China Studies Conference sub-forum focuses on digital age

The second World Conference on China Studies was held in Shanghai on Tuesday with the theme "Historical and Contemporary China: A Global Perspective."

The conference was sponsored by the State Council Information Office and the Shanghai Municipal government, in cooperation with other government agencies and academic institutions.

Approximately 500 renowned experts and scholars from over 50 countries and regions participated in in-depth discussions. Five sub-forums of the conference addressed topics ranging from Chinese modernization, China studies in the era of digital intelligence, to the role of youth in the future of China studies.

At one of the sub-forums, "China Studies in the Era of Digital Intelligence: Opportunities and Challenges," attendees explored global perspectives and China's experience in the digital era, digital infrastructure and new history studies, and interdisciplinary humanistic intelligence.

"In Chinese history, for example, we have huge bodies of material, so millions and millions of words of text, far more than any single human could ever read. One of the promises, I think, of large language models and of AI generally is that we can use that to kind of help us work with the other less well studied materials and maybe surface some things that people haven't looked at in as much detail," said Donald Sturgeon, assistant professor of the Department of Computer Science at the Durham University in United Kingdom.

Some attendees expressed that the sub-forums have served as a vital platform for cooperation and exchanges between the East and the West, and offered a precious chance to get insights into the latest trend across various academic disciplines.

They also noted that China is advanced in the development of artificial intelligence and digital finance, which has in turn opened up numerous possibilities for international cooperation.

"China is leading entire world in developing the AI and including those AI into the fintech, financial intelligence, financial services. My interest is to study from this Chinese development in the digital finance and financial inclusion and gets some lessons to my own country," said Bal Ram Duwal, director of the Confucius Institute at the Tribhuvan University of Nepal.

"I believe that culture and especially historical grounding is very, very important. So, it's not that artificial intelligence is going to ruin our humanity, just reshaping. But in order to understand the direction we are going, we need also to look where we are from," said Nicola Liberati, associate professor of the School of Humanities at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

China Studies Conference sub-forum focuses on digital age

Voting for the election of the eighth-term Legislative Council (LegCo) of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) concluded on Sunday night.

Voting for the election began at 07:30 a.m. local time on Sunday. More than 600 polling stations were opened across Hong Kong, serving approximately 4.13 million registered voters.

Long queues had already formed outside multiple polling stations across Hong Kong before the polls opened. At polling station entrances, staff and volunteers attentively assisted voters with the procedures. Some voters posed for a photo holding a thank-you card given by staff after casting their ballot.

"As a Hong Kong citizen, I think it's my responsibility to vote, and I don't want to give up my rights. That's why I come here to support," a voter said.

"We actually flew in from Thailand. Learning today is a special day to vote, we actually canceled all our appointments and canceled everything, and we flew in with the whole family just to be part of Hong Kong and to vote, and to cast our vote and be part of the community," said another voter.

HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee cast his ballot at around 08:30 a.m. at Raimondi College on Robinson Road. He said that the LegCo election is of great importance to Hong Kong's overall development and future reforms, and it also represents the expectations of Hong Kong society.

A number of voters said they look forward to the new term of the Legislative Council taking greater responsibility in advancing Hong Kong's economy, society, and public welfare.

"I think an area of focus I'd like to see is, one is the economy, and secondly is youth mobility and youth policies. I think youth are the future, and it's very important to get unity within the youth and also give us hope, right? The youth in general -- what can we do to, for us as youth, to partake in civil society and to show our responsibility, but also from the government, like, what kind of policy that can help us do that as well," said a young voter.

"I hope that there will be more fair education in the sense that even people from the poor family, they can actually receive good education in good schools," another voter said.

The new term of LegCo will be composed of 90 members, including 40 elected by the Election Committee, 30 elected by functional constituencies, and 20 elected by geographical constituencies through direct elections. The name list of the 40 members returned by the Election Committee has been unveiled.

The eighth-term LegCo of the HKSAR will commence its four-year term on Jan 1, 2026.

Voting for 8th-term HKSAR LegCo election concludes

Voting for 8th-term HKSAR LegCo election concludes