China’s Producer Prices Hit Four-Year High as Gap with Consumer Inflation Widens
China’s producer price index (PPI) rose 5.0 percent year on year in September, the highest level in four years, while the consumer price index (CPI) climbed just 0.9 percent, a mild and relatively low reading. The widening gap between the two has led experts to warn that small and micro enterprises in the middle and downstream sectors could face greater difficulties.
China’s PPI had contracted for 41 consecutive months between October 2022 and February 2026. It turned positive in March 2026, and gains have generally continued to climb since.
Dong Lijuan, chief statistician at the National Bureau of Statistics’ urban department, attributed September’s increase to rising international crude oil and non-ferrous metal prices, shifting supply and demand in some energy and raw materials industries, and stronger demand tied to the rapid development of artificial intelligence and computing-power-electricity coordination.
Zhang Lin, executive vice president of the Far East Credit Research Institute, said a prolonged gap between CPI and PPI essentially reflects a redistribution of profits between upstream and downstream industries. When PPI exceeds CPI, upstream resource producers generally benefit, while margins in downstream consumer and branded manufacturing, such as food and beverages, home appliances and light industry, as well as retail, are squeezed, often resulting in “more revenue but no more profit.”
Zhang Liqun, a researcher at the State Council’s Development Research Center, said a continually widening gap could create more operational difficulties for middle and downstream firms, especially small and micro enterprises. He noted that many small and medium-sized traditional manufacturers already face clearly insufficient orders, and sustained increases in raw material prices would deepen their troubles.
Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), October 18, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202610180075.aspx
Shanghai Startup Quietly Unveils EUV Lithography Prototype at China International Industry Fair
A Shanghai-based startup has discreetly displayed a prototype of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment, the technology needed to produce the most advanced chips at 7 nanometers and below, at the China International Industry Fair now underway in Shanghai.
The display comes as the United States maintains export controls on advanced technology, while China pursues government-led efforts to break through those restrictions. After Washington blocked the Netherlands’ ASML from exporting EUV equipment to China, Beijing developed its own deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography equipment to strengthen its competitiveness in advanced chipmaking. ASML nonetheless still holds a monopoly on EUV machines, the type required for cutting-edge chips, so reports of a domestic Chinese effort have drawn close attention to the progress of its development.
The large prototype was not placed in the popular integrated circuit exhibition hall. Instead, it sat in the Shanghai municipal zone of the Innovation Technology Hall. When reporters asked for details, staff declined all interview requests.
According to a written brochure provided at the venue by the developer, Langdao Silex (朗道科技), the company launched its Langdao Light Source project in 2024, focusing on the light source for EUV lithography equipment, a core technology in semiconductor manufacturing.
While reticent about the product itself, the company was active in recruiting. The hall sits next to the exhibition area where Chinese universities showcase research, and staff promptly handed recruitment flyers for full-time and internship positions to young students who paused nearby. Staff said the firm is new and in great need of talent.
Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), October 15, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202610150357.aspx
China’s Push to Find Uninsured Workers Through “Data Matching” Sparks Backlash
Chinese authorities’ plan to use “data matching” to locate people who have not joined the social insurance system and urge them to enroll has triggered strong reactions on social media in recent days. Li Zhong, a vice minister of human resources and social security, said at an October 10 press conference that officials would expand coverage through policy adjustments and data matching, aiming to keep basic pension participation above 95 percent during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
The approach uses big data to identify people who have never enrolled or have stopped paying contributions. A widely circulated image purporting to be a WeChat Security Center notice warned that some group members had not paid social insurance and told group administrators to supervise them, or risk the group’s features being restricted or the group banned.
Several people said high premiums and unstable work make payments unaffordable. Sun Yan, a resident of Jiaozhou in Shandong, said he stopped paying years ago. Local minimum monthly wages are around 2,000 yuan (about US$280), he said, yet social insurance costs more than 1,000 yuan (about US$140). One online user said in a video that he was still working on a construction site awaiting wages and would pay once his employer paid him. Another commenter joked that big data could find the uninsured but seemed less effective against missing persons and telecom fraud.
Chat screenshots also suggested some schools were pressing parents to enroll, with one claiming this could affect children’s exam prospects. The claim was relayed secondhand, and neither image showed a posting date.
The debate comes as retirement rules tighten. Since January 2025, the male retirement age is rising gradually from 60 to 63, and the female ages from 50 and 55 to 55 and 58. From 2030, the minimum contribution period for monthly pensions will rise from 15 to 20 years.
Source: Radio Free Asia, October 15, 2026
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/shehui/2026/10/15/china-social-security-big-data-economic-downturn-overburdened/
Overseas Chinese Media Launch Guizhou Tour to Showcase Province’s Development
The 2026 “Overseas Chinese Media Visit Guizhou” program kicked off in Guiyang on October 13, bringing together 23 overseas Chinese-language journalists and social media creators from the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Australia, Japan, the Philippines and Hong Kong, China News Service reported.
During the field trip, the delegation will visit major infrastructure projects, rural revitalization demonstration sites, ethnic minority villages and ecological protection areas. The aim is to learn how Guizhou is advancing at the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan period and to gather material on its high-quality development.
At the launch ceremony, a promotional film for “Overseas Chinese Hearts Toward the Party: Passing the Torch,” an oral history project, made its debut. Started in late 2025 by Guizhou’s overseas Chinese affairs office and federation of returned overseas Chinese, the project records the experiences of elderly returned overseas Chinese who settled in Guizhou and contributed to Third Front construction, science, education, healthcare and local development. The material will be circulated on platforms at home and abroad.
Ji Jie, vice chairperson and secretary-general of the provincial federation, described overseas Chinese media as an important bridge between China and the world, and urged participants to present Guizhou’s natural beauty and rapid changes from many angles.
Chen Lin, publisher of Canadian magazine Souluo, said overseas outlets would use their language and platform strengths to tell Guizhou stories through short videos and in-depth interviews, and hoped to build lasting cooperation for regular coverage of the province.
Sun Yonghui, director of the provincial overseas Chinese affairs office, called on the media to serve as witnesses, communicators and promoters of friendly exchanges. He said Guizhou will build an external communication network combining mainstream and overseas Chinese media and develop the program into a brand that rallies overseas Chinese support.
Zhu Huanhuan, a reporter for Germany’s Europe Times, said she would use multilingual channels to promote Guizhou’s tourism, ecology and development achievements to mainstream German audiences and local Chinese communities.
Source: China News Service, October 13, 2026
https://www.chinanews.com/hr/2026/10-13/10714070.shtml
Taiwanese Student in Nanjing Says Rumors of “Professional Students” Make Classmates Wary of Speaking Out
A Taiwanese graduate student at Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine says rumors circulate on campus about “professional students,” people who allegedly pose as students to monitor and report on others. Liu Minghao, a pseudonym, told Radio Free Asia he cannot identify who they are, but teachers have privately warned Taiwanese students to be careful in class and avoid sensitive topics.
Liu said political and public issues are restricted in class discussions, and some controversial social events rarely make it into teaching. He said the suspected informants look like ordinary students who attend class, eat in the canteen and join outdoor activities. Classmates in Shanghai and Hangzhou told him cameras have been installed in their classrooms. A friend studying media in Beijing was disappointed to find that many contentious issues could not be discussed even in journalism classes. Liu contrasted this with Taiwan, where students can freely criticize government officials.
A Shanghai-based man surnamed Peng, who has a legal background, said he had not heard of such students but considered it plausible, noting that young people have historically initiated major protests. Activist Lu Jun said that, whatever the truth of the rumors, surveillance is pervasive, citing big data, street cameras and nationalist students, and argued that the climate leaves people afraid to speak honestly.
Liu said mainland students are not incapable of independent thinking but rarely discuss politics, which he attributed to an education system that discourages dissent. Most of those who follow current affairs study journalism or media.
He added that campus life centers on grades and internships. Some students aim from the start for postgraduate recommendation, while others begin interning off campus in their second year and attend class only for exams and presentations. Clubs carry little weight with employers compared with internship experience.
Citing China’s economic slowdown, Liu said postgraduate degrees are less attractive and jobs are hard to find. He may try working on the mainland first but expects to return to Taiwan long term.
Source: Radio Free Asia, October 13, 2026
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/shehui/2026/10/13/china-nanjing-university-taiwan-students-professional-students/
China Marks 10 Years of Luban Workshops, Its Vocational Education Export Brand
China’s Ministry of Education said on October 12 that the country has built 38 Luban Workshops in 32 countries, calling them a shining calling card for Chinese vocational education abroad. Peng Binbai, director of the ministry’s Department of Vocational and Adult Education, made the remarks at a press conference introducing the 2026 World Conference on Technical and Vocational Education and Training and related international cooperation efforts.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the world’s first Luban Workshop. The ministry will hold a symposium to review a decade of experience and push the program toward higher quality and an upgraded model, with the aim of making this “small but beautiful” brand shine even brighter.
The Luban Workshop is an international vocational education brand guided by the Ministry of Education and originally developed and driven by the city of Tianjin. It seeks to share China’s vocational education achievements with the world and promote the spirit of the “master craftsman.” Named after Lu Ban, an ancient Chinese craftsman, the program combines academic education with vocational training. It exports Chinese vocational standards, equipment and the Engineering Practice Innovation Project (EPIP) teaching model to train young skilled workers needed by countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.
The first workshop opened in Thailand in March 2016, and the program has since expanded across Asia, Africa and Europe. As of September 2025, there were 36 workshops in 29 countries. The workshops offer 60 majors in 14 categories, including smart manufacturing, rail transit, traditional Chinese medicine, artificial intelligence and modern agriculture, matching local industrial needs.
Results so far include nearly 10,000 students in degree programs and more than 31,000 person-times of vocational training. Fourteen internationalized teaching standards have been incorporated into partner countries’ national education systems. The program has also helped bring Chinese equipment abroad and serves as an important bridge for people-to-people exchanges between China and other countries.
Source: China News Service, October 12, 2026
https://www.chinanews.com/gn/2026/10-12/10712055.shtml
China to Host UN Peacekeeping Staff Officer Course and Counterterrorism Forum
China’s Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Chen Xi announced on Friday that China will hold an international training course for United Nations peacekeeping staff officers, along with a major counterterrorism forum, as part of upcoming military-related activities.
According to Chen, the Ministry’s Peacekeeping Affairs Center and the Foreign Languages College of the National University of Defense Technology will jointly host the training course in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, in the second half of October. Instructors and trainees from 12 countries and international organizations, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria and the United Nations, will take part.
The course focuses on building the skills required for UN peacekeeping staff posts. It consists of three modules: basic theory, professional skills and headquarters exercises. Covering 31 topics, including the basic principles of peacekeeping operations, civilian protection, and command and control, the program is intended to help participating countries’ militaries conduct peacekeeping operations in a more professional, standardized and coordinated manner.
Chen also said the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force will host the “Great Wall-2026” International Counterterrorism Forum in Beijing from Oct. 13 to 15. More than 320 Chinese and foreign representatives from 62 countries and international organizations are expected to attend.
Themed “Advancing Practical Counterterrorism Cooperation and Jointly Safeguarding Our Homeland,” the forum will address four topics: terrorism trends and counterterrorism capacity building in an unmanned and intelligent environment; preventing and combating maritime terrorism; protecting key targets against terrorist attacks; and countering infiltration across borders. Chen said the forum will help strengthen friendship and mutual trust between the Armed Police Force and its foreign counterparts, deepen bilateral and multilateral counterterrorism cooperation, and help maintain regional peace and stability.
Source: China News Service, October 10, 2026
https://www.chinanews.com/gn/2026/10-10/10710613.shtml
Beijing Calls on Overseas Chinese to Back Unification and Advance Party Aims Abroad
In a speech reported in Chinese state media, Chen Xu, deputy minister of the Central United Front Work Department and director of the State Council’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, described how Beijing wants to mobilize overseas Chinese communities. He framed his remarks as study of a July 2026 instruction on overseas Chinese affairs from Xi Jinping, which he said sets the direction for the work.
Chen argued that engagement with the roughly 60 million overseas Chinese and 40 million returned overseas Chinese and relatives serves several national goals, among them economic modernization, cultural influence and “a community with a shared future for mankind.” His most politically sensitive passage concerned Taiwan. He said overseas Chinese have long conducted publicity, solidarity and protest activities against “Taiwan independence” abroad, and that separatist forces are colluding with foreign backers, making unification harder. He called for strengthening the “Chinese nation community” consciousness, combining “unity and struggle,” and squeezing the overseas space for what he termed hostile separatist forces while building up pro-unification forces worldwide.
Chen also said overseas Chinese have supported China’s bilateral and multilateral ties and the Belt and Road Initiative, and should act as a “golden ribbon” and “bridge of friendship” between China and their host countries.
On organization, he stressed that the Party’s centralized leadership must run through all overseas Chinese work. United Front departments at every level, he said, should coordinate ministries, community groups, universities, financial institutions and companies, under unified Party committee leadership.
Chen acknowledged challenges, including weakening ties to China among younger overseas Chinese and disunity among community groups. He also urged overseas Chinese to obey local laws. The speech reflects how Beijing links diaspora outreach to its sovereignty and foreign-policy goals, and the language on countering Taiwan independence abroad is likely to draw scrutiny from host governments.
Source: Study Times, October 9, 2026
https://www.studytimes.cn/lltt/202610/t20261009_92572.html