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China’s national per‑capita disposable income rose 5% to 43,377 yuan in 2025, led by Shanghai, Beijing and Zhejiang, while household spending growth slowed to 4.4%. The gains are concentrated in coastal and major city provinces, and policymakers are prioritising income and job measures to revive consumption.

Li Dongsheng has handed over the TCL Technology CEO role to long‑time executive Wang Cheng, marking a deliberate shift from founder‑led management. The new leadership inherits a heavyweight industrial group with deep exposure to cyclical display and photovoltaic markets, an aggressive overseas expansion aim and a freshly announced JV to take on Sony’s TV business.

Dreame CEO Yu Hao has announced extravagant year‑end rewards—direct flights to Antarctica for top staff, a stadium concert in Suzhou instead of a company party, and one gram of gold for every employee—generating publicity and debate. The gestures highlight a broader trend among some Chinese tech founders to use spectacle and founder‑led branding as talent and marketing tools amid a challenging macro and regulatory environment.

Xibei founder Jia Guolong said he will stop cultivating a personal brand and return to frontline operations as the group forecasts more than RMB 600 million in losses and prepares to close about 30% of its stores. New investors have increased the company's registered capital modestly, signalling both concern and continued faith in the chain’s underlying assets.

Yonghui’s 2025 results reveal a RMB 2.14 billion loss and the fifth straight year of deficits after an aggressive refit programme modeled on Pangdonglai. Traffic gains from the refits have not translated into profit because Yonghui has replicated the superficial features of Pangdonglai without its deep labour, procurement and trust‑based economics, leaving the chain cash‑strained and dependent on a risky RMB 3.1 billion fundraising round.

A tentative Canada–China trade deal to cut tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in exchange for restored canola access has prompted President Trump to threaten a 100% U.S. tariff on all Canadian imports. The standoff exposes Canada’s vulnerability to U.S. leverage, China’s growing ambition in the EV market, and the broader strategic contest over trade in North America.

Jixiangju, a leading Sichuan condiment maker long expected to list, has been sold to private equity firm FountainVest in a deal transferring roughly 92% of equity and effectively ending founder Ding Wenjun’s control. The transaction lets early investors monetise and could accelerate or reshape Jixiangju’s path to a public listing while altering competitive dynamics in China’s condiment market.

Spot gold topped $5,000 per ounce for the first time on January 26, propelled by central‑bank purchases, safe‑haven flows and expectations of easier U.S. policy. Analysts see both structural and cyclical support for higher prices, though they caution that a stronger‑than‑expected U.S. economy or profit‑taking could prompt corrections.

Wang Shi, the 75‑year‑old founder of Vanke, has been compelled to rebut marital split rumours as social‑media footage and changes in joint holdings signal a decoupling from his younger partner, Tian Pujun. The personal spectacle mirrors Wang's professional decline since the 2015 Vanke power struggle and failed post‑Vanke ventures, underscoring how attention economies and generational shifts can hollow out the authority of once‑powerful business figures.

JD.com and Meituan have turned car sales into a new competitive front, reflecting a deeper battle for high-frequency user engagement in China’s instant-retail era. While both platforms see vehicle retail as an entry to lucrative aftermarket services, JD may achieve faster gains by prioritising daily-use services like shared bikes to boost app open rates rather than doubling down on selling cars or high-barrier travel businesses.

The U.S. State Department reported a January 25 call between Secretary of State Rubio and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al‑Sudani about transferring IS detainees from northeastern Syria into Iraqi custody. The talks reflect urgent security concerns after instability in Kurdish-held areas, but transfers would raise legal, logistical and geopolitical complications for Iraq and regional actors.

An eighth annual awards ceremony in a PLA Information Support Force brigade shifted honours toward technologists and systems innovators, signalling a clear institutional preference for indigenisation, experimentation and doctrinal renewal. The event and accompanying incentive mechanisms show how the PLA is rewarding risk‑taking and technical breakthroughs as it seeks to build a more resilient, modern fighting force.

Chinese universities are reframing political education to teach students how to translate national diplomacy into everyday stories and lived experience. Through fieldwork, debates and overseas internships, educators aim to produce a generation able to explain and embody China’s global role in tangible, relatable terms.

China’s 48th escort flotilla completed an underway replenishment between the replenishment ship Taihu and the destroyer Tangshan off East Africa after taking part in the “Peace Will‑2026” exercise. The operation highlights the PLAN’s growing ability to sustain long‑range deployments and maintain a persistent naval presence far from home ports.

The U.S. 2026 National Defense Strategy reorients American priorities toward securing the homeland and the Western Hemisphere, explicitly protecting strategic corridors from Greenland to the Panama Canal while urging allies to shoulder more defence responsibilities. It downplays naming China as the principal threat and omits Taiwan, opting instead for deterrence measures in the Indo‑Pacific, a stance that has unsettled European, Latin American and Asian partners.

China has introduced a J-15 variant equipped with a catapult tow bar, allowing it to launch from catapult-equipped carriers. This adaptation signals a broader move toward CATOBAR operations that could enhance payload, range and sortie rates for Chinese carrier air wings, though operational and logistical challenges remain.

Hamas’s armed wing says it has handed over all surviving Israeli detainees and the bodies it held to mediators, urging Israel to honor ceasefire commitments. Israel confirms ongoing searches for the last missing body in northern Gaza, while verification and political tensions leave the ceasefire’s durability in doubt.

Federal agents shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti in Minneapolis during a DHS operation, touching off protests and a high-profile clash between state and federal officials. Video footage that conflicts with the federal account, and the presence of thousands of federal personnel, have made the incident a flashpoint for debates over immigration enforcement, oversight and funding in Congress.

China publicly handed over 17 rescued seafarers to the Philippines, with footage highlighting the humanitarian handover. The episode underscores the potential for practical maritime cooperation to complement, but not resolve, broader territorial tensions in the South China Sea.

Zhu Xudong, founder and investment committee chair of a Shanghai industrial investment firm focused on semiconductor equipment and materials, died on 25 January 2026 at 62. His career bridged Pudong’s early development and China’s recent drive to build domestic semiconductor capability, and his death removes an experienced investor at a pivotal moment for the industry.