Ged Carroll

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  • Chinese COVID protests

    Chinese COVID protests have been held in major cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing and Chengdu. Why did the Chinese COVID protests happened and what does it mean?

    SARS painting
    One panel of a SARS triptych that I photographed back in 2010 at a Chinese Communist Party exhibition at the Guan Shanyue Art Museum in Shenzhen, China.

    TL;DR (too long, didn’t read)

    The Chinese COVID protests aren’t comparable to events like the 1989 protests or Hong Kong in 2019.

    The Third Hong Kong’s anti-extradition law protest
    The Third Hong Kong’s anti-extradition law protest
    第三次反送中遊行

    Secondly, there are clear parallels for behaviours in other markets. However, when viewed through the lens of Chinese communist party, the restlessness of their population will further feel their paranoia. Part of this paranoia will be down them knowing that they the current administration has let down the population in a long-standing promise on epidemics, initially made by Mao Zedong.

    Xi Jinping

    This betrayal of the people may be emblematic of deep-rooted flaws in the senior party leadership team. To paraphrase Sir James Porter; a party rots from the head down.

    Why did it happen?

    After a shaky start, that mirrored the early Chinese government response to SARS[i]. China managed its first wave COVID-19 experience successfully using lockdowns to control the spread of the virus. It pursued what was called a Zero COVID policy. They managed to keep the virus largely contained in Wuhan and the local province of Hubei. By the summer the government held it largely under control.[ii]

    There was Chinese government censorship internally[iii] and misinformation[iv] externally[v]. By the summer of 2020, COVID was largely under control within China. By August 2020, Wuhan was able to host a giant pool party of unmasked attendees dancing along to a DJ playing EDM, like it was Ibiza on the Yangtze.

    China managed to hold COVID down through strict lockdowns through 2021. But by the spring of 2022, there was an infection peak again and further lockdowns have ensued. 

    Over time, China has attempted to be more granular in its approach to lockdowns over time and called this ‘dynamic zero COVID’. However, lockdowns themselves have implicit risks[vi], for instance research found that a rise in depression and anxiety could see a rise of premature death of 134%[vii]. Research has shown that these factors are particularly acute in medical staff involved in treating COVID-19[viii]. Chinese companies and the government tried to address mental health through digital channels, these responses outstripped existing regulations[ix].

    The pressure of COVID lockdowns together with mistakes seems to have produced an environment for the protests to grow. 

    The BBC coverage paraphrased some of the protestors that they interviewed talking about feeling angry, sad, helpless – in a state of purgatory[x]. One can understand the sense of frustration portrayed and the likelihood of how this can lead to protest in those desperate enough.

    Vaccinations with Chinese socialist characteristics

    As of July 2022, China had apparently given out over 3 billion vaccines, or enough to have vaccinated the population at least twice and then some[xi]. But the vaccination rate amongst the elderly was significantly lower than other comparable countries by 2022[xii]. This has meant that China is worried about a massive amount of COVID fatalities occurring, if it altered course. 

    The lower vaccination rates were attributed to a number of factors including misinformation on social media influencing elderly Chinese to self-quarantine instead. Secondly, immune-compromised people in China were sometimes advised by doctors to not take the vaccine. And the Chinese government chose to vaccinate younger working age people first, as they were more likely to come in contact with the virus[xiii].

    What happened to drive the Chinese COVID protests?

    A series of insights into the world outside China from Xi Jinping at the G20[xiv] to the World Cup Finals in Qatar showed life going on without face masks[xv]. So Chinese COVID protestors would have a good idea that COVID outside China is much less restrictive in nature. This is the reverse of the reaction that happened during the Wuhan pool party, which fuelled debate and more than a bit of envy in some westerners. 

    Inciting incidents

    Then a succession of horrific mistakes by the Chinese government and big business fuelled consumer frustration and anger in the months leading up to the protest: 

    • A bus transporting people to a quarantine facility in Guizhou province killed 27 people and injured another 20[xvi].
    • Foxconn delayed bonus payments[xvii] to workers locked down on their factory and provided insufficient food for the quarantined workers[xviii]
    • An apartment block fire in Urumqi, Xinjiang caught fire[xix]. The fire was covered on state television. The ten deaths that occurred were blamed by protestors on COVID lockdown conditions. I want to add that this doesn’t mean that Han Chinese have put aside long-standing prejudice and suddenly feel brotherly solidarity with Uighur citizen[xx]; but they could see the same thing happening to themselves if they got caught in a lockdown. This distinction is important as Han-Uighur solidarity would represent many bigger problems for the Chinese government

    The common thread amongst all the inciting events is that Chinese protestors could easily see themselves in the place of victims of these disasters. You can combine this with frustration and a perfect storm for the Chinese COVID protests in major cities. Western coverage has given some weight to those voices who shouted for Xi Jinping to resign[xxi], this doesn’t signify a colour revolution in motion. Instead, these are likely more a measure of frustration with COVID restrictions. But they could be personally and politically embarrassing for Xi Jinping and reinforce existing internal Chinese communist party fears. 

    Government response to Chinese COVID protests

    The communist party looked to censor online channels of the protests[xxii], but netizens kept reposting the content. Since China has a real ID policy for mobile phone numbers and digital accounts these posters knew the risk of being traced by the security apparatus. 

    Government influenced media and online personalities promoted a narrative that the protests had been instigated by external influence. This immediate leap to speculate on foreign influence is in keeping with Xi Jinping’s vision of constant vigilance and paranoia on internal national security. 

    The allegations of foreign influence were used to mobilise patriots[xxiii] to try and intimidate foreign journalists during previous crisis, but failed to achieve the same goal this time. 

    This narrative was anticipated and ridiculed by the protagonists in the Chinese COVID protests[xxiv].  

    Which foreign forces do you talk about? Karl Marx or Friedrick Engels?

    Attributed to a protestor in Beijing

    A heavy police presence managed to restrict protestors gathering on subsequent evenings[xxv]. University students have been sent home early from the end of the semester, to prevent further student activism on campus[xxvi].  Chinese authorities immediately set out to track down those who participated in, or supported the protests.

    But in Guangzhou, the heavier police presence resulted in a violent clash with protestors. The scene has a ridiculous aspect to it with riot police wearing Tyvek bunny suits to protect themselves against COVID infection[xxvii].

    Quiet moves

    Some cities in China like Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen have started to ease off from their COVID testing regime in the face of Chinese COVID protests; yet the infection numbers are reaching record rates in the country[xxviii].

    China is justifying this, by claiming that Omicron infections were less likely to result in death. Scientific experts disagree[xxix] and point to Hong Kong’s COVID-19 wave during the spring[xxx] as an indicator of what we’re likely to expect in China. 

    What’s less apparent is how China will improve vaccination rates. China’s inability to force older citizens to vaccinate belies the countries authoritarian nature. 

    This inability to vaccinate is particularly curious, as it chips away at the Chinese communist party’s legitimacy. It is over 64 years since the founder of modern China Mao Zedong wrote ‘Farewell to the God of Plagues’[xxxi], yet the party under Xi Jinping is still struggling to vanquish COVID-19 after almost three years. 

    While western media speculates about the reasons why China won’t use more effective foreign vaccines[xxxii], I find the inability to vaccinate the elderly a bigger mystery. 

    China engaged in foreign interference, by attempting to spam foreign social media platforms to try and crowd out and conceal genuine posts covering the Chinese COVID protests[xxxiii].

    What can we learn from other countries experiences with regards the Chinese COVID protests?

    China managed to avoid the number of deaths that occurred in other countries so far as we know through lockdowns, quarantine and controlled access to public spaces based on regular testing. 

    But it isn’t the only country to experience a youth-based resistance to COVID lockdown style restrictions. Kings College London conducted research throughout the COVID pandemic. 

    As locked down was eased they found that about 24 percent of the population were likely to think that the restrictions should be lifted faster and saw the risks of COVID-19 as being lower than the rest of the population[xxxiv]. During lockdown King’s College London research identified a group called ‘the resisting’[xxxv].

    The resisting were about 9 percent of the population. They skewed young and male with a mean age of 29. They were outliers in terms of belief in rumours and have a high usage on social media usage.

    A hypothetical Chinese technocrat looking for comfort in these numbers would see a silent majority that is compliant or supportive of COVID prevention measures and that the Chinese COVID protests were done by a young minority. This would also mirror the experience during the 2002 – 2003 SARS outbreak, when people in Zhejiang province protested over the inability of the Chinese government to control the epidemic[xxxvi].

    30 Years Ago Today
    Toronto editions of Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily and Taiwan’s World Journal from June 5-7, 1989. Both Hong Kong and Taiwan enjoyed Western-style freedom including freedom of the press, which explains why such newspaper records exist. In China, the event of June 4 1989 is not mentioned anywhere. 
     
    The headlines read:
     
    “Bodies pile up in Beijing Massacre. A Hudred Thousand Dead or Wounded” ***
     
    “Fierce fighting continues in Beijing’s east side, troops leave Tiananmen Square”
     
    “U.S., Soviet Union, other countries evacuate their citizens from Beijing”
     
    *** Because of the news blockade and dangerous conditions in Beijing, the very first reports initially said as many as 100,000 were killed or wounded, this was later corrected to as many as 20,000. The most credible estimates suggest between 2,000 and 8,000 casualties.

    They would be slightly more alarmed by the calls for Xi Jinping to stand down, and the fact that protestors weren’t just from the middle-class student body but also involved worker protests as well[xxxvii]. However, one could argue that this is a coincidence rather than the cross-class unity[xxxviii]  that underpinned a succession of protests across China in 1989[xxxix] culminating in the June 4 massacre. 

    [i] Huang, Y. (2004) “The SARS Epidemic and its Aftermath in China: a Political Perspective“. Institute of Medicine Forum on Microbial Threats, National Academies Press. United States

    [ii] Burki, T. (8 October 2020). “China’s successful control of COVID-19”. The Lancet Infectious Diseases. United Kingdom

    [iii] Zhong, R. (27 January 2020). “As Virus Spreads, Anger Floods Chinese Social Media”. The New York Times. United States

    [iv] “China Concealed Extent of Virus Outbreak, U.S. Intelligence Says”. Bloomberg. United States

    [v] Cook, S. “Welcome to the New Era of Chinese Government Disinformation”. thediplomat.com. United States

    [vi] Johnson, CY. Cadell, C. Achenbach, J. (1 December 2022) “How China’s vaccine strategy stoked its looming ‘zero covid’ crisis“. The Washington Post. United States

    [vii] MIHR Maudsley BRC (27 April 2020) “Depression and anxiety increase premature death by up to 134%”. King’s College London. United Kingdom

    [viii] (21 April 2020). “Survey of UK nurses and midwives’ highlights their concerns about health, training and workload during COVID-19“. King’s College London. United Kingdom

    [ix] Lau China Institute (28 July 2021) “China’s Digital Mental Health Services Outpacing Regulation“. King’s College London. United Kingdom

    [x] Mao, F. (2 December 2022) “China protests: The young people powering the demonstrations“. BBC. United Kingdom

    [xi] (Last updated 15 July 2022). “Mainland China”. Reuters COVID-19 tracker. United Kingdom

    [xii] “Share of the elderly population vaccinated against COVID-19 in China as of March 17, 2022 by age group”. Statista.com

    [xiii] Xing, D. (18 March 2022) “Why are many Chinese elderly unvaccinated against COVID-19 when they’re a priority group in countries such as Australia?”. ABC News. Australia

    [xiv] Baptista, E. Polard, MQ. (17 November 2022) “Analysis: Unmasked and in charge, China’s Xi puts personal diplomacy back in play”. Reuters. United Kingdom

    [xv] Pollard, MQ. (24 November 2022) “For Chinese soccer fans, World Cup highlights COVID lockdown blues“. Reuters. United Kingdom

    [xvi] Farrer, M. (19 September 2022) “Anger in China after 27 people killed in Covid quarantine bush crash“. The Guardian. United Kingdom

    [xvii] (24 November 2022) “Foxconn Apologizes for Pay Dispute at China Factory“. Voice of America. United States

    [xviii] Goh, B. Lee, Y. (24 November 2022) “Huge Foxconn iPhone plant in China rocked by fresh worker unrest“ Reuters. United Kingdom

    [xix] (26 November 2022) “Apartment fire in China’s Xinjiang region kills 10“. Reuters. United Kingdom

    [xx] Fallows, J. (13 July 2009) “On Uighurs, Han, and general racial attitudes in China“. The Atlantic. United States

    [xxi] (1 December 2022) “What 1989 can teach us about the recent protests in China“. The Economist. United Kingdom

    [xxii] (29 November 2022) “China Uses Police, Censors, Covid Easing to Stem Protests“. Bloomberg. United States

    [xxiii] Davidson, H. (26 July 2021) “Foreign journalists harassed in China over floods coverage“. The Guardian. United Kingdom

    [xxiv] Lam, O. (1 December 2022) “China’s foreign interference narrative fails to demonize the nationwide anti-zero COVID protests”. Stichting Global Voices. The Netherlands

    [xxv] Davidson, H. Yu, V. (28 November 2022) “Chinese police out in force in attempt to deter Covid lockdown protests“. The Guardian. United Kingdom

    [xxvi] (29 November 2022) “Chinese universities send students home in an effort to prevent more protests“ NPR Online. United States

    [xxvii] (30 November 2022) “COVID protests escalate in Guangzhou as China lockdown anger boils“. EURACTIV Media Network. Belgium

    [xxviii] (3 December 2022) “China continues lifting Covid restrictions despite near-record case numbers“. The Guardian. United Kingdom

    [xxix] Graham-Harrison, E. (4 December 2022) “Fears of deadly infection surge as China abandons zero-Covid policy“. The Guardian. United Kingdom

    [xxx] Hutton, M. (11 March 2022) “‘It is like we are being left to die’: Hong Kog tackles deadliest Covid wave“. The Guardian. United Kingdom

    [xxxi] Cooper, A. Galambos, I. (28 October 2018) p: 345 – 375 “The Other Greek: An Introduction to Chinese and Japanese Characters, Their History and Influence“. BRILL. The Netherlands

    [xxxii] Martina, M. Brunnstrom, D. (4 December 2022) “China’s Xi unwilling to accept western vaccines, U.S. official says“. Reuters. United Kingdom

    [xxxiii] Milmo, D. (4 December 2022) “China accused of flooding social media with spam to crowd out protest news“. The Guardian. United Kingdom

    [xxxiv] The Policy Institute (7 June 2020) “The UK is dividing as the lockdown is eased”. King’s College London. United Kingdom

    [xxxv] Duffy, B, Allington, D. (27 April 2020) “The Accepting, the Suffering and the Resisting: the different reactions to life under lockdown“. King’s College London. United Kingdom

    [xxxvi] Watts, J. (6 May 2003) “SARS sparks Chinese riots“. The Guardian. United Kingdom

    [xxxvii] Kerrigan, A. (30 November 2022) “Five Factors to Watch as the Chinese Communist Party Faces Protests“. RAND Corporation. United States

    [xxxviii] Chow, T. (4 June 2020) “The Forgotten Workers of Tiananmen Square“. The Nation. United States

    [xxxix] Kuo, L. (2 June 2022) “China’s other Tiananmens: 30 years on“. The Guardian. United States

  • Land Warrior + more stuff

    Land Warrior programme

    The US Army’s Land Warrior programme was in development for some 33 years. The idea behind it is that better informed soldiers who are connected to support assets can do more with less and survive.

    Chris Capelluto put together a good accessible history of the programme.

    Burning chrome

    About a decade after the rise of cyberpunk developed as a literature genre, the defence thinkers realised the potential of modern technologies that would have sounded similar to Case’s cyber deck in Neuromancer.  

    Head up displays, small but connected and powerful networked computers and connected weapon sights of the Land Warrior programme have taken over three decades to fulfil the original vision. Technology takes time, while Land Warrior has taken three plus decades; artificial intelligence is taking a lot longer again.

    Human factors

    Even now the Land Warrior programme isn’t completely sorted. The Microsoft Halolens AR displays are said to cause debilitating nausea, headaches and eye strain. More than 80% of those who experienced discomfort suffered symptoms within three hours of using the Land Warrior AR headset.

    The wearable computer of the Land Warrior programme is an Android powered Smartphone sized device, but would be using very different networks. The network is both the strength and the point of weakness in the Land Warrior programme.

    How the networked structures of Land Warrior will fully affect military culture and power structures will be interesting. All of it will be creating tensions in the millennia of ‘hard-wiring’ humans have had since before the dawn of civilisation as we know it and the impact will be much deeper than just the physical tiredness from head up display googles.

    Just think about the benefits and ills of social media, or how the world has shrunk through video calls. In my parent’s lifetime, people leaving their homes in Ireland to emigrate to the US or Australia used to have a wake at their leaving. In some respects that departure was a form of death. That is very different to the relationship that I have with family and friends around the world now. Changes coming through from Land Warrior might be equally deep over time.

    Business

    5 new charts on airline industry – does it still exist? | Genuine Impact – interesting analysis on aviation

    China

    China’s pivot is a bit of a mess – by Noah Smith 

    I suspect that this has been ‘tweaked’ to get past ‘Nat Sec’ but the basic thrust is interesting The West must be prepared to face the growing global reach of China’s laws | South China Morning Post

    Interesting discussion on China’s move towards self sufficiency and technological superiority and as you listen to this have a read of Fortress China: Xi Jinping’s plan for economic independence | Financial Times 

    Vatican says China violated pact on bishops, wants explanation | Reuters – well that was inevitable. As was this: As Xi reemerges, Europe again falls prey to China’s divide-and-rule tactics – POLITICO and EU’s Charles Michel to Meet Xi Jinping as Europe Forges Own Path on China – Bloomberg 

    Towards the Sunak doctrine? – Britain’s World 

    Japan makers to reduce reliance on China suppliers: Nikkei survey – Nikkei Asia – I don’t understand why Japan hasn’t been doing this sooner. Pretty much with the same with Apple: Analysis: Apple supply chain data shows receding exposure to China as risks mount | Reuters 

    Chinese Embassy in London likely to be in very hostile environment: Showdown looms over China’s new ‘super-embassy’ | The Spectator 

    Consumer behaviour

    A lament for the age of apathy | Financial Times – Turnout in the US election of 1996 fell below 50 per cent. In Britain five years later, it was the lowest since the Great war. Most pop culture either side of the millennium wasn’t even allusively or allegorically political. You can read Jane Austen — goes the old line — without knowing that Napoleon was cutting through Europe. You can watch Friends without knowing that America has a government. The peak of the apolitical age was Big Brother, which, in sealing contestants from the news, didn’t disrupt their lives much. – I think a large amount of society still live in that bubble

    Dating apps and Telegram: How China protesters are defying authorities | Reuters 

    Design

    Hyundai to remake original 1974 Pony coupe concept car | CAR Magazine 

    I was watching this video and I could it imagine something similar being done to describe the luck of many market towns in the west of Ireland with the identikit feel

    Maintenance Is Sorely Needed In The Fight Against Global Warming 

    Economics

    Economist calls on Beijing to shift from investment to boosting consumer spending 

    Some market forecasters are in denial, says Future Horizons’ Penn | EE Times – Penn’s commentary implies a deeper state of global economic decline in the near future

    Britain and the US are poor societies with some very rich people | Financial Times – I used to hear from Korean and Chinese friends that “The UK was a rich country with poor people’ which gets at this truth. They were saying that over a decade ago and things have only gotten worse

    The video below is a good run down on the short term aspects of the current state of the UK economy. However UK productivity has been going wrong for decades. Several reasons:

    • The UK relies on services rather than manufacturing – While the UK was in the EU, those factories that remained imported more productive workers from the east. With Brexit the manufacturing and warehouses went east instead along with income tax revenues
    • The UK has a serious skills gap, there isn’t the prevalence of night colleges any more
    • The UK has been declining in automation. The classic example is trying to find an automatic car wash. During the 1970s and 1980s these were all over the UK. Now you get a bunch of people with buckets. UK warehouses are much less automated than most other places. This is partly down to several decades of short termism that Will Hutton wrote about back in The State We’re In circa 1995
    • Brexit has permanently re-eingineered supply chains around the UK
    • Too much UK investment has gone into real estate, you only have to see all the developments in London and Manchester
    • Universities are now developed for the benefit of foriegn students rather than domestic talent growth, innovation. And the universities are over leveraged in property development and are likely to go under if there is a reduction in foreign students or a rise in interest rates

    All of which makes these predictions about Poland even more credible: Poland projection of the day – Marginal REVOLUTION 

    Qatar reviews investments in London after ad ban on buses and Tube | Financial Times – I can understand why they wouldn’t be reconsidering a whole pile of different things. Qatar spent 200 billion on the World Cup and must be so disappointed with the way things have been received.

    Eurozone inflation falls more than expected to 10% | Financial Times 

    Don’t panic! Europe is not facing imminent de-industrialization. | Noahpinion – I am less sure than Noah. BASF is already repositioning the bulk of its business in China to take advantage of energy at the source. This is despite the bulk of its customers being in Europe. Erosion of foundational industries like BASF will rot European industry from the inside.

    Energy

    Helping Shell, and Others, Get EV Charging Going – EE Times 

    Ford invests £150mn in Liverpool plant in electric car parts expansion | Financial Times interesting contrast with EU plans subsidy war chest as industry faces ‘existential’ threat from US – POLITICO 

    Saudi PIF-backed EV firm secures site for Foxconn project | DigiTimes – Saudi thinking beyond oil

    Chinese EV maker XPeng under organizational restructuring to get through challenges | DigiTimes 

    Epson to End All Laser Printer Sales by 2026 – ExtremeTech – quietly chosen to stop selling laser printer hardware by 2026. The company will instead focus on its more environmentally-friendly inkjet printers, according to a statement obtained by The Register. Although the company stopped selling laser printers in the United States a while back, it had maintained the line in other markets, including Europe and Asia. Consumers will no longer be able to purchase new Epson laser printers as of 2026, but Epson has promised to continue supporting existing customers via supplies and spare parts. Epson itself claims its inkjets are up to 85 percent more energy efficient than its laser units and produce 85 percent less carbon dioxide. Interesting move, western companies would be virtue signalling the hell out of this.

    Ethics

    Shenzhen Nucleus Gene Lab Found to Report False Covid Test Results – Caixin Global – the problem seems to be a perverse incentive which promoted finding positive results

    Finance

    Collateralised fund obligations: how private equity securitised itself | Financial Times – another subprime loan scandal in the making

    Gadgets

    Really impressive piece of technology and engineering by Sony. But I can’t work out why it was done. By this time Citizen, Casio and Sony were already making LCD televisions. Back in the day Sony used to some products, just because the engineers could. I also love how this looks like a miniature version of a Sony 14″ portable TV circa 1984, even down to the homage to the Trinitron branding.

    iPhones Are Being Stripped Off The Shelves In Brazil After Nation Fails To Offer Power Adapters – to be fair a lot of consumers have been complaining about this for years. Apple went from don’t use third party USB chargers they can burst into flames or damage your phone to we won’t give you a USB charger because we love the planet.

    Hong Kong

    Chinese students and young workers look to Hong Kong for a better future | Financial Times – so many things to unpack about this and so many questions rather than answers:

    • There seems to be a lack of appreciation for economic trajectory that Hong Kong is on; inextricably linked in China
    • They don’t seem to understand the political trajectory Hong Kong is on
    • They aren’t the kind of talent that Hong Kong needs to plug losses in healthcare, education, social services and the creative industries
    • More developed countries aren’t likely to want ‘stepping stone’ Chinese people from Hong Kong. Their choices might be as limited as are on the mainland
    • This will only accelerate simmering nativist hostility and more Hong Kongers may leave via BNO visas etc.
    • If Hong Kong has been in a recession, what must the real state of the China economy be? Are they way worse than PMI and official numbers seem to suggest?
    • Finally, China has disliked Hong Kong being a vehicle for capital flight. With a greying workforce and declining birth rate will they dislike the talent flight of middle class Chinese through ‘stepping stone’ Hong Kong?

    Ideas

    Interesting viewpoint on Russia from author Ian Garner. You can find out more about his book here.

    The origins of art – by Ivan Pope 

    A future history of China in the 2020s – by Lillian Li 

    Reshoring of manufacturing in the US

    Innovation

    Sony aims for lowest power IoT combo chipset EE Times 

    World’s first driverless public parking system rolls out | EE Times automation offers the best way out of Germany’s greying workforce

    UK should back compound semis, says government report | EE Times 

    Bringing back the golden days of Bell Labs | Nature Reviews Physics 

    Luxury

    China’s puffer jacket obsession: Its not just Moncler and Canada Goose, homegrown brands are taking off | Campaign Asia – Domestic Chinese and international puffer jacket brands are battling for market share in the mainland. We take a look at which names are emerging victorious. China’s puffer jacket obsession: Its not just Moncler and Canada Goose, homegrown brands are taking offWhen temperatures in China started to cool down in early October, one of the biggest fashion trends to return was the puffer jacket. Alongside higher-priced brands like Canada Goose — which saw 20 percent higher sales compared to the previous year — homegrown puffer jacket labels such as Bosideng, Xue Zhong Fei, and Yaya all reported that their gross merchandise value (GMV) growth rate on Tmall exceeded 100 percent. Meanwhile, European brand Moncler sold out of its classic Maya coat on the first day of its debut on Tmall Luxury Pavilion in October.

    Media

    Why Hong Kong’s outdoor advertising is underperforming | Media | Campaign Asia – Based on a recent study by Hong Kong Baptist University, OOH ads are failing to capture people as they severely lack creativity. Dang, I feel bad for you son, that’s burn to the Hong Kong agency scene right there. Seriously though I would be curious about the methodology

    Online

    Apollo Management are doing some interesting things with Yahoo!: Yahoo and Taboola Enter 30-Year Commercial Agreement, and Yahoo eyes $8 billion in annual revenue as it explores more deals following Taboola partnership – Yahoo! ends up owning about a quarter of Taboola

    Twitter DMs to support encryption, voice messages and video calls | Gizchina 

    The Financial Times is doing some platform experimentation: Join the FT Telegram channel to receive Ukraine coverage alerts | Financial Times 

    Hong Kong asks search engine to place correct national anthem info in top results following rugby row – Hong Kong Free Press HKFP what they don’t want you to hear is this

    https://youtu.be/oUIDL4SB60g

    Twitter Has Lost Half Of Its Top Advertisers Ever Since Elon Musk Took Charge / Digital Information World  – this includes Apple which accounted for 4 percent of total ad spend – Twitter’s advertising losses are piling up | Platformer 

    Quality

    Digital Books wear out faster than Physical Books – Internet Archive Blogs 

    Retailing

    The $300 Million Sneaker King Comes Undone – WSJ – In May, Mr. Malekzadeh’s fiancée—also the company’s finance chief—pushed for both of them to come clean, according to people familiar with the situation. Federal prosecutors a few months later charged the couple with bank fraud and Mr. Malekzadeh with wire fraud and money laundering. Customers claim they paid millions of dollars for shoes that never arrived. A court-appointed receiver is sorting out the remaining inventory of the entrepreneur’s company, Zadeh Kicks. Early last year, Mr. Malekzadeh collected orders for about 600,000 pairs of Air Jordan 11 Cool Grey sneakers months before they hit stores, netting over $70 million, according to prosecutors. He priced the sneakers between $115 and $200 a pair, cheaper than their expected retail price of around $225

    Security

    How Washington chased Huawei out of Europe – POLITICO 

    The EU has a spy problem — here’s why it’s so difficult to catch them – POLITICO 

    Taiwan

    Fab talent crunch: Taiwan’s secret sauce for producing excellent semiconductor engineers | DigiTimes 

    Technology

    US-China chip competition not limited to advanced nodes – it is complicated | DigiTimes 

    Telecoms

    Chinese telecoms groups Huawei and ZTE barred from US sales | Financial Times – interesting move given how many small rural ISPs in the US rely on Chinese routers and networking equipment.

    UK to deploy Elon Musk’s Starlink in first test of satellite for rural connectivity | Financial Times 

    Web of no web

    WSJ on the ‘metaverse’

  • The aesthete questions

    What is the aesthete?

    The Aesthete is found in the weekend edition of The Financial Times. It features in How To Spend It magazine supplement (recently rebranded HTSI). The Aesthete interview usually features some sort of taste maker or artist rather than the usual celebrity one would expect.

    Likely questions to be in the aesthete interview

    • Personal style signifier
    • Last thing you bought and owned
    • No party is complete without…
    • The best souvenir you’ve brought home
    • Your drink of choice
    • The best book that you’ve read in the past year?
    • The last music I downloaded
    • In my fridge you’ll always find
    • The thing I couldn’t do without
    • An indulgence I would never forgo?
    • Style icon?
    • Recent discovery?
    • Object I would never part with?
    • Favourite building?
    • Beauty toiletry staples I’m never without?
    • Favourite apps?
    • Work of art that changed everything for me?
    • Best advice I ever received?
    • Source of inspiration?
    • Party playlist?

    What would my answers look like for The Aesthete?

    My personal style signifier?

    Function versus form has always been a big thing of mine. I like the G1 pilot jacket design and have worn one for over a decade. I love Carhartt workwear and technical clothing from Nike ACG, Arc’teryx and The North Face – particularly vintage TNF. I love alpine approach boots and have sets by Zamberlan and Dolomite.

    G1
    USWings.com

    The last thing I bought and loved?

    Prometheus Design Were Ti-Ring Strap – its a NATO style watch strap with titanium fittings. I had a watch which I loved but the strap was driving me mad and this cured my constant annoyance with it. They just work and their really well made

    tinato_gry_22mm_1m_grande
    Prometheus Design Werx

    No party is complete without?

    The right mix of people. The kind of people you can chat about the most drivel or profound thing ever (not mutually exclusive categories) until way past sunrise.

    The best souvenir I’ve brought home?

    Beyond the memories and experiences? Probably not a lot in recent years. I guess I would have to go back to my childhood. As a child I used to go into Salmons a shop in the local market town near the family farm where I spent a good deal of my childhood. It was staffed by Tony Salmon who had opened it in 1968. At the time it was predominantly sold knick-knacks, souvenirs and stationery products for school children. I bought some absolute dross in there and brought it back to England with me. One thing caught my imagination though. A book published by the Irish Government Department of Foreign Affairs called Facts About Ireland. It had the Tara brooch on the front cover and reading it gave me a better sense of myself and culture. It served as a primer for me then to go on and read Robert Kee’s Ireland A History.

    My drink of choice?

    It depends on the time of the day, but Hong Kong style milk tea needs a special shout out. alongside the Japanese take on it.

    The best book I’ve read in the past year?

    It’s a current affairs oriented book called The Dragons and The Snakes by David Kilcullen. You can read moe of my thoughts on it here. The damage that the Russian war in Ukraine has called to Russian armed forces mean that in the medium term, things are likely to slightly less dystopian than Kilcullen would have thought.

    The last music I downloaded

    New Rage Savage by Also Beauty:Beast.

    In my fridge you’ll always find

    Very little to be honest with you, but my freezer is stuffed.

    The thing I couldn’t do without

    I find myself increasingly reliant on my Mac. It helps me create things like this blog. It’s what I work from and it even keeps me in touch with friends around the world.

    An indulgence I would never forgo?

    Style icon?

    Probably Shawn Stüssy, Nigo, Minoru Onozato and his book My Rugged 211, James Lavelle or Hiroshi Fujiwara.

    Recent discovery?

    Perun who is providing some thoughtful analysis on the current war in Ukraine.

    Object I would never part with?

    At the moment it would likely be my work glasses that cut down a lot of glare from using a computer on constant video calls.

    Favourite building?

    Gosh this is so hard, I have chosen these buildings based on what they mean to me rather than the absolute quality of the design. It is likely to be a toss up between The Plaza Hotel – Seoul, Wah Luen Industrial Building – Hong Kong, Hysan Place – Hong Kong and Cityplaza – Hong Kong and St Francis’ Church, Meelick, Ireland. My favourite UK buildings would be Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, The Barbican and The Southbank Centre.

    Beauty / toiletry staples I’m never without?

    Colonia by Acqua di Parma in the summer, Eau Sauvage by Dior Perfums the rest of the year.

    Favourite apps?

    • Newsblur
    • FT
    • Yahoo Finance
    • Apple’s Podcasts app
    • Apple’s Mail app
    • Apple Books

    Work of art that changed everything for me?

    Probably JM Silk’s Music Is The Key – which was the first house music record that I owned.

    Best advice I ever received?

    It would be two pieces of advice I got at the oil refinery I worked in briefly before college:

    Life occasionally kicks you in the balls to let you know you’re still alive

    From a lab tech called Tony when redundancies came down the pipe. A short but excellent summary of stoicism

    Work the problem. If you can’t deal with it as is, chunk it down until you have things you can deal with

    From the head engineer at the refinery Les, who was a no nonsense kind of guy.

    Source of inspiration?

    Reading. Blogs and books play a big part in this. I am also inspired by everyday life and consumer behaviour in East Asia; Hong Kong and Japan. Numerous people have inspired me though my career and still do. Finally my parents who have been long tolerant of the different directions I have taken over the years.

    Party playlist?

    It depends on the party, but I would trusty standbys would be my record collection from the late lamented Chicago label Guidance Records, New York’s Shelter Records, Irma Records, Yoruba Records, modern labels Razor n’ Tape, Sound signature, Sacred Rhythm Music, pretty much most things remixed by The Reflex, Dimitri from Paris, Danny Krivit or Joe Claussell.

  • Boa + more stuff

    Boa server hack

    Hackers breach energy orgs via bugs in discontinued web server – state-backed Chinese hacking groups (including one traced as RedEcho) targeted multiple Indian electrical grid operators, compromising an Indian national emergency response system and the subsidiary of a multinational logistics company. The attackers gained access to the internal networks of the hacked entities via Internet-exposed cameras on their networks as command-and-control servers. – The software being hacked is the Boa web server. Boa was originally written by university student Paul Phillips. Phillips became CTO of Go2Net.

    One Nation Under CCTV

    Go2Net ran several websites including 100Hot – a website ranking service; payment processing service Authorize.Net, metasearch engine Dogpile, Haggle Online who provided online auction and PlaySite who ran multiplayer games.Prior to being acquired by InfoSpace Go2Net touted their technology behind these sites and selling services to customers.

    Boa’s afterlife on IoT systems

    So having a CTO who had written a small footprint web server like Boa made a lot of sense. At some point, Phillips stopped working on Boa. Instead maintenance was handed over Larry Doolittle and Jon Nelson who maintained the code for three years or so. Since then, Boa has not been maintained. Its small size made it very popular with Internet of Things products including CCTV systems. Which is the reason why Boa server software has been repeatedly hacked.

    China

    Carmakers try to frustrate US push to cut China from EV supply chain | Financial Times – the US government’s biggest challenge is quisling companies wedded to shareholder value above all else

    Consumer behaviour

    Gen Z networking | Wunderman Thompson Intelligence

    How you treat the ‘non-elite’ is key to beating populism | Financial Times – Middle-status people, social scientists have shown, are more conservative and cautious than the poor (who can afford to take risks because they have so little to lose) and elites (whose privilege allows them to bounce back from failures). They show more respect for authority for a simple reason: being “disruptive” may be highly valued among Silicon Valley elites but, in blue- or pink-collar jobs, it merely gets you fired

    Ethics

    Kanye West Used Porn, Bullying, ‘Mind Games’ to Control Staff – Rolling Stone – West looked down at his foot, stared up at the woman, and told her, “I want you to make me a shoe I can fuck.” Adidas representatives — including a vice president involved in the apparel giant’s billion-dollar licensing partnership with West’s influential brand — did not confront West about his alleged remark, the two attendees claim. The woman took a leave of absence before moving to a job elsewhere at Adidas (in an email, she declined to comment and requested that her name be withheld from this article.) Former Yeezy and Adidas employees, however, point to the alleged incident as one of many experiences — over the course of a decade — in which, they say, West used intimidation tactics with the staff of his fashion empire that were provocative, frequently sexualized, and often directed toward women. – what were Adidas doing and why the sudden change of conscience now, when all this was going on for the best part of a decade?

    Hong Kong

    6 former senior staff of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily plead guilty to collusion charge in national security case – Hong Kong Free Press HKFP – basically they held an editorial meeting

    Innovation

    The airport of the future is the airport of today — and that’s not good. – Papers, Please! 

    Japan

    Metabolism and the capsule building were a uniquely Japanese phenomenon. Its a much more expansive vision of manufactured housing than post war pre-fab housing in the west.

    The weak yen is an opportunity – by Noah Smith – Noahpinion 

    Korea

    Amazing retail and exhibition space in Korea’s second city, Busan: HYUNDAI MOTORSTUDIO BUSAN

    Luxury

    Rolex Is Reportedly Building a New $1 Billion Factory – Robb Report – it sounds like a large amount of money. However tooling on a car production line would be 150+ million pounds alone. Rolex makes everything on site, rather than relying on a range of supplier partners. 1 Billion dollars almost sounds cheap.

    Media

    Zuckerberg says WhatsApp business chat will drive sales sooner than metaverse | Reuters 

    ‘We’re mandating its use’: Estée Lauder turns to TikTok marketing after reach on Instagram stalls – Digiday – When Estée Lauder’s reach on Instagram started to slow across EMEA, its marketers turned to TikTok.  Obviously, there’s more to it. The early success of the brand’s global TikTok account, for one. But the crux of the brand’s decision to be on TikTok came down to Instagram. Estée Lauder’s marketers realized that no matter how big they tried to go in terms of reaching more people on the Meta-owned social network, they were stuck talking to a limited part of its desired audience, said Lubna Mohsin, the social media and content manager for Estée Lauder. Moreover, it was the same core people in the same cohort who were being reached over and again

    The tragic romance of China and Hollywood – The China Project – “Beijing offered up access to its market in exchange for a decade-long tutorial from Hollywood on how to replicate its filmmaking process.” Now that China has caught up (somewhat), there’s less incentive to collaborate. Beijing-based director Daniel Zhao agrees, with a caveat. “The overarching policy of the central government now is to build a self-reliant ecosystem (自循环 zìxúnhuán), but I do see gaps where China still needs to import international technology and personnel,” Zhao told The China Project. He has worked in China’s film industry for over a decade, including a stint with Fenton’s company DMG. China’s film industry has made great strides, thanks in part to its Hollywood’s partnerships. It is now home to some of the largest production sites in the world. China is rapidly developing new virtual production capabilities and improving its 3-D animation quality. In recent years, China has demonstrated that it can pioneer fresh aesthetics and produce domestic successes without Hollywood’s guidance.

    Amazon plans to invest $1B a year in movies for theaters – BNN Bloomberg 

    Online

    How retailers are reshaping the advertising industry | Financial Times – shopper marketing for e-tailing. Interesting how this budget would likely have been previously spent on paid placement in Google Shopping etc. and yet now in the shift to mobile Google (and other search engines) are now losing out on the opportunity for product search. Part of this is them re-optimising around local search like where’s the nearest coffee shop with free wifi and CBD infused kombucha? Meanwhile online retail destinations like eBay and Amazon became product search engines

    Evernote’s Next Move: Joining the Bending Spoons Suite of Apps | Evernote Blog – that looks like a sad end for an interesting app

    Which 3rd-Party Traffic Estimate Best Matches Google Analytics? – SparkToro – TL;DR none of them provide great results but SEMRush seems to do the best on balance. All of them have massive variances

    What about the layoffs at Meta and Twitter? Elon is crazy! WTF??? | I, Cringely – I first arrived in Silicon Valley in 1977 — 45 years ago. I was 24 years old and had accepted a Stanford fellowship paying $2,575 for the academic year. My on-campus apartment rent was $175 per month and a year later I’d buy my first Palo Alto house for $57,000 (sold 21 years later for $990,000). It was an exciting time to be living and working in Silicon Valley. And it still is. We’re right now in a period of economic confusion and reflection when many of the loudest voices have little to no sense of history. Well my old brain is crammed with history and I’m here to tell you that the current situation — despite the news coverage — is no big deal. This, too, shall pass – vintage Bob Cringely

    Technology

    Google’s Open Source Hardware Dreams – by Jon Y 

    Web of no web

    Defence industry catches up with the civil aviation world’s use of augmented reality to aid in aircraft maintenance and repair.

    Is Alexa working? — Benedict Evans and Amazon Is Gutting Its Voice Assistant Alexa | Business Insider – Alexa skills from Uber, Disney and Dominos Pizza failed to get engagement. Developer community was declining as well. I know that they focused on hospitality and healthcare like care homes later on

    Ways to think about a metaverse — Benedict Evans 

  • Michelin Snow Sock + more things

    Michelin Snow Sock

    The Michelin Snow Sock or to give it its proper name SOS GRIP(R) Evolution does a similar job to studded tyres or snow chains (often called RUD Chains after the German company RUD Ketten – a famous manufacturer of snow chains).

    snow sock

    The Michelin Snow Sock looks much easier to store and fit than snow chains and is likely to be less damaging to road surfaces. This new Michelin Snow Sock seems to rely on the black bands across the face of the tyre.

    A key difference is that snow chains can also be used in really muddy conditions and can be used to protect the tyres in hard surfaces such as quarries and mines – although this is usually the domain of a specialist product. You can’t doe these things with the Michelin Snow Sock.

    Inspecting a car before purchase

    Interesting tips on inspecting a car that you are interested in buying. Its interesting how democratised specialist tools have become.

    Twitter

    Professor Scott Galloway talks to Christiane Amanpour about the current economy and the rollercoaster moves at Twitter. My favourite quote from this, describing the recession as a ‘Patagonia vest’ recession affecting knowledge workers the most so far.

    Junya Watanabe Menswear Fall/Winter 2022

    I am about 10 months late to this, but Junya Watanabe did a menswear collaboration with Jay Kaye from Jamiroquai mirroring his mid-to-late 1990s style. Its a mix of indigenous wear that was popular from gap year students (or people who wanted that boho look), rave culture and Goa trance, sports wear and technical outdoor clothing.

    Here is the mini video look book that Junya Watanable made for the menswear collection.

    Here is the original video for Virtual Insanity

    Behind the scenes on how the Virtual Insanity video was made. How the effect was achieved was quite surprising.

    Shakatak

    I didn’t realise how popular jazz fusion group Shakatak was in Japan. To me there where pre-house UK dance music. I found this Japanese festival performance by them.

    The Tokyo Crossover Festival was was originally organised by the Kyoto Jazz Massive member Shuya Okino.

    It was April 2002. I was invited to the Future Jazz Festival held at Zagreb, Croatia. The well select lineup for this 3-days event was Victor Davies, Jessica Lauren, Rainer Truby, Azymuth, Zero dB and many more. The huge success all owed to Eddy & Duss and their incredible local support attracted 1500 enthusiastic people each day! Frankly, and forgive my ignorance, I was quite shocked. This was Zagreb, Croatia. The media that I was exposed to depict the negative image of an on-going civil war for all what I remember. Needless to say, I was inspired and at the same time wondered why Japan never had such festivals. Sure we have money-flowing mainstream Rock Festivals and Techno Festivals but nothing such as Deep House or Future Jazz festivals – which is surprising especially when Japan holds the biggest market share for such music. What is more depressing is that the “traditional” Jazz summer festival seems to be loosing its energy every year… I waited. I thought someone would eventually do the future-jazz festival here in Japan. There were few attempts but did not leave strong impact. Waited few more years…and thought it was time for me to take some action. I called it “Tokyo Crossover Jazz Festival”! This is the first year and I am treating it as an introduction or presentation for the successful year to come. Therefore, it will not be a gigantic outside “typical” festival but the main purpose for this first festival is to cause Crossover Jazz awareness and for artists who have same music vision to gather together. Of course, I am aiming for the fan-pleasing exciting showcases. We have a good “crossover” jazz scene in Japan and I want the fans, all over the world, to know. In the future, the festival will feature artists from Jazz, Techno, Hip- Hop, House and the music will cross all over – the ideal festival that I keep visioning and working hard for! At the end though, all I want for everyone and myself is to…have a good time!

    Shuya Okino (Kyoto Jazz Massive)

    Internet explained in five levels of difficulty

    I showed this to my Dad and he loved it. So I thought I would share it here too.