August 15, 2025 – Chin@Strategy

How China clothed the world with a gigatonne of fabric in 2 generations

August 15, 2025 Media Library

In just over four decades, China has produced more than a gigatonne of textile fibres – equivalent to 1 billion tonnes or roughly twice the total human mass on the planet, according to a first-of-its-kind study by Tsinghua University. Advertisement The research, published late last month in the peer-reviewed journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling, mapped textile fibre flows and stocks in China from 1978 to 2022 – a period of rapid economic and societal development in China. The study traces how a nation transformed from a closed economy into the…

How Singapore’s wealth fund punted its way to prosperity

August 15, 2025 Media Library

Debt levels are high for developed market governments the world over — even Singapore. In fact, when it comes to gross government debt, Singaporean numbers put not only Italy and the US to shame, but also Lebanon and Greece. Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings. One reason Singapore escapes being lumped into the column headed ‘fiscal basket case’ is its ownership of massive sovereign wealth. While Singaporean has one of the highest gross government debt loads in the world, its net debt is allegedly…

Defensive stocks’ offensive performance

August 15, 2025 Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. This article is an on-site version of our Unhedged newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every weekday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newsletters Good morning. The US producer price index — which measures wholesale prices — landed yesterday, and was way above expectations. It jumped 0.9 per cent from June; the market was only looking for 0.2 per…

Watch robot athletes compete in world’s first humanoid games

August 15, 2025 Media Library

The first World Humanoid Robot Games are underway in Beijing, China, with participants from 16 countries including the US, Germany and Japan. Robots athletes will attempt to compete across a range of events including athletics, football, dance and martial arts. Organisers say the purpose of the event is to trial and refine current robotics. They say sports are a way to test a robot’s decision-making, motor skills and controllers that could be later applied in real-life settings like factories and homes. It’s all part of China’s push to become a…

China dam dumps Western chips, second Hong Kong school suspended: 7 highlights

August 15, 2025 Media Library

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Chinese mega dam stops using Western industrial chips over security concerns China’s Xiluodu Dam – one of the world’s largest hydropower stations – has fully transitioned away from Western-made industrial control chips over national security and supply chain resilience concerns, according to a leading Chinese…

China’s economy loses momentum as trade pressures weigh

August 15, 2025 Media Library

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Two of China’s benchmark economic indicators slowed sharply in July as domestic and trade pressures fuelled concern over the health of the world’s second-largest economy. Industrial output rose 5.7 per cent last month, official data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday, the slowest pace of growth since November and trailing June’s rate of 6.8 per cent. Retail sales added 3.7 per cent in the month, down from…