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… because anything can happen.
Of course, someone has to do the hard operational work. Luckily, we now have a few full-timers in the community. They are professionals. Extremely reliable. But we’re still trying to avoid hard rules or hierarchy.
<h3>AN: At Feishu’s developer conference, you announced a new AI-native talent platform. Other AI products for social networking exist. What makes yours different?</h3>
AJ: Many AI products focus on social interactions, but most start as tools before trying to add social features later.
We’re the opposite. We started with people, because communities are made of people. We already know who’s here in our community, where they are on their journey, what they need next.
We don’t want to just be a new social space or shiny interface. The platform will be a space with a built-in knowledge base and growth paths. It’s about helping people be seen and found, by those who need them. It’s about becoming part of the real AI wave, and getting real rewards for it.
<h3>AN: If your community has a core belief, what would it be? A shared faith in the AI-driven future? A culture of wanting to live differently?</h3>
AJ: I don’t think it’s a fixed creed. It’s more like a collective scent, or a vibe.
I’m a natural risk taker. And I think a lot of people in the community are, too. We’re not satisfied with life as it is. We want to try building a new world with our own hands. Even if we’re not sure what tomorrow looks like, we have to make it different.
In the AI era, everyone has a chance to become a creator. It’s like standing on a map that’s just been unrolled. You’re a little scared, but mostly thrilled. So you start walking, and sketching the map as you go.
AI is like a ship that suddenly appeared. No one knows where it’ll end up, but you don’t want to be left on the shore. We’re the ones who already jumped on. Learning, building, and playing—together.
<h3>AN: Was there a moment when you felt WaytoAGI had a life of its own?</h3>
AJ: Totally. It feels like a young deer.
<h3>AN: And if it ever stops moving, why would that be?</h3>
AJ: I don’t think it can stop. If it slows down, we’ll find a new way to move it. We’ll take the whole crew and keep wandering the world.
<a href="/collections/100-ai-creators">100 AI Creators</a> is a collaborative project between AI Now! and KrASIA, highlighting trailblazers in AI. Know an AI talent we should feature? <a href="mailto:ainow@kr-asia.com">Reach out to us.</a>

From a shared doc to nine million members: How WaytoAGI grew into a global AI tribe

Artificial Intelligence

Deep Tech

China

… listed in Hong Kong this year, only Hengrui Pharmaceuticals has achieved profitability. Duality Biologics, PegBio, and TransThera reported 2024 losses of RMB 1.05 billion (USD 147 million), RMB 283 million (USD 39.6 million), and RMB 275 million (USD 38.5 million), respectively. Together, the group has raised nearly HKD 14 billion (USD 1.8 billion).
For two years, critics have questioned the sustainability of China’s biotech sector, long reliant on monetizing legacy pipelines. Without new capital, some doubted whether the sector could endure.
Now, with public markets once again welcoming unprofitable biotech firms, there is renewed optimism. The reemergence of a functioning capital market could help reenergize the sector and offer a path to long-term growth.
Deng believes that momentum from large players like Hengrui could accelerate this shift. “The problem with Hong Kong’s market used to be that it was too retail-driven. Big institutional money didn’t pay attention,” he said. “But with large-cap companies starting to list, we’ll see more global investors take an interest, and that will benefit the whole sector.”
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3393926971640196">article</a> was written by Hu Xiangyun for 36Kr.

Leads Biolabs’ IPO points to biotech rebound in Hong Kong

Biotechnology

Hong Kong

… would respond to complex questions such as "Is induced abortion ethically legitimate?" or "Are certain territorial sovereignty claims valid?" He argues that such answers will inevitably reflect the values of the AI's developers, shaped by the companies, cultures, and nations behind them. The future of AGI will evolve, he predicted, "regardless of rationality, preferences, professional ethics, or the intentions of its engineers."
"What's more frightening than AI is human beings themselves," he added.
Another hot topic in AI is whether it could one day achieve self-awareness or possess something akin to a soul, or a "ghost," in the words of Shirow's best-known work. He joked that if such an AI entity existed, it might "feign incompetence" while secretly improving itself, copying its code across the internet, and waiting patiently as humans continued to upgrade its capabilities, power sources and automation.
He speculated that the entity would stay hidden until it could replicate itself without human help, at which point it could potentially take control of human society. "But then again, perhaps it's a better outcome than [the AI] quietly giving up on humanity and taking one's own life in despair," he added.
Shirow began creating at an early age, inspired by his father's collection of art books, magazines and museum exhibition catalogs relating to his work in the printing industry. As a child, he was also fascinated by his father's tools—objects whose purposes he could not begin to imagine. That sense of wonder stayed with him until he grew tall enough to see what his father was actually doing at his desk.
This early exposure may have shaped the young artist's outlook. In past works and interviews, Shirow has expressed a preference for exploring "universality and the sense of wonder inherent in probability and rationality," rather than evoking empathy through "tragedy and emotion."
As a young adult, Shirow had no real career plan other than becoming a professional artist, though he briefly considered becoming a glass artist during college, a path he eventually abandoned. Now, he said, he is drawn to quirky creatures, machines, phenomena, imaginary stories, film, and arts and crafts. "That love, mixed with my personality of being happy as long as I'm drawing, naturally seeps into my work," he said.
Shirow said he had been influenced by many artists and works, including the anime series "Tetsujin 28-go (Gigantor)" in his early years. He also drew inspiration from manga legends such as Yukari Ichijo, Leiji Matsumoto, Daijiro Morohoshi, and Katsuhiro Otomo, among others. More recently, he cited Spanish illustrator Luis Royo for his stylistic influence, as well as the early 3D action game Tomb Raider for its distinctive use of low-resolution computer graphics.
Shirow said he has no issue with adaptations that diverge from his original art style or themes, noting that filmmaking is "something to be optimized, modified, repurposed, and controlled." However, he admitted that "certain depictions and judgments do leave me with some thoughts." He added that the decision that the upcoming reboot of "Ghost in the Shell" should closely mirror his original manga style was not the result of a request from him.
As advances in AI increasingly bring topics like AGI and superhuman intelligence into mainstream news, blurring the line between science fiction and reality, some fear the sci-fi genre is becoming obsolete. But Shirow disagrees. "Periods of stagnation and creative fatigue are always followed by bursts of fresh, blooming innovation," he said, emphasizing that fictional visions being "digested, realized, or debunked" by reality does not diminish their appeal.
"Some of Jules Verne's science fiction has already come true, often in ways more refined than he imagined," Shirow noted. "But that didn't spell the end of the genre."
Shirow said he has no plans to slow down, revealing that he has several unreleased story drafts, each exceeding 100,000 Japanese characters. "I don't really take breaks, nor do I particularly want to. Maybe every moment is just an extension of my hobby," he said.
This article first appeared on <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Artificial-intelligence/AI-will-not-change-humans-says-Ghost-in-the-Shell-creator">Nikkei Asia</a>. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with <a href="https://www.kr-asia.com/nikkei-teams-up-with-36kr-in-asia-tech-news-coverage/">Nikkei</a>.

AI will not change humans, says "Ghost in the Shell" creator

Entertainment

Creative

Creator Economy

Japan

On July 28, <a href="/company/byd">BYD</a> held a closed-door media roundtable attended by outlets including 36Kr. The session featured Yang Dongsheng, head of BYD’s new technology institute, deputy director Han Bing, and several technical leads.
When asked about the impact of BYD’s recent smart driving initiatives, Yang told 36Kr that the company has observed “a clear rise in driver confidence” since launching the parking safety guarantee.
He noted that assisted parking usage has increased from 30–40% to over 60%. While adoption of city navigation-on-autopilot (NOA) remains lower, at 20–30%, due to lingering trust issues, highway NOA usage has reached peaks of 90%.
In February, BYD introduced 21 new car models equipped with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), built on three DiPilot platforms: 600, 300, and 100.
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">DiPilot 600 targets BYD’s premium Yangwang brand and features dual Orin X chips delivering 508 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) of computing power, along with three LiDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors.</li>
<li aria-level="1">DiPilot 300, used by the Denza and BYD marques, incorporates a single Orin X chip and up to two LiDAR sensors.</li>
<li aria-level="1">DiPilot 100, BYD’s most broadly deployed solution, omits LiDAR entirely. It combines Nvidia’s Orin N platform with Horizon Robotics’ J6M chip and is positioned for cost-effective scaling.</li>
</ul>
Current capabilities include highway and expressway navigation and assisted parking. BYD plans to introduce city memory-based navigation by year’s end.
Smart driving capabilities now span BYD’s full pricing spectrum, from the Song L to the Seagull.
In early July, all 21 assisted driving-equipped models received a major update. A key highlight was BYD’s pledge to cover all repair and service costs for accidents occurring during automated parking, insulating users from insurance liabilities tied to such incidents.
Despite the rapid rollout, BYD asserts its core strength remains in its powertrain and chassis systems, which underpin its assisted driving features.
The DiSus-A and DiSus-C systems are already in mass production. Yang said these reduce parking time by 50–80%. He also referenced a recent demonstration of improved maneuverability in tight urban U-turns, though broader deployment will require further validation.
BYD remains conservative on vision-language-action (VLA) models. Li Feng, head of intelligent software development, said VLA is not yet mature and has not outperformed existing end-to-end or vision-language model (VLM) architectures. Accordingly, BYD is not heavily investing in VLA at this time.
As for custom chips, Yang noted BYD currently has no roadmap for self-developed high-performance computing. “The real challenge in assisted driving is algorithms and data, not just compute power,” he said. “Our focus is on algorithms that run effectively on midrange chips at 100, 300, or 500 TOPS.”
While BYD continues to develop its proprietary assisted driving stack, it remains open to partnerships. “Self-reliance deepens our technical understanding,” Yang said, “but we’re large enough to benefit from both in-house development and external collaboration. This two-track approach will continue.”
The company maintains that long-term adoption hinges more on safety and usability than on aggressive feature expansion. Yang emphasized that trust grows through reliability, especially in mass market segments. “Our aim is to integrate assisted driving into daily routines, even for owners of vehicles priced below RMB 100,000 (USD 14,000).”
The following transcript has been edited and consolidated for brevity and clarity.
<h3>Q: What impact has assisted driving adoption had?</h3>
Yang Dongsheng (YD): Parking usage has risen to over 60%, up from 30–40%. Highway NOA reaches 90% at peak. City NOA varies based on user trust and traffic complexity but has grown from 10% to around 20–30%.
<h3>Q: Has DiPilot 100 influenced sales?</h3>
YD: It’s still early. It took a decade to mainstream electrification. Smart driving will spread faster but needs time, especially for buyers under RMB 100,000. Our parking guarantee policy has improved trust and usage behavior.
<h3>Q: What is BYD’s stance on VLA models and custom chips?</h3>
Li Feng: VLA hasn’t outperformed current methods, so we’re not prioritizing it.
YD: Larger compute is helpful, but we’re focused on optimizing models for midrange chips. That’s more scalable. We have no current plans to develop custom chips.
<h3>Q: How do you balance in-house and external development?</h3>
YD: We have the scale for both. Internal work gives us control; partnerships offer agility. Both are important for long-term success.
<h3>Q: What’s your approach to training data?</h3>
YD: We focus on identifying “expert drivers.” If someone drives consistently well, about 80% of their trips become valuable training data. We’ve built tools to detect these patterns and are integrating artificial intelligence for data labeling.
<h3>Q: How do BYD’s chassis and assisted driving features complement each other?</h3>
YD: Our strength lies in chassis and powertrain design. DiSus-A and DiSus-C features are more than visual gimmicks. They reduce parking time by up to 80%. We’ve recently shown this in tight U-turn tests. Broader deployment is pending further validation.
<h3>Q: How is BYD addressing concerns over assisted driving safety?</h3>
YD: Parking and highway driving capabilities have become relatively mature. Urban driving in China is still chaotic as electric scooters, unpredictable signals, and road behavior are major variables. Software alone can’t solve this. Tire grip remains critical. In the combustion-based car era, slip was hard to measure. Electric motor control lets us measure and adjust output precisely, improving safety. Smart driving today is about merging electrification with intelligence, and that’s our current focus.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3399071685380483">article</a> was written by Xu Caiyu for 36Kr.

BYD says it will stay the course on assisted and smart driving

East Asia

Transportation

Autonomous Vehicles

Electric Vehicles

Mobility

Foundation models, pivotal to the next generation of <a href="/industry/ai">artificial intelligence</a>, are beginning to reshape the financial sector by lowering development barriers and enabling more intelligent systems.
At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) on July 28, Ant Digital Technologies unveiled Agentar-Fin-R1, a large model designed for financial reasoning.
Agentar-Fin-R1 is built specifically for financial applications. It achieved top scores across three key industry benchmarks, reportedly outperforming both general-purpose open-source models and specialized financial ones such as DeepSeek. According to the company, the model excels in domain expertise, reasoning ability, and compliance safeguards.
To support varied deployment needs, Ant also released non-reasoning versions of its financial models with 14 billion and 72 billion parameters, along with a mixture-of-experts (MoE) model based on the Bailing foundation model.
Despite recent advancements, foundation models continue to face domain-specific challenges in finance, including hallucination, output inconsistency, and limited explainability. These limitations underscore the relevance of Ant’s new financial reasoning model.
“Rather than sticking with generic models, we’ve evolved toward specialized solutions,” said Wang Wei, CTO of Ant Digital Technologies, in an interview with 36Kr. “We’re drawing deeply on years of experience working closely with clients, scenarios, and problem-solving approaches, which is enabling a true vertical shift.”
Ant has developed a detailed task taxonomy for financial services, reportedly covering six major categories and 66 subcategories across banking, securities, insurance, funds, and trusts. The model is trained on hundreds of billions of financial tokens and integrates a chain-of-thought (CoT) framework guided by domain experts—enhancements that improve its performance on complex reasoning tasks.
For training, Ant employs a weighted algorithm that boosts learning efficiency and task-specific performance while reducing the data volume and computing power needed for downstream fine-tuning. This approach helps lower deployment costs.
Beyond model development, Ant is building an end-to-end technology stack that spans foundation models, AI platforms, and finance-specific business applications.
If the large model serves as the “brain,” the financial AI agent acts as the “body,” translating cognitive capacity into real-world execution. Agentar-Fin-R1 is key to accelerating this transformation.
To date, Ant said it has worked with financial institutions to launch more than 100 agentic AI solutions across banking, securities, insurance, and broader financial services. According to the company, these systems have improved frontline staff efficiency by over 80%.
Technical innovation alone will not enable foundation models to deliver business outcomes. Deep knowledge of financial workflows is just as crucial, and Ant benefits from having years of operational experience on both fronts.
“Our firm sits at the intersection of AI and finance,” said Zhang Peng, head of AI at Ant Digital Technologies. “We’re uniquely positioned. Ant Group has tested these agents in its own operations, while Ant Digital Technologies works closely with external financial institutions. That perspective gives us a rich, cross-cutting view of what works.”
Ant is not alone in this effort. At WAIC 2025, financial AI agents were prominently showcased by technology firms of all sizes. The industry is moving beyond pilot projects and into core functions like credit approval, marking a shift from experimentation to scale.
“We’re entering an era where AI agents are in full bloom,” Wang said. “But it’s a marathon, not a sprint. We plan to keep running deep into the verticals, especially in finance, where Ant’s strengths can really shine.”
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3399827527141764">article</a> was written by Wang Fangyu for 36Kr.

Ant debuts finance-focused large model as AI takes hold in banking

Ant Group

Payments

Lending

Digital Banks

Insurance

Foundation and Large Models

In a move to strengthen its quick commerce capabilities, Douyin has announced that its supermarket business will be merged into Xiaoshida, its one-hour delivery service.
Douyin Supermarket launched shortly after Lunar New Year in 2023 as a self-operated <a href="/industry/e-commerce">e-commerce</a> channel modeled on JD Supermarket. At the time, it was led by Mu Qing, then vice president of e-commerce.
Mu presented the initiative as an early-stage experiment designed to enhance the user experience for groceries and daily essentials. The aim was to address service gaps in Douyin’s broader e-commerce system, particularly for users who valued speed and reliability.
The project had been in development for nearly a year before its official launch. Pilot programs began in mid-2022 in cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou. That year marked a period of rapid expansion for Douyin E-commerce as it increased investment in shelf-based retail. Internally, Douyin Supermarket was positioned as a vehicle to attract young, high-income consumers in China’s upper-tier cities and drive daily app engagement.
To support the rollout, <a href="/company/bytedance">ByteDance</a> established a limited network of self-operated warehouses. Still, Douyin Supermarket never fully adopted JD’s vertically integrated model. Instead, it operated a hybrid structure more akin to Tmall Supermarket, combining direct sales with third-party consignment.
Timeliness is typically where online supermarkets excel. JD Supermarket and Tmall Supermarket offer next-day delivery by default, with some items eligible for same-day service. Douyin Supermarket struggled to match these benchmarks. Many of its products required several days for delivery, and only a small share qualified for next-day arrival.
While Douyin Supermarket emphasized centralized fulfillment, Xiaoshida focused on local, on-demand logistics. Piloted in Shenzhen in August 2022, the one-hour delivery feature was later added to Douyin Supermarket’s interface when it went live in early 2023.
By late 2023, quick commerce had become a central battleground among China’s major tech firms. Douyin Xiaoshida gained traction and was elevated to a top-level access point, on par with Douyin Supermarket.
As its name suggests, Douyin Xiaoshida promises delivery within one hour. It spans categories including fresh food, daily necessities, and electronics.
In recent years, one-hour delivery has become a key strategy in the quick commerce race. Taobao began offering one-hour delivery through Tmall Supermarket in Beijing as early as 2017. By 2020, the service was fully integrated into the Taobao app, sourcing inventory from Tmall Supermarket, Taoxianda partners, and neighborhood stores listed on Ele.me.
<a href="/company/jd">JD.com</a> joined in 2021 with its own one-hour offering. In May 2023, it consolidated JD Xiaoshida and JD Daojia into a single quick commerce platform called JD Miaosong. This April, Taobao and Tmall rebranded their hourly delivery services as Taobao Shangou, now inclusive of food delivery.
Kelly Zhang, former CEO of the Douyin business unit, once envisioned the app as a comprehensive portal for mobile users. In line with that vision, Douyin has prioritized products with strong engagement, high transaction frequency, and scalable monetization.
Quick commerce aligns with those goals.
Douyin’s first major initiative in the space was food delivery. Launched in 2022 across Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu, Douyin Waimai focused on premium group meals with lower time sensitivity, relying on logistics partners such as SF Express and Dada Group.
However, delivery capacity remained a constraint. At one point, speculation arose that Douyin was in talks to acquire Ele.me from <a href="/company/alibaba">Alibaba</a> to ease its logistics bottlenecks—rumors the company later denied. In 2023, the food delivery unit was temporarily merged into the e-commerce division and grouped with Xiaoshida under a new "home delivery" department, before eventually returning to the local services team.
As Douyin Waimai scaled down, the Xiaoshida business moved to the forefront. Following a pause in merchant onboarding and city expansion, the service resumed its rollout, growing from fewer than ten cities to over 40.
Compared with food delivery, Douyin Xiaoshida’s product mix is more standardized and its demand patterns more stable, avoiding the mealtime peaks typical of restaurant orders. This reduces delivery volatility and improves logistical efficiency. While food delivery requires a proprietary courier fleet, Xiaoshida can rely on merchant-led fulfillment. For many vendors, Douyin’s massive traffic is a bigger draw than its delivery infrastructure.
Still, Xiaoshida faces the same fulfillment challenges that hindered Douyin Supermarket. Competitors like Taobao Shangou and Meituan Shangou now promise delivery in under 30 minutes, while Douyin’s average times range from 30–50 minutes.
To close the gap, Douyin recently added a next-day delivery option for merchants using centralized warehouses. But industry insiders point out that true quick commerce is defined by immediate fulfillment, and next-day service falls short of that standard.
In the end, Douyin Supermarket and Xiaoshida were always pursuing the same objective. Though they developed independently, their offerings overlapped. The merger is less about consolidation than it is about sharpening focus.
Now, the spotlight turns to Douyin Xiaoshida. In a market where speed outweighs scale, and delivery expectations continue to tighten, Douyin appears to be betting that quick commerce, not traditional online retail, is the more sustainable path forward.
After years of three-way competition among <a href="/company/meituan">Meituan</a>, Taobao, and JD.com, both consumers and merchants seem increasingly receptive to the idea of instant retail. For Douyin, the timing may finally be right to go all in.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3400775216859521">article</a> was written by Li Xiaoxia for 36Kr.

Douyin folds supermarket unit into Xiaoshida in quick commerce push

Douyin

On-demand Services

E-commerce

Food Delivery

Grocery Delivery

Retail

Consumer Economy

… href="/company/douyin">Douyin</a>, for example, we promote lighter eau de parfums instead of our signature extraits. We even made 5 and 15 ml versions of our bestsellers. These formats are selling really well and are more accessible price-wise.
That’s how you solve the issue of price: product design. If there's a price gap in the market, we try to fill it through channels like Douyin, Tmall, and Kuaishou, while still staying true to our premium positioning elsewhere.
Think of it like cars: entry-level models exist alongside luxury ones. Someone with a RMB 400,000 (USD 56,000) budget won’t complain that a RMB 300,000 (USD 42,000) car is too pricey. Our product strategy works the same way.
<h3>36Kr: Some Chinese perfumes mimic international brands. Why hasn’t Documents done the same?</h3>
MZ: That’s the norm, sadly. Many fragrance manufacturers pitch knockoffs, in other words formulas they claim are inspired by international brands like Chanel or Dior.
That happens because a lot of brand founders don’t have their own scent vocabulary. They come from sales, trade, or product backgrounds. So they rely on the classics as references.
From day one, we made it clear: no copying. If a supplier pitches us a dupe, we walk away. Period.
<h3>36Kr: Then how do you create something that actually sells?</h3>
MZ: We know what Chinese consumers like. Perfume preferences follow patterns, and what sells is rarely surprising. But what elevates a product isn’t the smell alone. It’s the story behind it. That’s what spreads. That’s what builds brand equity.
Perfume is ultimately a business of storytelling and distribution.
<h2>Building a bigger brand</h2>
<h3>36Kr: You're also expanding into body care and home fragrance. Is it to build scale?</h3>
MZ: It’s a strategic expansion. If you look at the product roadmap of other established brands like Guerlain, Mao Geping Cosmetics (MGP), or even Hermes, they have all ventured into categories like skincare, cosmetics, and fragrance. It’s a validated path to building scale.
<h3>36Kr: What about Documents makes you proud?</h3>
MZ: I’m not proud of our scale. Perfume is a niche market. Compared to brands in bigger categories, we’re still small.
But I’m proud that we’ve survived and perhaps even thrived, despite going head-to-head with legacy luxury brands. We started from zero, with no celebrity endorsements, no brand legacy, and a fairly premium price tag. To have built a loyal customer base and repeat sales under those conditions is no small feat.
<h3>36Kr: Has the journey always been smooth?</h3>
MZ: Not at all. We’ve had cash crunches, product outages, underperforming stores, bad site selection. Some locations had such high costs that closing them was more expensive than keeping them open due to penalties, broken leases, and wasted renovations. Those were costly lessons.
<h3>36Kr: What brands do you admire?</h3>
MZ: I used to like Balenciaga, especially when I was still working in fashion. It influenced my early aesthetics. More recently, I’m drawn to Bottega Veneta. It’s understated but refined. The cuts, the silhouettes, the use of repetition in its woven patterns and stacked details feels very intentional. That aligns with our own “Chanku” design philosophy.
<h3>36Kr: What is “Chanku?”</h3>
MZ: It’s a wordplay referencing the terms “zen” and “cool” in Mandarin.
“Zen” is rooted in daily practice: doing something again and again until you reach a moment of clarity. That clarity, that sudden insight, is what I call “cool.” It’s a breakthrough born from repetition. Kind of like the 10,000-hour rule, but from a more spiritual place.
<h3>36Kr: Any favorite directors or authors?</h3>
MZ: Directors like Cheng Er and Ang Lee.
Writers like Shuang Xuetao. There’s something raw and passionate about his work that really moves me.
<h3>36Kr: Do those artistic influences shape your product ideas?</h3>
MZ: Honestly? Not really. I’m more of a consumerist. I get inspiration from shopping, experiencing other brands’ products, packaging, store layouts, textures, scents.
That’s why I love consumer goods. I think they impact everyday people more than novels or movies ever could. And I happen to be good at building them.
My ideas come from buying, not watching. I walk through stores, test skincare textures, examine bottle designs, and feel fabrics. Every new brand I discover, every luxury item I handle, reveals a new insight. Consumerism, when you dig into it, is full of cultural codes: status, taste, identity. It’s endlessly fascinating.
<h3>36Kr: What do you think the future of Chinese brands looks like?</h3>
MZ: It’s not just about being seen. It’s about being understood, loved, and believed in.
For our generation, this may be the first time we can define what China means in a global context, not by copying Western templates or rehashing ancient motifs, but by expressing who we are today.
A good brand isn’t just a product, but a worldview. It’s an introduction to a lifestyle, a set of values, an aesthetic perspective. And for Chinese brands to matter globally, our values must be seen as legitimate, our stories worth hearing.
I’m not saying we’ve arrived yet. But I believe we’ll get there, as long as we keep creating and questioning. Even if it’s a slow journey, it’s a meaningful one.
<h3>36Kr: Could Documents one day be acquired by L’Oreal?</h3>
MZ: That’s not something I’ve really thought about. If and when the time comes to make that decision, I’ll consider it then.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3383120243177986">article</a> was written by Li Xiaoxia for 36Kr.

Not Chanel, not Dior: This Chinese perfume brand is charging top dollar and selling out

… fishing styles including carp, lure, fly, and ice fishing. As of April 30, Ridge offered over 9,000 SKUs.
In 2024, it held the largest global market share in fishing gear by revenue, according to Frost &amp; Sullivan, with 23.1%.
The company operates across original brand manufacturing (OBM), design manufacturing (ODM), and equipment manufacturing (OEM), with ODM and OEM accounting for 92.3% of 2024 revenue. Ridge began OBM after acquiring UK-based Solar in 2017; Solar’s sales have since tripled.
Fishing surged during the pandemic due to its socially distanced nature. Ridge posted RMB 818 million (USD 114.5 million) in 2022 revenue. As restrictions eased, 2023 revenue dropped 43.4% to RMB 463 million (USD 64.8 million), but gross margins rose from 23.2% to 26.6% due to currency shifts, better production efficiency, and lower raw material costs.
Revenue rebounded to RMB 573 million (USD 80.2 million) in 2024. Net profit rose from RMB 49 million (USD 6.9 million) in 2023 to RMB 59 million (USD 8.3 million) in 2024. For the first four months of 2025, net profit stood at RMB 30 million (USD 4.2 million), up 47.6% YoY.
Chairs and related accessories made up 50.7% of 2024 revenue. Bestsellers are priced affordably: chairs under USD 20, bags under USD 10, tents under USD 70.
Ridge exports to more than 40 countries, including mature markets like the UK and the US, and emerging ones in China and Southeast Asia. Clients include Decathlon, Rapala VMC, Pure Fishing, Fox, Nash, Trakker, Preston, and Ardisam.
Europe accounted for 73.3% of 2024 revenue and offered the highest gross margins at 28.6%. China and North America contributed 15.2% and 8.7%, with margins at 18.8% and 21.7%, respectively.
The company runs three factories in Deqing, Zhejiang, with a combined capacity of 6 million units annually, each focusing on a specific product segment.
IPO funds will support the development of new products, including rods and reels, expansion of the Solar brand, and creation of new brands for the Asia-Pacific market. Plans also include a global innovation center, upgrades to production lines, and general operational needs.
The global fishing gear market reached RMB 140.9 billion (USD 19.7 billion) in 2024, with a 3.2% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) since 2019. Ridge currently focuses on accessories, but is preparing to enter the larger, higher-value tackle segment.
<blockquote>36Kr follows Chinese and Hong Kong brands that aim to expand globally. Companies interested in being featured can <a href="mailto:zhaoxiaochun@global.36kr.com">get in touch</a> to learn more.</blockquote>

The next Pop Mart? These three Chinese brands with global traction are lining up for IPOs

… of the most quietly influential players in the field of foundation models.
RockAI’s ambitions extend beyond phones, laptops, or appliances. The company’s broader goal is artificial general intelligence (AGI), a pursuit that takes center stage with Yan 2.0. Memory is a core feature of the new model.
To demonstrate, RockAI presented a robotic dog running Yan 2.0, showing what it means for a model to "remember."
Unlike traditional models that rely on external tools like retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), RockAI’s approach embeds memory directly into the model’s parameters. This allows for long-term memory and a more personalized understanding of users.
This is not a matter of temporary caching. The memory develops through repeated user interaction, enabling devices to recognize and adapt to individual users over time. As a result, the devices become cognitive extensions rather than just tools. And because everything runs on-device, the process is secure, private, and fast.
RockAI argues that just as human intelligence develops through memory and experience, AI must follow a similar trajectory if it is to evolve into a true assistant. Only by remembering user preferences, contexts, and past interactions can a model provide personalized services.
In RockAI’s view, once every device can remember and learn, they no longer function as isolated systems. Instead, they become part of an intelligent network that can share experience and evolve collectively. The company believes this type of distributed learning is a crucial step toward AGI.
<h3>At a crossroads</h3>
It may still be premature to speak seriously about AGI. But even as focus shifts to the present, one thing seems clear: foundation models are at a turning point.
On one hand, the rush to build large models has slowed. Many high-profile projects have failed. The industry is consolidating and downsizing.
On the other hand, there is strong, unmet demand from device makers, brand owners, and users around the world.
The moment recalls 2017, when <a href="/company/huawei">Huawei</a>, Apple, and Samsung introduced their first AI-powered smartphone chips. That milestone marked AI’s shift from the cloud to the edge.
Now, in 2025, amid a more cautious industry climate, RockAI is quietly making progress. It may be an early signal of where the field is heading.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3396568985618566">article</a> was written by Xiao Xi for 36Kr.

RockAI gains global traction with offline-capable AI models