Day: February 13, 2024

Alibaba gives way to China ecommerce rivals on Jack Ma Boulevard

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In Shaji in eastern China, factories on Ali Road and Jack Ma Boulevard churn out cabinets and coffee tables. The streets were named in honour of Alibaba founder Jack Ma after his company helped to transform the farming town into a community of online merchants over the past two decades. But now the factory owners say Ma’s platforms do not guarantee sales. They are beginning to put their wares on rival online stores, including Pinduoduo, JD.com and ByteDance’s Douyin, to stay afloat. “The market forced me to turn to Pinduoduo,…

Change on Jack Ma Boulevard: Alibaba gives way to China ecommerce rivals

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In Shaji in eastern China, factories on Ali Road and Jack Ma Boulevard churn out cabinets and coffee tables. The streets were named in honour of Alibaba founder Jack Ma after his company helped to transform the farming town into a community of online merchants over the past two decades. But now the factory owners say Ma’s platforms do not guarantee sales. They are beginning to put their wares on rival online stores, including Pinduoduo, JD.com and ByteDance’s Douyin, to stay afloat. “The market forced me to turn to Pinduoduo,…

China’s ‘Taobao villages’ turn from Alibaba to rival platforms

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In Shaji town in eastern China, factories on Ali Road and Jack Ma Boulevard are pumping out cabinets and coffee tables. The streets were named in honour of Alibaba founder Jack Ma after his company helped transform the farming community into online merchants over the past two decades. But now the factory owners say Ma’s platforms do not guarantee sales and that they are beginning to put their wares on rival online stores, including Pinduoduo, JD.com and ByteDance’s Douyin, to stay afloat. “The market forced me to turn to Pinduoduo,…

Hong Kong is now over, says China’s former good friend

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Once seen as a good friend of China’s and former chairman of Morgan Stanley in Asia, Stephen Roach has said Hong Kong is over, attributing the city’s “demise” to its domestic politics, China’s structural problems and global developments namely worsening U.S.-China tensions. “It pains me to admit it, but Hong Kong is now over,” Roach wrote in a commentary in the Financial Times on Monday. “Since the handover to China in 1997, the Hang Seng index has been basically flat, up only about 5%. Over that same period, the S&P…

North Korea Fires Multiple Cruise Missiles, South Korea Military Says

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SEOUL, South Korea —  North Korea on Wednesday fired multiple cruise missiles into the sea in its fifth test of such weapons since January, South Korea’s military said, extending a streak in weapons demonstrations that’s elevating tensions in the region. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the South Korean and U.S. militaries were analyzing the launches from an area in North Korea’s northeastern coast. The South Korean military didn’t immediately provide the exact numbers of missiles fired or how far they flew. Experts say North Korea is ramping up…

North Korea fires cruise missiles off its east coast

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North Korea fired several cruise missiles into the sea Wednesday, Yonhap News reported, citing the South Korean military. It’s the fifth cruise missile launch this year, as Pyongyang ratchets up the military pressure on Seoul in response to January’s military exercises between South Korea, the United States and Japan . The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said an unspecified number of missiles were fired at around 9 a.m. local time northeast of Wonsan on North Korea’s east coast.  “While strengthening our monitoring and vigilance, our military has been closely…

China calls for developers in Chang’e 8 mission to make and assemble moon bricks

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Scheduled to launch in 2028, Chang’e 8 will serve as a basis for the future International Lunar Research Station, to be build by China and international partners at the moon’s south pole. The mission – consisting of a lander, rover, and robot – will deliver 14 scientific instruments to the moon. They will study local geology and test technologies for resource utilisation, as well as conduct observations of the Earth. China unveils construction road map for lunar research station The CNSA is calling for development submissions on nine of them,…

From AI-powered bunnies to ‘live’ figures, start-up reinvents smart toys with ChatGPT-like tech and China-designed chips

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Two Chinese entrepreneurs are experimenting with generative artificial intelligence (AI) to transform traditional companion toys into smart robots designed to hold natural conversations with children, riding on a growing trend of technology-infused toys. Founded by Larry Wang and Guo Xinghua last August, Shanghai-based start-up FoloToy has partnered with over a dozen toymakers to use large language models (LLMs) – the technology that underpins intelligent bots such as ChatGPT – to upgrade toy designs and sell new products to consumers in China and overseas. Their efforts are part of broader AI…

India opposition alliance fractures as support for Modi soars

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India’s best chance of challenging Narendra Modi is disintegrating months before national elections, as a broad but fragile opposition coalition breaks down over internal rivalries, defections and arrests and intimidation by law enforcement. The alliance of centre-left and regional parties, which was unveiled last July under the patriotic banner of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA, presented itself as a unity front to prevent India’s powerful prime minister and his majoritarian Hindu Bharatiya Janata party from coasting to a third term in power. But seven months later, talks…