Waimai Apps to Pay Fairer Wages, WeChat Suspends User Registration

It’s been a hectic week (month? Year?) for China’s tech world. While the whole world keeping a close watch, residents of Beijing are likely to feel the effects of regulations — and the boon of advancements.

Meituan to pay fairer wages

The plight of the gig-economy worker is a global issue in today’s app-powered world as workers seek the freedom of working for themselves — but all too often end up working for less pay and poorer (if any) benefits than employed workers.

In a sign that China is beginning to reject this model, Meituan and Ele.me have both yielded to pressure from regulators and will now ensure that all of the platform’s drivers will be paid the minimum wage in their respective regions in addition to providing adequate health insurance. The platforms have also pledged to ensure more reasonable workloads for drivers, in line with regulators’ demands.

It’s not entirely clear how much this will affect Beijing’s delivery persons. Online, users have reported making RMB 6000-8000 per month, well above what a minimum wage worker would make working eight hours per day for a five-day workweek at Beijing's RMB 24 per hour minimum, and slightly more than eight hours a day for a thirty-day work week. Still, the promise of insurance and possibly even a lighter workload is sure to be welcomed.

Since the news broke, foreign media outlets have been focusing on the platforms’ plummeting stock prices, but for those of us in China, the story to watch how this will affect what consumers can expect from delivery platforms, both in terms of pricing and expediency of service.

WeChat suspends registrations

Tencent announced yesterday that it will not allow the registration of new WeChat users in a move reminiscent of the recent shutout of Didi downloads.

Citing security issues, Tencent says that registration will resume in early August, so few prospective are likely to be affected. If nothing else, however, it’s an indication of how wide-reaching recent crackdowns are — and that they may be far from over.

Digital RMB will allow use without a bank account

Whenever we write about China’s upcoming digital RMB, we’re inevitably asked — but what’s the point?

Well, one advantage for foreigners who visit China is that they’ll be able to easily transfer their money to their digital RMB wallet without a Chinese bank account. That’s according to the latest whitepaper on the subject published on the website of the country’s Central Bank.

However, it appears that’s not the case just yet, as the wallet app has yet to be made public, and foreign users must obtain the app through their bank if it is eligible.

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Image: Science.china.com