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In China, marriage and birth rates have hit record lows and many people are living in isolation. Is the Are You Dead? app just a practical response to this – or something more troubling?
A few days before Christmas, after a short battle with illness, a woman in Shanghai called Jiang Ting died. For years, the 46-year-old had lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Hongkou, a residential neighbourhood that sits along the Huangpu River. Neighbours described her as quiet. “She rarely chats with people. We only see her when she goes to and from work, and occasionally when she comes out to pick up takeout,” said a local resident . Her parents long deceased, Jiang had no partner or children to inherit her estate. Her lonely death sparked a debate in Chinese media about how society should handle the .
For Xiong Sisi, also a professional in her 40s living alone in Shanghai, the news triggered uncomfortable feelings. “I truly worry that, after I die, no one will collect my body. I don’t care how I’m buried, but if I rot there, it’s bad for the house,” she says.

Intended as China’s version of Dubai’s palm-shaped artificial island, Ocean Flower Island is a $12 billion monument to debt-fueled economic excess.

Claims of ‘government interference’ in decision on plans for vast outpost near Tower of London
Residents of Royal Mint Court plan to mount a legal challenge within weeks if Steve Reed, the local government secretary, approves China’s plans to build a vast new embassy at the site by the Tower of London on Tuesday.
Mark Nygate, the treasurer of the local Royal Mint Court Residents’ Association, said people living near the proposed development had concerns about “government interference in what is supposed to be an independent process”.

Number of high-spending Chinese tourists visiting Japan halved last month after PM said an invasion of Taiwan could spark Japanese military involvement
Chinese tourism to Japan almost halved in December amid a bitter diplomatic row between Beijing and Tokyo over the security of .
The number of tourists from mainland dropped by about 45% from the same month a year earlier to about 330,000, Japan’s transport ministry said on Tuesday.

A decision on China’s controversial mega-embassy in London is imminent, with Chinese officials and British diplomats in Beijing anxiously awaiting the outcome of a planning application that could soon be approved. MPs from across the political spectrum have condemned the proposal, but UK security services say they can contain the , which sits close to sensitive data cables linking to the City of London

Fourth year of decline deepens concerns over ageing, shrinking workforce and long-term economic impact
China’s population fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2025 as the birthrate plunged to another record low despite the introduction of polices aimed at encouraging people to have children.
Registered births dropped to 7.92 million in 2025 – or 5.63 for every 1,000 members of the population – down 17% from 9.54 million in 2024, and the lowest since records began in 1949.

The blast caused noticeable tremors in the area and sent large plumes of smoke into the sky.

Beijing has been trying hard to encourage more young people to marry and have children.

Economy weathered a fraught geopolitical landscape to reach 5% goal but domestic structural challenges ‘not going away’, say experts


China has said its economy grew 5% last year, hitting Beijing’s official target as the world’s second-largest economy overcame Donald Trump’s tariff war with a record trade surplus.
Data released on Monday by Beijing’s National Bureau of Statistics showed the Chinese economy hit the official target of “around” 5% – the – despite a slowdown to 4.5% in the final three months of the year.

Decision expected on Monday or Tuesday, potentially smoothing relations before Keir Starmer’s visit to China

A decision on China’s proposed mega embassy in London is expected on Monday or Tuesday, with Chinese officials and British diplomats in Beijing holding their breath in anticipation of the planning application finally being approved.
The saga, which has been running since 2018, is widely expected to end with the British government giving the green light for construction. If it does, one group likely to be grateful is those who work in the British embassy’s dilapidated building in Beijing. The UK’s plans to redevelop its outpost in China’s capital have been by the Chinese government because of the London embassy row.

The author has been explaining Sichuan cuisine to westerners for decades. But ‘Fu Xia’, as she’s known, has had a profound effect on food lovers in China, too
By Leslie T Chang. Read by Ginnia Cheng