How the next China shock is shaping hearts and minds

SCMP · 2026-02-21
How the next China shock is shaping hearts and minds

For decades, China’s role in the global economy was easy to define. It made things cheaply and at astonishing scale. “Made in China” became shorthand for industrial capacity. It was often contentious, sometimes admired, sometimes feared. In the years after China joined the World Trade Organization,