The Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, episode 24
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Welcome to the 24th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week, we analyze S&P’s decision to cut the long-term sovereign credit rating on China by one notch to A+ from AA-, the fifth-highest level, and change the outlook to stable from negative. We take a look at China’s high-speed trains, which are getting faster and faster in the past few years. We study the news that Google will pay one billion dollars for assets related to its longtime collaboration with smartphone manufacturing partner HTC. We learn about a recent move by China’s leading online travel agent Ctrip to open its first offshore call center in the U.K. We explore why a school authority in China’s Hunan Province has reversed a decision to dock the pay of two teachers for refusing to take a quiz on their city’s National Civilized City campaign. We also examine a point-based system launched by the local authorities in the Xiongan New Area economic zone to allocate affordable rental properties to migrants. In addition, we talk to Caixin senior editor Doug Young about an Alibaba-backed logistics company called BEST Inc., which raised $450 million in the largest IPO in the U.S. for a Chinese company this year, and South Korean retail giant Lotte Group’s recent move to sell many of its stores in China. We also speak with Caixin reporter Raffaele Huang about the latest open water swimming craze in China. We’d love to hear your feedback on this product. Please send any comments and suggestions to [email protected].  

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