China's railway fixed-asset investment rose 2.6 percent year on year in the first five months of 2026, as the country continued to advance railway construction to support domestic demand and regional development, according to China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. Fixed-asset investment in the sector totaled 248.5 billion yuan (about 36.5 billion U.S. dollars) during the period, the national railway operator said. In 2025, China reported railway fixed-asset investment of 901.5 billion yuan and put into operation 3,109 km of new rail lines, including 2,862 km of high-speed rail lines.

The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China (JCCIC) on Thursday released the White Paper on the Chinese Economy and Japanese Enterprises 2026 in Beijing, showing that a majority of Japanese firms plan to maintain their investment in China. At the event, Tetsuro Homma, president of the JCCIC, said that the proportion of Japanese-funded enterprises in China choosing to stay committed to the Chinese market is as high as about 85 percent, demonstrating the firm determination of the vast majority of Japanese companies to deeply cultivate the Chinese market. The report covered a period during which the US introduction of reciprocal tariff policies has triggered turmoil in the international trading system and amid worsening Japan-China relations after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's erroneous remarks on Taiwan question.

More than two years after the introduction of a three-year action plan to boost the development and application of data as a production factor, China has seen the value of data resources further unleashed, an official with the National Data Administration (NDA) said Thursday. China has been stepping up efforts to develop its data market in recent years. In 2020, the country listed data as a new type of production factor, alongside traditional factors such as land, labor, capital and technology, highlighting its growing role in driving economic growth and digital transformation. In 2025, China's total volume of active data reached 1.67 zettabytes, up 28.46 percent year on year. A zettabyte is the equivalent of about one trillion gigabytes.

China on Monday broke ground on a mega waterway project along the Yangtze River, the world's third-longest river and busiest inland waterway. With a total investment of nearly 77.21 billion yuan (about 11.33 billion U.S. dollars), the project is expected to almost double the annual throughput capacity of the existing Three Gorges shipping hub. It will not only relieve the mounting navigation pressure on the Yangtze, but support regional development and strengthen economic circulation. The move marks the latest step in China's broader effort to build a more efficient and resilient transport network. During the 2026-2030 period, China will step up efforts to upgrade transport infrastructure, accelerate digital transformation, expand the use of clean-energy vehicles, and build green freight and shipping corridors, in an effort to cultivate new drivers of growth, the minister said.

Hong Kong has dethroned Switzerland as the world's largest booking center for cross-border wealth, about two years earlier than market expectations, as its booming financial market creates and grows wealth. Hong Kong's cross-border wealth assets rose 10.7 percent to 2.95 trillion U.S. dollars in 2025, driven by Chinese mainland flows and a vigorous stock market that delivered significant IPO activity and strong gains in benchmark-heavy internet platforms, said Boston Consulting Group's 2026 Global Wealth Report. The city's long-term sweet spots -- safe and steady investment environment, access to global markets and abundant investment options -- appear more valuable to global investors at a time of geopolitical tension, luring many Asian high-net-worth clients to move their money back to Hong Kong, said Liu Yang, associate professor of finance at Hong Kong University Business School.

China's marine economy continued to make progress in high-quality development in 2025, with a key development index rising 2.2 percent year on year to 128.8, according to the 2026 China Ocean Economic Development Index released Wednesday by the Ministry of Natural Resources. China's gross ocean product reached 11 trillion yuan (about 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2025, up 5.5 percent from the previous year. The sub-index for development scale and performance rose 1.7 percent to 128.1, while the number of marine economic entities in key monitored industries increased 6.2 percent, pointing to stronger market vitality.

China's new energy vehicle (NEV) output and sales posted double-digit year-on-year growth in May, industry data showed on Wednesday. NEV output rose 22.4 percent year on year to 1.554 million units, while sales increased 14.4 percent to 1.496 million units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). NEVs accounted for 56.9 percent of total new car sales in May, further climbing from the previous month. Overall, automobile output and sales in May stood at 2.616 million and 2.629 million units, expanding on a monthly basis but falling slightly year on year, with the decline narrowing further. In the first five months, auto output and sales totaled 12.235 million and 12.207 million units, with NEV output and sales reaching 5.841 million and 5.802 million units, up 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent year on year.

China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went up 3.9 percent year-on-year in May, an increase of 1.1 percentage points from April, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Wednesday. Among industries with rising prices that contributed to the year-on-year PPI rise last month, the mining and processing of non-ferrous metal ores increased by 36.5 percent and the smelting and rolling of non-ferrous metals rose by 24 percent. The extraction of petroleum and natural gas, processing of petroleum, coal and other fuels, and manufacturing of chemical raw materials and chemical products also logged notable price increases, the data showed. The manufacturing of non-metallic mineral products, the production and supply of electric power and heat, and automobile manufacturing recorded price decreases, the data showed.

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 1.2 percent year on year in May, official data showed Wednesday. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, increased 1.1 percent year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. On a month-on-month basis, CPI edged down 0.1 percent in May, the data revealed. Wednesday's data also showed that China's producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, went up 3.9 percent year on year in May.