All posts tagged: China

China’s Xi Jinping to visit France in early May – POLITICO

China’s Xi Jinping to visit France in early May – POLITICO

“It will be less festive and more studious given the current economic and geopolitical stakes,” said the person, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue. “We demand reciprocity in relations with China, in particular in the key area of ecological transition,” he said, with reference to the debate over how far Europe should de-risk its relationship with China. The trip, which has been months in the planning, will be closely watched in Washington and across European capitals. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is also heading to China for a visit in April. Officials told POLITICO recently that China is trying to persuade Europe to let Russia sit at the table for future peace talks, potentially in Switzerland — or Beijing will boycott such meetings. That message was amplified, they say, during Chinese special envoy Li Hui’s European tour earlier this month to discuss the future of Ukraine. On the public record, the Chinese foreign ministry said Li vowed “support [for] the timely convening of a peace conference with equal participation of all parties.” Over …

Marriage rates in China rise for first time in nine years

Marriage rates in China rise for first time in nine years

HONG KONG: The number of new marriages in China jumped 12.4 per cent in 2023 from a year earlier, reversing a downtrend that has lasted for almost a decade as more youths tied the knot after delaying their nuptials due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of newlyweds rose to 7.68 million last year, according to data released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs last week. This was up 845,000 couples from 2022 but still far below the peak of 13.47 million couples hit in 2013. The data comes after China’s Premier Li Qiang pledged in March that the government would work towards “a birth-friendly society and promote long-term, balanced population development”, as well as reducing the cost of childbirth, parenting and education. Policymakers are grappling with how to reverse a declining population, where the birthrate is falling and society is ageing rapidly. Roughly 300 million Chinese are expected to enter retirement in the coming decade – the equivalent of almost the entire United States population. China’s population fell for a second consecutive year in …

Anatomy of a Fall Set for China Theatrical Release

Anatomy of a Fall Set for China Theatrical Release

French legal drama Anatomy of a Fall‘s against-the-odds global box-office run isn’t over just yet. The acclaimed courtroom thriller, which won the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or in 2023 and the Oscar for best original screenplay last week, has secured a nationwide theatrical release date in China on March 29. Chinese specialty distributor Road Pictures will handle the local marketing and release of Anatomy of a Fall in partnership with the state-backed China Film Group. The film’s writer and director Justine Triet will attend a local premiere event in Beijing on March 24. Anatomy of a Fall is being positioned as a specialty release, but its feminist themes could align well with a recent trend of women-focused stories being a major box-office force in China. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie defied early expectations last year to become a word-of-mouth hit by resonating with China’s young urban women, while actor-director Jia Ling’s recent boxing transformation drama YOLO is the country’s biggest blockbuster this year with a total of $470 million in ticket sales. Anatomy of a Fall stars German …

EVs With Built-In Camera Drones Have Already Landed in China

EVs With Built-In Camera Drones Have Already Landed in China

Chinese automakers are starting to equip electric cars with camera drones. For now, this drone integration is aimed at content creators who want to collect videos of themselves driving. These systems typically enable one-click filming of a moving vehicle, with the action viewable live on the car’s interior display as well as recorded for posterity. The flights can also be voice-controlled by the (distracted) driver. The $150,000 Yangwang U8 plug-in hybrid SUV from BYD, the world’s largest maker of electric vehicles, sports a DJI drone stored and charged in a dedicated roof space capped with a Thunderbirds-style slide-away panel. Geely-owned Lynk & Co has updated the operating system on its $24,000 06 EM-P compact SUV so that its cockpit screen can control a hood-launched drone, again from DJI. The $98,000 M-Hero 917 SUV from the state-owned Dongfeng can be equipped—for an extra $14,000—with the commercial S400 drone from GDU Tech. (Both DJI and GDU Tech are Shenzhen-based.) Launched from the 917’s roof for autonomous flight or controllable by touchscreen from within this Hummer-shaped off-roader, the …

CATL, the little-known Chinese battery maker that has the US worried | China

CATL, the little-known Chinese battery maker that has the US worried | China

The world’s two superpowers are so intricately linked that it’s hard to think of a pillar of the economy that hasn’t been strained by tensions between the US and China. And the next frontline in the economic conflict may be the most fundamental yet: a fight for power itself. A Chinese company that most people have never heard of is at the heart of the global race to store the clean energy needed to power the green transition in the US and the rest of the world. China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Limited, or CATL, is an energy storage specialist that is the world’s largest battery maker for electric vehicles (EVs). But despite the fact that the company controls nearly two-fifths of the world’s EV battery market – and has powered cars made by brands including Tesla, Volkswagen and BMW – it has long flown under the radar of US politics. Until now. In February, Duke Energy, a US energy company that serves more than 8 million customers, said it was phasing out the use …

Tutoring the Elderly Is Growing Fast in China

Tutoring the Elderly Is Growing Fast in China

Hong Kong/Beijing —  China’s rapidly aging population is fueling a promising and fast-growing market for companies providing recreational classes and activities for the elderly middle class, from yoga to African drumming and smartphone photography. The growth potential of the industry contrasts sharply with the decline of the after-school private tutoring sector following a government crackdown in 2021 aimed at boosting record low birth rates by lowering education costs. “Education industries are transitioning to the silver economy,” said Qiu Peilin, the Beijing head of Mama Sunset, an elderly learning business which has opened five centers in the Chinese capital since launching in April 2023. Consulting firm Frost & Sullivan expects China’s senior learning market to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 34% by 2027 to $16.8 billion, up from $3.8 billion in 2022. It’s a numbers game. Over the next decade, roughly 300 million Chinese will enter retirement – the equivalent of almost the entire U.S. population. One in every two people aged over 65 in the Asia-Pacific region will live in China by …

The MEPs lighting up TikTok – POLITICO

The MEPs lighting up TikTok – POLITICO

More MEPs started trickling into TikTok from 2022, including EPP and ECR lawmakers, who until then had been largely absent. By that point, the ID group was already well-represented. January 2024 was the month with the most new MEP accounts on TikTok — 16 new accounts in total — showing the European Parliament is keen to capitalize on the platform’s popularity ahead of June’s election. 5. The average MEP isn’t Gen Z Even if they’re posting on TikTok, politicians remain much older than the typical Gen-Z user of the video-sharing site. Does it matter? On the one hand, far-right MEP and TikTok superstar Jordan Bardella is the youngest MEP on TikTok. On the other, 47-year-old Polish MEP Robert Biedron — at 11 million likes — proves that age ain’t nothing but a number. POLITICO carried out an analysis between February 15 and March 8 looking at Members of the European Parliament on TikTok. The research between February 15 and 20 found TikTok accounts for 186 Members of the European Parliament. Data on the activity of …

China Working on Giant Rail Gun to Shoot Astronauts Into Space

China Working on Giant Rail Gun to Shoot Astronauts Into Space

NASA abandoned a similar project. Astronaut Rail Gun Chinese scientists are working on a giant electromagnetic launch track to launch a massive 50-ton spaceplane — longer than a Boeing 737 — into orbit. As the South China Morning Post reports, the “giant rail gun” system is designed to accelerate a hypersonic aircraft to speeds of up to Mach 1.6. Once it reaches the end of the track, its engine then accelerates it to the edge of space at seven times the speed of sound. If actually built, it could greatly cut down on the amount of fuel such a craft would need to get to space, allowing it to carry bigger payloads — and save a considerable amount of money as well. Needless to say, it’s a wildly ambitious plan. But according to the SCMP, scientists are already actively working on turning the idea into a reality. Electromagnetic Catapult China isn’t the first to consider the use of an electromagnetic space launch system. In the 1990s, NASA started constructing a test rail that measured 50 …

Can Russia’s Gen Z make a real change? | TV Shows

Can Russia’s Gen Z make a real change? | TV Shows

Following the loss of Alexey Navalny and with the approaching Russian presidential election predetermined, what are the hopes of Russia’s Gen Z? Russia’s Gen Z has only known life under Vladimir Putin – they have grown up with his increasingly anti-Western, patriarchal and patriotic narratives. Polling shows that young Russians are currently the group most critical of Putin’s rule and the most dissatisfied with Russia’s political system. As dissent grows on social media, research also shows that most of Russia’s Gen Z is apolitical. With the upcoming presidential election seemingly predetermined and the opposition sidelined, what drives the activism of young Russians? Most importantly, how does the death of prominent opposition figure Alexey Navalny resonate with the generation he profoundly influenced? Presenter: Anelise Borges Guests:Apollinaria Oleinikova – Political ActivistYulia Zhivtsova – Political Activist and TeacherAnna – Political Activist and Student Source link