1. Jack Ma’s new venture—pre-packaged meals? ‘Hangzhou Ma’s Kitchen Food’ launches in Alibaba’s hometown. This marks Jack Ma’s new venture amid post-pandemic eating habit shifts. Despite plans to fund this through Alibaba share sales earlier, a stock price plunge has delayed these sales. (South China Morning Post)
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2. China’s new visa-free policy sparks tourism search surge. Searches for inbound flights from Malaysia and five participating European countries increased 12% after the policy’s announcement, according to Tongcheng Travel. (SZ Daily)
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3. GDP 2024. Advisers plan to propose China’s GPD 2024 growth targets of 4.5 – 5.5% at the Central Economic Work Conference next month. Five of seven advisers favour a target around 5%, consistent with this year’s goal. (Reuters)
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4. China’s 5G mobile phones. 5G mobile phone shipments in China leapt 90% YoY to 28.7 million units in September, according to CAICT data. These shipments made up 86.3% of China’s total phone shipments for the month. (ChinaOrg)
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5. E-medical services on the rise in 2023. China is leveraging online platforms to enhance patient care, offering services like online consultations, home-delivered prescriptions, reducing hospital cross-infections and wait times. (China Gov)
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6. China’s industrial profit slows? China’s October industrial profits rose by 2.7% YoY, a slower rate than previous months due to ongoing deflation. Decline from August’s 17.2% gains to September’s 11.9% suggests a fragile economic recovery as 2023 ends. (Bloomberg)
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7. Celebrity birthday videos? Netizens discovered celebrity birthday messages online for a notorious Myanmar crime lord’s son. Several of the celebrities have since issued public apologies. China’s booming fandom culture fuels a thriving industry of personalised celebrity videos, with over 10,000 videos already sold on Taobao. (Sixth Tone)
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