Fast Food, Stale Analysis: The Truth Behind Why China’s KFC Tastes Better It is genuinely amusing to read recent coverage in The Economist detailing the rapid expansion of Western fast-food giants like McDonald’s and KFC into China’s rural towns and lower-tier cities. The prevailing narrative spun by featured financial analysts and market observers is one … Read more
It is not outsourcing. How open weight Chinese AI is silently rewriting the US job market. There is a popular narrative that the recent wave of tech layoffs in the US is simply a cycle of overhiring. However, looking closely at the data from API aggregators like OpenRouter tells a much more structural story. I … Read more
Before Xi Jinping became China’s president, his fellow Tsinghua University alumni were certainly successful, but they weren’t exactly the undisputed kings of the billionaire rankings. Recently, however, the narrative has shifted dramatically. A highly concentrated group of nine companies, all originating from Tsinghua’s alumni networks and faculties, have either achieved unicorn status or gone public. … Read more
The Yangtze’s new motor city How Wuhan, a metropolis nearly 1,000 kilometres from the ocean, is reshaping the global trade in automobiles. To gaze upon the muddy waters of the Yangtze as it winds through Wuhan is to look at the undisputed industrial heartland of inland China. Located roughly 1,000 kilometres from the nearest coastline, … Read more
Hong Kong, the unexpected winner of the Iran War As missiles rain on the Gulf, something else entirely is skyrocketing in a familiar safe harbour. By Jaime Xiao As Iranian and Israeli missiles illuminate the night skies over the Middle East, the ensuing panic in global energy markets has triggered a ferocious, structurally permanent pivot … Read more
The Mathematical Illusion of “Aiming Higher”: Why China’s Sub-5% Growth is a Structural Certainty The shift from demographic dividend to intelligent capital: Automation is the necessary macroeconomic response to a shrinking workforce. The Economist recently published a critique of the Chinese government’s 2026 Government Work Report, arguing that policymakers are “dangerously rooted in the past” … Read more
The Engine Room of a New Empire: How Hong Kong Financed China’s Motoring Revolution Three years ago, during the Chinese New Year, I stood in a remarkably quiet Hong Kong. The city was only just emerging from the long shadow of pandemic isolation. The streets were subdued, the entrepreneurial hum was muted, and the eerie … Read more
The Changing of the Guard: How Chinese Marques Conquered 17% of Indonesia’s Car Market in 12 Months The Indonesian automotive landscape is undergoing a seismic shift. If you rewind just twelve months to January 2025, Chinese brands were shifting around 3,000 units, scraping together a mere 5% of the total market . Fast forward to … Read more
If you want to understand the shifting tectonic plates of the global economy, you could read the latest policy white papers out of Washington, or you could simply look at the photograph of Friedrich Merz in Hangzhou. There stood the German Chancellor—a politician whose brand is practically forged from stern Atlanticist rigour and conservative economic … Read more
Digital Fireworks: The High-Octane AI “Showdown” That Lit Up CNY 2026 The Chinese New Year has evolved into a critical milestone for the global AI and robotics industries. Gone are the days when the holiday was solely about dumplings and firecrackers. Today, it is a grand technological arena. Chinese tech giants are rushing to deploy … Read more