Day: April 19, 2025

Hero Esports, a Chinese esports powerhouse backed by Tencent Holdings and Saudi Arabian video-gaming giant Savvy Games Group, is betting big on artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline operations and become a global leader industry, the CEO said in an interview. Advertisement “We are pilot-testing several AI models, including DeepSeek, in all aspects of the business,” said Danny Tang, co-founder and CEO of Hero Esports. The company is also adapting a local version of DeepSeek to analyse patents and historical contracts to identify areas that might “require more attention”, she said.…

Chinese researchers have successfully detonated a hydrogen-based explosive device in a controlled field test, triggering devastating chemical chain reactions without using any nuclear materials, according to a study published last month. Advertisement The 2kg (4.4lbs) bomb generated a fireball exceeding 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit) for more than two seconds – 15 times longer than equivalent TNT blasts – without using any nuclear materials, it said. Developed by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation’s (CSSC) 705 Research Institute, a key player in underwater weapon systems, the device uses a magnesium-based…

Alibaba Group Holding’s research arm, Damo Academy, has secured a key endorsement from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cancer detection tool, as Chinese technology giants look to play a larger role in the global healthcare industry. Advertisement The FDA granted the “breakthrough device” designation to the research group’s Damo Panda model, allowing for an expedited review and approval process, Alibaba said in a statement on Thursday. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. Alibaba first revealed Damo Panda, which is designed to identify…

Dear friends, Advertisement This month marks the third anniversary of our small but dynamic science reporting team. To celebrate, I’d like to share a story with you. In 2014 – a year after Edward Snowden’s exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post – we published a follow-up. Our science reporter, Stephen Chen, wrote that China was developing a “hack-proof” quantum communication network that would revolutionise encryption. The story was met with scepticism. Few people knew what quantum communication was, and even fewer believed China could outpace the US, Europe,…

Domestically made mobile romance games such as Light and Night, Love and Deepspace have become popular among young women in China, where some have even tried to bring their online obsessions to life. Advertisement They hire cosplayers, usually other young women, to play characters from their favourite games and accompany them on dates. Many clients say the increasingly popular “cos commissioning” service provides emotional fulfilment and companionship. Some cosplayers, meanwhile, say experiencing what it is like to live a different life offers satisfaction beyond the financial compensation they earn. South…

From dawn to midnight, Huang Qijun nurtures and tends to 10,056 durian trees, every day. Advertisement By late March, the mild weather in China’s southernmost province of Hainan – with occasional overcast skies and light showers – ushered in the flowering season for durian trees. And Huang got to work. On this nearly 40-hectare (99-acre) durian orchard that is mostly managed by only one caretaker, much of the work is handled by machines: each tree is equipped with sensors that monitor temperature and humidity. So, when one needs water, Huang…

Advertisement Trump hopes but probably does not expect China to capitulate and seek an audience with him to get relief from the punishing duties on their exports to the US. China’s refusal to bow to unilateral bullying aimed at upending the multilateral trading system and its willingness to “fight till the end” suggests that President Xi Jinping is unlikely to pick up the phone to ask for a meeting. How long the tariff impasse will last is anybody’s guess. There may already be US-China backchannels at work. Some analysts view…

Advertisement Starting on the highly symbolic date of December 26, Mao Zedong’s birthday, a number of photos and videos that appear to show prototypes of a new Chinese warplane undergoing tests have been circulating online. One feature that caught attention was the use of three engines, prompting speculation about whether this was an inherent design feature or a sign that the country had not yet been able to develop sufficiently advanced technology to power the fighters. Other elements raised broader questions about what role the fighters could play in future…