French food giant Danone has had a shipment of Evian mineral water seized by Chinese customs officials who found excessive levels of bacteria. It is hard not to see this as a retaliatory move following the recent outcry in the west about adulterated food and drugs exported from China...   more »

Every advertiser likes a captive audience. What better way to grab their attention than on one of China's epic train journeys? More than 120 train routes in China have been fitted with the Railway Motion Media system, developed by Chinese company Epinmedia. It allows bored railway travellers to enjoy TV content, check out web information or play online games, among other activities...   more »

Monstermob, the UK-listed company that set out to conquer the once booming Chinese market for mobile phone ring-tones, is now considering throwing in the towel on China. Monstermob was particularly hard hit by China Mobile's recent clampdown on mobile phone services as the company had become heavily dependent on the Chinese market for growth and had made a string of local acquisitions.   more »

At an international product safety conference, being held appropriately enough in Beijing, western experts urged China to improve its act and reduce the number of product recalls. Alarm bells are ringing following a growing number of incidents involving counterfeit drugs and sub-standard agricultural goods imported from China...   more »

Could China's supremacy in mobile phone manufacturing be challenged? Not any time soon, you may think. That's why we were intrigued to read that Korean phone giant Samsung may be planning to move its key production line for mobile handsets to Vietnam to reduce production costs as global competition intensifies...   more »

Sony Ericsson has unveiled a programme to help software developers in China produce mobile phone content and applications aimed squarely at the Chinese market. The aim is twofold: to help Sony Ericsson handsets stand out in a crowded marketplace and to help operators grow average revenues per user (ARPU) -- a key metric for phone operators.   more »

What better way to follow China's runaway economy than having your own "China economist"? Morgan Stanley has hired Qing Wang as executive director and chief economist for Greater China. This latest hire follows the appointment of Stanley Carlos Oyarbide as Morgan Stanley's managing director and chief operating officer for China...   more »

Data from iSuppli figures show that Chinese electronics manufacturers continue to strengthen their in-house design capabilities in order to decrease the risk of over-reliance on external design houses. Nevertheless, I suspect it will be many years before Chinese OEMs achieve the sort of reputation for innovative design that major foreign brands like Nokia, Motorola and Samsung enjoy today in handsets...   more »

Geong, the Beijing-based software house, has signed an important contract for its enterprise content management software with Lenovo. The deal is an extension of an existing relationship and is designed to help China's largest PC maker improve the efficiency of its worldwide dealer network...   more »