Young diners ‘time travel’ back to ancient China
Women wearing long wigs and ornate traditional dresses milled around a pebbled courtyard, stopping to snap photos under a pavilion, as the melodious strumming of the Chinese zither played in the background.These customers have paid to “time travel” back to ancient China for a few hours in an experience offered by a newly opened themed restaurant in central Beijing, which provides clothing services and an eight-course meal. While the world’s second-largest economy has been beset by sluggish domestic demand, many young people are still spending on experiences and goods that gives them satisfaction — a trend recently dubbed in China as “emotional consumption”.Consumers born after the 1990s often buy things to “please themselves”, fueling emotionally charged purchases in the country, the state-backed China Daily reported in September.Such purchases include Labubu dolls, which have flown off the shelves in China.”New forms of consumption… (and) new trends” such as the toothy-grinned dolls could help boost China’s economy, commerce minister Wang Wentao said in July.Before dining, customers picked out their garments from a room lined with traditional “hanfu”, or Han clothing, headpieces adorned with faux jewels, and accessories.Businessman Carey Zhuang told AFP that he paid around 1,000 yuan ($140) to dress up as one of the main characters from the famous Chinese classic novel “Dream of the Red Chamber”, from which the restaurant has drawn inspiration.Wearing a red silk top emblazoned with dragons, Zhuang said he is happy to spend money on a new experience. “It’s not about blindly being frugal, it’s more about living in the moment,” 27-year-old Zhuang told AFP. – Willing to spend -On the second floor, women sat in front of vanity desks as make-up artists powdered their faces and daintily applied blush to the apples of their cheeks.After being made up, 22-year-old Wu Ke, dressed in a flowy, lilac “hanfu” with a matching cape, said that she was drawn to this restaurant because of her interest in ancient Chinese culture and clothing from the Song and Qing dynasties.The broadcast host said that while people have tightened their purse strings in China, they will still be willing to spend on certain things and experiences. “If, in our daily life, we’re a bit thrifty with things like food — for example, eating more simply — and we choose public transportation when we go out, then the money we save will definitely find somewhere to go,” Wu told AFP.Outside, Huang Jing smiled as she watched her nine-year-old daughter pose for photos with a parasol on a small wooden bridge in the middle of a misty garden.Huang had paid at least 900 yuan ($126) for her daughter to dress up in traditional clothing for the dinner and get her pictures professionally taken.The restaurant was “immersive” unlike regular ones, and had a cultural element to it, Huang, a teacher, told AFP. – Culture charm -In recent years, Chinese people — mostly women — have got increasingly interested in dressing up in “hanfu” especially while visiting key tourist sites in the country.The hashtag “hanfu” has been viewed over eleven billion times on Instagram-like Xiaohongshu, and is filled with posts of women in elaborate costumes and hairdos. Huang said that “the charm of Chinese culture is now loved by the younger generation”.”I hope that my daughter’s generation can continue to inherit, carry forward, and spread it so that more people can know about it,” she added. The revival of the “hanfu” is “a concentrated manifestation” of the “emotional economy”, said Yang Jianfei from the Communication University of China.Through immersive experiences involving the traditional clothing, young people are also engaging in a form of personal identity exploration, which connects them to “the roots of our national culture”, Yang told AFP.Diners were ushered into a grand, circular room, served by waiters dressed in “hanfu”, and treated to an eight-act performance involving twirling dancers and emotive dialogue from actors. Broadcast host Wu told AFP that as long as the reason “felt right” and “moved” her, she would be willing to fork out money. “I won’t try to save in this regard,” she said, adding that she doesn’t view it as “emotional spending”.”I prefer to understand it as something that’s just about making ourselves happy.”
Blue Origin launches NASA Mars mission and nails booster landing
Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin successfully launched its New Glenn rocket on Thursday with NASA twin spacecraft destined for Mars aboard, and in a breakthrough nailed the landing of its booster.The launch was stalled for days over weather both on Earth and in space, but it was worth the wait: in the rocket’s second-ever flight, Blue Origin managed to recover the booster for reuse.Ecstatic cheers rang out at the launch site in Florida’s Cape Canaveral as the booster gracefully stuck its landing on a floating platform. Prior to Thursday, only Elon Musk’s SpaceX had managed to accomplish such a maneuver with an orbital-class rocket.Blue Origin’s accomplishment comes amid intensified rivalry between the two billionaire-owned private space companies, as the US space agency NASA recently opened up bids for its planned Moon mission.”Damn that was exciting!” said Jared Isaacman — a Musk ally who President Donald Trump recently nominated again to head NASA — on X, congratulating Blue Origin.A handful of figures at SpaceX also had praise for their rivals, including Musk himself: “Congratulations @JeffBezos and the @BlueOrigin team!” he said on X.The launch was repeatedly delayed, on Sunday over weather on Earth, and on Wednesday over weather in space.The second postponement was over “highly elevated solar activity” that NASA was worried could impact or damage its spacecraft.And multiple glitches meant delays yet again on Thursday — hold-ups Blue Origin did not explain. But at 3:55 pm (2055 GMT), New Glenn finally blasted off.The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket now has the task of sending NASA’s ESCAPADE twin spacecraft to Mars, in a bid to study the Red Planet’s climate history with the eventual hope of human exploration.Applause resounded once more as the spacecraft successfully deployed.Joseph Westlake, a NASA heliophysicist, explained during Thursday’s webcast how the twin spacecraft named “Blue” and “Gold” will first finding a “benign, safe parking orbit” to make “measurements about the space weather here on Earth.”Then, once the planets have reached the ideal alignment in the fall of 2026, the spacecraft will get a boost from Earth’s gravity and begin the journey to Mars, where they will arrive in 2027.This type of launch could allow for more frequent missions in the future, because they could proceed outside the window of direct alignment of Earth and Mars that happens approximately once every two years.- ‘Launch, land, repeat’ -New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January also was marked a success, as its payload achieved orbit and successfully performed tests.But its first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, was lost during descent.Thursday’s achievement signals that Blue Origin is on its way to reducing costs by reusing boosters rather than allowing them to plummet into the ocean.”Launch, land, repeat — it starts today,” said Eddie Seyffert, among Blue Origin’s webcast commentators.And it comes as US President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House has seen the administration pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon amid a race with China.George Nield — a senior aerospace executive whose work promotes the commercial space industry, and who has flown with Blue Origin in the past — told AFP this launch was a big win for Blue Origin.Nield called it “a major confidence booster for Blue Origin, and it’s going to give the company credibility and the confidence to move forward with supporting the Artemis program, going to the Moon and on Mars and other things that are happening in low Earth orbit, like commercial space stations and many other projects.”
L’entreprise spatiale de Bezos parvient à récupérer le propulseur de sa grande fusée, une prouesse
Blue Origin, l’entreprise du fondateur d’Amazon Jeff Bezos, a réussi jeudi à récupérer le propulseur de sa puissante fusée New Glenn après son lancement, une avancée majeure pour la société américaine qui ambitionne de rivaliser avec SpaceX d’Elon Musk.”C’est un jour historique pour Blue Origin”, s’est émue sa vice-présidente Ariane Cornell lors d’une retransmission vidéo.Après le décollage de la fusée depuis Cap Canaveral en Floride, et la séparation en altitude des deux étages – le supérieur ayant poursuivi sa course et réussi à lancer une mission scientifique Escapade de la Nasa, le propulseur est parvenu à se poser sur une barge disposée par l’entreprise dans l’Atlantique.Un tel atterrissage, extrêmement complexe pour un engin de cette taille, s’est déroulé sous les vivats des employés. C’était la deuxième fois que l’entreprise tentait une telle manœuvre, jusqu’à présent uniquement maîtrisée par sa rivale SpaceX, qui recycle depuis des années les propulseurs de ses fusées Falcon grâce à ces atterrissages. “Bon sang, c’était formidable!”, s’est empressé de saluer sur X Jared Isaacman, un milliardaire proche de Elon Musk que Donald Trump souhaite voir prendre la tête de la Nasa, tandis que les félicitations pleuvaient, notamment du côté de SpaceX.”Félicitations à Jeff Bezos et à l’équipe de Blue Origin”, a ainsi réagi Elon Musk sur la même plateforme.”Jamais auparavant dans l’histoire un propulseur aussi puissant n’avait réussi son atterrissage dès le deuxième essai”, a ensuite vanté Dave Limp, directeur général de Blue Origin dans un communiqué. – Objectif Lune -Avec cette réussite, Jeff Bezos, qui veut rattraper son retard sur Elon Musk, devrait parvenir à accélérer la cadence de ses lancements et en réduire les coûts.Les deux multimilliardaires ont chacun fondé au début des années 2000 leur entreprise spatiale, mais Blue Origin a progressé plus lentement que SpaceX, qui domine aujourd’hui le secteur, en raison notamment d’une approche technique plus prudente.Si la société de Jeff Bezos emmenait déjà depuis plusieurs années des touristes pour quelques minutes dans l’espace avec sa fusée New Shepard, elle n’avait mené aucun vol orbital jusqu’au lancement inaugural de New Glenn en janvier.Ce deuxième vol jeudi intervenait par ailleurs dans un contexte de compétition accrue autour du programme lunaire Artémis.La Nasa, qui prévoit de renvoyer des Américains sur la Lune, a évoqué en octobre la possibilité de se passer de SpaceX en raison de retards. Un avantage potentiel pour Jeff Bezos, qui développe également un alunisseur pour l’agence spatiale.- “Crédibilité” – Ce lancement réussi avec brio “va considérablement renforcer la confiance en Blue Origin et donner à l’entreprise la crédibilité et l’assurance nécessaires pour aller de l’avant dans le cadre du programme Artemis, aller sur la Lune et sur Mars, et mener à bien d’autres projets en orbite basse”, estime auprès de l’AFP George Nield, président d’une entreprise promouvant les activités spatiales privées.Depuis le retour de Donald Trump à la Maison Blanche, l’administration américaine exerce une pression considérable sur la Nasa pour accélérer son programme lunaire, qui a souffert de nombreuses complications et retards ces dernières années.Sean Duffy, administrateur par intérim de la Nasa, est même allé jusqu’à évoquer récemment une “deuxième course à l’espace” opposant Washington et Pékin, qui ambitionne également de fouler le sol lunaire d’ici 2030, après celle à laquelle se sont livrés les Etats-Unis et l’Union soviétique pendant la Guerre froide.Via le programme Artémis, les Américains cherchent à établir une présence humaine durable sur la Lune et à préparer le terrain à de futures missions vers Mars. Les sondes lancées jeudi pour le compte de la Nasa devraient permettre d’approfondir les connaissances sur la planète rouge.Nommées Blue et Gold, ces dernières vont se positionner dans une orbite “de stationnement sécurisée” afin de rester près de la Terre et d’attendre le moment idéal pour partir vers Mars, qu’elles devraient rejoindre en 2027, a expliqué jeudi Joseph Westlake, un responsable de la Nasa.
Rise of the robots: the promise of physical AI
A pair of swivelling, human-like robotic arms, built for physical artificial intelligence research, mirror the motions of an operator in a VR headset twirling his hands like a magician.With enough practice, arms like these can complete everyday tasks alone, says Tokyo company Enactic, which is developing humanoid robots to wash dishes and do laundry in short-staffed Japanese care homes.Welcome to the future of AI as it starts to infiltrate the material world in the form of smart robots, self-driving cars and other autonomous machines.”The next wave of AI is physical AI,” Jensen Huang, head of US chip giant Nvidia, said last year.That’s “AI that understands the laws of physics, AI that can work among us” and understands “how to perceive the world”, Huang added.Tech firms are pouring massive sums into physical AI, and Morgan Stanley predicts the world could have more than a billion humanoid robots by 2050.The buzz is only heightened by videos showing advanced androids, often Chinese-made, dancing to Taylor Swift or pulling heavy objects with ease.Beyond the promise of sci-fi robot butlers, the race has sparked concern over job losses, privacy and how long these innovations will take to actually be useful.Hiro Yamamoto is the 24-year-old CEO of Enactic, whose OpenArm physical AI training devices are used by Nvidia and at top universities such as Stanford.He plans to begin deploying new robots, currently under development, from next summer to “live alongside people in environments that are very chaotic, and where conditions are always changing” like care homes.”So it has to be safe,” with a soft exterior that won’t injure anyone, Yamamoto said.- ‘Any human role’ -In the Chinese city of Guangzhou, a female figure with a glowing oval-shaped visor for a face, clad in white woven fabric like a fencing athlete, walked slowly across a stage last week to cheers and whispers.It was the latest humanoid robot to be unveiled by Chinese electric vehicle maker XPeng, which is also pushing into physical AI.Nimble machines made by US companies, such as Boston Dynamics’ dog-like robots, have grabbed headlines over the years.But government support and strong domestic supply chains are helping Chinese rivals, also including Unitree Robotics and EngineAI, race ahead.”I haven’t given much thought to how many robots we will sell annually in 10 years’ time, but I think it would be more than cars,” XPeng CEO He Xiaopeng told reporters.XPeng’s robots walk and even dance autonomously — but how well they handle objects, a more complicated feat, has not been widely demonstrated.Their dexterous fingers and flexible skin are unlikely to replace workers on China’s factory floors soon, He said.The cost of one robot hand, which needs to be replaced regularly for heavy-duty work, could pay a Chinese worker’s salary for years.But with enough data and training, AI humanoid robots could one day perform “almost any human role”, from nanny to home chef or gardener, XPeng co-president Brian Gu told AFP.- On-the-job training -Text-based AI tools like ChatGPT are trained on huge volumes of words, but physical AI models must also grapple with vision and the spatial relationship between objects.For now, remotely operating AI robots to teach them how to do something like picking up a cup “is by far the most reliable way to collect data”, Yamamoto said.Just 30 to 50 demonstrations of each task are needed to fine-tune “vision-language-action” AI models, he added.Enactic has approached several dozen care facilities in Japan to propose that its teleoperated robots take over menial tasks, so qualified care workers have more time to look after elderly residents.This on-the-job experience will train physical AI models so the robots can act autonomously in future, Yamamoto said.US-Norwegian startup 1X is taking a similar approach for its humanoid home helper NEO, which it will deliver to American homes from next year.NEO costs $20,000 to buy, but so far its performance is shaky, with one video in US media showing the robot struggling to close a dishwasher door, even when teleoperated.- Physical limits -In another embarrassing moment, a Russian humanoid robot, said to be the country’s first, staggered then fell flat on its face as it made its debut on stage earlier this week.There is currently a “big gap” between robots’ AI systems and their physical abilities, which lag behind, said Sara Adela Abad Guaman, assistant professor in robotics at University College London.”Nature has shown us that in order to adapt to the environment, you need to have the right body,” Abad told AFP, giving the example of a mountain goat that stumbles on ice.Nevertheless, big deals are being struck, even as booming investment in artificial intelligence feeds fears of a stock market bubble.Japan’s SoftBank recently called physical AI its “next frontier” as it said it was buying industrial robot maker ABB Robotics for $5.4 billion.Automation raises questions about the future of human labour, but Abad is not too worried.At the end of the day, “our sense of touch is incomparable,” she said.
Asian markets sink on concerns over tech rally, Fed rates
Asian markets sank Friday, tracking a selloff on Wall Street as worries over next month’s Federal Reserve interest rate decision and persistent speculation about a tech bubble dampened sentiment.With the US shutdown saga now out the way, focus returned to the central bank’s policy meeting next month, when officials will decide whether or not to lower borrowing costs again.For much of the year, equities have been boosted by optimism that rates would come down, despite persistent inflation, and the Fed has delivered at its past two gatherings.But comments from bank boss Jerome Powell last month that a December repeat was not “a foregone conclusion” sowed the seeds of doubt, while several other decision-makers have made similar noises.The latest came this week, with three regional presidents voicing concerns about moving while inflation remained stubbornly high.St. Louis head Alberto Musalem urged “caution”, adding that “there’s limited room for further easing without monetary policy becoming overly accommodative”.His Minneapolis counterpart Neel Kashkari, who called for a pause in October, pointed to “underlying resilience in economic activity, more than I had expected”.And Cleveland’s Beth Hammack told the Pittsburgh Economic Club: “On balance, I think we need to remain somewhat restrictive to continue putting pressure to bring inflation down toward our target.”She called current rates “barely restrictive, if at all” and that “we need to keep rates around these levels”. The comments come as investors await the release of economic data that had been held up by the record shutdown, with jobs and inflation the main focus, even though some are expected to be incomplete.”As we await this schedule, we’ve seen some recalibration of expectations around whether the Fed cuts by 25 basis points on 10 December,” wrote Pepperstone’s Chris Weston. He added that markets saw a 52 percent chance of a cut, down from 60 percent the day before.The dimmer outlook for rates compounded worries that the tech sector may be overpriced after an AI-fuelled surge this year that has sent markets to records.There is growing talk that the mind-boggling amounts of cash invested in artificial intelligence may take some time to be realised as profit.Chip titan “Nvidia’s earnings (are) the key bottom-up focal point next week — potentially prompting traders to de-risk, lock in performance and sit tight until the tape turns and risk appetite returns into year-end”, said Weston.All three main indexes on Wall Street ended well in the red, with the tech-rich Nasdaq down more than two percent, while the Dow and S&P 500 were each off 1.7 percent.And Asia followed the lead, having enjoyed a broadly positive week.Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney and Taipei all shed at least one percent and Seoul — which has hit multiple records of late — shed more than two percent.There were also losses in Shanghai, Singapore and Wellington.Oil rallied after the International Energy Agency flagged risks to Russian output caused by hefty sanctions imposed by Washington last month, including the country’s top two producers.The IEA said the decision could have “the most far-reaching impact yet on global oil markets”.Friday’s surge of more than two percent came days after the commodity tumbled following OPEC’s monthly crude market report, which forecast an oversupply in the third quarter.- Key figures at around 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.7 percent at 50,434.54 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.0 percent at 26,804.22Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 4,022.82Dollar/yen: UP at 154.55 yen from 154.53 yen on ThursdayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1632 from $1.1634 Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3142 from $1.3189Euro/pound: UP at 88.50 pence from 88.21 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 2.7 percent at $60.27 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 2.4 percent at $64.49 per barrel