China :: Science & Technology

Tesla's China business is booming Hong-Kong traded Tencent, a company best known for its WeChat messaging app, disclosed in a Tuesday filing that it's  taken a 5 percent stake in Tesla for $1.78 billion.  The investment follows Tencent's new stake in taxi-hailing app Didi Chuxing, which can be accessed through WeChat. "I think Tencent likely wanted exposure to a company that was growing very quickly in electric and autonomous" vehicles, said Tasha Keeney, an analyst on the  ARK Industrial Innovation ETF (ARKQ) , whose top holding is Tesla. "We think the autonomous mobility as a service market could be $10 trillion in gross sales globally by the early 2030s, and companies like Tesla or  Baidu  could take a cut of that," she said. Tesla declined to comment to CNBC. Tencent did not respond to emailed requests for comment. A Tencent spokesperson  told The Wall Street Journal  that "Tesla is a global pioneer at the forefront of new te

Tourism authorities aim to improve public facilities across the country Fed up with the theft of toilet paper from public bathrooms, tourist authorities in China's capital have begun using facial recognition technology to limit how much paper a person can take. The unusual move — part of a "toilet revolution" — is another step in China's vast upgrading of public facilities. Bathrooms at tourist sites, notorious for their primitive conditions and nasty odours, are a special focus of the campaign, a response to a vast expansion in domestic travel and demands for better-quality facilities from a more affluent public. Facial recognition technology is coming to Canadian airports this spring Facial recognition tech is allowing stores to reward customers "Today in China, people are highly enthusiastic about tourism, and we have entered a new era of public tourism," said Zhan Dongmei, a researcher with the China Tourism Academy. "The expectation