China Tech is a column dedicated to the innovations reshaping China – and, inevitably, the world. From cutting-edge AI labs and next-gen robotics to homegrown apps that redefine daily life, we explore the breakthroughs that emerge from the country's relentless drive for technological dominance. Some are game-changers, others cautionary tales, but all offer a glimpse into the future as it's being built, at breakneck speed, in China.

AI Wants to Save Your Arteries (And Maybe It Can)

This is a fairly exciting development. Shanghai is experimenting with a new way to keep people's arteries in better shape. It's high-tech, ambitious and local – an AI-powered system built by experts here in the city, designed to watch over the body's vast network of blood vessels with the care of a full-time concierge. The idea is to spot problems earlier, treat them more precisely, and cut down on complications that end lives too soon.

It's called a pan-vascular management model. In plain terms, it looks at the whole circulatory system – not just the heart, but the brain, the kidneys, the limbs, everything – and treats it as one interconnected problem. At the center of it all: atherosclerosis, the slow, sticky buildup of plaque inside arteries that narrows blood flow like rust in an old pipe. It's the root of many strokes and heart attacks, and it's now the leading cause of death in China. Cardiovascular disease (problems affecting the heart and blood vessels) accounts for over 61 percent of deaths nationwide.

Dr Ge Junbo, a well-respected cardiologist at Zhongshan Hospital and one of the architects of this model, puts it simply. "We need to see the patient as a whole network," he says. "Prevention and control have to happen together. That means different specialties working side-by-side, and designing care that revolves around the patient, not just the disease." The artificial intelligence isn't just a gimmick – it pulls together data from across the patient's medical history, runs deep risk assessments, and offers support to the doctors making the calls. It's a second brain, but one that doesn't sleep.

The concept isn't just theory. It's already being put to work.

At SinoUnited Health, Dr Kathy Shi is leading a newly launched pan-vascular center. Her team combines endocrinologists, cardiologists, nephrologists and other specialists – essentially, a task force for vascular and metabolic diseases (conditions like diabetes that affect how the body processes energy). "We use intelligent technology to make the process more standardized and precise," she says.

The center runs on a mix of wearables, remote monitoring, and AI-assisted diagnosis. It's the kind of setup that turns a wristwatch into a warning bell. "We use a remote platform," Shi says, "paired with wearables and AI, to catch issues early – before they become heart attacks or strokes."

It's the beginning of a new kind of medical infrastructure. Quietly technical, quietly revolutionary. And very much rooted in Shanghai.

AI is Being Used in Urological Disease Too...

At Renji Hospital, in collaboration with Alipay, something quietly ambitious has gone live: China's first AI-based consultation system built specifically for urological diseases – conditions affecting the kidneys, bladder and urinary tract. It offers more than just information. This system can explain medical reports in plain language, suggest next steps, and even help patients book appointments, all through the Alipay app.

It's trained on structured medical data and focused entirely on one specialty – urology. That focus matters. It means the system understands nuance. It doesn't just match keywords; it mirrors how doctors think. Nearly 300,000 people used it during its eight-month trial, and it now covers 98 percent of common urological conditions.

Doctors from Renji's urological surgery department were hands-on during development. They didn't just review the AI's output – they helped build the logic behind it. Their clinical decision-making process, honed over years of diagnosing and treating patients, was encoded into the system's algorithm. The result is an AI that doesn't just know symptoms. It understands context.

The service is already live – search "urological surgery" in the Alipay app, and you'll find it. It speaks only Chinese for now, but an English version is on the way. Renji's team is also exploring how to scale the system for broader use, including in grassroots healthcare facilities, where access to specialists is often limited.

It's not a replacement for human care. But it is, perhaps, a smarter first step

AI is Being Integrated with Medical Education

To bridge the gap between medicine and technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine is launching something new – and quietly groundbreaking. It's the country's first dual-doctorate program offering both an MD (Doctor of Medicine) and a PhD, aimed at cultivating a new kind of talent: the medical innovator.

The intention is to build a pipeline of medical talent who can navigate both the clinic and the lab, who can translate data into diagnoses, algorithms into therapies. The program blends traditional medical education with engineering disciplines like artificial intelligence, biomaterials (materials designed to interact with the human body), and big data analysis. The training spans the entire spectrum – coursework, clinical practice, research, commercialization of discoveries and global collaboration.

Fan Xianqun, dean of the School of Medicine, describes the program as a response to what the future demands: "Students will work under two mentors, focusing on interdisciplinary research. Our goal is to develop medical scientists, engineers, and future leaders in the tech-driven health industry."

"Students will receive a two-tutor training to carry out innovative research and be developed into medical scientists, engineers or leading talents in the scientific technology industry," said Fan.

"Based on the strong academic background of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the new program will make full use of our features in medicine and engineering and lead the reform of education to train excellent talents meeting the demand on medical and scientific development," he said.