In China, going to the hospital typically means that one could spend hours queuing for a consultation that lasts for just minutes. Now, a hospital in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou is looking to relieve the problem with artificial intelligence.
How hot is blockchain in China? “Even vendor aunties selling vegetables are talking about blockchain” is a saying spreading widely on social media—and it isn’t much of an exaggeration. Chinese companies, if not street hawkers, are racing to file patents tied to the technology that makes it hard to tamper with information.
China is again acting against celebrities in the Chinese-speaking world perceived to hold views unfavorable to the country—but this time it’s doing so more explicitly.
Five years ago in China, parcel delivery via drone seemed like something you’d see in a sci-fi movie, not real life. Now it’s a government-licensed service ready for flight.
China’s first space lab is coming back to earth in days. Launched in 2011, Tiangong-1, whose name means Heavenly Palace, was a milestone that marked China’s determination to catch up to or even outpace global space powers.
Update, April 2: The Tiangong-1 re-entered earth’s atmosphere Monday morning Beijing time and burned up somewhere over the South Pacific, China’s space agency said.
Chinese citizens, living under tight censorship control, don’t have too much freedom to crack jokes on the internet. Now, what tiny space they have left for having fun is increasingly being chipped away.
The world is walking away from coal. But to meet the targets for limiting global warming set out by the 2015 Paris Agreement, it must pick up the pace.
In China, officials and companies have deployed facial-recognition technology to a degree uncommon elsewhere, both commercially and—more controversially—for widespread surveillance. Now it’s the turn of voice recognition.
The Amazon, the single largest tropical rainforest and home to 10% of the world’s known species, could lose half of its plants and animals by the end of the century as global warming ravages the planet—and that loss of biodiversity is just a snapshot of what’s happening to the world’s forests, wetlands, and seas.
Over the years few things have symbolized China’s heavy-handedness quite like the one-child policy it implemented in 1979. But in a sign of change, this week Beijing announced the end of the commission charged with implementing such policies.
In 2014, China’s premier Li Keqiang declared war on air pollution. With many cities routinely experiencing an ”airpocalypse,” it was long overdue. At one point in 2013, a children’s hospital in Beijing was treating 7,000-plus patients a day for respiratory ailments. Researchers found that people’s lifespans could be shortened by more than five years in areas that relied heavily on coal, a major contributor of deadly air pollutants.
Marvel’s first black superhero film Black Panther made a strong debut in China, taking in more than $63 million this weekend and helping it cross the billion-dollar mark globally. And while the film filled seats in China, it didn’t exactly bring in rave reviews from Chinese audiences—in fact, online reviews hint at subtle racism and discomfort with the all-black cast.
Super Smash Bros. is on its way to the Nintendo Switch.
Last year, Chinese consumers got a chance to verify the goodness of the steaks coming to them from a local producer. Now they’ll be able to track their meat all way back to farms in Australia, one of the country’s major beef suppliers, thanks to the help of technology that makes it hard to tamper with information.
Almost two decades ago, Wang Xi, then a teenager living near the Chinese capital of Beijing, fell in love with an American robot combat TV show called BattleBots. One of the most-watched TV shows ever in the US, it got 1.5 million viewers per episode at its peak, and was syndicated around the world, including China.
China wants to become a country of innovation, and lead the world in artificial intelligence in 2030. By one indicator, it’s on its way.
Late last week, Germany was surprised to learn that a little-known Chinese automaker had become the biggest single shareholder in Daimler, with a $9 billion investment. Zhejiang-based Geely now has a 9.7% stake in the owner of Mercedes-Benz.
Asian countries are increasingly challenging their European peers in terms of passport power.
Xi Jinping could be China’s president for a long, long time.
Curling originated in the 16th century as a game played by burly Scottish men across frozen lakes, and has for long been dominated by powerhouses like Canada and Sweden. These days, Asian women are increasingly likely to medal in the sport, which involves using brooms and frantic sweeping to steer very heavy stones across a sheet of ice.
It’s going to be a ruff year for Trump.
In late December, Li Ke’s 60-year-old father-in-law came down with a runny nose. Four weeks later, he was dead. Now, the day-by-day account of the 29 days of his illness and death in Beijing has gone viral on WeChat.
The world’s tech giants are competing to put self-driving taxis on the roads as soon as this year—and so are two very new startups.
