Rulebook
Glossary, methodology, patch notes, and FAQ for the China Power 100 directory.
§Legend
Domain Vocabulary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Team | A company profiled in the directory. |
| Franchise | An ecosystem parent company (Tencent, Alibaba, ByteDance, etc.) whose subsidiaries and investments collectively define a major business empire. |
| Squad | A subsidiary or affiliated company that operates under a Franchise umbrella. |
| Division | A business sector or industry classification used to group related Teams. |
| Matchup | A side-by-side comparison of 2 to 4 Teams across key intelligence dimensions. |
| Shortlist | Your personal saved list of Teams for tracking, comparison, and CSV export. |
| Scout Filters | The filter controls on the Lineup page: Division, Status, Weight Class, Record, Home Court. |
| Scoreboard | An at-a-glance metrics panel showing key financial and competitive signals for a Team or Division. |
| Edge | A company's moat or competitive advantage. Rendered from the "Where They Win" field. Analyst-derived. |
| Catalyst | The reason this company is strategically relevant now. Rendered from the "Why Now" field. Analyst-derived. |
| Comp Set | A company's primary competitors as identified in the directory data. |
| Analog | A Western mental model used for quick orientation, explicitly not a 1:1 equivalence. Always accompanied by a tooltip clarifying this. |
| Patch Notes | A dated changelog of directory updates: new teams, data corrections, methodology changes. |
Weight Classes (Revenue Bands)
Records (Profitability Tiers)
§Method
Selection Criteria
Companies are included based on three criteria:
- 01China-based headquarters or China as the primary market for revenue generation.
- 02Annual revenue exceeding approximately $100M, or a demonstrably high-growth trajectory with clear strategic significance.
- 03Sufficient publicly available operational data to construct a meaningful profile.
Factual vs. Editorial Data
Factual
- ·Revenue figures (with year)
- ·Revenue bands
- ·Founding year
- ·HQ location
- ·Ticker symbol
- ·Founder name
- ·Competitor list
Editorial / Analyst
- ·Thesis (one-line)
- ·Edge: Where They Win
- ·Catalyst: Why Now
- ·Business model type
- ·Subsector tags
- ·Western Analogs
Analog Disclaimer
Western Analogs are mental model shortcuts to help Western audiences orient quickly. They are explicitly not equivalencies. A Chinese company described as “like Salesforce” is not Salesforce. It operates in a different regulatory environment, competitive landscape, customer culture, and at a different scale. Always use Analogs as a starting point, not a conclusion. Every Analog chip carries a tooltip reinforcing this.
Political Neutrality
Political framing is prohibited in all directory content. Where geopolitical context is relevant to a company's business (e.g., regulatory exposure, cross-border restrictions, state ownership), it is treated as market risk, factual and neutral, with no political position taken.
§Patch Notes
- +Initial directory published: 123 teams across 15 divisions
- +6 franchise ecosystems mapped: Alibaba, ByteDance, Tencent, JD.com, Xiaomi, Meituan
- +Scout Filters: Division, Status, Weight Class, Record, Home Court
- +Global features: Search (Cmd+K), Shortlist, Matchup tray, Lens Toggle
- +Division pages with Scoreboard, Play Styles, Rivalries, Watchlist
- +Franchise pages showing all Squads per ecosystem
§FAQ
What is The Big Board?
The Big Board is a curated intelligence directory of 123 notable Chinese companies built for Western operators, investors, and strategists. It uses a League Mode scouting metaphor to make dense business intelligence more navigable and actionable.
How is the data collected?
Data is sourced from a combination of company filings, earnings releases, press coverage, and analyst research. Revenue figures are labeled with the year they reference (e.g. FY2023). No figures are invented or interpolated. If a field is missing, it renders as "not available."
Are the financial figures audited or verified?
No. Revenue and profitability data are best-effort from public sources and carry the year of the data where available. This is an intelligence directory, not a financial data terminal. Treat all figures as directionally indicative, not audit-grade.
What is the difference between factual data and editorial data?
Factual data: revenue, profitability, founding year, HQ, ticker, founder name, competitor names. Editorial/analyst data: Thesis, Edge (Where They Win), Catalyst (Why Now), business model categorizations, and Western Analogs. Editorial fields are analyst takes, informed but opinionated.
Why do the Analogs say 'mental model only'?
Western Analogs exist purely for orientation. Calling a company "like Salesforce" helps a Western reader get a quick mental image, but obscures critical differences in regulation, customer culture, competitive dynamics, and scale. The disclaimer is mandatory to prevent misleading inference.