🌍 Peter’s Perspective Bi-weekly newsletter (Beta version)

Grounded in the same pillars that strucure my book, this digest delivers curious, cool & critical stories shaping mainland China, Singapore and Taiwan, offering a sharp inside-out view that complements Western perspectives. Bi-weekly we dive into trusted East Asian sources like SCMP, Caixin, Straits Times, Xinhua and Taipei Times to bring you 20 must-know stories across four dynamic pillars:

🧠 People & Culture: 
From martial arts revivals and sports to Asia’s most creative cultural exports

💼 Leadership & Economy: 
Trade shifts, five-year plans, and tech-powered policy transformations

🔬 Tech & Innovation: 
Semiconductors, AI, and university spin-offs that are redefining global innovation

🌱 Climate, Energy & Food:
From battery breakthroughs to sustainable change

🚀Join the community: bookmark, share and spark the conversation. See you every other Friday!

🌏 Edition: June 12–26, 2025

What questions are shaping mainalnd China, Taiwan and Singapore right now?

🎭 What is Zhang Zhi Yi’s new movie, toy monsters suddenly Asia’s hottest tickets—and could they set the next global culture wave?
💸 Can China’s new game plan—bigger paychecks and easier IPOs—break through Europe’s red tape and power a €13 billion battery dream?
⚡ Will robot-dog patrols, driverless testing and a planet-wide solar-wind grid make East Asia the lab for tomorrow’s green tech?

People & Culture

  1. Zhang Ziyi-led thriller “She’s Got No Name” opens amid summer box office hopes. Directed by Peter Chan, “She’s Got No Name” is based on a sensational 1945 murder case in Shanghai, which saw a woman dismember her husband’s body in a grisly act of revenge.🎥
    Why it’s cool: a darker-than-ever Zhang Ziyi + vintage Shanghai vibes could reboot China’s battered film season—and suspense-hungry Gen Z is here for it.
    https://english.news.cn/20250622/38a19514503f4da88b46e3b4000032f5/c.html (22 Jun 2025)
  2. Taiwan’s men’s and women’s hoops squads hype July’s Jones Cup. Players flashed new kits and pledged “fast-break diplomacy” as Taipei courts global teams for the 46-year-old tournament. 🏀
    Why it’s cool: sport is Taiwan’s soft-power megaphone – and Gen Z loves a live-streamed dunk.
    https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2025/06/25/2003839222 (25 Jun 2025)
  3. A 2,000-year-old silk manuscript’s 60-year odyssey back to China. From Cold-War auction rooms to a lab in Hunan, the Zidanku text is being digitised for open access. 📜
    Why it’s cool: repatriation stories fuse history, NFTs and national pride in one swipe.
    https://www.caixinglobal.com/2025-06-20/weekend-long-read-a-lost-chinese-treasures-60-year-journey-home-102332818.html (20 Jun 2025)
  4. Designer-toy icon Labubu morphs into a ¥3 billion fandom empire. Caixin’s deep dive shows how limited drops, AI-driven hype and collabs with Hermès keep plastic monsters scarce – and must-have. 🎁
    Why it’s cool: proof that scarcity + story = giga-community for creators.
    https://www.caixinglobal.com/2025-06-19/cx-daily-how-labubu-became-a-monster-of-a-business-102332088.html (19 Jun 2025)
  5. Singapore a-cappella crew OFFKEYS chosen for European Choir Games in Denmark. The Gen Z singers will compete in Aarhus with a Mandarin-Malay mash-up set. 🎶
    Why it’s cool: Nordic stage + S-pop vibes = fresh bridge between Øresund and Orchard Road.
    https://stomp.straitstimes.com/singapore-seen/local-choir-offkeys-to-proudly-represent-singapore-in-european-choir-games-this-june (22 Jun 2025)

2. Leadership & Economy

  1. Summer Davos spotlights China’s “green-growth pivot”. Ministers and CEOs in Tianjin called AI and renewables the twin engines of post-slowdown recovery. 🌱
    Why it matters: the forum’s vibe sets Q3 investor sentiment.
    https://english.news.cn/20250623/b901d42fffbd49a399a30603f4d8fe0b/c.html (23 Jun 2025)
  2. TSMC boosts capital in finance arm to hedge forex swings. The chip titan’s move aims to shave millions off hedging costs as the NT-dollar rallies. 💸
    Why it matters: currency risk is the silent tax on every global-first startup too.
    https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2025/06/26/2003839247 (26 Jun 2025)
  3. CATL’s €13 billion European battery bet hits red-tape reality. From zoning delays to skills shortages, China’s EV-battery king learns that “copy-paste supply chains” don’t fly in Thuringia. 🔋
    Why it matters: Sino-EU industrial tie-ups are a masterclass in localisation.
    https://www.caixinglobal.com/2025-06-19/in-depth-catls-bet-on-europe-shows-challenges-of-recreating-supply-chains-abroad-102332422.html (26 Jun 2025)
  4. Shanghai’s STAR Market reopens doors to loss-making deep-tech firms. Regulators revived the 5th listing rule to woo AI-chip and quantum hopefuls. 📈
    Why it matters: easier IPOs could feed the region’s next unicorn wave.
    https://www.caixinglobal.com/2025-06-18/china-to-reopen-star-market-to-loss-making-tech-firms-102331964.html (18 Jun 2025)
  5. Raising incomes is now Beijing’s growth mantra. Economists at Summer Davos argue wage gains, not credit sprees, will fire domestic demand. 🛍️
    Why it matters: Gen Z spending power rises when pay cheques do.
    https://www.caixinglobal.com/2025-06-26/increasing-incomes-key-to-boosting-domestic-demand-professor-says-102335009.html (26 Jun 2025)

3. Technology & Innovation

  1. China designates 20 new autonomous-driving test
    zones across 11 cities.     Fleets clocked 70 million km accident-free under fresh safety rules. 🚗
    Why it rocks: the world’s biggest “beta lab” accelerates driverless tech maturity.
    https://english.news.cn/20250620/9adc0f9d1bd34336b0e5167ede2ee71c/c.html
    (20 Jun 2025)
  2. Taiwan’s clean-room builders
    ride overseas chip-fab boom.     Orders jumped 35 % as TSMC and peers expand in Germany and Arizona. 🛠️
    Why it rocks: precision airflows from Taichung now power global fabs.
    https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2025/06/23/2003839071
    (23 Jun 2025)
  3. AI “robot dogs” patrol China’s power grid.
    Caixin shows how predictive models cut emergency gas buys by half and slice fault rates 30 %.     🤖
    Why it rocks: smart energy isn’t sci-fi – it’s grid reality.
    https://www.caixinglobal.com/2025-06-20/how-ai-is-solving-problems-in-chinas-energy-industry-102332834.html
    (20 Jun 2025)
  4. Commentary warns China’s chip sector of a ‘race-to-zero-margin’
    trap.     Loss-leader bids and 120-day payment cycles threaten supply-chain health.⚠️
    Why it rocks: sustainability is now a KPI, not a slogan.
    https://www.caixinglobal.com/2025-06-25/commentary-chinas-chip-industry-must-end-its-race-to-the-bottom-102334520.html
    (25 Jun 2025)
  5. Dutch giant ASML launches China talent hunt via lithography quiz.
    Winners get a fast-track interview; 75 more join the company    ’s talent pool. 🌍
    Why it rocks: EU-China tech symbiosis thrives despite export-rule headwinds.
    https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3315938/asml-launches-science-project-china-discover-new-talent-lithography
    (26 Jun 2025)

 

4. Climate Action, Energy & Food

  1. Xinhua think-tank urges China-Central Asia climate pact. Report calls for joint green-energy corridors and digital twins for desert farming. 🌏
    Why it matters: the Silk Road is going solar.
    https://english.news.cn/20250623/ab05ddb2c09e48389fb2bf280277551b/c.html (23 Jun 2025)
  2. Top scientists flash ‘bright-red’ warming alarms. Record sea-level rise and heat-dome data put 1.5 °C in peril, Taipei Times reports. 🔥
    Why it matters: climate math just got personal for coastal millennials.
    https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2025/06/20/2003838952 (20 Jun 2025)
  3. Shanxi’s uphill sprint from coal to carbon-lite. Caixin’s CX Daily shows China’s coal heartland redirecting special bonds to retire legacy plants. ⛏️➡️🔋
    Why it matters: provincial pivots hint at national decarbonisation pace.
    https://www.caixinglobal.com/2025-06-18/cx-daily-as-china-pursues-carbon-goals-coal-heartland-faces-uphill-struggle-102331523.html (18 Jun 2025)
  4. Policy adviser: ‘Massive must become green’. Beijing insiders push for mandatory ESG metrics in “Made in China 2025-plus”. ♻️
    Why it matters: eco-KPIs are moving from CSR pages to board bonuses.
    https://www.caixinglobal.com/2025-06-19/massive-and-strong-china-needs-to-become-massive-and-green-policy-adviser-says-102332447.html (19 Jun 2025)
  5. China-led study maps a planetary solar-wind super-grid. Researchers propose phasing in trans-continental cables by the 2050s to end power blackouts. ⚡
    Why it matters: a global green-energy network could juice EU–Asia cooperation.
    https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3315587/china-led-study-proposes-global-green-energy-network-solve-power-crisis (25 Jun 2025)