China is doubling down on efforts to appeal to foreign investors, with Premier Li Qiang promising offshore players wider access to the country’s markets and better services. Addressing company executives in the eastern economic powerhouse of Zhejiang, Li said China put high value on the development of foreign-invested firms and would “steadily expand” their access … Read more
China’s tax authority on Friday published a draft regulation that would require the operators of e-commerce, short-video and social media platforms to report the income of merchants and influencers. Under the current draft, which is soliciting public feedback until January 19, internet platform operators must report the identity, income and other tax-related information about revenue-generating … Read more
China’s two major on-demand delivery service providers, Meituan and Ele.me, have introduced new features that alert or forcibly log out couriers who work excessively long hours, aiming to prevent rider fatigue. In a similar system imposed on China’s long-haul truck drivers, Meituan has been piloting a “fatigue management” system in select cities. This system detects … Read more
French luxury brand Chanel has named former Bottega Veneta creative boss Matthieu Blazy as its new artistic director, one of the biggest jobs in fashion, where he will be tasked with finally turning the page on the Karl Lagerfeld era. Blazy, 40, will be replaced at Bottega Veneta by British designer Louise Trotter, currently director … Read more
Local government officials across China are rushing to introduce policies to level up the innovation and deployment of robots, especially humanoid robots, as Beijing’s policymakers upped the ante for future industries at the tone-setting central economic work conference. The cities of Hangzhou, Chongqing and Nanjing, plus a part of the southwestern Sichuan province, have released … Read more
Hangzhou-based Uniview on Tuesday was added to the so-called Entity List for enabling “human rights violations, including high-technology surveillance targeted at the general population, Uygurs, and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups”, the US Department of Commerce, which oversees the country’s trade policy, said in a filing. In a statement on Wednesday, Uniview … Read more
Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group Holding, gave a rare public speech at the 20th anniversary of the company’s fintech affiliate Ant Group, saying he had faith in the “next 20 years of Ant” and expects “more miracles”, according to Chinese media reports and people who were there. Ma’s attendance at the evening event … Read more
Chinese technology companies are rushing to unveil reasoning models – advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models designed to take more time to “think and reflect” before generating responses – as they move to narrow China’s gap with the US in the field. Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group Holding, was the latest to … Read more
Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group Holding, on Friday visited the company’s campus in Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang province, in a show of support for the e-commerce empire he created a quarter of a century ago, according to employees. Ma’s visit was his first known trip back to to his hometown since March 2023, … Read more
Alibaba Group Holding’s workplace collaboration app, DingTalk, has officially launched in Hong Kong, the first stop that is considered a “touchstone” in the overseas expansion of the professional office tool. DingTalk, which has always been accessible to users in Hong Kong, will establish a new service team based in the city to “better respond to … Read more
