Chinese clothing retailer Shein accounts for about half of fast-fashion sales in America.

After making its US debut in 2015, Shein's sales surged during the pandemic—in 2023, the fast fashion company was valued at roughly $66B.

Fast fashion brands sell cheap clothing by limiting how much they pay workers, using cheap synthetic material, and avoiding constraints on production levels and resulting environmental impacts.

Fast fashion companies such as Temu and Shein often took advantage of the de minimis exemption, a US tariff loophole that ended in 2025.

China is producing many peptides or peptide components sold in the US.

Listen to a podcast interview with an industry expert about why abstaining from fast fashion is so difficult for many Americans.

The TikTok sale went through in January 2026

The app's ownership is now majority American, though TikTok CEO Shou Chew, who is Chinese, remains on the board of directors. It's unclear what, if anything, has changed for American users, as the company has historically kept the specifics of its algorithm a secret.

Claire's has filed for bankruptcy multiple times

Between competition from online retailers such as Shein and Temu, and too many physical stores for today's retail climate, Claire's has had a difficult time modernizing.

Shenzhen, China is known as the 'Silicon Valley of Hardware'

The "Silicon Valley of Hardware" is a major manufacturing hub. This WIRED documentary from 2016 does a deep dive into how this Chinese city's practice of copycat manufacturing alongside its innovative culture has made it China's own Silicon Valley.

Visualize the world's most used ecommerce apps, from Amazon to Shein and Temu.

How TikTok ate the internet

TikTok is now deeply integrated into American culture, thanks to the app’s powerful algorithm and focus on entertainment which have influenced popular trends and social media content consumption in the US. This immersive piece highlights TikTok’s role in helping shape everything from music to fashion and even politics in the US—while its connection to China has also drawn scrutiny and raised national security concerns.

The US apparel and textile industry was long set up to limit competition from nations in the developing world—but shifts in international trade regulation in the 1990s changed that, paving the way for the fast fashion industry to develop.

Chinese citizens express both support and frustration toward smart city surveillance

Although surveillance is viewed as necessary for enhancing morality and enforcing regulations, many citizens adopt mental tactics to distance themselves from it. Surveillance is linked to China's historical "century of humiliation," following the Opium Wars and Japanese invasion.

Tencent—one of China's earliest tech giants

While not as well-known as Temu or Shein, Tencent began as an early internet messaging platform. Over three decades, it expanded to digital payments, video games, and more, becoming the first-ever Chinese company to surpass $500B in value.

Trade between the US and China has increased in recent decades

After China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, the trade partnership between the US and China bloomed. But it's not without pros and cons, including lower prices for US consumers and higher profits for US corporations alongside the loss of American jobs due to import competition and multinational companies moving overseas.

Critics call WeChat a surveillance tool

This report from the Citizen Lab details evidence WeChat, with 1.4 billion users, is a powerful surveillance tool for the Chinese Communist Party. In particular, it finds the government uses non-China accounts to train censorship algorithms for use on domestic communications.

US lawmakers banned TikTok in 2024 for security purposes

After years of concerns about ByteDance Ltd.'s affiliation with the Chinese government, Congress passed a bill banning TikTok in the US. The main argument favoring the ban is that Beijing could use the wildly popular app to run foreign influence campaigns. Americans opposed to the ban say the law will negatively impact the livelihoods for TikTok shops and influencers.

Hormone and peptide compounds imported from China soared in 2025

US customs data indicates that these imports doubled to $328M in the first three quarters of 2025, from $164M in the same period of 2024. The imports include GLPs, among other products. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

One Chinese businessman controls 70% of the fireworks entering the US

A warehouse explosion in 2008 forced all pyrotechnic shipments to travel through the Shanghai port under three special permits Ding Yan Zhong was given. Since then, he has established a near-monopoly over the global fireworks distribution chain, with logistics and shipping hubs in China and California. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Congressional investigations identified an 'extremely high risk' of forced labor in Temu’s supply chain

Specifically, the accusations include concerns regarding products from the Xinjiang region of China, where forced labor and slavery are common.

China's National Sword policy banned imports of most recyclable materials

In 2018, China stopped accepting most of the world's recyclables. This highlighted how dependent the US recycling system was on a single foreign buyer and forced cities to landfill materials they had once diverted.

TikTok doesn't exist in China

TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance Ltd., yet only the platform’s sister app Douyin is available in China. That's because the Chinese government regularly censors Douyin—something ByteDance likely believes would degrade TikTok, its international app.

Nike’s labor practices became controversial in the 1990s—leading to widespread protests of the brand

In the 1990s, Nike came under fire for its use of factories with unsafe working conditions and child labour to produce its products. While Nike didn’t own the manufacturing sites, many people felt Nike was ultimately responsible for using sweatshops in countries like Vietnam and Thailand.

North American department store retail groups report sales declined from 2018 to 2023

That's according to a recent report from Bain & Company that dives into consumer sentiment around department store shopping and explores a potential reset for the industry.

Douyin is a dominant channel for government propaganda

Driven by strict censorship rules, ByteDance Ltd. spun off TikTok from its sister app Douyin—the version available in China—in order to flourish in international markets. This “60 Minutes” report compares the apps side by side.

Sophia Amoruso's company Nasty Gal was worth $100M at its peak

In 2006, Sophia Amoruso started an eBay shop that would later transform into the clothing company Nasty Gal. However, Amoruso’s rags-to-riches success with Nasty Gal didn’t last. After multiple rounds of layoffs and employee complaints, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2016.

China's WTO membership produced significant disputes

Two decades after China joined, its trade practices—such as state subsidies, intellectual property disputes, and market access restrictions—have sparked accusations that it has not fully met WTO commitments of free and open trade.

How Taiwan residents view China and the US

There is widespread support in Taiwan for increased economic and political ties with the US, compared to China. This deep dive of data from the Pew Research Center breaks down how various segments of Taiwan's population perceive the US and China individually and among other Asia-Pacific countries.

Meet China's "VICs," or Very Important Customers

High-volume spenders power China's economy. Despite making up just over 10% of consumers, they account for about 40% of consumer spending. WeChat has focused on these spenders to supercharge the expansion of its digital payments and e-commerce services.

In 2020, rumors spread that Wayfair ran a child sex trafficking operation

Users took note of many Wayfair furniture items with girls' names being sold for high prices. A well-known QAnon activist helped spread the conspiracy more widely during a time of heightened distrust in institutions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The theory was proven to be untrue.

Hardline China critics in the US worry that China's Belt and Road Initiative is a Trojan horse for military expansion efforts

The Belt and Road Initiative, initially launched in 2013 to develop trade routes throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, has evolved into a larger infrastructure development initiative in developing countries. The BRI is backed by the Silk Road Fund, which is administered by the two most prominent Chinese sovereign wealth funds.

WeChat has become China's primary news platform

With an estimated 1.4 billion users worldwide, Tencent's messaging app WeChat has become the most effective distribution channel for news within China. As the company has grown, legacy media in the country have moved onto the platform, representing six of the top 10 WeChat accounts.

How TSMC, the world's biggest chip manufacturer, makes money

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has more than 500 clients across the world, but none are bigger or more consequential to its business than Apple. The iPhone maker accounts for 25% of TSMC's total revenue. TSMC controls more than 60% of the global market share in semiconductor manufacturing. Dive into the economics and outlook of this important company here.

Inside one of the last Sears stores in the US

Sears was once one of the most successful businesses in the US. Today, there aren’t many Sears stores left in the nation, and the ones that are still around feel more like ghost towns than meccas of retail history.

In 2025, ByteDance agreed to sell the app's US branch

In 2024, US lawmakers passed a requirement for parent company ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban in the country, which the company challenged in court. After several extensions granted by President Trump, ByteDance agreed to sell the company's US branch to a group of US investors, including Oracle, which will oversee the app's security and cloud computing.

Chanel faced major backlash in 2021 over its $825 Advent calendar

Chanel’s $825 Advent calendar drew millions of views on TikTok after shoppers unboxed items like stickers, string bracelets, and a standard dust bag—products many felt didn’t match the luxury price. The viral controversy made the calendar one of the year's most criticized holiday releases.

China is making a deliberate push toward a cashless society

Riding widespread digital finance apps like Alipay and WeBank, physical cash circulating in China fell under 4% of total money in 2023. The trend reflects the country's drive to be a leader in the future of digital payments.