Summary: Xi Jinping attended Russia's Victory Day parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory in the Great Patriotic War, accompanied by Cai Qi and Wang Yi. Putin praised the sacrifices of the Soviet Union and the contributions of the Chinese people in WWII, emphasizing the importance of remembering history and resisting its falsification. The parade featured both historical and modern military displays, with a Chinese honor guard participating. Following the parade, Xi and other leaders laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and attended a celebratory banquet hosted by Putin. The article did not mention the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: President Xi Jinping and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden exchanged congratulatory messages on the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Sweden. Xi noted the steady development of bilateral relations, including cooperation in trade, science, education, and culture, while expressing his desire to work with the King to enhance political trust, deepen practical cooperation, and promote multilateralism and free trade. Xi also stated his aim to bring more benefits to both peoples and contribute more to world peace and prosperity. King Carl XVI Gustaf reciprocated, expressing his wishes for continued deepening of close cooperation and further development of friendly relations between the two countries.
Summary: Marking the 80th anniversary of victory, the article emphasizes the historical lessons from defeating fascism, asserting that light triumphs over darkness and justice over evil. It stresses the importance of a correct historical perspective on World War II, highlighting China's central role as the main Asian battlefield and its immense contributions under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. The piece underscores the global unity against aggression during the war, advocating for maintaining peace and opposing hegemony and power politics. The article implicitly advocates that China is on the side of "historical correctness" and is for "fairness and justice".
Summary: According to an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China will focus on developing new quality productive forces by promoting high-end, intelligent, and green manufacturing, and upgrading traditional industries. The MIIT will promote digital transformation across industries, implement "AI + Manufacturing" initiatives, and cultivate green manufacturing. The government aims to revitalize traditional industries through technological upgrades and foster emerging and future industries with supportive policies in areas like bio-manufacturing and quantum technology. The government also intends to continue supporting specialized and innovative SMEs.
Summary: China's total trade in goods reached 14.14 trillion yuan in the first four months of the year, a 2.4% year-on-year increase, continuing a steady growth trend. Exports reached 8.39 trillion yuan and imports totaled 5.75 trillion yuan. Trade with Belt and Road countries increased by 3.9% to 7.25 trillion yuan, and private enterprises accounted for 56.9% of the total trade, an increase of 2.3 percentage points. In April alone, total trade grew by 5.6%, with exports increasing by 9.3%.
Summary: As of May 9th, the Changjiang Delta Railway has transported over 1 million TEUs via sea-rail intermodal transport, surpassing last year's mark by nine days. The China Railway Shanghai Bureau Group has strengthened cooperation with the ports of Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan, optimizing transport organization and reducing turnaround times to increase efficiency. Shanghai Port alone has handled 351,000 TEUs, a year-on-year increase of over 20%, setting a record. Currently, there are 95 sea-rail intermodal train routes connecting various locations in the Changjiang Delta to the ports of Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan, facilitating the export of goods such as white goods, photovoltaic modules, and hardware.
Summary: During the 80th-anniversary celebrations of Victory Day in Moscow, Xi Jinping met with Serbian President Vučić, highlighting the successful start to the China-Serbia community with a shared future. Xi emphasized the need for strategic focus, deepened cooperation, and mutual support amid global challenges. He also referenced the shared contributions of Chinese and Serbian people in the fight against fascism. Vučić affirmed Serbia's adherence to the one-China principle and welcomed Chinese investment, while expressing support for multilateralism in the face of unilateralism and protectionism. Cai Qi and Wang Yi were reported as accompanying Xi.
Summary: During the 80th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War in Moscow, Xi Jinping met with Myanmar's leader Min Aung Hlaing. Xi emphasized China and Myanmar as a community with a shared future, highlighting the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties and China's commitment to deepening cooperation, including the Belt and Road Initiative. He expressed support for Myanmar's development path and offered assistance following the recent earthquake. Xi also requested that Myanmar guarantee the safety of Chinese personnel and projects, and to step up efforts to combat online gambling and telecom fraud.
Summary: During the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War in Moscow, Xi Jinping met with Cuban President Díaz-Canel. Xi emphasized the deepening political trust and strategic cooperation between China and Cuba, especially as this year marks the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Xi affirmed China's support for Cuba's sovereignty and opposition to external interference and blockades. Díaz-Canel reiterated Cuba's adherence to the One China principle and expressed gratitude for China's support, while both leaders pledged to strengthen coordination within frameworks like BRICS and the China-CELAC Forum to oppose unilateralism and safeguard international justice. Cai Qi and Wang Yi were reported to be present at the meeting.
Summary: While in Moscow for the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War, Xi Jinping met with Venezuelan President Maduro. Xi emphasized the "ironclad friendship" between China and Venezuela, highlighting the deepening of the comprehensive strategic partnership established in 2023. He reiterated China's support for Venezuela's sovereignty and stability, and expressed willingness to enhance cooperation across various fields and to work with Venezuela and other Latin American nations to promote a China-Latin America community with a shared future. Maduro thanked China for its support and expressed interest in strengthening cooperation on trade, energy, agriculture, and other fields, while also commending the concept of a human community. Cai Qi and Wang Yi were reported to be in attendance.
Summary: During the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Victory in the Great Patriotic War in Moscow, Xi Jinping met with Slovak Prime Minister Fico, emphasizing the importance of advancing all-round, deep, and high-level China-Slovakia relations. Xi highlighted the progress in implementing the agreements reached during Fico's visit to China, including the Belt and Road Initiative and the China-Central and Eastern European Countries Expo. Fico affirmed Slovakia's commitment to the one-China policy and deepening the strategic partnership, while also emphasizing the importance of stable EU-China relations. Both sides expressed support for multilateralism and stable global supply chains. Cai Qi and Wang Yi were reported to have accompanied Xi.
Summary: According to an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China will focus on developing new productive forces and constructing a modern industrial system, with advanced manufacturing as the backbone. MIIT plans to promote high-end, intelligent, and green manufacturing by formulating industry-specific digital transformation guidelines, building high-standard digital parks, and implementing "AI + Manufacturing" initiatives. The ministry will also upgrade traditional industries through technological transformation and promote emerging industries like intelligent connected vehicles and low-altitude infrastructure, while fostering the growth of specialized and innovative SMEs. Furthermore, MIIT will revise SME classification standards and establish a unified platform to address delayed payments to SMEs.
Summary: A Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) honor guard participated in a parade in Moscow on May 9th, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory in the Great Patriotic War. The parade took place in Moscow, the Russian capital. The event was reported by Xinhua News Agency. No further details are provided.
Summary: Xi Jinping quoted Russian literature in an article published in the *Russian Gazette*, emphasizing the enduring nature of historical memory and truth. The article highlights the extensive history of literary exchange between China and Russia, exemplified by mutual translations of classic and contemporary works. These exchanges are facilitated by mechanisms like the China-Russia Young Writers Forum and cultural exchange programs, including the 2024-2025 "China-Russia Culture Year." The article also noted Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to an event commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japan and the Soviet Great Patriotic War. Cultural exchanges foster mutual understanding and strengthen the foundation for bilateral relations.
Summary: During Xi Jinping's state visit to Russia, he and Putin reaffirmed their commitment to deepening strategic coordination and promoting a stable, healthy, and high-level development of Sino-Russian relations. They agreed to jointly promote a correct view of WWII history and safeguard the authority of the UN, and international fairness and justice. Xi emphasized four "insistences" for the future of China-Russia relations: generational friendship, mutually beneficial partnership, upholding fairness and justice, and leading global governance. The two countries signed a joint statement on deepening their comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era, and exchanged over 20 bilateral cooperation documents, aiming to strengthen practical cooperation and benefit both peoples.
Summary: Oleg Timofeev, a professor at the Russian Peoples' Friendship University, stated that the victory of World War II must be resolutely upheld, emphasizing that Russia and China made significant sacrifices and contributions as key battlefields in Europe and Asia. He highlighted the shared historical memory and deep friendship forged between the two nations during the war, noting Soviet assistance to China's resistance against Japan. Timofeev condemned attempts by individual countries and politicians to deny the historical contributions of Russia and China and stressed that both countries will resolutely resist attempts to distort the history of World War II. Timofeev mentioned that the Chinese Communist Party formed the broadest anti-Japanese national united front, and effectively resisted and contained the main force of Japanese militarism, so that the Soviet Union avoided fighting on two fronts at the same time. He expressed optimism that Xi Jinping's visit would further deepen bilateral relations.
Summary: Ahead of upcoming high-level trade talks between the U.S. and China in Switzerland, the article emphasizes the need for constructive dialogue to resolve trade frictions amidst a sluggish global economic recovery. It criticizes the U.S.'s unilateral tariff measures for negatively impacting global supply chains and economic growth, while noting calls within the U.S. for the government to remove these tariffs. China agreed to the talks out of a sense of responsibility to the global economy, but insists that negotiations must be based on mutual respect and equality, and that China will not compromise its own development interests. The article concludes that China remains open to dialogue while also highlighting its resolve to defend its interests and promote international fairness.
Summary: A creative competition celebrating the 50th anniversary of China-EU diplomatic relations, hosted by the Chinese Mission to the EU, showcased artwork, photography, and videos on themes like "China in my eyes" and "Giant Pandas in Europe." Chinese Mission to the EU chief Cai Run stated that the competition aimed to deepen understanding and friendship between the Chinese and European people. He also alluded to China's policies of implementing visa-free entries for 24 EU member states and improving payment systems to make traveling easier. The event featured cultural performances and interactive exhibits, and was attended by around 150 people. Participants expressed hope for closer EU-China relations through increased cultural exchange and mutual understanding.
Summary: A State Council executive meeting, chaired by Premier Li Qiang, focused on implementing Xi Jinping's directives for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), emphasizing adherence to Party strategy and high-quality economic development. The meeting addressed improving free trade zones by aligning with international standards and promoting data flow, as well as reforming national-level economic and technological development zones to deepen reform and high-level opening up. The council also reviewed measures to promote data sharing and improve water transport safety while stressing the importance of preventing safety accidents. The Council discussed supporting policies for development zones, but did not specifically address U.S.-China relations.
Summary: Chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee Zhao Leji conducted research in Fujian from May 7th to 9th, emphasizing the importance of adhering to Xi Jinping Thought and implementing the Party Central Committee's decisions to contribute to high-quality development through the NPC. He stressed the need to strengthen the comprehensive rule of law, give full play to the important role of the NPC in guaranteeing the comprehensive and effective implementation of the Constitution and laws, the dominant role of the NPC in legislative work, and the important role of NPC supervision in the Party and state supervision system. Zhao led an NPC Standing Committee law enforcement inspection team to inspect the implementation of the Forest Law, emphasizing ecological civilization thought and promoting high-quality forestry development. He called for integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, and grasslands, and for expanding, revitalizing, and protecting forests.
Summary: China's State Council has issued an "opinion" document emphasizing the welfare and protection of children in difficult circumstances. The document outlines six key systems to be strengthened, including basic living security, medical rehabilitation, education, mental health services, personal safety, and legal guardianship. The opinion also calls for increased resources at the grassroots level, improved monitoring mechanisms, and the involvement of social organizations in assisting vulnerable children. Local governments are instructed to prioritize this issue and integrate it into broader economic and social development plans. The document does not reference the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The fourth China-Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) Expo & International Consumer Goods Fair will be held in Ningbo from May 22-25, focusing on deepening economic and trade cooperation between China and CEEC countries. Vice Minister of Commerce Yan Dong noted that trade between China and CEEC countries has seen continuous growth, reaching a record $142.3 billion in 2024. Investment cooperation is also increasing, with Chinese investment in CEEC exceeding $24 billion, including in electric vehicles and battery industries. The expo aims to further promote trade and investment, and will feature exhibitors from CEEC countries as well as other European nations such as the UK, France, and Germany.
Summary: Li Kuan, a geologist with the Shandong Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Exploration and Development, is reported to be working in the Zhugongtang lead-zinc mine in Guizhou. He was awarded the 2025 China Youth May Fourth Medal for his work in geological exploration. Li cited the example of a gold mine in Zhaoyuan that was previously explored by an Australian mining company without success, but was later revitalized by a Chinese youth team. He stated his commitment to contributing to national energy and resource security. He also emphasized the importance of youth being daring and innovative.
Summary: In Minle County, Zhangye City, Gansu Province, farmers are working in a 1000-mu Astragalus planting base in Zhangjiagouwan Village, Nanfeng Town. Minle County is encouraging and supporting the production and processing of traditional Chinese medicinal materials through various means to promote increased farmer income. The article focuses on local economic development in Gansu province. The article does not discuss the United States.
Summary: The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, along with the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Emergency Management, and the China Meteorological Administration, jointly issued a plan outlining five key tasks for agricultural disaster prevention and mitigation during the 2025 flood season, with the goal of securing a bumper harvest. The plan focuses on preventing floods, droughts, high temperatures, typhoons, and pests, emphasizing coordinated action between departments, improved monitoring, and strengthened disaster preparedness. It calls for the repair of irrigation systems, efficient water use, and emergency response measures, including the stocking of disaster relief materials. Experts will evaluate disaster impacts and provide technical training both on-site and online. There is no mention of the United States or U.S.-China relations.
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Summary: Guiyang, Guizhou province has revitalized its tourism and cultural scene by hosting over 400 free, open-air "roadside concerts" in the past two years, often set against the backdrop of historical landmarks like the Wenchang Pavilion. These events feature diverse performers, from local bands like the disability-inclusive Zhe Ergen band, to amateur enthusiasts, fostering community engagement and promoting local culture, including ethnic minority music and traditions. Local officials like Zhang Ting are actively involved in organizing and promoting the concerts, aiming to integrate music into the city's development and tourism offerings. The concerts have garnered significant online attention, with volunteers playing a key role in its online promotion, attracting both live and virtual audiences. There is no mention of the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee has launched an enforcement inspection of the Food Safety Law, originally enacted in 2009 and revised in 2015. The inspection aims to strengthen food safety supervision and ensure the law's effective implementation. The inspection will involve visits to several provinces/municipalities, including Heilongjiang and Shanghai, as well as entrusting other provincial-level congresses to conduct checks within their jurisdictions. The focus will include eight key areas, such as the fulfillment of responsibilities by food safety authorities, the food safety risk monitoring and assessment system, and food import and export supervision.
Summary: The National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee held its first plenary meeting in Beijing on May 9th to initiate an enforcement inspection of the Food Safety Law. NPC Standing Committee Vice Chairpersons Cai Dafeng, Tie Ning, and Losang Jamcan attended the meeting. Cai Dafeng emphasized the need to uphold food safety standards, safeguard public health, and address issues hindering the law's implementation. He called for strengthening government responsibility, enhancing risk management, and improving food safety supervision. The inspection aims to promote the comprehensive and effective implementation of the Food Safety Law.
Summary: Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences have constructed the first complete pangenome variation map of the peach, identifying a large percentage of previously unknown variations and genes. Utilizing re-sequencing data from over a thousand peach germplasm resources, the study elucidated the evolutionary relationships among global peach varieties and identified the most likely wild ancestor of cultivated peaches. The findings, published in *Molecular Plant*, are intended to provide a theoretical foundation and genetic resources for molecular breeding of peaches. The research team also found that flat peaches were involved in the formation of mountain peaches, and Gansu peaches were involved in the formation of Xinjiang peaches. There was no mention of the United States or U.S.-China relations in the article.
Summary: Beijing and Xinjiang have successfully implemented a new market-based trading model to transmit green electricity from Xinjiang to Beijing, leveraging their two-hour time difference. Xinjiang's solar power generated during its peak midday hours is now being used to power Beijing's evening electricity demand, including landmarks like the National Centre for the Performing Arts. This innovative approach, facilitated by the Capital Electricity Trading Center, expands green electricity supply to Beijing while promoting renewable energy consumption in Xinjiang. By early May 2025, over 32 million kilowatt-hours of green electricity had been traded from Xinjiang to Beijing. Beijing's external green electricity consumption has steadily increased, accounting for 29% of the city's total electricity consumption.
Summary: China's international cruise market is experiencing a robust recovery, marked by increased passenger numbers and the return of international cruise lines. In the first quarter of 2024, the market saw a 67.8% increase in passengers compared to last year. The relaxation of China's visa-free transit policy has contributed to the surge in cruise tourism. China is now the world's second-largest cruise market, with domestic cruise companies also emerging. The resurgent cruise economy is anticipated to become a new focal point for cultural tourism.
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Summary: The article discusses the science and applications of superconductivity, featuring an interview with Xue Qikun, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and president of Southern University of Science and Technology. It highlights China's advancements in high-temperature superconducting materials, including nickel-based oxides, and their potential impact on energy efficiency, magnetic levitation, and quantum computing. The piece also mentions that China is moving from a "follower" to a "leader" in copper-based, iron-based and nickel-based high temperature superconducting material research. The article references international collaboration on projects like the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.
Summary: This article discusses the potential impact of superconductivity on future technologies, focusing on controlled nuclear fusion, superconducting maglev trains, and electric aircraft. It highlights the use of superconducting magnets in fusion reactors to confine high-temperature plasma and the possibility of achieving speeds exceeding 1000 km/h with superconducting maglev trains. Superconducting materials can significantly improve the power density of electric aircraft, making them a promising technology for future air transportation. The article notes that China is actively researching and developing superconducting technologies for electric aircraft, aiming for a "lane change" advantage in the aviation field. It mentions that other countries like the U.S. are also pursuing electric aircraft research.
Summary: The article discusses the evolution of AI "intelligent agents," moving from simple "memorization" to self-learning capabilities enabled by large language models like ChatGPT. It highlights the shift from training AI with massive, labeled datasets to enabling autonomous learning through interaction with the environment. Future intelligent agents will integrate into daily life, performing tasks like cooking and medical diagnosis, but current limitations restrict them to specific tasks and environments. The development of these agents requires careful consideration of ethical boundaries and ensuring technology serves humanity.
Summary: A research team led by Professor Han Zhenhai from China Agricultural University has published a study in *Nature Genetics* detailing the evolutionary history of the Malus genus (apples) based on 30 high-quality genomes. The research identifies seven phylogenetic groups originating in Asia approximately 56 million years ago and constructs the first Malus pan-genome, revealing extensive genetic diversity within wild apple species which will be a resource for breeding programs. The study pinpointed structural variations and key domestication genes related to traits like disease resistance and cold tolerance, providing valuable genetic resources for developing resilient apple varieties. The research identified a structural variation in *Malus floribunda* potentially linked to resistance to apple scab.
Summary: A research team from Beihang University, in collaboration with Peking University and City University of Hong Kong, has developed a flexible, implantable electronic patch called NanoFLUID. Published in *Nature*, the patch utilizes flexible electronics and micro-nano processing for wireless controlled and targeted drug delivery to organs and cells. Compared to traditional methods, NanoFLUID reportedly increases drug delivery speed by orders of magnitude, allowing for precise control over drug penetration depth and dosage. The technology has already been translated into applications such as skin wound repair.
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Summary: Luzhou Laojiao, a state-owned liquor company with a history dating back to 1324, is expanding its international presence, including showcasing its brand at the Australian Open. The company is also embracing technological innovation, exemplified by its new smart packaging center. In 2024, Luzhou Laojiao achieved a total operating income of 31.196 billion yuan and a net profit attributable to the parent company of 13.473 billion yuan. The company also emphasizes its social responsibility, including rural revitalization efforts and environmental protection initiatives.
Summary: The article reflects on the author's father's experiences as a young soldier in the anti-Japanese war, focusing on the power of patriotic songs like "May Flowers" to inspire resistance. The author recounts how his father, at the age of 10, sang revolutionary songs on the battlefield to motivate soldiers and civilians against the Japanese invaders. The piece highlights the difficult conditions faced by Chinese soldiers, who were often poorly equipped. It also discusses the composer of "May Flowers," Yan Shushi, a mathematics teacher who dedicated himself to education after composing the song. The author emphasizes the importance of remembering the sacrifices made by ordinary Chinese people during the war.
Summary: The article contrasts the frugality and generosity of two historical figures, the Qi dynasty's prime minister Yan Zi and Song dynasty's prime minister Lu Mengzheng. Yan Zi lived a simple life, rejecting riches and sharing his resources with the needy, while Lu Mengzheng, who rose from poverty, never forgot his humble beginnings and invested in education for others. Both figures exemplified a virtuous commitment to frugality coupled with generosity, acting as role models against extravagance. The piece uses these historical figures to promote a contemporary message of simple living. There is no mention of the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The article details the teachings of Kunqu Opera master Zheng Chuanjian, particularly his emphasis on harmonizing movement, emotion, and character portrayal in performances. Zheng stressed the importance of collaboration with other performers to create a visually full and harmonious stage. He also focused on externalizing inner emotions through nuanced movements and gestures, using the example of the play "Bie Mu Luan Jian" to demonstrate how to portray a character's internal conflict between loyalty and filial duty, including subtle revisions to traditional staging for greater emotional impact.
Summary: The author reflects on two walnut trees at the Beidaihe Writers' Retreat, initially mistaken for one, and interprets them as a metaphor for relationships. These trees, with intertwined roots, symbolize connections such as "A and B," art and life, and life and land, representing a unity that transcends loneliness and separation. No officials are mentioned. The article does not mention or allude to the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: This article identifies Chang Shana as the artist of the gouache painting "Malus Micromalus," which is held in the collection of the National Art Museum of China. The article is descriptive, detailing the artwork's title, medium, and current location. The article makes no mention of Chinese politics or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The article describes the recent development and attractiveness of Longwei Zhang, a village in southern Anhui province. It highlights the village's transformation into a scenic spot with thriving night markets, improved infrastructure, and restored natural beauty, including peach blossoms and rapeseed flowers. The modernized village now features amenities like guesthouses, restaurants, and a lakeside academy. The improved infrastructure is linked to the rise of Wuhu Xuanzhou Airport, which connects the area to the rest of the country and abroad.
Summary: This article is a personal reflection on the author's childhood experience raising three orphaned snipe. The author describes the unique physical characteristics and behaviors of snipes, including their peculiar gait. After the author nursed the birds to health, they released them back into the wild, realizing that they belong to nature. The author observed that one of the birds had already learned to forage on its own. The article does not mention any Chinese officials, or the United States.
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This newspaper's Moscow (莫斯科) dispatch on May 9th (Reporters Du Shangze (杜尚泽) and Yu Hongjian (于宏建)) Local time, May 9th, Russia (俄罗斯) held a grand celebration to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Great Patriotic War. President Xi Jinping (习近平) and leaders from more than 20 countries and international organizations were invited to attend the celebration.
May in Moscow (莫斯科) is lush with greenery, flowers are in full bloom, Victory Day flags flutter in the wind, and the majestic Red Square (红场) is filled with a solemn celebratory atmosphere.
Xi Jinping (习近平) arrived at the Kremlin (克里姆林宫) and warmly shook hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin (普京), who was there to greet him. Subsequently, President Xi Jinping (习近平) and President Putin (普京) walked together to Red Square (红场) and took their seats on the main reviewing stand.
At 10:00 AM sharp, as the melodious chimes of the Kremlin (克里姆林宫) rang out, the celebration began. The military band played the music "The Sacred War," and the honor guard escorted the Russian flag and the victory flag of the Great Patriotic War into the square.
Putin (普京) delivered a speech, stating that the Soviet Union defended the peace and freedom of all mankind with tens of millions of sacrifices. We will always remember the moment of victory, inherit the legacy of our fathers, unite as one, and forever safeguard the sacred glory. The Chinese people fought heroically in the War of Resistance, and we highly appreciate the contributions of the Chinese people to opening up a common future for mankind. We remember the history of World War II and 以史为鉴 (yǐ shǐ wéi jiàn - "take history as a mirror," learn from history). Victory is sacred, history cannot be tampered with, and victors cannot be insulted. History and justice will always be on our side.
Subsequently, the military band played the Russian national anthem, and salutes were fired in Red Square (红场). The grand military parade began, with the participating formations marching in neat steps across Red Square (红场) in sequence. In the "historical" part of the parade, Russian soldiers, dressed in the uniforms of the Soviet Great Patriotic War era, held high the military flags of that time, tightly grasped the weapons of that time, and accepted the review with great spirit, taking people back to the glorious years of fighting against fascism. In the "modern" part of the parade, formations of various Russian military branches and modern weapons and equipment formations were neatly lined up to accept the review. The air force flight formations roared across the sky above Red Square (红场), and the music of "Victory Day" resounded continuously. Armed forces formations from more than 10 countries, including China (中国), were also invited to participate in the parade. The guard of honor of the three services of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (中国人民解放军三军仪仗队) was neatly dressed, in high spirits, and marched across Red Square (红场) with firm and powerful steps.
After the celebration, Xi Jinping (习近平), along with other national leaders, went from Red Square (红场) to Alexander Garden (亚历山大花园), laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and stood in silent tribute. Subsequently, the leaders of various countries took a group photo.
That noon, Xi Jinping (习近平) attended the celebration banquet held by President Putin (普京) to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Great Patriotic War.
Cai Qi (蔡奇), Wang Yi (王毅), and others participated in the above activities.
Return to TopOn May 9, Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, sent a dispatch: On May 9, President Xi Jinping (习近平) and King Carl XVI Gustaf (卡尔十六世·古斯塔夫) of Sweden exchanged congratulatory messages to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out that Sweden was one of the first European countries to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. Over the 75 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China-Sweden relations have generally maintained stability, and cooperation between the two countries in economy and trade, science and technology, education, and cultural exchanges has continued to expand, achieving positive results. I attach great importance to the development of China-Sweden relations and am willing to work with King Carl XVI Gustaf (卡尔十六世·古斯塔夫) to take the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries as a new starting point, lead the two countries to enhance political mutual trust, deepen pragmatic cooperation, and strengthen people-to-people exchanges, jointly support multilateralism and free trade, bring more benefits to the people of both countries, and make greater contributions to world peace and prosperity.
Carl XVI Gustaf (卡尔十六世·古斯塔夫) said that on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Sweden and China, I sincerely wish that the close cooperation between Sweden and China will continue to deepen, and I look forward to the continuous development of friendly relations between Sweden and China.
Return to TopBy: 桂从路
The great victory 80 years ago defeated the once arrogant fascist forces, bringing lasting enlightenment to the world: light will surely dispel darkness, and justice will eventually triumph over evil!
Correctly understanding history is the prerequisite for learning from it. To commemorate this great victory, we must first adhere to a correct view of the history of World War II. As the main battlefield in Asia, the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression began the earliest, lasted the longest, and was the mainstay in resisting Japanese militarism. It was under the banner of the Anti-Japanese National United Front advocated and established by the Communist Party of China (中国共产党) that the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation advanced wave upon wave, 勠力同心 (lù lì tóng xīn - "join forces with one heart," to work together with a united will), made huge sacrifices, and made decisive contributions.
The World Anti-Fascist War was also a contest between justice and evil, light and darkness, progress and reaction. In this deadly battle, China (中国), together with other countries, shared the same hatred and fought bloody battles. All peace-loving people in the world united together, gathering a powerful force to resist aggression. To commemorate this victory is to learn lessons from history, firmly maintain the determination to safeguard peace, and move towards a beautiful future with a shared destiny.
"Historical memories and truths will not fade with the passage of time." Moving forward towards the future, we must be firm guardians of historical memory and resolutely oppose all forms of hegemonism and power politics. This is an inevitable choice to stand on the right side of history and on the side of fairness and justice.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 王 政 刘温馨
The Central Economic Work Conference proposed to promote the development of new quality productive forces with scientific and technological innovation and build a modern industrial system. This year's "Government Work Report" proposed to develop new quality productive forces in accordance with local conditions and accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system.
"We will thoroughly implement the high-quality development action of key manufacturing industry chains, enhance the industry's scientific and technological innovation capabilities, cultivate and strengthen new quality productive forces, and accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone," said the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (工业和信息化部).
——Promote the high-end, intelligent, and green development of manufacturing.
In recent years, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (工业和信息化部) has adhered to the "point, line, and surface" coordination to accelerate the full coverage of digital transformation of industrial enterprises above designated size and specialized and innovative SMEs. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (工业和信息化部) stated that the next step will be to formulate digital transformation guidelines for key industries "one industry, one policy," spend three years building 200 high-standard digital parks, and deploy a number of manufacturing digital transformation promotion centers by industry and region. Implement the "Artificial Intelligence + Manufacturing" action, strengthen the research and development layout of general large models and industry large models and the application of key scenarios. In addition, we will further implement the green manufacturing project, optimize the green manufacturing and service system, cultivate a new batch of green factories and green supply chains, and explore the construction of zero-carbon factories and zero-carbon industrial parks.
——Promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and cultivate and strengthen emerging industries and future industries.
Promote the "old trees sprouting new buds" of traditional industries. Launch the action of standard improvement to lead the optimization and upgrading of traditional industries, strengthen the technological transformation of enterprises in key industries, and promote equipment renewal, process upgrading, digital empowerment, and management innovation in key industries. Deepen the implementation of the manufacturing excellence quality project, and strengthen the cultivation and promotion of manufacturing brands.
Promote the new vitality of emerging industries and future industries. Implement the action of cultivating emerging industries to create new drivers, and promote the large-scale application demonstration of new manufacturing technologies, new products, and new scenarios; promote the development of intelligent connected vehicles and expand the scale of Beidou (北斗) applications; build low-altitude information infrastructure in accordance with local conditions; carry out the "leaderboard" for future industrial innovation tasks, and formulate and introduce innovative development policies in the fields of bio-manufacturing, quantum industry, embodied intelligence, and atomic-level manufacturing. In addition, promote the development of new formats and models such as service-oriented manufacturing and improve the level of industrial design.
——In-depth promotion of specialized and innovative development of SMEs.
Up to now, China has cultivated more than 140,000 specialized and innovative SMEs and formed 300 national-level SME characteristic industrial clusters. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (工业和信息化部) stated that the next step will be to study and revise the classification standards for SMEs, promote the evaluation of specialized and innovative development of SMEs, carry out a new round of central financial support for the high-quality development of specialized and innovative SMEs, promote the pilot project of digital transformation of SMEs in cities, and cultivate another 100 national-level SME characteristic industrial clusters. At the same time, increase assistance such as clearing arrears, build a national unified complaint platform for arrears to SMEs, and promote the implementation of a long-term mechanism to solve the problem of arrears to SMEs.
Return to TopThis newspaper's Beijing (北京) dispatch on May 9th (Reporter Ouyang Jie (欧阳洁)) The data released by the General Administration of Customs (海关总署) on the 9th showed that in the first four months, the total value of China's (中国) goods trade import and export was 14.14 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.4% year-on-year, and foreign trade continued a steady growth trend. Among them, exports were 8.39 trillion yuan and imports were 5.75 trillion yuan.
It is understood that in April, the total value of China's (中国) goods trade import and export was 3.84 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.6%. Among them, exports were 2.27 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.3%; imports were 1.57 trillion yuan.
From the perspective of trade methods, the import and export of general trade and processing trade increased. In the first four months, China's (中国) general trade import and export was 9.05 trillion yuan, accounting for 64% of China's (中国) total foreign trade value. During the same period, the import and export of processing trade was 2.54 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.6%, accounting for 18% of China's (中国) total foreign trade value. From the perspective of trade partners, in the first four months, China's (中国) total import and export to countries jointly building the "Belt and Road" was 7.25 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.9%. From the perspective of business entities, the proportion of import and export of private enterprises has increased. In the first four months, the import and export of private enterprises was 8.05 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.8%, accounting for 56.9% of China's (中国) total foreign trade value, an increase of 2.3 percentage points compared with the same period last year.
Return to TopThis newspaper's Beijing (北京) dispatch on May 9th (Reporter Li Xinping (李心萍)): The reporter learned from China Railway Shanghai Bureau Group (国铁上海局集团) that as of May 9th, the Yangtze River Delta (长三角) Railway has completed over 1 million TEUs in sea-rail intermodal transport (container volume), 9 days earlier than last year.
In recent years, China Railway Shanghai Bureau Group (国铁上海局集团) has strengthened cooperation with sea-rail intermodal transport projects at Shanghai Port (上海港) and Ningbo Zhoushan Port (宁波舟山港), optimized transportation organization, and precisely scheduled trains in stages according to customer needs, seamlessly connecting loading and unloading and shipping schedules, greatly reducing the dwell time of traffic flow at stations and ports. As of May 9th, Shanghai Port (上海港) and Ningbo Zhoushan Port (宁波舟山港) have cumulatively completed 1.004 million TEUs in sea-rail intermodal transport (container volume) this year, an increase of 8% year-on-year. Among them, Shanghai Port (上海港) completed 351,000 TEUs in sea-rail intermodal transport (container volume), an increase of over 20% year-on-year, setting a new record for the same period in previous years.
As of now, the number of sea-rail intermodal transport train routes from many places in the Yangtze River Delta (长三角) Railway to Shanghai Port (上海港) and Ningbo Zhoushan Port (宁波舟山港) has reached 95, helping white goods, photovoltaic modules, hardware and other commodities to "go global." Since the second quarter of this year, the average daily arrival and departure container volume of sea-rail intermodal transport at major ports in the Yangtze River Delta (长三角) (Shanghai Port (上海港) and Ningbo Zhoushan Port (宁波舟山港)) has exceeded 8,000 TEUs.
Return to TopThis newspaper's Moscow dispatch on May 9th (Reporters Chen Zhenkai (陈振凯) and Liu Shaohua (刘少华)) On the afternoon of May 9th, local time, President Xi Jinping (习近平) met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić (武契奇) in Moscow during the celebrations commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War victory.
Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out that he successfully paid a state visit to Serbia last May. Over the past year, the construction of a China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era has had a good start, and the results are obvious to all. Facing the accelerated evolution of world changes unseen in a century and the superposition of multiple risks and challenges, China and Serbia should maintain strategic focus, concentrate on managing their own affairs well, inherit and promote their ironclad friendship, deepen and expand mutually beneficial cooperation, and promote the high-quality construction of a China-Serbia community with a shared future. China is willing to deepen strategic communication with Serbia, increase mutual support, strengthen trade and investment cooperation, continue to support the construction and operation of relevant projects, give full play to the demonstration effect, and achieve more mutually beneficial and win-win results.
Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized that 80 years ago, the Chinese and Serbian people made important contributions to the victory of the Asian and European battlefields, respectively, in the anti-fascist war. China is willing to work with all countries in the world, including Serbia, to unite and cooperate to meet challenges, jointly safeguard world peace and international fairness and justice, safeguard the achievements of economic globalization, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Vučić (武契奇) said that China is Serbia's most valuable friend, and has always provided Serbia with selfless support and assistance, helping Serbia develop its economy and improve people's livelihoods. Serbia unswervingly adheres to the one-China principle and always believes that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. Serbia is willing to expand economic and trade exchanges with China, welcomes more Chinese companies to invest and do business in Serbia, and will provide a good business environment. He hopes that China will actively participate in the 2027 Belgrade Specialized Expo. Serbia appreciates China's firm support for multilateralism. China's ideas and actions have enhanced the international community's courage and confidence in safeguarding common interests. Serbia is willing to unite with China to address the challenges brought about by unilateralism and protectionism.
Cai Qi (蔡奇), Wang Yi (王毅), and others attended.
Return to TopThis is a translation of a news report.
Moscow, May 9 (Reporters Hu Zexi (胡泽曦) and Xiao Xin (肖新)) On the afternoon of May 9, local time, President Xi Jinping (习近平) met with Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing (敏昂莱) in Moscow during the celebrations commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Great Patriotic War.
Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out that China and Myanmar are a community with a shared future, sharing weal and woe and helping each other. The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and the Bandung Spirit, jointly advocated by China and Myanmar, have stood the test of time, and their contemporary value continues to be highlighted. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. China will adhere to the principles and policies of good-neighborliness, security, prosperity, amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, inclusiveness, and a community with a shared future. China will work with Myanmar to deepen the construction of a community with a shared future, jointly build the "Belt and Road" with high quality, implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, and bring more benefits to the people of the two countries. Not long ago, a strong earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, caused significant casualties and property losses. China was the first to send rescue forces and provide emergency humanitarian supplies. China is willing to continue to provide assistance and support Myanmar in rebuilding its homeland. China supports Myanmar in following a development path that suits its own national conditions, safeguarding its sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and national stability, and steadily advancing its domestic political agenda. The two sides should deepen strategic cooperation and continue to promote the construction of key projects in the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor. It is hoped that Myanmar will effectively ensure the safety of Chinese personnel, institutions, and projects in Myanmar, and intensify efforts to combat cross-border crimes such as online gambling and telecom fraud. The two sides should jointly defend the international system with the United Nations as its core and the international order based on international law, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries.
Min Aung Hlaing (敏昂莱) said that after Myanmar suffered from the earthquake disaster, China was the first to express sincere condolences to Myanmar, the first to provide assistance to Myanmar and help Myanmar with disaster relief, which reflected the fraternal friendship and true friendship in times of adversity to Myanmar. The people of Myanmar will always remember this. Under the wise leadership of President Xi Jinping (习近平), Chinese-style modernization has achieved remarkable achievements. Myanmar attaches great importance to its relations with China and is willing to always be a friendly neighbor worthy of China's trust. Myanmar is committed to promoting cooperation between the two countries in the fields of economy, trade, and energy, and will make every effort to ensure the safety of Chinese projects and personnel in Myanmar. Myanmar highly appreciates the three major global initiatives proposed by China and the concept of building a community with a shared future with neighboring countries, and is willing to work with China to jointly address common challenges.
Cai Qi (蔡奇), Wang Yi (王毅) and others participated.
Return to TopThis newspaper's Moscow dispatch on May 9th (Reporters Xie Yahong (谢亚宏) and Kuang Xixi (邝西曦)) On the afternoon of May 9th, local time, President Xi Jinping (习近平) met with Cuban President Díaz-Canel (迪亚斯—卡内尔) in Moscow during the celebrations commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War victory.
Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out that in recent years, he and President Díaz-Canel (迪亚斯—卡内尔) have met many times, jointly leading China-Cuba relations into a new stage with deeper political mutual trust, closer strategic coordination, and a more solid foundation of public opinion. This year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Cuba. China is willing to further consolidate its ironclad friendship with Cuba, build a closer China-Cuba community with a shared future, and set an example of unity and cooperation among socialist countries and sincere mutual assistance among developing countries. The two sides should promote deeper and more practical exchanges at all levels and cooperation in various fields, so that high-level political mutual trust will always be a clear symbol of the relations between the two parties and two countries. China firmly supports Cuba in defending its national sovereignty, opposing foreign interference and blockade, and supporting Cuba's economic and social development. As important members of the Global South, the two sides should strengthen coordination and cooperation within the BRICS, the China-CELAC Forum and other frameworks, oppose power politics and unilateral bullying, and safeguard international fairness and justice.
Díaz-Canel (迪亚斯—卡内尔) said that Cuba and China are close friends and brothers, and Cuba is grateful to China for its long-term strong support for Cuba's economic and social development. Cuba firmly adheres to the one-China principle and is willing to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with China, enhance friendly exchanges between the people, strengthen coordination and cooperation in international and regional affairs, deeply build a community with a shared future, and promote greater development of bilateral relations. Cuba supports the three major global initiatives and is willing to work with China to jointly oppose unilateralism and protectionism, and safeguard the common interests of the international community.
Cai Qi (蔡奇), Wang Yi (王毅), and others attended.
Return to TopThis newspaper's Moscow dispatch on May 9th (Reporters Wang Rong (王嵘) and Zhu Xiaoxi (朱笑熺)) On the evening of May 9th, local time, President Xi Jinping (习近平) met with Venezuelan President Maduro (马杜罗) in Moscow (莫斯科) during the celebrations commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War.
Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out that China and Venezuela are good partners who trust each other and develop together, and the two sides have forged an ironclad friendship amid changes in the international situation. Since we jointly announced the establishment of an all-weather strategic partnership between China and Venezuela in 2023, exchanges between the two sides at all levels in various fields have been active, bilateral trade has continued to grow, new progress has been made in investment cooperation and cultural exchanges, and the friendship between China and Venezuela has become more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. China always views and develops its relations with Venezuela from a strategic and long-term perspective, and will, as always, firmly support Venezuela in safeguarding its national sovereignty, national dignity, and social stability. China is willing to strengthen exchanges of experience in governance with Venezuela, continuously deepen pragmatic cooperation in various fields, and promote China-Venezuela relations to a new level, so as to better benefit the people of both countries. China is willing to work with Venezuela and other Latin American countries to firmly safeguard the international system with the United Nations as the core and the international order based on international law, and promote the building of a China-Latin America community with a shared future to achieve steady and long-term development.
Maduro (马杜罗) said that China is a great friend of Venezuela, and he thanked China for its selfless support and assistance in Venezuela's efforts to safeguard national sovereignty and achieve economic and social development. Venezuela looks forward to strengthening its all-weather strategic partnership with China, strengthening cooperation in trade, energy, agriculture, science and technology, education and other fields, achieving more tangible results, and better benefiting the people of both countries. The concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind put forward by President Xi Jinping (习近平) has opened up bright prospects for world peace and development. Venezuela is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China, adhere to multilateralism, defend international fairness and justice, and safeguard the common interests of the international community.
Cai Qi (蔡奇), Wang Yi (王毅), and others participated.
Return to TopThis newspaper Moscow, May 9th (Reporters Jiang Zhongqi (姜忠奇) and Li Bowen (李博文)) Local time, May 9th evening, President Xi Jinping (习近平) met with Slovak Prime Minister Fico (菲佐) in Moscow (莫斯科) during the celebrations commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Great Patriotic War.
Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out that promoting the all-round, in-depth, and high-level development of China-Slovakia relations conforms to the fundamental interests of the two peoples and accords with the historical trend of opening up, cooperation, and mutual benefit. The important consensus we reached during your visit to China (中国) last November is being actively implemented, and the China-Slovakia strategic partnership has entered a "fast track." The two sides should continue to deepen traditional friendship, strengthen high-level exchanges, firmly support each other, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly build the "Belt and Road" with high quality, and promote the steady and long-term development of China-Slovakia and China-Europe relations. China (中国) welcomes Slovakia (斯洛伐克) as the guest of honor at the 4th China-Central and Eastern European Countries Expo, promotes the export of high-quality Slovak products to China (中国), and is pleased to see more Chinese enterprises invest and develop in Slovakia (斯洛伐克). China (中国) is willing to work with Slovakia (斯洛伐克) and other countries to unite and cooperate to meet challenges and safeguard international fairness and justice. It is hoped that Slovakia (斯洛伐克) will play a positive role in promoting the continuous improvement and forward development of China-Europe relations.
Fico (菲佐) said that deepening the Slovakia-China strategic partnership is a top priority of Slovakia's foreign policy. Slovakia (斯洛伐克) will firmly adhere to the one-China policy, actively promote friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation with China (中国), strengthen trade and investment cooperation, strengthen cultural exchanges, and promote greater development of bilateral relations. A healthy and stable Europe-China relationship is in the common interest of both sides, and Slovakia (斯洛伐克) is committed to promoting the development of Europe-China relations. Slovakia (斯洛伐克) supports the major initiatives proposed by China (中国), such as building a community with a shared future for mankind, appreciates China's (中国) position and constructive role on issues such as Ukraine (乌克兰) and the Middle East (中东), and is willing to work with China (中国) to jointly adhere to multilateralism, safeguard free trade rules, and maintain the stability of the world's industrial chain and supply chain.
Cai Qi (蔡奇), Wang Yi (王毅), and others participated.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 王 政 刘温馨
The Central Economic Work Conference proposed to lead the development of new quality productive forces with scientific and technological innovation and build a modern industrial system. This year's "Government Work Report" proposed to develop new quality productive forces in accordance with local conditions and accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system.
"We will thoroughly implement the high-quality development action of key manufacturing industry chains, enhance the industry's scientific and technological innovation capabilities, cultivate and strengthen new quality productive forces, and accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone," said the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (工业和信息化部).
——Promote the high-end, intelligent, and green development of manufacturing.
In recent years, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (工业和信息化部) has adhered to the "point, line, and surface" coordination, and accelerated the full coverage of digital transformation of industrial enterprises above designated size and specialized, refined, and new small and medium-sized enterprises. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (工业和信息化部) stated that the next step will be to formulate digital transformation guidelines for key industries "one policy for each industry," spend three years building 200 high-standard digital parks, and deploy a number of manufacturing digital transformation promotion centers by industry and region. Implement the "Artificial Intelligence + Manufacturing" action, strengthen the research and development layout of general large models and industry large models and the application of key scenarios. In addition, it will also thoroughly implement the green manufacturing project, optimize the green manufacturing and service system, cultivate a new batch of green factories and green supply chains, and explore the construction of zero-carbon factories and zero-carbon industrial parks.
——Promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and cultivate and strengthen emerging industries and future industries.
Promote the "old trees sprouting new buds" of traditional industries. Launch the action of standard improvement to lead the optimization and upgrading of traditional industries, strengthen the technological transformation of enterprises in key industries, and promote equipment renewal, process upgrading, digital empowerment, and management innovation in key industries. Thoroughly implement the manufacturing excellence quality project, and strengthen the cultivation and promotion of manufacturing brands.
Promote the new vitality of emerging industries and future industries. Implement the action of cultivating emerging industries to create new drivers, and promote the large-scale application demonstration of new manufacturing technologies, new products, and new scenarios; promote the development of intelligent connected vehicles and expand the scale of Beidou (北斗) applications; build low-altitude information infrastructure in accordance with local conditions; carry out the "reveal the list and take command" of future industrial innovation tasks, and formulate and introduce innovative development policies in the fields of bio-manufacturing, quantum industry, embodied intelligence, and atomic-level manufacturing. In addition, promote the development of new formats and new models such as service-oriented manufacturing, and improve the level of industrial design.
——In-depth promotion of specialized, refined, and new development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Up to now, China has cultivated more than 140,000 specialized, refined, and new small and medium-sized enterprises, forming 300 national-level small and medium-sized enterprise characteristic industrial clusters. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (工业和信息化部) stated that the next step will be to study and revise the classification standards for small and medium-sized enterprises, promote the evaluation of specialized, refined, and new development of small and medium-sized enterprises, carry out a new round of central financial support for the high-quality development of specialized, refined, and new small and medium-sized enterprises, promote the pilot project of digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises in cities, and cultivate another 100 national-level small and medium-sized enterprise characteristic industrial clusters. At the same time, increase the efforts to help with clearing arrears, build a national unified complaint platform for arrears to small and medium-sized enterprises, and promote the implementation and effectiveness of a long-term mechanism to solve the problem of arrears to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Return to TopOn May 9th, in Moscow (莫斯科), the capital of Russia, the honor guard contingent of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (中国人民解放军) participated in the parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Great Patriotic War victory.
Xinhua News Agency (新华社) reporter Bai Xueqi (白雪骐) photographed.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 曲 颂
The great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy wrote in "War and Peace": "History is the biography of nations and humanity." The memories and truths of history will not fade with the passage of time, and the enlightenment they bring will forever reflect reality and illuminate the future. President Xi Jinping (习近平) quoted Russian classical literary works in his signed article published in the "Russian Gazette" on May 7, which resonated widely.
The exchanges in the field of literature between China and Russia, two countries with long histories and splendid cultures, have a long history, vividly interpreting the concept of mutual learning between civilizations. Strengthening cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and Russia helps to enhance mutual understanding, continue the friendship between the two peoples, and promote the stable and healthy development of bilateral relations.
Transcending history, classic works never fade.
"I have read many works by Russian writers, such as Krylov, Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Nekrasov, Chernyshevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Sholokhov. I remember many wonderful chapters and plots in their books very clearly," President Xi Jinping (习近平) said in an interview with Russian Television in 2014.
In the long river of Sino-Russian literary exchanges, Pushkin, the 19th-century poet and founder of modern Russian literature, is an important source. Pushkin's novel "The Captain's Daughter" was the first Russian literary work translated into Chinese and published in a single volume, and is also considered by some scholars to be the starting point of the translation and dissemination of Russian literature in China. Pushkin was very interested in Chinese culture. In one of his poems, he wrote: "Even to the foot of the Great Wall of China (长城) in distant China."
In the second half of the 19th century, the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy encountered Chinese classics. In a letter in February 1884, he wrote: "I have been reading Confucian works for the second day. It is hard to imagine that they have reached an extraordinary spiritual height." In November 1909, the Russian version of "Quotations from the Chinese Sage Lao Tzu" was published, and the 81-year-old Tolstoy wrote the preface "The Essence of Lao Tzu's Doctrine."
For more than 100 years, a large number of Russian literary classics have been translated and introduced into China. Literary giants such as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov have had a lasting and profound impact on the Chinese literary world. Soviet literature, represented by the works of writers such as Gorky and Sholokhov, influenced the development of modern Chinese literature, and the struggles of the Soviet people reflected in the books inspired the revolutionary will of progressive Chinese youth.
The translation and dissemination of Chinese literary works in Russia began in the 19th century, mainly introducing classical poetry, songs, operas, and chapter novels. Between 1917 and 1918, the Russian poet Gumilev translated and published the Chinese poetry anthology "The Porcelain Pavilion." During the Soviet period, modern and contemporary Chinese literature began to become the focus of translation, and the works of famous writers such as Lu Xun (鲁迅), Guo Moruo (郭沫若), Mao Dun (茅盾), and Lao She (老舍) were introduced to the Soviet Union.
Even today, classic works of both countries are still receiving widespread attention and importance. Dostoevsky's works are still bestsellers in the Chinese book market, and his works are constantly being retranslated. Li Chunyu (李春雨), assistant professor at the School of Foreign Languages of Xiamen University (厦门大学) and a young translator, told this reporter that Dostoevsky's novels are captivating and unforgettable; his exploration of human nature and his prediction of the themes of the times are still of great practical significance today.
The results of the All-Russian 2023 Annual Best Book Awards show that the Russian version of the Chinese Ancient Poetry Appreciation Series "The Elements of Poetry - Chinese Poetry from the Seventh to Tenth Centuries," "The Guest of the Stars - Li Bai: Poetry and Prose," and "Poet Ghost Li He" published by Russian Chance International Publishing House won the Best Book Award in the "Best Classical Literature" category.
Deepening cooperation, literary exchanges are fruitful.
Cooperation mechanisms such as the Sino-Russian Young Writers Forum promote direct exchanges between the new generation of writers in the two countries; the two countries hold various activities under the framework of the 2024-2025 "Sino-Russian Cultural Year" at a high level, injecting new impetus into literary interaction between the two countries... In recent years, practical cooperation between China and Russia has continued to deepen, the mechanism for cultural and people-to-people exchanges has been continuously improved, and literary exchanges and mutual learning between the two countries have been fruitful.
In June 2024, the works of Lyudmila Ulitskaya, a famous contemporary Russian writer and leading figure in women's literature, were published in China for the first time. Ren Guangxuan (任光宣), a professor at Peking University (北京大学) and one of the earliest translators of her works, believes that contemporary Russian literature is rooted in the deep soil of Russian classical literature, integrates various new literary genres, and presents distinct characteristics of multi-level and diversification.
The Sino-Russian intergovernmental classic mutual translation project and the "Chinese Regional Literature" special translation project promoted by the Writers Associations of many provinces in China in Russia have played a role in promoting Chinese literature to Russia. The works of Liu Cixin (刘慈欣), Yu Hua (余华), Liu Zhenyun (刘震云), Zhou Meisen (周梅森), Zijin Chen (紫金陈), Zhou Haohui (周浩晖) and other writers are very popular in Russia. Alexei Rodionov, deputy director of the Department of Oriental Studies at St. Petersburg State University (圣彼得堡国立大学), believes: "Contemporary Chinese literature presents a triple charm: it not only carries the traditional genes of a thousand-year civilization, but also shows the contemporary spiritual map under the economic miracle, and more importantly, it provides a cultural aesthetic system that is very different from Europe."
Russian young poet Elizaveta Abdushnova has lived and studied in China for 7 years, and has fully devoted herself to Russian-Chinese poetry translation. She not only publishes books as an editor and translator, but also exchanges extensively with Chinese poets and writers, and opens online podcasts to introduce poetry from both countries. "Poetry has built a bridge for communication between young people in the two countries," said Abdushnova.
"The unique value of contemporary Russian literature cannot be ignored," Li Chunyu (李春雨) believes that for Chinese readers, they are a window to understanding contemporary Russia. Zhang Meng (张猛), associate professor at the School of Foreign Languages of Renmin University of China (中国人民大学), told this reporter that the works of Russian female writer Guzel Yakhina, science fiction writer Lukyanenko, etc. are bestsellers in China, and they completely attract mass readers with the charm of their works.
Integrating innovation and promoting people-to-people affinity.
On May 7, President Xi Jinping (习近平) sent a congratulatory letter to the "Passing on the Flame of Peace and Opening a New Chapter of the Times - Sino-Russian Cultural Exchange Activities Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Soviet Great Patriotic War." President Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized: "Strengthening cultural and people-to-people exchanges is of great and far-reaching significance for enhancing mutual understanding, promoting good-neighborliness and friendship, and consolidating the social and public opinion foundation for the development of bilateral relations."
Excellent literary works are like a fertile land, providing a constant stream of inspiration and content for other art forms such as drama and film, and bringing a richer experience to the audience through the transformation of audio-visual language. Artists from China and Russia have been drawing inspiration from literary works of both countries to create new works and promote people-to-people affinity between the two countries.
Rodionov introduced that in 2023, the Pskov Pushkin Model Drama Theater performed Mo Yan's (莫言) "Frog," and in 2024, Liao Yimei's (廖一梅) "Rhinoceros in Love" and Cao Yu's (曹禺) "Thunderstorm" were staged in Russian theaters and were widely welcomed. In January 2025, the experimental Peking Opera "Diary of a Madman" premiered in Beijing (北京). The play boldly integrated the novels "Diary of a Madman" created by Gogol and Lu Xun (鲁迅). The playwright and director Wutong selected the core elements of the two works and presented a transnational literary dialogue with the performance program of Peking Opera.
In 1962, the Central Opera and Dance Theater (中央歌剧舞剧院) (now the China National Opera House (中央歌剧院)) premiered Pushkin's long poem adapted opera "Eugene Onegin" in Chinese in China. In April of this year, the China National Opera House (中央歌剧院) and the Yaroslavl Region Ministry of Culture of Russia, the Fyodor Volkov Russian State Academic Drama Theater, and the Russian Peace Foundation jointly created a new version of "Eugene Onegin." A Russian conductor conducted a Chinese orchestra, and singers from the two countries performed on the same stage, bringing a new artistic feast to the audience.
Since September last year, the stage play of the same name adapted from the work "I Am Not Madame Bovary" by Chinese contemporary writer Liu Zhenyun (刘震云) has been performed at the Russian State National Theater, creating a full house every time, and its popularity has not diminished. The theater's official website shows that tickets for the next two months are sold out. The Chinese-style makeup and stage setting, coupled with the Russian-style interpretation by Russian actors, make the play deeply loved by the audience.
"We need to have an in-depth understanding of different cultures and civilizations" "The ideological cultures of different countries and nations have their own merits. There are only differences in variety, but no distinction between high and low"... More stories of mutual learning in the field of literature between China and Russia are constantly being staged, providing fertile ground for the two countries to continuously deepen cultural and people-to-people exchanges and establish a model of new type of state-to-state relations.
(Reported from Moscow (莫斯科) on May 9 by this newspaper)
Return to TopThe important consensus reached by the two heads of state has injected strong impetus into the development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era and injected positive energy into world peace and development.
On May 8th, local time, President Xi Jinping (习近平), who is on a state visit to Russia, held in-depth, friendly, and fruitful talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin (Владимир Путин). The two heads of state exchanged in-depth views on China-Russia relations and major international and regional issues, and unanimously agreed to unswervingly deepen strategic coordination, promote the stable, healthy, and high-level development of China-Russia relations, jointly promote a correct view of the history of World War II, safeguard the authority and status of the United Nations, and safeguard international fairness and justice. The important consensus reached by the two heads of state has injected strong impetus into the development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era and injected positive energy into world peace and development.
This visit is President Xi Jinping's (习近平) eleventh visit to Russia since 2013. Under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, the China-Russia relationship in the new era is more calm, confident, stable, and resilient. With the joint efforts of both sides, China-Russia relations have maintained a stable, healthy, and high-level development trend, and long-term good-neighborliness, friendship, and mutually beneficial win-win cooperation have become the distinct characteristics of the two countries' relations. When jointly meeting with reporters with President Putin (Владимир Путин), President Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized that China and Russia should adhere to friendship from generation to generation and be true friends forged in the fire; adhere to mutual benefit and win-win results and be good partners who achieve each other; adhere to fairness and justice and be defenders of the international order; and adhere to working together in harmony and be leaders in global governance. These four "adherences" point the direction for promoting China-Russia relations towards a more mature and resilient tomorrow.
From overcoming difficulties and obstacles and transporting a large number of urgently needed materials to each other during World War II to the current record high in bilateral trade, the "high-speed train" of China-Russia mutually beneficial cooperation has traveled through mountains and valleys, overcoming obstacles, and has gone through an extraordinary journey. During the visit, the heads of state of China and Russia jointly signed the "Joint Statement of the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation on Further Deepening the China-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination on the Occasion of the 80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Soviet Great Patriotic War, and the Founding of the United Nations," and jointly witnessed the exchange of more than 20 bilateral cooperation documents. China and Russia have deepened practical cooperation in various fields, consolidated the material foundation for comprehensive strategic coordination, made the foundation of cooperation more "stable" and the momentum of "progress" more sufficient, which will continuously benefit the people of the two countries and inject strong momentum into global development.
Strengthening cultural and people-to-people exchanges is of great and far-reaching significance for enhancing mutual understanding, promoting good-neighborliness and friendship, and consolidating the social and public opinion foundation for the development of bilateral relations. On May 7th, President Xi Jinping (习近平) sent a congratulatory letter to the "Passing on the Flame of Peace and a New Chapter of the Times - China-Russia Cultural Exchange Activities Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Soviet Great Patriotic War." In May last year, President Xi Jinping (习近平) and President Putin (Владимир Путин) jointly launched the "China-Russia Year of Culture." The two sides have held hundreds of rich and colorful cultural exchange activities so far. The two countries will further strengthen cooperation in education, film, tourism, sports, local affairs, etc., which will more fully release the potential of the "China-Russia Year of Culture," promote deep-level people-to-people connectivity, and enhance mutual understanding and traditional friendship. The two sides should carry out more cultural exchanges that connect with the people's hearts, are down-to-earth, and have warmth, which will inject new impetus into promoting mutual understanding and affinity between the two peoples and add new glory to the development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era.
The independent, self-reliant, mature, and resilient China-Russia relationship not only brings great benefits to the people of the two countries, but also makes important contributions to maintaining global strategic stability and promoting an equal and orderly multipolar world. During this visit, China and Russia issued the "Joint Statement of the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation on Global Strategic Stability" and the "Joint Statement of the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation on Further Strengthening Cooperation to Safeguard the Authority of International Law," demonstrating the two countries' determination to be a stable, active, and progressive force in the international community. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Soviet Great Patriotic War, and the World Anti-Fascist War. As major world powers and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, China and Russia will work together to defend the achievements of World War II, resolutely oppose hegemonism and power politics, and practice true multilateralism, which will make new and greater contributions to maintaining international fairness and justice and promoting the construction of a more just and reasonable global governance system.
Going through thick and thin together and overcoming difficulties together, China and Russia will firmly uphold the spirit of permanent good-neighborliness and friendship, comprehensive strategic coordination, and mutually beneficial win-win cooperation, comprehensively enhance the height, dimension, and resilience of China-Russia relations, inject more stability into world peace and security, and provide a stronger impetus for global development and prosperity.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 肖新新
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Soviet Great Patriotic War, and the World Anti-Fascist War. Oleg Timofeev (奥列格·季莫费耶夫), Associate Professor at the Russian Peoples' Friendship University and an expert on international issues, said in a recent interview with our newspaper: "We must never let the historical tragedy repeat itself, and the fruits of World War II victory must be firmly safeguarded."
World War II was the most tragic tragedy in human history. As the main battlefields in Europe and Asia during World War II, Russia and China made significant sacrifices and contributions to winning the final victory. Timofeev said that the Patriotic War touched almost every Russian family, and almost every family had war heroes. The heroism and patriotism shown by the Russian people continue to be inherited and carried forward. "Both Russia and China are committed to promoting a correct view of the history of World War II, warning the world to remember the profound lessons of World War II."
"The people of Russia and China share common historical memories in the World Anti-Fascist War, and have established a deep friendship in fighting side by side and fighting bloody battles." Timofeev said that during World War II, the Soviet Union was the first to provide valuable assistance to the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, sending military advisers and experts to China, and assisting a large number of weapons and equipment; the Soviet Aid-China Aviation Team actively participated in the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and many pilots gave their precious lives. "In the most difficult time of the Patriotic War, many Chinese soldiers and civilians also provided us with help."
Timofeev said that the Communist Party of China (中国共产党) held high the banner of national unity, established the broadest anti-Japanese national united front, effectively resisted and contained the main force of Japanese militarism, enabling the Soviet Union to avoid fighting on both the eastern and western fronts at the same time, and greatly alleviating the military pressure on the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries in the Pacific theater.
Timofeev said that history cannot be forgotten, and justice cannot be challenged. Russia and China have made great contributions to safeguarding national sovereignty and national dignity, and maintaining world peace and justice. Regarding the attempts by individual countries and their politicians to deny the historical contributions of Russia and China and to tamper with the history of World War II, Russia and China will, together with the international community, resolutely resist and resolutely defend international fairness and justice and the post-war international order.
"We expect and believe that President Xi Jinping's (习近平) visit will further deepen bilateral relations." Timofeev said that the people of Russia and China will always remember the heroes who sacrificed in the war, and will pass on the precious friendship between them from generation to generation, and promote the development of relations and cooperation between the two countries to achieve new results.
(Reported from Moscow on May 9)
Return to TopThe upcoming high-level China-U.S. economic and trade talks in Switzerland have attracted much attention from the international community. Against the backdrop of sluggish global economic recovery, this dialogue is seen as an opportunity to resolve trade frictions, and all parties expect China and the U.S. to inject certainty into world economic growth through constructive communication.
For some time, a series of U.S. violations and unreasonable unilateral tariff measures have seriously impacted China-U.S. economic and trade relations, seriously impacted the stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain, and seriously disrupted international economic and trade order and the prospects for world economic growth. International institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the World Bank have predicted that U.S. tariff policies will seriously drag down the global economy, the economic growth of some countries will slow down rapidly, inflation will be pushed up again, and the debt burden of developing countries will be increased. U.S. companies and consumers have also truly felt the pain caused by the abuse of tariffs, and people from all walks of life in the U.S. have strongly called on the government to cancel irrational tariff measures.
It is against this background that China, proceeding from the overall situation of maintaining world economic stability and safeguarding the common interests of the international community, fully considered global expectations, China's interests, and the appeals of the U.S. industry and consumers, and agreed to engage with the U.S., which reflects the responsibility of a major country in maintaining the multilateral trading system. China always believes that dialogue is better than confrontation, but negotiations are by no means unilateral compromise. Equal dialogue is the right way to solve problems between major countries, and no country will abandon its own reasonable development interests in order to cater to or satisfy other countries' unreasonable demands. The U.S. is also very clear that high tariffs are unsustainable and has repeatedly stated that it is not seeking to "decouple" from China. On the premise of mutual respect, equal consultation, and mutual benefit, China and the U.S. can sit at the negotiating table for dialogue, and it is possible to find the greatest common divisor.
Negotiations are a necessary move to resolve differences, but it is not realistic to expect to solve problems with one or two negotiations. China has a clear understanding of the complexity of negotiations. An old Chinese saying goes, "听其言而观其行 (tīng qí yán ér guān qí xíng - "listen to their words and observe their actions," judge people by their deeds, not just their words)," sincerity needs to be measured by actions. If the U.S. wants to solve problems through negotiations, it should face up to the serious negative impact of unilateral tariff measures on itself and the world, face up to international economic and trade rules, fairness and justice, and rational voices from all walks of life, show sincerity in negotiations, and correct wrong practices, rather than saying one thing and doing another, or 翻手为云覆手为雨 (fān shǒu wéi yún fù shǒu wéi yǔ - "turn the hand over and it becomes clouds, turn the hand back and it becomes rain," describe someone who is fickle and capricious). China has always been open to dialogue, and has enough patience and determination, as well as the confidence to stay with it to the end. Whether it is fighting or talking, China's determination to safeguard its own development interests will not change, and its position and goal of defending international fairness and justice and maintaining international economic and trade order will not change.
Concentrating on managing its own affairs well, and unswervingly promoting high-quality development and high-level opening-up, is the source of China's confidence in "handling both fighting and talking with composure." The warm current of opportunities released by the super-large-scale market, the certainty dividend brought by institutional opening-up, the lasting momentum cultivated by the rainforest-style innovation ecosystem, and the strong resilience of the domestic and international dual-cycle mutual promotion... China's ability to resist risks has been significantly enhanced, and any external shocks cannot change the basic situation that China's economic foundation is stable, has many advantages, is resilient, and has great potential, nor can it change the solid trend of China's high-quality development. No matter how the external environment changes, China's confident and open background will not change, and it is willing to strengthen unity and coordination with the international community, jointly resist unilateral protectionism and hegemonic bullying practices, jointly maintain free trade and multilateralism, and promote the construction of inclusive economic globalization.
Promote dialogue to resolve differences with a responsible attitude, safeguard core interests with strategic determination, and gather cooperation momentum with openness and inclusiveness. China's attitude towards China-U.S. economic and trade negotiations is clear and firm. History will once again prove that only by adhering to the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation can negotiations bear win-win fruits.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 牛瑞飞
Using paintbrushes to depict the wonderful story of pandas and Smurfs meeting and getting to know each other, using lenses to capture the surprising moments of traveling in China, and using short videos to lead the audience to explore the unique charm of China... Recently, at the award ceremony of the "China-Europe Fifty Years, Hand in Hand Towards the Future" themed creative competition hosted by the Chinese Mission to the European Union, Chinese and European creators showcased wonderful paintings, photographs, and video works, jointly celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Europe. More than 150 friendly people from all walks of life in China and Europe attended the event, jointly witnessing the warm moments of China-Europe friendship and experiencing the beauty of traditional Chinese culture.
The theme of this creative competition revolved around themes such as "China in My Eyes," "Unforgettable Moments of Fifty Years of China-Europe," and "China's National Treasure, the Giant Panda, in Europe." It collected more than 300 works, including pictures, comics, and short videos, and selected first, second, and third prizes, as well as the most popular award. At the award ceremony, wonderful programs such as Hanfu (汉服) displays, Kung Fu performances, and violin ensembles were staged, and interactive booths such as Hanfu try-on, calligraphy appreciation (see picture, photo by Niu Ruifei (牛瑞飞), reporter of this newspaper), and tea art performances were set up.
"I hope my videos can help more European friends understand China and fall in love with China. I look forward to more European friends going to China to see and experience a real, diverse, and open China." Sander Koel, the first prize winner, has been creating short videos on social platforms for more than 8 years. Many of his works are on Chinese themes, attracting more than 18 million fans worldwide. He said that as more and more young Europeans learn Chinese and understand Chinese culture through various platforms, the future relationship between Europe and China will be closer.
Li Fu De Yongge (莉福·德勇戈), a Belgian artist and one of the judges of the competition, told reporters that she first went to China in the 1980s as a judge for an art competition and formed an indissoluble bond with China. Since then, she has visited China many times, and her works have also been exhibited at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo (上海世界博览会). "I like China very much because China always gives me the opportunity to discover beauty and appreciate beauty. This competition promoted communication and exchanges between the people of Europe and China. As a judge of the competition, I feel very honored."
"The purpose of holding this themed creative competition is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Europe through creative works and to deepen the understanding and friendship between the people of China and Europe." Cai Run (蔡润), head of the Chinese Mission to the European Union, said in his speech that current people-to-people exchanges between China and Europe are continuing to advance. The "3 years 10,000, European doubling" initiative proposed by China is being steadily implemented. China is implementing a unilateral visa-free policy for 24 EU member states and has successively introduced facilitation measures in the fields of payment, accommodation, and transportation, making travel to China increasingly convenient. We look forward to European friends visiting China more often to feel the warm, friendly, open, inclusive, diverse, three-dimensional, and vibrant China.
Bart Dessein (巴得胜), professor at Ghent University (根特大学) in Belgium and sinologist, said that new media is not only a carrier of cultural communication, but also a platform for young people to express themselves and innovate, which helps to stimulate the potential of European and Chinese youth to explore independently and discover each other, and has a positive effect on promoting mutual understanding and friendship between Europe and China. "It is very important for Europe and China to strengthen cultural exchanges and deepen mutual understanding." Bart Dessein (巴得胜) said that Europe and China should continue to promote cultural exchanges to go deeper and more solid, and inject more impetus into the development of bilateral relations.
Herman Van Rompuy (范龙佩), former President of the European Council, said that civilizations are enriched by exchanges. This themed creative competition showcases the combination of creativity and beauty, and conveys the emotions of the people of Europe and China in pursuing and sharing beauty. "Europe and China need more such exchanges to bring each other's hearts closer and make the bridge of friendship stronger."
(Reported by this newspaper from Brussels (布鲁塞尔))
Return to TopXinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 9th. Premier of the State Council Li Qiang (李强) presided over an executive meeting of the State Council on May 9th to study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's (习近平) important speech at the symposium on economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period in some provinces and cities. The meeting emphasized the need to accurately grasp the Party Central Committee's phased requirements for the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, consciously align with these requirements, rationally determine goals and tasks in various fields, and fully reflect the Party Central Committee's strategic intentions. It is necessary to deeply plan the key tasks of economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, promote sustained economic improvement, develop new quality productive forces in accordance with local conditions, and steadily promote common prosperity. It is necessary to strengthen investigation and research, and widely listen to opinions and suggestions from all parties to provide strong support for planning and preparation.
The meeting listened to a report on promoting the improvement of the quality and efficiency of the construction of free trade pilot zones. The meeting pointed out that the construction of free trade pilot zones is an important strategic measure to promote reform and opening up in the new era. It is necessary to support free trade pilot zones in aligning with international high-standard economic and trade rules, further increase the intensity of institutional innovation, take the lead in developing trade in services and facilitating cross-border data flows, carry out differentiated exploration, and achieve a number of breakthrough results as soon as possible. It is necessary to expand the authorization of reform tasks in accordance with local conditions, optimize and adjust the scope of regional layout based on the actual needs of industrial development, and steadily promote the upgrading of mature free trade pilot zones.
The meeting studied relevant measures to deepen the reform and innovation of national-level economic and technological development zones. The meeting pointed out that it is necessary to deeply promote the reform and innovation of national-level economic and technological development zones, and promote deep-seated reform and high-quality development through high-level opening up to the outside world. It is necessary to deepen the reform of the management system, vigorously promote "handling one matter efficiently" (高效办成一件事 (gāo xiào bàn chéng yī jiàn shì - "handle one matter efficiently," streamlining administrative processes to improve efficiency)), and solve the prominent pain points and bottlenecks reflected by enterprises. It is necessary to strengthen the guarantee of factors such as land, talent, and capital, formulate supporting policies and supporting measures, and create a better environment for the development of national-level economic and technological development zones.
The meeting reviewed and approved the "Regulations on Sharing of Government Data (Draft)". The meeting pointed out that it is necessary to break down data barriers on the basis of ensuring data security and promote more inclusive and convenient public services. It is necessary to build a national integrated government big data system, promote the integrated application of data resources, better empower social governance and prosperous industrial ecology, and enhance new impetus for economic development.
The meeting studied the "National Layout Plan for Water Traffic Safety Supervision and Rescue System (2025-2035)". The meeting pointed out that it is necessary to accelerate the construction of a modern water traffic safety supervision and rescue system, strengthen coordination and linkage between departments and localities, strengthen the innovation of important equipment and key technologies, create conditions to attract social capital to participate in major supervision and rescue engineering projects, and provide a solid guarantee for the construction of a strong transportation country.
The meeting pointed out that a series of safety accidents have occurred in some places recently, and the lessons are profound, indicating that safety production cannot be taken lightly at any time. It is necessary to thoroughly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's (习近平) important instructions, further consolidate the responsibilities of all parties, especially to put more effort into "prevention," carry out thorough investigation of risks and hidden dangers, take more targeted measures to rectify key areas, key places, and key issues, resolutely prevent and curb the occurrence of major and serious safety accidents, and effectively safeguard the safety of people's lives and property and the overall social stability.
The meeting also studied other matters.
Return to TopXinhua News Agency, Fuzhou, May 9th. Zhao Leji (赵乐际), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, conducted research in Fujian (福建) from May 7th to 9th. He emphasized the need to adhere to Xi Jinping's (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as guidance, earnestly implement the deployments and requirements of the Party Central Committee and the spirit of the Third Session of the 14th National People's Congress, focus on the overall situation, perform duties in accordance with the law, and make contributions from the National People's Congress to promote high-quality development.
Zhao Leji (赵乐际) visited Nanping (南平) and Fuzhou (福州), going deep into activity rooms where National People's Congress deputies connect with the masses, enterprises, villages, and farmers' homes. He exchanged ideas with National People's Congress deputies and the masses, listening to opinions and suggestions on strengthening and improving the work of the National People's Congress and promoting the construction of the rule of law. He also conducted research at the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Congress, visited staff members, and presided over a symposium.
Zhao Leji (赵乐际) emphasized the need to adhere to the Party's comprehensive leadership over the work of the National People's Congress, to uphold integrity and innovate, to seek truth from facts, to follow and grasp the laws of the work of the National People's Congress, and to do a solid and effective job in legislation, supervision, and representation, so as to help economic and social development and reform tasks. It is necessary to promote the comprehensive rule of law based on the duties of the National People's Congress, to give full play to the important role of the National People's Congress in ensuring the comprehensive and effective implementation of the Constitution and laws, the leading role of the National People's Congress in legislative work, and the important role of the National People's Congress supervision in the Party and state supervision system. It is necessary to strengthen the self-construction of the National People's Congress to meet the requirements of the new era, to take studying and implementing Xi Jinping's (习近平) Thought on the Rule of Law and General Secretary Xi Jinping's (习近平) important thought on upholding and improving the system of people's congresses as basic skills and compulsory courses, and to implement the requirements of the "four organs" into the self-construction and performance of duties of the National People's Congress. It is necessary to earnestly carry out in-depth study and education on implementing the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulation, and to promote the Party building of the National People's Congress and the high-quality development of the work of the National People's Congress with new achievements in work style construction.
Zhao Leji (赵乐际) led the National People's Congress Standing Committee's law enforcement inspection team to inspect the implementation of the Forest Law, conducted on-the-spot inspections at the National Park Smart Management Center, ecological protection observation points, and forest land, presided over a symposium, and listened to opinions and suggestions from government departments, National People's Congress deputies, forestry experts, and frontline workers on strengthening the implementation of the law.
Zhao Leji (赵乐际) pointed out the need to thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping's (习近平) thought on ecological civilization, strengthen the protection and cultivation of forest resources, adhere to the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, and grasslands, expand greening, promote greening, and protect greening in parallel, increase forest coverage and forest stock volume, and better exert the multiple functions of forests such as water storage and soil conservation, climate regulation, environmental improvement, biodiversity maintenance, and provision of forest products. It is necessary to consolidate and expand the achievements of forestry reform, implement legal systems such as the target responsibility system for the protection and development of forest resources, and, in accordance with the deployments and requirements of the Party Central Committee, adhere to promoting and deepening forestry reform and development on the track of the rule of law, and give play to the enthusiasm of governments, collectives, forest farmers, and the whole society in protecting and developing forests. It is necessary to promote the high-quality development of forestry, implement the system regulations on forest management in the Forest Law, accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the modern forestry industry on the basis of protecting forest ecological security, develop the under-forest economy in accordance with local conditions, cultivate new forms of tourism and health preservation, and achieve the unity of ecological protection, green development, and improvement of people's livelihoods.
Return to TopXinhua News Agency, Beijing (北京), May 9th. Recently, the General Office of the State Council (国务院办公厅) issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Welfare and Security Work for Children in Difficult Situations" (关于进一步加强困境儿童福利保障工作的意见) (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"). The "Opinions" adhere to the principles of giving priority to children's development and acting in the best interests of children. Following the working ideas of guaranteeing the basics, optimizing services, safeguarding rights and interests, and promoting development, the "Opinions" strengthen scientific classification, enhance accurate identification, and effectively improve the level of welfare and security for children in difficult situations.
The "Opinions" propose to continuously improve the construction of six major systems for the welfare and security of children in difficult situations. First, it is necessary to consolidate the basic livelihood security system, increase the intensity of basic livelihood security, optimize the methods of basic livelihood security, enrich the content of basic livelihood security, and build a diversified security pattern of "material + service." Second, it is necessary to optimize the medical rehabilitation service system, strengthen medical security work for children in difficult situations, refine medical assistance measures, and improve the level of rehabilitation services. Third, it is necessary to improve the basic public education service system, ensure that children in difficult situations have equal access to education services, strengthen special education services, and improve education assistance measures. Fourth, it is necessary to build a psychological health care service system, strengthen psychological health education and publicity, carry out psychological health monitoring and evaluation, discover abnormal psychological and behavioral conditions of children in difficult situations as early as possible, and provide timely and efficient referral assistance. Fifth, it is necessary to build a personal safety protection system, prevent and combat acts that infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of children in difficult situations, strengthen assistance and protection measures for children in difficult situations who have been harmed, and at the same time, actively prevent adverse behaviors of children in difficult situations. Sixth, it is necessary to improve the statutory guardianship responsibility system, strengthen family guardianship responsibilities, improve the national guardianship system, and give play to the guardianship support role of children's welfare institutions.
The "Opinions" clarify that it is necessary to improve the service capacity at the grassroots level, improve incentive and security measures for grassroots children workers such as children's directors, rationally arrange relevant funds for the welfare and security of children in difficult situations, and effectively promote the inclination of human, financial, and material resources towards the grassroots level. It is necessary to strengthen the construction of laws, regulations, and information systems, promote pilot work on care services for children in difficult situations, improve the mechanism for accurate monitoring and investigation of children in difficult situations, strengthen data and information sharing between departments, and achieve accurate service management. It is necessary to promote the participation of social forces, promote the effective connection between the needs of children in difficult situations and the services of charitable organizations, and encourage the public to care for children in difficult situations through charitable assistance, volunteer services, and other means.
The "Opinions" emphasize that all localities should strengthen organizational leadership, regard the welfare and security of children in difficult situations as an important livelihood project, incorporate it into economic and social development plans and important agendas, adhere to the principle of the "top leader" (一把手) taking personal charge and assuming overall responsibility, increase investment, and coordinate related work.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 罗珊珊
From May 22nd to 25th, the 4th China-Central and Eastern European Countries Expo & International Consumer Goods Fair will be held in Ningbo City (宁波市), Zhejiang Province (浙江省). On May 9th, the State Council Information Office (国务院新闻办公室) held a press conference to introduce the relevant situation.
The theme of this expo is "Towards New, Towards Practical, Towards Future".
Yan Dong (鄢东), Vice Minister of Commerce (商务部), said that the cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries is an important part of China-Europe relations. Since the launch of the cooperation mechanism in 2012, economic and trade relations have developed healthily and steadily, and the foundation for pragmatic cooperation has been continuously consolidated.
Bilateral trade continues to grow. Since 2012, the average annual growth of trade between China and Central and Eastern European countries has been 8.8%, and the average annual growth of China's imports from Central and Eastern European countries has been 7.4%, both higher than the growth rate of China's foreign trade during the same period. In 2024, the bilateral trade volume reached 142.3 billion US dollars, a record high, with a year-on-year increase of 6.3%.
Investment cooperation is becoming increasingly close. According to incomplete statistics, China's investment in Central and Eastern European countries has exceeded 24 billion US dollars to date. Chinese companies have a strong willingness to invest in the Central and Eastern European region in a wide range of fields, making positive contributions to the economic and social development of Central and Eastern European countries. In recent years, Chinese electric vehicle and power battery upstream and downstream enterprises have increased their efforts to inspect and invest in the Central and Eastern European region, becoming a new highlight of investment cooperation between the two sides.
Interconnectivity is developing rapidly. The construction of the Hungary-Serbia Railway is progressing smoothly. The south passage of the China-Europe Railway Express is accelerating its development, and Central and Eastern European countries have become important passages and destinations for the train. The construction of the China-Europe Land-Sea Express Line is being actively promoted, and the throughput of Piraeus Port (比雷埃夫斯港) in Greece (希腊) ranks among the top Mediterranean ports. There are more than 30 direct flight routes between China and Central and Eastern European countries.
This expo includes two exhibition areas: the Central and Eastern European exhibition area and the export consumer goods exhibition area of the International Consumer Goods Fair.
Lu Shan (卢山), Vice Governor of Zhejiang Province (浙江省), introduced that the Central and Eastern European exhibition area reaches 20,000 square meters, and more than 400 exhibitors have been invited to participate. More than 8,000 kinds of Central and Eastern European characteristic commodities such as Czech beer, Slovenian honey, and Hungarian down products will be showcased. The area of the exhibition area, the number of exhibitors, and the number of exhibits have all reached new highs. It is expected to attract about 15,000 professional visitors to participate in the expo, of which more than 3,000 will be overseas buyers.
Tang Feifan (汤飞帆), Mayor of Ningbo City (宁波市), introduced that the export consumer goods exhibition area is an important part of the entire expo. Compared with previous sessions, the scale of this year's exhibition has reached a new high. The export consumer goods exhibition area covers an area of 60,000 square meters with 2,000 booths, an increase of 20% and 33% respectively compared with the previous session. More than 1,000 companies from nearly 20 provinces (autonomous regions, and municipalities) participated in the exhibition, an increase of 18% compared with the previous session. There are more than 3,000 overseas professional buyers from 72 countries and regions around the world participating, an increase of 10% compared with the previous session.
This year's export consumer goods exhibition area will set up four blocks: consumer boutiques, smart products, home fashion products, and green products, highlighting the themes of new quality productive forces, green and low-carbon, and energy conservation and environmental protection, and exhibiting a batch of new products, new technologies, and new services in the fields of artificial intelligence, low-altitude economy, new energy, and digital economy. At the same time, the exhibition area also set up a "Foreign Trade Excellent Products China Tour" special area to showcase more than 100 kinds of high-quality foreign trade products such as smart home appliances to help foreign trade enterprises expand the domestic market.
According to reports, in addition to exhibitors from 14 Central and Eastern European countries, this expo has also attracted exhibitors from 9 countries including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, of which exhibitors from 8 countries are participating for the first time. This year's expo has achieved an expansion to "Central and Eastern Europe +". In addition, international organizations such as the World Bank, international business associations such as the China EU Chamber of Commerce, and many internationally renowned companies have been invited to participate in the conference. The international influence of the expo has been greatly enhanced.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 李 蕊
"Rumbling..." In the Zhugongtang Lead-Zinc Mine area of Hezhang County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province (贵州省毕节市赫章县猪拱塘铅锌矿区), amidst the roar of drilling rigs, Li Kuan (李宽), deputy director and senior engineer of the Prospecting Engineering Office of the Sixth Geological Team of the Shandong Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Exploration and Development (山东省地质矿产勘查开发局第六地质大队), wearing an orange jacket and a safety helmet, firmly gripped the operating lever, initiating another "advance" towards the depths of the Earth.
Working outdoors year-round, Li Kuan's skin is tanned. "Recently, I've been traveling between Guizhou (贵州), Chongqing (重庆), and Gansu (甘肃). I wish I had the ability to be in multiple places at once." This post-90s geologist has grown from a drilling technician to a backbone of the industry, leading his team to break the national drilling efficiency record for small-diameter boreholes of the same type three times in three years.
Rooted in the front line for more than 10 years, "wherever the borehole is, the tent is moved there." This year, Li Kuan was awarded the 2025 China Youth May Fourth Medal (中国青年五四奖章).
The trip to Daqing Oilfield (大庆油田) in 2012 left a deep impression on Li Kuan. In the Iron Man Wang Jinxi Memorial Hall (铁人王进喜纪念馆), the resounding oath of "Rather live 20 years less, desperately take down the big oilfield" struck the heart of this drilling engineering student. Upon graduation, he joined the Sixth Geological Team of the Shandong Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (山东省地矿局第六地质大队) without hesitation—a team that was awarded the honorary title of "Heroic Geological Team with Outstanding Contributions and Selfless Dedication" by the State Council (国务院) in 1992.
At the beginning of his career, in order to consolidate his professional skills and accumulate practical experience, Li Kuan volunteered to go to Abaga Banner (阿巴嘎旗) in Xilin Gol League (锡林郭勒盟), Inner Mongolia (内蒙古). It was late autumn, and in a barren grassland and the overwhelming sandstorms, the temperature difference between day and night reached 20 degrees Celsius. Li Kuan, wrapped in a cotton coat, prepared antifreeze mud, growing up amidst the roar of the drilling rig.
"At first, seeing how colorful the lives of other classmates were, I felt a little wavering in my heart. But when I saw the spirited look of the seniors when they talked about finding a mine, I felt confident and understood the meaning of perseverance." During the construction process, Li Kuan and his colleagues devoted themselves to research and careful analysis, solving a number of technical problems such as borehole diameter reduction, block dropping, and leakage.
In 2016, Li Kuan led a youth team to be stationed on the plateau. In the extremely cold weather of minus twenty degrees Celsius and the hypoxic environment where the oxygen concentration was less than half of that in the plains, they adjusted the construction technical plan to suit local conditions, optimized the drilling fluid system, and used a new type of chemical gel plugging agent. This not only solved the construction problems, but also reduced the mud cost to 60% of the previous cost.
"When preparing for the 2nd National Geological Exploration Industry Vocational Skills (Drilling) Competition of the China Skills Competition in 2019, this apprentice of mine practiced from 6 am to 2 am the next day, reciting various drilling tool parameters fluently," said Dong Zexun (董泽训), winner of the National May Day Labor Medal (全国五一劳动奖章). In the end, Li Kuan won the first place in the individual comprehensive score.
"Young people should dare to fight, dare to break through, and dare to do." Li Kuan talked about the most exciting thing for him: the Shuiwangzhuang Mining Area (水旺庄矿区) in Zhaoyuan (招远), Shandong Province (山东省) was once explored by an Australian mining company, but no mineral deposits were found. However, in the hands of the Chinese youth commando team, this mining area was revitalized. Li Kuan and his colleagues innovatively applied the ultra-deep hole technology system to lock the ore vein in the intricate fault zone, and discovered a super-large gold mine of 186 tons in just one year, which was selected as one of the top ten national geological prospecting achievements in 2021.
From achieving three underground connections in Muli (木里) area of Qinghai (青海), creating a record of continuous ignition for 23 days, to the exploration of a super-large gold mine of 186 tons in Zhaoyuan (招远), Li Kuan's team has continuously refreshed industry benchmarks. The "cannonball-style" salvage device and tungsten-based coated core tube he invented have greatly improved drilling efficiency and greatly promoted the innovation and development of deep prospecting technology in China.
What Li Kuan did not expect was that the professional knowledge he learned could also save lives. In January 2021, a blast accident occurred in the Hushan Gold Mine (笏山金矿) in Qixia (栖霞), Shandong (山东). After receiving the rescue mission, Li Kuan immediately rushed from the field project to the rescue front line, leading the team to open a life-saving hole in 4 days, contacting the miners trapped in the well, and delivering medicines, food, and communication equipment, opening a life channel for 11 miners.
"One step at a time, moving forward steadily. Next, I will bravely be a pioneer in the new round of strategic action to make breakthroughs in mineral exploration, contribute youth strength to ensuring national energy and resource security, and strive to write a new chapter of the 'Heroic Geological Team'," Li Kuan said.
(Wang Shuo (王朔) participated in the writing)
Return to TopOn May 9th, in the thousands of mu of Astragalus planting base in Zhangjiagouwan Village, Nanfeng Town, Minle County, Zhangye City, Gansu Province (甘肃省张掖市民乐县南丰镇张家沟湾村), medicinal farmers are working. Minle County (民乐县) has adopted various methods to encourage and support the production and processing of traditional Chinese medicinal materials to promote increased income for farmers.
Wang Xiaojing (王晓泾) Photo (Image China (影像中国))
Return to TopThis newspaper reported from Beijing on May 9th (Reporter Yu Jingxian (郁静娴)) that recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (农业农村部), together with the Ministry of Water Resources (水利部), the Ministry of Emergency Management (应急管理部), and the China Meteorological Administration (中国气象局), formulated and issued the "2025 Flood Season Scientific Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Plan to Strive for a Bumper Harvest of Grain and Agriculture." This plan guides various regions to focus on critical farming seasons, implement key technologies, effectively reduce disaster losses, and go all out to fight disasters and achieve a bumper harvest.
The plan specifies five key tasks for agricultural disaster prevention and mitigation during the flood season, categorized by disaster type. First, prevent floods and drain waterlogged areas. Accelerate the repair and renovation of farmland ditches and the management of waterlogged areas in plains, improve the reserve and emergency allocation of disaster prevention and mitigation materials and equipment, quickly drain accumulated water from fields, strengthen field management after disasters, and promote production recovery. Second, prevent drought and promote growth. Ensure good water source scheduling, make early preparations for repairing and dredging agricultural irrigation canals, irrigate and replenish soil moisture in a timely manner once drought occurs, promote efficient water-saving irrigation technologies, and implement agronomic moisture-preserving measures. Third, resist high temperatures and prevent heat damage. Adhere to "regulating temperature with water and foliar fertilization" to strengthen water management, regulate the microclimate in the fields, buffer the impact of high temperatures, and spray foliar fertilizer in a timely manner to enhance plant resistance. Fourth, prevent typhoons and ensure safety. Promptly repair and reinforce fruit trees, greenhouses, livestock pens, aquaculture facilities, etc., promptly harvest mature crops, organize fishing boats to return to port to shelter from the wind, and ensure that aquaculture personnel on fish rafts go ashore. Fifth, prevent diseases and insect pests to reduce losses. Intensify monitoring and early warning, and for major diseases and insect pests, promptly carry out unified prevention and control, emergency prevention and control, and strictly control large-scale epidemic hazards.
The plan requires strengthening inter-departmental coordination and deepening the normalized collaboration and linkage mechanism between departments. It is necessary to strengthen disaster prevention emergency preparedness, do a good job in the reserve, allocation, and transportation of disaster relief materials, prepare emergency disaster relief machinery, and vigorously promote the construction of high-standard farmland. Strengthen disaster monitoring and early warning, strengthen emergency duty, intensify disaster situation scheduling, and activate emergency response in a timely manner. Strengthen disaster reduction guidance and services, organize experts to go deep into the fields, assess the impact of disasters, and conduct online and offline training and guidance.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 陈隽逸
On the old Dongmen city wall in Guiyang (贵阳), Guizhou Province (贵州省), stands a uniquely shaped Wenchang Pavilion (文昌阁): three stories, three eaves, and a nine-cornered roof, standing for over 400 years, it is one of Guiyang's historical landmarks. Two years ago, a series of roadside concerts began to resonate in front of this ancient building.
Stone slabs, ancient city walls, drum kits, electric guitars... the collision of historical architecture and modern melodies brings surprises to citizens and tourists, and adds charm to Guiyang, a tourist city.
No tickets, zero distance, no commercial participation, for two years, roadside concerts have continued to resonate in the streets of Guiyang. To date, more than 400 have been held, and everyone has the opportunity to participate and share in the musical and cultural feast.
"Music becomes an invisible bond, bringing everyone together"
As dusk gathers and lights illuminate the ancient city walls, musicians strum the prelude on their guitars, and a special "Laborer's Night" roadside concert begins. A police officer performs a lively rap, and firefighters perform a quick-paced clapper talk; the audience below waves their mobile phone flashlights, cheering for the strivers from all walks of life. During this "May Day" holiday, various themed and formatted roadside concerts were held in Guiyang, attracting citizens and tourists to stop and immerse themselves in a sea of songs.
Roadside concerts have a long tradition in Guiyang. In 1937, the Zhuguang Music Association (筑光音乐会) began singing anti-Japanese salvation songs in the streets and alleys of Guiyang, using music to unite the strength of the war of resistance. More than 80 years later, from under the mottled city walls of Wenchang Pavilion, to the upturned eaves of Jiaxiu Tower (甲秀楼), and among the lush trees of Qianling Mountain Park (黔灵山公园), local musicians' street performances often attract citizens and tourists to stop and appreciate, like a series of small concerts. In 2023, the local cultural and tourism departments keenly seized this trend, integrating the scattered street performances into the "Guiyang Roadside Concert" brand, setting up venues in front of landmark buildings in the city, and providing a performance stage for music lovers.
"The audience below was a sea of black heads, incredible!" Speaking of performing on the roadside concert stage, 78-year-old "Bel Canto Grandpa" Qin Xianzhi (秦贤志) could not hide his excitement.
The nickname "Bel Canto Grandpa" was given by netizens. Qin Xianzhi, who loved singing when he was young, picked up his old hobby after retirement and often practiced singing with his companions in Qianling Mountain Park. Once, at the Wenchang Pavilion roadside concert, tenor singer Zhang Yingxi (张英席) was performing, and Qin Xianzhi, a "fan" in the audience, couldn't help but sing along loudly, full of energy. The staff handed him a microphone, and Qin Xianzhi was not at all timid. This video quickly garnered millions of views on the internet. After that, Qin Xianzhi also received an invitation to the roadside concert, with the opportunity to sing a duet with Zhang Yingxi on the same stage.
"We hold special events with different themes, such as combining Guizhou (贵州) ethnic culture, inviting well-known musicians, and holding city 'face-off' events," said Zhang Ting (张婷), Deputy Minister of the Propaganda Department of the Yunyan District Committee (云岩区委宣传部), "Of course, we also retain the form of roadside concerts that has always been popular with the masses - a full-audience chorus, and ordinary people can sign up to participate by leaving a message on our public platform."
In this way, music lovers from all ages and walks of life enthusiastically took to the stage. Yang Jiayi (杨嘉逸), a handsome young man who dreams of becoming a rapper, made a brave appearance, leading the audience to sway to the rhythm; Liu Guohong (刘国红), a taxi driver who worked hard to improve his singing skills in his spare time, sang loudly, singing in unison with the audience below... "Music has become an invisible bond, bringing everyone together and enriching the city's cultural life," said Qin Xianzhi.
"It can both showcase music and promote our unique culture"
Zheergen Band (折耳根乐队) is a local band from Guizhou, and they were the instrument "sponsors" of the first roadside concert. Founded in 2018, the Zheergen Band is composed of visually impaired and able-bodied people, who came together because of their love of music.
Why is the band named "Zheergen"? "Zheergen is a special delicacy loved by our local people. The essence of the plant grows in the dark and has strong vitality, which is the spirit that our band wants to convey," said Chen Changhai (陈昌海), the band's drummer.
Once, on the roadside concert stage, the Zheergen Band covered several well-known songs, and thousands of audience members turned on their mobile phone flashlights, illuminating the stage and singing along with them. Although some band members are blind, their hearing is extremely sensitive, "I can feel the audience is right next to me, the stage and the audience are integrated, and that joyful atmosphere is very contagious," said Yang Pan (杨盼), the wind instrumentalist.
At the concert, the Zheergen Band also performed an original work called "Tanzhuzhu" (弹珠珠). "This is a dialect song. Tanzhuzhu, catching sparrows, hide-and-seek... it tells the childhood fun in our memories," said Chen Changhai. After the roadside concert, the band quickly became popular. They turned down many commercial performances and focused on working and rehearsing together in their own Leguangli Massage Parlor (乐光里推拿馆), creating more original works. "The roadside concert gave us a brand new and bright stage, and we want to go further," said the band members.
After the rise of roadside concerts, the Shiji Band (市集乐队) from Guiyang also began to pay attention to original music with ethnic characteristics. "Roadside concerts can both showcase music and promote our unique culture," said Li Qian (李乾), the person in charge of the Shiji Band. Guizhou's ethnic musical instruments and singing techniques are unique, and traditional crafts and other intangible cultural heritage can be well integrated with music.
Zhang Ting introduced that currently, more than 80 bands and more than 1,500 musicians have appeared on the Wenchang Pavilion roadside concert, and more than 10 local musicians have also used the concert as a platform for the premiere of their original works. "We encourage and support the development of local music, and we strive to add a local original band to each performance, providing more opportunities for original musicians to perform and showcase their works," said Zhang Ting.
"Let music integrate into the construction and development of the city"
Sitting on a small stool, Zhong Tang (钟棠), a post-80s short video blogger, aimed his mobile phone at the stage and the audience, capturing the wonderful scenes of the roadside concert. As a new media volunteer for the roadside concert, Zhong Tang hardly misses a show, "Enjoying music and promoting my hometown is a win-win situation!"
Recruiting new media volunteers is a major feature of the Guiyang roadside concert. "There is no threshold, anyone who wants to participate can join." Zhong Tang's filming team has hundreds of volunteers. Under their dissemination, the 73 Wenchang Pavilion roadside concerts have received more than 5 billion views across the entire network.
"Roadside concerts provide everyone with full emotional value, and we go all out to provide escort to ensure that the concerts are sustainable and can continue," said Zhang Ting.
For an event with thousands of people, ensuring public safety is crucial. "Each concert requires the participation and coordination of public security, traffic management, health and other departments," said the relevant person in charge of the Guiyang cultural and tourism department. Wenchang Pavilion is located in the old city of Guiyang, with many people and vehicles. The traffic management department actively guides to ensure pedestrian safety and smooth traffic.
The concert also focuses on the experience of online audiences. "Some viewers left messages reflecting that the lights on the scene were too dark, so we added light boards to the next show; reflecting that the network was too slow, so we contacted the telecommunications department to solve it," said the relevant person in charge of the Yunyan District Committee. The roadside concert can accommodate thousands of people, and many more people watch it through online live broadcasts, so everyone's feelings are equally important.
At different times, various districts of Guiyang have launched concerts with different themes, such as the "December 9th" Movement Commemoration Day, Wudang District (乌当区) launched a red-themed roadside concert; on the eve of "June 1st" Children's Day, Yunyan District launched a "June 1st" special; Huaxi District (花溪区), relying on the advantage of university clusters, staged a "peak showdown" between college art academies.
"By cultivating music culture and building a music industry, we will let music integrate into the construction and development of the city," said the relevant person in charge of the Yunyan District Committee. Roadside concerts not only enrich the cultural and recreational life of the masses, but also give new vitality to the city's cultural and tourism development, decorating Guizhou's unique "poetry and distance."
To date, Guiyang has held more than 400 roadside concerts, with more than 3 million on-site viewers and more than 70,000 citizens and tourists having appeared on the roadside concert stage. Taking the roadside concert as an opportunity, Guiyang is cultivating a number of characteristic brands that integrate culture, commerce and tourism, comprehensively improving the supply capacity of tourism products, and making the new business card of "City of Music" even brighter.
Return to TopThis newspaper's Beijing (北京) dispatch on May 9th (Reporter Ni Yi (倪弋)) To promote the correct and effective implementation of the Food Safety Law, strengthen food safety supervision, and further improve food safety work, the National People's Congress Standing Committee officially launched a law enforcement inspection of the Food Safety Law on the 9th.
The Food Safety Law was promulgated and implemented in 2009 and comprehensively revised in 2015. The National People's Congress Standing Committee conducted law enforcement inspections of the Food Safety Law in 2009, 2011, and 2016, respectively.
The reporter learned on the 9th from the first plenary meeting of the National People's Congress Standing Committee's Food Safety Law Enforcement Inspection Team that, in order to comprehensively examine the problems existing in the implementation of the law, this law enforcement inspection will adopt a combination of on-site inspections in local areas and inspections entrusted to the standing committees of provincial people's congresses. The inspection team will conduct on-site inspections in provinces (autonomous regions, and municipalities) such as Heilongjiang (黑龙江), Shanghai (上海), Jiangxi (江西), Henan (河南), Guangxi (广西), and Gansu (甘肃), and entrust the standing committees of the people's congresses of provinces (municipalities) such as Tianjin (天津), Liaoning (辽宁), Anhui (安徽), Hubei (湖北), Guizhou (贵州), and Qinghai (青海) to inspect the implementation of the Food Safety Law within their respective administrative regions. The on-site inspection work will combine methods such as listening to reports from local governments and relevant departments, holding symposiums, conducting on-site inspections, and conducting random checks to comprehensively understand the real situation of law implementation and accurately identify and clarify the main problems existing in the implementation of the law.
The inspection team will focus on inspecting eight aspects: the implementation of the responsibilities of government departments in charge of food safety and related units; the construction of a food safety risk monitoring and assessment system; the construction of a food safety standard system; the implementation of the main responsibilities of food producers and operators; the food safety supervision of schools, etc.; the food import and export supervision; the food safety supervision of online platforms; the implementation of legal responsibilities and suggestions for amending the law.
Return to TopThis newspaper's Beijing (北京) May 9th dispatch (Reporter Ni Yi (倪弋)) The National People's Congress (全国人大) Standing Committee's Food Safety Law Enforcement Inspection Team held its first plenary meeting in Beijing (北京) on the 9th to deploy the enforcement inspection work. Cai Dafeng (蔡达峰), Tie Ning (铁凝), and Losang Jamcan (洛桑江村), Vice Chairpersons of the National People's Congress (全国人大) Standing Committee, attended.
After listening to relevant reports, opinions, and suggestions, Cai Dafeng (蔡达峰) pointed out that carrying out the food safety law enforcement inspection is a practical action to deeply study and implement Xi Jinping's (习近平) thought on the rule of law and General Secretary Xi Jinping's (习近平) important exposition on food safety. It is necessary to implement the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee, resolutely hold the bottom line of food safety, and effectively protect the people's "safety on the tip of the tongue." It is necessary to adhere to the problem orientation, grasp the outstanding problems that affect the implementation of the law and damage the interests of the masses, tighten and solidify government responsibilities, improve the level of risk management, and improve the effectiveness of food safety supervision. It is necessary to do a high-quality job in all aspects of law enforcement inspection, further promote the comprehensive and effective implementation of the Food Safety Law, and provide a strong legal guarantee for safeguarding the people's health and safety.
Return to TopThis newspaper's Beijing (北京) May 9th dispatch (Reporter Yu Sinan (喻思南)) The reporter learned from the Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute (郑州果树研究所) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (中国农业科学院): Recently, the institute's peach resource and breeding innovation team constructed the first complete peach gene variation atlas, newly discovered 70.6% of the variations and 3289 genes, revealed the global peach's kinship and evolutionary route, significantly improved the efficiency of woody fruit tree gene mining, and provided a theoretical basis and genetic resources for peach molecular breeding.
The head of the research team introduced that the peach genome resequencing data used in this study came from 1020 peach germplasm resources. The research team respectively detected all known peach gene variation types, systematically sorted out and discovered all peach gene variations, of which 70.6% of the variations were newly discovered in this study, and finally constructed the first complete peach gene variation atlas.
Based on the complete variation atlas, the evolutionary history of peach has also been clearly outlined. Researchers have found that almonds participated in the formation of mountain peaches, the most likely direct wild ancestor of cultivated peaches is the Prunus davidiana, and Gansu (甘肃) peaches also participated in the formation of Xinjiang (新疆) peaches. Relevant results were published in the important journal "Molecular Plant" in the field of plant science.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 潘俊强
In the evening, the capital Beijing (北京) is illuminated with lights. Inside the National Centre for the Performing Arts (国家大剧院), the stage is colorful under the lights. Green electricity from Xinjiang (新疆), spanning approximately 3,000 kilometers, is transmitted here via transmission lines in "seconds."
On May 9th, a reporter learned from the Capital Electricity Exchange Center (首都电力交易中心): With the completion of all 12 million kilowatt-hours of off-peak green electricity transactions from Xinjiang (新疆) to Beijing (北京) in April, Beijing (北京) and Xinjiang (新疆) have jointly achieved the first instance of Xinjiang's (新疆) afternoon sunshine "lighting up" Beijing's (北京) night scene through a new market-oriented transaction model of "Xinjiang (新疆) green electricity generation at noon, Beijing (北京) load usage in the evening."
The green electricity for this off-peak transaction mainly comes from photovoltaic power generation enterprises in areas such as Altay (阿勒泰) and Hami (哈密) in Xinjiang (新疆), and is transmitted to Beijing (北京) through ultra-high voltage DC projects for off-peak use, mainly to meet the green energy needs of some electricity users such as the National Centre for the Performing Arts (国家大剧院), the National Library of China (国家图书馆), and the Capital Museum (首都博物馆).
Beijing (北京) and Xinjiang (新疆) have a time difference of at least 2 hours in terms of sunlight. Every April, the peak output of photovoltaic power generation in Xinjiang (新疆) is at 3:00 PM every day, while Beijing's (北京) peak electricity consumption starts at 5:00 PM. The two regions cleverly solve the "temporal and spatial lock" of green electricity supply and demand through off-peak transactions. This not only allows new energy companies to more accurately predict power generation capacity, but also fully explores the potential of green electricity with hourly transaction curves, allowing the peak of photovoltaic power generation in Xinjiang (新疆) in the afternoon to precisely connect with the peak of electricity consumption in Beijing (北京) in the evening, forming a pattern of energy temporal and spatial complementarity.
Cui Dongjun (崔东君), a trader at the Capital Electricity Exchange Center (首都电力交易中心), introduced that the new model of green electricity off-peak trading is jointly implemented by the Beijing (北京) Electricity Exchange Center (北京电力交易中心), the Capital Electricity Exchange Center (首都电力交易中心), and the Xinjiang (新疆) Electricity Exchange Center (新疆电力交易中心). While expanding the scale of green electricity entering Beijing (北京), it also effectively promotes the consumption of photovoltaic power during periods of sufficient sunlight in Xinjiang (新疆).
Xinjiang (新疆) is rich in wind and solar resources, and the installed capacity of new energy has exceeded 100 million kilowatts. Since 2025, the Capital Electricity Exchange Center (首都电力交易中心) has innovatively carried out inter-provincial centralized bidding transactions for green electricity through platform aggregation and other methods. As of early May, the amount of green electricity transactions from Xinjiang (新疆) to Beijing (北京) has exceeded 32 million kilowatt-hours.
In recent years, Beijing's (北京市) external transfer of green electricity has continued to expand, and the supply of green electricity has become more abundant. Data shows that from 2016 to 2024, Beijing's (北京市) external transfer of green electricity consumption increased from 9.8 billion kilowatt-hours to 35 billion kilowatt-hours, and the proportion of green electricity in the city's total social electricity consumption increased from 12% to 29%. In 2025, it is estimated that Beijing's (北京) external transfer of green electricity will exceed 40 billion kilowatt-hours.
Return to TopDuring the "May Day" holiday, the Tianjin International Cruise Home Port (天津国际邮轮母港) experienced its first "three ships docked simultaneously" spectacle since the full resumption of operations. The four cruise itineraries operated by the Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal (上海吴淞口国际邮轮港) were completely sold out, and the Shekou Cruise Home Port (蛇口邮轮母港) in Shenzhen (深圳), Guangdong (广东) Province, welcomed a peak in passenger travel. With the comprehensive relaxation and optimization of China's transit visa-free policy, "coming to China by cruise ship" continues to be extremely popular. Data shows that in the first quarter of this year, China's international cruise transport market had 16 cruise ships operating 141 voyages, transporting 328,000 passengers, an increase of 67.8% compared to the same period last year. Among them, during the 40 days of this year's Spring Festival travel season, the volume of cruise passenger transport reached 172,000 passengers, an increase of 145.6% compared to the same period last year.
Currently, China has become the world's second-largest cruise market. With the gradual rise of domestic cruise companies and the return of international cruise ships to the Chinese market, the continuously recovering cruise economy is expected to become a new hotspot for cultural tourism.
(People's Daily reporter Han Xin (韩鑫))
Return to TopLayout Design: Zhang Fangman (张芳曼)
Return to TopBy: 薛其坤
Invite You @Scientists
Are you curious about how science will change life? What scientific questions are you interested in? Starting today, this section will launch the column "Viewing the Frontier · @Scientists." We welcome readers to open their minds and ask questions freely. We will invite scientists to answer and explore new scientific knowledge together.
Submission Email: rmbwhb@peopledaily.cn
Netizen: I recently saw a news report that the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) organization announced that it has completed the construction of all components of the world's largest and most powerful pulsed superconducting electromagnet system, in which the superconducting magnetic rings with diameters of 9 to 25 meters are manufactured with Chinese participation. I am very curious about "superconducting magnetic rings." Can you talk about the principle of superconductivity and its applications?
Editor: This is a very good question. Superconductivity, a "magical material" that allows electric current to run with "zero resistance," is quietly shaping the future landscape. Controllable nuclear fusion, maglev trains, quantum computers... Superconductivity is ubiquitous in the forefront of exploration. In this issue, we invited Xue Qikun (薛其坤), Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院) and President of Southern University of Science and Technology (南方科技大学), to take us into the "magical world" of superconductivity.
From lighting light bulbs to driving high-speed trains, the smooth flow of electric current is the lifeblood of social life. However, traditional conductive materials such as copper and aluminum are always accompanied by energy loss, just like water flow in a water pipe encountering frictional resistance. Is there a material that allows electric current to run with "zero resistance"?
The answer is superconducting materials—a scientific miracle that condenses a century of human wisdom and is reshaping the landscape of energy and technology.
Why We Need Superconductivity
Conductivity is the ability of a material to transmit electric current. The smaller the resistance of a material, the stronger its conductivity, and vice versa. Metals such as copper, silver, and aluminum are the main materials for the production of wires and chips due to the active free electrons inside. However, even silver, which has the best conductivity, does not have zero resistance. When current flows through, due to the existence of resistance, part of the electrical energy will be dissipated in the form of heat. According to statistics, the amount of electricity lost due to transmission losses worldwide each year is as high as 5% to 10% of the total power generation.
With the explosive growth of computing power demand, electricity demand is also gradually increasing. The heat generated by chips in data centers and supercomputing centers has become a technical bottleneck. For example, in traditional semiconductor chips, about 40% of the electrical energy is converted into heat, which wastes energy and requires a huge cooling system. How to save this part of the energy? Superconducting technology is one of the answers.
In 1911, Dutch physicist Kamerlingh Onnes discovered that when mercury was at minus 269 degrees Celsius, its resistance suddenly disappeared, and the current could flow perpetually without attenuation. He named this phenomenon "superconductivity." The zero-resistance characteristic of superconductors is like laying a frictionless "highway" for electrons.
This characteristic has quietly changed life. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in hospitals is a classic example: the core superconducting coil generates a strong magnetic field after being energized, which is used for human body imaging. If ordinary copper coils are used, not only is the power consumption huge, but continuous power supply and cooling are also required to offset the resistance heating, while superconducting coils, once energized, can maintain the magnetic field permanently, and the energy consumption is almost zero.
More ambitious applications have already been implemented. The Ping An Finance Centre (平安大厦) in Shenzhen (深圳), Guangdong (广东) put into use a self-developed three-phase coaxial high-temperature superconducting cable in 2021, which is the world's first application of superconducting cables in ultra-large urban central areas. This cable works in a liquid nitrogen protection environment of minus 196 degrees Celsius, and the current carrying capacity is 5 times that of copper cables of the same thickness, and the transmission loss is reduced by about 80%. In the future, if the urban power grid is fully converted to superconducting cables, the transmission efficiency will be greatly improved, and power outages may be greatly reduced.
The Road to Finding Superconducting Materials
Early superconductors needed to rely on liquid helium (minus 269 degrees Celsius) to maintain low temperatures, which was extremely expensive. In 1968, scientist McMillan proposed a theory: the critical temperature of traditional superconductors under normal pressure would not exceed 40 Kelvin (approximately minus 233 degrees Celsius). This "ceiling" is called the "McMillan limit."
However, in 1986, the discovery of copper-based oxide superconductors broke this prediction. It can work in the liquid nitrogen temperature range (greater than 77 Kelvin, which is minus 196 degrees Celsius), which greatly reduces the cost of superconducting applications. In 2008, iron-based superconductors became the second type of high-temperature superconducting material to break the "McMillan limit."
In February of this year, the Southern University of Science and Technology (南方科技大学) team announced the latest scientific breakthrough: it achieved superconductivity of nickel oxide thin films exceeding the "McMillan limit" (above 40 Kelvin) under normal pressure, making nickel-based materials the third type of high-temperature superconducting material system after copper-based and iron-based materials under normal pressure.
This groundbreaking research, published in the journal *Nature*, not only refreshed the family tree of superconducting materials, but also verified the universality of high-temperature superconductivity in the nickel-based system, providing a key piece of the puzzle for solving the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity.
"Whoever solves the mystery of high-temperature superconductivity will hold the key to the 21st century energy revolution." Nobel Prize winner Anthony Leggett once predicted. In the discovery and research of copper-based, iron-based, and nickel-based high-temperature superconducting materials, Chinese scientists are transforming from followers to leaders. If "ultra-high temperature superconductivity," that is, room-temperature superconductivity, is ultimately achieved, it will be one of the most significant discoveries in the history of human science.
The Diverse "Magic" of Superconductivity
The "magic" of superconductivity is not limited to zero resistance. In 1933, physicist Meissner discovered that superconductors can completely repel external magnetic fields, as if lifted by an invisible force. This "perfect diamagnetism" phenomenon is called the "Meissner effect," which is the physical cornerstone of magnetic levitation technology.
The Shanghai Maglev Demonstration Line (上海磁浮示范线) has been in operation for nearly 20 years. The trains on the line rely on conventional electromagnets to levitate, which require continuous power supply to maintain the magnetic field. If superconducting magnetic levitation is used, the train can "spontaneously" levitate above the track, which can greatly reduce energy consumption. In 2021, China (中国) built the world's first high-temperature superconducting maglev test line in Chengdu (成都), where vehicles achieved self-stable levitation in the liquid nitrogen temperature range, laying the foundation for the next generation of maglev high-speed trains.
Superconductivity is not only an engineering miracle, but also a "macroscopic exhibition hall" of quantum physics. In superconductors, countless electrons will form "Cooper pairs" and move in unison, forming a macroscopic quantum state. This characteristic makes superconductors the "core components" of quantum technology. For example, superconducting single-photon detectors can capture the signals of individual photons and are the "eagle eyes" of quantum communication; superconducting quantum bits can maintain quantum superposition states for a long time, and scientists are using superconducting quantum bits to design quantum computers to achieve complex ultra-high-speed calculations. If an error-correctable general-purpose superconducting quantum computer is eventually developed, it will provide computing power that is millions of times faster than the world's fastest supercomputer and bring about a major revolution in information technology.
Superconducting research has promoted the interdisciplinary integration of low-temperature physics, quantum mechanics, and materials science. In the future, with the clarification of the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity and the optimization of preparation technology, this "low-temperature miracle" may become an important link connecting basic science and industrial transformation.
(The author is an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院) and President of Southern University of Science and Technology (南方科技大学))
Return to TopBy: 王亚伟
Imagine how superconductivity might impact human life in the future.
In the morning light, cars driving on city roads are being recharged in real-time via underground superconducting wireless charging devices.
Electric airplanes equipped with superconducting propulsion systems skim over the river, flying into the distance.
Superconducting maglev trains travel smoothly at a speed of 1000 kilometers per hour, making the journey from Beijing (北京) to Shanghai (上海) only a little over an hour.
As the train exits the tunnel, looking out the window, the super farmlands of the Taklamakan Desert (塔克拉玛干沙漠) are fully visible. Fusion light spheres suspended in the air continuously provide energy to the crops, turning the former desert into a green granary...
From the unlimited energy of controlled nuclear fusion to the green revolution of electric airplanes, superconductivity, with its magical physical properties, is changing technology and life.
Controlled Nuclear Fusion
Controlled nuclear fusion can fundamentally solve humanity's energy problems and is listed by many countries as an important strategic direction for future energy. Magnetic confinement fusion technology based on superconducting magnets has the greatest potential for engineering. Its core feature is the use of a strong toroidal magnetic field generated by superconducting magnets to confine high-temperature plasma in a vacuum chamber, forming a confinement environment similar to a "magnetic cage."
Extreme temperature environments exist inside the magnetic confinement fusion device: the superconducting magnets need a low-temperature environment below minus 200 degrees Celsius to maintain superconducting properties, while the confined deuterium-tritium plasma is as high as hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius. This is equivalent to putting the sun in a refrigerator and is one of the most challenging cutting-edge engineering technologies today. In recent years, high-temperature superconducting materials and magnet technologies have developed rapidly, and can generate magnetic fields far higher than low-temperature superconducting materials in higher temperature ranges, becoming the key to promoting transformative breakthroughs in fusion devices and achieving commercial power generation.
Superconducting Maglev Train
China's high-speed maglev train (600 kilometers per hour) has entered the testing phase and is approaching the speed limit in the atmospheric environment. Superconducting maglev technology allows the train to levitate on the track, eliminating the mechanical friction resistance of traditional trains. Combined with low-vacuum pipelines, it greatly reduces air resistance, forming a "low-vacuum pipeline maglev transportation system." The theoretical operating speed can exceed 1000 kilometers per hour, which is faster than existing civil aircraft. Traveling on such a land-based "flying car" will make the one-hour economic circle between major cities in China no longer just an imagination.
Electric Large Aircraft
The process of transportation electrification has never stopped. Unlike water and land transportation, aircraft are extremely sensitive to weight. The power density and lightweight technology of electric propulsion systems are bottlenecks restricting their development. The current density of high-temperature superconducting materials is more than 50 times higher than that of traditional copper conductors, which can significantly improve the power density of airborne electrical equipment such as motors, cables, and energy storage, making it the optimal technical route to break through the lightweight technology bottleneck of electric aircraft.
France, the United States, Russia, and other countries have begun to gradually electrify aircraft using high-temperature superconducting technology. China has also begun research and layout of superconducting technology for electric aircraft. The "White Paper on the Development of Electric Aircraft" in 2019 planned a super-green hybrid electric propulsion scheme with a capacity of 250 passengers and a range of 3500 kilometers. The China Aviation Research Institute, in conjunction with universities, is conducting research on superconducting power systems.
The current global common technical problem is the lack of efficient superconducting motors and generators, which hinders the development of electric aircraft. The superconducting electrification transformation of aviation power systems provides a strategic opportunity for China. By overcoming megawatt-level high-density superconducting motors, airborne lightweight power transmission and distribution technologies, and combining the technological advantages accumulated in the electric vehicle field such as power batteries, drive motors, and electronic control systems, it is expected to achieve a "lane change overtaking" in the aviation field.
Over the past century, superconducting technology has evolved from liquid helium tank coils to a key to breaking through energy loss limitations. Superconductivity, with its "unimpeded" characteristics, is moving towards an unlimited future.
(The author is an associate professor at the School of Electrical Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (上海交通大学) and the associate editor-in-chief of the journal "Superconductivity (English)")
Return to TopBy: 吴祖煊
Imagine a future where your nanny robot receives an instruction to go downstairs and buy coffee, autonomously completing a series of actions such as opening the door, taking the elevator, finding a convenience store, getting coffee, and paying, finally handing the coffee to you.
This is not a science fiction movie, but a possibility brought about by AI agents with autonomous evolutionary capabilities – no longer limited to completing specific actions in fixed scenarios, but able to "learn autonomously" in unfamiliar environments like humans, and make corresponding actions based on changes in the scenario.
As the most important carrier of artificial intelligence, intelligent agents are composed of various elements such as hardware and software, capable of sensing the surrounding environment and making judgments and decisions based on their environment. In our daily lives, a car with assisted driving is an intelligent agent, which can autonomously step on the accelerator or brake according to road conditions; the robot vacuum cleaner at home is also an intelligent agent, which can identify whether there is paper scraps, fruit peels, or dust on the floor, and choose the appropriate cleaning method.
In fact, intelligent agents have not always been intelligent; their evolutionary history is like a person's growth history. In the early days, intelligent agents could only 死记硬背 (sǐ jì yìng bèi - "memorize by rote," to learn mechanically; to cram). For example, the supercomputer "Deep Blue" that defeated the international chess champion in 1997 was actually a "repeater" that stored hundreds of thousands of chess games; it would get stuck when encountering moves outside the rules. In 2014, Google's AlphaGo (阿尔法围棋) started the "thinking training" mode, and intelligent agents began to improve their capabilities through self-learning, gradually advancing to become experts in a specific field. In 2022, large language models represented by ChatGPT (ChatGPT) emerged, marking the development of intelligent agents to a higher level of intelligence. For example, when deciphering oracle bone inscriptions with the help of AI large models, it will autonomously retrieve the bronze ware pattern database to "brainstorm" the meaning of rare characters, and even "create" new characters based on the meaning of the context.
Corresponding to the evolution of intelligent agents is the change in intelligent agent training methods.
AI large models rely on manually collected data for training. They learn what knowledge is "fed" to them as training data. For example, if you provide them with 1 million images of cats and dogs, and clearly label which are cats and which are dogs, after a long period of training, they can well distinguish between cats and dogs, but they still cannot recognize animals they have never seen before.
The next generation of intelligent agents will have the ability to learn autonomously – by observing the world and interacting with the surrounding environment to learn various skills. There is no need to collect and label 1 million images; just use a few images to teach them the most basic knowledge, and they can learn richer knowledge by themselves. For example, if you want to teach an intelligent agent to ride a bicycle, you only need to demonstrate it once, and it will try different riding actions by itself, and constantly try and fail, and finally learn the riding skills. This means that the next generation of intelligent agents will be a step further in terms of autonomy and adaptability, able to actively acquire information, process information, and then decompose tasks and complete tasks.
Based on this approach, intelligent agents in a few years may be completely integrated into our lives: in the kitchen, intelligent stoves can not only cook delicious dishes, but also remember your taste preferences; in the hospital, AI doctors diagnose patients with diseases and discuss "customized solutions" with the chief surgeon...
However, at present, the development of intelligent agents is far from reaching the "sharp ears and eyes, skillful hands" that people expect. They can only complete specific tasks in fixed scenarios, and do not have the ability to complete tasks across scenarios: an intelligent agent can tighten screws for a car, but may not be able to do it for a ship; it can dance gracefully on flat ground, but may be "uncoordinated" when changed to a mountain road. Therefore, "cross-task, cross-scenario, cross-ontology" is the development goal of the next generation of intelligent agents.
As artificial intelligence moves from the digital world to the physical world, the trustworthiness of intelligent agents becomes increasingly important. In the continuous development of intelligent agent technology, we always need to safeguard the civilizational bottom line of "technological progress must serve human warmth" and define its behavioral boundaries and ethical norms from the source.
(The author is the Deputy Dean of the School of Intelligent Robots and Advanced Manufacturing Innovation, Fudan University (复旦大学). This article was compiled and edited by Huang Xiaohui (黄晓慧), a reporter from this newspaper.)
Return to Top*China Science Daily* Beijing (北京) Electric (Reporter Li Chen (李晨)) - This reporter learned from China Agricultural University (中国农业大学) that recently, Professor Han Zhenhai's (韩振海) team from the university, in conjunction with domestic and international teams, systematically analyzed the evolutionary history of the *Malus* genus over tens of millions of years based on 30 high-quality genomes of *Malus* species, constructed the first *Malus* genus pan-genome, and released a panoramic view of the genetic diversity of the *Malus* genus. This achievement was published in the journal *Nature Genetics*.
The study found that the *Malus* genus can be divided into 7 phylogenetic groups, and its origin can be traced back to the Asian region about 56 million years ago. As an important temperate fruit tree, the genetic basis of cultivated apples is relatively narrow, but by constructing a *Malus* genus pan-genome, the research team found that more than 30 species of the *Malus* genus have rich genetic diversity and are natural apple resistance gene banks.
The study identified species-specific structural variations and developed a set of selective sweep analysis workflows for mining key gene loci related to domestication. For example, the research team discovered a structural variation in the genome of *Malus floribunda*, which is likely to be closely related to resistance to apple scab, and also successfully identified key domestication genes that affect apple cold resistance and disease resistance. The discovery of these "golden" genetic loci not only deepens the understanding of functional variations in the apple domestication process, but also provides important genetic resources for breeding stress-resistant apple varieties.
*Nature Genetics* gave a key recommendation to this achievement. A scientist from the Spanish National Genome Research Center commented that the study, with its high-quality genome and the construction of a graphic pan-genome, provides excellent resource support for apple research and breeding, and significantly enhances the understanding of the complex phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history of the *Malus* genus.
Return to TopThis newspaper reports from Beijing (Reporter Wu Yue (吴月)): This reporter has learned from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics that recently, Professor Chang Lingqian (常凌乾)'s team from the School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, in conjunction with researchers from institutions such as Peking University (北京大学) and City University of Hong Kong (香港城市大学), has developed a flexible, implantable electronic patch called NanoFLUID. This patch integrates cutting-edge technologies such as flexible electronics and micro-nano processing, and has the characteristics of wireless control, lightness, thinness, and easy adhesion. It can be attached to biological organs like a Band-Aid, delivering drugs precisely to target organs and cells. This achievement was published in the international journal "Nature."
Traditional oral or intravenous drug administration methods have limited efficiency, and drugs are prone to getting "lost" in systemic circulation, making it difficult to precisely reach the lesion site. In addition, macromolecular drugs such as gene drugs have difficulty crossing the "natural barrier" cell membrane. In response, the research team used nano-electroporation technology, combined with flexible electronic materials, to develop an electronic patch with a 5-layer micro-nano structure that can be directly attached to the surface of organs. Compared with traditional delivery methods, this patch increases the delivery speed of drug molecules by tens of thousands of times, and can also precisely control the depth and dose of drug entry into the organ by regulating electrical parameters. Currently, this technology has achieved the transformation of results and is applied in fields such as skin trauma repair.
Return to TopLayout Design: Zhang Fangman (张芳曼)
Return to TopLuzhou Laojiao Co., Ltd. (泸州老窖股份有限公司) (referred to as "Luzhou Laojiao (泸州老窖)") is a large state-owned brewing enterprise developed on the basis of 36 brewing workshops in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The "Brewing Technique of Luzhou Laojiao Liquor (泸州老窖酒酿制技艺)" has been passed down from 1324 AD through 24 generations and was selected into the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. The "1573 National Treasure Cellars (1573国宝窖池群)", which have been in continuous use since 1573 AD, are the most complete and longest continuously used "living brewing relics" in China. The Luzhou Daqu Laojiao Cellars (泸州大曲老窖池) have been listed as national key cultural relics protection units and included in the "China World Cultural Heritage Preliminary List". Over the years, while adhering to traditional brewing techniques, Luzhou Laojiao (泸州老窖) has actively embraced new development opportunities, promoted innovative and confident expressions of traditional culture, and become one of the representatives of the vigorous rise of Chinese brands.
Adhering to Brand Going Overseas and Spreading Chinese Baijiu Culture
On January 25th, local time, the 2025 Australian Open (澳大利亚网球公开赛) welcomed the highly anticipated "Guojiao 1573 Day (国窖1573日)" at Melbourne Park (墨尔本公园). As the official and global partner and the official and only designated baijiu of the Australian Open (澳大利亚网球公开赛) from 2024 to 2028, "Luzhou Laojiao · Guojiao 1573 (泸州老窖·国窖1573)" brought cultural exhibition and interactive experiences such as dragon and lion dances and New Year-themed lacquer fan making to the audience. This is an epitome of Luzhou Laojiao (泸州老窖) promoting outstanding Chinese traditional culture to the world.
Luzhou Laojiao (泸州老窖) is a firm practitioner of Chinese baijiu going overseas. As early as 110 years ago, Luzhou Laojiao (泸州老窖) went down the Yangtze River (长江) and traveled far overseas, winning the gold medal at the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition (巴拿马太平洋万国博览会), thus opening the chapter of Luzhou Laojiao (泸州老窖)'s forward movement and brand going overseas. Over the years, Luzhou Laojiao (泸州老窖) has actively expanded overseas markets, and its brand sales network has covered more than 70 countries and regions. It has continuously innovated the confident expression of Chinese baijiu culture, launched the "Let the World Taste China" global tour, and joined hands with international events such as the ITTF World Cup (国际乒联世界杯) and the World Corporate Golf Challenge (WCGC) China (世界企业高尔夫挑战赛（WCGC）中国赛) to enhance the international influence and competitiveness of Chinese baijiu brands.
Promoting Technological Innovation and Reconstructing the Industrial Landscape with Digital Intelligence
In 2024, the Luzhou Laojiao Intelligent Packaging Center (泸州老窖智能包装中心) was completed and put into operation. The project uses a new generation of intelligent manufacturing technologies such as AI intelligence, digital twins, and industrial Internet of Things to integrate six major information systems such as production control systems, procurement management systems, and logistics management systems. The average production speed of the 5 filling production lines reaches 15,000 bottles/hour, increasing production efficiency by more than 2 times. At the same time, each production line is equipped with an impurity detector with an accuracy rate of 99.99%. Relying on a "combination punch" of technology, the Luzhou Laojiao Intelligent Packaging Center (泸州老窖智能包装中心) has successfully achieved a comprehensive improvement in filling speed, quality inspection level, intelligence level, digitalization level, and independent technological innovation level.
Luzhou Laojiao (泸州老窖) has been firmly committed to reform and innovation for many years, and is committed to exploring and practicing the digital transformation of traditional industries with advanced productivity. In recent years, Luzhou Laojiao (泸州老窖) has successively built major projects such as the Luzhou Laojiao Huangyi Brewing Ecological Park (泸州老窖黄舣酿酒生态园), and built scientific research platforms such as the National Solid-State Fermentation Engineering Technology Research Center (国家固态酿造工程技术研究中心), the National Wine Inspection Center (国家酒检中心), and the National Postdoctoral Research Station (国家博士后工作站). It continues to deepen cooperation with scientific research institutes and universities such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院) and Jiangnan University (江南大学), and uses strong scientific and technological forces to support and promote continuous product innovation and upgrading. By empowering important links such as production, marketing and management through digital intelligence construction, Luzhou Laojiao (泸州老窖)'s high-quality development has reached a new level.
Fulfilling Social Responsibility and Demonstrating the Responsibility of State-Owned Enterprises
On April 28, the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (中华全国总工会) and the National Model Workers and Advanced Workers Commendation Conference (全国劳动模范和先进工作者表彰大会) was held in Beijing (北京). Lin Feng (林锋), Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of Luzhou Laojiao Co., Ltd. (泸州老窖股份有限公司), was awarded the title of "National Model Worker (全国劳动模范)".
This honor will also encourage Luzhou Laojiao (泸州老窖) to unite and forge ahead, take responsibility, and actively fulfill the social responsibility of state-owned enterprises. Luzhou Laojiao (泸州老窖) actively practices the corporate social responsibility concept of "social co-existence, environmental interdependence, and human co-existence", and takes multiple measures to help the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas. In accordance with the work requirements of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government (四川省委省政府) and the Luzhou Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government (泸州市委市政府), it focuses on industrial assistance, education assistance, employment assistance, consumption assistance, talent assistance, and rural civilization construction to carry out high-quality assistance projects, and strives to consolidate and expand the effective connection between the results of poverty alleviation and the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas. Upgrade the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) management system, formulate the "Ecological Environmental Protection Management System (生态环境保护管理制度)" and the "Carbon Emission Management System (碳排放管理制度)" and form an annual carbon peak action plan. In 2024, the company purchased 5,944 megawatt-hours of green electricity, recovered and used 3.5992 million cubic meters of biogas, and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 58,808 tons, fully integrating the theme of green and environmental protection into the company's production and operation. Carry out donation activities such as "Small Schoolbag, Big Love" and "Pillar Project", public welfare projects such as "Luzhou Laojiao Scholarship (泸州老窖奖学金)" and "Luzhou Laojiao Golden Baton Award (泸州老窖金教鞭奖)", as well as volunteer activities such as charity sales and voluntary tree planting. A total of 2,664 employees participated in 120 volunteer service activities throughout the year. The company's total public welfare investment was 11.49 million yuan, and public welfare actions have become a common practice in the company.
The remarkable achievements in brand building have helped to steadily increase operating performance. In 2024, Luzhou Laojiao (泸州老窖) achieved a total operating income of 31.196 billion yuan and a net profit attributable to the parent company of 13.473 billion yuan. It was selected into the 2024 "China's 500 Most Valuable Brands" list and ranked third among the world's most valuable spirits brands released by Brand Finance in 2024 with a brand value of 8.2 billion US dollars. On the road of high-quality development, Luzhou Laojiao (泸州老窖) is moving forward with more vigorous steps, catching up and surpassing, and moving forward firmly.
Data source: Luzhou Laojiao (泸州老窖)
Return to TopBy: 罗雪村
May, singing this song——
The flowers of May bloom all over the fields,
The flowers cover the blood of martyrs,
To save this dying nation,
They fought tenaciously without rest!
…………
Thinking of the years when my father sang this song.
In 1938, in central Hebei (冀中), my father joined the anti-Japanese army at the age of 10.
When I was a child, watching the movies "Tunnel Warfare (地道战)", "Little Soldier Zhang Ga (小兵张嘎)", and "Plains Guerrillas (平原游击队)", I thought the war was like what was shown in the movies.
It wasn't until my father was old that I heard about the war he personally experienced.
"After the Lugou Bridge Incident (卢沟桥事变), the Japanese continuously swept and blockaded the anti-Japanese base areas in central Hebei (冀中)... Later, our guerrilla brigade was incorporated into the 29th Regiment of the 3rd Column of the Eighth Route Army."
My father followed the troops in guerrilla warfare around Baxian (霸县), Yongqing (永清), Anci (安次), Gu'an (固安), and Wuqing (武清) in central Hebei (冀中). He said that they fought almost every day at that time, and people died in the blink of an eye. He watched his comrades Feng Lianpu (冯连普) and Heizao (黑枣) being blown to pieces by a Japanese shell.
Because he was young, he did battlefield propaganda, shouting slogans and singing national salvation songs in the trenches, never leaving the battlefield.
Speaking of singing national salvation songs, "Don't think that the war was so cruel and arduous, with not enough to eat, not enough sleep, marching so far, and fighting so frequently, even so, people's emotions were still extremely high. As soon as we arrived in a new place, as long as there was no enemy situation, whether it was on the street, in the courtyard, or in an empty space at the market, we would build an earthen platform, and I would stand on it and sing with my real voice, without any accompaniment, but with emotion!"
For my father, that was the era when he sang the most!
At that time, the songs he sang included "Song of the Eight Hundred Heroes (歌八百壮士)", "The Trilogy of Exile (流亡三部曲)", "On the Taihang Mountains (在太行山上)", "Go to the Enemy's Rear (到敌人后方去)"... He also sang "The Flowers of May (五月的鲜花)", which he learned from the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University (抗大) Second Branch and exiled students from Northeast China.
"I like this song 'The Flowers of May (五月的鲜花)', I think it's different from other national salvation songs, it's very lyrical and also very tragic!" The elderly father sang again:
The flowers of May bloom all over the fields,
The flowers cover the blood of martyrs,
To save this dying nation,
They fought tenaciously without rest!
…………
Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes, his voice was hoarse and trembling, but there was a deep strength.
"The songs of that time were really touching. I cried as I sang, and the soldiers and villagers also shed tears. After singing, look at the street, whether it was mobilizing people to be laborers or mobilizing people to join the army, the villagers would really come in droves. Some even led their own livestock, and some old men and old women came with shovels and hoes to dig trenches..."
Central Hebei (冀中) was one of the most brutal areas for fighting behind enemy lines. My father said that their weapons were not good, mostly "Hanyang Made (汉阳造)" and "Xiepaizi (斜排子)", as well as miscellaneous guns such as "Laotaotong (老套筒)" and "Duyijue (独一撅)"; there was also a kind of gun that could not be opened by pulling the bolt, but had to be kicked with the foot, and there were few bullets, and many soldiers did not have bayonets... In the early days, the Japanese soldiers were well-trained and well-equipped, all wearing steel helmets and bayonets.
"Before the battle, when we went to the trenches, the soldiers were so excited when we sang national salvation songs! Some soldiers would say: Hey, look at him, such a small child is not afraid of death, we men in our twenties can't be cowards! The morale of the soldiers was really boosted, and they knew that they could not be slaves of a conquered nation, and would rather die than surrender.
"That's the role we played at that time.
"When we saw the Japanese rushing up, the soldiers got anxious and went up to fight hand-to-hand, swinging their guns, throwing stones, hacking with broadswords, and even biting with their teeth, they were really desperate."
Jiang Chongjing (蒋崇璟) Uncle, the director of the political department of the 29th Regiment at that time, told me: "Your father was very young at that time, but he played a big role. He taught songs to the companies and had a great demeanor (he said, waving his arms and imitating the rhythm), and he was very famous. He was very brave, a child, small in stature, singing national salvation songs while stepping on a table, and breaking through with us in battle, it was not easy..."
I asked my father, who was the composer of "The Flowers of May (五月的鲜花)"?
He didn't know.
I only know the lyricist, he is a famous poet.
And a song can be sung for a long time because it can stir the emotions with its melody.
Who is the composer?
It was not until recent years that I learned that it was Yan Shushi (阎述诗).
He was born in Shenyang (沈阳) in 1905 and graduated from Yenching University (燕京大学).
In 1936, the patriotic progressive drama "Girl A Yin (阿银姑娘)" was rehearsed. Because the overture of the script only had lyrics, Yan Shushi (阎述诗) was found to compose the music. Once the song "The Flowers of May (五月的鲜花)" was sung, it quickly spread all over the country, moving and inspiring countless Chinese sons and daughters.
In 1959, this song "The Flowers of May (五月的鲜花)" was selected as the theme song for the movie "Song of Youth (青春之歌)", and it is still a classic song sung by people when they remember patriots and people with lofty ideals.
Yan Shushi (阎述诗) devoted his life to teaching in schools in Shenyang (沈阳) and Beijing (北京), indifferent to fame and wealth, and not competing with the world.
Writer Xiao Fuxing (肖复兴) heard Yan Shushi (阎述诗) teach mathematics when he was studying at Beijing (北京) No. 26 Middle School, and said that his voice was particularly beautiful when he lectured, like music flowing... But he didn't know that this mathematics teacher was once a musician. It was not until after the death of teacher Yan Shushi (阎述诗) in 1963 that the school held a memorial bulletin board. He saw a letter of condolence written by the lyricist and poet Guang Weiran (光未然) on the bulletin board, expressing his admiration for this composer who "had never met but whose hearts were connected".
On the tombstone of Yan Shushi (阎述诗), teachers and friends engraved "Thirty years of hard work to cultivate talents can be a role model for teachers, the song of 'May' inspires fighting spirit and will always remain in the world."
Yan Shushi's (阎述诗) life can be described as extremely brilliant, returning to plainness and purity.
I painted a portrait of Mr. Yan Shushi (阎述诗).
He looks so humble and affectionate; his eyes are so deep and firm!
It is the time of May again, singing "The Flowers of May (五月的鲜花)..." is like returning to the era when my father sang the most.
Thinking of the thousands of Chinese people like Yan Shushi (阎述诗) and my father's generation who were unknown, they did not compromise when the nation was in danger, but fought tenaciously without rest!
It is because of them that there will always be the blooming "Flowers of May (五月的鲜花)", and there will be an unyielding China!
Return to TopBy: 梁 凌
The winds of the Spring and Autumn period blew through the Qi state court. Renowned Chancellor Yanzi (晏子), dressed in a coarse cloth old fur coat, was sitting in a simple cart pulled by inferior horses, creaking all the way. Yanzi served as the Chancellor of the Qi state, living an extremely simple life, wearing coarse old clothes and eating coarse rice. Once, Yanzi was eating when the envoy of Duke Jing of Qi (齐景公) arrived. Yanzi invited him to share the meal, but neither of them had enough to eat. The envoy reported back to Duke Jing of Qi, who lamented that he had not expected Yanzi to be so poor, and sent an official to deliver a thousand gold pieces. Yanzi declined, saying frankly, "My family is not poor."
The Grand Master Shuxiang (叔向) asked Yanzi: "What is the difference between frugality, stinginess, and love in action?" Yanzi replied: "Frugality is the way of a gentleman, while stinginess and love are the actions of a petty person." Shuxiang asked again: "What do you mean?" Yanzi said: "To measure the amount of wealth and use it sparingly, to not hoard gold when rich, and not borrow when poor, is called frugality. To accumulate much without sharing with others, and to nourish oneself lavishly, is called stinginess. To not share with others, nor nourish oneself, is called love. Therefore, frugality is the way of a gentleman, while stinginess and love are the actions of a petty person."
Yanzi himself was frugal, but willing to spend generously for others. There was a man in the Qi state named Beiguo Sao (北郭骚) who had difficulty making a living. He heard that Yanzi was righteous, so he sought him out. Yanzi did not disappoint him, immediately distributing grain and money to him. One year, it rained for 17 consecutive days, and Duke Jing of Qi continued to drink and make merry, without distributing grain to the people. Yanzi rescued the people from the disaster, distributing his own grain to the victims.
History is always surprisingly similar. Across a thousand years of smoke and dust, in a kiln east of Luoyang (洛阳), another story about frugality is brewing. The difference is that Yanzi's simplicity was a self-restraint of the high-ranking, while this poor scholar about to appear on the scene will temper a valuable character from suffering.
A humble kiln, like a subtle crevice in history, from which emerges the famous Northern Song Dynasty minister, Lü Mengzheng (吕蒙正). The *History of Song* (*宋史*) records that he "often fell into poverty and hardship," a few words that fully convey the hardships of his youth. His mother, Lady Liu (刘氏), was expelled with her son and lived in a cold kiln, mother and son depending on each other for survival. Shao Bowen (邵伯温) recorded in *Shaoshi Wenjianlu* (*邵氏闻见录*) that when Lü Mengzheng was studying, he met a melon seller by the river and wanted to eat a melon to quench his thirst, but could not find any money. Coincidentally, the melon seller dropped a melon, and Lü Mengzheng "sorrowfully picked it up and ate it." Unable to afford a melon, his poverty can be imagined. After Lü Mengzheng became Prime Minister, he built a pavilion by the river, named "Choked Melon Pavilion (噎瓜亭)," to remind himself not to forget the past and not lose his true colors.
From a young scholar to a Prime Minister in the court, over the years, the frugal years recorded by the Choked Melon Pavilion have never faded in the depths of Lü Mengzheng's soul. Lü Mengzheng's world was simple in material terms, but his spirit blossomed like a flower. There was a courtier who collected ancient mirrors, claiming that his mirror could reflect the scenery within two hundred miles, and wanted to present it to Lü Mengzheng in order to seek employment. Lü Mengzheng smiled and said, "My face is only as big as a plate, where would I need a mirror that reflects two hundred miles?"
Lü Mengzheng valued education and was willing to invest heavily in it, generously donating money. There was a man named Fu Yan (富言) who was a guest of Lü Mengzheng. One day, he told Lü Mengzheng: "My son is in his teens and I want him to study at the academy." Lü Mengzheng agreed. After seeing the child, Lü Mengzheng exclaimed: "This child's future fame and position will be similar to mine, and his achievements will far exceed mine." He then ordered him to study with his own sons and gave him generous treatment. This child was Fu Bi (富弼), who later served as Prime Minister twice. Once, a poor life could not stop Lü Mengzheng's pursuit of knowledge; now, he used his wealth to pave the way for others to gain knowledge. The memory of a melon has thus borne a tree full of peaches and plums in the long river of history.
Character is manifested in generosity and forged into extraordinary in perseverance. Yanzi's coarse cloth clothes and Lü Mengzheng's Choked Melon Pavilion, like two stars echoing each other across the sky, outline the spiritual galaxy of ancient sages. Their frugality is a choice of the soul, a gentleman's principle, not 锱铢必较 (zī zhū bì jiào - "weigh every ounce," to haggle over every detail; to be overly concerned with minor gains or losses), let alone stinginess. In the court, they led by example, like a gentle breeze, dispelling the extravagance and corruption; for the people's livelihood, they were compassionate, gathering every bit of savings and turning it into relief grain and learning candles, gently nourishing the earth.
Today, in a state of material abundance, with towering buildings and bustling traffic, when someone spends a fortune on brand names and goes to great lengths for face, it is worth looking back into the depths of history. There are coarse cloth clothes, wrapped in simplicity and responsibility; there is the Choked Melon Pavilion, carrying poverty and perseverance.
Return to TopBy: 柯 军
Teacher Zheng Chuanjian (郑传鑑) of the Kunqu Opera Chuan Zi generation taught opera, paying particular attention to the harmony of hands, eyes, body, and steps. His movements were very beautiful. His requirements for students were not only to perform the movements and act out the plot, but more importantly, to express the characters' emotions and personalities in a beautiful way.
In "Nine Lotus Lanterns: Guiding the Way," when the rich servant appears, he takes a step, circles the stage, strikes a pose, dusts off the dust, walks, encounters water, and retreats. The entire process that Teacher Zheng (郑老师) taught me was delicate in its steps. Every step, stomping, stepping, tiptoeing, and stepping back, was very beautiful. To express the old man's aching back and legs, he usually uses his right hand to beat his legs and then his waist. However, Teacher Zheng (郑老师) designed a highly performative dance movement: the right hand beats the right foot, the left hand beats the lower back, the body sways up and down, the beard shakes, and the character's singing is perfectly coordinated.
Teacher Zheng (郑老师) taught us to pay attention to cooperation with others. The teacher said, "If it is a play for two people, half of the stage is his, and half of the stage is yours. Remembering this will make the stage full and harmonious." He pointed out to me that in a two-person play on stage, sometimes the movements are combined, and the two people move together to the left, forward, and backward, requiring mutual care and cooperation to be very harmonious. If there are three people, there is another system. The teacher taught extremely carefully, striving for the beauty of cooperative movements and the harmony of the entire stage.
Teacher Zheng (郑老师) taught opera, paying particular attention to how to externalize the characters' inner world through gestures, movements, and poses. His gestures and movements are connected to the development of the plot and the characters' emotions. "Farewell Mother Amidst a Shower of Arrows" is Teacher Zheng's (郑老师) signature play. Zhou Yuji (周遇吉) in the play plays the role of a civil and military old man. Because it suited me better, I started learning it when I was at the Jiangsu Opera School (江苏省戏校). Initially, Teacher Bai Dongmin (白冬民) taught me, then Teacher Zhang Jinlong (张金龙) helped me strengthen the martial arts aspects, and later I received careful instruction from Teacher Zheng Chuanjian (郑传鑑).
Teacher Zheng (郑老师) taught me that "Farewell Mother Amidst a Shower of Arrows" should grasp the inner entanglement and fighting of the characters in the context of war from the very beginning. The "farewell" in "Farewell Mother" mainly refers to the emotional exchange between Zhou Yuji (周遇吉) and his mother. From "mother looking" to "looking at mother," the mutual longing between mother and son must be foreshadowed from the very beginning. Afterwards, the farewell to the mother is divided into several processes: bowing to the mother, concealing from the mother, persuading the mother, forcing the mother, and finally the real farewell to the mother.
Zhou Yuji (周遇吉) did not want to bring the tragic atmosphere of the war outside and the broken city to his home. He endured his grief and forced a smile, bowing to his mother and offering her wine, with the aim of coaxing his mother to leave this place. In this section, there are many gestures done behind his mother's back, and many lyrics are sad and tearful, using the entire section of "Little Peach Red" to express his worries about the war and state the struggle between loyalty and filial piety: "I hate that when I was young, why didn't I follow the path of fishermen and woodcutters... I could have had a complete end to my life, fulfilling my filial duties without hindrance; why did I learn swords and spears, and climb the halls of power, now teaching me to advance and retreat, alas, my mind is wandering." But while "concealing," his unavoidable grief could not escape his mother's eyes. His mother saw through him: "You are afraid that you will die on the battlefield because the bandits are besieging Daizhou (代州), and no one will serve me." The son had no choice but to tell the truth: "I think this pass has no rescue in front and no retreat in the back, and it will be broken sooner or later." That's why he came back to see his mother, even though "dying on the battlefield is a matter of course," he just can't protect his mother, so "his heart is cut like a knife"... Teacher Zheng (郑老师) carefully explained the play, requiring me to perform the tug-of-war between loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness throughout the entire process, using rich back bends, from the kneeling on the legs, the sword in the hand, the waist of the back bend, to the eyes, externalizing strong emotions and the inner world.
Among them, there is a movement where Zhou Yuji (周遇吉) bids farewell to his mother and wants to leave the mansion, suddenly turns back to look at his wife and son, and says, "You should serve your mother-in-law well," but pulls out half of the sword in his hand, and can't pull it out anymore. This actually implies that his wife should preserve her chastity, so the wife pulls out the remaining sword and commits suicide. The old tradition is that Zhou Yuji (周遇吉) pulls out the sword and throws it on the ground, letting his wife commit suicide. But the teacher said that this is too ruthless, pulling out half of the sword and exposing it to his wife, but not looking at her, letting his wife understand, which can better reflect the character's inner struggle. Also, the first section of the opening song: "Defeat is not because of fear of the enemy's madness..." should be sung very firmly and decisively, with a heroic spirit. When continuing to sing "Thinking of my mother leaning on the door and gazing," the teacher said that this sentence is not just singing, the word "gazing" is almost a shout, it should be dragged out, shouted hoarsely, and coordinated with the action of the horse whip, which is very tragic.
The teacher also paid particular attention to the coordination of gestures and eyes. The moment Zhou Yuji (周遇吉) returned home and saw his mother, the guilt towards his wife when saying goodbye, the heartache when looking at his son... The eyes at these times are not only an expression of the current situation, but also express the before and after development of the story in an instant. Especially when it comes to "Shower of Arrows," after Zhou Yuji (周遇吉) is hit by an arrow, blood flows down, and his eyes are covered with blood. Sometimes he can't see, and sometimes his eyes are forced open to see a blood-red color in front of him. At this time, his eyes should be like a madman, expressing the pain after the struggle of a hero at the end of his road and the tragedy of sacrifice.
Teacher Zheng (郑老师) teaches opera, and he will break the traditional "rules." He said that the singing, reciting, acting, and performing of Kunqu Opera should all revolve around the characters and the development of the plot, and should not be limited to the gongche notation on paper. We must constantly think about and ponder how to externalize the characters' current inner expression, and learn how to skillfully use hands, eyes, body, and steps.
Return to TopBy: 杨志学
In the courtyard of the Beidaihe (北戴河) Writers' Retreat, there are two walnut trees with branches reaching the ground. The shade beneath them is cool and pleasant, and none of the writers who have visited here dislike them.
Previously, I always thought it was one big tree.
It was only when I wanted to solve the mystery and examined its root system that I discovered they were two trees.
Two walnut trees, how wonderful.
Transcending loneliness, refusing separation, symbolizing the relationship between A and B.
Like you and me.
Like art and life.
And, life and land...
Return to TopGouache painting "Malus × zumi 'Professor Sprenger'," by Chang Shana (常沙娜), collection of the National Art Museum of China (中国美术馆).
Return to TopBy: 丁祖荣
Longwei Zhang, in the light and shadow of the sky.
This is an ordinary village in Jiangnan. In recent years, Longwei Zhang (龙尾张) has attracted attention. Many people's understanding of Longwei Zhang (龙尾张) begins with the popularity of the night market. Douyin and Xiaohongshu are driving people to gather in the direction of the hustle and bustle. Nanhu Lake (南湖) embraces Longwei Zhang (龙尾张), and the villagers are nourished by the water. The evening breeze is gentle, the lake water laps the shore, chickens crow and dogs bark, and now, with the addition of flashing neon lights, the fragrance of barbecue, and the sizzling taste of spicy hot pot, sound and light symphony on the shore of Nanhu Lake (南湖), which is the enthusiasm of young people, the nostalgia of middle-aged people, and the leisure of the elderly.
After crossing the bridge and entering the village, someone asks where in the village there are mulberry, peach, apricot, and rapeseed flowers. It seems that outsiders are looking for the Jiangnan (江南) of their dreams.
The rising place to the east is Wuxuan Airport (芜宣机场). Every plane carries the message of the rise of Wanzhi (湾沚), a famous science and technology innovation city in southeastern Anhui (皖东南), to the whole country and even overseas. Speaking of which, Longwei Zhang (龙尾张) is a water village, which used to be prone to floods. After treatment, there is no worry of floods and there is water conservancy. Water nourishes Longwei Zhang (龙尾张). The village looks outstanding, and the terrain is slightly undulating. Although there are no green mountains across the north Guo, there is green water around the village. The water of Nanhu Lake (南湖) and the water of Qingyi River (青弋江) have bridges that are smooth and accessible; the connected corridors retain dreams; a pavilion is winged, and villagers gather here to discuss matters and talk about family affairs. Early orioles compete for warm trees, egrets hover, and游boats float on the water. On the river and in the lake, boats are crossing and traveling. In the sound of oars, people and water, and pastoral fields, are placed in the scenery of the water town, and Nanhu Lake (南湖) in the misty rain is a landscape painting.
Both times I went, there was a light rain. I saw swallows flying diagonally, and I saw egrets fluttering.
One time was before the National Day (国庆节). About 5 o'clock in the morning. The light rain was like fog, brushing on my face, dispelling the heat. Longwei Zhang (龙尾张) is stepping up construction. The village is changing with each passing day, the infrastructure is being renovated, and the road network is already complete.
The next time I went, the peach blossoms were in bloom, and Longwei Zhang (龙尾张) became a brocade. The rapeseed flowers by the village are golden, which sets off the peach blossoms by the water, and the peach blossoms are even redder. In earlier years, the open spaces and waterfronts here were planted with mulberry trees. Mulberry leaves feed silkworms, and silk becomes a source of income, while mulberries are a delicacy for children. The Nanhu Academy (南湖书院) built on the lakeside is particularly eye-catching. The academy is a new thing that urban and rural areas are fond of at the moment, which is exciting. In the village, there are not only study rooms, but also homestays. The aunt who hoes grass has become a cook who makes rural delicacies. Home-cooked dishes have become specialty dishes. The peach blossom fish is fresh and tender, and the green dumplings and wormwood粑粑 are sweet and delicious. I not only ate them, but also took a few away.
For rural construction, infrastructure is certainly important, but the soul is the villagers. We need to start businesses and find employment, but also rest and enjoy our old age. We need to work, but also be poetic.
Looking out the window, I saw a red boat parked at the pier next to the academy. The sky and the water are the same color, very beautiful. In the light rain, people boarded the boat with great interest and sailed into the rippling Nanhu Lake (南湖).
Return to TopBy: 李青松
In the Northeast, the Eurasian woodcock is a common bird in the meadows. When I was a child, I herded cattle in the meadows and would startle them from time to time. At that time, I only knew it was called "water zazi (水扎子)." I learned it was called a Eurasian woodcock later when I went to school and read books.
The Eurasian woodcock has a round, plump body. It has short legs, a long, straight beak, and patterns on its head and neck that confuse other animals' vision. Its eyes are positioned particularly far back on its head, providing a 360-degree field of vision with no blind spots. When taking off, it faces downwards, its wings fluttering with a whirring sound. When landing, it appears clumsy, like a stone falling from the sky.
Although it has a pair of wings, the Eurasian woodcock doesn't particularly like to fly. Even when it does fly, its posture isn't very elegant, crooked and sloppy. Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, it always stays on the ground. The Eurasian woodcock is naturally solitary and usually acts alone. Only when the weather changes suddenly or it feels unsafe will several or more gather together.
When foraging, the Eurasian woodcock will sway its body in an exaggerated and comical way, bobbing up and down as if the ground is burning its feet, forcing it to do so. I once observed carefully that sometimes the Eurasian woodcock sways three or four times before taking a step; sometimes it sways five or six times before taking a step; and at most, it sways seven times. There is no rule, no fixed number. In its dictionary, there is no such word as "speed," which is really frustrating to watch.
One summer, my family's old cow "Dahuang (大黄)" was grazing in the meadow and didn't pay attention to its feet, accidentally stepping on something with its front hoof. Fluttering—a series of flapping wings sounded from the grass, followed by a squeaking wail. I went closer to look and found that a Eurasian woodcock that was "incubating" was injured in the wing by "Dahuang (大黄)." It could have avoided it completely, but in order to protect the three plump little Eurasian woodcocks that had just hatched beneath its abdomen, it used its wings to shield them without moving. It would rather have its own wing broken than fail in its responsibility as a mother.
I wrapped the injured Eurasian woodcock and the three naked little Eurasian woodcocks in my clothes and ran home, where my sister, who was a village doctor, helped me disinfect, apply medicine, and bandage the injured Eurasian woodcock. As a result, the Eurasian woodcock still closed its eyes forever a week later due to its severe injuries.
I was very sad and felt depressed for several days.
I decided to keep the three little Eurasian woodcocks alive. Every day after school, I would dig up earthworms, catch tadpoles, and swat grasshoppers, put them in a glass jar, and take them home to feed the little Eurasian woodcocks. I put them in a cardboard box with some air holes punched in the lid. As soon as they heard me come home from school, they would poke their beaks out of the air holes and squeak for food.
Under my careful care, the three little Eurasian woodcocks gradually grew feathers after a few weeks. One day, I let them out of the cardboard box to learn to walk. At first, they couldn't stand steadily and kept falling, but after two or three days, their legs became stronger, and they could stagger a few meters or even a dozen meters. And I was surprised to find that the little Eurasian woodcocks' comical gait and the way they swayed a few times before taking a step were not learned, nor were they necessary for hunting, but were innate in their bones. Because, after the three little Eurasian woodcocks lost their mother, no one taught them how to walk, and no one taught them hunting skills; everything depended on their own instincts.
Yes, the Eurasian woodcock's way of walking is quite strange and is quite characteristic among birds. During the walking process, its head and neck remain on a horizontal plane, but its body constantly moves, bobbing up and down, swaying repeatedly, as if it has many things on its mind, and every step is so difficult. Perhaps this is their survival wisdom. With my knowledge, I cannot yet explain the reason for this way of walking, but I can be sure that this way of walking is definitely not for fun.
In the eyes of others, the three little Eurasian woodcocks all look the same, but I know in my heart that they are different. One has three obvious stripes on its back, is alert, aggressive, and often bullies the other two. One likes to "stay on the edge," doesn't compete or grab, and looks like a punching bag. One always likes to preen its feathers, tapping its beak non-stop, and looking at the sky from time to time.
One Sunday morning, I found that one of the little Eurasian woodcocks was missing from the cardboard box, the restless one. I searched around the front and back of my house, but it was nowhere to be found. My sister also helped me look, but it was still missing. I asked the neighbors, and they all said they hadn't seen it. Where did it go? I was sweating anxiously, thinking, was it eaten by a hawk? Or was it carried away by a weasel?
"It's here! It's here!" In the distance, I faintly heard my sister's shout. I ran over to where the sound was coming from and found that my sister had found it in the grass by the river. It was sticking its butt up in the air, using its beak to pull a red earthworm out of the mud. At that moment, I seemed to understand something—perhaps wildness is uncontrollable, finding food on its own, hunting on its own, free and unfettered.
I knew that the little Eurasian woodcock ultimately belonged to nature and should return to its own world.
A few weeks later, finally one day, I carried the three little Eurasian woodcocks to a haystack behind my house and then turned to leave. They were squeaking and anxious. I deliberately didn't look back and walked forward in big strides. Suddenly, I heard the sound of fluttering wings behind me.
I wanted to laugh. But in an instant, my eyes were wet.
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