Uber's official Tencent WeChat accounts were blocked again last week. Given Tencent also owns a large share of Uber's main Chinese competitor, Didi Kuaidi, their motivations are fairly clear.

The 386 million shoppers on Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall platforms provide a deep insight into Chinese consumers across a number of categories. The infographic below dives into consumer trends and behaviour on Alibaba's platforms for the past five years for the homeware, maternity and child, fashion beauty, household appliances, outdoor sports, shoes and bags, fashion and food categories.

Christmas is not a tradition normally associated with China. However, despite the seemingly irreconcilable contradictions between a highly commercialised Christian holiday and the world’s largest Atheist and Communist state, Christmas in China is growing to become big business. So can a Chinese Christmas be boiled down to a purely commercial phenomenon, or does the increased eagerness of Chinese consumers to celebrate Christmas indicate something deeper? Read on to get the festive skinny!

As recently as 2012, most Chinese consumers considered international labels categorically better than local alternatives. KFC was a good example: although consumers knew deep-fried drumsticks weren't a super-food, they were from an American company so must be safer, and therefore healthier, than Chinese options that could be cooked in gutter oil, with additives like melamine. That perception helped fuel more than two new KFC restaurant openings a day in China that year.

What do you think of when it comes to property in China? Gleaming skyscrapers, “quaint” replica European towns, property tycoons, struggling migrants living in crowded squalor or abandoned ‘ghost cities’? China’s property market is home to its fair share of fascinating contradictions, however with residential real estate and construction accounting for over 10% of China’s GDP, taking the time to cut through the complexity and understand this dynamic market is a great investment. Get a head start with these buzzwords!

China's online shoppers are showing the stamina of Ironmen. Less than three weeks after the Single's Day frenzy, they were tapping and clicking up a storm for America's Black Friday. Shopper's Fatigue? Not the Chinese.

If you'd bought the broadcast rights for the 2015 China's football league, it would have cost you $13 million. If you'd done the same for the next five years, you'd be looking at $260 million a year. It follows similar deals such as Baidu's $269 million five-year agreement to stream Spain's La Liga football matches and the estimated $500 million Tencent paid for five-years of NBA games.

Since the introduction of Deng Xiaoping’s Open Door policy in 1978, China has evolved to become both a powerful projector of global influence, as well as a sponge soaking up international trends and cultures. Chinese citizens’ national identity, their perception of the world around them and where international brands fit into all of this, are all essential points to consider should you wish to craft a truly global marketing strategy in the Middle Kingdom (zhong guo中国).

In case you haven't heard, sales for Single's Day last Wednesday hit a whopping $14.3 billion. That's 60% year-on-year growth - a similar rate to 2014, but from a much larger base. The day epitomised Chinese consumers' dedication to online shopping, with none more committed than a lady in Chongqing who dramatically injured her husband as she thrust for her smartphone to browse the sales.

The Alibaba shopping-mania continued with this year’s Singles’ Day reaching a stunning $14.3 billion sales. It not only showcases the enormous reach of China’s biggest internet retailer, but also the pace Chinese spending power is increasing. Growing by 60% compared to last year, Singles’ Day has evolved to a global shopping festival. Below is the digest on Singles’ Day 2015 in China Skinny’s newest infograph.

Few things symbolise modern China more than Single's Day. The most obvious parallel is the remarkable scale of the day - 278 million products worth $9.3 billion sold in 24 hours last year, and it is on track to be even bigger this year. It also represents how the Internet is addressing some of China's big challenges such as limited retail infrastructure in the hinterland. In addition, this year's integration with 180,000 brick & mortar stores in 330 cities illustrates how the lines between online and offline are increasingly blurring in China.

The pressure is on. Michael Evans, President of Alibaba Group, said it best in the lead up to Singles Day that “Over the past decade, Alibaba measured our impact and our success by how much we changed China. Going forward, we will be judged by how much we change the world.” This Single’s Day, all eyes will be on what steps the company makes to change the world.

As a lead up to the strike of midnight Alibaba aimed to keep China’s online shoppers awake and engaged. The Pre-Singles day gala put on by Alibaba and exclusively aired on Hunan TV engaged watchers and shoppers with a big night of entertainment. China Skinny was hosted by Alibaba to attend the big event and was able to soak up the buzz from the night. Below are some highlights from the Singles Day gala. Be sure to check back to find out more about the astonishing facts and figures from this years Singles Day.

As Alibaba expands abroad it is not overlooking its home market, with domestic growth being one of Alibaba’s key strategic areas. That’s with good reason. Whilst only 10% of products sold in China’s physical stores are imported, 40% of products sold online are foreign. With China’s hinterland underserved by brick and mortar stores selling foreign products, Alibaba is playing a part in bringing the world to them. Three factors are helping to drive domestic growth.

Last week, lots of important people met for four days in Beijing to formulate the development plan for China for the next five years. A fun video has been doing the rounds to explain what huge deal it is.

Last week's four-day Fifth Plenary Session in Beijing saw China's leaders meet to determine the blueprint for China's policies over the next five years. Although the full details won't be released in March next year, below are 13 highlights from the communique published following the session:

Mass urban migration, the one-child policy and opening up to the world have all had an enormous impact in shaping modern China. WeChat has hit a sweet spot addressing some of the challenges that have resulted from the changes.

WeChat’s reach and influence is unrivalled in China’s online space. It touches everything from consumers communicating with their nearest and dearest, to sharing their most special moments, to buying everything from cinema tickets to taxi rides. Being a integral part of so many urban Chinese lives allows big data to provide consumer insights that would be impossible to obtain before. The WeChat infographic below illustrates just a few of those insights to get a better understanding on WeChat users, and urban Chinese consumers as a whole.