On September 16, European Commission President von der Leyen delivered the State of the Union address at the European Parliament, stating that the EU's trade deficit with China has reached a critical point. She announced that the EU will use all available tools to reshape its relationship with China and established the European Critical Raw Materials Board to reduce dependence on Chinese rare earths.
On September 15, Xiaohongshu released the "Community Financial Ecological Charter", prohibiting malicious bearish calls, illegal stock recommendations and other behaviors. The platform disclosed that since the beginning of the year, it has dealt with over 1.01 million violating notes, 157,000 violating accounts, and more than 4.77 million violating comments, and pledged to strengthen algorithmic self-discipline to curb extreme market sentiment.
On September 15, a netizen in Nanjing transferred travel expenses, triggering an anti-fraud warning; although he proved to auxiliary police that he was not scammed, he was still required to go to the police station for a lesson. Because he refused to go, his bank card was frozen that night by the Criminal Police Brigade of the Jiangning Branch of the Nanjing Public Security Bureau.
On September 16, Xu Huping, former director of the Nanjing Museum, was sentenced to 3 years in prison and fined 200,000 yuan for accepting bribes in engineering contracts and commercial cooperation. Previously, Xu Huping had been expelled from the Chinese Communist Party and stripped of his benefits. This ruling did not involve the illegal allocation of cultural relics.
On September 15, German Chancellor Merz criticized China at the Berlin Entrepreneurs' Conference, stating that through state intervention, overcapacity, and export subsidies, China has driven the EU's trade deficit with China to over 300 billion euros. EU leaders plan to discuss in October whether to deploy trade defense instruments.
On September 16, during Jilin University's 80th anniversary celebrations, first-year students were locked inside the central stadium for training, and the gates were closed prohibiting students from leaving to eat, causing them to be exposed to high temperatures, with some students feeling unwell. Students questioned that the school's action was to prevent freshmen from colliding with leaders or alumni vehicles.
On September 16, Ningde Times' stock price fell for two consecutive days, the decline widened to 5%, breaking below the 300 yuan threshold, down 35% from the May 7 peak, hitting a near‑year low, with total market value approaching 1.4 trillion yuan.
On September 5, netizens reported that nearly two months after the floods in Hengzhou, Guangxi, some elderly residents under the Five Guarantees system and impoverished households are still sleeping on damp floors because their beds were washed away and they received no aid. Volunteers have now launched a survey and fundraising campaign to buy folding beds, sparking public questioning of disaster relief distribution and government support capabilities.
On the morning of September 16, a landslide occurred at Dingziba in Shidaguan Village, Diexi Town, Mao County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province, blocking traffic on the K2029+200 segment of National Highway 213. The Mao County Emergency Management Bureau said that because of early warning and control, no casualties occurred.
On September 15, military media "Navy News" disclosed satellite images showing that Shanghai Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard is building a vessel suspected to be the world's first unmanned submarine mother ship, which features a dock, lift cradle and hangar, and is estimated to be able to carry about four large unmanned submarines.
On September 15, netizens discovered an anti‑abuse poster commemorating the stray dog “Wangwang” from Jieyang, Guangdong on the wall of a hotpot restaurant in Dalian, sparking attention.
On September 15, Hongmeng Smart Mobility announced that the definition, marketing and service of the Wenjie product would be taken over by Seres, with Huawei only providing empowerment. The news sparked concerns of car dealers selling off, and Seres' stock closed down 5.09% that day, after having turned from profit to loss in the first half of the year.
On September 16, netizens reported that Xiaohongshu updated its Dandelion platform rules, classifying doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and other medical workers as a sector-wide prohibited collaboration group, banning them from undertaking commercial posts for any industry, which sparked public skepticism.
Affected by low-price competition and high commission fees on e‑commerce platforms, merchants in the Hebei industrial belt have independently built a B2B platform “Hebei Involution Net”, featuring factory direct supply with no commissions, aiming to bypass intermediate platforms and connect directly with purchasers, scheduled to launch on October 1.
An employee of the milk tea shop “Yidian Dian” discovered a foreign object in the black tea, reported it to quality control and was instructed to remove it and continue using it. The employee later applied for arbitration due to an irregular labor contract, and the company sent someone to his grandparents’ home to threaten them in order to force him to give up defending his rights.
On September 15, Apple released the official version of iOS 17, which includes a new alarm feature that supports compensatory leave (tiaoxiu). Wenzhou state media "Temperature News" called this an "epic update," sparking widespread ridicule from netizens who accused Apple of compromising with China's compensatory leave system and keeping pace with the regression of the times.
It was reported on September 15 that Beijing planned to seek an extension of the US-China trade truce until the end of Trump's term ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting on September 24. However, due to China's failure to fully fulfill its rare earth export commitments, the US side was only willing to renew it for 6 months and demanded that China ease its rare earth restrictions on Japan.
On September 14, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released an investigative report, pointing out that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's London branch, under directives from headquarters, tied commercial business to national strategy, provided financing to sensitive enterprises, and bypassed compliance procedures to assist Huawei in transferring huge sums of money, reflecting the operational logic of Chinese state-owned banks where profit serves political objectives.
On September 15, a netizen discovered a sign on the street supporting the Wangwang incident and calling for anti-animal abuse legislation. The sign included messages such as "Please stop animal abuse" and "Being a minor is not a get-out-of-jail-free card for animal cruelty." After the netizen posted photos of the sign to Xiaohongshu (RedNote), the post was throttled by the platform.
On August 4, a Chinese man in his 20s was arrested for illegally filming women at a cafe in Seongdong-gu, Seoul. Police investigation revealed that he had illegally filmed a total of 27 women across various locations in Seoul. On September 9, the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office indicted the man without detention on charges of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes.
On September 12, surveillance footage from the Bao Pizza Binhe Square store in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, showed an employee sprinkling suspected dandruff and appearing to spit on food waiting to be served, raising food safety concerns.
On September 14, official media reported that the National Health Commission is revising the Blood Donation Law, proposing to raise the upper age limit for blood donation from 55 to 65 years and shorten the donation interval from 6 months to 3 months, sparking widespread online discussion and jokes.
On September 15, netizens revealed that tenants in Beijing must report new residents, and the police station is jointly conducting night checks of the floating population. Beijing police require landlords to implement “register upon arrival, deregister upon departure,” and punish landlords who fail to update information in time, while encouraging the public to report.
On September 15, a WeChat PR employee responded to privacy controversies surrounding the AI assistant "Xiaowei," denying that it peeks at chat logs, but admitting that recommendations are made based on user interaction data. Earlier updates to WeChat's privacy policy showed that using Xiaowei collects user input and information viewed within the scenario.
On September 15, the Jinan Intermediate People's Court in Shandong Province delivered a first-instance verdict, sentencing Bi Jingquan to 14 years in prison and a fine of 5 million yuan for accepting bribes totaling over 57.42 million yuan between 1995 and 2025 by abusing his official positions. Bi Jingquan previously served as Deputy Secretary-General of the State Council and Director of the State Food and Drug Administration.
On September 13, netizens reported that small transfers triggered AI anti-fraud warnings from Anxun Technology, leading Guangdong police to summon them to local stations for 'propaganda' sessions. Anxun Technology's official website states that its system can convert warnings into precise operational instructions and establish a dynamic control system for high-risk individuals. Multiple netizens reported being visited by police to have their phones checked, being forced to record propaganda videos, or being forcibly summoned simply for small transfers or receiving private messages.
On September 14, customers at the Huanle Aijia Supermarket in Zhumadian, Henan, protested over restrictions on the use of stored-value cards. Chairman Wang Haizhou appeared on-site, promising that the company's assets were sufficient to cover its debts and pledging to announce a solution by November 6.
On August 29, the semi-annual report of China State Construction Engineering Corporation showed that its accounts payable exceeded 1.1 trillion yuan, with nearly 300 billion yuan overdue for more than a year. The company admitted to extending payment cycles for subcontracted projects, despite holding 395.1 billion yuan in cash and cash equivalents. On September 10, the State Council required state-owned enterprises to take the lead in making timely payments, focusing on large enterprises that have sufficient cash but still delay payments.
On September 7, netizens reported on social media that the application process for fresh graduate subsidies in Hangzhou has been obstructed, affecting their job hunting and resignation plans. The comment section sparked discussions on how subsidy policies lead companies to suppress wages and include subsidies as part of employee benefits. Some netizens believe that the cancellation of subsidies might force companies to improve working hour systems, while others call for fighting for both subsidies and the right to a two-day weekend.
On September 15, Reuters reported that China's vehicle manufacturing profit margin has fallen to 1.5%, a ten-year low. Despite a 9.13% increase in revenue in the first half of the year, GAC Group reported a net loss of 4.467 billion yuan. On September 14, GAC announced plans to acquire equity in a joint-venture automaker under FAW Group; market speculation suggests the target may be FAW Toyota, aiming to promote the integration of northern and southern Toyota operations.
During the Beijing Xiangshan Forum on September 15, US scholar David Finkelstein pointed out that US policy toward Taiwan is constrained by Congress, while former Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai claimed that China acts according to law. Finkelstein quipped that the National People's Congress of China has stricter discipline, to which Fudan scholar Wu Xinbo responded that China is more united and warned the US side to be careful.
On September 12, Inner Mongolia University of Technology held a special job fair for central and state-owned enterprises, attracting a large number of students. The crowded scene reflects the current severe employment situation.
On September 15, the 13th Beijing Xiangshan Forum opened in Beijing. According to sources familiar with Japan-China relations, researchers from the National Institute for Defense Studies of the Japanese Ministry of Defense and Japanese military attachés in China were not invited, while former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who left office 16 years ago, was invited to attend.
On Sep 13, an interview featuring Zhao Hong, a professor at Peking University Law School, sparked heated debate after she stated that drug use is a form of self-harm and that cyberbullying reflects inadequate legal popularization. On Sep 15, netizens dug up multiple violent crime cases from the 1990s caused by drug use, questioning whether her remarks were detached from reality.
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.
A Russian drone hit a passenger bus and a train in southern Ukraine, killing 5 people and injuring 7, with another train damaged; the Ukrainian side condemned the act as systematic killing of civilians.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill with 262 votes in favor and 159 against, authorizing the imposition of tariffs on countries that are top purchasers of Russian energy. These countries could face tariffs of up to 100 percent. The bill was introduced by the Republican Party, with 58 Democratic representatives supporting it and 7 Republican representatives voting against it. After passing, the bill was sent to the White House and still requires the President's signature. The relevant measures affect countries that purchase Russian energy, such as China and India.
At 11:00 AM on September 16, 2026, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee announced the first five-year plan in Hong Kong's history at the Legislative Council. The plan consists of 7 parts and 28 chapters, totaling over 60,000 words, and proposes 22 major indicators, 5 of which are binding. The plan covers targets such as land supply in the Northern Metropolis, innovation activities, industrial development, students, and tourists, requiring relevant indicators to be completed as scheduled.
Prosecutors presented internal emails, flight records, and surveillance footage, accusing Huawei employee Adam Zhong of attempting to obtain T-Mobile test robot parts and take photos.
Multiple incidents of overseas citizens' passports being secretly withheld or even torn up have been publicly exposed, overseas returnees generally face prisoner-like telephone interrogations, and even while still abroad they are required to report real-time addresses and other personal information, showing that the relevant parties do not intend to let Chinese people roam freely in order to lock down civilian consumption and labor trends.
Ruoyu Duan, an Oregon resident who formerly served in the US Army, pleaded guilty on September 16 to charges of conspiracy to gather and transmit national defense information. Between 2021 and 2025, he conspired with others to collect sensitive military information related to US military combat capabilities, including weapon system information, and transferred it to individuals within China.
The Federal Reserve announced a 25 basis point rate hike on September 16, pushing the federal funds rate to a range of 3.75% to 4%, marking the first rate hike since July 2023.
Bloomberg revealed that Central Office Director Cai Qi is personally reviewing the list of accompanying business magnates, including BYD's Wang Chuanfu, and has set multiple strict screening criteria.
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 15, the day the new entry and exit regulations came into effect, some netizens reported that a certain unit required all its employees, both permanent and contract, to hand over their passports and Hong Kong/Macau travel permits to the HR department for registration. Netizens in the comment section reported similar confiscation of documents by units in many places, and that entry and exit records would be checked irregularly.
On September 14, a Chinese man named Wei Shang, suspected of hunting and eating a hawksbill turtle—a critically endangered nationally protected species—in the Raja Ampat marine protected area in Indonesia, was intercepted by immigration authorities in Makassar while preparing to leave the country. Previously, a local indigenous patrol team submitted a report, and widely circulated online videos showed him hunting a hawksbill turtle with a speargun and cooking and eating it.
On September 15, multiple migrant workers from Henan Xiayu Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. wore reflective vests with slogans demanding unpaid wages and collectively protested for their rights for the fifteenth consecutive day at the project department entrance.
On September 15, Taiwan's Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung confirmed in an exclusive interview that Taiwan is preparing to establish an additional office in Cebu, Philippines, and that the preparatory work is progressing smoothly. He stated that Taiwan and the Philippines are both located in the first island chain and are both oppressed by China; the new office will serve more people, promote a Taiwan-Philippines economic corridor, and deepen economic, trade, and personnel exchanges between the two sides.
On September 14, multiple workers from Guangdong Zhengye Construction, the general contractor for the New World Four Seasons Mountain and Water project in Guangzhou, Guangdong, sat on mats outside the construction site gate to demand unpaid wages. Several security personnel were present, on alert.
On September 15, the Qingyuan campus of Guangdong Nanhua Business and Technical College delayed wages for migrant workers, prompting many workers to go to the school gate, hold a banner protest and demand their pay.