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Marketing

How Covid-19 Changed the World

pandemic (from Greek πᾶν pan “all” and δῆμος demos “people”) is a disease epidemic that has spread across multiple region or even worldwide. Curiously, It seems like every century, the globe faces a unprecedent pandemic: The 1720 Plague, 1820 Cholera, 1920 Spanish Flu & 2020 Covid-19…

An epidemic every 100 years: Plague of 1720, cholera of 1820 ...

History’s books are always brutal about these events, but the 2020 Covid-19 is one-of-a-kind because it also match another event deeply loved by history books: Financial Crisis.

The Covid-19 is a Coronavirus “officialy” originated from Wuhan, China. “Officialy” because China reject this responsibility and lets float some conspiracy theories accusing the US through social media. But Wuhan is a notorious epicenter for zoonotic viruses, this is why one of the world’s 50 P4 lab (biosafety level maximum P4) is in Wuhan thanks to a deeply rooted partnership (Wuhan is the main French investment destination) between China and France after the Coronavirus SARS 2002 outbreak.

So even if precaution were taken with the P4 and even if Bill Gates warned us 5 years ago about our lack of preparation for pandemic, Covid-19 happened. Even if exactly on March 2, 2019, four Chinese scientists, from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Sciences, wrote in the international journal Viruses: “It is generally accepted that the coronaviruses carried by the bats will re-emerge and cause the next epidemic outbreak.”, Covid-19 happened. Even if a novel “The eyes of darkness”, by Dean Koontz in 1981 evokes in this book a mysterious virus named “Wuhan-400” for 2020. Even if a CIA prospective report was very acurate on pandemic possibilities coming from China in 2020… Covid-19 happened.

Because we cannot change the past we must now focus on the future, and on the short-term future it is not very hopeful. Covid-19 fear paralyzed the entire economy in every countries on the planet step-by-step with quarantine, lockdown and social distancing. According to experts this coronavirus driven financial crisis is probably the worst of all time… The FED is establishing forecast of +30% job losses. Carlos Nordt and colleagues at the University of Zurich, assessed the link in rates of unemployment and suicide. They attribute yearly 1/5 suicides worldwide to unemployment, with 5,000 deaths caused by the 2008 economic crisis. So economic crash are not only matter of numbers and price dive down among investors on stock markets but its more importantly real peoples lives…

But on the long-term we can hope that this event woke consciousness about a large range of dilemma like :

Health safety –  Bill Gates was right we are not ready, but now everyone understoods it, so a better measures implementation can begin. Not only in term of infrastructure but also to take more seriously the health conditions of our populations because if like Emmanuel Macron, French President said “We are at War”, nations would like to have the most healthy populations to avoid massive deaths..

Global warming – The big stop from the coronavirus reduces dramastically the worldwide pollution, with less logistics and less transports the earth were able to take a deep breath of fresh air, in China some experts are even saying that the outbreak saves more life than it killed victims

National crowd psychology – We witnesses on a global scale the psychology of many nations in handling this crisis and the specific impact on each nations. From discipline to altruism, we were able to see how an invisible force as the virus influences invisible psychological caracteristics and so on, crowd behaviors.

Digital economy – During this crisis, one sector benefits, and its the e-commerce galaxy “the stay-at-home index” with all the social media, multi-sided platforms from food delivery to streaming and online classroom. The world switched massively to an offline life to a fully online life during the outbreak. This booster benefits many companies and also educated many person to a stronger reliance on digital tools.


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China

New Year New Coronavirus – Truth in China ?

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "Wuhan"

 

Shortly after returning from a business trip to China, Beth Emhoff died suddenly of an unknown infection. Her young son died the same day as her, a little later. A global epidemic is soon to emerge. The situation is extremely serious and the infection soon kills many people. This synopsis is from the film Contagion (2011) by director Steven Soderbergh. A work therefore fictitious which however echoes our world news at the start of 2020 … 

Indeed, appeared at the end of December 2019, our unenviable Christmas present is a completely unknown deadly virus named 2019-nCoV. A strain of the coronavirus family (cousin of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) which had killed 646 people worldwide between 2002-2003. 2019-nCoV has proliferated in China since its epicenter, the fish market of Wuhan and has already done in the space of a month: 41 dead. The number of cases identified this Saturday, January 25, 2020, of confirmed contamination now reaches 1,287 including 237 cases qualified as “critical”, (live data map) this information is according to Chinese authorities … Information which need to be handled with caution because it is reminiscent of the fact that the Chinese government had hidden the real gravity of SARS in 2002, worsening the situation, let’s hope that the shadow of the past serves as a lesson for the action of the present …

The 2019-nCoV lung infection is transmitted from human-to-human through respiratory fluid. The incubation period of the virus is 1 to 10 days and during this period the person concerned is not contagious. Then mild symptoms (fever, chills, myalgia and cough are common) or no symptoms. It is this ordeal that we have to face the first victims of this coronavirus. The main serious victims are elderly men who already have a weakened immune system. However a victim stands out and stirs up terror around this virus: A 36-year-old man with no history or health problems succumbing to it, he is the youngest dead victim of the virus to date, the youngest contaminated victim is a 6-year-old girl. China has started the construction in 10 days of a hospital to receive treatment reinforcements and a thousand patients victims of the new coronavirus. Indeed, Wuhan’s first health services were completely contaminated by this unexpected illness. This virus is a time bomb in the sense that it falls in the middle of the Chinese New Year, considered to be the largest travel movement in the world.

To combat this invisible enemy, which is spreading rapidly inside as outside the country, the Chinese government has decided to cancel the biggest event of the year the Chinese New Year in Beijing – a major event like cancelling Christmas in Western countries – and to quarantine the megalopolis of Wuhan, the heart of the contamination, and its 11 million inhabitants. This quarantine then progressed over the entire region, partitioning nearly 35 million people by eliminating planes, trains, buses and all other means of public transport. A world first. It would be like cutting until further notice; Belgium, Sweden and the Netherlands from the rest of the world. What economic impact for China, which is simultaneously in the midst of a trade war against the USA? Was this decision deserved on the facts? Do we know the real facts causing this giant isolation?

Following a three-day decision to speak in Geneva, the World Health Organization acknowledged on Thursday that it was “too early” to speak of “a public health emergency of international concern” but a ” emergency in China ”. When China accounts for 21% (1.386 billion (2017)) of the world population and 16% of world GDP (12.24 trillion USD (2017)), How should we interpret this decision?

China, which was on a bright path hoping to attract foreign investment, sees its picture darken by this virus which highlights Chinese society under a bad marketing blow: culinary habits and negligence of hygiene, power and monster influence of the government, the test of Chinese honesty and transparency, the shortcomings of a system still in development… But it seems that China faces strongly this virus comparing to the SARS, it can prove to the whole world its credibility and transparency, its efficiency in the management of a population without common measure, its advance in terms of new technologies and Data science. We must not forget that in Chinese, crisis sounds like opportunity…

The Chinese New Year 2020 which is the Year of the Rat, according to zodiac forecasts, Rats will experience both successes and failures, but on health level: ” Vulnerable to sicknesses, like colds and fatigue, the Rat will have to be extra careful in 2020. At the first sign of symptoms, head to your general practitioner immediately. ” Happy New Year…

 

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alipay Apps China Chinese EU-CHINA Retail Tips Tourisme WeChat

How To Use AliPay & WeChatPay Without Chinese Bank – Part #1

Are you planning to travel to China for the first time ? If yes, you’ll better know that for “first-timer“, paying your daily expenses in China might be as difficult as trying to understand chinese language for a beginner… Continue this reading to learn how to use AliPay in 7 easy steps.

alipay-wechatpay

 

LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES:

True story : When I first arrived in China, I was disoriented in a poor/wealthy situation(a what?). Translation : I had a bank account full of sleeping money but… without the possibility to use it with my credit card. Quite frustrating, trust me. You want to avoid this situation and to do so : I share with you this fast 2 parts payment guide to facilitate your arrival in China.

CHINA’S WAY OF PAYMENT:

Indeed, the huge majority of stores does not accept foreign cards like Mastercard or Visa (great surprise when you do not know it!) because chinese people are mainly paying with… QR code ! So your only option is to have your pocket full of cash with all the mountain of disadvantages behind it – with all the withdrawal changes fees& of course, when you can find the good ATM to withdraw

rmb

So, my advice to you is to throw away your foreigner payment habits, to fully adopt the Chinese way of living by diving into the QR code & mobile payment dimension!

ALIPAY & WECHATPAY :

Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChatPay are the two QRcode mobile payment giants in China, and the majority of the population pays thank to those platforms via mobile phones.

THE 05/11/2019 BIG CHANGE :

Back in the old days, only chinese cards were able to be linked, letting behind all the foreigners. But then on Tuesday 5th of November 2019, Alibaba announced its partnership with JCB, DGN, Visa, MasterCard and American Express for a new launch: an AliPay version dedicated to support international cards. Few hours later, Tencent followed the initiative with a same announcement on WeChat Pay.

WeChatPay and Alipay will be open to international users for the first time, and if you want to pay your utility bills, order food on Ele.me, order a driver on Didi or simply order anythings on Taobao…

This is your steps-by-steps guide from Alipay on how to use Alipay like a pro without any chinese bank account :

7 STEPS ON HOW TO USE ALIPAY :

 

how-to-use-alipay

1 – Download Alipay App and log in with your overseas mobile phone number

2 – Choose Alipay International Version

how-to-use-alipay

3 – Tap Tour Pass

4 – Select load amount

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5 – Verify your identity and add bank card

6 – Complete load money and you’re good to go

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7 – Scan or show your QR code to pay at Alipay enabled stores

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NOW BE FREE !

You can now live your life to the fullest, you now know how to use AliPay as a foreigner. Quick reminder : Alipay is an online payment solution created in 2004 by Alibaba Group from Jack Ma. As of mid2019, Alipay users reached +900 million. What makes it the number one mobile payment provider worldwide.

It has been a pleasure to help you on your chinese adventure. Next time for the Part #2, we will help you to use WeChatPay without Chinese Bank !