As 2019 draws to a close, it's fair to say that it has been a year of twists and turns - even by Chinese standards. With the backdrop of a slowing economy and prolonged trade war, we're happy to say that Chinese consumers have remained the main driver of the economy, spending over 8% more than they did last year, fuelled by a healthy dose of credit.

It wasn't long ago when doing any daily task in China was a chore. Queues at banks rivalled wait times of popular Disneyland rides, supermarket checkout staff seemed to work in slow motion, and buying a train ticket felt longer than the journey itself. Then, almost overnight, day-to-day activities in China became some of the most convenient on the planet.

Last April in the third-tier city of Nanchang, a man wanted for "economic crimes" was arrested from a crowd of 60,000 getting down to Cantopop legend Jacky Cheung. The 31-year old man had been pin-pointed from the sea of people walking into the stadium using facial recognition.

Long ago, Alibaba realised that to rule the retail world, they would need to be offline and well as online. Their first foray into the bricks & mortar world was through the part-acquisition of department store chain Intime in early 2014 and it hasn't stopped since.

Wandering though the library of a Chinese primary school, don’t be surprised if you encounter a 6-year old dusting up on their DNA-editing knowledge. The “Third-Generation Gene Editor CRISPR,” has made the list of recommended books for Chinese kids in elementary and middle schools, along with a host of subjects including quantum computing, drones and aerospace.

The first ten months of 2019 showed Chinese consumer spending is still chugging along, with retail growing at a healthy 8.1% (9% if you don’t include cars). This was further reinforced by last week’s Singles’ Day which saw purchases grow by 27% from last year’s festival.

Another Singles' Day and another dizzying array of records: Almost $70 billion worth of goods sold just on China's top two platforms including $38.4 billion on Alibaba and $29.2 billion over the 11-day sale on JD.com. It was a 27% rise across the board from 2018.

Another Singles Day has come and gone, yielding results which defy most Westerners' comprehension of scale. Alibaba’s Countdown Gala saw 51 million viewers tune in to watch Taylor Swift perform ‘You Need to Calm Down’.

On those long, lonely evenings, what could be better than snuggling up to your smartphone and streaming video content? Out with friends at a hip restaurant – no better place to watch another set of streams. Waiting for the elevator or even in traffic on your electric bike, it would be a missed opportunity if you weren’t watching more on your screen.

The ongoing Trade War, HK protests, NBA, Huawei and other geopolitical issues continue to accelerate the rise of nationalism in China and, as a result, growing consumer preference for domestic brands. We only need to look at Tmall as an indicator, where three-quarters of brands have incorporated the phrase “Made in China” on their product pages – up from less than half in 2017.

For decades, bedrooms and playrooms across the western hemisphere have been filled with Star Wars duvets, figurines, themed lego and other paraphernalia. Dress-up parties spanning all occasions have been embraced by people wearing Darth Vader and storm trooper masks, and more than 500,000 people have officially identified their religion as Jedi Knights. Since the first movie in 1977, the Star Wars franchise has amassed an estimated $65 billion in sales – more than any other media franchise that isn’t a cartoon.

With the curtain already up for this year’s Singles’ Day (the first without Jack Ma), expect to hear more about Alibaba over the next month. Done well, the Singles’ Day/Double-11 extravaganza can be a powerful event to raise awareness and trial of your hero products, and shift some large volumes.

Eight weeks ago, Versace, Coach, Givenchy, Calvin Klein, Fresh and Asics were forced to publicly apologise after labelling Hong Kong (among other regions) as independent countries.

Last Thursday, China’s State Council Information Office (SCIO) published a white paper: Equality, Development and Sharing: Progress of Women’s Cause in 70 Years Since New China’s Founding. “The founding of the PRC in 1949 ushered in a new era for women in China, changing their social status from an oppressed and enslaved group in the past thousands of years to masters of their own fate…” the paper began.

Spending on TV advertisements in China is declining as an overall share of advertising. By the end of 2019, Alibaba’s ad revenue is forecast to be 63% greater than total ad spending on TV. Nevertheless, TV advertising has its place in China and brands are getting smarter about using it to reach Chinese consumers with tactics such as product placements … even those that have humorous, but blatant promotion. The infographic below highlights some of the most effective strategies brands are using TV advertisements in China nowadays.

History was made earlier this month in China when homegrown animated movie Ne Zha became just the sixth film to break $700 million at the box office in a single territory. It also became the second-highest grossing film ever in China behind the nationalistic Rambo-esque Wolf Warrior II.

Britain’s lively capital, London: Arguably the world’s most international city, its cultural capital, the city with the second-highest private wealth after New York, home to four Unesco World Heritage Sites, more five-star hotels than any other city, and based on measurable and objective data, simply ‘the capital of the world’. It also has similar house prices to China’s tier-3 city of Xiamen.

If you think your workload is a bit rough, spare a thought for the 3-15 year-old kids in China. If school wasn’t tough enough already, they spend an average of one-and-a-half hours a day doing homework. On top of that, they spend almost 3.5 hours daily in extracurricular classes. Around six in every ten Chinese parents sign their children up for extracurricular classes, spending almost 13% of their household income on after-school education on average.