Too bad BABA is not in the USA, it would be a beautiful investment. But then, of course, the price would be at completely different levels.

I don't invest in China. Those companies don't offer the potential they did 5 years ago, and politics is making it worse.

$NIO-5.2% is not an investment for me and same for $BABA-0.5%. For me, there's a really big risk associated with the location and the fact that Baba has had minor issues in the past so I don't like it even though it's a quality business at a pretty good price right now.

In China I follow only a few companies, Alibaba is under pressure not only because of its founder, who had too much influence for the taste of the KSC and went into public criticism, but also because of the amount of data from all companies BABA + ANT, which are very important for the government (Ant also operated as a shadow bank without the necessary license).

Like any government, it sees the big companies as a cash cow for the state budget, so the "anti-trust" fines and restrictions on influence have been popular for the last few years, but in such a way that it does not endanger the stable income to the state coffers.

Big tech is raising taxes because they no longer need the breaks to grow, diverting (semi-)public companies away from them to use the cloud where they can better control the data.

Alibaba has also been growing competition in the form of JD or Pinduoduo + they are still competing with Tencent on many things.

I would do a very careful DD before entering China, because there are completely different legal conditions and the volatility can force you to sell at a loss.

On the plus side, the Chinese market is generally cheap (for good reasons:) and does not correlate so much with the SPY. VAT growth is estimated at a higher level than in developed economies, they don't have such a problem with inflation, the yuan can play an even bigger role in the future and together with Japan they are still the biggest creditor of the USA, they are strengthening their influence in Africa which will replace their low birth rate.

long story short....the only thing that is certain is that there will be no boredom;)

I'll add my voice to the opinions of the guys that have been expressed here. Pretty risky market for me, too. I was previously in that $BABA-0.5% For me, a likeable company, but just as Paul writes, I don't know why, but they undermine their own companies there. Plus the politics. I had a question about this when I was talking about it with the US comparison. Yes, markets can and are volatile everywhere, that's just the way it is, but when I take the risks, or rather when something goes wrong, it's there for the long term and again as Pavel says, various restrictions, closures etc. For example, when the US screws up (and like it probably will someday), I still see a better ability to "recover" elsewhere than China.

What are we going to think, political risk is the biggest catch with China. And you don't even have to wade into ancient history, just look back a few years, covid oppression, pressure on companies and prominent officials, undermining tech companies (see Alibaba). And last but not least, by pressuring Taiwan, they may trigger a backlash from the world in the form of sanctions, which may be a short to medium term risk for companies there. Despite all this though, I'm sticking with Nio, it's my only company from China.