For many Chinese, bicycles were for poor people and a cold or sweaty reminder of when few could afford a car and cities had no subways. In Beijing, just 12.5% of residents cycled in 2015, versus 38.5% in 2000.

The end of the year is always a time we enjoy at the Skinny. On top of the medley of cheesy carols, online gift deliveries and general festive cheer, it is also a time to take stock of the past 12 months and look to the year ahead.

Baidu is China’s most popular search engine, accounting for 80% of the search market.

Following the melamine scandal in 2008, China’s dairy industry has changed dramatically. No other product segment experiences the same lack of trust in the domestic supply chain quite like milk.

In January 2013, Bloomberg reported that Beijing’s pollution was worse than the average US airport smoking lounge. The study was one of the most polarising accounts of the severity of China’s pollution at the time.

Any news covering Intellectual Property and China is typically fraught with stories about IP-theft and trademark violations. It can cover anything from fake milk powder, to Alibaba being ousted from the prestigious International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC), to a man named Wang who bought 1 million RMB worth of fakes on Singles’ Day.

Earlier this month, Marks & Spencer announced that they were closing their remaining ten stores in China. This follows a string of exits from other retailers such as Media Markt, Home Depot, Best Buy, ASOS and the Barbie store. Tesco and B&Q also recently divested their China operations.

To many Chinese he was just a source of entertainment who fuelled Government propaganda about the folly of US democracy. That all changed on November 8 when the US moved on from its first black president to a slightly orange one.

Alibaba’s focus for Singles’ Day changed this year from deals to international products and entertainment.

Online shopping in China is immense. If you were unaware of that, there’s a good chance that your thoughts of China conjure scenes of Mao-suited men emotionlessly sorting screws in a crowded assembly line.

China Skinny has been utilising big data for analysis, trend spotting and recommendations for some years now. Chinese consumers’ spirited uptake of the Internet and wide scale integration offline means that much of what online Chinese do during their day is recorded, allowing us to help demystify consumer behaviour.

With the heralded Singles’ Day looming over the minds of anyone with an ear towards China, Alibaba’s gargantuan sales machine has primed its engines. With its fashion week in the rear-view mirror, a gloomy Sunday in Shanghai saw the Oriental Sports Stadium play host to the Tmall Collection, China’s ground-breaking fashion show, or maybe more accurately, ‘fashion festival’.

Imported food and beverage is big business in China. While Chinese consumers may be buying more locally-made goods overall, foreign fare is one of the shining segments for exporters around the world. Chinese shoppers are trading up, adopting more international tastes and continue to worry about the health and safety of locally-produced provisions.

Chabuduo is a word used far too often in China, as British writer James Palmer eloquently scribed earlier this month. It spans wider than corruption; a challenge that Beijing must overcome to successfully deliver its Supply-Side reforms. It is why Chinese consumers buy countless foreign brands, and why data-rich companies like Alibaba ad JD place so much focus on imported products. In short, it is a deeply-embedded attitude in China that 'close enough' is good enough.

Well there it was; another demonstration of the impact that Chinese travellers are having on the global tourism industry. An estimated 589 million Chinese travelled during the Golden Week holiday, collectively spending $72 billion in seven days - more than Kenya's GDP for the year. With the number of trips growing 12% on last year's Golden Week, consumers' appetites for travel and experiences are showing no signs of waning.

The average consumer in Shanghai is bombarded with 3-4 times more advertising than consumers in most Western countries. With so much noise, it can be difficult for even the most established brands to be noticed.

Gaining exposure in China can be challenging – not just for new brands, but also for brands who already have an established presence in the market. The most successful companies are those who are aware of the latest marketing channels and opportunities, and embrace them in a way that is relevant to their target markets.

Beijing recently acknowledged that it needs to attract more foreign talent to help its transition to an economy led by consumer spending and innovation. It has even announced plans to set up its first immigration office to assist.