Week #35: Shanghai Disney Resort dodges PR crisis 🏰; CVC investment trend in beauty industry 🏦; McDonald's China’s price hike 🍟| Following the yuan

I’m changing rules for the paywall, which will be down for a limited 24 hours and then only be available for paid members.

Hi everyone, hope you had a lovely Christmas. I arrived in Kazakhstan yesterday and have yet to explore Almaty much — please send me tips if you have any!

The land border control from Xinjiang was the strictest I’ve ever experienced anywhere. We first hopped onto a 15-seater car in Horgos, a city in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang. There were two security checks, an on-board passport check, and when we finally arrived at the border, we were told not to take any pictures nor to pet the police dog (which I totally wanted too).

Bus station in Horgos. The slogan reads: One Belt One Road; China and Kazakhstan’s friendship are everlasting. Image: Yaling Jiang

After being in and out of the country frequently over the last few months, I detected that I have a China syndrome: expecting everything to operate at lightning speed, assuming everyone needs to function at maximum efficiency, and rejecting every kind gesture in fear of scams.

I felt this when we were at a döner shop and our orders didn’t arrive seconds later, when the taxi that the hotel ordered waited us for >10 minutes without canceling, and when vendors at Kök Bazaar (below) offered us samples and we said no.

There are more symptoms of this syndrome that I have realized at other times, which I will find another time to talk about in details. This week, I want to discuss Shanghai Disneyland’s almost fatal PR crisis, how beauty giants are “making friends” with Chinese startups, and McDonald’s China’s price increase.

*Announcements*: 1. For experiment purpose, paywall for this post will be down for a day, and then will only be available for paid members, along with the archive. 2. Next month, there will be an original story about Chinese beauty brands that I’m super excited about, stay tuned!

1. Shanghai Disney Resort dodges almost fatal PR crisis 🏰

What happened: On the 24th, some netizens announced that in the new “Zootopia: Hot Pursuit” at Shanghai Disney Resort, a child was suspected of falling off the car while picking up a fallen headband, causing the project to be suspended.