Major investment banks raise 2025 China economic growth forecasts | News from Xinhua

05-29, 2025

Leading financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley, have recently raised their forecasts concerning China's GDP growth in 2025, given that China's pro-growth policies are helping the Chinese economy maintain its growth momentum, while recent China-U.S. trade talks in Geneva have also yielded substantive results.Goldman Sachs released a research report on May 13, in which it decided to raise its forecast for China's GDP growth in 2025 by 0.6 percentage points, elevating it from 4 percent to 4.6 percent."We are raising our forecasts for China's 2025 export value growth to 0 from -5 percent previously," said Shan Hui, chief China economist at Goldman Sachs. Accordingly, within the GDP breakdown by the expenditure approach, Goldman Sachs raised the net export contribution to China's GDP growth prediction from -0.5 percentage points to 0.1 percentage points.Nomura, meanwhile, also increased China's GDP growth forecast in a report released on May 19. According to the report, the easing of trade tensions between China and the U.S. is a material positive for China's economy, especially for Q2, as exporters might try to front-load their shipments before the 90-day tariff pause ends. In addition, retail sales in China produced a robust performance in Q1 with the support of its expanded trade-in program.Notably, China's National Bureau of Statistics revealed that retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of the country's consumption strength, had expanded 5.1 percent year on year in China in April."As such, we have raised our Q2 GDP growth forecast from 3.7 percent year on year to 4.8 percent, and slightly raised both Q3 and Q4 growth forecasts from 3.6 percent to 4 percent. For the entire year, we have increased our GDP growth forecast to 4.5 percent year on year from 4 percent," said Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura.J.P. Morgan revised China's GDP growth forecast to 4.8 percent year on year from 4.1 percent. Zhu Haibin, chief China economist at J.P. Morgan, cited a slew of pro-growth measures as major contributors to sound economic growth amid trade headwinds."Since the end of September last year, China has witnessed the most profound and extensive policy adjustment in recent years," Zhu said, adding that China has proposed a raft of more proactive fiscal policy measures this year, including setting the deficit-to-GDP ratio at around 4 percent and issuing more government bonds to shore up the economy.Morgan Stanley raised China's GDP growth forecast by 0.3 percentage points to 4.5 percent, citing improving household and public consumption in China in 2025.According to Xing Ziqiang, chief China economist at Morgan Stanley, the key driver of personal consumption growth will likely be the consumption goods trade-in program, with coverage expanded to include less-durable goods. He added that public consumption growth is also expected to rise thanks to the government debt swap program."AI breakthroughs this year have reminded the market about China's often-overlooked supply chain and innovation strength abundance, supported by a robust ecosystem that integrates infrastructure, data, talent and energy. We believe the AI revolution will give a boost to China's potential GDP over the medium term by generating more labor equivalent value," said Xing.Financial institutions, including Standard Chartered and UBS, have also published views that the Chinese economy had displayed strong resilience amid uncertainties -- with helpful fiscal and monetary policies taking effect."Data showed strong growth in retail sales of goods subsidized as part of the government's consumer goods trade-in program and solid expansion in infrastructure and manufacturing investment, supported by frontloaded government bond issuance. These factors likely will remain supportive for growth in Q2," read a Standard Chartered report released on May 21.Thomas Fang, head of China global markets at UBS, said this basket of government policies has sent a strong signal to stabilize growth, injecting solid and predictable confidence into the real economy and capital market.Moreover, several high-profile bankers have visited China recently, including Chair of Citigroup John Dugan and CEO of Carlyle Group Harvey Schwartz. They have expressed optimism about the prospects of China's economic development and willingness to commit to long-term cooperation with China. Notice:The above content is transformed from Xinhua, just for information sharing.We respect your intellectual property right and your other lawful rights. As any content here infringes any of your lawful rights, please contact us, and we will delete related content.

Xi Focus: Fortifying the backbone of manufacturing through innovation | News from Xinhua

05-23, 2025

From an era when even basic necessities like matches and soap had to be imported, China has transformed into the world's largest manufacturing powerhouse with the most comprehensive range of industrial sectors."China has always adhered to the path of developing the real economy... which has proven to be the right path," President Xi Jinping said during his inspection tour of the Luoyang Bearing Group Co., Ltd. in Henan Province this week.As the backbone of China's manufacturing prowess, traditional manufacturing is critical for stabilizing employment and fiscal revenue and maintaining international competitiveness.Today, the value-added output of traditional industries, including steel, non-ferrous metals, machinery and textiles, accounts for nearly 80 percent of the manufacturing sector's total.Building a stronger manufacturing sector has been high on the agenda of Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.By underscoring the significance of technology and innovation, he has spearheaded sweeping efforts to transform and upgrade the country's manufacturing sector, a key step in advancing the country's high-quality development and modernization amid global economic uncertainties.During his domestic inspections in recent years, Xi has always visited enterprises and factories. He inspects production lines, engages in conversations with frontline workers, and gains a firsthand understanding of the products and the progress made in transformation and upgrading.For instance, in January 2025, while inspecting a cold rolling mill of Bensteel Group in Liaoning Province, Xi visited the enterprise's control center to check the operation of the centralized control intelligent system. He said that the manufacturing sector should continue to pursue higher standards, smarter operations and more eco-friendly development, and make more technology-intensive products with higher added value.Since introducing the concept of new quality productive forces in 2023, Xi has consistently highlighted that traditional industries are the cornerstone for developing these advanced productive capabilities.During a deliberation at the annual national legislative session last year, Xi noted that developing new quality productive forces "does not mean neglecting or abandoning traditional industries."This point was further reinforced in May last year when he visited Shandong Province and commended Rizhao Port for its successful transformation from a traditional port into a modern one. "The port has not only achieved top-tier cargo throughput nationwide but has also gained valuable insights into fostering new quality productive forces through the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries," he said.Guided by his vision, China has made great strides in speeding up the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries particularly through digital empowerment and green transitions.Technologies like industrial internet, 5G, and AI have been extensively applied in traditional industries. In 2024, investment in technological upgrades in the manufacturing sector increased by 8 percent year on year, outpacing the overall investment growth.In key energy-consuming industries such as chemicals, building materials, steel, and non-ferrous metals, energy consumption per unit of value-added output fell in 2024 from the previous year.To realize Chinese modernization, consolidating the country's industrial strengths has become increasingly vital. Traditional industries are now being urged to move up the value chain, sustaining scale while improving quality.A prime example is the Luoyang Bearing Group Co., Ltd., which has leveraged innovation to achieve breakthroughs in key technologies. High-end bearings now account for 70 percent of its total output value.China must continue to strengthen the manufacturing sector, adhere to the principles of building self-reliance and strength... and cultivate a robust pool of high-quality talent to advance Chinese modernization, Xi noted during his visit to the company."Innovation is the lifeblood of manufacturing, which means mastering core technologies in key fields," Xi said. Notice:The above content is transformed from Xinhua, just for information sharing. We respect your intellectual property right and your other lawful rights. As any content here infringes any of your lawful rights, please contact us, and we will delete related content.

Longgang District of Shenzhen held the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Development Conference

05-22, 2025

Longgang District of Shenzhen held the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Development Conference on May 21. At the conference, Artificial Intelligence (Robotics) Office of Longgang District was inaugurated, which would be the first government office in China that keeps committed to the artificial intelligence and robotics sectors.Longgang District is one of the districts in Shenzhen that gathers various clusters of artificial intelligence enterprises. Over 300 enterprises in the industrial chain are located here, while over 28 artificial intelligence innovation platforms at national, provincial, municipal and district levels, are established here. The district boasts a mighty and solid foundation for the artificial intelligence development.Over the past year, the district establishes the factor-guaranteed mechanism covering the political support, funds, computing power, data, innovation, talents and industrial space, while making every effort to push the development of artificial intelligence industry.Longgang District would strive to carry out the “All in AI” strategy and try to become a birthplace and incubator of new-quality productive forces, with the efforts made to the various aspects, like the top-level design, scientific and technological innovation, scenario application, industrial ecology, talents selection and employment, basic education.The Artificial Intelligence (Robotics) Office of Longgang District inaugurated at the conference, would take charge of the development planning, ecological construction, investment promotion, enterprise services, scenario promotion, safety management, and other works regarding the artificial intelligence and robotics sectors. It would further enhance the guarantee mechanisms for the development of the artificial intelligence and robotics.Besides at the conference were Longgang District Three-Year Plan for Accelerating the Establishment of “AI Longgang” (2025-2027) and Longgang District Three-Year Plan for Developing into a Demonstration District Being Friendly to Embodied Intelligent Robots (2025-2027) released.The People’s Government of Longgang District plans to input 10-billion-yuan-worth orders into the government-invested sectors, such as hospitals, schools, state-owned enterprises, during the upcoming three years, so as to support enterprises’ new AI technologies, products and services through a market-oriented way.Longgang District would rely on Shenzhen (Eastern) Public Artificial Intelligence Service Platform to establish a distributed network of “local + introduced” computing power. And, the district would strive to guarantee commercial and quality computing power for the enterprises, by means of renting and purchasing computing power, seeking cooperation, etc.The district plans to achieve in-depth application of global AI technologies to over 80% of the major industries and establish a nation-level source-open AI community by 2027, carrying out 100 model projects of space-and time-thorough AI application, reaching a over 100 billion yuan’s worth of the industry, and bringing over 1000 robots into application. The district aims to be the nation’s advanced and robot-friendly place where human beings and robots could co-exist harmoniously.The district plans to build a pilot robots’ theater and a pilot robot-themed block, establish six public innovation-powered platforms, and create a variety of model application scenarios. It would accelerate to introduce embodied intelligent robots and the key technologies to the sectors, such as public security, city management, civil service.Longgang District would cooperate with CSDN-- China’s largest IT technology community and service platform, in establishing the “application scenario releasing platform”, to timely publicize Longgang District’s demands for application scenarios, the relevant activities, the application cases and the like , so as to more efficiently have exchanges on the demands and the supplies, and to more concisely match the application scenarios. Longgang District would also enhance the talent cultivation and development, through vigorously introducing world specialized and innovative talents and talent teams, supporting higher-education institutions in setting up embodied intelligent robot and the related majors, and encouraging the enterprises, universities and colleges, and scientific&research institutions to cooperatively develop embodied-intelligent-robot engineers.At the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Development Conference, Longgang District launched the global recruitment programme for hiring AI principals for the primary and secondary schools. “In the future, almost every industry and sector need being integrated with AI. The application of AI in the schools could help to sow the seeds of AI in the students’ heart. That benefits students’ further development.”In the next stage, Longgang District would continuously grasp every change and opportunity to develop artificial intelligence industry and robotic industry, to speed up the development towards a demonstration district for the space- and time-thorough artificial intelligence application, and to be a modern, interesting, business-favorable, livable and quality place.Reference: People Daily OnlineNotice: we respect your intellectual property right and your other lawful rights. As any content here infringes any of your lawful rights, please contact us, and we will delete related content.

Some figures about the May Day holiday

05-06, 2025

During the 5-day May Day holiday, China recorded 314 million domestic trips, marking an increase of 6.4% from the previous year, with the tourism spending up 8.0% year on year to 180.269 billion yuan, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.Guangdong Province received estimated 46.082 million visitors during the holiday spanning from May 1 to 5, which increased by 18.7% year on year. The tourism revenue was estimated to hit 29.5 billion yuan, up 20.3% year on year.

China adopts law dedicated to promoting private sector | News from Xinhua

04-30, 2025

China's national lawmakers on Wednesday voted to adopt the country's first fundamental law dedicated to promoting the private sector, underscoring support for a key part of the world's second-largest economy.The private sector promotion law, passed at a session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, will take effect on May 20, 2025.Notice: the content above is transferred from Xinhua, just for information sharing.We respect your intellectual property right and your other lawful rights. As any content here violates any of your lawful rights, please contact us, and we will delete related content.

Inaugural Joint MED Symposium held at CUHK-Shenzhen

04-23, 2025

Recently, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen) , hosted Inaugural Joint MED Symposium, at SIN Wai Kin International Conference Center and Clinical Training Base, of CUHK-Shenzhen.Centered on “medical education” “bio-medicine” and “clinical science”, the Symposium is aimed at inspiring the next generation of medical power, bringing brand-new insights into the complication of various illnesses, promoting the exchange of ideas and proposing potential treatment strategies.Zhao Weiren, dean of Faculty of Medicine of CUHK, and Zheng Zhongxuan, dean of School of Medicine of CUHK-Shenzhen, co-chaired the Symposium. Certain foreign and domestic specialists and scholars in clinical medicine and biomedicine took part in the one-and-a-half-day Symposium, giving their speeches and sharing their opinions on the topics like tumour biology, interdisciplinary medicine, medical education, pharmacology, clinical medicine.Zhao Weiren, an academician of Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and dean of Faculty of Medicine of CUHK, gave his speech online during the Symposium, expressing the holding of the Symposium symbolizes the firm progress that CUHK and CUHK-Shenzhen have made in medical education and sci-tech cooperation. Holding the same desire to advance medical education, the two universities would persistently be cooperative and innovative to empower medical career with science and technology, creating a new chapter in the medical cause of human beings, Zhao added.Zheng Zhongxuan, an academician of Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) and founder&dean of School of Medicine of CUHK-Shenzhen, stressed that the inaugural symposium was of great significance, showing the resolution of the two universities in advancing medical education. The Symposium was in a special academic atmosphere as taking place on the campus of CUHK-Shenzhen and its clinical training base, Zheng expressed.What’s more, during the Symposium, Artificial Intelligence ICU Center for Advanced Research and Education (AiCARE) was inaugurated. The Center attaches great importance to the integration of advanced medicine with humanistic care and is committed to being a globally-prime example in lifelong health sector. It strives to apply artificial intelligence to the clinical research, medical education and international cooperation, as well as restructuring ICU system in an innovative way.The attendees of the Symposium, together with medical students of CUHK-Shenzhen, visited Clinical Training Base under School of Medicine of CUHK-Shenzhen, having further insights into the teaching facilities and resources.Notice: The pictures above are from the official website of CUHK-Shenzhen.Some information in the above content is sourced from the official website of CUHK-Shenzhen.We respect your intellectual property right and your other lawful rights. As any content here violates any of your lawful rights, please contact us, and we will delete related content.

Guangdong’s imports and exports hit 2.14 trillion yuan in Q1

04-23, 2025

In the first quarter of this year, Guangdong Province in South China recorded a total import and export volume of 2.14 trillion yuan, which surged by 4.2% from the first quarter of last year, 2.9% higher than the nation’s average. Specifically, the exports stood at 1.34 trillion yuan, up 1.4% year on year, while the imports reached 798.15 billion yuan, up 9.3% year on year.

FAIR plus 2025 is scheduled for April 24-26

04-23, 2025

The first Fair of AI and Robotics, plus (simply “FAIR plus”) is due to take place at Shenzhen Convention&Exhibition Center, from April 24 to 26.FAIR plus 2025 is organized by Shenzhen Robotics Association (SRA), under the guidance of Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). It is aimed at exploring and displaying the city’s and even global achievements in robotics field, enhancing the city’s advantages in robotic industry, and promoting the nation’s improvement in the development of robotic-industry-related facilities and intelligent manufacturing.At the opening ceremony of FAIR plus 2025, SIAT together with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) -- China, would host “Forums on Embodied Intelligence Studies and the Advanced Technologies”. Over 20 Chinese and overseas specialists, academicians and representatives of enterprises and organizations, would participate in the forums, characterized by a great variety of activities, including themed speeches, high-level dialogues, on the key academic topics and industrial application of embodied intelligence. And, 2024 White Paper on the Development of Shenzhen’s Robotic Industry would also be released during the forums. It is the 10th one in the series, about the policy-favored development of Shenzhen’s robot industry.180 robotic enterprises would exhibit their products during FAIR plus 2025. SIAT would also spare an exhibition area for displaying “AI+ robot”-related achievements. It is also introduced that over 300 purchasers from every corner of the world are invited to the fair.

China’s GDP hit 31875.8 billion yuan in Q1

04-18, 2025

The nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of this year reached 31875.8 billion yuan, surging by 5.4% on a year-on-year basis and by 1.2% on a quarter-on-quarter basis, according to the data from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).The production and supply expanded at a greater speed. In the first quarter, the nation’s agriculture (farming) saw the added value increase by 4.0% year on year. The added value of the nation’s above-designated-size industrial enterprises (each of whom could generate a yearly business revenue of no less than 20 million yuan) grew by 6.5% year on year, up 0.7% from last year. The service sector recorded the added value with a year-on-year growth of 5.3%, up 0.3% from last year.Market sales showed an accelerated rebound. In the first quarter, the nation’s retail sales of consumer goods totaled 12467.1 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 4.6%, up 1.1% from last year. The consumer goods trade-in policies continued to play its role. The retail sales of communication apparatus rose by 26.9%, that of cultural and office supplies rose by 21.7%, that of domestic appliances and audiovisual equipment rose by 19.3%, and that of furniture rose by 18.1%.The investment in fixed assets represented stable expansion. In the first quarter, the nation’s fixed assets investment (excluding that from agricultural sector) stood at 10317.4 billion yuan, showing a year-on-year growth of 4.2%, up 1.0% from last year. The investment in fixed assets (excluding that in real estate) increased by 8.3%.The employment kept stable. In the first quarter, the nation’s unemployment rate averaged 5.3%. March saw a monthly decrease of 0.2% in the unemployment rate, which stood at 5.2%.Resident income increased stably. In the first quarter, the nation’s disposable income per capita hit 12179 yuan, increasing by 5.5%. Without regard to price factors, the nation’s disposable income per capita increased by 5.6%.