People cheer at a live concert in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province, on December 30, 2020.Streaming of live online performances, such as concerts, music festivals and operas, shall be conducted in “delayed” mode, according to a proposed regulation. Photo: EPA-EFE South China Morning Post
Covid-zero policies and the housing market crisis have put China’s economic growth behind the rest of the Asia-Pacific region for the first time in more than 30 years, according to World Bank forecasts. In a biannual report released on Tuesday, the US-based institution said the annual growth outlook for East Asia and the Pacific region had been downgraded from 5% to 3.2%. However much of that decline was down to economic woes in China, which constitutes 86% of the region’s economic output. The World Bank forecast GDP growth in China…
Amended prices seen at a self-service laundromat in Manchester on September 7, 2022. More than 1 million more people will be forced into poverty this winter, pushing UK deprivation levels to their highest for two decades even if the government freezes energy prices at current levels, according to media reports. Photo: AP South China Morning Post
South America Circles show Chinese fishingin 2020 and 2021. Pacific Ocean GalápagosIslands Atlantic Ocean Rich and ecologically diverse, the waters around the Galápagos Islands have attracted local fishermen for centuries. Now, these waters face a much larger, more rapacious hunter: China. Chinese fishing in ⬤ 2020 and ⬤ 2021. The Galápagos are part of Ecuador. And yet each year growing numbers of Chinese commercial ships, thousands of miles from home, fish here, at times right on the edge of Ecuador’s exclusive economic zone. The Chinese ships since 2016 have operated off…
The world’s leading economies are sliding into recession as the global energy and inflation crises sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cut growth by more than previously forecast, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). A dependency on expensive gas for heavy industry and home heating will plunge Germany, Italy and the UK into a long period of recession after global growth was projected by the OECD to slow to 2.2% in 2023 from a forecast in June of 2.8%. With the global economy needing to grow…
Zhang Youping, a Chinese retiree, purchased an all-electric, small sport-utility vehicle from BYD — China’s largest electric vehicle maker — at an auto show for around $20,000 last month. Her family has bought three gas-powered cars in the last decade, but she recently grew concerned about gas prices and decided to go electric “to save money.” A few months earlier, her son had also bought an E.V. It was a $10,000 hatchback from Leapmotor, another Chinese manufacturer. This year, a quarter of all new cars purchased in China will be…
Purges of senior officials and unfounded rumours of military coups in Beijing have fed into feverish speculation ahead of a key meeting of China’s ruling party next month, when president Xi Jinping is expected to be granted an unprecedented third term. The jailing of a clique of senior security officials for corruption, followed by days of strange and quickly dispelled rumours of Xi being under house arrest, have fuelled what one analyst called a “hothouse” environment mired in secrecy and suspicion. Last week, a Chinese court jailed the former vice-minister…
An artist living in eastern China filmed himself undergoing Covid tests with a camera in his mouth. His latest project, which is compiled of footage of dozens of tests, explores how China’s stringent virus controls have affected everyday life in the country. Video by Wei Wang, BBC Chinese. BBC
A little more than a year ago, a Chinese property developer largely unknown to the outside world said its cashflow was under “tremendous pressure” and it might not be able to pay back some of its eye-watering debts of $300bn (£275bn). Today, that company, China Evergrande Group, is all too well known as the poster child of the country’s economic woes. House prices in China have fallen in each of the 12 months since Evergrande’s now prophetic warning, with Xi Jinping’s government now preparing to throw billions of dollars at…
The owner of 21 tropical islands off the coast of Papua New Guinea says he never threatened to sell them to China and his main aim is to save the turtles that nest there. Ian Gowrie-Smith, an Australian businessman and investor, bought the Conflict Islands, which lie less than 1,000km from the Australian coast, almost two decades ago. The largely uninhabited atolls are a nesting ground for critically endangered hawksbill and green turtles, whose breeding season begins within weeks. Some then migrate to the Great Barrier Reef. Gowrie-Smith had been…