The number of visitors – from 15 countries across Europe and Southeast Asia included in China’s visa exemption scheme – who used Alipay during the holiday was up fourfold this year, according to Ant. 13:33 Tourism trouble: post-pandemic hurdles of China travel Tourism trouble: post-pandemic hurdles of China travel Since the middle of last year, … Read more
China last year bred an average of one new unicorn each week amid frenzied growth in the country’s artificial intelligence (AI) sector, bucking a declining trend in global venture capital investments, according to a new research report. The nation added 56 unicorns – start-ups valued at more than US$1 billion – in 2023, trailing only … Read more
Chinese financial technology giant Ant Group is looking to “significantly” expand the global presence of its cross-border mobile payment service Alipay+, as the company pursues an organisational overhaul that includes a spin-off of its international arm. Ant International aims to considerably boost the number of partner wallets supported by Alipay+ this year, possibly by more … Read more
China is falling short of matching the United States in artificial intelligence (AI) advances because the nation’s efforts are “littered with many essential challenges in theory and technologies”, according to a recent slide presentation made to Chinese Premier Li Qiang. Those difficulties were pointed out to Li during his recent inspection tour of the Beijing … Read more
Alipay’s annual cumulative transaction limit for foreign visitors has also been increased to US$50,000, up from the previous US$10,000 limit, in line with a new People’s Bank of China policy, the group said. 02:40 How mobile payments impact people’s lives in China How mobile payments impact people’s lives in China Tencent on Thursday said foreign … Read more
The Shenzhen municipal government intends to boost the number of its native apps built on HarmonyOS and push for their adoption across several major sectors, according to a 2024 action plan published on Sunday by the city’s Industry and Information Technology Bureau. Under that initiative, HarmonyOS-based apps would be adopted in sectors that include government … Read more
The Year of the Dragon may have signalled the return of the overseas Chinese tourist, with preliminary data from popular payment service Alipay showing an increase in transactions this year compared with 2019, the last time international borders were open before the onset of the pandemic. Alipay operator Ant Group, the fintech business affiliated with … Read more
Ant Group and the Shanghai municipal government have struck a partnership that would see the two parties deepen their collaboration in fields such as blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI). Under the partnership, Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, will “actively participate in building [an] artificial intelligence industry ecosystem and blockchain innovation platform … Read more
China’s central bank has agreed that Ant Group’s mobile payment app Alipay has no controller, a crucial step in the fintech giant’s overhaul deemed necessary to put its much-anticipated initial public offering back on track. The billionaire’s share of the voting rights are now divided among Hangzhou Junhan Equity Investment – owned by Ma and … Read more
Dozens of orders had been placed for those two seafood products on Tmall as of Tuesday noon, which could be viewed by some as a lukewarm performance on the platform. Taobao and Tmall have more than 800 million monthly active users as of November. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. Dozens of orders had … Read more
