Each Thursday, The World of Chinese takes the most ground-breaking, impressive, or just plain weird technological advancements related to the Middle Kingdom and serves them in bite-sized chunks to keep you up-to-date on the latest news in the world of Chinese technology.
Mi Band IPO
Huami Corporation, the wearables partner of Xiaomi, is preparing for a 150 million USD initial public offering (IPO).
Huami is the party responsible for the Mi Band, Xiaomi’s popular budget wearable, but it also leverages this partnership to promote other products sold under the brand Amazfit.
Due to its low cost and Xiaomi’s brand, Huami became the world’s top smart wearable maker in terms of units shipped in 2017 and, as of last September, had almost 50 million registered users.
WeChat ID
Forgot to bring your ID card? No need to worry.
In 26 cities across China, a new trial has been rolled out which allow the public to use WeChat in place of their traditional ID cards.
Having started in Guangdong province, this new scheme means that WeChat will be the hub for all social security information, increasing accessibility and ease-of-use.
In Guangzhou’s Nansha district, those wishing to take part in the pilot project need to add a WeChat mini app called “网证” to their account and then allow their face to be scanned. This will provide users with a digital ID card that has two editions.
The first is more bare-bones and is for general use. The other requires registration through an app by the district police and can be utilized when stricter authentication is needed.
Love Insurance
The China Insurance Regulatory Commission recently posted on their website a criticism of “love insurance” policies being sold the interwebs. They claimed that such policies were fake and that they did not adhere to China’s Insurance Law.
These so-called “love insurance” policies are more like betting lines that customers can purchase to “protect” themselves against celebrity breakups.
A recent example of this is when popular singer/actor Lu Han announced that he was in a relationship with actress Guan Xiaotong on Weibo. Soon, stores on Taobao started selling “Lu Han love insurance” for 11.11 RMB per policy. Buyers would be given the opportunity to double their money if Lu Han’s relationship lasts one calendar year.
It’s been speculated that steps may be taken to remove such products online marketplaces following the insurance watchdog’s post, though the threat of crackdowns hasn’t stopped any enterprising e-merchants so far.
PUBG PK Chinese police
Previously, TWOC had mentioned how Tencent was making changes the popular online game Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) for its Chinese release so that it would contain nuggets of socialist and traditional Chinese values.
However, ahead of its debut this year, Tencent has enlisted Chinese police to help search and destroy underground rings that produce and sell PUBG cheat software.
PUBG is a multiplayer online battle royal game, which means players get together and kill each other. Thus, many players have looked to shadier resources to rise in the rankings.
And, as a form of advertising, many of the top players in the rankings have gamertags that inform others of whom to contact for cheats.
So far, minions of the law have uncovered 30-odd cases and made 120 arrests. Those found guilty could be jailed for at least five years.
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