Inkstone contributors

Gerhard Sabathil, the European Union’s former ambassador to South Korea, has been identified as the subject of a German probe into alleged spying activities for the Chinese government, according to three European sources. The investigation, which has sent shock waves through Beijing, Berlin and Brussels, came to light after German authorities raided the flats and offices of Sabathil and two other individuals on Wednesday.  German police have made no arrests. Sabathil could not immediately be reached for comment. A dual citizen of Germany and Hungary, Sabathil left diplomacy in 2017 to join the European lobbying firm Eutop. Eutop’s lawyer, Christian Schertz, said in an emailed response to the

Ma Gongzuo, a beekeeper in Zhejiang, China, has garnered more than 700,000 followers on Douyin, the Chinese version of video app TikTok. From opening up a hive to swimming in a river to chopping wood, he has used the service to share his day-to-day life in China’s rural areas with his followers.

A man from northern China’s Hebei province, known as Pangzai, has become an online star for his unique “tornado” style of drinking beer. He's become an online sensation after videos of his beer drinking and brick breaking went viral online.

The US-China trade war knocked the wind out of the Chinese tech industry’s sails in 2018, threatening to slow down its expansion in everything from smartphones, wireless network equipment and self-driving cars to semiconductors, e-commerce and financial technology. While a 90-day ceasefire period is in place for negotiators to end the dispute major Chinese technology companies and national initiatives are expected to continue to face challenges in 2019 as the world’s two largest economies remain at loggerheads over global leadership in tech innovation. Here, we ask Inkstone contributors, who are all tech reporters for the South China Morning Post, to survey experts on what’s likely be in the