• November 27, 2017

In a landmark decision, a court in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, ruled in favor of e-commerce behemoth Alibaba after it sued a company for fabricating transactions and favorable comments related to online stores. It was the first such case in the country. The verdict was decided on Oct 27 and took effect on Nov 11. The defendant, Hangzhou Jianshi Network Technology, did not appeal within 15 days of the verdict. Xihu District People's Court ordered it to pay 202,000 yuan ($30,500) in compensation to Alibaba for violating the Law Against Unfair Competition and disturbing the market order of e-commerce platforms, according to a written statement from Alibaba, which is headquartered in Hangzhou. The case has far-reaching significance in the healthy development of e-commerce, Alibaba said, as "such a verdict serves as a warning to deter copycats". "Only when lawbreakers' income from illegal business is all used for compensation and they can no longer make a profit will the legitimate rights and interests of law-abiding companies and consumers be safeguarded," it said. To create a fair, transparent and honest shopping environment, Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall set up an evaluation system for consumers to evaluate products and services after each purchase, the company said. Being able to browse a product's transaction records and prior customers' evaluations has become an important decision-making tool for people selecting from a large number of products. The court said Hangzhou Jianshi established a website in 2014 specializing in accepting requests from online stores to make fake purchases and leave favorable user comments. The company made 360,000 yuan in brokerage and membership fees from September 2014 to March 2016, when its operation was suspended by Hangzhou's market supervision administration. Altogether, 3,001 Taobao and Tmall stores asked the company to fabricate transactions and user comments, according to court documents. Alibaba sued the company in December and requested compensation of 2.16 million yuan. A hearing was held on Feb 15. "Such fake evaluations constitute serious pollution of the evaluation data formed by real consumers, and mislead consumers who rely on the data to make purchase decisions," said Zhang Yiwen, a senior legal expert at Alibaba. China top legislature recently adopted a revision of its Law Against Unfair Competition, stating that e-commerce operators must not deceive consumers by faking sales volume or user comments.

• November 21, 2017

The number of China-Europe freight trains reached a new annual record this year since starting operations in 2011, indicating closer economic ties between the two major markets. More than 3,000 cargo trains have traveled on 57 lines between cities on the two continents, surpassing the past six years combined, and pushing the aggregate to over 6,000, China Railway Corporation (CRC) said Saturday. "The trend is solid," CRC said in a statement, adding that a coordination committee was established in May to further bring down logistics costs and improve efficiency. The cargo service has been growing rapidly, now bridging 35 Chinese cities, including Xi'an and Yiwu, and 34 European cities such as Hamburg and Madrid. It is considered a significant part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Europe is China's largest trading partner. Trade between the two sides increased 16.2 percent year on year to 3.4 trillion yuan (513 billion U.S. dollars) in the first 10 months.

• November 21, 2017

Three minutes and one second! That's how long it took Alibaba to pass the 10-billion-yuan mark in sales on its flagship Tmall e-commerce platform at this year's Double 11 shopping bonanza, beating last year's record by 3 minutes 57 seconds. A cheer went up when the numbers surpassed 10 billion in sales, as the Chinese e-commerce giant recorded another remarkable year. Man vs. Machine However, engineers failed to get the results they wanted in the first three years. This year, however, they came up with "Project Vanguard," an unmanned stress test. Many procedures were carried out by an AI system, which decides what the user volume would be, what the scale of pressure is and what countermeasures should be put in place. Even with all this technological wizardry, some users still experienced difficulties locking down their purchases in the first two minutes this year. Going abroad Cross-border vendors and bonded zones give Chinese shoppers a chance to purchase goods from all over the world in just a few clicks. Fueled by the development of e-commerce, internationalization of logistics and more importantly, Chinese consumers' growing purchasing power, the event is now going global, encouraging major brands like Macy's – which first got on board in 2015 – to set up online stores on local platforms. Major players like Tmall, JD.com and Suning have all launched global platforms aimed at providing quality overseas products. The platforms also help popular and influential domestic brands gain a greater share in overseas markets.

• November 21, 2017

At the 4th Portugal-China Gala held last week, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa presented the Outstanding Company Award to Beijing Capital Airlines.

• November 21, 2017

Nearly 18,000 firms have registered with the customs authorities in the Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ) since it was launched four years ago, Shanghai Customs said Wednesday.

• November 21, 2017

China's major industrial firms posted faster profit growth in the first three quarters of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

• November 21, 2017

"China's imports and exports remained sound and steady and witnessed positive changes in the first three quarters," the GAC said in a statement. Trade volume for private enterprises also increased, as their combined volume rose 17.8 percent, compared with the share for the same period of last year. This accounts for 38.5 percent of the national total, 0.4 percentage point higher than the proportion for last year. In September, China's foreign trade rose 13.6 percent to 2.46 trillion yuan, with exports up 9 percent and imports up 19.5 percent. Trade surplus shrank 28 percent to 193 billion yuan. GAC spokesman Huang Songping said at a press conference that the trade volume will continue to grow in the final quarter, and may register double-digit growth in the full year. He cited favorable factors for trade growth including mild recovery in the world economy, strong economic momentum inside China and good prospects for trade with other emerging markets. In its latest World Economic Outlook released Tuesday, the IMF raised its forecasts for world and China's economic growth in 2017 and 2018. The global economy will grow by 3.6 percent in 2017 and 3.7 percent in 2018, both 0.1 percentage point higher than its forecasts in July. China's economy will grow 6.8 percent this year and 6.5 percent next year, also both 0.1 percentage point higher than its July forecasts.

• November 21, 2017

China will issue 2 billion U.S. dollars worth of dollar-denominated sovereign bonds on Thursday, China's Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Wednesday.