21 Comments
Apr 25Liked by Han, Robert Wu

Cars in particular are interesting, because in many cases, they're assembled in the country they're sold in, using parts manufactured in multiple other countries, on behalf of a company headquartered in yet another country. I tend to think of cars generally as a kind of global commodity, although I admit that Chinese cars feel separate from that, mostly because I'm in the US and thus have no exposure to Chinese car brands (hence they feel "foreign" in a way Honda and VW do not), but perhaps also because I assume that they are manufactured entirely in China, thus aligning them more closely with that country than other brands with their respective home countries. Much like the point about how one would market a Chinese dish in different parts of the US: perception is often more important than reality. Great podcast, gave me a lot to think about.

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Apr 27Liked by Robert Wu

25:12 How can Chinese companies avoid the same fate as TikTok? Can a Chinese company still dare to be Chinese in the overseas market?

It doesn't seem like this question was really discussed—instead, the conversation seemed to revolve around promoting the unique Chinese characteristics of the product and adapting to the culture, which is really generic advice for non-controversial things (like makeup or food). I thought there would be a juicier conversation here around Chinese companies trying to expand in geopolitically hostile countries (e.g. TikTok)

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Thanks for an interesting interview. One thing that I fail to recognize though, is in the last section (38:15) you discuss "OA", as a famous but different thing that can be hard to relate to. However you never elaborate on what "OA" is. I fail to recognize this acronym, could you please share a few sentences on what it stands for?

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And why is Tik Tok itself banned in China? Must be a valid reason.

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Why are American social media platforms banned in China?

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