Global Pulse

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  • Scientists unearth how supervolcanoes form, evolve

    Scientists unearth how supervolcanoes form, evolve

    For generations, Earth’s most destructive geological giants — supervolcanoes — have concealed the secrets of their origins. These extraordinary formations can unleash eruptions that eject more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of volcanic material, enough to bury an entire major metropolis under tens of meters of debris and send catastrophic ripple effects through global ecosystems, climate patterns, and human civilization. Now, a collaborative research effort between Chinese and American scientists has pulled back the curtain, offering the first complete, evidence-based account of how the massive magma system beneath one of the world’s most famous supervolcanoes forms and endures over geologic time.

    The joint project, led by researchers from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Illinois, was published in the peer-reviewed academic journal *Science* on April 11, 2026. The study centers on the Yellowstone caldera, the iconic supervolcano located within Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park, which has long served as a natural research laboratory for volcanologists thanks to its well-documented geological activity and abundant geophysical data. Over the last 2.1 million years, Yellowstone has produced two catastrophic eruptions, ejecting roughly 2,500 and 1,000 cubic kilometers of material respectively, cementing its status as one of the most closely studied supervolcanic systems on the planet.

    For decades, the dominant scientific model held that supervolcanoes are fueled by large, continuous reservoirs of fully liquid magma trapped in Earth’s crust. According to this long-standing theory, molten rock gradually accumulates underground, building pressure until it fractures the surrounding rock and triggers a massive eruption, with heat supplied by a vertical plume of hot rock rising from thousands of kilometers deep in the mantle. Over the past ten years, however, new observations have upended this consensus. Recent studies have confirmed that magma beneath supervolcanoes rarely exists as a large, fully liquid pool; instead, it typically forms a crystalline “mush” — a semi-solid mixture of molten rock and solid mineral crystals that can remain stable underground for millions of years. Geophysical surveys have also revealed a surprising geological quirk: Yellowstone’s entire magma system is tilted diagonally, rather than vertical as the classic plume model predicted, extending progressively farther to the southwest as depth increases.

    To resolve these contradictions and unlock the true origins of the Yellowstone system, the research team constructed a cutting-edge high-resolution three-dimensional model of the geological structure beneath western North America. The model integrates decades of data across three core disciplines — geology, geophysics, and geochemistry — to simulate both Yellowstone’s prehistoric eruptions and its current active state.

    The study’s findings upend previous assumptions about where supervolcanic magma originates. The team’s simulations show that magma forms much deeper than the scientific community once believed, originating near the base of the North American lithosphere — Earth’s rigid outer rocky layer, which extends roughly 100 kilometers below the continental surface. At this depth, hot, partially molten rock moves slowly eastward through a narrow geologic channel directly beneath Yellowstone. As this buoyant hot material is stretched and carried by mantle flow beneath the thicker section of the North American lithosphere, pressure drops dramatically, triggering widespread melting of the rock to generate large volumes of magma.

    This process is shaped by a key tectonic interaction: the North American continental plate is slowly moving westward, pushing against the deeper eastward flow of mantle rock. The opposing forces act to pull apart the base of the continental lithosphere, creating a diagonal pathway that allows magma to rise toward the surface. This mechanism directly explains the tilted, non-vertical shape of Yellowstone’s magma system that geoscientists have observed in seismic surveys.

    “This study delivers the first comprehensive explanation of how magmatic systems beneath supervolcanoes form and evolve,” stated Liu Lijun, the corresponding author of the paper and a senior researcher at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Cao Zebin, the paper’s first author and a postdoctoral researcher on the team, noted that the newly identified mechanism is not unique to Yellowstone. It is likely applicable to many other large volcanic systems around the globe, including Indonesia’s Toba supervolcano in Southeast Asia and the Altiplano-Puna volcanic complex in the South American Andes.

    Looking forward, Liu explained that the refined 3D model could eventually enable more accurate forecasting of volcanic activity, similar to how modern meteorology predicts weather events. If further validated, the model could help authorities anticipate supervolcanic activity far in advance and drastically reduce the risk of loss of life and infrastructure from these rare but catastrophic geological events.

  • New gene found to shield rice from global pathogen

    New gene found to shield rice from global pathogen

    Against a backdrop of rising climate-driven threats to global staple crop production, a collaborative team of Chinese plant scientists has announced a landmark discovery: a newly identified gene that confers robust resistance to bacterial leaf blight, a globally destructive rice pathogen that threatens food security across continents.

    Published in the leading academic journal *Nature* on April 13, 2026, the breakthrough comes after 20 years of rigorous research led by the Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with partners from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Zhejiang University. Bacterial leaf blight, which erodes rice plants’ ability to carry out photosynthesis, causes stunted, shriveled grains and can result in complete total crop loss in severe outbreaks. Climate change has amplified the spread of this pathogen, as rising temperatures and more frequent extreme weather events including typhoons and floods create ideal conditions for the bacteria to move between fields and regions.

    To pinpoint the new resistance gene, the research team systematically screened more than 3,000 distinct rice varieties, ultimately isolating the unique gene, which they have named Xa48. Scientists explain that Xa48 functions like a customized biological security system for the rice plant: it detects a specific effector protein produced by the blight-causing bacteria, then immediately triggers the plant’s natural immune defenses to neutralize the invader. Unlike older previously identified resistance genes that primarily target bacterial strains prevalent only in Southeast Asia, Xa48 delivers particularly strong protection against pathogen variants common in Northeast Asia.

    Building on this finding, the researchers combined Xa48 with an older, broad-spectrum resistance gene called Xa21 to engineer a “dual-layer” immune defense for cultivated rice. This innovative approach replicates the natural, robust disease resistance seen in wild rice — a trait that has largely been lost from modern commercial rice varieties, as decades of selective breeding prioritized high yields over defensive traits.

    The discovery is already moving beyond laboratory testing into real-world agricultural application. Multiple leading seed companies and national agricultural research institutions, including Longping High-Tech Agriculture Co and the China National Rice Research Institute, are already integrating the gene into breeding programs to develop new disease-resistant rice cultivars.

    Beyond protecting crop yields, the breakthrough offers notable environmental benefits. “Improving disease resistance of crops will also reduce pesticide use, contributing to greener agricultural production,” explained He Zuhua, a senior researcher and co-corresponding author of the *Nature* study. Even with current widespread pesticide application, experts estimate that China loses a minimum of 18 million metric tons of grain to pests and diseases each year. Preliminary field trials of the new rice lines developed through this research have already demonstrated that the modified cultivars maintain high yields and retain strong resistance even when exposed to flood and typhoon stress.

    “This is the first time in crops that the combination of two immune networks has been shown to reconstruct such broad-spectrum disease resistance like wild rice,” noted Lin Hui, co-first author of the research paper. For agricultural communities grappling with growing climate uncertainty, the discovery marks a critical step toward developing more resilient staple crops that can protect global food supplies for decades to come.

  • US, China contrast sharply on climate

    US, China contrast sharply on climate

    Global climate action has entered a new phase of stark geopolitical and strategic divergence, as the United States has undertaken sweeping reversals of decades-old climate policy while China doubles down on low-carbon development as a core driver of national modernization. What began as incremental rollbacks of environmental rules in the U.S. has evolved into a fundamental reorientation of economic priorities, with far-reaching implications for global competitiveness, investment flows, and climate risk distribution.

    The first major shift came in February 2026, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency formally revoked the 2009 Endangerment Finding, the longstanding legal bedrock that allowed federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. Far from a minor technical tweak, the move reopened a debate that policymakers and climate experts had considered settled for nearly 17 years: whether the federal government has any role to play in governing climate-related risk at all.

    By March, the policy shift expanded beyond regulatory rollback into direct capital reallocation. Multiple reports confirm that the current U.S. administration has arranged compensation for French energy firm TotalEnergies to exit two large-scale offshore wind projects, with the planned investment redirected back to fossil fuel development. This step is unprecedented: while past administrations have rolled back clean energy incentives, actively diverting capital away from renewable energy and back to carbon-intensive infrastructure marks a new, more fundamental departure from global decarbonization trends.

    Supporters of the changes argue that the Endangerment Finding granted federal regulators unwarranted, sweeping power that touched everything from automobile emissions standards to utility and industrial operations. They frame the revocation as a necessary correction to rein in regulatory overreach and rebalance authority between the federal government, states, and private industry.

    But critics warn the move removes a critical stabilizing pillar for both policy and markets. Climate policy is not merely a set of restrictive rules; it provides the predictable policy framework that underpins decades-long investments in energy infrastructure, low-carbon technology, and grid modernization. When core regulatory signals are suddenly reversed, uncertainty ripples through every corner of the energy market, leaving investors and industry leaders unable to plan for the long term.

    More deeply, the policy reversal represents a conceptual shift: the U.S. has moved from debating how to cut greenhouse gas emissions to debating whether it should regulate emissions at all. Once that foundational question is reopened, climate policy stops being a technical, solution-focused exercise and becomes a battle over the scope of governance itself.

    Even for observers skeptical of broad federal regulation, one unavoidable truth remains: eliminating the federal regulatory framework does not make climate risk disappear—it only shifts that risk to other actors. Risk now falls to individual U.S. states that choose to maintain their own emissions standards, which will face increased legal and economic pressure. It shifts to the courts, where years of protracted legal battles over climate authority will play out. It shifts to insurance providers, which are already forced to absorb the growing costs of climate-fueled extreme weather events. Ultimately, that risk lands on American households, in the form of higher energy and insurance costs, and greater exposure to climate harm.

    Unlike political policy shifts, climate risk does not pause to accommodate election cycles. It continues to accumulate regardless of changes in Washington.

    While the U.S. steps back from decarbonization, China is moving aggressively in the opposite direction, with a clear and consistent long-term strategy embedded in its national development planning. The newly adopted 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) places clean energy development, broad economy-wide electrification, and low-carbon industrial transformation at the very center of national economic strategy. For Chinese policymakers, climate action is not treated as a drag on growth; it is framed as a core engine of modernization and global competitiveness.

    China’s approach to climate action relies on integrated co-control, which ties long-term greenhouse gas mitigation to immediate, tangible improvements in public health through concurrent reduction of traditional air pollution. Policy measures that cut coal consumption, expand electric transportation, boost industrial energy efficiency, and scale up renewable energy deliver two sets of benefits at once: lower carbon emissions and much cleaner air for urban and rural communities.

    This policy integration is strategically significant. Cleaner air delivers immediate, visible public gains: fewer respiratory hospitalizations, better quality of life, and broader sustained public support for climate action. What is often framed as an abstract, long-term environmental goal becomes politically grounded when tied to these everyday improvements for ordinary people.

    The contrast between the two major powers could not be more clear. The U.S. now frames climate action as an unnecessary economic burden and a case of regulatory overreach, while actively renewing government support for fossil fuel production. By comparison, China frames environmental and climate policy as a clear pathway to industrial upgrading, global technological leadership, and long-term economic competitiveness.

    U.S. climate policy has long been vulnerable to whiplash from political cycles, with new administrations often reversing the climate actions of their predecessors. What makes the current shift unique is that this instability is no longer limited to regulatory policy—it has now spread to core investment signals, reshaping how capital flows across the energy sector.

    When national governments signal a retreat from clean energy development, markets respond accordingly. Capital flows toward the sectors that have explicit government support, clear scalability, and predictable policy frameworks. Innovation follows deployment, and deployment follows the direction set by government policy. For large-scale capital projects, consistent policy is not a luxury—it is an absolute requirement. Sectors from electrification and battery manufacturing to grid expansion and clean hydrogen require decades of sustained investment to mature, and they cannot adapt quickly to sudden policy reversals. When core regulatory foundations are upended and governments actively encourage a return to fossil fuel development, investment risk surges and new projects slow to a crawl.

    China, by contrast, has long aligned its environmental governance goals with its national industrial strategy. Over time, this consistent alignment has allowed it to build global dominance in solar panel manufacturing, take a leading position in electric battery production, and develop the world’s most competitive and extensive electric vehicle supply chains. For China, strong environmental governance has become a tool to gain competitive positioning in the industries that will define 21st century economic growth. If the U.S. continues to deprioritize clean energy and reembrace fossil fuels, it risks losing significant momentum in these strategically critical sectors that will shape global economic competition for decades.

    The diverging paths of the two largest economies carry immediate implications for the entire world. Most other major economies have already made clear their commitment to continued decarbonization: Japan is advancing large-scale hydrogen development, South Korea is pouring investment into next-generation battery technology, and countries across Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Africa are rapidly scaling up renewable energy capacity. European economies have maintained their long-term commitment to clean energy transition. The global debate is no longer over whether to act on climate—it is over how to structure that action to drive long-term growth.

    The lesson drawn from this sharp divergence between the U.S. and China is unambiguous: climate policy is no longer a peripheral environmental issue. It is a central pillar of modern national economic strategy. Economies that successfully integrate air quality improvement, carbon reduction, and industrial modernization will not only deliver cleaner, healthier environments for their people—they will also drive sustained inclusive economic growth and shape the structure of global industry for generations. That is the high stake at the core of the U.S.’s historic climate policy U-turn.

    This analysis comes from Christine Loh, chief development strategist at the Institute for the Environment at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and former undersecretary for the environment in Hong Kong. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

  • Shanghai’s raccoon dogs find urban coexistence ‘sweet spot’

    Shanghai’s raccoon dogs find urban coexistence ‘sweet spot’

    As global biodiversity conservation emerges as an urgent priority, Shanghai has emerged as an unexpected model of harmony between urban residents and native wildlife, with the city’s wild raccoon dog population finding a sustainable balance that has cut human-animal conflict dramatically, new research shows.

    The latest collaborative census conducted by the Shanghai Forestry Station, Fudan University’s Institute of Biodiversity Science and the Shan Shui Conservation Center, released publicly on November 30, puts the city’s total raccoon dog population at a stable 3,000 to 5,000 individuals. Despite being a nationally protected species that continues to expand its range across the metropolis, localized population densities in crowded residential neighborhoods have dropped to all-time lows — a shift researchers credit to targeted policy interventions and shifting public attitudes.

    Despite their characteristic dark facial markings that give them the common nickname of “bandit mask” raccoons, raccoon dogs are not closely related to North American raccoons. A unique ancient lineage of the Canidae family, which also includes wolves, foxes and domestic dogs, raccoon dogs are native to East Asia and stand out as the only canid species that hibernates through cold winter months.

    While the overall population has stabilized, the species continues to gradually expand into new areas of the coastal megacity: wildlife observers first confirmed the presence of raccoon dogs on Chongming Island in 2024, and documented their arrival in Putuo District just last summer. These range expansions are a natural sign of a recovering, healthy population, researchers note, rather than a signal of overpopulation.

    Wang Fang, director of Fudan University’s Institute of Biodiversity Science and lead researcher on the census, explained that the sharp drop in conflict and stable population stem from three years of targeted ecological improvements and public engagement. Better urban waste management has cut off easy access to food waste that once drew large groups of raccoon dogs into residential areas, while clearer guidance for residents has reduced unsupervised stray cat feeding that also supported unnaturally dense raccoon dog populations.

    Beyond infrastructure and policy changes, Wang noted that transparent data sharing has played a critical role in shifting public perception of the small canids. Once widely labeled as a nuisance pest that posed risks to urban residents, raccoon dogs are now increasingly viewed as a welcome part of the city’s urban biodiversity. With clear data confirming the population is under control and the species poses no direct threat to human safety, a growing share of Shanghai residents now embrace the principle of peaceful coexistence with the native animals.

    This success story comes as part of a broader national push in China to protect native biodiversity and develop sustainable models for integrating wildlife conservation into densely populated urban areas. As more cities around the world grapple with returning wildlife populations adapting to urban environments, Shanghai’s experience offers a actionable framework for balancing human life and native species conservation.

  • Sánchez returns to China as Spain seeks deeper ties amid Iran war tensions

    Sánchez returns to China as Spain seeks deeper ties amid Iran war tensions

    MADRID – Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has returned to China for his fourth visit in as many years, a high-profile diplomatic trip aimed at forging stronger political and economic bonds between Madrid and Beijing, the world’s second-largest economy. The visit unfolds against a fraught global geopolitical backdrop, as European leaders scramble to push for a diplomatic end to the U.S.-Israeli military conflict in Iran – a conflict Sánchez has emerged as one of Europe’s most outspoken critics of, a stance that has severely strained Madrid’s relations with Washington.

    Ahead of his scheduled bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Sánchez delivered a policy address at Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University on Monday, where he called on China to step into a more prominent leadership role in the emerging multipolar global order. “This means, for example, demanding that international law be upheld, and that an immediate ceasefire be reached in all active conflicts: Lebanon, Iran, Gaza, the West Bank, and Ukraine,” Sánchez stated during the speech.

    The core objective of Sánchez’s visit aligns with Spain’s long-stated policy of diversifying its diplomatic and economic partnerships with major global powers. Spanish government officials have made clear that Madrid aims to attract greater Chinese direct investment and expand Spanish export volumes to the Chinese market, even though all EU trade negotiations – including those for Spain, one of the bloc’s 27 member states – are handled at the union level.

    Like many other European nations undergoing a urgent energy transition away from fossil fuels, Spain – which already generates over half of its domestic electricity from renewable sources – relies on access to Chinese critical raw materials, photovoltaic solar panels, and other green technology that are central to its decarbonization goals.

    In recent weeks, Spain has taken an unusually bold stance among European nations against U.S. and Israeli military operations in the Middle East. The Sánchez government has already closed Spanish airspace to U.S. military aircraft deployed to the Iran conflict, and denied Washington access to jointly operated military bases located in southern Spain. This public break with U.S. policy has given added strategic weight to Sánchez’s annual trip to China, according to regional policy experts.

    “Against the backdrop of growing friction with the U.S. administration, these yearly high-level meetings have taken on increased geopolitical significance,” explained Eric Sigmon, a Madrid-based political analyst and former U.S. national security adviser.

    Sánchez’s three-day visit, running from April 13 to 15, includes scheduled talks with not only President Xi, but also Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and the third-ranking leader of the Communist Party of China.

    Unlike many other major European Union economies, Spain has maintained a far less adversarial approach to China in recent years. As the fourth-largest economy in the eurozone, Spain has actively worked to rebalance its bilateral trade relationship with Beijing: China currently runs a substantial trade surplus with Spain, a dynamic that reflects the gap between the two nations’ economic scale – 49 million people for Spain versus more than 1.4 billion for China.

    Data from the American Enterprise Institute’s China Global Investment Tracker shows that while Chinese foreign direct investment into other major EU economies including France and Germany has declined over the past five years, Chinese investment in Spain has actually grown consistently since 2019, even though total volumes still remain lower than in several other Western European countries.

    As a mid-sized global political power, Spain has framed its foreign policy under Sánchez as one that pursues stronger independent bilateral ties with all of the world’s major economies – including China, a growing India, and the United States – rather than aligning strictly with any single bloc. The country’s long-term commitment to deepening relations with Beijing was underscored last November, when King Felipe VI carried out an official state visit to China, the first by a Spanish monarch in 18 years.

    Sigmon noted that the economic and commercial dimension of the relationship remains the central priority for Madrid. “Spain needs foreign capital and new investment, and it clearly views China as a promising source of that funding,” he said. For China, meanwhile, Spain acts as a uniquely cooperative and open partner within Western Europe, he added. Still, Sigmon cautioned that the inherent asymmetry in the size and scope of the two economies means Spain may struggle to secure major concessions from Chinese negotiators in key areas of interest, including advanced technology access and market access openings for Spanish exporters.

  • Event helps strengthen Sino-US youth bond

    Event helps strengthen Sino-US youth bond

    Against the backdrop of growing need for cross-border youth dialogue, a landmark four-day exchange program bringing over 100 American students and scholars to southwest China’s Chongqing has wrapped up, laying fresh groundwork for deeper mutual understanding and cooperation between young generations of the two nations.

    Hosted from April 9 to 13 2026, the 2026 U.S. Youth Sci-tech and Culture Exchange Tour gathered 106 participants from more than 20 U.S. higher education institutions, aligning its schedule with the 85th anniversary of the Flying Tigers — the volunteer American aviation group that supported China’s fight against Japanese invasion during World War II. The event was jointly organized by three institutions: the Chongqing People’s Association for Cultural Exchanges with Foreign Countries, the World Association of Young Scientists, and the Chongqing Western Returned Scholars Association.

    In recent years, Chongqing — a sprawling megacity on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River — has emerged as a top destination for international visitors, drawn by its dramatic mountain-and-river landscapes, centuries of cultural history, and cutting-edge urban architecture. For this tour, organizers curated a diverse itinerary that balanced cultural immersion, academic exploration, and technological discovery: participants visited local universities, leading research centers, historic landmarks, and advanced tech facilities, while also getting hands-on experience with traditional Chinese cultural practices including dragon dance performances and paper-cutting art.

    For many participants, the on-the-ground experience upended preconceptions about China. Antonella Pardo Figueroa, a 24-year-old graduate of the University of Southern California visiting China for the first time, noted that the trip exceeded every one of her expectations. “Chongqing reminds me a lot of my hometown, San Francisco, with its beauty,” she said. “Here, I was shocked by how compact the city is, how well-meshed the infrastructure is, woven together with the natural elements of the mountains and the rivers.”

    A core highlight of the exchange was a cross-sector dialogue held Saturday at the Chongqing Planning Exhibition Gallery, which brought together professors from Chinese and American universities, leaders of Chinese technology firms, and youth delegates from both countries to discuss issues spanning technological innovation, youth development, and cross-cultural mutual learning.

    Marissa Irene Marcarelli, a 22-year-old computer science major from California State University, Long Beach, emphasized that people-to-people connections are the foundation of productive Sino-U.S. relations. “Exchanges like this are so important because they allow you to really see the forest for the trees pretty much,” she said. “Collaboration is essential because it’s the people who truly make a difference. By showing the youth and everyone from both sides who we really are, we can hopefully blossom, flourish, and rekindle the friendship we once had. And I wish nothing more.”

    Ye Rugang, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, pointed to the success of young Chinese innovators such as Unitree Robotics founder Wang Xingring, who launched his leading robotics company at a young age, as evidence of the untapped potential for collaborative research between young scientists and technologists from both nations. “We might introduce programs during our students’ visits to China to foster cooperation in science,” Ye said, outlining plans to expand future academic partnerships.

    The exchange also honored the long historical ties between the two peoples by bringing together descendants of Flying Tigers members, linking the wartime alliance of the 1940s to modern youth friendship. Xu Shaoli, president of the American Flying Tigers Friendship Association, called for American youth to visit Chongqing annually to uphold the group’s enduring legacy of cross-border friendship and cooperation.

    Kate Adair Bothe, a University of South Carolina student and great-granddaughter of a Flying Tigers recruiter, said she is eager to serve as a bridge for Sino-U.S. relations among young Americans back home. “As the next generation of Flying Tigers, I’m really excited to be a liaison or cheerleader for China-US relations, especially among young people back in America,” she said. “I think I have to go around and never shut up about China and how great it is, and how many opportunities there are for our friendship to continue to grow.”

    The exchange aligns with a broader initiative China launched in 2023, which pledged to invite 50,000 American young people to take part in exchange and study programs in China over a five-year period, with the goal of strengthening long-term people-to-people bonds between the two countries.

  • Industrial heritage inspires new creative outlooks

    Industrial heritage inspires new creative outlooks

    Beneath the first clear skies after weeks of unbroken spring rain, French-German artist Alexandre Dupeyron wandered through the weathered corridors and crumbling staircases of the long-shuttered Wumuchong coal mine in Ningxiang, Hunan province. With every step, clouds of fine dust, undisturbed for decades, rose from the broken debris scattered across the facility’s concrete floors.

    Stopping amid the remnants of the mine’s once-bustling operations, Dupeyron bent to pick up a small, dense lump of coal left behind when the mine closed. Not far from where he stood, the rusted frame of an old coal conveyor jutted toward the sky, its metal beams forming a skeletal, weathered monument to the site’s industrial past. In that quiet moment, that ordinary chunk of coal — its surface glinting faintly in the rare spring sunlight — transformed from a forgotten relic of heavy industry into the core raw material for a new body of art.

    Arriving at the Wumuchong site in early March 2026 for a month-long artist residency, the 43-year-old creator has centered his practice here on working with locally sourced crushed coal, blending hand-drawing and photography to create site-specific works. Inside his makeshift studio, set within one of the mine’s repurposed original buildings, Dupeyron grinds collected coal chunks and broken brick fragments from the site into fine powder, running the mixture through multiple rounds of filtering to refine it. Using a custom blending recipe he developed over years of experimental work, he turns this locally sourced material into natural pigments for his drawings, photographic pieces, and mixed-media works that draw directly from the mine’s own physical identity.

    Dupeyron explained that the connection between human activity and the natural world is a persistent throughline in all his creative work. As an artist who has spent his career focusing on shifting urban and post-industrial landscapes, he had long sought the opportunity to create work on location at a decommissioned industrial site. “This place is amazing,” he shared of the former mining hub, which has been reinvented as the Wumuchong Art Zone, a creative space that attracts artists from across China and around the world.

    Dupeyron’s residency is just one example of a growing trend across China: repurposing abandoned industrial heritage sites — from retired mines and shuttered factories to obsolete steel mills and disused warehouses — into dynamic public cultural spaces. What were once symbols of 20th-century industrial expansion have been reborn as art centers, public museums, community sports facilities, and creative hubs that draw visitors and creators alike, breathing new economic and cultural life into former industrial hubs while preserving the region’s industrial history for future generations.

  • 10 measures aim to advance cross-Strait ties

    10 measures aim to advance cross-Strait ties

    As a high-profile delegation led by Chinese Kuomintang Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun wrapped up its six-day visit to the Chinese mainland, the mainland on Sunday announced a comprehensive 10-measure policy package designed to advance peaceful cross-Strait relations and lift the well-being of residents on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. This announcement comes on the heels of a historic Friday meeting between Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and Cheng — the first top-level dialogue between the two cross-Strait political parties in a decade.

    During the meeting, General Secretary Xi emphasized that the core goal of advancing cross-Strait relations is to deliver a higher quality of life for people on both sides. With the mainland kicking off its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), Xi extended an open invitation to Taiwan compatriots to share in the mainland’s development opportunities and progress, calling for joint efforts to strengthen the broader Chinese national economy. He also made clear that high-quality products from Taiwan, including agricultural and fishery goods, are welcome to gain greater access to consumer markets across the mainland.

    The 10 new initiatives, released by the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee, span a wide range of key areas including party-to-party communication, youth exchanges, infrastructure connectivity, cross-Strait transportation, trade facilitation, and cultural cooperation. A centerpiece of the package is a proposal to explore the establishment of a regular communication mechanism between the CPC and the KMT, built on the shared foundation of upholding the 1992 Consensus and opposing “Taiwan independence”. The 1992 Consensus, which enshrines the one-China principle, was first reached in 1992 by the cross-Strait authorized bodies the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and the Straits Exchange Foundation.

    Other key measures include expanding youth exchanges through long-term institutional programs and arranging annual cross-Strait delegation visits. The package prioritizes advancing utility interconnection and cross-connection bridge projects between Fujian Province and the Taiwan-controlled Jinmen and Matsu islands. It also lays out plans to promote the normalization of direct cross-Strait passenger air services and restore suspended routes connecting Taiwan with multiple mainland cities.

    To boost economic ties, the measures streamline approval and purchase processes for qualified Taiwan agricultural and fishery products, expand market access support for Taiwan-based businesses, and improve port and service conditions for Taiwan fishing vessels operating in cross-Strait waters. In the cultural and media sector, the mainland will open its market to more Taiwan-produced content, encourage collaborative media production projects, and support the innovative development of shared Chinese culture. Additionally, the package outlines steps to resume individual tour travel from Shanghai and Fujian residents to Taiwan; currently, only group tours are permitted for residents of these two regions, though individual travel to Jinmen and Matsu from Fujian resumed in the second half of 2024.

    KMT Vice Chairman Chang Jung-kung, a member of the visiting delegation, framed the 10-point package as a goodwill “gift” from the mainland delivered to the Taiwanese people through Cheng’s visit, noting that the measures directly advance Taiwanese public welfare. He highlighted that the package demonstrates the mainland’s sincere goodwill and delivers tangible, practical benefits to Taiwan.

    Cheng’s six-day trip, which ran from April 8 to April 13, marked the first visit to the mainland by a KMT chairperson in 10 years, and included stops in Jiangsu Province, Shanghai and Beijing. This year marks the 160th birth anniversary of Sun Yat-sen, the founding figure of the KMT, so the itinerary included traditional stops for KMT leaders: the delegation paid respects to Sun at his mausoleum in Nanjing and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall at Biyun Temple in Beijing’s Xiangshan.

    Beyond traditional exchanges, the trip included multiple stops showcasing the mainland’s cutting-edge technological progress. On the final day of the tour, the delegation visited Xiaomi’s electric vehicle hyperfactory in Beijing, where members learned about the mainland’s breakthroughs in electric vehicle research and manufacturing. A day earlier, the group toured the Zhongguancun National Innovation Demonstration Zone Exhibition Center in Beijing, where they viewed the latest developments in artificial intelligence, embodied intelligence, and high-end medical devices.

    Speaking after the Zhongguancun visit, Cheng noted that Taiwan’s service sector and traditional manufacturing industries face growing headwinds, and said, “I found answers for Taiwan’s future here.” She expressed deep admiration for how the mainland has integrated AI and technological innovation across every economic sector, calling the trip “highly rewarding.” “Without political barriers across the Strait, the two sides could make significant contributions to humanity,” she said, calling for deeper cross-Strait cooperation that leverages the unique strengths of both sides. She added that collaborative work to narrow differences and reduce confrontation is ultimately aimed at delivering better lives for all people across the Strait.

    Li Peng, dean of the Taiwan Research Institute at Xiamen University, noted that Cheng’s visit reaffirms the shared commitment of both sides to pursue peaceful cross-Strait development, uphold the 1992 Consensus, oppose “Taiwan independence”, and work to improve public well-being on both sides. He pointed out that mainstream public opinion in Taiwan supports restarting and expanding people-to-people cross-Strait exchanges, with many Taiwan residents eager to access the benefits of the mainland’s robust development. “Cheng’s trip has achieved these core objectives,” Li said, adding that the new 10-measure package delivers tangible benefits to Taiwan compatriots and stands as a landmark, productive outcome of the visit.

  • Tributes pour in for legendary Indian singer Asha Bhosle

    Tributes pour in for legendary Indian singer Asha Bhosle

    One of India’s most celebrated and influential musical figures, legendary playback singer Asha Bhosle, has passed away at the age of 92 in Mumbai. She died on Sunday, days after being admitted to a local hospital for treatment following a sudden heart attack. Bhosle’s extraordinary 77-year career included thousands of recordings, two Grammy Award nominations, and a permanent place at the heart of Indian popular culture. Her final funeral rites will be held on Monday evening at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park, and the Indian government has granted full state honours to mark her legacy.

    Since news of her death broke on Sunday, an outpouring of grief and tribute has spread across India and the global music community, with public figures, fans, and fellow artists from every sector hailing Bhosle as one of the defining artistic voices of 20th and 21st century Indian cinema. By Sunday evening, crowds of respectful fans had begun gathering outside Bhosle’s Mumbai home to lay tributes and pay their final respects to the singer.

    India’s highest political leaders have been among the first to honour Bhosle’s memory. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called her “one of the most iconic and versatile voices India has ever known,” while President Draupadi Murmu described her passing as “an irreparable loss to music lovers” across the world. The widespread reach of her cross-generational influence is reflected in tributes from leading figures beyond the music industry, including global Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

    Khan wrote in his tribute that Bhosle was “a talent that will outlive many,” adding that her “voice has been one of the pillars of Indian cinema and will continue to resonate world over for centuries to come.” Tendulkar, who counted Bhosle as a close personal friend and noted that she was a passionate lifelong cricket fan, said, “Asha Tai [Marathi for elder sister] was family, and through her eternal songs, she will remain timeless.” Bhosle’s connection to cricket was honoured publicly during an Indian Premier League match on Sunday, where the home team Mumbai Indians wore black armbands and held a minute’s silence in her memory before kickoff.

    Fellow artists from across the global music industry have also shared their condolences. Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman noted that “she lives forever through her voice and aura — what an artist.” Leading contemporary Indian singer Shreya Ghosal recalled growing up “listening to her, learning from her, and being in awe of her effortless versatility,” adding that Bhosle made “every note feel alive, every emotion feel personal.” Singer, actor and director Farhan Akhtar emphasized how foundational Bhosle’s work was to modern playback singing, saying it was “impossible to talk about playback singing without mentioning Asha Bhosle” and calling her voice, joy and energy “irreplaceable.”

    Bhosle’s cross-cultural appeal stretched far beyond South Asia. In 1997, her iconic status in global music inspired the British band Cornershop’s hit single Brimful of Asha. On Sunday, Tjinder Singh, the band’s frontperson, said that “few have reached the ability to be loved in so many languages and dialects, and even fewer have reached so many with the astonishment of heart that her songs gave us.” Most recently, in early 2026, Bhosle collaborated with British virtual band Gorillaz on their latest album *The Mountain*, a project exploring themes of grief and mortality. The track she featured on, *The Shadowy Light*, paired her distinct vocals with international musicians to reflect on death and the afterlife.

    Born in 1933 into a family of working musicians, Bhosle began performing as a child alongside her elder sister, the equally legendary Lata Mangeshkar, after the death of their father when she was still young. Her early life was marked by significant personal challenges: she entered her first marriage at just 16, a union that ultimately ended in separation. For much of her career, she was frequently compared to her older sister, who was revered as the “nightingale of Bollywood” and passed away in 2022. But Bhosle carved out a uniquely distinct artistic identity for herself: while Mangeshkar became best known for poignant, melodic devotional and romantic tracks, Bhosle rose to fame for her bold, dynamic interpretations of jazzy, cabaret-style and upbeat pop numbers through the early and middle stages of her career.

    Bhosle’s professional breakthrough came in the 1950s, during her prolific collaboration with iconic composer OP Nayyar, a partnership that marked a permanent turning point in her career and cemented her status as a leading playback singer. Later in her career, she worked closely with composer RD Burman, who she would go on to marry; the pair collaborated for 14 years until Burman’s death in 1994, and their creative partnership allowed Bhosle to expand her vocal range and experiment with new genres and styles. Even into her 90s, she continued to record and push creative boundaries, collaborating on cross-cultural projects long after most artists retired.

    Beyond her decades-long musical career, Bhosle was known for her love of cooking, and turned that passion into a successful business venture. She was the founder of the popular restaurant chain “Asha’s”, which operates locations across Dubai and the United Kingdom. Veteran Indian lyricist Javed Akhtar recalled on Sunday that Bhosle often cooked homemade kebabs for him when he visited, and took great joy in receiving praise for her culinary work.

    As the Indian nation and the global music community mourn her passing, tributes continue to flow in highlighting the lasting impact of Bhosle’s trailblazing career. Her ability to adapt across decades, move seamlessly between every musical genre from romantic ballads to high-energy dance tracks, and connect with audiences across generations and geographies has left an irreplaceable mark on global popular culture.

  • Iran war’s global energy crisis sharpens China’s advantage in clean tech

    Iran war’s global energy crisis sharpens China’s advantage in clean tech

    The ongoing conflict in Iran has upended global energy markets, with widespread disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — the chokepoint through which most of the world’s traded oil and natural gas flows. With the strait mostly shut and most of its pre-conflict cargo bound for Asian markets, regional governments are racing to conserve existing supplies and rebuild depleted energy reserves, even as a fragile temporary ceasefire struggles to hold. Soaring gasoline prices have already hit consumers across the United States and Europe, and the crisis has laid bare the deep geopolitical and economic risks of global dependence on fossil fuels. For most energy-importing Asian nations, the shock has delivered severe economic pain. But against this backdrop, analysts and industry experts predict China, the world’s largest buyer of Iranian crude oil, is uniquely positioned to turn the global energy disruption into a major strategic and economic gain.

    Decades of targeted investment have left China as the unrivaled global leader in the clean energy technologies the world is now scrambling to adopt. China controls more than 70% of global electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing capacity and roughly 85% of global lithium-ion battery cell production, according to data from the International Energy Agency. Its domestic industry giants, including EV manufacturer BYD and battery producer CATL, already dominate global export markets for these products, and years of policy prioritization have cemented this lead: China’s current five-year development plan running through 2030 reaffirms clean technology as a core national strategic priority.

    This position is the result of a deliberate policy shift dating back more than a decade, when Chinese President Xi Jinping integrated long-term energy security into the country’s broader national security framework. While fossil fuels still make up the majority of China’s domestic energy mix, consistent government support has allowed its clean energy sector to outpace development in most other major economies, particularly the United States.

    Under the second Donald Trump administration, U.S. energy policy has doubled down on fossil fuel development, leaning on the country’s vast domestic oil and gas reserves to pursue what Trump has called “energy dominance,” centered on the slogan “drill, baby, drill.” Washington has prioritized expanding exports of liquefied natural gas while scaling back federal support for renewable energy development. Even before the Iran conflict broke out in late February, this created what analysts call a “bifurcation” in global energy markets, with the world’s two superpowers pushing competing visions for the future of energy and leaving other nations to navigate complicated choices about which path to pursue.

    Now, the energy shock from the Iran war is tilting that balance sharply in China’s favor. Global demand for affordable clean energy technology has spiked as governments, businesses and households wake up to the fragility of global fossil fuel supply chains. Data from London-based energy think tank Ember shows Chinese exports of solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles hit a record high of nearly $22.3 billion in December 2025, a 47% year-over-year increase, with most shipments bound for Southeast Asia and Europe. Credit rating firm Fitch Ratings projects investment in renewable power and battery storage will surge across energy import-dependent nations, particularly in Western Europe, as countries look to insulate themselves from future fossil fuel price shocks.

    Financial markets have already priced in this expected growth: in March 2026, shares of CATL and BYD traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange rose roughly 24% and 11% respectively, as investors bet on rising global demand for Chinese clean energy products.

    China’s EV sector was already outpacing U.S. and European rivals before the conflict, with aggressive expansion of production capacity and affordable pricing helping Chinese brands gain significant market share across emerging markets in Southeast Asia and beyond. Analysts say that growth will only accelerate in the wake of the energy crisis. “The energy shock is going to help the Chinese industry globally and hurt the American car industry globally,” said Amy Myers Jaffe, senior fellow at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs. While high U.S. tariffs have largely blocked Chinese EVs from the American market, surging domestic fuel prices are expected to further boost BYD’s sales growth within China’s own large EV market, according to Chris Liu, an analyst at research and advisory firm Omdia.

    Early data from around the world already shows a sharp shift in consumer and government behavior in response to rising fuel costs. In Pakistan, which previously relied on the Strait of Hormuz for 80% of its oil imports, decades of gradual renewable expansion has already softened the blow of the current crisis. By December 2025, Pakistan had imported more than 50 gigawatts of Chinese solar panels as part of its national renewable rollout. Analysts from Renewables First and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air estimate that if current fuel prices remain high, existing solar capacity will save Pakistan $6.3 billion in fossil fuel import costs over the next year. “The shock isn’t as big as it would have been without solar,” said Nabiya Imran of Renewables First.

    In the United Kingdom, British renewable energy group Octopus Energy reported that EV leasing demand jumped more than a third in the first three weeks of March 2026 compared to the pre-conflict period in February, alongside sharp increases in sales of rooftop solar systems and customer inquiries about solar energy. Even in Southeast Asia, where regional EV maker VinFast has moved to offer discounts to offset rising fuel prices, the crisis has reinforced interest in transitioning away from gasoline-powered vehicles. While analysts note it will take time for long-term purchasing trends to shift, as consumers wait to see how the Iran conflict evolves, the prolonged price shock is expected to act as a lasting catalyst for EV adoption.

    Even Indonesia, the world’s largest coal exporter, is accelerating its transition to electric transportation, a shift that stands to benefit Chinese clean energy firms. In March 2026, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto announced a major national push into EV production and charging infrastructure development. Chinese firms already hold a dominant position in Indonesia’s clean energy supply chain: they signed more than $54 billion in deals with Indonesia’s state utility in 2023, and added a further $10 billion pledge during Prabowo’s 2024 visit to Beijing. “There will be direct financial benefits to Chinese companies,” said Sam Reynolds, energy analyst at the U.S.-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

    Experts say the conflict has fundamentally vindicated China’s long-term approach to energy policy and geopolitics. “China’s approach to energy sector development and geopolitics has been completely validated by the Iran conflict,” Reynolds noted. Li Shuo, director of the Asia Society Policy Institute’s China Climate Hub, added: “They are at the very forefront of this, more so than any other countries in the world, certainly more so than the United States.”

    This reporting was contributed by Ghosal in Hanoi, Vietnam, Delgado in Bangkok, and AP Business Writer Paul Wiseman. The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations, with the AP retaining full editorial control over all content.