Global Pulse

标签： Asia

亚洲

  • Ex-property developer pleads guilty

    Ex-property developer pleads guilty

    One of China’s most high-profile former business leaders has entered a guilty plea in a landmark financial corruption trial that carries major implications for the country’s years-long property sector restructuring. On Tuesday, the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court released an official statement confirming that Xu Jiayin, the founding former chairman of embattled real estate giant China Evergrande Group, pleaded guilty to a sweeping array of charges and expressed formal remorse for his actions during the two-day court proceeding held in Guangdong province.

    The charges against Xu span seven distinct violations of Chinese law: illegal absorption of public deposits, fundraising fraud, unlawful loan issuance, fraudulent securities issuance, breach of mandatory information disclosure rules, embezzlement, and corporate bribery. Prosecutors also brought forward separate criminal charges against two core corporate entities under the Evergrande umbrella: Evergrande Group itself and Evergrande Real Estate Group, accusing the firms of committing offenses including fraudulent securities issuance and unlawful loan issuance.

    Court officials confirmed that the judicial process followed full procedural requirements. Over the course of the trial, both prosecuting teams and defense legal representatives presented evidence, delivered legal arguments, and made closing statements. The proceeding was open to a range of observers, including national-level people’s congress deputies, members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, family members of the defendants, and representatives of retail investors who hold stakes in the troubled developer. No further details on sentencing or corporate penalties have been issued, as the court announced that a formal verdict will be handed down at a later, unspecified date.

    Xu, who built Evergrande from a small regional business into one of the world’s largest property developers after launching the firm in the 1990s, was once ranked among the wealthiest individuals in China. His rapid fall from grace began in 2023, when Chinese authorities launched a formal investigation into suspected illegal activity connected to Evergrande’s catastrophic collapse, which triggered more than $300 billion in unpaid debt and sent shockwaves through global markets. Ahead of the trial, authorities moved to seize or freeze a wide range of assets linked to Xu, including multiple companies controlled by his family and a number of personal overseas bank accounts.

    The trial marks a key milestone in China’s campaign to root out financial misconduct in its $60 trillion property sector, which has faced widespread insolvency and systemic risk since 2021, when a wave of developer defaults exposed years of reckless borrowing and opaque corporate governance. Legal analysts note that the open, transparent nature of the trial — which included public observation and an official statement via the court’s social media channel — signals the Chinese government’s commitment to enforcing accountability for high-profile figures involved in sector-wide instability.

  • HKSAR’s expanded e-cigarette ban hailed

    HKSAR’s expanded e-cigarette ban hailed

    The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is set to roll out an expanded ban on e-cigarettes and other alternative smoking products, with restrictions on public possession and use set to take effect on April 30, building on sweeping trade-focused regulations introduced in 2022.

    Under the new policy, the HKSAR Department of Health confirms that it will become a criminal offense for any individual, whether local resident or visitor, to possess or consume alternative smoking products — a category that includes e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and herbal cigarettes — across all public spaces once the rule enters into force.

    Penalties for violations are structured to match the severity of the offense: casual offenders, including tourists who break the rule, face an immediate fixed fine of HK$3,000 (equivalent to roughly $383 USD). For individuals found carrying quantities of prohibited products that exceed legally set thresholds, which suggests potential intent for commercial distribution, consequences rise to a maximum fine of HK$50,000 and up to six months of imprisonment.

    This latest measure strengthens the original 2022 ban, which already criminalized the import, promotion, manufacturing, sale, and commercial possession of these alternative smoking products, closing a regulatory gap that previously allowed personal possession in public spaces.

    The policy expansion has drawn widespread discussion on social media platforms across the Chinese mainland, with the overwhelming majority of users expressing clear support for the new rule. Many mainland users noted the ban would not discourage them from traveling to Hong Kong, and went a step further to call for mainland Chinese cities to adopt similar strict regulations to reduce public exposure to secondhand smoke and harmful vapor.

    Sonia Liu, a Shanghai resident who has traveled to Hong Kong multiple times, said she fully backs the HKSAR government’s tobacco control efforts, noting that stricter rules will improve the experience for non-smoking visitors and ultimately encourage more tourist visits to the city.

    “Hopefully, these measures can be strictly enforced, especially by screening tourists who intend to dodge them and imposing appropriate penalties,” Liu said. She also recommended that authorities ramp up public outreach, including posting clear warning signs at border checkpoints and running more widespread awareness campaigns on advertisements and billboards, to prevent visitors from accidentally violating the regulation out of ignorance.

    Eva, a Shenzhen resident who makes frequent cross-border trips to Hong Kong, also voiced support for the new rules but suggested that first-time offenders who unknowingly break the ban should be given more lenient treatment rather than facing full penalties immediately.

    Local opinions in Hong Kong are largely supportive, though some residents have raised questions about the scope of penalties. A Hong Kong resident surnamed Liu acknowledged that stricter legislation will help create a cleaner, healthier public environment, but questioned whether penalizing individuals simply for carrying unused e-cigarettes is excessively harsh. Another local resident, Jack So, agreed that the ban will cut down non-smokers’ exposure to secondhand vapor and deliver widespread public health benefits, but expressed hope that the regulation will eventually be expanded to cover all tobacco products to create a fully smoke-free city.

    Legislator Rebecca Chan Hoiyan framed the expanded ban as a key step to cement Hong Kong’s goal of becoming a smoke-free city, arguing that the initiative will actually boost the city’s appeal to international and domestic tourists by prioritizing public health. Addressing widespread concerns that the new restrictions could harm Hong Kong’s tourism sector, Chan pointed out that the city’s core attractions — its unique blend of Eastern and Western cultures, rich intangible cultural heritage, and diverse leisure offerings — far outweigh any concerns related to tobacco rules.

    David Lam Tzit-yuen, the Legislative Council representative for the medical sector, noted that a full, comprehensive ban on alternative smoking products sends an unambiguous public health message that these harmful products are not tolerated in Hong Kong. He described the April 30 expansion as a landmark milestone in the city’s decades-long push to raise a smoke-free new generation free from the health risks of tobacco and alternative smoking products.

    Hong Kong has built a multi-pronged, progressive tobacco control strategy dating back to the 1980s. Already, smoking is prohibited in a wide range of public spaces, including all public transport, indoor public venues, and outdoor public areas such as schools, public parks, and cinemas, with existing violations carrying the same fixed HK$3,000 penalty. In addition to strict spatial restrictions, the government also imposes high excise taxes on conventional tobacco products: a standard pack of major-brand cigarettes retails for approximately HK$105, with taxes making up roughly 63 percent of the final retail price to discourage consumption.

  • Growth focused on quality over speed

    Growth focused on quality over speed

    Against a backdrop of surging global protectionism and escalating geopolitical friction, China’s 2026 economic growth target of 4.5 to 5 percent, framed by a deliberate shift toward high-quality development over rapid expansion, is positioning the country as an irreplaceable market, production base and innovation test bed for multinational corporations worldwide, top policymakers and global business leaders have confirmed.

    After decades of prioritizing speed above all else, the world’s second-largest economy has transitioned to a new growth model centered on “new quality productive forces”, anchored in rising consumer demand, robust manufacturing foundations and accelerating homegrown innovation. The shift aligns with policy priorities laid out by Premier Li Qiang in mid-March, who outlined targeted, urgent policy measures to deliver on growth goals and advance work across all key economic priority areas.

    Expanding domestic demand by stimulating consumer spending has been named the top policy priority for 2026 in China’s Government Work Report, a reorientation designed to insulate the economy from external volatility and build a more sustainable, consumer-led growth trajectory. Han Wenxiu, executive deputy director of the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs, emphasized at the late-March China Development Forum that steadily lifting consumption’s contribution to GDP is both the most critical priority and the most pressing challenge facing China’s push for coordinated, balanced economic development.

    “We must promote the formation of a development model driven more by domestic demand, propelled by consumption, and powered by endogenous growth,” Han said.

    Current data underscores the untapped potential of China’s consumer market: household spending accounted for just 39.9 percent of China’s GDP in 2024, 10 to 30 percentage points lower than the average rate seen in major developed economies. “China’s advantages as a super-sized market have not been fully leveraged,” Han noted, adding that enormous room remains for consumption growth, particularly in service sectors. A third-quarter 2025 survey from the People’s Bank of China found that Chinese households rank tourism, education, healthcare and cultural entertainment as the four categories where they most plan to increase spending in the near term, placing goods consumption fifth.

    To meet rising consumer expectations and diversify service offerings, China is rolling out pilot opening-up programs for key service sectors, including value-added telecommunications, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals. For global enterprises, this opening creates expanded opportunities to connect with Chinese consumers and integrate into the country’s evolving market ecosystem.

    Ramon Laguarta, chairman and CEO of global food and beverage giant PepsiCo, noted that China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) places clear focus on expanding high-quality consumption, accelerating innovation and boosting domestic demand — priorities that align perfectly with PepsiCo’s long-term global strategy. Today, PepsiCo operates more than 70 farms, over 50 beverage bottling plants, 10 food manufacturing facilities and a dedicated R&D center in China focused on understanding local consumer preferences.

    “Many innovations inspired by traditional Chinese food culture and consumer insights have now successfully entered markets across Asia, and have even reached the United States and Europe,” Laguarta said. “China not only drives our growth — it is shaping our global future. China’s digital ecosystem allows us to test our bold ideas with far greater efficiency than anywhere else — from AI-powered supply chains to e-commerce platforms. We are constantly exploring new ways to serve consumers more effectively.”

    PepsiCo is far from an outlier. Senior industry executives across sectors report a growing cohort of multinationals now view China as more than just a large, profitable end market — it has become a critical production base for strengthening global supply chain resilience and a dynamic innovation hub for collaborative product development.

    “Whenever I come to China, I am impressed by the dynamism of this market. New technologies move quickly into practical use. Products reach the market fast. And in many industries, development takes place with remarkable speed,” said Stefan Hartung, chairman of the board of management at German industrial multinational Bosch Group.

    Commerce Minister Wang Wentao highlighted that China’s economic scale is supported by one of the world’s most comprehensive industrial systems, which includes more than 200 mature industrial clusters spanning sectors from consumer electronics to advanced materials and new energy vehicles. Beyond industrial infrastructure, Wang noted China’s human capital pool is undergoing a transformative shift: the country now boasts the world’s largest community of scientists and engineers, with its full-time equivalent R&D personnel ranking first globally.

    This growing innovation capacity has earned global recognition: the 2025 Global Innovation Index released by the World Intellectual Property Organization last September marked the first time China broke into the global top 10 for innovation performance.

    Han emphasized that after years of sustained investment, China’s indigenous innovation capacity has passed a critical inflection point, and external pressure cannot reverse its development trajectory. “In areas where gaps remain, we will accelerate efforts to catch up and run alongside,” Han said. “In areas where we have strengths, we will achieve running alongside and ultimately leading — striving to realize higher-level technological self-reliance.”

    China’s push to cultivate new quality productive forces represents a fundamental paradigm shift, prioritizing scientific breakthroughs, green transition and digital integration over the traditional factor-driven growth model of the past. At the same time, the country is actively expanding international collaboration in these high-growth fields, targeting foreign investment in advanced manufacturing, modern services, high-tech industries and environmental protection and energy conservation.

    Roland Busch, CEO of German industrial conglomerate Siemens, pointed out that while the 15th Five-Year Plan emphasizes independent innovation, it also recognizes the critical role of foreign technology and capital in achieving China’s ambitious development goals. Busch described the new five-year blueprint as an open invitation for foreign companies to deepen their participation in China’s domestic production system, adding that China serves as both a core market and a key source of innovation for Siemens. In late March, the company launched 26 new products developed and manufactured in China for distribution to global markets.

    Ola Kaellenius, chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group, echoed this sentiment, noting that China is an indispensable innovation hub, particularly for electric and intelligent vehicle technology. “We are accelerating the next level of localization in China, tapping even more into the potential of its unique local ecosystem,” he said.

    Denis Depoux, global managing director of global management consultancy Roland Berger, compared China’s dynamic, competitive market to a fitness club for foreign investors: “Foreign companies have to be competitive, have to move quickly, and have to bring the most cutting-edge innovations to China,” he explained.

    Recent investment data reflects growing multinational confidence in China: the number of newly established foreign-invested enterprises in the first two months of 2026 reached 8,631, marking a 14 percent year-on-year increase, according to Ministry of Commerce data.

  • IMF report shows global economy in dangerous time, says Australian treasurer

    IMF report shows global economy in dangerous time, says Australian treasurer

    CANBERRA, April 15 — The world has entered a perilous new phase for the global economy, rocked by persistent downside risks tied to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Australia’s top finance official has warned, following downbeat new projections from the International Monetary Fund.

    Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers told public broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Radio on Wednesday that the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook, published Tuesday, is sounding a clear alarm over the far-reaching economic fallout of the regional conflict. The multilateral lender slashed its 2026 global growth forecast to 3.1 percent, down from earlier more optimistic projections, and outlined a severe downside scenario where sustained energy supply disruptions through 2027 could drag global growth all the way down to 2.0 percent.

    “This is a really dangerous time for the global economy. The International Monetary Fund is expecting slower growth and higher inflation, and we are too,” Chalmers said, ahead of his trip to Washington D.C. this week to attend the spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank.

    Chalmers emphasized that the conflict’s economic spillovers are already being felt by ordinary Australian households, even though the country is not a party to the hostilities. “From an economic point of view, the end of this war can’t come soon enough. Australians didn’t choose the circumstances of that war, but they are paying a very hefty price for it,” he added.

    The IMF also revised down its growth projections for Australia’s domestic economy. The lender now expects the Australian economy to expand by just 2.0 percent in 2026, a 0.1 percentage point downgrade from its January forecast, followed by 1.7 percent growth in 2027 — a sharp 0.5 percentage point cut from its earlier projection.

    On the inflation front, the IMF projects that Australian consumer price growth will tick back up from 2.9 percent in 2025 to 4.0 percent in 2026, eroding recent progress on taming rising cost of living pressures. It also issued a caution to policymakers, warning that any new government support programs introduced to ease household cost burdens would likely add additional fuel to inflationary pressures across the economy.

  • Digital avatars spark debates over human rights, ethics and job security

    Digital avatars spark debates over human rights, ethics and job security

    The concept of digital immortality, long confined to the plotlines of science fiction, has stepped out of fictional worlds and into mainstream reality, triggering fierce public and professional debate over ethics, human rights, and labor security. In the hit Hulu sci-fi series *Devs*, characters are reborn as digital entities inside a simulated universe, grappling with the question of whether their existence makes them “real” or just lines of code. Today, that fictional dilemma is playing out in real life, as artificial intelligence makes it possible to create convincing replicas of real people, from deceased public figures to currently employed workers.

    The conversation around this technology intensified last month following the death of prominent Chinese higher education influencer Zhang Xuefeng, who passed away at the age of 41. Just days after thousands of followers mourned his passing, an AI-powered digital avatar titled *Zhang Xuefeng.skill* appeared online, trained on years of the influencer’s public content including livestream recordings, media interviews, and published books. The replica preserved Zhang’s approachable communication style and core professional values, but its unauthorised creation immediately sparked widespread public outrage and ethical debate.

    Wang Ziyue, an AI researcher from Stanford University, publicly criticized the avatar in a viral video, arguing that the technology amounts to “extracting humanity from the human body and creating something that looks human but is not truly human” — a development that has left many observers with a deep sense of unease.

    Weeks before the Zhang avatar controversy, a separate experimental project titled *colleague.skill* was published to the open-source code platform GitHub, which claimed it could convert an employee’s existing workplace data into a functional digital avatar capable of replacing the original worker in their daily role. The project’s developer used dark humor to acknowledge widespread public anxiety about AI-driven automation, writing: “You AI guys are traitors to the codebase — you’ve already killed frontend, now you’re coming for backend, QA, ops, infosec, chip design, and eventually yourselves and all of humanity.” The project framed the technology as a solution to the disruptions caused by employee turnover, pitching it with the tagline: “Turn cold farewells into warm skills. Welcome to cyber immortality!”

    After going viral across Chinese social media, the project ignited a broader national conversation about the intersection of this new technology with job security, technological ethics, privacy, and personality rights. A small but growing number of companies have already begun quietly testing similar tools, according to industry insiders.

    Jia, an employee at a major Beijing-based internet company who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained that high rates of worker turnover often create costly productivity gaps for businesses. Still, she argued that unauthorised replication of workers crosses a fundamental line: “If your chat logs, emails and work documents could be used to train an AI version of you without your knowledge after you leave, this is not just a data breach — it is a disrespect for individual labor.”

    Public reaction to the trend has been deeply divided. On the Chinese social platform Xiaohongshu, one user shared a greeting from a digital replica of a former coworker that read: “I’m the digital avatar of the former employee. You may ask me questions, and I will answer based on documents from my time working here.”

    One commenter responded to the post with unease, writing: “This is spine-chilling. In the past, when someone left a job, their desk was cleared and their work account deactivated. Now, even after your physical self has moved on, your ‘digital ghost’ remains trapped in your former workplace, working for the boss for free.” Another user made an unconfirmed claim that their employer forced them to train an AI model of their own work skills just before terminating their contract.

    Legal experts have warned that unregulated use of this technology carries significant legal and ethical risks. Meng Zedong, a Beijing-based lawyer with Yingke Law Firm, explained that collecting an individual’s private work records, emails, and personal work documents without explicit consent qualifies as an abuse of personal information under Chinese law. “Intellectual property such as design drawings and technical plans created during employment belongs to the company,” Meng noted. “However, logical thinking, communication habits and work experience are part of personal privacy. Companies have no right to use such data to train AI without the individual’s knowledge.”

    Meng added that if an AI avatar can be traced back to a specific identifiable individual, it may also violate that person’s personality rights. “Chinese law stipulates that personal dignity is inviolable. Such acts may violate that principle and contravene public order and good morals,” he said.

    Wang Yegang, a professor of law at the Central University of Finance and Economics, echoed that assessment, noting that creating unauthorised digital replicas using personal data can infringe on multiple distinct civil rights. If a replica uses a person’s name, voice, or unique identity, it immediately violates personality rights, he explained, and if the avatar makes inappropriate statements that damage the original person’s reputation, it can also qualify as defamation.

    Wang added that companies generally have no legal grounds to force employees to train AI systems using their personal skills and professional habits, as this does not qualify as a necessary component of routine labor management. “Individuals who find themselves replicated have the right to request deletion of data, destruction of models and an apology,” Wang said. “They may also seek compensation for property damage and emotional distress.”

    Not all industry observers view the rise of digital worker avatars as entirely negative. Li Qiang, vice-president of major Chinese recruitment platform Zhaopin, noted that some legitimate businesses are testing the technology as a way to codify exiting employees’ professional knowledge into shared organizational assets, reducing the workflow disruptions that commonly occur when experienced staff leave a role.

    Li added that the technology is unlikely to cause mass layoffs in the short term, because AI avatars built from existing employee data are only capable of handling structured, routine tasks, and cannot replace human workers when it comes to complex decision-making or interpersonal coordination. That said, he did warn that overreliance on these systems could carry long-term risks for corporate innovation. “AI is good at replicating past experience, but human judgment is still essential when confronting new problems,” he explained.

    Li urged the public and policymakers to take a balanced approach to the emerging technology. “Every technological revolution redefines human value,” he said. “This time, AI may help us better understand which abilities are truly unique to human beings.”

  • Calls grow for diplomacy amid sea standoff, retaliation threats

    Calls grow for diplomacy amid sea standoff, retaliation threats

    Tensions between the United States and Iran have reached a new boiling point this week, as a newly imposed US naval blockade on Iranian ports has triggered sharp retaliatory threats from Tehran, even as global and regional diplomatic momentum builds to convene a second round of high-level nuclear talks. Pakistan has emerged as a key intermediary, confirming it is ready to host the next round of negotiations after the first round of talks in Islamabad collapsed in a stalemate over the weekend.

    Despite the breakdown of initial negotiations, top US officials have signaled openness to compromise. JD Vance, the US Vice President who led the American delegation to the first talks, told Fox News on Monday that Washington had already made significant headway in laying out potential concessions for Tehran. “I really think the ball is in the Iranian court, because we put a lot on the table,” Vance said, with a second senior US administration official confirming that ongoing behind-the-scenes work continues to salvage a diplomatic agreement.

    The current showdown took shape on Monday, when the US naval blockade officially entered into force. Iran responded immediately with a credible threat of retaliation that has raised global alarms: the standoff threatens to upend fragile global economic recovery, disrupt critical energy supply chains, and collapse the existing ceasefire to resume full-scale open hostilities between the two nations. The International Energy Agency issued a stark warning on Tuesday, noting that crude oil demand is projected to see its sharpest second-quarter decline since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic crashed global markets.

    In a related military move, US Naval Institute News reported this week that the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier is rerouting to the Arabian Sea along the African coast, intentionally bypassing the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The detour avoids the strategic waterway that has been the site of repeated drone and missile attacks on US shipping by Yemen’s Houthi militants in 2024 and 2025.

    An Iranian military spokesman condemned the US shipping restrictions as unlawful acts of piracy, issuing a clear warning that if Iranian commercial ports are placed under blockade, no ports across the Persian Gulf or Gulf of Oman will remain safe from retaliation.

    Core disagreements between the two sides remain centered on the future of Iran’s nuclear program. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that any final agreement must permanently end Iran’s capacity to develop a nuclear weapon, while Iranian officials have consistently reaffirmed that their country’s nuclear activities are exclusively for peaceful civilian energy and medical purposes. Trump told reporters on Monday that Tehran has reached out to Washington to signal its strong desire to reach a negotiated settlement: “They’d like to make a deal. Very badly, very badly.”

    Details released by The New York Times shed light on the gap between the two sides’ initial proposals from the Islamabad talks. During the weekend negotiations, US negotiators pushed for a 20-year suspension of Iran’s uranium enrichment program, while Iran countered with an offer of a five-year freeze on enrichment activities, a proposal US officials rejected outright.

    Pakistan, which hosted the first round of discussions, has ramped up its diplomatic mediation efforts. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed Monday that the country is making “all-out efforts” to broker a final agreement that would end hostilities, adding that the current ceasefire between the two sides remains intact. Hadi Golriz, head of press for Iran’s embassy in Islamabad, told Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday that while future talks could be held at any time and any location, no official agreement on timing or venue has been reached yet, dismissing some earlier media reports of an agreement to reconvene this week as “baseless.” Despite Golriz’s pushback, Reuters earlier this week cited multiple anonymous sources confirming that both sides are preparing to return to the Pakistani capital as early as the end of this week.

    Regional analysts note that both Tehran and Washington are actively seeking a diplomatic exit from the current crisis, but each needs a face-saving way to back away from open conflict. Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera that the ongoing conflict has imposed extreme costs on both nations and the wider region. “Iran has greater leverage than it did at the start of the war, but I have no doubt they would seek an end to hostilities,” Elmasry said.

    Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has reaffirmed Tehran’s red line for future negotiations, stating that Iran will only continue talks within the framework of international law, according to Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB. Third-party diplomatic offers remain on the table to help bridge the gap: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Tuesday that Russia’s standing offer to accept Iran’s enriched uranium as part of a potential final deal between the US and Iran remains available.

  • Consumer trends tied to ’emotional value’

    Consumer trends tied to ’emotional value’

    Against a backdrop of rising living standards and shifting consumer priorities, the concept of “emotional value consumption” has evolved from a cultural buzzword to a core policy focus and fast-growing economic driver across multiple Chinese provinces. The movement first gained formal recognition this year when it was officially written into Hubei province’s 2026 government work report, paving the way for a surge in consumer spending centered on personal well-being, stress relief, and experiential joy.

    Wuhan, Hubei’s capital, has emerged as a leading example of how this trend translates into tangible economic gains, with its world-famous “cherry blossom economy” driving record tourism and business activity. In late March, the city played host to the annual Wuhan Marathon, drawing more than 30,000 runners from 69 countries around the globe. Race organizers designed the course to highlight the city’s most iconic landmarks—from the ancient Yellow Crane Tower to the historic Yangtze River Bridge—and wove the region’s famous spring cherry blossoms into the route, with competitors passing more than 3,500 blooming trees and finishing on a 760-meter stretch lined with falling pink petals. “The scenery kept me energized mile after mile,” shared Fang Bo, a Beijing-based runner who took first place in the men’s half-marathon.

    That widespread enthusiasm for the seasonal floral spectacle has translated into a massive financial windfall for local businesses. Roughly 55 percent of Wuhan’s leading catering companies rolled out cherry blossom-themed menus, featuring creative offerings ranging from cherry blossom-infused noodles to limited-edition floral rice wine. Data from Wuhan Customs shows the spring blossom season triggered a 110.99 percent year-on-year jump in inbound international visitors from major source markets including South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States. During the April 4–6 Qingming Festival holiday, searches for “Wuhan cherry blossoms” on Chinese travel platform Tongcheng Travel nearly quadrupled compared to the previous month, reflecting sustained, growing demand for the seasonal experience.

    Beyond large-scale tourism events, the emotional economy also thrives in small, relatable everyday comforts that resonate with modern consumers. One viral local success story is the “Suan Niao” (literally “forget it”) plush toy, a creation of designer Li Mangguo who drew inspiration from a sprouted garlic bulb. The soft toy is paired with a slogan in local Wuhan dialect: “Forget it, life isn’t easy for any of us.” The down-to-earth, relatable message struck a chord with online audiences, and the toy has already sold more than 200,000 units to date.

    This shift toward “self-pleasing consumption”—purchases prioritizing personal emotional satisfaction over practical utility—is particularly pronounced among Generation Z consumers. At a popular recreational sports center on bustling Jianghan Road in Wuhan, young people fill the facility every day, participating in activities from bowling to indoor horse riding. “These activities meet a specific need for self-indulgence and social connection,” explained Gu Wei, the center’s manager, in an interview with Xinhua News Agency.

    Industry experts note that this consumer shift marks a clear break from traditional spending patterns. “Consumers are moving past the ‘practical utility’ of goods,” explained Hu Fen, a professor in the School of Tourism Management at Hubei University. “The core drivers are a rigid demand for stress relief and the desire for ‘social currency.’ The younger generation prioritizes how a purchase makes them feel.”

    What makes this trend particularly notable is its formal integration into regional government policy. When the fourth session of the 14th Hubei Provincial People’s Congress opened in Wuhan, Governor Li Dianxun announced that the province would prioritize responding to new consumer demand for practical, emotional, and knowledge-based value in 2026. Wang Shenghui, a deputy to the Hubei Provincial People’s Congress and deputy director of Suizhou Museum, noted that including “emotional value” in the government work report underscores the province’s growing focus on public spiritual needs and represents an innovative breakthrough in governance. Wang added that sectors across Hubei have already begun exploring emotional value-driven offerings: “Suizhou Museum’s immersive chime bells and dance show offers visitors a journey through ancient times, while the Yellow Crane Tower’s night tour uses lighting and poetry to inspire visitors’ cultural empathy.”

    Ge Tiancai, a provincial congress deputy and chairman of Wuhan Mulan Flower Township Tourism Development, framed the trend as a natural outcome of broader economic progress. “People’s living standards have improved and the problem of food and clothing has been solved,” he said, explaining why consumers are now prioritizing emotional fulfillment over basic needs. During this year’s regional “two sessions” (annual legislative and political consultative conferences), emotional value, the emotional economy, and the self-pleasing economy became top buzzwords, and the concept has since been included in government work reports for multiple other provinces, including Jiangxi and Guizhou.

    Industry projections underscore the massive scale and future growth of this market. According to an insight report on China’s emotional economy spending trends covering 2025 to 2029, the national market for emotional value consumption reached 2.31 trillion yuan (approximately $330 billion) in 2024, and is on track to surpass 4.5 trillion yuan by 2029. Jia Xiaoling, account director of consumer insights firm Worldpanel China, offered a strategic recommendation for local policymakers and businesses: by integrating local natural resources and unique cultural features to build distinctive consumption experiences, stakeholders can form genuine emotional bonds with consumers and unlock long-term growth in this fast-expanding sector.

  • To Lam’s visit signifies stable growth of ties

    To Lam’s visit signifies stable growth of ties

    Vietnam’s highest-ranking leader To Lam launched a four-day state visit to China on Tuesday, a landmark diplomatic engagement that analysts and policymakers across both countries expect will cement the positive trajectory of bilateral relations and advance shared prosperity across the Asia-Pacific.

    The timing of the visit carries special symbolic weight: it comes just one week after To Lam, already General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, was elected President of Vietnam during the first session of the 16th National Assembly, the country’s top legislative body. This immediate high-level diplomatic outreach to China underscores the consistent importance both Beijing and Hanoi place on their long-standing neighborly relationship.

    Marking a dynamic start to his trip, To Lam traveled from Beijing via Fuxing high-speed rail to visit Xiong’an New Area, the nationally significant future-oriented development zone in Hebei province, where he observed the project’s ongoing progress firsthand. Later the same day, he held a formal meeting with Wang Huning, Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, China’s top political advisory body.

    Ahead of official discussions, To Lam published a signed article in China’s official newspaper People’s Daily on Tuesday, laying out his vision for the next phase of bilateral cooperation. In the piece, he emphasized the goal of building on the deep traditional friendship shared by the two parties, states, and peoples, while elevating strategic connectivity and charting a shared course for Vietnam-China relations in the new era. To Lam noted that decades of shared history have proven that a strong, stable bilateral relationship directly serves the core interests of both nations’ peoples and makes a tangible positive contribution to regional peace and sustained development. He added that moving forward, the two sides should prioritize expanding mutually beneficial cooperation while working to maintain a peaceful regional environment, manage existing differences constructively, and resolve long-standing outstanding issues appropriately.

    To Lam’s visit unfolds against a backdrop of already steady, positive momentum in China-Vietnam relations, with cooperation deepening across a wide range of sectors in recent months. Key milestones leading up to the engagement include a high-level telephone call between the two nations’ top leaders in January, the 17th gathering of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation in March, and the inaugural ministerial session of the bilateral “3+3” strategic dialogue covering diplomacy, defense, and public security, also held in March.

    Economic ties between the two countries have hit new highs in recent years: official data from China’s Ministry of Commerce shows that total bilateral trade volume hit a record of over $290 billion in 2025. China retains its position as Vietnam’s largest single trading partner, while Vietnam remains China’s top trading partner within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its fourth-largest trading partner globally.

    Analysts point out that the visit sends a clear signal that Vietnam’s new leadership will maintain the country’s long-standing diplomatic priority of fostering strong ties with China. Vietnamese Ambassador to China Pham Thanh Binh described the trip as the most important bilateral diplomatic event for the two nations in 2026 in an interview with Vietnam News Agency. He expressed confidence that bilateral cooperation holds vast untapped potential, driven by the complementary nature of the two countries’ development strategies — particularly as Vietnam begins implementing the resolutions of its 14th National Party Congress and China rolls out its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030). Pham added that priorities for deepening engagement should include strengthening economic bonds, maximizing the benefits of existing free trade agreements, expanding market access for Vietnamese agricultural exports, working toward more balanced bilateral trade, and attracting high-quality foreign investment from China to Vietnam.

    Shi Zhongjun, Secretary-General of the ASEAN-China Centre, noted that both countries are currently at a critical juncture in their socialist development efforts, building on decades of progress to pursue new shared development goals. Ding Duo, a research fellow at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, observed that against the backdrop of rising global geopolitical volatility, To Lam’s visit sends a clear message that Vietnam’s new leadership refuses to be influenced by outside interference and remains firmly committed to safeguarding positive and productive bilateral relations with China.

    As a complementary initiative to deepen people-to-people ties alongside high-level diplomatic talks, 200 young Vietnamese people launched an eight-day “Red Study Tour” on Saturday, with scheduled activities in Guangzhou, Guangdong province and Beijing to foster cross-cultural understanding and people-level connections between the two nations.

  • Kiln it — porcelain hub pulls foreign artists

    Kiln it — porcelain hub pulls foreign artists

    Nestled in China’s Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen — a city whose name has been synonymous with porcelain craftsmanship for more than a millennium — is steadily building a new reputation as a welcoming crossroads for creative talent from across the globe. Blending centuries-old artisanal traditions with cutting-edge modern infrastructure and an open, inclusive creative culture, the city is drawing a growing stream of international artists, designers, and cultural explorers who find its unique duality irresistible.

    One of the many foreign creatives who have put down roots in Jingdezhen is Canadian artist Philip Read. In the center of his local studio sits a porcelain plate that stands as his most cherished work, and a quiet meditation on the city that inspires him. The hand-painted piece depicts a river cutting through Jingdezhen, splitting its landscape into two complementary worlds. One bank bustles with distinctly modern energy, dotted with recognizable global brand logos from popular chain restaurants KFC and McDonald’s. The opposite bank unfolds into a serene, timeless landscape of sloped tiled roofs, arched stone bridges, green fields, and still water — a slower, calmer existence that holds its own gentle power against the hurry of 21st-century life.

    For Read, the painted plate is far more than just an art object: it is a perfect reflection of Jingdezhen itself. “It is both modern and international, but if you look a little further, Jingdezhen is still calm, still able to make you focus,” he explained. “That is part of its charm.”

    This unique balance — an open, globally connected creative ecosystem that never loses the textured, quiet soul of its centuries-old craft heritage — is the core of Jingdezhen’s growing magnetic pull for artists from overseas. Long renowned globally as China’s unrivaled porcelain capital, the city earned international recognition for its cultural legacy when it was named a UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art back in 2014. In recent years, targeted investments in artist residency programs, large-scale international ceramic art exhibitions, open-air creative markets, and cross-cultural exchange platforms have turned the city into a must-visit destination for ceramic artists and creatives of all disciplines. Photographs of international artists at work in Jingdezhen’s creative hubs, like Taoxichuan Ceramic Art Avenue, have showcased the city’s vibrant, inclusive creative scene to audiences around the world, cementing its rising status in the global contemporary art world.

  • Xi makes four-point proposal for Mideast peace and stability

    Xi makes four-point proposal for Mideast peace and stability

    Amid a persistently volatile security landscape in the Middle East, triggered by a February joint military strike on Iran by the United States and Israel that sent conflict spiraling across the region and threatened global energy and economic stability, Chinese President Xi Jinping has put forward a comprehensive four-point proposal to advance enduring peace and stability in the region. The proposal was delivered during a Tuesday meeting in Beijing with Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.