Clever sayings with candy

Perfect Cherry Blossom. This game is where Touhou starts feeling like, well, Touhou. While EoSD introduced the new setting of Gensokyo to the Touhou series, PCB is where the series starts defining it's world and it's lore. Having said that, how do the characters in this game stack up? Well that's what we're going to discuss today.
Just a quick note. We'll also include Suika in this discussion. Even though Immaterial and Missing Power canonically takes place after Imperishable Night, the former is labeled as the 7.5th game in the series, as in, it's supposed to be a follow up to PCB. So I think it's fair game.
So without further ado...
Perfect Cherry Blossom Cast (from left to right): Lunasa Prismriver, Merlin Prismriver, Lyrica Prismriver, Yuyuko Saigyouji, Youmu Konpaku, Lily White, Suika Ibuki, Chen, Yukari Yakumo, Ran Yakumo, Letty Whiterock, Alice Margatroid (Art by Dairi)
Letty Whiterock (What Winter Left Behind)
A Yuki-onna who serves as this game's first boss. Letty is only seen during the winter; as spring arrives, Letty goes into hibernation. She's very cold towards humans, and is known to freeze any she comes across.
My Thoughts: There isn't really much for me to say about my feelings towards Letty. She's a Yuki-onna who hangs out during the winter, and leaves during the following seasons. She's commonly depicted to be a guardian towards Cirno, despite canonically not liking being grouped with the ice fairy. Of course, I like to imagine that Letty is fine with Cirno and fine with being with her; It's just that she doesn't like being compared to Cirno, considering how weak fairies usually are in Touhou. Other than that, there's not much for me to say about Letty. You'll only get the chance to run into her at the beginning and end of each year, and that's about it.
Fun Fact: Letty's name is actually a reference to Lettie Blacklock, a character from one of Agatha Christie's book: A Murder is Announced.
Chen (Black Cat of Bad Omens)
Chen is a nekomata youkai and the shikigami of Ran Yakumo. As Ran is also Yukari's shikigami, that means Chen is also subservient to Yukari as well. Chen is also very close friends with Rin Kaenbyou. The two are known to play often, and Chen even picked up the habit to offering corpses to Ran from Orin, much to the former's chagrin
My Thoughts: I don't take as much of an interest in her as I do Ran or Yukari, but I still think Chen is an alright character. Thinking about it, I think Chen's song has the shortest loop of any stage boss theme in the series. It probably doesn't even take a minute to loop... Of course, having said that, while I am fine with Chen, I want to say that I really can't stand that one Chen joke. Y'know the one. The one where someone (usually Ran) yells Chen's name often accompanied by a nosebleed. It just get's very irritating, y'know? But putting that aside, like I said, Chen is an alright character to me.
Alice Margatroid (Seven-Colored Puppeteer)
A doll-controlling-magician who lives in the Forest of Magic. While aloof and self-confident, she's not above showing kindness towards others, as she's willing to let lost humans lodge at home for the night, and is willing (albeit reluctant) to help her neighbor and rival, Marisa Kirisame.
My Thoughts: You might have noticed that I've been holding off on talking about her and Yuuka in the PC-98 discusion post. That's because I wanted to save them for each of their respective Windows debuts. Having said that, here's my view on Alice.
As you may know, I'm not too crazy about Marisa or Patchouli. But out of the witch trio, I'd say I like Alice the most. Mostly for her personality. She's aloof, self-confident, and not afraid to speak her mind or battle someone if the challenge presents itself. But she's also timid, choosing to hold back out fear of what could happen if she were to lose while going all out. Above all, she's kind, and not afraid to helps others, especially if they're human. Don't get me wrong, she's no saint, but still, she's probably one of the kindest people you'll run into Gensokyo. Like with her fellow stage 3 boss, Meiling, it's honestly a crying shame that people misinterpret her in fan works, by either making her a Tsundere or even a Yandere for Marisa when Alice is so much more complex than that. Plus, some of Alice's more unpleasant traits usually surface when she's interacting with Marisa anyway. I'm not saying that they don't have some level of respect for each other. Canon has shown plenty of instances where they do. But still, you can't deny that Marisa usually brings out the worst in Alice.
Lily White (Fairy Herald of Spring)
The Mid Boss of Stage 4. Lily White is a fairy who heralds the coming of Spring. She's know to spray danmaku as she announces Spring's arrival, but it's more out of excitement than aggression. Lily is one of the friendliest characters in the Touhou series as well as one of the youkai who is the least hostile towards humans.
My Thoughts: I got nothing. Her sole purpose is announcing the arrival of the vernal equinox and that's it. Also, Spring is somehow the best and worst season at the same time. The scenery in Springtime is absolutely gorgeous, especially in certain regions of the world. Plus the temperature in Spring usually just right. Not too hot like in the Summer, and not too cold like in the Winter. Now why is it also the worst? One word. Allergies. Having to deal with pollen in the air is the WORST. But now I'm just rambling on about Spring instead of Lily.
Bottom of the line? Lily's not so noteworthy in my opinion. Also Lily Black is literally just Lily White but she's cosplaying as the Yama. Sooooo, yeah. Next.
The Prismriver Sisters (Three Poltergeist Sisters)
This trio of poltergeist sisters are skilled musicians who are popular among youkai. These poltergeist were created by Layla Prismriver, who based them off her late older sisters after their father, Count Prismriver, died in an accident. Even after the 4 sisters died, the poltergeists take refuge in their ancestral home to this day as they continue to hone their music skills.
The sister in black is Lunasa. She's the oldest of the sisters and plays the violin. She's very calm and reserved, but also quite melancholic and pessimistic, due to her honest personality being taken advantage of in the past. The sister in white is Merlin. She's the middle sister and plays the trumpet. Merlin is very upbeat; she's never seen depressed. However, she does have a habit of becoming obsessed with anything she's interested in, to the point where it becomes a mania for her. The sister in red is Lyrica. She's the youngest of the sisters and plays the keyboard. Lyrica is very clever, but also very lazy. She prefers to try and get her to fight for her while she sits on the sidelines and snarks.
My Thoughts: As a whole, I kinda like the idea of the Prismrivers. Three siblings who perform music together. Plus, personality-wise, they're pretty distinct from each other. I have heard some theories that in-universe, they're responsible for most of the songs you hear in Touhou Project. It's honestly quite an interesting explanation. The three are pretty close in my opinion, but if you were to ask how I'd rank them... I think I would say Lunasa, Lyrica, and finally Merlin. They're still all pretty good, even if none of them are one of my all time favorites of this game.
Youmu Konpaku (Half-Human Half-Phantom Gardener)
Youmu lives at Hakugyokurou, the shrine that oversees the Netherworld, and serves as Yuyuko's right-hand-woman, being a gardener, and swordplay instructor. Her two blades, Roukanken and Hakuroken, are said to be able to cut through almost anything as well as confusion, respectively. Youmu is straightforward, diligent, and loyal to her mistress, but said straightforwardness makes her easy to be manipulated by those around her, especially Yuyuko.
My Thoughts: For a while, Youmu was my favorite character from PCB. If you don't count Reisen, then she's certainly my favorite out of the main human protagonists. And I still do like Youmu a lot! She's cute, she's cool, and she's also a bit of a dork who ironically is afraid of ghosts. The whole "cool" factor for Youmu might be played up a bit in fanon, but I personally don't find it a big deal. Plus it's usually not at the expense of any other particular characters in the series (*cough cough* Sakuya). Also, there is this one Touhou fan game (Koumajou Densetsu II: Stranger's Requiem) where she's voiced by Ryō Hirohashi, who, as you may know, is the current Japanese voice actress for Sonic the Hedgehog's Miles "Tails" Prower. What does this sorta minor fact about one fangame have to do with me liking Youmu? I don't know, but being a Sonic fan who also likes the fluffy little two-tailed furball, that fact just kind of appeals to me.
Bottom-Line? I like Youmu. She's one of my favorite characters in the series, and for a while, I actually preferred her over her mistress, Yuyuko.
Yuyuko Saigyouji (Ghost Girl in the Netherworld Tower)
Yuyuko is the Ghost Princess of the Netherworld and an old friend of Yukari Yakumo. During her lifetime, Yuyuko possessed the power to control the spirits of the dead, however it eventually grew into the power to kill others with just a thought. Yuyuko was so terrified by this that she committed suicide. Despite her tragic past, Yuyuko is very cheerful, playful, and friendly, for a ghost. She's also a notorious glutton, and likes messing with her servant, Youmu. Though it's clearly all just in good fun. Despite her gluttonous and seemingly airheaded nature, however, Yuyuko is also capable of being extremely knowledgable and cunning. Possibly even more so than Yukari herself...
My Thoughts: As I said, for a while, I did prefer Youmu over Yuyuko. But after a while, I think I actually prefer Yuyuko over Youmu now. They're both in my Top 10, don't get wrong. It's just that I think Yuyuko actually has more going for her in my opinion. Let me put it in this way.
Yuyuko is the Epitome of Beauty. She has a beautiful design, a beautiful personality, beautifully graceful fighting style (see fighting game sprites), her song, Border of Life, is beautiful, and Yuyuko has one of the most beautifully tragic backstories in the series.
I didn't really think too much of her before, but after thinking about it some more, I feel like Yuyuko could actually be one of my favorites in the series. Right up their with the likes of Meiling, Utsuho, and Reisen (more on the latter two later). It's just a shame that like with many of the characters in the series, Yuyuko suffers with the problem of flanderization. In her case it's focusing on her gluttonous trait. It can be funny at times, but still, there's more to Yuyuko than just eating anything and everything.
Ran Yakumo (Shikigami of the Gap Youkai)
Master of Chen and the Shikigami and Righthand Woman of Yukari Yakumo. Ran is a former resident of the Animal Realm and an associate of the notorious Yuuma Toutetsu before the latter become the leader of the Gouyoku Alliance. However, Ran started to become disgusted with the realm's beastly ideology and left for Gensokyo. Eventually Yukari found her, and the gap youkai made Ran her shikigami. Being a kitsune (or a shikigami possessing the body of a kitsune) that possesses a full set of nine tails, Ran is a very wise, old, and powerful youkai. She's powerful enough to have a shikigami of her own, Chen.
My Thoughts: I didn't think too much about Ran before. I liked her design, but that was mostly due to me liking the aforementioned Tails from the Sonic Series who, as you may or may not know, is actually based off of the legendary kitsune. (I still like to joke about Ran being Tails' long lost ancestomother. Lol.) However, some time after UDoALG came out and expanded on her backstory, I think I've grown to like Ran much more. I think her history is Yuuma is interesting because of the possible scenarios you can make with them. What kind of scenarios? One word. ANGST. That might be a bit of an exaggeration, and I am sure that the two are still pretty close friends (at least I've read that Yuuma still treats her as such), but still whether you view them as former friends or even exes, the fact that they've gone in drastically different directions in life coupled with the fact that Yuuma is unrepentantly evil and (along with her rivals, Yachie and Saki) intends to conquer Gensokyo for herself which Yukari and Ran would not approve of, I can imagine it could cause a rift in the two's friendship. I just think it's interesting to explore the concept of how their circumstances could impact their relationship.
As for Ran's theme, Necrofantasy. It pretty good, even if I prefer the theme most associate her with Charming Domination ~ Who Done It? (I personally associate with the Yakumo family as a whole), as well as Yukari's theme Necrofantasia (which is a remix of Necrofantasy). In the former's case, It has this sort of climatic feel to it; As if you're in the final stretch before facing off against Yukari, with just both of her shikigami's (or at least Ran) standing in your way. It's one of if not one of my favorite stage themes in all of Touhou, especially the PCB Version.
Overall, Ran might be one my favorite characters from PCB, besides Yuyuko and Youmu.
Yukari Yakumo (Youkai of Boundaries)
A legendary youkai sage who serves as Ran and Chen's master and is able to manipulate boundaries. Her gaps allow her to travel almost anywhere, including the Outside World! Yukari is rather whimsical and lazy; She spends most of her time asleep, and in her waking hours, she likes to mess around with those around her. Despite this, Yukari is an extremely powerful youkai and is also very cunning. Because of how well informed she is, Yukari is a master planner, and is able to manipulate events and the people around her to get what she wants. Because of her unpredictable personality, many humans and youkai alike tend to avoid Yukari. Nobody knows what she will do next...
My Thoughts: Yukari. Yukari, Yukari, Yukari... My feelings toward Yukari are... mixed to say the least. What do I mean by that? She somehow manages to be incredible (in terms of power), attractive, annoying, insufferable, and scary all at the same time. I'm not going to bother explaining that second thing, so let's talk everything else.
I say she's incredible because she just goes to how powerful Touhou characters can get. Yukari isn't the MOST POWERFUL character ever to exist in fiction, or even the most powerful Touhou character, but she still comes very close to it. She's able to manipulate boundaries and borders. Do you know what that means? In a nutshell, it basically mean she can practically do whatever to heck she feels like. She's more or less a reality-warper. In a series where two vampire kids can manipulate fate and destroy absolutely anything, respectively, a ghost princess who can control death itself, a fairy tale princess who can manipulate eternity and the instantaneous, and a pet hell raven who make miniature stars, Yukari's ability is still pretty terrifying. I'm not saying all of Touhou's characters are nigh-unstoppable gods who can destroy anyone in a fight to the death, but still, and I say this as someone who watches Death Battle and has seen what kind of crazy stuff that characters it's featured can do, Yukari is the epitome of a cast whose more powerful characters are even capable of destroying most of Marvel, Dragon Ball, and even DC Comics casts, when they're at their fullest potential. Now how they'd fare against toons is another story entirely, but my point still stands.
Why do I say Yukari is annoying and insufferable? Well, let's just say she's not exactly the best person to be around... She's lazy, she's a prankster, and when she isn't one of those two things, she most likely has an ulterior motive in mind for taking an interest in you; like you being a part of her plan or something. She's unpredictable, but I'd say that's the whole point of her character. She can easily alternate being the ultimate good in a situation and the ultimate evil in another. Of course, I will give her credit. Everything she does is for the good of Gensokyo and for maintaining it's balance. So... yeah. As reiterate my ultimate good and evil point, she's not this justice-upholding hero, but she's not some cold and heartless villain either. She's could afford to treat Ran better though... And to stop being so sensitive about her age, at least in fanon.
Above all though, when you think about it Yukari is actually pretty... terrifying. As I said, she's one of the most powerful characters in Touhou, and maybe even all of fiction. And even if she isn't the latter, she's smart and cunning enough to outwit beings who are stronger than her... she's also aware of everything that goes on in Gensokyo, and while I imagine it's not easy to do because of how carefree she usually is, crossing her is basically a death sentence, so you have to watch yourself if you happen to cross paths with her even if she starts to get on your nerves. As if that wasn't scary enough, thanks to her gaps, Yukari can go almost anywhere, including the Outside World. Of course, she's just a fictional character, so there's no way she could actually show up in the real world, but still, the idea that Yukari could very well show up where you live at literally anytime, is terrifying. Especially if you take one of ZUN's comments about her separating Gensokyo from the real world at face value.
So what does all of THIS say about how I feel about Yukari? She's kinda weird. Her boss theme is pretty cool though.
Suika Ibuki (Tiny Night Parade a Hundred Demons)
Another old friend of Yukari's who has the ability to manipulate density. Suika is your typical oni. She has a love for drinking, partying, and fighting. She also possess the strength of an oni, being able to single handedly throw large boulders, and hates cowardice and dishonesty, even though she's slightly less honest than most oni. Suika herself is a happy-go-lucky fellow and can act as childish as she looks at times. However she's also very observant and can be rather critical of others at times.
My Thoughts: I'll make this shorter. Between her, Yuugi, and Kasen, I say I prefer Suika the least. She's not a character I dislike, she's just not one I hold much interest in. I do like her theme from SWR, Broken Moon though. It's pretty groovy.
Overall: I think PCB's cast is a step up from EoSD's. I don't really care too much for Letty or Lily, and Chen and IaMP debut, Suika, are just alright to me, but everyone else is a pretty interesting in their own right. Alice, The Prismrivers, Youmu, Yuyuko, Ran, and yes, even Yukari, have at least something about them that makes them pretty interesting to me, even if they're not a favorite of mine. I think overall, the PCB cast has this "je ne sais quoi" about them that I find very interesting. This game is where setting-wise, Touhou starts becoming more like "Touhou" as we know it, and I think these characters (at least most of them) really drive home that point.

1. Yuyuko Saigyouji
2. Ran Yakumo
3. Youmu Konpaku
4. Yukari Yakumo
5. Prismriver Sisters
6. Chen
7. Suika Ibuki
8. Letty Whiterock
9. Lily White

So those are my thoughts on the Perfect Cherry Blossom cast. Let me know what your thoughts are.
Up next will be the cast for Imperishable Night.

"Pretty interesting. This is literally the first time I ever posted a post in reddit so please excuse me. FYSA. No idea if this is related to this post I just saw 30min ago: https://www.reddit.com/pokemongo/comments/1covmv1/how_true_is_this_leak/
Context: Me and my spouse started playing PoGo 2 weeks ago, I played for a single day back in 2016, and had access to the same account.
On 11MAY2024 around 1100 CST, I tried logging onto PoGo and received screen that my account was permanently banned out of nowhere [Lets name this Account_1@gmail.com]. I have not used any sort of cheat, I only play this game with my wife whenever we go on a trail or grocery shopping. Rather, I paid $10-ish to change my gym (?) to be the same as my wife's so we can raid together. I didn't know how raid worked so I initially had a different team. It would be silly for me to pay real money in-game and also use cheat, imo. Subsequently, I received an email that my account has been submitted for deletion. At this point, I thought this was an automatic process after my account was banned.
I was initially upset that I was randomly banned, requested Niantic what ToS I violated, if there were any. Received what seems like a template response that answered nothing.
2 days ago, I made a new PoGo account [Account_2@gmail.com] while hoping my first account would be unbanned. This morning (13MAY2024) around 1030 CST, all my Pokemons are transferred into candies. I didn't have any rare pokemon so that was not the issue, but the issue is that my account was breached, and at this point I made a connection that this could be the same reason my first account was banned, and that the deletion process may not be automatic.
The twist, I work for a 3-lettered organization specializing in cyber. Brought this matter to couple of my colleagues and came up with few theories and additional questions. Here's the note below.
Account_1@gmail.com
"Permanently Banned"
Account deleted. See attached image.
Account_2@gmail.com
All Pokemon Transferred
Account accessed?
Both have different passwords.
Account_1 has 2-factor authentication, Account_2 does not. Did this result in the differing actions? (Deletion vs Transferred pokemons/Different actors?)
Both account's gmail received notification "Pokemon GO was granted access to your Google account" from "IPhone" in "Texas" prior to activity. (Account_1 = 1 day prior, Account_2 = 15min prior to log-in)
Account Deletion request requires Niantic sending an email with a "Code" to reply back with. The said code is STATIC. Amazingly, it does not change regardless of who submits it. Its the same code for everyone.
Theoretically, a spoofed email address sending the code to Niantic will complete the delete process. Second, the *Username does not matter in the Account Deletion form. I can literally name it anything. Cannot test as this is beyond jurisdiction.
Question still to be answered:
How was the email account leaked? Was it leaked/breached?
Why was Pokemon Go specifically targeted (If credentials were compromised, why was this the "first" target out of say, my banking apps?). Either the actor is trying to get my attention (unlikely as there's no benefit, or the actor is only capable of attacking through PoGo app)
Account_2@gmail.com's PoGo is assumed to be breached completely if Pokemon was "transferred"
I can try to sniff the network traffic from the app to see if credentials are being sent in cleartext, but I'm starting to lose interest and am considering just deleting the app. I attempted to notify Niantic but amazingly just received the same template response when my account was banned.
Maybe this info will help someone else, possibly research further but it'll be in the backburner."

⚠️ Attention all traders and holders of Chinese stocks: You should read this if you don’t know what a VIE is. Sure, most of you will be repelled by the great wall of text here (so many words!), but you might want to keep this post nearby.
Hello. You are aware that Wall Street’s bustling bazaar hosts a veritable Forbidden City of Chinese companies draped in ticker tape rather than silk. Today, I will provide background and data on all allowed Chinese companies listed on three of the largest U.S. stock exchanges: New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Nasdaq, and NYSE American.
I should note that a bustling troupe of 26 national securities exchanges are registered with the SEC in the United States. Most are owned by the Nasdaq, NYSE, or the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE).
Nonetheless, based on data from the World Federation of Exchanges as of August 2023, the NYSE and Nasdaq were the top two exchanges behemoths of the global financial stage, accounting for 42.4% of the total $110.2 trillion in valuation traded across 80 major global exchanges.
🖼️ I had a photo of Wall Street to add here, but I'm only allowed to include one attachment.
2022 vs. 2023
According to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, as of January 8, 2024, there were 265 Chinese companies listed on the three U.S. exchanges, with a total market capitalization of $848 billion. That valuation is down from a year prior—January 9, 2023—when a slightly lower 252 Chinese companies were tracked, but they represented a total market capitalization of $1.03 trillion.
Since January 2023, 24 Chinese companies have entered the spotlight of the three U.S. exchanges, raising $656 million in combined initial public offerings (IPOs). On the other hand, eleven Chinese companies have folded their tents and delisted.
China Securities Regulatory Commission
The American stock exchanges witnessed a springtime bloom of Chinese IPOs in the first quarter of 2023. However, this listing activity came to an abrupt halt as the clock struck March 31, 2023.
Why? The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) implemented a revised approval process for companies going public overseas.
I won’t get into the details, but China has rules to cap foreign investment and ownership in sectors deemed strategic, such as technology. In the past, those regulations have driven several Chinese firms to the legal gymnastics of a Variable Interest Entity (VIE) structure—a clever contrivance that allowed them to leapfrog domestic constraints.
However, under the revised review mechanism, every company, regardless of its corporate ownership structure, must now bow before the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to register its intent to list overseas.
🖼️ I had a photo of the CSRC building to add here, but I'm only allowed to include one attachment.
The gatekeeper
Therefore, although the CSRC touted this regulation as a necessary measure for enforcing regulatory compliance and preventing fraud (which is true), it also helps regulators act as gatekeepers poised to block any proposed listing they deem poses a risk to their national security or jeopardizes China's national interests.
This process is wide-ranging. For instance, it includes an evaluation of the company’s safeguards against disclosing what the Chinese Communist Party considers potential state secrets. But we’re not talking about top-secret black-ops projects meant to be hidden from international oversight committees. No… any company that collects personal information on more than one million users requires stern data security review mechanisms for its cross-border data flows.
For perspective, TikTok has over 150 million users in the U.S. alone and is not subject to the same scrutiny from the Western nations.
Currently, the CSRC approval process is reportedly taking upward of six months.
Audit inspections and investigations in China
You’re probably unaware of the HFCAA, so let’s start there.
The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act of 2020 (HFCAA) is a law that requires companies publicly listed on stock exchanges in the U.S. to disclose to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) information on foreign jurisdictions that prevent the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) from conducting inspections.
That law laid down a stern ultimatum: If Chinese authorities kept obstructing the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) from inspecting audit firms in China or Hong Kong for three consecutive years, the companies audited by these entities would face a ban from the bustling arenas of the U.S. exchanges.
Basically, either China allowed the PCAOB to inspect the audit firms, or the companies had to change to another auditing firm within three years.
Then, as 2022 waned to its final days (literally, on December 29), President Joe Biden signed a Consolidated Appropriations Act, which contained a provision that will tighten the noose, shortening future timelines from three consecutive years to only two.
Once they looked under the rock
Finally allowed to conduct full investigations of audit firms in mainland China and Hong Kong after over a decade of obstruction, the PCAOB announced the findings of its first round of inspections in May 2023, identifying deficiencies in seven of eight audits conducted by the auditing firms KPMG Huazhen and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Hong Kong. Audits of Chinese Companies Are Highly Deficient, U.S. Regulator Says
On November 30, 2023, the PCAOB announced fines against three audit firms in China, totaling $7.9 million for misconduct. For perspective, that number included the second and third-largest fines ever doled out by the PCAOB.
Why were the fines so bad?
Those sneaky Chinese accountants
Imagine a gaggle of accountants in the far reaches of PwC China and Hong Kong applying for a U.S. auditing curriculum. But alas, these foreign accountants find the U.S. auditing training tests a trifle tedious, so someone came up with the answers and decided to pass them around like a secret note in a schoolroom.
From 2018 to 2020, over 1,000 of these busy bees completed their U.S. auditing online exams by copying the answers from two unauthorized apps with a fervor that would make a gossip columnist blush.
When confronted with the evidence, PwC China and PwC Hong Kong response: 🤷‍♂️
And let me remind you, this happened late last year. Both firms are expected to provide reasonable assurance that their personnel will act with integrity in connection with internal training and to report their compliance to the PCAOB within 150 days—April 2024.
🖼️ I was planning on using an AI-generated image of Chinese accountants cheating, but I'm only allowed to include one attachment.
State-owned enterprises
According to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, this graph represents the total market capitalization of Chinese companies listed in the three U.S. exchanges.
Market Capitalization of Listed Chinese Companies
The number of listed companies has stayed at around 260. However, all Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have delisted themselves from U.S. exchanges, most of them soon after the PCAOB announced it had secured complete access to Chinese auditors’ records.
Variable Interest Entities (VIEs)
Most traders—and that means you—are unaware that 166 Chinese companies currently listed on the three major U.S. exchanges use a VIE structure.
As of January 8, 2024, these companies have a market capitalization of $772 billion. For perspective, that represents 91% of the total market capitalization of all the Chinese firms listed on the three major U.S. exchanges.
What the hell is a VIE?
It is a complex corporate structure that grants shareholders contractual claims to control via an offshore shell company without transferring actual ownership in the company.
A Variable Interest Entity (VIE) is a bit like a riverboat casino’s cleverest trick, allowing a company to sell its chips on a foreign table without ever letting the players hold the cards directly.
A VIE is a structure used primarily by companies that wish to partake in the financial streams of another country (the U.S. exchanges) without breaking local laws (Chinese laws) that prevent full ownership.
Remember, Chinese companies structured themselves as VIEs to circumvent China’s restrictions—not U.S. restrictions—on foreign ownership in industries the CCP deems sensitive.
Therefore, when you hold stock in one of these Chinese companies, you’re not officially holding any actual ownership in the company. Because if you did, then that company could be breaking Chinese restrictive caps on foreign investment and ownership.
That’s why they set up a façade, or a legal entity, that controls the business on paper, but the true power and profits are funneled back to the company pulling the strings.
Granted, it’s not as shaky as asking a random stranger to hold your shares, but it is crafty, and you should be aware of the risks.
Wait. What are the risks?
You need to understand that there’s a shadow of potential risk looming. Potential. Now, don't mistake me for the town crier of doom; I'm not proclaiming that the sky is falling on these shares. Nor am I declaring that disaster is certain for Chinese stocks.
What I am pointing out, however, is the presence of a risk—a subtle beast that might just catch you off guard if you remain unaware.
And let’s face it: Most of you are completely oblivious to these issues.
There are two sides here: 🇺🇸 & 🇨🇳
🇺🇸
Since July 2021, the SEC has imposed additional disclosure requirements for Chinese companies using a VIE to sell shares in the U.S. These requirements include greater transparency about the relationship between the VIE and its Chinese operating companies.
In summary, the SEC aims to push VIEs toward the company behind them to offer more clarity on U.S. investor ownership in the Chinese operating company.
🇨🇳
On the other side, Chinese companies that list overseas using a VIE were not required to register their listings with the CSRC, as the VIE is not considered a Chinese company under China’s law. This is the reason VIEs were used in the first place.
However, as I mentioned earlier, after March 31, 2023, the CSRC established requirements for all new Chinese companies to register and receive permission before going public overseas—even those planning to use VIE structures. That’s why there was a boom of Chinese IPOs before that deadline.
Granted, on September 14, 2023, a Chinese auto insurance platform became the first company that received the elusive blessing of the CSRC to list, and it did so using a VIE arrangement, breaking the long, dry spell that had plagued Chinese IPOs when she listed on the Nasdaq four days later.
However, even though VIEs received some sort of recognition from the CSRC, the VIE corporate structures still hold dubious legal status under China’s laws. Remember, VIEs purpose is to avoid being considered a Chinese company under China’s laws.
So… do you see the potential risk here?
Umm… No, I don’t get it.
Think about it. Either country could potentially increase regulations for VIEs, but if the SEC forces them to be more transparent, the VIE would not be able to circumvent China’s restrictions. That’s one risk.
Also, at some point, China’s CSRC might question whether it’s appropriate to recognize a corporate structure that was created to circumvent its laws.
Which leads me to this: What’s keeping the CCP from deciding to start reigning in those VIEs?
The answer is simple: They’re not in a hurry to do so because if misfortune should befall, it’ll be the foreign investors who’ll see their assets deflated like a punctured balloon.
🖼️ I would've added a nice image or two by now, to balance all the text and make this more appealing, but I'm only allowed to include one attachment.
If a VIE-listed company goes private at a lower valuation, businesses fail, or there’s a valuation discrepancy, the enforceability of a VIE’s contractual arrangements is unproven in Chinese courts. With VIE-listed companies, foreign investors’ recourse in the Chinese legal system is as elusive as a catfish’s whisper.
Yeah, but that’s unlikely…
Sure. Of course, I’m not saying every Chinese stock will have these issues. But it can happen. And it has happened.
The unlucky case of Luckin Coffee
Due to the lack of compliance with international audit inspections, Chinese corporate financial statements’ reliability for valuation and investment is not assured.
Such is the case of Luckin Coffee. In a bold bid to capture Wall Street’s hearts and wallets, Luckin Coffee showed up dressed in finery, flaunting alluring figures of revenue, operations, and bustling customer traffic.
At her grand debut, the stock sashayed onto the Nasdaq at $17, swirling up a storm of interested buyers to the tune of $561 million in capital.
For a fleeting moment, Luckin shimmered like a star over the financial firmament, boasting a market capitalization that soared to a heady $12 billion, with shares peaking just over $50.
Ah, but as the adage goes, ‘Truth will out.’ And out it came—the revelation of those embroidered numbers caused the company's stock to plummet like a stone tossed from a bridge, leaving a wake of investor losses and culminating in a disgraceful delisting from Nasdaq 13 months after her debut. Luckin Coffee Drops Nasdaq Appeal; Shares to Be Delisted
🖼️ I would've added an AI-generated image of a cup of Luckin Coffee jumping from a bridge, but I'm only allowed to include one attachment.
Well… but that won’t happen to me…
Uh-huh. On April 2, 2020, after announcing that employees—including its chief operating officer—falsified 2.2 billion yuan (about $310 million) in sales throughout 2019, Luckin's shares nosedived -80%.
This is from one of you unluckin bastards: I've lost 240k on Luckin Coffee, all my life savings. Now I'm broke af.
I’m sure many of you might reckon yourselves immune to a similar debacle since you think you’re smart enough to use stops to escape any runaway losses. It's time to wake up and smell the Luckin coffee. Chinese news catalysts often strike like lightning at night, and the stops you set under the sun cannot shield you from storms that explode in the moonlight. Dumbass.
Chinese regulators can be mercurial
Even though the PCAOB is currently able to perform its oversight responsibilities, concerns remain around the possibility that Chinese regulators might backtrack, potentially clamping down once again on the PCAOB's ability to access audit firms and personnel across mainland China and Hong Kong.
If that happens, the PCAOB can quickly declare a negative determination. HOWEVER, this action would only start the countdown under the HFCAA, giving U.S.-listed Chinese companies a window of TWO years to secure services from an auditor in a compliant jurisdiction or face a trading ban. That’s it.
Of course, within that time, Chinese regulators could agree once again to allow access to the PCAOB, thus resetting the two-year countdown without significant consequences.
What lurks in the shadows
Although the risk of PCAOB non-compliance looms over these financial engagements, it is the ghost of potentially misconstrued—or, let's say, creatively presented—earnings reports coming to light that should scare you most. Or, on the flip side, present the biggest opportunity.
I believe it is possible that there are several ghosts out there—ghastly financial figures dressed up a tad too finely—lingering in the shadows, unchecked and unchallenged. If they’re found and unveiled under the harsh spotlight of scrutiny, the fallout would be immediate and severe, leaving investors scrambling.
And if that happens, it’s not about diamond-holding through the plunge since the company might opt (or be forced) to delist from the U.S. exchanges.
🖼️ I would've added an AI-generated image of an attractive young Chinese ghost woman, implying both the allure of Chinese stocks, but also the risk of getting closer. However, I'm only allowed to include one attachment.
You need to understand a crucial concept. Many traders believe that if a company messes up, plunges, and gets delisted, it means the company is basically over—dead. But that’s not the case here. A delisting does not equal death.
I mean, Luckin Coffee is still out there, alive and kicking.

16,218 stores and counting, covering 240+ cities across China.

You would think that a company like that would not be able to cheat on its balance sheet. Yeah, just like you would think PwC China would notice 1,000 accountants cheated their way through the U.S. auditing curriculum.
🖼️ I would've added an AI-generated image of a Chinese accountant dabbing like a boss for getting his cheated accounting diploma, but I'm only allowed to include one attachment.
So… is it too far-fetched to believe more ghosts might come to light, now that the PCAOB can supervise the numbers?
I mentioned a flip side since you could specialize in tracking everything the PCAOB does. If you can get a whiff about increased auditing on a certain company, you might decide to play a short position in anticipation of a potential ghost coming to light. Be warned, though, that it’s not as if they tweet out which companies they’re auditing.
If I were to do it, I would research and join whatever digital saloon young Chinese ledger-keepers convene in. Perhaps I’d stumble upon a post by SumYungGuy or another pleading for advice on how to parley with the PCAOB Laowai making a fuss over his figures. The poor lad's in a pickle, you see, since he cheated the exam and doesn’t know squat.
Methodology
For the purposes of this table, a company is considered Chinese if:

1. It has been identified as being from the PRC (the People's Republic of China) by the relevant stock exchange;
2. It lists a PRC address as its principal executive office in filings with the SEC; or
3. It has a majority of operations in the PRC, including a company structured offshore but whose value is ultimately tied through a relationship in the PRC.

⚠️ Some Chinese companies that use offshore corporate entities hide or do not identify their primary Chinese corporate domicile in their listing information. This complicates tracing, making it difficult to guarantee that this list captures all Chinese companies registered offshore.
I should also point out that this list does not include companies domiciled exclusively in Hong Kong or Macau.
⚠️ Remember, this list only considers Chinese companies listed on three of the largest U.S. stock exchanges: New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Nasdaq, and NYSE American.
Oh, and btw, this isn’t a list I came up with. This info was compiled by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. It’s their methodology and list.
Since the majority is a VIE, I’ve marked the ones that are not registered as a VIE with an asterisk (*). This is determined using the most recent annual report filed with the SEC. A company is judged to have a VIE if:

1. It explicitly describes using a VIE to conduct all or part of its business operations in China, or
2. It describes a subsidiary in which it has no direct equity interest but relies on contractual arrangements to exercise control and receive economic benefits from its operations in China.

⚠️ For companies that have been listed for less than a year, information contained in the company’s most recently updated investment prospectus, as filed with the SEC, is used instead.
Chinese companies listed on U.S. exchanges
Companies are arranged by the size of their current market capitalization. All companies utilize a VIE corporate structure, except those marked with an asterisk (*).
BABA Alibaba Group Holding Limited PDD Pinduoduo Inc. NTES NetEase, Inc. JD JD.com, Inc. BIDU Baidu, Inc TCOM Trip.com International, Ltd. TME Tencent Music Entertainment Group LI Li Auto BEKE KE Holdings BGNE BeiGene * ZTO ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. YUMC Yum China Holdings Inc. EDU New Oriental Education & Technology Group, Inc. HTHT H World Group Limited * NIO NIO Inc. YMM Full Truck Alliance Co. Ltd VIPS Vipshop Holdings Limited TAL TAL Education Group LEGN Legend Biotech * MNSO Miniso * BZ Kanzhun Limited XPEV Xpeng BILI Bilibili Inc. IQ iQIYI, Inc. HCM HUTCHMED (China) Limited * ATHM Autohome Inc. QFIN Qifu Technology RLX RLX Technology LU Lufax ATAT Atour Lifestyle Holdings * WB Weibo Corporation ZLAB Zai Lab Limited * ZKH ZKH Group Ltd * YY JOYY Inc. GOTU Gaotu Techedu, Inc. MSC Studio City International Holdings Limited * GCT GigaCloud Technology Inc GDS GDS Holdings Limited ACMR ACM Research, Inc. * HOLI Hollysys Automation Technologies, Ltd. * FINV FinVolution Group JKS JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. * DQ Daqo New Energy Corp. * MOMO Hello Group Inc. CSIQ Canadian Solar Inc. * EH Ehang TUYA Tuya Inc. NOAH Noah Holdings Ltd. HUYA HUYA Inc. KC Kingsoft Cloud YALA Yalla *
These are only 51 of the 261 Chinese companies currently listed on the major U.S. exchanges to comply with rule three. I kept the market cap minimum at $750M to allow for some wiggle room.
I mentioned earlier that the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission had 265 tickers, but that was on January 8, 2024. Since then, three companies have been acquired, and the other one has voluntarily delisted.
As you can confirm, the vast majority is structured as a VIE.
I was going to include charts to illustrate how several Chinese stocks—aside from the ones with the biggest market caps—tend to display sudden rallies, followed by after-hours reversals. It is important to recognize them, whether you want to capitalize on them, or avoid them entirely. But I can't add any more attachments, so...
Besides, it's unlikely that many of you have even read this far without images.
Have a good day.