- China Insights Weekly
- Posts
- Star Flash takes on Bluetooth 📶 Temu tops US downloads 📱 Tibet solar plant sets record ☀️
Star Flash takes on Bluetooth 📶 Temu tops US downloads 📱 Tibet solar plant sets record ☀️
China Insights Weekly for December 23, 2024. Unpacking China’s Economic and Technological Advances.
Tomas Kucera & Yereth Jansen
December 23, 2024
Welcome back to this week’s edition of the China Insights Weekly Newsletter!
Key Highlights at a Glance:
Temu tops US app charts: E-commerce disruptor Temu leads US iOS downloads for the second year.
China’s Bluetooth rival: Star Flash set to revolutionize consumer electronics with cutting-edge wireless tech.
New hospital milestone: Tianjin opens China’s first foreign-owned, top-tier hospital.
Solar breakthrough in Tibet: The world’s highest solar plant powers up in the Himalayas.
Dive deeper into these stories and more by clicking the headlines below. Don’t miss our China Expo Calendar at the bottom for upcoming events!
What should we cover more often? 🗳️ Pick your top choice!Your vote guides our next edition! Choose from the list below. |
🚀 Headlines
Temu, the e-commerce app owned by China's PDD Holdings, has topped Apple's list of most downloaded free apps on the US iOS store for the second consecutive year, outpacing TikTok which ranked third, while Temu-competitor and Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein came in at number 12. Apple’s iOS accounts for over 56% of US mobile phone market. This achievement underscores the significant success of Chinese apps in the US market. Temu, which began shipping inexpensive goods from China to the US in 2022, has disrupted the market, challenging established players like Amazon. Temu and Shein use “de minimis” provision which allows shipments valued under USD 800 certain import duty exemptions. This currently is becoming a target of White House policy makers.
Huawei has overtaken Apple to become the world's leading smartwatch manufacturer. From Q1 to Q3 in 2024, Huawei shipped 23.6 million smartwatches, securing a 16.9% market share, while Apple shipped 22.5 million units, holding a 16.2% share. This marks a significant milestone as the Chinese brand outperformed long time market leader Apple for the first time. The Chinese smartwatch market grew by 23.3% year-on-year during this period, contrasting with declines in India and the US. Huawei's impressive 44.3% year-on-year growth contrasted with Apple’s 12.8% decline over the same timeframe. Xiaomi ranked third, followed by Samsung and China’s BBK.
Tianjin Municipality in North China has issued a license to the first wholly foreign-owned, third-grade general hospital in the country, the Perennial General Hospital Tianjin. Invested and built by Singapore's Perennial Holdings Private Limited with an investment of around 1 billion yuan (approximately 140 million USD), this hospital marks China's commitment to further opening up its medical sector. The hospital, which includes specialized departments such as orthopedics, ophthalmology, and nephrology, aims to expand its services in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. China's three-tier hospital grading system places third-grade hospitals at the highest level. The move is expected to attract more foreign patients seeking private medical services in China and to promote exchanges and cooperation between foreign and local hospitals, as well as the introduction of overseas medical experts and technologies.
China is making strides in the AI sector, with its models gaining popularity and outperforming some US counterparts. Alibaba's Qwen model is the most popular on Hugging Face, a global LLM repository. Qwen is favored for its high performance and favorable licensing model, allowing free use without extensive legal reviews. Chinese LLMs are also being downloaded more frequently than their US counterparts. Bejing based, Moonshot AI, expanded its Kimi tool capabilities by launching visual thinking model K1, which outperforms OpenAI o1 in science and mathematics tests. China is pursuing open-source technology and creating its own high-performance software and chips to boost its AI models' appeal and performance.
📸 Can you spare 30 seconds of your time?
We would love to get your feedback. Why do you enjoy reading China Insights? Let us know in a 30 second survey!
Shenzhen is set to reclaim China crown after a decade as trade tops CNY4 trillion for first time (link)
Shenzhen's foreign trade reached a record CNY4.1 trillion (USD561.7 billion) in the first 11 months of the year, marking a 17.4% increase and surpassing CNY4 trillion for the first time, positioning it to regain the title of "China's No. 1 Foreign Trade City" after a decade. Exports rose 16% to CNY2.5 trillion (USD342.5 billion), while imports jumped 19.8% to CNY1.5 trillion (USD205.5 billion). ASEAN became Shenzhen's top trading partner with a 24% increase to CNY684 billion (USD93.7 billion), followed by Hong Kong at CNY642 billion and the US at CNY428 billion. Mechanical and electrical products accounted for 70.4% of exports, with electric car exports surging 42%. Cross-border e-commerce, with over 150,000 firms in Shenzhen, saw a 50% increase in parcel volumes to 717.7 million pieces, contributing significantly to trade growth. In comparison, Shanghai foreign trade climbed 0.3% to CNY3.88 trillion (USD531 billion) in the first 11 months from a year earlier. Exports rose 3.4% while imports fell 1.8% in the period.
China releases homegrown Bluetooth alternative — Star Flash is set to take over consumer electronics in the country (link)
China is advancing “Star Flash,” a domestic alternative to Bluetooth, to reduce reliance on foreign wireless technologies. The Electronics Video Industry Association has approved a universal remote control standard, incorporating Star Flash, Bluetooth, and infrared, to simplify device management and enable seamless interaction across devices. Developed by the SparkLink Alliance, including Huawei, Star Flash offers 5G elements, low power consumption, and lossless audio streaming. Nationwide adoption is planned by 2025, targeting integration into millions of devices and spurring investment.
China Huadian Corp. and PowerChina have completed the world's highest solar plant by altitude, a 100 MW facility in Tibet, paired with 20 MW/80 MWh of battery storage. Located in Shannan, Tibet, at an altitude of 5,228 meters, the Caipeng Solar-Storage Power Station's second phase surpasses the previous highest utility-scale solar-plus-storage project at 4,700 meters. The 1.4 square kilometer plant uses 170,000 n-type bifacial TOPCon panels, which offer higher conversion efficiency and enhanced power generation due to the region's high snow reflectivity. The project, completed 42 days ahead of schedule, aims to alleviate power shortages in central Tibet and features a battery energy storage system from Sungrow with advanced technologies for grid stabilisation and improved safety.
China’s healthcare market has the “fastest growth rate in the world”, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 12%. The dietary supplements market in China has doubled in size from 2013 to 2022 i.e. reaching up to 200.2 billion yuan, demonstrating rapid expansion. China’s Nutrition and Supplement market is subjected to grow at the rate of CAGR of 10% reaching a value of USD 65.74 Billion until 2030. The vitamins and minerals market is expected to expand by 8.85% between 2023 and 2027, reaching a sizeable USD 7.22 billion market by that year. Beauty enhancement, immunity boosting, and cardiovascular health are the top three categories generating maximum profit from sales.
📸 China Snapshot
Chengdu, one of Western China’s most popular destinations and home to the famous Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, is buzzing this holiday season. Its vibrant city center, including Taikoo Li and IFS Chengdu (with the iconic panda sculpture scaling the building), is attracting huge crowds. This year, an entirely red Christmas tree at Taikoo Li has become another hotspot for social media photos.
🎁 Bonus Stories
China has significantly relaxed its visa-free transit policy, extending the allowed stay for eligible foreign travelers from 72 and 144 hours to 240 hours (10 days). Effective immediately, 21 additional ports have been added for visa-free entry and exit, and the areas for transit stays have been expanded. Eligible citizens from 54 countries, including Russia, Brazil, Britain, the United States, and Canada, can now enter China visa-free when transiting to a third country or region through any of the 60 ports across 24 provinces, regions, and municipalities. A key policy change allows foreign visitors to travel freely across 24 specified provincial-level regions during their 10-day stay. Between January and November 2024, China saw nearly 29.22 million inbound foreign visits, an 86.2% increase year-on-year, with 17.45 million entering visa-free, showing a substantial 123.3% year-on-year growth.
After three decades of distinguished work in the United States, world-leading cancer researcher Sun Shao-Cong has returned to China to establish a new lab in Beijing. Sun joined the Chinese Institutes for Medical Research (CIMR) as a distinguished investigator in July. Known for his pioneering research on T cells – white blood cells that fight infections and destroy abnormal cells – Sun’s roles in the US have included director of the Centre for Inflammation and Cancer at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston from 2014 to 2022. His Team in China will study the molecular mechanisms of anticancer immunity, autoimmunity and inflammatory diseases with emphases on T-Cell function and regulation.
📆 Upcoming China Expos
With the Lunar New Year approaching, the expo season slows down, but will pick up again soon in the new year.
World Cafe Expo Shanghai 2024: Dec 20–22, Shanghai (en.cafeex.com.cn)
ISPO Beijing 2025: Jan 10–12, Beijing (www.ispo.com)
Alpitec China 2025: Jan 10–12, Beijing (www.fierabolzano.it)
🏆 Refer friends, unlock rewards!
☕ Support our work
If you enjoy our newsletter, please consider buying us a coffee to keep us energized in bringing you the latest insights! 🤓☕
👥 About us
China Insights is brought to you by Tomas Kucera, China General Manager at Gemini Personnel in Shanghai, and Yereth Jansen, China CEO at Darling Advertising + Design in Shanghai.
Tomas and Yereth together have almost 30 years of experience working and living in China across different industries, and have a shared mission of bringing you objective insights about the world’s second largest economy.
We hope to see you again next week!
The China Insights team wish you happy holidays! 🎄
For more EV news, also check out our partner China EV Pulse.
Reply