As usual we finish our S3 Newsletter with some articles not so closely related to the business world.
On this occasion, we continue with the list of the top 10 Chinese companies and start a new list, focusing on the 10 most popular hobbies in China.
The top 10 most significant Chinese companies
After pointing out the most relevant aspects of BYD (automotive) and Kweichow Moutai (alcoholic beverages), we will finally put the spotlight on one of the promoters of the great digital transformation of the Chinese market over the last 10-15 years, namely Tencent.
Tencent (or by its full name, Tencent Holdings, Ltd.) was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Shenzhen, the technology metropolis in Guangdong province, near Hong Kong.
It is the world’s largest video game marketer, owns Riot Games as well as 40% of Epic Games. Its most successful game is ‘Honor of Kings’, available outside China from 2023, making it a global leader.
The company’s development has been meteoric, with investments in more than 600 companies (it owns 4% of Tesla, among others), but not only for its role in the world of video games.
Undoubtedly, for the general public and specifically for anyone doing business with or within China, Tencent is (even) better known as the company behind the super app WeChat.
WeChat, known in China as Weixin, has been around since 2011 and has become the most widely used app in the world, with 1.37 billion monthly users. The multifunctional platform and social network allows its users to do a myriad of activities that in the West would require the use of dozens of individual apps.
The top 10 most popular hobbies in China
In this edition, we begin a new series of 10 instalments, although to be exact, there are two series of 5 instalments each: we will delve into the daily lives of Chinese citizens, discovering what they do when they are not working, studying or spending time with their families. And we will focus first on their traditional hobbies, and then move on to the rather modern hobbies – that’s five and five!
In this first article the focus is on a pastime that many Westerners would immediately identify with China and other East Asian countries: calligraphy.
Considered an art form, calligraphy has a very special place in Chinese culture.
The graceful strokes and complex characters convey beauty and meaning.
In China, it is quite common to see older people practising calligraphy in the street with a water brush.
If you are learning Mandarin Chinese and like art, you should consider this hobby.
You will end up creating a beautiful piece of artwork while practising your writing skills and memorising Chinese characters at the same time.
Tradition has it that Chinese characters, the oldest known form of writing in existence today, were invented by Cang Jie (around 2650 BC).
Source: https://www.pandanese.com/
