Prince William meets China’s Alibaba’s CEO

Here in China on his maiden visit, the U.K.’s Prince William met with a dual line-up of heavyweights. One was Chinese President Xi Jinping. The other was Chinese e-commerce mogul Jack Ma.

初次访华的英国威廉王子见了中国的两大重量级人物。一位是中国国家主席习近平。另外一位是中国的电子商务巨头马云。

During a tightly scheduled day yesterday, the Duke of Cambridge met with Mr. Xi in Beijing, followed by an evening chat in Shanghai with the chair of e-commerce giant Alibaba, according to an article posted on the company’s official WeChat account.

昨天，在安排紧密的行程中，威廉王子在北京受到习近平主席的接见。随后，据阿里巴巴官方微信帐号发表的文章，威廉王子在上海与电子商务巨头阿里巴巴主席马云夜谈。

“Jack, how’s business?” Alibaba quoted the prince as saying.

阿里巴巴引用威廉王子的话，“马云先生，最近生意如何？”

Alibaba has taken the occasion of the prince’s visit to kick off a British-themed promotion event. The company’s retailing site Tmall.com has more than 130 British vendors selling to Chinese consumers, and this week the company promoted British-inspired products ranging from a tea infuser with a handle shaped like a Queen Elizabeth doll to a style of comb supposedly used by Prince William’s wife, Kate Middleton.

阿里巴巴以威廉王子访华为契机，开展了英伦主题的促销活动。已有超过130家英国品牌在阿里巴巴零售网站天猫开设了官方旗舰店，服务中国消费者。本周，该公司还推出了各种各样英国风格的产品，从伊丽莎白女王公仔形状把手的泡茶工具到凯特王妃同款的梳子。

The British Consulate General in Shanghai didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

英国驻上海总领事馆对此并未立即作出评论。

Alibaba said that sales of British merchandise on Tmall grew 94 percent over the past year, with an increasing number British brands choosing to market to Chinese consumers online. In late 2013, Mr. Ma and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron signed an agreement between Alibaba and the U.K. Trade & Investment department to promote the sale of British goods on the company’s sites.

阿里巴巴表示，过去一年，天猫商城英国商品销量增长了94%，越来越多英国品牌选择向中国消费者在线销售商品。2013年末，马云和英国首相卡梅伦分别代表阿里巴巴和英国投资贸易总署签署了一份协议，促进英国商品在阿里巴巴网站上的销售。

“[Chinese consumers] need high-quality products and good service,” the company quoted Mr. Ma as saying in a Monday press release. “And Europe, you have the best quality. You have very creative products, and good healthy products and services.”

“中国消费者需要高质量的产品和优质的服务。”阿里巴巴引用马云在周一的新闻发布会上的讲话。“而欧洲拥有最好的质量，拥有有创意的产品，拥有健康的产品和服务。”

Apart from business, the prince and Mr. Ma also discussed wild animal protection and Mr. Ma’s recent investment in a Chinese soccer team, the company said.

除了商务外，威廉王子和马云还讨论了野生动物保护和马云最近投资中国足球队的话题。