Monday morning links
Schools in Beijing have stopped using foreign textbooks, following a similar move by Shanghai schools a few weeks ago. Foreign language apps have also been pulled from app stores. Karaoke bars have been banned from offerings songs that threaten national unity. The Chinese government clearly wants to minimise foreign influence.
China’s anti-graft watchdog also called for drinking curbs, hitting alcohol stocks such as Yantai Changyu, which I have recommended in the past. Such curbs will clearly have a negative impact on the sales of wine.
New Chinese COVID-19 cases have dropped now for several days in a row. That could potentially be a buy signal for Chinese transport-related stocks.
China shut down the world’s third-largest port. But the effects should be temporary.
Malls in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta reopened last week after a massive delta outbreak. Indonesian shopping mall-related stocks are still inexpensive, so there might be opportunities here.
Samsung’s third-generation leader JY Lee was released from prison, making it easier for him to run his company. I’ve written about him in this previous post.
A critical comment about Tether’s audit from Raging Capital. Be careful with stablecoins.
Company-specific reports
Grizzly Research is bearish on recent Chinese IPO TuSimple (NASDAQ: TSP — US$4.9 billion)
Long-form writing
Wickhams Hill’s “Under-the-Radar” report dated 16 August 2021 (38 mins)
Ed Yardeni believes the long-term equity bull market is intact (9 mins) ($)
George Soros: Xi’s dictatorship threatens the Chinese state (7 mins) ($)
Katsuji Nakazawa on the politics behind China’s tutoring crackdown (8 mins) ($)
Aikya’s summer 2021 letter discussing China’s regulatory backlash (11 mins)
Hayden Capital’s 2Q 2021 letter has an optimistic take on Chinese tech (26 mins)
Barry Eichengreen doesn’t believe CBDCs will dethrone the US Dollar (4 mins)
A collection of Twitter profile Ming Zhao’s past threads (3 mins)
Curated by Kalani: Nintendo, Tencent, and Gaming in Asia (12 mins)
A sensible take of the difficulties of broad EV adoption (4 mins)
Ed Yong: How the pandemic now ends (18 mins)
Podcasts and videos
Carson Block on fraud in China and elsewhere (10 mins)
Jeremy Grantham: We’re in one of the greatest bubbles in history (48 mins)
Aaron Pek discussing Malaysian stocks (41 mins)
Dennis Hong from Shawspring Partners on tech stocks (1:38 hours)
Matt Pottinger: China’s borders will open in 2023 (1:03 hours)
Chart of the week – China’s YoY growth in total social financing now below 2019 levels
Thanks for reading, and I wish you a great week ahead!
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Best regards,
Michael
About "forced drinking for business purposes";
anyone who has attended business dinners in China will know what a blessing this is!
The co-op has a business entertainment budget which they can only spend when they take foreign customers out to dinner.
So, they order crate loads of Maotai wine and have round robbins bottoms-up routines.
This is not hospitality. It was just an excuse for the co-op managers to get drunk without having to foot the bill.
As a foreign buyer, I was fortunate to be able to refuse to participate beyond the obligatory first round ...but the junior staff at the co-op did not have that option. Their refusal to keep drinking was seen as a sign of insubordination!
These rules are not likely to have any meaningful impact on the overall consumption of liquor in China. It will only curb the obvious excesses.