A casket burned in the open air in China as funeral homes are grappling with overcrowding. A makeshift crematory is under construction in Beijing, set to house 200 new cremation furnaces. A health department in a Chinese province admitted to large-scale infection for the first time. The death of a Chinese official is casting a…

News Analysis China’s biggest e-commerce provider, Alibaba Group, is extending its digital payments—and information gathering—into southeast Asia. With a planned majority ownership of the 2C2P payments network, Alibaba’s Ant Group will increase its global payments reach, particularly in Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. That’s a threat to America, because China’s financial services expansion in southeast Asia…

Alibaba raised its share buyback program to $25 billion on Tuesday, the largest ever repurchase plan by the e-commerce giant, to prop up its battered shares as it fights off regulatory scrutiny and concerns about slowing growth. Alibaba shares, which have more than halved in the past year, surged on the news and closed up…

A reported comeback of Beijing-led regulatory crackdowns on Jack Ma’s Ant Group has sounded alarm bells for China’s fintech sector. Ant, the payment affiliate of Alibaba Group, is facing more state intrusion with Beijing asking banks and state-owned enterprises to conduct a fresh round of checks of their financial exposure and other links with the…

Commentary China’s state broadcaster CCTV aired a five-day miniseries on corrupt officials. The trailer featured Zhou Jiangyong, a former top official of Hangzhou city, an e-commerce hub. Details of Zhou’s corruption case reveal that Jack Ma was indirectly involved, which brings him back under the spotlight of Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign. “Zero Tolerance” was aired from…

Jack Ma’s Ant Group is undergoing a “brand differentiation” process over its loan provider as part of its Beijing-driven restructuring. Some Chinese users recognized changes in the fintech group’s credit services, Jiebei, as the platform now clearly indicates that the loan is provided by banks, rather than Ant’s own consumer finance company, China’s state-run media…

BEIJING—China’s Ant Group has raised its registered capital to $5.44 billion from $3.69 billion, public business registration records showed, as the fintech giant continues its government-mandated restructuring. Ant, an affiliate of e-commerce leader Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., in a Monday statement said the increase was to support growth and was “according to relevant regulations and…

Chinese credit and loan service company Huabei will send its customer data to a database run by China’s central bank. The move signals more regulatory oversight of the financial technology industry. Huabei, which means “just spend it” in Chinese, stated in a notification released on Sept. 22 that consumer credit data has been integrated into…

SHANGHAI—China’s regulatory crackdown has ensnared sectors from technology to education to property, wiping hundreds of billions off the market capitalizations of some of its largest companies and putting investors on alert over who may be next. Here are some of the largest names that have been affected so far. Alibaba Group The woes of China’s…

The party secretary of Hangzhou, Zhou Jiangyong, was placed under investigation on Saturday, while reports on his arrest being linked to Alibaba’s financial affiliate, Ant Group, have been denied. “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) boss of Hangzhou Zhou Jiangyong is suspected of seriously violating discipline and laws, and is under investigation and inspection,” the Central…