Frank：大家好，我是Frank。你炒股吗？

S：嗯...不能说炒股吧，但是会买一些ETF或者基金什么的，你呢？

F：完全不买，担心被割韭菜。

S：确实，在中国的股票市场，散户很容易被割韭菜啊。

F：那你买港股或者美股吗？

S：很难买，因为内地账户不能直接买港股和美股，除非你有一个港股通账户。

F：那怎么不开一个港股通账户呢？

S：港股通账户有门槛啊，简单说就是你的交易账户里至少连续20个交易日有50万人民币才可以。但我没有，我没钱。

F：那你可以用老虎证券、富途证券这样的中介平台啊。

S：我想过，但我不太了解这些平台的运营方式，所以总觉得奇奇怪怪的，就没在这些平台上开户。

F：简单来说，这些平台可以帮助想买港股、美股的散户们直接买股票，不…

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2026 年 5 月 22 日，金融监管部门重拳出击，对富途、老虎、长桥三家跨境互联网券商下重手处罚，总罚金超过 22 亿元。与此同时，监管部门划定两年整改期，届时三家平台在境内的 APP、网站、服务器将全部被关停，这相当于给数十万内地跨境投资者当头一棒。

十多年前美股、港股迎来牛市之际，三家平台借机在线上招揽内地投资者，仅凭境外牌照在内地无证开展证券服务。巅峰时期富途拥有接近 3000 万注册用户。早在 2016 年监管部门就提示投资风险，2021 年明确其无证经营属于非法证券业务，叫停新增内地客户。可部分平台后来顶风作案，伪造材料偷偷新开内地账户，最终引来本次最严厉的处罚。

不论是普通散户，还是大额投资者，都受新规约束。想通过正规渠道投资港股只能走港股通（五十万资产门槛）。不仅如此，美股个人直投渠道被…

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On 22 May, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (中国证监会, CSRC) announced it was launching investigations into three of the country’s largest internet brokerages, and fining them a total of 2.3 billion yuan (around $320 million dollars).

The companies are Futu (富途), Tiger Trade (老虎), and Longbridge (长桥). When the fines were announced, Futu’s US-listed shares dropped 28% and Tiger’s fell 25%.

These online brokerages allow mainland Chinese retail investors to trade overseas stocks, including Hong Kong and US-listed shares, directly and easily via an app. This is something that is otherwise tightly restricted inside China, with the likes of Futu operating in what is often described as a “grey area” (灰色地带).

By the end of 2025, more than five million mainland retail investors (散户) had opened offshore accounts to trade Hong Kong and US stocks, with between 200 and 400 billion yuan (around 28 to 56 billion US dollars) sitting in those accounts.

As part of the crackdown, all three brokerages are now barred from taking on new mainland clients. Existing account holders have a two-year window to withdraw cash and sell their positions, and they are barred from adding funds or buying more stocks. After that, these services will be closed down for good.

On the same day as the CSRC announcement, Hong Kong introduced the toughest cross-border account-opening rules in its history, making it much harder for mainlanders to open bank accounts in the jurisdiction. Anyone opening a new account must now sign a declaration to confirm their money is legal overseas income.

As one commentator put it:

“This regulatory storm also dealt a crushing blow to mainland retail investors.”

这次监管风暴，对内地散户也是当头一棒。

The effects were felt on the ground in Hong Kong almost immediately. Haiphong Road (海防道) in Tsim Sha Tsui is a street usually bustling with brokers pitching trading accounts to passers-by, most of them mainland tourists.

From small promotional vans, they yell slogans like “zero interest, zero fees” (零利息，零手续费) and “get rich trading Hong Kong and US stocks” (炒港美股发大财) to draw in new clients and often signing them up on the spot.

But shortly after the announcement, the vans were gone, Haiphong Road had fallen silent, and only a few lonely-looking agents with shopfronts were left on the street.

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China’s “investment craze in overseas stocks” (出海炒股热) can be traced back to 2014.

That was when the Shanghai–Hong Kong Stock Connect (沪港通) and Shenzhen–Hong Kong Stock Connect (深港通) were launched, which made it easier for investors inside China to access the Hong Kong stock market, and vice versa.

China’s A-share market was also surging at that time, retail investor enthusiasm was at a high, and Chinese internet companies were shining on the Hong Kong and US stock markets.

So large numbers of mainland retail investors suddenly developed an appetite for investing in overseas stocks. But strict regulations meant doing so wasn’t easy. Sensing the demand, a wave of new online brokerages set up in Hong Kong.

One of the first was founded by Leaf Li (李华), who had previously worked at Tencent on its QQ instant messaging service, and was the tech company’s 18th employee. He launched an app called Futu Niuniu (富途牛牛) with an interface similar to the stock-trading apps used domestically. But inside the app, users could trade US and Hong Kong stocks seamlessly.

That app became Futu, which eventually listed on the Nasdaq Exchange in March 2019.

The model caught on fast, and Tiger, Longbridge, and other service providers soon followed. They all held overseas brokerage licences for account-opening and overseas trading services to mainland retail investors. But none of them held mainland financial licences, which is the grey area we mentioned earlier.

At its peak, Futu alone had nearly 30 million registered users, with more than 60% of its revenue coming from investors inside China.

In 2021, regulators designated these services as “illegal financial activity” (非法金融活动), summoning executives from three firms for talks. By the end of 2022, regulators halted new account openings, and the Futu and Tiger apps were pulled from app stores.

But demand for Futu, Tiger, and Longbridge services didn’t disappear. It simply moved underground. Independent agents and middlemen, like those on Haiphong Road in Hong Kong, started funnelling mainland clients to these offshore brokers covertly. They did this by touting account sign-ups on the streets, or via social media accounts, forming what regulators now describe as a “grey-market supply chain” (灰色产业链).

Which is what brings us to this latest move in the crackdown on these companies.

The earlier, softer measures didn’t work so this time the authorities have gone after the brokerages themselves, including their existing mainland customers.

As we’ve seen before in education, gaming, and livestream e-commerce, when Beijing decides to crush an entire business model…

It can do it, and does.

So that’s what we’re exploring this week!

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Favourite Five

1. 招揽 zhāo lǎn

solicit, recruit

境外证券期货基金经营机构未经批准，利用境内关联或合作主体在境内招揽客户 - Offshore securities, futures and fund management entities have been found soliciting domestic clients through local partners without regulatory approval. [1]

2. 倒查 dào chá

trace back, investigate retrospectively

关闭开户时曾使用可疑或伪造文件的投资账户，倒查至2023年1月 - Investment accounts opened using suspicious or forged documents will be closed under a look-back review from January 2023. [2]

3. 港股通 gǎng gǔ tōng

stock connect program for hong kong stocks

如果你想继续投资港股，只能走港股通，不过有50万的门槛 - If you want to continue investing in Hong Kong stocks, you have to go through the Stock Connect program with a minimum asset requirement of 500,000 yuan. [3]

4. 死灰复燃 sǐ huī fù rán

revive after being extinguished, make a comeback

有些平台通过伪造存量投资者证明等方式，暗中继续给境内客户开户，出现了“死灰复燃”的迹象 - Illegal trading is making a comeback, as some platforms quietly continue to open accounts for domestic clients by falsifying proof of trading records. [3]

5. 当头一棒 dāng tóu yí bàng

a crushing blow, a rude awakening

这次监管风暴，对内地散户也是当头一棒 - This regulatory crackdown also dealt a crushing blow to mainland retail investors. [2]

Consuming the Conversation

Useful words

6. 平仓 píng cāng

close a position, liquidate a position

融资仓位因为不能追加保证金也可能面临平仓 - Leveraged positions may also face forced liquidation if investors fail to meet margin calls. [3]

• Related:

  • 加仓 jiā cāng – increase a position, buy

  • 清仓 qīng cāng – clear out a position, sell

7. 限购 xiàn gòu

purchase restriction, buying limit

因为美股太热，QDII基金的外汇额度有限，部分热门基金目前处在限购状态 - Due to the demand for US stocks and the limited QDII foreign exchange quota, some popular funds are currently subject to subscription caps. [3]

8. 暴跌 bào diē

plunge, crash

老虎和富途在美国股市的股价应声暴跌 - The share prices of Tiger Trade and Futu plunged in the U.S. stock market in response. [1]

9. 牛市 niú shì

bull market

在这一轮高科技牛市下，英伟达、谷歌等公司股价持续大涨 - Driven by the current tech-led bull market, companies like Nvidia and Google have seen their stock prices continue to surge. [1]

10. 走势 zǒu shì

trend, movement

这些指数基金过去一年的涨幅大概为38%，基本复制了纳斯达克指数的走势 - These index funds have seen returns of roughly 38% over the past year, which pretty much tracks the performance of Nasdaq-100. [1]

11. 丝滑 sī huá

smooth, seamless

流程很简单，入境后找家银行排队即可丝滑开卡 - It’s very straightforward: just head to a bank once you arrive, wait in line, and you’ll have your card in no time. [2]

12. 展业 zhǎn yè

conduct business, carry out operations

这批券商没有境内金融牌照，属于无牌展业 - These brokerages do not hold the required onshore financial licenses. As such, they are engaging in unlicensed business activities. [2]

13. 奇招 qí zhāo

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富途被罚18.5亿；老虎被罚4.1亿；长桥被罚（金额未公开）。

合计罚款超22亿人民币，这是跨境互联网券商吃到的史上最大罚单。

除了罚款，还有一个为期2年的集中整治期，整治期结束后，这三家平台在中国境内的网站、App和服务器将被全面关停。

这意味着，几十万内地使用跨境券商的投资者，以后将无法通过这些平台继续炒股了。

监管收紧之外，其实暗含另一条线，那就是中美的金融战。

科技的发展，需要资本市场的支持；

这些钱是留在美国市场，还是流回到中国市场，结果截然不同。

这三家跨境券商，要从大约十年前说起。

2014年，中国互联网上掀起了一股”出海炒股”热。

因为眼红那边市场涨得好，很多中国投资者想买美股、港股，但却没有门道。

这时候，富途证券出现了。

富途的创始人曾是腾…

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Frank：大家好，我是Frank。你平时健身吗？

S：健身呀，你呢？

F：几乎不健身，你知道Hyrox吗？

S：听说过，像Hyrox，Cross Fit这些，都听说过，但是没参与过。

F：Hyrox最近在中国很火，你知道吗？

S：知道，这不是中产的新社交货币嘛！以前是买名牌包、吃漂亮饭，现在变成了参加Hyrox。

F：但说实话，看了Hyrox的介绍，对一个健身强度没那么大的人来说，我还是觉得挺累的。

S：简单说就是跑一公里，然后做一个训练项目，再跑一公里，再做一个训练项目，一共做8轮。

F：那就是跑8公里，做8个健身项目，是吧？

S：是，我第一次看这个比赛，是因为有一个我很喜欢的博主去参加，我才知道现在这东西已经这么火了。

F：对，在一线城…

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如今在健身圈，要说最热门又让人又爱又怕的运动，非 HYROX 莫属。这项赛事由 8 组 1 公里跑步搭配 8 个健身项目组成，被大家调侃是没苦硬吃。许多参赛者则笑称是主动自虐。

整个参赛过程中，参赛者挥汗如雨，不亚于经历一场劫难。刚跑完步来不及休息，就要立刻投入到下一个项目。不少人硬撑到最后也绝不弃赛，强大的意志力令人佩服。赛场上到处都能看到卷王，有人每天长时间训练，和对手暗暗较劲，始终保持斗志。

很多人赛前用心打扮、邀约摄影师，只为顺利出片。一张 HYROX 完赛照，早已成为当下热门的社交货币。照片里真实的训练痕迹、赛场高光时刻，远比普通健身自拍更有说服力。选手们哪怕十分疲惫，也会咬着牙坚持到最后，在终点全力冲刺，完成挑战。迄今为止，HYROX 在中国发展十分迅速。2024 年进入中国后，北京、武汉等站…

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站到上海世博展览中心之前，王晓芸就知道，Hyrox这比赛算是真的红了。

先是报名人数远超预期。上海站有接近10000人报名参赛，比几个月前增长了超过50%。紧接着，约好到场为她加油的朋友也传来噩耗——开赛前一周，观众票就买不到了。

今年30岁的王晓芸和朋友拿出追演唱会的劲头，每天定时去蹲回流票。而黄牛们早就发现了这个商机。在二手平台上，原价60元的观众票，标价普遍高达400元至500元。有人200元买到，已经算是「捡漏」。

一票难求，或许因为不少明星选手也加入了这场比赛。75岁的万科创始人王石继北京站之后，来到上海挑战男子双人组比赛。经历1小时38分钟，王石和搭档登顶所在年龄组冠军，直接拿下这个赛季世锦赛的入场券。

此外，最早开赛的男双组还有艺人关智斌、姜思达各自带搭档参加。随后的…

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A new sports craze is taking hold in China.

It’s called Hyrox. There’s no Chinese translation for it — it’s just known by its English name.

Hyrox is a “hybrid fitness race” (混合健身竞速赛) founded in Germany in 2017 by Christian Toetzke. It has exploded across China’s first-tier cities over the past year.

Participants alternate eight one-kilometre runs with eight gym-based challenges: ski erg (滑雪机), sled push (推雪橇), sled pull (拉雪橇), burpee broad jumps (波比跳远), rowing (划船机), farmers carry (农夫行走), sandbag lunges (负重箭步蹲), and wall balls (药球投掷).

The physical challenge is intense. And that’s part of the appeal, with some clever wordplay thrown in with the character “疼 téng” which can mean “to miss or think about someone” and “physical pain”:

“If no one aches for you, go do Hyrox. Afterwards, every part of you will ache.”

没人疼你就去练Hyrox，练完没有哪儿不疼 [1]

But others say the real reason for its sudden popularity is the format.

Marathons are too long and monotonous, while CrossFit — another earlier fitness craze — involves practising weightlifting and gymnastics, and has a cut-off time which contestants must finish within.

The concept of Hyrox is also a good cultural fit for China, as one commenter notes:

“Hyrox has exploded in China because its format speaks directly to the ‘exam-expert’ mentality.”

Hyrox在国内这样受欢迎，是因为赛制精准击中了「做题家」们的心。

Like a standardised test, the rules are fixed, the challenges are known in advance, and everyone gets a ranked and comparable result at the end. So beating your personal best has become one of the things drawing people in.

“PB” is another English term borrowed straight into Chinese. “To beat your personal best” is “刷新PB” in Chinese.

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Hyrox described as the “Olympics for the middle classes” (中产奥运) in China. When it first started there, the lowest priced tickets were around 600 yuan. So the majority of participants were in the 30-to-39 age bracket, mostly urban professionals, who are also among the most active people on social media.

For them, every Hyrox event has two arenas: the physical venue, and the social media feed.

Even some celebrities have joined the craze, adding to the social media buzz, including Wang Shi (王石). He is the 75-year-old entrepreneur and founder of Vanke (万科), one of China’s major real estate developers, and a recent winner:

“Wang and his partner topped their age group in just 1 hour and 38 minutes, securing a direct ticket to this season’s World Championships.”

经历1小时38分钟，王石和搭档登顶所在年龄组冠军，直接拿下这个赛季世锦赛的入场券。[1]

The growth of Hyrox in China has been remarkable. From 1,600 participants at the inaugural Beijing event in 2024 to nearly 7,000 in Shanghai in 2025. And most recently, nearly 10,000 people registered for a Shanghai Hyrox event in May.

All of this has made Hyrox a magnet for sponsors. German founded sportwear brand, PUMA — which is now owned by China’s Anta Group — has been a global partner since 2017, and has extended its sponsorship through to 2030. Chinese sponsors include smartwatch maker Amazfit (华米), and ride-hailing platform Didi.

Partner gyms have become another source of revenue. By May this year over 500 gyms in China had partnered with Hyrox, up from barely a dozen a year earlier, each paying an annual licensing fee of 10,850 yuan (about 1,500 US dollars).

For participants, the costs add up too: from preparation to recovery, competitors reckon it costs them between 3,000 to 4,000 yuan per month. And many are happy to pay, because the appeal goes beyond the sport itself.

The real appeal is the status symbol joining a Hyrox race brings:

“Snapshots from training and race day have naturally become a new form of social currency.

China’s middle class has largely moved on from flexing luxury logos and fancy meals — now they show off the winding GPS run trackers on their fitness apps and their finishing moments at Hyrox.”

一张张备赛、参赛的照片，也能水到渠成地成为社交货币。如今，中产们早就放弃为奢侈品Logo和一顿漂亮饭拍照，转而开始展示运动App里蜿蜒的跑步轨迹和Hyrox的完赛瞬间。

And that’s what we’re discussing this week!

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Favourite Five

1. 卷王 juǎn wáng

overachiever, ultra-competitive person

王海莉在杭州做健身教练已经有七八年时间，她的学员里就有不少「卷王」 - Wang Haili has been working as a fitness coach in Hangzhou for over seven years, and quite a few of her students are overachievers. [1]

• Related:

  • 卷自己 juǎn zì jǐ – push oneself excessively

  • 卷PB juǎn PB – obsessed over beating one’s personal best

  • 卷胜利 juǎn shèng lì – compete intensely for victory

  • 卷训练 juǎn xùn liàn – overdo training

  • 卷成绩 juǎn chéng jì – compete excessively for results or grades

2. 自虐 zì nüè

self-torture, self-inflicted grind

HYROX之所以能吸引这么多人“自虐”，还因为它是一场“开卷考试” - The reason Hyrox can convince so many people to embrace the grind is that the race follows a predictable syllabus. [2]

• Related:

  • 受虐 shòu nüè – be abused, enjoy suffering

3. 龇牙咧嘴 zī yá liě zuǐ

grimacing, baring one’s teeth in pain or strain

龇牙咧嘴一顿忙活，抬头一看还有那么多项目要比 - While grimacing and grinding through the pain, you steal a glance at the scoreboard only to realise that there are still so many stations to go through. [2]

4. 没苦硬吃 méi kǔ yìng chī

make oneself suffer unnecessarily

真想给没苦硬吃的自己来一巴掌 - I really feel like slapping myself for making myself suffer for no reason. [2]

5. 社交货币 shè jiāo huò bì

social currency

一张张备赛、参赛的照片，也能水到渠成地成为社交货币 - Snapshots from training and competitions have naturally become a new form of social currency. [1]

• Related:

  • 社交名片 shè jiāo míng piàn – social calling card, social flex

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Consuming the Conversation

Useful words

6. 劲头 jìn tóu

enthusiasm, drive

王晓芸和朋友拿出追演唱会的劲头，每天定时去蹲回流票 - Wang Xiaoyun and her friends spent every day hunting for last-minute resale drops, treating the race registration like a sold-out stadium tour. [1]

• Related:

  • 狠劲 hěn jìn – fierce determination, intensity

7. 出片 chū piān

photogenic, produce good photos

观赛区立刻成了追星现场，最出片的位置永远挤满粉丝 - The spectator area instantly turned into a fan site, and the most photogenic spots were always packed. [1]

8. 冲刺 chōng cì

sprint, dash toward a goal

数以万计的参与者拿出最充沛的热情，将自己所有的力气投入其中，不断向着每一环节的目标冲刺 - Tens of thousands of participants poured every ounce of their passion and physical reserve into the race, as they charge through each station of the challenge. [1]

9. 劫难 jié nàn

ordeal, calamity

真正的「劫难」是推雪橇环节 - The real ordeal was the sled push. [1]

• Related:

  • 渡劫 dù jié – go through a trial or tribulation

10. 弃赛 qì sài

withdraw from a competition, quit the race

我弃赛了队友们怎么办 - If I quit the race, what will happen to my teammates? [1]

• Related:

  • 备赛 bèi sài – prepare for a competition

11. 斗志 dòu zhì

fighting spirit, determination

这直接激起了她的斗志，「我应该做得更好」 - Her competitive instincts kicked in immediately: “I can do better than this.” [1]

12. 较劲 jiào jìn

compete stubbornly, push oneself against something

Hyrox这项运动可以和输赢无关，只是一场「和自己较劲」的体验 - In Hyrox, winning or losing doesn’t really matter, since it’s a race against oneself. [1]

13. 硬撑 yìng chēng

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Frank: 大家好，我是Frank。你了解外卖员的生活吗？

S：说实话不太了解，除了点外卖的时候跟外卖员有接触以外，就是经常在路上看到外卖员。要么是聚在一起等单子，要么是“嗖”一下骑车过去。你呢，了解外卖员的生活吗？

F：也不太了解，就算平时点外卖也是放在门口，或者开门接一下外卖，没什么交流。

S：我记得2020年的时候，网上有一篇文章，叫《外卖骑手，困在系统里》。

F：我有印象，读过那篇文章，当时很火。

S：对，大概就是说这些外卖员，我们也叫骑手，他们被困在算法里，因为算法通过计算一个地方到另一个地方需要的时间来要求他们准时送达。不仅如此，算法还设置了很多竞争、惩罚的机制等等。

F：所以外卖员没什么选择，如果想干这份工作的话就只能…

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过去，有些高薪白领想找份兼职消遣，就会去送外卖，但现实中的外卖行业远比想象更复杂。骑手风里来雨里去，在城市中讨生活，每天时刻盯着手机抢单，算法让他们不得不一直奔波。许多人长期透支身体，只能不断熬时间换取收入。而平台规则一直在调整，他们只能适应。

表面上外卖行业对各类人群具有一定接纳能力，是许多人最后的兜底选择，但现实却十分扎心。全国外卖骑手已超1300万，竞争激烈导致单价下降。对底层人而言，送外卖绝非消遣，而是为数不多的出路，甚至是没得选后的结果。

尽管骑手送餐已经轻车熟路，但收入早已不如从前。赚钱与否全看平台算法与运气。所谓工作稳定，无非是体力与时间的交换。这份几乎无门槛的工作让他们得以维持基本生活。要不是城市就业空间有限，他们也不会进入这一行业。平台要求准时送达，骑手只能在路上拼命骑行避免订单超时。

很…

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A new documentary about delivery riders in China has struck a nerve.

The Life of China’s Food Delivery Riders in 2026 (2026中国外卖员生存报告) was produced by LifeLab (三联生活实验室), which is a lifestyle magazine published by LifeWeek.

It was released in mid-April. The documentary has since been censored in China, but it’s available on YouTube — and is well worth a watch if you’re looking to brush up on your Beijing dialect (link at the end of the newsletter for paid subscribers, and don’t forget to tune into our YouTube channel where we’ll be discussing this story next week!).

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It follows riders across three Beijing neighbourhoods: the migrant village of Yuxinzhuang (于辛庄村) a northern suburb near the Sixth Ring Road, the central business district, and Wanliu (万柳), one of the capital’s wealthiest enclaves. The contrast between these worlds, where riders live and where they deliver to, runs through the film.

China now has more than 13 million delivery riders. Their pay per order has fallen from over 10 yuan a few years ago, to between 3 and 5 yuan today. Yet the number of riders has multiplied several times during the same period so now there’s more workers than ever chasing lower-paid orders.

One rider sums up the squeeze:

“Algorithms are getting smarter. But why are we working longer hours, and making less money?

Dozens, even hundreds of riders are all fighting for one order.

Whether you get it or not all comes down to if you’re favoured by the system.”

算法越来越聪明，为什么我们的工作时间反而越来越长，赚钱越来越难？几十号人、上百人在抢一单，就看系统爱不爱你。

More than half of delivery riders in Beijing are young people from rural areas around the capital, mostly from villages in neighbouring Hebei (河北) province. Many tend to move to places like Yuxinzhuang, which has become known as a “delivery village” (外卖村).

For the vast majority, working as a delivery rider is not a choice.

It’s the only option left:

“For us young people from the countryside, there aren’t many ways out.”

“I can’t even make a living, so why should I worry about my life?”

“我们农村年轻人，出路是很少的”。

“钱都挣不到，还担心命呢？”

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And it isn’t only young migrants from the countryside who are turning to delivery riding as a last resort to make money.

At the 4-minute mark in the video, a rental shop owner who rents electric bikes to delivery riders says there are increasing numbers of former office workers who have lost their jobs, young mothers returning to work, and people in their forties and fifties unable to find work in other industries:

“’Without relevant experience, my academic qualifications are useless, and I am already past 35.’

‘The thing about delivery work is, it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female, young or old — it’ll take you on.’”

“没有工作经验，学历用不上了，还过了35岁。外卖这个事，就是不论你男女老少，它都能接纳你。”

The reference to being “past 35” is loaded.

In China’s job market, 35 has become an unofficial cut-off age. Many roles won’t consider older applicants, making delivery work one of the few sectors with no age discrimination.

The riders in the film speak frankly about the demands of the job.

They “brave the elements” (风里来雨里去), running red lights and riding the “wrong way” (逆行) down streets. The algorithm rewards speed, and punishes lateness. So road accidents and injuries are common.

The struggles of delivery riders are not a new theme. And we’ve looked at several stories over the years in this newsletter.

A defining article about delivery riders was published in September 2020 by People Magazine (人物杂志): Trapped in the System: The Life of a Delivery Rider (外卖骑手，困在系统里). That article also struck a nerve, it went viral, and was also partially censored. It exposed how algorithms squeezed delivery times, forcing riders to speed, run red lights, and risk their lives to hit impossible deadlines.

The phrase “trapped in the system” (困在系统里) became shorthand for algorithmic exploitation of gig workers.

Six years on, one interviewee in this new documentary adds a new twist that 2020 framing:

“Delivery riders aren’t trapped in the system.

They’re trapped by their own desires.”

外卖员不是困在系统里，而是困在自己的欲望里。

But he’s not talking about the desire to get rich, or build a better life. He’s doing it to survive and make ends meet in an increasingly brutal job market.

So that’s what we’re exploring this week!

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Favourite Five

1. 接纳 jiē nà

accept, embrace

外卖这个事，就是不论你男女老少，它都能接纳你 - The thing about food delivery is that no matter who you are or where you are from, there is a place for you. [1]

2. 扎心 zhā xīn

heartbreaking, painful

看完这部纪录片以后，也让我不得不认清一个扎心的真相 - This documentary hit me hard with this sobering reality. [3]

3. 讨生活 tǎo shēng huó

make a living, scrape by

每个认真讨生活的人，都值得被看见 - Everyone who works hard to make a living deserves to be seen. [3]

4. 左右为难 zuǒ yòu wéi nán

caught in a dilemma, torn between two options

一边开店一边看孩子的那两年，真的是左右为难 - During those two years of running a shop while taking care of my children, I had a hard time balancing the two. [3]

5. 风里来雨里去 fēng lǐ lái yǔ lǐ qù

to toil through all weather, braving the elements

他们是风里来雨里去的，都很辛苦 - They’re out there braving the elements. It’s hard work for all of us. [3]

Consuming the Conversation

Useful words

6. 熬 áo

endure, tough it out

跟送外卖的一样，只不过我是在店里熬 - I am no different from the delivery riders. The only difference is that I’m grinding away inside the shop. [3]

7. 消遣 xiāo qiǎn

pass time, amusement

送外卖似乎成了高薪白领们的消遣 - Being a delivery rider seems to have become a pastime for well-paid office workers. [1]

8. 北漂 běi piāo

Beijing drifters, migrants pursuing opportunities in Beijing

于辛庄村被称作北漂来京后的第一落脚点 - Yuxinzhuang Village is known as the first place many Beijing drifters stay after arriving in the capital. [1]

9. 出路 chū lù

way out, future prospects

我们农村年轻人，出路是很少的 - For us young people from rural areas, there are very few opportunities. [1]

10. 门槛 mén kǎn

threshold, barrier to entry

这个门槛相对来说还要低一点 - There aren’t many requirements for this job. [1]

11. 兜底 dōu dǐ

provide a safety net, be a last resort

外卖平台给了一个兜底的选择 - Food delivery platforms provide a fallback option. [2]

12. 透支 tòu zhī

overdraw, exhaust in advance

开店是熬，送外卖也是熬，我们都需要提前透支自己的体力和健康 - Whether you’re running a shop or delivering food, it’s all a grind. In both cases, we’re trading our health and well-being just to get by. [3]

• Related:

  • 体力 tǐ lì – physical strength

Three character phrases

13. 边缘化 biān yuán huà

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但现实中的外卖行业，却并没有那么简单。

晚饭时间，位于北京北六环附近的于辛庄村，外卖员小陈终于等来了晚高峰的第一波订单。他在这一带跑了将近8年。

于辛庄村被称作北漂来京后的第一落脚点。这里有上百栋公寓，道路错综复杂，但小陈说哪条巷子通哪栋楼，他闭着眼睛都能找到。“一来单接它十个八个，我根本不用看导航。”

但这份轻车熟路，已经换不来从前的收入了。

这不是他一个人的困惑。据行业统计，全国外卖骑手数量已超过1300万。与此同时，平台配送单价却在持续走低——从早期的平均10元以上，跌至如今的3-5元。单价掉了一半，骑手数量却翻了几倍。另一个于辛庄村的外卖员说：“几十号人、上…

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Frank：大家好，我是Frank。你住酒店的时候，会特别看酒店的名字吗？

S：特别看名字是什么意思？是预定的时候看名字还是入住的时候看名字？

F：都有，你会看吗？

S：当然会啊，不过我一般会在预定的时候仔细看。入住的时候，有的酒店楼太高了，看名字很费劲，就不会再仔细地看了。

F：那以后可能要仔细看了，比如最近出现了“全李酒店”。

S：全李？哪个全李？姓李的李？

F：对，姓李的李。

S：啊，“季”和“李”真的很像。

F：对，差别就一撇。所以网友说，风太大了，把“季”字吹掉了一撇，变成“李”了。

S：我听说后来华住酒店集团，也出来回应了，说这家“全李酒店”跟他们没关系。

F：对，华住就是全季、汉庭这些酒店品牌背后的集团

S：其实山寨酒店这个东西，…

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近年来，酒店行业出现了大量山寨连锁酒店的乱象。以大连“全李酒店”为例，其招牌、字体和装修都与全季酒店极为相似，许多消费者因此看走眼，误以为自己捡便宜订到了真的连锁酒店。

这些所谓的“李鬼酒店”大多曾是正规品牌加盟店。如今只需改动招牌上的某一个字，就能继续经营。除此之外，还有其他令人眼花缭乱的高仿酒店，甚至连英文招牌中的字母也会被替换，手法十分隐蔽。

依据法律，这些行为已经涉嫌侵权与不正当竞争。然而，不少商家仍敢继续擦边经营。加盟正规酒店成本较高，而改字经营却能继续吸引顾客。有些酒店面对质疑时还不断推诿，声称只是“过渡名称”。这些酒店价格较低，再者部分设施与正规酒店差别不大，即便一些消费者发现问题也不会投诉。

对于酒店品牌来说，维权往往耗时耗力，因此部分品牌对个别“李鬼酒店”只能选择低调处理。加之，OTA平台…

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An unlikely story has been trending on Chinese social media over the last two weeks.

It began when a tourist walked past a hotel in the northern city of Dalian (大连) during the Labour Day holiday.

It was a typical warm May day, the streets were alive with tourists. But as this tourist walked past that hotel they noticed something looked a bit off, but couldn’t quite put their finder on it.

After a second glance, they realised:

“The wind in Dalian is so strong that a stroke of the character for ‘season’ has fallen off…

And the Ji Hotel has become the Li Hotel.”

大连风太大了，“季”字都被吹掉了一撇

The hotel in question looked identical to the Ji Hotel (全季), which is a mid-range hotel chain with over 1,100 locations across China.

The branding, the colours, and the style of the building looked exactly like the Ji Hotel. Apart from from one tiny detail: the character for “season” (季 jì) on the hotel sign had been replaced by the character for the common surname, Li (李 lǐ).

To the untrained or non-native eye, these two characters look the same. The difference is a single stroke (一撇):

• “Season” (季 jì) = “grain” (禾 hé) + “child” (子 zǐ)

• “Li” (李 lǐ) = “tree” (木 mù) + “child” (子 zǐ)

The Dalian tourist went on to post their findings on Weibo. The image of the Li Hotel soon hit the top of hot search lists. With comments like:

“I had to rub my eyes and look twice at my phone. I thought I was seeing things.”

以为自己眼花了，对着手机揉了半天眼睛

And my personal favourite:

“Do you have to change your surname to Li to check in?”

住这个酒店需要改李姓吗

H World Group (华住酒店集团) is the owner of the Ji Hotel brand, and was quick to distance itself from this imposter. Of the 29 Ji Hotels in Dalian, the “Li Hotel” (全李酒店) was nothing to do with them, apparently.

Social media users across the country began spotting similar hotels with names almost identical to well-known brands.

A Youting Hotel (又庭酒店) was spotted in another city, which looked exactly like the the Hanting Hotel (汉庭酒店). It had the same blue lettering, same horse logo, but the 'water' radical (氵) on the character hàn (汉) was gone, leaving the character yòu (又) instead.

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A growing number of fakes emerged:

• The Xana Hotel (希岸 xī’àn) morphed into 希堓 (xī’àn) with an “earth” radical (土 tǔ) added to the second character (岸 àn) to make 堓 (àn), which sounds exactly the same.

• Hi Inn (海友 hǎiyǒu) became 嗨友 (hāiyǒu) with a “mouth” radical (口 kǒu) added to the second character, “sea” (海 hǎi), to make 嗨 (hāi) which means “hi.”

• And the Vienna Hotel (维也纳 Wéiyěnà) transformed into the Weitana Hotel (维他纳 wéitānà) with a “person” radical (亻 rén) added to the middle character (也 yě) to make “him” (他 tā).

So Chinese characters are fertile ground for fake brand names. With a single tweak to a radical in one character of a name, an entirely new almost identical brand is invented.

As you might expect, this is not a new phenomenon in China.

And there are an equally rich number of ways to describe it in Chinese, many of which we’ve discussed before in this newsletter:

“Piggybacking” (碰瓷), or “bumping porcelain,” refers to con artist military men in the dying days of the Qing Dynasty who ripped people off by deliberately bumping into passers-by. They carried fake expensive-looking pots, and when the pots broke due to the engineered collision, the crooks would extort compensation from their victims.

"Knock-offs" (山寨) or shanzhai literally means "mountain stronghold" which is a nod to the bandit camps where outlaws hid from the authorities in the original meaning of the word. The term entered modern usage via Cantonese as a label for small unlicensed workshops producing unauthorised copies, most notoriously in 1990s Shenzhen, where electronics imitation was rampant. Today it covers everything from shanzhai phones to shanzhai hotels like the Ji Hotel.

But our favourite is this phrase, which we translate as: "imposter hotels" (李鬼酒店).

This is a reference to a well-known scene in the classic novel, The Water Margin (水浒传), in which a scammer named Li Gui (李鬼) extorts passers-by for cash by pretending to be the infamous and feared bandit, Li Kui (李逵). "Li Gui" has become a common way to describe people or brands posing as well-known names.

Many of these “imposter hotels” have a legitimate predecessor.

The Youting (又庭) Hotel, for example, was once a franchised Hanting (汉庭 ) outlet. While other fakes, like the Li Hotel in Dalian, are simply knock-offs of established brands, like the Ji Hotel (全季) in that case.

So by making minor tweaks to the characters in well-known names, while keeping their appearance intact, these operators create the illusion of still being part of the original chain.

But they can then charge much lower prices than the branded equivalents because they no longer have to pay expensive franchising fees:

The amenities and service were not far off those of a genuine chain.

But at nearly half the price.

曾在改名后的酒店住过，配置和服务与连锁酒店相差不大，但价格便宜了接近一半。

And it’s this which we’re discussing this week!

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Favourite Five

1. 山寨 shān zhài

fake, knockoff

最近，多地曝出山寨酒店乱象，令人大跌眼镜 - Copycat hotels have been popping up across the country, which have caught many travellers completely off guard. [1]

2. 傍名 bàng míng

to associate with a famous name, to imitate a well-known brand

“笔画式傍名”的酒店，何以如此之多？ - Why are there so many hotels that imitate famous brand names by slightly altering the characters? [3]

3. 换马甲 huàn mǎ jiǎ

to disguise oneself, to rebrand under a different name

殊不知自己住的不是全季，而是“换了马甲”的全李 - Little did he know that he was not staying at Ji Hotel, but at a “rebranded” copycat called Li Hotel. [2]

4. 深藏功与名 shēn cáng gōng yǔ míng

to hide one’s achievements and reputation, to stay low-key

在夜晚，这个“鑫”字还不发光，远远看去就是“汉庭”，像个深藏功与名的替身演员 - At night, the extra character “Xin”, like a stand-in actor quietly hiding in plain sight, remains unlit and allows the hotel to masquerade as “Hanting”. [2]

5. 李鬼酒店 lǐ guǐ jiǔ diàn

copycat hotel, impostor hotel

一场乌龙，却牵扯出不少“李鬼酒店” - A single mix-up has inadvertently revealed a network of impostor hotels. [2]

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Consuming the Conversation

Useful words

6. 碰瓷 pèng cí

a piggybacking scam, to scam by exploiting resemblance

这些“李鬼”酒店专门“碰瓷”知名品牌，在店名和形象设计上和正牌极为类似 - These impostor hotels deliberately imitate famous brands in their names and designs. [1]

7. 高仿 gāo fǎng

high-quality imitation, knockoff

还有人在上海旅游时，住进了高仿桔子酒店的“木吉酒店” - Some travellers in Shanghai ended up in “Ju Hotel”, a blatant knockoff of the well-known “Juzi Hotel”. [2]

8. 推诿 tuī wěi

to shirk responsibility, to pass the blame

一般平台多以“商家自主经营”为由推诿责任 - Platforms often shirk responsibility by claiming that those businesses operate independently. [1]

9. 瞥见 piē jiàn

to catch sight of, to glimpse

瞥见熟悉的“全季”字形就决定下单，结果订完发现，酒店名字是“全李” - He booked the room after spotting the iconic typeface of “Ji Hotel”, only to realise afterwards that it was actually called “Li Hotel”. [2]

10. 隐蔽 yǐn bì

hidden, concealed

比文字颠倒更隐蔽的，是字母造假 - What’s even harder to spot than altered characters is the manipulated alphabets. [2]

11. 乱象 luàn xiàng

Wild West, disorder

今年火爆的“五一长假”出行，也放大了这种乱象 - The travel boom during this year’s May Day holiday also magnified the scale of such scams. [2]

12. 擦边 cā biān

to skirt the line, to exploit loopholes

目前对“改字擦边”行为的执法，仍主要依赖消费者投诉和品牌方主动维权 - At present, authorities still largely rely on consumer complaints and brand-led legal challenges to crack down on these wordplay scams. [2]

Three-character phrases

13. 看走眼 kàn zǒu yǎn

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出品 | Vista天下有钱花·潮消费

“大连风太大了，‘季’字都被吹掉了一撇。”

最近，有网友路过大连街头时，发现了一家“全李酒店”，其招牌字体和设计风格都和全季酒店一模一样。

网友一开始还以为，大连的海风已经大到把招牌都给吹跑了，结果打开地图App才发现，海风的威力还没这么大，这家酒店正式登记名称就叫“全李酒店”。

这事一发到网上，全李酒店直接登上微博热搜，网友也觉得荒谬，“还以为自己眼花了，对着手机揉了半天眼睛”“住这个酒店需要改李姓吗”“住全李酒店，喝雷碧，吃粤利粤，这辈子有了”……

这家全李酒店位于大连市中山路，紧邻地铁站，在携程平台的评分为4.5分，看起来跟普通连锁酒店毫无差别。有些不知情的消费者早已“错付情深”。有住客在评论里写下：“一直选择全季的原因就是因为服务好”，殊不知自己住的…

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Frank：大家好，我是Frank。你平时用豆包吗？

S：我平时不太用豆包，中国的大语言模型，我用千问多一点。你呢？

F：我用DeepSeek，但是豆包的用户还是很多的。

S：确实很多，我妈都在用豆包，有的时候我跟她说一些事情，她不太懂，她就跟我说，你等一下我问一下豆包。

F：豆包的月活用户差不多有三个多亿。

S：是，但是我经常跟我妈说，不要啥小事儿都问豆包，豆包每次回答都在消耗资源的。但她问那些乱七八糟的问题就是觉得好玩儿。

F：对，很多年纪大一点的人是觉得这东西挺好玩儿的。

S：也可以理解，但是我也跟我父母说，这东西有幻觉，不是说啥都对，不能全信。

F：估计以后他们就不随便啥事都问豆包了，因为豆包开始收费了。

S：豆包收费这个事，已经炸锅

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近年来，酒店行业出现了大量山寨连锁酒店的乱象。以大连“全李酒店”为例，其招牌、字体和装修都与全季酒店极为相似，许多消费者因此看走眼，误以为自己捡便宜订到了正规连锁酒店。

这些所谓的“李鬼酒店”大多曾是正规品牌加盟店。如今只需改动招牌上的某一个字，就能继续经营。除此之外，还有其他令人眼花缭乱的高仿酒店，甚至连英文招牌中的字母也会被替换，手法十分隐蔽。

依据法律，这些行为已经涉嫌侵权和不正当竞争。然而，不少商家仍敢擦边经营，因为加盟正规酒店成本较高，而改字经营却能继续吸引顾客。有些酒店面对质疑时还不断推诿，声称只是“过渡名称”。这些酒店价格较低，再者部分设施与正规酒店差别不大，即便一些消费者即使发现问题也不会投诉。

对于酒店品牌来说，维权往往耗时耗力，因此部分品牌对个别“李鬼酒店”只能选择低调处理。加之，OTA…

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Doubao (豆包) is China’s most-used AI assistant.

It’s made by tech giant ByteDance (字节跳动), the brand behind short video social media platforms Douyin (抖音) and TikTok. And also Seedance, the AI video generation model integrated into the Doubao app.

By March 2026, Doubao had 345 million monthly active users, and is by far China’s most used AI assistant.

We’ve discussed its main competitors before in this newsletter which are DeepSeek, Alibaba’s Qwen (千问), Tencent’s Yuanbao (腾讯元宝), and Baidu’s Wenxin Assistant (文心助手) also known as Ernie Bot.

So far these services have been mainly free. Ernie Bot is the only app which has experimented with paid offerings, introducing a subscription of 59.9 yuan per month in late 2023. But they eventually backtracked following a customer backlash, making it completely free from April 1, 2025.

Until now, Doubao has followed the same free model. But on May 4, a statement appeared on its App Store page announcing a paid subscription:

“To better serve our professional community, Doubao is introducing a Premium Tier.

This paid version offers enhanced value-added services alongside our standard free tier, providing a tailored experience for users with more demanding workflows.”

为更好地服务专业用户，豆包将在免费版的基础上，推出包含更多增值服务的付费版本，以满足不同用户的差异化需求。

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According to ByteDance there are now three pricing tiers in their premium offering: a standard plan at 68 yuan a month, an enhanced plan at 200 yuan, and a professional plan at 500 yuan per month.

Although its prices are much cheaper than international equivalents such as Chat GPt and Claude, the news of the announcement immediately shot to the top of Weibo’s trending list.

Some people said they intended to “uninstall the app if Doubao is no longer free” (只要收费就卸载). Others pointed out that overseas AI products have long offered tiered pricing, and China is simply falling into line. And others commented that for Chinese users, “the AI free lunch may be over” (AI免费午餐可能没了).

Some also asked the question:

“What makes an AI tool worth 68 yuan a month?”

AI凭什么值68块钱一个月？

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That’s a difficult one for many users in China to answer or quantify because, to date, they have enjoyed free use of all these apps.

And for the past two years, China’s AI giants have been fighting a “subsidy war” (补贴战) burning cash to attract users. Alibaba even spent 3 billion yuan handing out bubble tea vouchers to pull users into Qwen in the lead up to this year’s Spring Festival.

But developing AI tools is an expensive business needing heavy investment.

ByteDance saw its net profit fall more than 70% in 2025, dragged down by AI spending. The company invested over 150 billion yuan of capital expenditure that year in AI, with around 90 billion of that on AI computing power alone.

Memory chip prices are surging too, forecast to jump between 63% and 75% this year.

And apps like Doubao are expensive to run. By March 2026, Doubao’s daily usage had hit 120 trillion tokens (the “raw material” AI runs on). This is equivalent to a doubling in usage in just three months, with monthly computing costs approaching one billion yuan.

So as costs rise the makers of AI products face a choice. They can either remain free but degrade the experience over time until users start complaining that “the AI is getting stupider” (AI越来越笨).

Or find a way to monetise.

Chinese internet companies traditionally make their money through the “three horses of the carriage” (三驾马车): value-added services, advertising, and e-commerce.

Pivot toward monetisation to pass on the cost — either by embedding ads directly into AI outputs, where the advertiser foots the bill, or through subscription models, where the cost falls on the user directly.

探索AI商业化，让用户来承担Token成本，比如在AI结果中塞广告，羊毛出在猪身上，再比如AI收费，羊毛出在羊身上。

The view inside China is that all three will eventually find their way into AI.

But advertising risks compromising the quality and neutrality of the advice these apps provide, which is a line Chinese tech companies have so far been reluctant to cross.

So for a product that functions as an assistant, as a creative tool, and as a chat companion, subscriptions are the natural fit.

With soaring chip costs, exponential usage growth, and shareholders keen to see a return on years of AI investment, the pressure on ByteDance and others to monetise has become impossible to ignore:

“ByteDance’s shareholders are keen to see some return, after having invested so much into AI.”

字节的股东们估计也急了，投了这么多钱，总得看到回报吧。

So Doubao has finally made that first move.

And that’s what we’re exploring this week!

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Favourite Five

1. 造血 zào xiě

generate revenue, become financially self-sustaining

当算力成本的全链条上涨成为不可逆的趋势，大模型从“免费圈地”走向“收费造血”，便成了无法回避的生存必答题 - With the inevitable surge of chip costs, LLM providers realised that they have no choice but to pivot from capturing the market to generating margins. [1]

2. 财大气粗 cái dà qì cū

wealthy and powerful, financially strong

财大气粗的豆包也要探索收费模式了 - Even the well-funded Doubao has started exploring paid business models. [2]

3. 羊毛出在羊身上 yáng máo chū zài yáng shēn shang

the cost is ultimately borne by the user; you end up paying one way or another

比如在AI结果中塞广告，羊毛出在猪身上，再比如AI收费，羊毛出在羊身上 - Some are experimenting with embedding ads directly into AI outputs—the classic “indirect monetisation” play where the advertiser foots the bill. Others are moving toward straight-up subscription models, where they pass the cost directly onto the end user. [2]

• Related:

  • 羊毛出在猪身上 yáng máo chū zài zhū shēn shang – making someone else pay the cost

4. 天下没有免费的午餐 tiān xià méi yǒu miǎn fèi de wǔ cān

there’s no free lunch

在商言商，天下没有免费的午餐，AI 收费早晚的事儿 - From a business perspective, there’s no such thing as a free lunch; charging for AI usage is only a matter of time. [3]

5. 一棒子打死 yí bàng zi dǎ sǐ

to completely dismiss, to condemn outright

话说回来，吐槽归吐槽，但也别一棒子打死 - That said, complaints are one thing, but don’t dismiss it outright. [3]

Consuming the Conversation

Useful Words

6. 悄然 qiǎo rán

quietly, unnoticed

这一消息源于豆包在苹果App Store页面悄然更新的付费订阅服务声明 - This news came from Doubao’s recently updated paid subscription service notice on its Apple App Store page. [1]

7. 炸锅 zhà guō

to explode with reactions, cause an uproar

对于豆包收费，网友评论瞬间炸锅 - Doubao’s pivot to monetisation sparked an immediate uproar. [1]

8. 烧钱 shāo qián

to burn money, spend huge amounts of money

这本身就是一场极致的“烧钱”游戏 - At the end of the day, it’s just a game of who has the most cash to burn. [1]

9. 试水 shì shuǐ

to test the waters

豆包开始试水收费 - Doubao has started testing paid services. [1]

10. 抢客 qiǎng kè

to compete aggressively for customers

阿里旗下的千问甚至祭出“请喝奶茶”、发补贴等手段疯狂抢客 - Alibaba’s Qwen even used tactics like “free milk tea” to aggressively acquire users. [1]

Three-character phrases

11. 价值战 jià zhí zhàn

competition based on value, value-driven competition

或许标志着国内大模型行业正从“价格战”悄然转向“价值战” - This may signal that China’s AI industry is quietly shifting from a “price war” to a “value war”. [1]

• Related:

  • 产品力 chǎn pǐn lì – product strength, product competitiveness

  • 印钞机 yìn chāo jī – money-printing machine, cash cow

12. 狗屎运 gǒu shǐ yùn

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5月4日，豆包在AppStore的页面泄露了一则声明：“为更好地服务专业用户，豆包将在免费版的基础上，推出包含更多增值服务的付费版本，以满足不同用户的差异化需求。”

豆包官方披露收费政策如下：

基础版:免费使用，满足日常需求；

标准版:连续包月每月68元，连续包年每年688元；

加强版:连续包月每月 200元，连续包年每年2048 元；

专业版:连续包月每月500元，连续包年每年5088元；

这是国产AI第一个把订阅价格打到500元档的产品，也是国内第一个把“AI免费午餐可能没了”这件事，推到台面上的产品。截至目前，DeepSeek、千问、元宝、文心都是免费的，阿里的千问甚至搞补贴请喝奶茶来吸引用户免费用。

但不管是国外还是国内，豆包都不是第一个收费的AI，而“收费”这件事本身，并…

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