Some citizens in Beijing on Monday evaluated Japan’s new era name, Reiwa, as “strange” and expressed disappointment, saying it doesn’t make sense in their language and was not derived from Chinese classics.On Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, many young people had tried to guess the name of Japan’s new era, traditionally composed of two Chinese characters, believing that it would derive from Chinese classics as in the past.Contrary to their expectations, however, the 248th era name, th

an Bingbing has been mostly staying at home these days, sending messages on WeChat (the Chinese WhatsApp), working on her English, receiving guests, doing charity work “to wash away her sins,” and otherwise “trying to stay positive,” according to a producer who knows her well. But before the events of last spring, when she abruptly disappeared from public view for three months, she was busy being the most famous actress in China, which is to say, the most famous actress in the world.Fan is C

Chinese short-form video app TikTok has hit a major milestone, with one billion downloads across Android and iOS, according to app analytics site Sensor Tower.Sensor Tower added that the billion figure did not include Android installs from China, so the real number of installs is likely to be much higher.Roughly 663 million of TikTok's total one billion downloads came in 2018, meaning it was downloaded more last year than Instagram, which garnered 444 million new downloads.TikTok was the fou

At least seven people were killed and five injured Sunday when a container containing scrap metal exploded in the latest in a series of industrial accidents in eastern China. The early morning blast in the city of Kunshan in Jiangsu province caused a fire that spread to a nearby workshop, the city government said on its microblog. The cause of the explosion is under investigation, it said. China experiences frequent industrial accidents despite orders from the central government, including presi

Beneath the gloom overhanging China's economy, some big companies are finding growth opportunities in smaller cities outside Beijing and Shanghai. Earnings and analyst reports released in the last few weeks indicate there are still many areas of untapped potential in the world's second-largest economy. In particular, five industries present prospects for growth: Internet, autos, healthcare, education and tourism. Much of the growth for companies in these markets comes from smaller cities

Source:radiichina.comThe northeastern region of China — formerly known as Manchuria and now Dongbei (literally “Northeast” in Chinese) — has made it to the center of China’s livestreaming craze.When Dong Desheng (董德升), a farmer from the region’s Heilongjiang province, started to livestream on the video platform Kuaishou (快手, also known as Kwai), he quickly garnered widespread attention. Like other farmer-turned-livestreamers, Dong shares mostly the minutiae of his everyday life: the freezing winters in Heilongjiang, the yellow weasels that invade his fields, and traditional Chinese family reunions.But unlike the vast majority of Chinese nationals who are of Han descent, the Heilongjiang native does not look “Chinese” at all.

Source: independent.ieTensions over trade, investments and minority rights are preventing China and the EU from agreeing a joint declaration at a summit next week, multiple sources in Brussels said yesterday, sapping a European push for greater access to Chinese markets.Alarmed by potential Chinese dominance of strategic European industries, EU leaders last month sought to prepare for the April 9 summit - flagged as a chance to cement bilateral ties - by agreeing what they said was a more assertive stance. By diplomatic convention, joint statements are issued at the conclusion of high-profile bilateral summits to formalise policy.Donald Tusk, the head of the European Council, has recommended rejecting the statement as it stands, according to an EU source. China had not met EU hopes that it would open its markets, nor seriously committed to reforms of global trade rules.According to an early draft put forward by the European Union and seen by Reuters, Beijing would be bound into complet

Source: scmp.comHong Kong customs seized HK$16.5 million (US$2.1 million) worth of rhino horns in transshipment cargo at the airport on Friday, marking a record haul of products related to the endangered species.The smuggled items from South Africa were declared as vehicle parts destined for Malaysia. X-ray images of the cargo had raised suspicions and officers acted on a tip-off.Authorities found 82.5kg of suspected rhino horns and body parts in the consignment.No arrests were made, and a senio

Source: reuters.comJapan’s decision to curb government purchases from Chinese telecoms equipment makers Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp could hurt bilateral ties if Tokyo’s actions are deemed unfair, China’s commerce ministry said on Thursday.Japan revised its procurement rules last year, introducing measures to strengthen security that were also a de facto ban on government purchases from Huawei and ZTE.The measures have been extended to 5G licensing rules for private companies, meaning Jap

Source: foreignaffarirs.comIn March of 1969, Chinese troops ambushed and killed a Soviet border patrol on an island near the Chinese-Russian border. Fighting on and near the island lasted for months and ended with hundreds of casualties. Fifty years later, the ferocity of the skirmish between Mao Zedong’s China and Leonid Brezhnev’s Soviet Union seems to belong to a very distant past—so distant, indeed, that many foreign-policy experts are convinced that an anti-U.S. alliance between the two