People's Daily - December 13, 2025

Another year of high-level grain production increase achieved.

By: 本报记者 朱 隽 郁静娴

The divine land of China welcomes another bumper harvest.

Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (国家统计局) on December 12, 2025, showed that the country's total grain output in 2025 was 1,429.75 billion catties, an increase of 16.75 billion catties over the previous year, a growth of 1.2%, remaining stable above 1.4 trillion catties, and achieving high-level production growth once again.

With a full granary, the world is at peace. General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized, "China has a population of more than 1.4 billion, and we must ensure our own food security. The rice bowls of the Chinese people should mainly be filled with Chinese grain."

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's annual grain output increased from 1,365.7 billion catties in 2021 to 1,429.75 billion catties in 2025, and the per capita grain possession increased from 483 kilograms in 2021 to the current 500 kilograms. Basic self-sufficiency in grains and absolute security in staple foods, a weighty answer sheet of bumper harvests, demonstrate a new atmosphere of high-quality agricultural development in China.

The "15th Five-Year Plan" proposal puts forward, "Enhance the supply guarantee capacity of important agricultural products such as grain." The foundation of the granary of a large country is solid, and food security is continuously leaping to a higher level, accumulating a deeper foundation and confidence for promoting Chinese-style modernization.

Looking at this year—

Efforts to promote in succession have resulted in successive harvests in each season.

In the Yongcheng Agricultural Mechanization Service Professional Cooperative (永成农机化服务专业合作社) in Yinan County (沂南县), Shandong Province (山东省), golden corn fills the warehouses.

"During the autumn harvest, we encountered continuous rain, and the drying towers were running day and night. It wasn't until the grain was stored that we felt at ease," said Yang Shouxia (杨守霞), director of the cooperative.

This year is the closing year of the "14th Five-Year Plan," and the country has achieved another bumper harvest for the whole year, completing the target task of "grain output of about 1.4 trillion catties" determined at the beginning of the year, providing strong support for consolidating and expanding the positive trend of economic stability and ensuring the successful conclusion of the "14th Five-Year Plan."

This year's harvest has been successive in each season.

Summer grain, early rice, and autumn grain are the three major "pillars" of the country's annual grain output. This year, the country's summer grain output was 299.49 billion catties, the second highest year in history, second only to 2024; the country's early rice output was 57.03 billion catties, an increase of 1.2% over the previous year, and the yield per mu exceeded 400 kilograms for the first time; the country's autumn grain planting area remained stable with a slight increase, the area of high-yield crop corn increased more, coupled with the overall stability of production in most agricultural areas and the continuous adjustment of the planting structure, driving the autumn grain output to increase by 16.36 billion catties over the previous year, reaching 1,073.23 billion catties, an increase of 1.5%.

This year's harvest is more resilient.

In 2025, grain production was affected by disasters such as spring drought, high-temperature and drought in summer, and continuous rain in autumn. In the face of the uncertainty brought by extreme weather to China's grain production, it is crucial to firmly grasp the initiative in food security.

"Agricultural time is the order." Liu Benju (刘本菊), chief of the Planting Industry Management Section of the Yinan County (沂南县) Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, said that during the autumn harvest, the county established multiple working groups to organize machine harvesting and manual rush harvesting. At the same time, it used 1.7 million yuan of special emergency funds for "three autumns" production to subsidize corn growers with more than 100 mu, and did a good job in connecting supply and demand for harvesting, drying, and drying, to ensure rush harvesting, rush drying, and anti-humidity sowing.

During the autumn harvest, Henan (河南), Shandong (山东), Anhui (安徽), Hebei (河北) and other places went all out to fight disasters and seize the autumn grain harvest.

Looking at the whole year, funds and technical guidance were timely deployed to the front line. The central government arranged special funds to support agricultural disaster prevention and mitigation work such as drought resistance and flood drainage, rush harvesting and rush drying, "one spray three preventions" for wheat, and "one spray multiple promotions" for autumn grain. The agricultural and rural departments formulated technical opinions on disaster prevention and mitigation by disaster type, region, and crop, and sent working groups and science and technology teams to major production areas and severely affected areas to guide the implementation of key measures.

This year's harvest highlights the role of new quality productive forces.

Cao Bin (曹斌), a large grain grower in Huangmao Zhou Town (黄茅洲镇), Yuanjiang City (沅江市), Hunan Province (湖南省), used a new crawler harvester during the autumn harvest. "The crawler of the new equipment has been widened to 70 centimeters, which effectively protects the fertility of the cultivated land. The threshing line, vibrating screen and other components have also been upgraded. The grain loss rate is 2 percentage points lower than the old model, and the rice is harvested well and quickly," said Cao Bin (曹斌).

Building a strong agricultural country, developing new quality productive forces in the agricultural field is particularly critical. With the promotion and implementation of fine varieties, fine machines, and fine methods in fertile fields, new quality productive forces in agriculture are accelerating their cultivation and growth, becoming a solid support for successive years of bumper harvests.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (国家统计局) shows that this year's national grain yield per mu was 399.1 kilograms/mu, an increase of 4.4 kilograms/mu over the previous year. "The policy, technology and other advantages accumulated in China's food security field make it possible to further increase the yield per unit area." Zhong Yu (钟钰), a researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (中国农业科学院), believes that it is necessary to strengthen the deep integration of water and soil resources and technical elements, and further promote the effective transformation of scientific research results into new quality productive forces in agriculture.

Since the "14th Five-Year Plan"—

The institutional advantages of safeguarding food security are becoming increasingly prominent.

The need to feed more than one billion people is China's biggest national condition. Since the "14th Five-Year Plan," the "Chinese rice bowl" has been filled more fully, held more firmly, and has become more colorful. The "three rural issues" report card conveys China's stability and certainty. Behind this is the increasingly prominent institutional advantage of safeguarding food security.

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China included comprehensive grain production capacity into the binding indicators of security guarantees, the Central No. 1 Document continued to put ensuring national food security in the primary position, the Food Security Guarantee Law clarified "implementing the party and government's shared responsibility for food security"... One institutional arrangement consolidates the foundation, stabilizes expectations, and benefits the long term.

A series of institutional achievements have been made in policies to strengthen agriculture, benefit agriculture, and enrich farmers, and there is more motivation for grain production.

"By planting 1,000 mu of wheat and participating in the yield improvement project for large-scale grain and oil management entities, the cost per mu has been reduced by nearly 100 yuan." Liu Shengli (刘胜利), head of the Zirui Planting Professional Cooperative (子瑞种植专业合作社) in Xipingluo Township (西平罗乡), Huixian City (辉县市), Henan Province (河南省), said after calculating the accounts, "Cost reduction is also an increase in efficiency. With stable income, there is more enthusiasm for growing grain."

This year, Huixian City (辉县市) issued 80.027 million yuan of subsidies for the protection of arable land fertility, benefiting more than 150,000 farmers. "In recent years, the county has taken many measures to stabilize farmers' income from growing grain." Si Yuelian (司月莲), director of the Huixian City (辉县市) Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, introduced.

Improve the "three-in-one" support policy system of subsidies, prices, and insurance, steadily implement subsidies for the protection of arable land fertility, rice subsidies, and corn and soybean producer subsidies, increase the minimum purchase price of wheat and early indica rice for five consecutive years, and achieve full national coverage of the policy implementation scope of full cost insurance and planting income insurance for the three major grain crops... Focusing on food security, a "matter of great importance to the country," one policy to strengthen agriculture, benefit agriculture, and enrich farmers has been implemented in the fields, stabilizing the production expectations of grain farmers.

The agricultural technology extension service system is a unique advantage that supports the stability of the granary of a large country.

"What should I do if there are too many soil clods and the soil is ventilated and runs off moisture?" "If the soil moisture is high, should I prevent diseases in advance?"... At the end of November, the wheat winter field management technology training course held online by the National Agricultural Technology Extension Service Center (全国农业技术推广服务中心) had more than 350,000 online live broadcast clicks.

A new technology and a new variety can only become real productive forces if farmers use them well. Diversified agricultural technology extension services are a key measure to open up the "last mile" of technology entering villages and households. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the science and technology commissioner system and the science and technology courtyard model have built a communication bridge between small farmers and advanced agricultural technology and modern agricultural systems.

Data shows that there are more than 400,000 grassroots agricultural technology extension personnel active on the front line of production all year round; science and technology courtyards have trained more than 10,000 application-oriented talents.

Looking forward to the "15th Five-Year Plan"—

Promote food security to continuously leap to a higher level.

1.4 trillion catties, a new level in China's annual grain output. Standing on a high base point, the further grain production goes, the greater the difficulty of stabilizing and increasing production. How to continuously leap to a higher level?

The "15th Five-Year Plan" proposal puts forward, "Improve the comprehensive agricultural production capacity and quality and efficiency" and "Adhere to the simultaneous focus on output and production capacity, production and ecology, and increased production and increased income."

To promote food security to continuously leap to a higher level, the key is to achieve new breakthroughs in grain production capacity on a high base point.

Autumn and winter are the golden period for farmland construction. In the high-standard farmland in Shuangwu Village (双午村), Gaoyang Town (高阳镇), Wangcang County (旺苍县), Sichuan Province (四川省), deep plowing machines shuttle back and forth, and the field road network and slope protection projects are being promoted simultaneously. Wang Hongqi (王洪奇), assistant agronomist at the Gaoyang Town (高阳镇) Agricultural Comprehensive Service Center, said that the ditches are covered with ecological grids, and drainage pipes are buried underneath, which can effectively resist drought and flood and protect water and soil.

Cultivated land and technology are important foundations for grain production capacity. More than 1 billion mu of high-standard farmland have been built cumulatively, the contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress has reached 63.2%, and more than 9 million high-quality farmers have been trained cumulatively... With a more solid foundation, there is more motivation to improve grain production capacity.

To promote food security to continuously leap to a higher level, it is necessary to accelerate the filling of shortcomings in risk resistance.

"Improving the ability of agriculture to prevent, mitigate, and relieve disasters is a realistic need and an inevitable choice." The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (农业农村部) said that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, it will work with multiple departments to further establish a precise and refined early warning and forecasting command system, accelerate the layout of regional agricultural machinery socialization service centers and regional agricultural emergency disaster relief centers, and integrate and promote more new technologies and new models that "prevent disasters when there are disasters and increase production when there are no disasters."

To promote food security to continuously leap to a higher level, we should attach importance to both production and ecology.

"The harvest this year is particularly good. The rice ears are very dense, and the grains are full. The yield per mu has increased by nearly 200 catties." Peng Zhihao (彭志浩), a large grain grower in Xiongzhuang Village (雄壮村), Ningjiang Township (宁姜乡), Tailai County (泰来县), Heilongjiang Province (黑龙江省), said that after the rice fields are harvested, the straw is fully buried deep into the cultivated layer and will gradually decompose and transform into natural nutrients.

"This technology can not only achieve an average yield increase of 67.4 kilograms per mu, but also continuously cultivate and fertilize the cultivated land, achieving a win-win situation for agricultural production and cultivated land protection." Pan Guomei (潘国梅), deputy director of the Tailai County (泰来县) Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, said.

Strong supply guarantee is reflected in "having" and even more in "excellence." Accelerate the comprehensive green transformation of production methods, improve the green content and ecological quality of agricultural development, and ensure the simultaneous improvement of grain production in terms of quantity and quality.

In the vast fields, the new season of wheat is growing well. Facing the "15th Five-Year Plan," we have the confidence and determination to resolutely shoulder the heavy responsibility of food security, take the high base point as a new starting point, make unremitting efforts, and continue to struggle to firmly hold the rice bowls of the Chinese people in our own hands.

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Xi Jinping Sends Congratulatory Letter to Turkmenistan's "International Year of Peace and Trust" Forum

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 12th. The "International Year of Peace and Trust Forum" was held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on December 12th. President Xi Jinping (习近平) sent a congratulatory letter to the forum.

Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out that this year is the International Year of Peace and Trust proposed by Turkmenistan and established by the United Nations General Assembly, and today also coincides with the 30th anniversary of Turkmenistan's acquisition of permanent neutrality. China and Turkmenistan are like-minded good friends and win-win partners. China firmly supports Turkmenistan in pursuing a policy of permanent neutrality and appreciates Turkmenistan's active efforts to maintain international and regional peace and stability and promote the common development of all countries.

Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized that the current global challenges are emerging one after another, and conflicts and confrontations are rising one after another. The world is calling for peace and trust more than ever before. History tells us that the more turbulent the international situation, the more the international community must 同舟共济 (tóng zhōu gòng jì - "crossing the river in the same boat," to share weal and woe) and help each other. We must respect, trust, and understand each other, make up for the peace deficit, firmly safeguard the authority and status of the United Nations, adhere to peaceful means to resolve disputes, and oppose hegemony and bullying and harming others for one's own benefit. We must engage in joint consultation, joint construction, and sharing to solve the trust deficit, safeguard fairness and justice with international rule of law, promote unity and cooperation with multilateralism, adhere to global affairs being discussed by everyone, jointly maintain the international order, and share the fruits of governance.

Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized that not long ago, I proposed the Global Governance Initiative, which provides a Chinese solution for reforming and improving the global governance system. China looks forward to working with all countries in the world to maintain world peace, promote common development, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

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Leverage advantages to continuously consolidate and expand the positive momentum of economic stability and improvement.

By: 本报评论员

"The supporting conditions and basic trend of China's long-term economic improvement have not changed." The Central Economic Work Conference emphasized, "We must strengthen our confidence, make good use of our advantages, respond to challenges, and continuously consolidate and expand the momentum of economic stability and improvement." This is a major judgment made on China's economic situation and has significant guiding significance for doing a good job in next year's economic work.

China's economy has always grown stronger through weathering storms. Having personally experienced and witnessed the development of the past year and since the "14th Five-Year Plan," we all share this common feeling and are even more determined to forge ahead.

Confidence comes from the fact that in this very extraordinary year, with profound and complex changes in the domestic and international situation, China's economy has maintained an overall stable and progressive development trend. The main goals of economic and social development will be successfully completed, and the total economic volume will reach about 140 trillion yuan. Multiple international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have recently raised their 2025 China economic growth forecasts. Rapid growth in foreign trade, significant results in export diversification, and research and application of artificial intelligence, biomedicine, and robotics are at the forefront of the world. The construction of a unified national market is advancing in depth, and the Hainan Free Trade Port is about to officially launch full island customs closure... This shows that China's high-quality economic development is being steadily promoted, demonstrating strong resilience and vitality.

Confidence comes from the past 5 years, during which China's hard power in economy, science and technology, and national defense, as well as soft power in culture, system, and diplomacy, have been significantly enhanced. New quality productive forces are accelerating their development, the "14th Five-Year Plan" is about to come to a successful conclusion, and the new journey towards the second centenary goal has achieved a good start. In the past 5 years, against the backdrop of significantly increased external shocks, the Chinese economy has moved forward under pressure, towards newness and excellence, and its contribution to global economic growth has remained stable at around 30%. The Party and the state have made new major achievements, and Chinese-style modernization has taken new solid steps, laying a solid foundation for the "15th Five-Year Plan" for economic and social development.

The centralized and unified leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is the fundamental guarantee for doing a good job in economic work and is the source of confidence and strength for the entire Party and the people of the whole country to overcome difficulties and forge ahead. Practice has proved that at critical moments and important junctures, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping (习近平) at its core has promptly analyzed the situation and made decisions and deployments, ensuring that China's economic ship can ride the wind and waves and move steadily and far. This fully demonstrates the superb wisdom and skillful ability to manage economic work in a complex and volatile situation, and fully demonstrates the decisive significance of the "two establishments."

Next year is the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," and a good start is half the battle. To strengthen confidence, respond to challenges, and go all out to do a good job in next year's economic work, and continuously consolidate and expand the momentum of economic stability and improvement, an extremely important aspect is to make good use of the advantages of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, the advantages of a super-large-scale market, the advantages of a complete industrial system, and the advantages of abundant human resources. Here, we will take the advantages of using a complete industrial system and a super-large-scale market as examples for in-depth analysis.

From the perspective of supply, industrial scale and industrial system are the basic support for the internal circulation and endogenous sustainable development of a large country's economy. China has established the world's largest, most complete, and most well-equipped industrial system, becoming a "promotion field" and "application field" for global new technologies.

In the past 5 years, the completeness and systematicness of China's industrial system have been further strengthened. In 2024, the added value of manufacturing accounted for nearly 30% of the global total, and the overall scale has ranked first in the world for 15 consecutive years. More than 35,000 basic-level, more than 230 excellent-level intelligent factories and 1,260 5G factories have been built. China is one of the countries with the fastest decline in energy consumption intensity in the world.

Making good use of China's complete industrial system advantages, adhering to technological innovation to lead industrial upgrading, coordinating the promotion of the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, the cultivation and expansion of emerging industries, and the forward-looking layout of future industries, and building a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone, will surely inject a continuous stream of new momentum into China's efforts to stabilize the economic fundamentals and achieve high-quality development.

From the perspective of demand, large countries' economies are dominated by domestic demand, and the market is the most scarce resource in the world today. A strong domestic market is the strategic support for Chinese-style modernization.

In the past 5 years, China's super-large-scale market has become larger, and its position as the world's second-largest consumer market has become more stable. The total retail sales of consumer goods has increased from 39.1 trillion yuan in 2020 to 48.3 trillion yuan in 2024, with an average annual growth of 5.5%. Consumption's average annual contribution rate to economic growth has reached about 60%, and its role as the main engine has continued to become prominent. China has a population of more than 1.4 billion and the world's largest middle-income group, which contains huge investment and consumption potential and is rapidly growing into the world's largest consumer market.

Making good use of China's super-large-scale market advantages, adhering to expanding domestic demand as a strategic base point, coordinating the promotion of consumption and the expansion of investment, implementing special actions to boost consumption in depth, enhancing the supply and demand adaptability of consumer goods on the one hand, and promoting the construction of a unified national market in depth on the other hand, and cultivating new economic growth points in solving the urgent and difficult problems of the masses and increasing people's well-being, can enhance the endogenous power and reliability of the domestic cycle.

Achieving the goals and tasks of economic and social development next year is a matter of overall importance and great responsibility. We must unify our thoughts and actions with the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's (习近平) important speech, unify them with the Party Central Committee's scientific judgment on the economic situation and its decisions and deployments for next year's economic work, unite as one, work hard, and transform all aspects of advantages into the actual effectiveness of high-quality development, and use practical work and achievements to ensure a good start and a good start for the "15th Five-Year Plan."

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Zhao Leji Holds Talks with Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies Speaker Fernand Etgen

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 12th. Zhao Leji (赵乐际), Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, held talks with Luxembourg's Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Fernand Etgen, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing (北京人民大会堂) on the afternoon of the 12th.

Zhao Leji (赵乐际) stated that Luxembourg is a friendly cooperative partner of China. Over the 53 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Luxembourg, bilateral relations have maintained healthy and stable development, becoming a model of harmonious coexistence and win-win cooperation between countries of different sizes. China is willing to work with Luxembourg, under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, to enhance understanding and mutual trust, deepen exchanges and cooperation, promote the continuous development of bilateral relations, and better benefit the people of both countries.

Zhao Leji (赵乐际) pointed out that China and Luxembourg have different national conditions, systems, and cultures. The key to the achievements of cooperation between the two countries today lies in the two sides' adherence to mutual respect and mutual trust, and taking care of each other's core interests and major concerns. China appreciates Luxembourg's long-term adherence to the one-China policy and is willing to further deepen political mutual trust with Luxembourg. The pragmatic cooperation between the two countries is mutually beneficial. China is willing to strengthen the alignment of development strategies with Luxembourg, expand cooperation in fields such as new materials, high-end manufacturing, clean energy, artificial intelligence, and green finance, and rely on key projects such as the Zhengzhou-Luxembourg "Air Silk Road" to ensure the security and stability of the production and supply chain. Promote cultural exchanges and deepen cooperation in science and technology, culture, education, and tourism. Strengthen multilateral cooperation, communicate and coordinate on global issues of common concern, and work together to build a community with a shared future for mankind. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union. It is hoped that Luxembourg will play a greater role in promoting the development of relations with China by the European Union in the spirit of mutual respect, **求同存异** (qiú tóng cún yì - "seek common ground while reserving differences," to seek common ground on major issues while reserving differences on minor ones), openness, cooperation, and mutual benefit.

Zhao Leji (赵乐际) emphasized that promoting China-Luxembourg cooperation is the common responsibility of the legislative bodies of the two countries. The National People's Congress of China is willing to maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges with the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies, promote communication between special committees, bilateral friendship groups, NPC deputies and parliamentarians, share experiences and practices in governing the country according to law, green environmental protection, and sustainable development, and promptly approve, revise, and issue legal documents that are conducive to cooperation between the two sides. Zhao Leji (赵乐际) also introduced the relevant situation of the system of people's congresses.

Fernand Etgen stated that the friendship between Luxembourg and China has a long history, and bilateral relations have developed healthily and stably on the basis of mutual respect and trust. Luxembourg adheres to the one-China policy and pays attention to China's ever-changing economic and social development and the "15th Five-Year Plan" proposals. The economies of Luxembourg and China are highly complementary. Luxembourg is a strategic gateway for China to enter the European market and is willing to strengthen cooperation in finance, investment, artificial intelligence, automobiles, the "Air Silk Road," cultural exchanges, and other fields to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. China is an important partner of the European Union. Facing severe global challenges, Luxembourg is willing to strengthen cooperation with China to promote world peace and development.

He Wei (何维) participated in the meeting.

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Wang Huning Meets with Luxembourg's Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Fernand Etgen

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 12th (Reporter) - Wang Huning (王沪宁), Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (全国政协), met with Fernand Etgen, President of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg, in Beijing (北京) on the 12th.

Wang Huning (王沪宁) stated that not long ago, President Xi Jinping (习近平) sent a congratulatory message to Guillaume (纪尧姆), the new Grand Duke of Luxembourg, explicitly proposing to promote China-Luxembourg relations to a new level. China is willing to work with Luxembourg, under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, to adhere to mutual respect, strengthen mutual trust, deepen cooperation, seek common development, promote people-to-people exchanges and connectivity, strengthen multilateral coordination and global cooperation, promote the steady and long-term development of China-Luxembourg relations, and promote the development of China-Europe relations. The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (全国政协) of China is willing to contribute to promoting friendly cooperation between China and Luxembourg.

Fernand Etgen stated that Luxembourg-China relations are built on mutual respect and trust, and have maintained steady development for a long time. Luxembourg is a friend of China, adheres to the one-China policy, and hopes to strengthen cooperation in economic, trade, finance, cultural and other fields, and become a model of win-win development for countries of all sizes. Luxembourg adheres to multilateralism and is willing to work with China to jointly address global challenges.

Wang Dongfeng (王东峰) and others attended the meeting.

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The South-to-North Water Diversion Project's Eastern and Central Routes Have Transferred Over 84.5 Billion Cubic Meters of Water

According to the China South-to-North Water Diversion Group Co., Ltd., the first phase of the South-to-North Water Diversion East and Middle Routes Project has been fully operational for 11 years. It has cumulatively transferred over 84.5 billion cubic meters of water, benefiting 195 million people in 48 large and medium-sized cities, and has powerfully promoted high-quality economic and social development in areas along the routes.

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Ding Xuexiang to Co-chair China-Singapore Bilateral Cooperation Mechanism Meetings with Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong

Beijing, December 12th (Reported by Li Xinyi (李欣怡)) A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (外交部) announced on the 12th: At the invitation of Ding Xuexiang (丁薛祥), Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee (中共中央政治局常委) and Vice Premier of the State Council (国务院副总理), Gan Kim Yong (颜金勇), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry of the Republic of Singapore (新加坡共和国), will visit China from December 15th to 16th. He will co-chair the 21st Meeting of the China-Singapore Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation, the 26th Meeting of the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park (中新苏州工业园区) Joint Steering Council, the 17th Meeting of the China-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City (中新天津生态城) Joint Steering Council, and the 9th Meeting of the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity (中新（重庆）战略性互联互通示范项目) Joint Steering Council in Chongqing (重庆) with Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang (丁薛祥).

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China's RMB loans increased by 15.36 trillion yuan in the first 11 months

This newspaper's Beijing (北京) dispatch on December 12th (Reporter Wu Qiuyu (吴秋余)) - The latest data released by the People's Bank of China (中国人民银行) shows that in the first 11 months of this year, China's (中国) RMB loans increased by 15.36 trillion yuan. As of the end of November, the outstanding balance of domestic and foreign currency loans in China (中国) was 274.84 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.3%; the outstanding balance of RMB loans was 271 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.4%.

In the first 11 months, the growth rates of China's (中国) broad money supply and social financing scale remained at relatively high levels. As of the end of November, the broad money supply balance was 336.99 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.0%; the stock of social financing scale was 440.07 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.5%. In the first 11 months, the increase in social financing scale was 33.39 trillion yuan, 3.99 trillion yuan more than the same period last year.

While the scale of loans maintained reasonable growth, the credit structure continued to optimize. As of the end of November, the outstanding balance of inclusive small and micro loans was 35.88 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.4%, and the outstanding balance of medium and long-term loans in the manufacturing industry was 14.94 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.7%. The growth rates of the above loans were higher than the growth rate of various loans in the same period.

In addition, loan interest rates remained at historically low levels. In November, the weighted average interest rate of newly issued corporate loans (in domestic and foreign currencies) was approximately 3.1%, about 30 basis points lower than the same period last year; the weighted average interest rate of newly issued personal housing loans (in domestic and foreign currencies) was approximately 3.1%, about 3 basis points lower than the same period last year.

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In-depth Study and Implementation of the Spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference: Vigorously, Orderly, and Effectively Carry Out Key Financial Work in 2026

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 12th. The National Financial System Work Conference was held in Beijing on December 12th. He Lifeng (何立峰), member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Financial Commission, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. He emphasized that the financial system should thoroughly study and implement the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference, accurately grasp the situation and main goals and tasks facing economic work, firmly establish confidence and determination to do a good job in financial work, adhere to the main line of preventing risks, strengthening supervision, and promoting high-quality development, and effectively and orderly carry out key financial tasks in 2026. It is necessary to continue to focus on preventing and resolving the risks of local small and medium-sized financial institutions, the financial risks involving real estate enterprises, and the financial debt risks of local government financing platforms, strictly control increments, properly handle existing amounts, strictly prevent "thunderstorms," and severely crack down on illegal financial activities. It is necessary to further consolidate and strengthen financial supervision, improve the regulatory system in key areas and strictly implement it, continuously strengthen the compliance awareness and risk awareness of financial institutions, continuously improve regulatory capabilities, and seriously carry out accountability for financial risks. We must go all out to promote high-quality development, continue to implement a moderately loose monetary policy, strengthen financial support for key areas such as expanding domestic demand, technological innovation, and small and micro enterprises, steadily and orderly promote financial reform and opening up, and do a good job in expectation management. It is necessary to strengthen the Party's overall leadership over financial work, earnestly study, deeply understand, and unswervingly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's (习近平) important instructions and directives and the Party Central Committee's decisions and deployments, establish and practice correct views on political achievements and performance, and unremittingly promote comprehensive and strict Party governance. It is necessary to prepare the "15th Five-Year Plan" related to finance, strengthen work coordination, and ensure a good start to the "15th Five-Year Plan" for financial work.

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Striving to Achieve Next Year's Economic and Social Development Goals (Experiences and Implementation)

By: 本报记者 谷业凯 罗珊珊 刘志强

The economy is moving forward under pressure, developing towards new and superior directions, the construction of a modern industrial system is continuously advancing, reform and opening up are taking new steps, positive progress has been made in resolving risks in key areas, and people's livelihood is more effectively guaranteed... Having gone through an extraordinary 2025, China's economy has reached a new level.

Continuously expanding domestic demand, optimizing supply, improving increments, revitalizing stocks, developing new quality productive forces in accordance with local conditions, promoting the construction of a unified national market in depth, continuously preventing and resolving risks in key areas, and focusing on stabilizing employment, stabilizing enterprises, stabilizing the market, and stabilizing expectations... Moving towards the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," the Central Economic Work Conference has clarified the overall requirements, policy orientation, and key tasks for next year's economic work.

During the conference, some participating comrades, when interviewed by reporters from this newspaper, stated that it is necessary to thoroughly study and comprehend the important speech delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) at the conference, unify thoughts and actions with the Party Central Committee's scientific judgment on the economic situation and its decisions and deployments for next year's economic work, accurately grasp the positioning in the overall national development situation, combine with reality, adapt to local conditions, and promote high-quality and sustainable development.

"General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized 'five musts' at the meeting. This is the latest achievement of Xi Jinping's Economic Thought and provides fundamental guidelines and action plans for doing a good job in economic work next year and even during the '15th Five-Year Plan' period." Li Lecheng (李乐成), Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (工业和信息化部), said that since the beginning of this year, the industrial economy has been moving forward under pressure and steadily improving, continuing to play the role of "ballast stone" in the overall macroeconomic situation. "The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will anchor the key task of realizing new industrialization, adhere to striving for excellence and winning with quality, make every effort to stabilize the basic industrial base, accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone, and build a more solid material and technical foundation for Chinese-style modernization."

"The important speech delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) is insightful, profound, and broad in vision. It scientifically answers the major theoretical and practical questions of how to view the current domestic and international economic situation and how to carry out economic work in the future, providing us with scientific guidance for doing a good job in economic work." Xu Kunlin (许昆林), Secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee (辽宁省委), said that Liaoning (辽宁) must earnestly fulfill its political mission of safeguarding the country's "five major securities," firmly adhere to high-quality development, create a better business environment, promote the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation, and develop new quality productive forces in accordance with local conditions.

This year, Shandong (山东) province, an eastern coastal province, will see its regional GDP exceed 10 trillion yuan. Lin Wu (林武), Secretary of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee (山东省委), said that Shandong (山东) will continue to firmly shoulder the responsibility of a major economic province, implement the "No. 1 Project" of the industrial economy in depth, base itself on basic conditions and advantages, optimize and upgrade traditional industries such as metallurgy and chemical industry, cultivate and strengthen emerging industries such as integrated circuits and new energy vehicles, and prospectively lay out future industries such as deep-sea aerospace and quantum technology, lead the development of new quality productive forces with technological innovation, and strive to become an important economic growth pole in the northern region, making more contributions to the overall national development situation.

In recent years, Hebei (河北) has promoted energy conservation and emission reduction in the steel industry and used artificial intelligence technology to transform the chemical industry. The pace of quality improvement and efficiency enhancement in traditional industries has accelerated, and air quality has reached its best level since monitoring records began this year. Ni Yuefeng (倪岳峰), Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee (河北省委), said that he will conscientiously implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's (习近平) important speech and the Central Economic Work Conference, lead high-quality development with the new development concept, accelerate the cultivation and strengthening of new driving forces, continue to consolidate the momentum of economic recovery, and build a beautiful Hebei (河北) with blue skies, green land, and clear waters.

"As the source of the three rivers and the 'Water Tower of China,' Qinghai (青海) will resolutely shoulder its political responsibility, firmly establish the concept that 'lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets,' and unswervingly follow the path of ecological priority and green development." Wu Xiaojun (吴晓军), Secretary of the Qinghai Provincial Party Committee (青海省委), said that Qinghai (青海) will base itself on its resource and energy endowments, adhere to doing what should be done and not doing what should not be done, promote the integration and mutual promotion of new energy and emerging industries, and build a modern industrial system with Qinghai (青海) characteristics.

The people's happiness and well-being are the ultimate goal of promoting high-quality development. The Central Economic Work Conference proposed, "Adhere to the people's livelihood as the top priority and strive to do more practical things for the people."

Wu Xiaojun (吴晓军) said that Qinghai (青海) will adhere to the close combination of investing in things and investing in people, strengthen inclusive, basic, and guaranteed livelihood construction, optimize the layout of educational resources, build a high-quality and efficient medical service system, and give people of all ethnic groups a greater sense of gain, happiness, and security.

Xu Kunlin (许昆林) said that Liaoning (辽宁) will focus on stabilizing employment, stabilizing enterprises, stabilizing the market, and stabilizing expectations, effectively guarantee and improve people's livelihood, do practical things for the people well and practically, take the lead in embarking on a new path of high-quality development and sustainable revitalization, and strive to write a Liaoning (辽宁) chapter of Chinese-style modernization.

Planning before acting, grasping the key link to bring everything else into order. The participating comrades stated that the Party Central Committee's major policies and strategic deployments for next year's economic work are already very clear. Next, it is necessary to unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping (习近平) as the core, unite as one, forge ahead, and earnestly do all work in a down-to-earth manner with practical actions, and strive to achieve the goals and tasks of economic and social development next year.

(Reporters Yang Qiaochu (杨翘楚) and Gong Han (巩晗) of this newspaper participated in the writing)

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Building an Important Gateway Leading China's New Era of Opening Up

By: 本报记者 赵 鹏 周亚军

The vast sea and blue sky, the misty and boundless waters. Standing on the Hainan Deep-Sea Science and Technology Innovation Center (海南深儋科创中心) and looking into the distance, the new free trade port city in the Xinying Bay (新英湾) area of Danzhou (儋州) City rises from the ground.

General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized that building the Hainan Free Trade Port is a major decision made by the Party Central Committee, focusing on comprehensively deepening reform and opening up in the new era. On December 18, the Hainan Free Trade Port will officially launch full island customs closure, which is a landmark measure for China to unswervingly expand high-level opening up and promote the construction of an open world economy.

Since the "Overall Plan for the Construction of Hainan Free Trade Port" was released in 2020, Hainan has anchored the strategic goal of building an important gateway leading China's new era of opening up to the outside world, placing institutional integration and innovation in a prominent position, steadily promoting institutional opening up, continuously improving the free trade port policy and system, and accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system that is strong in five directions: towards seeds, towards the sea, towards the sky, towards green, and towards numbers. A first-class business environment that is market-oriented, rule-of-law-based, and internationalized is constantly improving.

Fully Leverage the Institutional Opening Advantages of the Free Trade Port

On December 8, the ultra-large trailing suction hopper dredger "Tong Jun" (通浚) successfully completed registration in Hainan and was officially registered in "China Yangpu Port" (中国洋浦港). The addition of this vessel has brought the total transport capacity of international ships registered in "China Yangpu Port" to over 7 million deadweight tons, with the number of registered vessels and the scale of transport capacity ranking first among free trade zones (ports) in the country.

As an important gateway for the Hainan Free Trade Port to the world, Yangpu (洋浦) continues to strengthen its port functions and release the effectiveness of its industrial chain. In the past five years, it has cumulatively opened 54 new domestic and international routes, basically forming a route network covering the domestic coast, radiating Southeast Asia, and connecting the Pacific Ocean; the petrochemical new material industry has strengthened the chain, and the offshore wind power industry has risen rapidly, making Yangpu Economic Development Zone (洋浦经济开发区) the first key park in Hainan with an output value exceeding 100 billion yuan.

"In the past, most of the container ships calling at Yangpu were of the 10,000-ton class, but now they are of the 100,000-ton class; the number of sailings to Southeast Asia has increased from once every few weeks to 2 to 3 times a week, and the Middle East route has also achieved bi-weekly sailings," said Wang Zhen (王贞), a staff member of the Logistics Section of the Yangpu Transportation and Port Navigation Bureau. The Middle East route was opened in April last year, and the Far East-West South America route made its maiden voyage at the end of October this year... Yangpu Port's international shipping trunk lines continue to expand, providing strong support for Hainan's export-oriented economic development.

The increase in routes has boosted economic and trade cooperation. Yangpu Port continues to strengthen the construction of the "China Yangpu Port" ship registration port, implementing policies such as bonded oil refueling for domestic and foreign trade ships, tax rebates for international ships built domestically, tax exemptions for imported operating ships, and tax rebates at the port of departure, enhancing regional attractiveness and influence with transportation facilitation.

While Yangpu is running forward, Danzhou (儋州) is also working in the same direction. Adjacent to Yangpu Port, facing Southeast Asia, and backed by the domestic ultra-large-scale market, the Xinying Bay (新英湾) area where Danzhou Industrial Park (儋州工业园) is located is an important platform for Hainan to expand its opening up to the outside world.

After the "Overall Plan for the Construction of Hainan Free Trade Port" was released, the Danzhou Municipal Government and the Management Committee of the Shenzhen Qianhai Shekou Area of the Guangdong Free Trade Pilot Zone (广东自贸试验区深圳前海蛇口片区管委会) signed a memorandum of cooperation, and the following month reached a strategic cooperation with Shenzhen Port Group (深圳港集团), marking the full launch of Shenzhen-Danzhou cooperation.

"Combining all of Danzhou's strengths with Shenzhen's advantages, and matching Danzhou's needs with Shenzhen's capabilities," said Guo Tieru (郭铁如), Deputy Director of the Office of the Leading Group for the Construction and Management of Xinying Bay of the Danzhou Municipal Party Committee and Director of the Management Committee of Danzhou Industrial Park. Through market-oriented mechanisms, the two sides have achieved efficient connection of land, resources, and scenarios with capital, technology, and talent, making Shenzhen-Danzhou cooperation a vivid example of "promoting the mutual development of Guangdong and Hainan."

At the Shenzhen Nong Group (深农集团) Hainan Danzhou (海南儋州) Supply Base for Hong Kong and Shenzhen Featured Agricultural Products, tens of thousands of acres of greenhouses are a spectacular sight. Zhang Xinjian (张新建), Chairman of Shenzhen Nong Danzhou Company, introduced that the project has driven employment for more than 9,000 people, increasing the average income of 900 villagers by nearly 30,000 yuan; at the Shenzhen-Danzhou Science and Technology Innovation Center (深儋科创中心), the Danzhou urban digital twin base and cross-border data circulation platform were released, and leading industrial chain projects such as the Donghua Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Park (东华智能制造产业园) have been launched, jointly building a digital economy bridgehead facing Southeast Asia...

Shenzhen-Danzhou cooperation is a microcosm of Hainan's expanding opening up. In the past five years, Hainan has fully leveraged the institutional opening advantages of the Free Trade Port, strengthened and optimized cooperation parks such as Xiangqiong (湘琼), Yueqiong (粤琼), and Zheqiong (浙琼), and continuously enhanced the energy level of domestic and international dual circulation. According to statistics, from 2020 to 2024, the average annual growth rates of Hainan's imports and exports of goods and services reached 31.3% and 32.3% respectively.

Place Institutional Integration and Innovation in a Prominent Position

Four years ago, when Hainan Sinopharm (海南先声药业) first introduced original innovative drugs from abroad, the Boao Lecheng Real World Data Research Innovation Center (博鳌乐城真实世界数据研究创新中心) was still a new thing; today, the policy of "halving the time for market approval" has become a golden signboard for Hainan's biomedical industry to attract investment.

"In the past, we did product exports, but now it is technology exports," said a relevant person in charge of Hainan Sinopharm. "At the beginning of this year, our independently developed autoimmune innovative drug was reverse-acquired by an international pharmaceutical giant."

From a company producing generic drugs to a new force in the field of innovative drugs, the transformation story of Sinopharm starts from the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone (博鳌乐城国际医疗旅游先行区). Lecheng enjoys special medical policies, but in the early stage of Free Trade Port construction, it faced the dilemma of "having policies but no institutions"; in contrast, Haikou National High-tech Zone (海口国家高新区), although gathering a large number of generic drug companies, lacked the policy guidance needed for transformation.

General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out: "We must place institutional integration and innovation in a prominent position, emancipate our minds, innovate boldly, launch one when it is mature, move steadily and far, and achieve long-term success."

With the support of relevant national departments, the Hainan Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government explored the "Haikou production + Lecheng research and application" model, promoting Haikou High-tech Zone to shift to innovative drug research and development. Policy empowerment has enabled Haikou High-tech Zone to achieve "shifting birds from the cage," while Lecheng focuses on the "research and application" platform function, expanding the frontier application of biomedicine.

In 2024, Haikou High-tech Zone added 45 foreign-funded enterprises, with a biomedical output value of 26 billion yuan, accelerating the formation of a trillion-yuan industrial cluster.

At present, more than 30 medical institutions are in operation in Lecheng Pilot Zone, 15 new biomedical technologies have completed clinical transformation, and special medical foods, health foods, and the tourism and health industry are deeply integrated.

In Hainan, there are many such institutional integration and innovation cases. Focusing on creating a first-class business environment, Hainan has launched a negative list for cross-border service trade, significantly relaxing market access; focusing on the needs of enterprises, it has continuously optimized policies such as the "zero tariff" list, the dual 15% income tax, and the tariff exemption for processing and value-added domestic sales, and has built a provincial one-stop service platform for enterprises; it has cumulatively issued more than 60 laws and regulations and more than 20 rules closely related to the business environment.

The optimization of the "soft environment" enhances the "hard power" of development. In the past five years, Hainan's actual use of foreign capital has increased by an average of 14.6% annually, its overseas direct investment has increased by an average of 97% annually, and the number of newly established foreign-funded enterprises has increased by an average of 43.7% annually.

As of now, Hainan has cumulatively formed 21 batches of 173 institutional integration and innovation cases, covering fields such as trade, investment, finance, and talent, of which 82 have been recognized at the national level and 37 have been promoted nationwide.

Promote the Strengthening, Supplementing, and Upgrading of the Four Leading Industries

With an exhibition area of only 3,000 square meters, the aquarium has an annual visitor flow of 700,000 to 800,000 people, and tens of thousands of tourists experience diving... Of the 1.54 billion yuan in revenue of the Atlantis Sanya (三亚亚特兰蒂斯酒店) Hotel last year, non-room revenue accounted for more than half, driving the continuous upgrading of tourism consumption scenarios and products in Sanya Haitang Bay (三亚海棠湾).

"The construction of the Free Trade Port brings more open policies and more convenient exchanges. We are committed to providing richer products and a more attractive consumption environment," said Xu Xiaoliang (徐晓亮), Co-CEO of Fosun International (复星国际) and Chairman of Fosun Tourism (复星旅文).

While promoting the transformation of tourism consumption from sightseeing to experiential tourism, Sanya (三亚) is exploring the deep integration of hotels and health care.

"We have transformed hotel suites into healing rooms, providing services such as medicinal baths and massages, and introduced famous Chinese medicine practitioners to carry out 'winter disease summer treatment' special therapies, with operating income doubling for two consecutive years," said Hu Hongwei (胡宏伟), Senior Director of Guoshou Health Industry Investment Co., Ltd. (国寿健康产业投资有限公司) and Chairman of the Sanya Yijing Project (三亚逸境项目). This year, the project cooperated with Hainan local enterprise Nanguo Group (南国集团) to develop products, which have been well received by the market.

Hainan continues to promote the construction of an international tourism consumption center, holding the China International Consumer Products Expo (中国国际消费品博览会) for five consecutive years, accelerating the cultivation of new tourism formats, and consolidating the foundation of the consumer industry facing the whole country and connecting the world by doing a good job in offshore duty-free, education, and medical consumption.

According to Haikou Customs (海口海关) statistics, since the implementation of the new offshore duty-free policy in July 2020, the cumulative sales have exceeded 200 billion yuan, and the number of shoppers has exceeded 30 million. After the optimization and adjustment of the offshore duty-free policy in November this year, the amount of duty-free shopping in that month increased by 27.1% year-on-year.

In terms of education opening up, Hainan has signed agreements to introduce 48 well-known universities at home and abroad, and has approved 26 Chinese-foreign cooperative education institutions and projects at the undergraduate level and above. The scale of teachers and students in Lingshui Li'an International Education Innovation Pilot Zone (陵水黎安国际教育创新试验区) is nearly 10,000.

In the past five years, Hainan has been based on its resource endowment, superimposed policy advantages, and promoted the strengthening, supplementing, and upgrading of the four leading industries of tourism, modern service industry, high-tech industry, and tropical characteristic high-efficiency agriculture. In 2024, the province's total marine production value exceeded 270 billion yuan, accounting for more than 1/3 of the regional GDP; the "Nanfan Silicon Valley" (南繁硅谷) has built 20 seed industry research platforms, gathering more than 2,800 related enterprises, with an annual output value of over 18 billion yuan; the Wenchang International Aerospace City (文昌国际航天城) has gathered more than 700 aerospace enterprises, the commercial aerospace launch site has achieved dual-station normal operation, and the "three-chain synergy" development of rockets, satellites, and data is steadily promoted.

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Another year of high-level grain production increase achieved.

By: 本报记者 朱 隽 郁静娴

The divine land of China welcomes another bumper harvest.

Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (国家统计局) on December 12, 2025, showed that the country's total grain output in 2025 was 1,429.75 billion catties, an increase of 16.75 billion catties over the previous year, a growth of 1.2%, remaining stable above 1.4 trillion catties, and achieving high-level production increase once again.

With a full granary, the world is at peace. General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized, "China has a population of more than 1.4 billion, and we must ensure our own food security. The rice bowls of the Chinese people should mainly be filled with Chinese grain."

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's annual grain output increased from 1,365.7 billion catties in 2021 to 1,429.75 billion catties in 2025, and the per capita grain possession increased from 483 kilograms in 2021 to the current 500 kilograms. Basic self-sufficiency in grains and absolute security in staple foods, a weighty harvest report card, demonstrates a new atmosphere of high-quality agricultural development in China.

The "15th Five-Year Plan" proposal puts forward, "Enhance the supply guarantee capacity of important agricultural products such as grain." The foundation of the granary of a large country is solid, and food security is constantly leaping to a higher level, accumulating a deeper foundation and confidence for promoting Chinese-style modernization.

Looking at this year—

Efforts to advance in quick succession have resulted in successive harvests in each season.

In Yongcheng Agricultural Mechanization Service Professional Cooperative in Yinan County (沂南县), Shandong Province (山东省), golden corn is piled high in the warehouse.

"During the autumn harvest, we encountered continuous rainy weather, and the drying tower was running day and night. It wasn't until the grain was stored that we felt relieved," said Yang Shouxia (杨守霞), director of the cooperative.

This year is the closing year of the "14th Five-Year Plan," and the country has achieved another bumper harvest for the whole year, completing the target task of "grain output of about 1.4 trillion catties" determined at the beginning of the year, providing strong support for consolidating and expanding the positive trend of economic stability and ensuring the successful conclusion of the "14th Five-Year Plan."

This year's harvest has been successive in each season.

Summer grain, early rice, and autumn grain are the three major "pillars" of the country's annual grain output. This year, the country's summer grain output was 299.49 billion catties, the second highest yield year in history, second only to 2024; the country's early rice output was 57.03 billion catties, an increase of 1.2% over the previous year, and the yield per mu exceeded 400 kilograms for the first time; the country's autumn grain planting area remained stable with a slight increase, the area of high-yield crop corn increased significantly, coupled with the overall stability of production in most agricultural areas and the continuous adjustment of the planting structure, driving the autumn grain output to increase by 16.36 billion catties over the previous year, reaching 1,073.23 billion catties, an increase of 1.5%.

This year's harvest is more resilient.

In 2025, grain production was successively affected by spring drought, high-temperature and drought in midsummer, and continuous rainy weather in autumn. Facing the uncertainty brought by extreme weather to China's grain production, it is crucial to firmly grasp the initiative in food security.

"Agricultural time is the order." Liu Benju (刘本菊), chief of the Planting Industry Management Section of the Yinan County (沂南县) Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, said that during the autumn harvest, the county established multiple working groups to organize machine harvesting and manual rush harvesting. At the same time, it used 1.7 million yuan of special emergency funds for "Sanqiu" production to subsidize corn growers with more than 100 mu, and did a good job in connecting supply and demand for harvesting, drying, and drying, to ensure rush harvesting, rush drying, and anti-humidity sowing.

During the autumn harvest, Henan (河南), Shandong (山东), Anhui (安徽), Hebei (河北) and other places went all out to fight disasters and win an autumn grain harvest.

From the perspective of the whole year, funds and technical guidance were timely deployed to the front line. The central government arranged special funds to support drought resistance and flood drainage, rush harvesting and rush drying, wheat "one spray three prevention," autumn grain "one spray multiple promotion" and other agricultural disaster prevention and relief work. The agricultural and rural departments formulated technical opinions on disaster prevention and mitigation by disaster type, region, and crop, and sent working groups and science and technology teams to major producing areas and severely affected areas to guide the implementation of key measures.

This year's harvest highlights the role of new quality productive forces.

Cao Bin (曹斌), a large grain grower in Huangmao Zhou Town (黄茅洲镇), Yuanjiang City (沅江市), Hunan Province (湖南省), used a new type of crawler harvester during the autumn harvest. "The crawler of the new equipment has been widened to 70 cm, which effectively protects the fertility of the cultivated land. The threshing line, vibrating screen and other parts have also been upgraded. The grain loss rate is 2 percentage points lower than the old model, and the rice is harvested well and quickly," said Cao Bin (曹斌).

To build a strong agricultural country, it is particularly important to develop new quality productive forces in the agricultural field. With the promotion and implementation of fine varieties, good machines, and good methods in fertile fields, new quality productive forces in agriculture are accelerating their cultivation and growth, becoming a solid support for successive years of bumper harvests.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (国家统计局) show that the national grain yield per mu this year was 399.1 kg/mu, an increase of 4.4 kg/mu over the previous year. "The policy, technology and other advantages accumulated in China's food security field make it possible to further increase the yield per unit area." Zhong Yu (钟钰), a researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (中国农业科学院), believes that it is necessary to strengthen the deep integration of water and soil resources and technical elements, and further promote the effective transformation of scientific research results into new quality productive forces in agriculture.

Since the "14th Five-Year Plan"—

The institutional advantages of safeguarding food security are becoming increasingly prominent.

Feeding more than one billion people is China's biggest national condition. Since the "14th Five-Year Plan," the "Chinese rice bowl" has been filled more fully, held more firmly, and has become more valuable. The "San Nong" report card conveys China's stability and certainty. Behind this is the increasingly prominent institutional advantage of safeguarding food security.

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China included comprehensive grain production capacity into the binding indicators of security guarantees, the Central No. 1 Document continued to put ensuring national food security in the primary position, the Food Security Guarantee Law clearly stated that "the Party and government are jointly responsible for food security"... A series of institutional arrangements consolidate the foundation, stabilize expectations, and benefit the long term.

A series of institutional achievements have been made in policies to strengthen agriculture, benefit farmers, and enrich farmers, and there is more motivation for grain production.

"By planting 1,000 mu of wheat and participating in the yield improvement project for large-scale grain and oil management entities, the cost per mu has been reduced by nearly 100 yuan." Liu Shengli (刘胜利), head of the Zirui Planting Professional Cooperative in Xipingluo Township (西平罗乡), Huixian City (辉县市), Henan Province (河南省), said after calculating the accounts, "Cost reduction is also an increase in efficiency. With stable income, there is more motivation to grow grain."

This year, Huixian City (辉县市) issued 80.027 million yuan of subsidies for the protection of arable land fertility, benefiting more than 150,000 farmers. "In recent years, the county has taken many measures to stabilize farmers' income from growing grain," said Si Yuelian (司月莲), director of the Huixian City (辉县市) Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau.

Improve the "three-in-one" support policy system of subsidies, prices, and insurance, steadily implement subsidies for the protection of arable land fertility, rice subsidies, and corn and soybean producer subsidies, increase the minimum purchase price of wheat and early indica rice for five consecutive years, and achieve full national coverage of the policy implementation scope of full cost insurance and planting income insurance for the three major grain crops... Focusing on food security, a "national priority," a series of policies to strengthen agriculture, benefit farmers, and enrich farmers have been implemented in the fields, stabilizing the production expectations of grain farmers.

The agricultural technology extension service system is a unique advantage that supports the stability of the granary of a large country.

"What should I do if there are too many soil clods and the soil is ventilated and loses moisture?" "If the soil moisture is high, should I prevent diseases in advance?"... At the end of November, the wheat winter field management technology training course held online by the National Agricultural Technology Extension Service Center (全国农业技术推广服务中心) had more than 350,000 online live broadcast clicks.

A new technology and a new variety can only become real productive forces if farmers can use them well. Diversified agricultural technology extension services are a key measure to open up the "last mile" of technology entering villages and households. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the science and technology commissioner system and the science and technology courtyard model have built a communication bridge between small farmers and advanced agricultural technology and modern agricultural systems.

Data show that there are more than 400,000 grassroots agricultural technology extension personnel active on the front line of production all year round; science and technology courtyards have trained more than 10,000 application-oriented talents.

Looking forward to the "15th Five-Year Plan"—

Promote food security to continuously leap to a higher level.

1.4 trillion catties is a new stage in China's annual grain output. Standing on a high base point, the further grain production goes, the greater the difficulty of stabilizing and increasing production. How to continuously leap to a higher level?

The "15th Five-Year Plan" proposal puts forward, "Improve the comprehensive agricultural production capacity and quality and efficiency" and "Adhere to the simultaneous focus on output and capacity, production and ecology, and increased production and income."

To promote food security to continuously leap to a higher level, the key is to achieve new breakthroughs in grain production capacity on a high base point.

Autumn and winter are the golden periods for farmland construction. In the high-standard farmland in Shuangwu Village (双午村), Gaoyang Town (高阳镇), Wangcang County (旺苍县), Sichuan Province (四川省), deep plowing machines shuttle back and forth, and field road networks and slope protection projects are being promoted simultaneously. Wang Hongqi (王洪奇), assistant agronomist at the Gaoyang Town (高阳镇) Agricultural Comprehensive Service Center, said that the ditches are paved with ecological grid, and drainage pipes are buried underneath, which can effectively resist drought and flood and conserve water and soil.

Cultivated land and technology are important foundations for grain production capacity. More than 1 billion mu of high-standard farmland have been built cumulatively, the contribution rate of agricultural science and technology progress has reached 63.2%, and more than 9 million high-quality farmers have been trained cumulatively... With a more solid foundation, there is more motivation to improve grain production capacity.

To promote food security to continuously leap to a higher level, it is necessary to accelerate the filling of shortcomings in risk resistance.

"Improving the ability of agriculture to prevent, mitigate, and relieve disasters is a realistic need and an inevitable choice." The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (农业农村部) said that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, it will work with multiple departments to further establish a precise and refined early warning and forecasting command system, accelerate the layout of regional agricultural machinery socialization service centers and regional agricultural emergency disaster relief centers, and integrate and promote more new technologies and new models that "prevent disasters when there are disasters and increase production when there are no disasters."

To promote food security to continuously leap to a higher level, we should pay attention to both production and ecology.

"This year's harvest is particularly good. The rice ears are very dense, and the grains are full. The yield per mu has increased by nearly 200 catties." Peng Zhihao (彭志浩), a large grain grower in Xiongzhuang Village (雄壮村), Ningjiang Township (宁姜乡), Tailai County (泰来县), Heilongjiang Province (黑龙江省), said that after the rice fields are harvested, the straw is completely buried deep into the cultivated layer and will gradually decompose into natural nutrients.

"This technology can not only achieve an average yield increase of 67.4 kg per mu, but also continuously cultivate and fertilize the cultivated land, achieving a win-win situation for agricultural production and cultivated land protection," said Pan Guomei (潘国梅), deputy director of the Tailai County (泰来县) Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau.

Strong supply guarantee is reflected in "having" and even more in "excellence." Accelerate the comprehensive green transformation of production methods, improve the green content and ecological quality of agricultural development, and ensure the simultaneous improvement of grain production in terms of quantity and quality.

In the vast fields, the new season of wheat is growing well. Facing the "15th Five-Year Plan," we have the confidence and determination to resolutely shoulder the important task of food security, take the high base point as a new starting point, make unremitting efforts, and continue to struggle to firmly hold the rice bowls of the Chinese people in our own hands.

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Cold Wave Arrives, Snowfall in Many Areas

On December 12th, affected by the cold wave, many places ushered in snowfall.

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Promoting the Construction of Credibility in the Quality Certification Industry

This newspaper's Beijing (北京) dispatch on December 12th (Reporter: Lin Lili (林丽鹂)) - The State Administration for Market Regulation (市场监管总局) recently released the "Action Plan for Enhancing Professional Capabilities in Quality Certification (2025-2030)," which clarifies the overall requirements and main goals for professional capabilities in quality certification. It points the direction for the professional development of certification bodies over the next five years, and will effectively solve problems such as the lack of credibility in the quality certification industry, and promote the construction of credibility in the certification industry.

The action plan sets three phased goals: By the end of 2026, resolutely solve the problem of certification bodies and certification personnel not fulfilling their main responsibilities, and fully build a traceability system of "certification rules are searchable, certification processes are traceable, and certification results are traceable." By the end of 2028, basically solve the problems of homogeneous competition and insufficient effective supply in certification, make the certification system closer to demand, make certification results more authoritative and reliable, and achieve new results in the professional capacity development of the certification industry. By 2030, effectively solve the problems of insufficient credibility in China's (中国) certification industry, insufficient support for high-quality development, and insufficient influence in the international market, realize high-quality development of the quality certification industry, and form a professional capacity system guided by the government, coordinated by the industry, dominated by institutions, and supported by talent.

In order to achieve the above goals, the action plan focuses on "consolidating the bottom line" and "raising the high line," and deploys a series of key tasks. In terms of strictly abiding by compliance, efforts will be made to strengthen the main responsibilities and technical foundation of certification bodies, improve the accountability mechanism for certification personnel, and give play to the self-regulatory role of industry organizations. In terms of improving effectiveness, the role of certification in market credit, quality management, and trade facilitation will be brought into play, and the construction of work style of the regulatory team and the technical support of accreditation will be strengthened. In terms of organizational support, the State Administration for Market Regulation (市场监管总局) will coordinate and promote the formation of a synergistic linkage pattern of departmental supervision, institutional constraints, and industry self-discipline.

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Building a Bridge of Friendship Between China and Guyana with Compassion and Skill

By: 本报记者 时元皓 陈一鸣

"We desperately need professional medical services, and the arrival of Chinese doctors has given us hope," "The free clinic activities have truly helped those most in need"... In early December, the Chinese medical team to Guyana (中国援圭亚那医疗队) went to a community 70 kilometers from Georgetown (乔治敦), the capital of Guyana (圭亚那), to conduct a free clinic, which was welcomed by the local people.

For decades, the Chinese medical team to Guyana (中国援圭亚那医疗队) has been fighting on the front line of local medical services. Their selfless dedication and international humanitarian spirit have been highly praised by Guyana's President Ali (阿里). Not long ago, the reporter of this newspaper visited the Georgetown Public Hospital (乔治敦公立医院) where they worked and went with the team to remote villages to witness how they built a bridge of friendship between the Chinese and Guyanese people with benevolence and skill.

"Creating one 'first' after another"

At 9 a.m., on the second floor of the Georgetown Public Hospital (乔治敦公立医院), the corridor outside the medical team's Traditional Chinese Medicine Center (中医中心) was already full of patients. In the consultation room, Ji Weipeng (季炜鹏), an acupuncture expert from the acupuncture department, was performing acupuncture on the back and legs of Totaram (托塔拉姆), a local resident.

Totaram (托塔拉姆) has long been troubled by lumbar disc herniation. "Acupuncture is really amazing. After each treatment, my pain is significantly reduced, and my activities are now completely normal," Totaram (托塔拉姆) said, adding that he shared his experience with relatives and friends, hoping that more people would understand traditional Chinese medicine. Ji Weipeng (季炜鹏) said that the local people's recognition of traditional Chinese medicine is constantly increasing, and his daily appointments are almost full.

The medical team has also opened departments of anesthesiology, general surgery, orthopedics, gynecology, ophthalmology, and other departments. In January of this year, under the leadership of Chinese doctor Qian Yi (钱益), Hussein (侯赛因), a general surgeon at Georgetown Public Hospital (乔治敦公立医院), successfully performed a liver tumor resection. "We sincerely thank the Chinese medical team for bringing professional knowledge, and our diagnosis and treatment capabilities have been greatly improved," Hussein (侯赛因) said.

"From the establishment and routine operation of the Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery Center of Georgetown Public Hospital (乔治敦公立医院), to the technological breakthroughs in ophthalmology, general surgery, and anesthesia, the Chinese medical team has introduced advanced medical concepts, technologies, and equipment to Guyana (圭亚那), creating one 'first' after another." Robbie Rambarran (罗比·兰巴兰), Executive Director of Georgetown Public Hospital (乔治敦公立医院), said that in recent years, China's exploration in cutting-edge fields such as digital medicine is injecting new impetus into Guyana's (圭亚那) medical modernization.

China (中国) has been continuously sending medical teams to Guyana (圭亚那) since 1993. Over the past 32 years, the Chinese medical team to Guyana (中国援圭亚那医疗队) has cumulatively treated nearly 1.31 million patients of various types, rescued more than 30,000 critically ill patients, and completed more than 70,000 surgeries. David Samaroo (戴维·萨马鲁), former Deputy Director of Georgetown Public Hospital (乔治敦公立医院), said: "The Chinese medical team has made important contributions to improving the health and well-being of the Guyanese people."

"Bringing high-quality medical services to the community"

Early on a Saturday morning, members of the medical team departed from Georgetown (乔治敦) and drove south for two hours to reach a village mainly inhabited by indigenous people, Swan Village (斯旺村), to conduct a free clinic for the local villagers.

Many villagers gathered early at the village activity center, waiting for the arrival of the medical team. As soon as the medical team members got out of the car, they began to work, not only providing villagers with blood pressure and blood sugar testing, health consultation, and chronic disease management services, but also distributing commonly used medicines to villagers in need.

"The Chinese doctors are very patient." 59-year-old Daniels (丹尼尔斯) told reporters that the doctor reminded her to pay attention to high blood pressure and also prescribed her plaster to relieve knee pain.

After the free clinic, the medical team donated medical supplies such as disinfectant, masks, and thermometers to Swan Village (斯旺村). Ragnauth (拉格诺斯), the village chief of Swan Village (斯旺村), said that there is a medical center in the village, but due to limited facilities, it cannot meet the medical needs of the villagers. "The Chinese medical team has brought high-quality medical services to the community. We are very grateful and hope that there will be more such opportunities in the future."

In March of this year, the medical team, together with the Guyana (圭亚那) Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, the Ministry of Health, and other institutions, jointly launched the "Healthy Village" series of free clinic projects, using weekends to go deep into remote areas to provide medical services to local residents. The medical team also organizes public welfare activities such as health checkups and first aid knowledge training for local welfare institutions and public departments.

In a health checkup activity jointly organized by the Chinese Embassy in Guyana (中国驻圭亚那大使馆) and the medical team, 36 children from the "House of Hope" orphanage in Georgetown (乔治敦) received a comprehensive examination. Kenneth Finlayson (肯尼斯·芬莱登), the director of the orphanage, told reporters: "The Chinese medical team is very professional in disease prevention and early diagnosis, and we look forward to further deepening cooperation with China in the future."

"Promoting the sustainable development of Guyana's (圭亚那) medical cause"

China (中国) and Guyana (圭亚那) have carried out institutionalized cooperation in the medical field. The two sides jointly promote the "Standardized Residency Training" program, establish medical assistance funds and scholarships, and select Guyanese doctors to study in China (中国). The medical team actively participates in Guyana's (圭亚那) medical education programs at all levels and clinical teaching, helping to build a local medical talent system.

Guyanese anesthesiologist Joryeen King (乔里恩·金) once studied in China (中国) with the support of the Chinese Embassy in Guyana (中国驻圭亚那大使馆). "Chinese colleagues taught us advanced technologies without reservation in their work." He said that he has completed many surgeries with Chinese doctors, mastered new medical technologies, and improved surgical safety and postoperative pain management levels.

In May of this year, the China-Guyana (中国圭亚那) Health Talent Training Program was officially launched. The training lasts for 9 months. The 7 physicians selected by Guyana (圭亚那) will undergo preliminary training in Guyana (圭亚那) and then go to Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital (南京鼓楼医院) for systematic study in general surgery, anesthesiology, orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology, and pathology. "The Chinese medical team promotes the sustainable development of Guyana's (圭亚那) medical cause through various training programs." Samaroo (萨马鲁) said that he himself is a beneficiary of the Guyana-China (圭中) medical training cooperation. In recent years, the "local training + study in China (中国)" training model explored and launched by the two countries has made talent training more institutionalized and normalized. "We look forward to the two sides continuing to work together in the future to let the fruits of cooperation increase the health and well-being of more people," Samaroo (萨马鲁) said.

In July of this year, Yang Yang (杨扬), the Chinese Ambassador to Guyana (中国驻圭亚那大使), and Anthony (安东尼), the Guyanese Minister of Health, signed the protocol of the Chinese medical team to Guyana (中国援圭医疗队) on behalf of the two governments. The 21st Chinese medical team to Guyana (第二十一批中国援圭亚那医疗队) has arrived in Guyana (圭亚那) and started working. Anthony (安东尼) said that he looks forward to continuing to deepen exchanges and cooperation with China (中国) in areas such as medical staff training and medical technology improvement in the future, and writing a new chapter in the cooperation and friendship between Guyana (圭中) and China (中国) in the medical and health field.

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A Japan that is keen on muddying the waters in the arena of public opinion has militarism stirring behind it. Japan is going further and further down the road of 穷兵黩武 (qióng bīng dú wǔ - "exhausting military strength," to engage in aggressive war; to expand military power recklessly).

Recently, Japanese ships and aircraft have frequently approached and interfered with China's normal exercises and training activities, creating maritime and air safety risks, but instead, they have made false accusations, hyping up the so-called "radar irradiation" of Japan Self-Defense Forces (自卫队) fighter jets by Chinese naval aircraft, distorting the normal training activities of the Chinese military as "dangerous behavior." This despicable act of framing, reversing black and white, and attempting to mislead the international community fully demonstrates Japan's consistent sinister intentions of confusing public opinion and provoking trouble, which deserves high vigilance from the international community.

The truth is that the exercises and training activities carried out by the Chinese military in the relevant sea and air areas are fully in line with international law and international practice, and the operations are professional, standardized, and beyond reproach. It is a common practice for naval aircraft to turn on search radar during flight training, and it is also a necessary measure to ensure flight safety. Japanese military aircraft have arbitrarily intruded into China's exercise and training area, approaching and interfering with China's military activities for reconnaissance, which has seriously affected China's normal training, seriously endangered the safety of Chinese ships and aircraft, and undermined regional peace and stability. Japan not only does not reflect on its own wrongdoings, but instead falsely accuses China, which is completely out of ulterior motives.

Historically, certain forces in Japan have been accustomed to packaging themselves as "victims" in order to cover up their inglorious historical record and provocative behavior in reality. During World War II, Japanese militarism repeatedly launched wars of aggression under the pretext of "facing a survival crisis," "protecting the safety of Japanese expatriates," and "threatening Japan's survival," bringing profound disasters to the people of Asian countries. After the war, Japanese right-wing forces still regarded fabricating lies as a "way of survival," seeking votes by covering up history, promoting "national pride," and inciting extreme ideas. They concocted false narratives such as "Japan never invaded" and "the war was to liberate Asia," talked at length about the anti-fascist forces of the world attacking Japanese militarism, and hyped up the "innocent suffering" of Japanese civilians, but deliberately avoided the monstrous crimes committed by Japanese militarism in other countries, and kept silent about the fact that Japan's disasters stemmed from its own aggression and expansion, in order to downplay or cover up war crimes, and tried to make the younger generation believe that Japan was a "victim" rather than a "perpetrator" in World War II. This erroneous view of history not only misleads the younger generation in their own country, but also seriously hurts the feelings of the people of neighboring Asian countries.

In recent years, the right-wing trend in Japanese domestic politics has intensified, and some politicians are more keen to present themselves as "victims" and "vulnerable people," and the pace of reversing history and breaking through the status quo has been accelerating. In its territorial and maritime rights disputes with neighboring countries, Japan's provocative behavior has continued, and its methods are often to take the lead in creating incidents and breaking the status quo, and then spread lies and confuse public opinion, portraying itself as an "innocent party" forced to respond. When dealing with relations with China, some Japanese politicians have long hyped up the "China threat theory," relying on provoking China to gain attention and harvest public opinion. Recently, Sanae Takaichi (高市早苗), the Japanese Prime Minister, creating trouble on the Taiwan issue is a typical case. The Japanese side took the lead in crossing the line and provoking, on the one hand, refused to correct its mistakes, and on the other hand, attempted to blur the root and focus of the problem by packaging so-called "willingness to dialogue" and "consistent position" and hyping up the so-called "overreaction from the Chinese side."

The fundamental purpose of Japan's weaving of false narratives and attempts to manipulate public opinion is to dilute the international community's vigilance against its dangerous strategic direction, exposing its inherent strategic opportunism and adventurism. The international community has generally noticed that in the month or so since Sanae Takaichi (高市早苗) took office, she has released dangerous signals of strengthening the military and expanding armaments one after another: achieving the goal of defense spending accounting for 2% of GDP two years ahead of schedule, planning to deploy missiles on Yonaguni Island (与那国岛), claiming that it will strengthen space combat capabilities, and plotting to revise the "Three Non-Nuclear Principles"... These dangerous trends deserve high vigilance: a Japan that is keen on muddying the waters in the arena of public opinion, its danger will not only stay at the level of public opinion, but behind it is militarism stirring. Japan is going further and further down the road of 穷兵黩武 (qióng bīng dú wǔ - "exhausting military strength," to engage in aggressive war; to expand military power recklessly).

The international community, especially countries in the region, must accurately identify the real risks facing regional security and stability, be more vigilant against a Japan that does not hesitate to actively provoke confrontation and seek expansion, jointly safeguard international fairness and justice, and prevent any attempt to undermine regional peace and stability.

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Li Hongzhong Meets with Portuguese Social Democratic Party Delegation

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 12th (Xinhua) - Li Hongzhong (李鸿忠), member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, met in Beijing on the 12th with a delegation led by Hugo Soares (苏亚雷斯), Secretary-General of the Portuguese Social Democratic Party and Chairman of the Parliamentary Group.

Li Hongzhong (李鸿忠) stated that under the strategic guidance of the leaders of both countries, the China-Portugal comprehensive strategic partnership continues to deepen. China is willing to work with Portugal to strengthen exchanges between political parties and legislative bodies, promote cooperation in areas such as the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative, and promote the healthy and stable development of China-Portugal and China-Europe relations. Li Hongzhong (李鸿忠) also briefed the delegation on the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee.

Soares (苏亚雷斯) stated that Portugal firmly adheres to the one-China principle and is willing to promote exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in various fields through inter-party channels.

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APEC Informal Senior Officials' Meeting Held in Shenzhen (APEC China Year: Openness, Innovation, Cooperation)

This newspaper reported from Shenzhen on December 12th (Reporter: Lü Shaogang (吕绍刚)) From December 11th to 12th, the 2026 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Informal Senior Officials' Meeting was held in Shenzhen (深圳市), Guangdong Province (广东省), kicking off the APEC "China Year".

Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu (马朝旭) attended the meeting and stated that President Xi Jinping (习近平), at the APEC meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea (韩国庆州), pointed out that China is willing to take the opportunity of hosting next year to work with all parties to build an Asia-Pacific community, promote growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region, focus on promoting practical cooperation in the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, connectivity, the digital economy, and artificial intelligence, inject greater vitality and impetus into Asia-Pacific development, and bring more benefits to the people of the Asia-Pacific. President Xi Jinping's (习近平) important speech pointed out the direction and provided fundamental guidelines for hosting the 2026 APEC meeting and APEC cooperation. China is willing to work with all parties to set off again towards the goal of building an Asia-Pacific community, strengthen Asia-Pacific economic cooperation, unleash Asia-Pacific growth potential, and jointly create a new era of Asia-Pacific development.

The participating parties highly appreciated China's efforts to promote the building of an Asia-Pacific community, and expressed their willingness to actively support China in hosting the 2026 APEC meeting, jointly promote the complete success of the APEC "China Year", and make new contributions to promoting economic growth in the Asia-Pacific and the world.

The meeting unanimously adopted the theme of the 2026 APEC proposed by China, "Building an Asia-Pacific Community, Promoting Common Prosperity," and the three priority areas of "Openness, Innovation, and Cooperation," and confirmed the meeting arrangements for the whole year.

The meeting was chaired by Ambassador Chen Xu (陈旭), Chairman of the 2026 APEC Senior Officials' Meeting. Nearly 200 representatives from APEC member economies, the Secretariat, observers, academia, and the business community attended.

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The 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting will be held in Shenzhen from November 18 to 19, 2026 (APEC China Year: Openness, Innovation, Cooperation)

This newspaper Beijing (北京) December 12th (Reporter Li Xinyi (李欣怡)) The reporter learned from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (外交部) on the 12th: The 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting will be held in Shenzhen (深圳市), Guangdong Province (广东省) from November 18th to 19th, 2026.

From December 11th to 12th, the APEC Informal Senior Officials' Meeting was held in Shenzhen (深圳市). This is the first event hosted by China (中国) as the host of APEC in 2026, kicking off the APEC "China Year". Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jia Kun (郭嘉昆) introduced at a regular press conference that the meeting achieved the following results:

First, the theme of APEC cooperation for next year was determined. President Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out at the APEC meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea (韩国庆州) that China (中方) is willing to take the opportunity of serving as the host next year to work with all parties to build an Asia-Pacific community. This pointed out the direction and provided fundamental guidance for hosting the APEC meeting in 2026. The theme proposed by China (中方) for the conference, "Building an Asia-Pacific Community and Promoting Common Prosperity," was highly appreciated by all parties and unanimously adopted by the meeting.

Second, priority areas for cooperation next year were planned. In response to the new opportunities and challenges facing Asia-Pacific development, China (中方) will take "openness, innovation, and cooperation" as the three priority areas for APEC cooperation next year. Openness is the lifeline of Asia-Pacific prosperity, innovation is the source of power for Asia-Pacific prosperity, and cooperation is the basic foundation of Asia-Pacific prosperity. These three priority areas strongly respond to the demands of all parties and are the "greatest common denominator" for all parties to participate in APEC. All parties present expressed their support.

Third, the annual meeting arrangements were finalized. The APEC "China Year" is expected to host approximately 300 events, with venues throughout various cities in China (中国). From November 18th to 19th next year, the Economic Leaders' Meeting will be held in Shenzhen (深圳), and the APEC CEO Summit, the Ministerial Meeting on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and other activities will be held in conjunction. In February, May, and August next year, three Senior Officials' Meetings will be held in Guangzhou (广州), Shanghai (上海), and Dalian (大连) respectively. Starting in May next year, approximately 10 professional ministerial meetings or high-level events will be held in various locations, involving trade, digital economy, transportation, tourism, human resources, small and medium-sized enterprises, energy, food security, finance, women, and other fields. All parties actively support China's (中方) annual event arrangements and are willing to promote fruitful results in various activities.

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Liu Haixing Meets with Guests from Luxembourg and Portugal Respectively

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 12th (December 12th) - Liu Haixing (刘海星), Minister of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (中共中央对外联络部), met in Beijing (北京) with Luxembourg (卢森堡) Chamber of Deputies Speaker Fernand Etgen (维斯勒) and General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (社民党) of Portugal (葡萄牙) and Parliamentary Leader Hugo Soares (苏亚雷斯) respectively on December 12th. They exchanged views on strengthening inter-party exchanges, promoting practical cooperation, and promoting the development of bilateral relations.

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Historical materials are important evidence for revealing the truth of history.

By: 本报记者 朱玥颖

This year marks the 80th anniversary of Japan's declaration of unconditional surrender. During the war of aggression, the crimes of Japanese militarism caused devastation and suffering to many countries, especially its Asian neighbors. Japan should deeply reflect on its history of aggression. However, right-wing forces in Japan are using various means to constantly downplay the history of aggression and glorify war crimes. Daito Hitoshi (大东仁), the abbot of Enkoji Temple in Aichi Prefecture, Japan (日本爱知县圆光寺), said in an interview with this reporter that only by establishing a correct view of history can Japan truly shed its historical burden and win the trust and respect of Asian countries and the international community.

Since 2005, Daito Hitoshi (大东仁) has been donating historical materials related to the Japanese army's invasion of China to China. To date, he has donated approximately 5,000 pieces of materials to the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders (侵华日军南京大屠杀遇难同胞纪念馆), the Shanghai Songhu War of Resistance Memorial Hall (上海淞沪抗战纪念馆), the Xuzhou Campaign Memorial Hall (徐州会战纪念馆), and the Taierzhuang War Memorial Hall (台儿庄大战纪念馆). Daito Hitoshi's (大东仁) collection of historical materials on the Japanese army's invasion of China originated from a trip to China. In 1985, during his summer vacation from university, Daito Hitoshi (大东仁), who was majoring in history, conducted a month-long research trip to Northeast China, visiting the Hushi Gou Ten-Thousand People Pit Memorial Hall in Yingkou, Liaoning (辽宁营口虎石沟万人坑纪念馆), the Pingdingshan Massacre Memorial Hall in Fushun, Liaoning (辽宁抚顺平顶山惨案纪念馆), the Site of Unit 731 of the Japanese Army Invading China in Harbin, Heilongjiang (黑龙江哈尔滨侵华日军第七三一部队遗址), and the Fengman Ten-Thousand People Pit Site in Jilin (吉林丰满万人坑遗址). "The scenes of the Japanese army massacring Chinese soldiers and civilians were appalling, and the shock is still clear and strong," Daito Hitoshi (大东仁) recalled. After returning from China, he began to collect relevant evidence of the Japanese army's invasion of China, conduct a more comprehensive and in-depth study of the war of aggression against China, and expose and criticize the war crimes of the invaders.

In the process of revealing the truth of the war and excavating historical memories, Daito Hitoshi (大东仁) was attacked by right-wing forces in Japan. He has always argued on the basis of reason, responding with solid historical facts and evidence. He told the reporter about such an experience: In 2007, when the new馆 of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders (侵华日军南京大屠杀遇难同胞纪念馆) opened, Daito Hitoshi (大东仁) donated a batch of materials from the Japanese army that invaded China. After being reported by the Japanese media, it aroused protests from Japanese right-wing elements, and some people even questioned and insulted him at his lecture site. Daito Hitoshi (大东仁) took out historical materials and reasoned with people. "In the face of people who do not understand history, historical materials are the most powerful evidence," Daito Hitoshi (大东仁) said. He insisted on holding exhibitions and lectures every year to show the true history to more Japanese people.

"Collecting materials from the Japanese army that invaded China is only the 'first step' towards the road to peace. Donating these materials to the memorial hall, properly sorting and preserving them, and displaying them to the public to provide a basis for continuous research for the next generation of researchers, turns the 'first step' into 'ten thousand steps, twenty thousand steps.' If it is interviewed and reported by the media again, it may produce the effect of 'one hundred thousand steps'," Daito Hitoshi (大东仁) said that the painful lessons of the war should become a common memory of all mankind.

"A Chinese friend said to me: 'Don't be afraid, you have the support of more than 1.4 billion Chinese people behind you.' This sentence encouraged me deeply," Daito Hitoshi (大东仁) said, "The Japanese government should not hide the truth of history. All true history should be known to more Japanese people. Historical materials are important evidence for revealing the truth of history, and collecting historical materials is the first step in promoting peace. Although individual strength is limited, I will make unremitting efforts to persist in this cause."

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"2025 China-Germany Human Rights Development Forum" Held in Beijing

According to Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 12th, the "2025 China-Germany Human Rights Development Forum," co-sponsored by the China Human Rights Development Foundation (中国人权发展基金会) and the German Ebert Foundation (德国艾伯特基金会), was held in Beijing (北京) on the 11th. Approximately 30 experts and scholars from China and Germany engaged in discussions and exchanges, both online and offline, focusing on the theme of "Synergy between International Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance."

Li Hongkui (李宏葵), Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the China Human Rights Development Foundation (中国人权发展基金会), stated that strengthening international development cooperation and carrying out humanitarian assistance requires practicing true multilateralism, adhering to addressing both symptoms and root causes, teaching people how to fish, and multi-party participation. It also requires reducing and resolving crises through development, committing to eliminating the root causes of crises, and coordinating the advancement of human rights, development, and security.

Liu Huawen (柳华文), Director of the Institute of International Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (中国社会科学院), expressed his hope that China and Germany, as responsible major countries, will act as builders and contributors in the development and application of international law, especially international human rights law and international humanitarian law, to promote the synergy between international development cooperation and humanitarian assistance, and to promote the healthy development of the global human rights cause.

Experts from Chinese social organizations, think tanks, and universities, such as the Red Cross Society of China (中国红十字会总会), the China Foundation for Rural Development (中国乡村发展基金会), and the Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce (商务部国际贸易经济合作研究院), introduced China's concepts and practices in carrying out international development cooperation and humanitarian assistance at the forum, as well as its contributions to improving the living conditions of people in relevant countries and promoting the progress of human rights development.

Former German Minister of Justice, Ms. Herta Däubler-Gmelin (格梅林), stated that humanitarian assistance saves people from danger, while development cooperation provides people with development prospects, making their development more resilient. She hopes that Germany and China will find common ground in promoting humanitarian assistance and international development cooperation, strengthen cooperation, and work together for a peaceful and stable world.

Professor Rüdiger Breuer (鲁迪亚克) from Heidelberg University (海德堡大学) in Germany believes that by deepening interactions in the non-governmental sector, cooperation between China and Germany will become more three-dimensional and resilient, injecting more diverse forces into addressing challenges.

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Ensuring the Global Governance Initiative Takes Root at the UN (Ambassador's Notes)

By: 傅 聪

Eighty years ago, the establishment of the United Nations ushered in a new chapter in global governance. Today, the world has entered a new period of turbulence and change, and strengthening global governance and promoting the reform of the global governance system has become an irresistible trend. At this critical moment, President Xi Jinping (习近平), with the future of mankind in mind and grasping the trend of the times, put forward the Global Governance Initiative in line with the times, emphasizing adherence to five core concepts: upholding sovereign equality, abiding by international rule of law, practicing multilateralism, advocating a people-centered approach, and focusing on action-oriented, contributing Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to reforming and improving global governance. The initiative is in line with the common aspirations of the times and hits the key points of global governance. Once proposed, it quickly received clear support from more than 140 countries and international organizations, and also won wide praise and positive response from the United Nations diplomatic community.

In order to further build consensus and coordinate positions around the Global Governance Initiative, and create an open and inclusive dialogue and cooperation platform, China conformed to the call of the international community and promoted the establishment of the "Group of Friends of Global Governance" at the United Nations. On December 9, the launch meeting of the "Group of Friends of Global Governance" was held at the United Nations Headquarters, marking the official establishment of the Group of Friends. The meeting was enthusiastic and fruitful. Members of the Group of Friends praised President Xi Jinping's (习近平) global vision and foresight, and highly agreed with the five core concepts of the Global Governance Initiative and its great significance and contemporary value. Members of the Group of Friends appreciated China's leading role in improving global governance, and looked forward to the Group of Friends strengthening policy communication and pragmatic cooperation to become a positive force for promoting change on the international stage. After the meeting, the Group of Friends issued a joint statement, emphasizing that the establishment of the Group of Friends is an important step in implementing the Global Governance Initiative, and that it is necessary to jointly safeguard the achievements of the victory of World War II, support the role of the United Nations, and coordinate actions on major issues of global governance. On December 11, the Chinese representative of the Group of Friends made a joint statement at the UN General Assembly briefing on the "United Nations 80th Anniversary Reform Initiative," and for the first time issued the unanimous voice of the Group of Friends on the United Nations platform, reflecting the solidarity, cooperation and responsibility of the Group of Friends.

The strongest call of the Group of Friends is to safeguard international fairness and justice. Under the guidance of the Global Governance Initiative, we must safeguard the international system with the United Nations as the core, the international order based on international law, and the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, defend the achievements of the victory of World War II, respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, and resolutely oppose interference in the internal affairs of other countries.

The clearest goal of the Group of Friends is to reform and improve global governance. We must strengthen the "Southern Force" of global governance and continuously enhance the representation and voice of the vast number of developing countries. We must support the United Nations in playing the main channel role in global governance and promote the reform of the United Nations in a direction that is conducive to the long-term development of the United Nations and the common interests of all member states.

The most common vision of the Group of Friends is to continuously deepen exchanges and cooperation. We must improve the mechanism construction of the Group of Friends, focus on major issues of concern to all countries such as climate change, sustainable development, and digital governance, strengthen coordination and dialogue, build broad consensus, create pragmatic results, and inject new impetus into maintaining multilateralism and reforming and building the global governance system.

执大象，天下往 (zhí dà xiàng, tiān xià wǎng - "Hold the great image, the world goes," If you grasp the essential principles, the world will follow). The establishment of the Group of Friends is an important achievement in implementing the Global Governance Initiative on the United Nations platform. China is willing to work with all parties, under the guidance of the Global Governance Initiative, to make unremitting efforts to promote the construction of a more just and reasonable global governance system and build a community with a shared future for mankind.

(The author is the Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary)

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China-Africa Seminar Discusses Sustainable Energy Development and Cooperation

According to Xinhua News Agency, Addis Ababa, December 12th (Reporter Liu Fangqi (刘方强)) - The African Energy Internet and China-Africa Energy Cooperation Seminar was held on the 11th at the headquarters of the African Union (非盟) in Addis Ababa (亚的斯亚贝巴), the capital of Ethiopia (埃塞俄比亚). Representatives from Chinese and African governments, enterprises, and think tanks discussed topics such as African energy development, grid interconnection, and China-Africa cooperation.

It is reported that the seminar was co-sponsored by the Chinese Mission to the African Union (中国驻非盟使团), the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (全球能源互联网发展合作组织), and the African Energy Commission (非洲能源委员会). The seminar aims to build a bridge for China-Africa communication and collaboration, and jointly promote the sustainable development and cooperation in the energy field between China and Africa.

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Words enter the ear, principles enter the mind, and transformation occurs in action (Studying and implementing the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee)

From social governance to opening up, from artistic performances to cultural origins, from urban and rural communities to fields… Recently, Tianjin (天津), Shanxi (山西), Hainan (海南), centrally-administered financial enterprises, and other regions and units have combined their own realities, innovated publicity formats, integrated into the grassroots, and carried out in-depth and extensive publicity on the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, allowing theoretical publicity to "spread" to thousands of households and "walk" into the hearts of the people.

"Technological innovation benefits all, but some people use it for telecom fraud!" On the afternoon of December 10, a clapper talk sounded in the Party and Mass Service Center of Shouyuanli Community in Hexi District (河西区), Tianjin (天津). Liu Jingyi (刘精义), a member of the grassroots publicity team of the Tianjin (天津) Public Security Bureau's theoretical publicity group, used Tianjin (天津) clapper talk to publicize the spirit of the plenary session to the masses, combining it with the "improving public safety governance" content of the "15th Five-Year Plan" proposal.

"Tianjin (天津) clapper talk is light, fast, easy to understand, and such publicity makes it easier for us to understand and remember," said Li Zhaofang (李兆芳), a 74-year-old resident of Shouyuanli Community. "This publicity talked about everything from impersonating public security, procuratorate, and law fraud to investment and financial management traps, giving us older people a better understanding of online fraud methods."

Immersive experience of situational publicity, entertaining literary and artistic publicity, and full coverage of cloud publicity… Tianjin (天津) has organized more than 1,500 publicity teams and 15,000 propagandists to carry out more than 9,600 publicity activities at the grassroots level, with more than 614,000 person-times of audience.

On the morning of December 6, in the Jincheng (晋城) City Experience Center in Shanxi Province (山西省), an unusual publicity event attracted the attention of passing tourists.

"What is the origin of the character image in 'Black Myth: Wukong' and the Twenty-Eight Constellations colored sculptures in the Jincheng (晋城) Yu Huang Temple (玉皇庙)?" Han Xiaofei (韩晓飞), a propagandist from the Jincheng (晋城) "Li Xiang Taihang (理响太行)" publicity group, started with popular games and told about the brilliant achievements of China's cultural undertakings in recent years through the method of "cultural decoding + contemporary narrative," making theoretical publicity tangible, perceptible, vivid, and fresh.

"While the game is popular all over the world, it also provides us with an excellent opportunity to spread Jincheng (晋城) culture. The publicity group takes this opportunity to promote confidence through publicity and promote integration through culture," said Han Xiaofei (韩晓飞).

As a vivid microcosm of Shanxi's (山西) deep cultivation of the "theory + regional characteristics" publicity pattern, the "Li Xiang Taihang (理响太行)" publicity group is based on the spirit of the plenary session, closely follows online hot spots, and combines first-line research to carry out a series of down-to-earth, warm, and characteristic micro-publicity activities with the innovative model of "theory + cultural tourism" and "online + offline."

The countdown to the full island closure operation of the Hainan (海南) Free Trade Port has begun. On December 11, Xiang Yake (向亚克), a member of the Haikou (海口) Expert Publicity Group and associate professor of the Haikou (海口) Municipal Party School, combined the content of the "high-standard construction of the Hainan (海南) Free Trade Port" in the "15th Five-Year Plan" proposal to conduct an in-depth and simple publicity to the employee representatives and party members of China Duty Free Group (中免集团), China Construction First Group (中建一局), and Xixiu Town (西秀镇) and Changliu Town (长流镇) in Xiuying District (秀英区), Haikou (海口).

"What is different after the closure compared to before the closure?" the people on the scene asked.

After the closure operation, a liberalization and facilitation policy system with the basic characteristics of "'first line' liberalization, 'second line' control, and freedom within the island" will be implemented. To facilitate understanding, Xiang Yake (向亚克) used a vivid analogy: "'First line' liberalization is like widening the entrance to the expressway, and 'second line' control is like upgrading the security check system, so as to achieve both precise control and high efficiency and convenience."

"My entrepreneurial dream has already taken root in the Hainan (海南) Free Trade Port. With the full island closure operation imminent, new opportunities make me full of confidence in the future," said Li Zhengtong (李政桐), the owner of a B&B in Rongshanliao Village (荣山寮村), Xiuying District (秀英区), Haikou (海口), who was greatly encouraged after listening to the publicity on the spot.

Entering enterprises, campuses, and fields, organizing activities such as "literature and art + publicity" and "competition + publicity" around characteristic themes such as the free trade port closure policy… At present, Hainan Province (海南省) has carried out nearly 5,000 publicity activities of various levels and types, covering more than 320,000 people.

"Improving the comprehensive agricultural production capacity and quality and efficiency" and "developing modern facility agriculture"... In Yuelai Village (悦来村), Pahata克里乡, Kashgar (喀什), Xinjiang (新疆), Han Jiangtao (韩江涛), the first secretary stationed in the village and the captain of the China Exim Bank (中国进出口银行) Xinjiang (新疆) stationed village work team, told the villagers in detail about the spirit of the plenary session and the rich benefits to agriculture in the "15th Five-Year Plan" proposal.

"This publicity made me fully feel the importance and support of the Party and the country for agricultural development, and the work team also helped me contact professional and technical personnel in aquaculture," said Tu Huti Jumai (吐乎提·居麦), a villager who plans to better develop characteristic aquaculture by using the village's water resource advantages.

While doing a good job in publicizing and interpreting to the masses, it is also necessary to do a good job in publicizing to cadres and employees at all levels of the financial industry. Forming grassroots lecturer groups, carrying out "three meetings and one lesson"... Centrally-administered financial enterprises use diversified publicity methods and rich learning content to reflect major themes with small entry points, use things around them to tell hard truths, carry out full coverage transmission, and three-dimensional publicity, which has aroused widespread resonance among cadres and employees.

Participating in publicity activities, cadres and employees of centrally-administered financial enterprises said that they should implement the learning results in specific work, deeply practice the political and people-oriented nature of financial work, solidly do a good job in preventing risks, optimizing services, and promoting transformation, unswervingly follow the path of financial development with Chinese characteristics, and contribute to accelerating the construction of a financial power.

(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing (北京), December 12)

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"Toilet Revolution" Centered on People's Needs (Authoritative Interview)

By: 本报记者 吴 焰 田 泓 巨云鹏

This September, Shanghai generally completed the upgrading and renovation of old houses without sanitary facilities, commonly known as the "night soil bucket" renovation, historically solving this long-standing livelihood problem that has plagued Shanghai for many years. How does Shanghai vividly practice the people-oriented urban development concept and win this decades-long livelihood marathon? Moving towards the "15th Five-Year Plan," how will Shanghai continue to promote higher-quality urban development by using urban renewal as a starting point? Recently, a reporter from this newspaper interviewed Zhang Xiaohong (张小宏), Deputy Mayor of Shanghai.

Relaying for more than 30 years, improving living conditions around the needs of "people."

Reporter: Since the 1990s, Shanghai has launched a large-scale effort to solve the livelihood problem of "night soil buckets." Looking back on this process, was it extremely difficult?

Zhang Xiaohong (张小宏): Indeed. In the early 1990s, the per capita living area in Shanghai's urban areas was only 6.6 square meters, and the rate of housing with private facilities was less than 1/3. Most residents lived in staff dormitories without private facilities, lane houses, and simple houses. Several or even a dozen households shared kitchen and bathroom facilities, and many still used night soil buckets. Faced with the urgent calls from citizens to improve their living conditions, successive Shanghai Municipal Party Committees and Municipal Governments have attached great importance to this issue, focusing closely on improving living conditions and persistently promoting the overall renovation of old districts, environmental construction, and urban development as important livelihood and development tasks.

In 1992, Shanghai proposed "to complete the renovation of 3.65 million square meters of dilapidated and simple houses in the urban area by the end of this century," which kicked off a large-scale renovation of old districts. By the end of 2000, a total of approximately 22.92 million square meters of old housing had been renovated, and approximately 680,000 households had realized their "new home dream."

Entering the new century, a new round of old district renovation focused on houses below the second-class old lane category in the central urban area. During the process, a series of policies and measures related to planning and land, finance, and construction management were gradually improved. The task of renovating houses below the second-class old lane category, originally planned to be completed in 2025, was completed ahead of schedule in 2022. After 30 years of continuous efforts, the housing conditions of approximately 1.65 million households and 5 million residents have been significantly improved, and a large number of "night soil bucket" problems have been solved.

Since 2023, Shanghai has clearly required that the upgrading and renovation of old houses without sanitary facilities in the city be generally completed within two years. After a comprehensive survey, the final number of residents using "night soil buckets" in the city was determined to be 14,082 households. "Making a dojo in a snail shell," innovating renovation models, adapting to local conditions, and implementing policies based on different categories. In September of this year, Shanghai won the battle to renovate "night soil buckets," historically solving this livelihood problem.

Looking back on the past 30 years, Shanghai's "night soil bucket" renovation work has always revolved around the needs of "people," from solving the "toilet problem" to improving overall living conditions, from protecting historical context to creating vibrant spaces. During the renovation process, it has progressed gradually and continuously, breaking conventions, innovating ideas, gathering momentum, twisting into a rope, and forging a path, achieving success over time and never stopping.

Not adopting a "**一刀切**" (yī dāo qiē - "one knife cut," a one-size-fits-all approach), but using "**绣花功夫**" (xiù huā gōng fū - "embroidery skill," meticulous and detailed work) to complete the final assault.

Reporter: It is said that the final 14,082 "night soil bucket" renovation tasks are "the hardest of the hard bones." How were they finally conquered?

Zhang Xiaohong (张小宏): The locations in the "night soil bucket" battle are mostly scattered, with small spaces and intertwined historical problems. Many also involve the requirements of protecting historical features. Compared with before, the situation is more complicated and the difficulty is greater.

Faced with this tough battle, we did not adopt a simple "one-size-fits-all" solution, but instead used a systematic top-level design, a precise closed-loop promotion mechanism, and multi-channel path exploration, using "embroidery skills" to complete the "night soil bucket" assault in accordance with local conditions.

In the end, the "night soil bucket" renovation is not only a matter of improving living facilities, but also a fundamental issue concerning for whom and on whom urban development relies.

We have included different types of houses, such as old lanes in the central urban area, old towns and old street houses in the suburbs, early staff dormitories, and "converted residential" old buildings, into our field of vision, and conducted household surveys, identification, and clarification of the number of households in a comprehensive manner, without missing a building or a household.

We keep in mind that "the key to matters involving the people lies in reality," and all renovation methods are based on detailed on-site surveys and meticulous mass work. We have always implemented the whole-process people's democracy, and all renovation plans are fully discussed and consulted with the masses face-to-face, and we try our best to meet the demands of the residents. For the surrounding neighbors who may be affected by the renovation, we insist on consultation first to seek understanding, and we will start after the masses approve, and we will finish after the masses are satisfied. The consent rate for renovation plans involving old renovation and demolition and reconstruction is basically over 98%, and many locations reach 100%.

After the renovation is completed, we establish a regular return visit mechanism to strengthen daily maintenance; for the newly added outdoor sanitary facilities, we provide "butler-style" services to ensure a clean environment and orderly operation, and embody the purpose of serving the people in the long-term closed loop from "improving" to "managing well."

Balancing "new" and "old," finding a new path between "solving worries and expectations" and "protecting history."

Reporter: More than 10,000 of the final 14,000-plus "night soil bucket" locations are distributed in lane-style historical buildings. In the face of the must-answer question of solving the "urgent, difficult, and worrying problems" of the masses and "protecting historical features," how does Shanghai balance the new and the old and retain urban memories?

Zhang Xiaohong (张小宏): Shanghai has a rich historical heritage, and historical blocks are the most vivid carriers of the city's cultural character. The city currently has 1,058 outstanding historical buildings, 397 historical feature protection roads and streets, 254 feature protection blocks, and 44 historical and cultural feature areas. For the city, doing a good job in feature protection is by no means an expedient measure, but a historical responsibility that must be consistently adhered to, placed in a priority position, and adhered to for a long time.

We have established a clear protection directory and formulated regulations to provide legal protection. For different protection levels and types, we have formulated detailed technical specifications from planning control and architectural design to material technology, especially emphasizing "refined" operation, advocating "one street, one policy" and "one project, one plan," so that protection measures can both maintain the bottom line of features and respond to the needs of people's livelihoods and community development.

We have mainly explored three paths:

The first is the overall improvement of "keeping houses and people." Through careful "digging" by adding facilities inside the building and inside the household, reasonably adjusting the layout, or changing the construction of households, sanitary facilities are added in a limited space. At the same time, we follow the concept of "restoring the old as before" and carefully repair the roof, walls, and other historical features.

The second is the protection and utilization of "requisition without demolition." For those with old renovation conditions, through strict demonstration and overall planning, the function is transformed to promote revitalization and utilization, which not only solves the "night soil bucket" problem of the original residents, but also frees up space resources and gives priority to the community.

The third is the precise supplementation of "outdoor installation." For individual locations with extremely difficult situations restricted by indoor space, we make full use of outdoor space and state-owned existing houses to install sanitary facilities nearby, so as to quickly achieve sanitary facility coverage with less intervention and improve residents' living conditions in a timely manner.

Moving towards the "15th Five-Year Plan," continuously improving the sustainable model of urban renewal.

Reporter: The Central Urban Work Conference proposed "transforming the concept of urban development and paying more attention to people-oriented development." The recently concluded Central Economic Work Conference emphasized "investing in people" and "people's livelihood is paramount." Moving towards the "15th Five-Year Plan," how will Shanghai use urban renewal as a starting point to promote higher-quality urban development?

Zhang Xiaohong (张小宏): Not long ago, Shanghai held a meeting to implement the spirit of the Central Urban Work Conference and promote the construction of a modern people's city, and issued the "Implementation Opinions on High-Quality Construction of a Modern People's City." Currently, we are compiling the "Shanghai Urban Renewal and Housing Development '15th Five-Year Plan'" and a new round of three-year action plan for urban renewal, planning the stage goals and main tasks of Shanghai's urban renewal work in the future.

The first is to continuously improve the livable and habitable level. We will strive to basically complete the renovation of urban villages by the end of 2027 and fully complete the renovation of small-beam thin-slab houses; by 2030, we will strive to basically complete the renovation of staff dormitories without private facilities and implement the renovation of 30 million square meters of old residential areas. We will systematically promote the construction of "good houses" and complete communities, innovative communities, and "15-minute community life circles," and improve community embedded service facilities.

The second is to focus on improving the quality of public space. After years of continuous construction, on the basis of officially building "a thousand parks" this year, we will promote a new round of park construction and the construction of a ring-city ecological park belt of "one large ring + five small rings." At the same time, we will revitalize and upgrade the "second facade" of the Bund (外滩) and other historical and cultural feature areas, and promote the protection and open sharing of outstanding historical buildings.

The third is to effectively activate the potential of existing resources. We will classify and guide the renewal of inefficient commercial office buildings and commercial facilities, realize functional compatibility and transformation, and reshape spatial value and functional formats. At the same time, we will focus on key areas such as the core area of ​​Hongqiao International Central Business District (虹桥国际中央商务区), North Bund (北外滩), Puxi Expo Area (浦西世博片区), and Wusong Innovation City (吴淞创新城) to create benchmark models for urban renewal.

The fourth is to systematically enhance urban safety and resilience. We will fully complete the renovation of aging gas pipelines by 2027, complete the renovation of 600 kilometers of old water supply pipe networks and 500 kilometers of old drainage pipe networks by 2030, build underground comprehensive pipe corridors in accordance with local conditions, and protect the "city lifeline."

The fifth is to continuously improve the sustainable model of urban renewal. We will establish a mechanism for the integrated promotion of urban physical examination and urban renewal, improve the urban renewal implementation mechanism guided by demand and driven by projects, coordinate the use of financial funds, policy financial instruments, and market-oriented financing, and improve the "three-teacher (planner, architect, appraiser)" joint creation mechanism in the urban renewal unit plan, and improve the government-led, market-operated, and public-participated urban renewal model.

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Representatives from all sectors jointly discuss promoting high-quality development of spiritual civilization through high-level urban civilization construction.

This newspaper reported from Shanghai on December 12th (Reporter Zheng Haiou (郑海鸥)) The National Experience Exchange Conference on Spiritual Civilization Construction and the Urban Civilization Construction Symposium were held in Shanghai (上海) from December 11th to 12th. The conference deeply studied and implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's (习近平) important instructions and approvals and important expositions on the work of spiritual civilization construction, implemented the deployments of the Central Urban Work Conference and the National Commendation Conference on Spiritual Civilization Construction, summarized the achievements and experiences of spiritual civilization construction, analyzed the new situation and new tasks, gave play to the leading and driving role of urban civilization, and promoted spiritual civilization construction to show a new atmosphere and new actions.

The participating representatives believed that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, spiritual civilization construction has been deeply cultivated and vigorously carried out on the land of China, the quality of urban and rural development and the quality of life of the masses have been significantly improved, the people's civilization literacy and the level of social civilization have continued to improve, and the spiritual outlook of the entire nation has become more energetic and high-spirited. It is necessary to deeply grasp the experience gained in the construction of spiritual civilization, grasp the inherent law of the dialectical unity of material and spirit, respect the main position of the masses, adhere to integrity and innovation, 狠抓落地落实 (hěn zhuā luò dì luò shí - "firmly grasp implementation," to vigorously ensure that policies and measures are implemented effectively), use the rule of law to improve the level of moral governance, and constantly create a new situation in the work of spiritual civilization construction.

The participating representatives stated that in the new era and new journey, urban civilization construction should be taken as the basic project of spiritual civilization construction, anchoring the major task of building civilized cities that advocate morality and goodness, continuously consolidating and expanding mainstream values, enriching the people's spiritual world, creating urban civilization spaces, strengthening civilized behavior norms, promoting the integrated development of urban and rural civilization construction, actively embracing digital and intelligent technologies, and carrying out civilized dialogue and exchanges. More attention should be paid to nourishing the heart with culture and educating people with culture, giving play to the role of culture in nourishing the mind and cultivating sentiments, strengthening the protection and inheritance of urban cultural heritage, prospering the development of cultural undertakings and industries, cultivating and shaping the urban spirit, and promoting the formation of ideological concepts, civilized customs, and behavioral norms that are adapted to modern people's cities.

This conference was jointly organized by the Central Propaganda Department (中宣部), the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (中共上海市委), and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government (上海市人民政府). At the meeting, 20 urban civilization construction cases were also released in video format. Responsible comrades from relevant central and local units, as well as experts, scholars, and representatives of the masses, attended the meeting.

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Jointly Plan for Deepening Systemic Reform of Mainstream Media

This newspaper reported from Nanning (南宁) on December 12th (Reporter Zhang Yunhe (张云河)). From December 12th to 13th, the 3rd All-Media Communication System Construction Innovation Seminar and the 42nd "China News Yearbook (中国新闻年鉴)" Annual Meeting were held in Nanning (南宁), Guangxi (广西). Liu Binjie (柳斌杰), Director of the 12th National People's Congress Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee and former Director of the General Administration of Press and Publication, Cui Shixin (崔士鑫), Deputy Editor-in-Chief of People's Daily, and Chen Yijun (陈奕君), Member of the Standing Committee of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (广西壮族自治区) Party Committee and Minister of the Propaganda Department, attended and delivered speeches.

The event, themed "'Artificial Intelligence+' Systemic Reform of Mainstream Media," was co-sponsored by the Propaganda Department of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (广西壮族自治区党委宣传部) Party Committee, the Institute of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (中国社会科学院新闻与传播研究所), and the School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University (清华大学新闻与传播学院). At the meeting, the new book "China News Yearbook (中国新闻年鉴)" (2024 Volume), the list of outstanding data personnel of "China News Yearbook (中国新闻年鉴)", and the list of excellent cases of systemic reform and intelligent communication innovation of mainstream media concerned by "China News Yearbook (中国新闻年鉴)" were released, and the first National College Student AI Content Creation Competition was launched.

The event also included keynote speeches and 4 special seminars, bringing together more than 300 guests and representatives to jointly plan strategies for deepening the systemic reform of mainstream media and jointly discuss innovative paths for the construction of an all-media communication system.

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Photo Story

On December 11th, at the construction site of the Tongsujia Yong (Nantong—Suzhou—Jiaxing—Ningbo) High-speed Railway Jiangbei Section (江北段) in Ningbo (宁波), Zhejiang (浙江) Province, construction workers used a bridge erecting machine to successfully install a prefabricated box girder, 32 meters long and weighing approximately 760 tons, precisely onto the designated pier. This marks the official entry of this section of the project into the girder erection construction phase.

The Tongsujia Yong High-speed Railway is a crucial section of the national "Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal" high-speed railway network's coastal passage. Once completed, it will connect multiple railways.

Photo by Hu Xuejun (胡学军) (Image China (影像中国))

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Independent Inquiry Committee on Tai Po Fire in Hong Kong to Complete Investigation Report Within 9 Months

This newspaper reported from Hong Kong on December 12th (Reporter Chen Ran (陈然)) Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (香港特区) Chief Executive John Lee (李家超) convened a press conference on the afternoon of December 12th to announce the appointment of Judge Joseph Luk (陆启康法官) and two others to form an independent commission to review the causes of the fire at Wang Fuk Court (宏福苑) in Tai Po (大埔) and whether there were any illegal acts in the related maintenance work. The report is to be completed within nine months, and the SAR government will fully support its work. He reiterated that the fire will be thoroughly investigated and those responsible will be held accountable, so that the truth will come to light and justice will be served.

John Lee (李家超) stated that the terms of reference for the independent commission include four items. First, regarding the fire at Wang Fuk Court (宏福苑), the rapid spread of the fire, and the casualties and property damage caused to residents, to review the causes and circumstances leading to the fire, the fire protection installations and equipment in the building, and the supervision and responsibility issues of effective operation; second, for large-scale building maintenance projects, to review all aspects of the project to see if there are systemic problems such as inappropriate related interests, conflicts of interest, and improper collusion; third, regarding the above two matters, to review whether the current relevant laws and regulations and penalties are sufficient; fourth, to make recommendations on the above one to three matters.

Joseph Luk (陆启康) met with the media on the same day and said that the scope of the fire to be reviewed is broad and complex, and the establishment of an independent commission can efficiently and with sufficient power review the issues. The work of the commission will be conducted in an open, transparent and thorough manner, without any preconceived notions, and he and the members will do their best to fulfill their duties. He called on all sectors of society to support the work of the independent commission and jointly promote the completion of the review work.

The Labour Department (劳工处) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (香港特区) Government also stated on the same day that it had completed a two-week special enforcement operation targeting building maintenance sites with large scaffolding. A total of 467 construction sites were inspected, and a total of 249 written warnings and 112 "Improvement Notices" were issued, and 25 prosecutions were filed, mainly involving fire exits and fire extinguishers not being kept in good condition, unsafe work at height, and failure to provide personal protective equipment and other violations.

Regarding the resettlement of affected residents, the SAR government stated that it is concerned about the long-term accommodation support for affected residents, will comprehensively collect and analyze the opinions of affected residents, study and propose long-term solutions as soon as possible, make good use of resources, assist affected families in rebuilding their homes, and restore normal life as soon as possible.

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Page 1 Editors: Hu Anqi, Zhao Zheng, Zhao Chuanbo; Page 2 Editors: Yin Xinyu, Lü Li, Guo Xueyan; Page 3 Editors: Han Xiaoming, Jiang Bo, Li Anqi; Page 4 Editors: Yuan Zhenxi, Bai Zhiyu, Yang Shuobi

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Biomanufacturing: Life-Powered Factories of the Future (Academician Popular Science Talk)

By: 谭天伟

Netizen: Recently, biomanufacturing has become a hot topic. I'm curious, what is biomanufacturing? How does it change our lives?

Editor: Currently, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is developing in depth. Emerging industries represented by biomanufacturing have become an important field for China to cultivate and develop new driving forces and create new development advantages, and are quietly changing our production and life. In this issue of "Academicians Talk Science," we invited Tan Tianwei (谭天伟), Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of Beijing University of Chemical Technology (北京化工大学), to talk about how biomanufacturing intelligently creates the future.

"Living Factories" Open Up New Manufacturing Paths

Speaking of "manufacturing," people usually think of steel factories with roaring machines and dancing robotic arms. However, there is a "manufacturing" that is completely different, a "living factory" - this is biomanufacturing.

Biomanufacturing is the use of living units such as microorganisms, animal or plant cells to produce the substances people want by designing, modifying, and controlling their metabolic pathways. In short, biomanufacturing is letting life "make things."

For example, traditional fermentation technology allows yeast to produce wine, while modern biomanufacturing technology allows scientists to make it produce drug molecules, spices, plastics, and even fuels. It can be said that biomanufacturing is a combination of traditional fermentation industry and synthetic biology. It no longer relies on petroleum, coal, etc., but uses renewable resources such as sugar, straw, and carbon dioxide as raw materials to produce materials and chemicals needed for human daily life.

The reason why biomanufacturing is called a future industry is that it is not an extension of traditional industries, but opens up a new manufacturing path powered by life. Where is this road important?

First, biomanufacturing is a key technological tool to help achieve the "dual carbon" goals. Traditional manufacturing is based on fossil resources such as petroleum and coal, while biomanufacturing uses renewable resources such as sugar, starch, and carbon dioxide. Microorganisms "eat" these raw materials in bioreactors and metabolize high value-added products, realizing "replacing chemicals with life" and "using carbon to nourish carbon."

Second, biomanufacturing has wider raw materials, greener processes, and more intelligent production. Biomanufacturing replaces general process flows with the wisdom of life, making factories more like "ecosystems" and manufacturing processes more efficient and intelligent. For example, carbon dioxide can be converted into fuels and chemicals; crop straw can be "eaten" into degradable plastics; and strains can produce drugs, spices, and fibers.

More importantly, with the help of artificial intelligence and synthetic biology, scientists can "program life": design the genes of microorganisms like writing code, allowing them to produce specific molecules according to human needs. This "programmable manufacturing" allows biomanufacturing to unleash greater potential.

According to predictions by relevant institutions, by 2050, about 60% of industrial products worldwide can be produced through biomanufacturing. The economic value generated by biomanufacturing in the future may exceed 30 trillion US dollars.

China is accelerating the layout of the biomanufacturing industry. The 2024 "Government Work Report" proposed to actively build new growth engines such as biomanufacturing; the "15th Five-Year Plan" proposal proposed to "proactively layout future industries" and promote biomanufacturing to become a new economic growth point. Today, China has leading advantages in fermentation capacity, industrial scale, and engineering experience, and is expected to occupy an important position in the development of this future industry.

Biomanufacturing Changes the Logic of Traditional Production

If the industrial revolution allowed machines to replace manual labor, then biomanufacturing is allowing life to replace machines. Biomanufacturing is integrating into all aspects of our lives and quietly changing the logic of production.

"Growing" meat in the laboratory and "making" protein in fermentation tanks sounds like science fiction, but it has become a reality. Through cell culture and microbial fermentation technology, "cell-based meat" with a taste and nutrition similar to real meat can be cultivated without breeding. This production method not only saves resources, but also significantly reduces methane emissions, providing a new solution for food security and ecological balance. In addition, new types of ingredients such as microbial protein, synthetic dairy products, and plant-based foods are also being placed on the table.

The fashion industry is a major carbon emitter, and biomanufacturing provides possibilities for "green fashion." Scientists have been able to allow bacteria to "spit out" silk protein to make soft and durable bio-silk; algae and fungi can synthesize degradable fibers to replace petrochemical textiles such as polyester and nylon. Some brands are trying to use mycelium leather to make bags and shoes. This "breathable leather" does not require the use of animal fur and can be naturally degraded.

In the field of construction, scientists use "bio-brick" technology to combine fungal mycelium and mineral particles to form hard, lightweight bricks. These bricks can self-repair and absorb carbon dioxide in humid environments. Combined with bio-based coatings and bio-adhesives, future buildings may become "green living bodies" that are both environmentally friendly and safe.

Future cars and airplanes may use "oil made from carbon dioxide." Certain special strains can "eat" carbon dioxide and "spit out" ethanol or aviation fuel. Currently, China has achieved commercial trial flights of bio-based aviation fuel. In addition, biomanufacturing can also produce high-performance lubricating oil, tire rubber, and other materials, allowing transportation to achieve green transformation.

In the medical field, biomanufacturing is reshaping the way drugs are produced. Drug molecules that used to require hundreds of steps to synthesize can now be completed by microorganisms in a few days. More advanced synthetic biology can also allow cells to produce individualized drugs, such as CAR-T cell therapy, gene editing drugs, and recombinant protein drugs, making treatment more precise and efficient. In the future, doctors may be able to directly "print" drugs and tissues and organs in hospitals, providing personalized medical care.

Building an Autonomous and Controllable Technology Base is a Challenge

Challenge 1: Filling the gaps in underlying capabilities, and the innovation system needs to be broken through. The focus of biomanufacturing is on "designing life," which requires strong underlying capabilities: gene editing tools, strain design algorithms, enzyme engineering technology, metabolic pathway databases, etc., but these are currently relatively weak links in China. Core strains still mostly rely on foreign resources; key enzymes and some parts of bioreactors still need to be imported; and industrial-grade bioinformatics databases have not yet been fully established. To achieve true "intelligent life manufacturing," these fundamental problems must be overcome to build an autonomous and controllable technology base.

Challenge 2: Difficulties exist in the industrialization and implementation of scientific research results. Many biomanufacturing technologies have matured in the laboratory, but are stuck in the pilot stage during the industrialization process. The bioreaction process is extremely complex. Strains are active during small-scale trials, but "strike" in large-scale fermentation tanks; cost control, stability, and safety are also common problems. Currently, China is accelerating the construction of national-level pilot verification platforms to promote the connection between scientific research and industry. In the future, these platforms will become a bridge for biomanufacturing to transform from "papers" to "products," allowing more scientific research results to enter the market.

Challenge 3: Policies and standard systems need to be continuously explored. New technologies need institutional guarantees to enter life. At present, the low-carbon certification of bio-based products, biosafety assessment, and market access mechanisms still need to be refined. How to quantify the carbon emission reduction contribution of biomanufacturing products? How to assess the environmental risks of synthetic microorganisms? These all require the establishment of unified standards.

"Artificial Intelligence +", "Carbon Cycle Manufacturing", and "Cross-border Integration" are Trends

Trend 1: "Artificial Intelligence + Biomanufacturing" - Making "Designing Life" Like Writing Code. Artificial intelligence is becoming a new engine for biomanufacturing. Through machine learning, artificial intelligence can help scientists predict the effects of gene mutations, optimize metabolic pathways, and quickly screen high-yielding strains. It used to take several years to improve a strain, but artificial intelligence can shorten the time to a few weeks.

Trend 2: Carbon Cycle Manufacturing - Moving from "Carbon Consumption" to "Carbon Cycle". The "carbon capture + biotransformation" technology using carbon dioxide as a raw material has made major breakthroughs. In the future, more and more factories will not only not emit carbon dioxide, but also "eat carbon and spit out products." This means that manufacturing may move from "carbon consumption" to "carbon cycle."

Trend 3: Cross-border Integration - From a Single Technology to an Ecological Network. Future biomanufacturing will no longer be a single technology, but an ecological network of multidisciplinary integration: the combination of biology and materials science will give rise to new biomaterials; the combination of biotechnology and the energy industry will form a green fuel system; and the combination of biomanufacturing and intelligent manufacturing will create automated, digital, and programmable "life factories."

(The author is an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of Beijing University of Chemical Technology)

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Why Children Can Read Faces (Science Chat)

By: 解万泽

Careful observers may notice that when faced with crying companions, kindergarten children often cannot distinguish the reasons behind the crying and only generally say "unhappy." Children in elementary school, however, can mostly perceive whether a companion's crying is due to the grievance of being misunderstood or the frustration of losing a competition.

In the process of growing up, children gradually establish a "emotional navigation system." This system helps children understand the feelings of others, experience their own emotions, and give appropriate responses. This "high emotional intelligence" of being able to understand emotions is not a linear improvement of a single ability, but a complex process of multiple abilities interacting and developing together.

In fact, the brain perceptual areas that people rely on to recognize emotions are basically mature in childhood. Studies have found that the brains of 5-year-olds can automatically distinguish between different expressions such as happiness, anger, fear, and sadness. However, "being able to see" does not mean "being able to understand," just as being able to distinguish the colors of traffic lights does not mean being familiar with traffic rules. Young children can usually only roughly distinguish between happiness and unhappiness. It is not until after the age of 7 that children's emotional "dictionary" gradually becomes richer—not only can they understand emotions, but they also begin to realize that people can express multiple emotions at the same time, such as "nervous and excited" or "mixed feelings."

As they gradually grow, children's ways of understanding emotions also change. Young children mainly judge emotions by "looking at faces," but as they grow older, they rely more on their own constantly enriched knowledge of emotional concepts. For example, when they see someone frowning, they will pay attention to what is happening around them in order to judge the emotion. This ability to integrate multiple pieces of information such as context is crucial for understanding and responding to subtle, polysemous, and even contradictory emotional expressions in real life.

Understanding the emotions of others is "looking outward," and feeling one's own emotions is "listening inward." Heart rate, breathing depth, muscle tension... these physical signals are all "messengers" of emotions. The process by which the brain receives and processes these signals is called "interoception." The process of interoception is closely related to children's emotional experience and may be shaped by knowledge of emotional concepts and growing experiences.

What happens if the "emotional navigation system" malfunctions?

First, children may have insufficient emotional understanding—weak knowledge of emotional concepts or a lack of ability to infer from context may lead them to frequently "misread signals" in social situations, misunderstand the intentions of others, and thus cause communication barriers, social withdrawal, or even conflict. Second, there may be abnormal interoception function—whether it is oversensitivity or over-slowness, it may cause emotional problems in children, and even affect mental health, increasing the risk of depression or anxiety.

It is worth noting that the environment has a great impact on this "emotional navigation system." Studies have found that some left-behind children (留守儿童) may have different developmental characteristics from their peers in terms of emotional concept formation, the development of contextual inference abilities, and the awareness of physical signals. In-depth understanding of the causes helps to tailor education and psychological support programs for them.

How to help children build a good "emotional navigation system"?

First, enrich the "emotional vocabulary," correctly recognizing more emotions such as frustration, pride, and grievance. Second, provide diverse opportunities for contextual inference, such as parents talking to their children about the characters in picture books. Third, guide children to pay attention to their own physical signals moderately and accurately.

However, a large number of studies remind us that even if the "emotional navigation system" is well-built, if children are in a high-pressure environment with insufficient family emotional support for a long time, their emotional understanding and experience will face additional challenges. Therefore, providing children with stable family support and reducing unnecessary stress is equally important. What we need to do is not to urge children to "grow up quickly," but to give them more opportunities to express, communicate, and experience, so that emotions can become a bridge to knowing themselves, understanding the world, and connecting with others.

(The author is a researcher at the School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University (北京大学), interviewed and compiled by Wu Dan (吴丹), a reporter from this newspaper)

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Guangxi Conducts First Comprehensive and Systematic Survey of Ottelia acuminata Resources

This newspaper's Nanning (南宁) dispatch (Reporter Zhang Yunhe (张云河)) The preliminary research project on the protection, development, and utilization of *Ottelia* resources in Guangxi (广西) recently passed expert acceptance, marking the first comprehensive and systematic assessment of the national second-class protected wild plant *Ottelia* in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (广西壮族自治区). This provides solid data support for its scientific protection, rational development, and sustainable utilization.

*Ottelia* plants are important indicator species for the health of freshwater ecosystems. To accurately grasp the distribution of *Ottelia* resources, this survey was fully launched in June 2025 and completed in November. The survey covered 31 counties (cities, districts) in 9 prefecture-level cities including Hechi (河池), Baise (百色), and Guilin (桂林), systematically collecting 102 water samples, 37 soil samples, 65 plant specimens, 22 biomass samples, and 24 molecular samples. The survey recorded 5 species of *Ottelia* plants and discovered 3 suspected new species, with a total population of over 4 million plants.

Statistical data shows that *Ottelia* has 33 natural distribution points in Guangxi (广西), with a total distribution area of 148.85 hectares. Among them, Hechi (河池) and Baise (百色) are the core distribution areas, accounting for more than 77% of the area; Liuzhou (柳州) and Guilin (桂林) are important distribution areas, accounting for about 21% of the area, forming an overall pattern of "core aggregation in northwestern Guangxi (桂西北), secondary core distribution in northeastern Guangxi (桂东北), and scattered distribution in other areas."

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Aviation Tires Take Flight from Remote Mountain Valleys (Exploring the Front Lines)

By: 本报记者 贺林平

Up to 10 layers or more, this is the number of internal structural layers in an aviation tire; from hundreds to thousands of times, this is the number of extreme tests a product must undergo during research and development; able to withstand temperature changes from minus 40 degrees Celsius to plus 70 degrees Celsius, and withstand impact forces of more than tens of tons at the moment of aircraft landing, these are the stringent requirements for the performance of aviation tires...

Compared with ordinary tires, aviation tires have three significant characteristics: large load-bearing capacity, high speed, and impact resistance. Researchers use an analogy: "This is like requiring a racing tire to have the load-bearing capacity of a truck tire while maintaining the same speed and size." For a long period, China's civil aviation aircraft mainly relied on leasing foreign aviation tires. Creating high-quality aviation tires of our own has been the dream of generations of Chinese scientists.

In Huangpu District (黄埔区), Guangzhou (广州) City, Guangdong (广东省) Province, the Flight Landing Dynamics Large Device, hidden in a small valley, is accumulating strength to realize this dream.

In January 2020, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院) Key Core Technology Tackling Pioneer Program (Category C) "Biomimetic Synthetic Rubber" project was officially approved, planning to build a large aviation tire science center to carry out scientific research and core indicator evaluation testing. The following month, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Huangpu Materials Research Institute (广东粤港澳大湾区黄埔材料研究院) (hereinafter referred to as "Huangpu Materials Institute (黄埔材料院)") came into being.

Xinlong Town (新龙镇), Huangpu District (黄埔区), is surrounded by mountains and rivers, where a conjoined building with silver exterior walls and dark-colored glass is located: the "vertical tire" in the front is 52 meters high, and the "tire" lying behind it has a horizontal diameter of 90 meters, standing and lying, complementing each other. Yang Xiaoniu (杨小牛), Director of the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry (长春应用化学研究所) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院) (hereinafter referred to as "Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry (长春应化所)") and President of Huangpu Materials Institute (黄埔材料院), introduced that the Flight Landing Dynamics Large Device has been built in this building, "We not only want to develop our own Chinese aviation tires, but also to determine the limits of their use to ensure their safety and reliability."

In early 2020, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry (长春应化所) led the formation of a scientific research "national team" involving 20 units, including institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院), universities, and local industrial departments and enterprises, aiming directly at the technical problems of aviation tires. Among them, Huangpu Materials Institute (黄埔材料院) undertook the construction of the aviation tire dynamics large device and other tasks.

Walking into the tall and spacious testing hall, the aviation tire high-acceleration test bench, the tire pavement environment test bench... one high device after another is being debugged and operated intensively.

Observing through the safety glass, a biomimetic rubber aviation tire sample is undergoing high-speed rotation and instantaneous pressure testing. In just a few seconds, the tire speed rises to about 200 kilometers per hour. "The test bench can perform simulated tests at a maximum speed of 600 kilometers per hour, providing first-hand research data for the reliability and service life of the tire when it is deflected or tilted," the researchers explained.

In addition, researchers also have to simulate the pressure on aviation tires when the aircraft lands—continuously increasing the vertical pressure on the tire while increasing the tire's rotation speed, allowing the tire to undergo extreme tests.

At present, multiple sets of equipment of the Flight Landing Dynamics Large Device have been put into use, completing the testing of more than one hundred aviation tires and collecting a large amount of operating data during takeoff and landing. Researchers said: "Here, biomimetic rubber aviation tires can achieve a service life increase of more than 35% compared to aviation tires made of natural rubber under extreme working conditions."

In the exhibition center, a corner of a biomimetic rubber aviation tire sample is peeled open, and the layered structure inside the tire is clearly visible. The structure of aviation tires is complex, and the arrangement angle of each layer has a huge impact on tire performance. Scientific researchers have independently developed a new set of digital tire industrial software, which can design the optimal tire structure through mechanical drive calculation, greatly shortening the process and development time.

At present, the research team has completed the entire chain of localization technology for aviation tires and application verification, achieving two original technological breakthroughs from "0 to 1" in biomimetic rubber and digital tire industrial software, and mastering 41 core technologies.

The Flight Landing Dynamics Large Device in the valley is generating huge "spillover effects."

"Aviation tire-related technologies can spill over to other off-highway tires and new energy vehicle tires, as well as to non-tire industries," explained Wang Jie (王杰), Deputy Director of Huangpu Materials Institute (黄埔材料院) in charge of daily work. In fields such as air springs and rubber shock absorbers, related technologies can be widely used.

"At present, the Flight Landing Dynamics Large Device has the ability to test and verify the design, manufacturing performance, and service reliability of aviation tires, landing gear systems, and small and medium-sized complete machines," said Yang Xiaoniu (杨小牛). Now the Huangpu Materials Institute (黄埔材料院) park has become "hot", receiving more than 4,200 visits from enterprises, scientific research institutes, etc. for cooperation, science popularization, and education every year.

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New Study Links Olfactory Dysfunction to Nearly 140 Diseases

According to Xinhua News Agency, Los Angeles (Reporter Ge Chen (葛晨)) - A recent international study shows that olfactory dysfunction is associated with nearly 140 diseases, while normal olfaction can create a foundation for good nutrition, cognitive function, and psychological resilience.

The research report was recently published in the British journal *Clinical Otolaryngology*. Researchers at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, who led the study, assessed the findings of related fields and found that olfactory dysfunction is associated with at least 139 neurological, physical, and genetic diseases, and that loss of smell is often an early symptom that can be used to predict future health problems.

The first author of the paper, Professor Carl Philpott of Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, said that public health agendas in countries around the world rarely consider olfactory health. However, olfaction plays an important role in the degree of physical health, and increasing evidence shows that loss of smell is an independent risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases, increased frailty, and shortened lifespan.

In people's general perception, the importance of olfaction is not as great as that of vision and hearing. The researchers believe that it is necessary to carry out olfactory health education campaigns, conduct olfactory screening, and develop targeted public health policies.

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This edition's editors: Xiao Yao, Cao Yiqing, Chen Yuanyuan

Layout Design: Zhang Danfeng (张丹峰)

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Delingha, Qinghai: Multi-Energy Synergy Builds a Highland Benchmark, Full-Chain Empowerment Depicts a Green Blueprint

In Delingha (德令哈), Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (海西蒙古族藏族自治州), Qinghai Province (青海省), the Delingha Multi-Energy Complementary Demonstration Base is primarily positioned around "wind-solar-thermal-storage-hydrogen" multi-energy synergy and the full-chain development of "generation-transmission-storage-application-manufacturing." Anchored in the dual-wheel drive approach of "innovation demonstration + industrial application," it is striving to create a high-altitude clean energy demonstration benchmark that leads the Northwest and radiates across the country. To date, the base's construction has achieved phased breakthroughs, laying a solid foundation for building a multi-million kilowatt-level clean energy base during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.

Large-scale Resource Development Promotes a Solid Foundation for Energy Supply

Relying on resource endowments, the base is expanding the scale of multi-energy complementarity in stages to build a stable and reliable energy supply system. By the end of 2025, it will achieve an installed capacity of 5.07 million kilowatts of photovoltaics, 670,000 kilowatts of wind power, 310,000 kilowatts of solar thermal, 582,500 kilowatts of energy storage, and 3 megawatts of hydrogen energy, with a total installed capacity exceeding 6 million kilowatts. Among them, the CGN (中广核) 200,000-kilowatt tower solar thermal project achieves continuous and stable power supply at night with a high energy storage ratio of 20%. It is promoting the formation of deep peak shaving support with a 600,000-kilowatt pumped storage power station and 2×660,000-kilowatt low-carbon coal power, striving to promote the synergistic linkage of various energy sources, improve the stability of the power system and the reliability of power supply, and gradually build a multi-energy complementary pattern of "hydro-thermal-wind-solar-storage" to solve the industry problem of new energy "daytime surplus and nighttime deficit." The construction of a concentrated solar thermal area and a wind power base has been launched, which can promote the peak shaving capacity to exceed 10 million kilowatts, further consolidating the regulatory support for clean energy.

Technological Innovation Achieves Breakthroughs, Highlighting Demonstration and Driving Capabilities

Driven by collaborative innovation of "industry-university-research-application," the base focuses on key technical problems such as high-altitude environment adaptation and strives to create a source of high-altitude clean energy technology. Jointly with CGN (中广核), it has built a solar thermal power generation technology research and development center, focusing on technological breakthroughs in molten salt energy storage, intelligent heliostat field control, etc. Currently, it has broken through key indicators such as a concentrating accuracy of 99.5% and a solar-thermal conversion efficiency of 48%. Targeting the special high-altitude environment, it has successfully overcome key technologies such as low-temperature adaptation of wind turbines and coordinated operation of photovoltaic hydrogen production. CRRC (中车) high-altitude wind turbines and China Huadian (华电) solar-hydrogen-storage projects have achieved efficient implementation and stable operation. Continuous breakthroughs in the field of solar thermal, precise tracking of heliostats, and new-generation large-aperture trough solar thermal technologies have reached the advanced level in the industry. The Qinghai Control Delingha (青海中控德令哈) 50-megawatt tower solar thermal power station and other demonstration platforms with independent intellectual property rights have been built. The aperture of the trough collector has been expanded to 8.6 meters, and the heat collection efficiency has been increased to 27%. The large-aperture molten salt medium trough collector system independently developed by CGN (中广核) has achieved independent control of key technologies. The Qinghai Control (青海中控) cloud detection system, molten salt pumps, and other key equipment have been localized and adapted to high-cold and high-altitude environments. A high-altitude characteristic energy storage demonstration platform has been built to promote the comprehensive implementation of major functions. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, a multi-element coordinated million-kilowatt energy storage system will be formed, including electrochemical energy storage, compressed air energy storage, molten salt energy storage, and gravity energy storage.

Deep Integration of Industrial Collaboration, Win-Win for Economic and Ecological Benefits

The base comprehensively improves the clean energy equipment manufacturing system and builds a full-chain industrial ecology of "solar thermal equipment manufacturing - system integration - operation and maintenance services." It has successfully introduced leading industry enterprises such as CRRC (中车) and Longteng (龙腾), filling the local production gap for wind turbine mainframes, solar thermal collectors, and other components; it has cultivated backbone enterprises such as Qinghai Mingyang (青海明阳) to enhance the local supporting capacity of the industry and promote the formation of a full-industry chain manufacturing capacity for photovoltaics, wind power, and energy storage. Expand the "energy +" diversified application scenarios and create an industrial closed loop of "green electricity - green hydrogen - green ammonia." Promote the construction of zero-carbon demonstration parks to achieve a green electricity utilization rate of over 80% in key industrial parks, build a recycling system for decommissioned equipment, explore green recycling paths for photovoltaic modules and wind turbine blades, help build "waste-free power stations," and achieve simultaneous improvement of economic and ecological benefits.

Continuous Upgrading of Supporting Guarantees, Comprehensive Enhancement of Development Momentum

The power grid support capacity of the base has been significantly improved. The main transformer expansion project of the Qinghai Tuosu (青海托素) 750 kV substation is expected to be completed within the year, strengthening local power consumption and transmission capacity. Continuously optimize the power grid architecture, fully promote the inclusion of the external transmission base, and form a dual-cycle pattern of "local consumption + inter-provincial external transmission." Promote the collaborative application of computing and electricity, plan and deploy intelligent microgrids and virtual power plants, aggregate multiple power generation units, respond to park load demands in real time, and help enterprises reduce comprehensive electricity costs. Build an open innovation collaboration mechanism, gather high-quality industry resources, and provide research and development institutions and enterprises with full-chain services of "proof of concept - pilot verification - industrialization promotion." Superimposed with multiple national and local policy dividends, CCER (China Certified Emission Reduction) transactions for solar thermal projects in the carbon trading market continue to exert their strength, and the guaranteed electricity price policy provides stable expectations for project investment, promoting the large-scale development of base construction.

Next, the Delingha Multi-Energy Complementary Demonstration Base (德令哈多能互补实证基地) will continue to focus on three key areas: technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and demonstration promotion. It will accelerate the construction of key projects such as the important clean energy peak shaving base, promote the high-quality development of the base, contribute more to the realization of the "dual carbon" goals, and provide a "Delingha Plan" (德令哈方案) that can be used for reference for energy transition in high-altitude areas around the world.

Data source: Publicity Department of the CPC Delingha Municipal Committee (中共德令哈市委宣传部)

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Geely Global Full-Range Safety Center Officially Launched, Providing "Geely Solution" for the Construction of a World Automotive Safety System

On December 12, 2025, Geely's Global Full-Range Safety Center was officially put into use.

This "safety proving ground," with a construction area of 82,000 square meters and a construction cost of over 2 billion yuan, breaks several Guinness World Records and is committed to creating the "world's largest comprehensive safety laboratory."

Adhering to the Brand Gene of "Safety First"
Geely's dedication to product safety has long been engraved in the brand's genes.

In 1998, starting with the first Geely Haoqing (吉利·豪情) car independently developed by Geely rolling off the production line, "building good cars that ordinary people can afford" became Geely's brand mission. Geely conducts strict quality inspections on every new car to ensure that the new car has excellent quality and performance, adheres to "safety first," and effectively protects consumers' rights and safety.

In 2007, Geely released the "Ningbo Declaration (宁波宣言)," proposing that the company transform from a "low-price strategy" to a "technology-leading, quality-reliable, service-satisfactory, and comprehensive-leading strategy." In the "Ningbo Declaration (宁波宣言)," "the safest" was written into the R&D guidelines. Geely explored and summarized a comprehensive safety management system (GTSM) to build the cornerstone of brand safety.

In 2010, Geely and Volvo began cooperation due to their highly compatible safety concepts. Volvo shared its years of accumulated collision data and test standards, while Geely combined its own practical experience for technology integration. The two parties jointly helped Chinese auto brands shift from price competition to value competition, and continuously expand the market influence of "Made in China (中国智造)."

The cooperation between Geely and Volvo is not only a mutual reference at the technical level, but also a resonance of brand concepts. Today, entering the dummy laboratory of Geely's Global Full-Range Safety Center, among the more than 60 test dummies with a total value of 200 million yuan, there are both THOR dummies with more than 180 sensors all over the body and the first domestic test dummies manufactured to imitate the Chinese human body shape. The application of these test dummies not only reflects Volvo's unremitting pursuit of automotive safety technology, but also highlights Geely's meticulous consideration of the safe travel of Chinese users. The Volvo Cars Safety Centre crash test laboratory in Gothenburg, Sweden, and the Geely Global Full-Range Safety Center in Qianwan New Area (前湾新区), Ningbo, Zhejiang Province (浙江宁波), carry the inheritance and innovation of both parties in automotive safety technology.

From Technology Introduction to Building an Independent Innovation System
For more than 10 years, Geely has not only learned the essence of Volvo's technology through the European R&D Center, but also focused on mastering design methodologies: gathering real accidents into R&D data; ensuring strict implementation of safety standards throughout the entire process from design sketches to vehicle scrapping, and realizing product full life cycle verification. Based on Geely's independently developed comprehensive safety management system (GTSM) and drawing on Volvo's design concepts, Geely's R&D efficiency has been significantly improved. Collision simulation tests that previously took half a year can now produce results in just one month.

Through years of innovative practice, Geely has significantly improved the safety of its own products. In 2016, Geely proposed the "safety identification circle" concept, advancing the automotive safety concept from the traditional "what to do after a collision" to "how to prevent it before a collision," forming a closed loop from early warning to rescue. Currently, all Geely models' collision test standards strictly follow Volvo standards. As of July 2025, Geely has obtained a series of highest safety ratings in major global automotive authority safety evaluations, and its overall evaluation is among the top in the industry.

Transforming into a Global Standard Setter for the Automotive Industry
The launch of Geely's Global Full-Range Safety Center is an "upgrade declaration" of Geely's safety strategy. On the 293.39-meter-long main track for vehicle testing, it can simulate accident scenarios such as sudden braking at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour, colliding with a truck, and rolling over; the adjacent environmental wind tunnel can switch from rainstorm mode to blizzard mode in a few minutes, and can also simulate a hypoxic environment on the plateau. The 27 major types of tests developed by Geely's Global Full-Range Safety Center can not only meet the current requirements of major markets around the world for automotive safety performance, but have also begun to prospectively develop safety technology standards for the next 10 years, marking Geely's solid transformation step towards becoming a global standard setter for the automotive industry.

With the continuous improvement of its technical strength, Geely is committed to ensuring that all its models adopt the latest safety technologies. The Aegis Gold Brick Battery (神盾金砖电池) did not smoke, catch fire, or explode throughout the entire process after being pierced by a rifle bullet in an extreme test in August this year; the Geely Galaxy Star Yao 8 (吉利银河星耀8) model uses an "armor cage" body composed of 80% high-strength steel and 7-series aluminum alloy, with a key component strength of 1500 MPa, which can withstand 65 tons of side impact force. Corresponding safety configurations have now been applied to all Geely models.

From following international standards for testing to participating in the formulation of standards, Geely's role has long been transformed. As the first Asian member of the International Automotive Task Force (IATF), Geely has led or participated in the formulation of 682 domestic and foreign industry standards, and has 1,562 safety patents, ranking first among domestic automakers. In addition, Geely has proactively opened up its door handle safety patent, battery bottom safety patent collection, and "one-button window breaking" patent for global automakers to use free of charge. At the World NCAP Conference, Geely, as the vice-chairman unit of the Sino-European Automotive Carbon Footprint Mutual Recognition Research Working Group, contributed to promoting the coordinated development of global automotive safety standards.

Geely's "Full-Range Safety 2.0" technology system has added a "Public Domain Safety" section, which expands the safe driving vision to the entire public transportation field. In Ningbo, Zhejiang Province (浙江宁波), Geely's models have successfully tested related systems. Once an accident occurs, the vehicle will automatically send location and status information to the public rescue platform and open a "green wave channel" for ambulances to shorten rescue time. Geely has also joined hands with the Red Cross Society of China (中国红十字会) to conduct nationwide emergency rescue training, and is committed to enabling more car owners to master basic first aid knowledge. Geely's safety accident investigation team has traveled all over the country and conducted in-depth investigations into 21,000 real traffic accidents, providing optimized data that conforms to the driving habits of Chinese car owners for new car safety design.

By building the Geely Global Full-Range Safety Center, Geely is making its independently developed automotive safety technology equipment and patents public to global automakers, and is committed to promoting the overall safety level of the industry through technology sharing. In the future, Geely will adhere to the path of independent research and development, rely on long-term technology accumulation and innovative practice, gradually transform from a follower of automobile manufacturing technology to a global standard setter for the automobile industry, and provide a continuously updated "Geely solution" for the construction of the world's automobile safety system.

Data source: Geely Automobile Group (吉利汽车集团)

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Why This Album Became "Evidence No. 1 in Beijing"

By: 张国松

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, and December 13th is the twelfth National Memorial Day for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre. Today, this edition presents a group of articles to deeply mourn all the compatriots who were brutally murdered by the Japanese aggressors, and the revolutionary martyrs and national heroes who sacrificed their lives for the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Remembering history and cherishing peace, the great spirit of the War of Resistance will always inspire us to overcome difficulties and obstacles and move forward.
　　——Editor

　　This year's popular film "Nanjing Photo Studio" tells the story of the protagonist risking his life to collect and preserve photos of the Nanjing Massacre as evidence of the crime. In history, there was indeed an album with 16 photos reflecting the atrocities of the invading Japanese army, which was presented in court as "Kyoto First Evidence" during the post-war military tribunal trial of Iwane Matsui (谷寿夫), the main culprit in the Nanjing Massacre and the commander of the 6th Division of the original invading Japanese army.
　　What historical information does this set of photos contain, and why does it have such high historical archival and evidentiary value?
　　These 16 photos reflect the atrocities committed by the invading Japanese army in Nanjing, including massacre, insulting women, and plundering property. Six of the photos are a series of continuous shots of a Japanese soldier holding a military knife and hacking Chinese people to death, with a group of Japanese soldiers watching around. The photos also show that some of the Japanese soldiers watching were holding cameras and filming the massacre scene. Two photos reflect the tragic situation after being massacred by the Japanese army. One photo shows corpses floating and piled up in and around a pond, and two living people can still be seen in the pond; in another photo, corpses with their hands tied are densely piled together, next to a Japanese soldier leading a horse and carrying a gun. There are also two photos of Chinese people tied to pillars, with a Japanese soldier grinning with a bayonet. In one photo, a Japanese soldier is forcibly kissing a Chinese woman wearing a cheongsam with her hands forced behind her back. One photo shows the "Nanjing Municipal Government Railway Administration Notice" (南京市政府铁路管理处布告), which clearly reads in Japanese: "December 13th, A.M., Koike Unit Hayashi Team occupied. Eight passenger cars, three steam locomotives"; in another photo, next to a section of the city wall, a Japanese soldier stopped a Chinese person and searched him. The back of the album is written in brush with the words "Atrocity photos taken by the Japanese army themselves" (日军自行拍摄之暴行照片).
　　According to historical records, while the Japanese army wantonly burned, killed, raped, and plundered in Nanjing, they often took photos or movies to show off their "military exploits," and these images later became direct evidence of the Nanjing Massacre by the invading Japanese army. This album is just a microcosm of the atrocities of the Japanese army. There are many more atrocity photos taken by the Japanese army themselves, such as the albums of Japanese soldiers Itō Kaneo (伊藤兼男) and Murase Moriho (村濑守保) collected by the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by the Invading Japanese Army. The diaries and testimonies of veteran soldiers of the invading Japanese army and accompanying reporters who participated in the Nanjing Massacre, the testimonies of survivors of the Nanjing Massacre, the diaries and letters of foreigners who stayed in Nanjing, and the photos and film footage (such as the 16mm camera used by American pastor John Magee to film the atrocities of the Japanese army in Nanjing) all recorded the various atrocities of the Japanese army in Nanjing.
　　The account of the preservers of this album, Luo Jin (罗瑾) and Wu Xuan (吴旋), citizens of Nanjing, and the petition submitted to the Nanjing Provisional Council, prove the orderly circulation of the album.
　　In 1938, Luo Jin, an apprentice at the "Huadong Photo Studio" (华东照相馆) near Guyilang (估衣廊) in Nanjing, discovered that many of the two rolls of "Sakura" film he was developing for a Japanese officer contained photos of Japanese soldiers hacking Chinese people and insulting Chinese women, so he printed an extra set. Later, he selected 16 photos from more than 30 photos and bound them into an album, and destroyed the remaining photos. To express his anger, he drew a picture on the cover of the album: the upper right corner is an artistic "shame" (耻) character, the lower right corner is a bloody sharp knife, and the upper left corner is two bright red pierced hearts, dripping with blood!
　　In 1940, Luo Jin was recruited to study in the Communications Brigade of the Guard Brigade Headquarters of the Wang puppet government due to livelihood reasons. During this period, he secretly transferred the album to the Communications Brigade驻地—毗卢寺 (Pilu Temple) in Nanjing. One day, the Japanese and puppets suddenly conducted a large search in the temple, and he quickly hid the album in a wall hole in the latrine in the backyard of the temple. A few days later, he found that the album was missing, and for safety reasons, he decided to leave Nanjing immediately.
　　Also in 1940, Wu Xuan was also recruited to study in the Communications Brigade in order to support his family. One day, he found an album in the latrine in the backyard of the temple. When he opened it, it was full of photos of the atrocities of the Japanese army. He quickly put it in his pocket and then hid it under the base of a Buddha statue in the main hall of Pilu Temple (毗卢寺). At the end of the autumn training in 1941, Wu Xuan secretly took the album from the base of the Buddha statue and stuffed it into the bottom of his small leather suitcase and took it away. Later, he risked his life to preserve these photos until the victory of the War of Resistance.
　　In 1946, after hearing that relevant departments in Nanjing were collecting evidence of the Nanjing Massacre by the invading Japanese army, Wu Xuan presented this album he had treasured to the Nanjing Provisional Council (南京市临时参议会), along with a presentation introducing the origin of the photos, which read: "A classmate opened a photo studio in Nanjing, and a Japanese bandit brought photos he had taken to the studio for washing and printing, in order to boast of 'victory'. My classmate, fearing his power, could not refuse, so he simultaneously printed an extra copy of his negatives, obtaining a total of sixteen small photos, mostly of the enemy soldiers' crimes, or taking pleasure in the killing of our compatriots. Even now, looking at them, I still have lingering fears."
　　In October 1946, after receiving this album and presentation, the Nanjing Provisional Council (南京市临时参议会), after investigation, determined that these photos were taken by the invading Japanese army themselves, and urgently transferred the photos and presentation to the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal (南京审判战犯军事法庭) as evidence for the trial of Japanese war criminals. According to the "Public Letter from the Secretariat of the Nanjing Provisional Council" (南京市临时参议会秘书处公函): "It has been verified that the photos in question were indeed taken by the Japanese bandits themselves when they committed atrocities, and are sufficient to prove the ironclad evidence of war crimes." According to a report in the Nanjing "Xinmin Daily" (新民报) on October 20, 1946, when the prosecutor handed the album to Iwane Matsui (谷寿夫), he "trembled with both hands, causing the album to fall to the ground, and then picked it up and looked at it in detail."
　　From February 6 to 8, 1947, when Iwane Matsui (谷寿夫) was tried at the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal (南京审判战犯军事法庭), this album was presented in court as "Kyoto First Evidence" (京字第一号证据). On March 10 of the same year, the War Crimes Tribunal made a final judgment, and the judgment clearly pointed out the role of this album as important physical evidence: "And there are massacre photos taken by the Japanese army themselves at that time to show off their military exploits..." On April 26, Iwane Matsui (谷寿夫) was escorted to the Yuhuatai (雨花台) execution ground and executed by firing squad.
　　While affirming the historical archival and evidentiary value of "Kyoto First Evidence" (京字第一号证据), we also need to know that during the Nanjing trial, the court collected as many as four to five thousand pieces of evidence, and there were as many as 500 witnesses. These evidences and testimonies played an important role in the conviction of Japanese war criminals. The court's judgment stated: "It is estimated that more than 190,000 of our captured soldiers and civilians... were collectively massacred and their bodies burned to eliminate traces...", "More than 150,000 were sporadically killed, and their remains were buried by charitable organizations... The total number of victims was more than 300,000."
　　In October 2015, these 16 photos of Japanese army crimes were included in the "Memory of the World Register" by UNESCO as one of the "Nanjing Massacre Archives," becoming an important world memory heritage. The history of the Nanjing Massacre has become a common memory of mankind from individual memory, urban memory, and national memory. Today, the original of this album is preserved in the Second Historical Archives of China (中国第二历史档案馆), and a copy is publicly displayed in the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by the Invading Japanese Army (侵华日军南京大屠杀遇难同胞纪念馆).
　　(The author is a researcher at the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by the Invading Japanese Army (侵华日军南京大屠杀遇难同胞纪念馆). This newspaper reporter Yin Xiaoyu (尹晓宇) compiled and organized the interview)

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The Seal's Legacy: Inheriting the "Iron Man Spirit" (Glimpses of History Through Objects)

By: 鲁晓宁

Among the many exhibits at the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the story behind Dai Anlan's (戴安澜) "Iron Man" seal and the memorial couplet stub book impressed me deeply. One is an agate seal, with the two characters "Iron Man" engraved in relief, in seal script, with a dignified layout and vigorous strokes; the other is a yellowed stub book, containing elegies, memorial words, and memorial couplets from all walks of life.

Dai Anlan (戴安澜) (1904-1942), a native of Wuwei (无为), Anhui (安徽), styled himself "Iron Man" during the Battle of Taierzhuang (台儿庄战役) and engraved this seal to express his firm belief in resisting the Japanese invaders with an iron will. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese army swept through Southeast Asia. At the request of the Allied forces, China sent an expeditionary force to Myanmar to fight. In March 1942, Dai Anlan (戴安澜) served as the commander of the 200th Division of the 5th Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force and led his troops to Myanmar ahead of schedule. In a situation of being an isolated army, he wrote in his suicide note: "Now fighting alone, I am determined to sacrifice everything to repay the country's upbringing! It is extremely glorious to die for the country!"

From March 18 to 29 of that year, the 200th Division was in a bitter battle in Donggua (东瓜). Without air force coordination, facing a Japanese army four times its size, equipped with special forces and air force, Dai Anlan (戴安澜) commanded the infantry to resist tenaciously, fighting hard for 12 days, annihilating about 5,000 enemies, and successfully covering the retreat of the British army. On May 18, the troops encountered the Japanese army in the Langke (郎科) area. Dai Anlan (戴安澜) was unfortunately seriously injured in the fierce battle. On May 26, he died for his country in Maobang Village (茅邦村), Myanmar, at the young age of 38.

Dai Anlan's (戴安澜) remains were returned to China via Tengchong (腾冲), Yunnan (云南). An old overseas Chinese, moved by his loyalty and bravery, donated his own Phoebe zhennan coffin to hold his remains. After the remains returned to China, Yunnan (云南), Guangxi (广西), Guizhou (贵州) and other places held memorial services one after another. Mao Zedong (毛泽东) personally wrote a poem of condolence: "Foreign insults require people to resist, the general composes 'Picking Ferns'." In April 1943, during the public memorial service in Quanzhou (全州), Guangxi (广西), the funeral committee recorded the stub book of elegies, memorial words, and memorial couplets from all walks of life, permanently preserving this mourning. The first and third volumes of the stub book are printed with elegies, memorial words, and memorial couplets presented by Mao Zedong (毛泽东), Zhou Enlai (周恩来), and Deng Yingchao (邓颖超).

In 2005, Dai Anlan's (戴安澜) children donated the "Iron Man" seal and the memorial couplet stub book to the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Today, these two first-class cultural relics are on display in the fourth part of the theme exhibition "For National Liberation and World Peace." This is not only a inheritance of General Dai Anlan's (戴安澜) "Iron Man spirit," but also uses physical objects to confirm the Chinese nation's firm determination to resist foreign aggression, and also demonstrates the national cohesion of the War of Resistance and China's contribution to the World Anti-Fascist War.

(Author's unit: Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression)

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The Most Glorious Day of Life (History Through Objects)

By: 陈 亮

In the exhibition cabinet displaying the base area culture, education, and social construction in the third part of the theme exhibition "For National Liberation and World Peace" at the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, a precious archive is on display. On the red graph paper, the handwritten text in pen has some modifications, but the handwriting is clear:

"I feel that my own creations are immature and my political understanding is too weak. Therefore, I hope to receive the leadership of the Party and learn creation from the theory of Marxism-Leninism. I often feel that not joining the organization is like being lost without the leadership of the Party. Therefore, I am willing to join the Party, and at the same time, I hope that the Party can absorb specialized musical talents, so that all departments of the Party can become strong and great at the same time, and become an invincible force in the construction of the new China or in the war of resistance against Japan! Like many young people, I am willing to dedicate myself to the Party! (I have spoken to Comrade Zhao Yimin (赵毅敏) about the procedures for joining the Party, and he is willing to be the introducer.)"

The signature reads "Xian Xinghai (冼星海), May 15, 1939, Lu Yi, Yan'an (延安)."

This is the application to join the Party written by Xian Xinghai (冼星海) on May 15, 1939.

Xian Xinghai (冼星海) (1905-1945) was a pioneer of China's new national music cause and was known as the "People's Musician." In 1935, he graduated from the Paris Conservatory of Music in France and returned to China to actively participate in the anti-Japanese national salvation movement, creating singing teams and composing anti-Japanese songs such as "National Salvation Army Song," "Afraid of Not Resisting," "Defend Lugou Bridge," and "Go to the Enemy's Rear." In November 1938, Xian Xinghai (冼星海) arrived in Yan'an (延安) after many twists and turns and taught in the Music Department of the Lu Xun Academy of Arts. In the spring of 1939, he collaborated with Guang Weiran (光未然) to compose "Yellow River Cantata," an epoch-making masterpiece of Chinese anti-Japanese music, which was hailed as the "spiritual horn of the Chinese nation."

Zhao Yimin (赵毅敏) (1904-2002) joined the Communist Party of China in 1926. In September 1931, on behalf of the Manchurian Provincial Committee of the CPC, he drafted the "Declaration of the Manchurian Provincial Committee of the CPC on the Armed Occupation of Manchuria by Japanese Imperialism," which was the first declaration issued by the Communist Party of China calling on the Chinese people to carry out the anti-Japanese struggle. In May 1939, Zhao Yimin (赵毅敏) served as the vice president of Lu Yi, focusing on cultivating new cultural talents. He often had heart-to-heart talks with Xian Xinghai (冼星海), encouraging him to give full play to his intelligence and talent. Xian Xinghai (冼星海) gradually grew from a patriot to a communist. He submitted an application to join the Party to the Lu Yi Party organization in the form of an autobiography. He recalled his understanding of the Communist Party of China and the working people in various periods, such as when he was a child, when he studied in Paris, after returning to China, and after arriving in Yan'an (延安), and described in detail the development process of his thinking, expressing his earnest hope to join the Party.

On June 14, 1939, Xian Xinghai (冼星海) gloriously joined the Communist Party of China and became a firm communist fighter. He excitedly wrote in his diary: "Today is the first day I joined the Party, and it can be said to be the most glorious day in my life. I hope to change my thoughts and outlook on life and strive for proletarian music!"

(Author's unit: Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression)

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Centennial Guizhou Photos Return Home

By: 刘秀丹

On July 31, 2025, a donation ceremony was held at the Guizhou Provincial Museum (贵州省博物馆). Mr. Zhu Yanqi (朱延琦), at the advanced age of 79, accompanied by his family, solemnly handed over 43 old photos from the Republican era, a family treasure for nearly a century, to the Guizhou Provincial Museum (贵州省博物馆). Among these images, 42 frames of photos depicting the customs of the Miao ethnic group in Guizhou (贵州苗族) taken during the westward relocation of Great China University (大夏大学) to Guiyang (贵阳) are particularly eye-catching, like a time-traveling code, unlocking a piece of cultural preservation history sealed during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

After the July 7th Incident, China's cultural and educational undertakings suffered heavy losses, and a large number of universities were forced to embark on the road of southward and westward relocation. Great China University (大夏大学)'s westward relocation to Guiyang (贵阳) was one of the earliest. At that time, the stability of the southwestern border and the unity of the ethnic groups were directly related to the overall situation of the war. Great China University (大夏大学) then reorganized the "Social and Economic Research Office" into the "Social Research Department," headed by Wu Zelin (吴泽霖), the dean of the School of Liberal Arts, shouldering the mission of ethnic investigation and uniting the forces of resistance.

From 1938 to 1940, the Social Research Department traveled all over Anshun (安顺), Lushan (炉山) (now Kaili City (凯里市)), Liping (黎平), and other places. The ethnic investigation during this period promoted Wu Zelin's (吴泽霖) academic shift from sociology to anthropology: through in-depth field investigations and research on ethnic minorities in Guizhou (贵州), he clarified the inherent commonalities between the Han (汉族), Miao (苗族), Buyi (布依族), and Shui (水族) ethnic groups, thereby promoting unity among the ethnic groups and jointly resisting the war.

During the investigation, the Social Research Department took hundreds of ethnic images. The batch of photos donated by Mr. Zhu Yanqi (朱延琦) is part of the investigation results of that year. Wu Zelin (吴泽霖) carefully selected representative works and compiled them into "Miao Compatriot Photo Collection" (苗胞影荟), planning to publish them in installments. However, due to the constraints of the current situation and economy, only the first installment was published, and most of the rest have been lost. After Wu Zelin (吴泽霖) transferred to the Southwest Associated University (西南联大) in 1941, he continued his ethnic research. From 1943 to 1945, he also served as the deputy director of the Kunming Interpreter Training Class (昆明译员训练班), training a large number of U.S. military interpreters, contributing to the victory of the war.

While Wu Zelin (吴泽霖) was running around in the southwestern border, Zhu Qiqian (朱启钤), a giant in the academic world and a magnate in the business world, whose ancestral home was Zijiang (紫江) (now Kaiyang (开阳)), Guizhou (贵州), who never set foot on his homeland but called himself "Zijiang Zhu Qiqian (紫江朱启钤)," was writing another cultural preservation legend in Japanese-occupied Beiping (北平). Zhu Qiqian (朱启钤) devoted himself to politics in his early years, turned to industry in 1919, and formed the Society for Research in Chinese Architecture (中国营造学社) in 1930, becoming a pioneer in the study of Chinese architectural history.

After the fall of Beiping (北平) in 1937, Liang Sicheng (梁思成), Liu Dunzhen (刘敦桢), Lin Huiyin (林徽因) and other key members of the Society for Research in Chinese Architecture (中国营造学社) moved south one after another. Zhu Qiqian (朱启钤) stayed in the occupied area and personally funded the employment of people to keep the materials stored in Zhongshan Park (中山公园) in Beiping (北平), setting up a storage office. In August 1939, Tianjin (天津) was flooded, and the drawings, materials, negatives, etc. deposited by the Society for Research in Chinese Architecture (中国营造学社) in the Maijia Li Bank (麦加利银行) were soaked. Zhu Qiqian (朱启钤) organized personnel to carry out emergency rescue, drying, and cleaning, preserving invaluable historical materials that could not be regenerated for the development of cultural relic protection and ancient architecture research after the founding of New China. In order to protect the ancient buildings on the central axis of Beiping (北平), in 1941, Zhu Qiqian (朱启钤) risked persuading Lin Shizhen (林是镇), the director of the Urban Planning Bureau of the puppet Construction General Administration, to entrust the architect Zhang Bo (张镈) to preside over the surveying and mapping work. This surveying and mapping work lasted for more than 3 years, making outstanding historical contributions to the protection and inheritance of ancient buildings in Beijing (北京). During this period, the Japanese puppets repeatedly wooed Zhu Qiqian (朱启钤). Based on the principle of **绝不与日本人合作** (jué bù yǔ Rìběn rén hézuò - "absolutely not cooperate with the Japanese," a firm stance against collaboration), he refused on the grounds of compiling "Biographies of Guizhou (贵州) People" (贵州碑传集). His Zhongxing Coal Mine (中兴煤矿) was occupied for refusing to cooperate with the Japanese, his residence was forcibly requisitioned, and his life was difficult, but he remained steadfast as ever.

In the predicament of "**危巢无可告语**" (wēi cháo wú kě gàoyǔ - "a precarious nest has no one to confide in," a metaphor for a dangerous situation where one cannot speak freely), Guizhou (贵州), which he had never set foot on, became Zhu Qiqian's (朱启钤) spiritual comfort. At the end of 1938, the Wartime Rescue Headquarters (战时救护总队) moved west to Guiyang (贵阳), and Zhu Qiqian (朱启钤) entrusted Lu Zhide (卢致德) to collect photos of his hometown. Lu Zhide (卢致德) was then the director of the Health Department of the Logistics Department, presiding over anti-Japanese medical training. He had no time to go to the countryside to take pictures, but happened to meet the Social Research Department of Great China University (大夏大学) with ready-made images, so he asked for them as a gift. The 43 Guizhou (黔) photos thus became Zhu Qiqian's (朱启钤) homesickness sustenance. Among them, except for the photo "New Type Car Driving in Miao Territory (苗疆)" inscribed by Lu Zhide (卢致德) in 1941, the remaining 42 frames were from the Social Research Department of Great China University (大夏大学).

After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhu Qiqian (朱启钤) continued to cultivate the collation of Guizhou (贵州) documents. In 1962, Zhu Qiqian (朱启钤) donated 15 categories and 304 volumes of works by Guizhou (黔) people and officials to the Guizhou Provincial Library (贵州省图书馆) to support the cultural construction of his hometown. The donation of this batch of photos by Zhu Yanqi (朱延琦) in 2025 is precisely to fulfill Mr. Zhu Qiqian's (朱启钤) last wish.

The circulation of photos across thousands of miles has witnessed the academic perseverance in the southwest and the cultural unyielding in Beiping (北平), becoming a vivid teaching material for forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. They tell the anti-Japanese memory of "all ethnic groups being tightly held together like pomegranate seeds," and even more show that cultural identity is the spiritual link of national rejuvenation.

(Author's unit: Guizhou Provincial Museum (贵州省博物馆))

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Looting of Chinese Cultural Relics by Japan During the War of Resistance

By: 胡姗辰

In July 1937, Yan Jici (严济慈) was representing China at the International Conference on Cultural Cooperation held in Paris, France. When news of the July 7th Incident (七七事变) arrived, he spoke during a discussion on the protection of cultural relics: "Japanese aggressors have already declared and threatened to bomb Beiping (北平). Beiping is a world-renowned ancient capital with a thousand-year history. I urge world public opinion to openly condemn the Japanese aggressors' criminal attempt to destroy culture."

China and Japan are neighboring countries separated only by a strip of water, and Japanese cultural development has been deeply influenced by traditional Chinese culture. However, after the "Meiji Restoration," Japan pursued "leaving Asia and entering Europe," embarking on the path of militarism and external aggression and expansion, seizing precious cultural heritage from China, Korea, and Southeast Asian countries, which became one of the important ways for it to implement colonial expansion.

As early as the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Japan drafted the "Wartime Qing Dynasty Treasure Collection Method," proposing that the purpose of "collecting" Qing Dynasty (清朝) cultural relics was to prove that Japan was the "base camp of Oriental learning" and replace China as the representative of Asian civilization; and that wartime "collection" of cultural relics was easy to obtain, inexpensive, and convenient to transport, with unparalleled advantages in peacetime. The document also listed methods for "collecting" Chinese cultural relics, requiring that all aspects of "collection," transportation, and classification be subject to the command and supervision of military officers to ensure that the "collected" cultural relics were stored in the Imperial Household or collected by the Imperial Museum.

During the 14-year-long War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Japan plundered public and private books, especially rare and precious books, looted precious historical sites and important cultural relics, and stole underground cultural relics and archaeological resources on a large scale. The "Inventory of Wartime Cultural Relics Losses" compiled by the "Committee for the Inventory of Wartime Cultural Relics Losses" after the war listed a total of 3,607,074 pieces and 1,807 boxes of public and private cultural relics losses, including books, calligraphy and paintings, rubbings from stone inscriptions, antiques, historical sites, instruments, specimens, maps, and works of art, as well as 741 historical sites. The committee also compiled and published the "Catalog of Cultural Relics Flowing into Japan Since the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895," which included 15,245 pieces of various cultural relics plundered by Japan from the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 to the eve of the victory of the War of Resistance in 1945. Due to limited investigation and declaration time and complex procedures, these data and materials only record a part of the cultural relics plundered from China and cannot fully cover the actual situation of Japan's plunder of Chinese cultural relics.

Japan plundered Chinese cultural relics in a variety of ways. The Japanese army established special institutions and organized special personnel to plunder public and private cultural institutions in the occupied areas. The Japanese army was also equipped with "cultural relic collectors" who had received special training and had certain professional knowledge to search for and identify cultural relics. During the Nanjing Massacre (南京大屠杀), the Japanese army formed a "special action team" to systematically investigate public and private cultural institutions and historical sites where important books, documents, and precious cultural relics might be stored, and to "collect" and plunder cultural relics. In other areas, the Japanese army also openly "swept" and occupied public and private museums, libraries, educational institutions, and religious sites, forcibly demanding and secretly robbing the cultural property within them. The looted cultural relics were either transported to the Japanese Imperial Household for display or divided among the Japanese government, academic institutions, and private individuals.

Since the end of the 19th century, Japan has been stealing Chinese underground cultural relics resources through so-called "archaeology." The expedition team led by Otani Kozui (大谷光瑞) illegally investigated the Kumtura Grottoes (库木吐喇石窟) and Kizil Grottoes (克孜尔石窟) three times in the early 20th century, plundered the ruins of Subashi Ancient City (苏巴什古城) and Loulan Ancient City (楼兰古城), and looted more than 500 volumes of Dunhuang (敦煌) manuscripts, more than 7,000 volumes of Turpan (吐鲁番) documents, and a large number of wooden slips, murals, sculptures, silk fabrics, and other precious cultural relics. After the September 18th Incident (九一八事变), companies and academic institutions with strong official backgrounds, such as the South Manchuria Railway Company (南满洲铁道株式会社), the Japanese Society for East Asian Archaeology (日本东亚考古学会), and the Institute for Oriental Culture at Kyoto University (京都大学东方文化研究所), carried out many highly organized and planned cultural relic theft activities. For example, the Institute for Oriental Culture at Kyoto University excavated and stole more than 5,600 pieces of materials and more than 8,000 pieces of stone carving materials from the Northern and Southern Xiangtangshan Grottoes (南北响堂山) and Longmen Grottoes (龙门石窟). After the July 7th Incident (七七事变), Japan's theft became even more unscrupulous, and many sites and ancient tombs, such as the Yuan Shangdu Site (元上都遗址) and the Yin Ruins in Anyang (安阳殷墟), were stolen.

The Hague Convention II and Hague Convention IV, adopted by the Hague Peace Conferences in 1899 and 1907 respectively, both included the "Regulations Concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land," which required all countries to preserve buildings used for religious, artistic, scientific, and charitable purposes as much as possible during wartime to protect them from destruction by military operations, and prohibited any confiscation, destruction, and intentional damage to these institutions, historical buildings, and works of art and science. Both China and Japan were contracting parties to the conventions. However, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Japan bombed, burned, and wantonly destroyed a large number of ancient buildings and cultural facilities such as museums and libraries, as well as the precious cultural relics within them, showing its disregard for the conventions. In 1937, after the Japanese army occupied Peking University (北京大学), it damaged the "Yifengtang" (艺风堂) inscriptions treasured by the Institute of Arts and Sciences. In April 1938, the Yushulou (御书楼), Banxuezhai (半学斋), and Jingyizhai (静一斋) of Yuelu Academy (岳麓书院) were destroyed in the bombing of Changsha (长沙). Japan's plunder and destruction led to a sharp decrease in the number of museums in China, from 37 before the war to 18, and a large number of museum collections and private collections of cultural relics disappeared.

Currently, the return of cultural relics looted during war is increasingly becoming an international consensus. Article 81 of China's newly revised Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics stipulates that the state strengthens international cooperation in the field of cultural relic repatriation and reserves the right to recover cultural relics lost abroad due to theft, illegal exit, etc., providing legal support for promoting the repatriation of cultural relics plundered by Japan.

(Author's affiliation: Law School, Central Minzu University (中央民族大学))

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