What is the best newsletter about China?

It depends on what you need China for. If you need to read Beijing's policy signals, the established political newsletters do that well. If you need to know what Chinese consumers are actually saying about your category on Xiaohongshu, Douyin and WeChat, that is a different beat, and it is the one this newsletter covers.

Is this a China politics newsletter?

No. This is a consumer and social media newsletter. Policy shows up only when it changes what brands can do. The weekly focus is on what is selling, what is being discussed, and which Western brands are being talked about in China without knowing it.

Annie Chan, who ran global marketing for Transsion / TECNO and now publishes independently. Everything here comes from operating, not from press releases. See the archive below to judge before subscribing.

How often does it arrive, and what does it cost?

One issue every Monday, about seven minutes to read. It is free, with no paid tier. One sponsor message at most, never an unrelated promo, and one-click unsubscribe. Your address is never sold or shared.

Founders, brand and growth operators, and investors who need to understand Chinese consumer behaviour beyond the headlines. It is written for people deciding whether to enter China, or discovering that China already buys from them through daigou and cross-border channels.

China Consumer and Social Newsletter

What you'll get

Four things in every issue you won’t
find anywhere else.

What's actually working in China

Not last quarter's PR releases. The plays I'm seeing run inside Douyin, Pinduoduo, RedNote, Tmall — week by week, with the operator-side data.

The cross-border arbitrage Western brands miss

Where China-to-world and world-to-China gaps exist right now — and the brands quietly running the playbook before everyone catches up.

AI workflows you can copy on Monday

The prompts, stacks, and team-of-one systems I use to ship multi-platform content in 3 hours — not the AI tool of the week.

13 years of mistakes, distilled

The TECNO years. The independent pivot. The campaigns that missed, and why. What I'd tell my 5-year-younger self, every Monday.

One letter a week.No fluff.

Four things in every issue you won’t find anywhere else.

What's actually working in China

The cross-border arbitrage Western brands miss

AI workflows you can copy on Monday

13 years of mistakes, distilled

Every issue, free to read.

September 2026

Affiliate Commission Is a Second Platform Fee, and in Vietnam the Two Together Take 38%

Refund Without Return Means the Buyer Keeps It — and From March 2026 Cross-Border Sellers Need a Local Address

Annie Chan.

Effie Awards Greater China, jury member

Golden Mouse Marketing Innovator of the Year

Guest lecturer, Peking University and Renmin University of China

13 years in marketing, then published on it

Quick answers.

One Monday a week.Free, and free to leave.

Shopee, TikTok Shop, Lazada: You Are Not Choosing an Audience, Because They Overlap

New Sellers Wait 31 Days After Delivery, and the Fast Tier Is Performance-Gated

TikTok Shop Fees in Southeast Asia: The Commission Rate Is the Smallest Number

You Cannot Open a Thai TikTok Shop. What a Foreign Brand Can Actually Do.

August 2026

Uber, Samsung, Amazon, Walmart: They Did Not Fail at Localisation

TikTok Shop Probation Is Not a Penalty — But Your Account Health Rating Is

June 2026

Zhipu Just Crossed HK$1 Trillion. Western Coverage of Chinese AI Is Broken.

Meta Paid $2 Billion for a Claude Wrapper. Then Beijing Made Them Give It Back.

TikTok Shop Seller Communities in Southeast Asia: The Regional One Does Not Exist

Xiaohongshu Advertising: The Account Comes Before the Content

Xiaohongshu Marketing Agencies: You Are Hiring for Four Jobs, Not One

The Six Xiaohongshu Challenges Better Execution Does Not Fix

The Xiaohongshu Blue Tick Is a Permissions Key, Not a Trust Badge

WeChat for B2B: The Official Account Is Not the Programme

China Social Media Marketing: What Actually Works in 2026

Douyin Live Commerce: Why It Is a Retail Job, Not a Marketing Job

KOL vs KOC on Xiaohongshu: You Are Buying Index Coverage, Not Reach

TikTok Shop in Europe: Your US Playbook Transfers, Your Bottleneck Does Not

Taking Money From Chinese Consumers: Four Routes and What Each One Costs You

Guo Chao Is Not Patriotism. It Is the Collapse of Verification Cost.

Pop Mart Did Not Export a Character. It Exported a Way Around Your Retail Buyer.

They Are Not Undercutting You. They Are Out-Premiuming You.

The Factory Videos Did Not Sell Much. That Is Exactly Why They Hurt.

The Tariffs Got Refunded. De Minimis Did Not Come Back.

Sourcing From China as a Brand, Not a Reseller

Temu and Shein: You Are Being Asked to Price Against an Arbitrage That No Longer Exists

1688 Overseas Is Not a Cheaper Supplier. It Is the End of Private Label as a Moat.

TikTok Shop in Southeast Asia: Which Market, and as Which Kind of Seller

WeChat Marketing: The Private Domain Playbook Western Brands Keep Missing

China Market Entry Strategy: Why the Entry-Mode Question Is the Wrong One

Xiaohongshu Marketing: A Working Guide for Brands Outside China

RedNote for Business: What Xiaohongshu Ads and Brand Accounts Actually Cost You

Build an AI Content Creation System: How to Produce 30 Days of Content in 3 Hours

Shopify for Global Brands: The Traffic Strategy That Doesn't Rely on Paid Ads

Meta Ads vs TikTok Ads in 2026: Which Platform Wins for Global Brand Growth?

TikTok Shop for Global Sellers: How to Go from Zero to First 100 Orders

AI Marketing Tools Stack 2026: The Complete Guide for Global Brands

One letter a week.
No fluff.

Four things in every issue you won’t
find anywhere else.

One Monday a week.
Free, and free to leave.