On Chinese Media

Long March Spirit

People’s Weekly Issue No. 20, 2016

Three main divisions of the Red Army triumphantly joined forces respectively at Huining and Jiangtaibu in West China’s Gansu and Ningxia in October 1936, signifying the complete success of the 25,000-li (1 mile = 3.22 li) march. The world-shaking Long March not just revealed a bright future for China’s revolution, but also bequeathed the precious Long March spirit.

During the past 80 years, the Chinese people have toppled the three“big mountains” of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat-capitalism and witnessed the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Owing to reform and opening-up, China is now playing a growing role in the global arena. Recalling history, we may understand that the Long March showcased strong human will.

What does the Long March spirit stand for? How could the ragged Red Army soldiers stride across rivers, climb snow-capped mountains, stumble across grassland, smash the encirclement of millions of enemy troops to achieve the final triumph? It was the spirit of sacrifice, revolutionary ideals superseding personal lives; the heroism of unremitting efforts defeating all enemies; the arduous struggle and tenacious efforts towards fulfilling dreams; and the innovative practice of traveling on a road suited to the nation’s own condition. As Harrison E. Salisbury – an American journalist – wrote in The Long March: The Untold Story: “Once human spirit is evoked, its power will be boundless.”

Robot Final Attack

China Economic Weekly Issue No. 42, 2016

Robot technology and its application, in recent years, has become the dominate area in which countries compete. All major nations have formulated strategic initiatives related to industrial robot development, including Germany’s Industry 4.0, Japan’s Robot New Strategy, and Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) in the United States.

In China’s 13th Five-Year Plan, robots are also listed in the cuttingedge areas in which the government will promote innovation and industrialization. Statistics released by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) indicate that China is the world’s fastest growing market for industrial robots, with an annual growth from 2010 to 2016 of approximately 40 percent of the aggregate supply. Few people know that China has become the world’s largest industrial robot market and kept the leading market share globally for three years.

The robot industry is entering a “Golden Era,” which is a magnet for enterprises, investors and policy makers. “A Robot Final Attack” is about to kick off, including the struggle for the Chinese market between domestic and foreign enterprises, and yearnings of investors and local governments for this brand-new industry labeled “Intelligent Manufacturing.”

China’s Own-brand Vehicles

China Financial Weekly Issue No. 22, 2016

China’s own-brand vehicles are booming.

On October 24, the China Association of Automobile Manufactures (CAAM) published data on nationwide sales volume of passenger cars from January to September, including 7.0718 million own-brand vehicles, a yearon-year growth of 18.72 percent, accounting for 42.21 percent of the total sales volume.

These data don’t seem so far-fetched when we examine the time axis. In 2001 when China entered the WTO, its own-brand vehicles took only 16 percent of the market. It took 15 years to reach a market proportion of 40 percent, but if we delve into the subdivision market such as SUV and MPV, new discoveries are revealed. According to statistics from CAAM, China’s own-brand SUV has taken 55 percent of the total market share throughout the year 2015, while MPV shockingly dominated over 90 percent of the market share.

However, these may also be the most challenging times.

The increase of China’s automobile market share and consumption dividend of SUVs have provided huge potential for the growth of its ownbrand products.

A Decade of Internet Entrepreneurship

Economic Weekly Issue No. 21, 2016

In January 2017 it will have been 10 years since the iPhone first said hello to the world. From then on, Internet users and entrepreneurs began to use mobile Internet.

However, changes keep coming.

In early 2005, when Apple announced the R&D of the smart phone, the first generation of China’s Internet entrepreneurs competed as “seven contender states seeking hegemony.” These included Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Sina, Sohu, NetEast, and Shanda. The second boom of entrepreneurship soon followed as people began to discuss Web2.0. Wang Xing started an initiative website, renren.com. Yang Haoyong and Yao Jinbo built classified information websites and created ganji.com and 58.com respectively. In addition, video websites such as baofeng.com and youku.com started up.

A decade has passed, the “seven contender states” have developed into three major forces known as BAT. Some people even want to knock out contender B (Baidu) and watch the fierce competition between competitors A and T, namely Alibaba and Tencent. Those elite entrepreneurs from 2005 have now become the backbone of the Internet industry in China.