‘Tis the week before Christmas with not a reindeer in sight, Yet Chinese streets brim with trees and twinkly light.

Back in 2012 scouring content for the Skinny, it seemed almost every week there was another article praising KFC’s success in China. It was the Western pin-up brand; finding the much sought-after balance that tempted the masses with its alluring foreignness, but localised its offerings just enough to appeal to Chinese tastes – with the menu sporting old favourites like congee.

Glance across any Chinese park, restaurant or subway and it becomes quite clear that online video is one of the most popular channels in China. It is also one of the most dynamic. This is reflected by user numbers which has seen former market leader Youku-Tudou’s 325 million active monthly mobile users fall far behind market leaders Tencent Video and iQiyi with 457 million and 442 million respectively.

From December 1 this year, China has reduced import tariffs an average 17.3% to 7.7% on 187 imported goods such as food, pharmaceuticals, clothing and sporting equipment. Below is the full list of effected product categories:

It seems there is a new survey every month about increasing China consumer confidence, the latest from McKinsey noting the highest confidence in a decade. The positive responses are mirrored by actual behaviour, which has seen consumption contribute to around two-thirds of China’s GDP growth in the first nine months of this year.

Earlier this month Beijing released a discussion draft of its Ecommerce Law that has sent China watchers and businesses searching earnestly for some clarity. It promises to dramatically tighten up the cross border commerce opportunities that make up one of the most important and fastest growing channels for foreign brands exploring the China market.

Food and Hotel China (FHC), is one of the biggest trade shows in China and China Skinny was on the floor to scope out the latest trends, newest product entrants and to hear from attendees on their China experience.

Here’s some further encouraging news for China’s consumer market: in the first eight months of this year more babies were born into families with multiple children than those without – some 52% versus 45% in 2016. That will hearten the folk in Beijing who are seeking solutions to support its top-heavy population demographics, and should be music to the ears of brands peddling everything from infant formula to shared accommodation.

The big bull of ecommerce festivals comes charging into town this Saturday to much anticipation. Singles’ Day and the week that follows will see millions of frenzied electric scooters ferrying an estimated one billion deliveries to offices and apartments across the mainland.

The annual Singles’ Day festivities often have a showcase feel to them. November 11 does not only ensure a frantic scramble of ravenous deal-seekers and brands beckoning consumers, but a chance for Alibaba to flex its technological muscle. 2016 seemed to demonstrate the pinnacle of Alibaba’s capabilities; $17.8b spent over 657m orders, handled by the Alibaba Cloud which processed up to 175,000 orders a second at peak times.

When you are just one out of a heaving mass of 1.4 billion, feeling special or unique is a treasured experience not often received. As China’s cities swell and lives become increasingly homogenised brands are finding ways to make their consumers feel that unique touch.

Health has been one of the core themes in China’s consumer landscape over the past few years. Anyone who understands Chinese consumers’ approach to health will appreciate the unity based on the opposing and complementary relations of the yin and yang. A pillar of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) beliefs, the yin and yang need to be in harmony – when one aspect is deficient, the other is in excess.

If you believe the press, there is only one show in town for selling your wares in China – ecommerce. Yet behind the hype, ecommerce accounts for just 15.5% of retail overall, and an even smaller percentage for categories such as food and luxury.

Welcome back to our China-based readers; we hope Golden Week panned out well.

China’s dynamic startup scene typically takes a consistent path. New ideas usually follow innovations that have been successful overseas, then quickly morph to serve the unique needs of Chinese consumers; capitalising on the distinct ecosystem of embedded mobile payments, devout smartphone usage and lack of privacy concerns.

Visit any popular tourist spot in China or abroad next week and you’re likely to appreciate the scale of China’s tourist machine operating in top gear. October Golden Week is the yearly climax of leisure travel in China; for many, it concludes as much as 6-months of deliberating and planning for the big annual holiday. The Chinese Tourism Academy expects 710 million trips will be made by Chinese between October 1-8. That’s 10% more than 2016 with spending up 23% to ¥590 billion ($90 billion).

The latest consumer confidence index shows a Chinese consumer who is more upbeat and optimistic about the future than any other time in the last two decades. Yet with an already enormous base of goods and a maturing market, such a positive outlook is unlikely to bring back the mouth-watering consumer product growth rates of yesteryear.

China’s sprawling megacities, covered in concrete, traffic and pollution, have not produced the world’s most fit and healthy citizenry. What is newsworthy however is the speed to which things are changing, as attendants to last week’s FIBO CHINA trade show in Shanghai can attest. For three days over 20,000 fitness fanatics poured into the Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center to see the latest cutting-edge gym equipment, a cornucopia of health vitamins and nutritional supplements, and fiercely contested international bodybuilding and athletic competitions. The global fitness industry has picked up on the move towards healthier lifestyles in the Middle Kingdom and China Skinny was there to tune in to this toned up crowd.

Late last month importation of the soft, creamy and seemingly harmless cow’s-milk cheese Brie was banned in China. The edible mold that helps form Brie’s bloomy rind saw it and a host of other platter favourites including blue, Camembert, Roquefort and goat’s cheese become the latest prohibited foodstuffs in China. They follow a string of fast-growing imports, from chilled beef to kiwifruit, which have been banned and unbanned over the years.