A humanoid robot has just finished the Beijing Half Marathon faster than any human in history. Have you seen it?
Watch the CEO of Global Admissions, Richard Coward, at the Robot Beijing Marathon:
On April 19, 2026, a bright-red humanoid named Lightning, built by Chinese smartphone maker Honor, finished the 13-mile course in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, which is faster than the human world record set by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo, and faster than every one of the 12,000 human runners on the course that day. Last year's champion, Tien Kung Ultra, came in at 1 hour and 15 minutes, which is more than an hour faster than its 2025 time, and that kind of year-over-year leap tells you how fast China is moving in humanoid robotics.
China Is Building the Future and Protecting their Workers
What's interesting is how China is handling the human side of all this. In two recent rulings, courts in Hangzhou and Beijing decided that companies cannot legally fire workers solely to replace them with AI.
Under China's Labour Contract Law, AI adoption is treated as a strategic business choice, not an unforeseeable change in circumstances, and that means employers have to prioritize retraining and reassigning their staff before considering layoffs.
The contrast with the rest of the world is real. Roughly 78,000 tech workers were laid off globally in early 2026, with nearly half of those cuts attributed to AI, so seeing a major economy move in the opposite direction is significant.
China is investing in robotics and AI at full speed, and at the same time the legal system is making sure people don't get pushed out of their jobs by automation alone.
Read more: Why China’s Westlake University is the Best Place to Study STEM
Chinese Universities Lead Asia in 2026
That same momentum shows up in higher education. According to the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings 2026, Tsinghua University holds the number one spot in Asia, mainland China takes 5 of the top 10 places and 20 of the top 50, and globally, 7 Chinese universities sit inside the THE top 100, with 13 inside the top 200. Tsinghua ranks 12th worldwide, and Peking University ranks 13th.
Same in the QS World University Rankings 2026, with Peking at number 14, Tsinghua at number 17, Fudan jumping nine spots to number 30, and five mainland Chinese universities inside the global top 100. In QS Asia,
Are you planning to study in China?
If you're thinking about AI, robotics, or engineering as your field, China is now one of the strongest places in the world to study these subjects. Public Chinese universities offer scholarships funded by the China Scholarship Council and individual provinces, most of the top universities run degree programs taught fully in English, and the research environment is moving faster than almost anywhere else right now.
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