“The repeated record-breaking gold prices in recent years do not mean a return to the old gold standard. Instead, it reflects echoes of a fragmenting new world order. What is really happening is not the revival of the gold standard, but a weakening of the foundations of the dollar hegemony and the early emergence of an multipolar currency system.”
Miao Yanliang, chief strategist and executive director of research at China International Capital, writing for the company’s website on December 11, 2025
“Our generation is facing a historic opportunity to witness how humanity will evolve with the help of AI. AI’s value does not lie in mimicking humans, such as doing housework or delivering packages, but in helping humans discover unknown knowledge.”
Chen Tianqiao, founder of the neuroscience-focused Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute, in an interview with financial outlet Caixin in late December 2025
“With China’s per capita GDP now exceeding US$10,000, people’s pursuit of economic growth is gradually shifting to demands for better public services and greater participation in public governance. Given this, we should stimulate local governments’ motivation to provide quality public services and improve public governance.”
Lü Bingyang, executive director of the Institute of Public Finance and Taxation at the Renmin University of China, writing for think tank China Finance 40 Forum in late December 2025
“I think that we may lack confidence. We are always guessing what people want to watch, but this is the wrong way around... Artists should offer diverse choices for audiences to decide what they like, rather than creators guessing mainstream preferences and tailoring everything to that.”
Actor Zhang Songwen in an interview with China Newsweek
“No scientific success is possible without choosing the right direction. A good direction is definitely not one created from fantasy, but one that allows scientists to feel their way without major missteps. Meanwhile, truly groundbreaking discoveries cannot be predetermined. Only sustained accumulation can make that direction clear. During this process, maintaining openness and diversity is essential.”
Li Chunlai, deputy general designer of China’s Chang’e-5 and Chang’e-6 lunar missions and chief designer of their lunar exploration ground application systems, in a recent interview with China Newsweek
“China’s economy is advancing from a phase of high-speed growth to one of high-quality development. The core structural contradiction is strong supply and weak demand. The service sector, which connects supply and demand as well as investment and consumption, is the key to addressing this contradiction.”
Xu Qiyuan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, writing for think tank China Finance 40 Forum in December 2025
“The easing of the rush for postgraduate education does not mean that high-level talent is no longer needed. Rather, it suggests that the labor market is no longer willing to pay for low-quality postgraduate programs. If the supply side fails to reform, the demand side will not simply follow.”
Liu Hong, associate researcher at the Fudan Development Institute, and Zhang Duanhong, associate professor at the Institute of Higher Education, Tongji University, both in Shanghai, in a jointly authored paper calling on universities to reform their approaches to talent training
“Rather than entirely overthrow or replace the current US-led international order, China seeks to preserve the overall international system while reforming some of its multilateral institutions to enhance Chinese influence, improve their efficiency and increase representation of non-Western countries... The fact that China’s growing strength and desire to play a bigger role on the world stage coincides with the US’s declining interest in sustaining its global dominance makes a grand bargain between the two not only possible but necessary.”
Wu Xinbo, director of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, in his article for US magazine Foreign Affairs published on December 31, 2025
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