This week on Ginger River Radio, Ivy Yang, who writes an op-ed column called “Discourse Power” or 话语权时代 for FT China and has written for The China Project, shares her insights into the recent restructuring of Alibaba and TikTok's dilemma in the US. Ivy has worked in strategic communications and in corporate comms for more than a decade, including two years at Alibaba Group. She follows topics from TikTok to cross border e-commerce to the effects of the CHIPS Act and much more.

Highlights:

On TikTok

4:56 - How the TikTok hearing has been received in the U.S. and China

10:03 - Factors on the way out of the TikTok dilemma

12:57 - The possible outcome of TikTok situation

17:28 - The generation gap among TikTok users

21:27 - The impact of TikTok hearing and the question about TikTok's identity

On Alibaba

24:36 - How the Alibaba breakup has been received in the U.S. and China

27:40 - Winners and losers of the breakup

30:46 - Combat the "Big Company Syndrome"

33:51 - Alibaba's mid-platform strategy

35:41 - History of Alibaba and other Chinese tech companies' expansion in the US

39:40 - Ivy's recommendations for Chinese companies expanding overseas

45:29 - Blog recommendation: The Marginalian by Maria Popova

Recommendations:

Ivy Yang: The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings)

Jiang Jiang: An op-ed by Ivy on Temu, Chinese e -commerce juggernaut Pinduoduo's overseas e-commerce platform, which can be found on Zichen Wang's Substack newsletter Pekingnology, now part of the portfolio of Center for China and Globalization (CCG).

Inside TikTok, Zhang Yiming's great voyage through the waves by Ms. 张珺 Zhang Jun

A complete transcript of this podcast is available here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.gingerriver.com