See, I find that weird. Why push cash transactions (that can be anonymous and leave no trace) when you can have people buy things with their phones tied to their identities and know what they...
Alibaba and Tencent can issue lofty mission statements about bringing more users into the fold. But to them, the size of coverage disparities aren’t an overall problem as long as urban users keep the money flowing through their respective apps. They lose nothing substantial when lower-income, lower-technology, or unbanked users struggle to participate, because mobile transactions are still a massively growing sector. However, PBOC branches do, because lower spending and renminbi circulation reflects poorly on different provinces’ economic numbers—and, eventually, on the economic health of the whole country. When corporate needs and government objectives clash in China, however, the government tends to win. Yet the attraction of investment and the glamor of tech may give the payment firms the leverage they need to keep reaching for revenue opportunities.
See, I find that weird. Why push cash transactions (that can be anonymous and leave no trace) when you can have people buy things with their phones tied to their identities and know what they bought, when they bought it, where they bought it, etc. It's not very China-like.
online vendors pioneered “shopping holidays,” events such as Singles’ Day (Nov. 11—four lonely ones in a row)
This is incredibly creative and hilarious.
In many cities, cashlessness is so common that panhandlers and street musicians use WeChat and Alipay QR codes to ask for change.In many cities, cashlessness is so common that panhandlers and street musicians use WeChat and Alipay QR codes to ask for change.
And in here, when you call a taxi, you have to specifically ask for one that allows card payments... Smh...
From my understanding, it's because some people, mainly the rural population with limited access to urban areas have no real infrastructure for mobile payments (they may not even own phones) and...
See, I find that weird. Why push cash transactions (that can be anonymous and leave no trace) when you can have people buy things with their phones tied to their identities and know what they bought, when they bought it, where they bought it, etc. It's not very China-like.
From my understanding, it's because some people, mainly the rural population with limited access to urban areas have no real infrastructure for mobile payments (they may not even own phones) and if they go to a city that only accepts these cashless payments (migrant workers reached 261 million in 2012), they literally can't buy anything. So, I reckon that the need for people to buy things, and thus "improving" the economy, trumps the need for surveillance in this regard.
online vendors pioneered “shopping holidays,” events such as Singles’ Day (Nov. 11—four lonely ones in a row)
This is incredibly creative and hilarious.
It's a huge shopping day in China. Everyone always asks "what will you buy on singles day?"
I use cash and refuse to pay with mobile whenever I can, because I don't like colluding with surveillance-authoritarian-capitalism. I do this as nicely as possible. But this is really not about...
I use cash and refuse to pay with mobile whenever I can, because I don't like colluding with surveillance-authoritarian-capitalism. I do this as nicely as possible.
But this is really not about me. I'm just one of many and I chose this. It's a privilege to be able to choose, and there are many who can't. It's good to be reminded of this -- that's my main take from this article.
Older users are another critical demographic targeted in cashless platform promotion campaigns. Because older users tend to struggle learning to use mobile devices, for example, Alibaba takes advantage of filial piety to encourage children to recruit parents and elders into getting on the apps. In a recent campaign to get more elderly users up to speed on using Alipay, Alibaba mimicked the language of a heartfelt child-to-parent note as an introduction to a tutorial on setting up mobile payments.
Alibaba is very good at using coddling and pampering languages in its products, which adds to my contempt. The aggressive infantilization is bad enough from any commercial player, but from this gigantic commerce-surveillance-finance conglomerate, it just feels gross.
See, I find that weird. Why push cash transactions (that can be anonymous and leave no trace) when you can have people buy things with their phones tied to their identities and know what they bought, when they bought it, where they bought it, etc. It's not very China-like.
This is incredibly creative and hilarious.
And in here, when you call a taxi, you have to specifically ask for one that allows card payments... Smh...
From my understanding, it's because some people, mainly the rural population with limited access to urban areas have no real infrastructure for mobile payments (they may not even own phones) and if they go to a city that only accepts these cashless payments (migrant workers reached 261 million in 2012), they literally can't buy anything. So, I reckon that the need for people to buy things, and thus "improving" the economy, trumps the need for surveillance in this regard.
It's a huge shopping day in China. Everyone always asks "what will you buy on singles day?"
I use cash and refuse to pay with mobile whenever I can, because I don't like colluding with surveillance-authoritarian-capitalism. I do this as nicely as possible.
But this is really not about me. I'm just one of many and I chose this. It's a privilege to be able to choose, and there are many who can't. It's good to be reminded of this -- that's my main take from this article.
Alibaba is very good at using coddling and pampering languages in its products, which adds to my contempt. The aggressive infantilization is bad enough from any commercial player, but from this gigantic commerce-surveillance-finance conglomerate, it just feels gross.