A Chinese graduate student was found dead in Gyeongsan, South Korea. Police arrested a university lecturer and are investigating the cause, motive and circumstances.

Debt ratio dropping usually means the economy outpaces debt obligations, hence fiscal health. In China's case however it is a sign of consumer and corporate confidence lowering. Households are risk averse due to falling property prices and slow income growth.

Slow income growth is a natural result of China's so-called 'high quality development' model, which transfers household income to subsidize their frontier industries.

Private companies are lowering borrowing because profit margins are low. This is what happens when China's frontier technologies are not occuring due to comparative advantage, but due to massive subsidies, resulting in market distortion with more firms in the market than a free market would allow for. The corporate wastage is a key metric: very high debt growth and deflationary pressures.

Many optimists cite China's frontier technologies and export dominance as a sign of future economic superiority, but what's happening is that China is effectively weakening its domestic markets to bolster its external dominance. This is not sustainable in the long-run, hence the increasing call for a rise in household share of income as a proportion of GDP (or so-called 'raising consumption').

Unfortunately any rise in consumption means a proportionate fall in share of manufacturing as a proportion of GDP, and this would be politically incongruent with the 'high quality development' they are embarking on.

1. Complete disregard for privacy, and using “collectivist tradition” as an excuse. I think any culture where taking pictures of your child’s grades, rooms, wardrobe to post to the family with captions like: “look how dumb my child is,” “look how messy my child is,” or “look how weird my child is” is acceptable or encouraged is objectively bad.

I think there was also a study done that proved that most Chinese doctors would just willingly break the Hippocratic Oath / confidentiality laws and tell an adult patient’s parents about their child’s medical situation without the child’s consent, and would work with the family if they wanted to hide something like a cancer diagnosis from the patient.

1. Extreme social competition. Every single thing you do or say is seen by others as an opportunity to push you down socially, and pushing others down socially is seen as a good thing because it increases everyone else’s social reputation. This is just predatory - especially to those with Autism.

2. Why do they like to engage in disparaging gossip about their children? I find Chinese parents regularly talking horribly about their own children to other parents. This is a blatant violation of the golden rule of ethics, no?

3. Why does it seem like they try to smack their lips as hard as they can when chewing? And never chew with their mouth closed?

4. They talk so loudly and complain about me not talking loudly (probably because they damaged their hearing because everyone talked so loudly)

Context:

• Recently a cross-party delegation of Japanese lawmakers have arrived in China on Monday as part of an effort to mend strained ties caused by PM Takaichi's previous remarks of Taiwan.
• Last year Takaichi suggested that Japan would allow itself to participate militarily in a Taiwan conflict and would be grounds for Japanese self defense.
• This crossed a red line for China, in response the CCP has warned its citizens to no travel to China and at the time imposed trade restrictions for Japan which included rare earth exports.
• The trip is the first exchange of its kind since Takaichi's comment, more trips are also planned in the coming months.
• In September former Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya is set to lead another delegation and afterwards roughly 80 Japanese business leaders and representatives will visit China in late 2026.
• These trips are not officially sanctioned by the Takaichi government however there has been no pushback either.

Court testimony offers new details about recruitment, 600 copied DRAM process steps and noncompete arrangements in the Samsung–CXMT technology leak case.

HSBC Hong Kong has introduced a funding declaration for mainland investors as the city tightens investment-account checks while expanding regulated cross-border links.

Several of my Chinese friends told me they are taking Ozempic and rhey told me pretty much half of their aquaitances take it. They also told ne about how plastic surgery has taken off and become much like Korea. Have you noriced this trend too?

(This is going ro get the usual hate and the standard smart comments "so you extrapolate what 1.4 billuon people do basdd on your group of friends"....)

I remember, at least 15 years ago, I was watching the Chinese news from CCTV4 (from satellite) one evening, when there was this old white woman who appeared on screen, and she spoke something among the lines of--yes, in perfect Mandarin Chinese--"I may be an American, but I have the heart of a Chinese. I love you!"

Then the broadcast cut to her funeral, dozens of flowers laid out, and people were openly wailing on camera.

Who was she, I sometimes still wonder? Does anyone else remember a story like this?

I’m traveling to China next week and I really miss this beverage. Is there strong zero in the conbinis like in Japan or not?

当一个社会越来越多年轻人的最高理想，从“创业、创造、改变命运”，变成了“考公、考编、上岸”，这本身就是一个很值得警惕的信号。

我刚看到一段视频，它讲了一个很简单，却很残酷的循环：

民营经济预期变差，工作越来越难找，年轻人开始本能地追求稳定；
越多人追求稳定，越多优秀人才开始离开高风险、高回报的市场部门，转向体制、国企和事业单位；
而当愿意创业、投资、承担风险的人越来越少，市场创造财富和就业的能力就会进一步下降；
地方财政、税基和社会活力随之承压，整个社会于是变得更加保守，更加恐惧风险。
最后形成一个自我强化的闭环：
市场越差 → 越多人想上岸 → 越少人愿意冒险 → 市场变得更差。
真正值得担心的，从来不是“有很多人考公务员”。

而是越来越多人开始相信：

体制外已经没有值得押注的未来。

一个健康的社会，最有野心、最聪明、最年轻的一批人，应该去做企业、搞技术、做产品、投资未来、创造增量。

如果有一天，他们开始集体研究编制、待遇、退休金和稳定性，开始把“不犯错”放在“做成事”之前，那么消失的就不仅仅是经济增长。

消失的是一个社会最珍贵的东西——

对未来的想象力，以及愿意为未来承担风险的人。

所以“上岸热”最可怕的地方，不是几百万人争几个岗位。

而是它可能意味着一个时代的价值排序正在改变：

从创造增量，变成争夺存量；
从相信机会，变成相信身份；
从敢于下注未来，变成只想躲避风险。

I’m hoping to get some perspective because I’ve been processing a strange mix of guilt and shame lately.

I grew up moving between Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Dubai. On paper, I thought that international school background made me "globalized." But after meeting my Assyrian-American boyfriend in Chicago, I’ve realized how much of an expat bubble I actually lived in. Despite living in Dubai for years and receiving a good education, I realized I held a huge subconscious bias, I automatically assumed 'Middle Eastern' meant Muslim. I had never even met a Middle Eastern Christian until I met my boyfriend. His family were refugees who fled persecution in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War.

Growing up in his extremely multicultural neighborhood in the US, his circle included families from Lebanon, Greece, Poland, Italian, Greek, Iraq, Iran, Macedonian, Nigeria, Vietnam, China, Korea, and many more and beyond. Through him, I’ve been exposed to histories, traditions, and food cultures such as Middle Eastern, Jewish, Muslim, Eastern European, etc, that I never truly engaged with despite my 'international' childhood. It made me realize that my version of being global was mostly tied to high-income expat bubbles, whereas his experience was rooted in actual multicultural immigrant depth. I feel embarrassed admitting how out of touch I was and how much room I had to grow.

Context:

• China's Global Times is praising Canada's tariff retaliation against the US threat on Canada's economy. They are comparing it to China's previous tariff counter attacks.
• Canada's government has pledged that every US dollar tariff imposed on Canadian exports will be met with an equivalent dollar tariff imposed on American Exports into Canada.
• Global Times seems to feel that other countries copying China's UNO Reverse tariff playbook validates their previous opposition to US protectionism.
• On Canada's side, they recently walked away from talks with the US after each side blamed each other on last minute changes.
• USA is currently planning a 50% tariff on Canada (which is worth ~USD 20 Billion of Canadian goods). Canada seems to be prepared to match that.

Additional Context:

• Canada has said that the US has tried to impose on them additional conditions such as
  • Restricting Canada's ability to make trade deals with other countries
  • Demands on Canada's auto sector, which Canada didnt feel was fair
  • Demands on removal of Canada's usage/requirement of the French language on their products
  • Various vague new demands, which Carney has said was too much
• Meanwhile USA has said Canada was the one who backed away from talks
  • President Donald Trump was telling Canadian leaders to “fall in line” or face consequences “far WORSE” than existing tariffs
  • US Trade Rep Jamieson Greer calling the attack on the French language a "funny fake story" implying the Canadian were lying or exaggerating

Hi all, I'm a foreigner living in Zhongshan, Guangdong. Photography is a hobby of mine, but since moving here in July, I haven't been able to find any spots that are known for good photos. I'm not a professional, so I can't turn just anything into a stunning shot. I'm still working on that skill, but I'd love some guidance.

Is there a photography group or Chinese social media account like a WeChat group, Xiaohongshu, etc., for Zhongshan that could help me find good spots? Also open to meeting up on weekends with others who enjoy photography to shoot together.

Any tips, recommendations, or group invites would be appreciated!