Chinese Characteristics

The Chinese tech ecosystem has become a mirror world to the West tech world, innovating in divergent and parallel ways to their counterparts. English information on the state of Chinese tech is limited and refracted through narratives that do not deliver reality. This newsletter wants better for its readers.

Categories of posts pre-2022*

Note: Previous premium posts will not be made available. Emails for such requests will not receive answers.

• Bi-weekly longform Chinese tech analysis grouped around a few themes

  • Starting conditions of an economy and how that influences tech development:

    • What I talk about when I talk about Chinese Tech

    • Owning the funnel

    • Battle Royale, Time Machine Management and Why We Should Copy More

  • Company overviews:

    • An introduction to Bilibili

    • Alibaba: From growth to value

    • Ant Group - Part I, II

    • Pinduoduo

  • Tech trends explainers:

    • Livestreaming monetisation models

    • Community Group Buying

    • Gamification of Chinese consumer tech

  • Chinese SaaS and Cloud:

    • Why are there no massive Chinese SaaS companies?

    • The State of Chinese Cloud - Part I, II and III

  • Chinese governance:

    • Annual reflections of 2020

    • Let the bullets fly for a while

    • Overview of the Chinese 14th Five Year Plan

About me

I was born in China but left for the UK when I was 8. I returned to China in August 2020 to explore this world. As a sea turtle (slang for a Chinese overseas returnee) with a background in venture capital (Salesforce Ventures, Eight Roads Ventures) and management consulting across the US and Europe. In July 2022, I joined the private company investing team at Baillie Gifford after two years of writing the newsletter*. I have a MSc in International Development from LSE with a focus on Chinese governance, and a BA in Economics from the University of Cambridge.

I’ve been featured in FT, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Le Monde, Axios, BBC Radio 4, Sifted, Protocol and Pandaily recently. If you want to hear what I sound like, here’s me on Sinica and Acquired.

I’m on Twitter @lillianmli and can be reached at lillianli(at)substack.com.

*Since joining Baillie Gifford, I will not be writing about specific companies or industries.