Latest news with #Douyin
South China Morning Post
9 hours ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
As war threatens China's Iran investments, Middle East still beckons
Watching as missile bombardments threaten key shipping routes and blow up some of their trade deals in the Middle East, with Iran at the centre of the firestorm, Chinese exporters are feeling the heat. After finalising a deal with an Iranian buyer she met at China's Canton Fair in April, Miya Yu, a trader of light industrial goods – valves, toys, aluminium containers, etc – collected the necessary materials to begin production and fill the order. Production never began. The contracted client vanished without a word as his country engaged in battle with the United States and Israel, putting Yu's business plans at risk of becoming an economic casualty of the latest violent crisis in a region that is among the world's most volatile. 'We simply can't tell whether delivery will still be possible,' she said on Monday. Meanwhile, Cai Zhan, a foreign trade entrepreneur from Wenzhou and a social media influencer with more than 1.2 million followers on Douyin – China's version of TikTok – said in a recent video that she had cancelled August plans to attend an auto-parts expo in Iran, after clients warned her not to come, citing the 'serious' security situation. 'The ongoing conflict has severely disrupted business,' she said. And with clients cutting orders, shipping costs rising, and the outlook shrouded in uncertainty, she said many exporters in her network are tightening their belts. In terms of tremors of instability in the pulse of global shifts, few are more attuned than Chinese exporters navigating its shock waves in real time.
South China Morning Post
11 hours ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Boom goes the deal? As war threatens China's Iran investments, Middle East still beckons
Watching as missile bombardments threaten key shipping routes and blow up some of their trade deals in the Middle East, with Iran at the centre of the firestorm, Chinese exporters are feeling the heat. After finalising a deal with an Iranian buyer she met at China's Canton Fair in April, Miya Yu, a trader of light industrial goods – valves, toys, aluminium containers, etc – collected the necessary materials to begin production and fill the order. Production never began. The contracted client vanished without a word as his country engaged in battle with the United States and Israel, putting Yu's business plans at risk of becoming an economic casualty of the latest violent crisis in a region that is among the world's most volatile. 'We simply can't tell whether delivery will still be possible,' she said on Monday. Meanwhile, Cai Zhan, a foreign trade entrepreneur from Wenzhou and a social media influencer with more than 1.2 million followers on Douyin – China's version of TikTok – said in a recent video that she had cancelled August plans to attend an auto-parts expo in Iran, after clients warned her not to come, citing the 'serious' security situation. 'The ongoing conflict has severely disrupted business,' she said. And with clients cutting orders, shipping costs rising, and the outlook shrouded in uncertainty, she said many exporters in her network are tightening their belts. In terms of tremors of instability in the pulse of global shifts, few are more attuned than Chinese exporters navigating its shock waves in real time.
Canada News.Net
3 days ago
- Climate
- Canada News.Net
Extreme rains trigger worst China floods since 1998
BEIJING, China: Extreme weather is once again testing China's resilience, as intensifying monsoon rains trigger floods across major provinces and cities, prompting red alerts and evacuations. Central and southern China were on high alert for flash floods on Friday as the annual East Asia monsoon gathered pace. Meteorologists describe the rainfall as extreme and increasingly tied to climate change, disrupting life and industry in the world's second-largest economy. On Thursday, authorities issued the first red alerts of the year, covering the provinces of Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, and the Guangxi region, according to Xinhua, citing the water resources ministry and the national weather forecaster. China's rainy season, which began earlier than usual in early June, is typically followed by intense heat that further stresses crops, damages infrastructure, and depletes water reserves. In previous years, the combined impact has caused significant economic losses, particularly in agriculture, a sector worth US$2.8 trillion. Last July, natural disasters caused more than $10 billion in damage. In 2020, extreme rainfall during one of China's longest rainy seasons pushed losses to nearly three times that amount. In southern Hunan, heavy rains late last week caused the Lishui River to overflow, marking the most significant floods in the area since 1998. Water levels surged more than two metres above the safety mark, flooding main roads and sweeping debris downstream, according to videos posted on Douyin, China's version of TikTok. In Chongqing, a hilly city in the southwest, apartment buildings were partially submerged, and cars were washed away as muddy waters rushed through the streets. State media reported that some floodwaters rose near the tops of power lines. Nearly 300 people were evacuated from towns in a mountainous county within Chongqing, where rainfall reached 304 mm (12 inches) in a single day. At least one river in the area swelled by 19 metres due to runoff from surrounding peaks, CCTV reported. Local media said the city of Zhaoqing in southern Guangdong experienced record-breaking floodwaters last week, rising over five metres above warning levels, leading to power outages. As the climate crisis deepens, China faces mounting pressure to upgrade its flood infrastructure, support affected communities, and protect key economic sectors from weather-related shocks.
Business of Fashion
4 days ago
- Business
- Business of Fashion
Chinese Makeup Brands Are Winning Over Global Consumers
As the US Supreme Court mulled a legal ban on TikTok in January, the effects on social media platforms were profound. Even before the judges ruled in favor of the ban—prompting the app to temporarily go dark in the US—an estimated 2 million TikTok users jumped ship to Chinese app Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote. For a number of beauty-conscious users, what they discovered was a revelation. 'I realised that RedNote had a lot of beauty secrets the United States wasn't using,' says Hailey Laine, a TikTok creator in Chicago who joined Xiaohongshu in January and continues to use both apps—RedNote for finding cosmetic inspiration, TikTok for posting about it. In January, Laine shared a video of herself using face powder and bright pink blush to re-create the monochromatic glow popular among Chinese beauty influencers, racking up 300,000 likes and 2.3 million views. That kind of exposure has been a boon for so-called C-beauty brands such as Judydoll, which started in China in 2017 before venturing into retail markets across Asia in 2021. Judydoll's total sales grew from $232 million in 2023 to $345 million in 2024, says Stefan Huang, group strategy director at Joy Group Ltd., the parent company. Overseas retail sales grew 400 percent in 2024, thanks in part to direct-to-consumer online channels such as Shopee and TikTok Shop. The company declined to provide specific figures for overseas sales. Social media, Huang says, 'has helped a lot to build our credibility.' The brand's $17 highlighter contour palette has become a staple in the hundreds of TikTok videos attempting the 'Douyin look,' named after the Chinese version of the video app. The look includes a porcelain complexion, rose-tinted cheeks and lips, and wispy black lashes. 'Something that the Western beauty market doesn't really have is a matte highlight,' says Jenn Ze, a beauty influencer in Toronto who purchased Judydoll's palette after seeing videos about it reposted from Douyin in her Instagram feed. 'This is the key.' Videos of users gushing over Judydoll's 'curling iron' mascara have also tallied millions of views, helping Judydoll sell more than 8 million units of the $14 mascara worldwide since 2023. In lieu of a bristly plastic wand, the product features a thin, spiral steel tube that fans laud for its ability to precisely separate and lift eyelashes. 'Where have you been my entire life?' gushed Nikkie de Jager-Drossaers, a beauty influencer based in the Netherlands with 19 million Instagram followers, in a video last January. Even before the TikTok ban, C-beauty brands were gaining a greater foothold in non-Chinese markets. Lines formed in September when Florasis, a Chinese cosmetics brand that came out in 2017, opened its first European counter at the LVMH-owned department store Samaritaine Paris Pont-Neuf in Paris. It marked the first time a Chinese cosmetics maker has teamed up with a global luxury retailer, says Gabby Chen, Florasis' president of global markets. Overseas consumers have been drawn by the cultural elements of Florasis' packaging, which features traditional Chinese motifs from nature and mythology. One of its makeup palettes, a $59 pan of nine eyeshadow colors intricately engraved with images of a phoenix, won Allure magazine's award for best of beauty in 2023 and Marie Claire's award for best luxury powder eyeshadow this year. And Florasis' $46 cushion foundation ranked in Vietnam's top three TikTok Shop beauty bestsellers. 'It's honestly one of the best C-beauty cushions I've ever tried,' Daniel Chan, a Singapore-based creator with 104,000 followers on TikTok, said in a video last May. 'My skin loves this kind of slippery thin formula.' Florasis declined to disclose full financial figures, but it said it has grown by double digits every year since 2019. In February the brand made its debut on the luxury e-commerce platform Ounass, which is based in the United Arab Emirates, and says it's working on other retail partnerships in the Middle East. Despite the reliance on online sales, both Chen and Huang say they don't foresee major impacts from US President Donald Trump's tariffs on China. 'Luckily we have always been focused on the global market and not only the US,' Chen says. 'There will be incremental costs, but it won't change our global strategy.' The rising profile of C-beauty brands marks a shift from past perceptions of Chinese goods as being low quality, says Olivia Plotnick, founder of Chinese social media consulting firm Wai Social. Florasis' products, in particular, are 'seen as investment pieces,' she says. 'They've done a really good job designing their products for a social media age and era.' By Audrey Wan
CNBC
20-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
AI avatars in China just proved they are ace influencers. It only took a duo 7 hours to rake in more than $7 million
Key Points A Chinese entrepreneur raked in $7.65 million after streaming using an interactive digital avatar. That was more than what he earned from his previous livestream, which he hosted personally. "This is a DeepSeek moment for China's entire livestreaming and digital human industry," an analyst said. Chinese influencer Luo Yonghao and co-host Xiao Mu tried out livestreaming on Sunday, June 15, 2025, using interactive digital avatars based on Baidu's generative artificial intelligence model. Screenshot BEIJING — Avatars generated by artificial intelligence are now able to sell more than real people can, according to a collaboration between Chinese tech company Baidu and a popular livestreamer. Luo Yonghao, one of China's earliest and most popular livestreamers, and his co-host Xiao Mu both used digital versions of themselves to interact with viewers in real time for well over six hours on Sunday on Baidu's e-commerce livestreaming platform "Youxuan", the Chinese tech company said. The session raked in 55 million yuan ($7.65 million). In comparison, Luo's first livestream attempt on Youxuan last month, which lasted just over four hours, saw fewer orders for consumer electronics, food and other key products, Baidu said. Luo said that it was his first time using virtual human technology to sell products through livestreaming. "The digital human effect has scared me ... I'm a bit dazed," he told his 1.7 million followers on social media platform Weibo, according to a CNBC translation. Luo started livestreaming in April 2020 on ByteDance's short video app Douyin, in an attempt to pay off debts racked up by his struggling smartphone company Smartisan. His "Be Friends" Douyin livestream account has nearly 24.7 million followers. Luo's and his co-host's avatars were built using Baidu's generative AI model, which learned from five years' worth of videos to mimic their jokes and style, Wu Jialu, head of research at Luo's other company, Be Friends Holding, told CNBC on Wednesday. VIDEO07:49 AI & future of workforce: Andrew Yang on how the technology will impact jobs "This is a DeepSeek moment for China's entire livestreaming and digital human industry," Wu said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC. DeepSeek, China's version of OpenAI, rattled global investors in January with its claims of rivaling ChatGPT at far lower costs and using an open-source approach. AI avatars can sharply reduce costs since companies don't need to hire a large production team or a studio to livestream. The digital avatars can also stream nonstop without needing breaks. "We have always been skeptical about digital people livestreaming," Wu said, noting the company had tried out various kinds of digital humans over the years. But he said that Baidu now offers the best digital human product currently available, compared to the early days of livestreaming e-commerce five or six years ago. A growing industry Livestream shopping took off in China after the pandemic forced businesses to find alternative sales channels. More people are turning to livestreaming to earn money from commissions and virtual gifts amid slower economic growth. Livestreaming generated so many sales on Douyin last year that the app surpassed traditional e-commerce company to become China's second-largest e-commerce platform — and ate into the market share of lead player Alibaba, according to a report from Worldpanel and Bain & Company last week. Both and Alibaba's Taobao also offer livestreaming sales portals. Meanwhile, other Chinese companies, including tech giant Tencent, have developed tools to create digital people that can be used as news anchors. In late 2023, several businesses started trying out virtual human livestreamers during the Singles Day shopping holiday. But analysts have cautioned that products sold via livestreams tend to have a high return rate as they are often impulse purchases. The biggest challenge for using virtual humans to livestream is no longer the technology, but compliance and platform requirements, Wu said. Digital humans need to be trained to adhere to regulations about product advertising, while major livestreaming platforms may have different rules about allowing virtual people to host the sessions, he said. Weekly analysis and insights from Asia's largest economy in your inbox Subscribe now For example, Douyin has rolled out restrictions on using the technology, especially if the virtual people do not interact with viewers. While Luo's next virtual human appearance hasn't been set yet, Wu said he expects it will be very soon. And in the future, he said, digital humans could easily livestream in multiple languages to reach users outside China.
