In focus
2027 holiday schedule announced: nine-day Spring Festival break, no make-up workdays for Dragon Boat or Mid-Autumn festivals
The General Office of the State Council released the schedule for some of the 2027 public holidays on November 5. Spring Festival drew the most attention: the adjusted holiday runs from February 5 (Lunar New Year's Eve, a Friday) through February 13 (the eighth day of the first lunar month, a Saturday), totaling nine days and matching 2026 as the longest Spring Festival holiday ever. To avoid seven consecutive workdays after the holiday, one day on each of the weekends before and after Spring Festival will be a make-up workday: January 31 and February 14. There are notably fewer workday adjustments over the year. The January 1–3 New Year holiday and the April 3–5 Qingming holiday both connect naturally with weekends, with no make-up workdays. Dragon Boat Festival on June 9 and Mid-Autumn Festival on September 15 both fall on Wednesdays; each gets a one-day holiday, also without make-up workdays. Labor Day has a five-day break from May 1 to 5, and National Day a seven-day break from October 1 to 7. Under the schedule, the longest run of consecutive workdays after a holiday is six days.
Apple Intelligence testing opens on mainland-China iPhones: Siri asks Qwen for help with difficult questions via a pop-up
On November 4, Apple opened Apple Intelligence testing to mainland-China iPhones with the iOS 27.3 developer preview, covering iPhone 15 Pro and newer models. According to Apple's China website, the first core features will launch later this year. Apple confirmed its partnership with Alibaba: its own on-device models handle tasks such as removing objects from photos and basic text polishing, while Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence call on Qwen's cloud capabilities for complex tasks. In hands-on testing by ifanr, the new Siri still stumbled over roundabout questions. Longer tasks were handed off after users gave consent and logged into a Qwen account, with relatively brief answers arriving in about seven or eight seconds. IT Home reported that query and creative results sync to the Qwen app, where users can continue editing and sharing them. The beta still has stability problems, so anyone keen to try it should weigh the risks of using it on their main phone.
Wembanyama scores 52 points with 24 rebounds and eight blocks as Spurs edge Mavericks by one point
On November 5 Beijing time, the Spurs narrowly beat the Mavericks 112–111 at home. Wembanyama delivered a signature performance: 52 points, 24 rebounds, two assists, two steals and eight blocks, setting career highs in both points and rebounds. Tencent News said he broke more than ten records in a single game, with numbers that put him ‘on a par with Chamberlain.’ It also mentioned three blocks in a single defensive possession and late free throws that put the team ahead for the win. For now, those record details and the description of the late go-ahead finish all come from media reports and have not been independently checked one by one; trending-list rankings should also be considered separately from the statistics themselves.
Cristiano Ronaldo announces retirement from Portugal's national team, ending a 23-year international career
On November 5 local time, Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo announced on social media that he was officially retiring from Portugal's national football team, ending a 23-year international career. According to Jimu News, he is 41. In his farewell letter, Ronaldo said: ‘The time has come to hand back the national team's No. 7 shirt.’ Looking back on a journey that began in August 2003, he said he had never felt the shirt belonged to him alone, but had been fortunate to wear it and defend it for 23 years. Now, ‘it is time to pass it on to those who come after.’ He acknowledged that it was not an easy decision: ‘Some decisions cannot be made through reason alone; you also have to listen to your heart.’ Reflecting on his years with the national team, he mentioned matches, goals, records and trophies, as well as Portuguese people living abroad who felt a little closer to home for those 90 minutes. He wrote that goals would fade from memory, trophies would eventually go into museums and records would eventually be broken, but time could not erase the place people leave in others' hearts.
Phantom Blade Zero passes four million copies sold within 72 hours of release, fueling interest in a Chinese martial-arts action game
According to GeekPark, Gcores and other outlets, Phantom Blade Zero, a dark martial-arts action game developed by S-Game, unlocked on October 29 and surpassed four million copies sold about 72 hours after release. It had already topped Steam's global weekly sales chart the week before, followed by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. That popularity has also prompted related discussion. A CPU review on Gcores found that, on its test platform, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D ran the game at an average of 141 fps, versus 121 fps for the competing product. Another graphics-optimization article examined the effects of lighting, visual effects, textures and ray tracing on frame rates one by one, warning that lighting and shadow flicker could appear along vegetation edges at low and medium settings. The four million figure refers to copies sold, not sales revenue; the frame rates above are test results for specific configurations only.
News in brief
Applications for the 2027 open recruitment of military civilian personnel begin November 5
Applications for the 2027 open recruitment of military civilian personnel began on November 5. According to media reports, these are personnel who do not serve in the military as service members. Positions fall into management, professional and technical, and vocational skills categories, mainly in teaching and research, medical support, defense mobilization and other non-direct-combat roles with both military and civilian applications.
Earthquake near Hekang County in Xinjiang's Hotan Prefecture officially measured at magnitude 4.8, depth 60 kilometers
According to the China Earthquake Networks Center, an earthquake occurred near Hekang County in Xinjiang's Hotan Prefecture at 00:56 on November 6. The automatic estimate was around magnitude 5.1; the official measurement was magnitude 4.8 at a depth of 60 kilometers. The official rapid report is the definitive result.
National Meteorological Center renews blue alert for strong winds, with force 7–9 gusts across parts of northern China
The National Meteorological Center renewed its blue alert for strong winds at 06:00 on November 5. From 08:00 on the 5th to 08:00 on the 6th, parts of most of Inner Mongolia, central and northern Shanxi, most of Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, the Shandong Peninsula, most of Liaoning, central and southern Jilin, and western and southern Heilongjiang are expected to see force 5–7 winds with force 7–9 gusts. The Bohai Sea and the northern and central Yellow Sea, among other waters, are expected to see force 7 winds with force 8–9 gusts. From 08:00 on the 6th to 08:00 on the 7th, eastern Xinjiang, central and eastern Inner Mongolia and many parts of northeastern China will continue to see force 5–7 winds with force 7–9 gusts.
First batch of railway train-number changes takes effect in late November; old-to-new lookup goes online
China State Railway Group announced on November 5 that the first batch of train-number changes across the national railway network would soon take effect. Conventional-speed passenger trains departing from 00:00 on November 25 will use new train numbers, while freight trains will switch from 18:00 on November 24. Railway authorities have also introduced a lookup feature comparing old and new train numbers. Tickets for the first batch will go on sale progressively from November 11. Multiple-unit train numbers are not being adjusted in this round.
Huawei unveils its first HarmonyOS desktop, the Qingyun HM650 series, claiming 100% domestic content
On November 5, Huawei unveiled its first HarmonyOS desktop, the Qingyun HM650 series, at the Qingyun 2026 HarmonyOS Office Industry Summit. According to IT Home's on-site report, it uses the Kirin X90 desktop processor and HarmonyOS PC Enterprise Edition, and is said to have received the industry's first certification for 100% domestic content. Zhu Dongdong, president of Huawei's consumer tablet and PC product line, said this was achieved through full-stack in-house development of core components and joint development of key components.
iPad mini 8 goes on sale, starting at 5,499 yuan for 128GB
Apple's iPad mini (A20 Pro) has officially gone on sale. The 128GB Wi-Fi model costs 5,499 yuan, or about 4,999 yuan after the national subsidy; the 512GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model costs 9,299 yuan. The new model uses the A20 Pro chip, switches to an OLED screen, measures 5.4 millimeters thick and comes in Midnight and Starlight.
October delivery roundup: Changan Auto at 233,800 vehicles, HIMA at 33,537
According to IT Home's roundup, October 2026 auto sales and delivery figures continue to be updated, with Changan Auto reporting 233,800 vehicles. Separately, HIMA officially announced October deliveries of 33,537 vehicles, an average price above 400,000 yuan and cumulative sales of 1.6 million vehicles.
At a glance
The ninth China International Import Expo is being held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10. Its business exhibition area exceeds 370,000 square meters for the first time, with a record 4,142 overseas companies exhibiting.
According to information obtained by reporters on November 5, People's Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng reported to the 25th session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress on financial work since October 2025, mentioning the implementation of moderately loose monetary policy and the combined use of multiple tools to maintain ample liquidity.
All three major A-share indexes closed higher on November 5: the Shanghai Composite rose 0.1%, the Shenzhen Component 1.19% and the ChiNext 0.87%. Turnover on the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets totaled 2.12 trillion yuan, and more than 4,800 stocks rose across the market.
From November 5, fuel surcharges on domestic flights increased to 80 yuan per adult passenger for flight segments of 800 kilometers or less and 140 yuan for those over 800 kilometers, up by 30 yuan and 50 yuan respectively.
China's second domestically built large cruise ship, Adora Huacheng, will be formally delivered at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding on November 6.
Following Postal Savings Bank of China's listing of large-denomination certificates of deposit, all six major state-owned banks have now resumed issuing them in the second half of this year. Some banks' product allocations are shown as sold out, while some foreign banks and city commercial banks have also begun offering them.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said the area planted with autumn grain was expected to remain stable with a slight increase. More than 90% has now been harvested, and annual grain output is expected to stay above 1.4 trillion jin for a third consecutive year.
On November 5, two trending-list headlines mentioned people buying computing power and services during this year's Double Eleven shopping event, while discussion also focused on ‘AI as both the making and the undoing.’
At Huawei's Qingyun 2026 HarmonyOS Office Industry Summit on November 5, Zhu Dongdong, president of Huawei's consumer tablet and PC product line, announced the upgrade of the Hongtu Partner Program to 2.0, centered on HarmonyOS Inside. The first batch of complete systems is set to launch together soon.
WeChat is conducting a limited rollout test of a ‘voice clarity enhancement’ option. It currently supports Apple's iOS and Android versions, while the Huawei HarmonyOS version is still in development.
Terms in context
Medical Insurance Wallet 2.0 launches: individual-account funds can be shared across provinces
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At a media briefing on Medical Insurance Wallet 2.0 on November 5, the National Healthcare Security Administration said that sharing of employee medical-insurance individual-account funds within provinces had been fully implemented, while cross-province sharing was being rolled out more quickly through the wallet. Employees can set an allowance for close relatives to use toward out-of-pocket costs for treatment and medicines at designated medical and pharmaceutical providers, or toward insurance contributions.
Healthcare security administration responds to falling resident medical-insurance enrollment
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Responding on November 5 to the claim that ‘resident medical-insurance enrollment has fallen for seven consecutive years, down by 83 million,’ the National Healthcare Security Administration said the decline was related to removing invalid duplicate enrollment records, some residents switching to employee medical insurance, and a decrease in the permanent resident population.
6G debuts at Wuzhen summit: bandwidth claims and expectations for commercial rollout in 2030
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6G made its first appearance at the 2026 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit. A trending-list description said its bandwidth could reach more than ten times that of 5G, with features including integrated communication and sensing, integrated communication and intelligence, and integrated terrestrial and space networks. The industry expects commercial deployment of 6G around 2030.
WeChat for HarmonyOS updates to 8.0.23.34, expanding the limited rollout of grouped photo sending
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According to IT Home, WeChat for HarmonyOS released stable version 8.0.23.34 on Huawei AppGallery on the evening of November 4. The release notes still read ‘fixed some known issues.’ Users reported additions including a wider limited rollout of grouped photo sending, long-press copying of WeChat IDs and other profile information, and refreshed official-account icons, as well as a fix for delays when opening images.
First XPeng MONA L05 deliveries begin, with prices starting at 144,800 yuan
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The first XPeng MONA L05 vehicles were delivered to owners on November 4, with He Xiaopeng handing over vehicles in person. The car comes in six variants priced from 144,800 to 176,800 yuan, with limited-time promotional prices of 139,800 to 171,800 yuan.
iPhone Duo inner screens crack; Apple acknowledges the issue and provides replacements
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Isolated cases of the inner screen cracking along the crease appeared after the iPhone Duo went on sale. Apple has responded and provided replacements. iFixit's analysis points to an assembly issue, with failures concentrated in a small number of devices.