A-shares are shares of Chinese companies incorporated in mainland China that are traded in RMB either on the Shanghai Stock Exchange or the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (see more about Chinese share classes here). There are three ways for foreigners to invest in A-shares: Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) program Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) […]
In this series, we explore one of China’s most iconic internet companies that captures the country’s rapid economic boom during the 2000s – Alibaba Group (Chinese: 阿里巴巴集团). Since its founding in 1999, Alibaba has grown to become the largest retail commerce business in the world in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV), with a GMV […]
It’s the talk of the town. Analysts say Ant Group’s upcoming IPO could raise over $30 billion in funding, making Ant not only the most valuable fintech company in the world, but also making Ant’s IPO the biggest one in history. But what makes this Chinese fintech company so valuable? Here we provide a recap […]
Ctrip is the largest travel booking website in China. In 2017, Ctrip acquired Trip.com, an international online travel agency. The company rebranded itself as Trip.com Group in 2019 with various Chinese and international travel agencies under its umbrella, including Skyscanner, the original Trip.com travel agency, and the original Ctrip website.
In this article, we introduce internet giant Baidu (百度)(NASDAQ: BIDU)(HKEX: 9888). Although commonly nicknamed as “China’s Google”, Baidu is more than just a search engine company with additional business segments spanning cloud computing, autonomous driving, maps, smart home devices and online streaming. Click here to subscribe and stay tuned for future updates! Baidu was founded […]
China is the world’s largest e-commerce market, with a total gross merchandise value (GMV) of RMB13.1 trillion (approximately USD2.06 trillion) transacted on e-commerce platforms nationwide in 2021 (National Bureau of Statistics of China). The country’s e-commerce landscape has grown and changed drastically over the past two decades, capturing the rise in consumer income as China’s […]
On November 2nd, 2020, the Chinese Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission published a draft of new rules concerning online microlenders. Online microlenders refer to companies that give out or facilitate the issuance of small loans online, which includes Ant Group due to the scope of activities carried out by the company’s CreditTech platform. The new […]
Large internet companies such as Alibaba Group, Tencent, and JD, played a crucial role in driving the Chinese economy, especially during the past decade. However, as various sectors in China’s economy began to mature, key incumbent players have emerged and consolidated their status through significant first-mover advantages and economies of scale, in addition to the […]
In this factsheet, we describe and compare the different province-level administrative divisions in China based on factors such as population, geographical and economic importance, GDP, and average disposable income per capita. For an overview of China’s different levels of administrative divisions, see our China Administration Factsheet.
In this factsheet, we summarise the different levels of administrative divisions in China. Province-Level Administrative Divisions At the highest level, the People’s Republic of China can be divided into 34 province-level administrative divisions, consisting of 23 provinces (省), 4 municipalities (直辖市), 5 autonomous regions (自治区), and 2 special administrative regions (特别行政区). Municipalities refer […]
Pinduoduo (Chinese name: 拼多多) is an e-commerce company that found great success in targeting China’s forgotten consumers, i.e. the price-sensitive residents of lower tier cities who were eager to enter the e-commerce market but lacked an appropriate platform to meet their needs. The company pioneered the concept of piecing together purchases on a widescale, i.e. […]
In this article, we compare China’s three incumbent telecom carriers: China Mobile (中国移动)(HKEX: 0941)(SHA: 600941) China Telecom (中国电信)(HKEX: 0728)(SHA: 601728) China Unicom (中国联通)(HKEX: 0762)(SHA: 600050) The telecommunications industry in China is heavily regulated and is dominated by the three abovementioned state-owned companies. Click here to subscribe and stay tuned for future updates! Introducing China’s Telecom […]
On Sunday 24th July, 2021, the Chinese State Council formally announced its new set of policies (source) on after-school education organizations. The document written by the State Council contains guiding principles on the regulation of supplementary (i.e. after-school or weekend) K-12 classes that will be circulated to local provincial and city level education bureaus for […]
Alibaba is a technology conglomerate with a focus on e-commerce, retail, delivery, entertainment, health, and cloud computing services. Notable products include Taobao, T-Mall, Youku, Lazada, and Daraz, amongst others. Ant Group, which owns the Alipay platform, was spun off from and is currently affiliated with Alibaba Group.