• Forget the West – China think tanks must be ‘self-centred’ to project soft power: expert
• China’s Shijian satellite pair appears to dock in orbit for historic refuelling mission
• Chinese team says carbon dioxide can turn to sugar, offering solution to global problems
• Thrifty Chinese man spends under US$1 per meal, saving US$180,000 in 6 years to buy flat
• Will China’s ‘no tunnel, no toxic waste’ uranium mine be a nuclear energy game changer?
• China and Japan trade barbs after latest close encounter between warplanes
• China worker suffers severe chest pain, refuses surgery, doctor pays US$4,200 for treatment
• As China, India spar over Dalai Lama’s succession plan, is recent thaw at risk?
• ‘Monster’ China mum sells sons for US$11,600 to tip live-streaming hosts, buy clothes
• China’s luxury hotels sell street food to survive tough business climate
• Filipino film on South China Sea tensions wins in New Zealand despite Chinese pressure
• Public outrage as China monk berates elderly couple for ‘too small’ rice donation
• China’s kindergartens grapple with economic impact of plunge in prospective pupils
• China widens kindergarten lead poisoning investigation as central government gets involved
• Will China’s mega dam in Tibet bring a water crisis to India? New study gives hint
• China’s AI glasses market takes shape as Xiaomi’s entry inspires early adopters
• China’s cyber nationalists target maths star Hong Wang over lectures in English
• A few small steps for Hong Kong, a giant leap for China’s space sector
• What are China’s ‘future industries’ – and why they matter in the global tech race
• AI is worsening China’s population decline. But is it all bad news?

Forget the West – China think tanks must be ‘self-centred’ to project soft power: expert

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3317910/forget-west-china-think-tanks-must-be-self-centred-project-soft-power-expert?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s think-tanks should pay more attention to the nation’s actual conditions and rely less on Western knowledge, according to a leading Chinese scholar, who said policy advisers could better reflect and project the country’s soft power by incorporating “Chinese characteristics”.

Professor Zheng Yongnian, a political economist with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, who is also a Beijing policy adviser, said that to better explain Chinese practices to the world and anticipate the country’s future, such organisations should be based on an “indigenous knowledge system”.

The root and power of a country’s rise was the “rise of ideas”, and think tanks were the core and soul of a country’s “soft power”, Zheng said in an interview in Tuesday’s issue of Chinese Social Sciences Today, a newspaper published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Chinese think tanks, Zheng said, focused more on practicality compared with the research and analysis conducted in universities. “Some universities’ ‘academism’ in social science research is still stuck in Western textbooks. Their policy analysis also tends to be more of a post-analysis function,” he said.

“Think tanks, on the other hand, focus more on public policies in Chinese practice from the perspective of empirical research, exploring their formation, evolution and future development direction, as well as how decisions are made, implemented and supervised by the government and provide feedback,” Zheng told the newspaper.

“Only by truly building an indigenous knowledge system based on China’s practical experience and realising ‘self-centredness’ can we truly explain China’s practices and predict China’s future,” he added.

Among all types of think-tanks, those that research and analyse politics were the most important, because they affected the ruling legitimacy and governance effectiveness of the Communist Party, according to Zheng.

In 2013, think tank development in China was elevated to a national strategy level when President Xi Jinping proposed the goal of building a “new type of think tank with Chinese characteristics” as China sought wider global influence.

Two years later, the first government document advocating stronger development for think tanks was issued. A document released later by the Communist Party and the central government said think tanks were an important part of the country’s “soft power” and “discourse power”, adding that they had a profound impact on government decision-making, corporate development, social opinion and the dissemination of public knowledge.

According to a report by the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies, more than 1,900 think tanks were active in China last year. In 2022, the China Think Tank Directory said China had the second most think tanks globally, after the United States.

Zheng said that “solid progress” had been made in the development and diversity of China’s think tanks, with the system largely established. However, the country urgently needed practical public policy experts to focus more on current and future policies, he added.

“Talent should be exchanged and rotated between think tanks and governments, universities and enterprises,” Zheng said. “If talent is not rotated, the work of think tanks will be like animals that constantly circle in a cage, and the experts will not have the opportunities for contact and to understand other practices.”

As for artificial intelligence, Zheng said he embraced the convenience the technology has offered, but noted that originality still depends on humans.

“As members of think tanks, we must go deep into the front line of the social economy, observe new phenomena, and then conceptualise, theorise and systematise them, and put forward policy recommendations,” Zheng said. “This is something that artificial intelligence cannot do.”

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China’s Shijian satellite pair appears to dock in orbit for historic refuelling mission

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3318050/chinas-shijian-satellite-pair-appears-dock-orbit-historic-refuelling-mission?utm_source=rss_feed

Two Chinese satellites may have docked in geostationary orbit for a historic refuelling mission, an autonomous satellite servicing feat the United States has yet to achieve.

China’s Shijian-21 and Shijian-25 “appeared visually merged in optical sensor data” between July 2 and July 6, US-based space situational awareness software provider COMSPOC said on Saturday in a social media post.

“Given the prolonged RPO time, SJ-21 and SJ-25 may have docked,” it said, using the acronym for “rendezvous and proximity operations”.

The two probes were observed carrying out such operations in geosynchronous orbit in June and July “with multiple close approaches”, it added.

The first close approach was observed on June 11, when Shijian-25 continued its “steady drift towards” Shijian-21, and the two came within 1km (0.6 mile) of each other on June 13 before separating 90 minutes later, according to COMSPOC.

US surveillance satellites USA 270 and USA 271 flanked the Chinese satellites from east and west at the time and were positioned for optimal viewing angles, the company said.

According to optical tracking images from Swiss space surveillance firm s2a systems, the Chinese satellites, both orbiting at an altitude of 35,786km (22,236 miles) above the equator, carried out another round of close-proximity operations on June 30.

It said the two came within extremely close range after days of closing in on each other.

“After a day with small but relatively constant distance yesterday, the two objects came closer again today and can no longer be separated by our instrument since about 11:00 UTC (7pm Beijing time),” s2a systems said on July 2.

An updated post on July 5 said that no significant changes were observed.

Launched in January, Shijian-25 is designed to test “on-orbit refuelling and satellite life-extension technologies”. The mission aims to verify capabilities for maintaining and prolonging the operational lifespan of satellites already in orbit as a way to reduce costs, improve sustainability and help address growing concerns over space debris.

Shijian-21 was sent into orbit in October 2021, with an aim to “mainly test and verify space debris mitigation technologies”. It used up much of its propellant the following January while towing a defunct BeiDou navigation satellite into a higher “graveyard” orbit.

Satellite-to-satellite refuelling in high orbit presents extraordinary technical challenges, such as the need for precise docking and fluid transfer between uncrewed spacecraft in microgravity.

Beijing has prioritised space debris mitigation and refuelling efforts, primarily using the Shijian satellites to scoop up debris with robotic arms and nets or eliminate it with lasers.

According to American media reports, the US Space Force requested about US$20 million in the fiscal 2025 budget to fund early research and development of on-orbit satellite servicing technologies, including refuelling. Demonstration tests are expected to begin as early as next summer.

The US has been closely watching the Chinese experiments, as the technologies could also be used for anti-satellite warfare to disable probes critical for positioning, navigation and timing; command, control and communications; as well as missile early warning and other vital military functions.

Nasa’s similar OSAM-1 (On-orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing 1) mission was cancelled in 2023 after years of delays and technical challenges. Sixteen years earlier, the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency had carried out an autonomous satellite servicing demonstration in low-Earth orbit. The 2007 operation, known as Orbital Express, was successful but less complex.

Chinese team says carbon dioxide can turn to sugar, offering solution to global problems

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3318025/chinese-team-says-carbon-dioxide-can-turn-sugar-offering-solution-global-problems?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese scientists have developed a method to turn the alcohol methanol into white sugar, which they say could allow captured carbon dioxide to be converted into food.

The team’s biotransformation system produces sucrose without the need to grow sugar cane or sugar beets – crops that require large amounts of land and water resources.

Their method to convert methanol – which can be derived from industrial waste or made by hydrogenating carbon dioxide – into sucrose using enzymes was also adapted to make other complex carbohydrates, including fructose and starch.

“Artificial conversion of carbon dioxide into food and chemicals offers a promising strategy to address both environmental and population-related challenges while contributing to carbon neutrality,” the team said in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Bulletin in May.

Reducing carbon dioxide to less complex molecules has proven successful, though the researchers said that generating long-chain carbohydrates – the most abundant substances in nature – has proven to be a challenge for scientists.

“In vitro biotransformation (ivBT) has emerged as a highly promising platform for sustainable biomanufacturing,” the team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology wrote.

“In this work, we successfully designed and implemented an [ivBT] system for sucrose synthesis from low-carbon molecules”.

Sucrose, or white sugar, is mainly obtained from sugar cane grown in warmer climates, such as Southeast Asia. The second major source is sugar beets grown in colder northern regions.

While China has the climate conditions to grow both cane and beets, the country consumes 15 million tonnes of sugar a year, 5 million tonnes of which are imported, according to an article published by the Voice of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on its WeChat channel earlier this month.

The large-scale cultivation of both crops requires a vast amount of land and water, which is a concern as the global population continues to grow, placing an increasing amount of stress on agriculture as the climate changes.

This has prompted researchers to try to develop methods to synthesise sucrose in a scalable and economically viable way.

In 2021, researchers from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of CAS revealed a high-efficiency, low-temperature method to produce methanol from the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide.

The chemical reduction of carbon dioxide had opened up the possibility of using the captured greenhouse gas as a raw material for the sustainable biosynthesis of various chemicals, the researchers from the Tianjin Institute said.

“This study established several ivBT platforms for the conversion of low-carbon molecules, which can be derived from chemical reduction of CO2 or chemical/biological conversion of industry wastes, into high-carbon (C≥12) sugars,” the team said.

By employing a pathway-scanning strategy to optimise their system, the team was able to develop a pathway with short reaction steps and low energy input, achieving a high conversion yield of 86 per cent.

Their system was not only able to convert methanol into sucrose for the first time, but could also biosynthesise starch with less energy input than previously reported methods.

Building upon their platform, the team also adapted the ivBT system to convert a variety of compounds, including fructose, amylose, amylopectin, cellobiose and cellooligosaccharides.

“Together, our system provides a promising, plant-independent route for de novo synthesis of structure-diversified oligosaccharides and polysaccharides,” including those used in food and medicine, the team said.

“This work thus lays a foundational framework for the future development of flexible and carbon-negative biomanufacturing platforms.”

The team said further research would be required to make their ivBT systems scalable and robust, including enhanced enzyme screening and improving the platform’s stability.

Thrifty Chinese man spends under US$1 per meal, saving US$180,000 in 6 years to buy flat

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3318033/thrifty-chinese-man-spends-under-us1-meal-saving-us180000-6-years-buy-flat?utm_source=rss_feed

A 29-year-old Chinese man has stunned many online with his extreme frugality, revealing that he spends only a few yuan (under US$1) per meal, and this habit has enabled him to save 1.3 million yuan (US$180,000) in just six years.

Known online as “Little Grass Drifting North,” he is a live-stream host at a major internet company in Beijing and manages a self-media business. His exact earnings remain undisclosed.

Recently, he disclosed that he has limited his monthly food expenses to under 500 yuan (US$70), which has contributed to his impressive savings since graduating from university six years ago.

His largest monthly expense is rent, around 2,500 yuan, while all his meals are home-cooked, costing just a few yuan each and averaging less than 500 yuan per month.

His extreme frugality is rooted in a traumatic childhood experience. When he was in Primary Five, his mother fell seriously ill, forcing the family to borrow over 100,000 yuan for her treatment.

“We couldn’t afford the medical bills. From that moment on, I felt compelled to save as much as I could. That way, regardless of what happens, I won’t need to rely on others – I can access the funds I need and feel more secure,” he explained.

“Before my mum’s illness, I had little understanding of money. That experience made me realise how essential it is – especially in difficult times. Without it, you’re powerless,” he shared during an interview with Jiupai News.

He began working part-time the day after finishing China’s national college entrance exam and has worked diligently every day since, seldom taking real breaks.

“I’ve had very few days off in six years. Unless it’s due to a family member’s passing, I rarely take time off – even during Lunar New Year, I’ve never taken the full seven-day holiday.”

“You might find it hard to believe, but I have little desire for leisure. It’s not that I’m stingy – I’ve visited places like Universal Studios and even travelled to Sanya, but all on company trips. After experiencing them, I didn’t find anything I particularly enjoyed.”

He admitted that this intense lifestyle has affected his health. After years of long hours and high pressure, he began experiencing warning signs such as elevated cholesterol and poor circulation.

As a result, he has become more inclined to invest in his own health and in the well-being of his parents.

He revealed that he currently has 1.3 million yuan in savings and aspires to reach 2 million yuan to purchase a home and a car – so his parents can live comfortably and travel.

“I want to save 2 million yuan to buy a flat and a car with my own money. I want my parents to live in a home that I purchased, and when I have the time, I’ll take them on trips. Ultimately, I hope to marry and start a family of my own.”

“I’ve always believed that life can’t be sweet all the time – you can either enjoy now and suffer later, or endure now and enjoy later. I chose the second. Having more savings and a solid plan allows me to face future risks with confidence. That’s what gives me a sense of security.”

His story has ignited passionate discussions online, with many questioning the sustainability of such a lifestyle.

One person joked: “If you want to save 1.3 million yuan, you first need to earn at least 1.3 million yuan.”

Another asked: “It’s impressive, but is living such a tense and restrictive life worth it just to save money?”

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Will China’s ‘no tunnel, no toxic waste’ uranium mine be a nuclear energy game changer?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3318046/will-chinas-no-tunnel-no-toxic-waste-uranium-mine-be-nuclear-energy-game-changer?utm_source=rss_feed

China has made a breakthrough in uranium mining and processing by unlocking complex sandstone deposits once seen as too challenging to develop, as Beijing ramps up efforts towards a green transition and energy security.

The country’s largest natural uranium project had yielded its first barrel, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced on Saturday.

The “National No 1 Uranium” demonstration project was launched a year ago in the Ordos basin of northern Inner Mongolia, home to China’s largest natural uranium deposits.

State news agency Xinhua said the successful mining marked a “green, safe, intelligent and efficient” approach that would boost China’s competitiveness in the natural uranium sector.

It also signifies a shift in China’s uranium production centre, from central Jiangxi province to the north.

While uranium mining in China has traditionally focused on volcanic and granite deposits around Lean in Jiangxi province, sandstone-type uranium deposits have been uncovered over the past two decades in northern China, particularly Inner Mongolia.

However, technical restrictions meant these deposits were considered as “dull mines” without economic potential. Advanced in situ leaching technology has now proved capable of overcoming those challenges.

Su Xuebing, chief engineer of China National Uranium Co, a CNNC subsidiary, hailed the feat by the No 1 mine as “a systematic technological leap” likely to reshape the country’s uranium mining and processing.

It has also set a record for construction speed, having been completed just one year after breaking ground, Xinhua reported on Saturday.

China announced 10 major uranium discoveries in 2023, with estimated resources exceeding 2.8 million tonnes. Six of those sites are in Inner Mongolia.

The deposits in Jiangxi, while richer, are hosted in granite, meaning they must be mined first and then processed.

On the other hand, the uranium content in sandstone deposits tends to be lower and more dispersed, making extraction less economically attractive with older technology. The porosity of sandstone also makes mining and ore recovery challenging.

In situ leaching, as used successfully in the Inner Mongolia project, “is akin to an intravenous drip”, according to Su.

“A solution is injected into an underground ore bed via wells, dissolving uranium directly. The uranium-rich solution is then pumped to the surface for processing,” he told Xinhua.

Traditional methods like acid or alkali leaching had a significant environmental impact. But the new process using an aqueous carbon dioxide-oxygen solution to dissolve uranium minerals in the underground ore minimised harm, Su said.

“No tunnelling, no ecological damage, and no radioactive waste discharge.”

China is the second country after the United States to master this in situ leaching technology, which can effectively triple accessible uranium resources.

The demonstration uranium project will also use automation, remote control, and big data for smart operations and precise mining.

According to CNNC, the technologies used in the project will be rapidly scaled across uranium development in the northern basins to support the creation of more large-scale uranium mining bases.

China has sped up the building of nuclear reactors to support its green goals and add more reliable energy sources alongside wind and solar, which can be affected by the weather.

It aims to triple its nuclear power capacity to 200 gigawatts by 2040, or more than twice the current capacity of the US, according to industrial reports.

As of the end of last year, China had 26 nuclear power units under construction, with 18 more in the pipeline. All this involves a rising demand for natural uranium.

According to academician Ye Qizhen of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, domestic demand for natural uranium “will exceed half of current global production” in the next 15 years.

“China will become a leading consumer of uranium resources” by then, he told a forum hosted by the state-backed Chinese Nuclear Society in March.

China and Japan trade barbs after latest close encounter between warplanes

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3318043/china-and-japan-trade-barbs-after-latest-close-encounter-between-warplanes?utm_source=rss_feed

China and Japan have traded accusations after a series of close encounters between their warplanes last week.

On Sunday the Chinese defence ministry accused Japanese reconnaissance aircraft of “repeatedly” entering China’s air defence identification zone in the East China Sea.

The comments followed a Japanese statement issued three days earlier that accused a Chinese JH-7 fighter-bomber of making “unusual approaches” towards a Japanese YS-11EB electronic-intelligence aircraft. on Wednesday and Thursday.

“Such unusual approaches by Chinese military aircraft could lead to an accidental collision,” the Japanese defence ministry said.

However, Jiang Bin, a spokesman for the defence ministry in Beijing, said Chinese forces had “lawfully identified, tracked and monitored” Japanese aircraft in a “legitimate, reasonable, professional and standard” manner.

“Japanese ships and aircrafts' close-in reconnaissance and harassment of the Chinese side are the root cause of China-Japan maritime and air security risks,” he said.

However, he added that he hoped Japan could work with China to create an atmosphere for the stable development” of relations.

The two countries clashed over similar close-call incidents in June, when Japan said a Chinese combat aircraft flew extremely close to a Japanese navy P-3C surveillance aircraft over the Pacific.

The relationship between the two largest economies in Asia remains tense in several areas, including trade and security, despite efforts to improve ties, such as the partial lifting of China’s ban on Japanese seafood imports.

Meanwhile a series of attacks on Japanese citizens in China have also soured the mood with figures from the Japan Overseas Educational Services showing that since April last year there had been a more than 10 per cent drop in the number of enrolments in Japanese schools in China.

On Thursday Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi Tokyo had serious concerns over the “deteriorating situation in the seas and airspace around Japan”.

Iwaya further referred to an “intrusion” into Japanese airspace by a Chinese coastguard helicopter, an increase in the operational range of Chinese aircraft carriers and “China’s unilateral development of natural resources in the East China Sea”.

He also used the meeting in Kuala Lumpur to express concerns over “the significant impact” of export controls on rare earth minerals and magnets.

He added that large-scale People’s Liberation Army drills around Taiwan were “incompatible” with regional peace and stability.

On Saturday the Financial Times reported that the United States was pressing Japan and Australia to make clear what role they would play in the event of a war over Taiwan.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US, Japan and Australia, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but the three would oppose any attempt to take the island by force.

During the talks with Iwaya last week, Wang urged Japan to “strictly abide by” its agreements on Taiwan and “match its words with actions”.

However, he added that relations between the two had “improved and developed”.

Beijing is putting a greater emphasis on ties with its neighbours in the face of the global US tariff wars, although analysts have said Washington’s allies would continue to work with it to counter growing Chinese influence.

Last week Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng visited Expo 2025 Osaka, using the visit to meet senior Japanese politicians and express Beijing’s willingness to build a “constructive and stable” relationship.

China worker suffers severe chest pain, refuses surgery, doctor pays US$4,200 for treatment

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3317419/china-worker-suffers-severe-chest-pain-refuses-surgery-doctor-pays-us4200-treatment?utm_source=rss_feed

A doctor in southern China paid 30,000 yuan (US$4,200) out of his own pocket to cover the medical bills of a patient who refused to undergo emergency surgery because of the cost.

The incident unfolded in Dongguan, Guangdong province on June 30, when a migrant factory worker, surnamed Zhang, felt a searing pain in his chest and back while he was working, the Guangzhou Daily reported.

After Zhang, 38, arrived at a hospital in Xiegang Town, Dongguan City, doctors diagnosed a serious cardiovascular disorder.

A doctor from the cardiovascular department, Lu Jiongbin, told Zhang that he needed immediate surgery and that there was a 60 per cent possibility that he would die otherwise.

But Zhang refused to have the operation or to be hospitalised, saying he just wanted to go home to his village in Shaanxi province, northwestern China.

“I do not want to receive any treatment. If I die, it is fine,” he told medical staff.

Lu later learned that Zhang only had medical insurance in Shaanxi.

The doctor reported Zhang’s situation to Guo Suxia, the director of the cardiovascular department.

According to online chat records, Guo told Lu: “This young man is the financial pillar of his family. We should try our best to save him, not only through medical skills, but also through other means.”

Guo then transferred 30,000 yuan to the hospital to fund Zhang’s medical treatment.

Lu then told Zhang: “You cannot go back to your hometown now. Your blood vessels could burst at any time. It is not a small problem.”

“Do not worry about money. We will raise the money for you. After the surgery, both your life and your work will not be affected,” the doctor said.

Zhang then agreed to have the surgery, which went smoothly.

On July 4, members of his family came to the hospital to thank the doctors.

The news prompted a shower of praise for the doctors at the Dongguan Hospital.

“The man is so lucky to meet such merciful and highly-skilled doctors,” one online observer said.

“This is the best doctor I have ever seen,” said another.

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As China, India spar over Dalai Lama’s succession plan, is recent thaw at risk?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3317903/china-india-spar-over-dalai-lamas-succession-plan-recent-thaw-risk?utm_source=rss_feed

The fallout between China and India over the 14th Dalai Lama’s succession plan has put a strain on their improving relations, but observers say the dispute is unlikely to completely jeopardise the thaw between the neighbours.

The dispute was triggered last week by comments from a senior Indian minister, Kiren Rijiju, who said only the Dalai Lama himself and the institution he established had the authority to identify his successor as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism.

Then on Sunday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended 90th birthday greetings to the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India.

The remarks drew criticism from China twice within a week, with Beijing asserting that the Dalai Lama’s succession must adhere to tradition and Chinese law.

Beijing had lodged a formal protest and urged India to stop interfering in China’s domestic affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on July 4, a day after Rijiju’s comments. On Monday, it described the 14th Dalai Lama as a “political exile who has long engaged in anti-China separatist activities … under the cloak of religion”.

The Indian foreign ministry said New Delhi did not comment on religious matters and upheld the freedom of religion.

“The government of India does not take any position or speak on matters concerning beliefs and practices of faith and religion. The government has always upheld freedom of religion for all in India and will continue to do so,” a ministry spokesman said on July 4.

Rijiju’s remarks had come a day after the Dalai Lama said his office – the Gaden Phodrang Trust, which is headquartered in India – held the “sole authority” to recognise the next Dalai Lama.

Beijing was swift to reject the Tibetan spiritual leader’s plan, saying “the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation must follow the principles of domestic recognition … and approval by the central government, in line with religious traditions and laws”.

India has hosted the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala since 1959, when an armed uprising in Tibet was crushed by the People’s Liberation Army. New Delhi formally recognised the Tibet autonomous region as part of China in 2003.

Liu Zongyi, director of the Centre for South Asia Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, said the matter directly involved China’s territorial sovereignty and was a red line that could not be crossed.

“In fact, it was a crucial factor that ultimately led to the breakdown of China-India relations and the 1962 border conflict … The issue could very well become a flashpoint for future conflicts between the two nations,” Liu said.

The Dalai Lama previously said his successor would be born outside China.

“Now India and Western countries claim to support the Dalai Lama, even suggesting his reincarnation outside China … If their agenda is to use this new Dalai as leverage in negotiations with China or as a tool to disrupt stability in Tibet and across the entire country, the Chinese government will never yield,” Liu added.

Ivan Lidarev, an Asian security expert specialising in China-India relations and a visiting research fellow at the National University of Singapore, said India’s limited leverage over China meant the issue of the Dalai Lama had become an important lever as relations deteriorated in recent years.

He said New Delhi needed to sustain this so-called Tibet card, which had weakened due to Beijing’s firmer control over Tibet and declining international backing for the Dalai Lama, and that was an underlying reason for India having taken a more active stance on the spiritual leader’s succession plan.

Liu said another factor was the China-US rivalry, with Washington having regained interest in the succession issue in recent years, indirectly prompting India to clarify its own stance on the matter.

“On this issue, India wants to highlight its role in containing China and demonstrate its ability to contribute to the United States in this regard,” he said.

According to Liu, China has never regarded India as a serious rival, but the Modi government has not abandoned its ambition to surpass China economically and to replace it in supply chains.

China-India relations hit a low point after a deadly border clash in 2020 but have slowly improved through a series of diplomatic and military talks, with the two sides reaching a border agreement late last year.

Earlier this year, China announced that it would allow Indian pilgrims to return to Tibet in the summer, after a five-year suspension due to the pandemic and border tensions. Last month, the first group of Indian pilgrims crossed the Himalayas into Tibet to resume the Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar pilgrimage, sacred to many Hindus and Buddhists. This move was seen as a positive step towards improving India-China relations and cultural cooperation.

Also in June, India’s defence minister visited China for the first time since 2020, while Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Ajit Doval, the Indian national security adviser, affirmed their commitment to maintaining border peace in a meeting in Beijing, signalling another effort to mend ties.

Lidarev, who asserted that India’s policy towards the Dalai Lama was careful and restrained compared with earlier periods, said the current thaw, although “young and weak”, was still sustainable despite the reincarnation dispute.

“First, the reincarnation issue is not new and both sides have long ago incorporated it into their strategic planning,” he said.

“Second, the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation statement was much softer than expected. Its language was much milder than a similar statement in 2011 and, importantly, it did not mention reincarnation outside China, leaving some room for negotiation with Beijing.”

However, analysts said that while both sides sought stability, missteps could reignite confrontation, with China likely to respond aggressively to perceived interference.

Lidarev warned that disrupting the thaw would make the reincarnation issue even more unpredictable and harder to manage, with both sides fearing a return to the pre-2024 era of frozen ties and confrontation.

Zhu Yongbiao, a professor at Lanzhou University’s school of politics and international relations, said an escalation over the reincarnation issue would generate greater losses for India, as China was likely to take economic countermeasures such as expanding export controls.

Zhu added that in terms of geopolitical strategy, China might also ramp up support for or deepen strategic cooperation with Pakistan, giving it an edge over traditional rival India.

Chinese and Pakistani air chiefs have been in talks this week to seek military synergy on training and tech fronts. The meeting came two months after brief military hostilities between Pakistan and India that followed Indian air strikes on alleged terrorist sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The strikes were in response to a terror attack that killed 26 civilians in Pahalgam, in Indian-held Kashmir, described by New Delhi as cross-border state-sponsored terrorism.

Islamabad is also looking to buy more Chinese warplanes and anti-ballistic missile systems to deter future Indian attacks, sources said in June, after Pakistan announced its Chinese-made J-10C fighters had downed multiple Indian jets during their four-day conflict.

“I believe India has consistently miscalculated its approach to China in their bilateral relations,” Zhu said.

‘Monster’ China mum sells sons for US$11,600 to tip live-streaming hosts, buy clothes

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3317353/monster-china-mum-sells-sons-us11600-tip-live-streaming-hosts-buy-clothes?utm_source=rss_feed

A mother in China has sparked public outrage after it was revealed that she sold her two biological sons to fund tips for live-streaming hosts.

The errant mother even went as far as deliberately conceiving the second child solely for the purpose of selling it.

Huang, 26, is originally from Guangxi province in southern China and only has a primary school education.

She later moved to Fuzhou, Fujian province, in southeastern China and made a living doing odd jobs.

Reports suggest that Huang was an adopted child and, due to her lack of education and care from her adoptive parents, left home at an early age.

In October 2020, she gave birth to her first son. However, due to financial hardship and the absence of a known father, she was unable to raise him.

She decided to sell the baby to escape her predicament.

Her landlord, surnamed Wei, learned of her plan and introduced her to a relative, surnamed Li, whose son was infertile and had long wished to adopt a child.

Li’s family bought the baby boy for 45,000 yuan (US$6,300).

Huang spent the entire amount tipping livestreaming anchors.

When she ran out of money, Huang reportedly resorted to even more extreme measures.

She actively sought out men for sex, intent on conceiving another child to sell for profit.

In 2022, Huang gave birth to a second son named Guyu and sold him to a broker for 38,000 yuan (US$5,300), who then resold the baby for 103,000 yuan (US$14,000).

Huang reportedly spent all the money on tips for live-streamers, buying clothes and other extravagant items with the proceeds.

On April 13, 2022, Huang was reported to the authorities for suspected fraud.

A police investigation discovered chat records on her mobile phone related to selling children.

Both boys were rescued by the police in April 2022 and have been placed under the care of local civil affairs departments, awaiting adoption.

On July 8, the Fuzhou Jin’an District People’s Court sentenced Huang to five years and two months in prison for fraud and trafficking, plus a fine of 30,000 yuan (US$4,000).

Li was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for one year, for purchasing a trafficked child, while Wei received a seven-month prison term.

Human trafficking in China has a long and complex history.

A market for the sale of people has existed for decades and is often facilitated by families.

The illegal adoption, especially of boys, was seen as essential for continuing the family lineage and enhancing family status.

The case, reported by state media CCTV, has sparked widespread online outrage.

One online observer said: “Is this even real news from the human world? Only five years for abandoning two children? That is way too lenient.”

“No sympathy. She should be sentenced to 30 years to reflect her crimes properly,” said another.

While a third said: “She is a monster and is not fit to be a mother.”

China’s luxury hotels sell street food to survive tough business climate

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3317876/chinas-luxury-hotels-sell-street-food-survive-tough-business-climate?utm_source=rss_feed

Catering at luxury hotels typically involves high-end banquets and formal entertainment, with exquisite decor and masterfully crafted dishes often seen as worth the high price tag.

But for many consumers in China, that is changing.

In July, the five-star Zhongwu Hotel in Changzhou, Jiangsu province – ranked second among 10 luxury hotels in the city on Trip.com – surprised observers when it launched a street vendor service offering budget meal boxes prepared by its catering team.

“You must first solve the problem of survival. If you can’t even solve your own problems, what else can you talk about?” said Chen Yonghua, Zhongwu Hotel’s manager.

The decision reflects a sluggish business environment for China’s high-end hospitality sector, as cautious consumers tighten their belts amid concerns about a slowing economy.

Priced between 20 yuan and 100 yuan (US$3 and US$14), the boxed meals are a far cry from the several thousand typically charged for a banquet table. Offerings include popular night market favourites like braised dishes, spicy crayfish, a selection of dim sum and other delicacies.

The move is part of the hotel’s efforts to weather mounting challenges facing the industry.

According to Hotel House, a Chinese data provider offering insights on hotels, the average room rate in mainland China was 118 yuan in 2024, a year-on-year decrease of 9.7 per cent. Occupancy fell to 58.8 per cent, a 2.5 per cent decline year-on-year.

Catering services – another pillar of hotel revenue – are also shrinking. Data from the Beijing Hotay Grand Ceremony Hotel showed that in 2024, full-service upscale hotels earned an average of 10.21 million yuan (US$1.4 million) from catering – down from the 12.37 million yuan recorded in 2023 and a 38.3 per cent decline from 2019.

Despite government efforts to spur domestic spending, uncertainty about the future and declining salaries have pushed consumers towards affordable options over luxury.

In megacities like Shanghai and Beijing, the fine dining sector has suffered a severe downturn in the past few years. High-end restaurants have closed one after another as diners tighten their budgets.

Zhongwu Hotel’s street vendor initiative quickly went viral this month. After just seven days, the hotel had set up 20 WeChat groups – each capped at 500 members – to share menus and operating hours. A behind-the-scenes video showed the executive chef, a Black Pearl award winner – China’s equivalent to the Michelin Guide – cooking fried rice later sold for just 28 yuan.

Fans have rushed to pre-order dishes, which typically sell out within five minutes. Each afternoon, the hotel hands out 100 tickets for on-the-spot purchases.

“If you are really keen on it, you should go and queue up before 3pm,” one WeChat group user said. The meal boxes start selling at 4:30pm.

According to a screenshot shared in a WeChat group, 33 hotels in Changzhou have also launched street vendors. That includes established luxury brands like Wenpu Hotel, Hilton and Fudu Qingfeng Hotel, all of which enjoy active social media engagement over the meal boxes.

Still, traditional banquet bookings at Zhongwu Hotel have fallen 65.7 per cent year-on-year, Chen said.

“Meeting normal operating expenses and covering employee compensation is necessary. Without it, businesses face trouble and lay-offs,” he said.

“As responsible businesses, we strive to fulfil our duties and not burden society.”

Dun Zhengnan, director of food and drink at Zhengzhou Tiandilisheng Hotel, said the street stalls are cost-effective and generate buzz.

“The sight of chefs from a five-star hotel cooking meals easily sparks curiosity among passers-by and spreads on social media, which is equivalent to doing ‘down-to-earth’ marketing at a low cost, attracting potential customers,” he said.

But the chill gripping high-end hotels continues to spread. In May, the Communist Party banned officials from excessive wining and dining, part of broader efforts to rein in wasteful government spending.

The policy, which bans alcohol at official work meals, has prompted strict enforcement by local authorities keen to show political loyalty.

A Guangzhou-based political science researcher, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the ban on alcohol had significantly impacted the industry.

“While ordinary restaurants may benefit, high-end and business entertainment dining will be severely hit,” he said.

On Wednesday, Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily praised the initiative to set up street vendors, calling it a “proactive attempt by businesses to revitalise idle resources”.

“Only by actively seeking change can businesses secure their footing amid fierce competition.”

Filipino film on South China Sea tensions wins in New Zealand despite Chinese pressure

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3317872/filipino-film-south-china-sea-tensions-wins-new-zealand-despite-chinese-pressure?utm_source=rss_feed

A Filipino documentary spotlighting the daily struggles of fishermen, naval cooks and coastguard personnel in the contested South China Sea has earned international recognition, with its director telling This Week in Asia that the award was a validation of honest storytelling in the face of political pressure from Beijing to cancel its screening.

Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea took home the Tides of Change prize at the Doc Edge Festival in Auckland, New Zealand, on July 3. Directed by Baby Ruth Villarama, the film chronicles the human dimension of Manila’s maritime claims, offering what she described as a “gentle yet powerful” way of reframing geopolitical tensions.

Villarama is best known for her award-winning 2016 documentary Sunday Beauty Queen about Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong, which earned Best Picture at the Metro Manila Film Festival. Her latest film’s win in New Zealand comes after it was pulled from a Philippine event earlier this year for undisclosed reasons.

Just days before its scheduled premiere at Manila’s Puregold CinePanalo Festival in March, the festival organiser and film producer released a joint statement confirming the movie had been pulled. “While the decision was made jointly … it is clear that external factors played a role in this outcome,” they said, without providing further details.

Villarama told This Week in Asia the experience was disheartening, but her team “quietly submitted” the film to overseas festivals. Doc Edge was the first to respond.

“They saw it not as a threat, but as an urgent human story worth sharing with the world and the people of New Zealand,” she said.

Days before it was scheduled to premiere at the festival, officials from the Chinese consulate in New Zealand reportedly asked festival organisers to cancel screenings of the film “in the interest of public and China-New Zealand relations”. Doc Edge published the full statement from the Chinese consulate on its website “for the sake of transparency and fairness”.

“The documentary … is rife with disinformation and false propaganda, serving as a political tool for the Philippines to pursue illegitimate claims in the South China Sea. Its screening would severely mislead the public and send the wrong message internationally,” the email read.

“This documentary disregarded history and facts, and is designed to amplify the Philippines’ wrong position on the issue concerning the South China Sea and deliberately distort and hype up the maritime situation. Trying desperately to justify the unjustifiable will not help the Philippines build trust with the international community.”

China and the Philippines have been embroiled in maritime tensions in the South China Sea, with Beijing refusing to recognise the 2016 arbitral court’s ruling in favour of Manila’s claims over the disputed waters.

However, the festival organisers refused the request, saying their event was meant to give a voice to independent filmmakers. “Doc Edge stands by our kaupapa [principles] and the festival’s independence and curatorial freedom,” they said in their official response.

Villarama said that she was informed about the consulate’s request only hours before the screening.

“How Doc Edge handled the situation was, to me, a class act in cultural diplomacy. They didn’t escalate; they simply stood their ground. They protected the space for honest storytelling without antagonising anyone. In that moment, they reminded us all why festivals like this exist – not just to showcase films, but to defend the freedoms that make films like Food Delivery possible,” she said.

Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Año commended Doc Edge “for refusing to give in to foreign pressure and for defending the right to tell stories that matter”.

“The use of diplomatic pressure to demand the cancellation of the screening of said documentary represents a blatant attempt to silence a powerful narrative that exposes the truth about the situation in the West Philippine Sea and the daily realities faced by Filipino fisherfolk. This interference is not only unacceptable, it is a direct affront to the principles of free expression, artistic freedom and democratic discourse,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Let Food Delivery be seen. Let our stories be heard. And let those who try to suppress the truth know this: the Philippines will never be silenced.”

Villarama said the film was conceived as a way to shift focus from the typical geopolitical framing of South China Sea disputes to the lived realities of Filipinos on the front line.

“I was searching for something that could connect us beyond all the tension. Something deeply human … I wanted to reach people beyond the polarising politics, believing that food can be a bridge for mutual appreciation,” she said.

Food, she said, was a “gentle yet powerful entry point, cherished by both Filipinos and Chinese alike, and capable of bringing people together”.

“It led me to the quiet stories of how food is delivered to those protecting our seas – by the hard work of naval cooks packing to deliver to these contested islands, and the steadfast efforts of fishermen, taking nature’s bounty straight from the ocean to our tables.”

Villarama said that in the conversations surrounding the tensions, “what’s often missing is the human side: the fishermen who risk their lives every day, and the quiet efforts of the coastguard to keep them safe, even with limited resources”.

“What drew me in was the quiet dignity of service. When I met the naval cooks packing food to deliver in these contested remote islands and features, knowing those meals would travel across dangerous waters, I realised this was a powerful metaphor for the kind of resistance we practice as a people. We fight not with firepower, but with persistence, with care, and with our deep sense of responsibility to feed and protect,” she said.

At the film’s question and answer session, Filipinos based in New Zealand told her that they had never seen the tensions “told through such a personal and human lens as well as the first generation of Filipinos who have no idea about what’s going on in the Philippines”.

“Many didn’t realise how deeply food security, maritime conflict and dignity are intertwined,” she said.

The documentary was shot over 60 days, including securing access with local government agencies and uniformed services.

“Some were hesitant, others took a long time to respond or would pass us to different people with dead ends. It took months of convincing, and countless hours just waiting in lobbies, hoping someone would finally say yes. There were times we almost gave up,” Villarama said.

“But the fishermen’s experiences – that raw honesty and quiet resilience – were the most priceless to me.”

Her film crew eventually joined fishermen on their expeditions twice, and she was struck by the “delicate relationship” between the fishermen and the Philippine coastguard.

“Many of the fishermen feel they’ve been left to fend for themselves, yet they still look to the [coastguards] for protection. Meanwhile, the coastguard operates under enormous constraints with limited vessels, limited jurisdiction, and often facing overwhelming foreign presence,” she said.

“I wanted to explore that tension and that faith – this fragile but enduring thread that connects civilians and uniformed personnel in a contested sea. Because in the end, they’re all Filipinos, trying to survive in their own way, on the same waters, facing the same storm.”

Winning the award made her feel seen, she said. “Not just me, but an entire Filipino lineage who have long lived in the peripheries – our fisherfolk, naval cooks, young coastguard cadets, and the mothers we filmed.”

Her team is in the process of securing Filipino film distributors willing to screen the film back in the Philippines, as well as arranging community screenings and school partnerships. They are also looking at potential US screenings and showing Food Delivery at other film festivals abroad.

“We’re launching an impact campaign to use the film as a conversation starter around food security, maritime rights, and peace. This is just the beginning, and we’re hopeful the momentum continues.” she said.

“You can cancel a screening, but you cannot cancel a story whose time has come.”

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Public outrage as China monk berates elderly couple for ‘too small’ rice donation

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3316854/public-outrage-china-monk-berates-elderly-couple-too-small-rice-donation?utm_source=rss_feed

A monk at a sacred temple who rejected an offering of rice from an elderly couple because it was too small has sparked widespread public outrage.

On June 26, an elderly couple respectfully placed a bag of rice on the offering table inside a temple on Mount Wutai, one of the most sacred Buddhist sites in China.

The religious venue is located at the headwaters of the Qingshui River in Shanxi province, northern China.

However, the couple were harshly condemned by a monk in a yellow robe, who accused them of “causing trouble” and even claimed that their rice “smelled bad”.

The monk scolded them: “How dare you make a wish with just a bag of rice? If your heart is not sincere, what Buddha are you worshipping?”

The couple explained that they could not afford more expensive offerings, but the monk steadfastly refused to accept the rice.

In a video trending online, he is seen holding a phone in one hand while growing increasingly agitated, eventually picking up the bag of rice with his other hand and throwing it out of the temple’s main hall.

He even told the couple not to return.

Another monk in a blue robe tried to intervene but was angrily dismissed by the yellow-robed monk.

Visibly disappointed, the elderly couple could only retrieve their offering from the ground, brush off the dust and carry it back down the mountain.

The monk in the yellow robe then stood at the temple gate and declared: “The granary is full, there is no shortage of this aged rice.”

After a public outcry, the United Front Religious Bureau of Mount Wutai Scenic Area issued a statement on July 1, explaining that the conflict stemmed from the “improper placement” of the offering, rather than any dissatisfaction with the rice itself.

According to the statement, the monk involved has been ordered to leave the temple and has since departed Mount Wutai, returning to his hometown.

However, the explanation failed to quell mounting public anger and ignited a wave of outrage across mainland social media.

One person said: “This man is not someone pursuing religious practice, but someone wasting food.”

Another online observer said: “Some temples clearly discriminate based on how much incense money you offer.

“High-priced incense earns scripture recitations and polite greetings, while sincere offerings like rice are humiliated. Is this worshipping Buddha or worshipping money?”

“Monks are supposed to embody compassion; we have heard that since childhood. Buddha lives in the heart, not in someone who recites scriptures while doing such heartless things.”

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China’s kindergartens grapple with economic impact of plunge in prospective pupils

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3317882/chinas-kindergartens-grapple-economic-impact-plunge-prospective-pupils?utm_source=rss_feed

The government-affiliated kindergarten that Lily Wang works for in northeastern China used to be reserved for the children of officials, but China’s plunging birth rate means it is having to cast its net wider nowadays.

“The leadership has shifted its approach, enlarging the enrolment base and learning from the southern regions by adopting group-based management,” said Wang, a senior teacher at the kindergarten in Harbin, Heilongjiang’s provincial capital.

It began recruiting pupils from the general populace in autumn last year. While it still gives priority to officials’ children when reviewing applications, Wang said it felt as though even more pupils came from other backgrounds this year.

With fewer children being born in China, the country’s kindergartens are struggling to find a path to survival. Solutions range from enrolling pupils from a wider range of backgrounds to offering other services that make use of teachers’ skills.

China’s population fell for the first time in 60 years in 2022, with 9.56 million babies born that year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The number of births fell further in 2023 before rebounding slightly last year – due in part to the Year of the Dragon being regarded as auspicious.

There were 253,300 kindergartens operating in China last year, down about 38,400 – or just over 13 per cent – from 2020. The number of children enrolled in them, which peaked at 48.18 million in 2020, was down 25.5 per cent at 35.84 million.

Sunglory Education, a research firm, said in a report released on July 3 that the number of children enrolled in kindergartens in 2030 could be half that in 2020, and the number of kindergartens in China could be down 44 per cent compared with the peak in 2021.

Jing Yazhen, the owner and founder of Zhengyuanjunxing Education, has closed eight of its 12 kindergartens in Guiyang, the capital of southwest China’s Guizhou province, this year.

She is now selling liquor – her hometown’s flagship product – through live-streaming on social media in the hope of paying off debts totalling 21 million yuan (US$2.93 million).

“Twelve kindergartens, 20 years of dedication to the education industry, three years of pandemic, everything reset to zero,” Jing wrote on her RedNote account’s homepage. “Now I am starting a new journey, operating in the flavoured liquor business.”

A teacher at a public kindergarten in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, who requested anonymity, said the sharp decline in enrolment was devastating.

“Our kindergarten has graduated three classes, and to maintain normal operations, we must recruit three full classes,” she said. “We are in a dire situation, expecting to recruit 150 pupils but currently enrolling only just over 20.”

She wrote on her WeChat social media account that a friend working at a big public kindergarten, which saw eight classes graduate this summer, was panicking about the impossibility of maintaining that scale of operations.

No new enrolments mean no need for kindergarten teachers. Non-tenured teachers often face the risk of retrenchment, while tenured teachers face reassignment or transfer.

Kindergarten operators looking to boost enrolment are urging teachers to make phone calls to the parents of prospective pupils, while principals are trying to drum up more business by offering more flexible teaching arrangements and higher-quality services.

Some struggling kindergartens are transforming into intergenerational care homes or parent-child activity centres, hoping to keep and utilise the skills that kindergarten teachers possess.

Another way to overcome the predicament is adjusting age restrictions on kindergarten enrolment, with Wang’s kindergarten among those looking to provide services to younger children.

“We are applying for qualification to offer childcare services, as a way to respond to the government’s policy as well as many parents’ desire to ensure their children are cared for while they are at work,” she said.

To encourage births amid persistently low fertility rates, China has launched a series of policies that aim to make education more affordable and childcare easier to access.

It plans to increase affordable childcare slots by 660,000 and achieve a target of 4.5 childcare slots per 1,000 people for children aged 3 and under by the end of the year, according to a guideline issued on Tuesday by the National Health Commission and six other government agencies.

China widens kindergarten lead poisoning investigation as central government gets involved

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3318023/china-widens-kindergarten-lead-poisoning-investigation-central-government-gets-involved?utm_source=rss_feed

China has expanded the probe into a kindergarten lead poisoning scandal that has shocked the nation, with the central government getting involved in a rare intervention in a provincial investigation.

On Saturday night the authorities in Gansu said the investigation would be led by provincial leaders working alongside a task force from the State Council, the country’s cabinet.

Last week, Chinese media reported that 233 of 251 children at the kindergarten in Tianshui, a second-tier city in the northwestern province, were found to have abnormal blood lead levels.

Parents said local tests had not highlighted that anything was amiss and the problem only came to light when the children were tested in another province.

The local police said on Tuesday that the kindergarten was suspected of using inedible paint to add colour to food and had detained eight people, including the principal.

The provincial investigation team is headed by party chief Hu Changsheng and governor Ren Zhenhe, working alongside other officials, police and party discipline inspectors.

Experts from the national environmental and health ministries and a task force from the state council’s food safety commission will also be involved, the statement said.

Currently, most of the children are being treated in hospitals in Xian, capital of the neighbouring Shaanxi province. Some parents have also taken their children to Beijing and Shanghai for a better diagnosis.

The children are being treated with a drip of sodium calcium edetate, which binds to lead in the body and helps it pass through the kidneys, according to the media outlet Caixin.

Parents have called on the local government to cover their medical and transport bills, provide compensation for their mental distress, and ensure the children are given free check-ups every year.

“We want to see evidence of whether the paint was actually put in the food, such as the kindergarten’s order history, and whether other lead poisoning possibilities, including from underground water, factories or buildings, have been eliminated,” one parent told Caixin.

The report said that almost 100 children have blood lead levels over 200 micrograms per litre (mcg/L).

National health guidelines say a blood lead level over 100mcg/L should be considered elevated and over 200mcg/L should be considered lead poisoning.

This guidance is less strict than the global standard, with the World Health Organization’s latest guidelines saying that blood lead levels over 50mcg/L need clinical intervention.

China drafted a new set of regulations in 2021, which said that for children under six, a blood lead level of 50 to 100mcg/L could lead to slow growth, damage cognitive levels and cause attention deficits, but there has not been any word on whether the proposed changes were under review or would be implemented.

Will China’s mega dam in Tibet bring a water crisis to India? New study gives hint

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3317793/will-chinas-mega-dam-tibet-bring-water-crisis-india-new-study-gives-hint?utm_source=rss_feed

On the Tibetan plateau, a super dam will harness the roaring river of Yarlung Tsangpo, generating triple the electricity of the Three Gorges Dam.

But politicians in India, sitting downstream, have voiced fears the dam could be a “water bomb” exacerbating floods in monsoons, or that it could steal water in dry seasons.

Since Beijing approved the project in December last year, there have been lots of discussions, but little proof.

Now a joint study by Hohai University and China’s Ministry of Water Resources suggested the dam’s impact on the Yarlung Tsangpo could be opposite to India’s fears.

The study draws data from two large dams already working upstream: Zangmu and Jiacha. Measured since 2014 at hydrological downstream, the results are clear: dry seasons get wetter.

Low flows were up more than 50 per cent in February. Water rose significantly throughout the dry season. India feared drought – the dams brought more water instead.

And floods became smaller, with peak flows down by 2 per cent. In August, the riskiest period for flooding, water levels remained moderate.

The Yarlung Tsangpo River, situated in the southeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, possesses immense hydropower potential – second only to the Yangtze River in China.

But dams came late to Tibet, said the team led by Dr Zhang Jianyun, China’s dam safety chief.

“Harsh climates, technological limitations, economic challenges and political factors have constrained large-scale reservoir construction in this high-altitude region,” wrote Zhang and his colleagues in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese journal Advances in Water Science on May 15.

With the implementation of the West-East Power Transfer strategy, hydropower development is now booming.

And so are the dams’ environmental impacts.

“Research on how reservoir operations in extreme cold environments affect downstream hydrological and thermal regimes remains limited due to scarce long-term observational data,” wrote Zhang, who is also the water ministry’s director of climate change research.

“Yarlung Tsangpo is an ideal natural laboratory for studying river system responses to global climate change and human activities, particularly under cascade hydropower development.

“Quantifying the impacts of large-scale water infrastructure on river hydrology and thermal behaviour in alpine zones is now a critical research frontier.”

Zhang’s team has detected some alarming signs, but they are likely caused by global warming, not the dams.

Glacial melt adds a significant amount of water into the river between June and October, as air warms at a pace of 0.05 degrees Celsius per year in the region.

And water heats oddly. In cold months, the chill goes more deeply while warm months get hotter – fish feel it.

“Against the backdrop of global warming, the joint operation of the Zangmu and Jiacha reservoirs has amplified the hydrothermal lag effect downstream to some extent,” Zhang’s team said.

“Peak flood flows decrease, while dry season flows increase, thereby altering the hydrological rhythm of river ecosystems and disrupting habitats and life cycles of aquatic organisms.”

“Findings from such studies will provide essential references for sustaining river ecosystem health and optimising water resource management in the Yarlung Tsangpo basin,” they added.

China’s AI glasses market takes shape as Xiaomi’s entry inspires early adopters

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3317888/chinas-ai-glasses-market-takes-shape-xiaomis-entry-inspires-early-adopters?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese tech giant Xiaomi’s entry into the country’s burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) glasses market is likely to benefit from the gadget maker’s expansive ecosystem and supply chain strength, according to early adopters and analysts.

Several users who bought the Xiaomi AI frames when they were released last month found the first-person video recording and AI features useful for documenting personal moments and assisting with office tasks, although there were improvements and missing features they hoped to see in the gadget’s future iterations.

The Xiaomi AI glasses were handy for hands-free photography and videography, which was ideal for situations like cycling where the users’ hands were occupied, according to a Singapore media industry worker surnamed Li.

“I cycled in the Hutongs when I was in Beijing recently. All I had to do was tell XiaoAI ‘start recording’, and it conveniently started filming [the ride],” Li told the Post last week.

Pan Yanzhuo, a Beijing-based photographer, said Xiaomi AI’s first-person video shooting angle “offered a unique and fun perspective”. “I like using it to shoot videos when I’m playing card games,” Pan said.

The Xiaomi AI eyewear’s image and video capture quality was among the best in China, thanks in large part to the company’s experience and edge in developing smartphone imaging systems, Pan added.

Xiaomi launched its AI glasses on June 26, billing the product as a “next-generation personal smart gadget”. With a starting price of 1,999 yuan (US$278.54), it features a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera and Qualcomm’s AR1 chip. The battery lasts 8.6 hours.

The company’s Siri-like AI assistant XiaoAI could be tapped for a range of AI-powered tasks, such as simultaneous translation of 10 languages, and recording and transcribing conference calls, which had proved useful for office collaboration, according to Li.

Li tried other AI glasses – including the famed Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which were also capable of photo and video shooting – but Xiaomi’s integration of the XiaoAI assistant and its interconnectivity with other Xiaomi products helped it stand out from other AI eyewear, he said.

WellsennXR analyst He Wangcheng said that Xiaomi’s main strength in the smart glasses market would be its large ecosystem, which includes a range of smart home appliances and electric vehicles.

Luo Xuan, a Shenzhen-based AI entrepreneur, said he was able to use the Xiaomi frames to control other Xiaomi products, a function he found to be convenient and helpful.

“I have a lot of Xiaomi smart gadgets, so if you are an avid Xiaomi user then [the Xiaomi AI glasses] will surprise you,” Luo said.

The global AI glasses market has undergone rapid growth in the past few years, following the success of the Meta Platforms and Ray-Ban collaboration. In February, Counterpoint said in a report that 2025 would see “a war of hundreds of smart glasses”.

Counterpoint analyst Ivan Lam said that Xiaomi’s supply chain strength positioned it well compared with other Chinese AI eyewear makers in the race to grab a slice of the market.

“The product ecosystem and the integration of its supply chain are Xiaomi’s advantages,” Lam said.

Still, Xiaomi AI eyewear’s early adopters are hopeful that future generations of the product will look more like a regular pair of glasses.

Luo said the device currently looked more like a tech gadget trying to pass itself off as eyewear. “Everyone who glances at it will notice it’s not a normal pair of glasses, [and] that’s the biggest issue,” he said.

China’s cyber nationalists target maths star Hong Wang over lectures in English

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3317963/chinas-cyber-nationalists-target-maths-star-hong-wang-over-lectures-english?utm_source=rss_feed

It was a golden opportunity for academic exchange when Chinese mathematician Hong Wang, a contender for a top award, gave lectures at universities in Beijing last month, but instead her overseas experience and use of English made her an unexpected victim of rising nationalism in China.

The 34-year-old mathematician earned global attention last year when a paper she co-authored solved the three-dimensional Kakeya conjecture – a century-old problem in geometric measure theory.

The study, with implications for imaging, data processing, cryptography and wireless communication, makes her a leading contender for the Fields Medal, regarded as the Nobel Prize of mathematics. Winners of the prize, awarded every four years, will be announced next year.

Wang was born in the southern city of Guilin. She graduated from Peking University then completed a postgraduate degree in France and a doctorate in the US. She is now an associate professor at the New York University Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.

She will join Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques near Paris as a permanent professor of mathematics starting in September, according to an announcement in May.

Last month, she gave seminars on her research at Peking University, Beijing International Centre for Mathematical Research, Capital Normal University, Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with every venue full and bustling with attendees.

At the opening of her lecture at Tsinghua, distinguished mathematician Shing-Tung Yau, dean of Tsinghua’s Qiuzhen College and the first Chinese winner of the Fields Medal, said: “Hong Wang is the greatest and most important Chinese scholar of the younger generation.”

Wang thanked the audience in Chinese. She asked the students present if she could proceed in English and received unanimous agreement before starting the seminar.

However, not everyone was happy with her decision.

“Living abroad so long must have made her forget Chinese. I suppose [patriotic Chinese] must think she’s a ‘banana person’ because she speaks English,” said a social media user, using a pejorative term for Asian people seen as having been assimilated into Western societies.

Social media users compared Wang to another mathematician, Wei Dongyi, a 33-year-old assistant professor at Peking University who was educated in China. A two-time winner of the gold medal with full marks at the International Mathematical Olympiad, Wei has been affectionately dubbed “God Wei” by Chinese social media users.

Last month, Wei amassed an impressive 23 million followers in the first five days after opening his first social media account. His fans have praised his austere lifestyle and patriotic image as portrayed by state media.

For example, a 2021 China Daily report claimed that after earning his bachelor’s degree from Peking University, Wei had received an offer from Harvard University, which had promised to exempt him from English language tests. However, Wei later clarified in an interview with South Reviews that he had never been approached directly by Harvard.

Wei went on to earn a master’s degree and PhD from his alma mater in Beijing.

While some social media users praised Wang’s academic performance, many spoke highly of Wei’s dedication to China.

“These two aren’t comparable, since Wei’s devotion is entirely to the people and nation!” said one social media user.

“Whatever Wang does, it doesn’t change the fact she serves American interests,” wrote another.

Nationalism has been on the rise in recent years in China amid its intense rivalry with the United States. China’s spy agency has stoked the sentiment, frequently warning about “ill-intentioned foreign forces” in various disguises.

Xiong Bingqi, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, a Beijing-based think tank, said many people lacked rationality and basic media literacy skills when consuming information and presenting opinions online.

“Some social media accounts resort to bias and stoking division in pursuit of clicks,” he said, adding that a toxic online environment would inevitably distort public perception.

A few small steps for Hong Kong, a giant leap for China’s space sector

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3317831/few-small-steps-hong-kong-giant-leap-chinas-space-sector?utm_source=rss_feed

The idea that Hong Kong could play a leading role in the global space economy was greeted with scepticism when I raised the possibility with Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu earlier this month. However, critics fail to realise that space technologies have permeated many aspects of our lives – from checking the weather and ordering our meals on our mobile phones to navigating our daily commutes and settling stock transactions in real time.

A report published by the American consultancy firm McKinsey in 2024 forecast that the space economy will grow at a much faster rate than the global economy and will reach US$1.8 trillion by 2035, up from US$630 billion in 2023. Space is no longer the exclusive domain of state-led space missions.

New interest in space travel, space manufacturing, the mining of critical resources from the moon, Mars, asteroids and the launch of small satellites and mega constellations in low Earth orbit has fuelled a boom in investing in space-related hardware and software, including in China.

The China Research and Development Institute estimates that, in 2025, private investment in the aerospace industry will have risen from 12 per cent of aggregate investment in 2020 to 45 per cent in 2025.

The skyrocketing of private investment in aerospace industries is catapulted by technological advancement, lower manufacturing costs and state support for the private sector.

Stellar examples of private aerospace enterprises include the Beijing-based company i-Space, also known as Space Honor, a manufacturer of satellite orbital launchers. The company is the first private aerospace company in China to put a rocket into orbit. LandSpace, also based in Beijing, is another success story. The company is the maker of the Zhuque-2 rocket, the first launch vehicle fuelled by methane and liquid oxygen to reach orbit.

In China, the advanced positioning, navigation and time services provided by the BeiDou national satellite system have spurred the rapid development of the “low-altitude economy.” The Civil Aviation Administration of China expects the low-altitude sector to reach 2 trillion yuan (US$278.9 billion) by 2030.

Meanwhile, since 2000, China has launched 64 satellites via the BeiDou system. The Chinese satellite navigation industry has produced more than 129,000 patents. By the end of 2023, around 20,000 companies had entered the market. As of 2024, the industry was valued at nearly 576 billion yuan, recording a year-on-year growth of over 7 per cent.

The industry has grown rapidly thanks to the application of satellite technology across a wide spectrum of fields, including space exploration, disaster relief and reporting, search and rescue systems, and two-way communications, not to mention its capacity to support innovations in the low-altitude economy such as delivery drones and flying vehicles.

Hong Kong can benefit from the explosive growth of the aerospace industry in China and other parts of the world by taking a leaf from Luxembourg. The small European country has taken steps to support a commercially oriented aerospace industry. This includes passing laws that regulate the ownership rights of private entities in outer space.

A study by space policy expert Dr Adam Janikowski found that, since 2017, through legislation and financial incentives, Luxembourg has become a leading country in the exploration of outer space through robust support for companies focused on securing resources found on the moon and in asteroids.

As a sophisticated, advanced financial centre with abundant legal and international regulatory expertise in both the public and private sectors, Hong Kong is well positioned to become a regional hub for space companies. The city is already on its way to helping raise funds for space companies based in mainland China.

Chengdu-based Adaspace Technology is one of the hundreds of companies that have applied for public listing on the Hong Kong stock market. Having been ranked eighth among China’s private commercial aerospace enterprises in 2023, Adaspace is one of the country’s leading companies involved in the support of artificial intelligence-assisted satellite launches.

For its part, Hong Kong has enacted the Outer Space Ordinance, which empowers the city’s chief executive to ensure compliance with China’s international obligations regarding outer space activities.

However, as some have argued about international treaties signed in past decades, Hong Kong’s current laws don’t take into account new developments that have taken place in recent years. If Hong Kong is to become a leader in the global space economy like Luxembourg, it must update its legal framework and develop financial incentives for firms involved in space exploration, just as it has done for family offices.

As outer space becomes more congested and competitive, with 60,000 satellites expected to be operational by 2030, the regulation of outer space activities will become increasingly pressing.

Hong Kong has much to gain from setting up an official space office to bring together various strands of development on the technical, scientific, legal and regulatory side to brainstorm ideas, promote the development of the space sector and help update existing legislation and international treaties.

Several Hong Kong universities are already engaged in space research and hardware production in support of the national space programme. Hong Kong can work with mainland scientists working on the next-generation BeiDou system to make it more precise, reliable, intelligent, flexible and ubiquitously available.

Through regional cooperation, Hong Kong can play a role in space cooperation with Belt and Road Initiative countries by sharing data and exporting technologies. Such cooperation would definitely be a good example of Hong Kong leveraging “new quality productive forces” to stimulate high-quality growth.

What are China’s ‘future industries’ – and why they matter in the global tech race

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3317889/what-are-chinas-future-industries-and-why-they-matter-global-tech-race?utm_source=rss_feed

As the dust barely settles on “Made in China 2025”, Beijing is intensifying its quest for technological supremacy with a focus on “future industries” amid its escalating rivalry with the United States.

Authorities are pushing boundaries in their pursuit of a new growth model centred on technological breakthroughs and industrial upgrades.

First introduced by President Xi Jinping in 2020, the term refers to sectors with foundational technologies still in their infancy but expected to possess enormous potential.

The 2021-25 Five-Year Plan highlighted brain-inspired intelligence, quantum information, gene technology, future networks, deep-sea and aerospace development and hydrogen energy and storage as areas where China aims to secure an early lead.

That list is now expanding, as the government gradually adds new priority sectors.

In 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) released guidelines identifying target areas including humanoid robots, 6G network equipment, brain-computer interfaces, large-scale AI data centres and next-generation large aircraft.

Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, has been touted as China’s newest “Silicon Valley” – and local tech start-ups have attracted global attention.

Among these are six stand-out companies, nicknamed the “Six Little Dragons”: DeepSeek; Game Science, the developer behind Black Myth: Wukong; robotics firms Unitree and Deep Robotics; BrainCo, a company inspired by Neuralink; and Manycore, specialising in spatial intelligence.

China now hosts 56 per cent of the world’s publicly traded humanoid companies and 45 per cent of humanoid system integrators, according to Morgan Stanley.

Meanwhile, its biotech sector is undergoing rapid growth. As of March 2025, the country had approved five Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies – mainly for haematological cancers – ranking second only to the US, which has six.

Domestic biotech companies like WuXi AppTec have grown into global leaders. A US congressional commission dubbed the firm the “Huawei equivalent for biotechnology”, warning it could enable the Chinese government to “control a global supply chain”.

What’s next?

Beijing is pouring unprecedented resources into future industries – from funding to talent cultivation – recognising their strategic value for sustainable growth and in its tech rivalry with Washington.

To promote breakthroughs, the MIIT introduced a new innovation model in 2023 under which specific challenges are posted publicly. Companies or research teams that solve them within two years receive priority access to support and funding.

This year, the government is targeting breakthroughs in quantum technology, atomic-level manufacturing and clean hydrogen.

Despite a generally bleak job market, cutting-edge tech companies – such as those in the humanoid robotics sector – report a shortage of skilled talent, prompting them to offer salaries of up to four times the national urban average to attract experienced engineers and developers.

To facilitate financing for tech companies, China plans to resume listings of unprofitable start-ups on its technology boards, according to Wu Qing, head of the stock market regulator, at the Lujiazui Forum in June.

At the same forum, central bank governor Pan Gongsheng announced that Shanghai would pioneer new financial tools, including blockchain-based trade finance and innovation bonds. These will feature risk-sharing mechanisms and support for private equity firms issuing tech innovation bonds.

AI is worsening China’s population decline. But is it all bad news?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3315859/ai-worsening-chinas-population-decline-it-all-bad-news?utm_source=rss_feed

For 32-year-old Tracy Li, marriage and childbearing have never been essential life choices. Instead of following the traditional path of starting a family like most of her elders, the human resources manager at a Beijing-based company prefers the solitary life.

She is not alone. A survey of around 3,000 urban residents in October 2021 found that nearly 44 per cent of unmarried women aged 18 to 26 either had no intention of getting married or were unsure if it would happen.

“The cost of giving birth is apparently too high for women, which is leading to a low birth rate in contemporary society,” Li said, referring to child care and educational spending, as well as the time and energy required to raise a family.

Thanks to technological advancements, her determination and confidence to embrace the challenges of staying single have grown stronger. As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to progress, Li believes it will eventually fulfil needs like emotional companionship and elderly care – traditionally provided in Chinese society through marriage and children.

“AI can already provide emotional companionship. In another 20 to 30 years, by the time my generation is old, I believe that household robots for taking care of the elderly will be widely available and affordable,” she said. “I am now hoping that the development of caregiving robots will accelerate.”

AI is widely blamed for worsening China’s population decline by reducing incentives for marriage and childbearing, as it replaces human roles such as providing emotional companionship and taking care of the elderly.

However, one leading expert argues that this technological shift may not be bad news at all.

Li Jianxin, a Peking University professor and noted researcher on demography, said that the AI revolution held the potential to fundamentally redefine life, death and family structures – potentially rendering traditional concerns about shrinking populations obsolete, a paradoxically hopeful view that resonates with young Chinese like Tracy Li.

Professor Li, who has been studying China’s demographic problems and policies for more than three decades, elaborated on his views during an interview with the South China Morning Post last month.

“The conventional focus of demography is on changes in factors such as birth and death rates. However, today’s society is undergoing a shift from an industrial to an intelligent society, which may completely reshape or even overturn the biological concepts of birth and death,” he said.

The shrinking and ageing population societies are concerned about today may not necessarily be problematic in the future, according to Li. “Driven by technological breakthroughs, new solutions may emerge,” he said.

This could be good news for countries struggling with low population growth, particularly China.

In a paper published in the Chinese-language Academic Journal of Jinyang earlier this year, Li outlined some potential effects of rapid progress in AI technologies on the future size and structure of the population.

One area where AI is already being applied is in vitro fertilisation (IVF). According to Li’s paper, if this technology can help to identify high-quality embryos and improve the success rate of IVF, it might result in more births. However, the study also acknowledges that, based on existing research, such technological progress may still have a limited impact on increasing fertility rates.

Another possibility is that customised intelligent robots could fulfil family roles, such as that of a partner or child, forming new family structures consisting of “human-machine combinations”. In this sense, AI could replace human roles to varying degrees.

“The coexistence of humans and intelligent machines could transform human social relations,” Li wrote in his paper.

On the other hand, death may be redefined by technology in the future when, for instance, the concept of digital immortality is realised and the risk of death no longer increases with age as medical development is substantially sped up by AI.

“The impact of the AI era will be massive and revolutionary,” Li said, adding that researchers and policymakers can no longer think about demographic issues within the framework of the past.

“We are now facing a completely new and uncertain future, which requires new discussions and research.”

Li had expected the paper to trigger some discussions when it was published, but this did not happen. Most people were yet to engage in “forward-thinking” on the topic, he said.

Much of the world has transitioned to low birth and death rates, driven by widespread industrialisation and urbanisation across many countries.

In China, however, this process has been more intense and rapid due to decades of policy decisions – most notably the one-child policy introduced in the late 1970s and early ’80s that was only lifted less than 10 years ago. Cultural and economic shifts have also had a role to play.

After more than 30 years of overall fertility rates below replacement level, China’s population peaked at 1.426 billion in 2021 before entering a phase of negative growth.

Meanwhile, the working-age population – those aged between 16 and 59 – has shrunk by more than 70 million in the last 12 years.

China is also ageing several times faster than developed countries, creating a demographic imbalance that poses long-term economic and social challenges.

By the end of last year, Chinese aged 60 and above surpassed 300 million, accounting for 22 per cent of the total population, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. This percentage is projected to reach 28 per cent by 2040.

Demographers and economists have been debating how society might be reshaped by AI.

According to Li Ting, a professor at Renmin University of China’s school of population and health, AI will reinforce China’s current demographic structure through two main pathways.

She presented her views in an article published last July in People’s Tribune, a journal affiliated with the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily.

AI might make people less willing to get married and have babies by providing better service support systems, she wrote. Meanwhile, innovation and breakthroughs in medical technology promoted by AI will help extend life expectancy, further deepening population ageing.

China has introduced a series of policies designed to promote the development of intelligent elderly care devices, including a pilot programme early last month aimed at speeding up robot deployment to ease elderly care pressures.

Incentivised by policy support and market demand, Chinese robot manufacturers are flocking to the sector.

For instance, local media reports in June said a smart elderly care robot developed by a tech company in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, was able to quickly sense if someone had fallen and immediately trigger an alert. At night, it can use sleep monitoring equipment to track an elderly person’s heart rate, breathing and other conditions in real time.

AI “may fundamentally alter the relationship between population and economic growth”, Li from Renmin University said in sounding an optimistic note.

She said the technology could help to better address China’s demographic dynamics in a number of ways – including replacing both physical and mental human labour, improving elderly health and extending working lives, as well as enhancing individual vocational training. According to her article, AI can provide career planning and employment guidance, helping jobseekers adapt to the needs of the labour market.

However, reality could be more complicated. Demographer Li at Peking University pointed out that while life expectancy would continue to rise, the triumph of longevity would bring with it the growing challenges and costs of an ageing society.

“Faced with a series of population dynamics issues in the AI era, we need to make forward-looking, systematic plans to better respond to future uncertainties,” he warned in his paper.

Some experts warn that, in an extreme and long-term scenario, AI could trigger a catastrophic drop in the global population over the next few centuries.

Subhash Kak, a professor of computer science at Oklahoma State University, said that the global population could be decimated if the current trends continued, going from 8 billion today to less than 100 million around 2300.

As AI rapidly makes humans obsolete across several fields, it is expected that people will become more reluctant to have children who may remain jobless, especially given the huge costs of raising a family.

In a recent interview with British newspaper The Sun, Kak said: “It’s going to be devastating for society and world society. I think people really don’t have a clue.”

He highlighted how computers or robots would be doing “all that we do because most of what we do in our lives can be replaced”, adding: “People have stopped having babies. Europe, China, Japan, and the most rapid fall in population right now is taking place in [South] Korea.”

Huang Wenzheng, chief researcher at Yuwa Population Research, a think tank based in southern China, said views suggesting AI could one day compensate for low birth rates were gaining traction. However, he dismissed these as “putting the cart before the horse”.

Human beings had value not only because of their labour, but simply because they exist, he argued. “Humans are unique in their ability to create demand, spread genes and language, and give birth to smart brains.”

Huang believes the scale of the population would actually be more important in the AI era because technological development relied on more data, “use cases” and demand.

In today’s technological competition among major powers, population size was “a matter of life and death”, he asserted.