China News This Week: Wednesday 9 February 2022

This week's news and trends in China:

Sport

Photos of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony: Beijing doesn't disappoint in the 100 minute opening ceremony on February 4.

In a Divisive Games, an Opening Ceremony in Search of Unity: The Olympics official slogan "Together for a Shared Future" came through in the opening ceremony. Female competitors account for 45% of athletes at the Games, up from 41% at the 2018 Olympics in South Korea.

China Sees Winter Sports Boom Around Spring Festival: According to the country's winter sports governing body, the number of Chinese people who have participated in winter sports training, amateur or professional competitions, and winter sports-related leisure activities has reached 346 million. It surpassed the goal of 300 million set in 2015 when Beijing won the Olympic bid. Guangzhou's 75,000 square metre Sunac indoor Snow Park has hosted more than 2 million visitors since it began operations in 2019.

Chinese Companies Reward Women’s Soccer Team Millions After AFC Cup Victory: Chinese companies are rewarding the nation’s women’s soccer team with cash payouts totalling some $3.6 million. The team beat South Korea 3-2 in the final of the AFC Asian Women's Cup, that for a short time at least is overshadowing the Winter Olympics in the country. Ant Group and Mengniu both pledged ¥10 million ($1.6m) each. Chinese fans demanded equal pay for women's football teams after the men were beaten 3-1 last week by Vietnam in a World Cup qualifier.

 Chinese Consumers

What's 'Hot' and Trendy Among Young Chinese Consumers: Snow sport enthusiasts, China-element fashionistas, camping, city explorers and health-conscious foodies with environmental awareness according to a trends report by lifestyle social network Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu). Air Fryers were searched 60 million times on Red last year and was the top-searched terms three times in three months on Weibo.

Chunwan 2022: The CMG Spring Festival Gala Liveblog by What's on Weibo: The blow by blow account of China's biggest TV event of the year - the Spring Festival Gala. This year saw the first standup comedy in the Gala's history, China's astronauts beaming in from space, kids doing a space-themed performance, traditional dances and those inspired by ancient Chinese art for its 40th edition.

China's Aging Tycoons Prepare to Hand Over $1 Trillion to Heirs: In places such as Hong Kong, India and Southeast Asia, wealth frequently goes back three or four generations. Some of Europe’s richest families have been transferring their fortunes for centuries. In China, fortunes didn't start to be made until the 1970s, so in most cases, the wealth transfer to the next generation will be the first time in the country. The 80 or so richest Chinese billionaires on the Bloomberg index are, on average, in their mid-fifties. That suggests some could start handing over the reins to their successors in the next decade. China doesn't have an inheritance tax.

Digital China

Have Disposable Income, Will Buy Imported Goods: According to a report released by JD, the top three best-selling categories of imported products are beauty and makeup, healthcare, and mum & baby products. Consumers prefer to buy products from the United States, Japan, France, Germany and Switzerland on JD. Female consumers who buy imported merchandise outnumber male shoppers. The young generation aged below 30 is the fastest-growing consumer group for imported products.

Building a Metaverse with Chinese Characteristics: The metaverse is for the foreseeable future quite literally science fiction: a fully immersive, persistent virtual world where, with the help of high-tech goggles and other kit, people interact, work and play via online avatars of their real-world selves. An elite Chinese think-tank describes the concept as the next generation of the internet and warned of the need for laws and regulations to deal with “virtual labour”, economic crimes and other issues in “the grey area between the virtual world and reality”. It is likely to explode in the next five to 10 years with Tencent arguably the best positioned of any company to win the race as the world’s biggest publisher of games and one of the biggest forces in social media and e-commerce.

China Names Blockchain Trial Zones After its Crackdown on Cryptocurrencies: Beijing and Shanghai are among the cities designated by China to trial blockchain applications. Local government departments, universities, banks, hospitals, car companies and power firms are among the 164 entities chosen by China to carry out trial blockchain applications.

Food & Beverage

Dada Group Delivers a Report on Holiday Consumption during Chinese New Year: Dairy products, edible oil, liquor, cherries, chocolate, puffed food, nuts, and biscuits were all among the top 20 selling products according to 'China's leading local on-demand delivery and retail platform' JD's Dada. Sales of imported nuts increased by 1.7 times compared with last year, imported tea and honey also increased by 1.3 times. Semi-finished and pre-made dishes such as dumplings, noodles, kimchi, cooked food boxes, and microwave food all increased by more than 10 times over last year. Sales of western-style dishes such as sushi, fries, sausages, salads, and hot dogs also increased by 3.5 times or more year-on-year. Semi-finished vegetables increased by 2.6.

New Competition in China’s Hip Bar Scene: COMMUNE Raises Funds to Expand Beyond 100 Locations: COMMUNE, a trendy Chinese bar and restaurant chain, has nearly 100 locations across Beijing, Shanghai, and the country’s main provincial capitals. It has larger ambitions, and just raised "several hundred million yuan" to achieve them. The bar boasts a rich collection of drinks from different countries, including Belgium, Germany, and Spain. It has a close relationship with the California brewery Stone Brewing.

 Entertainment

Tencent Restores Fight Club Ending After Backlash: Tencent has reinstated the original ending of the 1999 Hollywood movie Fight Club after a censored version last month sparked backlash. The original ending shows scenes of explosions and relentless fighting. But China's version simply showed a message on screen saying the authorities won and saved the day. The change ignited intense debate about cinematic censorship in China. The latest version on Tencent reportedly restores about 11 of the 12 minutes that were cut.

Cars

‘TeslaMic’ Karaoke Sets Sell Out Under an Hour in China: Tesla began selling “TeslaMic,” which includes a pair of Tesla-branded wireless microphones that links to an in-car karaoke system, through its online store last week. The product is available only in China and priced at the equivalent of $188. The microphone set’s release coincided with a local Tesla software update for the Chinese New Year, which enables drivers to access karaoke songs and videos within their cars when the vehicle isn’t in motion. Tesla’s revenue in China grew 107.8% last year to reach $13.8 billion.

Going Home for Spring Festival, in Rented Luxury Cars: Trip.com last month showed that luxury car rentals during the holiday increased 63% compared with the same period last year. The majority of clients were men between 20 to 40 years, who according to the travel operator, rented luxury vehicles to "gain face" by driving a fancy car home.