This is the first part of a series exploring China’s recent moves against the technology industry. When Communist Party mouthpieces People’s Daily and Xinhua News Agency? published eight articles in one week in 2017 comparing Tencent Holdings’ hit mobile game Honour of Kings to “poisonous drugs”, founder and CEO Pony Ma took action. On July 14, 2017, the gaming and social media tycoon went to Beijing to meet with the editors responsible for wiping out nearly US$17.5 billion (HK$136 billion) from his company’s market value. People’s Daily greeted the billionaire with standard-practice courtesy for a person of his status: a…