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Your daily dose of China's tech
March 19, 2019

“Some people wonder why Dianrong’s growth has slowed in the past two years. It was not because we did not want to or could not grow. It was because we were told not to grow.”

Guo Yuhang, co-founder of online lending platform Dianrong, in an internal memo to employees

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'Apex Legends' cheating problems

What: A considerable number of users of the Chinese social media platform Weibo support the idea of region-locking China in the battle royale title 'Apex Legends' based on allegations of Chinese players cheating.

Background: 'Apex Legends' currently has over 50 million players worldwide, but, like many other multiplayer first-person shooter games, it has been plagued by cheaters since its launch. According to a Reddit post from game developer Respawn Entertainment earlier this month, more than 355,000 players have been banned for cheating since the game started.

Cheats: A cheat is any software or script that boosts a player's performance. Cheaters are immediately detectable to other players during matches via their unrealistic feats; for example, they are able to shoot with 100% accuracy (even through walls or by aiming at the ground) or can maneuver through the game at unbelievable speeds.

Bad reputation: Chinese players have a track record of cheating in games of this genre—99% of cheaters in “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” are from China, according to statistics from the anti-cheat provider Battleye. International players of “Apex Legends” are accusing Chinese players of cheating and destroying the game experience.

Trade: Cheats for 'Apex Legends' have opened up business opportunities in China. They are widely available on platforms such as Alibaba’s Taobao and Tencent’s QQ for prices as low as RMB 1 ($0.15) for three hours of use. A number of Taobao vendors use bots that automatically send users the software once payments are confirmed.

Self-restriction: Several Chinese Weibo users have voiced their approval for a region lock on Chinese players in order to eliminate—or at least limit—the number of cheaters. Since Mar. 15, a number of Weibo users have reported server locations being restricted to Taiwan and Hong Kong, suggesting that Respawn Entertainment has implemented a region lock of some sort. While players can still play on other servers using game VPNs, the normal connection appears to limit Chinese players to several Asian servers.

- Tony Xu, TechNode reporter

Shots

Concentrated daily news

Chinese e-commerce and social media platform Xiaohongshu, known as RED, is reportedly working on a social e-commerce mini-program on WeChat. Originally launched in 2013 as a social network for fashion and beauty products, Xiaohongshu is looking to shift into an online shopping platform. It raised $300 million in a Series D led by Alibaba in May.

CITIC Securities filed a report Friday confirming that Transsion, a rival to Xiaomi in Africa, had completed a mandatory three-month counseling session for its initial public offering (IPO) on Shanghai’s new Science and Technology Innovation board.

Estee Lauder China is suing NetEase’s cross-border e-commerce platform Kaola for allegedly selling its products without authorization, the latest in a series of disputes as the Chinese tech company faces issues with product authenticity.

Drips

Small drops to get smart on China's tech world

Malarial shots: A fringe treatment for AIDS and Lyme disease that involves infecting patients with the parasite that causes malaria is being tested in Chinese cancer patients—and being claimed as a miracle. (STAT)
Mysterious patents: China is developing a weapon called “Magnetized Plasma Artillery” which uses magnetism instead of gunpowder to fire shells. (National Interest)
“Exascale” escalation: China and US are starting a new race for next-generation “exascale” supercomputers. (SCMP)
Sun power: China is planning a space-based installation capable of collecting solar energy and directing it to nearly any location on Earth. (Inverse)
Crackdown on P2P: China’s crackdown on the peer-to-peer (P2P) lending industry is making life difficult even for the strongest player in the market. (TechNode)