China Digital Digest Weekly: Exploring the Chinese Digital Landscape

Hi folks, we are back with our weekly edition of China’s Digital Digest, wherein we bring you weekly updates on China’s digital space. 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. Chinese University Sacks Professor After Social Media Accusation of Sexual Harassment

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/07/22/china-sexual-harassment-renmin-university-wang-di/4c234712-4803-11ef-9149-c75da5dd9201_story.html

A top Chinese university has fired a professor, a day after a graduate student accused him of sexual harassment on social media in a rare public allegation and posted recordings as evidence, drawing widespread support.

The woman, who identified herself as Wang Di, said she is studying in a doctoral program at Renmin University of China’s School of liberal arts. She posted a 59-minute video on the Weibo social media platform in which she said her supervisor, an ex-vice dean and former Communist party representative at the university in Beijing, physically and verbally abused her. She also said that for more than two years after she rejected him, he assigned her many tasks, scolded her, and threatened that she would not graduate. She also posted audio clips that she said were evidence of the harassment.

2. Live-Streaming Is Now Officially A Profession In China

https://says.com/my/tech/live-streaming-is-now-officially-a-profession-in-china

Live-streamers and test drivers of smart cars have been added to a list of officially recognized professions in China, a reflection of the country’s growing reliance on its digital sector and smart manufacturing as the economic engines of the future.

China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security recently added live-streamers alongside other new jobs to its officially recognized professions list. Other new professions on the list – 19 in all – include artificial intelligence (AI) system application specialist, planning and operations engineer for cultural products, administrator of intelligent manufacturing systems, and bioengineering technician, according to a notice posted by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

3. Chinese Ecommerce firms Taobao and Douyin shift focus away from aggressive pricing

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/alibabas-taobao-bytedances-douyin-seek-093000146.html

Two of China’s leading e-commerce platform operators, Alibaba Group Holding and TikTok owner ByteDance, have started to adjust their focus on low pricing with policy shifts that favor merchants, as they seek a more sustainable online shopping ecosystem.

Douyin, ByteDance’s flagship short video app in mainland China that set up a dedicated e-commerce team in 2020, will not “simply pursue absolute low prices”, Wei Wenwen, the platform’s president of e-commerce, said in an internal meeting. Wei emphasized that it would increase pricing power with more refinement to let users buy good items at good prices.

Alibaba has also been trying to move away from competing primarily on price. The company’s Taobao & Tmall Group told merchants in a recent meeting that it would reduce how much low prices factor into an item’s exposure to consumers on the platform. To keep quality merchants, Tmall, which focuses on established brands and sellers, has said that it would waive its annual software service fee starting from September 1.

Taobao – Alibaba’s flagship e-commerce platform designed for small, independent sellers – said in a separate announcement that it was modifying its policies to give merchants with “good track records” more autonomy in handling refund requests from customers.

4. TikTok Launches App Center To Connect SMBs With Helpful Tools

https://www.tiktok.com/business/en-CA/blog/tiktok-app-center-for-business?redirected=1

TikTok has launched a new App Center for business users, which features a collection of TikTok tools, built by third-party developers, that can help small brands, specifically, maximize their performance in the app.

TikTok’s App Center features a range of tools that are endorsed by TikTok as being helpful for various TikTok marketing elements. The App Center includes listings of apps in different functional categories so that you can easily find a tool to fit your needs. TikTok says that these apps have been chosen because they offer “lightweight solutions,” as opposed to more comprehensive SaaS tools that are better suited to bigger brands.

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 our latest report, click here.