As Beijing pushes to develop its AI industry, a business report released by the listed Chinese company Chinese Online (中文在线) has drawn attention to how the country’s AI computing resources are being used. According to the report, 55 percent of AI tokens consumed in China go to short dramas and video generation, 24 percent to e-commerce advertising, and only 15 percent to research and development. The figures have fueled public debate over whether more than half of China’s computing power is being used to churn out “feel-good” dramas.

The data comes from the company’s investor relations activity record. It shows that token consumption for AI short dramas and video generation is more than double that of software development. Chinese Online said the heavy usage stems from the fact that short dramas demand extremely fast video generation and token turnover.

Commentators have questioned whether directing so much computing power toward a single content format is an efficient path for deploying the technology or a collective drain caused by overcapacity.

A report on AI-driven global micro-drama development, jointly released by a research center under China’s National Radio and Television Administration and other bodies, found that the global micro-drama market entered a boom phase in 2025. Its total size approached US$18 billion, with China accounting for more than US$14 billion, or 77.78 percent. Separate data shows 430,000 micro-dramas went online in China from January to August this year, 13 times the total for all of 2025.

Reports note that AI-generated live-action dramas typically consume two to three times as many tokens as AI animated series because of stricter visual requirements. Production teams also repeatedly generate and screen footage to meet directors’ demands for narrative and camera work, which drives consumption higher.

Not everyone agrees with the characterization. Liu Xing, public relations head for ByteDance’s AI platform Doubao, said only about 10 percent of the company’s total computing power goes to training and running video generation models.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), October 20, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202610200105.aspx

Zhou Xiaochuan, former governor of the People’s Bank of China, said on October 20 that while several major directions could help AI applications boost productivity, they also entail risk. Speaking at a roundtable at the 2026 Bund Summit on AI and the productivity revolution, he noted that heavy investment is flowing into data center construction, but it is uncertain how far future large AI models and applications will depend on data center computing power.

Zhou divided AI-related investment into three categories: large models along with the computing power and data centers used to train them; AI applications, which China is paying closer attention to; and supporting industries such as semiconductors, electricity and liquid cooling. He considered the third category safe, since AI development will require water and electricity regardless of how it unfolds.

He said productivity gains would come mainly from the application layer, citing lightweight models that shrink large models for use in cars, laptops and smartphones, and distillation. Although some worry distillation infringes intellectual property, Zhou argued it represents an upgrade in intelligence, building on existing knowledge, and could bring investors generous returns. He also named model iteration, AI-related semiconductors and large simulation models as other developments.

On international cooperation, Zhou said rapid change makes governance frameworks difficult, but at least three steps are feasible: restricting military uses, combating hackers and fraudsters, and protecting personal privacy. Effects on employment, income distribution and social structure remain at the observation stage, with no consensus yet.

On finance, Zhou urged letting price mechanisms respond to shifting global supply and demand rather than relying excessively on administrative measures. He also warned that if some of the enormous sums flowing into AI and related infrastructure fail, financial turbulence or crisis could follow, requiring large-scale economic support and rescues of some financial institutions. He called for research and contingency planning, with suitable tools stored in the policy toolbox.

Source: Yicai.com, October 21, 2026
https://www.yicai.com/news/103401935.html

Office vacancy rates in China are rising as foreign companies pull out and domestic firms scale back their leased space. According to a second-quarter comparison by Japanese real estate services firm CBRE of 20 cities worldwide, Shanghai topped the list with a vacancy rate of 24.5 percent, while Beijing ranked eighth at 17.9 percent.

Citing Nikkei Chinese, the report said Shanghai’s vacancy rate has risen 5.1 percentage points since the fourth quarter of 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak. That was the steepest increase among major global cities, compared with 3.8 points in New York, 0.7 points in Tokyo and 2.6 points in London.

One factor is foreign divestment. Data from China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed net foreign direct investment inflows of US$26.6 billion in the second quarter, down 23 percent from the first quarter. Beyond Western firms, some Japanese companies have also reduced investment in China amid worsening China-Japan relations.

Shanghai’s Lujiazui financial district still glitters at night when viewed from the Bund. However, a Chinese social media influencer recently exposed the reality of lights left on for appearances. Visiting an office tower near the Oriental Pearl Tower at night, his video showed at least five empty offices with lights on only near the windows.

The problem has spread inland. In Chongqing, one vacant office of roughly 200 square meters had a partly collapsed floor and cables hanging from the ceiling, with the name of its last tenant still on the door. A notice outside advertised only a “discounted price,” with no figure given, and said the rent was negotiable.

Most Chinese office buildings are owned by state-owned enterprises, so vacancies do not immediately hurt their finances. But rising vacancies in their high-yield properties and oversupply would push rents down, putting pressure on privately owned offices. Caixin recently reported that a 20 percent vacancy rate is widely seen as the “red line” for urban office oversupply.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), October 20, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202610200318.aspx

As China’s birth rate hits repeated record lows and its population ages at an accelerating pace, official statistics show that Beijing’s share of residents aged 60 and over will exceed 33 percent by 2035, pushing the capital into the category of a severely aged society.

Citing official data, the Beijing Daily reported that by the end of 2025, the city had 5.288 million permanent residents aged 60 or older, accounting for 24.3 percent of its permanent population. That means roughly one in four residents is elderly, placing Beijing in the category of a moderately aged society.

The proportion has been climbing steadily. It stood at 22.6 percent at the end of 2023 and rose to 23.5 percent by the end of 2024. Officials project that by 2035, about one in three Beijing residents will be a senior citizen.

To cope with the demographic shift, the municipal government says it has continued to strengthen its elderly care security system. The basic pension standard for city residents has been raised year after year, benefiting a cumulative total of 1 million older people.

Authorities have also established and refined a system of elderly care service allowances and subsidies. In 2025, the city distributed approximately 3.51 billion yuan (about US$493 million) in such payments, covering around 11.958 million person-times of elderly residents, including those in financial difficulty, those with dementia and the very elderly.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), October 19, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202610190113.aspx

China plans to recruit 35,691 people in its 2027 national civil service exam, 2,428 fewer than last year and the second consecutive annual reduction. Tax authorities account for 24,013 of the openings, or 67.28 percent of the total, according to figures compiled by the exam-training firm Offcn. Registration opened October 15, and about 218,400 people had signed up by that evening.

Some provinces are bucking the national trend. Yunnan’s tax bureau raised its quota from 1,000 to 1,400, a 40 percent increase, and Hubei’s rose from 1,200 to 1,300, while Tianjin’s fell from 240 to 100. Some tax bodies are also hiring contract staff, such as a Guangzhou district center seeking two assistants with accounting or tax backgrounds.

Shandong-based finance scholar Si Ling told Radio Free Asia that the shrinking intake reflects deteriorating government finances and an effort to streamline the bureaucracy. He argued that the growing tax share signals tougher tax collection and auditing next year.

A Shandong man named Han, who formerly worked in the state system, said many local governments are heavily indebted and will have to raise money from ordinary people. He noted that individual income above 5,000 yuan ($704) a month is taxed. A retired Guangzhou resident surnamed Lu said retired civil servants often receive 7,000 to 8,000 yuan ($986 to $1,127) a month, and section-level officials over 10,000 yuan ($1,408). He said one neighboring couple receives a combined 30,000 yuan ($4,225), versus about 3,000 yuan ($423) for ordinary pensioners. He argued that hiring more tax staff will not fix the budget shortfall.

Tax revenue in 2025 was 17.64 trillion yuan ($2.48 trillion), up 0.8 percent. RFA estimated that 24,000 new tax staff, at 125,000 yuan ($17,606) each per year in pay and benefits, would cost about 3 billion yuan ($423 million) annually. Whether they will raise revenue remains uncertain.

Source: Radio Free Asia, October 16, 2026
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/shehui/2026/10/16/china-civil-service-recruitment-taxation-chinese-economy/