It is the dream of every police investigator: You simply call your local private cyber espionage agency and order extensive transcripts of social media accounts. Or an authority plans to sign a contract with Vietnam and requests to check the servers of the Ministry of Economy in Hanoi to see what the competition is up to.
This is more or less how you can imagine the relationship between government agencies and China’s private cyber espionage companies. A data leak from one of these companies, I-Soon from Shanghai, reveals this. What is particularly astonishing is the magnitude. Hardly any country, hardly any area of society was safe from the prying eyes of the authorities – and I-Soon delivered.
Many files contain marketing material, such as presentations for security agencies in which the company brags about its capabilities. I-Soon’s application for a contract in Xinjiang claimed that it could provide “anti-terrorism” support – meaning that the hackers routinely spied on targets in Muslim countries such as Pakistan. Another ominous detail was the order for Taiwanese cartographic data.
China wants to flood the global market with cheap cars. This is not an outlandish assumption but a logical conclusion from the overcapacity of its automotive industry. What cannot be sold domestically is exported.
A new generation of car freighters now eliminates the last bottleneck, namely the shipping of cars around the globe. On Monday, a vessel carrying 3,000 EVs from quality supplier BYD will arrive in Germany. Joern Petring explains the underlying strategy.
A private Chinese security company that carried out cyber espionage for the Chinese state has become the victim of a leak. In mid-February, an unknown computer specialist released numerous files revealing Chinese hacker attacks around the globe.
Data experts have been poring over the treasure trove of information ever since. Numerous international media outlets now report on initial findings. Experts are certain that the data is genuine, and intelligence services also comb it for useful information. The first clear conclusion: China’s police have the budget to access people’s mobile phones and computers at home and abroad largely unchecked.
The approximately 570 leaked files belong to the Chinese IT security company I-Soon, known as Shanghai Anxun 上海安洵 in Chinese, which has digitally spied on people and organizations in China and other countries on behalf of public clients. The files involved are of various categories. They include WeChat chat logs, text documents and presentations.
The company did not respond to questions from several media houses and news agencies. However, the news agency AP was able to learn from the company that an investigation into the origin of the files is ongoing.
I-Soon’s hackers were active in many different parts of the world:
Hacking targets included:
According to the data, I-Soon’s clients included:
For instance, the Shandong Municipal Public Security Bureau placed a general order for retrieving ten e-mail inboxes per year.
Some examples of methods employed by I-Soon:
China is home to a small industry of private contractors who also carry out cyber operations for the public sector. The government in Beijing has distanced itself from the actions. According to spokespersons from various government agencies, China rejects cyberespionage in any form.
The data leak reveals a detail: Even in Shanghai, IT companies have problems finding skilled staff. However, this may also be due to the poor wages. Some employees complain about the low wage of around 1,000 euros per month. This is in line with older job postings from the company, where the company was looking for computer scientists capable of infiltrating other people’s systems for salaries starting at 5,000 yuan (around 650 euros). It currently looks as if a disgruntled employee is the source of these leaks.
I-Soon generally seems to offer its services at a very affordable price. It charged around 15,000 euros for infiltrating the Vietnamese traffic police while hacking the foreign ministry in Hanoi probably only cost around 50,000 euros. The company has carried out other jobs for significantly less.
However, the data also shows that China’s hackers are not infallible. They document complaints from clients about the poor quality of the information. In many cases, I-Soon also had to admit that it could not obtain the requested data as it could not gain access to the respective organization.
A freighter from the Chinese EV manufacturer BYD will dock in the German port of Bremerhaven for the first time this Monday. The ship is expected to deliver around 3,000 vehicles on its first voyage, according to an invitation from the seaport and logistics company BLG Logistik, which operates the car terminal in Bremerhaven and will celebrate this special day with guests.
The BYD Explorer No. 1 is the first in a fleet of up to eight ships commissioned by BYD. The freighter was built at the Chinese shipyard Yantai CIMC and is officially owned by the London-based shipping company Zodiac Maritime and under a long-term charter to BYD.
BYD plans to use the fleet currently under construction not only for shipping its own cars but also those of other Chinese manufacturers. The BYD Explorer No. 1 is also the first ship built in the People’s Republic exclusively for the export of Chinese cars.
The Chinese ship is not only the center of attention in Bremerhaven these days. In the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, where BYD is headquartered and the Explorer No. 1 set off on its maiden voyage on 15 January, its journey is also being followed with pride. “This marks the beginning of an era,” reads the Shenzhen city government’s website.
The ship “reinforces China’s leading position in the international car carrier market, opening new pathways for Chinese automotive companies to expand overseas.” On its maiden voyage, the car freighter will call at Bremerhaven in Germany and Vlissingen in the Netherlands. It carries 5,449 cars, meaning the total capacity of 7,000 vehicles has not yet been fully utilized.
China is currently experiencing a veritable boom in the construction of new so-called Ro-Ro ships. Ro-Ro stands for roll-on/roll-off and means that the cars can be driven onto the loading deck like on a ferry. Due to the lack of capacity worldwide, it has generally become expensive to transport vehicles worldwide via ship.
According to the research and consulting firm Clarson Research, the lease price for a car freighter has risen to 115,000 US dollars per day in 2023 – a historic high and almost seven times the average pre-pandemic price of around 17,000 US dollars in 2019.
This is why Chinese manufacturers strategically build their own fleets. The business magazine Caixin reports that, in addition to BYD, SAIC Motor has also ordered at least twelve specialized vessels. The first of these is also currently on its way to Europe – and even has capacity for 7,600 vehicles. China’s shipyards are pleased with the vast amount of placed orders, writes the state news agency Xinhua.
According to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, China plans to build around 200 new Ro-Ro ships by 2026. That would be double the number of Ro-Ro ships delivered between 2015 and 2022. The shipyard CSC Jinling on the Yangtze River near Nanjing plays a key role in this. It is expected to deliver up to 56 car carriers by 2026. Guangzhou Shipyard is also building 42 ships.
Demand for car shipping currently comes primarily from China, which became the world’s largest car exporter for the first time last year. Although manufacturers also ship traditional gas-powered vehicles, these increasingly include electric cars. Tesla also ships its cars from Shanghai to other countries.
Chinese manufacturers plan to further increase vehicle exports this year. Experts have already warned of overcapacity in the production of electric cars. Around 22 million vehicles will be sold in China this year, yet production capacity in China stands at 50 million. A substantial proportion will therefore be sold to Europe. BYD and competitors like NIO and Xpeng have unveiled new electric cars for the European market. They also have big plans in South East Asia and India.
Endless action sequences, tedious sentimentality, yawn-inducing drivel, or comedy that make you laugh aloud – when have you reached your personal pee point in the movie theater? Don’t worry! All seats remain dry in this scenario. Because the Chinese “pee point” (尿点 niàodiǎn) is not a command to pee “on the spot,” but rather a pee point (from 点 diǎn “point” as in 时间点 shíjiāndiǎn “time”), in other words, the right moment for a bathroom break.
China’s film fans have invented this neologism as a synonym for low points in the suspense curve. In other words, moments when you can safely go to the bathroom without missing any cinematic highlights, let alone the plot.
The tongue-in-cheek buzzword can also be understood as a linguistic reaction to the challenges of escalating two-hour and multi-hour films, making even hardened film buffs restless in their seats. Especially when such epic flicks simply don’t have any dull moments, but are so packed with suspense from start to finish that you wait in vain for that pee point so you can relieve your bladder. The motto in China (and everywhere else in the world) is: stay strong!
You may have guessed it already: Pee points are by no means the only “pointy” words in Chinese. For example, there is 泪点 lèidiǎn, the “tear point.” The expression describes a touching moment that brings tears to the eyes – usually dramaturgically intentional, of course. Contrary to what you might expect, tearjerker moments are not taboo, especially in Chinese reality formats, but guarantee a ratings hit. It is not uncommon for people to sniffle both on stage and in front of the camera (and consequently also in front of the TV at home).
Incidentally, the Chinese use language to classify people with a high and low cry threshold:
泪点低 lèidiǎn dī “low tear point”
泪点高 lèidiǎn gāo “high tear point”
Of course, there are other emotional points. For example, the diaphragm. The Chinese consequently refer to this as the “laughing point” (笑点 xiàodiǎn). It either refers to the punchline of a joke or simply a funny moment:
笑点低 xiàodiǎn dī “low laughing point”
笑点高 xiàodiǎn gāo “high laughing point”
You have probably noticed that we are focusing on the character 点 diǎn today. You’ll quickly get confused if you look up its meaning in the dictionary because the list of possible meanings for this character is endless. To make matters worse, “diǎn” casually slips into different word class guises, sometimes acting as a noun (as in 点 diǎn “drop”), sometimes as a verb (as in 点 diǎn “order”) and then again as an adverb (as in 一点 yìdiǎn “a little”). A semantic flexibility that – veteran Chinese speakers certainly know a thing or two about – is very typical for Mandarin.
For us as learners, this chameleon character of some Chinese characters and words turns out to be both a curse and a blessing. A curse because, of course, the confusion alarm bells ring and you get the queasy feeling that your internal vocabulary memory could be overloaded with this jumble of characters. A blessing, because a single word (or a single hanzi) opens up a whole kaleidoscope of possible applications.
You don’t believe it? Then let’s move on to the dizzying climax of this article – an incomplete list of the most common meanings of the word “diǎn”:
1. Drop:
水点 shuǐdiǎn – drop of water
雨点 yǔdiǎn – raindrops
2. Drops, drizzle:
点眼药水 diǎn yǎnyàoshuǐ – putting in eye drops
3. A point in time:
到点了，謅吃饭了！Dào diǎn le, gāi chīfàn le. – It’s time / the time is ripe, we should eat!
饭点 fàndiǎn – mealtime (literally “rice point”)
这个点我一般很忙 Zhège diǎn wǒ yìbān hěn máng – I’m usually very busy at this time.
4. Blot, blob:
污点 wūdiǎn – dirt stain
斑点狗 bāndiǎngǒu – Dalmatian (“spotted dog” / “blob dog”)
5. Time:
下午三点 xiàwǔ sāndiǎn – at three in the afternoon
几点？jǐ diǎn – what time is it? (“how many points”)
6. A little, something:
喝一点点酒 hē yīdiǎndiǎn jiǔ – drinking some alcohol
有点复杂 yǒudiǎn fùzá – a bit complicated
7. Pastries, snacks:
点心 diǎnxīn snacks, small snacks
糕点 gāodiǎn – Cakes, pastries
茶点 chádiǎn – tea cookies, snacks served with tea
8. Nod:
点头 diǎntóu – nodding your head
9. Checking/recounting something:
点名 diǎn míng – checking attendance (“count names”)
点货 diǎn huò – taking stock (“counting the goods”)
点钱 diǎn qián – counting money
10. selecting/ordering something:
点餐 diǎncān – ordering takeaway
点咖啡 diǎn kāfēi – ordering coffee
11. to light/ignite something:
点蜡烛 diǎn làzhú – lighting a candle
点火 diǎnhuǒ – lighting a fire
12. briefly touch / tap / (click on):
点开 diǎnkāi – click on (e.g. a link)
点赞 diǎnzàn – like, click on “like”
Is this slew of words bringing you to a motivational low point? As someone who learns languages, there’s no need to worry unnecessarily. First of all, the examples show that other characters are usually added to hanzi 点 diǎn to minimize ambiguity. And secondly, not all Chinese characters send us on such a rollercoaster ride of meaning.
Let’s take the first part of our initial point, the pee point, namely the character 尿 niào. Not only does it have a clear meaning, but it is also visually memorable: water (水) splashing under a body (尸). Sometimes things can be brought to the point in a wonderfully simple way.
Verena Menzel runs the online language school New Chinese in Beijing.
It is the dream of every police investigator: You simply call your local private cyber espionage agency and order extensive transcripts of social media accounts. Or an authority plans to sign a contract with Vietnam and requests to check the servers of the Ministry of Economy in Hanoi to see what the competition is up to.
This is more or less how you can imagine the relationship between government agencies and China’s private cyber espionage companies. A data leak from one of these companies, I-Soon from Shanghai, reveals this. What is particularly astonishing is the magnitude. Hardly any country, hardly any area of society was safe from the prying eyes of the authorities – and I-Soon delivered.
Many files contain marketing material, such as presentations for security agencies in which the company brags about its capabilities. I-Soon’s application for a contract in Xinjiang claimed that it could provide “anti-terrorism” support – meaning that the hackers routinely spied on targets in Muslim countries such as Pakistan. Another ominous detail was the order for Taiwanese cartographic data.
China wants to flood the global market with cheap cars. This is not an outlandish assumption but a logical conclusion from the overcapacity of its automotive industry. What cannot be sold domestically is exported.
A new generation of car freighters now eliminates the last bottleneck, namely the shipping of cars around the globe. On Monday, a vessel carrying 3,000 EVs from quality supplier BYD will arrive in Germany. Joern Petring explains the underlying strategy.
A private Chinese security company that carried out cyber espionage for the Chinese state has become the victim of a leak. In mid-February, an unknown computer specialist released numerous files revealing Chinese hacker attacks around the globe.
Data experts have been poring over the treasure trove of information ever since. Numerous international media outlets now report on initial findings. Experts are certain that the data is genuine, and intelligence services also comb it for useful information. The first clear conclusion: China’s police have the budget to access people’s mobile phones and computers at home and abroad largely unchecked.
The approximately 570 leaked files belong to the Chinese IT security company I-Soon, known as Shanghai Anxun 上海安洵 in Chinese, which has digitally spied on people and organizations in China and other countries on behalf of public clients. The files involved are of various categories. They include WeChat chat logs, text documents and presentations.
The company did not respond to questions from several media houses and news agencies. However, the news agency AP was able to learn from the company that an investigation into the origin of the files is ongoing.
I-Soon’s hackers were active in many different parts of the world:
Hacking targets included:
According to the data, I-Soon’s clients included:
For instance, the Shandong Municipal Public Security Bureau placed a general order for retrieving ten e-mail inboxes per year.
Some examples of methods employed by I-Soon:
China is home to a small industry of private contractors who also carry out cyber operations for the public sector. The government in Beijing has distanced itself from the actions. According to spokespersons from various government agencies, China rejects cyberespionage in any form.
The data leak reveals a detail: Even in Shanghai, IT companies have problems finding skilled staff. However, this may also be due to the poor wages. Some employees complain about the low wage of around 1,000 euros per month. This is in line with older job postings from the company, where the company was looking for computer scientists capable of infiltrating other people’s systems for salaries starting at 5,000 yuan (around 650 euros). It currently looks as if a disgruntled employee is the source of these leaks.
I-Soon generally seems to offer its services at a very affordable price. It charged around 15,000 euros for infiltrating the Vietnamese traffic police while hacking the foreign ministry in Hanoi probably only cost around 50,000 euros. The company has carried out other jobs for significantly less.
However, the data also shows that China’s hackers are not infallible. They document complaints from clients about the poor quality of the information. In many cases, I-Soon also had to admit that it could not obtain the requested data as it could not gain access to the respective organization.
A freighter from the Chinese EV manufacturer BYD will dock in the German port of Bremerhaven for the first time this Monday. The ship is expected to deliver around 3,000 vehicles on its first voyage, according to an invitation from the seaport and logistics company BLG Logistik, which operates the car terminal in Bremerhaven and will celebrate this special day with guests.
The BYD Explorer No. 1 is the first in a fleet of up to eight ships commissioned by BYD. The freighter was built at the Chinese shipyard Yantai CIMC and is officially owned by the London-based shipping company Zodiac Maritime and under a long-term charter to BYD.
BYD plans to use the fleet currently under construction not only for shipping its own cars but also those of other Chinese manufacturers. The BYD Explorer No. 1 is also the first ship built in the People’s Republic exclusively for the export of Chinese cars.
The Chinese ship is not only the center of attention in Bremerhaven these days. In the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, where BYD is headquartered and the Explorer No. 1 set off on its maiden voyage on 15 January, its journey is also being followed with pride. “This marks the beginning of an era,” reads the Shenzhen city government’s website.
The ship “reinforces China’s leading position in the international car carrier market, opening new pathways for Chinese automotive companies to expand overseas.” On its maiden voyage, the car freighter will call at Bremerhaven in Germany and Vlissingen in the Netherlands. It carries 5,449 cars, meaning the total capacity of 7,000 vehicles has not yet been fully utilized.
China is currently experiencing a veritable boom in the construction of new so-called Ro-Ro ships. Ro-Ro stands for roll-on/roll-off and means that the cars can be driven onto the loading deck like on a ferry. Due to the lack of capacity worldwide, it has generally become expensive to transport vehicles worldwide via ship.
According to the research and consulting firm Clarson Research, the lease price for a car freighter has risen to 115,000 US dollars per day in 2023 – a historic high and almost seven times the average pre-pandemic price of around 17,000 US dollars in 2019.
This is why Chinese manufacturers strategically build their own fleets. The business magazine Caixin reports that, in addition to BYD, SAIC Motor has also ordered at least twelve specialized vessels. The first of these is also currently on its way to Europe – and even has capacity for 7,600 vehicles. China’s shipyards are pleased with the vast amount of placed orders, writes the state news agency Xinhua.
According to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, China plans to build around 200 new Ro-Ro ships by 2026. That would be double the number of Ro-Ro ships delivered between 2015 and 2022. The shipyard CSC Jinling on the Yangtze River near Nanjing plays a key role in this. It is expected to deliver up to 56 car carriers by 2026. Guangzhou Shipyard is also building 42 ships.
Demand for car shipping currently comes primarily from China, which became the world’s largest car exporter for the first time last year. Although manufacturers also ship traditional gas-powered vehicles, these increasingly include electric cars. Tesla also ships its cars from Shanghai to other countries.
Chinese manufacturers plan to further increase vehicle exports this year. Experts have already warned of overcapacity in the production of electric cars. Around 22 million vehicles will be sold in China this year, yet production capacity in China stands at 50 million. A substantial proportion will therefore be sold to Europe. BYD and competitors like NIO and Xpeng have unveiled new electric cars for the European market. They also have big plans in South East Asia and India.
Endless action sequences, tedious sentimentality, yawn-inducing drivel, or comedy that make you laugh aloud – when have you reached your personal pee point in the movie theater? Don’t worry! All seats remain dry in this scenario. Because the Chinese “pee point” (尿点 niàodiǎn) is not a command to pee “on the spot,” but rather a pee point (from 点 diǎn “point” as in 时间点 shíjiāndiǎn “time”), in other words, the right moment for a bathroom break.
China’s film fans have invented this neologism as a synonym for low points in the suspense curve. In other words, moments when you can safely go to the bathroom without missing any cinematic highlights, let alone the plot.
The tongue-in-cheek buzzword can also be understood as a linguistic reaction to the challenges of escalating two-hour and multi-hour films, making even hardened film buffs restless in their seats. Especially when such epic flicks simply don’t have any dull moments, but are so packed with suspense from start to finish that you wait in vain for that pee point so you can relieve your bladder. The motto in China (and everywhere else in the world) is: stay strong!
You may have guessed it already: Pee points are by no means the only “pointy” words in Chinese. For example, there is 泪点 lèidiǎn, the “tear point.” The expression describes a touching moment that brings tears to the eyes – usually dramaturgically intentional, of course. Contrary to what you might expect, tearjerker moments are not taboo, especially in Chinese reality formats, but guarantee a ratings hit. It is not uncommon for people to sniffle both on stage and in front of the camera (and consequently also in front of the TV at home).
Incidentally, the Chinese use language to classify people with a high and low cry threshold:
泪点低 lèidiǎn dī “low tear point”
泪点高 lèidiǎn gāo “high tear point”
Of course, there are other emotional points. For example, the diaphragm. The Chinese consequently refer to this as the “laughing point” (笑点 xiàodiǎn). It either refers to the punchline of a joke or simply a funny moment:
笑点低 xiàodiǎn dī “low laughing point”
笑点高 xiàodiǎn gāo “high laughing point”
You have probably noticed that we are focusing on the character 点 diǎn today. You’ll quickly get confused if you look up its meaning in the dictionary because the list of possible meanings for this character is endless. To make matters worse, “diǎn” casually slips into different word class guises, sometimes acting as a noun (as in 点 diǎn “drop”), sometimes as a verb (as in 点 diǎn “order”) and then again as an adverb (as in 一点 yìdiǎn “a little”). A semantic flexibility that – veteran Chinese speakers certainly know a thing or two about – is very typical for Mandarin.
For us as learners, this chameleon character of some Chinese characters and words turns out to be both a curse and a blessing. A curse because, of course, the confusion alarm bells ring and you get the queasy feeling that your internal vocabulary memory could be overloaded with this jumble of characters. A blessing, because a single word (or a single hanzi) opens up a whole kaleidoscope of possible applications.
You don’t believe it? Then let’s move on to the dizzying climax of this article – an incomplete list of the most common meanings of the word “diǎn”:
1. Drop:
水点 shuǐdiǎn – drop of water
雨点 yǔdiǎn – raindrops
2. Drops, drizzle:
点眼药水 diǎn yǎnyàoshuǐ – putting in eye drops
3. A point in time:
到点了，謅吃饭了！Dào diǎn le, gāi chīfàn le. – It’s time / the time is ripe, we should eat!
饭点 fàndiǎn – mealtime (literally “rice point”)
这个点我一般很忙 Zhège diǎn wǒ yìbān hěn máng – I’m usually very busy at this time.
4. Blot, blob:
污点 wūdiǎn – dirt stain
斑点狗 bāndiǎngǒu – Dalmatian (“spotted dog” / “blob dog”)
5. Time:
下午三点 xiàwǔ sāndiǎn – at three in the afternoon
几点？jǐ diǎn – what time is it? (“how many points”)
6. A little, something:
喝一点点酒 hē yīdiǎndiǎn jiǔ – drinking some alcohol
有点复杂 yǒudiǎn fùzá – a bit complicated
7. Pastries, snacks:
点心 diǎnxīn snacks, small snacks
糕点 gāodiǎn – Cakes, pastries
茶点 chádiǎn – tea cookies, snacks served with tea
8. Nod:
点头 diǎntóu – nodding your head
9. Checking/recounting something:
点名 diǎn míng – checking attendance (“count names”)
点货 diǎn huò – taking stock (“counting the goods”)
点钱 diǎn qián – counting money
10. selecting/ordering something:
点餐 diǎncān – ordering takeaway
点咖啡 diǎn kāfēi – ordering coffee
11. to light/ignite something:
点蜡烛 diǎn làzhú – lighting a candle
点火 diǎnhuǒ – lighting a fire
12. briefly touch / tap / (click on):
点开 diǎnkāi – click on (e.g. a link)
点赞 diǎnzàn – like, click on “like”
Is this slew of words bringing you to a motivational low point? As someone who learns languages, there’s no need to worry unnecessarily. First of all, the examples show that other characters are usually added to hanzi 点 diǎn to minimize ambiguity. And secondly, not all Chinese characters send us on such a rollercoaster ride of meaning.
Let’s take the first part of our initial point, the pee point, namely the character 尿 niào. Not only does it have a clear meaning, but it is also visually memorable: water (水) splashing under a body (尸). Sometimes things can be brought to the point in a wonderfully simple way.
Verena Menzel runs the online language school New Chinese in Beijing.
