• Chinese dancing frog goes viral doing the worm
• China pushes for more security operations along Mekong in summit with Southeast Asian neighbours
• Force of nature: China’s top climate envoy Xie Zhenhua steps down after more than 15 years in environment diplomacy
• ‘Not a peaceful night’: Chinese state media urge citizens to remember Christmas Eve for Korean war battle victory
• Death toll from China earthquake rises to 149, with 2 still missing
• Hero delivery rider in China dismisses rumours he is marrying woman he saved, says he is guest invited to enjoy ‘wedding candies’
• China’s C919 jet scores higher price in latest deal as Boeing returns to market
• Dubai luxury homes, offices tipped to extend hot price growth streak in 2024 amid China demand, analysts say
• China approves 105 video games, but Christmas miracle does not revive stocks after suggested spending curbs
• While China-Russia economic and diplomatic ties advance, their cultural bond flourishes with ballet, theatre and music
• Euromonitor says China to drive growth of global beauty industry as Asian men use more skincare, cosmetic products
• Hong Kong catering industry ‘suffers 11% drop in business’ on Christmas Eve, as residents head to mainland China and overseas for festive break
• ‘You can’t afford it’: Chinese live-streamer suspended after insulting viewers gets compared to earlier outburst of ‘Lipstick King’
• Hong Kong’s Christmas exodus, China divides Philippine elite: 5 weekend reads you may have missed
• From ‘traitors’ to ‘peacemakers’: Indian-Chinese couples share challenges of mixed marriages in new book
• China’s overseas students face hazy future, with tough job markets at home and abroad
• ‘Too scary’: China man complains about 15-metre dinosaur model neighbour put in front of his home, attracts 7 million views online
• Why China is keeping its distance as Russia and North Korea cosy up

Chinese dancing frog goes viral doing the worm

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/25/confusion-china-rights-dancing-frog-intellectual-property-copyright-infringement

An anthropomorphised frog has joined celebrity live-streamers and social media commentators among China’s ranks of influencers, as a trend that began with street sellers in Chinese cities takes on a new life online – and raised questions over who, if anyone, owns the intellectual property rights to a dancing amphibian.

Alternatively known as a “frog seller” or “frog influencer”, the meme involves a person in a frog suit with a blue neckerchief selling frog-themed products such as balloons and toys.

The magic ingredient for going viral on social media, though, is dancing. One video posted online in November showed a frog seller doing the worm in a gym. In another instance, a frog seller flosses – among other dance moves – to a disgruntled traffic police officer before riding off on a scooter.

I can't 🤣 Over the past year, frog sellers in China have emerged as a social phenomenon, and their numerous interactions with local police and security officers have formed a distinct short video genre of its own💯 pic.twitter.com/YQWqAHfNTq

— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) November 19, 2023

The trend is thought to have begun in September 2022, when a woman in Nanjing, surnamed Tong, wore a frog costume to sell frog balloons to passersby. When a video of her stunt was posted online, it quickly spawned imitations.

On Chinese Valentine’s Day, in August, an elderly man in Beijing put on a frog seller suit to give his partner a giant teddy bear, prompting comments about “true romance” when the video was posted online.

The trend has also triggered a rather less humorous debate about intellectual property. Tong was accused of stealing the design for her frog suit from Calabash Brothers, a popular 1980s Chinese cartoon series in which one character, Red Toad, is a frog wearing a distinctive red neckerchief.

“I modified the colour, body shape, pattern and head size, but the overall image of the toad in nature is there. No matter how I modify it, it does look very similar at first glance,” she said in an interview with China Intellectual Property News.

Commentators have weighed in about who owns the rights to a dancing frog. Long Wenmao, a professor at East China University of Political Science and Law, in Shanghai, said Calabash Brothers’ Red Toad and Tong’s frog seller were clearly different. Red Toad has an “evil and mischievous air”, while the frog seller has a “cute and innocent image”, Long said, according to China Intellectual Property News.

Wu Yunchu, one of the original creators of the Calabash Brothers cartoon, said he had no interest in pursuing Tong for a copyright violation.

Other commentators have taken a more philosophical approach. In an essay for China Youth Daily, the journalist Yang Xinyu wrote: “In a sense, the frog costume is an actor’s mask and a warrior’s armour. While it gives the person outside the mask laughs, it also shields the person inside the mask from the bitterness and sweetness of life.”

Additional research by Chi Hui Lin

China pushes for more security operations along Mekong in summit with Southeast Asian neighbours

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3246235/china-pushes-more-security-operations-along-mekong-summit-southeast-asian-neighbours?utm_source=rss_feed

Beijing will push for stepped up security operations targeting cyber scam syndicates and illegal gambling, among other crimes, as a key area of cooperation along the Lancang-Mekong River region, Chinese Premier Li Qiang told his Southeast Asian counterparts on Monday.

“We should strengthen governance about security, deepen the progress of security operations along the Mekong, and strike hard against cyber crimes like gambling and fraud,” Li said via video-link in a summit that he jointly hosted with co-chair, Myanmar’s military government leader Min Aung Hlaing.

The Lancang-Mekong summit took place as China pursues efforts to crack down on the cross-border crimes mainly along the Mekong River basin, targeting Chinese nationals in particular.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, Laotian prime minister Sonexay Siphandone, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also attended the event.

‘Transformative’: data sharing for Southeast Asia’s longest river set to begin

The meeting was a fourth summit for the grouping since it was established seven years ago as a regional forum that China uses to engage with the five Southeast Asian nations along the Mekong river, known as Lancang for the upper stream section in China.

“Positive progress has been made in building a community of shared destiny among the Lancang-Mekong countries. We should persistently promote this common cause,” Li said.

Li said all the countries should together explore a basin-wide governance of the Mekong, as China has been criticised for the amount of water that its 11 hydropower dams withhold upstream during dry seasons.

“We should fully respect the legitimate rights and interests of countries to develop and use the water resources [of the Mekong] in a reasonable manner,” he said.

Li suggested further cooperation in infrastructure connectivity, trade, manufacturing capacity, agriculture and artificial intelligence, as all the five Mekong basin countries are part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and key partners of the projects.

The six leaders issued a joint declaration, outlining a five-year cooperative action plan for the five years ending in 2027 and a joint initiative to build a regional innovation corridor, according to Chinese state media reports. Thailand will co-chair next year’s summit.

From earlier this year, China has highlighted its agenda to eradicate the cross-border crime syndicates running gambling, cyber scams and human trafficking in Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand.

Supply chains headline China-Vietnam talks as US vies for influence

At least 120,000 people in Myanmar and roughly 100,000 in Cambodia “may be held in situations where they are forced to carry out online scams”, the United Nations human rights office said in a report in August.

China has offered up to 500,000-yuan rewards for information leading to the capture of crime syndicate ringleaders based in northern Myanmar. And in last month alone, Myanmar handed over 31,000 telecom fraud suspects to China, including some of the wanted suspects.

In the meantime, Myanmar’s junta is facing its biggest battlefield challenge since its 2021 coup with insurgency erupted on multiple fronts. Beijing said it mediated a peace talk and ceasefire between Myanmar’s government troops and the rebel forces, but the battle continued in northern Shan state bordering China’s Yunnan province.

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Force of nature: China’s top climate envoy Xie Zhenhua steps down after more than 15 years in environment diplomacy

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3245195/force-nature-chinas-top-climate-envoy-xie-zhenhua-steps-down-after-more-15-years-environment?utm_source=rss_feed

He is the environment expert turned diplomat who spent more than a decade negotiating climate deals for the world’s second-largest economy, navigated US-China climate diplomacy at a time when ties between the countries were at their lowest, and used his sincerity and passion to win respect from all quarters on the global stage. Cop28 in Dubai, which ended two weeks ago, is likely to have been Xie Zhenhua’s swan song.

The face of China’s international climate strategy, Xie, who turned 74 in November, is set to retire soon, according to people familiar with the matter, saying farewell to a career of almost four decades of environmental and climate diplomacy.

Climate officials and observers celebrated Xie’s achievements, saying he was the driving force behind China’s shift from being unprepared for climate action to making it a nation with ambitions to be the global climate leader.

A Tianjin native, Xie was trained as an engineering physicist at Tsinghua University in the 1970s and started his career in various government agencies responsible for environmental affairs. While he rose through the ranks, he earned a master’s degree in environmental law from Wuhan University in 1993.

Xie was made the head of the State Environmental Protection Administration in 1998 and in 2003 he was awarded the UN’s highest environmental honour, the United Nations Environment Programme Sasakawa environment prize. But this chapter of his career had a turbulent end when he was forced to quit in 2005 over a pollution crisis caused by chemical spills in the Songhua River in northeastern China.

Xie was later reinstated, becoming deputy head of the country’s powerful National Development and Reform Commission, and he led the charge from 2007 working as China’s lead climate negotiator. In 2015, Xie was appointed as China’s special climate change representative.

It wasn’t a smooth ride. Xie suffered setbacks at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in 2009 when attendees failed to reach an agreement. Western leaders, including UK’s then-climate secretary Ed Miliband, named China as one of the countries that “hijacked the talks”, according to media reports.

In 2015, Xie led the Chinese delegation to successfully broker the Paris Agreement, marking a new chapter in the world’s shift towards net-zero emissions.

His achievements came as environment-related issues began to take a more prominent role in China’s political agenda, with Chinese President Xi Jinping saying that “ecological civilisation” was the country’s long-term strategy.

Despite Xie retiring in 2019, as China faced complex geopolitical challenges, he was brought out of retirement and appointed as China’s first special climate envoy in 2021 – the same year US President Joe Biden appointed John Kerry as America’s first ever special presidential envoy for climate.

Ma Jun, director of the Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs, a Beijing-based non-profit environmental research firm, described Xie coming out of retirement as “being called upon in a time of crisis”.

In 2020, the Trump administration officially withdrew from the Paris Agreement; the same year Xi pledged that China’s carbon emissions would peak by 2030 and it would achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

Nis Gruenberg, lead analyst at Berlin-based think tank the Mercator Institute for China Studies (Merics), said Xie has been an asset to China. He praised him for his personal relationship with his US counterpart Kerry, for knowing the ins and outs of climate issues, and for being a key player in the well-established international climate network.

“He’s really been a force that positions China in this shift from being very resistant against climate actions to really entering the global stages and joining the nations that are trying to do more,” he said.

During his tenure, Xie navigated US-China climate diplomacy that was as complex as it was important. It included times contact between the nations was paused, such as when Beijing protested against then-US house speaker Nancy Pelosi visiting Taiwan in August 2022.

Gruenberg believes the connection Xie had forged with Kerry helped when communications resumed, despite ongoing tensions in the relationship.

In fact, the pair’s recent collaboration – the Sunnylands statement – which laid a new foundation for US-China climate collaboration, was praised by Kerry as an “important milestone” that could “enhance climate action in this decade” when he spoke to the South China Morning Post in a digital conference in November.

World wants action to match words from Cop28 climate deal

The Sunnylands statement was released hours ahead of the much-discussed meetings between Xi and Biden and paved the way for the two parties agreeing on climate change as an area for collaboration.

“[Xie] and I have known each other for 25 years or more, we have been to many Cops together and we have had the privilege of negotiating together to come up with joint efforts in the past,” Kerry said.

Known for being a warm, friendly person, Xie is also notable for his passion in supporting non-profit organisations as part of his diplomatic mission.

“He has really set an example that can be accepted and widely respected in China and the international community; it is also quite prominent that he is highly respected in both government and civil society,” said Ma with the Beijing-based environmental firm, who has been involved in climate work for over three decades.

Ma said he was particularly moved by Xie’s sincerity. He gave the example of an “eco-friendly cycling event” in 2020 when Xie delivered an enthusiastic speech, then joined a group of young people on a bicycle ride.

“Along the way, Xie has really been tirelessly advocating, encouraging and supporting public engagement in climate change response and mobilising all of society to join him in those efforts,” Ma said.

Similarly, Sze Ping Lo, programme director for China and Southeast Asia at the California-based Sequoia Climate Foundation, said Xie’s warm character underpinned his successful diplomatic mission.

Lo said the first time he spoke to Xie was at a UN climate change negotiation in Tianjin in 2010, when he was the coordinator for the international NGOs taking part.

One morning, while organising the exhibition showcasing the NGOs’ work and talking to some journalists, to his surprise, Xie suddenly walked into the booth.

The Chinese diplomat shook hands with each one of them, telling them: “We are fighting on the same fronts [on climate change].”

Lo said it was “very unusual” at the time, as climate change was not high in public awareness and international NGOs were new to China, but Xie was friendly and welcoming.

From that first interaction, Lo soon realised that warmth was typical of the diplomat.

“Director Xie has this ability of coming into a room with a group of people – some he may know, some he may not know. He has the charm of … getting people to accept him, of befriending people. He has a very warm character,” he said.

A Chinese government official, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said: “In our view, no one in China can equal Xie’s achievement for now.”

Despite his successes, though, Xie has faced external and internal challenges that may have undermined his climate efforts, according to observers.

Beijing has drawn criticism from Washington and its allies for not sending its top leader to the UN climate conferences. Biden called out Xi for not showing up at Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021, as China tried to position itself as a responsible global climate leader.

Gruenberg from Merics said: “It is a bad signal that Xi never travelled to the Cop in recent years.” He pointed out that despite their abilities, climate negotiators themselves have limited powers as they always answer to their leaders.

He noted that Xie’s ranking was “fairly comparable” to his Western counterparts – that of a ministerial level. Despite this, “Xie is up against other powerful ministers, and brings a position to the negotiations that is predetermined and set in Beijing”.

Ma with the Beijing-based NGO said scepticism within the Chinese government has played a part.

“There are internal concerns. [Some are thinking,] ‘Is the whole climate thing just a unilateral effort by China alone, or are we simply jumping into a pit dug by others or is this something else?’” Ma said.

Xie’s successor is likely to be Liu Zhenmin, China’s vice-foreign minister from 2013 to 2017, according to two separate sources familiar with the matter.

Liu, 68, a career diplomat, served as undersecretary-general for the UN economic and social affairs department from 2017 to 2022.

He is “very skilled in communication, very composed and he likes to think things through comprehensively and he speaks English well,” according to people familiar with the matter.

Gruenberg said Liu’s experience in the UN and knowledge of how these organisations work could be beneficial. And with Kerry also retiring, the joint shift in leadership could serve as a “reset” in US-China climate conversations, Gruenberg also noted.

“These two guys that know each other very well are leaving the stage, and they leave very big shoes to fill,” he said.

“Hopefully that will also lead to the chance for some new relationships and some new commitments to grow.”

‘Not a peaceful night’: Chinese state media urge citizens to remember Christmas Eve for Korean war battle victory

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3246223/not-peaceful-night-chinese-state-media-urge-citizens-remember-christmas-eve-korean-war-battle?utm_source=rss_feed

While many around the world celebrated Christmas Eve, Chinese state media urged citizens to remember December 24 as the anniversary of a key Chinese military victory against American forces in the Korean war.

“December 24 is not ‘a peaceful night’, it’s the victory day of the Battle of Lake Changjin,” the government-owned Beijing Radio and Television Station said in a Weibo post on Sunday.

The text, which accompanied a video that went viral, contained a bit of wordplay, as the Chinese name for Christmas Eve translates to “peaceful night”.

“[The soldiers] fought for nights of peace for the new China, with their blood and their lives,” the post said.

The 12-second video included clips from the 2021 domestic film , which depicts a pivotal Korean war battle, also known as the Battle of Chosin Reservoir.

The battle took place about a month after China entered the war in 1950. The Chinese forces, sent to aid North Korean leader Kim Il-sung, surprised United Nations troops led by the US in the northeastern part of North Korea and fought in freezing weather for weeks.

Although China suffered much heavier casualties than the US, coalition forces were pushed back to the 38th parallel, ensuring that the Korean border was largely unchanged when the fighting ended almost three years later.

Beijing, which calls the conflict on the Korean peninsula the “war to resist US aggression and aid Korea”, attaches special importance to the battle, hailing it as a key victory over US forces.

In another video, which was picked up by multiple state media outlets, including China Daily and state broadcaster CCTV, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning is shown explaining the battle.

“During the battle, the enemy forces lost 36,000 troops, including 24,000 US troops that contained an entire US regiment. Walton H Walker, commander of the US Eighth Army, lost his life after his truck rolled over in an accident. Then US Secretary of State Dean Acheson called the result of the battle ‘the longest retreat in US military history’,” she said.

Mao made the remarks at a press conference in April to refute South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s description of the battle to US Congress the day before.

In that speech, Yoon said that over the past century, the US had faced many threats and challenges but had always led the world in defence of freedom, and that at the Battle of Lake Changjin, the US 1st Marine Division miraculously broke through a wave of 120,000 Chinese troops.

The social media posts featuring the video of Mao were flooded with comments supporting her account of the battle.

“An evening of peace isn’t given by Santa Claus, but traded by many martyrs with their lives and blood,” one commenter said. “We must show respect to the heroic Chinese soldiers.”

The Korean war was the only direct conflict between Chinese and American troops. In recent years, Chinese authorities have repeatedly played up the 1950s conflict as a symbol of national pride amid an intensifying rivalry with the US.

Christmas is not a public holiday in China, which is home to 68 million Christians, who account for 5 per cent of its population. However, it has become a popular holiday among young people since the 1990s.

With the rise of online nationalism and a boycott of Western cultural values, there have been yearly calls – sometimes from authorities – discouraging the Chinese public from celebrating Christmas.

This year, a few schools sent out notices boycotting the holiday. The Shengli Elementary School in the northeastern city of Harbin called for students and parents to “promote Chinese traditional holidays” and avoid giving each other gifts at school or decorating classrooms.

Another junior school in Yuzhou in the central province of Henan said instead of celebrating Christmas, students should commemorate the birth of the late chairman Mao Zedong, who was born on December 26, 1893, by reciting his poetry and writing essays.

Death toll from China earthquake rises to 149, with 2 still missing

https://apnews.com/article/china-earthquake-gansu-qinghai-220efdf4c3e3ea4f892ea7de910f0174In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, soldiers clear debris on the damaged houses after the earthquake in Chenjia Village of Dahejia Township, Jishishan County, northwest China's Gansu Province on Dec. 20, 2023. The strong earthquake that hit northwest China this week, and killed at least 148 people, has caused tens of millions of estimated economic losses in the agricultural and fisheries industries, state media reported Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023. (Feng Yanrong/Xinhua via AP)

2023-12-25T03:25:24Z

BEIJING (AP) — The death toll from China’s most powerful earthquake in years has risen to 149, with two people still missing after the tremor hit northwestern parts of the country last week.

The 6.2-magnitude quake struck a remote mountainous area between Gansu and Qinghai provinces on Dec. 18, reducing homes to rubble and triggering heavy mudslides that inundated two villages in Qinghai province.

State broadcaster CCTV said Monday the death toll in Donghai city in Qinghai has risen by one, to 32, and rescuers were still searching for two missing people. In neighboring Gansu, authorities had reported 117 dead.

Nearly 1,000 were injured and more than 14,000 homes were destroyed in China’s deadliest earthquake in nine years.

Primary schools in Jishishan county in Gansu resumed classes in tents on Monday, state media reported. Local authorities said they would use the upcoming winter break to repair damaged schools and erect temporary structures so that classes could resume as normal in the spring semester.

Authorities also rushed to erect temporary housing units for survivors facing temperatures well below freezing. CGTN, the state broadcaster’s international arm, said the first batch of 500 temporary housing units had been built for residents in Meipo, a village in Gansu, on Friday night.

More than 87,000 people have been resettled after the quake.

The tremor caused economic losses estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars in the agricultural and fisheries industries, according to state media.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Saturday visited several villages in Gansu and a county in Qinghai and urged authorities to improve living conditions for the survivors, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Li said the top priority of relief efforts was to make sure people stay warm and safe in winter.

Funerals were held throughout the week, some following the Muslim traditions of much of the population in the affected area.

Most of China’s earthquakes strike in the western part of the country, including Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, as well as the Xinjiang region and Tibet.

The country’s deadliest earthquake in recent years was a 7.9-magnitude tremor in 2008 that left nearly 90,000 dead or presumed dead and devastated towns and schools in Sichuan province, leading to a yearslong effort to rebuild with more resistant materials.

Hero delivery rider in China dismisses rumours he is marrying woman he saved, says he is guest invited to enjoy ‘wedding candies’

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3246126/hero-delivery-rider-china-dismisses-rumours-he-marrying-woman-he-saved-says-he-guest-invited-enjoy?utm_source=rss_feed

A delivery driver who leapt off a high bridge to rescue a drowning woman, captivated millions in China this summer, has been invited to her wedding.

Peng Qinglin saw the woman struggling in the Qiantang River in Hangzhou in eastern China’s Zhejiang province on June 13 while on a food delivery run. Without hesitating, he jumped from a 12-metre-high bridge and saved her.

Peng’s brave and selfless act deeply moved many, and he earned further praise when he donated a substantial amount of his reward money.

Now the woman is getting married and has invited him to celebrate with her by enjoying her wedding candies.

After his heroic deed, Peng stayed in his job as a delivery driver, turning down several offers to work for the government. He has since been promoted to a team leader.

“I don’t want to go to an office. I like being a delivery driver. I’m outside every day, seeing different things and meeting people. Sitting in an office might protect me from the wind and sun, but it comes with its pressures. I prefer to choose a job I like,” Peng declared.

He also declined a 5 million-yuan (US$700,000) contract for live-stream sales, saying: “I don’t want to earn money using the traffic gained from saving someone.”

In addition, he was inundated with requests for dates from women who expressed their admiration online, and there were rumours about him dating the woman he had saved.

A trending online video from December 18 showed Peng delivering food and being asked by a customer: “The girl you saved is 28, and you’re 31, a good match in age. There are rumours that you are dating her.”

“Don’t believe those rumours. We’ve kept in touch. She’s about to get married and has invited me to enjoy her wedding candies,” Peng replied as he sat astride his delivery scooter.

As for the other women, he said: “I’m open to dating, but there’s one condition: we need to get along well. It’s not about looks but about being able to have good conversations. And any relationship should be genuine, not exploiting me for live-stream sales.”

Peng’s honesty and humility have won him widespread respect and admiration.

“I really admire his choices after becoming famous,” one commenter said.

“He dared to jump from such a high bridge to save a life, and he remains humble and sincere in both his work and personal life. Respect,” another remarked.

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China’s C919 jet scores higher price in latest deal as Boeing returns to market

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3246205/chinas-c919-jet-scores-higher-price-latest-deal-boeing-returns-market?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s home-grown C919 airliner secured a higher price in its latest deal with Air China after its manufacturer, Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), appealed for more support in sales at home as Boeing makes headway in deliveries to Chinese carriers.

The C919’s price increase was revealed in Comac’s deal with Air China, China’s largest carrier by fleet size, announced last week. Air China will purchase six C919 planes and 11 of the smaller ARJ21 regional jets, with deliveries between 2024 and 2025.

Air China revealed in an exchange filing that Comac charged US$108 million for each C919 and US$38 million for the ARJ21, or US$1.07 billion in total, but both sides had agreed to prices “lower than the list prices”.

Comac has raised its C919 price quote by US$9 million from 2022’s level of US$99 million as seen in its deal with China Eastern that year, according to mainland media outlet Caixin. Comac’s latest list price for the C919 is close to Airbus’ quote of US$105-136 million for its A320neo series in 2020.

Sky’s the limit: China to develop high-altitude version of C919 passenger jet

At a Civil Aviation Administration of China meeting last week, Comac General Manager Zhou Xinmin appealed for more government support, such as incentives to airlines and airports, to help boost the market share of home-grown jets. Comac said in September that it had 1,061 orders for the C919.

The narrowbody C919 is designed to take on the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320 to break the pair’s duopoly – at least in China, where demand is taking off. Comac is also developing a high-altitude version of the jet.

Domestic planemakers have strived to answer Beijing’s calls for self-reliance by launching the C919 while pressing ahead with plans to develop a widebody plane.

The C919 can haul up to 192 people with a maximum range of 5,555km (3,452 miles).

In May, it made its maiden commercial flight from Shanghai to Beijing. China Eastern is the C919’s launch customer and largest buyer, with more than 100 jets on order. The three C919s now operated by China Eastern fly routes from Shanghai to destinations such as Beijing and Chengdu.

But competition is heating up in the sky as Boeing marked its first direct delivery of the widebody 787 Dreamliner to a Chinese carrier since 2019. Juneyao Airlines, one of China’s largest private airlines, took the delivery in Shanghai last week.

The Boeing 737 MAX is also expected to resume deliveries after it reportedly received clearance from Chinese regulators earlier this month. The 737 MAX was given the all-clear to resume flying in China in January.

China is expected to need 8,560 new passenger jets by 2042, and the country’s commercial fleet is expected to double to nearly 9,600 jets over the next 20 years, accounting for one-fifth of the world’s plane deliveries in the same period, according to a forecast by Boeing in September.

Dubai luxury homes, offices tipped to extend hot price growth streak in 2024 amid China demand, analysts say

https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3245585/dubai-luxury-homes-offices-tipped-extend-hot-price-growth-streak-2024-amid-china-demand-analysts-say?utm_source=rss_feed

Demand from Chinese buyers has catapulted Dubai’s property market as a highly sought-after destination for the wealthy, with the real estate market in the United Arab Emirate’s financial capital a magnet for rich individuals, according to Knight Frank.

In the long-run, the trend will put Dubai among top financial hubs such as New York, London and Singapore, the property consultancy said.

The city’s office and residential property segments are tipped to see price growth next year because of high demand and tight supply, according to Faisal Durrani, partner and head of research for Middle East and North Africa at Knight Frank.

“Dubai has reached a tipping point and instead of jostling for recognition, the city is going toe to toe with the world’s long-established hubs as a magnet for the world’s wealthy,” Durrani said.

The city’s transport infrastructure, global connectivity and forward-thinking leadership has catapulted Dubai’s reputation and status globally, he added. “This is evidenced by the unrelenting demand from international high-net-worth individuals to own second homes here, or relocate to the emirate.”

For the prime residential market, an area that encompasses the neighbourhoods of Palm Jumeirah, Emirates Hills and Jumeirah Bay, a 5 per cent increase is likely next year, while the rest of the market is expected to grow by 3.5 per cent. Prime property refers to the most desirable, and normally most expensive, real estate.

Dubai eyes dual listings with stock exchanges including those in Asia-Pacific

Knight Frank’s forecast places Dubai behind Auckland at 10 per cent and Mumbai at 5.5 per cent in terms of prime residential property growth for 2024.

In the 12 months to September, the three Dubai districts recorded a collective growth of 15.9 per cent, which could prove Knight Frank’s 13.5 per cent growth forecast accurate for 2023, Durrani said.

In the year’s first nine months, Chinese nationals were the second-biggest foreign buyers of homes in the Gulf city marketed by Knight Frank, accounting for 14 per cent, after Britons at 16 per cent. Last year, the Chinese were the agency’s top clients, comprising 23 per cent of the total.

“Professional investors” from China are leading the foray into Dubai, according to Yang Yang, a partner at Inter Banca Real Estate.

Yang recently facilitated a deal for such a buyer from Beijing, helping him acquire two 170-square-metre units in Emaar Beachfront, an enclave which offers residents access to a 1.5km private beach. The units were bought at 100,000 yuan per square metre, or US$1,309 per square foot.

“He travelled to Dubai in the third quarter to view the project and close the deal,” Yang said. “He has friends in Dubai. His motivation is to have some assets overseas since the future of China’s real estate market does not look great in his opinion.”

Transactions of homes priced at US$10 million or more in Dubai to a record high of 277 from January to September, according to Knight Frank. Dubai was also the world’s top market in this price bracket in the first half, outstripping the 125 deals in New York, 109 in Hong Kong and 99 in London.

Some 78,000 homes are due to be completed in Dubai between 2023 and the end of 2028, or 13,000 homes a year, for the next six years, compared with a historic completion rate of 30,000 homes a year, according to Durrani.

“Of this total, just 368 will be in the prime residential districts of Palm Jumeirah, Emirates Hills and Jumeirah Bay Island.”

The demand for high-end homes is likely to be sustained as more than 4,500 US-dollar millionaires relocated to the UAE in 2023, with almost everyone heading to Dubai, according to data cited by Juwai IQI.

“That means more millionaires moved to Dubai this year than to Singapore, all of the Eurozone, all of Central and South America, or all of North America,” said Kashif Ansari, co-founder and group CEO of Juwai IQI.

The geopolitical tension between US and China is also burnishing Dubai’s image as a safe haven for Chinese capital, Ansari said, adding that home prices in the city are likely to grow at least 5 per cent next year.

“Dubai is popular with wealthy Chinese because it can operate above the political tensions between the US and China,” he said. “It is also more affordable and easier to obtain residency in Dubai than in Singapore.”

Dubai can be a gateway to Middle East for Hong Kong firms, officials say

Meanwhile, as Dubai attracts second-home owners and more capital from around the world, the benefits have cascaded down to the office segment, according to Knight Frank.

The prime office occupancy rate this year in Dubai has inched up to 92 per cent, from 88 per cent at the end of 2022, Durrani said.

“Unlike many other major global cities, Dubai’s office market continues to experience a severe shortage of supply, with just 3 million sq ft of space due to be completed between now and 2026, the vast majority of which is already spoken for,” he said. “This is against a backdrop of 580,000 sq ft of new requirements in the first half of 2023, a 23 per cent increase on the first half of 2022.”

A wider regional conflict in the Middle East as well as rising interest rates could also have an impact on Dubai’s property market next year, Durrani said, referring to the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.

“A global economic slowdown and the knock-on impact on the local economy, combined with the risk of an escalation in regional tensions are medium to high risks, with the latter potentially emerging as a key catalyst for higher oil prices,” he said.

This could trigger further rate hikes, impacting borrowing costs for developers and investors and weigh on the market, he said.

China approves 105 video games, but Christmas miracle does not revive stocks after suggested spending curbs

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3246197/china-approves-105-video-games-christmas-miracle-does-not-revive-stocks-after-suggested-spending?utm_source=rss_feed

China has approved 105 video games for sale in China for December, the most in 17 months, in a another positive signal to a market roiled by a draft regulation last week that aims to rein in spending on online games.

The latest batch of approvals, released by the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) on Monday, marked the first time Beijing had approved more than 100 titles in its monthly list since July 2022, when 135 titles made the cut. On Friday, the regulator also approved 98 imported titles.

The move “strongly demonstrates authorities’ clearly supportive stance on the development of online games”, said the semi-official trade body Game Publishing Committee of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association (CADPA), in an article published on Monday to its official WeChat account.

China to curb excess spending on video games in blow for world’s biggest market

Among the newly approved games are Tencent Holdings’ Assault Fire: Future, and two from NetEase – Lost Light and Sifangyuzhishi.

The new list brings the tally of approved titles this year to 1,076, a drastic improvement for an industry beset by uncertainty following a sweeping crackdown two years ago. Licence approvals were frozen for the eight months from August 2021 through March 2022, resulting in just 748 titles being approved in 2021 and 512 in 2022.

CADPA said it hoped members, including giants Tencent and NetEase, would “make an effort to roll out more quality content and promote the high-quality development of the online game industry”.

The approvals are the second positive signal to the video game industry in three days, after the NPPA sought on Saturday to ease concerns about its new draft rules unveiled the previous day that sent stocks plummeting. The regulator said it would “revise and improve” the rules after “carefully studying and listening to the opinions of relevant departments, enterprises, users and other parties”.

The draft regulation, which is open for public comment until January 22, would require game developers to cap how much users can top up their accounts, and bans incentivising “excessive” gameplay by offering rewards for things like daily logins and topping up with fresh funds.

News of the regulation sent stocks spiralling, especially for China’s two largest game publishers. Tencent and NetEase closed down 12 per cent and 25 per cent in Hong Kong on Friday.

The market continued to slump in mainland China on Monday, where 26 gaming companies lost an average of 4.5 per cent by 12pm, according to financial information provider East Money. The Hong Kong bourse is closed for the Christmas holiday.

Meanwhile, the industry is still recovering from the government’s previous crackdown targeting what it perceives as video game addiction. In August 2021, Beijing issued new rules limiting the time people under 18 years old can spend playing games to between 8pm and 9pm on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays.

That was accompanied by the freeze on licences that, once resumed, saw much smaller batches of monthly approvals.

In 2022, China’s total gaming industry revenue declined 10.3 per cent year on year owing to economic headwinds, slower user growth and regulatory scrutiny, according to the CADPA.

More favourable regulations this year are expected to help increase revenue 14 per cent to 303 billion yuan (US$42.5 billion), which would mark the highest annual sales since the data became available in 2003.

While China-Russia economic and diplomatic ties advance, their cultural bond flourishes with ballet, theatre and music

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3246189/while-china-russia-economic-and-diplomatic-ties-advance-their-cultural-bond-flourishes-ballet?utm_source=rss_feed

As the Russian musical Anna Karenina is set to be staged in Shanghai and Beijing this month, theatre director Alina Chevik hopes to see how it can connect the two peoples at a time when Russian artists have been shunned in Western markets.

The musical is one of several recently presented by Russian artists in China as the number of visiting Russian companies rises amid boycotts and sanctions in the West following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year.

This year, the two countries have also repeatedly stressed the importance of boosting people-to-people exchanges ahead of the 75th anniversary of bilateral ties next year. Further, they have deemed 2024-25 as Russian-Chinese Years of Culture, with a view to putting on more events.

Analysts said this push for cultural exchange acknowledged how cultural diplomacy helped public opinion and perceptions that might show Russia in a more positive light in China.

Chevik sees up close how the two cultures interact as she tours Russian players in China. She also has experience directing Chinese performers on the production’s Chinese version.

“Working with Chinese actors was very interesting,” she said. “The way the actors were able to feel Russian history, the character of Russian people, suggests that art has no boundaries, a good story will be interesting and understandable to people of different cultures and nationalities.”

In late November, more than 100 representatives from both sides gathered in Beijing for the 14th Plenary Session of the China-Russia Friendship Committee for Peace and Development. They said the committee would “give full play to the role of the main channel of civil interaction and further promote people-to-people bonds”.

A day earlier, Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng met the representatives and hailed “increasingly solid public support” of China-Russia relations which had been viewed sceptically in the West since Russia invaded Ukraine.

As the Russian delegation visited Beijing, the Eifman Ballet of St Petersburg presented its show Eugene Onegin in the Chinese capital. In Shanghai, Russian ballet companies also scheduled Swan Lake and The Nutcracker performances through December.

Earlier in November, the St Petersburg Masterskaya Theatre presented its eight-hour stage play And Quiet Flows the Don in Shanghai as part of an international arts festival. The festival also hosted a performance featuring Chinese pianist Lang Lang and Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, who led the St Petersburg-based Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra in a concert on November 20.

‘The one safe place for dialogue’: Sino-US cultural exchanges pick up

In late March, Gergiev – one of the Russian artists shunned by the West – performed in China for the first time since being dismissed as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic last year because of his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his refusal to criticise Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

He has since visited Chinese cities several times for performances.

Feng Qiu, a Beijing-based ballet teacher who viewed Eugene Onegin this month said he saw an apparent close cultural connection between the two countries that had not been affected much by the Ukraine war.

Qiu, who performed in Russia in 2019, said it was better to separate art from politics. A broad sanction that affected all Russian artists wrought “quite a loss for the public, for those who love ballet”, he said.

For university student Cui Di, the trickle of Russian shows was a chance for her to see a Russian ballet performance for the first time. She was among a full-house audience for a performance of Swan Lake on December 10 in Harbin, the capital city of northeast China’s Heilongjiang province.

The 19-year-old said she became familiar with and appreciated Russian culture and art while growing up in Heihe, a Chinese city on the border with Russia.

China and Russia have been stressing the need to boost cultural ties, with a joint statement signed in Moscow in March by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his counterpart Putin. It emphasised the promotion of exchanges between cultural institutions and noted that both sides opposed “the politicisation of international cooperation in the humanities”.

In late November, Putin told the St Petersburg International Cultural Forum that “building a comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between Russia and China would be impossible without cultural exchanges and interpersonal bonds between the two peoples”.

China street cleaner, 63, realises ballet-dancing boyhood dream

Anna Kireeva, associate professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, said the two countries viewed people-to-people exchanges as “an integral and important part” of their bilateral ties primarily because “without strong support from both societies no partnership has solid foundations only based on the contacts between elites”.

She said Russia saw the need to push more resources into building up cultural ties with a partner that would welcome them.

“This is especially true for Russia which used to enjoy much closer people-to-people ties, cultural, educational and scientific exchanges with the West but now, because of the sanctions and numerous restrictions, is no longer able to sustain them,” she said.

“China also increasingly needs alternative educational and scientific partners due to the restrictions by the US and more difficult relations with Australia and the EU.”

Zhang Chi, a postdoctoral researcher in international relations at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, said China and Russia’s emphasis on people-to-people exchanges could be seen as an extension of their soft-power strategies amid escalating geopolitical tensions.

Cultural diplomacy, which may not directly alter hard power dynamics, could significantly influence people’s attitudes and perceptions, she said.

“Both governments share the assumption that their portrayals within Western media are being misrepresented. Hence, they recognise the need to seize the reins of discursive power in order to reshape their image within the international arena,” she said.

Zhang said this goal required a concerted push in cultural diplomacy “to foster a more nuanced understanding of their cultural identities, values, and policies”.

“They aspire to cultivate a narrative that resonates more authentically with global audiences, countering the prevailing narratives that they perceive as skewed against them,” she said.

Russia considers it must retain influence or some discourse power in China to maintain its image to avoid “a very unfavourable situation” of global isolation, according to Wan Qingsong, an associate researcher at East China Normal University’s Centre for Russian Studies in Shanghai.

“One of the major driving forces behind this is the West’s cultural sanctions against Russia, so it needs to find a breakthrough,” he said. Wan said Russia sought to counter Western dominance in public opinion and information – what it considered “a stop-loss” for its image.

Wan said China and Russia also had common interests and motivations to boost cultural exchanges. Cooperation in areas such as the economy and security had already advanced but cultural ties remained relatively weak. He said many people in China understood Russia through its Soviet past but not as the country was today.

Zhang noted that cultural diplomacy was more effective when there was an existing affinity or resonance between cultures, and that public opinion shaped by cultural diplomacy could affect domestic and foreign policy stances.

“For example, the historical cultural ties between China and Russia serve as fertile ground for Russian cultural products to be positively received in China. This shared cultural background can evoke positive sentiments and familiarity, which may lead to a more sympathetic public stance towards a country’s broader policies or actions,” Zhang said.

“Past alliances or influences, such as the Soviet influence in China, can leave a lasting impact that extends into present-day cultural affinities. Despite past political rifts like the Sino-Soviet split, the appreciation for aspects of Russian culture such as classical music, art, ballet and literature remains influential among the older generation in China.”

Why China is keeping its distance as Russia and North Korea cosy up

As the 2024-25 Russian-Chinese Years of Culture approach Russian theatre director Chevik said she looked forward to meeting Chinese dance and theatre troupes and taking part in joint projects in the next two years.

“It seems to me that we have something to share with each other in the field of culture and theatre. In Russia there is a very strong school of Russian drama theatre, classical ballet and classical music. I hope that the world of Russian culture will open up even more for Chinese viewers in these two years,” she said.

Euromonitor says China to drive growth of global beauty industry as Asian men use more skincare, cosmetic products

https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3245737/euromonitor-says-china-drive-growth-global-beauty-industry-asian-men-use-more-skincare-cosmetic?utm_source=rss_feed

Vincent Lok and Tansaeng Lee, both in their 30s, one living in Singapore and the other in Seoul, have a lot more in common than they realise.

Both are part of a growing demographic of Asian men that is increasingly spending more on skincare.

Lok, 32, a writer, spends S$30 (US$22.50) a month on day and night skincare products, such as a face wash, serum, moisturiser and sunblock. Lee, 35, a sales representative, meanwhile budgets US$20 a month for skincare products such as a toner, lotion, moisturiser and BB cream with sunscreen, which serves as an alternative to a foundation.

“I expect to spend more on cosmetic products in [the next] five years, specifically anti-ageing or moisturising products,” Lee said. His statement highlights the changing attitudes of Asian men towards personal care, potentially boosting growth in a segment that can be described as an underserved market or relegated to an afterthought, as brands prioritise women’s beauty products.

By 2027, the men’s skincare industry globally is expected to be worth US$5.29 billion, an increase of 18.4 per cent from its value of US$4.32 billion in 2022, outstripping a 15.8 per cent increase to US$175.5 billion for the overall skincare segment in the same period, according to the latest study by Euromonitor International. Of the total spend on personal care by men, US$3.36 billion will be coming from the Asia-Pacific region.

“The reasons behind the growth can be considered differently for mature and emerging beauty markets,” said Yang Hu, insight manager, health and beauty Asia at Euromonitor. “In markets where men’s skincare awareness is relatively mature, such as South Korea and the USA, the demand for men’s skincare is evolving towards a more advanced level.

‘C-beauty’ brands no longer ‘cheaper substitutes’, ready to rival L’Oreal, Dior in China

“In countries where men’s skincare demands are just starting to awaken, such as Indonesia, India and some parts of China, there is still an untapped demographic dividend to be explored for basic offerings, such as facial cleansers and moisturisers, with considerable room for volume growth.”

China’s market in particular is poised to drive growth in the skincare and cosmetics category, with more than 30 per cent of male consumers between the ages of 20 and 34 using BB or CC creams more than once a week, and 14 per cent using them daily.

The results were gleaned from a beauty survey conducted by Euromonitor in 2022, with more than 20,000 online respondents taking part from 20 emerging and developed markets. The respondents were 70 per cent female and 30 per cent male, and ranged from 15 to 65 years in age.

China’s emerging beauty brands want to dig in for the long haul

These trends are expected to benefit a handful of brands, including the Chinese brand DearBOYfriend, whose product lines include perfumes and colognes. DearBOYfriend has tapped the interest of millennial males in China by partnering with NFT digital collection BAYC to introduce collaboration sets, Euromonitor said.

TikTok, known as Douyin in China, is also growing its e-commerce market share by commercialising its huge male user traffic, Euromonitor said.

China is also one of the few countries where men’s fragrances are expected to have the “most significant” growth potential, while in skincare the world’s second-largest economy is also likely to be a key driver for market growth, said the market research company.

“Asia-Pacific holds immense potential for the growth of the premium men’s fragrances market,” Euromonitor said. “In June, Kering’s purchase of Creed, famed for its men’s fragrance Aventus, shows the company’s intent to tap into burgeoning markets like China and travel retail.”

In terms of hygiene products, “the most significant growth potential between 2022 and 2027 is expected in the Asia-Pacific region, predominantly driven by China”, the study said. “Unlike other countries, China experienced another year of lockdown restrictions in 2022, which has meant the country has not yet rebounded to pre-pandemic levels like other markets.”

While men are generally becoming a more savvy consumer group when it comes to personal-care products, purchasing behaviours exhibit variations across diverse markets and generations, Hu said.

“The concept of the ideal masculine image has evolved into a more diverse and inclusive definition, leading to the emergence of distinct consumer types among men,” she said.

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Hong Kong catering industry ‘suffers 11% drop in business’ on Christmas Eve, as residents head to mainland China and overseas for festive break

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3246195/hong-kong-catering-industry-suffers-11-drop-business-christmas-eve-residents-head-mainland-china-and?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong’s catering industry suffered a more than 10 per cent drop in business on Christmas Eve, a sector leader said, as a tourism association estimated that one-third of residents were spending the festive break in mainland China or overseas.

Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades president Simon Wong Ka-wo on Monday said the estimated turnover for eateries on Sunday was HK$380 million (US$48.6 million), 11 per cent lower than the HK$430 million recorded the year before.

He also predicted a similar turnover for Christmas Day.

“The drop is quite obvious,” he told a radio programme. “On Christmas Eve, many people travelled to the mainland or overseas. Residents are also enjoying a long Christmas weekend.”

Wong added that restaurants at hotels in past years had been fully booked two to three weeks ahead of Christmas Eve, but some places this time around were welcoming walk-in customers.

Immigration figures showed Hong Kong had processed more than 2.8 million inbound and outbound trips between Friday and Sunday, resulting in a net outflow of more than 633,000 journeys.

On Christmas Eve, Hong Kong processed more than 1 million inbound and outbound journeys, resulting in a net outflow of over 219,000 trips.

A breakdown of the data showed Hongkongers made more than 458,000 outbound trips on Sunday, about 44,500 of which involved the city’s airport and 102,800 were logged at the Lo Wu border crossing.

As of 10am on Christmas, the city had handled more than 102,900 departures and over 41,700 inbound trips.

Hong Kong shopping malls shun one-size-fits-all strategy over Christmas holiday

Association president Wong added that many of those staying in Hong Kong for the break had a relatively weaker spending power compared with those heading overseas.

The industry was also contending with fewer mainland tourists coming to Hong Kong for Christmas, even as more local residents headed over the border, he said.

Appearing on the same radio show, Hong Kong Tourism Association executive director Timothy Chui Ting-pong estimated that about one-third of residents had decided to travel over the Christmas holiday.

Hong Kong has a population of about 7.5 million people.

Hongkongers revel in Christmas Eve pyrotechnics show to beat the chill

Chui also pointed to the popularity of nearby mainland cities, such as those in Guangdong and Guizhou provinces, and noted the number of people signing up for short trips had exceeded pre-pandemic levels.

“The tour fee has gone up a bit compared to pre-pandemic levels,” he said. “The cost in mainland and Hong Kong has gone up but mainland trips still have a high value for money.”

The tourism industry leader said a three-day trip to the northern edges of Guangdong and Hunan provinces to enjoy the snow could cost about HK$1,000, while regional hotspots such as Taipei and Tokyo were more expensive, especially with the airfares.

Chui also stressed that Christmas was not a public holiday across the border and some mainlanders might instead come to Hong Kong for shorter trips to take in the festive atmosphere.

‘You can’t afford it’: Chinese live-streamer suspended after insulting viewers gets compared to earlier outburst of ‘Lipstick King’

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3246124/you-cant-afford-it-chinese-live-streamer-suspended-after-insulting-viewers-gets-compared-earlier?utm_source=rss_feed

A popular anchor for a live-streaming product channel in China faced a significant online backlash after his sarcastic response to a customer when he implied they were too poor to buy a cake.

Tianquan, who sells items on the Dong Fang Zhen Xuan channel, was asked about the expiry date of an egg-yolk puff and he said that people questioning the shelf life of the 39.9 yuan (US$5.6) product probably could not afford it with their daily wages.

His comments drew public comparisons to the so-called “Lipstick King” Li Jiaqi’s controversial remark made in September when he mocked people who could not afford a 79 yuan eyebrow pencil.

Dong Fang Zhen Xuan was already in turmoil due to a recent dispute between the company’s editorial team and its star live-stream anchor, Dong Yuhui.

Dong, known for employing a literary style in his product presentations, was exposed by the company’s editorial team when they revealed his florid lines were scripted by them.

The revelation was perceived as a betrayal by fans, leading to a backlash against the company and even support for its competitors.

Tianquan’s egg-yolk puff furore intensified during the live-stream on December 15, when he further ridiculed viewers with his biting sarcasm, saying: “Our viewers are very cultured. Despite the many words we have to block, they still find ways to express themselves. I admire that, truly.”

Evidently in a temper, he threw his phone down during the live session and yelled: “Use your brain. Many of our products are sold at a loss, if you want to ruin us, go ahead and buy,” then continued to rant for some time.

His alarming behaviour resulted in a rapid exodus of viewers, leading to Dong Fang Zhen Xuan losing 700,000 followers within four hours.

The company subsequently issued an apology and announced Tianquan’s three-month suspension from broadcasting, and the next day he apologised.

“My excessive remarks and inappropriate actions during last night’s live session created an unpleasant shopping experience. I failed to control my emotions and lacked the basic qualities required for a live-stream anchor. I sincerely apologise and accept your criticism,” he said.

His outburst, however, continued to draw comparisons to Li Jiaqi’s comments in September when he admonished a viewer who commented on the high price of an eyebrow pencil: “Sometimes you should reflect on why your salary has not increased. Is it because you do not work hard?”

Public reaction to Tianquan’s behaviour was equally significant, with one viewer commenting: “It feels like I’m spending money to fund a lord.”

“Consumers want to buy products, not attend meetings, listen to lectures, or watch someone throw a phone. Being sarcastic and confrontational on camera is childish and ridiculous,” another viewer said.

Hong Kong’s Christmas exodus, China divides Philippine elite: 5 weekend reads you may have missed

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/3246187/hong-kongs-christmas-exodus-china-divides-philippine-elite-5-weekend-reads-you-may-have-missed?utm_source=rss_feed

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider .

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From ‘traitors’ to ‘peacemakers’: Indian-Chinese couples share challenges of mixed marriages in new book

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3246089/traitors-peacemakers-indian-chinese-couples-share-challenges-mixed-marriages-new-book?utm_source=rss_feed

Back in 2000, when Josephine Chung, a woman of Chinese descent from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, told her family that she wanted to marry Abhishek Jaiswal, a man of Indian origin, her parents locked her up in her room for a couple of days and beat her up. Her brothers monitored the messages and call lists on her mobile phone.

Being from a conservative Chinese family, they couldn’t accept Chung’s relationship with an Indian man because marrying outside their race was a matter of “shame”.

In 2008, Josephine left India for the United States – first to New York, then to California – to pursue her higher education. Jaiswal was able to join her soon after. Far from the influence of their families, they eventually got married in 2013.

Chung and Jaiswal – now both US citizens – are one of 14 Indian-Chinese couples who share how they got together, despite all the challenges, in a new book titled Rebels, Traitors and Peacemakers: True Stories of Love and Conflict in Indian-Chinese Relationships. These couples – hailing from China, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, India, Nepal, Canada, the US and Britain – all defied their family and cultural norms to be with each other.

Thai women married to German men open up about life in Berlin

With the historically strained ties between India and China helping create a host of negative biases between the two countries, these couples are often labelled as “traitors” for falling in love with someone from the “enemy” country.

“The stories we heard and documented provided powerful examples of how Indian and Chinese people can reach out to one another, bridging cultural barriers and surmounting formidable challenges imposed by families,” the book’s co-author, 45-year-old Shivaji Das, who works in a research and consultancy firm in Singapore, told This Week In Asia.

Despite sometimes being called “traitors” to the entire race by their own families and “spies” by outsiders, Das says these couples see themselves as “peacemakers” who want to reconcile the differences between the two countries and create new identities for themselves.

“They are driven by rebelliousness and resoluteness as much as they are driven by openness and curiosity,” Das said.

In 2012, Das married wife and co-author Yolanda Yu, a 40-year-old career and leadership coach of Chinese descent. Das also faced hurdles in convincing Yu’s mother about his commitment to the relationship, as she was worried Das would leave her daughter if Yu ever had disputes with his parents.

But 11 years into their marriage, Yu’s mother thinks it was a “great” decision for the two of them to get married.

Yu said that her mother felt assured after observing Das’s “calm, caring, and self-disciplined personality” and his efforts to make her comfortable in a different cultural setting.

For Das and Yu, knowing each other was another way of discovering the commonalities of their respective cultures – male privilege, mandatory reverence for elders, an idea of racial purity, and prioritising family over anything else.

Das and Yu, who also co-authored a book titled The Visible Invisibles: Stories of Migrant Workers in Asia, were surprised to find that very little had been written on the challenges, compromises and determination involved in the making of Indian-Chinese couples, so they wanted their book to focus on the hard work that goes into making these mixed marriages happen.

Lonely hearts: the Singapore matchmaker helping Asian men find Vietnamese brides

While interviewing other Indian-Chinese couples for the book, Yu discovered that cultural differences played a bigger role in relationship dynamics of Indian-Chinese couples than they had ever imagined.

This was the case for 31-year-olds Arnav Ghosh and Rebecca Yip.

Ghosh, a product manager of Indian origin, recalled upsetting his mother-in-law because he didn’t do any of the household chores when all of them stayed together in a three-bedroom house in Hong Kong a year before the couple got married.

“In my Indian family, my mother cooked food, cleaned my room and did the laundry. I never learnt to do household chores, which upset Rebecca’s mother, who expected me to do these jobs at home,” said Ghosh, who works at an e-commerce tech start-up headquartered in Hong Kong. He has now learnt to do all household chores, including dishwashing.

“Plus, her parents had certain perceptions that Indian men don’t behave well with women, and India is backward and unsafe for women – all that added to the stress of an already strenuous relationship that I shared with them.”

It wasn’t easy for Yip, a pharmaceutical research scientist and British-born Chinese from Hong Kong, to do the balancing act of keeping everyone happy.

“Since I played the mediator between the two sides, I had to ‘please’ both, and it was extremely stressful for me,” Yip said.

Despite such hurdles, the couple stuck with each other and got married in 2017.

“We stood the test of time, our relationship has only [become] stronger over these years,” Yip said.

Even if a couple’s parents are accepting, it doesn’t necessarily mean familial rejection can’t still be an issue.

Demi Zhou Hua, 39, and Kumar G Gupta, 47, who live in China’s Guangzhou province, say they did not encounter any resistance from their immediate families, but one of Kumar’s cousins is still not speaking to him for marrying a Chinese woman.

Some face more wide-ranging social exclusion and discrimination.

According to an August 2023 report by data and business intelligence platform Statista, 17.8 per cent of marriages in Singapore are interethnic. However, some Singapore-based Indian-Chinese couples, such as Amit and Audrey, say they have encountered discrimination.

The couple, who did not want to give their real names, say in the book they have not been invited to any Diwali parties at their apartment complex in the cosmopolitan city state and married Indian women didn’t want to welcome Audrey into their circles since she is Chinese.

Das and Yu regularly face racialised comments in Singapore as well. A Chinese taxi driver once told Das, “Oh, you are married to a Chinese. You are very lucky”, while a restaurant owner, half in jest, once said to Yu, “He is good. He is the fair skin type”.

Das says the fresh tensions between India and China over the Ladakh region, which started in 2020, have fuelled further racism between the two communities as they call each other “backward”, “untrustworthy” and “dangerous”.

“It was vital to write a book on mixed marriages at a crucial time when societies are so polarised,” Das added.

Yip, who runs a YouTube channel “Curry and Dumpling” on which she shares stories of her married life, along with Ghosh, said a viewer once called her a “spy” for her Chinese origin. While she used to take such comments “personally”, Yip says she doesn’t read them at all now. Through their channel, she and Ghosh help other Indian-Chinese couples deal with the struggles of mixed-race marriages.

Such struggles include language barriers. Zhou and Gupta, the couple living in Guangzhou, say one of their biggest challenges is communicating in English since it is neither of their first languages. “This has often led to miscommunication,” Gupta told This Week In Asia.

“Also, since most written communication in banking, medical institutions and online purchases is done in Chinese, I feel frustrated about excessive dependence on Demi for everyday living,” he said.

Gupta is learning Chinese now and Demi picked up some basic Hindi, Gupta’s native language, a few years ago.

Malaysia’s religious tilt drives mixed-faith couples to ‘more accepting’ places

Some couples also worry that their children may struggle with confused identities.

Amit relates in the book that he wants their two children to stay connected to their Indian roots, but he fears that they may be confused over whether to call themselves Indian or Chinese, or Singaporean.

While Ghosh and Yip hope their son will grow up in a more “accepting” world, Das and Yu feel that their daughter has the potentially huge advantage of being able to converse, understand and navigate the two largest culture groups in the world – Indian and Chinese.

“Perhaps, she can be a citizen of the world, who can overcome all boundaries with ease,” Das said.

China’s overseas students face hazy future, with tough job markets at home and abroad

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3246034/chinas-overseas-students-face-hazy-future-tough-job-markets-home-and-abroad?utm_source=rss_feed

Since August, Emma Li has sent 300 job applications to companies in China. She has had four interviews.

The 26-year-old, who will graduate from one of the top business schools in Europe next year, has struggled to find a job that meets her expectations during the “golden fall” recruitment period in China’s labour market, lasting from September to the end of the year.

She sometimes missed calls from recruitment managers back home – complications caused by the time difference and jet lag while in Paris.

In another clear disadvantage, most firms she applied to no longer accept online interviews, as with the end of pandemic restrictions, companies now prefer to evaluate candidates in-person.

China’s civil service in high demand as record 2.83 million apply for exam

“College degrees have depreciated so much in China,” Li said. “And companies set high thresholds for fresh graduates to do rather simple work.”

Li also has to compete with a record crop of domestic graduates, whose number is expected to reach 11.79 million next year – up 210,000 from 2023 according to the Ministry of Education – who will all be competing for gainful employment amid a sluggish economic recovery.

The jobless rate for those aged 16 to 24 has remained at an elevated level, hitting 21.3 per cent in June before Beijing suspended publication of the data.

“The employment difficulty for domestic graduates in China will inevitably spread to overseas students,” said Peng Peng, executive chairman of the Guangdong Society of Reform think tank.

Li did not consider returning to China to work until the final year of her three-year programme, when a family illness prompted her to look for opportunities closer to home.

However, even students who enrol in one-year programmes overseas are quick to conclude prospects are better in China, choosing to make the journey back when their studies are over.

The short academic year generally do not provide international students with enough time to build local connections and gain workplace experience, as tightening immigration policies in countries like the US and UK – prime destinations for studying abroad – cast a shadow on career paths for Chinese students there.

Eva Tsai, who is studying marketing communication in the US, is determined to take advantage of her family’s connections in China for a more promising career rather than competing with locals as lay-offs rock several industries in her temporary home.

The one-year postgraduate programme Tsai enrolled in does not offer optional practical training, a work permit that allows international students on an F-1 visa to find temporary employment within the US.

This makes it almost impossible for Tsai to find a job after graduation, she said.

Despite the fierce competition, Tsai, who holds a Taiwanese passport, prefers to work in mainland China as opportunities in global companies are more abundant compared to the island. Inflation, flatlined salaries and limited openings are other concerns.

“I am positive about finding a job in the mainland because my family can provide resources and connections,” Tsai said.

Technology giants and multinational companies have been top choices for overseas graduates for years, but uncertainty in the private sector as the economy limps towards recovery has changed graduates’ attitudes.

As Chinese families cut costs, studying abroad goes on the chopping block

More newly minted holders of overseas master’s degrees have been eyeing stable jobs in state-owned companies and government institutions, positions that have been regarded as “iron rice bowls” – jobs with high security and reliable benefits – in China for decades.

A survey conducted by Zhaopin, a major Chinese recruitment platform, showed that 38.8 per cent of students holding overseas degrees hoped to work in state-owned enterprises in 2022, up 9 per cent from 2021.

The proportion who hope for direct government employment as civil servants was around 21 per cent.

Overseas graduates’ enthusiasm for the civil service reflects an overriding preference for a stable career path.

According to the survey, 74.4 per cent of graduates believe there is a “civil service exam frenzy” among outbound students in 2022, up from 59 per cent in 2021.

Local governments have taken notice. In September, the Shanghai government’s “directed selection” civil servant trainee programme was opened to graduates from 73 designated overseas universities.

The Beijing government shortly followed suit, expanding eligibility for the programme to alumni of the top 100 institutions in ShanghaiRanking’s 2023 Academic Ranking of World Universities.

Li, the business student in Europe, said most of her friends who return to China end up in state-owned enterprises and government institutions because they have strong financial support and local connections through their families.

However, Li said she would not start her career in China if her parents were not sick.

She will continue to apply for jobs next season, she said, since the one offer she received only met her “minimum expectation”.

“If I can’t find a better one next spring, I have no choice but to settle for what I have now,” she added.

‘Too scary’: China man complains about 15-metre dinosaur model neighbour put in front of his home, attracts 7 million views online

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/environment/article/3246117/too-scary-china-man-complains-about-15-metre-dinosaur-model-neighbour-put-front-his-home-attracts-7?utm_source=rss_feed

A man has complained about a neighbour putting a 15-metre-high model of a dinosaur outside his home, calling it “scary” and “mental torture”.

The man, surnamed Tong, from Beijing, was intimidated by the imposing figure which was placed directly opposite his flat. When he asked his neighbour to move it she refused, saying the children in the community enjoyed seeing it and it had cost her 100,000 yuan (US$14,000).

“It’s too scary. I haven’t slept well for days,” Tong said.

He said placing the massive model in front of the building where he lived meant he could not avoid it, whether he was at home or going out.

“Its presence feels oppressive,” he said.

The owner of the dinosaur model was baffled by Tong’s complaint and pointed out that a brachiosaurus was known to be “gentle and adorable”.

“When many kids and other neighbours see it, they feel good,” she argued. “Though, I can understand why some people like it while others don’t,” she conceded.

In an effort to appease Tong, she covered the dinosaur’s head with a piece of cloth.

“I think that’s enough,” she said.

Tong disagreed and explained that he felt the wide open mouth of the dinosaur facing his home was particularly daunting, and his neighbour was deluded if she thought covering it with a piece of cloth made much of a difference.

“I really do feel frightened. It’s a mental torture,” he said.

But the woman steadfastly refused to move the model.

“Impossible. I’ve already done what I could do,” she responded.

At the time of writing, a video of the dinosaur figure had been viewed nearly 7 million times online and 3,915 comments had been left, with many people criticising the woman’s selfish stance.

“Turn the dinosaur’s head towards her own flat,” suggested one contributor.

“Putting such a thing in a shared communal area affects the rights of the other residents,” commented another.

“It’s scary indeed,” wrote another.

“She is so selfish,” others agreed.

Stories about incidents in residential communities frequently go viral in China.

In July, a flat owner in southwestern China, who kept seven cows on a balcony, was ordered to remove the animals after neighbours complained of the smell and noise.

In July last year, there was a report of a gym teacher in eastern China who would urge his neighbours to jog and exercise with him every morning.

Why China is keeping its distance as Russia and North Korea cosy up

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3246165/why-china-keeping-its-distance-russia-and-north-korea-cosy?utm_source=rss_feed

At last month’s meeting between the foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea – their first in four years – Beijing pledged to be Northeast Asia’s “stabiliser” while opposing bloc-based cooperation, as the launch of North Korea’s spy satellite loomed.

The satellite, allegedly capable of spying on the White House and US naval bases, was the first to successfully enter orbit following previous failed attempts. This prompted South Korean intelligence to speculate that North Korea had received key technical support from Russia in return for delivery of weapons to support the war in Ukraine. Both Russia and North Korea have denied any arms deal.

The matter was widely speculated to have been discussed at a rare meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in September.

Engagement between the two nations has grown amid international isolation.

Beijing, a close partner of both Pyongyang and Moscow, has remained low key about the growing alignment between the two, repeatedly saying that their cooperation was a matter between the two sides and that China would not interfere.

It has also been muted in its reaction to reports that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had proposed inviting North Korea to participate in three-way naval drills with China.

Observers said China was cautious about being drawn into a trilateral axis with Russia and North Korea, fearing it could trigger a “new cold war” that would advance US interests and escalate tensions in the region.

Bjorn Alexander Duben, a Northeast Asian studies specialist at Jilin University in northeastern China, said Beijing wanted to avoid appearing to be engaged in “bloc-building”, by strengthening a trilateral relationship with Pyongyang and Moscow while it had close bilateral ties with both.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and North Korean deputy foreign minister Pak Myong-ho visited Beijing last week for separate talks with top Chinese leaders, who vowed to strengthen strategic relationships with both neighbours.

“In principle, China could be content about [Russia and North Korea’s] deepening relationship. But in practice their interests also diverge,” Duben said.

“Russia and North Korea both have incentives to be disruptive in the international system. The difference is that China does not [currently] have an interest in this, it has a stake in international stability.”

“Beijing does not mind minor crises arising that keep the US occupied, but it does not want deeper global instability – especially in light of China’s unfavourable economic situation,” he said, adding that Beijing still had a stake in improving its relations with the West as well as South Korea and Japan.

Xi Jinping tells North Korea’s Kim he can make ‘greater contribution’ to ties

At the closely watched summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden last month, the two leaders agreed to manage heightening tensions between the two superpowers. However, there were no breakthroughs on major points of contention such as the growing military competition in the Indo-Pacific.

The US and its treaty allies Japan and South Korea have increased military coordination to tackle what they call an “increasingly assertive” China in the Indo-Pacific. Beijing’s relations with its two East Asian neighbours have also been strained in recent years.

But the China-Japan-South Korea foreign ministers’ meeting last month offered a fresh opportunity to repair ties, with an aim to refocus on economic cooperation.

Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Renmin University, said that given the recent signs of improving ties with the US, Japan and South Korea, China was unlikely to engage in trilateral activities with Russia and North Korea that would escalate tensions again, such as a joint military drill.

“The situation on the [Korean] peninsula is still very dangerous,” Shi said. “China does not think it needs to get closer with a close-enough North Korea, which is one of the sources of high tension on the peninsula.”

Yongwook Ryu, a China and Korea affairs specialist at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said China was reluctant to participate in a three-way military drill because it was concerned that doing so would amount to a “new cold war” – something China has accused the United States of conducting.

Chinese and US envoys to the UN Security Council traded blame on Tuesday when they met to discuss North Korea’s recent military activities, including an intercontinental ballistic missile launch last week. North Korea’s fifth ICBM launch this year, the highest annual number ever, followed US plans to include nuclear operation exercises in joint military drills with South Korea, and the reported arrival of a US nuclear submarine at a South Korean port.

US representative Robert Wood demanded that China and Russia join the rest of the council to “act” on Pyongyang, while China’s Geng Shuang, in a veiled swipe at the US, blamed “a certain country” for escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula by offering “extended deterrents” and strengthening regional military alliances.

Beijing has been reluctant to condemn North Korea’s military developments and opposes new Security Council sanctions, saying it would not solve the problem. It has instead called for Pyongyang’s legitimate security concerns to be addressed and a “dual suspension” approach to achieve denuclearisation – requiring North Korea to freeze its missile and nuclear programme and the South Korea and the US to halt joint military exercises.

North Korea and the US held a few rounds of nuclear talks while former US president Donald Trump was in office, but those ended in stalemates after the two countries failed to agree on a common approach to denuclearisation. Pyongyang has since ramped up missile launches and threatened a seventh nuclear test, with the US and South Korea expanding their large-scale military drills in response.

US presses China on North Korea’s weapons supplies to Russia

Observers have said Beijing might prefer to maintain the status quo on the peninsula out of fears that pressuring North Korea too hard could make it an enemy.

Ryu noted that given the intensifying US-China rivalry, it was in Beijing’s interests for Washington to be tied up in North Korean military threats.

“While Beijing does not deliberately incite instability and conflict on the Korean peninsula, instability on the peninsula – falling short of actual military conflict – would serve Beijing’s interests by diverting the attention and resources of the US and its key allies such as Japan,” he said.

“How much Beijing prioritises the Korean peninsula over other issues such as its rivalry with the US and Taiwan is questionable. Hence it is doubtful if and to what extent Beijing will actually play a constructive role in constraining the North’s provocative behaviour,” Ryu said, adding there was also no guarantee Pyongyang would heed Beijing’s advice or suggestions.

The international community has repeatedly urged China to help to stop North Korea’s military aggression, but Beijing has often hinted that it does not have the required influence over Pyongyang.

“Good relations between China and North Korea and China’s influence on North Korea are two different concepts,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in September when asked about Seoul’s request for Beijing to do more to rein in Pyongyang.

In an interview with The Telegraph last month, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said China had an important role to play in regional stability, and he believed China’s alignment with North Korea and Russia would not serve its interests.

China, Japan, South Korea’s top diplomats agree to revive leadership summit

Daniel Russel, who served as US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs under former president Barack Obama, said Beijing’s “standoffishness” towards the closer alignment between Russia and North Korea was because it did not want to be held accountable for the “misbehaviour of a partner nation”.

“Beijing does not want to pay a price or be held responsible for provocative behaviour by North Korea that China has no control over,” said Russel, who is now vice-president of the Asia Society Policy Institute.

“Beijing offers rhetorical and other forms of support to Russia and North Korea where it essentially costs China nothing, but balks at overt support for their behaviour when it risks retaliation or international condemnation,” Russel said, citing as an example China’s denial of having provided arms for Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Russel added that China might also be wary of Russia and North Korea’s growing alignment because it could weaken Beijing’s leverage over Pyongyang.

“North Korean leaders have long tried to play one major power off against another, and Kim’s opportunistic embrace of Vladimir Putin is the latest example. Kim is attempting to gain leverage over Beijing – or weaken Beijing’s leverage over him – by showing that he has options other than China,” he said.

Kim told Putin that relations with Russia were the “very first priority” for his country when the pair met in September, prompting speculation about whether Pyongyang had pivoted from Beijing to Moscow.

But he appeared to want to assure Xi that North Korea’s relations with China were “as close as usual”, as he wrote in a letter to the Chinese leader a week after his meeting with Putin.

Deputy foreign minister Pak, the first and most senior North Korean official to visit China after the Covid-19 pandemic, vowed during his trip last week to deepen ties to “safeguard common interests”. His visit prompted speculation of paving the way for in-person talks next year between Xi and Kim, who have not met since 2019.

Yun Sun, director of the China Programme at the Washington-based Stimson Centre think tank, doubted that there had been a priority shift in North Korea’s policy.

“China is the single largest supporter of the North Korean economy through aid and trade. It also carries much more influence than Russia does regionally and globally today,” she said.