Hong Kong — You can always count on Tencent to entertain the masses, especially if it means stroking the ego of China’s president. A day after the 19th Party Congress kicked off with a marathon speech by Xi Jinping, Tencent Holdings rolled out a game to enlist its 1-billion users on WeChat in a clapping competition. After watching highlights of his three-and-a-half hour monologue, users have 19 seconds to repeatedly mash an "applaud" button superimposed on an iconic image of the Great Hall of the People. The game had garnered more than 800-million claps by Thursday morning — a tribute to a seminal address that transfixed markets and was broadcast live on virtually every Chinese TV station Wednesday. China’s biggest internet companies — by far the largest corporate sector to have thrived outside of government control — have scrambled in recent months to demonstrate fealty to the ruling apparatus. Their endeavours ranged from Alibaba Group touting cloud computing collaborations with l...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.