China's Week, December 23
China leads 90% of technologies; 50-year battery mass produced; Free childbirth nationwide; Portable quantum radios; China & friends build 70% of world's warships.
This is our last issue until the New Year. Between now and then expect several 2025 retrospectives–and one with 2026 predictions. Happy Holidays!
Science & Technology
China Rail’s wireless convoy virtually links locomotives 7 freight trains run together much closer than when they travel as single units. Could freight capacity 50%.
China builds an entire quantum ecosystem while the West remains fixated on the qubit count of superconducting chips from Google or IBM.
Coin-sized nuclear 3V battery with 50-year lifespan enters mass production, for devices like pacemakers, artificial hearts and cochlear implants.
Thumb-sized gallium nitride (GaN) power module saves 300 million kWh of electricity annually when integrated into 1GW AI compute cabinets.
China’s 2,000km-wide, fiber-linked AI computing hub for AI large model training, telemedicine achieves 98% of the efficiency of a single data centre.
Ex-Nasa chief: “Chinese are doing the right things but the Artemis program cannot work because of complex design and unproven tech.
China is the first country to hold 5 million active domestic invention patents whose industrialization rate reached 53.3% percent in 2024.
We began the year astonished by DeepSeek’s AI model and end it with Chinese open models like Qwen powering Silicon Valley’s startup gold rush.
Tianmu Shan-1 hydrogen-powered drone’s world record, non-stop flight of 188,605 km in 4 hours, 17 minutes and 55 seconds.
68% of Chinese researchers say AI tools give them more choices, compared with 29% in the USA and 26% in the UK.
Twist it, torch it, and freeze it: ultralight ceramic aerogel bends, compresses, and recovers its shape while outperforming conventional thermal insulators at high heat.
Thermal camouflage with 9x heat superscattering technology. Infrared maps show a small core producing the same thermal disturbance as a much larger object.
Successful clinical trial of a brain–computer interface (BCI)—fully implanted, fully wireless, and fully functional—with a 28-year-old man with high-level spinal cord injury.
Economy & Trade
Sales of smart glasses reach iPhone moment, growing exponentially, driven by rollouts from market leaders like Xiaomi.
Chinese brands like Songmont set the new standard in luxury industry. Handbag sales up 90%.
VW owns 5% of Xpeng and is co-developing two EV models. VW engineers have temporarily moved to Xpeng’s HQ, learning how it makes cars and bought reams of code from the company.
America has already lost the chip war with China: the semiconductor stack architecture fixed roles and chokepoints in ways time and scale later turned against Washington.
The West is not just short of minerals; it is short of the machines required to refine them.
Why China’s growing demand for rare-earth steel is bad news for US F-35: BSU Co. merged rare earth and steel production, makes 33 varieties of high-value rare-earth steel.
Oklahoma’s Ban on Chinese-Owned Farmland Made an Exception for Smithfield Foods.
Society & Environment
One economy is growing 1% with 5% inflation and wages rising 1% (USA). The other is growing 5% with inflation running 0% and wages growing 5.1% (PRC).
China will cover all out-of-pocket expenses related to childbirth from January 1.
People are freer than ever to move around the country: cities now block 10% of would-be hukou holders from obtaining local registration.
495,000 students returned from overseas study in 2024, up 19% YoY. 8.88 million students have studied abroad since since 1978, of whom 6.44 million have returned.
CASS economist Cai Fang calls for measurable progress on income metrics, tougher labor rules, a bigger social safety net, and nudging the rich to give more back.
China taxes condoms, removes VAT on childcare. Danish sperm bank sets minimum IQ requirement for donors, which Chinese women have been doing for 3000 years.
China is building 101 incinerators around the world, up from 79 projects six months ago.
Governance
Hong Kong High Court found Jimmy Lai guilty of two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one of conspiracy to publish seditious materials.
A 16-year-old boy has been sentenced to 3½ years in prison by a Hong Kong court for joining a Taiwan-based political group that promoted the city’s independence, in breach of the national security law.
There are still many old problems and new challenges in China’s economic development: “The impact of changes in the external environment is deepening, the contradiction of strong domestic supply and weak demand is prominent, and there are many risks and hidden dangers in key areas.
Eight provinces invest 850 B¥ to upgrade inland waterways by building the Zhejiang-Jiangxi-Guangdong Canal, longer than the Grand Canal; the Xiang-Gui Canal connecting the Greater Bay Area and the Yangtze River Delta economic zone; the Jianghuai Canal, making the Yangtze and the Huai Rivers navigable; the Jinghan Canal straighten the Yangtze River and resolves mid-reach bottlenecks; the Pinglu Canal, provides a direct sea outlet for Guangxi
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
The US government’s NED covertly funded Nepalese youth groups in the run-up to a violent coup that sought to neutralize Chinese influence over Kathmandul.
43 rare earth smugglers detained, export quotas for 37 companies halved. Border sensors achieve a 98% detection rate. Japan buys half of China’s rare earth exports.
Debunking the Myth: Communism Killed 100 Million People: debunking the arguments against Communism.
China’s Solidarity with Palestine from 1950 to 2024: From Global Anti-Imperialism to the Dandelion Fighters.
Defense
The PLA’s Information Support Force is testing the world’s first portable – 3kg (6.6lbs) – quantum radio and receiving radio signals from kilometres away.
China has ‘redundancy after redundancy for every trick up our sleeve,’ would destroy US military in fight over Taiwan, says top secret US document.
The return of high-intensity, state-on-state conflict has revealed a catastrophic atrophy in the Western industrial base’s ability to sustain kinetic warfare. The “Material Impairment” is the specific chemistries required for lethality and reliability.
China’s 48-52% of global warship production, combined with Russia’s 10-14%, Iran’s (1.5-3%), and North Korea’s (1-2%), puts 70% of worldwide warship building in the hands of nations sanctioned by the West.