The ABCF is offering free tutorials, in association with the Barbados-China Returned Students Association, to tutor Barbadian and other Caribbean students up to the level of proficiency in Mandarin that is required to qualify for scholarships offered by the Chinese government, provinces and universities. Our program also includes promotion of opportunities to study in China, support for the university and scholarship application process, support for students studying in China, and information on career prospects for graduates. To apply, please contact us at the WhatsApp number or email address above.
ABCF to Sign MoU with Yiwu City, Monday February 9, 9:00pm AST (Barbados)
The ABCF is launching an initiative to build a network of information and support for companies and individuals who are involved in sourcing, trading, providing trade information, making contacts, or any other aspect of commerce with China. The initiative will be launched at a hybrid seminar to mark the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the ABCF and the Yiwu Municipal People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries of Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province, China. Yiwu (Yiwu International Trade City (义乌国际商贸城) ) is reputed to be the world's largest wholesale market for small consumer items. The seminar will be held by Zoom on Monday February 9, 9:00pm Barbados Time (February 10, 9:00am in Beijing) for one hour. The Zoom meeting details follow.
Meeting ID: 82002909661
Passcode: 20260209
If you are involved in any way in commerce with China or are considering trading with China, we invite you to join us online on February 9. Also, please write to us at ABCF-BB Association or at the ABCF WhatsApp number, +1 (246) 288-1356 indicating your name, the name of your company, your email, your phone, and the kind of business in which you are engaged, so that we may inform you of follow-up activities from this and other initiatives that may be of interest to you.
China’s 10-minute dramas are becoming a real economy
The article in Qiushi notes that in 2025, micro-dramas experienced explosive growth, emerging as a new frontier in China’s cultural consumption market.
China’s monthly output of micro-dramas has stabilized at around 3,000 titles, with the user base reaching 696 million — covering more than 60 percent of the country’s internet population. Hundreds of millions of viewers are hooked on these bite-sized shows, where twists come every five seconds and entire lifetimes unfold in just ten minutes.
The NSD report also sketches a profile of who is actually watching micro-dramas. It argues that the highly modular and easily replicable storytelling of micro-dramas, built around fast hooks and constant twists, neatly fills the fragmented downtime of food-delivery riders, commuting office workers, and even older viewers. The emergence of a user base exceeding 700 million, the report notes, reflects not a niche taste but a broad-based pattern of cultural consumption rooted in China’s mass audience.
Farmers in Hunan are opting out of health insurance as premiums rise and coverage falls short
In Hunan, a central Chinese province with a population of over 65 million and a significant agricultural base, rising healthcare premiums are becoming too expensive for many farmers, who are now calling them a new “agricultural tax.” As incomes stagnate and costs rise, many are opting out of the system, putting their health at risk and undermining trust in the government.
This article, based on a survey conducted by Hunan Normal University, highlights several key problems with the current system in Hunan: healthcare resources are heavily concentrated in urban areas; the “pay-as-you-go” model, where people pay premiums in the same year they receive care, doesn’t incentivise long-term financial planning; and some local governments have resorted to mandatory policies, such as linking insurance payments to eligibility for public services, further fuelling frustration. As premiums keep rising, the system is losing its appeal, particularly among working-age adults who are prioritising immediate financial concerns.
A woman in northwestern China forgot to turn off the tap of her water heater after bathing, causing an hours-long leak that turned her residential community into an outdoor skating rink.
The woman, known as Wang, released a video on social media on January 16 apologising to residents in her neighbourhood in Lanzhou, Gansu province, the Xianfeng News reported.
“I took a shower last night and then forgot to turn off the water tap of my home’s solar water heater. The water was flowing out of the tank for nine hours,” she said in the clip.
Some parents in China are embracing a new way to motivate their children by printing giant homework papers, sparking laughter across the internet.
In January, a mother from Hubei province, central China, said that she printed oversized test papers for her son, saying: “This way, he will not miss any questions.”
Photographs showed her young son lying on the floor, working on a Chinese language test paper nearly one metre long, with blank spaces almost as big as his hand.
When the first cohort of elite foreign captains parachuted into Chinese airlines in the 2000s, their sky-high pay – sometimes reaching 1 million yuan a year – raised eyebrows among their Chinese counterparts.
These hotshot aviators, with their international exposure and qualifications, enjoyed a stratospheric level of success in the burgeoning Chinese market. Facing a shortage of experienced pilots, Chinese carriers embraced them with open arms, granting generous benefits and speedy paths to promotion and making few demands in return.
“Other than the warm reminder of no smoking or drinking – part of Chinese regulations on a pilot’s physical condition – overseas captains in China were put on a fast track career runway and cleared for take-off,” recalled one foreign captain still flying with a budget carrier, who requested anonymity due to company policy.
Defying a tight domestic job market, a record wave of overseas graduates is flooding back to China, eager to snatch up opportunities in its fast-growing tech and advanced manufacturing sectors.
The influx, up 12 per cent in 2025 to an eight-year high, signals “determined confidence” among globally trained talent, according to findings by job-recruitment platform Zhaopin.
And the robustness of this homecoming trend, at 2.25 times the 2018 level, points to a “sustained trend” in domestic opportunities, the platform said in a report last week.
North America’s top computer vision scientist Liang Jie returns to China | South China Morning Post
Twenty years ago, technologies developed by Liang Jie at Microsoft were incorporated into products like the Windows Media Video Player and Blu-ray discs used by millions worldwide.
A decade on, while a professor in Canada, Liang ventured into entrepreneurship, developing an intelligent sensor system for elderly care to address global population ageing.
Today, he brings his top-tier expertise in image and video compression back to China.
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.
