China Digital Digest Weekly: Exploring the Chinese Digital Landscape
- ClickInsights
- Apr 18
- 4 min read
Hi folks, we are back with our weekly edition of China’s Digital Digest, wherein we bring you weekly updates on China’s digital space. The report takes a quick glance at China’s complex and rapidly evolving social media landscape by providing updates on the latest happenings across the social media industry. Here are the major highlights of the report.
1. Chinese Share Anger, Patriotism And Anti-US Views Online
Expressions of patriotic, anti-US sentiment have emerged among the Chinese public, including vows to stop selling American products, charge American customers higher prices and the widespread circulation of a song condemning US tariffs.
Many Chinese business owners have displayed these kinds of messages online, including claims that they would charge a service fee equivalent to the percentage of the tariffs on Chinese goods. The strong sentiments come amid the escalating tit-for-tat tariffs that are driving the US-China trade war to new heights.
2. ByteDance’s Overseas Sales Boom Despite US Hurdles
TikTok’s parent ByteDance is said to have recorded a 63 percent surge in overseas sales in 2024, driven primarily by the short-video app’s growth, in a sign that the Chinese social media giant remains resilient despite political headwinds in the US.
ByteDance’s overseas revenue reached US$39 billion last year, with TikTok accounting for most of the sales. ByteDance, China’s largest unicorn, does not publicly disclose its financial performance. International markets made up a quarter of ByteDance’s total sales, which rose 29 percent to US$155 billion.
3. ByteDance Unveils VAPO Framework to Sharpen LLM Reasoning Skills
ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok and Douyin, has introduced a new reinforcement learning framework called VAPO (Value-Augmented Proximal Policy Optimization), designed to dramatically improve the reasoning capabilities of large language models (LLMs). The breakthrough was detailed in a technical blog and accompanying research paper released this weekend by ByteDance’s AI team.
While much of the recent focus in generative AI has centered on output fluency and speed, ByteDance is targeting a more complex frontier: long-chain reasoning — the kind of multi-step, logic-based analysis required for tasks like complex math problem solving, multi-turn debates, scientific explanation, or legal analysis.
4. ByteDance Reportedly Developing AI-Powered Smart Glasses to Compete with Meta
ByteDance, the Beijing-based tech giant best known as the parent company of TikTok, is reportedly working on its most ambitious consumer hardware product to date: a pair of AI-powered smart glasses.
The company began development on the project in 2023 and has since been assembling a specialized hardware team, consulting with component suppliers, and exploring use cases for the wearable. Unlike previous experimental projects such as smart earbuds, this initiative appears to be a serious effort to enter the emerging market for wearable AI. The goal is to create smart glasses that can not only capture high-quality video and audio, but also support real-time AI-driven functionalities — such as voice-assisted tasks, object recognition, or potentially even language translation — powered by ByteDance’s in-house LLM known as Doubao.
5. Meituan to Spin Off ‘Flash Buy’ Instant Retail Business as Standalone Brand
Chinese on-demand service giant Meituan is planning to spin off its fast-growing non-food delivery unit into a standalone retail brand called “Flash Buy” (闪购), as part of a broader strategy to expand into instant commerce. The announcement was made by Meituan Local Business Group CEO Wang Puzhong during a public address.
According to Wang, Meituan’s “non-food instant retail orders” have now exceeded 18 million per day, a milestone that demonstrates the scale and maturity of its retail logistics network. The company is already conducting small-scale A/B testing of a dedicated “Flash Buy” entry point within the Meituan app homepage, suggesting an official rebranding is imminent.
6. Beijing Adds 23 New Generative AI Services to Compliance Registry, Total Now at 128
Beijing’s cyberspace authorities have officially added 23 more generative AI services to the city’s compliance registry, bringing the total number of registered AI models and platforms to 128. This milestone reflects Beijing’s continued effort to enforce and encourage adherence to China’s generative AI governance framework, which went into effect in August 2023.
The update was published by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology. Although the new list of approved services was not immediately disclosed, previously registered models include major offerings from companies like Baidu (ERNIE Bot), Alibaba (Tongyi Qianwen), iFlytek (SparkDesk), and Zhipu AI (GLM).
7. Americans Flock To Chinese Apps For Cheap Goods Amid Tariff Fears
Americans are scouring Chinese e-commerce apps for cheap handbags, yoga pants and wallets as shoppers fear homegrown platforms will hike prices due to tariffs.
Viral videos touting the high quality, and cheap prices, of goods available on Chinese services have spurred Americans to download apps such as DHgate, which climbed to second place in the free app rankings in Apple Inc.'s US App Store, according to data from SensorTower. Shares of CTS International Logistics Corp., which cooperates with DHgate, rose by the 10% daily limit in Shanghai. Along with DHgate, known as "Dunhuang" in Chinese and dubbed the "Little Yellow App" by some shoppers, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Taobao, and Shein were among the most downloaded shopping apps in the US App Store.
8. China's Retail Giants Pledge to Help Exporters Go Domestic Amid Trade War
China's retail giants have launched initiatives in the past few days aimed at helping Chinese exporters pivot to the domestic market, as a U.S.-China trade war intensifies.
Chinese e-commerce giant JD.Com said it will launch a 200 billion yuan ($27.35 billion) fund to help the country's exporters to sell their products domestically over the next year. It said that it would send its employees to Chinese companies involved in foreign trade, directly purchase their "high-quality products" and set up a special area on its e-commerce platform to sell these products and direct traffic and marketing support to this area. Supermarket chain Freshippo, owned by JD.com rival Alibaba and known as Hema in Chinese, said it had also opened a fast-track path for export companies to explore the domestic market.
Wrapping Up
The vast and diverse nature of the Chinese Social Media space makes it incredibly challenging to keep a tab on the rapid developments taking place. However, China’s Digital Digest brings you all the latest updates from there to keep you abreast of all the evolving trends.
To delve deeper into the findings of our latest report, click here.
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China's digital digest highlights include online anti-US sentiment, ByteDance's overseas growth & AI advancements, plus Meituan's "Flash Buy" spinoff. Beijing adds AI services to its registry. Americans seek cheap goods from Chinese apps amid tariff concerns as retail giants assist exporters domestically. Playing Block Blast while absorbing these updates helps solidify the information. Stay tuned for more developments!