I believe part of the reason for the rise is because btcc (dax) exchange just got launched by Charlie Lee brother Bobby Lee. I feel smart traders are pre pricing in early for the event when Litecoin gets to be traded on BTCC (Dax)
When looking at the btcc website it looks exactly like coinbase and gdax. This is pretty much the coinbase of china it appears. Website looks slick and usa friendly to use.
The exchange btcc has been up and running for many years. It was founded in June 2011, it was the China's first bitcoin exchange. So it has nothing to do with it.
btcc did recently open a new mining pool in China which so far has attracted very few miners. It is hoped that it will attract some miners from f2pool to better balance miner distribution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BTC_China