The new rule came amid a sweeping crackdown on China’s tech giants, such as Alibaba, Didi and Tencent, as well as a series of reforms over activities considered by Beijing as harmful to the young generation, including celebrity fan culture and private tutoring. BBC
Like most people in the developed world, Kirsten Gjesdal had long taken for granted her ability to order whatever she needed and then watch the goods arrive, without any thought about the factories, container ships and trucks involved in delivery. Not anymore. At her kitchen supply store in Brookings, S.D., Ms. Gjesdal has given up stocking place mats, having wearied of telling customers that she can only guess when more will come. She recently received a pot lid she had purchased eight months earlier. She has grown accustomed to paying…
China’s strict limits on how long minors can play online video games just got stricter. Chinese children and teenagers are barred from online gaming on school days, and limited to one hour a day on weekend and holiday evenings, under government rules issued Monday. The rules, released by the National Press and Publication Administration, tightened restrictions from 2019 aimed at what the government said was a growing scourge of online game addiction among schoolchildren. Under the old rules, players under the age of 18 were limited to no more than…
Advertisement On August 20, China’s Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) received its final read and formally passed into law. This legislation marks China’s first comprehensive legal attempt to define personal information (PI) and regulate the storing, transferring, and processing of personal information. It has major implications for companies that rely on data for their operations in China. The implementation of the law will provide a legal foundation for the protection of personal information for foreign firms’ operations in China. However, it will also potentially limit cross-border transfer of such information,…
Advertisement The reform-era maxim “Let some people get rich first” has been reworked in Xi Jinping’s China of 2021. Under the new “common prosperity” policy, outlined by the Financial and Economic Affairs Commission on August 17, “The rich should bring others along with them … focusing on hard work and legally compliant operations.” What “common prosperity” means in practice took shape on August 27 when the State Taxation Administration fined high-earning celebrity Zheng Shuang, as well as a number of corporations, for underpaying their taxes. Zheng’s penalty for hiding some…
Advertisement The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) intends to promote regional trade integration in Africa, which can play an important role in accelerating sustained growth and reducing poverty on the continent. Currently, regional trade within Africa is fairly low, and its share amounts to only about 11 percent of total trade. Launched in March 2018 by the African Union, the AfCFTA agreement connects 55 African economies and is the largest free trade area in the world in terms of country membership. The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the AfCFTA process,…
“First and second grades of elementary school will not need to take paper-based exams. For other grades, the school can organise a final exam every semester. Mid-term exams are allowed for junior high. Localities are not allowed to organise regional or inter-school exams for all grades of primary school,” the Ministry of Education (MOE) added. BBC