With the release of Kimi K2.6, Chinese company Moonshot AI has open sourced a model that surpasses Claude Opus 4.6, as well as GPT 5.2 and Gemini Pro 3, which were the best closed weight models only two months ago.
Taikonaut Zhang Lu, from a family of aquaculture farmers in Hunan, has broken into the top 20 for most cumulative time spent spacewalking outside a spacecraft. He is the only taikonaut in the top 30. All other places are held by cosmonauts or astronauts.
New article - China Is Years Ahead In Heavylift Cargo Drones
-> www.hisutton.com/Chinese-Carg...
China's GDP rose 5% in the first quarter of 2026 year on year. Retail sales were up 2.4%, industrial production was up 5.7%, and value added of large industrial enterprises was up 6.4%. Foreign trade was up 15%. Fixed asset investment turned positive after a dip last year due to the housing slump.
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in China:
I firmly believe it is in the interest of both Spain and Europe to strengthen ties with China.
China STANDS WITH Spain!
China's manufacturing output in 2023 had surpassed the United States, Japan, and Germany combined. China's manufacturing rise has dramatically reduced poverty and lowered the costs for manufactured goods worldwide.
Chinese border authorities handled 185 million entries and exits in the first quarter, up 13.5% from a year earlier. Mainlanders made over 91.6 million cross-border trips, up 14% in the period, while foreign nationals trips rose 22% to 21.3 million.
The mean height of 19 year old women in China has now surpassed that of 19 year old American women, and the crossover happened seven years ago. If you look at five year olds, the difference is even more stark. Reflects dramatic improvements in Chinese nutrition and health for this generation.
Why would it be game over if tensions are reduced? That would be good news for Taiwan.
RETURN OF THE CHINESE BOXER (Wang, 1977)
Stock of Chinese company Zhipu AI rose 12% in Hong Kong after it released GLM 5.1, an open source model with better performance than GPT 5.2, Claude Opus 4.5, or Gemini 3 Pro. Open source AI models are now only about two months behind closed source models.
Celebrations in Iran tonight. Congratulations to the Iranian people for defending their hard won independence and dignity. The standing of Iran in the world has never been higher in modern history.
CXMT (ChangXin Memory Technologies), the world’s 4th-largest DRAM maker & China’s top player, recorded revenue over $8 billion last year, more than double 2024’s $3.3 billion. CXMT’s monthly DRAM production capacity grew from 100,000 wafers in early 2024 to 290,000 wafers by the end of last year.
Chinese government decides to regulate AI from the right to personal likeness, child safety and addiction angles.
www.reuters.com/world/china/...
29 companies raised a combined 25.7 billion yuan (US$3.7 billion) from the Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing stock exchanges in the first three months, up 56% year on year. That compared with 16.5 billion yuan raised by 27 companies in the same period in 2025.
This weekend was the 50th anniversary of the Tiananmen Incident on Tomb Sweeping Day (April 5), or the Qingming Festival in 1976. This is a day to remember the dead. Over a million people paid homage to former Premier Zhou Enlai in Tiananmen Square, in a notable a rebuke to the Gang of Four.
Happy Easter to all who celebrate! This is the day that Christ rose. Pope Leo XIV has a message: "I appeal to all leaders.. Let’s look for solutions to problems, let’s look for ways to reduce the amount of violence that we’re promoting, that peace - especially at Easter - might reign in our hearts."
Some 40 companies completed IPOs in Hong Kong last quarter, up 150% from a year earlier, with total funds raised surging 489% to nearly HKD110 billion (USD14 billion), Securities Times reported, citing data from Wind. Fifteen of the firms are also listed on the Chinese mainland.
China’s high-tech industries recorded robust growth in the first quarter of 2026, with sales revenue from Jan. 1 to March 25 rising 14.6% YoY. High-tech manufacturing and services saw revenue grow 12.7% and 15.8%, respectively, during the same period, according to data released Wednesday.
Chinese firms engaged in AI activities must set up internal "AI ethics review committees" under new rules released on Thursday.
The notice calls for review of AI activities for their impact on human wellbeing, the fairness of algorithms, and whether AI systems are "controllable" and "explainable".
More papers published in top journals are now authored by associates of Chinese institutions than by associates of U.S. institutions.
The U.S. has three times the per capita GDP of China, yet China has a substantially lower infant mortality rate now.
On March 30, the commercial launch company CAS Space debuted the Kinetica-2/Lijian-2 rocket. At 30,000 ($4,000-$4,500) yuan per kg of payload capacity, it is comparable in cost per kg with the Falcon-9 despite being expendable, breaking Space X's long held cost monopoly for the first time.
Net profits for China's software industry rose 7.3% in the first two months from a year earlier. Revenue rose 12% to CNY2.15 trillion (USD312 billion).
China's first automated production line for humanoid robots with an annual capacity of over 10,000 units has officially started operation in Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong Province. The production line can produce one humanoid robot every 30 minutes.
Mandarin
No need for deep sea mining
China’s water battery breakthrough can last 120,000+ cycles, outlast lithium-ion by decades
Chinese scientists unveil a non-toxic, water-based battery that delivers over 120,000 cycles without fire risks of lithium-ion systems
interestingengineering.com/energy/china...
China has exported cargoes of diesel and other fuels to energy-starved countries across Southeast Asia over the weekend, in what appears to be a signal of support despite export curbs imposed earlier this month.
