China Watch Blog

China Watch Blog has learnt that many small businesses in Shanghai are refusing to take 1 and 2-jiao notes from customers because their low value means they are difficult to pass on as change and time -consuming to count.

A Shanghai Daily study found owners in nearly half the local small shops investigated, including convenience stores, fruit stalls and news-stands, especially those run privately, rejected 1 and 2-jiao notes and asked to be paid in coins instead.

Nigel Upstone, from the United Kingdom, told Shanghai Daily he was astonished when a Tesco Express store on Dingxi Road refused to take a 1-jiao note from him.

“I can’t believe that it can be lawful to refuse legal tender,” he said.

Staff in half of six convenience stores in Changning District rejected the jiao notes, according to the investigation. Staff from two other stores said they would take no more than five from each customer, while the cashier in the last store said the notes must be clean and not torn.

A fruit stall, newsstand and cigarette store flatly refused the notes.

The shop owners explained that it would be impossible for them to spend the notes because nobody wants them, especially with the country’s rising prices, and it would take them a long time to count when settling their accounts every day. As well as this, the jiao notes were usually old and dirty, they said.

China Watch Blog has learnt that the nation’s largest e-commerce firm Alibaba Group has postponed indefinitely its listing plans for its subsidiaries, China Daily reported, citing a company source.

Alibaba Group, which is 40 percent owned by Yahoo, owns China’s largest consumer e-commerce platform Taobao and its largest e-payment system, Alipay.

Alibaba Group’s Chairman Ma Yun has reportedly said in an internal e-mail to employees that the subsidiaries are not yet mature enough for initial public offerings.

He added that Alibaba will instead speed up investment on e-commerce infrastructure over the next few years, the China Business News reported Thursday.

A company source confirmed Ma’s e-mail to employees and its content about the postponement of the subsidiaries’ listing plans.

Taobao, one of Alibaba Group’s crown jewels, handled 400 billion yuan ($60.78 billion) in transaction value last year, an Alibaba Group executive said last week. Its valuation is a point of contention between the group and Yahoo.

The group, which dominates the country’s e-commerce industry, announced plans last week to invest up to $4.5 billion over the medium term to build a nationwide warehouse network to boost China’s logistics industry.

China Watch Blog has learnt that Wal-Mart (China) has apologized to customers after being blacklisted by Chinese authorities for cheating on prices.

The Wal-Mart (China) Investment Co., Ltd. expressed “sincere apology” to affected customers in a written interview with Xinhua.

Further, the company has been cooperating with authorities’ investigation into the cheating. It has also launched self-examinations in stores nationwide.

As the Spring Festival approaches, the company will strengthen its price monitoring, the company said.

The company, which entered China in 1996 and has opened 189 stores in 101 cities across the country, promised to continue the self-examination regularly. Its 700 price inspectors perform millions of examinations weekly.