China This Week
This week is both an exhilarating and a melancholy time for China—a moment to solidify new partnerships and move on from the unfortunate one that birthed the tariff fiasco.
President Lula’s Fruitful Beijing Trip
Brazilian President Lula recently paid a state visit to Beijing. Judging by the flurry of photo ops and handshake snapshots, the trip was full of major deals. Among them, Chinese food delivery giant Meituan announced it will launch its delivery service “Keeta” in Brazil in the coming months, with plans to invest $1 billion USD over the next five years.
China’s largest tea chain, Mixue Bingcheng—operating over 46,000 stores globally—also signed an MoU with Brazil. In the next 3–5 years, the company plans to import Brazilian agricultural goods worth at least 4 billion RMB ($550 million), including coffee beans, and will open its first store in Brazil this year. A local supply chain facility is also in the works, expected to create 25,000 jobs.
China’s central bank renewed its currency swap agreement with Brazil’s central bank—worth 190 billion RMB or 157 billion Brazilian reals—for another five years. While some view this as part of China’s RMB internationalization push, analysts suggest it primarily serves to stabilize trade by reducing dollar dependency—especially with resource-exporting countries like Brazil.
More cooperation with Global South nations
On May 14, China and Colombia signed a Belt and Road cooperation document.
On May 12, Beijing Urban Construction Group won a 900 million RMB contract to build an airport in Burkina Faso. Around the same time, the country’s young president, Ibrahim Traoré, gained traction in Chinese media for criticizing Western discourse dominance. “My biggest regret is wasting my youth listening to French radio. They trained our brains to believe only what they wanted,” he said.
Ibrahim Traoré is one of the youngest heads of state in the world. He is known for his anti-colonial rhetoric and strong stance against Western influence, particularly that of France.
Meanwhile, a symbol of everyday Chinese culture—Shaxian Snacks—opened its first franchise in the Middle East, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 11. The owner was originally in the region for an infrastructure project but noticed a lack of affordable Chinese food. He seized the opportunity to bring his hometown flavors to Saudi Arabia. The restaurant features 60+ dishes, with pork replaced by beef, lamb, or chicken. On opening day, sales exceeded 50,000 RMB, with several items selling out.
Economics: Creative Stimulus Plans from Local Chinese City Governments
In Shanghai’s Yangpu District—home to video platform Bilibili—local authorities are offering up to 2 million RMB in housing subsidies to attract top content creators. The average price per square meter there is around 113,666 RMB.
Wuhan is taking a green approach. Locals who ride public transit or drive EVs to accumulate “carbon credits” that offset bank loan interest. One resident, Wei Ying, used 45,000 grams of carbon credits to save 90 RMB in loan interest. Over 1.5 million people have joined the initiative. Since March 1, carbon credits have been redeemable at 2 RMB per 1,000 grams until the end of the year.
Sports: Chinese Tennis Star Zheng Qinwen’s Unprecedented Defeat of World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka
Given that Zheng had lost all six of their previous encounters, this victory is especially significant. She posted afterward, “No mountain too high, Rome semifinals!”—a bold statement that resonated with many young Chinese fans who appreciate athletes unafraid to express ambition.
On May 14, Zheng Qinwen (right) and Sabalenka exchanged greetings after the match.
Technology: China’s Milestone Achievement in Rocket Engine Development
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation successfully completed the first full-system test of a reusable 140-ton liquid oxygen methane (LOX-methane) engine. LOX-methane engines are seen as the future of clean, reusable spaceflight. China also recently completed a 90-ton LOX-kerosene engine and is now developing a 200-ton variant. These advances suggest China could become a serious competitor to SpaceX in reusable rocketry.
In AI, ByteDance’s “Dreamina” (即梦AI), a video generation app, topped Apple’s free app chart in China. The app lets users create animated videos from a single image and a reference clip. ByteDance’s other AI tools, like Doubao, have already gained popularity. Rivals like Tencent and Kuaishou are also racing to dominate the video-AI field, fueling rapid innovation that could soon benefit global users.
Culture: A Documentary on the Lives of Uyghurs
On May 7, the documentary Fabric of Lives began screening in Chinese theaters. Filmed over three years by Liu Guoyi, the film follows Uyghur and Han cotton farmers in Xinjiang’s Awati County—home to China’s top long-staple cotton. The documentary captures advanced techniques like BeiDou-guided sowing and 97% mechanized harvesting, while also touching on farmers’ concerns about cotton price fluctuations.
It’s the first film of its kind and has grossed over 2 million RMB so far—a record for this genre. Some children said after watching they wanted to try picking cotton; older audiences said it brought back memories of joining Xinjiang harvests during their youth.