In focus
Yangwang U9 Xtreme hits 503.17 km/h in Abu Dhabi, production car crosses 500 km/h for the first time
On November 1, BYD's Yangwang U9 Xtreme reached 503.17 km/h on a closed section of the E11 highway in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. According to iFanr, the result was certified by both the FIA and Guinness World Records, with the Guinness category being "fastest speed for a production car driven in one direction." The driver was German Marc Basseng. The previous production car top speed record was set by the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ in 2019 at 490.484 km/h. In September 2025, Basseng drove the U9X to 496.22 km/h at the ATP proving ground in Papenburg, Germany. The report said that after review, the team believed there was still performance margin in thermal management, the motors and the tires, so they moved the challenge venue to a public road. Supporting this figure are engineering changes: the U9X uses a full-domain 1200V platform, four custom motors with a maximum speed of 30,000 rpm, total system output exceeding 3000 Ps, and a track-grade Blade battery with a 30C discharge rate; Yangwang also jointly developed with Giti custom semi-slick tires designed for a top speed of 500 km/h. The U9X is a track special edition of the U9, limited to 30 units worldwide.
Mainland China Apple Intelligence begins developer testing, Qwen integrated into Siri, Writing and Visual Intelligence
Apple's China website has stated on its introduction page that the first batch of core Apple Intelligence features will launch later this year, with Qwen integrated. According to the timeline on the official website and reported by Geek Park, starting November 4, the first batch of features opened for testing with the iOS developer beta; when iOS 27.3 is officially released in December, it will be pushed to users in China. During the testing phase it is limited to developers, and ordinary users must wait for the official version. Geek Park said the supported models are iPhone 15 Pro and newer. Qwen appears in three places: Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence; questions Siri cannot handle can be handed to Qwen. The first batch of features includes real-time translation, Writing Tools, and the Photos "Clean Up" feature, which the website labels as Beta; AI capabilities with the new Siri form are still not among this first batch.
Hands-on with mainland China Apple Intelligence developer beta: photo editing works well, Siri gets confused when tasks get complicated
On November 4, mainland China Apple Intelligence opened testing to users in mainland China with the iOS 27.3 developer beta, and is planned to launch with the official version in December. iFanr's hands-on test showed that the first batch of features is supported jointly by Apple's own models and Alibaba's Qwen: photo Clean Up and basic polishing run on-device, while complex tasks call Qwen through Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence, with a pop-up asking for consent before the call. In the test, subjects with clean backgrounds and clear outlines were removed fairly cleanly with little loss in image quality; Siri supports double-tapping the bottom bar to type, and can handle simple Q&A and basic commands, but cannot manage two tasks in one sentence. When asked to write a four-day itinerary for Jiuzhaigou, after agreeing to call Qwen it produced a result in about seven or eight seconds; the content was brief and only an initial outline. This update package is about 12GB, and album search, notification summaries and other features need indexing to complete; the author suggests waiting for the official December version for a primary phone. The first batch does not include the new Siri AI, and iPad and Mac still await approval.
Blizzard yellow warning on the day of Start of Winter, parts of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei have heavy to blizzard conditions
November 7 is Start of Winter (Lidong), and the National Meteorological Center issued a blizzard yellow warning at 6:00 that day: from 8:00 on the 7th to 8:00 on the 8th, parts of southeastern Inner Mongolia, western Liaoning, northern Shanxi, central and northern Hebei, western and northern Beijing, and northern Tianjin will have heavy to blizzard conditions, with parts of western Liaoning and northeastern Hebei having heavy blizzards (20–29 mm); new snow accumulation in the above areas will be 5–15 cm, locally reaching more than 20 cm. During the same period, the meteorological center also issued blue warnings for rainstorms and strong winds. At 9:40 that day, snow first began falling at Foyeding in Yanqing, Beijing, and reports said snow also appeared at the Badaling Great Wall scenic area. By 18:00, the National Meteorological Center continued to issue four warnings and said parts of eight provinces including Beijing, Hebei and Liaoning would have heavy to blizzard conditions, with local extraordinary blizzards in western Liaoning and northeastern Hebei.
News in brief
2027 holiday schedule released: fewer make-up workdays, Spring Festival holiday reaches 9 days
The General Office of the State Council released the partial holiday arrangements for 2027. Headlines from multiple media outlets said the new arrangement has the fewest make-up workdays in recent years, and the Spring Festival holiday is 9 days. The record currently provided contains only headline-level information; the specific adjusted holiday dates and make-up workday arrangements were not seen in the original text, and readers should still refer to the official notice.
China's space station to welcome first foreign astronaut: Pakistani payload specialist to join Shenzhou-24 mission
According to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, the Shenzhou-24 crewed flight mission will include one Pakistani astronaut participating as a payload specialist, who will complete a short-term in-orbit flight and return on the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft. This is the first joint flight of Chinese and foreign astronauts in the history of China's manned space program, and China's space station will welcome its first foreign astronaut visitor. China and Pakistan signed the relevant cooperation agreement in Islamabad in February 2025, and after preliminary selection, secondary selection and final selection, two reserve astronauts were chosen, with one to carry out the mission and one as backup. The Shenzhou-24 mission logo was also released at the same time.
Second domestically built large cruise ship "Adora Flora City" delivered in Shanghai
On November 6, the second domestically built large cruise ship, "Adora Flora City," was officially delivered in Shanghai. According to reports, the ship has an overall length of 341 meters, 2,130 guest rooms, and can accommodate more than 5,200 passengers. The report said this marks the shift of domestically built large cruise ships from a single-ship breakthrough toward series construction.
17-year-old vocational student "hand-builds" power bank with self-purchased parts, principal asks for a list on the spot
On November 5, 17-year-old student Wu Helin at Songtao Vocational School in Guizhou used self-purchased parts to "hand-build" a power bank and modify a phone battery; principal Liang Haibo decided on the spot, "Give me a list," and promised to prepare equipment and connect resources to support his innovation.
Two "zero-yuan noodle shops" in Nanjing draw long lines, subdistrict office has visited to coordinate
There is a "zero-yuan noodle shop" in Yinxiang, Jiangning, Nanjing, and another in Daishan, Yuhuatai; neither sets any dining threshold and both serve vegetarian noodles free to all comers, with long lines outside at every mealtime. According to Yangtse Evening Post, the Yinxiang shop serves several hundred portions per meal; some customers have come five or six times, and nearby job seekers also come. The reporter saw that some nearby affordable restaurant operators worried about diverted foot traffic and said they were considering not renewing their leases. The Lingmo Subdistrict said it had joined relevant departments to visit the shops to discuss food safety and help maintain queue order, and the Jiangning District Market Supervision Bureau said a department had taken the lead in coordination.
Beijing hotpot restaurant has over 1,000 tables queuing on Start of Winter, store says wait exceeds 6 hours
November 7 is Start of Winter, with temperatures dropping sharply in many parts of the country; a popular copper-pot hotpot restaurant in Beijing had more than 1,000 tables queuing. The store said that due to Start of Winter coinciding with the weekend, the wait time exceeded 6 hours.
China completes verification of 1,000-km hollow-core fiber bidirectional real-time transmission
Recently, China completed the world's first verification of bidirectional real-time transmission over 1,000 km of hollow-core fiber. According to CCTV News, the test achieved synchronized bidirectional signal transmission of 64 Tb per second each way over a 1,007.48 km fiber line, with one-way signal transmission over 1,000 km taking only 3.43 milliseconds. The report said that compared with the best-performing solid-core fiber currently available, this technology increases transmission capacity by one fold and transmission distance by 60%.
DeepSeek Harness has 1.54 million DAU, plans official plugin marketplace
DeepSeek Harness announced its latest progress: as of November 4, among users of the official API, daily active users reached 1.54 million and daily token consumption was about 92 trillion; there were about 35,000 third-party plugins, and about 60% of active users had made or installed at least one. The platform said it will build an official plugin marketplace and distribute tokens to plugin authors.
At a glance
The "China Statistical Yearbook 2026" published 2025 household deposit balances for 36 cities nationwide; six cities—Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Shenzhen and Chengdu—exceeded 3 trillion yuan.
According to Haikou Customs statistics, in the year since the tenth optimization and adjustment of Hainan's offshore duty-free policy took effect, shopping value reached 33.45 billion yuan, up 13.8% year on year.
After AI concept stocks fell sharply the previous day, the AI hardware supply chain rebounded at the open on November 6 in US stocks; the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose as much as 6.57%, AMD rose 13.2%, and Nvidia rose 6.44%.
After more than a month of adaptation, Chinese giant pandas "Ping Ping" and "Fu Shuang" officially appeared on November 6 at the giant panda exhibit of Zoo Atlanta in the United States, and according to arrangements between China and the US will begin a 10-year stay abroad.
According to the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, on November 6 the university's College of Rare and Endangered Disciplines inauguration ceremony and the launch conference of the National Alliance for Rare and Endangered Disciplines were held in Beijing; 9 academic division members, first-tier professors and national-level talent were appointed as chief experts.
The consumer associations of the three Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regions jointly announced on November 6 the results of an investigation into flight ticket changes and refunds, urging 10 airlines and 5 online ticketing platforms to rectify problems such as unclear disclosure of rules.
On the evening of November 7, China's U17 men's football team announced its 25-player squad for the U17 World Cup, led by Zhao Songyuan, with Kuang Zhaolei, Wan Xiang and others selected, while Xie Jin was left out.
According to media mentions in hardware reviews, "Phantom Blade Zero" sold over 4 million copies within just 72 hours of release.
Terms in context
How did "drawing a prison on the ground" become a variety show meme?
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After singer Xu Fei's line "I'm drawing a prison on the ground, Lina" in the Mango TV variety show "After We Meet" went viral, "drawing a prison on the ground" was rewritten and imitated by netizens. According to a media article, Yang Mi used it in a livestream to advise someone, and fans of Shen Yue and Song Yaxuan each adapted it; on the Douyin hot list, usages such as "I'm drawing a prison on the ground over this barbecue" also appeared.
Start of Winter today: dumplings, winter nourishment and early sleep
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November 7 is Start of Winter, a solar term that begins each year between November 7 and 8 on the Gregorian calendar; folk custom treats this day as the start of winter. In terms of food, northern China has the habit of eating dumplings, while the south eats chicken, duck, fish and meat to "nourish winter"; health preservation emphasizes keeping warm, going to bed early and getting up late, and moderate exercise.
7,999-yuan electric shoes: selling point is subway and plane, not speed
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On November 6, a project manager at Shundong Technology responded to doubts that 7,999-yuan "electric shoes" are more expensive than an electric vehicle: although an electric vehicle costs only three or four thousand yuan, it cannot be brought onto the subway or a plane, while these shoes can be worn onto the subway and worn directly through boarding, making commuting more convenient.
Don't stockpile takeout insulated bags for repeated use with food
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Regulatory and health departments in multiple places have advised against stockpiling and reusing takeout insulated bags. Experts said the glue in low-priced versions contains substances such as formaldehyde; after holding food for 72 hours, formaldehyde was 3 to 5 times higher than with a cling bag, and the total colony count was up to 12 times over the standard; if there is a pungent odor, it is advisable to throw it away. Experts also said they are not absolutely unusable, but do not put food directly into them.
Zhang Yimou discusses AI short videos' impact on cinemas
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On November 7 at the Golden Rooster Awards forum in Xiamen, Zhang Yimou talked about AI: AI short videos are free and even pay viewers, attracting large audiences. He worried that if AI completely surpasses film in 5 to 10 years, whether audiences will still go to cinemas and what the industry will do.