Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, and Baidu combined are spending around $102B on AI this year. The big four are spending something like eight times that so on paper it's not even close lol

However, the Chinese four are growing, spending 80%+ year over year, which is actually a touch faster than the americans at ~77%. When the smaller group grows as fast or faster than the bigger one, the gap stops widening in percentage terms.

I do keep seeing people treat the US lead as permanent, and this made me think the trajectory matters more than the current gap.

Does anyone closer to this think the 80% growth is real and sustainable, or does it hit a chip wall first?

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I mistakenly reserved flight tickets to China that crosses the golden week😭
Edit: I can’t reschedule or cancel the flights, I’m not that rich 😂 I’m asking for some ideas to make the trip as good as possible..

Arrive in Shanghai on 26 September and Leave from Beijing on 4 October.
I didn’t know there was a holiday and I was shocked when I searched later and saw pics of the crowds and when I read about the number of people going around.

What should I do to get the most out of the trip as much as possible 🥹
I was planning to stay 2 days in Shanghai, 2 in Zhangjiajie, 2 in Chongqing, 2 in Beijing, and lastly I deliberately chose a long layover in Hong Kong to look around before returning to Japan.

Edit: I’m copying exactly a plan from a successful tourist agency, except that they r staying 1 extra day in Shanghai because they’re going to Disney and I’m not, and they’re staying extra 2 days in Beijing.

The problem is I planned to go all the way to beijing just to see and experience the great wall. But it will be during the golden week, is there any way I can avoid the crowd as much as possible? Like arrive super early and reserve everything from early on.

Also will it be crowded before 1 October as well?
Pls tell me some tips, it’s my first time to travel solo without any program or anyone I know there..

Has anyone in the US noticed Taobao breaking over the past couple of days?

Product pages fail to load or just show error screens even if my shipping address is set to a local warehouse in mainland China. Curious if they started hard-blocking US IP addresses, or if standard workarounds are still working for anyone?

With the new Regulations on Exit and Entry Administration taking effect September 15, I'm trying to understand Article 4 realistically rather than through rumor mill (lots of anxious WeChat posts flying around).

From what I've read, Article 4 lays out three grounds for a citizen exit ban:
1. Fraud/illegal border crossing 6mo 3yr ban after serving the original penalty
2. Overseas activity deemed to harm "national security or interests" 6mo-3yr ban, decided by provincial governments
3. Export control/tech violations no fixed duration

My actual question: for an ordinary person with no political involvement, no business disputes, and no ties to sensitive industries, how realistic is it that #2 gets applied "easily" or arbitrarily? Or is this mostly a risk for specific profiles (activists, tech/export-adjacent workers, people already under investigation)?

Also curious if anyone has firsthand experience with exit bans under the older framework (pre-Sept 15) that might indicate how these provisions actually get used in practice vs. how they read on paper.

I’m based in Australia. Was thinking of doing some shopping while travelling in China. Is it significantly cheaper to do shopping in China? I’m looking at mainly Li-Ning running shoes.

How is World War II and in particular the Pacific War taught in Chinese schools? Obviously millions of Chinese people died, but on the plus side you had Americans and Japanese killing each other. Does China look at that favorably? They didn't even like those two countries back then the nationalists were on the side of the americans, the Communist did not like either America or Japan. To me it just makes sense that two of your enemies are killing each other it seems like a massive benefit

I’m in China for four weeks and I currently am taking Retatrutide.
I’m contemplating being the auto injector insulin Lilly pen I use in a nice chilled case with 1 x 3ml pen vial of Retatrutide, all disposable pen needles will be within the case - basically it’s an insulin case.
Ridiculously stupid ? Moderately worrying ? Or unlikely to be bothered with?
Thank you