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| November 23 · Issue #1 · View online |
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Hi there and welcome to the inaugural edition of the Chinafornia Newsletter! Starting this week, I’ll be sending out this weekly digest of the top news+events in the space I like to call Chinafornia – the fluid ecosystem of people, money and ideas bouncing back and forth between the Golden State and the Middle Kingdom.
The newsletter will be covering a few key areas: Silicon Valley, investment, Hollywood, energy/environment, real estate, education, Chinatowns, and tidbits from inside the beltway. At the bottom of each edition I’ll include two bonuses: Golden Oldie and Culture Corner. The Golden Oldie will be a great Chinafornia article/video from days past, and Culture Corner will be a little slice of Chinese culture that I just dig. Who am I? I’m Matt Sheehan, former China Correspondent for The Huffington Post & The WorldPost. I grew up in the Bay Area and spent over five years in mainland China. I’m now back in the Bay Area consulting on China-related projects and writing a book on Chinafornia. You can read some of my best work on my own website: An Optimist’s Guide to China.
If you enjoy the newsletter, please forward to anyone who might be interested, and don’t forget to enter your email to SUBSCRIBE. Follow me on Twitter @mattsheehan88 and feel free to email me at mattsheehan88@gmail.com.
Enjoy this week’s newsletter!
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Facebook Said to Create Censorship Tool to Get Back Into China - The New York Times
“The social network, blocked in China since 2009, has developed software to keep posts from appearing in users’ news feeds in specific geographic areas, current and former employees said.”
Matt: Been clear for a long time that this is coming, the real questions going forward will be whether Beijing budges, how much heat Facebook takes abroad, and whether they can wrestle marketshare away from deeply entrenched platforms like WeChat.
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China's Tech Unicorns Look Increasingly Cursed - Bloomberg
“In ancient mythology, Chinese unicorns are lucky, rare creatures that appear to mark the arrival or death of a great leader, like Confucius. Today, China’s tech unicorns – private companies valued at $1 billion or more – are far more commonplace and look increasingly cursed.”
Matt: Appropriately sobering analysis from the always excellent Christina Larson. The effects of this boom/bust(?) are apparent in the Valley, but notably the unicorns with the largest California footprint (Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent) don’t owe their valuations purely to the hype-cycles of newer unicorns.
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Apple will 'suffer' if Trump starts trade war, Chinese government-backed media warns
“Will the iPhone and other devices manufactured in China be harmed by a Trump presidency? Possibly, warns an editorial from the Global Times, a Chinese state-run publication, if a Trump presidency follows through on its campaign promises when it comes to the Communist nation.”
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U.S. panel urges ban on China state firms buying U.S. companies| Reuters
“U.S. lawmakers should take action to ban China’s state-owned firms from acquiring U.S. companies, a congressional panel charged with monitoring security and trade links between Washington and Beijing said on Wednesday.”
Matt: This could be very big symbolically as a rejection of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOE’s) in the US, but acquisitions are far less productive/positive for local jobs than greenfield investments, which SOE’s do very little of anyway. According to the Rhodium Group’s China Investment Monitor, SOE’s accounted for $4.7B of $17B in acquisitions through Q2 2016.
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Alibaba Executive Issues Warning for President-Elect Trump | Hollywood Reporter
“Before the kick-off of Alibaba’s Singles Day sales event, which generated $7.2 billion in two hours, the company’s vice chairman highlighted the risks of creating barriers between U.S. and Chinese consumers.”
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Chinese copper firm buys owner of Hollywood's Voltage, maker of 'The Hurt Locker'| Reuters
“A Chinese copper-processing company has bought a controlling stake in the Hollywood studio behind Oscar-winning films "The Hurt Locker” and “Dallas Buyers Club”, in the latest sign of China’s ambitions in global entertainment.“
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Jackie Chan Receives Lifetime Achievement Oscar - China Film Insider
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Trump's War on Trade Could Hurt America's Public Universities | The Huffington Post
“Despite Trump’s claim that he “loves the poorly educated,” public higher education is one slice of the economy that America can’t afford to sacrifice.”
Matt: My piece for The WorldPost/Huffington Post, combining new data on international enrollment (see below) and the way public universities used full-tuition Chinese students to plug post-2008 budget holes. On my own website I’ve posted my original version of the article, which is structured quite differently and goes into greater detail on the tradeoffs and controversies of upping Chinese enrollment.
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2014-16 | Leading Places of Origin | International Students | Open Doors Data
“This survey, part of the Open Doors report on international educational exchange, provides data on international students in the U.S. by leading places of origin from 2014-2016.”
Matt: Best dataset out there gets updated for 2015-16. China still top feeder country, nearly double second-ranked India, but growth rate in single digits (8.1%) for first time since 2006/07. California top recipient of all international students (149,000) and Chinese students (52,000). Lots more interesting data in there to explore on economic contribution, source of funding, etc.
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‘Is It Safe?’ Foreign Students Consider College in Donald Trump’s U.S. - The New York Times
Matt: Article focuses on Indian students, but easy to imagine similar effects on Chinese, especially if Trump escalates China rhetoric or initiates trade war.
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'Here, I am above average': Chinese 'parachute kids' are coming to the U.S. at younger ages - LA Times
“China’s wealth boom has produced an ever growing and ever younger contingent of students who come to America to escape the fiercely competitive Chinese education system.”
Matt: Frank Shyong does great local Chinafornia stories out of LA.
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Greenland NYC Project May Have Just Lost $1B in Value | Mingtiandi
“Chinese real estate developer Greenland Group may have just lost more than $700 mil on its Pacific Park project in Brooklyn, while its Spire project in London…”
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U.S. Foreign Investor Program Funding More Luxury Projects - The New York Times
“The EB-5 program was intended to reward people for putting money into depressed areas of the United States, in exchange for residency.”
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NYU EB-5 Research Database
Matt: Interesting database, looking forward to perusing.
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Local Proposition Results: Tent Ban, Soda Tax Pass, Youth Voting, Public Advocate Fail, And Much, Much More: SFist
Matt: SF passes Proposition O exempting huge EB-5 funded mega-development (“San Francisco Shipyards”) from limits on office space. Big green light for the most transformative real estate project in the region, largely funded by Chinese immigrant investors.
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Can Chinese Millionaires Save San Francisco's Poorest Neighborhood? | The Huffington Post
Matt: My 2014 piece on SF project from 2014. Recently returned to site and its come a long way. Need to check up on jobs+community impact.
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The real secret to Asian American success was not education - The Washington Post
“Researchers have debunked a long-running theory for why Asian Americans have done so well.”
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The ghosts of Chinatown - Curbed SF
“A neighborhood of haunting traditions, from the alleys to the taxis to the YMCA. But don’t go talking about Chinatown ghosts carelessly.”
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BART janitor grossed $270K in pay and benefits last year
Matt: Grinder’s Hall of Fame, first ballot unanimous selection.
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美国大选后现反华言论 中国总领馆提醒留学生注意安全_凤凰资讯
Matt: Chinese Consulate in SF warns of post-election protests/violence turning against Chinese nationals, offers hotlines for Chinese nationals.
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How Trump Is Good for China - The New York Times
“The Chinese prefer a relationship with a United States that doesn’t impose its values on the world.”
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A Trump-China Reading List, and Unanswered Questions for his Asia Policy - Lawfare
Matt: This piece from the day after the election, but many questions remain open, and lots of good links to explore. Graham Webster puts out an excellent “U.S.-China Week” newsletter that you can sign up for here.
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PR Associate_2017 Alibaba Global Leadership Academy
“Alibaba is currently hiring for the Alibaba Global Leadership Academy (AGLA) program, a full-time opportunity starting with an intensive 12-month rotational program across Alibaba’s core business units at our global headquarter in Hangzhou, China.”
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Why Are Chinese Millionaires Buying Mansions in an L.A. Suburb? - Bloomberg
“Chinese money transforms a California suburb.”
Matt: Great 2014 piece by Karen Weise on cultural tensions in Arcadia.
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Get After That Paper/票儿吃起走 by Fat Shady aka 谢帝 feat. Ma Siwei by Matt Sheehan | Free Listening on SoundCloud
Matt: This week’s cultural nugget comes from Fat Shady (aka 谢帝. pictured above), a Chinese-based rapper that I profiled for The WorldPost in 2015. The song is called 票儿吃起走, roughly translated as “Get After That Paper,” and it’s some of my favorite home grown Chinese hip hop. You can listen to more tracks by Fat Shady and others here on my Soundcloud.
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