Day: December 22, 2023

Total spending on fast-moving consumer goods – expendable items such as food and drink, or clothing – in China slipped 0.9 per cent year on year during the third quarter of 2023, according to a joint study released by global consultancy Bain & Company and market research firm Kantar Worldpanel earlier this month. Consumers, spooked by concerns about job prospects amid a bleak economic outlook, continue to actively hunt bargains when they purchase consumer goods such as personal care products, the study found. 02:54 White Rabbit, China’s beloved homemade candy,…

Today, Chen is living in “relative peace” in Europe with little to do with Binance, by CZ’s account. China, though, looks more important than ever to the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in the wake of a US$4.3 billion fine and criminal conviction in the US, along with tightening crypto regulations across Asia and Europe. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao leaves the US District Court on November 21, 2023, in Seattle. Photo: TNS Beyond just the US – where both the company and CZ, who stepped down as CEO, pled guilty to…

“Are you willing to give up your advocacy of Taiwan independence? Mr Lai, you are the chairman of the [ruling] Democratic Progressive Party. Are you willing to abolish the [DPP’s] independence platform so that the public can … rest assured?” Hou said. Hou said Lai’s assurances during the election campaign that he would not declare independence if elected were meant to “wangle votes” from the public. “Taiwan independence would lead to war,” Hou said, adding that he did not support such a stand and that he would do all he…

Demographers in China have called for grandparents who help raise children to be rewarded, and for content that promotes being unmarried and childless to be banned, as part of the latest proposals to reduce the impact of declining births. Grandparents who share childcare responsibilities with their adult children should be commended, according to an article published in the latest issue of Population and Health magazine. Li Shuxia and Lei Juan, who work for the Chongqing Population and Family Development Research Centre, also said local governments should promote images of affectionate…

A Chinese property development consortium’s pledge to invest nine trillion Brazilian real (approximately US$1.85 trillion) in a new “smart” city in Brazil, has sparked excitement in the country – as well as scepticism. That’s not a typo. The investment, nearly equivalent to Brazil’s 2022 gross domestic product of US$1.92 trillion, is allegedly targeted for Mataraca, a town in the northeastern state of Paraiba with a population of just 8,000. Brasil CRT, a joint venture between Brazilian and Chinese interests based in the state of Minas Gerais – almost 2,200km (1,367…

For the past three years, the number of Chinese students in the United States has fallen, with an increasing number of China’s best students no longer heading there. Instead, Europe is emerging as a popular destination among China’s sea of students heading offshore for further study. Students have been travelling to Europe for generations, reflecting the idea that learning from the West could help China’s modernisation. Earlier generations of Communist Party leaders, like Zhou Enlai, made short study trips to Japan, Germany, France and Britain in the 1920s; Deng Xiaoping…