Shuli Ren

China’s strict Covid-zero policy is getting costlier by day. As the infectious omicron variant spreads, the government is resorting to widespread lockdowns. Shanghai, a city of 25 million people, is at a standstill, and cities accounting for a quarter of China’s gross domestic product are under…

For those looking to buy a second home as an investment, take a pass on Hong Kong. Maintenance costs are rising. Your tenant is probably working from home, cooking, washing and cleaning a lot more than before Covid. Appliances break. And good luck finding a plumber or electrician. Repair men are…

China is the wild card. President Xi Jinping has vowed that the friendship between China and Russia has “no limits,” and he certainly has the tools to help soften the blow of unprecedented sanctions imposed by the US and European Union on Vladimir Putin’s wartime economy. Beijing could buy some…

It’s the $96 billion — and counting — question for investors in China. After last year’s bruising crackdown on Big Tech, Wall Street has been speculating on when Beijing will relent. The latest selloff in benchmark tech stocks is a wake-up call that the worst is far from over. The government…

Before Jack Ma got into trouble with Beijing for his free-wheeling ways, there was Wang Jianlin. Once China’s richest man, the founder of commercial real estate giant Dalian Wanda Group Co. was forced to unload trophy assets by the government after an acquisition spree that hit an estimated $16…

While the rest of the world is struggling to live with Covid, there are signs that China is determined to stick to a zero-tolerance approach to the pandemic. In late December, it locked down Xian, a city of 13 million in northwestern China. The quarantine measures were so draconian some residents…

Consider this thorny situation: You’re in a long-term relationship. It was great for a while, but your goals have changed. Do you have a respectful breakup, or just ghost your partner? This is the dilemma Beijing is facing with overseas investors worried that they will lose their shirts if China…

If a stock market is a mirror of a society’s state of mind, then the US is feeling exuberant right now. But in China, it is all about trepidation. Investors there are worried the government is going to mess things up. Both economies face the same set of problems: Supply chain disruptions,…

With Chinese high-yield issues experiencing their worst selloff in a decade, murmurs are growing that China is poised to blink and relent on its property tightening measures. That hope was shattered on Friday. At a news briefing, the People’s Bank of China broke its silence on China Evergrande…

South Korea’s dystopian drama “Squid Game” is poised to become Netflix Inc.’s biggest hit ever. The destitute and desperate enter a bloody contest where they play a series of traditional children’s games with just two outcomes: death or a $40 million cash prize. A blend of “The Hunger Games” and…