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China innovators

China innovators
Entrepreneurs and companies helping to lead the world’s second largest economy away from being the world’s factory into being one of its leading innovators and experimenters.
An aerial view of the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park which, together with the Shenzhen park on the other side of the river, forms the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone, seen on December 22. Photo: Eugene Lee
Hong Kong economy

Opinion | With Hetao tech hub, Hong Kong is reimagining its economic future

The city is pivoting towards hi-tech development and greater cross-border integration while committing to innovation ecosystem synergy.

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China society

Opinion | Key lessons from China’s ascent over the past 25 years

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Hong Kong stock market

Standard Chartered keeps overweight call on China stocks, flags recovery in 2026

China’s private sector

China’s growing young billionaire class masks innovation hurdles, analysts say

Technological innovation – one of Beijing’s top priorities – is helping to drive wealth creation, report says.

Wang Ning, the 38-year-old founder and CEO of Pop Mart, is one of China’s youngest billionaires.
China economy

Opinion | As China’s tech rises, companies must rethink their R&D strategy

Firms seeking to localise in China must see the country not just as a place to manufacture and sell, but as a co-creator and innovator.

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China’s fourth plenum

Opinion | 15th five-year plan charts a course for China’s modernisation

By building on past successes and shoring up areas of weakness, China can lay firm foundations to achieve socialist modernisation.

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China technology

Editorial | Chinese science contributes to safe and peaceful nuclear power

Scientists like Xu Hongjie, who pioneered China’s thorium reactor programme, are paving the way for peaceful nuclear energy.

Researchers position an alloy material sample used in building a thorium molten salt reactor at a lab in Shanghai on October 23. Photo: EPA/Xinhua
US-China tech war

Rokid’s AI eyewear joins the quest to be the biggest thing since the smartphone

Start-up Rokid is teaming up with eyewear brand Bolon on lightweight AI glasses as competition heats up to deliver the next ‘iPhone moment’.

China manufacturing

Chinese AI, humanoid robot make Time magazine’s ‘Best Inventions of 2025’ list

New generation of innovators in spotlight as DeepSeek’s advanced reasoning model and Unitree’s affordable humanoid draw acclaim.

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Artificial intelligence

Exclusive | Zhipu AI sees tenfold surge in foreign users as Chinese AI gains traction

The Beijing start-up is leveraging its affordable ‘good enough’ open model to compete in the fast-growing AI coding market.

Mobile phone shows the website of Beijing Zhipu Huazhang Technology (Z.ai). Photo: Shutterstock
China manufacturing

China calls for faster, wider adoption of advanced tech to strengthen industry

Locked in a tech war with the US, Beijing seeks greater commercialisation of cutting-edge technologies through large-scale application.

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Manufacturing technology in China. Photo: Shutterstock Images
Mainland China

When mines run dry: why some Chinese cities are racing to reinvent themselves

Once China’s answer to Pittsburgh, steel hub Panzhihua faces same challenge as other old industrial cities: how to avoid ‘rust belt’ decline.

China’s economic stimulus

Explainer | China has a new 500 billion yuan ‘financial instrument’. How will it be used?

Beijing created the special financing tool to turbocharge domestic innovation and help the economy ride out the trade war.

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China economy

Opinion | How China can position its K visa for success in race for global tech talent

Beijing must assuage local concerns while ensuring transparent selection, institutional support and the equitable integration of foreigners.

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China’s K visa, launched on October 1, marks a significant shift in its global talent strategy. Photo: Shutterstock
China economy

Opinion | Critics are missing the big picture on China’s economic transition

Thanks to green infrastructure, digital connectivity and world-class research, China’s economy is no longer reliant on one source of growth.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Open Questions series

Open Questions | Economist Liu Qian on China’s innovation, rivalry with US

From DeepSeek to WeChat, China innovates differently, says Liu, who also weighs in on the Thucydides Trap and Chinese women’s advancement.

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China technology

China vows faster global roll-out of BeiDou, its GPS rival, to expand ‘friends’

From smartphones to e-bikes, the system has rapidly embedded itself in daily life at home – now, Beijing eyes faster international expansion.

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China manufacturing

The hidden standards battle: inside China’s push to rewire global manufacturing

China is quietly vying to influence the bodies that set global manufacturing standards, which Europe and the US have long dominated.

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Illustration: Henry Wong
China energy security

China targets global leadership in AI-driven energy sector by 2030

Beijing plans to incorporate the cutting-edge tech across energy as part of its new “AI Plus” strategy.

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China education

AI enters the classroom: China’s Hangzhou makes lessons compulsory in schools

Local governments are beginning to take action after Beijing said it wants all primary and secondary students to study the advanced tech.

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Technology

Editorial | First humanoid robot games are proof the future is already here

From automation to athletics, the merging of artificial intelligence with robotics holds great promise, and peril.

Unitree Robotics and Tiangong humanoid robots compete in the 100m final at the inaugural World Humanoid Robot Games, at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, on August 17. Photo: Reuters
US-China trade war

China debuts first e-beam lithography tool for commercial use in chip milestone

Beijing’s efforts to build its own chipmaking tools may be paying off as global competition in the sector heats up.

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Electronic engineer holding computer chip with Chinese flag design. Photo: Shutterstock Images
China consumption

Beijing urged to curb ‘free milk tea’-style cash burn in e-commerce battle

Instant retail has potential to boost domestic demand, but more government policy support needed to end excessive competition, central bank adviser says.

China shipbuilding

Why China’s first rocket recovery ship is a milestone for its space programme

The launch of the drone ship marks a step forward for China’s push to develop reusable rockets, a technology currently monopolised by the US.

China travel

China’s high-speed rail nears 50,000km milestone – but is it sustainable?

The network dwarfs global rivals and has reshaped domestic travel – but analysts warn debt levels cannot be ignored.

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A volunteer holds leaflets as he stands near a 600km/h High Speed Maglev model showcasing at the National Railway Test Center during a tour by delegates to the World Congress on High-Speed Rail held in Beijing, on July 9. Photo: AP
Made in China 2025

China’s booming low-altitude economy spurs demand for ‘drone flight planners’

Beijing eyes growth in the emerging sector, but industry faces a severe talent shortage.

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Employees work on the production line of drones at the workshop of an aviation technology enterprise on May 16, 2024, in Anqing, Anhui province of China. Photo: VCG via Getty Images
China food security

Why is China converting cargo ships into giant floating fish farms?

China wants to build a ‘marine bread basket’ to shore up its food supply. Its latest idea: turning old vessels into mobile fish farms.

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US-China trade war

Nvidia CEO shines in China – but trade war fears still lurk beneath surface

AI-fuelled optimism casts light on recent China-US thaw, but the shadow of tariffs continues to haunt businesses.

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