Light can transport data in higher volumes and speed than the current cable systems, shows an experimental setup at Shanghai´s Fudan University in the documentary “Smart China” at Discovery Channel. It documents how the massive data exchange at food chains in China can guarantee food safety. Our technology speaker William Bao Bean comments at the documentary.Read More →

When the ride-hailing wars between Uber and Didi has confirmed one feeling among Chinese consumers, it is that loyalty to brands does not pay off, says Shanghai-based VC William Bao Bean to Bloomberg. Brand loyalty was already low, but the latest Uber-Didi wars have made things worse.Read More →

A range of food scandals with milk powder for babies has caused a wild-west market for mainly foreign instant formula, doing good business in China. Lawyer Mark Schaub warns that regulators are catching up, and new tough registration rules have a deadline for October 1, hard to manage for import products, he writes in Lexology.Read More →

Whether China is copying or innovating is a useless discussion, says VC William Bao Bean to the South China Morning Post. Everybody is building on previous experiences, he says, but certainly in social commerce, how to sell online, China is way ahead compared to other parts of the world.Read More →

The new rules on taxation of cross-border e-commerce have caused fear the government is trying to kill an increasingly lucrative industry. It was inevitable the government would start to regulate – not kill – this booming business, says Shanghai-based lawyer Mark Schaub in Lexology. The timing was a surprise, and unfortunately, regulations are not very clear, he adds.Read More →

The e-commerce industry is still relatively young, and on the corporate battlefield to two, three big players, many smaller companies will succumb, predicts retail analyst Ben Cavender in the China Daily. What does it need for companies to survive in China?Read More →

There has been too much negativity about Alibaba, says business analyst Shaun Rein to Bloomberg. While commodities like steel and coal have a hard time, consumer spending it going up in the 3-4th tier cities, and Alibaba will profit from it, even more than competitor JD.com.Read More →

Kaiser Kuo is leaving China after twenty years, and internet giant Baidu after six year. On May 4 he will get an award of the Asia Society Northern California, where he will settle down to work professionally on his Sinica Podcast. For Asia Society Kaiser looks back, on the internet and foreign correspondents.Read More →