https://www.scmp.com/rss/279287/feed George Chen was Managing Editor for SCMP.com International Edition. He muses about the interplay between the two financial centres, Shanghai and Hong Kong, in his Mr Shangkong columns online and in print. George, a 2014 Yale World Fellow, is the author of two books about China and Hong Kong. Follow George on Twitter: @george_chen en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com This is my seventh year in Hong Kong. If you ask me what really makes Hong Kong different, compared with Shanghai where I was born or the rest of China, the first word which pops up in my mind to this question will be “freedom”. Freedom is not just a concept but something that all of us can easily understand and experience. Whenever you walk across the border and step onto Shenzhen, Hong Kong’s closest neighbour, you know you need a bit technical help to keep you connected and informed on your... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1890587/last-not-least-lets-talk-about-freedom-once-again-and-why-it-makes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1890587/last-not-least-lets-talk-about-freedom-once-again-and-why-it-makes?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Dec 2015 05:00:00 +0000 I have a personal story to share with you about the development of private equity, which may offer some indication of how fast the industry has grown over the past decade. Many years ago I was appointed by my former employer Reuters as the British news agency’s Asia private equity (PE) correspondent. When I tried to introduce my job to friends in China, I was a little surprised that some thought PE stood for “physical exercise”. When I relayed this experience to acquaintances at KKR, one of the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/1888961/money-may-make-world-go-round-philanthropic-mission-makes-tech-start?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/1888961/money-may-make-world-go-round-philanthropic-mission-makes-tech-start?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Dec 2015 13:45:43 +0000 Global car-hailing app Uber and its local rival in China, Didi Kuaidi, are de facto in a business war, after Tencent, a key investor of Didi, decided to remove Uber from one of the most powerful online marketing platforms in the world’s No 1 internet market. What’s the key takeaway of the story here for other foreign businesses if they are considering doing or expanding business in China? It’s getting more difficult to make money in China, especially when you have to compete with local monopoly... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1887451/tencent-blocks-uber-wechat-so-what-fair-play-can-we-expect-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1887451/tencent-blocks-uber-wechat-so-what-fair-play-can-we-expect-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Dec 2015 05:00:00 +0000 Can the internet really fix everything? What about finding the next William Shakespeare or Mark Twain just on the internet? Xu Yuanxiang, vice president of Alibaba Pictures, apparently frustrated many veteran movie professionals by saying publicly last week that his firm "would not hire professional movie script writers any more" but turn to so-called "netizens' wisdom" for the next great story that his firm would make into a national bestselling movie. Xu's comments, made at an industry forum,... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1884919/we-cant-fix-everything-internet?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1884919/we-cant-fix-everything-internet?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Nov 2015 08:00:45 +0000 The year 2015 may not be remembered as a good one for the traditional media industry in Hong Kong but there has been more activity in the new media marketing and advertising business, just reaffirming the pressure on the industry's transformation. We've seen a handful of newspaper and magazine staff layoffs and business closures this year in Hong Kong, mostly due to the general downtrend in traditional media business, in particular print and radio, as the younger generation dramatically change... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1881778/traditional-media-industry-playing-catch-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1881778/traditional-media-industry-playing-catch-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Nov 2015 10:00:45 +0000 What is the most  advanced digital society in the world? America? Britain? Or Germany? No. The answer is a  little-known country in Europe – Estonia. In fact, Estonia has grabbed a lot of attention in recent years, especially after its digital citizenship initiative which gave everyone in the world the potential to “virtually” become an Estonian so they could more easily set up a business online for market entry into the European Union, of which Estonia is a member nation. Estonia is often... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/1878989/pay-taxi-credit-card-and-free-wi-fi-everywhere-why-it-so?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/1878989/pay-taxi-credit-card-and-free-wi-fi-everywhere-why-it-so?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Nov 2015 04:45:45 +0000 Is Visa a financial services company or technology firm? Ditto for transport firm Uber and sportswear maker Xtep. Industry boundaries are getting blurred, and almost every business now needs some kind of technology support to move forward. A friend recently joined Visa. When congratulated on his new job at the world's largest credit card company, his reply was: "Visa is actually now a technology company." Initially, I was not so sure about the changing business nature of Visa but later realised... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1876835/industries-step-technology-era?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1876835/industries-step-technology-era?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Nov 2015 15:30:15 +0000 China announced last week it is finally ending its controversial “one family, one child” policy at a time when the country’s economy is in its worst shape in more than a decade. The more practical question is not how many kids that Chinese parents should have, but where to get the money to raise more kids. I have to take the “one child” policy story very personally because I was born in 1980, the year when the birth control policy was officially implemented. Like many of my 1980s fellow Chinese,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1874617/finding-money-raise-kids-issue-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1874617/finding-money-raise-kids-issue-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Nov 2015 07:30:45 +0000 China’s three internet giants, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent – often referred to collectively at BAT – are apparently thinking of the same thing: fasten your seat belt, tighten your budget and stop hiring. Is this a good thing or bad thing for the long-term development of internet business in the world’s No2 economy? The growing power of BAT has rapidly become a challenge to many other, smaller internet businesses in China and one of the challenges it poses related to hiring. Due to the higher pay... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1871884/what-does-bats-hiring-freeze-really-mean-entire-internet?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1871884/what-does-bats-hiring-freeze-really-mean-entire-internet?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Oct 2015 06:30:30 +0000 What can a start-up really sell? A product, service, or just a concept? This must be the first question every start-up founder should ask. I was in Taipei for a Google event about start-ups and innovations last week. Google sent 10 best-performing Hong Kong start-up "students" in its EYE Program, an initiative to support small businesses to grow, to Taipei to meet their peers. The difference in a start-up business model between Hong Kong and Taipei is obvious from the first slide in their... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1869227/hong-kong-and-taiwan-take-different-start-routes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1869227/hong-kong-and-taiwan-take-different-start-routes?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Oct 2015 14:30:15 +0000 The spirit of entrepreneurship has been certainly coming back to Hong Kong this year after growing doubts in recent years over where to find the next Li Ka-shing. From almost any Starbucks shop across the city to a fast-growing number of high-level industry events, perhaps the three topics most often discussed are start-ups, innovation and entrepreneurship. In other words, as young Hongkongers keep complaining about low-pay entry-level jobs, many are striving to become their own bosses. I was... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1866373/busy-season-hong-kongs-future-entrepreneurs-coffee-shops-airport?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1866373/busy-season-hong-kongs-future-entrepreneurs-coffee-shops-airport?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Oct 2015 14:30:45 +0000 Have you seen McDonald's Hong Kong's new advert for its Big Macs on YouTube?  Inspired by Cantopop songs and dedicated to Hong Kong customers, the kareoke-like clip went viral almost instantly after its debut in July, scoring over 1 million views within just one month. That’s the power of advertising. More lessons on this subject can be gleaned from the hit US TV show Mad Men, set in New York City in the 1960s, but chief among them seems to be the one about how people like to be inspired on a... https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-gaming/article/1865536/cantopop-and-fast-food-what-mcdonalds-viral-kareoke-inspired-ad?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-gaming/article/1865536/cantopop-and-fast-food-what-mcdonalds-viral-kareoke-inspired-ad?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Oct 2015 08:00:45 +0000 Try and guess which company is the No4 smartphone in the US market after Apple, Samsung and LG? It's a Chinese company. Many American smartphone users may not know ZTE, one of the two largest telecoms equipment makers in China, but ZTE is already the fourth largest smartphone vendor in the US, with a nearly 8 per cent market share, according to consultancy firm Strategy Analytics. The bigger story behind ZTE's No4 position in the US market is about the long-term strategy that many Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1863992/zte-who-chinas-next-push-smartphone-brand-names-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1863992/zte-who-chinas-next-push-smartphone-brand-names-us?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Oct 2015 09:45:30 +0000 How important to the US is President Xi Jinping's first state visit to America? The answer could be mixed. For the US government, Xi is of course a very important visitor. But most Americans may consider Xi just another foreign leader visiting the United States. On Friday morning, just as US President Barack Obama was welcoming Xi to Washington, US House Speaker John Boehner announced his resignation from Congress. Major American broadcasters that were expected to broadcast live a joint press... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1861796/pope-john-boehner-and-xi-jinping-whos-more-important?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1861796/pope-john-boehner-and-xi-jinping-whos-more-important?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Sep 2015 12:15:00 +0000 The economies of China and the United States are now deeply connected. You don't need a PhD in economics to know this. It can be seen in many aspects of everyday life. I was in the US recently just a few weeks ahead of President Xi Jinping's scheduled visit. During this trip, I was approached by many ordinary Americans who were interested to know my views on the Chinese economy. To my surprise, awareness is now high among Americans of Chinese brands such as Alibaba and Xiaomi rather than just... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1859910/ignoring-politics-can-be-bad-business?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1859910/ignoring-politics-can-be-bad-business?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Sep 2015 13:30:15 +0000 One of the most frequently heard terms in global capital markets this year must be the "new normal", which generally refers to how China plans to deal with its slower economic growth and avoid a hard landing that could have a negative impact on world economies. The real challenge for Beijing, however, is how to explain the "new normal" story well. Premier Li Keqiang was undoubtedly the most widely anticipated speaker at the World Economic Forum's (WEF) China-focused annual conference in Dalian... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1857800/selling-chinas-new-normal-story-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1857800/selling-chinas-new-normal-story-world?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Sep 2015 13:45:15 +0000 Global investors and government leaders will have their eyes on the northern Chinese port city of Dalian for the next few days as premier Li Keqiang is expected to speak at the “Summer Davos” to an audience of over 1,700 including many who are increasingly concerned about the development of the world’s second-largest economy. Li is no stranger to the “Annual Meeting of the New Champions” of the World Economic Forum (WEF). “Summer Davos” was in fact an initiative launched by Li’s predecessor, Wen... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1856569/what-expect-chinas-premier-li-keqiang-he-seeks-reassure?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1856569/what-expect-chinas-premier-li-keqiang-he-seeks-reassure?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Sep 2015 02:00:45 +0000 Almost everything in China could be political, including your decision to buy your next smartphone - whether you choose foreign brands like Apple or you support a national brand like Huawei. Ahead of Wednesday's scheduled launch of Apple's new iPhone 6S smartphone, state broadcaster China Central Television ran a Quality Report programme that strongly criticised the performance of cameras in a number of top-selling foreign smartphones, including Apple's iPhone 6 and Samsung's Galaxy S5. The... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1855743/foreign-smartphone-brands-apple-victim-rising-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1855743/foreign-smartphone-brands-apple-victim-rising-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Sep 2015 13:00:30 +0000 What do Malaysia's missing flight MH370, the deadly blasts in Tianjin and the stock market crisis in the world's No2 economy all have in common? Incompetent governance. The whole world was shocked when the Malaysia Airlines flight went missing on March 8 last year. But that shock quickly turned into frustration, especially for the Chinese families of missing MH370 passengers, due to the weak crisis management and bad communication of the Malaysian government. The recent chemical explosions at... https://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/1853860/malaysias-mh370-chinas-stock-crisis-bad-governance-compounding?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/1853860/malaysias-mh370-chinas-stock-crisis-bad-governance-compounding?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Aug 2015 14:15:45 +0000 I first visited Hong Kong about 15 years ago as a tourist and the small plastic Octopus card left a very strong impression on me – I could use it to do many things from taking the subway to buying drinks at 7-Eleven stores around Hong Kong at a time when cash remained  king in my hometown of Shanghai. I remember one thing that I found disappointing during my first trip to Hong Kong was riding in a taxi. If I  could use an Octopus card to go almost anywhere on the city’s MTR subway system, why... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1851833/octopus-card-uber-mindset-blocks-hong-kong-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1851833/octopus-card-uber-mindset-blocks-hong-kong-future?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Aug 2015 07:15:30 +0000 Two events in a single day last week made Hong Kong a very ironic city for business development. First, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying talked about innovation. Second, the government stifled that innovation to help the old economy survive. Last Thursday a number of industry groups released a survey showing nearly one in three people in Hong Kong who use the internet dip into services such as car-hailing app Uber, flat-rental site Airbnb, crowdfunding operations or other peer-to-peer platforms.... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1849976/hong-kong-seeks-innovation-chokes-firms-can-power-development?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1849976/hong-kong-seeks-innovation-chokes-firms-can-power-development?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Aug 2015 15:15:30 +0000 I recall a time when Hong Kong was widely considered one of the best destinations in Asia for people to come to work, especially for professionals from neighbouring countries, including Singapore. But now something is changing. My first trip to Singapore was in the early 2000s. At that time, those high-end hotels and conference facilities in Marina Bay didn’t exist at all. Singapore was often jokingly referred to by high-flying investment bankers as “Singabored”, as they complained the city... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1848150/singabored-talent-magnet-singapore-raising-its-stake?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1848150/singabored-talent-magnet-singapore-raising-its-stake?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Aug 2015 03:45:00 +0000 Once upon a time, it was considered heroic to break a national monopoly in the taxi business, but it soon became a different kind of monopoly by itself. This is certainly far from the original definition of a "sharing economy". Didi Kuaidi, often dubbed by media as the "Uber of China", is now in a new public relations crisis in its home market after the car-hailing app suddenly decided to add a so-called "dynamic extra fee" to passengers' rides that depends on location, weather, traffic... https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/1847928/china-car-hailing-app-didi-kuaidi-next-monopoly-taxi-business?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/1847928/china-car-hailing-app-didi-kuaidi-next-monopoly-taxi-business?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Aug 2015 07:45:15 +0000 It's official. China is now at war, a war between the old economic establishment and the new camp of business backed by technology giants and innovators. On one side, Premier Li Keqiang has been pushing his so-called "Internet Plus" strategy for the past few months, personally encouraging the public to do business and shop online. But on the other side, the public has also heard quite different opinions from the central bank. Last Friday, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) shocked the internet... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1845899/chinas-digital-economy-faces-mindset-challenge?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1845899/chinas-digital-economy-faces-mindset-challenge?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Aug 2015 12:30:45 +0000 Those who follow me on Twitter may have noticed that I have been on the road for the past few weeks. Wherever I go, from Singapore to Shanghai, local transport is a growing issue. In Shanghai where more than 60,000 taxis with official government licences are on the road every day, the locals keep complaining about the lack of cabs as well as worsening service standards of 'official' taxis. Meanwhile, more locals, especially the tech-savvy younger generation, use Uber or Uber-like local... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1843787/when-60000-taxis-are-not-enough-shanghai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1843787/when-60000-taxis-are-not-enough-shanghai?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Jul 2015 09:00:45 +0000 Here's my advice for those who are in the public relations business: think twice before you write the word "innovation" in your press release because the word is already widely overrated. I've received dozens of emails from different company PRs trying to promote their new products in the past week, especially during the first Asia-focused Mobile World Congress Shanghai event. When they tried to introduce their new products, "innovation" (or "innovative") was so often cited that I quickly lost... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1841282/chinese-innovation-lost-shuffle-beijings-blessing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1841282/chinese-innovation-lost-shuffle-beijings-blessing?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Jul 2015 14:00:00 +0000 Participants at a closely watched industry event about mobile technology in Shanghai were shocked on Wednesday to find themselves in the ironic situation of not being able to rely on the Wi-fi connection provided at the conference site. The GSMA Mobile World Congress (MWC) launched its first Asia-focused event in China’s financial capital this week, hot on the heels of the hugely successful, and inaugural, Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Asia in the same city in May. Both CES Asia and the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1839424/global-mobile-industry-fair-shanghai-left-po-faced-unstable?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1839424/global-mobile-industry-fair-shanghai-left-po-faced-unstable?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Jul 2015 10:15:45 +0000 I felt a sense of déjà vu upon returning to the Kerry Hotel Pudong in Shanghai this week for the second high-profile global technology conference held there in as many months.  As with the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Asia in May, organisers of the Mobile World Congress Shanghai had chosen China’s financial hub and this particular hotel to launch their new Asia-centric show. The MWC is taking place at the hotel and the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) from Wednesday to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1838666/shanghai-redux-tale-two-global-tech-events-and-one-city?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1838666/shanghai-redux-tale-two-global-tech-events-and-one-city?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jul 2015 08:30:00 +0000 As Beijing fights its worst stock market crisis in years, the two most important questions facing leaders - including Premier Li Keqiang - must be where to find the money to boost the market and what was the real cause of the crash. The first answer may be an easy one. The central bank is now the de facto top provider of unlimited liquidity support to local brokerages to stabilise the market. Hundreds of billions of yuan have been poured into the market. As a result, investors have seen some... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1838214/msci-joins-list-reasons-china-market-crash?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1838214/msci-joins-list-reasons-china-market-crash?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Jul 2015 16:00:30 +0000 Still remember the news? Just a few weeks ago, more than 20 Chinese internet firms listed in the United States were leaving Wall Street via delistings as many of them were dreaming about relisting in China for higher valuations. Those who decided to delist must regret deeply now as few of them could have predicted a stock market crash - one of the worst in years - in China in recent weeks. On Saturday, Beijing decided to suspend new listings until the market stabilised. This suspension decision... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1832750/china-tech-firms-delisted-wall-street-are-now-stuck?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1832750/china-tech-firms-delisted-wall-street-are-now-stuck?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Jul 2015 10:30:00 +0000 As China’s stock markets sank into bear territory again this week, after panicking investors offloaded their holdings, debate raged as to what exactly had prompted the market to fall with all the speed and ferocity of a sharpened guillotine. Many pointed the finger at “foreign interference,” and not for the first time. The Chinese media, and foreign ministry in Beijing, love to bandy this term around and blame it for a range of problems. At times, it feels like the go-to scapegoat for any social... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1830603/were-foreign-puppet-masters-really-behind-tanking-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1830603/were-foreign-puppet-masters-really-behind-tanking-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Jul 2015 09:30:15 +0000 Have you noticed the new trend on Wall Street recently? China Inc, especially Chinese internet start-ups, are exiting via privatisations and will most likely re-list in China soon. I'm a big fan of a free capital market so they should be able to go or stay wherever they like. But some of them may be leaving Wall Street for the wrong reason - valuations. During the past two weeks more than half a dozen US-listed Chinese internet companies, including cybersecurity specialist Qihoo360 and social... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1824565/china-inc-leaving-wall-street-wrong-reason?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1824565/china-inc-leaving-wall-street-wrong-reason?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Jun 2015 13:00:15 +0000 How innovative is China these days? The answer is getting increasingly unclear after a series of embarrassing events. First there was Fudan, one of the most prestigious universities in China, and then Baidu, the No1 homegrown search engine. The two incidents have forced people to rethink how competitive China could be, from its education level to its technology development. Late last month, Shanghai's Fudan University launched a new promotional video to celebrate its 110th anniversary, which was... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1821680/honesty-essential-element-chinas-push-innovation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1821680/honesty-essential-element-chinas-push-innovation?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Jun 2015 11:30:45 +0000 Nowadays in China, probably seven out of 10 people you hear at Starbucks are talking about start-ups. This is not a joke and I'm getting a bit worried. A wildly spreading post among Chinese social media users these days says there are only two things that most Chinese university students are really passionate about. Mission one before graduation: investing in the domestic stock market, one of the world's best-performing so far this year, to make some quick money. And mission two: launching a... https://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/1817861/chinas-start-mania-overlooks-risk-failure?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/1817861/chinas-start-mania-overlooks-risk-failure?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Jun 2015 10:15:15 +0000 When Google began research on smart cars a few years ago many people felt it was more like a hobby for Google engineers who had time to spare But now everybody takes the idea of future cars seriously. In fact, the organiser of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Asia in Shanghai last week might consider renaming the event next year the "Consumer Electronics and Smart Car Show". One of the two main CES exhibition halls was dominated by big-name global carmakers, including Audi, Volkswagen and... https://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/1813369/chinese-carmakers-get-smart-about-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/1813369/chinese-carmakers-get-smart-about-future?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 31 May 2015 08:45:15 +0000 While the inaugural Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Asia, taking place in Shanghai this week, has been as jargon-filled as any technology event: B2B, B2C, O2O, etc. But one acronym is only mentioned in private conversations: C2C. C2C or 'Copy2China' is the practice of copying everything new and popular in the West in the Chinese market. Examples abound in both hardware and internet services, thanks in part to Beijing's tight control of the domestic internet market and policy. Xiaomi, the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/1808982/behind-scenes-ces-asia-shanghai-complaints-about-chinese-copycats?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/1808982/behind-scenes-ces-asia-shanghai-complaints-about-chinese-copycats?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 May 2015 07:30:45 +0000 When e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding eventually decided to list in New York last year, some Hong Kong officials and bankers sought to defend the snubbed city's long-standing reputation as one of the world's leading financial centres. "Don't worry. Others will still come to Hong Kong after Alibaba" was the main message heard at the time. The result? Yet another disappointment this month. You may remember a company called Focus Media, which was once listed on the technology sector-focused... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1808251/hong-kong-snubbed-another-ipo-rival-shenzhen-gets-focus-media?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1808251/hong-kong-snubbed-another-ipo-rival-shenzhen-gets-focus-media?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 May 2015 12:00:45 +0000 Premier Li Keqiang has apparently lost his patience in recent weeks about many small but important things, as China's Big Three mobile network operators were eventually forced by the premier to cut the prices for their mobile data services and increase internet access speeds. Li had to personally host meetings to place a strong and decisive order for the Big Three - China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom - to change their service plans. It made him a sympathetic figure. As premier, he must... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1801622/small-change-chinas-mobile-data-services-shows-big-power?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1801622/small-change-chinas-mobile-data-services-shows-big-power?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 May 2015 13:15:00 +0000 One of the biggest risks of doing business in China for foreign companies is regulatory uncertainty, and that risk factor is growing bigger these days due partly to fast development of global technology and innovation. Remember the recent South China Morning Post story about global taxi-hailing app Uber in China? Two local governments - Guangzhou first and then Chengdu - raided mainland-based offices of Uber within just one week for more or less the same reason: the local authorities suspected... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1792258/after-government-ban-now-guangzhou-wants-copy-uber?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1792258/after-government-ban-now-guangzhou-wants-copy-uber?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 May 2015 12:45:00 +0000 Premier Li Keqiang has recently become a big fan of the internet. Wherever he goes and speaks, he promotes Beijing's "Internet Plus" strategy, which is aimed at transforming the mainland's labour intensive economy into a more innovative, internet-driven one. But some of Li's subordinates appear to have been slow to catch on to the premier's new thinking about the economic future. Last week, local officials raided the Guangzhou office of Uber, the operator of the globally popular taxi-hailing... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1784944/power-struggles-regulatory-uncertainties-challenge-chinas-new-internet?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1784944/power-struggles-regulatory-uncertainties-challenge-chinas-new-internet?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 May 2015 10:45:00 +0000 For tech reporters in China these days, time management is really challenging, thanks to the almost non-stop rounds of launches of all kinds of new products. Sometimes they are forced to choose which company to cover, a dilemma when all are likely to be equally newsworthy. The next such dilemma is a week away, on May 6 to be exact. That’s when Nubia, the smartphone brand owned by China’s telecoms giant ZTE, and Qihoo 360, one of the most well-known homegrown Internet security service companies,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/1778829/so-many-smartphone-launches-cover-china-bubble-making?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/1778829/so-many-smartphone-launches-cover-china-bubble-making?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Apr 2015 23:00:45 +0000 Tech industry leaders from Silicon Valley to Beijing have at least one shared hobby – learning a foreign language as soon as possible – whether it be Putonghua for Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg or English for Xiaomi’s Lei Jun. In China, many tech industry leaders have strong academic backgrounds in computer science but their communication skills may not be as good as their coding, in particularly when they have to speak on the world stage. As Chinese companies increasingly look towards overseas... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-leaders-and-founders/article/1777704/zuckerbergs-chinese-lei-juns-english-tech-leaders?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-leaders-and-founders/article/1777704/zuckerbergs-chinese-lei-juns-english-tech-leaders?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Apr 2015 08:30:30 +0000 Many Chinese technology companies have a mixed reputation on the world stage, frequently being accused by foreign competitors of copying technological solutions and product designs. However, up to now it has been rare to hear mainland tech firms level these types of accusations at each other. The war of words between China's two most successful technology firms - Huawei and ZTE - comes as a surprise to many of their peers. ZTE is threatening to sue Huawei for violating two camera technology... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1777018/why-zte-huawei-lawsuit-could-be-good-thing-chinese-tech-innovation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1777018/why-zte-huawei-lawsuit-could-be-good-thing-chinese-tech-innovation?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Apr 2015 13:30:30 +0000 We all know that things move fast in technology, but there is something troubling about a weird kind of industry culture developing among many Chinese technology firms: the push to make quick money by launching new products fast. Talk with Chinese technology industry leaders and almost every one of them wants to create the "Apple of China", or beat top United States e-commerce site Amazon in just a few years. My ears have been full of such slogan-like ambitions since I began leading my new team... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1770527/chinas-dumb-strategy-when-it-comes-smartphones?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1770527/chinas-dumb-strategy-when-it-comes-smartphones?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Apr 2015 07:45:00 +0000 In times past, whenever jobs available on the farm were sparse, Chinese farmers waiting for employment by the farm owner would be gathered at the centre of the village, playing cards and gambling to kill time. A joke spread widely on Chinese social media networks last week suggested similarities between today's stock market investors and those gambling farmers. When our national economy is in its worst shape in more than a decade and many corporates have run into trouble, our stock market... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1764805/few-want-explain-disconnect-between-bull-run-and-real?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1764805/few-want-explain-disconnect-between-bull-run-and-real?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Apr 2015 10:30:30 +0000 The official job title of Hong Kong's government leader since the 1997 handover has always been chief executive, which sounds more business friendly than political. Sadly, the truth is Hong Kong has been losing businesses on all fronts in recent years to highly competitive cities in the region, including Singapore and Shanghai. Last week, the organiser of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), one of the world's most closely watched technology and innovation events, held every year in Las Vegas,... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1756919/aiib-ces-hong-kong-needs-be-more-competitive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1756919/aiib-ces-hong-kong-needs-be-more-competitive?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Apr 2015 11:30:45 +0000 When I saw that China's No 1 air-conditioner maker Gree had announced plans to make an iPhone-like smartphone, I had mixed feelings about the long-awaited economic transformation of the country. Is this more innovation or a sign of another bubble in the making? Just days after Premier Li Keqiang made his milestone speech at the annual political summit in Beijing in which he revealed the government's so-called "Internet Plus" strategy to promote start-ups, technology and innovation, we have seen... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1750365/can-we-just-link-everything-internet-and-call-it-chinas-new?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1750365/can-we-just-link-everything-internet-and-call-it-chinas-new?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Mar 2015 12:30:30 +0000 Among all the successful start-up companies you know, including Google, Facebook and even China's smartphone maker Xiaomi, can you find one that succeeded due largely to government policy support and funding? Not really. In the world of start-ups it is widely known that one of the keys to success is DIY, or do-it-yourself. A typical start-up story often begins with the founders putting their own money into their project despite the risk they may lose everything if their business fails. Later, if... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1744661/start-ups-should-skip-government-policy-support-and-try-diy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1744661/start-ups-should-skip-government-policy-support-and-try-diy?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Mar 2015 10:15:45 +0000 Will the growing popularity of e-commerce businesses really help China to create several million new jobs? Premier Li Keqiang believes so, despite concerns from traditional industry players. Last week, the State Council issued a directive calling for support from "all levels" in different ministries and local governments across the nation for start-ups, especially technology-related start-ups, as many young Chinese want to open online shops so they don't have to deal with insanely expensive... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1738433/can-internet-create-jobs-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1738433/can-internet-create-jobs-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Mar 2015 11:00:00 +0000 Beijing apparently believes it has finally found the right formula for economic transformation after discussing it for many years without any significant progress. Premier Li Keqiang's so-called Internet Plus strategy. In Li's presentation of his working report at the annual session of the National People's Congress, he spent some time explaining his scheme, which focuses on internet-powered start-ups and how new technology can be applied to traditional sectors. Communist Party mouthpiece the... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1732704/can-li-keqiangs-internet-plus-strategy-really-save-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1732704/can-li-keqiangs-internet-plus-strategy-really-save-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Mar 2015 10:15:15 +0000