China gets a taste of Barbados at Caribbean cultural fair
Barbadian-Chinese trade and cultural ties took centre stage at Caribbean Experience 2025, held in Beijing on Sunday. Now in its third year, the vibrant event has introduced Chinese audiences to the rich cultural tapestry of the Caribbean, while strengthening people-to-people exchanges and fostering regional cooperation between China and the Caribbean.
Ten Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states participated in this year’s fair: Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Grenada, Haiti, the Bahamas, Dominica, Jamaica, Guyana and Barbados.
Representing Barbados was Ambassador Hallam Henry, who led a delegation of embassy staff and student volunteers. Together, they showcased the island’s culture at the Barbados booth, featuring authentic Bajan treats, promotional literature and Mount Gay Rum.
Sister cities: Lessons from Shandong’s approach to connectivity
A powerful symbol of this collaboration was the presence of Angostura Rum, one of Trinidad and Tobago’s most iconic exports, showcased alongside other international products.
A representative from Angostura’s distributor in China, Steven Huang, general manager in China of First Caribbean Management Company, said: “Many people in Shandong have shown great interest in Angostura. This event not only showcases the investment potential and cultural charm of Trinidad and Tobago but also builds a bridge for cooperation between China and Trinidad and Tobago through the brand story of Angostura.”
Short videos, mortality, and cats: Wang Shuo at 66 (beijingscroll.com)
Today, I want to introduce you to a newly released interview with one of the most subversive — and controversial — figures in contemporary Chinese literature: Wang Shuo (王朔). Wang recently gave his first on-camera interview in 18 years, speaking with The New World (新世相), a widely followed digital media platform in China….
1. Literary Style and Breakthrough: Wang Shuo is one of the most subversive writers in contemporary Chinese literature, known for his razor-sharp wit and irreverent storytelling that shattered the solemn conventions of traditional literature. Works like Wild Beast (动物凶猛) and The Troubleshooters (顽主) depict the lives of ordinary people and social outcasts, deconstructing grand narratives while exposing the absurdity and restlessness of post-reform China. His so-called "hooligan literature" (pizi wenxue) not only challenged the then-mainstream thought but also reinvigorated Chinese writing, making him a pioneer of avant-garde fiction.
2. Social Critique and Cultural Impact: Wang’s writing is fiercely critical, satirizing bureaucracy, moral hypocrisy, and materialism—all of which reflected the spiritual crisis of a society in transition. His novels and essays served as a mirror, capturing the confusion and struggles of everyday people amid China’s market economy boom. This rebellious "Wang Shuo spirit" influenced an entire generation and even permeated pop culture (e.g., the TV series Stories of an Editorial Board), becoming a defining phenomenon in 1990s China.
Dust, dignity, and a seat on the subway - by Jiang Jiang (gingerriver.com)
A few migrant workers — their clothes smudged from a long day of construction — stand in the aisle, hesitant to sit down. They shift their weight, glance around, but stay on their feet. This isn’t a rare scene. In fact, it’s what inspired a recent wave of reflection across Chinese social media and news outlets about hygiene, dignity, and the invisible burdens carried by those who built the very cities we live in.
As of the end of 2024, 67 percent of China’s population — that’s 940 million people — lived in urban areas. Behind this sweeping statistic lies nearly five decades of relentless urbanization. And at the heart of it all: the country’s vast migrant worker population. Every gleaming skyscraper and freshly renovated apartment owes something to their sweat, their labor under the sun.
But once the workday ends, many face everyday hurdles that go unseen — including something as basic as getting home, or finding a place to wash up. A Douyin creator who goes by the name “Good Samaritan Liu Xuejun in Beijing” （京城好人刘学军）has been documenting such encounters, offering migrant workers directions, a word of kindness, and above all, understanding.
Mainland China, Hong Kong launching Payment Connect scheme to facilitate capital flows | South China Morning Post
China’s central bank is launching a new connect programme with Hong Kong to facilitate cross-border payments – Beijing’s latest move to open up its financial sector and also leverage the southern financial centre to better connect with the rest of the world.
The Payment Connect programme will link the mainland’s Internet Banking Payment System and Hong Kong’s Faster Payment System (FPS), allowing users to make payments and wire money faster and more conveniently.
The programme will begin on Sunday.
Chinese girl walks home with luggage balanced on pole after crucial exam, inspires many | South China Morning Post
A Chinese girl has become an online inspiration after a video captured her walking home alone following a crucial exam, dressed in simple clothes and carrying a bamboo pole that balanced two large, overstuffed bags.
The viral video featured this secondary school student, surnamed Liu, from Guanyang County No 2 Senior High School in Guilin, Guangxi province, southern China, as she made her way home after taking the gaokao, China’s college entrance exam.
According to Liu, the bags primarily contained quilts.
Slick advertising, sports sponsorships help boost Chinese brands’ fortunes in Europe | South China Morning Post
Parisian Alexandre Martins still remembers Chinese electronics brand Xiaomi’s old stores in the French capital, where his parents and sister used to shop.
“They were at good locations, like Chatelet [a commercial area in central Paris] … I used to go scout for stuff and then buy them online,” Martins said.
The Chinese tech brand opened its first boutique in France in 2018, but had shut all of its stores in the country by 2022, opting instead to maintain a presence online and with partnered retailers and operators.
Don't Go Fighting in My Backyard - by Ethan Knecht
The Top 5 Stories:
• It’s been a weird week in China-Panama-U.S. relations, so here’s a quick run-down:
1. On June 10, the head of the Panama Canal Authority warned that the proposed CK Hutchison-Blackrock port deal could undermine the canal’s neutrality. Consequently, the PRC foreign ministry quickly seized on this in a news conference to implicitly justify its decision to hold up the deal. (Global Times)
2. At the same time, President José Raúl Mulino denounced his predecessor over the $1.8 billion in cost overruns for the sensitive Chinese-built fourth bridge over the Panama Canal. In turn, he said he would file a complaint with the Prosecutor's Office.
3. The next day, June 11, the U.S. Embassy in Panama City issued a statement claiming a strategic victory in Panama by helping Panama’s Ministry of Public Security replace seven Huawei-built telecommunications towers at the cost of $8 million in order to “protect the national security of our countries from the threat of the Chinese Communist Party.”
4. However, shortly thereafter, President Mulino rebuked the Trump Administration’s implicit suggestion that the project was a response to Washington’s competition with Beijing. Additionally, Panamanian officials clarified that the project had been ongoing for nearly 10 years.
5. Even amidst these U.S.-China tensions playing out in Panama, Bloomberg reported that a key result of the U.S.-China talks in Switzerland was to let a Chinese firm, like State-Owned Enterprise COSCO, join the Western consortium that elected to buy a network of global ports (including two near the Panama Canal) from Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison.
Vibrant Chinese dining culture suffers from heavy-handed austerity control: state media | South China Morning Post
China’s ongoing austerity campaign has been taken too far at some local levels, People’s Daily has warned, a month after Beijing launched its latest belt-tightening push.
In a commentary published on its website on Tuesday night, the party mouthpiece said that while curbing corruption and extravagance was necessary for the austerity campaign, it should not come at the expense of a citizen’s daily life or local economies.
“When implementing, some localities have ‘layered on restrictions’ – equating ‘prohibiting illegal dining and drinking’ simply with ‘banning all eating and drinking’,” the commentary said, referring to a common situation in China in which higher authorities impose additional or even stricter requirements at every level, leading to excessive or overzealous implementation.
At Paris Air Show, China’s aviation suppliers circle for a landing | South China Morning Post
China’s presence at the Paris Air Show – the globally renowned civil aviation expo – is usually reduced to Beijing’s biggest names in the field. In particular, conversation tends to focus on the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), the maker of the C919 passenger jet.
But things have changed this year. Dozens of lesser-known Chinese firms from across the supply chain have flocked to the European capital to showcase their products to Western buyers.
The number of Chinese companies attending the biennial show has more than doubled – from 29 in 2023 to 76 this year – according to GIFAS, the aerospace industry association organising the event. Enough Chinese exporters have attended and grouped together that the show now features a de facto country pavilion for the first time in its history.
China’s private firms back in driver’s seat as regulations ease: Goldman Sachs | South China Morning Post
“The tide has turned” for China’s private enterprises, said analysts with Goldman Sachs, as regulatory restrictions are being lifted to help non-state firms pursue breakthroughs in cutting-edge technology and expand their international presence.
The private sector’s “animal spirits” are making a return, with investment patterns suggesting a renewal led by capital expenditure, more aggressive overseas expansion plans, research and development spending and heightened fundraising activity, the investment bank said in a report published on Sunday.
“The sustainability of the rebound hinges largely on more predictable policy and regulatory frameworks, forceful macro stimulus to circuit-break disinflationary expectations and more stable US-China relations,” researchers said.
This weekly newsletter is put together by DeLisle Worrell, President of the ABCF. Visit us at Association for Barbados China Friendship | (abcf-bb.com).
Thanks to everyone who sent contributions for this week’s Update. Please send items of interest to me via the contact page at ABCF-BB.com or to info@DeLisleWorrell.com
The ABCF mission is to build a deeper understanding between the Chinese people and Barbadians and Caribbean people from all walks of life. The association’s focus is on personal experiences, people-to-people contact, cultural exchanges and exchanges of ideas, and the facilitation of travel, business and study. From the outset we aim to learn from and build on the experiences of the Caribbean and China, and to develop mutual understandings and support that will be to the benefit of both sides.
