The fan economy is a huge business in China, driven mostly by young women in their 20s. But while these fans are willing to spend money on their idols, some chalk up mountains of debt to feed their passion. Given that the idols are endlessly trotted out on a conveyor belt and few escape the cookie cutter, how long can the fan economy last?

On an organised visit to Wuhan with other journalists and business representatives, Lianhe Zaobao’s Shanghai correspondent Chen Jing sees a city that appears to be humming away as if the Covid-19 disaster was nothing but a bad dream. Nevertheless, she gets an inkling that many stories of the pandemic are still waiting to be told. She resolves to tell them, all in good time.

​After days of delay, the US and China reviewed their phase one trade agreement in a telephone call on 25 August. Both sides sidestepped the question of recent US actions against Chinese companies, but there is no guarantee that this uneasy truce will hold up as the 2020 US presidential race intensifies.

Food delivered to the door every day, temperature taking twice a day, and not a single sound from the outside world... Zaobao correspondent Chen Jing documents 14 days in a hotel room, quarantined behind a yellow line. Did she find peace in solitude?

From working to keep supply chains open to establishing “fast lanes” for essential travel, China and Singapore have been working together to face the tough challenges of the pandemic. Beyond pomp and pageantry, these actions are a sign of the strong ties that the two countries have forged over the last 30 years and more. In a recent interview with Lianhe Zaobao, Chinese ambassador to Singapore Hong Xiaoyong said Singapore and China have been working together this year, showing the strength of bilateral relations. And when the coronavirus is over, Singapore and China will be able to cooperate in more areas. With ASEAN becoming China’s top trading partner for the first time ever in the first half of the year, there is even greater scope for China-ASEAN cooperation.

Wearing PPE to the airport, going through a blood test and nasal and throat swabs, surviving a 14-day centralised quarantine… The pandemic has indeed changed the way we travel. With airtight preventive measures in place, Lianhe Zaobao Shanghai correspondent Chen Jing doubts her friends and family in Singapore will be coming to visit her in Shanghai anytime soon.

Lianhe Zaobao reporter Chen Jing was shocked to see a long queue of people when she went to apply for a visa at the Chinese Visa Application Service Center in Singapore. Assigned to be the paper’s correspondent in Shanghai just before the coronavirus threw a spanner in the works, Chen has done her fair share of virtual reporting from her home in Singapore. She looks forward to the day that she can be on the ground in Shanghai, now that Singapore and China have installed the “fast lane” for essential travel.

With the new national security law for Hong Kong practically a done deal, the US has said it will withdraw Hong Kong’s preferential trade status, as it is no longer autonomous from mainland China. But considering the US’s own interests in Hong Kong, how tough will its sanctions be? Zaobao correspondent Chen Jing speaks to academics to find out.

With salary cuts, housing loans on their backs and little means of generating cash flow, middle-class workers across China’s cities are walking the tightrope of trying to maintain their living standards while keeping up with their mortgage payments. The recently-announced stimulus plan may not solve their housing woes either.