Sustainability in China: What are the drivers and benefits of going green in the Middle Kingdom?
As the latest IPCC report on climate change highlights an ever-growing environmental emergency, governments and private actors have mobilized around the globe to try and reduce their carbon footprint. China, which is the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, has taken a pledge at the UN General Assembly in 2020 to be carbon neutral […]
Happily unmarried: A peek into singles economy in China
As the population ages and the national birthrate keeps on declining, China undergoes another deep transformation which will leave a mark on the country’s social and economic structure. According to China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, from 2014 on, the amount of marriages gradually dropped over the years: in 2019, about 9.3 million couples tied the […]
What China’s new carbon emission trading market means for businesses
On July 16, the Vice-Minister for Ecology and Environment Zhao Yingmin officially ushered in the China’s long-planned carbon emission trading market, the world’s largest CO2 market. The carbon exchange system, which made its debut with 4.1 million tons of carbon dioxide quotas worth 210 million RMB traded in a single day, was actually launched in […]
Hydrogen vehicles in China: The next frontier in the new-energy vehicle market
On June 9th, Chen Kele, the deputy director of the intelligent manufacturing promotion department of the Shanghai Economic and Information Technology Commission, announced that the Shanghai City Cluster plans to introduce 5,000 hydrogen fuel vehicles within 4 years, including 3,400 trucks, 1,400 passenger cars and 200 buses. Five thousand hydrogen fuel vehicles, it seems like […]
Beijing announces a third-child policy to tackle China’s ageing population, here are the economic implications
On May 31st 2021, China announced the introduction of its third-child policy, concluding its previous two-child policy set in 2016. Facing a dwindling young labour force and rising elderly population, China’s third-child policy was implemented in hopes of reviving the country’s current demographic crisis, with last year leading to just 12 million babies born in […]
How financially independent are Chinese millennials?
As the Chinese middle class keeps growing, foreign and domestic brands have been rushing to satiate the growing appetite of Chinese consumers. Having grown up during a period of economic prosperity, Chinese millennials (those born between 1996 and 1981) are now a strong engine of the booming Chinese economy. As the Chinese society gets wealthier, […]
Price discrepancies in China: What drives some product prices up and others down?
When comparing prices in China to Western countries there are often unexpected differences. As the cost of living in China is relatively low, one would expect the prices of products to be lower, but that is not always the case. Price discrepancies in China do not only offer opportunities to leverage those differences but it […]
What job postings in China teach us about the nation’s direction of economic development
With the end of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rapid recovery of the national economy, the job market for medium and highly skilled professionals in China started to thrive again, raising hopes for an increasingly brighter future. During 2021 Q1, the number of new jobs experienced a 99.02% year-on-year increase and the average annual salary […]
Behind the industry of counterfeit products in China and lawsuit success cases
Forgeries of luxury-brand products are more prevalent in China than in any other country in the world. When on the metro or walking down the street, it can seem as if nearly everyone is sporting a flashy brand name product. But much deadlier than casual counterfeits are the “real fakes”– counterfeit goods so similar to […]
7 industries boosted by the lazy economy in China
The lazy economy is an economic phenomenon representing an upgrade in convenience-based consumption. There are three motivating factors of the lazy economy in China: people are becoming busier, technology is getting more advanced, and personal disposable income is increasing. The pursuit of an efficient, leisurely, and a high quality of life has led to the […]