Inside China

Despite it not being officially available, Hong Kong is adapting ChatGPT for use in finance, law firms, customer service and beyond. Hong Kong city reporter Oscar Liu reports on how it's being used, as well as the split among Hong Kong universities on whether to allow students to use ChatGPT. Hear from a secondary teacher on how ChatGPT and other AI applications are changing the way he teaches, ho...

Xi Jinping’s recent Moscow visit was upstaged by an unannounced trip to Ukraine by Japanese leader Fumio Kishida as well as Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Russian nuclear weapons will be staged in Belarus. The Post’s Europe correspondent Finbarr Bermingham analyses the EU response as well as why European leaders are making plans to visit Beijing. Diplomacy expert Shi Jiangtao explains why Kish...

Kevin Kwong and Luisa Tam talk about the stories from mainland China that grabbed people's attention this week. Find more stories from the SCMP People and Culture desk: https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture

Holly Chik speaks with SCMP political economy editor Wendy Wu about how Xi Jinping's reference to 'brotherhood and love' for China's entrepreneurs has been received, and what the latest economic data portends for the plans put forward at the Two Sessions. Senior journalist William Zheng analyses the speeches of Xi Jinping and newly ascended premier Li Qiang.

Jasmine Tse hosts a special episode celebrating the success of Michelle Yeoh and her film Everything, Everywhere All At Once at the 2023 Oscars. Senior culture reporter Lisa Cam explains the power of films with Asian mothers and their daughters as central characters. And Hong Kong-born Hollywood veteran George Cheung talks about the barriers he’s confronted as an Asian actor in 50 years of films a...

The Post’s Kinling Lo reports from Beijing on its annual political assembly known as the ‘two sessions’, in a week when Chinese President Xi Jinping made an unusual direct remark on US policy while Foreign Minister Qin Gang in his first media briefing, also commented on US rivalry, Ukraine and Taiwan. North American bureau chief Rob Delaney analyses the US response, its ongoing legislative agenda...

China’s president Xi Jinping will seek to consolidate his power and update Beijing’s economic and security policies in the coming ‘two sessions’ meetings. Hear analysis on the expected ministerial changes as well as indications about how Beijing will change its approach to internal security, the administration of Hong Kong and how it will use the gatherings to send signals to China’s people as wel...

It is now just over one year since Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin declared China and Russia's “no limits” friendship, just weeks before the Russian leader announced he had ordered troops into Ukraine. Hear Beijing diplomacy expert Shi Jiangtao and Europe correspondent Finbarr Bermingham analyse the optics of top diplomat Wang Yi’s meeting this week with President Putin, how Beijing’s relationship w...

While not officially released in China, the arrival of ChatGPT has sparked huge interest on Chinese social media and set off a race between tech giants Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba to develop similar AI chatbot technology. Post technology reporter Xinmei Shen speaks with fellow tech journalists Coco Feng and Ben Jiang in Beijing about this new AI tech gold rush, how China’s censorship system will ha...

SCMP Culture desk editor Kevin Kwong and China People and Society edesk editor Luisa Tam discuss the stories that have been most popular on scmp.com over the past week. What do you prefer - a deadly octopus in your hotpot or floor cleaning liquid in your fruit juice? Luisa Tam talks Kevin Kwong through some of the stories that got the biggest audience for the SCMP People and Society desk. Hear abo...

SCMP science reporter Holly Chik presents the final in a series on how Hong Kong’s Covid policies have affected its economy and people. Child development expert Dr Fanny Lam, expert and founder of the Hong Kong Developmental Paediatrics and Child Neurology Centre, discusses how masks, home-schooling and staying indoors have affected toddlers, children and teenagers at a neurological level, and how...

Holly Chik presents the third in a series looking at Hong Kong’s unique experience in this pandemic. Senior culture reporter Lisa Cam analyses the shocks and the changes to Hong Kong's famed restaurant industry, news desk editor Denise Tsang analyses the economic impact and loss of reputation as an aviation and finance hub; City desk reporter Jeffie Lam analyses the complexity of Hong Kong's vacci...

Amid a tsunami of conspiracy, misinformation and xenophobia on social media during the pandemic, Hong Kong saw something special on Twitter and Facebook. City desk reporter Laura Westbrook discusses the massive online community known as the Hong Kong Quarantine Support group, Jamie Gong reveals how a post about his elderly mother started "the greatest thread of the pandemic" and the Twitter-based...

SCMP journalist Holly Chik presents the first in a series looking at how the pandemic changed Hong Kong, how its people used social media to support each other among constantly changing restrictions, and how the lessons of SARS point once again to how Hong Kong needs to prepare for the future. Video journalist Thomas Yau reflects on his reporting from Wuhan in 2020, 2021 and 2023, his experiences...

Holly Chik speaks with Post culture desk senior reporter Lisa Cam about the traditions for Lunar New Year in Hong Kong and among the broader Chinese diaspora around the world. Learn about what lies ahead for people born in the Year of the Rabbit as well as the food served at annual reunion meals, who gets red envelopes filled with money, why people wear red underwear, how to greet your Chinese nei...

Holly Chik looks at China's demographic crisis: a birth rate at its lowest in 60 years and a rapidly ageing workforce approaching retirement. Beijing-based reporter Luna Sun discusses the pressures on China's Generation Z and Millenials, who must care for ageing parents while confronting the reality of choosing between careers and starting families amid soaring costs of education and housing as we...

SCMP science reporter Holly Chik reports on mainland China opening its borders after three years, as the Omicron surge continues to wreak havoc. HKU epidemiologist Prof Ben Cowling contrasts the Hong Kong experience and forecasts how this surge will play out over the Lunar New Year holiday; Thomas Yau reports from Shanghai on the healthcare crisis; Xinlu Liang reports on the new black market in Pa...

Mimi Lau presents the latest episode on China's pivot away from nearly three years of zero-Covid policies; Beijing-based reporter Luna Sun speaks of the confusion among residents and business owners and analyses the economic costs revealed by the harsh policies; epidemiologist Dr Ben Cowling looks at the efficacy of Chinese vaccines, the numbers of unvaccinated elderly and forecasts what lies ahea...

Hear first-hand accounts of the zero Covid protests in Shanghai and Beijing; Mimi Lau speaks with Beijing-based reporters Luna Sun and Shi Jiangtao about the threats to food security caused by zero-Covid policy restrictions and a shift in narrative as days of mass protests across the country have called for an end to President Xi Jinping’s signature Covid strategy.  

Mimi Lau speaks with mainland China-based reporters Coco Feng and Luna Sun about the effect of district-based lockdowns in Beijing and rising discontent over the nation’s zero-Covid policy, as World Cup TV broadcasts from Qatar bring home to the public the reality of people ‘living with the virus’ elsewhere in the world.   

Shenzhen-based reporter Phoebe Zhang reports on the districts of the giant southern Chinese manufacturing hub undergoing lockdowns and mass testing, the mass exodus of workers from the Apple supplier Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant and the nationalist blogger who publicly criticised Beijing’s zero-Covid strategy. News editor Josephine Ma on the paradox of Beijing permitting the Pfizer vaccine for foreig...

Mimi Lau presents the second part of the Post analysis of China’s 20th Communist Party congress. Beijing-based editors Mai Jun and Wendy Wu unpack the deep changes to the party beyond the ascent of President Xi Jinping to a historic third term. Hear about the implications for China’s foreign and domestic policy, and also how for the first time in decades no woman has been selected for the Politbur...

Mimi Lau presents an episode looking at the historic 20th party congress in Beijing, what it means for China’s Communist Party and what we can expect from it. Veteran China diplomacy experts William Zheng and Mai Jun unpack some of the event’s process and how it is expected to set the stage for Xi Jinping’s historic third term as leader and ascension to a level on par with Mao Zedong.

Two months of record-breaking heatwaves in the Sichuan province of south west China, resulted in widespread power outages as rivers ran dry, exposing the weakness in the region’s reliance on hydroelectric power. Post reporter Holly Chik speaks with fellow journalists Echo Xie and Siqi Ji about what they found on the farms and in the manufacturing centres, while veteran Shanghai-based sustainabilit...

Now Washington has passed the US Chips and Science Act with tens of billions of dollars for the US semiconductor industry, what of its effect on China? Post technology journalist Xinmei Shen speaks with her Beijing-based colleague Che Pan about why the 3-nanometre revolution in semiconductors is so vital and how China's semisconductor industry might compete. SCMP technology editor Zhou Xin analyse...