Shenzhen

China Evergrande has pledged to repay its debt this year, as the property giant faces a restructuring following Beijing's crackdown on excessive borrowing and rampant speculation in the real estate sector.

China's slowing economy has left millions of young people fiercely competing for an ever-slimming raft of jobs and facing an increasingly uncertain future.    

Official data released this month showed one in five young people in Chinese cities was out of work in July - more than three times the national average and the highest recorded since January 2018.    

Brush fires have forced the evacuation of more than 1,500 people in southwest China and power rationing for factories has reportedly been extended as weeks of record heat and drought batter the region.

Every few generations, Hong Kong transforms itself, evolving from a swampy fishing village to 19th century colonial port, to capitalist outpost and factory after China's 1949 revolution, to 21st century financial center.

The World Bank has sharply slashed its annual growth forecast for China, warning in a report that COVID disruptions could further slow recovery in the world's second-largest economy.    

The contraction gripping China's manufacturing sector slowed in May, data showed Tuesday, as some factories gradually resumed work after the easing of strict Covid lockdowns.

The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) -- a key gauge of manufacturing activity -- edged up to 49.6, officials said, from April's 47.4, which was the worst reading since early 2020.

China's premier has sounded an unusually stark warning about the world's second-largest economy, saying it must return to normal as the country's zero-Covid strategy bites into growth.    

China is the last major economy welded to a policy of mass testing and rapid lockdowns to eliminate virus clusters, but the strict curbs have battered businesses.    

China's ambitions to be a global sporting hub took a heavy blow as the postponement of this year's Asian Games further isolated a country already cut off by its hardline zero-COVID strategy.

China reopened a key terminal at the world's third-busiest cargo port on Aug. 25, after a shutdown to control the coronavirus caused major backlogs elsewhere and worsened export already extended delays caused by the pandemic.

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The halt at the eastern Ningbo-Zhoushan port started two weeks ago, when a worker at its Meishan terminal tested positive for the disease.

China Telecom could raise more than $8 billion in a Shanghai initial public offering that would be the biggest this year, months after it was delisted in the United States amid Washington's stand-off with Beijing.

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