An internet-addicted, working-class teenager from a debt-ridden family in China has transformed himself into a top influencer with 25 million followers, creating a social media legend along the way. Lan Zhanfei, 33, has been dubbed “the freest man on the internet” and “the ambassador of freedom” thanks to the huge popularity of videos of him…
Power-hungry data centres run hot, so one Chinese company is planning to submerge a pod of servers in the sea off Shanghai with hopes of solving computing’s energy woes. On a wharf near the city, workers were finishing off the large yellow capsule – a foray into alternative tech infrastructure that faces questions over its…
A new China youth fashion trend of getting tooth tattoos by engraving words like “get rich” and “ensure success” on their dental caps has trended on mainland social media. Facilitated by dental institutions across the country, which provide tailor-made word or pattern inscriptions on tooth crowns for free to attract customers, according to a report…
China’s first woman pilot from Tibet who excels in basketball and skateboarding and dreams of becoming the “coolest captain” has captured attention at the Changchun Air Show. On September 20, Gesang Baizhen, the 25-year-old fighter pilot with the Chinese Air Force, took the stage at the air show in northeastern China. According to the mainland…
After his high-stakes summit with US President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, in August, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that cooperation with the United States in the Arctic was “very possible”. “We see that Arctic cooperation is also very possible in our international context. For example, between the far east of Russia and the…
We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Global order fracturing, status quo unlikely to return, EU warns in new report Photo: Shutterstock After months of being pummelled with…
Biomap, a biotechnology start-up co-established by Baidu founder Robin Li Yanhong and backed by the Hong Kong government, says it has surpassed Alphabet subsidiary AlphaFold in commercialising artificial intelligence foundation models for drug discovery. Multinational pharmaceutical companies were seeing a “reverse” in the technological gap between Biomap and AlphaFold, Wei Liu, co-founder and CEO of…
Competition, a struggling job market and immigration fears are fuelling criticism in China of the country’s new K visa programme, a scheme designed to attract foreign STEM talent. Unveiled in August and set to launch on Wednesday, the programme attracted an unexpected public backlash this week, with many voicing concerns about its potential impact on…
Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a sharp warning over the issue of Taiwan in his annual National Day address on Tuesday, saying Beijing must firmly oppose “external interference” and safeguard its territorial integrity. Xi also used his speech to pledge to “practice true multilateralism”, in what has been a consistent message from Chinese officials framing…
Beijing’s top US envoy on Monday presented China as a global leader in globalisation and multilateralism, taking a jibe at Washington for “closing doors” as the US under President Donald Trump imposes hefty unilateral tariffs on countries around the world and tightens its visa policies. Characterising China and the US as “two main builders of…