Web search giants Baidu and Google have shared their most searched terms for 2016 and, like last year, their lack of overlap is remarkable. Separated linguistically, culturally and technologically, the Chinese Internet remains largely distinct from the wider world web. Despite clunky soft power pushes such as derided Matt Damon vehicle The Great Wall, Chinese … More Comparing the top Baidu and Google searches of 2016

This year is being described as a low point for the 250 billion euro luxury industry, with global growth at around one per cent, down from 13 per cent in 2011. Things are particularly bad in mainland China, where sales fell two per cent last year. At The Mystique of Luxury Brands conference, held in … More ​Chinese luxury brand consumers feel exploited because they are

CES Asia returned to Shanghai from May 11-13, and while foreign commentators typically focused on its shortcomings, Chinese reporters were more inclined to ask when the local event would gain parity with (or even surpass) its 50-year-old parent, CES, held in Las Vegas each January. CES Asia is only in its second edition, but in … More ​Eight crucial takeaways from CES Asia 2016

Baidu is the dominant search engine in China, where the global leader, Google, is blocked by government censors. Illustrating the divide between Chinese and global online culture, there was no overlap whatsoever between the top search terms on Baidu this year and those on Google. On December 16, Google released its top trending searches of … More Comparing the top Baidu and Google searches of 2015

The Chinese Communist Party yesterday announced that all married couples will be permitted to have two children. The move further slackens a policy that already had exemptions for rural families, ethnic minorities and, since 2013, parents who are themselves only children. Implemented in 1979 to constrain population growth, the one-child policy has contributed to China’s … More China ends one child policy, retains no child and two child policies