Category: Asia

Chinese tomb sweeping festival goes online due to COVID-19

Asia, China, Communications, General, Government, History, Technology, Technology News

The chinese festival of Quingming is a day each spring set out for tomb sweeping. The practice is an ancient tradition to honor one’s ancestors, and rejuvenate the grave space after the new year for the upcoming months ahead. 

The practice first started roughly 2,500 years ago amongst the cultural elite and the wealthy classes as a display of luxury and money. It started under the Zhou Dynasty and would be a chance for people to honor their ancestors with impressive sacrifices at their grave site. In return the ancestors were believed to be able to bring on a good harvest, as well as peace and prosperity for their descendents. 

Despite its ancient origins and ongoing popularity, the festival was only fully recognised by the Chinese government as a public holiday in 2008. It is common in these times for people from all over China, as well as neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand amongst others to also celebrate the widely recognised Quingming Festival. 

The festival is usually held between the 4-6th April, on the first day of the fifth solar term in the year. Though usually it involves visiting older loved ones or gathering at the graves of the deceased, social distancing restrictions that persist due to the continuing coronavirus COVID-19 global pandemic mean that this year, more and more people are considering taking their celebrations online. 

As the pandemic was starting last year, a small number of people conducted their ceremonies online, and now as the crisis continues into a second year, it seems more people are once again considering their online options. 
As an alternative to visiting in person, families are now being offered ‘cloud tomb sweeping’ services by local governments. The service includes a live streaming of the tomb sweeping event on the government platform WeChat, that people can watch from the comfort and safety of their own homes.

Tech billionaire Jack Ma emerges after months long disappearance with new video

Asia, Business, China, General, Government, Networking, Politics, Social Issues, Social Media, Technology

Tech billionaire Jack Ma has resurfaced online after an over three month long disappearance from the public sphere. Ma emerged again online in a short, roughly 50 second long video that saw him address a group of rural educators in an online conference on Wednesday 20th January 2021. The video was released on Twitter after the usually highly visible Ma had disappeared from the public sphere, and had even been replaced as a judge on a reality TV show he had been set to appear on. His period of time away from the public eye came in early November when stocks of his online retail service Alibaba were meant to go public in a deal that was suddenly halted by intervention from the Chinese government.  

The 56 year old Ma was born in 1964 in China. He rose to prominence with the growth of his online retail distribution site Alibaba, before developing a strong and recognisable personal brand as a TV personality, as well as being one of China’s most prominent philanthropists. Ma is known worldwide as an ambassador for Chinese business and an advocate for an open and market driven economy. He has however, been previously outed in 2018 as a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), with which he continues to have a slightly tense and volatile relationship. 

Last November’s events only added to the tension between Ma and the CPC as he spoke out in criticism of the Chinese government’s interventions with his business. Though most recognised for his Alibaba brand, Ma is also known as co-founder of the Ant Group – the group responsible for Alipay, China’s largest digital payment. Alipay is widely used throughout China with over one billion users and 80 million merchants. It’s total trade figures for June 2020 reached a staggering 118 trillion Chinese Yen, making it unsurprising Ma is cited as one of the world’s richest people.

All eyes on Shanghai International Art Fair

Asia, Business, China, Financial News

Whilst the majority of the Western world enters a much feared second lockdown due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic crisis, all eyes were on China as the 2nd edition of the Shanghai International Art Fair took place from the 19-22nd November 2020. With many of the world’s top art fairs such as Art Basel Miami Beach fair set for December 2020 cancelled, and the Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2020 moved online back in October, there is not much of the supposed global art world left to see in person. It is with baited breath then that the world’s art lovers and professionals alike look to Asia for the last vestiges of familiarity with the fairs of the past, and a clue as to what the fairs of the future – and who attends them in person – could be like. 

Is a global art world still possible?

Whether it is even possible to describe a global art world is something that has been much in debate as the financial growth of various local art markets have grown and their interconnectedness made more apparent. Buyers and dealers will often travel multiple times a year and wait apprehensively for figures to come in from one fair for an understanding about what might happen in the next. This massive trading of art and services was valued in 2018 at roughly 67 billion USD – a growth of 3 billion USD up from 64 billion USD in 2017. Whilst the majority of these sales were made offline there was already a growing trend in the number of online sales seen that many are expecting to increase further due to circumstances dedicated by the current pandemic. 

The majority of trade for the art market has previously been seen in North America, with hot sites such as New York and Los Angeles, seconded by the market in Europe featuring heavily in London, UK, although the Louvre in Paris, France tops the list as the world’s most visited art museum. China had previously come in third for total revenue for an art market, yet as the coronavirus pandemic continues to hinder trade in the West, art fairs like the most recent Shanghai International Art Fair are starting to emerge as potential key components in the art market’s future global growth.

Trump backs down, supports TikTok deal

Asia, Business, China, Countries, Data Management & Networks, Digital Systems Technology, General, Social Media, Technology, USA

TikTok’s US operations got a new lease on life Sunday after President Donald Trump announced that he was supporting a deal between the Chinese app’s parent company ByteDance and American tech company Oracle.

“I have given the deal my blessing,” Trump said. “I approve the deal in concept.”

So much for all of his anti TikTok histrionics. Just a few days ago he stated that, beginning Sunday, he would prohibit Americans from downloading the app. This came after he said he was “conceptually” opposed to a deal that allowed ByteDance to hold onto a majority stake of TikTok.

But Trump has given his “blessing” to a deal that does just that.

As Reuters reports, the deal places TikTok in the hands of a new company called TikTok Global. While headquartered in the US, TikTok Global is majority owned by ByteDance, which has an 80 percent stake. What remains is split between Oracle Corp (12.5 percent) and Walmart (7.5 percent).

Critically, though, all of TikTok’s user data from the US will be hosted by Oracle. The user data question was the main sticking point, as Washington argued that the Chinese Communist Party had access to TikTok’s databases, putting the privacy and security of American users at risk. Indeed, Trump and his lackeys routinely and melodramatically asserted that TikTok posed a grave “national security threat” to the United States.

Again, Trump previously stated that he would not support a deal that resulted in ByteDance retaining a majority stake. But he’s moved the goal posts and is justifying his reversal by pointing to the fact that approximately 40 percent of ByteDance stock is owned by American investors.

Add that 40 percent to Oracle’s 12.5 percent and Walmart’s 7.5 percent, and Americans technically have a majority stake. So goes the new argument, which your average online tutor will tell you is specious at best.

Of course, Trump will approve the deal not because it satisfies his administration’s “national security” concerns, but because it gives him one more thing to boast about in the run up to the presidential election on 3 November.

A new national poll from the Wall Street Journal and NBC News has Democratic nominee Joe Biden up 8 points on Trump.

Tick-tock, tick-tock: time is running out for TikTok in the US

Asia, Australia, Big Data, Business, China, Communications, Countries, Data Management & Networks, Digital Systems Technology

Here is a syllogism: TikTok is owned by a company called ByteDance. ByteDance is based in Beijing. Therefore, Washington is moving to ban TikTok in the United States.

Just this week the US House of Representatives voted to prohibit federal employees, including senators and reps, from using TikTok on government devices. Politico reports that the amendment (it’s part of a $741 billion “defense” budget bill) passed comfortably—336-71.

Why any federal employee would want to use TikTok in the first place is beyond me. Last I checked it was an app for preteens. But I suppose that is neither here nor there.

The point, according to Washington, is that TikTok represents a unique national security threat. Asked whether Americans ought to use TikTok, America’s top diplomat—the fleshy Mike Pompeo—said:

“Only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.”

The argument being that TikTok collects its users’ data and then shares said data with the sordid Politburo. It’s not a frivolous concern, and TikTok’s insistence that it would never ever do such a wicked thing is not impressive. It’s just really hard to agree with Mike Pompeo, who went on to say that banishing TikTok, along with other Chinese apps, is “something we’re looking at.”

Well, this has reportedly engendered a frenzy in the American business world. A group of investors is considering purchasing a majority stake in the app with a view to saving it. TikTok hasn’t commented on this development yet, simply stating that “We are very confident in the long-term success of TikTok and will make our plans public when we have something to announce.”

But even if such a change in majority ownership were to occur, Washington probably wouldn’t be mollified. Paul Triolo, head of global tech policy at Eurasia Group, put it this way to CNN:

“It does not seem likely that US investors alone buying a majority ownership stake would satisfy CFIUS or broader US government concerns about the Chinese ownership piece and the potential for US personal data to find its way back to Beijing.”

TikTok is under fire elsewhere too. India has already banned it and other Chinese apps following a deadly skirmish between Indian and Chinese soldiers along their mutual border in the Himalayas.

WeChat Pay Partners up with Japan’s Line

Asia, ChinaNo Comments

WeChat, China’s hugely popular messaging and social media app, has announced plans to integrate with LINE, a similar app based in Japan. The partnership will unilaterally allow WeChat users to pay for goods and services over the Line platform.

WeChat

Tencent, a Chinese multinational holding conglomerate, released WeChat in 2011.  (Tencent has garnered a whopping zero out of 100 score from Amnesty International’s report on companies’ use of encryption to protect user data.)

WeChat Pay was introduced during the 2014 Lunar New Year, allowing users to send digital hongbao packets to friends and family. Users sent 20 million packets that year. In 2016, over 3 billion were sent.

The service has been wholeheartedly integrated into Chinese life. An estimated 900 million different accounts use WeChat Pay every month for private transfers, online goods and services shopping, and bill payments. Its messaging services have mostly replaced email for personal and business communications, the payment system largely renders credit cards obsolete, and its social media feeds and user “Moments” are one of China’s most popularly used media sharing platforms. It offers a stuffed animal, MonMon, for small children to send and receive WeChat voice messages from their parents. WeChat Pay can link to bank accounts in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and South Africa.

Line

Line was released in 2011 after an earthquake and tsunami disrupted telecommunications across Japan. Within two years 300 million users had installed the text, voice, and video communication app. Today almost half of the Japanese population, an estimated 78 million, uses Line. It is also one of the most popular messaging apps in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia, with an estimated 164 million active users in those four countries. As of 2016, it had released over 320,000 sets of stickers. 

Line introduced Line Pay in December 2014. Like WeChat Pay, it facilitates user to user as well as user to merchant payments. In 2016, it released a free card that could be used for in-store purchases. It also allows the use of Line Taxi, a popular ride-hailing service in Japan.

One app, two countries

The cooperation between the two is intended to simplify payments for Chinese tourists or visitors in Japan. WeChat users will be able to buy goods and services in Japan without exchanging cash, or setting up a Line Pay account of their own. Line, which offers end to end encryption, is banned by the Chinese government.

AirAsia X Places Order for 42 Airbus Planes

Asia, Australia, Oceania, South East Asia, UncategorizedNo Comments

AirAisa X has closed a deal with Airbus for 42 new aircraft. Twelve A330-900 and thirty A321XLR are set to bolster the trans-Asian airline’s already formidable presence in the affordable air travel market. 

The Airline

AirAsiaX is, unsurprisingly, a sister company of AirAsia, the largest Asian international carrier. Based in Malaysia, AirAsia runs a myriad of routes between many nearby Asian (especially Southeast Asian) cities. AirAsiaX focuses on long distance routes, especially between Asia, Australia, and the United States. Its first route, commenced in 2007, was between Kuala Lumpur and the Australian Gold Coast. It tends to use peripheral airports rather than central ones to keep ticket prices down; in 2018, it swapped its KL-Melbourne route for nearby Avalon Airport.

The Aircrafts

The A330-900 is an extended fuselage version of the Airbus A330neo.  It can seat up to 300 passengers in a three-class layout; that number rises to 440 if an airline choses to forgo luxury seating options. Its range of 13,400km is sufficient for most intercontinental routes, with the exception of some trans-Pacific flights.

The A321XLR is the newest adaptation of the A321neo, the world’s best-selling single aisle aircraft. It has been refined to make its range “Xtra Long”, and can now travel up to 8500km. Smaller bodied planes better accommodate smaller airports; the A321XLR is a popular choice for smaller regional airlines. For AirAsiaX, the more efficient, but still lower passenger capacity model will enable the opening and continuation of less-traveled routes such as India-Europe and China-Australia, according to the Airbus website. 

Fall in Asian markets reflects pessimism over US-China trade deal

Asia, China, Countries, Financial News, North America, Politics, Regions, Regulation News, South East Asia, USANo Comments

Negotiations between Washington and Beijing over a trade deal may be ongoing, but that doesn’t mean people are optimistic about the potential for a settlement, as evinced by the fall in Asian markets during early trading Wednesday.

The decline came in the wake of a Twitter rampage from US President Donald Trump—who has been less than consistent (one might say erratic) on this issue—in which he lit into China for not importing more agricultural products from the US and took credit for the Asian country’s allegedly failing economy.

“China is doing very badly, worst year in 27 – was supposed to start buying our agricultural product now – no signs that they are doing so. That is the problem with China, they just don’t come through. Our Economy has become MUCH larger than the Chinese Economy is last 3 years,” he wrote.

Continuing he wrote:

“My team is negotiating with them now, but they always change the deal in the end to their benefit.”

And in conclusion:

“China has lost 5 million jobs and two million manufacturing jobs due to the Trump Tariffs. Trumps [sic] got China back on its heels, and the United States is doing great.”

Trump did not provide any sources to back up the stated figures, but then I probably didn’t have to tell you that.

MarketWatch summed up the immediate fallout, reporting that “Japan’s Nikkei slid 1% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index  fell 1.3%. The Shanghai Composite retreated 0.8% while the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite lost 0.5%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 1% as North Korea tested more short-range ballistic missiles, and benchmark indexes in Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia all fell. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2%.”

Individual stocks were also down.

MarketWatch reports that, in addition to Trump’s unpredictability, an ongoing trade dispute between South Korea and Japan is roiling markets. Said dispute stems from Tokyo’s decision to deny South Korea a special trade status known as “white country.”

Alarming percentage of food delivery drivers eat from orders

Asia, Australia, Countries, FMCG, North America, Oceania, Regions, Regulation News, Social Issues, Technology News, USANo Comments

Think twice next time you’re about to tip the man or woman delivering food to your house. According to a recent survey conducted by US Foods, nearly 30 percent of delivery drivers have swiped something from a customer’s food order.

The survey interviewed some 500 delivery drivers who worked for various apps (including UberEats, GrubHub and DoorDash). Twenty-eight percent of those drivers confessed to having taken food from a customer’s order prior to delivering it, while more than half (54 percent) admitted to thinking about doing so.

From the report: “We’re sorry to report that sometimes, impulse gets the best of deliverers, and they violate their sacred duty by taking some of the food!”

As you might expect, customers (1,500 of whom were polled by US Foods as part of the same study) are less than thrilled by the idea of a delivery driver lifting a bit of their meal. US Foods asked customers to to rate, on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 meaning “no big deal” and 10 meaning “absolutely unacceptable”), how upset they would be to learn that such a thing occurred, and the average response was 8.4. No surprise there.

Meanwhile, 85 percent of customers said they would like their order to come with a sticker or label which, if broken, would indicate that the delivery boy/girl had gotten hungry on the drive over.

Taking food from an order is of course a violation of company policy: if caught, drivers are liable to be fired.

On the flip side, drivers had some bones to pick as well. Sixty percent of those surveyed said they were “consistently irritated” by a lack of tips. MarketWatch reports:

“On the customer side, 95% of those surveyed said they tipped their drivers, though 66% said service and delivery fees — which don’t go to the driver — affected how much they tip. $5 was the average tip for about one in three customers, but 57% of customers said they tipped less than that. Just 11% said they tipped an average of $6 or more.”

Upon hearing this news, customers might be even less inclined to tip, further enraging delivery drivers and leading them to retaliate by, well, stealing some food. Sounds like a vicious cycle.