8:01 AM | Shanghai reports the inspection results of 47 "Russian Commodity Stores"; Kingsoft Office responds to the establishment of a distress document by a family member trapped in Myanmar; The Los Angeles wildfire has caused the multimillion-dollar mansions of Hollywood stars to be burned down.

TOP3 Big News

Inspection Results of 47 "Russian Commodity Stores" in Shanghai Announced

Recently, the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Administration noticed the heated discussion about the Russian Commodity Stores and launched two rounds of concentrated investigation and rectification since December 23, 2024. Up to now, a total of 47 "Russian Commodity Store"-type shops have been found in the city. The market supervision department has focused on inspecting issues such as the business entity qualifications with high attention, store signboard slogans and publicity, and the origin of the goods. Actions of individual unlicensed and unregistered operations and unregistered operations have been filed for investigation and ordered to suspend business. For individual stores that are promoted as "National Pavilions", causing consumers to mistakenly believe that they have an official background, and for individual stores where the proportion of Russian imported goods is too low but still claim to be "Russian Commodity Stores", which is highly misleading, cases have been filed for investigation. (Jiefang Daily)

Thai Prime Minister, Police, Tourism Authority and Other Parties Speak Out on "Actor Wang Xing's Disappearance at the Thailand-Myanmar Border"

On the afternoon of January 8, actor Wang Xing's girlfriend @InsomniacDaddy posted on Weibo: "I and Xingxing met at the official Thai institution in Bangkok this morning. Accompanied by embassy staff and a law firm, we learned the latest situation and subsequent arrangements from the police," along with a photo of holding hands with Xingxing. Regarding the disappearance of Chinese actor Wang Xing at the Thailand-Myanmar border, on January 9 local time, when Thai Prime Minister Pethongtan was inspecting work in Phuket, she told the media in an interview that Thailand needs to prevent the country from being used as a transit point for crimes. Pethongtan said that after the disappearance of Chinese actor Wang, Thailand needs to strengthen and improve relevant laws and regulations to crack down on related criminal incidents. (Jiemian News)

The wildfire in Los Angeles continues, and the multimillion-dollar mansions of Hollywood stars are burned down

Due to the spread of the wildfire threatening residential areas, on January 8 local time, many residents in the Los Angeles area of California, USA, were evacuated urgently. Emmy Award winner Billy Crystal and his 75-year-old wife Janice lost a house worth $9.19 million in the Los Angeles wildfire. They issued a statement saying that the severity of the disaster cannot be described in words, and they have lost the home they have lived in for more than forty years.

In addition, many Hollywood superstars shared on social platforms the grief of losing their multimillion-dollar mansions. Including Anna Faris, Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, James Woods, Eugene Levy, Miles and Kelli Teller, John Goodman, etc., have all lost their homes. Celebrities such as Jamie Lee Curtis, Mark Hamill and Mandy Moore have all said they will evacuate their homes. And other stars who own properties in the area, including Adam Sandler, Ben Affleck, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, are anxiously waiting for news to see if their houses have survived the fire. (Xiaoxiang Morning News)

Big Companies/Big Events

The Dingri Earthquake in Tibet Caused the Collapse of 3,612 Houses, and the Housing and Construction Department Explains the Reasons for the Severe Damage to the Houses

Up to now, after a preliminary investigation, this earthquake has caused the collapse of 3,612 houses. Li Xiuwu, Deputy Secretary of the Party Group and Director of the Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the Tibet Autonomous Region, introduced that there are three main reasons for the severe damage to the houses in this earthquake: First, the earthquake has a high magnitude and strong intensity. According to the preliminary judgment of the on-site investigation staff of the Earthquake Administration of the Tibet Autonomous Region, the intensity in the meizoseismal area of this earthquake reaches 9 degrees, which is extremely destructive and has caused considerable damage to the buildings. Second, the hypocenter is shallow and the destructive force is strong. The epicenter of this earthquake is located in the "Shenzha - Dingjie" tectonic rift, with a hypocentral depth of only 10 kilometers, which is a shallow-focus earthquake. The shallower the hypocenter, the stronger the destructive force, and the greater the destructive force on the surface buildings. The geomorphic type of the epicenter and the surrounding area is the alluvial plain of the plateau river, and the soil is relatively soft, which amplifies the earthquake damage effect. Third, the epicenter is close to the surrounding market towns and villages. Within 5 kilometers of the epicenter of this earthquake, there are 7 villages, and within 20 kilometers of the epicenter, there are 2 towns. The epicenter is close to the surrounding market towns and villages, resulting in a large number of damaged houses in the market towns and villages. (CCTV News)

Mobile phones are included in the national subsidy program, and subsidies for brands such as Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, etc. are about to be launched

36Kr has learned that on January 8, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance further clarified that a 15% subsidy will be given to individual consumers for purchasing three types of digital products such as mobile phones, tablets, and smartwatch bands. The unit price of a single product should not exceed 6,000 yuan. Each consumer can be subsidized for one product of each type, and the subsidy for each product should not exceed 500 yuan. Tmall has taken the lead in undertaking the preparatory work for the implementation of national subsidy discounts for digital products such as mobile phones and tablets. Currently, brands such as Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, vivo, Honor, OPPO, OnePlus, Samsung, iQOO, Lenovo, Xiaotiancai, Garmin, amazfit, etc. are preparing to launch the national subsidy on Tmall.

Tencent Games Limits Minor's Playtime to 15 Hours During Winter Vacation, Upgrades "Bomb Lock" Measures to Combat Illegal Rental Accounts

36Kr has learned that Tencent has issued a notice on limiting minors' game playtime before and after the 2025 winter vacation and the Spring Festival holiday. Minors are only allowed to play games for 15 hours within 32 days. In addition, to combat illegal industries such as account rental and power-leveling, Tencent Games has upgraded its facial recognition "Bomb Lock". A new risk account database has been added to target and lock highly suspected rental accounts. Users of risk accounts must complete the verification on the current device and in the current game within 3 minutes; otherwise, their accounts will be restricted. It is understood that since this feature was launched in the summer of 2024, it has cracked down on suspected illegal rental accounts for a cumulative 8 million times.

All 5 Stores of Aijia Postpartum Care Center in Nanjing Have Closed

On January 7, it was rumored online that the owner of Aijia Postpartum Care Center had "run away", and many branches in Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other places were empty. On January 8, the reporter from Litchi News visited 5 stores of Aijia Postpartum Care Center in Nanjing and found that all 5 stores had been closed. Some stores were sealed, and the public security, sub-district and other departments in the areas where the stores are located are jointly handling the situation and registering the personnel information. In addition, all 5 stores are involved in issues such as wage arrears for employees, rent arrears, and inability to refund the deposit. The maternity matron working in the store revealed that the incident happened suddenly without any warning: "The company assigned new orders the day before, but all the leaders disappeared the next day." Currently, there are still some mothers with babies stranded at the Jianye store of Aijia Postpartum Care Center in Nanjing: "I desperately persuaded the maternity matron to stay and help me take care of the child, but there is no service here, and I can only order takeout for meals." (Litchi News)

22,000 yuan for labor dispute remains unpaid, and the founder of Nezha Auto, Fang Yunzhou, is restricted from high-consumption activities

Tianyancha shows that recently, Fang Yunzhou, the founder of Nezha Auto, has been restricted from high-consumption activities. Specifically, in a labor dispute case that was filed for execution on December 11, 2024, the enterprise failed to fulfill the payment obligation determined by the effective legal documents within the period specified in the execution notice. Beijing Zhehe New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. and its legal representative, Fang Yunzhou, have been subject to consumption restriction measures and are prohibited from engaging in high-consumption activities.

On January 7, the Chaoyang District People's Court of Beijing has issued a consumption restriction order to Beijing Zhehe New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., where Fang Yunzhou is the legal representative. The case number of the associated judicial case is (2024) Jing 0105 Zhi 51643. The case trial process shows that on December 11 of last year, Beijing Zhehe New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. has been forcibly executed for 22,000 yuan due to this case. Tianyancha also shows that Anhui Hongchuang New Energy Power Co., Ltd., Hozon New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., and Beijing Zhonglian Tianxia Automobile Sales and Service Co., Ltd., where Fang Yunzhou serves as an executive, all have information on being the subjects of enforcement, and the total amount of the enforcement target exceeds 23.4 million yuan. (21st Century Business Herald)

TechInsights: Smartwatch sales are expected to increase by 5% in 2025

36Kr learned that according to the TechInsights report, it is expected that the sales of smartwatches will increase by 5% in 2025. The growth momentum comes from the increase in AI functions, the strength of new models, the improvement of sensor and function combinations and penetration into lower price ranges, consumers' upgrade from fitness bands and functional watches to watches that support third-party applications, the improvement of the economic environment, the strong performance of emerging markets, and consumers' continued interest in health and fitness.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) releases the 2024 Notorious Markets List, and Tencent WeChat is removed from the list

On January 8, the Office of the United States Trade Representative under the Office of the President of the United States released the "2024 List of Counterfeit and Privacy Notorious Markets". Many Chinese Internet products are still on the list. Tencent WeChat, which was once on the list, has been removed from the list this time. Two days ago, Tencent and CATL were included in the list of military-related enterprises of the United States Department of Defense, causing a huge reaction. It is reported that unlike the CMC list issued by the Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense, which is only a restricted list for restricting the procurement transactions between the listed enterprises and the Department of Defense and its suppliers, the "Notorious Markets List" that removed WeChat was issued by the Office of the President of the United States and is more comprehensively representative.

It is reported that the "Notorious Markets List" aims to publicly identify large-scale online and physical markets for piracy and counterfeit trademarks, but in fact, it has long been suppressing well-known products of well-known Chinese enterprises. WeChat once opposed being included in the list and has repeatedly emphasized to the Office of the United States Trade Representative that Tencent has long been a global leader in supporting a sound intellectual property rights system, has invested heavily in intellectual property rights, and has jointly promoted intellectual property protection with partners worldwide. (Jiemian News)

Tencent Continues to Reduce Holdings in Weimob Group and UBTECH, Cashes Out HK$1.67 Billion; Weimob Group Responds

Tencent Holdings' shareholding in Weimob Group has decreased from 8.39% to 2.94%; its shareholding in UBTECH has decreased from 8.05% to 2.08%. A relevant person from Weimob Group responded that the reduction of holdings by shareholder Tencent has no significant impact on the company's business operations. This should be a decision made by the shareholder based on its own investment considerations, and the reduction is not targeted at the company alone. Weimob Group also issued an announcement stating that the company and Tencent will continue to maintain a mutually beneficial and win-win business cooperation relationship. The company will continue to serve as a service provider for WeChat Mini Stores, Mini Programs, and Tencent Advertising, providing merchants with high-quality SaaS products and precise marketing services within the Tencent ecosystem to promote business growth for merchants. As of the time of publication, UBTECH has not yet released a relevant announcement. (21st Century Business Herald)

WeChat for HarmonyOS Native Version Officially Launched

On January 10, the WeChat for HarmonyOS Native Version was officially released on the HarmonyOS App Market. After users downloaded and experienced it, the WeChat HarmonyOS Version supports functions such as Video Accounts, Folded Message Forwarding, Group Red Envelopes, Transfers, Mini Programs, etc., which are basically the same as the functions of the ordinary WeChat version. Currently, top applications such as WeChat, Alipay, Douyin, JD.com, Taobao, Meituan, and WPS Office have all been released, and the last top application in the native HarmonyOS ecosystem has finally been completed. (Securities Times)

Bilibili Obtains the Broadcasting Rights of CCTV Spring Festival Gala for the First Time

36Kr has learned that Bilibili (referred to as "Bilibili") announced an important cooperation with the 2025 Spring Festival Gala of China Media Group. On New Year's Eve, Bilibili will live-stream the CCTV Spring Festival Gala throughout the entire event and become the exclusive bullet comment video platform for the CCTV Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Snake. This will be the first time that Bilibili has live-streamed the CCTV Spring Festival Gala since its establishment 15 years ago.

Will Zara Close 4 Stores in the Next 10 Days? Response from Parent Company Inditex Group: There Have Always Been Some Adjustments to Brand Stores

It is reported that in the next 10 days, 4 Zara stores will officially close. Among them, the Zara store in Vanke Plaza, Longgang, Shenzhen will close on January 16, and the Zara stores in Changsha Livat Mall, Joy City in Beichen Delta, and Guiyang InCity will all close on January 20. The staff of the above 4 Zara stores said that the stores are not being renovated and upgraded, but are closing and will not reopen in the future. Regarding the upcoming closure of several stores, the Inditex Group, the parent company of Zara, said that there have always been some adjustments to brand stores. (National Business Daily)

The core product of Wuliangye, "The Eighth Generation Wuliangye", has suspended supply

According to a report by Cai Lian She on January 9th, the reporter of Cai Lian She learned from several channel insiders that the core large single product of Wuliangye - The Eighth Generation Wuliangye has suspended supply. Analysts pointed out that this move signals Wuliangye's intention to stabilize prices. The Eighth Generation Wuliangye is the most core product of Wuliangye, with an estimated sales scale of over 50 billion yuan, contributing more than 60% of the company's revenue. Affected by factors such as large-scale promotions on e-commerce platforms, the overall price of Wuliangye has been under pressure recently. (Cai Lian She)

Volkswagen delivered approximately 4.8 million vehicles globally in 2024

Volkswagen announced that it delivered approximately 4.8 million vehicles to global customers in 2024, a year-on-year decrease of 1.4%. Data from the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) shows that Volkswagen's market share in the German market reached 19.1%, ranking first. (Jiemian News)

SpaceX's Starship Program to Conduct Its 7th Test Flight on the 13th of This Month and Launch 10 Simulated Satellites

On January 8 local time, the American space exploration technology company SpaceX announced that its Starship's seventh test flight mission (IFT-7) is planned to be held on January 13 local time. Starship will deploy 10 simulated satellites in space for the first time, with their size and weight similar to the next-generation Starlink satellites. (Jiemian News)

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of South Korea's SK Group: SK Hynix and NVIDIA are accelerating the research and development of HBM, and the supply for this year has been determined

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of South Korea's SK Group, introduced on the 8th at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2025) in 2025 that during the exhibition, he met with Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, and said that the two sides exchanged views on topics such as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and "Physical AI". SK Hynix is exclusively supplying HBM to NVIDIA. It was the first to supply the fifth-generation 8-layer HBM3E product in March last year, and in October of the same year, it was the world's first to mass-produce 12-layer stacked HBM3E memory. Choi Tae-won said that the research and development speed of SK Hynix's HBM was slightly slower than that of NVIDIA, and the other party (NVIDIA) requested SK Hynix to speed up. Recently, the research and development speed of (SK Hynix) has begun to catch up, and the two companies are accelerating the research and development of HBM. The two sides have determined the supply for this year through working-level meetings. (Cailian Press)

The Netherlands Discusses with NVIDIA and AMD on AI Facilities

According to the Dutch government website, the Dutch government is in discussions with NVIDIA and AMD to support the construction of artificial intelligence facilities in the Netherlands. Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Dirk Beljaarts conducted strategic discussions with US technology companies during his visit to Silicon Valley from January 8 to January 9. During this period, he held talks with NVIDIA and AMD to discuss providing hardware and knowledge support for the infrastructure needed to create artificial intelligence facilities in the Netherlands. (Jiemian News)

Japan's Basic Wage Sees Largest Increase in 32 Years, Boosting Prospect of BOJ Rate Hike

Japan's basic wage for workers has registered the largest increase in 32 years, indicating that a positive economic cycle is taking shape and keeping the door open for the Bank of Japan to further raise interest rates in the near future. Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced on Thursday that the basic wage in November increased by 2.7% year-on-year, driving the nominal wage growth to 3%. Economists had previously expected a 2.7% increase in nominal wages. A more stable indicator of wage trends shows that the wages of full-time workers increased by 2.8%, remaining at 2% or above for the 15th consecutive month. This indicator avoids sampling problems and does not include bonuses and overtime pay. However, real cash income decreased by 0.3% year-on-year, falling for the fourth consecutive month. Part of the reason for the stagnant real wages is that inflation has outpaced wage growth. After the government stopped subsidizing utility costs and pushed up energy costs, the price momentum strengthened in November. (Caixin)

The Forefront of AI

The official version of the AIGC tool "Jichuang" is launched

36Kr learned that the official version of the AIGC tool "Jichuang", an innovative production platform under ByteDance, has been launched. It has the ability to generate various types of content such as AI script generation, intelligent video production, digital humans, and product cards, and new functions such as "Blockbuster Fission" and "One-click Approval" have been added.

Investment and Financing

"Yifu Energy" Successfully Completes Angel + Round Financing

36Kr has learned that recently, "Yifu Energy" has successfully completed the Angel + round of financing. This round of financing is jointly led by Renfa Investment, a domestic industrial investment platform in the new energy industry, and Zhongke Chuangxing, an early domestic venture capital institution. It is introduced that Yifu Energy focuses on the technical research and development and industrialization of all-vanadium redox flow batteries, and is committed to攻克ing the core technical problems in the energy storage industry. 

"Zhishi Robot" Completes Multi-Million Yuan Series A Financing

36Kr learned that "Zhishi Robot", an intelligent warehousing solution provider, has recently completed a multi-million yuan Series A financing round. Anhui Kechuang led the investment, and the old shareholder Lianchuang Capital followed. The funds from this round of financing will be used by Zhishi Robot for product research and development and global market expansion. 

"Centrino Swift New Energy" Secures Hundreds of Millions of Yuan in Series A Financing

36Kr has learned that recently, "Centrino Swift New Energy" announced the completion of a 160 million yuan Series A financing. This round of financing is participated in by GF Securities and Tencent Investment. The funds will be used to promote the research and development and industrialization of the sub-charging new energy vehicle charging pile technology under the company.

"Mavel" Completes Over 100 Million Yuan A++ Round of Financing

36Kr learned that according to the official WeChat account of NIO Capital, recently, the electric drive enterprise "Mavel" has completed an A++ round of financing of over 100 million yuan. The 900V closed-slot continuous-wave winding motor stator and rotor that Mavel exclusively supplies to LeDao Auto, a sub-brand of NIO, has been installed in the LeDao L60 model.

"Biboste" Completes Over 300 Million Yuan Series B Financing

36Kr learned that "Biboste" officially announced the completion of over 300 million yuan in Series B financing. This round of financing is jointly invested by Puhua Capital, Oriental Jiafu, Hang Lung Group, Baolong Technology, etc. After this round of financing, Biboste has landed and consolidated the mass production and delivery of intelligent braking and intelligent suspension products, and further achieved strategic cooperation and project implementation in the field of intelligent steering.

Cool Products

Qualcomm Launches New Snapdragon X Chip

At the ongoing CES 2025, Qualcomm has launched another Arm laptop chip for its Snapdragon X series, reducing the cost of the Copilot Plus PC to around $600 (approximately 4397 yuan). The new Snapdragon X joins the existing Snapdragon X Plus and X Elite and will be used in various devices from Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo in the coming months. (Sina Technology)

CES 2025: Sharge Launches New Overseas Sub-brand loomos and Unveils loomos AI Glasses

36Kr has learned that from January 7th to 10th local time, the global Consumer Electronics Show CES 2025 kicked off in Las Vegas, USA. Sharge participated in this CES and released its high-end sub-brand for the overseas market - loomos and loomos AI glasses on the spot. It is understood that in terms of hardware configuration and special features, loomos AI glasses support capturing wonderful moments with 4K photos and 1080P videos. In terms of AI capabilities, loomos AI glasses will receive immediate assistance from a voice assistant driven by GPT-4o, such as text translation, object recognition, cooking guidance, parking space memory, information retrieval, etc.

Big Events in the Business World

The "Big Events in the Business World" short-video column vividly interprets major events in the business world. Sony and Honda join forces to build electric vehicles, with a fully equipped configuration starting at 660,000 yuan. Who will buy it?

Sorting｜Yu Yaoming 

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