Markets

Shanghai share prices fall by 8.49% – Shanghai Daily

Apple Stock Recovers After Tim Cook Email Praises China Sales – The New York Times

Why Trouble in China is Hitting Your 401(k) – Time

How China’s market meltdown impacts big technology companies – Fortune 

E-commerce/Technology

E-Commerce Firms May Have to Pay More Attention to Food Vendors – Caixin Online

Hey Uber, Welcome To China – TechCrunch

Uber Offers 109% Returns for Chinese With $500,000 to Spare – Bloomberg

Airbnb Seeks to Expand in China With Local Help – The New York Times

TripAdvisor Sells Kuxun Brand And Revises China Strategy – iResearch News

Microsoft Brings Chinese Personal Assistant to WeChat – iresearch News

Real Estate

Realtors Worry Downturn In Chinese Economy Could Cool Red-Hot Bay Area Real Estate Market – CBS SF Bay Area

China’s woes inject uncertainty into Seattle’s real estate market – Business Journal

Agriculture/Food and Wine

Corn War  – The farm-by- farm fight between China and the United States to dominate the global food supply – New Republic

The changing image of Californian wines – Decanter China Why do we drink wines in China? – Decanter China

China Business Insights

China’s ‘Post-Millennials’ Embrace Emojis and E-Commerce as Brands Study Their Culture- Jing Daily

RURAL CONSUMPTION KNOCKS ON CITY DOORS IN CHINA IN THE SECOND QUARTER-Nielsen

China is making a huge shift to mobile (INFOGRAPHIC) – TechInAsia

Beijing, China (August 17-19, 2015) – California Center successfully organized a group of U.S. companies to attend U.S. Embassy meeting in Beijing and U.S. Business Summit at Green Dragon Lake district in Beijing, China from August 17 -19, 2015. The purpose of the meeting and the Summit is to help U.S. companies to understand the Green Dragon Lake (GDL) project and how to implement U.S. companies’ technologies into the project. Owned and operated by China Development Orient Urban Development and Investment Co., Ltd ( CDO), the GDL project is a world-class sustainable energy and clean technologies project that will utilize the latest in clean/smart energy innovation. The project presents a great opportunity for U.S. companies in green energy/smart city industries to implement their technologies into the project. Participating companies include Honeywell, Cisco, GE, McWong Environmental Technology, The Digit Group, Dais Analytic Corporation, Dresser-Rand, Xylem, Autodesk, LumaNext, Ecolab Inc and Chic Capital. Most of the participating companies are also the ones that joined the April presidential trade mission in China  led by Secretary of U.S. Department of Commerce.

IMG_0492

IMG_0495

On August 17,  the group attended the meeting at U.S. Embassy in Beijing and was welcomed by Val Huston, Principal Commercial Officer at U.S. Commercial Service of U.S. Embassy, together with other U.S. Embassy staff. During the meeting, the group discussed about the Green Dragon Lake project and how U.S. companies can participate to help the project to become a low-carbon model city in China.  At the beginning of the meeting, Margaret Wong, President of California Center and McWong Environmental Technology introduced the overview and history of the forming of U.S. Alliance on Smart Energy and low carbon cities.  Following that, special presentation about the Green Dragon Lake project was delivered by Edward Zhu, the Chief Strategist of CDO. The special presentation along with the Q&A section answered questions about the scope of the project, technologies that will be used and overall vision of the project. Later, Paul Doherty of The Digit Group presented how U.S. companies can assist  GDL to become a successful low carbon/smart city by implementing  U.S. technologies in the project. Val Huston of the U.S. Embassy are very supportive of the project and provided detailed suggestion on how the group can better relay the significance of the project in order to gain top-down level support from both U.S. and China governments.

IMG_0491

IMG_0488

On August 18th, the group attended U.S. Business Summit at the Green Dragon Lake project site. In the morning,  China Development  Orient Urban Development and Investment Co. Ltd. (CDO), the operator  of the project, held a site tour to help the group to understand the development area and surrounding environment.  Following the site tour, CDO chairman Mr.Zuo Kun and  Vice President  Mr. Zhang Kun welcomed the group and gave the group an overview of the Green Dragon Lake project, including the project’s mission and planning.  In the afternoon, the U.S. companies present had the opportunity to provide individual presentations about their companies with the group and CDO representatives. Several individual private meetings for contract negotiations also occurred with many of the companies present and CDO.

IMG_0507

IMG_0501

The next day on August 19th, the business summit concluded with more private meetings and discussions with U.S. companies and CDO.

In summery, the meeting at the U.S. Embassy and the Business Summit at the Green Dragon Lake project site were well received by all parties. California Center will continue to connect U.S. companies with the project and help U.S. companies to get contract from it.  Gaining support from U.S. government will help facilitate the collaboration between U.S. companies and the project. Therefore, California Center is planning to provide a high-level debriefing about the summit in Washington D.C. with U.S. government staff from Department of Commerce, Department of Energy , U.S. Trade office and so on.

Market

California braces for falling yuan’s ripples – Los Angeles Times

Why Beijing Reformed Its Exchange Rate System Now – Caixin Online

PBOC Dismisses Talk of Devaluation as Move to Boost Exports – Caixin Online The world has a bigger problem than China’s currency devaluation – The Washington Post

China’s Devaluation of Its Currency Was a Call to Action – The New York Times

China’s yuan depreciation could hit domestic firms – CNBC

Ecommerce/Internet

Macy’s to set up China online store on Alibaba’s Tmall Global – Reuters 

Global Brands works on an alliance with China e-commerce giants – Internet Retailer

Mobile accounts for more than half of all sales in China for Alibaba – Internet Retailer

Alibaba Spends $4.6 Billion on Suning in Ma’s Biggest Buy – Bloomberg 

Real Estate

Overnight, NYC real estate got more expensive for Chinese buyers – The Real Deal

What next? A China housing crash? – Financial Times

Chinese buyers feed new energy into Texas real estate – CNBC

Agriculture/Food and Wine

Highlights Of China’s 2015 Food Safety Law – Law360

U.S. growers worry over China’s economy – Los Angeles Times

Going Organic: Investing in China’s Growing Health Foods Market – China Business Review

5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Trust ‘Organic’ From China – Epoch Times

How China’s yuan devaluation could affect your food costs – CNBC

Mintel: China overtakes U.S. as top ice cream market – FoodBusinessNews

Food scares strip McDonald’s, KFC of treat status in China – Reuters 

Doing Business In China

E-commerce drives investment in China’s reefer logistics networks – JOC.com

The Trademark Woes Of Michael Jordan (And Many Others) In China – NPR