This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Lulu Chen, who has reported on tech in China for over a decade and is the author of the book Influence Empire: The Inside Story of Tencent and China's Tech Ambition. It's a fascinating look at not only Tencent but at the overall internet sector in China, focusing on the travails and the triumphs of some of the most consequential Chinese internet entrepreneurs.5:31 – Motivation for and background of Influence Empire10:15 – Ma Huateng and Martin Lau at Tencent19:56 – How the Chinese internet sector went from copying to innovating30:59 – Cutthroat company cultures33:20 – What made Allen Zhang successful?37:25 – The Tencent-Meituan food delivery coup45:21 – Tencent’s position in the online game industry51:58 – Understanding China’s 2020-2022 tech crackdownA complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Lulu: The Gay Talese Reader: Portraits and Encounters by Gay TaleseKaiser: Cunk on Earth on NetflixSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.