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• Will Black Myth: Wukong gaming mania mark a turning point for China’s soft power fortunes?
• US scientist convicted for China ties considering jobs in Hong Kong, mainland
• PLA brass in Russia a day after Chinese Premier Li Qiang met Vladimir Putin at Kremlin
• Love and marriage: China’s Dali Bai region pledges to help its 33,000 bachelors find wives
• Philippines accuses China of ‘firing flares’ in ‘dangerous’ move near Scarborough Shoal
• Is China charting a new course with its ‘second golden age’ of cruise tourism?
• Chinese students’ suicides in Australia highlight mental health crisis amid ‘extreme isolation’
• China Olympian Zhou Yaqin returns to work in father’s hometown restaurant, boosts business
• Philippines accuses Beijing of ‘dangerously’ firing flares near its aircraft in South China Sea
• Caucasian man gets shirt ripped to shreds in scuffle with China mum, 70, boxing daughter
• China pushes to secure Myanmar military a seat at the table as junta falters
• Biodiversity of China’s Yangtze River improves, but endangered species still under threat
• Demand soars for viral Harris-Walz camo hat, made in USA unlike made-in-China MAGA hats
• China’s steelmakers face ‘cruel’ reality as ‘harsh’ winter comes for embattled industry
• Sexy outfits worn by China shop boss over-excite men, spark rowdy scenes, force closure
• As South China Sea stakes ratchet ever higher, Vietnam seeks out calmer waters
• Black Myth: Wukong is increasing China’s appetite for AAA games, but next one could take years
• Mainland Chinese-style Suancai seafood dishes a hit in Hong Kong
• China’s stock woes: funds shun equities for bonds, ETFs, luxury homes in downbeat market
• China donates military equipment to Benin in latest bid to build ties in Africa
• No ‘feminist propaganda’ as hit Chinese video game grapples with censorship row

Will Black Myth: Wukong gaming mania mark a turning point for China’s soft power fortunes?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3275726/will-black-myth-wukong-gaming-mania-mark-turning-point-chinas-soft-power-fortunes?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese-made action game Black Myth: Wukong has taken the world by storm, clocking up more than 2.2 million concurrent users as it debuted on Tuesday.

The sprawling 3D role-playing game became the second most popular “sandbox” distributed by US platform Steam within hours, trailing only PUBG, the 2017 shooter game that peaked at 3.2 million.

Analysts said the runaway success of the game – based on the eponymous Monkey King character from the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West – showed how China’s creative workers could shore up cultural confidence.

It also highlighted an alternative way to take forward China’s often “heavily assailed soft power agenda”, one observer said.

Data shared by industry trackers VG Insights showed the game had sold 10 million units by Saturday evening in China, with 3 million concurrent players across all platforms. .

Asked whether a gamified Wukong could be considered to be an “ambassador” for China, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Wednesday that a game seemingly inspired by the Chinese classic spoke “to the appeal of Chinese culture”.

However, she did not address whether this indicated any potential “diplomatic gains”.

According to Gejun Huang, assistant professor of media and communications at the Xian Jiaotong-Liverpool University, the triple-A premium game was a good soft power vessel offering “immense potential”.

“A new face of Journey to the West indicates elevated levels of cultural creativity and innovation, [which are] often the heavily assailed aspects of China’s soft power agenda,” said Huang, whose specialities are the gaming industry, cultural policy and media entrepreneurship.

Huang said the explosive and positive reactions towards the game embodied China’s championing of techno-nationalism – or the use of technology to project global influence, and complemented its existing cultural endeavours.

However, creating a cultural export was not the core aim of Game Science, the low profile studio behind Wukong, according to its founding CEO Feng Ji, a former game designer at multimedia giant Tencent Holdings.

“I believe good cultural or content products should first naturally resonate with local cultural groups similar to the creators,” Feng told state news agency Xinhua. “If the quality is high enough and it endures for a sufficient period, it will naturally radiate to the overseas market we are talking about.”

“Ideally, this game’s contingent global popularity could attest to the enhanced persuasiveness of soft power discourses and legitimise a new way of delivering such discourses to broader global audiences,” Huang added.

In an interview with state-backed newspaper Global Times, Game Science’s artistic director Yang Qi said his team travelled across the country to research ancient architecture, including relics, temples, pagodas and stone carvings before reproducing them for the video game, which he described as a “digital archive” of the cultural heritage.

“Certainly, this game will direct public attention to these real-life monuments, especially for the younger generations who often align their cultural identities with guochao,” said Huang, referring to the “China chic” trend of embracing fashionable home-grown brands and cultures.

“On the other hand, there is a lack of evidence in China that featuring cultural heritage in games will boost players’ offline visits and related consumption.”

According to Sheng Zou, who teaches media at the Hong Kong Baptist University, discussions on the diplomatic potential of a cultural product needed to centre on a “more expansive notion of soft power”.

“Much of the discussion on soft power tends to focus on the nation-states as major actors, but in cases such as Wukong, corporate or non-state actors are the driving force,” Zou said.

According to Zou, China’s media and entertainment sector has seen many corporate-led globalisation efforts as Beijing seeks a more influential role in world media and culture.

“It fits in well with the state’s initiative in boosting its international communication, exemplified by the various ‘going out’ strategies in the media and cultural scene. Domestically, it also helps to shore up a sense of cultural confidence,” he said.

Beijing’s “going out” policy, introduced in 2000, encourages its enterprises to invest overseas and increase foreign direct investment.

“Non-state actors that operate on a market logic may have a better chance at winning people’s hearts and minds because their cultural influence is more subtle and appealing than things that are more overtly ideological or propagandistic,” Zou said.

Chinese web novels had attracted large global followings, he noted, with companies such as Dreame and iReader making a name for themselves within China and beyond.

Also, Singer 2024, the hit TV show with top-tier performers from China and abroad taking part in weekly sing-offs, has also made noise beyond the borders and been hailed by internet users as well as state-owned media as a global cultural platform.

According to Zou, although Black Myth: Wukong had the potential to inspire more positive impressions of China among a global audience, the change will be “subtle and gradual at best”.

Some users might just enjoy the game for reasons other than its Chinese cultural elements, he said, such as the gameplay, mechanics and player experience involved.

US scientist convicted for China ties considering jobs in Hong Kong, mainland

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3275763/us-scientist-convicted-china-ties-considering-jobs-hong-kong-mainland?utm_source=rss_feed

Retired Harvard University chemist and nanoscientist Charles Lieber, previously convicted for not disclosing ties to a Chinese talent programme, has confirmed he is exploring work opportunities in mainland China and Hong Kong.

The trade magazine Chemical and Engineering News reported in June that the former chair of the chemistry and chemical biology department at Harvard had filed for permission to travel to Hong Kong to discuss potential employment opportunities at the University of Hong Kong.

In response to queries from the Post, Lieber stated in an email that he was unable to give an interview or respond to specific questions, but shared a few remarks.

“I am currently exploring (this means no decisions have been made on my part) opportunities at several institutions in Hong Kong, mainland China and elsewhere,” Lieber wrote.

“I have not yet visited Hong Kong, but may do so this fall,” he added.

Lieber shared that his main concern when looking at opportunities was finding an institution where he could best conduct research to benefit all, and where he would best be able to aid other researchers in their work. He said factors such as lifestyle were less important in his decision making.

“I am very interested in starting a research group/centre that carries out world-leading research and technology transfer that benefits all people in the world,” Lieber wrote.

“As part of this process, I would also do what I have done very successfully in the past – train and support young scientists and faculty to become leaders in science and technology for the future,” he added.

Lieber, 65, is a leader in the field of nanoscience and a pioneer in the integration of nanotechnology for use in biology and medicine.

He has published over 400 research papers in peer-reviewed journals, is named as the main inventor on over 50 US patents, and has won many awards for his work in chemistry and nanoscience.

Lieber was named the leading chemist in the world from 2000 to 2010 for the cumulative impact and number of citations of his scientific publications, according to a ranking by Thomson Reuters.

Nanoscience, the study and use of molecules and structures at a very small scale, is listed as one of Beijing’s scientific priorities under the “Made in China 2025” development road map, the country’s plan to upgrade its hi-tech industries and reduce reliance on imports.

According to Lieber’s research website, his work includes the synthesis of new nanoscale materials and the integration of nano materials into computing, photonics, bioelectronics and neural electronics.

Alumni of Lieber’s laboratory have gone on to start their own nanotechnology-related companies and taken research and professor roles at high-ranking universities around the world.

Lieber was arrested in 2020 as part of a US Department of Justice investigation under the now-defunct China Initiative, launched in 2018 to investigate American researchers believed to be contributing to theft of technical secrets and intellectual property.

The initiative ended in 2022 amid criticism that it led to racial profiling of ethnic Chinese researchers and bias against researchers with ties to Chinese research and universities.

Lieber was convicted in 2021 of making false statements to US federal investigators about ties to the Wuhan University of Technology and Beijing’s Thousand Talents Plan, which aims to attract overseas researchers to bolster China’s scientific development.

He was also convicted of tax violations for failing to report income from the university. Lieber pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In April 2023, Lieber was sentenced to time served and two years of supervised release – including six months of house arrest.

Lieber officially retired from Harvard University last year but has continued to have research papers published in journals including Nature and Science, with his affiliation now listed at the Lieber Research Group.

PLA brass in Russia a day after Chinese Premier Li Qiang met Vladimir Putin at Kremlin

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3275777/pla-brass-russia-day-after-chinese-premier-li-qiang-met-vladimir-putin-kremlin?utm_source=rss_feed

A People’s Liberation Army (PLA) delegation led by Ground Force Commander Li Qiaoming arrived in Moscow for talks on Thursday, as Chinese Premier Li Qiang left the city for neighbouring Belarus.

According to a Russian defence ministry statement cited by state news agency Sputnik: “A protocol meeting was held between the Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, Colonel General Alexander Fomin, and the Commander of the Ground Forces of the People’s Liberation Army of China, Colonel General Li Qiaoming.”

Li Qiaoming was in Moscow on a working visit at the invitation of commander-in-chief of the Russian ground forces, Army General Oleg Salyukov, the statement added.

Sputnik News said the two sides discussed topical issues of mutual interest on military cooperation, but did not elaborate.

There has so far been no official announcement from the Chinese side about the visit.

Just a day before, Russian President Vladimir Putin met Premier Li at the Kremlin, with both sides agreeing to strengthen economic and technological cooperation.

Earlier, Li held talks with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, and the pair witnessed the signing of more than a dozen agreements ranging from investment to transport cooperation, according to the Kremlin.

Neither the Chinese nor the Russian readout on Li’s visit mentioned whether the situation in Ukraine figured in the talks.

Under Chinese President Xi Jinping, the portfolio of a premier is mainly to implement trade, economic and administrative policies laid down by the ruling Communist Party. Military affairs are not supposed to be part of Li Qiang’s remit.

The visit of the PLA delegation not only closely followed Li’s visit reaffirming China-Russia relations, it also took place at a sensitive time – with Ukrainian forces leading a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region since early this month.

Russia has failed to push back the offensive. On Thursday, Putin met his senior aides to review the situation in Kursk, facing the largest incursion by a foreign force on Russian soil since World War II.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden pledged more military aid to Ukraine in a call with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.

The aid package, worth US$125 million, will include missiles and counter-drone equipment, according to the Pentagon.

It is not clear whether the Russian military invitation to the PLA was extended before or after the Kursk incursion, as such a visit could take a long time to arrange. There is also little information about what the two sides talked about.

Beijing has repeatedly said it remains neutral in the Ukraine crisis, a statement that has been challenged by Western countries. China has also pledged not to supply weapons to either side and repeatedly denied allegations that it did so to Russia.

China and Russia’s military cooperation dates back decades, but has deepened in recent years in the face of US sanctions, with frequent joint drills and bomber patrols.

In July, the US and Canadian air forces said they had intercepted Chinese and Russian bombers in international air space near the US state of Alaska for the first time. Beijing said the aircraft were taking part in a “joint strategic aerial patrol” as part of an annual bilateral military cooperation plan.

This came a week after the PLA and Russian navies completed joint exercises – including live-fire drills – off the southern Chinese province of Guangdong facing the South China Sea.

Love and marriage: China’s Dali Bai region pledges to help its 33,000 bachelors find wives

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3275774/love-and-marriage-chinas-dali-bai-region-pledges-help-its-33000-bachelors-find-wives?utm_source=rss_feed

Authorities in southwestern China have pledged to set up a task force and hold dating events to “tackle marriage problems” faced by tens of thousands of bachelors above 35.

The initiative from the Dali Bai autonomous prefecture of Yunnan province comes as the country tries to fend off a dire demographic crisis caused by falling birth rates and an ageing population.

Door-to-door surveys showed the prefecture was home to nearly 33,000 unmarried men aged between 35 and 55 as of last September, online news portal The Paper reported on Friday, citing the regional government.

A task force will be set up to address the problem, and dating events held across towns for unmarried men of different age and interest groups, the government said.

The trade union of Dali will also hold 13 dating events before the year-end to “promote a correct view of marriage and love among young people and increase the marriage rate”, according to The Paper.

Local youth and women’s groups were already working hard to help young couples get married, the report said. This included set up dating corners and activity centres, marriage advisory services, and regular group activities for rural men.

The regional government has also encouraged grass-roots organisations, local communities, and foreigners married to Chinese men to help young people find dates.

“We established social media groups that calculate the information of unmarried people in our district to more accurately provide dating services,” officials were quoted as saying. “Currently, the prefecture has 23 dating centres and 60 matchmakers.”

Unmarried men far outnumber single women in China, with decades of a one-child policy and a long-standing preference for sons having skewed the gender balance. China has long reported unbalanced gender ratios at birth. For instance, in 2000, there were 117 boys for every 100 girls, according to the official census report.

Analysts fear the births crisis will have far-reaching effects on economic growth, and the surplus of unmarried men might lead to social instability.

As early as 2015, an article in an official Communist Party publication highlighted the likely social problems of having a large number of “leftover men”.

They could be driven to kidnap women or become addicted to pornography, Li Shuzhuo, then a researcher in population and development studies at Xian Jiaotong University, warned in his article.

“The government and society need to ensure the benefits due to ‘leftover men’ and their development, in order to maintain public safety,” Li wrote.

China has in recent years implemented policies encouraging couples to get married and have children in the face of the population crisis.

According to official data, just 3.43 million people registered to get married during the first six months of this year, the lowest in a decade and a 12 per cent drop from the same period last year.

Birth rates have also taken a plunge, with a record low of 9.02 million newborns in January.

However, a slew of incentives, including cheaper housing, tax cuts and even cash handouts, seem to have had little effect, especially among urban educated youth.

President Xi Jinping has also called for women to return to more traditional roles, urging officials to “foster a new type of marriage and childbearing culture”.

Dali is not the first regional authority to lead a marriage drive. Last year, a county in southern Guizhou province also identified unmarried men through door-to-door surveys to help them start a family or find jobs, or to provide elderly care services.

Philippines accuses China of ‘firing flares’ in ‘dangerous’ move near Scarborough Shoal

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3275772/philippines-accuses-china-firing-flares-dangerous-move-near-scarborough-shoal?utm_source=rss_feed

The Philippines has accused China of “firing flares” as close as 15 metres (49 feet) from one of its patrol aircraft in the latest military confrontation between the two countries in the South China Sea.

A Chinese fighter jet “engaged in irresponsible and dangerous manoeuvres” on Monday, when a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources plane made a “maritime domain awareness flight” near Scarborough Shoal, known as Huangyan Island in China, according to a statement from Manila’s National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea on Saturday.

The statement said the Chinese aircraft “deployed flares multiple times at a dangerously close distance of approximately 15 metres” from the inspection aircraft.

On Thursday, a Chinese aircraft also launched flares near the same plane from Subi Reef, a Chinese-held artificial island also claimed by Manila, according to the statement.

According to Agence France-Presse, China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that “necessary countermeasures” were taken “in accordance with the law, in order to protect its own sovereignty and security” after two Philippine military aircraft flew into its airspace over Subi Reef.

The ministry did not mention any incident on Monday, according to the French news agency.

China claims sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea, where it has had increasingly tense encounters with the Philippines over reefs, islands and other features claimed by both countries.

The tensions have raised concerns about accidents that could trigger a potential military conflict, which could bring in the United States, an official ally of the Philippines.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will hold talks with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in his first visit to China next week. They are expected to discuss topics ranging from Taiwan to bilateral military talks and tensions in the South China Sea, according to a senior US official.

In another incident near Scarborough Shoal, Manila said two Chinese military aircraft made a “dangerous manoeuvre” and dropped flares in the path of a Philippine Air Force plane that was patrolling the atoll on August 8.

Beijing said the aircraft ignored its warnings and “disturbed the Chinese military’s normal exercises by intruding” into Scarborough Shoal, and it responded by sending sea and air personnel to “legally identify, verify, track, monitor, repeatedly warn and dispel” the Philippine plane.

The Scarborough Shoal is located 140km (87 miles) west of the Philippine island of Palawan and about 1,200km from China’s Hainan province.

Beijing has conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea with the Philippines, Taipei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Brunei.

But its tensions with Manila have become particularly inflamed since April, when the Philippines deployed one of its most advanced coastguard ships, the BRP Teresa Magbanua, to waters near Sabina Shoal, known as Xianbin Reef in China and Escoda Shoal in the Philippines.

According to Manila, the ship was sent to monitor what it called Beijing’s illegal land reclamation activities at the atoll – an accusation Beijing denies.

The atoll has become a new flashpoint for potential conflict, as has the Philippine-held Second Thomas Shoal – known as Renai Jiao in China and Ayungin Shoal in the Philippines.

On Thursday, state-owned Chinese newspaper Global Times reported that the Philippines is expanding military infrastructure on Thitu Island, which Beijing calls Zhongye Island and claims is “illegally occupied” by the Philippines. The area is part of the Spratly Islands, known in China as the Nansha Islands.

The report cited Chinese experts who suggested the Philippines is expanding military infrastructure on the island to potentially invite stationing of American and Japanese forces.

Beijing has blamed the escalation on Manila and maintains its actions to protect its claims are legitimate and in accordance with the law.

China has rejected a 2016 ruling by an international tribunal, in a case brought by Manila, that dismissed Beijing’s claim to much of the South China Sea.

In its Saturday statement, Manila urged Beijing to “immediately cease all provocative and dangerous actions that threaten the safety of Philippine vessels and aircraft engaged in legitimate and regular activities within Philippine territory and exclusive economic zone”.

Is China charting a new course with its ‘second golden age’ of cruise tourism?

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3275653/china-charting-new-course-its-second-golden-age-cruise-tourism?utm_source=rss_feed

China has long maintained a dominant position in the global shipbuilding industry, and it accounted for more than 76 per cent of orders in April, according to British analytics firm Clarksons Research.

It is also making waves in the international cruise industry following the maiden voyage of its first home-grown large cruise liner at the start of this year.

And with its visa-free policies aimed at boosting the number of foreign visitors in the post-Covid era, international cruise passengers are allowed to remain in China for up to 15 days.

In May, it was confirmed that foreign visitors arriving via international cruises could stay in China for up to 15 days without a visa.

The new regulations allow foreigners travelling in tour groups of at least two people to enter China visa-free through all 13 cruise ports.

Large international cruises had already started to return to China this year, with Germany’s TUI Cruises having brought 10,000 tourists to China between February and April, according to Shi Zeyi, deputy director of the International Exchange and Cooperation Bureau under China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

China’s National Immigration Administration said in August that, from January to July, 17.254 million foreigners had entered China, representing a year-on-year increase of 129.9 per cent.

The administration added that 846,000 of the arrivals entered on “port visas” – issued on arrival – marking a 182.9 per cent increase compared with the same period last year.

Upon completion of the Adora Magic City last year, China became the fifth country building large cruise ships, joining Germany, France, Italy and Finland.

After nearly four years of construction, the 135,500-tonne liner built by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding – a subsidiary of the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation – left its dry dock in Shanghai in June last year.

Large cruise ships, most of which have been made by European shipyards, are dubbed one of the “three pearls on the crown of shipbuilding”, with the other two being aircraft carriers and liquefied natural gas vessels, which China already produces.

Adora Magic City, made its maiden voyage in January with over 3,000 passengers stopping at ports on Jeju Island in South Korea, as well as Nagasaki and Fukuoka in Japan.

The ship is also an important part of China’s efforts to boost its high-end manufacturing sector following the expansion of its high-speed railway network and the maiden flight of its first domestically developed narrowbody passenger jet, the C919.

A second domestic cruise ship is already under construction, and it is expected to be delivered before the end of 2026.

China’s cruise market saw a remarkable 52 per cent average annual growth in passengers embarking from Chinese ports between 2006 and 2019, making it the world’s second-largest cruise market, according to the Cruise Lines International Association.

The outbreak of the coronavirus, though, then halted the cruise industry worldwide.

But in April, after a break of four years, Royal Caribbean and MSC Cruises returned to China’s ports.

And around New Year’s Day, cruise ship bookings increased by 240 per cent, year on year, Ctrip reported.

International and domestic bookings then saw a year-on-year increase of 445 per cent during the Lunar New Year holiday in February, according to Chinese cruise app Fliggy.

In the first half of 2024, China’s cruise market saw a robust recovery, with 206 voyages operated by 23 cruise ships carrying 500,000 passengers.

Passenger turnover returned to about 50 per cent of the level in the same period in 2019, while the second quarter outstripped the first quarter by nearly 60 per cent.

Amid the overall economic slowdown, consumers in China have become more price-sensitive.

This has spread to China’s cruise industry, and even with prices being cut, luring customers over the summer proved to be challenging, with tour agencies facing an uphill battle to attract customers eager to make the most of their holiday budgets.

The Adora Magic City luxury cruise package initially cost up to 11,000 yuan (US$1,543).

But an oversupply over the summer led to prices being slashed to between 2,000 yuan and 3,000 yuan.

But even the lower prices failed to attract customers, according to reports from travel agencies amid an unwillingness to spend that has plagued China’s overall economy. The pouring in of investment amid an unwillingness to spend is resulting in an unprecedented competitive landscape for the industry.

Chinese outlets coined this summer a “low peak season”, with a surge coupled with low occupancy rates, which were reportedly as low as 20 per cent.

Royal Caribbean and MSC Cruises have also backed out of their promise to visit Tianjin’s port due to market volatility, which has resulted in price instability.

Multiple sources have dubbed the next decade China’s second “golden age” in its cruise industry.

The first so-called golden age was from 2013-16, when the industry enjoyed 70 per cent growth every year.

Chinese tourists alone make up 4.9 per cent of worldwide cruise passengers, with 60 per cent having an annual income of over US$94,000, according to data platform Koeeru.

The global cruise tourism market is set to expand from US$7.4 billion in 2023 to US$22.6 billion in 2033, though it is expected to be largely dominated by foreign players, according to the China Cruise and Yacht Industry Association and the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

China’s cruise industry is projected to be worth 550 billion yuan (US$76.8 billion) by 2035, up from US$1.3 billion in 2024.

And it is expected to handle 9 million passengers per year by 2035, Xie Xie, a research fellow with the China Waterborne Transport Research Institute, was quoted by the Global Times as saying in April.

Joint guidelines issued by 10 government agencies, including the Ministry of Transport, aim to grow the Chinese cruise industry into one of the most dynamic markets in the world, with annual passenger trips expected to reach 14 million by 2035.

Chinese students’ suicides in Australia highlight mental health crisis amid ‘extreme isolation’

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3275721/chinese-students-suicides-australia-highlight-mental-health-crisis-amid-extreme-isolation?utm_source=rss_feed

The apparent murder-suicide of two Chinese students in Sydney has highlighted a growing mental health crisis among Australia’s international student community, with experts warning that cultural isolation and insufficient mental health support are fuelling a troubling trend.

Police revealed on Wednesday that university student Xiaoting Wang was stabbed in a flat, while another Chinese student, who has yet to be identified but is understood to have been living with Wang, was found dead at the bottom of the block of flats in Burwood, a suburb popular with the Chinese diaspora.

Police asked the public for more information while the local press indicated it was being investigated as a murder-suicide.

Suicides or attempted suicides among international students – including those from China, the largest group of foreign students in Australia – have become a worrying trend, experts say.

These tragedies prompted the Victorian state coroner to conduct three investigations between 2019 and 2023.

It is the only coroner in Australia with public records on such incidents. The coroner of New South Wales, home to the next biggest international student hub, does not publish such details and there are no other national figures publicly available.

In its inquest into the death of Chinese student Zhikai Liu who jumped from his 21st-floor flat in Melbourne in 2016, the Victorian coroner said there had been 27 suicides between 2009 and 2015.

In its last update in 2019, the coroner said between 2015 and 2019, there were 20 more such deaths, although it cautioned these incidents could still be under-reported.

The work of the Victorian coroner was enough to suggest these issues were not being resolved, despite the efforts of the government and education providers, said Samuel McKay, a research fellow in suicide prevention at the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Youth Mental Health.

“What’s clear is that the problem of suicide or suicide deaths isn’t going anywhere. We see problems or mental health issues increasing in young people generally,” he said.

“While we don’t have data specific to international students, we know that generally across the globe – so that’s both in Western and non-Western countries – there’s suggestions that this is an ongoing issue.”

Gaby Ramia, a professor at the University of Sydney’s School of Social and Political Sciences who has studied such cases, agreed, saying a lack of data didn’t mean the problems had stopped.

“All we can say is that research suggests that given the disadvantages that international students have in relation to or compared with domestic students, we can probably expect suicides to be greater in their community as opposed to domestic students,” he told This Week in Asia.

Public investigations so far – mainly from the Victorian coroner – revealed recurring themes of isolation, struggles with a new culture and language as well as pressures from keeping up with classes in a foreign country among international students.

A report commissioned by Canberra in 2020 following these inquiries also found that housing stress, experiences of bullying, discrimination and racism as well as threats to safety on public transport and the wider community had affected students’ mental health.

In search of support, many international students become involved in romantic relationships often suffering emotionally when they crumble. Few however seek professional help due to financial, language, and cultural hurdles.

Chinese-Australian graduate Mike Liu told This Week in Asia that he was particularly concerned after two suicide attempts by international students in his Melbourne building last October.

Information circulated on Chinese social media app WeChat revealed that one of the incidents involved an international student from China who jumped from his 26th floor flat after breaking up with his girlfriend.

The incidents come after another Chinese man – allegedly a student – jumped to his death from a nearby building a few weeks earlier, narrowly missing a construction worker before crashing into a busy road, according to reports on WeChat.

Liu said the Chinese students he knew – including former flatmates – regularly talked about contemplating suicide because of academic pressures, loneliness and failed relationships.

“You hear these stories every few weeks … and a lot of them were related to mental health issues, people who just don’t know where to go, and they don’t want to talk to their parents,” he said, adding he was lucky to have some family around him.

“In China, there was always a separate Chinese family member to talk to, or see every week at least.”

“Here they have no one.”

At the inquest into Zhikai Liu’s 2016 death, the Victorian coroner found that he faced language barriers with local students, was depressed because he did not understand his classes and was having relationship problems with his girlfriend.

In another investigation into five student deaths concluded by the Victorian coroner in 2023, a 24-year-old Chinese student who also jumped from his shared flat, tended to sleep all day, and rarely left his room. He took up online gaming and his girlfriend had initiated a break-up.

The problem didn’t just affect students from China although most victims were from Asia, the coroner said.

Among the other five victims was a Taiwanese student who took his own life after telling his mother he wanted to quit his studies in Melbourne and return home.

A student from Bangladesh hanged herself in 2020 after her university indicated it had to impose conditions on her enrolment after she failed several units and was forced to seek an extension of her student visa.

These cases were emblematic of a vicious trap that many of these students find themselves in, Mike Liu said.

Students faced immense pressure from their parents who often used all their savings to send them to university, Liu explained.

Despite a common Australian perception that international students were rich, some came with funds barely scraped together by their parents desperate to put them through tertiary education which was either not available or difficult to access at home, he said.

In addition, Asian students do not discuss mental health problems with their family for fear of being labelled as “lazy”, Liu adds.

Clues about the mental state of some of these students can be gleaned from anonymous posts on social media platforms like Reddit.

“[I] lack any kind of social support to help me navigate aspects of this foreign culture I am completely new to … it’s exhausting,” Reddit user abgry_krakow87said

A deeper study into the mental health of Chinese students in Australia undertaken by education and psychology academics at the University of Western Australia in 2023 summarised stresses experienced by these students as psychological, perceived safety and social isolation.

In the report, “Threats to the emotional well-being of mainland Chinese students studying in Australia”, one student found it hard to understand Australian English, which had a lot of “slang” and “riddles”.

“They also really like jokes, which sometimes I can’t understand … so I just faked laughing when others laughed. This means that it can be stressful to be in social situations here,” the student said.

Another said he was verbally attacked in the residential college he was living in and told: “You Chinese people really like cheating, don’t you?”

Others noted, that unlike in Asia, cities in Australia were darker at night and that made them feel less safe, and they felt the law protected Australians rather than foreign students when they reported crime.

In response to the Victorian coroner’s investigations, the state government established an International Students’ Wellbeing Taskforce which has been working with international students to identify ways to prevent suicide.

Its health department told This Week in Asia that it was making every effort to ensure every Victorian, including international students, can access the mental health and well-being support they needed.

That pledge joins several similar ones over the years including Canberra’s 2020 report, “International Students And Their Mental Health And Physical Safety”.

A 2020 Productivity Commission report on mental health called on educational institutions to provide counselling services that address the language and cultural diversity needs of their international students.

Long before that, in 2010, a parliamentary inquiry into suicide in Australia warned that international students were a group at risk due to “extreme isolation”.

But, these policies were not effective for several reasons, experts say.

Despite the commitment of the government and businesses, most services were either unavailable, insufficient, took too long to access due to a lack of funding, or were not tailored to the cultural needs of international students, McKay said.

“For instance, students might say ‘I feel sad’, but might not have that really broad emotional language to be able to speak to what that sadness is,” he said.

The director of Belong, a student accommodation provider, Jenny Jia, can attest to that.

She told This Week in Asia to uncover problems faced by students, it is better to approach international students directly, either by knocking on their doors or communicating on WeChat rather than telling them where to get help.

New research published last month by Ramia and his colleagues at the University of Sydney’s Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies said ultimately results were lacking because Canberra had “fallen short of compelling education providers” to take better care of international students.

“In the absence of binding government legislation, it is not currently known how many Australian universities have responded to these calls by developing comprehensive international students’ mental health strategies,” the report, “You’re on your own, kid”: A critical analysis of Australian universities’ international student mental health strategies, said

Little is known about if these policies were even developed and if they were, whether they had acknowledged the unique challenges facing international students, the report said.

Even policies that were developed presented poor mental health as an “individual problem” and did not address how governments and education providers could control external stress factors such as a lack of housing or expensive housing, it said.

They also ignored discrimination against international students or exploitation by landlords and have done little to eliminate the barriers that prevent students from seeking help, including not being informed of services or failure to address privacy or cost concerns, the report said.

“The result is a troubling dynamic whereby universities articulate concern for students in their care, but disavow ultimate responsibility for addressing the underlying societal factors that assemble or augment their mental health problems,” it said.

“On the surface, many of these challenges may seem inherent to the experience of relocating to a new country or may appear to be a consequence of individual vulnerabilities. Such an interpretation, however, overlooks the role of external environments in producing mental ill-health.”

These were not helped by comments by politicians that scapegoated international students, Ramia said.

In June, opposition leader Peter Dutton said migrants, including temporary ones like international students, caused housing shortages, road congestion, and strained public services.

Politics could negatively affect how students were treated on and off campus resulting in problems like discrimination and scorn, Ramia said.

But, ultimately, gaps persist due to the commercialisation of international students in Australia, which allows educational providers to commoditise students, Ramia said. International students are worth A$36 billion (US$24.2 billion) to Australia and is its fourth-largest export after minerals and resources.

“They behave a little bit like corporations, and corporations won’t really adhere to certain standards, unless they’re made to by law,” Gaby said.

Yijia Ji, another international student studying at Monash University in Melbourne, said alienating politics and the myriad changes in visa rules in recent months have created more stress for students.

Like some students This Week in Asia spoke to, Ji was aware the problem was two-pronged, but said the overwhelming stigma surrounding mental health issues made it difficult for students to take the first step towards seeking help, she said.

She suggested hands-on and in-person classes that showcase the value of using mental health services as a way of “breaking the ice”.

“If we find it useful, then we’re going to continue using it, instead of just receiving information about it. Trouble is, there is no opportunity to just “try it out”,” she said.

Chinese law student Zhiqi Tang was trying a different approach.

He created a small private “7am club” of international students living in Melbourne to create a sense of “family”, starting each day with messages of “good morning” on social media at 7am before going to the gym or classes together.

While the group may not attract those who necessarily need help – and there are many students who are coping well – it reduces loneliness and keeps other problems like academic pressures at bay, he added.

“I just felt like I needed to do something that keeps me happy,” he said.

“I am doing a three-year degree. It is a marathon not a sprint, so I must make sure I get through it in a sustainable way.”

If you have suicidal thoughts or know someone who is experiencing them, help is available. In Hong Kong, you can dial 18111 for the government-run Mental Health Support Hotline. You can also call +852 2896 0000 for The Samaritans or +852 2382 0000 for Suicide Prevention Services. In the US, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. For a list of other nations’ helplines, .

China Olympian Zhou Yaqin returns to work in father’s hometown restaurant, boosts business

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3275557/china-olympian-zhou-yaqin-returns-work-fathers-hometown-restaurant-boosts-business?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese gymnast and Paris Olympic silver medallist Zhou Yaqin has gone viral online for helping out at her family restaurant after returning home.

The first-time Olympian, who is only 18, won a silver medal in the balance beam event.

She had previously gone viral when she endearingly learned the medal-biting tradition on the podium from the Italian gymnasts who had won gold and bronze.

She has wowed social media again after returning to her hometown in central China’s Hunan province, where her family owns a restaurant business.

A video filmed by a customer on August 11 shows Zhou serving tables dressed in Team China Olympic sportswear.

Zhou’s father said his daughter also helped with the cleaning as well.

He was so proud of his daughter that he had hung photos of her medals and of her receiving the awards “in every room of the restaurant”.

His business became popular thanks to her success.

He said many people called to ask if he is Zhou’s father, and the restaurant had been fully booked since her debut at the Olympics.

Zhou also promotes the restaurant on her Weibo account, which has 117,000 followers.

On social media, many praised the top gymnast’s modest lifestyle.

“This must be the highest level of service one can get at any Chinese restaurant,” one person said on Douyin.

“No matter how successful you are on the world stage, you still need to help your family out at home,” wrote another.

“The silver medallist has a golden heart,” said a third.

“Did serving the dishes help her practise a sense of balance?” one person joked.

Zhou began learning gymnastics at the age of three in 2008 when the Olympic Games was held in Beijing.

By the time she was six, she had already bagged home two golds, two silvers, and one bronze in the city games.

In 2021, Zhou shocked gymnastics fans by winning the national balance beam event and beating several national gymnasts while she was still a provincial team member.

Since then, Zhou has been known to her fans as “Queen Qin”.

Only the best female gymnasts can be called a “queen”, according to a fan on Douban.

Zhou debuted on a global stage at last year’s World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium and won second place in the balance beam event, losing by only 0.1 point to US gymnast Simone Biles.

At the 2024 Artistic Gymnastics World Cup, Zhou won two golds, one in the balance beam event and the other for her floor exercise.

After Zhou came second at the Paris Olympics, there was even a rumour circulating on social media that “Queen Qin never goes home empty-handed”.

“She never gets over anxious for quick results, and always takes things one step at a time,” her father said.

Philippines accuses Beijing of ‘dangerously’ firing flares near its aircraft in South China Sea

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/24/philippines-accuses-beijing-of-dangerously-firing-flares-near-its-aircraft-in-south-china-sea

The Philippine government accused China on Saturday of firing flares just metres away from one of its aircraft as it flew patrols over the South China Sea in the past week.

A Chinese fighter jet “engaged in irresponsible and dangerous manoeuvres” on 19 August as the plane from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) made a “maritime domain awareness flight” near Scarborough Shoal, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said.

The unprovoked Chinese “harassment” included “deploying flares multiple times at a dangerously close distance of approximately 15 metres from the BFAR Grand Caravan aircraft”, the task force added in a statement.

Flares were also launched near the same plane from the China-held Subi Reef on 22 August as the patrol craft was “monitoring and intercepting poachers encroaching upon the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and the territorial seas” of the Philippines, it added.

Flares are usually employed by military aircraft as decoys to protect them from missiles, but also for illumination.

Beijing claims most of the South China Sea and has been involved in tense maritime confrontations with Manila on the strategic waterway in recent months, sparking fears of armed conflict that could draw in the US, a Filipino military ally.

China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that two Philippine military aircraft flew into its airspace over Subi Reef, which Manila also claims, on 22 August.

The Chinese side undertook “necessary countermeasures in accordance with the law, in order to protect its own sovereignty and security”, it said in a statement.

The Philippine government said the BFAR plane was a civilian Cessna aircraft.

The Chinese statement did not mention any 19 August incident over Scarborough Shoal, which China seized from the Philippines at the end of a 2012 standoff.

The Scarborough Shoal incident occurred hours after Philippine and Chinese coast guard vessels collided near Sabina Shoal, with the Filipino side reporting structural damage on both of its patrol ships.

The shoal is 140km (86 miles) west of the Philippine island of Palawan and about 1,200km from Hainan island, the nearest Chinese landmass.

The Philippines has also accused a Chinese air force plane of making a “dangerous manoeuvre” and dropping flares in the path of a Filipino air force plane that was patrolling over Scarborough on 10 August.

In June, the Philippine military said one of its sailors lost a thumb in a confrontation off Second Thomas Shoal when the Chinese coast guard, wielding sticks, knives and an axe, also confiscated or destroyed Philippine equipment including guns.

Beijing has blamed the escalation on Manila and maintains its actions to protect its claims are legal and proportional.

It has continued to press its claims to almost the entire South China Sea despite an international tribunal ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

Manila on Saturday urged Beijing to “immediately cease all provocative and dangerous actions that threaten the safety of Philippine vessels and aircraft engaged in legitimate and regular activities within Philippine territory and exclusive economic zone”, as well as freedom of navigation and overflights.

“Such actions undermine regional peace and security, and further erode the image of the PRC [People’s Republic of China] with the international community,” the task force statement said.

Caucasian man gets shirt ripped to shreds in scuffle with China mum, 70, boxing daughter

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3275623/caucasian-man-gets-shirt-ripped-shreds-scuffle-china-mum-70-boxing-daughter?utm_source=rss_feed

A burly Caucasian man who bullied a Chinese woman and her 70-year-old mother at a shopping mall in Thailand did not know what he was letting himself in for.

After acting rudely to the women, the large white man was beaten up by the younger woman who turned out to be the owner of a Thai kick-boxing studio.

Videos of the conflict were posted by the Chinese woman, Zhang Yise, on her Douyin account @Sese on August 20, and have attracted 1.4 million views.

The 39-year-old woman from Beijing said she was shopping with her 70-year-old mother and her two children at a mall in Phuket when the hostile white man suddenly bumped into her mother.

Zhang said he did not apologise, instead he walked away, turned around and swore at them.

A video taken by Zhang shows the man raising his middle finger and shouting foul language insulting China. His female Thai companion filmed the incident and swore at them in Thai, according to Zhang.

Zhang said she was immediately irritated and tried to reason with him. He pushed her to the ground.

Zhang said she and her mother went to fight back the man, who tried to escape.

The mother and daughter grabbed him each by one arm as security guards arrived to mediate, and the man’s T-shirt was ripped apart as he struggled to break free.

Zhang said she was not scared of the tall man.

“I know I’m no match for him, but I’m fearless,” she said on Douyin.

“I don’t want my family bullied, especially when we are not in China,” she said.

She told mainland media outlet Southern Metropolis Daily that she has owned a Muay Thai boxing studio in Phuket for nearly a decade. Her husband is a local.

She also practised a lot at her own studio, and watched combative contests as a hobby.

A video filmed and uploaded by a passerby showed Zhang’s mother even more fearless than her daughter while fighting against the bully to protect Zhang.

Mainland social media has been in awe of the pair.

“The man picked the wrong target. Such a badass woman,” one person said on Douyin.

“Did he thank her for designing such a hot cardigan for him?” another joked.

The man insisted on leaving after the security guard arrived. Zhang noted down his taxi number and reported him to the police.

Zhang said the man caused bruising on her arm and leg.

She demanded an apology, but said the man refused to apologise unless Zhang and her mother also apologise to him.

Zhang rejected his request. Police said the man, whose identity was not reported, would go to the court to defend himself.

Zhang said a small conflict like this usually ends up with a court fine of 500 baht (US$15), but she was not going to let it drop.

She said she had asked her lawyer to get more surveillance footage from the mall, and intended to get the man deported from Thailand.

His nationality was not reported, but Zhang said on Douyin that he is an American.

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China pushes to secure Myanmar military a seat at the table as junta falters

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3275684/china-pushes-secure-myanmar-militarys-seat-table-junta-falters?utm_source=rss_feed

As Myanmar’s military junta teeters on the brink of collapse, China is making a bold power play – nudging the war-torn nation towards elections in a bid, experts say, to install a predictable government that will protect Beijing’s interests.

The calculus is clear: with the junta haemorrhaging territory to a tenacious insurgency, China wants to ensure the military retains a seat at the table, no matter the outcome.

“They cannot win and indeed are losing at a rate they can never recover from,” said Zachary Abuza, a Southeast Asia expert and professor at the National War College in Washington, referring to Myanmar’s generals. “Beijing wants to ensure that the military still has a seat at the table.”

During a visit to Thailand this month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing would support a democratic transition in Myanmar and would help “restore peace and stability” – a tacit acknowledgement that the junta’s grip on power is slipping.

Earlier, he met with the generals in Naypyidaw. Myanmar’s state media announced afterwards that China had promised technical support and aid for a census ahead of elections the military has vowed to hold next year.

Yet Beijing’s gambit faces long odds. Ethnic armed groups and the National Unity Government (NUG), a coalition of exiled lawmakers established in the wake of the 2021 coup, are intent on the military’s “total defeat”, Abuza said – making them unlikely to participate in any junta-backed polls. And the military itself may balk at relinquishing control, despite its battlefield setbacks.

Earlier this month, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army announced it had captured the military’s key northeast command headquarters in Lashio – a major victory.

The seizure of the strategic city in northern Shan state marks the biggest win since the launch of “Operation 1027” last October, when the Three Brotherhood Alliance – a coalition of three ethnic armed groups – unleashed a coordinated offensive across the region.

China is growing increasingly “clear-eyed” about the regime’s tenuous grip on power, according to Abuza, who said Beijing now wants to ensure the military retains some representation in a future government, to preserve a degree of predictability.

“While Beijing might privately admit the opposition could win the civil war, it scares them,” Abuza said. “They can’t say how a democratic federal government that emerged from the thorough defeat of the military would act.”

China, which views Myanmar as a crucial node in its regional ambitions, was “naive” in thinking that junta chief Min Aung Hlaing would accept elections, he added.

Jason Tower, Myanmar country director at the United States Institute of Peace think tank, said Beijing’s concerns were clear to see in the Chinese foreign ministry statement released after Wang’s meeting with the head of Myanmar military.

“The public readout of the meeting signalled that China has growing concerns about the security of the China-Myanmar pipeline project, as well as the regime’s ability to secure Chinese interests,” he said, referring to Wang’s expressed hope that “the safety of Chinese personnel and projects” would be safeguarded.

Wang’s visit was aimed at emphasising stability in Myanmar and avoiding further escalation of the ongoing civil war, according to Yun Sun, a senior fellow and director of the China programme at the Stimson Centre in the US.

“To publicly state China’s preference is important as it sends a signal to all players [in the conflict],” she said. But whether the junta can actually hold elections as planned next year remains highly uncertain given the volatility of the situation on the ground.

Min Aung Hlaing has already signalled a piecemeal approach – vowing to hold polls first in areas deemed safe while trying to secure other conflict zones.

Citing the country’s troubled general election in 2010, Sun said the next vote is likely to be neither free nor fair, but she argues it should still take place. “The current political impasse needs a solution to turn over the page,” she said.

This echoes a familiar pattern in Myanmar’s turbulent history. Despite the United Nations’ concerns over the fairness of the 2010 election, the country’s political and economic climate did improve in the years that followed – with the release of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, the lifting of sanctions, and a landmark visit by then-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

China’s Wang has made his country’s position crystal clear, reiterating during a meeting in Bangkok on August 16 with his regional counterparts that Myanmar must remain free from foreign interference and not be infiltrated by external forces.

According to analyst Sun, Wang was referring to Western nations, especially the United States, who have provided support to the NUG and ethnic armed groups.

“In the Chinese view, that support boosts the resistance’s ability to continue its armed conflicts with the military government,” she said.

But for Abuza, this was simply another case of China searching for a “bogeyman” to blame. The NUG and ethnic armies had actually received “little direct assistance” from the West, he said.

Still, two US officials did make a point of virtually meeting with representatives from the NUG and organisations including the Karen National Union, Karenni National Progressive Party and Chin National Front on August 16 – the same day Wang met junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.

So who’s really playing both sides here? “No one plays the double game in Myanmar better than China. They have been supporting the junta while arming and assisting EROs along their border,” Abuza said, using an abbreviation to refer to the country’s ethnic armed groups.

As for the endgame, the stage is set for an intense geopolitical tug of war over Myanmar’s future.

“China seeks to prevent the internationalisation of the conflict and wants to maximise its chances of shaping the conflict in a direction favourable to its geostrategic interests in Myanmar,” said Tower of the United States Institute of Peace.

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Biodiversity of China’s Yangtze River improves, but endangered species still under threat

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3274978/biodiversity-chinas-yangtze-river-improves-endangered-species-still-under-threat?utm_source=rss_feed

The Yangtze – China’s longest river and a critical habitat for aquatic life – is showing signs of ecological improvement, the latest government report says, while warning that there is still a long way to go to protect biodiversity in its waters, especially rare and endangered species.

In a communique released on August 12, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and two other ministries said a series of policy measures to protect the Yangtze River had resulted in improved habitats and environmental indicators.

The measures were centred around a 10-year fishing ban imposed in 2020, according to the document also signed by the Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

Aquatic biodiversity had steadily improved since the implementation of the ban, the statement said, with 227 species of native fish monitored in the Yangtze River basin last year, an increase of 34 species from the previous year.

Additionally, 14 species of nationally protected aquatic wildlife were recorded in 2023 – three more than in the previous year.

Their habitat conditions were also generally stable, the communique stated.

The overall water quality of the Yangtze and its tributaries had been rated as “excellent”, and the intensity of new development projects affecting fisheries, such as sand mining and waterway regulation, had decreased, it said.

Aquatic biological resources, including fish, invertebrates and amphibians, had continued to recover, with a 16.7 per cent increase in resource density – or the number of aquatic animals per unit area – in the main channel of the Yangtze, and more than 64 per cent increase in major tributaries compared to 2022.

However, the situation remains alarming, according to the communique.

The diversity of key protected aquatic wildlife species was still relatively low, it warned, adding that the preservation of endangered species remained a tough task.

In particular, the Chinese paddlefish and the Yangtze sturgeon, known as the “last giants of the Yangtze”, had lost their ability to breed naturally, the communique said.

The two wild freshwater species were declared extinct in 2022 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, largely as a result of dam construction and overfishing.

Some sections of the river are also threatened by poor water connectivity and shoreline hardening caused by human activities such as sea wall installation, resulting in poor scores on measures of ecological health.

The Yangtze’s aquatic biological integrity index – a scoring system based on fish population indicators and other ecological factors – is categorised into six levels: excellent, good, fair, poor, very poor and “no fish”.

In 2023, the Yangtze and its two largest freshwater lakes, Poyang and Dongting, were rated as “poor” on the index, although this was an improvement from their “no fish” status before the fishing ban.

As Asia’s longest river, the 6,000km (3,728-mile) Yangtze has been central to China’s economy and ecosystems for millennia. Teeming with more than 400 fish species, 22 of which are listed as nationally protected, it has also long been the source of much of China’s aquatic biodiversity.

But decades of man-made damage, marked by hydropower development on the river’s main channel beginning in the 1970s, have had a devastating impact on the survival of species.

When President Xi Jinping inspected the upper reaches of the Yangtze in January 2016, he saw a river plagued by industrial waste, sand mining and boat emissions, with deteriorating water quality.

The mother river had fallen “ill, very ill”, Xi said, calling for all-out efforts to protect the Yangtze.

“Restoring its ecological environment will be an overwhelming task at present, and for a rather long period to come,” Xi said.

The same year, an environmental protection inspection group led by ministerial-level officials was set up to target activities that undermine the river’s ecology, including illegal sand mining.

The 10-year fishing ban ordered in 2020 covered more than 332 conservation sites along the river to help rehabilitate the ecosystem.

In December that year, Beijing passed the Yangtze River Protection Law to strengthen ecological protection and safety, and promote the efficient use of resources along the river basin.

The law, which took effect the following March, included the 10-year ban on commercial fishing on the Yangtze sites. This was extended the same year to cover the main river, and its major tributaries and lakes as well.

However, ecological departments are still being admonished for “not fully understanding the importance” of restoring the waterway’s environment.

According to a report issued in May by the Central Supervision Office of Ecological and Environmental Protection, the Yangtze and the Poyang and Dongting freshwater lakes are still being damaged by pollution and illegal activities.

The office, under the ministry of the same name, leads Communist Party and government officials of all levels to share accountability for ecological and environmental protection in addition to their work duties.

Demand soars for viral Harris-Walz camo hat, made in USA unlike made-in-China MAGA hats

https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/3275744/demand-soars-viral-harris-walz-camo-hat-made-usa-unlike-made-china-maga-hats?utm_source=rss_feed

If campaign hat sales are any predictor of electoral results, the Harris-Walz ticket is in great shape, as their camouflage cap with orange lettering goes viral.

The Unionwear textile factory in New Jersey says demand has soared for the baseball hats emblazoned with the names of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the Democrats vying for the White House.

Over nearly a quarter-century in the campaign merchandise business, “we’ve never seen hats sell this fast,” said Unionwear president Mitch Cahn, as some 100 workers cut, assembled, sewn, embroidered and packaged the nearly 4,000 hats that leave the factory each day.

“I think that people haven’t really been excited about the presidential candidates for a long time,” Cahn said. “For 12 years, really, since Barack Obama, we haven’t seen this kind of excitement about a candidate.”

Before Harris’ entry into the presidential race, Cahn said Joe Biden-linked campaign sales were “anaemic”.

But “all of a sudden we started seeing tens of thousands of hats being sold, and we thought that was a lot. And then when Tim Walz wore one of our hats on television the night after he was selected as the vice-presidential nominee, sales just went through the roof.”

Factory workers have been labouring 60 hours a week, including Saturdays, to accommodate the avalanche of orders.

The company has had to purchase more sewing machines and build up the supply chain to get more camo-print fabric made.

In less than a month Unionwear has sold more than 100,000 hats; in just one week, the factory moved more Harris caps than it expected to sell in a full year when Biden was running.

Cahn noted that demand among women is especially high. Camouflage has folksy appeal and is traditionally popular among hunters, but it’s also trending – mostly ironically – among Gen-Z twenty-somethings.

In part, the virality of the camo hat can be attributed to Chappell Roan, the wildly popular singer who sells a camo hat with orange lettering that reads “Midwest Princess”.

Memes of that hat juxtaposed with a Harris-Walz cap proliferated online – both Walz and the pop star are Midwestern – and were shared by Roan herself.

Then an official campaign version dropped. “You asked, we answered,” read the product summary from the Harris campaign, calling the US$40 head-topper “the most iconic political hat in America”.

It was seen as another example of Harris and her camp responding to the social media zeitgeist: earlier this summer, the Democratic hopeful embraced “brat” green and the online codes associated with another pop star, Charli XCX.

The Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which ended on Thursday, stoked “Kamalamania” further, and along with it demand for merch.

And if she wins the election in November, Unionwear expects another spike in sales, this time for inauguration swag, as happened in 2009 when Barack Obama emerged the victor, Cahn said.

“I think that merchandise sales reflects the popularity of the candidate and also how much the voters connect with the candidate,” he said.

Harris is connecting to voters, Cahn continued – “and they’re proud to wear her name on their heads”.

Throughout the week in Chicago, Democrats leaned into symbols of Americana, reclaiming the camouflage, cowboy hats, country music and flags that are usually associated with US conservatism.

In an era of globalisation and free trade agreements, it’s not simple to manufacture textiles in the US; Cahn’s factory is a rare one that does.

Among its clients is the US military, which by law must prioritise domestic products and thus sources uniforms from Unionwear.

The company’s garment workers are unionised, and the “Made in USA” label is key to their brand – and coveted by campaigns that want to appeal to union workers and advocate for bringing manufacturing jobs back stateside.

“It does not look good if the candidate is saying these things and selling merchandise that’s made in Mexico or China,” Cahn said.

And when it comes to the red MAGA – Make America Great Again – caps that signify support for Harris’ rival Donald Trump?

Cahn said most of those are manufactured in China, with only the embroidery done stateside.

Additional reporting by Reuters

China’s steelmakers face ‘cruel’ reality as ‘harsh’ winter comes for embattled industry

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3275651/chinas-steelmakers-face-cruel-reality-harsh-winter-comes-embattled-industry?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s industry ministry directed all regions to suspend a steel industry upgrade programme from Friday, with producers facing mounting losses amid a “harsh winter” that is worse than the global financial crisis of 2008.

The world’s top steel producer has been working to cut capacity within its steel industry for years in a bid to reduce oversupply and pollution.

The replacement programme, introduced in 2015, is aimed at reducing iron and steel capacity by requiring new facilities to be smaller than the ones they replace.

But on Friday, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) halted the system as it sought to consult relevant parties to revise the programme.

There had been problems in policy implementation, supervision, as well as “incompatibility with the development situation and demand of the industry”, the MIIT notice said.

“At present, the supply and demand relationship of the steel industry is facing new challenges,” the notice added.

“Green and low-carbon, structural adjustment, layout optimisation, mergers and reorganisations have put forward new requirements for the capacity replacement policy.”

Failure to comply with the notice would be regarded as “illegal increase of steel production”, the ministry said.

The notice came amid growing financial pressures facing the steel industry that has already seen a number of bankruptcies in recent weeks.

“We think [the notice] will help eliminate sub-par capacity and help improve the supply and demand dynamics of the Chinese steel industry,” said Weimin Zhang, associate director for Asia-Pacific corporates at Fitch Ratings.

But according to Mysteel analyst Vivian Yang, some steelmakers have continued to expand capacity, disguising it through the replacement programme, with the trading of capacity quotas also hindering the exit of “zombie” companies.

In the first seven months of the year, China’s steel output was 613.72 million tonnes, down by 2.2 per cent from the same period in 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics said last week.

Most integrated steel mills in China have suspended production or maintenance upgrades because of a loss of sales, said Mysteel analyst Alyssa Ren.

“Such scenario is likely to extend into next month, despite some participants’ expectation for a recovery in steel demand over September-October, as new economic data indicate a slowed growth in the country’s manufacturing and infrastructure sectors in addition to the sluggish property sector,” Ren added.

The steel sector has been ravaged by weak demand from a protracted slump in China’s property sector, where investment plummeted by 10.2 per cent in the first seven months of the year compared to the same period in 2023.

The National Enterprise Bankruptcy Information Disclosure platform showed a series of bankruptcies filed by Chinese steelmakers in recent weeks, including the Shaanxi-based Dongling Group, Fujian-based Haihe Steel and Tangshan Fengrun Yanfeng Iron and Steel in Hebei province.

Tomas Gutierrez, head of data at consultancy firm Kallanish Commodities, estimated steel demand would likely fall by around 10 per cent this year.

“The steel sector is peaking because the Chinese economy is undergoing a significant change,” said Gutierrez.

“We do see this as a longer-term trend becoming gradually more visible. Steel demand from construction and infrastructure should decline, while demand from other sectors could still see some growth. Overall demand, however, will decline over the long term.”

Senior executives from some of China’s biggest steel companies have warned that the worst is yet to come and that participants must come to terms with the decline.

Zhang Rui, general manager of the privately-owned Jianbang Group in the northern Shanxi province, expected more than 30 per cent of China’s steelmakers would be eliminated in the latest round of consolidation.

“This is a cruel reality and we must face it with courage and positivity,” Zhang said last week, according to a post on Jianbang’s WeChat social media account.

Zhang Hongjun, general manager of the state-owned Anshan Iron and Steel, warned employees at the company’s midyear meeting last week that the industry was in a worse situation than major traumas in 2008 and 2015, according to a post by the Liaoning-based company on its WeChat account.

Zhang’s views were echoed by Baowu Steel Group chairman Hu Wangming, who described the conditions in the sector as being like a “harsh winter” in a post published on the company’s WeChat account on August 9.

China’s steel industry suffered slumps during the global financial crisis between 2008-09, and again in 2015-16, with subsequent stimulus and supply-side reforms eventually supporting the sector.

According to China’s 14th five-year plan, by 2025, more than 40 per cent of steel production would be concentrated in the top five companies, and more than 60 per cent would be concentrated in the top 10.

Crude steel output from the top 10 key steel enterprises in 2023 accounted for 51.16 per cent, slightly lower than the 51.82 per cent achieved in 2022, according to a report by the state-owned CS Steel News, citing data from China Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute, in February.

“So the consolidation in the Chinese steel sector has been going on for years by now. And the current contraction in the steel industry will accelerate the process of increasing market concentration,” Mysteel’s Yang added.

And China’s steel sector consolidation would see more producers focusing on delivering higher value-added products for manufacturing, including electric cars, new energy products and ships, said Alan Jiang, associate director for Asia-Pacific corporates at Fitch Rating.

Large-scale steelmakers with a strong product mix would benefit from the changes, Jiang added.

Sexy outfits worn by China shop boss over-excite men, spark rowdy scenes, force closure

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3275445/sexy-outfits-worn-china-shop-boss-over-excite-men-spark-rowdy-scenes-force-closure?utm_source=rss_feed

A shop owner in China who shot to fame online for wearing revealing outfits to work has been forced to close her business because of the large crowds of mainly men she was attracting.

Videos of the woman, who runs a small supermarket in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, eastern China, began circulating widely on mainland social media earlier this month, reported Red Star News.

In footage taken by customers, the woman could be seen wearing bright-coloured, figure-hugging dresses.

In one clip, she is bending forward over the counter, revealing a large amount of cleavage in front of a male customer.

“If you wear clothes like that, what man could restrain himself from doing something?” one man said in a viral video.

The woman, who was not identified, was reported to the local community authority and the police by people who thought her clothes were provocative and inappropriate for her job.

One complainant, thought to be a business competitor, told the authorities that the woman wore low-cut, tight dresses to attract more customers.

A community official said nothing could be done because the woman has the freedom to wear what she likes.

Police officers visited the supermarket but left as soon as they realised she was doing nothing illegal. Although they suggested she might want to pay attention to what she wore.

The woman complied and changed into outfits deemed to be less sexy.

However, she found she had even more customers than before.

Once again the visitors were mostly male and hung around hoping to talk to her and add her to their WeChat contact lists.

Some wanted to take videos of her but she refused, saying it would be an infringement of her privacy.

On August 17, the woman said on social media that her online fame had been a negative experience.

“Many people came to bully me. A man even hit me, making my hand bleed,” she said.

Police said the man had shoved the shop owner during a dispute, rather than beating her, and their conflict was solved through mediation, the report said.

The woman closed the business on August 20, and put a notice on the door saying she was selling up, less than three months after she had opened the shop.

The saga has triggered an online buzz, with mainland internet users expressing mixed opinions.

“I don’t see any problems with her clothing. If showing too much flesh in public is wrong, why do the police not close swimming pools for pornography because of the skimpy costumes?” one internet user on Baidu said.

“It’s not appropriate for her to dress provocatively while working in a public venue. She flouts public order and morality,” said another person.

As South China Sea stakes ratchet ever higher, Vietnam seeks out calmer waters

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3275689/south-china-sea-stakes-ratchet-ever-higher-vietnam-seeks-out-calmer-waters?utm_source=rss_feed

Hanoi stockbroker Mai Xuan Huu is a member of Vietnam’s upwardly mobile middle class, whose fortunes are tightly bound to the country’s political stability – and economic growth that’s been averaging a brisk 4.5 per cent annually.

But the 33-year-old now harbours concerns for his homeland, which has benefited in recent years from companies relocating their supply chains outside China to skirt US tariffs arising from the pair’s damaging trade war.

A leadership transition in Hanoi, marked by an unprecedented blizzard of corruption allegations within the ruling Communist Party, briefly stirred concerns over the very continuity that has fuelled Vietnam’s rise. Looming over this uncertainty is the combustible South China Sea, where Beijing’s sweeping claims butt up against those of Hanoi, the Philippines and Malaysia – among others.

“I am very concerned that these aggressive Chinese acts could escalate into conflict, especially when Vietnam has just lost a talented party chief,” Huu said. “I hope the Vietnamese government will always make the right decisions to live peacefully with other countries and still protect our sovereignty.”

But Huu need not fret too much – at least for now. Vietnam, analysts note, wields a potent diplomatic tool to avoid escalation: its “bamboo diplomacy”. This approach of careful neutrality is expected to continue under the nation’s new General Secretary To Lam, who used his first trip abroad since taking power in July to visit China and reinforce ties with Hanoi’s largest trading partner and the region’s dominant economic, military and political force.

“The fact that you have come to China on your first visit … reflects the great importance you attach to relations between the two parties and countries,” Xi Jinping told his Vietnamese counterpart in Beijing, according to comments carried by Chinese state media on Monday – adding that he looked forward to establishing a “good working relationship and personal friendship” with Lam.

Bamboo, known for its ability to bend without breaking, lends its name to Vietnam’s diplomatic approach – reflecting the flexibility at the heart of the nation’s foreign policy.

Indeed, Lam’s diplomatic balancing act extends beyond China. Next month, he is scheduled to visit New York for the UN General Assembly, where he is expected to meet US President Joe Biden on the sidelines. This dual outreach – bolstering ties with both Beijing and Washington – exemplifies the deft manoeuvring that has kept Vietnam’s economy humming even as geopolitical tensions have risen around it.

“The reality is that bamboo diplomacy, with the country’s studious neutrality, has been very successful for it, so why would you change it?” said Zachary Abuza, a Southeast Asian security expert at the National War College in Washington. “I think you’re going to see very much what we’ve seen the past couple of years.”

While careful diplomacy has served Vietnam well so far, competing claims in the South China Sea threaten to increasingly strain its crucial economic and political ties with Beijing, experts warn.

Tensions have flared in recent months, with Manila accusing China of attempting artificial island-building at Sabina Shoal, which lies about 140km (87 miles) off the Philippine island of Palawan.

In response, the Philippines dispatched its coastguard to the area, drawing the attention of Chinese patrol boats tasked with enforcing Beijing’s claims to the mostly underwater feature. This confrontation came to a head on Monday, when Chinese and Philippine coastguard ships collided near the shoal, sparking a new round of finger-pointing.

Vietnam, too, has antagonised China in recent weeks by submitting a request to the UN to expand its own claims to a continental shelf. However, analysts say this move was likely aimed more for domestic political consumption than as an overt challenge to Beijing.

At the end of Lam’s recent three-day visit, China and Vietnam issued a joint declaration reaffirming their commitment to managing and resolving South China Sea disputes through “friendly consultations” – signalling that the loss of Vietnam’s former general secretary, the influential Nguyen Phu Trong who died last month, is not expected to dramatically alter Hanoi’s cautious approach.

“Vietnam is required to be resolute in principle to protect sovereignty, while also requiring flexibility and ingenuity in the negotiation process,” explained Le Dang Doanh, a retired senior economic adviser to five Vietnamese prime ministers.

In other words, Hanoi will continue to firmly assert its territorial claims, but do so through discrete diplomacy rather than confrontation.

This contrasts with the more assertive posture of the Philippines, noted the National War College’s Abuza.

“[Vietnam’s] strategy is largely based on condemning Chinese actions with very little in the means of raising the costs for China,” he said. “I think the Philippines understands that if no costs are imposed, why would China ever stop what they’re doing? And that’s just something the Vietnamese are not willing to do.”

At the heart of Vietnam’s complex maritime disputes with its northern neighbour are the Spratly and Paracel island chains, which alongside several oil and gas fields within the country’s internationally recognised exclusive economic zone, have been a constant source of tension.

While the Philippines also lays claim to parts of the Spratlys, Hanoi and Manila have generally struck a cooperative chord in countering China’s expansive territorial ambitions. However, the region carries real risks of confrontation – a 1988 skirmish at Johnson South Reef left dozens of Vietnamese troops dead and the maritime feature in Chinese hands.

China has also controlled the entirety of the Paracels since capturing them from the old South Vietnamese regime in 1974.

“Vietnam’s strategy is to make official protest when [China] violates its sovereignty and sovereign jurisdiction and to monitor China’s actions,” said Carl Thayer, an emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales and an expert on Vietnam – describing Hanoi’s policy towards maritime disputes as one of “cooperation and struggle”.

In general, it refrains from escalating minor incidents, he said. Though Hanoi did become more assertive after 2014, when a major diplomatic row erupted over a Chinese oil rig moored off Vietnam’s central coast.

“Before then, Vietnam focused mostly on self-help efforts to modernise its navy and coastguard, while detaching the disputes from the overall bilateral relationship with Beijing to take advantage of close economic ties,” said Tran Bich, an adjunct fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

The 2014 incident prompted Vietnam to seek out new security partners, intensifying maritime cooperation with the United States, Australia, India and Japan. It has also diversified its military imports, moving away from its historic reliance on Russia. However, Hanoi has still been treading lightly, scrapping offshore drilling projects with Spanish company Repsol and Russian state oil firm Rosneft in recent years following Chinese pressure.

The lifting of a US arms embargo in 2016 – a relic of the Vietnam war – has so far only resulted in a trickle of American military equipment, focused primarily on maritime assets for the country’s coastguard rather than major weapons systems.

“Vietnam will continue to detach the South China Sea disputes from the overall relationship with China if [Hanoi’s ruling Communist Party] thinks the situation is manageable,” Bich said.

The two communist neighbours have managed to largely compartmentalise tensions, leveraging deep party-to-party ties that provide important communication channels to manage incidents at sea while prioritising their lucrative economic partnership.

“Party-to-party ties in the form of high-level exchanges, theoretical seminars, hot lines, and low-level exchanges are extremely important for the overall bilateral relationship,” Thayer said.

Trade between the two countries reached some US$171 billion last year – and as economic quarrels between China and the US have deepened, Vietnam has emerged as a new base for Chinese firms looking to bypass punitive American tariffs by shifting operations.

Insiders estimate Vietnam has absorbed around 60 per cent of China’s lost trade with the US, much of it in the form of Chinese-manufactured goods.

China’s economic and military leverage over Vietnam is formidable, yet alienating Hanoi is not in Beijing’s best geopolitical interests – as the Vietnamese are keen to point out, said Doanh, the retired government adviser and a Communist Party member.

“I hope that the relationship between the two parties, along with Vietnam’s bamboo diplomacy, will help the two sides maintain tactical stability in the near future,” he said.

As the US heads towards a pivotal November election that could see the return of the Donald Trump to the White House, experts say Vietnam is unlikely to risk escalating diplomatic tensions in the South China Sea. With trade and investment imperatives becoming increasingly paramount, Hanoi seems determined to maintain its cautious, conciliatory approach.

“Foreign policy has been set by the [Vietnamese Communist Party’s] Central Committee,” said Abuza of the National War College, emphasising Hanoi’s collective decision-making process. “It was never set by Nguyen Phu Trong … the reality is that he really didn’t care about foreign policy, he was domestically focused.”

Thayer said Lam, a former public security minister and long-standing member of the Central Committee, was expected to continue this well-established approach.

“Vietnam and China play a game of cat and mouse in the South China Sea but refrain from letting these encounters escalate,” Thayer said, adding that Hanoi purposefully deploys its coastguard rather than its navy to monitor Chinese activities – in contrast to the Philippines’ more confrontational stance.

“The Philippines has an alliance treaty with the US to protect its sovereignty, so the Philippines has taken a very bold and determined attitude,” Doanh said.

Vietnam’s carefully calibrated response is driven in part by a desire to avoid antagonising China on multiple fronts. Beijing tends to avoid moving against more than one rival claimant at a time to dilute the prospects of a united approach to this festering territorial sore.

Yet Doanh admits he is concerned. “I am worried about the possibility of escalating tensions in the East Sea as well as the possibility of war in the long term,” he said, referring to the South China Sea by its Vietnamese name.

“As we know, when China has internal problems that need to be resolved, they use force to seek some victory from outside or reduce tensions inside.”

Black Myth: Wukong is increasing China’s appetite for AAA games, but next one could take years

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3275709/black-myth-wukong-increasing-chinas-appetite-aaa-games-next-one-could-take-years?utm_source=rss_feed

The popularity of Black Myth: Wukong has Chinese investors and video game developers looking at ways to replicate its success, but industry insiders say that might be a decade away.

The blockbuster game, developed by Tencent Holdings-backed start-up Game Science, became an overnight sensation in China after its release on Tuesday and has been well received in global markets.

Sales of Black Myth topped 8.4 million copies within three days, sending total revenue from the title on video gaming platform Steam to more than US$400 million, according to data from market research company VG Insights.

The immense popularity of China’s first AAA title – an unofficial designation for games with large budgets and long development times – now has other developers in the country thinking more ambitiously.

“The emergence of Black Myth: Wukong proves that a [Chinese] AAA game project can be established, developed and eventually hit the shelves,” said Allen Chan, a game developer in Beijing who has been working in the industry for four years.

Over six years of development, with the team behind it growing from 13 to 140, Black Myth was produced under China’s stringent video gaming regulations, which require all titles to be licensed for commercial release.

“The gaming industry is a risky and unpredictable field for many investors,” said Zhou Huaming, a veteran with 18 years of game development experience in Shanghai.

The uncertainty of China’s video-gaming regulations – which three years ago wiped US$100 billion of value from related stocks – has made investors and game developers alike hesitant to invest the time and money needed for big projects like Black Myth, Zhou added.

Game Science reportedly spent more than US$40 million to develop Black Myth. That sum is small compared with global AAA titles – the 2020 game Cyberpunk 2077 reportedly cost 10 times that amount – but it is a big chunk of cash for the average Chinese video game start-up.

Zhou now sees a chance for the situation in the domestic industry to change. “The success of Black Myth will definitely bring more funding into the sector, which will make more game developers willing to try to develop such big projects,” he said.

However, it might not benefit everyone equally. “Mature investors will choose mature teams,” Zhou said. “So resources will further converge towards the top game developers.”

Olivia Qin, a mobile game developer based in Shenzhen who focuses on simulation games, said the success of Black Myth is “definitely a boost in confidence for Chinese game developers”. “It proves that even for those working on genres not considered as lucrative, it will still yield good results if [developers] put their hearts into it,” she said.

Qin, however, added that she will not consider making AAA games herself. “The cost is too high and it takes too long,” she said. “Not every small studio can get investment from Tencent.”

Game developers remain cautious about speculating when China might see another AAA title, especially one with the potential to become another global hit.

The success of Black Myth “may be able to be replicated, but that period could be very long”, Chan said. “Game Science has spent about a decade accumulating the experiences and the ability to build such games.”

Zhou said a few big single-player titles are currently under development, and are expected to launch within three years. But for something else on the scale of Black Myth: Wukong, “it could take nine years, optimistically”, he said.

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Mainland Chinese-style Suancai seafood dishes a hit in Hong Kong

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3275732/mainland-chinese-style-suancai-seafood-dishes-hit-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed

With dishes such as Sichuan sauerkraut fish and drinks such as hand-crushed lemon tea, mainland Chinese restaurants have expanded in Hong Kong and become a big hit.

The embrace marks a stark contrast to Hongkongers’ previous attitudes towards food from the mainland, shaped by the “gutter oil” scandal and problems with baby formula, among others.

The growing popularity of the restaurants can also be attributed to the increasing number of mainlanders who live in Hong Kong, as well as a trend towards more city dwellers exploring food options across the border.

The Tai Er Chinese Sauerkraut Fish restaurant chain, with its signature Suancai fish, Sichuan-style fish poached in a rich broth made from fish stock and pickled Chinese cabbage, is among the most popular.

Tai Er, established in 2015, moved into the Hong Kong market in 2023 and now has five branches across the city, despite a downturn in the food and drink sector.

The Post spoke to customers, teenager Maisy Chan and her housewife mother King Leung, who is in her forties, on a visit to one of its branches, at the Airside shopping centre in Kai Tak.

The pair said they were introduced to Suancai fish on regular trips to the mainland after coronavirus pandemic restrictions were lifted.

They have eaten the dish in Hong Kong about once a month since then.

“The fish is tender and the seasoning is just right for me,” Leung said as she tucked into a meal that cost HK$278 (US$36) for a portion big enough for one to two people.

“There used to be news about gutter oil years back,” she said. “Now, having eaten on the mainland and seen with my own eyes, I am more confident [in the quality of food from the mainland]”.

Olivia Ding from Inner Mongolia, who has lived in Hong Kong for more than a decade, was also in for a fish fix.

She said she had noticed the increasing popularity of Suancai fish restaurants in the city and put it down to an increased number of mainlanders in the city.

“Cantonese cuisine or dishes from local cha chaan tengs are lighter in flavour – diners might be bored after a while and would crave dishes that are stronger in flavour every now and then,” the education professional, in her thirties, said.

Since the launch of the Top Talent Pass Scheme in 2022, 74,587 applications have been approved, the majority from the mainland.

The number of mainlanders who arrived in the city on one-way permits reached 44,000 between mid-2023 and mid-2024.

Also among the customers was John Bugg, an Australian who has lived in Hong Kong for 15 years.

He said he has been sinking his teeth into the dish about once every two months.

“When I tried it out of curiosity, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s very healthy,” the semi-retired finance professional in his fifties said.

The chain has recently designed a new, non-spicy version of the Suancai fish to cater to city tastes.

The Hong Kong adaptations differ from the normal hot and sour flavour of the dish.

Branch manager Wyman Zheng Huiwen said he believed the recipe could help attract more customers in Hong Kong.

He said many restaurants from the mainland had spotted a market in Hong Kong, which had encouraged many well-known restaurants to set up in the city.

Lemon tea is considered a long-standing part of Hong Kong’s cha chaan teng culture.

Mainland chains selling a variety of hand-crushed versions have gained popularity in recent years and some have opened up in the city.

Lam Heung Ling – Lin Xiang Ning on the mainland – a brand founded in Guangdong opened six branches in Hong Kong last year. Its signature lemon tea combines crushed, partially ripe lemons with slow-brewed black tea.

Yui Lau, in his thirties, told the Post outside a Causeway Bay branch that he first tried the drink a few months ago after he noticed its increased profile in the city.

“Brands from the mainland are getting a lot of exposure, so it’s getting more attention. [Hongkongers] are also heading north [to spend], so people’s perceptions have entirely changed compared to a few years ago,” Lau said.

Hong Kong has seen a wave of Chinese food and drink chains that cover a variety of dishes, including different types of hotpot, or regional cuisines from areas such as Hunan in recent times.

Kathy Lee, the head of research at Colliers Hong Kong, said some regarded Hong Kong as a stepping stone for international expansion or had plans to become a listed company in the city.

But she said not all big names from the mainland were doing well.

Lee added that Hongkongers’ taste for travel and the yet-to-recover tourist numbers in the city, as well as the high rents, contributed to obstacles faced by chains.

“The business environment is, after all, different between Hong Kong and the mainland.” she said.

“If businesses wanted to duplicate their business model on the mainland direct to Hong Kong, it might not work.”

China’s stock woes: funds shun equities for bonds, ETFs, luxury homes in downbeat market

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3275552/chinas-stock-woes-funds-shun-equities-bonds-etfs-luxury-homes-downbeat-market?utm_source=rss_feed

Antony Xu has steered clear of stocks as his investment portfolio has been unprofitable over the past few years.

“For now, I’d rather put my spare money in banks’ wealth management products,” said the 47-year-old accounting executive in Shanghai. “The returns are low, but at least I can make some money. I’ve been suffering paper losses from stocks for years and there’s no way I’ll increase my investments in the near term.”

Luring investors such as Xu to China’s US$8.2 trillion stock market has proved to be daunting for President Xi Jinping and financial regulators.

Four months after the State Council, China’s cabinet, unveiled a nine-point document aimed at restoring investors’ confidence and attracting long-term funds, the market is back in a downward spiral after a relief rally. There are telltale signs of investors shunning stocks: turnover on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges has plunged to a four-year low, the benchmark CSI 300 Index has lost a tenth of its value from this year’s high and quick sector rotations dominate trading.

Instead, investors have been scooping up other assets from bonds to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking overseas equities, and luxury homes in tier-one cities. The frenzy is in sharp contrast to the flagging stock market, with the yield on the benchmark government bond sliding to a record low, ETFs tracking underlying US and Japanese stocks trading at a premium to their net-asset values and new luxury homes selling out.

This is a setback for Wu Qing, the chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), who rolled out a flurry of measures since he took over in February, from pledges to boost the quality of listed companies to crackdowns on short selling. After a brief rebound spurred by such state support, investors have been fleeing amid worries about the prospects of economic growth and corporate earnings.

“The Chinese markets remain very frustrating for investors,” said Gary Dugan, CEO of The Global CIO Office in Dubai, which provides services to family offices, wealth managers and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. “Investors are looking for tangible and sizeable measures from the government. The market is in need of policies that [can] deliver a boost to near term growth. If an effective stimulus is delivered to the economy, the upside in the market could be sizeable.”

Investors are disappointed by the absence of strong follow-up measures, particularly to defuse and tackle the protracted woes in the property market, after the Communist Party’s third plenary session and the ensuing Politburo meeting. At these two gatherings, top leaders pledged to achieve the annual gross domestic product target of about 5 per cent, spurring optimism about increased policy support for short-term growth.

Instead, China’s central bank made cuts to the policy interest rate and the longer-term loan prime rate following the two meetings, underwhelming stock traders and triggering a flight to haven trades.

“While the Politburo’s communique acknowledged economic lethargy and promised measures to address the weakness, there were no new specific policies,” said Ronald Temple, chief market strategist at Lazard Asset Management. “The Politburo highlighted the need to resolve housing issues, but it offered no new meaningful measures to absorb the excess supply of housing units or to stimulate consumption in the broader economy.”

Temple said he was withdrawing the call he made earlier this year about China’s growth bottoming, adding that “China will likely be a drag on global growth again in 2024 and 2025”.

China’s patchy economic recovery continued into July. New bank lending grew at the slowest pace in 14 years and industrial output fell short of expectations, while retail sales slightly beat estimates.

The CSI 300 Index is now about 10 per cent off the high for the year set on May 20, and the combined daily trading values on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges fell to 472.9 billion yuan (US$66.1 billion) last week. It was the lowest since May 2020 and considerably smaller than the daily average of 589 billion yuan this month and 790 billion yuan this year.

Even some of the most extreme measures taken by the CSRC have failed to revive confidence. A month ago, the watchdog suspended the securities relending business by state-backed margin-trading firm China Securities Finance, which loans stocks to short sellers. That has virtually decimated short selling, plunging outstanding value to a more than four-year low as short-sellers rushed to unwind trades to skirt the clampdown.

China’s opaque reshuffling of high-ranking finance officials and the ongoing clean-up of the securities industry have also put investors on edge, leaving them guessing about the policy intentions.

Last month, the CSRC abruptly replaced vice-chairman Fang Xinghai, a reform-minded and outspoken official who helped to facilitate communication between the Chinese regulator and overseas investors. Though Fang had just crossed the official retirement age of 60, his departure stoked concerns about further opening-up of the capital market particularly amid an exodus of foreign investors.

A week later, Zhao Xuejun, chairman of Harvest Fund Management, was placed under official investigation without any specific reason. Beijing-based Harvest is the nation’s fourth-largest mutual-fund firm overseeing 1.57 trillion yuan in assets. Before that, the government had initiated investigations into several senior officials at the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the head of the CSRC’s branch in eastern Jiangsu province.

All these developments, together with a dire outlook for the economy, have deterred China’s 220 million retail investors, the largest such group in the world, from making fresh investments. Of the 532.4 billion yuan in new mutual funds launched in the first half, only 600 million yuan was stock focused, with the rest targeting fixed-income products, according to industry data.

To be sure, some optimists argue that the downside risk is limited and stocks are attractive relative to bonds, which are fetching record-low yields.

“In terms of valuation, Hong Kong-China equities are currently trading at the lower end of their historical range, which could represent attractive entry points for longer term investors,” said William Fong, head of Hong Kong China equities at Baring Asset Management in Hong Kong. “As the economy gradually normalises, we are finding attractively priced, strong structural growth opportunities from a bottom-up perspective.”

Stocks linked to infrastructure, healthcare and technology may outperform as they benefit from the nation’s strategies to pursue sustainable growth, tech innovation and environmental awareness, he said.

UBS Group strategist Meng Lei said China’s insurance companies, which sit on total assets of more than 30 trillion yuan, would gradually switch to stocks, as the industry’s investment returns are set to be squeezed by rapidly falling bond yields. The yield on China’s benchmark 10-year government bond fell to an all-time low of 2.124 per cent on August 2.

“The inflows from insurance companies [to stocks] won’t take place overnight,” said Meng. “They will add positions gradually depending on the changes in fundamentals and earnings recovery.”

The CSI 300 Index is currently valued at 11.6 times estimated earnings for this year, compared with a multiple of 23.2 for the S&P 500 Index and 21.2 for the Nikkei 225, according to Bloomberg data.

Despite the edge, investors remain vigilant against falling into the so-called valuation trap – cheaper valuations offset by lower corporate earnings.

UBS’ rare rating downgrade last month of Kweichow Moutai, the maker of premium baijiu liquor, alarmed stock traders. The Swiss bank predicted that the compound annual profit growth for the liquor behemoth would slow to 8 per cent from 2023 to 2025, just over half the rate between 2020 and 2023, because of shrinking demand amid weak consumer spending.

For now, investors are fixated on asset classes other than stocks. Some are betting on the extension of a record-breaking rally in the bond market, even as the central bank repeatedly warns of the potential risk of low yields that could lead to huge investment losses should growth pick up. They argue that the deflationary trend in producer prices will prompt further interest-rate cuts to bolster demand for debt products. China’s factory-gate prices dropped for a 22nd month in July, while consumer inflation remained below 1 per cent for the 17th month in a row.

Overseas diversification is another popular strategy employed by Chinese investors. Buying of domestically domiciled ETFs tracking stocks in the US and Japan, where both benchmarks hit record highs this year, has been so frenzied that asset-management firms have had to issue repeated statements reminding investors of the risks.

An ETF linked to the Nikkei 225 run by China Asset Management at one point traded at a record 21 per cent premium to its net-asset value this year, while the premium in the firm’s ETF tracking the S&P 500 Index touched an all-time high of 18 per cent, according to Bloomberg data, underscoring robust demand in the secondary market.

Besides these options, China’s wealthy investors have set their eyes on a niche segment in the country’s beleaguered property market, parking money in luxury homes in tier-one cities on expectations that limited supply will protect their wealth.

In Shanghai, China’s biggest city, about 1,600 units priced at 30 million yuan or more found buyers in the first half, an increase of almost 40 per cent from a year ago, according to China Real Estate Information Corp. Most of these flats were located in the downtown areas, where land supply for residential flats is scarce.

“If you really want to find a safe harbour for capital now, luxury homes in big cities such as Shanghai should be the best choice,” said Yan Yuejin, vice-president of E-house China Real Estate Research and Development Institute in Shanghai. “No matter how home prices swing, these premium properties are rare and can meet the demand for preserving and boosting wealth.”

For now, overseas investors have taken a back seat as signs of a stock rally remain elusive.

“No one has China and Hong Kong [stocks] on their radar now,” said Brook McConnell, president at South Ocean Management.

“There’s slow improvement, just not enough to get anyone excited yet. The patient is still lying still on the bed. The markets need more from Beijing.”

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China donates military equipment to Benin in latest bid to build ties in Africa

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3275664/china-donates-military-equipment-benin-latest-bid-build-ties-africa?utm_source=rss_feed

China has donated equipment to the Beninese Armed Forces to help it fight terrorism, as Beijing steps up military cooperation with African nations.

The donation – mostly howitzers and their accessories – was officially handed over last week by China’s ambassador to Benin, Peng Jingtao.

Receiving the equipment, Brigadier General Fructueux Gbaguidi, chief of general staff of the Beninese Armed Forces, said the donation would strengthen the military’s arsenal and was “a strong symbol of the friendship that binds the Chinese and Beninese peoples”.

Benin’s military, which is fighting jihadists in the north of the country near the border with Burkina Faso and Niger, said in a statement that the equipment would “enable the units of the Beninese army to better respond to operational challenges on the ground in the fight against the terrorist threat”.

“This support from China is part of military cooperation between the two countries which is strengthening and diversifying every day,” it said.

The donation comes about a year after China donated four Norinco PMR-50 drones to Benin to help it improve its security, as the West African nation faces a growing threat of terrorism.

Beijing has sought to boost military cooperation with African countries by donating or selling both lethal and non-lethal equipment, as well as providing training and financing infrastructure and aircraft.

According to observers, the Chinese leadership sees donating arms and equipment as a cost-efficient way to build trust and promote strategic cooperation between the People’s Liberation Army and other armed forces.

Dr Ilaria Carrozza, a senior researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo, said China was using military donations mainly to pursue a strategy of economic alignment in Africa.

“Donating arms, training and equipment is viewed in Beijing as a way to foster mutually beneficial relations with African countries, and to promote economic and political exchanges in the long term,” Carrozza said.

“In the case of equipment that is, allegedly, being used to fight terrorism, this is also seen as an opportunity for boasting that China contributes to the provision of global public goods.”

China has in the recent past donated vehicles and engineering equipment to Kenya, while Zimbabwe last year received equipment worth US$28 million that included armoured vehicles, patrol boats, sniper rifles, machine guns and minibuses.

Nigeria and Sierra Leone have in the past few years received navy patrol boats from China, while Ghana early this year received rocket artillery and armoured vehicles from Chinese defence company Poly Technologies.

According to a 2022 study by the Peace Research Institute Oslo, China has provided nearly all African countries with security force assistance, worth millions of dollars, as it tries to strengthen relations with the continent and protect its economic interests.

The report said China had provided military assistance to 47 African countries in the past two decades, with Zimbabwe and Angola being the top recipients of arms and training.

It said some of the security assistance provided by China appeared to be directly related to its economic ties with the recipient country, including with the aim of protecting Chinese interests and citizens.

For instance, Seychelles received transport aircraft and a patrol boat to be used for counter-piracy efforts, while Kenyan police were provided with training to protect a railway financed and built by Chinese companies.

Donations are just a small part of China’s military cooperation with African countries – it is now a major supplier of arms and weapons to the continent.

China sells every conceivable type of weapon to African nations, from small arms and light weapons to armed drones, heavy equipment such as armoured personnel carriers and tanks, naval ships, high-performance aircraft and missile systems.

From 2000 to 2022, China extended loans worth US$3 billion to eight African countries – Zambia, Ghana, Cameroon, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Angola and Namibia – to secure military equipment and improve military infrastructure for their armies, according to data compiled by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Centre.

Zambia borrowed the most in that period, including defence loans worth US$1.5 billion from China to buy military aircraft and build army housing and barracks. Ghana was also a top recipient of Chinese defence loans, receiving US$473.7 million between 2000 and 2012.

David Shinn, a China-Africa specialist and professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, said Beijing earned the appreciation of African governments that bought or received donated arms.

“This is part of China’s strategy to build relations with the continent,” he said.

China and Russia remain the largest suppliers of military equipment to the continent, mostly through sales, which Shinn said had declined to sub-Saharan Africa in recent years. “China donates modest amounts of arms.”

He noted that while African nations welcomed the sale and donation of arms, they were likely to have little impact on curtailing the spread of terrorism.

“Only ending the root causes of terrorism will rein it in – not the provision of artillery howitzers,” he said.

No ‘feminist propaganda’ as hit Chinese video game grapples with censorship row

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/3275530/no-feminist-propaganda-hit-chinese-video-game-grapples-censorship-row?utm_source=rss_feed

The co-publisher of hit Chinese video game Black Myth: Wukong this week sent guidelines to foreign streamers urging them against discussing politically touchy topics like Covid-19 or feminism, players said.

Released globally on Tuesday, Black Myth rapidly became one of the most successful Chinese-made games ever, as measured by the number of players on gaming platform Steam.

It combines the classic 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West with cutting-edge graphics as gamers step into the shoes of a Monkey King to do battle with demons in a mythical world.

But in the run up to the game’s release, video streamers reported receiving a document from co-publishers Hero Games warning them to avoid topics including “feminist propaganda” or “politics” when they received a passkey to play the game, an email exchange seen by AFP showed.

Gamers were also warned against any reference to “Covid-19”, “isolation” or “quarantine” – likely a reference to China’s pandemic-era policies that placed millions under arbitrary lockdowns and sparked civil unrest.

They were also told to avoid commenting on “China’s game industry policies, opinions, news, etc”.

Benoit Reinier, a French video game content creator, confirmed to AFP on Wednesday that he had received the guidelines and shared his email exchange with the firm’s representative.

In a YouTube video, Reinier said he would not stream the game on his channel in response to the guidelines, he described as “censorship”.

“I have never seen something so shameful,” he said in the video.

“It is very clearly a document which explains to us that we must censor ourselves and we must not talk about subjects considered negative such as politics.”

Neither Hero Games nor the game’s developer Game Science responded to requests for comment on the document.

But Chinese gamers have rallied to the game’s defence, with some painting any criticism of China’s first “Triple A” title – some of it focusing on the lack of diversity in the game – as evidence of foreign bias.

“Feminists have always tried to achieve their anti-China goals by smearing and suppressing traditional Chinese culture, but I believe they will definitely fail,” read a post on Weibo, an X-like platform, which defended the game on Wednesday.

Other Chinese social media users also targeted reviews by foreign media that awarded scores considered low.

A review by Canada-based Screen Rant was ridiculed for marking the game down for “lacking in inclusivity and diversity”.

“How can it be lacking diversity when it has so many monsters?” read one Weibo comment under a post about Screen Rant’s score of 3 out of 5.

Another post accused foreign gaming review platforms of “joining the ranks of those smearing China”.

“Seeing that China has released a hugely successful game, they start relentlessly pushing ideologies like LGBTQ and feminism,” the user added.

The game remains one of the most played on Steam, with a peak of more than 2.2 million concurrent players since its release Tuesday.