Homie Weekly | News Update for This Week (May 17, 2024)

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1、Adopted Pakistani woman in China goes viral, hopes to buy parents a house

A Pakistani woman adopted by a Chinese couple as a child has seen her fame skyrocket after a video of herself eating noodles at home went viral.

Her most viral video to date — with over 1.3 million views — is one from November 2023, in which she is seen eating noodles and speaking in a Henan dialect.

Fan was adopted by her Chinese parents about 20 years ago when they traveled from their home in Henan to Pakistan for work.

Fan hopes to continue making a living through livestreaming, selling her village’s agricultural products and promoting their province as a tourist destination. She also wants to use her earnings to buy her parents a home near the city.

https://nextshark.com/fan-zihe-adopted-pakistani-woman-china

2、McDonald’s China Says Sorry, Will Crack Down on Sale of Expired, Sub-standard Food at Two Outlets

The China arm of US fast food chain McDonald’s has apologized after two of its eateries were found to be using food past their sell-by-date and substituting inferior ingredients.

McDonald’s China is co-operating with the probe by market regulators, the company said. Any infringements of operating standards will be dealt with severely and will not be tolerated.

McDonald’s Zhuoyue Nonglian restaurant in Zhengzhou, central Henan province, and an eatery near University of Jinan in eastern Shandong province have been found to be changing shelf-life dates, selling food past its storage life, serving fried food that failed to meet quality standards and skimping on labor and materials.

McDonald’s entered the China market more than 30 years ago and it now runs 6,000 outlets and employs over 200,000 people in the country. The company added 900 eateries last year, an average of one new outlet every 10 hours, setting a new record.

https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/mcdonalds-china-says-sorry-will-crack-down-on-sale-of-expired-sub-standard-food-at-two-outlets

3、China's first pet waiting lounge opens in Shenzhen

Pets now have their own dedicated air travel service in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

Shenzhen Airport has opened the country's first pet-friendly waiting lounge in an effort to make the airport more pet-friendly, according to a CCTV report.

The pet waiting lounge features separate areas for cats and dogs, ensuring that each pet has its own comfortable space while waiting for their flight.

Services at the lounge include ticket booking and assistance with quarantine and health checks. Passengers can also track their pets' journey online.

"We have established exclusive security and boarding procedures for pets," said Zhou Jie, an official at Shenzhen Airport. “Caretakers will be present for regular checks, and in cases of flight delays, pets can receive complimentary boarding services."

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2024-05-13/China-s-first-pet-waiting-lounge-opens-in-Shenzhen--1tzl2Q1EiuA/p.html

4、White House unveils new protectionist tariffs on Chinese-made EVs

The White House unveiled on Tuesday new tariffs on imports of electric vehicles, solar cells and other clean-energy products from China, in a protectionist move widely believed to imperil the American ambition to enhance competitiveness and slash carbon emissions.

According to the plan, the tariffs on Chinese EV imports will jump from some 25 percent to 100 percent. And with an additional 2.5-percent tariff on all vehicles imported into the U.S. market, the total levies on Chinese EVs will be an astounding 102.5 percent.

Shortly after the announcement, China's commerce ministry said Tuesday that China firmly opposes and lodges solemn representations over U.S. further increase of additional tariffs on some Chinese goods, and will take resolute measures to safeguard its own rights and interests.

https://english.news.cn/northamerica/20240514/e11ed7af5ae84afe9fe4e3e6b431f0bb/c.html

5、Chinese Shopping Platforms Phase Out Unpopular Presale Schemes

Several leading Chinese e-commerce platforms are phasing out their presale schemes for the upcoming “618” Shopping Festival after receiving thousands of complaints from consumers.

Presale schemes allow shoppers to reserve an item weeks ahead of a shopping festival, paying a small deposit upfront and the remaining balance on the day of the festival.

The mechanisms were supposed to make China’s shopping festivals less chaotic and unpredictable — allowing consumers to lock in orders and merchants to get a clearer idea of how much stock they needed to prepare ahead of time.

But they quickly became highly unpopular, with consumers complaining that presold items regularly arrived late or were subject to last-minute price hikes.

As a result, China’s e-commerce industry appears to be moving away from the practice, with both JD.com and Tmall announcing they will not be using presale schemes for this year’s “618.”

https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1015135

6、‘Singer 2024’ Striking Fear Into China’s Biggest Pop Stars

The TV talent show “Singer 2024” has sparked something of a crisis of confidence in China’s pop music industry, after some of the country’s biggest stars were outshone by a pair of unknown foreign performers in the competition’s opening episode.

Straplines for the show promise viewers that they’ll only hear “real singing, no autotune.” Producers told domestic media that many stars had declined to take part in the show.

Guangming Daily commented that the show’s live format “truly tears off the veil of the domestic entertainment industry.”

“When it comes to vocals, there are no shortcuts, fewer technological enhancements, and less reliance on editing. If you suck, practice more. Don’t let technology devour creativity,” it said.

Since the episode aired, several Chinese singers have taken to social media to offer to appear in forthcoming episodes of “Singer” — and restore faith in China’s pop scene. “I am a Chinese singer, I am ready for battle,” said folk star Han Hong.

https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1015142

7、ByteDance enters the AI arena with cost-effective Doubao

ByteDance, parent firm of TikTok and Douyin, unveiled its own generative AI model Doubao in China on Wednesday, joining the AI capability battlefield in China with low cost and rich application scenarios.

ByteDance's entry into the AI space does not occur in a vacuum, as China boasts a vibrant ecosystem of AI language models, such as Baidu's Ernie Bot, Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen and SenseTime's SenseNova.

The advantage of Doubao may be ByteDance's huge user base in China covering Douyin and other apps. Before its official release, Doubao, as an AI bot app, has become the most popular one in AIGC (AI generative content) category in stores including Apple's App Store. Its monthly active user base has reached 26 million, said the company.

https://www.shine.cn/biz/company/2405158088/

8、China welcomes foreign visitors with expanded visa-free policy for cruise travel

China on Wednesday enforced a policy allowing visa-free entry of foreign tourist groups aboard cruise ships via all cruise ship ports along the country's coastline.

Tourist groups each consisting of two foreigners or more, and organized or received by Chinese travel agencies, can enter China visa free on board cruise ships via the cruise ports in 13 Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Sanya, according to the National Immigration Administration (NIA).

The tourists can stay in China for no longer than 15 days. While in China, they can visit coastal provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions as well as Beijing, an NIA statement noted.

https://english.news.cn/20240515/72953177e0cf482ca79f6dfb4a57cd87/c.html

9、TV series ‘To The Wonder’ boosts tourism in Xinjiang’s Altay

The breathtaking landscapes of Altay in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, as depicted in the popular mini TV series "To the Wonder," have mesmerized audiences, drawing visitors to the city and significantly boosting tourism in Xinjiang.

Filmed in this pristine area, the drama showcased the stunning natural beauty and unique cultural charm of Altay, which sparked widespread online discussions about touring the city.

Since the release of the series on May 5, the internet searches about Altay more than doubled, with searches for Altay homestays increasing by 200 percent over the previous week. The same cabins which featured in the drama have become too popular to book. Additionally, bookings for group tours across Xinjiang have increased by 247 percent compared to the previous week.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202405/1312345.shtml

10、Stunning red sky over China wins fans online

Photographs of stunning red aurora displays in parts of North China have attracted plenty of online interest recently, being praised for their exceptional beauty, rarity in the region, and distinctive coloring compared with the blue and green auroras typically observed in Nordic countries.

"As a 'byproduct' of geomagnetic storms, auroras are formed when high-energy particles brought by intense solar activity collide with the upper atmosphere of the Earth, resulting in a varied display of colors at different altitudes," said Chen Anqin, chief forecaster at China's National Center for Space Weather, adding that it is normal to see red auroras in mid-latitude regions like China during periods of intense solar activity.

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202405/15/WS664411d1a31082fc043c7279.html