Star Microbloggers Making Impact and Money on Sina Weibo

February 23, 2012 by jinge

Although Sina Weibo (微博), China’s top microblog network, is still not making any profit, the trend setters who have a large number of followers on Weibo already found some ways to monetize their online influence. Many celebrities on Weibo, from film stars to athletes to public intellectuals who already had many fans before they started microblogging, find Weibo a powerful site for self-promotion; but I…

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CCTV Africa: Chinese Media Into the African Continent

February 23, 2012 by An Xiao Mina

CCTV is going global, and its launch in America has been getting a great deal of attention, with competitive pay and locally-controlled media. According to a report on the Voice of America, Western journalists have considerable freedom so far.

What’s been getting less buzz is CCTV’s launch in Africa, to be based in…

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Combining Social Media with E-Commerce, New Model of Monetization for Sina Weibo

February 19, 2012 by jinge

Yesterday (Feb 17) Sina Weibo (China’s leading microblog platform )and Ctrip (China’s leading online travel service provider) just announced their new collaboration through which you can find good hotel and flight deals from Ctrip by simply posting your travel requests on Sina Weibo (similar to Twits) then @Ctrip. I tried it by using my android phone to post shanghai+hotel@ctrip, within several seconds I got suggestion…

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IKEA: A new third place for the…elderly and single

February 19, 2012 by Tricia Wang

crt_Ikeacoffee_G_20110907041555 — Wall Street Journal

Ikea’s financial success with 23% revenue growth in China in 2010 is being accompanied by a new challenge, hoards of middle-aged customers who have figured out a way to hack into the Ikea Family membership card. Large crowds of singles between the ages of 45 and 65 show up for unlimited coffee, and…

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Reinvigorating an old art form: Shadow puppets

February 14, 2012 by Jason Li

Neocha is currently profiling the illustration & graphic design work of a Xiamen-based artist, Lin Xiaozuo. Featured: an interesting play on traditional Chinese shadow puppets.

First though, the original art form looks like this (photo source):

And Lin’s work:

For more samples, head over to NeochaEDGE…

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RedPad, a Pad Tailor-Made for Chinese Officials

January 27, 2012 by jinge

Can innovative entrepreneurship prosper in state capitalism? A Beijing company called Red Technology （红派科技） said “Yes” and announced its new product that aims to rival the influential iPad: the RedPad, a pad tailor-made for the Chinese government officials. The innovation of this RedPad does not lie in its hardware or software, it looks no different from other pads and runs…

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The Last Train Home: Following One Migrant Family’s Struggles

January 26, 2012 by An Xiao Mina

A sign in Beijing's Caochangdi reads "On vacation for Spring Festival".

Chunjie aka Spring Festival aka Chinese New Year is here! It was my first month in China last year, and I had just moved to Beijing. I vividly remember dropping off my roommate at Beijing airport for her own participating in Chunyun–the elegant word-pairing that sums up…

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Uncanny confessions by Dashan, the white face who speaks Mandarin on China TV

January 19, 2012 by Jason Li

From Quora, response written by Dashan (Mark Rowswell), the Canadian man that appears in all sorts of Chinese advertisements and TV shows with a mouthful of fluent Mandarin.

The original question:

Why do so many Chinese learners seem to hate Dashan (Mark Rowswell)?
He seems like a nice guy. Does he…

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Is China a Telecom Bridge to North Korea?

January 9, 2012 by An Xiao Mina

Image courtesy Scallop Holden on a Creative Commons License.

With the world’s eyes on North Korea right now, it’s important to remember the role of China in this story. As the North’s primary ally, China will be playing a critical role in the coming months and years as the leadership transition plays out.

…

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Is Twitter Catching Up To Weibo?: Multimedia and Emoji in Western Social Media

December 23, 2011 by An Xiao Mina

The new Twitter interface, courtesy of fly.twitter.com.

There’s an interesting article in Penn Olson recently about Twitter’s new redesign and just how much it resembles Sina Weibo. It’s been circulating around a few tech circles I follow:

Twitter’s slick new redesign has brought it – visually and practically – closer to…

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