The Brazen Strategy Behind China Tech’s Growth

In the early days of ride-hailing apps in China, riders could book through apps but often paid in cash. A large portion of cars on the leading Chinese platforms were traditional taxis driven by older men—people who weren’t in a rush to give up good old cash. So Tencent offered subsidies to both the rider and the driver if they used WeChat Wallet to

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The battle royal for China’s group-buying market was a microcosm of what China’s internet ecosystem had become: a coliseum where hundreds of copycat gladiators fought to the death. Amid the chaos and bloodshed, the foreign first-movers often proved irrelevant. It was the domestic combatants who pushed each other to be faster, nimbler, leaner, and m

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