China Direct

China Outlook 2018 - KPMG Report - Future opportunities & BRI

 

Dear Members and partners,

Please find information relating to CBI member KPMG's recent China Outlook 2018 Report below.

The interactive dialogue covered future investment opportunities in China and with China (including across the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)) alongside expert analysis of the economic transformation and industrial upgrading during the period of China’s 13th Five-Year Plan and beyond.

All of which can be studied in detail within the China Outlook 2018 report, with a summary of the key messages available on KPMG's website.

With our thanks to CBI member KPMG for sharing this important report.

China National People's Congress 2018 - A Summary

 

Dear CBI members and partners,

Please find attached a useful summary of China's National People's Congress which concluded earlier this week.

Download CPW No. 173

Our grateful thanks to China Politics Weekly for sharing this issue.

(CNPC image above courtesy of www.scmp.com)

 

Popular British brands embracing WeChat - China's most popular social media platform

Popular brands, including CBI members Burberry, Mulberry, British Airways and Durex, are among British companies successfully using instant messaging application WeChat in the Chinese market.

Christopher Bailey, Burberry's chief creative officer, said: "WeChat opens up a huge new world of opportunity in the digital space. The exciting thing for us is the deeper and more meaningful way that we are able to tell our stories using this platform."

Burberry lets users view London Fashion Week catwalk shows on the app, listen to translated interviews with executives, and snap up digital vouchers and promotions. British companies know they can reach Chinese consumers through social media."

In 2016, WeChat had 768 million daily logged-in users, and 60 percent of Chinese shoppers searched Weibo, China's equivalent to Twitter, for brand information.

Plesae read more here.

DLA Piper advises Ping An app Good Doctor on US$500 million Series A financing

CBI member DLA Piper announced that it had advised Ping An Good Doctor, a healthcare and medical mobile app launched by Ping An Insurance, on its US$500 million Series A financing.

Ping An Good Doctor app was launched in April 2015. It provides online consultation services, patient management, pharmaceutical online-to-offline services, digital health profiles, among others.

As of April 2016, it had 77 million registered users and had partnered with over 50,000 doctors from public and private hospitals across the country.

According to Chinese media, this is the single largest investment in China’s online medical service platforms.

The DLA Piper team advised Ping An Good Doctor on the onshore and offshore financing structure, negotiations with the lead investor and other investors, and transaction process management as well as other complex legal issues related to the financing.

Please read more here.

HMA Barbara Woodward visits SW China

 

 

Following the U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer’s visit in September, Barbara Woodward paid her first solo visit to Chengdu as British Ambassador to China on 19-20 November.

 

During her visit, Ambassador Woodward met the Executive Vice Governor of Sichuan province, Wang Ning, and the Mayor of Chengdu, Tang Liangzhi, and exchanged views on the U.K.-Sichuan/Chengdu bilateral relationships. In her meetings, the Ambassador highlighted President Xi’s successful state visit to the U.K. in October.

 

She also discussed the Chancellor’s visit to Chengdu in September in which he introduced the Northern Powerhouse. In addition, the Ambassador visited the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and delivered a speech on the U.K.-China Golden Age: Joint Efforts to a Green and Low Carbon Future to hundreds of students to highlight the U.K.’s and China’s cooperation on clean energy, smart cities, and other areas of low carbon development.

 

She also visited the Gerontology Department and the Tele-health Department of West China Hospital, the second-largest hospital in China. She promised to invite more of the U.K.’s healthcare organisations to Go West and to expand cooperation with West China Hospital and across Sichuan in developing new hospitals, in delivering education and training, and in informatics, telemedicine, and elderly care.

 

The Ambassador also participated in an Empowering Women: Growing Your Career Talk at Fangsuo Bookstore to share her personal experiences with female university students on her own growth and career development.

 

There are now more than 94 U.K. companies registered and doing business in Chengdu and Sichuan—nine of the 94 are in the world’s top 500 companies—in sectors ranging from financial and professional services, aerospace, engineering, construction, and manufacturing.

 

Please read more here.

BBC Earth Films and Shanghai Media Group form partnership to create Earth: One Amazing Day (working title)

CBI member BBC announced that BBC Earth Films and Shanghai Media Group (SMG), China’s leading media group, had formed a partnership to create a major new feature film, Earth: One Amazing Day (working title).

The film is the official sequel to Earth (2007), the second-highest grossing nature documentary ever released, and is the first feature film to be produced under the U.K. and China film co-production treaty.

The signing ceremony took place at the creative showcase being held at Lancaster House as part of the official Chinese state visit to the U.K. Earth: One Amazing Day will be co-produced between SMG Pictures, the film and television production arm of Shanghai Media Group, and BBC Earth Films.

The ambition is to forge a new collaboration between the British and Chinese creative industries. Working with the BBC’s world leading nature filmmakers, Earth: One Amazing Day will be directed by the award-winning British filmmaker Peter Webber (Girl with a Pearl Earring; Emperor; Hannibal Rising) together with a Chinese director still to be announced.

The film will tell the story of one extraordinary day in the life of our amazing planet, celebrating the billions of real life dramas that occur in the natural world every single day. Slated for theatrical release in 2017, the film will launch a decade after the release of Earth and will use the latest innovations in film technology to bring audiences an unforgettable cinematic experience. SMG Pictures will distribute Earth: One Amazing Day on the Chinese mainland.

In addition, it was announced that Sherlock is expected to be shown in cinemas across China. Pending regulatory approval, the new BBC One Sherlock special will be released in theatres as part of a global cinema event.

Since first launching in China in 2010, the series has developed a major following, with over 98 million views of the last season alone.

Tim Davie, Chief Executive of BBC Worldwide, said, “Today’s announcements herald an exciting new collaboration between the Chinese and British creative industries.

There is a keen appetite in China for premium British content and creating two new cinematic experiences in partnership with SMG Pictures is a landmark moment for two of our biggest brands, Sherlock and BBC Earth.”

Madame Wang, Director-General and President of SMG said, “I am delighted that SMG Pictures will be the co-producer of the first feature film to be produced under the landmark U.K. and China film co-production treaty.

This milestone event will act as a bridge between Sino-U.K. cultural exchanges and set up a new model for Sino-U.K. collaboration.”

Please read more here.

CBI Member China Successes September 2015

 

Dear CBI members and partners,

Please find our monthly members success summary for September 2015 attached below for your review.

Members mentioned include:

• Airbus
• Baker & McKenzie
• Benoy
• Bentley Motors
• Boeing
• BP
• British Airways
• British Film Institute
• Deloitte
• Diageo
• EY
• Heathrow Airport Limited
• Imperial College London
• Jones Lang LaSalle
• Linklaters
• PwC
• Rolls-Royce
• Shell
• Simmons & Simmons
• Standard Chartered
• Starbucks Coffee Company
• UBM
• University of Birmingham
• University of Nottingham
• University of Sheffield

Download CBI China, Celebrating CBI Member Success in China, September 2015

CBBC Great British Brands Festival in China 2015

 

The China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) Great British Brands Festival series of events focuses exclusively on selling U.K. products in China.

It provides an important opportunity for companies to showcase and sell their products to Chinese consumers in eight cities.

Following its success in Beijing, Chengdu, and Guangzhou in 2014, the festival is expanding across China, with eight events provisionally planned for 2015 in Chongqing (April), Changchun (May), Beijing (June), Changsha (July), Urumqi (August), Shenzhen (September), Chengdu (October), and Guangzhou (November).

There will also be opportunities to take part in associated events in Hangzhou, Qingdao, Shanghai, Wuhan, and other cities as part of CBBC’s retail-focused China Consumer programme.

Please read more here.

HRH Prince William China Visit - A CBI Review & Highlights

 

 

Kicking off the landmark Year of the Sheep for Sino-British relations, Prince William launched the first ever UK-China Year of Cultural Exchange, opened the GREAT Festival of Creativity in Shanghai, and showcased the very “best of British” in sport, conservation, education, the creative industries, and much more.  

A full summary can be found and downloaded at the bottom of the article - thank you.

Highlights included:

• Prince William’s presentation of an official invitation, on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II, to President Xi Jinping to make a state visit to the UK later this year

 

• Prince William’s visit to a Shanghai secondary school’s football training session, where he saw Premier Skills, the Premier League’s international development initiative, in action

 

• Royal Mail Group’s launch of its shop front on Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s online retailing site

 

• Ratification of a landmark UK-China film co-production treaty, negotiated for the UK by the BFI, with support from the UK government as well

 

• Chinese premiere of Paddington at the Shanghai Film Museum as well as the presentation of the earliest film on record of Shanghai, taken from the BFI National Archive, to Chinese film leaders

 

• BAFTA’s announcement of a new UK-China scholarship programme, which will offer options for financial aid to Chinese and British nationals looking to study film, television, or games as an international student in the UK or China

 

• De Montfort University’s role as the sole education sponsor for the GREAT Festival, where it exhibited work from a number of its subject areas

 

• Neil Carberry’s representation of the CBI on an education panel at the GREAT Festival and his later visit to the University of Nottingham’s campus in Ningbo, the first Sino-foreign university to have opened in China  

 

• The British Council’s inaugural Education UK Alumni Awards in China, which honoured the achievements of Chinese alumni who had received their degrees in the UK

 

• Prince William’s visit to an elephant sanctuary in Southwest China, where he called for greater international efforts on wildlife conservation

 

Download CBI China, The Duke of Cambridge visits China on historic tour, March 2015

 

PwC forecasts China will be world's no 1 retail market by 2018

 

CBI member PwC recently forecasted that China will become the world’s largest retail market by 2018, when it will be worth US$10.3 trillion.

http://www.pwccn.com/home/eng/pr_120215.html