☕️ Good morning, friends,

At asiabits, we’re famously big fans of cultural exchange. Still, we’re not quite sure how to classify this story:

A 50-year-old Chinese woman has married her son’s classmate from Russia, who is 20 years her junior. Now the two are expecting a child.

They do look sweet together, don’t they? 👀 Check it out for yourself…

🤝 P.S. Take a look at our Partner of the Week, Tencent. Programmers can compete for a CNY 3.6 million prize pool there.

BENCHMARKS

NUMBERS

5,000,000

This is the scale of China's AI talent shortage, with demand surging 37% over the past six months compared to last year.

2,3 billion EUR

That is Stellantis’ net loss in H1. New US tariffs and pre-tax charges weigh on results.

11,000

That’s how many YouTube channels spreading state propaganda were removed by the platform in the second quarter of this year alone—around 7,700 of which targeted China.

TOP BIT

💧 Tibet Dam: China’s New Power Plant of Superlatives

Beijing has begun constructing a massive dam on the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra. The project will cost around $170 billion and, from the 2030s onward, is expected to generate as much electricity as the entire United Kingdom consumes. India and Bangladesh fear for their water supplies, while environmental groups warn of damage to one of the most biodiverse valleys in the Himalayas.

The Details

🏗️ Scale: Five cascading power stations will together produce about 300 billion kilowatt-hours per year—three times more than the Three Gorges facility on the Yangtze.

💰 Economic Boost: Construction alone could add some $17 billion annually to China’s economy; shares of construction, cement, and tunnel-engineering firms jumped by double digits immediately.

🌊 River Course: Here, the Brahmaputra plunges nearly 2 km over just 50 km—an ideal setting for turbines, but it’s seismically active and ecologically sensitive.

🏘️ Impact On Neighbors: Estimates of potential relocations are lacking; Indian authorities warn that up to 80 percent of downstream flow could be lost through controlled releases.

🛡️ Beijing’s Pledge: The government asserts it will “respect downstream water rights” while meeting Tibet’s power needs without harming the ecosystem.

Why It Matters

• Water as a geopolitical lever: Control of the upper course determines river levels from New Delhi to Dhaka.
  

• Climate and energy: Renewable mega-projects are key to China’s CO₂ targets but may spark new environmental conflicts.
  

• Regional tension: The dam will test whether South Asian cooperation or confrontation prevails.

Background

The Yarlung Zangbo drops nearly 2,000 m in a 50 km gorge, making it one of the world’s highest untapped waterfalls.
In 2020, Beijing added the project to its Five-Year Plan, marketing it as a green flagship and part of a strategy to transmit power from water-rich western regions to industrial belts in the east.

📊 All Data & Details: Nikkei, China Daily

OUR PARTNER

🎯 Ready for the toughest AI challenge of the year?

You’ve got the skills. Tencent brings the stage.

The Tencent Advertising Algorithm Competition (TAAC) is back – and looking for the brightest minds in the game. This year’s theme, “Generative AI, Future RecSys”, isn’t about tweaking old models. It’s about reimagining the future of recommendation systems.

🧠 Your mission:

• Build a generative recommendation model based on users’ multimodal behavior – text, image, and interaction.

• Go beyond traditional frameworks and show what GenAI is really capable of.

🏆 What’s in it for you:

• RMB 3.6 million prize pool

• Guaranteed Tencent job offers for all Top 10 teams

• Internships & iPads for strong performers

📅 Register now – deadline: July 31
👉 Questions? Email [email protected]

HEAD OF THE DAY

🇲🇾 Robert Kuok

🏨 From Rice Trader to Hotel Emperor: In 1949 he began trading rice and sugar, launched Shangri-La Hotels in 1971 and built a $12.3 billion empire spanning palm oil to real estate. Now, at the age of 101, born in Johor, Malaysia, he continues to oversee his conglomerate’s expansion into new markets from Hong Kong.

👉 Lesson learned: Diversify early across industries and keep your core business front and center this builds a rock-solid foundation for lasting success.

MARKET BIT

📈 US Money Flows to Asia

Details

💴 Shopping spree in Tokyo: North American investors poured about ¥835 billion (roughly $5.6 billion) into Japanese equities in the first half of the year—four times as much as a year earlier.

🔄 Risk rotation: Uncertainty over US policy and attractive valuations are driving capital from New York to Japan.

🇨🇳 China regains appeal: In an Invesco survey, 59 % of sovereign wealth funds now rank China as a priority—15 points more than in 2024.

🤖 Tech as a magnet: Inflows are landing mostly in AI, green tech, and high-end factory stocks.

Why It Matters

• Shifting capital weights: Rising US investments in Asia weaken Wall Street’s dominance and temper the dollar’s hegemony.
  

• Boost for Tokyo reforms: Sustained inflows support stock prices and make it easier for domestic firms to finance acquisitions.
  

• Fresh funds for China’s innovators: Sovereign-fund billions are fueling AI and cleantech players despite ongoing geopolitical tensions.

👉🏻 Full story: Nikkei, China Daily

TOP READS

🤖 JD.com Bets On Robotics AI: Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com invests in three startups to advance embodied AI in robotics. Spirit AI, LimX Dynamics, and Engine AI receive funding to optimize their models, hardware, and collaborations in retail, logistics, and service sectors. Full story.

🤝 Philippines Negotiates Trade Deal with US: Philippine President Marcos meets U.S. President Trump in Washington to secure more favorable trade terms and strengthen their security alliance. The meeting takes place ahead of the introduction of 20 percent tariffs and could rival recent agreements with Vietnam and Indonesia. Full story.

🧠 China’s Brain Chip Makes History: The Beinao-1 chip let an ALS patient form sentences by thought on a computer. The tech shows high decoding accuracy, as China catches up to US pioneers like Neuralink. Up to 100 more patients will be tested. Full story.

OPTIONAL READS

Japan: Fujifilm and others build a domestic antibiotic supply chain with government subsidies. More on this.

South Korea: Economy grows by around 0.5% in Q2; exports and consumer vouchers drive the increase. More on this.

China: Unitree Robotics starts its IPO tutoring process to attract investors for humanoid robots. More on this.

FORTUNE COOKIE

🚗 Parking Penthouse: A 38-year-old Chinese man commutes 130 km weekly from Tianjin to Beijing and has slept for three years in his converted EV—complete with bed, karaoke and mini-kitchen in the trunk

Instead of high rent, he only pays for electricity and highway tolls—and the morning birdsong is free.

The only downside: bathroom breaks must be carefully planned.

But: public toilets in China are all free, unlike in Germany. Take that, Sanifair!

FEEDBACK

See you tomorrow in your inbox, 

Thomas, Michael & the Team of asiabits