Sinical

Guests from the World Media Summit visited Beijing E-Town (Yizhuang). At Beijing World of Robots, they saw biomimetic robotic fish — can you guess which one is the robot fish?

This is the world's first bionic humanoid robot news anchor duo — designed by legendary Chinese director Zhang Yimou, built by robot-maker UBTECH and Xinhua News Agency. The level of realism is unreal.

At the World Media Summit in Beijing, journalists from around the world tried traditional Chinese crafts — and looked more focused than when they were filing stories.

Remember the humanoid robots that danced their way onto America's Got Talent? They were made by Unitree Robotics. Meet Wang Xingxing, the company's founder. Speaking at the ninth edition of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, he shared an exciting update: Unitree's "Superman" robot has gone from jumping just over 2 meters to around 3 meters in only a few months. And here's a funny twist: Better robots are making robot fights LESS entertaining. Why? They're now so stable that you can hit them and they just won't fall! Turns out, being too good has its drawbacks.

Why do global businesses keep coming back to China? The 9th China International Import Expo (CIIE) opens in Shanghai today, bringing together 4,142 overseas exhibitors. More than 2,000 are first-timers. Over the first eight editions, more than 3,400 new products, technologies and services debuted at the CIIE. This year, another 480-plus are set to make their global, Asian or China debut. But it's about more than product launches. It's where businesses meet potential partners, explore new markets and turn ideas into opportunities. The 2025 CIIE generated $83.49 billion in intended deals for purchases over the following year. This year's expo also puts the spotlight on products from Asia and Africa, with expanded exhibition space for companies from least developed countries. Six days in Shanghai. Business opportunities that can last well beyond the expo.

Chinese tech firm Xiaomi’s humanoid robot masters both factory shifts and home chores. Xiaomi said its humanoid robot has, for the first time, achieved stable 8-hour operation in an automobile factory, autonomously correcting anomalies during operation and coordinating with the production line system. In the home scenario, an agent system built on the pretrained Xiaomi-Robotics-1 model began trial operations at Xiaomi Youth Apartment, where it worked continuously for more than 30 minutes across three rooms and completed more than 50 tasks, including preparing tools, tidying a sofa and tables, clearing trash, sorting items back into place, inspecting rooms, rechecking the whole unit and leaving.

A question came up: What are Chinese robots for? Obviously, they aim beyond just putting on a show.

Think climbing Mount Tai is tough? Your next hiking buddy might be a robot! Mount Tai, one of China's most iconic mountains and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has drawn visitors for centuries with its dramatic peaks, ancient temples and legendary sunrise views. Now, humanoid robots and robot dogs are joining the climb, bringing a futuristic twist to this time-honored hiking destination. So, next time you visit, you might not have to tackle every step on your own. You could rent an exoskeleton to help with the climb, or bring a robot companion along for the adventure. Forget hiking solo. The future of mountain climbing might come with four legs — or a helping hand from technology!

Two videos trendy recently. A Chinese tourist sharing tricks to deter and trap pickpockets in Europe. An international traveler surprised to see people in China leaving their motorbike keys in place without a second thought. Don’t get me wrong. Not for putting anyone down. But, you know, it’s just the latter video shows quite daily commonplace in China, and that’s what makes the former tips so handy for Chinese tourists traveling abroad.

These language wizards are taking the internet by storm! A Chinese ticket clerk in fluent English at Guangzhou South Railway Station. An Italian staff in fluent  Mandarin (even with a distinctly Beijing accent!) at Rome's Fiumicino Airport. Not gonna lie, I'm a little jealous of all those language gifts.

A Chinese X post went viral in Brazil during its election this month. "An egg broken from the outside is food; broken from the inside, it is new life." Brazilian Lula supporters reportedly shared it as motivation when morale was low. It didn't "decide" the election—Brazilian voters did—but it is a fascinating case of a random post crossing languages and sparking real emotional resonance. Do you agree with this proverb from China?

Xiaomi Technology revealed a bionic dexterous hand. Xiaomi said the device packs 26 electric motors, 21 degrees of freedom (DoF), and approximately 1,500 tactile sensing points into a 324-gram palm assembly. Many fans see the demo as a homage to Detroit: Become Human. What’s your take?

Crafted from dry branches, this massive Sun Wukong (Monkey King) sculpture has gone viral on Chinese internet. Creator Fan Lijie spent over two months gathering branches to build it piece by piece. Kudos to the talented creator!

The National Gallery of Australia (NGA) handed over two Chinese cultural relics to China. The two relics are the head of a military official statue and the head of a civil official statue, both dating back to the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). According to the NGA, both relics are made of limestone and originated from central China's Henan Province. They should have remained among the imperial mausoleum’s stone figures, keeping watch over the soil and seeing wheat ripen year after year.

Another European leader is in China — and where he goes beyond Beijing is worth paying attention to. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is visiting China this week. In Hefei, he stopped at Volkswagen’s China technology center and got behind the wheel of an EV equipped with a locally developed intelligent driving system. And Hefei isn’t Germany’s only innovation stop this year. Back in February, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited Hangzhou, where he watched Unitree’s robots in action and toured a Siemens Energy facility. Two German leaders, two Chinese innovation hubs. Hangzhou is pushing the boundaries of AI and robotics; Hefei has built strengths in quantum technology, advanced manufacturing and smart EVs. For German businesses, China is both a fiercely competitive market and a place where important technological advances are happening at remarkable speed. The challenge is to understand that reality — and find practical ways to work with it. These visits suggest that, whatever the differences between China and Europe, staying close to China’s innovation ecosystem remains essential to the future of their economic relationship.

The 7.0-magnitude quake that shook Baqen County in China's Xizang on Oct 22 hit a harsh highland, almost 4,800 meters up, where cold and strong winds make every hour count. 16 lives lost, 76 injured, and more than 12,000 local residents were safely evacuated. Rescue teams moved incredibly fast: the first tents went up within five hours of the tremor. By Oct 23, every affected family had a tent to stay in. You can see firefighters running field kitchens out here, chopping meat and serving hot meals to people who’ve lost their homes. Relief supplies keep pouring in — tents, beds, thick quilts and winter essentials. Crews and power staff have been working through the night building warmer prefabricated houses with chimneys for stoves. The first 60 units were ready early on Oct 25, with power switched on that same evening.

When you can’t travel to see the Great Wall, you can always “build” one of your own. A man in a village in China’s Shanxi laid out this stunning Great Wall artwork using local grains and farm produce, just so his mother could “see” the landmark she has never visited.

One of the key events on China's political calendar this week is the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of CPC, a four-day meeting in Beijing focused on a question central to the Party's long-term governance: how to keep its own ranks in check. With more than 100 million members and the responsibility of governing a country of over 1.4 billion people, the CPC faces an enduring task: how to hold its members and officials accountable. The meeting is scheduled to deliberate on a draft decision on several major issues on persistently advancing full and rigorous Party self-governance. The agenda reflects a long-running priority: making internal oversight, discipline enforcement and anti-corruption efforts a sustained part of how the Party governs itself. The scale of enforcement sends a message about how seriously the CPC takes this effort. In 2025, discipline inspection and supervisory authorities filed more than 1 million cases and placed 47,000 individuals under detention. A total of 983,000 people received Party disciplinary or administrative punishment. The ongoing meeting underscores the ruling party's efforts to keep anti-corruption as a lasting institutional constraint, which will provide a guarantee for how the country governs itself in responding to new challenges ahead.

Ever seen a giant jellyfish floating across the sky? This one came straight from a rocket launch! At 6:15 p.m. on October 23, China's Long March-6A rocket blasted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi Province, carrying the Yaogan-50 03 satellite into its planned orbit. As the rocket climbed higher, its exhaust plume caught the fading sunlight, creating a spectacular glowing cloud that spread across the twilight sky. Behind this breathtaking sight is a practical mission: the satellite will help with land surveys, crop-yield estimates and disaster prevention and relief.