Category Archives: Consumer Culture

Gree interested in investing in Meizu?

Fans of mobile phone brand Meizu were recently allowed a rare glimpse of J. Wong, the reclusive founder of the brand of sleek Android-powered smartphones based in Zhuhai, Guangdong province. In a two-hour speech posted online, Wong announced that he … Continue reading

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Internet Poll on changing China’s strange public holiday system

While much of the world looks forward to official holidays that can be predicted years in advance, China’s annual muddle over the coming year’s holiday schedule has long been a reliable source of confusion. But yesterday the Holiday Office published … Continue reading

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China Minsheng Bank to release high-interest debit card as competition heats up

Allied with Taobao and other online marketplaces, Chinese money market funds such as Yu’ebao are making inroads into markets traditionally dominated by banks (see previous Danwei post). Not only are these fund products more accessible for Internet users, their interest rates, … Continue reading

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Will a tax rebate rejuvenate China’s restaurant industry?

According to a Southern Daily 南方日报 report, Wang Huiying (王惠英), vice inspector of the “Trade in Services and Commercial Services Department” of Ministry of Commerce, revealed that the Ministry is seeking to lower the business tax rate for restaurants from … Continue reading

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Does Vancl face a cash crunch?

Upstart Chinese clothing brand Vancl, a rising Internet star that aims to be Zara and Amazon rolled into one, has been the subject of a series of negative news reports. Of late, according to New Financial Observer(新金融观察报 ), a financial newspaper … Continue reading

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Hotel customer info vulnerability “threatens family harmony”

WooYun.org, a Chinese Internet security forum that publishes information about security loopholes, recently issued a warning about the data security of hotel records. Such information — including customers’ IDs, room numbers, and check-in and check-out times — is stored on the … Continue reading

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Infant formula wars: “National team” just a cheap gimmick

On October 14, Caixin’s New Century weekly magazine 财新《新世纪》周刊 published a cover story entitled “The milk formula war”. The article argues that the “milk formula national team” (奶粉国家队), as a campaign launched by the government to hype certain local infant formula companies … Continue reading

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Pleasant Goat too violent?

A Tom and Jerry style animated cartoon featuring a heroic goat who constantly saves his fellow goats from a wolf who has gastronomic designs over the members of Goatville, Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf (喜羊羊与灰太狼) seems an unlikely target for the … Continue reading

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Shenzhen bans “skew weeing”

Errant weeing will no longer be tolerated in Shenzhen. From yesterday, new regulations made any instance of uncivilized behavior in public bathrooms in the city liable to a 100 yuan fine. As Shenzhen Evening Newsreports today, however, enforcing straight weeing is … Continue reading

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Portrait of a Chinese P2P lender

Peer to Peer (P2P) lending websites allow users to lend and borrow money directly to and from each other. China’s first P2P lending website, PPDai.com, launched in 2007. As of 2013, there are scores of websites that operate as online brokers … Continue reading

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