By 2 am, Sanlitun, one of Beijing's busiest nightlife districts, had largely quieted down. But inside Cafe Groove, owner Sui Jinpeng and his staff were still moving through the restaurant, testing upgraded audio equipment and large screens ahead of the World Cup's opening match early Friday morning.

Sui said he expects this year's tournament to draw fans out of their homes and back into bars, cafés and restaurants, where the experience of watching football becomes something collective. "People can drink, talk and cheer together," he told the Global Times. "This kind of atmosphere is actually quite rare."

The first match, between Mexico and South Africa, is scheduled to kick off at 3 am Friday Beijing time at Mexico City's Azteca Stadium. Although China's men's national team has been absent from the World Cup since 2002, the tournament remains a major event for Chinese fans, whose enthusiasm has endured despite late-night broadcasts and their team's long absence from the field.

This year's World Cup had a shorter commercial warm-up in China, with CCTV finalizing broadcast rights only about a month before the opening match. Analysts said the late deal left advertisers and merchandisers with less time to build momentum, helping explain the relatively subdued atmosphere so far.

Time zones are also working against the party. As the tournament is being held in the US, Canada and Mexico, many matches will air in China in the early morning or late morning, with some kicking off between midnight and 4 am — hardly prime time for bars and barbecue joints built around dinner crowds.

But restaurants are not sitting out the tournament. The Global Times found during recent visits that many venues have adjusted their opening hours and stocked up on food and drinks, betting that even a 3 am kick-off can still draw a crowd when the World Cup is on.

Romy Gai, FIFA's Chief Business Officer, told the Global Times on Thursday via email that China has one of the largest viewership bases in the world and the Chinese audience is central to the global success of the FIFA World Cup.

Aside from various support by Chinese sponsors to the tournament's multiple aspects including AI and video review, Gai said China remains deeply connected to the FIFA World Cup and plays an important role in delivering the tournament to a truly global audience.

"Brands such as Lenovo, Mengniu and Hisense bring innovation, scale and local relevance, helping us enhance fan experiences — from cutting-edge technology in areas like AI and video review to initiatives that make our tournaments more inclusive and accessible through sensory rooms in the stadiums," Gai added.

Preparation outside the pitch

Sui, from Northeast China, has often organized offline viewing events since his restaurant opened last October. He expects overall revenue during the World Cup to increase by roughly 60 percent. He predicted that for high-profile matches involving teams such as Argentina, Brazil, and England, peak periods could even reach two to three times the normal level. 

Zhang, a 50-year-old waitress at a restaurant on Beijing's Guijie dining street, told the Global Times that to prepare for this year's games, her workplace has doubled its inventory of crawfish and beer.

In Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province, the Laowaitan pedestrian street has launched a 39-day consumption campaign. The operator told the Global Times that a 4-meter-wide high-definition screen has been installed to broadcast matches throughout the tournament. In addition to beer and snacks, the street will also feature a food market with dishes from previous World Cup host countries.

In Shanghai's Laowaijie leisure street, a parking lot has been converted into a new viewing plaza capable of holding around 300 people. According to marketing director Qin Qijing, around 70 percent of customers are foreigners, and foot traffic is expected to rise by 30 to 50 percent during the tournament.

As of Wednesday noon, data shows that on Thursday - the opening day of the 2026 World Cup - hotel audiovisual room bookings on the Tongcheng Travel platform increased by 47 percent year-on-year, according to a statement sent to the Global Times on Thursday. 

During the first weekend of the event, from June 12 to 13, audiovisual rooms recorded their highest occupancy levels, with demand rising by more than 90 percent compared with the previous weekend, far outpacing other themed accommodation products on the platform over the same period.

The waitress surnamed Zhang said based on her experience from the previous two editions of World Cups, "it [World Cup] does bring customer traffic. When there are more people, there is naturally more consumption," she said, noting that if football games started earlier, there would be more customers this year.

Unlike a one-day surge in traffic for events like the UEFA Champions League finals, the World Cup is an operational test that lasts nearly 40 days, Sui said, adding that his restaurant's operating rhythm is relatively fixed: a busy period in the evening, another rush after midnight, and some breathing time during the day. "But during the World Cup, that pattern is likely to be disrupted." 

Sui noted that about 70 percent of matches will fall outside traditional business hours, leading his restaurant to extend operations to nearly 24-hour service. Sui said that even for matches involving less popular teams, his restaurant still welcomes customers.

Fans' passion and choices

Beyond commercial venues, football fans themselves remain central to the World Cup experience. In a sports brand store in Sanlitun, Yisimayili, a 20-year-old student from Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region now studying in Beijing and a fan of the Portugal national team, said that interest in and discussion around this year's World Cup have not declined but have instead increased. "More people around me are talking about the upcoming matches," he said.

In the past, he used to watch matches in his dormitory or at nearby bars and restaurants with friends. "Watching and discussing games together with my friends is part of the enjoyment of the World Cup," he said.

Crystal Li has been a football fan for more than two decades. Although some matches will kick off in the early hours of the morning, that does little to dampen her enthusiasm. "I'll stay up to watch, then survive the next day on Americanos," she said with a laugh. She has even been arranging her work schedule in advance to make room for the tournament.

Liu, a football fan from East China's Zhejiang Province, said,"I think the last tournament was very exciting despite the pandemic. This year, with the expansion from 36 to 48 teams, some matches may be less thrilling, so my expectations are not as high," he said.

Even so, Liu believes that attention to this World Cup remains, and he has created a new social media account to post video clips from past tournaments, hoping to attract more like-minded fans.

China's 'World Cup economy'

China's engagement with the World Cup runs far deeper than fan enthusiasm alone — it extends into broadcasting rights, e-commerce, and a vast merchandise supply chain.

CCTV reported on May 15 that the China Media Group, its parent company, reached an agreement with FIFA to broadcast the 2026 World Cup in China, ending uncertainty and ensuring Chinese audiences can watch the tournament.

Aside from the state broadcaster, social media platform Xiaohongshu has also acquired the broadcasting rights of the 2026 World Cup. Liu Dingding, a veteran industry analyst, told the Global Times that its participation aims to expand beyond its predominantly female user base by leveraging the World Cup's massive male audience, underscoring a unique cooperation pattern.

The World Cup is also deeply integrated with the Chinese market through live broadcasting, e-commerce consumption, and merchandise supply chains, all closely tied to China's manufacturing and consumer ecosystem, said Liu.

World Cup-themed merchandise stores have begun popping up in shopping malls across Beijing. At Hopson One, a shop assistant said products linked to popular contenders such as Argentina, France and Portugal have been selling especially well. "Portugal fan and player jerseys sold out earlier, and we are restocking them now. France jerseys also just sold out and had to be urgently replenished," the assistant said.

Li Mufan, store manager of the World Cup IP store at Beijing's Chaoyang Joy City, said that compared with professional football products like jerseys, dolls and plush keychains are more popular with female consumers and family shoppers, demonstrating that World Cup IP is extending to non-traditional fan groups in China.

Zhejiang Beilei Textile Co obtained official licensing rights for World Cup merchandise last year. Yang Yating, a company representative, told the Global Times that this marked a major breakthrough. Best-selling products include Argentina's "goat" plush toy, England lion dolls, and Portugal-themed neck pillows. These products are packed in Yiwu and shipped via Ningbo Port to global markets, Yang said.

According to FIFA, total revenue over the four-year cycle for this World Cup is expected to reach $13 billion, representing an increase of more than 70 percent compared with the Qatar World Cup cycle, according to a report by the Securities Times. 

Experts said the 2026 World Cup will also spur related consumer spending in China, as the country's sports economy has been thriving in recent years with multiple grassroots football leagues springing up across the country.

China has comprehensively bolstered its human rights protection capability, according to an evaluation report jointly released on Friday by the China Society for Human Rights Studies and 20 national human rights education and training bases in the country.

The report assesses the implementation of the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2021-2025), which was issued in September 2021.

China has fully implemented the five-year action plan, accomplishing all 181 tasks outlined in it, the report says.

It notes that China has advanced human rights through development, with the country completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and eliminating absolute poverty.

China now has the world's largest education, social security and healthcare systems. Meanwhile, solid progress has been made toward common prosperity for all, laying a stronger material foundation for the continued advancement of human rights in China, the report says.

It also highlights that China has been developing whole-process people's democracy, strengthening legal protection for human rights, and improving the system of institutions through which the people run the country.

The report highlights China's advances in environmental protection. The Ecological and Environmental Code has beefed up the legal framework for environmental protection, while improved environmental quality has helped better safeguard people's environmental rights.

According to the report, China has strengthened protection of the rights and interests of all groups, ensuring that people from various sectors participate in economic and social development, exercise their democratic rights, and benefit from the outcomes of modernization on an equal basis. In addition, the rights of women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities have been better safeguarded.

China has actively promoted human rights education and awareness, fostering greater public understanding of and commitment to respecting and protecting human rights, the report notes.

China follows the principles of equality, mutual trust, inclusiveness, mutual learning, win-win cooperation and common development, and it fulfills its international human rights obligations with a strong sense of responsibility, the report states.

There is always room for progress in human rights protection, the report says, adding that China still faces imbalanced and insufficient development, while sci-tech development and industrial transformation are also giving rise to new demands for rights. The report expresses the expectation that China will respond to these challenges and further advance human rights during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

The full report is available in both Chinese and English on the official website of the China Society for Human Rights Studies.

The action plan spanning the period 2021-2025 was the fourth national human rights plan released and implemented by the Chinese government.

China on Friday urged Japan to deeply reflect on its war crimes and make a clean break with militarism, saying history must not be overturned after reports that the city of Nagasaki planned to alter references to the "Nanjing Massacre" as "Nanjing Incident" in the updating of display panels at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.  

According to Japanese broadcaster Nagasaki Bunka Hoso (NCC), the proposal was presented by the Nagasaki city government to the museum's operating advisory council on Thursday as part of preparations for a renovation project scheduled to begin in September 2026. Under the revision plan, a timeline entry currently stating "Occupation of Nanjing, Nanjing Massacre occurs" would be changed to "Nanjing Incident." 

Responding to the reported revision at Friday's regular press conference, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said there is abundant evidence for the Nanjing Massacre—a horrendous war crime of Japanese militarists that shall never be erased. The Tokyo Trials ruled in black and white that the wartime atrocities of the Japanese army in Nanjing were a "massacre", not a mere "incident". 

The Judgement of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East dedicated a special chapter to detail "the Rape of Nanking". With numerous survivors' testimonies, records of third-country witnesses and Japanese army files, the judgement, in the form of the ruling of international justice, made it very clear that the Japanese army who invaded China committed the heinous crime of the Nanjing Massacre. The Massacre's chief perpetrator Iwane Matsui was sentenced to death by hanging as a class-A war criminal. 

The verdict of history must not be overturned. I noted that many survivors of the atomic bombs in Japan, Nagasaki citizen groups and people with insights have called for fully and accurately depicting the crimes and history of Japanese militarists as victimizers, according to the spokesperson. 

"We urge the Japanese side to deeply reflect on its war crimes and make a clean break with militarism," Mao said.

The Nanjing Massacre remains one of the most horrific chapters of Japan's invasion of China. According to the People's Daily, on December 13, 1937, invading Japanese troops occupied Nanjing. Over the following six weeks or more, more than 300,000 innocent civilians and disarmed Chinese soldiers were brutally killed. Approximately 20,000 cases of rape occurred in the city, and about one-third of the buildings were burned down, creating the shocking Nanjing Massacre that stunned the world. 

Terminology used to distort history

The manipulation of historical terminology is intended to beautify Japan's history of aggression, and reflects the lingering influence of militarism, Lü Chao, a research fellow at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday. He noted that Japan has long distorted historical facts through the manipulation of terminology, for example by avoiding the term "surrender" in favor of "end of the war" or "defeat."

Such practices, Lü said, are part of a broader pattern among right-wing forces of denying the Nanjing Massacre and refusing to reflect on Japan's wartime aggression. He said they seriously hurt the feelings of victims and people in affected countries, and constitute a form of deliberate provocation.

It not only runs counter to abundant historical evidence and the international consensus, but also hampers Japan's ability to become a truly normal country and achieve genuine reconciliation with its neighbors, he added.

The planned move also recalls what scholars have described as the deliberate political use of the term "incident" in Japan's wartime narrative. Zhang Sheng, a professor at the School of History at Nanjing University, previously told the Global Times that newly uncovered archives belonging to William F. Webb, president of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, showed Japan's use of the term was far from neutral.

During the Tokyo Trial, Akira Muto, a Class-A war criminal who bore significant responsibility for the Nanjing Massacre, acknowledged that Japanese authorities had consciously chosen to describe the war of aggression against China as an "incident" rather than a war in an attempt to deny its status as a formal war and avoid the constraints of international law. Webb explicitly pointed out this intention in his personal archives, Zhang said.

Such practices carry important implications for efforts today to shape historical discourse and ensure accurate historical representation, Zhang noted.

Deep divisions in Japanese society

While the proposed change in terminology on the Nanjing Massacre has drawn criticism from both within Japan and abroad, including from civic groups urging the city not to downplay the country's wartime atrocities, Japanese media coverage has largely focused on another aspect of the draft revision, highlighting that the new exhibition panels explicitly identify the "invasion" by the former Japanese army as the cause of the war. 

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun on Friday, the draft revision includes a description of the process through which the September 18th Incident developed into the Japanese war of aggression against China, stating that Japan "further advanced its invasion into North China." The report, citing a city official, explained that the reason for the wording was that, after examining junior high and high school textbooks, the term "invasion" was found to be the most frequently used expression, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Although one committee member expressed the view that the term "invasion" may be inappropriate because its meaning can vary depending on standpoint and era, another member stated that the international community at the time recognized it as an act of invasion and therefore saw no issue, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Experts noted that this reflects deep divisions within Japanese society over historical memory. While some voices within Japan's academic and civil circles call for confronting historical facts, the official mainstream stance remains ambiguous and at times dismissive of Japan's aggression against China. Narratives emphasizing Japan as a victim of the war tend to blur the distinction between aggressor and victim, thereby distorting public understanding of history, they stressed.

"Genuine peace education must be based on complete and honest historical facts. It should remember all victims, while also facing up to the responsibility for aggression. Only in this way can we avoid repeating cycles of distorted history rooted in selective memory," Lü added.

China's domestically developed semi-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) system "Beinao No.1" has completed 16 implantations and is expected to be piloted in qualified Grade-A tertiary hospitals nationwide in 2027, while "Beinao No.2" is set to begin clinical validation in the second half of 2026, Zhao Jizong, a neurosurgery expert and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said at an academic exchange event, according to Beijing Daily on Tuesday.

Zhao said Beijing has built a full-chain research and development system for BCI. At present, "Beinao No.1" has 16 research centers and has completed 16 implantations. The longest implantation has lasted more than one year, and the system has operated safely for more than 55,000 hours, helping patients achieve mind-controlled robotic-arm operation and motor-function reconstruction.

According to the plan, "Beinao No.1" will complete 36 implantations in 2026, while clinical validation of "Beinao No.2" will be advanced in the second half of the year. By 2030, China is expected to complete BCI clinical guidelines and technical standards, forming a replicable Chinese solution, according to the Beijing Daily.

Zhao said the current core bottleneck lies in the shortage of specialized talent, as post-operative rehabilitation for patients lacks dedicated personnel with relevant expertise. Beijing has taken the lead in launching training for clinical BCI adaptation specialists to fill the talent gap and support the implementation of the technology.

A BCI creates a direct communication pathway between the brain and an external device. By recording and interpreting brain signals, BCI allows the brain to "talk" directly to machines, enabling patients to control assistive devices, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

As a frontier technology in human-computer interaction, BCI has been driving a new wave of technological and industrial transformation. China has introduced a series of policies to strengthen BCI research and industrial deployment. The BCI sector has been designated as a future industry in this year's government work report, per Xinhua.

With the 2026 national college entrance examinations (gaokao) approaching, examination authorities across multiple Chinese provinces have tightened security checks at exam sites. The enhnced measures aim to ensure that cheating devices cannot be brought into examination venues, used during exams, or employed to transmit information. Authorities have placed special emphasis on detecting smart glasses and other high-tech cheating devices, which are prohibited from exam rooms and will be treated as cheating if discovered.

According to the Ministry of Education (MOE), a total of 12.9 million candidates have registered for this year's gaokao, which will begin on June 7. In an announcement on Wednesday, the ministry and relevant government agencies said they have directed local authorities to enhance exam administration and candidate services, with the goal of ensuring a safe and orderly examination process. 

Guangdong Province on Tuesday issued a notice, saying that gaokao candidates wearing or carrying glasses must remove them during entrance security checks under video surveillance and place them on a desk for inspection by proctors, The Paper reported.

Education examinations authorities in Shanghai, Fujian and other regions have also issued notices for candidates, emphasizing that those wearing framed glasses must cooperate with proctors for inspection. Exam staff have also received training to identify new types of smart glasses, with particular attention paid to the size, shape and other characteristics of candidates' eyewear, according to The Paper. 

Under China's  measures for handling violations of national education examinations, any candidate found carrying a device capable of transmitting or receiving information is considered to have cheated, resulting in the cancellation of their scores for all subjects and stages of the examinations they have registered. 

The MOE on Tuesday warned that bringing mobile phones, smartwatches, smart bands, smart glasses, or other devices into gaokao exam rooms constitutes cheating, regardless of whether the devices are actually used. 

North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has adopted a zero-tolerance policy toward smart glasses. The local education examination authority has advised gaokao candidates who rely on smart eyewear in daily life or for study to prepare suitable conventional prescription glasses before the exams, warning that smart glasses will not be permitted in exam venues and any resulting impact on exam performance will be the candidate's own responsibility, The Paper reported. 

An official from the Examinations and Admissions Authority of Guizhou Province told the Global Times on Wednesday that the requirement permitting only ordinary optical glasses at examination sites comes directly from the MOE. Guizhou is implementing the policy through a combination of smart security gates and manual inspections in line with unified national regulations and requirements.

Recently, the Henan provincial education examinations authority issued pre-exam guidance and introduced a "silent entry" system for the gaokao, requiring candidates to pass smart security gates and metal detector checks without triggering alarms before entering exam zones and test rooms, Henan Fabu, the official WeChat account of the local government said on Wednesday.  

The return capsule of the Shenzhou-22 spaceship, carrying the Shenzhou-21 astronauts Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Friday.

The three astronauts are all in good health condition, the China Manned Space Agency said, noting that the Shenzhou-21 spaceflight mission is a complete success.

The PLA Southern Theater Command conducted combat readiness patrols in the territorial waters and airspace of China's Huangyan Dao, as well as in the surrounding sea and air areas on Sunday, the command said on its WeChat account. Huangyan Dao is China's inherent territory. Since May, PLA troops under the theater command have strengthened patrols and vigilance in the waters and airspace surrounding Huangyan Dao, effectively responding to various infringement and provocation activities, resolutely safeguarding China's national sovereignty and security, and firmly maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea region.

Regarding the recent widespread circulation on Chinese and international social media of a video showing a Chinese soldier remaining completely motionless as US President Donald Trump’s aircraft, Air Force One, roared past upon arriving in Beijing, earning praise from many netizens, Senior Colonel Jiang Bin, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defense, said on Thursday that the unmoving soldier represents the countless members of the Chinese military and is a vivid embodiment of the confidence, composure, and resolve of a major power’s armed forces. 

When in motion, Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers strike like thunder; when still, they stand firm as a mountain. At all times, the Chinese PLA remains a heroic force fully trusted by the Party and the people, Jiang said.

More than 10 people were unaccounted for after heavy rain battered Yongchuan District in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality starting Saturday night, said local authorities.

According to the meteorological department, torrential rains struck parts of central and western Chongqing between 11 p.m. Saturday and 12 a.m. Sunday. Guankouwan and Hanjiagou Village in the district logged 296.7 mm and 256.9 mm of extraordinary rainstorms, respectively.

Given the short interval between the current and previous rounds of heavy rainfall, the continuous precipitation poses a higher risk of inducing geological disasters, including landslides, collapses, and debris flows, said the meteorological authorities.

Chongqing has activated a Level-III emergency response for geological disasters in Yongchuan District at 7 a.m. Sunday. The local relevant departments are carrying out emergency rescue work.

When asked whether China has played a diplomatic role in the process leading to the potential agreement between the US and Iran to stop the war in the Middle East, and what China expects from such an outcome, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Monday that China's position on the Iranian situation is very clear. This is a conflict that should never have happened and there is no need for it to continue, Mao said, adding that an earlier solution serves the interests of both the US and Iran, as well as regional countries and the world at large.

Mao said the recent potential ceasefire between the US and Iran and their exploration of a negotiated settlement have been welcomed by regional countries and the international community.

Mao said China has always believed that dialogue and negotiation is the right path, and that using force leads nowhere. Since the door to dialogue has been opened, it should not be shut again. It is important to sustain the momentum of de-escalation, stay committed to the direction of political resolution, and seek a solution through dialogue and consultation that accommodates the concerns of all parties, Mao added.

It is also imperative to reopen shipping lanes at an early date in response to the calls of the international community, jointly safeguard the stability and smooth operation of global industrial and supply chains, reach a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire as soon as possible, and facilitate an early return to peace and stability in the Middle East and the Gulf region, the spokesperson said.

Mao said since the outbreak of the conflict, China has been working relentlessly to end the fighting and advance peace. China will continue to work with the international community to provide greater support for peace talks and play a constructive role in ultimately achieving enduring peace in the Middle East, she added.