Master images accompany all of our articles on FT.com. These are mostly generic vector designs on the subjects as I usually create these while the article is still taking shape in the editing process.
China’s factory workers find second acts in services
There is life after the production lines of Jinjiang. Workers who have left the many sports shoe factories of this Fujian province city have found jobs in a rapidly developing service sector or its red-hot housing market. Read the full article here
Money cannot buy a Chinese coffee market
China remains a nation of committed tea drinkers, despite the persistent, considerable hype surrounding the Luckin Coffee chain. Read the full article here
Ending China’s birth controls will not lead to baby boom
China’s notorious birth restrictions may be scrapped entirely as the leadership belatedly realises that the country needs more babies. But getting the Communist party out of the bedroom will not be enough to address China’s demographic challenges, an FT Confidential Research survey of urban consumers shows. Read the full article here
China’s private tuition industry hit hard by government clampdown
China’s private education sector is reeling from a government clampdown that is driving thousands of smaller providers out of business. Read the full article here
Asean consumers ready for eco-friendly products
Rapid economic growth in Asean-5 countries has come at a huge environmental cost, including contaminated rivers and polluted cities. However, consumers are prepared to help mitigate the impact of industrialisation, on both the climate and their health. Read the full article here
Thailand’s cosmetic surgery edge at risk of low-value trap
Already the leading market for cosmetic surgery in south-east Asia, Thailand is vying to become a top global destination for aesthetic procedures — but growth has slowed as the industry struggles to shift its reputation as a low-cost centre for treatment and differentiate itself beyond pricing. Read the full article here
Chengdu retirees cannot afford to get old
The question of who will care for China’s elderly is being brought into sharp relief as falling fertility rates and longer life expectancy drive up the proportion of pensioners in the population, placing an ever-greater strain on state resources. Read the full article here
Vietnam gives way on plastic waste imports
China’s decision to ban imports of plastic waste continues to reverberate. In Vietnam, it has forced the government to choose between protecting either the environment or the domestic economy. The economy has won, for now. Read the full article here
Struggling to keep the lights on in the Philippines
Nearly a month after typhoon Mangkhut battered northern Luzon, around 100,000 households are still without power. Their plight speaks to the failure of power privatisation in the Philippines, where blackouts and high costs are likely to persist, despite a government scramble to build generating capacity. Read the full article here
Chinese gaming giant’s ecommerce arm pushes private label
What’s in a name? Netease Yanxuan is betting an unbranded pair of jeans from a factory that produces for Calvin Klein would look just as good to Chinese consumers. Read the full article here
The fiscal challenges facing Malaysia’s new leader
As high energy prices boost government income, and as the GST cut saps it, we think Malaysia’s 2018 deficit will climb to between 4 per cent and 4.4 per cent of GDP if all else remains the same. Read the full article here
How the gender pay gap varies across south-east Asia
Greater equality for Indonesian women, less in Malaysia and Vietnam, FT Confidential Research data show Read the full article here
Clean-up set to wipe out Vietnam’s small health supplement makers
As much as 90 per cent of Vietnam’s 4,000 health supplement makers face being closed down as the government begins a clean-up of an industry whose rapid growth is being fuelled by rising incomes and changing lifestyles. Read the full article here
Thailand’s loan shark problem
The Thai government will need to do more to clamp down on illegal money lending. An analysis of FT Confidential Research data suggests demand for the services of loan sharks is only set to increase as low-income households struggle with mounting debt. Read the full article here
Malaysian electronics firms face hit from China
Malaysia’s electronics sector is bracing for a lesson in over-reliance on a key trading partner as slowing growth and the lingering threat of a trade war put a drag on all-important shipments to China. Read the full article here
The Philippines will continue to fail its slum residents
President Rodrigo Duterte’s project to clean up Manila Bay may be solving the decades-old problem of pollution in the capital, but it is also creating a new problem — finding suitable homes to relocate the 200,000 families living in slums around the bay. Read the full article here