9:36Kr | Some hospitals are now able to issue marriage certificates, realizing seamless connection with premarital checkups; Alibaba released its financial report, posting a revenue of 269 billion yuan in Q1 of fiscal year 2027; OpenAI further opens the underlying capabilities of Codex.

Today's Hotspot Guide

Anti-cancer vaccines have sparked a boom in the capital market, with multiple companies involved in related R&D

Kweichow Moutai responded to the decline of Moutai liquor output in the first half of the year: this is a phased statistical difference, and the total annual output will not be affected

The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court has lawfully accepted the bankruptcy liquidation case of Evergrande Real Estate Group Co., Ltd.

Zhang Xue responded to the incident of "the first Zhang Xue motorcycle in Taiwan being seized"

The world's first open-source space embodied intelligence cooperation project SpaceClaw has reached a strategic cooperation

TOP 3 Major News

You can now get your marriage certificate in hospital, a marriage registration service point has been set up in a maternal and child health hospital in Zibo

Not only can marriage registration sites be successively established in venues such as subway stations, banks and music festivals, hospitals in some regions have also started to provide similar people-friendly public services. According to promotional materials of Linzi District Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Zibo City, Shandong Province accessed by Jiemian News, the hospital officially launched marriage registration services starting from this year's Qixi Festival (August 20), integrating marriage registration, premarital medical examination and pregnancy preparation guidance as a whole. The 7th day of the 7th lunar month is a widely recognized traditional festival with symbolic oriental romance connotations.

This marriage registration point is located on the 3rd floor of the Health Building of Linzi District Maternal and Child Health Hospital, which realizes the seamless connection between marriage registration and premarital medical examination. After completing the marriage registration, newlyweds do not need to change locations to take premarital medical examinations, and can simultaneously enjoy services including pre-pregnancy eugenics consultation, pre-pregnancy eugenics checkups, folic acid distribution, and scientific pregnancy preparation guidance. The official WeChat account of the hospital noted that the first batch of experiencers of this people-friendly service said with emotion: "Getting the marriage certificate here, we can directly take the premarital check and get pregnancy preparation consultation right after finishing all the procedures, no need to run to different places, which is both hassle-free and considerate." It is worth pointing out that this site only handles marriage registration services for mainland Chinese residents, and does not accept divorce registration applications. In the next stage, the local authority will continue to optimize the service window process, refine handling guidelines, and continuously improve the full-chain services covering marriage registration, premarital check, pregnancy preparation, maternity and child health care (Jiemian News)

Alibaba Releases Financial Report: Revenue of RMB 269 Billion in the First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2027, Alibaba Cloud Posts Its Highest Growth Rate in 22 Quarters

36Kr learned that on August 20, Alibaba Group released its financial results for Q1 of fiscal year 2027. The financial report shows that Alibaba recorded a revenue of RMB 269 billion in the first quarter, representing a 9% year-on-year increase; its adjusted net profit stood at RMB 20.72 billion. Among the figures, Alibaba Cloud's external commercial revenue accelerated to a 45% year-on-year growth, hitting its highest growth rate in 22 quarters; its adjusted EBITA rose 133% year-on-year, with the EBITA margin increasing to 12%; revenue from AI-related products has achieved triple-digit year-on-year growth for 12 consecutive quarters, and AI has become a definite growth engine for the cloud business. In the broad consumption sector, Alibaba's domestic e-commerce business saw steady growth, with CMR (Customer Management Revenue) up 1% year-on-year. The number of 88VIP members reached 64 million, maintaining double-digit year-on-year growth. In this quarter, the instant retail segment reduced losses faster than market expectations while maintaining a high revenue growth rate of 45%, which is mainly driven by Taobao Flash Shopping and Hema.

Meanwhile, in the quarter ended June 30, capital expenditure reached RMB 67.678 billion, a 75% increase from RMB 38.676 billion in the same period of last year, which is driven by continuous investment in AI infrastructure to meet strong and growing customer demand. The significant year-on-year growth is attributed to multiple factors, including fluctuations in procurement cycles, increased CPU computing power demand driven by the expected continuous adoption of AI agents by customers, and rising prices of various chip components. T-Head has built a self-developed chip system covering GPU, CPU, storage and network chips. Relying on the full-spectrum chip product matrix, it has realized system-level hardware optimization across computing, storage and networks, and enhanced the performance and cost efficiency of AI infrastructure.

OpenAI further opens the underlying capabilities of Codex

OpenAI recently announced that it will further open the underlying capabilities of Codex. Developers can directly integrate Codex's Agent capabilities into their own products and workflows based on the open-source Codex Harness. OpenAI has repositioned Codex as a platform for developers to build Agent products, which is no longer limited to programming Agents in App, CLI and IDE. Judging from this adjustment, OpenAI is strengthening the platform attributes of Codex: developers provide specific business scenarios, contexts and tools, and Codex Harness is responsible for connecting model capabilities to actual workflows, so that the same set of Agent operation mechanisms can be reused in scenarios outside programming, including customer service, security, operation and other related fields. (Pconline)

The Cutting Edge of AI

DeepSeek-V4-Flash-Vision-Exp Launches, Opening Multimodal API Services

36Kr learned that DeepSeek-V4-Flash-Vision-Exp has been officially launched on the DeepSeek API platform. According to the introduction, in terms of pure text capabilities (Agent, reasoning, world knowledge, etc.), DeepSeek-V4-Flash-Vision-Exp is on a par with the official version of DeepSeek-V4-Flash; on the Agent Benchmark requiring visual understanding, DeepSeek-V4-Flash-Vision-Exp has achieved a substantial leap compared with DeepSeek-V4-Flash, and its multimodal Agent capability is close to Opus-4.8.

iFlytek: To Launch New Flagship General Large Model at This Year's Global 1024 Developer Festival

36Kr learned that on the afternoon of August 21, at the 2026 semi-annual performance briefing of iFlytek, Wu Xiaoru, President of the company, revealed that at this year's Global 1024 Developer Festival, iFlytek will launch a brand new flagship general large model based on fully domestic computing power; the company will release a phased version in advance at the end of August this year. He said that the upcoming new flagship general large model will reach the domestic first echelon as a whole in terms of coding capability and token cost performance, and will continue to maintain leading domestic performance in all indicators among general large models trained with fully domestic computing power.

GLM-5.3 and the official version of DeepSeek-V4-Pro are officially connected to the Qwen AI Platform

36Kr learned that on August 21, according to the announcement from Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba Cloud MaaS has expanded its model service matrix. The official versions of GLM-5.3 and DeepSeek-V4-Pro have been integrated into the Qwen AI Platform, and the relevant API services are opened simultaneously for direct invocation by developers. As introduced, DeepSeek-V4-Pro, Qwen3.8-Max and the Qwen-Audio series of models have been successively available for subscription. After subscribing to the package, users can switch between different models on demand in AI tools including Qoder and Codex.

Doubao: New Work Task Mode Launched

36Kr learned that on August 21, according to the announcement from Doubao, the new Work Task Mode of Doubao has been officially launched, and the Skills · Connector · Work Partner/Team feature is now available online. As introduced, users can experience this feature by opening the sidebar of the Doubao desktop client and selecting "Skills · Connector · Partner". At present, over 200 skills and connectors have been deployed on Doubao, and it supports custom creation of new skills.

Major Companies / Major Events

Guo Degang is under formal investigation, multiple performances postponed

The Paper learned from Damai that recently, the organizer Linghang Xiangxiang Culture (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. released three performance postponement notices. The notices stated that upon notification from the theater, due to venue-related reasons and after consultation and confirmation between the organizer and the theater, the two Yantai stop performances of Qilin Opera Troupe's 10th Anniversary Tour originally scheduled to be held at Yantai Phoenix Jiaodong Theater on August 20 and 21, 2026, as well as the Yantai stop of Guo Degang & Yu Qian Crosstalk Special, part of Deyun Society's 30th Anniversary Series performances, originally scheduled to be held at Yantai Bajiaowan International Convention and Exhibition Center on August 22, are all postponed. The new performance dates will be notified separately, and the organizer hereby apologizes to the audience.

All paid ticket orders for the three performances will be fully refunded to the original payment path without any handling fees in a unified manner, and no separate application is required from the audience. According to previous reports from The Paper, in July this year, Guo Degang impromptu adapted the classic song *Play My Favorite Lute* during the Wuhan stop of Qilin Opera Troupe's tour. The adapted content was not submitted for prior approval, and the Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism has launched the case for investigation. On August 14, the Cultural Market Comprehensive Law Enforcement Supervision Department of Hubei Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism responded that it is coordinating the handling of this matter. (Yicai, The Paper)

National Administration of Financial Regulation: Revokes the Business License of Hengda Life Insurance Co., Ltd.

36Kr has learned that the National Administration of Financial Regulation has released the public list of administrative penalty information, which includes the decision to revoke the business license of Hengda Life Insurance Co., Ltd. for serious non-compliance in the use of insurance funds, benefit transfer to related parties, non-conformity in post-investment management, and false records existing in the submitted reports and statements.

The Intermediate People's Court of Guangzhou Municipality lawfully accepted the bankruptcy liquidation case of Evergrande Real Estate Group Co., Ltd.

36 Kr has learned from the Intermediate People's Court of Guangzhou Municipality that on August 21, Huaxia Sub-branch of Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank Co., Ltd. submitted an application to the court for bankruptcy liquidation of Evergrande Real Estate Group Co., Ltd. on the ground that the company was unable to pay off its due debts and its assets were insufficient to cover all its debts. After review, the Intermediate People's Court of Guangzhou Municipality, Guangdong Province held that the application complies with the provisions of Paragraph 1 of Article 2 of the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law of the People's Republic of China, and ruled on August 21, 2026 to accept the bankruptcy liquidation application filed by Huaxia Sub-branch of Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank Co., Ltd. against Evergrande Real Estate Group Co., Ltd.

Kweichow Moutai Responds to Decline in Moutai Liquor Output in H1: Phased Statistical Difference, Full-year Cumulative Output Will Not Be Affected

Kweichow Moutai held its 2026 interim performance briefing on August 21. In the first half of this year, the output of base Moutai liquor reached 41,000 tons, about 2,700 tons less than 43,700 tons in the same period of last year. For the reduction of Moutai liquor output in the first half of the year, Wang Li, Acting General Manager of Kweichow Moutai, responded that the production of Kweichow Moutai strictly follows the traditional brewing rhythm of "complying with natural laws and seasonal changes", and the feeding time for liquor production each year is not completely consistent. The base liquor output within the reporting period is a phased statistical difference brought by different production operation schedules, and the subsequent full-year cumulative output will not be affected. (CLS)

Zhang Xue Responds to the Incident of "The First Zhang Xue Motorcycle in Taiwan Being Seized" 

On August 20, Zhang Xue, founder of "Zhang Xue Motorcycle", released a video responding to the incident that "the first Zhang Xue motorcycle in Taiwan was seized", stating that he was not aware of the specific reason, and offered to cover all the lawyer fees for the vehicle owner's rights protection. Zhang Xue said: "If the motorcycle cannot be retrieved, I will give the owner another one. If the newly provided motorcycle is seized again, I will give another one, and keep providing motorcycles nonstop. When will I stop? I will stop only when the reunification is achieved." (Jiemian News)

HKEX Extends the Validity Period of New Listing Applications

36Kr has learned that The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong will implement a three-year short-term exemption to extend the validity period of new listing applications to 12 months.

Ministry of Finance: Stamp Duty on Securities Transactions from January to July Hits 186.4 Billion Yuan, Up 99.2% Year-on-Year

36Kr has learned that the Ministry of Finance released the fiscal revenue and expenditure performance for the January-July period of 2026. From January to July, the national general public budget revenue reached 14,369.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%. Among the figures, the national tax revenue was 11,838.1 billion yuan, up 6.7% year on year; non-tax revenue was 2,531.5 billion yuan, up 1.6% year on year. By central and local authorities, the central general public budget revenue hit 6,385.7 billion yuan, up 9.1% year on year; the local general public budget revenue at the corresponding level reached 7,983.9 billion yuan, up 3.3% year on year. Stamp duty revenue totaled 353 billion yuan, up 38% year on year, of which the stamp duty on securities transactions stood at 186.4 billion yuan, representing a 99.2% year-on-year growth.

Ping An of China Responds to Taxation on Overseas Insurance Proceeds: The Impact on Ping An Is Almost Zero

In response to the issue of levying tax on overseas insurance proceeds, Xie Yonglin, General Manager and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Ping An of China, responded at the interim results press conference: "This is not a new policy, and the market does not need to over-interpret it; this tax policy has not been extended to the proceeds of domestic insurance for the time being; Ping An of China has a very small number of overseas insurance policies, and the impact is almost zero." (Yicai)

World's First Open-Source Space Embodied Intelligence Cooperation Project SpaceClaw (Space Lobster) Reaches Strategic Cooperation

36Kr learned that recently, Superbrain Future, a swarm intelligence foundation model company, Future Aerospace, a commercial space enterprise, and Xiyun Soft Control, a special robot enterprise, have officially reached a strategic cooperation to jointly launch the SpaceClaw (Space Lobster) initiative. The three parties will give full play to their respective advantages in swarm intelligence foundation models, space vehicles and flexible manipulators to jointly build the world's first space embodied intelligence cooperation project that is advanced in an open-source manner and takes real on-orbit verification as the goal. The SpaceClaw initiative plans to complete the first phase of on-orbit verification within 6 months after the launch of the cooperation, and simultaneously release OrbitBench, the space embodied intelligence benchmark for global developers and scientific research institutions.

Anti-cancer vaccines ignite the capital market, with a number of companies involved in relevant R&D

On August 19, 2026, a landmark moment arrived in global oncology treatment. Merck and Moderna jointly announced that their personalized messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) anti-cancer vaccine has reached the primary endpoint in Phase III experimental studies. This is the world's first therapeutic vaccine proven effective in large-scale Phase III clinical trials, which fundamentally reduces the risk of recurrence. The capital market reacted strongly. Moderna's share price skyrocketed by 177% that day; Merck also posted its largest single-day gain since 2009. On August 20, the vaccine and biomedical sectors of the A-share market rose collectively, and the share prices of many listed companies hit the daily limit. Domestic pharmaceutical companies are not absent in this cutting-edge track of mRNA vaccines. Although there is no enterprise that can directly benchmark against Moderna at present, some companies have been engaged in R&D in related fields. (Securities Times)

Apple cuts 60 employees from its VR team, and its strategic focus may shift to AI glasses

According to reports, Apple has adjusted the staffing of its Vision business team, and at least 60 employees affiliated to the Vision group who are engaged in VR-related development have been laid off. Apple has not yet responded to this news. The report points out that behind this layoff is Apple's strategic shift, and the company's resources are flowing to AI smart glasses. This new product is expected to be unveiled at the 2027 WWDC and go on sale later in the same year. (Sina Finance)

Elon Musk Says SpaceX Targets About 10,000 Annual Launches by 2030, With Revenue Growth Far Surpassing 2000% by the End of the 2030s

On August 20, when responding to a post shared by a user regarding the U.S. government's plan to realize 1,000 rocket launches per year by 2030, Elon Musk stated that SpaceX's goal is to "achieve more than 30 Starship launches per day by 2030, which translates to an annual volume of roughly 10,000 launches." On the same day, Musk responded to another netizen's post, which predicted that by the end of the 2030s, SpaceX's revenue would grow by 2090% and Tesla's revenue would record a 119% increase. Musk replied: "I know it sounds crazy right now, but I believe both SpaceX and Tesla will deliver performance that exceeds these expectations." (Cailian Press)

The Trump Administration relaxes summer fuel standards ahead of schedule to ease oil price pressure

The Trump Administration will terminate the summer smog-prevention restrictions on gasoline ahead of schedule this year, to ease the pressure from high retail gasoline prices. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an exemption order on August 20, permitting the sale of gasoline with higher volatility starting from September 1, while the effective date of the original rule was mid-September. The United States usually bans the sale of such gasoline in summer, to prevent gasoline from volatilizing under high temperature and further forming smog. The EPA said this move will increase the daily gasoline supply in the United States by "hundreds of thousands" of barrels. In 2025, the total average daily gasoline consumption in the United States was 8.9 million barrels. (Sina Finance)

Tesla has stopped selling solar roof tiles, as the product is no longer economically viable

According to reports, Tesla has ceased offering its solar tile roofing product, Solar Roof. According to two sources familiar with the project, Tesla has informed third-party installers that it will no longer supply solar roof tiles in the future, and will only provide solar panels. One of the sources said that Tesla internally determined that the product is financially unsustainable. (Sina Finance)

Samsung SDI will sell its shares worth 4.4 trillion won in Samsung Display

Samsung SDI will sell its 4.4 trillion won worth of shares held in Samsung Display. (The Financial Associated Press)

The three major Japanese automakers all posted year-on-year declines in new car sales in China in July, with Nissan's sales nosediving by nearly 60%

On August 20, the new car sales figures of the three major Japanese automakers in China for July were all released. Nissan's new car sales plummeted 58.7% year-on-year to 23,677 units; Toyota's sales decreased 24.3% year-on-year to 114,700 units; Honda's sales fell 44.1% year-on-year to 25,052 units. In the first seven months of this year, Nissan's cumulative new car sales in China reached 261,100 units, down 22% year-on-year; Toyota's cumulative sales reached 809,400 units, down 18% year-on-year; Honda's cumulative sales reached 238,700 units, down 36% year-on-year. (Jiemian News)

Foreign Student Applications to US Universities See the Largest Drop in Nearly a Decade

Data released by the most widely used college application platform in the United States shows that the number of international students applying to study at higher education institutions in the country this autumn has decreased by about 10%, marking the largest decline in at least a decade. Common App released a report on August 20, stating that the number of foreign students applying to US universities this year dropped by nearly 16,000 compared with 2025, as the Trump administration has tightened restrictions on international students' entry into the country, including adjustments to visa regulations. According to the report, the number of applications from Asia and Africa has recorded a double-digit decline. The number of European applicants also fell by 4%, breaking the steady growth momentum that has lasted for many years. (Sina Finance)

AirAsia Responds to the Incident Where a Passenger Defecated on the Seat During the Flight to Shanghai: Cleaning and Disinfection Work Has Been Launched Afterwards

A passenger defecated on his seat on AirAsia flight AK1516 traveling from Kota Kinabalu to Shanghai, which has drawn widespread public attention. On August 21, AirAsia responded to the reporter from Nandu N Video that the crew of the involved flight found abnormal sanitary conditions in the aisle. During the landing preparation phase, the crew prioritized ensuring the safe landing of the flight and carried out simple on-site cleanup. Immediately after the flight landed, follow-up cleaning arrangements were made in the first place, and cleaning and disinfection operations for the involved area have been completed afterwards. (Southern Metropolis Daily)

Listing in Progress

China Securities Regulatory Commission approves the GEM IPO registration of Suzhou Qili Intelligent

36Kr learned that the China Securities Regulatory Commission has issued the official reply on approving the registration of the initial public offering of shares of Suzhou Qili Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., and approved the company's registration application for its initial public offering of shares and listing on the Growth Enterprise Market.

Yangtze Memory Holdings Co., Ltd.'s STAR Market IPO review status has been changed to Accepted

36Kr learned from the official website of the Shanghai Stock Exchange that the review status of Yangtze Memory Holdings Co., Ltd.'s initial public offering of shares and listing on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board (STAR Market) has been updated to Accepted.

Financial Reports of Large Corporations

China Automotive Co., Ltd.: Net profit for the first half of the year reached 131 million yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 35.32%

36Kr learned that China Automotive Co., Ltd. disclosed its semi-annual report. In the first half of 2026, the company achieved an operating revenue of 328 million yuan, up 15.3% year on year; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 131 million yuan, growing 35.32% year on year; the basic earnings per share was 0.1 yuan.

China World Trade Center: Net profit in the first half of the year reaches 633 million RMB, with a year-on-year increase of 0.17%

36Kr has learned that China World Trade Center has disclosed its semi-annual performance express. In the first half of the year, its operating revenue was 1.816 billion RMB, down 3.9% year on year; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 633 million RMB, with a year-on-year increase of 0.17%; the basic earnings per share was 0.63 RMB.

Li Ning: Revenue in the first half of the year reached 15.24 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.8%

36Kr learned that on August 20, Li Ning Company released its 2026 interim performance report, posting a revenue of 15.24 billion yuan, up 2.8% year on year. The gross profit reached 7.75 billion yuan, rising 4.5% compared with the same period of last year; the overall gross margin was 50.9%, up 0.9 percentage points year on year; the net profit was 1.82 billion yuan, with a net profit margin of 11.9%.

ZTE Corporation: Net profit of 2.753 billion yuan in the first half of the year, down 45.57% year-on-year

36Kr has learned that ZTE Corporation disclosed its semi-annual report. In the first half of 2026, the company achieved operating revenue of 78.025 billion yuan, representing a 9.05% year-on-year increase; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company reached 2.753 billion yuan, down 45.57% year-on-year

Hua Tian Technology: Net profit in the first half of the year hits 813 million yuan, representing a 259.15% year-on-year increase

36Kr learned that Hua Tian Technology has disclosed its semi-annual report. In the first half of 2026, the company achieved operating revenue of 10.511 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 35.09%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company reached 813 million yuan, up 259.15% year on year; the basic earnings per share was 0.2483 yuan.

Zhangzidao: Net profit in the first half of the year reached 12.8714 million yuan, up 26.82% year on year

36Kr learned that Zhangzidao disclosed its semi-annual report. In the first half of 2026, the company achieved operating revenue of 731 million yuan, down 5.31% year on year; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 12.8714 million yuan, up 26.82% year on year; the basic earnings per share was 0.0181 yuan.

Cool Products

Yuequan Bionics Unveils Its First Bionic Embodied Intelligence Product Matrix

36Kr learned that recently, Yuequan Bionics and Jilin Provincial Bionic Robot Innovation Center jointly released the self-developed product matrix, including the Y-Hand series dexterous hands, YQ Motors series motors and YQ Muscles artificial muscle modules built based on the theory and technology of bionic tension-compression body robots.

Edited ｜ Li Qi