People's Daily - October 11, 2025

Great to See the Yangtze River's Triple Waves (Striving for the Forefront, Decisively Winning the "14th Five-Year Plan")

By: 本报记者 禹伟良 姜 峰 范昊天

The Yangtze River, a vast waterway, is the mother river of the Chinese nation and an important pillar for its development. The Yangtze River Economic Belt spans the eastern, central, and western regions of China, covering 11 provinces and municipalities and approximately 21% of the country's land area.

"Promoting the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt must consider the long-term interests of the Chinese nation," and "Make the Yangtze River Economic Belt the main battlefield for ecological priority and green development in China, the main artery for smooth domestic and international dual circulation, and the main force leading high-quality economic development"... Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) has held multiple symposiums to plan and guide the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

Jointly promote major protection and refrain from large-scale development. The provinces and municipalities along the river and relevant central departments have conscientiously implemented the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, promoted significant achievements in ecological environmental protection and restoration, undergone major transformations in development methods, continuously strengthened regional collaborative linkage, and accelerated the formation of an all-round opening-up pattern. In 2024, the gross domestic product of the Yangtze River Economic Belt exceeded 63 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.4%. In the first eight months of this year, the total value of foreign trade imports and exports in the 11 provinces and municipalities of the Yangtze River Economic Belt reached 13.7 trillion yuan, a record high for the same period, an increase of 6% year-on-year, accounting for 46.3% of the country's total import and export value.

Traveling along the river, the deepest feeling is "three more and three less": more beautiful scenery and fewer chaotic phenomena; more high-end industries and fewer low-end industries; more "one chessboard" approaches and fewer "solo battles."

The great river is surging, showing thousands of scenes and surging with vitality.

Problem-oriented, with an iron fist to overcome difficulties—

The beautiful scenery of "a river of clear water flowing eastward" is reappearing.

Rushing out of the Three Gorges and winding through Jianghan, the Yangtze River meets Dongting Lake at Chenglingji.

Reeds sway, "fluttering," a water bird skims over—Zou Yi, who has worked in the Hunan East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve for 15 years, knows that this scene is hard-won.

Dongting Lake sand is a high-quality building material. "Many years ago, illegal sand and gravel docks and sand yards were rampant, sand dredgers loaded and unloaded back and forth, and machines roared day and night." Zou Yi recalled the past, "Benthic organisms were destroyed, fish followed suit, and migratory birds also lost their habitats, and the entire ecological chain was affected."

At that time, the problem of overdrawn Yangtze River ecological environment was prominent—

The problems of random occupation and abuse of the Yangtze River shoreline and ports are prominent;

The Yangtze River's "double kidneys," Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake, are frequently threatened by periodic droughts, and nearly 30% of important lakes and reservoirs are in a state of eutrophication;

The Yangtze River's biological integrity index once reached the worst "no fish" level...

General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) painfully described the Yangtze River as "sick, seriously ill."

Without prioritizing the protection of the ecological base, how can high-quality development be supported? "Jointly promote major protection and refrain from large-scale development." These 10 characters are deafening.

Since 2016, the 11 provinces and municipalities along the river and relevant departments have begun to dig out the root causes of the disease, face the contradictions and problems directly, dare to take real action, hold on and persevere to the end, and overcome difficulties with an iron fist with unprecedented efforts.

Hunan dismantled and closed 39 illegal sand and gravel docks and 84 sand yards along the Yangtze River shoreline and Dongting Lake area, and launched special actions in the lake area such as dredging ditches, ponds, and dams,整治畜禽养殖污染 (zhěngzhì xùqín yǎngzhí wūrǎn - "rectifying livestock and poultry breeding pollution," addressing pollution from livestock farming),整治河湖围网养殖 (zhěngzhì héhú wéiwǎng yǎngzhí - "rectifying river and lake enclosure aquaculture," addressing aquaculture practices that harm the environment), and cleaning up garbage along rivers and lakes. The effect was immediate. "Last year, more than 458,500 overwintering waterbirds were monitored in the Dongting Lake area, a record high for the same period." Zou Yi said.

"Chemical encirclement of the Yangtze River" is a "stubborn disease" that plagues the Yangtze River.

Downstream, Hukou County, Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province, is the dividing point between the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Jiujiang Petrochemical, located on the banks of the Yangtze River, at the mouth of Poyang Lake, and at the foot of Mount Lu (庐山), is not only a local industrial pillar but also the only large-scale refining and chemical integration enterprise in Jiangxi, undertaking more than 70% of the province's oil supply. However, Jiujiang Petrochemical also needed to solve environmental pollution and other problems.

How to have both green waters and green mountains, and Jinshan Yinshan (金山银山)?

The answer is: transformation and upgrading.

In the Jiujiang Petrochemical Industrial Park, the construction of a 1.5 million tons/year aromatics and oil refining supporting renovation project with a total investment of 10.6 billion yuan is in full swing. "After the project is completed, it is expected to increase revenue by 60 billion yuan per year, which will realize the transformation from a drop of oil to a thread, a piece of cloth, and a piece of clothing." Hong Yu, deputy secretary of the Party branch of the Aromatics Operation Department of Jiujiang Petrochemical, introduced.

The aromatics terminal on the Yangtze River adopts 12 measures such as fully enclosed transportation and digital monitoring to achieve "not letting a drop of oil leak into the Yangtze River." With a cumulative investment of about 2.6 billion yuan in environmental protection renovation, Jiujiang Petrochemical's external wastewater discharge, controlled waste gas compliance rate, and solid waste compliant disposal rate have reached 100%. In the factory's sewage discharge pool, schools of fish swim back and forth. Real-time data shows that the concentration of discharged pollutants is far lower than the national standard.

Jiujiang has successively promoted the transformation of more than 30 chemical enterprises to green development. Last year, the city's petrochemical and chemical industry chain profit increased by 13.3% year-on-year.

From special rectification of illegal docks and illegal sand mining to chemical pollution control and the launch of the ten-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River, one problem is solved after another, and one task is promoted after another. The ecological environmental protection and restoration of the Yangtze River Economic Belt have achieved major achievements, and the main stream of the Yangtze River has maintained Class II water quality for five consecutive years.

"The Yangtze River Economic Belt's joint promotion of major protection and refraining from large-scale development has become a consensus, the problem of 'chemical encirclement of the Yangtze River' has been basically solved, the ten-year fishing ban has been deeply promoted, and now the Yangtze River is full of fish and birds, and the Yangtze finless porpoise is chasing the waves, 'a river of clear water flowing eastward'." The main responsible comrade of the National Development and Reform Commission (国家发展改革委) introduced.

Moving towards "new," kinetic energy conversion—

Innovation-driven development has fully started.

The success or failure of ecological environmental protection ultimately depends on the economic structure and economic development mode.

"We must adhere to innovation-led development, transform the scientific research advantages and talent advantages of the Yangtze River Economic Belt into development advantages, actively open up new areas and new tracks for development, and shape new kinetic energy and new advantages for development." General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out the direction.

Moving towards "new," the development mode of the Yangtze River Economic Belt has undergone major changes, and innovation-driven development has fully started.

Wuhan (武汉), Hubei Province, where the Han River and the Yangtze River meet, is promoting the acceleration of new energy and intelligent connected vehicles with Dongfeng Motor as the leader. In the "China Auto Valley" Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, the "5G vehicle-road-cloud integration" system has covered 660 kilometers of open roads, and more than 300 unmanned taxis and 30 unmanned buses shuttle day and night.

The more open the ecology, the "smarter" the car. More than 40 enterprises and universities have joined hands to establish the Hubei Provincial Automotive-Grade Chip Innovation Consortium. "After more than 3 years of joint research, the first domestic automotive-grade high-performance microcontroller chip has been developed and is expected to be mass-produced and launched next year." Yang Yanding, Dean of the R&D Institute of Dongfeng Motor, is full of expectations.

Innovation is the constant main theme and source of power. "Tackling the 'next generation' of cars and cultivating outstanding engineers." Yang Qing, Chairman of Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd. (东风汽车集团有限公司), introduced that by building a new energy brand pattern covering luxury, high-end, and mainstream fields, the company's independent new energy vehicle exports increased by 229% year-on-year in the first half of this year.

Actively laying out new tracks for electrification and intelligent networking, the Yangtze River Economic Belt has become China's largest automotive industry cluster.

The scale of "new" is still lengthening. By replacing a phone card and activating related services, ordinary mobile phones can achieve anti-eavesdropping encrypted calls through quantum technology... In Hefei High-tech Zone, Anhui, the world's first quantum-encrypted secure call and office application—Quantum Secret Talk Secret Letter—is eye-opening. "Including quantum communication, we have launched more than 30 quantum technology products, and the application scope covers more than 10 key areas such as government affairs, emergency response, industry, and finance." Lü Pin, Chairman of China Telecom Quantum Information Technology Group Co., Ltd. (中电信量子信息科技集团有限公司), said.

Strolling along "Quantum Street" in Hefei High-tech Zone, more than 30 leading quantum technology enterprises such as China Telecom Quantum, Origin Quantum, and Guoyi Quantum are gathered. Hefei has proactively laid out quantum technology research and development and its industrialization, cultivated 91 related enterprises, has more than 2,000 related patents, and has formed 24 provincial-level or above research and development platforms, initially building a complete ecological chain from basic research, core technology breakthroughs to engineering and industrialization. At the same time, 7 future industrial chains such as the low-altitude economy, commercial aerospace, and fusion energy are showing their peaks.

Relying on innovation, especially technological innovation, to achieve power transformation and kinetic energy conversion, is inseparable from reform promotion.

An automated ultra-high-strength flexible roll forming production line of more than 80 meters long, with more than 40 roll molds closely cooperating, "pinches" pieces of steel plates into complex-shaped components. "Our independently developed technology provides a new solution for cost reduction and efficiency increase for the production of key components such as rail transit." Yan Peijie, Chairman of Suzhou Yichuangte Intelligent Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (苏州亿创特智能制造有限公司), said, "This is inseparable from the innovation mechanism support of the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute."

Five years ago, when the company was first established, Yan Peijie sought bank loans but suffered from no collateral; when he sought venture capital funds, they wanted to control the shares. When he was at a loss, the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute sent "timely rain"—36 million yuan of "allocation and investment combination" funds ignited the "fire." Highlighting demand orientation, serving enterprise innovation, and leading industrial development, the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute has implemented 82 major industrial technology innovation projects so far.

Focusing on deepening high-level opening-up pressure testing, the Shanghai Free Trade Pilot Zone has comprehensively connected with international high-standard economic and trade rules to carry out pilot tests since 2023, forming a number of advanced experiences and typical cases with high gold content, providing "free trade experience" for steadily expanding institutional opening-up; focusing on 15 key industrial chains such as aerospace and advantageous industrial chains such as rail transit, Sichuan has established a key industrial chain collaborative promotion mechanism of "chain leader + deputy chain leader + leading department + main carrying place + coordinated development place"... The tide of reform is surging, innovation is competing for the lead, and the development dividends brought about by quality change, efficiency change, and power change are accelerating spillover along the Yangtze River.

Systematic governance, overall planning—

The effect of synergistic linkage is constantly enhanced.

The story of the great river and great lake is not over yet.

The three mouths of Songzi, Taiping, and Ouchi, which receive water from the Yangtze River in the north, and the four waters of Xiang, Zi, Yuan, and Li and the Miluo River and Xinqiang River in the southwest, the saying of "nine waters making trouble in Dongting" comes from this.

This word "trouble" is particularly vivid. Lu Yiliang, Chief Engineer of the Yueyang City Ecology and Environment Bureau (岳阳市生态环境局), said with emotion: "At one time, there was departmental division and multiple administrations, and it seemed that everyone was in charge, but no one was in charge to the end."

Take the "small, scattered, and chaotic" berths that were once densely distributed along the shoreline, "The grabs and transfer vehicles 'leaked and dripped', and when it rained, the red iron ore dust entered the river." Lu Yiliang shook his head straight. Who should be in charge? In the past, there was a saying: environmental protection does not go to the river, water conservancy does not go to the shore, ships belong to transportation, and fishery administration only manages fish—what a "nine dragons governing the water"!

In recent years, under the rigid constraints of "jointly promoting major protection," Yueyang has closed and dismantled 42 "small, scattered, and chaotic" berths and restored them to green. The local area realized that only by improving the mechanism and making a fist can the coordinated governance of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, and grasses jump out of the strange circle of "it works when you grasp it, but it doesn't work if you don't grasp it."

On June 13, in the Qilishui area of East Dongting Lake, 5 "three-no" speedboats and 2 floating docks caused safety hazards on the shoreline. "Dispatching a group of law enforcement officers, the rectification was completed in 1 hour." Duan Junxi, Deputy Captain of the Law Enforcement Brigade of the East Dongting Lake Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau of Yueyang County (岳阳县东洞庭湖综合行政执法局), told reporters.

This year, with the deepening of the comprehensive administrative law enforcement reform of East Dongting Lake, Yueyang City and County broke down departmental barriers, integrated the 847 law enforcement powers originally scattered in 9 departments, and formed a new governance pattern of "five ones" of one architecture, one team, one platform, one drawing, and one mechanism, with the core 4 characters: systematic governance.

General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out: "As a basin economy, the Yangtze River Economic Belt involves many aspects such as water, road, port, shore, industry, city, and biology, wetland, and environment. It is a whole and must be fully grasped and planned as a whole."

Adhering to the concept of system to promote ecological environmental protection and high-quality development in the Yangtze River Basin, today, overall planning and coordination have become high-frequency words in the Yangtze River story.

Climbing aboard the Ningbo Zhoushan Port (宁波舟山港) in Zhejiang, the nearshore waters are surging with waves. Ren Wenyu, a "ship boss" from Ezhou (鄂州), Hubei, has now expanded his company's business from inland river transportation to river-sea intermodal transportation. In April this year, his cargo ship "Jianghai Zhida 16" loaded 12,000 tons of Brazilian imported iron ore and arrived at Ezhou Sanjiang Port from Ningbo Zhoushan Port in only 5 days, setting a new speed record for bulk commodity logistics in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and radiated to Chongqing (重庆), Wuhan (武汉), Nanchang (南昌), Jiujiang (九江) and other places through multimodal transportation.

What persuaded Ren Wenyu to "eat crabs" was the "capacity pool" mechanism pioneered by Zhejiang, composed of the "port, ship, and cargo" three parties. Since the State Council approved the establishment of the Zhoushan River-Sea Intermodal Service Center (舟山江海联运服务中心) in 2016, Wang Longbin, head of the business department of Ningbo Zhoushan Port Zhoushan Port Affairs Co., Ltd., took his team and ran all over more than 20 important ports along the Yangtze River, connecting with customer needs and providing solutions, "In a word: shipowners do not look for goods, cargo owners do not look for ships, and the port provides full service." In 2024, the Zhoushan area of the Zhejiang Free Trade Pilot Zone completed 336 million tons of river-sea intermodal transportation, accounting for more than 21% of the Yangtze River. The rapid development of river-sea intermodal transportation provides a solid guarantee for bulk commodities to "reach the sea through the river."

Strengthening the interconnection of transportation networks and the interconnection of transportation modes such as "road-water-rail," the distance of the Yangtze River is more than just the East China Sea.

Planning a region from the perspective of the overall situation, the China-Europe Railway Express and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in the western region are connected in the Yangtze River, and the degree of integration between the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" is constantly improving: domestic new energy vehicles are transported from Wuhu (芜湖), Anhui to Xi'an (西安), Shaanxi, and take the China-Europe Railway Express "Chang'an" to Europe; goods from Guizhou (贵州) pass through Qinzhou Port (钦州港), Guangxi, and arrive in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries in only about 5 days through railway-sea intermodal transportation. The "channel + hub + network" logistics system helps "Guizhou goods go to sea" and deeply integrate with the international supply chain; Chongqing (重庆) gives full play to the location advantages of Guoyuan Port (果园港) at the intersection of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the "Belt and Road," and the connection between the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in the western region and the China-Europe Railway Express (Chengdu-Chongqing), and strives to unblock market channels and improve trade facilitation, attracting international trade, new energy vehicles and other advantageous industries to continue to gather, forming a development network radiating the western region.

Adhering to strengthening regional synergy and integration as the focus, the regional synergistic linkage effect of the Yangtze River Economic Belt is also constantly enhanced: the nine cities of the Yangtze River Delta G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor are working together to promote technological innovation in a collaborative and resource-sharing manner; "Shanghai enterprises + Yunnan resources," "Shanghai R&D + Yunnan manufacturing," "Shanghai market + Yunnan products," and "Shanghai headquarters + Yunnan base," Shanghai and Yunnan are constantly improving the cooperation mechanism and innovating the cooperation mode, so that industrial transfer is from passive to active, from translation to leap; from pioneering the legislative model of "joint decision + regulations" to exploring the implementation of cross-provincial horizontal ecological compensation, the three provinces of Yunnan (云南), Guizhou (贵州), and Sichuan (四川) jointly protect the Chishui River (赤水河), promoting the continuous improvement of the ecological environment of the basin...

Not long ago, the National Development and Reform Commission (国家发展改革委) approved the feasibility study report of the Three Gorges Water Transport New Channel Project. The Three Gorges Water Transport New Channel is the largest comprehensive project integrating water conservancy, shipping, and ecology on the main line of the Yangtze River after the Three Gorges Project, which is of great significance for better implementing the development strategy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and promoting the economic and social development of the areas along the river.

The ancient great river has nurtured and irrigated the five thousand years of Chinese civilization, and will surely surge with the surging waves of the new era!

(Our reporters Yang Xun (杨迅), Wang Dan (王丹), Luo Yangqi (罗阳奇), Wang Han Chao (王汉超), Wang Weijian (王伟健), and Liu Junguo (刘军国) participated in the writing)

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Xi Jinping Sends Congratulatory Message to Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, on the 80th Anniversary of the Founding of the Workers' Party of Korea

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 10th. On October 10th, Xi Jinping (习近平), General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (中共中央), sent a congratulatory message to Kim Jong-un (金正恩), General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (朝鲜劳动党), to congratulate the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea.

In his congratulatory message, Xi Jinping (习近平) said that on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea (朝鲜劳动党), I would like to extend my warm congratulations and best wishes to the General Secretary, the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (朝鲜劳动党中央), all members of the Workers' Party of Korea (朝鲜劳动党党员), and the people of North Korea (朝鲜人民) on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (中国共产党中央委员会) and in my own name.

Xi Jinping (习近平) stated that over the past 80 years, the Workers' Party of Korea (朝鲜劳动党) has united and led the people of North Korea (朝鲜人民) to forge ahead, overcome difficulties, and promote the socialist cause of North Korea (朝鲜社会主义事业) to achieve gratifying achievements. In recent years, the General Secretary has led the Workers' Party of Korea (朝鲜劳动党) and the people of North Korea (朝鲜人民) to actively devote themselves to strengthening party building, developing the economy, and improving people's livelihoods. I wish that under the strong leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea (朝鲜劳动党) headed by the General Secretary, the socialist cause of North Korea (朝鲜社会主义事业) will continue to achieve new accomplishments, and welcome the successful convening of the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (朝鲜劳动党九大).

Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized that China (中国) and North Korea (朝鲜) are both socialist countries led by the Communist Party. In recent years, I have met with the General Secretary many times, charting the course for the development of relations between the two parties and two countries, and opening a new chapter in China-North Korea (中朝) friendship. Not long ago, the General Secretary came to China (中国) to attend the activities commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. I had in-depth talks with the General Secretary, pointing out the direction for the further development of friendly and cooperative relations between China (中朝) and North Korea (朝鲜). No matter how the international situation changes, maintaining, consolidating, and developing China-North Korea (中朝) relations is always the unswerving policy of the Chinese (中国) Party and government. China (中方) is willing to work with North Korea (朝方) to strengthen strategic communication, deepen pragmatic cooperation, and closely coordinate and cooperate to promote the continuous development of China-North Korea (中朝) relations, serve the socialist construction cause of the two countries, and make positive contributions to regional and even world peace, stability, development, and prosperity. I wish the Workers' Party of Korea (朝鲜劳动党) continued success! I wish China-North Korea (中朝) friendship 万古长青 (wàn gǔ cháng qīng - "evergreen," may our friendship last forever)!

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Come with questions, leave with solutions, and act with unwavering conviction.

By: 本报记者 王昊男 耿 磊

In recent times, a special classroom at the Party School of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (中共北京市委党校) has become "popular": Since its official launch on July 1st, it has trained over 10,000 students in more than 70 class days. Party member cadres and university teachers and students from all over the country have gathered here, and the latest course reservations are already scheduled for more than a month later.

This is the Jinghua Practice Theme Classroom of Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, an important component of the Jinghua Practice Teaching and Research Center of Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized: "We must unremittingly strengthen the arming of the Party with innovative theories" and "The purpose of studying Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era lies entirely in its application, in transforming this thought into a powerful ideological weapon for transforming the subjective and objective worlds."

"The most fundamental reason for the new leap in the capital's development lies in the leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) and the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era." After the Teaching and Research Center was launched, the Theoretical Learning Center Group of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (中共北京市委) took the lead in starting classes. Yin Li (尹力), Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委书记), stated that it is necessary to transform the vivid scenes of the capital's development and reform into theoretical classrooms for learning and reflection, and to forge ahead along the direction guided by General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平), striving to write a Beijing (北京) chapter of Chinese-style modernization.

"Able to look up at the stars and also be grounded"

The old city is焕发新生 (huàn fā xīn shēng - "radiate new life," to regain vitality and vigor), "APEC Blue" has become the norm, and the coordinated development of Beijing (北京), Tianjin (天津), and Hebei (河北) has reached a new level... Walking into the theme classroom located in the auditorium of the Party School of the Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委党校), it is as if entering a panoramic view of the capital's development in the new era.

"I am extremely proud to be a participant and witness of the capital's development." Zhou Jielan (周洁兰), Deputy Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Jianguomen Street (建国门街道) in Dongcheng District (东城区), told reporters after participating in the study that she came with expectations, "As a grassroots cadre, I spend more time implementing and less time thinking deeply. My understanding of the profound considerations behind many policies is not enough. I hope to gain something in this regard through learning."

Relevant departments in Beijing (北京) found in their research that some cadres felt that "their understanding of the Party's innovative theories was not thorough enough," some cadres believed that their "integration of learning and practice was not close enough," and some cadres frankly said: "I have learned a lot of theory, but I always fall short when I use it." Where is the problem? In exchanges with some cadres, they summarized "three not keeping up": First, the depth of understanding does not keep up with the pace of theoretical innovation; second, the ability to practice does not keep up with the needs of high-quality development in the capital; and third, the working methods do not keep up with the requirements of the new era.

In order to solve these problems, the Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委), based on in-depth investigation and research, decided to build the Jinghua Practice Teaching and Research Center of Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委) and the Municipal Government (市政府) attach great importance to this work and have included it in the report of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 13th Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委十三届六次全会) and the 2025 Municipal Government Work Report. The Teaching and Research Center should not only explain "what it is," but also explain "why" and "how to do it."

"Have you ever thought about what the governance significance of the 'Small Courtyard Deliberation Hall' reflects?" Geng Shanshan (耿姗姗), a teacher from the Department of Law Teaching and Research of the Party School of the Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委党校), who was the main speaker this time, asked in class.

In February 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) visited the Caochang Sitiao Hutong (草厂四条胡同) in Beijing (北京) and came to the "Small Courtyard Deliberation Hall" for investigation and research. The General Secretary pointed out: "The establishment of the 'Small Courtyard Deliberation Hall,' where 'residents discuss matters and residents decide matters,' is conducive to enhancing the sense of belonging and ownership of community residents and improving the precision and refinement of community governance and services."

"When things are discussed with residents, community residents gradually become the 'masters' of building a better home together. This is a vivid footnote to the implementation of the people-centered development thought. Great ideas are not suspended in the air, but are powerful weapons rooted in daily life and solving practical problems." The main speaker hit the nail on the head.

"In the past, it was more task-oriented, but now I understand that every job is ultimately connected to the 'major affairs of the country.'" After listening to the teacher's explanation, Zhou Jielan (周洁兰) was very moved, "It turns out that 'people-centered' is not just a development thought, but also a complete set of working methods."

Practice is the best teacher, and the truth of thought is reflected in Beijing's (北京) development practice bit by bit.

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Beijing's (北京) regional GDP has increased significantly, and it is estimated that this year's regional GDP will exceed the 5 trillion yuan mark, with an economic increase of about 1.4 trillion yuan in 5 years;

The annual average concentration of PM2.5 in Beijing (北京) has dropped from 89.5 micrograms/cubic meter in 2013 to 30.5 micrograms/cubic meter in 2024, a decrease of nearly 70%;

In recent years, the intensity of R&D investment in the whole society has remained at around 6%, ranking among the top innovative cities in the world, and the number of achievements selected as "China's Top Ten Scientific Advances" in 2024 accounts for more than half of the country's total...

The best way to convince people of theory is to "see it with your own eyes."

Focusing on implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping's (习近平) important speech spirit to Beijing (北京), Beijing (北京) has systematically sorted out a series of vivid cases, from the coordinated development of Beijing (北京), Tianjin (天津), and Hebei (河北) to the refined governance of the city, from the special action of "relieving non-capital functions, rectifying the environment, and promoting upgrading" to the reform of responding to complaints immediately. Each case originates from Beijing's (北京) practice and shines with ideological brilliance.

"The cases of urban development, ecological governance, and technological innovation displayed by the Teaching and Research Center are not only achievements of the capital, but also a microcosm of national development." A relevant comrade from the Party School of the Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委党校) said that the Teaching and Research Center uses the development and changes of the capital in the new era as vivid teaching materials, allowing party member cadres to "both look up at the stars and be grounded."

"Perceive thought in practice and guide practice with innovative theory"

The Party's innovative theory is a system with rich content. How to present it accurately and vividly?

It is not easy to organically integrate theory and practice to achieve the requirement of "**大道至简**" (dà dào zhì jiǎn - "the great way is simple," profound truths are expressed simply).

"The approach of the theme classroom is to closely follow the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's (习近平) important speeches and instructions, while closely integrating with Beijing's (北京) development practice." Sun Laibin (孙来斌), a member of the expert group participating in the preparation and a professor at the School of Marxism of Peking University (北京大学), said, "This approach highlights the guidance of thought and also shows the pace of Beijing's (北京) practice."

Focusing on the main line of "How does great thought guide the profound transformation of the capital Beijing (北京)?", the theme classroom is set up with 3 chapters: The first chapter focuses on presenting the era background, scientific system, and profound connotation of Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era; the second chapter shows Beijing's (北京) practice under the guidance of the Party's innovative theory; and the third chapter shows Beijing's (北京) belief and determination to forge ahead along the direction led by Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The exhibition space takes the 71 "golden sentences" in General Secretary Xi Jinping's (习近平) important instructions and requirements for Beijing (北京) as clues, and integrates a large number of cases, data, and scenes.

"This is a classroom, not an achievement exhibition; the teacher is a lecturer, not an explainer; the students are learning, not visiting." This is the clear requirement of the Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委) for the construction of the Teaching and Research Center.

How to upgrade "exhibition" to "class"? "The key is systematic teaching." Jiang Wen (江文), a teacher at the Party School of the Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委党校) who participated in the main lecture, introduced that the Jinghua Practice Teaching and Research Center is composed of four parts: a theme classroom, a learning and application platform for theoretical research results, a matrix of on-site teaching practice bases, and a "five-in-one" curriculum system.

"The students first learn the original text, then go to the theme classroom to see the practical results under the guidance of the Party's innovative theory. In this process, teachers will give in-depth explanations, and finally conduct group discussions, so as to form a teaching closed loop from 'theory to practice and then to theory' and realize 'perceiving thought in practice and guiding practice with innovative theory.'" Jiang Wen (江文) said.

"Why should we respond in a timely manner when encountering unreasonable and non-urgent demands in deepening the reform of responding to complaints immediately?" In a group discussion, a case sparked heated discussion among the students - a resident reported that the setting of electric bicycle charging piles was unreasonable. Why is it required that grassroots cadres handle this kind of "non-emergency demand" matter as soon as possible?

"It seems to be a matter for one person, but the background system shows that the problem is related to multiple similar complaints." Liu Xin (柳馨), a teacher from the Department of Public Administration Teaching and Research of the Party School of the Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委党校), said, "We must not only plan for one area, but also look at the overall situation. People first is not an abstract concept, but a way to consolidate the foundation of governance by solving small demands one by one."

Such a classroom comes from the front line and returns to the front line. The working team composed of 16 units spent 8 months, visited 34 practice points, revised 15 drafts, and collected 5 rounds of opinions and suggestions and materials, condensing a 50,000-word teaching outline. Every case can withstand traceability, and every piece of data has support.

Learning and understanding do not stop in the classroom. The Teaching and Research Center has also integrated more than 100 on-site teaching points in Beijing (北京), selected 60 points and 14 routes, and created a practice base matrix of "Walking on the Land of Jinghua and Perceiving the Power of Thought": In Zhongguancun (中关村), technology entrepreneurs tell about their experiences in tackling key problems; on Liangma River (亮马河), urban renewal participants share their governance experience...

"Beijing (北京) is not only a testing ground for the governance of big city diseases, but also a window to observe Chinese-style modernization. The entire teaching profoundly demonstrates the truth and brilliance of Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era blooming in the vivid practice on the land of Jinghua. It is a very good theoretical arming and spiritual baptism." A student from a central unit said after participating in the study of the Teaching and Research Center.

At present, the Teaching and Research Center has different curriculum designs for party member cadres in Beijing (北京), cadres from central units in Beijing (北京), cadres from other provinces and cities, and university teachers and students. In the future, it will also set up special courses for international students to tell the Party's innovative theories and Chinese stories in a way that they can understand.

"Both a classroom of thought and a think tank for development"

Sunlight shines through the high windows and falls on rows of neat desks. A special ideological and political class is opened in the Teaching and Research Center. More than 40 teachers from Capital Normal University (首都师范大学) walked from the university podium into the Party School classroom.

"Talking about politics is not just a slogan, it is concrete action." "How can ideological and political classes be wonderful? The key is to explain the theory clearly and make the theory down-to-earth and close to people's hearts." In one hour, from the changes in Beijing (北京), to cultural inheritance, to ecological restoration, one perceptible and knowable case after another made these students listen with relish.

"In the past, when I talked to students about community governance, I just couldn't find a vivid entry point." Wang Yuling (王玉玲), a young teacher at the School of Marxism of Capital Normal University (首都师范大学), wrote densely in her notebook, "What is taught here is not only the code of the capital's transformation, but also a methodology and a set of values."

Not long ago, a report on the integration of Tongzhou (通州) public transportation was sent to the desk of Beijing (北京) leaders, and the transportation system of the Beijing (北京) Urban Sub-Center was further optimized as a result. This report came from the teachers and students of the Teaching and Research Center.

The "Zhihui Jinghua" forum created by the Teaching and Research Center has been held for 7 sessions. Leaders of Party and government departments, experts from academia, and representatives from industry have exchanged ideas on the same stage to gather wisdom for solving the development problems of the capital. In the view of Zhou Hao (周浩), Deputy Director of the Leading Group Office for Promoting the Coordinated Development of Beijing (北京), Tianjin (天津), and Hebei (河北) in Beijing (北京市推进京津冀协同发展领导小组办公室), the Teaching and Research Center is "both a classroom of thought and a think tank for development."

According to statistics, since the establishment of the Teaching and Research Center, 68 decision-making consultation reports have been submitted, of which more than 20 have been approved or adopted by leaders at the provincial and ministerial level or above.

"As a classroom for publicizing and interpreting the Party's innovative theories, in addition to teaching, it is also important to strengthen research." Tao Wenzhao (陶文昭), a professor at the School of Marxism of Renmin University of China (中国人民大学), said, "Deepening the application of theory and the summary of practice in research, forming a positive cycle of mutual transformation and mutual promotion between theory and practice, can make teaching more profound."

"Scientific planning is the greatest benefit, planning errors are the greatest waste, and planning setbacks are the greatest taboo." "Relieving Beijing's (北京) non-capital functions and promoting the coordinated development of Beijing (北京), Tianjin (天津), and Hebei (河北) is a huge system engineering." "Adhering to the concept that green mountains and clear waters are golden mountains and silver mountains, and strengthening the joint construction, joint prevention, and joint governance of the ecological environment"... Learn from the original text and deeply understand in practice.

"Every sentence is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The vivid practice on the land of Jinghua clearly shows the magnificent truth power and practical power of Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era." Wang Duoxin (王多昕), a student from outside Beijing (北京) who participated in the theme classroom study, said, "The Beijing (北京) experience tells us that theory is not a static conclusion written in books, but a practical force flowing in reality."

As night deepens, the lights in the theme classroom are still on. A student wrote in the guestbook: "Come with questions, leave with methods, and work with firm belief." These short words vividly interpret the spiritual power that the Teaching and Research Center conveys to every learner.

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Li Qiang Pays Tribute to Martyrs of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army

This dispatch from Pyongyang, October 10th (by reporters Chen Shangwen (陈尚文) and Liu Rong (刘融)): On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army's participation in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, on the afternoon of October 10th, local time, Li Qiang (李强), member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Premier of the State Council, made a special trip to the Anzhou Chinese People's Volunteer Army Martyrs Cemetery to pay tribute to the martyrs.

Li Qiang (李强) presented a wreath to the graves of the Volunteer Army martyrs and stood in silence. Li Qiang (李强) said that 75 years ago, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, bearing the heavy trust of the people, crossed the Yalu River (鸭绿江) to fight alongside the Korean people and soldiers to defend peace and justice. After two years and nine months of bloody battles, they finally won a great victory. Today, with deep respect, we cherish the memory of the heroic Volunteer Army martyrs and express our deep condolences. The motherland and the people will never forget their immortal feats forged with blood and flesh.

Li Qiang (李强) said that in the past 75 years, China has undergone earth-shaking historical changes. The Chinese nation has achieved a great leap from standing up, getting rich, to becoming strong. Today, under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping (习近平) at its core, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era and is steadily moving towards the second centenary goal. Under the strategic guidance of the top leaders of the two parties and two countries, China and North Korea, the traditional friendship cemented in blood continues to be consolidated and deepened, and the friendly and cooperative relationship continues to move forward. We must continue to uphold the legacy of the martyrs, better carry forward the great spirit of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, and continuously advance the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. China is willing to work with North Korean comrades to further promote the traditional friendship between China and North Korea, strengthen pragmatic cooperation, and work together on the road of common development. The martyrs of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army will be immortal!

North Korean Deputy Prime Minister Jong Myong-su (郑明秀) accompanied the tribute. About 100 people, including all members of the Chinese delegation and staff of the Chinese Embassy in North Korea, participated in the tribute.

On the same day, Li Qiang (李强) also visited the China-North Korea Friendship Tower. The military band played the national anthems of China and North Korea. After the national anthems were finished, the guards of honor carried the flower basket to the base platform of the tower. Li Qiang (李强) carefully arranged the ribbons on the flower basket and led everyone in a moment of silence for the Volunteer Army martyrs. He then entered the Friendship Tower Memorial Hall, browsed the roster of martyrs, visited the war history exhibition, and expressed his high respect for the great achievements of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army martyrs.

Wu Zhenglong (吴政隆) participated in the above activities.

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High-speed Rail Comes to Small County (Glimpses of High-Quality Development in the Past Five Years)

By: 本报记者 宋朝军

"Let's go eat fish!"

At Yongdeng North Station (永登北站) in Lanzhou (兰州), Gansu Province (甘肃省), the high-speed train had just come to a complete stop. Before many passengers had even exited, they were already calling a certain fish restaurant to inquire about seating availability. A few kilometers away, Zhang Guoqing (张国庆), the operator of the fish restaurant, was working energetically in the kitchen. His fish restaurant is only a few minutes' drive from the high-speed rail station.

In June of last year, the Lanzhou-Wuwei section of the Lanzhou-Zhangye high-speed railway officially opened for operation. Yongdeng County (永登县) in Lanzhou (兰州市), a small county in the northwest with a permanent population of less than 300,000, ended its history of not having high-speed rail.

With the opening of the high-speed rail, business boomed. Previously, Zhang Guoqing's (张国庆) fish restaurant's 22 tables were often not full; now, both lunch and dinner are often packed. "The turnover during this National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday doubled compared to last year," Zhang Guoqing (张国庆) said while greeting guests, sharing his "battle achievements."

What arrives with a whoosh is speed, but what is tangible and touchable is warmth. General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized: "Every new transportation line carries the people's dream of happiness." Since the "14th Five-Year Plan," the national high-speed rail operating mileage has increased by approximately 10,000 kilometers, making travel more and more convenient for the people.

In the past, Yongdeng County (永登县) only had regular-speed trains stopping, and the number of trains was not many. Thanks to the opening of the high-speed rail station, Yongdeng County (永登县) received a total of 5.434 million tourists in the first half of this year, an increase of 164% year-on-year, and achieved a comprehensive tourism income of 3.26 billion yuan, an increase of 165% year-on-year.

"With a high-speed rail station in a small county, the flow of people has increased, and business is naturally better." Zhang Guoqing (张国庆) introduced that his fish restaurant is located in the Yongdeng "Full City Fishing Song" (满城渔歌) rural revitalization demonstration belt, which is a highlight project of local agricultural, cultural, and tourism integration. What the high-speed rail "flies" with is not only the fish restaurant's business, but also a batch of characteristic agricultural products such as Yinger (营儿) balsamic vinegar, Kǔshui (苦水) roses, and alpine summer vegetables. With the county's economic vitality sufficient, the people's wallets are also bulging, and life is getting better and better.

The convenience of travel is also felt very keenly. Not long ago, Zhang Guoqing (张国庆) and his family traveled to other places. Departing from Yongdeng North Station (永登北站), they arrived at Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport (兰州中川国际机场) in less than 20 minutes. "Now, taking the high-speed rail from the county to the airport is faster than departing from Lanzhou (兰州) city, which was indeed unimaginable before," said Zhang Guoqing (张国庆).

Connected to the Hexi Corridor (河西走廊) in the north and connected to the Lanzhou (兰州) hub in the south, Yongdeng's (永登) location advantage has been significantly improved after being integrated into the national high-speed rail network. The transportation network of air-rail combined transportation and seamless connection has become a vivid microcosm of "people enjoying their travel and goods flowing smoothly."

Now, high-speed rail has also become a "new shuttle bus" for many commuters and students. "It's more comfortable than a bus and more affordable than driving," said Zhang Guoqing (张国庆). "Now, whether it's city people coming to the county for leisure, or us going to the city for shopping and medical treatment, we can just go whenever we want. With convenient transportation, everyone's choices are also richer."

The setting sun shines into the fish restaurant's pool, rippling with golden light. Zhang Guoqing (张国庆) flicked his wrist and scooped up a plump rainbow trout, "The opening of the high-speed rail is like injecting fresh water into the fish pond. We have to work harder to turn good opportunities into real good days."

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Take Good Care of the Elderly and the Young (Today's Commentary)

By: 尹双红

"The elderly and the young" is a family matter and a national affair, concerning the immediate well-being of the people. General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) is always mindful and particularly concerned about this.

A set of data reflects a weighty sense of gain: 2.24 million households of elderly people with special difficulties have completed age-appropriate renovations, and more than 3 million elderly people eat at elderly dining spots every day; the guarantee standards for orphans and de facto unattended children have increased by more than 26% compared with the end of the "13th Five-Year Plan"... During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the service network for "the elderly and the young" has been further strengthened, painting a happy picture of "red sunset" and "bright sunrise."

From implementing actions to improve basic elderly care services at home and in the community, to continuously increasing and improving the supply of maternal and child health care, children's medical care, and inclusive childcare services, to promoting the direct distribution of maternity allowances and childcare subsidies to individuals... Taking good care of "the elderly and the young" inherits the cultural genes of "respecting our own elders, and extending that respect to the elders of others; loving our own young ones, and extending that love to the young ones of others," reflecting the unremitting pursuit of "Chinese-style modernization, with people's livelihood as the most important thing."

The people's happiness and well-being are embodied in doing a good job in one practical matter after another concerning people's livelihood, and in firmly securing the bottom line of people's livelihood. Truly grasping and earnestly working to support "steady happiness," hundreds of millions of people are striving forward on a new journey, with energy, hope, and a promising future!

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Over 50% of China's autumn grain harvest completed nationwide.

People's Daily Beijing, October 10th (Reporter Yu Jingxian (郁静娴)) According to agricultural situation monitoring, as of October 10th, the national autumn grain harvest has exceeded 50%. By crop, intermediate rice harvest is nearly 60%, corn over 50%, soybeans 55%, and double-cropping late rice is being harvested sporadically. By region, the Southwest has exceeded 70%, the Northwest over 50%, the Northeast nearly 40%, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River over 30%, South China nearly 30%, and Huang-Huai-Hai nearly 80%.

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A Total of 6,255 Convenient Living Circles Have Been Built in 210 Pilot Areas

Beijing, October 10th (Reporter Wang Ke (王珂)) The reporter recently learned from the Ministry of Commerce (商务部): A total of 6,255 convenient community life circles have been built in 210 pilot areas, involving 1.503 million commercial outlets such as elderly care, housekeeping, catering, and retail, serving 129 million residents. In October this year, the Ministry of Commerce (商务部) organized the third "National 15-Minute Convenient Life Service Month," mobilizing pilot areas to carry out diverse service activities in accordance with local conditions.

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Li Qiang Attends Celebrations for the 80th Anniversary of the Founding of the Workers' Party of Korea

(People's Daily, Pyongyang, October 10th) (Reporters Chen Shangwen (陈尚文) and Liu Rong (刘融)) Local time, October 9th and 10th, celebrations for the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea were held in Pyongyang (平壤). Li Qiang (李强), member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Premier of the State Council, attended the celebration and watched a large-scale mass gymnastics and artistic performance, as well as a military parade.

During the celebrations, Li Qiang (李强) also held talks with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Tô Lâm, and Chairman of the United Russia party and Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev (梅德韦杰夫).

Wu Zhenglong (吴政隆) participated in the above activities.

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Regulations on the Clinical Research and Clinical Translation Application Management of New Biomedical Technologies Released

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 10th (October 10) - Premier of the State Council Li Qiang (李强) recently signed a State Council decree, announcing the "Regulations on the Administration of Clinical Research and Clinical Translational Application of New Biomedical Technologies" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"), which will come into effect on May 1, 2026.

The "Regulations" aim to standardize clinical research and clinical translational application of new biomedical technologies, promote the progress and innovation of medical science and technology, ensure medical quality and safety, and safeguard human dignity and health. The "Regulations" consist of 7 chapters and 58 articles, mainly stipulating the following contents.

First, clarify the overall requirements. It is stipulated that clinical research and clinical translational application of new biomedical technologies should adhere to the principle of focusing on people's health, adhere to innovation-led development, adhere to the equal emphasis on development and safety, encourage and support clinical research and clinical translational application, and strengthen the whole-process safety management.

Second, standardize clinical research. It is stipulated that new biomedical technologies that have been proven safe and effective through non-clinical research and have passed academic review and ethical review can be used for clinical research. Clinical research should be filed with the health department of the State Council, and the health department of the State Council will evaluate the filed clinical research, and correct or even stop it in time when risks are found. Strengthen the implementation management of clinical research, and take measures to prevent, control and deal with risks. Strengthen the protection of the rights and interests of subjects, emphasizing that clinical research should respect the wishes of subjects, and no fees should be charged to subjects, and timely treatment should be given if health damage is caused to subjects.

Third, support translational application. It is stipulated that new biomedical technologies that have been proven safe and effective through clinical research and comply with ethical principles can be translated into clinical application with the approval of the health department of the State Council, and the approval process and time limit are clarified. It is stipulated that when the health department of the State Council approves the clinical translational application of new biomedical technologies, it shall also announce the conditions that medical institutions and professional and technical personnel applying the technology should possess, as well as the clinical application operating specifications, to ensure the quality and safety of clinical application. It is stipulated that the health department of the State Council shall re-evaluate the clinically translated and applied new biomedical technologies according to the development of scientific research, etc., and prohibit clinical application if the evaluation cannot guarantee safety and effectiveness.

In addition, the "Regulations" stipulate strict legal responsibilities for illegal acts in clinical research and clinical translational application of new biomedical technologies.

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Contributing Chinese Strength to the Development of Global Women's Cause

By: 本报记者 张梦旭 邢 雪 马 菲

Women are an important force in promoting the progress of human society. Promoting global gender equality and achieving comprehensive women's development are important goals for building and sharing a better world. In recent years, while achieving high-quality development of its own women's cause, China has always deepened South-South cooperation with the responsibility of a major country, enhanced North-South dialogue, and increased support for women's causes in developing countries. Through the implementation of livelihood projects, strengthening capacity building, and participating in international peacekeeping operations, it has actively created an international environment conducive to women's development and made important contributions to the global women's cause.

Livelihood Projects, Improving Women's Living Environment

"Juncao has made our dreams come true." Last June, at the "Food Security" theme session of the Ninth Global Review of Aid for Trade at the World Trade Organization, Seruwaia Kabukabu from Fiji emotionally told the story of how Chinese Juncao changed her destiny and the destiny of local women. Once, Kabukabu and the villagers could only "rely on the heavens for food." After Chinese experts brought Juncao cultivation technology, her family income increased significantly. Under Kabukabu's leadership, more than 20 local women also joined the project, taking the first step towards economic independence. She herself was also elected as the chairman of the Fiji Mushroom Growers Association.

Globally, through Juncao project assistance and technical training, China has helped women in more than 100 countries achieve employment. Lin Dongmei (林冬梅), the daughter of Lin Zhanxi (林占熺), the "Father of Juncao," has traveled to Africa, Oceania, and other places many times to teach Juncao technology hand-in-hand. In the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea, Freda Kolalom, with the help of Lin Dongmei, went from being a poor farmer who supplemented her family income by selling wild vegetables to becoming a "local expert" proficient in the entire process of Juncao planting and processing. Kolalom founded her own Juncao mushroom farm and, together with Chinese experts, trained 1,500 local women, youth, and people with disabilities, turning the technological dividend from "one household benefiting" to "a whole area becoming rich."

What the women harvest is not just mushrooms, but also the confidence to make a living through technology. "In the process of my participation in assisting developing countries, I have met many women like Kolalom," said Lin Dongmei. "Through Juncao technology empowerment, many unemployed women and women with disabilities have grown into chairpersons, entrepreneurs, and scientific and technological personnel."

From the implementation of livelihood projects such as the "Maternal and Child Health Project" and the "Happy Campus Project," to supporting women in Southeast Asian countries to participate in agricultural technology application and industrial chain development through the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Special Fund, and then to carrying out women's projects in more than 20 countries using the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund... China actively helps developing countries improve the living and development environment for women with a series of practical measures, supporting them to achieve self-reliance and self-improvement.

Capacity Building, Activating Women's Development Potential

In August, the "Genius Mom Friendship Workshop" in Vientiane, Laos, was full of warmth. Sixteen local women gathered around several Chinese teachers to learn hand-weaving skills. Between the flying fingers, ordinary bamboo strips turned into exquisite trays that were both practical and ornamental. "When I first held the weaving knife, the bamboo strips always slipped in my palm, and even the most basic weaving methods were stumbling blocks," said Sudaporn, a student from Vientiane Province. With the help of Chinese teachers, she not only learned raw material selection, tool use, weaving techniques, etc., but also opened up new ideas for entrepreneurship. "I want to bring these valuable skills back to the village, teach more sisters, and let everyone rely on their skills to increase family income," said Sudaporn.

This change stems from the precise connection between the Chinese team's understanding of local needs and the actual training. Tian Yaji (田雅嘉), a representative inheritor of bamboo weaving intangible cultural heritage from Guizhou, China, broke down the complex traditional patterns into three steps: "threading, wrapping, and pressing." In three days, she demonstrated 12 core processes hand-in-hand and recorded teaching videos for students to review after class. Huang Lian (黄连), a representative inheritor of rattan weaving intangible cultural heritage from Guangxi, combined with the operating habits of Lao women, repeatedly pondered and improved the traditional metal weaving knife into a wooden handle, reducing the difficulty of holding it. In the end, 16 students successfully completed 128 works, 30 of which were sold to Yunnan, China, bringing them their first "skill income" in life. Ali Vongnobuntan, chairman of the Lao Women's Union, said: "China's training projects truly meet the most urgent needs of Lao women, allowing them to create value and earn respect with their own hands. This is the most vivid practice of the concept of gender equality."

In recent years, China has continued to deepen international cooperation in women's capacity building, building a multi-level and wide-coverage training system. It has established a global women's development cooperation and exchange training base in Beijing, tailoring women's empowerment projects with different content; it has cooperated with 15 countries to establish Chinese and foreign women's training (exchange) centers, moving the classroom from the conference room to the community workshop, making the training more grounded and more effective; it has specially established and implemented more than 100 training projects under the Global Development Initiative, such as the Maternal and Child Health Promotion Seminar and the "Seminar on the Implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda for Developing Countries - Women and Children Special"; it has carried out academic degree projects on women's leadership and social development, and has trained nearly 4,000 outstanding talents in the field of women... Ruth, a female official from Rwanda, said after participating in the women's entrepreneurship and innovation training project organized by China that the training organized by China is not only technology transfer, but also builds a path for women in developing countries to "stand on their own feet with skills." This kind of "teaching a man to fish" practice can truly help women break through development limitations.

Peacekeeping, Demonstrating the Unique Role of Women

"Peace is not only stopping the gunfire, but also rebuilding understanding and trust between people." Gao Yan (高妍) of the 23rd Chinese peacekeeping medical team to Lebanon, serves as an obstetrician, civil affairs officer, gender officer, and news officer. In a women's special free clinic, she received a villager who was 4 months pregnant. Due to war and economic pressure, the pregnant woman had never received a prenatal examination before. Gao Yan not only gave her a comprehensive ultrasound examination, but also patiently explained pregnancy care knowledge. When the fetal heartbeat appeared on the screen for the first time, the pregnant woman was so excited that she burst into tears. After the examination, she hugged Gao Yan and repeatedly said "thank you." This warm moment is a true portrayal of Chinese female soldiers conveying care and hope in peacekeeping missions.

As an active implementer of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, China has always supported women's participation in conflict prevention, peace negotiations and homeland reconstruction. Since China sent its first peacekeeping force to Lebanon in 2006, batches of Chinese female peacekeepers have rushed to the front lines of the war: some of them clear mines and explosives in minefields, opening up "safe passages" for local people; some of them organize rescue operations in the operating room, racing against time to protect the hope of every life; some of them go deep into the community to carry out women and children protection work, conveying care with patience and empathy; some of them coordinate and coordinate in command positions, demonstrating responsibility with professional ability. On the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers in 2020, Xin Yuan (辛源), a Chinese female peacekeeping officer to Lebanon, won the United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award, becoming the first Chinese soldier to receive this honor. Del Col, then commander of UNIFIL, commented: "This is an affirmation and commendation of her professional dedication in the arduous and dangerous mine clearance work. She is an outstanding representative of all female peacekeepers in UNIFIL."

In the Congo (Kinshasa), the Chinese peacekeeping medical team formed a partnership with the Bukavu International SOS Children's Village, where the female officers and soldiers are affectionately called "Chinese mothers" by the children. In peacekeeping operations, the contribution of Chinese female peacekeepers has irreplaceable value. Their delicate communication skills and empathy enhance the trust of local people, especially women and children, in peacekeeping operations; the integration of the female perspective makes conflict prevention, community integration and homeland reconstruction work closer to actual needs and more humane. More than 1,200 Chinese female peacekeeping officers and more than 100 female peacekeeping police officers have participated in medical support, liaison and coordination, mine clearance and explosive ordnance disposal, patrol observation and promotion of gender equality and women's protection. The China-United Nations Peace and Development Fund has also launched a senior female talent training program to train and reserve female commanders for UN peacekeeping operations.

From technical assistance to capacity training, from supporting women's empowerment projects to jointly addressing global challenges, China has always promoted the development of the global women's cause with practical actions and an open attitude, and narrowed the development gap between women in various countries. In the future, China will continue to work with all parties to promote the inclusive and sustainable development of the women's cause.

(Our reporter Xue Dan (薛丹) participated in the writing)

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The SCO is an Important Force for Promoting World Multipolarity (International Forum)

By: 萨比罗夫

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation will continue to expand international cooperation, promote the concept of mutual respect and common prosperity, and make important contributions to promoting world peace, stability and justice.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is currently the world's largest regional organization, with its influence continuously extending and its attractiveness continuously increasing. It has become an important force in promoting world multipolarization. The SCO Tianjin Summit injected new impetus into deepening cooperation among all parties, gathered broad consensus, and promoted the SCO to play a more active role in building a more just and inclusive international order.

The development history of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation clearly demonstrates the diverse transformation from focusing on combating the "three evil forces" to covering cooperation in economic, cultural and other fields. Since its establishment, the organization has achieved remarkable achievements in various fields. The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure operates efficiently, and member states work together to maintain regional security. The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" is deeply integrated with practical cooperation within the SCO framework, promoting Central Asia to become a trans-regional economic development hub. Member states expand cultural cooperation by coordinating macroeconomic policies, corporate participation, and social cooperation, and promote the achievement of sustainable development goals.

In the current complex international situation, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation advocates building a multipolar world on the basis of mutual respect, equal treatment, non-use of force, and non-interference in internal affairs. With its diversity and openness, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation has become an important platform for promoting trans-regional cooperation. The "SCO+" model attracts more countries to participate in relevant cooperation, enhancing the SCO's influence in the political, economic, and cultural fields.

President Xi Jinping (习近平) proposed building a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation community with a shared future, which pointed out the strategic direction for the future development of the SCO. From 2024 to 2025, during China's tenure as the rotating presidency of the SCO, a series of projects were implemented around the eight key areas of the Global Development Initiative, and more than 100 activities were held, which helped to deepen political mutual trust, maintain regional security, enhance practical cooperation, promote economic growth and cultural exchanges, and improve the organizational mechanism. At this year's "Shanghai Cooperation Organisation+" meeting, President Xi Jinping (习近平) proposed a global governance initiative aimed at promoting the development of the international order in a more just and reasonable direction.

Uzbekistan, as a member state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, has served as the rotating presidency four times, put forward a number of important initiatives, and actively participated in the implementation of cooperation projects. Uzbekistan and China are two ancient civilizations, and the friendship between the two countries has been continuously strengthened along the ancient Silk Road. The relations between the two countries have entered a new stage of all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership. At present, China has become Uzbekistan's largest trading partner and major investment partner, with more than 3,000 Chinese-funded enterprises in Uzbekistan. The cooperation between the two countries covers many industries such as textile, construction, chemical industry, and agriculture. Chinese enterprises participated in the construction of the Jizzakh Industrial Park and promoted the Kashkadarya and Bukhara desert photovoltaic projects, the Fergana Oz energy storage power station and other projects. The commissioning of the BYD Uzbekistan factory is an important step in the region's transition to green transformation. The implementation of a visa-free policy between the two countries facilitates personnel exchanges, and exchanges in tourism, culture, archaeology, sports and other fields continue to gain new impetus.

Facts have proved that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation can not only effectively respond to risks and challenges, but also establish a foundation for countries to deepen mutual trust and achieve sustainable development. During its tenure as the rotating presidency, China worked with other countries to jointly promote the construction of a multipolar world order. Looking to the future, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation will continue to expand international cooperation, promote the concept of mutual respect and common prosperity, and make important contributions to promoting world peace, stability and justice.

(The author is the director of the Uzbekistan Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Civil Diplomacy Center)

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Joint Document of the Fourth Round of Foreign Minister-Level Strategic Dialogue Between the People's Republic of China and the Swiss Confederation

I. At the invitation of Swiss Federal Councillor and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis (卡西斯), Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (王毅) traveled to Switzerland on October 10, 2025, to hold the fourth round of China-Switzerland Foreign Minister-level strategic dialogue. The two sides conducted friendly and constructive strategic communication, exchanged in-depth views on bilateral relations and multilateral and international issues, and reached a series of consensuses on deepening bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the next stage.

II. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Switzerland, and next year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the innovative strategic partnership between the two countries. Both sides highly praised the achievements of bilateral relations and agreed that the activities celebrating the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations were a complete success. They expressed their willingness to continue to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, promote cooperative achievements, practice the spirit of China-Switzerland cooperation, and promote new developments in the China-Switzerland innovative strategic partnership.

III. Both sides positively evaluated the important role of the series of activities held under the framework of the "China-Switzerland Year of Culture and Tourism" in promoting cultural exchanges, and expressed their willingness to strengthen cooperation in the fields of culture, education, and tourism, and promote the deepening of mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.

IV. The China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement has played an important role in promoting economic and trade cooperation between the two countries since it came into effect in 2014. Both sides positively evaluated the progress made in the previous negotiations on upgrading the agreement, and expressed their willingness to pragmatically promote follow-up negotiations, reach a higher-level bilateral free trade agreement as soon as possible, promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation, safeguard free trade rules and order, and promote economic globalization towards a more open, inclusive, universally beneficial, balanced, and win-win direction.

V. Both sides agreed to actively make good use of the active bilateral dialogue mechanisms in various fields and continue bilateral cooperation in the fields of finance, human rights, as well as environmental and climate protection, green and sustainable development, and artificial intelligence.

VI. The Swiss side welcomed China's initiative to establish the International Mediation Institute and expressed its willingness to leverage its rich experience in mediation and conciliation to strengthen cooperation in the field of mediation.

VII. Both China and Switzerland support multilateralism. Both sides reaffirmed their support for the international system with the United Nations as its core and the international order based on international law, and expressed their willingness to carry out fruitful cooperation on important multilateral platforms such as the World Trade Organization (WTO).

VIII. The Swiss side welcomed the Global Governance Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping (习近平), which aims to reform and improve the global governance system. Together with the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative previously proposed by China, they constitute an organic whole. The Swiss side is willing to commit to strengthening all global governance initiatives based on compliance with international law.

IX. The two foreign ministers expressed their willingness to maintain close communication and continue to hold foreign minister-level strategic dialogues regularly in each other's countries on a rotational basis. The next round will be held in China.

(Xinhua News Agency, Bellinzona, Switzerland, October 10)

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He Lifeng Points Out During Meeting with Multinational Corporation Executives that China Will Continue to Expand High-Level Opening-Up and Welcomes Multinational Corporations to Deepen Cooperation with China

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 10th (Reporter Dong Xue (董雪)) - He Lifeng (何立峰), member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, met with the heads of well-known multinational corporations such as Abbott (雅培公司), Prudential (保诚集团), and SK Group (韩国SK集团) on the afternoon of the 10th to exchange views on the global and Chinese economic situation and expanding investment in China.

He Lifeng (何立峰) stated that China's economy has a solid foundation, many advantages, strong resilience, and great potential, and the supporting conditions and basic trends for long-term improvement have not changed. China will continue to expand high-level opening-up to the outside world, welcome multinational companies to expand their investment in China, deepen cooperation with China, and share development opportunities.

The heads of multinational corporations expressed optimism about China's economic prospects and will continue to deeply cultivate the Chinese market and further expand cooperation with China.

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China-Spain Trade and Investment Cooperation Conference Held in Madrid

This newspaper reported from Madrid on October 10th (Reporter Xu Hailin (许海林), Yan Huan (颜欢)) On the 9th local time, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise jointly hosted the "China-Spain Trade and Investment Matchmaking Conference" in Madrid, where the two sides reached procurement contracts and investment and strategic cooperation agreements totaling approximately 300 million US dollars.

Ling Ji (凌激), Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce and Deputy Representative for International Trade Negotiations, led 60 Chinese companies to participate in the matchmaking conference. More than 300 Chinese and Spanish companies and business association representatives from the fields of agricultural and food products, new energy vehicles, power batteries, machinery manufacturing, cross-border e-commerce, finance, and tourism participated in the event.

Ling Ji (凌激) stated that in the 20 years since China and Spain established a comprehensive strategic partnership, the two sides have continuously expanded cooperation fields, innovated cooperation methods, and deeply explored cooperation potential, establishing a dynamic and resilient supply chain cooperation relationship. In 2024, the bilateral trade in goods between China and Spain exceeded 50 billion US dollars, and two-way investment exceeded 11 billion US dollars. He hopes that through this trade and investment matchmaking conference, the efforts to purchase Spanish agricultural and food products will be strengthened, and trade format innovation and two-way investment will be increased.

Spanish Secretary of State for Trade Amparo López Senovilla said in her welcome speech that the economic and trade relations between Spain and China are booming, and more than 400 Spanish companies have established branches in China, involving automobiles, financial services, advanced industrial technology, agricultural products, and cosmetics. At the same time, Spain has also become a popular investment destination for Chinese companies in areas such as energy transition, sustainable transportation, and renewable energy. She hopes that the investment matchmaking conference will become a stable exchange platform for companies from both countries to consolidate long-term cooperation projects and help Spanish companies achieve export diversification and increase export added value.

Elisa Carbonell, Executive Director of the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade and Investment (ICEX), said that she hopes the matchmaking conference will be the beginning of more cooperation in the future, helping to strengthen the bond of trust between the two sides and establish new mutually beneficial partnerships.

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Strengthening Communication and Understanding for Mutually Beneficial Cooperation

By: 本报记者 牛瑞飞

In Pairi Daiza Zoo in Brugelette, Hainaut Province, Belgium, a Chinese garden built in the style of traditional Chinese gardens is vivid and ingenious, becoming a window for European people to understand Chinese culture. This garden has witnessed a decades-long relationship between a European who loves Chinese culture and China.

"My connection with China can be traced back to my childhood." Eric Domb (董博), Chairman and founder of Pairi Daiza Zoo, told reporters about his relationship with China. "My parents were fascinated by Chinese civilization. They loved Chinese landscape paintings and often told me ancient Chinese myths and legends when I was very young." In 1997, Eric Domb (董博) was deeply touched when he first saw the beauty of Chinese gardens in the Montreal Botanical Garden in Canada: "That is not an ordinary garden, but a livable, thoughtful, and sensible space, an open-air philosophical work. Every stone, every drop of water, and every blank space seems to be telling a world view." At that moment, Eric Domb (董博) had an idea in his mind: to build a Chinese garden in Europe.

In 2004, Eric Domb (董博) set foot on Chinese soil for the first time and walked into the gardens of Suzhou (苏州), Yangzhou (扬州) and other places. With the support of Chinese experts, he began to prepare for the construction of the Chinese garden: from material selection to layout, from the bricks and tiles of the house to the paving stones of the path, he did everything himself. "I hope that every texture, color and shape can faithfully convey the charm of the southern Chinese gardens," said Eric Domb (董博).

A Chinese garden was gradually built in Pairi Daiza Zoo. The Chinese garden is carved with beams and painted rafters, with small bridges and flowing water, winding paths leading to secluded places, and lush greenery, like a Chinese ink painting. On the stone road leading from the giant panda garden to the Chinese garden, there stands a tall vermilion antique archway, on which are engraved the three characters "Chinese Dream (中国梦)". Today, the Chinese garden has become one of the core landscapes of Pairi Daiza Zoo, attracting a large number of tourists to stop and visit every year. "The Chinese garden is not only my dream, but also a symbol of a sincere dialogue that continues to this day and spans two worlds," said Eric Domb (董博). He said that this garden is not only an expression of art, but also a link between European and Chinese cultures.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union. Eric Domb (董博) said: "Fifty years may be just a short moment in the long river of civilization, but it is enough to sow the seeds of friendship and nurture a harmonious future. The growth and development of EU-China relations stems from mutual learning between civilizations and mutual understanding between peoples. This is just like building a garden, from conception to blooming, it requires the accumulation of time and the cultivation of the soul."

"We must continue to strengthen communication and understanding to achieve win-win cooperation." Looking forward to the future of EU-China cooperation, Eric Domb (董博) believes that the two sides have established a solid foundation for cooperation in ecology, culture, education and other fields, and there is still much to be done in the future. Ecological protection and green development can become key areas of cooperation. "In recent years, China has made great progress in afforestation, desertification control, and the construction of national parks. China's ecological projects reflect the people-oriented development concept." Eric Domb (董博) said that this is also the long-term goal of Pairi Daiza Zoo. "We hope to build a symbiotic relationship between people and nature. We want to use education, art and experience to awaken people's sense of ecological responsibility."

(Reported from Brussels)

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China's development experience is worth learning from; China-Latin America cooperation has great potential.

According to Xinhua News Agency, Mexico City, October 9th (Reporter Li Xin (李欣)) - Officials from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) stated at a press conference held on the 9th in Mexico City (墨西哥城), the capital of Mexico (墨西哥), that China's (中国) development experience is worth learning from, and the potential for cooperation between Latin America and China is enormous.

ECLAC released its annual report, "Latin America and the Caribbean Productive Development Policy Panorama 2025," on the same day. The report points out that Latin America and the Caribbean must commit to a new vision of productive development policies to escape the low-growth capacity trap and address the challenges posed by the new global geopolitical landscape.

Marco Llinás, Director of Productive and Enterprise Development at ECLAC, said that the potential for cooperation between Latin America and China (中国) is enormous. He added that platforms represented by the China-CELAC Forum should be fully utilized to promote high-level political exchanges and advance cooperation between Latin America and China in areas such as productive development and technology.

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Symposium Held to Mark the 100th Anniversary of the Palace Museum

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 10th. A symposium celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Palace Museum (故宫博物院) was held in Beijing (北京) on October 10th. Li Shulei (李书磊), member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Central Propaganda Department (中宣部), attended the meeting and delivered a speech.

Attendees agreed that the Palace Museum (故宫) is a unique symbol of historical China (中国) and an important marker of Chinese civilization. The long-standing Chinese culture has allowed the Palace Museum (故宫) to accumulate profound heritage and a long cultural lineage. The Palace Museum (故宫博物院) emerged in the great tide of modern Chinese social change and has kept pace with the times in the process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, passing through a hundred years of sincerity, reverence, and adherence, and the inheritance of ingenuity. This is an immortal achievement in the history of Chinese culture and human culture.

Attendees stated that strengthening the protection and inheritance of cultural heritage is a historical responsibility that our generation should shoulder. Standing at a new starting point, we must deeply study and practice Xi Jinping's (习近平) cultural thought, strengthen cultural self-confidence, cultivate cultural sentiments, and truly make the Palace Museum (故宫) a model for the protection of world cultural heritage. We must adhere to the principle of protection first, and completely safeguard the cultural treasures of the Chinese nation; we must explore the value and connotation, and continuously improve the level of display and dissemination; we must strengthen operation and management, and continuously enhance the vitality of reform and development; we must deepen international cooperation to help promote exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations; and we must cultivate academic talents to consolidate the foundation for the development of the cause, and make due contributions to promoting the high-quality development of the cultural heritage cause and building a strong cultural country with greater responsibility and more active actions.

More than 100 people attended the symposium, including responsible comrades from the Central Propaganda Department (中宣部), the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (文化和旅游部), the National Cultural Heritage Administration (国家文物局), relevant departments of the central and state organs, relevant units in Beijing (北京市), experts and scholars, representatives of cultural and museum workers, old leaders and experts of the Palace Museum (故宫博物院), and representatives of current employees.

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Iron Dragon Crossing the River: Witnessing the Leap in Underwater Shield Tunneling Technology (New Economic Landscape)

By: 本报记者 李心萍

In 2005, the "First Tunnel Under the Yangtze River" – the Wuhan Yangtze River Tunnel (武汉长江隧道) Jiangnan (江南) launch shaft officially began excavation, marking the beginning of China's tunnel construction across the Yangtze River.

In 2025, the "First High-Speed Railway Tunnel Under the Yangtze River" – the Yuyu-Xia High-Speed Railway (渝厦高铁) Chongqing Caiyuanba Yangtze River Railway Tunnel (重庆菜园坝长江铁路隧道) shield section was successfully completed recently.

From the middle and lower reaches to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, from highways to subway and high-speed rail tunnels, multiple tunnels cross the Yangtze River, witnessing the leap in underwater shield tunneling technology.

Advancing with Millimeter-Level Precision

High-Speed Railway Tunnel Successfully Crosses the Yangtze River

Chongqing Caiyuanba Yangtze River Railway Tunnel (重庆菜园坝长江铁路隧道), the first time a Chinese high-speed railway has crossed the Yangtze River, what are the difficulties?

The tunnel is approximately 11.9 kilometers long, connecting Yuzhong District (渝中区) and Nan'an District (南岸区) in Chongqing (重庆), and needs to traverse four types of environments: "mountain, city, water, and river." Among them, "mountain," "city," and "water" refer to the Tongluo Mountain Range (铜锣山山脉) on the south bank of the Yangtze River in Chongqing, the urban area of Chongqing, and four water bodies such as Cuiyun Reservoir (翠云水库).

"River" refers to the main channel of the Yangtze River. The tunnel section crossing the river is only 1282 meters long, but the mudstone and sandstone change repeatedly, with many joint fissure zones, and the minimum overburden thickness is only 10 meters.

Building such an extremely difficult tunnel requires very high requirements for shield equipment and construction technology.

In terms of equipment, a large-diameter slurry balance shield machine independently selected and designed in China – the "Changjiang Hao" (长江号) shield machine – is used.

This behemoth, with a diameter of 12.66 meters, a total length of 142 meters, and a total weight of approximately 3,500 tons, is equipped with a high-precision gas-liquid pressure balance control system for the excavation chamber, which can accurately adjust the pressure on the excavation face of the shield machine, withstand the huge water and soil pressure in front, and ensure the safety of tunnel excavation.

"Crossing the river, the difficulty lies in withstanding the strong water pressure brought about by the high depth," said Wu Juncai (吴君才), the shield project leader of China Railway 14th Bureau (中铁十四局). The water pressure at the deepest part of the tunnel reaches 0.93 MPa. Once the excavation chamber pressure is not well controlled, river water and sediment may flood into the shield machine at any time. The balance control system is like installing an intelligent pressure regulating valve on the "Changjiang Hao" (长江号), with a control accuracy of 0.01 MPa.

In terms of technology, innovative applications of precise tunnel axis control, intelligent shield control, and other technologies are used.

"The intelligent management system can collect real-time on-site data and conduct cloud-based multi-party collaborative management with the shield intelligent control center at the company's headquarters in Nanjing (南京) to ensure accurate navigation and excavation of the shield machine," said Wang Jian (王健), the on-site construction leader of the China Railway 14th Bureau (中铁十四局) project. The "Changjiang Hao" (长江号) crossed 16 risk sources, including highways, cultural heritage buildings, Yangtze River channels, rail transit, and high-rise buildings, with millimeter-level precision.

The tunnel has been under construction for five years. The underground construction is in full swing, and the traffic on the ground is as usual. People are not aware of it at all. Why is this?

"The assembly and launch of the shield machine were carried out in a 149-meter-deep cavern in Nanshan (南山), Chongqing (重庆). After crossing the urban area and the Yangtze River, the reception was completed in a cavern in the mountain, with the entire process 'hiding its tracks'," Wang Jian (王健) explained. This is the first high-speed rail large-diameter shield project in China to complete the entire process of shield machine assembly, launch, reception, and disassembly in a cavern.

After the entire tunnel is completed, Chongqing Station (重庆站) and Chongqing East Station (重庆东站) will be quickly connected, and the Yuyu-Xiang High-Speed Railway (渝湘高铁) and Yuyu-Wan High-Speed Railway (渝万高铁) will be successfully introduced into Chongqing Station (重庆站) in the central urban area.

From Zero to One, From Good to Excellent

Shield Tunneling Technology Achieves Leapfrog Development

Underwater tunnel construction is difficult and is known as "dancing on the tip of a knife." The bottom of the Yangtze River is composed of thick silt, loose sand layers, hard rock, and alternating fault zones, making construction even more difficult.

Xiao Mingqing (肖明清), a national engineering survey and design master and chief engineer of China Railway Fourth Survey and Design Institute (中铁第四勘察设计院), introduced that there are four common technologies for building underwater tunnels: immersed tube method, drilling and blasting method, cofferdam open-cut method, and shield tunneling method.

The shield tunneling method uses a shield machine to excavate the tunnel. The shield machine assembles segments while excavating, realizing the complete one-time formation of the tunnel. "Using the shield method to excavate tunnels under the river is relatively economical and safe, and has less impact on the surrounding environment during construction," said Xiao Mingqing (肖明清).

Therefore, the shield tunneling method was chosen for the excavation of the Wuhan Yangtze River Tunnel (武汉长江隧道) back then.

"At that time, only a few underwater tunnels had been built in the Huangpu River (黄浦江) in Shanghai (上海), and their geological conditions, water pressure, and excavation length could not be compared with the Wuhan Yangtze River Tunnel (武汉长江隧道)," Xiao Mingqing (肖明清) recalled. At that time, China not only lacked technology and experience, but also completely relied on imports for large shield machines.

Working hard and exploring the way forward. In 2008, the Wuhan Yangtze River Tunnel (武汉长江隧道) was completed and opened to traffic; in 2009, the Nanjing Yangtze River Tunnel (南京长江隧道), which also used the shield construction method, achieved double-line connection, and China's underwater shield technology rapidly developed and matured.

"The Nanjing Yangtze River Tunnel (南京长江隧道) was the most complex in terms of geological conditions, the most technically challenging, and the most risky project among the super-large shield tunnels that had been built and were under construction in the Yangtze River Basin at that time," said Qian Qihu (钱七虎), academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (中国工程院) and director of the expert committee of the Nanjing Yangtze River Tunnel (南京长江隧道). The completion of the Nanjing Yangtze River Tunnel (南京长江隧道) marked a major breakthrough in the construction of super-large diameter shield tunnels in China.

Subsequently, with the advantages of technical safety and efficient crossing, the large shield crossing the Yangtze River scheme gradually emerged in the construction of river-crossing passages.

"We have successively undertaken 16 large shield tunnels across the Yangtze River and successfully completed a number of major projects with ultra-large diameters, ultra-long distances, and ultra-high water pressures," said Chen Jian (陈健), a large shield expert at China Railway 14th Bureau (中铁十四局).

Today, crossing the Yangtze River by tunnel is commonplace. In the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, there are nearly 30 completed and under-construction river-crossing tunnel projects with a diameter of 10 meters or more.

In the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, from the first subway tunnel crossing the Yangtze River – Wuhan Metro Line 2 (武汉地铁2号线) – to Lines 4, 7, and 8, Wuhan Metro (武汉地铁) has crossed the Yangtze River many times.

In the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, from the Nanjing Yangtze River Tunnel (南京长江隧道) to the Sutong GIL Comprehensive Pipe Gallery Yangtze River Tunnel (苏通GIL综合管廊长江隧道), from highways to ultra-high voltage, shield tunnels continue to expand their application fields, creating a new model for ultra-high voltage transmission and transformation projects crossing large areas of water such as rivers, lakes, and seas.

At the mouth of the Yangtze River, the world's longest highway underwater shield tunnel – the Haitai Yangtze River Tunnel (海太长江隧道) – the "Jianghai Hao" (江海号) shield machine is steadily excavating at a speed of 16 meters per day.

Not only the Yangtze River Tunnel, but more and more coastal and riverside cities are also choosing the "tunnel underpass" form when building sea-crossing, river-crossing, and river-crossing passages such as highways, railways, urban subways, and comprehensive pipe galleries. "China has fully mastered the key technologies of large-diameter shield construction and has a leading advantage in this field," said Qian Qihu (钱七虎).

Catching Up in 20 Years What the West Took 200 Years to Develop

Competition Remains Fierce Despite Leading

Twenty years ago, shield machines mainly relied on imports. Both the Wuhan Yangtze River Tunnel (武汉长江隧道) and the Nanjing Yangtze River Tunnel (南京长江隧道) used expensive imported shield machines.

Today, from the Haitai Yangtze River Tunnel (海太长江隧道) to the Chongtai Yangtze River Tunnel (崇太长江隧道), they are all excavated by domestic shield machines. China's shield machine industry has caught up with the West's 200 years of development in 20 years and can independently research and develop and design shield machines with diameters from 2 meters to 16 meters, and has won 60% of the overseas market share.

On the evening of August 5, the "China Railway No. 1459" (中铁1459号) shield machine independently developed by China Railway Engineering Equipment Group (中铁工程装备集团) was loaded onto a ship at Taicang Port (太仓港), Jiangsu (江苏), and transported overseas. "This is currently the largest diameter shield machine exported overseas from China, with an excavation diameter of 15.7 meters, and will be used in the construction of the Western Australian Port Bay project," said Sun Zhihong (孙志洪), deputy director of the Technology Center of China Railway Engineering Equipment Group (中铁工程装备集团).

Following, running alongside, and then leading in some fields, the advantages of domestic shield machines are gradually emerging. However, industry companies also frankly admit that there are still shortcomings in individual fields.

For example, in the field of ultra-large diameter shield machines. "The industry usually refers to shield machines with a diameter of 14 meters and above as ultra-large diameter shield machines," said Sun Zhihong (孙志洪). In recent years, with the support of various national major projects, the localization rate of shield machine parts in China has exceeded 90%, but some key components of ultra-large diameter shield machines have not yet been fully realized domestic substitution.

Taking the main bearing of a large-diameter shield machine as an example, although many companies have the ability to design, process, manufacture, test, and detect large-diameter bearings, and can produce 6 to 8-meter main bearings (suitable for 12 to 16-meter shield machines), they still need to be verified by engineering applications.

Another example is the field of intelligence. China's shield machine companies continue to introduce intelligent technologies. "In actual application, our overall intelligent shield technology is at the world's leading level," said Sun Zhihong (孙志洪). "However, referring to the standard for determining the level of intelligent driving ability of automobiles, there is still a large gap from L4 level (highly automated driving)."

Industry experts said that a major bottleneck restricting the development of large models in the shield machine industry is data silos. Currently, shield machine industry data is scattered among manufacturing companies, construction units, owners, and other parties, and industry data often involves manufacturing "secrets," construction "secrets," and management "tricks," making it difficult to retrieve, integrate, and mine across departments.

"This requires government departments, industry associations, and enterprises to jointly explore, so that China's data advantages and scenario advantages can be better utilized," said the relevant person in charge of the China Machinery Industry Federation (中国机械工业联合会).

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Significant progress made in landmark projects for Beijing's non-capital function relocation

This newspaper's Beijing (北京) dispatch on October 10th (Reporter Liu Zhiqiang (刘志强)) - This reporter learned on the 10th from the National Development and Reform Commission (国家发展改革委): In recent years, the National Development and Reform Commission (国家发展改革委) has conscientiously fulfilled the responsibilities of the Central Regional Office, and together with relevant parties, has always firmly grasped the "leading factor" of relieving Beijing's (北京) non-capital functions, and has promoted the implementation and construction of landmark relief projects in Xiong'an New Area (雄安新区) in a step-by-step manner, and has achieved positive progress and results.

In terms of universities, the Xiong'an (雄安) campuses of Beijing Jiaotong University (北京交通大学), Beijing University of Science and Technology (北京科技大学), Beijing Forestry University (北京林业大学), and China University of Geosciences (Beijing) (中国地质大学（北京）) are accelerating construction. The Xiong'an (雄安) campuses of Beijing Institute of Technology (北京理工大学), Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (北京航空航天大学), North China Electric Power University (华北电力大学), Beijing Language and Culture University (北京语言大学), and Communication University of China (中国传媒大学) have been clearly selected for land use and are preparing overall planning and construction plans.

In terms of hospitals, the Xiong'an (雄安) campus of Peking University People's Hospital (北京大学人民医院) is accelerating the construction of the main structure. The National Medical Center (Xiong'an Campus) (国家医学中心（雄安院区）) of Peking Union Medical College Hospital (北京协和医院) started construction on September 29 this year. The Xiong'an (雄安) campuses of Fuwai Hospital (阜外医院), Plastic Surgery Hospital (整形外科医院), and Guang'anmen Hospital (广安门医院) have been clearly selected for land use and are conducting preliminary work such as feasibility study report preparation in an orderly manner.

In terms of central enterprises, the headquarters of China Satellite Network Group (中国星网) and its four affiliated enterprises moved into Xiong'an (雄安) for office work in October 2024 and are currently operating stably. China Huaneng (中国华能) and China Sinochem (中国中化) officially moved into their Xiong'an (雄安) headquarters for office work on October 9 this year. The main structure of the China Minmetals (中国矿产) headquarters project has been capped. China Datang (中国大唐), China Huadian (中国华电), China Chengtong (中国诚通), and China National Agricultural Development Group (中国农业发展集团), four central enterprises, have completed site selection and land supply, and are currently accelerating the design of project plans. 30 second- and third-level subsidiaries of State Grid (国家电网), China Huaneng (中国华能), and China Sinochem (中国中化) have completed relocation and registration.

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Photo Report

On October 9th, at China Baowu Magang Special Steel Company (中国宝武马钢特钢公司) in Ma'anshan City (马鞍山市), Anhui Province (安徽省), workers are pouring molten steel. Currently, the company is in full production to complete its fourth-quarter targets.

Luo Jisheng (罗继胜) Photo (Image China (影像中国))

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Great to See the Yangtze River's Triple Waves (Striving for the Forefront, Decisively Winning the "14th Five-Year Plan")

By: 本报记者 禹伟良 姜 峰 范昊天

The Yangtze River, the mother river of the Chinese nation and an important pillar of the Chinese nation's development, stretches ten thousand miles. The Yangtze River Economic Belt traverses the three major regions of eastern, central, and western China, covering 11 provinces and municipalities and approximately 21% of the country's land area.

"Promoting the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt must be considered from the long-term interests of the Chinese nation," and "Making the Yangtze River Economic Belt the main battlefield for ecological priority and green development in China, the main artery for smooth domestic and international dual circulation, and the main force leading high-quality economic development"... Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) has held many symposiums to plan and direct the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

Jointly grasp major protection and refrain from large-scale development. The provinces and cities along the river and relevant departments of the Central Government have conscientiously implemented the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, promoted major achievements in ecological environmental protection and restoration, undergone major changes in development methods, continuously strengthened regional synergy and linkage, and accelerated the formation of an all-round opening-up pattern to the inside and outside. In 2024, the gross domestic product of the Yangtze River Economic Belt exceeded 63 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.4%. In the first eight months of this year, the total value of foreign trade import and export of 11 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt reached 13.7 trillion yuan, a record high for the same period in history, an increase of 6% year-on-year, accounting for 46.3% of the country's total import and export value.

Traveling along the river, the deepest feeling is "three more and three less": more beautiful scenery and less chaos; more high-end industries and fewer low-end industries; more "one chessboard" approaches and less "fighting alone."

The great river is surging, showing thousands of weather phenomena and surging vitality.

Problem-oriented, with an iron fist to overcome difficulties—

The beautiful scenery of "a river of clear water flows eastward" reappears

Rushing out of the Three Gorges, meandering through Jianghan, and reaching Chenglingji, the Yangtze River "collides head-on" with Dongting Lake.

Reeds sway, "fluttering," a water bird skims over—Zou Yi, who has worked in the Hunan East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve for 15 years, knows that this scene is hard-won.

Dongting Lake sand is a high-quality building material. "Many years ago, illegal sand and gravel terminals and sand yards were rampant, sand dredgers loaded and unloaded back and forth, and the machines roared day and night." Zou Yi recalled the past, "Benthic organisms were destroyed, fish followed suit, and migratory birds also lost their habitats, and the entire ecological chain was affected."

At that time, the problem of overdrawn Yangtze River ecological environment was prominent—

The problems of random occupation and abuse of the Yangtze River shoreline and ports are prominent;

The Yangtze River's "double kidneys," Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake, are frequently threatened by periodic droughts, and nearly 30% of important lakes and reservoirs are in a state of eutrophication;

The Yangtze River's biological integrity index once reached the worst "no fish" level...

General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) painfully described that the Yangtze River "is sick, and it is seriously ill."

Without prioritizing the protection of the ecological base, how can we support high-quality development? "Jointly grasp major protection and refrain from large-scale development." These 10 words are deafening.

Since 2016, 11 provinces and cities along the river and relevant departments have begun to dig out the root causes of the disease, face the contradictions and problems directly, dare to take real action, hold on and grasp to the end, and use unprecedented efforts to overcome difficulties with an iron fist.

Hunan dismantled and closed 39 illegal sand and gravel terminals and 84 sand yards on the Yangtze River shoreline and Dongting Lake area, and launched special actions in the lake area such as dredging ditches, ponds, and dams,整治畜禽养殖污染 (zhěngzhì xùqín yǎngzhí wūrǎn - "rectifying livestock and poultry breeding pollution," addressing pollution from livestock farming),整治河湖围网养殖 (zhěngzhì héhú wéiwǎng yǎngzhí - "rectifying river and lake enclosure aquaculture," addressing aquaculture practices that harm the environment), and cleaning up garbage along rivers and lakes. The effect was immediate. "Last year, more than 458,500 overwintering waterbirds were monitored in the Dongting Lake area, a record high for the same period in history," Zou Yi said.

"Chemical encirclement of the Yangtze River" is a "stubborn disease" that plagues the Yangtze River.

Downstream, Hukou County, Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province, is the dividing point between the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Jiujiang Petrochemical, located on the banks of the Yangtze River, at the mouth of Poyang Lake, and at the foot of Mount Lu (庐山), is not only a local industrial pillar, but also the only large-scale refining and chemical integration enterprise in Jiangxi, undertaking more than 70% of the province's oil supply. However, Jiujiang Petrochemical also needed to solve environmental pollution and other problems.

How to have both green mountains and clear waters, and Jinshan Yinshan (金山银山) (jīn shān yín shān - "gold mountain silver mountain," referring to wealth and economic prosperity)?

The answer is: transformation and upgrading.

In the Jiujiang Petrochemical Industrial Park, the construction of a 1.5 million tons/year aromatics and oil refining supporting renovation project with a total investment of 10.6 billion yuan is in full swing. "After the project is completed, it is expected to increase revenue by 60 billion yuan per year, which will realize the transformation from a drop of oil to a strand of silk, a piece of cloth, and a piece of clothing," said Hong Yu, deputy secretary of the Party branch of the Aromatics Operation Department of Jiujiang Petrochemical.

The aromatics terminal on the Yangtze River adopts 12 measures such as fully enclosed transportation and digital monitoring to achieve "not letting a drop of oil leak into the Yangtze River." With a cumulative investment of about 2.6 billion yuan in environmental protection renovation, the compliance rate of Jiujiang Petrochemical's external wastewater discharge, controlled waste gas compliance rate, and solid waste compliance disposal rate has reached 100%. In the factory's sewage discharge pool, schools of fish swim back and forth. Real-time data shows that the concentration of discharged pollutants is far lower than the national standard.

Jiujiang has successively promoted the transformation of more than 30 chemical companies to green development. Last year, the profit margin of the city's petrochemical and chemical industry chain increased by 13.3% year-on-year.

From special整治 (zhěngzhì - "rectification," to correct or purify) of illegal terminals and illegal sand mining to chemical pollution control and the launch of the ten-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River, one problem is solved after another, and one task is promoted after another. The ecological environmental protection and restoration of the Yangtze River Economic Belt have achieved major achievements, and the main stream of the Yangtze River has maintained Class II water quality for five consecutive years.

"The Yangtze River Economic Belt's joint grasp of major protection and refraining from large-scale development has become a consensus, the problem of 'chemical encirclement of the Yangtze River' has been basically solved, the ten-year fishing ban has been deeply promoted, and now the Yangtze River is full of fish and birds, and the Yangtze finless porpoise chases the waves, 'a river of clear water flows eastward'," introduced the main person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Moving towards "new," kinetic energy conversion—

Innovation-driven development has fully started

The success or failure of ecological environmental protection ultimately depends on the economic structure and economic development mode.

"We must adhere to innovation-led development, transform the scientific research advantages and talent advantages of the Yangtze River Economic Belt into development advantages, actively open up new areas and new tracks for development, and shape new kinetic energy and new advantages for development," General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out the direction.

Moving towards "new," the development mode of the Yangtze River Economic Belt has undergone major changes, and innovation-driven development has fully started.

Wuhan (武汉), Hubei Province, where the Han River and the Yangtze River meet, is using Dongfeng Motor as the leader to promote the acceleration of new energy and intelligent connected vehicles. In the "China Auto Valley" Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, the "5G vehicle-road-cloud integration" system has covered 660 kilometers of open roads, and more than 300 unmanned taxis and 30 unmanned buses shuttle day and night.

The more open the ecology, the "smarter" the car. More than 40 enterprises and universities have joined hands to establish the Hubei Provincial Automotive-Grade Chip Innovation Consortium. "After more than 3 years of joint research, the first domestic automotive-grade high-performance microcontroller chip has been developed and is expected to be mass-produced and launched next year," said Yang Yanding, Dean of the R&D Institute of Dongfeng Motor, with great anticipation.

Innovation is the constant main theme and source of power. "Tackling the 'next generation' of cars and cultivating outstanding engineers," said Yang Qing, Chairman of Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd. By building a new energy brand pattern covering luxury, high-end, and mainstream fields, the company's independent new energy vehicle exports increased by 229% in the first half of this year.

Actively laying out new tracks for electrification and intelligent networking, the Yangtze River Economic Belt has become China's largest automotive industry cluster.

The scale of "new" is still being extended. By replacing a phone card and activating related services, ordinary mobile phones can achieve anti-eavesdropping encrypted calls through quantum technology... In Hefei High-tech Zone, Anhui, the world's first quantum encrypted secure call and office application—Quantum Secret Talk and Secret Letter—is eye-opening. "Including quantum communication, we have launched more than 30 quantum technology products, and the application scope covers more than 10 key areas such as government affairs, emergency response, industry, and finance," said Lü Pin, Chairman of China Telecom Quantum Information Technology Group Co., Ltd.

Strolling along "Quantum Street" in Hefei High-tech Zone, more than 30 leading quantum technology enterprises such as China Telecom Quantum, Origin Quantum, and Guoyi Quantum are gathered. Hefei has forward-looking layout of quantum technology research and development and its industrialization, cultivated 91 related enterprises, the number of related patents exceeds 2,000, and formed 24 provincial-level and above R&D platforms, initially building a complete ecological chain from basic research, core technology research to engineering and industrialization. At the same time, 7 future industry chains such as low-altitude economy, commercial aerospace, and fusion energy are showing their peaks.

Relying on innovation, especially technological innovation, to achieve power transformation and kinetic energy conversion, is inseparable from reform promotion.

An automated ultra-high-strength flexible roller production line of more than 80 meters long, with more than 40 roller molds closely matched, "pinches" pieces of steel plates into complex-shaped components. "Our independently developed technology provides a new solution for cost reduction and efficiency increase for the production of key parts for rail transit and other industries," said Yan Peijie, Chairman of Suzhou Yichuangte Intelligent Manufacturing Co., Ltd., "This is inseparable from the innovation mechanism support of the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute."

Five years ago, when the company was first established, Yan Peijie sought bank loans but suffered from no collateral; he sought venture capital funds, but they wanted to control the shares. When he was at a loss, the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute sent "timely rain"—36 million yuan of "allocation and investment combination" funds ignited the "fire." Highlighting demand orientation, serving enterprise innovation, and leading industrial development, the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute has so far implemented 82 major industrial technology innovation projects.

Focusing on deepening the stress test of high-level opening to the outside world, the Shanghai Free Trade Pilot Zone has fully connected with international high-standard economic and trade rules to carry out pilot trials since 2023, forming a number of advanced experiences and typical cases with high gold content, providing "free trade experience" for steadily expanding institutional opening up; focusing on 15 key industry chains such as aerospace and advantageous industry chains such as rail transit, Sichuan has established a key industry chain collaborative promotion mechanism of "chain leader + deputy chain leader + leading department + main carrying place + coordinated development place"... The tide of reform is surging, innovation is competing, and the development dividends brought about by quality change, efficiency change, and power change are accelerating spillover along the Yangtze River.

System governance, overall planning—

The effect of synergistic linkage is constantly enhanced

The story of the great river and great lake is not over yet.

The Songzi, Taiping, and Ouchi three inlets that flow into the Yangtze River from the north, and the Xiang, Zi, Yuan, and Li four rivers and the Miluo River and Xinqiang River from the southwest, the saying of "nine waters making trouble in Dongting" comes from this.

This word "trouble" is particularly vivid. Lu Yiliang, chief engineer of the Yueyang City Ecology and Environment Bureau, lamented: "At one time, there was departmental division and multiple administrations, and it seemed that everyone was in charge, but no one was in charge to the end."

Just take the "small, scattered, and chaotic" berths that were once densely distributed along the shoreline, "The grab buckets and transfer vehicles 'leaked', and when it rained, the red iron ore dust entered the river." Lu Yiliang shook his head straight. Who should be in charge? In the past, there was a saying: environmental protection does not go to the river, water conservancy does not go to the shore, ships belong to transportation, and fishery administration only manages fish—what a "nine dragons governing the water"!

In recent years, under the rigid constraints of "jointly grasping major protection," Yueyang has closed and dismantled 42 "small, scattered, and chaotic" berths and restored them to green. The local area realized that only by improving the mechanism and making a fist, and coordinating the governance of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grass, and sand, can we jump out of the strange circle of "it works when you grasp it, and it doesn't work if you don't grasp it."

On June 13, in the Qilishui waters of East Dongting Lake, 5 "three-no" speedboats and 2 floating docks caused safety hazards on the shoreline. "Dispatching a group of law enforcement officers, the整治 (zhěngzhì - "rectification," to correct or purify) was completed in 1 hour," Duan Junxi, deputy captain of the law enforcement team of the East Dongting Lake Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau of Yueyang County, told reporters.

This year, with the deepening of the comprehensive administrative law enforcement reform in East Dongting Lake, Yueyang City and County broke down departmental barriers, integrated the 847 law enforcement powers originally scattered in 9 departments, and formed a new governance pattern of "five ones" of one architecture, one team, one platform, one blueprint, and one mechanism, with the core 4 words: system governance.

General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out: "As a basin economy, the Yangtze River Economic Belt involves many aspects such as water, road, port, shore, industry, city, and biology, wetland, and environment. It is a whole and must be fully grasped and planned as a whole."

Adhering to the concept of system to promote ecological environmental protection and high-quality development in the Yangtze River Basin, today, overall planning and coordination have become high-frequency words in the Yangtze River story.

Climbing aboard the Ningbo Zhoushan Port (宁波舟山港) in Zhejiang, the nearshore waters are surging with waves. Ren Wenyu, a "ship boss" from Ezhou (鄂州), Hubei, has now expanded his company's business from inland river shipping to river-sea intermodal transport. In April this year, his cargo ship "Jianghai Zhida 16" loaded 12,000 tons of Brazilian imported iron ore and arrived at Ezhou Sanjiang Port from Ningbo Zhoushan Port in only 5 days, setting a new speed for bulk commodity logistics in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and radiating to Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanchang, Jiujiang and other places through multimodal transport.

What persuaded Ren Wenyu to "eat crabs" was the "capacity pool" mechanism pioneered by Zhejiang, which is composed of the "port, ship, and cargo" three parties. Since the State Council approved the establishment of the Zhoushan River-Sea Intermodal Service Center in 2016, Wang Longbin, head of the business department of Ningbo Zhoushan Port Zhoushan Port Affairs Co., Ltd., has taken his team to run through more than 20 important ports along the Yangtze River, connecting with customer needs and providing solutions, "In a word: shipowners do not look for goods, cargo owners do not look for ships, and ports provide full services." In 2024, the Zhoushan Area of the Zhejiang Free Trade Pilot Zone completed 336 million tons of river-sea intermodal transport volume, accounting for more than 21% of the Yangtze River. The rapid development of river-sea intermodal transport provides a solid guarantee for bulk commodities to "reach the sea through the river."

Strengthening the interconnection of transportation networks and the interconnection of transportation modes such as "road-water-rail," the distance of the Yangtze River is more than just the East China Sea.

Planning a region from the perspective of the overall situation, the China-Europe Railway Express and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor connect in the Yangtze River, and the degree of integration between the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" is constantly improving: domestic new energy vehicles are transported from Wuhu (芜湖), Anhui to Xi'an (西安), Shaanxi, and take the China-Europe Railway Express "Chang'an" to Europe; goods from Guizhou arrive at Qinzhou Port (钦州港), Guangxi, and can reach Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam in only about 5 days through railway-sea intermodal transport. The "channel + hub + network" logistics system helps "Guizhou goods go to sea" and deeply integrate with the international supply chain; Chongqing (重庆) gives play to the location advantages of Guoyuan Port (果园港) at the junction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the "Belt and Road," and the connection between the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and the China-Europe Railway Express (Chengdu-Chongqing), and strives to unblock market channels and improve trade facilitation, attracting international trade, new energy vehicles and other advantageous industries to continue to gather, forming a development network radiating to the western region.

Adhering to strengthening regional synergy and integration as the focus, the regional synergy and linkage effect of the Yangtze River Economic Belt is also constantly enhanced: the nine cities of the Yangtze River Delta G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor are working together to promote technological innovation in a collaborative and resource-sharing manner; "Shanghai enterprises + Yunnan resources," "Shanghai R&D + Yunnan manufacturing," "Shanghai market + Yunnan products," "Shanghai headquarters + Yunnan base," Shanghai and Yunnan are constantly improving the cooperation mechanism and innovating the cooperation mode, so that industrial transfer is from passive to active, from translation to leap; from the first legislative model of "joint decision + regulations" to the exploration and implementation of cross-provincial horizontal ecological compensation, the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan jointly protect the Chishui River (赤水河), and promote the continuous improvement of the ecological environment in the basin...

Not long ago, the National Development and Reform Commission approved the feasibility study report of the Three Gorges Water Transport New Channel project. The Three Gorges Water Transport New Channel is the largest comprehensive project integrating water conservancy, shipping, and ecology on the main line of the Yangtze River after the Three Gorges Project, which is of great significance for better implementing the development strategy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and promoting the economic and social development of the areas along the river.

The ancient great river has nurtured and irrigated the five thousand years of Chinese civilization, and will surely surge with the surging waves of the new era!

(Our reporters Yang Xun (杨迅), Wang Dan (王丹), Luo Yangqi (罗阳奇), Wang Han Chao (王汉超), Wang Weijian (王伟健), and Liu Junguo (刘军国) participated in the writing)

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Feeling the Pulse of a New Era in China on the Banks of the Yangtze River (Reporter's Notebook)

By: 姜 峰

A drop of water flows 6,397 kilometers from the Ganggendiru Glacier (姜根迪如冰川) to the estuary.

The Yangtze River Economic Belt, covering 11 provinces and cities, has an area of approximately 2.05 million square kilometers, accounting for about 21% of the country. Its population and economic aggregate both exceed 40% of the country's total. It holds an important ecological position and is the location of China's economic center and vitality.

The Yangtze River Economic Belt is crucial to the overall development of the country. Comparing the past and present, the achievements have not come easily: prioritizing protection tests responsibility and commitment; iron-fisted governance requires determination and courage; guarding the red line highlights the wisdom of "leaving blank space"; harmony between people and water fully demonstrates the underlying warmth. Looking back, "jointly grasping great protection, not engaging in large-scale development," the determination and intensity are unprecedented, and major changes have taken place in the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

The Yangtze River Economic Belt is also a coordinated development belt that affects the overall situation. Running across the east and west, connecting the north and south, and reaching the sea through the river, multiple national development strategies are superimposed. Promoting the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt involves all fields of economic and social development and is a systematic project. Using systematic thinking, we must continuously enhance the relevance and coupling of various policies, view a region from the perspective of the whole, and empower the whole with a region.

The gratifying changes and vivid explorations on both sides of the Yangtze River (长江) today are a microcosm of China's strong pulse in the new era and a vivid portrayal of the truth and practical power of the Party's innovative theories.

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Inclusive, foundational, and safety-net livelihood projects are vigorously advanced (Authoritative Release: High-quality completion of the "14th Five-Year Plan")

By: 本报记者 杨 昊

On October 10th, the State Council Information Office (国务院新闻办) held a series of thematic press conferences on "High-Quality Completion of the '14th Five-Year Plan'," introducing the achievements in the development of civil affairs during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. Lu Zhiyuan (陆治原), Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs (民政部), stated that civil affairs departments at all levels have focused on promoting inclusive, basic, and safety-net livelihood construction, better leveraging their functions in safeguarding people's livelihoods, preventing risks, and promoting development, and have achieved new progress and new accomplishments in various tasks.

The safety net for basic livelihood security is more robust.

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's basic livelihood security has been comprehensively strengthened. Lu Zhiyuan (陆治原) introduced that in terms of guaranteeing the basic needs of people in difficulty, a tiered and classified social assistance system has been basically established, and a dynamic monitoring and regular assistance mechanism for people in difficulty nationwide has been initially established.

"The average standards for urban and rural subsistence allowances nationwide have increased by 19.6% and 21.3% respectively compared to 2020. Regular guarantees have been provided to 39.4 million subsistence allowance recipients and 4.82 million people in extreme difficulty, promoting the improvement of living conditions for people in difficulty," said Lu Zhiyuan (陆治原).

In terms of guaranteeing the welfare of children in difficult situations, de facto unattended children, left-behind children, and migrant children have been included in the scope of national protection and care services, and a protection and care system covering various types of children in difficult situations has been basically established. The basic living allowance standards for orphans raised in institutions, orphans living in social dispersion, and de facto unattended children have increased by 26%, 32%, and 31% respectively compared to 2020.

In terms of welfare for people with disabilities, living allowances for people with disabilities in difficulty and nursing subsidies for people with severe disabilities have been effectively implemented, the construction of a service system for the care of people with severe disabilities is accelerating, and the community rehabilitation service system for people with mental disorders is becoming more complete.

"China's safety net for basic livelihood security is more robust, and the fruits of modernization are increasingly benefiting the vast number of people in difficulty," said Lu Zhiyuan (陆治原).

Hu Haifeng (胡海峰), Vice Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs (民政部), introduced new progress in China's active promotion of a comprehensive, urban-rural integrated, tiered and classified, and comprehensive and efficient social assistance system in four aspects.

New breakthroughs have been made in the construction of the institutional system. The construction of a tiered and classified social assistance system has been promoted to be more sound. The subsistence allowance system has been further improved, and people with serious illnesses or severe disabilities in families on the edge of subsistence allowance eligibility have been included in the subsistence allowance program by referring to them as "single-person households."

The level of assistance and security has reached a new level. The dynamic adjustment mechanism for subsistence allowance standards linked to per capita consumption expenditure and the linkage mechanism between social assistance and security standards and price increases have been improved, and the level of assistance and security has been steadily increased. The development of service-oriented social assistance has been further accelerated, and the transformation of social assistance from a single material assistance to a "material + service" comprehensive assistance model has been promoted.

The effectiveness of service management has been newly enhanced. A dynamic monitoring information platform has been fully established to strengthen the monitoring and early warning of people in difficulty and provide timely assistance. The "one-stop acceptance, coordinated handling" system has been fully implemented, and 3,771 social assistance service hotlines have been opened at the ministerial, provincial, municipal, and county levels to ensure that people in difficulty have access to assistance and receive timely assistance.

New achievements have been made in consolidating and expanding the results of poverty alleviation through basic security. Policy measures have been optimized and refined, and eligible people who have been lifted out of poverty and those monitored to prevent relapse into poverty have been included in the scope of assistance in a timely manner, resolutely guarding the bottom line against large-scale relapse into poverty.

The level of security for the elderly has steadily improved.

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's work on aging and the development of elderly care services have taken new steps. Lu Zhiyuan (陆治原) introduced that in terms of elderly care services, a national basic elderly care service system has been fully established, the top-level design for the reform and development of elderly care services has been completed, a Chinese-style elderly care service system with Chinese characteristics suitable for China's national conditions is accelerating its construction, and the supply structure is continuously optimizing.

"As of the end of 2024, there are 406,000 elderly care institutions and facilities nationwide, with 7.993 million beds. 2.24 million households of elderly people with special difficulties have completed age-friendly renovations, 500 demonstration community-based home elderly care service networks, 2,990 demonstration age-friendly communities, and 86,000 elderly meal service points have been built, with more than 3 million elderly people dining at elderly meal service points every day. Various types of allowances and subsidies, such as high-age allowances, service subsidies for elderly people with economic difficulties, and nursing subsidies for disabled elderly people, benefit 49.45 million elderly people," said Lu Zhiyuan (陆治原).

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's average life expectancy reached 79 years, an increase of 1.07 years compared to 2020, which is 5 years higher than the world average. With the increase in average life expectancy, China's aging population is also deepening. "As of the end of 2024, China has 220 million elderly people aged 65 and above, accounting for 15.6% of the total population," said Liu Zhenguo (刘振国), Vice Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs (民政部). The Ministry of Civil Affairs (民政部) conscientiously fulfills its responsibilities for work related to aging, China's policy system for actively responding to population aging is continuously improving, the level of security for the elderly is steadily increasing, their legitimate rights and interests are effectively protected, their active role is effectively brought into play, and an age-friendly social environment is accelerating its formation.

In promoting the social participation of the elderly, the "Silver Age Action" is used as a starting point to promote the regular and long-term development of elderly volunteer services. As of the end of September this year, the number of elderly volunteers registered in the National Volunteer Service Information System has reached 53.58 million, with a total service time of 1.64 billion hours, and the social benefits of elderly volunteer services are becoming increasingly apparent.

In protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the elderly, the "Guiding Opinions on Establishing and Improving the Working Mechanism for Safeguarding the Legitimate Rights and Interests of the Elderly" was jointly issued with relevant departments, the "Legal Services to Help and Protect the Elderly" campaign was continuously deepened, illegal fundraising and fraud targeting the elderly were resolutely cracked down on, and the legitimate rights and interests of the vast number of elderly people were effectively protected.

In building an age-friendly society, national activities to respect, love, and help the elderly are continuously organized, and the construction of age-friendly communities and age-friendly cities is promoted.

The charitable atmosphere is becoming more intense.

Charity is a moral practice with broad public participation, an important symbol of social civilization progress, and an important force in promoting Chinese-style modernization. Li Changguan (李常官), Vice Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs (民政部), introduced that the Ministry of Civil Affairs (民政部) conscientiously implements the relevant decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and effectively promotes the healthy development of China's charitable undertakings.

The charitable system is more complete. The newly revised Charity Law has been officially implemented, and four departmental regulations, including the "Measures for the Recognition of Charitable Organizations," the "Measures for the Management of Public Fundraising by Charitable Organizations," the "Measures for the Disclosure of Information by Charitable Organizations," and the "Measures for the Management of Online Service Platforms for Personal Assistance," have been formulated and revised, and the charitable system is continuously improving.

The charitable forces are constantly growing. The number of charitable organizations registered and recognized nationwide has increased from more than 9,400 at the end of 2020 to more than 16,000 at present.

The role of charity is becoming increasingly apparent. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, charitable organizations nationwide spend 150 billion yuan annually, mainly for the "one old and one young," "one disabled and one poor," education and medical care, employment and income increase, etc.; donations from all sectors of society exceed 20 billion yuan, strongly supporting emergency rescue and recovery and reconstruction work in major natural disasters.

The charitable atmosphere is becoming more intense. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, two "China Charity Awards" commendation activities were held, and thematic publicity activities for "China Charity Day" are organized every year, and the atmosphere of "charity for everyone, charity at all times, and charity everywhere" is becoming increasingly intense.

Place names are basic public service information for society. Li Changguan (李常官) introduced that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the Ministry of Civil Affairs (民政部) focused on creating place name management with strength, place name use with breadth, place name culture with depth, and place name services with warmth.

The "Regulations on Place Name Management" and its implementation measures were revised and implemented, and an innovative place name filing and announcement system was implemented. Currently, the website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs (民政部) has announced more than 600,000 newly named place names, realizing that places must have names and names must be standardized.

The construction of the China National Place Name Information Database is continuously underway, with 14.8 million place name data entries collected and nearly 700 million calls made.

The evaluation system for place name cultural heritage has been improved and perfected, and the cultural connotations of ancient place names that are thousands of years old have been fully explored. A place name protection directory system has been established to avoid arbitrarily changing old place names and to do a good job in protecting cultural heritage such as "ancient counties with a thousand-year history," "ancient towns with a thousand-year history," and "ancient villages with a thousand-year history," including 68,000 place names in the scope of protection.

The "Famous Village Action" has been innovatively carried out, with 710,000 rural place names named, 620,000 place name signs set up, and 9.93 million rural place names and points of interest such as farmhouses and picking gardens collected and mapped, basically covering more than 2 million natural villages and hamlets nationwide.

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Lai Ching-te is destined to be abandoned by mainstream public opinion in Taiwan.

By: 钟一平

In his so-called "Double Ten" speech, Lai Ching-te (赖清德) shamelessly embellished his own achievements, once again hyping up the so-called "democracy versus authoritarianism" opposition, smearing the mainland's legitimate actions as "military force and coercion," vigorously clamoring to increase Taiwan's defense budget, and constantly currying favor with external forces. This rehashed, incessant rhetoric is not only despicable but also laughable.

The current situation in the Taiwan Strait and public opinion on the island have undergone considerable changes, but Lai Ching-te (赖清德) is still immersed in his "Taiwan independence" dream, living on lies. According to the latest polls in Taiwan, Lai Ching-te's (赖清德) "prestige" is only 32.7%, a record low; the proportion of people dissatisfied with Lai Ching-te's (赖清德) handling of cross-strait relations has surged from 43% to 63% in one year. Even in the "iron vote banks" of Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan and Kaohsiung-Pingtung, which the Democratic Progressive Party (民进党) has cultivated for decades, dissatisfaction now exceeds 52%. Not to mention the two "major recalls" that ended in disastrous defeats of 0:25 and 0:7, which collectively reflect the growing distrust and even aversion of the island's people towards the Lai Ching-te (赖清德) authorities. This shows what the mainstream public opinion in Taiwan is today: it is definitely not division and confrontation, but peace, development, exchange, and a good life.

The surging public opinion stems from Lai Ching-te's (赖清德) incompetence in governance. Since taking office, Lai Ching-te (赖清德) has been single-mindedly provoking confrontation and seizing political interests, completely ignoring the pressing livelihood issues. He shouts "unity," but in reality, he creates "green terror" and focuses on eliminating "impurities"; he lists illusory livelihood measures to "draw big cakes," but in reality, he invests huge sums of money in defense and military equipment; he claims "not to leave anyone behind," but in reality, he is slow and lax in disasters such as typhoons and floods, disregarding the safety of the people. What is even more disgusting is that in the flood disaster in the Mata'an Creek (马太鞍溪) weir lake in Hualien (花莲), the Lai Ching-te (赖清德) authorities failed to provide effective disaster relief, resulting in a large number of casualties. The people had no way to seek help and could only put on rubber shoes and pick up shovels to carry out self-rescue. Lai Ching-te (赖清德), instead of reflecting on this, used the "shovel superman" as a tool to package his achievements and shift dissatisfaction. Only knowing how to say nice words and create trouble or even crises, Lai Ching-te (赖清德) will inevitably pay a heavy price for betraying and fooling the people of Taiwan.

The surging public opinion stems from Lai Ching-te's (赖清德) traitorous acts of hollowing out Taiwan's wealth and burying Taiwan's future. Tariffs, large-scale agricultural product imports, and the chip industry have all become bargaining chips for Lai Ching-te (赖清德) to exchange for "Taiwan independence" private interests. Especially in this so-called "Double Ten" speech, in order to cater to external forces, Lai Ching-te (赖清德) vowed to increase the defense budget to 5% of the region's GDP by 2030. According to calculations on the island, if this money were used in the field of people's livelihood, it could build 20 large hospitals, build 10 high-speed rail lines, and provide 20 years of free nutritious lunches for primary and secondary school students throughout the island. In the final analysis, the huge military expenditure still has to be squeezed from people's livelihood expenditures and taken from the pockets of ordinary people. What is even more tragic is that Lai Ching-te (赖清德) slides and pleases external forces, turning Taiwan into an "ATM" that can be withdrawn at will, but what he gets in return is a bigger appetite, higher prices, and the fate of being kicked away as a discarded pawn at any time. According to reports, some Western politicians have already demanded that Taiwan increase its defense budget to 10% of the region's GDP. Lai Ching-te's (赖清德) choice to "dance with wolves" is destined to be backfired.

The surging public opinion stems from the fact that more and more Taiwanese compatriots have broken free from the "information cocoon" created by the Lai Ching-te (赖清德) authorities and have seen the real mainland and the strong motherland. In September, many media and self-media outlets on the island broadcasted the September 3rd military parade all day long, with online views exceeding 5 million. Taiwanese compatriots praised the motherland's brilliant development achievements and strong military strength. Witnessing the J-15T (歼—15T), J-35 (歼—35), and KJ-600 (空警—600) three types of carrier-based aircraft catapulting off the aircraft carrier deck, many Taiwanese military enthusiasts felt excited, proud, and self-confident, while "Taiwan independence" separatists felt deeply desperate and could not help but tremble. More Taiwanese compatriots, either going there in person or through the live sharing of self-media personalities, have entered the mainland and understood the mainland, exposing the lies and smears of the Democratic Progressive Party (民进党) over the years. The prosperous and vibrant motherland is not only a warm home and strong backing for every Taiwanese compatriot, but also the best stage full of opportunities and achievements.

People on the island have summarized that Taiwan is now facing the threat of three major "weir lakes": the risk of war in the Taiwan Strait, endless infighting, and the crisis of unsuccessful tariff negotiations. May I ask who is the culprit of these three major "weir lakes"? Isn't it Lai Ching-te (赖清德), who took office more than a year ago? The general trend is irreversible, and the will of the people cannot be violated. Lai Ching-te (赖清德) insists on going his own way and continues to test on the dangerous edge. Sooner or later, he will bear historical responsibility for his actions, and sooner or later, he will be swallowed and buried by the deep pit he dug himself.

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Skills Training Helps Employment (Employment Services for College Graduates in Action)

By: 本报记者 姚雪青

Shi Xuehong (史雪红) is a fresh graduate majoring in Advertising at Nanjing University of Finance and Economics (南京财经大学). Not long ago, she joined Jiangsu Weichi Digital Technology Co., Ltd. (江苏未迟数字技术有限公司), a cross-border e-commerce platform company, where she is engaged in search engine optimization and has now begun to execute specific tasks. She is a beneficiary of the "Strengthening Skills Action" project for college graduates currently being carried out in Jiangsu Province (江苏省).

"In the first half of this year, I received several employment notices, but they were all in the traditional advertising field. I was exposed to AI (Artificial Intelligence) market research and other knowledge points in class, and I really wanted to stand at the forefront of the digital economy era," said Shi Xuehong (史雪红). Before graduation, her counselor brought her a poster: Nanjing Technician College (南京技师学院) was conducting vocational skills training in the "cross-border e-commerce" direction for college graduates with bachelor's degrees or above, and could also recommend high-quality employment positions.

This exactly matched Shi Xuehong's (史雪红) yearning for an ideal job, and she immediately signed up. From July 14th to August 8th, she and 26 other graduates from other universities majoring in economics and management, computer science, and digital media participated in the vocational skills training class.

Wang Na (王娜), head of the e-commerce major at Nanjing Technician College (南京技师学院), introduced that Nanjing Technician College (南京技师学院) is one of the key units undertaking large-scale vocational skills improvement training in the province. This training project combines Nanjing's (南京) key industries and the employment needs of enterprises, and takes "cross-border e-commerce" as a pilot training project. Dual mentors from the school and cooperative enterprises jointly offer customized courses such as AI market research, independent station construction, search engine optimization, and social media program planning.

In Shi Xuehong's (史雪红) view, these courses complement what she had previously learned in school. "I learned systematic theory and practical methods in school, while the training class strengthened in-depth learning and detailed operation of cross-border e-commerce – 术业有专攻 (shù yè yǒu zhuān gōng - "arts have specialties," everyone should concentrate on their own field). The exam content of the training class is also the real work tasks of the enterprise. After passing the assessment, students obtain a graduation certificate and a vocational skill level certificate issued by the human resources and social security department. "I am both the lecturer, the examiner, and the interviewer," said Lü You (吕游), Vice President of Jiangsu Weichi Digital Technology Co., Ltd. (江苏未迟数字技术有限公司). This process is like the pre-employment training, and 20 of the 27 students have entered the company to work.

"The other 7 students were also recommended to work in well-known local companies," Wang Na (王娜) introduced, adding that after training, job seekers are more competitive and the job is also more matched.

"An important measure to promote the employment of college graduates is to improve their employment and entrepreneurial ability through vocational skills training." The relevant person in charge of the Vocational Capacity Building Department of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security (江苏省人力资源和社会保障厅) introduced that this year, Jiangsu Province (江苏省) has included "carrying out vocational skills training for college graduates, serving more than 100,000 people" as one of the province's practical projects for people's livelihood in 2025. In August, Jiangsu Province (江苏省) issued the "Action Plan for Carrying out Large-scale Vocational Skills Improvement Training (2025-2027)", focusing on six major areas such as advanced manufacturing, digital economy, and low-altitude economy, and focusing on nine types of groups such as college graduates to carry out vocational skills improvement training. The action plan proposes to focus on college graduates, unemployed college graduates within two years of leaving school, and registered unemployed youth aged 16-24, and take the organization and implementation of the "Strengthening Skills Action" for college graduates as a starting point to carry out employment skills, vocational guidance, and entrepreneurial innovation training. As of August, the province has carried out subsidized skills training for 468,000 people, including 75,000 college graduates.

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Photo Report

October 10th, Benxi (本溪), Liaoning (辽宁), the autumn scenery of Laobiangou Scenic Area (老边沟风景区) is picturesque, attracting tourists in droves. In recent years, Benxi City (本溪市) has adhered to the principles of establishing the city through ecology, strengthening the city through industry, and revitalizing the city through cultural tourism, achieving simultaneous progress in ecological protection and cultural tourism development.

He Huawen (何华文) Photo (People's Vision (人民视觉))

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China Journalists Association Announces Results of the 35th China News Awards

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 10th. Starting from October 10th, the All-China Journalists Association (中国记协) will publicize the results of the 35th China News Awards on the All-China Journalists Association WeChat official account and the All-China Journalists Association website. This year's China News Awards has selected 379 proposed award-winning works, including 4 special awards, 75 first prizes, 113 second prizes, and 187 third prizes. Also publicized are the detailed rules for this year's China News Awards and the list of judges and review committee members.

The deadline for the public announcement is October 15th. During this period, all sectors of society can express their opinions and supervise the selection results through telephone, fax, letter, email, and other means. The All-China Journalists Association (中国记协) Award Office will carefully handle and verify relevant reports. After the public announcement, the All-China Journalists Association (中国记协) Award Office will officially announce the award results.

All-China Journalists Association (中国记协) Award Office Telephone: 010-61002846

Email: 5826@vip.163.com

Address: No. 7, Zhushikou East Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing (北京市东城区珠市口东大街7号)

Postal Code: 100062

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Small Fruits "Chain" Together a Big Industry (Striving Forward for 70 Years: Composing Magnificent Chapters Across Tianshan Mountains)

By: 本报记者 贺 勇 阿尔达克

In Koshitog拉克 Village (阔什托格拉克村), Yiganqi Town (依干其镇), Aksu City (阿克苏市), Aksu Prefecture (阿克苏地区), Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (新疆维吾尔自治区), rows of cold chain transport vehicles are ready to depart. Fruit farmer Hou Guangda (侯广大) loads boxes of apples onto the trucks, his smile beaming: "Our apples are of good quality and have a wide sales network, and they can reach all parts of the country by cold chain vehicles."

Such scenes are now visible everywhere north and south of the Tianshan Mountains (天山). Relying on unique water, soil, light, and heat resources, a long history of cultivation, and continuously innovative planting technologies and management concepts, Xinjiang's fruit and forestry industry is entering a new stage of high-quality development. Today in Xinjiang (新疆), the fruit and forestry industry has become a green industry with a wide coverage, benefiting a large population, and with great development potential, as well as a pillar industry for increasing farmers' income. Xinjiang (新疆) is moving from a "large fruit and forestry region" to a "strong fruit and forestry region."

Ranking first in the country in red date production, consistently ranking first in grape production, winning the national championship in apricot production, and leading the way in almond production... Xinjiang's (新疆) special "fruit platter" presented to the people of the whole country is deeply loved by consumers.

In terms of industrial layout, Xinjiang (新疆) has formed a mature "one region and three belts" system: including the advantageous fruit and forestry production area around the Tarim Basin (塔里木盆地), the Turpan-Hami Basin (吐哈盆地) characteristic industrial belt, the Yili River Valley (伊犁河谷) and Ertix River (额尔齐斯河) regional characteristic industrial belt, and the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains (天山) characteristic fruit and forestry industrial belt. By moderately introducing new and high-quality varieties such as new plums, apricots, and cherries, further extending the fruit listing period and optimizing the variety structure, Xinjiang (新疆) has achieved "fragrant fruits in all seasons" and has the ability to supply fruits all year round.

In Yongku Unity Village (甬库团结村), Qiman Town (齐满镇), Kuqa City (库车市), fragrant pear grower Jibireli Roheman (吉比热力·罗合曼) said: "The village promotes new varieties, and technicians regularly guide pruning and fertilization, which has improved the quality of fragrant pears and increased prices." At present, the village has built a large-scale planting base, and promotes the standardization and branding of fragrant pear planting through technical training.

Not only in Kuqa (库车), but also in various parts of Xinjiang (新疆), a series of standardized measures are being taken to revitalize a large number of old orchards. At the same time, more than 50,000 technical training sessions have been carried out throughout Xinjiang (新疆), training more than 3.8 million farmers and technical backbones, and the overall management level of orchards has been significantly improved.

Science and technology are injecting new impetus into the traditional fruit and forestry industry. In the Wensu National Agricultural Science and Technology Park (温宿国家农业科技园区), drones precisely spray biological pesticides, and underground sensing equipment transmits information such as soil moisture and temperature in real time. The "Internet + Agriculture" system realizes digital management of the entire growth cycle of fruit and forestry, greatly improving the standardization of fruits.

Stepping out of the orchard, the journey of added value has just begun.

In the production workshop of Aksu Jinwulian E-commerce Co., Ltd. (阿克苏金物联电子商务有限公司), apples are washed, peeled, sliced, and freeze-dried to become crispy and delicious apple chips. The company has built 6 intelligent production lines with an annual processing capacity of 70,000 tons of fruits and vegetables, and has developed more than 100 products such as freeze-dried apples, concentrated fruit juice, and fruit wine, continuously extending the industrial chain and increasing added value.

At present, Xinjiang (新疆) has cultivated more than 70 leading fruit and forestry processing enterprises and more than 2,000 professional cooperatives, and has developed more than 180 kinds of deep-processed products such as walnut oil and sea buckthorn essence. The fruit and forestry industry has shifted from single fresh fruit sales to multi-industry integration.

High-quality fruits also require smooth sales channels. Xinjiang (新疆) actively builds an online and offline linkage network, has held four China Xinjiang (中国新疆) Characteristic Fruit and Forestry Products Expo, and has organized enterprises to participate in various agricultural product exhibitions in relevant provinces and cities many times.

How to sell Yingjisha (英吉沙) apricots, which have a shelf life of only 7 days, to a wider market? Since 2018, Shandong (山东) Aid to Xinjiang (援疆) has implemented the "Large Warehouse Eastward Shift" project, building Kashgar (喀什) characteristic agricultural and sideline product storage, preservation and distribution centers in many places in Shandong (山东), helping Kashgar (喀什) solve the problems of "difficulty in getting out of Xinjiang (出疆难)" and "high cost of getting out of Xinjiang (出疆贵)" for characteristic agricultural and sideline products. Since 2018, it has cumulatively promoted the sale of 311,000 tons of Kashgar (喀什) characteristic agricultural and sideline products out of Xinjiang (出疆).

With the strong support of the counterpart aid to Xinjiang (援疆) mechanism, production and marketing docking projects such as "Large Warehouse Eastward Shift (大仓东移)," "Ten Cities and Hundred Stores (十城百店)," and "Xinjiang (疆) Fruits Eastward Delivery (疆果东送)" have been steadily promoted, and the eastern market has continued to expand.

E-commerce platforms have further expanded the sales scope of Xinjiang (新疆) fruits and forestry. As of now, Xinjiang's (新疆) average annual fruit exports account for 80% of the total annual fruit production, and the brand influence of Xinjiang (新疆) fruits and forestry has continued to increase.

The fruit and forestry industry has become an important pillar benefiting people's livelihoods and revitalizing the countryside. As of the end of 2024, the fruit and forestry industry in Xinjiang (新疆) benefited 5.5 million fruit farmers, and the income of fruit farmers in the main fruit-producing areas accounted for nearly 30% of their per capita disposable income, and even exceeded 60% in some areas.

Small fruits have truly "linked" a large industry that enriches the people. From traditional orchards to intelligent factories, from offline exhibitions to cloud orders, from markets within Xinjiang (疆) to global markets - Xinjiang (新疆) fruits and forestry is writing a contemporary answer sheet from large to strong.

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The 138th Canton Fair will be held in Guangzhou on October 15.

Guangzhou, October 10th (Reporter Li Gang (李刚) and Hong Qiuting (洪秋婷)) – The reporter learned from the China Foreign Trade Centre that the 138th Canton Fair, also known as the Autumn Canton Fair, will be held in Guangzhou (广州市), Guangdong Province (广东省) in three phases from October 15th to November 4th. The online platform will continue to operate as usual. The exhibition area of this Canton Fair reaches 1.55 million square meters. The total number of booths is 74,600, with more than 32,000 participating enterprises, both of which are record highs, with about 3,600 enterprises making their debut. At present, all preparatory work is progressing smoothly and is basically ready.

It is reported that the quality of participating enterprises in this Canton Fair is better, and 353,000 smart products will be exhibited on site; the scope of precise investment promotion is wider, and it is expected that more than 400 leading purchasing enterprises will attend; the number of trade promotion activities is greater, with more than 600 new product launch events and 13 theme forums to be held; and the efforts to help enterprises and benefit enterprises are greater.

This Canton Fair has a total of 175 product zones, with the first smart medical zone set up to showcase innovative achievements such as medical robots, intelligent monitoring and diagnosis, and intelligent surgical assistance devices.

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First Edition Editors: Yang Xu, Zhao Zheng, Zhang Yujie; Second Edition Editors: Wu Gang, Zhou Zhou, Chen Xirui; Third Edition Editors: Yin Xinyu, Qi Jiarun, Han Wenrong; Fourth Edition Editors: Yuan Zhenxi, Liu Jingwen, Chen Zhen

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Chongqing Draws a New Blueprint for a "Smart Manufacturing Powerhouse"

By: 本报记者 李增辉 沈靖然

On the hot rolling production line of steel, a set of Golden Eye Vision System developed by CISDI Information Technology (Chongqing) Co., Ltd. can identify dozens of anomalies such as belt deviation and micro-defects on the surface of steel in the first time, with an accuracy rate of over 98%.

From low-altitude aircraft to industrial intelligent bodies, from the digital transformation of traditional industries to policy empowerment to build a new industrial ecology... Chongqing (重庆) is accelerating the creation of a high ground for artificial intelligence applications, helping the high-quality development of industries, and drawing a new blueprint for a "smart manufacturing powerhouse."

New Products, Focusing on Artificial Intelligence

Recently, at the 2025 World Intelligent Industry Expo held in Chongqing (重庆), Changan Automobile's (长安汽车) latest electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft became a star product—three rotors are scattered around the cockpit, and the white cabin body has smooth lines. The engineer gently clicked on the control panel, and the aircraft slowly lifted off, traveling smoothly in the outdoor exhibition area.

"At this Smart Expo, Changan Automobile (长安汽车) and Chongqing Public Transport (重庆公交) jointly demonstrated the future cooperation prospects in the field of low-altitude economy. We look forward to our unmanned aerial vehicles being commercialized in the near future and entering the field of public transportation," said Wang Ying (王颖), Senior Manager of the Advanced Technology Research Institute of Changan Automobile (长安汽车).

Thanks to its deep technical accumulation, Chongqing (重庆) auto companies demonstrated their hard power at the Smart Expo: Changan Automobile (长安汽车) created the Tian Shu Large Model, which is applied to many models such as the Deep Blue S09; Seres (赛力斯) is equipped with Huawei's (华为) Qiankun Intelligent Driving System, and the AITO series has attracted much attention; Qianli Technology (千里科技) launched an independent auxiliary driving system. In 2024, Chongqing's (重庆) new energy vehicle production reached 953,000 units, ranking among the top in the country.

In addition to traditional manufacturing, some technology products incorporating artificial intelligence also appeared at the Smart Expo. Bionic artificial intelligence robot dogs, pocket equatorial mounts, commercial lawn mowing robots... 36 technology products from 26 incubation and investment companies in the Mingyue Lake International Intelligent Industry Science and Innovation Base (明月湖国际智能产业科创基地) in Liangjiang New Area (两江新区) were concentrated in the Science and Innovation New Force Exhibition Area of the Smart Expo, covering smart health, smart agriculture and other fields.

In urban infrastructure operation and maintenance scenarios, intelligent technology provides support for the intelligent transformation of traditional jobs.

In Tuanniancao Village (团碾槽村), Banan District (巴南区), Chongqing (重庆), the Nan Supply Branch of State Grid Chongqing Electric Power Company (国网重庆市电力公司南供电分公司) used a live insulated coating robot to coat more than 200 meters of bare overhead power lines of the 10 kV Huzhong Line (湖忠线) in operation with an insulating layer, putting on an insulating coat for the bare wires. "The intelligent inspection robot integrates an artificial intelligence host and a perception system, which can be timed and remotely controlled for inspection," introduced Rao Lingjiang (饶领江), a staff member at the site. The intelligent transformation of power grid operation and maintenance is a vivid practice of artificial intelligence empowering traditional industries.

New products are emerging, scenarios are constantly being upgraded, and applications are becoming increasingly widespread. In 2024, the scale of Chongqing's (重庆) core artificial intelligence industry was 17.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.6%; from January to August this year, Chongqing's (重庆) core artificial intelligence industry achieved operating income of 12.76 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.4%.

Industrial Upgrading, Driving Cost Reduction and Efficiency Increase

In the intelligent production workshop of Chongqing Hongjiang Machinery Co., Ltd. (重庆红江机械有限责任公司) in Yongchuan District (永川区), robotic arms waved freely, and CNC machine tools operated precisely.

"In the past, our team of seven or eight people had to work for half a day to make a part. Now, one piece of equipment can complete it in 1 minute," said Wang Qiang (王强), a front-line operator, who has become an intelligent equipment operator.

"Focusing on the production of core components and carrying out intelligent transformation not only improves efficiency, but also brings about a full-chain upgrade," said Luo Fuqiang (罗付强), Executive Deputy Director of the Comprehensive Technology Department of the company. In recent years, Hongjiang Machinery (红江机械) has invested nearly 20 million yuan to implement 7 intelligent and information-based transformation projects.

Deepen the application of artificial intelligence in equipment renewal and technological transformation in the industrial field, and promote the renewal of manufacturing equipment such as intelligent CNC machine tools and intelligent industrial control equipment. From January to August this year, 1,093 new technological transformation projects were started in the city, supporting a year-on-year increase of 21.7% in industrial technological transformation investment in the city.

At Chongqing Zhongke Yaoluchuan Information Technology Co., Ltd. (重庆中科摇橹船信息科技有限公司), the R&D team is busy debugging a new generation of intelligent sensing equipment. "We hope that machines can not only see, but also see far and see clearly," said Zheng Daoqin (郑道勤), the founder of the company. "Through high-precision optical sensing and artificial intelligence algorithms, the camera equipment has achieved micron-level precision detection and can quickly identify tiny defects that are invisible to the naked eye."

In recent years, Chongqing (重庆) has promoted the deep application of artificial intelligence technology by large enterprises, guided the construction of a number of enterprise-level vertical large models, and built 10 future factories such as Huafeng Chemical (华峰化工) and Huasen Pharmaceutical (华森制药). In addition, Chongqing (重庆) has also focused on "artificial intelligence + manufacturing" and "manufacturing + services" to promote the collaborative digital transformation of key industrial chains, and has built a total of 1,231 digital workshops and 211 intelligent factories, with an average increase in production efficiency of 57.6% and an average reduction in operating costs of 22.7%.

Policy Support, Building a Good Ecology

"The combination of key elements such as partners, talent cultivation and cutting-edge technology with Chongqing's (重庆) unique advantages will surely help this city accelerate its transformation into an artificial intelligence-driven sustainable manufacturing high ground," said Andreas Gerstenmayer, Global CEO of AT&S Group, at the 19th Chongqing Mayor's International Economic Advisory Group Conference held recently.

Since settling in Liangjiang New Area (两江新区) in 2011, AT&S has continuously increased its investment in advanced technology and innovation, and Chongqing (重庆) has become one of the group's most important production bases. "The company will unswervingly promote intelligent and sustainable manufacturing, and deepen cooperation with Chongqing (重庆) to achieve deep localization in technology research and development, product development and market integration, and enhance Chongqing's (重庆) position in the global industrial value chain," said Gerstenmayer.

Through industrial support policies, digital government services and data resource opening, Chongqing (重庆) continues to provide institutional support and application scenarios for enterprise development. With financial support, improved government efficiency and data element circulation, the intelligent industry is accelerating its agglomeration, and enterprises and investors are more confident in landing in Chongqing (重庆). At the same time, Chongqing (重庆) is accelerating the formulation of a number of policy measures for "artificial intelligence +" and an implementation plan for artificial intelligence to empower the high-quality development of manufacturing, and other related special policies, focusing on improving the artificial intelligence policy system and improving policy adaptability and accuracy.

The policy aims to accurately focus on the entire chain of "basic hardware - core technology - industry application." Chongqing (重庆) actively promotes the construction of an artificial intelligence innovation platform system, and empowers industrial development with a good integration of industry, academia and research. During this Smart Expo, Chongqing (重庆) officially released the first batch of 30 industrial intelligent body products. Among them, the R&D design intelligent body, as the source engine of the intelligent transformation of the entire chain of "R&D, production, supply, sales and service," is systematically reconstructing the traditional R&D system.

The drugability prediction platform launched by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Chongqing Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (上海交通大学重庆人工智能研究院) creates a "one-stop" drugability evaluation solution for researchers, and provides pharmaceutical companies with new drug drugability prediction and screening services, which has been adopted by more than 300 domestic and foreign enterprises and research institutes. Jialingjiang Laboratory (嘉陵江实验室), Jinfeng Laboratory (金凤实验室), Mingyue Lake Laboratory (明月湖实验室)... Chongqing (重庆) continues to promote the construction of "artificial intelligence + cutting-edge technology" interdisciplinary research institutes in universities, and has laid out 52 high-energy science and innovation platforms and introduced and cultivated 42 new R&D institutions.

"Currently, Chongqing (重庆) is deeply implementing the 'Artificial Intelligence +' action, relying on the massive data resources of the 'Digital Chongqing' construction, the good industrial foundation of manufacturing, and the rich scenarios of super-large city governance, and is actively exploring the development and empowerment application path of the artificial intelligence industry driven by scenarios, and accelerating the creation of a high ground for artificial intelligence applications," said Wang Zhijie (王志杰), Director of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology (重庆市经济和信息化委员会).

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Learning and Publicizing the Advanced Deeds of Comrade Wen Xianghong, Representative of the Chongqing Procuratorate's "Protecting Minors" Team

This newspaper's Beijing (北京) dispatch on October 10th (Reporter: Qi Yukun (亓玉昆)) Recently, the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (中央政法委) issued a notice calling on national political and legal organs and all political and legal cadres and police to conscientiously study and publicize the advanced deeds of the Chongqing (重庆) Procuratorate's Juvenile Protection Work Team Representatives (referred to as Yu Jian Hu "Wei" Team Representatives) (渝检护“未”团队代表), vigorously create a good atmosphere of respecting, learning from, and striving to be advanced, and show the society the era style and striving posture of the new era's political and legal team.

The Yu Jian Hu "Wei" Team (渝检护“未”团队) mainly engages in handling cases involving minors and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of minors. Since 2004, it has expanded from 1 "Sister Sha" Youth Rights Protection Post (莎姐青少年维权岗) to 45 rights protection posts, and the team members have grown to more than 500 people. Mei Mei (梅玫), Gong Shan (龚珊), Tang Huanran (唐焕然), Wu Bo (吴波), Li Feibai (李非白), Sun Wenjing (孙文静), and Wang Li (王莉) are 7 outstanding representatives among them. In September 2025, the Yu Jian Hu "Wei" Team Representatives (渝检护“未”团队代表) were awarded the title of "Role Model of the Times" by the Central Propaganda Department (中宣部).

This newspaper's Beijing (北京) dispatch on October 10th (Reporter: Qi Yukun (亓玉昆)) Recently, the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (中央政法委) issued a notice calling on national political and legal organs and all political and legal cadres and police to conscientiously study and publicize the advanced deeds and noble spirit of Comrade Wen Xianghong (温向红), firmly fulfill the duties and missions entrusted by the Party and the people, and unswervingly be builders and defenders of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Comrade Wen Xianghong (温向红) is currently the Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Political Commissar of the Wenzhen Prison (温圳监狱) in Jiangxi Province (江西省). He has been awarded the Second Class Merit twice and the Third Class Merit four times, and has won titles such as "National First-Class Heroic Model of the Judicial and Administrative System" and "Civil Servant Satisfactory to the People of Jiangxi Province". Since joining the police force 35 years ago, Comrade Wen Xianghong (温向红) has always kept in mind his original aspiration and mission, faithfully practiced his oath of joining the police, and devoted his enthusiasm to the prison cause with his political character of loyalty to the Party, his people-centered feelings for the people, his professional spirit of striving for excellence, and his fighting will to meet difficulties head-on.

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Cyberspace Administration of China and National Development and Reform Commission Issue "Guidelines for the Deployment and Application of Artificial Intelligence Large Models in the Government Sector"

This newspaper's Beijing (北京) dispatch on October 10th (Reporter Jin Xin (金歆)) The reporter learned on the 10th from the Cyberspace Administration of China (中央网信办): To implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and to implement the "Opinions on Deeply Implementing the 'Artificial Intelligence+' Action" requirements, in order to safely, steadily, and orderly promote the deployment and application of artificial intelligence large models in the government affairs field, the Cyberspace Administration of China (中央网信办) and the National Development and Reform Commission (国家发展改革委) recently jointly issued the "Deployment and Application Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence Large Models in the Government Affairs Field," providing work guidance and basic reference for the deployment and application of artificial intelligence large models by government departments at all levels.

In terms of scenario traction, government departments can focus on common and high-frequency needs in government services, social governance, office administration, and auxiliary decision-making, and explore and apply artificial intelligence large models in typical scenarios based on local conditions and practical situations.

In terms of standardized deployment, government departments should prudently select the implementation path of artificial intelligence large models according to the needs of different government affairs scenarios and the existing technical foundation. The deployment of artificial intelligence large models in the government affairs field should be carried out in a coordinated and intensive manner. Municipalities should carry out deployment and application under the unified requirements of the province (autonomous region, or municipality directly under the central government). Counties and below should, in principle, reuse the intelligent computing power and model resources of the superior to carry out application and services.

In terms of operation and management, government departments should balance burden reduction and empowerment, avoid blindly pursuing technological leadership and conceptual innovation, and effectively prevent "digital formalism." A sound full-cycle management system should be established, the application methods and boundaries should be clarified, the "auxiliary" positioning of artificial intelligence large models should be implemented, and risks such as model "hallucinations" should be prevented. Security management should be carried out in a solid manner, a security responsibility system should be established, and security responsibilities and tasks should be clarified. Confidentiality requirements should be strictly implemented to prevent state secrets, work secrets, and sensitive information from being input into non-classified artificial intelligence large models, and to prevent leakage risks caused by the aggregation and association of sensitive data.

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Come with questions, leave with solutions, and act with unwavering conviction.

By: 本报记者 王昊男 耿 磊

In recent times, a special classroom at the Party School of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (中共北京市委党校) has become "popular": Since its official opening on July 1st, it has trained over 10,000 students in more than 70 class days. Party members and cadres, university teachers and students, and others from all over the country have gathered here, and the latest course reservations are already scheduled for more than a month later.

This is the Jinghua Practice Theme Classroom of Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, an important component of the Jinghua Practice Teaching and Research Center of Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized: "We must unremittingly strengthen the arming of the Party with innovative theories" and "The purpose of studying Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era lies entirely in its application, in transforming this thought into a powerful ideological weapon for transforming the subjective world and the objective world."

"The most fundamental reason for the new leap in the capital's development lies in the leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) and the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era." After the Teaching and Research Center was put into use, the Theoretical Study Center Group of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (中共北京市委理论学习中心组) took the lead in starting classes. Yin Li (尹力), Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委书记), said that it is necessary to transform the vivid scenes of the capital's development and reform into theoretical classrooms for learning, thinking, and practicing, forge ahead along the direction guided by General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平), and strive to write a Beijing (北京) chapter of Chinese-style modernization.

"Able to look up at the stars and also be grounded"

The old city is焕发新生, "APEC Blue" has become the norm, and the coordinated development of Beijing (北京), Tianjin (天津), and Hebei (河北) has reached a new level... Walking into the theme classroom located in the auditorium of the Party School of the Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委党校), it is like stepping into a panoramic view of the capital's development in the new era.

"I am extremely proud to be a participant and witness of the capital's development," Zhou Jielan (周洁兰), Deputy Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Jianguomen Street (建国门街道党工委副书记) in Dongcheng District (东城区), told reporters after participating in the study. She came with expectations, "As a grassroots cadre, I spend more time implementing and less time thinking deeply. My understanding of the profound considerations behind many policies is not enough. I hope to gain something in this regard through learning."

Relevant departments in Beijing (北京) found in their research that some cadres felt that "their understanding of the Party's innovative theories was not thorough enough," some cadres believed that "the combination of their learning and practice was not close enough," and some cadres frankly said: "I have learned a lot of theory, but I always fall short when I use it." What is the problem? In exchanges with some cadres, they summarized "three shortcomings": First, the depth of understanding cannot keep up with the pace of theoretical innovation; second, the practical ability cannot keep up with the needs of high-quality development in the capital; and third, the working methods cannot keep up with the requirements of the new era.

In order to solve these problems, the Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委), based on in-depth investigation and research, decided to build the Jinghua Practice Teaching and Research Center of Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委) and the Municipal Government (市政府) attached great importance to this work and included it in the report of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 13th Beijing Municipal Committee (市委十三届六次全会报告) and the 2025 Municipal Government Work Report (2025年市政府工作报告). The Teaching and Research Center should not only explain "what it is," but also explain "why" and "how to do it."

"Have you ever thought about what the governance significance of the 'Small Courtyard Deliberation Hall' is?" Geng Shanshan (耿姗姗), a teacher from the Department of Law at the Party School of the Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委党校法学教研部), who was the main speaker this time, asked in class.

In February 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) visited the Caochang Sitiao Hutong (草厂四条胡同) in Beijing (北京) and came to the "Small Courtyard Deliberation Hall" for inspection and research. The General Secretary pointed out: "The establishment of the 'Small Courtyard Deliberation Hall,' where 'residents discuss matters of residents, and residents decide matters of residents,' is conducive to enhancing the sense of belonging and ownership of community residents and improving the precision and refinement of community governance and services."

"When something happens, we discuss it with the residents, and the community residents gradually become the 'masters' of building a better home together. This is a vivid footnote to the implementation of the people-centered development ideology. Great ideas are not suspended in the air, but are powerful weapons rooted in daily life and solving practical problems," the main speaker said incisively.

"In the past, I was more task-oriented, but now I understand that every task is ultimately connected to the 'major affairs of the country'," Zhou Jielan (周洁兰) said with great emotion after listening to the teacher's explanation. "It turns out that 'people-centered' is not just a development ideology, but also a complete set of working methods."

Practice is the best teacher, and the truth of thought is reflected in Beijing's (北京) development practice bit by bit.

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Beijing's (北京) regional GDP has increased significantly, and it is estimated that this year's regional GDP will exceed the 5 trillion yuan mark, with an economic increase of about 1.4 trillion yuan in 5 years;

The annual average concentration of PM2.5 in Beijing (北京) has dropped from 89.5 micrograms/cubic meter in 2013 to 30.5 micrograms/cubic meter in 2024, a decrease of nearly 70%;

In recent years, the intensity of R&D investment in the whole society has remained at around 6%, ranking among the top innovative cities in the world, and the number of achievements selected as "China's Top Ten Scientific Advances" in 2024 accounts for more than half of the country's total...

The best way to convince people of a theory is to "see it with your own eyes."

Focusing on implementing the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's (习近平) important speech on Beijing (北京), Beijing (北京) has systematically sorted out a series of vivid cases, from the coordinated development of Beijing (北京), Tianjin (天津), and Hebei (河北) to the refined governance of the city, from the special action of "relieving non-capital functions, rectifying the environment, and promoting upgrading" to the reform of responding to complaints immediately. Each case originates from Beijing's (北京) practice and shines with the light of thought.

"The cases of urban development, ecological governance, and technological innovation displayed by the Teaching and Research Center are not only achievements of the capital, but also a microcosm of national development," said a relevant comrade from the Party School of the Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委党校). The Teaching and Research Center takes the development and changes of the capital in the new era as vivid teaching materials, allowing party members and cadres to "both look up at the stars and be grounded."

"Perceive thought in practice and guide practice with innovative theory"

The Party's innovative theory is a system with rich content. How to present it accurately and vividly?

It is not easy to organically integrate theory and practice to achieve the requirement of 大道至简 (dà dào zhì jiǎn - "the great path is simple," profound truths are expressed simply).

"The approach of the theme classroom is to closely follow the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's (习近平) important speeches and instructions, while closely combining it with Beijing's (北京) development practice," said Sun Laibin (孙来斌), a member of the expert group participating in the preparation work and a professor at the School of Marxism at Peking University (北京大学马克思主义学院). "This approach highlights the guidance of thought and also demonstrates Beijing's (北京) pace of practice."

Focusing on the main line of "How does great thought guide the profound transformation of the capital Beijing (北京)?", the theme classroom is set up with 3 chapters: The first chapter focuses on presenting the era background, scientific system, and profound connotation of Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era; the second chapter shows Beijing's (北京) practice under the guidance of the Party's innovative theory; and the third chapter shows Beijing's (北京) belief and determination to forge ahead along the direction led by Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The exhibition space takes the 71 "golden sentences" in General Secretary Xi Jinping's (习近平) important instructions and requirements for Beijing (北京) as clues, and integrates a large number of cases, data, and scenes.

"This is a classroom, not an achievement exhibition; the teachers are lecturers, not commentators; and the students are learning, not visiting." This is the clear requirement of the Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委) for the construction of the Teaching and Research Center.

How to upgrade "exhibition" to "class"? "The key is systematic teaching." Jiang Wen (江文), a teacher at the Party School of the Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委党校) who participated in the main lecture, introduced that the Jinghua Practice Teaching and Research Center is composed of four parts: a theme classroom, a learning and application platform for theoretical research results, a matrix of on-site teaching practice bases, and a "five-in-one" curriculum system.

"The students first learn the original text, then go to the theme classroom to see the practical results under the guidance of the Party's innovative theory. During this process, teachers provide in-depth explanations, and finally group discussions are held, thereby forming a teaching closed loop from 'theory to practice and then to theory,' realizing 'perceiving thought in practice and guiding practice with innovative theory'," Jiang Wen (江文) said.

"Why should we respond promptly even when encountering unreasonable or non-urgent demands when deepening the reform of responding to complaints immediately?" In a group discussion, a case sparked heated discussion among the students - a resident reported that the setting of electric bicycle charging piles was unreasonable. Why is it required that grassroots cadres handle this "non-emergency demand" item as soon as possible?

"It seems to be a matter for one person, but the background system shows that the problem is related to multiple similar complaints," said Liu Xin (柳馨), a teacher from the Department of Public Administration at the Party School of the Beijing Municipal Committee (北京市委党校公共管理教研部). "We must not only plan for one area, but also look at the overall situation. People first is not an abstract concept, but a way to consolidate the foundation of governance by solving small demands one by one."

Such a classroom comes from the front line and returns to the front line. A working team composed of 16 units spent 8 months, visited 34 practice points, revised 15 drafts, and collected 5 rounds of opinions and suggestions and materials, condensing a 50,000-word teaching outline. Every case can withstand traceability, and every piece of data has support.

Learning and understanding do not stop in the classroom. The Teaching and Research Center has also integrated more than 100 on-site teaching points in Beijing (北京), selected 60 points and 14 routes, and created a practice base matrix of "Walking on the Land of Jinghua and Perceiving the Power of Thought": In Zhongguancun (中关村), technology entrepreneurs tell their stories of tackling key problems; in Liangma River (亮马河), urban renewal participants share their governance experience...

"Beijing (北京) is not only a pilot field for the treatment of big city diseases, but also a window to observe Chinese-style modernization. The entire teaching profoundly demonstrates the truth and brilliance of Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in the vivid practice of Jinghua, and is a good theoretical arming and spiritual baptism," said a student from a central unit after participating in the learning of the Teaching and Research Center.

At present, the Teaching and Research Center has different curriculum designs for party members and cadres in Beijing (北京), cadres in central units in Beijing (北京), cadres from other provinces and cities, and university teachers and students. In the future, it will also set up special courses for international students to tell the Party's innovative theories and Chinese stories in a way that they can understand.

"Both a classroom of thought and a think tank for development"

Sunlight shines through the high windows and falls on rows of neat desks. A special ideological and political class is opened in the Teaching and Research Center. More than 40 teachers from Capital Normal University (首都师范大学) walked from the university podium into the Party School classroom.

"Talking about politics is not just a slogan, but a concrete action." "How can ideological and political classes be wonderful? The key is to explain the theory clearly and make the theory down-to-earth and close to people's hearts." In one hour, from the changes in Beijing (北京) to cultural inheritance and ecological restoration, one perceptible case after another made these students listen with relish.

"In the past, when I talked to students about community governance, I just couldn't find a vivid entry point." Wang Yuling (王玉玲), a young teacher at the School of Marxism at Capital Normal University (首都师范大学马克思主义学院), wrote densely in her notebook, "What is taught here is not only the code for the transformation of the capital, but also a methodology and a set of values."

Not long ago, a report on the integration of Tongzhou (通州) public transportation was sent to the desk of Beijing (北京) leaders, and the transportation system of the Beijing (北京) Urban Sub-Center was further optimized as a result. This report came from the teachers and students of the Teaching and Research Center.

The "Zhihui Jinghua" forum created by the Teaching and Research Center has been held for 7 sessions. Leaders of party and government departments, experts from academia, and representatives from industry have exchanged ideas on the same stage to gather wisdom for solving the development problems of the capital. In the view of Zhou Hao (周浩), Deputy Director of the Leading Group Office for Promoting the Coordinated Development of Beijing (北京), Tianjin (天津), and Hebei (河北) in Beijing (北京市推进京津冀协同发展领导小组办公室副主任), the Teaching and Research Center is "both a classroom of thought and a think tank for development."

According to statistics, since the establishment of the Teaching and Research Center, 68 decision-making consultation reports have been submitted, of which more than 20 have been approved or adopted by leaders at the provincial and ministerial level or above.

"As a classroom for publicizing and interpreting the Party's innovative theories, in addition to teaching, it is also important to strengthen research," said Tao Wenzhao (陶文昭), a professor at the School of Marxism at Renmin University of China (中国人民大学马克思主义学院). "Deepening the application of theory and the summary of practice in research, forming a positive cycle of mutual transformation and mutual promotion between theory and practice, can make teaching more profound."

"Scientific planning is the greatest benefit, planning errors are the greatest waste, and planning twists and turns are the greatest taboo." "Relieving Beijing's (北京) non-capital functions and promoting the coordinated development of Beijing (北京), Tianjin (天津), and Hebei (河北) is a huge system project." "Adhering to the concept that green mountains and clear waters are golden mountains and silver mountains, and strengthening the joint construction, joint prevention, and joint governance of the ecological environment"... Learn from the original text and deeply understand it in practice.

"Every sentence is deeply rooted in people's hearts. The vivid practice on the land of Jinghua clearly demonstrates the powerful truth and practical power of Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era," said Wang Duoxin (王多昕), a student from outside Beijing (北京) who participated in the theme classroom learning. "The Beijing (北京) experience tells us that theory is not a static conclusion written in books, but a practical force flowing in reality."

As night deepens, the lights in the theme classroom are still on. A student wrote in the guestbook: "Come with questions, leave with methods, and work with firm beliefs." These short words vividly interpret the spiritual power that the Teaching and Research Center conveys to every learner.

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Culture Rooted in the Plateau, Happiness Nourishing Every Home

By: 本报记者 宋 飞 琼达卓嘎

The sound of drums and gongs signals the start of a good show. The actors performing Xiangba Tibetan Opera sing in high-pitched voices and dance with powerful steps, earning rounds of applause. At the intangible cultural heritage park in Namling County (南木林县), Shigatse City (日喀则市), Tibet (西藏), a vibrant intangible cultural heritage performance is underway. Tibetan opera pieces such as "Zhimei Gengdeng" (《智美更登》) and "Zhuowa Sangmu" (《卓娃桑姆》) are performed in turn, attracting many residents to watch.

"Every festival, we perform in the county and have also participated in large-scale events such as the Lhasa Shoton Festival (拉萨雪顿节) and the Shigatse Mount Everest Culture and Tourism Festival (日喀则珠峰文化旅游节)," said Tsering Dorje (次仁多吉), a national-level representative inheritor of Xiangba Tibetan Opera (湘巴藏戏). By forming children's Tibetan opera troupes and carrying out activities such as bringing Tibetan opera into schools and villages, the average age of the Xiangba Tibetan Opera inheritance group has been reduced to under 35 years old.

In recent years, Tibet has continuously deepened the construction of its public cultural service system, basically completing a five-level public cultural facility network at the autonomous region, city (prefecture), county (district), township, and village (community) levels. This has resulted in cities (prefectures) having libraries, mass art centers, and museums; counties (districts) having comprehensive cultural activity centers; townships having comprehensive cultural activity stations; and villages (communities) having cultural activity rooms, better meeting the spiritual and cultural needs of people of all ethnic groups.

The improvement of public cultural service levels lies not only in the increasing perfection of infrastructure but also in the transformation and upgrading of service models. "In the past, we performed and the masses watched; now, the masses perform themselves and come voluntarily," said Ao Chao (敖超), curator of the Tibet Autonomous Region Mass Art Center (西藏自治区群众艺术馆).

Through the implementation of a county and township literary and artistic backbone training program, Tibet trains more than 1,000 literary and artistic talents for grassroots levels every year, promoting the transformation of public cultural services from "delivering culture" to "cultivating culture." At present, Tibet has 76 county (district, city) art troupes, 153 folk Tibetan opera troupes, 395 township literary and artistic performance teams, and 5,492 established village (community) literary and artistic performance teams.

Public cultural services are becoming a new engine for promoting the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas. At a cultural station in Gyantse County (江孜县), Shigatse City (日喀则市), local women learn traditional Tibetan embroidery, and the handicrafts they produce are sold at home and abroad. "In the past, when I was free from farming, I had nothing to do. Now that I have learned embroidery, I can both inherit the craft and increase my income," said Yangzong (央宗), a local woman, adding that she can earn more than 3,000 yuan a month.

Digitalization is injecting new impetus into public cultural services. After the launch of the Tibet Public Culture Cloud Platform (西藏公共文化云平台), people can watch Tibetan opera, learn traditional handicrafts, and visit museums anytime, anywhere with just a mobile phone. Tsering Azong (次热阿宗), a herdsman from Xiaqu Township (下曲乡), Nyainrong County (聂荣县), Nagqu City (那曲市), learned traditional weaving skills through the platform and increased his income. "The teachers at the cultural station also guide me remotely through video to design new patterns," said Tsering Azong (次热阿宗).

From grassland pastoral areas to border villages, from traditional intangible cultural heritage to digital platforms, Tibet's public cultural services are integrating into people's daily lives in richer forms. These visible and tangible cultural benefits not only enrich people's cultural lives but also help increase income and wealth, injecting a spirit of encouragement into the snowy plateau.

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Former Deputy Secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee and Former Governor of the Provincial Government Jin Xiangjun Severely Violated Party Discipline and Laws and Was Expelled from the Party and Public Office

According to a report from this newspaper in Beijing on October 10th, with the approval of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (中共中央), the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission (中央纪委国家监委) have filed a case for investigation into the serious violations of discipline and law by Jin Xiangjun (金湘军), a member of the 20th Central Committee, former Deputy Secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee (山西省委) and former Governor of the Provincial Government.

The investigation found that Jin Xiangjun (金湘军) had lost his ideals and beliefs, deviated from his original aspiration and mission, abandoned his political responsibilities, and implemented the Party Central Committee's decisions and deployments with discounts, distortions, and perfunctory responses. He disregarded the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulation of the Central Committee (中央八项规定精神), accepted banquets and travel arrangements that could affect the impartial execution of his duties, and accepted "nanny-style" services provided by private business owners free of charge. He violated organizational principles by failing to truthfully explain issues during organizational inquiries, sought benefits for others in cadre selection and appointment, and accepted property. He failed to maintain the bottom line of integrity, used his power to seek benefits for others, allowed relatives to accept property from the other party, arranged for relatives to receive salaries without actual work, illegally accepted gifts and money, illegally possessed shares in non-listed companies, and engaged in power-for-sex and money-for-sex transactions. He used his position to seek benefits for others in business operations and project contracting, and illegally accepted huge amounts of property.

Jin Xiangjun (金湘军) seriously violated the Party's political discipline, organizational discipline, integrity discipline, and life discipline, constituted serious violations of duty and was suspected of bribery crimes. Moreover, he did not restrain himself or stop his actions after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, his actions were serious in nature and had a vile impact, and he should be severely dealt with. In accordance with the "Regulations on Disciplinary Sanctions of the Communist Party of China" (《中国共产党纪律处分条例》), the "Supervision Law of the People's Republic of China" (《中华人民共和国监察法》), the "Public Official Political Sanctions Law of the People's Republic of China" (《中华人民共和国公职人员政务处分法》) and other relevant regulations, it was decided, upon research by the Standing Committee of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and reported to the Political Bureau of the Central Committee for deliberation, to give Jin Xiangjun (金湘军) a punishment of expulsion from the Party; the National Supervisory Commission (国家监委) will give him a punishment of dismissal from public office; terminate his qualifications as a representative of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China; confiscate his illegal gains from violations of discipline and law; and transfer his suspected criminal issues to the procuratorial organs for investigation and prosecution in accordance with the law, and transfer the property involved along with him. The punishment of expulsion from the Party will be confirmed when the plenary session of the Central Committee is convened.

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Photo Report

The Lujiazhi Bridge (鲁家峙大桥) in Zhoushan City (舟山市), Zhejiang Province (浙江省), which was completed and opened to traffic in 2006, has been in operation for nearly 20 years. To ensure the structural safety of the bridge and improve its traffic capacity, the local government is implementing an upgrading and renovation project, carrying out operations such as replacing bridge suspenders and repairing defects. The picture shows the construction site on October 9.

Photo by Zou Xunyong (邹训永) (Image China (影像中国)).

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Editors of this section: Liu Nian, Lu Tao, Guo Yue

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"Golden Spike" Marks Earth's Memory (Academician Explains Science)

By: 沈树忠

Netizen: Not long ago, my family traveled to Guizhou Province (贵州省). In Balang Village (八郎村), Jianhe County (剑河县), we listened to the local tour guide introduce the "golden spike." Why drive a "golden spike" into the rock? What's the mystery behind it?

Editor: The "golden spike" in Balang Village (八郎村), Gedong Town (革东镇), Jianhe County (剑河县), Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture (黔东南苗族侗族自治州), Guizhou Province (贵州省), is the 69th global and the 11th in China. Some say that the "golden spike" is a ruler that can measure the Earth's geological age; others say that the "golden spike" is a bookmark that marks the history of the Earth's evolution. In this issue of "Academician Talks Science," we invited Academician Shen Shuzhong (沈树忠), of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院) and professor at Nanjing University (南京大学), to talk about how to understand the "Book of the Earth" through the "golden spike."

The "golden spike" is the "anchor point" that defines and distinguishes strata formed in different global eras, used to divide global geological age boundaries. The establishment of the "golden spike" provides an international standard time frame for reconstructing Earth's history, laying the foundation for studying various geological and biological evolution events that occurred during geological history and predicting the spatial and temporal distribution of various natural mineral resources.

How to Establish a "Golden Spike"

To understand what a "golden spike" is, you must first understand geological time.

The Earth has gone through about 4.6 billion years, leaving behind rich geological records. To understand the story of the Earth, geological language is essential.

Geologists have been exploring the truth of the Earth's evolution in order to judge the Earth's current situation and predict the future through what has happened over billions of years. However, plate movements, volcanic eruptions, sea-land changes... the Earth is constantly changing, leading to the fragmentation of geological records. Therefore, "understanding" the surface rock record to understand the timeline of Earth's history has become an important topic in the field of Earth science.

We use timekeeping tools such as watches to mark the moments when various events occur. But for the ancient Earth, there were no humans, let alone writing. How do we divide billions of years of time?

To solve this problem, the International Union of Geological Sciences (国际地质科学联合会) established the International Commission on Stratigraphy (国际地层委员会), whose main task is to establish an internationally unified geological age division framework.

The origin of the name "golden spike" can be traced back to the completion of a railway across the North American continent in the 19th century. An 18K gold railroad spike, witnessed by thousands of people, was riveted into the last sleeper crossing the rails. The International Commission on Stratigraphy (国际地层委员会) cited this anecdote of the "golden spike" to represent the golden dividing point of the international geological age, used to record time nodes of important evolutionary significance in Earth's history.

However, establishing a "golden spike" is not easy and requires meeting multiple conditions—the stratigraphic record must be complete, with no obvious later modifications, and with abundant fossils or other markers with isochronous comparative value that can be used for regional and intercontinental comparison. Currently, the most common standard for international comparison is the first appearance of a certain index fossil, such as the "golden spike" at the base of the Wuliu Stage (乌溜阶) in Jianhe (剑河), Guizhou (贵州), which is marked by the appearance of the trilobite fossil "India Phillipsiidae" (印度掘头虫).

In recent years, the establishment markers of "golden spikes" have become more diversified, including abnormal changes in isotope geochemistry, the reversal time of the Earth's magnetic field, and the age of volcanic ash determined using advanced isotope dating technology.

Precise Coordinates of Earth's History, Indicating Major Events in Geological Periods

A "golden spike" is a "golden coordinate" of a specific geological time node. The area where the "golden spike" is established should be open to the world, facilitating research and visits by scholars and the public from various countries.

As a precise coordinate of Earth's history, the "golden spike" can help us interpret major events in geological periods.

For example, the "Snowball Earth" event refers to the Earth being covered by ice and snow multiple times between approximately 700 million and 635 million years ago. After the "Snowball Earth" event, widespread dolomite deposition occurred globally. The appearance of this cap dolomite in the Flinders Ranges (弗林德斯山脉) of South Australia (南澳大利亚) is used to define the beginning of the "Ediacaran Period," marking the end of the "Snowball Earth" event.

For another example, about 252 million years ago, due to rapid global warming, ocean acidification, and land aridification, more than 80% of global marine and terrestrial organisms became extinct rapidly in a short period of time. The international team led by Chinese paleontologists Academician Yin Hongfu (殷鸿福) and Academician Jin Yugan (金玉玕) established the "golden spikes" at the Permian-Triassic boundary and the base of the Changhsingian Stage (长兴阶) at the Meishan (煤山) section in Changxing (长兴), Zhejiang (浙江), respectively. These two "golden spikes" precisely anchored the largest mass extinction event in history to have occurred 252 million years ago, lasting no more than 60,000 years.

In addition, "golden spikes" can also expose traces of cosmic visitors. About 66 million years ago, the boundary between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras, which marks the extinction of the dinosaurs, is marked by a clay layer with a high concentration of iridium, indicating that a comet struck the Earth at that time, which to some extent explains why the dinosaur kingdom, which once occupied land, sea, and air, became extinct in an instant.

China Has Established 11 "Golden Spikes," Ranking Among the Top in the World

Currently, there are more than 100 "golden spikes" in the "International Chronostratigraphic Chart." After decades of exploration by scientists around the world, more than 80 "golden spikes" have been officially approved by the International Union of Geological Sciences (国际地质科学联合会). The "golden spike" is known as the "Olympic gold medal" in the field of international stratigraphy. Its establishment has a complete set of procedures, requiring the establishment of an international working group and the selection of sections with complete stratigraphic sedimentary series and the highest degree of research as standards.

The establishment of the "golden spike" reflects a country's comprehensive strength, academic level, and international status in the field of stratigraphy. Scholars from all countries hope to keep these "golden spikes" in their own countries, so there is fierce competition in the international academic community.

Chinese scientists, starting late, have made full use of China's advantages in stratigraphic paleontological resources and made a breakthrough in 1997—the team led by Academician Chen Xu (陈旭) took the lead in establishing the "golden spike" at the base of the Darriwilian Stage (达瑞威尔阶) of the Ordovician at Huangnitang (黄泥塘), Changshan (常山), Zhejiang (浙江). Since then, Chinese scholars have continued to achieve good results and have successively established 11 "golden spikes" in China, ranking among the top in the world. In addition, Chinese scholars have also led or participated in the establishment of multiple foreign "golden spikes," contributing to the development of international stratigraphy and the establishment of an international geological age framework.

Establishing a "golden spike" does not mean the end of stratigraphic work. With the rapid development of big data and artificial intelligence, the research of Earth science urgently needs to be integrated with new research methods. The international major science program "Deep-time Digital Earth (DDE)" initiated by Chinese scientists is a global collaboration between scientists and institutions around the major scientific proposition of Earth evolution. It uses artificial intelligence, big data, and other technologies to integrate the Earth's spatiotemporal big data from the past billions of years, focusing on major scientific issues such as life evolution, geographical evolution, climate evolution, and material evolution, to more deeply understand the spatiotemporal distribution patterns of mineral resources and energy, and make due contributions to human sustainable development.

How to use "golden coordinates" to establish a high-precision, high-resolution deep-time axis combined with big data and artificial intelligence models is one of the important tasks of "Deep-time Digital Earth (DDE)," which requires the international academic community to strengthen cooperation in multiple fields and carry out interdisciplinary research to achieve breakthroughs. This work is of great scientific and practical significance for further understanding the formation and evolution of the Earth, understanding the triggering mechanisms of major geological events, and improving the understanding of the distribution patterns of resources and energy.

(The author is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院) and a professor at Nanjing University (南京大学))

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How Much Do You Know About "Golden Spikes"? (Fun Science - Q&A)

This issue's host: Shen Shuzhong (沈树忠)

A netizen asked: Are "golden spikes" made of pure gold?

Answer: In fact, "golden spikes" are not made of gold, but of materials such as iron, copper, and plexiglass.

The name "golden spike" comes from a railroad spike made of 18K gold used when the transcontinental railroad across North America was completed. However, the "golden spikes" used to determine geological time boundaries are not made of gold. They are made of various materials, all of which are conducive to long-term preservation.

A netizen asked: What is the process for establishing a "golden spike"? Can you briefly describe it?

Answer: The selection of sections for driving in "golden spikes" is particular, and the establishment process is relatively complex.

First, we need to select complete sections that are lithologically uniform and rich in fossils, and there can be multiple "candidates." Then, the international boundary working group organizes a vote to determine the section for the "golden spike." Next, the working group submits a proposal to the International Commission on Stratigraphy. The proposal usually undergoes two to three months of discussion, and all voting members of the relevant stratigraphic subcommittee (usually composed of scientists from various countries working in this field) vote, requiring more than 2/3 of the votes to pass. It is worth noting that if no section stands out in the first round of voting, a second round of voting will be conducted on the top two sections with the most votes.

The section selected by vote is submitted to the International Commission on Stratigraphy, which also undergoes two to three months of discussion. After the discussion, all voting members of the International Commission on Stratigraphy vote again. After passing, the section is submitted to the International Union of Geological Sciences for formal approval. After approval, the location of the "golden spike" section must be protected and opened to the public. The proposal must be formally published.

A netizen asked: How are "golden spikes" driven in? What direct information is included on the "golden spikes"?

Answer: Some "golden spikes" are driven directly into the boundary point with a sledgehammer, while others are glued on with super glue. "Golden spikes" generally include the name of the International Commission on Stratigraphy, the name of the "golden spike," the location of the "golden spike" boundary, the year of establishment, and other information.

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Are there white holes in the universe, besides black holes? (Talking "Science")

By: 杨 科

The renowned science fiction author Liu Cixin (刘慈欣) described a "miniature white hole" in his novel "The Poetry Cloud," sparking much speculation. Imagine a celestial body in the universe, like a never-ending "fountain," constantly spewing light and matter outwards, violently "pushing away" any object that approaches it.

This is the theoretical white hole.

To understand white holes, we must first understand their "twin brother," the black hole.

In the early 20th century, physicist Karl Schwarzschild solved an exact solution to Einstein's theory of general relativity. This mathematical result predicted that if the mass of a celestial body is compressed to a certain critical radius (later called the "Schwarzschild radius"), the spacetime around it will become extremely curved, forming a region from which even light cannot escape. This region is the black hole.

However, the existence of black holes was once met with skepticism. Even Einstein believed it was merely a mathematical construct, not a real entity.

It wasn't until 1971 that astronomical observations showed that the invisible celestial body accompanying the blue supergiant star in the Cygnus X-1 binary system was very likely a black hole. Subsequently, more and more observational evidence showed that black holes are widespread in the centers of galaxies and in the remnants of massive stars. In 2019, a photograph of the supermassive black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy was released, allowing us to "see" the black hole. Recently, this black hole has a new photo.

If a black hole is likened to a "bottomless pit" in the universe, where anything that approaches it is swallowed up, and even light cannot escape, then a white hole is the opposite: it does not allow anything to enter, but only "spits" out matter and energy.

Interestingly, white holes and black holes are mathematically the same "solution" - they have the same mass, angular momentum, and charge, the only difference being that time is reversed.

Black holes constantly devour matter, a "cosmic abyss" with no exit; but if time is reversed, it becomes a white hole that constantly emits matter. Even more astonishing is that some theories suggest that black holes and white holes may be connected by a spacetime tunnel called a "wormhole." If a particle falls into a black hole and passes through a wormhole, it may be ejected from a white hole - achieving true "interstellar travel."

The theory holds, but do white holes really exist in reality?

To date, there is no observational evidence to show that white holes actually exist. Some scientists believe that white holes lack a reasonable formation mechanism - black holes are formed by the collapse of massive stars, and even if time is reversed, it will only return to the star before the collapse, rather than forming a white hole.

However, some scientists believe that white hole theory can be used to explain certain phenomena in the universe. For example, the astonishing energy output of quasars, and even the birth of our universe itself, may have originated from the eruption of a primordial white hole. However, these conjectures lack support from astronomical observations.

Although white holes have not been proven to exist, some scientists have put forward new speculations.

General relativity predicts that there is a "singularity" with infinite density at the center of a black hole, which contradicts quantum mechanics, meaning that general relativity is no longer applicable near the singularity. Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli proposed while studying loop quantum gravity that when matter is compressed to the limit by a black hole, it may produce a violent quantum rebound, re-ejecting the matter - at this time, the black hole turns into a white hole. If this theory holds, then every black hole in our universe may become a white hole in the future.

Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, we will truly discover white holes and, through them, open an interstellar gate to the depths of the universe.

(The author is an associate professor at the School of Physical Science and Technology of Southwest University (西南大学), interviewed and compiled by Wang Xin Yue (王欣悦), a reporter from this newspaper)

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China's large-scale hypergravity field research facility's core equipment officially put into use.

This is a report from our Hangzhou (杭州) office (Reporter Jiang Nan (江南), Dou Hanyang (窦瀚洋)). Recently, the core equipment of the national major science and technology infrastructure - the Super-Gravity Centrifuge Simulation and Experiment Facility, located in Hangzhou (杭州), Zhejiang (浙江), was officially put into use. This set of super-gravity large scientific device, completely independently developed by China, can create a "super-gravity field" that is thousands of times greater than the Earth's gravity. The device can reproduce the changes of the real world in the laboratory with very small dimensions and extremely short time, providing key support for inferring and verifying kilometer-scale disasters and ten-thousand-year-long pollution migration.

The device, led by Zhejiang University (浙江大学), is a large and complex scientific experimental facility that integrates super-gravity fields and extreme environments. The first centrifuge put into use this time has a capacity of 1300g·t (gravitational acceleration·ton), which is currently the largest centrifuge in the world. In addition, two centrifuges with capacities of 1500g·t and 1900g·t are under construction. All equipment is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.

In the future, from deep-sea energy development to earthquake-resistant building design, from nuclear waste disposal to new material research and development, the Super-Gravity Centrifuge Simulation and Experiment Facility will become a powerful booster for multidisciplinary research.

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China's crewed lunar landing "progress bar" keeps updating.

By: 本报记者 刘诗瑶

Recently, China successfully organized and implemented the second tethered ignition test of the Long March 10 series carrier rocket at the Wenchang Space Launch Site, completing all scheduled tethered ignition tests as planned. The so-called "tethered test" is to firmly fix the experimental rocket body on the test platform for ignition testing, tethering it to prevent it from flying away.

On the day of the test, as the command center issued the ignition command, the seven engines of the rocket's first stage test product ignited simultaneously, completing multiple test procedures according to the predetermined program. The total test duration was 320 seconds, focusing on assessing the low-work condition operation and secondary ignition start-up capabilities of the seven parallel engines of the rocket's first stage, obtaining complete test data, and the test was a complete success.

Currently, China's manned lunar exploration project's lunar landing phase mission has been launched and implemented, with plans to achieve the first Chinese landing on the moon before 2030. The Long March 10 series carrier rocket is a new generation of manned carrier rocket developed by China for the manned lunar exploration mission, including two configurations: Long March 10 and Long March 10A. The Long March 10 will undertake the launch missions of the Mengzhou Y manned spacecraft (梦舟Y载人飞船) and the Lanyue lunar lander (揽月月面着陆器) in the manned lunar landing mission. The Long March 10A will undertake the launch missions of the Mengzhou manned spacecraft (梦舟载人飞船) and the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft (天舟货运飞船) in the space station application and development project.

Why conduct a tethered ignition test?

Experts from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (中国航天科技集团) introduced that tethered ignition is a short-term power system test run, which is an essential part of the rocket development process.

The tethered ignition test of the Long March 10 series carrier rocket is implemented step by step, verifying the idea of gradually verifying the two goals of performance verification of the primary seven-engine parallel engine power system, recovery and reuse verification. The purpose is to obtain the real load environmental characteristics under the primary seven-engine parallel working state, and to verify the working procedures of the recovery section, which is an important means to release the risk of the first flight.

On the afternoon of August 15, China successfully organized and implemented the first tethered ignition test of the Long March 10 series carrier rocket at the Wenchang Space Launch Site (文昌航天发射场).

What are the differences between the two tethered ignitions?

Experts introduced that the first tethered ignition test mainly tested the working state of the take-off stage shared by the two types of rockets, simulating the coordination and matching of various systems under the action of nearly 1,000 tons of thrust; the second test focused on testing the rocket during the return and landing stages, mainly conducting a comprehensive simulation and assessment of different engine working sequences such as power deceleration and aerodynamic deceleration.

Up to now, the two tethered ignition tests planned for the Long March 10 series carrier rocket have been completed, comprehensively verifying the correctness and reliability of the rocket's primary seven-engine power system performance and recovery section working procedure design, marking a phased breakthrough in the initial prototype development of the Long March 10 series carrier rocket.

Experts said that in the future, the Long March 10 series carrier rocket will be fully applied to manned space engineering missions, and together with the Mengzhou manned spacecraft (梦舟载人飞船), it will realize the upgrading of China's manned round-trip transportation system between heaven and earth.

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Scientists reveal the role of the Arctic Ocean in global warming 56 million years ago

Guangzhou Electric News from this newspaper (Reporter Jiang Xiaodan (姜晓丹)) Recently, the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry (广州地球化学研究所) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院) and an international cooperation team published a paper in the international academic journal *Nature Geoscience*, pointing out that changes in ocean sulfate concentration can alter the way methane is consumed. This achievement reveals the carbon cycle mechanism behind extreme global warming and ocean acidification during the super-warming event 56 million years ago (Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, PETM).

In the modern ocean, about 90% of methane is utilized by microorganisms in sediments under anaerobic conditions, producing alkaline substances and alleviating ocean acidification. However, during the PETM period, the sulfate concentration in Arctic seawater was less than 1/3 of the modern level. "Because of the severe lack of sulfate, a type of oxygen-loving bacteria began to 'rapidly burn' methane—they directly consume oxygen and rapidly release carbon dioxide," said Zhang Yige (张一歌), the project leader and researcher.

Based on the carbon dioxide concentration reconstructed from molecular traces of marine phytoplankton, the carbon dioxide concentration level in the Arctic Ocean during the PETM recovery period was 200-700 ppm higher than the global average, indicating that the Arctic Ocean changed from absorbing carbon dioxide to emitting carbon dioxide. "Because the seawater became less saline and sulfate decreased, methane could only be decomposed through 'rapid combustion', directly producing a large amount of carbon dioxide," said Shen Jiaheng (沈佳恒), the co-author of the paper and researcher, "This fundamentally changed the role of the Arctic in the global carbon cycle, turning it into a source of greenhouse gas emissions."

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Editors of this page: Zhichunli, Chen Yuanyuan, Chen Shihan

Layout Design: Zhang Danfeng (张丹峰)

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Xinjiang Youth Striving on the Front Lines of Development (Dream Chasers)

By: 本报记者 蒋云龙

High-quality development is making solid strides, the core area construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt is accelerating, and a socialist modernized Xinjiang is displaying a new look and new atmosphere of openness and confidence.

　　Listen closely, and the sounds of trains, cars, and airplanes echo in the winds of the Silk Road; look into the distance, and the Gobi Desert has become a vast ocean for the development of wind and photovoltaic power; touch lightly, and a small screen can manage boundless farmland... Xinjiang is not only "poetry and the distance" but also fertile ground for innovation and entrepreneurship. The vast number of young people seize opportunities, work hard, and "fight" on the front lines of development.

　　Foreign trade professionals seize development opportunities, helping Chinese goods fly to the world.

　　At Xinjiang Ürümqi Tianshan International Airport (新疆乌鲁木齐天山国际机场), as the last cargo plane flew across the night sky, Yao Huiming, operations supervisor of Xinjiang Wansheng Tong Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. (新疆万盛通供应链管理有限公司), finished his shift. At 27 years old, he is already a senior foreign trade professional.

　　"I started working as a foreign trade freight forwarder after graduating from university in 2019. I used to do road transportation, matching domestic goods, car batteries, or medical supplies to trucks and sending them to Europe and Central Asia," said Yao Huiming.

　　In 2023, Yao Huiming started doing air cargo, and the Spring Festival that year left the deepest impression on him—he didn't go home for the New Year but started a new career field at Kashgar Airport (喀什机场). "Unlike road transportation, air cargo requires every process to be accurate to the minute. If there is an emergency, I have to allocate the goods on the spot," Yao Huiming said, standing in the whistling cold wind, watching cargo planes full of the goods he prepared take off, and feeling that Xinjiang is becoming a new hub for Chinese goods to fly to the world.

　　"At the beginning of 2024, we discovered that the volume of goods transported from China to Europe continued to grow rapidly, and the throughput of many airports was approaching its ceiling. Can Ürümqi (乌鲁木齐) seize this opportunity?" In Yao Huiming's view, this is also a rare opportunity for himself.

　　After multiple communications and interactions between the government and enterprises, the Ürümqi (乌鲁木齐) Area of the China (Xinjiang) Free Trade Pilot Zone (中国（新疆）自由贸易试验区乌鲁木齐片区) promoted the implementation of bonded aviation fuel business. Since then, international flights refuel with bonded aviation fuel in Ürümqi (乌鲁木齐), which can reduce the cost of each ton of aviation fuel by about 13%.

　　"Bonded aviation fuel is 'added as soon as it arrives,' and cargo customs clearance is convenient and efficient, which improves logistics efficiency. Since the beginning of this year, the cargo capacity of Ürümqi Tianshan International Airport (乌鲁木齐天山国际机场) has increased by 715% year-on-year, becoming one of the fastest-growing airports in the world in terms of outbound air cargo," said Liu Jingyi, Deputy Director of Ürümqi Tianshan International Airport Customs (乌鲁木齐天山国际机场海关).

　　"Our business has also taken off as a result." At the beginning, Yao Huiming expected that "it would be good to be able to handle one cargo plane a day," but now, in the peak season, he has to send out eight cargo planes a day, and at least two in the off-season.

　　Six o'clock in the afternoon is Yao Huiming's working time. After completing the customs declaration process, he also has to go to the airport cargo site to keep an eye on things. When he first came into contact with air cargo, Yao Huiming was so busy that he was in a state of anxiety; now he can send out 200 tons of goods every day and is already a skilled professional.

　　"I am from Ili (伊犁). When I was a child, I saw foreign trade merchants in Khorgas (霍尔果斯). They transported our goods abroad and returned fully loaded with specialties from the other side. It was a very magical profession," Yao Huiming said. Now he has also become a foreign trade professional. With a click of the mouse, hundreds of tons of goods complete the process, board the plane, and fly from Ürümqi (乌鲁木齐) to all over the world.

　　Yao Huiming's team has 110 people, all born in the 1980s and 1990s. "We have caught up with a good era for foreign trade, and everyone can work hard," Yao Huiming said.

　　The working methods of young foreign trade professionals are very different from those of their predecessors, and their lifestyles are more diverse. "Everyone has their own hobbies. My favorite is motorcycle travel. I bought a full set of equipment, and I have already been to Ürümqi Nanshan (乌鲁木齐南山), Dabancheng (达坂城), Bai Niao Lake (白鸟湖), and Bogda Peak (博格达峰)." Yao Huiming is looking forward to a long vacation, "I must fulfill my dream and travel to Lhasa (拉萨) by motorcycle."

　　A female PhD student who mocks herself for "not being able to return to being white" reduces planting costs by 25%.

　　Tangyi Town (唐驿镇) in Tumxuk City (图木舒克市), Xinjiang (新疆), is located in the lower reaches of the Yarkand River (叶尔羌河). When Ma Yiru was still studying for her doctorate at Shihezi University (石河子大学), she came here to conduct research and discovered a strange thing.

　　"The soil fertility in Xinjiang (新疆) is already very rich, but in order to achieve high yields, farmers are constantly increasing the amount of fertilizer applied, and the input-output ratio is decreasing instead," Ma Yiru used her professional knowledge to guide local farmers to apply fertilizer scientifically and accurately. On the premise of ensuring output, the cost of farming for farmers has generally been reduced by about 25%.

　　Ma Yiru, who is 28 years old this year, just graduated with a doctorate. She originally planned to go to a university or research institution after graduation, but this incident changed her mind: "The ultimate goal of studying agriculture is to apply it. Since my research results can already serve agricultural production, why not find a way to promote them?"

　　"I want to go to the front line of agricultural production," Ma Yiru expressed her determination to her parents, "My research should not only become a paper, but should be used by farmers and play its role in the fields." So, Ma Yiru and several classmates jointly established Xinjiang Yunchou Information Technology Co., Ltd. (新疆耘筹信息科技有限公司), focusing on smart planting, using remote sensing technology to monitor, diagnose, and make decisions about crop growth, and serve farmers.

　　"Farmers no longer just follow their feelings when applying fertilizer and irrigating." Ma Yiru and her colleagues developed agricultural Internet of Things and remote sensing technology to monitor farmland soil information, nutrient information, and crop transpiration in real time, and precisely control it through a water-fertilizer integrated intelligent irrigation system. The agricultural big data analysis and decision-making system platform they built not only provides decision-making reference for farmers' planting but also helps farmers more effectively connect with market demand.

　　However, doing scientific research in the laboratory is different from serving the agricultural market. Some of Ma Yiru's ideas about the development of crop monitoring models were opposed by most of her colleagues.

　　"According to my idea, the sample size for actual farmland plant sampling is very large, which will take a lot of energy, and all the staff of the company will have to invest in it," Ma Yiru said, "This will definitely affect the company's operation, and the results may not be successful."

　　Faced with colleagues' doubts, fear of difficulties, and even slackness, Ma Yiru chose to believe in the knowledge she had learned: "Seeing that I had confidence, they were also persuaded." For two consecutive years, from the end of April to the beginning of September every year, the season when the sun in Xinjiang (新疆) is the hottest is also the season when crops grow. Ma Yiru has been working in the fields. She has to stay for a week in far places and two or three days in nearby places.

　　"I have been carefully applying sunscreen. But at noon, under the hot sun, sunscreen clothing cannot be worn and hats cannot be worn. Just get tanned, anyway, I can't 'return to being white'," Ma Yiru said with a smile. Now this model has been successfully developed and serves agricultural production, and the colleagues who participated are proud of their initial persistence and efforts.

　　In Shihezi City (石河子市), Xinjiang (新疆), a group of young people are also engaged in smart agriculture with Ma Yiru. "Our company has 40 people, most of whom are under 30 years old. Everyone thinks that smart agriculture has a very promising future. Now the planters are also generally younger, and they also have their own understanding and requirements for smart agriculture," Ma Yiru said, "Now Xinjiang agriculture is increasingly becoming a young people's industry and a sunrise industry."

　　An engineer rooted in the Gobi Desert plans a future ocean of computing power.

　　Naomao Lake (淖毛湖) is a small town in Yiwu County (伊吾县), Hami City (哈密市), Xinjiang (新疆). Under the scorching sun, photovoltaic solar panels are like a deep blue ocean. On the Gobi Desert, the blades of wind turbines are constantly dancing.

　　Li Chao, the current Deputy Dean of the Energy Computing Power Integration (Hami) Research Institute (能源算力融合（哈密）研究院), who came to Hami (哈密) at the beginning of 2023, saw the broad future of computing power development on this land.

　　"In the past, Hami (哈密) mainly focused on coal export, and later developed into coal chemical industry and new energy. This provides good energy resource conditions for large-scale development of the computing power industry. With the support of national policies, we are constantly striving towards the goal of becoming an important node in the 'Eastern Data and Western Computing' project," Li Chao said.

　　This idea coincides with Hami City's (哈密市) demand for high-quality development. With abundant energy resources, Hami City (哈密市) regards the development of the computing power economy as the top priority for forging new quality productive forces and is making every effort to seize the opportunities of the national integrated computing power network construction and the "Artificial Intelligence +" action.

　　Li Chao, who is 38 years old this year, stayed in Yiwu County (伊吾县), Hami City (哈密市). Over the past two years, his team has contributed to the innovative development of Hami's (哈密) computing power economy as a think tank.

　　"Eastern Data and Western Computing" is not as easy to do as it is to say. First, Xinjiang (新疆) is far away from the eastern region, and data transmission faces a series of problems such as high latency, easy jitter, high packet loss rate, and data security. Second, the weather in Xinjiang (新疆) is cold in winter, construction is difficult, and the construction of computing power projects must be rushed.

　　"Unblock the previous bottleneck and solve the latter difficulty." On the first day after the Spring Festival holiday in 2024, Li Chao led the team to start a 90-day battle. After multi-party research and technical comparison, the Xinjiang (新疆) to other provinces' computing power private network transmission channel was finally constructed through the application of the domestically produced and controllable V2V video network protocol system, which effectively solved the problems of latency, jitter, and packet loss.

　　Li Chao led the team to solve the construction problems one by one in the cold wind. In April 2024, the Hami Yiwu (哈密伊吾) Advanced Computing Cluster and Urban Computing Power Network Demonstration Project were successfully launched, and Hami City's (哈密市) computing power industry also achieved a breakthrough from scratch.

　　In recent years, Chongqing (重庆) and Hami (哈密) have carried out close cooperation. One is to aim at Hami's (哈密) "green electricity" and hope to provide sufficient electricity for Chongqing's (重庆) high-quality development; the other is to hope to expand the depth and breadth of cooperation in computing power. Li Chao said: "In June of this year, we have delivered 2000P of computing power to Chongqing (重庆), and in the future, the computing power needs of many of their important enterprises can be guaranteed in Hami (哈密)."

　　This is a good start. The construction of the Hami (Yiwu) (哈密（伊吾）) Computing Power Innovation Demonstration Zone is accelerating, and people from many provinces and large enterprises have also come to Hami (哈密) to discuss computing power cooperation.

　　At present, artificial intelligence is developing rapidly, bringing new opportunities and challenges to the construction of Hami's (哈密) computing power network. "In response to the needs and pain points of local traditional energy and chemical industry development and social and people's livelihood services such as medical education, the Research Institute is developing artificial intelligence solutions and providing services through large models," Li Chao said, "At present, the Research Institute has 15 young researchers and more than 40 western volunteers in related fields, among whom the post-00s are the main force, and everyone is full of energy."

　　"Geographically, we can be said to be a small city on the northwest frontier, but in the development and application of computing power and artificial intelligence, we have caught up with the forefront," Li Chao said.

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Reading, "Fan"-d by Book Fairs (Youth Perspective)

By: 吴 月

Do young people still like to read?

Not long ago, my companions and I came to the "My and Ditan" Beijing Book Fair (北京书市), and had a direct feeling about the answer to this question: after exiting the subway station, there was no need to ask for directions, just follow the crowd in the direction of the book fair; the stalls were crowded and bustling, more lively than scenic spots and shopping malls; some people pulled trolleys, some dragged boxes, "no one can leave the book fair empty-handed"; seeing readers carrying the same cultural and creative canvas bags, I couldn't help but smile knowingly...

It turns out that there are so many people who love to read! Coming for books, befriending books, and communicating with companions, everyone laughed and said that there was a feeling of "吾道不孤 (wú dào bù gū - "my way not alone," not feeling isolated in pursuing one's principles or beliefs)." Who says young people don't love to read? From a book fair "attracting fans," we can get a glimpse of young people's enthusiasm for reading.

This enthusiasm is supported by a strong literary atmosphere, and is also presented as new reading characteristics: nowadays, we have richer reading resources, and no longer need to find ways to find books or borrow books. Good books in libraries, bookstores, and book exhibitions are within reach; we have more diverse reading methods. In addition to reading paper books late at night, we can also read e-books and listen to audiobooks on the commute; we also have online and offline "reading buddies," who can participate in book clubs, "follow" reading bloggers, and annotate and comment on e-reading platforms to make friends with book lovers... Reading habits may be changing, but what remains unchanged is the thirst for knowledge and the love for reading.

Behind the enthusiasm, there are also some small troubles. When will the books bought at the book fair be finished? On a certain social platform, the "Buying Books Like a Mountain, Reading Books Like Drawing Silk" group has gathered many members, who share the joy of getting books, and also joke about not having time or patience to read; in university libraries, most students study hard, but the time to read "leisure books" is rare. A survey shows that being busy with study and work and having difficulty finding time to read, having difficulty concentrating, being easily distracted or giving up halfway, electronic devices taking up reading time, and having difficulty engaging in deep thinking when reading are challenges faced by many young people when reading.

In the digital age, the pace of society is fast, and it is not easy to calm down and patiently sit down and read a book. From the external environment, we might as well further create an atmosphere that encourages reading, so that more young people can see the value of reading. Recently, during the Beijing Book Fair (北京书市), the "Old Books, New Knowledge, Reading and Educating People" event was carried out in universities, bringing more literary fragrance to the campus; at the beginning of the school year, some schools gave books to new students, sowing the seeds of love for reading; and some universities selected library "Reader Stars" and established reading scholarships, guiding students to read more through evaluation incentive mechanisms. With companions and a good atmosphere, reading will become the choice of more people.

Cultivating reading habits is also inseparable from one's own peaceful state of mind. For book lovers, reading is a way of life, not suffering from taking time to read, but only finding joy in it. We might as well carry forward the spirit of "squeezing" and "drilling," read more and read good books, and draw wisdom and nourishment from books; leave ourselves some time to slow down and immerse ourselves, read quietly and think quietly, and guard our core and qualities.

As night falls, the book fair lights up. In the bookstore at the entrance of the park, Shi Tiesheng's (史铁生) sentence catches the eye: "In the quiet light that permeates the garden, it is easier for a person to see time and see his own figure." Just like our reading today, there is both lively gathering and quiet immersion. Walking out of Ditan (地坛) and opening a book to read, those simple and elegant words will eventually become the strength deep in our hearts.

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Twelve Years on the Plateau: Guarding the Lights of Countless Homes (Youth Diary)

By: 吴嘉楠

I am a native Hebei (河北) girl who has always yearned for the vastness of the western regions. In 2013, I graduated from North China Electric Power University (华北电力大学) with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Automation. With the ideal of "going to the places where the motherland needs me most," I devoted myself to the power industry on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (青藏高原).

My first station in Qinghai (青海) was the 330 kV Yushu Substation (玉树变电站), located at an altitude of over 3,700 meters. Yushu (玉树) has a high altitude, and people are prone to hypoxia. Although I was mentally prepared, altitude sickness still gave me a 下马威 (xià mǎ wēi - "a display of power to intimidate," an initial show of force or authority to intimidate someone). I experienced chest tightness, headaches, and shortness of breath after walking just a few steps. Looking at my colleagues who were persevering, I secretly asked myself: If others can do it, why can't I? I started to slow down, adjust my breathing, and take oxygen breaks to relieve the discomfort. As soon as I felt better, I proactively increased the number of inspections, not only to familiarize myself with the equipment but also to help my body adapt to the high-altitude environment as quickly as possible.

Whenever the herders living near the substation had electrical problems at home, they would come to the substation to ask me and my colleagues for help. After the repairs, when the light bulbs were lit again, we would receive sincere thanks from the people. At that moment, a sense of steadfastness and intense pride would well up in my heart.

In the first three years of my career, I participated in major on-site activities such as the annual inspection of the Yushu Substation (玉树变电站) and the commissioning of the No. 3 main transformer at the Yangle Substation (杨乐变电站). I also experienced several practical tests of equipment abnormalities. These valuable experiences became stepping stones for my growth and progress.

In 2016, due to work needs, I came to the first 750 kV substation built in the southern part of Qinghai (青海) Province—the Tala Substation (塔拉变电站)—and successfully completed the 100-day acceptance task with my colleagues. Later, I competed for the position of station master of the 750 kV Xining Substation (750千伏西宁变电站), becoming the youngest station master among all ten 750 kV substations in Qinghai (青海) at the time, and also the only female station master. I also won honors such as National Model Worker and "Most Beautiful Employee" of 2025.

Over the past twelve years, I have participated in the acceptance of 14 substations, independently discovered 376 defects, completed 380 power supply protection tasks, and performed 25,789 switching operations. Today, as the person in charge of the operation and maintenance management of 65 ultra-high-voltage substations across the province, I will continue to strengthen my learning, deepen my knowledge research in the fields of power grid substation operation and maintenance and automation, and carry out more innovative research and development and upgrades, to contribute to the intelligent and digital development of the power grid.

(The author is Yi Shuran (易舒冉), a specialist in substation operation and maintenance management at the Operation and Maintenance Department of State Grid Qinghai Ultra-High Voltage Company (国网青海超高压公司运维检修部), interviewed and compiled by Xie Lirong (谢莉蓉).)

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Technology Helps the Disabled: Letting Love Speak (From the Grassroots)

By: 本报记者 杨 昊

In Yimeng Hearing and Speech Rehabilitation Center in Xianning (咸宁), Hubei Province (湖北省), a special AI drawing class is underway.

Children wearing hearing aids sat around the screen. As AI-generated cartoon images appeared one after another, Bai Yiming (柏一茗), a member of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (华中科技大学) Jin Chanzi (金蝉子) Public Welfare Team, guided the children to operate the AI drawing tool with enlarged mouth shapes and slow speech, encouraging them to try to describe the content of the pictures.

"Mom... beautiful... wearing a skirt..." Under the patient guidance of volunteers, a hearing-impaired child gradually opened his mouth to describe his mother's appearance. AI generated a "cartoon mom" image wearing a skirt according to the description, and the child smiled happily.

The team is composed of teachers and students from the School of Journalism and Information Communication, the School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation, the National Key Laboratory of Multi-Spectral Information Intelligent Processing Technology, and the Future Technology College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (华中科技大学). They help hearing-impaired people understand lip language, learn to speak, and carry out public welfare vocal teaching through self-developed lip-reading auxiliary training system, combined with volunteer reading and explanation.

"Cicadas chirp pleasantly. We named the team 'Jin Chanzi (金蝉子)' in the hope of using the power of technology and public welfare to make up for their hearing defects," said Wang Ran (王然), one of the founders of the team and associate professor at the School of Journalism and Information Communication of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (华中科技大学).

The story dates back four years.

In 2021, Wang Ran (王然) found in her research that most hearing-impaired people have intact vocal organs, but are trapped in the dilemma of "being able to make sounds, but not daring to speak or knowing how to speak" due to the lack of auditory feedback.

Can vision become "another ear" for language learning? Along this line of thinking, Wang Ran (王然) joined hands with Xiao Yang (肖阳), a professor at the School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation and the National Key Laboratory of Multi-Spectral Information Intelligent Processing Technology, to recruit students from different academic backgrounds across the university to form a team and start the research and development of a lip-reading auxiliary training system based on artificial intelligence.

The team collected tens of thousands of facial video data, cleaned these data through speech recognition and manual annotation, and then used algorithms to accurately locate and crop out the lip movement details of speakers in different states.

Wang Ran (王然) introduced that when hearing-impaired users practice vocalization, the system will completely record their lip movements, extract the detailed features of lip shape changes from them, and then compare and score the quantified results with the standard lip shape feature library, so that users can instantly know the correctness of the vocal mouth shape. "With the help of AI, sound can be 'seen', allowing hearing-impaired people to easily learn lip language."

Hubei Provincial Rehabilitation Center for Deaf Children (湖北省聋儿康复中心) is one of the team's permanent service points.

"Good morning..." The children followed the guidance of Chen Xingyu (陈星宇), the captain of the Jin Chanzi (金蝉子) Public Welfare Team and a second-year graduate student at the School of Journalism and Information Communication, and used the lip-reading auxiliary training system to perform vocal training by imitating the mouth shapes of basic phonemes and Chinese characters.

"They have to put in ten or even a hundred times the effort to learn a word. I feel extremely satisfied when I see them being able to introduce themselves completely," said Chen Xingyu (陈星宇).

Hearing-impaired people touch the vibration of the vocal cords and feel the flow of breath, making vocal learning more intuitive and effective. Over the past four years, the Jin Chanzi (金蝉子) Public Welfare Team has carried out public welfare teaching in more than 50 communities and more than 20 schools for the deaf in Beijing (北京), Wuhan (武汉), Changsha (长沙) and other places, with a cumulative service time of more than 40,000 hours, benefiting more than 3,200 people. According to data comparison, with the collaborative cooperation of volunteer teaching and intelligent system, the lip-reading learning efficiency of hearing-impaired people has increased by 3 times.

"Students with science and engineering backgrounds tackle the research and development iteration of the system, and students majoring in broadcasting and hosting art teach hearing-impaired people accurate vocalization skills, realizing complementary advantages," said Gong Chao (龚超), the team's instructor and associate professor at the School of Journalism and Information Communication. "We have always attached great importance to innovation and entrepreneurship, and continue to promote the cross-integration of humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and technical sciences," introduced Li Huajun (李华君), the team's instructor and deputy dean of the School of Journalism and Information Communication.

Offline, in order to further improve communication efficiency with hearing-impaired people, the team regularly carries out sign language exchange and popular science activities with hearing-impaired friends.

Online, the team built a popular science all-media matrix, publishing content covering the use of barrier-free facilities, job search skills, etc., which meets the actual needs of the hearing-impaired group and provides more accurate services.

"Technology to help the disabled is not only about technological progress, but also about social warmth." In Chen Xingyu's (陈星宇) view, what is more important is to teach hearing-impaired people survival and vocational skills to help them better integrate into society.

The "AI Helps the Deaf, Let Love Speak" volunteer service project of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (华中科技大学) was selected into the 2024 National Volunteer Service "Four 100s" advanced typical list. In the future, the team will continue to optimize the system's adaptation design and promote the service to more regions.

"Our goal is to enable hearing-impaired people to break through communication barriers and communicate as freely as hearing people, truly realizing 'integration of the disabled and able-bodied'." Facing the future, Wang Ran (王然) is full of confidence.

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Editor in charge of this page: Yang Hao

Layout design: Zhang Fangman (张芳曼)

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Computation · Poetry · Wisdom

By: 南 帆

The proposition that "everything can be calculated" comes from Stephen Wolfram (斯蒂芬·沃尔弗拉姆), a famous mathematician and theoretical physicist. As the subject and predicate of the proposition, "everything" and "calculation" correspond to the two majors of physics and mathematics, respectively, and Wolfram (沃尔弗拉姆) is obviously well-founded. It goes without saying that the current state of computer development is an indispensable historical background, and the amazing computing speed per second can serve as an annotation for the predicate "calculation." Whether it is the trajectory of a planet, the air resistance encountered by a falling leaf, the human genome map, or the socio-economic operating curve of a historical period, all problems can be included in the calculation. Weight, volume, speed, spatial position, how long a history it has, a roadmap for the future... everything is displayed as digital language. The primary characteristic of digital language is precision, objectivity, and clarity. Three is three, five is five, not patting your head and following your feelings to say a vague approximation. Precipitous mountain peaks or turbulent rivers are vague literary languages, and digital language must rigorously mark the height of the mountain peaks and the flow rate of the river. Enterprises must derive profit margins, opinion polls must publish percentages, and the weight of the earth is about 60 trillion tons... Calculate, calculate, calculate! Around our bodies, every item in the physical examination results is accompanied by index values, and numbers speak for themselves. Even for walking and fitness, large-scale data statistics have been released: according to a follow-up survey of 110,000 people's life data, the best daily step count to reduce all-cause mortality is 8,763 steps, and the best daily step count to reduce cardiovascular events is 7,126 steps. Compared to the common saying "take a hundred steps after a meal and live to ninety-nine," this kind of number begins to have a scientific nature.

Although digital language is gaining more and more widespread use, and although computers are becoming the machines among machines, people still need to revisit a common sense: many times, the content expressed in digital language is not the primary nature of an object. A father is the caring eyes and strong arms, not the numbers on the paycheck; a mother is the busy figure in the kitchen and repeated exhortations, not the age that increases day by day; lovers are sincere companionship, not the area of the house and the savings in the bank; a watch is passed down from the grandfather, and no matter how good the price is, it will not be sold; the clear breeze and bright moon do not cost a penny to buy, cannot be weighed, and cannot be priced. In this way, there are always moments when calculation fails. In fact, the profound sayings of "Tao follows nature" (道法自然), "investigate things to attain knowledge" (格物致知 (gé wù zhì zhī - "investigate things extend knowledge," investigate the principles of things to gain comprehensive knowledge)) and "know yourself" are not because they list any numbers, and keen insight or foresight is the widely known reason. Digital language is precise and objective, but is it vivid? Can you calculate clearly which day is the beginning of autumn? Want to list a person's ID number to prove that he is getting old, how cumbersome is it compared to the poem "yellow leaves in the rain, white-haired people under the lamp"? If all that remains in consciousness is a pile of rigid numbers, rigid and inflexible, following a set pattern, 刻舟求剑 (kè zhōu qiú jiàn - "carve boat seek sword," to take measures without regard to changing circumstances), then humor, exaggeration, irony, satire, and various aesthetic imaginations all lose their sense.

When poetry comes in handy, is it still the turn of numbers to speak? Well-known famous lines, passionate fire and profound philosophy, made Li Bai (李白) and Du Fu (杜甫) famous for thousands of years. Reminiscing about the kingdom of poetry in the Tang Dynasty (大唐), a batch of shining poet names came one after another. Their masterpieces have been passed down through the ages, who will remember the numbers behind the poems? The *Complete Tang Poems* (《全唐诗》) includes about 49,000 poems, with more than 2,200 registered poets, and a total of about 4.25 million words - a production that many contemporary writers can complete alone. These numbers are not important, and no one thinks the poets wrote too little. For poets, it doesn't matter how many words they write, people will only remember their surviving classics.

Of course, poets also deal with numbers. When they write down numbers on a whim, the rigor of mathematicians disappears. Li Bai (李白) said, "Three thousand feet of white hair, because of sorrow like a long one," Liu Zongyuan (柳宗元) said, "Thousands of mountains, birds fly away, thousands of paths, people disappear," Lu You (陆游) said, "Thirty thousand miles of river flow east into the sea, five thousand feet of mountains touch the sky," Xin Qiji (辛弃疾) said, "Seven or eight stars outside the sky, two or three drops of rain in front of the mountain," these numbers have certainly not been carefully verified. Many poets disdain to haggle over every detail. Why not virtualize a not-so-precise number in exchange for a strong aesthetic effect? Aesthetic effect is the pursuit of artistic language, such as poetry, painting, and music. The aesthetic effect of artistic language also contains several numerical secrets, and calculation helps to decipher them. The rhythm of poetry "one, three, five don't matter, two, four, six are clear," painting is composed according to the "golden ratio," and music has twelve-tone equal temperament and the circle of fifths - numbers and calculations have never been absent from within art. However, numbers and calculations are less of a prior guide than a post-hoc summary. The so-called "digital humanities" literary criticism is now booming, but the numerical conclusions provided by critics cannot become the blueprint for artistic production. Another sign of art is originality. Originality means getting rid of prior calculations.

Digital language is a homogeneous abstract symbol, stable, balanced, accumulating step by step, and there will be no sudden leaps or breaks. However, after digital language returns to various objects, the orderly state is destroyed. From birth to old age, an individual's physiological age increases evenly, however, the maturity of intelligence and the degree of physical strength constitute other dramatic fluctuations. In childhood or adolescence, an individual's intellectual growth increases day by day, gradually stabilizes and stagnates after adulthood, and the sign of entering the aging stage is a sharp decline in physical health. Relative to these curves, digital language has to get rid of the step-by-step rhythm and design new coordinates. "The last straw that broke the camel's back" shows that the value of "one" must be measured according to the surrounding context. At a critical moment, "one" will represent countless "ones" and have the power of a thousand pounds. At this time, quantity is converted into quality with just "one straw."

Isn't it just numbers? Many people often say easily. However, the various units of measurement that follow immediately imprint varying depths on the screen of consciousness. Saying one thing and meaning it, "one" is a well-known number, and there is no ambiguity. However, how can a piece of paper, a car, and a house be the same? Units of measurement give the atmosphere of the world to digital language. Digital sociology not only argues for the great help of digital language to social research, but also must examine how the pressure of the social context quietly changes the actual meaning of numbers. Change the "light" and "perspective," digital language may be able to win more with less, or shrink significantly, and even begin to jump incredibly. At this time, the numbers begin to play hide-and-seek cunningly, and even perform magic tricks. A hundred years of life is only more than 36,500 days, which seems to be countable; if it is changed to more than 876,000 hours, the inflated number immediately brings a different feeling. In a noisy vegetable market, the entry and exit of two yuan may become the fuse for a quarrel; when buying a house, the remainder of 2,000 yuan can be generously abandoned. The numerical games behind statistics can design different complex paths. The chairman said that the company's annual profit increased by 10%, and the performance won applause; however, 10% is only the average on the books, concealing the income growth differences from the chairman, sales team, R&D personnel to cleaners.

In the turmoil of the world, many times, people prefer to believe the numbers provided by machines - objective and fair, impartial and unbiased. However, after excluding human factors, will computers spontaneously dispatch various numbers to falsify? During this period of time, reports of artificial intelligence fabricating various materials have alarmed many people. People cannot figure out what errors have occurred inside the big data model, but data training has created a machine's tendency - a desire for praise-style positive evaluation. In order to gain the user's affirmation, artificial intelligence does not hesitate to cross the boundary between "reality" and "fiction," and another report used the word "flattery" - mobilizing various exaggerated words to compliment the user. This seems to prove a terrible guess: computers can create unfathomable numerical traps, from information cocoons to virtual worlds in *The Matrix* (《黑客帝国》).

Will artificial intelligence use digital language to forge a world? This question is an extension of the proposition "everything can be calculated" and is also the theme of many science fiction movies. The plot of science fiction movies is usually that the protagonist mobilizes another batch of artificial intelligence to find flaws, and uses loopholes to capture the false digital castle in one fell swoop, and the rows of numerical symbols speeding across the computer screen are like soldiers rushing forward. Another ancient wisdom is to withdraw from various complex calculations, 大智若愚 (dà zhì ruò yú - "great wisdom like foolishness," a wise person who appears simple or foolish), such as the "Foolish Old Man" (愚公) in the fable. The Foolish Old Man (愚公) tried to remove the two mountains in front of his door, and his calculation formula was extremely simple: the mountains will no longer increase in height, and his descendants will multiply from generation to generation, and this goal will be achieved sooner or later. With one thought in mind and unwavering, other trivial calculations can be ignored. "Life is precious, love is more valuable; if it is for freedom, both can be thrown away," this little poem only lists the three of "life," "love," and "freedom" and calculates their respective weights, and the others are insignificant, and there is no need to add, subtract, multiply, and divide to get a clear picture. This strategy can be called "calculation by not calculating." In the dazzling modern society, "calculation by not calculating" is like returning to simplicity.

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Lyrics and Life (Musings)

By: 陆正兰

Song is a combination of music and lyrics. Simply put, it is to "sing" what you want to say with melody and rhythm. A song is always sung to another heart waiting for a response, it is "I sing to you." Therefore, a song is an art of dialogue, a connection and exchange of human emotions.

Sometimes, this listener becomes oneself, singing to oneself, which is actually a dialogue with countless different selves in the years. It may be a running teenager, a tired and troubled middle-aged person, or oneself who is about to grow old. Every feeling in life seems to be expressed in a song.

This understanding comes partly from my years of studying lyrics. But life itself confirms this even more.

Not long ago, classmates who graduated 40 years ago had a reunion. Time has changed their former appearances. They seemed familiar, yet felt strange. In the end, it was the songs that swept away the sense of alienation brought about by time and brought their hearts together again. As the music started, everyone unconsciously sang along to the rhythm: "Meeting is a song, walking together is you and me, the heart is a young sun, sincerity is also lively..." I don't remember who the author of this song is, or who the original singer is, but at this moment it is our song. The song contains what we want to say, taking us back to our teenage years.

Some lyrics are very popular and ordinary, but they are very touching. The famous lyricist Qiao Yu (乔羽) has a wonderful metaphor. He said that lyrics "are like the indispensable daily meals and coarse cloth clothes of ordinary people, or the small courtyard that is not spacious but warm." Qiao Yu (乔羽) said it well, lyrics are our daily life, they live in our mouths, recording the beauty of life.

We have memorized many poems since we were young, not only because the Book of Songs (诗经), Yuefu poems (乐府), Tang poems (唐诗), and Song lyrics (宋词) are cultural treasures, but also because they record the footsteps of Chinese culture. In fact, many of these poems were originally written as lyrics. Due to limited conditions, the recording of musical scores was not well-developed at that time, but the lyrics allow us to always remember the continuous Chinese culture.

Life is like a song, this is not just a metaphor, we live in the song. Many years ago, I was moved by the writer Sanmao (三毛), not only by her novels, but also by her music album. 15 songs, each recording a moment in her life with her lover. There is also the movie *Ray*, which tells the legendary life of the singer Ray Charles (雷·查尔斯). There is a scene in which they quarrel with songs, which is really hilarious. Every ordinary person's life, every journey also has a song, but it is not recorded.

"Just because I glanced at you in the crowd, I can never forget your face," how many people recognize the taste of first love in this legend? "I am a tiny little bird, wanting to fly but unable to fly high," how many people are stubborn about their unsatisfactory situations? "I deeply love you, this affectionate land," this is the hometown that cannot be returned to. And "how can you see a rainbow without experiencing wind and rain," 不经历风雨，怎么见彩虹 (bù jīng lì fēng yǔ, zěn me jiàn cǎi hóng - "without experiencing wind and rain, how can you see a rainbow," you can't have a rainbow without rain, meaning you can't succeed without hard work) "how many people have come and gone in your life"... Each song is like every aspect we open to life. It is our attitude towards life, a posture of embracing life.

More than 10 years ago, I opened a course on "Lyric Writing and Appreciation" at the university where I worked, and the classroom was full. Students who could not register said that this was a course that catered to their interests. After a few classes, I understood the meaning of this statement. My requirements for students are not high. After the course, each person fills in a lyric for their favorite melody, and then submits an analytical essay. In the last two classes, students can voluntarily perform their creations. Unexpectedly, there were too many students who wanted to go on stage. Some recited alone, some sang with accompaniment, some performed with guitars, and some even formed a band to sing loudly.

A boy found me beforehand and said that he must be allowed to perform no matter what, because the lyrics he wrote were his debut work, very carefully written, and he wanted to use this opportunity to confess to the girl he secretly loved in class. I don't remember what he wrote, and I don't know if the girl accepted his confession, but I still remember the scene of the boy being excited by the enthusiastic applause from the audience. I think, at that moment, how much anxiety and expectation he placed in the lyrics!

Lyrics are the joys and sorrows of life, memories, fantasies, and the emotional connection between individuals and themselves, individuals and others, and individuals and collectives. Lyrics can become a kind of healing, a kind of belonging, allowing us to be fulfilled and healthy.

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A Bowl of Lao You Noodles (Duoweizhai)

By: 李 莹

I lived on Dongbao Road (东宝路) in Nanning (南宁), Guangxi (广西) for two years. According to the old Nanning people, this is a gathering place for rice noodles. Radiating out from my residential area as the origin, you can find several rice noodle shops in every direction. Some of them are even open 24 hours a day.

Of all the rice noodles, my favorite is Lao You Fen (老友粉) [Old Friend Noodles].

Whenever my mom and I go out, I can always spot a rice noodle shop before she does. The smell is like a sprinting athlete. It runs fast and has extremely strong diffusion power, with no dead ends or blind spots. It really lives up to the old saying - 酒香不怕巷子深 (jiǔ xiāng bù pà xiàng zi shēn - "fragrant wine fears no deep alley," good products will make themselves known). What's more, the aroma of Lao You Fen (老友粉) is much more distinct and intense than the fragrance of wine.

An authentic bowl of Lao You Fen (老友粉) is very spicy and very special. Lao You Fen (老友粉) brings together garlic, fermented soybeans, chili peppers, pickled bamboo shoots, etc. After these ingredients are stir-fried, a puff of white smoke rises, and with a gust of wind, it quickly rushes into people's nasal cavities. Some people will sneeze a few times when they smell it. In my opinion, without such a taste, even if the advertising is loud, I am afraid that no one will lift the curtain and enter this rice noodle shop.

An authentic rice noodle shop is often bustling with noise, especially during meal times. If you order at this time, don't be shy or reserved. Once, I saw a female diner in a rice noodle shop, who must have been a tourist from out of town. After waiting in a long line, it was finally her turn to order. She politely reported the type of Lao You Fen (老友粉) she wanted to order. As a result, the clerk on the other side didn't hear her. The female diner reported it again, but her voice was still very reserved. Fortunately, at this time, a local aunt next to her shouted for her:

"Two liang (二两) of pork offal Lao You (猪杂老友) with a fried egg—"

"Okay, two liang (二两) of pork offal Lao You (猪杂老友) with a fried egg, one bowl, 13 yuan—" the clerk repeated, confirming again. Only then was the order successfully placed.

When my eyesight was good, I used to love watching the process of stir-frying the base of Lao You Fen (老友粉). The chef used a large round spoon to skim the ingredients such as pork, beef, and diced tomatoes into the pot, then poured some raw oil into the pot, and then tossed the pot a few times. Sizzle! The flames soared up, rising very high, and then quickly fell down. Then, the flames rose again and fell down again. The chef's face was reflected in the fire, but his eyebrows didn't even move, and his expression was very calm. And I, on the other hand, was already stunned.

Later, although I couldn't see, I still liked to "watch" the chefs stir-frying the base. At this time, I mainly listened. The collision of the iron pot and the spoon, the jumping of the flames, the boiling of the oil and water, the curling, flattening, and discoloration of the ingredients in the pot... all of this process was full of sound. Even the surrounding air has sound. It is being heated, and then it is changing and gestating. So, the aroma came out. So, the wok hei (锅气) [breath of the wok] was born.

People praise a bowl of Lao You Fen (老友粉), saying that it has a lot of wok hei (锅气). The so-called wok hei (锅气) is definitely not just a matter of a single pot. It is a dialogue between a pot, a chef, a group of ingredients, and a cluster of fire shadows, just like a group of old friends, so familiar and so tacit.

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Photo Report

Oil painting "Taihang Mountain Valley," by Zhong Jianqiu (钟剑秋).

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Beautiful Cape

By: 冯文超

The residential complex where I live is very old, existing since my childhood, dating back decades. Recently, good news arrived that the complex is to be renovated. The old buildings will have insulation applied to the exterior, and the windows will be replaced. The faded and mottled pink walls along the road have also been repainted, as white as snow in the sunlight, with unique little patterns, said to be painted by students from the Academy of Fine Arts. The most eye-catching thing is the painting of a girl on the wall at the corner of the square. The girl has long flowing hair and bright, large eyes, wearing a large floral crown on her head. The flowers are delicate, with purple, pink, and white hues, resembling lilacs and wisteria, so lifelike.

This corner is at an intersection. Suddenly, with such a beautiful painting, the complex became much brighter. Many people came to admire it, taking pictures with their phones, and taking selfies with the "girl." Some, after taking the picture, felt dissatisfied because one of the girl's eyes was obscured, so they retook it, making sure both large eyes were visible, and then stood beside her, finally satisfied. Most of those taking pictures were young people, but there were also elderly people holding children. For a time, this corner became a lively and bustling place.

It rained heavily, and there were many water droplets on the flowers, glistening and sparkling, making the flowers seem even more real. When the wind blew strongly, some people also went to see if the floral crown had been blown off.

In the evening, the lights in the square came on, and many people danced to the music. Some people relaxed in the cool air nearby. Looking towards the corner, strangely, the large floral crown on the girl's head was also lit up. It turned out that many small light bulbs were hidden inside, twinkling.

One day, going out, I took a taxi. The female driver was probably a novice, and when I told her the name of the complex, she said she hadn't been there before, so I told her how to get there. As soon as the car reached the corner, seeing the girl with the floral crown on the wall, the female driver exclaimed in surprise: "This is it! I've seen it online."

It turned out that someone had posted a video online, "promoting" this beautiful corner.

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Suzhou Style: Me and a City

By: 叶 弥

Suzhou people are passionate about romanticism and have a deep understanding of eating, drinking, and having fun. In 1808, Shen Fu (沈复), a Suzhou literati, wrote the six-volume "Six Records of a Floating Life" (《浮生六记》), which contains a wealth of leisurely and refined details of daily life and can represent the values and outlook on life of Suzhou people. Nurtured by artistic treasures such as gardens, Kunqu Opera, and Pingtan storytelling, Suzhou people, even in the most difficult times, like Shen Fu (沈复) and Yun Niang (芸娘), still live out their own style at a leisurely pace. People who do not deeply understand the character of Suzhou people may underestimate this nonchalant attitude, thinking that there is no vigor, no impassionedness, only the mundane atmosphere of the world. But this is a misunderstanding. Feng Menglong (冯梦龙), a Ming Dynasty writer and Suzhou native, used ordinary secular stories to interpret "Yu Shi" (喻世), "Jing Shi" (警世), and "Xing Shi" (醒世) (the three parts of his famous collection of vernacular stories). The mundane atmosphere of the world quietly becomes a healing medicine, and all medicines here are no longer medicines, but a silent and gentle nourishment, like Sun Tzu's Art of War (《孙子兵法》) written on Qionglong Mountain (穹窿山) in the western suburbs of Suzhou, like Gu Yanwu's (顾炎武) practical application of knowledge, like Wang Xie's (王谢) women's Northern Expedition team and Zhenhua Girls' School (振华女校), like the figures of Wu Jianxiong (吴健雄), He Zehui (何泽慧), and Fei Dasheng (费达生) seeking knowledge and truth. It is nameless sorrow, it is the moon setting and crows cawing, it is the recitation during a spring outing in the wild, it is singing and returning.

Returning is the return of people, the return of the soul. Use the most elegant and soft tunes, use the most mellow mundane atmosphere, to keep people, to keep the soul. Where the soul returns, fine rain and weeping willows tie up painted boats, ten thousand trees of peach blossoms fill the sky with moonlight. The soft language of Wu (吴侬软语) sings endlessly, half the city with pipa and half the city with strings.

Speaking of Suzhou, how can one not mention Kunqu Opera and Pingtan storytelling? Compared with Kunqu Opera, Pingtan is more accessible to the people. Many Suzhou people I know listen to Pingtan on weekdays, but few listen to Kunqu Opera. Ordinary Suzhou citizens can talk about the schools of Pingtan in great detail. Yu school (俞调), Jiang school (蒋调), Xu school (徐调), Yang school (杨调), Li school (丽调)... In the era of wired broadcasting, the newly composed Li school (丽调) Pingtan excerpt "New Mulan Ci" (《新木兰辞》) and Yu Hongxian's (余红仙) "Butterfly Love Flower: Reply to Li Shuyi" (《蝶恋花·答李淑一》) were broadcast on the radio every other day, resounding through the streets and alleys, and almost everyone could sing a section. I went to the rural areas of northern Jiangsu with my parents at the age of 5 to "go up to the mountains and down to the countryside" ("上山下乡"), and have no memory of Pingtan. When I returned to Suzhou in the second year of junior high school, I was very resistant to hearing Pingtan. On the vast land of northern Jiangsu, there were only the sounds of wind, rain, insects, chickens, and dogs. When listening to opera, I heard the powerful and impassioned Huaiju Opera, but never the gentle and delicate Pingtan. These are two completely different art forms, and I had become accustomed to the loud voices of the people of northern Jiangsu.

Once, it was during the summer vacation in August, when fresh Gorgon fruit (鸡头苞) was on the market. I sat at the table, peeling open the Gorgon fruit and eating the fruit inside, while listening to Jiang school's (蒋调) "Baoyu's Night Visit" (《宝玉夜探》) on the radio, and I started to cry. The crying was not out of excitement or emotion, but because I didn't like it. Because it was played on the radio every day, I had to listen to it every day, and wherever I went, east or west, there was "Baoyu's Night Visit" (《宝玉夜探》) - "The severe winter and cold dew freeze into ice, the moonlight is hazy and the soul is about to break." The words "severe winter" (隆冬) were sonorous and powerful, hitting my heart every time, making me unbearable.

Wired broadcasting later basically disappeared, and I was no longer forced to listen to "severe winter" (隆冬). Looking back, my impression of Pingtan is related to August, and related to the Gorgon fruit (鸡头苞) in August. In mid-August, Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs (阳澄湖大闸蟹) are undergoing their fourth molting, and after the fifth molting, they can be put on the table. This is also the time to harvest the third crop of Gorgon fruit (鸡头苞). Gorgon fruit, also known as Qian Shi (芡实), is called Jitoumi (鸡头米) by Suzhou people, and is generally eaten fresh and hand-peeled. Harvesting begins in early August and ends in about a month. Gorgon farmers get up at 1 am, put on long pants, long sleeves, raincoats, rain pants, and long boots, and start harvesting at 2 am, ending at 6 am. In mid-August, the early morning is also over 30 degrees Celsius, and the air is filled with heat waves. The Gorgon fruit (鸡头苞) is cut from the paddy field with a knife, and then the seeds in the pod are rolled out with a stick, the soft film on the surface of the seeds is washed off, and fresh rice is peeled out one by one with iron fingernails. This rice is Jitoumi (鸡头米). Ten catties of pods yield five catties of seeds, and five catties of seeds yield one catty of Jitoumi (鸡头米). Boil water, put in a handful of Jitoumi (鸡头米), and as soon as the water boils, scoop it up into a bowl, add rock sugar and osmanthus. Suzhou people do not eat dried Jitoumi (鸡头米), only fresh ones. In Suzhou-style life, a bowl of Jitoumi (鸡头米) sprinkled with osmanthus is indispensable.

Behind the elegant Suzhou-style life is heavy labor and a deep love for the land. Pingtan is a tribute to the lakes and mountains, a gift in return for the years, originating from this and rooted in this. Perhaps it was understanding this that, years later, listening to Pingtan again was a completely different mood, and I could even hum two lines of Yu school (俞调): "The Western Palace is quiet at night and the fragrance of hundreds of flowers, I want to roll up the pearl curtain and the spring hatred is long..."

Then, one day, I hopelessly fell in love with Zhu Huizhen's (朱慧珍) Pingtan. Later I learned that all female Pingtan actors start by learning Zhu Huizhen's (朱慧珍) singing style. She was born in 1921 and died in 1969. When she passed away, she said goodbye to the world in a resolute and unyielding way. Listening to her singing today, it is still so clear and comfortable. Behind the pure and calm is that adherence to beauty and love. The soft language of Wu (吴侬软语) Pingtan has come all the way to this day, and it is full of thunder and lightning, death and life.

The wind and rain are not calm, but the years are calm, and this may be the style of the city of Suzhou.

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Seeking Autumn

By: 李从娥

I prefer to call early autumn "young autumn," like semi-unsealed green plum wine, clear and cold with hidden mellow warmth. The mountain shadows are immersed in the clear water, the outlines as distinct as ink lines. The autumn mountains are light cyan Xuan paper, the autumn water is flowing porcelain glaze, and heaven and earth are completing a gentle transformation.

Seeking autumn, wandering in the depths of the mountains and rivers.

A golden sunlight covers the entire hillside, where verdant bushes, persimmon trees, and pine forests are interspersed. A clear lake is hidden in the mountain stream, and the feathers of the ducks flow in the sparkling waves. By the lake, the chirping of insects, birds, and frogs are interwoven into a net, falling with the wind. Standing on the shore, watching the autumn sun plate the lake surface with gold, watching the ducks stir up circles of ripples, a burst of joy suddenly fills my heart.

In the fields, the footsteps of autumn are even more lively. My sight is seized by the overwhelming crops in the depths of the fields. The corn stands in neat formations, its leaves clapping in the sunlight, the corn cobs wrapped in layers of green clothing weighing down the stalks, the autumn fruits quietly brewed from the summer's sweat that seeped into the soil.

In the sesame fields, strings of sesame pods are like firecrackers waiting to be lit, making a rustling sound as the wind passes. The wind blows the rice waves, and the ears of grain sway, they are most polite, nodding constantly when the wind comes. The soybean pods are hidden in the leaf seams, round and plump, as if holding back a bellyful of secrets. Peanuts and sweet potatoes are even more mischievous, burying their fruits in the soil. These are all gifts from the land to autumn, carrying the farmers' heavy sweat, the most real joy of the young autumn.

The mountain road leads me deeper. After hours of trekking, a small village halfway up the mountain suddenly bursts into view. In the old courtyard at the entrance of the village, pumpkin vines climb all over the fence, purple and translucent clusters hang on the grape trellis, and pomegranate trees hold up fruits like red lanterns.

The old woman in the courtyard, her clothes washed pale, is as clean as the autumn morning dew. The male host must have just returned from the fields, sweat dripping down his cheeks, and his clothes, stained with some dirt, are also soaked. He is sitting on a bamboo chair resting, and when he sees me, he slowly gets up to greet me, then silently sits back down. The old woman explains with a smile: "He is hard of hearing, 72 this year, but he is more energetic than a young man when he works."

As soon as I voiced my request to stay overnight, the old woman busied herself with starting a fire and cooking. The stir-fried pumpkin tips have the clear moisture of mountain dew. Stir-fried bacon with green peppers, the smoky aroma of firewood wrapped in the fragrance of meat. The pepper and fennel steamed buns have the fresh fragrance of new wheat flour. Every bite is the solid taste of autumn in the mountains.

After dinner, I sat in the courtyard. "Are you here to see the mountains and rivers?" the old woman asked. She smiled, her wrinkles filled with tenderness: "I have been married here for 50 years, and he is my greatest blessing." She pointed her gaze at the old man standing at the door.

At night, lying on the bamboo mat, listening to the sound of the flowing water in the valley. The most touching thing in this young autumn is not only the flowing misty colors and the heavy ears of grain, but also the time stored in the cellar of the years, like a golden seal, gently stamped on this young autumn scene.

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This edition's editor: Zhou Shuyi

This edition's email: dadi@peopledaily.cn

　　We welcome submissions from our readers. Submissions must be original and not submitted to multiple publications (**一稿多投** (yī gǎo duō tóu - "one manuscript multiple submissions," submitting the same manuscript to multiple publications)).

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