Day: December 27, 2025

China industrial profits plunge as weak demand and deflation bite

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. China’s industrial profits fell at their fastest pace in more than a year last month, as Xi Jinping’s economic planners struggled to contain the fallout from industrial overcapacity and lacklustre consumer confidence. Profits at industrial companies with annual revenues of more than Rmb20mn ($2.8mn) fell 13.1 per cent in November compared with a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Saturday, deepening from a 5.5 per…

Soaring to the top: China appoints first female captain for flights on home-grown C919

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China has appointed its first female pilot to exclusively captain flights on its home-grown C919 jet, with more aspiring women waiting in the wings as the nation expands its talent pool and systemically transitions elite pilots who used to fly Boeing and Airbus jets to operate the narrowbody airliner. Yu Yue, who made a high-stakes switch from her decade-long career flying the US-made Boeing 737 to be a C919 captain this year, has become a source of inspiration for many in the country. According to state media reports, Yu –…

China watermelon heist

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Life & Arts myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Each night this summer, millions of Chinese are gathering around television sets for a report that serves as basic a function as the weather forecast . . . the watermelon wrap-up. It is high season for watermelons, and the streets of Peking, the Chinese capital, are lined with watermelon men thumping melons to prove to passers-by, who will consume nearly one watermelon a day and sometimes much more, that they are of the…