DANWEI – The gloves have come off in the war of words between China’s leading Internet executives as Alibaba and Tencent grapple for supremacy in online payments, while several Chinese IT firms have launched an anti-piracy lawsuit against search giant Baidu. Also this week: BYD tries to hype its new hybrid car, and US chipmaker Qualcomm set for troubled waters in China. 

DANWEI – The anti-corruption campaign in China’s pharma industry has dragged on for months now, but it seems to have initiated an historic list of low-cost drugs that could transform the industry. In a similar fashion, new wireless “smart routers” could transform the way people in China access the Internet. Also this week, we examine the likely beneficiaries from changes to China’s family planning policy.

DANWEI – As highlighted in our previous Danwei Bulletin, anti-corruption investigations have hit Wison Engineering, a company with close ties to PetroChina, hard. We follow up on Wison’s woes in this week’s Bulletin, and also look into another company in trouble in China: British DIY retailer B&Q.

DANWEI – Pressure on multinational companies that are dominant in their industries continues. This week we look at regional protectionism in health care in Shanghai, and the pulling of a drug patent of Gilead Sciences.  

In this week’s Danwei Bulletin we also launch a new feature: the Mai-Mai Index, a lighthearted guide to what the Chinese consumer wants. We use Danwei’s proprietary Data Miner to retrieve and analyze the top five hundred postings on social media site Weibo that indicate an intention to buy or sell something and we rank the most popular products and services.

Also: a report on real estate, stats about WMPs, two kinds of batteries, Tencent, and more.

Local commentators debate the implications of a surge in investment in big data.

A controversial ruling that all microblog users must re-register their accounts under their real names has stimulated vigorous debate among bloggers, academics and industry figures.

Commentators believe that the iPad trademark dispute between Apple and Proview poses challenges for China’s legal system, but is unlikely to significantly affect Apple’s China sales.

The internet and mobile security software developer has been expanding its user base quickly to support advertising revenues though disputes with major internet rivals pose some threat to the company’s development.