Late Tuesday night certain circles on the Chinese internet were abuzz with the news that Facebook had registered a subsidiary in Hangzhou. As the story spread into the English-language sphere, NBC quoted a Facebook spokesperson as saying that the new entity would be an “innovation hub”.
But then the news started disappearing from WeChat and other Chinese internet portals, and the record on China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System website also appeared to have been taken down.
Most of the original WeChat posts that featured screenshots of the NECIPS’s listing have now been deleted. Even major tech news outlets seemingly had their news censored; 36Kr had their entire morning briefing round-up post from Wednesday deleted, apparently because it contained a mention of Facebook registering in Hangzhou (this morning’s round-up made no mention of the incident or of Facebook).
And now, it seems the actual registration on the NECIPS website has also been removed. A screenshot widely circulated online shows the original Hangzhou listing is now missing when users search for 脸书 lianshu, the Hangzhou entity’s Chinese name, a literal translation of face book.
The New York Times has reported that “the approval has been withdrawn, according to a person familiar with the matter”. A news report on iFeng.com, one of the few Chinese media outlets to run a story on the issue, was headlined “‘Lianshu’ registration information taken down, has Facebook’s road into China hit another bump?”
So far, Facebook has not commented publicly on the developments.
This doesn’t mean that the project is necessarily dead in the water of course, but it clearly represents a significant setback in the company’s plans to finally gain a foothold in mainland China, nearly a decade on from seeing its flagship site blocked in the country.
Yesterday, we wrote about China’s ambitious moves in the film theme park sector and the reasons behind the industry’s rapid expansion. In particular, we looked at a brand new venture from Huayi Brothers, Suzhou’s HB World. But in addition to examining the park’s background, we also couldn’t resist the temptation to head to the site and check out all the craziness for ourselves.
I made the bold decision to hit the theme park on Monday, grand opening day. Part of me was excited to spend a day at a theme park — the last time I went to something remotely similar to a theme park was the 2010 Shanghai World Expo — and part of me was not looking forward to the sweaty skin-to-skin contact in long lines, packed with people getting through security and waiting for rides. Imagine Black Friday, but with seniors and kids.
Well, none of that happened.
Main gate
Having taken a 30-minute gaotie out from Shanghai and then a 30-minute Didi car from the station, I arrived at a huge, empty parking lot. I was almost certain that I had come to the wrong gate as there was an absence of long lines and staff telling people not to queue jump through a loudspeaker — standard fixtures at most Chinese attractions. But apparently this was the main entrance, so I pulled up the QR code on my phone that was my ticket.
I came, I scanned, I entered.
5 different sections
Visitor Center
Visitor Center
Visitor Center
QR code as ticket
Greeted with the long stretch of real estate that comprises “HB World Boulevard”, I felt like a VIP. It felt like the kid in Home Alone, like I had the whole park to myself. I was going to go on all the rides, and sweep this whole place like the 3D terrain mapping scanner in Prometheus. I went inside the visitor center adjacent to the entrance, grabbed a copy of the map and game-planned the best way to attack it all.
Then I found out that four major parts of the park were closed for maintenance. Which, was a bummer, to say the least — I was really looking forward to crossing “bungee jump” off my bucket list.
The war zone
HB Boulevard
The war zone
The steam punk zone
Anyway, the park is divided into five sections; four are based off of HB’s more successful films: Assembly, If You Are The One, Tai Chi, and the Detective Dee series. In between these sections are a range of different mini-areas: there’s a war-torn town, a cherry blossom (to be) filled Japanese village, a steampunk section, and a rendition of a city based in the Tang Dynasty. I was constantly being kept in check of which section I was in by the themed trash cans.
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To abridge my first five hours at the park: I watched two short movies (both in “4D”), went through a bunch of museum-like exhibitions about the history of HB and their productions, took a VR ride, had one fruit punch, had zero bungee jumps.
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In general, the park seemed wholly unprepared for what they said was the grand opening. There was no food. Well, there were a few cafeterias, but real restaurants were not open. In addition, there were unfinished buildings, guys were still installing surveillance cameras, and I may have spotted a Confederate flag flying from the Huayi Grand Cinema building.
Under construction
Under construction
Fixing and installing
Err….
Say what you like about Disneyland, but they generally have things ticking over pretty smoothly when it comes to the grand opening. And are probably attuned to how a Confederate flag might go down.
Upon arriving at the last section of the park — the Tang Dynasty zone — it quickly became evident that this will be HB World’s main attraction. Talk about saving the best for last.
Aside from the questionably Tang Dynasty-relevant pirate ship ride, street food area, haunted house, rollercoaster ride, and vertical drop ride, the entire area is surrounded by ancient-looking buildings and walls. It almost felt like I was standing inside the Forbidden City in Beijing. You know, with a giant Buddha statue looking over everything.
As with Disneyland, Universal Studios and similar attractions, HB World also offers up live action shows based upon their film IP. I managed to catch one based on the movie series Detective Dee, which is kind of like the Sherlock Holmes of China, except there’s way more kung fu and flying involved. Appropriately, the actors were cabled up and flying around the stage. It was fantastic.
The Bungee Jump
Huayi Brothers has a great deal of content to build HB World upon, especially with a proven fan base for the films at this park’s heart. And there’s potential for it to be a Chinese version of something like Disneyland or Universal Studios. However, with the ticket price almost as much as Shanghai’s Disneyland, HB World will need to ace the execution and really cater to the Chinese audience to garner visitors.
Facebook has finally entered mainland China, after the registration of a Facebook entity in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province and home of Alibaba, was reportedly approved on July 18.
On Tuesday, a screenshot purporting to be a filing for the entity on China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System website went viral on WeChat and Weibo, before the news crossed over into the English-language realm and was eventually confirmed by a Facebook spokesperson. According to the screenshot, Facebook’s Hong Kong company is listed as the sole shareholder of the new enterprise, while the registered capital is 30 million USD.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been making overtures to China and its ruling officials for some time now, infamously going jogging in heavy smog in Beijing on one visit to the country. Yet the information on his company’s Hangzhou-based subsidiary emerged just as he was playing “the China card” to fend off any potential break-up of his empire.
In an interview with Recode, coincidentally given the same day the registration was approved, Zuckerberg stated:
“If we adopt a stance which is that, okay, we’re going to, as a country, decide that we’re going to clip the wings of these [American] companies and make it so that it’s harder for them to operate in different places or they have to be smaller, then there are plenty of other companies out there that are willing and able to take the place of the work that we’re doing,” he said, specifically suggesting Chinese tech companies as the replacements. “And they do not share the values that we have.”
That apparent lack of shared values doesn’t seem to have stopped him from finally making a foray into the mainland Chinese market however.
We are interested in setting up an innovation hub in Zhejiang to support Chinese developers, innovators and start-ups […] We have done this in several parts of the world — France, Brazil, India, Korea — and our efforts would be focused on training and workshops that help these developers and entrepreneurs to innovate and grow.
What this will mean for Facebook itself in the country remains to be seen. The site has been blocked in mainland China since 2009. The news came shortly after Google doodled its way further back into mainland China, where its search and mail operations have also been blocked for almost a decade. Last year, the Alphabet-backed company also opened a research and innovation center in the country, focused on AI.
Zhibo is a weekly column in which Beijing-based American Taylor Hartwell documents his journey down the rabbit hole of Chinese livestreaming app YingKe (Inke). If you know nothing about the livestreaming (直播; “zhibo”) phenomenon in China, start here.
Interesting Question of the Week 你对 Mark Elliot Zuckerberg 怎么看？(What do you think of Mark Elliot Zuckerberg)?
Ah, the Sina-Zuckerberg conundrum. In America, Mark’s image has taken a few hits — making Spiderman cry that one time, selling our data to shady political operatives, continually being unable to fake human emotions, etc. But here in China — the country where his service is literally banned, mind you — he seems to still be enjoying a fairly Jobsian tech-god kinda reputation.
This might have something to do with the way he keeps certain books in prominent positions in certain pictures or how he puts out videos of himself speaking Chinese — or perhaps how he went for a jog in the smog that one time.
On a completely unrelated note, there’s a fantastic Chinese expression for sucking up — 拍马屁 (pai ma pi) — literally to pat a horse’s ass. Apparently, this dates back to when the Yuan Dynasty (aka the Mongolians) ruled China and people would praise the horses of any officials they wanted to keep happy — presumably a good ol’ slap on the rump helped to get the point across. Naturally, breaking out this expression is my new favorite way to get kids to stop ratting out their classmates over some minor infraction in the hopes of currying favor.
Wait, “to curry favor” is about horses too? What did horses ever do to deserve this weird association?
Strangest Message of the Week I am in a oneiromantic hypnopompic state.
say what now?
It’s not often that Inke comments send me to the (English) dictionary, but this one did it. I think “oneiromantic” could either mean “one romantic” or neoromantic, i.e. kinda nostalgic for a more romantic (classical sense) time/style.
“Hypnopompic” apparently means the semi-conscious state before you wake up, which is a shame, because I was hoping it was the lesser-known evolution of Drowsee.
So… this person is saying he/she is in a nostalgic, semi-conscious state? Sadly, (as is so often the case) I got no follow-up or explanation for what was easily the most curious message of the week.
Weird Invitation of the Week Do u want to come to tv program for finding girl friend
Short Answer: No
Long Answer: As you might imagine, dating shows are pretty popular in a country where getting married to a reasonably suitable person as quickly as possible is still very much the societally demanded norm; and putting a token foreigner on said shows now and then is a great way to boost ratings and introduce a little bit of exotic spice, as it were, to the proceedings.
Honestly, I have no idea how popular actual time-slot-having television shows still are in a place where everyone is swiping through 15-second videos on their phones every hour of every day, but there must still be enough of an audience to let me know once a week that a suitable Chinese girlfriend is just a short television appearance away.
Unanswerable of the Week can you get weed in China?
Weed? You mean weeds, the ugly little plants that grow amongst the flowers? Why on earth would I desire such a thing? What an odd question. Moving on.
No, but seriously — whatever your personal opinion might be on the matter, don’t mess around with drugs in China. I don’t even smoke cigarettes (my poor delicate throat ‘n’ all), so this has never been an issue for me, but finding yourself on the wrong side of this law here can land you in serious trouble.
There’s super cheap paint-thinner-level liquor at every corner store — good enough for the mahjong players on the sidewalk, good enough for me.
Featuring fresh graduates from the police academy, these guys are getting really creative with their utility of shadows. The graduates from the traffic control class also made great use of their academy’s spiral staircase.
This is a photo of the photoshoot featuring the graduating class of Wuhan University. Surrounding the middle of the school’s field stand 4,500 students, making a 285 meter-wide circle (yes, we did the math). The printed graduation shot measures 10 meters long, and takes up 5GB of space on the camera. Wouldn’t want to be the one that blinked in this shoot.
