Boyuan Wang

So… my mom started using AI Forget leaderboards and benchmarks. In China, AI wins when your mom actually uses it.

My mom, in her 60s, is quietly getting better at everything with AI. This time, I wasn’t the one bringing new tech home.

This week, I write about how AI is spreading across China, built into apps like WeChat and Douyin, from group chats to village walls, and what it means for the tech race ahead.

Project Vend: Can Claude run a small shop? (And why does that matter?) We let Claude run a small shop in the Anthropic office. Here's what happened.

www.anthropic.com/research/pro...

Is Pangdonglai-ism the answer to China’s ailing supermarkets? A six-hour drive for orange juice, and a glimpse of Chinese retail’s future

Now, China’s largest supermarket chain has revamped 100 stores in Pangdonglai style. And thousands more are trying to follow.

So this week I wrote about the orange juice, the goosebumps, and what Yonghui and RT-Mart are learning from it.

www.the-hyphen.com/p/is-pangdon...

In 2023 I had an onsite visit to Pangdonglai, the one and only retail hype in China in recent years.

I wanted to become a Pangdonglai watcher the moment I stepped through its doors but a lot happened to me in the second half of 2023, so I procrastinated, but Pangdonglai didn’t.

全景新声，今日新生：介绍 VoxAtmos 2.0 为移动端而生，支持专辑、厂牌、混音室、工程师、音乐人一站式沉浸声检索的全景新声2.0！

我的微信小程序“全景新声”正式版已经上线了

能和AI生在同时代真是何其有幸。以前是提着汽油小步快走，现在终于开上车了。从1999年家里买回第一台电脑开始，期间尝试过多少次编程入门，都以失败告终。

现在终于可以说，这个小程序的所有代码，都是他写的。但这个小程序里所有的想法，都是我的，也许我也能做一些让自己自豪的事情了。Let’s build!
bwa.ng/uzkufp

A rare sight this morning: rocket launch and Xi’an’s ancient city wall in the same frame.

This is the Long March 6A lifting off from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, sending low-Earth orbit satellites for China’s satellite internet program.

Apple Tax through the eyes of a first-time developer from China Thanks to AI and shifting global regulations, it’s probably the best time to be an indie app developer who wants to make money. But for Chinese developers, that moment still hasn’t arrived.

上个月第一次做开发，捣鼓了一款小程序，当我打算搞点被动收入回本的时候，才发现苹果的分成比例已经非常分裂了，但是中国开发者还是抽的最多的那一档。Last month I developed an app and seriously considered monetizing it. Here’s what I observed: open.substack.com/pub/sources/...

Chinese shopping app Taobao joins DHgate in Top 5 on US App Store | TechCrunch The Chinese e-commerce marketplace app DHgate, which is now the No. 2 free iPhone app in the U.S., isn't the only one that's oddly benefiting from

Chinese shopping app Taobao joins DHgate in Top 5 on US App Store techcrunch.com/2025/...

Meet #Xiaohongshu : began as a cross-border e-commerce and later a hub for female social networking, has emerged in 2024 as Baidu’s biggest rival and Douyin’s top challenger. Its rise was unintentional, much like how it became the most downloaded iOS app in the US despite lacking an English name.

以胖东来的体量，2024年全年160亿销售额已经超越极限。今年中国每一次食品安全问题出现（混装油、卫生巾、豆芽菜），胖东来几乎成为全国消费者的唯一发泄口。

从社交媒体近期的反应来看，胖东来的服务质量已经不如以前，员工疲惫、购物体验因为代购盛行大打折扣。近期取消20余年的会员积分制和烘焙类无预警涨价30%更是被当地社区反感。

不扩店的情况下，胖东来服务与收入俱佳的情况应该在全年销售额100亿以内。实际上胖东来目前使用的固守许昌，全国帮扶的策略并没有起到薪火相传的效果。

如果于东来初心还在，要维持胖东来的服务质量不至于“走下神坛”，那么“不得不”走出河南，向全国扩张可能是一个选项。

Perfect place for us Wang family who own yourname .wang domain

Now T-E-M-U pulled the commercial from its YouTube channel, wow.

Is Temu a bad name? Phonetically so. In its superbowl tv commercial last year, Temu is pronounced /ˈtiːmuː/, and this year round, the latest official commercial, the name has two different pronunciations: /ˈtəmuː/ and /ˈtəmjuː/. After a year and a half in business, still can't nail it! 🤷‍♂️

A "Vision Bar" popped up in Beijing's Hopson One shopping mall right on the heels of the Vision Pro launch in the US. The owner's snagging over 50 legit Vision Pros for local people to give a try (for about $14 per hour). I wonder how many devices will end up in China.

Bluesky is now open for anyone to join | TechCrunch Bluesky looks and functions like Twitter at the outset, but the platform stands out because of what lies under the hood.

We are officially open to the world! Bye bye invites 👋

techcrunch.com/2024/02/06/b...

I haven’t made a public announcement but hey, I got laid off too from a less known tech media in China last September. Still looking for a job while doing the actual parenting, just saying.

TechCrunch Is Shuttering Its Subscription Product and Laying Off Staff The Yahoo-owned publisher first launched TC+ in 2019

Some of the affected staff are the ones I once worked with and really look up to. Shame. And ExtraCrunch sounds way cooler than the + cliche www.adweek.com/media/techcr...

GitHub - apernet/OpenGFW: OpenGFW is a flexible, easy-to-use, open source implementation of GFW on L... OpenGFW is a flexible, easy-to-use, open source implementation of GFW on Linux - GitHub - apernet/OpenGFW: OpenGFW is a flexible, easy-to-use, open source implementation of GFW on Linux

github.com/apernet/Open...

@fergus.bsky.social https://docs.rsshub.app/routes/new-media#wei-xin

Threads feels like the mall.

Apple's controversial WeChat post sparks debate on Chinese social media Tech giant Apple sparked a controversial discussion on Chinese social media after posting a new marketing post (in Chinese) on its WeChat official account on Monday.The post shared

Apple’s WeChat marketing is famous or infamous for the vulgarized Chinese writings that are often seen in Douyin videos and internet slangs, the latest one apparently made many people upset.

What Glyph? This centered punch hole is , and will be the biggest upgrade from Nothing phone (1)

Xiaohongshu is the only social media platform in the world where you can spot Peng Shuai in the wild.

@fergus.bsky.social the layout of TweetDeck v2 is horrible, and that version is what you will pay for.

TFW your apps come with halo and your phone looks like the tournament of Dragon Ball.

Welcome to 2023.

Gfycat also owns Gif Brewery, Mac’s finest gif maker ever. There’s nothing much about the future of this tool, and I feel like I’m living in the darkest days since I get to know tech and internet.

The link rot spreads: GIF-hosting site Gfycat shutting down Sept. 1 Snap-owned service has little to say, other than save or delete your stuff.

Speechless.

me reading as many skeets as i want

No worries. You are going to be the one who skeets.

3 ways to meet Lionel Messi as a Chinese:

1. Spend 300K RMB (~$42K) for an invite to a private meetup event (no dinner, just an autograph & photo)
2. Buy a match ticket (~$280) and pitch-invade and get 5 days of detention plus a lifelong disqualification for civil service exam
3. Reside in Spain