The recent boom in China’s so-called sharing economy has given rise to some massively successful businesses, such as ride-sharing giant Didi Chuxing and peer-to-peer lending site Lu.com. Photo courtesy of Chinese basketball sharing startup ZhulegeqiuAnd the numbers are staggering. Last year, total investments in the sector reached 171 billion yuan ($25 billion), according to the State Information Center. “China has the right infrastructure for online sharing services,” said Tan Jing, an independent analyst who was previously co-lead of Uber’s China unit. When umbrella sharing startup Esan started to rent umbrellas on the streets of Shanghai last week, some reacted with ridicule on China’s Twitter-equivalent Sina Weibo.

Source: Forbes May 31, 2017 07:07 UTC