"Luxury Outlet Shopping Villages Expand in China" (The Financial Times)
"For all the talk of the seemingly unstoppable rise of the Chinese consumer, it seems extraordinary that there are so few luxury outlet shopping villages in the country. This is all set to change. On May 15, Value Retail, the European discount luxury outlet chain that operates the UK's Bicester Village outlet centre, opened a vast development at Suzhou, a 2,500-year-old city that used to be the country's cultural capital."

"Alibaba, Chinese Internet Giant, Picks N.Y.S.E. for Its Listing" (The New York Times)
"Alibaba, the Chinese Internet commerce giant, disclosed in an amended prospectus on Thursday that it planned to list on the Big Board, under the ticker symbol BABA. The choice is a big victory for the New York Stock Exchange, which had competed with the Nasdaq stock market for what is expected to be one of the biggest initial public offerings in years."

"The Chinese Dream" (The Financial Times)
"Chinese consumers have become highly selective, more aware that they have a variety of brands to choose from. Each new arrival of a foreign luxury label attracts attention but only for a while. Younger customers tend to look for the latest fashion brands and Chinese men now dress in a more interesting way, compared with when they used to wear one brand from head to toe."

"Stripe Inks Deal With Alipay to Connect Chinese Shoppers With Western Brands" (Recode)
"Stripe, the payments company the Collison brothers cofounded, is partnering with China's popular online payments service Alipay to open up more online buying opportunities in the West for Chinese consumers and give U.S. and European businesses a new way to reach these buyers. The deal lets any business that runs its payments system on Stripe accept purchases made with Alipay on their websites and mobile apps."

"From Mermaids to Monet, Chinese Malls Try to Stand Out" (The Wall Street Journal)
"Chinese malls are building over-the-top attractions to draw customers to their stores amid a glut of shopping options. Some of the latest: a Monet exhibition, a pig farm, an aquarium with performers dressed as mermaids and a large man-made beach."