Effect of Technology on Traditional Chinese Culture: In an age where children as young as grade school carry mobile phones and shopping can be done from bed, it is undeniable that technology has transformed modern living. Ranging from having unprecedented access to all scopes of information at the tips of our fingers, to altering the essence of interpersonal relationships, modern technology has created a new era, dubbed by many as the “digital age”. Of these technological advancements, social media is among the most noteworthy. As in the West, the introduction of social media in China has had substantial impact on many aspects of Chinese life. China is a country whose rich culture and history has long been a source of its pride and joy. But as it has adapted to the changing technological times, so to have certain core cultural elements evolved accordingly. Ranging from Chinese philosophies, to mentality and national…

WeChat Mini Apps: Tencent’s WeChat is a few moments away from rolling out what could be the end of App Stores. Ironically, this big threat to the smart-phone application industry carries a deceptively innocent name— Mini Apps. WeChat’s revolutionary new feature essentially sounds like ‘application inception’— “an app within the WeChat app”, according to Zhang Xiaolong, Tencent’s Senior Vice President. While the necessity of such a feature may not be immediately apparent to the average smart-phone user, there is far more to be gained from Mini Apps than initially meets the eye. For one, Mini Apps provide the essential quality of convenience—turning WeChat into a truly all-encompassing platform that successfully addresses people’s natural affinity for simple, all-in-one products. This arguably, is essentially the very essence of Chinese innovation. “These are apps that you don’t need to install; you can open them simply by searching or scanning a QR code”, says Zhang Xiaolong.…

Chinese Healthcare & BATX (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Xiaomi): The Chinese healthcare system is facing huge challenges with, on one hand, a greying population, multiplying chronic diseases and poor health literacy and, on the other hand, too few qualified doctors working in overcrowded top tier hospitals while lower tier ones are deserted. eHealth solutions are today multiplying to address the very obvious needs for higher quality of care and the associated market was recently estimated to reach USD 110 million in 2020 by BCG. After examining how Chinese companies were improving patients’ experience, I further explore the strategies deployed by the “BATX”, the Chinese equivalent of the American GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon): Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and Xiaomi. They all pursue an active strategy to promote and develop tomorrow’s healthcare system in China, though with very different visions and means. Here is a short analysis: Baidu’s main strategy has been to…

Traits of Chinese Entrepreneurs: Many a man has been born with a creative mind that has birthed innovative ideas. But without the right thick-skinned traits, the majority will find it difficult to spin their ideas into a successful business. Still, that hasn’t stopped people from trying. With the world’s many shaky economies and uncertain futures ahead, the 21st century has thus far birthed a plethora of hopeful entrepreneurs eager to take control of their own destinies. This trend can also be observed in China as the country continues its rapid progress towards becoming a global leader in modernization and innovation. However, when compared to entrepreneurs from other countries, there are some interesting differences that come to light when the average Chinese entrepreneur is put under the microscope. Ranging from background, to gender, age, skills and behavior, Chinese entrepreneurs have a clear and distinct profile of their own. The concept of a “Chinese…

Digital Healthcare Patient Experience: The Chinese healthcare system is facing huge challenges with, on one side, a greying population, multiplying chronic diseases and poor health literacy and, on the other side, too few qualified doctors working in overcrowded top tier hospitals, lower tier ones being deserted. Digital Healthcare solutions are today multiplying to address the very obvious needs for higher quality of care and the associated market was recently estimated to reach USD 110 million in 2020 by BCG. In this first article, part of a series analysing the digitalisation of the Chinese healthcare system, I explore the patient experience and the way Chinese start-ups are disrupting it, building China’s next generation of healthcare. By default, the user is healthy. He can, however, still be interested in purchasing health-related products and services, ranging from pure wellness to soft healthcare. Most likely, those persons want to improve the way they live…

China’s Startup Incubators: The business world is notoriously known to be a vicious place. It is a world that is highly competitive, where players can be fiercely protective of their domain and are unafraid to adopt “dog-eat-dog” tactics to survive. In this environment, young startups are usually left to fender the big wolves for themselves or otherwise shrivel up and fade away. Enter business incubators, a concept born in the US in the late 1950s which essentially serves to give smaller newcomers a chance to grow and shine. Ranging from mentorship and investments, to providing primary resources and services for startups, incubators are organizations that seek to help startups attain their initial footing in the business world. Startup incubators have experienced a renaissance of sorts since 2011, with the global trend of entrepreneurship and innovation taking off amidst the sea of failing economies. China too, has seen a dramatic rise in such…

Chinese Startups Smart Keyboard App: What is Kika? Kika is a next generation big-data keyboard application that allows users to better express themselves through a wide library of unique emojis, gifs, images and more. The app uses api integration to tailor to the world’s most popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Whatsapp, WeChat, Line, Slack, and Kik Messenger. Kika’s image library updates every day and is furthermore searchable to allow users to quickly find the sticker that best represents what they want to express. The app is currently available on both Google Play and the Apple Appstore. More than just emoji and gif sharing, Kika’s products provide users with fast auto-typing & swiping features, natural language prediction, theme & layout customization, and an open plugin platform capable of making many communication tasks more convenient. What are some of Kika’s features? In addition to its vast library, the Kika app…

China Innovation: Innovation is everywhere. It is behind every new idea, every solution to a problem, and any person who has dared to be different. But beyond the poetic nature of the term, innovation is also everywhere in the literal sense. The 21st century has seen the term surge in popularity, evolving into a buzzword that is heard daily in the worlds of business and economics. The direct implication of this overusage is the word’s eventual loss of meaning. When everything is innovation, then nothing is really innovation anymore. China’s relationship with the word ‘innovation’ is an interesting one. Only three short decades ago, the country was struggling to make ends meet, with high poverty rates, a tormented national psyche, and widespread famine ravaging the country. But following the country’s massive reconstruction under Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms, China today is virtually unrecognizable from its 20th century past. A world leader in…

Chinese Startups Shopping Mall App: What is Yueguang? Yueguang (悦逛) is a mobile application intended to both personalize a shopper’s buying experience while allowing stores  and high-end shopping malls connect with their consumers. Currently available on both iOS and Android, the application caters to three main parties- shopping malls, their businesses/stores, and the consumers who shop at their stores. The Yueguang platform works with different malls to provide a kind of virtual representation of the malls, in which consumers can interact with and get live updates about their favorite brands and shopping locations via Wifi, Bluetooth and iBeacon. Users can then connect to the store pages and attain points, discounts, and rewards for shopping. Meanwhile, Yueguang provides businesses with more accurate and effective mobile marketing solutions, allowing them to better understand their audience and track traffic to their store. The application likewise delivers valuable information to malls about their stores’ various audiences,…

Chinese Startups Facial Recognition Lending: What is Shualian? Shualian (刷脸) is a big-data facial-recognition lending service. The P2P Shualian application allows friends to lend and borrow money (RMB) among their close circles, reducing the dependency on banks and the overall bureaucratic hassle involved with transferring monies. In order to ensure utmost security during the lending or borrowing process, users of Shualian are given a credit score that gradually adjusts based on their performance on the platform. The credit score is initially comprised from a highly intricate algorithm that parses through various criteria in order to give the most accurate reflection of the person’s reliability. Among these criteria is Shualian’s innovative facial recognition software, which among other functions is able to identify the user’s social media platforms to create and build a comprehensive understanding of the user’s persona. To what degree can users borrow/lend with others? The Shualian platform allows users…