https://www.scmp.com/rss/329064/feed Ni Tao is a journalist-turned-entrepreneur who specialises in cross-cultural communication. He is an independent business analyst and university lecturer. He received his BA from Fudan University’s School of International Relations and Public Affairs. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Ni Tao Ni Tao Hangzhou’s space industry got off to a flying start in 2026. On January 7, China’s leading private rocket firm Space Epoch broke ground on a medium-to-large liquid rocket assembly, testing and reuse facility in Hangzhou’s Qiantang district. Basing this in the port city allows the rockets to be transported by sea to launch areas in the East China Sea and recovered the same way. Logistics alone do not explain the decision. Space Epoch is plugging into an industrial ecosystem Hangzhou has been... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3341303/how-hangzhous-tech-ecosystem-nurtures-dragons-and-rockets?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3341303/how-hangzhous-tech-ecosystem-nurtures-dragons-and-rockets?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Jan 2026 08:30:09 +0000 Ni Tao Ni Tao For years, many foreign companies treated China as a vast consumer base or a low-cost manufacturing hub. Now that paradigm is shifting dramatically. China is not just where multinationals scale production or sell at volume; it is increasingly where they make strategic decisions, engage in serious research and development and innovate in ways that will have a global impact. For example, take Toyota’s R&D centre in Changshu, Jiangsu province. Led by local engineers, it has helped develop electric... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3333238/chinas-tech-rises-companies-must-rethink-their-rd-strategy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3333238/chinas-tech-rises-companies-must-rethink-their-rd-strategy?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Nov 2025 21:30:09 +0000 Last week, China’s statistics bureau revealed the country’s population had fallen by 2.08 million in 2023 to 1.409 billion – the second straight year China has reported a decrease. The 2022 population was already 850,000 smaller than the previous year. The rapidly greying nation seems to be headed for a demographic cliff. Looking back on China’s reform and opening up, its success was predicated on two pillars: institutional deregulation and the demographic dividends of a young and growing... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3249139/greying-china-poised-reap-new-economic-dividend-robotics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3249139/greying-china-poised-reap-new-economic-dividend-robotics?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Jan 2024 21:30:11 +0000 The dust might have settled inside the court on the Kangmei Pharmaceutical case, China’s first class-action lawsuit against corporate fraud, but aftershocks continue to reverberate across the business world. Twelve Kangmei executives, including former chairman and general manager Ma Xingtian, were found guilty of doctoring financial statements, among other charges. Ma was sentenced to 12 years in prison. In addition to the ruling that Kangmei must pay 55,326 investors a total of 2.46 billion... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3157659/how-learning-us-best-practices-can-aid-chinas-corporate-fraud-fight?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3157659/how-learning-us-best-practices-can-aid-chinas-corporate-fraud-fight?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Nov 2021 19:30:21 +0000 No industry’s fortunes have perhaps declined more precipitously than China’s education technology, or edtech, sector in the past year. Its leading players were jubilant around this time last year, buoyed by fresh rounds of funding as though the tap would never run dry. Private equity firms injected 103.4 billion yuan (US$15.9 billion) into the sector last year, according to itjuzi.com, a start-up-focused media outlet. K-12 education service providers alone received 46 billion yuan in funding,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3144388/chinas-education-crackdown-welcome-move-away-profit-obsessed-growth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3144388/chinas-education-crackdown-welcome-move-away-profit-obsessed-growth?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Aug 2021 01:15:13 +0000 If you think 86-year-old Zheng Bijian’s best years are behind him, think again. The strategist and former executive vice-president of the Central Party School is best known for his coinage “peaceful rise”, which has been the defining notion of China’s foreign policy for well over a decade. For almost as long, however, Zheng has been besieged by criticism, first from the likes of University of Chicago professor John J. Mearsheimer, a realist who contends that China’s rise will inevitably lead to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2169955/how-china-can-turn-trade-war-strategic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2169955/how-china-can-turn-trade-war-strategic?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Oct 2018 19:04:12 +0000