• China’s Li Qiang announces launch of Tibet mega dam project that has worried India
• How to stop US bunker busters? Chinese scientists have an idea
• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang charms China – but trade war fears still lurk beneath surface
• China ramps up crackdown on strategic mineral smugglers, vows stronger export controls
• How China ‘leapfrogs’ other nations to build close African trade and military ties
• ‘Not shameful’: China woman with UK master’s in film directing returns home, works as waitress
• China’s Guangxi province launches ‘AI super league’ to nurture Asean-facing start-ups
• Chikungunya outbreak in south China city spurs action to stop mosquito-borne disease
• Chinese man sleeps in car for 3 years, creates cosy living space, sings karaoke at night
• Chinese university student delivers baby in dorm while studying for final exam
• Chinese scientists develop low-cost cell therapy for cancer, asthma and other illnesses
• Chemotherapy can speed up cancer spread, Chinese study finds
• Chinese army scientists propose a super X-railgun much more powerful than the navy’s
• China slams grass-roots mismanagement, shames ‘longevity city’ debacle as a warning
• How China’s open-source AI is helping DeepSeek, Alibaba take on Silicon Valley
• Quirky China trend shows kids, pets hugging giant winter melons to stay cool at night
• Albanese’s China trip shows ‘stiffening of Canberra’s spine’ in face of US pressure

China’s Li Qiang announces launch of Tibet mega dam project that has worried India

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3318875/chinas-li-qiang-announces-launch-tibet-mega-dam-project-has-worried-india?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Saturday announced the launch of a mega dam project on the Tibetan Plateau, in what is expected to be the world’s largest hydroelectric facility.

The massive project, located in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River, has raised concerns about water supply and environmental impact downstream in India and Bangladesh.

Li attended the dam’s groundbreaking ceremony in Nyingchi, a southeastern city in the Tibet autonomous region, state news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday.

The Yarlung Tsangpo becomes the Brahmaputra River as it leaves Tibet and flows south into India’s Arunachal Pradesh and Assam states, and finally into Bangladesh.

Beijing first announced plans for the dam in 2020 under its five-year plan, as part of a broader strategy to exploit the hydropower potential of the Tibetan Plateau. The plan was approved last December.

The project is said to be the largest of its kind in the world, with an estimated annual capacity of 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity – three times that of the Three Gorges Dam.

However, it has raised concerns in India and Bangladesh about the impact on their water and food security. There are also worries about population displacement and major environmental disruption, as well as potential weaponisation of water by China, which could use the dam to cause floods or induce droughts.

China asserts that the project has undergone rigorous scientific evaluation and will not adversely affect the ecological environment, geological stability, or water resource rights of downstream countries. Beijing has also emphasised that it will not try to benefit at the “expense of its neighbours”.

Rather, the project could help in disaster prevention and mitigation efforts, and support climate change adaptation in downstream regions, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

The dam has reportedly prompted India to speed up its own hydropower projects on the Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh to assert water resource rights.

India maintains that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of its territory, while China claims it as part of southern Tibet and has objected to other Indian infrastructure projects there.

The mega project in Tibet will have five cascade hydropower stations, with a total investment estimated at around 1.2 trillion yuan (US$167 billion), the Xinhua report said.

It said the project would primarily deliver power for external consumption while also addressing local demand in Tibet.

Another Xinhua report on Saturday said a new state-owned enterprise, China Yajiang Group, had been established to serve as the project owner.

It was a key measure to ensure the “smooth construction and operation” of the project, emphasising technological innovation and ecological protection, Vice-Premier Zhang Guoqing was quoted as saying at the firm’s recent inauguration ceremony.

How to stop US bunker busters? Chinese scientists have an idea

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3318518/how-stop-us-bunker-busters-chinese-scientists-have-idea?utm_source=rss_feed

Precision-guided bunker busters fly slowly but carry massive warheads wrapped in thick armour. Small nations without air power watch helplessly as bombs fall.

When US B-2 stealth bombers struck Iran’s nuclear sites with GBU-57 MOP (Massive Ordnance Penetrator) bunker busters on June 22, there was reportedly little resistance.

Chinese researchers have offered a countermeasure: strike the weak flank. Although the bomb’s nose armour is thick, its steel sides are thin and measure just a few centimetres, meaning one or two anti-aircraft shells could crack it open.

Low-cost anti-aircraft guns can be deployed around key sites. But the guns must survive, radar must track and electronic warfare must be countered.

Instead of China’s own weapon, the computer simulation used Swiss Oerlikon GDF guns which are widely fielded in the Middle East, including Iran.

The GDF fires 36 shells in two seconds. At 1,200 metres (0.7 miles), the kill probability hits 42 per cent.

The team led by Cui Xingyi, a researcher with Chinese weapons giant Norinco’s Northwest Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, published the method in the Journal of Gun Launch and Control, China’s top arms journal, on April 14.

Here’s how it works.

The bomb’s egg-shaped nose deflects frontal hits and only side strikes break through. Impact angles must stay under 68 degrees. Beyond that, shells glance off, according to Cui and his colleagues.

Beyond 1,500 metres (4,900 feet), penetration fails. Within 1,200 metres, the inert explosives inside the bomb can be ignited by heat and shrapnel.

The science is simple and based on calculations using World War II armour-piercing formulas.

But there is a trick: guns must pre-aim to a point in the smart bomb’s flight trajectory. The closer the point is, the better, as then the barrels stay put with minimum adjustment. Researchers call it “sniper fire control” tactics.

“This sniper-style interception has several advantages,” Cui’s team wrote.

It lowers servo system demands and eliminates iterative calculations, slashing the response time to 1 millisecond.

“It is engineer-ready with current tech,” they added.

But combat is cruel. Air powers can use mass raids to clean up the guns before sending in the bombers. A smart bomb’s final manoeuvres can spoil trajectory prediction and the 1,200m window lasts for the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile, a Beijing-based physicist not involved in the study, noted: “What works in China may not work elsewhere.”

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang charms China – but trade war fears still lurk beneath surface

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3318784/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-charms-china-trade-war-fears-still-lurk-beneath-surface?utm_source=rss_feed

On his third trip to China in a year, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang – head of the world’s most valuable company – was on a full-blown charm offensive.

As a guest of honour at the China International Supply Chain Expo, Huang’s visit underscored the recent thaw in Sino-US relations. Upon arrival, he announced Washington had cleared the way for Nvidia to export the H20 – a made-for-China AI chip less powerful than its gold-standard acceleration model, which was banned for export to the country in April.

At the opening ceremony for the expo’s third edition, Huang even swapped his signature leather jacket for a traditional Chinese tang suit, delivering part of his speech in rusty Mandarin. Offstage, he took endless media interviews, praised Chinese technology companies and AI models and posed for selfie requests, all with great patience.

His charisma and optimism were on display after China and the US agreed on a framework in trade negotiations and pushed ahead with approvals for certain technology and rare earth exports.

Led by Nvidia, US firms were the largest overseas contingent at the expo – with participation up 15 per cent compared to the previous edition.

But beneath the surface of the buoyant atmosphere, the threat of supply chain disruptions – and a broader decoupling – had not dissipated.

The dark cloud of tariffs loomed over traders. At the US Grains Council booth, I met a Chinese importer who sources rice bran from America. Like most other US products under the 90-day trade truce, the grain faces a 10 per cent levy upon entering China. The importer and his US supplier have agreed to share the costs.

“These tariff wars are bleeding us dry – we could have made 2 million yuan a year, but now we may lose 2 million annually,” the importer said on condition of anonymity.

A by-product of the rice milling industry, rice bran is widely used as hog feed. China, as the world’s leading producer and consumer of pork, imports substantial amounts annually, with the US one of its top suppliers.

When tariffs soared to over 100 per cent in April, two of the importer's shipments were diverted to Vietnam – resulting in significant losses.

“The re-routing incurred additional costs of US$600 per ton, while our normal profit margin for rice is only US$100 per ton,” he said.

Despite recent progress in US-China trade talks, he remains cautious about placing large-volume orders or committing to major contracts.

“Our downstream clients have requested a shipment hold for weeks, awaiting policy clarification after the 90-day tariff war truce,” he said. “We are afraid of another sudden escalation of tariffs.”

A representative from a US state office in China expressed similar concerns.

Many such offices, which promote trade and investment opportunities, have decided to withdraw from China since last year – most of them Republican-led or swing states. Today, only about 10 Democrat-led states maintain a presence, down from about 20 offices previously, according to the representative.

There was a surge in interest from Chinese firms to build warehouses or factories in America during the second half of last year, she said – especially when the possibility of US President Donald Trump returning to the White House became clearer. But following Washington’s unprecedented trade war, launched in April, consultation requests declined sharply.

One of her clients – a Chinese manufacturer in the raw materials industry – recently decided to cancel plans to build warehouses in her state.

“The plan was to quickly stock some goods in the US as a contingency against potential trade barriers. But after they selected a place, the approval process became a bottleneck – the property agents required extensive documentation because the company is Chinese – and nothing was completed when the tariff war began. Then the plan became pointless.”

After the US-China trade talks in Geneva in May, most tariffs were removed or suspended for 90 days – but the company’s anxiety was not at all alleviated, she said.

“Their management began questioning the entire US investment strategy. Consequently, the warehouse initiative has been shelved indefinitely.”

China ramps up crackdown on strategic mineral smugglers, vows stronger export controls

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3318865/china-cracks-down-rare-earth-smugglers-vowing-stronger-export-controls?utm_source=rss_feed

A number of suspects involved in strategic mineral smuggling had been arrested, Chinese authorities said on Saturday, while pledging stronger enforcement of export controls to prevent illegal shipments and technology transfers for military use.

The Ministry of Commerce statement came during a high-level export-control meeting in Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region – an area of southern China rich in strategic mineral reserves. Multiple ministries attended the meeting, which was organised by the national coordination office for export control.

Officials at the meeting said the situation in combating the smuggling of strategic minerals “remained severe”. They said plans were under way to set up a joint enforcement and coordination centre for export controls on dual-use items for both civilian and military use, as a special operation to crack down on smuggling continued.

The special operation launched in May has resulted in multiple arrests, according to the ministry statement. However, Saturday’s progress update meeting did not reveal the exact number of arrests made so far.

“Relevant departments must take full responsibility for their duties, maintain a high-pressure approach of strict investigation and enforcement, and firmly prevent the illegal outflow of strategic minerals and related technologies,” the statement said.

Authorities said that some offenders continued to collude with foreign parties to carry out illegal exports driven by personal gain. Tactics to evade detection – such as false declarations and transshipment through third countries – had become “increasingly covert”, they warned.

This came a day after China’s top anti-spying watchdog, the Ministry of State Security, warned that foreign agents were using China’s postal system to “steal” rare earths.

They smuggled China’s critical minerals by falsely declaring them to be low-value or non-controlled goods, or by hiding them among other items with false labels to evade export controls, according to the article published on Friday.

Officials at the meeting said foreign end users who bypassed national export controls would be added to a restricted export list, to prevent shipments from being routed through third countries.

They also said compliance guidelines would be set up for strategic mineral exports, with exporters expected to carry out proper due diligence – or assisted in doing so – to ensure the items are not illegally used for military purposes or by military users.

Guangxi is a major producer of antimony and tungsten, which China regards as strategic resources alongside rare earth elements. The region also has major rare earth reserves.

Strategic minerals are key dual-use goods subject to strict export controls in China. They are vital materials for hi-tech production, including semiconductors, new energy vehicles and weapon systems.

Officials from the commerce, public security, and state security ministries, as well as the General Administration of Customs, State Post Bureau, Supreme People’s Court, and Supreme People’s Procuratorate attended the meeting on Saturday.

China dominates the global supply chain for critical minerals, giving it a strategic edge over countries such as the United States. Beijing has used its dominance in critical mineral production and refining for leverage in trade negotiations.

China has also tightened export controls on dual-use items in recent years to achieve its strategic goal of resource self-reliance and to maintain its competitive edge amid mounting external pressures.

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How China ‘leapfrogs’ other nations to build close African trade and military ties

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3318574/how-china-leapfrogs-other-nations-build-close-african-trade-and-military-ties?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi last month highlighted Beijing’s “leapfrog development” in ties with African countries in the 25 years since the setting up of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

Addressing a FOCAC ministerial event on June 11, Wang noted that trade had surged nearly 30-fold while Chinese investment had grown almost 100-fold since the strategic dialogue mechanism was set up in 2000.

In parallel to closer economic ties, there has also been increased cooperation on the security front. Before FOCAC, which includes all but one of the 54 African nations, China had not conducted any military drills in Africa, accounted for less than 5 per cent of African weapons inventories and had fewer than 200 African officers in its military schools.

Today, China trains about 2,000 African officers each year and is a leading arms supplier to the continent, beating Russia in sub-Saharan Africa and rivalling traditional suppliers like the United States and France elsewhere on the continent. Roughly 70 per cent of African countries now operate Chinese armoured vehicles.

The Young Leaders Conference of China-Africa Peace and Security Forum, another FOCAC-related event, hosted about 90 military officers from over 40 African nations this week in Nanjing.

The five-day event from July 15 was hosted by China’s defence ministry and organised by its Army Command College. According to the ministry, the event aimed to “implement the outcomes” of last year’s FOCAC summit in Beijing and to strengthen “consensus, solidarity, and cooperation” on peace and security.

The FOCAC Action Plan released after last September’s summit outlines key security commitments through 2027, including China’s pledge of 1 billion yuan (US$139 billion) in military aid to Africa, training for 6,000 military personnel and 1,000 police officers, as well as joint exercises and patrols.

While African nations are drawn to security partnerships with China due to its more affordable weapons, and flexible financing with fewer restrictions than some Western suppliers, China can cultivate favour with African elites, secure preferential treatment for its companies and gain support for its geopolitical ambitions, according to observers.

Paul Nantulya, a China-Africa specialist at the US National Defence University’s Africa Centre for Strategic Studies in Washington, noted that the People’s Liberation Army had conducted 20 joint drills with African nations since 2006.

These included land and sea exercises with Tanzania and Mozambique last August and joint air force drills with Egypt in May, respectively the largest Chinese deployments of ground, naval and air forces in Africa ever, Nantulya wrote in a study in June tracking China’s military cooperation.

Beijing has also deployed 47 escort task groups on continuous rotation in the Gulf of Aden and conducted 280 defence exchanges with Africa since 2007, according to the centre.

The PLA’s National University of Defence Technology facilitated an exchange in May, bringing 100 young and mid-career African officers representing 40 nations on a 10-day familiarisation tour to China.

China’s military and security engagements in Africa are increasingly integrated and strategically aligned with specific ruling parties, particularly liberation movement parties that have held power since independence.

Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Namibia exemplify this trend, with over 90 per cent of their arms supplied by China. Namibia, for instance, became the first foreign nation to acquire the Shaanxi Y-9E medium military transport aircraft in 2024, Nantulya noted in his study.

“China, thus, aims to gain favour with ruling elites, secure preferential treatment for its companies, and enlist African support for its geopolitical ambitions,” he said.

Beijing has also built inroads in Burundi, Ghana, Kenya and Senegal, each of which receives over 50 per cent of their weapons from China.

State-owned China North Industries Group Corporation (Norinco), the country’s largest weapons manufacturer, opened a regional office in Senegalese capital Dakar in 2023, its fourth in Africa. This boosted its role as a regular supplier to Senegal’s security sector and expanded its operations into the Sahel, including Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, Nantulya’s study noted.

He said African governments welcomed security engagement with China since it was a source of affordable weapons with less stringent export controls and more flexible loan terms compared to Western suppliers.

Some viewed China as a means of enhancing regime security, while others sought closer security ties as part of a hedging strategy, he added.

China’s expanding security engagement is also evident in projects like Algeria’s collaboration with Chinese firms to domestically produce Type 056 PLA Navy corvettes.

Similarly, Uganda has a joint venture with Norinco to manufacture Chinese unmanned aerial vehicles, and Nigeria’s state-run Defence Industries Corporation is working with Norinco to co-manufacture military-grade ammunition.

“China is expected to continue to expand its security engagements in Africa for the coming years to advance China’s growing geostrategic ambitions and to fill what it perceives as a vacuum of Western security assistance,” Nantulya added.

Tim Zajontz, a research fellow at the Centre for International and Comparative Politics at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University and an interim professor in international relations at the University of Freiburg, said Africa was a priority region in China’s Global Security Initiative, Beijing’s vision of world security governance.

“Beijing has a keen interest in political stability across the continent, not least to secure a stable environment for Chinese investments and nationals living on the continent,” Zajontz said, adding that there were also geopolitical motivations.

“We are experiencing intensifying competition between China, the US and other major powers over the control of certain global value and supply chains,” he noted. “China wants to be prepared in case the rivalry with Western powers should escalate in the future.”

Darren Olivier, director at African Defence Review, an Africa-based defence and security analysis platform, said that China’s strategy was to build comprehensive military influence, challenging Western dominance and improving its global power projection.

Olivier said the plan rested on four pillars: arms sales; African bases with troops capable of protecting Chinese investments and involved in local multinational missions; training and joint exercises with African forces; and the increasing presence of Chinese private military companies on the continent.

“By embedding military cooperation with economic development programmes like the Belt and Road Initiative, China is continuing to both enhance its own influence on the continent, including gaining more support at key United Nations Security Council and General Assembly votes, and protecting its strategic interests and the many Chinese citizens living and working in African countries.”

‘Not shameful’: China woman with UK master’s in film directing returns home, works as waitress

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3318248/not-shameful-china-woman-uk-masters-film-directing-returns-home-works-waitress?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese woman with a master’s degree in film directing from the UK who now works as a part-time restaurant waiter in Beijing says she is not ashamed of her job choice because she is still chasing her acting dream.

Yu Shutian, 29, returned to China at the end of 2021 after obtaining her degree from the University of Sussex in Britain. She joined a drama club the following year.

By the time she quit the drama job in 2024, Yu had appeared in nearly 1,000 commercial stage plays, Jiupai News reported.

Since then, she has been a freelance actress, which has meant a sharp drop in income due to the instability of the job.

As a result, she began looking for some gig work in June.

Yu applied for a position as an express delivery rider but was rejected.

“It is a full-time job. Also, on many occasions, couriers have to carry heavy containers of water to customers. I am thin and do not have the strength,” Yu said.

Instead, the delivery company assigned her to distribute fliers on the street.

Then Yu got work as an English-language waitress at several restaurants in Beijing. Her duties included translating menus, explaining dishes and helping customers make orders.

“I think it is not difficult for me to find a full-time job with a monthly salary of 5,000 yuan (US$700). But I would like to pursue my dream of acting. So I will only accept short-term jobs with flexible working hours.”

The income from the odd jobs enables her to cover daily expenses and the cost of travel to other cities for auditions.

Yu said being a waiter has benefits.

“I can consolidate my English skills. I can communicate with a lot of people and learn their stories. Chatting with them will help me understand how to play a variety of roles in the future,” she said.

Yu said she does not feel inferior about her current employment status.

“Many junior actors are juggling several jobs, like delivering products and live-streaming. We are all striving to achieve our acting dream. The experience is not humiliating,” she said.

Yu is not the only person in China to find herself in such a position.

In June, 41-year-old actor Yu Qingbin aroused attention on social media for saying that he took up work as a food delivery rider after being jobless for a long time.

Home loan repayments of 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) a month drained his savings, forcing him to borrow money, he said.

China’s Guangxi province launches ‘AI super league’ to nurture Asean-facing start-ups

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3318857/chinas-guangxi-province-launches-ai-super-league-nurture-asean-facing-start-ups?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Saturday launched an artificial intelligence “super league” aimed at nurturing emerging enterprises and talent serving Asean markets.

The competition, titled “AI for All”, will run through September and features 17 tracks, including automobile, tourism, cross-border e-commerce, smart agriculture, and market regulation.

Hosted by the Guangxi regional government, the kick-off took place simultaneously in eight cities: Guangxi’s capital Nanning, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur.

“Hong Kong’s AI ecosystem is thriving, supported by strong research capabilities and over 1,000 AI enterprises across Cyberport and Science Park,” said Sun Dong, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, during his speech at the ceremony in Cyberport.

“This competition aligns with our strategy to elevate AI as a key industry, accelerating Hong Kong’s economic transformation and deeper integration with Asean.”

Bordering Vietnam, Guangxi has long been a centre for cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, having hosted the China-Asean Expo for 22 years. Asean has been Guangxi’s largest trading partner for 25 consecutive years, with total trade volume reaching 398 billion yuan (US$55.4 billion) in 2024, marking a 17 per cent increase, according to official data.

Asean comprises the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.

The Asean AI industry is projected to reach US$30 billion by 2030, with adoption of the technology expected to contribute between 10 per cent to 18 per cent of the bloc’s gross domestic product, benefiting sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, and energy, according to a report from the Economic Research Institute for Asean and Asia in May.

“We must ‘go big, start small, and dig deep’ when bringing AI to Asean – it’s a massive market where real demand exists in overlooked pain points,” said Hong Kong lawmaker Jesse Shang Hailong.

“By combining Hong Kong’s global flair with Guangxi’s local strength, we can seize tremendous opportunities in Asean,” he added.

Hong Kong serves as a launch pad for AI firms expanding into Asean, with more than 400 AI companies and the city’s largest supercomputing centre based in Cyberport, according to Rocky Cheng Chung Ngam, CEO of Cyberport.

Over 70 start-ups had already ventured into Southeast Asian markets, and the AI Super League presented a new platform for deepening collaboration between Hong Kong, Guangxi, and Asean, he added.

Several Chinese AI giants have already invested in the region.

MyEG, the operator of Malaysia’s electronic government services channel, signed a deal with the state-owned Guangxi Beitou IT Innovation Technology Group in April to establish a China-Asean AI Lab in the Southeast Asian nation.

Leading Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek, drone maker DJI, telecommunications equipment giant Huawei Technologies, and Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the Post, are involved in the project.

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Chikungunya outbreak in south China city spurs action to stop mosquito-borne disease

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3318854/chikungunya-outbreak-south-china-city-spurs-action-stop-mosquito-borne-disease?utm_source=rss_feed

Authorities in south China’s Foshan city have launched a campaign to curb an outbreak of the mosquito-borne chikungunya fever, a disease that is not common in Guangdong province and has put neighbouring Hong Kong on high alert.

Local authorities in the city’s Shunde and Nanhai districts issued notices on Saturday urging all residents and communities to conduct indoor sanitation and outdoor clean-up over the weekend for mosquito control measures.

The outbreak originated from an imported case detected in Shunde on July 8, according to the local health bureau.

The number of confirmed cases in Shunde had reached 1,161 as of Friday. Most of the cases were recorded in the towns of Lecong, Beijiao and Chencun, and all the patients had mild symptoms.

Nanhai district has reported 16 confirmed cases, and another district, Chancheng, had reported 22 cases as of Friday.

Macau on Friday reported one imported case. The patient is a local resident who had visited Foshan.

Chikungunya fever is spread by mosquito bites. Those infected typically develop fever and joint pain that can last for months or even years. Other potential symptoms include muscle pain, nausea and rashes.

The word chikungunya comes from the east African language Kimakonde and means “to become contorted”. It has been used to describe the stooped appearance of infected patients suffering from joint pain.

The Saturday notice urged the public to be vigilant against the disease and noted that “the risk of individual infection continues to rise”.

“Mosquito prevention and control are the most economical and effective fundamental measures to combat mosquito-borne diseases,” the statement said. It called for measures to be taken to “rapidly reduce mosquito density and minimise the risk of further spread of the outbreak”.

It asked locals to remove accumulated water at home and in outdoor spaces. People are advised to clean household drains and containers and conduct a thorough house cleaning to eliminate mosquito habitats. They are also advised to clear water from courtyards and rooftops.

The notice called for more personal protection measures to be taken, including using mosquito nets and insect repellent to keep mosquitoes away.

Earlier this week, the Guangdong Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention advised travellers to monitor their health for 12 days after returning from overseas trips.

In 2008, mainland China detected its first imported case of chikungunya fever in Guangdong. In 2010, the city of Dongguan reported the mainland’s first outbreak, logging 65 confirmed and 188 suspected cases, according to domestic media reports.

In Hong Kong, health authorities and experts have warned about the risks of imported cases.

Hong Kong last recorded cases of chikungunya fever in 2019, with the tally reaching 11 patients. The city also reported two cases in 2018, one in 2017 and eight in 2016. All cases between 2016 and 2019 were imported.

More than 220,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been recorded around the world this year, with patients reported in 14 locations, including Taiwan and Singapore.

Chinese man sleeps in car for 3 years, creates cosy living space, sings karaoke at night

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3318768/chinese-man-sleeps-car-3-years-creates-cosy-living-space-sings-karaoke-night?utm_source=rss_feed

A 38-year-old programmer working in Beijing, who spends weekdays sleeping in his car and returns to his home in nearby Tianjin every Friday, has gained significant attention on mainland social media.

The man, known as Yin, typically departs from Tianjin at 5.30am on Monday, driving 130km along the highway to reach his workplace in Beijing. He returns home after finishing work on Friday afternoons.

Yin has maintained this lifestyle for nearly three years, having switched to a more spacious electric vehicle in the latter half of 2022. Before this, he rented a flat in Beijing for 2,500 yuan (US$350) per month, as reported by the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald.

His wife and two sons live in Tianjin. Yin explained that he needs to work in Beijing because job opportunities for programmers are limited in Tianjin.

“I have been living in my car for the past three years. As long as your car is spacious enough and you can easily find charging stations, the experience is no worse than staying in a hotel,” Yin stated.

He often parks in a nearby park and wakes up at 6.30am each day, taking a stroll around the park before preparing his breakfast in the car using a small electric cooker.

“My leisure activities after work include watching TV, singing karaoke, and calling my family. Sometimes, I write programmes. I don’t have other hobbies like playing computer games. I usually go to bed around 10 or 11pm,” Yin shared.

“Except for the inconvenience of finding a toilet, everything is fine,” he added.

During the summer, he showers daily using a water tank in his vehicle, while in colder months, he travels home by train on Wednesday evenings and returns to Beijing on Thursday mornings, skipping showers on some days.

Yin mentioned that living in his car significantly reduces his expenses compared to renting a room. The monthly tolls for the expressway amount to 400 yuan (US$55), while his electricity costs for charging the car are under 300 yuan monthly. If he needs to return home midweek, train tickets cost around 100 yuan.

“I enjoy camping and often take my family on car trips where we also sleep in the car,” Yin said.

“Isn’t it relaxing to sleep in the car while listening to birds sing and the gentle flow of streams? I don’t mind others’ opinions; I’m committed to the lifestyle I prefer,” he added.

Yin’s story has sparked lively discussions on Chinese social media.

“This diligent and frugal man, who works hard for his family, deserves our respect,” remarked one user.

Conversely, another individual commented: “I would be distraught waking up in such a cramped space.”

Chinese university student delivers baby in dorm while studying for final exam

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3318453/chinese-university-student-delivers-baby-dorm-while-studying-final-exam?utm_source=rss_feed

A university student in central China has stunned many after giving birth to a “giant baby” in her dormitory, with her roommate calmly noting: “This isn’t her first time giving birth,” despite the scene of heavy bleeding.

The dramatic incident, which took place at a university in Hubei province, involved a third-year student unexpectedly going into labour in her dorm room. The date of the occurrence and the student’s identity have not been disclosed.

Reports indicate that the student insisted on staying in her upper bunk bed, despite her advanced pregnancy, as she found it comfortable and wished to remain in school to complete her final exams.

In the dead of night, the student suddenly went into labour. Her roommate was jolted awake by the strong smell of blood, only to discover the student enduring intense pain as she gave birth.

The scene was shocking – the cotton quilt beneath her was completely soaked in blood, said the roommate.

Emergency services were alerted immediately, and by the time the medical team arrived, the baby had already been delivered.

Doctors were taken aback by the significant haemorrhage and the size of the newborn, who weighed a remarkable 4.5kg and was classified as a “giant” infant.

The mother, believed to be 20, had suffered severe tearing due to the baby’s large size, compounded by a lack of exercise and a high-stress diet during her pregnancy.

On the way to the hospital, the doctor expressed disbelief that a heavily pregnant student was left in the dormitory by her family without proper care.

However, her roommate calmly responded: “This isn’t her first time giving birth. She already has a child, so she was quite composed.”

The young mother explained that her labour coincided with her final exams, so she insisted on finishing the tests before going to the hospital.

“I didn’t expect the baby to come so quickly,” she said. “That night, the dorm lights were already off, and everyone was asleep. I was on the top bunk when I suddenly felt stomach pain. I thought I had time and planned to go to the hospital in the morning – but the labour progressed extremely fast.”

Fortunately, both she and the baby are reportedly in good condition, and the bleeding was brought under control at the hospital.

The incident has sparked widespread discussion among Chinese netizens.

One online commenter remarked: “This is what you call a winner in life – she got her diploma and had her second child at the same time. With this move, future employers won’t have to worry about her taking maternity leave, and it won’t delay her job hunt either.”

Another added: “Her roommate was so calm, but health and safety must come first. We just wish her a smooth recovery.”

Chinese scientists develop low-cost cell therapy for cancer, asthma and other illnesses

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3318672/chinese-scientists-develop-low-cost-cell-therapy-cancer-asthma-and-other-illnesses?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese researchers have come up with a cheaper and easier way of delivering a highly specialised, personalised cell therapy to treat blood cancers and other serious diseases.

This new method is much easier to programme than the conventional approach and is available at a fraction of the cost, according to experts in the field.

The treatment, known as CAR-T, is a type of immunotherapy that has taken off in recent years and has also shown promise in treating other conditions such as asthma and autoimmune diseases. However, these cell therapies are difficult to produce and deliver to patients, and they are expensive.

Now, a group of Chinese medical experts has proposed a solution to these drawbacks using gene therapy tools. They reported that they had managed to produce anti-cancer cells directly inside the human body and, for the first time, had used them to treat four patients with multiple myeloma – the second most common form of blood cancer.

Currently, the cost of a single treatment is estimated to exceed one million yuan (US$139,200).

The study, led by researchers from the Institute of Haematology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology’s Tongji Medical College Union Hospital in Wuhan, was published in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet earlier this month.

A Chinese social media platform founded by researchers specialising in cell therapies hailed the study as “a milestone event” in the field.

The article suggested that, if this technology could be tested in larger-scale clinical trials, it could “completely change” the current “tailor-made” model of CAR-T and reduce treatment costs by more than 80 per cent.

CAR-T, or chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, works by genetically engineering a patient’s own T-cells – a type of white blood cell crucial for fighting infections – to recognise and destroy enemies such as cancer cells.

The process involves extracting the patient’s T-cells, laboriously growing and engineering them in a laboratory, and then reinfusing them into the patient.

Its availability is therefore “substantially restricted” by complex manufacturing procedures, high logistical requirements, protracted waiting times and prohibitive costs, according to the Wuhan team.

According to a paper in Nature last year, after it was first approved in the United States in 2017, commercial CAR-T therapies cost between US$370,000 and US$530,000, not including hospital fees and drugs to treat side effects.

In response, the Wuhan team developed a virus vector – a virus that has been modified to carry genetic material into cells – that can locate T-cells in the body and reprogramme them to express a receptor that targets cancer cells.

“It is more a ready-to-use product than a customised drug,” the authors said.

In their early phase 1 clinical trial, they tested the new method on four adult patients with multiple myeloma. The patients were enrolled between November 19 of last year and January 20 of this year, and all received a single intravenous infusion of the virus vector.

Treating patients with multiple myeloma with CAR-T used to take three to six weeks, but their “ready-to-use” solution can compress the treatment cycle to within 72 hours by eliminating steps including cell collection, in vitro and chemotherapy treatment ahead of transfusions.

As of April 1, all patients had completed two months of follow-up. The results showed that two patients achieved strict complete remission, with tumour lesions fully resolving, while the other two patients achieved partial remission, with tumour lesions shrinking by day 28.

Teams and companies around the world have been striving to reprogramme immune cells directly in the body in recent years.

In June, scientists from Capstan Therapeutics – a San Diego-based biotechnology start-up – also reported a gene delivery system for generating CAR-T cells in vivo, with tumour control observed in animal models. This study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Science.

Chemotherapy can speed up cancer spread, Chinese study finds

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3318540/chemotherapy-can-speed-cancer-spread-chinese-study-finds?utm_source=rss_feed

A team of Chinese scientists has found that the spread of cancer from original tumour sites to distant organs can be caused by chemotherapy triggering the awakening of dormant cancer cells.

Their findings shed light on why breast cancer patients can experience cancer metastasis in organs like the lungs despite successful treatment of their primary tumours.

The team also found that the use of specific drugs in combination with chemotherapy could be used to inhibit this process in mice, and a clinical trial is already under way in breast cancer patients.

“We demonstrate that chemotherapeutic drugs, including doxorubicin and cisplatin, enhance proliferation and lung metastasis of dormant breast cancer cells,” the team wrote in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Cancer Cell on July 3.

“This study provides direct evidence of dormancy awakening and reveals a mechanism underlying [the] detrimental effect of chemotherapy on metastasis, highlighting potential strategies to improve cancer treatment.”

Researchers in the United States previously found that high doses of radiation therapy to treat cancer could paradoxically lead to the growth of metastatic tumours.

Many patients who undergo chemotherapy to treat primary tumours, the original tumour site in the body where cancer cells first start to develop, can have cancer relapses in other organs even after complete primary tumour regression.

This has led to research into whether chemotherapy can have a similar paradoxical effect, in which it both treats primary tumours and triggers cancer metastasis.

“It is postulated that the reactivation, or awakening, of dormant disseminated tumour cells (DTCs) in distant organs results in metastatic relapse after the asymptomatic period,” the team said.

Studies have shown that disseminated cancer cells, which travel from primary tumours to sites in the body, can be found even during the early stages of primary cancer formation, according to a news release by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

These cells can stay in a dormant state for years, during which they do not grow and multiply, allowing them to evade chemotherapy.

Researchers have previously identified molecular mechanisms that regulate metastatic relapse and disseminated cancer cell dormancy. However, it has not been clear whether metastasis results from the reactivation of dormant cells or the growth of rare, non-dormant disseminated cells.

“Understanding the exogenous causes of DTC awakening will help disease management of cancer survivors, offering opportunities to prevent and interrupt metastatic relapse after initial therapies,” the researchers said in their paper.

To study this, the team led by Hu Guohong, a professor at CAS’ Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, along with researchers from Fudan University and Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, developed a cancer cell dormancy tracing approach.

The team confirmed that chemotherapy-induced reactivation of dormant cells from breast cancer could lead to metastatic relapse in the lungs of mice.

Their findings demonstrated that the “awakening of dormant DTCs, but not accumulation of pre-existing proliferative DTCs, is responsible for metastases induced by chemotherapy”.

Chemotherapy induces senescence – an accelerated state of ageing in which cells stop multiplying and release inflammation-causing chemicals – in specialised connective tissue called fibroblasts.

The team found that senescent fibroblasts release proteins that cause immune cells called neutrophils to form weblike formations, called neutrophil extracellular traps, which change the environment in the lung into one that helps dormant cancer cells restart their growth.

The remodelling of the extracellular matrix, a complex network of molecules that support and surround cells, also degrades tumour-suppressing factors.

“We explored if chemotherapy-induced senescent fibroblasts could be a therapeutic target to improve the effect of chemotherapy on metastasis inhibition,” the team said.

The researchers discovered that combining senolytic drugs, which eliminate senescent cells, with the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin reduced senescent fibroblasts in the lungs of mice.

“Since the senolytics have shown acceptable safety profiles and benefits in clinics, this could be a promising strategy and warrant further clinical investigation,” they said.

The team said that, based on these study results, a phase II clinical trial was under way to explore the safety of combining the senolytic drugs dasatinib and quercetin with chemotherapy to treat triple-negative breast cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer is an invasive and aggressive form of the disease that cannot be treated with the usual hormone therapy used to help treat such cancers.

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Chinese army scientists propose a super X-railgun much more powerful than the navy’s

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3318687/chinese-army-scientists-propose-super-x-railgun-much-more-powerful-navys?utm_source=rss_feed

The Chinese navy’s railgun has shocked the world. It was mounted on a ship as early as 2018 – the first ever on the planet – and was widely viewed as a coup for China’s future weapon technology.

But power has become its curse. When the current is too strong, metal liquefies. Shells are capped at 15kg (33lbs).

It is too light to sink a ship. Too weak for war. Now the has army stepped in. Their solution: cross-stacking two railguns into one.

This will nearly double the force. As bore pressure jumps, shells can hit 30kg at Mach 7, according to the project team led by Professor Lyu Qingao, associate professor with the Army Engineering University of PLA in Shijiazhuang.

“While the navy’s electromagnetic railgun has resolved power supply challenges, its firing power still falls far short of the targets,” wrote Lyu and his colleagues in an April paper published in the Journal of Army Engineering University of PLA.

“This has hampered the technological advancement and military application of electromagnetic railguns.”

Breaking the limit on railgun power is not easy. Excessive current bites into the U-armature’s throat, melting aluminium. Magnetic fields rip the melted armature apart like a magnetic saw. Rails can also be scarred.

This traps the shell momentum to a fraction of the needed punch.

The army scientists said their twin-gun design can fix the problem.

Two U-armatures are crossed in an “X-shape”, bolted with insulation. Four rails square the bore (200 x 200mm), with two independent power circuits.

Simply put, they stack two rail guns vertically on top of each other in one barrel.

“Vertical fields ignore each other,” they wrote.

This unprecedented design can boost a railgun’s power with “proven tech”, according to the researchers.

Their target is to accelerate a 60kg shell to 7.2 Mach. It can hit a target 400km (248 miles) away in six minutes, with impact speed exceeding Mach 4.

They filed a patent, “electromagnetic railgun with X-shape armature”, last year in China.

But the X-railgun has no live fire yet. And some challenges remain.

“Both armatures are driven by their respective electromagnetic forces. These two forces operate nearly independently, jointly propelling the projectile to accelerate and enabling the launch of the high-power electromagnetic railgun,” Lyu’s team wrote.

“However, the close proximity of two mutually perpendicular current circuits may cause minor variations in current distribution within conductors – manifested as the proximity effect.”

The United States has quit the railgun race, while Japan is testing a small-calibre prototype on a ship firing 300-gram shells.

China slams grass-roots mismanagement, shames ‘longevity city’ debacle as a warning

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3318788/china-slams-grass-roots-mismanagement-shames-longevity-city-debacle-warning?utm_source=rss_feed

It was a sprawling cultural and tourism project that completely went off the rails, and now Beijing is using it as evidence of grass-roots government mismanagement – one of three high-profile examples of wastefulness newly flagged by China’s disciplinary authorities.

Following an investigation, the project – dubbed “Yaohan Longevity City” and located in Gongcheng Yao autonomous county of Guilin – was condemned as a “severe waste of resources”.

Initially hailed in 2018 as a key initiative in the county’s 30th-anniversary celebration, the undertaking intended to position Gongcheng as a leading hub for health tourism. Now it serves as a warning to other local-level government cadres across China.

Spanning an area of about 9.3 hectares (23 acres), the project was initially expected to attract a total investment of 1.65 billion yuan (about US$229 million). However, due to a broken capital chain and a series of poor decisions by local authorities, only 540 million yuan was spent, with six out of the eleven planned buildings left abandoned and idle.

Authorities in the county, with a population of nearly 250,000 people, “made blind decisions to build cultural and tourism projects out of touch with reality, resulting in idleness and waste”, China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in its report, released this week.

Deng Xiaoqiang, the primary backer of the project, who was found guilty of misappropriating 5 million yuan (US$700,000) under the guise of loans to a company he controlled, was expelled from the Communist Party in December 2022.

In addition to the doomed “longevity city”, other examples of government mismanagement have come under the scrutiny of China’s de facto anti-corruption and political disciplinary agency. As part of a broad effort to address inefficiencies and corruption at local levels, central authorities have highlighted problematic practices.

For example, Suihua city in Heilongjiang province was criticised for its overly complicated and inefficient assessment system. Meanwhile, organisations such as the China Calligraphers Association have been flagged for conducting illegal evaluations and collecting improper fees from the public.

In 2020, Beijing began emphasising the need to tackle formalism and bureaucracy to improve its governmental system, criticising it for often being more interested in “leaving a mark” than in “delivering tangible results”.

“We must continue to lighten the burden on grass-roots governance cadres, so they can dedicate more time and energy to serving the public,” President Xi Jinping said at the Politburo’s “democratic life” meeting late last year. The event serves as a forum for cadres to engage in criticism and self-criticism.

The focus on addressing systemic inefficiencies has taken on greater urgency in light of China’s economic difficulties. The country’s budget deficit reached a record 2.65 trillion yuan (US$370 billion) between January and April – a 50 per cent increase compared with the same period last year, according to Bloomberg analysis.

Since the pandemic, the government has rolled out a series of austerity measures to boost the flagging economy.

In May, Beijing introduced stricter regulations on alcohol, cigarettes and high-end dishes during government-related gatherings. Some local governments interpreted the new policy as a prohibition on official gatherings of more than three civil servants.

As cadres try to navigate a maze of managing public funds and meeting economic goals amid China’s post-pandemic recovery, financial failures like Yaohan Longevity City serve as both cautionary tales and evidence of the need for reform at the grass-roots level.

How China’s open-source AI is helping DeepSeek, Alibaba take on Silicon Valley

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3318747/how-chinas-open-source-ai-helping-deepseek-alibaba-take-silicon-valley?utm_source=rss_feed

July 9, 2024, may be remembered as a day of humiliation for China’s artificial intelligence community. On that day, US start-up OpenAI, the global leader in AI model development, blocked developers in China – including Hong Kong and Macau – from using its GPT models.

In contrast, developers from countries ranging from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe were given access, reflecting OpenAI’s unspoken belief that its valuable models must be safeguarded against misuse by China, along with Iran, Russia and North Korea.

Now the tide has turned. With the December 2024 launch of DeepSeek’s free-for-all V3 large language model (LLM) and the January release of DeepSeek’s R1, an AI reasoning model that rivals the capabilities of OpenAI’s o1, the open-source movement started by Chinese firms has sent shock waves through Silicon Valley and Wall Street.

The trend has not only unleashed a wave of AI applications in China, but also redefined the global AI landscape, winning the support of developers worldwide. Chinese open-source models present a viable alternative to the closed-off systems championed by US tech giants like OpenAI and Google.

Open-source AI models – whose source code and model weights are available for anyone to use, modify, and distribute – encourage a collaborative approach to AI development.

While in the past, open-source computer systems like Linux failed to replace proprietary competitors like Microsoft’s Windows, analysts said that this time around, China’s free-to-use AI models posed a serious challenge to US counterparts.

Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang has praised China’s progress in open-source AI and expressed a commitment to collaborate with Chinese companies, as the chipmaker prepares to resume shipments of its advanced H20 chips to one of its largest markets following a breakthrough in Sino-US trade talks late last month.

Huang described LLMs developed by Chinese firms – including DeepSeek, Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings, MiniMax and Baidu – as “world-class” and vital for global AI advancements. Alibaba owns the Post.

China’s open-source AI movement served as a “catalyst for global progress”, providing “every country and industry a chance to join the AI revolution”, he said at the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing this week.

In contrast to the rapid pace at which Chinese companies are releasing their open-source models, OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman announced last weekend a delay to its open-source LLM that had been slated to launch in the next few days, citing safety concerns and the need for additional testing.

For Chinese start-ups like DeepSeek, adopting an open-source approach was an effective strategy for catching up, as it allowed them to leverage contributions from a broader community of developers, according to Kevin Xu, founder of tech investment firm Interconnected Capital.

Since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022, Chinese open-source AI developers have made strides in advancing their models. “Most open-source AI models from China are now at or close to frontier-level capabilities”, rivalling proprietary systems from top US players, Xu said.

“The latest string of open-weight AI model releases shows the growing maturity of open-source adoption and contribution in China,” he added.

DeepSeek’s latest R1-0528 ranks as the highest-rated open-source model in a benchmark by AI consultancy Artificial Analysis, trailing only models from Elon Musk’s xAI, OpenAI and Google. Other Chinese firms, such as Alibaba, MiniMax and Moonshot AI, also performed well in these tests.

The advanced ability of Chinese models has not gone unnoticed by users.

As of mid-July, DeepSeek held a 24 per cent share in OpenRouter, a global marketplace for AI models, making it the second-most popular model developer, just behind Google, which commanded a 37 per cent share.

Meanwhile, Alibaba’s Qwen family of models has become the world’s largest open-source AI ecosystem, with over 100,000 derivative models built upon it, surpassing Meta Platforms’ Llama community, according to Hugging Face, the world’s biggest open-source AI community.

China’s extensive open-source ecosystem encompasses models ranging from 1 billion to 1 trillion parameters, with applications in sectors spanning intelligent manufacturing and digital governance, according to Zheng Xiaolong, a researcher at the State Key Laboratory of Multimodal Artificial Intelligence Systems, which is affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The convergence of technological evolution and industrial demand had created a unique development model in China, where application needs drove innovation and open-source ecosystems fuelled industry growth, Zheng wrote in People’s Tribune, a state-backed publication.

China’s open-source movement was a reflection of a trend towards “tech equality”, challenging the dominance of closed-source models, he said.

One reason Alibaba opted to open-source its Qwen models was that it “democratises the usage of AI” and “proliferates applications”, which would contribute to the company’s cloud computing business, chairman Joe Tsai said last month.

The open-source strategy allowed Chinese firms to attract domestic and international developers, broadening their reach and adoption, said Ray Wang, research director of semiconductor, supply chain and emerging technology at consultancy Futurum Group.

Chinese home appliance manufacturers like Midea Group and Haier, for example, are integrating DeepSeek technology into their televisions and refrigerators, while US companies like Nvidia and Amazon.com offer users access to DeepSeek’s models.

Liu Zhi, founder and CEO of Chinese headphone brand Oleap, said the open-source nature of DeepSeek models “allows us to directly fine-tune them or conduct additional training and distillation”.

With DeepSeek’s low pricing, Liu said the cost of using AI to generate meeting summaries on Oleap’s smart headphones dropped over 80 per cent after it integrated an application programming interface based on DeepSeek’s R1 model in February.

DeepSeek’s success prompted US competitors like OpenAI to reassess their strategies, said Jimmy Hu, head of AI at Shanghai-based decentralised AI infrastructure developer Phoenix.

To stay ahead of the curve, US companies were expected to keep releasing paid models that were “competitive or marginally superior” to products from open-source rivals like DeepSeek, he added.

In China, companies that previously adhered to a closed-source approach, such as Baidu and MiniMax, were also reconsidering their game plans, according to Adina Yakefu, an AI researcher at Hugging Face.

“This collective shift towards open source among Chinese AI companies is more than symbolic; it reflects a growing consensus that open source accelerates iteration, builds trust, and expands global influence,” Yakefu said.

China’s vast talent pool and increasing government support also helped drive the nation’s open-source momentum, said Bao Yungang, deputy head at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Computing Technology.

China was home to 9.4 million software developers as of last year, according to official data cited by state broadcaster China Central Television.

The country contributed 17 of the top 100 open-source software programs, making it the world’s second-largest developer, according to a joint report from the China Communications Standards Association and Cloud Computing Standards and Open-Source Committee.

China has also integrated open source into its national strategy.

Its 14th five-year plan stressed the importance of open-source development, outlining plans to build open-source AI communities locally, export open-source innovations internationally, and build AI to collect public data.

This state-driven effort had encouraged local enterprises and educational institutions to join the movement, according to Bao.

As Chinese open-source AI models gain international popularity, Beijing’s AI ambitions and the country’s AI products have drawn political scrutiny, particularly from Western governments.

DeepSeek’s chatbot, for example, has been banned or restricted in countries including South Korea, Australia, Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic because of data security concerns.

Interconnected Capital’s Xu said these moves were politically motivated rather than based on technical merit. “Putting a national label on open-source code or weights makes no technical sense,” he said.

Others have highlighted the global benefits of having companies – regardless of their national origin – share their research and collaborate to advance AI technology.

“Don’t forget that open source has many global implications,” Nvidia’s Huang said during his Beijing trip. “Not only did the open-source models help the Chinese ecosystem, [they are] helping ecosystems around the world.”

Quirky China trend shows kids, pets hugging giant winter melons to stay cool at night

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/environment/article/3318392/quirky-china-trend-shows-kids-pets-hugging-giant-winter-melons-stay-cool-night?utm_source=rss_feed

The scorching summer heat in China has sparked a trend where people hug a giant winter melon while sleeping to find relief from the sweltering temperatures.

The topic “sleeping with a winter melon is cooler than using an air conditioner” has gone viral on mainland social media, with one Chinese platform alone garnering 4.4 million views.

Many individuals shared photos of themselves slumbering while clutching these large vegetables, which are comparable in size to a toddler, highlighting their remarkable cooling effects.

A resident of northern China’s Tianjin municipality, known as Longma, claimed to be among the first to introduce this effective cooling method that ignited the trend.

She purchased a 14kg winter melon from the local market for her child, who complained that the summer heat was making it difficult for him to sleep at night.

Longma noted that she refrained from using air conditioning in the bedrooms to avoid catching a cold, and saw the “ancient method” of hugging a winter melon as a viable alternative.

Each day, she would gently pat the vegetable to monitor its condition, stating that her winter melon remained in excellent shape after 26 days.

Another participant from eastern China’s Anhui province admitted she felt foolish purchasing a 21kg winter melon at the market, but was pleasantly surprised to discover it was indeed effective.

She mentioned that by keeping the white wax on the melons, they can remain fresh longer.

Numerous people have bought these vegetables for their children and pets. Judging by how tightly they cling to the melons while asleep in the videos, it seems to provide significant benefits.

This method is also quite economical. One individual reported that her 14kg winter melon cost only 54 yuan (US$7.5).

Many have noted they could use the same melon for several days. However, one person cautioned against eating the melon, stating: “The one people have slept with does not taste good.”

It is said that sleeping while hugging a winter melon is an ancient Chinese remedy for cooling down in the summer.

The vegetable contains over 95 per cent water, which aids in absorbing heat through skin contact.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) also incorporates the vegetable’s rind in prescriptions aimed at clearing heat from the body.

TCM expert Yang Zufu from the China Recovery Research Centre explained to People’s Daily that this method can benefit those unable to use air conditioning, including the elderly, toddlers, and pregnant women.

However, individuals with weak spleens and stomachs are advised against pressing their bellies against the vegetable for extended periods, as it may exacerbate symptoms like stomach pain or diarrhoea.

Yang recommended that those with sensitivities wrap the melons in towels and position them at a slight distance to minimise side effects.

“Watermelon is also effective, but they’re too delicious to resist,” one commenter remarked.

“It stops being funny when you try sleeping with one – it’s really useful!” another noted.

A third chimed in: “So that’s why they named it winter melon – to bring some winter to the summer.”

Albanese’s China trip shows ‘stiffening of Canberra’s spine’ in face of US pressure

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3318724/albaneses-china-trip-shows-stiffening-canberras-spine-face-us-pressure?utm_source=rss_feed

A month after US President Donald Trump cancelled talks with Anthony Albanese, China rolled out the red carpet for the Australian leader this week.

In Beijing, he had a two-hour meeting with President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People. Albanese’s fiancee, Jodie Haydon, joined the lunch that followed.

He held separate talks with Premier Li Qiang, and they co-chaired a CEO round table attended by nearly 30 Chinese and Australian business executives. At the banquet hosted by Li that evening, a band played iconic Australian anthems including “a different version of Paul Kelly’s ‘To Her Door’, of Midnight Oil’s ‘Power and the Passion’”, Albanese later told reporters.

The Australian prime minister also visited Shanghai and Chengdu on a six-day trip that shed light on Canberra’s approach to navigating great power rivalry after a reset in relations with Beijing. It showed how Australia is trying to maintain ties with China – its largest trading partner – and the alliance with the United States, while side-stepping thornier issues such as Beijing’s military activities and Taiwan.

“Australia’s predicament is not unusual in the region,” said James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney.

“I think there remains utility in Canberra’s approach. The economic equities in relations with China and security equities in relations with the US are so large that making a binary choice is simply not realistic.”

Laurenceson said Labor’s landslide re-election in May had bolstered the confidence of Albanese and his government to maintain that approach.

“I do not foreshadow any significant policy shifts following the trip,” he said. “But what has been demonstrated is a stiffening of Canberra’s spine in the face of noisy right-wing domestic critics and pressure from Washington.”

Throughout the high-profile trip, Albanese stressed the importance of Australia’s relationship with China, telling Xi on Tuesday that his government would “continue to approach it in a calm and consistent manner guided by our national interest”.

Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University in Shanghai, said that would likely lead to more stable ties.

“Policy consistency will ensure the stability of Australia’s future China policy,” he said. “Therefore, at least during Albanese’s current term, China-Australia relations will continue to remain stable and steadily improve, with potential progress in certain areas.”

Sensitive issues did cast a shadow over Albanese’s China visit – his second as prime minister – including Taiwan, military activities near Australia, and the port of Darwin that was leased to a Chinese company for 99 years in 2015 and Canberra has vowed to take back on national security grounds.

However, the two sides appeared to keep a lid on tensions, which could also reflect Beijing’s efforts to stabilise ties with major trading partners, including US allies in the region, to counter pressure from Washington.

According to Albanese, the Darwin Port issue was not mentioned during this week’s discussions, nor did the Chinese leader raise a Financial Times report last Saturday that the Pentagon was pressing Japan and Australia on their roles in the event of a war between the US and China over Taiwan.

Later, when asked if he had affirmed Australia’s opposition to “Taiwan independence”, as stated in the Chinese readout of his meeting with Xi, Albanese reiterated the country’s long-standing and bipartisan support for preserving the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.

Albanese also told reporters that when he had complained about a Chinese navy live-fire drill off the Australian coast, “President Xi said that China engaged in exercises, just as Australia engages in exercises”.

Chen said Australia was likely to maintain its long-standing commitment to the alliance with the US in the near future. “But the Trump administration’s ‘America first’ doctrine and its instrumentalisation of allies and partners are leading many traditional allies to reflection,” he said.

“Australia is also expected to act in its own national interest, avoiding excessive strategic alignment with the United States.”

Still, pressure from the US appears to be ramping up.

Nikkei Asia reported on Wednesday, citing sources, that John Noh, deputy assistant secretary of defence for East Asia, was on an Indo-Pacific tour that included a stop in Sydney to talk about the US-Australia alliance and the Aukus security partnership that aims to equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines with support from the US and the UK. The pact is under review by the Trump administration to see if it aligns with the “America first” agenda.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen how Beijing and Canberra can overcome security concerns that have worsened since People’s Liberation Army warships conducted a drill in waters between Australia and New Zealand in February. Australian officials said the live-fire drill caused the diversion of nearly 50 commercial flights.

According to a Pew Research Centre survey of 32,000 adults from the world’s six populated continents between January 8 and April 26, Australia was one of only three countries – together with the US and Japan – that sees China as the top threat.

Even as the leaders of China and Australia pledged to increase engagement, there was no mention of defence or maritime affairs talks in the joint statement released after Albanese’s meeting with Li.

The two sides held a defence strategic dialogue in Beijing in February, about a week before the PLA Navy exercise. Laurenceson in Sydney noted that Albanese and Li had agreed to reinstate the dialogue last year and said he expected it to continue.

Meanwhile, Australian defence chief Pat Conroy on Monday said the activities and presence of Chinese surveillance ships near Australia were being closely monitored as the nation hosts a biennial exercise with the US. This year’s Talisman Sabre exercise is the biggest ever, with 19 nations taking part.

“The Chinese military has observed these exercises since 2017. It’d be very unusual for them not to observe it,” Conroy told the ABC.

Chen noted that, according to the joint statement, Beijing and Canberra agreed to build on law enforcement cooperation to fight crime including counter-narcotics, transnational and organised crime, and cyber-telecoms scams.

“The two countries need to enhance interactions and communication to advance security cooperation, building upon strengthened mutual trust,” he said.