Historians say that paper currency was invented by the Chinese during the Tang Dynasty. Today, their descendants are taking the lead again: Young Chinese are abandoning cash. Shop anywhere in China–from a grand shopping mall to a small street vendor–and you can use your smartphone to pay. Of course, the wide acceptance of smartphones and 4G internet is one thing, the rise of fintech firms like Ant Financial is another. Yet to seriously phase out cash, authorities and professionals are pursuing something more than just QR codes: digital currencies based on blockchain technology. Despite the cracking down on unfavorable operations like ICOs, China is studying blockchain in a rather serious way.
Mobile Wallets in China: Click to Pay
Mobile wallets are taking off in China but it is too early to say what they mean for the use of cash and bank cards.
Who’ll Win? Visa and MasterCard Versus UnionPay
Long kept at arm’s length, will foreign bank card companies finally get a fair crack at the China market which is dominated by UnionPay?
Yidao Yongche: Is China’s Uber Better than Uber?
In just about three years, Yidao Yongche has carved a niche for itself in China’s car rental market. And now it is going global.
Is Mobile the Future of Banking?
Mobile banking is proving to be a disruptive force for traditional branch banking. What is the future of banking as we know it—and the future of cash?
Will WeChat Succeed in Mobile Commerce?
WeChat, China’s wildly popular social messaging app, is experimenting with mobile commerce in a bid to become an all-in-one platform. What are the odds of success? Twenty two-year-old Yin Junyu has been selling fashion accessories made of synthetic pearls and designer jewelry replicas for the last two years at a small store in Beijing’s Tongzhou […]
China Round-up: More Chinese IPOs in the US; Alibaba Buys UCWeb; and Inflation Woes
The week that was: Alibaba continued to make waves with its UCWeb buy and China Post tie-up; Baidu tied up with Vanke; and expect more Chinese IPOs in the US. Alibaba Remains Active Before IPO China’s dominant e-commerce giant Alibaba continues to make headlines this week, as the company buys out UCWeb for an undisclosed […]
China’s innovation ability is massively underrated
Centuries ago, China was known as a greater inventor, famous for the Big Four inventions: the compass, gunpowder, papermaking and printing. But today, technology breakthroughs like that can barely be seen anywhere except in the history books, and ‘Made in China’ has often come to stand for mass-produced, cheap and commoditized. But can China […]
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