CX Daily: Tencent, ByteDance Gut Metaverse Units in Virtual Reality Check
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Metaverse?/
Just months ago, China’s big tech firms?were talking up the potential?of their shiny new “metaverse” units, which were set to cash in on an online revolution.
This latest attempt to wed virtual reality (VR) with things like shopping and social media was going to make holograms ubiquitous, spell the end of the office and reshape whole industries.
So why have?ByteDance Ltd.?and?Tencent Holdings Ltd.?both turned around and gutted their metaverse units in recent months?
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China-Ukraine?/
President Xi Jinping?affirmed?that China will make efforts to promote talks and restore peace in Ukraine when he spoke to the country’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the phone Wednesday afternoon, state media reported.
Xi said that?China will send one or more special representatives on Eurasian affairs to Ukraine and other countries?to talk with all parties comprehensively about a political settlement to the Ukrainian crisis, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
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Flights?/
British Airways?resumed passenger service?to the Chinese mainland after a hiatus of more than two years amid the pandemic. The move by the U.K. flag carrier represents a key step in rebooting travel between China and Europe.
The airline resumed its daily flight between London and Shanghai Monday, the first time since late 2020.?The airline is set to reinstate service to Beijing in June, according to an earlier announcement.
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Business climate?/
Although rising tensions between Washington and Beijing continue to be a top concern, American companies in China?are increasingly optimistic?about their outlook on China, especially in economic recovery and growth of the domestic market, a recent business climate report showed.
In a survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China) last week, almost 60% of the 109 members who participated responded positively when asked about their outlook on China’s economic recovery for the next two years,?which is an increase of 22 percentage points compared with the organization’s annual survey released in March.
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Digital yuan?/
The local government, state-owned enterprises and public institutions in an eastern Chinese city?will begin paying employees?in the country’s digital currency from May.
Authorities of Changshu, a county-level city under Suzhou, Jiangsu province,?made the decision to accelerate the trial of e-CNY, a screenshot of a government document circulating online shows.
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Trade?/
China's State Council?pledged to stabilize and expand?international trade with measures such as financial support and facilitating cross-border travel for businesspeople to strengthen the economic recovery.
The cabinet issued a set of measures Tuesday designed to support foreign trade and expand the export market amid weak global demand. The measures?include promoting major trade fairs, streamlining visa procedures for foreign businesspeople, speeding up international flight resumption and providing better services to trading companies,?according to?a statement (link in Chinese).
Quick hits?/
Tourism?/
Demand for hotel rooms and air tickets during this year’s Labor Day holiday is on track to exceed pre-pandemic levels of 2019,?industry data showed,?reflecting a budding recovery in China’s domestic travel industry after Beijing dropped its “zero-Covid” restrictions.
As of Tuesday, the number of domestic hotel reservations placed for the five-day holiday on Qunar.com, one of China’s biggest online travel platforms, was?23% higher than the total orders placed in the comparable period of 2019.?Many of the bookings were for destinations in the Yangtze River Delta region, Chongqing municipality, Chengdu and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster, according to data provided by Qunar.com.
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Evergrande?/
China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd.?agreed to divest?the majority of its property assets to another unit of China Evergrande Group for?a nominal 2 yuan ($0.29)?as the struggling electric-car maker seeks new financing from investors.
Divesture of the property assets will allow the company to focus on the new-energy vehicle (NEV) segment and deploy its resources to fund existing projects that will offer better and more sustainable returns to shareholders, Hong Kong-traded Evergrande NEV said Monday in a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
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Quick hits?/
Long Read?/
Japanese animated basketball film ‘The First Slam Dunk’ led the Chinese box office in its opening weekend with revenue exceeding $57.8 million on Tuesday, according to data from Dengta, a movie industry information provider. Adapted from the ‘Slam Dunk’ manga, the series was popular in Asia in the 1990s, inspiring a generation of Chinese basketball fans, many who turned up to catch the film premiere at midnight on Thursday. As of Tuesday, around 11 million cinema-goers had watched the film
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