What would happen if online deliveries from China’s tech giants stopped overnight? This city offers a glimpse


It was not a failure of technology or the apps that caused the problems - the local government shut down infrastructure, such as restaurants and stores. Analysts say that slower adoption and usage of online platforms, as well as the lower availability of gig workers, contributed to the service disruption. — SCMP

A humanitarian crisis of sorts took place in a Chinese town last week after the local authority imposed draconian measures to lock down 300,000 residents to contain an outbreak of Covid-19.

The restrictions in the downtown area of Tonghua, a rust-belt town in Jilin province near China’s border with North Korea, not only led to complaints about food and medicine shortages, but also to an outpouring of criticism on social media that delivery and e-commerce services from the likes of Meituan and Ele.me had also been suspended.

Subscribe now and receive FREE sooka plan for 1 month.
T&C applies.

Monthly Plan

RM13.90/month

Annual Plan

RM12.33/month

Billed as RM148.00/year

1 month

Free Trial

For new subscribers only


Cancel anytime. No ads. Auto-renewal. Unlimited access to the web and app. Personalised features. Members rewards.
Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!

food delivery , grocery delivery

   

Next In Tech News

World's first wooden satellite, developed in Japan, heads to space
This humanoid robot can now operate with full autonomy
Scientists use AI to help track penguins in Antarctica
Windows 10 users will soon have to pay to keep getting security updates
Musk and X are epicenter of US election misinformation, experts say
OpenAI in talks with California to become for-profit company, Bloomberg News reports
Meta to extend ban on new political ads after U.S. election
Crypto firms including Robinhood, Kraken launch global stablecoin network
Chipmaker NXP forecasts quarterly revenue below estimates on macroeconomic concerns
Exclusive-Silver Lake, Bain prepare to bid for multi-billion stake in Intel's Altera unit, sources say

Others Also Read