Interview with Ming Dao | Has the original "overbearing president" who became popular overnight changed?


1905 movie network feature He was only 24 years old when he gained widespread attention with "The Wedding Dress of the Kingdom of Heaven". A year later, he became an "idol male god" who fascinated thousands of girls.


"Does it feel like reaching a peak? I’m a little confused." Looking back at that unforgettable past, Ming Dao lamented in an interview with the "Dialogue" program of the 1905 film network. "At that time, I didn’t think it was a peak or not. [Popularity] was a more complicated thing. For example, someone recognized me and became my long-term state."



Seven or eight years after the performance of "The Prince Turns into a Frog", the scripts handed to Ming Dao were all idol dramas. He starred in "Love Mage", "Star Apple Paradise", "Angel Lover" and other works, further establishing his status as an "idol male god".


In the public’s memory, he has been rooted in the "Boss Tyrant" track for a long time.When it comes to whether he wants to jump out of the "comfort zone", Ming Dao’s response is very direct: "It is useless for me to consider, at least in me, it is completely the result of the choice of market laws".



In recent years, Mingdao has had many attempts. He has acted in comedies, musicals, and studied live broadcasts, and his identity has become diverse. In the complex waves of the times, if you don’t advance, you will retreat. Stick to your original intention and be yourself, Mingdao is so self-comforting.


Mike, the gentle and humorous "ex-husband" in "The Future", recently returned to the public eye as an elite figure in suits and ties. In the face of audience comments, he admitted that he would pay attention, but not much, "I go out to work, and I go home when I get home.


"To me, the word’Ming Dao ‘is a job, not an identity. My job is acting, that’s all."



"Try Comedy"


"The Future of Massive" tells the story of Ma Shang (played) searching for hope in despair. In middle age, Ma Shang encounters a marital crisis, bears heavy debts, and reaches a desperate situation in life. Corresponding to this is his ex-wife and current wife, Mark, who wears famous brands and drives luxury cars without the slightest pressure of being ravaged by life.


The story is wrapped in comedy with the core of tragedy. After the director initially cast Bao Bell as Ma Shang, he hoped to find a Taiwanese actor to combine with his Northeast style, thus forming a sharp contrast. Therefore, Ming Dao joined the crew and tried a rare comedy performance.



A lot of the comedy baggage in the play comes from Bao Bell, especially the homophonic stems and small details. "Northeast Comedian" gave "Taiwan Puppet Male God" a lot of fresh excitement.


Ma Shang had a car accident in the tunnel, and when he woke up, he wanted to express his anger, but he didn’t expect to be answered by Mark, and the original inelegant words turned into intermittent lines, "I’m super, super, super, super lucky". Ma Shang, who couldn’t hide his anger, wanted to beat Mark, but he didn’t expect Mark to humorously take the "weapon", which formed a strong contrast effect.



"The script doesn’t say who is joking or joking, and a lot of ideas come from Bao Bell, but I don’t have many ideas." Ming Dao, who calls himself an ideal performer, is used to doing his homework, and is more of a listener on the set, not deliberately adding or cutting plot.


He wrote a biography of Mike early on: "He was adopted by a very good family from an early age, and he was gentle and enthusiastic. When he was a teenager, he learned about his background, which was a little difficult to accept, so he ventured outside, and when he grew up, he returned to the normal track of life."


Ming Dao gave Mike a lot of background settings, giving him the rationality of his behavior and explaining the root cause of his desperately trying to save people in the tunnel. He was adopted and cherished the interpersonal relationships around him.



Creating biographies of characters has always been a way for Mingdao to enter the role.


"When I played my first role, I didn’t know I had to do these things, and I didn’t need to do them at that time. When I was in the idol drama, I was at that age, and it was enough to watch myself. After a few performances, I realized that I couldn’t act the same."


The accumulation of experience and the growth of age have made Ming Dao more and more aware of the physical clarity of behavior for everyone he plays, even in the face of the same role, he also hopes to perform a different taste.


"Overbearing President"


"’The Kingdom of Heaven’s Wedding Dress’ turned me into an idol actor, which was a big turning point." At the age of 24, Ming Dao rose to fame in the film and television industry with the role of "Cheng Hainuo", which changed his destiny ever since.


Contrary to his image as a spendthrift in film and television, Ming Dao was born into an ordinary family, and he would take advantage of the winter and summer vacations to help his family sell dried fish and turn the vegetable market into a playground. During his growth journey, he was surrounded by neighbors who ran for life, not the social elites who were well-dressed.


If "Cheng Hainuo" still had some similarities with Ming Dao, then "Shan Junhao" came from two completely different worlds.



Ming Dao admitted frankly that among all the roles he had played, "Shan Junhao" had changed him the most.


In his original life, there were no business elites in suits and ties, nor rich young masters like "Shan Junhao". In the first episode of "Prince Turns Frog", Ming Dao, who wore a black suit and got off the luxury car, became the dream lover of countless girls. The audience praised him without hesitation, he had his own aristocratic temperament, and his every move was elite.


Little did he know that in order to perform the scene from getting off the bus to entering the hotel, he once ran to the door of the hotel to study how wealthy people got out of the car and walked.



As "Prince Turns Frog" broke the ratings record of "Meteor Garden" and set off a whirlwind of drama chasing in Asia, Ming Dao also gained a place in the field of idol dramas with his handsome appearance, and "Boss Ba" became a solidified label on his body. Seven or eight years after "Prince Turns Frog" aired, almost all the scripts handed to him were idol dramas, and he also contracted the public’s expectations for "Boss Ba" through works such as "Love Magician", "Star Apple Paradise" and "Angel Lover".


"Overbearing CEO actually has nothing to do with’overbearing ‘."


Looking back at his past roles, Ming Dao was a little helpless. He didn’t understand why everyone would interpret the character’s behavior as "overbearing". Take Shan Junhao as an example, he was just a person who thought things very clearly, and there was no such thing as overbearing or not overbearing. Ming Dao didn’t think about this at all when he performed.



Asked whether he wanted to step out of his "comfort zone", Ming Dao’s response was straightforward: "It’s useless for me to think about it. At the beginning, I didn’t want to act in idol dramas. The choice of actors is more based on market positioning. It’s hard for others to see the other side of Ming Dao, and I can’t always give you a Tai Chi."


During the interview, Ming Dao was sincere and helpless.Unlike most actors, who felt that fantasies were meaningless, he never dreamed of playing a certain type of role. "It’s not that playing a murderer completes the transformation, nor that suddenly becoming thin can become a good actor who pays for the play. If he plays a murderer, he is still in love? What if he plays a domineering president, but he doesn’t fall in love? So is the role meaningful?"


Mingdao, who had studied engineering, was extremely logical, and his vision of things always seemed to follow a specific engineering program. He cared more about how the outside world viewed his inner self than how he looked forward to the role.



"Fighting Fame"


For a long time, Ming Dao was fighting against fame."It’s not that I don’t want to be famous, of course I want to be famous, so that I can work more and earn more money." Ming Dao’s point of confrontation was to seek self-reconciliation.


From a grassroots background, he never imagined that he would become an actor, nor did he think that he would become famous, nor did he think that the price of fame would be that he could no longer walk into McDonald’s alone to buy a burger, nor could he walk down the street without being recognized.


He used to love riding a motorcycle and enjoying the pleasure of speed. But after becoming famous, even though the thick hard hat had blocked the contours of his face, he still couldn’t escape the sharp-eyed passers-by chasing him and shouting "Mingdao".


More than once on the road, passers-by would pull his backpack from behind. Although he knew that the other party was out of uncontrollable excitement, for a long time, he would still feel distressed about it, "As time goes by and I get older, I get used to it.



Ming Dao has been on the road of performing for 22 years.Whether it was a domineering president or an idol actor, no matter what label the public attached to him, when he was mentioned, everyone would still think of his amazing characters and classics that he had interpreted.


A few years ago, Ming Dao appeared in an entertainment variety show. A group of young actors sat in the audience, and everyone sighed. Watching his works grow up, even the instructor in the guest seat said politely, "Brother Ming Dao, my seniority is deeper than mine."



At that time, Ming Dao on the stage couldn’t help but joke about himself. After many years of debut, a friend told him, "Ming Dao, you may not be able to play the male lead in the future." After speaking, there were obvious tears in his eyes, and his voice began to choke, and then he explained that the first performance handed over on the variety stage was his first play that year (2019).



In our conversation, Ming Dao admitted that he had been in a state where the stock of works was small, and he wanted to participate when he saw a good film, but he would also feel regretful if he missed it.


"A low point depends on how you define it. If you measure it by how many films you make or how high or low your audience ratings are, there are indeed lows. But in my whole life, I’ve been filming, and lows are hard to define."


"To me, the word’Ming Dao ‘is a job, not an identity. My job is acting, that’s all."


Perhaps many people don’t know that Ming Dao has another name, Lin Chaozhang, which is the base color that really belongs to him.


Di Lizheba Debuts "Sound" to Challenge a Mad Woman

Dilizheba

The second phase of the original sound charm competition show "Sound in Its Realm 2" created by Hunan Satellite TV will be broadcast at 20:10 this Friday (February 1), and the new generation of actor Di Lizheba will be surprised to join. Just as the theme of this issue is "The Voice That Can’t Be Hidden", Di Lizheba shows "Hidden Skills" to challenge the classic play "Hamlet" clips, and the hidden voice talent makes Zhang Tielin praise "new voice stars".

In this episode, Di Lizheba voiced the crazy woman Ophelia. As a classic character in "Hamlet", there are countless people who have played the role. This time Di Lizheba dared to challenge, and the pressure can be imagined. Character shaping is already difficult, and this performance is also mixed with singing elements. Di Lizheba chose not to watch the blind matching of the dubbing script, which is even more difficult. In this regard, Di Lizheba has done a lot of preparation work. On the one hand, she carefully speculates on the inner hearts of the characters, and on the other hand carefully memorizes the lines. At the scene, she is seen wearing a black shawl and staring at the dubbing screen. The voice sounded, and the "mentally deranged" Di Lizheba stood in front of Li Mai and muttered to herself, and the image of an abnormal crazy woman instantly jumped on the screen.

Dilizheba

As the plot progressed, Di Lizheba danced and sang, struggling and scratching his head, and the perfect interpretation made the Iron Triangle and the audience almost forget that this was dubbing. From a little sober to a complete loss of reason, Di Lizheba used her body as a supplement to control the "out of control" voice very smoothly and layered. The voice of the big white coffee guest praised: "If it were me, I might not know where the microphone is while dancing." And Teacher Wang Gang was even more generous: "Today, I saw the most authentic Reba that has settled down, except for the star aura, which amazed me. Her success is not without reason."

As the smallest voice on the stage of "Sound in the Realm", Di Lizheba showed amazing dubbing ability. Take "Hamlet" as an example, she did not flatten the characters, but used her professional quality to understand the characters, so that they were perfectly three-dimensional in front of the audience. The sound recognition is strong, and the sound characteristics are difficult to conceal. Even though there are many disadvantages in the voice, she still proved herself with strength. On stage, Di Lizheba revealed that she had done a lot of mental preparation and joined the show with a learning attitude. She said modestly: "The lines of the actors are very important for the shaping of the whole character, so here I am."

Benchmarking even surpassed "Black Myth: Wukong", and officially opened the image quality iteration plan against the cold

  Recently, NetEase’s flagship martial arts game Against the Water has once again announced detailed plans around the fourth anniversary expansion, one of which is quite exciting.

  That is, the anti-water cold will officially open the image quality iteration plan during the fourth anniversary, and will benchmark or even surpass the well-known stand-alone 3A games such as "Black Myth: Wukong", and upgrade the image quality of existing games in a short time.

  In fact, NetEase’s flagship martial arts game has been praised by players for its excellent graphics.

  Not long ago, the Anti-Water Cold development team made a major upgrade around the ice surface. In the game, it is actually difficult to present the ice surface well, because the light transmittance is different under different degrees of icing.

  For example, on the ice surface of West Lake, the temperature is not low enough, and the thickness of the ice layer is relatively thin, allowing you to clearly see the fish swimming under the ice surface.

  In some extremely cold places, the ice layer is thick, so it is impossible to see the underwater scene, which is difficult to figure out. Therefore, in the past, game manufacturers generally used the form of textures to solve the problem.

  The ice surface generated by the map has no change and no soul.

  So the programmers in the development team decided to make a new one themselves.

  Its principle is based on the physical simulation method, which is used to model the refraction reflection and scattering of ice materials and light when passing through ice.

  They also took into account ice cracks, bubbles, and other phenomena to achieve a better rendering effect.

  It can be said that the sticker ice in most games in the past was fake paper ice, and under the ice of the cold rivers and lakes, you can even see swimming schools of fish.

  Not only that, but the constant changes in day and night light, cloudy and sunny weather make the same scenery look different at different times, and the beauty presented is also different.

  But in fact, against the current cold has never been a game that satisfies the status quo. The development team has always hoped to bring players a sensory experience that goes beyond the limitations of the end game and the limitations of the times.

  Therefore, the image quality upgrade can be said to be one of the ambitions against the cold from the beginning. As for how big this ambition is, you can understand it after reading the picture below.

  Players can directly see the weeds and dead leaves in the cracks of the tiles, the patterns and tree shadows on the tiles, and even the wood grains and mottles on the eaves.

  Objectively speaking, the image quality improvement map released by the current cold water, while using the most advanced technology, also integrates a lot of Eastern ethereal and distant artistic conception, which is quite a "quality explosion".

  A small detail may go unnoticed, but a good game is made up of these details.

  In order to make this inconspicuous ice scene look more "real", the development team worked hard for several months, which seemed to be a bit "thankless".

  However, the anti-water cold technical team has well presented the concept of daring to be the first in the world, always committed to exploring the most cutting-edge graphics technology, and constantly challenging the limits of hardware and algorithms. They scoff at the so-called "cost performance of R & D", and only want to bring real, more real, and surpassing real game images to players.

  This is also something they are still pursuing in the future.

  As for the breakthrough in artistic style and scene refinement this time, let’s wait and see how players at home and abroad will perceive it!

The stars gather for the Spring Festival Gala of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Jackie Chan’s head appears as the vice chairperson of the Film Association


  Jackie Chan, who appeared for the first time as the newly elected vice chairperson of the China Film Association, sang "Hard to Say Goodbye" at the Spring Festival Gala of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles on the 10th. Ying Ni, photo



Song Zuying concluded the party with a song "To the Motherland". Photo by Ying Ni


  China News Service, *******, January 10 (Reporter, Ying Ni) The annual ****** Festival Gala ** China’s literary and art circles is already the seventh. This year will usher in the 60th anniversary ** New China and the 60th anniversary ** the founding ** the China Federation ** Literary and Art Circles. Therefore, this year’s gala will closely focus on the theme ** "I want to say to the Republic…". According to 11 art categories such as drama, film, music, artists, quyi, dance, folk literature and art, photography, calligraphy, acrobatics, and television, a group ** classic programs and well-known artists will be displayed.


  First on the stage were Jiang Kun, Tang Jiezhong, Chang Baohua, Chang Guitian, Shi Shengjie, Li Guosheng and other 65 crosstalk experts, reviewing the development process of folk art in the past 60 years in the form of "crosstalk cantatas".


  Subsequently, Mei Baojiu, the son of Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang, led Li Shengsu, the descendant of the Mei School, and Hu Wenge, a disciple of the Mei School, to perform the classic verse of Peking Opera "The Concubine is Drunk" on the spot. Peking Opera performing artists Yu Kuizhi and Meng Guanglu presented a wonderful excerpt from the new epic Peking Opera "Red Cliff".


  Jackie Chan, who first appeared as the newly elected vice-chairperson of the China Film Association, today presented a down jacket to Lou Yuanyong, a farmer film projectionist. "This is Jackie Chan brand down jacket, I hope it can protect you from the wind and rain on the journey of future screenings." Then he sang the Olympic song "Hard to Say Goodbye" with his disciples to express his high respect for those who have silently dedicated themselves to the new Chinese film industry.


  TV series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" director Gao Xixi led Cao Cao’s actor Chen Jianbin, Zhuge Liang’s actor Lu Yi, and Liu Bei’s actor Yu Hewei to the stage. Li Shaohong, director of TV series "Dream of Red Mansions", led Jia Baoyu’s actor Yu Xiaotong, Lin Daiyu’s actor Jiang Mengjie, Xue Baochai’s actor Li Qin, Wang Xifeng’s actor Yao Di, and Lu Yi to sing on the spot, forming a small climax.


  At the scene of this year’s gala, reporters saw a group of old artists such as Qin Yi, Yu Lan, Yu Yang, Cai Dan Zhuoma, Ding Yinnan, Dao Meilan, Yu Lan, Yu Yang, Wang Xiaotang, Ge Cunzhuang, etc.


  Song Zuying’s finale singing "To the Motherland" ended the party perfectly.


  It is reported that CCTV will broadcast the live video of the party during the Spring Festival.

Editor in charge: Li Erqing

The Dark Blue G318 will be available on June 13. What price do you want it to sell for?

"This life must drive 318" I believe is the voice of every self-driving travel enthusiast. Compared with planes and high-speed rail, self-driving travel is more full of fun and challenges, enjoying the soul redemption of wilderness outdoors, and wanting to have a comfortable and relaxed journey. It must be a car that takes you to pursue freedom. The name of the dark blue G318 that just appeared some time ago is also from the Sichuan-Tibet Line National Highway 318. According to the official accurate news, the dark blue G318 will be officially listed on June 13.

First of all, when it comes to the appearance, the dark blue G318 is definitely something that people can’t forget at a glance. In everyone’s traditional impression of hard-core off-road vehicles, most of them are square box types, such as the Defender, Mercedes-Benz Big G, tanks, etc. But to be honest, coming out with an off-road vehicle is a square box really makes people a little visual fatigue, but the dark blue G318 is different. It balances the two current hotspots of hard-core and technology at the same time, and is more popular with young people. The chic headlights are combined with a closed front face, and the whole vehicle is based on a square body. Together, it feels like a technological battleship.

The overall proportion of the side of the body is very harmonious. The hidden door handles and raised eyebrow lines on the side add a sense of style while also appearing hard-edged. The whole car is at a balance point of hard style and youth. In terms of size, the length, width and height of the dark blue G318 are 5010 (including external spare tires)/1985/1960 (including spotlight luggage racks) mm, the wheelbase is 2880mm, and the dark blue G318 is positioned as a medium and large SUV. If you look at the size, it is larger than the Equation Leopard Five, Tank 500 and other models. The rear part of the car adopts the style of a more classic external spare tire, and the rear door uses a side door design, which is more convenient for even female users to use. At the same time, the manufacturer also provides original expansion parts, including headlights, luggage racks, etc. The playability of the dark blue G318 is also very high, with 1.6T trailer qualification, 6kW external discharge can easily supply the power demand of 8 tents, making outdoor travel more convenient.

After talking about the appearance, let’s take a look at the interior. The overall design of the interior has exceeded the expectations of the editor. Whether it is the workmanship materials or the embodiment of the sense of technology, it is not inferior to the luxury off-road brand. From the details, the dark blue G318 is equipped with a large-size LCD instrument panel and a 14.6-inch embedded central control screen. Instead of using the shift mechanism such as the button lever that is particularly popular among new forces, it uses a more traditional grip-type shift. At the same time, it also includes four-wheel drive system adjustment buttons. The retention of physical buttons makes the operation more convenient. The design of the central armrest box area is also very chic, and it looks very advanced in technology.

The next thing I want to introduce to you is its power aspect. The dark blue G318 is first equipped with a "super" range extension 2.0 power system. The maximum power of the front and rear drive motors of the dual-motor model is 131 kW and 185 kW respectively. The comprehensive maximum power of the system reaches 316 kW, the peak torque at the wheel end can reach 6200 Nm, and the zero-hundred acceleration reaches 6.3 seconds, which truly realizes "super cool". The long-distance range extension of the dark blue G318 has a feed fuel consumption of as low as 6.3L/100km, and the pure electric battery life in the urban area can reach 190km, truly achieving "super saving". The official certification of the golden bell cover battery achieves zero battery ignition, active safety of the assembly, and passive safety of the assembly. The three major battery safety protection battery packs have a distance from the ground (default 318mm) of 278mm-348mm and greater than 100mm. Embedded safety design and 10 Layer battery bottom protection, truly achieving "super safety".

The dark blue G318 adopts a double fork arm and multi-link suspension structure, which can have better anti-tilt ability of the car body and more comfortable road vibration isolation effect, making the driving texture more comfortable. And the dark blue G318 is also equipped with air suspension plus CDC, the height can be adjusted at any time and there is a millisecond damping response. The dark blue G318 is equipped with a central electric stepless differential lock and a magnetic mechanical differential lock. Above the choice of driving mode, the dark blue G318 includes five daily modes and five terrain modes plus three special scenarios of off-road creep, tank U-turn, and steep slope descent. One-click adjustment allows you to enjoy the fun of driving more easily.

The Deep Blue G318 is currently the third model under Deep Blue Auto. It also has two models, the SL03 sedan and the S7 SUV model. The editor has always been very favorable to Deep Blue. The models under Deep Blue are well-positioned and the audience is also very clear. And the design of any model is very fashionable and technological, and the overall preference is younger. The new car of the Deep Blue G318 also did not disappoint everyone. The appearance of the technology battleship, the interior of the luxury technology, and the power of the city can be satisfied. The editor believes that the Deep Blue G318 is still worth buying. There is no problem with the product. Now let’s look at the pricing on June 13. Let’s look forward to its final pricing together. If there is more information about this car in the future, follow us and we will inform you in time.

Tencent was pressured by NetEase

Author | Huang Qingchun

In the past month (December 15, 2023 to January 15, 2024), user acquisition through ads market, social platforms, game live streaming host/game media almost all fell under the "Yuan Dream Star" marketing offensive:

On the input side, the fixed-file press conference said "the first phase of ecological incentive investment is 1.40 billion yuan, and the long-term investment is not capped". On the first day of the launch, the user acquisition through ads material was placed in more than 27,000 groups, which was 50 times that before the launch, and more than 600 stars were invited to promote;

Linkage end, WeChat Channels, QQ, Tencent News and other traffic entrances work together to promote, 6 "Honor of Kings" joint fashion free, and joint B station, Douyin, Douyu, Huya, Kuaishou, Weibo, Xiaohongshu and other platforms to carry out "Star Dream Partner" incentive plan.

Data Source: Diandian Data

Tianmei, Tencent’s major IP push, the outside world can clearly feel the importance of the entire Tencent in this game;Even some media have called "Yuan Mengzhixing" "Tencent’s next extremely important battle", or it will become its next "trump card".

However, the anomaly is that the "Yuan Dream Star" that Tencent has put on the stage so much is not a long-dormant heavy self-research masterpiece, but a party casual game that runs into the venue – after two rounds of confidential testing, the first exposure (September 20), the first test (September 28), the second test (November 17), and the open test (December 15) were quickly completed in more than three months.Such efficiency is still rare among domestic game makers, let alone as large as Tencent.

This makes one wonder why a party game makes Tencent so concerned and anxious.

Tiger Sniff believes that the pattern of Tencent is no longer limited to the vision of a game company. The reason why "Yuan Dream Star" was raised to the group strategy is to a greater extent that a certain trend and potential energy are loosening the entire Tencent’s future development channel – "Egg Party" covers the skin of the game and leverages the young market through the UGC (User Generated Content, that is, user-generated content) ecology, which truly touches the foundation of Tencent:Social relationship chain.

Following this logic, Tencent’s above actions are reasonable:The stability established by Tencent in the past is being loosened in the process of content and channel gaming. "Yuan Dream Star" is no longer limited to a single game category, and Tencent is betting not just on a party game, but on the next generation of social scenes.

Why did Tencent smash the "party"?

Since NetEase’s "Egg Party" detonated the party track, the entire gaming industry knew that the dormant Tencent would take action sooner or later.

On the one hand, CITIC Securities analysis, the essence of the party game is a mild multiplayer competitive game, due to the low threshold, fission propagation characteristics, easy to birth phenomenon-level large DAU (Daily Active User, the number of active users) game; while the domestic casual game has reached more than 800 million users, but the supply of party games is still small, so it is the blue ocean track in the mobile game segment.

Moreover, Tencent has been coveting party games for a long time – previously, Tencent has laid out the party track through a number of external collaborations and investments, such as investing in Synopsys, the developer of "Beast Party", cooperating with Nintendo to introduce Switch National Bank and Nintendo party games (such as "Mario Kart 8" and "Super Mario Party"), Tencent-backed Epic Games also acquired "Jelly Bean Man" developer Mediatonic’s parent company Tonic Games Group in 2021.

June 2023 QuestMobile data, growth contribution rate = APP year-on-year increment/secondary market year-on-year increment

On the other hand, "Egg Party" pushes up the DAU step by step through the player’s UGC ecology – Tiger Sniff learned that in September 2023, NetEase "Egg Party" completed the "Double Billion Achievement", that is, MAU (Monthly Active User, monthly active user) broke through 100 million + the total number of maps accumulated 100 million; as of December 2023, "Egg Party" has over 500 million registered users and 30 million DAUs.

In view of this, "Yuan Dream Star" is intentionally or unintentionally targeting "Egg Party" from the game category, launch time, and targeting the crowd, which can be called a precise sniper by Tencent for NetEase – on the day of the launch of "Yuan Dream Star" born with a golden spoon, not only WeChat and QQ spared no effort to set up a platform, but also platforms such as B Station, Douyin, Douyu, Huya, Kuaishou, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu came to join the audience, and won the first place in the App Store free list in two hours.

Generally speaking, new games are launched in two ways: "hot start" and "cold start". The survival of the cold start project depends entirely on the market data. "At the beginning, the cold start’Honor of Kings’ almost died, and it was originally called’Hero’s Trail ‘. When it was changed and re-launched halfway through, the expectations were not so high, and the result was a steep upward curve." A person close to the "Honor of Kings" project said to Tiger Sniff.

As for the hot start, it is mostly accompanied by a grand press conference + traditional hardcore alliance channels (Huawei, Lenovo, OPPO, vivo and other app stores) + new live broadcast platforms (Douyin, Kuaishou) + old live broadcast platforms (Douyu, Huya) + community (B station, TapTap) release momentum –Such a big battle is mainly due to the particularity of the "Yuan Dream Star" category: the party track is already a fully competitive field, and the new product iteration speed is fast, and the hot start is conducive to occupying the minds of vertical users.

"There is another important reason for the launch of" Yuan Dream Star "carpet shop, which involves the issue of sniping and counter-sniping between companies – the launch of" Yuan Dream Star "is not small, and the momentum will only be even worse in the first week of its launch, but NetEase, Lilith, Heart, Eagle Horn and other game manufacturers are also pushing new party games, and they are bound to grab the launch time and media schedule. In order to ensure the spread of high expectations, Tencent must’sweep goods’." A practitioner explained to Tiger Sniff that the logic of "Yuan Dream Star" carpet launch is to ensure that it will not be exposed by competing cards such as "Egg Party".

Now, from the "Yuan Dream Star" has been on the line for a month, at least from the market performance point of view is still competitive – data points show that the iOS end of the flow, December 15 to January 15 during the "Yuan Dream Star" total revenue of 138 million yuan (Tiger sniff to Tencent related people to verify, the other side said that the actual data is not limited to this), more than the "Egg Party" over the same period of 110 million yuan total revenue, in many new tours of a ride out of the steep climbing curve.

Data Source: Diandian Data

However, "Yuan Dream Star" has only been launched for more than a month, but "Egg Party" has been running for 20 months (launched on May 27, 2022) – the latter has not only completed the staging of the market structure, but also some users’ minds have been formed.Even "Egg Party" has become a phenomenal IP for party games.

In the face of such a situation, "Yuan Dream Star" chose to confront "Egg Party" head-on, hand-to-hand combat, even if Tencent used the power of the group to invest resources and link all channels and platforms that could be mobilized, but the game was not a pile of resources that could explode, otherwise Tencent would not be seven or eight years later. "Honor of Kings" is still a revenue trump card.

Moreover, "Jelly Bean Man", "Goose and Duck Kill", "Egg Party", and "Beast Party", these representative party games each have their own advantages, and have already divided up a lot of party players in the market. How can Tencent catch up and run a differentiated upward curve?

In this regard, people close to Tencent IEG (Tencent Interactive Entertainment Group) analyzed the strategy of "Yuan Dream Star" to Tiger Sniff:

First, "Dream Star" has targeted the promotion direction to a "family fun game" –This is not a product that only targets the young market. "Yuan Dream Star" has established a more universal goal to target the full client base and full circle coverage;Taking a step back, even if "Dream Star" can’t hit the core user base of "Egg Party", this game still has a differentiated audience.

"Tianmei has chosen to incorporate strong social networking and mainstream gameplay, including the cooperation between" Star of the Dream "and" Honor of Kings "," Crayon Shin "," Kung Fu Panda "and other leading IPs, in order to bind the brand’s mind to more pan-users and pan-circles, and quickly absorb the fan groups behind different IPs into potential party game players." An industry insider analyzed to Tiger Sniff.

In other words, in terms of strategy, "Yuan Dream Star" reserves a back hand, and also wants to break down some player groups that "Egg Party" has not shaken, targeting users of all ages, to penetrate them and become a new addition.

DataEye, a third-party research institution, calculates the user composition of "Yuan Dream Star" in the first month

Secondly, the sewing ability of "Yuan Dream Star" is very "Tencent": the core gameplay of the game is the pass mode, but it integrates the strengths of each family, and the shadow of the shadow makes players feel the shadow of eating chicken + QQ speed car + CF + Werewolf + King + Jelly Bean Man + Egg Boy party, and in the recent "Mountain and Sea Adventure" new season preview shows that "Yuan Dream Star" plans to add ball bumper cars, bubble wars, go-kart mode, and tower defense gameplay to the game – you know,The series of gameplay integrated by "Yuan Dream Star" has led the trend. After all these gameplay are integrated into one game, "Yuan Dream Star" is no longer just a party game, but more like a game square.

"Party games is just a concept, or a container, and there is no standard for what gameplay should be in it. From its definition, it can be included in the game that is suitable for everyone to play together. The extension of the party is very large, and it must be constantly dug." A game producer said to Tiger Sniff.

The above producers further pointed out that in recent years, there has been almost no new single gameplay in the game market (unless there is a change brought about by technology), and new games are all stitching together various gameplays – following this logic, the underlying logic of new games is a mathematical problem: what gameplay to capture a group of users, and what IP to capture a group of users.The difference is that some people have made subtraction, some people have made addition, and some people have even made multiplication.

"There is no one-size-fits-all formula to get this math problem right (that is, to ensure the success of the game). Whether it should be subtracted, added or multiplied depends only on the product and the market." He stressed that the domestic game industry has been changing drastically in recent years, especially the obvious reshuffle of some large DAU products. To succeed, we must keep pace with the times.

A battle that Tencent cannot lose

Tiger Sniff has previously written that party games such as "Jelly Bean Man: The Ultimate Knockout Tournament", "Among Us" and "Goose and Duck Kill" have successfully verified the huge potential of social communication. The reasons why "Egg Party" came from behind and successfully "penetrated" the post-00 group are divided into two levels:

On the one hand, "Egg Party" has come up with high-quality art design, superimposed its relaxed and casual game rhythm, strong interactive game social gameplay (can challenge racing, survival, individual points, team theme levels, while combining two-player cooperation, 2v2 confrontation, asymmetric competition and other gameplay), captured the hearts of many young gamers –These game scenes are undoubtedly a new "social currency" for the post-00s who value self-expression and have a stronger sense of group identity.

QuestMobile calculates the age distribution of egg users in June 2023

On the other hand, the UGC system derived from "Egg Workshop" in "Egg Party" has greatly broadened the boundaries of game exploration, not only providing players with the convenience of freely creating levels and self-made maps, but also fully mobilizing players’ creative collisions and sharing more secondary content.

The reason behind this is that there is an obvious change in party games. Before, the entire industry was casual and light games such as chess and cards to complete user education, and then heavy games to complete the harvest. Now the whole logic is different –Light games can also be made to complete the harvest, just like casual party games were originally low-stickiness games, but the gameplay richness of "Egg Party" and the entire game are becoming more and more complex, and casual parties can also be like heavy games.

Another change is that the difference between the RMB players of "Egg Party" and ordinary players and the difference in game experience is not so big. Strictly speaking, "Egg Party" is not a pure NetEase style game – NetEase specializes in big payment design, while "Egg Party" is a big DAU + low payment threshold in terms of business model. It follows the path of "Honor of Kings", and the logic has changed.

Take NetEase’s "Against the Cold" and "Naraka: Bladepoint" as an example, the character’s weapons and skin have circulation attributes, and there are tens of thousands of three-way transactions. It mainly promotes the scarcity of external equipment, but "Egg Party" mainly promotes fun, weakening the competitiveness –To a certain extent, the success of "Egg Party" has given NetEase the opportunity to break through and reflect on its own capabilities.

Based on the above analysis, if the success of "Egg Party" is UGC first, and the game is just a shell, then how "Yuan Dream Star" surpasses "Egg Party" has become a proposition that Tencent games must face – difficult, but crucial.

Looking at the review, after products such as "Crossing the Wire", "League of Legends", "Dungeon and Warrior" established the status of Tencent’s PC era, it rode the social (WeChat & QQ) and entertainment territory potential in the mobile game wave – Tencent games identified several promising game categories, a large number of horse racing projects squeezed into these tracks "gambling explosion", good at grafting the group’s resources into its own business system, through investment, joint research, and self-research to promote the rapid growth of gameplay, technology, and user ecology in different periods.

Data Source: Game Committee, Gamma Data

Even with the expansion of Tencent’s game industry-wide investment territory, the channel is likely to follow the mobile game era and quickly establish track control capabilities in the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) and shooting (including FPS/TPS/tactical competition, etc.) categories.

At present, Tencent games are facing a situation of internal and external troubles:

In terms of Tencent, the two cash cows in hand, "Honor of Kings", have been in operation for more than 8 years, "Game for Peace" has been online for nearly 5 years, and it has been more than 7 years since the explosion of chicken gameplay in 2017. However, the entire IEG has been unable to come up with a new explosion, and the two-dimensional trend led by "Yuan Shen" in 2020 and the party trend led by "Egg Party" in early 2023 are all passive followers. Tencent has long been anxious.

In terms of external competition, rising stars such as miHoYo ("The Original God"), Lilith ("The Awakening of Nations"), Moonton Technology ("Mobile Legends: Bang Bang"), IGG ("Kingdom Era"), Habby ("The Legend of Bow and Arrow") have occupied the top of the sub-category through a product with hundreds of millions of flowing water, and even gained good water in the global market.However, Tencent has become increasingly passive in leading new categories.

Moreover, the old rival NetEase is further strengthening its deterrence through new games, taking the 2023 summer as an example, GameLook statistics show that NetEase ("against the water cold mobile game", "egg boy party", "peak speed", "all-star streetball party") 4 new games have eaten more than 40% of the new game market, while Tencent ("Adventure Island: Legend of Maple"), Byte ("Crystal Core"), miHoYo ("Star Iron") The three giants’ new game flow only accounts for more than 30% of the new game market.

The situation is like this, Tencent naturally sees it in the eyes and is anxious in the heart – so, with the power of the group to launch "Yuan Dream Star" positive "hard" "Egg Party", if this "shot" is misfired, Tencent’s morale will inevitably be severely dampened –Therefore, "Yuan Dream Star" has become a battle that Tencent games cannot lose.

Of course, there are many game practitioners who are optimistic about the next market performance of "Yuan Mengxing", after all, leisure competition + big DAU is Tencent’s strength; but people close to Tencent IEG said that there is no DAU goal for "Yuan Mengxing" now:

On the one hand, the growth and accumulation of party games is a long-term cyclical work, and short-term results after going online are difficult to "determine life and death". At least this Spring Festival can see more possibilities;

On the other hand, Tencent’s various gaming businesses operate in a diverse manner and have different expected goals, making it difficult to determine the evaluation criteria.

The above-mentioned person further reiterated that Tencent IEG (including Tianmei Studio Group, Photon Studio Group, Rubik’s Cube Studio Group, and Northern Lights Studio Group) has its own layout and business promotion rhythm when it cuts into new products, and is not intentional to benchmark "Egg Party" as the outside world said. "Tencent’s style will not catch a wave of popularity in a certain category and gameplay in the market immediately; when a certain gameplay is popular, it will pay close attention to market changes in the early stage and invest in some start-up teams. Later, there will be projects based on market judgment, business needs, and meeting players."

Lynk & Co New 09EM

  Lynk & Co’s flagship SUV, the new 09EM-P, launched two six-seat and two seven-seat models, priced from 307,800 yuan to 347,800 yuan. It is understood that the new car has been improved in terms of chassis materials, handling performance, space comfort and safety performance. So, which model is more suitable for purchase?

Lynk & Co's new 09EM-P which is more cost-effective _fororder_image001

  The new 09EM-P inherits the family classic design of the Lynk & Co brand "Urban Opposition Aesthetics". The middle grid grille that occupies a large area of the front of the car adopts a straight waterfall design, which has been blackened and treated with luxury and visual impact. The headlight group still adopts the iconic and sharp split design, which has a good recognition after lighting. There are large-size air intakes on both sides of the front of the car. The interior is embellished with chrome-plated trims to enhance the texture of the front face. The side shape of the new 09EM-P is very tough, and the rich line design presents a good light and shadow effect. The segmented waist line design is matched with blackened decorative pieces around the windows, which has a strong sense of movement. On the tail side, the taillight adopts a through design, and the layout of the internal light group module is more personalized. The exhaust layout is concealed and a bright black diffuser is added.   

Lynk & Co's new 09EM-P which is more cost-effective _fororder_image002

  Entering the car, the panoramic island cockpit reflects a symmetrical beauty. The 12.3-inch smart LCD instrument is paired with a 15.4-inch central control screen, which has a good sense of technology. In terms of power, relying on the Lynk & Co EM-P super range-extended electric solution, the new 09EM-P is equipped with 2.0T + 3DHT + three-motor layout. The maximum output power of the power system is 408kW, and the maximum output torque is 844N · m. It can achieve a CLTC pure electric cruising range of 190km, and a CLTC comprehensive cruising range of up to 1430km. The whole system is equipped with FYRA-E intelligent electric four-wheel drive system as standard, providing 7 dynamic driving modes.

  The seven-seat version of the new 09EM-P has two models, namely the seven-seat PLUS and the seven-seat PRO, priced at 307,800 yuan and 317,800 yuan. The two models have little difference in configuration, mainly reflected in some comfort configurations and atmosphere creation. 

Lynk & Co's new 09EM-P which is more cost-effective _fororder_image003

  Specifically, first of all, in terms of safety, the seven-seat version comes standard with front dual airbags, front side airbags, head air curtains (one row to three rows on the side), RP roll protection system, front pre-tightening force-limiting seat belts, ESP9.3 HEV body stability control system, CBC curve control system, DTV dynamic torque control system, ARP anti-roll protection system, front/rear parking assistance early warning system, 360 ° panoramic imaging system, 180 ° transparent chassis system, steering assistance image, and vehicle theft reminder and tracking. In terms of intelligent driver assistance system, the car is uniformly equipped with 1 forward camera, 1 rear camera, 4 surround view cameras, 5 millimeter wave radars and 12 ultrasonic radars. Other features come standard with DAC driver fatigue warning system, DMS driver status monitoring system, TSR traffic sign recognition system, FCW forward collision warning system, AEB active emergency brake assist system (with pedestrian identification), CVW vehicle rapid approach warning system, RCTA rear lateral oncoming warning system, TAA car active deflection system, etc. In the external configuration part, the new 09EM-P comes standard with AFS headlight follow-up steering system, ADB intelligent matrix high beam control system, AHB-C intelligent far and near light control system, adaptive headlights (low beam mode adjustment), sliding openable panoramic sunroof, first row of double-layer sound insulation glass, second row of double-layer sound insulation privacy glass, third row of privacy glass, electric trunk tailgate, exterior rearview mirror electric folding & heating & memory, etc.

Lynk & Co's new 09EM-P which is more cost-effective _fororder_image004

  Internal configuration part, the new car comes standard with leather multi-function physical button steering wheel, automatic anti-glare frameless rearview mirror, NAPPA leather seat, electric 12-way main and passenger seat adjustment (including 4-way electric waist rest), main driver seat memory function, front seat heating & ventilation function, dual temperature zone automatic air conditioning, passenger compartment PTC heating, glove box refrigeration function, active cockpit cleaning system, rain sensing integrated water spray system wiper, rain sensing sunroof & window closing, keyless entry & start system, 12.3-inch smart LCD meter, 15.4-inch central control screen, high fidelity audio (10), car 5G network, car Wifi hotspot, four-tone area voice interaction system, mobile APP remote control system, mobile phone wireless charging function and other configurations …   

  In terms of specific differences, the seven-seat PRO is 10,000 yuan more expensive than the seven-seat PLUS version. The electric adjustment of the main and auxiliary seats is upgraded from 12 to 16 (including 4-way electric lumbar support + flank support + seat cushion extension). The number of high fidelity audio is increased from 10 to 14 and adjusted to BOSE luxury audio. There are more front seat massage functions, second-row seat heating functions, AQS air quality management system, 12.8-inch full-color W-HUD head-up display, ANC active noise reduction system, streamer coral ambient light, and high definition driving recorder. 

Lynk & Co's new 09EM-P which is more cost-effective _fororder_image005

  In addition, the seven-seat PRO version can also be selected to the performance package, which includes dual-cavity air suspension, CCD continuously adjustable electronically controlled vibration damping system, multi-function electronic sun visor, main driver motor pre-tensioned seat belt, exterior rearview mirror welcome light, exterior rearview mirror automatic anti-glare – main driver side, NAPPA leather steering wheel, steering wheel electric four-way adjustment & heating & memory, rear passenger seat electric adjustment, front foldable aviation headrest, third-row seat electric folding and recovery, four-temperature zone automatic air conditioning, PM2.5 air quality detection system, Ocean Mystery fragrance system, second-row door side sunshade, and second-row air conditioning control screen.   

  The six-seat version has six-seat HALO and six-seat ULTRA models, priced at 327,800 yuan and 347,800 yuan respectively. On the basis of the configuration of the seven-seat PRO version, the six-seat HALO adds the pre-tensioned seat belt of the main driver motor, the welcome light of the outer rearview mirror, the automatic anti-glare of the outer rearview mirror – the main driver side, the electric four-way adjustment multi-function steering wheel, NAPPA leather steering wheel, steering wheel heating & memory, the electric leg support of the passenger seat, the memory function of the passenger seat, the function of one row of two rows to form a bed, the electric adjustment of the rear row of the passenger seat, the small table board of the rear row of the passenger seat, the ventilation & massage & lumbar support function of the second row of seats, the electric folding and recovery of the third row of seats, the automatic air conditioning in the four-temperature zone, the PM2.5 air quality detection system, the ocean mystery fragrance system, the second row of door side sunshades and the second row of air conditioning control screens.

Lynk & Co's new 09EM-P which is more cost-effective _fororder_image006

  In terms of the adjustment of the main and auxiliary seats, the six-seat version is equipped with the main driver electric 12-way (including 4-way electric waist support) and electric 14-way (including 4-way electric waist support + 4-way electric leg support), and the second row of seat adjustment is electric 4-way. Finally, look at the six-seat ULTRA model. As the top model, this car has only more CCD continuously adjustable electronically controlled vibration reduction system and dual-cavity air suspension system than the six-seat HALO version.

Lynk & Co's new 09EM-P which is more cost-effective _fororder_image007

  Since consumers have their own needs for the purchase of the seven-seat version or the six-seat version, the two versions can be purchased on demand. Specific to the model part, among the seven-seat versions, the PRO model has a higher technological configuration and a sense of luxury atmosphere. Consumers who pursue these two points can choose this model. After all, the price difference of 10,000 yuan is more cost-effective. If you only want seven seats, the PLUS version is enough for daily use if other functions don’t matter; and in terms of the six-seat version, the configuration of the two models will be richer. If you want air suspension, you can directly choose the ULTRA model. (Source: Lynk & Co Automotive)

Lei Jun fought against Dong Mingzhu, and Xiaomi dug old Gree employees to make air conditioners, which were ridiculed by Dong Mingzhu as sticker goods

A few days ago, the old photo of Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun attending the meeting together became popular again. Dong Mingzhu in the picture "asked" Lei Jun: Just you? Can you also make air conditioners? Can you turn on air conditioners? Lei Jun silently responded to the Xiao Ai speaker: Xiao Ai, turn on the Mijia Internet air conditioner and turn off the Gree air conditioner!

It has to be said that Lei Jun and Xiaomi, who did not let go of any explosive points, launched the marketing copy of air conditioners to cater to the hearts of the people who love to watch the fun.

As expected, the next day, Xiaomi officially released the Mijia Internet air conditioner. This air conditioner labeled Mijia adopts Xiaomi’s commonly used pricing method: 1.5 horsepower, three-level energy efficiency standard, retail price of 1999 yuan, which is about 1,000 yuan cheaper than the big brands Gree and Midea congeneric products on the market, and the public test price is only 999 yuan.

It was still Lei Jun’s familiar formula and Xiaomi’s familiar taste.

01

A mysterious air conditioning company

"For this Mijia air conditioner, Xiaomi has started to form a team in the first half of last year, looking for OEM foundries, designing product prototypes, and also buying our air conditioner data reports," Dong Min, vice-president of Aowei Cloud Network, which provides information services, told AI Finance Agency.

Xiaomi’s air-conditioning business has always been in charge of Xiaomi’s ecological chain enterprise Zhimi Technology. The company responsible for the research and development and production of Xiaomi air-conditioners is a company called Zhuhai Sanyou.

From the industrial and commercial registration information, the legal representative of Zhuhai Sanyou is Liu De, the co-founder of Xiaomi and the head of Xiaomi’s ecological chain. The shareholder of Zhuhai Sanyou is Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd., with a 100% shareholding ratio. In short, Zhuhai Sanyou is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xiaomi.

A point person in Zhuhai Sanyou’s business is Xiao Youyuan. He was originally a senior executive of Gree, worked in Gree for 10 years, and was also a trusted person of Dong Mingzhu, who was in charge of Gree’s overseas business. In 2015, Xiao Youyuan was poached by Skyworth with his team and participated in the establishment of Skyworth Air Conditioning. Hundreds of Skyworth Air Conditioning people came from Gree that year.

Xiao Youyuan, who participated in the founding of Skyworth Air Conditioning

From the industrial and commercial registration information of Zhuhai Sanyou, Xiao Youyuan and the team worked in Skyworth for two years, and soon took the team to the wholly-owned subsidiary of Xiaomi, "because Skyworth and Gree have very different corporate cultures."

"As a private enterprise, Skyworth is used to’small input and big output ‘, while the Xiao Youyuan team from Gree has a style of’big work and fast work’." A person familiar with the matter told AI Finance Agency. In addition, Skyworth air conditioners encountered the "Little New Year" of air conditioners at the beginning, and their performance was not good. Gree and his group were gradually emptied of Skyworth air conditioners.

Xiao Youyuan’s team, who joined Xiaomi’s subsidiary, brought "Gree Feng" to Xiaomi. Wu Wei, who has visited the Sanyou production line and is also a supplier of air-conditioning components, told AI Finance Agency that Sanyou is a mysterious company, but "the solution is almost the same as Gree". For example, the MCU (microcontroller) is made by Texas Instruments, a large American manufacturer, the module is made by Fuji or Mitsubishi, and the IPM (intelligent power module, responsible for frequency conversion) is made by Ruineng.

"Everyone in their company seemed to be holding their breath. After Gree came out to Skyworth, Gree issued a ban order, and all Gree suppliers were not allowed to supply Skyworth. The team gambled so much and was finally washed out by Skyworth," Wu Wei said.

The team was eventually recruited to Lei Jun.

However, Wu Wei revealed that Sanyou currently has only two production lines of its own, and its annual production capacity is "only a few hundred thousand units". Therefore, in May 2017, Zhuhai Sanyou and Zhongshan Changhong jointly funded the establishment of Zhongshan Hongyou Electric Appliance Co., Ltd., with Zhongshan Changhong holding 60% and Zhuhai Sanyou holding 40%. It should be noted that Changhong is the foundry of Zhimi air conditioners this time.

According to people familiar with the matter, Xiaomi’s foundry is not in Mianyang, Changhong’s headquarters, but in Nantou Town, Zhongshan, not far from TCL’s headquarters.

02

Lei Jun’s obsession

This is the third time Lei Jun has tried to make air conditioners.

The first dates back to three years ago. When Lei Jun first entered the air-conditioning industry, he chose to cooperate with Dong Mingzhu’s old rival, Midea. This immediately annoyed Dong Mingzhu and directly accused the cooperation between the two sides as "two scammers together, a group of thieves". At that time, Midea had just been ordered by the court to compensate Gree 2 million yuan for stealing Gree’s patents.

But this Youth series air conditioner, priced at 3,099 yuan, did not cause much splash. The selling point at that time was that it was used in conjunction with the Xiaomi Mi Band, which could be set to automatically turn on when you go home, and automatically enter sleep mode when you feel you fall asleep.

Youth series air conditioner

Perhaps deliberately to highlight Xiaomi’s "Internet thinking" in the limelight, there is no display panel on the surface of the air conditioner. This means that if users want to know the temperature of the air conditioner in the room, they need to open their mobile phone, check the app or pick up the Xiaomi bracelet. This incredible design appeared in the first generation of products. Fortunately, this is the only cooperation between Xiaomi and Midea in the field of air conditioning.

"It’s impossible for Midea to raise competitors," says one air-conditioning supplier. In fact, Xiaomi decided to invest in Midea at the end of 2014, paying nearly 1.30 billion yuan for a 1.29% stake. But the shareholding relationship has not alleviated the conflict between the two sides in real business.

Millet’s tentacles have already extended to rice cookers, electric fans, water purifiers, electric kettles, cooking machines and many other small household appliances. This is Midea’s territory, which will inevitably lead to fierce collisions, and it is impossible to expect that Midea will be willing to help Xiaomi produce air conditioners. However, from an investment perspective, Midea’s share price has doubled in the past three years, and Xiaomi’s investment in Midea has been very successful, earning a lot of money.

The second time Xiaomi launched an air conditioner was in 2017, which was developed by Zhimi, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xiaomi. The minimalist design of this air conditioner has also won international design awards, and this design style has been carried over to the current Mijia air conditioner.

However, the price of the Zhimi air conditioner at that time was as high as 4,399 yuan. Although Su Jun, CEO of Zhimi Technology, said that there was almost no profit, such a high price did not have the pricing style of Xiaomi at all. Now the air conditioner has been removed from the Xiaomi mall.

Interestingly, in order to explain that his 4,399 yuan air conditioner was a conscientious price, Su Jun reported at the time that the quality of the current air conditioner was worse than that of more than ten years ago. "The original material was very solid, but now it is loose, and there are recycled materials in it. You don’t even need to open it, and you can feel the huge decline in quality just by the shell itself."

He said that Zhimi can also make its products cheaper than some 999 yuan air conditioners on the market, by using some inferior materials or even recycled materials to cut costs. "But that’s not something we can guide the quality of life of ordinary people, it doesn’t make sense."

But coincidentally, this time, the price of Mijia’s Internet air conditioner was exactly 999 yuan. However, it was embarrassing that the first user to get the goods couldn’t wait to hang the Xiaomi air conditioner on a second-hand trading platform on the same day.

03

Mi Ge Gree’s life?

What makes Lei Jun envious is that Dong Mingzhu’s Gree air conditioner profits are astonishingly high.

Chen Hang, chief analyst at Southwest Securities, told AI Finance Agency that Gree’s gross profit margin for air-conditioning products is above 35%, which is unusual in the home appliance industry known for price wars. Midea’s gross profit margin is slightly worse. But it is much higher than Xiaomi’s 10% gross profit for mobile phones.

High profits mean there is room to be compressed. This is also the direction of Xiaomi’s revolution, improving efficiency and reducing circulation costs.

This time, the air conditioner of Mijia brand, whether it is the price strategy or the product itself, looks much more reliable than the previous two times. But Dong Mingzhu has never been easy to bully. When Lei Jun entered the mobile phone market, it coincided with the market being on the eve of the transformation to smartphones, and the timing was excellent. But the air conditioner industry is relatively stable, the technology has existed for hundreds of years, and the market structure and corporate rhythm are quite stable.

Mijia air conditioner

"Gree will not be killed." Chen Hang analyzed that unlike other household appliances, air conditioners need to be installed, and one of Gree’s moats is a team of highly efficient ground installers. "Xiaomi will not have much impact on the giants in the short term."

"The competition of air conditioners is nothing more than the competition of brands and after-sales services." Lu Jianguo, deputy chief engineer of the Home Appliances Research Institute, also believes that now Xiaomi air conditioners are all new machines and have not yet reached the after-sales link. Users can take their mobile phones to the store for repair, but the air conditioner needs to be repaired at home, which will test the after-sales team of Xiaomi air conditioners.

Dong Min, vice president of Aowei Cloud Network, also expressed his concerns. Air conditioners are financial products. They are produced in winter and sold in summer, and they need to pay a lot of money in advance to stock up. To a certain extent, stocking up is also a gamble on the weather, and sales immediately rise in hot weather.

Dong Min was deeply impressed that when the weather was hot a few years ago, whoever had installers sold their air conditioners well. And this requires a huge ground force, which is not what Xiaomi is good at.

The bigger challenge comes from the supply chain. Back then, Xiaomi suffered a loss in the mobile phone supply chain and had been in short supply. Lei Jun went to South Korea to meet the boss of Samsung Electronics, hoping that the other party could guarantee the supply of mobile phone screens.

The risk of the supply chain is increasing in the air-conditioning market. The routine of these traditional large manufacturers is to build a huge capacity scale advantage first, and then firmly control the supply chain, especially the core components such as compressors, and finally achieve a stable market structure and profit margins.

"Compressors are a seller’s market," said Zhang Jie, a supplier of air-conditioning components. Gree and Midea produce their own compressors.

Zhang Jie revealed that there is a shortage of inverter compressors this year, and many air conditioner manufacturers have reduced production as a result. "Key components have been out of stock from this year to next year, so compressor companies must protect big factories, not millet."

AI Finance Agency learned from people familiar with the Xiaomi ecological chain that in order to get the upstream supply chain of air conditioners, Xiaomi paid a lot of money to obtain air conditioner compressors and IPM module parts. "They need to take out 30-4 billion to the compressor company to book the production capacity, which is equivalent to the table fee."

Dong Min believes that the air-conditioning business is designed and defined by Xiaomi in the short term, and Changhong conducts OEM OEM, because Changhong has a large volume and has the voice over, but according to the laws of TV and mobile phones, Xiaomi will definitely purchase and customize some important components in the future.

Zhang Jie was also a little surprised that Xiaomi chose Changhong OEM. "Changhong’s production line is relatively old, and it can’t be compared to the big factories." Changhong bought Meiling and Huayi in 2005 and 2007 respectively. Meiling is mainly responsible for the production of air conditioners and refrigerators in Changhong, while Huayi specializes in the production of compressors.

But in Zhang Jie’s opinion, Changhong’s Meiling air conditioners are not mainstream in the industry. The first echelon is Gree and Midea, the second echelon is Oaks, and the third echelon is Chigo, Haier, and Hisense. Meiling is outside these echelons.

Compared with the melee in the color TV market, the competition landscape of the air conditioner market is very clear. Gree and Midea firmly control the first camp of the market, and the two together occupy more than 50% of the market share. The remaining Oaks, Haier, Hisense, etc. have only a small market share.

"Xiaomi must have harvested the second and third camps first," Dong Min said. "Consumers have brand loyalty to the top few, but they have no impression of a lot of brands behind."

Asked in an interview with Mr. Dong in July what she thought of Xiaomi’s entry into the air-conditioning market, Mr. Dong understated: "We make it ourselves, they produce it under brand names. We are hardly on the same track, and we are not an industry type."

In fact, Dong Mingzhu had already reached for the mobile phone, while Lei Jun reached for the air conditioner. This was the lifeblood of the two families. When entering the other’s area of expertise, whether it was Lei Jun or Dong Mingzhu, their performance was difficult to satisfy.

04

Broken halberd "empty ice wash"?

Lei Jun "rose to the challenge", not just the bet with Dong Mingzhu, but the performance pressure may be a more important consideration for him to build air conditioners.

The Xiaomi Ecological Chain is a grand vision that Xiaomi has painted for the capital markets. In 2017, the Xiaomi Ecological Chain achieved 20 billion sales performance. Xiaomi has also set an ambitious goal for the ecological chain: 40 billion in 2018 and 80 billion in 2019. This means that the Xiaomi Ecological Chain needs to nearly double every year.

Xiaomi has proved its success in power banks, bracelets, sweeping robots, and air purifiers. But these products priced at tens of yuan or a few hundred yuan are a drop in the bucket for doubling the revenue of the ecological chain. According to the exclusive information of AI Finance Agency, Xiaomi made an organizational adjustment to the ecological chain team on July 27, and established a precious metals business department, an exploration product department, and an investment department under the ecological chain.

So far, Xiaomi has invested in more than 100 eco-chain companies and produced more than 1,600 SKUs of hardware products. But it is undeniable that Xiaomi specializes in industries where the original market is relatively chaotic and inefficient, typically color TVs, rice cookers, plug-in boards, and sweeping robots.

Take Xiaomi TV as an example. In the TV market that Xiaomi has entered, the share of leading brands such as Hisense and Skyworth is around 15%, and the share of other major brands is around 10%. The gap is not large. The melee pattern is conducive to Xiaomi’s competition for the market.

Because TV involves video content, for companies like Xiaomi and LeTV with operating experience, it is very familiar. And Xiaomi has also invested in video platforms such as iQIYI very early, and LeTV is known for video copyright. However, with the collapse of LeTV, the similarity of the two companies has also caused most of the share of LeTV super TVs to flow to Xiaomi. According to the data of Aowei Cloud Network, in April 2018, the total online and offline shipments of Xiaomi TVs exceeded all brands, ranking first in China.

"The categories that can contribute more than 2 billion can be exhausted, probably within 50. And among these 50, there may be only 10 fields that are relatively easy to enter." The person in charge of a Xiaomi ecological chain enterprise broke his fingers to the AI financial club. The bracelet can exceed 2 billion yuan, the sweeping robot can exceed 2 billion yuan, and the notebook can exceed 3 billion yuan.

If the Xiaomi ecological chain wants to double its growth, it has to enter the major home appliance market. In this market, Xiaomi has successfully won the TV market, and now there are only empty ice washers (air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines) left.

However, Xiaomi’s playing style is not universal, especially in the air ice washing market, where Xiaomi has encountered unprecedented resistance.

In early 2017, Xiaomi ecological chain enterprise Yunmi released the first Internet smart refrigerator with a crowdfunding price of 999 yuan. The following year, it launched an Internet smart refrigerator iLive priced at 1999 yuan, which supports Wi-Fi connection and can be remotely adjusted by mobile phone app. In addition to the refrigerator, Xiaomi ecological chain enterprise Xiaoji intelligent mini drum washing machine (Xiaomi version) launched a crowdfunding on the Xiaomi platform, priced at 1499 yuan.

However, none of these products were as successful as expected, and young people’s first ice wash didn’t really make young people buy it. Xiaomi, which is good at marketing, even lost money in terms of market volume.

Xiaomi has also entered the drone market, built by Xiaomi ecological chain enterprise Feimi, after two and a half years of research and development, the cost of the mold alone cost more than 4 million yuan. Lei Jun personally demonstrated in front of 1 million netizens through Xiaomi live broadcast. However, surprisingly, in the live broadcast of Xiaomi employees, the drone actually lost control, and finally "blew up", and died before he could beat him.

In fact, even if it doesn’t "blow up", Xiaomi will have a hard time making a difference in the drone market. In the drone market, DJI is an absolute giant. Under the Iron Curtain of DJI, almost no players can survive in the consumer drone market.

Five years ago, Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun made 1 billion bet, which was judged by the revenue of the two companies.

Now, Lei Jun and Dong Mingzhu’s gamble is only 5 months away. Xiaomi’s revenue in 2017 is 114.60 billion yuan, while Gree’s revenue is 148.20 billion, and it is expected to break through 170 billion this year. Lei Jun has almost no chance of winning. It has to be said that in the face of Gree, which still maintains strong growth, Lei Jun should carry out a large-scale "encirclement and suppression" of Dong Mingzhu earlier. To make amends, Lei Jun should not care about temporary gains and losses, and it is not impossible for Xiaomi to surpass Gree. Even if Xiaomi air conditioner is not done, it can still drive the industry to change like a catfish, which is what Xiaomi has always been best at doing.

(Wu Wei and Zhang Jie are pseudonyms in the article)

Evergrande Group’s latest response!

At noon on November 29, China Hengda Group announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it had noticed the announcement issued by Hengda Property on November 28, which concerned its subsidiary Jinbi Property Co., Ltd. to recover about RMB 1.996 billion and about RMB 152 million from the company and three related subsidiaries for the enforcement of its RMB 2 billion deposit certificate pledge guarantee by the bank.

China Evergrande Group said that as of the date of the announcement, the company and related subsidiaries have not received the notice from the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Guangdong Province to file a lawsuit against Jinbi Property.

The company will seek legal advice to safeguard the company’s legal rights. The company will issue further announcements in due course on any significant developments in the above litigation.

As of press time, China Evergrande Group reported HK $0.230/share, down 8.00%, and the total market value 3.037 billion HK $.

Previously reported: Sudden! Evergrande Property Sues Evergrande Group

Source, Reading Finance

Original title: "Evergrande Group’s latest response!"

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Beijing Municipal Transportation Commission cooperates with map companies to promote an integrated service platform for green travel

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, November 5th (reporter, Ding Jing) What time does the next bus arrive? Is the subway station crowded now? When should I get off? Passengers can enjoy these smart services when traveling in Beijing. Beijing Municipal Transportation Commission signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Autonavi Map on the 4th. The two sides will share traffic big data and launch more abundant transportation services within Beijing.

The two parties will build an integrated service platform for green transportation in Beijing – MaaS (Mobility as a Service, Mobility as a Service). The idea of the platform is to enable travelers to transform from owning vehicles to owning transportation services, and improve the public travel experience through one-stop service of various transportation methods. The platform is based on the Autonavi map APP, which connects to big data from various transportation industries such as Beijing’s public transportation, subway, suburban railways, online car-hailing, and long-distance buses. At present, real-time public transportation has covered more than 95% of bus lines in Beijing, and the accuracy rate of real-time information matching exceeds 97%. Passengers can also check the current congestion situation of all subway stations in Beijing through this platform. The Beijing MaaS platform has pioneered the "bus/subway ride companion card", which can display services such as route planning, transfer guidance, and get off reminders in real time according to the user’s location.