China Digital Digest - August 2022: Exploring the Chinese Social Media Landscape

We are back with the August edition of China’s Digital Digest in association with wai social. The report takes a quick glance at China’s complex and rapidly evolving social media landscape by providing updates on the latest happenings across the social media industry. Here are the major highlights of the report.

1. JD.Com Acquires China Logistics Property Holdings, Expands Its Logistics Infrastructure

JD Group has announced that it has completed the acquisition of China Logistics Property Holdings (CLPH), which was delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchange. Before the acquisition, JD owned 10.64% of CLPH’s shares. JD first announced the acquisition plan last September, aiming to buy a further 26.38% of the company.

2. Tencent Joins Metaverse Race With ‘Extended Reality’ Division

Chinese internet giant Tencent has created an ‘extended reality’ division that will develop hardware and services for the metaverse. The move is the latest Big-Tech bid to stake a claim to the metaverse, with Meta, Microsoft, Apple, and TikTok-developer ByteDance all making bets that virtual and extended reality will be the user interfaces of the future.

3. Bytedance’s Douyin Reaches Yearly Ecommerce Sales Goal in Six Months

ByteDance’s short-video platform Douyin reached RMB 22 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) for the first half of 2022, surpassing a goal for the year of RMB 20 billion and eclipsing figures from the entirety of 2021, according to Chinese media outlet 36Kr. The platform saw a GMV of RMB 10 billion in the first quarter.

4. Kuaishou Releases First Digital Collection

Magnetic Engine, a commercial marketing service platform, and Mints, a Chinese digital collection platform, launched Kuaishou's first NFT digital collection called "Magnetic Engine Influencers". The project was created by the same team that created Magnetic Engine. The collection will include six digital NFTs derived from six top influencers on Kuaishou.

5. NetEase Cloud Music Conducts Alpha Tests for Social App

NetEase Cloud Music recently tested a new product called “MUS,” its first music-based social app. The name MUS is an abbreviation for “music with us”. The product is still in the alpha testing phase, and it currently requires an invite code for registration and use.

6. Alibaba’s Grocery Chain Freshippo Seeks Financing

Alibaba's supermarket chain Freshippo is seeking to raise funds at a valuation of about $6 billion, much lower than a hoped-for valuation of up to $10 billion earlier this year. The company had to cut its valuation expectations after China's COVID-19 restrictions, in particular a draconian lockdown in the economic hub of Shanghai, badly dented business.

7. Bilibili Shuts Down Tiktok-like Short Video App

Major Chinese video platform Bilibili shut down its TikTok-like short video app Qing Video. Launched in 2018, Qing Video was intended to be a short video platform to rival Douyin, incorporating Bilibili’s famous “bullet comments” feature, live lines of users’ comments that shoot across the screen.

8. Didi’s Digital Payments Unit Fined by China’s Central Bank

Didi's digital payments unit was fined $632,170 on July 15 by China's central bank for a dozen rule violations, amid an effort by the ride-hailing company to appease regulators. The unit was fined for violations that included transactions not meeting the requirements for traceability and authenticity, opening payment accounts for enterprises involved in the financial industry, and failure to report significant risk events on time.

Wrapping Up

The vast and diverse nature of the Chinese Social Media space makes it incredibly challenging to keep a tab on the rapid developments taking place. However, China’s Digital Digest brings you all the latest updates from there to keep you abreast of all the evolving trends.

To delve deeper into the findings of the August 2022 report, click here.