How Chinese is Shein?

To which country does Shein belong? The online apparel giant, headquartered in Singapore, is expected to list its shares in London in the coming months. Earlier this year Donald Tang, its executive chairman, proclaimed it to be American, by virtue of its values and the fact that it makes most of its money there. Meanwhile, most of Shein’s employees are in China, where the company was founded in 2012. All this might suggest Shein is multinational, beholden to no single country. Unfortunately, the matter is not so straightforward for a firm that straddles China and the West.