In focus
U.S. stocks shed $2.8 trillion overnight as AI chip shares sell off
U.S. stocks suffered an unusually heavy sell-off on November 5, Eastern Time. According to market data cited by Baidu's trending searches, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed down 3.44%, 4.36% and 5.52%, respectively, with the Nasdaq recording its biggest one-day decline in 19 months. Some reports put the market value wiped out in a single day at about $2.8 trillion. Semiconductor and memory-chip stocks led the declines: Nvidia fell 9.26%, SanDisk dropped more than 22%, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index lost 12%. The market pointed to policy expectations following the midterm elections: Democrats won both chambers of Congress and several governorships, then signaled tighter AI regulation, including efforts to advance the Prohibition of Artificial Superintelligence Act. New governors in several states advocated suspending approvals for AI data centers. Investors worried that computing-infrastructure expansion would slow, prompting withdrawals from the crowded AI trade. There were already signs of a rebound overnight, however. Some media reports said AI hardware stocks recovered at the November 6 open and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose as much as 6.5%. Whether this was a recovery in sentiment or a turning point remains unresolved.
In his comeback opener, Wang Chuqin loses 0–3 to teammate Wen Ruibo, exiting Frankfurt in the round of 16
On November 6, Beijing time, Wang Chuqin, making his return at the 2026 WTT Champions Frankfurt, lost 0–3 to teammate Wen Ruibo in the second round of the men's singles, missing out on the quarterfinals. The game scores were 7–11, 8–11 and 6–11. Wang led 4–2 at one point in the first game, but Wen won five consecutive points at the end to take it. In the second, Wen opened an early lead; Wang saved two game points but still lost 8–11. In the third, after Wang closed the gap to 6–8, Wen won three straight points to seal the match. This was their first meeting. Wen, now through to the quarterfinals, will face the winner of Zhou Qihao versus Lin Yun-Ju. After the match, Wen said he had gone out determined to give it his all: “Because ‘Tou-ge’ is so much better than me in both his level of play and his past achievements, I felt no pressure. I just let go and went for it. I didn't expect to win this match.”
China announces its 2027 holiday schedule: nine-day Spring Festival break from February 5 to 13
The General Office of the State Council announced the 2027 holiday schedule on November 5. According to Xinhua, the Spring Festival holiday will run from February 5 to 13, lasting nine days, with work scheduled on two Sundays: January 31 before the break and February 14 afterward. Red Star News said this would be the second consecutive year with a nine-day Spring Festival break; the report also noted that the Dragon Boat and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays would not require make-up workdays. An interpretation relayed by Tencent News said 2027 would have the fewest holiday-related workday adjustments in recent years, and that scheduling one make-up workday on each side of Spring Festival was apparently intended to avoid seven consecutive workdays after the break. The Paper reported that people had already booked flights for the day before Lunar New Year's Eve after the nine-day holiday was announced.
Apple Intelligence opens for testing in mainland China: on-device work, with harder tasks handed to Qianwen
Beginning November 4, Apple Intelligence for mainland-China devices became available for testing with the iOS 27.3 developer beta, with a full release planned for December. The initial features include Writing Tools, photo Clean Up, Live Translation, Visual Intelligence and notification summaries. Siri also has a new interface with a glow around the screen, but the next-generation Siri AI shown at WWDC 2026 is not included. Hands-on testing found that photo cleanup and basic text polishing are handled by on-device models, while the Photos app occasionally crashes. When Siri encounters a complex request such as “Help me plan a four-day trip to Jiuzhaigou,” it asks in a pop-up whether to call Qianwen. After the user agrees and signs in, it returns an answer in about seven or eight seconds, though the content is rather brief. The Qianwen extension is disabled by default and must be manually enabled in Settings, with an account sign-in.
Rubidium atom cloud cooled to 9.7 picokelvin in Mengtian, observed stably for seven seconds
On November 6, the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization announced a new result from China's space station: using the ultracold-atom physics experiment rack in the Mengtian module, researchers cooled a cloud of rubidium atoms to an effective temperature of 9.7 picokelvin with an all-optical-trap cooling technique and observed it continuously for seven seconds. The paper was published in Science that day. According to IT Home, the previous record was 38 picokelvin, achieved by a German team in 2021 using an atom-chip magnetic trap, with about two seconds of free expansion. Similar ground-based experiments typically allow only about 0.05 seconds of stable observation. Microgravity lets the atom cloud float almost freely, requiring only extremely weak optical confinement for deep cooling. The team said the apparatus had been reduced from a ground-based setup of about 20 cubic meters and 10 tonnes to 0.7 cubic meters and about 500 kilograms.
News in brief
BLG sweeps DK 3–0 to reach the League of Legends Worlds semifinals for the third time
BLG defeated DK 3–0 in the quarterfinals of the 2026 League of Legends World Championship to advance to the semifinals. It is the third Worlds semifinal appearance in BLG's history: the team lost 2–3 to WBG in the 2023 semifinals, reached the final in 2024 but suffered a disappointing 2–3 loss to T1, and exited in the Swiss stage last year. After the match, player Xun said this was the team's first step and that he believed they could go all the way.
Cristiano Ronaldo announces retirement from Portugal's national team, ending a 23-year international career
On November 5, Beijing time, 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo announced on social media that he was retiring from Portugal's national team, ending a 23-year international career that began in August 2003. In his farewell letter, he said, “The time has come to hand back the national team's number 7 shirt.” He said it was not an easy decision, and that some decisions cannot be made by reason alone: one must also listen to the heart.
Hainan offshore duty-free purchases total 33.45 billion yuan in the year after the tenth policy update
According to Haikou Customs, one year has passed since the tenth round of improvements to Hainan's offshore duty-free policy took effect on November 1, 2025. From November 2025 through October 2026, purchases totaled 33.45 billion yuan across 4.879 million shopper visits and 27.644 million items, up 13.8%, 8.6% and 2.4% year on year, respectively.
Huawei launches its first HarmonyOS desktop, Qingyun HM650, claiming the first 100% domestic-content certification
Huawei unveiled its first HarmonyOS desktop computer, the Qingyun HM650 series, at the Qingyun HarmonyOS Industry Summit. It runs on the Kirin X90 desktop processor. According to IT Home, the series became the industry's first computer to receive certification for 100% domestic content. Richard Yu said the same day that HarmonyOS computers had passed the one-million-unit mark.
Beijing primary and secondary schools to end externally delivered meals before September 2027
On November 5, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission specified that, before September 1, 2027, all primary and secondary schools in the city must end externally delivered meals, convert contracted and entrusted-operation cafeterias to self-operated facilities, adopt centralized procurement from designated suppliers for all categories of ingredients, and bring the cumulative number of smart cafeterias built to 1,000.
October excavator sales reach 20,225, with exports above 10,000
According to the China Construction Machinery Association, major excavator manufacturers sold 20,225 excavators of all types in October 2026, up 11.8% year on year. Domestic sales were 9,501, up 12.2%, while exports totaled 10,724, up 11.4%.
Yangwang U9X clocks 503.17 km/h in Abu Dhabi, taking production-car top speed past 500 for the first time
On November 1, the Yangwang U9Xtreme reached 503.17 km/h on a closed test section of the E11 highway in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, driven by Marc Basseng. Yangwang announced the result on November 6, saying it had been verified by the FIA and certified by Guinness World Records in the category of “highest speed achieved by a production car in a single direction.” The same model previously reached 496.22 km/h at Germany's ATP test track in September 2025. The U9X is a special track edition limited to 30 units worldwide.
At a glance
Xinhua reported on November 6 that Xi Jinping replied on October 28 to 110 young Australian students, encouraging them to continue actively participating in the cause of China–Australia friendship and to carry forward friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
According to Xinhua, the 25th session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress voted on November 6 to pass the Anti-Cross-Border Corruption Law. The law has 47 articles in six chapters, covering mechanisms and responsibilities, case handling and international cooperation, integrity and compliance, legal liability, and other matters.
According to a November 6 announcement by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, UN-Habitat recently established its China office in Beijing. The agency's executive director, Rossbach, called it an important milestone in cooperation between the two sides.
Xinhua reported that, after an acclimatization period of more than a month, Chinese giant pandas Ping Ping and Fu Shuang officially appeared at Zoo Atlanta's giant panda habitat in the United States on November 6, meeting the media and the public.
On November 6, consumer association organizations in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei announced the findings of an investigation into airline-ticket refunds and changes. They urged 10 airlines, including Air China, China Southern and China Eastern, and five online ticketing platforms, including Ctrip and Qunar, to address problems such as insufficiently prominent disclosure of rules.
A local regulatory document set a minimum vehicle price of 120,000 yuan for ride-hailing operations. After a citizen submitted a request for review, oversight through the coordinated filing-and-review mechanism prompted the issuing authority to repeal the document in May this year.
On November 5, Wu Helin, a 17-year-old student at Songtao Vocational School in Guizhou, built a power bank by hand and modified a phone battery using parts he had bought himself. Principal Liang Haibo told him on the spot, “Give me a list,” promising to provide equipment and connect him with resources to support his innovations.
Two 10-year-old girls went out together in Zaoqiang County, Hengshui, Hebei, and one fell into the water. Her companion returned without reporting the danger. The girl drowned, and her family has filed a civil lawsuit.
Terms in context
Medical Insurance Wallet 2.0 goes live
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At a November 5 briefing, the National Healthcare Security Administration said the Medical Insurance Wallet had been upgraded to version 2.0. Sharing funds from employees' medical-insurance personal accounts within the same province is now available nationwide, while interprovincial sharing is being rolled out more rapidly through the wallet. Users can set an allowance for close relatives to cover their out-of-pocket costs for medical care and medicines and insurance contributions.
“Duanju” designated as the English name for micro-dramas
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Recent reports say the Chinese pinyin term “duanju” is becoming the dedicated English name for micro-dramas. It has been included in Wikipedia, with growing page views and increasing use in overseas industry circles; this remains a media observation.
A fireball is not a meteor shower: a “colorful ball of fire” appears over Beijing
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On the evening of November 6, several Beijing residents said they saw a bright fireball meteor, resembling a burning ball of fire, in the southwestern night sky, descending rapidly at an angle of about 30 degrees. Astronomy experts said it was a sporadic meteor that might have left meteorites, not a meteor shower.
First heavy-snow warning of the second half of the year issued
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At 18:00 on November 6, the National Meteorological Center issued its first blue alert for severe snowfall in the second half of the year. From 20:00 on November 6 to 20:00 on November 7, heavy snow was forecast for parts of northern Shanxi, western and northern Hebei, and northwestern Beijing, with severe snowfall in some areas of northern Shanxi and western Hebei. Hebei, Beijing and Tangshan had already issued local severe-snowfall warnings.
GPT-6 Cyber: OpenAI's cybersecurity-specific model
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OpenAI launched GPT-6 Cyber, a cybersecurity-specific model that it says can autonomously find and validate exploitable vulnerabilities and help develop fixes. Initially, access through the API and Codex is limited to a small group of approved Daybreak Red customers, with a gradual expansion to follow.
DeepSeek Harness
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DeepSeek's agent product. The company says it had 1.54 million daily active users as of November 4, consuming about 92 trillion tokens a day; those figures count only users of the official API. Its “Create Mode” lets users turn ideas into plugins through conversation.