Podcasts about Yingying

The Lost King Carl by Yingying by 826 Valencia

Thousands of giant panda sculptures greeted residents and tourists in December 2024 in Hong Kong, where enthusiasm for the bears has grown since two cubs were born in a local theme park. The 2,500 exhibits were showcased in a launch ceremony of PANDA GO! FEST HK, the city's largest panda-themed exhibition, at Hong Kong's airport in December. They were publicly displayed at the Avenue of Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui, a popular shopping district, before setting their footprint at three other locations a few months ago. One designated spot is Ocean Park, home to the twin cubs, their parents and two other pandas gifted by Beijing in 2024. The design of six of the sculptures, made of recycled rubber barrels and resins among other materials, was inspired by these bears. The cubs—whose birth in August 2024 made their mother Ying Ying the world's oldest first-time panda mom—may meet visitors in February. The displays reflect Hong Kong's use of pandas to boost its economy as the Chinese financial hub works to regain its position as one of Asia's top tourism destinations. Pandas are considered China's unofficial national mascot. The country's giant panda loan program with overseas zoos has long been seen as a tool of Beijing's soft-power diplomacy. Hong Kong's tourism industry representatives are upbeat about the potential impact of housing six pandas, hoping to boost visitor numbers even though caring for pandas in captivity is expensive. Officials have encouraged businesses to capitalize on the popularity of the bears to seize opportunities in what some lawmakers have dubbed the “panda economy." The organizer of the exhibitions also invited some renowned figures, including musician Pharrell Williams, to create special-edition panda designs. Most of these special sculptures will be auctioned online for charity and the proceeds will be donated to Ocean Park to support giant panda conservation efforts. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Salve Killers! Oggi faremo un viaggio molto triste, esplorando il caso di Yingying Zhang, una giovane studentessa cinese il cui sogno di costruire un futuro brillante è stato tragicamente interrotto. Yingying era arrivata negli Stati Uniti con la speranza di proseguire i suoi studi, ma il destino ha preso una piega inaspettata e drammatica. Cosa le accadde? Scopriamolo insieme! Buon ascolto! ATTENZIONE: L'immagine di copertina appartiene ai legittimi proprietari! Intro music: Spooky Scary Skeletons (JubyPhonic Modified Version) Music 1: “Lacrime di Ombra” - AISong Fun Music 2: “Mountain Legend” - Keys Of Moon Music 3: “In the Dead of Night” - ErikMMusic Music 4: “Look Behind You” - ErikMMusic Music 5: “Lost in the Dark” - ErikMMusic Music 6: “Lacrime di Ombra (vers. 2)” - AISong Fun Music 7: “Abigail” - Vivek Abhishek Music 8: “Toys in the Attic” - ErikMMusic Mandami una mail: oscuropalcoscenico@gmail.com Se vuoi consigliarmi un caso: https://forms.gle/GB3esZB3oaybN4Di7

Welcome to Focus Asia your first window to discover Asia. This week, we have news from we have news from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Hong Kong and South Korea. Find out more episode and listening to Bingkai Suara Podcast. Don't forget to always listen to focus asia every week to update your knowledge about what happens in Asia and updated with our recent news on www.bingkaikarya.com

Good afternoon, I'm _____ with today's episode of EZ News. Tai-Ex opening The Tai-Ex opened up 220-points this morning from yesterday's close, at 22,114 on turnover of $7.7-billion N-T. Earthquake Update 10PM No major damage has been reported after this morning's magnitude 6.3 earthquake. The tremors at 7:35am caused some disruptions to traffic, as mass transportation systems underwent checks for safety. The Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation says the city's MRT ran at reduced speeds for a brief time, before returning to normal operations. The quake registered an intensity of 3 in Taichung, and metro trains there stopped at station platforms for two minutes, before running at lower speeds. All lines have been reported undamaged. Meanwhile…. The Central Weather Administration says aftershocks of magnitude 5.5 or higher may occur in the next three days. The CWA says with recent heavy rains, they are advising (勸告) members of the public to stay on alert for landslides. (NS) Taiwan CDC raises travel alert for 7 African countries due to mpox The Centers for Disease Control raised its travel alert for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and six other African countries… … after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak in Africa a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). The alert follows a surge in m-pox cases in the DRC and a rising number of African countries… The D-R-C has been elevated to "Level 2: Alert", advising Taiwanese travelers to take enhanced (提高的) precautions. So far this year, the D-R-C has reported over 15 thousand 600 cases and 537 deaths due to m-pox. (CNA_IG) UNICEF: More Gaza Children will Die if Polio Vaccine Not Delivered The United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef says if polio vaccines don't get distributed immediately, children in Gaza will die. 1.2 million doses of the vaccine have been approved by the World Health Organisation following the discovery of poliovirus type 2 in July by the Global Polio Laboratory Network in sewage (污水) samples collected in Gaza. Jody Jacobs has more… Ukraine Troops Claim to Take Russian Town Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country's troops have taken full control of Sudzha. It's the largest Russian town to fall to Ukraine's forces since the start of their cross-border incursion more than a week ago. Zelenskyy's claim on Thursday couldn't be independently verified (驗證). He says Ukraine's military is setting up a command office in Sudzha, which suggests that Ukraine might plan to remain in the Kursk region long-term — or just signal Moscow that it may intend to. Sudzha had a prewar population of around 5,000 and is the administrative center for the border area of Russia's Kursk region. Meanwhile, in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, officials warned civilians Thursday to evacuate ahead of rapidly advancing Russian troops. HK Welcomes Panda Cub Births Hong Kong has welcomed the births of its first locally born giant pandas. The theme park where the twins were born said their mother is the world's oldest first-time giant panda mother on record (記錄在案). Ying Ying gave birth to the male and female pandas at Ocean Park on Thursday just a day before she turned 19 years old. Ying Ying and her partner Le Le were the second pair of pandas gifted by Beijing to Hong Kong since the former British colony returned to China's rule in 1997. That was the I.C.R.T. news, Check in again tomorrow for our simplified version of the news, uploaded every day in the afternoon. Enjoy the rest of your day, I'm _____. －－－－以下訊息由 SoundOn 動態廣告贊助商提供－－－－ 中路特區指標建築『百俊吾双』 60米大興西路，27層雙塔地標，600坪泳池花園，壯闊落成 42至52坪戶戶挑高3米4大氣尺度，即可入住！ 實品屋全新完工，敬邀名家鑑賞 預約專線：03-3311688 https://bit.ly/4dCXCbE

Hong Kong is set to welcome a new pair of giant pandas presented as a gift by the central government, the special administrative region's chief executive, John Lee Ka-chiu, announced on Monday at a reception to celebrate the 27th anniversary of its establishment.7月1日，香港特区行政长官李家超在庆祝香港回归祖国27周年的酒会上对中央政府向香港特区赠送一对大熊猫表示衷心感谢，并已展开准备工作，迎接大熊猫来港。They are expected to arrive in Hong Kong in a few months and settle at Ocean Park, joining Ying Ying and Le Le, two previous gifts from the central government.预计将在几个月后抵达香港的这对大熊猫将在香港海洋公园定居，与中央政府此前赠送的大熊猫“盈盈”和“乐乐”共同生活。Lee said the move fully demonstrates the nation's care and support for Hong Kong. He added that this year also marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, which makes the gift even more special.李家超表示此举充分体现了国家对香港特区的关心和支持，并补充道今年也是中华人民共和国成立75周年，两只大熊猫作为礼物也更加特别。He spoke about how two pairs of giant pandas previously given to Hong Kong by the central government had woven their way into the collective memory of generations of Hong Kong people, who adored them.他还称，中央过去赠送的两对大熊猫陪伴一代又一代香港人成长，是大家的集体回忆。即将来临的一对大熊猫将会成为香港人的亲密“家人”，为他们带去欢笑和喜悦。The Hong Kong government has been liaising with related mainland authorities to discuss arrangements for the arrival of the giant pandas.特区政府已与大陆相关部门展开对接，商讨大熊猫赴港的安排。In 2022, Hong Kong went into mourning when the world's oldest male panda in captivity died at Ocean Park zoo. Born in the wild in Sichuan province, An An, together with its female mate Jia Jia, was given to Hong Kong by the central government in 1999. An An was euthanized at the age of 35 — the equivalent of a human living till 105.2022年，全球最长寿的圈养雄性大熊猫“安安”在香港海洋公园与世长辞。“安安”出生于四川，1999年与雌性伴侣“佳佳”一起被中央政府赠与香港。“安安”在35岁时以安乐死免于痛苦，该年龄等同于人类的105岁高龄。The pandas set multiple Guinness World Records in 2015 — Jia Jia becoming the oldest giant panda under human care, and An An the oldest male giant panda under human care.这对大熊猫在2015年创下了数项世界吉尼斯记录——“佳佳”成为了人类照顾下全球最长寿的大熊猫，“安安”则成为人类照顾下全球最长寿的雄性大熊猫。Ocean Park Chairman Paulo Pong Kin-yee said giant pandas have always been the park's most popular animal ambassadors. They have brought countless precious memories to over 55 million local and global visitors since 1999. Pong said the addition of new giant pandas will enrich Hong Kong's tourism resources and enhance Ocean Park's conservation and education efforts.海洋公园公司董事局主席庞建贻表示，大熊猫一直是公园最受欢迎的动物大使。自 1999 年以来，它们为超过5500万国内及全球游客带来了无数珍贵的回忆。新增的这对大熊猫将丰富香港的旅游资源，并进一步增强海洋公园的保护及教育成效。Hong Kong lawmaker Tan Yueheng said that giant pandas are beloved national treasures with a large global fan base. He said he believes the arrival of the new giant pandas will ignite a tourism boom and inject vitality into the local tourism industry. 香港立法会议员谭岳衡表示，大熊猫是深受喜爱的国宝，拥有庞大的全球粉丝群体。相信新的大熊猫的到来将点燃旅游热潮，为香港旅游业注入活力。Tan said that giant pandas have become valuable intellectual property in recent years.谭岳衡还说，近年来，大熊猫（IP）已成为宝贵的知识产权。Hua Hua, from Chengdu, has become a name card of the tourism industry in Sichuan's provincial capital, and driven related industries such as cultural and creative products and themed hotels. Similarly, Fu Bao in South Korea has garnered hundreds of millions of views online.来自成都的“花花”已成为四川旅游业的名片，带动了文创周边、主题酒店等相关产业的发展。同样，出生于韩国的大熊猫“福宝”也获得了数亿网络浏览量。Hong Kong should seize every opportunity to capitalize on the new giant pandas' arrival in the city, Tan said.谭岳衡表示，香港应抓住每一次宝贵的机遇，将大熊猫相关产业链发展起来。Euthanizen. 安乐死

Episode 26 Yingying Zhang YingYing Zhang's future looked bright. The international doctoral student had everything going for her; talent, intellect, success, and a support system at both the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and in her home country of China. But when she missed the bus one afternoon on her way to get an off-campus apartment, she would vanish without a trace. The ensuing national investigation into her disappearance would put the American criminal justice system on display for the world to see. In the end, neither YingYing's family, or the Chinese citizenry believed true justice was served. To listen to every episode of Campus Killings ad-free and get other benefits, simply  visit our channel page on Apple Podcasts to get started with an AbJack Insider subscription.  For news, information, and updates about Campus Killings, or to contact the show, visit our website Follow Campus Killings on Social Media; Twitter & Facebook  Campus Killings is hosted by Dr. Meghan Sacks and Dr. Amy Shlosberg. Research and Writing by Abagail Belcastro Produced by Mike Morford of AbJack Entertainment Be sure to listen to Amy and Meghan's other podcasts: Women and Crime & Direct Appeal  

Join us as we continue our dialogue series exploring various aspects and perspectives regarding mental health and how it pertains to the AAPI community. This week, host and AACC President Raymond Chang along with DJ Chuang talk with Ying-Ying Shiue, a licensed professional clinical counselor. She is credentialed as a school counselor in California as well as being a National Certified Counselor. Ying-Ying has worked in a wide range of settings, including school, after school, community, nonprofit, juvenile justice, and private practice, serving children, youth, adults, and families. Tune into this edifying conversation as they dive into the topic of mental health from the perspecitve of a mental healthcare worker and advocate who's work has centered around on-the-ground work with the next generation, and where that overlaps with AAPI identity and engagement with mental health in and outside of the church sphere as well.   Hosts: Raymond Chang    Guest(s): Ying-Ying Shiue & DJ Chuang   Engineer: Elliot Koo   Podcast Manager: Katie Nguyen Palomares   Producer: Sean Dupiano   Follow us on IG: @aachristcollab   To find out more about AACC's work, donate, or learn more visit asianamericanchristiancollaborative.com.

This pattern ยิ่ง yîng + verb/adjective + ยิ่ง yîng verb/adjective  is the same with the English pattern “The more…the more”. - Follow along with this episode and more here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/pdf-for-ep55-92621293 ✏️Get our audio course REAL THAI CONVERSATIONS: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://polyglotgrace.podia.com/real-life-thai-conversations-beginner-intermediate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ✏️Get our VERB E-book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thaiwithgrace.com/verbbook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ✏️Get our FREE book of 178 expressions and phrases: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thaiwithgrace.com/

It's AAPI heritage month, this episode, Shannon is telling us about the disappearance of Yingying Zhang. A young foreign exchange student from China who was just trying to further her education, when she accepted a ride from the wrong person. May is Asian American, Pacific Islander Heritage Month visit https://stopaapihate.org/ to get involved **Episode Sources** See No Evil-Season 6, Episode 5- Far From Home **Products Mentioned** https://www.shesbirdie.com/?rfsn=6771039.9b0430 Promo Code: DARKHEARTS15 https://bookoutlet.com/ **Patreon** https://patreon.com/Heartland_Darkland **Find Us at these links** * https://www.hldlpodcast.com/ * https://www.facebook.com/heartlanddarklandpodcast/ * https://www.instagram.com/heartland.darklandpodcast/ * https://twitter.com/hl_dlpodcast * https://www.tiktok.com/@heartlanddarklandpodcast

YingYing Zhang went to the University of Illinois to further her education.  She missed a bus connection and was running late to an appointment, she accepted a ride from a stranger and was never seen again.   Surveillance video found showed that YingYing got into a black Saturn Astra.  Brendt Christensen's owned 1 of the 18 Saturn Astras registered in the county so suspects were narrowed down quickly.  His wife wore a wire to prove that her husband had to involvement but what he revealed was shocking. 

In the Spring of 2016 a 27 year old scholar, Yingying Zhang, flies over from China to start a new life, to undertake  PHD in the University of Illinois. Excited to start a new life and study in the USA, Yingying wasn't aware of the dangers lurking in this American college.  

The oldest-ever male giant panda in captivity has died at age 35 at a Hong Kong theme park after his health deteriorated. An An lived most of his life at Ocean Park after he and a female panda were gifted to Hong Kong by China in 1999. The female panda, Jia Jia, died in 2016 at age 38, making her the oldest-ever panda in captivity. Ocean Park mourned An An as a family member who grew with the park and built bonds with locals and tourists. “An An has brought us fond memories with numerous heart-warming moments. His cleverness and playfulness will be dearly missed,” Paulo Pong, chairman of Ocean Park Corporation, said in a statement. An An had high blood pressure, a common condition among geriatric pandas. For weeks, An An had been kept out of sight from visitors at the park as his health worsened. He stopped eating solid food and was significantly less active days before his death. Hundreds left comments on an Ocean Park post about An An's condition, wishing him a speedy recovery. In the morning of July 21, he was euthanized to prevent further suffering, after veterinarians from Ocean Park and government authorities consulted the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, Ocean Park said. “An An lived a full life that ended at the respectable age of 35 – the equivalent of 105 years in human age,” the statement read. Hong Kong was given another panda pair — Ying Ying, a female, and a male, Le Le — in 2007 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the city's return to China. China commonly engages in “panda diplomacy” where the mammals exclusively found in China are leased to other countries as a sign of goodwill. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Today on Too Opinionated, actress Celia Au drops by to talk about her new movie "In a New York Minute." Celia Au is best known for her role as Ying Ying on TV's "WU ASSASSINS" (Netflix) and as Alice Ba on AMC's "LODGE 49." In addition to WU ASSASSINS and LODGE 49, New York Based Celia is also known for her turns in Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, Revenge of the Green Dragons, "Gotham", Snakehead and Shoplifters of the World. Want to watch: YouTube Meisterkhan Pod Check out the website: Meisterkhan.com

In this episode, Ying-Ying Hsieh joins the Cryptocurrencyteens podcast to discuss her role as the Assistant Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Imperial College Business School and Associate Centre Director, Imperial College Centre for Cryptocurrency Research and Engineering, her research, her advice for students, and more. Ying-Ying's research takes an organization design lens to investigate the coordination and governance mechanisms for extremely decentralized forms of organizing among autonomous actors. Her research aspires to theory development in decentralized self-organization and ecosystem governance. As an extension, her recent projects explore the diffusion and change of such organizational innovations and the interdependencies between decentralized infrastructure and blockchain-based communities. In terms of teaching, she teaches Innovation Management and a FinTech course she developed from scratch. She keeps regular conversations with scholars and industry experts to access first-hand insights on the emerging blockchain phenomenon as an important means for validating her research ideas. Learn more: Ying-Ying Hsieh (guest): https://www.linkedin.com/in/ying-ying-hsieh Abigail Li (host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/cryptocurrencyteens About Cryptocurrencyteens: https://www.cryptocurrencyteens.com/

Today I am talking with Ying Ying Lee.  Ying Ying founded SOP Lifestyle Productions, with a vision to create fun, unique & sensual getaways and vacations where attendees can be comfortable exploring new things and expanding their knowledge and experiences. We talk about her journey to non monogamy, the spectrum from swinging to polyamorous, what happens inside a hotel takeover, and she answers the questions we get asked most frequently about swinger events!SOP stands for Swinger, Open, Poly, and her events are inclusive of everyone in the Lifestyle, from Swinger to Open to Poly to Kink, and more, regardless of ages, gender and backgrounds; singles, couples and more are welcome.  SOP Lifestyle Productions' signature event is a complete hotel Takeover, the Winter Lifestyle Takeover every November and they are expanding their offerings to include the Tropical Lifestyle Takeover, the Summer Lifestyle Takeover, the Europe Lifestyle Takeover, Signature Experiences, Lifestyle Vacations, and other fun lifestyle events in Canada and around the world.

This week, we're excited to welcome Chef Brandon Jew and food writer Tienlon Ho to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.Brandon Jew and co-author, Tienlon Ho, joined us to talk about their recent cookbook: Mister Jiu's in Chinatown: Recipes and Stories from the Birthplace of Chinese American Food.PURCHASE THE COOKBOOK: Bookshop | IndieBoundMister Jiu's—the restaurant on which the book is based—sits in San Francisco's Chinatown on Waverley Place. In 2013, when the famed restaurant Four Seas closed down, Brandon decided to open his own place. But before Mister Jiu's, Brandon was cooking in some of the best kitchens in the Bay; a student of Judy Rogers at Zuni Cafe and Michael Tusk at Quince, Brandon started his cooking career with California cuisine, riffing on French and Italian classics and always, always honoring the ingredients.But when Brandon's paternal grandmother passed away from cancer, he realized that her culinary knowledge and skill could be lost, too. In the book, he describes his grandmother (his Ying-Ying) as the family cook, reminiscing on the incredible food she cooked for the family. After she passed, Brandon says he hit a turning point. He began to look away from Mediterranean cuisine, leaving Quince and flying to Shanghai where he learned more about the complex and diverse culinary history of China.His debut cookbook, written with Ho, tells both the story of Mister Jiu's the restaurant as well as the story of San Francisco's Chinatown—one full of hardships and struggle, but also joy and celebration. Brandon and Tienlon put this tradition and history at the forefront of their work, just as Brandon does in the kitchen at Mister Jiu's.The cookbook features countless recipes, with an entire section devoted to the Chinese American pantry and fermentation. But the recipes are honest and as complex as the food you'll find in Mister Jiu's. For instance, some of the recipes take multiple days to prepare, and one asks for over two dozen ingredients and specialty tools you might not have at the ready in your home kitchens. But many remain very accessible for home cooks.Stick around to hear why it is that Brandon and Tienlon were uncompromising when it came to the recipes, about growing up Chinese American, and about the Mister Jiu's kitchen that—like Zuni Cafe and Chez Panisse before it—is teaching a new generation of cooks how to carry a rich culinary tradition into the future. Plus, as always, we're closing today's episode with a culinary game, and you'll find meticulous and beautiful recipes from Mister Jiu's in Chinatown here on our website. Get full access to Salt + Spine at saltandspine.substack.com/subscribe

In episode 49 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma continue their exploration of the converging trends between the U.S. and China's ecommerce sectors, this week covering the topic of the resale market for sneakers and streetwear. Notably, entrepreneurs in the U.S. and in China, such as the founders of smash-hit sneaker site Pozion, seem to have discovered this space at roughly the same time. Perhaps, our co-hosts muse, due to the tech-savvy nature of the Gen-Z demographic, differences across the two countries are far less than we think. Globally, this and other ecommerce platforms thus far have catered only to women; Poizon and other brands are showing the way to a category in which men are the primary consumers.Rui and Ying-Ying begin by explaining the impetus for this episode: the fact that two unicorns of roughly the same valuation, the same business (selling sneakers and other streetwear to urban youth), and the same lead investor (DST) were born in this space this year. One was the aforementioned Poizon, which is based in Shanghai and was spun off from Hupu, China's leading sports news and community website. The other sneaker unicorn, called StockX, was birthed in Detroit in June.Listen to find out: What are some of the factors behind this “coincidence”? What is behind the growth of China's athletic footwear market? How do most streetwear brands market and distribute their products today, and how does this lead to some items selling at a (at times massive) premium? How are these market trends tied to the rise of the NBA and the CBA in China? How do Poizon's founders enter and drive the story, and in what ways is the company linked to entities such as Bytedance and China's Most Eligible Bachelor? What is interesting about the stories of other global sneaker-sellers such as Stadium Goods, which expanded almost immediately into China and only later into Europe? What are the challenges that these sites face, including but not limited to a fake rate of at least 1 percent?As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. If you enjoy our content, please do let us know by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina! Thank you also to our listeners over at our partner, dealstreetasia.com.We are grateful for our supportive and talented producers, Shaw Wan and Kaiser Kuo, and for our intern, Wang Menglu. Thank you!Listeners who are interested in visiting China should check out Pandaily's one-week immersion into China's tech scene, taking place on October 13-19, 2019. Applications will be available soon on pandaily.com. This trip is not to be confused with TechBuzz China's inaugural invite-only China Investor Trip for public market investors, taking place the following week on October 7–13.Additionally, Bay Area listeners may come out to join TechBuzz co-host Rui Ma, in dialogue with Matt Sheehan at the launch of his new book, The Transpacific Experiment: How China and California Collaborate and Compete for Our Future. The event will take place on the evening of Tuesday, August 13, at the Asia Society, and you should definitely pre-order Matt's book on Amazon.

In episode 48 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma take a look at the direct-to-consumer, or D2C, brands in China. Specifically, they highlight one of the early winners of the business model: Three Squirrels, a Chinese internet snack brand that started off with selling nuts and went public on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange last week with a market cap of close to $2 billion. Though the company has not been covered much in English, it has been all the buzz in China's tech community, and is a story that our co-hosts think is good for demonstrating both the similarities and the differences in the rise of D2C in the U.S. and China. Rui and Ying-Ying begin by explaining what they mean by the “snack market” in China. Though estimates differ on the market size, as well as the definitions of the market itself, our co-hosts agree that the market is enormous as well as highly fragmented. Enter CEO Liaoyuan Zhang (章燎原), whose background prior to founding Three Squirrels — in contrast to many of the founders we have featured so far on TechBuzz — was decidedly unprivileged and unremarkable. He was a street vendor, motorcycle taxi operator, and more, before being hired into a firm that sold nuts and eventually being promoted all the way up to managing director for sales. Listen to find out: What insights did Zhang glean from his experiences in sales, and in the nut industry? Why do we say that Zhang had the right idea (investing into the Chinese version of D2C brands) and the right timing (early 2012) for starting Three Squirrels? How has Zhang's genius for marketing fueled the growth of the brand? What about the company's obsession with intellectual property? What reasons other than branding did Kathy (徐新), the founder of Capital Today who led the company's Series B, give for investing? Overall, what were and are the company's weaknesses? Finally, how does the story of Three Squirrels converge with what we are seeing in the U.S. with direct-to-consumer brands such as Warby Parker, Dollar Shave Club, Glossier, Kylie Cosmetics, and more? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. If you enjoy our content, please do let us know by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at@techbuzzchina! Thank you also to our listeners over at our partner, dealstreetasia.com.We are grateful for our patient and talented producers, Shaw Wan and Kaiser Kuo, and for our wonderful interns, Wang Menglu and Mindy Xu. Thank you!

In episode 47 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma dive into a topic they have been wanting to cover for a while now: Chinese educational technology (edtech). Specifically, they focus on VIPKid, a company that has an incredible number of competitors but is by far the largest in terms of scale for its cross-border model of English-language instruction. Notably, 8 of the 12 startup unicorns categorized as edtech by CBInsights are from China — and this does not include the number of publicly listed Chinese education companies in the U.S. Our co-hosts explain that edtech (alongside the recent TechBuzz topics of online brokerages, e-cigarettes, plastic surgery, and e-sports livestreaming) is yet another example of an industry that is thriving in China but is either not widely reported on or would not work well in other markets.Rui and Ying-Ying begin by exploring the landscape for English learning in China, in the context of edtech. They remind our listeners that while over 300,000 students from China study in the U.S. every year, this demographic is a drop in the bucket as compared with the 1.4 billion Chinese citizens who are alive today. The reality is that the country as a whole ranks low in terms of education attainment: The average Chinese person has only had 7.5 years of formal schooling. Of today's Chinese millennials, almost 20 percent have college degrees, already a sharp increase from the less than 5 percent of Chinese people who are college educated and now in their fifties and sixties. These and other trends, combined with a highly regulated education sector in China, mean that the “TTE” — test prep, tutoring, and extracurricular activities — market for K12 in China is an enormous $18 billion opportunity.Listen to find out: Just how much are Chinese parents spending on extracurricular tutoring for their kids — and how does that compare with the spending of parents here in the U.S.? How much of that funding is going toward English-language tutoring, and what are the reasons behind the Chinese obsession with learning English? How does this all provide context for the legend of 36-year-old VIPKid founder Cindy Mi, a high school dropout who then made her way to an elite M.B.A. program? How did the company first gain traction, and what are its curriculum and business models like today? How did VIPKid come to raise over $800 million from the likes of Sequoia, Tencent, Sinovation, and Coatue, and how did it come to generate at least half a billion dollars of annual revenue with over 600,000 paying customers? What are some of Rui and Ying-Ying's predictions about the macro factors that may impact VIPKid's business in the coming years?As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. If you enjoy our content, please do let us know by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina! Thank you also to our listeners over at our partner, dealstreetasia.com.We are grateful for our awesome producers, Shaw Wan and Kaiser Kuo, and our interns, Wang Menglu and Mindy Xu. Thank you!Our co-hosts plan to take the week of July 4th off and to return in mid-July. Happy Independence Day to our U.S. listeners!

In episode 45 of TechBuzzChina, co-hosts Ying-YingLu and Rui Ma talk about the rise of what has been touted as “the next bigtrend” in China tech: electronic cigarettes. Despite being criticized as a trapfor entrepreneurs and investors alike, as well as concerns around ethicalconsiderations, a large number of high-profile hardware entrepreneurs andconsumer internet executives in China have jumped into the fray. Although Chinahas yet to birth a decacorn in this sector like U.S.-based Juul, which is nowvalued at $38 billion, our co-hosts bet that at least one unicorn will emerge. Afterall, a recent research report by China's Sinolink Securities projected the sizeof the domestic e-cig market to reach over $4 billion in the next four years—inmany ways, we are only at Day Zero as measured against the market potential. Rui and Ying-Yingbegin by explaining that since smartphone purchases in China have slowed, a lotof the wealth and entrepreneurial talent that was focused on that product have shiftedto four newer consumer electronics categories: smart speakers, wirelessheadphones, translating devices, and e-cigarettes. Our co-hosts comment that theseproduct areas are similar to some of those that are getting major attention inSilicon Valley right now. In terms of e-cigarettes, most of the companies coveredin this episode are very much like Juul in that they use a liquid cartridge todeliver nicotine. In contrast to electric smoking systems, which are adifferent category, e-cigs heat up—but do not burn—tobacco. While many Chinesearticles reference both under the same label (电子烟), in this TechBuzzepisode, Rui and Ying-Ying are only talking about the liquid cartridge device.Listen to find out: Whatare some of the factors that have contributed to the high, and growing, numberof smokers in China? How is it that the country has one-third of the world'ssmokers, but only accounts for 3 percent of the global e-cig market, despitealso owning 90 percent of the world's e-cig production? What inspired Han Li, aChinese man and the first person to successfully commercialize the e-cigarette,to do so? What role does regulation—or the lack thereof, unlike the 68countries which have codified guidelines—play? Who are some of the celebrityentrepreneurs and well-regarded VC funds in China that have made a foray intothe space? What role do WeChat mini programs, and other new marketing channels,have on the growth of this market? What about the impact of China's state-ownedmedia, CCTV, on both the telling of the story and on its outcomes? Importantly,how about ethical factors—how are these considerations affecting the moves, ornon-moves, made by large Internet players and top venture investors? At the endof the day, is the Chinese e-cigarette industry totally lit, or just a bunch ofhot air?As always, you canfind these stories and more at pandaily.com. Do let us know what you think of the show by leaving us aniTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina! Thank you also to our listeners over at our partner, dealstreetasia.com.We are grateful for ourawesome producers, Shaw Wan and Kaiser Kuo, and our interns, Wang Menglu andMindy Xu.Our sponsor for this episode is the Universityof San Francisco. USF's new MS in Applied Economics is a STEM-designatedprogram that combines economics training with the practical skills in dataanalytics needed to understand today's new digital economy. To learn more,visit usfca.edu/techbuzz.

In episode 44 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about So-Young, an internet company that markets and facilitates plastic surgery and other medical cosmetic procedures to Chinese customers. The six-year-old company has a stated mission of bringing “health and beauty” to everyone, and its stock priced at $13.80 per American depositary share (ADS) last week but is now trading at about $20. Prior to listing, So-Young had raised over $250 million in venture capital funding, including some from Tencent. Last year, it claimed to have made $8 million in net income, plus a market share of 82 percent based on user time spent on similar apps. Rui and Ying-Ying begin by giving an overview of the scale of the plastic surgery market in China. In China, the industry is broadly known as “医疗美容” (yīliáo měiróng) or “医美” (yī měi), roughly translated as “medical cosmetology,” which includes procedures such as hair removal, hair transplants, and various kinds of laser- and ultrasound-enabled operations — thus enabling So-Young to argue that it is going after a larger market size. Indeed, by this broad definition, China is the second-largest market in the world, and it is poised to become the largest by 2021. Listen to find out: Who is the founder of So-Young, a former developer and lifelong tech geek who has himself undergone many reconstructive and plastic surgeries? What does he think is the real problem with the plastic surgery industry? As a platform, what are some notable aspects of So-Young's revenue and business model? What types of controversies has the company been involved with, and what are some of its risks and legal issues? Regarding the industry, what are some of the societal and deep-seated belief factors — including some that may be surprising to our listeners outside of China — that help fuel its growth, and how do these affect the demographic breakdown of those who opt for procedures? Ultimately, do our co-hosts believe that platforms such as So-Young are a part of the “problem” or the “solution”? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Do let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina! Thank you also to our listeners over at our partner, dealstreetasia.com. We are grateful for our rock-star producers, Shaw Wan and Kaiser Kuo, and our interns, Wang Menglu and Mindy Xu. Co-host Rui Ma will be in New York City on Monday, May 20, for SupChina's third annual SupChina Women's Conference. Come join her! And, listen to top leaders discuss how women are impacting China's tech, business, financial, and consumer trends. Jeremy Goldkorn and our producer Kaiser Kuo will also be hosting an on-site live recording of their excellent Sinica Podcast. Our sponsor for this episode is the University of San Francisco. USF's new master's degree in applied economics is a STEM-designated program that combines economics training with the practical skills in data analytics needed to understand today's new digital economy. To learn more, visit usfca.edu/techbuzz.

In Episode 43 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma dive into the world of gaming livestreaming, which is a pretty big industry in China. Specifically, our co-hosts focus primarily on two companies: Douyu and Panda.TV, the former of which has just filed to go public on the NYSE at a valuation of $500 million; and the latter of which officially shut down on March 30 of this year. Notably, these and several other players mentioned in today's episode all share(d) Tencent as a shareholder-- not a surprise, since gaming is in Tencent's lifeblood. Our co-hosts, while not both gamers, both acknowledge that the topic of today's episode is interesting because it is one of the most global ones out there, with plenty of opportunities for cross-border capital. Rui and Ying-Ying begin by launching into the history of the industry, and by giving some topline stats about the current game-centric livestreaming platforms in China. They share that while Douyu claims to be #1, and while it has more users than Huya, Huya is about 25 percent larger by revenue-- and was profitable last year, unlike the loss-making Douyu. They continue by explaining the critical roles that platforms YY and ACFun have played; and tell the founding story of Douyu. Listen to find out: Why was 2014 considered a good year for Chinese esports in general? What are the synergies between the US-based Twitch and some of these domestic platforms? What has been the role of Wang Sicong, known in China as the People's Husband due to his status as the country's most eligible bachelor, in pushing the industry forward? What are the core competencies of any gaming livestreaming platform, and how well has each of these players performed in these areas? On which of these competencies was Panda.TV beat out by Huya and Douyu? What strategies are existing platforms experimenting with going forward, and which of these strategies do Rui and Ying-Ying think are sustainable? As a reminder, listeners unfamiliar with livestreaming in China should check out our Episode 7, How to Win Fans and Influence Losers. As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Do let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina! Thank you also to our listeners over at our partner, dealstreetasia.com. We are grateful for our rockstar producers, Shaw Wan and Kaiser Kuo; and interns, Wang Menglu and Mindy Xu. Our sponsor for this episode is the University of San Francisco. USF's new master's degree in Applied Economics is a STEM-designated program that combines economics training with the practical skills in data analytics needed to understand today's new digital economy. To learn more, visit usfca.edu/techbuzz.

In Episode 41 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about Ruhnn (RUHN), a relatively small yet significant company that filed for IPO a few weeks ago in the U.S. on the Nasdaq. Ruhnn has become the clear leader in China's fast-growing influencer marketing sector, an area in which our co-hosts agree that China should be considered world-leading. Lauren Hallanan, a Chinese social media marketing expert focusing on influencer marketing, and a former livestreamer in China with over 400,000 fans, joins us with insightful commentary on Ruhnn and other influencer incubators.Rui and Ying-Ying begin by explaining that Ruhnn, known in Chinese as Ruhan 如涵, is “China's No. 1. KOL Facilitator”-- with “KOL” standing for Key Opinion Leaders, or the rough equivalent of what in the U.S. are known as influencers. Unlike influencers in the U.S., however, the term KOL has its roots in the advertising industry and is a more professional term that usually implies that the individual is an expert, has a distinct personal brand, and is ready to represent some business interests. In China, one can be KOL in a variety of subjects, such as business or books. The KOLs on Ruhan are mostly in beauty and fashion; as of filing time, Ruhan represented 113 of these influencers-- including now-megastar Zhang Dayi, or Dayi, who also serves as the current CMO of the company. Listen to find out: Who are the founders of Ruhan, and how did they get the idea to create such a platform in 2012? How does the fact that the current Ruhan CEO's wife is an influencer herself tie in to the founding story? How is it that the Nasdaq IPO is technically not Ruhan's first public listing? How do influencers in China monetize, and what exactly are the so-called Platform Services provided by the company? How large is the role of ecommerce on Ruhan, and how does its team use audience preferences and purchasing behavior to guide product development from the start? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Do let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina! Thank you also to our listeners over at our partner, dealstreetasia.com. We are grateful for our wonderful producers, Shaw Wan and Kaiser Kuo; and for our intern, Wang Menglu. Our sponsor this week is the University of San Francisco. USF's new Masters in Applied Economics is a STEM-designated program that combines economics training with the practical skills in data analytics needed to understand today's new digital economy. To learn more, visit usfca.edu/techbuzz.

In Episode 40 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about the new “Technology Innovation Board” on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which formally announced its first set of rules last week. Rui and Ying-Ying explain that given its recent trajectory, this registration-based NASDAQ-style board could be launched in a few months, if not weeks — much more quickly than skeptics have assumed. With this news as the backdrop, this week's episode serves as a quick primer into the differences between China and the U.S.'s capital markets, as well as how these contrasts may explain some of the differences in Chinese tech entrepreneurship and capital versus those in the U.S.Rui and Ying-Ying begin by walking through a brief history of Chinese domestic capital markets, which had a total market cap of $6 billion late last year and are still really young compared with those in the U.S.; in fact, both the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the larger Shanghai Stock Exchange were founded in 1990. Notably, prior to last fall, foreigners were unable to invest in A-shares on either exchange. Even after loosening controls earlier this year and doubling the amount foreign investors can invest, China still enforces a total quota of $300 billion, shared globally.Our co-hosts cover a range of core questions in this episode. Listen to find out: How does the fact that the Chinese exchanges are approval-based, and not registration-based, affect listings? What role does the China Securities Regulatory Commission, or CSRC, play? Why are there only 3,500 publicly listed companies in China? Why did the Shenzhen Stock Exchange create two additional avenues for listing, in the form of the SME Board and ChiNext? How does the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), or New Third Board, fit into all of this? Why is it that most of China's best internet companies are listed abroad, and how does that fact play into the new Technology Innovation Board's intentions and potential for impact? From the perspective of a company preparing to list, what are the pros and cons of listing in mainland China versus abroad?As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Do let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Thanks also to our listeners over at our partner, dealstreetasia.com.Special thanks to our awesome producers, Shaw Wan and Kaiser Kuo. Our intern is Wang Menglu.Our sponsor this week is the University of San Francisco. USF's Masters in Applied Economics combines economics training with the practical skills in data analytics that you really need to understand today's new digital economy. To learn more, listeners can visit usfca.edu/techbuzz.

Episode 39 of TechBuzz China is on a topic of special interest to our co-hosts, Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma: podcasting in China! It was sparked by two recent pieces of news within the podcasting industry. The first was the acquisition of Gimlet Media, a podcasting network, by the newly IPOed music-streaming service Spotify for $200 million; the second was the $100 million raised by the podcasting platform Himalaya. In fact, Himalaya's main investor, China's Ximalaya FM, boasts 23 million daily active users and is rumored to be going for an IPO soon. In contrast to our typical coverage here at TechBuzz, the above subject barely made a splash in Chinese media — but it was a big deal in English-language news, with quite a few articles mentioning China as a leader in the podcasting industry. One often-referenced article stated that the Chinese government estimated the “pay-for-knowledge” economy to be about $7.3 billion in 2017, with the bulk of it coming from paid podcasts. However, Rui and Ying-Ying ask: Is this an accurate reflection of the industry in China? Is it true that the notoriously frugal Chinese just love paying for podcasts? In fact, why are our co-hosts doing an English podcast and not a Chinese one? Rui and Ying-Ying begin by taking our readers on a short journey covering the history of podcasts in China. First, how do we define the “podcast” industry and how does it relate to markets such as the “pay-for-knowledge” sector, which is seeing explosive growth in China? Why has this market taken off? How does the expert-celebrity mentality fit in, as well as knowledge anxiety and the concept that information is money? Who are some of the top audio content creators in China today, and how have they generated such incredible revenue streams? How has the threat of censorship affected how content is created and distributed, and which platforms win out? Other than Ximalaya, what are some of the other companies in this space? What do Rui and Ying-Ying think is the future of the industry? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Do let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Thanks also to our listeners over at our partner, dealstreetasia.com. Special thanks to our awesome producers, Shaw Wan and Kaiser Kuo. Our intern is Wang Menglu.

In episode 38 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma dive into this year's Battle of the Red Packets. The name refers to the custom of money-giving, which is an important part of the Chinese New Year experience. It has also been taken over by Chinese internet companies as one of their main user acquisition events of the year.Rui and Ying-Ying begin by sharing the history of hongbao, or “red packet.” In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the traditional gift was simply a stack of coins tied up with red string. With the popularity of paper money came the introduction of the red envelopes we see now. The so-called Battle of the Red Packets emerged in 2014, when WeChat fundamentally changed the rules of the game by allowing users to send digital red packets to the chat groups they are in within the app. WeChat essentially gamified the experience, coining the term 抢红包, or “grabbing red packets.” In the first year, 5 million users grabbed 20 million WeChat red packets 75 million times, from New Year's Eve to 4 p.m. the next day.Since 2014, the yearly phenomenon has taken on a life of its own. Listen to hear Rui and Ying-Ying discuss: Why has Jack Ma likened the WeChat tactic to the attack on Pearl Harbor (as politically incorrect as those words are)? What additional features has WeChat added to the red packets' function? What was the link between WeChat and the CCTV Chinese New Year's Gala? How does WeChat's approach contrast with those of other platforms, such as Alibaba's Alipay? What moves has Baidu made in all of this, and especially this year? What about relative newcomers Douyin and Kuaishou? Finally, in what way do red packets reflect real-life social concepts in China, such as reciprocity and hierarchy (so much so that a Tsinghua University professor has characterized WeChat red packets as a form of social capital accumulation)?As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Do let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Thanks also to our listeners over at our partner, dealstreetasia.com.We'd like to give a shout-out to our friends over at Panda Club Stories, a bilingual children's podcast with a big vision: to help raise multilingual and multicultural children through storytelling. Season 1 features well-known tales (and some lesser-known stories) of Chinese mythology. For our listeners who have kids: Join Panda Cub as she dives into the seas of dragon kings and explores jade palaces in the sky!

In episode 37 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma dive into the world of WeChat Mini Programs. Arguably some of the biggest innovations to come out of the Chinese internet, Mini Programs have no real Western equivalent. Ever since it was launched three years ago on January 9, 2016, the Mini Programs function, which is still in an experimental stage, has been touted as a key direction for WeChat. Rui and Ying-Ying begin by exploring the origin story of Mini Programs. They explain that, back in 2016, it was not immediately clear to the WeChat team what to do with the product after its launch. WeChat was observing that while the Official Accounts system was taking off, the main issue was that these accounts were not built to properly handle transactions. So Allen Zhang and his team began to ask themselves if there was something heavier than an Official Account but lighter than a native app that they could make to help businesses transact online, inside of WeChat. The goal was to create something “small and light, fast and beautiful.” Listen to find out: Did the team succeed at building the above mantra into the evolving product of Mini Programs? In what ways are mini programs superior to native apps? For users, what are the various means in which individuals can access the programs within WeChat? From a small-business owner point of view, what are the benefits of launching a mini program? What about the drawbacks? What are mini games and how do they fit into the picture? What about AI — what is its role in all of this? And, finally, which other Chinese internet giants are getting into micro apps, and do our co-hosts believe their efforts will lead to the success that WeChat Mini Programs are experiencing? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Do let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Thanks also to our listeners over at our partner, dealstreetasia.com. Episode 37 is our final one before the Pandaily team takes off for Chinese New Year. We'll be back in two weeks, likely kicking off with a fresh look at the New Year's red packet feud between Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent (BAT). Happy Year of the Pig!

In episode 36 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about the dirty, risky, and more unseemly aspects of China tech, primarily focused on two stories that grabbed headlines recently: the “hack” at Pinduoduo, and the corruption scandal at DJI. Although the incidents differ greatly from each other, they have come on each other's heels and our co-hosts decided to bundle them together for an episode, reflecting what's buzzing within the tech community in China right now. Rui and Ying-Ying begin by focusing on the Pinduoduo story. This past week, the company lost millions of dollars to hackers who redeemed coupons for about $15 for about $0.06. At one point, it was rumored that the platform lost over $3 billion in just a few hours, and users wondered if the company would go bankrupt. Pinduoduo has denied these rumors and insists that actual losses will be less than $1.5 million. However, what exactly happened? How did Pinduoduo decide to handle the issue, and what were the ramifications of these actions? How extensive was the damage to both the company and its stock price? Next, our co-hosts shift their attention to a scandal that has rocked Chinese tech this week: the unearthing of over $150 million in losses due to internal corruption at leading drone maker DJI. Incredibly, the “chain of corruption” was unearthed by accident while the company was upgrading its management process late last year. One by one, Rui and Ying-Ying list and review the methods by which employees colluded and completed their dirty deeds. They share about how DJI handled the situation: very publicly, by sending out a letter to its 14,000 staff around the world. Why did they take this approach? Listen to find out: How unusual-- or not-- are these two stories in the landscape of China tech? How are businesses getting scammed by China's “black-gray” industry, in which people are committing fraud at a massive scale? How was it that DJI, a decacorn known for its world-class quality, with anti-corruption systems in place, was able to be brought to its knees by a group of criminal employees? Are there more scandals these days… or is there simply more transparency around events when they do get reported or disclosed? What are some of the other high profile cases that have come up recently? As an investor or entrepreneur in China, what do you need to know about these risks? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Do let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Thanks also to our listeners over at our partner, dealstreetasia.com.

In episode 35 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about competitors to the reigning Chinese social media champion, WeChat. Specifically, they focus on three apps that all decided to launch on Tuesday, January 15, 2019, two weeks before Chinese New Year: Bytedance's Duoshan, Wang Xin's self-proclaimed “anti-WeChat” Toilet, and Bullet Messenger 2.0. Following their releases, WeChat promptly blocked links to all three. Our co-hosts ask: Does WeChat have a reason to be scared? Why was it so defensive? Is there truly a chance for any of these companies to topple Allen Zhang's miraculous creation? And if so, how would that come about? Rui and Ying-Ying begin by giving their perspective on WeChat's two main weaknesses. The first is its decreasing representation of young users, specifically, teenagers — a challenge that many other social networks that have been around for a while, including Facebook, also face. The second is the emergence of WeChat Moments as a battleground for user time. This development is a function of the intermingling of personal and professional relationships within one app, and the ensuing messy social graph that WeChat has accumulated. Our co-hosts go on to explain that all three of the apps that were launched this week tried to capitalize on one of the opportunities WeChat leaves open. They describe each product in more detail, delving into them in descending probability of success. Rui and Ying-Ying's top pick is Bytedance's Duoshan. They discuss: In what ways has the product stayed true to its short-video roots? How accurate is the Toutiao insider description of the app as a combination of “Snapchat's framework” plus “Instagram and Messenger's GIF function” and “Apple Watch's heartbeat”? Does it truly solve an organic user problem? As for Toilet, which proudly calls itself “the social network dark web,” just how reminiscent is it of the bygone Secret app in the U.S.? What is the opportunity that its founder sees in anonymous social networking, which, in fact, already exists in China, including in QQ itself? In third place is celebrity-investor-backed Bullet Messenger's 2.0 version. It has renamed itself Chat Treasure (聊天宝 liáotiān bǎo) and rebranded with a new logo, an image of a smiling gold ingot. The ingot serves as an apt reflection of the app's new positioning as a portal for poorer users who seek to make some money or find great deals. Rui and Ying-Ying argue that its main competitive advantage is its marketing and aggressive, gamified user acquisition tactics. Listen to find out: What do Rui and Ying-Ying conclude about each of these new entrants, and why? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Do let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Thanks also to our listeners over at our partner, dealstreetasia.com. Finally, TechBuzz listeners in the Bay Area may sign up for Silicon Dragon's Silicon Valley event, taking place this week on January 24. You can find more information and sign up here: https://silicondragonvalley2019.eventbrite.com. Please use code SDValley2019Buzz for 50 percent off!

In episode 34 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about the latest version of WeChat, which first came out on iOS the third week of December 2018, and on Android a few days later. It has been over four years since WeChat released an update this large, and since then, it's added on over half a billion monthly active users. The latest updates included several widely expected features, namely, enhanced sharing of both video and content, which overlap with Bytedance's core strengths — definitely not a coincidence. What's the latest behind what is still arguably the most influential internet product of the past decade? And what has been the impact of WeChat's founder on its product development? Rui and Ying-Ying share that WeChat was created by Zhang Xiaolong, or Allen Zhang, who joined Tencent via the internet giant's acquisition of Foxmail. He was originally tasked with heading up the Tencent R&D center and leading the QQ Mail team. As the now legendary — and publicly confirmed — story goes, Allen had a flash of insight, inspired by the traction the Canadian Kik Messenger had amassed in just 15 days. He sent a late-night email to Tencent CEO Pony Ma about the opportunity and the potential threat to existing Tencent products from this kind of mobile-based instant messaging. Pony agreed, and entrusted Allen to execute the release of Tencent's own version. Just a few months later, Allen's team released the WeChat version 1.0. Our co-hosts explain that, though hard to imagine today, WeChat had an extremely rocky start and experienced several shaky periods during its growth. Looking back, it was by no means a sure-bet product from the beginning. Rui and Ying-Ying take listeners on a journey through the app's turbulent history, through its various version iterations, and up to the present day. Throughout, they explain the impact of Allen Zhang's ethos: Our co-hosts argue that he is an artist and a philosopher at heart who cares more about the user experience than about business metrics. How have these values shaped WeChat's most recently stated primary missions: to be a great tool for the users it serves, and to constantly evolve and change in order to do so? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Do let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Thanks also to our listeners over at our partner, dealstreetasia.com. Finally, TechBuzz listeners in the Bay Area may sign up for Silicon Dragon's Silicon Valley event, taking place soon on January 24. You can find more information and sign up here: https://silicondragonvalley2019.eventbrite.com. Please use code SDValley2019Buzz for 50 percent off!

In episode 33 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about Tencent Music (TME), which finally completed its $1.2 billion IPO after a two-month delay due to market volatility. The company rose 9 percent on its first day, but has traded below the initial offering price ever since. This episode covers the business model of TME, its market potential, and our co-hosts' thoughts on its future outlook. Though often compared to Spotify, to what extent are these two companies truly similar? Rui and Ying-Ying begin today's story by reviewing Tencent Music's corporate history. The entity is comprised of four apps: QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music, and WeSing, which today account for a combined 70 percent of China's music market. However, once upon a time these were disparate products that sometimes competed; in fact, they only came together together through an entity known as China Music Corporation (CMC), which was formed in 2012 by Xie Guomin. CMC acquired Kuwo in 2013 and Kugou a few months later; Tencent turned its minority stake in the entity into a majority position when it injected the QQ Music and WeSing assets for over 60 percent ownership at a valuation of $2.7 billion. At this point, the company was renamed to Tencent Music Entertainment. From here, Rui and Ying-Ying contrast the strategies of China- and US-based music player apps. They delve into the reasons for these divergent paths, including China's unique business environment, its domestic user behavior and cash-giving habits, the impact of new categories such as mobile livestreaming… and even Chinese people's deep love for karaoke. Notably, the legally-trained and opportunistic Xie Guomin was first spurred to found CMC to capitalize on the government's changing policies around copyright and intellectual property. Listen to find out: How has this “race to own copyrights” affected the industry and its major players? How do Alibaba and Baidu fit into the picture-- or not? Why is it that paying for music is a behavior TME still needs to cultivate in its users? What does all of this mean in today's competitive landscape, and what does betting for or against TME really entail? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Finally, we would like to welcome our new listeners over at our partner, dealstreetasia.com. Our co-hosts will be on a two-week break for the holidays but we look forward to releasing a new episode the second week of January. Happy Holidays!!

In episode 32 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about Luckin Coffee, the hybrid online-offline coffee chain unicorn startup that's turning heads in China with its rapid expansion and innovative business model. In fact, immediately after we completed recording of this episode, news broke that the year-old company has raised another $200 million in fresh funding, upping its valuation to $2.2 billion. Throughout, the dominant Western media narrative has remained that of direct comparisons to Starbucks, describing Luckin as the “Starbucks challenger.” But, just how accurate is this juxtaposition? Additionally, how has now-celebrity CEO Qian Zhiya, or Jenny, been able to attract tremendous amounts of venture capital and to instill strong investor confidence as a first-time founder? Rui and Ying-Ying begin today's story with Jenny's background. At 43-years-old, she was previously best known as one of the hidden weapons of China's leading transportation companies, the operations-heavy Ucar, where she rose from an administrative role to become COO and EVP of the rental division in 2014. At Ucar, Jenny oversaw the rapid growth in mobile-enabled on-demand services from the ridesharing business-- valuable expertise for envisioning and executing on Luckin's marriage of offline storefront expansion and an on-demand experience on the smartphone. The companies' ties do not end there: Jenny started Luckin with a loan from Ucar CEO Lu Zhengyao, and many of Luckin's investors had also invested in Ucar. Rui and Ying-Ying continue by comparing Luckin to Starbucks, and then explaining why that comparison doesn't make much sense. Complete with vivid stories and analysis, our co-hosts' thesis is that Luckin's rise is a prime example of how brands are increasingly using offline presence to acquire online customers, and that the company's technology and digital-first F&B business model innovations can be exported and applied to other businesses and in other locales. Listen to find out: which startups, both in China and here in the U.S., can we more accurately consider to be the chain's “cousins”? What role does data play in optimizing aspects such as delivery, inventory management, personalized deals, and expansion? It's too early to tell if Luckin will succeed, but what factors may tip the odds in one direction or another? How is this Chinese company using technology to successfully reimagine F&B-- faster than Starbucks ever has-- beginning with one of the oldest and seemingly simplest markets, grabbing a cup of coffee? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Finally, we would like to give a shoutout to our new listeners over at our partner, dealstreetasia.com.

In episode 31 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about Xiaohongshu, also known as RED, which had received a $300 million investment from Alibaba. Though the money was injected in June, the two companies have recently announced an additional cooperation that links them at the product level– an integration with Alibaba's Taobao. What is the significance of these developments, and what is the story of Xiaohongshu? Listeners also hear from Elijah Whaley, CMO of the Chinese influencer marketing platform ParkLU, which counts RED as a client.Rui and Ying-Ying share that Xiaohongshu's tagline is “world's best lifestyle at your fingertips,” and people often refer to the site as “Instagram and Pinterest sprinkled with a dose of Taobao.” The site's founders, Charlwin Mao and Miranda Qu, are only 33 this year. They first met a decade ago in a US mall, though Xiaohongshu did not exist until Charlwin attended a Tencent-sponsored entrepreneurship camp in his first summer of business school. From the beginning, the co-founders set their sights on the cross-border market, with Xiaohongshu positioned as a community, complete with useful guides and reviews as well as real posts. The initial slogan was “find good things abroad.” This then became “discover good things in the world” and later “good life in the world,” before today's inclusive “taking notes of my life.”Rui and Ying-Ying delve into the product features and positioning that distinguish Xiaohongshu. Even though it is a content platform, the app makes money not from ads, but via traditional ecommerce; as of 2017, it sold 50 percent third-party goods and 50 percent self-operated. Though counterintuitive, their strategy has worked: the company is now at 120 million users and 30 million MAU, with a rumored close to $1 billion in revenue last year and double that this year. How has the platform evolved? What differentiates Xiaohongshu's users from the rest of China ecommerce? What about distinctions in the type of content its users publish? Why is this a smart alliance for Alibaba, and how does the app reflect consumption trends in China?As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Finally, a huge shoutout to our listeners over at partner dealstreetasia.com.Finally, San Francisco Bay Area-based listeners who would like free tickets to view Hao Wu's film on live streaming and its impact in China, People's Republic of Desire, should email yingying@pandaily.com by Friday, December 7. Here is the event link: https://www.roxie.com/ai1ec_event/peoples-republic-of-desire-2/.

In episode 30 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about Renren Inc., the closest Chinese analogue to Facebook. The former near-monopoly on the Chinese social networking space, which had formerly raised $800 million in its 2011 IPO, recently announced that it would sell all of its renren.com social networking assets to Beijing Infinities Technology, a holding company, for a mere $20 million in cash and $40 million worth of stock. This episode explores: what happened? Rui and Ying-Ying follow the winding history of Renren, starting with the background of its founder, Joe Chen; through its acquisition of Wang Xing's Xiaonei social network; through its NYSE listing-- which, by the way, Rui's investment banking firm at the time played a small role in. Though the public offering was successful, even hailed as a “prelude to Facebook's IPO,” things started going downhill from there. By 2016, total revenues had dropped by half to $63 million, and the company was consistently reporting losses of active users. This decline has been so stark, in fact, that when CEO Joe Chen announced in a post on Renren.com that the company had been sold, the post only had about 800 views after 12 hours. What are the reasons for this outcome? What roles have poor strategic decisions, the founder's vision (or lack of vision) and ethics, and Renren's insistence on continually bandwagoning onto the latest hot trend played? How is it that by 2017, 75 percent of Renren Group's revenues were coming from used car sales and financing; and that in contrast, Renren.com business made up just 9 percent of the Group's revenues in Q2 of this year? Listen to the newest episode of TechBuzz China and join Rui and Ying-Ying in analyzing the rise and fall of one of China's most iconic internet brands. Throughout, our co-hosts also lean into an unspoken question that is perhaps on many of our listeners' minds as well: What lessons can Facebook and other U.S.-based social platforms learn from this incredible story? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Finally, a huge shoutout to our new listeners over at dealstreetasia.com.

In episode 29 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about China's version of “Black Friday,” the biggest ecommerce shopping festival of the year which Alibaba invented out of thin air in 2008 and now falls yearly on November 11. Rui and Ying-Ying delve into the history behind the “Double 11 Shopping Festival,” as Chinese media title it. How did it get started? Why does it have such mindshare in the world of China internet? How did it go this year? After reviewing the evidence, our co-hosts conclude that despite the large sales figures floating around, this single holiday is not an accurate reflection of the state of the ecommerce sector in China. Rui and Ying-Ying share that the original iteration of Singles Day was launched in 2008 by Daniel Zhang of Alibaba, who has since been promoted to CEO. His intent was to promote Tmall, Alibaba's business to consumer (B2C) platform that was then known as Taobao Merchants. Since the selected date, November 11, was already known to some Chinese millennials as Singles Day, the tagline: “Have nothing to do on Singles Day? Why not buy something to gift away?” stuck easily. In that first year, with only 27 brands participating, sales reached $7 million. In the 10 years since, the shopping holiday's single day Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) has grown over 4,000 times. On 11/11 this past week, the holiday generated $25 billion for Alibaba alone; in comparison, Amazon's Prime Day 2018 was estimated to bring in a mere $4 billion. Additionally, though most headlines focus exclusively on Alibaba, most other major ecommerce platforms-- including JD, Pinduoduo, VIPShop, NetEast, and more-- now participate as well, boosting numbers even more. Listen to the newest episode of TechBuzz China and join Rui and Ying-Ying in exploring: What is the real story behind the numbers? Is GMV a reliable indicator of actual revenue, and why or why not? What types of practices does Alibaba engage in that contribute to inflating-- or even engineering-- these figures? Is there a strong case to be made for the fact that the bigger headline should be the massive marketing campaigns, logistics, and infrastructure that had to go into this event to make it all happen? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Finally, a huge shoutout to our new listeners over at dealstreetasia.com.

In Ep. 28 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about the Chinese AI company that recently toppled Uber to become the highest-valued startup in the world: Bytedance. Having just closed on $3 billion led by Softbank, the company is currently valued at $75 billion. Though our co-hosts have mentioned Bytedance across several previous episodes, including a focus on the company's war with Tencent in Episode 9, today is the first to delve into its founding story, and to give a snapshot of its key strengths and weaknesses. Bytedance's parent company was founded in 2012 with the buzzy mandate to “combine the power of AI with the growth of mobile internet to revolution the way people consume and receive information.” Six years later, the company's two main apps, news-oriented Toutiao and video-based Tik Tok, have over 260 million and over 500 million monthly active users respectively. In fact, Tik Tok, which is just a bit over two years old, was the most downloaded app in the world in the first quarter of 2018. Bytedance's success has affected key metrics of other leading Chinese internet companies. Notably, Tencent has seen its percentage of total internet user usage time drop between June 2017 and June 2018-- with nearly all of that 7 percent decline seemingly directed into Bytedance's family of apps. Indeed, Bytedance's lack of affiliation with either Tencent or Alibaba stands out. This lack of affiliation is due at least in part to Bytedance founder and CEO Zhang Yiming, a 35-year-old, even-keeled, through-and-through geek who has always been fiercely independent and ambitious. It's a well-known anecdote that in 2016, when asked by one of his executives about rumors that Tencent was going to acquire Bytedance, Zhang Yiming replied: “I didn't found Bytedance to become a Tencent executive.” Listen to the newest episode of TechBuzz China and join Rui and Ying-Ying in exploring: What about the hiring process, company culture, and work style of Toutiao make it unique, especially as compared with other Chinese companies? How does the fact that Toutiao is at least partly a content business affect how it does business in China and what its ultimate existential risks are? Is deeming Bytedance China's “Buzzfeed with Brains” an accurate description? Having already made plays for markets in Japan, India, Brazil, North America and Southeast Asia, what's next in the company's efforts to internationalize? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Finally, a huge shoutout to our new listeners over at dealstreetasia.com.

In Ep. 27 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma discuss the latest scandal to come out of Chinese internet -- fake reviews on one of China's leading travel websites, Mafengwo. Mafengwo had $1.5 billion in sales last year, 63k transactions, and over 100 million monthly active users.  It's already backed by some of the best investors in the business, including Temasek, Hillhouse, General Atlantic and Capital Today, and in August, it was leaked that it was in the middle of raising $300mm at a valuation up to $2.5Bn.It all started when analytics firm Shenzhen Hurui and a Wechat official account known for their exposés of the tech industry published a blog that claimed 85%  -- 18mm out of 21 mm -- of Mafengwo's user reviews were faked or plagiarized from other sites. Outrageously, some of them were so poorly plagiarized that they still retained the origin website's URL, or in other cases, scripts indicating that the review was translated using an online translator. Mafengwo immediately denied the accusations and even filed a lawsuit claiming defamation. Our co-host this week is Eva Woo, a former business journalist at SCMP, Bloomberg, and Caixin. Together with Eva, Rui and Ying-Ying unravel the tangle of accusations leveled against Mafengwo and explain why the company has taken such a strong stance against them -- hint: its very business model depends on it.  We also briefly go into why the purported victims from which Mafengwo was alleged to have plagiarized from -- Dianping, Ctrip, et al. -- have made any complaints. Another hint: the entire industry could be guilty of such behavior based on questionable incentives, and plus, there exists an entire shadow paid-poster economy that is thriving with the growing reliance on user-generated content as key building blocks for driving traffic. Listen to the newest episode of TechBuzz China and join Rui, Ying-Ying and Eva in exploring: How did this exposé come about and why are users so outraged?  What can we learn from the Mafengwo incident and should we be more wary of the numbers coming out of other Chinese companies? What are the responsibilities of investors in such instances, or do they have reasons to be complicit in accommodating such bad behavior?  As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Finally, a huge shoutout to our new listeners over at dealstreetasia.com.  

In Ep. 26 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma discuss Koubei, rounding up the second installment of a two-part deep-dive into the local services space in China. An Alibaba subsidiary, Koubei recently merged with ele.me, another Alibaba-owned (via acquisition) entity which was covered in Ep. 25 last week. Listeners will also hear from Ed Sander of ChinaTalk, a China trip leader and prolific writer on the topic of e-commerce and China. Rui and Ying-Ying tell the story of Koubei. Though the brand was started in 2004 by an early Alibaba employee, it was left for dead in 2011 before being revived in 2015-- for the explicit purpose of going after the local services market. The O2O market had reached only 4.4% penetration at the time, but already presented massive opportunity. When reborn, Koubei began with the F&B (food and beverage) restaurant business, but it always had grander ambitions-- in fact, its very first press release said that it was eventually going to go into healthcare, supermarkets, and vending machines. Here, the story begins to overlap with Meituan's F&B ambitions: both aspire to digitize every aspect of the restaurant dine-in experience, including using AI to shake up the entire spectrum of operations and customer experience, and introducing “smart restaurants.” However, the crux of the battle between Alibaba and Meitun extends beyond F&B. For both internet giants, the emergence of Local Services and New Retail as a key business unit has been obvious. Listen to the newest episode of TechBuzz China and join our co-hosts and guest commentator in exploring: What can we predict following Meituan's assertions that it expects to be “the most aggressive investor in the offline retail space”? How do concepts such as robots, consumer privacy, and cashierless stores fit into the picture? In what ways is China arguably leading the world in innovations in this market? How are the divergent approaches of Alibaba and rival Tencent (part-owner of Meituan) to staking out ownership leading to different results in China's latest tech battlefront? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Finally, a huge shoutout to our new listeners over at dealstreetasia.com.  

In Ep. 25 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about Alibaba's recent moves to firm up its strategy around local services, putting pressure on Meituan-Dianping to defend itself. This war of “O2O,” or online to offline, is shaping up to be intense, with the latest battle round being the recent merger between food delivery rival ele.me (which Alibaba had acquired for $9.5 billion in April of this year) and Alibaba's New Retail subsidiary, Koubei. This episode of TechBuzz is the first in a series of deep dives on the local services space in China. Rui and Ying-Ying begin with some background on Meituan's “unstoppable roll” on its way to becoming the “Amazon of services” for China: the gargantuan super app is currently dominating several verticals including food delivery, movie ticket sales, bike sharing, and travel. However, its dominance is being challenged by Alibaba, and in the food delivery space this shows up in the form of the e-commerce giant's support for and acquisition of ele.me. Rui and Ying-Ying tell the origin story of ele.me. The startup's founder, former CEO, and now-Chairman Zhang Xuhao was a first year graduate student at Shanghai Jiatong University when he started the company with five friends in 2008, back when entrepreneurship was considered rebellious and unconventional. The venture was self-funded for a few years before landing angel investment from GSR's Allen Zhu, one of the best investors in China. Though ele.me grew quickly, it was still fairly small when it got its first big break-- Dianping's investment of $80 million which allowed the startup to embark on an accelerated expansion plan. It went from 300 employees at the end of 2013 to 5000 at the end of 2014. By August 2015, with traffic from shareholder Dianping and additional investment from Tencent, ele.me was feeling like it was on top of the world. The story, however, doesn't end there. Listen to the newest episode of TechBuzz China and join our co-hosts in exploring the rise of ele.me, its sale to Alibaba, and what's happened since. What is in store for the company-- and more importantly, for the future of local services in China? What is New Retail, and why is it bleeding into local services? How do they reinforce each other, or do they? Why is there always a war in Chinese internet, and who is going to win this one? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, liking our Facebook page, and tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Finally, a huge shoutout to our new listeners over at dealstreetasia.com.

In Ep. 24 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about China Renaissance Group, a tech-focused investment bank founded and led by one of the country's most famed rainmakers, Bao Fan. While the episode covers the firm's recent Hong Kong IPO, as well as some of its top deals, its culture, and several of its business lines, the episode really focuses more on Bao Fan himself-- after all, his career in many ways is the China tech industry. It is often said that everyone who's anyone in China tech is connected to Bao Fan or has done business with him. How has this man, who describes himself as a “bald Shanghainese dude who loves F1 and MMA,” applied massive amounts of ambition and aggression to succeed? Rui and Ying-Ying share that Bao, who stands at a memorable 5'1 and a half inches, was born into a diplomatic family in Shanghai and sent off to boarding school early. He attended high school in the US, college in China, and grad school in Norway; and worked in banking in London, New York, and Hong Kong. Globally minded but deeply Chinese at heart, Bao started China Renaissance in 2004 and named it after the nationalistic idea that China was on the cusp of a rebirth, and the vision that it was going to produce its own great investment bank. Fourteen years later, that conviction has turned Bao into a billionaire banker. Listen to the newest episode of TechBuzz China and join our co-hosts in exploring the man and the firm behind the series of stunning mergers between China's top internet companies starting a few years back: Didi and Kuaidi; 58 and Ganji; Meituan and Dianping, to name a few. As of today, the newly listed China Renaissance has advised 700 transactions worth over $100 billion and has over 600 employees. What's next? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, like our Facebook page, and don't forget to tweet at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag! Finally, a huge shoutout to our new listeners over at dealstreetasia.com.

Happy Holidays, TechBuzz listeners! That's right, it's Mid-Autumn Festival, followed closely by Golden Week for the Pandaily team back in Beijing. In honor of the holidays — and to commemorate *almost* six months since we released our first episode of TechBuzz back in April of this year — co-hosts Rui and Ying-Ying are taking off as well! We will be back with a new original episode on October 9.In order to not leave you hanging, and in recognition of Meituan-Dianping's recent IPO in which it raised a healthy $4.2 billion from investors, we share our first ever replay. If you haven't already, have a listen to Episode 10, which we produced back in back in June when Meituan-Dianping was first rumored to be preparing to go public. We talked about its founder, Wang Xing 王兴, and heard from guest James Hong, an angel investor who has known Wang for decades.Thank you for being a loyal listener, and enjoy!As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, like our Facebook page, and don't forget to tweet at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag!

In Ep. 22 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about electric carmaker NIO, which went public on September 12 on the NYSE. This episode covers how NIO got started, its purported business model, and how it differs from its competition. Listeners will also hear from Elliott Zaagman, a writer covering Chinese tech as well as an organizational development consultant for Chinese tech firms. Rui and Ying-Ying start their story with Li Bin, or William Bin Li, who is NIO's celebrity Founder, Chairman, and CEO. Li Bin, only 43 years old this year, is known as the “godfather of the transport sector” in China: not only did he have his first IPO in 2010 for a car-related internet company named BitAuto, but he has also invested in at least 32 companies in the transportation sector, including 5 unicorns. Indeed, Li Bin is widely recognized for being a master at both making and raising money. However, Li Bin and NIO's path in the electric vehicle (EV) industry has not been without its challenges, particularly because of the domestic sector's past experience with unreliable players such as Yueting Jia, the founder of LeEco and Faraday Future. In fact, one recent Chinese article cheekily called NIO and its fellow EVs “the cars that came out of PowerPoints”-- a partial reference to the fact that NIO raised about $2.5B in four rounds before going public, but is still losing money rapidly, to the tune of half a billion dollars in the first half of this year. Listen to the newest episode of TechBuzz China and join our co-hosts in a exploration that seeks to answer the key question: is Li Bin going to be able to deliver on the hardware he promises? Just how comparable is NIO to Tesla? What about to Xpeng Motors, founded by celebrity entrepreneur He Xiaopeng, the other high-flying EV unicorn in China with an internet DNA? What is NIO's actual business model, when it does not actually made its own cars, or even its own batteries (yes, you read that right)? Is it accurate to consider NIO a luxury brand, and if so, is that the right strategy in China? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, like our Facebook page, and don't forget to tweet at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag!

In Ep. 21 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about the new messaging app, Bullet Messenger, which took the Chinese internet by storm and reached five million registered users in just eleven days. The key question is: is this a true challenger to WeChat? Or is it more of a short-lived, false alarm without real long-term potential? Listeners will also hear expert analysis from Matthew Brennan, a speaker and writer focused on Chinese mobile internet who can be found at @mbrennanchina and on the podcast China Tech Talk. Rui and Ying-Ying start by delving into a crucial quality about Bullet which has been overlooked in English language coverage: the incredible power and reach of its angel investor and best spokesperson, Luo Yonghao. Luo is a former English teacher who gained a cult following thanks to his entertaining sayings and charisma in the classroom. He took his cultural capital and went into smartphones, creating the brand Smartisan, which released its first phone in May 2014. Smartisan formerly employed a senior product manager named Hao Xijie, founder of the company that created Bullet Messenger. Though Hao has made clear that his intention is to disrupt business messaging, media has not been deterred from hailing him as a “WeChat challenger.” Rui and Ying-Ying dig into some of Bullet's features, including its quick voice-to-text function, the ability to reply in threads, and easier management of group chats. However, even with these interesting functions, the big challenge of the app is its lack of contacts-- how is the app going to create overcome the network effects dominance of WeChat? It also has challenges with privacy and with inappropriate content. Even so, the company has already taken on $22 million in funding at a nearly $90 million valuation from Banyan Capital and Chengwei Capital, even before going through the full list of interested investors, which had included Tencent. Listen to the newest episode of TechBuzz China and join our co-hosts in debating: does Bullet have a real chance at disrupting WeChat, or at least take away some of the current use cases of WeChat, the biggest success of Chinese internet in the past decade? Or… is WeChat completely and utterly Bullet-proof? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, like our Facebook page, and don't forget to tweet at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag!

In Ep. 20 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma look into the alleged causes behind the recent 22% hike in rent prices in Beijing, a rise which has sparked outrage in citizens. In addition to blaming real estate startups, some headlines have also proclaimed that the influx of venture capital and private equity into the tech sector is at the root of the problem. In the episode, Rui and Ying-Ying take an analytical approach to breaking down the factors affecting the rental market-- or rather, largely the middle range of the rental market-- in Beijing. They start by giving an overview of the market, including citing average rental and purchase prices as a percentage of take-home pay… and the numbers aren't pretty. Unaffordable housing is destabilizing everywhere, but especially in China, where overpopulation is still a nationwide challenge and home ownership is particularly prized. Our co-hosts then focus on the impact of government policies on creating opportunities that were promptly capitalized on by real estate brokerages, which spun out consumer-focused products that fit the millennial and digital native lifestyle. Listen to the newest episode of TechBuzz China and join our co-hosts in delving into the business model of long-term rental platforms such as Ziroom and Danke, which cover about 120,000 apartments in Beijing, or about 2 percent of the market. What has been their impact on both the tech sector and the residential rental market in Beijing? Decide for yourself: are these startups really the culprits behind the spike in rents? As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, like our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/techbuzzchina/), and don't forget to tweet at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag!

So far in 2018, Tencent's stock price has continued to tumble from analysts' price targets. Today, it sits at $430B, a far cry from its $570B market cap in January, and having done far worse than the market. Some commentators blame the decline on Tencent's Q2 results, which showed a 2 percent drop in earnings and was the company's first fall in profit in nearly 13 years. What is really going on here? What is the real cause, and what does it all mean for what is arguably still China's leading internet company? In this episode of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma take another close look at Tencent. TechBuzz first covered Tencent in Episode 5, and again in Episode 9. Fittingly, those episodes focused on public perception of Tencent's ability to innovate, as well as the robustness of Tencent's overall strategy - including against the likes of rising behemoth Toutiao. This week's Ep. 19 takes a more holistic view of the internal and external factors that may have contributed to Tencent's poor results. Listeners will also hear expert commentary by Lee Gao, Portfolio Manager at GCA, who helps run the firm's Emerging Markets Sustainable Growth Fund. Rui and Ying-Ying delve into many facets of the Tencent story, including: What was the significance of COO Mark Ren taking over the company's stalwart gaming sector, which accounts for over 50 percent of Tencent's revenues? What has been the greater impact of Tencent's protocol of having multiple internal teams work on the same product, with the best one declared winner? How has this type of strategy, and its accompanying lack of deep data integration, affected Tencent's domestic market share on metrics such as total mobile usage time, as well as its ability to collaborate deeply with partners such as Starbucks? What about the impact of other problems such unfavorable government policies, as well as Tencent's challenges getting games approved to be distributed in China? Listen to the newest episode of TechBuzz China and join our co-hosts on a journey down the rabbit hole, as they hunt for the real cause of Tencent's recent price decline. As they synthesize the rampant recent speculation by Chinese media into a mere 20-minute episode, listeners are left to ask themselves: can Tencent do it? Can they bring the lost $140B back? As always, you can find these stories and more at https://pandaily.com/. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, like our Facebook page, and don't forget to tweet at us at @techbuzzchina to win some swag!

On June 18, JD.com concluded its annual shopping festival with a transaction volume of around US$24.5 billion. On the same day, the e-commerce platform also announced an investment from Google of $550 million. What does this new alliance mean? Listen to latest episode from TechBuzz China to find out!TechBuzz China by Pandaily is a weekly technology podcast focused on giving you a peek into what's buzzing within the tech community in China. It is co-hosted by Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, who are both seasoned China watchers with years of experience working in the technology space in China. They uncover and contextualize unique insights, perspectives, and takeaways on headline tech news that don't always make it into English language coverage.This week on TechBuzz China, Ying-Ying and Rui gives a thorough breakdown of China's second largest e-commerce platform, from its history and recent ventures abroad, to the couple behind the behemoth with celebrity statuses akin to Amal and George Clooney.Why did Google choose to work with JD.com who is in Team Tencent instead of Alibaba? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the two e-commerce platforms?As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us an iTunes review, and don't forget to follow us on Twitter at @techbuzzchina and to like our Facebook page!

Pandaily.com是一家向世界科技社区介绍中国创新的英文媒体，而TechBuzz China by Pandaily是其旗下向硅谷介绍中国创新的英文播客。What do you call an unicorn worth more than $100 billion? A centacorn, of course! This week on TechBuzz China by Pandaily, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma discuss a newly minted centacorn - Ant Financial. TechBuzz China by Pandaily is a weekly technology podcast focused on giving you a peek into what's buzzing within the tech community in China. It is co-hosted by Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, who are both seasoned China watchers with years of experience working in the technology space in China. They uncover and contextualize unique insights, perspectives, and takeaways on headline tech news that don't always make it into English language coverage.Alibaba Group, the owner-turned-affiliate-turned-shareholder of Ant Financial, was valued at $140 billion when it went public in 2014. Now, Alibaba's spinoff payment platform Ant Financial was valued at more than $150 billion in their pre-IPO round in June 2018. What does Ant Financial do that makes it such a highly valued company? What is the convoluted relationship between Ant Financial, Alibaba, and Jack Ma? Is the valuation a sign that Ant Financial will become a bigger company than its parent, Alibaba Group? To answer these questions and more, Rui and Ying-Ying also invited Wayne Shiong, a notable fintech VC in China, to share his thoughts. Don't miss out on their valuable insights and listen to this week's episode! As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show, and don't forget to follow us on Twitter at @techbuzzchina and to like our Facebook page!

Pandaily.com是一家向世界科技社区介绍中国创新的英文媒体，而TechBuzz China by Pandaily是其旗下向硅谷介绍中国创新的英文播客。TechBuzz China by Pandaily is a weekly technology podcast that is all about China's innovations. It is co-hosted by Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, who are both seasoned China watchers with years of experience working in the technology space in China. They share and discuss the most important tech news from China every week with commentaries from investors, industry experts and entrepreneurs.This week on TechBuzz China by Pandaily, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma explain the fight between Bytedance and Tencent as sparked by the war in short-video apps. They trace it back to the humble beginnings of short-video apps and talk about the major players such as Xiaokaxiu, Musical.ly, and Kuaishou who had their 15 mins of fame along the way.Currently, the space is dominated by Tencent-backed Kuaishou and Bytedance's Douyin, while the other two members of BAT, Alibaba and Baidu, both announced that they will be releasing their own short-video apps as well. Who will come out on top in the vie for Chinese netizens' attentions? Listen to hear what Ying-Ying and Rui have to say!As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show, and don't forget to follow Pandaily on Twitter at @thepandaily, as well as TechBuzz at @TechBuzzChina!

Pandaily.com是一家向世界科技社区介绍中国创新的英文媒体，而TechBuzz China by Pandaily是其旗下向硅谷介绍中国创新的英文播客。TechBuzz China by Pandaily is a weekly technology podcast that is all about China's innovations. It is co-hosted by Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, who are both seasoned China watchers with years of experience working in the technology space in China. They share and discuss the most important tech news from China every week with commentaries from investors, industry experts and entrepreneurs.This week on TechBuzz China by Pandaily, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma look at the resignation of Baidu COO and tech genius Lu Qi and how the move brought tidal waves of speculations, commentary, and reactions to the Chinese tech world.What is Lu Qi's story and where is he going next?What did Lu Qi do to have Baidu stocks rise by 58% during his tenure?Why did his departure strike a strong cord, while previous departures of top Silicon Valley execs such as Huge Barra from Xiaomi and Andrew Ng from Baidu resonated less with the Chinese tech world? Rui and Ying-Ying answer these questions and more on this week's episode! As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show, and don't forget to follow us on Twitter at @thepandaily and to like our Facebook page!