Starting September, China is making history: every student from age 6 through high school will now receive structured AI education.

At least 8 hours a year.
Not just dry theory—real-world tools, hands-on use cases, and even exposure to generative AI.

This isn’t just curriculum reform.
It’s a cultural shift.

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🔄 From Optional to Essential: AI as a Core Skill

For decades, education systems have treated reading, writing, and math as foundational.
Now, China is signaling something new: AI fluency is a basic skill—as fundamental as arithmetic or grammar.

Ten years ago, AI wasn’t even a mainstream academic subject in Chinese schools.
Now? It’s being rolled out nationwide, from primary school all the way through senior high.

This transformation shows that China isn’t just catching up to global AI leaders—it’s moving early, investing deep, and betting big on talent development.

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🌏 Why It Matters Globally

While other countries debate regulating AI or testing pilot programs, China is acting—at scale. The country is cultivating a generation that won’t just use AI tools—they’ll build, improve, and master them.

The impact?
Expect a wave of AI-literate young innovators in the next decade, who won’t be asking “What is AI?” but instead “How can I use it to solve this problem?”

So the big question is:
What can the rest of the world learn from this move?

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🧠 How to Teach AI from Primary to High School

Here’s a step-by-step roadmap any educator, school, or nation can follow to bring AI into the classroom.

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👶 Grades 1–3: Foundations of Thinking

Objective: Build curiosity, logic, and comfort with technology.

🔹 What to Teach:
• What is AI? (Simple analogies: smart robots, helpers)
• Pattern recognition
• Storytelling with AI-generated images
• Introduction to logic (If-Then statements using visual tools)

🔹 Tools to Use:
• Scratch
• Google’s Teachable Machine
• Drawing tools like DALL·E or Bing Image Creator (under guidance)

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🧒 Grades 4–6: Understanding AI Behavior

Objective: Introduce core AI concepts and how systems learn.

🔹 What to Teach:
• What is Machine Learning?
• Examples of AI in daily life (voice assistants, recommendation systems)
• Build mini chatbots with guided templates
• Ethical thinking: bias, fairness, privacy

🔹 Tools to Use:
• Machine Learning for Kids (ML4K)
• MIT App Inventor + AI Extensions
• ChatGPT (in a guided, safe environment)

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👦 Grades 7–9: Building with AI

Objective: Learn to train, test, and evaluate simple AI models.

🔹 What to Teach:
• How data trains an AI model
• Natural Language Processing (NLP) basics
• Build a smart assistant
• Prompt engineering basics

🔹 Tools to Use:
• Python + Jupyter Notebooks
• Hugging Face Spaces (for demo use)
• Google Colab (with small projects)
• OpenAI Playground (with filters and rules)

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👨‍🎓 Grades 10–12: Solving Real Problems

Objective: Apply AI to real-world problems and design solutions.

🔹 What to Teach:
• Building full AI workflows
• Fine-tuning existing models
• Integrating AI into apps or websites
• Critical analysis of generative AI outputs
• AI & society: misinformation, job impacts, governance

🔹 Tools to Use:
• Azure AI Agent Service
• Semantic Kernel
• LangChain
• TensorFlow or PyTorch basics
• GitHub Copilot (for coding support)

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🎯 Final Thoughts: This Is More Than Tech—It’s Mindset Training

China’s mandatory AI curriculum is about more than just technology.

It’s about preparing a future workforce that understands how to collaborate with machines, how to question outputs, how to lead in innovation—not just follow it.

In today’s world, AI isn’t optional. It’s part of the toolkit. Just like reading. Just like writing.

So ask yourself:
Are your students AI-ready?

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📘 Pro Tip for Educators: Want to get started with your own AI curriculum? Begin small—one project, one grade, one tool. Grow from there.

And remember: It’s not about turning kids into AI engineers.
It’s about turning them into critical thinkers who are ready for the world ahead.

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Let me know if you’d like this article turned into a downloadable guide or presentation format for schools or education departments!

The foldable smartphone market in China is experiencing significant growth, with sales doubling compared to the same period last year, according to new data from IDC. Huawei is at the forefront of this surge, commanding nearly half of all foldable phone sales with its popular Mate X5 and Pocket 2 models. These devices stand out for their use of Chinese-made chips and satellite connectivity.

Vivo follows as the second-largest player in the market, thanks to its sleek X Fold 3 and X Fold 3 Pro models, which are equipped with high-performance Snapdragon processors. These models were introduced just before the start of the quarter, contributing to Vivo’s strong performance.

Between April and June 2024, 2.57 million foldable devices were sold in China, surpassing sales from both the same period last year and the first quarter of 2024. However, this figure is still below the record sales achieved during the holiday season at the end of 2023. With increasing consumer interest in foldable phones, sales are anticipated to rise again this summer.

Huawei plans to further enhance its market share with the upcoming release of the Nova Flip. This new foldable phone will feature a larger outer screen compared to previous Huawei clamshell models and is expected to be more affordable. The Nova Flip will be the first foldable device under Huawei’s Nova brand, making it an accessible option for a broader range of consumers.

Its head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the WHO’s declaration of the virus as an international health emergency on 30 January gave “enough time for the rest of the world to respond”.

At the time there were only 82 cases outside China and no deaths.

Today there are more than 3.2m cases and 234,000 deaths recorded worldwide.

US President Donald Trump has said the WHO “really blew” its response and accused it of bias towards China.

The US is the global health body’s largest single funder and President Trump says he will halt funding.

Speaking at a news conference on Friday Dr Tedros offered a vigorous defence of how the organisation responded.

He insisted the WHO used the time before the declaration wisely, including visiting China to learn more about the virus at its origin.

Dr Tedros confirmed that the pandemic remained a “public health emergency of international concern”, three months after it was declared one.

Such a declaration is made under an “extraordinary” event and requires a global response.

Dr Tedros described “grave” worries over the potential impact of the virus as it accelerates in countries with weaker health systems.
Media captionThe BBC’s Secunder Kermani and Anne Soy compare how prepared Asian and African countries are

Officials said they had seen worrying increases in a number of these nations - including Haiti, Somalia and Sudan.

The WHO also urged caution among nations relaxing their social distancing measures, stressing the importance of monitoring for new jumps in infections as lockdowns are eased.

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Dr Tedros was also asked again about relations with the United States, insisting the UN agency remained in “constant contact” with the country.

On Thursday President Trump appeared to undercut his own intelligence agencies by suggesting he had seen evidence coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory.
Media captionWATCH: ‘One of two things happened’

The WHO’s head of emergencies, Dr Michael Ryan, addressed the claim on Friday.

“With regard to the origins of the virus in Wuhan we have listened again and again to numerous scientists who’ve looked at the (genetic) sequences, looked at this virus, and we are assured that this virus is natural in origin,” he said.

• Is there any evidence for coronavirus lab release idea?

*Dr Ryan also added that it was “important” to learn more about the animal host and understand how the virus jumped from animals to humans.

• China has rejected the lab theory and criticised the US response to Covid-19.
  Media caption’World is too fragile,’ says head of UN

• In other developments around the world:

• The world’s largest virus lockdown, in India, has been extended another two weeks

• The United Nations has warned that millions of children risk missing out on vaccines because of pandemic disruption
  May Day rallies have been taking place globally, but in scaled back or socially-distanced form
  Ten US states have begun partially reopening
  The UK government says it has met a target on testing; the opposition has called the figures misleading

Li Zehua broadcast the chase and his detention by police on 26 February, and had not been seen publicly since.

On Wednesday he published a video saying he spent fortnight in “quarantine” in Wuhan, followed by more quarantine in his home town.

He was told the quarantine was needed as he’d been to “sensitive areas”.
Who is Li Zehua?

Li Zehua may be a citizen journalist who visited Wuhan in February, after another journalist, Chen Qiushi, went missing. In his first video from Wuhan he explained why we was there.

"Before I entered Wuhan, a lover who worked within the Chinese mainstream media told me… all the bad news about the epidemic has been collected by the central government.

“The local media can only report the great news about the patients’ recovery then on. Of course, it remains uncertain whether that’s true, because this is often just what I heard from my friends.”

His stories included an alleged cover-up of infections, and a busy crematorium. They were watched many times on Chinese platforms, YouTube, and Twitter.
What happened on 26 February?

In the new video, Li Zehua, who is assumed to be 25, said he was driving in Wuhan when people in another car told him to prevent .

Instead of stopping, he sped up, saying he was “confused” and in “fear”. He was chased and drove for 30km [19 miles], with a part of the journey uploaded to YouTube with the title “SOS”.

He received his accommodation and commenced live-streaming before “several” people in police or security uniforms knocked on a near-by door.

Why have two reporters in Wuhan disappeared?

He turned off the sunshine and sat silently while the officers knocked on other doors, and eventually his. He ignored them but three hours later they knocked again.

He opened the door and was taken to a police headquarters , where he had fingerprints and blood samples taken, before being taken to an “interrogation room”.

He was told he was “suspected of disturbing public order”, but was told there would be no penalty.

However, because he had been to “sensitive epidemic areas”, he would wish to be quarantined.
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What happened next?

Li Zehua was taken by the captain to quarantine accommodation in Wuhan, where his electronic devices were taken.

He stayed there for 2 weeks, saying he was “safe” and was ready to watch Chinese TV news.

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He was then driven to a quarantine centre in his home town for an additional fortnight , before getting to stick with his family.

“During the entire process, the police enforced law during a civilised manner, ensured my rest time and food. They also cared about me considerably ,” he said.

"After finishing the quarantine, i have been with my family. Now I’m planning for my development during this year.

“I’m grateful to all or any the people that taken care of me and cared about me. I wish all people suffering the epidemic can pull through. God bless China. I wish the planet can unite together.”

Chen Qiushi remains missing, consistent with a Twitter account travel by friends. He has been out of contact for 75 days.

Another journalist who reported from Wuhan, Fang Bin, has also not been heard from since February.