As China's provinces released their first-half growth figures for 2026, a geographic fault line came into view that cuts as deeply as any sectoral divide: the regions anchored by technology and innovation are accelerating, while others recede. Zhejiang, home to Alibaba and a constellation of AI and robotics firms, grew at 5.7 percent against a national rate of 4.7 percent — a modest gap on its face, but a harbinger of something more structural. What economists once described as a K-shaped split between thriving tech sectors and struggling consumer industries is now inscribed across the map its