☕️ Good morning, friends,

What we didn’t anticipate a few weeks ago: we’ve grown into an enormous community in a short time. And you’re not just consumers—you give us daily feedback on how to improve. Thank you!

🟠 We’ve replaced the emojis in the subject line with an orange dot. That makes us easier to find in your inbox and (hopefully) feel more mature. Thanks to Alexander L. for the suggestion.

📊 We’ve revamped the Numbers section. At David D.’s suggestion, we’ll include just one number per issue but with more context.

🥠 We want to feature even more Fortune Cookies from you. So from now on we’ll send a China snack pack to every contributor. If you’d like a pound of Chinese treats, send us your photos!

📊 Next weekend we’ll launch a brief survey. The goal is to better understand which topics interest you. We’ll also raffle a snack box among all respondents.

Feel free to click the feedback buttons at the end of the issue and let us know how you liked each edition.

P.S. Thomas was a guest on Eric Nebe’s podcast China2Invest, where he discussed mega trends you won’t want to miss. Be sure to watch and listen!

BENCHMARKS

NUMBER OF THE DAY

20,000

That is how many China-to-Europe freight trains have crossed at the largest land border crossing between China and Mongolia since 2013.

📈 Explosive Acceleration: It took nine years to hit the first 10 000-train milestone; the next 10 000 crossed in just three years.

📦 Cargo Upgrade: Where once metals and chemicals dominated, electric vehicles and electronics now make up the bulk of shipments.

🌐 Strategic Network: The rail route is 10 to 14 days faster than shipping by sea and links 60 Chinese cities with 70 European rail terminals.

TOP BIT

📹 China’s Video Revolution: Content Without Humans

More and more Chinese start-ups are producing social-media videos with no human involvement. The performers, their voices, even the dialogues are entirely synthetically generated. In niches like business coaching, advertising, or product demonstrations, these clips work astonishingly well. The result: daily output in the four-digit range, low production costs, and rising ad revenues.

The Details

💰 Start-up Explosion: Pika raised $80 million in just six months. Investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners and funds with ties to ByteDance and Tencent.

🎭 Completely Synthetic: Avatars look realistic, speak naturally, and present content that feels like classic Reels or TikToks. Many users don’t notice the artificial origin.

🎯 Mass Distribution: A single user published over 1,300 AI clips in 30 days. The videos cover topics from gaming to dating and can rack up six-figure view counts.

📈 Highly Scalable: Some studios produce thousands of videos per day. Platforms like HeyGen and Silicon Intelligence offer templates that automate entire accounts.

🛍️ Commercially Deployable: AI clips showcase products, conduct interviews, or offer financial tips. “Influencers” who don’t actually exist achieve high click-through rates and drive livestream sales.

Why It Matters

• Industrialized Content: The line between user and creator blurs. AI lowers the barrier to producing professional-quality content.
  

• Monetization Potential: Early scalers can monetize millions of views on Douyin & Co. without a camera crew.
  

• Evolving Media Ethics: This trend raises new questions about authorship, authenticity, and digital responsibility.

Background

In China, platforms like Bilibili and Douyin are actively funding the development of AI creators. Most tools used are based on domestic technology. Companies such as Haiper, Synthesia China, and Silicon Intelligence combine large language models with robust video generation and build studios for clients that need 24/7 content production. The results already look professional—and they may soon flood the internet.

Particularly dynamic is the link with e-commerce, where avatars explain and sell products around the clock.

📊 All Data & Details: Economic Times, SCMP, CNBC

AD

HEAD OF THE DAY

🇺🇸 Alexandr Wang

🦄 From teenage engineer to AI-data mogul: Alexandr Wang landed full-time roles at 17 with Addepar and Quora. The Chinese-American born in New Mexico left MIT at the age of 19 for Y Combinator and co-founded Scale AI in 2016. He built it into a unicorn serving 300 clients—like GM and Flexport—with high-quality training data for autonomous driving and supply-chain projects. Owning about 14 % of Scale, he became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire and in 2025 secured a $14.3 billion investment from Meta transitioning to a director role.

👉 Lesson learned: AI doesn’t fail because of the models but because of poor training data. Spot this bottleneck: launch an MVP for a specific use case, gather direct feedback from pilot customers, implement human and automated quality loops, and then systematically scale to additional data types. That’s how you build indispensable AI infrastructure that delivers a genuine competitive advantage.

Launching your own MVP has never been easier than nowadays. Turning your idea into a testable product prototype is possible within a few hours. We’ll show you how!

MARKET BIT

🎢 China Turns to Theme Parks as a Consumption Engine

Details

🏗️ Construction Boom: Over 4,400 parks nationwide; according to IAAPA, the global association for amusement parks, the number will grow by 19 % annually through 2028. New heavyweights include Legoland Shanghai (the world’s largest) and projects like a Harry Potter studio and the largest Peppa Pig park.

💵 Multiplier Effect: IAAPA finds that every ¥1 of park revenue generates about ¥3.8 in follow-on spending on hotels, restaurants, and transport—hence cities lure developers with tax breaks and infrastructure.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family Draw: Despite meek wage growth, parents still splurge on experiences; the average domestic travel budget rose to ¥1,024 (≈ $140) per trip in 2024.

🎫 Discount Tactics: To woo cautious consumers, Legoland Shanghai launched with a 50 % F&B discount; many parks rely on season passes and flash sales to stabilize attendance.

Why It Matters

• Boosting Domestic Consumption: Experience-based parks are part of Beijing’s plan to fuel consumption-driven growth and new tourism.
  

• Regional Value Creation: Construction and permanent jobs, plus new hotels and retail, bring fresh cash into underdeveloped areas.
  

• Investment Risk: High upfront costs create long payback pressures—operators must secure ancillary revenue from F&B, merchandise, and events to stay profitable.

👉🏻 Full Story: SCMP, BBC

TOP READS

🚢 Korea’s Shipyards Conquer America with a 150 Billion USD Deal: Seoul is providing its shipbuilding giants with favorable loans and guarantees so they can build their own yards in the U.S. and take on Navy maintenance contracts. In return, Trump lowers tariffs from 25 % to 15 %, as Korea secures access to the lucrative U.S. military ship market and challenges China’s dominance in shipbuilding. Full story.

⚔️ China and Russia Launch Naval Drills in Sea of Japan: Beijing and Moscow practice submarine rescue, air defense and naval combat near Vladivostok for three days with four Chinese and several Russian warships. The Joint Sea exercises established since 2012 deepen military cooperation between both states. Joint patrol missions in the Pacific are planned afterwards. Full story.

💰 Hong Kong's New Stablecoin Licenses Trigger Fintech Gold Rush: Since August 1st firms can apply for the strictly regulated licenses, prompting ten listed companies to raise over $1.5 billion for crypto projects in July. Rules require HK$25 million in capital and full token backing, while a local stablecoin index already surged 65 percent. Full story.

OPTIONAL READS

China: Beijing invests US$350 million in Angola for soybean and grain farms to boost food security. More on that.

Singapore: Sovereign fund Temasek's portfolio value rises 11% to record US$324 billion. More on that.

Russia: Stronger China ties shown through Mandarin job requirements, more Chinese courses and boom in Chinese nannies. More on that.

FORTUNE COOKIE

🍼 Stress Pacifiers: In China there’s a saying: the “IQ tax.” The lower a consumer’s IQ, the more a clever entrepreneur can charge.

Latest example: adult pacifiers on Taobao for about $70.

Dentists are throwing up their hands—sucking for hours will wreck your teeth and leave you waking up with jaw pain.

Our heads already hurt enough from all the eye-rolling during research for this section… 🤯

📬 Got Something Funny, Interesting, or Noteworthy from Asia? Send it to [email protected] and we’ll feature it here!

As a thank-you, you’ll receive the exclusive asiabits China snack box filled with half a kilo of treats!

FEEDBACK

See you tomorrow in your inbox, 

Thomas, Michael & the Team of asiabits