Tencent Hires New Lobbyists While Trump Targets WeChat

News Briefing for 09/04/2020. The total market value for Xiaomi, Chinese smartphone and smart hardware manufacturer, reached HK$600 billion for the first time. And Xiaomi is also seeing huge progress in the European market, according to its CEO Lei Jun. Meanwhile at home, Tsinghua University ranked 20th in this year’s Times Higher Education World University Rankings, which makes Tsinghua the first Asian university to break into the top 20 list.

News Briefing for Sept. 2. Alibaba and YTO Express reached a strategic cooperation deal; Didi Chuxing upgraded its taxi business with Kuaidi for better taxi-hailing service. Meanwhile, Netflix just announced its plan to adapt the Chinese Sci-fi trilogy, the Three-Body Problem, with fans around the world excited about the announcement.

News Briefing for August 31. TikTok assets may not be sold under the new restrictions revised by China’s authorities, as the regulations require governmental approval on technology exports. The regulations post new threats for TikTok in the US as the Trump administration set a deadline for September 15 to sell or ban its service in the US. In today’s show, we will update you with details of TikTok’s battle on its survival in the U.S.

News Briefing for August 28. Chinese EV maker Xpeng Motors rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange and saw a strong performance in trading. Meanwhile back home, BlueCity, the owner of China's biggest LGBTQ dating app Blued, said on Wednesday it had bought Chinese lesbian dating app LESDO. In today's show, we will bring you the latest.

News Briefing for August 26. TikTok has officially filed a federal lawsuit against the executive order from President Trump on a potential ban or forced sale of the company’s operations in the United State. In today’s show, we will break down the details of the case for you. Meanwhile back home, yesterday, August 26th, was the Qixi Festival, which is often referred to as ‘Chinese Valentine’s Day’. Like other festivals in China, Qixi is able to boom “romantic economy” every year, including the hotel, tourism and flower industries. How did the markets perform this year, especially under the pandemic? In today’s show, we will go into some detail about the event.

News Briefing for August 24th. TikTok’s parent company ByteDance will file an official federal lawsuit this week against the Trump administration and his executive order on banning the app in the U.S. Meanwhile back home in China, the fashion industry is developing the idea of “sustainability” amid the pandemic to make changes.

News Briefing for August 21. Tencent has hired its first lobbyist in Washington DC while the Trump administration has targeted WeChat in the U.S. At home here in China, people in Wuhan, the once epicenter of COVID19, celebrated an eye-catching pool party earlier this week. In today’s show, we will get you covered on the latest.

News Briefing for August 19. Chinese tech giant Baidu has now joined the competition to develop autonomous vehicles. One of our reporters was invited to take a ride on the roads of Changsha. In today’s show, we will hear from Isabel Wang about her experience with Baidu and her takeaways from Baidu’s attempt to enter the field of autonomous driving.

News Briefing for August 17. A recent promotional campaign by Pinduoduo (a Chinese e-commerce platform) mentioning Tesla garnered attention especially when Tesla denied its cooperation with the platform. In today’s show, we will discuss how the failure exposes some of the difficulties Pinduoduo has had with the brands they work with. Meanwhile, in today’s What’s up China, we will take a look at the limitations of some luxury brands as they try to decode and apply trends that work elsewhere in the world yet fail here in China. Many of the brands tried to launch campaigns for the recent Chinese Valentine’s Day but failed to attract many customers.

News briefing for August 14. Tencent-backed housing platform, Beike Zhaofang, is set to complete the biggest initial public offering by a Chinese company in the US market despite rising hostility between the two countries and the tightening of securities regulations by the Trump administration. Meanwhile, in today’s What’s up China, we will look at online binge-eating shows that have taken hold on Chinese social media streams and are facing criticisms from officials due to the shows’ apparent disregard for the value of food.