Welcome to the 79th installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors. This week: We discuss the death of Chu Shijian 褚时健, China’s “King of Tobacco.” We analyze some recent news about China’s ambition to build 5G networks worldwide. We report that China’s 3 million qualified individual investors can now apply to trade stocks on the Nasdaq-style high-tech board, which will open for business in Shanghai by mid-year. We chat about the opening of a Communist hero-themed KFC in the middle of China. We learn that Apple's latest iPhone models are being massively discounted in China for the second time this year as online retailers across the country struggle to move them. We hear the news that China’s customs bureau is holding thousands of Tesla’s at ports in China — due, apparently, to misprinted labels on certain Model 3 vehicles. We note that so far this year, 350 listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen have given notice that a major shareholder will sell at least some of its shares in their companies, with 160 such notices issued since March 1. In addition, we talk with the podcast’s co-producer Tanner Brown about the two big political meetings happening in Beijing, the lianghui 两会.

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