CX Daily: China’s Silver Screens Lose Their Luster as Pandemic Grinds On

After years of disruption to theater operations and filmmaking, the country’s movie industry is nearing the brink

May 30, 2022

People watch a movie at a cinema in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, on March 2, 2021. Photo: VCG

Movie theaters /

In Depth: China’s silver screens lose their luster as pandemic grinds on

“After two bruising years, almost every movie theater in China is out of money,” says Liu Jianxin, a general manager at a Beijing movie theater management firm.

Liu says many cinemas shuttered due to the most recent Covid outbreaks could struggle to reopen.

From late March to late April, more than half of the country’s 12,000 movie theaters were closed due to pandemic control rules, figures from Alibaba-backed ticketing platform Dengta showed.

FINANCE & ECONOMY

The Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants has more than 46,000 members.

Accounting /

Hong Kong ends mutual accounting recognition accord with U.S.

Hong Kong will end an 11-year mutual recognition agreement with the U.S. on professional accountants’ certification because of a dispute over requirements for local experience.

The accord between the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA) and the U.S. International Qualifications Appraisal Board (IQAB) will expire at the end of this year, after which accountants with U.S. certificates will have to pass complete qualification tests in Hong Kong before they can practice there, the accountant body said Wednesday on its website.

Dialogue /

Bill Gates and former WHO chief call for action against vaccine fears

Bill Gates and former WHO Director-General Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, called for global cooperation to combat disinformation about Covid-19 vaccines in an online dialogue hosted by Caixin.

The Covid-19 pandemic, now in its third year, has sickened at least 520 million and killed more than 6 million people as of Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The heavy toll of the disease has prompted government efforts worldwide to get people vaccinated, as this has been found to prevent severe disease and death, but barriers to a broader rollout, including disinformation, have continued to fuel vaccine hesitancy.

Covid-19 /

Beijing health officials probed for Covid testing fraud

Three health officials in Beijing’s southwest district of Fangshan were placed under investigation by the Communist Party’s graft watchdog for alleged involvement in Covid lab testing fraud, according to a government statement (link in Chinese) issued Friday.

The trio, including a deputy director of Fangshan’s health commission, were responsible for supervising the Beijing Pushi medical laboratory, where six employees are being investigated for issuing more Covid test results than the actual number of tests. The probe into the employees was announced Saturday.

BUSINESS & TECH

A bar offers take-out cocktails as Beijing stopped dine-in services on May 1. Photo: Zhang Ruixue/Caixin

Restaurants /

Covid controls slice Beijing restaurants’ income in half, survey shows

Beijing restaurants' income plunged by half this month after the municipality suddenly banned them from welcoming patrons, according to a previously unreported trade group survey.

During the two weeks through May 15, the daily average revenue for surveyed restaurants in Beijing plunged 48% from the same period in January, according to a survey by an industry group seen by Caixin. The survey, which has not been released publicly, didn’t reveal the actual revenue figure.

Steel /

Steel craters in China as demand dries up amid Covid lockdowns

Weak demand pushed China’s steel price to the lowest level this year and stockpiles at factories to the highest in two years amid increasing downward pressure on the economy from stringent Covid lockdowns.

Steel rebar, a major construction material, for October delivery traded at 4,505 yuan ($674) a ton Thursday on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, down 14% from the high in April and close to the lowest level this year. Futures of hot-rolled coils, used in manufacturing, declined more than 14% from the April high to 4,632 yuan per ton.

Subsidies /

China subsidizes airlines, car purchases to ease pain of crippling lockdowns

China has begun to hand out subsidies to airlines and consumers buying durable goods such as cars and electronics as policymakers step up support for businesses hit hard by Covid control measures.

More modest stimulus efforts failed to shore up the economy in the face of strict “zero-Covid” lockdowns that have slowed business activity in many regions to a crawl.