Beijing Cracks Down on Rumormongering Among Real Estate Agencies

(YicaiGlobal) Dec. 5 — Beijing has also started to crack down on rumormongering and other illegal activities among real estate agencies following Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform and Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development recently launched special ‘double random’ inspections targeting real estate agencies. Investigations were made of 30 realtors randomly selected from over 2,000, with a focus on price transparency and the authenticity of property listings.

Raids will be made in the next 20 days, and all offenses found will be punished in accordance with the laws and regulations, with zero tolerance. Beijing has been conducting special inspections at the municipal and district levels since October.

The municipal enforcement team has carried out inspections at least once a week. They have been focused on market disruptions caused by rumormongering, illegal financial businesses and non-transparent pricing practices.

China to Revitalize Real Economy in 2017, Introduce New Mechanisms for Real Estate Market

(YicaiGlobal) Dec. 12 – A recent meeting of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee on economic operations in 2017 called for more active efforts to revitalize the real economy and foster new economic growth drivers. For many experts, the decision of the meeting sends out a strong signal for robust efforts to boost industrial development.

In China, the last meeting of the Politburo each year focuses on economic operations for the following year and is of particular importance in that it sets the tone for the upcoming central economic working conference, which is considered to be the main indicator for the upcoming economic trends in the new year. The central financial working conference is held every five years, and the next one may take place later this year or early 2017, according to an informed source.

Real economy revitalization

“Manufacturing is the main battlefield for revitalizing the real economy. The existing manufacturing businesses are a critical factor, and innovation is the central task,” said Li Beiguang, deputy director of the planning department of the ministry of industry and information technology (MIIT), during an interview with the state-run Xinhua News Agency. Efforts will be made to promote emerging industries and, more importantly, to boost the progression of traditional industries through innovation.
China already takes on some of the challenges. According to the Intelligent Manufacturing Development Plan (2016-2020) issued by MIIT on Dec. 7, production will be digitalized in key traditional manufacturing industries by 2020, and the transition toward intelligent manufacturing will be completed in most key industries by 2025.

Upgrading the Chinese manufacturing sector is an issue closely linked with state-owned enterprises – the largest manufacturers in China. The central government has started mergers and business reorganizations of major SOEs this year in a bid to improve their competitiveness. Furthermore, the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council is actively deliberating and developing implementation plans for SOE reforms in 2017, said SASAC vice chairman, Zhang Xiwu.

Keeping assets bubble in check

Although only less than 600 Chinese characters were used in declaring the outcome of Politburo discussions about economic operations in 2017, they convey a significant amount of information and messages, Xinhua reported. It made a special reference to the preservation of stability, saying that making progress while ensuring stability is an important principle for state affairs management in China, and is particularly relevant to economic operations next year. We should strive for breakthroughs in key areas, while maintaining social stability.

“Making progress while ensuring stability will remain the main theme. Fiscal and monetary policies will continue to focus on economic growth stabilization, which is described as the top priority for 2017,” Xu Hongcai, deputy chief economist at China Center for International Economic Exchanges, told Yicai Global.

Ensuring stability involves “keeping assets bubbles in check,” and guarding against financial risks. The term was first proposed during the Politburo meeting in July 2016; and the requirement was reiterated at the level of monetary policymaking during the October meeting. It stressed, “While ensuring reasonably accommodative liquidity, attention should be paid to curbing assets bubbles and preventing economic and financial risks.”The central government clearly intends to tighten its grip over financial risks.

Since the launch of the crackdown on financial risks in internet finance businesses last April, the overall level of risks associated with the internet finance has been curbed, and the upsurge in the frequency of risk incidents has been contained, said a PBOC official on Dec. 9. Currently, the focus of the crackdown is to clean up high-risk businesses and rectify issues discovered.

The real estate sector is considered to be the main battlefield for the fight against assets bubbles. Many local governments have introduced new regulations in property markets. As an indication of the future trends for the real estate industry, the politburo meeting asked efforts should be made to speed up the introduction of a long-term mechanism to ensure steady and healthy development of the real estate sector in line with the actual situation in China and the relevant laws of the market economy.

Conditions for stabilization of the Chinese economy have gradually improved, but particular attention needs to be paid to risks in the real estate and financial sectors to prevent them from building up or spreading further; and the risks should be gradually reduced through deepening structural reforms, said Wang Yiming, deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council.

Zhuhai Tightens Its Property Market, Suspends Housing Provident Fund Loans for Multiple House Owners

(YicaiGlobal) Dec. 13 – China’s Zhuhai city in China’s southeastern province of Guangdong has adopted a number of new rules and regulations for its property market. It is the latest example in a series of similar steps taken by various provinces across China, indicating Chinese authorities have stepped up their efforts to eliminate loopholes in the financial system.

Zhuhai city has unveiled its new property market regulation and control policy and tightened rules for housing provident fund loans. The new regulations stipulate that the minimum down payment ratio of a housing provident fund loan for a first-time buyer family buying a home for the first time should not be less than 30 percent.

The minimum down payment ratio of an individual housing provident fund loan for a family that has already bought one house and has settled its housing provident fund loans, but still has outstanding purchase loans should not be less than 40 percent. Zhuhai has suspended individual housing provident fund loans for families of workers with two or more houses.

The minimum down payment ratio of housing provident fund loans for families buying an ordinary house for the first time used to be no less than 20 percent; and the minimum down payment ratio of provident fund loans for families that own one occupied house was at least 30 percent.

Future Real Estate Policies Should Stabilize Increasing Property Prices, Experts Predict

(YicaiGlobal) Dec. 19 — Houses should be homes, not investments, the Chinese government said this weekend at the Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing. It plans to protect the real estate market from significant inflation.

The conference is an annual event held in December, which sets the country’s annual economic and financial agenda and defines policy trends for the year to come.

Measures the government plans to take include restricting loans to house buyers who see their purchase as only a financial tool; releasing more land holdings to the market in cities with rapidly increasing prices; accelerating the development of small and middle-sized cities and enhancing supervision of the housing market by regulating developers, salespeople and intermediaries, according to the conference report released by state-run news agency Xinhua.

Several real estate sales records were broken during the first 11 months of this year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The total floor space sold rose 24.3 percent from last year to almost 1.36 billion square meters, beating the 1.3 billion record set in 2013. Total sales revenue grew 37.5 percent to pass the CNY10 trillion (USD1.44 trillion) mark for the first time, reaching CNY10.25 trillion. Some Chinese cities saw rapid growth in house prices, with an increase of over 50 percent compared with the same time last year.

Sharply rising prices have attracted a lot of investors, who often use loans to fund speculative investments in the property market. To reduce financial risk and restrain asset bubbles, many local governments have released strict purchasing policies that restrict a household to owning no more than two properties. This legislation has led to families divorcing in order to purchase additional properties.

The authorities previously used short-term policies to regulate the market, resulting in fluctuations that matched economic trends. Future policies will be tailored to the city in which they take effect, Zhang Dawei, chief analyst from Centraline Property Agency, told Yicai Global.

Real Estate in Major Cities Cools, Stable Home Prices Trend in November’s Second Half, Data Shows

(YicaiGlobal) Dec. 19 — Latest data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that the real estate markets of 15 first- and second-tier cities rapidly chilled in the second half of November, to show a stabilizing tendency in housing prices.

The NBS released information today on changes in the residential property sales prices of 70 large and medium cities in November, and of the first-tier cities and hot second-tier cities in the second half of the month. Compared with November’s first half, nine first-tier cities and hot second-tier cities saw a monthly decline in new commercial housing prices in the second half, with a drop of between 0.1 to 0.9 percentage points. Two cities flatlined, with the remaining four logging a growth rate of new commercial housing prices that fell to less than one percent per month.

The number of cities with a monthly increase in new commercial housing prices and second-hand housing prices fell in November in 70 big and mid-sized cities. Among these, the number with a monthly increase in new commercial housing prices decreased by seven, while those with a per-month increase in second-hand housing prices dropped by eight. More cities experienced a monthly decline. Contrasting with the previous month, the number of cities with a monthly decline in new commodity housing prices and second-hand housing prices was up by four and seven percentage points, respectively.

Tencent Cloud to Cut Storage for Ordinary Users to 10GB

(YicaiGlobal) Dec. 16 — Tencent Cloud, a leading public cloud computing service owned by internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., will substantially cut the storage for ordinary users to 10 gigabytes, citing sustainable growth of the platform.

Tencent Cloud offered one terabyte of free cloud storage to ordinary users in August 2013. Since then, there has been a rapid increase in the number of individual users and a number of service providers have stopped providing cloud storage services to ordinary consumers.

Ordinary users with an existing storage of over 10 gigabytes will still be able to download and view their files but the uploading of new data will be restricted, the company said last night.

In an industry-wide trend, Tencent Cloud follows Vdisk, Kuaipan.cn, Dbank.com, Sina Vdisk and Yunpan.360.cn, who have suspended storage services for ordinary users since April of this year.

China Mobile to Commercialize 5G Nationwide by 2020, CEO Says

(YicaiGlobal) Dec. 21 — China Mobile Ltd. [HKG:0941], the world’s biggest mobile phone carrier, plans to launch pre-commercial 5G services in 2018 and commercialize the fifth-generation wireless broadband technology across the nation by 2020, said CEO Li Yue.

5G is a completely new technology because it is developed for the Internet of Things, which connects people with other people, people with goods, and goods with other goods, Li said yesterday during a speech at China Mobile Global Partners Conference 2016.

China Mobile’s 4G users totaled 510 million, or 69 percent of the country’s 4G market, as of the end of November, Chairman Shang Bing said at the conference.

Shang said the ratio of mobile digital service revenue to traditional business revenue at China Mobile has grown from 1:1 last year to 1.5:1. Wireless data business makes up a larger part of the company’s total revenue than traditional SMS (Short Message Service) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) businesses, and has become the most important source of income.

China Mobile Vice President Sha Yuejia also said China Mobile has almost 400 million 2G and 3G users who will upgrade to 4G or 5G. About half of its 4G users will also trade up to a new phone, so it expects China’s mobile phone market volume to hit 540 million next year.

Chinese Professor Trains AI Programs to Spot Beauties and Criminals

(YicaiGlobal) Dec. 21 — After training a program to distinguish between criminals and non-criminals with a success rate of 86 percent, Prof. Wu Xiaolin of Shanghai Jiaotong University has launched a service using artificial intelligence to identify good-looking women, according to tabloid news site Dzh.mop.com.

Wu said the current facial recognition system can identify people’s biological characteristics and the next task is extremely attractive and challenging — whether AI can speculate on the social characteristics of human beings based on facial recognition.

Once the program managed to differentiate between shots of criminals and ordinary people, Wu turned his research to women. He is trying to get AI to judge whether they look attractive and compare the results with the opinions of male students. His program’s aesthetic standards are highly consistent with those of male students.

His research team used 3,954 photos of Chinese women, including 2,000 ‘commended’ photos and 1,954 ‘derided’ photos grouped by Wu’s male graduate students. After initial trials, the programs can now identify the photos that got the thumbs up from those that got the thumbs down with an accuracy rate of 80 percent.

Compared with identifying criminals, spotting beauties is tougher for AI programs because the appreciation of beauty is a complex personal judgment integrating the individualities and social values of both the observer and the observed.

China Launches First Carbon-Tracking Satellite

(YicaiGlobal) Dec. 22 – China has successfully launched its first carbon-tracking scientific experimental satellite today.

China Central Television (CCTV) reported that the satellite is in normal operation and will provide China with basic capabilities to monitor global carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere as well as useful data for studies on global climate change.

Best Selling Tech Products In the United States vs. China

(YicaiGlobal) Dec.29 — Using the data analysis of the best-selling tech products from the world’s largest online shopping festivals, we compare the most popular products purchased by consumers in the United States and China.

Total online sales on Black Friday this year hit a record high of US$3.34 billion, with total online sales of Cyber Monday slightly beating Black Friday’s record at US$3.39 billion.

Based on the best selling tech product lists of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Singles’ Day, consumers in the United States tend to purchase more entertainment products such as game consoles and high-resolution televisions, whereas consumers in China bought more practical products such as exercise counters, power banks, and smart projectors. But overall, consumers in both countries favor Apple iPads, Amazon products, and “Air”-thin notebooks.

Best-selling tech products on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States:
Sony PlayStation 4


The best-selling game console comes with either 500G or 1TB storage space. It also has HDR visuals with an updated DUALSHOCK 4 wireless controller.

Microsoft Xbox One


Another best-selling game console from Microsoft, Xbox One boasts popular games such as Halo 5:Guardians, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Forza Motorsport 6.

Samsung 4K televisions

The ‘4K’ in 4K televisions refer to 4K resolution, and is sometimes known as “Ultra High Definition” for its extremely high resolution. According to Tech Rader, the Samsung KS9500 television range has “class-leading HDR pictures” and “unexpectedly good sound”.

Apple iPads

It is no surprise that Apple iPads continue to dominate sales in the tablet sector. Lightweight, stylish, with an easy user interface – consumers are enthralled with its user-friendly functions and sleek design.

Amazon Fire tablets

Amazon Fire tablet boasts to be two times more durable than the latest iPad mini at a lower price.

LG televisions

Tech Radar reviews the LG OLEDE6 series, and points out its HDR-friendly and ultra-thin design as its plus points.

Apple MacBook Air

This lightweight and high performance laptop was another huge hit with consumers.

Alibaba, China’s tech giant, announced a sales record of RMB 120.7 billion (USD $17.8 billion) after its one-day online shopping extravaganza Singles’ Day. According to Alibaba’s e-commerce arm Tmall Electronic (refer to infographic below), many electronic products sold on Singles’ Day are from foreign brands, along with other local Chinese products that some foreign consumers may not have even heard of.



Best-selling tech products on Singles’ Day in China:
Mi Notebook Air

The minimalist design of Mi Notebook Air looks like an Apple Macbook Air, but it costs much cheaper than its American counterpart. Launched by Xiaomi in August, Mi Notebook Air is available in two specs: 12.5 inch and 13.3 inch. Its 13.3 inch version is their best seller.

iPad Air 2

The iPad Air 2 is thinner and a lot more powerful than before. According to Apple, its iPad Air 2 is just as powerful as several personal computers, and a 10-hour battery life that makes it power efficient too.

Kindle Paperwhite

The Kindle Paperwhite has the highest resolution e-reader display for “crisp, laser-quality text”, and reads like paper as compared to reflective tablet and smartphone screens. Readers can store thousands of book into a single device, making it a huge draw for consumers to purchase this product. Check the Amazon Kindle link to find a Kindle that best suits your needs.

JMGO smart projector

Priced at about US$ 417, JMGO smart projector creates a 4K screen as large as 300 inch as well as stereophony. The projector has a remote controller to pair with it.

Pisen power bank 20,000mAh


The white power bank, priced at US$ 20, can charge an iPhone 6 Plus up to five times, or an iPad Air 2 twice. Users can carry the power bank onto a plane, which is under the cap required by airlines.

Convictions are Rare in P2P Lender Swoop

(YicaiGlobal) Feb. 17 — Cases have been opened against less than 5 percent of the thousands of platforms in China’s emerging peer-to-peer lending industry that were deemed problematic in the past three years, according to an industry report.

As of the end of January, 1,811 problematic P2P lending platforms have been identified since 2014, according to a report from Wdzj.com. Only 22 were ultimately convicted in cases with a combined value of over CNY1 billion (USD146 million).

Heads of the 22 convicted lenders were accused of charges including contract fraud, embezzlement, illegal absorption of deposits from the general public and illegal fundraising, investigations show. Compared to the possible loss of investors, penalties and sentences imposed on such leaders are not harsh.

Since problematic sites involve many investors scattered across the country and it is difficult to obtain evidence, it usually takes a long time to process such cases, the report indicated.

The main reason few cases have been opened against online lenders and court decisions are rare is that gathering evidence is time consuming, said Zhang Yexia, senior researcher at Shanghai Yingcan Business Consulting Co. Many victims choose not to file a case against small problematic platforms, as the amount of money involved is minimal.

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China’s First Mutual Insurance Society Opens, Targeting Credit Insurance for Micro Businesses

(YicaiGlobal) Feb. 17 — Zhonghui Property Mutual Insurance Society has received a business license, becoming the first mutual insurance society in China. China’s insurance regulator approved and issued a business licence to the society in only 240 days, said the company’s chairman.
Zhonghui, which will operate as a mutual insurance society, a form of insurance organization with hundreds of years of history in other countries, is expected to use today’s technology to explore a Chinese-style development mode.

It took China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) only 240 days from the day of first application for establishment to issue a business license, said the society’s founder and chairman Li Jing in an interview with Yicai Global and other media representatives.

“Only by pairing with internet and fintech can mutual insurance organizations achieve success,” said Li. In addition to the application of new technologies, mutual insurance organizations also need to find the most suitable industrial scenarios. Zhonghui hopes to explore a new path for serving small and micro businesses, Li added.

“Zhonghui will focus on credit insurance,” Li noted. “The essence of credit and guarantee insurance is credit collection. We will employ big data to improve our risk management competency through data accumulation, data analysis and risk pricing to provide services for small and micro businesses.”
As for target customer base, Li revealed that Zhonghui will focus its efforts on logistics, fast moving consumer goods and other specific industries and that it will promote business development in a prudent manner.

A mutual insurance company is owned entirely by its policyholders. Mutual insurance refers to a behavior of reciprocal insurance. Members pay premiums to establish a fund pool against risks on an equal and voluntary basis. When disasters or losses occur, the capital is used to make up for losses.

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Chinese Government Cuts Unemployment Insurance in Bid to Reduce Employment Costs

(YicaiGlobal) Feb. 17 — The Chinese government issued a document to lower the unemployment insurance rate from 1.5 percent to 1 percent, as part of efforts to lighten the burden on companies and promote employment.

As of Jan. 1, provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) where the unemployment insurance rate is set at 1.5 percent can temporarily drop the rate to 1 percent until April 30, 2018, the Chinese Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) said in a document today. All local governments are required to decrease the rate to 1 percent at some point this year.

China enacted the Unemployment Insurance Regulations in 1999. The regulations are enforced as part of social security legislation and aim to ensure that centrally funded financial assistance and reemployment services are provided to workers whose employment is involuntarily terminated resulting in a loss of earnings.

As of November, approximately 180 million Chinese were covered by unemployment insurance, according to government data. The unemployment insurance fund’s total income was CNY104.9 billion (USD15.3 billion), and its total expenditures were CNY80.5 billion.

Chinese corporate profits declined amid the economic downturn in recent years. To take weight off companies, the MHRSS and the Ministry of Finance lowered the unemployment insurance rate from 3 percent to 2 percent in 2015. It was reduced further to a range (from 1 to 1.5 percent) in May 2016. Local governments were allowed to decide the exact rate within the range. Sichuan and other provinces chose the minimum of 1 percent.

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CSRC Amends Rules to Curb Refinancing, Steer Funds Towards Real Economy

(YicaiGlobal) Feb. 20 — China’s securities regulator has amended rules to curb excessive financing by listed companies and divert funds from financial investments toward real economy sectors.
The new rules aim to divert investors’ attention away from short-term profits and toward value investments, experts said. The rules enable healthy investment by requiring proceeds from equity financing to be effectively used, they said.

Refinancing among listed companies has increased at an alarming rate. In some cases, excessive financing was pumped into fake projects or for speculative investment. Proceeds raised by some listed companies were left idle, or covertly put into financial investments or quasi-financial businesses, such as wealth management products. Last year, refinancing on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges totaled CNY1.79 trillion (USD261 billion), almost 13 times the total value of IPOs during the same period.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission amended the rules three days ago, with changes including:

– Capping the number of shares issued in a private placement to 20 percent of the total share volume before the deal.
– Requiring listed companies to wait 18 months between financing rounds, including initial public offerings, additional share issuances, share allotments and private placements.
– Limiting trades to market price, which will be determined on the first day stocks are issued.

Convertible bond offerings or preferred stock, and fast financing of a relatively small value on the Growth Enterprise Market are exempt from restrictions.

The regulator announced two days ago that the new rules also apply to private placements conducted by listed companies for asset purchases through share financing, and the volume of these private placements will also be restricted to 20 percent of the total capital stock.

“Through refinancing, listed companies could previously issue securities as quasi-financial institutions, but the new rules restrict this power,” a representative at a major Shanghai brokerage told Yicai Global. The new policy will come as a serious blow to shell stocks, he added.

Almost 40 percent of additional share issues carried out by listed companies between 2010 and 2016 exceeded 20 percent of their capital stock before shares were issued, according to data from Huatai Securities Co. [SHA:601688]. The new cap will significantly reduce refinancing this year, a senior investment bank manager said.

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China Amends Corporate Income Tax Law for First Time in 10 Years

(YicaiGlobal) Feb. 20 — China’s national legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), will hold a meeting this week to deliberate on a draft amendment to the corporate income tax law proposed by the State Council. A tax expert suggested that the NPC may consider lowering the corporate income tax rate to around 22 percent from 25 percent.

An executive meeting of the NPC will first discuss the draft amendment on Feb. 22.
It will be the first amendment to the law since its promulgation 10 years ago. Corporate tax cuts were eagerly anticipated, but the government has so far not confirmed that the corporate income tax would be lowered, experts told Yicai Global.

Given the corporate tax reduction and decentralization principles laid down for the supply-side structural reforms and that a new wave of tax cuts worldwide triggered by tax-cut plans of the Trump Administration, the corporate income tax rate may be lowered through the amendment and relevant tax incentives could be strengthened, said Professor Liu Jianwen at Peking University Law School.
Lowering the corporate income tax rate will soften the impact of tax cuts proposed by US President Donald Trump, he said.

There could also be new changes in anti-tax evasion regulations, Liu suggested, saying China signed tax treaties with some countries in recent years, and there had been changes in international anti-tax avoidance policies, and these may be reflected in the amended corporate income tax law.

The corporate income tax law was approved by the NPC in March 2007, and went into effect on Jan. 1, 2008. The tax has been levied at 25 percent on enterprises that generate revenue in China, with lower rates offered for microbusinesses and high-tech companies.

The corporate income tax is the second largest tax in China after value-added tax (VAT). Corporate income taxes collected in 2016 totaled almost CNY2,9 billion (USD420 million), data from China’s ministry of finance shows.

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LeEco Free Phone Campaign Blunder May Cost USD138,000 in Class Action Suit

(YicaiGlobal) Feb. 27 — Beijing-based Leshi Holding Co. was named in a class action filed by 80 people due to an advert which offered LeTV smartphone to all eligible users before being changed to be available only to a limited number of users on a first-come, first-served basis.

Four defendants have been named, Leshi, LeTV Information Technology Beijing Co., [SHE:300104], Leshi Zhixin Electronic Technology Tianjin Co. and Leshi Haiyun Culture Media Beijing Ltd., China Youth Daily reported today. All companies fall under the LeEco brand.

The campaign, launched by LeEco’s official community LeMe, recorded 1.6 million page views and 376,000 responses during China’s Lunar New Year. Most users who signed in for 16 days in a row, as outlined by the campaign, found they were unable to obtain the LeTV phones as promised. Some 80 people have filed a consumer fraud lawsuit against the company, for total compensation of CNY950,000 (USD138,000).

“The flaw in this campaign was a result of copywriter negligence,” LeEco’s litigation agent said.
On Feb. 4, LeMe launched a campaign saying all LeEco users who signed in for 16 consecutive days, from Feb. 7 to Feb. 22, could get a LeTV phone at its online store at 12.00 on Feb. 25. Users later found they couldn’t, and saw the event announcement had been changed to remove the word “all” and add in that the number of phones would be limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.
LeEco’s litigation agent explained that the alteration was made due to the copywriter’s negligence. A representative had previously said “It was an editing mistake, which was not discovered until the server crashed on Feb. 25 when the exchange began.”

LeMe’s acting attorneys Zuo Shenggao and Xu Hao, from Jingsh Law Firm, said “the 80 complainants asked the defendant to fulfill its obligation to ‘exchange a CNY3,999 (USD582) LeTV phone to each plaintiff,’ and believed that the defendant’s actions constituted consumer fraud, so it should compensate each person three times the cost of the phone, CNY11,997.”

Zuo believes the LeEco users mentioned in the campaign refer to a special group of consumers who had previously bought LeEco’s products or services and signed in for 16 days in a row over the holidays to get ‘money’ in exchange for a LeTV phone. LeEco’s inconsistency in the campaign rules is actually the consumer fraud referred to in the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Consumers, he added.

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Faulty Brakes Injure Woman in China’s First Bike-Sharing Claim; More Set to Come as Sector Explodes

(YicaiGlobal) Feb. 27 — The first compensation claim for an accident resulting from use of a bike-sharing service recently arose in Xiamen in South China’s Fujian province over the use of a bike rented from bike-sharing platform Ofo. Bike-sharing has lately gained great popularity in major Chinese cities amid growing safety concerns.

A woman surnamed Ye suffered nasal bone fractures and contusions to her right eye after the brakes on her rented bicycle failed when she was riding downhill, local media reported, causing her to need more than ten stitches. Ye tried to call Ofo Bicycle after the accident, but got only a busy signal. The platform finally responded after media intervened.

Ofo’s staff acknowledged flaws in their service, and promised to compensate Ms. Ye for all her medical expenses. The exact amount of this settlement was not disclosed, however.

Payment is made for an Ofo bike via the WeChat messaging app of Tencent Holdings Ltd. [HKG:0700]. Users scan a QR code with their smartphones to unlock bikes. The explosive rise of cheap rent-a-bike schemes in China has led to issues such as staffing shortages and faulty bike maintenance among operators. Ofo said it has 80,000 bicycles in service in Xiamen but only 150 inspectors, whose job is to identify defects in bikes at key locations. Each inspector must check an average of 533 bikes per day.

Aside from broken bikes, bike-sharing firms also confront other issues such as customer traffic violations, bike theft and damage. Primary school students weaving uncontrollably while riding rented bikes are also a common sight. Shanghai is introducing measures to restrict minors’ access to ride-sharing bicycles. Furthermore, as more people use bike-sharing services, more velos now park in no-parking spots.

These problems have not deterred Didi Chuxing, the Chinese version of Uber, from investing millions of dollars in Ofo, which started two years ago at Beijing’s Peking University as a student project, and is now China’s biggest bike-sharing platform. The company now runs nearly 70,000 canary-yellow bikes and claims 500,000 rides each day in 20 cities, as Bloomberg News reported Sept. 26.

Intensifying smartphone use has enabled the way for bike-sharing startups such as Ofo and its competitor Mobike Technology Co.

Mobike recently received strategic investment from Singapore’s Temasek and Hillhouse Capital, bringing total investment in the Chinese smart bike-sharing startup to USD300 million thus far this year. Kicked off in Shanghai last April, Mobike has expanded to 21 cities across the country, including Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. “In just 10 months, Mobike has grown to serving more than 10 million users across 21 cities — and in that time, people across China have taken more than 200 million Mobike rides,” said Davis Wang, co-founder and chief executive, a former Uber China executive. “This equates to a reduction in carbon emissions of hundreds of thousands of tons,” Yicai Global reported Feb. 20. Although bike-sharing schemes have a definite downside, their benefits appear to outweigh their disadvantages and, however much they may arouse regulators’ ire, it also seems they are here to stay.

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IMAX and Bona Jointly Open 30 Cinemas in China, Which Surpasses US as IMAX’s Largest Market

(YicaiGlobal) Feb. 27 — The film technology corporation IMAX Corp [NYEX:IMAX] said it has signed agreements with one of the largest Chinese film distributers Bona Film Group Ltd. [NASDAQ:BONA], planning to add 30 IMAX cinemas in China, thereby causing China to exceed the US as its biggest market in the world.

Data shows that, by the end of last year, 149 Chinese cities had introduced 407 IMAX screens, and owned 334 contracted cinemas under construction.

A press release IMAX and Bona released on Feb. 27 says the latter plans to open five cinemas each year from 2017 to 2022. The assignment of this agreement means that the number of IMAX cinemas under Bona will rise to 35, up from an earlier five. Bona thus ranks among IMAX’s top five cinema cooperative partners in China.

In 2012, Bona established its first IMAX cinema in Tianjin, a city in eastern China, followed by another three in Beijing, followed by Taiyuan in Shanxi province and Wuhan in southeastern Hubei. The fifth is expected to be set up in Dalian, in northeastern Liaoning province.

Recent years have witnessed a robust development of China’s film market, and its box office revenue has experienced vigorous growth since 2008, with an annual increase of nearly 30 percent. However, due to a low point in growth and the fierce competition cinemas in large cities confront, the data analysis company Analysys International forecasts that total box office revenues in the Chinese film market last year will reach an estimated USD7 billion (CNY46 billion), up by only 4.6 percent over the previous year.

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Lotte Offers Up Golf Course for South Korea’s THAAD; China Reiterates Opposition

(YicaiGlobal) Feb. 28 — South Korea’s Lotte Group is set to transfer its Seongju County golf course to the defense ministry for the deployment of the country’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) defense system. China’s foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang reiterated China’s opposition to the program.

“I’d like to stress once again that China firmly opposes the deployment of THAAD in South Korea, and we’ll take necessary action to safeguard our own security,” Geng said at a Ministry of Foreign Affairs press briefing yesterday. “The US and South Korea will bear the consequences of the matter.”
At a board meeting yesterday, Lotte decided to hand over its golf course in Seongju County in the eastern province of North Gyeongsang to South Korea’s Ministry of Defense for the anti-missile system, Yonhap News Agency reported. If both parties sign the deal, the project could be finished within seven months. Lotte Group is one of South Korea’s five largest conglomerates. It entered the Chinese market in 1994 and has businesses in most provinces.

The Chinese ministry spokesman went on to say that the anti-missile defense system will gravely harm the regional balance and undermine China’s security interests, as well as those of other nearby countries. The move is not conducive to maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, he added.

Unfortunately, South Korea is ignoring the mutual interests it shares with China and insists on cooperating with America to advance the defense project, Geng continued.

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Beijing Police Plan to Nab Crooks Using Ultrapower’s Big Data, AI Services

(YicaiGlobal) Feb. 28 — A Beijing-based company is set to expand the scope of its artificial intelligence products and Big Data services to include use by the local police force in criminal investigations, the firm said yesterday.

Beijing Ultrapower Software Co.’s [SHE:300002] smart system for public security will be used by Beijing police in criminal investigations for two years, after the company signed a cooperation agreement with the local Public Security Bureau. The computing firm will add machine learning, data mining and artificial intelligence to its existing semantic analysis system.

The partnership reflects the police force’s acknowledgement of the smart system, which could help it crack cases and cut labor costs, the statement said.

Beijing police will partner with Ultrapower in specific projects for software, hardware, service and special arrangements.

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China Condemns Attack on Chinese Factory in Myanmar, Demanding Immediate Preventive Action

 

(YicaiGlobal) Feb. 24 — A Chinese-owned garment factory in Shwepyitha industrial zone in Yangon, Myanmar, was attacked by hundreds of local workers who occupied the factory and held several Chinese workers captive. The Chinese embassy in Yangon has lodged solemn representations to Myanmar, demanding immediate and effective action by Myanmar authorities to ensure the safety of Chinese nationals and the property of Chinese companies, as well as punishment of the perpetrators in accordance with laws.

The factory, owned by Hangzhou Baiyi Garments, was set up in Myanmar nearly three years ago, employing more than 500 local and 10 Chinese workers, reported Golden Phoenix, a local Chinese-language newspaper in Myanmar. A number of assaults by local staff on the factory have occurred since last December.

Recently, a worker representative, who left the company on his own initiative, wanted to come back to work but was rejected. He led other workers to go on strike and blocked the factory gate for two weeks to prevent Chinese workers from entering the complex. On Feb. 23, striking workers broke in the factory, smashed equipment and robbed Chinese employees at their dormitories.

Some 200 to 300 workers took part in the assault, damaging the equipment, said Chen Hongwei, head of the factory. The factory has been occupied by the striking workers who also held Chinese staffers captive.

An official from the Chinese embassy in Myanmar visited the factory on the day of the attack, said an embassy statement issued yesterday. The embassy official made representations to Myanmar’s foreign affairs ministry, home affairs ministry and the Yangon regional government, condemning the attack and demanding immediate action to punish the perpetrators.

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Chongqing Is Most Congested City in China, Says TomTom’s List of Cities With Most Traffic Congestion

(YicaiGlobal) Feb. 24 — TomTom Telematics, owned by Dutch navigation company TomTom, has released a list of cities around the world with the most traffic congestion in 2016. Mexico City, capital of Mexico, once again took the top spot. China has four of the top 10 most congested cities in the world. Chongqing ranks the fourth globally, with a congestion index of 52 percent, making it China’s most congested city.

The report issued by TomTom Telematics covers 390 cities in 48 countries. It calculates the traffic congestion index of major cities based on the percentage of extra travel time spent by drivers stuck in traffic. Mexico City has a congestion index of 66 percent. That means drivers there spend an average of 66 percent extra travel time in traffic and even longer time in the evening peak periods, adding up to 227 hours of extra travel time per year on average.

Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, takes the second place, with a congestion index of 61 percent, followed by Indonesia’s capital Jakarta on the third spot, which has a congestion index of 58 percent.
The top 10 cities also include the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu, seventh with 47 percent, and Tainan and Beijing (tied for ninth with 46 percent each).

In Europe, Romania’s capital Bucharest is the most congested city (50 percent) and ranks fifth globally. Moscow, which took last year’s top spot in Europe, becomes the second most congested city with a congestion index of 44 percent.

The top five most congested cities in North America are Mexico City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver and New York. There rankings are the same as those in 2015, though with increased congestion.

The top 10 most congested cities in Asia are Bangkok, Jakarta, Chongqing, Istanbul, Chengdu, Tainan, Beijing, Changsha, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, seven of which are in China.

China’s Tourism Agency Scolds Three Top Scenic Spots After Frequent Visitor Complaints

(YicaiGlobal) Feb. 27 — China’s tourism watchdog has rebuked three of the country’s top tourist attractions after repeated visitor complaints about personal safety, overcharging and forced shopping.

The three are the Old Town of Lijiang, a national 5-A scenic spot and UNESCO World Heritage Site in the southwestern province of Yunnan, Jingpo Lake in Mudanjiang city in Heilongjiang province, and Dalian Laohutan Ocean Park and Polar Lan in Liaoning province. The China National Tourism Administration ordered them to make improvements within six months, it said on Feb. 25.

In China, the 5-A classification is supposed to represent a world-class level of tourist attraction and service. But some top-rated locations are often involved in service-related scandals. The number of complaints against the Old Town of Lijiang is always high, with visitors frequently reporting being physically attacked. Earlier this month, several female tourists were seriously injured after quarreling with a waiter.

Yunnan’s vice governor went undercover on a group tour after this year’s Spring Festival. In one tourist shop, Chen Shun experienced for himself not being allowed to leave without having bought a certain amount. This is a regular tourist grievance.

Fierce price wars among Chinese travel agents has led some guides to supplement their income with commissions for leading visitors to certain tourist shops.

TPP’s Looming Flop Brings Uncertainty to China-Backed Rival Asia-Pacific Trade Pact

(YicaiGlobal) Feb. 27 — The failing Trans Pacific Partnership is bringing uncertainties to the China-backed rival Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which with around 3.5 billion people and one-third of the global economy would be the world’s biggest free trade area.

Today, 700 trade negotiators from 16 countries in the Asia Pacific, including China, are in Kobe, Japan for the first round of RCEP talks since President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the TPP.
As one of the few major ongoing free trade negotiations in the world today, representatives are willing to speed up talks, but with the TPP close to failure, that pact’s signatories such as Japan and Australia now hope to introduce the TPP’s transparency criteria and investment rules into the RCEP.

The RCEP was sponsored by the 10 ASEAN countries, and China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India have been invited to ratify a free trade protocol based on a single market, with the aim of eliminating tariffs and non-tariff barriers.

During this 17th round of talks, representatives will discuss matters related to all the 13 remaining items including tariff abolition and reduction as well as relaxing investment and service trade restrictions. In addition, existing TPP members such as Japan and Australia may add new items to the agenda.

It is very important for Japan to “reach a consensus on trade liberalization and high-standard rules,” Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seke said at press conference before today’s meeting.

The Japanese media divided the 16 countries attending the negotiations into three groups. One of them consists of TPP members such as Japan, Australia and Singapore, which advocate “trade liberalization and high-standard rules” and oppose any agreement falling short of their standards.

China, India and the Philippines want to conclude an agreement and roll out the free trade protocol in the Asia Pacific as soon as possible, taking advantage of the US slide into trade protectionism.
The third faction consists of developing countries such as Laos and Cambodia. They are hoping to secure extra compensation from the RCEP given the fact that high-level trade liberalization may cause damage to domestic industries in these countries, they are looking to any deal for technical and infrastructure support.

Whoever manages to enlist the support of countries in the third faction will get a big boost in the negotiations. So far, countries such as India believe a lower level of trade liberalization is better for developing economies. On the other hand, Japan is trying to win the support of those economies and Seke has pledged to offer more training and other aid than before.

Japan also has a plan for itself. If a high-standard free trade agreement can be established without the US, it may convince Trump to change his mind about the TPP.

The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, an advisory body to the US Congress, forecast in a report that if the TPP fails and the RCEP is successfully launched, China would benefit to the tune of USD88 billion. If both the TPP and the RCEP are ratified, China would benefit by USD72 billion. If the TPP is ratified, but the RCEP fails, China would lose USD22 billion.

China’s Consumers Remain Optimistic About Future, Nielsen Says

(YicaiGlobal) Feb. 27 — Chinese consumer confidence index has remained strong as domestic consumers has an optimistic outlook into the future, a recent Nielsen report shows.

After being stable for three consecutive quarters, Chinese consumer confidence index picked up to 108 in the fourth quarter of last year from 106 in the third quarter, the report said. The index stabilized at between 105 and 108 in each quarter of 2016, showing a steadily improving trend, pointing to optimism of Chinese consumers in the year that has just passed.

Chinese consumer confidence reached 106 in the whole of last year, down from 107 in 2015, but with an overall stable development trend, Nielsen said. Consumers’ appetite for spending was unaffected and even showed signs of rising, with their willingness to spend hitting 53 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the highest in nearly four years.

“Despite a slowdown in domestic economic growth in recent years, Chinese consumer confidence has remained strong and robust in the past few years,” said Wei Shao, general manager of Nielsen in China. “Chinese consumers remain bullish on the future, supported by rising income and low unemployment rate.”

The Nielsen consumer confidence index measures perceptions of job prospects, personal finances and spending inclinations. Consumer confidence levels above and below 100 indicate degrees of optimism and pessimism.

Chinese consumers’ positive expectations for job prospects helped boost confidence in the fourth quarter. Job prospects jumped to 64 in the fourth quarter from 60 in the third quarter, the Nielsen data shows. People’s willingness to spend also went up to 53 in the fourth quarter from 52 in the third one. Expectations for personal finances were unchanged from the third quarter at 62.

Mysterious Online ‘Go’ Player, Suspected of Being AI, Beats Top Asian ‘Go’ Players in Record Wins

(YicaiGlobal) Jan. 4 — At the end of 2016, a user with the screen name “Master” challenged world ‘Go,’ a strategy board game, champions from China and South Korea via an online ‘Go’ platform. “Master” set a record of more than 30 consecutive wins with zero failures, leading to speculation as to whether the player is “human or artificial intelligence (AI),” tech.sina.com.cn reported.

On Dec. 29, “Master” used the ‘Go’ website ewiqi.com to compete at ultra-fast speed with the current No. 1 South Korean ‘Go’ player Park Jung Hwan, the Shinco Bailing Cup World Go Tournament champion Chen Yaoye, as well as China Go Celebrity Competition champion Lian Xiao, winning with a record 4-0, 2-0 and 2-0, respectively.

On Dec. 30, “Master” twice defeated an anonymous ‘Go’ player using the alias “Kiss Goodbye.” Top Chinese ‘Go’ player Ke Jie later revealed that he was “Kiss Goodbye.” Yesterday, “Master” faced Ke Jie again, alongside top Japanese and Korean competitors, and brought its consecutive win total to 50.

Since Google-developed AlphaGo’s victory over the former world champion Lee Se-dol in an open tournament in the first half of 2016, AI has had an undeniable presence in the ‘Go’ community. But top ‘Go’ players refuse to give up and pine for another opportunity to take on AlphaGo. The unexpected emergence of “Master” as a champion over South Korean and Chinese players has led fans to suggest that the incognito player could be AlphaGo in disguise, or a new AI.

Having accepted AI’s place in the world of ‘Go,’ Ke Jie now hopes to reach to an elevated skill level with the help of the technology. “From now on, we will enter a new realm and achieve new heights with computer support,” Ke commented.

Shenzhen-HK Stock Connect Opens Up World’s Largest Untapped Capital Market to Foreign Investors

(YicaiGlobal) Dec. 7 — The Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect launched on Dec. 5. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang promised in May that the link would kick off before the end of the year. It comes nearly two years after the launch of Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, laying groundwork for a possible future integration of the three markets.

There are a number of reasons why the new Connect has launched at a time of ongoing domestic and global economic pressures. It is a testament to the determination of Chinese policy-makers to liberalize the country’s USD6.5 trillion capital markets. It is also an indication that Beijing is keen on attracting more international investment to mainland-listed stocks.

There is a good deal Shenzhen could offer to outside investors. It remains to be the largest capital market in the world virtually untapped by international money. Less than two percent of its USD3.4 billion market cap is believed to be held by foreigners.

It is Asia’s busiest exchange with monthly turnover of more than USD1 trillion. It also allows international investors to invest in China’s new economy as the shares of mostly tech companies with considerable potential for growth are traded on it. It also houses environmental, consumer-related and health sector companies which will be at the center of China’s transition to a consumer-based economy.

If the Shanghai-HK Connect is a frontrunner for internationalization of China’s A-share market, Shenzhen is the accelerator, which would increase the chances for it to be included in the MSCI’s Emerging Markets Index. As an executive of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange operator said, “you build a bridge for the next 20 years’ traffic, not only for next week’s.”

China’s P2P Lenders Stoop to New Low in Demanding Nude Photos as Collateral

(YicaiGlobal) June 16 — China’s peer-to-peer lenders are demanding nude photographs of women borrowers as collateral in a new low for debt recovery tactics.

P2P lending platform Jiedaibao has been accused of offering microloans to female college students in exchange for photos of themselves naked. The threat, of course, is that if they do not repay the loan the image will be published on the Internet. Jiedaibao has denied direct involvement.

As the number of defaults on personal P2P loans has risen, debt collection agencies have proliferated. Such businesses are making a fast buck charging 30 to 50 percent of the total loan amount. Promise China, a Shanghai-based ‘debt collector,’ became the first to list in China last October when it joined the New Third Board, the country’s over-the-counter market.

Other aggressive debt recovery measures include nuisance calls to borrowers, their relatives and friends, putting up borrowers’ photos in public places, and posting their ID card numbers, phone numbers and addresses online.

P2P lending sites have become the most risky financing platforms in China, and several have gone bankrupt this year, resulting in total losses of more than CNY150 billion (USD22.8 billion). The danger is far from over. As of the end of March, there were about 3,984 P2P lenders, many of them exposed to mounting risks.

The risks associated with Chinese financial firms including P2P sites are largely attributable to the absence of a national personal credit information system. The central bank is setting up a nationwide credit system similar to the US’s FICO Score, but it has not yet been decided whether the credit system designed for banks will be made available to P2P lenders.

In an April report, Boston Consulting Group described China’s personal credit market as one that “emerged at the right time and is gradually taking shape, but still has a long way to go.”

DOW HITS 20,000

(YicaiGlobal) Jan. 25 –The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday finally crossed 20,000 for the first time.

The S&P 500 and the tech-focused Nasdaq clinched new highs Tuesday, but the Dow failed to climb above its old record of 19,999.63.

At 9:32 a.m. ET, the Dow is up by 101 points or 0.51%, at 20,014.62. A close above 20,000 is what’s needed to put the psychological milestone in the rearview mirror, tweeted Mohamed El-Erian, the chief economic adviser at Allianz.

The S&P 500 is up 10 points (0.46%) at an intraday high of 2,290.55. The Nasdaq is up 37 points (0.68%) at a record 5,638.85.

This week is the busiest of earnings-reporting season companies, and some better-than-expected earnings results have supported the major indexes. An earnings beat by Boeing ahead of the opening bell on Wednesday pushed its shares and the overall Dow higher.

On Tuesday, producers of metals and raw materials on the benchmark S&P 500 gained after chemical-maker DuPont reported results that topped estimates.

Several market strategists, including Raymond James’ Jeff Saut, have said that the bull market is transitioning this year from being interest rate-driven to being earnings driven. Investors’ focus, they argue, is returning squarely to profit as interest rates bottom and US monetary policy continues to tighten.

The so-called Trump rally that took stocks — and financial stocks in particular —to new highs after the election stalled at the beginning of this year. But in his first week, President Donald Trump pushed the pro-business agenda promised on the campaign trail. He met Tuesday with CEOs from the largest automakers including GM and Fiat Chryslerto urge more domestic manufacturing.

Meanwhile, inflation expectations continue to rise as Trump touts his infrastructure plan. The 10-year yield was up three basis points to 2.504% at 9:25 a.m. ET.

According to a report Tuesday from Kansas City Star and The News Tribune,Trump’s administration has compiled a list of 50 infrastructure projects, totaling $137.5 billion in investment. An announcement directing the construction of a border wall with Mexico is expected on Wednesday.

China Keeps USD50,000 Annual Quota for Forex Purchases Unchanged, But Introduces New Curbs

(YicaiGlobal) Jan. 3 — The Chinese government will not make any changes on USD50,000 annual quota for citizens’foreign exchange purchases, but the process of buying foreign currencies has become more complicated in the new year. New regulations announced by China’s foreign exchange regulator will be seen as bad news by people hoping to convert their yuan into foreign currencies in 2017.

All personal banking customers buying foreign currency at the counter or via online banking services are now required to fill out a ‘Personal Foreign Exchange Purchase Application Form,’ which says, “Foreign currencies purchased by individuals may not be used for buying properties or securities abroad.”

Under the new rules, such foreign currency cannot be used to buy make type of regulated capital investments such as life insurance or any other kind of insurance of an investment nature. The new rules ban using foreign exchange purchase quota for money laundering, underground banking or any other illegal transactions or activities.

Individuals found in violation of forex purchase regulations will be put on a ‘watch list’ by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and will be disqualified from quota allocation for three years. In addition, offenders will be referred to relevant authorities for anti-money laundering investigation. Fines up to CNY50,000 (USD7,194) and 30 percent of the total amount of forex transaction could also be imposed.

Chinese citizens who convert their yuan into foreign currencies will have to state the purpose of their transaction. Foreign exchange purchases can only be for tourism, studying abroad, outbound travel for government or business affairs, visiting relatives and receiving medical treatment abroad. The “expected time period for the use of foreign currency” purchased also has to be specified.

According to a press release issued by SAFE on Dec. 31, 2016, loopholes in the citizens’ foreign exchange purchase system in China have led to frequent forex fraud cases and money laundering, causing disorder in the foreign exchange market. From this year, China will further improve individuals’ foreign exchange information reporting management and clarify relevant foreign exchange purchase and settlement rules and legal liabilities.

China’s foreign exchange reserves plunged to USD3.0516 trillion in Nov. 2016. Given the continued depreciation of the yuan, a large number of Chinese citizens are expected to rush to convert their yuan into the dollar in the new year. The Chinese foreign exchange reserves would drop below the USD3 trillion psychological barrier, predict some analysts.

Revenge Pawn and Other Peer-to Peer Perils

(YicaiGlobal) Jan. 16 — The Peer-to-Peer (P2P) industry lets investors side-step banks to lend directly to borrowers. It has boomed in China. Borrowers get easy access to credit. Lenders get higher returns than from bank deposits. But scandals have tarnished P2P. The government is now tightening the screws.

Several such ‘student loan’ scandals rocked China in 2016. P2P platform Jiedaibao was accused of offering small loans to co-eds at a usurious 30 interest rate in exchange for nude photos of them holding ID cards. If default occurs, these images appear on the web and are sent to family and friends.

Most Loanbao female borrowers were born between 1993 and 1997. A photo shows a topless girl with an IOU blocking her bosom that reads “I’m [NAME], I borrowed CNY6,000 (USD900) from [NAME] through LoanBao at a monthly interest rate of CNY400. The loan is for one month. I take sole responsibility for failing to repay the loan on time.”

Borrowers must use their real names, while lenders can employ pseudonyms. Beijing Happy Times Technology Co., also withdrew from the ‘student loan’ market when facing ‘revenge pawn’ allegations.

Pawnography of this kind may also hold residual value for bottom-feeding investors, and even spawn a secondary market. It has already formed a sort of unofficial credit reporting system … in more than one sense. Perhaps Sallie Mae should explore similarly creative student-loan securitization measures.

That’s all, folks. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go and collect a debt.

Sparkling Ideas From Jack Ma and His Ambition On a Davos Talk

(YicaiGlobal) Jan.21 — On the Davos forum, Jack Ma accepted the interview from CNBC’s journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin and his excellent eloquence against sharp questions impressed the audiences, particularly when he was asked about if China is stealing job from the U.S.

Jack Ma replied like this:

“American international companies made millions and millions of dollars from globalization.”

“In the past 30 years, America had 13 wars spending $14.2 trillion. What if they spend part of the money on building infrastructure, helping the white collars and blue collars? No matter how good your strategy is you’re supposed to spend money on your own people.”

“The money goes to Wall Street. Then what happened? Year 2008 wiped out $19.2 trillion in US income … What if the money was spent on the Midwest of the United States?”

“It’s not that other countries steal American jobs. It is your strategy – that you did not distribute the money in a proper way.”

American Media immediately took aggressive actions on Jack Ma’s saying.

1. Meeting With Donald Trump?  

“One day I got a request from some people: ‘Jack do you want to meet the president-elect?’ I said, ‘Is that true? I’m not ready for that, ’cause I don’t know what to talk about.’ And then a few days later, I got another request. I got several requests. I thought about it. I think, yes, maybe I should go and have a talk. At least I think President-elect Donald Trump would be happy to hear what I talk about, so I went.”

2. China’s Leadership 

“The world needs a new leadership. But the new leadership is about working together. This is what I understand. We do not necessarily need one specific leader to teach us what to do, what not to do.”

“As a businessperson, I want the world to share the prosperity together, to join the force together. As a Chinese, I’m happy about what he committed. This is the first time I heard a Chinese leader putting a number on the commitment. This makes me excited because China is transforming from exporting to importing. If there’s a concrete number, if we could fulfill it, this is going to be a huge change to China and to the world.”

3. Business Empire

“I hope both are right. And because the world can never have one mode. If the world has only one correct mode, the world’s too boring. We need to have all kinds of modes. And the people who do the mode should believe the mode. And I believe what I do.”

“Amazon is more like an empire. Everything they control themselves, buy and sell. And our philosophy is that we want to be an eco-system. Our philosophy is to empower others to sell, empower others to serve, to make sure the other people are more powerful than us. Our philosophy is that we think using internet technology, we can make every company become Amazon.”

“We made same-day delivery possible in 125 cities last year. Imagine 10 years ago, deliver one thing from Beijing to Hangzhou took about 8 days. Now you can deliver things from Beijing to Inner Mongolia, some cities within 12 hours. It’s improving. You can never expect these things to happen within 24 hours. We have patience.”

“This is what we feel proud of. It’s not how much money we made, it’s not how powerful we are, it’s that we can make technology very inclusive. Every small company can use it. This is my dream.”

4. Alibaba’s Copyright Infringement

“As an e-commerce, when you have 10 million small business, and empower them to sell, you cannot check every product like Amazon does. So e-commerce itself may have a lot of flaws.“

“In the past 17 years, we are the leader in anti-piracy issues. With big progress last year alone, we put 400 people in jail. We deleted 370 million fake products off our site.”

“Fighting against fake products is the war against human greediness. It is not easy. You can not finish it, but you have to continue to fight.”

5. Ambition in the Entertainment World

“Five years ago, we had a big debate about 10 years later, 20 years later, what are the things the Chinese society want? We say “happiness” and “health” – the two “H” strategy.”

“We believe Hollywood, the movie industry, can bring people happiness. Because today nobody is happy. Rich people are not happy, and poor people are not happy. At least when I watch movie, I feel happy. So I think we should be partner with Hollywood.”

“My favorite movie is Forrest Gump. When people call me crazy and stupid in the past 17 years, I told myself Forrest Gump said ‘Go ahead, never care about other people’.And Gump also said: ‘Nobody makes money by catching whales, people make money by catching shrimps.’ So we serve small business.”

 

6. China-US Trade War

“I think China and the US should never have a trade war and we will never have a trade war. And I think we should give president-elect Trump some time. I believe one thing, when trade stops, the world stops.”

“The world is so wonderful, why should I always be the CEO of Alibaba? I come to this world not to work, I come to this world to enjoy my life. I don’t want to die in my office, I want to die at the beach.”