CBN丨China plans “silver trains” to encourage aging boomers to travel

Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.Coming up on today’s programChina plans to tap in “silver economy” with trains designed for elderly tourists;Tesla battery Megafactory in Shanghai launches production.Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours China plans to roll out a network of tourist trains equipped with medical and elder-care facilities as part of its efforts to create a “silver economy” and unlock the spending power of its aging population. On Tuesday, the Culture and Tourism and Commerce ministries, along with China State Railway Group, issued a guideline action plan to launch trains specifically designed for retiree tourists. A nationwide “silver tourist train” network featuring “diversified tourist routes, a wide range of tourism themes and comprehensive services” will be built by 2027, the document said.  One-in-five of the country’s 1.4 billion people were aged 60 or older at the end of 2022, with the ratio set to exceed 30 percent in a decade, according to China’s National Health Commission.Many of these seniors have retired with pensions and significant savings, meaning they are one of the rare groups of people China can tap to revive spending.International tourism companies and tourist train operators can also participate in the plan, according to the document. National and local railway development funds are also encouraged to support the concept.Medical institutions will also be encouraged to work with the railway department to provide medical personnel and emergency treatment resources. Medical expenses incurred on the network can be claimed on health insurance.China last year unveiled a plan for a silver economy estimated to be worth 30 trillion yuan in the next decade, catering to a rapidly-aging population needing tailored services from meal delivery to nursing homes and entertainment options.Many tourism companies are targeting China’s seniors to attract more customers. Last year, Swiss-based Viking Cruises worked with Shanghai’s University for the Elderly to launch a program for the elderly that combines history and culture courses while traveling in Asia and Europe.China's large-scale equipment upgrade and consumer goods trade-in programs yielded fruitful results in 2024, data from the state planner showed on Monday. The programs, which kicked off last March, drove equipment purchases and investment up by 15.7 percent in 2024, contributing 67.6 percent to overall investment growth, and boosted sales of bulk durable consumer goods by over 1.3 trillion yuan, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. Also, over 37 million consumers purchased more than 62 million eligible home appliances, with total sales reaching 270 billion yuan. In the auto sector, more than 6.8 million vehicles were traded in for new ones, driving sales by 920 billion yuan. Greater Bay Area, Greater futureHong Kong is poised to roll out an Innovation and Technology Industry-Oriented Fund worth HKD10 billion, aimed at channeling market investments into specified emerging and future industries of strategic importance, chief executive John Lee announced on Monday.Next on industry and company newsU.S. carmaker Tesla's new Megafactory in Shanghai, dedicated to manufacturing its energy-storage batteries, known as Megapacks, launched production on Tuesday. The initial annual production capacity is 10,000 units, or roughly 40 gigawatt-hours of energy storage, with a yearly increase of 50 percent in energy storage deployments in 2025.Tencent Cloud will build its first Middle Eastern data center in Saudi Arabia, the Chinese tech giant's cloud unit said yesterday at LEAP2025. The firm will invest over USD150 million in the region over the next years for infrastructure and other projects to promote digital economy innovation.Leapmotor, the Chinese partner of Stellantis, on Tuesday launched a new electric vehicle model with smart driving technology priced under 150,000 yuan, a day after BYD slashed the entry price for such smart EVs. The B10 will be its first EV equipped with lidar and urban traffic smart driving capability. On the other hand, BYD on Monday launched of its new self-driving system, God’s Eye, which will be equipped on all the Chinese NEV giant’s cars, including the lower range Seagull, which is priced at 69,800 yuan.Chinese mobile phone manufacturers, including Huawei Technologies and Nubia Technology, are deploying artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek’s large language model R1 in their smartphones to give users an enhanced experience. Also, carmakers including Baojun and IM Motors have announced integration of DeepSeek into their smart cockpits. Meanwhile, DeepSeek's co-founder and CEO Liang Wenfeng will not attend the two-day AIActionSummit in Paris, media reported today, citing people familiar with the matter.McDonald's plans to open 2,200 restaurants globally this year, of which about 1,000 in China, the US fast food chain said in its latest earnings conference call. McDonald's revenue and net profit both declined last year.China Vanke got a 2.8 billion yuan loan from its largest shareholder, Shenzhen Metro Group, for debt repayment, according to a Hong Kong bourse filing yesterday. The developer will provide asset collateral of over 4 billion yuan for the three-year loan.Shanghai announced on Monday to allocate 500 million yuan worth of vouchers to support the service sector, including 360 million yuan for catering, 90 million yuan for tourism, 30 million yuan for cinemas, and 20 million yuan for sports.Switching gears to financial newsThe People’s Bank of China has promoted Zou Lan, director of its monetary policy department, as deputy governor of the central bank. Fifty-two-year-old Zou will become the PBOC’s fifth deputy governor, in charge of areas including financial markets, technology, the Treasury, and credit management, according to a statement released by the State Council yesterday.Wrapping up with a quick look at the stock marketChinese stocks retreated on Tuesday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite down 0.1 percent and the Shenzhen Component falling 0.7 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also closed 1.1 percent lower, and the TECH index dropped 2.7 percent.