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Tesla’s robotaxi event draws mixed reaction in China where Elon Musk faces tough rivals

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Tesla’s robotaxi event draws mixed reaction in China where Elon Musk faces tough rivals

Chinese netizens and industry insiders closely followed Tesla’s much-anticipated “We, Robot” event on Thursday night US time, with mixed feedback given that China is already offering robotaxi services ahead of Elon Musk’s plans. Tesla live-streamed the event across almost every major Chinese social media platform, including WeChat Channels, Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu, Weibo, and Bilibili. It … Read more

Stars’ National Day messages for mainland China spark cross-strait controversy

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Stars’ National Day messages for mainland China spark cross-strait controversy

Congratulatory National Day messages from two Taiwanese stars famous for their past criticisms of Beijing’s policies have caused controversy on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Wu Kang-ren – who won best actor prize at last year’s Golden Horse film awards for his role in Abang Adik – marked the 75th anniversary of the People’s … Read more

Apple’s AI delay dents iPhone 16 enthusiasm in China, as Huawei gets ready to pounce

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Apple’s AI delay dents iPhone 16 enthusiasm in China, as Huawei gets ready to pounce

Apple’s launch of the iPhone 16 has failed to impress consumers in China hoping to get a taste of its artificial intelligence (AI) technology, as the US tech giant grapples with competition from local behemoth Huawei Technologies, which launched a rival device just hours later. The Cupertino, California-based smartphone maker on Monday unveiled the highly … Read more

China’s foreign joint venture universities feel chill as political controls tighten

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China’s foreign joint venture universities feel chill as political controls tighten

In the second of a four-part series on China’s universities and campus life, Alcott Wei looks into the effects of geopolitical tensions in the country’s joint venture campuses with overseas institutions. Richard Li, president of a Japanese culture club at a university in China, was pulled aside after a club meeting by a faculty supervisor. … Read more

Lawmakers discuss plan to gradually lift retirement age in China

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Lawmakers discuss plan to gradually lift retirement age in China

China’s top legislature has reviewed a plan to gradually raise the retirement age, months after the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee proposed it be lifted in a “voluntary and flexible” way. The retirement age has been in place since 1951 and is among the lowest in the world. It is currently 60 for men, 55 … Read more

Mate XT vs iPhone 16: Huawei’s ‘tri-fold’ smartphone expected just after Apple event

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Mate XT vs iPhone 16: Huawei’s ‘tri-fold’ smartphone expected just after Apple event

Huawei Technologies is expected to debut the world’s first “tri-fold” smartphone within hours of Apple’s iPhone 16 launch event on September 10, teeing up a head-to-head competition as the Chinese technology giant snaps up more market share at home. Huawei announced the event on Monday with a post to microblogging platform Weibo, featuring a Z-shaped … Read more

No ‘feminist propaganda’? Censorship row hits Chinese game Black Myth: Wukong

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No ‘feminist propaganda’? Censorship row hits Chinese game Black Myth: Wukong

But in the run up to the game’s release, video streamers reported receiving a document from co-publishers Hero Games warning them to avoid topics including “feminist propaganda” or “politics” when they received a passkey to play the game, an email exchange showed. Gamers were also warned against any reference to “Covid-19”, “isolation” or “quarantine” – … Read more

NetEase’s music-streaming service goes down for 2 hours after ‘infrastructure failures’

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NetEase’s music-streaming service goes down for 2 hours after ‘infrastructure failures’

NetEase Cloud Music, the Hong Kong-listed Chinese music-streaming service with more than 200 million monthly active users, reported a widespread outage for over two hours on Monday afternoon, blaming infrastructure issues. Starting from 3pm, users said online that while the mobile and web apps could be opened, they were unable to play music. Instead they … Read more

Mainland Chinese urged to boycott Taiwanese hotel chain that refused to fly flag in Paris

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Mainland Chinese urged to boycott Taiwanese hotel chain that refused to fly flag in Paris

Earlier this week, two videos shot in Paris published by a blogger surnamed Zhang went viral on social media. One of the videos, published under the account name Instructor Zhang’s Interesting Life, showed that the Evergreen Laurel Hotel in Paris had hung many flags in the lobby, but the Chinese mainland flag was apparently nowhere … Read more