China’s largest gold mining company Zijin Mining is acquiring Canada’s Allied Gold in an all-cash deal valued at about $4 billion. This is the first major cross-border transaction since Canadian Prime Minister Carney’s recent visit to Beijing, which saw a thawing of several years of diplomatic tensions.

The announcement came as gold prices reached a record high, briefly topping $5,100 per ounce for the first time. As the uncertain geopolitical climate pushes demand for gold up, Chinese miners are viewing overseas acquisitions with increasing importance to offset limited domestic reserves.

Carney’s recent speech at Davos underscored a fundamental shift in geopolitics is underway, spurred on by Trump’s reshaping of international norms. Canada and other countries are clearly reviewing their relationship with China in view of the uncertainties and instability of the US.

Guangdong province, China’s largest regional economy, expanded by 3.9% in 2025, reports Caixin. The number fell short of its official goal and saw the province far below the national average as the country’s top manufacturing hub continues to grapple with a prolonged property slump.

The province’s gross domestic product rose to RMB 14.58 trillion ($2.1 trillion) last year, Governor Meng Fanli told lawmakers on Monday. That performance lagged the national GDP growth of 5%, placing Guangdong near the bottom among the country’s key economic regions. At the start of 2025, officials had targeted a 5% increase.

Once a consistent double-digit growth engine, Guangdong—which contributes roughly one-tenth of national output—has seen its pace cool markedly as it shifts from an investment-driven model to one powered by high-tech manufacturing and consumption. From 2021 to 2025, the province posted average annual growth of about 4.7%, according to a report by the local development and reform commission, which noted a structural shift between economic scale and growth momentum.

Texas will bar its employees from using Shein, Alibaba and TP-Link hardware and software, reports Reuters. The announcement was made by the governor, saying his state made the decision to protect the “privacy of Texans” from the Chinese government.

The list also includes online commerce platform Temu and battery maker CATL, according to the statement from Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

The Trump administration, which Abbott supports, has sought to rein in its own actions that could antagonize Beijing. The two countries reached a detente in a long-running trade and technology war in October. Abbott’s ban covers Chinese drone maker Autel and products from Chinese artificial intelligence firm iFlyTek.

As the Lunar New Year holiday approaches, Chinese internet and tech giants are handing out enormous amounts of cash in the form of digital red envelopes to lure new users of their artificial intelligence (AI) apps, reports Caixin.

Following the Chinese tradition of young people receiving red envelops stuffed with cash from their elders, China’s internet giants have in recent years seized the opportunity to boost traffic and gain new users—and their valuable personal data.

The country’s dominant search engine Baidu said on Sunday that it will issue virtual red envelopes worth RMB 500 million ($72 million) from Monday to users taking part in a Chinese New Year event launched by its AI app Ernie Assistant, with the maximum cash gift per person reaching RMB 10,000. Tencent on Sunday announced a similar marketing campaign, under which the WeChat owner will give away RMB 1 billion in the form of digital red envelopes from February 1 to users participating in a Chinese New Year event run by its AI chatbot Yuanbao.

China’s manufacturing powerhouse, Guangdong province, has reported a GDP growth rate of just 3.9% for 2025, falling short of the target for the province of 5%. While the figures have only been released for a few provinces/regions, Guangdong appears to be on the lower end. Manufacturing hubs Shandong and Zhejiang both announced 5.5%, while Shanghai and Beijing both reported 5.4%. 

According to Caixin, sluggish domestic demand and the real estate sector were the biggest drags on the province’s growth. Property’s contribution to the province’s GDP shrunk to just 7%—down from 11% in 2020 and 7.4% in 2024. It also pointed out that foreign trade from Guangdong “offered some cushion”—increasing 4.4% to RMB 9.5 trillion, which accounted for almost a quarter of all of China’s net trade growth.

Guangdong, and especially the city of Shenzhen which sits at the southern part of the province on the border of Hong Kong, has long been the shining star of China’s economy, producing many of the products exported around the world. It’s also home to many of China’s innovative tech companies—the ones that are promising to lead China into the future. While a more complete picture of China’s province-by-province growth is still yet to emerge, the poor performance of Guangdong suggests things are not rosey.