Day: December 25, 2025

Pottery vessels containing traces of alcohol from a Bronze Age cemetery in northwestern China indicate that people at the time consumed beverages made using a fermentation starter of rice and a red mould. Archaeologists said the drink, similar to red rice wine, played a key role in their mortuary rituals, and its presence at the Mogou cemetery suggested a tradition that probably served to strengthen the bond between the living and the dead. Researchers from Northwest University in Xian, the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Stanford…

China’s offshore yuan strengthened further on Thursday, dipping below the benchmark rate of seven against the US dollar – another sign of the currency’s continued appreciation after a brief breach of the same threshold on Wednesday evening. The recent fluctuations mark the currency’s first appreciation past the major psychological marker in 15 months, suggesting a change in market sentiment and providing more support for the global investors and economists who have argued the currency has been undervalued. The offshore yuan’s exchange rate reached a high of 6.9960 on Thursday morning,…