Following the Yuan

What is Following the yuan?

Founded in 2022, Following the yuan is a business publication focused on how and why Chinese people spend their money.

Aimed at a business and financial audience, we aim to provide original reporting and analysis on China's consumer market in an economic downturn, and ‘color’ beyond the earnings calls and market reports.

Why subscribe?

You may know Chinese consumers by their strong spending power, their ‘lying flat’ lifestyle, their active online protests against, well, anything. But how different are they from each other, and from the Western consumers? What concerns them, makes them happy, sad, excited or concerned?

A human-centered angle is what I see lacking in business reporting about the consumers, it’s what frustrated me in newsrooms, and what drove me to start this newsletter. (My presentation for Splice Beta 2024 on the exact topic.)

Join 4,000+ subscribers in China investment, journalism, marketing, academia and policy research today. (What you get as a paid subscriber.)

Who are you?

A consultancy founder who was born and bred in China. My whole career has been in the information industry, trying to interpret China better for an English audience. I started watching Chinese consumers since 2014 as a lifestyle columnist for now defunct Caixin Enjoy.

Growing up in the 90s, I’ve breathed, witnessed and lived through the opening up of China in terms of culture and business: I listen to music from Taiwan, the US and the UK, watched cartoons from Japan and TV shows from South Korea, and had gotten used to overseas brands entering the market, full of hopes and dreams. I was also among the millions of Chinese students who have studied abroad since the reform and opening up.

Today, my goal is to document and translate how people are reacting and acquiescing to these changes, which will shape the contours of tomorrow's largest consumer market.

Feel free to connect with me via LinkedIn and Bluesky. I was once active on Twitter/X but here are my reasons for leaving.

Other FAQs (as of Dec. 2024)

How do you make money?

While I’m not writing the newsletter, I’m working on projects for ApertureChina, my research-focused consultancy.

I deploy journalistic skills in every research project, having in-depth conversations with consumers, experts, competitors, and corroborating interview findings with domestic policies and market trends to help companies answer their business questions in real-time. As of late, I’ve also taken on a PR strategy project for a consumer brand. I’m happy to share my rate card upon inquiry via yaling at aperture china.com.

What’s your methodology?

While working as a journalist, my main methodology for connecting sources/information around my beat was:

attending trade conferences + be part of specific communities (can be online/offline) + having regular conversations with insiders + monitoring key companies’ announcements + monitoring industry policies

This has informed my current research methodology.

I also want to add that as China becomes more inward-looking, it’s ever more important to let personal experience inspire ideas and thesis, while being aware of personal bias.

What’s the deal with ApertureChina?

China’s information system is rife with disinfo and misinfo, with none of the accountability by media and the public. I launched the practice in late 2023 mainly to address this issue.

It pains me to see the growing discrepancy between information in simplified Chinese (usually within the great firewall) and that in English, along with these problems:

1. Chinese state media only focuses on the embellished positive stories;

2. Chinese social media are insular from the rest of the world (e.g. Douyin and Tiktok, both owned by ByteDance, are kept separate);

3. Overseas media face stringent restrictions in reporting, with a widespread neglect on Chinese consumers;

4. Professionals including analysts, financial writers and lawyers are increasingly censored;

5. China-focused marketing agencies tend to paint a rosy picture without nuances.

Having said that, I believe that it doesn’t mean businesses should exit China once and for all to avoid the trouble. It means that large companies must know that their audience are increasingly locally influenced, their marketing sales strategies must be re-considered to suit the post-Covid sentiment, and the companies planning to enter the market should have a clear understanding of its target audience here before committing to any China investment.

The best way is listen to the people.

Have you worked at a large consultancy before?

No, and I’m glad that I haven’t. If I did, either at a large insights company or management consulting firm, I'd only be trained to only speak in their language and think in their framework. I believe that there are already enough formal voices in the marketplace, and business leaders can benefit from some out-of-the-box perspectives.

My most relevant experience would be at Archex, a now-defunct design consultancy, which also doubles as the innovation arm of a Chinese food corporation with 12 umbrella brands. I loved working there, and hoped that someday, I can create a similar environment for young talents to learn, grow and be inspired from one another.

Why is your content seemingly more political than other newsletters/consultancies? Aren’t you afraid that the negative information about China will scare your potential clients away?

The intention is always have companies and clients get as much the full picture as possible.

As I wrote in “How to manage China anxiety,” I often criticize China’s lack of press and creative freedom and hope for a more liberal, progressive future. Yet, I can’t deny China’s meteoric economic rise and how that’s shaped the hyper-competitive consumer market, sometimes, we forgot how far China has gone.

For example, I’ve written about how there are anti-aging dog foods now, but around three decades ago, pets were banned by Chairman Mao Zedong due to concerns about rabies and his belief of keeping dogs as bourgeois. When I wrote about the lack of safety in sports and fitness, I’m also aware that sports like skiing and climbing only become accessible and popular in recent years with the development of related facilities.

There will always be opportunities in this market if you stay focused on your target audience, and navigate risks as you go.

Since Covid, I witness how Chinese consumers retreat to their communities built upon their hobbies, seeking inner peace and self improvement. This trend has not just sustained but grown post-Covid as there are more macro factors outside their control.

It's easy to lose focus while anxiety-inducing China headlines fail to provide clarity. However, it's ever more important to zero in on your target audience, existing customers, and communities.

Developer Notes

Dec 2024 — updated FAQs

April, 2024 — Wow! 100 posts already!

Jan, 2024 — started recruiting freelancers for in-depth reporting pieces

Sep 29, 2023 — Launched paid plan including 5 main columns: Weekly consumer news, Deep dives, China explainer, Personal essays and Web3

Jan 2, 2023 — I’m getting into a groove to publish a weekly news roundup every Tues EST, and planning to do ad-hoc commentaries when the occasion presents itself.

May 10, 2023 — It’s been over month since I started the Entrepreneurial Journalism Creater Program at CUNY remotely. I’m learned to zero in on my target audience and have a few tests on content forms/revenue models in the pipeline!