Why tech billionaires like Jensen Huang and Elon Musk enjoy rock star treatment in China

Not long ago, a humble fruit stall in Shanghai saw its sales skyrocket when Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, dropped by for some food. Meanwhile, a once-obscure village in southern China has become a tourist hotspot, drawing over 10,000 visitors daily, simply for being the hometown of Liang Wenfeng, the founder of the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepSeek. During Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s 44-hour visit to China in 2023, the buzz surrounding his meals and itinerary on mainland social...