Wang Xueqiao

China rules business must help pick up pension bill as population ages

Aircraft sent back to US illustrate how trade war has disrupted goods flows between world’s two biggest economies

New version of flagship battery cell can achieve 520km range compared with BYD’s 470km, claims company

Demographic shift underlines emerging opportunities in country’s vast consumer market

Mixue’s IPO, city’s biggest in year to date, highlights investor focus on China’s price-conscious consumers

Ageing population, falling birth rates and aversion to matrimony compound demographic challenge

Western drugmakers look to Chinese trials for early data on treatments’ potential success

Government expected to announce GDP expanded about 5% in 2024 but many feel economy is in recession

Women receive cold-calls about family planning and universities asked to offer ‘love courses’ to tackle demographic crisis

Price-conscious buyers hunt for deals while others seek goods that can hold value in times of uncertainty

Venture capital finance has dried up amid political and economic pressures, prompting a dramatic fall in new company formation

Growing number of household animals amid declining human population forecast to build $12bn pet food market by 2030

In Changsha, the capital city of Hunan province, Yang has just finished his morning flute practice by the lake next to his apartment. Over his seven decades he has lived in five different housing compounds, but says this one, with its greenery and nearby high-speed rail, is the best. Yang, who declined to provide his full name, bought into the Changsha Evergrande Oasis, one of many developments in the region, for Rmb615,000 ($85,000) in 2009. A year later, after his apartment was finished, he a…

China is planning its first panda census in a decade and expects to resume the release of captive animals to their natural habitat amid hopes that conservation efforts have boosted the wild population. Chinese authorities have carried out four censuses of the wild panda population, with the latest in 2011-14 showing a population of 1,864, compared with about 1,100 in the 1980s. The next census, delayed because of the pandemic, is expected to be carried out next year. Wang Xiaojun, a senior eng…

Adidas has launched an investigation into allegations of large-scale bribery in China after the world’s second-largest sportswear maker received a whistleblower complaint that accused senior staff of embezzling “millions of euros”, people briefed on the matter told the Financial Times. The anonymous letter, which claims to have been written by “employees of Adidas China” and was also briefly shared this month on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, names several Chinese Adidas employees i…

A Chinese rival to Tesla said it was increasing investment and hiring thousands of new staff to survive a “bloody sea” of competition. He Xiaopeng, chief executive of Xpeng, said the Volkswagen-backed company would add 4,000 staff and invest Rmb3.5bn ($486mn) in autonomous driving and artificial intelligence technologies. However, Guangzhou-headquartered Xpeng “will buck the trend” during a year that was a “knockout round” for Chinese carmakers, He said in a letter to staff published by local…

With its steep red-tiled roofs, signs pointing to the Bierplatz and loudspeakers playing The Blue Danube, Taicang’s new town square feels like a version of Germany from someone’s imagination. Over three decades this city 50km from Shanghai has become a favoured place to invest for German businesses seeking growth in the world’s second-largest economy. Many are family-owned and often highly specialised Mittelstand businesses of the type that have powered German exports and built the country’s re…

Chinese pharmaceutical companies are developing domestic versions of “miracle” weight-loss drugs as they take on western drugmakers selling anti-obesity medication in one of the world’s biggest markets. Chinese drug companies hope to compete with the Danish pharma group Novo Nordisk’s pioneering drugs in China, which has the world’s largest overweight and diabetic population. If successful, they could also potentially offer a cheaper alternative in the west. The new generation of weight-loss d…

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication