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China ICT (Info Communications Technology) Industry, Infra, Commerce, Exports: News & Discussions

With the advent of the Internet, journalists write articles that attract 'clicks' not those that educate.
The following law will remove unfounded rumors and hopefully improve the quality of the news.


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China bans online news without credible sources
2016-07-04 10:52 | Ecns.cn | Editor: Mo Hong'e

(ECNS) -- The State Internet Information Office of China has urged increased vigilance in cracking down on fake news on the Internet.

The office said in a circular that all news websites must ensure the reports they publish are "true, comprehensive, objective and impartial."

It forbids running news that sacrifices truthfulness for the purpose of being first, or directly quoting content on social networking platforms as news.

The circular has demanded that websites give credit to the original news source and bans publishing hearsay as news or distorting facts.

A number of heavyweight news portals, including Sina.com.cn, 163.com, caijing.com.cn, qq.com and toutiao.com were either fined or disciplined for running news that broke the rules, according to the office.

The office was established in 2011 to direct, coordinate and supervise online content management and handle administrative approval of businesses related to online news reporting.

An official said the office will maintain strict control over fake news and information, and further improve legislation to regulate the spread of news online.
 
or directly quoting content on social networking platforms as news.

That's it. Social media should not be considered as news-worthy because there is no discipline and professionalism. Journalism is a science and taught in school. It must be done by those who are educated. News portals cannot use and quote social media accounts as reflection of truth.

Journalism requires first hand observation, examination and reporting. Journalism means being there. It does not mean surfing the internet and then pretending to be a journalist without leaving the desk.

If this is journalism, why some real journalists put themselves in the line of fire in war regions and at times get killed?
 
Alipay is expanding worldwide.

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Worldline Partners with Alipay to Bring its Payments App to Germany
Alipay's payment app enters German market via Synergy with Worldline.

Steven Hatzakis | Payments (FinTech) | Monday, 04/07/2016|13:19 GMT

The European-based payments provider, Worldline, with global operations and 40 years in business, today announced a synergy with Chinese payments conglomerate Alipay to enhance the German retail industry and potential revenue streams for network providers in the country.

The addition of Alipay in Germany this month allows users of the Alipay app to pay at authorized retailers with Worldline providing its gateway that enables access to additional network providers.

This synergy could set the stage for further related deals in other local industries in the future, including in capital markets and trading with online brokerages. Alipay is operated by Ant Financial Services Group and has 450 million clients – making it one of the largest payments companies globally.

Commenting in a corporate statement regarding the deal, Wolf Kunisch, Managing Director for Financial Processing & Software Licensing & CEE at Worldline, said: “Alipay is a sophisticated payment solution and we support expanding it in Germany. We make shopping for Chinese tourists – and future transactions for all foreign tourists – easier and more comfortable.”

Pilot program underway in July

Alipay uses a QR Code function as part of its app and is something that Chinese consumers prefer. It is under a pilot program in Germany this month before the scheduled live launch.

An official announcement regarding the deal explained how the number of business people and travelers coming to Germany from China has risen in recent years and is expected to continue to grow. Half of China’s payments market is already dominated by Alipay for online payments, with an even higher share of mobile at 70%.

Rita Liu, Head of Alipay EMEA, said in a corporate statement regarding the synergy: “With Worldline as a partner, we can expand our market position in Europe. Based on these developments, each party gets great benefits.”

Mrs. Liu added: “The customer can conveniently shop outside of China and pay comfortably with Alipay. The merchant, in addition to the Alipay payment solution, can benefit from the Alipay marketing solution ‘Global Lifestyle Platform’ to communicate offers and make recommendations to customers to increase revenue.”
 
Xinjiang’s millennial entrepreneurs make the most of the Internet age
By Yin Lu and Zhang Xinyuan Source:Global Times
Published: 2016-7-4

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A young saleswoman sells scarfs to a customer at the Urumqi Fair in Xinjiang. Photo: CFP


Young entrepreneurs from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are exploring new business areas such as e-commerce, online education, digital solutions, the Internet of Things and more. They are utilizing their talents in business hubs all over the country, and some are even planning to expand overseas.

While Xinjiang is positioned as one of the "core areas" of the "One Belt, One Road" initiative, its young people are striving to realize their dreams, taking advantage of the resources and opportunities offered by the Internet age.

Abdulhabir Muhammad learnt about the importance of the Internet the hard way.

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Abdulhabir Muhammad, 26, from Aksu, founder of A.B.U. Education. Photo: Li Hao/GT

In March, he got sick after going from school to school in Xinjiang for a whole month to give speeches and talk to high school and college students about going overseas for further education. He decided that there must be a better way to reach people.

"In the past, I thought I should be a traditional type of educator, but there are limits to that. Then I realized how important it is to make use of the Internet," he said. Muhammad graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton with an MBA in 2014. Muhammad founded A.B.U. Education this year, which provides language training and consultation services to Xinjiang students who want to study overseas.

Over the last three months, Muhammad has been working on promoting his firm on the Internet, after researching China's major social media platforms, messaging apps, and real-time streaming websites.

On top of launching a WeChat public account, he has also started discussions about overseas studies on SinaWeibo which ended up trending. He does online streaming, talking about topics related to overseas education and life, such as introducing US universities and high schools to his audience. He also offers online classes on Xinjiang's first English-language radio channel, Voice of A.B.U., which is available on multiple online platforms and apps.

"Now I feel like I am adapting to the requirements of this age," he said.

His efforts have proven to be effective, and now his Weibo page has more than 120,000 followers. The demographics of his fan base are gradually changing too. In the beginning about 60 percent of his followers and audience online were Xinjiang natives, but as he has started to stream in Chinese and English the majority of his new followers are from other parts of China.

Muhammad is very encouraged by the fact that many of his followers are from outside Xinjiang, and some schools in other regions are now asking him to deliver speeches. Therefore, he is successfully shifting his focus to a broader market, targeting students across the entire country.

Muhammad would also like to create a platform that offers online courses taught by professors overseas to help students in Xinjiang who can't afford to go abroad.

"We want to bring these courses to Xinjiang and other western regions, in English, Chinese, Uyghur and other local languages," he said. However, his biggest objective is to serve overseas returnees who are from Xinjiang and other western regions of China, starting from building connections among the community as well as collecting and sharing information regarding job hunting.

"I hope the students who go overseas will come back to contribute to our economy," he said.

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Adil Mamattura, 26, from Kashgar, founder of Xinjiang Nut Cake Prince Company. Photo: Courtesy of Adil Mamattura

A 2012 incident that involved a vendor selling Xinjiang nut cake - a traditional street snack made of nuts, sweets and glutinous rice - prompted Mamattura to start his own nut cake business. He was then a student at the Changsha University of Science and Technology, Central China's Hunan Province. At the end of that year, a Uyghur nut cake vendor who got into a fight with a customer over the price of his wares was paid 160,000 yuan ($24,080) for cakes damaged in the fight, raising controversy over inter-ethnic relations. Mamattura thought that this incident would give people a bad impression of his homeland's traditional snack, so decided to promote the cake online.

Now, four years later, the monthly sales volume of his nut cake company has reached 3 to 6 million yuan. These staggering numbers are the result of how he has used the Internet to promote nut cake, his Nut Cake Prince brand and himself.

Mamattura regularly makes videos and posts them on social media to show how nut cake is produced. He believes transparency - key in a nation that has been hit again and again by food scandals - will make customers trust his product.

"WeChat is a platform that we attach great importance to right now. Our account has over 1.2 million fans, and we rely on fan marketing, like if our fans invite other people to follow our account we send them some nut cake as a gift," Mamattura said.

Mamattura is also trying to use the live streaming trend to expand his business. He plans to promote his new line of cantaloupes by going to Turpan and using apps such as Yingke to show the cantaloupe fields, how they are grown and the transportation process, to prove the cantaloupes are of good quality.

"I did not deliberately make myself an Internet celebrity, but since customers recognize my face and trust me, I will use this advantage to help more customers know and trust our brand," Mamattura said.

Mamattura is planning to make Xinjiang nut cake go international, and challenge the status of Snickers as one of world's leading sweet, nutty snacks. "At a frisbee event in Shanghai, some of the foreigners had a bite of Xinjiang nut cake, and they said it's more delicious and healthy than Snickers. Since it's made of a variety of different nuts, it's very nutritious and can replenish one's energy quickly," Mamattura said.

Their comments got Mamattura thinking. Xinjiang nut cake is soft, and easily influenced by temperature, and thus has short expiration date. This makes it difficult to sell in large quantities and for people to carry it around with them. He is now developing a new recipe to make it more crispy and give it a longer shelf life.

"I plan to launch the new product as an energy bar next year, in small and fashionable packaging that will attract more young customers," Mamattura said.

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Ailikemu Abujili, 28, from Hami, founder and CEO of Hangzhou Qiming E-commercial Company Ltd. Photo: Courtesy of Ailikemu Abujili

Ailikemu Abujili owns a company that sells toys and men's sportswear online, based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

Starting from a small, humble apartment he rented in November 2014 where all his staff live and work, the company now has a team of seven people and boosts a monthly turnover of $120,000. His sales are mostly made overseas, mainly to the US, through online platforms including Ebay, Amazon and AliExpress, e-commerce giant Alibaba's cross-board marketplace.

However, prior to this, like many other Chinese college graduates of his age, Abujili went through a period of not knowing what to do with his life after he graduated with a degree in aerial transport from a Ukrainian college.

Finally, he decided that e-commerce is the future of business.

So he chose Hangzhou, where e-commerce giant Alibaba is located, due to its comparatively lower logistics costs and the subsidies provided by the local government to start-ups.

Abujili even got his household registration moved to Hangzhou. Now he is also planning to open offices in Shanghai, due to its Free Trade Area, and Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province.

Abujili believes he's found the right place for himself, and he hopes more young people from Xinjiang will join this industry and try their luck in different cities in the country.

Originally from Hami, a city known for its sweet melons, he thinks simply being known as a place where good fruit is grown is far from what the region's young people want their countrymen to think about Xinjiang.

"Many people still think that business owners from Xinjiang are no more than restauranteurs, or those who run barbecue stands and fruit shops," he said. "I would like to let them know that we are capable of making breakthroughs in e-commerce too."

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Arfat Anvar, 24, from Gulja, founder of YammiGO. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Arfat Anvar wants to make sure that people all over the country who want halal foods are able to quickly receive their fresh nang, a traditional type of Xinjiang flatbread, wrapped in tinfoil in a box with the logo of their company hand written on it.

With a diploma in software engineering from Beijing's North China Electric Power University, Anvar has recently been trying to promote his services on social media, such as giving prizes to Net users who participate in discussions about his brand. With the website and app they are about to launch soon, individuals and retailers will be able to purchase halal foods ranging from dried fruits and mutton jerky to biscuits and energy bars from YammiGO.

His primary targets right now are college students from Xinjiang studying in other parts of China, as he understands how hard it is for them to eat religiously suitable food. "When I was in school, I found it hard to find halal foods," he said.

While there are shops on bigger retailing platforms such as taobao.com, and many halal food companies have developed their own apps or WeChat accounts to sell their products, there's no other company like Anvar's which sells a variety of different halal foods on one platform.

Anvar said that his background and connections in Xinjiang have been an advantage for him. "I know where to find the most authentic halal food. I know if I want jujube, I go to Hotan (in Xinjiang) and directly buy them from a local peasant."

His ambition is to build his brand into an international success story like Amazon. Starting in Malaysia, Anvar is trying to build connections and cooperate with foreign major food companies, and represent them in China.

Anvar encourages young Uyghurs who want to get out of their comfort zone and start something new, to not to be afraid to take their first step.

"Some people might not be confident enough, thinking whether or not a humble young person from Xinjiang is able to start up a good business in other parts of the country. I want to let them know that you absolutely can. Just go ahead and build a team and start going," Anvar said.

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Skyline in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Photo: CFP
 
I thought China is moving to mobile payment via smartphone, i.e. Alipay, WeChat, etc
Isn't UnionPay much bigger than Visa or Mastercard?


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Mobile payments market explodes in China
2016-07-07 09:04 | China Daily | Editor: Xu Shanshan

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According to Paul Jung, head of products and digital solutions of Visa Northeast Asia, China is now leading the way in mobile wallets. (Photo provided to China Daily)


The mobile payments market in China is expanding so rapidly that global leaders are drawing up exclusive strategies to meet the growing local demand.

According to Paul Jung, head of products and digital solutions of Visa Northeast Asia, China is now leading the way in mobile wallets.

So, during the three-day 2016 Mobile World Congress that ended on July 1 in Shanghai, Visa Inc, the global card payment services provider, announced its mobile payment services will combine internet of things and biometrics.

Visa is also using near-field-communication or NFC solutions on wearables such as rings, smart watches and wristbands. It has introduced a biometrics payment technology based on the reading of palm print and fingerprint.

Besides, in March last year, it launched Visa Checkout, a service with six commercial banks in the country. The service removes the need for sharing card details with retailers.

It was introduced in China in response to the rapidly expanding cross-border e-commerce. So far, 10 banks, including China Merchants Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and China Everbright Bank, have rolled out this service.

"We will continue to promote Visa Checkout in China this year, for this is a key part of our new e-commerce strategy here," said Shirley Yu, general manager of Visa China.

Meanwhile, Visa's contactless payment technology payWave is gaining wider acceptance among Chinese cardholders ever since it was rolled out in the country two years ago.

So far, the service has been the most prevalent one in the Pearl River Delta region. For, Guangzhou province is one of the most popular inbound tourism markets in China, receiving a large number of tourists from neighboring Hong Kong.

More than 5,000 payment terminals in the region are now connected to the payWave service.

"China is now one of biggest and most active markets for Visa. The country has so many innovations now that it is no longer a follower. Our team in China now has to report the local demand to our global headquarters so that our products can meet the Chinese customers' demand first," said Yu.

According to global market consulting firm eMarketer, China will have more than 195.3 million users of mobile payment solutions by the end of this year.
 
Tencent opens up big data platform to boost sharing economy
By Zhou Mo (China Daily) Updated: 2016-07-07 08:18

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The logo of Tencent [Photo/IC]
Tencent Holdings Ltd has announced that it will fully open up its big data platform and machine learning technology in a move to build a "sharing economy" based on cloud services.

Enterprises will be able to use a set of big data analysis tools developed by Tencent, helping them gain a better understanding of their clients and improve their products.

The Shenzhen-based internet giant, which owns instant messaging tools QQ and WeChat, has years of experiences storing and analyzing huge amounts of data.

The opening of its core technologies is part of Tencent's efforts to develop cloud services, an area which many other big companies including Alibaba and Baidu are also tapping into.

"Development of a sharing economy is closely related to cloud services" said Ma Huateng, chairman of Tencent. "Like transportation, accommodation and many other areas, cloud services are also a kind of sharing economy."

He said cloud computing has become one of the key areas Tencent focuses on and the company is dedicated to opening its IT resources and technological capabilities to outsiders.

"In the past, enterprises were only users of internet technology. Now, as they engage themselves in the cloud, they are becoming a part of the internet ecosystem," Ma said at the 2016 Tencent Cloud Summit held in Shenzhen this week.

Cloud technology has achieved greater importance in recent years as more and more Chinese enterprises integrate themselves deeper with the internet. However, it remains difficult for companies, especially smaller ones, to build their own data center because it involves large capital investment and a waste of resources, said Dowson Tong, senior executive vice-president of Tencent.

Cloud services help enterprises get access to more resources while reducing their operating costs, Tong said.

According to the 2016 Internet Trends report, services provided by Tencent are the most commonly used by Chinese internet users. More than 50 percent of their time on the internet is spent on Tencent services.

"We are not offering cloud services as a separate business. Instead, it is a part of Tencent's entire strategy. Enterprises will be able to get access to all Tencent platforms by using its cloud services," Ma said.

Joe Weinman, a leading cloud computing strategist, said Tencent has a good background in offering cloud services. The company owns a huge amount of consumer data and knows what consumers need. This will enable it to do better in user experience and improve availability of its products, he said.
 
Alibaba and SAIC partner on internet car
By Meng Jing in Hangzhou, Thursday, July 7, 2016, 10:10

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Representatives of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and SAIC Motor Corp sign on a jointly developed internet-enabled vehicle, which was launched on Wednesday in Hangzhou, while Alibaba's Executive Chairman Jack Ma (left) looks on. (Xu Kangping / For China Daily)

It seems a long shot to replace smartphones with cars. But Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is heading in that direction. It unveiled on Wednesday a new internet-enabled vehicle equipped with the e-commerce giant's YunOS operating system.

The car, which is dubbed the first internet car to go into mass production, is part of a partnership that Alibaba and SAIC Motor Corp, one of China's major car manufacturers, inked about two years ago.

Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba, described the vehicle as a milestone product that marks the beginning of the so-called internet of everything - an era in which everything is connected to everything else via the internet.

"Just like what the smartphone does to our life - about 80 percent of the features of a smartphone are not related to making phone calls anymore. In the future, about 80 percent of the functions of a car will not be related to transportation," said Ma.

The car, which will be put on to the market soon at a retail price from 148,800 yuan (US$22,250), enjoys some tech-savvy features such as voice control to change the in-car temperature and a real-time navigation system that can relieve the driver from the pressure of staring at smartphone-based navigation tools.

Some of the features may not seem major breakthroughs. But James Yan, research director at Counterpoint Technology Market Research, said that it is actually much more complicated than it looks to connect a traditional car to the internet.

"With the installed operating system, Alibaba is likely to introduce more features, such as streaming videos and online shopping, in the future generations of its smart vehicles," said Yan.

However, he doubts that cars can replace smartphones as a key internet device. "After all, people don't spend that much time in cars, only when they need to commute."

Among China's major tech companies, Alibaba is considered to be an early bird in terms of launching an internet car that is ready for sale. But its rivals, such as Baidu Inc and Le Holdings Co are focusing on self-driving technology.

Baidu plans for its cars go into mass production in five years, Le Holdings, known for its smart TV and smartphone products, in April released its first concept self-driving electronic car - 28 months after the company decided to enter the industry.
 
5G heralds driverless cars
2016-07-07 09:14 | China Daily | Editor: Xu Shanshan

Carmakers, telecom firms explore uses of next-generation communication system

Visualize this seemingly futuristic scenario: you set out in your car for a long-distance trip. Only, you don't sit behind the wheel to drive.

Instead, you sit there to square up against a computer in a game of chess on the display screen on the dashboard. While you ponder and plot your moves, your electric self-driving car, too, makes its moves on the road.

It "communicates" with other similar vehicles, keeps a safe distance from them, and, just as you checkmate the computer after a long, exhausting game, the car reaches the destination.

That's not science fiction but reality waiting to unfold sooner than you would expect.

Welcome to the world of 5G or the fifth-generation mobile communication technology.

"The race towards 5G will be a key driver of the driverless cars," said Xu Zhijun, the rotating CEO of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's largest telecom equipment maker.

It is difficult to introduce highly automated or self-driving cars right now because they require sophisticated communication networks that are fool-proof or 100 percent reliable, ultra-efficient and capable of processing big data in a jiffy, experts said.

Such a network should be able to conduct real-time analysis of complex transportation scenarios, Xu said at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai last week.

"That's exactly where 5G will come into play," he said.

The next-generation network is expected to deliver peak data transfer at the speed of 20 gigabits per second, almost 100 times faster than the current 4G networks.

Also, technological progress will enable ultra high capacity, improved signalling efficiency and lower power consumption.

China plans to start commercialization of 5G in 2020. Local telecom players are already rushing to partner with carmakers to explore applications of the cutting-edge technology in real life.

Last week, China Mobile Communications Corp, the world's largest wireless telecom operator by subscribers, said leading auto companies such as Audi AG and BYD Co Ltd have become the latest partners of its global 5G Innovation Center.

"5G will make it possible to achieve more than 1 million connections per square kilometer," said Li Yue, president of China Mobile, adding such huge capacity will lay down a sound technology infrastructure for internet-connected cars.

At the MWC in Shanghai, the company demonstrated a line of 5G-enabled miniature self-driving cars through a partnership with Nokia Corp.

Connected to the mobile cloud in real time and equipped with a complete minicomputer inside its body, each car can automatically pilot itself, and can stop as soon as it notices obstacles.

China United Network Communications Group Co, the smaller rival of China Mobile, is also moving in the same direction. The company set up a branch last August to focus on an information system for self-driving vehicles.

"We believe over 200 million cars will be connected to the internet by 2020," said Xin Keduo, general manager of China Unicom's car-system unit. "But building connections is only the first step. What's more important is to realize various applications based on these connections."

Xiang Ligang, founder of the telecom industry website cctime.com, said telecom operators are betting that autonomous and connected cars will be the driving application for 5G.

"Huge investments are needed to build 5G telecom stations and networks, so telecom companies have to ponder which applications will drive consumers to switch from 4G to 5G networks and justify such big investments," Xiang said.

"The prevalence of smartphones has kindled consumers' demand for 4G. Telecom companies believe that the killer app in the 5G era will be the internet of things-and connected cars will be a big part of that phenomena," he said.

Also, telecom companies' increasing enthusiasm for smart cars comes amid the government's support by way favorable policy.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the top industry regulator, last week urged enterprises to start with internet-connected cars as part of the broad efforts to accelerate R&D efforts on how to integrate 5G technology into vertical industries.

Fu Liang, an independent industry expert, said it will take several years before the international community reaches a consensus on 5G network standards. But Chinese companies' 5G experiment still makes sense, he said.

"Key technologies enabling the commercial use of the internet of things are very likely to be accepted as part of 5G standards, which will then have a big edge in the deployment of 5G networks," Fu said.
 
Who you know is more important than what you know.
Contacts and networks are important.


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Top court spokesman joins Alibaba's media relations
2016-07-07 08:50 | chinadaily.com.cn | Editor: Xu Shanshan


A high-profile spokesman of China's top court, Sun Jongong, will join the nation's e-commerce giant as vice-president mainly covering public affairs.

Over the past two weeks, a lot of information about the resignation of Sun and his employment in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, has swept the internet, stirring the court system and also arousing public attention.

Alibaba's media relations office declined to comment when reached by China Daily on Wednesday. But an employee of the company, with access to its internal website, confirmed that Sun's information is already available on its online platform.

The employee, who declined to be named, said that Sun's job description is shown online as "vice-president, head of public affairs, reporting directly to Jin Jianhang, president of Alibaba Group".

Another employee in the company, who wished to remain anonymous, explained that the position is to deal with public affairs and help coordinate important activities.

Sun responded on Wednesday with a text message when China Daily contacted him, saying that he is not taking any interviews at present.

China Daily also found that Sun's name has disappeared from the position of "deputy director of the publicity bureau with the top court" on the highest judicial authority's website, and no new candidate has been added so far.

There has been no official statement about Sun's resignation from the top court since the news hit the media, or about who will take his place.

The State Council Information Office shows that Sun, born in Beijing in 1968 and with a doctoral degree in law, worked for the criminal department under the court's research office, the court's newspaper and the court's general office.

He had been engaged in work regarding judicial interpretations of criminal laws, the judicial policies and news presses as he employed in the court, according to his introduction on the information office's website.

He became the court's spokesman in April 2009, it said.

By March, he had hosted more than 300 press conferences, Chinese media reported.

He opened his own blog on Xinhuanet.com, the official website of Xinhua News Agency, after he was named as the spokesman, and he said in his first blog that he would not tell lies and welcomed netizens to communicate with him online, the media said.

He also said in May 2009 that the court would have a press conference once a month in principle and could hold more at any time if there were important issues to address.

In 2015, Chinese media reported about 1,000 judges had resigned from courts for different reasons, such as pressure of case hearings and the economic burden.

In Shanghai, at least 50 judges have voluntarily left the judicial system since January last year, according to Yangcheng Evening News. The resignations followed the departure of 105 judicial officers, including 86 judges, in the city in 2014, a rise of 90 percent from 2013.

Beijing High People's Court also confirmed the brain drain last year, saying that more than 500 legal officers in the capital have resigned in the past five years.
 
So many events occurring in the ecommerce or Internet space.
In business, timing is very important. Good timing will lead to a good bargain!


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Alibaba Rumored To Buy SoftBank-Backed Wandoujia At Greatly Discounted Price
By Nina Xiang | 04 July 2016 — 14:39 HKT

View attachment 315752

Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. is rumored to be buying Wandoujia, a Beijing-based Android mobile app distribution platform backed by SoftBank Corp., Goldman Sachs, DCM and Innovation Works at a greatly discounted price.

The price for the 100% buyout is reportedly around US$200 million, a fraction of the US$1 billion valuation at the time of Wandoujia's last financing round back in 2014.

Alibaba first approached Wandoujia for a potential acquisition two years ago, offering US$1.5 billion just after the company raised US$120 million in a new financing round, according to Chinese media reports.

The Android app store has since suffered from internal strife and increasing competition. The stress is reflected by the fact that the company did not raise additional financing for the past two and half years.

With the latest deal, Alibaba plans to incorporate Wandoujia into its mobile Internet unit, completing its portfolio with a top ranked app store in China.

The deal would allow Wandoujia's venture and private equity investors to exit, albeit at a disappointing price.

Alibaba did not respond to an inquiry to confirm the news.

In January 2014, Wandoujia raised US$120 million in a series B round led by
SoftBank Corp., with participation from DCM and Innovation Works Development Fund.

Two months later, Goldman Sachs invested an undisclosed amount in Wandoujia in the Wall Street investment bank's first investment in a Chinese mobile Internet company.

Founded in 2009, Wandoujia previously received seed funding from Innovation Works in 2010, and US$80 million series A funding led by DCM in 2012.

In 2014, Wandoujia was ranked as the third largest app stores in China in terms of market share.

Among China's top four app vendors, Baidu app store group took a 23.4% share, Qihoo app store held 16.8%, while Wandoujian followed with a 10.9% stake and Tencent owned 8.7% of the market, according to T.H. Capital.
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This is no longer a rumor. The acquisition of Wandoujia by Alibaba is confirmed.

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Alibaba buys app firm to lift position
2016-07-06 10:38 | Shanghai Daily | Editor: Huang Mingrui

Alibaba yesterday said it has acquired domestic Android application distributor Wandoujia to strengthen its position in the mobile Internet market.

Wandoujia will merge with Alibaba's mobile business unit, which includes UC Browser and online mapping service AutoNavi, to tap on each other's strength.

"Both companies share the same strategic vision, and we believe Alibaba's mobile business and Wandoujia could form a strong product offering and deliver synergies under new mobile Internet trends," said Yu Yongfu, president of Alibaba mobile business group.

The founder of Wandoujia, Wang Junyu, said combining each other's resources and data analytic capabilities will help shape its future growth.

Earlier media reports said the deal is valued at around US$200 million but both companies declined to comment on the financial details.

Launched in 2010, Wandoujia is one of the earliest Android app distributors in China. Former Google China head Kaifu Lee's Innovation Works, Softbank Group and DCM have invested in it.

Alibaba has been trying to catch up with Baidu and Tencent in the mobile Internet sector. According to Beijing-based Big Data Research, Baidu, Tencent and Qihoo 360 took the top spots among Android app distributors in China in the first quarter.
 
Tougher rules for ads on internet released
2016-07-10 06:57 | China Daily | Editor: Gu Liping

China has introduced a tougher regulation to take a firmer grip on the country's internet advertising industry following the death of a college student, who sought treatment for his disease on online search giant Baidu Inc.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce on Friday released a new internet advertising regulation on its website. The regulation, which takes effect on Sept 1, has made it clear for the first time that China now considers all pay-for-performance searches as advertising.

Zhang Guohua, head of the advertisement department at the administration, said on Friday that search results displayed on online search engines and e-commerce platforms were considered as advertisements as long as their rankings were influenced by financial factors rather than appearing in their order of relevance to search terms.

The new regulation means that pay-for-performance searches, which are some of the high-earning businesses for China's internet groups like Baidu Inc, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Sohu.com Inc and others, will be under tighter control.

Zhang said that all paid online listings needed to be labeled as "advertisements" as of Sept 1.

"Some of them are labeled as 'promotions' right now, which are not in line with the new rule," he said.

Baidu, which was investigated by the government in May after the death of the student, said in a statement on Friday that the Beijing-based company was a strong advocate of the new rule.

It said it would continue to crack down on fake and illegal information online.

Lyu Ronghui, an analyst with internet consultancy iResearch Consulting Group, said the new rule may not further dampen Baidu's business.
 
I like how eCommerce is improving lives in rural China.
Three cheers to Alibaba, JD, etc.


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E-commerce lets a village thrive
2016-07-05 09:10 | China Daily | Editor: Feng Shuang

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A willow craft is among the exhibits at the willow weaving cultural heritage center near Xuezhuang village in Shandong province. (Photo by Lu Peng/Xinhua)

As the temperature rises to 35 C in the early afternoon, Liu Yuesheng places another finished pet basket on the pile in his home, which is almost touching the ceiling. And despite sweat streaming down his face, he is working on weaving a willow cushion.

Born and raised in a small village called Xuezhuang, located in Tancheng county, 90 kilometers from Linyi city, in southern Shandong province, Liu, 48, has been weaving willow since young.

He says that the people of the village have been planting willow trees and weaving willow straw into various products-from furniture to decorations-for generations.

The villagers never made much money from their willow products until the village comprising around 1,000 people-led by pioneers like Liu-discovered Taobao, an online shopping platform of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, in 2011.

Now, with four online stores on Taobao.com and one store on Alibaba's business-to-consumer site Tmall, Liu has sold thousands of products nationwide with yearly income crossing 4 million yuan ($601,000).

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Two women make Chinese knots at the factory owned by entrepreneur Wang Chao at Honghua town in Linyi. (Photo by Lu Peng/Xinhua)

"In the past, we sold our products to nearby commodities markets, but now we run our own businesses, which gives us freedom and more money," says Liu.

"All my family members, including my two sons, who have just graduated from university, are working for the online stores. Our buyers range from individuals to companies. We also design products for customers."

According to Wang Yanping, the head of Xuezhuang village, weaving willow is a traditional skill in the village with a nearly 300-year history.

Following Liu's success, nearly all the families in the village have learned how to combine their traditional skills and e-commerce.

The village, which has land measuring more than 1,100 mu (73 hectares) under willow cultivation, sold woven willow products worth more than 60 million yuan in 2015, earning it the title "Taobao village".

Slogans written on the village walls now say "Gold bowls and silver bowls can't beat willow bowls", replacing phrases promoting the family-planing policies.

In recent years, the country's urbanization has changed people's lives in rural areas. One of the biggest challenges that the rural areas have faced is that young people left for cities to make a living, which resulted in "empty nests" and "left-behind children".

Empty nests refer to the elderly, who live alone unaccompanied by any family as their children have grown up and left to pursue their own careers, while left-behind children are those left behind in rural areas under the care of relatives, mostly grandparents with little or no education, and family friends as their parents move to cities in search of work.

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A local villager makes willow products at home. (Photo by Lu Peng/Xinhua)

But thanks to the success of the willow-weaving businesses, almost all the young people are now staying in the village and managing online stores, says Wang, adding that even major delivery companies, such as Shunfeng Express, have built offices in the village to ensure good service.

"We send some of our young people to learn about e-commerce in the city and they then return and pass on their knowledge to the villagers. They also teach the older generation how to use computers, and how to set up and manage a Taobao store."

Last October, the village started working on an e-commerce industry park with an investment of 20 million yuan. It will provide offices, factories and warehouses to the villagers. Many residents from nearby villages have also been coming to Xuezhuang village to work and learn willow-weaving skills.

Meanwhile, according to statistics from the China Center of Information Industry Development, China's internet population has grown dramatically in the past decade and by June 2015 China had 667 million internet users.

The online business model has had a dramatic impact on the lives of village youth. An example of this is Wang Chao, a 28-year-old resident of Honghua town, located at the southern end of Tancheng county.

Speaking of how the online model has made a difference to his life, Wang, who owns Linyi Qiaoyi E-Commerce Company-the biggest online company selling Chinese knotted products-says: "Thanks to the development of e-commerce and the rising number of Chinese online consumers, we (online entrepreneurs) not only make more money now, but also enjoy better lifestyles."

With three registered brands and nine online stores on popular e-commerce platforms-Taobao, Tmall and Jingdong-Wang sells products worth around 15 million yuan a year.

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Packing for delivery. (Photo by Lu Peng/Xinhua)

"Opening an online store is free. You don't need a large space, or much funding," says Wang, who also attributes the popularity of Chinese knots to the growing awareness of Chinese consumers about traditional Chinese culture.

"People like decorating their rooms and cars with traditional folk artwork, especially during Chinese festivals," he says.

In 2012, like many young people, who were leaving their poor villages to seek better opportunities in the cities, Wang joined an internet company in Shenzhen, in Guangdong province.

He came up with the idea of selling Chinese knots online after seeing his colleagues buying the products before the traditional Spring Festival celebrations.

He tested his idea by opening a Taobao store and selling Chinese knots, which he bought from nearby commodities markets.

The following year, Wang quit his job and returned to his hometown to start his own company.

Separately, the local government is also supporting the e-commerce trend by offering free or cheaper land for entrepreneurs to build offices and factories.

"We all want our villages to become richer and better," says Wang.

"The success of companies is not just about reviving traditional folk art, but also offering job opportunities to young people, so they don't have to leave their villages to seek jobs."
 
New tax on search advertising to hit Baidu, Alibaba
China Daily, July 12, 2016

Some of China's biggest internet companies may see their earning taking a hit from a new regulation, as the country takes a firmer grip on search advertising.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce on Friday released the new regulation, which for the first time classifies paid searches as internet advertising. Analysts said that the revenue could be subject to an additional 3 percent culture-cultivation tax.

Such a move could force Baidu Inc, which runs China's biggest online search engine, to cut its fiscal 2017 net income to 16.3 billion yuan ($2.4 billion), according to analysts at Daiwa Capital Markets HK Ltd led by John Choi.

That estimate is about 4 percent below the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

About 50 percent of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's revenue in the first quarter would be affected, suggesting a 2.4 percent hit to earnings, wrote Hong Kong-based Choi.

"We would expect the market to cut its 2017-19 earnings forecasts for Baidu and Alibaba, given the additional surcharge burden," Choi said in a report.

The new regulation, which will take effect on Sept 1, is seen as the government's increased effort to oversee the country's $23.2-billion internet advertising market, which was under media scrutiny earlier this year after the death of a college student, who sought out a treatment for his rare disease on Baidu's search results.

Baidu said in a statement that the company would fully implement the new regulations. Alibaba said in a statement that if its pay-for-performance ads were charged a 3 percent fee, the impact of on its margins would be in the "low single digit" range as its revenue channels are becoming more diversified.

Analysts said the regulation would have positive impact on the Chinese online advertising industry. That is because it makes it clear that advertising publishers have the obligation to review ad contents-and advertisers from certain industries such as healthcare will have to obtain relevant licenses from watchdogs before they can do online advertising, said Jialong Shi, head of Nomura China Internet and Media Research.

"But being officially classified as an ad service, internet search operators will have the new obligation to review the paid search results which Baidu indicated in its 2015 annual report as 'being burdensome'," Shi said.
 
China outlines regulations for driver requirements for ride-sharing services
(CRI Online) 13:22, July 12, 2016

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(File photo)​


Regulations governing driver requirements for ride-sharing services were issued jointly on Monday by the Internet Society of China, a non-profit NGO established by Chinese Internet companies in 2001, and Didi Hitch, a hailing service app that matches drivers and passengers who share similar routes.

There are three primary restrictions on who can be hired in accordance with theregulations. Fugitives or those who have engaged in activities jeopardizing national or public security; persons who have violated Regulations on Administrative Penalties for Public Security, which include violations such as assault and use of illegal drugs; and violators of laws on road traffic safety are also excluded.

A debate on whether or not to exclude persons with criminal histories from the ride-sharing service broke out in March, after thousands of drivers working for popular car-hailing apps in Shenzhen had been found to have criminal records, including drug offenses.

Some feared the restrictions would violate equal employment rights of those with administrative and criminal records on file. Others said they were concerned about the backgrounds of the people that provide chauffeur services, especially those with criminal records.

In the past six months, two Didi drivers have been sentenced to prison -- one for raping afemale passenger, and the other for rape and robbery.

Didi says it will continue to vet drivers by conducting background checks and looking into criminal records. It requires applicants to register and provide identification, a driver's license, and vehicle registration information before they can be approved as drivers.
 
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