had them visit before, and he's wondering when he may hear that knock again. 'Whether there'll be someone from the psychiatry institution, the people from the cultural bureau or from the police station - what kind of people will come to find trouble with me I have no idea,'... https://www.scmp.com/article/477187/while-husband-zhangs-underground-writings-defy-civil-tone-states-cultural-watchdogs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/477187/while-husband-zhangs-underground-writings-defy-civil-tone-states-cultural-watchdogs?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Nov 2004 16:00:00 +0000