Above, all of the name brand paper joss items available for this week's Qing Ming Jie or Tomb Sweeping Day when Chinese burn items to send to ancestors in the afterlife. Qing Ming is now big business.

China is the second largest economy in the world and every significant brand's future is impacted by its growth (or collapse)—but who's got the time?! Here's the week's reads that will make you look like a keen China observer in case you find yourself immersed in a cultural conversation.

This week: Apple still in trouble... China's anti-"fixie" rhetoric... infant formula saga... Celebrity China clout... PETA... counterfeit beer... Porsche... Startup Asia 2013... fly home to vote... "Baidu Glass"... W Hotels... McDonald's... Iron Man 3 to World War Z... cheap Bollinger... iPhone joss... "vulgar" Birkin brand... and more.Continue reading...

Above, Beijing t-shirt maker Plastered releases its 草泥马老板 ("Grass Mud Horse" Boss) shirt. 

China is the second largest economy in the world and every significant brand's future is impacted by its growth (or collapse)—but who's got the time?! Here's the week's reads that will make you look like a keen China observer in case you find yourself immersed in a cultural conversation.

This week: Beckham's Adidias/Nike problem... McDonald's closes iconic location... bashing Apple... Steve Jobs manga... what your brand of car says about your sex life... Walmart... Nongfu... more infant formula scandals... Jackie Chan... Vera Wang... bye bye black Audis... and much more.Continue reading...

American Airlines and US Airways to create the world's biggest airline with $11 billion union.

AB InBev will sell Corona unit to salvage Modelo takeover, as Pernod Ricard is open to Jose Cuervo talks.

H.J. Heinz Company enters agreement to be acquired by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.

Time Warner rumored to eye Time Inc. split and talking to Meredith about buying magazine brands.

Adidas unveils new global brand strategy with Boost product push.

American Express and Yahoo accused of stealing travel service idea.

Angry Birds parent Rovio slings into advertising.

Apple promises to fix iOS Exchange bug, fights activist shareholder Einhorn.

Barclays agrees to stop speculating on food prices.

Barnes & Noble warns of lower 2012 sales and Nook concerns.

Boeing looks at interim 787 fixes.

BT sticks by Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius (charged with murdering his girlfriend), for now.Continue reading...

China is the second latest economy in the world, every significant brand's future is impacted by its growth (or collapse!); but who's got the time?!  A weekly potpourri of ten reads that will make you look like a keen China observer during any conversation about China.

This week: Tom Ford, Apple, Moutai, iPhone 5, BYD's remote car, Baidu, KFC, luxury watch corruption search and more...Continue reading...

Airbus sees demand in Asia driving future airliner market.

Apple sees rivals rush to make news before introduction of new iPhone.

Asia Pulp & Paper tries to improve green image against skepticism.

Baidu launches mobile web browser.

Bloomingdale's woos woos men with BMW cross-promotion.

Burt's Bees relies on consumer insights from "Burt's Buzz" community panel.

Chrysler posts 14-percent gain in August sales, leading parade of today's industry sales reports.Continue reading...

Amazon and eBay eye same-day delivery as Amazon site traffic soars.

App.net woos digerati and raises funds for paid social network.

Apple calls final witnesses in contentious Samsung trial as brand's fans seen losing their edge.

Baidu among Barrons' top 10 Chinese brands.

Barclays chairman promises change.

Bermuda readies new branding campaign.

Costco sees deluge of cross-border Canadian shoppers.Continue reading...

Apple will use Baidu search engine on phones in China and gets on fast track in court to block Samsung Galaxy phone as iPhone 5 speculation mounts ahead of WWDC, while marketing head Steve Schiller gets a Bloomberg Businessweek profile. Also, Apple will pay $2.5 million to settle false advertising suit in Australia over 4G iPad claims. 

Audi plant expansion tests ability to maintain quality.

Boeing hits milestone on 787 Dreamliner.

Burger King plans to expand in Russia.

Cannes Lions to honor Dan Weiden of Weiden+Kennedy.

Carnival Cruise loyalty program members are up in arms.

CBS chief Les Moonves says "partisanship" is part of journalism now.Continue reading...

Facebook I.P.O. raises regulatory concerns, as regulators review Morgan Stanley's pre-Facebook IPO actions and the social network's share price drops 18% below IPO price and shareholders worry. NASDAQ is also being sued by an irate investor, while Facebook, its bankers and CEO Mark Zuckerberg are also being sued. One hot commodity: Zuckerberg's post-IPO secret wedding to Priscilla Chan sees Claire Pettibone-designed wedding dress "go viral."

Apple's iPad played a key role in the largest debt restructuring in history, with 100 iPads saving Greece $140 billion. European banks were less prepared for the Greek economic crisis.

SAP to acquire Ariba for $4.3 billion in push into cloud.

Alcatel-Lucent technology made the Internet five times faster.

Amazon's massive cloud business raises questions.

FOX's American Idol lost nearly a quarter of its still-huge audience this season.Continue reading...