Luxury brands jumped on Douyin, a hip short video app that is popular among China’s young social media users, that has even been called the WeChat for luxury goods. Wrong, very wrong, says marketing veteran Ashley Dudarenok to the Jing Daily.

President Xi Jinping is effectively replacing former leader Deng Xiaoping as the thought leader of China’s development, and he is well on his road to set the road for the country as a global power, says economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®, at Bloomberg.

2019 does not look good for China’s economy, says financial analyst Sara Hsu, as the effects on import and export of the trade war kick in, and China was experiencing a slowdown already before the trade war started. In the US specific industries are hard hit, like automotive, agriculture and tech, she adds.

Author Zhang Lijia of Lotus, a novel on prostitution in today’s China talks ahead of her lecture at Spittoon Book Club talk January 19 at Timesdirect.tv in Beijing.

There are strong political incentives to reach a trade deal between the US and China, but that does certainly not mean that hostilities between both countries are over, says leading economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®, in an overview of his expectations for 2019. 

US investor Jim Rogers started to explore China in 1984 and has since become a bridge builder between the East and the West. At China’s state TV CGTN he dives into his views on China, the way he raises his family in Singapore and the ongoing madness in Washington. Jim Rogers published several bestsellers, including A Gift to My Children: A Father’s Lessons for Life and Investing.

Zhang Xiaolong, the founder of Tencent’s WeChat, delivered a speech on how the future of the company looks like. Tencent watcher Matthew Brennan looks at the way Tencent is doing things different than Apple, and why their mini-programs might be a winner, in Technode.

Social engagement has changed the Post-’95 generation in China beyond recognition. China veteran Tom Doctoroff dives into the ways brands can reach this complicated “slash generation” for Mumbrella Asia. How a new generation walks away from traditional conventions.

US investor Jim Rogers visited on January 8th the Hainan Global Fintech Innovation Summit and explored the possibilities of the island to become China’s Silicon Valley at Contact Hainan. “You have fabulous weather, you have a fabulous lifestyle in Hainan if you continue to open up, and make it easy for people to come here, Hainan probably will become the greatest place in China.”

On March 1 the 90-day truce in the trade war between the US and China expires. Leading economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®, expects a deal is possible, but that certainly does not mean the end of all hostilities, he tells Barron’s.