{"id":451272,"date":"2026-03-01T02:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T02:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/451272\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T02:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T02:29:08","slug":"iron-rice-bowl-vs-the-algorithm-why-chinas-economy-may-better-withstand-the-ai-shock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/451272\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Iron rice bowl\u2019 vs the algorithm: why China\u2019s economy may better withstand the AI shock"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">On a day typically considered one of the happiest on the calendar for Chinese workers \u2013 the eve of Chinese New Year, when families gather for dinner in the midst of an extended public holiday \u2013 the annual Spring Festival Gala, the world\u2019s most-watched television programme, left some in the viewing audience with a sense of profound disillusionment.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">As a troupe of humanoid robots break-danced, flipped, swung swords and performed comedy sketches at the gala, domestic AI brands occupied the show\u2019s highly sought advertising slots with unprecedented frequency. The display of China\u2019s tech prowess left many of the programme\u2019s roughly 677 million viewers deep in thought \u2013 weighing not joy or curiosity about the country\u2019s progress, but the fear of being displaced.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">They took to social media, where they were not reserved in sharing their trepidation. \u201cI feel one step closer to losing my job,\u201d wrote one. \u201cIt\u2019s here to take away the jobs of hardworking people,\u201d said another. One even saw the threat reaching outside the office: \u201cDancers and performers will be the first to lose their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The artificial intelligence scare was not limited to China. A week after the gala, a report from little-known US firm Citrini Research on how AI advancements would lead to mass unemployment and economic recession triggered a major sell-off on Wall Street.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Although these worries are growing amid the technology\u2019s rapid advancement in China, industry insiders point out that AI is already creating a large number of new jobs and that the country\u2019s economy \u2013 with an expansive public sector \u2013 appears better positioned to withstand potential disruptions.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Still, displacement was indeed happening, and how Chinese workers, employers and policymakers adjusted to the new reality would determine whether AI was ultimately a helpful assistant for humans or led to their downfall, they added.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Humanoid robots perform during China Central Television\u2019s Spring Festival Gala on February 16. Photo: Handout\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15e09788-d9ee-477d-ba32-795fc18c363d_6c5b57d8.jpg\" title=\"Humanoid robots perform during China Central Television\u2019s Spring Festival Gala on February 16. Photo: Handout\"\/>Humanoid robots perform during China Central Television\u2019s Spring Festival Gala on February 16. Photo: Handout<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a day typically considered one of the happiest on the calendar for Chinese workers \u2013 the eve&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[554,5713,84,891,24988,29858,163277,163275,20831,1294,142548,26725,163276,163278,56,54,55,7181,75831,96900],"class_list":{"0":"post-451272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-beijing","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-china","12":"tag-chinese-academy-of-social-sciences","13":"tag-chinese-new-year","14":"tag-citrini-research","15":"tag-dolphin-leap-recruitment","16":"tag-economist-intelligence-unit","17":"tag-economy","18":"tag-fudan-university","19":"tag-liaoning","20":"tag-simmons-simmons","21":"tag-spring-festival-gala","22":"tag-uk","23":"tag-united-kingdom","24":"tag-unitedkingdom","25":"tag-wall-street","26":"tag-xinhua-news-agency","27":"tag-zhaopin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}