By Liu He, People’s Daily

A recent forum at the Palais des Nations in Geneva brought together around 100 representatives from UN agencies, Geneva diplomats, and Chinese institutions and businesses. The event focusing on leveraging China’s experience in cross-border e-commerce to foster new pathways for South-South cooperation.

Participants examined how this digital trade model can enhance trade connectivity and industrial development within the Global South, exploring innovative approaches to empower South-South partnerships. Discussions covered China’s advancements, from business model innovations to regulatory practices.

Chinese online marketplaces have seen surging demand for premium international goods in recent years, evidenced by the popularity of products ranging from New Zealand kiwifruit and Italian olive oil to Ecuadorian shrimp. This growth underscores the significant potential the Chinese consumer market holds for international brands.

Through cross-border e-commerce platforms, China is opening its vast consumer market to the world, enabling global businesses to capitalize on Chinese consumption opportunities. 

In 2025, 2,415 overseas brands opened their first stores on Tmall Global, a cross-border B2C online marketplace under Alibaba, marking a double-digit year-on-year increase in the number of debut stores.

In July 2025, Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com launched an initiative offering one-stop services covering customs clearance, logistics, payments, and compliance. In under a year, the initiative has launched 140 online country-specific pavilions and onboarded a total of 1,500 new overseas brands.

Cross-border e-commerce has further paved the way for Chinese enterprises to go global and empowered domestic brands to tap into international markets.

Ranging from niche everyday items like gua sha boards, thermal bottles and teapots to big-ticket home appliances, functional furnishings and smart hardware, Chinese-made goods enjoy robust sales across the globe.

China currently has more than 160,000 cross-border e-commerce enterprises, while its logistics networks reach more than 200 countries and regions.

According to Wang Zhihua, director-general of the Department of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Commerce, three key factors have driven the rapid growth of China’s cross-border e-commerce sector.

Fueling the sector’s growth is robust policy backing. Adhering to the core tenets of encouraging innovation, exercising inclusive and prudent oversight, and advancing opening up and collaboration, China has rolled out 178 comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones to spearhead institutional, regulatory and service-level innovations.

Digital technologies also deliver pervasive enabling effects. Big data, AI and other cutting-edge tools are being rapidly deployed throughout the full industrial workflow, covering product sourcing, marketing, settlement and logistics alike.

Another core driver lies in the resilient, well-entrenched industrial and supply chains. Boasting the world’s most complete range of industrial sectors, China’s manufacturing sector is advancing swiftly toward intelligent and eco-friendly production, enabling steady, timely supply of a full spectrum of commodities.

Supporting service providers are also expanding overseas alongside Chinese merchants to empower local industrial ecosystems.

Chinese cross-border e-commerce supply chain solutions provider Edayun manages over 60 overseas warehouses worldwide. Powered by its digital and intelligent supply chain platform, it has interconnected more than 50 cross-border marketplaces and local logistics networks globally, markedly boosting order responsiveness and fulfillment efficiency.

As a cross-border payment service provider, Lianlian has secured nearly 70 payment licenses and relevant operational permits worldwide. It provides services in over 100 countries and regions, with regional operation hubs established across high-growth emerging markets including Southeast Asia and Latin America. These outposts enable local merchants to process cross-border payments efficiently and in full regulatory compliance.

“Cross-border e-commerce evolves along a clear trajectory: starting with product exports, progressing to brand globalization, and advancing toward localized partnerships,” said Fan Fei, deputy head of Ebrun Think Tank. “Our survey shows over 60 percent of Chinese cross-border e-commerce enterprises regard localized service capabilities as their core competitive edge.” 

Through substantial investment and compliant business operations, these firms are deeply embedding themselves into local economic ecosystems, emerging as key contributors to local economic growth, Fan added.

Demand for cross-border e-commerce development and strengthened international cooperation is mounting across the Global South. 

Escipion Oliveira-Gomez, director of the Division of Country Programmes at the International Trade Center, noted that under the framework of South-South cooperation, China has rolled out policy incentives, infrastructure development and talent development programs to help other developing economies strengthen capacity, integrate into the global digital economy, and foster a fairer, more efficient and inclusive global cross-border e-commerce ecosystem featuring win-win outcomes and shared prosperity.

Over the past three years, China has delivered more than 100 foreign-aid training sessions on e-commerce and digital economy, drawing over 3,000 participants from more than 100 countries and regions. 

For the next five years, China plans to launch 200 training programs on digital economy and AI for Global South nations, enabling developing countries to benefit more from technological innovations and practical applications.

China has supported Africa in constructing and upgrading 150,000 kilometers of backbone communication networks and assisted Nepal in completing cross-border optical cable routes across the Himalayas. 

Moving forward, China will continue to back Global South countries in building information and communications infrastructure, intelligent warehousing and related facilities, upgrade cross-border logistics networks, and lower entry barriers and operating costs for digital trade. 

Ram Prasad Subedi, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, commented that China’s achievements in e-commerce and digital infrastructure development offer valuable experience and opportunities for all countries of the Global South.

By Yue Shenghao

The Second World Conference of Classics will open in Athens, Greece on June 9, 2026. Under the theme “Dialogue between Ancient and Modern: Contemporary Inspirations from Classical Wisdom,” the conference will be jointly hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China, the Greek Ministry of Culture, and the Academy of Athens.

In fact, classical studies concern far more than classical theories and texts. Through the sustained efforts of generations of scholars, the hope has always been that classical wisdom may transcend the long river of history, regain vitality in the present age, and continue to illuminate contemporary life.

Today, technological advancement and productive forces are flourishing at an unprecedented pace, while the arrival of the digital and intelligent era has connected the world in ways never seen before. Still, modern society grapples with uniquely contemporary challenges: disordered values, growing utilitarianism, and individual alienation.

Against this backdrop, the seemingly distant ancient world has instead become an intellectual resource through which we reflect upon and improve contemporary life. It helps us explore how to preserve humanistic values, cultivate ideal character, and refine moral qualities in an era of accelerating technological development.

Since the First Opium War, successive generations of Chinese intellectuals have waged a sustained struggle to save the nation from peril. Research into ancient Greek and Roman civilizations likewise served as a key channel for them to draw on Western ideological legacies and reshape the Chinese nation’s spiritual makeup.

Over the past two decades and more, China’s growing national strength, together with sustained academic efforts, has enabled us to understand Western civilization from a more equal and composed perspective. 

Research into ancient Greek and Roman civilizations helps us understand Western civilization at its roots, thereby promoting exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations and enabling Chinese civilization, on its path toward rejuvenation, to draw upon all outstanding achievements of human civilization.

The reason ancient texts and classical wisdom have endured uninterrupted across millennia lies in the tireless efforts of generations of classicists who have carried the torch forward. German classicist Fritz-Heiner Mutschler stands as one exemplary figure among them.

Born in Heidelberg, Germany in 1946, Mutschler taught for many years at Heidelberg University after completing his doctoral studies, specializing in classical philology and ancient history. From 1988 to 1992, he was invited to teach in China at the Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations at Northeast Normal University.

Returning to Germany in 1993, he helped establish the Institute of Classical Philology at Dresden University of Technology. In 2011, he returned to China once again as chair professor of Humanities at Peking University, where he became deeply involved in curriculum development at the university’s Center for Classical and Medieval Studies until his retirement in 2016.

Affectionately nicknamed “Lao Mu” by his Chinese students — a warm honorific blending the Chinese respectful prefix Lao (meaning respected elder) with the shortened form of his surname Mutschler — he left an indelible impression on everyone he taught.

During my years at Peking University, I had the privilege of studying ancient Greek under him. He always sat on top of the classroom desk while teaching, speaking rapidly and passionately as he guided us through reading and translating Homer’s The Iliad. Gradually, the magnificent and extraordinary world of epic poetry unfolded before us.

To us, Mutschler resembled the noble hero Hector from the Iliad, brave and loyal, upright and compassionate.

His strict teaching style intimidated us, yet outside class he was an elderly scholar who cared for his students with patience and warmth. He and his wife often invited us to meals, smiling as they watched us eat enthusiastically. He eagerly participated in our cultural and recreational activities and generously mentored younger scholars as they stepped onto the academic stage.

In the Western context, classics traditionally refers to the study of ancient Greece and Rome. In recent years, both Chinese and international scholars have increasingly hoped to build a broader conception of classical studies, one that incorporates Chinese classical scholarship into the global map of classical research.

To this end, Mutschler devoted himself wholeheartedly to creating opportunities for Chinese scholars to engage with international academia on equal terms and helping Chinese classical scholarship reach the world.

Back in 2003, together with German sinologist Achim Mittag, Mutschler invited Chinese and Western scholars to participate in a comparative research project on the Roman Empire and ancient China, bringing comparative studies between Chinese civilization and Greco-Roman civilization into the field of classical studies.

In 2014, he organized an international symposium at Peking University dedicated to comparative studies of the Book of Songs and the Homeric epics, pioneering comparative analysis between these two foundational classics of Chinese and Western civilizations.

Whether through teaching or organizing conferences, the amount of labor involved was difficult to measure. Yet Mutschler never lost heart and always moved forward.

In 2024, he attended the first World Conference of Classics held at Yanqi Lake in Beijing. But before he could witness the opening of the second conference, he passed away peacefully this April.

Mutschler was an epitome of the scholars who devoted enormous energy to advancing classical studies in China. The seeds they planted have already spread far and wide.

Today, a new generation of scholars is assuming responsibility for carrying forward the intellectual lineage of classical studies and safeguarding the wisdom of civilization.

China’s classical studies have already produced substantial achievements. 

The “Classics and Interpretation” series, devoted to translating and studying canonical texts and scholarship related to Western classical civilization, has published more than 800 volumes to date.

Specialized research institutions have been established, including the classical studies office of the Institute of Foreign Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Department of Classics at Sichuan University, and the Center for Classical and Medieval Studies at Peking University.

Serving as a bridge between Chinese and foreign classical studies, the first World Conference of Classics was successfully held, while the Chinese School of Classical Studies was established in Athens.

As the second World Conference of Classics approaches, scholars from different cultural traditions will transcend geographical and intellectual boundaries through exchanges and dialogue. Together, they will reinterpret classical wisdom to answer urgent real-world challenges facing contemporary humanity.

Through classical studies, civilizations can learn from one another through mutual reflection and mutual respect, offering insights for contemporary human life. This is the best way to carry forward the legacy of classical studies and the clearest testament to its relevance today.

(Yue Shenghao is a staff member of the Classical Studies at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

By He Yin, People’s Daily

A string of eye-catching breakthroughs has put China’s AI industry in the global spotlight. A humanoid robot developed by Chinese tech firm Unitree featured as a guest on a Polish TV show, while V4, the latest open-source large model of Chinese AI company DeepSeek, has made headlines across major international news outlets. 

Riding the worldwide AI boom, China has followed a distinctive homegrown roadmap for open-source development to upgrade its domestic AI sector. As it builds up indigenous innovation capabilities, the country also fuels sustained growth for the global digital and intelligent industry.

The vitality of an innovation ecosystem is often reflected in the data. According to a report released by a leading international open-source platform, Chinese-developed models accounted for 41 percent of all large-model downloads on the platform over the past year, making China one of the world’s most active and fastest-growing sources of open-source AI models.

Another report, jointly released by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the same platform found that Chinese-developed open-source models surpassed those from the United States in global downloads for the first time last year, ranking first worldwide.

The growing influence of Chinese open-source models is expanding beyond developer communities and into real-world applications. More companies around the world are adopting Chinese AI models for commercial deployment.

Bill Ready, chief executive officer of the U.S. company Pinterest, noted that Chinese AI companies’ decision to embrace open-source development has helped fuel the explosive growth of global open-source models.

Chinese open-source models have earned the support of developers around the world because of both their technological strength and their commitment to openness and inclusiveness.

DeepSeek’s V4 model, for example, combines advanced features such as ultra-long context windows with open access to model weights and source code, allowing developers worldwide to build and innovate on top of the technology.

Following years of development, China has now established a complete AI industrial system. The country is home to more than 6,000 AI companies, with industrial chains covering every key link from intelligent chips and computing clusters to model development and application scenarios.

An article published by Malaysia’s The Star argued that Chinese AI products place strong emphasis on practical implementation and have already achieved world-leading capabilities in resource integration. Its open-source, shared developer ecosystem has effectively accelerated technology adoption both domestically and internationally, while expanding applications in sectors such as energy, transportation, and health care.

The open-source and shared development model not only makes intelligent technologies more accessible worldwide, but is also unlocking new drivers of economic growth within China.

Multiple Chinese open-source models, including Qwen, Moonshot AI’s Kimi, and DeepSeek, have broken down technological and industry barriers, enabling creators and developers around the world to rapidly deploy AI models and develop applications.

Within China, the rapid expansion of the open-source ecosystem is increasingly translating into new engines of growth.

Daily token usage exceeding 140 trillion and a domestic user base of more than 600 million for generative AI have given rise to a rich variety of intelligent application scenarios.

Collaborative innovation among businesses, universities, and research institutions is transforming AI into a shared technological resource that benefits multiple stakeholders.

Open source is not merely a technological development model; it reflects a broader philosophy of collaboration and shared progress.

AI is profoundly reshaping human production and everyday life. Yet it should not become “a game for rich countries and rich people,” nor should it slide into the logic of zero-sum competition.

When certain countries build technological barriers, fragment industrial chains, and artificially obstruct the cross-border flow of innovation resources, the result is a widening technology gap and growing developmental imbalance, ultimately harming the global innovation ecosystem itself.

China has already become an important contributor to global open-source software and open models, and has written “advancing the development of open-source systems” into its 15th Five-Year Plan.

The development of China’s AI industry demonstrates that the more cutting-edge the technology, the greater the need for openness and cooperation; and the bigger the global challenges, the greater the need to share innovation achievements.

Only by remaining committed to innovation and openness, deepening international cooperation, and jointly creating an open, equal, fair, and non-discriminatory environment for AI development can the technology move toward inclusive and beneficial development and truly become an international public good that serves humanity.

The path of open source leads to innovation and shared success. As global attention increasingly turns toward China’s AI industry, the world is seeing not only rapid technological progress and a thriving industrial ecosystem, but also a Digital China committed to openness, open-source development, and ensuring that intelligent technologies serve the common good.

China will continue leveraging its strengths and working with all parties to help narrow the global divide of intelligent technology and jointly write a new chapter in global technological development.