Alibaba's Qwen app introduced paid subscription tiers for its office assistant on August 10, becoming the second major Chinese AI platform after ByteDance's Doubao to move professional productivity features behind a paywall. The launch follows an estimated RMB 6 billion (approximately $889 million) Spring Festival marketing campaign that produced a 940% peak in daily active users, which nearly halved when subsidies stopped. The Professional Membership includes three tiers: Premium at RMB 19 per month (approximately $3) or RMB 200 per year (approximately $30); Elite at RMB 49 per month (approximately $7) or RMB 568 per year (approximately $84); and a flagship plan at RMB 128 per month (approximately $19) or RMB 1,499 per year (approximately $222). Basic access remains free, and video generation credits are sold separately. During China's 2026 Spring Festival, Alibaba committed RMB 3 billion (approximately $445 million) to Qwen's "Spring Festival Treat Plan," offering free bubble tea, groceries, and daily goods via AI voice command. On the first day, daily active users jumped from 7.06 million to 73.5 million, a 940% single-day increase. Per-capita daily usage time, which averaged 6.3 minutes before the campaign, dropped to a minimum of 3 minutes during the festival. After subsidies ended, daily active users nearly halved.