A scanner magnifies a traditional Chinese painting by 200 times in an Artificial Intelligence Technology Center (AITC) in Beijing.

Based on big data technology, the machine is capable of recording the specific details of certain cultural relics. This can be used to tell fakes from originals.

The startup AITC in Yizhuang Economic and Technology Development area in the suburban Daxing district of Beijing was started in March by Hans Uszkoreit, scientific director at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence.

Uszkoreit said the center would focus on creating an AI service system and big data public technology platform. It will cooperate with companies that need the application of AI technology, such as JD.com, to make breakthrough in the fields of natural language processing and big data analysis.

Professor Uszkoreit and his company epitomize the foreign entrepreneurial rush in Beijing.

Beijing has hoped to attract more “elite foreigners” since it eased permanent-residence requirements in 2016. Twenty measures took effect on March 1, 2016, mainly targeting managerial-level professionals, Chinese born abroad, entrepreneurs and recently-graduated foreign students.

Zhongguancun, known in some quarters as “China’s Silicon Valley,” has offered permanent-residence certificates in China to more than 280 foreigners since 2016.

Jahangir Raza from Pakistan just graduated from North China Electric Power University. He is working in the capital as a service manager for Beijing Aeonmed and is getting his work visa in China.

He expects a lot from his future career, and says he decided to stay in Beijing because of the great opportunities here.

Yang Zhongwei, International Marketing & Sales Director of Beijing Aeonmed, said the company would like to hire overseas staff because they can become the strong link between overseas markets and Chinese companies.

From common entrepreneurs to Nobel laureates, an increasing number of foreigners see Beijing as an ideal place for their business ideas.

THOMAS Beijing Research and Development Center was founded in Beihang University this February. The center named after Professor Thomas C. Sudhof, a winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, was jointly founded by the city of Beijing, Beihang University and Professor Thomas C. Sudhof.

Focusing on repairing central nervous system injuries, the center has a multidisciplinary advantage and undertakes research into many areas, including pathophysiology, biomaterial modification, preparation techniques and repairing neural injuries.

Nils Pihl, a tech CEO in Beijing, born in Sweden, moved to Silicon Valley and then New York, but founded a tech startup in Beijing.

He wrote an article for the Business Insider, an American news website, to explain why he chose Beijing for his startup. Pihl believes Beijing is great for innovation.

“Beijing offered us cheap housing and food, a network of experienced mentors that were happy to take the time to help, steady access to some of the world’s greatest engineering talent at a sixth of the cost of a junior engineer in Silicon Valley and access to a vast market of clients,” he wrote.

Though for Pihl it was never about costs alone.

“Beijing attracts large numbers of truly driven, creative and interesting people,” he wrote.

Wang Min, former Communist Party of China chief of northeast China’s Liaoning Province and senior national legislator, was given a life sentence Friday for embezzlement, accepting bribes and dereliction of duty.

The sentence was handed down by the Intermediate People’s Court of Luoyang City in central China’s Henan Province.

Wang was also deprived of his political rights for life, with all his personal assets confiscated.

Wang was found to have taken advantage of his various positions to help others with business and promotions, among other offences, and accepted money and valuables worth more than 146 million yuan (21.7 million U.S. dollars) personally or through others when he served in senior positions in Jilin and Liaoning provinces between 2004 and 2016.

He was also found to have embezzled public funds worth one million yuan, when he was Party chief of Jilin Province.

The court also convicted Wang of dereliction of duty. During his time as Liaoning Party chief, Wang failed to properly supervise local elections and was responsible for serious election fraud including vote buying.

His negligence undermined the election system, resulting in major losses in the national and public interests and had an especially vile social impact, the court said.

The court decided to be lenient as Wang pleaded guilty, expressed remorse, returned his illegal gains and offered information on other crimes.

When Aziz Ullah returned to China from Europe months ago, he headed straight home to Yiwu, a small city in east China’s Zhejiang province.

“I feel at home in Yiwu,” said Aziz, 39, from Afghanistan. He has lived in Yiwu for 15 years.

As China’s urban and rural development balances, metropolises such as Beijing and Shanghai are no longer the only places to live and work in for foreigners.

Aziz came to China in 2003 to make money. He chose Yiwu, well known as a production base for small commodities. Yiwu receives more than 400,000 overseas visitors each year and more than 10,000 foreigners live there.

“When I first came here, my Chinese was really poor,” Aziz recalled. “I did not go far away from my home, since I could not read road signs and was afraid of getting lost.”

Aziz registered a company in Yiwu in 2005, and has done well. His products, from household furniture to solar panels, are exported to nine countries.

After 15 years, Aziz speaks fluent Chinese, has become a foreign mediator for the local government, and has helped mediate six trade disputes between Chinese and foreign businesses.

“No matter how big my business gets, Yiwu will always be my second home.” he said. “I had my dreams come true here. My career and friends are all in this city. It is safe and stable.”

Besides doing business or teaching languages, small towns in China provide other career opportunities for foreigners.

Andrew Stokes did not achieve much back home in Australia after he graduated from the Australian Academy of Dramatic Arts. Years ago, he came to China by chance and has since been working as an actor in Hengdian, Zhejiang. Hengdian is a both a film making center and tourist attraction.

“Hengdian is a beautiful town, where my dreams of being an actor came true,” Andrew said in fluent Chinese. So far, he has been in more than 30 movies and TV shows.

Improvements to small towns are encouraging foreigners to come.

Five years ago, Australian Tim Clancy came to his Chinese wife Chen Shuang’s hometown Pujiang in Zhejiang, for the first time.

“He did not want to stay here for one more day,” Chen said. Tim was always complaining about the pollution.

But the environment has improved a lot. Tim and his wife now live there for several months every year. “We enjoy the beautiful nature and traditional Chinese culture here,” Tim said.

Public services and infrastructure in small towns have also improved, making life there easier. “For example, people can use Alipay (mobile payment), rather than cash, almost everywhere in the town,” Tim said.

A murder suspect has been caught in northern China after having plastic surgery to evade police.

The suspect, surnamed Zhang, is suspected of killing five people 17 years ago following a debt dispute, police of Weichang county in Hebei Province said Friday.

Last month, Weichang police received information about Zhang’s presence in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province.

Zhang was using the identity of a man surnamed Yu, despite the annulment of Yu’s household registration, police said

Zhang was later caught in his home with the help of Heilongjiang police.

Police found scars on Zhang’s face that indicated that he had gone through plastic surgery.

Zhang confessed that he killed five residents in his village and severely injured another in January 2000.

The investigation is ongoing.

Two local officials were removed from their posts in central China’s Hunan Province for “superstitious activities,” disciplinary authorities said.

Tang Yuansong, former head of the housing and construction bureau of Linwu County, attended five fengshui training courses in different cities under the guise of “investigation tours” starting in 2008, said a statement by the commission for discipline inspection of Chenzhou City.

The training sessions cost 54,000 yuan (8,000 U.S. dollars) in total and were reimbursed as business trip expenses, said the statement issued Thursday.

Since 2014, he also received 5,000 yuan annually on average for “practicing fengshui” for others, it said.

Huang Xiaowen, former head of Tuqiao Township of Rucheng County, asked others to set up an altar to cast spells and paid 100,000 yuan in tribute each time, with hopes of being promoted.

Both of them have been expelled from the CPC, and judicial authorities will further investigate their cases for criminal activity, such as graft and embezzlement, it said.