01/30
2026 Fri.
China's domestic smartphone shipments fell 2.4% in 2025 to 307 million units, official industry data showed on Friday, pointing to subdued consumer demand in the world's largest handset market. Shipments in December dropped sharply, down 29.1% from a year earlier to 24.47 million units, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. Fifth-generation models accounted for the bulk of sales. December 5G smartphone shipments declined 27.3% year on year to 22.13 million units, making up 90.4% of total shipments for the month. For the full year, 5G smartphone shipments reached 266 million units, down 1.9% from 2024, and represented 86.9% of total handset shipments, the data showed.
01/29
2026 Thu.
by LI Kewen AstraZeneca said on Thursday it plans to invest more than 100 biilionyuan (US$15billion) in China by 2030, expanding its pharmaceutical manufacturing and research operations in the country. The drugmaker said the investment will deepen its China-based research and development network, including global strategic R&D centres in Beijing and Shanghai that work with more than 500 clinical hospitals and have led numerous global clinical trials in the past three years. AstraZeneca also plans to upgrade its manufacturing facilities in Wuxi, Taizhou, Qingdao and Beijing, and will announce plans for new production sites at a later stage. Its existing plants supply medicines to patients in China and more than 70 overseas markets. The company said its China workforce will exceed 20,000 following the expansion, with the investment expected to create thousands of additional jobs across the healthcare sector.
01/28
2026 Wed.
Lenovo, Alibaba Group, Tencent Holdings and Meituan have been named to the 2026 Fortune Global Most Admired Companies list, according to a ranking released by Fortune. The four Chinese companies were recognised within their respective industries, reflecting continued competitiveness among leading Chinese technology and consumer platforms. Fortune said artificial intelligence remained a decisive factor shaping this year's rankings, as companies' AI capabilities increasingly influence long-term competitiveness rather than serving merely as a standalone technology advantage. U.S. chipmakers NVIDIA and AMD rose sharply in the rankings on the strength of their AI exposure, while enterprise software firm Workday also entered the list, supported by its expanding AI strategy.
01/27
2026 Tue.
China's large industrial firms posted a modest recovery in 2025, with total profits rising 0.6% year on year to 7.40 trillion yuan (US$1.06 trillion), data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. Manufacturing was the main driver, with profits up 5.0% from a year earlier, while utilities covering power, heat, gas and water supply rose 9.4%. Mining sector profits fell sharply by 26.2%. In December alone, profits jumped 5.3% from a year earlier, reversing an 11-month decline. Profits at large equipment manufacturing firms rose 7.7% in 2025, contributing 2.8 percentage points to overall industrial profit growth, the largest boost among all sectors. High-tech manufacturing profits rose 13.3%, significantly outpacing the overall industrial average and underscoring the growing role of new growth drivers. YU Weining, chief statistician of the industrial department at the NBS, said robust gains in equipment manufacturing and high-tech industries helped end a three-year run of annual profit declines, while cautioning that external uncertainties and restructuring pressures continue to weigh on parts of the industrial sector.
01/23
2026 Fri.
Global shipments of humanoid robots are expected to reach about 18,000 units in 2025, up around 508%
01/21
2026 Wed.
Shanghai's Changning district tax bureau has fined Pinduoduo 100,000 yuan for failing to submit required tax-related information under new rules governing online platforms. The penalty was imposed on Shanghai Xunmeng Information Technology, the platform's operating entity, after it did not complete rectification within the prescribed period, the bureau said on January 21. Under the Measures on Tax-Related Information Reporting by Internet Platform Enterprises, which took effect in 2025, platforms are required to submit tax information on merchants and workers operating on their services. Tax authorities said Pinduoduo failed to report the required data for the third quarter of 2025. The Changning District Tax Bureau issued a rectification order in November 2025. While the company later took corrective steps, it did not complete them within the deadline, prompting the fine, the bureau said.
Beijing's economy expanded 5.4% in 2025, with gross domestic product reaching 5.21 trillion yuan, data from the municipal statistics bureau showed on Wednesday. Beijing became the second Chinese city, after Shanghai, to post annual economic output above 5 trillion yuan, state media said.
Shanghai's gross domestic product grew 5.4% year on year in 2025, official data showed on Wednesday. GDP reached 5.67 trillion yuan in real terms. By sector, the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors grew 2.0%, 3.5% and 6.0%, respectively, according to the city's statistics bureau.
01/19
2026 Mon.
China's industrial output growth accelerated in December, official data showed on Monday, adding to signs of stabilization toward the end of the year. The National Bureau of Statistics said value-added industrial output rose 5.2% year on year in December, up 0.4 percentage points from November. For the whole of 2025, industrial output grew 5.9%. Manufacturing led the expansion, with full-year output up 6.4%, while mining rose 5.6% and electricity, heat, gas and water supply increased 2.3%. High-technology manufacturing grew 9.4% in 2025, with transport equipment, electronics and general machinery among the strongest-performing sectors.
China's retail sales growth slowed in December, capping a year of moderate expansion in household consumption, official data showed on Monday. Total retail sales of consumer goods rose 0.9 percent year on year in December, down 0.4 percentage points from November, data from National Bureau of Statistics showed. For the full year, retail sales increased 3.7 percent, easing slightly from growth recorded in the first 11 months. By category, goods retail sales rose 0.7 percent in December to 3.94 trillion yuan, while catering revenue increased 2.2 percent to 573.8 billion yuan, with both segments showing some moderation from the previous month. Looking ahead to 2026, analysts said domestic consumption is expected to play a larger role in supporting growth. WANG Qing, chief macro analyst at Golden Credit Rating, expects fiscal funds earmarked for consumption stimulus to rise to around 500 billion yuan from about 300 billion yuan last year, alongside broader policy support for services consumption and measures aimed at strengthening household spending capacity.
