Summary: The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is deepening integration through infrastructure development ("hard connectivity") like the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge, policy coordination ("soft connectivity") such as streamlined cross-border payments, and cultural exchanges ("heart connectivity") exemplified by projects like the "Macao New Neighborhood" in Hengqin. The GBA aims to become an international science and technology innovation hub by leveraging the strengths of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, fostering collaboration between research institutions and industries. The area is expanding its opening-up policies by aligning with high-standard trade and investment rules, facilitating cross-border data flow, and promoting financial integration, with the goal of attracting global resources and fostering a world-class business environment. The GBA's foreign trade is growing with exports to Southeast Asia, while also attracting global investment from companies from the United States. The region is also promoting closer economic ties with the mainland, including the Yangtze River Delta region.
Summary: During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, many laborers remained at their posts. Examples include: Fan Yuqiang, a courier station manager in Anhui Province, and his staff who sorted deliveries; police officer Zhou Xiaowei who patrolled fishing boats in Zhejiang Province; and Xia Yong, chief engineer of a hydropower plant in Sichuan Province, who oversaw construction. Hu Xianglong, director of a thermal equipment research center in Hunan, worked on advanced equipment to address China's strategic needs, especially in aviation. These and other stories highlight the dedication of individuals contributing to China's development and technological advancement.
Summary: During the recent National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, China experienced a surge in consumer activity, driven by policy support and innovative services. Key retail and catering enterprises saw a 3.3% increase in sales compared to last year, with vibrant festive activities and new business models emerging across various regions. Local governments stimulated consumption through measures like issuing vouchers and organizing cultural events, leading to significant growth in tourism and related sectors. Inbound tourism also saw growth, with an increase in foreign passengers on domestic flights. The article does not mention U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The article highlights the positive impact of infrastructure development, specifically road construction, on the economic prosperity of Huaxi Village in Chongqing's Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County. Improved road networks have facilitated the transportation of agricultural products like *huangjing* (a medicinal herb) and bamboo shoots, leading to increased income for villagers. Since Xi Jinping's visit to the then-impoverished village in 2019, road construction has bolstered tourism and the development of specialty industries. Villagers have seen a significant increase in annual income as a result of the infrastructural improvements. The article frames this local success as part of a broader national trend of rural revitalization through transportation infrastructure development during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.
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Summary: The article discusses China's ongoing lunar exploration program, highlighting the successful testing of the new generation manned spacecraft "Mengzhou" and the lunar lander "Lanyue," aiming for a manned lunar landing before 2030. It emphasizes the spirit of self-reliance and innovation in overcoming technological challenges. The article implicitly frames China's advancements as a response to external pressures ("卡脖子" to "掰手腕"), reinforcing the idea of controlling its own destiny. The Chang'e-6 mission team was awarded the 2025 International Astronautical Federation World Space Award. The article connects these achievements to a broader narrative of national progress and encourages continued efforts.
Summary: A national subsidy program is driving increased appliance consumption in Fengqing County, Yunnan Province, particularly among returning migrant workers and their families. These subsidies, coupled with manufacturer discounts, encourage consumers like Zhao Tianhua to purchase energy-efficient appliances such as fully automatic washing machines and consider upgrading other household electronics. According to appliance store owner Yang Zhijun, sales have increased significantly, with a shift towards higher-efficiency appliances due to the subsidy structure. Fengqing County has expanded the subsidy program to include home appliances, home decoration and automobiles, aiming to stimulate the market and improve living standards. The article does not discuss the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: China's "trade-in" (以旧换新) policies are being expanded to rural areas and smaller cities to boost consumption and improve living standards. The policy focuses on replacing old appliances with green, smart, and high-quality alternatives. By promoting trade-ins, the government aims to stimulate economic activity in county-level markets and foster development along the supply chain. Local governments are encouraged to optimize subsidy procedures and strengthen market supervision to maximize the policy's benefits for consumers.
Summary: According to the article, Xi Jinping has emphasized China's commitment to high-level opening-up, sharing development opportunities, and promoting economic globalization towards a more inclusive and beneficial direction. The article asserts that China contributes significantly to global economic stability, particularly through its role in global supply chains and the Belt and Road Initiative. It also highlighted China's efforts to expand imports and optimize its business environment, including the removal of foreign investment restrictions in manufacturing and the steady promotion of service sector opening. The article also notes a U.S.-China Business Council survey showing that most member companies consider the Chinese market indispensable to maintaining their global competitiveness.
Summary: The article focuses on the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), highlighting deepened cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao through infrastructure connectivity, streamlined customs procedures, and policy innovations. These efforts aim to facilitate the flow of people, goods, and capital within the GBA, fostering economic integration and innovation. The area aims to become an international science and technology innovation center by leveraging the strengths of each region and promoting collaborative research. Shenzhen and Hong Kong are specifically mentioned for their combined innovation cluster now ranking first globally. The region is also developing new advantages in international cooperation and competition.
Summary: This article highlights the dynamic innovation and economic strength of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). It emphasizes the region's high-quality economic development driven by continuous reform, unwavering openness, and innovation. The GBA is presented as a testament to China's economic progress, showcasing the interconnectedness and collaborative synergy between Hong Kong, Macao, and the nine Pearl River Delta cities. The article underscores the GBA's role in shaping a new development pattern for China.
Summary: The article discusses the historical and cultural significance of Yueyang Tower, focusing on its continuous preservation and renovation efforts, most recently between 1982 and 1984. It emphasizes the spirit of "忧乐 (worry and joy)" associated with the tower, linking it to historical figures like Qu Yuan, Du Fu, and Fan Zhongyan, as well as modern-day examples of sacrifice and dedication. The article highlights a new immersive theatrical performance at the tower, and how ecological restoration around Dongting Lake reflects a modern interpretation of "忧乐." The article does not reference the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, tourists visited the Hukou Waterfall scenic area, located on the border of Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces. People across China celebrated the holidays by traveling, sightseeing, and relaxing. The article suggests that this was a popular recreational choice for citizens during this time. The attached photo is credited to Xinhua News Agency photographer Lü Guiming. There is no mention of the United States or U.S.-China relations.
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Summary: The article highlights the experiences of three foreigners living in China who actively promote Chinese culture and stories to the world.方浩明, an Iraqi journalist, shares his love for Ningxia and Chinese culture through his reporting. 陈荣恩, a South Korean woman living in Yichang, promotes the city's tourism and culture through social media, even becoming a local tourism ambassador. 奥萨玛, a Pakistani businessman in Jiaxing, showcases the beauty of Jiangnan water towns and promotes cultural exchange. None of these three individuals mention the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The article emphasizes the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) commitment to unity, mutual trust, and mutually beneficial cooperation, particularly in the context of a complex and uncertain global landscape. It highlights China's role in promoting economic cooperation through initiatives in digital economy, green development, and infrastructure connectivity, benefiting countries like Pakistan through projects like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The author stresses the importance of cultural exchange and people-to-people connections within the SCO framework, pointing to initiatives like the "Understanding China" forum. The author also mentions that the SCO is promoting global governance initiatives. The article concludes by reaffirming the SCO's dedication to contributing to a community with a shared future for mankind.
Summary: Madrid Polytechnic University's China representative, Professor Fekete, stated that Europe needs a better understanding of China to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes, emphasizing the potential for upgraded cooperation in technology, education, and industry. Fekete, who previously served as the foreign dean of Sino-French Institute of Tongji University, highlighted the deepening cooperation between European countries and top Chinese universities, even amidst complex international situations. He cited examples like the "Plant and Environment Interaction Joint Center" focusing on sustainable agriculture and the success of a Spanish student's electric vehicle startup incubated at Tongji University. Fekete emphasized that European companies want to cooperate with China and secure a place in the Chinese market. He hopes to foster a broader international perspective for European and Chinese students, solidifying future collaboration.
Summary: Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced that Politburo Member and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Italy from October 7-12 at the invitation of Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tajani. While in Italy, Wang will also attend the 12th Joint Meeting of the China-Italy Government Committee. Following his visit to Italy, Wang will travel to Switzerland for the fourth round of foreign minister-level strategic dialogue with Swiss Federal Councillor and Foreign Minister Cassis.
Summary: The article reports on the increasing popularity of tourism in China, spurred by expanded unilateral visa-free entry and optimized regional visa-free policies. It notes that "China tours" are becoming a new trend, exemplified by foreign tourists in Anhui province. The piece does not mention any specific officials or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: During the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the Chinese mission to the UN in Geneva and the OHCHR jointly launched an online platform for the Knowledge Center for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. Ambassador Chen Xu, Deputy High Commissioner Nada Al-Nashif, and representatives from Paraguay and Thailand delivered keynote speeches at the launch. Attendees from over 100 countries commended China's leading role in economic, social, and cultural rights and expressed hope for deepened cooperation. The article does not make any mention of the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: A series of Chinese cultural events, themed "A Moment of Togetherness: A City of Flowers and Brocade," were held in Kuwait to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. The events, guided by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Chinese Embassy in Kuwait, included performances, exhibitions of Chengdu's panda culture and intangible cultural heritage, and interactive activities. Kuwaiti citizens expressed their appreciation for Chinese culture and a desire to visit China, especially after the implementation of visa-free policies for ordinary passport holders. A Kuwaiti student specializing in mechanical engineering expressed his desire to visit Shenzhen. The events aimed to strengthen cultural exchange and mutual understanding between China and Kuwait.
Summary: During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, numerous workers remained at their posts. Examples include:范玉强, a courier station manager in Anhui Province, and his team who worked to deliver fresh seafood; 夏勇, the chief engineer of the Yebatan Hydropower Station in Sichuan, who oversaw the construction of a large dam; and 刘铭, a researcher at the China Academy of Space Technology, who monitored the space station. These individuals are contributing to national development in areas ranging from energy security to aerospace technology. The article asserts that their collective efforts illuminate the path toward national rejuvenation.
Summary: During the recent National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, China's consumer market saw increased activity driven by policy support and innovative services. Key retail and catering enterprises experienced a 3.3% year-on-year increase in sales during the first four days of the holiday. Various regions implemented measures like issuing consumer coupons and hosting cultural events to stimulate spending. County-level tourism saw significant growth, with some destinations experiencing over 100% increase in bookings compared to last year. Inbound tourism also saw a rise, with foreign travelers flying to 70 domestic cities, indicating a growing interest in "China Travel."
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Summary: During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China made significant achievements in ecological civilization construction, prioritizing ecological conservation and green development. The country has systematically promoted ecological governance, including integrated protection of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, and deserts, alongside establishing a nature reserve system based on national parks. China's industrial structure is undergoing a green and low-carbon transformation, with an increased proportion of non-fossil energy consumption, with wind and solar power capacity ranking first in the world for many years. The modernization of the ecological environment governance system has improved through laws and regulations. The article makes no mention of the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: This metadata provides only the names of editors and designers responsible for the layout of a publication. It does not contain substantive information about Chinese politics, official statements, or U.S.-China relations. Therefore, no summary is possible.
Summary: Taining County in Fujian province has revitalized its ancient city through systematic restoration and protection of Ming and Qing dynasty architecture, attracting tourists and boosting local businesses. The county implemented a "construction, management, and utilization" mechanism, addressing complex property rights issues to facilitate repairs and encourage diverse business development like teahouses, restaurants, and cultural experiences. The initiative focuses on preserving original architectural elements while incorporating modern amenities, leading to a surge in tourism and increased revenue for local businesses. The city also emphasizes the preservation of local cultural heritage through integrating intangible cultural heritage, such as traditional stilt house construction, into the architecture. There is no mention of the U.S. or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: In an article commemorating the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Palace Museum, an academic from the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences recounts his personal history with the Forbidden City, detailing frequent visits and research collaborations facilitated by its resources. He highlights academic exchanges with the Taipei Palace Museum, emphasizing the collaborative effort to publish a complete edition of the Kangxi Emperor's records, uniting archives from both sides of the Taiwan Strait. He also mentions finding previously unknown records about the Kangxi Emperor's palace in archives on both sides of the strait. The author emphasizes the importance of understanding the Forbidden City within a broader historical and cultural context, as a testament to Chinese civilization. The article does not directly address U.S.-China relations.
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Summary: This brief article from Guizhou Moutai expresses seasonal greetings for the Mid-Autumn Festival, highlighting the company's role in Chinese celebratory traditions. It emphasizes Moutai's transformation from a small distillery to a world-leading liquor brand through dedication to craftsmanship. The statement promotes Moutai's aim to integrate into people's lives and bring high-quality enjoyment. The company hopes to make Moutai a global brand.
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Summary: This article introduces a special "Mid-Autumn Festival" edition of the "Da Di Fenghua" literary supplement. It emphasizes the festival's cultural significance and its role in fostering shared national identity through themes of reunion, nostalgia, and cultural memory. The edition features five essays exploring different perspectives on the Mid-Autumn Festival and the full moon. The editor hopes to encourage readers to appreciate the festival's diverse interpretations and common cultural heritage. There is no mention of the United States or U.S.-China relations in the provided text.
Summary: This article is a personal reflection on a family's connection to a osmanthus tree, planted by the author's father, that blooms reliably around the Mid-Autumn Festival. The tree, originally in the father's courtyard, was transplanted to the author's city home, symbolizing the family's unity. The author reflects on his parents' unspoken desires for family reunions during the festival, which were often unmet. He now appreciates the tree's resilience and the enduring spirit of the Mid-Autumn Festival, even if actual family gatherings and traditions are difficult to replicate. There is no discussion of US-China relations in this article.
Summary: This nostalgic piece reflects on the author's memories of Mid-Autumn Festival, contrasting childhood celebrations centered around homemade "团圆饼" (reunion cakes) with later experiences. The author recalls a particularly memorable Mid-Autumn Festival at the Lu Xun Literary Institute in 2015. Later, the author's improved financial situation allowed for store-bought treats, but the homemade taste of the past remained unmatched. The author does not directly discuss the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The provided text identifies a Chinese painting, "Flowers Album (Osmanthus)," by the artist Zhang Xiong. The text offers no political analysis, mention of officials, or any reference to the United States or U.S.-China relations. Therefore, a summary focusing on these areas is not possible.
Summary: The article discusses the romanticized perception of the moon and how modern experiences of viewing it, often mediated by technology and artificial environments, differ from the poetic imagery found in classical Chinese poetry. It examines the context of Li Bai's famous poem "Quiet Night Thought," questioning the specific location and circumstances of its composition and how these details influence its interpretation. The author laments the loss of wonder associated with direct, unfiltered observation of the moon, replaced by fleeting glimpses through screens and commodified representations. As an architect, the author expresses concern over commercial projects that exploit the moon's image without providing genuine experiences of natural beauty. The piece ultimately reflects on a personal dream of experiencing the moon's simple beauty in a dark room.
Summary: Digital technology is transforming the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional Chinese holiday centered on family reunion. Livestreaming and social media platforms facilitate virtual gatherings for families separated by distance. Extended reality (XR) technology is being used to create immersive, futuristic experiences that boost young people's interest in traditional culture. 3D printing enables diverse and customized mooncake designs, while NFTs are turning mooncakes into digital collectibles.
Summary: This article is a personal reflection on the meaning of the Mid-Autumn Festival, contrasting childhood celebrations with the author's more recent, lackluster experiences. The author reminisces about homemade mooncakes and family traditions, contrasting them with the idealized versions found in literature. A difficult year for the family, including the father's health issues and other familial anxieties, led the author to appreciate the simple joy of togetherness this Mid-Autumn Festival. Ultimately, the author emphasizes the importance of appreciating the ordinary moments in life and finding meaning in family connections. The piece does not mention U.S.-China relations.
Summary: This short piece provides contact information for the *People's Daily* "Earth" ("Dadi") section, including the email address dadi@peopledaily.cn. It also credits Zhang Danfeng with the page layout design. The provided text does not contain information regarding Chinese politics, statements or actions of officials, nor does it mention the United States or U.S.-China relations. Therefore, no further summary is possible.
By: 本报记者 胡 健 卞民德 程远州
This is a unique area—
Building in a country with two systems, three customs territories, and three currencies is unprecedented internationally.
This is a fertile ground of hope—
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (香港特别行政区), the Macao Special Administrative Region (澳门特别行政区), and nine cities in the Pearl River Delta such as Guangzhou (广州) and Shenzhen (深圳市) in Guangdong Province (广东省), is one of the most open and economically vibrant regions in China.
Building the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a major national strategy personally planned, deployed, and promoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平). It is not only a new measure to promote the formation of a new pattern of comprehensive opening-up in the new era, but also a new practice to promote the development of the "one country, two systems" cause.
"We must be bold in exploring and experimenting, and blaze a new trail."
"Make the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area a strategic pillar of the new development pattern, a demonstration area for high-quality development, and a leading area for Chinese-style modernization."
Standing at the forefront and forging ahead. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has comprehensively deepened reform, comprehensively expanded opening-up, coordinated and linked up, and integrated development. Its economic aggregate has jumped to 14 trillion yuan, and the construction of a world-class bay area and a world-class city cluster has taken solid steps.
On the coast of the South China Sea, the tide of opening-up surges, the sails of reform are raised, and vitality radiates in all directions.
Moving Towards Integration
—Promoting "hard connectivity," "soft connectivity," and "heart connectivity," the exchange and cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao continues to deepen.
As dawn breaks, the Pearl River Estuary sparkles, and the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge (深中通道) is bustling with traffic.
One year after opening to traffic, the average daily traffic flow exceeds 86,400 vehicles, accounting for about 1/5 of the total traffic flow across the Pearl River Estuary, and is showing a continuous upward trend.
"The backbone channel effect is obvious," said Zhang Changliang (张长亮), Deputy Director and Chief Engineer of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge Management Center.
This is the key "horizontal" of the "A"-shaped transportation backbone of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The "Shenzhen-Dongguan-Huizhou" (深莞惠) and "Zhuhai-Zhongshan-Jiangmen" (珠中江) two major city clusters on both sides of the Pearl River are directly connected across the sea, reducing the journey to within half an hour.
To the southwest, the Huangmao Sea Cross-sea Channel (黄茅海跨海通道), which officially opened to traffic at the end of last year, is connected to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (港珠澳大桥), forming a "super channel" from west to east, closely connecting the four cities of Jiangmen (江门), Zhuhai (珠海), Macao (澳门), and Hong Kong (香港).
Around the Pearl River Estuary, bridges and tunnels are intertwined, crossing rivers and seas, turning natural barriers into thoroughfares.
Moving the eyes to land, "one network, one ticket, one string of cities," the "Greater Bay Area on rails" is accelerating its formation.
The "four-line connection" of the Guangzhou-Foshan South Ring (广佛南环), Foshan-Dongguan Intercity (佛莞城际), Foshan-Zhaoqing Intercity (佛肇城际), and Dongguan-Huizhou Intercity (莞惠城际) spans five cities; the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-speed Railway (广深港高铁) realizes "bus-like" operation; and the Macao Light Rapid Transit is connected to Guangdong Province's high-speed railway network.
"The 'one-hour' living circle of the Greater Bay Area is becoming a reality from a dream," said Zhang Qiao (张巧), Chief Engineer of the Vehicle Service Center of Guangdong Intercity Railway Operation Co., Ltd. (广东城际铁路运营有限公司).
"Hard connectivity" continues to upgrade, and the interaction and exchange between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao is becoming increasingly close.
The data is the most intuitive: In the first half of this year, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-speed Railway transported 15.032 million cross-border passengers, an increase of 16.1% year-on-year; the number of inbound and outbound passengers at the Hengqin Port (横琴口岸) exceeded 13.9 million, an increase of 33.4% year-on-year; and the customs clearance volume of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge exceeded 10 million, 25 days earlier than in 2024.
"Soft connectivity" is constantly being updated, promoting the convenient flow of various factors.
"One code" travels smoothly in the three places, bringing many conveniences to Xu Ling (徐玲), who works in Guangzhou. "My colleagues in Hong Kong and I set off from our respective cities and went to Macao on a business trip together. We both used mobile payment without any obstacles."
The cross-border payment pass launched on June 22 brings a new experience. AlipayHK (支付宝香港) and MPay (澳门钱包) are connected to the subway and bus systems in the core cities of the Greater Bay Area; e-wallets for Hong Kong and Macao residents, such as "Consumption Easy" and "Travel Easy," cover about 200 cross-border mini-programs such as catering and taxi hailing.
New policies such as "multiple entries with one visa" for Shenzhen residents and residence permit holders to travel to Hong Kong and "one trip per week" for Zhuhai residents to travel to Macao have been implemented; the "Hong Kong Cars Northbound" (港车北上) and "Macao Cars Northbound" (澳车北上) policies have been optimized, and "Guangdong Cars Southbound" (粤车南下) is actively planned; the "Three Places, One Lock Plan" (三地一锁计划) in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, and the comprehensive service platform for cross-border vehicle information management have been implemented; convenient customs clearance for air cargo, and the agglomeration and development of new trade formats...
In Doushan Town (斗山镇), Taishan City (台山市), Guangdong Province (广东省), Guangdong Hexing Edible Oil Co., Ltd. (广东合兴食用油有限公司) continues to increase investment and expand production. "The advantages of the Greater Bay Area are becoming more and more obvious, and the time and logistics costs are constantly decreasing," said Lin Rongcan (林荣灿), Chairman of the company. "A deep processing base for agricultural and sideline products is being planned and constructed to bring more high-quality mainland products to the Hong Kong and Macao markets."
"Hard connectivity" and "soft connectivity" also require "heart connectivity."
Located in the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone (横琴粤澳深度合作区), "Macao New Neighborhood" (澳门新街坊), with street lights, railings, and stone-paved squares full of Macao style, coupled with authentic Macao public services, has attracted more than 2,500 Macao residents to move in.
"In the past year, I have had many happy events." Huang Zicai (黄滋才), a Macao youth and executive of Molecular State (Zhuhai Hengqin) Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Industry Development Co., Ltd. (分子态（珠海横琴）中医药健康产业发展有限公司), first had several of his company's products approved to use the "Made in Macao" logo, and he also became one of the first residents of "Macao New Neighborhood."
In the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub (深港青年梦工场) in the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone (前海深港现代服务业合作区), Yu Guangtao (余广滔), a Hong Kong youth, and his team use black soldier flies to treat kitchen waste, helping Inseap Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (茵塞普科技（深圳）有限公司) become a "dark horse" in the circular economy track.
"The Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub's comprehensive entrepreneurial support system and strong entrepreneurial atmosphere have helped us grow all the way," said Yu Guangtao. Tax incentives alone have reduced the company's operating costs by more than 1 million yuan.
Since its establishment in 2014, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub has incubated 1,450 entrepreneurial teams, including 1,028 teams from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and international regions. Currently, more than 200,000 Hong Kong and Macao residents work and live in Guangdong, and more than 340,000 Hong Kong and Macao residents participate in pension, unemployment, and work-related injury insurance in Guangdong.
Mountains and rivers are connected, and people's hearts are connected. Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao are moving in the same direction and resonating at the same frequency.
Collaborative Innovation
—Give full play to their respective advantages, release synergistic effects, and jointly build an international science and technology innovation center with global influence.
It looks like powder, but it is actually micron-sized capsules. This product, called pre-coated thread glue, is widely used in automobile screw assembly and has successfully broken the foreign technology monopoly.
"Professor Yang Jinglei (杨晶磊) team from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (香港科技大学) provided scientific research support, Fok Yingdong Research Institute (霍英东研究院) provided engineering tests and office space, and the Dongguan factory (东莞工厂) carried out large-scale production," said Cui Junjie (崔俊杰), CEO of Guangzhou Zhiwei New Material Technology Co., Ltd. (广州智微新材科技有限公司).
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Fok Yingdong Research Institute (香港科技大学霍英东研究院), located in Nansha District (南沙区), Guangzhou (广州), is also responsible for operating the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Transfer and Transformation Base, and 34 entrepreneurial projects have settled in.
Gao Min (高民), Dean of the Fok Yingdong Research Institute, introduced, "We are working with the Nansha District Government to create a 'front shop and back factory' for the science and technology innovation ecosystem, and strive to build the area around the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) into the 'Silicon Valley' of the Greater Bay Area."
Building an international science and technology innovation center with global influence is an important strategic positioning of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao each have their own strengths, and complementary advantages and collaborative innovation are the way out.
The high spatio-temporal resolution electron microscope in front of you allows the microscopic world to be seen. Chen Furong (陈福荣), who is over 60 years old, is currently the Dean of the Institute of Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong (Futian) (香港城市大学物质科学研究院（福田）). He has worked hard on this for more than 20 years, but once faced the dilemma of "having technology and talent but lacking market and funds."
"The perfect combination of Hong Kong's basic research and Shenzhen's supply chain and industrial chain advantages has promoted the 'from 0 to 1' breakthrough," Chen Furong said with emotion.
The Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone (河套深港科技创新合作区) is Chen Furong's dream place and a microcosm of the deepening of Shenzhen-Hong Kong science and technology innovation cooperation.
At present, the Shenzhen Park of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone has substantially promoted and implemented more than 200 high-end scientific research projects, gathered more than 440 technology companies and more than 15,000 scientific researchers, and has more than 1,700 PCT patent applications.
Improve the layout, open and share, and stimulate the vitality of original innovation.
Songshan Lake Science City (松山湖科学城) in Dongguan City (东莞市), the China Spallation Neutron Source (中国散裂中子源), which was put into use in 2018, has been opened to global scientists for 13 rounds, with an annual opening time of more than 5,000 hours.
"About 1/5 of the users are from Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao," said Zhang Junrong (张俊荣), Deputy Director of the Neutron Science Department of the China Spallation Neutron Source Science Center of the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院高能物理研究所中国散裂中子源科学中心). "Doing experiments at the 'doorstep' greatly improves scientific research efficiency."
At present, there are 10 national major science and technology infrastructure in Guangdong, and a world-class major science and technology infrastructure cluster mainly in the fields of information, life, materials, and energy has been initially formed. A number of large devices and platforms such as "Pengcheng Cloud Brain" (鹏城云脑) and the National Supercomputing Shenzhen Center (Phase II) (国家超级计算深圳中心（二期）) are open and shared to scientific research institutions and enterprises in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao.
"Relying on the major science and technology infrastructure cluster and the 'Hong Kong scientific research—Pearl River Delta transformation—global market' industry-university-research transformation chain, give full play to regional comparative advantages, and realize the mutual promotion and strengthening of scientific and technological innovation and industrial upgrading," said the relevant person in charge of the Leading Group Office for Promoting the Construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in Guangdong Province (广东省推进粤港澳大湾区建设领导小组办公室). It will continue to create an international scientific research environment and a first-class open innovation ecosystem.
Spread out the map of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the science and technology innovation resources are densely arrayed.
The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong (广深港) and Guangzhou-Zhuhai-Macao (广珠澳) two science and technology innovation corridors are spread out along the Pearl River like the Chinese character "人" (rén - person): The apex is Guangzhou Nansha Science City (广州南沙科学城), the middle is Dongguan Songshan Lake (东莞松山湖) and Shenzhen Guangming (深圳光明) two science cities, and the bottom of the two strokes are Shenzhen-Hong Kong Hetao (深港河套) and Hengqin Guangdong-Macao (横琴粤澳) two cooperation zones.
Clenching fingers into fists, working together with one heart, the science and technology innovation highland is accelerating its rise.
The China Spallation Neutron Source Science Center cooperates with 8 universities in Hong Kong and Macao to build the first synchrotron radiation light source in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Pengcheng Laboratory (鹏城实验室) and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology jointly cooperate on the Hong Kong city node of the "China Computing Power Network," Guangdong jointly established 34 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao joint laboratories with Hong Kong and Macao...
The World Intellectual Property Organization released the "Global Innovation Index 2025" top 100 innovation clusters in September, and the "Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou" innovation cluster ranked first in the world for the first time, after ranking second in the world for five consecutive years. This cluster is a vivid footnote to the concerted innovation of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Openness Leading
—Connecting with high-standard trade and investment rules, and accelerating the cultivation of new advantages in international cooperation and competition.
Enter once to complete declarations in both places.
In May of this year, the first "single window" standard version of the declared imported "one single, two reports" goods passed through Shenzhen Customs (深圳海关) for rapid inspection and release before entering the country. The joint declaration of mainland road manifests and Hong Kong road cargo information has thus achieved full coverage of imports and exports.
"In the past, declarations had to be made separately, and the requirements in the two places were not exactly the same," said Qiu Yuan (邱媛), a staff member of the Business Reform Section of the Comprehensive Department of Shenzhen Customs. "We innovate regulatory models and actively promote the facilitation of cross-border trade between Shenzhen and Hong Kong."
Openness is a clear sign of Chinese-style modernization. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has an innate gene of openness.
Hong Kong continues to be rated by many international institutions as one of the world's freest economies and most competitive regions, Macao's function of multicultural exchange is becoming increasingly prominent, and the nine cities in the Pearl River Delta are the most outward-oriented economic region and an important window for opening up to the outside world in the mainland.
Strong alliance, the opening of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has reached a new height.
"The focus is on promoting the connection of rules and mechanisms from single-point and gradual innovation to strategic, integrated, and all-round layout, and improving the level of market integration," said Li Peilin (李沛霖), Associate Researcher at the Institute of Territorial Development and Regional Economics of the National Development and Reform Commission (国家发展改革委国土开发与地区经济研究所).
Focusing on a higher level of opening up, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is focusing on institutional opening up with rules, regulations, management, and standards as the main content.
Expand new development space in a wider range, wider fields, and deeper levels—
Less than a week after submitting the application, Shenzhen Oriental Ruide Electronics Co., Ltd. (深圳市东方瑞德电子有限公司) received a loan of 5 million Hong Kong dollars, which solved the company's urgent needs in its Hong Kong business.
In the past, it was difficult for Hong Kong credit institutions to verify the authenticity of the credit of mainland enterprises, and it was difficult for mainland enterprises operating in Hong Kong to obtain loans.
"Now with the Shenzhen-Hong Kong cross-border data verification platform, even the cost of asking a third-party institution to verify the materials is saved," said Fu Xifan (符晰帆), manager of Shenzhen Oriental Ruide Electronics Co., Ltd.
This platform has helped mainland enterprises operating in Hong Kong obtain nearly 100 million Hong Kong dollars in loans.
The financial field "Bond Connect" is upgraded, the "Cross-border Wealth Management Connect" is optimized, and 187 high-frequency government service items are "cross-border handled"... From cross-border data flow to cross-border cooperation in government services, and then to cross-border finance, Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao are interconnected in all directions.
Carry out pioneering and integrated exploration with institutional innovation as the core—
The Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone (深圳前海深港现代服务业合作区) has a set of eye-catching development data:
In 2024, the regional GDP was 300.88 billion yuan, an increase of 8.6% year-on-year, the total import and export volume was 706.65 billion yuan, an increase of 42.4% year-on-year, and the actual use of foreign capital was 26.65 billion yuan, an increase of 7.4% year-on-year.
The Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone is committed to building an international "service circle," "innovation circle," "living circle," and "friend circle," and deeply exploring reforms in the fields of offshore trade, cross-border finance, and international commercial dispute resolution.
"69 of the 72 tasks in the 'Overall Plan for Comprehensively Deepening the Reform and Opening Up of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone' have been implemented, and 17 of the 48 experience measures in the Shenzhen Comprehensive Reform Pilot have been implemented in Qianhai first," said Wang Shourui (王守睿), member of the Standing Committee of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Party Working Committee of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone.
In the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone (横琴粤澳深度合作区), innovative measures such as the "cross-border handling and one-place two-registration" Hong Kong and Macao service window for commercial registration and the Macao "e-service" help Macao government affairs to be handled in Hengqin and Hengqin government affairs to be applied for in Macao.
Expand domestic economic ties and integrate into the construction of a unified national market—
Guangzhou Nansha Port (广州南沙港), giant ships honk their horns and wait to depart. Household appliances from the Yangtze River Economic Belt are loaded here and shipped to Southeast Asia.
"We are upgrading the construction of sea-rail combined transport capacity to a new height," said Mo Bin (莫斌), Deputy Minister of the Production and Business Department of Guangzhou Port Group (广州港集团). "Taking the construction of the Hunan channel as the traction and starting point, it will drive the extension to Jiangxi, Hubei, Guangxi, Chengdu-Chongqing and other regions."
To the south, the integrated high-quality development of the Qiongzhou Strait (琼州海峡) linked to the Hainan Free Trade Port; to the north, cooperation with the Yangtze River Delta in key links of product research and development and finished product manufacturing... Relying on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, broader and deeper synergy and linkage are constantly extending in all directions.
Based on the domestic super-large market, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area gathers resources such as global enterprises, technology, and capital. At the 2024 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Global Investment Promotion Conference, 1,933 signed projects were reached by ExxonMobil, BASF and other Fortune 500 companies and industry leaders, with a total amount of 2.26 trillion yuan.
In the first half of this year, the foreign trade of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area continued to maintain a steady and progressive trend. Among them, the total value of imports and exports of the nine cities in the Pearl River Delta reached 4.38 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.3% year-on-year, accounting for 20.1% of the total value of imports and exports of the country, hitting a record high for the same period in previous years, demonstrating strong economic resilience.
*** ***
Three rivers converge and eight mouths enter the sea. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area creates 1/9 of the country's economic aggregate with less than 0.6% of the country's land area.
A world-class bay area and a world-class city cluster are accelerating their rise on this land.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 张雪妍
National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, countless workers stick to their posts and work hard, practicing responsibility and commitment with hard work.
Strivers, guarding thousands of homes
"Happiness is achieved through struggle, and struggle itself is a kind of happiness."
On October 5th, at a courier station in Huainan City, Anhui Province, store manager Fan Yuqiang (范玉强) and his employees were sorting fresh fish and live crabs shipped from Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province. "The number of express orders this holiday has doubled." Fan Yuqiang wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a smile, "Thinking that we also contribute to the fresh taste on everyone's table, I feel that this perseverance is particularly meaningful." In Liqiao Water Town, Yi'an District, Tongling City, intangible cultural heritage performances such as shadow puppetry and rolling lantern dances attracted a large number of tourists, and the demand for electricity in the scenic spot surged. Tongling Power Supply Company formed 3 emergency power protection teams on standby 24 hours a day to escort the power supply of the scenic spot.
Now is the good season for fishing. Fishing boats in Shiqiao Town (石塘镇), Wenling City (温岭市), Taizhou City (台州市) are preparing to go to sea. Zhou Xiaowei (周晓伟), a police officer from the Shiqiao Police Station (石塘派出所), boarded a fishing boat with a patrol team. He told the fishermen: "The emergency light has poor contact and must be repaired quickly." During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, fishing boats go to sea intensively. From preparing to depart to returning fully loaded and safely, the protection of the people's police is always online.
During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, a task force of a certain regiment of the East China Sea Fleet (东部战区海军某团) is performing combat readiness patrol missions on the ship. Young pilot Huang Shuaiming (黄帅铭) (pseudonym) just finished flying and devoted himself to technical review. Not long ago, he successfully obtained the combat qualification of a certain type of helicopter. "After several years of equipping new equipment, we must work hard to practice and ensure that we can be pulled out, go up, and win at critical moments."
During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, thousands of families are reunited and the lights are bright. Behind this happy scene, countless ordinary strivers are silently guarding.
Innovators, lighting up the light of science and technology
"To promote Chinese-style modernization, science and technology must take the lead, and technological innovation is the only way."
As the "14th Five-Year Plan" is about to come to an end, the Yebatan Hydropower Station (叶巴滩水电站), a major national project, has ushered in a key node - the first batch of dam sections have been poured to the top. The Yebatan Hydropower Station is located in the upper reaches of the Jinsha River (金沙江) at the junction of Baiyu County (白玉县), Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (甘孜藏族自治州), Sichuan Province (四川省) and Gongjue County (贡觉县), Changdu City (昌都市), Tibet (西藏). The construction of the project faces technical challenges such as high altitude, high temperature difference, high slope, high arch dam, high ground stress, and plateau cold.
Xia Yong (夏勇), chief engineer of Huadian Jinshang Yebatan Branch (华电金上叶巴滩分公司), led the team to innovate working methods, constructed an integrated comprehensive prevention and control system of "construction-insulation-maintenance", and developed an intelligent control system for the entire process of dam concrete pouring, temperature control and grouting, realizing intelligent construction of ultra-high arch dams in high-altitude areas. During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, he stuck to the front line of the project, continuously optimized the organization of construction, and controlled the pouring density, temperature and strength of concrete throughout the process. Watching the hydropower station "grow" day by day, Xia Yong was very emotional: "To ensure national energy security, we need to do every detail well."
At the same time, the construction of the world's longest highway tunnel - Tianshan Victory Tunnel (天山胜利隧道) - has also entered the sprint stage, and more than 300 builders are working hard. Mao Jinbo (毛锦波), chief engineer of the Sixth Standard Section Project of China Communications Construction Uwei Expressway (中国交建乌尉高速六标段项目), led the workers to orderly promote the construction of tunnel decoration, shed tunnels and ancillary projects.
The Tianshan Victory Tunnel is 22.13 kilometers long. If the traditional drilling and blasting method is used, it will take at least 72 months of effective construction period. To this end, the project pioneered a new scheme of "central guide hole TBM + main hole drilling and blasting method" to shorten the long tunnel, shortening the effective construction period by 20 months. "Now we are getting closer and closer to the goal of opening the project to traffic." Mao Jinbo could not hide his excitement.
Thousands of kilometers away in Hunan Province, Hu Xianglong (胡祥龙), director of the Hunan Provincial New Thermal Equipment Engineering Technology Research Center (湖南省新型热工装备工程技术研究中心), and his team are tackling ultra-large chemical vapor deposition equipment in the laboratory. This equipment is the core equipment for the preparation of key components for aerospace, and its cutting-edge technology was once monopolized by a few Western companies.
"The value of scientific and technological workers lies very importantly in serving the country's strategic needs." Hu Xianglong said firmly, "**创新没有终点** (chuàng xīn méi yǒu zhōng diǎn - "innovation has no end," innovation is a continuous process)," "As long as the country needs it, we will always be on the road."
Dream chasers, illuminating the road to the future
"We are all running hard, we are all dream chasers."
This year is the last year of the 5-year transition period for consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation and effectively connecting with rural revitalization.
In 2015, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) came to Huamao Village (花茂村), Fengxiang Town (枫香镇), Zunyi County (遵义县) (now Bozhou District (播州区)), Guizhou (贵州), and affirmed the village's practice of combining poverty alleviation and development with the construction of beautiful countryside with rich farmers, learning farmers, happy farmers, and beautiful farmers.
Today, the mountains are green and the fields are fragrant. "How are the ingredients prepared?" "It must be fresh, and tourists must be able to eat with peace of mind." During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, Peng Longfen (彭龙芬), director of the Huamao Village Committee (花茂村村委会), is visiting the village's agritainment and homestays. "When the masses celebrate the festival, we must stick to our posts, be down-to-earth, and work with the people, so that we can think in one direction and work together."
In the past 10 years, Huamao Village has worked hard and strived for a better life, promoted the integrated development of agriculture, culture and tourism, doubled the per capita annual income, and the road to rural revitalization has become wider and wider.
Looking up at the stars, developing the aerospace industry and building a strong aerospace country.
At more than 8 pm, Liu Ming (刘铭), a scientific researcher from the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (中国航天科技集团五院), ended his shift, and another colleague took over his work. Liu Ming's team is mainly engaged in the technical support of the China Space Station flight control, and is also known as the "housekeeper" of "Tiangong" ("天宫"). During this holiday, Liu Ming and his team colleagues took turns on duty 24 hours a day, closely monitoring the "every move" of the space station complex in space.
"Our biggest wish is to make the Chinese space station safer and more reliable, and to ensure that astronauts can work and live normally in space." Liu Ming said. The flight control technical support team is continuously strengthening the digitalization and intelligence level of ground support, carrying out space station operation and management work more accurately and efficiently, and contributing more to the construction of a strong aerospace country.
Practicing the concept of green development, the supporting services for new energy vehicles are more complete.
In the Yuyao Service Area (余姚服务区) of the Hangzhou-Ningbo Expressway (杭甬高速) in Zhejiang Province, Chen Erdong (陈尔东), a customer manager of the State Grid Ningbo Power Supply Company (国网宁波供电公司), guides new energy vehicles to charge in an orderly manner. "The higher the peak of traffic flow, the more we must ensure that the equipment is 'zero-fault' so that everyone can charge with peace of mind and confidence." Chen Erdong said. During this holiday, he and his colleagues took turns on duty in the highway service area, maintaining on-site order, inspecting and maintaining charging piles, and providing convenient and efficient charging services for new energy vehicle owners.
Strive together to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Strivers, innovators, dream chasers - thousands of ordinary "us" interpret love with perseverance, write extraordinary with dedication, and gather together to illuminate the most moving and splendid picture of this era.
(Reporters Xu Jing (徐靖), Li Junjie (李俊杰), Dou Hao (窦皓), Ren Tongtong (任彤彤), Xian Gan (鲜敢), Han Xin (韩鑫), Yang Xun (杨迅), Su Bin (苏滨), and Liu Shiyao (刘诗瑶) of this newspaper participated in the writing)
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 王 珂 刘军国 齐志明
General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized: "We must actively expand domestic demand" and "create more consumption scenarios to continuously unleash the potential of consumption and investment."
During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, various regions and departments stimulated consumption potential through policy support and innovative services. The national consumer market had abundant supply and operated smoothly. Residents' consumption demand was released intensively, and market vitality continued to increase.
According to the business big data monitoring of the Ministry of Commerce (商务部), the sales of key retail and catering enterprises nationwide increased by 3.3% year-on-year in the first four days of the holiday, showing a prosperous and active consumer market.
Festive activities are wonderful and diverse, and the consumer market has strong supply and demand.
On October 2nd, in Xianfeng Sanbao Garden (仙凤三宝园) in Luxi County (芦溪县), Jiangxi (江西), the Youyou Happy Theater (呦呦欢乐剧场) was full, and the children's drama "Leijie's Wish" won rounds of applause. At the trendy market and the rule-of-law culture square, the stalls of specialty snacks and handicrafts were crowded with people. The local government issued 1 million yuan in consumer coupons, using a "government subsidy + enterprise profit-sharing" two-way approach to effectively stimulate consumption potential.
On October 2nd, at Tianze Huali Clothing Market (天泽华丽服装市场) in Zhuzhou (株洲), Hunan (湖南), hundreds of merchants launched activities such as special offers for the Double Festival and live performances to attract consumers to check in and shop. "Scenario renewal brings increased consumption." The relevant person in charge of Hunan Tianze Commercial Group Co., Ltd. (湖南天泽商业集团有限公司), the organizer of the event, introduced that on the first day of the holiday, the market's passenger flow increased by 35% year-on-year, the number of purchase orders increased by 28% month-on-month, and the proportion of out-of-province purchasers reached 16%.
On October 3rd, the ancient city scenic spot of Kashgar (喀什) in Xinjiang (新疆) was crowded with tourists. Shalamaiti (沙拉麦提), the operator of the "Guli's Home" (古丽的家) homestay, introduced that the homestay received many tourists every day during this period, and the rooms were fully booked a month in advance. Kashgar City (喀什市) launched activities such as musicals, intangible cultural heritage performances, and mooncake making. In the first two days of the holiday, it received a total of 396,200 tourists and achieved a tourism income of 287 million yuan.
In Yuecheng District (越城区) of Shaoxing City (绍兴市), Zhejiang (浙江), carefully designed "City-wide Moon Chasing" themed check-in points string together the landmarks of the ancient city. Tourists travel through the ancient streets and alleys, linger in the intangible cultural heritage market, taste authentic snacks, and watch drone performances, immersing themselves in the experience of Song Dynasty parades and other special activities. The local government has taken measures such as issuing consumer coupons and opening free tourist special lines to drive consumption.
County tourism has attracted more tourists with its unique tourism experience, and many county towns have ushered in peak passenger flows. Meituan Travel (美团旅行) data shows that the number of travel consumption pre-orders in counties during the holiday increased by 51% compared with the same period last year, among which the number of travel consumption pre-orders in county destinations such as Dongtai (东台) in Jiangsu (江苏), Haining (海宁) in Zhejiang (浙江), and Jingxi (靖西) in Guangxi (广西) increased by more than 100% compared with the same period last year.
On the eve of the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, the 2025 National National Day Culture and Tourism Consumption Month main event hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (文化和旅游部) was held in Chengdu (成都), Sichuan (四川). At the event site, Sichuan (四川) released the province's cultural and tourism consumption activities and benefit-the-people measures, launching 1,300 cultural and tourism consumption promotion activities with 6 major themes: "Autumn Scenery, Autumn Flavor, Autumn Fun Events, Autumn Shadow Check-in, Autumn Rhythm Hiking, and Autumn Custom Experience."
During the 2025 National National Day Culture and Tourism Consumption Month, various regions will focus on hot topics such as watching performances, traveling through mountains and rivers, Mid-Autumn Festival reunions, cultural experiences, red tourism, major national instruments, and the style of the times, and hold more than 29,000 cultural and tourism activities. The integration of culture and tourism with catering, accommodation, retail, sports, health, etc. will bring people a more comprehensive, more affordable, and more worry-free travel experience.
New scenarios and new business formats are emerging, and consumption vitality continues to be released.
During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, people's willingness to travel is strong. Didi Chuxing (滴滴出行) data shows that since September 26, taxi demand has continued to remain high. During the holiday, taxi demand increased by 20% month-on-month, and out-of-town taxi demand increased by 51% month-on-month.
Travel has strongly driven the sales of related commodities. JD.com (京东) data shows that before the holiday, the consumer market for tourism and travel equipment showed a significant increase. Specifically, in the "bags and luggage" category, smart suitcases performed particularly well, with transaction volume increasing by more than 10 times year-on-year. The transaction volume of carry-on suitcases increased by 8.8 times year-on-year, and the transaction volume of mountaineering bags, adult suitcases, and travel bags increased by 4 times, 4 times, and 139% respectively.
Offline life service consumption is booming. Gaode Map (高德地图) street sweeping list data shows that on the first day of the holiday, the traffic of small fireworks stores increased by 300% month-on-month, and the order volume of Gaode Map's local life catering industry increased by 150% year-on-year, reflecting the activity of the "capillary units" of urban commerce.
Green and intelligent products are favored. On October 3rd, at the Dreamy Robot (追觅) robot vacuum cleaner store in Fengxi Wuyue (沣西吾悦) in Xi'an (西安), Shaanxi (陕西), the staff introduced that the passenger flow during the holiday is several times higher than usual. Products with novel appearance and dual robotic arms are popular, and the sales of a certain cost-effective product have increased by 5 times month-on-month.
The experience economy injects new impetus into the holiday consumer market. At the Mixue Ice Cream (蜜雪冰城) headquarters flagship store in Zhengzhou (郑州), Henan (河南), many tourists came with their suitcases just after getting off the high-speed train to purchase cultural and creative products, limited-edition ice cream, and other products. During the holiday, the store achieved a remarkable achievement of more than 65,000 daily passenger flow and a turnover of more than 770,000 yuan.
On October 2nd, in the "Super Zhuanzhuan" (超级转转) store on the third floor of the Beijing Friendship Store (北京友谊商店), more than 30,000 SKUs (smallest stock keeping unit) of goods are densely displayed in a space of more than 3,000 square meters, covering more than 200 categories such as bags, digital products, shoes, and clothing. The person in charge of the store introduced that on October 1st, the store's passenger flow increased by 270% compared with the average daily passenger flow in the previous week.
Inbound tourism continues to be hot. Qunar.com (去哪儿旅行) big data shows that the popularity of "China Travel" continues to rise. On the first day of the holiday, the number of foreign passengers taking planes in China increased by more than 40% year-on-year, flying to 70 cities in China. The number of offshore tax refund shops in Yiwu (义乌), Zhejiang (浙江) has increased to 37, of which 26 have achieved "buy and refund immediately." From "China Travel" to "China Shopping," Yiwu (义乌) is driving the booming development of the inbound tourism market with a dual-wheel drive of cultural experience and business exchanges.
Service guarantees are optimized and upgraded, and the consumption environment is safe and comfortable.
On the evening of October 3rd, the Shuxin Night Market (舒心夜市) in Yuhang District (余杭区), Hangzhou (杭州), Zhejiang (浙江) was crowded with people, tasting food and buying specialties. "The flow of people and vehicles has surged during the holiday. We are promoting refined management to welcome guests from all over the world with a clean and orderly city appearance." The relevant person in charge of the Yuhang District Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau (余杭区综合行政执法局) said.
The "Several Policy Measures on Expanding Service Consumption" recently issued by the Ministry of Commerce (商务部) and other 9 departments proposed to "implement service consumption quality improvement and benefit-the-people actions." On the eve of the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, Tian'e Daojia (天鹅到家), a family life service platform, launched "family subsidies" for hourly workers, childcare, live-in nannies, and other needs, and "birth subsidies" for maternal and infant care needs such as confinement nannies.
The demand for car rental and self-driving tours is growing rapidly. The data released by China Auto Rental (神州租车) shows that the number of car rental bookings for the National Day holiday continues to climb. Users' travel needs have shifted from "short-distance surrounding tours" to "in-depth cross-city tours," and the average rental period has been extended to 5.2 days. Long-term rental orders of more than 8 days have increased by more than 30% year-on-year. China Auto Rental (神州租车) has strengthened its duty force at airports, high-speed rail stations, and other outlets, providing convenient services such as credit-free deposits and 24-hour self-service pick-up and return to ensure a pleasant self-driving travel experience during the holiday.
On the evening of October 1st, the Dongchao Art Park (东巢艺术公园) in Xiaoshan (萧山), Hangzhou (杭州), Zhejiang (浙江) was brightly lit, and an open-air concert was staged wonderfully. State Grid Hangzhou Power Supply Company (国网杭州供电公司) formulated a special power supply guarantee plan in advance, organized employees to stay on site, and inspected the distribution boxes and special lines for stage lighting in the art block to ensure the safety of electricity use in the park during the holiday in all aspects.
Chaoyang Bird Fossil National Geopark (朝阳鸟化石国家地质公园) in Chaoyang (朝阳), Liaoning (辽宁) launched a diversified experience of "scientific research + popular science + cultural tourism." On the one hand, Longcheng District (龙城区) in Chaoyang City (朝阳市) promoted the deep integration of culture and tourism, increased high-quality supply, and activated the holiday consumption market; on the other hand, it continued to optimize tourism services, ensure the stable and orderly operation of the cultural and tourism market, and allow the majority of tourists to travel with confidence and comfort.
(Our reporter Li Yanan (李亚楠) participated in the writing)
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 李增辉 王欣悦
On October 5th, driving along Provincial Highway 517 into Huaxi Village (华溪村), Zhongyi Township (中益乡), Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County (石柱土家族自治县), Chongqing (重庆), the roads were smooth, the river flowed swiftly, the green mountains stretched endlessly, and tourist buses and freight vehicles passed by from time to time.
This area belongs to the Wuling Mountains (武陵山区) and was once a concentrated and contiguous poverty-stricken area at the national level. In April 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) changed three modes of transportation and traveled for more than three hours to reach Huaxi Village (华溪村). The inconvenience of transportation at that time can be imagined.
The mountains are continuous, and the gullies are crisscrossed. In the past, many mountainous villages with pleasant scenery and abundant products, like Huaxi Village (华溪村), were affected in their development due to poor transportation.
To get rich, build roads first. Huaxi Village (华溪村), which General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) cared about, has now undergone new changes—one asphalt road after another connects the village's characteristic economic crops such as Polygonatum with the outside world, driving the acceleration of industrial development.
"In the past, large trucks had to turn around at the bends, but now heavy trucks can drive directly into the base," said Wang Xiangsheng (王祥生), Secretary of the Party Branch of Huaxi Village (华溪村). The local pronunciation of Polygonatum is very similar to "gold" (黄金), and with the continuous improvement of the road network, the planting area of Polygonatum in Huaxi Village (华溪村) has steadily expanded, now reaching more than 1,500 mu, and Polygonatum is gradually turning into real gold.
The "14th Five-Year Plan" proposes to extend the agricultural industry chain and develop modern rural industries with distinctive characteristics to enrich the people. In the past five years, Huaxi Village (华溪村) has developed deep-processed products such as Polygonatum candied fruit, Polygonatum noodles, and Polygonatum tea, and the industrial chain has continued to extend.
逢山开路，遇水架桥 (féng shān kāi lù, yù shuǐ jià qiáo - "build roads through mountains, build bridges over rivers," overcome all difficulties to clear the way). During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China has vigorously strengthened transportation construction, and one highway after another passes through high mountains and across canyons, providing strong support for improving the production and living conditions of people in mountainous areas.
"In the past, selling salted bamboo shoots required carrying them in bamboo baskets for nearly two hours to the market town. Now, trucks go directly to the base, selling them at a good price without delaying things," said Ma Shifu (马世富), a villager, whose bamboo shoots are now easier to sell.
With the highway reaching his doorstep, Xiong Peilan (熊培兰), a villager, rides an electric bicycle through the fields, "I raise bees and plant Coptis chinensis at home, and also do odd jobs in the village collective. Now the family's annual income is about 150,000 yuan."
"Our place is full of study and research classrooms," said Ma Peiqing (马培清), a veteran Party member, who is busy telling everyone the story of the village's development. With smooth roads, tourists who come to the village for study and research during this National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday are flocking in.
In the past five years, Zhongyi Township (中益乡) has built 129 kilometers of new roads connecting villages, benefiting nearly 10,000 people. The entire Zhongyi Township (中益乡) has successfully sold about 13 million jin of salted bamboo shoots and 400,000 jin of honey, and has also built a number of study and team-building bases, with an average annual tourism income of over 5 million yuan.
Last year, the per capita net income of the population lifted out of poverty in Huaxi Village (华溪村) exceeded 25,000 yuan, an increase of approximately 86.6% compared to 2020. "The 'muddy road' in the village has become a 'golden road', and the villagers' pockets are getting richer and richer!" said Wang Xiangsheng (王祥生).
One road leads to prosperity in all industries. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, countless villages "prosper because of roads," "become rich because of roads," and "become beautiful because of roads," and stories of tremendous changes in mountainous villages are being continued.
Return to TopBy: 盛玉雷
The full moon of the Mid-Autumn Festival cannot help but evoke thoughts of the journey to realize the dream of flying to the heavens.
Pride mixed with concern. In 2016, the "Yutu-1" (玉兔号) lunar rover completed its mission and remained on the moon. Even today, netizens are still posting, "One day we will bring you home"... This Chinese-style romantic expression is a tribute to the crystallization of the wisdom of Chinese aerospace personnel and a testament to confidence in the future journey.
This year, the new generation manned spacecraft "Mengzhou" (梦舟) completed its zero-altitude escape flight test, and the lunar lander "Lanyue" (揽月) landing and take-off integrated verification test was successful, taking another step towards the planned manned lunar landing before 2030. China's lunar exploration project continues to move forward, continuing the epic of science and technology, and revealing the Chinese nation's genes of self-reliance, self-improvement, innovation, and creation.
The legend of Lanyue (揽月) is being written page by page, and the cause of modernization is advancing step by step. Bridges across natural barriers, from "bridges built to prove our worth" to "'horizontal and vertical' are both number one"; key core technologies, from "being strangled" to "wrestling"... Accumulating small steps to reach a thousand miles is precisely the solid practice of "concentrating on doing our own things well," winning the strategic initiative of "firmly grasping the destiny of China's development and progress in our own hands."
Recently, the Chinese Chang'e-6 (嫦娥六号) mission team was awarded the 2025 International Astronautical Federation World Space Award Group Achievement Award, inspiring all walks of life to scale new heights. While admiring the moon, let us be full of glory and dreams, run the relay race of history well, and create new legends with new struggles.
Return to TopBy: 杨文明 双春天
"Taking advantage of the subsidies, it's a good opportunity to get a washing machine for the elderly at home," said Zhao Tianhua (赵天华) from Mengyou Town (勐佑镇), Fengqing County (凤庆县), Lincang City (临沧市), Yunnan Province (云南省). Zhao Tianhua (赵天华) and his wife work away from home year-round, and their two children are entrusted to the care of their grandparents.
In the past, the children's clothes were all hand-washed by the elderly. This time they came back, they specially bought a washing machine for the family. During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, many Fengqing (凤庆) people who work and do business elsewhere returned to their hometown, bringing a small peak in local home appliance consumption: some updated their appliances, and some bought home appliances to show filial piety to their parents.
"With national subsidies and manufacturer discounts, the actual cost is much lower." Zhao Tianhua (赵天华) originally wanted to buy a semi-automatic washing machine, but after comparing, he bought a fully automatic washing machine. "It saves the elderly trouble, and it puts our minds at ease." Zhao Tianhua (赵天华) also plans to take advantage of the policy to give the old appliances in his home a round of "renewal": replacing the electric rice cooker and induction cooker that have been used for many years, and also choosing a water purifier.
The reporter saw that the Dianhong International Haier (滇红国际海尔) store was crowded with people, and Yang Zhijun (杨志军), the person in charge, was busy introducing new products such as robot vacuum cleaners and water purifiers to customers. In order to attract customers, the store marked the discounts for trading in old appliances for washing machines, air conditioners, water heaters and other home appliances. "Whether you are buying new appliances or replacing old appliances, you can enjoy subsidies." Yang Zhijun (杨志军), who has been in the home appliance sales industry for nearly 20 years, introduced that the "national subsidy" policy has greatly boosted home appliance consumption.
"In the first 9 months of this year, the store has sold more than 2,000 appliances, with sales reaching more than 6 million yuan." Yang Zhijun (杨志军) introduced that the store operates more than 10 types of household appliances. According to the trade-in subsidy policy, first-level energy efficiency products are subsidized by 20%, second-level energy efficiency products are subsidized by 15%, and a single product can enjoy a maximum subsidy of 2,000 yuan. "Customers used to care more about price, but now home appliance brands, product performance, and power consumption are all factors to consider," said Yang Zhijun (杨志军).
Yang Zhijun (杨志军) introduced that in recent years, the home appliance consumption habits in the county seat have quietly upgraded. In the past, people bought more refrigerators, televisions, and washing machines; in recent years, many families have added robot vacuum cleaners, water purifiers and other products.
Since the amount of the "national subsidy" is linked to product energy efficiency, it has directly driven the sales ratio of first-level energy efficiency products. Yang Zhijun (杨志军) found that the sales ratio of first-level energy efficiency products was only 50% last year, but exceeded 98% this year. Under the promotion of the policy, more and more consumers are choosing low-carbon and environmentally friendly products, which will also be transmitted to the production side, driving the adjustment of enterprise product structure.
Since the beginning of this year, Fengqing County (凤庆县) has focused on multiple fields such as home appliances, home decoration, and automobiles, and has effectively reduced consumers' shopping costs, stimulated market vitality, and improved the quality of life of residents through various preferential methods such as government subsidies and corporate profit concessions. Fengqing County (凤庆县), combined with consumer demand and market supply characteristics, has further refined the subsidy catalog, and included high-frequency consumer products such as robot vacuum cleaners and smart door locks into the subsidy scope. The policy of supporting the replacement of automobiles and electric bicycles has been continued, forming a subsidy pattern that fully covers automobiles + daily consumption (home appliances, digital products, home decoration), ensuring that policy dividends accurately reach different consumer groups.
Wen Jing (文静), head of Fengqing County Huangdu Home Furnishings (凤庆县皇都家居), said that furniture that usually costs about 20,000 yuan only costs 16,000 yuan after the discount, and sales have increased significantly. In addition to the home appliance and home decoration fields, the discounts are also favored by car consumers. Zhong Xinxiang (钟新翔), a resident who originally planned to replace his car next year, decided to replace his gasoline car with an electric car in advance, which not only saved money on buying a car, but also greatly reduced the cost of using the car.
Li Xinhua (李新华), Deputy Director of the Fengqing County Bureau of Commerce (凤庆县商务局), introduced that in the first 8 months of this year, 11,200 people in Fengqing County (凤庆县) applied for relevant subsidies, directly driving sales of consumer goods to exceed 50 million yuan.
Return to TopBy: 徐 阳
Since the beginning of this year, China has increased its policy support for trade-in programs. This policy's favorable influence has reached the vast counties and rural areas, not only improving the quality of life for the masses but also stimulating the vitality of the county economy, becoming a "new engine" for driving consumption.
Improving people's livelihoods and renewing lifestyles. County consumers' demand for green, intelligent, and high-quality home appliances is growing. Some old appliances that have been in use for a long time and consume a lot of energy not only pose safety hazards but also fail to meet people's expectations for a better life. The policy guidance of trade-in programs allows more energy-efficient, functional, and advanced smart appliances to enter people's homes faster.
Model innovation stimulates economic vitality. The county market connects urban and rural areas and is an important part of the consumer market with great potential. Trade-ins can effectively open up links such as the recycling and disposal of old appliances and the sales, distribution, and installation of new products, driving the coordinated development of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. More and more companies are extending product research and development and market layout to the vast countryside. Various regions are innovating service models, clearing the "last mile" of trade-ins, and injecting new impetus into the county economy.
We expect all regions to seize policy opportunities, optimize subsidy processes, and strengthen market supervision, so that good policies can benefit consumers more.
Return to TopBy: 钟才文
General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized that China's determination to expand high-level opening-up will not change, its determination to share development opportunities with the world will not change, and its determination to promote economic globalization in a more open, inclusive, universally beneficial, balanced, and win-win direction will not change. These three "will not change" statements are strategically sound and profoundly insightful, demonstrating the global perspective and foresight of a leader of a major party and a major country from the height of a community with a shared future for mankind. Under the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping's (习近平) economic thought, China's economic ship is forging ahead, demonstrating distinct characteristics of openness and win-win cooperation.
First, adhering to the correct direction of economic globalization makes important contributions to promoting the sustained and stable development of the world economy. China is a beneficiary of economic globalization, but more importantly, it is a contributor, maintainer, and promoter. Since the reform and opening up, China's economy has been deeply integrated into the world and has become an important source of power and a stabilizing anchor for world economic growth. China's contribution to world economic growth has remained at around 30% for a long time. Whether it was dealing with the Asian financial crisis at the end of the last century or the 2008 international financial crisis, it played a crucial role in stabilizing the world economy. Currently, problems such as internal growth and distribution imbalances and the opposition between capital and labor are becoming increasingly prominent in some countries. Unilateralism, protectionism, and extremism are intensifying, and the process of economic globalization is encountering "headwinds and countercurrents." As General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out, multilateralism is the inevitable choice for solving the difficulties and challenges facing the world, and economic globalization is an irreversible historical trend. China always stands on the right side of history, supports and practices true multilateralism, firmly safeguards the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization (世贸组织) as its core, promotes the reform and improvement of global economic governance, and contributes Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to promoting economic globalization in the right direction.
Second, firmly maintaining the resilience and stability of global industrial and supply chains provides strong support for the smooth circulation of the world economy. General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out that maintaining the resilience and stability of global industrial and supply chains is an important guarantee for promoting world economic development and is in the common interest of people of all countries. China is the only country in the world with all industrial categories in the United Nations industrial classification. During the COVID-19 pandemic, as the world's largest manufacturing country, China ensured that the "China segment" of the global industrial and supply chains did not break, which greatly helped the global fight against the pandemic and the recovery of the world economy. With the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure, China has built the world's largest and most complete new energy industrial and supply chain. In the past 10 years, it has promoted the cumulative reduction of the average cost per kilowatt-hour of global wind power and photovoltaic power generation by more than 60% and 80% respectively. Erik Solheim, Deputy Chairman of the "Belt and Road" Green Development International Alliance and former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, pointed out that China is an indispensable force for global green transformation and an active promoter of renewable energy development.
Third, promoting the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road" provides important public goods and cooperation platforms for the international community. Since General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) creatively proposed the "Belt and Road" initiative in 2013, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has evolved from a "sketch" of overall planning to a "fine brushwork" of meticulous cultivation, becoming the most extensive and largest international cooperation platform in the world today. "Hard connectivity" has been steadily advanced, with the completion of a number of major landmark projects such as the China-Laos Railway (中老铁路), the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway (雅万高铁), the Chancay Port (钱凯港), and the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway (蒙内铁路), and the interconnected architecture of "six corridors, six routes, multiple countries, and multiple ports" has basically taken shape. The China-Europe Railway Express (中欧班列) has operated more than 110,000 trains, becoming a veritable "steel camel caravan." According to German media reports, the China-Europe Railway Express (中欧班列) has rejuvenated Duisburg (杜伊斯堡), which once faced a decline in growth momentum. "Soft connectivity" has been continuously promoted, with cooperation documents signed with more than 150 countries and more than 30 international organizations, and 23 free trade agreements signed with 30 countries and regions. "Heart connectivity" has been continuously deepened, and a large number of "small but beautiful" livelihood projects in agriculture, education, medical care, poverty reduction, water conservancy, disaster prevention and mitigation, and other fields have taken root, effectively enhancing the well-being of the people in the co-construction countries.
Fourth, unswervingly expanding high-level opening-up to the outside world creates broad opportunities for the common development of all countries in the world. On March 28, when meeting with representatives of the international business community, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out that working with China means working with opportunities, believing in China means believing in tomorrow, and investing in China means investing in the future. China's market is huge and growing rapidly, with nearly 50 trillion yuan in consumption and more than 20 trillion yuan in imports each year. China takes the initiative to expand imports, share the opportunities of the large market, and has given 100% tariff-free treatment to products from all least developed countries that have diplomatic relations with China. The China International Import Expo (进博会), which has been held for 7 sessions, has accumulated more than 500 billion US dollars in intended transactions. China takes the initiative to align with international high-standard economic and trade rules, continuously optimizes the business environment, steadily expands institutional opening-up, achieves "zeroing" of foreign investment access restrictions in the manufacturing sector, and steadily promotes pilot programs for opening up in service industries such as telecommunications, medical care, and education. A member survey conducted by the US-China Business Council (美中贸委会) shows that the vast majority of respondents believe that the Chinese market is indispensable for maintaining their global competitiveness. China's development provides the world with huge opportunities, not so-called "shocks."
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 胡 健 卞民德 程远州
This is a unique area—
Constructing it under the conditions of "one country, two systems," three customs territories, and three currencies is unprecedented internationally.
This is a fertile ground of hope—
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (香港特别行政区), the Macao Special Administrative Region (澳门特别行政区), and nine cities in the Pearl River Delta such as Guangzhou (广州) and Shenzhen (深圳市) in Guangdong Province (广东省), is one of the most open and economically vibrant regions in China.
Building the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a major national strategy personally planned, deployed, and promoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平). It is not only a new measure to promote the formation of a new pattern of comprehensive opening-up in the new era but also a new practice to promote the development of the "one country, two systems" cause.
"We must be bold in exploring and experimenting, and blaze a new trail."
"Make the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area a strategic pillar of the new development pattern, a demonstration area for high-quality development, and a leading area for Chinese-style modernization."
Standing at the forefront and forging ahead. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has comprehensively deepened reform, comprehensively expanded opening-up, coordinated and linked up, and integrated development. Its economic aggregate has jumped to 14 trillion yuan, and the construction of a world-class bay area and a world-class city cluster has taken solid steps.
On the coast of the South China Sea, the tide of opening-up surges, the sails of reform are raised, and vitality radiates in all directions.
Moving Towards Integration
——Promoting "hard connectivity," "soft connectivity," and "heart connectivity," the exchange and cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao continue to deepen
At dawn, the Pearl River Estuary glistens, and the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge (深中通道) is bustling with traffic.
One year after its opening, the average daily traffic volume exceeds 86,400 vehicles, accounting for about 1/5 of the total cross-Pearl River Estuary traffic flow, and it continues to rise.
"The backbone channel effect is obvious," said Zhang Changliang (张长亮), Deputy Director and Chief Engineer of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge Management Center.
This is a key "horizontal" of the "A"-shaped transportation backbone of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The "Shenzhen-Dongguan-Huizhou" and "Zhuhai-Zhongshan-Jiangmen" two major city clusters on both sides of the Pearl River are directly connected across the sea, reducing the journey to within half an hour.
To the southwest, the Huangmao Sea Cross-sea Channel (黄茅海跨海通道), which officially opened at the end of last year, is connected to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (港珠澳大桥), forming a "super channel" from west to east, closely connecting the four cities of Jiangmen (江门), Zhuhai (珠海), Macao (澳门), and Hong Kong (香港).
Around the Pearl River Estuary, bridges and tunnels are staggered, crossing rivers and seas, turning natural barriers into thoroughfares.
Moving the eyes to the land, "one network, one ticket, one string of cities," the "Greater Bay Area on rails" is accelerating its formation.
The "four-line connection" of Guangzhou-Foshan South Ring (广佛南环), Foshan-Dongguan Intercity (佛莞城际), Foshan-Zhaoqing Intercity (佛肇城际), and Dongguan-Huizhou Intercity (莞惠城际) spans five cities; the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-speed Railway (广深港高铁) realizes "bus-like" operation; and Macao's rail transit is connected to Guangdong Province's high-speed railway network.
"The 'one-hour' living circle of the Greater Bay Area is becoming a reality from a dream," said Zhang Qiao (张巧), Chief Engineer of the Vehicle Service Center of Guangdong Intercity Railway Operation Co., Ltd. (广东城际铁路运营有限公司).
"Hard connectivity" continues to upgrade, and the interaction and exchange between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao are becoming closer.
The data is the most intuitive: in the first half of this year, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-speed Railway transported 15.032 million cross-border passengers, an increase of 16.1% year-on-year; the number of inbound and outbound passengers at the Hengqin Port (横琴口岸) exceeded 13.9 million, an increase of 33.4% year-on-year; and the customs clearance volume of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge exceeded 10 million, 25 days earlier than in 2024.
"Soft connectivity" is constantly updated, promoting the convenient flow of various factors.
"One code" travels smoothly in three places, bringing many conveniences to Xu Ling (徐玲), who works in Guangzhou. "My colleagues in Hong Kong and I set off from our respective cities and went to Macao on a business trip together. We all used mobile payment without any obstacles."
The cross-border payment pass launched on June 22 brings a new experience. AlipayHK (支付宝香港) and MPay (澳门钱包) are connected to the subway and bus systems in the core cities of the Greater Bay Area; Hong Kong and Macao residents' e-wallets "Consumption Easy" and "Travel Easy" cover about 200 cross-border mini-programs such as catering and taxi hailing.
The implementation of new policies such as "multiple entries with one visa" for Shenzhen residents and residence permit holders to travel to Hong Kong and "one trip per week" for Zhuhai residents to travel to Macao; the optimization of the "Hong Kong Cars Northbound" and "Macao Cars Northbound" policies; the active planning of "Guangdong Cars Southbound"; the implementation of the "Three Places, One Lock Plan" in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, a comprehensive service platform for cross-border vehicle information management; convenient customs clearance for air cargo, and the agglomeration and development of new trade formats...
In Doushan Town (斗山镇), Taishan City (台山市), Guangdong Province (广东省), Guangdong Hexing Edible Oil Co., Ltd. (广东合兴食用油有限公司) continues to increase investment and expand production. "The advantages of the Greater Bay Area are becoming more and more obvious, and the time and logistics costs are constantly decreasing," said Lin Rongcan (林荣灿), chairman of the company. "A deep processing base for agricultural and sideline products is being planned and constructed to bring more high-quality mainland products to the Hong Kong and Macao markets."
"Hard connectivity" and "soft connectivity" also require "heart connectivity."
The "Macao New Neighborhood" (澳门新街坊) located in the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone (横琴粤澳深度合作区) is full of Macao style with street lights, railings, and stone-paved squares, coupled with authentic Macao public services, attracting more than 2,500 Macao residents to move in.
"In the past year, I have had many happy events." Huang Zicai (黄滋才), a Macao youth and executive of Molecular State (Zhuhai Hengqin) Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Industry Development Co., Ltd. (分子态（珠海横琴）中医药健康产业发展有限公司), first had several of his company's products approved to use the "Made in Macao" logo, and he also became one of the first residents of the "Macao New Neighborhood."
In the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub (深港青年梦工场) in the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone (前海深港现代服务业合作区), Yu Guangtao (余广滔), a Hong Kong youth, and his team use black soldier flies to treat kitchen waste, helping Inseap Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (茵塞普科技（深圳）有限公司) become a "dark horse" in the circular economy track.
"The Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub's complete entrepreneurial support system and strong entrepreneurial atmosphere have helped us grow all the way," said Yu Guangtao. Tax incentives alone have reduced the company's operating costs by more than 1 million yuan.
Since its establishment in 2014, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub has incubated 1,450 entrepreneurial teams, including 1,028 teams from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and international regions. Currently, more than 200,000 Hong Kong and Macao residents work and live in Guangdong, and more than 340,000 Hong Kong and Macao residents participate in pension, unemployment, and work-related injury insurance in Guangdong.
Mountains and rivers are connected, and people's hearts are connected. Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao are moving in the same direction and resonating at the same frequency.
Collaborative Innovation
——Leveraging their respective advantages and releasing synergistic effects, jointly building an international science and technology innovation center with global influence
It looks like powder, but it is actually micron-sized capsules. This product, called pre-coated thread glue, is widely used in automobile screw assembly and has successfully broken the foreign technology monopoly.
"Professor Yang Jinglei (杨晶磊) of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (香港科技大学) team provided scientific research support, the Fok Ying Tung Research Institute (霍英东研究院) provided engineering testing and office space, and the Dongguan factory (东莞工厂) carried out large-scale production," said Cui Junjie (崔俊杰), CEO of Guangzhou Zhiwei New Material Technology Co., Ltd. (广州智微新材科技有限公司).
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Fok Ying Tung Research Institute, located in Nansha District (南沙区), Guangzhou (广州市), is also responsible for operating the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) Science and Innovation Achievement Transfer and Transformation Base, which has 34 start-up projects settled.
Gao Min (高民), Dean of the Fok Ying Tung Research Institute, introduced, "We are working with the Nansha District Government to create a 'front shop and back factory' of the science and innovation ecosystem, and strive to build the area around the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) into the 'Silicon Valley' of the Greater Bay Area."
Building an international science and technology innovation center with global influence is an important strategic positioning of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao each have their own strengths, and complementary advantages and collaborative innovation are the way out.
The high spatio-temporal resolution electron microscope in front of you allows the microscopic world to be seen. Chen Furong (陈福荣), who is over 60 years old, is currently the Dean of the Institute of Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong (Futian) (香港城市大学物质科学研究院（福田）). He has worked hard on this for more than 20 years, but once faced the dilemma of "having technology and talent but lacking market and funds."
"The perfect combination of Hong Kong's basic research and Shenzhen's supply chain and industrial chain advantages has promoted the 'from 0 to 1' breakthrough," Chen Furong said with emotion.
The Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone (河套深港科技创新合作区) is Chen Furong's dream place and a microcosm of the deepening of Shenzhen-Hong Kong science and technology innovation cooperation.
At present, the Shenzhen Park of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone has substantially promoted and implemented more than 200 high-end scientific research projects, gathered more than 440 technology companies and more than 15,000 scientific researchers, and has more than 1,700 PCT patent applications.
Improve the layout, open and share, and stimulate the vitality of original innovation.
Songshan Lake Science City (松山湖科学城) in Dongguan City (东莞市), the China Spallation Neutron Source (中国散裂中子源), which was put into use in 2018, has been opened to global scientists for 13 rounds, with an annual opening time of more than 5,000 hours.
"About 1/5 of the users are from Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao," said Zhang Junrong (张俊荣), Deputy Director of the Neutron Science Department of the China Spallation Neutron Source Science Center of the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院高能物理研究所中国散裂中子源科学中心). "Doing experiments at the 'doorstep' greatly improves scientific research efficiency."
At present, there are 10 national major science and technology infrastructure facilities in Guangdong, and a world-class major science and technology infrastructure cluster mainly in the fields of information, life, materials, and energy has been initially formed. A number of large devices and platforms such as "Pengcheng Cloud Brain" (鹏城云脑) and the National Supercomputing Shenzhen Center (Phase II) (国家超级计算深圳中心（二期）) are open and shared to scientific research institutions and enterprises in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao.
"Relying on the major science and technology infrastructure cluster and the 'Hong Kong scientific research - Pearl River Delta transformation - global market' industry-university-research transformation chain, give full play to regional comparative advantages, and achieve mutual promotion and strengthening of scientific and technological innovation and industrial upgrading," said the relevant person in charge of the Leading Group Office for Promoting the Construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in Guangdong Province (广东省推进粤港澳大湾区建设领导小组办公室). It will continue to create an international scientific research environment and a first-class open innovation ecosystem.
Spread out the map of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the scientific and technological innovation resources are densely arrayed.
The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong and Guangzhou-Zhuhai-Macao two science and technology innovation corridors are spread along both sides of the Pearl River like the Chinese character "人" (rén - "person"): the vertex is Guangzhou Nansha Science City (广州南沙科学城), the middle is Dongguan Songshan Lake (东莞松山湖) and Shenzhen Guangming (深圳光明) two science cities, and the bottom of the two strokes are Shenzhen-Hong Kong Hetao (深港河套) and Hengqin Guangdong-Macao (横琴粤澳) two cooperation zones.
Clenching fingers into fists, working together with one heart, the science and technology innovation highland is accelerating its rise.
The China Spallation Neutron Source Science Center is cooperating with 8 universities in Hong Kong and Macao to build the first synchrotron radiation light source in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Pengcheng Laboratory (鹏城实验室) and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology are jointly cooperating on the Hong Kong City Node of the "China Computing Power Network" (中国算力网), and Guangdong has jointly established 34 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao joint laboratories with Hong Kong and Macao...
The World Intellectual Property Organization released the "Global Innovation Index 2025" in September. The "Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou" innovation cluster ranked first in the world for the first time, after ranking second in the world for five consecutive years. This cluster is a vivid footnote to the concerted innovation of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Openness Leading
——Connecting with high-standard trade and investment rules, and accelerating the cultivation of new advantages in international cooperation and competition
Enter it once, and you can complete the declaration in two places.
In May of this year, the first "single window" standard version of the "one single, two declarations" goods imported through the Shenzhen Customs (深圳海关) were quickly inspected and released and then entered the country. The joint declaration of mainland road manifests and Hong Kong road cargo data has thus achieved full coverage of imports and exports.
"In the past, it was necessary to declare separately, and the requirements in the two places were not exactly the same," introduced Qiu Yuan (邱媛), a staff member of the Business Reform Section of the Comprehensive Department of Shenzhen Customs. "We innovate regulatory models and actively promote the facilitation of cross-border trade between Shenzhen and Hong Kong."
Openness is a clear symbol of Chinese-style modernization. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has an innate gene of openness.
Hong Kong continues to be rated as one of the world's freest economies and most competitive regions by many international institutions, Macao's function of multicultural exchange is becoming increasingly prominent, and the nine cities in the Pearl River Delta are the most externally oriented economic region and an important window for opening up to the outside world in the mainland.
Strong alliance, the opening of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has reached a new height.
"The focus is on promoting the connection of rules and mechanisms from single-point and gradual innovation to strategic, integrated, and all-round layout, and improving the level of market integration," said Li Peilin (李沛霖), associate researcher at the Institute of Territorial Development and Regional Economics of the National Development and Reform Commission (国家发展改革委国土开发与地区经济研究所).
Focusing on a higher level of openness, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is making efforts to institutional openness with rules, regulations, management, and standards as the main content.
Expand new development space in a wider range, wider fields, and deeper levels—
In less than a week after submitting the application, Shenzhen Oriental Ruide Electronics Co., Ltd. (深圳市东方瑞德电子有限公司) received a loan of 5 million Hong Kong dollars, which solved the company's urgent needs in its Hong Kong business.
In the past, it was difficult for Hong Kong credit institutions to verify the authenticity of the credit of mainland enterprises, and it was difficult for mainland enterprises operating in Hong Kong to obtain loans.
"Now with the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Cross-border Data Verification Platform, even the cost of asking a third-party institution to verify the materials has been saved," said Fu Xifan (符晰帆), manager of Shenzhen Oriental Ruide Electronics Co., Ltd.
This platform has helped mainland enterprises operating in Hong Kong obtain loans of nearly 100 million Hong Kong dollars.
The "Bond Connect" in the financial field has been upgraded, the "Cross-border Wealth Management Connect" has been optimized, and 187 high-frequency government service items have been "cross-border handled"... From cross-border data flow to cross-border cooperation in government services, and then to cross-border finance, Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao are interconnected in all directions.
Carry out pioneering and integrated exploration with institutional innovation as the core—
A set of development data in the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone (深圳前海深港现代服务业合作区) is eye-catching:
In 2024, the regional GDP was 300.88 billion yuan, an increase of 8.6% year-on-year, the total import and export volume was 706.65 billion yuan, an increase of 42.4% year-on-year, and the actual use of foreign capital was 26.65 billion yuan, an increase of 7.4% year-on-year.
The Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone is committed to building an international "service circle," "innovation circle," "living circle," and "friend circle," and deeply exploring reforms in the fields of offshore trade, cross-border finance, and international commercial dispute resolution.
"69 of the 72 tasks in the 'Overall Plan for Deepening the Reform and Opening Up of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone' have been implemented, and 17 of the 48 experience measures in the Shenzhen Comprehensive Reform Pilot have been implemented first in Qianhai," said Wang Shourui (王守睿), member of the Standing Committee of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Party Working Committee of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone.
In the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone, innovative measures such as the "cross-border handling and one-place two-registration" Hong Kong and Macao service window for commercial registration and the Macao "e-service account" help Macao government affairs to be handled in Hengqin and Hengqin government affairs to be applied for in Macao.
Expand domestic economic ties and integrate into the construction of a unified national market—
Guangzhou Nansha Port (广州南沙港), giant ships honk their horns and wait to depart. Household appliances from the Yangtze River Economic Belt are shipped from here to Southeast Asia.
"We are upgrading the construction of sea-rail combined transport capacity to a new height," introduced Mo Bin (莫斌), Deputy Minister of the Production and Business Department of Guangzhou Port Group (广州港集团). "Taking the construction of the Hunan channel as the traction and starting point, it will drive the extension to Jiangxi, Hubei, Guangxi, Chengdu-Chongqing and other regions."
To the south, the Qiongzhou Strait (琼州海峡) is integrated and developed with high quality in conjunction with the Hainan Free Trade Port; to the north, the Yangtze River Delta cooperates in key links of product research and development and finished product manufacturing... Relying on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, broader and deeper collaborative linkage is constantly extending in all directions.
Based on the domestic super-large market, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area gathers global enterprises, technologies, funds and other resources. At the 2024 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Global Investment Promotion Conference, ExxonMobil, BASF and other Fortune 500 companies and industry leading enterprises reached 1,933 signed projects with a total amount of 2.26 trillion yuan.
In the first half of this year, the foreign trade of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area continued to maintain a steady and progressive trend. Among them, the total value of imports and exports of the nine cities in the Pearl River Delta reached 4.38 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.3% year-on-year, accounting for 20.1% of the total value of imports and exports of the country, hitting a record high for the same period in previous years, demonstrating strong economic resilience.
*** ***
With three rivers converging and eight mouths entering the sea, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has created 1/9 of the country's economic aggregate with less than 0.6% of the country's land area.
A world-class bay area and a world-class city cluster are accelerating their rise on this land.
Return to TopBy: 卞民德
Visiting the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, everywhere is filled with rapidly changing innovation and creation, demonstrating the strong pulse of the Chinese economy, making people feel novel and excited.
Daring to venture, daring to experiment, forging a new path! In six years, this land has stood at the forefront of the tide with an indomitable spirit. Every step of breakthrough and progress benefits from the organic combination of top-level design and 摸着石头过河 (mō zhe shí tou guò hé - "feeling the stones to cross the river," to proceed with caution by feeling one's way).
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is one of the regions with the highest quality and most "golden content" of economic development in China. Here, reform has never stopped, opening up has never ceased, the primary driving force of innovation leading development has continued to strengthen, and Guangdong (广东), Hong Kong (香港), and Macao (澳门) share a common destiny and resonate at the same frequency, creating one miracle of high-quality development after another.
On both sides of the Pearl River (珠江), on the Lingdingyang (伶仃洋) waters, the scenery is pleasant, the kinetic energy is surging, and the atmosphere is ever-changing. The prosperous and stable Hong Kong (香港) and Macao (澳门), and the dynamic nine cities of the Pearl River Delta (珠三角九市), are not only witnesses to the vigorous growth of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, but also a portrayal of accelerating the construction of a new development pattern.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the future is worth looking forward to!
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 孙 超
"In the past, I heard of Dongting Lake, now I ascend Yueyang Tower. The division of Wu and Chu in the southeast, heaven and earth float day and night." The timeless lines of Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu (杜甫) capture the vastness of Dongting Lake (洞庭湖) and convey the majesty of Yueyang Tower (岳阳楼).
A "commission" once etched the name of Yueyang Tower (岳阳楼) even deeper into the cultural genes of the Chinese people. In the fourth year of the Qingli era of the Northern Song Dynasty, Teng Zijing (滕子京) was demoted to Baling Commandery (巴陵郡), later oversaw the reconstruction of Yueyang Tower (岳阳楼), and invited Fan Zhongyan (范仲淹) to write a record of it.
This is the *Record of Yueyang Tower* (《岳阳楼记》), which allows the building to transcend time and space. For thousands of years, people have ascended the tower and faced the wind, still able to feel its meaning.
Yueyang Tower (岳阳楼) was originally built by Lu Su (鲁肃) of the Three Kingdoms period as the "Military Review Tower" (阅军楼). During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, the famous minister Zhang Yue (张说) expanded it and often ascended the tower with literati to compose poems; the poet Li Bai (李白) also ascended Yueyang Tower (岳阳楼) and left behind the famous lines, "The view from the tower exhausts Yueyang, the river winds and Dongting opens."
The most recent major dismantling and renovation of Yueyang Tower (岳阳楼) was from 1982 to 1984. Gong Yanwu (龚延武), who had just graduated from school and was assigned to the Yueyang City Cultural Relics Management Office (岳阳市文物管理所), was a participant.
What is "dismantling"? "It is to disassemble and classify the entire building, continue to use the well-preserved disassembled parts, and replace the decayed ones with new ones," said Gong Yanwu (龚延武).
The four "golden pillars" on the foundation of the tower were almost hollowed out by termites at the time. The staff first took termite prevention measures, and then injected a mixture of resin and quartz powder to make them stronger.
Of the more than 42,000 wooden components dismantled from Yueyang Tower (岳阳楼), more than 20,500 were ultimately retained and used, more than 20,400 were repaired, and only 1,820 were replicated. Gong Yanwu (龚延武) said: "The glazed treasure roof and dragon and phoenix ridge ornaments that people see today are passed down from the Qing Dynasty; the granite pillars are derived from the Song Dynasty."
From multiple maintenance repairs and reinforcement, to the launch of supporting project construction, Yueyang Tower (岳阳楼) continues its millennium of cultural heritage under careful care.
"What is so special about this tower? Du Shaoling's (杜少陵) five-character masterpiece, Fan Xiwen's (范希文) two words express deep feelings..." The couplets in the tower are thought-provoking. What is the meaning of "two words express deep feelings"? When reporters interviewed at the Yueyang Tower Scenic Area (岳阳楼景区), many people blurted out—"Worry and Joy (忧乐)."
The statesman Qu Yuan (屈原) had worry and joy—in exile, he still had the deep worry and indignation of "I sigh deeply and wipe away my tears, grieving the hardship of the people's lives."
Du Fu (杜甫) had worry and joy—when "no word from relatives or friends, old and sick in a lonely boat," he still had the national worry of "warhorses north of the pass, leaning on the railing and weeping."
Fan Zhongyan (范仲淹) had worry and joy—in the adversity of life, he still had the open-mindedness of "not pleased by external gains, nor saddened by personal losses."
Proletarian revolutionaries Ren Bishi (任弼时) and He Changgong (何长工), grassroots cadres such as Li Dong (李东) who sacrificed on the front line of flood control... From ancient times to the present, on the land of Yueyang (岳阳), the interpretation of "worry and joy" has never stopped.
Now, the "worry and joy" of Yueyang Tower (岳阳楼) has a new era connotation.
As the lights come on, the immersive poetry theater *Ascending Yueyang Tower Today* (《今上岳阳楼》) begins to enter its climax.
Wang Zidong (王子栋), a student from Shanxi (山西), tours at night with a lantern, and the night scene of Dongting (洞庭) flows in the light and shadow. When "Fan Zhongyan" (范仲淹) ascends Yueyang Tower (岳阳楼) and recites the famous line "Be the first to worry about the world's worries, and the last to enjoy the world's joys," the atmosphere of the whole audience reaches a climax. "The profundity of history and the breadth of civilization are all around me," said Wang Zidong (王子栋).
In 2023, the Standing Committee of the Yueyang Municipal People's Congress (岳阳市人大常委会) designated the fifteenth day of the ninth lunar month of each year as "Yueyang Tower Day (岳阳楼日)."
Protecting a river of clear water is one of the specific manifestations of "worry and joy" in the new era. In the past, the extensive development mode once made Yueyang (岳阳) face the "worry" of a severe ecological environment. Banning illegal sand and gravel docks,整治长江岸线, restoring wetland ecology... Today, "the songs of migratory birds," "the beautiful shadows of elk," and "the smiles of finless porpoises" are becoming new business cards for Yueyang's (岳阳) cultural tourism "joy."
Return to TopOctober 5th, tourists viewed the Hukou Waterfall (黄河壶口瀑布) scenic area of the Yellow River (黄河), located at the junction of Ji County (吉县), Linfen City (临汾市), Shanxi Province (山西省) and Yichuan County (宜川县), Yan'an City (延安市), Shaanxi Province (陕西省). During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, people across the country chose various ways to travel, enjoy the scenery, relax, and celebrate the double festival.
Lü Guiming (吕桂明) photo (Xinhua News Agency 发)
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 秦瑞杰 范昊天 刘军国
A bowl of mutton soup noodles, a memory of the Three Gorges, a glimpse of the Jiangnan scenery—the beauty of China not only makes people stop, but also makes them take root. Many foreign friends use their love to write their own Chinese stories, showing the world a real, vivid, and warm China.
"Tell China's wonderful stories to more people"
On September 3, at the site of the conference commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, when 80,000 peace doves flapped their wings and flew into the blue sky, Fang Haoming (方浩明), a reporter from Dubai Chinese-Arab TV born in Iraq, was moved to tears: "I especially hope that the Middle East can also achieve peace, and I especially hope that the people of the Middle East can live the same life as the Chinese people."
Fourteen years ago, this young Iraqi man forged an indissoluble bond with China. In 2011, at the age of 11, he followed his parents, who came to China to teach, to Ningxia (宁夏). When he first arrived in Yinchuan (银川), a bowl of chewy, smooth, spicy, and fragrant mutton soup noodles in a small street restaurant immediately broke the sense of distance. "I fell in love with it immediately!" Fang Haoming (方浩明) said. Open his social media account, and the first line of text in the introduction is: "Spreading Chinese stories is a responsibility for me." At the 2024 New Year Reception for Foreign Journalists in China, Fang Haoming (方浩明) became popular for performing "Subject Three." He said that as a foreign media reporter, he hopes to touch the deep pulse of China's opening-up process through interviews and observations.
"Ningxia (宁夏) is an important window for people in Arab countries to understand China. I hope more foreign friends will come to China and Ningxia (宁夏) to experience it personally and better understand China," Fang Haoming (方浩明) said. Last year, he planned a special program, "A 'Goji' Look at Ningxia (一‘杞’看宁夏)," taking Arab guests into the wolfberry fields of Zhongning County (中宁县), Ningxia (宁夏): "Look! These magical little red fruits can be used to make tea, face masks, and wine—delicious and healthy! And behind this is more than 2,000 years of Yellow River irrigation history."
Fang Haoming's (方浩明) mobile phone contains a wish list of "traveling all over China": go to Wudang Mountain (武当山) in Hubei (湖北) to practice Tai Chi and understand the philosophy of "overcoming the unyielding with gentleness"; go to Hongyadong (洪崖洞) in Chongqing (重庆) to photograph the collision of cyberpunk and traditional stilted buildings; learn to sing the high-pitched and passionate Shaanxi Qin腔 (陕西秦腔) opera and feel the vastness and profoundness of the 800-mile Qinchuan (秦川) plain... Fang Haoming (方浩明) said, "The real cultural communication should flow in people's hearts like the Tigris and the Yellow River. I hope to use the camera to tell China's wonderful stories to more people and share China's excellent culture with more countries."
"The real China is much more exciting than what is written in books"
On social media platforms, a South Korean girl born in the 1990s who settled in Yichang (宜昌), Hubei (湖北), is active: introducing the vivid stories of the world's hydropower city in front of the Three Gorges Dam (三峡大坝), or walking into street snack shops to let netizens feel the strong urban atmosphere... She is Chen Rong'en (陈荣恩), using the camera as a medium to record life, spread culture, and show the world a vibrant and warm China.
Chen Rong'en's (陈荣恩) relationship with China began in 2017. At that time, she came to China for the first time as an exchange student from Dongguk University (东国大学) in South Korea. "At that time, I discovered that the real China is much more exciting than what is written in books," Chen Rong'en (陈荣恩) said. After graduation, she came to a travel company in Yichang (宜昌) as a translator and travel planner. "When I first arrived in Yichang (宜昌), I was deeply attracted."
In her spare time, Chen Rong'en (陈荣恩) and her friends filmed their experiences into short videos: going to Yichang Yu'an (宜昌远安) "Longevity Village" to interview centenarians, wearing ethnic costumes to experience Tujia (土家族) life, and following tea masters to learn tea picking and making... "I want more Koreans to understand Yichang (宜昌), and I also want Chinese people to know what Yichang (宜昌) looks like in the eyes of foreigners," Chen Rong'en (陈荣恩) said. She has also been invited to participate in many cultural exchange and online live broadcast activities: in Wuhan East Lake Cherry Blossom Garden (武汉东湖樱花园), wearing Hanfu (汉服) and walking through the sea of flowers, tasting cherry blossom ice cream; in the Hubei Provincial Museum (湖北省博物馆), marveling at the craftsmanship of the Sword of Goujian (越王勾践剑) and listening to the magnificent music of the Bianzhong (编钟)... The short videos she produced have attracted the attention of people from all walks of life in China and South Korea, including the mayor of Gyeongju (庆州市) in South Korea and professors from Gyeongju University (庆州大学).
Now, Chen Rong'en (陈荣恩) has been hired as the "Zhiyin Hubei (知音湖北) Cultural Tourism Promotion Officer," Yichang City (宜昌市) Tourism Image Ambassador, and Yichang City (宜昌市) Brand Promotion Ambassador. She has also found love here and become a "Yichang (宜昌) daughter-in-law." "Promoting Korean-Chinese friendship is my mission," she said. "Whenever I see fans leave messages saying 'I fell in love with China because of your videos,' I feel that everything is worth it."
"A cultural dream weaver spanning 5,000 kilometers"
The lake reflects the shadows of swaying trees, and a 5-year-old boy chases swans playfully. On the banks of the Ginkgo Swan Lake (银杏天鹅湖) in Xiuzhou District (秀洲区), Jiaxing City (嘉兴市), Zhejiang Province (浙江省), this picture is frozen in the mobile phone lens of Pakistani businessman Osama (奥萨玛).
In 2011, Osama (奥萨玛) came to China to study and was deeply attracted by China's prosperity and vitality. Five years later, he chose to settle in Jiaxing (嘉兴). For Osama (奥萨玛), truly integrating into Jiaxing (嘉兴) means becoming a part of the city. He travels through the streets and alleys of Jiaxing (嘉兴) ancient towns such as Yuehe (月河) and Xinqiao (新塍), and his interest makes him a promoter of local culture. He serves as the Jiaxing City (嘉兴市) Ambassador for Foreign Cultural Exchange, showing the world the unique charm of the Jiangnan (江南) water town. "I am willing to be a cultural dream weaver spanning 5,000 kilometers," Osama (奥萨玛) said.
Osama (奥萨玛) is keen to share his stories in China on social media. In the video, he encounters an elderly dance team in Chongfu Ancient Town (崇福古镇), Tongxiang (桐乡), and dances traditional Pakistani steps, raising his arms, shrugging his shoulders, and spinning around, making everyone laugh; in the Cocoon Painting Museum (茧画馆), he carefully pinches silkworm cocoons and tries to paint on them; he tastes traditional pastries in the ancient town, "Look, we bought a lot of delicious cakes!" "The people here are willing to slow down and tell you what 'life' is." In Osama's (奥萨玛) view, the everyday atmosphere and human touch of Jiaxing (嘉兴) are the most touching cultural symbols.
In the evening, the Ginkgo Swan Lake (银杏天鹅湖) ripples with golden light, and Osama (奥萨玛) leads his son's hand towards home. The evening breeze blows, and his son suddenly looks up and asks: "Dad, can I connect the two countries like you when I grow up?" He squatted down, wiped the sweat from his son's forehead, and replied softly: "Of course. You already have."
Return to TopBy: 扎法尔·乌丁·马赫默德
Looking to the future, the SCO will firmly uphold unity and mutual trust, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly build a path of development, and strengthen mutual learning among civilizations, so as to contribute greater strength to promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Since its establishment, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has always adhered to the "Shanghai Spirit," injecting continuous impetus into regional cooperation. At present, the international situation is complex and volatile, the world economic recovery is weak, and uncertainty is rising. How to achieve sustainable development and promote mutually beneficial and win-win results has become a common concern for all countries.
At the SCO Tianjin Summit held not long ago, leaders of the member states jointly established the SCO's development strategy for the next 10 years and decided to establish the SCO Development Bank. A series of important achievements have brought more stability and certainty to the region and the world. At the "Shanghai Cooperation Organisation +" meeting, President Xi Jinping (习近平) solemnly put forward the global governance initiative, profoundly answering the important question of how countries around the world should strengthen cooperation and jointly improve the global governance system under the current global changes. The strong strategic guidance has further highlighted the importance of the SCO.
Economic cooperation is an important pillar of SCO development. Strengthening digital economy, green development, poverty reduction cooperation, and infrastructure connectivity is not only a common demand of member states, but also a realistic path to promote regional prosperity. A series of pragmatic measures taken by China to promote cooperation are in line with the development needs of various countries and bring tangible benefits to SCO member states.
Pakistan is one of the beneficiaries. The construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (中巴经济走廊) has improved the conditions of transportation, energy, and industrial infrastructure in Pakistan. China's hybrid rice technology, photovoltaic new energy technology, and other technologies have been gradually promoted in Pakistan, promoting Pakistan's industrialization and modernization.
Development cooperation requires people's support, and cultural exchange is an important link of the SCO. Civilization is enriched by exchanges and enriched by mutual learning. China attaches great importance to cultural dialogue, youth exchanges, think tank cooperation, and other cultural issues, and promotes all parties to strengthen mutual understanding and mutual trust. In the China-Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Zone (中国—上海合作组织地方经贸合作示范区) in Qingdao (青岛), Shandong (山东), I saw young people from different countries enhance their understanding and gain friendship and trust through learning, work, and exchanges. At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Agricultural Technology Exchange and Training Demonstration Base (上海合作组织农业技术交流培训示范基地) in Yangling (杨凌), Shaanxi (陕西), Pakistani agricultural students are participating in learning and training, and they will contribute to improving the level of agricultural development in Pakistan.
I myself came to China to study in the 1970s and deeply felt the sincerity and friendship of the Chinese people. This experience has convinced me that cross-border exchanges can change personal destiny and inject long-term impetus into the development of relations between countries. I founded the "Understanding China" forum to actively promote communication and exchanges between Pakistani and Chinese youth, scholars, and media, hoping that more people can personally feel China's development and the Chinese people's friendship like I did back then.
Facts have proved that cultural exchanges and economic cooperation complement each other. At the SCO Sustainable Development Forum, I mentioned a simple but profound fact: in all SCO member states, everyone's life is inseparable from "Made in China." These products not only facilitate people's daily lives, but also become an important link for communication and understanding. The connection established through daily necessities makes more people interested in and identify with China's development path and cooperation concept. This kind of cognition based on real life is an important force for promoting people-to-people connectivity within the SCO.
During its tenure as the rotating presidency of the SCO, China put forward a number of important cooperation initiatives and worked with other member states to promote the SCO to continuously reach new heights in the fields of economic cooperation and cultural exchanges. Looking to the future, the SCO will firmly uphold unity and mutual trust, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly build a path of development, and strengthen mutual learning among civilizations, so as to contribute greater strength to promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
(The author is a policy advisor to the Secretary-General of the Boao Forum for Asia (博鳌亚洲论坛)).
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 颜 欢
"During my time in China, I traveled to almost all of the top universities in various provinces to promote exchange and discuss cooperation. China's development and changes are happening too fast. Europe needs to better understand China in order to truly achieve win-win results." Fei Kedi (费可迪), the China representative of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (马德里理工大学) in Spain, said in an exclusive interview with this reporter, "Europe and China can give full play to their respective advantages and work together to promote the upgrading of cooperation in science and technology, education, industry and other fields."
Fei Kedi (费可迪) is a well-known Spanish economist and engineering professor. He went to Shanghai (上海), China in 2014 and has been engaged in teaching in China for more than 10 years. He once served as the foreign dean of the Sino-German College (中西学院) of Tongji University (同济大学). Fei Kedi (费可迪) said that Tongji University (同济大学) has witnessed the continuous deepening of European-Chinese cooperation. Relevant departments in European countries such as France, Italy and Spain have established in-depth cooperative relationships with top Chinese universities. "Universities are like 'folk embassies'. Even in the current increasingly complex international situation, European-Chinese cooperation in higher education has not been interrupted. European-Chinese cooperation in higher education not only jointly improves the level of international scientific research, but also enhances young people's understanding of each other's cultures, providing favorable conditions for the implementation of more cooperative projects in the future."
Fei Kedi (费可迪) believes that European-Chinese scientific research cooperation is now more pragmatic, more down-to-earth, and at a deeper level. A few years ago, the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (遗传与发育生物学研究所) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院), the Shanghai Plant Stress Biology Research Center (上海植物逆境生物学研究中心) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院), and the Spanish Plant Biotechnology and Genomics Center (西班牙植物生物技术和基因组中心) jointly established the "Joint Center for Plant and Environment Interaction" to explore sustainable agricultural development and food security issues around gene modification technology.
The technological research and development aimed at real-world needs has opened up broader ideas for Sino-European cooperation in higher education. Fei Kedi (费可迪) and many of his Chinese and European colleagues worked together to facilitate the smooth launch of the Tongji Entrepreneurship Valley (同济创业谷) project to help incubate entrepreneurial projects both in China and abroad. Fei Kedi (费可迪) introduced that a Spanish student majoring in engineering at Tongji University (同济大学) was inspired by the rapid development of China's electric vehicle industry and established a start-up company related to new energy vehicle motors through Tongji Entrepreneurship Valley (同济创业谷), which was favored by Cabify, a Spanish instant car-hailing software company. The project has not only achieved success in the market, but also achieved multiple breakthroughs in technology, business model and market operation. "This experience has broadened the international horizons of young people and demonstrated the great potential of transnational cooperation in cultivating an innovative and entrepreneurial ecosystem," said Fei Kedi (费可迪).
"Shanghai (上海) is the frontier of China's opening up to the outside world. At Tongji University (同济大学), I participated in receiving inspection groups from Europe. Whether it is German industrial enterprises with extensive layouts in China, French pharmaceutical companies that have deeply cultivated the Chinese market, or companies from the Netherlands and Nordic countries, they all want to cooperate with China and want to have a place in the Chinese market," said Fei Kedi (费可迪). "I believe that European-Chinese cooperation has broad prospects."
Fei Kedi (费可迪) said that European-Chinese dual-degree programs, joint scientific research cooperation, and entrepreneurial incubation and technology docking have created an important foundation for cooperation between the two sides. "As an educator, I hope to help European-Chinese students have a broader international perspective and become a solid force for future European-Chinese cooperation."
Return to TopXinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 5th. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson announced on the 5th: At the invitation of Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani (安东尼奥·塔亚尼) and Swiss Federal Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis (伊格纳西奥·卡西斯), Wang Yi (王毅), member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, will visit Italy from October 7th to 12th and hold the 12th Joint Meeting of the China-Italy Government Committee, and travel to Switzerland to hold the fourth round of China-Switzerland Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue.
Return to TopFrom orderly expansion of the scope of unilateral visa-free countries, to optimizing and improving regional visa-free entry policies, more and more foreigners are coming to China, and "China tourism" has become a new fashion. The picture shows tourists from France holding fish lanterns and checking in at Hongcun Village (宏村) in Yixian County (黟县), Huangshan City (黄山市), Anhui Province (安徽省) on October 1st.
Shi Yalei (施亚磊) photo (Image China)
Return to TopThis newspaper's Berlin (柏林) October 5th (reported by reporter Xu Xin (徐馨)) Geneva (日内瓦) news: During the 60th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva (中国常驻联合国日内瓦办事处) and other International Organizations in Switzerland (瑞士其他国际组织代表团) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (联合国人权事务高级专员办事处) jointly held the launch ceremony of the online platform for the Knowledge Center for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at the Palais des Nations (万国宫) in Geneva (日内瓦) on the 2nd. Chen Xu (陈旭), Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva (中国常驻联合国日内瓦办事处) and other International Organizations in Switzerland (瑞士其他国际组织代表团), Nada Al-Nashif, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights (联合国人权事务副高级专员娜达·纳希夫), and the Permanent Representatives of Paraguay (巴拉圭) and Thailand (泰国) to the United Nations Office at Geneva (联合国日内瓦办事处) delivered keynote speeches at the launch ceremony, with representatives from over a hundred countries attending. All parties praised China's leading role in the field of economic, social and cultural rights and looked forward to further deepening exchanges and cooperation.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 张志文
Interacting and taking photos with adorable panda dolls, experiencing the unique charm of Chinese opera and martial arts, and appreciating the dynamic and beautiful scenery of Jin City through dance... As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, a series of Chinese cultural activities at the Avenues Mall in Kuwait have attracted many local people to participate.
The series of activities, themed "A Moonlit Moment Across the Globe: Flowers Crossing Jin Guan City," is guided by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism (中国文化和旅游部) and the Chinese Embassy in Kuwait (中国驻科威特大使馆), co-organized by the Chinese Cultural Center in Kuwait (科威特中国文化中心) and the Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism (成都市文化广电旅游局), and undertaken by the Chengdu Municipal Center for External Cultural Exchange (成都市对外文化交流中心). The series of activities also includes a themed art performance, the "Panda Departure - Hello, Kuwait" Chengdu Panda Culture and Art and Cultural Tourism Promotion Theme Exhibition, and the Chengdu Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition, bringing rich and colorful Mid-Autumn Festival cultural activities into the lives of local people.
"Every program is wonderful, I like it very much." Hamoud, a local Kuwaiti, watched the entire performance and told reporters that the Kuwaiti people appreciate and love Chinese culture and hope to have the opportunity to visit China in the future to experience the vigorous vitality of China in the new era.
The Chinese cultural activities held at the Middle East American University in Kuwait were also well received: people from all countries tasted mooncakes, visited panda-themed painted sculptures, and participated in various interactive activities such as virtual reality (VR) experiences to feel the festive atmosphere of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Everyone actively participated in the intangible cultural heritage skills demonstrations brought by Chinese masters, such as palm weaving, rope weaving, dough modeling, paper cutting, and sugar painting. Ali, a Kuwaiti university student, said that the rapid development of relations between Kuwait and China provides opportunities for youth exchanges between the two countries. "I am studying mechanical engineering and hope to visit Shenzhen (深圳)." Since China's trial visa-free policy for Kuwaiti citizens holding ordinary passports, "traveling to China" has become a popular topic locally. "I am looking forward to a self-driving trip to China." Reed, from Kuwait City (科威特城), is an experienced self-driving enthusiast and has already started planning his driving trip from Kuwait to China.
"The wonderful cultural feast has given us a deeper understanding of China." Lulwa Khaled, a Kuwaiti art teacher, told reporters that she once led her students to participate in the "Tiangong Dialogue" event. "The achievements of China's aerospace industry have shocked the students. I hope to have the opportunity to travel to China in depth and tell my students more stories about China's development."
Liu Jinhong (刘锦宏), director of the Chinese Cultural Center in Kuwait (科威特中国文化中心), said that the series of activities brought the beauty of Chinese art to Kuwait, and hopes that through such exchanges, the people of China and Kuwait will get closer to each other and their hearts will be more connected.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 张雪妍
National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, countless workers stick to their posts and work hard, practicing responsibility and commitment with practical work.
Strivers, Guarding Thousands of Homes
"Happiness is achieved through struggle, and struggle itself is a kind of happiness."
On October 5th, at a courier station in Huainan City, Anhui Province, store manager Fan Yuqiang (范玉强) and his employees were sorting fresh fish and live crabs transported from Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province. "The number of express orders during this holiday has doubled." Fan Yuqiang wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a smile, "Thinking that we also contribute to the fresh taste on everyone's table, I feel that this perseverance is particularly meaningful." In Liqiao Water Town, Yi'an District, Tongling City, intangible cultural heritage performances such as shadow puppetry and rolling lantern dances attracted a large number of tourists, and the demand for electricity in the scenic spot surged. Tongling Power Supply Company formed 3 emergency power protection teams on standby 24 hours a day to escort the scenic spot's electricity consumption.
Now is the good season for fishing, and fishing boats in Shītáng Town (石塘镇), Wenling City (温岭市), Taizhou City (台州市) are preparing to go to sea. Zhou Xiaowei (周晓伟), a police officer from the Shītáng Police Station (石塘派出所), boarded a fishing boat with a patrol team. He told the fishermen: "The emergency light has poor contact, so you have to hurry up and fix it." During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, fishing boats went to sea intensively. From preparing to set off to returning fully loaded and safely, the protection of the people's police is always online.
During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, a task force of a certain regiment of the East China Sea Fleet (东部战区海军某团) was performing combat readiness patrol missions on the ship. Young pilot Huang Shuaiming (黄帅铭) (pseudonym) had just finished flying and devoted himself to technical review. Not long ago, he successfully obtained the combat qualification of a certain type of helicopter. "We have been equipped with new equipment several times in the past few years. We must train hard and fly skillfully to ensure that we can be pulled out, go up, and win at critical moments."
During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, thousands of families are reunited and the lights are bright. Behind this happy scene, countless ordinary strivers are silently guarding.
Innovators, Lighting the Light of Science and Technology
"To promote Chinese-style modernization, science and technology must take the lead, and technological innovation is the only way."
As the "14th Five-Year Plan" is about to come to an end, the Yebatan Hydropower Station (叶巴滩水电站), a major national project, has ushered in a critical node - the first batch of dam sections have been poured to the top. The Yebatan Hydropower Station is located in the upper reaches of the Jinsha River (金沙江), at the junction of Baiyu County (白玉县), Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (甘孜藏族自治州), Sichuan Province (四川省) and Gonjo County (贡觉县), Chamdo City (昌都市), Tibet (西藏). The construction of the project faces technical challenges such as high altitude, high temperature difference, high slope, high arch dam, high ground stress and plateau cold.
Xia Yong (夏勇), chief engineer of Huadian Jinshang Yebatan Branch (华电金上叶巴滩分公司), led the team to innovate working methods, constructed an integrated comprehensive prevention and control system of "construction-insulation-maintenance", and developed an intelligent control system for the entire process of dam concrete pouring, temperature control and grouting, realizing the intelligent construction of ultra-high arch dams in high-altitude areas. During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, he stuck to the front line of the project, continuously optimized the organization of construction, and controlled the pouring density, temperature and strength of concrete throughout the entire process. Watching the hydropower station "grow" day by day, Xia Yong was very emotional: "To ensure national energy security, we need to do every detail well."
At the same time, the construction of the world's longest highway tunnel - Tianshan Victory Tunnel (天山胜利隧道) - has also entered the sprint stage, and more than 300 builders are working hard. Mao Jinbo (毛锦波), chief engineer of the Sixth Section Project of China Communications Construction Wūwèi Expressway (中国交建乌尉高速六标段项目), led the workers to orderly advance the construction of tunnel decoration, shed tunnels and ancillary projects.
The Tianshan Victory Tunnel is 22.13 kilometers long. If traditional drilling and blasting methods are used, it will take at least 72 months of effective construction period. To this end, the project pioneered a new scheme of "central guide hole TBM + main hole drilling and blasting method" to shorten the long tunnel, shortening the effective construction period by 20 months. "Now we are getting closer and closer to the goal of opening the project to traffic." Mao Jinbo could not hide his excitement.
Thousands of kilometers away in Hunan (湖南), Hu Xianglong (胡祥龙), director of the Hunan Provincial New Thermal Equipment Engineering Technology Research Center (湖南省新型热工装备工程技术研究中心), and his team are working on ultra-large chemical vapor deposition equipment in the laboratory. This equipment is the core equipment for the preparation of key components for aerospace, and its cutting-edge technology was once monopolized by a few Western companies.
"The value of scientific and technological workers lies very importantly in serving the country's strategic needs." Hu Xianglong said firmly, "Innovation has no end. As long as the country needs it, we will always be on the road."
Dream Chasers, Illuminating the Road to the Future
"We are all running hard, we are all dream chasers."
This year is the last year of the 5-year transition period for consolidating and expanding the achievements in poverty alleviation and effectively connecting with rural revitalization.
In 2015, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) came to Huamao Village (花茂村), Fengxiang Town (枫香镇), Zunyi County (遵义县) (now Bōzhōu District (播州区)), Guizhou (贵州), and affirmed the village's practice of combining poverty alleviation and development with the construction of beautiful villages with prosperous farmers, educated farmers, happy farmers, and beautiful farmers.
Today, the mountains are green and the fields are fragrant. "How are the ingredients prepared?" "It must be fresh, and tourists must be able to eat with peace of mind." During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, Peng Longfen (彭龙芬), director of the Huamao Village Committee (花茂村村委会), is visiting the village's agritainment businesses and homestays. "When the masses celebrate the festival, we must stick to our posts, be down-to-earth, and work with the people, so that we can think in the same direction and work together."
In the past 10 years, Huamao Village has worked hard and strived for a better life, promoted the integrated development of agriculture, culture and tourism, doubled the per capita annual income, and the road to rural revitalization has become wider and wider.
Looking up at the stars, develop the aerospace industry and build a strong aerospace country.
At more than 8 p.m., Liu Ming (刘铭), a researcher at the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (中国航天科技集团五院), finished his shift, and another colleague took over his work. Liu Ming's team is mainly engaged in technical support for the China Space Station flight control, and is also known as the "housekeeper" of "Tiangong" (天宫). During this holiday, Liu Ming and his team colleagues took turns on duty 24 hours a day, closely monitoring the "every move" of the space station complex in space.
"Our biggest wish is to make the China Space Station safer and more reliable, and to ensure that astronauts can work and live normally in space." Liu Ming said. The flight control technical support team is continuously strengthening the digitalization and intelligence level of ground support, carrying out space station operation and management work more accurately and efficiently, and contributing more to the construction of a strong aerospace country.
Practicing the concept of green development, the supporting services for new energy vehicles are more complete.
At the Yuyao Service Area of the Hangzhou-Ningbo Expressway (浙江杭甬高速余姚服务区), Chen Erdong (陈尔东), a customer manager of the State Grid Ningbo Power Supply Company (国网宁波供电公司), guided new energy vehicles to charge in an orderly manner. "The higher the peak of traffic flow, the more important it is to ensure that the equipment is 'zero-fault' so that everyone can charge with peace of mind and confidence." Chen Erdong said. During this holiday, he and his colleagues took turns on duty in the highway service area, maintaining on-site order, inspecting and maintaining charging piles, and providing convenient and efficient charging services for new energy vehicle owners.
Strive together to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Strivers, innovators, dream chasers - thousands of ordinary "us" interpret love with perseverance, write extraordinary with dedication, and gather together to illuminate the most moving and brilliant picture of this era.
(Reporters Xu Jing (徐靖), Li Junjie (李俊杰), Dou Hao (窦皓), Ren Tongtong (任彤彤), Xian Gan (鲜敢), Han Xin (韩鑫), Yang Xun (杨迅), Su Bin (苏滨), and Liu Shiyao (刘诗瑶) participated in the writing of this report)
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 王 珂 刘军国 齐志明
Xi Jinping (习近平), General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, emphasized: "We must actively expand domestic demand" and "create more consumption scenarios to continuously unleash consumption and investment potential."
During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, various regions and departments stimulated consumption potential through policy support and innovative services. The national consumer market had abundant supply and operated smoothly. Residents' consumption demand was released intensively, and market vitality continued to increase.
Business Big Data monitoring from the Ministry of Commerce (商务部) showed that in the first four days of the holiday, sales of key retail and catering enterprises nationwide increased by 3.3% year-on-year, and the consumer market showed a prosperous and active good trend.
Festive activities are wonderful and diverse, and the consumer market has strong supply and demand.
On October 2nd, in Xianfeng Sanbao Garden (仙凤三宝园) in Luxi County (芦溪县), Jiangxi (江西), the Youyou Happy Theater was full, and the children's drama "Leijie's Wish" won rounds of applause. At the trendy market and the rule of law culture square, the characteristic snacks and handicraft stalls were crowded with people. The local area issued 1 million yuan in consumption coupons, using a two-way approach of "government subsidies + corporate profit concessions" to effectively stimulate consumption potential.
On October 2nd, at the Tianze Huali Clothing Market (天泽华丽服装市场) in Zhuzhou (株洲), Hunan (湖南), hundreds of merchants launched activities such as double festival special offers and live broadcasts, attracting consumers to check in and shop. "Scenario renewal brings incremental consumption." According to the relevant person in charge of Hunan Tianze Commercial Group Co., Ltd. (湖南天泽商业集团有限公司), the organizer of the event, on the first day of the holiday, the market's passenger flow increased by 35% year-on-year, the number of purchase orders increased by 28% month-on-month, and the proportion of purchasers from outside the province reached 16%.
On October 3rd, the ancient city scenic spot of Kashgar (喀什) in Xinjiang (新疆) was crowded with tourists. Shalamaiti, the operator of the "Guli's Home" homestay, introduced that the homestay receives many tourists every day during this period, and the rooms are fully booked one month in advance. Kashgar City (喀什市) launched activities such as musicals, intangible cultural heritage performances, and mooncake making. In the first two days of the holiday, it received a total of 396,200 tourists and achieved a tourism income of 287 million yuan.
In Yuecheng District (越城区) of Shaoxing City (绍兴市), Zhejiang (浙江), carefully set up "Citywide Moon Chasing" themed check-in points string together ancient city landmarks. Tourists travel through ancient streets and alleys, linger in intangible cultural heritage markets, taste authentic snacks, and watch drone performances, immersing themselves in characteristic activities such as Song Dynasty parades. The local area has taken measures such as issuing consumption coupons and opening free tourist special lines to drive consumption to heat up.
County tourism has attracted more tourists with its unique tourism experience, and many county towns have ushered in peak passenger flows. Meituan Travel data shows that the number of consumption pre-orders for county tourism during the holiday increased by 51% compared with the same period last year, among which the number of tourism consumption pre-orders for county destinations such as Dongtai (东台) in Jiangsu (江苏), Haining (海宁) in Zhejiang (浙江), and Jingxi (靖西) in Guangxi (广西) increased by more than 100% compared with the same period last year.
On the eve of the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, the 2025 National National Day Culture and Tourism Consumption Month main venue event hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (文化和旅游部) was held in Chengdu (成都), Sichuan (四川). At the event site, Sichuan (四川) released cultural and tourism consumption activities and benefit-the-people measures throughout the province, and launched 1,300 cultural and tourism consumption promotion activities with six themes: "Autumn Scenery, Autumn Flavor, Autumn Fun Events, Autumn Shadow Check-in, Autumn Rhythm Hiking, and Autumn Custom Experience."
During the 2025 National National Day Culture and Tourism Consumption Month, various regions will focus on hot topics such as watching performances, traveling through mountains and rivers, Mid-Autumn Festival reunions, cultural experiences, red tourism, major national instruments, and the spirit of the times, and hold more than 29,000 cultural and tourism activities. The integration of culture and tourism with catering, accommodation, retail, sports, health, etc. will bring people a more comprehensive, more affordable, and more worry-free travel experience.
New scenarios and new business formats are emerging, and consumption vitality continues to be released.
During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, people's willingness to travel is strong. Didi Chuxing (滴滴出行) data shows that since September 26, taxi demand has continued to remain high. During the holiday, taxi demand increased by 20% month-on-month, and intercity taxi demand increased by 51% month-on-month.
Travel has strongly driven the sales of related commodities. JD.com (京东) data shows that before the holiday, the consumption market for tourism and travel equipment showed a significant increase. Specifically, in the "bags and suitcases" category, smart suitcases performed particularly well, with transaction volume increasing by more than 10 times year-on-year. The transaction volume of carry-on suitcases increased by 8.8 times year-on-year, and the transaction volume of mountaineering bags, adult suitcases, and travel bags increased by 4 times, 4 times, and 139% respectively.
Offline life service consumption is booming. Gaode (高德) Street Sweeping List data shows that on the first day of the holiday, the traffic of small fireworks stores increased by 300% month-on-month, and the number of local life catering industry orders on Gaode (高德) increased by 150% year-on-year, reflecting the activity of the "capillary units" of urban commerce.
Green and intelligent products are favored. On October 3rd, at the Zhuimi (追觅) Robot Xi'an Fengxi Wuyue (陕西西安沣西吾悦) store in Shaanxi (陕西), staff introduced that the passenger flow during the holiday is several times higher than usual. Products with novel appearance and dual robotic arms are popular, and the sales of a certain cost-effective product have increased by 5 times month-on-month.
The experience economy injects new impetus into the holiday consumer market. At the Mixue Bingcheng (蜜雪冰城) headquarters flagship store in Zhengzhou (郑州), Henan (河南), many tourists came with their suitcases just after getting off the high-speed train to purchase cultural and creative products and limited-edition ice cream. During the holiday, the store achieved outstanding results with a single-day passenger flow of over 65,000 and a turnover of over 770,000 yuan.
On October 2nd, in the "Super Zhuanzhuan" store on the third floor of the Beijing Friendship Store (北京友谊商店), more than 30,000 SKUs (smallest stock keeping unit) of goods are densely displayed in a space of more than 3,000 square meters, covering more than 200 categories such as bags, digital products, shoes and clothing. The store manager introduced that on October 1st, the store's passenger flow increased by 270% compared with the average daily passenger flow in the previous week.
Inbound tourism continues to be hot. Qunar (去哪儿) Travel Big Data shows that the popularity of "China Travel" continues to rise. On the first day of the holiday, the number of foreign passengers taking planes in China increased by more than 40% year-on-year, flying to 70 cities in China. The number of offshore tax refund stores in Yiwu (义乌), Zhejiang (浙江) has increased to 37, of which 26 have achieved "buy and refund immediately." From "China Travel" to "China Shopping," Yiwu (义乌) is driving the vigorous development of the inbound tourism market with a dual-wheel drive of cultural experience and commercial trade.
Service guarantees are optimized and improved, and the consumption environment is safe and comfortable.
On the evening of October 3rd, the Shuxin Night Market (舒心夜市) in Yuhang District (余杭区), Hangzhou City (杭州市), Zhejiang (浙江) was crowded with people who were tasting food and buying specialties. "The flow of people and vehicles has surged during the holiday. We are promoting refined management to welcome guests from all over the world with a clean and orderly city appearance." said the relevant person in charge of the Yuhang District Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau (余杭区综合行政执法局).
The "Several Policy Measures on Expanding Service Consumption" recently issued by the Ministry of Commerce (商务部) and other 9 departments proposed to "implement service consumption quality improvement and benefit-the-people actions." On the eve of the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, Tian'e Daojia (天鹅到家), a family life service platform, launched "family subsidies" for hourly workers, childcare, and live-in nannies, and "fertility subsidies" for maternity matrons and other maternal and infant care needs.
The demand for car rental and self-driving tours is growing rapidly. Data released by Shenzhou Rent-A-Car (神州租车) shows that the number of car rental bookings during the National Day holiday continues to climb. Users' travel needs have shifted from "short-distance surrounding tours" to "in-depth cross-city tours." The average rental period has been extended to 5.2 days, and long-term rental orders of more than 8 days have increased by more than 30% year-on-year. Shenzhou Rent-A-Car (神州租车) has strengthened its duty force at airports, high-speed rail stations and other outlets, providing convenient services such as credit-free deposits and 24-hour self-service pick-up and return to ensure a pleasant self-driving travel experience during the holiday.
On the evening of October 1st, the Dongchao Art Park (东巢艺术公园) in Xiaoshan (萧山), Hangzhou (杭州), Zhejiang (浙江) was brightly lit, and an open-air concert was wonderfully staged. State Grid Hangzhou Power Supply Company (国网杭州供电公司) formulated a special power supply guarantee plan in advance, organized employees to be stationed on site, and inspected the distribution boxes and special lines for stage lighting in the art block to comprehensively ensure the park's safe electricity consumption during the holiday.
Chaoyang Bird Fossil National Geopark (朝阳鸟化石国家地质公园) in Chaoyang (朝阳), Liaoning (辽宁) launched a diversified experience of "scientific research + popular science + cultural tourism." On the one hand, Longcheng District (龙城区) in Chaoyang City (朝阳市) promoted the deep integration of culture and tourism, increased high-quality supply, and activated the holiday consumption market. On the other hand, it continued to optimize tourism services, ensure the smooth and orderly operation of the cultural and tourism market, and let the majority of tourists travel with confidence and comfort.
(Our reporter Li Yanan (李亚楠) participated in the writing)
Return to TopBy: 何宇澈
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's ecological civilization construction has achieved significant accomplishments. The pace of ecological priority and green development has become increasingly solid and broad.
Systematic advancement, exploring new paths for ecological governance. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China adhered to the integrated protection and systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts, constructing a natural protected area system with national parks as the main body. The "Three-North" Shelterbelt Project (三北防护林工程) has achieved phased success, with key governance areas realizing a historic shift from "desert advancing, people retreating" to "green advancing, desert retreating." The forest coverage rate reached 25.09%, with continuous "double growth" in forest area and stock volume. The governance of major rivers and lakes has achieved remarkable results, and biodiversity has continuously improved.
Structural transformation, cultivating new momentum for green development. Today, China's industrial structure is accelerating its green and low-carbon transformation. The proportion of non-fossil energy consumption has increased, and the installed capacity of wind power and photovoltaic power generation has ranked first in the world for many consecutive years. The circular economy system is accelerating its construction, and the level of comprehensive resource utilization is continuously improving. The green and low-carbon industry is becoming a new engine for economic growth, injecting strong momentum into high-quality development.
Mechanism innovation, improving the ecological civilization system. Since the "14th Five-Year Plan," the modernization level of China's ecological environment governance system has significantly improved, the legal system for environmental governance has become more complete, and breakthroughs have been made in the mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products. The strictest system and the most stringent rule of law escort the green mountains and clear waters, ensuring that ecological civilization construction has laws to abide by and rules to follow.
Building an ecological civilization is related to the well-being of the people and the future of the nation. On the new journey, we must continue to unswervingly follow the path of civilized development featuring production development, affluent living, and a sound ecology, promote new progress in ecological civilization construction, and continuously create a new picture of a beautiful China.
Return to TopThis issue coordinated by Chen Juan (陈娟) and Zhang Ye (张晔).
Layout design by Shen Yiling (沈亦伶) and Zhang Fangman (张芳曼).
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 施 钰
Brick, gray tiles, horsehead walls.
Walking into the central urban area of Taining County (泰宁县), Sanming City (三明市), Fujian Province (福建省), the ancient city of Taining (泰宁古城), built against the mountains and surrounded by water, attracts people's attention.
For tourist Zhang Xin'yue (张馨悦), the ancient city of Taining is a newly popular "internet-famous check-in spot," "Visiting the ancient city, tasting delicious food, and experiencing intangible cultural heritage projects are full of fun."
For Huang Hui (黄辉), the owner of Xianyu Restaurant (鱻鱼馆), the ancient city of Taining is a new starting point for business development, "There is enough popularity and prosperous business, and the store area is expanding."
For Liang Guangkui (梁光葵), an 89-year-old original resident of the ancient city, the ancient city of Taining is an inseparable homesickness, "I grew up and lived here, and I still remember who lived in each of the old houses."
Taining County (泰宁县) has a reputation as an "ancient town of the Han and Tang Dynasties, famous city of the Two Song Dynasties" (汉唐古镇、两宋名城). There are a large number of ancient buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially in the ancient city of Taining, which preserves Ming and Qing ancient building complexes represented by the Shangshu Di (尚书第), a national key cultural relics protection unit. Since 2021, Taining County (泰宁县) has continued to improve the "construction, management, and use" mechanism of the ancient city and comprehensively promoted the protection, repair, and revitalization of the ancient city.
"My younger brother is still doing rubbing and mounting in the ancestral house left by my father. I go to see it when I have time." Walking with staggering steps, Liang Guangkui (梁光葵) often wanders around the ancient city, "After these years of repairs, the ancient city has become more comfortable and lively."
Repair
Respect history, prioritize protection, and repair one building when conditions are ripe.
What was the ancient city like before it was repaired? "There were no toilets in the old houses, and the streets and alleys were dark at night. There was a lack of modern infrastructure, and many people didn't like living there." Jiang Can'e (江灿娥), an original resident of the ancient city, lived in the old house in the ancient city until she went to high school. "Four families lived in one house, which became more and more crowded. Since the 1990s, everyone has moved out to build houses." Over time, with fewer people and less management, many ancient buildings were damaged.
"Before the renovation, the rate of dilapidated houses in the ancient city of Taining (泰宁古城) had reached 40%, and the problems of 'dirty, chaotic, and poor' environment and 'old, dilapidated, and broken' houses were prominent." Dai Xian'an (戴先安), director of the Historical and Cultural City Protection Center of Taining County (泰宁县历史文化名城保护中心), introduced that although some ancient buildings had been repaired and utilized successively before, the ancient city as a whole was still relatively closed, and a large number of county-level cultural relics protection units and historical buildings urgently needed protection and repair.
"The ancient city of Taining (泰宁古城) retains a large number of Ming and Qing Dynasty mansion-type buildings with clear chronology and written records, which can be said to be the 'standard device' for judging the age of ancient buildings in northwestern Fujian." Zhu Junjie (朱俊杰), deputy curator of the Taining County Museum (泰宁县博物馆), introduced that the overall street layout, architectural pattern, and artistic aesthetics of the ancient city of Taining have unique regional characteristics and are rare among ancient cities in the south of the Yangtze River.
Since 2021, Taining County (泰宁县) has made up its mind to systematically sort out, repair, and protect the ancient city, especially to rescue and repair dilapidated ancient buildings.
The protection of ancient buildings is imminent, but the property rights of many houses are complex and there are many historical problems. "Take No. 8 Jiuju Lane (九举巷) as an example. The property owners include residents, state-owned enterprises, and private enterprises, and some assets have been forcibly executed." Xiao Youhe (肖友和), head of the Asset Disposal Special Class of the Ancient City of Taining (泰宁古城资产处置专班), said the dilemma, "If we repair, the property rights of the house are unclear and cannot be stored in the short term; if we don't repair, the house is already a dilapidated building and there is a risk of collapse at any time."
How to solve the problem? Seek the location, not the ownership. "We united with the Culture and Tourism Bureau, the Housing and Construction Bureau, the court, etc., to convene property owners and creditors to negotiate and clarify that disputes should be put aside and protection should be prioritized." Xiao Youhe (肖友和) introduced that Fujian Taining Mingcheng Cultural Tourism Development Co., Ltd. (福建泰宁明城文旅发展有限公司) (hereinafter referred to as "Mingcheng Company" (明城公司)), which is responsible for the storage and repair, introduced a third-party organization to evaluate the value of the building before and after the repair, and distribute the income according to the proportion of the added value to the building value after it is put into use. At present, all 21 ancient buildings involving executed assets have been repaired and the business format has been completed.
"We have adopted various methods to promote repairs, storing and repairing a part according to the principle of residents' voluntariness; using the 'reward instead of subsidy' policy for historical buildings to encourage the masses to repair a part themselves within the requirements of the house repair technical guidelines compiled by the county, and repairing one building when conditions are ripe." Dai Xian'an (戴先安) said that more than 130 ancient buildings have been repaired, and more than 260 original residents still live in the ancient city.
"Our family wanted to keep a memory, so we didn't accept the storage." Jiang Can'e (江灿娥) said that with the help of the government, her old house was repaired in April this year, protecting the overall style of the building.
In the Xie Ancestral House (谢氏祖厝) of Biejia Di (别驾第) of the Ming Dynasty at No. 16 Jiuju Lane (九举巷), a complete dismantling and repair is underway. "Starting from April this year, it is expected to be completed in December to ensure that the load-bearing beams, columns, wall panels, railings, drainage systems, and other parts are repaired in place." Zhu Junjie (朱俊杰) is checking the construction site.
"Before the renovation, the roof tiles of the house were moldy and cracked, and the wooden components were eroded by rainstorms and termites, and the risk of collapse was already high." Zhu Junjie (朱俊杰) introduced.
In order to restore the original appearance of the building, the construction unit must adjust according to the actual situation during the construction process on the basis of a detailed design plan. "After demolishing the rebuilt part, we learned about the original column network structure distribution of the building through geological surveys, and used this to infer the past style of the building before rebuilding it." Zhu Junjie (朱俊杰) said that the repair also adheres to the principle of using original materials and original craftsmanship, "The wooden components are made of fir, which are finely polished and carved one by one by traditional carpenters, showing the unique texture of handmade craftsmanship."
In order to restore the old as before, the workers will fully judge the safety structure of the beams and columns before construction, try to retain the original components so that they can continue to play a role, and clearly reflect the difference between the ancient components and the modern replacement components, so that future generations can see the maintenance process clearly. "In the repaired ancient buildings, we can see the wisdom of the ancients contained in the traditional architectural design, and we can also see a story of protecting ancient buildings." Zhu Junjie (朱俊杰) said.
As the ancient buildings were repaired, Jiang Can'e's (江灿娥) childhood memories were restored before her eyes. "I still remember visiting each other with my friends when I was a child, running around in the streets and alleys." In the old house, Jiang Can'e (江灿娥) remembered the scene of watching a traditional wedding when she was a child, "A square table was set up in the hall, and red couplets were pasted on the pillars on both sides, which was very lively!"
It is still this ancient city, these neighbors, and this atmosphere of life.
Share
Diversified participation, rich business formats, and promotion of the rational utilization of ancient buildings.
Walking into an ancient building in Jiuju Lane (九举巷), climbing up the wooden steps, in front of the long wooden table, the tea fragrance is overflowing, and Lu Yaoquan (陆耀全), the chairman of a tea company, is greeting guests.
"In 2003, I came to the ancient city to open a tea shop. In those years, it was in Shangshu Lane (尚书巷). The monthly rent for four shops was 300 yuan. The street was quiet at night. Now it is still crowded with people after 9 pm. The monthly rent for shops in the same location is almost 9,000 yuan." Over the years, Lu Yaoquan (陆耀全) has moved his shop three times, but all in the ancient city, "We have developed from selling tea to developing tea cultural tourism products such as homestays and study tours. The location and decoration of the shop are also becoming more and more sophisticated, so as to provide customers with a richer tourism and leisure experience."
Chen Danhui (陈丹晖), deputy general manager of Mingcheng Company (明城公司), introduced that while repairing the ancient city, the company formulated an investment promotion plan, designed business formats to encourage introduction according to the pattern and architectural characteristics of each block in the ancient city, such as suggesting the introduction of intangible cultural heritage display, reading space, craft workshops, etc. in Jinshi Lane (进士巷), and suggesting the introduction of teahouses, coffee shops, homestays, traditional handicraft experience halls, etc. in Jiuju Lane (九举巷).
"In order to expand investment promotion channels, Taining (泰宁) also encourages townships and county-level units to 'adopt' the repaired historical buildings, and is responsible for introducing suitable business formats according to the planning requirements, and also displaying the characteristic culture of each township." Chen Danhui (陈丹晖) said that the decoration plan has been reviewed by professional departments, strictly in accordance with the principle of recoverability, and appropriately increased modern infrastructure on the premise of ensuring building safety.
Under the leadership of the Meikou Township Government (梅口乡政府), No. 8 Jiuju Lane (九举巷) has been transformed into a shared tea room. "Tourists can scan the code to place an order and enter the tea room to make tea and rest. The tea in the tea room's self-service vending machine is all products from tea companies in Meikou Township (梅口乡)." Zou Ailian (邹爱莲), the store manager of the shared tea room, introduced that the tea room officially opened in March 2023, and now there are many guests visiting the tea room during holidays.
Teahouses, bookstores, local specialty stores, snack bars, antique shops, homestays... When the lights are on, people come and go, walking in the ancient city of Taining (泰宁古城), a rich and diverse range of business formats attract many citizens and tourists.
Seeing the increasing popularity, Huang Hui (黄辉) opened a restaurant in the ancient city in 2022. "The restaurant specializes in the whole fish feast of Taining Dajinhu (泰宁大金湖), and reservations for weekend tables must be made three or four days in advance!" Huang Hui (黄辉) introduced that the restaurant's private rooms have increased from the initial 3 to 7, and the daily turnover during the peak tourist season is more than 10,000 yuan.
According to statistics, in the first half of this year, the ancient city of Taining (泰宁古城) received approximately 450,000 tourists, an increase of 114.56% compared to the first half of 2021.
Interaction
Intangible cultural heritage inheritance, regular performances, so that culture is integrated into the architectural texture.
What is alive is not only the architecture, but also the culture contained in the ancient city.
"Being a person is like making a scale, you must be fair and just." In the Fujian (Taining) Rural Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park (福建（泰宁）乡村非物质文化遗产博览苑) (hereinafter referred to as "Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park" (非遗博览苑)), Wang Yongqing (王勇庆), a 64-year-old representative inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of "Taining Traditional Steelyard Technology" (泰宁传统杆秤技艺), is introducing the history, production process, and culture of traditional steelyards to the children who come to study. On display in the showcase are the steelyards and weights he inherited from his ancestors or made himself.
"From carrying a pole and selling scales in the streets and alleys to settling down in Taining (泰宁) and opening a shop, I have been a craftsman for a lifetime. I didn't expect to become a teacher." In 2020, Shide Hall (世德堂), a national cultural relics protection unit in Jinshi Lane (进士巷), was transformed into an Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park (非遗博览苑). Wang Yongqing (王勇庆) donated the steelyards, weights, and poles inherited from his ancestors, "As long as the children need it, I will come over and tell them the story of making scales."
Traditional steelyards, Meilin Opera (梅林戏), palm weaving, fish lantern, Lei tea, Taining Mountain Songs (泰宁山歌)... In the Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park (非遗博览苑), 49 intangible cultural heritage items present the charm of culture to tourists through words, pictures, audio, video, and objects. "In addition to static display, we also conduct regular on-site performances." Xiao Qiuhong (肖秋红), curator of the Taining County Cultural Center (泰宁县文化馆), introduced that every night, in front of the stalls at the entrance of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park (非遗博览苑), people sing Taining Mountain Songs (泰宁山歌) and sell Lei tea; every Saturday afternoon, free palm weaving classes are offered in the Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park (非遗博览苑). In addition, during holidays, Meilin Opera (梅林戏), Shangqing Ancient Music (上青古乐) and other intangible cultural heritage performance teams will be invited to perform. "At present, we are jointly building an intangible cultural heritage community with various intangible cultural heritage exhibition halls in the ancient city, developing various intangible cultural heritage experiences into study tour courses, and inviting representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage to share and interact with study tour teams." Xiao Qiuhong (肖秋红) said that as of August, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park (非遗博览苑) has received more than 20,000 tourists this year.
"Visiting the ancient city, eating delicious food, and playing intangible cultural heritage are beautiful, delicious, and fun, and the experience is very strong!" Zhang Xin'yue (张馨悦) said.
Outside the ancient city, intangible cultural heritage inheritance is also underway. Xiao Qiuhong (肖秋红) introduced that Taining County (泰宁县) fully launched the construction of an intangible cultural heritage representative inheritor team last year. On the one hand, mobilize primary and secondary school teachers to learn and inherit local intangible cultural heritage, create a young inheritance team, and also cultivate a teaching staff for intangible cultural heritage to enter schools; on the other hand, enter the University for the Elderly, open classes for the elderly, form an intangible cultural heritage display team, and expand the coverage of intangible cultural heritage display.
"While inheriting excellent traditional repertoires and carrying out regular public welfare performances, we are also exploring combining Meilin Opera (梅林戏) with other art forms such as dance and popular music to create fresher programs and strive to make more people fall in love with Meilin Opera (梅林戏)." Mao Qingbiao (毛清标), director of the Taining County Meilin Opera Art Inheritance and Protection Center (泰宁县梅林戏艺术传承保护中心), said.
"The cultural flavor of the ancient city is back, and the popularity is back." In the past two years, Liang Guangbao (梁光葆), the younger brother of Liang Guangkui (梁光葵) and the representative inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of "Liang's Rubbing and Mounting" (梁氏拓印装裱), has received many visiting tourists in his ancestral house.
In a rubbing and mounting hall, a wooden table facing the patio in the room, sitting in the room, you can see the clouds in the sky and hear the bustling sounds on the street.
The ancient city is being reborn.
Return to TopBy: 阎崇年
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Palace Museum. I am 9 years younger than her, born in a small, half-mountain, half-sea village in the fairyland of Penglai (蓬莱). My father and brothers worked in Beiping (北平), and during their Spring Festival visits home, I heard them tell stories about the Forbidden City from the time I could remember. On January 31, 1949, Beiping (北平) was peacefully liberated. One hundred days later, I came to Beiping (北平). The second day after arriving in Beiping (北平), my father took me to visit the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City's magnificent atmosphere and splendid palaces gave me, a country child, a spiritual shock. This fulfilled a childhood dream of mine. That summer, I was admitted to the Sixth Middle School. On October 1 of the same year, I participated in the founding ceremony of the new China held in Tiananmen Square (天安门广场). This was a pivotal moment in my life, a heavenly connection between me and the Forbidden City.
Living in Beijing (北京), my home was on the south side of West Chang'an Avenue (西长安街), and my school was on the west side of South Chang Street (南长街). My home and school were only one street away from the Forbidden City in both the north-south and east-west directions. This made it very convenient for me to go to the Forbidden City to read books, check archives, view cultural relics, meet friends, discuss, and consult with others. For a period of time, I went almost every day (except Sundays), bringing corn buns, arriving before the Xihua Gate (西华门) of the Forbidden City opened, entering as soon as it opened, and leaving only when it closed in the evening. Day after day, year after year. I remember a reporter once asked me how many times I had been to the Forbidden City? I said, "More than 1000 times." This is the earthly connection between me and the Forbidden City.
Later, I studied the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the history of Beijing (北京), and Manchu studies, often going to the Forbidden City for on-site investigations and academic discussions. After the reform and opening up, I participated in the preparation of the Qing Dynasty Palace History Research Association of the Palace Museum and the Chinese Forbidden City Society, and later served as the vice president of the Chinese Forbidden City Society, witnessing the resumption of publication of the "Palace Museum Journal" and the founding of the "Forbidden City" magazine, and becoming its author. At the same time, I met many experts and scholars inside and outside the Forbidden City who studied Forbidden City studies, and we maintained close academic friendships. This is the friendship connection between me and the Forbidden City.
Due to research needs, with the special permission of the Palace Museum, I once inspected the shamanistic sacrificial cauldron in the Kunning Palace (坤宁宫) in the Forbidden City, measuring the diameter and depth of the cauldron; I also took a tape measure to measure how far Emperor Yongzheng (雍正帝) actually walked when he went to "work" from the rear sleeping quarters of the Hall of Mental Cultivation (养心殿) to the front hall (only 1.8 meters); I also measured the actual area of the inner room of the "Sanxitang" (三希堂) to be only 4.8 square meters, etc. Over the decades, due to various reasons, I have visited or inspected all the palaces and pavilions of the Forbidden City. This is the academic connection between me and the Forbidden City.
In 2004, CCTV's "Lecture Room" invited me to talk about the "Qing Palace Mystery Cases" series, and then I talked about the series "Sixty Years of the Ming Dynasty's Demise and the Qing Dynasty's Rise" and "The Great Forbidden City." To commemorate the 600th anniversary of the Forbidden City's completion, I talked about "The Six Hundred Years of the Great Forbidden City" on Himalaya Audio and published "Six Hundred Years of the Forbidden City." Sharing academic research results with the general public through television, radio, books, and the internet has not only had a wide audience in China, but has also generated a strong response among overseas Chinese. Looking back, the Forbidden City is not only an academic subject and treasure trove of resources for my research on the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties, but also a good teacher, helpful friend, and broad classroom for promoting outstanding traditional Chinese culture. The preface to the Ming Jiajing's "Tongzhou Zhilue" says: "Only by acting on the opportunity can one accomplish the affairs of the world, and only by seizing the opportunity can one achieve the affairs of the world." This is a once-in-a-century opportunity, and I am fortunate to have encountered it. This is the opportunity connection between me and the Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City is not only limited to the Forbidden City, but should also have the concept of a "Greater Forbidden City." I integrate the research on the Forbidden City and its related systems into disciplines such as the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the history of the court, the history of Beijing (北京), Manchu studies, archaeology, and calligraphy and painting. The extension of the concept of the Forbidden City includes the ruins of Beijing's (北京) princely mansions, princess mansions, altars and temples, government offices, gardens, and mausoleums, as well as the Chengde Mountain Resort (承德避暑山庄) and the Outer Eight Temples (外八庙) and the Mulan Paddock (木兰围场) outside Beijing (北京), the ruins of the Ming Palace in Nanjing (南京明故宫遗址), the ruins of the Ming Central Capital in Fengyang (凤阳明中都遗址), the Shenyang Palace Museum (沈阳故宫博物院), and the three capitals outside the Qing Pass—Xingjing (兴京) (Hetu Ala (赫图阿拉)), Dongjing (东京) (Liaoyang (辽阳)), and Shengjing (盛京) (Shenyang (沈阳)), and the three mausoleums—Yongling (永陵), Fuling (福陵), and Zhaoling (昭陵). I also inspected the ruins of the air-raid shelter basement in Wufeng (雾峰) in Taichung (台中) where cultural relics moved to Taiwan (台湾) were stored, and the cave warehouse of the National Palace Museum in Taipei (台北故宫博物院), and inspected the ruins and relics of the places where cultural relics were moved south during the War of Resistance Against Japan. I have visited 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities to introduce and promote outstanding traditional Chinese culture represented by the Forbidden City.
I have been to the National Palace Museum in Taipei (台北故宫博物院) many times for academic exchanges, and two things are deeply memorable and unforgettable. One is that the First Historical Archives of China (中国第一历史档案馆) has half of the "Kangxi Dynasty Living Records," and it was later discovered that the other half was藏 in the National Palace Museum in Taipei (台北故宫博物院). If they can be published together, it will not only benefit colleagues in the academic community, but also be a great cultural event. Through my connection between the four parties across the Taiwan Strait: In 2009, "Qing Dynasty Living Records·Kangxi Dynasty" was printed in 54 volumes in hardcover, with the same format, binding, layout, paper, and time. I was fortunate to receive half of the books from both sides, and the heads of the four parties signed their names on the title page of the first volume as a souvenir. This has become a cultural story of exchange and cooperation between the two Palace Museums across the Taiwan Strait. The other thing is that in his later years, Emperor Kangxi (康熙帝) built a temporary palace and a princely mansion in Zhenggezhuang (郑各庄), Changping (昌平), Beijing (北京), but its buildings have been leveled and the ruins have been cleared, and there are no records in Chinese books or archives. This has become an academic gap of more than 200 years in the history of the Qing Palace, the history of Beijing (北京), and the history of architecture. I went to the National Palace Museum in Taipei (台北故宫博物院) to check the Manchu archives and found the complete and systematic Manchu engineering completion archives of this building complex, but there was no corroborating evidence; I went to the First Historical Archives of China (中国第一历史档案馆) and found the Manchu archives for the start of this project. Because it was a project of the Imperial Household Department, there are no records in Chinese archives or documents. The combination of these two Manchu archives solved the problem.
From the above, I have a heavenly connection, an earthly connection, a friendship connection, an academic connection, and an opportunity connection with the Forbidden City, which is a great blessing in my life. Therefore, I am especially grateful to the Palace Museum! The Palace Museum is the largest existing classical palace complex in the world, with its vast atmosphere, magnificent architecture, rich treasures, and exquisite collections, it is a collection of five thousand years of Chinese cultural relics and a treasure of human civilization. I deeply realize that only a great China, a great people, a great history, and great wisdom can have a great Forbidden City. This is a clear and powerful testimony to cultural confidence.
(The author is a researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences (北京市社会科学院))
Return to TopThe sea brings forth the bright moon, and people far apart share this moment. The golden breeze is refreshing, and the silver radiance of the Mid-Autumn Festival sprinkles across China, also reflecting the peaceful scene of family reunions. From a small distillery with only 39 people on the Chishui River (赤水河) in southwestern China to the world's number one spirits brand, Moutai (茅台) has been guarding time with craftsmanship, condensing the essence of mountains and rivers in pottery jars, accompanying countless people through important moments. As the festival arrives again, Moutai (茅台) wishes to integrate this mellow sauce aroma into the beautiful lives of thousands of households, focusing on "brewing a high-quality life," and is determined to make the world fall in love with Moutai (茅台) and let the aroma of Moutai (茅台) drift around the world.
Data source: Guizhou Moutai (贵州茅台)
Return to TopMay we all be blessed with longevity, though thousands of miles apart, we are still able to share the beauty of the moon together.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a shared sentiment in the hearts of Chinese people. The full moon is a common aspiration during the Mid-Autumn Festival. It represents warmth, culture, delicious food, and memories... Under the moonlight, every heart ripples with its own emotions. And all these thoughts are drawn by the Mid-Autumn moon, merging into the nation's shared cultural memory.
As the Mid-Autumn Festival arrives again, today's literary supplement "Splendor of the Land" special edition presents five essays on the theme of the Mid-Autumn Festival for readers. Let us, through the writers' words, savor the different Mid-Autumn Festivals and see the full moon in each other's hearts.
-- Editor
Return to TopBy: 刘醒龙
As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, family members, from the eldest sister to the youngest, ask the same question whenever they have the chance: "Is the osmanthus tree blooming?"
Asking this question is both common sense and a habit.
Almost 20 years ago, this osmanthus tree, which was of general concern to my siblings and me, still grew in a small courtyard in the Dabie Mountains (大别山) hinterland.
That small courtyard was next to a snow-white sandy river. When it was first built, it caused a sensation throughout the county because it was the first to use a river sand sedimentation technology. Most people didn't believe that it was possible to build a house directly on the loose sand without laying a foundation. My father, who was in charge of a work unit at the time, decided to use this new technology. After the house was built, he was the first to move into this house built on the sand, maintaining a peaceful and happy attitude even when facing the pouring floods time and time again. Speaking of which, not all family members were like this. For example, my mother, whenever the flood behind the house rose to within a meter or two of the balcony, would notify her grandchildren to come and see the flood. In fact, seeing the flood was a pretext; she really wanted us to come back and help with moving.
In that small courtyard, only the osmanthus tree planted by my father himself showed more composure than him.
The osmanthus tree was planted by my father in the year the small courtyard was built. The roots took hold quickly in the sandy soil, and its growth was much more rapid than that of plants in other hard soils. My father later said that the tree bloomed in the second year after it was planted. My mother didn't say anything to his face, but in private, she would occasionally grumble, "How can an osmanthus tree bloom in the second year? It would be good if it could bloom in the third year." My father and mother had different opinions on which year the osmanthus tree bloomed, but they agreed on the timing of the osmanthus tree's annual blooming. Whenever my father said with pride that the osmanthus tree he planted bloomed on time every Mid-Autumn Festival, my mother would either remain silent, or if she spoke, she would definitely say to us: "The osmanthus tree your father planted is more obedient than you. If he tells it to bloom during the Mid-Autumn Festival, it will definitely bloom during the Mid-Autumn Festival."
Back then, we didn't think deeply about the meaning of my father and mother's words.
Many years later, when my father and mother no longer said these things, we realized that these words were not just casual remarks.
When the osmanthus tree grew in my father's small courtyard, every Mid-Autumn Festival during the peak blooming season, my mother would spread a bed sheet under the tree, and then use a bamboo pole to gently tap the branches of the tree. Countless fragrant golden flowers would soon cover the bed sheet. At this time, my mother would call my father, and together they would slowly gather the osmanthus flowers on the bed sheet, put them in a bamboo basket, pick out the debris, sprinkle some fine salt on them, and then put them into a square glass jar. The square glass jar was originally used to hold skin-moisturizing snow cream, and one jar could hold 5 jin (斤, a Chinese unit of weight, approximately 500 grams). When my mother was a saleswoman at the supply and marketing cooperative, after selling a large jar of snow cream, she would spend 5 fen (分, a Chinese monetary unit, 1/100 of a yuan) to buy the empty jar and bring it home, and depending on the season, she would either pickle a jar of slightly sweet radish, or pickle a jar of osmanthus flowers. After ten or fifteen days, she would open the jar, take out a small pinch and put it in a cup, and pour boiling water over it. That salty floral fragrance, after taking a sip, felt as if fragrance was emerging from the navel.
Because of the osmanthus tree planted by my father, and because of the salted osmanthus flowers made by my mother, those Mid-Autumn Festivals, whether we returned to that small courtyard on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month or not, were always filled with the warmth and beauty of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
It is estimated that this osmanthus tree has experienced more than forty Mid-Autumn Festivals. The first twenty or so Mid-Autumn Festivals were spent at the foot of the mountains and on the edge of the small town, and the next twenty or so Mid-Autumn Festivals were spent in the city and under high-rise buildings. That year, the small town was undergoing large-scale construction, and the small courtyard where the osmanthus tree grew was also to be demolished. For this reason, my father called specifically to have the osmanthus tree transplanted to my small courtyard in the city of Wuhan (武汉). My father's phone call triggered a project that was not too big or too small. Not to mention the time and effort involved, just getting the necessary permits to move a large tree out of the county took a lot of effort. After a great deal of effort, the osmanthus tree was finally moved from the mountains to the city. After that, my father made endless phone calls, always asking if the osmanthus tree had survived. If it was around the Mid-Autumn Festival, my father would ask, "Is the osmanthus tree blooming?" In the first few years, I said that the osmanthus tree was doing well, but I felt very guilty. The reason was that when the osmanthus tree arrived at my home in Wuhan by car, the crane driver accidentally tightened the hoisting steel cable into the trunk, almost peeling off an entire circle of bark, leaving less than a palm-sized piece of bark. How could it bear the heavy responsibility of transporting nutrients to the entire crown? The gardeners in the community predicted countless times that the tree would definitely not survive.
In fact, in those years, the osmanthus tree never grew properly, and very few new buds were seen every spring. As for around the Mid-Autumn Festival, although a few flowers bloomed on some branches, they were insignificant compared to such a large tree. My father passed away in the late autumn of 2012. After my father passed away, my mother came to Wuhan to live for a while, and after seeing the appearance of the osmanthus tree, she sighed softly. Unexpectedly, in the spring of the following year, all the branches of the osmanthus tree grew new buds, and with the arrival of autumn, it bloomed right on time around the Mid-Autumn Festival, with a tree full of flowers decorated with gold foil. After a few more years, my mother also passed away after my father. Without their reminders, I would inevitably forget to observe the osmanthus tree, until one day, a strong wind knocked down many of the large trees in the community, and my osmanthus tree seemed to be a little tilted. Only then did I take a closer look and was shocked to find that the previous huge scar had almost completely healed.
At that moment, I didn't use words like "the spirits of my parents in heaven" to express myself, but I deeply remembered what my father had said. When my father's small courtyard was being demolished, many people came to buy the osmanthus tree planted by my father himself, including one of my childhood friends, who repeatedly offered attractive prices. My father didn't agree, not because he didn't care about the money, but because he cared about the osmanthus tree itself. Once, my father asked about the osmanthus tree on the phone, and said to me casually, "This osmanthus tree is divided into five branches from the root, just like you five siblings." It was also at this moment that I understood the deep meaning of my mother's words, "The osmanthus tree your father planted is more obedient than you. If he tells it to bloom during the Mid-Autumn Festival, it will definitely bloom during the Mid-Autumn Festival." In those years, what my father and mother looked forward to most was that the family could have a good gathering together during the Mid-Autumn Festival when the moon was full. Unfortunately, in those years, my father and mother's wishes were never realized on this day of the Mid-Autumn Festival. It was either this one or that one, someone was always unable to come home due to this or that matter.
In recent years, the osmanthus tree has been growing better and better, so I also want to use my mother's method to make some salted osmanthus flowers, so that my family can taste the flavor of the Mid-Autumn Festival like in previous years. Several Mid-Autumn Festivals have passed, but I haven't been able to make salted osmanthus flowers even once. It's not that I'm not trying my best, but I'm worried about the pesticide residue from the weekly spraying in the community remaining in the osmanthus flowers. Sometimes I also want to learn from my father and mother and invite my family to my small courtyard to see the osmanthus tree and smell the fragrance of the osmanthus flowers, but when the time comes, I dismiss the idea. At the same time, I persuade myself to learn from this increasingly old osmanthus tree, even if there is a potentially fatal scar, it can still rely on the natural creation of all things and grow naturally. It is of course good for the osmanthus flowers to bloom during the Mid-Autumn Festival. In recent years, due to abnormal weather, the osmanthus flowers have not bloomed during the Mid-Autumn Festival, but the Mid-Autumn Festival is still being celebrated! Just like my mother didn't blame us for not fulfilling the wish of a Mid-Autumn Festival reunion, remembering that there is still a Mid-Autumn Festival in the world, remembering that the Mid-Autumn Festival belongs to the world, a little wish is also a full moon, and a wisp of incense is like a red osmanthus.
Therefore, I say to all family members who ask about the osmanthus and the osmanthus tree, the osmanthus tree is growing very well, and the osmanthus flowers are also blooming very well!
Return to TopBy: 单小花
Every Mid-Autumn Festival, I always think of that nursery rhyme: "On the fifteenth of August, the moon is bright, Grandpa makes mooncakes for me..." The gentle melody flows like moonlight, and every time it rings in my heart, a warm tide surges. This is not just a melody, but a memory of an era.
In my hometown, there is a tradition that has been passed down for hundreds of years. Every Mid-Autumn Festival, every household prepares mooncakes and fruits. The mooncakes in my hometown are different from the mooncakes that people often talk about today. They are called "reunion cakes." Their round shape is like the full moon in the sky, and auspicious patterns are printed on the golden crust. Every line embodies people's expectations for reunion.
When I was a child, we couldn't afford mooncakes every Mid-Autumn Festival, so my mother made them herself. My mother always got up before dawn, and the fire in the stove reddened her increasingly aging face. She scooped out two bowls of white flour from the jar, poured them on the mottled chopping board, and gently planed the flour into a circle with her hands, revealing a small pit in the middle. She poured a stream of sesame oil into the pit, gently cracked an egg on the chopping board, poured in the egg yolk, and sprinkled a handful of sugar. Kneading the dough is a skill. My mother added water to the flour drop by drop with one hand, while the other hand flew in the flour, slowly gathering the surrounding flour together and kneading the things in the flour evenly. The kneaded dough needs to rest for a while. Put the dough in a clean plastic bag and put a basin on top of the plastic bag. After it "wakes up", use a rolling pin to roll it into a round piece, and use the mouth of a teacup to buckle it upside down on the round piece, and a mooncake is formed. The edge of the round cake buckled out of the teacup mouth is slightly翘起, and use the tip of chopsticks to carefully dot a circle of small dots, like drawing a star ring for the moon.
The most unforgettable moment is when the mooncakes are baked. The big iron pot is heated until it is warm, and the mother carefully wipes the surrounding of the pot with an oil cloth. The dough slides into the pot and makes a soft "sizzle" sound. The cooking smoke rises from the chimney, carrying the unique aroma of pasta, permeating the entire courtyard. Several of us children gathered around the stove, watching the dough gradually bulge with golden spots, and swallowing saliva countless times. Fine sweat oozed from the mother's forehead, but the corners of her mouth contained a smile.
In addition to mooncakes, my mother would also cook a pot of harvest feast: potatoes grinning, corn wrapped in sunshine and rain exuding a unique fragrance, pumpkin cooked glutinous and sweet, even the scorched soup at the bottom of the pot with a mellow fragrance.
We always like to move the dining table to the yard to eat, and so does the Mid-Autumn Festival.
After dark, my father moved the small dining table to the yard, and moved the small wooden piers and bricks to the table in turn, and placed them around to serve as small benches for us. The shadow of the tree in front of the door was cast on the table, mottled like a painting. The moon hung brightly in the sky, like a polished bronze mirror. The evening breeze gently caressed the cheeks, carrying the fragrance of wheat straw from the threshing floor. The birds on the tree chirped, as if sharing the joy of the festival. My older brother, older sister and I scrambled to eat mooncakes, eating what was in our hands and staring at what was on the table. When our parents saw us scrambling, the smile lines in the corners of their eyes piled up together. My mother gently stroked my face and said, "My baby, eat slowly, I don't like mooncakes, I'll leave my share to you too." I call the mooncakes made by my mother "馍馍娃", which made everyone laugh.
The first time I ate mooncakes produced outside was in 2015 when I was studying at the Lu Xun Literary Institute (鲁迅文学院). On the Mid-Autumn Festival, the teacher gave each of us a box of mooncakes. It happened that two classmates had birthdays in the class, and everyone bought cakes. Cream flowers bloomed on the cake, and candlelight illuminated every smiling face. The class leader organized an evening party. The Mongolian classmates danced with bowls on their heads, the eyes of the Xinjiang (新疆) girls were brighter than the moon, and the songs of the Tibetan (藏族) lads could penetrate the clouds. We shared the Mid-Autumn Festival stories of our respective hometowns. The mooncakes left a fragrance between our lips and teeth. The mooncakes of Lu Xun Literary Institute (鲁迅文学院) had a literary atmosphere. That was the most fragrant and the most mooncakes I have ever eaten. It is said that happiness makes people young. During the days in Lu Xun Literary Institute (鲁迅文学院), I really felt that I was 10 years younger, as if I had returned to the childhood of抢 "馍馍娃" in the yard.
After returning from Lu Xun Literary Institute (鲁迅文学院), I worked in a mobile phone store, and life gradually improved. Every Mid-Autumn Festival, the boss would give us mooncakes, fruits and drinks. I remember the first time I brought these home, the children were so happy that they jumped up and down. Seeing their smiling faces, my heart was full of gratitude, and I secretly told myself that I must work hard. In the following years, the children were no longer as curious about mooncakes, fruits and drinks as before, and even "picked" and said "this is too sweet" and "that is too greasy".
In recent years, the changes in rural areas have been earth-shaking. Adobe houses have become brick houses, hardened roads have reached the doorsteps of homes, and e-commerce express delivery can send mooncakes from all over the world to mountain villages. Mooncakes are dazzling and can be eaten at any time, but no matter how you taste them, they don't seem to be as good as the taste my mother made back then.
Return to TopChinese painting "Flower Album (Osmanthus)" by Zhang Xiong (张熊).
Return to TopBy: 唐克扬
The moon is still the same moon, and the idea that the moon is brighter in one's hometown is just a beautiful fantasy, an association with a specific space at a specific moment. The fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month is related to time, not location.
The "place" where one sees the moon is a question. "Spring river swells level with the sea," and it is the "bright moon over the sea" that makes it so special, especially for those ancient Chinese who rarely went to sea, or had never even seen the sea. Scholars have debated endlessly whether "Spring River Flower Moon Night" is set in Jiangnan or Jiangbei? This relates to the angle from which one can see the moon rising at the intersection of the river and the sea. However, what strikes me most is not the answer to the above question, but that I have never had such a moon-viewing experience—the poet's location must be at least in the distant suburbs of the city, with desolate forests and solitary sands, utterly devoid of anything, so that the scenery can be extraordinarily shocking. This poem is hailed as "a single piece overshadowing the entire Tang dynasty," and the relationship between the moon and its surroundings is also such that the moonlight envelops everything between heaven and earth, just as Wen Yiduo (闻一多) said, giving the poem a "more profound cosmic consciousness."
Otherwise, no matter how elaborate the modern scenic spot is, one can only see the moon in an artificial environment—this also relates to a well-known Tang poem: "Bright moonlight before my bed." The poetic sentiment is undeniable, but if one inquires closely about the context of this poem: where is it? Which city, which neighborhood, which type of residence, what kind of furniture? These all have various influences on the poetic sentiment.
Judging from Li Bai's (李白) life experiences, I think it is unlikely that this poem was written in Chang'an (长安). Regarding its place of creation, there are theories such as Anlu (安陆), Guangshui (广水), and Yangzhou (扬州). What can further stimulate our interest is the more specific question of "where to view the moon." In the Song Dynasty Shu edition of "Li Taibai Wenji" (《李太白文集》), there are two different characters in this poem: "see" (看) the moonlight before the bed (not "bright" 明), suspecting it is frost on the ground. Raise head to gaze at the mountain (not "bright" 明) moon, lower head to think of hometown. The question arises, is it "seeing" the moon before the bed, or is the moonlight shining before the bed? Is the poet indoors or outdoors? Is it in the city or the countryside? Because of the difference in this key information, there are various interpretations. The bed may be a sleeping utensil (like today), a sitting utensil, or a well curb (which would mean it is outdoors). Some people even feel that the folk houses of the Tang Dynasty were dark and low, and it was impossible for moonlight to fill the space before the bed.
Perhaps, poetry should not be taken too seriously. In fact, people now don't care so much about the poetry in "seeing." Waking up in the middle of the night and seeing moonlight "before" the hotel television, or even seeing the moon "in" the television, is there a difference? Even outdoors, when one occasionally looks up, one often turns one's phone towards the moon, which is actually the phone seeing the moon, and seeing it more "clearly" than you, taking a picture of the moon magnified many times, making it convenient to share on WeChat Moments. When I was a child, I held up binoculars to see the details of the moon, and the wonderful scene that made me exclaim "ah" could not last forever. Perhaps it is precisely because that moment is fleeting that people stare at it intently. Now, even the clearest picture of the moon can probably only earn you a glance, and then you turn to look at other various "moons," such as ice-skin mooncakes or moon lamps that remind you of the moon...
As an architect, I am more concerned with where to "raise my head to gaze at the bright moon" than with "wanting to ascend to the blue sky to grasp the moon." In recent years, there has been no shortage of commercial projects that use the "moon" as a gimmick, as if they have really conquered this lonely planet, making it exclusive to certain artificial residential or hotel room windows. In reality, you're lucky if you can see the stars there.
I had a dream, dreaming that I had returned to the small house in the middle of the night many years ago: it was very dark in the house, and very bright outside the window...
Return to TopBy: 周志雄
With the popularization of the internet and the widespread application of digital technology, the Mid-Autumn Festival, a Chinese traditional festival carrying thousands of years of cultural memory, is undergoing unprecedented changes.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a day for family reunions for the Chinese nation. Social APPs and live streaming platforms have transformed "having friends all over the world is like having neighbors next door" from psychological closeness to instantaneous accessibility that is perceptible through hearing and sight. In 2016, China Youth Daily and Beijing New Media Group (北京新媒体集团) jointly held a Mid-Autumn Festival live broadcast event. Through the studio, they broadcast the grand scene of "Lugou Xiaoyue" (卢沟晓月) and the scenery of "A Bright Moon Born on the Sea" from a boat. Netizens sent moon-viewing videos from all over the world. Those relatives in foreign lands and overseas wanderers reunited in the cloud, expressing their homesickness. Chinese people all over the world achieved emotional connection of "sharing this moment together despite being far apart" through the internet. In 2024, the "Hunan TV Mango TV Mid-Autumn Festival Night Gala" (湖南卫视芒果TV中秋之夜晚会) used XR (extended reality) technology to create a beautiful and magnificent "Cyber Moon Palace." The interactive performances of virtual ancient literati and contemporary singers created a Mid-Autumn Festival experience with a sense of technology, art, and the times, bringing a strong sense of pleasure and satisfaction to the audience, and greatly stimulating young people's interest in traditional Mid-Autumn culture.
Among the various mooncake creations, 3D printing technology allows these ideas to be realized at a lower cost. Traditional mooncakes are mostly of fixed styles, and the cost of replacing molds is high and the cycle is long, making it difficult to respond quickly to market changes. 3D printing technology can accurately restore complex patterns through digital modeling, which is convenient, fast, and reduces costs, realizing diversified customization. Elements of some classic Chinese paintings have also been incorporated into mooncake designs. These vivid patterns full of traditional cultural atmosphere, after the designer's ingenious transformation, turn mooncakes from festive food into carriers of excellent traditional culture, which not only expresses the traditional meaning of Mid-Autumn Festival reunion, but also revitalizes traditional culture in modern life through creativity.
The application of metaverse and blockchain technology has given mooncakes a new form - NFT digital mooncakes. Digital mooncakes are not a food, but a digital collectible related to mooncakes. Many domestic metaverse digital collection platforms have launched digital mooncakes with different price points. Traditional mooncake merchants participate in it, bundling physical mooncakes with digital mooncakes for sale. Consumers can obtain digital vouchers with exclusive blockchain codes when they buy physical mooncakes, making mooncakes evolve from a festive food into a cultural product with unique value, satisfying some young consumers' needs for fashion and personalized expression.
No matter how the times change, the reunion, homesickness, and prayers for a better life that the Mid-Autumn Festival embodies remain unchanged. When "Dunhuang Flying Apsaras" (敦煌飞天) meets aerospace lunar exploration, when "Sanxingdui Moon Worship" (三星堆祭月) is reflected in virtual reality, when Chinese people all over the world gather through internet platforms to enjoy the moon together, this is not only the empowerment of technology to festival traditions, but also a direct reflection of the beautiful era of national prosperity, healthy life, and the cohesion of people's hearts.
Return to TopBy: 王 苗
The Mid-Autumn Festival of my childhood was interesting. My older sister, with her gentle personality and strong sense of ritual, busied herself with moon worship on the Mid-Autumn Festival night with great seriousness. My father, loving his children, would move a small round table to the courtyard, allowing us to play to our heart's content.
Back then, mooncakes were mostly "processed with supplied materials" at food workshops, using a very vivid verb—"dǎ (打)," meaning "to make." People would just add eggs, white sugar, brown sugar, melon seeds, walnut kernels, peanut kernels, and candied fruits fiercely into the flour. The mooncakes that were made were so sweet they were cloying, and so fragrant they made your teeth tremble. Grapes and pomegranates were relatively expensive non-staple fruits, and bananas and cantaloupe were even rarer. The fruits were mostly the most common apples, pears, and hawthorns, plus some red dates and peanuts.
All the above food items were sorted and placed on plates, arranged neatly on the small round table for a while, and then it was time for moon worship. Not every Mid-Autumn Festival night could we see a silver-plate-like moon. When it hid behind dark clouds and didn't show its face, it was inevitably disappointing. But my father would say, "The moon is covered by clouds on the fifteenth of August, and snow hits the lanterns on the fifteenth of the first month," and we would be happy again, eagerly looking forward to the Lantern Festival of the coming year.
After the moon worship, my father would move the small round table back into the room, and only then would my sister allow us to start eating. But we didn't eat properly. Although the homemade mooncakes were fragrant and sweet, they were as hard as stones. We would break open the mooncakes and only dig out the walnut kernels, melon seeds, peanut kernels, and "red threads" and "green threads" (thin strips of candied fruit) to eat. The adults would take many days to finish the pieces of broken mooncake with their pitted surfaces in the bamboo basket.
My personality is very different from my sister's. I matured late, don't like to organize things, and have been living with my parents all these years. Although I am approaching middle age, I am still a carefree person who 两耳不闻窗外事 (liǎng ěr bù wén chuāng wài shì - "two ears don't hear outside the window," to be detached from worldly affairs) and 十指不沾阳春水 (shí zhǐ bù zhān yáng chūn shuǐ - "ten fingers don't touch spring water," to be unaccustomed to manual labor). The sleepless night sky of the city makes one forget the existence of the moon. In the rush and bustle, I just want to treat the Mid-Autumn Festival as an ordinary holiday. And with my sister being far away in another place, the Mid-Autumn Festival at home has lost its sense of ritual. I will buy some mooncakes, but my parents are reluctant to buy expensive ones, and I, using dieting as an excuse, don't eat the high-oil, high-sugar calorie bombs they buy.
In the midst of listlessness and blandness, the Mid-Autumn Festival of "others" makes my heart yearn. The great writer Su Shi (苏轼) drank and made merry until dawn on the Mid-Autumn Festival night, writing the eternally famous "When will the moon be clear?" to express his feelings; in the Kunqu Opera *The Palace of Eternal Life* (*长生殿*), Emperor Ming of Tang (唐明皇) and Yang Guifei (杨贵妃) finally reunited on the Mid-Autumn Festival night; in *Dream of the Red Chamber* (*红楼梦*), the young ladies happily celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, although there was no lack of autumnal coolness, it was still a lively joy... The Mid-Autumn Festival in literary works is a well-honed image, condensing the thoughts of the ancients for thousands of years. What can a life like plain boiled water compare to these sparkling and dazzling pearls?
Before this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, my father had an operation. In recovery, he was eager to prove that he could do it, but he accidentally sprained his foot and could only continue to recuperate. My sister's child is fighting in the army of graduate school recommendation, and the ups and downs and twists and turns are worrying the whole family. My younger sister's work is also facing major adjustments. My mother, the "backbone" of the family, is obviously a little overwhelmed and is absent-minded all day long. When my mother panics, my world collapses too...
Fortunately, everything has passed, and all the results are good. As an adult, I have never looked forward to the Mid-Autumn Festival as much as I have this year. The family sits together, talks, and chats, and all worries become insignificant in the midst of laughter. Looking at the moon hanging high in the sky outside the window, I feel grounded and settled.
I am really a late bloomer. I am suddenly growing up in middle age. The "five flavors" of life are actually hidden in the "flavorless." "Flavorless" is the true flavor, the ultimate flavor. The reason why it feels bland is just because I haven't tasted it with my heart. The moon of the past is now shining on me. My reverie is ultimately the concrete and micro life of the ancients. Everyone is in life, so what can be different?
Go to life, live well, live with your heart.
Return to TopThis edition's email: dadi@peopledaily.cn
Layout design: Zhang Danfeng (张丹峰)
Return to Top