Space Tourism: Chinese Company Says It’s Designing World’s Biggest Spaceplane

Avaneesh Pandey
International Business Times
The state-backed China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology is building a spaceplane that can fly up to 20 people to the edge of space

When China Began Streaming Trials Online

Stephen McDonell
BBC
Boot up your laptop or turn on your smartphone and take a peek inside legal proceedings

Apple Opening a $45 Million Research Hub in China to Develop Hardware, ‘Advanced’ Tech

Arjun Kharpal
CNBC
The center will be located in Beijing's version of Silicon Valley, the Zhongguancun Science Park

China’s Streaming Craze Launches a Billion Shooting Stars

Jacky Wong
Wall Street Journal
The owner of streaming app Inke is China’s newest unicorn thanks to a 19-fold increase in value

How Rocky U.S.-China Relations Benefit North Korea’s Nuclear Missiles

Minxin Pei
Fortune
Earlier this month, North Korea tested its fifth nuclear device.

Sinica Podcast

09.27.16

Fakes, Pirates, and Shanzhai Culture

Kaiser Kuo, Jeremy Goldkorn & more from Sinica Podcast
Fakes, knockoffs, pirate goods, counterfeits: China is notorious as the global manufacturing center of all things ersatz. But in the first decade after the People’s Republic joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, a particular kind of knockoff...

Why the US Presidential Debate Couldn’t Ignore China

Viola Zhou and Kristin Huang
South China Morning Post
Clinton, Trump clash over cybersecurity, terrorism, trade, and nuclear threats

China’s Xiaomi Guns for Apple with Latest Premium Smartphone

Bloomberg
The Mi S5 is a luxury phone costing less than half the most expensive iPhone

China’s Risk-Loving Mom & Pop Investors Abandon Local Stock Markets for Bitcoin

Zheping Huang and Joon Ian Wong
Quartz
China’s two biggest exchanges account for more than 90% of global trading.

China Hunts for Scientific Glory, and Aliens, with New Telescope

New York Times
The new telescope is twice as sensitive as the world’s next-biggest single-dish radio telescope

Mystery of China’s ‘Ghost Uber Drivers’

Sherry Fei Ju and Lucy Hornby
Financial Times
An eruption of creepy faces on driver profiles has spooked potential passengers

Alibaba Dethrones Baidu in China’s Digital Advertising Market

Uptin Saiidi
CNBC
Mobile ads are witnessing quick growth, but not everyone is in for a win this year.

Out of Control? China’s Tiangong 1 Space Station Will Fall to Earth in 2017

Ben Guarino
Washington Post
China’s first space laboratory will come to a fiery end late next year

Environment

09.15.16

A Chinese Train Could Link South America’s Atlantic and Pacific Coasts by Rail for the First Time

from chinadialogue
Official bodies from Brazil and Peru have expressed concern about the social and environmental impacts of the proposed interoceanic railway, which will connect the coast of Peru and Brazil, cutting through 621 miles of pristine rainforest.In a...

Depth of Field

09.12.16

African Migrants in Guangzhou, Forgetting, Family Planning’s Fate, and More...

Yan Cong, Ye Ming & more from Yuanjin Photo
Photographing the aftermath of catastrophic events is challenging—one that photographer Mu Li handles with creativity and grace looking back at the chemical explosion in Tianjin that damaged as many as 17,000 homes August 12, 2015. Another challenge...

The South China Morning Post Has Suddenly Shut Down Its Chinese-language Website

Ilaria Maria Sala
Quartz
In one fell swoop, years of reporting from SCMP is gone.

Apple Holds Firm On China iPhone Premium

Doug Young
Forbes
China has become a particularly worrisome market for Apple in the last year.

China Confirms Development of New Long-Range Bomber

Franz-Stefan Gady
Diplomat
The new long-range bomber should be capable of reaching targets as far as the “second island chain.”

Chinese Consumers May Be Experiencing ‘iPhone Fatigue’ As Product Launch Nears

Fortune
Convincing shoppers to replace their smartphone is a tougher sell than it used to be.

Volkswagen in Talks to Make Electric Cars in China

Rose Yu
Wall Street Journal
The German car maker has signed a memorandum of cooperation with China Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co.

China Moves to Ease Foreign Concerns on Cybersecurity Controls

Eva Dou and Rachel King
Wall Street Journal
China will allow Microsoft, Cisco, other foreign tech companies to join the influential Technical Committee 260.

FBI Files Say China Firm Pushed U.S. Experts for Nuclear Secrets

David Voreacos and David McLaughlin
Bloomberg
Summaries of the consultants’ interviews with agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were filed this month.

Is Huawei Doing Enough to Train Local Staff in Africa?

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
The Chinese telecom giant Huawei recently launched a massive publicity campaign to raise awareness in Africa about what it is doing to train local employees. The company has opened at least five training centers in different countries across the...

Caixin Media

08.22.16

What’s Next for Uber and Didi in China?

New regulations and a blockbuster merger between the industry’s largest players are reshaping the business landscape for China’s car-hailing app companies.And the landscape is widening as car-hailing companies, including Didi Chuxing Technology Co...

Tesla Drops Autopilot Label From Chinese Site after Crash

Peter Campbell
Financial Times
The move comes only days after receiving complaints over the way it markets the technology to potential owners.

China Says New Satellite Will Help Safeguard Interests at Sea

Adam Jourdan
Reuters
The “Gaofen 3” satellite has a radar system that captures images from space down to 3 feet and can operate in all weather conditions.

Conversation

08.10.16

Is Big Data Increasing Beijing’s Capacity for Control?

Mirjam Meissner, Rogier Creemers & more
China’s authoritarian government is using big data to develop credit scoring systems, and is urging data-sharing between companies and governments, putting ordinary Chinese squarely in the digital spotlight. How should Chinese netizens and global...

Sinica Podcast

08.08.16

Clay Shirky on Tech and the Internet in China

Kaiser Kuo, Jeremy Goldkorn & more from Sinica Podcast
The Internet expert and author of “Here Comes Everybody” gives his take on China's successes and challenges in the online world. In an hour-long conversation Shirky delves into the details and big-picture phenomena driving the globe’s largest...

Conversation

08.03.16

What Does Uber’s Retreat Say About the Ability of U.S. Internet Innovators to Succeed in China?

Kaiser Kuo, Angela Bao & more
In early August, news broke that Uber would sell its China business to Didi Chuxing, its largest rival on the Mainland. Uber is just the latest in a series of tech companies—including Google, Twitter, and Amazon, among others—that found the Middle...

China’s Surveillance Ambitions

Mirjam Meissner
Wall Street Journal
China hopes to put a ‘social-credit score’ in place as technology advances....

Apple’s China Problem Is That Local Phones are Good — and Cheap

Alex Webb
Bloomberg
Apple has lost market share to Huawei and Oppo.

Environment

07.21.16

Chengdu’s Pollution Is Complicated by Taxi Apps

from chinadialogue
Research carried out by Peking University’s Statistical Science Centre and Guanghua School of Management found that Chengdu suffers from air pollution 88 percent of the time—even worse than Beijing at 76 percent.

Uber Backers Said to Push for Didi Truce in Costly China War

Alex Barinka, Eric Newcomer, and Lulu...
Bloomberg
Several institutional investors are pushing Uber to ink a partnership agreement with Didi Chuxing.

Likely Hack of U.S. Banking Regulator by China Covered Up

Jason Lange and Dustin Volz
Reuters
The report was released amid growing concern about the vulnerability of the international banking system.

Pokémon Chasers in China Hit Brick Wall

Eva Dou and Juro Osawa
Wall Street Journal
The popular app is unavailable in China, but players are still trying....

Russia Stalls China’s $1 Billion Hydropower Loan for Mongolia

Michael Kohn
Bloomberg
The Kremlin said the hydropower project in northern Mongolia could threaten Lake Baikal 580 kilometers downstream.

Environment

07.06.16

China-Backed Hydropower Project Could Disturb a Sensitive Siberian Ecosystem

from Rivers without Boundaries
Lake Baikal contains 20 percent of the world’s freshwater resources and affects the regional climate of North Asia and the Arctic Basin. The lake is home to 2,500 aquatic species and local communities in Mongolia and Russia revere the lake as the “...

Conversation

06.30.16

Where Is China’s Internet Headed?

David Schlesinger, Jeremy Goldkorn & more
Lu Wei, the often combative Chinese official known as China’s “Internet Czar,” will step down, and is to be replaced by a former deputy of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The personnel change comes after a period of mounting restrictions on China’s...

Netflix Eyes China as New Market

Fortune
Netflix is trying to counter slowing growth in the U.S. by moving into 130 new markets worldwide.

Party Propaganda Rap Aims to ‘Tell Foreigners Truth’ About China

BBC
It says China has “terrible problems” but is peace-loving and affluent.

Lu Wei, China’s Internet Czar, Will Step Down From Post

Jane perlez
New York Times
China‘s “firewall” hands the position to Xu Lin after years of building internet policy....

Loan Sharks in China Offer Student Loans for Nude Photos, Giving New Meaning to ‘Naked Greed’

Pamela Constable
Washington Post
Internet lenders are now usuing naked pictures as collatoral for high-interest loans to female students....

China To Go To Mars By 2020

Daily Mail
China’s military-backed space program plans a total of 20 space missions this year....

Sinica Podcast

06.27.16

Patrolling China’s Cyberspace

Kaiser Kuo, Jeremy Goldkorn & more from Sinica Podcast
Adam Segal is the Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow for China Studies and Director of the Digital and Cyberspace Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations. His latest book, The Hacked World Order, provides an in-depth exploration of the...

China Is Another Step Closer to Controversial Cybersecurity Law

Fortune
The draft requires network operators to comply with social morals and accept the supervision of the government and public.

Uber Positions Its China App as More than a Ride-Hailing Service

Megan Rose Dickey
TechCrunch
Uber’s new vision for China includes two new offerings, UberLIFE and Uber + Travel, which will roll out across China this year.

For LinkedIn China, Microsoft Deal Is a Complicated Connection

Alyssa Abkowitz
Wall Street Journal
The professional networking site has found success in China, while its new owner has faced challenges.

Chinese Economic Cyber-Espionage Plummets in U.S.

Joesph Menn, Jim Finkle
Reuters
U.S. network security companies notice a 90 percent decrease in Chinese hackers, as promised by the Chinese government....

China Builds World's Most Powerful Super Computer

BBC
It is twice as fast and three times as efficient as the previous leader Tianhe-2, also from China.

Alibaba Faces Backlash Over Promises on Counterfeits

Kathy Chu
Wall Street Journal
E-commerce giant has said it would spare no expense in cracking down on sellers of fake goods on its sites; Ma’s latest comments irk brands.

Insurance Firm China Life Puts $600M into Didi Chuxing Months after Backing Uber

Jon Russell
TechCrunch
It provides an equity investment of $300 million, and a separate “long-term debt investment” of RMB 2 billion ($305 million).

China’s Deal Makers Have German Tech Firms In Their Sights

William Wilkes
Wall Street Journal
Chinese investors are buying German companies at about one per week in 2016....

China Is Planning A Massive Sea Lab 10,000 Feet Underwater

Bloomberg
Plans for deep-sea platform—used for mineral hunting and likely military purposes—have been accelerated....

Bitcoin, Meet China. May You Have Many Happy Days Together.

Kevin Drum
Mother Jones
Most trading in bitcoin takes place in China: Huobi and OKCoin, two Chinese exchanges, are thought to account for more than 90% of transactions.

China's Smartphone Billionaire Forges Alliance With Microsoft For Patent Portfolio

Robert Olsen
Forbes
Xiaomi is buying about 1,500 patents from Microsoft to support its international expansion.

Media

05.31.16

Will China’s ‘Taobao Villages’ Spur a Rural Revolution?

from chinadialogue
The province of Shanxi, in northern China, is famous for coal mining, and the industry’s impact is etched across the landscape. But the province’s southern counties, which lie near the Yellow River, are known for a very different commodity—red dates...

China Unveils ‘Straddling Bus’ Design to Beat Traffic Jams

Tom Phillips
Guardian
The concept vehicle is designed to float above the clogged-up streets of some of the country’s biggest cities.

China Quietly Targets U.S. Tech Companies in Security Reviews

Paul Mozur and Jane Perlez
New York Times
China is scrutinizing whether those companies pose potential security threats to the country.

Tim Cook Visits China in Hopes Beijing Will Take Another Bite of the Apple

Eva Dou
Wall Street Journal
The visit comes as the company’s prospects in its second largest market appear to be souring.