The reporter for Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, cut straight to the chase: “You never plan to get out of the Chinese market, do you?” she asked.
She was addressing Jeffrey Lou, the president and chairman of Greater China at BASF, the German chemical giant, in a televised interview published on October 1, 2022. BASF had just started production at its newest site in China, with the promise to make its largest ever investment of €10 billion there by 2030 — all at a time when many Western companies are talking about “decoupling” from the Chinese market.
Jeffrey Lou speaking at a development conference hosted by Peking University's School of Materials Science and Technology, September 24, 2021. During the event, Lou was appointed to the school's Industrial Council. Credit: Peking University
Lou, who was born in China, responded in Mandarin and in the matter-of-fact business style that fits his advanced degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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When China announced it was ending quarantine requirements for incoming travelers, Chinese people collectively picked up their phones to search popular travel apps like Ctrip and Qunar. Owned by travel giant Trip.com, these apps helped Chinese travelers explore the world pre-pandemic and facilitated the human-to-human interactions that drove China's rise. But many of today's travelers seem to be sticking closer to home, and their hesitation to get back to the jetsetting habits of the past 20 years has far-reaching implications — especially for Trip.com.
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