In the number of billionaires, China has solidly taken over the top position at the Hurun rich list of this week, says Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Shanghai-based research, media, and investments group, at the South China Morning Post. “Billionaires are at world-record numbers, largely on the back of surging global stock markets, with AI leading the charge, and China’s going global.”Read More →

China protested against the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, but economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®  does not think this major upheaval will derail the planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, he says at CNBC.Read More →

Western companies systematically misread the AI strategy of China, says former Alibaba executive Sharon Gai in Computer Weekly. “The practical takeaway is not that Western companies should replicate China’s model. The regulatory, cultural, and political contexts are too different for direct imitation. But there are strategic lessons worth absorbing,” she writes.Read More →

Is the 2026 year of the fire horse going to bring dramatic change, as people in China say? Journalist Zhang Lijia, author of “Socialism Is Great!”: A Worker’s Memoir of the New China, dives into the meaning of the year of the fire horse. Happening once every 60 years, the previous year of the fire horse was 1966, marking the start of the Cultural Revolution, says Zhang Lijia at the China Decode.Read More →

Hong Kong-based marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok looks at China’s second-richest woman, according to the 2025 Hurun rich list. “Zhou’s story rebukes the notion that success is the product of privilege or pedigree. She is living proof that it is possible to rise from the depths of poverty to the highest echelons of wealth and influence,” writes Ashley Dudarenok at the Jing Daily.Read More →

Chinese chip firm Montage Technology soared 64% in its Hong Kong IPO debut. Financial analyst Winston Ma, an adjunct professor at NYU School of Law and former head of North America for CIC, China’s sovereign wealth fund, explains how US efforts to curtail Chinese semiconductor and AI firms helped them in the current boost, he tells Business Times. “The strong lineup of global cornerstone buyers suggests that Chinese AI-related IPOs are attracting institutional investors back to the HKEX market again,” he saysRead More →

Extreme passion and energy are some of the key features of the Year of the Fire Horse (Wu Wu), a powerful appearance in the 60-year cycle of the zodiac.

Historically, the Year of the Fire Horse was viewed with a mix of awe and caution in East Asian cultures. Because the traits of the Fire Horse—independence and strong-headedness—clashed with traditional values of quietude and domesticity, ancient superstitions often labeled the year as “tumultuous.” However, in a modern context, these same traits are frequently celebrated as the marks of innovators, world travelers, and visionary leaders.Read More →

Already in early 2025, China watcher Kaiser Kuo predicted Western leaders would change their view on how to deal with China and Xi Jinping. In a discussion on Novara Media, those Western leaders are queuing up to go to Beijing to restore relations they just a few years ago warned against. And where does Donald Trump fit into that change?Read More →