8:01 AM | The ticket price of Harbin Ice and Snow World has been hyped up to 10,000 yuan at the highest; Some products of Pangdailai are transferred to online sales; Malaysia agrees to resume the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

TOP3 Big News

Tickets to Harbin Ice and Snow World Were Scalped Up to Ten Thousand Yuan

On the morning of December 21, the Harbin Ice and Snow World in Heilongjiang officially opened. The official mall of the Harbin Ice and Snow World scenic area shows that the standard adult ticket is 328 yuan per person. Adult tickets for all open reservation dates in the past week have been sold out, showing that the remaining tickets are 0. The situation of preferential tickets (for children, students, disabled people, and Harbin citizens) is basically the same. In addition, the Enjoyment Ticket priced at 800 yuan per person shows "Coming Soon" and cannot be reserved yet; the four types of Premium Tickets with a double price starting from 3988 yuan also cannot be reserved for dates before December 29. A Liaoning tourist who visited the Ice and Snow World last year said, "Last year, the Premium Tickets were sold out in three days, and I bought it at the original price, but this year it has been scalped to the sky by ticket scalpers." This tourist inquired with two ticket scalpers, and the price increase started at one thousand yuan, and even one ticket scalper's total quote exceeded ten thousand yuan. (Times Finance)

Pangdonglai's Latest Announcement: Some Products of Pangdonglai Switch to Online Sales

On December 21, Pangdonglai Supermarket announced new measures to adjust some products for online sales. The announcement shows that due to the large number of customers in the Pangdonglai store recently, some products have been continuously snapped up. In order to ensure the operational safety of the store and the personal safety of customers, and to guide customers to consume rationally, starting from December 21, 2024, the DL Laundry Detergent Series, DL Craft Beer Series, DL First-Class Pressing Peanut Oil Series, and DL Black Bean Brewed Soy Sauce (Light Soy Sauce) are temporarily adjusted for online sales.

Pangdonglai stated that the back-end member system implements account locking and control for purchasing agency behavior. Special personnel are arranged to patrol the store and outside the store. Behaviors such as snapping up goods, making profits by using goods, and reselling at a higher price will be stopped immediately. Those who do not listen to dissuasion will be reported to the administrative law enforcement department. If purchasing agency behaviors such as recording and live-streaming are found in the mall, the staff will stop and persuade them to leave immediately. Member accounts that provide convenience for purchasing agencies will be disqualified. (Daily Economic News)

Malaysia's Transport Minister: Agrees in Principle to Resume the Search for MH370 Flight

On the 20th local time, Malaysia's Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said that in principle, he agrees to resume the search for the MH370 flight. Loke Siew Fook said that the Malaysian Cabinet agreed at the meeting on December 13 that an underwater exploration company called Ocean Infinity would continue to search in a 15,000-square-kilometer water area in the South Pacific on the principle of "no find, no fee". The Malaysian Ministry of Transport will sign a contract with the company in early 2025.

On March 8, 2014, the MH370 flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China lost contact. The aircraft model was Boeing 777, and there were 239 people on board. On January 29, 2015, the Malaysian Civil Aviation Authority announced that the flight had crashed and presumed that all personnel on board had died. (CCTV News)

Big Companies/Big Events

Yuanji Yunjiao Responds Again to the Incident of "Finding Earthworms in Food" at a Beijing Store: The Store in Question Has Been Found Compliant and Qualified After Government Inspection

On the evening of December 21, Yuanji Yunjiao once again released a statement regarding the incident of "finding earthworms in food" at the Liudaokou store in Haidian District, Beijing. It stated that after a serious rectification, the store in question has now been found compliant and qualified after a government inspection. Yuanji Yunjiao said that the company has conducted a comprehensive inspection of raw material procurement and store hygiene in all stores nationwide, and strengthened after-sales customer service. Before April 1, 2025, it will gradually display the brand's after-sales customer service hotline and online customer service in all stores nationwide to promptly respond to and solve consumers' problems and feedback. (Jiemian News)

Li Bin: NIO ET9 Orders Exceed Expectations, All 999 Initial Units Sold Out

On December 22, Li Bin, the founder and chairman of NIO, stated externally that the initial limited edition of the NIO ET9 has been sold out, and the order volume has exceeded expectations. At the NIO Day 2024 held on December 21, the intelligent electric executive flagship model of NIO - the ET9 - was officially launched. The starting price of the vehicle purchase plan is 788,000 yuan, and the starting price of the battery rental plan is 660,000 yuan. NIO launched 999 initial limited edition models of the ET9, with a price of 818,000 yuan. According to Li Bin, the NIO ET9 will officially start delivery in March next year, with the initial limited edition being prioritized for delivery. (Securities Times)

NIO's Li Bin: More possibilities in the battery swap cooperation with CATL

On December 22, Li Bin, the chairman of NIO, said that the battery pack of NIO's third brand, Firefly, is smaller than that of the NIO and LeDao brands. Of course, there may be more cooperation with CATL's battery swap ecosystem. On December 18, CATL released the Chocolate Battery Swap Ecosystem and plans to eventually build 30,000 Chocolate Battery Swap Stations. (Caixin)

The National Radio and Television Administration: Strengthen the Review of Micro-Short Drama Titles and Strictly Rectify the Title Problems of Micro-Short Dramas in Mini Programs

Recently, the Network Audio-Visual Department of the National Radio and Television Administration issued a management reminder (to strengthen the review of micro-short drama titles), the core essence of which is to timely correct the bad tendencies that appear in the titles of micro-short dramas and put forward new requirements in terms of orientation, style, and art.

The management reminder states that since the Administration implemented the "classified and hierarchical" review and management policy for micro-short dramas in February this year, micro-short drama practitioners have responded positively, striving to adjust the creative direction and enhance the ideological and cultural connotation. For the "Other Micro-Short Dramas" that are self-reviewed by the platform, although the problem of content violations has been significantly reduced, the stubborn problem of titles being sensational, vulgar, and vulgar has seriously lowered the overall image of the micro-short drama industry and urgently needs to be addressed. In this regard, the management reminder states that "the title problem of micro-short dramas in mini programs is particularly serious as they deliberately pursue the effect of investment and flow, and must be strictly rectified." In order to timely correct and reverse the tendency of some micro-short dramas to deviate in titles, the management reminder puts forward new requirements in terms of orientation, style, and art for strengthening the title review work. (CCTV News)

Tesla Recalls Nearly 700,000 Vehicles Due to Tire Pressure Monitoring System Issue

Tesla has recalled nearly 700,000 vehicles due to a problem with the tire pressure monitoring system warning light. According to a letter issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the United States, this recall involves some 2024 model year electric pickups (Cybertruck), 2017 - 2025 model year Model 3 and 2020 - 2025 model year Model Y vehicles. Tesla said it has provided a free software update to solve the problem. (CCTV News)

GGII: It is estimated that the annual sales volume of industrial robots in China in 2024 will be approximately 300,000 units, with a year-on-year decline of about 5%.

The High-tech Industrial Robot Institute (GGII) predicts that the annual sales volume of industrial robots in China in 2024 will be approximately 300,000 units, with a year-on-year decline of about 5%. From the perspective of the demand side, the downstream application fields of industrial robots continue to show a differentiated trend. Among the three basic sectors (automotive and parts, 3C, and new energy), only the 3C electronics and automotive parts industries have relatively outstanding growth, while the automotive vehicle and new energy industries are under obvious pressure, especially the new energy industry, where the demand shows a significant decline; the food, metal products and other industries show a steady growth trend; the semiconductor industry benefits from the release of industry demand, and the demand growth is remarkable, and many wafer handling robot manufacturers benefit from it; the logistics and warehousing industry continues to be under pressure, and the demand shows a downward trend. There are few obvious signs of recovery in other general industries. GGII judges that the demand problem has become the core contradiction point in the current industrial chain. From the perspective of enterprises, the differentiation between domestic and foreign-funded enterprises has intensified. Judging from the performance growth in the first three quarters, the performance growth of domestic leading enterprises is higher than that of foreign-funded manufacturers. (Jiemian News)

The box office of the 2024 New Year's Eve film blockbusters exceeds 2 billion yuan

According to the data of the online platform, as of 16:17 on December 22, the box office (including advance sales) of the 2024 New Year's Eve film blockbusters (from November 22 to December 31) has exceeded 2 billion yuan. (Cailian Press)

Trump Expresses Support for TikTok to Continue Operating in the US

On December 22 local time, when US President-elect Trump delivered a speech in Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, he said that he supports TikTok to continue operating in the US for a period of time. This is one of the strongest signals from Trump so far against TikTok's withdrawal from the US market. Trump said that during his presidential campaign, the videos he posted on TikTok received billions of views. (CCTV News)

Three major U.S. stock indexes closed higher collectively, and most large technology stocks rose

36Kr learned that at the close on December 20, the three major U.S. stock indexes rose collectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 1.18%, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose by 1.09%, and the S&P 500 Index rose by 1.03%. Most large technology stocks rose. NVIDIA rose by more than 3%, Intel rose by more than 2%, Apple and Google rose by more than 1%, and Netflix and Amazon rose slightly; Tesla fell by more than 3%, Meta fell by more than 1%, and Microsoft fell slightly. Popular Chinese concept stocks had mixed performances. NIO rose by more than 3%, Tencent Music rose by more than 1%, Li Auto, Baidu, and iQIYI rose slightly; Alibaba fell by more than 2%, Pinduoduo fell by more than 1%, JD.com, Bilibili, and XPeng Motors fell slightly.

Honda and Nissan will take the lead in discussing the merger, and Mitsubishi Motors may make a decision early next year

On December 21, it is reported that Honda and Nissan Motors will officially start the business merger consultation from the 23rd. Mitsubishi Motors is coordinating to decide whether to participate in the merger at the beginning of next year and clarify the conditions such as how to enter the holding company. The presidents of the three companies will report to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan on the 23rd, and then hold a press conference to officially release the news. It is reported that in the business merger consultation between Honda and Nissan, the two sides will explore the way to mutually produce vehicles in each other's factories, and discuss the plan for Honda to supply hybrid vehicles to Nissan, which lacks best-selling models in the United States. The two companies plan to cooperate in a wide range of fields, but Honda has proposed to take Nissan's "V-shaped recovery" in performance as a condition for the merger. (Kyodo News)

Google Responds to US DOJ's "Forced Sale of Chrome" Plan: "Extreme" and Contrary to Law

Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., claims that the US Department of Justice's plan to force it to sell the Chrome browser is "extreme" and contrary to the law. It urges federal court judges to act cautiously to avoid stifling innovation and future investment. Court documents show that Google has responded to the DOJ's demands and proposed its own remedial measures. Google suggests that it will relax agreements related to default browsers with Apple and other companies. Google states that it can set non-exclusivity, and for Android phone manufacturers, it can separate its Play app store from the Chrome browser. (Wall Street Insights)

Intel's Former CEO Demanded to Return $1.5 Billion in Compensation

On December 21, Intel shareholder LR Trust filed a lawsuit against the company's executives and directors, including former CEO Pat Gelsinger and interim co-CEO and CFO David Zinsner, due to the poor performance of the company's foundry business. They demanded the return of compensation and compensation for damages. LR Trust accused Gelsinger and Zinsner of mismanagement, making misleading disclosures about the poor performance of Intel's foundry division (IFS), and concealing the fact that IFS had difficulty attracting customers and was continuously losing money. Among the demands listed, the plaintiff requested that the $207 million (currently approximately 1.511 billion yuan) that Gelsinger earned during his tenure in 2021, 2022, and 2023 be paid in full to Intel. If the lawsuit is successful, the compensation will be paid to Intel rather than LR Trust or individual shareholders, which will help improve Intel's financial situation. As a long-term shareholder of Intel, LR Trust will also indirectly benefit. (Sina Technology)

The Return Date of Two American Astronauts Stranded in Space is Further Delayed

According to the US Space Agency on the 17th, the two American astronauts who have been stranded at the International Space Station due to technical problems with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft will not return to Earth earlier than the end of March next year. This further delays the previous plan of "returning to Earth in February next year", meaning that the two who were originally scheduled to be on a "business trip" in space for 8 days will stay at the space station for at least more than 9 months. The US Space Agency announced the new manned space mission plan of the US space exploration technology company SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft on the same day. The launch time of this space mission, code-named "Crew-10", has been postponed from the originally scheduled February next year to no earlier than the end of March next year. The US Space Agency said that the manufacturing, assembly, testing, and final integration of the new spacecraft is a difficult task with many details to be completed. Wilmore and Williams flew to the space station on the Starliner on June 5 this year. This is the first manned test flight mission of the Starliner. The spacecraft was originally scheduled to return on June 14, but the return time has been repeatedly postponed due to problems such as thruster failures and helium leaks. On September 7, the Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth without a crew. At that time, the US Space Agency announced that the two astronauts would instead return to Earth on the Dragon spacecraft in February next year. (Xinhua News Agency)

The Japan Fair Trade Commission is expected to rule that Google violates the Anti-Monopoly Law

On December 22, the Japan Fair Trade Commission is expected to rule that Google violates the Anti-Monopoly Law. The regulatory agency determined that the contracts signed by the American technology company with smartphone manufacturers unfairly restrict competition and harm the Internet search market. (Nikkei News)

Stellantis Is Reported to Shelve the Plan to Lay Off 1,100 Workers at the Jeep Factory in Ohio

Stellantis has shelved the plan to lay off approximately 1,100 workers at the Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio, in the United States in January. Stellantis said it will continue to re-evaluate its strategy in North America, and it is expected that employees will return to work as scheduled after the New Year. A Stellantis spokesperson added that the layoffs may not occur. (Jiemian News)

Boeing Chief Information Officer Susan Doniz to Leave

Boeing's CEO said that the company's Chief Information Officer Susan Doniz will leave the company. (Cailian Press)

The Forefront of AI

OpenAI Releases a New Generation of Inference Series Model o3

On the early morning of December 21, OpenAI released the next-generation inference model series o3, which includes two versions: o3 and o3-mini. The latter is a smaller and streamlined model that has been fine-tuned for specific tasks. OpenAI claims that under certain conditions, the o3 model can approach the realization of AGI. It plans to officially launch o3 mini before the end of January, and then launch the full version of o3. (Caixin)

OpenAI GPT-5 "Difficult to Produce": It Costs $500 Million for 6 Months of Training and Has Fallen Behind the Original Plan by Half a Year

On December 22, it is reported that due to the high computing costs and the scarcity of high-quality training data, OpenAI is lagging behind its original schedule in advancing the development process of its next-generation flagship model GPT-5. Up to now, OpenAI has carried out at least two rounds of large-scale training on GPT-5, aiming to optimize the model's performance with the help of massive data resources. However, the actual operating speed of the first training failed to meet the expected standards, resulting in larger-scale training attempts that are not only time-consuming but also costly. Although GPT-5 has improved in performance compared to its predecessors, this improvement is not sufficient to fully verify whether the huge costs required to maintain the operation of the model are worth it. Given that GPT-5 may have difficulty replicating the significant performance breakthrough achieved by its predecessor, OpenAI is currently actively seeking and exploring new strategic directions. 

Cool Products

NIO's new brand "Firefly" has a pre-sale price of 148,800 yuan and will be launched in April 2025.

36Kr learned that on December 21, NIO announced that the pre-sale price of its new brand Firefly in the Chinese market is 148,800 yuan, and it will be officially launched in April 2025.