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Experiencing China: Soft power of DeepSeek, China Chic and C-wave

From cars to AI and music, the Chinese footprint is everywhere. Should we really be surprised?

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From cars to AI and music, the Chinese footprint is everywhere. Should we really be surprised?

From cars to AI and music, the Chinese footprint is everywhere. Should we really be surprised?

ST ILLUSTRATION: CEL GULAPA

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The cars look like Stormtroopers in a sleepy Katong mall, my friend told me. Mystified, I stopped by the shopping centre on a recent Saturday and faced off against a silent army of all-white BYD T3 electric vans “perma-parked” on an obscure upper deck.

My imaginative friend got it right. The BYD vans had the vibe of elite shock troops from the Star Wars blockbuster movies. But why were they incongruously parked there?

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