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03.15.18The Battle for Digital Supremacy
Economist
“DESIGNED by Apple in California. Assembled in China”. For the past decade the words embossed on the back of iPhones have served as shorthand for the technological bargain between the world’s two biggest economies: America supplies the brains and...
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03.07.18China Protectionism Creates Tech Billionaires Who Protect Xi
Bloomberg
China’s tech giants will add star power to the country’s political festivities this week, paying homage to President Xi Jinping and endorsing constitutional changes for him to remain president indefinitely.
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03.06.18Blockchain Is a Surprisingly Hot Topic at China’s Annual Political Gathering
Quartz
Thousands of China’s elites are currently gathered in Beijing for the “two sessions,” the annual meetings for members the National People’s Congress (or NPC, China’s rubber-stamp legislative branch) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative...
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02.27.18China Spends $279 bln on R&D in 2017: Science Minister
Reuters
China’s total spending on research and development is estimated to have hit 1.76 trillion yuan ($279 billion) last year, China’s science minister said on Monday, a year-on-year increase of 14 percent.
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02.27.18Chinese Capital Dangles Carrots to Lure Foreign Talent to Its Silicon Valley
Reuters
Beijing, a major hub for artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors in China, is touting a new list of incentives to try and bait foreign talent for its equivalent of Silicon Valley in the Chinese capital.
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02.06.18China Is Rapidly Closing the US’s Lead in AI Research
Quartz
Every year, hundreds of researchers gather at the annual conference of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) to hear presentations on the latest developments in AI. Increasingly, that means learning about the work of...
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02.05.18Chinese Capital Controls Hit Silicon Valley Tech Investors
Financial Times
Chinese technology investors in Silicon Valley are being thwarted by the country’s capital controls, in a sign of the unintended consequences of Beijing’s move last year to curb cash outflows.
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01.24.18US-China Biotech Startup XtalPi Lands $15m from Google, Tencent and Sequoia
TechCrunch
Google continues to increase its presence in China after it joined Sequoia China and Tencent in a $15 million investment for XtalPi, a U.S.-China biotech firm that uses artificial intelligence and computing to accelerate the development of new drugs.
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01.19.18Google Inks a Patent Deal with Tencent as It Explores Ways to Expand in China
Fortune
Alphabet‘s (GOOG, +0.31%) Google has agreed to a patent licensing deal with Tencent Holdings (TCTZF, +0.86%) as it looks for ways to expand in China where many of its products, such as app store, search engine and email service, are blocked by...
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01.18.18Baidu's Robin Li Is Helping China Win the 21st Century
Time
When Robin Li looks back at the question now, he can laugh. But things were different in 1992, when the Baidu CEO was a tongue-tied Chinese student applying for a computer-graphics graduate program in the U.S.
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01.17.18China’s Sports Industry Is Allegedly Growing Faster Than the National Economy
Forbes
The Chinese National Bureau of Statistics announced official data on the growth of China’s sport’s industry for 2016 on Saturday, showing a total output of 1.9 trillion yuan ($295 billion), and an 11.1% growth that outpaced the recovering national...
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01.16.18China’s Shutdown of Bitcoin Miners Isn’t Just about Electricity
Forbes
The most critical aspect about cryptocurrency for China to address is criminal activity.
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01.16.18Google Says ‘No Changes’ to Mapping Platform in China after Report
CNBC
Google denied a media report that claimed the tech giant was re-launching its mapping functions in China, where many of its services are blocked.
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01.05.18China Is Building a $2 Billion Office Park in Beijing Just for AI
Quartz
Last year, China said it plans to be a world leader in AI by 2030. Now its capital is building a massive campus to house the AI firms that will power that rise, according to local media outlet Beijing News (link in Chinese).
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01.04.18Beijing to Build $2 Billion AI Research Park: Xinhua
Reuters
Beijing is planning to build a 13.8 billion yuan ($2.12 billion) artificial intelligence development park in the city’s west, the official Xinhua news agency reported, as China pushes ahead to fulfill its ambition to become a world leader in AI by...
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01.04.18The China Trade War Has Already Begun: CEO Daily for January 4, 2018
Fortune
Gordon Orr, director emeritus of McKinsey and long-time China hand, wrote recently that many Chinese investors now “simply assume that they could not get approval for investment in the United States, and so won’t try.”
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12.14.17Google Plans Big AI Push in China
Fortune
Google is expanding its artificial intelligence, or AI research to China.
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12.13.17Founder of China's Embattled LeEco Placed on Debt Blacklist
Reuters
The high-profile founder of struggling Chinese tech conglomerate LeEco has been placed on an official blacklist of debt defaulters, a further blow to a firm that had spent heavily to compete in areas from smart cars to online entertainment.
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12.13.17Google to Open Beijing AI Center in Latest Expansion in China
Bloomberg
Google is deepening its push into China as it seeks an edge in one of technology’s most competitive fields: artificial intelligence.
Reports
12.12.17
Central Planning, Local Experiments
Shazeda Ahmed & Bertram Lang
Mercator Institute for China Studies
The “Social Credit System” is designed to monitor and rate citizens and companies in China and to guide their behavior. “It is a wide-reaching project that touches on almost all aspects of everyday life,” the authors Mareike Ohlberg, Bertram Lang,...
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12.06.17Will Tech Firms Challenge China’s ‘Open’ Internet?
BBC
China has been smart and ruthless in its control of the internet within its borders. It blocks some foreign sites altogether and it censors - heavily - what Chinese are allowed to see.
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12.05.17Are Alibaba and Tencent Fueling a Tech Bubble? Investors Weigh the Worrisome Question
Fortune
Alibaba has spent roughly $1.72 billion buying at least 50 startups and small businesses since 2013, while Tencent has doled out at least $780 million over the same period, according to Nikkei Asian Review.
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11.28.17US Charges 3 Chinese Nationals with Hacking, Stealing Intellectual Property from Companies
CNN
The charges being brought in Pittsburgh allege that the hackers stole intellectual property from several companies, including Trimble, a maker of navigation systems; Siemens, a German technology company with major operations in the US; and Moody’s...
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11.28.17For China’s High-Flying Tycoons, a Precarious Balance
NPR
Flush with credit, LeEco expanded aggressively overseas. But the company overextended itself, its credit began to dry up — and by May, it had to lay off most of its workers in the U.S.
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11.21.17Chinese Social Media Giant Is Worth More Than Facebook
CNN
Tencent shares closed more than 2% higher in Hong Kong on Tuesday, valuing the social media and gaming giant at around $522 billion, according to FactSet. Facebook is currently worth a little over $519 billion.
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11.17.17China's Nuclear Spaceships Will Be 'Mining Asteroids and Flying Astronauts to the Moon' as It Aims to Overtake US in Space Race
South China Morning Post
China is on course to develop nuclear-powered space shuttles by 2040, and will have the ability to mine resources from asteroids and build solar power plants in space soon after, according to state media.
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11.14.17China Suddenly Has Way More of the World's Most Powerful Computers Than the US
Quartz
China has surpassed the US by a record margin—nearly 60—to become the nation with the most supercomputers, according to the latest Top 500 survey,
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11.07.17Bitcoin Proves Hard to Kill in China
Financial Times
Chinese investors are still trading bitcoin and buying initial coin offerings, suggesting authorities in Beijing are struggling to clamp down on cryptocurrencies just weeks after announcing that public exchanges would be shut down.
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11.03.17How China’s Economy Is Poised to Win the Future
Time
President Trump has plenty of work to do during his 10-day tour of Asia in November. In Japan and South Korea, he must reassure nervous allies that an “America first” foreign policy does not mean the U.S. has ceded regional dominance to China. In...
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10.27.17China Harnesses Big Data to Buttress the Power of the State
Financial Times
The sinologist Simon Leys has described consuming China’s communist literature as akin to “munching rhinoceros sausages”. But amid the leathery verbiage generated by the 19th Communist party congress there were also some extraordinarily piquant...
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10.16.17China Seeks Dominance of Global AI Industry
Financial Times
While the National Science Foundation in the US has no increase in funding this year, China has promised to “vigorously use governmental and social capital” to dominate the industry.
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10.12.17China’s Tightening Grip on Tech Giants: DealBook Briefing
New York Times
If the Chinese government goes through with a plan to gain board seats at some of its country’s top technology players, will that cause problems when those companies go hunting for deals overseas?
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10.09.17Accelerating Fintech in China
TechCrunch
China’s expeditious adoption of fintech is generating profits not only for startups, but also the companies investing in them. Sitting in the headquarters of FinPlus, a fintech venture capital firm and accelerator, its CEO, Mosso Lau, said, “There...
Conversation
10.06.17
Is China the Future of Bitcoin, or Its Past?
China often dominates the market for Bitcoin, a virtual currency managed by a decentralized network of computers: at points over the last few years, China may have accounted for more than 75 percent of Bitcoin trading. Energy subsidies there make it...
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10.06.17It's Not Just Amazon: Chinese Tech Giants Are Selling Groceries Too
CNN
Amazon (AMZN, Tech30)'s move to swallow Whole Foods for $13.7 billion grabbed attention in the U.S., and the internet giant has also been dabbling in cashier-less grocery stores. But experts say China is already ahead of the curve.
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09.20.17The Timing May Be Right for Facebook to Enter China next Year, Analyst Predicts
CNBC
A Mizuho report pointed out that Beijing tends to lessen its media scrutiny during an administration's second term, and Facebook may have “an opening” after Xi Jinping begins his second five-year term in November.
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09.18.17China vs U.S.: Who Is Copying Whom?
Financial Times
China is gradually shedding its reputation as the world’s technology copycat. It still spawns lookalikes, whether they be GoPro-style action cameras or Didi Chuxing, a ride-hailing app that looked awfully like Uber until it added Chinese...
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09.14.17China Is Stumbling Hard at Acquiring the High-Tech Chip Companies It Wants So Badly
Quartz
US president Donald Trump on Wednesday vetoed a Chinese private-equity firm’s proposed $1.3 billion purchase of Lattice Semiconductor, an Oregon-based chip manufacturer.
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09.13.17The Rise and Rise of China's Xiaomi in India
Forbes
A couple of years ago in 2015, MIT Technology Review ranked Xiaomi number 2 on their list of 50 Smartest Companies -- a list that also had companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft who were rated far below the Chinese smartphone and smart home...
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09.11.17China to Shut Bitcoin Exchanges
Wall Street Journal
Chinese authorities are ordering domestic bitcoin exchanges to shut down, delivering a heavy blow to once-thriving trading hubs that helped popularize the virtual currency pushing it to recent record highs.
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09.11.17The Chinese Female Gamers Putting Male Players in the Shade
BBC
In the world’s newest superpower, professional video gaming is a booming industry set to be worth billions. Female players struggle to earn as much as their male competitors – but that's not stopping one talented team of young women.
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09.05.17Google Continues to Hire in China Even as Search Remains Blocked
Bloomberg
Google’s search service may be banned in China but parent Alphabet Inc. is hunting for workers in a further sign it has ambitions in the world’s biggest internet market.
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08.30.17What’s Yours Is Mine in China but Is Sharing at a Peak?
BBC
Ok, so car sharing makes perfect sense. And we get bike sharing, too. But ball sharing?
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08.30.17Alibaba and Tencent Are Showing How Companies Can Get around Beijing's Crackdown on Foreign Deals
CNBC
The firms, among China’s most important tech giants, are overseeing the merger of two companies they back. Chinese delivery firm 58 Suyun is combining with Hong Kong logistics company GoGoVan — both have raised funds from Alibaba, and Tencent backs...
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08.15.17Facebook Tests Way Into China Via Secret Photo—Sharing App
Financial Times
A photo—sharing app has appeared on Apple’s App Store in China that looks exactly like Facebook’s Moments app, and analysts say it may be a way for the US tech group to finally break into its most coveted market.
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08.03.17As Washington Tries to Protect Tech, China Could Fight Back
New York Times
As the Trump administration moves to take on China over intellectual property, Washington will find it has limited firepower. Beijing has a strong grip on American technology companies, and global trade rules could favor China.
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08.03.17Holes close in China’s ’Great Firewall’ as Apple and Amazon snub apps to bypass censors
Los Angeles Times
Moves by business giants Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. to stop people from using censorship-skirting apps in China have renewed questions about the extent to which U.S. companies are willing to work with authorities to operate in the vast but...
08.01.17
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Urumqi High-Tech Industrial Development Zone Innovation and Entrepreneurship Demonstration Base Work Plan
The Economic and Development Reform Commission of the Urumqi High-Tech Industrial Development Zone
In 2017, the Economic and Development Reform Commission of the Urumqi High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, issued a work plan for the zone. The work plan describes the overall goals of the zone as well as...
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08.01.17Trump Administration Is Said to Open Broad Inquiry into China’s Trade Practices
New York Times
The White House is preparing to open a broad investigation into China’s trade practices, according to people with knowledge of the Trump administration’s plans, amid growing worries in the United States over a Chinese government-led effort to make...
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07.18.17China Is Increasingly Becoming Key For Israel’s High-Tech Industry
CNBC
Israel has laid out the welcoming mat to Chinese companies and investors who may face more troublesome regulations and scrutiny elsewhere.
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06.20.17China Shames Jaywalkers Through Facial Recognition
Agence France-Presse
Chinese cities are cracking down on jaywalkers by installing facial recognition kits at intersections to identify and shame them by posting their photo on public screens.
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06.12.17Ride-Hailing Ucar Invests in China Tesla-Challenger Startup
South China Morning Post
Ucar, a ride-hailing app launched by Hong Kong-listed China Auto Rental (Car Inc), has led a 2.2 billion yuan (US$324 million) investment into a Tesla-challenger in China, making its foray into automobile manufacturing.
Reports
05.24.17
China’s Social Credit System: A Big-Data Enabled Approach to Market Regulation with Broad Implications for Doing Business in China
Mirjam Meissner
Mercator Institute for China Studies
Under the catchphrase “Social Credit System,” China is currently implementing a new and highly innovative approach to monitoring, rating, and regulating the behavior of market participants. The Social Credit System will have significant impact on...
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05.17.17Chinese Aviation Finally Takes off with Help from the West
Financial Times
The latest vehicle for China’s aviation dream, the Comac C919, has just completed its first test flight after Beijing decided to take a different path: buying parts from European and U.S. aviation companies rather than stealing their technology.
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05.11.17China Focus: Construction of Boeing’s First Overseas 737 Factory Starts in China
Xinhua
Construction of Boeing’s first overseas facility as part of its 737 production system started Thursday in the east China port city of Zhoushan. The construction will consist of two parts -- a Boeing 737 completion center and the delivery center. It...
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03.21.17China’s High-Tech Tool to Fight Toilet Paper Bandits
New York Times
The toilet paper thieves of the Temple of Heaven Park were an elusive bunch.
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03.14.17Is Google Another Step Closer to Being Unblocked in China?
CNBC
Google is still in talks with Beijing over its plans to return to the mainland Chinese market
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03.07.17China’s Plan to Build Its Own High-Tech Industries Worries Western Businesses
New York Times
China has charted out a $300 billion plan to become nearly self-sufficient by 2025 in a range of important industries, from planes to computer chips to electric cars, as it looks to kick-start its next stage of economic development.
Conversation
02.16.17
Can China Become a Leader of Innovation?
China’s ambitious high-tech strategy is raising alarm in industrialized nations. From American and South Korean chipmakers to German car and machine manufacturers, some industry leaders expect the imminent arrival of strong Chinese competitors. Does...
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02.14.17Chinese People Are Buying All Kinds of Desperate Remedies to Protect Themselves from Smog
Time
Air purifiers, meanwhile, are becoming cheaper and more efficient. Chinese tech firm Xiaomi leads the way with its Mi Air Purifier Pro, boasting a dual-fan, dual-motor system with ”high-precision laser sensor.”