Employment

Human stories without humans: Has AI degraded China’s micro-dramas?

As AI slashes the cost and time needed to produce micro-dramas, China’s hottest entertainment trend is raising difficult questions about creativity, labour and who really profits. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Lim Zhan Ting speaks to industry insiders.

Lim Zhan Ting

10 Jul 2026

Million-dollar overseas degrees, entry-level Chinese salaries

For decades, studying abroad was seen as a ticket to opportunity. Now, more Chinese graduates are returning home — only to find that foreign credentials carry less weight than before. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Liu Liu examines the issue.

Liu Liu

08 Jul 2026

China as an absolute advantage economy

Given China’s current industrial and financial stature, Professor Yasheng Huang observes that the puzzle is not why China exports cars, but why it is still exporting t-shirts.

Yasheng Huang

30 Jun 2026

A journalist’s farewell: The people who changed how I see China

As her stint ends, Lianhe Zaobao Shanghai correspondent Li Kang looks past the trade wars and economic data to remember the raw resilience, vulnerability and quiet dignity of the ordinary people she met.

Li Kang

29 Jun 2026

Why more Hong Kong youths are opting out of work

Some young people in Hong Kong are becoming disengaged and content to drift along aimlessly, living with their parents who indulge them amid a more accepting society. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Tai Hing Shing examines the rise of the NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training).

Tai Hing Shing

19 Jun 2026

China’s gig economy nears half the workforce but worker protections lag behind

Over 44% of China’s workforce is now engaged in flexible employment. While closing the white-collar income gap, this massive shift exposes major gaps in workers’ rights and social security stability. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Li Kang analyses the data.

Li Kang

12 Jun 2026

[Big read] Why Malaysian youths are choosing mainland China over Taiwan for degrees

For generations, a Taiwan degree meant upward mobility for Malaysian Chinese. Today, a rising China and evolving local options are changing where students choose to carve out their futures. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Tan Jet Min reports.

Tan Jet Min

03 Jun 2026

From industrial giant to specialised supplier: The reshaping of Japan

Amid China’s tech rise, a demographic crisis and regional tensions, Japan is being forced to dismantle its post-war economic model and redefine its global role. Academic Tan Kong Yam analyses the challenges and the way forward for Japan.

Tan Kong Yam

03 Jun 2026

[Big read] The northbound drift: Hong Kong’s quiet exodus to the Greater Bay Area

The cost of living in Hong Kong is notoriously high, and some Hong Kongers are choosing to move to cities in the Greater Bay Area in mainland China to live and work, in pursuit of a more manageable pace and quality of life. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Tai Hing Shing finds out more.

Tai Hing Shing

19 May 2026

How AI is mining worker data to reshape the labour market

China’s AI boom is entering the office: companies are increasingly turning employees’ habits, decisions and workflows into digital workers — fuelling fears that staff are quietly training their own replacements.

Caixin Global

19 May 2026

[Big read] OpenClaw sparks China’s one-person AI start-up boom

China’s young entrepreneurs are embracing a new wave of AI-driven solo start-ups, as the OpenClaw craze reshapes how one-person companies are built, scaled and powered by digital “agents”. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Yush Chau reports from China.

Yush Chau

22 Apr 2026

[Big read] China’s young workers pay the price of AI before reaping the gains

Jobs are not only being replaced by artificial intelligence, those seemingly secure will be restructured, with different tasks or a cut in pay. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Li Kang speaks with Chinese employees who are feeling the impact to find out what they are doing to secure their future.

Li Kang

14 Apr 2026