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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.
A drone photo taken on February 21 shows tourists taking yachts in Sanya, south China’s Hainan province. Photo: Xinhua
Hainan

How China’s Hainan reinvented itself as Hong Kong’s rival – and partner

The island province has become a low-tax gateway and is ready to tap Hong Kong’s strengths in finance, research and other sectors, officials say.

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China's population

Can AI help China cushion economic fallout from its rapidly ageing population?

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Food and agriculture

Opinion | How China’s national food security push could reshape global markets

US-China relations

Opinion | How Washington’s lawyers stack up against Beijing’s technocrats

While no system is perfect, balancing out the occupational composition of policymakers could hold the key to success for both countries.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Hong Kong economy

Opinion | Hong Kong’s budget should move the city towards ‘inspirational’ development

The 2026-27 budget speech should explain how the city’s economic direction aligns with global and national trends, defining its place in the industries of the future.

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

The country’s rise was shaped less by a single turning point than by its commitment to long-term planning, meritocracy and global engagement.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Hong Kong stock market

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

Despite renewed ‘bubble’ talk around AI valuations after a November sell-off, Standard Chartered says the cycle is different this time.

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.

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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Employees work on a production line for an electric flying car at a factory of Xpeng’s subsidiary Aridge in Guangzhou on November 6. Photo: AFP
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.

Illustration: Craig Stephens
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.

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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Image of Unitree R1 humanoid . Photo: Handout
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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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.

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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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An employee works at a chip factory in China’s eastern Shandong province. China is channelling more funding to support domestic innovation amid the trade war. Photo: AFP
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 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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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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Illustration: Victor Sanjinez Garcia
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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A model of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System is displayed during the 12th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, also known as Airshow China 2018, in Zhuhai city, south China’s Guangdong province. Photo: AP
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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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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Primary school students watch a dancing robot performance in Handan, China, on October 29, 2024. Photo: NurPhoto via Getty Images
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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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.

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