8:00 AM Kr 36 | Xibei responds to the "using public chopsticks to feed a dog" incident; The Federal Reserve announces a 25-basis-point interest rate cut; A paper by LIANG Wenfeng of DeepSeek makes it onto the cover of Nature.
Today's Hotspot Guide
- Trump Extends TikTok Ban Grace Period for the Fourth Time
- Balances in Employees' Medical Insurance Personal Accounts Can Now Be Transferred
- An Elite Student from Tsinghua University's Claim of a $240 Million Annual Salary Triggers an Investigation; US Department of Justice: He Is on the Run
- Green Tea Restaurant Reportedly Removes the "Freshly Made" Sign
- A Captain of Japan Airlines Drank Alcohol Before a Flight, Causing Severe Delays to Three Flights
Top 3 Big News
Xibei Responds to "Feeding Dog with Public Chopsticks" Incident: All Involved Tableware Discarded
Recently, Mr. Chen took his child to a Xibei restaurant with a parent-child theme for a meal. During the meal, two customers brought a pet dog into the restaurant. They not only put the dog on the dining chair but also directly used the chopsticks provided by the restaurant to pick up food and feed the dog after the dishes were served. For this reason, Mr. Chen questioned the safety of the dining environment.
The person in charge of the restaurant said in an interview that the restaurant has a rule of "no pets allowed", but they failed to notice the customers bringing the dog into the restaurant in time due to the peak dining hour. The person in charge introduced that all the chopsticks, tableware, tablecloths, etc. used by the involved customers have been discarded and did not enter the cleaning process. At the same time, a comprehensive disinfection of all the tableware and kitchen utensils in the restaurant's front hall and kitchen was carried out that night.
Relevant staff from the Wenzhou Market Supervision and Administration Bureau said that currently, there is no legal basis at the national and Wenzhou levels to determine that the act of "merchants allowing pets to enter" is illegal. And the customer's act of feeding the dog with the restaurant's chopsticks is a personal act. If it does not cause direct harm to other customers, it does not involve administrative penalties for the time being. (Yicai Global)
The Federal Reserve Announces a 25-Basis-Point Interest Rate Cut
On September 17th local time, the latest minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) monetary policy meeting of the Federal Reserve showed that the Fed decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points, to between 4.00% and 4.25%. This is the Fed's first interest rate cut since December 2024. (CCTV News)
DeepSeek's Liang Wenfeng's Paper Featured on the Cover of Nature
A research paper on the DeepSeek - R1 inference model, jointly completed by the DeepSeek team with Liang Wenfeng as the corresponding author, has made it onto the cover of the international authoritative journal Nature.
Compared with the initial version of the DeepSeek - R1 paper published in January this year, this paper reveals more details about model training and directly addresses the distillation doubts raised at the time of the model's release.
DeepSeek - R1 is also the world's first mainstream large - language model to undergo peer review. Nature commented that almost all current mainstream large models have not yet undergone independent peer review, and this gap "has finally been filled by DeepSeek." (Yicai Global)
Big Companies/Big Events
Trump Extends TikTok Ban Grace Period for the Fourth Time
On September 16 local time, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to extend the grace period for the implementation of the ban on TikTok for the fourth time. This extension is for three months until December 16. According to Xinhua News Agency, on June 19, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to extend the grace period for the implementation of the law that would either force TikTok to be sold or ban it in the US by 90 days. This was the third time Trump had granted a grace period for the law. (Yicai Global)
Tsinghua University's top student's revelation of an annual salary of 167 million yuan triggers an investigation. The US Department of Justice: He is on the run
Wu Jian, who once revealed an annual salary of $23.5 million (approximately 167 million yuan) on Xiaohongshu, is facing both civil and criminal prosecutions from the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Department of Justice. Recently, the US Department of Justice stated that Wu Jian is accused of wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. He is currently on the run, and it's not immediately possible to determine his lawyer.
According to Wu Jian's Linkedin profile, he obtained a bachelor's degree in engineering from Tsinghua University in 2011 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Cornell University in the United States in 2017. In 2023, Wu Jian "quietly showed off his wealth" on Xiaohongshu, saying, "I dare not post it on WeChat Moments. I'm still too young - minded. I want to find a place where no one knows me to secretly show off..." The post showed that his salary in 2022 sky - rocketed compared to previous years, reaching as high as $23.5 million. According to reports, it was this act of showing off wealth on Xiaohongshu that sparked discussions in the industry and triggered an internal investigation within Two Sigma. (NBD)
Green Tea Restaurant Reportedly Removed the "Made Fresh" Sign
Recently, netizens have been discussing that Green Tea Restaurant has quietly removed the slogan "No pre - made dishes here, cooked to order" outside its stores. Many netizens have found that the words "No pre - made dishes" originally printed on the disposable tableware of Green Tea Restaurant's takeaway have been blacked out.
On September 17th, a reporter from Nantfang Plus visited a Green Tea Restaurant in Nanshan District, Shenzhen. It was found that there was indeed no such advertisement outside the store. The on - site restaurant staff said they were not clear when the advertisement was removed. However, when asked whether the restaurant's dishes were pre - made, the staff emphasized that signature dishes such as roast chicken were made fresh. Meanwhile, the words "No pre - made dishes" originally printed on the disposable tableware of Green Tea Restaurant's takeaway have been blacked out. (Nantfang Plus)
The balance in the individual account of the employee medical insurance can now support transfers
According to a report by People's Daily on September 17th, the individual medical insurance account can not only be used by oneself, but also can be used to "transfer funds" to family members. Insured persons can use the transfer function of the medical insurance wallet to transfer the funds in their individual medical insurance accounts to the medical insurance wallets of their close relatives for medical treatment and medicine purchase settlements, enabling the mutual use of individual medical insurance accounts among close relatives (including across provinces). (People's Daily)
Man unexpectedly finds two salary records when checking personal income tax, which may involve enterprises falsely reporting salaries by misusing personal information
On the morning of September 17th, the topic "Man unexpectedly finds two salary records when checking personal income tax" trended on Weibo. Reporters noticed that this incident is not an isolated case and may involve illegal acts such as enterprises misusing personal identity information and falsely reporting salaries to evade taxes.
Last month, Mr. Li from Henan checked his personal income tax, and the tax APP showed that he had two sources of salary. Apart from his regular income, a construction company had been "paying" him a salary for a year. However, he had never worked for this company and had never received this salary. It was found that Mr. Li's sister works at this construction company and used Mr. Li's bank card to receive her salary once last year. After Mr. Li filed a complaint through the tax APP, the extra salary record has been removed. "Receiving salary only once but being reported for a whole year," Mr. Li is worried that his identity information has been misused. Currently, the tax authorities have launched an investigation. (Beijing News)
Google Pay to be Fully Launched in Saudi Arabia, Alipay to be Integrated by 2026
The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced at the Money20/20 Middle East event that Google Pay will be fully launched in Saudi Arabia. At the same time, the central bank also signed an agreement with Ant International, planning to enable Alipay+ payment services in Saudi Arabia by 2026. It is reported that both companies will rely on the Saudi national payment system "mada" to complete payment acceptance. (Cailian Press)
National National Day Cultural and Tourism Consumption Month to Be Launched: Over 330 Million Yuan in Consumption Subsidies to Be Issued
The State Council Information Office held a press conference on the afternoon of the 17th. Miao Muyang, the director of the Industrial Development Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said at the press conference that this year's National Day holiday coincides with the Mid - Autumn Festival, with a total of 8 days off. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism will officially launch the three - year action plan for cultural and tourism consumption in "100 cities and 100 districts", and coordinate with China UnionPay, financial institutions, and platform companies to introduce discounts such as consumer vouchers and payment discounts, as well as convenient measures for inbound tourism consumption. Local governments have also successively introduced special policies to expand cultural and tourism consumption, and will issue more than 330 million yuan in consumption subsidies during the consumption month. (China News Service)
Peak Reportedly Cuts Salaries for All Employees, with Maximum Reduction of Up to 50%
Recently, Peak was reported to have cut salaries for all employees, with the rumored maximum reduction reaching up to 50%. Several current Peak employees interviewed by reporters confirmed that the salary cut is basically true. For employees at the headquarters, those with a monthly salary between 5,000 to 10,000 yuan will have a 10% salary cut, those with a salary between 10,000 to 20,000 yuan will have a 20% cut, and those with a salary above 20,000 yuan will have a 30% cut. Office staff at direct-operated branches will have a 50% salary cut, while employees at terminal stores have not seen any adjustment.
Many interviewed employees said that they only learned about the salary cut four days before the payday, and there was no official document or one-on-one communication after the meeting. On September 17th, Peak held an internal meeting to discuss relevant matters. At the meeting, the chairman said that the overall salary cut at Peak is less than 10% and it is not a salary cut for all employees. Reporters tried to contact Peak for more information but received no response as of press time. (Caixin)
The growth rate of national tax revenue has turned from negative to positive
On September 17th, the Ministry of Finance released the fiscal revenue and expenditure situation from January to August 2025. In the first eight months of this year, the national general public budget revenue reached 1,481.98 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.3%. Among them, the national tax revenue was 1,210.85 billion yuan, a slight year-on-year increase of 0.02%. This is the first time since the beginning of this year that the cumulative growth rate of national tax revenue has turned from negative to positive. As an "economic barometer", the continuous growth of tax revenue this year also reflects the improvement of the economy. Fu Linghui, a spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics, recently publicly stated that the Chinese economy ran generally smoothly in August, and high - quality development was steadily promoted. The national economy showed characteristics such as stable growth in national production, continued expansion of domestic demand, and an increase in foreign trade and foreign exchange reserves. (Yicai Global)
Haidilao Customer Service Responds to “Multiple Children's Meal Sets Marked as Partially Pre - processed”
Recently, some netizens posted that when dining at a Haidilao store in Shenzhen, they found that multiple children's meal products on the menu were marked with the words “partially pre - processed”.
On September 17th, Haidilao's customer service responded that if there are partially pre - processed products, the store's pad menu does mark them. Subsequently, reporters consulted multiple stores about this situation.
The customer service of a Haidilao store in Wuhan said that currently the store offers three children's meal sets, and two of them are marked as partially pre - processed on the menu. It is reported that partial pre - processing means that the products are uniformly produced in the central kitchen and standardizedly distributed to the stores, and then finally cooked and served. This measure aims to ensure the safety of the meals and the stability of the taste and quality.
The customer service of a store in Guangzhou also confirmed that products involving pre - processing are marked in the ordering system, and the store waiters also introduce them when customers place orders. (Yicai Global)
Japan Airlines Captain Drank Before Flight, Causing Severe Delays of Three Flights, 37 Executives to Have Pay Cuts
Japan Airlines announced on September 17 that 37 executives, including President Mitsuko Tottori and all board members, will be punished with pay cuts due to a captain drinking before a flight, which caused severe delays of three flights. According to a report by Kyodo News, citing Japan Airlines, Mitsuko Tottori will face a two - month pay cut of 30%. Other executives will receive a one - month pay cut. An executive in charge of safety supervision and an executive in charge of flight operations will have a 20% pay cut, while the remaining executives will have a 10% pay cut. (Jiemian News)
Hong Kong Increases Incentives for Childbearing, Offering HK$20,000 Reward for Newborns and Additional Tax Exemption of HK$260,000
On September 17, Li Jiachao, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, delivered his fourth Policy Address since taking office. The report shows that the SAR government will further introduce a "combination punch" of measures to encourage childbearing. Among them, the period for which newborn children can enjoy additional tax exemptions will be extended from one year to two years. That is, starting from the 2026/27 tax year, in the first two years after the birth of each child, taxpayers can enjoy double the additional tax exemption (HK$260,000) for that child. The measure applies to all children under two years old at the end of the tax year. (Yicai Global)
Nestle's Chairman of the Board Forced to Resign Early
On September 16th local time, the board of directors of Nestle, a well - known Swiss food company, announced that Paul Bulcke, the chairman of the board, had decided to step down from his position on the board ahead of schedule. He will be succeeded by Pablo Isla on October 1st. Paul Bulcke was originally scheduled to leave the board in April 2026. However, due to pressure from investors, he had to step down early. Investors believe that he is responsible for the abnormal departures of two consecutive CEOs within a year. (Yicai Global)
Administrators of Hozon New Energy Deny “Shanzi Technology to Reorganize Nezha Automobile”
Recently, there were reports that Shanzi Technology would reorganize Hozon New Energy, the parent company of Nezha Automobile. On September 17th, the administrators of Hozon New Energy clearly stated that this was “false news”. Relevant staff of Shanzi Technology said that the company is only one of the potential investors, and whether it can become the reorganizing enterprise depends on the official announcement. Nezha Automobile began to face operational problems in 2024. Currently, the first creditors' meeting of Hozon New Energy's bankruptcy reorganization case has been held, and the reorganizing investor has not been determined yet. (Yicai Global)
The position of Brand Communication Supervisor at Xibei has been removed.
Recently, a netizen shared the recruitment information of Xibei Catering Group posted on a job - hunting app, which attracted attention. According to the recruitment information published on the app, Xibei Catering Group was recruiting a "Brand Communication Supervisor" with a monthly salary of 10,000 - 13,000 yuan. Once the news came out, it sparked a lot of discussions. Some people believe that such a salary level is not high among leading catering enterprises in first - tier cities. However, some media personnel revealed that in traditional consumer brands, this kind of treatment is actually at a good level.
On September 17th, after querying the information, the customer service of the job - hunting app confirmed to a reporter from Hongxing News that the recruitment information was posted by Xibei Catering Group and was real and valid. "It is the recruitment information posted by the enterprise, not by a (third - party) headhunter." Subsequently, the reporter also consulted the human resources staff of Xibei Catering Group in the capacity of a job seeker, and the staff said that the recruitment information on the above - mentioned app was officially posted by Xibei.
In the afternoon of September 17th, a reporter from Lanjing found that the recruitment for multiple positions such as Brand Communication Supervisor, Legal Affairs Supervisor, and Content Marketing Director at Xibei had stopped. (Hongxing News, Lanjing News)
The total number of bicycles and electric bicycles in China is approximately 580 million.
September 17th is World Cycling Day. On the same day, reporters learned from the China Bicycle Association that currently, the number of bicycles in China exceeds 200 million, and the number of electric bicycles is approximately 380 million.
Every day in China, the carbon emissions reduced due to "two - wheeled travel" are about 10,000 tons. Calculated based on a fuel consumption of 8 liters per 100 kilometers, it is equivalent to saving about 6.6 million liters of gasoline. Out of every 100 trips made by urban residents in China, about 30 are completed by "two - wheeled travel". Meanwhile, cycling has become a new social hotspot. The number of cycling enthusiasts in China exceeds 18 million, and over 100 million people cycle regularly.
With the continuous improvement of infrastructure and the further strengthening of people's environmental awareness, cycling has evolved from a simple means of transportation to a healthier, greener, and more low - carbon lifestyle. (Xinhua News Agency)
The three major U.S. stock indexes closed mixed, with Baidu rising more than 11%
36Kr learned that at the close on September 17, the three major U.S. stock indexes closed mixed. The Dow rose 0.57%, the Nasdaq fell 0.33%, and the S&P 500 Index fell 0.1%. Large technology stocks showed mixed performance. NVIDIA fell more than 2%, while Oracle, Amazon, and Intel fell more than 1%. Netflix rose more than 2%, and Tesla rose more than 1%. Most popular Chinese concept stocks rose. Baidu rose more than 11%, NIO rose more than 6%, Pinduoduo rose more than 4%, Alibaba, Bilibili, and Li Auto rose more than 2%, and JD.com, NetEase, and Weibo rose more than 1%.
Investment and Financing
NIO Group Secures $1.16 Billion in Financing
On September 17th, NIO Group announced the successful completion of a $1.16 billion financing round. This financing was carried out through a public offering of new shares. The funds raised will be mainly used for the research and development of core technologies for intelligent electric vehicles, the development of new - generation technology platforms and vehicle models, the expansion of charging and battery - swapping infrastructure, as well as further optimizing the company's balance sheet and enhancing its financial strength. (Yicai Global)
AI chip startup Groq completes a new round of financing of $750 million, with a post - investment valuation of $6.9 billion
On September 17th, AI chip startup Groq announced the completion of a new round of financing of $750 million, with a post - investment valuation of $6.9 billion. This round of financing was led by Disruptive, and participated in by BlackRock, Neuberger Berman Group, Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, and a large West Coast mutual fund management company in the United States. Institutions such as Samsung, Cisco, D1 Capital, Altimeter, 1789 Capital, and Infinitum continued to participate in this round of financing. (Jiemian News)
"Qingyun New Materials" Completes Hundreds of Millions of Yuan in Series C Financing
36Kr learned that "Qingyun New Materials" announced on September 17 that it had completed hundreds of millions of yuan in Series C financing. This round of financing was led by Yuanhe Puhua, and various industrial capitals continued to increase their investments. The funds from this financing will be mainly used for the research and development of the new - generation Kunlun super - materials, the expansion of global production capacity, and the construction of the industrial chain ecosystem, further consolidating the company's position in the global high - end special fiber materials field.
"OneStar Robotics" Completes Hundreds of Millions of Yuan in "Seed Round" Financing
36Kr learned that according to OneStar Robotics, "OneStar Robotics" recently officially announced the completion of hundreds of millions of yuan in "seed round" financing. The investors in this round of financing include market - oriented investors such as BV Baidu Ventures and Tongchuang Weiye, industrial investors such as Galaxy General and Landai Technology, as well as "city co - progress" investors such as China - Singapore Group.
Hot Data News
The mooncake industry is transforming towards year-round consumption scenarios, and there are 20,000 mooncake-related enterprises in China
As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches and the festive atmosphere grows stronger, mooncakes, the iconic food of this traditional festival, have appeared in major shopping malls. It is reported that driven by traditional culture and consumption upgrading, the mooncake industry is gradually transforming and upgrading from "seasonal rigid demand" to "year-round consumption scenarios". Data from Aiqicha shows that there are currently 20,100 mooncake-related enterprises in China, with more than 500 newly added this year. In terms of geographical distribution, Guangdong ranks first with over 2,000 registered enterprises, followed closely by Henan and Guangxi.
Compiled｜Purple