{"id":8540,"date":"2021-09-14T07:30:25","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T07:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=8540"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:50:19","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:50:19","slug":"pinduoduo-highrise-pig-hotels-chinas-common-prosperity-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/pinduoduo-highrise-pig-hotels-chinas-common-prosperity-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"How China’s tech crackdown has led to increased investment in agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"

China’s goal of ‘common prosperity’ \u2013 coupled with its recent crackdown on the country’s largest tech companies \u2013 has produced an unlikely beneficiary: even more investment in agriculture, writes Mark Tanner from The China Skinny<\/a><\/h2>\n

Having already taken a hammering from\u00a0Beijing’s antitrust initiatives<\/a> in the tech industry, tech firms have become a lot quicker in reading the tea leaves and acting upon them.<\/p>\n

\"launchpad<\/a><\/p>\n

Beijing\u2019s increasing use of its \u201ccommon prosperity<\/a>\u201d catchphrase has seen a rush of China\u2019s tech giants pledging money to social responsibility programmes in recent months. RMB 500 million (\u00a355.9 million) has come from the ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming\u2019s personal wealth, Xiaomi is donating \u00a31.58 billion in shares, Meituan is gifting \u00a31.66 billion in shares, and Tencent has promised two massive pledges totalling \u00a310.8 billion.<\/p>\n

Last week, agriculture-focused interactive shopping platform<\/a> Pinduoduo announced that it will give RMB 10 billion (\u00a31.1 billion) to support China\u2019s farmers and agricultural areas. This is arguably the smartest pledge by a tech company yet, as it ticks many of the boxes on Beijing\u2019s scorecard.<\/p>\n