fan-yiying

Locked Out of China’s AI Boom, Graduates Turn to Bootcamps

Timely reports on issues and events from across China. Drawing on a vast range of sources, these succinct articles provide insights into the significance of each issue in a wider context.

NEWS

With new graduates facing a crowded job market, AI bootcamps are offering three-month courses designed to turn newcomers into junior AI workers.

Fake Tests, Hidden Ads: China Targets Review Influencers

After years of complaints about disguised ads and rigged product tests, regulators are tightening oversight of the online review industry.

Marrying at This Chinese University Comes With a Diamond Ring

The Harbin Institute of Technology has put on an annual wedding for doctoral students and their partner for over a decade. In recent years, participants have received lab-grown diamond rings.

‘Unbelievably Accurate’: The Niche Dating Apps Sweeping China’s Colleges

Articles that cut to the core of contemporary China. In-depth, informed, and carefully crafted, every piece is carried by the voices of the story’s participants.

FEATURES

China’s students are embracing highly exclusive “campus dating apps” that only match university classmates. But are they really the antidote to swipe fatigue?

China Tightens Online Pharmacy Rules on AI Use and Prescriptions

The country aims to curb abuses in obtaining prescription medication online — a practice that has become easier with the rise of pharmaceutical e-commerce platforms.

Why Young Chinese Are Flocking to Bathhouses

From students to working professionals, young Chinese are heading to 24-hour bathhouses for everything from relaxing escapes from reality to thesis writing sessions and corporate retreats.

Room Service: Meet China’s Real Estate Agents for Senior Care Homes

With an aging population and large percentage of adults who grew up as only children, families are finding themselves at a loss for how to choose adequate nursing homes. Enter senior care managers.

China and FIFA Face Off Over World Cup Broadcast Rights

The football association asked for a record $250 million from the country’s state-owned TV broadcasting company, with negotiations failing to bring the price down to what the network deemed acceptable.

China Sees Record Domestic Travel This May Day Holiday

Tourists are choosing to primarily take domestic road trips this year, with music and cultural events driving tourism.

Nine Months After Cloning Its First Yak, China Has 10 More

The yaks were delivered naturally and without assistance using technology that cuts breeding cycles from 20 years to under five.

China Hits Top Platforms With Record Fine Over Fake Cake Orders

Seven task forces probing major delivery platforms uncovered more than 67,000 ghost kitchens nationwide, some linked to over 3.6 million fraudulent cake orders.

Chinese Sites Are Selling Tutorials on How to Use AI to Create Porn

Though AI chatbots and apps are moderated for explicit content, using specific prompts, English, or vague wording allows users to bypass restrictions.

In China, MBTI’s Unhinged Twin Asks About Constipation and Diarrhea

SBTI, or “Silly Big” Type Indicator, borrows the MBTI format but replaces introspection with absurd questions and irreverent personality types.

The Decade Comedy in China Grew Up, Seen From a Stage in Kunming

As stand-up spread beyond the big metros, one club in Kunming shows how comedians turned punchlines into careers, and learned where the line is.

Ice, Ice, Maybe: China Drills to Record Depth in Antarctica

As part of the country’s 42nd Antarctic expedition, the drilling sets the stage for future research on sediment, biological evolution, and climate change.

Shanghai Concludes Its First AI-Assisted Surgical Training Program

Doctors can choose between two training pathways to obtain AI-assisted surgery certification, granting them permission to provide cutting-edge surgeries going forward.

‘GEO’ Services Are Flooding the Chinese Internet With Misinformation

Highly lucrative services offering generative engine optimization, initially conceived of as a way to improve search results, have been called out for “poisoning” AI models with misinformation.

Bean There, Done That: How Chinese Coffee Extracts a New Kind of Belonging

Catering to both tourists seeking novelty and locals seeking familiar cultural flavors, cafés across China are using regional ingredients to create new coffee flavors.

Shanghai Announces 2026 Tobacco Control Plan

The city is banning smoking at bus stops, ramping up oversight of areas where smoking is forbidden, and mandating smoking questionnaires during patient intake.

Two Sessions: China Targets 5% Growth, 12 Million Jobs in 2026

Opening China’s annual policy meetings, Premier Li Qiang pledged wider market access and progress on new trade agreements.