China Tech Talk

Latest Episodes:

89: Just how much tech is in China's health code? May 29, 2020

Show notes

As the coronavirus swept through China, communities, local governments, and business have been trying to figure out how to best follow social isolation rules. This being China, of course, tech majors and telcos jumped at the chance to serve the country by leveraging their vast data pools. But how much tech is actually behind the country's health code systems? Should we be more worried about how China is using data.

Links

Guest

David Cohen, @MartynvanBuren

Hosts

Editor

Peter Isachenko

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Music: “Theme from Penguins on Parade” by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3

88: Coronavirus & China tech: Winners and losers Feb 10, 2020

Show notes

The coronavirus epidemic doesn't show any signs of getting any better just yet. While the future of the outbreak is still unclear, the winners and losers of this are clear. In this episode, Matt and John discuss how the coronavirus is changing the face of tech in China.
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Hosts

Editor

Peter Isachenko

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Music: “Theme from Penguins on Parade” by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3

87: China tech through the lens of Bytedance Dec 12, 2019

Show notes

This episode, Matt and John embark on a wide-ranging discussion about China tech in 2019. Using Bytedance as a lens, they explore the disruptive power of new companies, Bytedance's successes and challenges outside of China, as well as what the world is learning from China tech.

Key Questions

What's changed with Bytedance since we last talked about them?
What challenges are they facing outside of China?
How are other countries dealing with highly successful Chinese consumer products?
How is Bytedance acting as a disruptor at home and abroad?
What should we be thinking about as 2019 comes to a close?

Links

Hosts

Editor

Peter Isachenko

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Music: “Theme from Penguins on Parade” by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3

86: China's social credit system: Everything you know is wrong with Kendra Schaefer Oct 31, 2019

Show notes

China's social credit system (SCS) gets a lot of attention outside of China yet it's still very misunderstood. Many scholars and China watchers have shed light on the topic, but none have done it so concisely and accessibly as Kendra Schaefer and her team at Trivium China. She joins us this week to explain how the SCS is a broad framework for better regulation and enforcement and how it applies to companies, individuals, and government agencies.

Key questions

What is the purpose of the SCS? How far along is its development?
Is the SCS only for individuals?
How does the SCS apply to companies?
How are China's cities gamifying SCS?

Links

Guest

Kendra Shaefer, @triviumchina

Hosts

Editor

Peter Isachenko

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Music: “Theme from Penguins on Parade” by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3

85: Private traffic in China — Taking back the power from platforms Oct 21, 2019

Show notes

After an extended hiatus, John and Matt are back! This week, they look at the increasingly effective trend of private traffic. Powered by WeChat and its mini programs, marketers and brands are increasingly creating and driving organic traffic to their shops. Like owned traffic in the West, this is a direct response to the rising costs of reaching fans and followers. Matt delivered a presentation on the topic during the ChinaChat 2019 conference and they take a deep dive into the phenomenon this week.

Key questions

What is private traffic?
Why are brands resorting to this method?
How does private traffic work?
How do WeChat and Tencent view private traffic?
What are traditional e-commerce platforms like Taobao doing to combat private traffic?

Links

Hosts

Editor

Peter Isachenko

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Music: “Theme from Penguins on Parade” by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3

84: Facebook's Libra and China's Central Bank with Zennon Kapron Sep 02, 2019

Show notes

Just weeks after Facebook announced their Libra cryptocurrency project, the People's Bank of China has become quite vocal about their on-going project. Most recently, the PBOC announced that China's digital currency is "nearly ready." Following on from our previous conversation about Libra and QQ Coin, this week we're joined by Zennon Kapron, director of Kapronasia, to look at what Libra means in a global context as well as China's plans to launch its own digital currency.

Key questions

What are the biggest implementation and adoption challenges for Libra?
Why don't governments like cryptocurrency?
How does a digital currency affect the RMB's status?
What are the downsides of a digital fiat currency?

Links

Guest

Zennon Kapron, @ZennonKapron

Hosts

Editor

Peter Isachenko

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Music: “Theme from Penguins on Parade” by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3

83: Podcasting and why the open web is dead in China with Rio Zhan Aug 11, 2019

Show notes

At the end of 2018, Connie Chan of Andreesen Horowitz, wrote about how podcasts in China monetize. However, what she calls podcasts aren't really what we call podcasts: they're more like paid-for educational audio content. Podcasting, like what we do at China Tech Talk, is actually still very immature in China. But that doesn't mean there aren't content creators following the "traditional" podcasting model.

To talk about this, we're joined this week by Rio Zhan, early stage VC and host of the Crazy Capital podcast. We share notes on podcasting and talk about how China's content models have evolved away from the open web.

Key questions

Why is the China market different for audio content?
Why is the open web almost non-existent in China?
What role does culture play in creating acceptance of paying for content?
How might Facebook's Libra enable monetization for Western podcasts?

Links

Guest

Rio Zhan, @RioJot

Hosts

Editor

Peter Isachenko

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Music: "Theme from Penguins on Parade" by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3

82: Tech conferences in China Jul 30, 2019

Show notes

In the tech and startup ecosystem, there's always another conference to attend. The landscape isn't all that clear, however, with some conferences getting more public hype and others keeping it low-key. After organizing and attending many of them, John and Matt sit down this week to go over what's out available, what makes certain conferences different, and which are some of the best to attend and why.

Key questions

What kinds of conferences are there?
What should you consider before going to a conference in China?
How do conferences monetize?
How much work goes into a successful conference?

Links

Hosts

Editor

Peter Isachenko

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Music: "Theme from Penguins on Parade" by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3

81: The new new retail with Michael Norris Jul 17, 2019

Show notes

In June, Carrefour sold 80% of its China operations to electronics retailer Suning. The news is representative of a much broader shift in the new retails space. When we first covered new retail in 2018, unmanned stores were gaining traction and it was unclear if Alibaba was going to win. In 1.5 years, unmanned stores are almost dead and Alibaba is a clear winner.

To discuss this shift, we're happy to welcome Michael Norris, research and strategy manager at AgencyChina.

This episode was recorded on June 25, 2019.

Key questions:

Why would Suning be interested in Carrefour?
How did JD lose the new retail battle?
What makes Hema and the Alibaba model so successful?
What makes the China market so difficult for non-China retailers?

Links

New Retail Keynote (Dropbox)
Carrefour sells 80 per cent of its Chinese retail operations to Suning for 4.8 billion yuan
Why it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee on Luckin
WeChat Conference: CHina CHat 2019!
Become a member of TechNode Squared

Guest

Michael Norris, LinkedIn

Hosts

Editor

Peter Isachenko

Podcast information

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Music: "Theme from Penguins on Parade" by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3

80: Libra lessons from WeChat and QQ Jul 03, 2019

Show notes

On June 18, Facebook announced the Libra cryptocurrency, a solution to their P2P payments conundrum. As to be expected, this move has gotten a lot of attention. In China, that attention has taken the form of comparing Libra to Tencent's breakthrough Q Coin as well as how WeChat has integrated payments.

Key questions: