Is tea still the most popular drink in China? And do logo-centric brands still dominate luxury? In our 2014 / 15 cultural snapshot of China, we demystify cultural myths, shed light on the country’s economic outlook, and explore the emerging and established trends across eleven sectors.

From messaging to social media to a marketplace to browsing the internet, WeChat is the app the does everything. While Western companies and app developers race to unbundle their services into efficient single-purpose apps, WeChat continues to add feature after feature.

While China’s e-commerce sector is one of the largest in the world, The People’s Bank of China has restricted its growth by banning epayments via QR codes and online ‘virtual’ credit cards. The ruling will hit Tencent’s WeChat and Alibaba’s Alipay the hardest.

China’s most popular messaging app WeChat has launched a “wealth” section called Licaitong where people can store their savings in a monetary fund. The app, which is owned by Tencent, received $130 million in deposits on the first day.