Beijing Theatre Scene: The 2026 International Contemporary Theatre Festival and Beijing International Theatre Assembly kicked off Sept 5 at the National Opera House with Zhejiang Wu Opera’s “The Monkey King Fights the White Bone Demon Thrice,” blending martial-arts spectacle with modern stage tech; 14 productions from across China plus Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, France and Brazil run to November across 10 Beijing venues. Harvest Culture: Yunnan’s Yingjiang county turned rice paddies into a cultural stage at the Haomao Rice Farming Culture Festival, where Dai performers, music and a Haomao contest helped “green grain rice” become a higher-value local brand. Tech Meets Daily Life: Huawei launched the Mate XT 2 tri-fold phone with the Kirin 9050 Pro chip, while China’s MIIT unveiled a plan to pour 3.8 trillion yuan into information infrastructure by 2030 and push intelligent computing power to 9,800 EFLOPS. AI Rules for Real Life: China’s top court issued guidelines on when AI deepfakes, voice cloning, algorithmic price discrimination and AI-made false info can trigger legal liability. Consumer AI on Retail: Alibaba’s Tmall is selling AI subscription plans via an “AI Space Station,” as Moonshot AI and Z.ai move from model talk to recurring-user monetization. Pop Culture Controversy: SM Entertainment faced backlash after an outfit worn by jailed former NCT member Taeil was sold at the group’s 10th-anniversary charity flea market, raising questions about screening. Mid-Autumn in Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur’s Kwai Chai Hong hosted an immersive “Lunar Harvest” Mid-Autumn installation themed around rice, lanterns and the field-to-table journey.