https://www.scmp.com/rss/521367/feed Edith is an undergraduate student at the Hong Kong Baptist University, majoring in international journalism. Her interests lie in society, culture and the environment. She also has experience in video productions and photo essays. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Edith Mao Edith Mao A fleet of large barges in the People’s Liberation Army has been assigned hull numbers, suggesting the vessels have entered service in what would be Beijing’s latest move to deter Taiwan militarily. Internet users spotted three advanced specialised island-landing vessels from the “Dong Gong” series docked at a beach in mainland China in June, each bearing a hull number in the sequence 401 to 403. The markings mean the ships serve in the PLA’s Eastern Theatre Command, according to Song Zhongping,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3325278/hull-numbers-pla-fleet-barges-mean-they-are-now-service-analyst?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3325278/hull-numbers-pla-fleet-barges-mean-they-are-now-service-analyst?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Sep 2025 06:00:12 +0000 Edith Mao Edith Mao US President Donald Trump’s methods for mediating international conflicts may backfire and lead to more confrontation, experts in China have warned. Trump’s mediation tactics revealed a power politics approach and constituted ill-advised interference in the long term, Zhang Luwei, a research associate at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said in an article published on the institute’s social media account last week. She said Trump was known for taking a high profile... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3322166/trump-being-put-forward-nobel-peace-prize-so-he-must-be-top-mediator-right?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3322166/trump-being-put-forward-nobel-peace-prize-so-he-must-be-top-mediator-right?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Aug 2025 14:00:08 +0000 Edith Mao Edith Mao China has been urged to speed up the development of solar power in space to gain a stronger footing in the new energy sector and the space race. Ge Changchun, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, called in an article for a top-down strategy to speed up efforts to develop the technology and narrow the gap with the United States in sectors such as materials and precision control. Space solar power facilities are designed to be built and operated in orbit, where they convert solar... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3322058/china-urged-boost-space-solar-power-technology-efforts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3322058/china-urged-boost-space-solar-power-technology-efforts?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Aug 2025 15:00:09 +0000 Edith Mao Edith Mao The rainy season in northern China traditionally arrives in July and August and this year it hit hard – again. In late July, the capital Beijing and neighbouring Hebei province were battered by heavy rain that left dozens of people dead. In one case, 31 people died in a nursing home in the northern Beijing district of Miyun in an area that had been considered safe from flooding. This year’s disaster is the fifth of its kind in the country’s north since 2012. Is the flooding in Beijing unusual... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3321331/beijing-has-been-hit-deadly-floods-again-it-unusual?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3321331/beijing-has-been-hit-deadly-floods-again-it-unusual?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Aug 2025 06:00:14 +0000 Edith Mao Edith Mao The agency’s advertisement promised just the kind of “cutting-edge” expertise that Chris Wong was looking for. The 21-year-old arts student was aiming to get into a graduate programme overseas after completing his studies in Australia, and the “commercial research” firm could give him a ticket in. For nearly 20,000 yuan (US$2,800), the Beijing-based agency would guide Wong through a three-month independent online course of study in his field to produce a research paper that would be published in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3320484/chinas-new-breed-academic-paper-mills-promising-shortcut-grad-school?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3320484/chinas-new-breed-academic-paper-mills-promising-shortcut-grad-school?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Aug 2025 11:00:13 +0000 Edith Mao Edith Mao China’s top anti-spy agency has advised citizens travelling abroad to be wary of accepting souvenirs that could be used for surveillance. Items such as backpack charms, key rings, necklaces and earrings might have hidden spy functions, including cameras, listening devices and tracking features, the Ministry of State Security warned on social media on Tuesday. It said the public must understand national security regulations and exercise caution with these “modified travel souvenirs”. It added... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3319118/china-warns-souvenirs-overseas-could-spy-citizens-and-leak-state-secrets?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3319118/china-warns-souvenirs-overseas-could-spy-citizens-and-leak-state-secrets?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Jul 2025 08:00:13 +0000 Edith Mao Edith Mao China’s top anti-spying agency has urged citizens to beware of data leakage through deliberately designed or maliciously embedded “technical back doors” in chips and smart gadgets produced overseas, warning of risks to national security. The Ministry of State Security said on its official social media page on Monday that imported chips, software and smart devices for critical sectors might feature embedded “exploits” or access points at the initial design stage. These would allow malicious... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3319013/china-warns-security-risks-bad-actor-back-doors-imported-chips-smart-devices?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3319013/china-warns-security-risks-bad-actor-back-doors-imported-chips-smart-devices?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Jul 2025 11:00:19 +0000 Edith Mao Edith Mao China’s expanded efforts to encourage visitors continued to pay off in the first half of 2025, with the number of visa-free foreign entries rising by more than half compared to the same period a year earlier. Foreign nationals made 38 million trips in and out of the country, a 30 per cent increase year on year, according to the National Immigration Administration. “Visa facilitation measures have effectively attracted large numbers of foreign visitors for tourism and business, driving sustained... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3318452/chinas-visa-free-boom-picks-steam-entries-soar-first-half-2025?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3318452/chinas-visa-free-boom-picks-steam-entries-soar-first-half-2025?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Jul 2025 10:38:04 +0000 Edith Mao Edith Mao In a rare admission of misconduct, a county government in southern China has promised to “promptly correct” plagiarised sections of an official document. The government of Pingle county in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region said on Tuesday that it had detected plagiarism in “a limited number of paragraphs” in its 2023-2030 forest fire prevention plan. Authorities checked the document after media reports of suspected plagiarism and found the claim was “essentially true”, the county government said... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3318288/chinese-county-admits-plagiarism-after-web-users-flag-data-filed-another-400km-away?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3318288/chinese-county-admits-plagiarism-after-web-users-flag-data-filed-another-400km-away?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Jul 2025 06:00:13 +0000 Edith Mao Edith Mao It was a golden opportunity for academic exchange when Chinese mathematician Hong Wang, a contender for a top award, gave lectures at universities in Beijing last month, but instead her overseas experience and use of English made her an unexpected victim of rising nationalism in China. The 34-year-old mathematician earned global attention last year when a paper she co-authored solved the three-dimensional Kakeya conjecture – a century-old problem in geometric measure theory. The study, with... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3317963/chinas-cyber-nationalists-target-maths-star-hong-wang-over-lectures-english?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3317963/chinas-cyber-nationalists-target-maths-star-hong-wang-over-lectures-english?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Jul 2025 02:00:16 +0000 Edith Mao Edith Mao China identified 38 new sites of mineral reserves in the first half of this year, discoveries that are expected to help the country meet its resource security goals. The Ministry of Natural Resources said on Thursday that the number of new mineral sites increased 31 per cent year on year during the period, and included the discovery of reserves with an estimated 3.37 million tonnes of rubidium and 81 tonnes of gold. Rubidium is used in biomedicine, telecommunication systems, pyrotechnics and... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3317722/global-race-critical-minerals-china-identifies-dozens-new-reserves?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3317722/global-race-critical-minerals-china-identifies-dozens-new-reserves?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 11 Jul 2025 02:00:12 +0000 Carl Zhang,Edith Mao Carl Zhang,Edith Mao It was not quite the American Super Bowl but it was a big moment nonetheless. In the middle of last month, as two amateur football teams from two small cities in eastern China took to the field, a fleet of light aircraft flew over the stadium. The fly-past at the Yangzhou Sports Park Stadium was testament to the popularity of the competition the two teams were playing in, the Jiangsu City Football League – also known as the Su Super League. The league, which is in its first season, pits 13 teams... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3317070/how-amateur-sport-making-it-big-leagues-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3317070/how-amateur-sport-making-it-big-leagues-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Jul 2025 06:00:19 +0000 Edith Mao Edith Mao A Chinese model from the southern province of Guangdong has been rescued from Myanmar after he was lured under the pretext of an overseas job last month, according to the Chinese embassy in Thailand. “The Chinese citizen surnamed Zhong has been rescued under the collaborative efforts of all parties,” the embassy said in a statement on Friday. “We once again warn Chinese citizens to beware of overseas ‘high-paying job’ scams. Foreign nationals need proper work permits for employment in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3316960/chinese-model-lured-myanmar-scam-job-rescued-after-sister-raises-alarm-thailand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3316960/chinese-model-lured-myanmar-scam-job-rescued-after-sister-raises-alarm-thailand?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Jul 2025 08:42:16 +0000 Edith Mao Edith Mao Japan Airlines flight JL8696 from Shanghai to Tokyo was forced to make an emergency landing at Kansai Airport on Monday evening after what passengers described as a sudden descent in the aircraft. The aircraft was on a code-share service operated by budget carrier Spring Airlines Japan as IJ004 from Pudong to Narita when it diverted to the airport in Osaka for an emergency landing at around 8.50pm local time. None of the 191 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 737-800 was injured. According... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3316523/chinese-passengers-describe-aircrafts-violent-plunge-emergency-landing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3316523/chinese-passengers-describe-aircrafts-violent-plunge-emergency-landing?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 Jul 2025 10:33:14 +0000 Edith Mao Edith Mao A China-led international deep-sea cooperative exploration project has won United Nations approval, paving the way for Beijing’s increased participation in global science and technology governance. The Global Hadal Exploration Programme (GHEP) aims to penetrate the mysteries of the deepest waters, in response to the UN goal of protecting and sustainably developing the oceans. The multi-country initiative, spearheaded by the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering at the Chinese Academy of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3316070/china-steps-deep-sea-science-role-un-backed-oceans-exploration-project?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3316070/china-steps-deep-sea-science-role-un-backed-oceans-exploration-project?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Jun 2025 08:00:09 +0000 Carl Zhang,Edith Mao Carl Zhang,Edith Mao China’s military academies are seeing growing interest from students as the government offers incentives such as subsidised tuition fees to attract more young recruits and as rivalry with the United States drives patriotism. The defence ministry’s announcement last month that three new military academies would start recruiting high school graduates from this summer has been viewed more than 8 million times on social media platform Weibo. Many users said they were excited to have the opportunity... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3315238/why-more-young-chinese-have-military-academies-their-sights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3315238/why-more-young-chinese-have-military-academies-their-sights?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Jun 2025 04:00:07 +0000 Carl Zhang,Edith Mao Carl Zhang,Edith Mao For two decades, it was popular for many Chinese families to send their children on “study tours” overseas – most often to the United States – during the summer. The programmes generally involved summer camps jointly organised by American universities and language institutions, as well as visits to colleges, museums and tourist attractions. In 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, around 1.3 million Chinese students spent part of their summer holidays studying overseas, according to a report by... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3314463/end-summer-us-study-trips-chinese-children?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3314463/end-summer-us-study-trips-chinese-children?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Jun 2025 12:00:08 +0000 Carl Zhang,Edith Mao Carl Zhang,Edith Mao The United States embassy in China has tightened its visa policy for children under the age of 14 years by removing an interview-free application process. The decision follows Washington’s recent threats to “aggressively revoke” the visas of Chinese students studying in the country and increase scrutiny of future applications. In a notice posted on its official visa application website USTravelDocs on Monday, the embassy said that applicants under 14 who submit a non-immigrant visa application... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3313903/chinese-children-under-14-become-latest-targets-tougher-us-visa-policies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3313903/chinese-children-under-14-become-latest-targets-tougher-us-visa-policies?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Jun 2025 14:00:16 +0000