The Communist Party's summer holiday
Beidaihe retreat, Hong Kong floods, free preschool, bullying and non-consensual porn, first arrest under Macau's National Security Law, NVIDIA under scrutiny in China, and more.
This is The China Week, an all-killer-no-filler analysis of what happened in the People’s Republic in the last seven days. Please take out a paying subscription for full newsletters and access to the archive, and forward it to anyone who might find it useful.
News is slow this week, with China’s senior leadership enjoying, or suffering, their annual beach retreat.
—Jeremy Goldkorn
Beach reading: plans for 2026 to 2030?
The Communist Party’s summer retreat
Almost every year in August, China’s senior leaders gather in Beidaihe, a seaside resort town located a couple of hours drive east of Beijing. The event is highly secretive: We only know that this year’s retreat has begun because state media has reported on an August 3 meeting between Politburo Standing Committee member Cài Qí 蔡奇 and a group of “experts”—academics and scientists. Such meetings are regular features of the Beidaihe summer.
Although the summer holiday ostensibly “gives leaders a chance to unwind from their hectic daily routines,” as Lizzi C. Lee notes, “as the country’s most powerful individuals gather in these heavily guarded compounds, serious political discussions also take place in small, informal groups,” and “Beidaihe has been the birthplace of many major decisions in the history of Party leadership.”
But as of now, we have no idea what the Party leaders are discussing, or what they might decide, and we can expect little political news from China for the next two weeks.
What we do know is that before the Beidaihe retreat began, on July 30, Xi Jinping announced that the Fourth Plenum (i.e. the fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP) will take place in October. The Plenum is noteworthy because it will include a review of proposals for the 15th Five-Year Plan, “China’s strategic road map for national economic and social development between 2026 and 2030.”
Severe weather
Flooding in Hong Kong and southern China
Hong Kong and southern China have been hit with torrential rains that have inundated city streets (see video) and left five people dead in Guangdong province after flash floods.
The downpours come after last week’s deadly floods in Beijing, from which the death toll has now risen to more than 60. At least 31 were ata care home for the elderly in Miyun, a suburb of the capital.
Meanwhile, the city of Chongqing and parts of Sichuan Province around it have seen temperatures as high as 43°C (109°F) over the last week.
Engineering a baby boom?
Free preschool
“China will gradually waive kindergarten care and education fees for children in the year before starting primary school, likely benefiting more than 10 million six-year-olds, as the country continues introducing new measures to boost child births,” reported Yicai.
The State Council announced the plan on August 5. On July 28, Beijing announced a new baby incentive policy offering households up to 3,600 yuan ($500) per child per year, up to the age of three.
Annals of cruelty
Bullying and online sexual harassment
Mass protests erupted in Jiangyou, Sichuan Province after a video surfaced online on August 3 showing several girls beating and taunting another girl. “Rumors online suggest that the attackers’ parents have connections with local officials and police, leading to a lack of punishment after the incident,” which “sparked public outrage,” according to Human Rights Watch.
Also circulating online: “an exposé …revealing the existence of a large-scale anonymous Chinese-language sex exploitation and voyeuristic content community” called “Maskpark” 面具公园树洞论坛, where “participants shared hidden camera footage, non-consensual intimate videos, and fetishized depictions of thousands of women.
Just one system please
First arrest under Macau's National Security Law
Macau’s former pro-democracy lawmaker Au Kam-san (區錦新 Qū Jǐnxīn) was arrested on July 31, becoming the the first person to be arrested under the city’s national security law.
Macau’s government alleges that Au is “suspected of colluding with an overseas anti-China organization since 2022, providing the organization with a large amount of false and inflammatory information for continued public display overseas and online.
U.S.-China trade and chip wars
Beijing threatens Nvidia
China’s Cyberspace Administration summoned Nvidia on July 31 “requesting that the company explain the backdoor security risks associated with its H20 computing chips sold to China and submit relevant supporting documentation.”
This came after after the Trump administration allowed Nvidia to resume selling H20 chips in China following a previous U.S. ban, and after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang 黃仁勳 visited China where he was treated like a rock star.
Related:
China stopped approving outbound investments “for companies looking to set up or expand operations in the U.S.”
The U.S. seems ready for yet another extension of its tariff pause beyond August 12.
The White House said “it was suspending the de minimis provision, which allows shipments worth $800 or less to enter the U.S. tariff-free, as of August 29…much sooner than a July 2027 deadline mentioned in President Trump’s recent budget bill.” The end of the provision will have an immediate impact on the low-price model of Chinese ecommerce services Shein and Temu.
Dog day news
Also this week
Ending involution: “Chinese producers of polysilicon, a building block for solar panels, are in talks to create a 50 billion yuan ($7 billion) fund to acquire and shut down roughly a third of production capacity and restructure part of the loss-making sector,” Reuters reported. Beijing has also vowed to “crack down on ‘herd behavior’ in investment in emerging sectors and tighten oversight of local governments' investment promotions, following various moves and noises about ending price wars and cutthroat competition.
Pandemic watch: China has reported more than 7,000 cases of the the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus, mostly in Foshan, about 100 miles from Hong Kong, and health authorities are using nets, insecticide, drones, and quarantines to tackle the outbreak.
Moscow ❤️ Beijing: The Russian and Chinese navies have been conducting “artillery and anti-submarine drills in the Sea of Japan as part of scheduled joint exercises.”
Visa-free travel to China, for some: “China has introduced unilateral visa-free entry and mutual visa exemption agreements with 75 countries” according to state media. The U.S. is not one of the countries included.
Trade war, what trade war? “A record number of Chinese companies are seeking a U.S. listing this year as onerous domestic listing rules and the prospect of better valuations convince them to brave volatile Sino-U.S. relations and U.S. calls for strict oversight of Chinese firms,” reported Reuters.