China Artificial Intelligence · Full chronicle and history

In the first quarter of 2026, Xiaomi's revenue was 99.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 10.9%; adjusted net profit was 6.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year drop of 43.1%, effectively being halved.

On September 22, Li Auto released an advertisement in collaboration with actor Xie Mian. Due to its striking similarities in creativity, composition, and camera movement with Volvo's 2013 ad starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, it triggered netizens' accusations of plagiarism.

Reports on September 21 showed that the unemployment rate among non-student youth aged 16 to 24 in China rose to 18.9%, amid a continuing economic downturn. Although multiple economists have warned that AI is unlikely to drive employment, Beijing still plans to invest approximately $295 billion over the next five years to build a national data center network. Xi Jinping emphasized the importance of focusing on "hard power" rather than just GDP.

On September 21, Foreign Policy published an article pointing out that Chinese open-source models such as Qwen, owing to their low cost, local deployability, and strong support for non-Latin scripts, have significantly outperformed Meta Llama in downloads across Global South markets, creating technological dependence.

According to Bloomberg, China is planning to invest approximately $295 billion over the next five years to build a national data center network. Xi Jinping emphasized that the focus should be on "hard power" and "new quality productive forces" rather than just GDP growth. Despite warnings from multiple economists that AI is unlikely to boost employment and could weaken consumption, officials continue to push forward with the investment plan, sparking public concern over an "AI Great Leap Forward".

Public commentary points out that Chinese tech companies process data at a low cost by exploiting domestic labor, thereby enabling the distillation and application of foreign artificial intelligence models, which has sparked concerns over technological ethics and labor rights.

On September 19, Ronald Balimwezo, Mayor of Kampala, Uganda, inspected the Salaama Road drainage construction project, questioned the construction quality, and demanded that China Railway 18th Bureau demolish and rebuild it. The contractor subsequently completed the rectification.

On September 15, Tahir Imin, founder of the Uyghur Times, testified at a U.S. Congressional hearing, revealing that the media outlet had been subjected to massive traffic attacks and harassment by spoofed websites. An Anthropic report indicated that actors used Claude AI to orchestrate smear campaigns and reporting against the outlet's journalists, and exploited the vulnerabilities of the families of Uyghurs living abroad to issue threats.

On September 16, The Wall Street Journal disclosed that Zhengzhou Zhirong Network Technology Company used AI technology to organize stolen foreign government classified data and sold intelligence to the Chinese public (Public Security) organs, involving secrets of countries such as Russia, the Philippines, Pakistan, and the Vatican.

On September 5, a blogger posted a video claiming that the domestically produced C919 offered the worst flight experience they had ever had. The video was filmed in late August 2025 on China Eastern Airlines flight MU9199 from Shanghai Hongqiao to Guangzhou. The blogger stated that dizziness occurred shortly after takeoff and noted that for ordinary passengers, comfort is ultimately what matters most.

On September 14, academic anti-fraud blogger "Geng Tongxue" published a video publicly questioning two first-authored papers by Zhang Yaohua, a researcher at Peking University Third Hospital and recipient of the Overseas Outstanding Youth grant, pointing out multiple data anomalies, fixed constant conversions, and image duplications.

On September 14, a BYD employee posted on Maimai questioning the company's excessive cost reduction, revealing that body parts were switched from stainless steel to carbon steel, the material inspection department was dissolved and all materials exempted from inspection, and the review process was artificially rushed. Several self‑identified internal employees echoed in the comments and disclosed more quality control loopholes.

On September 15, netizens created a “Domestic Android Ad Nesting Simulator” webpage, turning fake close buttons, layered pop‑ups and fake downloads—common mobile ad tricks—into an interactive experience. Tests by other netizens showed that even after enduring 12 layers of ad tricks, the page could not be truly closed, repeatedly leading to inducement and mistaken downloads.

A digital blogger released a video exposing the 'quick apps' and popup ad ecosystem on Android phones, pointing out that some manufacturers and software use fake close buttons, disguise system interfaces, and induce jumps, causing elderly users unfamiliar with the operation to fall into an endless loop of 'popup‑mis‑tap‑jump'.

On September 13, a netizen discovered an elderly woman struggling with persistent pop-up ads on her domestic smartphone, which prevented her from operating the device or contacting her family. The netizen then stepped in to help her close the ads.

On September 11, Foreign Affairs magazine published an analysis stating that the artificial intelligence and robotics revolution is reshaping the global economic and geopolitical landscape. The article warns that China is leading the AI and robotics industry through state subsidies and massive domestic demand, turning it into a tool for economic dumping, geopolitical pressure, and military advantage, which may exacerbate crises in democratic countries and further consolidate authoritarian regimes.

On September 12, a blogger was live-streaming a test of Li Auto's latest smart driving system when the vehicle, despite a large vehicle passing quickly, accelerated out of a side road onto the main road at 37 km/h. The blogger narrowly avoided a collision by slamming on the brakes. The blogger later revealed that this dangerous situation had occurred multiple times, and the live stream was subsequently banned.

Anthropic released a report stating that the company discovered and banned a batch of accounts associated with local Chinese public security and state security departments. These accounts used Claude to collect information, query surveillance databases, and generate daily reports. "Teacher Li Is Not Your Teacher" was explicitly listed as one of the targets for stability maintenance and public opinion monitoring.

On September 4, astronomer Jonathan McDowell revealed that the Yaogan-50 02 satellite of China fragmented in orbit, and the US Space Force has cataloged 43 related fragments, with orbital altitudes of approximately 600 to 1100 kilometers. The satellite was launched on March 15 of this year, less than six months before this news disclosure. The National Space Administration at that time annou... #China

On August 21, economist Fu Peng stated in an interview with Phoenix Finance that the R&D expenditure of humanoid robot company UBTECH in 2025 is only 145 million yuan, far lower than that of pig farming company Muyuan Foods, which is 1.648 billion yuan. This reflects that related industries are still in a very early stage.

In 2025, Xiaomi released its highest-ever annual report since going public, with total annual revenue reaching 457.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25%; adjusted net profit was 39.2 billion yuan, up 43.8% year-on-year. Revenue from the automotive business exceeded 100 billion yuan, with a profit of 900 million yuan.

In 2023, against the backdrop of Xiaomi manufacturing cars, Lei Jun changed his dress style to a casual suit with a dark shirt and no tie, mimicking Elon Musk's image at Tesla launch events, and began discussing grand narratives such as "changing human travel."

In 2011, at the Xiaomi smartphone launch event, Lei Jun imitated Steve Jobs by wearing a black T-shirt, blue jeans, and canvas shoes, and concluded with 'One more thing,' sporting a posture and outfit highly similar to Jobs.