8:01 AM, 36Kr | Subsidies available for purchasing mobile phones within 6,000 yuan; China's first HPV vaccine for men approved for marketing; It is confirmed that Chinese actor Wang Xing is a victim of human trafficking.
TOP3 Big News
The New Subsidy Program for Buying New Mobile Phones is Here, and Mobile Phones within 6,000 Yuan Can Receive Subsidies
On January 8, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance issued a notice on strengthening and expanding the implementation of a large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods trade-in policy in 2025. It includes that for individual consumers purchasing three types of digital products such as mobile phones, tablets, and smartwatch bands (with a single sales price not exceeding 6,000 yuan), a subsidy of 15% of the product sales price will be given. Each consumer can be subsidized for one item of each type of product, and each subsidy does not exceed 500 yuan. (CCTV News)
China's First Male HPV Vaccine Approved for Marketing
On January 8, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) announced that several new indications for Gardasil® [Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus Vaccine (Recombinant, Saccharomyces cerevisiae)] have received marketing approval from the National Medical Products Administration, applicable for vaccination in males aged 9 to 26. The approval of these new indications marks Gardasil® as the first and currently the only HPV vaccine approved in China that can be used for males.
The newly approved indications for Gardasil® in this approval are applicable for the prevention of anal cancer caused by HPV 16 and 18, genital warts (condyloma acuminatum) caused by HPV 6 and 11, and the following precancerous or atypical lesions caused by HPV 6, 11, 16, and 18 in males aged 9 - 26: Grade 1, 2, and 3 anal intraepithelial neoplasia (AIN). Studies have shown that HPV is associated with a variety of human cancers. Nearly one-third of men worldwide are infected with at least one genital HPV, and men are susceptible to HPV throughout their life cycle. Globally, many countries have formulated routine vaccination plans for men. With the improvement of health awareness and the popularization of vaccine knowledge, more and more men are beginning to pay attention to and are willing to be vaccinated against HPV vaccines. (21st Century Business Herald)
Thai Police: Confirm that Chinese actor Wang Xing is a victim of human trafficking
On January 8, Thatchai Chaiyasit, the Inspector-General of the Royal Thai Police, told Thai media in an interview that after a preliminary investigation, it was confirmed that Chinese actor Wang Xing is a victim of human trafficking. The follow-up plan is to send him back to China within one to two days. Thatchai Chaiyasit said in a phone interview with Thai media that Wang Xing was deceived into going abroad to participate in a casting call. He went to a neighboring country via Thailand, but found out that he was deceived after arriving in the neighboring country.
Thatchai Chaiyasit also said that according to the relevant procedures, the staff of multiple departments in Thailand will properly protect and take care of Wang Xing. When he and his relatives are ready, the Chinese Embassy in Thailand will be coordinated to send him back to China, which is expected to take no more than one to two days. (CCTV News)
Big Companies/Big Events
There is a possibility of magnitude 5 to 6 earthquakes in the Tibet earthquake-stricken area in the near future
On January 8, the earthquake press conference in Xigaze, Tibet introduced that the statistical results of the earthquake sequences in the neighboring areas since 1950 show that there have been 7 earthquakes with a magnitude of more than 6.0 within 200 kilometers of the 6.8-magnitude earthquake in Tingri, and they are all main-aftershock type earthquakes. In addition, based on the regional structure, historical seismic activity, and earthquake sequence types in the neighboring areas of the 6.8-magnitude earthquake in Tingri, a comprehensive analysis suggests that there is a possibility of magnitude 5 to 6 earthquakes in the earthquake-stricken area in the near future. (CCTV News)
Yu Donglai: In 2024, Pangdonglai Group's profit is over 800 million yuan, and the average monthly income of employees is over 9,000 yuan.
36Kr learned that Yu Donglai showed Pangdonglai's revenue performance in 2024. In 2024, the overall sales of Pangdonglai Group is nearly 17 billion yuan, the tax is over 600 million yuan, the profit is over 800 million yuan, and the average monthly income of employees is over 9,000 yuan.
Obtaining national subsidies by improper means will result in disqualification and recovery of funds, and "increasing prices before offering discounts" will be severely cracked down on
According to CCTV News, on January 8, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance made it clear that regulating the market order is one of the important contents of the new round of consumer goods trade-in. "We will severely crack down on illegal and irregular behaviors such as 'increasing prices before offering discounts' and fraudulently obtaining or misappropriating subsidies, and continuously regulate the market order," Zhao Chenxin, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, emphasized at the regular policy briefing of the State Council on January 8. It will urge all relevant parties to strictly implement the fund management measures for the super-long-term special treasury bonds to support the "two new" (new infrastructure and new urbanization) and ensure that the funds are used for the designated purposes, strictly prevent misappropriation and diversion, and ensure that the funds are truly used for the "two new".
For business entities that are found to fail to fulfill price commitments and obtain subsidy funds by improper means, their qualification to participate in the activities will be cancelled immediately, and the national subsidy funds will be recovered. We will keep the channels for consumers to report and complain unobstructed, strengthen the random inspection of the quality of consumer goods, and severely crack down on behaviors such as passing off fake products as genuine ones, passing off inferior products as superior ones, passing off old products as new ones, passing off unqualified products as qualified ones, and forging or misusing energy efficiency and water efficiency labels. (CCTV News)
The three major U.S. stock indexes closed with mixed results, and most popular Chinese concept stocks declined
36Kr learned that as of the close on January 8, the three major U.S. stock indexes closed with mixed results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.25%, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.06%, and the S&P 500 Index rose 0.16%. Large technology stocks had mixed performances. Microsoft rose 0.52%, Apple rose 0.2%, Tesla rose 0.15%, and Amazon rose 0.01%; Meta fell more than 1%, Google fell 0.79%, Netflix fell 0.48%, and NVIDIA fell 0.02%. Most popular Chinese concept stocks declined. XPeng Motors fell more than 5%, NIO fell more than 4%, Li Auto, Futu Holdings, and Tiger Brokers fell more than 2%, Weibo and Baidu fell more than 1%; NetEase rose more than 2%, and Tencent Music rose nearly 1%.
Employee Won 6.08 Million in Lottery at Company Annual Meeting, Company Demands Return
According to netizens' revelations, as the Spring Festival approaches, it's the time for various companies to hold annual meetings with various activities. As described by netizens, a company in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province bought more than 500 lottery tickets before the annual meeting and distributed them to employees to make everyone have a good time and enhance the festive atmosphere. Unexpectedly, one employee's lottery ticket was luckily the first prize winner, with a bonus of up to 6.08 million yuan! However, after learning about this, the company asked the employee to return the lottery ticket and planned to evenly distribute the bonus to all participants of the annual meeting.
For the company's request, the employee did not agree. For this reason, the two sides went to the police station. Regarding this matter, the local police station stated that they did handle this dispute. Because it is a civil dispute, they have suggested that the parties solve it through legal channels. More dramatically, an insider of the company revealed: In fact, the winning numbers of the lottery had been announced when it was distributed to the employees. Before distributing the lottery tickets, the company boss instructed the financial staff to check whether the lottery tickets were winning tickets first, and then distribute them after confirming that they were not winning tickets. It is estimated that the financial staff did not check clearly and distributed the lottery tickets. (Zonglan News)
Two Departments: Include four types of home appliance products such as microwave ovens, water purifiers, dishwashers, and rice cookers into the subsidy scope
36Kr has learned that the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance have issued a notice on the implementation of a large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods trade-in and replacement policy with increased efforts and expanded coverage in 2025. It is mentioned that efforts will be made to support the trade-in and replacement of home appliance products. Continued support will be given to the trade-in and replacement of eight types of home appliance products such as refrigerators, washing machines, televisions, air conditioners, computers, water heaters, household stoves, and range hoods. Four types of home appliance products such as microwave ovens, water purifiers, dishwashers, and rice cookers will be included in the subsidy scope. For individual consumers who purchase products of energy efficiency level 2 or water efficiency standard among the above 12 types of home appliances, the subsidy standard is 15% of the product's sales price; for products of energy efficiency level 1 or water efficiency standard, the subsidy standard is 20% of the product's sales price. Each consumer can receive a subsidy for one item of each product type (up to three items for air conditioning products), and the subsidy for each item does not exceed 2,000 yuan. Individual consumers who have enjoyed the trade-in and replacement subsidy for a certain type of home appliance product in 2024 can continue to enjoy the subsidy when purchasing the same type of home appliance product in 2025.
TikTok Life Services' Directly Operated Service Provider Payment GMV Increased by 85% Year-on-Year in 2024
The data released by TikTok Life Services shows that in 2024, the payment GMV of directly operated service providers increased by 85% year-on-year. More than 30 new business categories were added, driving a new performance of 13 billion yuan. The ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) of merchants cooperating with service providers is 158% higher than that of merchants not cooperating. (Jiemian News)
Nezha Auto: Earnestly Requesting the Majority of Netizens to View the Recent Abnormal Incident on Nezha Auto's Official Website Rationally
36Kr has learned that Nezha Auto posted on Weibo stating a declaration regarding the recent abnormal incident on Nezha Auto's official website. Earnestly requesting the majority of netizens to view the situation rationally, and not to believe or spread rumors.
Source: Weibo
China State Railway Group: Focus on increasing transportation capacity in the directions with concentrated Spring Festival travel flows, and make overall plans to arrange trains in non-concentrated directions.
On January 8, the Information Office of the State Council held a press conference on the 2025 Spring Festival travel situation and work arrangements. Zhu Wenzhong, the head of the Passenger Transport Department of China State Railway Group, introduced that the overall passenger flow of the railway during this Spring Festival travel is expected to grow steadily. The national railway is expected to send more than 510 million passengers, with an average daily of 12.75 million passengers, an increase of 5.5% compared with the Spring Festival travel in 2024. Zhu Wenzhong said that in 2024, the operating mileage of the national railway exceeded 162,000 kilometers, including more than 48,000 kilometers of high-speed rail, further enhancing the accessibility and coverage of the modern railway network. We deeply explore the line and equipment resources to maximize the transportation capacity, focus on increasing the transportation capacity in the directions with concentrated Spring Festival travel flows, make overall plans to arrange trains in non-concentrated directions, maintain the operation scale of ordinary-speed passenger trains, operate public welfare "slow trains" and "Rural Revitalization" passenger trains to facilitate the travel of the masses. More than 14,000 passenger trains are arranged daily, and about 500,000 seats can be added daily. The passenger capacity has increased by about 4% compared with the same period, fully ensuring the travel needs of the majority of passengers. (Jiemian News)
The Civil Aviation Administration of China: The national average daily flight plan for this year's Spring Festival travel rush is about 18,500 flights, with a year-on-year increase of 8.4%.
On January 8, the Information Office of the State Council held a press conference to introduce the situation and work arrangements for the 2025 Spring Festival travel rush. Xu Qing, Director of the Transport Department of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, introduced at the meeting that it is predicted that the passenger traffic volume of civil aviation during this Spring Festival travel rush is expected to exceed 90 million person-times, reaching a new historical high for the same period. During this Spring Festival travel rush, the national average daily flight plan is about 18,500 flights, with a year-on-year increase of 8.4%, which can effectively meet market demand. (Jiemian News)
The central bank has continuously increased its gold holdings for two months. China's foreign exchange reserves at the end of 2024 were 3,202.4 billion US dollars.
According to The Paper, the statistics released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on January 7 show that as of the end of December 2024, China's foreign exchange reserve scale was 3,202.4 billion US dollars, a decrease of 63.5 billion US dollars compared with the end of November, with a decline of 1.94%. In terms of gold reserves, after November last year, the People's Bank of China once again increased its holdings. The gold reserve data released by the People's Bank of China on January 7 shows that at the end of December last year, the gold reserve was 73.29 million ounces, an increase of 330,000 ounces compared with 72.96 million ounces at the end of November. The People's Bank of China had continuously increased its gold holdings for 18 months before, and then remained unchanged since May last year, and resumed increasing in November last year.
Industry insiders said that the month-on-month decline in the scale of foreign exchange reserves is mainly due to the rise of the US dollar index under the relatively hawkish stance of the Federal Reserve, the overall decline in global financial asset prices, and the negative valuation effects of exchange rate conversions and asset price changes. Against the backdrop of a somewhat lower gold price, it is also a rational choice for the People's Bank of China to continue to increase its gold purchases. Some experts predict that the funds for the central bank to increase its gold holdings come from the foreign exchange funds in the foreign exchange reserves, which will also lead to a downward trend in the scale of foreign exchange reserves. (The Paper)
The Federal Reserve releases meeting minutes, and relevant forecasts indicate a 75 basis point interest rate cut for the entire year of 2025
On January 8 local time, the Federal Reserve released the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting from December 17 to 18, 2024. The meeting minutes show that the Federal Reserve decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points, bringing its benchmark fund rate to the range of 4.25% - 4.5%. This is the third consecutive interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve, with a cumulative reduction of 1 percentage point. However, committee members expect that the pace of interest rate cuts in 2025 will slow significantly, with an expected interest rate cut of only 75 basis points for the entire year. Market futures prices indicate that the degree of policy easing in 2025 may be slightly lower than this expectation. Nevertheless, market participants still have considerable uncertainty about the path of the federal funds rate in the coming year. (CCTV News)
Jeju Air Announces Cutting Over 1,900 Flights in the First Quarter to Ensure Flight Safety
Jeju Air, South Korea's largest low-cost airline, said on Wednesday that it will cut nearly 1,880 flights in the first quarter. This move is aimed at strengthening operational safety. Previously, a Boeing 737-800 passenger plane of the company was involved in a fatal crash, resulting in 179 deaths. In a press release, Jeju Air stated that the company plans to reduce 1,878 flights during the winter period ending in March, including 838 domestic routes and 1,040 international routes. A spokesperson for Jeju Air said that the company plans to cut another 30 flights in the near future, bringing the total number of flights cut in the first quarter to over 1,900. (Sina Finance)
Apple's stock rating was rarely downgraded to "Sell" by an institution, and the lukewarm sales of iPhone 16 cause concerns
Apple's rating was rarely downgraded to a "Sell" rating by an institution on Tuesday (7th) Eastern Time in the US. American independent research firm MoffettNathanson downgraded Apple's rating from "Neutral" and set a target price of $188, which means Apple's stock price will decline by approximately 22% from the current level. Craig Moffett, a senior analyst at MoffettNathanson, said in the downgrade report that although Apple is still a "truly great company", its stock price has risen unjustifiably due to the overwhelming bad news about Apple. What worries Moffett the most is the lukewarm sales of iPhone 16, even though a new artificial intelligence (AI) software update has been released. (Caixin)
Apple Launches Refurbished iPhone 15 in Europe with 15% Discount
According to foreign media macrumors, Apple has recently started selling refurbished iPhone 15 models in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain for the first time. Foreign media reports say that the price of the refurbished iPhone 15 in the above-mentioned countries has a 15% discount compared to the new models, and two storage versions, 128GB and 256GB, are available for selection. Although the current versions are limited, it is expected that Apple will soon launch more storage versions of refurbished phones. (Global Network)
LG and Samsung Add Microsoft Copilot AI Assistant to Their TVs
At the ongoing CES 2025, both LG and Samsung have released the 2025 models of smart TVs at CES. Moreover, some of these TVs will support Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant, including shortcuts to the Copilot web application. (Sina Technology)
Jen-Hsun Huang: MediaTek Will Be Able to Sell Desktop CPU Chips Incorporating NVIDIA Technology
NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said on January 7 that MediaTek will be able to sell desktop CPU chips jointly developed with NVIDIA and released this week. Huang also said that NVIDIA has undisclosed plans for this chip. (Jiemian News)
Elon Musk Says Bitcoin Price Will Drop if Dollar Inflation Is Solved
Tesla CEO Elon Musk predicted on Tuesday that the prices of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Dogecoin could fall if the problem of dollar inflation is resolved. Musk posted on X: "If the dollar inflation is solved, the price of buying cryptocurrencies in dollars would actually decrease, all else being equal. What matters is the ratio of the dollar to cryptocurrencies." (Sina Finance)
The management of Volkswagen in Germany will reduce their salaries by 300 million euros within five years
On January 8 local time, Gunnar Kilian, a member of the Volkswagen Board of Management, told the media that the management of Volkswagen will reduce their salaries by a total of 300 million euros by 2030, with the salary reduction for board members being even greater. In December last year, the management of Volkswagen reached an agreement with the trade union to decide to lay off 35,000 people in Germany by 2030. At the same time, the trade union proposed that the management should also take responsibility for the past decision-making mistakes. (CCTV News)
Microsoft Is Reportedly Planning Layoffs
According to Business Insider, sources familiar with the matter have revealed that Microsoft is planning layoffs in the near future. As part of the layoff plan, the company will conduct a more rigorous review of underperforming employees. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the layoff plan but refused to disclose the specific number of layoffs. The Microsoft spokesperson said that Microsoft focuses on high-performing talents. The company is committed to helping employees learn and grow. When employees perform poorly, the company will take appropriate measures. (Jiemian News)
South Korea to Provide 1.5 Trillion Won in Financial Support to SMEs Affected by Won Devaluation
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups of South Korea said on Wednesday that it will provide 1.5 trillion won (1.03 billion US dollars) in financial support to South Korean SMEs that have suffered trade losses due to the recent devaluation of the won. This is part of the ministry's plan for this year reported to the Acting President of South Korea, Choi Sang-mu. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups of South Korea also said that in order to invigorate the venture capital market, a fund of 1.9 trillion won will be established, and 1,000 start-up companies will be cultivated in strategic industries such as system semiconductors and artificial intelligence by 2025. (Sina Finance)
Indonesian Minister: Despite the investment agreement reached, Apple is still banned from selling iPhone 16 in the country
The Indonesian Industry Minister said on Wednesday that although Apple has reached an agreement with Indonesia to establish a production facility locally, it is still not allowed to sell its iPhone 16 in Indonesia because the company has not met the domestic content requirements. Last year, Indonesia banned the sale of iPhone 16 because Apple failed to meet the requirement that smartphones sold domestically should contain at least 35% locally manufactured components. (Sina Finance)
Singapore Passes Anti-Fraud Bill, Allowing Police to Restrict Bank Account Transactions of Fraud Targets
The Parliament of Singapore has passed a law that allows the police to control the bank accounts of individuals suspected of being fraud targets to deal with the surge in the number of fraud cases in this city-state. The Anti-Fraud Bill, passed on Tuesday, gives the police the power to issue restraining orders to banks, which will restrict bank transactions in people's accounts. The bill was proposed last year and was initially designed to protect potential victims from remote frauds, such as those conducted via phone or online platforms, and was later expanded to include other types of fraud cases involving offline interactions. (Sina Finance)
The Forefront of AI
The Embodied Algorithm Team of Zhiyuan Robot Launches the EnerVerse Architecture
36Kr has learned that the Embodied Algorithm Team of Zhiyuan Robot has launched the EnerVerse Architecture, with the autoregressive diffusion model as the core, to guide action planning by generating a future embodied space. The team has designed a sparse memory mechanism to maintain the context logic of long-range tasks and proposed a freely anchored perspective to flexibly express the 4D space. Experiments show that EnerVerse has excellent 4D generation capabilities and has reached the current state-of-the-art (SOTA) level in action planning tasks.
Cool Products
Sharge releases a new overseas sub-brand loomos and launches loomos AI glasses
36Kr learned that Sharge released its high-end sub-brand loomos for the overseas market and loomos AI glasses at the CES site. loomos AI glasses will get immediate help from a voice assistant driven by GPT-4o, such as text translation, object recognition, parking space memory, information retrieval, etc. loomos AI glasses will be launched on the Kickstarter platform for crowdfunding around January 21. The official also revealed that it will set up branches in regions such as North America and Europe.
Lenovo Group Releases Several Products Such as ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Scroll Screen AI PC
36Kr learned that Lenovo Group released the new ThinkPad X9 Aura series at CES 2025, including 14-inch and 15-inch models. At the same time, it also released its latest high-end ultra-thin notebook product - YOGA Air X AI Yuanqi Edition. In addition, Lenovo Group also launched the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 scroll screen AI PC.
Ecovacs Deebot X8 Overseas Edition Officially Launched at CES, Available Globally in February
36Kr has learned that Ecovacs has launched the overseas version of the Deebot X8, the DEEBOT X8 Family, for major markets such as North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific at the Consumer Electronics Show CES 2025. At the exhibition, Ecovacs announced that the overseas version of X8 will be available globally in February.
Arranged｜Yu Yaoming