Latest news with #Hu
The Star
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Star
Thai cuisine is thriving in China
Tom yum koong is popular in China, though some Thai restaurants have had to adjust the traditional recipe to suit local tastebuds. — Photos: Pixabay From bustling street stalls to upscale shopping malls, the Thai culinary scene in China is undergoing a remarkable transformation. Once confined to metropolises, Thai restaurants are thriving in smaller cities, evolving from niche eateries to viral hotspots with long queues. This ascent positions Thai food as the leading South-East Asian cuisine in China and a cultural gateway for local youth seeking global flavours. In Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province, families like the Lius frequent refined Thai restaurants in premium venues. With elegant Thai-themed decor, one of their favourite Thai restaurants offers sophisticated dining – a far cry from early stereotypes of cluttered street fare. The restaurant's seven-year tenancy within a popular mall, with high competition for space, underscores Thai cuisine's sustained appeal in China. Over 50% of China's approximately 15,000 South-East Asian restaurants serve Thai cuisine. Meanwhile, another restaurant called Blooming near the city's Jinyang Lake Park combines photogenic settings with tailored flavours. This restaurant isn't large in size, with about 20 indoor tables and over 10 outdoor seats, all decorated with various plants and flowers. Hu Yani, the restaurant manager, said that weekday evenings see a 90% occupancy rate, and weekends often have queues waiting for seats. Hu said that since its opening over three years ago, the establishment has continuously refined its menu based on customers' tastes and preferences. 'Compared to traditional Thai cuisine or dishes from Thailand itself, we've slightly adjusted the proportions of spices used and toned down the sourness and spiciness,' she added. According to Hu, the restaurant employs chefs with over a decade of Thai culinary experience from Guangzhou and Shanghai, consistently introducing new dishes and creative menu items to maintain customers' interest through fresh offerings. Classics like aromatic Massaman curry, tangy tom yum koong, and lemongrass-infused grilled chicken share menus with East-meets-West fusions. A 2023 survey indicates 70% of Chinese consumers still favour authenticity, while 30% embrace hybrid versions. Market data highlights Thai food's dominance: Over 50% of China's approximately 15,000 South-East Asian restaurants serve Thai cuisine, vastly outpacing Vietnamese or Singaporean rivals. Popular Thai restaurant chains are expanding into China's heartland, aided by digital marketing and food delivery platforms. Searches for 'tom yum' have garnered 130 million views on Xiaohongshu, the Chinese lifestyle online platform known overseas as Rednote, while Douyin's 'Thai cuisine' hashtag has hit three billion plays. Beyond commerce and food, these spaces showcase Thai culture through decor and performances. Industry insiders suggest that incorporating distinctive Thai elements and cultural spirit not only develops competitive edges but also creates memorable impressions for customers. Certain restaurants have further enriched patrons' immersive experiences through traditional Thai dance performances and customary practices. The Thai government further fuels growth via initiatives like Thai Select certification and the 'one village, one Thai chef' programme, training global-ready talent. – Xinhua
New York Post
3 days ago
- Health
- New York Post
How a girl's grandfather may influence when she gets her first period
Over the last 55 years, young girls in the US have been getting their first periods earlier and earlier. Nowadays, the average age is roughly 12. Some girls may menstruate as early as 8, according to Healthline. Now, fresh research presented Sunday at the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in San Francisco suggests the day of the blessed event could be influenced by an unlikely source: paw-paw. Advertisement New research suggests the day of the blessed event could be influenced by an unlikely source: paw-paw. LIGHTFIELD STUDIOS – 'Girls are starting puberty earlier than ever before, which can raise their risk for health problems later in life,' Xin Hu of Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta said in a statement. 'We wanted to explore why this might be happening by looking at how environmental exposures from grandparents can influence when girls get their first period.' Advertisement Researchers tapped into the Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS), which began in the 1960s, measuring thousands of small molecules in blood samples taken from 249 couples. Those chemical and metabolic profiles were then linked to puberty onset ages in their daughters (247 girls) and granddaughters (139 girls) — the latter born around 1990. While the median age at first period remained stable between grandmothers and mothers, it dropped a full year between generations in the granddaughters. 'Girls are starting puberty earlier than ever before, which can raise their risk for health problems later in life,' researcher Xin Hu said. – Advertisement The team found that specific chemicals — including phenoxyethanol, a preservative in personal-care products and foods — were associated with earlier puberty, especially when both parents had similar exposure levels. Importantly, they found maternal and paternal exposures influenced timing, but it was the father's contribution that stood out. 'While we found that both the mother's and father's exposures were linked to when their daughters and granddaughters began puberty, the father's influence was surprisingly strong,' Hu said. Advertisement 'Paternal exposure to environmental chemicals may play an unrecognized but critical role in shaping offspring endocrine health.' The study is significant, as earlier puberty has been associated with an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, obesity, certain cancers and depression. 'These findings highlight that prevention is possible if we identify mechanisms to protect future daughters and granddaughters, which cannot be effective if we do not consider the male line,' Hu said. These results are also important in light of concerns that chemicals in our environment — from microplastics to forever chemicals — are leading to long-term health risks for us, as well as our descendants.
Business Wire
09-07-2025
- Automotive
- Business Wire
SES AI Launches Agentic Capability in Latest Molecular Universe Release to Increase Value Proposition for R&D as a Service
WOBURN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- SES AI Corporation ('SES AI') (NYSE: SES), a global leader in the development and manufacturing of AI-enhanced high-performance Li-Metal and Li-ion batteries, today released a new version of Molecular Universe, MU-0.5, that includes a new and exciting feature – Deep Space – to accelerate commercial product development and enhance SES AI's first-mover advantage with R&D as a service in the global battery industry. "Deep Space is intended for intense, focused deep research—enabling users to reach real commercial product outcomes. With rising customer interest, we remain excited by the value Molecular Universe is creating across the battery industry and with OEMs." Share 'Two months after its original release, Molecular Universe has quickly become a popular and powerful tool for battery researchers in companies, national labs, and universities around the world,' said Dr. Qichao Hu, Founder and CEO. 'The excitement the Molecular Universe has generated among current and potential customers is due to their early recognition of the speed of accessing relevant and abundant research insights, and significant cost savings potential due to avoided patent filings, material and equipment in trial and errors, as well as reduced hiring for R&D. We continue to see increased customer interest and remain excited with the value proposition Molecular Universe is creating across the battery industry and with our OEM partners.' 'Based on collaborative input we have received from the largest global battery manufacturers and OEMs that are using and testing Molecular Universe, we have introduced Deep Space, a new agentic capability that conducts in-depth senior scientist level battery research. Deep Space is intended for intense and focused deep research, where users want more than just answers to their curiosity but to actually develop a real commercial product. We believe Deep Space will further enhance our value proposition as it will be able to accelerate customers' go-to-market strategies with new battery innovations. Due to the investment associated with running a multi-agent model required by customers, we anticipate the biggest users will be battery makers, electrolyte and cathode materials producers and automakers, with more limited access for Research, Explorer and Team users,' continued Dr. Hu. Deep Space is built off of Molecular Universe's popular Ask feature. While Ask is powered by an advanced LLM specifically trained on battery domain expertise, Deep Space is powered by an even more powerful multi-agent model. Deep Space can recommend electrolyte formulations for different cell chemistries ranked by performance, novelty, cost, or whatever the user desires. It also reduces time in trial and error and accomplishes in less than one hour what would normally take a human senior scientist months or even years. Users can select regular Ask or Deep Space. A regular Ask query typically returns an answer after 30 seconds, and a Deep Space query typically returns an answer after more than 5 minutes, sometimes as long as 20 minutes. Other new features launched in MU-0.5 include a molecule sketch pad to help users more intuitively find 'friends" (molecules with similar properties), and language support for Mandarin and Korean in addition to English. About SES AI: SES AI Corp. (NYSE: SES) is powering the future of global electric transportation on land and in the air with the world's most advanced Li-Metal batteries. SES AI is the first battery company in the world to accelerate its pace of innovation by utilizing superintelligent AI across the spectrum of its business, from research and development; materials sourcing; cell design; engineering and manufacturing; to battery health and safety monitoring. Founded in 2012, SES AI is an Li-Metal battery developer and manufacturer headquartered in Boston and with operations in Singapore, Shanghai, and Seoul. Learn more at SES AI may use its website as a distribution channel of material company information. Financial and other important information regarding SES AI is routinely posted on and accessible through the Company's website at Accordingly, investors should monitor this channel, in addition to following SES AI's press releases, Securities and Exchange Commission filings and public conference calls and webcasts. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains statements that SES AI believes are 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements relating to expectations for future financial performance, business strategies or expectations for our business. These statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of the management of SES AI. Although SES AI believes that its plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot provide assurance that it will achieve or realize these plans, intentions or expectations. These statements constitute projections, forecasts and forward-looking statements, and are not guarantees of performance. Such statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. When used in this press release, words such as 'anticipate', 'believe', 'can', 'continue', 'could', 'estimate', 'expect', 'forecast', 'intend', 'may', 'might', 'plan', 'possible', 'potential', 'predict', 'project', 'seek', 'should', 'strive', 'target', 'will', 'would' and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Should one or more of a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties materialize, or should any of SES AI's assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results or performance may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to the following risks: the risk that the market for the Molecular Universe platform is still emerging, and may not achieve the customer interest or growth potential that SES AI expects; risks related to the development and commercialization of SES AI's battery technology and the timing and achievement of expected business milestones; risks relating to the uncertainty of achieving and maintaining profitability; risks relating to the uncertainty of meeting future capital requirements; the ability of SES to integrate its products into electric vehicles ('EVs') and Urban Air Mobility ('UAM"), drones, battery energy storage systems, robotics and other applications; the risk that delays in the pre-manufacturing development of SES AI's battery cells could adversely affect SES AI's business and prospects; the market for air mobility, and for use of Li-Metal technology in air mobility applications, is still emerging and may not achieve the growth potential we expect; risks relating to the development of the UAM market and demand for batteries from the UAM industry; potential supply chain difficulties; the ability of SES AI to engage target original equipment manufacturers ('OEMs') customers successfully and integrate SES AI's products into EVs manufactured by OEM customers; the ability to obtain raw materials, components or equipment through new or existing supply relationships; our use of artificial intelligence and machine learning may result in legal and regulatory risk; risks resulting from SES AI's joint development agreements and other strategic alliances and investments; product liability and other potential litigation, regulation and legal compliance; SES AI's ability to attract, train and retain highly skilled employees and key personnel; developments in alternative technology or other fossil fuel alternatives; risks related to SES AI's intellectual property; business, regulatory, political, operational, financial and economic risks related to SES AI's business operations outside the United States; SES AI's failure to satisfy certain NYSE listing requirements may result in its Class A common stock being delisted from the NYSE, which could eliminate or adversely affect the trading market for SES AI's Class A common stock; the volatility of SES AI's common stock and value of SES AI's public warrants; SES AI has identified material weaknesses in its internal control over financial reporting and may identify material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls and the other risks described in 'Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors' in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ('SEC') on February 28, 2025 and other documents filed from time to time with the SEC. There may be additional risks that SES AI presently knows and/or believes are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements reflect SES AI's expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views only as of the date of this press release. SES AI anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause its assessments to change. However, while SES AI may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, SES AI specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing SES AI's assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. © 2025 SES AI Corp., Confidential and Proprietary
CNBC
09-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
China's producer prices fall 3.6% in June, biggest drop in nearly two years as deflation deepens
China's producer prices plunged 3.6% in June from a year earlier, marking its largest decline in nearly two years, as a deepening price war rippled through the economy that's already grappling with weakening consumer demand. The consumer price index edged 0.1% higher in June from a year ago, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics Wednesday, showing early signs of recovery after four consecutive months of declines. Economists had forecast a flat reading compared to the same period a year earlier, according to a Reuters poll. The deflation in producer prices came worse than the expected 3.2% drop in a Reuters poll, marking the biggest fall since July 2023, according to LSEG data. The PPI has been mired in a multi-year deflationary streak since September 2022. "Without a strong policy stimulus, it's hard to escape the ongoing deflationary spiral," said Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie, adding that the momentum in China's exports in recent months has partly pared back Beijing's desire to stimulate consumption in any meaningful way. "Policymakers will keep waiting until exports fall sharply," Hu added. Last week, Chinese policymakers, in a top economic policy meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping, criticized the excessive price competition by Chinese companies to entice consumers, as the U.S. tariff onslaught has threatened the viability of selling to the world's largest consumer market. Beijing pledged to tighten regulations on such aggressive price-cutting that has been unable to influence consumer behavior while biting into businesses' profitability. "Businesses should be guided to improve product quality and support the orderly phasing out of outdated production capacity," a Chinese state-backed newspaper said, citing the meeting. Profits at industrial firms plunged 9.1% in May from a year earlier, marking the steepest fall since October last year.
Indian Express
05-07-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
‘Our culture doesn't encourage us to stand out': Here's why many from China struggle to find jobs in UK
Finding a job in the United Kingdom (UK) has become increasingly difficult for international graduates. Chinese students face additional hurdles due to cultural and language barriers, according to a report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP). Harley Hu, 25, completed her master's degree in education last year. She told SCMP she sent out 'maybe 200 or 300 CVs' before finding full-time work. Even now, her job does not sponsor visas, and her post-study visa will expire in 2026. 'If I can't sort it out, I'll have to prepare to go back to China,' Hu said. She added: 'In China, we're taught that degrees are everything. But once you're overseas, you realise employers care a lot more about experience and no one really tells us that.' The UK graduate job market is highly competitive, with youth unemployment at 14.3 per cent. Chinese graduates are especially affected. Although Chinese nationals account for about 25 per cent of international students in the UK, they receive only 10 per cent of graduate visas. Indian students, by contrast, receive over 40 per cent. One reason, SCMP reports, is that many Chinese students plan to return home after graduating. But others give up after struggling to find work. Most Chinese students enrol in one-year master's programmes, leaving little time to adapt. 'Just when you start adapting to life here, it's already time to hunt for work, and you're not ready,' Hu said. Jack Chen, a humanities graduate from the University of York, told SCMP he has applied for over 400 jobs since finishing his degree. He only received two part-time offers, one at a retail store, and another at a small business. 'Our culture doesn't encourage us to stand out,' Chen said. 'Indian students are way more proactive. They'll call companies directly. That sounds crazy to me.' He added that many Chinese students are unfamiliar with UK job platforms like LinkedIn. 'They (Indians) know how to use it and have polished CVs. Meanwhile, we come from a system where that stuff doesn't even exist.' Emily Lu, a London-based headhunter who supports Chinese clients, told SCMP: 'Chinese graduates hesitate to reach out to employers, don't use LinkedIn effectively, and miss out on networking opportunities.' Lu said the Chinese education system is partly responsible. 'They're smart and capable, but they need direction. At home, teachers guide them every step of the way. Here, that's not how things work.' A 2024 study by the UK's Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), cited by SCMP, found that Chinese students in Britain often struggle with spoken English and digital tools. On average, they scored 6.1 in the IELTS speaking test lower than students from most other countries. The report also noted that many Chinese students stick to small social groups and avoid university career services. Only 21 per cent had used such services, and just 2 per cent said the help was useful in finding work. The number of Chinese graduates returning home after study is rising from 73 per cent in 2019 to 84 per cent in 2023. Jessica Deng, a graduate from the University of Southampton, told SCMP she finally found a job in early years education after applying to over 300 positions. 'In a country where even locals are struggling to find jobs, it's hard to expect international students to have equal opportunities,' she said. Deng said visa uncertainty puts off many employers. 'If you're on a short-term post-study work visa, it's not so simple,' she said. The HEPI report urged universities to do more to help Chinese students adapt, including by offering better career advice and opportunities to build cross-cultural networks. Some students, it said, feel they are treated more as 'revenue sources' than as full members of the campus community.
