Viola Zhou
@violazhou.bsky.social
Reporter at @restofworld.org Covering tech, AI, and manufacturing 📍Hong Kong to New York 📧viola@restofworld.org
For my latest feature, I wrote about the Chinese math kids turned AI superstars: their (and my) STEM education, their allegedly boring life, aspirations for an AI-powered world, and anxieties over money and politics. restofworld.org/2026/chinese... via @restofworld.org
The Chinese whiz kids of Silicon Valley
Chinese-born tech workers have fueled Silicon Valley for decades. In the AI era, they're superstars.
restofworld.org
Really happy I got to speak with Hu Anyan about the English translation of his best-selling book, I Deliver Parcels in Beijing. It’s a deeply captivating read that immerses readers in the repetitive, grueling days of a worker in a Chinese metropolis. restofworld.org/2025/hu-anya...
“I Deliver Parcels in Beijing”: Chinese literary sensation reaches U.S.
Hu Anyan, a former courier who wrote a best-selling book about the grueling job of delivering packages, discusses life, technology, and the future of work.
restofworld.org
Very glad to see my story on AI and medicine printed in the Guardian this week! If you haven’t read it: restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...
In college, I'd always walk past an unremarkable store in Beijing that sold a variety of trendy, but tacky, toys. That store has turned into Pop Mart, the $45-billion Chinese toy empire behind Labubu, the biggest global fad of 2025. This is my big story/pilgrimage trip to explain how they got here
A Journey Into the Heart of Labubu
I made an epic trek across four countries to answer one question: Why is the world going mad for a plushie monster?
wired.com
“DeepSeek is so much better than doctors.” @violazhou.bsky.social is unsettled by the way her mother, a kidney transplant patient in eastern China, relies on an AI chatbot for health advice. But she also recognizes that the bigger problem is a systemic one. restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...
My mom and Dr. DeepSeek
In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.
restofworld.org
Not long after DeepSeek R1 launched, I discovered that my mother had started using the chatbot as her virtual doctor. I worried about her reliance on AI. But over time, I realized Dr. DeepSeek was offering something no human in her life could. restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...
My mom and Dr. DeepSeek
In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.
restofworld.org
With 128 GPUs, Mongolian startup Egune AI is training large-language models tailored to Mongolian language, culture, and nomadic traditions. Story on why small nations are building their own LLMs despite limited resources restofworld.org/2025/mongoli... via @restofworld.org
The Mongolian startup defying Big Tech with its own LLM
Egune is one of several linguistically and culturally aware AI models built by smaller nations to reduce reliance on American and Chinese tech giants.
restofworld.org
Sendo’s online grocery delivery business is encouraging Vietnamese housewives, store owners, and anyone else with unused fridge space to become a grocery distribution and pickup center, reports @lamle52.bsky.social for @restofworld.org restofworld.org/2025/sendo-f...
How do you compete with Chinese e-commerce giants? A Vietnamese company is deploying housewives
Sendo, once poised to become Vietnam’s leading e-commerce company, is reinventing itself to survive against TikTok Shop and Shopee.
restofworld.org
With the de minimis change coming up, some Americans are spending thousands of $$ placing “last orders” on Temu, Shein, AliExpress. “I am stocking up on everything I think I will need over the next two to three years.” restofworld.org/2025/temu-sh... via @restofworld.org
Chinese sellers and U.S. buyers prepare for the end of ultracheap shopping
Temu and Shein are set to raise prices ahead of the de minimis loophole’s closure.
restofworld.org
NEW: It's not just e-commerce. So much of US businesses rely on China for manufacturing, and Trump's tariff peek-a-boo is leaving them in limbo. I talked to a dozen+ American businesses from mom&pop shops to $100m-revenue brands to unpack why tariffs won't magically bring factories back to the US.
Why It’s Impossible for Most Small Businesses to Manufacture in the US
American companies that make everything from keychains to mattresses say Chinese manufacturing is superior, and tariffs won’t be enough to shift production to the United States.
wired.com
Must-read feature that would have shined in any news magazine, by @violazhou.bsky.social who braved the Michigan snowstorm to bring us a documentary movie-style story of a Chinese EV business in America! restofworld.org/2025/gotion-...
How a Chinese battery factory sparked a political meltdown in a small Michigan town
The ambitious executives at Gotion wanted to join America’s EV gold rush. Then came geopolitics.
restofworld.org
I chatted with @violazhou.bsky.social at @restofworld.org about how she covers the Chinese tech industry. We talked DeepSeek, tariffs, and AI competition for @columjournreview.bsky.social www.cjr.org/the_media_to...
Q&A: Viola Zhou on the Challenge of Covering Chinese Tech
The Trump administration thinks of Chinese tech as a dangerous rival to Silicon Valley. How do Chinese companies see it?
cjr.org
Viola Zhou (@violazhou.bsky.social) spent months tracking Chinese EV battery maker Gotion and its efforts to open a Michigan factory. The result is a modern political allegory with few simple solutions. @jacobfeldman.bsky.social & @dvnjr.bsky.social's favorite restofworld.org/2025/gotion-...
How a Chinese battery factory sparked a political meltdown in a small Michigan town
The ambitious executives at Gotion wanted to join America’s EV gold rush. Then came geopolitics.
restofworld.org
Chinese e-commerce merchants, including some on Temu, are using fake shipping labels to trick the U.S. postal service into delivering products for free. Latest for @restofworld.org restofworld.org/2025/temu-se...
Chinese Temu sellers use fake U.S. postage labels to boost their profits
Some vendors have figured out how to maintain ultralow prices: Trick the U.S. postal service into delivering products for free.
restofworld.org
NEW: Chinese e-commerce sellers are scamming USPS out of MILLIONS of dollars using fake postage labels restofworld.org/2025/temu-se... Fantastic piece from @violazhou.bsky.social
DeepSeek’s breakthrough shows the strength of China’s AI talent pool. Researcher at a top Silicon Valley company told us they had hired brilliant Chinese interns to work on AI projects. But some turned down full-time offers to return to China. restofworld.org/2025/china-a... via @restofworld.org
DeepSeek’s rise shows why China’s top AI talent is skipping Silicon Valley
Young Chinese engineers focus on homegrown innovation, drawn by fewer visa hurdles and the chance to build a future on their own terms.
restofworld.org
For this year’s photo contest, we put out a call asking readers to show us how technology is impacting their world. We received 227 entries from 45 countries — here are the winners restofworld.org/2025/tech-ph...
If you are interested in learning more about #Xiaohongshu #RedNote, @restofworld.org has published many in-depth stories about the community: My story on XHS as an ultra-consumerist app, showing young women a polished, bougie, often-unattainable way of life. restofworld.org/2023/xiaohon...
Xiaohongshu is teaching young Chinese women how to buy the perfect life
Known as China’s “lifestyle bible,” the social media platform is an aspirational living guide or a consumerist trap.
restofworld.org
Despite all the cyber saber-rattling, US and Chinese AI researchers work with each other more than they work with anyone else: restofworld.org/2025/us-chin... Great data-led reporting here from @khadijaalam.bsky.social for @restofworld.org
Sharing my first story w/ @restofworld.org! Excited to be working with this group of creative, passionate and talented colleagues on covering the global tech landscape. How is Chinese tech is affecting your part of the world? Tell me more: kinling@restofworld.org
Rest of World@restofworld.org · 2y agoAmericans are joining the Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu AKA RedNote en masse to protest an imminent TikTok ban. New from @kinlinglo.bsky.social and @violazhou.bsky.social restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-...
While Chinese users know when to self-censor, Americans don’t. On Xiaohongshu aka RedNote, they ask about the Ukraine War, the Chinese govt, gay people. In the comments, some local users reminded the newcomers not to discuss “politics, religion, and drugs.”
Rest of World@restofworld.org · 2y agoAmericans are joining the Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu AKA RedNote en masse to protest an imminent TikTok ban. New from @kinlinglo.bsky.social and @violazhou.bsky.social restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-...
In case you missed it, @restofworld.org published three bangers on Friday. First off, @violazhou.bsky.social & @selinacheng.bsky.social on Foxconn's surprise halt on sending people and equipment to India: restofworld.org/2025/china-f...
Exclusive: Foxconn stops sending Chinese workers to India iPhone factories
In addition, equipment shipments are delayed, potentially disrupting next-generation iPhone production in India.
restofworld.org
MY SCOOP w @violazhou.bsky.social 👉 Foxconn staff rotations to India stopped, Chinese expatriates to return home, & equipment exports are held up. Apple overcame tech challenges to make its iPhone Pro Maxes elsewhere, but now, new problems. An obvious one? restofworld.org/2025/china-f...
Exclusive: Foxconn stops sending Chinese workers to India iPhone factories
In addition, equipment shipments are delayed, potentially disrupting next-generation iPhone production in India.
restofworld.org
Foxconn is currently having trouble sending mainland Chinese workers, equipment to its India iPhone plants. It will potential disrupt the production of next-gen iPhones in India. Scoop with @selinacheng.bsky.social restofworld.org/2025/china-f...
Exclusive: Foxconn stops sending Chinese workers to India iPhone factories
In addition, equipment shipments are delayed, potentially disrupting next-generation iPhone production in India.
restofworld.org
Foxconn has stopped sending Chinese workers and equipment to its iPhone factories in India, which could dent Apple's ambition to use its India plants to diversify away from China. Exclusive from @selinacheng.bsky.social and @violazhou.bsky.social for @restofworld.org restofworld.org/2025/china-f...
Exclusive: Foxconn stops sending Chinese workers to India iPhone factories
In addition, equipment shipments are delayed, potentially disrupting next-generation iPhone production in India.
restofworld.org
I'm a big fan of @bloomberg.com's annual jealousy list — and I'm particularly thrilled to see an entry for @violazhou.bsky.social's @restofworld.org story on Chinese immigrants running Temu shipping centers from their homes. Read it if you haven't yet! restofworld.org/2024/chinese...
The U.S. Chinese immigrants running Temu shipping centers from their homes
To speed up delivery and dodge a crackdown on shipments from China, e-commerce companies are turning to so-called “family warehouses.”
restofworld.org
Got to watch Chinese film Her Story 好东西 in New York. Great witty take on the life of urban, middle-class women caught between family duties and unfulfilled dreams: main character is a former investigative journalist who was forced to stop reporting (reason ofc not given)
India officially banned the Chinese app CamScanner in 2020. The government’s ban prevented new downloads, but those who already had CamScanner on their phones — including some government officials — were likely able to continue using it restofworld.org/2024/india-b...
India banned a Chinese app four years ago. Government agencies are still using it
CamScanner was one of 59 Chinese apps the Indian government banned in 2020, amid a border conflict with China.
restofworld.org