Month: July 2025

Prominent mathematician Zhu Yongchang will join Tsinghua University in Beijing after 30 years in Hong Kong as universities in mainland China continue their efforts to recruit top-tier talent. Advertisement Tsinghua’s Yau Mathematical Sciences Centre announced on July 9 that Zhu, previously at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), would join the centre in September. Zhu’s research focuses on the intersection of representation theory and mathematical physics. Representation theory builds on group theory – an important branch of modern mathematics, especially algebra, that provides a basic language for modern…

When Colby Porter began Mandarin classes in sixth grade in Syracuse, New York, he was studying alongside 20 of his peers. By his final year of high school, only two other students remained, and the school had fewer than 25 Mandarin learners in total. Advertisement Soon after he graduated in 2020, the programme was shut down entirely due to dwindling enrolments and budget cuts during the Covid-19 pandemic. The situation at Porter’s school is not unusual in the United States and other countries in the Global North. While data is…

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Saturday announced the launch of a mega dam project on the Tibetan Plateau, in what is expected to be the world’s largest hydroelectric facility. Advertisement The massive project, located in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River, has raised concerns about water supply and environmental impact downstream in India and Bangladesh. Li attended the dam’s groundbreaking ceremony in Nyingchi, a southeastern city in the Tibet autonomous region, state news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday. The Yarlung Tsangpo becomes the Brahmaputra River as it leaves…

Precision-guided bunker busters fly slowly but carry massive warheads wrapped in thick armour. Small nations without air power watch helplessly as bombs fall. Advertisement When US B-2 stealth bombers struck Iran’s nuclear sites with GBU-57 MOP (Massive Ordnance Penetrator) bunker busters on June 22, there was reportedly little resistance. Chinese researchers have offered a countermeasure: strike the weak flank. Although the bomb’s nose armour is thick, its steel sides are thin and measure just a few centimetres, meaning one or two anti-aircraft shells could crack it open. Low-cost anti-aircraft guns…

Chinese authorities said a number of suspects involved in strategic mineral smuggling had been arrested and vowed to strengthen enforcement of export controls to prevent the illegal use of goods and technologies for military purposes. Advertisement The statement from the Ministry of Commerce came during a high-level meeting on Saturday in Nanning city in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region – an area of southern China rich in strategic mineral reserves. The meeting was organised by the Office of the National Export Control Coordination Mechanism and attended by multiple ministries. Officials at…

On his third trip to China in a year, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang – head of the world’s most valuable company – was on a full-blown charm offensive. Advertisement As a guest of honour at the China International Supply Chain Expo, Huang’s visit underscored the recent thaw in Sino-US relations. Upon arrival, he announced Washington had cleared the way for Nvidia to export the H20 – a made-for-China AI chip less powerful than its gold-standard acceleration model, which was banned for export to the country in April. At the opening…

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi last month highlighted Beijing’s “leapfrog development” in ties with African countries in the 25 years since the setting up of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Advertisement Addressing a FOCAC ministerial event on June 11, Wang noted that trade had surged nearly 30-fold while Chinese investment had grown almost 100-fold since the strategic dialogue mechanism was set up in 2000. In parallel to closer economic ties, there has also been increased cooperation on the security front. Before FOCAC, which includes all but one of the…

Advertisement The competition, titled “AI for All”, will run through September and features 17 tracks, including automobile, tourism, cross-border e-commerce, smart agriculture, and market regulation. Hosted by the Guangxi regional government, the kick-off took place simultaneously in eight cities: Guangxi’s capital Nanning, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur. “Hong Kong’s AI ecosystem is thriving, supported by strong research capabilities and over 1,000 AI enterprises across Cyberport and Science Park,” said Sun Dong, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, during his speech at the ceremony…