People's Daily - February 2, 2026

High-value patents help foster new quality productive forces (New Year grassroots visits)

By: 本报记者 谷业凯

Opening Remarks

This year marks the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (中国共产党) and the first year of the "15th Five-Year Plan." A new year, new endeavors, and new advancements. The earnest expectation of "working together for dreams and striving for happiness, turning grand visions into beautiful realities" is inspiring.

Starting today, this newspaper launches the "New Year's Grassroots Tour" column. Editors and reporters will practice the "four forces," rushing to the grassroots front lines for interviews, observing the magnificent scenery and abundant land of a great nation, listening to the stories of people who are happy and successful in their careers, and showcasing the magnificent chapter of Chinese-style modernization.

As the Spring Festival approaches, driven by the policy of trading in old consumer goods for new ones, mobile phone stores in shopping malls across the country have attracted a large number of customers, and sales of new products are booming.

In a mobile phone store in Chu River Han Street (楚河汉街), Wuhan (武汉), Hubei (湖北), a consumer, Mr. Zhang (张先生), is experiencing a foldable screen phone, saying, "It is both convenient to carry and allows me to 'try out' new features."

According to store staff, as innovative forms such as foldable screens gradually enter the mainstream mobile phone market, coupled with the addition of new features such as artificial intelligence voice assistants, consumers' enthusiasm for purchasing phones has surged. In 2025, China's (中国) mobile phone market size will exceed one trillion yuan. Foldable screen mobile phone shipments exceeded 10 million units, a year-on-year increase of 9.2%.

"Foldable screen mobile phones integrate materials science, advanced manufacturing, and software ecosystem innovation. We have been continuously researching and developing in this field for more than 8 years, accumulating more than 3,500 related patents. This year, we will also launch a new generation of products," said Feng Ying (冯英), Chief Intellectual Property Officer of OPPO. As of the end of 2025, OPPO's global patent applications exceeded 118,000, and the number of global patent grants exceeded 66,000. Among them, the number of invention patent applications accounted for 92%.

Data released by the National Intellectual Property Administration (国家知识产权局) shows that by the end of 2025, China's (中国) domestic high-value invention patent ownership reached 2.292 million, accounting for 43.1% of domestic valid invention patents. Valid invention patents, represented by high-value patents, are promoting the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation, and promoting the cultivation and growth of new quality productive forces.

During the winter slack season, field management is being carried out in an orderly manner across the country, and the integration of industry, academia, and research in enterprises and laboratories is also accelerating.

"The large loss of crop machine harvesting under complex working conditions is the main challenge facing the agricultural machinery industry," said Xu Lizhang (徐立章), director and professor of the Key Laboratory of Intelligent Agricultural Machinery Equipment Theory and Technology of Jiangsu University (江苏大学). In reality, machine harvesting often encounters complex working conditions such as crop lodging and wet and rotten fields, leading to a significant increase in crop losses. During actual operations, machines require agricultural machinery operators to adjust operating speeds and working parameters based on experience.

Being at the forefront of the market, Jiangsu World Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd. (江苏沃得农业机械股份有限公司) keenly perceived market pain points and proposed technical requirements such as real-time monitoring of cleaning performance and automatic adjustment of operating parameters. After communication between the enterprise and Xu Lizhang's (徐立章) team, the two parties hit it off.

"During the tackling process, we invented 'an adaptive cleaning control device for combine harvesters and its adaptive cleaning method' for the core working component of grain combine harvesters, namely the cleaning device. This patented technology can automatically adjust the working parameters of the cleaning device according to the operation quality, and can also improve the cleaning efficiency, basically getting rid of the dependence on subjective experience, and significantly improving the harvesting adaptability of the machine," said Xu Lizhang (徐立章). The patented technology can be used in the cleaning devices of crops such as rice, wheat, rapeseed, and soybeans, achieving a breakthrough of over 10 million yuan in a single patent license contract amount.

"In close collaboration between industry, academia, and research, the engineering prototype we jointly developed was quickly tested and verified in the field, directly driving the company's revenue to increase by more than 1 billion yuan," said Xu Lizhang (徐立章).

The status of Chinese (中国) enterprises as the main body of technological innovation is constantly being consolidated. 280,000 enterprises own 1.764 million high-value invention patents, accounting for more than 3/4, and are the "main force" in creating high-value invention patents. Since the "14th Five-Year Plan," the industrialization rate of invention patents of Chinese (中国) enterprises has increased from 44.9% to 54%.

China (中国) is vigorously promoting the deep integration of industry, academia, and research, and the full-chain innovation paradigm of "scientific research breakthroughs - patent cultivation - industrial application" is accelerating its formation. "After scientific research results enter the industrial system through intellectual property, the real feedback from enterprises in the market highlights technical bottlenecks, engineering difficulties, and continuous innovation needs, transforming the original scattered and vague scientific research exploration into technical needs with clear goals and realistic constraints," said Yi Jiming (易继明), professor at Peking University Law School (北京大学法学院).

Not long ago, a seriously injured patient underwent rehabilitation training using a brain-computer interface rehabilitation robot at the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University (暨南大学附属第一医院). "The patient had both joint damage and brain damage. The brain-computer interface rehabilitation robot achieved ideal rehabilitation results," said Xie Longhan (谢龙汉), professor at South China University of Technology (华南理工大学). This technology is based on the team's independently developed non-invasive brain-computer interface, combined with artificial intelligence algorithms and rehabilitation robots. By integrating multi-source signals such as electroencephalogram, electromyogram, and posture, it has formed a new rehabilitation model from "passive handling" to "active participation."

Continuously cultivating the field of brain-computer interfaces, Xie Longhan's (谢龙汉) team has more than 100 patent achievements. "We have formed a full-chain technology layout of 'perception-decision-execution,' and realized a total amount of nearly 30 million yuan through patent buyout, use first and then buyout, and intellectual property valuation and equity participation," said Xie Longhan (谢龙汉).

The accumulation of high-value patents strongly supports China (中国) in accelerating the realization of high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement. Among the more than 5 million valid invention patents in China (中国), nearly 800,000 invention patents have been maintained for more than 10 years. A large number of high-quality and high-value patent achievements continue to generate economic and social value. China (中国) is seeing a large number of original and leading innovative achievements in key areas such as artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, biomedicine, and new energy.

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Why Legislate Reading? (Reader's Choice · Common Concern)

By: 本报记者 李卓尔

The "National Reading Promotion Regulations" came into effect on February 1st. Reading newspapers and books mostly depends on personal interest, so why is it necessary for the state to enact a law?
　　——People's Daily Online Netizen (人民网网友)

　　China's first administrative regulation targeting national reading, the "National Reading Promotion Regulations" (《全民阅读促进条例》) (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"), came into effect on February 1st. On the same day, in Linyi (临沂), Shandong (山东), nearly 3,000 teachers and students recited classics in unison, welcoming the implementation of the "Regulations" with resounding voices; in Ningbo (宁波), Zhejiang (浙江), classic-themed exhibitions and seminars kicked off simultaneously... Many places held colorful activities, and the general public shared the fragrance of books.
　　In many people's minds, reading is a private matter. In fact, legislating for reading is not about stipulating what everyone must read or how much they must read; its core lies in "promotion" and "guarantee."
　　Cultural prosperity, national strength, and national rejuvenation are all inseparable from the cultural accumulation and spiritual power brought about by reading. Currently, we are comprehensively promoting the construction of a strong country and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese-style modernization, and we need to give full play to the fundamental role of reading.
　　In this context, the "Regulations" can be said to have emerged as the times require. Looking back, its birth was not achieved overnight. As early as 2013, members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (全国政协) suggested legislating for national reading at the national level. In recent years, "national reading" has been written into the "Government Work Report" for 12 consecutive years, and "building a society of book lovers" has been written into the "15th Five-Year Plan" proposal, which fully demonstrates the importance attached to it by the Party and the government.
　　After years of exploration and practice, this expectation has finally been realized, building a legal safeguard for the sustained and in-depth promotion of national reading.
　　China is not the first to legislate for reading. Looking at the world, some countries have raised national reading to the level of public policy through national legislation or strategic planning at the end of the last century or the beginning of this century. China's legislative process is deeply rooted in its own cultural soil on the basis of drawing on international experience.
　　The Chinese nation is a nation that advocates the fragrance of books, and the ancient訓 of "**耕读传家**" (gēng dú chuán jiā - "farming and studying to pass down the family," a tradition of valuing both agriculture and education) and "**诗书继世**" (shī shū jì shì - "poetry and books passed down through generations," emphasizing the importance of literary heritage) have been passed down to this day. This unique cultural gene is also projected in the words of this legislation. For example, the "Regulations" particularly emphasize the role of "verbal instruction and personal example" (言传身教), transforming the Chinese excellent traditional culture that has stretched for thousands of years into institutional care.
　　The National Reading Conference (全民阅读大会) has been held for four consecutive sessions, and various places have regularly carried out reading seasons, book clubs and other activities. Jiangsu (江苏), Zhejiang (浙江) and other places have also tried to formulate regulations for reading, accumulating valuable experience.
　　The "Regulations" are to condense the consensus formed by the whole society, together with those effective practical experiences, into more universal and lasting rules, which can guide the solution of some problems existing in reading at present.
　　More or less, there are such situations around us: the reading rate of rural residents is not high, and the scope of reading is relatively narrow; the Braille books that visually impaired people can find are still limited, and it is difficult for the elderly to read paper books; the content on digital reading platforms is vast, but filtering out in-depth and valuable readings is sometimes like **沙里淘金** (shā lǐ táo jīn - "sifting gold from sand," searching for something valuable among a large amount of worthless material).
　　These existing problems are difficult to solve by personal enthusiasm and persistence alone. Legislation provides an institutional support for the reading ecology of the entire society:
　　It clarifies the statutory responsibilities of governments at all levels in promoting national reading, so that reading has a solid legal basis in terms of organizational leadership, financial security, and the construction of reading facilities;
　　It conforms to the trend of technological development, supports the combination of digital reading and traditional reading, and promotes the supply of high-quality digital reading content;
　　It pays special attention to the reading security of minors, people with disabilities, the elderly, etc., and stipulates measures such as providing suitable reading materials, opening reading courses, supporting the construction of barrier-free facilities for national reading, and optimizing service standards for the elderly...
　　The ultimate goal of these clauses is to promote everyone to read more books and read good books, so that everyone who wants to read can fairly enjoy the joy of resonating with wisdom.
　　Some people will ask, is it worth investing so much effort in promoting reading?
　　The answer is yes. For the development of a country, the depth of thinking, innovation ability and cultural literacy of the people, these seemingly "soft" parts, are important factors that determine how far the future can go. In the final analysis, legislating for reading is more like a strategic investment to "store water" for the future.
　　It is conceivable that with the solid implementation of the "Regulations", complete reading facilities will be spread throughout urban and rural areas, and rich and diverse reading activities will run through daily life. When loving reading, reading good books, and being good at reading are truly integrated into the texture of society and become the consciousness and fashion of generations, a "society of book lovers" will surely become an important cultural symbol of China (中国) in the new era.
　　(Related reports on page eleven)

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Domestically-produced Tunnel Boring Machines Excel in Efficient Excavation (China's Industries Moving Towards Innovation and Excellence)

By: 本报记者 李心萍

China's independently developed world's largest diameter tunnel boring machine (TBM), "Qiming (启明) No.," officially started operation on January 13.

Looking down from high altitude, "Qiming (启明) No." resembles a giant "octopus," steadily supporting the entire vertical shaft. Two cutting mechanical arms delve deep underwater, achieving efficient excavation.

This new product, successfully developed in 2025, changes the limitation of traditional TBMs that can only dig horizontally, and can realize vertical downward excavation, making up for the shortcomings of traditional vertical shaft construction with low efficiency and high risk.

TBMs are known as the "king of construction machinery." General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized during his inspection at China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd. (中铁工程装备集团有限公司): "Promote the transformation of 'Made in China' to 'Created in China,' the transformation of 'China Speed' to 'China Quality,' and the transformation of 'China Products' to 'China Brands.'"

Today, China's TBM industry exhibits characteristics such as continuous expansion of market scale, significant improvement of technical capabilities, and continuous acceleration of internationalization. Seven out of every 10 TBMs in the world come from China, and the localization rate of core components of Chinese TBMs exceeds 90%.

Efficient excavation, proficient in everything, domestic TBM technology is superb.

Zhongmacun Mine (中马村矿) of Henan Energy Jiao Coal (河南能源焦煤), a revolution is quietly unfolding.

The "Jiaomei (焦煤) No." TBM is like a flexible earthworm, digging maze-like rock tunnels underground. Even when facing extremely hard rocks with a strength of over 140 MPa, the "iron teeth and copper teeth" of "Jiaomei (焦煤) No." can easily "gnaw down."

As an all-round player, "Jiaomei (焦煤) No." also has the ability to move forward, climb slopes, and make small-diameter turns, creating an excellent record of 606 meters of tunneling in a single month.

"The successful development of 'Jiaomei (焦煤) No.' has explored a new path for rock tunnel excavation under complex geological conditions such as large cross-sections, large dip angles, and high stress, which can improve the efficiency of extremely hard rock excavation by 40% and reduce the cost by 60%, creating conditions for ensuring the orderly succession of mine mining and excavation," said Zhang Guanghui (张广辉), the technical leader of "Jiaomei (焦煤) No."

"Linghang (领航) No." successfully tunneled over 10,000 meters, challenging the limit of TBM use; "Yongning (永宁) No." accurately connected two kilometer-level inclined shafts at an inclination angle of nearly 40 degrees... Domestic TBM skills continue to upgrade, and can realize all-round, multi-angle tunneling in three-dimensional space.

Infinitely adjustable from small to large and from large to small, domestic TBMs have developed unique skills.

For nearly 200 years since its birth, traditional TBMs have been "one diameter for life," that is, the excavation diameter when it rolls off the production line is the same throughout its entire life cycle.

The change happened in 2025. China launched the world's first in-situ continuous large-size variable-diameter TBM, "Bianjing (变径) No. 1." Its cutter head excavation diameter can achieve stepless adjustment of "small to large, large to small" between 8.83 meters and 12.45 meters.

What are the benefits of upgrading the TBM to a "Transformer"?

Subway construction is divided into interval tunnels and station-level tunnels. In the past, interval tunnels could be excavated by TBMs, but station-level tunnels could only rely on manual labor.

"Bianjing (变径) No. 1" can first quickly excavate interval tunnels with a small diameter, and after arriving at the station, "expand the diameter" in situ to excavate a wider station tunnel, and then "shrink the diameter" to continue forward. The whole process does not require disassembly or additional working shafts, achieving "one station and two tunnels, continuous forming" without interruption.

"This is thanks to the 'deformable skeleton' we installed on 'Bianjing (变径) No. 1,' which can independently complete complex actions such as cutter head expansion and skeleton reconstruction in the tunnel. The excavation area can be expanded by nearly one time during the diameter changing process," said Lai Weilong (赖伟龙), Deputy Minister of Production Technology Department of China Railway Huasui (中铁华隧).

Counting the various indicators of "Bianjing (变径) No. 1," whether it is in-situ diameter changing, continuous diameter changing, or large-size diameter changing, all are international firsts and another milestone in China's high-end equipment manufacturing.

From a single piece of equipment to a group going overseas, domestic TBMs are highly sought after.

Currently, at the site of the Western Sydney Harbour project in Australia, the sister machines "Patti Galang (帕蒂加朗) No." and "Barangaroo (巴兰加鲁) No.," the largest diameter TBMs exported overseas by China so far, are being assembled, debugged, and prepared for launch.

The biggest advantage of the sister machines is that they have a "large size," with an excavation diameter of 15.7 meters, belonging to super-large diameter TBMs.

In the past, Chinese companies could not manufacture super-large diameter TBMs. It was not until 2017 that China successfully launched its first 15-meter-class TBM with independent intellectual property rights. This time, the successful export of the sister machines to Australia represents the recognition of Chinese super-large diameter TBMs by the global high-end market.

From relying on imports to reverse exports, domestic super-large diameter TBMs have achieved a leap from "following" to "leading."

The second major advantage of the sister machines is that they have "great intelligence." The TBM is the first to integrate intelligent equipment such as cutter head tool detection and muck treatment robots, and TBM tool replacement robots, which greatly improves the intelligence level of the TBM.

According to reports, the maximum burial depth of the tunnel excavated by the sister machines reaches 52 meters below sea level, and the overall shape is an "S" shape winding forward, requiring it to pass through complex strata such as sandstone, silt, and silty clay layers.

"Such cross-sea, deep-buried high water pressure tunnel construction will cause greater wear on the TBM cutter head and requires irregular replacement of the cutter head tools," said Chen Kunpeng (陈昆鹏), Chief Engineer of the International Business Department of China Railway Equipment (中铁装备). "Underwater tool replacement is a recognized problem in the industry. The tool replacement robot can not only reduce the tool replacement time from 2 to 4 hours to 30 minutes, but also fundamentally eliminate the safety hazards of personnel working in high-risk environments."

Successfully winning the Dubai Metro Blue Line project, realizing the group going overseas from TBMs to external refrigeration systems, tunnel segment transport vehicles and other "TBM ecosystems"; winning the Austrian pumped storage power station tunnel project, successfully exporting 8-meter-class open hard rock TBMs... At present, Chinese companies have occupied the top two positions in global TBM sales, ranking among the world's first-tier brands, and their products cover more than 30 countries and regions on six continents.

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How to Make Intercity Travel Charging More Convenient and Efficient (Policy Q&A: Addressing Concerns)

By: 本报记者 韩 鑫

Reader Concerns:

When driving electric vehicles on highways, drivers sometimes encounter issues such as slow charging and long queues at service areas. I plan to drive home during this year's Spring Festival holiday. What new measures are being taken to improve charging services?

This year's Spring Festival travel season officially began on February 2nd and will last for 40 days. During this period, the Ministry of Transport (交通运输部) has preemptively assessed a list of service areas that are expected to be particularly busy for charging. It is guiding various regions to formulate charging service guarantee plans on a "one policy per area" basis. Measures include adding mobile emergency charging equipment, guiding electric vehicles to charging stations in the opposite service area, utilizing charging facilities around highway entrances and exits, and scientifically optimizing single-vehicle charging times with quantitative charging. These measures effectively meet the public's charging needs.

The penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China continues to increase, and highway charging facilities are also growing accordingly. By the end of 2025, a cumulative total of 71,500 electric vehicle charging facilities had been built in highway service areas nationwide, with 20,000 new ones added in 2025. The proportion of highway service areas with charging facilities exceeds 98%, achieving basic full coverage except for a few high-altitude and extremely cold service areas.

While capacity is increasing, shortcomings also exist. On the one hand, compared to the continuously increasing demand for highway travel by new energy vehicles, the layout of the charging facility network is not yet perfect. On the other hand, during major holidays, the layout scale and service capacity of high-power charging facilities in service areas are still difficult to fully match the rapidly growing concentrated and urgent charging demands.

The Ministry of Transport (交通运输部) has issued the "Notice on Promoting the Realization of a 'Three-Year Doubling' (2025-2027) of the Service Capacity of Charging Facilities in Highway Service Areas (Including Parking Areas)" to address these issues. It focuses on four aspects to accelerate the construction and renovation of charging facilities in highway service areas, optimize the public's intercity travel experience, and promote the purchase and use of electric vehicles on a larger scale.

Comprehensively increase the number of charging facilities. By the end of 2027, China will newly build and renovate over 40,000 "ultra-fast combined" charging facilities with a capacity of 60 kilowatts or more in highway service areas. "Ultra-fast combined" means that the charging station has both fast charging equipment of 60 kilowatts or more and high-power equipment of 250 kilowatts or more, which can provide adapted charging solutions for various new energy vehicles.

Strengthen the construction of high-power charging facilities. In the next step, newly built charging facilities will fully adopt 60-kilowatt and above fast charging equipment, with high-power charging facilities accounting for no less than 25%. In principle, all updated and renovated charging facilities should use high-power equipment. At the same time, promote the construction of high-power charging facilities in service areas along the "71118" main channels and major freight channels of the National Expressway Network, and accelerate the construction of dedicated high-power charging facilities for heavy trucks. By the end of 2025, a cumulative total of approximately 10,000 high-power charging facilities had been built in highway service areas nationwide.

Strengthen the management of charging facilities. Accelerate the construction of intelligent operation and maintenance platforms for highway service areas, improve the monitoring of the operating status of charging facilities and the ability to handle faults, and ensure that all charging facilities in service areas are connected to the "e-Road Smooth" service platform.

Strengthen electricity capacity expansion guarantees. Strengthen the connection between charging network planning and transportation facility planning. During the new construction and renovation of highways, consider the electricity capacity expansion needs of charging facilities in service areas and carry out electricity capacity expansion and renovation simultaneously. For existing service areas, actively promote the solution of electricity capacity problems, reduce electricity introduction costs, and shorten the electricity capacity expansion cycle.

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China's shipbuilding market share has been the world's largest for 16 consecutive years.

In 2025, China's shipbuilding completion volume was 53.69 million deadweight tons, an increase of 11.4% year-on-year, accounting for 56.1% of the world's total; new orders received amounted to 107.82 million deadweight tons, accounting for 69.0% of the world's total; as of the end of December 2025, the volume of orders in hand was 274.42 million deadweight tons, an increase of 31.5% year-on-year, accounting for 66.8% of the world's total. China's three major shipbuilding indicators have maintained a global leading position in the international market share for 16 consecutive years.

The picture shows a shipbuilding enterprise in Taizhou (泰州市), Jiangsu Province (江苏省), rushing to complete ship orders.

People's Daily reporter Liu Zhiqiang (刘志强), Wang Zhengwen (王政文)

Ji Haixin (计海新) photographed (Image China)

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China's non-financial direct investment in Belt and Road partner countries increased by 17.6% year-on-year in 2025

This newspaper reported from Beijing on February 1st (Reporter Luo Shanshan (罗珊珊)) The reporter learned from the Ministry of Commerce (商务部) that in 2023, China's foreign investment and cooperation achieved steady development, with outward non-financial direct investment reaching 145.66 billion US dollars, an increase of 1.3% over the previous year. Investments in Africa, Europe, and Asia increased by 41%, 20.9%, and 1.2% year-on-year, respectively, effectively driving local economic and social development and promoting the stability of global production and supply chains.

Actively serving the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative. Non-financial direct investment in countries jointly building the "Belt and Road" reached 39.67 billion US dollars, an increase of 17.6% over the previous year. The value of newly signed foreign contracted projects was 257.98 billion US dollars, and the completed turnover was 152.63 billion US dollars, accounting for 89.2% and 85.4% of the total, respectively, making positive contributions to deepening economic and trade cooperation with countries jointly building the "Belt and Road" and promoting high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road".

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China's software business revenue increased by 13.2% year-on-year in 2025

This Beijing (北京) Dispatch, February 1st (Reporter Liu Wenxin (刘温馨)) - Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (工业和信息化部) shows that in 2025, China's (中国) software business revenue reached 15,483.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.2%. The total profit of the software industry was 1,884.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.3%. Software business exports reached 62.73 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 7.7%, with the growth rate maintaining positive growth for 10 consecutive months.

Revenue from software products grew steadily. In 2025, revenue from software products reached 3,236.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.4%, accounting for 20.9% of the total industry revenue. Revenue from information technology services maintained double-digit growth. In 2025, revenue from information technology services reached 10,636.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.7%, accounting for 68.7% of the total industry revenue. Revenue from information security and embedded system software grew steadily. In 2025, revenue from information security products and services reached 223.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.7%. Revenue from embedded system software reached 1,386.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.3%.

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Driving Investment to Stop Declining and Stabilize (New Economic Orientation: Dialogue, Striving for 2026)

By: 本报记者 崔 佳 郭晓龙 吴 君 焦思雨

Investment is an important engine for economic and social development and a significant driver of economic growth. The Central Economic Work Conference proposed promoting the stabilization and recovery of investment and effectively stimulating the vitality of private investment.

What pressures and challenges are currently facing investment stabilization efforts? How can we accurately identify and grasp the direction of investment stabilization based on practical realities? What good practices have various regions accumulated in promoting effective and long-term investment? This edition invites relevant heads of development and reform commissions from three cities in Northeast China, Central China, and Western China to conduct a dialogue, asking them to discuss their insights and perspectives on current investment hotspots from the perspective of frontline work.

——Editor

[Participants]
Li Yafei (李亚飞), Deputy Secretary-General of the Harbin Municipal People's Government (哈尔滨市人民政府) and Director of the Municipal Development and Reform Commission (市发展和改革委员会)

Wang Yang (王洋), Director of the Wuhan Municipal Development and Reform Commission (武汉市发展和改革委员会)

Qin Chunhui (秦春辉), Deputy Director of the Zhongwei Municipal Development and Reform Commission (中卫市发展和改革委员会) of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (宁夏回族自治区)

What to Invest In
Based on Resource Endowments, Accurately Identify and Grasp the Direction of Investment
Q: What are the characteristic and advantageous industries in your city? What have been the investment priorities in recent years?

Li Yafei: Harbin (哈尔滨) is a representative city of the old industrial base in Northeast China. Aerospace, high-end equipment, green food, and distinctive cultural tourism are all industries in which we have strong competitiveness.

Ice and snow tourism has been one of the key investment directions in recent years. The total investment in the Ice and Snow World (冰雪大世界) Four Seasons Ice and Snow project reached 2.35 billion yuan, and the quality of supporting facilities and service functions has been greatly improved.

Wang Yang: Wuhan (武汉) is a central city in Central China, with the optoelectronic information industry being "unique." New energy and intelligent connected vehicles are developing rapidly, and a number of leading technologies and products have emerged in the fields of biomedicine and Beidou (北斗). Emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, green ships, and commercial aerospace maintain growth in scale, and future industries such as quantum technology, synthetic biology, and brain-computer interfaces are accelerating their layout.

Qin Chunhui: Zhongwei (中卫) is not only one of the national new internet exchange centers but also a national hub node for the national integrated computing power network. Taking this as an opportunity, we have developed the digital information industry into a characteristic and advantageous industry. This has also been the focus of investment in recent years. In 2025, seven super-large intelligent computing center projects were signed, and a number of data businesses were also established, with a total investment of over 144 billion yuan.

Q: How does a city determine its investment priorities? What challenges are encountered in the process?

Qin Chunhui: I think we should base ourselves on resource endowments. Zhongwei (中卫) is located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert (腾格里沙漠), with abundant wind and solar resources. The under-construction ten-million-kilowatt-level "sand, Gobi, and desert" new energy mega-base can provide 100% green electricity for data centers, turning the "wind and solar advantage" into a "computing power advantage," which is very conducive to the development of the digital information industry.

In the process of development, we have encountered problems in basic element guarantees, markets, and funds. The key is to innovate mechanisms and implement precise policies. For example, we explored the establishment of a mechanism to directly place the links for solving problems at the project site. Enterprises raise questions face-to-face, and relevant departments respond and claim tasks on the spot, so that problems are discovered on the front line, consultations are carried out on the front line, and difficulties are solved on the front line.

Li Yafei: Whether Harbin's (哈尔滨) investment work focuses on industrial development, urban renewal, or people's livelihood security, it is based on local realities and closely revolves around expanding domestic demand as a strategic base point.

Sharing two working ideas: First, integrate investment promotion projects, key industrial projects, key industrial projects, and industrial projects in the statistical database into a unified list to facilitate overall management and full-process services, effectively improving the efficiency and quality of project construction; Second, in accordance with the "start construction of a batch, complete investment of a batch, and plan and reserve a batch" model, promote the rolling and continuous construction of new technological transformation projects in manufacturing. In 2025, industrial technological transformation investment and high-tech manufacturing investment increased by 46.3% and 24.7% year-on-year, respectively.

Wang Yang: Wuhan (武汉) has prominent advantages in transportation location, technological innovation, and scientific and educational talents. Based on our advantageous endowments, we regard the development of new quality productive forces as the main direction for expanding effective investment, comprehensively deepen the integration mechanism of "chain leader + chain owner + chain creator," accelerate the construction of strong chains and clusters in advanced manufacturing, and promote the expansion and quality improvement of modern service industries. In 2025, more than 500 industrial projects with an investment of over 100 million yuan will be newly started.

Q: In 2026, how can we continue to accurately identify and grasp the direction of investment and continue to promote project implementation?

Wang Yang: In 2026, Wuhan (武汉) will accelerate the implementation of 2,090 projects with an investment of over 100 million yuan. We will fight a tough battle in investment promotion, striving to start construction and put into the project library no less than 1,000 investment promotion projects with an investment of over 100 million yuan; we will deepen and solidify the "15th Five-Year Plan" major project library, orderly promote project transformation and implementation, and consolidate the foundation for investment growth.

Qin Chunhui: In the new year, Zhongwei (中卫) will continue to base itself on characteristic industries and expand effective investment. On the one hand, we will promote the construction of existing intelligent computing centers, introduce upstream and downstream projects, and build a "zero-carbon" computing power park; on the other hand, we will upgrade traditional industries with "source-grid-load-storage integration" projects for clean energy. We also plan to promote major infrastructure projects such as airport expansion.

Recently, we have been intensively visiting project sites, holding on-site meetings with enterprise leaders and construction parties, asking about progress, listening to difficulties, and making commitments to ensure that projects start construction as scheduled.

Li Yafei: This year, Harbin (哈尔滨) will combine its actual situation and grasp the key points of investment work. First, accelerate the promotion of industrial projects, focus on precise investment promotion in advantageous and characteristic industries such as aerospace and high-end equipment, and plan to promote more than 700 industrial projects, completing an investment of more than 60 billion yuan. Second, accelerate the promotion of urban renewal projects. In the fields of urban village renovation, underground pipe networks, and affordable housing projects, we plan to implement 103 key projects with a total investment of 47 billion yuan.

Who Will Invest
Facing Up to Pressures and Challenges, Stimulating the Vitality of Private Investment
Q: The Central Economic Work Conference proposed promoting the stabilization and recovery of investment. Is your city also facing pressure to stabilize investment?

Li Yafei: As a megacity, Harbin's (哈尔滨) investment stabilization mainly faces the challenges of structural optimization and insufficient financial resources. In the past year, affected by insufficient consumer willingness and declining product prices, private investment has faced the "triple" pressure of declining corporate profits, insufficient investment confidence, and weak willingness to transform and upgrade industries.

Wang Yang: In recent years, Wuhan's (武汉) investment growth has faced multiple pressures, such as the need to further optimize the investment structure, insufficient motivation for private investment, and continuous pressure on financial support, especially the large funding pressure for projects in the field of people's livelihood security.

Qin Chunhui: Zhongwei's (中卫) investment stabilization pressure mainly comes from two aspects: insufficient momentum for industrial upgrading, with the early cloud computing industry focusing on construction and neglecting application, a short industrial chain, and low retention of output value and tax revenue; large projects such as clean energy require long-term and large-scale investment, resulting in great financial pressure.

Q: What measures have been taken to cope with the pressures and challenges? What experiences have you had in driving effective investment, especially in stimulating private investment?

Li Yafei: We must not be afraid of difficulties, and we must adhere to using market thinking to solve market problems. For example, the ice and snow equipment market is a trillion-yuan market. Harbin (哈尔滨) focuses on market demand and consumption upgrades to promote investment. In 2025, it introduced an intelligent factory for the down industry, achieving landing, production, and listing in the same year, turning "cold resources" into "hot industries."

We also focus on technological changes and industrial upgrades to plan projects, and focus on improving services and optimizing the environment to promote investment. In particular, we must do a good job in providing services and provide convenience for enterprises in terms of approval, land security, and financial security. We have established a 1 billion yuan Shenzhen-Harbin Industrial Investment Fund (深哈产业投资基金) and a 100 million yuan angel fund to solve financing and other problems for enterprises.

In addition, we have made every effort to make good and full use of the national incremental policies. In 2025, we strived for 32.41 billion yuan in policy-based funds such as ultra-long-term special treasury bonds and central budget investment, supporting 581 major construction projects and 56 equipment renewal projects, effectively making up for investment gaps while further promoting industrial upgrading and improving the quality of urban functions.

Wang Yang: Wuhan (武汉) adheres to problem-oriented, and while accurately carrying out industrial chain investment promotion, technology investment promotion, scenario investment promotion, and alumni investment promotion, it has introduced a "start construction upon land acquisition" work plan. Through process optimization and the superposition of efficiency of assistance and agency services, it has achieved a dual upgrade in the quality and efficiency of various approval matters; it has adopted a "districts raise questions, departments answer questions" approach to coordinate and solve difficulties in land use, planning, and other aspects in project promotion.

Taking an intelligent home appliance factory project as an example, we used the "one map" system to carry out parallel transformation of 15 processes such as planning conditions and land pre-examination. The project took only 3 months from signing to starting construction and only 11 months from starting construction to putting into production, with an estimated annual output value of 14 billion yuan.

Qin Chunhui: Challenges objectively exist, and Zhongwei (中卫) is confident in facing them head-on. In response to the market expectations and insufficient investment confidence brought about by high corporate operating pressure and long project cycles, we started from three aspects: The first priority is to optimize the business environment and actively send policies to enterprises; the second is to strengthen element guarantees. The city has established a special working group for key projects to solve problems such as land and water use in a timely manner; and we also deepen the connection between government, banks, and enterprises, providing "one enterprise, one policy" precise services.

In 2025, the city's fixed asset investment increased by 27%, maintaining double-digit growth for 15 consecutive months. 167 projects were also implemented, with 28.48 billion yuan in place.

Q: What are your plans for 2026?

Qin Chunhui: To stabilize investment, we have already taken action, holding a centralized office meeting to help enterprises overcome difficulties and solve problems, bringing functional departments and enterprises together to solve practical problems such as "difficulty in operation," "difficulty in recruiting workers," and "difficulty in handling affairs" for enterprises. We will sort out projects that private investment may be interested in and plan to take the initiative to visit them, explaining the policies clearly and the prospects clearly, so that enterprises can invest with confidence and develop with peace of mind.

Wang Yang: Wuhan (武汉) plans to further improve the long-term mechanism for private enterprises to participate in the construction of major projects, release a list of projects and scenarios recommended for private capital, continue to roll out high-quality projects to private capital, improve the mechanism for direct access and quick enjoyment of enterprise-related support policies without application, actively recommend and declare national key private investment projects, and help enterprises obtain element support such as land and financing, striving to make private enterprises willing to invest, able to invest, and invest with peace of mind.

Li Yafei: Harbin (哈尔滨) plans to focus on carrying out three aspects of work. First, ensure that private enterprises have equal access to factors of production, fair participation in market competition, and effective protection of legitimate rights and interests, and make every effort to build a fair, open, and transparent market environment; second, improve the long-term mechanism for private enterprises to participate in the construction of major projects, and effectively drive private investment with government investment; and third, make good use of new policy-based financial instruments, actively strive for industrial investment guidance funds and industrial interest subsidy policies, and inject financial vitality into private investment.

How to Invest
Grasp Industry and Promote People's Livelihood, Investment Sees Results and Has Long-Term Effects
Q: What experiences and practices does your city have to ensure that investment sees results and has practical effects?

Li Yafei: In the old industrial base of Northeast China, central enterprises are one of the important pillars supporting the national economy and urban development. To make investment see results and have practical effects, an important practice is to combine what the country needs, what central enterprises are good at, and what "Erbin" (尔滨) can do.

For example, we seized the opportunity of the expansion of the national power equipment market, supported Harbin Electric Group (哈电集团) to carry out technological transformation and upgrading, promoted the accelerated construction of the turbine plant nuclear power rotor manufacturing project with a total investment of 510 million yuan, and completed and put into operation the motor plant pumped storage intelligent manufacturing project with a total investment of 1 billion yuan. Investment has landed and ultimately translated into tangible benefits. In 2025, Harbin Electric Group's operating income exceeded 50 billion yuan for the first time, with an increase of over 30%. At the same time, we launched the construction of a high-end electrical equipment intelligent manufacturing base project with a total investment of 10 billion yuan to promote the upgrading of the industrial chain and supply chain.

Wang Yang: The business environment is the "soil foundation" for project implementation and construction, and it is the "living source of water" for industrial investment to see practical results. Wuhan (武汉) has always adhered to building a "soft environment" for business as the "hard support" for expanding effective investment, turning the "demand list" of enterprises into the "service list" of the government, helping characteristic industrial projects accelerate construction, and helping advantageous industries grow in scale and leap in level. In 2025, a number of major industrial projects such as Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable (长飞) were successfully implemented, and the city's signing-to-construction rate of investment promotion projects in the same year reached 85%.

Qin Chunhui: Zhongwei (中卫) has adopted a combination of "precise drip irrigation" and "full-chain escort."

Investment and policy resources are precisely delivered like drip irrigation to the "root system" of industries that need it most and can generate the most benefits, concentrating efforts to build several competitive industrial clusters. For example, the ten-million-kilowatt-level new energy base planned in the Tengger Desert (腾格里沙漠) precisely invests in green energy and simultaneously promotes key infrastructure such as the "Ningxia Electricity to Hunan" (宁电入湘) UHV transmission channel to solve the problem of energy consumption.

"Full-chain escort" is to do a good job in guaranteeing, for example, when a data center project was implemented, the "project secretary" took the person in charge to run through nearly 10 functional departments, efficiently handled all the procedures, and helped the project land, put into production, and see results as soon as possible.

Q: In the new year, how can we ensure that investment sees results while also having long-term and sustainable effects?

Qin Chunhui: High-quality investment must never be a "gust of wind," but must be long-term and sustainable, especially for a western city like Zhongwei (中卫).

Wang Yang: The sustainability of investment is an investment that closely combines investment in things and investment in people, and it is an investment that promotes the virtuous interaction between consumption and investment, supply and demand. Wuhan (武汉) will focus on urban renewal and people's livelihood improvement, planning to promote the renewal of 80 "five renovations and four improvements" areas, adding more than 10,000 sets of "good houses," and will also accelerate the construction of a high-level healthy Wuhan (健康武汉) and a strong education city (教育强市), and build a number of parking lots, charging piles, and other infrastructure.

Li Yafei: Harbin (哈尔滨) has carried out active explorations in mechanisms. For example, it has carried out cross-regional cooperation with Shenzhen (深圳), adopting the "enclave" industrial park model jointly built by the north and south, building the Shenzhen (Harbin) Industrial Park (深圳（哈尔滨）产业园), forming a practical path of "enclave manufacturing, park replication, and new area promotion," attracting 716 registered enterprises, and cumulatively promoting 135 cooperative projects. We also focus on the "one old and one young" and urban renewal, so that investment results can better and more benefit the people.

Qin Chunhui: The pursuit of the long-term and sustainability of investment is not only an inherent requirement of high-quality development but also a responsibility we shoulder.

Zhongwei's (中卫) "sand, Gobi, and desert" new energy mega-base project is a typical case. From the beginning of the project planning, we positioned it as a "composite ecosystem project" with the goal of achieving the unity of the four long-term values of "green electricity output, ecological restoration, industrial driving, and rural benefit."

From this project, we deeply realized that an investment project with long-term benefits must transcend a single economic function and deeply embed it in the region's ecological base, industrial planning, and people's livelihood improvement.

This issue is coordinated by: Qi Jiarun (祁嘉润)
Layout design: Zhang Fangman (张芳曼)

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Give our best effort and strive for the best outcome (Editor's Note)

By: 祁嘉润

After the release of China's economic annual report, a careful study of the data makes one deeply feel that—in the face of risks and challenges, the Chinese economy has moved forward against pressure, and it is not easy to achieve such results.

Fixed asset investment has declined, but investment in key areas has achieved rapid growth, and the investment structure has been continuously optimized. Industrial investment increased by 2.6%, investment in the Internet and related service industries increased by 23.8%, and investment in the purchase of equipment and tools increased by 11.8%... Each piece of resilient and vibrant data is inseparable from the solid work of various regions and departments in resolutely implementing the central government's decisions and deployments, and making good use of various policy tools in a coordinated manner. It is a vivid practice of focusing on key areas and weak links to expand effective investment.

At present, there are many old problems and new challenges in the field of investment, and the goal of promoting investment to stop falling and stabilize will never be easily achieved. In the dialogue of the three interviewees, there is objective calmness in facing the challenges, the confidence and determination to overcome difficulties, and the countermeasures and methods suitable for local conditions. This is the common voice of three cities from different regions and at different stages of development, and it is also the answer that every place and every department should have in doing a good job in stabilizing investment in 2026.

In the new year, whether it is effectively leveraging the driving role of government investment, promoting the construction of "two major" projects with high quality, vigorously promoting the optimization and upgrading of traditional industries, accelerating the cultivation and expansion of emerging industries and future industries, or fully stimulating the vitality of private investment, adhering to the combination of investing in things and investing in people, and better leveraging the key role of investment in expanding domestic demand, optimizing supply, and benefiting people's livelihoods... Facing the goals and tasks in the field of investment, all regions and departments are firm in their confidence, make good use of their advantages, respond to challenges, make the greatest efforts, and strive for the best results.

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New Changes in Railway Spring Festival Travel Season This Year (New Things in Spring Festival Travel)

By: 本报记者 李心萍

On February 2nd, the 2026 Spring Festival travel season officially kicked off, lasting for 40 days. During the Spring Festival travel season, the national railway is expected to transport 540 million passengers, with an average daily transportation of 13.48 million passengers, an increase of 5.0% year-on-year. Compared with last year, what new changes have taken place in this year's railway Spring Festival travel season? Which cities have newly opened high-speed railways? What new services are available on trains? The reporter took stock.
This year's Spring Festival travel season adds 22 new lines totaling 3,109 kilometers, and more than 50 passenger stations are put into operation for the Spring Festival travel season for the first time. The specific information is as follows:
The Xi'an (西安) to Yan'an (延安) high-speed railway starts from Xi'an North Station (西安北站) and ends at Yan'an Station (延安站). During this year's Spring Festival travel season, travelers from Fuping County (富平县) in Weinan (渭南), Shaanxi (陕西), and Huangling County (黄陵县), Luochuan County (洛川县), Fuxian County (富县), Ganquan County (甘泉县) in Yan'an (延安), and Yijun County (宜君县) in Tongchuan (铜川) can take the high-speed rail home.
The Shenyang (沈阳) to Jiamusi (佳木斯) high-speed railway Shenyang (沈阳) to Baihe (白河) section starts from Shenyang North Station (沈阳北站) in Liaoning (辽宁) and ends at Changbai Mountain Station (长白山站) in Jilin (吉林), with a total of 10 stations. Fushun City (抚顺市) in Liaoning (辽宁) and Tonghua City (通化市) and Baishan City (白山市) in Jilin (吉林) have entered the high-speed rail era.
The Baotou (包头) to Yinchuan (银川) high-speed railway Baotou (包头) to Huinong (惠农) section starts from Baotou Station (包头站) in Inner Mongolia (内蒙古) and ends at Huinong South Station (惠农南站) in Ningxia (宁夏). Bayannur City (巴彦淖尔市), Wuhai City (乌海市), and Etok Banner (鄂托克旗) in Ordos City (鄂尔多斯市) in Inner Mongolia (内蒙古) have opened high-speed rail trains for the Spring Festival travel season for the first time.
The Hefei (合肥) to Xinyi (新沂) high-speed railway Hefei (合肥) to Sixian (泗县) section starts from Hefei West Station (合肥西站) in Anhui (安徽) and ends at Sixian East Station (泗县东站). Mingguang City (明光市) in Chuzhou (滁州), Sixian County (泗县) in Suzhou (宿州), and Wuhe County (五河县) in Bengbu (蚌埠) in Anhui (安徽) welcome high-speed rail stations.
The Hangzhou (杭州) to Quzhou (衢州) high-speed railway starts from Jiande Station (建德站) and ends at Jiangshan Station (江山站). The entire line has 5 stations: Jiande (建德), Jiande South (建德南), Longyou North (龙游北), Quzhou West (衢州西), and Jiangshan (江山), further densifying the regional road network.
The Xiangyang (襄阳) to Jingmen (荆门) high-speed railway starts from Xiangyang East Station (襄阳东站) and ends at Jingmen West Station (荆门西站), passing through Xiangyang City (襄阳市), Yicheng City (宜城市), and Jingmen City (荆门市) in Hubei Province (湖北省), building the first high-speed rail loop in Hubei Province (湖北省). Yicheng City (宜城市) in Xiangyang (襄阳), Hubei (湖北) welcomes its first high-speed rail Spring Festival travel season.
The Shanghai (沪) to Chongqing (渝) to Chengdu (蓉) along the Yangtze River (沿江) high-speed railway Wuhan (武汉) to Yichang (宜昌) section starts from Hankou Station (汉口站) in Wuhan City (武汉市), Hubei (湖北), passes through Tianmen City (天门市), Jingmen City (荆门市), and connects to Yichang North Station (宜昌北站) in Yichang City (宜昌市). The entire line adds 6 new stations: Hanchuan North (汉川北), Tianmen (天门), Jingshan South (京山南), Zhongxiang South (钟祥南), Dangyang West (当阳西), and Yichang North (宜昌北). Zhongxiang City (钟祥市) and Jingshan City (京山市) in Jingmen (荆门), Hubei (湖北) welcome high-speed rail trains.
The Yu (渝) Xia (厦) high-speed railway Chongqing (重庆) to Qianjiang (黔江) section starts from Chongqing East Station (重庆东站), passes through Nan'an District (南岸区), Banan District (巴南区), Nanchuan District (南川区), Wulong District (武隆区), Pengshui Miao and Tujia Autonomous County (彭水苗族土家族自治县), and Qianjiang District (黔江区) in Chongqing (重庆), and connects to Qianjiang Station (黔江站). Pengshui Miao and Tujia Autonomous County (彭水苗族土家族自治县) in Chongqing (重庆) joins the national high-speed rail network.
The Panzhou (盘州) to Xingyi (兴义) high-speed railway starts from Panzhou Station (盘州站) in Panzhou City (盘州市), Liupanshui City (六盘水市), Guizhou Province (贵州省), and ends at Xingyi South Station (兴义南站) in Xingyi City (兴义市), Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (黔西南布依族苗族自治州), incorporating Qianxinan Prefecture (黔西南州) into the national high-speed rail map.
The Nanning (南宁) to Pingxiang (凭祥) high-speed railway Chongzuo (崇左) to Pingxiang (凭祥) section starts from Chongzuo South Station (崇左南站) and ends at Pingxiang East Station (凭祥东站), with 3 newly established stations: Ningming East (宁明东), Longzhou (龙州), and Pingxiang East (凭祥东). Pingxiang City (凭祥市), Ningming County (宁明县), and Longzhou County (龙州县) in Chongzuo (崇左), Guangxi (广西) open high-speed rail.
The Guangzhou (广州) to Zhanjiang (湛江) high-speed railway connects Guangzhou (广州), Foshan (佛山), Zhaoqing (肇庆), Yunfu (云浮), Yangjiang (阳江), Maoming (茂名), Zhanjiang (湛江) and other cities. In 2025, 7 stations will be opened first: Xinxing South (新兴南), Yangchun East (阳春东), Yangjiang North (阳江北), Mata (马踏), Maoming South (茂名南), Wuchuan (吴川), and Zhanjiang North (湛江北). The two ends are connected to Guangzhou Baiyun Station (广州白云站) and Zhanjiang North Station (湛江北站) respectively. Foshan Station (佛山站), Fozhao Station (佛肇站) and the line connecting to Guangzhou Station (广州站) are under construction in an orderly manner. Yangchun City (阳春市) in Yangjiang (阳江), Guangdong (广东) and Xinxing County (新兴县) in Yunfu City (云浮市) open high-speed rail, and the high-speed rail network in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (粤港澳大湾区) is further densified.
In addition, the Zhengzhou (郑州) to Kaifeng (开封) intercity railway, the Nanchang (南昌) to Jiujiang (九江) high-speed railway Nanchang East (南昌东) to Hejia Line (何家线路所) section, the Shantou (汕头) to Shanwei (汕尾) high-speed railway Shantou (汕头) to Shantou South (汕头南) section, and the Beijing (北京) to Tangshan (唐山) intercity railway are put into operation for the Spring Festival travel season.
Relying on the 50,000-kilometer high-speed rail network, the national railway can operate more than 14,000 passenger trains per day at its peak, with a passenger capacity increase of 5.3% year-on-year. Nearly 1,000 night high-speed trains will be arranged to operate on major high-speed rail trunk lines such as Beijing-Guangzhou (京广), Beijing-Shanghai (京沪), Shanghai-Kunming (沪昆), and Beijing-Harbin (京哈).
During the Spring Festival travel season, the railway department will implement flexible and differentiated ticket price discount strategies based on dates, time periods, sections, and seat types, increase ticket price discounts for passenger trains in non-popular directions, and the maximum discount for ordinary and EMU trains in non-popular directions will reach 20%.
Many consumers have found that on the 12306 platform, some train numbers have keywords such as "Snow (雪)", "Redeem (兑)", "Quiet (静)", and "Pet (宠)". These new services are increasing and expanding, making the way home warmer.
"Snow (雪)" refers to train numbers that can provide "Ski Equipment Convenience Service (雪具便利行)", which is mainly piloted on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway (京张高铁) and the Northeast Ring Line (东北环线) trains. Passengers can carry ski equipment with a sum of length, width, and height exceeding 130 cm but not exceeding 200 cm as required, so that people and ski equipment can arrive simultaneously.
"Redeem (兑)" refers to train numbers that allow points to be redeemed for tickets. When the "Railway Travel (铁路畅行)" member account points reach 10,000 for the first time, passengers are eligible to redeem tickets, and 100 points are equivalent to 1 yuan.
"Quiet (静)" refers to train numbers with quiet carriages. This year's Spring Festival travel season, more than 8,000 trains provide "Quiet Carriage (静音车厢)" service.
"Pet (宠)" refers to train numbers that can provide pet consignment services. 110 high-speed rail stations across the country can handle pet consignment business, and 170 high-speed rail trains provide this service. Passengers who purchase tickets can consign 2 household-raised cats and dogs that are healthy, weigh no more than 15 kg each, and have a shoulder height of no more than 40 cm.

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Clarifying VAT Collection Thresholds and Other Administration Matters

This newspaper reported from Beijing on February 1st (Reporter Wang Guan (王观)): This reporter learned on February 1st from the State Taxation Administration (国家税务总局): The State Taxation Administration (国家税务总局) issued the "Announcement on Value-Added Tax Collection and Administration Matters Such as the Threshold Standard," which further clarified value-added tax collection and administration matters such as the determination of the threshold standard and the application of tax preferential policies, refined operational requirements, and promoted the implementation of the Value-Added Tax Law and its implementation regulations.

The announcement further adjusted and optimized the detailed rules for determining the threshold standard for value-added tax for natural persons. Starting this year, the threshold standard for tax payment on a per-occurrence basis has been increased from 500 yuan to 1,000 yuan for each (day) of sales. The announcement clarifies that natural persons who engage in six specific situations, such as leasing real estate and selling scrapped products through "reverse invoicing," are no longer subject to the 1,000 yuan threshold standard for tax payment on a per-occurrence basis, but instead directly apply the 100,000 yuan monthly sales threshold standard with reference to tax payment on a periodic basis.

"This policy arrangement takes into account both tax efficiency and fairness. On the one hand, allowing the continued application of a relatively high threshold standard for periodic tax payment can effectively reduce the tax burden on natural persons and reduce tax collection and payment costs. On the other hand, clarifying that natural persons under relevant circumstances should apply the periodic tax payment threshold standard to the sales amount of all taxable transactions occurring in that month in a 'packaged' manner can prevent the problem of separate splitting and overlapping application from the source, resulting in exceeding the standard," explained Huang Lixin (黄立新), Director of the Institute of Fiscal Science of the State Taxation Administration (国家税务总局税收科学研究所).

In order to facilitate tax declaration and payment for natural persons, the announcement clarifies that if a natural person engages in a taxable transaction that reaches the threshold standard, whether they apply to the tax authority for the issuance of an invoice on their behalf or have the tax withheld and remitted by the withholding agent, it shall be deemed as having completed the tax declaration and payment.

The announcement also clarified the flexible enjoyment of tax reduction and exemption preferences for small-scale taxpayers. If a small-scale taxpayer engages in a taxable transaction and the sales amount does not reach the threshold standard, they can choose to waive the tax exemption for all or part of the taxable transaction and issue a special value-added tax invoice.

According to the relevant person in charge of the Goods and Services Tax Department of the State Taxation Administration (国家税务总局货物和劳务税司), since value-added tax implements a chain-style collection and deduction tax mechanism of “环环征收、道道抵扣” (huán huán zhēng shōu, dào dào dǐ kòu - "collect at every link, deduct at every level," a system where tax is levied at each stage of production or distribution, with credits given for taxes already paid). The main purpose of small-scale taxpayers waiving tax reduction and exemption is generally to meet the needs of downstream customers to obtain special value-added tax invoices for deducting input tax. According to the provisions of the announcement, small-scale taxpayers can flexibly choose whether to waive the tax reduction and exemption preference for a certain taxable transaction based on their own business conditions. Waiving the enjoyment of the preference for a single transaction will not affect the continued enjoyment of the preference for other taxable transactions.

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Foreign Enterprises in China Remain Optimistic About China's Economic Development Prospects

By: 本报记者 龚 鸣

"For multinational corporations, the position of the Chinese market remains irreplaceable." Dai Pu (戴璞), co-president of the global management committee of Roland Berger (罗兰贝格), a German management consulting firm, said when releasing the "Forecasting 2026: China Industry Trends Report" recently. This judgment reflects the huge "magnetic attraction" of the Chinese market to foreign investment.

In the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," China is unswervingly expanding high-level opening-up to the outside world and sharing opportunities with countries around the world, making it a hot investment destination favored by foreign-funded enterprises. Representatives of foreign companies in China who were interviewed by this reporter said that they continue to be optimistic about the prospects for China's economic development and will target new opportunities in the Chinese market, make good use of the unique advantages of the Chinese economy, and carry out mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation.

"The ultra-large scale and diversity of the Chinese market are unparalleled"

Not long ago, Decathlon (迪卡侬) held the 2025-2026 snow season opening festival at the National Alpine Skiing Center in Yanqing (延庆), Beijing (北京), setting up professional coach open classes, fun competitions and other activities to create an ice and snow feast that combines professionalism and fun.

Zhao Jie (赵洁), Public Relations and Media Communication Director of Decathlon China, told reporters that China is one of Decathlon's most important markets. In 2025, Decathlon will open its first Asian outdoor concept store in Chengdu (成都) and complete the opening of new stores and the renovation of existing stores in several core areas. "China's vast market space and the continuous release of domestic demand potential provide a solid foundation for Decathlon's development in China." Zhao Jie said that Decathlon is proactively deploying the "big outdoor" strategy, seizing the ice and snow sports boom in the post-Winter Olympics era, vigorously promoting the popularization of related equipment, and cultivating new consumption growth poles.

In 2025, China's domestic demand remained generally stable, and the contribution rate of domestic demand to economic growth reached 71% in the first three quarters. Expanding domestic demand is the top priority in 2026, which will stimulate the potential of the ultra-large-scale market and create broader growth opportunities. Foreign companies' confidence in developing in China continues to increase.

Ni Xiaorong (倪晓荣), President of Kuehne+Nagel (德迅) China, an international logistics service provider, said that the Chinese economy continues to show resilience and vitality. The ultra-large-scale market advantages formed by more than 1.4 billion people, the acceleration of the new urbanization process, and the continuous expansion of the middle class create huge business opportunities for various industries such as manufacturing, retail, advanced technology, and logistics. "For Kuehne+Nagel, opportunities in the Chinese market are accelerating." Ni Xiaorong pointed out that Chinese consumers' demand for faster delivery and higher information transparency is increasing. Kuehne+Nagel is taking the lead in building a strong digital ecosystem to help customer companies connect domestic distribution networks with the global trade system to better meet market demand.

"Expanding domestic demand is the key to releasing China's economic potential and promoting the domestic and international dual circulation. The ultra-large scale and diversity of the Chinese market are unparalleled, providing companies with broad space to explore the Chinese and even international markets and build integrated solutions." Yan Ci (彦辞), Chief Representative of Maersk (马士基) Group in North Asia, a multinational logistics company, said that as domestic consumption in China continues to upgrade, it is expected that the demand for end-to-end logistics solutions in the Chinese market will continue to increase, including warehousing, distribution, and multimodal transportation, which will further promote innovation in the logistics industry. "Continued efforts to expand domestic demand and measures to increase residents' purchasing power will not only support China's long-term economic growth, but also promote more stable and sustainable global trade." Yan Ci said.

"The advantage of a complete industrial system is an important cornerstone of China's economic competitiveness"

Cooperating with Chinese design, procurement and construction contractors in 54 projects around the world, awarding supply contracts worth more than US$5.5 billion to Chinese equipment manufacturers, and adopting Chinese technology in almost all energy projects operated by the company... Saleh Al-Habti (赛乐·哈卜提), Global Executive Vice President and China Chairman of Saudi International Power and Water Company (沙特国际电力和水务公司), introduced to reporters the fruitful results of the company's cooperation with Chinese partners.

"Since establishing our first office in Beijing (北京) in 2009, we have not only continued to purchase products from China, but also deeply integrated the Chinese industrial chain into the global business landscape." Al-Habti said that China's industrial system helps the company quickly transform development blueprints into energy assets. For example, China has the world's largest and most complete new energy industrial chain, like a "super factory." Before new technologies go to the world, they have usually completed application verification, iterative optimization, and large-scale production in China. "We combine development expertise with China's manufacturing advantages to successfully launch a number of new energy projects, which will provide impetus for the global energy transition." Al-Habti said.

Henkel (汉高) Group, a German chemical and consumer goods manufacturer, launched the second phase of its Taicang (太仓) factory, Louis Dreyfus Company (路易达孚集团) of the Netherlands started construction of the Qingdao (青岛) Food Technology Industrial Center, and the second A320 series aircraft final assembly line added by Airbus (空中客车公司) in China was put into operation in Tianjin (天津)... China, which has the advantage of a complete industrial system, is striving to build a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone, attracting foreign companies to continue to expand their layout in China.

"The advantage of a complete industrial system is an important cornerstone of China's economic competitiveness, which means stable large-scale cargo flows and opportunities to support the development of Chinese companies at home and abroad." Yan Ci said that China's continued investment in green technology and digitalization will continue to powerfully promote innovation in supply chain management.

In November 2025, Michelin's (米其林) Shenyang (沈阳) factory ushered in the offline production of its 100 millionth passenger car tire. Since its establishment more than 30 years ago, the Shenyang factory has grown into Michelin's largest and most advanced high-end passenger car tire manufacturing base in the world, and has also witnessed China's industrial transformation. Recently, the second phase of the renovation and expansion project of Michelin's Shanghai (上海) factory was officially put into operation, and the first high-performance green tire was successfully rolled off the production line.

"China's complete industrial system not only supports the sustainable development of enterprises in China, but also becomes an important source of innovation to give back to the world." Ye Fei (叶菲), President and CEO of Michelin (China) Investment Co., Ltd., said that Michelin has formed a diversified business and three-dimensional industrial chain layout in China, which not only stems from Michelin's long-term investment, but also benefits from China's highly mature, collaborative and efficient industrial environment.

Ni Xiaorong said that from raw materials to advanced manufacturing, from renewable energy to more cutting-edge industrial fields, China has built a comprehensive industrial system that is rare in the world. "The combination of China's ultra-large-scale market advantages and complete industrial system advantages has created a unique innovation and growth environment." Ni Xiaorong said.

"The continuous release of talent dividends injects inexhaustible power into China's high-quality development"

In recent years, China's high-quality development has achieved remarkable results, and scientific and technological innovation achievements have emerged one after another. A large number of innovative talents, strategic talents, and highly skilled talents who are adapted to the development needs of new quality productive forces continue to emerge. The talent dividend, especially the "engineer dividend," is accelerating its release, attracting foreign companies to increase their investment in R&D and innovation in China, and continuously enhancing their confidence in deeply cultivating the Chinese market for a long time.

ABB Robotics (ABB机器人) has been researching and developing and producing locally in China for more than 30 years. China is ABB's largest robot delivery market in the world, and 90% of its products are produced locally. "ABB Robotics has always been based on innovation. China's talent dividend, especially the 'engineer dividend,' provides us with opportunities to achieve localized innovation and seize the commanding heights of technology." Han Chen (韩晨), Senior Vice President of ABB Group and President of Robotics China, said that China has a huge and high-quality talent reserve in the field of artificial intelligence, and its innovation ecosystem is active, providing a good environment for companies to explore the integrated innovation of artificial intelligence and robotics technology.

"China's scientific and technological innovation capabilities are steadily improving, and the demographic dividend is gradually transforming into a talent dividend, which will promote China's economic growth to transform to innovation-driven, and support the further leap of the industrial structure to the high end." Han Chen said that ABB Robotics will continue to deeply cultivate the Chinese market, closely collaborate with local talents and partners, and further empower China's high-quality economic development with an open innovation ecosystem.

"China's talent dividend has become an important force supporting scientific and technological innovation." Wang Kexin (王可辛), General Manager of Canva China (Canva可画), a global visual communication and collaboration platform, said that China has a large number of talents with both technical capabilities and application awareness, which enables new technologies to enter real-world scenarios faster and form sustainable value in products and services, which is of positive significance for promoting industrial upgrading and the development of new business forms. "Canva has established artificial intelligence engineers, product R&D, and local content teams in China, forming a collaborative innovation system that is close to the needs of Chinese users. This is an important foundation for us to achieve long-term development and stable innovation in China." Wang Kexin said.

"The Chinese talent team has the characteristics of high skills, compound skills, and innovation, and the continuously released talent dividend injects inexhaustible power into China's high-quality development." Ye Fei said that the continuous emergence of engineering and technical talents, digital talents, and highly skilled industrial workers enables Michelin to achieve faster technology implementation, more agile response to market changes, and more systematic promotion of sustainable innovation in the Chinese market. More importantly, the talent advantage is changing China's role in the global layout of multinational companies—from an important market to a source of innovation and a technology highland. Ye Fei said: "China has become one of the strategic locations of Michelin's global innovation network, which is an important reason why we continue to firmly be optimistic about China and deeply cultivate China for a long time."

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The world must not be allowed to slide into an abyss of "no rules" (Global Perspective)

"Ruleless" risks are forming interconnected and overlapping systemic risk complexes in many fields. The international community must revive the spirit of unity, jointly safeguard international order and international law, and jointly resist the risks and challenges brought about by hegemonism and power politics.

Although the World Economic Forum 2026 Annual Meeting has concluded, the concerns about the world sliding into a "ruleless" era during the meeting continue to ferment in the international community.

Individual countries pursue the logic of might makes right and acting as the sole dominant power. Their bullying behavior is undisguised and unrestrained, whether towards their neighbors or allies. History and reality show that in a world without the constraints of international rules, the foundation of peace and development will inevitably be shaken, and conflicts will become increasingly apparent. The international community must revive the spirit of unity, jointly safeguard international order and international law, and jointly resist the risks and challenges brought about by hegemonism and power politics.

(I)

"World order fractured." Some Western media pointed out that the cracks in the transatlantic relationship between the United States and Europe are no longer concealed, and mutual trust among allies is falling to a historic low.

The new U.S. National Security Strategy Report elevates the contradictions between the U.S. and Europe to the level of values of "civilizational demise." The U.S. is stepping up its efforts to seize Greenland from Denmark, tariff threats are escalating, and the role of NATO countries is being diminished. This series of actions has made Europe increasingly aware that under the logic of U.S. power politics, its status as an ally cannot help Europe withstand wind and rain.

The new changes in U.S. policy towards Europe clearly demonstrate the logic of hegemony: nothing is off the table. The "powerlessness" shown by Europe in the face of multiple shocks is, to some extent, paying the price for its long-term strategic dependence on the U.S. A remark by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (冯德莱恩) reflects the mental adjustment Europe is undergoing: "Nostalgia is part of human history, but nostalgia cannot bring back the old order. And delaying time, hoping that everything will soon return to its original state, cannot solve our existing structural dependencies."

Currently, the deep-seated discord in U.S.-Europe relations reflects the deep crisis facing the world from one aspect. Since the beginning of this year, from launching a brazen attack on Venezuela to nakedly attempting to seize Greenland, hegemonic countries are indiscriminately and unscrupulously trampling on international rule of law and international order, accelerating the world's slide into a "ruleless" state. French President Emmanuel Macron (马克龙) warned: "We are heading towards a world without rules. In this world, international law is trampled underfoot, and the only important law seems to be the law of the strongest. Imperial ambitions are resurfacing." German Chancellor Merz (默茨) also called on Europeans to improve their defense capabilities and economic competitiveness in order to survive in the new situation.

(II)

An article on the website of the U.S. magazine *Foreign Affairs* pointed out that the U.S. is leading the world into a state of anarchy "far more chaotic than ever before."

Although the international order established after World War II is not perfect, it has played an important role in maintaining overall world peace, promoting relatively open global trade, and promoting international cooperation. It is the foundation for the orderly operation of the world today. However, in recent years, countries that were deeply involved in building the existing international order have experienced a sharp policy shift. Hegemonism, unilateralism, and protectionism have risen, and they are increasingly becoming destroyers and dismantlers of international rule of law and international order.

Today, "ruleless" risks are forming interconnected and overlapping systemic risk complexes in many fields, profoundly affecting the living environment of all members of the international community:

From a political and security perspective, the principle of sovereign equality is crushed by the logic of power. When major countries can arbitrarily define legitimacy based on their own judgments and take coercive actions, the rule-based foundation on which the international system operates will be eroded. 强权即公理 (qiáng quán jí gōng lǐ - "might is right," the idea that power determines what is right), which poses a fundamental threat to the stability of the global governance system. *Modern Diplomacy* in Europe believes that coercive practices based on "strength" may trigger regional turmoil and intensify internal conflicts. In the long run, it may lead to a more divided, unstable, and conflict-prone world.

From the perspective of economic and trade cooperation, win-win tools are being transformed into confrontational weapons. The *2026 Global Risks Report* lists "geoeconomic confrontation" as the primary risk. Trade, investment, and other economic ties that were originally conducive to global prosperity are being systematically "weaponized" by individual countries, directly disrupting the global industrial chain and supply chain system, and severely impacting multilateral trade rules. In a "ruleless" economic and trade order, any economic connection may become a target under the influence of geopolitical factors, and certainty and stability are out of the question. The global economy will slide into camp-based and fragmented patterns.

From the perspective of multilateral collaboration, cooperation platforms are falling into a state of dysfunction. Hegemonic countries are wantonly "withdrawing from groups" and making all kinds of attacks, causing core global governance institutions such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization to encounter unprecedented crises. The decline of multilateralism will erode the integrity and effectiveness of the global governance system and exacerbate the challenges facing world peace and development.

Brazilian presidential advisor Amorim (阿莫林) used the "uncertainty principle" of quantum physics to describe the current situation: anything can happen at any time. In an environment that disregards rules and believes in strength, it will be difficult for countries to effectively protect their own rights and interests. When constraints no longer exist, unpredictability itself becomes a powerful destructive force, and the world may slide into a more disordered and uncontrollable state.

(III)

"More and more people realize that we cannot return to the previous state of international order." Michael Froman (迈克尔·弗罗曼), Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, made this remark at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.

Looking back at the history since the end of World War II, the threat of hegemony has always existed. Some people in the West are keen to talk about the "golden past," simply because for a considerable period of time, the focus of hegemonic countries' attacks was elsewhere, and the "pain" was not on themselves. Today, the United States' bullying and wanton destruction of the international order has caused widespread pain in the international community. The international community must recognize the serious risks and jointly take on the responsibility.

To prevent the world from sliding into a "ruleless" abyss, we must defend international rule of law. Historian Margaret MacMillan (玛格丽特·麦克米伦) pointed out that predictability is essential for peace, and this is precisely what the world currently lacks. International rule of law is the result of civilizational progress. It is the most powerful guarantee for the sovereignty, security, and development interests of all countries, especially small and medium-sized countries. It is a "civilized instrument" to avoid the law of the jungle and ensure common security.

In today's era, the purposes and principles of the *Charter of the United Nations* as the core of international law and the basic norms of international relations, are the basis of world peace and stability, and an important basis for resolving international disputes. Maintaining the authority and effectiveness of this global basic public good is to maintain the common interests of all countries. Fully, sufficiently, and completely abiding by international law and the basic norms of international relations, ensuring the unified application of rules, and avoiding "double standards" are the only ways to prevent the "law of the jungle" from becoming the dominant logic of the world.

To prevent sliding into a "ruleless" abyss, we must revive the spirit of unity. Countries share a common destiny, and protecting oneself in the face of power is not the way out. Countries should start from their common interests, consolidate the foundation of unity and cooperation on the basis of forming a common understanding of global risks, and jointly resist the challenges of hegemonism and power politics.

The international order established after World War II has sheltered the world from wind and rain for more than 80 years. It should be strengthened and improved, rather than dismantled and undermined. Some believe that where the old order "breaks down," the emerging forces that adhere to independence and pragmatic cooperation will gain an increasingly large "space to define the rules." From this perspective, "chaos" is also the prelude to "change." Just like the law of entropy increase describes an open system, the degree of disorder is increasing, but it also creates the possibility for a new order. The international community should see the direction clearly in the tortuous development of history, adhere to equal treatment, not bullying the weak, adhere to cooperation and win-win, not winner-take-all, and promote the development of the international order in a more just and reasonable direction.

The world is at a critical crossroads, and the international community cannot sit idly by as the world is pushed into a "ruleless" abyss. Only by jointly safeguarding the international system with the United Nations as the core, the international order based on international law, and by consolidating certainty through dialogue and cooperation, can we lead humanity towards a bright future.

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Wang Yi Holds Strategic Communication with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 1st (Reporter Feng Xinran (冯歆然)) Wang Yi (王毅), Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, held strategic communication in Beijing on February 1st with Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Sergei Shoigu (绍伊古).

Wang Yi (王毅) welcomed Shoigu (绍伊古)'s visit to China as an envoy of President Putin (普京), stating that the world is currently facing increasing turbulence and intertwined challenges, with a real danger of regressing to the "law of the jungle." As major global powers and permanent members of the UN Security Council, China and Russia have the responsibility and obligation to practice true multilateralism, uphold the international system with the United Nations as its core, advocate for an equal and orderly multipolar world and inclusive economic globalization that benefits all, and promote the construction of a more just and reasonable global governance system.

Wang Yi (王毅) said that China and Russia are each other's largest neighbors and comprehensive strategic partners of coordination for a new era, and should maintain close communication on major issues concerning bilateral relations, and increase mutual support on issues involving each other's core interests. The leadership of the heads of state is the greatest advantage and fundamental guarantee for the high-level development of China-Russia relations. China is willing to work with Russia to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and promote China-Russia relations to create a new situation in the new year.

Shoigu (绍伊古) said that since the beginning of the year, the global situation has been rapidly changing, and security hotspots have emerged frequently. The Russian side always adheres to the one-China principle, closely monitors the hostile forces' actions to undermine stability in the Taiwan Strait, and firmly opposes Japan's accelerated "remilitarization" attempts. Russia is willing to continue to firmly support each other with China, strengthen bilateral cooperation, enhance coordination within multilateral mechanisms, jointly maintain the high-level development momentum of Russia-China relations, and promote the construction of a more just and reasonable multipolar world.

The two sides also had in-depth communication on various international and regional issues of common concern.

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China Safeguards World Peace with Concrete Actions

By: 本报记者 沈小晓

"Today's world has entered a new period of turbulence and change, with risks and challenges emerging one after another, and conflicts and confrontations flaring up repeatedly. Countries need to deepen cooperation to jointly face challenges." Fikreyesus Amha Hassen, a researcher at the Eritrean Center for Strategic Studies, said in an exclusive interview with this reporter recently, "The Global Security Initiative provides a Chinese solution for jointly addressing security challenges."

"The Global Security Initiative provides a platform for building consensus, pooling resources, and promoting exchanges and cooperation in the field of security, injecting impetus into all parties' efforts to jointly safeguard world peace and tranquility." Fikreyesus said that unlike those exclusive strategies that deepen divisions and exacerbate geopolitical tensions, the Global Security Initiative advocates multilateralism, firmly supports the United Nations in playing a central role in global security governance, and advocates resolving hotspot issues through dialogue, which is widely welcomed by the international community, especially the countries of the Global South. "China safeguards world peace with practical actions and plays an important role in promoting global security and peace and stability," said Fikreyesus.

"China has historically eliminated absolute poverty and is forging ahead on the path of Chinese-style modernization." Fikreyesus said that China has successfully achieved its own development and at the same time provided valuable development experience for other Global South countries, especially African countries, to promote lasting peace through common development. "China has never proactively provoked a war, nor has it ever occupied an inch of another country's land. It is a true friend of Africa and a trustworthy partner."

In Fikreyesus's view, development is the cornerstone of peace and security, and achieving lasting peace is inseparable from economic development. Through close cooperation within the frameworks of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (中非合作论坛) and the Belt and Road Initiative (一带一路) , the breadth and depth of China-Africa relations continue to expand. "More and more African and Chinese entrepreneurs are working closely together in areas such as renewable energy, e-commerce, and digital technology. These collaborations have laid the foundation for sustainable development in Africa." Fikreyesus said that China and Africa jointly telling the story of development and cooperation helps to shape a more inclusive international discourse system and further amplify the voice of the Global South on the world stage.

"China's continued efforts on global security issues reflect a genuine commitment to global peace and security." Fikreyesus said that China is the largest troop-contributing country among the permanent members of the UN Security Council and the second-largest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping operations. China is working hard to join hands with all parties to transform the Global Security Initiative from consensus into action, injecting more stability and certainty into the world, fully demonstrating its responsibility as a major country.

In order to support the Horn of Africa in achieving long-term peace and prosperity, China has proposed the "Peaceful Development Vision for the Horn of Africa." In recent years, China has worked with countries in the Horn of Africa, focusing on the three major goals of "security, development, and governance," and has taken practical actions to help promote regional peace and development. Fikreyesus highly appreciated this. "African problems should be solved by Africans in African ways, and foreign intervention often does not help to completely solve the problems." He believes that, unlike the tough interventionism of individual countries, the "Peaceful Development Vision for the Horn of Africa" follows the principle that countries must develop peacefully and independently, ensuring the sustainability of this process.

Fikreyesus said that Eritrea and China have a profound traditional friendship and a long history of cooperation. The deep friendship between the two countries is based on equality and mutual respect for sovereignty and independence. Eritrea-China cooperation has broad prospects, especially after Eritrea joined the Belt and Road Initiative (一带一路) family and Eritrea-China relations were upgraded to a strategic partnership. Cooperation between the two countries will not only promote the development of bilateral relations, but also further promote regional and global peace and stability, injecting more stability into a turbulent era.

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Chinese-built Ethiopian wind power project goes into operation

According to Xinhua News Agency, Addis Ababa, February 1st (Reporter Liu Fangqiang (刘方强)) The Aysha Wind Power Project in Ethiopia, constructed by a Chinese enterprise, held a commissioning ceremony on January 31st in the Somali region of eastern Ethiopia. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (阿比·艾哈迈德), Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh (伊斯梅尔·奥马尔·盖莱), and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (哈桑·谢赫·马哈茂德) attended the event.

It is understood that the Aysha Wind Power Project started construction in 2017, with Dongfang Electric (东方电气) signing a general contract with the owner, Ethiopian Electric Power (埃塞俄比亚电力公司). The project has a total installed capacity of 120 MW, installing 48 wind turbine units with a single unit capacity of 2.5 MW. Currently, the first phase of 32 wind turbine units has been installed and has begun grid connection for power generation.

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Carefully Organize and Carry Out the 2026 "Spring Festival Grassroots Visits" Campaign

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 1st (Xinhua) Recently, the Central Propaganda Department (中宣部) issued a notice requiring all regions and news organizations to take the 2026 "Spring Festival Grassroots Visits" as an important opening chapter for the year's thematic publicity. They should organize a large number of journalists to go to the grassroots level for interviews, deeply explore and reflect the vivid stories and typical figures of the new era, gather touching and inspiring spiritual strength, highlight the patriotic feelings of loving the motherland and dedicating oneself to the people, promote the spirit of self-improvement and hard work, and create a festive, peaceful, and uplifting atmosphere.

The notice requires in-depth publicity of the achievements in economic and social development. It calls on reporters and editors to go into representative key areas, key industries, key enterprises, and major national projects to reflect China's fruitful achievements in scientific and technological innovation, the steady development of new quality productive forces, the continuous improvement of the ecological environment, the warm and reassuring answers to people's livelihood, and the consolidation of the achievements in poverty alleviation. It should reveal the internal logic of China's long-term stable economic and social development, and guide cadres and the masses to unify their thinking and understanding and strengthen their confidence in development.

The notice points out that in-depth publicity should be given to the measures taken to ensure people's livelihood. It should showcase the strong measures taken by various regions and departments to ensure the supply and stable prices of energy for people's livelihood, ensuring that the people have a warm winter. It should publicize the coordinated efforts of transportation and other relevant departments to do a good job in the Spring Festival travel season, strengthen road congestion relief and smooth traffic flow, and ensure that the people travel safely and conveniently. It should report on the efforts of Party committees and governments at all levels to strengthen visits and condolences to special elderly people in difficulty, people with disabilities, and children in distress, and to provide care and assistance. It should also report on the efforts to crack down on illegal acts such as arrears in wage payments to migrant workers in accordance with the law, and to earnestly do practical things and solve difficulties for the people.

The notice proposes that in-depth publicity should be given to the strivers in various industries who stick to their posts. It should conduct in-depth interviews with transportation industry workers, medical workers, grassroots public security police, border post officers and soldiers, fire and rescue teams, and other groups who are on duty during the festival. It should focus on reporting the touching deeds of the vast number of grassroots Party members and cadres who play an exemplary role, vividly display the sincere feelings and simple words of the strivers in various industries who sacrifice their small families for everyone, establish a glorious image of the strivers in the new era who dare to take responsibility, and transmit positive energy.

The notice clarifies that in-depth publicity should be given to the beautiful scenes of celebrating the Spring Festival. It should publicize the colorful and distinctive mass activities and traditional folk activities carried out in various places, enrich the supply of the cultural and tourism market, develop characteristic cultural and tourism industries, display the unique cultural charm of the Spring Festival, and reflect the gratifying scenes of extensive cultural activities and rich cultural life of the masses in various places.

In terms of specific arrangements, the notice emphasizes that from February 2 to March 3, 2026, the main news organizations of the central government and various provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities should uniformly open a "Spring Festival Grassroots Visits" column on important sections and time slots and on the homepage of their new media platforms, and open special sub-columns as needed. It encourages the use of Internet language, youthful narratives, and storytelling communication, strengthens interaction and exchange with the audience, and effectively improves the style of reporting.

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Details Exposed to Sunlight: More Standardized Official Hospitality (On the Scene - New Observations on Style Construction)

By: 本报记者 王 丹

Work style construction is always on the road, and comprehensively and strictly governing the Party is always on the road. At the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized, "We must promote the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party with higher standards and more practical measures, more resolutely and forcefully implement the major decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, more scientifically and effectively confine power to the cage of the system, and more soberly and firmly advance the anti-corruption struggle."

In the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," various regions have adhered to consolidating and expanding the learning and education achievements of thoroughly implementing the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulation and promoting the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work style construction. In specific practice, what new explorations and new achievements have been made? Please follow the reporter to visit the front line of work style construction for a close-up observation.

——Editor

A meal reflects work style. From the Central Eight-Point Regulation to the "Regulations on the Management of Domestic Official Reception of Party and Government Organs," to the newly revised "Regulations on Practicing Thrift and Opposing Waste by Party and Government Organs," a series of institutional regulations have been successively introduced to establish rules, clarify responsibilities, correct deviations, continuously promote the standardization of official reception, and strictly manage waste and corruption on the tip of the tongue.

Ganzhou (赣州) City, Jiangxi (江西) Province, has strengthened registration and filing in the official reception process by promoting the "Official Consumption Network Supervision System" and the "Gan Meal Code (赣餐码)," further improving transparency and standardization. In mid-January, Zheng Yuming (郑玉明), marketing manager of Ganzhou (赣州) Hotel, experienced the entire process of an official reception.

[Scene 1]

In the phone call to book an official reception, there was no emphasis on dining standards.

Around 9 a.m., Zheng Yuming's (郑玉明) phone rang.

"Manager Zheng (郑经理), this is Nina (妮娜). We have an official reception here at noon, 9 people, all at or below the section level. Please arrange it for me." On the other end of the phone came the voice of Kong Nina (孔妮娜), a cadre from the Urban Management Bureau of Zhanggong (章贡) District, Ganzhou (赣州) City.

This call did not specifically mention dining standards. How should this be prepared?

"I have a good idea." Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) said calmly, "I know Nina (妮娜) well, and I know the meal standards well, so I'll arrange it as usual."

Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) is experienced in official reception. "Before the introduction of the Central Eight-Point Regulation, the hotel's income mainly depended on official reception." Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) recalled, "When guests came, we would generally receive them regardless of whether they had an official letter or not, and let them eat first. The meal standards were not very clear, and sometimes, in order to show hospitality, the receiving unit would order a few more dishes and serve some local wine."

In October 2020, Zhanggong (章贡) District carried out institutional reform of Ganzhou (赣州) Hotel, changing its nature from a self-supporting public institution to a state-owned enterprise under the district.

In order to deepen the implementation of the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulation, Ganzhou (赣州) City pointed its sword at the management of "three public expenses" and issued measures for the management of official reception, detailing the standards and procedures for official reception. Relevant departments in the district came to the door and made a "three-chapter agreement" with Ganzhou (赣州) Hotel: reception must have an official letter, dining information must be entered into the system, and over-standard reception is not allowed.

Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) went to the kitchen, checked the preparation of ingredients, and instructed the purchasing staff: "There are 9 more guests today. In winter, people generally like to eat palm package fried bacon. Now there are a little less palm packages, so you go to the market and buy some more back." Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) said that buying as needed can ensure the freshness of the ingredients and avoid inventory backlog, expiration, and waste.

After checking the preparation of ingredients, Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) held a simple meeting with the chefs and waiters: "There are receptions today, and there are also individual guests. Everyone should be prepared, and all the links should be straightened out. The guests will wait less time for meals, and they can finish eating and rest earlier, and we can clean up earlier and turn over more tables..."

[Scene 2]

Before ordering, the out-of-town guests presented an official letter.

On the same day at noon, a group of seven people from the Urban Management and Law Enforcement Bureau of Xiangzhou (襄州) District, Xiangyang (襄阳) City, Hubei (湖北) Province, accompanied by Kong Nina (孔妮娜) and a colleague, arrived at Ganzhou (赣州) Hotel.

"Director Kong (孔主任), this is our official letter for external official inspection and exchange, please confirm." An official from Xiangzhou (襄州) District took out the document and handed it over. "Okay, okay." Kong Nina (孔妮娜) reached out and took it. Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) also saw this necessary step.

After everyone ordered, Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) stepped forward to connect the details: "Gannan (赣南) stir-fried fish is a bit spicy, do you need to reduce the spiciness for the guests?" Kong Nina (孔妮娜) asked the guests for their opinions and replied: "Yes, not so spicy." Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) reminded again: "Stir-fried bacon with winter bamboo shoots and stir-fried bacon with palm packages are a bit repetitive, do you want to remove one?" Kong Nina (孔妮娜) agreed.

How many dishes did 9 people order? "There are relevant requirements, we have to implement 'N-1', there are 8 dishes, plus one soup." Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) said, "For section level and below, the meal standard is no more than 100 yuan per person."

After the meal, Kong Nina (孔妮娜) checked the meal bill with Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) and settled the payment with her personal official card.

"There are no high-end dishes or alcohol, and we strictly abide by the standards." Kong Nina (孔妮娜) said, "Settlement can only be done by public transfer and official card settlement, which is also to prevent fraud."

Ganzhou (赣州) City clarified that it is necessary to log in to the Jiangxi (江西) Province "Official Consumption Network Supervision System," fill in the reasons for reception, consumption unit, reception date, number of diners, number of dishes, consumption details, payment method, handler, and other information online, and upload the official letter before entering the official reception reimbursement process. "If there are over-standard amounts, non-compliant dishes, etc., the system page will give real-time warnings." Kong Nina (孔妮娜) said.

Is there room for arbitrary filling? Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) knows something about this: "All data is collected to the regulatory backend. The finance and audit departments will conduct spot checks at any time, and can also identify violations such as 'one letter for multiple meals,' 'splitting bills,' and 'falsely increasing the number of people' by comparing data."

This meal for 9 people is the "first meal" of official reception, which can be "treated" by the local area. What about the subsequent "second meal" and "third meal"?

In order to practice thrift and prevent extravagance and waste, Jiangxi (江西) has been promoting the "Gan Meal Code (赣餐码)" since 2024, which widely covers dining places such as unit canteens, in order to advocate simple, clean, and clear official reception.

"'Second meal' and 'third meal' do not need to be specially arranged. Guests can go to the dining place with the 'Gan Meal Code (赣餐码),' order their own meals, and scan the code to pay. The 'Gan Meal Code (赣餐码)' will also generate consumption vouchers with exclusive electronic seals for diners to reimburse." Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) said that open and transparent information and receipts can effectively compress the space for illegal operations such as repeated reimbursements.

When cleaning up the table, Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) found that there was almost no leftover food, and the meal time was less than 1 hour.

"Eating like this is disciplined, efficient, and comfortable, and can put more energy into serious matters." Huang Hui (黄辉), a cadre from the Urban Management and Law Enforcement Bureau of Xiangzhou (襄州) District, said.

[Scene 3]

Staff from the district joint supervision team came to the door for inspection and guidance.

The day after this reception, Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) welcomed two "uninvited guests" in the morning - Zhang Quan (张权) and Liao Jianming (廖建铭), staff members of the Zhanggong (章贡) District Joint Supervision Team, who came to the hotel to inspect and guide.

Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) accompanied the two to review the ledgers and check the official reception situation and the use of the "Gan Meal Code (赣餐码)."

When Zhang Quan (张权) asked about the precautions for official reception, Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) calmly said: "We will take the initiative to remind guests to use their official cards to scan the code for settlement. When guests use the 'Gan Meal Code (赣餐码)' to pay, breakfast accounts for 20% of the travel meal allowance, and lunch and dinner each account for 40%..."

At the front desk, Zhang Quan (张权) noticed the "Gan Meal Code (赣餐码)" sign. "Can this also be placed on the dining table? This will make it more convenient for diners to scan the code." Zhang Quan (张权) suggested, and Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) nodded repeatedly.

In order to implement effective supervision and strictly implement the management of official reception, Zhanggong (章贡) District promptly corrects situations such as non-standard official letters and failure to implement the "N-1" requirement for ordering dishes through normalized departmental joint supervision and the issuance of supervision letters, effectively consolidating the main responsibility of official reception units.

"We strengthen the supervision and management of official reception and identity authentication to achieve dynamic supervision of illegal dining and illegal reception. At the same time, we clarify the payment standards for 'Gan Meal Code (赣餐码)' dining and improve the payment channels for dining to achieve clean and clear official reception." Zhang Quan (张权) said.

The "Official Consumption Network Supervision System" and the "Gan Meal Code (赣餐码)" have also profoundly affected the business philosophy of Ganzhou (赣州) Hotel. In addition to official reception, Ganzhou (赣州) Hotel has taken the initiative to embrace the mass market, transforming idle boxes, and achieving diversified business development by taking orders for wedding banquets, tourist groups, business activities, and contracting unit canteens and carrying out external sales.

"We are confident in the future development of the company!" Zheng Yuming (郑玉明) said.

Layout design: Zhang Fangman (张芳曼)

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Control what you eat, nip problems in the bud (Editor's Notes)

By: 陈 震

When going out on official business or for inspection and exchange, one always needs to solve the problem of three meals a day. Official reception, an event that seems ordinary, actually occurs frequently and is widely connected, making it a very important part of style construction.

Looking across the country, various regions are empowering the standardization and supervision of official reception through institutional construction and technological upgrades. Showing official letters, entering information, and scanning codes for settlement – the coordinated efforts of each link are making the process of official reception more standardized, the accounts clearer, the relationships of public officials more refreshing, and the style more simple.

Setting standards and establishing norms for official reception is not only to curb "waste on the tip of the tongue," but also, at a deeper level, to 防微杜渐 (fáng wēi dù jiàn - "prevent the slightest indication of error," to nip something in the bud) and eradicate the soil for power abuse and corruption. As various regions thoroughly implement the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulation of the Central Committee (中央八项规定) and continue to promote the standardization and institutionalization of official reception, violations of integrity discipline such as irregular reception and taking the opportunity to eat and drink extravagantly have significantly decreased, and the Party conduct, government conduct, and social atmosphere have been renewed.

From the changes in official reception, we can understand this principle: changing from "revolving around the dining table" to "revolving around the masses" is the only way for Party members and cadres to be loyal, clean, and responsible; only by spreading "micro-power" in the sunlight and subjecting it to more comprehensive and stricter supervision can corruption be stopped in its infancy and have nowhere to hide.

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"Our Chinese Dream - Culture to Every Home" Campaign Launches for 2026

This newspaper reported from Beijing on February 1st (Reporter Li Zhuoer (李卓尔)) The 2026 "Our Chinese Dream - Culture Enters Ten Thousand Homes" event launch ceremony and performance, jointly organized by the Central Propaganda Department (中宣部), the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (文化和旅游部), the National Radio and Television Administration (国家广播电视总局), China Media Group (中央广播电视总台), and the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (中国文联), was held on February 1st in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (恩施土家族苗族自治州), Hubei Province (湖北省).

Accompanied by loud folk songs, the large-scale song and dance "Romantic Xuan'en Welcomes You," with strong ethnic characteristics, kicked off the performance. Folk song medleys, acrobatics performances, opera medleys and other featured programs were staged in turn... The performance vividly demonstrated the enthusiasm and simplicity of the Tujia children, not only creating a warm atmosphere of joy, peace, and ethnic unity, but also singing the strong voice of the new era's changes in people's lives and the comprehensive revitalization of the countryside. On the same day, cultural and artistic teams from the China Coal Mine Art Troupe (中国煤矿文工团) and the China Broadcasting Art Troupe (中国广播艺术团) also went to Enshi City (恩施市) and Jianshi County (建始县) respectively to conduct慰问 (wèi wèn - "consolation," to express sympathy and solicitude) performances.

2026 is the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (中国共产党) and the first year of the "Fifteenth Five-Year Plan." This year's "Culture Enters Ten Thousand Homes" event will closely focus on fully implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the plenary sessions of the 20th Central Committee, deeply studying and practicing Xi Jinping (习近平)'s cultural thought, promoting high-quality cultural resources directly to the grassroots, mobilizing and organizing the vast number of cultural and artistic workers to carry out literary and artistic performances, artistic training, and cultural services facing the grassroots, enhancing the supply capacity of high-quality and diversified cultural services, encouraging and advocating mass-run culture, carrying out cultural and artistic activities that are easy to participate in, so that the people can share the fruits of cultural inheritance and development, and凝聚团结进取、奋发图强的 (níng jù tuán jié jìn qǔ, fèn fā tú qiáng de - "coagulate unity, forge ahead, and strive for strength," to unite and work hard to achieve progress and prosperity) powerful spiritual strength.

This year's event will mobilize and organize professional literary and artistic teams to go deep into villages and communities, schools and military camps, industrial and mining enterprises to perform programs, screen movies, send books and newspapers, and carry out training, lectures, tutoring, etc., to send high-quality cultural products and services to the front lines of the grassroots, focusing on tilting towards rural elderly people, left-behind children, and new urban employment groups.

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Buying New Year goods, welcoming the Spring Festival.

As the Spring Festival approaches, people are visiting flower markets and purchasing New Year's goods, and the market presents a festive atmosphere of welcoming the New Year with prosperity. The picture shows customers selecting Spring Festival ornaments at a New Year's goods wholesale market in Kaifeng (开封), Henan (河南) Province on February 1st.

Photo by Li Junsheng (李俊生) (Image China (影像中国))

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Beijing to launch over 5,000 Spring Festival cultural activities

This newspaper reported from Beijing on February 1st (Reporter Shi Fang (施芳)): It was learned from the press conference for the 2026 Beijing (北京市) Spring Festival Cultural Activities that Beijing (北京市) will launch more than 5,000 Spring Festival cultural activities, including traditional activities such as temple fairs, lantern festivals, and garden parties, as well as new spaces and new ways to play that combine Beijing's (北京) newly built business districts, scenic spots, and parks in the past two years.

This year's Beijing (北京市) Spring Festival cultural activities will have the overall theme of "Galloping Horses Celebrate the New Year, Beijing (京) Splendor Chinese New Year," with seven series of activities: "Temple Fairs and Lantern Festivals for the New Year," "Beijing (京) Splendor Performing Arts for the New Year," "Celebrating the New Year in Museums," "Ice and Snow Garden Parties for the New Year," "Online Audio-Visual Programs for the New Year," "Cultural Consumption for the New Year," and "Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (京津冀) Joint Celebration of the New Year."

In the "Temple Fairs and Lantern Festivals for the New Year" section, more than 30 temple fairs and lantern festivals will be held throughout the city, with both the number and scale increasing compared to previous years. In the "Beijing (京) Splendor Performing Arts for the New Year" section, the city has already scheduled 274 commercial performances with 2,087 shows during the Spring Festival. In the "Celebrating the New Year in Museums" section, various museums, art galleries, and exhibition halls throughout the city will launch more than 150 Spring Festival-themed or specially planned exhibitions and cultural activities. In the "Ice and Snow Garden Parties for the New Year" section, major parks throughout the city will carry out more than 220 ice and snow and garden flower viewing activities. In the "Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (京津冀) Joint Celebration of the New Year" section, Beijing (北京), Tianjin (天津), and Hebei (河北) will jointly plan various cultural and artistic activities such as temple fairs, performances, and exhibitions, and the cultural and tourism departments of the three regions will also jointly plan and launch high-quality tourism routes.

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Guangxi Launches Three-Year Action Plan for Complete Community Development

This newspaper's Nanning (南宁) February 1st dispatch (Pang Geping (庞革平), Huang Shiyi (黄诗谊)) The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (广西壮族自治区) Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, together with the Social Work Department of the Autonomous Region Party Committee (自治区党委社会工作部) and six other departments, issued the "Three-Year Action Plan for Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Complete Community Construction in Guangxi (2026-2028)" (《广西完整社区建设提质增效三年行动方案（2026—2028年）》), clarifying that Guangxi (广西) will systematically promote the construction of complete communities, focus on addressing shortcomings in public services, improve community governance, and strive to build a cumulative total of 200 complete communities by 2028, effectively improving the quality of life for residents.

In order to promote construction work in an orderly manner, the plan clarifies the three-stage goals for the construction of complete communities in Guangxi (广西): In 2026, a comprehensive assessment of the number and needs of communities throughout Guangxi (广西) will be conducted, a project database will be established, working mechanisms will be improved, and relevant evaluation standards will be introduced; in 2027, the construction of complete communities will be promoted throughout the region in accordance with local conditions; in 2028, the construction and evaluation of 200 projects will be completed, achieving the goals of further improving public facilities, enhancing the level of intelligent services, and improving governance mechanisms.

By the end of April 2026, each city in Guangxi (广西) will strive to complete a comprehensive "physical examination" of all 2,375 communities in the region, accurately identifying shortcomings and needs in terms of facilities, environment, and governance.

In terms of addressing shortcomings in service facilities, the plan emphasizes the need to improve community public service facilities, focusing on promoting the construction of facilities such as community canteens, children's reading rooms, elderly service stations, and inclusive childcare centers; improve the convenience service network, promoting the coverage of intelligent express boxes, love stations, and small repair service points; upgrade municipal infrastructure, promoting pipeline renewal, slow traffic system construction, and barrier-free aging-friendly renovations; and expand public activity space, planning to build or renovate 150 "pocket parks" and 150 kilometers of urban greenways, and support more than 500 communities in building fitness facilities.

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The longest tunnel on the entire Xiong'an-Xinzhou high-speed railway is completed.

This newspaper Taiyuan (太原) February 1st (Reporter Zheng Yangyang (郑洋洋)) On the morning of January 29th, the Wutaishan Tunnel (五台山隧道), the longest tunnel on the entire Xiongxin High-speed Railway, was fully completed, laying the foundation for subsequent main project construction.

The Wutaishan Tunnel (五台山隧道) is located in Xinzhou City (忻州市), Shanxi Province (山西省), with a total length of 14 kilometers, and is a key project of the Shanxi (山西) section of the Xiongxin High-speed Railway.

The Xiongxin High-speed Railway starts from Xiong'an New Area (雄安新区) in Hebei (河北) in the east and ends in Xinzhou (忻州), Shanxi (山西) in the west, with a main line length of approximately 342 kilometers. It is an important part of the Beijing-Kunming corridor of China's "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed railway network and is also the first high-speed railway in Shanxi Province (山西省) with a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour. After the project is completed, it will further improve the layout of the national high-speed railway network, strengthen transportation links between Shanxi (山西) and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (京津冀) region, and is of great significance for promoting economic and social development along the route and helping regional coordinated development.

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First Edition Editors: Xu Nuo, Zhang Shuaizhen, Zhao Chuanbo Second Edition Editors: Lü Li, Zhang Anyu, He Biao Third Edition Editors: Wu Gang, Zhou Zhou, Cheng Shijie Fourth Edition Editors: Liu Nian, Han Chunyao, Chen Zhen

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Forging Ahead to Realize the Dream, Becoming a Torch of Inspiration (The Chinese Path, the Chinese Dream)

The journey of pursuing dreams always has people shouldering the weight of the era, working diligently and steadfastly, becoming beacons of light.

It is the "you" who gathers trickles into rivers, and the "me" who assembles faint glimmers into a sea of stars. Hundreds of millions of hearts thinking and working together have created today's Chinese miracle.

In his New Year's message for 2026, President Xi Jinping (习近平) earnestly expressed: "Everyone's hard work and dedication have forged a thriving China. I salute every hard-working striver!"

In the past year, the "China Road, China Dream" column received thousands of submissions from all over the country. Through these deeply affectionate words, we arrived at inspiring scenes of struggle and witnessed passionate and burning lives of striving. We listened and were moved, simply because those fervent words illuminated vivid and fervent lives.

Opening the chapter "Youth Taking Responsibility for Chinese-style Modernization," a vibrant atmosphere of growth from the fertile soil of the times rushes towards us. The youth of the new era possess unlimited possibilities and creativity, and they boldly advance into the vast historical timeline, opening up a brand-new historical era.

-- What is youth for? It is the resolute choice to go to the grassroots and the front lines. Without shirking responsibility or lying flat, choosing to take the "difficult but right path" and writing sincerity on the land.

Look at the change in a pair of shoes. Taking off her white shoes and putting on yellow rubber shoes, Zeng Yunfeng (曾云凤), a newly graduated selection-assigned student, walked every small road in the village and also walked into the hearts of the villagers. When everyone's address to her changed from "leader" to "Sister Zeng (曾妹儿)," a growth beyond books was quietly completed.

Look at the perseverance of "a nail." From the Liaoning Ship (辽宁舰) to the Shandong Ship (山东舰), Sergeant Major Zhang Zhongjie (张忠杰) "nailed" himself to the deck, advancing into the deep blue with the aircraft carrier. He said, "No matter how big the sea is, as long as I am with the warship, I will feel as safe as at home." It is because of millions of them that we feel more at ease.

-- Where is youth? It is the boundless ambition to go to the borderlands and to hardship. Without fearing difficulties or avoiding risks, going to the places where the motherland needs them most, taking deep root, and burning brightly.

"Here, it won't work if I'm missing." On the rugged rural roads, Tibetan aid doctor Tan Haiyu (谈海玉) has been walking for twenty years. The dizziness brought about by altitude sickness has made her belief even firmer, "If we don't go, who will treat their illnesses?"

"It is I who am teaching, but it is the plateau that is teaching me even more." Zhang Ziheng (张子恒), a college student who taught in western China, returned to the west after graduation. The vast world has much to offer, and the unforgettable love and the call of the great changes in the mountain villages have made his youth bloom together with the Gesang flowers.

-- Where is youth going? It is the fearless courage to explore the frontiers and break into the "no-man's-land." Without admitting defeat or bowing their heads, mustering all their strength, vowing to climb the highest peak.

Ma Jun (马骏), a young man from the Northwest in a wheelchair, opened up the boundaries of his life under the guidance of literary wings. In harmony with the footsteps of the comprehensive revitalization of the countryside, he wrote a symphony of fate in every stroke and walked onto the stage to receive the National Award for Ethnic Minority Literature Creation.

Technology entrepreneur Han Dongcheng (韩东成) faced the difficult problems and gnawed at the "hard bones" inch by inch, determined to prove that China's "aerial imaging" technology is no worse than any other country. Countless sleepless nights and hundreds of restarts, repeated failures and repeated battles have given tangible shapes to intangible light.

"Hidden dragons rise from the abyss, their scales and claws flying; young tigers roar in the valleys, and all beasts are terrified; falcons try their wings, and dust is stirred up..." Isn't Liang Qichao's (梁启超) vision in "A Discourse on Young China" more than a hundred years ago a portrayal of the style of today's youth? They use their own fervent responsibility and struggle to leave powerful and individualistic strokes on the unprecedented grand picture of Chinese-style modernization.

And it's not just the youth! The stage for building a strong country and national rejuvenation is vast, and there are no spectator seats here, "everyone is the protagonist." Through letters, feeling the vibrant life scenes, we are moved to tears again and again.

It is the striving you and me who are piecing together a thriving China. Hydropower worker Hong Xinming (洪信明) nurtured a literary dream between steel bars and cement; Ye Runqing (叶润清), an "archaeological craftsman" who is nearing retirement, was moved to tears when facing broken pottery pieces at the excavation site... Hard-working laborers polish time with ingenuity and interpret responsibility with perseverance, shining brightly in their positions, jointly lighting up one Chinese story after another.

It is the kind you and me who are holding up a warm China. Old policeman He Guoqing (贺国庆) regards the name "Guoqing (国庆)" as a lifelong honor and spur, and always insists on "handling special matters in a special way" for urgent and difficult problems; Chinese girl Ma Yuxia (马玉霞) brought cute alpaca dolls into the China International Import Expo (进博会), sharing "China's dividends" with Peruvian artisans... The strivers who are committed to practice and hard work take dreams as horses, open up roads with affection, live up to their youth, and jointly draw a grand picture of the times.

Working diligently in ordinary positions and advocating virtue in daily life, every one in 1.4 billion takes a step forward, and the song of ordinary people shouted out in this chest will converge into a deafening sound of the times - "The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is unstoppable!"

"Dreaming of mountains and seas, one does not feel the distance," because every step counts; "**前路迢迢** (qián lù tiáo tiáo - "the road ahead is long," the journey ahead is long and arduous, but we must keep moving forward)," there are always fellow dreamers on the way.

Today, we are more determined and confident than ever in history to walk on the road of China, and we have more confidence and ability than ever in history to realize the Chinese dream. On this journey full of glory and dreams, there will always be new legends.

In the new year, readers and friends are welcome to continue to pick up their pens, to discover, to record, and to write about the great struggle of this great era.

(Written by: Chang Jin (常晋), He Juan (何娟), Cui Yan (崔妍))

This edition's email: rmbpl@peopledaily.cn

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A Long-Term Vision Seen from the Construction of "Complete Communities" (Commentator's Observation)

By: 孟繁哲

A long-term perspective means seeking truth from facts and adapting to local conditions, avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach; it also means maintaining historical patience, being down-to-earth and building a solid foundation, and avoiding only caring about appearances and neglecting substance; it also means being good at thinking about problems and solving problems from a developmental perspective.

What is a complete community? "A place to walk babies and exercise, and also to read and shop," "Parks, supermarkets, hospitals, etc., all available," "Most daily needs can be met within a 15-minute walk"... Different people may give different answers, but the convenience of community service facilities and the comfort of the living environment are constantly improving, which are common criteria.

Why are convenience and comfort improving? If it is inconvenient to buy vegetables, we will coordinate to add convenient vegetable stores; if there is no place to charge, we will coordinate to build new car charging facilities; if there is a lack of public activity space, we will revitalize existing resources and transform idle sites. Many places not only adhere to the principle of "supplementing what is lacking," but also look to the long term and focus on sustainability, extending services and resources to residents' doorsteps and promoting the transformation of more single communities into complete communities. From this, we can understand what is meant by "long-term perspective."

A long-term perspective means seeking truth from facts and adapting to local conditions, avoiding a 齐步走 (qí bù zǒu - "marching in step," doing things in a uniform way) and a 一刀切 (yī dāo qiē - "one knife cut," a one-size-fits-all approach).

In Nanchuanyuan Community (南川园社区), Nantong (南通), Jiangsu (江苏), nearly 70% of the residential buildings were built before 2000, with insufficient facilities and a lack of public activity space. What should be done? The local government did not simply copy the existing experience of other places, but instead allowed residents to participate in community construction planning through forms such as "designers entering the community," "residents' deliberation hall," and "bench meetings," to find solutions from pain points and make up for the shortcomings in community construction. It is precisely because of respecting reality and asking for needs from the people that the transformation not only solved old problems, but also did not create new burdens.

In urban renewal and construction, each community is not a "standard part" and cannot be applied with a single model. Different areas have different situations. Historical blocks have the texture of historical blocks, and new communities have the conditions of new communities. Only by understanding the situation, identifying problems, and prescribing the right remedy can we use good steel on the blade and use limited resources where the masses need them most.

A long-term perspective also means maintaining historical patience, being down-to-earth and building a solid foundation, and avoiding only caring about appearances and neglecting substance.

Two stacks of notebooks reflect the determination to keep working one after another. One stack is a notebook for the renovation of old districts. Xu Bingrong (须炳荣), a cadre of Pengpu Xincun Street (彭浦新村街道) in Jing'an (静安), Shanghai (上海), has been involved in the renovation of old districts since 2005. More than 10 notebooks are filled with the difficulties and pain points of project renovation and the problems and demands reflected by residents. After more than 30 years of relaying and tackling key problems, Shanghai (上海) has made sufficient efforts to "do things in a small space" 螺蛳壳里做道场 (luó sī ké lǐ zuò dào chǎng - "performing religious ceremonies in a snail shell," to accomplish great things within limitations) and let citizens completely say goodbye to "carrying chamber pots."

One stack is a "diary of public sentiment." In Wangjiang Community (望江社区), Shouchang Town (寿昌镇), Jiande (建德), Zhejiang (浙江), community cadres always bring a notebook when they go to the streets and alleys to record major and minor events in the community. Over the past 10 years, community cadres have kept nearly 30 thick "diaries of public sentiment," helping the masses solve one difficult, urgent, and troublesome matter after another.

The people's sense of gain is accumulated in bit by bit changes. People's livelihood matters must be grasped and implemented in a down-to-earth manner, and each item must be continuously strengthened. Only by drawing a blueprint to the end and hammering one hammer after another can the development results stand the test of time and the test of the masses.

A long-term perspective also means being good at thinking about problems and solving problems from a developmental perspective.

In the construction of complete communities, building facilities is only the first step. Making good use of facilities and making them sustainable is the "second half of the article" that must be paid attention to. Haidian (海淀), Beijing (北京), adopts an integrated "investment, construction, and operation" transformation model to guide enterprises to provide long-term operation services; Jiangxi (江西) promotes market-oriented operation and guides operating entities to participate in construction through models such as "separation of ownership and use rights" and "low compensation + public welfare + market." Only by being based on the present, solving the most urgent and most needed practical problems of the masses, and also focusing on the future and building a long-term mechanism for diversified participation, can the work stand, stand firm, and be sustainable.

What kind of vision you have determines what kind of action you take. Developing in accordance with local conditions, making long-term efforts to make up for shortcomings, and building a good mechanism to promote long-term effectiveness are what is needed to build a complete community, and the same should be done in other work.

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The Governance Challenges Behind AI "Advertising" (Micro View)

By: 李铁林

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is learning to "advertise."

Imagine this scenario: you want to send a friend a birthday gift but are unsure what to choose, so you seek advice from AI. The AI retrieves a large amount of information and provides an answer, but upon closer inspection, seven or eight out of ten of the information sources it relies on seem like advertorials. At this point, you can't help but wonder – is this AI acting like a "salesperson"?

Such a scenario is no longer just imagination, but reality.

Recently, media investigations have found that GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) services are increasingly favored by merchants. This type of service analyzes the content crawling preferences of AI large models and uses a set of technical settings to integrate content with brand information into answers for the AI. In layman's terms, it is artificially controlling the AI's information filtering.

This model is not new in the advertising industry. For example, in the era when search engines dominated traffic entrances, there were services that optimized website content based on search engine ranking rules. Currently, users' usage preferences are converging towards AI, and AI-generated content will inevitably become a focus of commercial competition.

Reasonable use of rules to conduct competition is in line with commercial logic. However, the problem is that, compared to the commonly used advertising channels in the past, using GEO services to let AI "advertise" generates more compliance disputes.

The "selling point" of GEO services is, to a large extent, its "deceptiveness," that is, "packaging" commercial promotions as objectively generated content by AI to enhance the persuasiveness of the advertisement. However, the Advertising Law clearly stipulates that "advertisements should be identifiable and enable consumers to discern that they are advertisements." AI "advertising" that is difficult to identify is suspected of infringing on consumers' right to know. Some GEO service providers fabricate facts to attract the "attention" of AI, which is also suspected of false advertising and unfair competition.

In addition, the development of AI large models cannot be separated from the cornerstone of high-quality training data. If a large amount of homogenized information mixed with commercial attributes is allowed to pollute the "source of fresh water" for AI training, it will not be conducive to the iterative evolution of the technology in the long run.

The Central Economic Work Conference (中央经济工作会议) held at the end of 2025 proposed "improving the governance of artificial intelligence." How to solve this problem?

It must be recognized that facing new technologies, new scenarios, and new problems, old experiences and old methods will not work.

For example, from the perspective of technological evolution, the application of AI means that it will replace humans in making many specific decisions. The "AI mobile phone" (AI手机), which caused heated discussions some time ago, uses intelligent agents to replace users in ordering food, shopping, etc., and users only need to confirm payment. When technology becomes a "black box," users are more likely to be "led by the nose" without realizing it. Furthermore, traditional internet advertising supervision is mostly post-event supervision, and mechanisms for supervising and preventing problems at the stage of AI data "feeding" are yet to be improved.

Therefore, for governors, the urgent task is to change governance thinking in line with the times, promote the shift of checkpoints forward, and improve the effectiveness of the entire process of supervision. Conduct research and judgment on the characteristics of new business forms, and define clear red lines; clarify the responsibilities of service providers and platforms, and eliminate "gray areas"; explore "governance by technology" to improve the transparency and interpretability of related algorithms... Only by letting go and managing well can we balance technological application and user rights protection.

From a broader perspective, AI "advertising" reflects the common challenges faced by governance in the wave of technological change. The advanced nature of technological development tests the ability of governors to respond quickly and follow up in a timely manner; the professionalization of technological issues calls for a more open and diverse governance pattern to absorb more professional wisdom for co-governance and sharing. But in the final analysis, what remains unchanged is the courage of reform and the open mind. This is where our past experience in recognizing changes, responding to changes, and seeking changes lies, and it is also the confidence to take the initiative in the future.

Technological visions do not always translate into a beautiful reality. People need to constantly reflect on and correct the direction of technology in the clash of opinions and the game of interests, avoid falling into the narrowness and arrogance of technological determinism, so that the whole society can share prosperity. AI "advertising" may be a facet of this complex game. Pursuing progress, welcoming innovation, but never letting go, 蒙眼狂奔 (méng yǎn kuáng bēn - "blindfolded running wildly," to act recklessly without considering the consequences), we can ensure that technology brings universal benefits with human subjectivity.

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Photo Story

In 2025, China newly recognized 104 geographical indication products, converted and recognized 2,639 geographical indication products, approved 51 registrations of geographical indications as collective trademarks and certification trademarks, and approved more than 20,000 business entities to use special geographical indication logos. By the end of 2025, China had cumulatively recognized 5,066 geographical indication products, making them a "golden name card" for characteristic industries to help farmers increase their income and become rich.

This is precisely:

Mountains and rivers have unique products,
Delicacies contain new opportunities.
Cleverly establish a golden brand,
Life is as sweet as honey.

Shen Qiuwen (沈丘文)

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How Can the Fragrance of Technology Permeate Every Home? (Horizontal Perspective)

By: 王世涵

Not long ago, the name solicitation for the "China Style" rose, independently cultivated by Yunnan research institutions, attracted attention. The name "Jiaolong" received a lot of support, and many netizens hoped to commemorate He Jiaolong (贺娇龙), a Xinjiang (新疆) cadre who passed away recently.

From "Baohua" to "Wenxiu" and then to "Jiaolong," names that "grow" from the hearts of the people are not only full of warmth, but also enlighten us that true technological innovation must be both "top-notch" and "down-to-earth." It must not only break through core technology bottlenecks and master the initiative of development, but also allow the roots of value to be deeply rooted in the fertile ground of cultural self-confidence and people's emotions.

To bring innovation to the market, an important aspect is to find a bridge to the public's emotions. When the "antenna" of scientific research is connected to the "ground wire" of public opinion, a wonderful chemical reaction will occur. When a flower that embodies scientific research wisdom is endowed with such real and perceptible humanistic temperature and collective memory, it is no longer just a result in the laboratory, but a warm sustenance of public emotion and a vivid carrier of the spirit of the times. This is the key leap for technological innovation to take deep root in the social soil and enhance added value.

At the 2026 new product launch, the priority planting rights for the "story-telling" rose were snapped up. The market uses real money to prove that from the laboratory to the production line and the homes of ordinary people, not only is strong technology needed, but also emotional empowerment. What consumers buy is not just a pot of flowers, but a sense of identity and emotion.

(Excerpted and edited from *Yunnan Daily*, original title: *How Can the Fragrance of Technology Float into the Homes of Ordinary People?*)

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Using the power of the rule of law to ensure betrothal gifts return to their essence as "gifts" (People's Daily Commentary)

By: 张 杰

At the end of the year and the beginning of the new year, it is the peak period for happy marriages, and the topic of betrothal gifts has also attracted attention. Speaking of high betrothal gifts and the social problems they bring about, a netizen's message is thought-provoking: How many unforgettable loves have crossed mountains and seas, survived rain, snow, and wind, but ultimately fell before the high betrothal gifts. How to manage high betrothal gifts is a major livelihood issue concerning the happy life of the masses, and also an important governance proposition.

How should high betrothal gifts be defined? After the marriage contract is terminated, how should the betrothal gifts be handled? Must the betrothal gifts be equal in value to the dowry? These questions that once plagued many families now have clearer legal answers. In recent years, the Supreme People's Court (最高人民法院) has successively released three batches of typical cases involving betrothal gift disputes, showing the principles of reason, law, and emotion contained in betrothal gifts through specific and vivid judicial rulings.

General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized, "Be good at using the rule of law thinking and the rule of law methods to solve contradictions and problems involving the vital interests of the masses." The problem of high betrothal gifts has complex causes, intertwined with realistic factors such as traditional customs and regional differences. A one-size-fits-all approach or a head-on collision is difficult to be effective.

How can the rule of law play a better role in governing high betrothal gifts? This requires allowing the judiciary to enter specific life scenarios, clarifying the boundaries between legality and illegality in response to the complex causes of betrothal gift issues, and clarifying different adjudication rules for different situations.

In the typical cases announced by the Supreme People's Court (最高人民法院), for those who seek property through marriage and constitute the crime of fraud, the people's court orders the defendant to bear criminal responsibility and compensate the victim for losses in accordance with the law. This is a clear "sword" against the crime of defrauding betrothal gifts. For example, for "flash marriages" where the betrothal gift recipient refuses to live together and the other party requests a divorce and return of the betrothal gift, the people's court should support it. These judgments not only distinguish between legality and illegality, marriage betrothal gifts and daily gifts, but also delineate the boundaries of betrothal gifts with refined and humanized judicial rulings.

The guidance of the rule of law is not only reflected in the adjudication of specific cases, but also in demonstrating clear value orientations, maintaining public order and good customs, and safeguarding a happy life. For example, for those who have not registered their marriage but have lived together for a long time and have children, and one party requests the return of the betrothal gift, the people's court will not support it. Taking the length of cohabitation, whether or not children are born, and the use of the betrothal gift as core considerations shows that the law does not encourage seeking high amounts of property in the name of marriage, nor does it support treating the betrothal gift as a "investment" that can be revoked at will, reflecting recognition and protection of women's special contributions in marriage and family. Demonstrating values such as integrity, kindness, and family harmony in judicial judgments helps to purify customs and consolidate the foundation of family happiness.

The rule of law is not an abstract principle or mechanical provision; it should be rooted in the vibrant life and explore diverse practical forms. The Hunan High Court (湖南高院) broadcast the entire process of betrothal gift return case enforcement live through its Douyin account, moving the judicial classroom to the fingertips of the masses. Anhui (安徽) promotes betrothal gift governance through a four-level linkage mechanism. Some townships have launched activities such as "Betrothal gifts not exceeding 58,000, government gift packages delivered to your home," and 90% of the province's administrative villages have revised village rules and regulations to clearly resist high betrothal gifts. Being good at using the rule of law thinking and the rule of law methods requires better combining the stability of principles and the flexibility of methods, coordinating rigidity and flexibility, standardization and guidance, rules and human feelings, etc., to help form a new trend of marriage.

Betrothal gifts originate from the "Six Rites" in ancient Chinese marriage customs and are an important symbol of marriage between men and women, containing the good expectations of both parties and their families for marriage. Let marriage begin with love, and let betrothal gifts return to "rites." When people build families with trust, they can build a beautiful starting point for a happy life.

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Editor in charge of this edition: Li Bin, Peng Fei, He Juan

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Focusing Efforts on Breakthroughs to Ensure the Pinglu Canal Connects to the River and Sea as Soon as Possible (On the Front Lines of Major Projects)

By: 本报记者 张云河

In January of this year, the main concrete pouring of the Madao Hub, Qishi Hub, and Qingnian Hub ship locks of the Pinglu Canal (平陆运河) in Guangxi (广西) was completed. The Jinhaiwan Bridge (金海湾大桥), Wanshengtang Bridge (万胜塘大桥), Jiuzhou Bridge (旧州大桥), and Datianping Village Bridge (大田坪村大桥) were also completed and opened to traffic simultaneously.

The Pinglu Canal (平陆运河) is the first canal project connecting rivers and seas built since the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is 134.2 kilometers long and started construction on August 28, 2022. It is expected to be completed and open to navigation in 2026. Upon completion, it will directly open up the shortest, most economical, and most convenient channel for Guangxi (广西) and the southwestern region to reach the ASEAN region. Recently, reporters from this newspaper visited the construction site of the Pinglu Canal (平陆运河) to learn how the builders are overcoming technical challenges to build this backbone project of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in western China.

——Editor

Scientifically Consuming Earthwork, Giving Canal Soil a "New Life"

"The sugarcane field in front of us has been harvested, and it 'eats' the 'canal soil'." Following Li Zaiming (李再明), Deputy General Manager of Guangxi Pinglu Canal Construction Co., Ltd. (广西平陆运河建设有限公司), a subsidiary of Pinglu Canal Group (平陆运河集团), walking on the "canal soil" feels soft, like stepping on a sponge. This is Jiulong Village (久隆村), Jiulong Town (久隆镇), Qinnan District (钦南区), Qinzhou City (钦州市), Guangxi (广西), where the "newly created" sugarcane field has long replaced the original gullies.

315 million cubic meters is the amount of earthwork excavated for the Pinglu Canal (平陆运河). Disposing of such a huge amount of earthwork is a challenge.

"The disposal of earthwork should be implemented in accordance with the comprehensive utilization plan for earthwork. Among them, valley and gully filling to create land is the main direction of utilization," said Li Zaiming (李再明). "However, due to the excessive area of the storage site, it is really impossible to completely avoid occupying some cultivated land and forest land."

In March and April of last year, after the storage site was used up, the cultivated land and forest land occupied in Jiulong Village (久隆村) began to be reclaimed, transporting topsoil, backfilling, and building new water conservation facilities and field roads.

During the land creation process, in order to prevent geological disasters and soil erosion, the engineering technicians repeatedly adjusted the filling thickness and parameters, and also sowed grass seeds for ecological slope protection. "After leveling the land, adjusting the drainage slope, and then covering it with a 20 to 50 cm thick heart soil layer, and finally covering it with a 30 cm thick cultivated layer," Li Zaiming (李再明) introduced.

Fearing that the land would lack water, they also built 5 new agricultural ditches, 4 culverts, and 2 reservoirs. By planting trees and fertilizing, the forest vegetation has also been restored.

In this way, Jiulong Village (久隆村) not only achieved reclamation, but also transformed some forest land and grassland into cultivated land, covering an area of more than 100 mu.

"In Jiulong Town (久隆镇), there are many places where this reclamation measure is taken. Before the construction of the project, a small part of this area was cultivated land and grassland, and most of it was forest land; after the storage site was used up, through reclamation measures, we not only restored the original small part of cultivated land that was occupied, but also transformed the original part of forest land and grassland that was occupied into cultivated land, which not only increased the area of cultivated land, but also made the cultivated land contiguous," said Li Zaiming (李再明).

Li Zaiming (李再明) took the design drawings and surveyed each storage site one by one. "There are a total of 101 storage sites along the entire canal that need to be reclaimed, with a total area of about 37,600 mu. As of now, all land reclamation plans have been completed, with a cumulative leveling of more than 17,000 mu of land and reclamation planting of more than 14,000 mu," said Li Zaiming (李再明).

Waste becomes fertile soil, and gullies become good fields. In addition to filling valleys to create land, "canal soil" has a variety of uses: park backfilling, engineering self-use, green building materials, mine restoration, etc. Li Zaiming (李再明) said: "The excavated sand and gravel are washed and selected to become green building materials, which are used to build ship locks; in the Madao Hub (马道枢纽) industrial park, concrete distribution centers, experimental research bases, etc. are built through park backfilling. Today, the comprehensive utilization rate of canal earthwork has reached more than 98%."

Precise Underwater Blasting of Reefs, Practicing the "Water Splash Disappearance Technique"

The Qin River (钦江) runs through Qinzhou City (钦州城). "Glug, glug," an underwater explosion has just occurred, and a circle of small splashes in the center of the river quickly dissipates. He Junhui (何俊辉), Minister of the Engineering Management Department of Pinglu Canal Group (平陆运河集团), who was directing the operation on site, said: "Precise blasting is the only way to practice the 'water splash disappearance technique'."

Deepening and widening the Pinglu Canal (平陆运河) channel, underwater reef blasting is a key link.

The situation on both sides of the Qin River (钦江) is complex, and the blasting involves urban residents, cultural relics, ecological protection, and other aspects: residents live along the water, the population is dense, and the blasting area along the line involves more than 6,600 households; the Liu Yongfu Former Residence (刘永福故居), Feng Zicai Former Residence (冯子材故居), Qinjiang Ancient Dragon Kiln (钦江古龙窑) and other ancient sites remain on both sides of the river, which are old and vulnerable to vibration; reef blasting is not allowed within 50 meters of mangroves, the environmental protection requirements are high, and there are also concerns about affecting aquatic life...

"We lay anti-pollution curtains underwater to prevent mud from damaging the mangroves. At the same time, before blasting the reefs, we built a number of new ecological conservation areas and spawning grounds, and used environmentally friendly ultrasonic fish repelling equipment to guide the fish to migrate temporarily in advance to reduce the damage caused by blasting operations," He Junhui (何俊辉) introduced. "In addition, digital electronic detonators are prone to 'misfires' - the connection between the detonating bus and the detonator is short-circuited and refuses to detonate after encountering water. Engineering personnel studied underwater detonator waterproofing technology, and the new emulsified explosive developed improved water resistance."

For underwater blasting, the safe allowable vibration velocity for general civil buildings is 2 cm per second. However, in the Pinglu Canal (平陆运河), the vibration control threshold is reduced to 0.2 cm per second. "We refine the blasting plan, adopt a segmented charging process, accurately control the single-hole charging amount, charging spacing, and blasting depth to evenly release the blasting energy, and use the 'high-precision wireless blasting vibration online long-time series monitoring system' to set up blasting monitoring points to monitor data dynamics," He Junhui (何俊辉) said. After each blasting operation, the team immediately conducts data review and analysis, and combines the on-site geological conditions and rock characteristics to modify the blasting parameters, forming a closed-loop management of "construction-analysis-optimization-reconstruction."

Since September 2023, more than 23 million cubic meters of reefs have been blasted along the Pinglu Canal (平陆运河), completing more than 90% of the total task. Each blasting operation breaks the hard rocks of the old canal channel into stones of moderate size, and only small splashes of water rise on the river surface.

Protective Transplantation, "Moving" 36 Ancient Trees

Walking into the Canal New City (运河新城) in Shaping Town (沙坪镇), Lingshan County (灵山县), Qinzhou City (钦州市), you can see a tall camphor tree from a distance. In front of the houses, there are 6 other trees accompanying the camphor tree. They are not "natives" here, but were "moved" here.

Lychee, longan, half-maple... There are 36 ancient trees to be transplanted along the entire Pinglu Canal (平陆运河), with ages ranging from 86 to 230 years. "This camphor tree in Canal New City (运河新城) is already 219 years old, with a diameter at breast height of 1.08 meters, making it the largest ancient tree along the canal. The original site of the camphor tree was stuck in the middle of the river," said Zhang Shoulong (张寿龙), an engineer in the Engineering Management Department of Guangxi Pinglu Canal Construction Co., Ltd. (广西平陆运河建设有限公司), a subsidiary of Pinglu Canal Group (平陆运河集团).

The ancient trees are scattered, and the river is wide, so there is no way to bypass them, so they can only be transplanted. "The original plan was to transplant them to the Qinzhou Garden Expo Park (钦州园博园) for centralized management and protection, but the villagers were reluctant to part with this 'Grandpa Tree'. We held on-site coordination meetings and expert review meetings on the transplantation of ancient trees, and after research and judgment, we decided to 'move' the tree to Canal New City (运河新城) along with the villagers," said Zhang Shoulong (张寿龙).

Before deciding to "move", preparations must be made. Health testing, pruning branches and leaves, and cutting off roots to shrink the soil ball.

"We can't rashly lift it, we must first cut off some roots to observe the impact on the growth," said Zhang Shoulong (张寿龙). Retain the main roots, cut off the lateral roots around the old tree, spray fungicide, and apply wound healing ointment to make it sprout new capillary roots to ensure the "eating" function of the camphor tree. During the root cutting period, continuously "give drips" and "open small stoves" to the old tree, and continue to observe until the second year, when new roots grow and new buds emerge, before officially starting the "move".

The camphor tree is 12.3 meters high and weighs more than 50 tons. In order to improve the survival rate, a 5-meter by 5-meter soil ball of roots must be retained. Zhang Shoulong (张寿龙) said: "Wrap the soil ball layer by layer with linen, tape, wire mesh, and steel plates."

A crane with a lifting capacity of 80 tons was already prepared. "Unexpectedly, it couldn't lift it!" Zhang Shoulong (张寿龙) said that the team quickly added another crane with a lifting capacity of 100 tons, and the two cranes continuously adjusted the angle to find the optimal point of force.

There were more troubles during transportation. The ancient tree was too high, too wide, and too heavy, and there were lines and signs along the way that affected the net height. "We coordinated with various departments to temporarily bury the lines and control traffic. The 3-kilometer relocation road kept us busy until the next morning," said Zhang Shoulong (张寿龙).

Spray moisturizing to prevent the ancient tree from dehydrating; plant it in the original orientation during planting to meet its needs for shade and sunlight... Finally, the camphor tree successfully settled in Canal New City (运河新城).

Today's camphor tree is tall and straight, with new leaves sprouting. "All 36 ancient trees have been safely transplanted. In the future, we will carry out more targeted maintenance and management of the ancient trees, not only to protect the plants themselves, but also to inherit their historical and cultural value," said Zhang Shoulong (张寿龙).

Extended Reading

The Pinglu Canal (平陆运河) is the backbone project of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in western China. The project starts at the Pingtang River Estuary in the Xijin Reservoir Area (西津库区) of Hengzhou City (横州市), Nanning (南宁), Guangxi (广西), and enters Beibu Gulf (北部湾) along the Qin River (钦江) through Luwu Town (陆屋镇), Lingshan County (灵山县), Qinzhou City (钦州市), with a total length of 134.2 kilometers. The entire line is built according to the standard of inland river Class I waterways, and can accommodate 5,000-ton ships.

The development task of the project is mainly to develop shipping, combined with water supply, irrigation, flood control, and improvement of the water ecological environment. The main construction includes waterway engineering, shipping hub engineering, water conservancy facility renovation engineering, cross-river facility engineering along the line, and supporting engineering. The project is planned to be completed in 2026.

After the Pinglu Canal (平陆运河) is completed and opened to navigation, it will promote the construction of cross-border and cross-regional industrial chain supply chains in the "ASEAN Region - Beibu Gulf Economic Zone (北部湾经济区) - Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle (成渝地区双城经济圈) - Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (粤港澳大湾区)", promote the construction of Guangxi's "one district, two places, one park, and one channel", and play an important role in further promoting Guangxi's economic development and even accelerating the formation of a new pattern of western development in the new era.

(This newspaper reporter Zhang Yunhe (张云河) compiled)

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The Unfading Sound Passes on the Flame: Master Craftsman's Skill

By: 本报记者 王欣悦

Highlights of Unique Skills
Li Jingming (李静明), born in 1943, is a national representative inheritor of Sichuan Qingyin (四川清音) intangible cultural heritage. With over seventy years of dedication to the art, she has diligently studied Qingyin techniques, creating and adapting dozens of works, including "The Red Army's Daring Seizure of the Luding Bridge (红军飞夺泸定桥)," which has become a representative piece of Qingyin art.

"The spring breeze blows across the Huaxi River (花溪河), red blossoms fill the branches, and green covers the slopes..." Stepping into Li Jingming's (李静明) home (pictured, courtesy of the interviewee) in Chongqing's Liangjiang New Area (重庆市两江新区), the clear and melodious singing voice gently enters the ear.

The bamboo drum taps lightly, and the pipa and yueqin complement each other. In an instant, one seems to be in an old teahouse, with a tea table and a few Qingyin melodies, making for a pleasant experience. Yueqin, clapper, bamboo drum, yangqin... a whole wall of traditional Qingyin instruments in the room are her "old partners" that have accompanied her for over seventy years, each bearing the marks of time.

"Singing yueqin in the streets and alleys, teahouses and hotels are full of guests." Sichuan Qingyin (四川清音) is a form of Quyi (曲艺) performed in the Sichuan dialect, with a history of over 300 years. During performances, the performer often strikes the bamboo drum with the right hand and the clapper with the left, accompanying the singing with the yueqin, pipa, and other instruments, with lyrics full of Bayu (巴渝) flavor.

"Qingyin melodies are rich, with eight major tunes, over 100 minor tunes, and over 200 singing sections." Li Jingming (李静明) knows this vast system of tunes by heart. When talking about the way of learning, she condenses her experience in studying Qingyin techniques into the "three more" key points.

Listen more. "Listen to the charm, listen to the breathing, listen to the words... listen thousands of times, and the tune becomes your own." Sing more. She has sung each tune hundreds of times, "The muscles have memory, and the throat will find its position." Ponder more. She also studies Sichuan car lantern singing (四川车灯唱腔), constantly integrating the strengths of different tunes to expand expressiveness.

Qingyin pronunciation is quite particular. "It should be 'Qi sinks into the dantian, and the sound penetrates the top of the head'." Li Jingming (李静明) said, "When singing high notes, the Qi must sink, and when singing low notes, the Qi must support, and every word must be supported by breath. Whether the breath is controlled well directly determines the appeal of the singing." A singing phrase of less than 5 seconds, Li Jingming (李静明) will decompose into more than 20 subtle vocal changes, "Singing is different from speaking. When singing, a word must be extended for several beats or have multiple tones."

The tone is also important. "Narration can use a flat tone, lyricism should use a slight adjustment, and heroic shouts must use a roaring tone." Li Jingming (李静明) said that rich layers and sharp contrasts can show the unique expressiveness of Qingyin.

Holding the clapper and starting the tune, Li Jingming (李静明) performs her signature piece, "The Red Army's Daring Seizure of the Luding Bridge (红军飞夺泸定桥)."

"How can dark clouds cover the red sun, how dare reefs block the angry waves, the soldiers are eager to try and await orders, and letters of request fly like snowflakes..."

I saw her eyes instantly focused, her Qi sank into her dantian, and she sang out the momentum of the battle layer by layer. "When singing, you must achieve a combination of strength and softness." Pointing to the score, Li Jingming (李静明) said, "At the climax, use the dantian to exert force, and the sound shakes the house, showing铮铮铁骨 (zhēng zhēng tiě gǔ - "铮铮: firm and upright; 铁骨: iron bones," unyielding integrity); at the end, use a vibrato to repeat it again, slowly falling back."

Li Jingming (李静明) knows that the artistic vitality of Qingyin lies not only in the vocal music but also in the writing. She is not only a singer but also a lyricist and composer who is well versed in the way of creation.

"Quyi creation is almost a 'swan song'." Li Jingming (李静明) said, "There are fewer and fewer older generation creators, and although the current creators can write, they often can't write in a way that is easy to sing - they don't understand the pronunciation of dialects, so they can't touch the soul of Qingyin." She cited dialects as an example, "'Go' is read as 'qie', 'is' is read as 'dou shi', 'comfortable' is called 'anyi', 'cheap' is called 'xiangyin'... It is these local accents that are rooted in the local area that make Qingyin sound particularly kind."

"The tongue twisters, haha ​​tunes, and tongue twisters in Qingyin are very technical. Compared with pop music, it is difficult to sing well, which is one of the reasons why many people are unwilling to learn Qingyin." Li Jingming (李静明) said, "If Qingyin is to be truly passed on, it needs to be sung in a way that is easily accepted by young people, so that everyone can truly feel the charm of traditional art."

In this regard, Li Jingming (李静明) continues to explore. She goes into universities to carry out popular education and corrects the pronunciation and rhythm for students. To her delight, Qingyin is not old, and the fire is passed on. Some students have won the China Quyi Peony Award (中国曲艺牡丹奖), and others use short videos to spread the new voice of Qingyin. "As long as there are still people listening and singing, Qingyin will always be young," said Li Jingming (李静明).

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Jilin to Build 9.1 Million Mu of High-Standard Farmland in 2025

This newspaper Changchun (长春) February 1st dispatch (Reporters Meng Haiying (孟海鹰) and Zheng Zhiwen (郑智文)) Reporters recently learned from the press conference of the Two Sessions of Jilin Province (吉林省) that in 2025, Jilin (吉林) will newly build 9.1 million mu of high-standard farmland, and the built area will account for 66.25% of the permanent basic farmland.

In 2025, Jilin (吉林) will accelerate the development of modern large-scale agriculture, with the area of protective tillage reaching 41.79 million mu. In terms of the promotion of good techniques, Jilin (吉林) implemented "integrated water and fertilizer + dense planting" on 11.38 million mu, an increase of 61.2%, and implemented "one spray and multiple promotion" on 38.31 million mu, an increase of 44%. In addition, Jilin's (吉林) beef cattle slaughtering and processing volume exceeded 800,000 heads, an increase of 54%; the output value of ecological fisheries exceeded 35 billion yuan, achieving a double increase; and the output value of the entire ginseng industry chain exceeded 100 billion yuan.

"Next, Jilin (吉林) will continue to promote key technical measures such as protective tillage, deep loosening and deep turning, and returning organic fertilizer to the field in accordance with local conditions, and integrate and promote green and efficient disease and pest control technologies such as 'one spray and multiple promotion' and biological control." The relevant person in charge of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Jilin Province (吉林省农业农村厅) introduced that Jilin (吉林) will also focus on fields such as integrated water and fertilizer, smart agriculture, agricultural product brand cultivation, and agricultural financial services, and conduct active exploration in 20 counties.

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Domestically-produced Tunnel Boring Machines Excel in Efficient Excavation (China's Industries Moving Towards Novelty and Excellence)

By: 本报记者 李心萍

China's independently developed world's largest diameter tunnel boring machine (TBM), "Qiming (启明) No.," officially started operation on January 13.

Looking down from high altitude, "Qiming (启明) No." resembles a giant "octopus," steadily supporting the entire vertical shaft. Two cutting mechanical arms delve deep underwater, achieving efficient excavation.

This new product, successfully developed in 2025, has changed the limitation that traditional TBMs can only dig horizontally. It can realize vertical downward excavation, making up for the shortcomings of traditional vertical shaft construction, which is low in efficiency and high in risk.

TBMs are known as the "King of Engineering Machinery." General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平), during his visit to China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd. (中铁工程装备集团有限公司), emphasized: "Promote the transformation of 'Made in China' to 'Created in China,' the transformation of 'China Speed' to 'China Quality,' and the transformation of 'China Products' to 'China Brands.'"

Today, China's TBM industry exhibits characteristics such as continuous expansion of market scale, significant improvement of technical capabilities, and continuous acceleration of internationalization. Seven out of every 10 TBMs in the world come from China, and the localization rate of core components of Chinese TBMs exceeds 90%.

Efficient excavation, proficient in everything, domestic TBM technology is superb.

Zhongmacun (中马村) Mine of Henan Energy and Jiao Coal (河南能源焦煤), a revolution is quietly unfolding.

The "Jiaomei (焦煤) No." TBM is like a flexible earthworm, digging labyrinthine rock roadways underground. Even when facing extremely hard rock with a strength of over 140 MPa, the "iron teeth and copper jaws" of "Jiaomei (焦煤) No." can easily "gnaw down."

As an all-around player, "Jiaomei (焦煤) No." also has the ability to move forward, climb slopes, and make small-diameter turns, creating an excellent record of 606 meters of tunneling in a single month.

"The successful development of 'Jiaomei (焦煤) No.' has explored a new path for rock roadway excavation under complex geological conditions such as large cross-sections, large dip angles, and high stress, which can increase the efficiency of extremely hard rock excavation by 40% and reduce costs by 60%, creating conditions for ensuring the orderly succession of mine mining and excavation," said Zhang Guanghui (张广辉), the technical leader of "Jiaomei (焦煤) No."

"Linghang (领航) No." has successfully tunneled over 10,000 meters, challenging the limit of TBM use; "Yongning (永宁) No." accurately connected two kilometer-level inclined shafts at an inclination angle of nearly 40 degrees... Domestic TBM skills continue to upgrade, enabling all-round, multi-angle tunneling in three-dimensional space.

Infinitely adjustable from small to large and from large to small, domestic TBMs have developed unique skills.

For nearly 200 years since its birth, traditional TBMs have been "one diameter for life," meaning that the excavation diameter when it goes offline is the same throughout its life cycle.

The change occurred in 2025. China launched the world's first in-situ continuous large-size variable-diameter TBM, "Bianjing (变径) No. 1." Its cutter head excavation diameter can achieve stepless adjustment of "small to large, large to small" between 8.83 meters and 12.45 meters.

What are the benefits of upgrading the TBM to a "Transformer"?

Subway construction is divided into interval tunnels and station-level tunnels. In the past, interval tunnels could be excavated using TBMs, but station-level tunnels could only rely on manual labor.

"Bianjing (变径) No. 1" can first quickly excavate interval tunnels with a small diameter, and after reaching the station, "expand the diameter" in situ to excavate a wider station tunnel, and then "shrink the diameter" to continue forward. The whole process does not require disassembling the machine or adding working shafts, achieving "one station and two tunnels, continuous forming" without interruption.

"This is thanks to the 'deformable skeleton' we installed on 'Bianjing (变径) No. 1,' which can independently complete complex actions such as cutter head expansion and skeleton reconstruction in the tunnel. The excavation area can be expanded by nearly one time during the diameter change process," said Lai Weilong (赖伟龙), deputy director of the Production Technology Department of China Railway Tunnel (中铁华隧).

Counting the various indicators of "Bianjing (变径) No. 1," whether it is in-situ diameter change, continuous diameter change, or large-size diameter change, all are international firsts and another milestone in China's high-end equipment manufacturing.

From a single piece of equipment to a group going overseas, domestic TBMs are highly sought after.

At present, at the site of the Western Harbor Project in Sydney (悉尼), Australia (澳大利亚), "Pati Galang (帕蒂加朗) No." and "Barangaroo (巴兰加鲁) No.," the largest diameter TBMs exported overseas by China so far, are undergoing assembly, commissioning, and various preparations before departure.

The biggest advantage of the sister machines is that they have a "large size," with an excavation diameter of 15.7 meters, belonging to super-large diameter TBMs.

In the past, Chinese companies could not manufacture super-large diameter TBMs. It was not until 2017 that China successfully launched its first 15-meter-class TBM with independent intellectual property rights. This time, the successful export of the sister machines to Australia (澳大利亚) represents the recognition of Chinese super-large diameter TBMs by the global high-end market.

From relying on imports to reverse exports, domestic super-large diameter TBMs have achieved a leap from "following" to "leading."

The second major advantage of the sister machines is that they have "great wisdom." The TBM integrates intelligent equipment such as cutter head tool detection and mud cake processing robots, and TBM tool replacement robots for the first time, which greatly improves the intelligent level of the TBM.

According to reports, the maximum burial depth of the tunnel excavated by the sister machines reaches 52 meters below sea level, and the overall shape is "S" shaped and winding, requiring it to pass through complex strata such as sandstone, silt, and silty clay layers.

"Such cross-sea, deep-buried, high-water pressure tunnel construction will cause greater wear on the TBM cutter head and requires irregular replacement of the cutter head tools," said Chen Kunpeng (陈昆鹏), chief engineer of the International Business Department of China Railway Equipment (中铁装备). Subsea tool change is a recognized problem in the industry. The tool change robot can not only reduce the tool change operation time from 2 to 4 hours to 30 minutes, but also fundamentally eliminate the safety hazards of personnel working in high-risk environments.

Successfully winning the bid for the Dubai (迪拜) Metro Blue Line project, realizing the group's overseas expansion from TBMs to external refrigeration systems, tunnel segment transport vehicles, and other "TBM ecosystems"; winning the Austrian (奥地利) pumped-storage power station tunnel project, and successfully exporting 8-meter-class open hard rock TBMs... At present, Chinese companies have occupied the top two positions in global TBM sales, ranking among the world's first-tier brands, and their products cover more than 30 countries and regions on six continents.

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Photo Story

February 1st, the final of the 3rd Winter Mongolian Horse Super League in Xilingol League (锡林郭勒盟), Inner Mongolia (内蒙古), was held. In addition to setting up horse racing, equestrian archery, and equestrian Hada-picking competitions, the local area also held a variety of cultural and tourism activities, attracting many tourists to watch. The picture shows the contestants in the equestrian Hada-picking competition.

Wang Zheng (王 正) photographed (People's Vision)

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Zhejiang Steadily Advances Collective Forest Tenure Reform

This newspaper reports from Hangzhou on February 1st (Reporter Gu Chun (顾春)) In the mountains of Laozhu She Ethnic Township (老竹畲族镇), Liandu District (莲都区), Lishui City (丽水市), Zhejiang Province (浙江省), clumps of sand moss and large gray moss are growing vigorously. The forest coverage rate of Laozhu She Ethnic Township (老竹畲族镇) exceeds 70%. In recent years, the township has taken the reform of the collective forest tenure system as a breakthrough, introduced leading enterprises, and formed an industrial chain, enabling moss planting to achieve scale and industrialization. According to reports, the local area has explored a three-dimensional intercropping model of "Chinese Torreya and moss symbiosis" and "tea and moss symbiosis," increasing the utilization rate of forest land by more than 50%, and driving the construction of 2 moss processing workshops and 1 science popularization research base, with villagers participating in planting and management increasing their annual per capita income by more than 15,000 yuan.

The changes in Laozhu She Ethnic Township (老竹畲族镇) are a microcosm of Zhejiang's (浙江) steady advancement of the collective forest tenure system reform. In recent years, the Zhejiang Provincial Forestry Bureau (浙江省林业局) has successively issued relevant policy documents such as carrying out the construction of forestry standard land, building a forestry policy system of "top-level design + special policies + supporting measures."

"We must base ourselves on the endowment of forestry resources, further transform ecological advantages into development advantages, drive the continuous increase of village collective and farmers' income, and strive to achieve ecological beauty, industrial prosperity, and people's wealth," said a relevant person in charge of the Zhejiang Provincial Forestry Bureau (浙江省林业局).

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Editor in charge of this edition: Zhang Yanchun, Song Yu, Zhang Ziqi

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Addressing Wage Arrears for Migrant Workers: How to Prescribe the Right Remedy (Jin Tai Perspective)

By: 本报记者 金 歆 胡笑源

At the turn of the year, many migrant workers end a year of hard work and plan to go home for the Chinese New Year. However, many migrant workers, especially those in the construction industry, have written letters reflecting that they have not received their wages on time and in full after completing their work.

Why do migrant workers report that wage arrears are more common in the construction industry? How can relevant issues be resolved? With these questions in mind, reporters conducted an investigation.

What is the current situation?

The "reverse funding chain" model of construction with advance funds leads to migrant workers becoming risk bearers.

On December 29, 2025, in Yunyang District (郧阳区), Shiyan City (十堰市), Hubei Province (湖北省), the reporter met Wang Ming (王明) (pseudonym), a migrant worker who wrote to reflect the issue of wage arrears, in the cold wind.

"From 2020 to 2024, I worked as a bricklayer on the 'Hanshui Jin'an' residential project in Yunyang District," Wang Ming said. During the construction period, the "foreman" gave 1,000 to 2,000 yuan per month for living expenses and agreed that wages would be calculated based on the construction area and settled once at the end of each year.

"Until now, wages have only been settled once at the end of 2020," Wang Ming said. "I am owed more than 90,000 yuan in total. There are 127 people who participated in this project with me, and a total of more than 7.25 million yuan in wages are owed."

"Currently, some construction sites still employ migrant workers by paying some living expenses on a regular basis and settling wages only at the end of the project or at the end of the year," said Wang Tianyu (王天玉), a researcher and deputy director of the Social Law Office of the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (中国社会科学院), who has long been concerned about the issue of wage arrears for migrant workers. "This may lead to the problem of wage arrears."

In addition to Wang Ming, this newspaper has recently received many complaints from migrant workers:

Yao (姚) from Lanzhou City (兰州市), Gansu Province (甘肃省), said that from August to October 2023, they five people undertook plastering work on the Gansu Public Aviation and Tourism Financial Storage Base (Phase II) project (甘肃公航旅金融仓储基地（二期）项目), and more than 90,000 yuan in wages have not been paid;

Liu (刘) from Zhangjiakou City (张家口市), Hebei Province (河北省), said that they three people worked on the secondary structure of Building 75 of "Chaobai River Peacock City Zihan Garden" (潮白河孔雀城紫涵园75号楼) in Dachang Hui Autonomous County (大厂回族自治县), Hebei Province (河北省), from March to June 2024, and are still owed 40,000 yuan in wages;

…………

What is the reason for the wage arrears?

The reporter interviewed the person in charge of the housing and construction department of Yunyang District (郧阳区), Shiyan City (十堰市), Hubei Province (湖北省) about the issue of wage arrears in the "Hanshui Jin'an" residential project. He introduced: "The construction unit of the residential area is Shiyan Rongxin Weiye Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. (十堰市镕鑫伟业房地产开发有限公司), and the general contractor is Hubei Shenchang Construction Co., Ltd. (湖北申昌建设有限公司)." He said that because the location of this residential area was not good, the houses could not be sold during the pre-sale and the funds could not be recovered. Rongxin Weiye Company itself did not have enough funds to pay the construction unit the project funds; the construction party also had no funds to continue the construction of the residential area, let alone pay the wages of migrant workers.

Is the investment risk that developers should bear for the good or bad sales of real estate projects also borne by migrant workers? A construction industry practitioner said that layer-by-layer advance funding construction still exists in the industry. This "reverse funding chain" model makes migrant workers the ultimate risk bearers.

"Developers require general contractors to advance funds, and usually pay a portion of the project funds before requiring construction to begin. Then the general contractor requires the subcontractor to advance funds, and the subcontractor then requires the 'foreman' to advance funds," Wang Tianyu introduced. Once the developer cannot pay the project funds due to business problems, the general contractor cannot pay the project funds to the downstream, and finally the risk is transmitted to the migrant workers, and the migrant workers cannot get their wages.

Why is prevention ineffective?

Illegal subcontracting and affiliation lead to the ineffective implementation of regulations to protect the wages of migrant workers.

"After the promulgation of the 'Regulations on Guaranteeing the Payment of Wages to Migrant Workers' (hereinafter referred to as the 'Regulations') in 2020, the rules and regulations for preventing wage arrears for migrant workers are relatively complete," said Shi Fumao (时福茂), expert consultant of the "Anxin Action" of the Legal Aid of the Ministry of Justice and director of Beijing F茂 Law Firm. The problem still lies in the implementation of specific systems.

To prevent wage arrears, it is first necessary to clarify "who is responsible for paying wages." To this end, the "Regulations" stipulate the system of payment on behalf of the general contractor and stipulate that if the subcontractor or transferor unit owes wages to migrant workers, the general contractor shall first pay them off. If this provision is implemented, even if the advance payment model of the "reverse funding chain" is adopted, the occurrence of wage arrears will be greatly reduced.

However, Shi Fumao introduced that in reality, individual construction units illegally subcontract and illegally subcontract projects, and some projects have as many as 5-6 levels of subcontracting. Some also adopt the "affiliation" method, borrowing the name of other companies to contract projects, and the actual construction entity and the registered construction unit are not the same. "In recent years, relevant departments have increased their investigation and punishment efforts, and some companies have adopted more covert methods such as 'borrowing personnel'."

"This may lead to the failure of the general contractor's payment system," Wang Tianyu explained. Some projects are subcontracted layer by layer, and the general contractor does not know who participated in the construction, so it is impossible to pay wages to migrant workers. Migrant workers also do not know who to claim wages from, and it is also difficult to confirm the employment relationship.

The "Hanshui Jin'an" residential project belongs to this situation. The person in charge of the housing and construction department of Yunyang District (郧阳区) introduced that the construction registration unit for Buildings 4 and 5 of the residential area is Hubei Shenchang Company (湖北申昌公司), and the actual construction party is the contracting team led by two "foremen" such as Huang (黄).

"We have an 'affiliation' relationship with Shenchang, and we signed an 'agreement' with them to borrow their name for construction," Huang told reporters.

The person in charge of the housing and construction department of Yunyang District (郧阳区) said that Shenchang Company (申昌公司) is located in Ezhou (鄂州), hundreds of kilometers away from Shiyan (十堰). Moreover, Shenchang Company (申昌公司) no longer has the ability to undertake construction projects and cannot afford to pay the wages of migrant workers.

Real-name employment management is another important system. The "Regulations" stipulate that "the general contractor or subcontractor shall sign labor contracts with the migrant workers they employ in accordance with the law and conduct real-name employment registration" "Personnel who have not signed labor contracts with the general contractor or subcontractor and have not conducted real-name employment registration shall not enter the project site for construction."

"It should be said that the real-name employment management clarifies the object of wage payment. By using technical means to monitor the wage accounts of each worker, the problem of wage arrears can be discovered at the first time," said the relevant person in charge of the human resources and social security department of Yunyang District (郧阳区).

In reality, the situation of real-name implementation is still not in place. A "foreman" in Zhangjiakou City (张家口市), Hebei Province (河北省) told reporters that the people registered at the construction site where he was working were a group of people, and the people who actually worked were another group of people. "Now many places require 'real-name face scanning' to enter the construction site, so we open another side door."

Liu (刘), mentioned above, also told reporters that he had never encountered a situation where he needed to register with his real name. "I have never even heard of it."

Wang Tianyu said that some migrant workers are worried that after the real-name system, their personal wage flow will be included in the supervision and they will have to bear "additional costs" such as tax payment, and they will also cooperate to avoid the real-name system.

In addition, the "Regulations" stipulate the "special account for migrant workers' wages": "The general contractor shall open a special account for migrant workers' wages in accordance with relevant regulations, which shall be used exclusively for paying the wages of migrant workers for the construction project." In this regard, Wang Tianyu introduced that in reality, individual places are not supervised in place, which leads to these systems becoming a mere formality. "For example, the wage deposit may just be 'passed through the account' when dealing with inspections."

The reporter learned that a similar situation existed in a wage arrears case involving migrant workers in Hongtong County (洪洞县), Shanxi Province (山西省) last year. The general contractor of the project established a wage deposit in the form of issuing a guarantee, but migrant workers were still owed wages during the validity period of the guarantee.

Where is the difficulty in safeguarding rights?

Enterprises' non-standard employment, insufficient labor supervision and law enforcement, and insufficient self-protection ability of migrant workers.

"Enterprises' non-standard employment is an important reason why it is difficult for migrant workers to claim their wages and safeguard their rights," Shi Fumao said.

It is understood that it is very common for employers not to sign labor contracts or even any written agreements with migrant workers. "Most of the construction sites are recruited by foremen to do projects. Many are acquaintances and relatives, and they feel that it is not necessary to sign. Sometimes they have to find other jobs to do after working here for a few days, and signing a contract will be restrictive," said Zheng (郑), a migrant worker from Heze City (菏泽市), Shandong Province (山东省).

The lack of contracts and agreements makes it difficult for migrant workers to provide evidence that can objectively prove the labor relationship and the actual amount of wages when claiming their wages.

After Yao (姚), a migrant worker from Lanzhou City (兰州市), Gansu Province (甘肃省), encountered wage arrears, he went to the labor supervision department to report it, but he only had a "promissory note" handwritten by the team leader, which only contained "plastering area", the amount of wages received in August and September, etc., and did not have any official seal.

Wei (魏), who worked on the "Hanshui Jin'an" residential project, said that he had reported to the labor supervision department as early as 2020 when wage arrears first occurred in the project. However, at that time, he could not provide any proof that he was working at the construction site, and the labor supervision department said that it was difficult to handle.

Liu (刘) said that because he did not have a contract or other evidence that could prove the amount of wages agreed upon in advance, the employer did not recognize the amount of wages he claimed, and the safeguarding of rights was in a stalemate. "My job at the construction site was bricklaying, and the total price of more than 120,000 yuan was agreed upon verbally, but now the employer does not recognize this amount, and I can't do anything about it."

"Insufficient administrative law enforcement of labor security supervision is another reason why it is difficult for migrant workers to claim their wages," Shi Fumao said. Wage arrears by employers, or failure to sign employment agreements as required, are all illegal acts in the final analysis, and need to be corrected and punished by law enforcement departments. However, the grassroots labor supervision and law enforcement forces are currently insufficient, and in recent years, due to the consolidation of relevant reform institutions, there are sometimes situations where the needs of supervision cannot be covered.

The person in charge of the labor supervision department of Yunyang District (郧阳区) also said that his department has only 2 law enforcement officers who are on the payroll and can do the job, which is difficult to meet the needs of law enforcement.

In addition, high costs of safeguarding rights, information asymmetry, and limited self-protection capabilities of migrant workers also restrict the effectiveness of migrant workers' efforts to claim their wages and safeguard their rights.

Some migrant workers often work in many places across the country, and cross-regional wage claims have become a problem. Zhang (张), a migrant worker working in Beijing (北京), said that he was owed wages at a construction site in Shandong (山东). "I can't just stay in Shandong (山东) to ask for money. I have to go elsewhere to work and earn money. It is also very expensive to make a special trip."

The reporter asked a migrant worker at the Yunyang District (郧阳区) Mass Visit Reception Center why he did not take litigation or other means to safeguard his rights. He told the reporter, "We are not well-educated, and we don't know what 'litigation' and 'arbitration' are."

How to solve the problem?

Shorten the wage payment cycle for migrant workers in the construction industry, strengthen labor supervision and law enforcement, and provide legal aid.

Recently, many workers on the "Hanshui Jin'an" residential project told reporters that they had received their wages. It is reported that the relevant departments of Yunyang District (郧阳区) raised funds through various channels and solved the problem of wage arrears of nearly 10 million yuan for more than 200 people, including 127 migrant workers, through advance payment.

"It should be said that in recent years, all localities and departments have been trying to solve the problem of wage arrears for migrant workers and have made a lot of progress," Wang Tianyu said.

Not long ago, the office of the State Council's Leading Group for Employment Promotion and Labor Protection issued a notice to carry out a winter action to address wage arrears nationwide from November 1, 2025 to the Spring Festival of 2026. At present, all localities have achieved certain results. After the launch of the national platform for reporting clues to address wage arrears, it has provided a lot of convenience for migrant workers to claim their wages.

All localities and departments have also taken measures to address wage arrears for migrant workers from the source. For example, the person in charge of the housing and construction department of a city in Hubei (湖北) introduced that most construction projects in Hubei Province (湖北省) are currently included in the construction requirements of smart construction sites, and artificial intelligence technology is used to realize real-name entry and exit of workers at construction sites and real-time digital supervision of wage payments. Many places have successively carried out special rectification actions for "three packages and one hanging" (三包一挂) (sān bāo yī guà - "three packages one hang," illegal contracting, illegal subcontracting, illegal sub-subcontracting, and affiliated construction). In November last year, the Supreme People's Court also released typical cases of construction project quality protection, clarifying the punishment of illegal acts that endanger the quality of construction projects such as "three packages and one hanging" (三包一挂) (sān bāo yī guà - "three packages one hang," illegal contracting, illegal subcontracting, illegal sub-subcontracting, and affiliated construction).

There are still some structural problems behind the wage arrears of migrant workers in the construction industry, and it is necessary to prescribe the right medicine.

"Migrant workers generally find out that they are owed wages at the end of the project or at the end of the year. At this time, when they go to safeguard their rights, the construction party and the foreman have already left the scene, and it is very likely that they will 'not be able to find anyone'," Wang Tianyu suggested: Special regulations can be issued to shorten the wage payment cycle for migrant workers.

"Depending on the job situation, daily settlement is suitable for daily settlement, and weekly settlement is suitable for weekly settlement," Wang Tianyu further explained. If there are wage arrears, migrant workers can find out in time. At this time, when they go to safeguard their rights, they will not be unable to find the construction party; since the construction is still in progress, the project funds have definitely not "bottomed out", and the construction party still has funds to pay the workers' wages; it is also convenient to provide evidence of the workload and the amount of wages. If illegal subcontracting or affiliation affects the claim for wages, the relevant departments can also discover and collect evidence in a timely manner.

"Wage arrears are illegal acts, and administrative penalties must not be pushed to mediation and arbitration," Shi Fumao emphasized. It is still necessary to strengthen the administrative law enforcement power of labor supervision and protection, and it is possible to consider optimizing the establishment of a special law enforcement team.

In addition, many migrant workers have reported that their lack of understanding and familiarity with the law is an important obstacle to their efforts to claim their wages and safeguard their rights. Shi Fumao suggested that, according to the relevant provisions of the Legal Aid Law, migrant workers can apply for legal aid when they encounter the problem of wage arrears. However, in reality, many migrant workers do not know that they can or how to apply for legal aid. "Judicial administration and other departments need to strengthen publicity among migrant worker groups so that migrant worker groups can understand the channels for seeking legal aid."

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Demolition Halted for a Year, Leaving Hidden Dangers: Damaged Fences, Streetlights Out (Local News)

We are residents of Shengjing Jiayuan Community (盛景家园小区). The demolition project of Lijiao Village (沥滘村) next to our community was suspended in January 2025, and the resulting construction waste is still piled up on the roadside leading from Exit F of Lijiao Subway Station (沥滘地铁站) to Shengjing Jiayuan (盛景家园). This construction waste was originally enclosed by blue iron sheets, but because of the long accumulation time and lack of maintenance, many iron sheets have been damaged, not only losing their protective effect but also posing a risk of scratching pedestrians (see picture). Moreover, a lot of construction waste has slipped onto the road, with sand and gravel scattered everywhere, making the road uneven. Whenever it rains, the roadside becomes muddy. In addition, nearby streetlights have also been out of service for a long time due to the demolition project, and it is pitch black at night, making it easy for pedestrians to be tripped by rubble and potholes on the road. We hope that relevant departments will expedite the demolition project. If it cannot be restarted temporarily, at least repair the iron sheet enclosure and the damaged road surface, and restore the power supply to the streetlights to eliminate safety hazards.
Residents of Shengjing Jiayuan Community (盛景家园小区), Haizhu District (海珠区), Guangzhou City (广州市), Guangdong (广东).

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Suggestion.

Don't Forget to Plan Parking Spaces When Building Houses in Rural Areas
In recent years, with the improvement of rural living standards, many villagers have renovated their houses, but neglected the planning of parking spaces when building them. After buying cars, they can only park on the roadside, which not only affects traffic but also poses safety hazards.

Our village is close to the county road, and many villagers build their houses by the roadside for convenience. At first, everyone didn't think there was anything wrong, but in the past two years, as more people have bought cars, the problem has become apparent. Every night, the roadside is full of cars, some even occupying half the road, leading to difficulties in passing each other and prone to scratching accidents. What is even more worrying is that in case of a fire or the need for emergency treatment, fire trucks and ambulances cannot get in.

Delineating parking spaces is not as simple as drawing a few lines, but requires comprehensive consideration and advance planning. It is necessary to make full use of the open space within the scope of the homestead, while avoiding affecting neighborhood traffic; to consider current needs, while reserving space for development; to meet the needs of self-use, while reflecting the concept of sharing. More importantly, the planning of parking spaces should become an important consideration for the approval of rural housing construction. Relevant departments should guide villagers to fully consider parking needs in the design phase of houses when approving housing construction applications. For existing rural self-built houses, "marginal land" and idle homesteads can be used to add flexible parking spaces.

The planning and construction of rural parking spaces is not only related to the daily life of villagers, but also an important manifestation of the level of rural civilization. When every car has a parking space, the roads in the village will be smoother, the neighborhood relations will be more harmonious, and the rural life will be better.

Luo (罗) from Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture (黔东南苗族侗族自治州), Guizhou (贵州) Province

Suggestion: Don't Apply a "**一刀切**" (yī dāo qiē - "one knife cut," a one-size-fits-all approach) Approach to Vendors Setting Up Stalls Outside Shops
In recent years, many catering businesses have chosen to set up stalls outside their doors during meal times. Some cities prohibit such behavior, fearing that it will affect the appearance of the city and block traffic. However, the ban has not been effective: as soon as the urban management officers take away the shelves, the merchants put up the sheds again; as soon as the streets are briefly bright and clean, the residents complain that "they have to walk two streets to buy breakfast."

It is recommended that relevant departments do not apply a "**一刀切**" (yī dāo qiē - "one knife cut," a one-size-fits-all approach), but rather propose standards for areas, business types, and supporting services for setting up stalls outside the door, and explore a path of standardized and refined governance. For example, setting up stalls outside the door can be divided into prohibited, strictly controlled, and standardized types. There should be no breakthrough within the red line of main and secondary roads, while back streets and alleys can be divided into time periods, areas, and business types, so as to leave enough space for businesses and maintain urban order; an outdoor stall application system can be launched, and merchants in need can scan the code to complete the application, which is convenient for unified standards and unified management.

Although setting up stalls outside the door is a small matter, it is related to the livelihood of businesses and the convenience of residents, and shows the precision and warmth of urban governance. Instead of simply banning it and creating opposition, it is better to actively guide and stimulate vitality. Let the rules be implemented with warmth, and let the atmosphere of daily life and civilized customs go hand in hand.

Liu Jiming (刘继明) from Minhang District (闵行区), Shanghai (上海)

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Don't Be Fooled by "Miracle Drugs" When Buying Children's Nutritional Products (Focus on the People)

By: 向子丰 吴嘉玮

In recent years, the market for children's health products and nutritional supplements has shown a continuous warming trend. Products such as DHA, calcium tablets, probiotics, and lutein, are available from online e-commerce platforms to offline mother and baby stores, with various advertisements dazzling consumers. However, many parents report frequently encountering problems such as exaggerated advertising, quality defects, and inflated prices in children's health product consumption.

Ms. Fan from Tianjin (天津) left a message on the "People's Complaint" platform of People's Daily Online, stating that she spent 1038 yuan online to purchase 8 bottles of "Jiejiesheng Growth Tablets" (节节升成长片). The product attracted parents' attention with gimmicks such as "Nobel product technology ingredients" and being rich in 16 key growth factors, claiming to help children grow and improve immunity, "but only after buying it did I realize that the nutrient content of the product was far lower than other products," Ms. Fan said.

The reporter searched and sorted out information and found that "exaggerated efficacy" and "false advertising" are common complaints in the children's health product market. Some merchants package ordinary food as health products. According to reports, a product called "Yangnengjian DHA Algae Oil Lutein Ester Jelly Candy" (养能健DHA藻油叶黄素酯凝胶糖果) was found to be implementing the national food safety standard for candy, and is essentially an ordinary food, but falsely claimed to have health effects such as "anti-blue light" and "improving memory."

Even worse, some health product element contents are not suitable for children. Ms. Song from Suzhou (苏州市), Jiangsu (江苏) Province, shared on social media that she bought a magnesium supplement "Glycine Magnesium Capsules" on an e-commerce platform. After giving it to her child, she discovered under the doctor's advice that some ingredients in the product exceeded the child's daily required dose by hundreds of times. She quickly took her child for a blood test, and fortunately, there were no major problems. A "Lysine Milk Carbon High Calcium" product sold on an e-commerce platform promoted "children's height increase" as the core throughout the details page, but the actual label stated "only suitable for nutritional supplementation for athletes." After verification by the Changsha (长沙) Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision in Hunan (湖南) Province, the manufacturer confirmed that the product is not suitable for "infants and children over three years old."

Parents spare no expense for the healthy growth of their children, and even have the misconception that "the more expensive, the better the effect," which leads to some children's health products and nutritional supplements being priced excessively high. Mr. Tang, who works at a large health product company, told reporters that data shows that the average customer price of children's health products is higher than that of adult health products, "Relatively speaking, online prices will be cheaper. However, many manufacturers will separate online and offline products with packaging, and the specifications of online products are lower than those of offline products."

At the same time, health products and nutritional supplements need to be used regularly for a long time to show effects, and there is an "information gap" between merchants and consumers, making it difficult for consumers to protect their rights. Ms. Wang from Xi'an (西安市), Shaanxi (陕西) Province, consulted a nutritionist account on a social platform due to her child's rhinitis and was induced to spend 8800 yuan for testing. The test results showed that the child had multiple chronic food allergies and nutrient deficiencies, and the other party promoted products based on this. Ms. Wang purchased a total of 10,800 yuan worth of products. "After the child took the medicine, he experienced constipation, but the merchant accused me of not reporting the situation in time. I requested a refund for the remaining products worth 2300 yuan, but the merchant refused on the grounds of 'no refunds or exchanges.'" Ms. Wang later complained through channels such as the "Leader's Message Board" on People's Daily Online before getting her refund back.

"Behind parents buying children's health products is often anxiety about their children's healthy growth," said Liu Suiqian (刘遂谦), an expert member of the Infant and Young Children Supplementary Food Professional Committee of the China Nutrition and Health Food Association. Many parents are easily moved by exaggerated advertisements because they are worried that their children will "lose at the starting line" or are afraid that their children will be discriminated against due to their height and physique. She reminded that parents should pay attention to the "blue hat" health food logo when purchasing, and related information can be found on the website of the State Administration for Market Regulation, "The efficacy claims and ingredient content of such products meet national standards, and safety is more guaranteed."

Under what circumstances do children need the assistance of health products and nutritional supplements? Liu Suiqian suggested that for infants, children, and adolescents, parents can judge the child's development by the changing trend of height, weight, and head circumference curves, combined with regular children's health care and annual physical examination results. "If children need to supplement vitamins, trace elements, etc., they must strictly follow the guidance of pediatric specialists and do not blindly supplement various health products. Parents should rationally view children's growth, set a good example in diet and exercise, and lead their children to develop healthy habits," said Liu Suiqian.

The chaos in the children's nutritional product market partly stems from regulatory deficiencies. "The standardization of offline products is done better, and there is a special distinction between the display of medicines and health foods. However, due to inadequate supervision of online sales, many merchants will play 'edge balls' and use exaggerated methods for promotion, marking ordinary foods with effects such as 'height increase'," said Mr. Tang. The catalog of health functions allowed to be claimed by health foods issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation and other 3 departments only limits the legal health functions of health foods to 25 items, and functions such as "promoting growth and development" are not among them, and many online promotions clearly exceed this scope.

In this regard, Liu Junhai (刘俊海), a professor at the Renmin University of China Law School, suggested that first, the main responsibility of the platform should be strengthened, requiring e-commerce platforms, social platforms, short video platforms, etc. to establish strict merchant access and product listing review mechanisms, and mandatorily require clear identity information to be marked on online product pages. Second, refine regulations, increase the cost of violations, and promote the establishment of a safety standard system for children's nutritional products and health products, and make strict regulations on which nutritional ingredients can be added, how much to add, and how to label them. "Finally, it is still necessary to guide consumers to improve their scientific literacy and continue to popularize health knowledge to parents through the media, communities, and schools. Strengthen the professional guidance of pediatricians and nutritionists, so that parents can choose to seek professional medical advice when they encounter problems such as their children's height not meeting standards or loss of appetite, rather than blindly believing in advertising promotions," said Liu Junhai.

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Why Domestic Ice and Snow Equipment Sells Well Globally (Chinese Brands Attract Overseas Fans)

By: 本报记者 郭晓龙 窦 皓

The ice and snow sports boom has fueled the ice and snow equipment industry. China's ice and snow industry system is becoming increasingly sound, its product supply capacity continues to strengthen, and it is gradually moving from the initial stage to a stage of high-quality development. Its competitiveness and brand influence in overseas markets are also constantly improving.

According to customs statistics, since the second half of 2025, China's exports of roller skates to Central and Eastern Europe and ski suits to the North American market have grown by more than double digits. Why is China's ice and snow equipment gaining fans overseas and becoming increasingly popular among overseas consumers? How is China's ice and snow industry rapidly responding to global consumption trends? The reporter conducted interviews.

——Editor

"After switching to this competitive ski board, the turns are more flexible and the toughness is strong enough. The experience is no less than other international brands." At the 2026 Harbin International Ice and Snow Economic Expo, Sergei (谢尔盖耶维奇), a Belarusian ski enthusiast, praised in front of the booth of Harbin Qianmao Xuelong Sports Goods Co., Ltd. (哈尔滨乾卯雪龙体育用品有限公司).

As one of the earliest enterprises engaged in the manufacture of ice and snow equipment, Qianmao Xuelong's growth trajectory has witnessed the growth path of domestic equipment. The company started with the sales of imported ski equipment in 2000, and successfully produced ski boots and bindings in 2002. Technological breakthroughs have driven product innovation, laying the foundation for the company to expand into overseas markets. Since 2023, taking advantage of the ice and snow boom in Harbin (哈尔滨), Heilongjiang (黑龙江), the company's sales have increased significantly, and the production line has continued to operate at full capacity. Qianmao Xuelong relies on a semi-automated production line to achieve a leap in production capacity, building a full-category product matrix covering primary to competitive levels, with an annual output of 10,000 pairs of ski boots and bindings.

At the Qianmao Xuelong booth, a competitive ski board printed with the five-star red flag attracted attention.

"This is a freestyle aerial skills ski board we developed for the national team. It has passed four rounds of rigorous testing and is expected to appear at the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics." Hearing the introduction of Li Zhibo (李智博), general manager of the company, many foreign businessmen at the Ice Expo stopped to pay attention and express their intention to cooperate. This "Harbin-made" ski board is moving from the Ice Expo to the global market with its hard-core technology and high cost performance. "Entrusted by the Winter Sports Management Center of the State General Administration of Sport (国家体育总局冬季运动管理中心) to develop this product, it innovatively uses aerospace-grade composite materials and precisely shapes it using 3D printing technology, which greatly improves toughness while reducing weight, and the price is only half of similar imported products," Li Zhibo said with pride.

Even more competitive is the customization capability. The R&D team can adjust the core layer material ratio according to the athlete's force habits and technical characteristics, realizing the transformation from "people adapting to the board" to "board adapting to people," and many technical indicators have reached the international leading level. "We look forward to domestic brands of ice and snow equipment being sold to more countries and regions." Li Zhibo said that he will take the Milan Winter Olympics equipment R&D as an opportunity to expand competitive-level snowboard, alpine ski board and other categories, while also laying out retail channels, so that domestic ski boards can stand out in global competitions and markets.

Not only ski boards, but also China's ski poles are gradually becoming popular among overseas consumers.

In the ski resort, two slender hand poles support skiers to move forward, change direction, adjust speed, and control balance. Folding, telescopic, ultra-light... Walking into the exhibition hall of Better Outdoor Products Co., Ltd. (百特户外用品有限责任公司) in Ninghai County (宁海县), Ningbo City (宁波市), Zhejiang Province (浙江省), various specifications and models of ski pole products are dazzling.

A practice pole suitable for beginners in alpine skiing is a "star product" and is very popular among foreign consumers. First of all, it is light. This ski pole made of aviation-grade aluminum alloy material weighs less than 200 grams; secondly, it is stable. The ergonomic handle made of special materials and the intimate anti-slip texture design enable skiers to hold it firmly even when wearing gloves.

"Considering the characteristics of European and American consumers, we have increased the handle size and optimized the telescopic design." Guo Jinlong (郭金龙), the company's foreign trade manager, introduced that in the 2025 snow season, foreign customers have placed orders for more than 400,000 pairs of this product, an increase of 30% compared with the same period in the previous snow season.

Turning the perspective to the production workshop, accompanied by the roar of machinery, aluminum chips splashed on the cutting machine, and the grinding wheel made a "hissing" sound. Workers are cutting aluminum alloy and other materials, and the materials are transformed into ski poles after grinding, painting, and assembly.

"Initially, we only produced trekking poles. After the Beijing Winter Olympics (北京冬奥会), we took the initiative to adjust, and aluminum alloy ski poles have also become the main products." Guo Jinlong introduced that the company's annual exports of sports poles, including ski poles, reach more than 5 million pairs, mainly exported to Europe, North America and other regions. At the same time, the company is also actively exploring new markets and has entered South American markets such as Chile and Colombia.

In Ninghai, there are many enterprises like Better - 7 out of every 10 ski poles exported from China come from Ninghai. The local ice and snow equipment industry, represented by ski poles, has formed a production scale with an annual output value of nearly 1 billion yuan, creating a supporting industrial chain covering pipe materials, buckles, handles, and assembly.

Not far from the Better ski pole production plant, the molding workshops are in full swing. Fully automatic mechanical arms are running at full capacity, carrying out mold manufacturing, injection molding and other processes.

From an aluminum alloy pipe to a finished product, it can be completed without leaving the county. "We can make samples of customers' ideas in 7 days and mass-produce them in 30 days." Zhu Xuefeng (竺雪峰), general manager of the company, said that the complete industrial cluster and efficient flexible manufacturing enable Ninghai's ski pole enterprises to not only have sufficient production capacity, but also have high cost performance - Better's price for products with the same performance is only about 60% of that of European and American brands.

While prices have fallen, the added value of products is continuously increasing. In the company's exhibition hall, a lightweight pole weighing as little as 180 grams is very eye-catching. "We are making technological breakthroughs in ultra-light poles, anti-freeze outer locks, and ergonomic handles." Zhu Xuefeng pointed to the patent wall and said that the company has reduced the carbon emissions of a single product by more than 50% by cooperating with well-known raw material suppliers and selecting recyclable raw materials with excellent performance.

For products to go overseas, they also need to adapt to international market rules. From technical guidance for rapid customs clearance to opening up a "green channel" for customs clearance of exported ski products, to doing a good job in policy interpretation to avoid compliance risks... During the peak production season, customs officers in uniform will appear in the factory from time to time to "deliver services."

"To enable enterprises to better seize 'ice and snow orders' and explore the international market, we continue to promote the use of the 'advance declaration' customs clearance model, provide preferential origin certificate application guidance and customs classification pre-ruling and other facilitation measures, compress customs clearance time, and reduce enterprise costs," said Tian Mingchao (田明超), chief of the Comprehensive Business Section II of Ninghai Customs (宁海海关) affiliated to Ningbo Customs (宁波海关).

Zhu Xuefeng's mobile phone contains a winning photo of a French athlete at the 2024 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc. The athlete is holding a carbon fiber running pole jointly developed by Better and its customers.

"Only by building a brand can we gain a firm foothold in the competition." Zhu Xuefeng said that the company continues to expand its brand influence by signing international well-known athletes and sponsoring related events; at the same time, it establishes overseas local teams to be responsible for market, sales, after-sales and other services, and truly integrates into the local community.

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Manufacturing Quality Competitiveness Index Reaches Historic High

This newspaper's Beijing (北京) dispatch on February 1st (reporter Lin Lili (林丽鹂)): This reporter learned from a press conference held by the State Administration for Market Regulation (市场监管总局) that the construction of a quality powerhouse country has achieved phased results during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.

Since the "14th Five-Year Plan," the quality work mechanism has been continuously optimized, and the macro policy system has become more sound. For the first time, a programmatic document for medium- and long-term quality work was issued in the name of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, namely the "Outline for Building a Quality Powerhouse Country" (《质量强国建设纲要》), which provides a comprehensive action guide for building a quality powerhouse country. The market supervision department has carried out in-depth work to strengthen enterprises, chains, and counties through quality initiatives, selected the first batch of 34 enterprises to be included in the cultivation library of leading enterprises for building a quality powerhouse country, and achieved a number of important and iconic results in the top ten iconic projects for strengthening the quality chain. It has promoted the implementation of the quality-strengthening county strategy in 1,500 cities across the country, carried out quality characteristic practice activities in 169 cities, and continued to carry out the "SME Metrology Service" activity, helping more than 120,000 SMEs. The pass rate of manufacturing product quality has remained above 93%, and the manufacturing quality competitiveness index has steadily increased to 85.86, which is at the highest level in history. National satisfaction with living services and public services has increased to 81.33 and 81.62 respectively, continuing to remain in the "satisfactory" range.

The quality standard system has been continuously improved, with 13,000 national standards formulated and revised, and the total number of national standards reaching 48,000. 219 national measurement benchmarks have been established, and 2,010 calibration and measurement capabilities have been internationally recognized. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, 652 national metrological technical specifications were issued, an increase of 18% compared with the "13th Five-Year Plan."

Strengthening source governance, implementing production license management for 27 types of industrial products in 14 categories, including mobile power supplies, electric bicycle helmets and other 15 kinds of high-risk products into the mandatory certification management, CCC certification has covered 106 kinds of products in 17 major categories, the implementation of "CCC certification mark" pilot reform for 11 kinds of high-risk products in 3 categories such as charging treasures, and the promotion of code verification pilot for 10 kinds of key online sales products such as charging treasures. Further improve the defect product recall system, in the past 5 years, a total of 1074 recalls of automobiles, 38.0352 million vehicles, 4190 recalls of consumer goods, 40.4019 million pieces. Strengthen departmental collaboration, increase the efforts of the "double strike" work, carry out special actions such as "Sword Net" ("剑网"), "Kunlun" ("昆仑"), and "Iron Fist" ("铁拳"), and the people's sense of security in consumption has been further improved.

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January Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index at 49.3%

This newspaper reported from Beijing on February 1st (Reporter Ouyang Jie (欧阳洁)): The Service Industry Survey Center of the National Bureau of Statistics (国家统计局) and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing jointly released data showing that in January, the Manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) was 49.3%, a decrease of 0.8 percentage points from the previous month.

The growth momentum of enterprise production has slowed down, but the overall situation remains in an expansionary state. In January, the manufacturing production index was 50.6%, a decrease of 1.1 percentage points from the previous month, but it still remained in the expansionary range, indicating that the overall manufacturing production continued to expand, but the growth momentum slowed down compared with the previous month. The main reason is that the production activities of the consumer goods manufacturing industry have slowed down significantly in the short term. New driving forces continue to expand, and the industrial structure continues to be optimized. In January, China's manufacturing new driving forces still continued to expand. The equipment manufacturing PMI was 50.1% and still remained in the expansionary range. The high-tech manufacturing PMI was 52%, operating in the expansionary range for 12 consecutive months, in which the production index and new order index were both operating at a relatively good level of nearly 54%, indicating that the high-tech manufacturing industry continued to expand in a positive direction.

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World's largest compressed air energy storage project fully operational.

The Guoxin Suyan Huai'an Salt Cavern Compressed Air Energy Storage Demonstration Project in Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province (江苏省淮安市), recently achieved a successful grid connection and simultaneously reached full-load power generation. This marks the full commissioning of the world's largest compressed air energy storage power station, providing important engineering practice for the construction of China's new power system. The project is a demonstration application project of the first domestically produced major technical equipment set. After the project is put into operation, the annual power generation will reach 792 million kilowatt-hours, which can provide one year's electricity consumption for 600,000 households.

All of the above pictures were taken by Zhao Qirui (赵启瑞) (Image China).

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State Taxation Administration Releases New Export Tax Rebate Management Measures

Beijing, February 1st (Reporter Wang Guan (王观)) The State Taxation Administration (国家税务总局), based on adjustments to export tax policies, has made corresponding adjustments and improvements to export tax rebate management regulations. It has issued the "Announcement of the State Taxation Administration (国家税务总局) on Issuing the 'Administrative Measures for Value-Added Tax and Consumption Tax Refunds (Exemptions) for Export Businesses'," promoting more convenient and efficient export tax rebate declaration and processing.

The "Announcement" consolidates and integrates export tax refund (exemption) management regulations issued at different times, forming a unified management approach. It clarifies matters such as export tax refund (exemption) filing, declaration, processing, and service management, further standardizing export tax rebate management. This is conducive to taxpayers' comprehensive understanding, mastery, standardized, and efficient compliance. The announcement also optimizes and adjusts the tax refund (exemption) process, simplifies and optimizes export tax refund (exemption) processing methods, relying on big data and new technologies to further facilitate taxpayers' efficient processing of export tax refunds (exemptions).

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Hong Kong's GDP projected to grow 3.5% in 2025

This newspaper Hong Kong (香港) February 1st dispatch (Reporter Feng Xuezhi (冯学知)) The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (香港特区) Government Census and Statistics Department (政府统计处) released the advance estimates of the Gross Domestic Product (本地生产总值) for the fourth quarter and the whole year of 2025 on January 30. The data shows that Hong Kong's (香港) Gross Domestic Product (本地生产总值) is expected to increase by 3.8% in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared with the same period last year, and the Gross Domestic Product (本地生产总值) for the whole year is expected to increase by 3.5% in real terms year-on-year.

A spokesperson for the HKSAR (香港特区) government said that Hong Kong's (香港) economy grew further significantly in the fourth quarter of 2025, higher than the 3.7% increase in the previous quarter. In 2025 as a whole, real Gross Domestic Product (本地生产总值) recorded a robust growth of 3.5%, faster than the 2.6% growth in 2024, and recorded expansion for three consecutive years. The growth momentum gradually strengthened during the year. Strong demand for electronics-related products and strong trade within Asia drove a significant increase in overall merchandise exports. Service exports rose markedly due to continued growth in inbound tourism and active cross-border financial services activities.

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Promote the implementation of achievements and stimulate innovation vitality.

By: 本报记者 尹晓宇

On the snowy plateau, the application of grid-forming energy storage technology enhances the local renewable energy consumption level with microsecond-level response speed and extremely high stability, ensuring power supply; in the desert Gobi, targeting the scenario of high proportion of power electronic equipment connected to the grid, breakthroughs have been made in key technologies such as DC coordinated control and risk prevention and control, helping to stably transmit new energy... Through technological breakthroughs, the State Grid Electric Power Research Institute (NARI Group) (国网电力科学研究院 (南瑞集团)) actively safeguards the safety of the power grid. NARI Group (南瑞集团) is accelerating the implementation of the "Science and Technology Reform Action" and the deepening and upgrading of state-owned enterprise reforms, continuously promoting the emergence of achievements in key areas.

With the in-depth advancement of the construction of a new power system, the power system presents the "dual-high" characteristics of a high proportion of renewable energy and a high proportion of power electronic equipment access. Traditional relay protection methods are difficult to adapt to the new demands. Solving this problem requires a large amount of basic research and engineering technology work to collaborate with each other.

How to break the situation and open up the road? "Reorganize NARI Research Institute (南瑞研究院) to strengthen the lookout for cutting-edge technology and application-based basic research; integrate and establish a research and development center, focusing on application technology and enhancing the support capabilities of common platforms; optimize and integrate the research and development resources of various professional companies to develop new products and improve market leadership." Yang Yu (杨宇), Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Department (Operations Department) of NARI Group (南瑞集团), told reporters that after the reform, the scientific research system composed of "Research Institute - Research and Development Center - Professional Company" makes the integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation closer.

The group has successively formed 7 professional research teams and 7 "ten-year grind a sword" teams, all adopting a flat organizational structure. The team focuses on process evaluation and focuses on solving industry pain points. In 2025, NARI Group (南瑞集团) has cumulatively won 171 science and technology awards at the provincial and ministerial level or above, 10 projects were selected into the first (set) of major technical equipment in the energy field, and 27 products passed authoritative identification to reach the international leading level.

The continuous emergence of innovative achievements benefits from stimulating innovation vitality from the institutional level. Not long ago, a young innovation team came to Jinan (济南), Shandong (山东) to update and debug the virtual power plant operation service platform. The average age of the members of the studio is less than 33 years old. Jin Yulong (金玉龙), the leader, joined NARI Group (南瑞集团) after graduating from Tsinghua University (清华大学) and has been devoted to "virtual power plants" for more than 6 years. "The early investment in scientific research is large, and the output cycle of achievements is long. We use the 'milestone + long cycle' incentive mechanism to encourage young researchers to warm up the 'cold bench'." Yu Kun (于昆), Deputy Director of the Organization Department of NARI Group (南瑞集团), introduced.

"In 2021, the first-generation product was just completed, and the team won the honorary title; in 2022, the product was tested online and has not yet fully realized industrialization, and I personally received commendation and the second batch of equity incentives," Jin Yulong (金玉龙) recalled. The virtual power plant product developed by the team has been promoted and applied in more than 20 provinces, and related technical achievements have won the first prize of the 2025 China Electricity Enterprise Federation Electricity Innovation Award.

In NARI Group (南瑞集团), the reform of diversified incentive mechanisms has become an important internal driving force for starting a business. Taking "contributors benefit" as the value orientation, "one policy for one industry" and "one policy for one enterprise" are customized to assess and distribute plans to ensure that performance and salary grow simultaneously. Implement equity and dividend incentives for technology-based enterprises, so that core backbones can share the development results with the enterprise, and continuously stimulate the endogenous power of starting a business.

Deeply explore new scenarios, and technological innovation can be better integrated into industrial innovation. In Baicheng (白城), Jilin (吉林), the world's leading single green ammonia project - Jidian Co., Ltd. Da'an (大安) wind and solar green hydrogen synthetic ammonia integrated demonstration project has been running smoothly for half a year. NARI Group (南瑞集团) provided the overall solution for the project's green power hydrogen production.

"In industrial innovation, we pay attention to the multi-dimensional release of value, focus on developing core industries around core technologies, and accelerate the cultivation of the 'second growth curve'. In addition to the power grid system business, NARI Group (南瑞集团) is exerting efforts in the field outside the system, gradually expanding from the power grid to the energy Internet and industrial Internet fields," introduced Tong Wei (仝维), Director of the Development and Reform Department of the Marketing Department (Development Department) of NARI Group (南瑞集团). To this end, NARI Group (南瑞集团) has established a number of teams to steadily develop in the fields of insulated gate bipolar transistors, live working robots, intelligent computing center energy consumption, zero-carbon parks, and new microgrids.

"On the new journey of the '15th Five-Year Plan', we will continue to enhance our core competitiveness and strive to make greater contributions to better serving national strategies and promoting Chinese-style modernization," said the relevant person in charge of NARI Group (南瑞集团).

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Macau's GDP to Grow 4.7% Year-on-Year in Real Terms in 2025

This newspaper reports from Macao on February 1st (Reporter Fu Zimei (富子梅)): Data from the Statistics and Census Service of the Macao Special Administrative Region (澳门特区) shows that the preliminary value of Macao's (澳门) gross domestic product (GDP) for the entire year of 2025 was 417.28 billion Macao Patacas (澳门元), a real increase of 4.7% year-on-year, and the total economic volume recovered to 89.6% of that in 2019.

Benefiting from the holding of a number of large-scale events in the fourth quarter of 2025 and a series of measures by the SAR government to attract tourists, the number of visitors to Macao (澳门) increased significantly, driving service exports to maintain rapid growth, and Macao's (澳门) economy as a whole continued the development trend of **稳中有进** (wěn zhōng yǒu jìn - "stability with progress," steady and progressive development). The preliminary value of GDP in the fourth quarter of 2025 was 115.39 billion Macao Patacas (澳门元), a real increase of 7.6% year-on-year, and the total economic volume recovered to 94.1% of the same period in 2019. Driven by a 15.4% year-on-year increase in inbound tourists in the fourth quarter of 2025, overall service exports increased by 9.8%.

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This edition's editors: Lü Zhongzheng, Lin Ziye, Han Wenrong

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Deeply Understand the Scientific Connotation and Great Significance of Upholding Fundamental Principles and Breaking New Ground (In-depth Study and Implementation of Xi Jinping's Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era: A Comprehensive Discussion on Original and Iconic Concepts)

By: 张 鹏

Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground is an original and iconic concept of Xi Jinping (习近平)'s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) has delivered important speeches on upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground on many occasions, profoundly pointing out that "it is necessary to adhere to the unity of upholding fundamental principles and innovation." The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China listed upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground as one of the "six must-adheres" to the worldview and methodology of Xi Jinping (习近平)'s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The "Decision" of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee takes upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground as one of the "six adherences" principles that must be followed to further comprehensively deepen reform. Accurately understanding and scientifically grasping the ideological essence of upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground is of great theoretical and practical significance for in-depth study and implementation of Xi Jinping (习近平)'s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and for promoting the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation with scientific concepts and methods.

Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground runs through the Marxist worldview and methodology.

Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground runs through the Marxist worldview and methodology, contains the Marxist position, viewpoint and method, and has a powerful force of truth.

From the ontological dimension, upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground reflects the Marxist worldview that the material world and human society have inherent laws, and that objective laws must be respected and grasped. Engels pointed out: "Historical events seem to be dominated by chance in general. However, where chance appears to be at work, it is always governed by internal, hidden laws, and the problem is only to discover these laws." Upholding fundamental principles is to adhere to the scientific worldview of the primacy of matter and the primacy of practice, and to recognize and reveal objective laws; innovation is to give play to the spirit of historical initiative on this basis and creatively promote the development of things and social progress. Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground is a historical activity of scientifically applying objective laws to transform the objective world on the basis of following objective laws.

From the epistemological dimension, upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground reflects the basic Marxist view that matter determines consciousness and consciousness reacts to matter. Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground is a vivid interpretation of the Marxist epistemology that knowledge comes from practice and reacts to practice. General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out: "Although dialectical materialism emphasizes that the unity of the world lies in its materiality, it does not deny the reaction of consciousness to matter, but believes that this reaction is sometimes enormous." Upholding fundamental principles is to adhere to obtaining correct understanding from practice; innovation is to transform understanding into ideological theory in a timely manner, and then use scientific theory to guide practice. In the cycle of practice, understanding, re-practice, and re-understanding, upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground makes "the content of each cycle of practice and understanding more advanced," thereby promoting the continuous development of the social and historical process.

From the methodological dimension, upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground reflects the basic laws of Marxist materialist dialectics. Marx pointed out: "The coexistence, struggle and integration of two contradictory aspects into a new category is dialectical movement." Upholding fundamental principles and innovation are unified opposites, which are conditional on each other and interdependent. Upholding fundamental principles is the principle basis of innovation, determining the bottom line boundary for innovation and clarifying the direction and path of innovation; innovation is the inherent requirement of upholding fundamental principles, giving new connotations of the times to upholding fundamental principles, and making upholding fundamental principles more solid and consolidated in movement and change. Innovation without upholding fundamental principles is blind and disordered, and will eventually lead to changing flags and banners; upholding fundamental principles without innovation is static and conservative, and will eventually lead to closure and rigidity. Only when upholding fundamental principles and innovation promote each other and make progress together can they maintain lasting vitality.

From the axiological dimension, upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground reflects the fundamental value pursuit of Marxism. Marx and Engels pointed out in the "Communist Manifesto" that "the proletarian movement is an independent movement of the vast majority, in the interests of the vast majority," and that Communists "have no interests separate and apart from those of the proletariat as a whole." Upholding fundamental principles upholds the correctness of Marxism, and the fundamental lies in adhering to the historical materialism that the people are the creators of history and adhering to the Marxist people's position; innovation creates the new Marxism of the 21st century and the new socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and the primary task is to adapt to the requirements of the times and enrich and develop Marxism. The entire starting point and foothold of upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground are for the people, relying on the people, and benefiting the people, adhering to the people-centered approach, adhering to the supremacy of the people, and adhering to the people's yearning for a better life as our goal.

Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground is a continuation and inheritance of outstanding traditional Chinese culture.

"Although Zhou is an old state, its mandate is new." The Chinese nation is a nation that upholds fundamental principles and breaks new ground, and upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground are integrated with the cultural genes of the Chinese nation.

Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground inherits the spirit of adhering to the right path in Chinese culture. General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out: "The outstanding traditional Chinese culture has been passed down from generation to generation, and the resilience, patience, and determination it demonstrates are part of the spirit of the Chinese nation." After thousands of years, Chinese culture has always attached importance to the inheritance of culture and the continuation of values. From the day of its birth, the Communist Party of China has regarded promoting and inheriting outstanding traditional Chinese culture as its own responsibility. Comrade Mao Zedong (毛泽东) pointed out: "We are Marxist historians, and we should not sever history. From Confucius (孔夫子) to Sun Yat-sen (孙中山), we should summarize and inherit this precious heritage." Comrade Deng Xiaoping (邓小平) pointed out: "All progressive and excellent things in ancient Chinese and foreign literary works and performing arts should be learned from," and borrowed the term "Xiaokang" (小康) from the "Book of Songs" to propose the goal of building a Xiaokang society. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) has elevated the promotion of outstanding traditional Chinese culture to the height of enhancing confidence in the path, confidence in the theory, confidence in the system, and confidence in the culture, and transformed the people-oriented concept of "the people are the foundation of the country, and the foundation is solid and the country is peaceful" and "water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it" into the fundamental position of "the country is the people, and the people are the country," and sublimated the patriotic feelings of "if it is beneficial to the country, I will not seek wealth" and "everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world" into the common belief that the territory cannot be divided, the country cannot be chaotic, the nation cannot be scattered, and civilization cannot be broken, so that the essence of outstanding traditional Chinese culture can show its unique charm in upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground.

Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground embodies the character of Chinese civilization to reform and innovate. General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out: "Chinese civilization has outstanding innovation, which fundamentally determines the progressive spirit of the Chinese nation to uphold fundamental principles without sticking to the old, respecting the ancient without restoring the ancient, and determines the fearless character of the Chinese nation to not be afraid of new challenges and to be brave in accepting new things." The "Book of Changes" says, "Daily renewal is called great virtue," and the "Book of Rites" says, "If you can make it new one day, renew it day by day, and make it new again," all emphasizing the importance of innovation and change. In the long-term practice of leading the revolution, construction, and reform, the Communist Party of China has always taken the construction of a national, scientific, and mass Chinese national new culture as its mission, and actively promoted cultural construction and the prosperity and development of literature and art. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平), based on a deep understanding of the laws of development of Chinese civilization, creatively proposed the "second combination," solved the "dispute between ancient and modern, Chinese and Western," expanded the cultural foundation of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and endowed Chinese-style modernization with a profound cultural heritage. For example, in the field of economic development, combined with traditional ideas such as "enriching the people and benefiting life" and "balancing righteousness and benefit," it is proposed to steadily promote the common prosperity of all the people; in the field of social governance, combined with traditional wisdom such as "harmony is the most valuable" and "rule of law and rule of etiquette," the "Fengqiao Experience" (枫桥经验) in the new era is developed, and a rural governance system combining self-governance, rule of law, and rule of virtue is improved; in the field of ecological civilization, combined with traditional concepts such as "harmony between man and nature" and "Tao follows nature," green development is promoted, a beautiful China is built, and harmonious coexistence between man and nature is promoted; and so on. This fully shows that upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground makes the soul of Marxism and the root of outstanding traditional Chinese culture more solid, and also makes the prospects for Chinese-style modernization broader.

Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground is in the same line as the ideological essence accumulated by the Communist Party of China in more than a hundred years of struggle.

The Communist Party of China has gone through more than a hundred years of struggle, and in the magnificent great practice, it has accumulated many ideological essences that shine with the light of Marxist truth. Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground is in the same line as these ideological essences, providing important methodological guidance for promoting Chinese-style modernization.

The premise of upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground is to emancipate the mind. Emancipating the mind is the golden key to breaking down rigid constraints and opening the door to the times. Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground are connected in spiritual essence with emancipating the mind, both of which are based on adhering to the correct political direction and fundamental political principles, daring to break through fixed ways of thinking and path dependence, and daring to open up new paths that predecessors have not taken. In the early days of the founding of the Communist Party of China, there was a tendency within the party to dogmatize Marxism and sanctify the resolutions of the Communist International and the experience of the Soviet Union. The Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong (毛泽东) as their main representative, did not blindly follow existing theories and experiences, but profoundly grasped the basic national conditions of China's semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, combined Marxism with China's specific reality, and opened up the correct revolutionary road of "encircling the cities from the countryside and seizing power by armed force." Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, facing the strategic overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the great changes in the world unseen in a century, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) has led the entire party to continue to emancipate the mind, adhere to and improve socialism with Chinese characteristics in upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground, opened up a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, created a new form of human civilization, and the Chinese nation has ushered in a great leap from standing up, getting rich, to becoming strong.

The essence of upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground is to seek truth from facts. Seeking truth from facts is our party's basic ideological method, working method, and leadership method. Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground are connected in methodology with seeking truth from facts, both of which adhere to proceeding from objective reality, linking theory with practice, and discovering truth, testing truth, and developing truth in practice. The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020. On July 1, 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) solemnly declared on Tiananmen Square (天安门广场): "Through the continuous struggle of the entire party and the people of all ethnic groups across the country, we have achieved the first centenary goal and built a moderately prosperous society in all respects on the land of China." In the reports to the 19th and 20th National Congresses of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) scientifically judged and comprehensively analyzed the international and domestic situation and China's development conditions, proposed the goal of building a strong socialist modern country in all respects, and made a two-step strategic arrangement, namely: to basically realize socialist modernization from 2020 to 2035; and to build our country into a strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful socialist modern country from 2035 to the middle of this century. By making a two-step strategic arrangement and successively implementing five-year plans, China's economic strength, scientific and technological strength, and comprehensive national strength have reached a new level, and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is unstoppable. Our party, through seeking truth from facts, scientifically analyzes and grasps the situation, upholds fundamental principles and breaks new ground, proposes and completes phased missions and tasks, takes firm steps step by step, and promotes forward stage by stage, thereby constantly accumulating small victories into big victories and ensuring that the cause of the party and the country moves steadily and far.

The key to upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground is to advance with the times. Advancing with the times is the secret of the century-old party that has gone through vicissitudes and is still in its prime. Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground are connected in theoretical character with advancing with the times, both of which keep up with the pace of the times, treat all new things with full enthusiasm, and constantly expand the breadth and depth of understanding, so that thoughts, concepts, strategies, and actions can better conform to the times and lead the times. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee first proposed the new development concept. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China first proposed that China's economy has shifted from a stage of high-speed growth to a stage of high-quality development. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China established high-quality development as the primary task of building a socialist modern country in all respects. In April 2020, the seventh meeting of the Central Finance and Economics Commission first proposed to build a new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the mainstay and the domestic and international dual cycles promoting each other. General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) has made profound expositions on the characteristics, connotations, and development requirements of new quality productive forces on many occasions. This series of new concepts, new ideas, and new strategies has led China's economy to move forward against pressure and develop towards new and better, successfully continuing the new chapter of the two miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability. The theoretical character of advancing with the times, upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground enables our party to always stand at the forefront of the times and maintain its vigor and vitality in various storms and tests, and always become the strong leadership core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The foothold of upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground is to seek truth and be pragmatic. At the democratic life meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held at the end of 2025, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) emphasized: "Communists are materialists, and pragmatism is an essential character. We must seek truth from facts, be pragmatic, and work hard." Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground are connected in value orientation with seeking truth and being pragmatic, both of which are to establish and practice a correct view of performance, create performance for the people, create performance with hard work, and realize, safeguard, and develop the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people. As early as during his time as an educated youth in Liangjiahe (梁家河), Shaanxi (陕西), in order to solve the problem of fuel shortage for villagers, Comrade Xi Jinping (习近平) went to Sichuan (四川) for on-the-spot investigation, conducted in-depth research in combination with the climate of Yanchuan (延川), and led the masses to successfully build biogas digesters, which greatly improved the lives of the villagers. During his work in Zhengding (正定), Hebei (河北), Comrade Xi Jinping (习近平) rode a bicycle to visit villages and households to learn about the people's conditions, set up tables on the streets to widely solicit public opinion, listen to the opinions of the masses, and proposed a new way to develop a "semi-suburban" economy in accordance with local conditions, and summarized the "twenty-character scripture" of "catering to their preferences, supplying their needs, taking their strengths, making up for their weaknesses, and responding to their changes." During his work in Fujian (福建), Comrade Xi Jinping (习近平) vigorously advocated "going down to the grassroots level four times" and "handling things immediately and doing practical work," which became an important requirement for all levels of organs to serve the people. During his work in Zhejiang (浙江), Comrade Xi Jinping (习近平) clearly proposed that "in the requirements for implementation, we must pay attention to a 'new' character," and proposed the "Eight-Eight Strategy" (八八战略) on the basis of extensive investigation and research, which is still a scientific guideline for Zhejiang's (浙江) high-quality development. During his work in Shanghai (上海), Comrade Xi Jinping (习近平) proposed to extend the theme of the World Expo "City, Let Life Be Better" to Shanghai's (上海) future development and promote the improvement of citizens' living environment. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) has emphasized "establishing a correct view of performance for the benefit of the people" and "creating benefits for the people is the greatest achievement," always putting the safety and well-being of the people in his heart, taking the lead in seeking truth and being pragmatic, personally directing the battle against poverty and achieving a comprehensive victory, and nearly 100 million rural poor people have been lifted out of poverty; China has built the world's largest social security system, and the level of education at all levels has reached or exceeded the average level of middle- and high-income countries, and the average life expectancy has reached 79 years; the relative gap between urban and rural residents' income has continued to narrow, the quality of people's lives has continued to improve, the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security has been significantly enhanced, and the common prosperity of all the people has been steadily promoted.

Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground has promoted the party and the country to achieve historic achievements and undergo historic changes.

General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out: "Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground is an important ideological method for our party to govern the country in the new era. Upholding fundamental principles can ensure that we do not lose our direction and do not make subversive mistakes, and innovation can ensure that we grasp the times and lead the times." "The exploration of Chinese-style modernization is a historical process of development in inheritance and innovation in upholding fundamental principles." Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping (习近平) at its core has vigorously promoted theoretical innovation, practical innovation, institutional innovation, cultural innovation, and other aspects of innovation on the basis of upholding the foundation, source, root, and soul of Marxism and socialism with Chinese characteristics, so that the cause of the party and the country is always full of creative vitality and constantly opens up new prospects for development.
Adhering to theoretical innovation to achieve new leaps in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times. General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out: "We have formed the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics through upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground. Upholding fundamental principles means that we cannot deviate from Marxism and socialism, but we cannot be rigid and dogmatic. We must also move forward, keep pace with the times, otherwise we will be rigid, outdated, and obsolete." The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (党中央) with Comrade Xi Jinping (习近平) at its core adheres to Marxism as the foundation for the Party to establish and govern the country, and adheres to the continuous development of Marxism rooted in the historical and cultural soil of our country and nation. It closely combines the conditions of the times and practical requirements to promote theoretical innovation and creation, and has created Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in profoundly answering a series of major issues of the times. Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is contemporary Chinese Marxism and 21st-century Marxism. It is the essence of Chinese culture and the Chinese spirit of the times, and has achieved a new leap in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times, providing a scientific guide to action for comprehensively promoting the construction of a strong country and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese-style modernization.

Adhering to practical innovation to successfully promote and expand Chinese-style modernization. General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out: "For a country to move towards modernization, it must not only follow the general laws of modernization, but also conform to its own national conditions and have its own characteristics. Chinese-style modernization has both the common characteristics of modernization in various countries and the distinct characteristics based on its own national conditions." "Adhering to upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground requires both the strong determination to remain unchanged and unswerving, adhering to the Four Cardinal Principles and firmly upholding the 'Four Confidences,' and the courage to innovate and tackle tough problems, and to continuously achieve new breakthroughs in reform." The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (党中央) with Comrade Xi Jinping (习近平) at its core adheres to the unremitting pursuit of modernization by the Chinese people since modern times, and consistently regards it as the mission of the Party in the new era and on the new journey. Top-level design, theoretical summarization, and phased and field-based advancement of Chinese-style modernization have been carried out. The first centenary goal has been successfully achieved, and the second centenary goal has had a good start. The Party and the country have achieved historic achievements and undergone historic changes, laying a more solid foundation for basically realizing socialist modernization.

Adhering to institutional innovation to promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out: "Adhere to and improve the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics in upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground" "Compared with the past, reform and opening up in the new era have many new connotations and characteristics, and one of the most important points is that the weight of institutional construction is greater." The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (党中央) with Comrade Xi Jinping (习近平) at its core adheres to the unshakeable leadership of the Communist Party of China (中国共产党), and adheres to the unshakeable state system of the people's democratic dictatorship and the political system of the people's congress system. It has determined that improving and developing the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity are the overall goals of comprehensively deepening reform, and has built a system of socialism with Chinese characteristics including fundamental systems, basic systems, and important systems. The "Regulations on the Work of the Communist Party of China (中国共产党) Leading the Comprehensive Rule of Law" was formulated to improve the scientific, institutionalized, and standardized level of the Party's leadership in comprehensively governing the country according to law, and to build a more complete socialist rule of law system with Chinese characteristics. Adhering to governing the Party with institutions and regulations, standardizing the operation of power, improving the institutional mechanism for the unified, clear, transparent, and traceable authorization, use, and restriction of power, strengthening the enforcement of institutions, and striving to transform institutional advantages into governance effectiveness, providing a strong institutional guarantee for Chinese-style modernization to break through the waves and move forward steadily.

Adhering to cultural innovation to enhance the country's cultural soft power and the influence of Chinese culture. General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out: "Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (中国共产党), we have adhered to placing cultural construction in a prominent position in governing the country, made a series of major deployments, formed Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and promoted cultural construction to achieve historic achievements in correcting deviations and upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground." The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (党中央) with Comrade Xi Jinping (习近平) at its core adheres to the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field, deeply implements the research and construction project of Marxist theory, and consolidates the Party's ruling foundation and mass foundation in thought, spirit, and culture. Adhering to taking socialist core values as the guide, continuously building the Chinese spirit, Chinese values, and Chinese strength, developing and strengthening mainstream values, mainstream public opinion, and mainstream culture, and cultivating the national spirit of vigorous progress. Adhering to cultural construction focusing on people and based on people, providing better diversified, multi-level, and multi-faceted spiritual and cultural needs for the people with new styles, high quality, and personalized cultural supply, and promoting the common prosperity of the people's spiritual life. Adhering to stimulating the vitality of cultural innovation and creation, promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of excellent traditional Chinese culture, nourishing the spiritual home with culture, the popularity of museums and intangible cultural heritage continues to rise, "Wukong" and "Nezha" are popular around the world, and ancient charm and national style have become the "top aesthetic" in the eyes of young people. Chinese culture has blossomed with more brilliant light, and the ideological leadership, spiritual cohesion, value appeal, and international influence of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics have become increasingly prominent.

Adhering to the theoretical and practical innovation of Party building to create a new situation in comprehensively and strictly governing the Party. General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) pointed out: "To govern a country, we must first govern the Party, and the Party's prosperity will lead to the country's strength. The more effective the Party's governance, the more powerful the guarantee for economic and social development." The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (党中央) with Comrade Xi Jinping (习近平) at its core adheres to the Party's nature, purpose, ideals, beliefs, original aspiration, and mission. Adhering to governing the Party with the spirit of reform and strict standards, adhering to and strengthening the Party's overall leadership, improving the Party's leadership system that oversees the overall situation and coordinates all parties, improving the implementation mechanism of the Party Central Committee's (党中央) major decisions and deployments, and the Party's leadership has been fully, systematically, and comprehensively implemented. It has put forward and implemented the overall requirements for Party building in the new era, adhered to placing the Party's political construction in the first place, and used the Party's political construction to lead all aspects of Party building; adhered to building the Party ideologically and strengthening the Party theoretically, and unremittingly used Xi Jinping (习近平) Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to unite the people's hearts and minds; adhered to a strict organizational system that runs from top to bottom and is effectively implemented, creating a high-quality cadre team that is loyal, clean, and responsible, gathering talents from all over the world and using them, and the Party's leadership is "like the body using its arms, like the arms using its fingers"; adhered to grasping Party spirit, Party conduct, and Party discipline together, connecting the rectification of conduct and discipline with anti-corruption, ideologically building the Party and governing the Party with institutions working in the same direction, improving the Party and state supervision system, implementing the political responsibility of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party, and the efforts to promote comprehensively and strictly governing the Party and the anti-corruption struggle in the new era are unprecedented, and the results are obvious to all. The century-old Party has opened up a new realm of self-revolution in upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground, and the Party's political leadership, ideological guidance, mass organization, and social appeal have been significantly enhanced, providing a fundamental guarantee for building a strong country and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

(The author is the Executive Vice President of the China Jinggangshan Cadre College (中国井冈山干部学院)).

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Using modernized grassroots governance to contribute to a higher level of Peaceful China construction

By: 孙 静

Grassroots governance is the cornerstone of national governance, and the level of modernization of grassroots governance directly affects the level of modernization of national governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) attaches great importance to grassroots governance, emphasizing that "we must focus on the fundamental task of modernizing grassroots governance" and "strengthen Party building to lead grassroots governance and the construction of grassroots political power." The "Suggestions" of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee clarified the main goals of economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, including the solid advancement of a higher-level Peaceful China construction, and made important deployments for improving the social governance system, requiring strengthening Party building to lead grassroots governance and the construction of grassroots political power. This year is the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan." Whether it is to implement the "Suggestions" of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, which proposed "effectively preventing and resolving various risks, enhancing economic and social resilience, and ensuring a new development pattern with a new security pattern," or to implement the key tasks proposed at the Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of last year, which called for "adhering to the bottom line and actively and steadily resolving risks in key areas," grassroots governance is indispensable. To this end, it is necessary to deeply grasp the requirements of Party building leading grassroots governance and use the modernization of grassroots governance to help build a higher-level Peaceful China.

Adhere to Party building leadership. The Party's leadership is the fundamental guarantee for the construction of a Peaceful China. Promoting the modernization of grassroots governance must give play to the Party's leading core role in commanding the overall situation and coordinating all parties, so that the Party's leadership runs through all aspects and the entire process of grassroots governance, and strive to allow the masses to enjoy a better life in an environment that is both stable and orderly and full of vitality. Give full play to the role of grassroots Party organizations as fighting fortresses and the exemplary role of Party members, and comprehensively improve the ability and level of urban and rural grassroots Party organizations to lead grassroots governance. Focus on using the Party's innovative theories to study new situations and solve new problems, and at the same time explore and deepen methods such as grid-based Party building, taking the grid as the basic unit for strengthening governance and serving the masses, carrying out risk and hidden danger investigation and rectification, realizing real-time perception and real-time supervision of daily work, and timely handling of "difficult and complicated diseases," and effectively transforming the Party's political advantages, organizational advantages, and close ties with the masses into grassroots governance effectiveness.

Gather joint governance efforts. Grassroots governance under the leadership of Party building is not the Party organization's all-encompassing approach, but rather to continuously improve the social governance system of Party committee leadership, government responsibility, democratic consultation, social coordination, public participation, rule of law guarantee, and technological support. This requires building a social governance pattern of joint construction, joint governance, and shared benefits, mobilizing and organizing all parties to participate together, fully mobilizing the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of multiple governance subjects, and widely gathering joint efforts. Adhere to and develop the "Fengqiao Experience" in the new era, solidly promote the standardized construction of social security comprehensive management centers, and do a good job in preventing and resolving conflicts and disputes. Adhere to the people as the main body of grassroots governance, widely carry out activities such as villagers' discussions and people's sentiment talks, mobilize and organize the people through various institutional arrangements and methods, encourage citizens, enterprises, and social organizations to offer suggestions for policy formulation and effect evaluation, and build a social governance community where everyone is responsible, everyone fulfills their responsibilities, and everyone enjoys the benefits, effectively reaching social conditions and public opinions, balancing the interests of all parties, and allowing the broad masses of people to jointly share the dividends brought by effective social governance.

Improve the rule of law guarantee. In the face of the development and changes in the situation and tasks in the field of social governance, always adhering to governance according to law and using the thinking and methods of the rule of law to prevent risks, resolve conflicts, and maintain social stability can provide a more solid guarantee for grassroots governance. Conduct in-depth research on the laws and characteristics of grassroots governance under the new situation, improve grassroots governance policies and regulations, and promote a more systematic, complete, scientific, standardized, and effective legal system in the field of social governance. Improve the public legal service system covering urban and rural areas, strive to provide the masses with multi-level, wide-ranging, and high-quality legal services, and fully utilize legal means such as mediation, arbitration, administrative adjudication, administrative reconsideration, litigation, and legal supervision to achieve the settlement of disputes on the track of the rule of law. Actively carry out legal publicity and education, adopt various forms such as online and offline to carry out real-time and precise legal education, so that the supply of legal education can continuously meet the legal needs of the masses, and promote the masses to form a good awareness and habit of handling affairs according to law, seeking legal help in case of trouble, using the law to solve problems, and relying on the law to resolve conflicts.

Strengthen technological empowerment. Technology is a powerful engine for enhancing the effectiveness of grassroots governance, which can improve the quality and efficiency of grassroots governance, better meet the people's needs for security, fairness, and justice, and enhance the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security in social development and progress. Focusing on what the masses urgently need and expect, strengthen the construction of an integrated online and offline platform, promote information interconnection and data resource sharing and co-use under the premise of ensuring security, so that science and technology can better empower social governance. Give full play to digital technologies such as cloud computing and big data, and strengthen dynamic monitoring, research and analysis of various risks and hidden dangers by developing intelligent risk prediction and early warning models, etc., improve intelligent perception capabilities, risk early warning capabilities, and event handling capabilities, and make social governance more predictable, precise, and efficient.

(Author's affiliation: School of Public Security, People's Public Security University of China (中国人民公安大学))

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Supervision and Enforcement "Grow Teeth" to Improve Law-Based Governance (Focus on the Rule of Law)

By: 本报记者 张 璁

In recent years, the administrative law enforcement supervision system has been continuously improved, and its effectiveness has been continuously enhanced. "At the same time, phenomena such as arbitrary charges, arbitrary fines, arbitrary inspections, and arbitrary seizures in administrative law enforcement still occur from time to time. Problems such as illegal off-site law enforcement and profit-seeking law enforcement still exist. Administrative law enforcement supervision work needs to further improve mechanisms, standardize procedures, and strengthen responsibilities. It is urgent to further strengthen administrative law enforcement supervision through legislation." A relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Justice (司法部) said that the "Regulations on Administrative Law Enforcement Supervision" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") will come into effect on February 1, which will help further optimize the business environment and better play the important role of administrative law enforcement supervision in comprehensively improving the level of administration according to law and strengthening the construction of a government under the rule of law.

In April 2025, the case file review by the Administrative Law Enforcement Supervision Bureau of a municipal government in Shandong (山东) Province found that the administrative penalty imposed by the Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau of a county-level city on a certain seed business operator from another place was suspected of violating regulations on off-site law enforcement. Since the case involved communication and liaison with relevant higher-level departments and relevant departments in other cities, the Administrative Law Enforcement Supervision Bureau of the municipal government decided to supervise the case at a higher level in accordance with the law.

The law enforcement behavior in this case not only violated the provisions on jurisdiction but may also trigger a chain of problems such as "selective law enforcement" and "repeated penalties," increasing the burden on enterprises. After verification, the Administrative Law Enforcement Supervision Bureau of the municipal government requested the Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau to conduct an in-depth investigation and rectification of such problems and transferred the clues to the Discipline Inspection Commission and Supervision Commission for further processing.

The special action to regulate administrative law enforcement involving enterprises, which has been carried out nationwide since 2025, has strongly corrected outstanding problems in law enforcement involving enterprises and promoted the promulgation of the "Regulations."

"The 'Regulations' adhere to the purpose of administering the country for the people according to the rule of law and fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises and the people." Wang Jingbo (王敬波), a professor at Heilongjiang University (黑龙江大学), said that in order to connect with the relevant provisions of the Law on Promoting the Development of the Private Economy and protect the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises, the "Regulations" stipulate that administrative law enforcement supervision agencies should promptly conduct research and judgment on clues to administrative law enforcement problems reflected through channels such as the communication mechanism for administrative law enforcement demands involving enterprises and the government service convenience hotline to determine key supervision matters.

The "Regulations" stipulate that administrative law enforcement supervision agencies may invite representatives of the People's Congress, members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, industry representatives, experts, scholars, journalists, etc., to participate in administrative law enforcement supervision activities as needed. "The 'Regulations' let private entrepreneurs see the determination of the construction of a government under the rule of law and also enhance our confidence in operating with peace of mind and developing freely." Not long ago, Jiang Yuhai (蒋雨海), president of the Xianju Chamber of Commerce (仙居商会) in Ningbo (宁波), Zhejiang (浙江) Province, was hired as one of the first specially invited administrative law enforcement supervisors of the Ministry of Justice (司法部). He said that he would promptly and objectively reflect problems and jointly promote the construction of a law-based business environment.

Administrative law enforcement supervision is the re-supervision of the law enforcement supervision of administrative law enforcement departments. To truly "grow teeth" and exert practical effects, efforts must be made to ensure the authority and execution of supervision. At the same time, administrative law enforcement supervision cannot replace law enforcement or take over law enforcement. Jiao Hongchang (焦洪昌), a professor at China University of Political Science and Law (中国政法大学), said that the implementation of the "Regulations" will surely become an important driving force for the construction of a government under the rule of law. The "issuance of administrative law enforcement supervision supervision letters, opinions, and decisions" stipulated in the "Regulations" all have rigid constraints, which will help promote the transition from handling individual cases to managing similar cases and then to systematic governance, achieving the integrated effect of "**办理一案、治理一类、影响一域**" (bàn lǐ yī àn, zhì lǐ yī lèi, yǐng xiǎng yī yù - "handling one case, governing a category, affecting a region," achieving comprehensive results by addressing individual cases and extending the impact to broader areas).

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Strictly Crack Down on Online "Water Armies" Fabricating False Data and Other Behaviors (Focus on the Rule of Law)

By: 本报记者 林丽鹂 金 歆

In recent years, all sectors of society, especially small and medium-sized businesses on platforms, have strongly expressed concerns about issues such as platform "refund only," platform "fines," and "member demotion." According to the relevant person in charge of the Network Transaction Supervision and Administration Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation (市场监管总局), platforms using unfair and unreasonable rules to infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of small and medium-sized businesses and consumers, to a certain extent, damages the platform economy ecosystem. In response to unreasonable platform "refund only" policies, the "Supervision and Administration Measures for Online Transaction Platform Rules" (《网络交易平台规则监督管理办法》) (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"), which came into effect on February 1, require platforms not to use platform rules to force or indirectly force operators within the platform to bear after-sales responsibilities such as refund without return of goods, thereby harming their legitimate rights and interests.

Regarding unreasonable platform "fines," the "Measures" require that if a platform sets liquidated damages or compensation for damages in its platform rules, it should reasonably set the amount of liquidated damages or the calculation method for compensation for damages; if liquidated damages or compensation for damages are collected in accordance with platform rules, the corresponding calculation basis and method should be informed, and the platform rules should not be used to collect liquidated damages or compensation for damages that are clearly beyond a reasonable level.

Regarding the issue of "member demotion," the "Measures" clarify that if a consumer purchases membership services provided by the platform, the platform shall not unilaterally modify the platform rules during the agreed service period to arbitrarily charge additional fees or reduce member rights. If unforeseen objective circumstances prevent the platform from providing relevant services to consumers in accordance with the original platform rules, and the consumer proposes to terminate the membership service, the platform shall bear relevant responsibilities such as refunding fees on a pro rata basis.

According to the relevant person in charge of the Network Comprehensive Governance Bureau of the Central Cyberspace Administration of China (中央网信办), the cyberspace administration department continues to strengthen the management of information content on e-commerce platforms, guiding platforms to strengthen the management of key aspects such as product introductions, user reviews, search recommendations, and account information, sort out lists of non-compliant products, clarify non-compliant marketing behaviors, severely crack down on behaviors such as fabricating false scenarios and personas, and marketing with no bottom line, and increase the efforts to dispose of malicious marketing information.

At the same time, the "Measures" continue to increase the crackdown on internet water armies, and seriously investigate and deal with organized activities of internet water armies such as score manipulation and comment control, increasing followers and likes, and **刷单炒信** (shuā dān chǎo xìn - "brush orders hype reputation," fabricating transactions to boost a store's reputation). In-depth governance is carried out on typical problems of illegal and irregular collection and use of personal information in commonly used services and common life scenarios such as APPs, smart terminals, automatic vending machines, and scan-to-order services, and inspection and evaluation of personal information processing activities of key platforms are conducted.

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AI-Generated Content, Including Virtual Anchors, to be Regulated (Focus on Rule of Law)

By: 本报记者 林丽鹂

The "Supervision and Administration Measures for Live Streaming E-commerce" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures") came into effect on February 1, incorporating digital human anchors and other entities into the regulatory framework to promote the standardized application of artificial intelligence technology in the field of live streaming e-commerce.

With the development of artificial intelligence, a large amount of content generated by digital human anchors and other means has emerged. To prevent artificial intelligence from becoming a "shield" for generating or disseminating false information, the "Measures" include artificial intelligence-generated content such as digital human anchors into the regulatory scope. It clarifies that if live streaming room operators use artificial intelligence and other technologies to generate character images and videos for live streaming e-commerce activities, they should be identified in accordance with relevant national regulations, and consumers should be continuously reminded that the character images and videos are generated by artificial intelligence and other technologies. If character images and videos generated using artificial intelligence and other technologies in live streaming e-commerce activities violate laws, regulations, and rules, the live streaming room operator who manages or uses the character images and videos shall be liable.

How to incorporate traffic control into the regulatory toolbox? The relevant person in charge of the Network Transaction Supervision and Administration Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation (市场监管总局) introduced that, compared with other e-commerce formats, the characteristic of pursuing traffic is more obvious in the live streaming e-commerce industry. Many live streaming room operators and anchors are prone to counterfeit and shoddy goods and false marketing behaviors precisely because they are eager to monetize traffic.

The "Measures" stipulate that if the market supervision and administration and cyberspace departments notify the live streaming e-commerce platform operators of the illegal activities of relevant live streaming room operators, live streaming marketing personnel, and live streaming marketing personnel service organizations, the live streaming e-commerce platform operators shall take timely warning, restriction of functions, restriction of traffic, suspension of live streaming, suspension of broadcasting within a time limit, closure of accounts, inclusion in blacklists and other disposal measures in accordance with relevant laws, regulations, rules, and platform rules.

In conjunction with the implementation of the "Measures," the market supervision department is accelerating the development of national standards for service management of live streaming e-commerce platforms, and through unified and clear technical specifications and operating guidelines, it will give play to the effective role of standardization in leading industry development and improving service levels.

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Ensuring Timely Medical Treatment for Affected Insured Individuals (Rule of Law Focus)

By: 本报记者 魏哲哲

The "Reply of the Supreme People's Court on Issues Concerning the Application of Law Regarding the Conditions for Advance Payment by Basic Medical Insurance Funds" (《最高人民法院关于基本医疗保险基金先行支付申请条件法律适用问题的批复》) (hereinafter referred to as the "Reply"), released on January 6, will take effect on February 1.

"The 'Reply' clarifies the application conditions for advance payment of medical expenses by basic medical insurance funds, ensuring that insured individuals can receive necessary medical treatment in a timely manner when injured by tortious acts, and avoiding delays in treatment due to the tortfeasor not paying, being unable to pay, or not being found in a timely manner." Geng Baojian (耿宝建), Chief Judge of the Administrative Adjudication Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court (最高法), introduced that the formulation of the "Reply" has strong practical relevance. Because the Social Insurance Law does not specify the advance payment and recovery of medical expenses, in practice, local social security administrative departments generally tend to interpret and apply the relevant conditions for advance payment and recovery strictly, resulting in the delayed or rejected payment of medical expenses for insured individuals. Insured individuals are often at a disadvantage when obtaining medical expenses involving third parties.

In order to unify the standards for the application of law, the Supreme People's Court (最高法) decided to clarify it through judicial interpretation. "The issuance of the 'Reply' will play a positive role in legally determining the application conditions for advance payment by basic medical insurance funds, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the people in a timely and efficient manner, and effectively safeguarding the safe use of social insurance funds," said Geng Baojian (耿宝建).

According to the "Reply," if an individual participating in basic medical insurance suffers injury or illness due to the tortious act of a third party, and the portion of medical expenses that should be borne by the third party according to law is not paid by the third party or the third party cannot be determined, the basic medical insurance fund shall make advance payment. When applying for advance payment, the insured person needs to submit a written application to the social insurance agency, explaining the cause of their injury or illness, and the specific circumstances of the tortfeasor not paying medical expenses or the tortfeasor not being determined. After legal review by the social insurance agency, it shall, in accordance with the local medical insurance fund payment regulations, advance the medical expenses that should be borne by the tortfeasor.

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Handle "small incision" cases well, promote whole-chain governance.

By: 本报记者 倪 弋

The Supreme People's Procuratorate (最高人民检察院) recently released a batch of typical cases of prosecutorial public interest litigation concerning personal information protection, involving scenarios such as smart parking lots, facial recognition in residential communities, and online fraudulent recruitment. These cases demonstrate the procuratorial organs' practice of performing their duties in the field of personal information protection, providing judicial samples for deepening the comprehensive governance of cyberspace security.

What norms should be followed for the collection and management of facial recognition information in residential communities?

The People's Procuratorate of a certain district in Chongqing (重庆) discovered in its performance of duties that some property companies in its jurisdiction had problems with illegally processing facial information. The investigation showed that the property management residences of a certain technology company stored as many as 1.5 million facial information entries, and there were multiple security risks: information was transmitted through the Internet, guardians' separate consent was not obtained for minors' information, and there was a lack of localized encryption storage measures.

The procuratorial organ invited experts from the Cyberspace Administration of China (网信部门) to assist in the investigation, and found that three companies generally had problems in facial information processing such as failing to sign security agreements, failing to desensitize data, and failing to encrypt storage. In July 2025, the procuratorial organ issued a procuratorial recommendation to the District Housing and Urban-Rural Development Committee (区住房和城乡建设委员会), suggesting that it perform its regulatory duties in accordance with the law. The regulatory department not only urged the companies involved to rectify the situation, but also issued district-wide normative documents, explicitly requiring that individual consent must be obtained for processing facial information, strictly limiting the use scenarios, adopting encryption technology for storage, and deleting it regularly. This case extends from individual case handling to industry norms, providing a practical sample for the implementation of the "Safety Management Measures for the Application of Facial Recognition Technology" (《人脸识别技术应用安全管理办法》).

How should online recruitment platforms establish effective personal information protection mechanisms?

The People's Procuratorate of Tianhe District (天河区), Guangzhou (广州), Guangdong Province (广东省) discovered during the handling of a criminal case that criminals illegally registered companies and posted false recruitment advertisements on recruitment platforms, illegally obtaining more than 37,000 resumes of job seekers and selling them for profit. These actions not only infringe on the personal information rights and interests of job seekers, but also disrupt the normal order of the employment market.

The procuratorial organ developed a big data legal supervision model, and discovered 61 false recruitment clues through data collision analysis. After confirmation, the recruitment platform had problems such as lax review of enterprise accounts and failure to desensitize job seekers' information. The procuratorial organ issued procuratorial recommendations to the human resources and social security departments and the market supervision departments respectively, promoting the implementation of special rectification actions. The regulatory departments took measures such as banning accounts of false recruitment companies, promoting the platform to upgrade technical protection measures, and improving internal review mechanisms. This case reflects the application value of the "procuratorial supervision + administrative law enforcement + platform self-discipline" multi-governance model in the field of online personal information protection.

The person in charge of the Public Interest Litigation Procuratorial Department (公益诉讼检察厅) of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (最高检) stated that it is necessary to grasp the key of "justiciability," accurately and standardly handle prosecutorial public interest litigation cases for personal information protection, and handle "small incision" cases in key scenarios with high quality and efficiency; pay attention to giving play to the advantages of the procuratorial integration of case handling, strengthen coordinated performance of duties with relevant functional departments, explore and improve cross-regional cooperation mechanisms, and promote the strengthening of full-chain governance and comprehensive supervision; create a professional and compound case-handling team, and promote the construction of a more complete legal system for personal information protection.

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Sichuan Launches "Rule of Law Escort, Growth Empowerment" Action for Teenagers

This newspaper Chengdu (成都) February 1st (Reporter Li Kaixuan (李凯旋)) In order to effectively enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of legal education in schools, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Education (四川省教育厅), the Public Security Department (公安厅), the Department of Justice (司法厅) and other departments have jointly formulated the "Sichuan Province Youth 'Rule of Law Escort · Growth Empowerment' Eight Actions" (《四川省青少年“法治护航·成长赋能”八项行动》, hereinafter referred to as the "Eight Actions"), constructing a full-chain legal education system from eight dimensions including curriculum system, teacher development, and cultural immersion, to build a solid legal barrier for the healthy growth of young people.

The "Eight Actions" will be implemented from February 24th, including the Action of Combining Moral Education and Legal Education to Escort Growth, the Action of Simultaneously Introducing and Cultivating to Build a Strong Team, the Action of Immersing Campuses with Rule of Law Culture, and the Action of Forging Capabilities through Rule of Law Practice. Each action integrates legal education into the entire process of education and teaching, constructing an integrated curriculum system for primary, secondary, and higher education, with national courses as the main body and local courses, online courses, and practical courses as supplements.

Focusing on the construction of the teaching staff, Sichuan (四川) will gradually achieve at least one professional legal education teacher in each primary and secondary school through methods such as training and transfer, establishment and recruitment, constructing a four-level training mechanism at the provincial, municipal, county, and school levels to ensure that relevant teaching staff receive no less than 5 class hours of professional training each year. At the same time, the part-time team will be expanded, and legal vice-principals and school-protecting police will be equipped, ensuring "one police officer per school" in primary and secondary schools. The legal vice-principal will conduct at least 2 legal lectures each semester, and the school-protecting police will conduct campus risk assessments every week.

Strengthening practical empowerment, the "Eight Actions" require each student to participate in a mock court once in each of the primary, junior high, and high school stages, and require schools to organize students to enter courts, procuratorates, etc. to carry out real-world experiences. At the same time, Sichuan (四川) will also widely carry out the creation of legal situational dramas.

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Arranging "Reasonable Tracks" for Different Types of Cadres

By: 本报记者 宋朝军

"Where are the reasons, and where are the directions for improvement? We need to think carefully and work hard to improve." Not long ago, in the conference room of the Organization Department of the Gansu Provincial Party Committee (甘肃省委组织部), a conversation had just ended, and a principal person in charge of a state-owned enterprise under the province was deeply touched. In the previous annual cadre assessment, the person in charge was assessed as a general grade due to gaps in business performance, team building, and public satisfaction. According to the assessment results, the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department (省委组织部) established a conversation team to help him sort out the situation, analyze the reasons, and put forward requirements for future work.

This kind of conversation is an important part of the local assessment work. In Gansu (甘肃), the organization departments focus on "how to assess accurately" and "how to improve after the assessment," improve the cadre assessment and evaluation mechanism, and strengthen the comprehensive application of assessment results.

How to assess accurately? The organization departments, combined with the actual situation in Gansu (甘肃), have formulated a number of assessment standards by category and region. In recent years, Gansu (甘肃) has revised and improved 8 measures on the assessment of cadres under provincial management, and formulated corresponding measures for different cities (prefectures), provincial departments, state-owned enterprises under the province, and institutions; even in the assessment of the same type of unit, the assessment indicators also reflect differences for different key tasks undertaken in different regions. "This arranges 'reasonable tracks' for different types of cadres, avoiding the mechanical '一刀切' (yī dāo qiē - "one knife cut," applying a single standard to all situations)." Zhou Yu (周宇), director of the Assessment Work Office of the Organization Department of the Gansu Provincial Party Committee (甘肃省委组织部考核工作办公室主任), introduced that in recent years, "actively creating security and stability," "rectifying formalism to reduce the burden on the grassroots," and "carrying out the 'three grasps and three promotions' action" have also been included in the assessment.

Gansu (甘肃) takes the assessment results as an important reference for adjusting and allocating teams and selecting and using cadres. In the past three years, according to the political quality assessment results, a total of 30 provincial-managed teams and 102 provincial-managed cadres have been disqualified from assessment and evaluation. Since 2023, the Gansu Provincial Party Committee (甘肃省委) has adjusted 16 cadres who have problems such as incompetence for their positions, disunity and internal friction, and being out of touch with their work. "For these cadres, one assessment is not the end. The organization department will continue to pay attention and continue to help," said Zhou Yu (周宇). In the annual cadre research and other activities, the organization department will focus on understanding the ideological dynamics of these cadres and take the initiative to talk to them to eliminate their ideological concerns.

"What common problems do the assessment results reflect? What aspects do people have needs for? The organization department carefully records everything and helps everyone 'supplement what is lacking'," Zhou Yu (周宇) introduced. In recent years, Gansu (甘肃) has held nearly 400 provincial-level special training courses on topics such as comprehensive rural revitalization and correct views on political achievements, with a cumulative training of more than 90,000 leading cadres at all levels.

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Photo Report

On January 30th, the Culture, Sports, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau of Rong'an County (融安县), Liuzhou (柳州), Guangxi (广西) carried out the "Intangible Cultural Heritage Nourishes Soldiers' Hearts, Tangerine Township Warms Military Camps" activity. Traditional culture was promoted in the military camp through intangible cultural heritage performances, traditional food production, and intangible cultural heritage handicraft experiences, enhancing the friendship between the military and civilians, and jointly welcoming the Spring Festival. The picture shows officers and soldiers of the Liuzhou Detachment (柳州支队) of the Armed Police and citizens experiencing the production of intangible cultural heritage Rong'an fish lanterns.

Photo by Qin Qinghe (覃庆和) (Image China)

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Tibet invested 18.7 billion yuan in improving people's livelihoods last year.

(People's Daily, Lhasa, February 1st) (Reporter Xu Yuyao (徐驭尧)) The reporter learned from the Tibet Autonomous Region (西藏自治区): Tibet (西藏) will invest 18.7 billion yuan in 2025 to improve people's livelihoods. Data shows that in 2025, 51,000 new urban jobs were added, and 660,000 farmers and herdsmen were transferred to employment, achieving a labor income of 7.54 billion yuan. Tibet's (西藏) multi-level social security system covering all people has been basically completed.

Currently, the urbanization rate of Tibet's (西藏) permanent residents has reached 40%. Last year, Tibet (西藏) implemented 22 clean energy heating projects, 13 oxygen supply projects, built 17,900 sets of affordable housing security projects, renovated 70 old residential areas, implemented the renovation of dilapidated rural houses and seismic reinforcement for 6,101 households, built 180 new beautiful highland villages, and solidly carried out regular monitoring to prevent people from falling back into poverty. The net income of the lifted-out-of-poverty population increased by 12.1%.

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Tibet (西藏) increased the basic pension standards for urban and rural residents five times, and increased the "three guarantees" standard for urban and rural subsistence allowances and education four times. There were no new cases of Kashin-Beck disease, and hydatid disease achieved dynamic zeroing. Heating in rural and pastoral areas in townships above 5,000 meters above sea level has achieved full coverage. Through the implementation of ten major livelihood projects, the cumulative investment in people's livelihood has exceeded 1 trillion yuan, and the per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents has increased from 46,503 yuan and 16,935 yuan in 2021 to 58,794 yuan and 23,184 yuan, respectively.

In 2026, Tibet (西藏) will continue to allocate 13.6 billion yuan to do a good job in 34 livelihood projects, stabilize the basic medical insurance participation rate at over 95%, continue to strengthen service guarantees for the elderly and children, as well as people with disabilities, and establish a long-term care insurance system.

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Editors of this page: Su Xianlong, Xu Leipeng, Li Peiyang

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Reading with "Method," Fragrant Books Lead to a Distant Future (Decoding: Improving the Level of Public Cultural Services)

Reading is the most fundamental cultural construction, and the fragrance of books can carry us far. The "Regulations on Promoting Nationwide Reading" officially came into effect on February 1, marking a new stage in the nationwide reading campaign that has been underway for many years. How are various regions exploring new avenues in providing high-quality content for nationwide reading, improving reading quality, and ensuring reading services, such as making reading spaces a "scenery at the doorstep," promoting the complementary progress of "paper reading" and "screen reading," and increasing the promotion of nationwide reading? Our reporter conducted an investigation.
　　--Editor

　　Sichuan and Chongqing Promote Interconnection of Public Libraries
　　One Card for All, Borrow Books Freely in Both Places
　　By Our Reporter Song Haoxin (宋豪新)
　　A book, starting from the "base camp" of the Sichuan Provincial Library (四川省图书馆), was returned to the Guang'an City Library (广安市图书馆) in Sichuan by a reader. The next reader "relayed" it onto a high-speed train bound for Chongqing. Now, this book is lying on the shelves of the Nan'an District Library (南岸区图书馆) in Chongqing, waiting for the next destined reader.
　　The borrowing trajectory of this book has become a vivid "Sichuan-Chongqing Reading Integration Physical Map."
　　Readers in Sichuan and Chongqing can use the "Sichuan-Chongqing Reading One-Card" service, using their ID card or social security card, to "use one card for all, borrow and return anywhere" in more than 200 county-level and above public libraries. From more than 50 million volumes of vast paper books to digital collections spanning ancient and modern times, the book resources are diverse and of high quality.
　　Behind the convenient service is the years of deep cultivation of cross-provincial borrowing and returning public cultural service projects.
　　"'Sichuan-Chongqing Reading One-Card' is an important practical carrier for promoting nationwide reading. It breaks regional restrictions, realizes resource co-construction and sharing, and greatly improves the equalization and convenience of public cultural services." Wang Long (王龙), director of the Sichuan Provincial Library (四川省图书馆), said that this is in line with the requirements of the "Regulations on Promoting Nationwide Reading" to improve the reading service system and promote the balanced and coordinated development of nationwide reading, providing replicable and scalable practical experience for promoting nationwide reading and building a society of readers.
　　In June 2021, the Sichuan Provincial Library (四川省图书馆), Chongqing Library (重庆图书馆), and Chengdu Library (成都图书馆) broke regional barriers and launched interconnection pilots. From the initial exploration of three central libraries to the comprehensive interconnection of more than 200 public libraries today, a public reading service network covering Sichuan and Chongqing has officially taken shape.
　　Since the implementation of the project, more than 1.5 million readers have met their reading needs through cross-library borrowing, and nearly 300,000 paper documents have flowed into other libraries through the return mechanism, realizing secondary or even multiple circulations, allowing knowledge to realize greater value in circulation and improving the utilization efficiency of document resources.
　　In addition to tangible libraries, there is also an intangible "cloud borrowing" platform, making reading boundless.
　　Xu Shouli (徐守丽), a rural teacher in Qingchuan County (青川县), Guangyuan City (广元市), Sichuan, borrowed the latest popular science picture books for her students through the platform's "order today, arrive the next day" new book direct borrowing service. "They can read it the next day, and the children's enthusiasm for reading is getting higher and higher," Xu Shouli said. In Huili City (会理市), Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture (凉山彝族自治州), Litang County (理塘县), Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (甘孜藏族自治州), and Jiuzhaigou County (九寨沟县), Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture (阿坝藏族羌族自治州), readers have borrowed new books from the Sichuan Provincial Library (四川省图书馆) through the "cloud borrowing" platform.
　　From the regional breakthrough of Sichuan-Chongqing borrowing and returning to the cloud extension of digital platforms, and then to the scene innovation of diversified spaces... the concept and measures of continuous service allow the fragrance of books to permeate urban and rural areas.
　　"After the official implementation of the 'Regulations on Promoting Nationwide Reading', promoting the tilt of reading resources to the grassroots and flowing to weak areas has become a statutory obligation that must be fulfilled. As a nationwide reading facility, the Sichuan Provincial Library (四川省图书馆) will continue to pay attention to and guarantee the key, difficult, and weak links in the construction of the public reading service network, so that the background color of 'Book Fragrant Tianfu' will be more intense," Wang Long said.

　　Xinjiang Improves Reading Convenience and Satisfaction
　　Ten Thousand Volumes on One Screen, Digital Farmhouse Bookstore is Popular
　　By Our Reporter Li Yanan (李亚楠)
　　"Put the phone there, it doesn't delay work, and you can also learn knowledge."
　　Outside, the heavy snow seals the mountains. Rena Guli Aini (热娜古丽·艾尼), a villager in Beididong Village (北地东村), Mangding Township (茫丁乡), Jinghe County (精河县), Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (新疆维吾尔自治区), is preparing lunch in her house. "It is very inconvenient to go to the farmhouse bookstore in winter. Now, when I open the 'Pocket Bookstore', I can read and listen to books anytime, anywhere."
　　The "Pocket Bookstore" that Rena Guli mentioned is the "Xinjiang Digital Farmhouse Bookstore" reading platform launched in September 2024.
　　"The reading platform breaks the limitations of time and space and sends high-quality cultural resources to the masses." Shen Yan (沈岩), secretary of the Party Committee of Xinjiang Culture (Audio-Visual) Publishing House Co., Ltd. (新疆文化（电子音像）出版社有限责任公司), the operator of the digital farmhouse bookstore, introduced that seizing the opportunity of the official implementation of the "Regulations on Promoting Nationwide Reading", the platform is working hard to improve the convenience and satisfaction of digital reading.
　　How to improve? High-quality book resources are the foundation. Liu Dechang (刘德昌), director of the New Media Publishing Center of Xinjiang Culture (Audio-Visual) Publishing House Co., Ltd. (新疆文化（电子音像）出版社有限责任公司), introduced that some of the resources come from the "Dongfeng Project" selected books digitized by the publishing house, and the other part comes from external purchases. The platform has gathered more than 16,000 kinds of e-books, more than 17,000 minutes of audio and video, and 32 kinds of periodicals, covering 6 languages, covering practical techniques for planting and breeding, literary classics, popular science knowledge, etc. "In order to further promote the supply of high-quality digital reading content, we are constantly expanding resources, and plan to complete the AI (artificial intelligence) voice accompaniment reading of all Mandarin e-books before April 20 this year, and multilingual books are also being converted into audiobooks," Liu Dechang said.
　　No need to register, open the platform, the 4 function keys of reading, listening to books, videos, and activities on the homepage are simple and eye-catching, and there are also language selection, book search and other functions. "There are still some elderly people in the village who are illiterate. As long as they remember the location of the 'Listen to Books' button, it is very convenient to operate." Rena Guli said that this platform has broken the barrier between them and "reading".
　　This convenience comes from attention to detail. Understanding the difficulties of the elderly in operating mobile phones, the platform constantly optimizes the interface and operation process to make it more "suitable for the elderly"; through big data analysis, it is found that the click-through rate of inspirational and agricultural technology books is growing faster, so the corresponding resource allocation is increased... By the end of 2025, the platform's reading volume exceeded 14.7 million times.
　　How to make the digital farmhouse bookstore popular?
　　Classic paragraphs in works such as "Corner of Altay" have become recitation videos; knowledge of Suzhou Garden culture, Silk Road history, etc., flows between teenagers in Xinjiang and Jiangsu through book recommendation and other activities... "Through in-depth mining of digital resources, online and offline activity promotion and other methods, the digital farmhouse bookstore has accumulated higher popularity," Liu Dechang introduced.
　　"After the official implementation of the 'Regulations on Promoting Nationwide Reading', we will continue to promote the combination of digital reading and traditional reading, strengthen the management of digital reading content, push high-quality digital reading content, provide the majority of readers with a 'always online' reading experience, and create a social atmosphere of 'loving to read, reading good books, and being good at reading'," Shen Yan said.

　　Zhengzhou, Henan Builds a Modern Public Reading Network
　　15 Minutes, "Circle" Up a Pleasant Reading Life
　　By Our Reporter Fang Min (方敏)
　　In the morning, in the Shuanghu Garden community (双湖花园小区) in Zhengzhou (郑州), Henan (河南), resident Wang Qitai (王齐泰) uses his mobile phone to enter the "Book Fragrant Zhengzhou · Sound Moistens Green City" worker's "Cloud Bookstore" and listens to books while doing housework.
　　At noon, in the Zhengpin Bookstore (郑品书舍) in the Zhengzhou Jiyun Investment Building (郑州基运投资大厦) office building, company employee Ms. Li can scan the code and pick up books without leaving the building, taking less than 1 minute.
　　In the afternoon, in the Zhengdong New District (郑东新区) "Yi Reading Room" family station, students on vacation are absorbed in their books. "The fragrance of books is strong here. Once you sit down, you don't want to use your mobile phone," said a parent nearby.
　　Three time "slices" are a microcosm of Zhengzhou's promotion of nationwide reading. In recent years, the "Book Fragrant Zhengzhou" construction project has built a "15-minute reading circle" to promote reading into urban life.
　　To read comfortably, you must have a comfortable environment. In the Zhengpin Bookstore (郑品书舍) on the shore of Ruyi Lake (如意湖) in Zhengdong New District (郑东新区), the lights are warm and the atmosphere is relaxed, allowing people to quickly calm down. Embedding bookstores in communities, parks, office buildings, high-speed rail stations and other scenes to create a "small and beautiful" reading space cluster... In Zhengzhou, there are already 89 Zhengpin Bookstores (郑品书舍).
　　The "Regulations on Promoting Nationwide Reading" proposes: to plan to set up nationwide reading facilities covering urban and rural areas, practical and convenient, and efficient in service. "In addition to our common public libraries and community libraries, there are also workers' cultural palaces, youth palaces, women and children activity centers, elderly activity centers, public newspaper reading columns, etc., which are important facilities for providing reading services," introduced Liu Yueting (刘跃亭), deputy director of the Zhengzhou Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department (郑州市委宣传部).
　　What if there are no ready-made nationwide reading facilities around residents? "We encourage the construction, renovation or expansion of public spaces in residential areas to meet residents' needs for 'reading at their doorstep'," Liu Yueting said.
　　In Building 6 of Shuixie Huacheng Community (水榭华城小区) in Xinzheng City (新郑市), the underground space is particularly lively. Under the guidance of relevant departments, the originally idle basement was transformed into a parent-child reading space, named "Family Station", becoming a reading garden for children in the community after school. As the utilization rate of the reading space becomes higher and higher, many residents also donate idle books to enrich the collection.
　　"Read one more book and watch less mobile phone; more communication and less quarrels." Chen Qirong (陈启荣), a resident of the community, said, "Everyone often reads and communicates together here, which promotes parent-child relationships and neighborhood relationships."
　　In 2025, Zhengzhou built 20 new family stations, further dredging the "capillaries" of the urban reading service network, and alleviating problems such as difficulty in borrowing books and lack of parent-child reading places in some communities.
　　With venues, there must also be activities. Taking Zhengpin Bookstore (郑品书舍), family stations and other scenes as carriers, Zhengzhou and other places hold book clubs, calligraphy training, handicraft production and other activities in accordance with local conditions, innovate service models, and enrich reading scenes. "After the implementation of the 'Regulations on Promoting Nationwide Reading', we will also introduce some social forces to participate in providing reading services in various ways such as running entities, funding projects, sponsoring activities, providing facilities, and donating publications in accordance with the law," Liu Yueting said.
　　From urban business districts to fields, from brand activities to integration into life, a modern public reading network covering the entire region and integrating urban and rural areas is growing vigorously. The "15-minute reading circle" makes "seeing books when you open the window and encountering museums at the corner" a reality for Zhengzhou residents.

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Love Reading, Read Good Books, Be Good at Reading (New Perspectives)

By: 吴尚之

The "National Reading Promotion Regulations" (《全民阅读促进条例》) (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") officially came into effect on February 1. The promulgation of the "Regulations" is of great significance for deeply promoting national reading, enhancing the ideological and moral qualities and scientific and cultural literacy of the entire nation, and improving the level of civilization of the entire society.

China's national reading promotion work has achieved initial results, but challenges must also be recognized. Several sets of data are worth noting. First, the national reading rate is not high. Surveys have found that in 2024, the book reading rate of adult citizens in China was 59.9%, an increase of only 0.1 percentage points from the previous year. Second, the per capita reading volume of paper books is not high. In 2024, the per capita reading volume of paper books by adult citizens in China was 4.79 books, an increase of only 0.04 books from the previous year. Third, the reading time is not long. In 2024, adult citizens in China spent an average of 24.41 minutes per day reading paper books, far less than the time spent using electronic products. Fourth, readers have difficulty choosing books. In 2024, there were 228,000 new book titles and 322,000 reprinted book titles in China. With such a vast sea of books, it is not easy for readers to choose books that are suitable for them. These challenges all point to the key issues of national reading: how to achieve loving to read, reading good books, and being good at reading?

National reading, the key lies in "reading." The "Regulations" propose to "form a strong atmosphere in the whole society of loving to read, reading good books, and being good at reading." This is not only the goal and direction of promoting national reading, but also an important standard for testing the effectiveness of national reading. On the one hand, it is necessary to strengthen reading services and reading guarantees, improve reading facilities, and improve reading conditions; on the other hand, it is more important to pay attention to the main body of reading, the "readers," and understand whether they read, what they read, and how they read.

Strengthen reading guidance to encourage people to love reading. At present, not reading or reading less is generally not a matter of time, nor is it a matter of having no books to read, but mainly a lack of motivation to read. How to enhance reading motivation and stimulate reading interest? China has had good practices since ancient times, that is, telling good reading stories and setting up reading role models, such as 悬梁刺股 (xuán liáng cì gǔ - "suspend from the beam, prick the thigh," to study assiduously), 凿壁偷光 (záo bì tōu guāng - "chisel wall steal light," to study hard under adverse conditions), 牛角挂书 (niú jiǎo guà shū - "hang books on ox horns," to study diligently while doing farm work), and 手不释卷 (shǒu bù shì juàn - "hands do not release the scroll," to be constantly reading). We must not only tell the stories of diligent study in ancient times, but also tell the stories of success through reading in the new era, so that reading truly becomes a way of life and a spiritual pursuit.

Strengthen reading recommendations and advocate that people read good books. The "Regulations" propose to "advocate that citizens read more classics and enhance their spiritual realm" and "do a good job in recommending excellent publications on the Party's innovative theories, philosophy and social sciences, literature and art, science and technology, etc., and guide citizens to read high-quality content." In the vast sea of books, it is particularly important to select and recommend good books for readers. We must increase the recommendation of excellent publications, meet the diverse reading needs of different reader groups, and recommend more excellent publications with profound thoughts, exquisite art, and excellent production to the public. It is necessary to enhance the authority and influence of recommended publications, combine serving readers' reading with guiding readers' reading, and establish and improve a recommendation mechanism for excellent publications.

Strengthen reading guidance and guide people to be good at reading. The "Regulations" propose to "promote graded reading for minors according to their mental development level and cognitive understanding ability, and carry out reading guidance activities that are adapted to their reading characteristics and laws." 工欲善其事，必先利其器 (gōng yù shàn qí shì, bì xiān lì qí qì - "If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools," to prepare well before starting a task). To achieve results in reading, one must be good at learning and mastering reading methods. We must focus on reading guidance for minors, explore the establishment of a Chinese children's graded reading system, vigorously advocate and carry out family reading and parent-child reading activities, and help minors master reading methods and achieve reading results while cultivating reading interest.

In the intelligent era, information can be skimmed through quickly, but the joy of reading cannot be unlocked without effort. We look forward to more people encountering good books, loving to read, reading good books, and being good at reading.

(The author is the President of the China Periodicals Association (中国期刊协会)).

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Guangxi to Hold Over 1,200 Cultural and Tourism Activities for the Spring Festival

According to the press conference on Guangxi's 2026 Spring Festival travel season service guarantee work, this newspaper Nanning (南宁) reported on February 1st (Reporter Zhang Yunhe (张云河)): During the 2026 Spring Festival holiday, Guangxi (广西) will plan more than 1,200 featured cultural and tourism activities around four major themes to enrich holiday supply and stimulate the cultural and tourism market.

The first is "Happy New Year," relying on venues at all levels to carry out "Village Evening Gala," enjoy New Year pictures, send Spring Festival couplets and cultural volunteer services. The second is "Celebrating the New Year in the Museum," with museums at all levels launching more than 100 featured exhibitions and social education activities. The third is "Intangible Cultural Heritage Celebrates the New Year - Exploring the Chinese New Year," holding more than 100 activities such as the Yongzhou (邕州) Intangible Cultural Heritage New Year Goods Fair and the Guilin (桂林) Intangible Cultural Heritage Parade. The fourth is the New Year Performance Season, organizing literary and art troupes to carry out benefit-the-people and residency performances.

Before the Spring Festival, Guangxi (广西) will launch the promotion activity of "Start the Year with a Tour of Guangxi (广西) and 欢乐过大年 (huān lè guò dà nián - "Happy to celebrate the New Year," to celebrate the New Year joyfully)," and simultaneously launch more than 200 cultural and tourism preferential measures covering tickets, accommodation, and cultural creations.

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Hunan to Hold Time-Honored Brands Carnival and Chinese & Foreign Trendy Products New Year Shopping Festival

This newspaper Changsha (长沙) February 1st (Reporter Yang Xun (杨迅)) The 2026 "Xiaoxiang Rhyme, China Style" Time-Honored Brand Carnival and Trade-In Promotion for Consumption, Chinese and Foreign Trendy Products New Year Goods Fair opened in Changsha (长沙), Hunan (湖南) on January 30th. Nearly 100 time-honored brands and more than 200 domestic and foreign trendy brands gathered together. This New Year Goods Fair will last until the eve of the Spring Festival.

This New Year Goods Fair has four major sections. The "Time-Honored Brand, New Style" Renewal Exhibition Area focuses on displaying a batch of time-honored brands such as Xiang embroidery, Xiang porcelain, Xiang tea, and Xiang wine, and many companies have launched jointly branded crossover new products. The "Trade-In, Green Benefit for the People" promotion area provides a one-stop service from old machine evaluation, deduction subsidies to new machine delivery and installation, and is equipped with the distribution of special consumer coupons. The "Chinese and Foreign Trendy Products, Star City Gathering Benefits" New Year Goods Market brings together trendy brands from home and abroad such as fashion apparel, creative home furnishings, beauty and personal care, and leisure food. The "Intangible Cultural Heritage Craftsmanship, Trendy Interactive" cultural experience area specially invites representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage to display their skills on-site, and sets up interactive activities such as traditional handicraft production experience and folk performances.

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Timeless Writing, Global Reach

By: 本报记者 杨颜菲

Selection of materials, splicing, gluing, assembly, packaging... In the production workshop of Baiqian Cosmetic Products Co., Ltd. in Wengang Town (文港镇), Jinxian County (进贤县), Nanchang (南昌), Jiangxi (江西), a dazzling array of raw materials are placed on the workbench, and workers are busy rushing to produce a batch of nail art pens. The busy production scene is surging with the new vitality of the "hometown of writing brushes."

"Every family produces brush workers, and every household knows how to make brushes." The writing brush making skills in Wengang Town (文港镇) have a history of more than a thousand years and are known as "Wenbi (文笔)." From initially only making writing brushes, it has gradually extended to pens, paintbrushes... The writing brush industry continues to expand. As a small category in the subdivided field of color cosmetics, beauty tools are becoming a "dark horse" in the color cosmetics track. With similar raw materials and the same technology, Wengang (文港) pen-making companies keenly captured this business opportunity and switched to producing makeup brushes and nail art pens.

In the view of Duan Yongping (段永平), the person in charge of Baiqian Company, writing brushes are the "roots and trunk" of the Wengang (文港) pen-making industry, and products such as nail art pens and makeup brushes are "new branches." With nearly 20 years of intensive cultivation, the company has continued to grow, and its products are sold to more than 50 countries and regions, with an annual output value of approximately 260 million yuan.

"Benefiting from the production advantages of Wengang (文港) writing brushes in brush head shaping, our products not only meet the market's requirements for full and powerful nail brush heads, but also have traditional cultural characteristics, which are welcomed by customers," introduced Wu Jieping (吴节平), chairman of Nanchang Jieni Industrial Co., Ltd. (南昌洁妮实业有限公司). The company exports 80% of its products overseas, allowing traditional Chinese craftsmanship to find new space in the international beauty market.

"This set of products includes 9 categories such as eyebrow pencils and blush brushes, which are easy to apply and have delicate brush heads..." Wang Chunfeng (王春凤), a "paintbrush girl" from Heilongjiang (黑龙江), showcased the latest developed makeup brush set to European merchants through an e-commerce platform. A cross-border transaction was conveniently completed in the cloud.

E-commerce has given the Jinxian (进贤) makeup brush industry "cloud wings," helping cross-border exports. Data shows that Jinxian County (进贤县) has cultivated 1,347 e-commerce companies and 10,437 online stores, focusing on cultural supplies, special agricultural products and other industries, gathering more than 20,000 e-commerce sales talents, and has a relatively mature e-commerce operation system. Jinxian County (进贤县) has also created the "Jinxian Wenbi (进贤文笔)" brand to promote industrial agglomeration, reduce logistics costs, and help companies improve quality and efficiency. In July last year, the first phase of the Wenbi (文笔) Digital Industry Park officially opened, with standard factory buildings and modern warehousing and logistics facilities, providing development space for enterprises.

"The government has helped us build a stage, and we must seize the opportunity to grow bigger and stronger. The company's new exhibition hall is being renovated, and cross-border e-commerce business is also gradually being moved here." After settling in the Wenbi (文笔) Digital Industry Park, Duan Yongping (段永平) is full of confidence in the future.

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Qinghai Issues Local Standards for Museums

According to the Qinghai Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, as reported on February 1st by People's Daily reporter Jiang Meng (江萌): Qinghai Province's (青海省) first local standard in the museum field, the "Museum Service Standard System" (《博物馆服务标准体系》), has been released and will officially be implemented on February 10th.

The "Museum Service Standard System" (《博物馆服务标准体系》) encompasses four sub-systems: "General Service Foundation, Service Provision, Service Guarantee, and Post Standards," including areas such as standardization work, cultural relic protection, exhibition management, smart services, and safety emergency response. It also integrates content such as digitalization and intelligent construction, clarifying 257 standards for various service types in the museum industry, covering the entire museum service process.

This standard provides a unified operational template for small and medium-sized museums in Qinghai (青海), which is of great significance for improving the quality of public cultural services and promoting the integration of culture and tourism.

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This edition's editors: Cao Yiqing, Chen Yuanyuan, Chen Shihhan

Layout design: Wang Zheping (汪哲平)

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Nurturing the People's "Little Joys," Delivering Substantial Progress on Major Issues Concerning People's Livelihood (Frontlines of People's Livelihood)

By: 本报记者 焦思雨

In winter, Yinchuan (银川), Ningxia (宁夏), is swept by a biting wind. Driving to Tianping Bridge (天平桥), taxi driver Wang Bo (王波) remarked on the wide, smooth road, "Now that the bridge is built, it's much easier for the kids to get to school!"

This bridge spanning the Diannong River (典农河) connects Tianping Street (天平街) and is adjacent to several schools. Previously, students had to detour to the Fenghuang Bridge (凤凰桥), one kilometer away. The completion of Tianping Bridge not only shortened the children's commute to school but also halved the commuting time for many residents.

The Tianping Street Road and Bridge Project is one of the key planned projects of Yinchuan's 2025 "Ten Hearts" Livelihood Initiatives. For six consecutive years, Yinchuan has selected a batch of representative and universally beneficial livelihood projects to be included in the "Ten Hearts" Livelihood Initiatives, written into the government work report, and responded to the people's expectations with concrete measures.

From "Government-Provided Meals" to "Masses Ordering Dishes"

The birth of Tianping Bridge began with "chatter" in the streets and alleys. "It's too far for the children to go to school!" "It's too inconvenient to commute to work!"... Yinchuan collected the demands of the masses through public opinion solicitation.

"At the beginning of the planning of the 'Ten Hearts' Livelihood Initiatives every year, we will carry out a month-long public solicitation and simultaneously sort out the 'People's Suggestions' column of the People's Daily Online to fully understand the demands of citizens," said Zhang Baoning (张宝宁), director of the Yinchuan Municipal Government Supervision Office.

"Hearing" is just the beginning; translating the voices of the masses into practical results is the key. Yinchuan has improved its work process: the Municipal Government Office centrally sorts out and merges the collected public suggestions to form preliminary screening results; the Development and Reform Commission, the Finance Bureau, and other relevant departments review them item by item... After six rounds of screening and argumentation, 50 practical matters are submitted to the Yinchuan Municipal People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (银川市两会), and the "Ten Hearts" Livelihood Initiatives list is finally launched.

Once the list is released, action begins immediately. After the Tianping Street Road and Bridge Project was included in the 2025 "Ten Hearts" Livelihood Initiatives list, planning, design, construction... the bridge was completed in just over 80 days. On the day it opened to traffic, citizen Tian Wei (田炜) made a special trip to experience it: "It's so convenient! Now the commute to work is reduced by more than half."

After the bridge was built, the people who made the suggestions were invited back to "inspect" it. Deputies to the People's Congress came to walk around and see the actual effect; neighbors came to chat and talk about where improvements could be made. "Whether livelihood projects are good or not is up to the masses. We have established a full-process review mechanism to ensure that things are done to the satisfaction of the masses," said Zhang Baoning. After "inspection," Tianping Bridge was not only recognized, but everyone also competed to name the bridge. After a public vote, the name "Tianping Bridge" was finally determined.

A bridge "grew" out of the voices of the people. Yinchuan is constantly promoting the transformation of livelihood work from "government-provided meals" to "masses ordering dishes" through the "gathering people's hearts and unblocking public opinion" working mechanism.

From "Single Breakthrough" to "Overall Improvement"

Livelihood construction is complex and multifaceted. If only one point is addressed, it is easy to neglect other aspects. In the process of promoting the "Ten Hearts" Livelihood Initiatives, Yinchuan has always adhered to the concept of systems, and coordinated and solved various livelihood problems with a "chess game" mentality.

Making travel smoother cannot rely solely on building bridges and paving roads, but requires multiple measures and coordinated governance. Yinchuan has carried out systematic optimization for traffic congestion, parking difficulties, and other pain points of public travel.

During the morning peak hours, the area around the Yinchuan First People's Hospital (银川市第一人民医院) used to be a "disaster area" of traffic congestion. "Before, driving to the hospital, I was stuck in traffic from the entrance to the exit, and all the time was wasted on the road," citizen Ma Jianguo (马建国) said, recalling his past experiences.

After rectification, the traffic in this area is now in good order. In response to the problems of multiple parking lot entities and low efficiency in the urban area, Yinchuan has worked with multiple departments to implement "leave first, pay later" contactless payment, reducing vehicle departure time from an average of 1 minute to seconds. At the same time, it has renovated waterlogged areas, rectified "lesion" road surfaces, optimized bus routes, and built new energy charging stations to build a green travel system with orderly connections, resolving traffic problems in many ways.

Not only is it systematic implementation, but Yinchuan has also transformed "single breakthroughs" into "overall improvements" in livelihood security, continuously exerting efforts and achieving long-term success in addressing the urgent needs and concerns of the masses.

Being old and having children not around, "difficulty in cooking and worrying about eating" used to plague many elderly people. Since 2022, Yinchuan has launched the "Elderly Canteen" project to standardize the renovation of catering facilities in old communities.

In Jingyi Central Village (靖益中心村), Wanghong Town (望洪镇), Yongning County (永宁县), 76-year-old Zhang Xiong (张雄), who lives alone, is a regular at the "Elderly Canteen": "Three meals a day only cost 5 yuan, and I can chat with my old buddies, which adds a bit of fun to my life."

"Livelihood projects are not a 一锤子买卖 (yī chuí zi mǎi mài - "one hammer deal," a one-off transaction), they need to be continuously developed," said Chen Weilong (陈伟龙), deputy director of the Yinchuan Civil Affairs Bureau. The "Elderly Canteen" project has been included in the "Ten Hearts" Livelihood Initiatives for three consecutive years and has been dynamically adjusted and gradually improved. As of now, Yinchuan has built a total of 269 elderly meal assistance points, achieving full coverage of the "15-minute elderly care service circle" in all towns (streets) and urban and rural communities in the city. "Some community canteens not only have a wide variety of dishes but also introduce a smart elderly care system to record the elderly's dietary preferences, and update the dishes every week through the 'central kitchen + cold chain distribution' model, so that everyone can 'eat well' and 'eat well'," said Chen Weilong.

From "Problem List" to "Happiness Statement"

Citizen Zhang Jun (张俊) was identified as a first-degree visually impaired person many years ago. For him, who lives alone, the kitchen is a place where he can easily bump into things. Until last year, changes finally came to his home: low-level stoves, flashing electric kettles with voice prompts, smart voice-controlled range hoods, and rice cookers and induction cookers with Braille buttons, which can also broadcast voice prompts when used.

In 2025, Yinchuan included "implementing barrier-free renovations for 500 families with disabled people in difficulty" in the "Ten Hearts" Livelihood Initiatives, and Zhang Jun's home was included in the renovation list. "The renovation is completely free. After the assessment personnel came to the door to survey, they customized a renovation plan, which was completed on the day of construction without delaying life at all. Now it is much easier to cook," Zhang Jun said with a smile.

Zhang Cuihua (张翠华), who has a second-degree physical disability, also benefited from this policy. Previously, high steps at the entrance and squatting toilets caused inconvenience to her life. After the renovation, the high steps were changed to gentle slopes and handrails were added, and the squatting toilet was replaced with a sitting toilet and handrails were added. The construction personnel also renovated the wiring in the whole house and replaced the ceiling lights. "The house is bright, and my heart is bright too! They thought of many details that I didn't think of. They really did practical things for us in our hearts," said Zhang Cuihua.

"Barrier-free renovation is not a simple repair, but a precise connection to the needs of the masses, doing small things practically and doing practical things well, so that disabled people can live at home more conveniently and safely," said Yang Hongxing (杨红星), the person in charge of the barrier-free renovation work for families with severely disabled people in difficulty in the Yinchuan Disabled Persons' Federation.

As of the end of 2025, Yinchuan has completed 900 barrier-free renovations for families with disabled people, far exceeding the annual target task, and all projects have passed the assessment and acceptance. Yinchuan has also established a special education department in the Disabled Persons' Rehabilitation Center to provide rehabilitation and education services for children with disabilities of appropriate age; implemented a special assistance program for severely disabled people in rural areas in difficulty, benefiting more than 2,500 people, forming a complete chain from living security to rehabilitation services, so that development results can benefit more people.

"In the future, Yinchuan will adhere to responding to the needs of the people and doing what the people need, doing one thing after another, and working year after year, and constantly transforming the 'problem list' of the masses into the 'happiness statement' around them," said Zhang Baoning.

(Zhang Jiayi (张嘉仪) participated in the writing)

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Railway Public Security Organs Take Multiple Measures to Safeguard the Safety of Passengers During the Spring Festival Travel Season

The 2026 Spring Festival travel season (春运) kicked off on February 2nd, according to a report from this newspaper's Beijing (北京) bureau on February 1st (reporter Zhang Tianpei (张天培)). The Railway Public Security Bureau (铁路公安局) of the Ministry of Public Security (公安部) has learned that railway public security organs across the country have improved mechanisms, refined measures, strengthened public security management, comprehensively investigated hidden dangers, actively maintained good public security order, and made every effort to ensure that the majority of passengers travel safely, orderly, and warmly.

Railway public security organs in various places adhere to preventive policing, strengthen the analysis and judgment of risk hazards, and improve emergency response plans. Relying on the integrated mechanism of "intelligence, command, and action," they refine "one station, one plan; one train, one plan," implement "grid-based" precise deployment, strengthen patrols in densely populated places, and focus on rectifying public security problems such as seat hogging and drunken disturbances. Organize "Iron Eagle" squads to go deep into key stations with large passenger flows, key trains running long distances and at night, and key sections with complex public security, and severely crack down on property-infringing illegal activities such as "theft, robbery, and fraud." Supervise railway enterprises to strictly verify real-name ticket systems, jointly conduct a comprehensive "physical examination" of security inspection facilities and equipment, strengthen the training of security inspection personnel, and guard every checkpoint for entering the station and boarding the train. Improve the collaborative governance mechanism, unite with stations and local transportation, traffic police, subway and other units to strengthen traffic safety governance, and ensure smooth "last mile" travel for passengers. During this period, the Beijing Railway Public Security Department (北京铁路公安处) established 6 working groups stationed in key passenger stations such as Beijing (北京) and Beijing West (北京西) to supervise the implementation of various measures. Railway public security departments in Xiamen (厦门), Qingdao (青岛), Qiqihar (齐齐哈尔) and other places have strengthened the management of the "entrance" of the station area and the "two ends" of the station, and implemented duty responsibilities. The Jiamusi Railway Public Security Department (佳木斯铁路公安处) and its police stations, together with railway and local units, organized 29 various types of drills, improving coordination and proper handling capabilities.

Railway police in various places have strengthened comprehensive management, united with railway units to increase patrols of station areas and railway lines, and focused on investigating and rectifying safety hazards to provide security for railway transportation. The Taiyuan Railway Public Security Department (太原铁路公安处), together with railway and local units, carried out safety inspections on the drop-off platforms of 24 stations and 8 railway crossings, replaced and repaired 25 identification signs in a timely manner, and added 16 warning signs. Railway public security departments in Shenyang (沈阳), Yan'an (延安), Yanbian (延边) and other places have increased the control of public security along the lines through a combination of video spot checks, walking inspections, and drone patrols to ensure the safe and smooth operation of the first Spring Festival travel season for newly opened high-speed railways such as the Xiyan (西延) and Shenbai (沈白) lines within their jurisdiction. The Nanjing Railway Public Security Department (南京铁路公安处) Passenger Police Detachment conducted a comprehensive public security and fire safety inspection on the 309 passenger trains it was on duty, and rectified 21 potential problems.

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Rural Dating and Matchmaking Demonstration Event Held in Xiangxi, Hunan

Beijing, February 1st (Reporter Yang Hao (杨昊)) - This reporter learned from the All-China Women's Federation (全国妇联): From January 31st to February 1st, the "Happy Connection: Hunan Affection, Hunan Love" rural matchmaking demonstration event, guided by the All-China Women's Federation's (全国妇联) Department of Families and Children's Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs' (农业农村部) Department of Rural Social Affairs Promotion, and hosted by the Hunan Provincial Women's Federation (湖南省妇联) and the Hunan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (湖南省农业农村厅), was held in Shibadong Village (十八洞村), Huayuan County (花垣县), Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (湘西土家族苗族自治州), Hunan Province (湖南省). More than 120 single young people from Hunan (湘), Chongqing (渝), and Guizhou (黔) participated.

The event focused on new farmers, village livestreaming talents, and other young people returning to their hometowns. It invited young people from the three provinces and cities to participate in matchmaking, connecting on-site check-ins, food experiences, folk customs interactions, and other characteristic activities through five chapters: "The Picture of Revitalization," "The Taste of Happiness," "The Atmosphere of Life," "The Sound of Fate," and "The Feeling of Heartbeat." It aims to build a healthy matchmaking platform for rural young people of marriageable age, cultivate a new type of marriage and childbearing culture, promote changing customs and habits, empower the comprehensive revitalization of the countryside with family happiness, and help achieve common prosperity.

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All Level-III Public Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospitals Now Offer Pediatric Services

This newspaper's Beijing (北京) dispatch on February 1st (reporter Bai Jianfeng (白剑峰)): This reporter learned from the National Health Commission (国家卫生健康委) that China is strengthening the construction of pediatric departments in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospitals. It has achieved full coverage of pediatric departments in tertiary public TCM hospitals nationwide and is conducting TCM intervention pilots for myopia, obesity, and scoliosis in children and adolescents.

Yan Huaguo (严华国), Director-General of the Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine and Ethnic Medicine of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (国家中医药局), stated that traditional Chinese medicine has been fully integrated into the Healthy China Initiative (健康中国行动), and various regions are providing TCM health services to key populations such as adolescents, women, and the elderly. Efforts are being made to improve the service capacity of TCM in the maternal and child health field, promote the establishment of eugenics clinics in secondary and higher-level TCM hospitals, and establish TCM departments in more than 1,300 maternal and child health care institutions. The construction of geriatric departments in TCM hospitals is being strengthened, and over 80% of secondary and higher-level public TCM hospitals have established geriatric departments. 128 pilot projects for elderly TCM health centers have been launched nationwide to continuously improve the regional TCM elderly health service capacity and level. Through basic public health service projects, guidance is provided to various regions to offer TCM constitution identification services and corresponding TCM health guidance to elderly people over 65 years old.

Meng Qingbin (孟庆彬), Director-General of the Department of Medical Administration of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (国家中医药局), stated that in recent years, the state has introduced a series of policies and measures to accelerate the high-quality development of county-level TCM hospitals, while also encouraging qualified county-level TCM hospitals to take the lead in establishing county medical consortia to drive the improvement of TCM service capabilities in the county.

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Photo Story

On January 31st, in Aksai (阿克塞) section of the G3011 Liuge Expressway in Aksai Kazakh Autonomous County (阿克塞哈萨克族自治县), Jiuquan City (酒泉市), Gansu Province (甘肃省), staff members were conducting snow removal operations. The Dangjin Mountains (当金山) and Qilian Mountains (祁连山区) within Aksai County (阿克塞县) have recently experienced snowfall. Transportation departments quickly dispatched snow removal vehicles to carry out snow removal work to ensure safe and smooth road traffic.

Photo by Gao Hongshan (高宏善) (Image China)

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Beijing Municipality's Regulations on Elderly Care Services to Take Effect

This newspaper's Beijing (北京) dispatch on February 1st (Reporter Shi Fang (施芳)): The "Beijing (北京市) Elderly Care Service Regulations" were approved at the Fourth Session of the Sixteenth Beijing (北京市) Municipal People's Congress and will be implemented on July 1st of this year. As Beijing's (北京市) first fundamental and comprehensive elderly care service regulation, the regulations aim to make the elderly feel comfortable, secure, and at ease, innovatively constructing a tiered and classified, universally accessible, urban and rural-covering, and sustainably developing elderly care service system, providing a solid legal guarantee for the high-quality development of elderly care services in the capital in the new era.

According to the regulations, Beijing (北京) will establish and improve a three-tiered elderly care service network consisting of district-level elderly care service guidance centers, street (township) elderly care service centers, and community (village) elderly care service stations, allowing the elderly to conveniently access professional and inclusive elderly care services near their homes. The city will also improve and refine support policies for the development of the elderly care service industry, standardize the elderly care service market order, and support various business entities to participate in elderly care services, meeting the multi-level and diversified needs for elderly care services.

Regarding institutional elderly care services, each district government in Beijing (北京) should invest in and establish at least one publicly-run elderly care institution to provide guaranteed support services for eligible elderly individuals; and encourage business entities to build fully open, fairly competitive, efficient, and standardized commercial elderly care institutions.

Regarding integrated medical and elderly care services, the city will improve the working mechanism for integrated medical and elderly care, strengthen the coordination and alignment of medical and health services with elderly care services in terms of policy systems, service systems, and business processes; support eligible elderly care institutions to legally establish internal medical institutions such as clinics and medical rooms, or establish other medical and health institutions; encourage medical and health institutions to set up medical service stations within elderly care institutions, or legally establish elderly care institutions, to provide integrated medical and elderly care services for the elderly; and include eligible elderly care institutions and their internal medical institutions in the scope of support for basic medical insurance, long-term care insurance, and other programs.

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A More Friendly City, More Accomplished Youth

By: 本报记者 黄 娴

Holding the coveted offer letter from her dream company, Yang Han (杨晗), a young person who had just arrived in Guiyang (贵阳市), Guizhou Province (贵州省) from another place, was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot: "I can't afford to stay in a hotel long-term, and I haven't found a place to rent yet. I'm new here, how am I going to settle down?"

In her anxiety, she remembered the introduction to the Guiyang Dream Station (筑梦驿站) on the "Guizhou Youth Card (贵州青年卡)" comprehensive service platform that she had just registered on her phone. She submitted an application to stay with a try-it-and-see attitude, and to her surprise, it was approved that same day, and she successfully checked into the Dream Station (Tianjiao Station) (天骄站). In the approximately 60-square-meter double apartment, there was a refrigerator, washing machine, and microwave oven. "It's free for 30 days!" The staff's enthusiastic introduction put Yang Han (杨晗) at ease.

In Guiyang (贵阳市), there are already 15 similar Dream Stations (筑梦驿站), providing more than 250 beds. Since its operation in 2019, it has provided free accommodation services to more than 5,100 young people, and according to the standard of one person staying one night, it has served a total of 76,000 person-times.

"Free accommodation" is only the first step for Guiyang (贵阳市) to attract young people. Since being selected as one of the first national pilot cities for youth development in 2022, Guiyang (贵阳市) has continuously improved youth development policies, optimized the youth development environment, and introduced 37 specific measures covering housing, education, medical care and other fields of concern to young people, realizing "one-stop online processing" for 63 high-frequency services.

Relying on the big data advantages of Guizhou Province (贵州省), the "Guizhou Youth Card (贵州青年卡)" comprehensive service platform allows young people to quickly understand employment and entrepreneurship, housing rental, education and training policies, and can also apply for various subsidies such as entrepreneurship, housing, and talent in real time. "Since its launch in 2022, the platform has served more than 4.2 million person-times," said Ao Yunfei (敖云飞), the person in charge of platform operation and maintenance.

In addition to eliminating the worries of young people, Guiyang (贵阳市) also empowers the growth of young people through offline activity spaces such as youth night schools, youth dating platforms, and youth homes.

As the lights came on, the youth night school activity room on Karst Plaza (喀斯特广场) in Guanshanhu District (观山湖区), Guiyang (贵阳市), became lively. Yang Zaili (杨再丽), a young person who had already participated in an introductory photography experience course, became a "repeat customer" and came to learn flower arrangement skills. "The 'skill points' and life experiences after work are all 'full'!" Yang Zaili's (杨再丽) face was full of anticipation.

"The youth night school is not just a simple skills training place, but also a 'gas station' for the spiritual life of young people." Pan Shiyuan (潘世远), a staff member of the youth night school, introduced that Guanshanhu District (观山湖区) alone has opened 17 youth night school campuses, offering a total of 74 courses, attracting more than 70,000 person-times to attend classes.

Creating a 15-minute living circle, improving youth living facilities; building 239 national fitness venues and facilities, with some fitness venues extending opening hours to 10 pm, covering the peak hours of fitness after work and on rest days; some activity venues adopt a flexible online appointment mechanism, implementing time-sharing appointments to facilitate young people to use them at off-peak times; Qingyun Market (青云市集), Xin Yin 1950 (新印1950), Huaxi Shizi Street (花溪十字街) and other youth-friendly blocks have become new urban trend landmarks... Guiyang (贵阳市) has taken a series of measures to make young people feel more belonging.

To retain young people, it is also necessary to ensure that young people have good development. Guiyang (贵阳) has introduced relevant policies to vigorously support young talents in innovation and entrepreneurship by building incubation bases, holding innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, and providing entrepreneurial guarantee loans, so as to realize the synchronous resonance of urban development and youth growth.

The entrepreneurial experience of Zhou Qi (周奇), general manager of Guizhou Xishan Technology Co., Ltd. (贵州溪山科技有限公司), is quite representative. After graduating from Guizhou University (贵州大学) with a master's degree, this girl from Hunan (湖南) chose to stay in Guiyang (贵阳) to develop. At the beginning of her entrepreneurship, Guiyang (贵阳市) provided full-process services such as enterprise establishment, site support, policy implementation, and resource docking, which made Zhou Qi (周奇) feel very warm. "We must seize development opportunities and grow together with this city!" She is full of confidence.

In 2025, the permanent resident population of Guiyang (贵阳市) increased by 199,600, with young people accounting for more than 60% of the new population. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Guiyang (贵阳市) issued a total of 47,900 youth talent cards, attracting approximately 570,000 college graduates to work and start businesses here.

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Macau Resident Unemployment Rate at 2.3% in Q4 2025

This newspaper reports from Macao on February 1st (Reporter: Fu Zimei (富子梅)) According to data from the Statistics and Census Service of the Macao Special Administrative Region (澳门特区统计暨普查局), the unemployment rate for local residents from October to December 2025 was 2.3%, the same as the previous period (September to November 2025). The underemployment rate for local residents remained at 2.0%. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the median monthly work income for employed local residents and the employed population was 20,000 Macao Patacas and 17,300 Macao Patacas, respectively.

The statistical scope of the employment survey covers all residential units in the Macao Peninsula (澳门半岛), Taipa (氹仔) and Coloane (路环), but excludes collective living units such as school dormitories and nursing homes. The statistical objects are people residing in the units.

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Editor in Charge for This Section: Tang Tianyi, Bai Zhenzhi, Liu Zihe

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Cherishing Wetlands: Harmony Between People and Nature (Beautiful China)

Editor's Note: February 2nd this year is the 30th World Wetlands Day, with the theme "Wetlands and Traditional Knowledge: Celebrating Cultural Heritage."

China continues to increase its efforts to protect wetlands and their ecosystems, and has made many achievements in promoting wetland protection and leveraging wetland functions, contributing Chinese strength to global wetland protection. This edition focuses on the protection and utilization of different types of wetlands, and looks at how various regions are protecting wetland ecosystems and writing new chapters in the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature.

Following the Laws of Nature, Protecting the Living Water at the Source
The Millennial Wisdom of Tianfu Source Wetland in Dujiangyan (都江堰) City, Chengdu (成都), Sichuan (四川)
By Song Haoxin (宋豪新), Reporter of this Newspaper

Before 7 a.m., as dawn was just breaking, Ren Changyun (任昌云), the Party Secretary of Baisha Community (白沙社区) in Longchi Town (龙池镇), Dujiangyan (都江堰) City, Chengdu (成都), Sichuan (四川), stepped into the Tianfu Source Wetland (天府源湿地), treading on the dew.

His rubber shoes were covered with mud. As he walked, he opened the "Park City Patrol APP" on his phone – this is his "magic weapon" for patrolling the wetland, and this year marks his twelfth year of guarding the Tianfu Source Wetland (天府源湿地).

"This wetland is an important drinking water source protection area for Chengdu (成都)." Ren Changyun (任昌云) squatted down, parted a cluster of lush green sweet flag, and ran his fingertip across the clear water surface.

The Tianfu Source Wetland (天府源湿地) is located in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River (岷江). Strengthening the biodiversity protection of this area is of great significance to the ecological security of the Minjiang River Basin (岷江流域).

In 2018, Chengdu (成都) issued an implementation plan for the wetland protection and restoration system. Everyone picked up the old method of "Linpan Wetland" (林盘湿地), re-dredging the river channels, clearing invasive alien plants, and leaving more suitable native aquatic plants. Ren Changyun (任昌云) comes here every day to learn how to protect water, how to cultivate grass, and how to make the wetland ecosystem more and more vibrant.

"Water management must follow the laws of nature, this is the concept passed down by Li Bing (李冰) and his son more than 2,000 years ago." Ren Changyun (任昌云) muttered. He had heard the story of Dujiangyan (都江堰) from his elders since he was a child, and the formula of "deeply dredge the bed, keep the weir low" (深淘滩、低作堰) was already engraved in his bones. Over the years, they have adhered to the ancient训 of "Dao follows nature" (道法自然), without engaging in large-scale transformations, only doing "repair and patch" work. Gradually, the ecology of the wetland has become better and better, and many birds and other wild animals have settled here.

Now Ren Changyun's (任昌云) wetland patrol no longer relies solely on seeing and touching. The water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and other indicators of more than 20 water quality sensors are transmitted to his mobile phone in real time. "You see this value, if it drops even a little, we have to quickly adjust the density of aquatic plants." He pointed to the curve on the screen and said, "In the past, we relied on experience to work, which was exhausting and not necessarily right; now, with traditional wisdom combined with modern technology, wetland protection is becoming more precise and efficient."

Almost at the same time as Ren Changyun (任昌云), Ms. Hao (郝女士) from Chongqing (重庆), carrying a camera, also went out and plunged into the morning mist of the Tianfu Source Wetland (天府源湿地).

"In the past, I always thought that the fame of Dujiangyan (都江堰) was just the 'Fish Mouth' (鱼嘴)." Last month, Ms. Hao (郝女士) saw a set of night scenes online – the lights sprinkled on the water surface of the wetland, the ripples rippling, and connected with the Yulei Mountain (玉垒山) in the distance to form a painting. She was moved and wanted to take a "wetland culture tracing tour."

Standing in the Tianfu Source Wetland (天府源湿地), the sound of egrets skimming over the reed marshes can be heard in the ears, and some wild ducks are slowly paddling, flapping their wings when they are excited, splashing a string of water. "I've never seen so many wild ducks before!" Ms. Hao (郝女士) smiled and pressed the shutter.

Further away is the essence irrigation area of the Tianfu Granary (天府粮仓). When spring arrives, it will be full of rapeseed flowers. Tourists can not only experience farming by stepping on the ridges, but also learn bamboo carving and wood carving from representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage.

From the millennial wisdom of Li Bing's (李冰) water management to today's ecological civilization construction, the rebirth of the Tianfu Source Wetland (天府源湿地) hides the secret of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. This wetland is not only a pure land with lush water and grass, but also a "green lung" for Chengdu (成都) to build a park city. "Protecting this wetland is protecting our living water at the source," said Ren Changyun (任昌云).

Restoring Ecological Functions, Caring for Migratory Bird Migration
The Restoration Path of the Yellow Sea Wetland in Yancheng (盐城), Jiangsu (江苏)
By Bai Guangdi (白光迪), Reporter of this Newspaper

In the early morning, the tide has not completely receded, and a thin mist slowly spreads over the tidal flats. Flocks of plovers and sandpipers gather, take a short break, and then take off following the rhythm of the tide. For them, this seemingly monotonous tidal flat is not a landscape on the journey, but a section of road that must be passed during migration.

Pan Yuan (潘源), a tourist, stood on the tidal flats of the Yellow Sea Wetland (黄海湿地) in Yancheng (盐城), Jiangsu (江苏), watching the slowly receding tide and the flying migratory birds, and exclaimed: "These birds fly from afar and stay in this wetland to rest and replenish energy. This makes me realize that wetlands are not only a part of nature, but also a station of life."

The Yellow Sea Wetland (黄海湿地) in Yancheng (盐城) is one of the largest coastal wetlands on the eastern coastline of China. Rivers entering the sea, sediment deposition, and tidal movement have shaped a natural pattern of silty mud tidal flats, salt marshes, and reed wetlands interwoven.

The uniqueness of the Yellow Sea Wetland (黄海湿地) lies in its location on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway for migratory birds. Every spring and autumn, millions of migratory birds stop here to replenish, molt, and restore their physical strength. This is an important habitat on their long migration route.

"We have found through monitoring data that the types and numbers of migratory birds are constantly increasing." Chen Juan (陈娟) is a senior engineer at the Yancheng (盐城) City Wetland and World Natural Heritage Protection and Management Center, and has been engaged in wetland ecological restoration and protection for many years. She believes that wetland protection is a long-term process that must follow natural laws rather than relying excessively on artificial intervention.

The Yellow Sea Wetland (黄海湿地) in Yancheng (盐城) has recorded more than 700 species of vertebrates, including more than 440 species of birds, including many rare and endangered species such as the spoon-billed sandpiper, red-crowned crane, Oriental white stork, and black-faced spoonbill. In 2019, the Chinese Yellow (Bohai) Sea Migratory Bird Habitat (Phase I) was successfully included in the "World Heritage List", becoming China's first coastal wetland type world heritage.

In the past few decades, due to human activities such as land reclamation and aquaculture, some areas have formed deep-water fish ponds, resulting in a single water structure in the wetland and affecting the food chain. In order to restore the ecological functions of the wetland, Yancheng (盐城) launched the "Returning Fishing to Wetland" (退渔还湿) project in 2019, which aims to gradually restore the diversity and vitality of the wetland by restoring shallow water areas, bare beaches, marshes, and open water surfaces.

The restoration of wetlands is not only ecological restoration, but also closely related to local culture and residents' lives. In Jiulongkou (九龙口) and other places, wetland restoration and traditional village protection are promoted simultaneously. The village space extends in accordance with the layout of the water system, and cultural activities are integrated into the natural environment. The wetland has not been isolated due to protection, but continues to exist as a part of people's lives and memories.

"Wetlands are not only the wealth of nature, but also become a part of local culture." Hang Haihua (杭海华), a resident of Zhenhai Neighborhood Committee (镇海居委会) in Jianggang Town (弶港镇), Dongtai (东台) City, said, "Protecting wetlands has been integrated into our daily lives." Chen Juan (陈娟) introduced that wetland protection has formed a cross-departmental and cross-field cooperation network. From the government to scientific research institutions, and then to community residents, everyone participates in wetland protection and ecological restoration. "Everyone can contribute to wetland protection, and the restoration of wetlands cannot be separated from everyone's joint efforts."

Retaining Urban Wildness, Helping Achieve a Win-Win Situation
The Cultural Inheritance of Xixi National Wetland Park (西溪国家湿地公园) in Hangzhou (杭州), Zhejiang (浙江)
By Dou Hanyang (窦瀚洋), Reporter of this Newspaper

As the Beginning of Spring approaches, migratory birds are fluttering in Xixi National Wetland Park (西溪国家湿地公园) in Hangzhou (杭州), Zhejiang (浙江). The Wang Zheng (王正) family came here specifically. By the mulberry-dike fish pond, he gave his son a nature lesson: "Mulberries feed silkworms, silkworms feed fish, and fish fertilize mulberries. This is the wisdom of the ancients."

From the low-lying wetlands on the edge of the city in the past to the current "kidney of the city," the ecological protection and development of Xixi Wetland (西溪湿地) has gone through more than 20 years. As China's first national wetland park, Xixi Wetland (西溪湿地) aims to restore the native ecosystem, pays attention to retaining the original ecological vegetation, controls the intensity of development, and explores a path to protect wetlands in densely populated areas; it has excavated and retained ecological agricultural systems with historical and cultural value such as persimmon-dike fish ponds and mulberry-dike fish ponds.

Take the common persimmon tree as an example. More than 7,000 persimmon trees were all preserved during the protection process. "The persimmon trees from my childhood are still there. I often go over to see this persimmon forest." Shen Linhai (沈林海), a former villager who moved out of Xixi Wetland (西溪湿地), said with deep emotion, "In the past, the elders always told us to leave persimmons to feed the birds. This is precisely the embodiment of respecting nature and following nature." Now, more than 2,700 mulberry-dike, persimmon-dike, and bamboo-dike fish ponds are still preserved in the wetland.

The effectiveness of ecological restoration is directly reflected in biodiversity. "A few years ago, the water level in the Lotus Beach Bird Watching Area fluctuated greatly, and there were insufficient shallow beaches." Zhang Qiaoling (张巧玲), head of the Wetland Protection Section of the Hangzhou Xixi National Wetland Park (杭州西溪国家湿地公园) Administration, introduced that in 2022, the park launched the Lotus Beach Restoration and Improvement Project, based on bird survey data and widely soliciting opinions from bird watching enthusiasts and bird experts, and implemented micro-topographic transformation, ecological island construction and vegetation restoration through sonar scanning and digital modeling.

"We made micro-modifications to the terrain to make the slope gentler, create shallow beach shorelines suitable for different waterbirds to inhabit, and also used pine wood piles to solidify the banks, restore submerged plant communities, and plant native species such as hydrilla and water lilies." Zhang Qiaoling (张巧玲) pointed to a shallow beach in the distance, "This has met the needs of various waterbirds for foraging, roosting, and breeding." Data witnessed the changes: As of the end of 2024, the number of bird species in Xixi Wetland (西溪湿地) has increased from 69 in 2005 to 224.

In March 2024, the pilot project of the China International Important Wetland Digitalization Project – the Hangzhou Xixi Wetland (杭州西溪湿地) Smart Governance Center – was put into trial operation. On the center's large screen, data such as water quality, soil, atmosphere, and biological activity jumped in real time, and the wetland's "vital signs" were clear at a glance. Yu Hui (余卉), head of the Data Resources Section of the Hangzhou Xixi National Wetland Park (杭州西溪国家湿地公园) Administration, said: "The 36 sets of intelligent sensing equipment deployed throughout the area are like nerve endings, monitoring wetland ecological indicators around the clock. Drones scan the entire area twice a month, and the interpretation accuracy of hyperspectral water quality monitoring exceeds 85%."

Sailing to the "Shili Fangfei" (十里芳菲) resort village, this is an agricultural, cultural, and tourism complex built in the wetland. "Each village has a poetic name – Qingxingdu (青荇度), Lihua Wu (梨花坞)... Tourists can get different vacation experiences in different villages, as well as special activities such as handmade zongzi, handmade sachets, and braided colorful ropes." Zhang Qiang (张强), the project leader, introduced that after the wetland protection project was launched, villagers were relocated, and now many people have returned to work and are eating "cultural tourism meals."

This "urban wildness" of Xixi Wetland (西溪湿地) receives about 5 million tourists annually, with tourism revenue of about 200 million yuan, helping to achieve a win-win situation for ecological and economic benefits.

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Let the beauty of wetlands better integrate into daily life (Quick Commentary)

By: 张一夫

In Dujiangyan (都江堰), the scientifically designed water conservancy project has nourished the land for thousands of years. In Xixi Wetland (西溪湿地), the persimmon-based fish ponds inherit the concept of "respecting nature and adapting to nature." In Yancheng (盐城) mudflats, cultural activities are integrated into the natural environment. As the "kidney of the Earth," wetlands not only paint beautiful ecological pictures, but also their traditional knowledge and wisdom still shine in today's ecological governance practices.

Protecting wetlands is not only about protecting the "scenery" of wetlands, but also about deeply understanding the "reason" of science and the "emotion" of humanity behind them. Wetlands play an important role in maintaining ecological balance, regulating climate, and conserving water sources, and are one of the most ecologically valuable ecosystems on Earth. At the same time, the beauty of wetlands is being integrated into people's daily lives, and the cultural and aesthetic values ​​contained within them are being better brought into play.

As people's understanding of wetlands continues to deepen, wetland-themed study tours, protection achievement exhibitions, and wetland knowledge entering classrooms are carried out vibrantly. More and more people are approaching wetlands, understanding wetlands, and falling in love with wetlands. These new forms allow wetlands to be reasonably utilized under the premise of protection, making them more dynamic and vibrant.

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The Outlet Section of the Yangtze River to Han River Water Diversion Project's Main Water Conveyance Line is Completed

This newspaper reported from Beijing on February 1st (Reporter Wang Hao (王浩)): This reporter learned from China South-to-North Water Diversion Group Co., Ltd. that after nearly 4 years of arduous struggle, on January 30th, the outlet section of the water conveyance trunk line of the Yangtze River to Han River Water Diversion Project was completed 4 months ahead of schedule, becoming the first completed section of the entire line, marking a key breakthrough in the construction of the national water network backbone project.

As the first section to commence construction on the entire line, the outlet section of the Yangtze River to Han River Water Diversion Project is located in Gucheng County (谷城县), Xiangyang City (襄阳市), and Danjiangkou City (丹江口市), Shiyan City (十堰市), Hubei Province (湖北省). The 5085-meter-long tunnel needs to pass through complex geology such as the Niuhe Fault (牛河断层), the Liangyun Fault Zone (两郧断裂带), and the Liujiagou Fault (刘家沟断层). The surrounding rock has poor self-stabilizing ability, the risk of mud and water inrush is high, and the shallow buried gully section and the construction under the reservoir are extremely difficult. It is one of the sections with the greatest safety risk and the most difficult construction organization on the entire line. China South-to-North Water Diversion Group Jianghan Water Network Company has created a digital twin intelligent construction center, integrating various information modules such as palm surface video monitoring, personnel and vehicle positioning, and water and rain monitoring, to achieve “一屏观全域，一网管全局” (yī píng guān quán yù, yī wǎng guǎn quán jú - "one screen views the whole area, one network manages the overall situation," to have a comprehensive view and centralized control), and promote standardized, refined management.

The Yangtze River to Han River Water Diversion Project is the first project to commence construction in the follow-up project of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, with a total length of approximately 194.7 kilometers and an average annual water transfer volume of 3.9 billion cubic meters. After the completion of the project, it can greatly improve the water supply capacity and water supply guarantee rate of the middle route phase I project, greatly improve the water resources allocation capacity of the Han River (汉江) basin and the region, and create conditions for the Han River to Wei River Water Diversion Project (引汉济渭工程) to achieve long-term water transfer scale.

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China to See Pronounced Warm and Humid Climate in 2025

This newspaper reported from Beijing on February 1st (Reporter Jiang Xuehong (蒋雪鸿)). The "China Climate Bulletin (2025)" released by the China Meteorological Administration (中国气象局) shows that in 2025, China's warm and humid climate characteristics were obvious. The national annual average temperature was 10.9 degrees Celsius, tied with 2024 as the highest in history, and the number of high-temperature days was the highest in history. From the end of June to early September, a large-scale continuous high-temperature weather process occurred in the central and eastern regions of China, ranking as the fourth strongest since 1961. The national average precipitation was 4.5% higher than normal, with frequent heavy rain processes in summer. During the "seventh and eighth months of the lunar calendar," the flood situation and disaster situation in the north were severe. The rainfall and duration of the rainy season in North China reached a record high, and the rainfall in the western Sichuan autumn rain was the highest in history. The number of typhoons generated and landed was higher than normal, with 5 consecutive typhoons landing or affecting South China in September and October. Meteorological drought was generally lighter, but regional and periodic characteristics were obvious, and continuous drought occurred in South China and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River (长江) in winter and spring. The number of cold air processes was close to normal, but the number of cold wave processes was higher than normal. The number of windy days was the highest since 1991, and the number of strong convective weather processes was lower than normal, but local disasters were severe.

In 2025, China's annual precipitation resources were higher than normal, belonging to a water-rich year. In winter, the heating energy consumption in most northern provinces was lower than the same period in previous years, and the cooling energy consumption in most parts of the country increased in summer. The national average vegetation index during the growing season was the highest in the same period since the beginning of this century, and the vegetation growth in the western part of Northeast China and the central and eastern parts of Inner Mongolia (内蒙古) was better than normal. The climate during the growing period of major grain crops was generally suitable, but the regional impact of meteorological disasters such as high temperature, drought, and rainstorms and floods was significant. Meteorological conditions led to fewer unfavorable traffic days in southeastern East China and other regions of the country were close to normal or higher than normal. The national average atmospheric self-cleaning capacity index was 2.3% higher than the average value from 2001 to 2020, and the atmospheric self-cleaning capacity was generally stronger.

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Tibet to Add 1.48 Million Mu of Afforestation in 2025

This newspaper Lhasa (拉萨), February 1st (Reporter Xu Yuyao (徐驭尧)) - The reporter learned from the Tibet Autonomous Region (西藏自治区) that in 2025, Tibet (西藏) will newly afforest 1.48 million mu, including 430,000 mu for the North-South Mountain Greening Project, restore and manage 5.17 million mu of degraded grassland, and control soil erosion on 230,000 mu.

In 2025, Tibet (西藏) will evaluate the first batch of 4A-level "Zero Waste Cities" in the autonomous region and carry out baseline surveys and trading pilots for artificial afforestation carbon sinks. The proportion of days with excellent ambient air quality in the region will remain above 99%, and the water quality compliance rate of major rivers, lakes, and drinking water sources will reach 100%. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, all seven prefecture-level cities in Tibet (西藏) will be established as national demonstration zones for ecological civilization construction.

In 2026, Tibet (西藏) will continue to deepen the implementation of the River and Lake Chief System and the Forest Chief System, implement ecological restoration projects in key areas such as the Yarlung Zangbo River (雅鲁藏布江) basin, and is expected to complete afforestation of more than 400,000 mu, including 200,000 mu for the North-South Mountain Greening Project, restore and manage 2.2 million mu of degraded grassland, control soil erosion on 250,000 mu, and implement grassland grazing prohibition and grass-livestock balance on 1 billion mu. Tibet (西藏) will continue to actively promote the creation of national parks, build the Nyingchi National Botanical Garden (林芝国家植物园), and create a Tibet Cypress Natural Protection Point. Tibet (西藏) will also carry out a five-year dynamic assessment of ecological environment zoning management and control, complete the assessment of grassland carbon sink function and research on carbon sequestration and sink enhancement models, and carry out forest and grass carbon sink project transactions.

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The number of *Glyptostrobus pensilis* returning to the wild in Guangxi exceeds 1,200.

Our Nanning, February 1st dispatch (Reporter Zhang Yunhe (张云河)) Since the "14th Five-Year Plan," Guangxi has continuously strengthened the protection of wild plants with extremely small populations, and carried out systematic rescue and protection for *Glyptostrobus pensilis*, a national first-class key protected wild plant. The number of its wild returns has exceeded 1,200, consolidating the foundation for this endangered species to get rid of the threat of extinction.

*Glyptostrobus pensilis* is an ancient relict plant that survived the Quaternary glacial period. It has extremely high scientific research and ecological value, but it has fallen into a survival crisis due to natural extinction, pest and disease infestation, and habitat destruction.

In order to protect this rare species, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Forestry Bureau (广西壮族自治区林业局) launched the "Glyptostrobus pensilis Return" rescue plan, implementing "one tree, one policy" precise rescue and rejuvenation for 7 wild mother trees. Through habitat restoration, pest and disease control, and other measures, the habitat of ancient trees has been continuously improved and revitalized. With the support of the central government's forestry and grassland ecological protection and restoration funds, the project team carried out artificial breeding research, successfully cultivated more than 3,000 *Glyptostrobus pensilis* seedlings, and after strict screening, transplanted more than 1,200 strong seedlings to areas in Nanning (南宁), Guilin (桂林), Liuzhou (柳州), and other 9 cities that are similar to the original habitat and have artificial management, realizing large-scale wild return.

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Editor(s) for this section: Zhang Ye, He Yuche, Dong Wenxin

Layout design: Zhang Fangman (张芳曼)

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Chery QQ: A "Pioneer" Exploration Breaking the Definition of "Small Car"

In 2003, Chery's first small car product, the Chery QQ (奇瑞QQ), was launched, adding a unique splash of color to the automotive market. Chery Automobile (奇瑞汽车) launched the QQ model with the aim of making automobiles transcend their transportation function, pursuing a more personalized and lifestyle-oriented expression, realizing "building cars for individuals," and breaking through the traditional definition of "small cars" in multiple dimensions such as fashion, technology, quality, and user culture through continuous innovative exploration, leaving a "pioneer" mark for car companies.

Looking back on this journey, the Chery QQ brought not only the story of a model, but also the epitome of the Chinese automobile industry's self-breakthrough, leading the trend, and forming a personalized development process. From color innovation to technology empowerment, from urban commuting to extreme challenges, the Chery QQ has demonstrated the style of a "pioneer" through repeated explorations.

01 Fashion Pioneer
Not defined by color, meeting personalized consumer demand

"Now I only wear -- QQ." This advertising slogan, which was once popular on the streets, is a vivid interpretation of the Chery QQ's first-generation model accurately meeting users' personalized consumption needs. The Chery QQ used bright colors such as lemon yellow, apple green, and sky blue, adding brightness to the automotive market, which was dominated by traditional colors such as black, white, and gray at the time; the iconic "smiling face" and shiny "big eyes" constituted the design language, giving the car warmth and emotion; the unique shape and color combination quickly became an important symbol for young consumers to express themselves and catch up with the trend.

02 Wisdom Pioneer
Not defined by trends, setting a benchmark for new technology applications

At the 2003 Guangzhou Auto Show (广州车展), Chery launched the "Talking QQ" equipped with iFlytek's (科大讯飞) "I-say" digital listening system, which integrated text reading, MP3 playback, and other functions, setting a benchmark for the application of in-vehicle entertainment and voice technology at that time. At the Chery Automobile AI Night in 2026, the newly unveiled Chery QQ3 model is equipped with a self-developed Falcon Intelligent Driving System (猎鹰智驾系统), which supports L2 and above level assisted driving and intelligent voice interaction, marking Chery's upgrade from a pioneer in the voice interaction track to an explorer in the intelligent track.

03 Quality Pioneer
Not defined by body shape, shaping reliable quality performance

In 2009, the Chery QQ successfully challenged the 318 National Highway Sichuan-Tibet Line (318国道川藏线) and climbed the snowy plateau. At a time when many people believed that small cars were only suitable for urban commuting, the Chery QQ's achievement was a milestone. Since then, the Chery QQ has repeatedly challenged Guinness World Records: in 2009, it was first certified with the "shortest front and rear distance for car drifting into a parking space"; in 2010, it achieved multi-car coordinated flying through "four-car cross-flying," further demonstrating its handling accuracy and technical performance. From 2008 to 2010, the Chery QQ won awards such as the China Association for Quality (中国质量协会) "Quality Reliable Model." The Chery QQ used its strength to break the traditional cognitive limitations of small cars, proving that small cars can also have reliable quality and performance.

04 Technology Pioneer
Not defined by imagination, promoting pragmatic frontier exploration

As early as when intelligent driving assistance was still in its infancy, Chery had already begun related technology layout. In 2016, at the World Internet Conference (世界互联网大会) held in Wuzhen (乌镇), Zhejiang (浙江), the eQ unmanned vehicle jointly developed by Chery and Baidu (百度) conducted its first open urban road trial operation in China, demonstrating the important achievements of Chery's forward-looking layout and pragmatic accumulation in the field of intelligent driving.

05 Modification Pioneer
Not defined by standards, creating "your own car" for everyone

In 2003, car modification was still a niche culture in China. Chery QQ took the lead in launching a personalized decoration competition, pushing car modification culture to the public eye. At that time, dozens of modified Chery QQs formed a motorcade and paraded the streets, becoming a beautiful urban landscape.

This attempt not only enriched the connotation of car culture, but also allowed car modification culture to go from niche to mass, lowering the threshold for modification, allowing everyone to own a unique car that belongs exclusively to them, and also allowing cars to become a carrier for car owners to express their personality, opening up a new path for the diversified development of Chinese car culture. To this day, the Chery QQ is still a personalized choice for many car modification enthusiasts.

06 Marketing Pioneer
Not defined by identity, becoming an emotional bond with users

In 2004, Chery QQ created the first national automotive brand culture festival IP -- "QQ Culture Festival" (QQ文化节), and held it for 10 consecutive sessions. From then on, Chery QQ began to create a user-centered community organization, using the name "QQ Elementary School" (QQ小学) to allow car owners to become "classmates" with each other, traveling and doing public welfare together.

From the "QQ Culture Festival" to "QQ Elementary School," Chery is committed to building an automotive culture system that transcends products, allowing the QQ brand to become a bridge connecting users, and allowing "happiness" to become the emotional label of the Chery QQ.

In the global automotive market, many small car brands carry the emotional expression of young consumers. Back then, the emergence of the Chery QQ provided young Chinese car owners with a new choice to showcase their personality and innovative expression. Over the past 23 years, the Chery QQ has had more than 1.5 million users worldwide. Now, the Chery QQ will return with a new model, which is not only the return of an old friend, but also the opening of a new experience. What kind of surprises will the new Chery QQ bring? Stay tuned.

Data source: Chery Automobile (奇瑞汽车)

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I'm back!

Some say,

Every old friend holds a segment of your life's time.

When you meet again, it's a reunion with yourself from that time.

I think,

What I've kept for you is precisely your sparkling youth.

I'm back, and the memories of that youth are back too.

February 6th, let's witness the return of youth together.

I'M BACK!

Chery QQ Night 2026.2.6 19:00

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How Foreign Cities are Building Ice and Snow Sports Venues Right at Your Doorstep (International Perspective)

By: 本报记者 莽九晨 尚凯元 李 明

During the cold winter season, many countries enter the peak season for ice and snow sports. How can ice and snow sports be made more popular and benefit more people? Cities such as Seoul (首尔), South Korea, Paris (巴黎), France, and Istanbul (伊斯坦布尔), Turkey, make full use of existing facilities to create winter sports and leisure spaces tailored to local conditions, allowing people to enjoy the fun of ice and snow sports at their doorsteps. Recently, reporters from this newspaper visited these distinctive ice and snow sports venues to learn about local beneficial practices in revitalizing space resources and promoting ice and snow sports.

Seoul (首尔), South Korea—

Municipal Plaza Transformed into a Skating Rink

Every winter, Seoul Plaza (首尔广场) in front of the Seoul (首尔) City Hall in South Korea becomes a lively outdoor skating rink, filled with laughter, as citizens fully experience the charm of ice and snow sports on the ice.

Park Han-min (朴韩敏), a South Korean university student, came to skate with friends. Although his movements were slightly awkward, his face was filled with joy. He told reporters, "This is our first time skating at Seoul Plaza (首尔广场), and the experience is very good. It is especially convenient to have such a convenient leisure and exercise venue in winter. I will come to practice often in the future."

Seoul Plaza (首尔广场) is an oval-shaped public space that usually hosts various public welfare activities such as performances and cultural exhibitions. Affected by the severe winter weather, plaza entertainment activities are relatively reduced. In order to fully activate the winter value of this core area and create a distinctive winter city brand, the Seoul (首尔) Municipal Government has paved the plaza into a temporary skating rink every winter since 2004 and customized different themes for the ice and snow season.

This year, the plaza is themed "Winter Ring" and specially invited Cha Jun-hwan (车俊焕) and other South Korean athletes who will participate in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics to come to the scene to interact with citizens face-to-face. In order to allow citizens to understand the Winter Olympic projects more intuitively, the skating rink has set up a special display area to display actual equipment for the Winter Olympics sledding projects, including luge and bobsleigh. Citizens can not only admire these sports equipment that are usually rare to see up close, but also participate in the experience and feel the unique charm of the Winter Olympic projects.

There is also a "Local Market Special Zone" around the skating rink. This year, Gunsan (群山市), Jeollabuk-do (全罗北道), is the main exhibiting city, focusing on displaying and selling local specialty agricultural products and delicacies during the operation of the skating rink. Specialties such as octopus, flower crab sauce, shrimp sauce, and cheese are dazzling. A stall owner told reporters: "After Seoul Plaza (首尔广场) was transformed into a skating rink, it attracted a large number of people. The integration model of 'ice and snow + market' has brought us more customers, and business is much better than usual."

A relevant person in charge of the Sports Policy Division of the Seoul (首尔) Municipal Government revealed that in the last ice and snow season, the Seoul Plaza (首尔广场) skating rink received a cumulative total of approximately 170,000 visitors, and it is expected that the number of visitors this season will reach 180,000 to 190,000. The person in charge said that in order to further facilitate citizens' participation in ice and snow sports in winter, Seoul (首尔) is also building outdoor sledding fields in the Han River (汉江) Park areas of Jamwon (蚕院) and Yeouido (汝矣岛). "In the future, we will continue to improve ice and snow sports infrastructure, continuously improve service levels, and attract more citizens and foreign tourists to visit Seoul (首尔) in winter to experience the winter charm of Seoul (首尔)."

Paris (巴黎), France—

Utilizing Winter Leisure Venues According to Local Conditions

This winter, many temporary skating rinks in Paris (巴黎) have been opened to the public one after another: next to the Tuileries Garden (杜乐丽花园) Christmas Market, on the city square in the La Défense (拉德芳斯) business district, in the Christmas Village in the Parc de la Villette (拉维莱特公园) in the northeast, and on the open space behind the goal at the Parc des Princes (王子公园球场) stadium, people can be seen participating in ice and snow sports everywhere. Everyone either gallops on the ice, feeling speed and passion; or gathers in groups of three or five, pushing skating chairs and chatting leisurely, enhancing communication through sports. Transforming winter leisure venues into temporary skating rinks and developing urban ice and snow sports has become a new winter fashion in Paris (巴黎).

In the André Citroën Park (安德烈·西特罗恩公园) on the east bank of the Seine (塞纳河) in Paris (巴黎), large areas of lawns for tourists to rest have entered the winter rest period. Next to the park's iconic hot air balloon facility, a temporary skating rink of approximately 600 square meters is crowded with people. Visitors in the venue are uniformly wearing blue skates, either skating smoothly or supporting each other. Around the ice rink, snack stalls selling crepes, waffles, churros, French fries, and grilled cheese are arranged in an orderly manner. In between skating, people hold hot water cups to warm up and chat. "The ice rink is not very big, but the atmosphere is very warm." Nicolas (尼古拉), a resident nearby, brought his two children to skate on the weekend. He told reporters, "The overall atmosphere here is very friendly. Adults and children can find fun, and the whole family has a very happy time."

Affected by the temperate maritime climate, the winter temperature in Paris (巴黎) is relatively mild, and the natural conditions for developing ice and snow sports are not superior. However, with the increasing maturity of industrial refrigeration technology and the vigorous rise of urban leisure culture, ice and snow sports have gradually become popular in Paris (巴黎) since the end of the 19th century. In the current context of rising energy costs and increasing environmental protection pressure, many temporary ice rinks in Paris (巴黎) have abandoned the traditional real ice model and adopted more environmentally friendly and energy-saving synthetic ice. For example, the skating rink on the roof of Galeries Lafayette (老佛爷百货) is made of high-density environmentally friendly materials, which does not require refrigeration equipment, greatly reduces energy consumption, and achieves a win-win situation for space utilization and environmental benefits.

Among the many ice rinks in Paris (巴黎), the Grand Palais (大皇宫) ice rink is the most popular. Since its first launch in 2012, the project has been deeply loved by the public. In recent years, it has become a "网红打卡地" (wǎng hóng dǎ kǎ dì - "internet celebrity check-in spot," a place that is popular on social media) on social media due to its unique landscape and atmosphere. Under the towering glass dome, the nearly 3,000-square-meter ice surface is open and flat: during the day, natural light pours down through the dome, and the ice surface is transparent and bright, reflecting the surrounding architectural landscape; at night, lights and music are intertwined, and live performances are matched with cool projection devices, turning the ice rink into a happy "ice and snow party." A staff member at the venue pointed to the long queue at the entrance and told reporters: "The Grand Palais (大皇宫) ice rink can attract approximately 300,000 visitors every season and is one of the most attractive leisure places in Paris (巴黎) in winter."

Istanbul (伊斯坦布尔), Turkey—

Free Ice Rink Cultivates the Foundation for Mass Sports

Starting from January 16, primary and secondary schools across Turkey entered a half-month winter vacation. In order to enrich the holiday life of young people, the Beyoğlu (贝伊奥卢) District Government of Istanbul (伊斯坦布尔), the country's largest city, temporarily paved a free skating rink in the open space in front of the Hasköy (哈斯科伊) Sailing School, which has become one of the most popular holiday destinations for local children.

The reporter saw at the skating rink that although the venue was temporarily paved, the facilities were complete and the management was standardized. Staff introduced that the skating rink is open to children aged 6 to 14 from 10:00 to 19:00 every day for free. In order to ensure the quality of the experience, a reservation system is implemented for each session every hour. The skating rink organizers arrange professional coaches to provide free equipment wearing guidance and basic skating teaching for children who are skating for the first time. Under the patient guidance of the coaches, the children quickly mastered the basic skills, cautiously stepped onto the ice, and felt the joy of skating in one attempt and breakthrough after another.

Coach Adair (阿代尔) is a professional skater who provides hands-on guidance to beginners in the ice rink. In between teaching, Adair (阿代尔) also presented wonderful figure skating performances for the children. The light dance and smooth skating won bursts of cheers and applause from the children. "I really enjoy being a coach here." Adair (阿代尔) told reporters, "I am very proud and satisfied to be able to share the fun of ice sports with the children and see them smile and make progress on the ice."

The Birsen (比尔森) family, who live near the venue, brought their children to skate with several neighbors. Birsen (比尔森) told reporters: "The district government transformed the winter idle space into a free skating rink, which can not only allow children to learn new skills, but also enrich their holiday life. This is undoubtedly the best winter vacation gift for the children."

This ice and snow venue built using idle space not only adds joy to the children's holidays, but also becomes an important platform for the Beyoğlu (贝伊奥卢) District to promote youth ice and snow sports. According to staff, since 2010, the district government has insisted on building free temporary skating rinks during the winter vacation, "Turning idle venues into sports paradises for young people has not only become a traditional activity for local students during the winter vacation, but also brought ice and snow sports into thousands of households."

(Reported from Seoul (首尔), Paris (巴黎), and Istanbul (伊斯坦布尔) on February 1)

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The Voice of Justice Must Echo Forever (Global Commentary)

By: 刘文璋

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the opening of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. On May 3, 1946, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, with the participation of 11 countries including China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, opened in Tokyo, historically known as the "Tokyo Tribunal." This unprecedented event in human history was not only a just reckoning of the Japanese militarists' crimes of aggression but also an important effort to build a peaceful world for the future.

The former site of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East is located within the Ministry of Defense of Japan (日本防卫省). As part of the Ministry of Defense's public open visitation area, it receives visitors. This building, engraved with the memory of humanity's just trial, should have become an important place to warn future generations and safeguard peace. However, when the author walked into the former site with the intention of tracing historical imprints, I truly felt the strong contrast between the heaviness of history and the flippancy of reality in the "蛛丝马迹".

When the author entered the exhibition hall, the docent only briefly indicated the positions of the judges' seats, the speaker's platform, and the press seats at that time, and did not mention a word about how the Tokyo Tribunal systematically revealed the Japanese militarists' heinous crimes of planning aggression and harming the people of various countries, or the far-reaching significance of the just trial. Many Japanese visitors stopped to watch in front of the display cabinets displaying wartime items such as Japanese military uniforms and sabers, but few people were interested in the display cabinets in the corner that recorded the core historical materials of the trial, and it was explicitly forbidden to take pictures. Some visitors checked in at the speaker's platform, and the docent "kindly" reminded: "Please squat down a little, they were speaking while sitting at the time," completely ignoring the historical pain and righteous dignity carried by this space.

The seats of the panel of judges composed of 11 countries were not restored and displayed, but the national flags behind them were preserved, and cards in front of the national flags introduced the information of the judges of each country. The author found the name of Mr. Mei Ru'ao (梅汝璈) , the Chinese judge, among them. At this moment, the historical picture seemed to reappear clearly. At the beginning of the formation of the court, Australian President Webb (韦伯) announced that the Chinese judge's seat would be placed after the British judge. The order of seats was related to the importance of the right to speak. In order to defend national dignity, Mr. Mei Ru'ao argued on the basis of reason, emphasizing that China was the country that suffered the deepest from Japanese aggression, had the longest resistance, and made the greatest sacrifices. Finally, all the judges voted and agreed to Mei Ru'ao's proposal that the order of the judges' seats should be arranged according to the order in which the defeated countries signed when Japan surrendered. Behind Mr. Mei Ru'ao's argument on the basis of reason was the deep suffering of China's more than half a century of Japanese aggression, the huge sacrifices of tens of millions of compatriots, and the urgent expectation of hundreds of millions of Chinese people for justice.

From May 3, 1946, to November 12, 1948, the judges of 11 countries went through two and a half years of trials, using a large amount of irrefutable evidence to clarify the crimes of Japan's launching of the war of aggression, and exposed the sophistry of war criminals such as Hideki Tojo (东条英机) one by one. Among the more than 10 trial photos displayed in the hall, Hideki Tojo's close-up was dignified, which was a true portrayal of his unscrupulous sophistry back then. The judge refuted his sophistry with conclusive facts and sentenced him to death. The court's guilty verdict against the Japanese defendants became a landmark voice in human history of justice prevailing over evil, and it will always reverberate.

Today, the justice and legitimacy of this trial, which concerns human conscience and historical justice, is being deliberately weakened by some forces in Japan. At the former site of the court, the core narrative of the history of aggression has given way to the curious display of military supplies, the crimes of war criminals have been blurred, and historical warnings have been eliminated. This phenomenon is by no means accidental, but a microcosm of the rise of Japanese historical revisionism. In recent years, the Japanese right wing has continuously questioned the Tokyo Tribunal, attempting to deny, downplay, or even beautify the history of aggression. All kinds of negative trends can be seen in the "avoiding the important and dwelling on the trivial" of the old site exhibition, the essence of which is a desecration of the victims of the war, a trampling on the dignity of international law, and a potential threat to peace and stability.

History is the best textbook and the best sobering agent. The former site of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East should not become a "check-in place" that has lost its soul, let alone be reduced to a "fig leaf" for historical revisionism. The international community should jointly defend the achievements of World War II, remember the just verdict of the Tokyo Tribunal, urge Japan to face up to history and deeply reflect on it, and stop any acts of beautifying aggression and distorting history. Only by facing up to history can we gain respect; only by learning from history can we create the future; only by not forgetting the past can we prevent ourselves from going astray again.

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Global Scan

Hamas: Setting Obstacles to Opening the Rafah Crossing Will Violate the Gaza Ceasefire Agreement

According to Xinhua News Agency, Gaza, February 1 (Reporters Huang Zemin (黄泽民) and Zhao Weihong (赵伟宏)) - Hazem Qassem (哈齐姆·卡西姆), a spokesman for the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas (哈马斯)), issued a statement on February 1 saying that if Israel sets any obstacles or additional conditions to opening the Rafah crossing (拉法口岸), it will violate the Gaza ceasefire agreement. The statement called on the Gaza ceasefire mediators and guarantors to monitor Israel's actions at the Rafah crossing to prevent the Gaza Strip from falling into a new blockade.

According to Israeli media reports on February 1, the Rafah crossing began a one-day "pilot opening" that day, and the crossing will be officially opened on the 2nd. The Gaza Strip government media office issued a statement on February 1 saying that the operating mechanism of the Rafah crossing is still uncertain, and the first phase of the Rafah crossing opening is expected to allow the passage of the sick and wounded.

Germany's Unemployment Figures Exceed 3 Million in January, a 12-Year High

According to Xinhua News Agency, Berlin, January 31 (Reporters Li Hanlin (李函林) and Che Yunlong (车云龙)) - Data released by the German Federal Labor Agency (德国联邦劳工局) on January 30 showed that the number of registered unemployed in Germany reached 3.085 million in January this year, an increase of 177,000 from the previous month, a 12-year high. In that month, Germany's unemployment rate rose to 6.6%.

German Chancellor Merz (默茨) said on social media X that the unemployment rate exceeding 3 million is a warning sign, and the bankruptcy of companies deserves attention. He pointed out that the German government has introduced a number of economic support measures, but the effect is still not obvious, and "economic recovery must become the core issue this year."

Andrea Nahles (安德烈娅·纳勒斯), Director of the German Federal Labor Agency, said that the overall momentum of the German labor market is currently insufficient. The increase in the number of unemployed at the beginning of the year is mainly affected by seasonal factors. Promoting the stabilization and recovery of key areas such as industry and trade as soon as possible this year is still a top priority.

Pakistani Military Kills 92 Terrorists in Balochistan Province

According to Xinhua News Agency, Islamabad, January 31 (Reporter Tang Binhui (唐斌辉)) - The Pakistani Inter-Services Public Relations (巴基斯坦三军新闻局) issued a statement on January 31 saying that Pakistani security forces killed a total of 92 terrorists in Balochistan Province (俾路支省) in the southwest of the country that day.

The statement said that terrorists launched multiple terrorist attacks in Quetta (奎达), Mastung (默斯东), Kharan (哈兰), Gwadar (瓜达尔), and Pasni (伯斯尼) in Balochistan Province that day. The attacks on Gwadar and Kharan caused 18 civilian deaths.

Gas Leakage Caused Explosion in Residential Building in Bandar Abbas, Iran

According to Xinhua News Agency, Tehran, January 31 (Reporters Chen Xiao (陈霄) and Sha Dati (沙达提)) - Iran's Tasnim News Agency (塔斯尼姆通讯社) quoted fire department sources on January 31 as reporting that the explosion in a residential building in Bandar Abbas (阿巴斯港) in southern Iran that day was caused by a gas leak.

Amin Liakat (阿明·利亚卡特), director of the Bandar Abbas Fire Department, said that at 13:58 local time, the fire department received a report of an explosion accident, and fire and rescue forces rushed to the scene to deal with it. All the injured in the accident have been rescued. Preliminary investigation confirmed that the cause of the explosion was a gas leak. According to the latest statistics, the accident caused 1 death and 14 injuries. The victim was a 4-year-old girl.

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US and Iran at loggerheads, negotiation prospects not optimistic

By: 本报记者 赵益普 张志文

U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News on January 31 that Iran is negotiating with the United States, hoping to reach a "satisfactory" agreement acceptable to both sides to ensure that Iran does not possess nuclear weapons. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (佩泽希齐扬) said on the same day that for Iran, resolving differences through diplomatic means has always been a priority, and "war is not in the interest of Iran, nor in the interest of the United States and the entire region." International public opinion believes that both the United States and Iran currently have the willingness to negotiate, but the United States' "asking price" is too high, the outcome of the negotiations is not optimistic, and the shadow of war still looms.

According to a statement issued by the Iranian Presidential Office on January 31, Raisi (佩泽希齐扬) made the above statement in a telephone call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (塞西). Raisi (佩泽希齐扬) said that the United States and Israel are escalating their confrontation with Iran, while Iran insists on conducting dignified diplomacy "on the premise of equality and away from threats." Sisi (塞西) said that Egypt will continue to actively promote the return of the United States and Iran to the negotiating track, seeking a peaceful and comprehensive political solution to the Iranian nuclear issue in order to promote regional and international stability.

Recently, the United States has continued to put pressure on Iran, deploying multiple warships, including aircraft carriers, in the Middle East and threatening military intervention. According to a statement previously released by the U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for U.S. military operations in the Middle East, the U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "Abraham Lincoln" has been dispatched to the Middle East. The "Lincoln" is one of the largest warships in the U.S. Navy and can carry more than 65 aircraft and multiple missile launchers. According to Al Jazeera, the combat formation composed of the "Lincoln" aircraft carrier and other ships may be as high as 6,000 to 7,000 people, and the U.S. military has a cumulative garrison of up to 40,000 people in Middle Eastern countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The BBC reported that the United States has deployed at least 10 warships in the Middle East.

Faced with the expanding U.S. military presence in the Middle East, the Iranian government and military have responded strongly. Iran's Press TV reported on January 29 that the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy will conduct live-fire exercises in the Strait of Hormuz from February 1 to 2. U.S. Central Command issued a statement on January 30 stating that the U.S. will not tolerate Iran's "unsafe behavior" in the Strait of Hormuz, such as flying over U.S. warships or Iranian speedboats approaching U.S. warships head-on, and hopes that Iran will conduct exercises in a safe and professional manner to avoid unnecessary risks. Iranian Army Commander-in-Chief Abdolrahim Mousavi (哈塔米) warned the United States and Israel not to launch attacks, saying that the Iranian army is on high alert and "will not compromise," and is currently in a "state of full defense and military readiness." Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (哈梅内伊) warned on February 1 that if the United States provokes a war, "it will be a regional war."

In addition to militarily responding to U.S. threats of force, Iran is also actively seeking diplomatic means to ease the situation. A statement issued by the Iranian Presidential Office on January 30 showed that Raisi (佩泽希齐扬) spoke by phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (埃尔多安) and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (穆罕默德) on the same day to exchange views on the latest situation in the region. According to a statement issued by the Qatari Foreign Ministry on January 31, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani (穆罕默德) said during his visit to Iran on the same day that Qatar supports easing the situation and enhancing regional security and stability through peaceful means. Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman (穆罕默德) also said on January 27 that Saudi Arabia believes that any acts of aggression, threats, and creation of tension against Iran are unacceptable, and Saudi Arabia is willing to carry out all necessary cooperation with Iran and other countries in the region to promote lasting peace and security.

Mohammad Reza Moradi (穆罕默德·礼萨·莫拉迪), director of the international department of Iran's Mehr News Agency, told this reporter that under the current situation, all parties are actively seeking to mediate between Iran and the United States, and the security of all parties in the region will be threatened once a war breaks out. For Iran, any negotiations or diplomatic solutions must fully respect and guarantee all of Iran's rights. Tehran is now ready to launch fair negotiations aimed at achieving national interests. Muhammad Asif Noor (穆罕默德·阿西夫·努尔), director of the Islamabad Institute for Peace and Diplomatic Studies in Pakistan, told this reporter that the United States and Iran need to first dispel the clouds of war and seek solutions through peaceful dialogue with the assistance of the international community.

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Editor in Charge for This Edition: Zhang Mengxu, Yue Linwei, Liu Gang

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Landscape in Painting, Harmony in All Things (China Seen by China)

Green development is a distinct feature of Chinese-style modernization. One of the main goals of China's economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period is to achieve new and significant progress in the construction of a Beautiful China. In recent years, an increasing number of foreign friends have used their cameras to record the stories of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature on this land, and to record the Chinese landscape of bluer skies, greener mountains, clearer waters, and a more beautiful environment.

(Text for this edition was compiled and edited by Bai Ziwei (白紫微), Liu Junguo (刘军国), Wang Yunna (王云娜), and Li Rui (李蕊), reporters from this newspaper.)

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This edition's editors: Hou Lulu, Bai Ziwei

Layout design: Cai Huawei (蔡华伟)

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Promoting Fairness and Development by Regulating Tax Incentives (Economic View)

By: 王 观

Recently, significant adjustments have been made to the tax rules for the aesthetic medicine industry. According to the value-added tax law and its implementation regulations implemented this year, "medical services provided by medical institutions" are exempt from value-added tax, but the definition of "medical institutions" explicitly "does not include for-profit cosmetic medical institutions." In other words, starting this year, any for-profit cosmetic medical institution will no longer enjoy the preferential policy of exemption from value-added tax.

Relying on its status as a "medical institution," the aesthetic medicine industry has enjoyed value-added tax exemption policies since its early stages of development, achieving tax burden reduction and promoting industry growth. With the rapid development of the aesthetic medicine industry and the gradual increase in marketization, more and more aesthetic medicine projects are becoming for-profit and commercialized. Exempting medical services provided by medical institutions from value-added tax was originally intended by the state to reduce the cost of medical treatment for the general public through tax exemptions. However, medical aesthetics now belong more to high-end consumption and self-pleasing consumption and do not have the attribute of "basic medical security." It is reasonable to abolish the value-added tax exemption and avoid unfair competition.

The fact that for-profit cosmetic medical institutions are no longer exempt from value-added tax is an important manifestation of implementing the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference's proposal to "standardize tax incentives." As an important means of national macro-control, tax incentive policies play an important role in stimulating the vitality of business entities and promoting high-quality economic development. Promoting the shift of large-scale, universal tax incentives implemented in recent years to a more precise and standardized direction not only meets the current development needs of precise policy implementation and quality and efficiency improvement but also helps improve the efficiency of fiscal fund use and avoid the fiscal sustainability pressure caused by excessively large tax incentives.

Promoting fairness through "standardization" requires timely clearing of outdated preferential policies. Recently, the "shoe has dropped" for the cancellation of export tax rebates for photovoltaic, battery, and other products—since April 1 this year, value-added tax export tax rebates for photovoltaic and other products have been canceled, and value-added tax export tax rebates for battery products will also be canceled in stages. No longer supporting these two types of industries through export tax rebates may bring challenges to related industries in the short term, but in the long run, it will help improve the domestic industrial pattern, reduce "involutionary" competition, promote the gradual transformation of industries to high-end, and enhance international competitiveness. The key to "standardization" is "focus." Only by freeing up tax incentive resources from "sprinkling pepper" and "involutionary" investment promotion can we better guide the agglomeration of capital, technology, talent, and other factors and accurately invest them in key areas and crucial links such as expanding domestic demand, technological innovation, and people's livelihood security, so that money is used where it is most needed.

To seek development through "standardization," it is also necessary to promote the quality and efficiency of structural tax reduction and fee reduction policies. Since the beginning of the year, there have been continuous favorable tax incentives related to residents' home purchases. For example, individuals who sell housing purchased for 2 years or more are exempt from value-added tax; the policy of supporting residents' housing exchange related to individual income tax is continued. Making good use of these tax incentive policies directly related to "housing" can effectively reduce transaction costs, promote market activity, and significantly release residents' potential housing demand. The connotation of "standardization" is not just "clearing"; it is equally important to "continue," "consolidate," or "optimize" reasonable tax incentive policies. Among them, it can be a precise increase in support for key areas and directions, such as classifying and upgrading the R&D expense deduction policy by industry, or it can be transforming scientific and effective short-term policies into long-term institutional arrangements, such as upgrading the mature value-added tax refund policy to a long-term and stable legal system, thereby consolidating the achievements of structural tax reduction and fee reduction policies and further improving the pertinence and effectiveness of policies.

Standardizing tax incentives is a reform task with overall and fundamental significance. Relevant departments should also further improve the tax policy effect evaluation mechanism, conduct a comprehensive and systematic evaluation of existing tax incentive policies, and make timely and scientific adjustments to achieve dynamic management of "advancement and retreat." At the same time, tax incentive policies should be included in the consistency evaluation of macroeconomic policy orientation and form a synergistic effect with fiscal, monetary, industrial, and other policies to give greater effect to tax incentive policies.
Xi Jinping (习近平)
Beijing (北京)
Ministry of State Security (国安部)
Central Propaganda Department (中宣部)
Zhaoxing Dong Village (肇兴侗寨)

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Decoding the New Math of National Subsidies: A Deep Dive from an Appliance Retailer (Financial In-Depth)

By: 本报记者 沈靖然

On January 1, 2026, at 9:30 AM, in front of the cashier at Chongqing Jingdong MALL Yangjiaping Store (重庆京东MALL杨家坪店), the UnionPay (云闪付) system interface promptly displayed the national subsidy settlement option. Store manager Dai Lei (代磊) breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the first customer successfully purchase an iQOO15 mobile phone using the newly received subsidy coupon.

"From the introduction of the national policy to its implementation in the market, the government and enterprises have done a lot of preparation behind the scenes," said Dai Lei (代磊). This Jingdong MALL (京东MALL) has become one of the front-line observation posts for the implementation of national consumption-boosting policies.

This was the first day of the implementation of the 2026 national subsidy policy. At noon on December 31, 2025, five departments, including the Ministry of Commerce (商务部), issued the "Notice on Doing a Good Job in the 2026 Trade-in of Home Appliances and Subsidies for the Purchase of New Digital and Smart Products" (关于做好2026年家电以旧换新、数码和智能产品购新补贴工作的通知) (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice" (《通知》)). That evening, the implementation rules of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce (重庆市商务委员会) followed closely, making Chongqing (重庆) one of the first cities in the country to implement the national subsidy implementation rules.

This new national subsidy account is not only calculated quickly but also accurately.

With increases and decreases, the policy focuses precisely.

Reviewing the 2026 national subsidy policy, the changes are obvious.

From the perspective of categories, last year's national subsidy policy involved 12 categories, while this year's home appliance sector focuses on 6: televisions, refrigerators, water heaters, computers, washing machines, and air conditioners.

This precision is directly reflected in the increase in energy efficiency thresholds. The 2025 subsidy range included second-level energy efficiency products, while 2026 has drawn a hard line: only products that meet first-level energy efficiency or water efficiency standards are subsidized. This means that national financial funds will flow more centrally to green and low-carbon products.

"The subsidy standard has also been reduced from 20% last year to 15%, and the upper limit of the subsidy for a single home appliance has been adjusted from 2,000 yuan to 1,500 yuan," introduced Chen Shuo (陈朔), director of the Consumption Promotion Department of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce (重庆市商务委消费促进处). The apparent "retreat" in intensity is actually a "climb" in efficiency. After experiencing an explosive growth in sales of trade-in related commodities exceeding 2.6 trillion yuan in 2025, the 2026 policy emphasizes the marginal utility of financial funds, intending to spend money where it counts, screening out true rigid demand and improvement-oriented demand.

The new policy is not just about making subtractions. In the field of digital and smart products, the policy keenly captures emerging consumer demand. Smart glasses are clearly included in the subsidy range, enjoying a 15% subsidy standard.

The rapid implementation of the policy at the local level stems from sufficient prior coordination. "Starting in early December 2025, in order to prepare for the 2026 national subsidy, we fully communicated with relevant home appliance companies and stores, and held five or six large and small symposiums," said Chen Shuo (陈朔).

In early December 2025, a symposium was held in the conference room of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce (重庆市商务委). The commerce department set up a table to listen to opinions, and the scene immediately became lively. The market is full of expectations for the new round of national subsidies, but it is also mixed with anxiety - with the arrival of national subsidies, how should the market price for the new year be determined?

"In principle, prices can only decrease, not increase. 'Raising prices first and then subsidizing' or 'maliciously obtaining subsidies' is not advisable," the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce (重庆市商务委) made it clear.

"But what if companies do encounter a substantial increase in raw material costs, or a very small number of industry-wide price adjustments?" Some company representatives said that in the home appliance industry, cost fluctuations often affect the whole body.

"In this regard, we must strictly follow the policy spirit of the relevant national departments. If this is indeed the case, the company headquarters must stamp the document and provide proof of raw material price increases before applying to increase the record price," the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce (重庆市商务委) gave a "record price" plan. This "headquarters endorsement" plan increases the cost of illegal price increases and is an exploration to find a balance between protecting consumer rights and respecting market rules.

The policy, from game to consensus to implementation, is a race against time.

At noon on December 31, 2025, the "Notice" (《通知》) was officially issued. Due to sufficient prior preparation, the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce (重庆市商务委) came up with a mature implementation plan that afternoon, completing the approval process from the department to the city leaders in half a day.

At the same time, the conference room of Jingdong MALL Yangjiaping Store (京东MALL杨家坪店) was brightly lit. Dai Lei (代磊) was conducting the final pre-war training with his employees. Since December 20, they have launched a special guarantee plan, the core task of which is to ensure that every front-line employee is prepared for the new national subsidy policy.

The docking test of the cashier system, the re-sorting of thousands of SKUs, and the one-by-one verification of energy efficiency labels... In Jingdong MALL Yangjiaping Store (京东MALL杨家坪店), all this must be completed before January 1. On the evening of December 31, 2025, the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce (重庆市商务委) issued the "Notice on the Implementation of the 2026 Trade-in of Home Appliances and Subsidies for the Purchase of New Digital and Smart Products Policy" (关于实施2026年家电以旧换新、数码和智能产品购新补贴政策的通知), which will be implemented from January 1, 2026.

At this moment, the "macro hand" of policy and the "micro end" of the market are tightly held together.

Dynamic adjustment, the policy takes small steps quickly.

At the beginning of the new year, the national subsidy policy was sought after by consumers, and the number of visitors to Jingdong MALL Yangjiaping Store (京东MALL杨家坪店) doubled.

The popularity of the opening was expected, but the subtle changes in the data still made the government departments keenly aware of the problem.

On January 4, only 3 days after the policy was implemented, the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce (重庆市商务委) held another symposium in the conference room. The data on the table showed that consumers were extremely enthusiastic about receiving coupons, and the number of qualification coupon applications showed explosive growth, but the verification rate did not meet expectations. A large amount of financial subsidy was "locked" by coupons that had been received but not used, causing a "liquidity obstruction" in the fund pool.

"Many consumers have the mentality of 'receiving it first and then deciding', receiving the coupon but not thinking about what to buy. According to the current regulations, this coupon is valid for up to 7 days, which means that this subsidy fund will sleep on the books for a week," Dai Lei (代磊) reported the real embarrassment of the store front line to the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce (重庆市商务委) at the symposium: some customers came to the store to buy, but found that the quota had been snatched up; and a large number of people holding the quota may not have entered the store at this moment.

This "occupying pit" phenomenon not only reduces the turnover efficiency of financial funds but also breeds the risk of "scalpers" hoarding qualification coupons for resale.

"The two months before the Spring Festival are often the golden time for home appliance sales, accounting for 1/4 of the annual sales. If the national subsidy quota is sufficient, it may be possible to open up the policy and allow more consumers to enjoy the national subsidy," said Zhao Lei (赵雷), general manager of Haier Smart Home Chongqing Company (海尔智家重庆公司).

After the symposium, the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce (重庆市商务委) quickly launched a policy fine-tuning. After stress testing and system upgrades, on January 5, the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce (重庆市商务委) promptly issued a new notice: from January 9, the application and verification rules for qualification coupons will be adjusted from "once a week" to "once a day", and the validity period will also be changed from one week to valid on the same day.

The market quickly gave positive feedback. "The original 7-day long cycle has become a 24-hour short cycle, and the 'turnover rate' of funds has instantly increased," Dai Lei (代磊) clearly felt the change. After consumers arrive at the store, they can scan the code to receive the coupon and use it immediately, "allowing people with real consumption intentions to enter the market at any time."

According to data from the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce (重庆市商务委), from January 1 to 18, more than 240,000 transactions of home appliances and digital products occurred in the city, enjoying government subsidies of more than 120 million yuan, directly driving sales of related products of nearly 1 billion yuan.

Financial subsidies are a powerful lever to stimulate consumption, and financial instruments are the key fulcrum to maintain the stability of the lever. During the window period from the application to the implementation of national subsidy funds, how to alleviate the pressure on merchants to advance funds has become an important part of improving policy effectiveness.

"Let financial services and financial funds 'move forward in unison' to smooth the funding cycle and truly realize the 'dual-wheel drive' of policy to boost consumption. To this end, the Chongqing Branch of the People's Bank of China (中国人民银行重庆市分行) has jointly exerted the synergy of fiscal and financial policies with the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce (重庆市商务委), the Municipal Finance Bureau (市财政局) and other relevant departments," said Zhu Lanlan (朱蓝澜), deputy director of the Credit Policy Management Department of the Chongqing Branch of the People's Bank of China (中国人民银行重庆市分行信贷政策管理处), revealing the key to policy coordination.

In response to the cash flow pressure during the merchant's funding period, financial institutions followed up in a timely manner. By superimposing policy dividends such as consumer loan interest subsidies, service consumption and re-lending for elderly care, financial support effectively smoothed the business fluctuations of enterprises before the subsidy funds arrived. Minsheng Bank Chongqing Branch (民生银行重庆分行) launched the city's first "National Subsidy Loan" product, providing merchants with an integrated service solution of "account + settlement + payment + financing", including a credit line of 3 million yuan for a national subsidy authorized distributor of electronic products in Chongqing (重庆市).

Green, intelligent, driving consumption upgrades.

As the Spring Festival approaches, the flow of people in Jingdong MALL Yangjiaping Store (京东MALL杨家坪店) has reached its peak.

In the smart device area on the second floor, the voice of digital product specialist Deng Long (邓龙) is already a little hoarse. He just sent away a group of young customers and welcomed a middle-aged man, Mr. Liu (刘先生).

Mr. Liu (刘先生) is interested in a Thunderbird smart glasses. "The original price of this glasses is 1299 yuan, and the exclusive price we offer in the store is 1100 yuan," Deng Long (邓龙) skillfully calculated, "On this basis, you can use the national subsidy qualification coupon you received through UnionPay (云闪付) to enjoy a 15% instant discount, and the final price is only 935 yuan."

The price of less than 1,000 yuan made Mr. Liu (刘先生) no longer hesitate and placed an order on the spot. Deng Long (邓龙) then took out his mobile phone and taught Mr. Liu (刘先生) how to open the UnionPay (云闪付) APP and receive the qualification coupon for the day.

"In the past, national subsidies mainly focused on large appliances, but this year's coverage of more smart hardware has indeed hit the nail on the head," Deng Long (邓龙) said that some smart glasses with real-time translation and navigation functions have become popular "New Year's goods". Just the other day, a young man came to the store specifically to buy a pair for his retired father who loves to travel, "The old man doesn't understand foreign languages, and these glasses can also translate in real time. I used to think it was expensive, but now the national subsidy saves nearly 400 yuan, and young people feel more relaxed about fulfilling their filial piety."

Deng Long (邓龙) told reporters that before the implementation of the national subsidy, he received an average of a dozen customers a day; and now, this number is stable at more than 30. Data shows that since New Year's Day, the sales of smart products in the store have increased by more than 85% month-on-month, and the increase in emerging categories such as smart glasses is as high as 150%.

Tang Lijie (唐黎杰), the leader of the ice washing section group in the store, clearly felt that consumers' focus has changed. "In the past, they would ask which one is the cheapest when they entered the door, but now they look at the energy efficiency label first and ask if it is first-level energy efficiency," Tang Lijie (唐黎杰) said that the 2026 new policy eliminated second-level energy efficiency products, and this "green threshold" has forced the sales of high-quality home appliances.

In front of the cashier, Tang Lijie (唐黎杰) is helping Ms. Jiang (蒋女士)'s family calculate a complex "big order". Ms. Jiang (蒋女士)'s new home is being renovated, and she has taken a fancy to a set of three washing machines, dryers and refrigerators in one go.

"We have to calculate this bill carefully, because it involves policy superposition," Tang Lijie (唐黎杰) took a pen and broke it down on paper, the original price of the three-piece set was 28,900 yuan, and the national subsidy, store set purchase subsidy, and financial institution full reduction subsidy could save 4,910 yuan.

"Every penny is saved clearly," Ms. Jiang (蒋女士) looked at the final number and paid with satisfaction.

"Don't think that subsidies are just for selling cheap goods. On the contrary, national subsidies are strongly driving consumption upgrades," Dai Lei (代磊) introduced that compared with 2024, the average transaction amount per order in Jingdong MALL Yangjiaping Store (京东MALL杨家坪店) has increased by more than 40%. Compared with December last year, the store's sales in January this year increased by more than 30%.

"The increase in the average transaction price shows that consumers are not 'picking up cheap goods', but 'buying good goods'," Dai Lei (代磊) believes that the policy limits first-level energy efficiency and smart products, which is actually the country helping consumers screen high-quality products. Subsidies smooth out the price difference between high-end green home appliances and ordinary home appliances, allowing consumers to dare to buy good products that they used to "dislike for being expensive".

In Dai Lei (代磊)'s view, the 2026 national subsidy new policy is transforming to "structural optimization". Looking at the endless stream of customers, Dai Lei (代磊) is full of confidence in the future. As the Spring Festival approaches, he expects that the peak of this "green consumption" has just begun.

A more high-end, smarter, and greener domestic demand market is gradually taking shape.

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How to Understand Structural "Interest Rate Cuts"? (Financial Tea House)

By: 盛松成

At a press conference held by the State Council Information Office (国务院新闻办) on January 15th, the People's Bank of China (中国人民银行) announced incremental policy measures to support the high-quality development of the real economy through monetary and financial policies, including guiding financial institutions to reduce financing costs for key areas of the real economy, with structural "interest rate cuts" and the expansion of targeted instruments as the core. The central bank's reduction of interest rates on structural monetary policy tools is significantly different from a typical interest rate cut, but in terms of the policy support needed for the current economic situation, it is more precise and appropriate.

China's structural monetary policy tools are instruments used by the central bank to guide the credit allocation of financial institutions, playing a role in precise drip irrigation and leverage. By providing re-lending or financial incentives, they support financial institutions in increasing credit to specific areas and industries, and promote the reduction of corporate financing costs. On the one hand, structural monetary policy tools link central bank funds with financial institutions' credit allocation to specific areas and industries; on the other hand, structural monetary policy tools also have a certain basic monetary issuance function.

China's standing structural monetary policy tools include re-lending for agriculture and small businesses, and re-discounting. The central bank announced the establishment of a re-lending facility for private enterprises under the re-lending program for agriculture and small businesses, with a quota of 1 trillion yuan, to guide local legal person financial institutions to increase support for private small and micro enterprises. Supporting technological innovation and green transformation is also a key area for the use of China's structural monetary policy tools. The central bank will increase the re-lending quota for technological innovation and technological transformation by 400 billion yuan to 1.2 trillion yuan, and include private small and medium-sized enterprises with high R&D investment levels in the policy support area, reflecting a clear policy orientation of supporting green development and technological innovation.

According to traditional theory and the operations of various countries, monetary policy is basically a tool for aggregate control, but for a long time in China, monetary policy has actually been a combination of aggregate control and structural control. Especially in recent years, China's structural monetary policy tools have been continuously innovated and played an important role, and are an effective means to support weak links and key areas of the economy and promote high-quality economic development.

In the application of structural monetary policy tools, we generally pay more attention to the incentive effect on specific areas. Among them, there are both "quantity" injections and "price" incentives. In the past, we guided the direction of bank credit allocation more through adjusting quotas, from the "quantity" aspect, while the recent reduction of interest rates on structural monetary policy tools mainly strengthens the incentives for financial institutions to support key areas and weak links from the "price" aspect.

There are still many old problems and new challenges in China's economic development, which require structural policies to play a role. On the one hand, fiscal policy can directly intervene in economic activities to promote structural adjustment of the economy; on the other hand, structural monetary policy, by increasing incentives for commercial banks, also helps to enhance the effectiveness of fiscal policy implementation, play a role in policy integration, and stimulate endogenous economic growth.

It is worth pointing out that the central bank provides low-cost funds to commercial banks through structural monetary policy tools, which is actually the central bank "conceding profits" to commercial banks, rather than guiding market interest rates downward in the general sense. There is an essential difference between the two.

Currently, the net interest margin of commercial banks remains at a historical low. The financial sector needs to strike a balance between supporting the real economy and maintaining its own health, which is also one of the considerations for the central bank to choose to reduce the interest rates on structural monetary policy tools. As for the effect of the decline in interest rates on structural monetary policy tools being transmitted to terminal interest rates, it mainly depends on market supply and demand. Monetary policy is often "**有效而有限**" (yǒu xiào ér yǒu xiàn - "effective but limited," monetary policy can be effective but its effects are not unlimited), and generally plays an indirect role. Its implementation effect is influenced by market feedback to a considerable extent, including the cooperation of enterprises and residents, commercial banks, and the entire financial system.

As the toolbox of monetary policy becomes increasingly rich, the central bank can more effectively smooth out short-term market fluctuations, and "small steps" in monetary policy have become a norm. Of course, in the case of a large liquidity gap, measures such as reserve requirement ratio cuts and interest rate cuts are still needed to support it. Considering the coordination of monetary policy and fiscal policy, and the limited interest rate elasticity of consumption and investment in China, the adaptability of reserve requirement ratio cuts may be better than interest rate cuts. In the future, the internal and external constraints faced by monetary policy are expected to be further alleviated, and there is still room for reserve requirement ratio cuts and interest rate cuts in China, but it is necessary to wait for a more favorable time.

(The author is a professor at China Europe International Business School (中欧国际工商学院) and Dean of the China Chief Economist Forum Research Institute (中国首席经济学家论坛研究院).)

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Editor in charge of this edition: Ge Mengchao

Layout Design: Wang Zheping (汪哲平)

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AI large models should dare to continuously "reach new heights" ("Ka" Says Technology)

By: 闫俊杰

Over the past three years, artificial intelligence based on large models has rapidly grown from a cutting-edge technology into an important driving force leading a new round of industrial revolution. From language models to multi-modal understanding and generation, to various intelligent agents that complete complex tasks, the boundaries of intelligence are constantly being broken, the usage of models continues to increase, and more and more applications are being implemented. It is expected that in the next few years, technological progress and industrial changes in artificial intelligence will continue to develop at a high speed, or even faster.

In the process of artificial intelligence technology development, China's technology companies are playing an increasingly important role, establishing preliminary advantages in cost efficiency and open source. Under the circumstances of limited computing power, Chinese enterprises have made full use of the dividends of talent and engineers, made a large number of innovations, greatly improved the computing power utilization efficiency of large model training and inference, and thus trained a number of internationally recognized large models. At present, in the open source field, the usage of Chinese large models has exceeded that of American models, and several domestic companies are showing a state of catching up in this field.

The research and development of artificial intelligence based on large models requires huge investment, and the research and development cycle of each generation of models is often as long as half a year to a year, so the choice of research direction is very critical. Through practice and observation, I think two things are very important: First, the technical indicators of the model can reach the forefront of intelligence level; second, the model must have its own characteristics and conform to the development trend of productivity change.

First of all, we must dare to continuously "reach higher." The methodological breakthrough of each generation of models often comes from solving a problem that represents the level of intelligence, obtaining a set of generalizable methods, and then promoting and retraining this set of methods to improve the overall capabilities of the model. For example, the underlying methodological breakthrough of the reasoning model, which became very popular a year ago, came from solving the problems of the International Mathematical Olympiad. We must aim at the forefront, bravely break into the technical no-man's land, solve world-class problems in the field of artificial intelligence, and thus train large models with world-class standards.

Secondly, the research and development direction of the model should conform to the development trend of productivity change. Artificial intelligence must ultimately generate practical social and commercial value and promote the improvement of productivity in order to develop healthily in the long term. The change of productivity provides excellent problem definitions and scenarios for artificial intelligence. For example, complex programming work that originally could only be completed by professional programmers and teams can now be completed by many individual developers with the help of AI-assisted programming. This significantly speeds up the supply and development iteration of software, and also makes AI-assisted programming rapidly develop into an industry with a market size of nearly 100 billion yuan. With the cultivation and development of new quality productive forces, there are still a large number of industries that can be combined with artificial intelligence to provide broad technical application and industrial development space. AI "transforms" the old productivity and old industries, and will also spawn new industries.

From a global perspective, thanks to new breakthroughs in the boundaries of artificial intelligence and the implementation of new scenarios, the application revenue based on large models is growing several times every year, and the increment is much larger than the stock. We are full of confidence in the future, because we have seen in the development of the artificial intelligence industry that there are excellent talent echelons, computing power supply chains, and globally leading user groups and enterprises that use AI that have grown up locally. In particular, China has a large number of young people studying and engaged in artificial intelligence-related work. Witnessing and experiencing that Chinese companies can also make better technologies generation after generation, these young talents are also becoming more and more confident in technological innovation and product innovation, and dare to make more breakthrough attempts.

Making models smarter and solving complex problems in various industries depends on the effective organization of various research and development elements, the innovation and tolerance of the social environment, and the continuous accumulation of technology and business. I believe that through continuous efforts and accumulation, China's artificial intelligence industry ecosystem will be perfected, technology will continue to flourish, and it will also bring greater impetus to the development of society and the progress of mankind.

(The author is the founder and CEO of Xiyu Technology (稀宇科技), and this report was compiled by Huang Xiaohui (黄晓慧), a reporter from this newspaper.)

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Dongsheng: A Growth Note of a Science and Technology Innovation Town ("Town" in Innovation)

By: 本报记者 王昊男

A small town with an area of about 8.3 square kilometers has 1,974 technology companies. Where did they come from?
　　A township science and technology park is named after "Zhongguancun (中关村)," and it is the first in the country. Why?
　　Dongsheng Town (东升镇), meaning "the rising sun," belongs to Haidian District (海淀区), Beijing (北京市). Here, it faces the National Convention Center (国家会议中心) to the east and connects to the core area of Zhongguancun (中关村) to the west. Within a 3-kilometer radius, top scientific research institutions and universities such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院), Peking University (北京大学), and Tsinghua University (清华大学) are densely located. With highly concentrated innovation resources and unique location advantages, is this the entire growth code of Dongsheng Town (东升镇)?
　　In the winter season, walk into Dongsheng (东升).
　　An explosive news is being hotly discussed among local cadres, the masses, and company employees: "The town Party committee and town government have decided to move."
　　"It's true. We plan to vacate the office building for scientific research institutions and technology companies, and we will move to a slightly more remote location." Xin Guo (辛果), Secretary of the Dongsheng Town (东升镇) Party Committee, said that in those years, for the construction of the core area of Zhongguancun (中关村), the Haidian District (海淀区) Party Committee and District Government also chose to move out. "Everything makes way for innovation. This is the tradition of Haidian (海淀) and the gene engraved in the bones of Dongsheng (东升)."
　　In the office bookcase, a large stack of notebooks records Xin Guo's (辛果) experiences in Dongsheng Town (东升镇) for more than 3 years. Randomly open a book: "The scenarios of artificial intelligence need to be further enriched," "'Tile economy' can no longer be done," "Where is the future of Dongsheng (东升)?"...
　　One by one, the handwriting is sometimes neat and sometimes hurried. Between the lines, there is simplicity, passion, confusion, and hardship.
　　This is the work record of a grassroots cadre and the growth notes of a science and technology innovation town.
　　"The days of making money while lying down are over"
　　--This determination must be made
　　Speaking of the topic of "moving," Xin Guo (辛果) did not avoid it. "Everyone is used to this place, and the office facilities are relatively complete. It is normal for many people not to want to leave." He admitted, "There is misunderstanding and there have been quarrels, but this determination must be made."
　　Through the window of the town Party committee meeting room, only a few tens of meters away is the School of Artificial Intelligence of Tsinghua University (清华大学). The goal of the school is very clear: to achieve major innovative breakthroughs in the core foundation, underlying architecture, and future computing models of artificial intelligence, and to build a world-class base for gathering and cultivating top artificial intelligence talents.
　　In fact, the decision was made more than 20 years ago. At that time, Dongsheng Town (东升镇) had sweet silk factories, boiler factories, transformer factories, etc. everywhere, guarding the "golden nugget" of science and technology innovation but eating the food of "industrial courtyards." In 2007, Dongsheng Town (东升镇) made a firm decision to transform its industry, and in the following years, it vacated a total of 3.3 million square meters of industrial space.
　　With land, what to do? At that time, the town Party committee made a bold decision: to take out all 200 million yuan of its family assets and borrow another 200 million yuan from the bank to build a "science and technology park." This is the origin of Zhongguancun Dongsheng Science and Technology Park (中关村东升科技园), the first high-tech industrial park in the country operated by a township and named after "Zhongguancun (中关村)."
　　This profound change was accompanied by pain and also attracted a group of entrepreneurs with dreams. In 2018, Lizheng Technology (历正科技), which focuses on low-altitude drone defense and control, settled in Zhongguancun Dongsheng Science and Technology Park (中关村东升科技园). Lei Jiabin (雷嘉宾), founder and chairman, said: "Science and technology parks like Dongsheng (东升) are extremely rare, whether in the past or now." Relying on the park's complete innovation ecosystem, Lizheng Technology (历正科技) has achieved leapfrog development, growing from a 3-person entrepreneurial team to a leading domestic low-altitude security company with nearly 500 employees.
　　Once you see it, seize it and stick to it.
　　Following the first and second phases, the Zhongguancun (Haidian) Embodied Intelligence Innovation Industrial Park (中关村（海淀）具身智能创新产业园), the third phase of Zhongguancun Dongsheng Science and Technology Park (中关村东升科技园), will officially open in June 2025. Focusing on the embodied intelligence industry chain, it has now introduced more than 30 leading and upstream and downstream companies in the fields of medical robots, intelligent driving, and human-like interaction.
　　"This place used to be the famous Wanjiadenghuo Home Furnishing Decoration Market (万家灯火家居装饰市场) in Beijing (北京), which has always been operated by collective economic organizations." Zhang Ao (张奥), the operation manager of the third phase of the science and technology park and the general manager of Tayuan (塔院) Cooperative Economic Organization, said that from farmers to shareholders, from "eating tiles" to "enjoying dividends," the people have also received tangible benefits. "Aiming at the road of science and technology, the assets of the cooperative have now increased to more than 6 billion yuan; more than 600 shareholders receive an average annual dividend of at least 40,000 to 50,000 yuan."
　　Data shows that in 2025, the total income of 10 collective economic organizations in Dongsheng Town (东升镇) reached 3.704 billion yuan, an increase of 5.92% year-on-year.
　　"The days of making money while lying down are over." The words of a town leader many years ago were written by Xin Guo (辛果) on the title page of his notebook. "Serving scientific and technological innovation, we have taken the right path, and we will definitely continue to move forward firmly." Xin Guo (辛果) said.
　　"How to keep companies and talents"
　　--The answer is not simple
　　When the reporter first arrived in Dongsheng (东升), he heard such a story: A science and technology innovation company that grew up in the local area needed larger office space due to the rapid development of the company. The investors originally planned to look for another place, but the company's executives and employees unanimously and firmly opposed it.
　　After several rounds of discussions and tug-of-war, the company finally stayed. Some people say, "It is difficult to leave the homeland, and capital cannot overcome feelings after all." Others say, "Profit is supreme, the town must have given some policies or preferential treatment." In short, the answer is not simple.
　　"How to keep companies and talents?" When Xin Guo (辛果) first arrived in Dongsheng Town (东升镇) three years ago, he solemnly wrote this sentence in his notebook. This question was also his biggest worry for a long time.
　　Before working hours, the parking spaces in the first phase of Zhongguancun Dongsheng Science and Technology Park (中关村东升科技园) are already full. Near the entrance of the park, that piece of land is particularly quiet. Who would have thought that there is a school hidden in the science and technology park.
　　Beijing Haidian Future School (北京市海淀未来学校) is a newly established 12-year private non-profit international school. "The original intention of establishing the school was to solve the enrollment needs of children of non-Beijing (北京) science and technology innovation talents." Ma Wanyi (马文一), a teacher at the school, introduced that the school covers an area of more than 80 acres and is an alliance school of Beijing No. 11 School (北京市十一学校). "It started enrolling students in 2024 and currently has more than 600 students, of which children of science and technology company talents in the park account for 1/3."
　　Building a school in the park, wouldn't there be less space for companies? Will the output value definitely decrease? "We must not only seize the present, but also look to the long term." Xin Guo (辛果) said that the town has conducted research on science and technology innovation companies, and young people aged 25 to 35 account for more than 70%, and most of them do not have Beijing hukou. "Parents follow their children. Education is a difficult problem for attracting and retaining talents, and it must be solved."
　　"The construction of the school is entirely invested by the town's collective economic organization, and there are also preferential policies for the enrollment of children of science and technology innovation talents in the town." Dai Qing (代庆), general manager of Zhongguancun Dongsheng Science and Technology Park Co., Ltd. (中关村东升科技园有限责任公司), said, "Housing is also a rigid demand. The town has built more than 4,000 sets of high-quality talent apartments using collective land, which solves a big problem at once."
　　Near noon, people walking out of the office buildings quickly made the park lively. 1 hotel, 3 employee canteens, as well as internet-famous restaurants, cafes, beer houses, and commercial streets... Unexpectedly, a science and technology park with more than 300 science and technology innovation companies and more than 20,000 employees has so much "atmosphere of daily life."
　　"Now people's needs are becoming more and more diverse and personalized, and there are still many areas where we need to improve." Xin Guo (辛果) admitted that "being people-oriented and serving entrepreneurs" is the concept that the previous Party committees and governments of Dongsheng Town (东升镇) have adhered to. "What we can do is to do our best to serve companies and talents, solve real problems, and truly solve problems."
　　The warm winter sun shines on the particularly eye-catching "thermometer" in the park. This new landmark, transformed from a discarded water tower, has a line of words written on the top: Service with temperature.
　　"It is expectation, it is direction, and it is also self-imposed pressure"
　　--Let young people do a good job in their young careers
　　AI doctors stationed in the community, humanoid robots on duty in convenience stores, intelligent systems empowering social governance... This is not a future scene, but the daily life of Dongsheng Town (东升镇).
　　The wave of artificial intelligence swept in, and Beijing AI Origin Community (北京AI原点社区) settled in Dongsheng (东升). Here, with the transformed Dongsheng Building (东升大厦) as the center, within a 1-kilometer radius, more than 30 universities and research institutions, more than 1,000 AI scientists, 13,000 developers, and 100,000 related professional students are gathered.
　　Taking the elevator up to the 9th floor of Dongsheng Building (东升大厦), a science and technology talk show drew bursts of laughter from the audience. "There are at least 2 events every day, specifically for AI developers and 'one-person company' start-ups." The head of the Origin School (原点学堂) introduced that from interesting science and technology talk shows to cutting-edge technology training to precise project roadshows, various activities cover the needs of the entire artificial intelligence industry chain.
　　"Not only can I learn cutting-edge technologies, but I also met many industry partners and even found my first cooperative customer." A start-up who had just moved into the building shared. "The most important thing for innovation is communication and collision." Fu Zhi (付智), the founder of Gongji Technology (共绩科技), said that this virtuous cycle of "socializing in learning and transforming in socializing" makes the Origin School (原点学堂) a "fertile ground" for incubating innovative achievements.
　　Deepening cooperation with universities such as Peking University (北京大学) and Tsinghua University (清华大学), regularly opening "Academician Lecture Halls"; regularly holding science and technology cultural fairs to allow surrounding residents to feel the atmosphere of daily life in science and technology... In Dongsheng Town (东升镇), the boundaries between school districts, parks, and communities are being broken.
　　"An inspiration, in the morning in the paper, in the afternoon in the roadshow, may have reached the user in the evening." Li Haitao (李海涛), head of Beijing AI Origin Community (北京AI原点社区) and deputy general manager of Dongsheng Agricultural, Industrial and Commercial General Company (东升农工商总公司), introduced that the community has now gathered more than 300 companies in the field of artificial intelligence, and in 2025, AI-related patents and trademarks will exceed 2,000.
　　"Artificial intelligence is a young career and also a career for young people." Xin Guo (辛果) feels that this may be the future of Dongsheng Town (东升镇).
　　"Let young people be in Haidian (海淀), you have to give them a reason to be here. Does it have the best innovation environment? Does it have the best investors? Does it have the most suitable culture for innovation? Does it have the most beautiful life scenes?" At the beginning of 2026, Xin Guo's (辛果) notebook added such a paragraph. And the person who said this was Zhang Ge (张革), Secretary of the Haidian District (海淀区) Party Committee.
　　"It is expectation, it is direction, and it is also self-imposed pressure." Zhang Ge (张革) said that Haidian (海淀) has about 1 million young people and is making every effort to build a youth-development-oriented city. "They are not only the future of Dongsheng (东升), but also the future of Haidian (海淀)."
　　From Dongsheng (东升) to Haidian (海淀); from one town to the entire district. This notebook is still being continued.

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Exploring the Moon's History at the Microscopic Scale (The Most Powerful Brains Around Me)

By: 邹 猛

I have participated in the Chang'e lunar exploration mission for more than 20 years, and my main research direction is the development of simulated lunar soil for engineering purposes. When we received the lunar soil samples brought back by Chang'e-6 (嫦娥六号) from the far side of the moon, the word "happy" was not enough to describe my feelings at the time. Our ideals are being realized step by step. By studying the lunar soil, we can optimize the simulation, so as to better serve the subsequent lunar exploration missions.

With the foundation of research on the Chang'e-5 (嫦娥五号) lunar soil samples, when we applied for the Chang'e-6 (嫦娥六号) lunar soil samples, we had already determined the core research goal—to systematically analyze the special nanostructure of carbon in the lunar soil. By using a variety of cutting-edge microscopic and analytical techniques, combined with multi-scale analysis schemes, we directly captured clear images and dynamic video evidence of typical hollow tubular structures with tube walls of about 0.5 nanometers. We discovered and confirmed naturally formed single-walled carbon nanotubes and graphitic carbon for the first time internationally. It can be said that this discovery directly rewrites our understanding of the moon, proving that there is a high-energy environment on the lunar surface that can generate fine carbon nanostructures.

Comparing the samples from the near side of the moon with the samples from the far side of the moon, we also found that the carbon structure defects in the far side samples are more numerous. This proves that the material composition and evolution process of the lunar surface and the far side of the moon are not symmetrical, and the far side of the moon may have experienced more intense micrometeorite impacts in history.

Behind the discovery, there are actually challenges. The most critical thing is how to present a clear nanostructure under a transmission electron microscope while avoiding damage to the experimental samples caused by high-energy electron beams. We tried many methods and finally decided to take a two-pronged approach: while finely optimizing the instrument parameters, we pursued the ultimate efficiency in the sample preparation and observation stages to shorten the observation time.

The birth of new achievements is the result of the team's collaborative efforts to overcome difficulties and seek truth and innovation. The theoretical research foundation accumulated by team members and their expertise in sample testing, skilled sample preparation, and data analysis are all key supports for the achievements. What impressed me the most was the moment when I first clearly saw those naturally formed, structurally perfect single-walled carbon nanotube images on the high-resolution transmission electron microscope screen. At that time, a strong sense of shock and emotion surged into my heart: the lunar soil in our hands not only records the history of the moon, but also contains such exquisite natural creations.

The precious lunar soil brought back by Chang'e-6 (嫦娥六号) has opened a new window for basic research, and the long-term accumulation of basic research skills enables us to capture and identify key information at the microscopic level. Deep space exploration and basic research support each other and work in the same direction, allowing scientific questions from the moon to be answered more deeply.

(The author is the head of the Chang'e-6 (嫦娥六号) lunar soil sample research team and a professor at the College of Biological and Agricultural Engineering of Jilin University (吉林大学). This report was compiled from an interview with Li Junqiang (李君强), a reporter from this newspaper.)

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Editor in charge of this page: Li Junqiang

Layout Design: Wang Zheping (汪哲平)

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The downstairs neighbor is quite aloof (Encounter).

By: 杜卫东

The neighbor downstairs is quite aloof. For example, occasionally when we meet in the elevator, I'll nod and politely say, "Going to work?" He, without looking sideways, squeezes out a single word from his nose: "Mmm." Short and forceful, with a slight chest resonance, then he stares straight ahead, the corners of his mouth slightly downturned, and says nothing more. After this happened a few times, I stopped trying to make conversation.
To avoid awkwardness, I intentionally stagger the times I ride the elevator. If we happen to meet, I lower my head and fiddle with my phone, hiding my embarrassment. Of course, I'll occasionally glance at the jumping floor numbers, and when the door opens, it's like being released from confinement. I'm a Pisces, and I'm quite sensitive to other people's feelings. I've always walked carefully on the suspension bridge of interpersonal relationships, afraid of accidentally causing a "stumble" for those walking with me. Later, I realized I was overthinking it, because every time, the neighbor downstairs remained the same, not looking sideways, his mouth downturned, making one think of a popular internet saying: "As long as I'm not embarrassed, the one who's embarrassed is someone else."
But I never expected that the most embarrassing moment for me wouldn't even be in the elevator.
That afternoon, a sudden downpour began. In an instant, it was as if countless silver beads were falling on the ground, shattering, bouncing, and raising clouds of clear, cold mist. I happened to have an important appointment that I couldn't be late for, so I called a ride-hailing car, asked the driver to drive into the courtyard to pick me up, and then hurried downstairs with an umbrella. Just then, a black car stopped at the entrance of the building. I opened my umbrella and rushed into the rain, pulled open the car door, sat in the passenger seat, and said, "You're here quite quickly, let's go!" The driver ignored me and instead handed me a bottle of mineral water. I waved my hand and urged again, "Let's go, driver, I'm going to be late." The driver still didn't start the car right away, unscrewed the cap, took a swig, and seeing my displeased expression, asked, "Where are you going?" I was a little annoyed, smoothed my wet hair, and retorted impatiently, "If you don't know where I'm going, how did you accept the order? Really!" The driver wasn't angry, put down the water bottle, pointed to a black car with its hazard lights flashing at the entrance of the courtyard, and asked, "Is that the car you ordered?" I didn't understand what he meant, turned my face to look at him carefully, and was immediately stunned. It turned out that this driver was the neighbor downstairs. The look in his eyes was filled with what—teasing?
I was very embarrassed, and for a moment, I wanted the ground to swallow me up: "Oh, it's you? I, I..."
He was calm and said the most words he had ever said to me since we became neighbors: "I was wondering too, I was planning to wait for the rain to lighten up before taking my child upstairs." He turned his head to look at the child sitting in the back seat, who made a funny face. "I didn't expect you to just pull open the door and get in."
I apologized repeatedly, not caring about the heavy rain, pushed open the car door, and quickly "escaped."
I have to admit that, faced with my rashness, the neighbor responded appropriately. Although aloof, his emotional intelligence was "on point." I couldn't help but wonder about his profession: a fitness coach? Possibly. He's under 40, about 1.8 meters tall, and dresses very fashionably, wearing a single-breasted beige suit and dark casual pants, looking comfortable and relaxed. Such a physique should be the result of years of fitness training. Or perhaps a college teacher or a company executive? That's also plausible; his temperament fits the requirements of these two professions: steady and capable. There's also another possibility—an internet celebrity. Because he has relatively flexible time, I often see him accompanying his son, who's just started elementary school. His son is a little "social butterfly," saying that he participates in basketball, swimming, Go, and piano interest classes, and his father always picks him up and drops him off.
One Sunday, a group of people came to the building, carrying cameras and microphones, stringing wires and hanging lights in his home. I passed by his door and heard the host asking, "Mr. Fan (范), as a technology company, how do you..."
So, the neighbor's surname is Fan (范), and he's the CEO of a company, having achieved some success in his career.
I think his aloofness may be related to his experiences. In the fast-paced modern society, brief interpersonal interactions have become the norm, and maintaining a moderate social distance may be a relatively efficient social mode. I guess that in the course of his difficult struggles, Mr. Fan (范) gradually developed an aloof temperament. Of course, aloofness also has a lot to do with personality. Introverted people often appear aloof, but their aloofness is not arrogance, but a careful guarding of emotional boundaries.
A later event completely overturned my initial perception of Mr. Fan (范).
That day, Beijing (北京) had its first snow of the winter, and the temperature plummeted. Fortunately, the heating was very hot. My wife and I went to bed on time, listened to an audiobook for a while, and then fell asleep. In a daze, my wife nudged me, saying someone was knocking on the door! Who would be knocking on the door in the middle of the night? I suspected it was her imagination. Unexpectedly, the knocking became more and more urgent. We both sat up at once, not knowing what had happened, and our hearts were pounding. I went to the door and looked through the peephole, and it was actually Mr. Fan (范). I quickly opened the door and asked, "What's wrong, what happened?"
Mr. Fan (范) looked anxious: "Is your heating leaking?"
My wife was confused and replied puzzledly, "Leaking? No."
Mr. Fan (范) looked serious and his tone left no room for doubt: "No, my kitchen is already leaking."
As he spoke, he craned his neck to look into the room. In the blink of an eye, water quietly spread to the living room. We were shocked and rushed into the kitchen. A hole had appeared in the heating pipe, and a stream of water was gushing out, almost reaching the ceiling. The water in the kitchen had already covered our feet. My wife and I had never seen such a scene before, and we were at a loss, not knowing what to do. Mr. Fan (范) remained calm. He rushed into the kitchen, struggled to find the heating valve, and tightened it, getting soaked in the process. My wife took out a coat for him to change into, but Mr. Fan (范) waved his hand: "Hurry up and clean up the water. Otherwise, the downstairs residents will be affected."
After saying that, he turned around and left. My wife and I looked at the water in the kitchen, living room, and balcony, feeling very worried.
There was another knock on the door. It was Mr. Fan (范), carrying a plastic basin and a bath towel into the living room. He skillfully spread the bath towel on the water, waited for it to absorb enough water, picked it up, and wrung it out into the basin. My wife and I followed suit, and we were quite efficient. After more than an hour of fighting, the water was basically cleared. In the middle of it, we asked Mr. Fan (范) to go back and rest several times, but he refused, jokingly saying in a baritone voice with a slight chest resonance, "With just you two old folks, I estimate that the residents above the second floor would be lining up in the morning to demand compensation."
When Mr. Fan (范) left, the clock's hour hand was already pointing to two in the morning.
The next day, my wife posted a notice in the neighborhood group: "Last night, the heating pipe in our home burst, causing inconvenience to the downstairs neighbors. We sincerely apologize. If there is any damage, please contact the owner of apartment 702 to discuss compensation."
Mr. Fan (范) lives in apartment 602 and was the most "affected," but he said that it was still bearable and waived compensation, followed by a blessing emoticon. The third, fourth, and fifth floors also had varying degrees of leakage, and seeing how tolerant 602 was, they all laughed it off.
When I meet Mr. Fan (范) in the elevator again, I will still nod and say friendly, "Going to work?" He, still not looking sideways, his emotions as still as deep water, calm and unruffled, blurts out a word from his nose: "Mmm." However, with an interval of no more than three seconds, he will casually reply, "Going for a walk?"
At this time, our eyes will meet, although briefly, enough to spark a flame of goodwill.
Obviously, what is worth cherishing in life is not only fluent dialogue.

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Can Writing the Self Lead to Writing About All of Humanity? (Musings)

By: 蒋 在

Not long ago, while scrolling through short videos on my way home from work, I saw a writer say, "Young writers should write less about themselves and more about the masses." My first reaction was similar to many of the comments below: "I am the masses, and the masses are me." Since I am in the world, doesn't writing about my own experiences deeply enough mean that I am already writing about the masses? Moreover, some writers have said: the more personal, the more universal.
　　The reason this sentence is touching is that it states an indisputable fact: experience can only start from the self. Only when personal experience becomes an understandable, recognizable, or even replaceable situation can it gain universality. In other words, the key is not that I wrote about myself, but whether I made it clear why I am like this. The keyword for the transformation between these two is the situation.
　　Writing about the situation well, I think this means writing about how individuals are placed in the larger context of the world, and how we flow, whether passively or actively, in the gaps between relationships and rules. Its focus is not on what happened, but on what conditions this thing can only happen in this way; in what position will this feeling arise. In other words, when our writing moves from "I am so painful" to "Why can I only be so painful and not painful in other ways," from "The other party is bullying me" to "Why did this happen," when we complete such a writing transformation, individual experience may be able to break away from private territory.
　　On January 17, 2026, Beijing (北京) welcomed its first snow. That night, I took a taxi to the suburbs of Beijing (京郊). At first, it was fine, but after getting off the overpass, the road ahead was covered with heavy snow because there were no snowplows or other vehicles that had been there. The driver was originally very familiar with this road, but the snow covered the ground markings, and the clear boundaries of the past suddenly disappeared. He drove in the wrong direction for a while without realizing it until he hit the flower bed on the side of the road. This is probably not a technical problem of the driver, but a deviation after a failure of judgment. When the reference objects we rely on for action on weekdays are obscured, experience loses its meaning.
　　The situation is revealed at such moments: no one makes choices out of thin air, our choices depend on some deep, default order. Many seemingly natural behaviors are trained and solidified under these conditions. When our writing only records emotions or behaviors, it will continue to spin in the private domain, unless we focus on how these emotions and behaviors are constructed.
　　Classic realism has provided a powerful reference. Taking Balzac as an example, he never wrote about how an individual fell to this point, but let class, money, system, and desire revolve around the axis of the character's fate, turning the character into a node intertwined with social forces. It is also in this kind of writing that the situation we just mentioned becomes a channel connecting individuals and the masses. The reason why personal destiny is representative is that it is bearing the entire social structure. Just like the Vauquer boarding house that appears at the beginning of *Le Père Goriot*, it is a miniature society. The height of the floors, the size of the rooms, and the exchange of these tenants all imply the direction of the characters' fate.
　　The changes in the situation in different periods allow us to truly perceive the deep meaning of the era's quiet changes. The change of the times does not mean the disappearance of experiences such as family, labor, and human conflict, but the way they are organized, perceived, and responded to has changed. The updating of technical media, social systems, and language systems changes the way we understand ourselves and express ourselves. We are beginning to discover that the same situation begins to show different reaction logics in different eras.
　　This is the charm of literature. We are reborn in repeating the past journey. Although we are still dealing with the themes and topics that the masters have written about, our situation is not the same, because we have discovered that the change in literature does not lie in the innovation of the subject matter, but in the shift in the way of understanding.
　　Since the situation is so specific, so local, and so temporal, how can it gain the power to travel through time? This involves an anti-common-sense law about literature: great novels often lose certain characteristics over time, but therefore gain a broader life. When we read novels in different languages and different centuries, we will not feel alienated from the text because of the unfamiliarity of the characters' clothing, etiquette, and living habits. Because we have already found our own shadows through these characters' struggles in intimate relationships, their hesitation between dignity and submission, and their tearing between desire and punishment.
　　Let us return to the original question again, can writing about myself well write about the masses well? I think, perhaps only when self-experience is written as a situation, when "how I feel" is pushed to "why I can only feel this way," when writing puts private narratives back into the conditions of its relationships, rules, and language systems, everything is possible.

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Big pickled cabbage cooked with small fish (Duoweizhai)

By: 周荣池

Before the Winter Solstice, the Dapancha (大盘汊) in front of the Nanjiaodun (南角墩) would be drained to catch fish. The pancha is a round pond, raising some thin fish and shrimp. After the big fish were taken, the villagers would come to pick up some "extra money" - small fish, snails or river mussels, and occasionally black fish or even turtles that had escaped the net and hid in the mud. Mother always waited until dusk before setting off with her basket, going down to the mud from inconspicuous corners, and feeling for a few "catfish" in the muddy water that had been turned over many times.

Mother's piety in digging for fish in the mud was very much like Father, with his drunken eyes, picking at fish jelly with chopsticks. Father, who lacked dishes to go with his wine, could always knock on his bowl and comfort himself with a singsong: "Small fish jelly poke poke, peanut shells peel peel, salted duck egg knock knock, two or five touch touch..." In the rhyme of the Lixiahe (里下河) dialect, it seemed that there was nothing happier in the world than this.

In the Lixiahe (里下河) Plain, people pay attention to "pickling vegetables in Minor Snow, pickling meat in Major Snow." Pickled vegetables are made with a tall variety of green vegetables, pickled into what is called "big salted vegetables." After the vegetables are taken out of the ground, they are dried in the sun, and then layered with large grains of salt, and finally pressed with heavy stones. They can be taken out for consumption in a few days. Eating them raw is refreshing, salty and fresh, and they are best stir-fried with some chili peppers. Stewing them with tofu or pig blood is the "best." They can also be stir-fried with large slices of arrowhead, which are both good flavors for porridge and rice. In recent years, outsiders have come to Gaoyou (高邮) to find flavors, and often ask for a dish of "salted vegetable and arrowhead soup," of course because the local Wang Zengqi's (汪曾祺) article did the "advertising." However, it is not a sophisticated invention for the locals to chop salted vegetables and arrowheads to make soup. It was caused by the lack of "fresh vegetables" in the old days of severe cold when the new crops were not yet available.

"Big salted vegetables boiled with small fish" has become a formal dish in recent years. Some are cooled into jelly as a cold dish, and some are boiled in large bowls as a "main dish," which is truly a wonderful product. The strong taste of the big salted vegetables covers the fishy smell of the small fish. With the "blessing" of the fish and shrimp soup, the hard stems of the vegetables are cooked until soft, cooled thoroughly and "sealed" by the cold air, and the fusion of fish and vegetable flavors produces a magical taste. The chopsticks "dig" in the fish jelly, with the excitement and joy of searching, just like the mother touching the small fish that escaped the net from the mud. The small fish, washed clean, are boiled together with the lightly soaked salted vegetables. Father's wine bowl is already eager to move on the table, but the moment of serving is decided by Mother. She lifts the lid of the pot, brushes away the mist, and tries the taste with a spatula, then puts the lid back on. She muttered a few words: it will be done after a break - a delicious dish called "zuo tang zhu (做汤煮)" is born.

"断一下" (duàn yī xià - "break a bit," to add a little more heat), is to add another handful of straw to the fire. Only Mother knows how long to add it. When serving, she picks out the larger fish and vegetable leaves, first puts them in an enamel cup, pours on the gravy, and hides them in the cupboard. The rest, with soup and water, is served to Father to go with his wine. And the small fish in the cupboard, mixed with the cooked vegetable leaves, are like the frozen Zhuangtai (庄台) River under the moonlight after overnight.

There is not a single superfluous detail in the bowl of fish jelly, and every bit of meat and vegetable has a delicious taste. Even if you mix fish jelly with porridge and rice, the taste is surprisingly wonderful.

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Time's Snow

By: 卢 山

The temperature plummeted, and the cold notice has not yet arrived.
The two roses on the balcony have tightly closed their boudoirs.
Who plucked all the feathers from the plane trees at dusk,
And used magic to freeze the waves of West Lake (西湖)?
Overnight, the snow on the camphor trees piled up thicker and thicker.
Suddenly, a crisp sound in a dream.
Did you see it? That rustling snow
Fell on the shoulders of all things.

Is snow the courier of time?
It falls, melts in an instant, and disappears,
As if it never existed.
But the mountains and rivers will not be silent, the earth speaks for it.
Traveling a long distance from the long corridor of time,
It blooms in a place where no one cares,
Silently melting into a line of your hot tears,
His several rivers.

The snow on the forehead of the Forbidden City (故宫), the snow in the arms of Baochu Pagoda (保俶塔),
The snow steaming on the scaffolding,
The snow drifting into the wanderer's dream from the cooking smoke of hometown,
The snow that Wang Ziyou (王子猷) turned away from his visit and fell into the wine glass,
The snow in Li Bai's (李白) arms reflecting the bright moon of Tianshan (天山),
Which mountain and which river did this snow come from?

Tonight, the snow of time falls on the poet's manuscript.
Who walks away in the wind and snow, leading a river?
Who, in the net it weaves, writes a long letter to spring?
Tonight, under the starry sky of Jiangnan (江南),
I am also a grain of cold and hot snow—
Walking and burning in the world,
A grain of snow that is silent and blooms at any time!

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Photo Report

Oil painting "Tomorrow's New Home," by Han Jingsheng (韩景生), collection of the National Art Museum of China (中国美术馆).

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Wife's Vegetable Garden

By: 潘 琦

Having worked for more than 50 years, I have moved to several places. In each place, my wife tried every possible way to cultivate small pieces of wasteland to grow some melons and vegetables to supplement the family income. Those vegetable gardens, soaked with my wife's sweat, are deeply etched in my memory.

In the late 1960s, after graduating from university, I was assigned to work at the Luocheng County (罗城县) Party Committee in my hometown of Guangxi (广西). My probationary salary was 47 yuan. My newlywed wife was then an apprentice at the County Agricultural Machinery Factory, earning only 18 yuan a month. After the child was born, life suddenly became tight. We dared not even consider the extra dish in the cafeteria that cost a dime, and we often haggled over a few cents when buying vegetables at the market.

There were many vacant lots in the County Party Committee compound, which family members could cultivate to grow melons and vegetables. My wife grew up in the countryside and was skilled in transplanting rice seedlings, harvesting rice, watering, and fertilizing. She set her sights on a piece of wasteland next to the dormitory. During holidays, she carried a hoe and a bucket, clearing away the rocks and weeds bit by bit, turning over the dark soil, and preparing a neat vegetable garden. Around the Qingming Festival (清明节), she planted melon and bean seeds. In the summer, she planted eggplants and peppers. When the autumn wind blew, the trellis was covered with heavy loofahs. Later, that piece of wasteland became the vegetable basket for many low-income families.

In 1975, I was transferred to work at the Hechi (河池) Prefectural Party Committee, and my family moved to Jinchengjiang (金城江). Jinchengjiang City (金城江城区) is surrounded by high mountains on both sides, and the Dagou River (达勾河) flows through the city. The banks are narrow, making it difficult to find a vacant lot to grow vegetables. At that time, my wife worked at the Xinhua Printing Factory (新华印刷厂). The factory was located in a nongchang (弄场) (mountain basin) on the edge of the city. One day, she was wandering outside the factory after work and saw a barren slope next to the factory, and she had the idea of growing vegetables again. The hoe could not dig into the hard soil, so she used a pickaxe to dig it up little by little. Without fertilizer, she accumulated the chicken manure from home and mixed it into the soil. In addition to growing vegetables, she also raised a few hens. The hens clucked and laid eggs, and the vegetables in the garden grew crop after crop. My wife seemed to be a natural at farming and raising animals. Whatever she planted grew luxuriantly, and whatever she raised was lively and energetic.

In the early 1980s, our family of six moved to Nanning (南宁). The expenses in the provincial capital were much greater than in the county town. We lived in two small bungalows in the unit's small courtyard. After settling down, my wife took me for a walk around the courtyard. Her eyes fell on the wasteland outside the wall of the house, and her eyes lit up: "I didn't expect that we could grow vegetables in Nanning (南宁)!" I was hesitant: "This is the unit's courtyard, I'm afraid it's not allowed, right?" With a try-it-and-see attitude, I inquired with the leaders of the management bureau, and unexpectedly got permission.

The next day, my wife got busy. This was an abandoned piece of land that had been idle for many years. To level the soil, my wife's fingers were often cut by tiles and stones. One night, there was a sudden wind and rain. To prevent the bean trellis from being blown down and the bean vines from being broken by the rain, we tidied it up overnight, working until the middle of the night. When the vegetables were ripe, the family couldn't eat them all, so my wife filled a basket and sent it to colleagues in the unit and soldiers in the guard squad to share. Everyone praised her for being diligent and capable when they tasted the fresh vegetables.

One year, I went to study in another place for a year. At that time, my son was still young, and my two daughters could help a little. Every day after school, they dropped their schoolbags and the three of them went into the vegetable garden to water and fertilize, working until the lights were turned on. Every time I received a letter from my wife, she said that everything at home was fine and told me to study with peace of mind. During the year I was away, I never worried about food and clothing at home, because I knew that I had my wife at home, and her vegetable garden.

Over the years, the dishes on the table have become increasingly abundant, and all kinds of fresh melons, fruits, and vegetables can be bought in supermarkets. Whenever I recall the past, those vegetable gardens clearly appear before my eyes.

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Hometown New Year Traditions

By: 许怀中

The Lunar New Year is just around the corner.

Recently, Fujian People's Publishing House published my collection of essays, "Boundless Sunset Glow" (《无限夕阳》), which includes an old article, "Celebrating the New Year · Celebrating the New Year" (《过年·过年》). In this article, I wrote: "The Spring Festival is approaching, celebrating the New Year is like aged wine, the earlier, the more flavorful it becomes. The New Year I spent in my hometown of Xianyou (仙游) as a child, as time passes, the more I recall it, the more I feel the strong New Year atmosphere." The article recalls my return from Xiamen (厦门) to my hometown of Xianyou (仙游) to celebrate the New Year. Although the New Year's Eve dinner was simple, the atmosphere was very peaceful. It also describes the scenes of me spending the Spring Festival at different times and places in my life. "The most important 'flavor' of the New Year is the reunion with family. 'Every festive season, more than ever we think of our dear ones' (每逢佳节倍思亲) (měi féng jiā jié bèi sī qīn - "every festive season double think relatives," a common saying expressing homesickness during holidays), has been circulating for many years. Festivals are inseparable from family reunions, and even if we cannot reunite, we must miss each other. This is an excellent tradition of our country and one of its virtues."

The Spring Festival is the most important traditional festival of the Chinese nation. The people of my hometown, Putian (莆田) and Xianyou (仙游), have passed down, protected, inherited, and promoted the local Spring Festival customs from generation to generation. These customs reflect local historical characteristics, embody local humanistic character, and have a strong local cultural flavor. Taking the Spring Festival in my hometown of Putian (莆田) and Xianyou (仙游) as an example, it showcases a unique festival custom with "Zuo Da Sui" (做大岁). In addition to eating New Year's Eve dinner, they also celebrate the New Year again on the fourth and fifth days of the first lunar month, which locals call "Zuo Da Sui" (做大岁). Putian (莆田) and Xianyou (仙游) are located in the central part of the southeast coast of Fujian (福建), a transportation hub connecting eastern and southern Fujian. The climate here is mild and humid, with distinct seasons, diligent people, a long history, and a prosperous local culture. The custom of "Zuo Da Sui" (做大岁) during the Spring Festival is almost all over Putian (莆田) and Xianyou (仙游), and it records the spirit of the people of Putian (莆田) and Xianyou (仙游) in resisting foreign aggression, not fearing violence, being brave and tenacious, and persevering.

According to records, in the eleventh lunar month of the forty-first year of Jiajing (嘉靖) in the Ming Dynasty (明朝), Japanese pirates invaded Xinghua Prefecture (兴化府城), and the people rose up to resist. It was not until the Japanese pirates were defeated and perished that the people of Putian (莆田) and Xianyou (仙游) began to rebuild their homes. At that time, because the New Year had passed, the people agreed to redo "Zuo Da Sui" (做大岁) on the fourth day of the second lunar month and make up for the New Year on the fifth day, which was later changed to the first lunar month and gradually became a custom, which is unique to Putian (莆田) and Xianyou (仙游). In addition, it was also agreed that the second day of the lunar new year would be a day to visit the deceased, and no visits would be made to each other. Therefore, the grand occasion of the whole city going on a spring outing on the second day was formed. Zhang Qin's (张琴) "Putian County Chronicle" (《莆田县志》) in the Republic of China (民国) records: "On the second day, there is a spring outing. Young and old all dress up and go to mountain temples and gardens... and return at dusk."

It is worth mentioning that the Spring Festival "Zuo Da Sui" (做大岁) activities begin with the pasting of white-bordered Spring Festival couplets on each household near the end of the year. The white-bordered Spring Festival couplets were posted to mourn the loss of relatives due to the Japanese pirate invasion. However, the white couplets were difficult to integrate with the festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival, so later red couplets were used to cover the white couplets, leaving only a small section of white at the top to express the remaining sorrow. This compromise method both expresses remembrance and does not lose the festive atmosphere.

Xianyou (仙游) lantern parades and other New Year customs have begun one by one, and have now become famous cultural cards. The Spring Festival in Putian (莆仙) is getting closer and closer.

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This edition's editor: Cheng Hong

This edition's email: dadi@peopledaily.cn

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

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