The Big Picture

Never mind the bike-sharing fiascos – China's sharing economy is still steaming ahead

  • China
  • 6 min read
  • Sep 18, 2019
  • By Wang Xiao'e

Image: Unsplash

China is betting on the sharing economy to drive its shift into a service-based economy and a new era of growth

2018 was a tough year for a fair number of Chinese startups in the sharing-economy sector, especially those in bike- and car-sharing.
Last year on May 16, the Transportation Ministry ordered bike- and car-sharing companies to refund users their deposits from June 1, with a respective two- and 15-working-day deadline – dealing an extra blow to those already grappling with a cash crunch.
By then, there were nearly 16m Ofo users waiting to get back their deposits of either RMB 99 or 199. Another bike-sharing startup, Xiaoming Bike, which filed for bankruptcy in July...

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