People's Daily - July 26, 2026

Making the Environment for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Better for the Whole Society

By: 本报记者 王 洲 陈世涵

"We must actively integrate into the construction of a unified national market, resolutely break down local protectionism, market segmentation, and 'involution-style' competition, and create a stable, fair, transparent, and predictable environment for entrepreneurship and innovation across society."
——In March 2025, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized during an inspection in Guizhou.

"With just this one new production line, titanium dioxide output is expected to increase by 50,000 tons this year." In early July, at the Qiannan High-tech Industrial Development Zone (黔南高新技术产业开发区) in Guizhou Province, seeing the third-phase titanium dioxide project's trial production enter the process optimization stage, Li Haiyan (李海艳), general manager of the Technology Center of Guizhou Shengwei Fuquan Chemical Co., Ltd. (贵州胜威福全化工有限公司), was greatly encouraged: "From project construction and equipment commissioning to the trial-run phase, the government provided full support. For pain points such as cross-regional qualification recognition for enterprises, a local cross-regional coordination mechanism was established, and key procedures were completed within two hours."

In the core area of the National Big Data (Guizhou) Comprehensive Pilot Zone (国家大数据（贵州）综合试验区核心区) located in Guiyang and Gui'an, massive amounts of data from all over converge and circulate. "Based in the mountainous region of Southwest China, we meet the computing power demands of new-type industrialization in various places, better serving the national 'East Computing, West Data' project (东数西算)." Zhang Xuerong (张雪蓉), director of the Guiyang Big Data Development Administration (贵阳市大数据发展管理局), said.

From the ground to the cloud, in these scenarios one can see measures and results. In building a unified national market, Guizhou moves with swift steps but a steady pace.

In March 2025, during an inspection in Guizhou, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must actively integrate into the construction of a unified national market, resolutely break down local protectionism, market segmentation, and 'involution-style' competition, and create a stable, fair, transparent, and predictable environment for entrepreneurship and innovation across society."

With expectations for one locality, General Secretary Xi Jinping was mindful of the overall situation. A market of more than 1.4 billion people and nearly 200 million business entities... this ultra-large market with enormous growth potential is a huge advantage for China's development and a solid foundation for coping with changes. The outline of the Fifteenth Five-Year Plan (十五五规划纲要) dedicates a special chapter to planning "deepening the construction of a unified national market."

How to build a unified national market? General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the basic requirement of "five unifications and one openness." Bearing the instructions in mind, all regions and departments take the character "do" (干) as the guiding principle.

Basic market institutions and the scale of government action are becoming more unified; fair competition is better guaranteed —
Looking at top-level design: in the Negative List for Market Access (2025 Edition) (市场准入负面清单（2025年版）) published last year, the number of listed items was reduced from 151 in the first edition of 2018 to 106, easing restrictions to allow more business entities to enter; this year, "formulating regulations on the construction of a unified national market" was written into the Government Work Report, making the fair competition market environment more predictable.
Looking at local implementation: Shandong has incorporated "eliminating market barriers" into its prefecture-level city assessments; Jiangxi has included fair competition review as an assessment indicator for law-based government construction... By establishing and practicing a correct view of performance, many localities use the assessment "baton" to break down barriers and clear obstacles in the market.

High-standard connectivity of market infrastructure enables factors to move and become active —
Smooth flow of goods unlocks the economic cycle. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the combined rail-water container volume at ports grew at an average annual rate of about 15%. The Yangtze River Delta and other "regions with conditions" act as "experimental fields," earnestly carrying out regional market integration.
"Now, the Yangtze River Delta's international trade regulatory model has achieved unified customs clearance procedures, shared logistics information, and mutual recognition of electronic certificates, reducing cargo turnover time by more than 30% compared with the traditional model," said Xie Liang (谢亮), cross-border business director of Zhejiang Ningbo World Trade International Trading Company (浙江宁波世贸通国际贸易公司).
Accelerating talent mobility supports market improvement. With R&D departments in Shanghai and scientific researchers locally employed... multiple cities along the Yangtze River Delta G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor have set up industrial collaborative innovation centers in Shanghai's Songjiang District, pooling high-quality production factors and stimulating innovation and vitality.

Maintaining fair competition and rectifying "involution-style" competition clears obstacles for achieving high-quality development —
Summoning major platform companies for talks to remove "lowest price on the web" campaigns; fining 3.597 billion yuan for "ghost takeout" on 7 e-commerce platforms; imposing administrative penalties on Ctrip for monopolistic conduct according to law... to protect fairness and break "involution," government departments take concrete measures. At the same time, instead of competing on price, more and more business entities are consciously competing on value.
At the Beijing Miyun super factory of BAIC New Energy's Xiangjie brand: wiring harness assembly status is analyzed by AI, and 0.05-millimeter precision evaluation of full-vehicle gap and flushness is achieved by robots. By seeking competitiveness from technological innovation, BAIC Group's self-owned brand sales in the first half of this year increased by 14.2% year-on-year.

Building a unified national market and continuously expanding internal opening-up and external opening-up are also necessary to gain the initiative in international competition.
The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region accelerates the construction of world-class airport clusters and port clusters; the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area advances mutual recognition of cross-border credit report standards; in 2025, the number of newly established foreign-invested enterprises nationwide increased by 19.1% year-on-year... Based on their own conditions, facing the world, fully open, and mutually beneficial, these efforts gain competitive initiative through the interactive effect of two domestic and international markets and two types of resources.
"Investing in China is investing in the future" — a glimpse of this can be seen from two figures: at the first Consumer Products Expo after the Hainan Free Trade Port's island-wide customs closure, the share of international exhibits increased by 20% over the previous edition; from the island-wide customs closure to the end of May this year, imports and exports of goods trade by Hainan enterprises increased by 54.6% year-on-year.

The basic framework 四梁八柱 (sì liáng bā zhù - "four beams and eight pillars," metaphorical framework) has been essentially established, social consensus has significantly strengthened, and the construction of a unified national market has achieved phased results. This is a tough battle and a protracted struggle. The outline of the Fifteenth Five-Year Plan sets the direction: "Resolutely remove blocking points and bottlenecks that hinder the construction of a unified national market, eliminate local protectionism and market segmentation, and promote the smooth flow of goods, factors, and resources on a larger scale."

The path of climbing is underfoot; to reach the summit, one must not begrudge the toil.

(Reporters Su Bin (苏滨) and Dou Hanyang (窦瀚洋) of this newspaper contributed to the writing.)

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Millennium-Old Kiln Fire Shines on the World

By: 本报记者 王 珏 何思琦

Porcelain, born from clay and tempered by fire, is fired through 72 processes. Jingdezhen, born of and thriving on porcelain, forged a millennium-old porcelain capital with a single kiln’s flame.

In October 2023, when inspecting and researching in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “China’s fine traditional culture has never been interrupted from ancient times to the present; ceramics are a Chinese treasure and an important name card of Chinese civilization.”

On July 25 this year, at the 48th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Busan, Republic of Korea, the “Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Remains (景德镇手工瓷业遗存)” was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List, filling a blank in the “porcelain” theme on the World Heritage List and becoming China’s 61st World Heritage site.

A single kiln’s flame reflects the continuity of Jingdezhen’s porcelain industry. Standing on the Longzhu Pavilion at the Imperial Kiln Factory site (御窑厂遗址) and gazing into the distance, the summer wind carries the breath of the Changjiang River. As far as the eye can see, the Changjiang River passes through the city like an emerald ribbon. In the distance, the three tributaries — the Donghe River, Nanhe River, and Jianxi River — shimmer with fine silver sparkles in the sunlight. One river and three streams connect Jingdezhen’s “one town and four zones (一镇四区)” — the town-district porcelain production center, the Hutian Ancient Porcelain Kiln Site (湖田古瓷窑址), the Gaoling Kaolin Mine Site (高岭瓷土矿遗址), the Changling Porcelain Stone Mine Site (长岭瓷石矿遗址), and the Jiaotan Kiln Fuel Production Area (蛟潭窑柴燃料产区) — linking the “Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Remains” into a whole and running through the development history of the thousand-year porcelain industry.

The successfully inscribed “Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Remains” comprehensively covers representative remains from each key link of the raw material production area, fuel production area, production center, and transportation system. The complete industrial division system displays the evolutionary context of Jingdezhen’s handmade porcelain industry.

“This is the world’s first World Cultural Heritage with the full industrial chain production system of the handmade porcelain industry as its core attribute,” said Deng Chao, Director of the World Heritage Department of the National Cultural Heritage Administration. The composite structure of the five zones bears witness to a highly intensive, refined, and specialized industrial division of labor, completely answering why Jingdezhen’s thousand-year porcelain industry has 长盛不衰 (cháng shèng bù shuāi - “long prosperity without decline,” enduringly prosperous) and became the world’s porcelain-making center.

The five characters “town, kiln, earth, stone, and wood” outline the skeleton of the “Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Remains.”

Quarrying stone from a thousand peaks, gathering earth from myriad veins. “Earth” refers to kaolin; “stone” refers to porcelain stone and glaze fruit; “wood” refers to kiln fuel. These three, taken from the mountains and wilds and transported by waterways, were continuously shipped from the surrounding countryside to the town district — a complete porcelain-making system cannot do without such a complete and efficient raw material and fuel supply chain. Through this method, people achieved low-cost, large-scale, standardized development and transport — an extraordinary wisdom deeply rooted among the people for thousands of years.

At the Dawnukeng Porcelain Stone Open-pit Mine site, a huge stone beam lies across the mountain, bearing witness to the large-scale manual mining of the time. “Gaoling,” an international mineralogical term named after a Chinese place, behind it lies a raw material that changed history; it was the discovery and application of kaolin that brought the “dual formula (二元配方)” technology of mixing porcelain stone and kaolin to maturity. Kiln fuel from Jiaotan rode the water downstream and turned into the flames of kilns in the town district. “This was actually a production system centered on the handicraft industry town of the time, integrating the surrounding villages and countryside,” said Wei Qing, head of the text compilation team for Jingdezhen’s nomination project. “Jingdezhen’s handmade porcelain industry has continued for more than 1,000 years, surpassing the life cycle of traditional handicrafts, forming two development paths — ‘porcelain-making technology and porcelain art system’ and ‘porcelain-making industry system’ — creating Jingdezhen’s extensive influence and market competitiveness globally.”

“Kiln” — at the Hutian Kiln, where the fusion of northern and southern Chinese porcelain-making technologies was once witnessed. From dragon kilns and horseshoe kilns to gourd kilns, and then to the town kiln (镇窑), one after another kiln remains make people seem to see the thousand-year lingering charm of “every household with kiln fire, every family with potters’ wheels.”

“High-temperature kilns themselves were a technological revolution; they made porcelain firing possible and made porcelain an ‘art of mud and fire,’” said Wang Guangyao, a research librarian at the Palace Museum. It was in such kiln fires that stable-fired bluish-white porcelain laid the foundation for Jingdezhen to develop into China’s porcelain production center.

“Town” refers to the town-district porcelain production center. Archaeological sites such as the Imperial Kiln Factory site, the Luomaqiao Kiln site (落马桥窑址), and the Guanyinge Kiln site (观音阁窑址), together with civilian kiln houses, workshop buildings, ancient roads, river channels, and docks, unfold Jingdezhen’s flourishing scene of “craftsmen come from all directions, and vessels go everywhere under heaven.” Here, the “dual formula” technology moved from germination to maturity, completing a key leap in Chinese handmade porcelain technology and pushing Jingdezhen to the peak of the world porcelain industry.

“Jingdezhen blue-and-white porcelain, as an important carrier of Chinese cultural dissemination and an important symbol of Eastern art, was a significant component of the ‘Chinoiserie’ that swept Europe in the 17th to 18th centuries, profoundly influencing Western painting, furniture, architectural decoration, and other artistic fields, and promoting the globalized expression of Chinese civilization and Chinese culture,” Deng Chao said.

Eleven years of World Heritage application wove a warp and weft of protection system. In 2015, General Secretary Xi Jinping made an important instruction on the protection of the Imperial Kiln Factory site, pointing the way for promoting the protection of porcelain industry remains and cultural heritage centered on the Imperial Kiln Factory site.

Now, entering the monitoring center hall of the Jingdezhen Porcelain Industry Cultural Heritage Protection Center, a giant electronic screen scrolls real-time images of heritage points across the entire area, making the status of ancient kilns, ancient docks, and other remains clear at a glance. It is the flood season; a hidden danger was detected at a heritage section near water, and staff rushed to the site for emergency reinforcement to protect the safety of cultural heritage.

Xu Guanxiang, head of the monitoring center, introduced: “Combining the different preservation characteristics of various types of kiln sites and streets and alleys, we have built a three-dimensional hazard detection system of ‘professional patrol + public inspection,’ achieving full coverage of heritage point patrols.

The fine protection of core sites is a key link in Jingdezhen’s overall protection. Jingdezhen’s protection work has lasted nearly half a century, and the World Heritage application work has lasted 11 years. In 2015, the World Heritage application work was officially launched. In 2017, the Imperial Kiln Factory site was included in the “Preliminary List of China’s World Cultural Heritage.” In 2019, Jingdezhen was approved to establish a National Ceramic Culture Inheritance and Innovation Pilot Zone. In 2025, experts from the International Council on Monuments and Sites conducted on-site technical evaluation. In 2026, the “Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Remains” was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List.

On the basis of protection, Jingdezhen has orderly opened to the public multiple key heritage points, including the Imperial Kiln Factory kiln site, the Guanyinge Kiln site, the Gaoling Kaolin Mine Site, and the Jiaotan Kiln Fuel Production Area, creating an open, strolling, and touchable living heritage space, and linking the integration channels of archaeological sites, intangible heritage skills, and cultural tourism experiences.

Thirteen li of Taoyang, smoke and fire of a hundred thousand households. In the Jingdezhen Taoyang Li (陶阳里) Historical and Cultural Block, 108 millennium-old alleyways, over 400-year-old Ming and Qing kiln groups, and over 70-year-old ceramic industrial heritage outline Jingdezhen’s glorious porcelain industry development history. In urban development, Jingdezhen has carried out overall restoration of this area, introducing ceramic handcrafting, sales, display, and other business types.

At the Xu Family Kiln in Taoyang Li, Sun Lixin, provincial-level representative inheritor of intangible cultural heritage and fourth-generation inheritor of the Sun Family Kiln (孙公窑), held a raw bisque piece, handed the brush to a tourist beside him, and asked the other to add a stroke first. Then he took the brush back and sketched along the stroke; in a moment, a galloping horse grew from that single stroke, raising its head and lifting its hooves.

“Jingdezhen’s porcelain is created collectively by all craftsmen. An important reason why Jingdezhen has developed to where it is today is the specialized division of labor across different processes,” Sun Lixin said with deep emotion. “A person spends only one thing in a lifetime, polishing a single process with decades of effort, and naturally the skill gains bone, muscle, and warmth.”

Chen Kelong, Secretary of the Jingdezhen Municipal Party Committee, said that taking the World Heritage application as an opportunity, Jingdezhen deeply integrates porcelain industry cultural heritage protection, old city revitalization, and World Heritage application efforts, builds a scientific protection system with three positions forming one body (三位一体, sān wèi yī tǐ - “three positions form one body,” trinity) of regulations, planning, and institutions, and creates a protection model of “archaeology first, protection as foundation, display as empowerment, and living transmission.”

From the Gaoling mine to the Imperial Kiln site, from old city streets and alleys to intangible heritage skills, Jingdezhen has broken the bottleneck of fragmented protection. Through 坚持不懈 (jiān chí bù xiè - “persist without slackening,” unremitting) efforts in deep cultivation and guardianship, a systematic protection system covering the entire area, connecting ancient and modern, and integrating tangible and intangible cultural heritage has taken shape.

共建共享 (gòng jiàn gòng xiǎng - “jointly build and jointly share,” joint construction and shared enjoyment) to guard the living cultural vein of the porcelain capital. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Make the ‘thousand-year porcelain capital’ this bright business card shine even brighter.”

At the Luomaqiao Kiln site, an MR (Mixed Reality) experience project allows the audience to walk through the site wearing a headset; the restored kiln site scenes and the craftsmen’s production process unfold before their eyes, the virtual and real interwoven, immersing them. “It’s so real, as if I saw the spectacular handmade porcelain scenes of the time with my own eyes and understood the millennium-old artisan heritage accumulated in Jingdezhen,” exclaimed Zhang Lin, a middle school student from Nanjing, Jiangsu.

During the World Heritage application period, the “Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Remains Series Heritage Protection and Management Plan (2025-2035)” and the “Jingdezhen Municipal Porcelain Industry Cultural Heritage Protection Regulations” were successively released, consolidating the institutional support for protection with planning and legislation. Jingdezhen continuously promotes the transformation of porcelain industry heritage protection from a professional matter of a few to a matter close to the majority, walking a path of heritage protection with joint construction and shared enjoyment by the public.

Let the thousand-year porcelain vein incorporate into daily life — this is Jingdezhen’s “lifestyle style.”

Within the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Factory National Archaeological Site Park, the Imperial Kiln Museum, built with 2.8 million kiln bricks in the shape of a traditional wood-fired kiln, lies quietly on the ground. Inside the museum, more than 800 exhibits, including the Ming Xuande blue-and-white cricket jar and the Ming Chenghua three-color duck-shaped incense burner, present a 琳琅满目 (lín láng mǎn mù - “a dazzling array of beautiful things,” a splendid array) view. Under the site protection shed, visitors can bend down and sense the original stratigraphy of over 600 years of imperial kiln production at nearly zero distance. Weng Yanjun, director of the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum, said: “Relying on the Ancient Ceramics Gene Bank, we decipher the civilization codes contained in massive amounts of porcelain shards, preserve the complete historical vein of the porcelain capital’s raw materials, production, transportation, and daily life, and allow the audience to better feel the thousand-year porcelain industry cultural vein.” Through the two-way empowerment of authentic heritage protection and popular sharing, the fruits of cultural heritage protection are transformed into a sense of gain and happiness that citizens and tourists can feel and attain.

Activating heritage with digital technology — this is Jingdezhen’s “technology style.”

At each heritage site, visitors need only tap their phone to scan a QR code, log into the “Digital Heritage Guardian (数字守艺人)” mini-program, and with one click navigate to explore porcelain industry sites, participate online in inspections, and provide feedback, transforming from sightseers into guardians. “Valid records collected by the ‘Digital Heritage Guardian’ public inspection activities will complement professional monitoring data, forming a more three-dimensional heritage protection information network,” introduced Zhou Lili, deputy director of the Jingdezhen Municipal Porcelain Industry Cultural Heritage Protection Center. Based on systematic digital protection, Jingdezhen has built a living heritage protection system with sustainable value and universal participation.

Let the ancient kiln fire be passed on from generation to generation — this is Jingdezhen’s “youth style.”

In recent years, Jingdezhen has continuously attracted young forces, built diverse transmission platforms, and enabled young people to approach heritage, understand heritage, and inherit heritage. Zhang Ziyue, a second-year middle school student from Jingdezhen, passed the selection last year and became a “Little World Heritage Application Docent (小小申遗讲解员).” “From ‘official commissioning, civilian firing’ to the export of Kraak porcelain, each explanation is a deep study of my hometown’s history,” Zhang Ziyue said. “I want to be a good new-generation kiln guardian, so that more people can come to Jingdezhen and feel the charm of the porcelain capital in the old alleys.”

Using porcelain as a medium to connect the world — this is Jingdezhen’s “international style.”

In May this year, Pınar, a ceramic artist from Turkey, entered the Jingdezhen Taoxichuan Art Center as an invited artist. “Coming to Jingdezhen has always been my dream. This is a place where I can create freely. I have met many young Chinese artists and felt the bursting and collision of technique and inspiration,” Pınar said. Now, more than 60,000 “Jing Piao (景漂)” — including several thousand “foreign Jing Piao (洋景漂)” — have taken root in Jingdezhen, continuing the ancient tradition of handmade porcelain and also stirring innovation vitality.

Rao Quan, Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism and Director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, said: “Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, Jingdezhen’s handmade porcelain industry continuously strengthens systematic and holistic protection. In the next step, we will fulfill the responsibilities and obligations of the World Heritage Convention, do a good job in the perpetual protection, inheritance, and development of the ‘Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Remains,’ continuously improve the protection and management level of China’s World Cultural Heritage, safeguard the treasures of Chinese culture, and let the world understand Chinese civilization.”

The kiln fire never dies; the cultural vein continues forever. Jingdezhen is taking the successful World Heritage inscription as a new starting point, letting the thousand-year kiln fire illuminate an even farther future.

(Xinhua reporter Zhou Huan participated in the writing.)

(Related report on pages 3, 6, and 7)

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How the "Six Networks" Empower the Modern Industrial System (Reader Request · Common Concern)

By: 本报记者 李心萍

Recently, many people have been discussing the six networks (六张网). How are the six networks different from traditional infrastructure construction? Why must the six networks be built, and what is their relationship with the modern industrial system?
—— People's Daily Online netizen

To answer these questions, we must first understand what the modern industrial system is.
Opening the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (十五五规划纲要), the modern industrial system includes traditional industries, emerging industries and future industries, the service industry, and the modern infrastructure system.
Entering the era of artificial intelligence, the computing power network and the new-generation communication network have long become new "water, electricity, and coal" (水电煤). Therefore, the modern infrastructure being built now is no longer traditional road and bridge construction, but rather new-type infrastructure that resonates with new quality productive forces at the same frequency.
The six networks consist of the water network, the new-type power grid, the computing power network, the new-generation communication network, the urban underground pipeline network, and the logistics network. They are precisely the core carriers of the modern infrastructure system and an indispensable part of the modern industrial system.
If the entire modern industrial system is compared to a giant that is 顶天立地 (dǐng tiān lì dì - "head touching the sky, feet on the ground," indomitable and towering), then traditional industries, emerging industries, and future industries are the giant's "bones and sinews," and the six networks are the "meridians and channels" that run through the whole body. With them, factors can flow freely, and the domestic great circulation and the domestic-international dual circulation can truly be unimpeded.
How exactly do these "networks" empower industries?
Go take a look at the "super factory" of Weichai Lovol (潍柴雷沃) in Weifang, Shandong. There, an invisible 5G-A network directs nearly 500 robots in precise synchronized dance, achieving millisecond-level coordination, and every four minutes a high-end intelligent tractor rolls off the production line; at the end of the line, an AI quality inspector with 火眼金睛 (huǒ yǎn jīn jīng - "fiery eyes and golden pupils," sharp discerning vision) can detect millimeter-level defects in a millisecond.
This is precisely a microcosm of how the six networks empower traditional industries. The computing power network and the new-generation communication network act as the "nerve center" of industry, endowing traditional production lines with the ability to precisely perceive and make intelligent decisions; the new-type power grid allows more manufacturing to use green electricity and achieve a green transformation.
For emerging industries, the six networks are like "wings for soaring."
Take, for instance, the first urban low-altitude logistics route opened last year in Jiangning District (江宁区), Nanjing, Jiangsu. In the past, when drones flew far away, they would easily get "lost" due to base station handovers, wasting time; but relying on 6G cell-free technology, this 7.4-kilometer route had a full signal throughout the entire journey, and the drone's travel time was only half that of ground vehicles.
This is the deep synergy between the new-generation communication network and the logistics network. It not only unblocks the bottlenecks in urban-rural circulation but also expands vast space for emerging industries such as the low-altitude economy.
As for future industries, they too are inseparable from this fertile soil of the six networks. The deep integration of the new-generation communication network, the computing power network, and the new-type power grid is precisely the key to nurturing future industries.
The new-generation communication network enables the low-latency transmission of massive neural data, helping brain-computer interfaces accelerate from science fiction to reality; the support of the computing power network allows biomanufacturing to rely on artificial intelligence, helping R&D transform from "fishing for a needle in the ocean" (大海捞针 - dà hǎi lāo zhēn, "fishing for a needle in the vast sea," extremely difficult and unlikely) to "precise prediction." In addition, hydrogen energy and nuclear fusion energy, and sixth-generation mobile communication are themselves both construction content of the six networks and priorities of future industries. Making efforts on the six networks is precisely a good path to drive the landing of technology through demand and strengthen future industries.
Of course, besides these "explicit" enablers, there are also "implicit" guardians such as the water network and the urban underground pipeline network. The water network is the "lifeline" that guarantees industrial production and modern agriculture, while the urban underground pipeline network provides a safe and resilient production foundation for urban industrial activities.
When we lay out these six networks 环环相扣 (huán huán xiāng kòu - "linked ring by ring," interlocking in a chain), we will discover that they allow factors to flow freely, make the industrial system stronger and healthier, and also make the economy operate efficiently. They link the Chinese economy together into a vibrant organic whole.

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Cypress Forests on Cuiyun Corridor (Establishing and Practicing Correct View of Political Achievement: Frontline Report)

By: 本报记者 王永战

In Jiange County, Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province, on the ancient Shu Road, the ancient cypresses of Culinary Corridor (翠云廊) tower into the sky.
Wearing a vest, carrying a water flask, and holding a sickle, forest ranger Du Desheng (杜德生) approached an ancient tree and carefully inspected it, “first look at the growth, second look for pests and diseases, and then look for any damage.”
Culinary Corridor is an important segment of the ancient Shu Road that connected the Guanzhong Plain to the Sichuan Basin in ancient times, and it possesses the most well-preserved ancient artificially planted post-road cypress groves extant. Among them, the Jiange section has a total of 7,778 ancient cypresses, with an average age exceeding one thousand years.
In July 2023, during his inspection at Culinary Corridor, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed: “Protect the ancient and famous trees well, and carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture well.”
Bearing in mind the earnest entrustment of the General Secretary, Jiange County (剑阁县), guided by a correct view of performance, has established an institutional framework, ensured the implementation of systems, and consolidated and developed the achievements of ecological civilization construction in the new era.
“One tree, one person,” with collective participation, the atmosphere of protecting cypresses has grown stronger.
Beneath the dense shade of an ancient tree, a lively “courtyard meeting” (坝坝会) was underway. Forest rangers, village cadres, rural internet influencers, and tourists sat together, chatting about the history of the ancient road and studying the ancient tree protection system.
“Through a round of publicity and guidance, the concept of protecting cypresses has taken deeper root in people’s hearts.” On his year-round patrols, Du Desheng must report on the growth of the ancient trees and pay special attention to forest fire prevention. This year, as hiking has become hot, the promotion of ancient cypress protection has also become part of his duty.
Since the launch of study and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of performance, Jiange County has strengthened grassroots patrol forces, recruiting nearby villagers and veteran party members to form an ancient cypress patrol team. The number of ancient cypress forest rangers has increased to 84, achieving grid-based coverage of ancient tree management and protection.
“One tree, one strategy,” making ancient cypress protection more systematic.
At the Broken Stele Ridge section (断碑梁段) of Culinary Corridor in Bailong Town, Jiange County, opening a mobile phone and scanning the QR code information plate on an ancient tree, the tree age, label number, and other information are clearly visible. “We have created electronic archives for every ancient tree and protect them with tagging,” said Liu Kemin (刘克敏), director of the Jiange County Culinary Corridor Ancient Cypress Nature Protection Center.
Jiange County has partnered with the Chinese Academy of Forestry to designate four key monitoring and control areas across the county, piloting pest monitoring and control for the ancient cypress community; it has built the “Smart Tree” (智慧树) digital intelligence management and protection system and the Culinary Corridor lightning protection full-chain defense system, promoting the transformation and upgrade of forest fire prevention from “human prevention and human extinguishing” to “smart prevention and smart extinguishing.”
By establishing and practicing a correct view of performance, Jiange County has strengthened the responsibility of cadres through institutional development.
Since the Ming Dynasty, regulations such as “officials and people mutually prohibit cutting” (官民相禁剪伐) and “hand over trees, hand over seals” (交树交印) have been passed down in Jiange County to this day. Today, the local government has introduced a handover system for ancient cypresses along the ancient Shu Road, taking the number and growth status of ancient cypresses as important content for the handover of principal party and government leaders at the county and township levels upon departure, and incorporating it into the scope of natural resource auditing.
Just over a month after taking up the heavy responsibility of protection, Xu Yongmao (徐永茂), Party secretary of Bailong Town, once again came to the Broken Stele Ridge section. “During the departure handover, my predecessor and I walked the entire section from Broken Stele Ridge to Xiaoyazi, checking the number and growth indicators of each ancient tree one by one,” Xu Yongmao said. Today, the ancient cypress departure handover system covers nine levels of responsible persons, from the county party secretary to forest rangers, and the handover content has expanded to 16 indicators across five categories, including growth status and management effectiveness.
Hiking has driven the popularity of rural agritainment, homestays, cafes, and other business types. Now, over 500 villagers in Jiange County have started agritainment businesses, homestays, or sell agricultural specialty products relying on hiking. Ecological advantages are steadily transforming into development advantages.

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Photo Report

The ancient stage of the Wuma Historical and Cultural Street in Lucheng District, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, has been upgraded and renovated, with an open extended T-stage added to blend ancient charm with trendy performances, creating an immersive street performance space.
The photo shows citizens and tourists watching opera performances at the ancient stage on Park Road of the Wuma Historical and Cultural Street on July 24.
Photo by Su Qiaojiang (Image China)

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China's Intelligent Computing Power Grows 177% Year-on-Year by End of June

Beijing, July 25 (People's Daily) — Reporters Wang Zheng (王政) and Liu Wenxin (刘温馨) learned from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (工业和信息化部) that as of the end of June this year, China's intelligent computing power scale reached 2,185 EFLOPS (FP16), a year-on-year increase of 177%.

Currently, the overall rack-mounting rate of national computing power facilities has reached 71.4%. Relevant departments are continuously promoting the high-quality construction of computing power facilities, accelerating the coordinated layout of "hub-region-edge" computing power facilities, and guiding large-scale and above computing power facilities to concentrate in hub nodes.

The construction of high-speed broadband networks is being accelerated, and the "Millisecond Computing" special action in metropolitan areas (城域“毫秒用算”专项行动) is being deeply implemented to enhance the efficient transport capacity of computing power. Over the past two years, more than 70 computing power corridors have been built around national computing hub nodes (国家算力枢纽节点), and the network performance between related computing hub nodes has improved by 10%.

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Sales of New Energy Heavy Trucks Up 78.6% Year on Year in First Half

Beijing, July 25 (Our reporter Han Xin (韩鑫)): The reporter learned from the Ministry of Transport (交通运输部): In the first half of this year, our country's new energy heavy trucks cumulative sales approximately 140,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 78.6%. Driven by both policy and market, new energy heavy trucks have entered a new stage of rapid popularization, promotion, and application.

This year, continue to implement the old operational trucks scrapping and renewal action (老旧营运货车报废更新行动), arrange 220 billion yuan of ultra-long-term special government bonds to support old operational trucks scrapping and renewal, with key support for renewal into new energy heavy trucks. Next step will center on the national expressway network's "5 radial, 4 vertical, 5 horizontal" key sections, build zero-carbon road transport corridors of 30,000 kilometers; build more than 3,000 electric heavy truck charging and swapping stations, promote the green transformation of transportation infrastructure.

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SAMR imposes administrative penalty on Trip.com Group for monopolistic practices and orders comprehensive rectification

This newspaper, Beijing, July 25 (Reporter Lin Lili (林丽鹂)) The State Administration for Market Regulation (市场监管总局) on the 25th, in accordance with the law, imposed an administrative penalty on Ctrip Group Co., Ltd. (携程集团有限公司) for abusing its market dominance to implement monopolistic conduct, with total disgorgement and fines amounting to 5.179 billion yuan.

Since January 2026, the State Administration for Market Regulation, in accordance with the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China, opened an investigation into Ctrip; established a special case team, strictly standardized according to law, steadily and orderly advanced the case investigation, conducted on-site investigations of Ctrip, and obtained a large amount of evidence materials; extensively carried out investigation and evidence collection of other competitive platforms and a large number of hotel operators on the platforms; comprehensively analyzed and sorted the evidence materials, conducted in-depth big data analysis and algorithm parsing; organized experts to carry out research and论证; listened to Ctrip's statements and opinions many times, safeguarding its legal rights.

Upon investigation, since 2020, Ctrip, abusing its dominant market position in the online hotel reservation platform service market within China, with the traffic distribution mechanism as the core, utilizing platform rules and technical means, implemented two types of monopolistic conduct: First, requiring "special badge" (特牌) hotel operators to enter into exclusive cooperation, using incentives such as granting the most traffic倾斜 and权益 support to induce hotel operators with high transaction volumes, good service quality, and strong user appeal to choose "special badge", and requiring them not to cooperate with competitive platforms. Second, forcing "gold badge" (金牌) and "no badge" (无牌) hotel operators to offer "the lowest price across the entire network", requiring hotel operators operating across platforms to have the lowest price on the entire network on Ctrip's platform, and allowing direct price adjustments; if a hotel's price was found to be higher than on competitive platforms, Ctrip would lower the price through technical tools such as the "Price Adjustment Assistant" (调价助手) and "Listing Pass" (挂牌通) as well as manual means. At the same time, Ctrip used technical means to monitor the implementation of exclusive cooperation and "lowest price across the entire network" by hotel operators, and ensured the implementation of these conducts through punitive measures such as restricting traffic, "removing badges" (摘牌), and deducting order reserves. The above conduct of Ctrip excluded and restricted market competition, restricted hotel operators from operating across platforms, infringed upon the independent pricing rights of hotel operators, harmed consumer interests, intensified "involution-style" competition within the industry, hindered the healthy development of the industry, and constituted the abuse of market dominance conduct prohibited by Article 22, Paragraph 1, Items 4 and 5 of the Anti-Monopoly Law, namely, without正当理由 limiting transactions and attaching unreasonable transaction conditions.

In accordance with Articles 57 and 59 of the Anti-Monopoly Law, comprehensively considering factors such as the nature, degree, and duration of Ctrip's monopolistic conduct, the State Administration for Market Regulation lawfully made the following administrative penalty decision: Ordering Ctrip to cease its illegal conduct, fully refund the forcibly deducted order reserves from hotel operators amounting to 122 million yuan; confiscate illegal gains of 1.658 billion yuan; impose a fine of 7.5% of its 2025 sales revenue within China of 46.958 billion yuan, amounting to 3.521 billion yuan.

The State Administration for Market Regulation will supervise Ctrip to comprehensively rectify, publicly disclose rectification measures, accept social supervision, effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of hotel operators and consumers, maintain a market order of high quality with fair prices and良性 competition, and promote industry innovation and healthy development.

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Fining Ctrip for monopoly sends strong signal against monopolistic practices and vicious competition.

By: 林丽鹂

The investigation and punishment of the Ctrip monopoly case is another major landmark case in the routine antitrust supervision of the platform economy. It is the first case involving a new type of monopoly conduct, the first case in China’s platform economy field to simultaneously impose three types of penalties for antitrust violations, and currently the monopoly case with the highest proportion of fines in the platform economy sector.

This serves as a warning to all platform enterprises that whether it is the simple and direct “two-for-one choice” (二选一) or the concealed and complex “technology + ecosystem + conduct” composite monopoly, none can escape the sword of antitrust. The regulatory authorities will absolutely not allow any form of abuse of market dominance to implement conduct that excludes or restricts competition.

This is also a typical case of thoroughly rectifying “involution-style” competition (内卷式竞争) and promoting win-win development for platform enterprises, in-platform operators, and workers. It is of great significance for promoting innovation and healthy development of China’s platform economy, as well as for high-quality economic and social development.

Ctrip is currently China’s largest online travel platform. According to an investigation by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR, 市场监管总局), the two types of monopoly conduct implemented by Ctrip were broad in coverage, long in duration, and significant in impact. The regulatory authorities comprehensively considered factors such as the nature of the illegal conduct involved, the severity of the circumstances, and the duration before making the penalty decision. The decision has a legal basis, the punishment fits the offense, and severity and leniency are combined (宽严相济), demonstrating the seriousness, authority, and effectiveness of antitrust enforcement.

The greatest value of antitrust enforcement does not lie in hefty fines, but in clearing the fair competition mechanism blocked by monopolistic conduct and releasing a strong policy signal. This investigation and punishment of Ctrip enriches the case law of antitrust enforcement in the platform economy field and sends a strong signal of routine antitrust supervision. The “exclusive cooperation” (独家合作) deprived hotel businesses of their autonomy to operate across platforms, excluded and restricted other platforms from fair participation in market competition, and hindered the free flow of factors. The “lowest price across the entire network” (全网最低价) severely squeezed hotel operating profits. In the short term, consumers receive products and services of diminished quality; in the long term, they will passively bear implicit monopoly premiums, falling into the trap of “enjoying low prices early and paying high prices later.” Restoring competition and giving full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation can prompt operators to innovate and enhance consumer welfare. In recent years, China has continuously improved the antitrust supervision system for the platform economy, gradually building a full-chain regulatory mechanism of “pre-event compliance guidance, in-event routine supervision, and post-event lawful punishment” (事前合规引导、事中常态化监管、事后依法惩戒), and has investigated and dealt with a series of major cases, demonstrating China’s firm determination to maintain fair market competition and safeguard the high-quality development of the platform economy.

Practice has proven that antitrust is not only a heavy tool for protecting the order of fair competition but also a sharp weapon for thoroughly rectifying “involution-style” competition. The Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of last year and the meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held on April 28 this year both emphasized the need to thoroughly rectify “involution-style” competition. In some industries, head platforms resorting to improper means for monopoly is a key factor exacerbating “involution-style” competition. The investigation and punishment of the Ctrip monopoly case also sends a strong signal for thoroughly rectifying “involution-style” competition. The “lowest price across the entire network” forced other competing platforms and hotel operators into a race to the bottom, forming a low-level, homogenized unhealthy competitive ecosystem. It is noteworthy that Ctrip is not an isolated case; the vicious cycle of “platforms making money, merchants earning thin profits, workers bearing heavy burdens” is common to a certain extent in fields such as online food delivery and online freight transport. The platform economy is a deep coupling of digital-smart technology and business ecosystems. The damage of “involution-style” competition in platforms to the industry is systemic, leading to an overall decline in industry profits, insufficient innovation momentum, and continuous ecological deterioration. Antitrust enforcement is precisely about breaking this cycle of low-level competition and pushing the industry to shift from “price wars” to “value wars,” forming a positive cycle of “high quality, high price, and healthy competition.”

The development of China’s platform economy is at a critical juncture. Behind the investigation and punishment of the Ctrip monopoly case lies a profound contemporary issue—how to promote win-win development for platform enterprises, in-platform operators, and workers? As the platform economy reaches a new stage, head platforms, leveraging their advantages in technology, capital, and data, have built solid barriers on their respective tracks, gradually evolving from former transaction facilitators and innovation disruptors into rule-setters and traffic allocators. Without effective external checks and balances, any platform, once it gains market dominance, has the impulse to formulate self-serving rules and maximize the extraction of industry value. The platform, originally a “bridge” for matching supply and demand, can become a “checkpoint” that plucks feathers from every passing goose (雁过拔毛, yàn guò bá máo - “pluck feathers from a passing goose,” to exploit every opportunity). If the rapid growth of the platform economy is a “pseudo-efficiency” growth achieved at the expense of in-platform operators’ profits and consumer rights, it will affect the stable operation of the national economy. Platform enterprises, in-platform operators, workers, and consumers are originally a community of shared destiny. Enabling all parties to fairly share the dividends of development based on the normal logic of the market and achieve win-win development is the long-term solution. This requires both the precise exertion of the government’s “visible hand” and the platform’s abandonment of the traffic harvesting model, along with proactive innovation and empowerment.

Antitrust is mainly about promptly correcting platform conduct, and even more so about protecting the platform economy ecosystem. Platform enterprises can become bigger and stronger, but they cannot become monopolistic hegemons. For supervision of the platform economy field, we must adhere to both regulatory norms and promotion of development, continuously establish and improve the platform economy governance system, build a vibrant and innovative institutional environment, promote the platform economy to new heights, and drive high-quality economic and social development to a new level.

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More Diverse Car Rental Scenarios: Convenient and Worry-Free (Policy Interpretation)

By: 本报记者 韩 鑫

In recent years, demand for self-driving travel has grown rapidly, driving the warming of the car rental market, and small and micro passenger vehicle rental has become an important mode of self-driving travel.
The "Three-Year Action Plan (2026–2028) for Promoting High-Quality Development of Small and Micro Passenger Vehicle Rental" (促进小微型客车租赁高质量发展三年行动方案（2026—2028年）) jointly issued by the Ministry of Transport and other 10 departments proposes that by 2028, promote the establishment of a small and micro passenger vehicle rental service network that is reasonable in layout, convenient and efficient, safe and of high quality. How is this rental service network to be built? How to expand post-rental market consumption? The reporter interviewed relevant experts and enterprises.

The car rental industry has become an important business form serving mass consumption. One-click ordering via a mini-program, direct pickup at a service point after the plane lands, and the ability to return the car at a different location anytime along the route... The convenient experience of "one-stop" travel reflects the increasingly complete rental service network.
"More than ten years ago, the car rental industry mainly served a few areas such as business and conferences." Liu Xiaotong (刘晓彤), deputy director of the Institute of Urban Transportation and Modern Logistics of the Transport Planning and Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport (交通运输部规划研究院城市交通与现代物流研究所), introduced that after years of development, China's small and micro passenger vehicle rental industry has undergone significant changes.
Scale has continued to expand. China has about one million short-term rental vehicles, generating approximately 38 billion yuan in market revenue annually. In 2024, the number of orders in the national short-term rental market was about 85 million, an increase of more than double compared to five years ago. Looking at indicators such as vehicles, orders, and revenue, the industry has grown from a niche travel service to an important business form serving mass consumption.
Scenarios have become more diverse. Car rental travel covers multiple scenarios such as self-driving tourism, new car test drives, and camping trips, gradually becoming an important choice for meeting people's personalized and quality-oriented needs.
Market demand is changing, and industry supply is also seeking innovation and change.
"The Plan clarifies the dual value of small and micro passenger vehicle rental in serving the construction of a transportation powerhouse and boosting consumption." Liu Xiaotong believes that the development of the car rental industry helps improve the comprehensive transportation system and activate the service consumption market.
On the one hand, perfect the rental service network to better adapt to the upgraded needs of travel.
The Plan proposes promoting the coverage of rental services at passenger transport hubs and improving the layout of rental service points in key areas. Relying on comprehensive transport hubs such as civil aviation and high-speed rail, constructing a "civil aviation/high-speed rail + car rental + full-area accessibility" service network to achieve efficient connection between trunk line transport and end-of-trip travel will effectively fill the "last mile" service gap and become a component of the modern comprehensive transportation system.
On the other hand, create more new scenarios and cultivate new growth points for travel consumption.
The Plan proposes promoting the integrated development of rental and tourism, and launching one-stop products such as "rental + tickets" and "rental + hotels." "Small and micro passenger vehicle rental can not only generate direct consumption of rental services but also drive diversified upstream and downstream consumption in areas such as culture, sports, and tourism, automobile production and sales, and automotive aftermarket services. Continuously cultivating new business forms of travel consumption provides new momentum for expanding domestic demand and promoting consumption," Liu Xiaotong said.
According to estimates, the total number of small and micro passenger vehicles for rental in China has reached 4 million. With the continuous improvement of service networks and the ongoing optimization of service supply, it is expected that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the national short-term car rental market will grow at an average annual rate of about 15%.

Promote one-way intercity car rental and resolve pain points such as being unable to get a booked car and disputes over damage assessment. Building a convenient and efficient car rental service network and improving the level of service facilitation are crucial. The Plan proposes achieving free one-way intercity car rental in key tourist areas and major city clusters by the end of 2028.
"One-way intercity car rental is an important measure to improve the convenience of car rental services." Liu Xiaotong believes that by solving the pain points of cross-city car rental travel, this measure is expected to drive a large increase in orders for cross-city self-driving and long-distance travel; it can also achieve dynamic allocation of vehicles between different cities and increase vehicle utilization rates.
Some enterprises are already exploring free one-way intercity car rental services. eHi Car Rental has achieved one-way pickup and return in more than 500 cities, and will gradually expand the scope of free and low-cost services; Shenzhou Car Rental has achieved free one-way intercity car rental in areas such as the Yangtze River Delta.
"Most small and medium-sized enterprises are still unable to provide one-way intercity car rental services." In Liu Xiaotong's view, this is mainly attributed to the fact that car rental enterprises have not yet reached economies of scale, and the cost of dispatching vehicles for return trips is relatively high.
To solve the problem of high operating costs for small and medium-sized enterprises, the Plan proposes relying on industry associations and other entities to explore the establishment of cross-regional cooperative alliances of rental enterprises, promoting the sharing of resources among enterprises within the alliance, and providing free one-way intercity car rental services.
"By strengthening cooperation among enterprises and sharing vehicle and service point resources, a unified large market for the rental industry is expected to accelerate its formation, further cultivating and expanding the car rental service market." Liu Xiaotong said that the Plan proposes achieving "one-place registration, province-wide use" for rental vehicles by the end of 2027, which will promote cross-regional mutual recognition of rental vehicle registration information and better meet the needs of one-way intercity car rental services.
"It is also necessary to resolve pain points such as users being able to order a car but not getting it, disputes over damage assessment when returning the car, and difficulty in canceling due to itinerary changes." The head of Didi Car Rental's business introduced that in response to the problem of "no car available at the last minute," the platform has launched a "no car, must compensate" mechanism; in response to disputes over damage assessment, users can upload vehicle damage information through the application, and the platform will provide a free damage assessment report issued by a third-party professional institution as a basis, with repair costs not exceeding the assessed amount.

Promote the integrated development of rental and the automotive industry, and expand post-rental market consumption in automotive leasing. As a component of the automotive aftermarket, car rental connects multiple links including automobile production, use, circulation, maintenance, financial insurance, and used car trading. The Plan proposes promoting the integrated development of rental and the automotive industry, including supporting rental enterprises in expanding automotive aftermarket services such as vehicle maintenance.
Car rental has become an important incremental channel for new car consumption. "Car rental enterprises can convert scattered travel demand into stable new car procurement." A relevant person in charge of Shenzhou Car Rental said that Shenzhou Car Rental has a fleet of nearly 200,000 vehicles in operation, and since last year has brought 100,000 new cars online, of which new energy models account for about half. "Batch procurement by car rental enterprises can not only stabilize automakers' sales and optimize production capacity but also allow more new models and new technologies to enter real travel scenarios more quickly, turning new supply into new markets rapidly."
At the same time, car rental is driving the development of the aftermarket including used car trading, maintenance and repair. "Rental is part of the full lifecycle value chain of automobiles," Liu Xiaotong said. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the rental industry is expected to purchase more than 6 million new vehicles, supply approximately 5 million vehicles to the used car market, and drive automobile consumption exceeding 1.3 trillion yuan.
The relevant person in charge of Shenzhou Car Rental introduced that at the front end, stable cooperation is established with automakers through batch procurement; at the mid end, vehicle utilization efficiency is improved through a nationwide direct-sales network and standardized services; at the back end, vehicle renewal and asset turnover are accelerated through maintenance and repair, used car circulation, and used car exports.
According to the Plan, rental enterprises should be guided to establish vehicle batch procurement and repurchase mechanisms with automobile manufacturers, and actively carry out joint marketing of new cars, in-depth test drive experiences, and other businesses. Liu Xiaotong believes that these measures will drive the construction of the automobile circulation system and better serve the international development of the automotive industry.
"The Plan will accelerate the transformation of the car rental industry from single-point operation to ecological synergy, and from service consumption to industrial integration." The relevant person in charge of Shenzhou Car Rental expressed the hope that in the future, the full lifecycle management standards for rental vehicles will be further improved, and at the same time, more detailed policy pathways will be formed in areas such as export qualifications, testing and certification, and customs clearance logistics, to better promote the renewal of rental vehicles, the circulation of used cars, and the expansion of overseas markets.

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China's cumulative installed power generation capacity up 10.8% year on year

Beijing, July 25 (Reporter Wang Yunshan (王云杉)) — The reporter learned from the National Energy Administration (国家能源局): As of the end of June, the cumulative installed power generation capacity nationwide was 4.04 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 10.8%. Among them, installed solar power generation capacity was 1.27 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 15.8%; installed wind power capacity was 680 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 18.5%, and the green and low-carbon transformation of energy (能源绿色低碳转型) further accelerated.

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Central government departments disclose budgets, seeking greater performance and efficiency in spending.

Beijing, July 25 (Reporter Qu Zhehan) — 96 central departments recently disclosed their 2025 final accounts to the public in accordance with laws and regulations, marking the sixteenth consecutive year that central department final accounts have been made public. The disclosed content includes four parts: an overview of the department, nine departmental final account disclosure tables, explanations of the final accounts, and a glossary of professional terms. Each central department publishes the information independently on its official portal website, while the Ministry of Finance (财政部) simultaneously forwards the disclosures in a centralized manner through the "Central Budget and Final Accounts Public Platform" column on its official website, actively accepting supervision from the whole of society over the efficiency of government affairs.

In recent years, the Ministry of Finance has organized central departments to carry out unit self-evaluation and departmental evaluation in an orderly manner, continuously expanding the coverage scope of performance evaluation and strengthening the practical application of evaluation results, steadily advancing the normalization of performance information disclosure.

Comprehensively carry out unit self-evaluation. This year, a total of 756 project performance self-evaluation forms were submitted to the National People's Congress Standing Committee (全国人大常委会) together with the central final accounts, an increase of 13 over the previous year, more comprehensively and intuitively displaying the output effectiveness of budget funds.

Continuously optimize the departmental evaluation mechanism. Urge all departments to strengthen the evaluation of major reform and development projects that are crucial to departmental performance; in principle, adopt a five-year cycle to achieve full coverage of key project evaluations, balance annual evaluation tasks, and improve evaluation quality and effectiveness.

Solidly advance key fiscal evaluations. In 2026, the Ministry of Finance selected a total of 55 projects to carry out key fiscal evaluations, focusing on key areas such as boosting consumption, scientific and technological innovation, industrial development, ecological and environmental protection, and livelihood security, covering the general public budget, government fund budget, and state-owned capital operation budget.

A relevant official from the Ministry of Finance stated that this year, performance evaluation reports for certain key projects were selected and submitted to the National People's Congress Standing Committee for reference together with the 2025 central final accounts report. The projects cover areas such as education, science and technology, health, agriculture and rural affairs, culture, tourism, and transportation, involving central competent departments including the Ministry of Education (教育部), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (国家自然科学基金委), the National Health Commission (国家卫生健康委), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (农业农村部), the Ministry of Water Resources (水利部), the Ministry of Transport (交通运输部), and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (文化和旅游部).

"Promoting the disclosure of performance evaluation results can force all departments to improve the efficiency of fiscal fund utilization and continuously enhance government credibility and transparency," said Bai Yanfeng (白彦锋), a professor at the School of Public Finance and Taxation of Central University of Finance and Economics. Linking performance evaluation with budget allocation can improve the regular evaluation and dynamic adjustment mechanism for expenditure policies, promptly clean up inefficient and ineffective expenditures, and reduce problems of policy rigidity and fund idling.

In 2025, central departments adhered to stricter requirements and greater operability, implementing the requirement for Party and government organs to practice austerity. Concrete measures were refined and implemented in areas such as official overseas visits (exit-entry), official receptions, domestic business travel, domestic inspection and exchange, conferences and training, and festival, exhibition, and forum activities. The financial departments strictly controlled the construction and renovation of office buildings and halls to prevent waste and loss of public funds, assets, and resources. Regular tracking and assessment of the austerity situation in central departments was carried out, and guidance and supervision over the implementation of austerity requirements by local governments was strengthened.

Government procurement is an important part of fiscal expenditure management and also a significant means of national macroeconomic regulation and control. Since the implementation of the Government Procurement Law, the Ministry of Finance has supervised and guided all budget units to properly carry out the disclosure of government procurement information and promptly disclose government procurement project information. Since 2016, the Ministry of Finance has promoted the disclosure of government procurement expenditures to the public together with the final accounts at the departmental level, effectively upholding the openness, fairness, and impartiality of government procurement.

For example, the National Immigration Administration's (国家移民管理局) total government procurement expenditure for 2025 was 3,090,544,400 yuan. The amount of contracts awarded to small and medium-sized enterprises was 2,151,261,600 yuan, accounting for 69.6% of the total government procurement expenditure. Among these, the amount of contracts awarded to small and micro enterprises was 1,761,220,000 yuan, accounting for 81.9% of the amount awarded to small and medium-sized enterprises. The amount of contracts awarded to small and medium-sized enterprises for goods procurement accounted for 55.6% of the total goods expenditure amount, the amount for engineering procurement awarded to small and medium-sized enterprises accounted for 75% of the total engineering expenditure amount, and the amount for service procurement awarded to small and medium-sized enterprises accounted for 76.7% of the total service expenditure amount.

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Photo Report

Recently, in Zhaosu County (昭苏县), Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, flax has entered the harvest period, and farmers and herders are seizing the fine weather to carry out operations. Flax can be used for making clothing, and flaxseed can be used in the production and processing of edible vegetable oil. In recent years, the local area has relied on large-scale planting, strengthened mechanized operations, improved the efficiency of the flax industry, and broadened the channels for increasing the income of farmers and herders.
Liu Yijiang (刘一江) photographed.

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China completes 515.1 billion yuan in water conservancy investment in first half of year

Beijing, July 25 (People's Daily) — (Reporter Wang Hao) In the first half of this year, the country implemented 33,000 water conservancy projects nationwide, completing water conservancy construction investment of 515.1 billion yuan; water conservancy infrastructure construction absorbed 1.344 million people in employment, including 1.111 million rural laborers; total wages paid to employed personnel amounted to 20.99 billion yuan, of which wages for rural laborers were 16.51 billion yuan.

The construction of the national water network has accelerated across the board. In the first half of this year, 25 major water conservancy projects, including the Three Gorges New Water Transport Channel and the first phase of the Taipu River follow-up project, commenced construction, approaching the total number of projects started in the previous year. Sun Zhiyu (孙志禹), Vice Minister of the Ministry of Water Resources (水利部), introduced that currently, 35 of the 40 backbone water conveyance and drainage channels of the national water network have been built or are under construction, and 473 of the 588 important regulation and storage nodes have been built or are under construction, with the coverage area of the national water network already reaching 80.3% of the national land area.

In terms of securing funds for water conservancy construction, from January to June, the country secured a total of 258 billion yuan in local government special bonds, bank loans, and social capital, a year-on-year increase of 7%. Among this, private capital of 10.84 billion yuan was secured, a year-on-year increase of 85.8%, the highest for the same period in history.

Sun Zhiyu introduced that, going forward, the Ministry of Water Resources will construct the South-to-North Water Diversion Middle Route Project's Yangtze-to-Han River Water Diversion Project (南水北调中线引江补汉工程) with high quality. It will accelerate the construction of backbone water conveyance and drainage channels such as Sichuan's Diversion from Dadu River to Min River project (四川引大济岷) and the water resources allocation around the Beibu Gulf (环北部湾水资源配置). Centered on the new round of the 100-billion-jin grain production capacity enhancement action, in areas with suitable soil and water resource conditions such as the Northeast, a number of new modern large and medium-sized irrigation districts will be built, and the modernization of large and medium-sized irrigation districts such as Dujiangyan in Sichuan and Pishihang (淠史杭) in Anhui will be comprehensively promoted.

Regarding summer irrigation, this year the country has cumulatively supplied 128 billion cubic meters of irrigation water, irrigating an area of 670 million mu, with the summer grain produced on the country's irrigated arable land accounting for 88.11% of the national total summer grain output. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the Ministry of Water Resources plans to prepare a batch of large and medium-sized irrigation district modernization and renovation projects, coordinate the construction of backbone irrigation district projects with high-standard farmland construction, and build a complete irrigation and drainage system from water source to field. Among the 27 large-scale irrigation district construction projects promoted this year, 21 have had their feasibility studies approved, and 8 have commenced construction.

Since the start of the flood season, the Pearl River basin, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, North China, and the Northeast have successively experienced heavy rainfall, with some areas forming flood disasters, causing a certain impact on agricultural production. Ni Wenjin (倪文进), Director of the Department of Rural Water Conservancy and Hydropower of the Ministry of Water Resources, introduced that in 2026, central funds of 3.196 billion yuan were arranged to support the implementation of 13 key regional drainage capacity construction projects. After implementation, it is expected to effectively enhance the drainage capacity of over 3.3 million mu of low-lying and waterlogged areas. In conjunction with the implementation of projects such as key waterlogged area management, modernization and renovation of large and medium-sized irrigation districts, and high-standard farmland construction, various localities have organized the restoration and renovation of farmland ditches and the management of plain waterlogged areas. Currently, the national waterlogged area drainage capacity covers 387 million mu.

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Applause Erupts as Gavel Falls

By: 本报记者 汪思源

At 12:44 local time on July 25, at the 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee held in Busan, South Korea, the chair of the session solemnly announced: “I declare that the committee decides to adopt 48 COM 8B.16 (Resolution 16 of Agenda 8B of the 48th session)!” The gavel struck, and the entire venue burst into warm applause — the Jingdezhen Handcrafted Porcelain Industry Heritage (景德镇手工瓷业遗存) was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List, bringing the total number of World Heritage sites in China to 61.

Representatives from various countries walked over to the Chinese delegation one after another, congratulating them on the successful inscription of “Jingdezhen Handcrafted Porcelain Industry Heritage.” The area in front of the delegation’s seats was crowded with people. Many representatives and staff members raised their phones to capture this exciting moment.

“The value of Jingdezhen ceramics lies not only in the exquisite porcelain-making craftsmanship, but also in its profound artistic and cultural value, which has had a broad impact on the development of art throughout the world,” said Jad Tabet, former representative of Lebanon to UNESCO. He stated that the successful inscription of “Jingdezhen Handcrafted Porcelain Industry Heritage” was the result of long and arduous efforts and also reflected thorough and solid preparation. “I am sincerely happy about this achievement and extend my warm congratulations to the Chinese people.”

Mohamed Hamadi, Permanent Representative of Comoros to UNESCO, said that the “Jingdezhen Handcrafted Porcelain Industry Heritage” is admirable, and its successful inscription is a full recognition by the international community of China’s long-term efforts in cultural heritage protection.

“Congratulations to China!” said Elman Abdullayev, Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to UNESCO. “This is not only an important achievement for China, but also an important result jointly achieved by the international community. The inscription of ‘Jingdezhen Handcrafted Porcelain Industry Heritage’ fully demonstrates the profound and unique value of the cultural heritage of Chinese civilization.”

“I am very pleased to witness firsthand the successful inscription of ‘Jingdezhen Handcrafted Porcelain Industry Heritage’ on the World Heritage List, making it China’s 61st World Heritage site,” said Ren Youqun (任友群), Vice Minister of Education of China and Director of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO (中国联合国教科文组织全国委员会). He stated that ceramics are a Chinese treasure, an important name card of Chinese civilization, and a common cultural treasure of all humanity. The World Heritage Committee highly appreciates the tremendous efforts and outstanding achievements made by the Chinese government in the protection and management of “Jingdezhen Handcrafted Porcelain Industry Heritage.” This is not only a high affirmation by the international community of China’s heritage protection practices, but also fully demonstrates that China has contributed effective and feasible schemes and experience to global heritage protection.

Rao Quan (饶权), Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism of China and Director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration (国家文物局), delivered a speech on behalf of the Chinese government, solemnly pledging to earnestly implement the World Heritage Convention, continuously strengthen the holistic and systematic protection, inheritance, and utilization of the heritage, and work together with international organizations and all states parties to jointly safeguard the treasures of human civilization.

“Jingdezhen Handcrafted Porcelain Industry Heritage” is China’s first world heritage project successfully nominated under the category of industrial heritage, filling a gap in the “porcelain” theme on the World Heritage List. From now on, silk, tea, and porcelain — these three cultural envoys of ancient China’s external exchanges — gather together in the hall of world heritage, jointly narrating the magnificent chapter of Eastern civilization marching toward the world.
(This newspaper, Busan, South Korea, July 25)

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An Important Force Driving Brazil's Reindustrialization

By: 本报记者 时元皓

Driving north from the Brazilian city of São Paulo, low rolling hills stretch on and on. More than two hours later, a vast expanse of factories gradually emerges on the distant horizon, an impressive sight. This is the manufacturing base of XCMG Brazil Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (徐工巴西制造有限公司) (hereinafter referred to as "XCMG Brazil") located in Poços de Caldas (波苏阿雷格里市), Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Over more than a decade since it began production and operations, this base has rolled off the line more than 30,000 complete engineering machinery products, which have been widely used in Brazil's urban construction and industrial development. Recently, a reporter from our newspaper visited the XCMG Brazil manufacturing base, explored the enterprise's production workshops, and sought out the Brazilian story of moving from "exporting products" to "taking root in the industry."

Focusing on market demand, enhancing manufacturing capability

At 3:00 p.m., the production workshop is filled with the roar of machinery as workers operate in an orderly manner.

This is a main production line at the manufacturing base, over 170 meters in total length, mainly producing two types of products — loaders and motor graders — that have been directionally optimized and improved for the local market. Liu Gang (刘钢), a process engineer for assembly and adjustment at XCMG Brazil, introduced that the production line uses advanced equipment such as powered robotic arms and tire gripping machines. "Electric tools basically cover the entire production line, which both reduces the labor intensity for employees and increases production efficiency."

At present, this manufacturing base mainly produces five categories of engineering machinery products: loaders, motor graders, excavators, rollers, and backhoe loaders, accounting for nearly one-fifth of the market share in Brazil. "We continuously optimize the production line; the investment in intelligent equipment and process improvements have steadily raised the production line's capacity," Liu Gang explained. Taking excavators as an example, the current daily output has more than tripled compared to three years ago.

In the late 1990s, XCMG products entered the Brazilian market through trade exports. At the end of 2012, construction began on the XCMG Brazil manufacturing base in Poços de Caldas, which was completed and put into operation a year and a half later. Relying on this base, the XCMG Brazil Industrial Park was established. From a trade-oriented enterprise, to a localized manufacturing enterprise, and then to an industrial chain integration platform, XCMG Brazil has continuously increased local investment and deeply participated in Brazil's reindustrialization process.

"According to the needs of the Brazilian market, we optimize the comfort of the engineering machinery cabs, engine emissions, and adaptability to the working environment, and also meet the customized requirements of some clients," said Caue de Andrade, a product engineer at XCMG Brazil. Currently, XCMG Brazil products are widely used in fields such as road construction, port upgrading and renovation, hydropower station construction, urban infrastructure construction, and agricultural development in Brazil.

Brazil's Extra Máquinas is XCMG Brazil's largest dealer. Since the two parties established a partnership in 2020, the company's sales revenue has increased tenfold. "Chinese products stand out in the Brazilian market for their durability, reliability, and high cost-effectiveness," said the company's president, Persio Briante. He noted that XCMG Brazil's products combine technological innovation and cost-effectiveness, making them highly attractive to customers. In addition, XCMG Brazil also provides technical support and after-sales service that are closer to the customer.

Li Hanguang (李寒光), General Manager of XCMG Brazil, introduced that the company collaborates deeply with local Brazilian suppliers, driving the development of the industrial chain. The localization rate for earthmoving machinery products exceeds 50%, creating more than 2,000 local jobs. Centered on complete machine manufacturing, XCMG Brazil has attracted related enterprises such as parts processing, logistics and transportation, equipment maintenance, and industrial services to cluster for development. Companies in the field of engine R&D and manufacturing, represented by Shanghai New Power Automotive Technology Co., Ltd., have successively invested in the XCMG Brazil Industrial Park. "This industry synergy model, with the manufacturing base at its core and extending upstream and downstream, has enhanced the overall manufacturing capability of the local engineering machinery industry," Li Hanguang said.

Creating employment opportunities, driving talent cultivation

Around 5:00 p.m., more than 20 commuter buses wait in the parking lot of the manufacturing base to take workers returning from work back to the city of Poços de Caldas and the surrounding areas.

"When I first arrived in Brazil, there were only a few commuter vehicles, and the workforce was just over 700. Now the manufacturing base has more than 2,000 employees," said Gu Chong (顾冲), Chief Culture Officer of XCMG Brazil. Over more than a decade, XCMG Brazil's revenue has grown at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 40%, with local employees accounting for more than 95% of the workforce.

Rodrigo do Prado, 48, has worked at XCMG Brazil for eight years. He started as a workshop assistant responsible for parts sorting and is now a production analyst in the assembly workshop. He told the reporter that before, there were no large multinational companies like this in the area, making it difficult to find job opportunities that allowed for career development. "In eight years, I have grown together with XCMG Brazil and can now provide a better standard of living for my family."

José Alvarenga comes from the city of Tocos do Moji (托科斯杜莫吉市), about an hour's drive from the manufacturing base; this small town has a population of fewer than 5,000. "Before, I helped out on my father's strawberry farm. After joining XCMG Brazil, I started as a marketing intern and now I am an administrative manager, responsible for communicating with suppliers, participating in large projects, coordinating multi-department work, and conducting cross-cultural exchanges. I have accumulated rich work experience. XCMG Brazil is like a school; it has helped me grow a lot," Alvarenga said.

Gu Chong told the reporter that XCMG Brazil has launched a series of talent cultivation plans. Taking the "XCMG Intern" project as an example, XCMG Brazil cooperates with Brazilian mining enterprises to select outstanding young Brazilians to undergo six months of skills training at the Xuzhou Engineering Machinery Technician College (徐州工程机械技师学院) , obtain operation and maintenance skills certification, and then return to Brazil for employment. This project has been carried out for two consecutive sessions, and there are plans to send more young talents to China for study and exchange in the future. XCMG Brazil also actively carries out R&D cooperation with local universities and has partnered with the Brazilian National Industrial Training Service (SENAI) (巴西国家工业技能培训服务中心) to open a "XCMG customized class" to cultivate talents for advanced manufacturing.

"XCMG Brazil, by connecting with global technical standards, has provided opportunities for skill upgrading for the local workforce," said José Fonseca, Mayor of Poços de Caldas, to the reporter. He noted that XCMG Brazil has consolidated the city's status as an industrial hub in Minas Gerais State, "enhancing the economic and strategic importance of the region and helping it become a preferred destination for future investment."

Targeting industrial transformation, promoting green development

The reporter visited the manufacturing base in 2024. This time, the reporter noticed that many green mining trucks had appeared inside the base, and the words "100% pure electric" on the vehicle bodies were very striking. Li Hanguang told the reporter that these pure electric products are expected to be produced locally soon. "We plan to introduce new energy commercial vehicles and high-end agricultural machinery to Brazil for production and assembly in the second half of this year."

In recent years, the Brazilian government has proposed the "New Brazil Industry Plan" (巴西新工业计划), which clearly sets goals such as digital transformation and green development. Li Hanguang stated that XCMG Brazil will also further accelerate the construction of smart factories, focusing on areas such as digitalization and electrification. Not long ago, XCMG Brazil established the South America Research Institute to explore more localized solutions for achieving green production and sustainable transformation.

De Andrade has visited China for study and training, and was deeply impressed by the logistics robots, unmanned mining trucks, and other technologies in Chinese production workshops. "The XCMG Brazil manufacturing base has great potential for improvement," he told the reporter. Technologies widely applied in China, such as intelligent unmanned logistics, laser intelligent blanking equipment, and intelligent sorting, will be implemented at the XCMG Brazil manufacturing base in the future.

The newly built communication optical cable production base of Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable (YOFC) has been successfully put into operation, and Midea Group's third factory in Brazil has achieved mass production of refrigerators and washing machines... In recent years, more Chinese enterprises have landed in Poços de Caldas. "Chinese enterprises inject capital and introduce technology, allowing the region and even the Brazilian economy to better integrate into high-value-added industrial chains, becoming an important force in driving Brazil's reindustrialization process," Fonseca said.

A report from the Brazil-China Business Council (巴中企业家委员会) shows that in 2025, China's direct investment in Brazil increased by 45% year-on-year, making Brazil one of China's major global investment destinations. Brazilian President Lula stated that Brazil welcomes Chinese enterprises, including XCMG Group, to actively participate in local infrastructure construction, digital economy development, and green transformation processes, and is willing to work with Chinese enterprises to promote sustainable development and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. "Productive investment from China in Brazil is continuously increasing, and technology transfer and capacity building are becoming more prominent," said Marta Fernandes, Director of the Brazilian Center for BRICS Policy Studies (巴西金砖国家政策研究中心) .

Riding on the momentum of the alignment of development strategies between China and Brazil, more Chinese enterprises are accelerating their localized layout in Brazil, expanding industrial cooperation between the two countries, and jointly pursuing the bright vision of modernization.

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China Offers Its Solutions to Global AI Governance Challenges

By: 鲁传颖

China is promoting the formation of an open-source ecosystem with open concepts and open-source stances, breaking down technical barriers, and working with more countries to strengthen artificial intelligence capacity building.

At the recently concluded 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, official representatives from over 100 countries and international organizations, along with guests from industry, academia, and research, gathered to discuss how to promote the beneficial and inclusive development of global AI. International舆论 (public opinion) has hotly discussed the conference for providing a high-end platform for international AI exchanges, and generally believes that China is promoting the formation of an open-source ecosystem with open concepts and open-source stances, breaking down technical barriers, and working with more countries to strengthen artificial intelligence capacity building.

At present, AI technology is accelerating in iteration, with opportunities and risks both becoming prominent simultaneously. Global AI governance is at an important juncture. How to fully unleash the development momentum contained in intelligent technology while properly addressing the 层出不穷 (céng chū bù qióng - "layer upon layer emerging without end," emerging endlessly) governance challenges? China’s proposed AI development and governance plan is logically clear and well-layered, directly confronting the contradiction between rapid technological development and relatively lagging governance system construction, contributing a Chinese solution to solving the global AI governance dilemma.

With innovation application as the goal, create a new form of intelligent economy. In the process of developing AI, China has always proceeded from the fundamental needs of people, advancing the “AI+” action through collaborative innovation of industry, academia, research, and application, comprehensively promoting AI technological innovation, industrial development, and scenario application, enabling AI to empower thousands of industries. The Chairman’s Statement of this conference proposed “creating a new form of intelligent economy, cultivating a new model of token economy based on large models and driven by intelligent agent leadership,” providing clear guidance for value measurement, resource allocation, and large-scale application of AI services. The large-scale development of the token economy cannot be separated from stable, efficient, and low-carbon computing power supply. China has made forward-looking arrangements for new energy and intelligent computing cluster construction, achieving two-way empowerment of computing power supply and energy development, laying the foundation for the green and sustainable development of the intelligent economy.

With safety governance as the bottom line, build an agile and efficient risk prevention and control system. Facing the systemic risks brought by the rapid iteration of AI technology, China has always emphasized both development and safety, grasping the trends and laws of AI development, continuously improving relevant laws and regulations, policies and systems, application norms, and ethical guidelines, ensuring that AI is safe, reliable, and controllable, making this swift horse of AI both fast and steady. At the same time, China adheres to a security concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, strengthening international cooperation on AI safety governance, jointly opposing practices that generalize national security concepts in the AI field or place one’s own security above that of other countries, and steadfastly safeguarding the bottom line of human civilization security.

With multilateralism as the yardstick, promote the construction of a fair and reasonable global AI governance system. At present, global AI development is uneven, and the North-South intelligence divide is widening. China extensively carries out international cooperation, advocates openness and sharing through open-source approaches, promotes the acceleration of AI development and strengthening of AI capacity building in all countries, especially Global South countries, continuously narrowing the intelligent divide and governance capability gap, effectively promoting inclusive and beneficial global AI development. UN Secretary-General António Guterres commented that China’s open-source strategy has achieved great success globally, and that all countries, as partners, should work together to make AI a force for safeguarding the dignity of all people, creating development opportunities, and promoting sustainable development.

With the joint efforts of all parties, the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (世界人工智能合作组织) was 应运而生 (yìng yùn ér shēng - "arise at the opportune moment," emerge as needed) in Shanghai, with 29 countries from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe becoming founding member states. The initiative proposed by China to promote the establishment of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization has achieved significant interim progress, notably enhancing the representation and voice of Global South countries in global AI governance, and will become an important milestone in the history of AI development. As a responsible major country, China has always been committed to being a provider of international public goods in the field of AI. It is willing to work together with all countries, upholding a people-centered, upward and good-ward philosophy, to jointly build a fair and reasonable global AI governance system, so that AI can truly promote common prosperity and benefit all of humanity.

(The author is a professor at Tongji University and a research fellow at the Shanghai Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.)

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Kyrgyzstan President Japarov meets with Wang Yi

Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan, July 25 (People's Daily) — (Reporter Li Qiang (李强)) Kyrgyzstan President Japarov on the 24th met with Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister, who was visiting Kyrgyzstan.

Japarov asked Wang Yi to convey his cordial greetings to President Xi Jinping, warmly congratulated the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and said that under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people have achieved brilliant accomplishments in socialist modernization, for which the Kyrgyz side feels sincere admiration. Relations with China are a priority direction of Kyrgyz foreign policy. The Kyrgyz side cherishes the strategic partnership of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and good-neighborly friendship, and is willing to learn from China's governance experience, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation in trade, investment, agriculture, people-to-people and cultural fields, vigorously advance key projects such as the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, and provide a good business environment for Chinese enterprises in Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz side firmly supports the Chinese side in safeguarding its core interests. Kyrgyzstan has joined the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (世界人工智能合作组织) and the International Mediation Organization (国际调解院), supporting with concrete actions the four global initiatives (四大全球倡议) proposed by the Chinese side, and is willing to further strengthen communication and coordination within multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations and the China-Central Asia mechanism, and jointly promote peace and development in the region and the world.

Wang Yi conveyed President Xi Jinping's good wishes to Japarov, expressing belief that under the leadership of Mr. President, the construction of "New Kyrgyzstan" (新吉尔吉斯斯坦) will surely achieve new and greater accomplishments. The Chinese side will as always firmly support the Kyrgyz side's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and firmly support the Kyrgyz side in pursuing a development path suited to its national conditions.

Wang Yi stated that China has just solemnly celebrated the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech, comprehensively reviewing the glorious course the Communist Party of China has led the Chinese people of all ethnic groups through, and profoundly revealing the excellent qualities that have enabled the Communist Party of China to continuously forge glories. The Chinese side is willing to strengthen the alignment of development strategies with the Kyrgyz side, translate the important consensus of the two heads of state into more visualized results, raise the level of mutually beneficial cooperation, expand people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and consolidate the foundation of the China-Kyrgyzstan community with a shared future. The Chinese side congratulates the Kyrgyz side on being elected with a high number of votes as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, and will support the Kyrgyz side in successfully hosting the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Bishkek Summit.

During the visit, Wang Yi also held talks with Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Kulubaev, and together attended the reopening and plaque-unveiling ceremony of the Chinese Consulate General in Osh.

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China's Economy Shows Strong Resilience (Foreign Media on China)

The economic semi-annual report for 2026 released recently by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in the first half of the year, China's gross domestic product reached 69.6 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.7% at constant prices, with an economic increment of 3.6 trillion yuan, the largest increment for the same period in the past five years. Many foreign media outlets believe that China's economy has demonstrated relatively strong resilience, and that technological innovation and industrial upgrading continue to stimulate the endogenous driving force (内生动力) of economic growth, with China's high-quality development (高质量发展) taking solid steps.

The Associated Press of Pakistan reported that the newly released economic data demonstrate the positive results of China's continuous economic structural optimization and high-quality development. China's industrial production has grown relatively rapidly, foreign trade performance has been good, and employment has remained generally stable, showing relatively strong resilience.

Malaysia's Today's Business website reported that in the first half of this year, China's industrial production maintained stable growth, with a performance that was stable and improving, highlighting the resilience of China's manufacturing system and reflecting that the overall operation of China's economy is maintaining a healthy trend.

Germany's Handelsblatt reported that in the first half of the year, China's new energy vehicles, robotics, and other industries grew strongly. The increase in production of products such as 3D printing equipment, lithium-ion batteries, and industrial robots indicates that China's industrial transformation and upgrading (产业转型升级) is being steadily advanced.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation website, citing analysis by Elliot Clarke (埃利奥特·克拉克), head of international economics at Westpac Banking Corporation, stated that the high-tech manufacturing category is the main driver of China's recent growth, and "China's manufacturing continues to support economic growth."

EuroNews published an article stating that China's exports of high-tech products are booming, and "demand for Chinese goods in the international market remains strong."

Cuban news agency Prensa Latina reported that in the first half of this year, China's total export value increased by 13.4% year-on-year, maintaining growth for 11 consecutive quarters; total import value increased by 22.1% compared with the same period last year. China remains one of the main participants in world trade.

South Africa's Business Day website reported that China's new business forms such as online commerce, telemedicine, and digital cultural entertainment continue to expand, reflecting the accelerated cultivation of China's new quality productive forces (新质生产力) and the continuous accumulation of new driving forces. The article believes that China remains an important hub in the global supply chain, continuously promoting global industrial upgrading and international trade development.

Forbes Mexico edition reported that Mexico is China's second-largest trading partner, and China's exports to Mexico are accelerating their transformation toward high-end manufacturing products such as machinery and equipment, auto parts, and electronic equipment.

"In the first half of this year alone, Shanghai saw multiple foreign-funded R&D centers open or expand. More and more foreign-funded enterprises regard China as a beacon for their Asia-Pacific and even global business." Greek Shipping News stated that China is introducing a series of new measures to attract and stabilize foreign investment and improve the business environment for foreign-funded enterprises. "China plays a role in the long-term global strategies of foreign companies that combines the functions of a consumer market, a production base, and an innovation center," the report said.

(This article was jointly reported by our reporters Xie Jianing (谢佳宁), Zhao Yipu (赵益普), Yang Yi (杨一), Shen Xiaoxiao (沈小晓), Cheng Shijie (程是颉), Liu Zhonghua (刘仲华), Che Bin (车斌), and Dai Kairan (戴楷然) in Beijing, Islamabad, Bangkok, Cairo, Mexico City, Berlin, Canberra, and Johannesburg on July 25.)

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"Building more bridges of mutual understanding and affinity between Latin America and China"

By: 本报记者 姜 波 陈尚文

Recently, 29 journalists and self-media bloggers from 26 Latin American and Caribbean countries entered the Beijing Capital Museum to visit and report on the “Corn · Gold · Jaguar — Great Exhibition of Maya and Andean Ancient Civilizations” (玉米·黄金·美洲豹——玛雅与安第斯古代文明大展) being held there. This exhibition brings together approximately 800 fine pieces from the collections of over 20 cultural and museum institutions in Mexico and Peru, spanning 3,000 years of ancient American civilization history. The exhibition sets up a variety of distinctive scenes, interactive installations, and experience projects, organically linking the indoor and outdoor public spaces with multiple exhibition halls, transforming static artifact displays into an immersive experience.

Kareen Moran-Alexander (卡琳·莫兰—亚历山大), commissioner of the Grenada National Information Service (格林纳达国家新闻署), stated that the Chinese side has meticulously crafted this exhibition through rich and diverse forms and advanced technological means, opening a window for Chinese audiences to understand a distant civilization.

“I feel very excited to see an exhibition about the history and culture of the ancient Maya civilization in China,” said Mayra Pérez (玛伊拉·佩雷斯), deputy secretary-general of the Guatemalan Journalists Association (危地马拉记者协会). She stated that the importance of strengthening dialogue among different civilizations has become even more prominent, and a series of Latin America-China civilization exchange activities play an important role in promoting the people of both sides to understand each other’s history and culture, comprehend each other’s ways of thinking and cognition, and thereby enhance friendship and mutual trust.

Diego Hurtado (迭戈·乌尔塔多), a journalist from Peru’s América Televisión (秘鲁美洲电视台), stated that friendly exchanges between Peru and China have a 源远流长 (yuán yuǎn liú cháng - “source far, flow long,” have a long history), and Peruvian culture, including its cuisine, has been deeply influenced by Chinese culture. In recent years, with the deepening of cooperation in fields such as economy and trade, people-to-people and cultural exchanges between Peru and China have become increasingly close. “I hope that in the future, Peru-China and Latin America-China will hold more people-to-people and cultural exchange activities, building more bridges of mutual understanding and affinity between Latin America and China,” Hurtado said.

“Through visiting this exhibition, I deeply feel the importance of the connection, exchange, and mutual learning between Latin American and Chinese civilizations,” said Luciana Oliveira (卢西亚娜·奥利维拉), a journalist from Brazil’s 247 News Network (巴西247新闻网). She stated that in recent years, practical cooperation between Brazil and China in various fields has continued to deepen, and strengthening people-to-people and cultural exchanges is the common expectation of the people of both countries. This year, Brazil and China are jointly celebrating the “Brazil-China Cultural Year,” and the two countries are holding a variety of rich and colorful cultural exchange activities. She looks forward to more Chinese people visiting Brazil and engaging in deeper exchanges with the Brazilian people, drawing closer the distance between hearts and minds.

“Both Mexico and China are ancient civilizations with long histories, and the peoples of both countries have a strong interest in each other’s culture,” said Óscar Olivares (奥斯卡·奥利瓦雷斯), a journalist from Mexico’s La Jornada (墨西哥《每日报》). He stated that last year, Latin America and China jointly launched the five major projects of solidarity, development, civilization, peace, and people-to-people bonds (团结、发展、文明、和平、民心五大工程), and this exhibition is a manifestation of the achievements of the “civilization project.”

“Exchanges between countries should never be limited to trade and investment cooperation; there is an even greater need to build value identification at the cultural level,” said Matías Rojas (马蒂亚斯·罗哈斯), a journalist from Chile’s El Ciudadano (智利《公民报》). He believes that China’s proposed Global Civilization Initiative has created a platform for Latin America and China to enhance mutual value identification at the cultural level. This initiative advocates respecting the diversity of world civilizations, emphasizing cultural inheritance and innovation, etc., and has effectively promoted extensive cooperation between Latin America and China in the fields of science, culture, education, and other people-to-people and cultural exchanges. He looks forward to Latin America and China continuing to join hands in implementing the Global Civilization Initiative in the future, promoting Latin American and Chinese civilizations to radiate new vitality through exchange and mutual learning.

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Sharing Ecological Civilization, Achieving Long-Term Resilience

By: 本报记者 张 驰

The 62nd annual meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, with the theme 'Shared Ecological Civilization, Achieving Long-term Resilience,' was recently held in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture (西双版纳傣族自治州), Yunnan. More than 700 scientists, conservation practitioners, and young scholars from over 60 countries and regions around the world discussed topics including the future of tropical ecosystems, global biodiversity conservation pathways, and China's ecological civilization construction.

The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation was founded in 1963 and is one of the largest and oldest academic organizations in tropical ecology. Executive President Kathleen Cardelús said: 'The ATBC annual meeting is being held again in China in the hope of attracting tropical biologists from around the world to come to China and experience firsthand the latest achievements of China's ecological protection.' After visiting the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院西双版纳热带植物园), and the Asian Elephant National Park (亚洲象国家公园) under construction, Cardelús said: 'China has done excellent work in tropical biodiversity conservation, and the practices here are inspiring.'

Kang Mosa (康牧飒), a researcher in the Large Mammal Diversity and Conservation Research Group at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a scientist of Spanish nationality, recounted his experience of deeply experiencing China's ecological protection practices. In March 2020, a group of wild Asian elephants that originally lived in the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve (西双版纳国家级自然保护区) set out from Xishuangbanna, moved northward, and entered Kunming. Subsequently, with the efforts of multiple departments, the elephant herd safely returned to its original habitat. 'I saw that the response of Chinese government departments was serious, professional, and most importantly, very swift,' Kang Mosa said. He stated that China is becoming a leading force in global environmental protection and will play a more important role in fulfilling the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and other processes.

At the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, there is the world's highest forest observation tower crane system — its basket working height reaches 80 meters, and it can move horizontally within a diameter of 120 meters, facilitating researchers to conduct work above the canopy covering more than one hectare. Standing on this giant tower crane, American tropical biologist Chuck Cannon took a photo with a Parashorea chinensis tree. 'China's technological level, research facilities, and research capabilities are among the best in the world,' Cannon said. He said that what particularly impressed him was China's top-level design capability — incorporating ecological civilization construction into the overall layout of national development, and the five-year plans make it possible to implement the grand blueprint.

Xing Yaowu (星耀武), director of the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that in the past five years, the botanical garden has led the construction of the CAS Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Center (中国科学院东南亚生物多样性研究中心), cooperating with Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and other countries to form a plant introduction collaboration network covering the Indo-China Peninsula. The botanical garden has signed bilateral agreements and memoranda of understanding with more than 20 partners from Asia, Europe, Oceania, etc., promoting cutting-edge exploration of tropical biology through building knowledge-sharing platforms, cross-border joint scientific research, and collaborative ecological protection actions.

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China Calls on International Community to Jointly Promote Global Energy Transition

Our newspaper Washington, July 24 (Reporter Li Zhiwei (李志伟)) UN message: Sun Lei (孙磊), Charge d'Affaires ad interim of China's Permanent Mission to the United Nations (中国常驻联合国代表团), stated on the 24th at the UN General Assembly Dialogue on Accelerating Global Energy Transition that energy transition is the core issue and the necessary path for addressing climate change. The international community should seize the opportunity, act promptly, and work together to promote the global energy transition. Sun Lei emphasized that China is an active promoter and contributor to the global energy transition. China is willing to leverage its technological and industrial advantages, engage in technology sharing, joint industrial development, and co-financing with all countries, provide sincere, powerful, and tangible assistance to developing countries for a just energy transition, jointly pursue common development, and build a clean and beautiful world.

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Adhere to the main line of forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, and promote the comprehensive and effective implementation of the law on ethnic unity and progress.

HOHHOT, July 25 (Xinhua) — Li Hongzhong, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, conducted research in Inner Mongolia from July 22 to 25. He emphasized the need to adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, deeply comprehend the decisive significance of the "two establishments" (两个确立), enhance the "four consciousnesses" (四个意识), consolidate the "four confidences" (四个自信), and achieve the "two upholds" (两个维护), thoroughly study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important thoughts on strengthening and improving ethnic work, persist in taking forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation as the main line, promote the comprehensive and effective implementation of the Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress (民族团结进步促进法), and ensure high-quality development of ethnic work on the track of the rule of law.

Li Hongzhong visited Hulunbuir City, Hinggan League, and other areas, going deep into communities, gacha (嘎查), enterprises, and border ports to research ethnic unity and progress, grassroots governance, production and livelihood of farmers and herders, as well as industries with distinctive advantages, integrated development of culture and tourism, border trade economy, and other conditions. He conducted field inspections of the ecological protection results of Hulun Lake (呼伦湖) and the Morigele River (莫日格勒河), and learned about the protection and inheritance of historical and cultural heritage of interactions, exchanges, and integration among different ethnic groups, as well as the progress of patriotic education work. He pointed out that we must take the Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress as the basis, coordinate economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological civilization construction, build a common spiritual home for the Chinese nation, promote comprehensive intermingling and extensive interaction, exchange, and integration among all ethnic groups, jointly guard the ecological home where humans and nature coexist harmoniously, and achieve common prosperity and development for all ethnic groups. We must strengthen legal publicity and education work, guide people of all ethnic groups to firmly establish the community concept of 休戚与共 (xiū qī yǔ gòng - "share joys and sorrows together"), sharing honor and disgrace, life and death, and common destiny, and consciously take forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and advancing the building of the Chinese nation community as a common task. We must regard the implementation and enforcement of the law as an important lever for advancing the modernization of the ethnic affairs governance system and governance capacity, push all regions, departments, and public officials to strictly perform their duties according to law, urge citizens, social organizations, enterprises, and public institutions to conscientiously fulfill their legal obligations, and give full play to the role of the rule of law in consolidating foundations, stabilizing expectations, and benefiting the long term.

The Inner Mongolia People's Representative Conference held from April to May 1947 in Ulanhot (乌兰浩特) established the first provincial-level ethnic autonomous region led by the Communist Party of China. Li Hongzhong went to the May First Meeting Site (五一会址) where the conference was held to conduct research. He emphasized the need to deeply carry out publicity and education on the history of the Communist Party of China, the history of New China, the history of reform and opening up, the history of socialist development, and the history of the Chinese nation's development, guide people of all ethnic groups to unswervingly listen to the Party and follow the Party, strengthen confidence and determination to take the correct path of solving ethnic problems with Chinese characteristics, and gather strength to advance the construction of a strong country and national rejuvenation.

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"Making People's Lives Better and Better" (Exemplary Deeds of National Outstanding Party Members, Outstanding Party Workers, and Advanced Primary Party Organizations)

By: 本报记者 马睿姗

Walking into Songjiagou Village (宋家沟村), Kelan County (岢岚县), Shanxi, among the mountain ridges and gully ravines, rows of simple courtyards are built against the mountains, and the big red lanterns on the Lianxin Bridge (连心桥) sway in the wind. Along the blue stone slab road of Songsui Street (宋水街), villagers are busy at the specialty product stalls being built uniformly. From time to time, tourist buses enter the village entrance, and the originally quiet village becomes lively.

Kelan County is located in the Lüliang Mountains region. In 2017, Kelan County carried out relocation and resettlement work, simultaneously advancing the renovation of rural appearance, uniformly repairing residential houses, connecting water supply and drainage to households, and promoting garbage classification, giving the village a completely new look.

With the living environment improved, how to increase income and become prosperous? This is a matter on the minds of Party members and cadres in Songjiagou Village.

The village's two committees (Party branch committee and village committee) adapted measures to local conditions to build platforms and expand positions, supporting the construction of parking lots, tourist reception centers, and signage systems, successfully creating a national 4A-level tourist attraction. In 2021, the village Party branch secretary, You Cunming (游存明), led the establishment of the "Jiejiegao" (节节高, "rising step by step") tourism professional cooperative, adopting a "cooperative + farmer household" model and a pairing assistance mechanism of "2 village-contracted cadres + 1 stall," allowing villagers to eat from the tourism industry at their doorstep.

Currently, the 9th Rural Cultural Tourism Season of Kelan County is in full swing, and the "Follow Intangible Heritage to Tour Kelan" (跟着非遗游岢岚) experience activity at the Songjiagou scenic area attracts a large number of tourists. The homestay operated by villager Li Jianping (李建平) is experiencing a peak occupancy period. Having just seen off a group of tourists, he quickly returns to the rooms to clean up, welcoming the upcoming guests. The whole family is busily and happily engaged.

"At that time, the village cadres told me, 'Old Li, you have experience in catering and are also a Party member. The village is just short of a pioneer like you to start a business!'" Li Jianping previously worked in Guangxi. In 2017, at the mobilization of the village's two committees, he returned to Songjiagou Village, transforming his old family home into a rural-style homestay and agritainment business, focusing on rural experiences. "Working and living close to home, with a decent income, life is much more comfortable than 'drifting' outside," Li Jianping said. Now, there are many homestays and agritainment businesses in the village, "everyone's tourism rice bowl is becoming more stable."

While developing the tourism industry, the Songjiagou Village Party branch insists on multi-point efforts, relying on local resource endowments to cultivate characteristic agricultural industries according to local conditions, continuously broadening villagers' income-increasing paths.

Walking into the production workshop of the Songjiagou Seabuckthorn Industrial Park, the production line operates in an orderly manner, and workers are packaging seabuckthorn concentrate, packing it for shipment to various sales outlets. Relying on the surrounding 70,000 mu of seabuckthorn forest resources, the village's two committees promoted the implementation of a seabuckthorn deep-processing project, built the Songjiagou Seabuckthorn Processing Plant, and formed a full-chain development model of "enterprise + cooperative + farmer household + base."

"Small seabuckthorn has become a big industry for enriching the people. Over 50 products, including puree, tea drinks, and health supplements, are sold to the domestic market. The processing plant permanently employs 30 villagers, with average monthly wages ranging from 3,500 yuan to 6,000 yuan," introduced Li Ailan (李爱岚), deputy secretary of the village Party branch and deputy director of the village committee. During the annual seabuckthorn picking season, the industrial park also provides over 30 temporary job positions.

Based on the local climatic conditions of high altitude, long sunshine, and large temperature differences, the village's two committees continuously cultivate characteristic planting industries. In 2025, after multiple investigations and investment attraction, the Runze Blueberry Industrial Park settled in Songjiagou Village. The industrial park has a large labor demand, and the village's two committees have repeatedly engaged in negotiations and docking with the park to absorb villagers from the village and surrounding areas for work.

"Working at the industrial park at my doorstep allows me to take care of my family and earn money to supplement the household," said villager Wang Xiulian (王秀莲) with a smile. It is understood that the blueberry industrial park simultaneously develops a sightseeing and picking business model, promoting the integrated development of rural agriculture and tourism. The annual output value of a single blueberry greenhouse can reach 230,000 yuan, with annual wages paid to farmers exceeding 100,000 yuan, steadily driving over 20 villagers to increase income and employment.

While focusing on industrial development, the Songjiagou Village Party branch established a Villagers' Council (村民议事会) and a Wedding and Funeral Council (红白理事会), jointly discussing and formulating 33 village rules and agreements (村规民约), continuously improving the effectiveness of rural governance. Through the "Bench Council" (板凳议事会), the village has cumulatively adopted and implemented 128 suggestions from the masses, completed the renovation of 202 toilets, converted 318 households from coal to electricity, and achieved a village greening coverage rate of 45%; built a daytime care center and a sewage treatment plant, achieving full coverage of water, electricity, road networks, and communication broadband; simultaneously carried out skills training, achieving full employment coverage for households with labor capacity.

In recent years, 7 Party member volunteer service teams have been active in the village year-round. Every year, "Good Daughter-in-law, Good Father-in-law and Mother-in-law" and "Red Flag Model Households" are selected. Fun sports meets and self-written plays draw men and women, old and young, into the "cultural arena." The new trend of "neighborly mutual assistance, gratitude and striving" penetrates the hearts of the villagers like the Lanyi River that runs through the village.

With Party members taking the lead and the masses participating, the former small ravine has transformed into a happy village where days have hope, life has sweetness, and development has momentum. In 2025, the per capita disposable income of Songjiagou Village reached 18,362 yuan, and the village collective economic income reached 1.5374 million yuan.

"We will further strengthen the grassroots Party organization, leading the villagers to unite and work hard on the front line of comprehensive rural revitalization, so that everyone's days will be like sesame flowers blooming, rising step by step," said You Cunming.

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CPC disciplinary agencies punish 412,000 in first half of 2024

Beijing, July 25 (People's Daily) — (Reporter Shi Yiqi (史一棋)) The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (中央纪委) and the National Commission of Supervision (国家监委) reported on July 25 the situation of supervision, inspection, and investigation conducted by the national disciplinary inspection and supervision organs in the first half of 2026. In the first half of 2026, the national disciplinary inspection and supervision organs filed a total of 538,000 cases and disciplined 412,000 people, including 74 cadres at the provincial-ministerial level and above.

The report shows that in the first half of 2026, the national disciplinary inspection and supervision organs received a total of 2.188 million letters and visits reports (信访举报), including 562,000 accusation and complaint letters and visits reports (检举控告类信访举报). They processed 1.274 million leads and clues. They filed 538,000 cases, among which 50 cases were filed against cadres at the provincial-ministerial level and above, 2,773 against cadres at the bureau/department level, 23,000 against cadres at the county/division level, and 75,000 against cadres at the township/section level; cases were filed against 54,000 current or former village Party branch secretaries and village committee directors. They disciplined 412,000 people, including 307,000 who received Party disciplinary sanctions and 134,000 who received administrative disciplinary sanctions; among them, 74 were cadres at the provincial-ministerial level and above, 2,274 at the bureau/department level, 18,000 at the county/division level, 56,000 at the township/section level, 56,000 ordinary cadres, and 280,000 rural, enterprise, and other personnel.

According to the report, in the first half of 2026, the national disciplinary inspection and supervision organs applied the "four forms" (四种形态) to criticize, educate, and handle 843,000 person-times. Among them, the first form was used to criticize, educate, and handle 424,000 person-times, accounting for 50.4% of the total; the second form was used to handle 341,000 person-times, accounting for 40.4%; the third form was used to handle 41,000 person-times, accounting for 4.9%; the fourth form was used to handle 36,000 person-times, accounting for 4.3%. At the same time, they insisted on investigating bribery and bribe-giving together, and filed cases against 19,000 bribe-givers, of whom 1,938 were transferred to procuratorial organs.

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Strengthen monitoring and early warning, ensure timely evacuation and relocation (solid efforts in all aspects of disaster prevention and relief)

At 22:00 on July 25, the Central Meteorological Observatory issued a red typhoon warning. At 22:00 on the 25th, this year's 12th typhoon, "Hongxia," strengthened from a typhoon to a severe typhoon, with its center located on the offshore sea surface approximately 100 kilometers southeast of Huidong County (惠东县), Huizhou City, Guangdong, and a maximum wind force of 14 near the center. It is forecast that Typhoon Hongxia will move northwest at a speed of about 20 kilometers per hour, with its intensity likely to increase further, and will make landfall along the coast from Shenzhen to Haifeng (海丰) in Guangdong around the early morning of the 26th.

On the 25th, the China Meteorological Administration upgraded the emergency response for major meteorological disasters to Level II. Provincial meteorological bureaus in Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan, as well as Heilongjiang, Jilin, Gansu, and other areas that may be affected, initiated or adjusted their corresponding level emergency responses based on actual assessment. At 18:00 on the 25th, the Central Meteorological Observatory issued a red rainstorm warning and a yellow severe convective weather warning, and issued a meteorological risk warning for floods on small and medium-sized rivers and a waterlogging risk meteorological alert. The Ministry of Water Resources and the China Meteorological Administration jointly issued a red flash flood meteorological warning. The Ministry of Natural Resources and the China Meteorological Administration jointly issued an orange geological disaster meteorological risk warning.

Due to the influence of Typhoon Hongxia and its peripheral circulation, from the 25th to the 27th, areas including southern Jiangxi and eastern Hunan will experience heavy to torrential rain, with localized extreme rainstorms. On the 25th, the Ministry of Emergency Management initiated a Level IV national geological disaster emergency response for Jiangxi and Hunan, while maintaining the Level IV national geological disaster emergency response for Guangdong and Fujian.

On the 25th, the Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the Ministry of Emergency Management organized a joint consultation with multiple departments and key provinces to assess the development trend of Typhoon Hongxia and heavy rainfall, and to study and deploy flood prevention and typhoon response work in key areas.

At 16:00 on the 25th, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters upgraded the flood prevention and typhoon response emergency response for Guangdong to Level III, and simultaneously initiated a Level IV flood prevention emergency response for Jiangxi and Hunan.

At 16:00 on the 25th, the Ministry of Water Resources initiated a Level IV flood defense emergency response for Fujian, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and other provinces.

The Ministry of Transport has initiated a Level II typhoon defense response and a Level II heavy rainfall defense response. On the 25th, the Ministry of Transport deployed the transport departments of Guangdong and Fujian provinces, the maritime safety administrations of Guangdong and Fujian, the Shenzhen Maritime Safety Administration, the Nanhai Rescue Bureau, and the Guangzhou Salvage Bureau, requiring them to upgrade various deployment, control, and preventive measures, and to fully implement the "shut down, stop, evacuate, transfer" measures for vessels in the core impact zone of the typhoon.

To respond to Typhoon Hongxia, at 23:00 on the 25th, the Guangdong Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters upgraded the wind prevention Level II emergency response to a wind prevention Level I emergency response. As of 16:00 on the 25th, 19 cities and 135 districts and counties in Guangdong had initiated wind prevention and flood prevention emergency responses. At 20:00 on the 25th, the Fujian Provincial Meteorological Observatory upgraded the rainstorm warning to Level III and continued to issue a typhoon warning Level III. The Fujian Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters decided to initiate a Level IV flood prevention emergency response and maintain a Level III typhoon prevention emergency response.

(Our correspondents Li Hongmei (李红梅), Jiang Xuehong (蒋雪鸿), Liu Wenxin (刘温馨), Deng Jianyang (邓剑洋), Han Xin (韩鑫), Cheng Yuanzhou (程远州), and Fu Wen (付文))

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Millennium-Old Kiln Fire Shines on the World

By: 本报记者 王 珏 何思琦

Porcelain, born from clay and tempered by fire, is produced through 72工序 (72 processes). Jingdezhen, arising from porcelain and thriving because of porcelain, has used a single kiln's flame to forge a millennium-old porcelain capital.

In October 2023, during his inspection and research in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "China's fine traditional culture has never been interrupted from ancient times to the present; ceramics are a Chinese treasure and an important名片 (calling card) of Chinese civilization."

On July 25 this year, at the 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Busan, South Korea, the "Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Remains (景德镇手工瓷业遗存)" was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List, filling the "porcelain" thematic gap in the World Heritage List and becoming China's 61st World Heritage site.

A single kiln's flame reflects the continuity of Jingdezhen's porcelain industry

Standing on the Dragon Pearl Pavilion of the Imperial Kiln Factory Site (御窑厂遗址) and gazing into the distance, the summer wind carries the breath of the Chang River. As far as the eye can see, the Chang River, like a green silk ribbon, passes through the city. In the distance, three tributaries—the East River, the South River, and the Jianxi River—gleam with fine silver light under the sun. One river and three streams connect Jingdezhen's "one town, four districts"—the town's porcelain production center, the Hutian Ancient Porcelain Kiln Site (湖田古瓷窑址), the Gaoling Kaolin Mine Site (高岭瓷土矿遗址), the Changling Porcelain Stone Mine Site (长岭瓷石矿遗址), and the Jiaotan Kiln Fuel Production Area (蛟潭窑柴燃料产区)—linking the "Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Remains" into a whole and threading through the development history of the thousand-year-old porcelain industry.

The successfully inscribed "Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Remains" comprehensively covers representative remains of all key links: raw material production areas, fuel production areas, production centers, and transport systems. The complete industrial division of labor system displays the evolutionary thread of Jingdezhen's handmade porcelain industry.

"This is the world's first cultural heritage site whose core attribute is the full-production-chain system of the handmade porcelain industry," said Deng Chao (邓超), director of the World Heritage Department of the National Cultural Heritage Administration (国家文物局世界文化遗产司). The combined structure of the five zones bears witness to a highly intensified, refined, and specialized division of labor in the industry, fully answering why Jingdezhen's thousand-year-old porcelain industry has flourished without decline and become the global center of porcelain production.

The five characters 镇、窑、土、石、柴 (town, kiln, clay, stone, fuel) outline the framework of the "Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Remains."

Digging stone from a thousand peaks, quarrying clay from myriad veins. "Clay" refers to kaolin; "stone" refers to porcelain stone and glaze fruit; "fuel" refers to kiln fuel. These three items are taken from mountains and fields, transported by waterways, and carried from surrounding villages to the town area without interruption—a complete porcelain-making system cannot do without such a comprehensive and efficient raw material and fuel supply chain. Through this method, people achieved low-cost, large-scale, standardized extraction and transport—this is the extraordinary wisdom deeply rooted among the people for thousands of years.

At the Dawnwukeng Porcelain Stone Open-Pit Mine site, a huge stone beam lies across the mountain, bearing witness to the large-scale manual mining of those years. "Kaolin," an international mineralogical term named after a Chinese place, represents a raw material that changed history; it was the discovery and application of kaolin that matured the "binary formula (二元配方)" technology of mixing porcelain stone and kaolin. The kiln fuel from Jiaotan was carried downstream by the current and turned into flames in the kilns in the town area. "This is actually a production system centered on the handicraft town of that time, integrating the surrounding countryside and fields," said Wei Qing (魏青), leader of the text compilation team for Jingdezhen's nomination project. "Jingdezhen's handmade porcelain industry has continued for over 1,000 years, surpassing the life cycle of a traditional handicraft industry, forming two development paths: the 'porcelain-making technology and porcelain art system' and the 'porcelain-making industrial system,' creating Jingdezhen's wide influence and market competitiveness globally."

"Kiln"—at Hutian Kiln (湖田窑), this place once witnessed the fusion of northern and southern Chinese porcelain-making techniques. From dragon kiln, horseshoe kiln to gourd kiln, and then to town kiln (镇窑), the remains of these kilns make people seem to see the thousand-year charm of "every household with a kiln fire, every family making pottery."

"The high-temperature kiln itself was a technological revolution; it made firing porcelain possible and turned porcelain into 'the art of clay and fire,'" said Wang Guangyao (王光尧), research fellow at the Palace Museum (故宫博物院). It was precisely in such kiln flames that the stable firing of bluish-white porcelain laid the foundation for Jingdezhen to develop into China's porcelain production center.

"Town" refers to the town-area porcelain production center: archaeological sites such as the Imperial Kiln Factory Site, the Luomaqiao Kiln Site (落马桥窑址), and the Guanyinge Kiln Site (观音阁窑址), together with folk kiln buildings, workshop structures, ancient roads, river channels, and docks, unfold the prosperous scene of Jingdezhen—"craftsmen come from all directions, and wares go everywhere under heaven." Here, the "binary formula" technology matured from its infancy, completing a key leap in China's handmade porcelain technique and pushing Jingdezhen to the peak of the world's porcelain industry.

"Jingdezhen blue-and-white porcelain, as an important vehicle for the spread of Chinese culture and a key symbol of oriental art, was an important component of the 'Chinoiserie' that swept Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, profoundly influencing Western painting, furniture, architectural decoration, and other artistic fields, and promoting the global expression of Chinese civilization and culture," Deng Chao said.

Eleven years of inscription efforts weave the warp and weft of a protection system

In 2015, General Secretary Xi Jinping issued important instructions on the protection of the Imperial Kiln Factory Site, indicating the direction for promoting the protection of porcelain industry remains and cultural heritage centered on the Imperial Kiln Factory Site.

Today, walking into the monitoring center hall of the Jingdezhen Porcelain Industry Cultural Heritage Protection Center (景德镇瓷业文化遗产保护中心), a giant electronic screen scrolls real-time images of heritage sites across the entire area; the condition of ancient kilns, ancient docks, and other remains is clear at a glance. During the flood season, when a hidden danger at a waterside heritage section is detected, staff rush to the site to carry out emergency reinforcement, safeguarding the security of the cultural heritage.

Xu Guanxiang (徐冠翔), head of the monitoring center, introduced: "Combining the different preservation characteristics of various kiln sites and streets, we have built a three-dimensional hazard detection system of 'professional patrols + public inspections,' achieving full coverage of heritage site inspections."

The meticulous protection of core sites is a key link in Jingdezhen's overall protection. Jingdezhen's protection work has lasted nearly half a century, and the inscription effort has lasted 11 years. In 2015, the inscription work was formally launched. In 2017, the Imperial Kiln Factory Site was included in the preliminary list of China's World Cultural Heritage. In 2019, Jingdezhen was approved to establish a National Ceramic Culture Inheritance and Innovation Pilot Zone (国家陶瓷文化传承创新试验区). In 2025, experts from the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) conducted on-site technical assessment. In 2026, the "Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Remains" was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List.

On the basis of protection, Jingdezhen has systematically opened to the public multiple key heritage sites, including the Imperial Kiln Factory Site, Guanyinge Kiln Site, Gaoling Kaolin Mine Site, and Jiaotan Kiln Fuel Production Area, creating an open, walkable, and touchable living heritage space, merging the pathways of archaeological sites, intangible cultural heritage skills, and cultural tourism experiences.

Thirteen li of Taoyang, ten thousand households of smoke and fire. In the Taoyangli Historical and Cultural District (陶阳里历史文化街区) of Jingdezhen, 108 thousand-year-old alleys, Ming-Qing kiln workshop groups over 400 years old, and 70-year-old ceramic industrial heritage outline the brilliant development history of Jingdezhen's porcelain industry. In the course of urban development, Jingdezhen has carried out overall restoration of this area, introducing such business formats as handmade ceramic production, sales, and display.

At the Xujia Kiln (徐家窑) in Taoyangli, Sun Lixin (孙立新), a provincial-level representative inheritor of intangible cultural heritage and the fourth-generation inheritor of the Sun Family Kiln (孙公窑), holds a biscuit in his hand, hands the brush to a visitor beside him, and asks him to add a stroke first. Then he takes back the brush and traces it smoothly; in a moment, a galloping horse grows out of that stroke, head raised and hoofs lifted.

"Jingdezhen's porcelain is created collectively by all craftsmen. One important reason why Jingdezhen has been able to develop to this day is the specialized division of labor among different processes," Sun Lixin said with deep emotion. "When a person does only one thing for a lifetime and spends decades polishing a single process, the skill naturally gains sinew and warmth."

Chen Kelong (陈克龙), secretary of the Jingdezhen Municipal Party Committee, said that taking the inscription as an opportunity, Jingdezhen deeply integrates the protection of porcelain industry cultural heritage, the revitalization of the old city, and the attack on the inscription, building a scientific protection system that combines regulations, planning, and institutions, and creating a protection model of "archaeology first, protection as the foundation, exhibition as empowerment, and living inheritance."

From the Gaoling mine to the Imperial Kiln site, from the old city streets to intangible heritage skills, Jingdezhen has broken the bottleneck of fragmented protection. Through unremitting deep cultivation and guardianship, a systematic protection system covering the entire area, spanning ancient and modern times, and integrating tangible and intangible cultural heritage has taken shape.

Co-construction and co-sharing, guarding the living porcelain capital's cultural vein

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Make the 'thousand-year porcelain capital' this bright business card shine even brighter."

At the Luomaqiao Kiln site, an MR (mixed reality) experience project allows visitors to walk through the site wearing a headset; the restored kiln scenes and the process of craftsmen at work unfold before their eyes, interweaving virtual and real, immersing them. "It's so real, as if I saw the spectacular handmade porcelain-making scenes of those years with my own eyes, and understood the millennium of accumulated artisan spirit of Jingdezhen," exclaimed Zhang Lin (张琳), a middle school student from Nanjing, Jiangsu.

During the inscription period, the "Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Remains Series Heritage Protection and Management Plan (2025–2035)" and the "Jingdezhen City Porcelain Industry Cultural Heritage Protection Regulations" were successively issued, using planning and legislation to strengthen institutional support for protection. Jingdezhen continues to push the protection of porcelain industry heritage from a professional matter for a few to a matter for the many, forging a path of heritage protection with public co-construction and co-sharing.

Bringing the thousand-year porcelain vein into daily life—this is Jingdezhen's "lifestyle style."

Within the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Factory National Archaeological Site Park (景德镇御窑厂国家考古遗址公园), the Imperial Kiln Museum, built on the prototype of a traditional wood-fired kiln and constructed with 2.8 million kiln bricks, lies quietly on the ground. Inside the museum, more than 800 exhibits, including the Ming Xuande blue-and-white cricket jar and the Ming Chenghua three-color duck-shaped incense burner, dazzle the eyes. Beneath the site protection shed, visitors can bend down and nearly zero-distance perceive the original strata of over 600 years of imperial kiln production. Weng Yanjun (翁彦俊), curator of the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum (景德镇御窑博物院), said: "Relying on the ancient ceramic gene bank to decode the civilization codes contained in vast quantities of porcelain shards, we preserve the complete historical thread of the porcelain capital's raw materials, production, transport, and daily life, allowing visitors to better feel the thousand-year porcelain industry cultural vein." Through the two-way empowerment of authentic protection of cultural heritage and popular sharing, the fruits of cultural heritage protection are transformed into a sense of gain and happiness that citizens and tourists can feel and touch.

Activating heritage with digital technology—this is Jingdezhen's "technology style."

At each heritage site, visitors need only lightly touch their phones to scan a code and log into the "Digital Heritage Guardian (数字守艺人)" mini-program; one click navigates them to explore the porcelain industry site, participate online in inspections and report problems, changing from sightseers to guardians. "The effective records collected by the 'Digital Heritage Guardian' public inspection activities will complement professional monitoring data, forming a more three-dimensional information network for heritage protection," said Zhou Lili (周黎黎), deputy director of the Jingdezhen Porcelain Industry Cultural Heritage Protection Center. Based on systematic digital protection, Jingdezhen has built a living heritage protection system with sustainable value and universal participation.

Passing on the ancient kiln flame from generation to generation—this is Jingdezhen's "youth style."

In recent years, Jingdezhen has continuously attracted young forces, built diverse inheritance platforms, and allowed young people to approach, understand, and inherit the heritage. Zhang Ziyue (张孖玥), a Jingdezhen eighth-grader, was selected last year to become a "Little Inscription Explainer (小小申遗讲解员)." "From 'official commissioning and folk firing' to the export of Kraak porcelain, each explanation is a deep learning of my hometown's history," Zhang Ziyue said. "I want to be a good new-generation kiln guardian, so that more people can come to Jingdezhen and feel the charm of the porcelain capital in its old alleys and lanes."

Connecting the world through porcelain as a medium—this is Jingdezhen's "international style."

In May this year, Pinar, a ceramic artist from Turkey, settled in the Jingdezhen Taoxichuan Art Center (景德镇陶溪川艺术中心) as an invited artist. "Coming to Jingdezhen has always been my dream. This is a place where I can create freely. I have met many young Chinese artists and felt the burst and collision of skill and inspiration," Pinar said. Today, more than 60,000 "Jing piaos" (景德镇漂—Jingdezhen drifters) and among them thousands of "foreign Jing piaos (洋景漂)" have taken root in Jingdezhen, continuing the ancient tradition of handmade porcelain and also stirring innovative vitality.

Rao Quan (饶权), Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism and Director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration (文化和旅游部副部长、国家文物局局长), said: "Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, Jingdezhen's handmade porcelain industry has continuously strengthened systematic and holistic protection. In the next step, we will fulfill the responsibilities and obligations of the World Heritage Convention, do a good job of the permanent protection and inheritance development of the 'Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Remains,' continuously improve the protection and management level of China's World Cultural Heritage, safeguard the treasures of Chinese culture, and let the world understand Chinese civilization."

The kiln fire never dies; the cultural vein continues forever. Jingdezhen is taking the successful inscription as a new starting point, letting the thousand-year kiln flame illuminate an even farther future.

(Our reporter Zhou Huan participated in writing.)
(Related reports appear on pages three, six, and seven.)

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Xiao Jie, former member of the Party Leadership Group and deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Hainan Provincial People's Congress, expelled from Party for serious disciplinary and legal violations

Beijing, July 25 (People's Daily) — (Reporter Shi Yiqi (史一棋)) With the approval of the CPC Central Committee, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission (中央纪委国家监委) initiated a case review and investigation into Xiao Jie (肖杰), former member of the Party Leadership Group and deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Hainan Provincial People's Congress, for serious violations of discipline and law.

Upon investigation, Xiao Jie lost his ideals and beliefs, abandoned his original aspiration and mission, resisted organizational review; disregarded the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulation (中央八项规定精神), illegally accepted gifts, accepted banquets that might affect the impartial execution of official duties; sought benefits for others in the selection and appointment of cadres; used his authority to seek benefits for relatives; bore important leadership responsibility for the issue of his unit issuing agricultural machinery subsidies exceeding the standard; had no regard for law and discipline, used his authority as the "top leader" to extensively interfere in engineering projects, engaged in power-for-money deals, used his position to seek benefits for others in subsidy applications, project contracting, and other aspects, and illegally accepted a huge amount of property.

Xiao Jie seriously violated the Party's political discipline, organizational discipline, integrity discipline, and work discipline, constituted serious duty-related violations and is suspected of bribery crimes, and did not restrain himself or stop after the 18th National Congress of the CPC. The nature is serious, the impact is vile, and he should be dealt with severely. In accordance with the "Regulations on Disciplinary Punishments of the Communist Party of China", the "Supervision Law of the People's Republic of China", the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Administrative Sanctions for Public Officials", and other relevant provisions, after study by the Standing Committee of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (中央纪委常委会) and reporting to the CPC Central Committee for approval, it was decided to expel Xiao Jie from the Party; cancel his entitled benefits according to regulations; terminate his qualification as a delegate to the Eighth Hainan Provincial Party Congress (海南省第八次党代会); confiscate his disciplinary and illegal gains; and transfer his suspected criminal issues to the procuratorial organs for legal review and prosecution, and transfer the involved property together.

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Gu Jun, former deputy secretary of the Party Leadership Group and general manager of China National Nuclear Corporation, expelled from the Party for serious disciplinary and legal violations

Beijing, July 25 (People's Daily) — (Reporter Shi Yiqi (史一棋)) With the approval of the CPC Central Committee, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and National Commission of Supervision (中央纪委国家监委) have initiated a case review and investigation into Gu Jun (顾军), former Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and General Manager of the China National Nuclear Corporation (中国核工业集团有限公司), for serious violations of discipline and law.

Upon investigation, Gu Jun lost his ideals and convictions, abandoned his original aspiration and mission, resisted organizational investigation, and engaged in superstitious activities; violated the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations (中央八项规定精神), illegally accepted gift money, illegally accepted banquets and travel arrangements; violated organizational principles, sought benefits for others in employee recruitment work; lost the bottom line of integrity, engaged in power-for-sex transactions; alienated the public power entrusted by the Party and the people into a tool for personal gain, massively collected money and amassed wealth, used his position convenience to seek benefits for others in project contracting, equipment procurement, fund disbursement, and other aspects, and illegally accepted huge amounts of property.

Gu Jun seriously violated the Party's political discipline, organizational discipline, integrity discipline, and life discipline, constituted serious duty-related illegality and is suspected of bribery crimes. Moreover, after the 18th National Congress of the CPC, he did not restrain himself or stop his misconduct. The nature is serious, the impact is adverse, and he should be severely dealt with. In accordance with the "Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Disciplinary Punishments," the "Supervision Law of the People's Republic of China," the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Government Affairs Disciplinary Punishments for Public Officials," and other relevant provisions, after study at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and reporting to the CPC Central Committee for approval, it was decided to give Gu Jun the punishment of expulsion from the Party; according to regulations, cancel the treatment he enjoyed; confiscate his disciplinary and illegal gains; transfer his suspected criminal issues to the procuratorial authorities for review and prosecution in accordance with the law, and transfer the involved properties together.

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Han Song, former member of the Party Committee and deputy general manager of China Resources Group, expelled from Party and public office for serious disciplinary and legal violations

Beijing, July 25 (Xinhua) — (Reporter Shi Yiqi (史一棋)) With approval from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision (中央纪委国家监委) initiated an investigation into Han Song (韩嵩), former member of the Party Committee and deputy general manager of China Resources (Holdings) Company Limited (华润（集团）有限公司), for serious violations of discipline and law.

Upon investigation, Han Song lost his ideals and convictions, abandoned his original aspiration and mission (初心使命), and engaged in superstitious activities; violated the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations (中央八项规定精神) by repeatedly accepting banquets and travel arrangements that might affect the impartial execution of official duties, and accepting transportation services provided by those under management and service; sought benefits for others in job promotions and employee recruitment; lost the bottom line of integrity, illegally accepted gifts and consumption cards, and connived at or acquiesced in his relatives’ illegal receipt of remuneration; illegally interfered in and meddled with market economic activities; showed no regard for discipline and law, alienating power into a tool for personal gain, engaging in large-scale power-for-money deals, using his official position to seek benefits for others in project contracting and job promotions, and illegally accepting huge amounts of property.

Han Song seriously violated the Party’s political discipline, organizational discipline, integrity discipline, work discipline, and life discipline, constituted serious duty-related illegality and is suspected of the crime of bribery. Moreover, after the 18th National Congress of the CPC, he did not restrain himself or stop his wrongdoing. The nature is serious, the impact is vile, and he should be dealt with severely. In accordance with the Regulations on Disciplinary Punishments of the Communist Party of China, the Supervision Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Law on Administrative Punishments for Public Officials of the People’s Republic of China, and other relevant provisions, after study by the Standing Committee meeting of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and approval by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, it was decided to expel Han Song from the Party; the National Commission of Supervision will give him the sanction of dismissal from public office; confiscate his disciplinary and illegal gains; and transfer his suspected criminal issues to the procuratorial authorities for examination and prosecution according to law, with the involved assets transferred together.

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Supreme People's Procuratorate Issues the 15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of People's Procuratorial Work

Beijing, July 25 (People's Daily) — (Reporter Ni Yi (倪弋)) The Supreme People's Procuratorate (最高人民检察院) recently issued the 15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the People's Procuratorial Work (人民检察事业发展“十五五”规划), clarifying that the main objectives of procuratorial work during the 15th Five-Year Plan period are: by 2030, the mechanisms and systems of procuratorial organs in all aspects such as function allocation, institutional setup, performance of duties and handling of cases, procuratorial management, team building, and procuratorial support shall be more robust; the mechanisms for the realization and evaluation of judicial justice at the procuratorial stage shall be more complete; the quality and effectiveness of legal supervision shall be significantly improved; strengthening the procuratorate through science and technology (科技强检) shall be vigorously advanced; the grassroots foundation shall be more solid; the functions of serving reform, development, and stability shall be fully exercised; the role in building a higher-level Safe China (平安中国) and Rule-of-Law China (法治中国) shall be more prominent; and the socialist procuratorial system with Chinese characteristics shall be more mature and well-established.

The plan, focusing on improving the legal supervision system of procuratorial organs to better serve upholding comprehensive rule of law (全面依法治国), makes deployments from 13 aspects, including: striving to build a system of high-quality and efficient case-handling systems and mechanisms; comprehensively strengthening the work of reviewing arrests and reviewing prosecutions; strengthening criminal litigation supervision throughout the entire process; comprehensively strengthening criminal enforcement supervision; effectively strengthening civil procuratorial work; vigorously and orderly strengthening administrative procuratorial work; strengthening public interest litigation procuratorial work; and other aspects.

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Page 1 Editor: Xu Nuo, Hu Anqi, Zhao Zheng | Page 2 Editor: Jiang Xuejie, Zhang Anyu, He Biao | Page 3 Editor: Han Xiaoming, Jiang Bo, Guan Haoyu | Page 4 Editor: Bai Zhiyu, Liu Jingwen, Yu Xuan

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Hong Kong advances formulation of its first five-year plan (Xiangjiang Online)

By: 本报记者 冯学知

From the meeting rooms of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Headquarters and community halls to online platforms, from professionals and young students to the elderly in their eighties and nineties, from urban planning and industrial development to people’s livelihood and well-being… In recent times, centered on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s first Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development (2026–2030), under the leadership of the Chief Executive and the SAR Government, various sectors of Hong Kong society have intensively organized diverse activities, actively offered suggestions and advice through multiple channels, and supported the Hong Kong SAR Government in accelerating the formulation of Hong Kong’s first five-year plan.

Discussion after discussion, suggestion after suggestion, report after report are now converging into a program of action for Hong Kong’s development over the next five years, becoming a vivid footnote to Hong Kong’s proactive efforts to understand changes, respond to changes, and seek changes, to reform governance concepts, and to improve governance methods.

Breaking free from old models, transforming governance concepts

On February 4 this year, lichun (Beginning of Spring) arrived. In the twenty-four solar terms, this day signifies the budding of plants and the renewal of all things.

That evening, at the Spring Festival reception held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR, Li Jiachao, formally announced to the public that “the SAR Government will lead different policy bureaux and departments to proactively align with the national ’15th Five-Year Plan’ framework and, for the first time, formulate a five-year plan for Hong Kong.” “Hong Kong’s five-year plan” quickly became the focus of public opinion, attracting extensive attention both at home and abroad.

Short-term thinking had long plagued Hong Kong’s development.

“In the past, the SAR Government’s administration was dominated by the annual Policy Address, lacking long-term planning and layout, which caused deep-seated contradictions to remain unresolved,” said Yao Zhisheng, a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee and chairman of the Hong Kong Federation for the Promotion of China’s Peaceful Reunification.

“These pain points all arise because the old model cannot adapt to new circumstances,” believed Tan Yaozong, advisor to the National Hong Kong & Macau Research Association and secretary-general of the Hong Kong Coalition for a Resurgent Hong Kong. He argued that these issues are interconnected, that 牵一发而动全身 (qiān yī fà ér dòng quán shēn - “pull one hair and the whole body moves,” a slight change in one part may affect the whole situation), and that a systematic, forward-looking governance approach is needed. “Formulating Hong Kong’s first five-year plan marks an important shift in the governance philosophy of the Hong Kong SAR and reflects the determination and responsibility of the SAR Government.”

Many scholars pointed out that amid the turbulent international situation, China has consistently remained an important stabilizer and source of momentum for world economic growth, and that better integrating into and serving the national development landscape is an inevitable choice for Hong Kong to respond to changes and seek change.

“Under various new circumstances and challenges, Hong Kong society has shown increasing initiative, enthusiasm, and urgency in aligning with and serving the national development strategy,” said Lau Siu-kai, advisor to the National Hong Kong & Macau Research Association. If Hong Kong lacks its own development strategy, he noted, it will find it difficult to align with the national development strategy. Formulating the first five-year plan is conducive to enhancing the strategic, macroscopic, and long-term thinking of the Hong Kong SAR Government and all sectors of society.

“Aligning with the national ’15th Five-Year Plan’ will enable the business community to better stabilize expectations and clarify direction,” said Zhong Qifeng, a director of the Hong Kong Chinese Importers’ and Exporters’ Association and a member of the Hong Kong SAR Legislative Council. After Hong Kong formulates a five-year plan, development planning will no longer be merely “annual” or “fragmented,” but will clearly connect with the national blueprint for high-quality development, giving enterprises a clearer future perspective in investment, layout, and transformation. This is especially beneficial for industries such as import-export and professional services to better integrate into the dual domestic and international circulation.

Under executive-led governance, the positive interaction between the executive and legislature reaches a new level

The drafting of Hong Kong’s first five-year plan is led by the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR, with the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR Government taking primary responsibility. Various policy bureaux have set up drafting groups, with the goal of producing a forward-looking, strategic, and actionable guiding document.

Since February this year, the news that “the Hong Kong SAR Government is accelerating the drafting of Hong Kong’s first five-year plan” has drawn widespread attention. Our reporter learned that the public consultation period for Hong Kong’s first five-year plan was moved forward from the fourth quarter of this year to the second quarter, and the release date of the formal document of the five-year plan was moved forward from the end of this year to the third quarter. In recent months, Li Jiachao has held intensive meetings with people from all walks of life, and multiple government bureaux have held consultation sessions. The Hong Kong SAR Government, with a sense of urgency that 时不我待 (shí bù wǒ dài - “time waits for no one”), is taking on the important role of uniting all sectors of society to align with the national ’15th Five-Year Plan.’

“Drafting Hong Kong’s first five-year plan is a glorious historical mission. Carrying it through to completion is the collective commitment of the SAR Government to Hong Kong’s development over the next five years,” said Li Jiachao.

How can public opinion be widely solicited and wisdom gathered in such a short time to complete the drafting of Hong Kong’s first five-year plan? The closer, more constructive positive interaction between the executive and the legislature under Hong Kong’s principle of executive-led governance provides the answer. It is reported that the Hong Kong SAR Government has established a mechanism for collaborative research and opinion collection between the government and the Legislative Council. Under the executive-led system, they conduct collaborative research on multiple development topics, collect targeted opinions, and after the SAR Government issues public consultation documents, they collaboratively collect public opinion.

The Hong Kong SAR Legislative Council is not only an important component of the SAR’s governance structure but also a gathering place for public sentiment. From collectively inspecting the Northern Metropolis of Hong Kong, to forming delegations to Shanghai for research, to holding exchange meetings and consultation sessions, Legislative Council members, divided according to their expertise, sectors, and work scope, have extensively connected with all sectors of society, actively listened to grassroots voices, and conducted special topic research, cross-sector consultations, and in-depth discussions.

“During the public and industry consultations, I felt that all sectors of society are working together, full of expectations for Hong Kong’s long-term development. The vision is grander than during the annual Policy Address consultations. People put forward many practical suggestions on issues such as land shortage, population aging, and the development of innovation and technology,” said Legislative Council member Leung Mei-fun.

“In just one month, each thematic group held a total of 99 consultation sessions, reached over 4,000 people from all walks of life, and collected a total of 570 opinions and proposals,” said Ng Chau-pei, chairman of the Legislative Council Subcommittee on Hong Kong’s Proactive Alignment with the National ’15th Five-Year Plan.’ The collected opinions are broad in coverage, highly targeted, and rich in substance, providing a solid foundation of public support and professional backing for the SAR Government’s formulation of the five-year plan.

On May 29, Leung Yu-kay, President of the Hong Kong SAR Legislative Council, together with some members, visited the office of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR and presented to Li Jiachao a special research and opinion collection report titled “Aiding the SAR Government in Producing a Good Five-Year Plan,” to assist the SAR Government in advancing the planning work.

“The establishment of a collaborative mechanism between the SAR Government and the SAR Legislative Council is groundbreaking. The Legislative Council can participate at an earlier stage when the government is conceiving major development visions and policy measures, marking a new level in the positive interaction between the executive and the legislature,” said Leung Yu-kay.

Widely soliciting opinions from all sectors of society

On June 15, at the Hong Kong SAR Government Headquarters, Tse Siu-wah, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs of the SAR Government, held up a blue-covered document and displayed to the media the public consultation document for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s first Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development (2026–2030) amid flashing cameras. Hong Kong’s first five-year plan entered a two-month public consultation phase.

The public consultation document is divided into six parts, including “Accelerating the Development of the Northern Metropolis and Advancing Spatial Planning for Other Areas,” “Economy, Finance, and Trade,” “Innovation, Technology, and Industrial Development,” “People’s Livelihood and Social Development,” “Regional Cooperation and Development,” and “Coordinated Development of Culture, Sports, Tourism, Green Living, and Others.” The prototype of Hong Kong’s development blueprint for the next five years was unfolded before the public.

“Make good use of the opportunities from the new development of the Northern Metropolis and the renewal of old districts, and in newly launched projects gradually optimize the allocation of public housing floor area and raise the floor area requirements for private residential units.” Seeing this sentence in the public consultation document for Hong Kong’s five-year plan, Legislative Council member Yiu Ming felt especially gratified. In May this year, he had proposed a motion in the Legislative Council on “Increasing the Per Capita Living Floor Area in the Northern Metropolis,” which received a positive response from the relevant government department. “The SAR Government’s people-centered governance philosophy and its working style of 从善如流 (cóng shàn rú liú - “follow good advice like water flows,” readily accept good counsel) give citizens hope that they will live in larger and better homes in the future,” said Yiu Ming.

During the public consultation period, the SAR Government continuously held consultation sessions. Major political groups, professional bodies, and industrial and commercial organizations in Hong Kong submitted proposals to the SAR Government. As of mid-July, the SAR Government had received over 2,000 proposals. Tse Siu-wah stated that Hong Kong’s first five-year plan concerns every citizen, and the public consultation aims to broadly solicit opinions from all sectors of society and build consensus. The SAR Government is willing to listen to suggestions from all parties.

Halfway through the year, the economic data released one after another has lifted Hong Kong society: Hong Kong’s first-quarter 2026 GDP achieved the highest quarterly growth rate in five years; its new stock market fundraising volume continued to rank first in the world; it leaped to become the world’s largest cross-border wealth management center; the number of visitor arrivals in the first half of the year increased by 13% year-on-year… Hong Kong economist and president of the Silk Road Think Tank Research Institute, Edmund Li, believes that Hong Kong’s strong economic performance in the first quarter has injected great confidence into the formulation of the first five-year plan, attracting a continuous flow of capital and resources to Hong Kong.

“Hong Kong’s current economic development momentum is good, and the first five-year plan is about to be formulated, laying the foundation for Hong Kong to better integrate into and serve the national development landscape and create a better future. Hong Kong citizens are full of expectations for the continuous improvement of people’s livelihood and for leading a better life,” said Starry Lee, chairperson of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB).

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Food safety must not become a political "pledge of allegiance"

By: 长 乐

Recently, it was exposed on the island that a soybean salad oil was found to have excessive levels of the carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene, sparking concerns in Taiwanese society about food safety. From opening imports to “ractopamine-tainted pork (莱猪)”, “ractopamine-tainted beef (莱牛)”, and “poisonous potatoes”, to “poisonous apples”, and now to the “poisonous oil” wreaking havoc across Taiwan, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities have fully exposed their ugly visage of disregarding the well-being of the people. As Taiwanese media reported, the people’s right to health has become a “tribute” that the green camp uses to feed its “green friends (绿友友)” or to pledge loyalty to external forces. The health of Taiwanese people has never been the first consideration of the DPP authorities, and in many cases, people’s health is not even within their scope of consideration.

Food concerns people’s livelihoods; food safety is the bottom line of people’s livelihoods. Benzo[a]pyrene is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization. A large quantity of problematic oil has flowed onto the tables of numerous households, schools, and restaurants, severely endangering the life and health of Taiwanese people. Faced with such a major food safety incident, the DPP authorities delayed handling it, not only attempting to “cover up (盖牌)” information, but even absurdly arguing that “frying chicken cutlets also produces carcinogens, so it’s not recommended to eat them often.” The DPP spokesperson even blurted out, “It’s not like I forced you to eat it.” Their arrogance and cold-bloodedness is outrageous. Looking back at the chaos, in January 2021, the DPP authorities, against the will of Taiwanese people, insisted on opening imports of American pork containing ractopamine (“lean meat powder”), which from the very beginning sparked strong opposition from all sectors on the island and public outrage. In recent years, there have been successive incidents on the island, such as the “origin-laundering (洗产地)” scandal involving American pork and the successful litigation by certain counties and cities to ban “ractopamine-tainted pork (莱猪)” from entering school meals. These fully demonstrate that the DPP authorities’ actions are unpopular. This year, faced with economic bullying and product dumping by the United States under the so-called “U.S.-Taiwan Reciprocal Trade Agreement,” the DPP authorities instead lowered inspection and quarantine standards for potato imports from the United States, putting sprouted “poisonous potatoes” on the dining tables of ordinary Taiwanese people. Not long ago, the DPP authorities planned to drastically relax the allowable residue limit of the pesticide fipronil in apples from 0.5 ppm to 3.0 ppm, giving the green light to problematic American apples entering Taiwan. To cater to U.S. demands, the DPP authorities have broadly relaxed the pesticide residue standards for 174 American agricultural products, including pesticides classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as “having carcinogenic potential,” causing doubts and panic among people on the island regarding food safety. The DPP authorities completely disregard the health and well-being of Taiwanese people, blatantly abandon the bottom line of food safety, and time and again use the sacrifice of people’s lives and health as a “loyalty offering (投名状)” to curry favor with the United States. One after another, their “double standard” face is fully exposed: Before coming to power, the DPP strongly opposed importing “ractopamine-tainted beef,” using the banner of “protecting people’s health” to trick votes; after coming to power, they arbitrarily opened imports of “ractopamine-tainted pork,” pricing the safety of the people to exchange for external forces’ support for their separatist activities. This 今是昨非 (jīn shì zuó fēi - “today right, yesterday wrong,” to change positions capriciously) face-changing shows that the DPP has no core values, only pursuing the selfish interests of one party, and thus does not hesitate to “kneel to the U.S. and sell out Taiwan” at the cost of the life safety and health of Taiwanese compatriots. What is even more despicable is that the DPP authorities, on the one hand, fully accept all unreasonable demands from the U.S. side without any bottom line; on the other hand, they turn a deaf ear to the health demands and livelihood calls of Taiwanese people and trample on them wantonly. Faced with doubts and anger on the island, the DPP authorities have always refused to admit mistakes and refused to make corrections; instead, they use all kinds of sophistry, whitewashing, and deceptive rhetoric to fool the people and conceal their malicious intent. This fully shows that food safety, people’s health, and people’s livelihood are worthless in the face of the DPP authorities’ political self-interest, all reduced to cheap “loyalty offering” to cling to and curry favor with the United States in exchange for political chips. Having done many bad things that disregard people’s livelihoods and harm Taiwan and its people, the DPP authorities will inevitably lift a rock only to drop it on their own feet.

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Youthful Bonds, Leaping into the Future

Recently, the "International Youth Dance Festival" with the theme of "Youth Connection, Leaping into the Future" was held in Macau. In the first indoor performance held at the Macau综艺馆 (Macau综艺馆), dance team members from China's mainland and Macau, as well as from countries and regions including Mexico, Sri Lanka, and Singapore, presented a wonderful audio-visual feast for the audience.

The picture shows dance team members from Macau performing.

Photo by Zheng Jiawei (郑嘉伟) (People's Vision (人民视觉))

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Remembering the Patriotic Devotion of the Nanyang Volunteer Mechanics (Micro Commentary)

By: 江 琳

In Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, wreaths stood silently in the Nanyang Overseas Chinese Mechanics (南侨机工) Memorial Park, the atmosphere solemn. A few days ago, a public memorial ceremony for the Nanyang Overseas Chinese Mechanics Returning to Serve the Nation Service Group (hereafter referred to as the "Nanyang Overseas Chinese Mechanics") was held here.

"Goodbye, Nanyang! Do you not see corpses strewn across Changbai Mountain, blood flowing in the Heilong River? This is the survival or extinction of the Chinese nation..." More than 80 years ago, singing "Farewell, Nanyang", a group of Nanyang youths in suits and leather shoes bid farewell to their comfortable lives and rushed to their motherland ablaze with war.

After the full outbreak of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japan, the major coastal ports of China had basically fallen. The Northwest Highway and the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway were successively cut off. The Yunnan-Burma Road (滇缅公路) became an important international transport channel linking China with the outside world. There was a road, but the problem was severe: a serious shortage of technical personnel familiar with automobile driving and repair. At the critical moment, responding to the call of Chen Jiageng, then chairman of the Nanyang Federation of Overseas Chinese (南侨总会), more than 3,200 Nanyang overseas Chinese youths returned to support the motherland. They rushed to transport military supplies, rushed to repair transport vehicles, traveled day and night on the "Road of Death", and built an "unsinkable supply line" for the war of resistance. Among them, some falsified their ages, some women disguised as men, some received letters from home saying "father critically ill" but still insisted with tears in their eyes... In more than 1,000 days and nights, more than 1,000 Nanyang Overseas Chinese Mechanics sacrificed their lives due to enemy bombing, car accidents, diseases, etc. On the Yunnan-Burma Road, on average, one Nanyang Overseas Chinese Mechanic died for the country per kilometer. What force made them abandon their affluent lives, set aside family affections, and even sacrifice their lives? It was the sentiment of "only by risking one's life is one a true hero, only by loving the country is one a true man" — the family-nation feeling, and the simple belief of "doing one's best to contribute when the country is in peril". This 赤子之心 (chì zǐ zhī xīn - "heart of a newborn," utter sincerity and loyalty) has transcended time and space and never faded.

Heroes are silent, but their achievements endure forever. Today, from the Nanyang Overseas Chinese Mechanics Returned to Resist Japan Memorial Hall in Ruili Wanding (瑞丽畹町), Yunnan, to the "Loyal Achievements" (赤子功勋) monument at Kunming Xishan (昆明西山), to the memorial park in Kuala Lumpur — across time and space, over mountains and seas, people jointly safeguard this memory.

The united and unified Chinese nation is the common root of all Chinese sons and daughters at home and abroad; the broad, profound Chinese culture is the common soul of all Chinese sons and daughters at home and abroad; the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the common dream of all Chinese sons and daughters at home and abroad. From the Nanyang Overseas Chinese Mechanics who resolutely returned to the country in the flames of the War of Resistance, to the overseas compatriots active in various fields today, overseas Chinese have always breathed the same breath and shared the same fate with their ancestral (mother) country. Remembering history is to further gather the strength to move forward. This year marks the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan. On the new journey of Chinese-style modernization, it is even more necessary for Chinese sons and daughters at home and abroad to think with one mind and exert with one strength, to form a joint force, and 共襄盛举 (gòng xiāng shèng jǔ - "together assist grand event," to jointly participate in a great endeavor). Let us draw spiritual strength from the 赤子之心 of the Nanyang Overseas Chinese Mechanics, gather the hearts of the overseas Chinese, pool the strength of the overseas Chinese, seek development, and contribute new overseas Chinese strength to the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

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Youth as Companions, Hearts Aligned (Cross-Strait Pulse)

By: 本报记者 张 烁

On July 15, in the lobby of the Suzhou Lion Mountain Grand Theatre in Jiangsu, one painting and calligraphy work after another depicting canal scenery, local customs, and cityscapes created by young people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait was so dazzling that the eyes could not take them all in 目不暇接 (mù bù xiá jiē - "the eyes cannot take it all in," too many things to see at once). Through the eyes of the children, the same canal, the same nostalgia, and the same love and inheritance of Chinese culture leaped vividly off the paper 跃然纸上 (yuè rán zhǐ shàng - "vividly appear on the paper," to be vividly portrayed).

As one of the opening series of activities of the Sixth Cross-Strait Youth Culture Month, the "Canal Sentiments, Cross-Strait Ties" Suzhou-Taiwan Youth Calligraphy and Painting Exchange Exhibition took place here. "The same cultural bloodline hides between the strokes of the brush, allowing us young people from both sides to see each other, get to know each other, and draw closer to each other through the works." Pan Lüzhen (潘律祯), a student at National Taiwan University of Arts, told a reporter that he has been participating in this event since high school, and this year he brought his friends, younger schoolmates, and junior students along. "I sincerely hope that in the future, more young people from both sides of the strait will take art as a medium and make friends through painting, deepening understanding through the exchange of brushwork and growing together hand in hand through cultural exchange."

"A thousand-li canal gathered in one scroll; young people on both sides of the strait walk together with one heart." Since the call for submissions began in March this year, the event organizers have received more than 3,100 submissions from young people on both sides of the strait. This calligraphy and painting exchange exhibition is being held concurrently with the "2026 Cross-Strait Youth Canal Tour," where the children will travel to Suzhou, Wuxi, and Nanjing, using their footsteps to measure the cultural lineage and their hearts to feel the blending.

A few days ago, the Sixth Cross-Strait Youth Culture Month, co-hosted by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council (国务院台办) and the Jiangsu Provincial People's Government (江苏省人民政府), was launched under the theme "Walking Together with One Heart, the Power of Youth" (同心同行 青春力量) and the main line of "New Expressions of Traditional Culture," building an interactive and experiential exchange platform for young people from both sides of the strait to promote cross-strait youth exchanges, interactions, and integration.

"In 2016, I crossed the strait and came to the mainland for an internship. I was anxious at the time; I didn't even bring enough clothes, thinking that if things didn't go smoothly, I would go back to Taiwan at any time. I never expected that I would stay for ten years." At a promotion event for Jiangsu's support for the development of Taiwanese youth, Lin Zhiyu (林芝羽), a Taiwanese youth, shared her personal experience. "From venue arrangements to entrepreneurial guidance, we Taiwanese youth have received a great deal of goodwill and support here. I want to say to my young friends: opportunities lie hidden in every brave attempt. I hope more Taiwanese youth will come here."

Over the ten years, Lin Zhiyu has started several businesses. Now she runs the "Make a Friend with Vinyl" black coffee shop in Suzhou and can fluently greet local customers in the Suzhou dialect. This year, Lin Zhiyu was awarded the "Jiangsu Youth May Fourth Medal" (江苏青年五四奖章). "This honor is extremely significant to me. It is not only recognition of my personal involvement in cross-strait integrated development, but also recognition of the Taiwanese youth who are striving here," she said.

One internship opens the door to youthful dreams. On July 15, the "Taiwan Youth e-Home" (台青e家) platform was launched and went online, with an entry point set on the homepage of China Taiwan Net. The platform has four major sections: "Come for Internships," "Find a Job," "Go for Exchanges," and "Choose a School," providing a one-stop service for Taiwanese youth.

At the Cross-Strait Youth Symposium on the Inheritance and Development of Chinese Culture, Shen Fengying (沈丰英), the performer of Du Liniang in the youth version The Peony Pavilion (青春版《牡丹亭》), spoke about her experience performing in Taipei. "Before going on stage, we were anxious inside, not knowing whether the young Taiwanese audience would accept the gentle, delicate, flowing 'water-polished melody' (水磨腔), and whether they could understand this classical love story spanning several centuries. When the performance ended, the entire audience stood up and applauded. The applause lasted a long time. All our doubts vanished like smoke and dispersed like clouds 烟消云散 (yān xiāo yún sàn - "smoke vanishes, clouds scatter," to completely disappear) at that moment," said Shen Fengying.

From its first performance in Taiwan in 2004 to today, over more than 20 years, Kunqu opera exchanges have become a cultural co-creation that crosses the strait, learning from each other and integrating. "Most of the actors and musicians come from the mainland, while the scriptwriters, costume designers, and stage designers have gathered many Taiwanese talents. The teams from both sides of the strait complement each other's strengths, together achieving the beauty and soul of this play," said Shen Fengying. "When we hum the same 'Zao Luo Pao' (皂罗袍) aria and recite the same scene from the play, the cultural bloodline binds us tightly together."

"What you are watching is a play, but what you are touching is the common historical genes of young people from both sides. The long, shared history is the natural and spontaneous cultural vitality flowing in the blood of young people on both sides of the strait," said Li Yixiu (李易修), a Taiwanese youth. "If Taiwan's textbooks had no Chinese history or Chinese culture, I could not accept it, and I would resolutely oppose it."

According to reports, the Cross-Strait Youth Culture Month will run from mid-July to late September. During this period, various locations in Jiangsu will hold more than 40 main supporting activities and more than 30 branch activities covering culture and arts, technological innovation, sports competitions, intangible cultural heritage study tours, innovation and entrepreneurship, among others. It is expected that more than 3,500 Taiwanese youth will participate.

During the summer, cross-strait exchanges and interactions continue to be active. From July 17 to 21, the Ninth Cross-Strait Youth Development Forum, themed "Growing Together with Youth, Building the Future with One Heart" (青春共成长·同心筑未来), was held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and other locations. More than 1,000 guests and youth from both sides of the strait went to Ningbo, Wenzhou, Huzhou, and other places to participate in study camps and other activities, jointly discussing youthful ideals and creating a bright future.

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Jiang Lin

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Jingdezhen, Embracing the World Once Again

By: 董宏君 杨雪梅 任姗姗

Imagine if we traveled back to a certain day in the 18th century, early morning, standing at Jingdezhen's Changjiang dock, what scene would we see? Here, one by one, carefully packed large porcelain cargo pieces were being busily "boarding" under the porters' carrying, from Changjiang to Poyang Lake, then along the north-south waterway to coastal ports, and with merchant ships of various countries, sold far to all parts of the world.

On July 25, 2026, Busan, South Korea, the 48th World Heritage Committee. "Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Heritage" passed review and was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List. This is China's 61st World Heritage site, and also the first World Heritage with handmade porcelain industry as its core theme, filling a gap in the World Heritage List for this theme.

Jingdezhen's successful World Heritage bid means this glorious history has become a common treasure of humanity, henceforth placed under the common protection of humanity. But Jingdezhen's significance is far more than this. In 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out during his inspection and research in Jingdezhen: "China's excellent traditional culture has never been interrupted from ancient times to the present; ceramics are a Chinese treasure, an important name card of Chinese civilization." Jingdezhen's kiln fires have not been extinguished for a thousand years, precisely a vivid portrayal of the prominent characteristics of Chinese civilization. This land uses "porcelain" as a mirror, reflecting how a civilization innovates while continuing, unifies while being inclusive, and safeguards peace through exchange. The world today stands at a new crossroads; Jingdezhen, with its thousand-year porcelain charm, offers a calm and firm response to the world.

China is known as the "Porcelain Kingdom" in the world. From the eggshell-thin black pottery镂孔高柄杯 of the Longshan culture period over 4,000 years ago, we can imagine what wonderful vitality mud and fire would display in Chinese hands. From pottery to the birth of proto-porcelain, it took tens of thousands of years. Today, when we face the colorful ceramics, it is easy to overlook the original aspirations of ancient artisans and literati. The rich glaze colors and patterns were never just decoration, but also the inner expression of our ancestors' hopeful expectations for this world. It tells stories of the fusion of form and soul from the ancient East, and such narration has never ceased throughout the long river of history.

The kiln fires of Jingdezhen, counting from the late Tang and Five Dynasties, have never been interrupted for over 1,000 years. Many ancient handicraft industrial cities in the world were either destroyed by war, lost to changing times, or perished under the crushing force of industrialization. But Jingdezhen survived, and it is still full of vitality today. From a ceramic market town during the Han-Tang period, a ceramic market town during the Song dynasty, to a ceramic industry metropolis from the late Song to the Yuan, and the peak of the porcelain kingdom during the Ming-Qing period, the collective artisan spirit nurtured by a thousand years of kiln fire has forged Jingdezhen's 独一无二 (dú yī wú èr - "only one, no second," unique and unparalleled) historical status.

In Jingdezhen, ancient techniques have not become specimens displayed in museums, but live in the hands of successive generations of artisans, in the unextinguished kiln fires. The city's thousands of intangible cultural heritage inheritors still follow the ancient porcelain-making procedures, keeping the thousand-year kiln fires 生生不息 (shēng shēng bù xī - "to continuously give birth without cease," to regenerate endlessly).

The possibility of this continuity stems from an endogenous, never-stopped self-breakthrough.

From proto-porcelain to mature porcelain, the Chinese explored between mud and fire for over 1,500 years. In the 13th century, Jingdezhen artisans broke free from the tradition of using only petunse for body-making, creatively adding local kaolin, and invented the "binary formula." This innovation enabled the porcelain body to not deform under the high temperature of 1300°C, achieving a qualitative leap in whiteness, hardness, and glaze gloss. Thus, the world's true hard-paste porcelain was born. The world's porcelain industry still names this raw material after the Chinese place name — "Kaolin." This innovative spirit later continuously brought 石破天惊 (shí pò tiān jīng - "stone breaks, heaven startles," earth-shattering) creations in Jingdezhen's ceramic development: self-iteration never stopped — from monochrome glazed porcelains of various colors to blue-and-white, polychrome (wucai), doucai, famille rose, enamel colors... The birth of each new product was a resonance of technological breakthrough and artistic creation.

A history of Jingdezhen porcelain-making is a history of innovation and creation leading the world's ceramic development. Jingdezhen gathered the achievements of all famous kilns, integrated diverse ethnic cultures. Its creative spirit of "technological innovation, continuous refinement, and constant forward drive" continuously infuses new vitality into Chinese civilization through upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground.

A history of Chinese ceramics can almost have half its chapters in Jingdezhen. Jingdezhen's achievements were never the solitary efforts of a single city. It gathered the essence of northern and southern porcelain-making techniques: the purity of northern white porcelain and the warmth of southern celadon blended here into bluish-white porcelain that is "blue as the sky, bright as a mirror, thin as paper, and resonant as a chime stone." Emperor Zhenzong of Song even bestowed his reign name "Jingde" on this town. Since the Wei-Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties, many artisans from the northern Ding kiln, Cizhou kiln, and the southern Longquan kiln and Yue kiln came to Jingdezhen. Literati and merchants integrated diverse technologies, aesthetics, and resources into a unified industrial system, driving the pioneering innovation of Jingdezhen's ceramic art, thereby establishing its position as the world's porcelain-making center.

And this unity that integrates diversity has never become closed. The appearance of Yuan blue-and-white is the best example — when the ancient blue, after being fired by intense flame, blooms into bright and lustrous blue-and-white patterns on the biscuit, ceramics integrating materials, technology, and aesthetics have crossed time and space to become witnesses of inter-civilizational exchange and mutual learning. Using cobalt imported from West Asia, Jingdezhen artisans and Persian artisans jointly painted foreign patterns. Later, artisans incorporated themes from traditional Chinese culture such as dragons, phoenixes, plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, and chrysanthemums. Thus, blue-and-white porcelain exuded a strong Oriental artistic aura. These precious artifacts even appeared in European paintings of the 15th-16th centuries, becoming new elements in Western painting art, and later core elements of the "Chinoiserie" trend that swept Europe.

Inclusiveness has never been passive acceptance, but active mutual learning. The peaks of civilization are never achieved in isolation, but grow in openness.

In 1701, French Jesuit François Xavier d'Entrecolles came to Jingdezhen. In addition to his missionary work, he visited kiln factories, inquired and learned from kiln workers, read relevant documents, and gathered information about Jingdezhen's porcelain-making techniques. He transmitted his observations from Jingdezhen to Europe via letters, detailing the procedures from body-making, glaze formulation, painting, to firing, and also sent samples of raw materials like kaolin, glazes, and enamels along with the letters back to Europe, exerting a significant influence on the development of European hard-paste porcelain.

Jingdezhen porcelain was deeply loved by European nobility. Artisans also fired family crests and other symbols of European aristocrats onto the porcelain according to their requests, as symbols of family status and class. These "OEM products" were 中西合璧 (zhōng xī hé bì - "Chinese and Western combined like a pair of jade disks," a perfect combination of Chinese and Western elements), and together with Jingdezhen's Ming-Qing export porcelain, constitute material evidence of 500 years of trade globalization and the collision and fusion of Chinese and European civilizations.

In the panorama of human civilization, the most moving power of porcelain lies in its "daily life" — it is just cups, plates, bowls, and dishes on the dining table, decorative treasures in the hall; it does not carry ships and cannons, but quietly arrives in foreign lands, integrating into the daily life scenes of people around the world. When a Jingdezhen blue-and-white porcelain vase appears quietly before people's eyes, it evokes similar aesthetic feelings and admiration in people of different skin colors and beliefs as they gaze upon it.

Porcelain does not speak, yet it made the world understand China.

Today, people come to Jingdezhen. Starting from the Imperial Kiln Factory on Zhushan, passing through Zhongdukou, they can walk onto the bank of the Changjiang River, look into the distance at "Taoyang Thirteen Li," and imagine the Jingdezhen porcelain that embarked here crossing the oceans to various parts of the world. Having become a World Cultural Heritage site, Jingdezhen still takes porcelain-making as its main industry, attracting over 60,000 Chinese and foreign "Jing piao" (Jingdezhen drifters) from more than 50 countries and regions to pursue and realize their dreams. They study, create, and live here, re-kneading tradition and modernity, East and West into a lump of clay, allowing the kiln fire to refine new ideas.

In this city, the spiritual traits forged in the flames — the continuity, innovation, unity, inclusiveness, and peacefulness of Chinese civilization — find their most vivid, concrete, and tangible portrayal. As General Secretary Xi Jinping expected, "make the bright business card of the 'Millennium Porcelain Capital' shine even brighter," Jingdezhen is using porcelain as a medium and making friends through porcelain, guarding the thousand-year cultural lineage in living inheritance, expanding the ceramic industry while upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground, and telling the new-era Chinese stories with openness and inclusiveness. Here, a more magnificent picture of cultural exchange and mutual learning among civilizations is unfolding.

Jingdezhen, let the world embrace each other again.

Secret

The "secrets" of Eastern porcelain-making.

Jingdezhen is a small town surrounded by mountains. Among the many mountains, the ones equally famous with Jingdezhen are the city's Zhushan and the northeastern Gaoling. Zhushan is the accumulated remains of defective products and kiln waste from the imperial kilns of the Ming and Qing dynasties. It not only witnessed nearly 500 years of imperial kiln production history, product selection and management systems, but also, with its height of accumulation, provides solid evidence of the technological accumulation of Jingdezhen's porcelain industry during the Ming and Qing periods. Gaoling is located in the hilly area northeast of Jingdezhen, covering an area of about 10 square kilometers. The contiguous porcelain clay and petunse mine sites in the Fuliang Gaoling and Yaoli areas are the foundation that supported the rise of the porcelain capital. Jingdezhen's porcelain-making had long used a single petunse body-making one-ingredient formula. It was not until the Yuan dynasty that local artisans creatively introduced high-quality clay from Macang Mountain in northeastern Jingdezhen and pioneered the "petunse + kaolin" binary formula. From then on, large pieces, thin-walled, high-whiteness hard-paste porcelain were mass-produced, achieving a leapfrog innovation in Jingdezhen's porcelain-making technology. In the 19th century, German geologist Ferdinand von Richthofen visited Jingdezhen and used the transliteration "Kaolin" of "Gaoling" to name the global similar porcelain clay. This name became the first mineral term named after a Chinese place and used worldwide.

(Author: Li Zhaoyun (李兆云) of the Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (江西省文物考古研究院))

Kiln

One city's porcelain, half city's kilns.

The celadon fragments with signs of use from the late Tang or Five Dynasties unearthed at the Luomaqiao kiln site trace human activity in the town area to no later than the 9th century. The bluish-white glaze porcelain and related kiln tools unearthed from the late Northern Song strata show that porcelain production in the town area had already reached a scale during that period. As the earliest folk kiln site discovered in the archaeological excavation of traditional town-area kiln sites in Jingdezhen, the Luomaqiao kiln site archaeology, with rich material evidence, reveals a folk kiln-making tradition spanning about 900 years from the Northern Song to the present day. And using the three changing lines of products, kilns, and fuel, it links together Jingdezhen's kiln industry development history from the late Northern Song until after the founding of New China when modern porcelain factories were built. From Northern Song bluish-white porcelain to Yuan dynasty egg-white glaze, underglaze copper red, blue-and-white, then to Ming dynasty blue-and-white, polychrome (wucai), Kraak porcelain, Qing dynasty blue-and-white, famille rose, etc., the complete evolution of product categories witnessed the epoch-making transformation from body and glaze decoration to painted decoration in Jingdezhen porcelain, demonstrating the continuous 推陈出新 (tuī chén chū xīn - "push out the old, bring forth the new," to discard the old and create the new) creativity of the Luomaqiao kiln.

(Author: Li Kangyi (李康一) of Jingdezhen Ceramic University (景德镇陶瓷大学))

Technique

"After seventy-two steps through the hands, the vessel is completed."

The record in Tiangong Kaiwu (Exploitation of the Works of Nature) reveals the subtlety and innovation of Jingdezhen's porcelain-making techniques. "For one cup, after the work of seventy-two hands, it is completed." The manual porcelain-making technique in Jingdezhen is extremely specialized, with extremely detailed division of labor. From stone to clay, from clay to porcelain, it goes through 72 carefully polished procedures, divided into six major processes: clay preparation, throwing, trimming, painting, glazing, and firing, known as "the earliest industrialized division of labor in the world." Key procedures were established as early as the Song and Yuan dynasties. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, the specialized division reached the level where "the painter only paints but does not color; the colorer only colors but does not paint." The Xujia Kiln and workshop clusters, Liujia Xianong workshop clusters and other sites show clearly demarcated functional areas in the workshops, with efficient space utilization. Their layout optimized the continuous workflow of throwing, molding, and trimming, significantly increasing production efficiency, demonstrating an assembly line production model in the handicraft era. The functional layout of the town's porcelain production, the functional forms and organizational methods of subdivided industry facilities such as blank workshops, kiln houses, red shops (painting studios), porcelain trading firms, and even pigment shops (fine gold shops), porcelain packing shops (jiao grass shops), also reflect Jingdezhen's highly intensive and specialized production system, as well as highly standardized production procedures. In the Qing dynasty, related craft scenes were systematically presented and officially recorded, which is the Tao Ye Tu (Illustrations of Ceramic Making). According to the "Archives of the Imperial Household Department of the Qing Palace," in the third year of Qianlong, a painter was ordered to redraw based on the Tao Ye Tu stored in the imperial palace, and in the eighth year of Qianlong (1743), the imperial porcelain supervisor Tang Ying (唐英) was ordered to write explanations, detailing the entire porcelain-making process from quarrying stone and preparing clay to packaging and transportation. From the mid-to-late 18th century onward, export paintings based on Tao Ye Tu appeared in China, which allowed Western artisans to learn Chinese porcelain-making techniques and understand the process. From raw material formulas, production procedures to specialized division of labor, Tao Ye Tu influenced Western porcelain production in various aspects, promoting the transformation of European porcelain from imitation to innovation, from experience to science, profoundly reflecting Jingdezhen's contribution to world industrial civilization.

(Compiled by Zhou Feiya (周飞亚))

Interest

Internet-famous "Suisui Duck" (碎碎鸭).

Every visitor who walks into the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum will not miss this treasure of the museum — the Ming Chenghua three-color (sancai) duck-shaped incense burner. Over 500 years ago, the imperial kiln artisans deliberately smashed the eliminated three-color duck-shaped incense burner and dumped it along with other destroyed porcelain fragments on the north side of Zhushan. In 1987, Jingdezhen city rebuilt the Longzhu Pavilion on the top of Zhushan, and these deeply buried porcelain fragments finally had a chance to see the light again. Cultural relic restorers selected sixty to seventy fragments from the massive pile of ceramic shards and successfully pieced together and restored the Ming Chenghua three-color duck-shaped incense burner. In ancient pronunciation, "duck" (ya) has the sound of "jia" (甲), meaning ranking first in imperial examinations and passing exams, so duck-shaped incense burners were very popular in ancient times. But this duck-shaped incense burner has a unique shape; no similar artifacts have been found in major museums around the world. This "duck" both highly restores the original appearance of the artifact and retains the traces of fragment piecing, affectionately called "Suisui Duck" (碎碎鸭, meaning "fragmented duck"). Today, "Suisui Duck" has transformed into a cultural symbol implying "peace year after year," with its own emoji, stationery, clothing and other cultural creations, becoming an internet celebrity.

(Compiled by Zhou Feiya)

Vessel

Miracle of Glaze Colors.

The Palace Museum collects a large vase with various glazes and colors from the Qianlong period of the Qing dynasty. Because it combines 17 types of glaze and color on one vessel, it is honored as the "Mother of Porcelain." The "Mother of Porcelain" is 86.4 cm tall, with a mouth diameter of 27.4 cm and a foot diameter of 33 cm. The outer bottom bears the six-character three-line seal script mark "大清乾隆年制" (Made in the Qianlong period of the Great Qing). The vessel shape was pioneered in the Qianlong period. To display the rich glazes and colors, the outer wall is divided into 15 layers from top to bottom. It is adorned with celadon glaze, flambé glaze, sky-blue glaze, brown glaze and other colored glazes, and blue-and-white, doucai, famille rose, gold enamel and other painted decorations. This large vase with various glazes and colors reproduces the styles of four types of celadon: Ru, Guan, Ge, and Longquan kilns. Since Ru, Guan, and Ge glazes have different crackle characteristics and are difficult to fire simultaneously on one piece, the kiln workers first fired high-temperature glazes such as powder-green and gray-green, then used a brush to depict crackle patterns, demonstrating the beauty of crackled celadon through painting techniques. The flambé red glaze on its shoulder is a typical imitation of Jun glaze. The vase has blue-and-white in three places: apart from the doucai where blue-and-white outlines the pattern, the other two blue-and-white decorations — one imitates the "iron rust spots" formed by the use of imported cobalt material in Ming Yongle and Xuande blue-and-white, and the other has typical Qianlong period blue-and-white characteristics. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Jingdezhen became the national porcelain center. Jingdezhen widely studied the techniques and varieties of contemporary and previous famous kilns, enabling a single kiln to simultaneously fire diversified types of porcelain. In the early Ming dynasty, the Jingdezhen imperial kiln could already imitate Ru, Ge, Guan, Longquan, and bluish-white glazes, test the color effects of different cobalt materials and copper red glazes, and actively explore overglaze painting techniques, eventually combining underglaze blue-and-white with overglaze colors to create doucai. In the Qing dynasty, Jingdezhen expanded its study objects from Song famous kilns to classic porcelains of successive Ming dynasties, absorbing porcelain technology from all periods to an unprecedented depth and breadth. The decorations and patterns on the large vase with various glazes and colors inherit traditions from successive porcelain history and also incorporate profound influences from foreign cultures. The turquoise-green ground famille rose with intertwined floral scrolls at the mouth imitates cloisonné enamel effect; the turquoise-green glaze on the neck imitates the texture of turquoise stone, with painted black lines resembling natural texture; the gold-decorated chi-dragon handles imitate metalware; the blue-and-white on the shoulder depicts European-style "foreign flowers"; the celadon part is carved with "potted flower" patterns derived from Japanese lacquerware. The novelty of colors and richness of patterns not only expand the artistic expressiveness of porcelain but also make the large vase with various glazes and colors a vivid portrayal of Jingdezhen's integration of Chinese and Western crafts in the Qing dynasty.

(Author: Shan Yingying (单莹莹) of the Palace Museum)

Transmission

The craft is in the heart.

Sun Lixin (孙立新)

In October 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping came to Jingdezhen and had a cordial exchange with us. I was fortunate to demonstrate the blue-and-white painting technique on site. Our family has been keeping the kiln and transmitting the craft for four generations in Jingdezhen. I grew up in the workshop, and my father was very strict. Once, I copied two cranes, afraid of my father's criticism, I secretly showed them to my uncle. My uncle specialized in ceramic pigment formulas, spending his whole life with porcelain. He praised my painting and said he wanted to collect it. Ten years later, he returned the painting to me. I looked at it, and both cranes were lame-legged. Only then did I fully understand: my father's strictness was to hone my skill; my uncle's encouragement was to nurture my artisan heart. One strict, one gentle, they supported my decades of perseverance. In our craft, outsiders see the vessel; insiders appreciate the heart. Later, I also apprenticed with several masters. My father said that his own son should be taught by others. My teacher did not teach techniques but talked about life instead, teaching me to 志存高远 (zhì cún gāo yuǎn - "ambition resides in high and distant," to aim high), gave me a long list of books, and told me to listen to Beethoven. When I was 15, I listened to the Symphony of Destiny, only feeling noise and confusion. After decades of tempering by mud and fire, I now understand the vitality in the melody. What is a good work? It must have spiritual connotation and cultural mood. My father painted plum blossoms, only painting an old stump with a few flowers on top, saying he wanted to capture the sense of age of the plum stump, letting new flowers bloom from vicissitudes — that is the tenacity of never-ending life. From his works, I feel the embodiment of humanistic spirit. Their generation learned the craft under difficult conditions. They could only borrow books everywhere, copy all night, and return them at dawn. But he devoted his life to blue-and-white, improving day and night, and his works are collected by the Palace Museum and the National Museum. I, on the other hand, have broad interests, always wanting to try diverse styles, but lacking his extreme single-mindedness. In my youth, I had 天马行空 (tiān mǎ xíng kōng - "heavenly horse galloping in the sky," to be bold and unconstrained in imagination) ideas, but after wandering, I returned to this workshop. As my heart slowly settled, I understood why old masters could paint quietly their whole lives — it's not that their skill is familiar, but a kind of life attitude. The books a craftsman has read, the paths they have walked, the state of mind they have settled, will eventually turn into the spirit in their brushstrokes and the character of the ware. When my daughter was three years old, seeing me painting at the desk, she climbed onto the table and picked up the brush: "Dad, let me teach you to draw." My heart skipped a beat. At that moment, I suddenly felt that the kiln fire of the Sun family had an heir. Now my daughter is studying ceramic product design at university. I tell her, she must get used to mud, endure loneliness, and sink into her heart, only then can she take over the ancestors' craft. In recent years, there have been more foreigners in Jingdezhen, more young "Jing piao," and craftsmen working in glass and metal have also come to settle. "Artisans come from all directions; wares go everywhere under heaven" – this is Jingdezhen's unique inclusiveness. In the same environment, people silently compete: if you do well, I must do better. Everyone presents their ultimate craft. Vessel carries the Way. Behind a fine piece of porcelain is the lifelong wisdom and perseverance of the artisan. I am recently creating a blue-and-white handscroll, painting today's Jingdezhen. From the Imperial Kiln Factory to the Sanbao area, from throwing masters to young "Jing piao," I bring all the places of the World Heritage bid into this scroll of blue-and-white, using ancient blue-and-white to create a contemporary portrait of the thousand-year porcelain capital. It is my gift for the successful inscription of "Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Heritage." Jingdezhen's success today relies on generations of artisans taking their craft to the utmost. Here, as long as you sincerely love it and persist, you will certainly excel. This is our path of transmission.

(Author: Sun Lixin, provincial-level intangible cultural heritage representative inheritor of traditional blue-and-white porcelain-making technique; interviewed and compiled by People's Daily Online reporter Chen Xingxing (陈星星))

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Yang Xuemei, Ren Shanshan, Zhou Feiya, Wang Jin, Zhao Siru

Email for this edition: ysbjs@peopledaily.cn Layout design (People's Daily Online): Li Jian (李鉴), Mao Ran (毛然), Du Bailuan (杜佰鸾)

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Jingdezhen Embraces the World Once More

By: 董宏君 杨雪梅 任姗姗

Imagine if we could travel back to a certain day in the 18th century, early morning, standing at the Jingdezhen Changjiang dock — what scene would we witness? Here, one by one, carefully packed large porcelain cargo pieces are being busily "boarded" onto ships under the carrying of boatmen, from Changjiang to Poyang Lake, then transported along the north-south waterway to coastal ports, and with the merchant ships of various countries, sold far and wide across the world.

On July 25, 2026, in Busan, South Korea, the 48th Session of the World Heritage Committee. The "Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Heritage (景德镇手工瓷业遗存)" passed review and was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List. This is China's 61st World Heritage site, and also the first World Heritage site with handmade porcelain industry as its core theme, filling a gap for that theme on the World Heritage List.

Jingdezhen's successful inscription means that this glorious history has become a common treasure of humanity, henceforth placed under the common protection of humankind. But the significance of Jingdezhen goes far beyond this. In 2023, during his inspection and research in Jingdezhen, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out: "China's fine traditional culture has never been interrupted from ancient times to the present; ceramics are a Chinese treasure, an important名片 of Chinese civilization." Jingdezhen's kiln fires have not been extinguished for a thousand years, precisely a vivid portrayal of the outstanding characteristics of Chinese civilization. This land uses "porcelain" as a mirror, reflecting how a civilization innovates while continuing, unifies while embracing, and safeguards peace while exchanging. The world today stands at a new crossroads; Jingdezhen, with its thousand-year porcelain charm, has made a calm and resolute response to the world.

China is known as the "Porcelain Kingdom" (瓷国) in the world. From the black pottery eggshell-thin tall-stemmed cup with openwork of the Longshan culture period more than 4,000 years ago, we can imagine what wonderful vitality mud and fire display in the hands of the Chinese people. From pottery to the birth of proto-porcelain, it took tens of thousands of years. Today, when we face the colorful and diverse ceramics, it is easy to overlook the original aspirations of the ancient craftsmen and literati. The rich glaze colors and decorations were never merely ornamentation; they were also the inner expression of our ancestors' hopes for this world, telling stories of the fusion of form and spirit from the ancient East — and such storytelling has never ceased in the long river of history.

The kiln fires of Jingdezhen, counting from the late Tang and Five Dynasties, have never been interrupted for more than a thousand years. Many ancient handicraft cities in the world were either destroyed by war, perished due to changes of the times, or died out under the crushing force of industrialization. But Jingdezhen survived, and still thrives today. From a ceramic-gathering town in the Han and Tang dynasties, to a ceramic market town in the Song dynasties, then to a ceramic industry metropolis from the late Song to the Yuan, and the porcelain kingdom peak in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the collective artisan spirit nurtured by the thousand-year kiln fires has achieved Jingdezhen's unique historical status.

In Jingdezhen, ancient skills have not become specimens displayed in museums; they live in the hands of generations of craftsmen, in the unextinguished kiln fires. Thousands of intangible cultural heritage inheritors in the city still follow the ancient porcelain-making procedures, keeping the thousand-year kiln fires alive and unceasing.

This continuity is made possible because of an endogenous, never-stopping self-breakthrough.

From proto-porcelain to mature porcelain, the Chinese people groped between mud and fire for more than 1,500 years. In the 13th century, Jingdezhen's craftsmen broke through the tradition of using only single porcelain stone for body-making, creatively added local Gaoling (高岭) clay, and invented the "binary formula" (二元配方). This innovation made the porcelain body resist deformation at 1300°C, achieving a qualitative leap in whiteness, hardness, and glaze gloss. At this point, the world's true hard-paste porcelain was born. The global porcelain industry still names this material after the Chinese place name — "Kaolin." This spirit of innovation has continuously brought earth-shattering creations in Jingdezhen's subsequent porcelain industry development: self-iteration never stopped — from monochrome glazed porcelains of various colors to blue-and-white, wucai (five-color), doucai (contrasting colors), famille rose, enamel colors... The birth of each new variety is a resonance of technological breakthrough and artistic creation.

A history of Jingdezhen's porcelain-making is a history of innovation and creation that led the world's ceramic development. Jingdezhen gathered the achievements of all famous kilns under heaven, integrated multiple ethnic cultures into one. Its creative spirit of "technical innovation, continuous refinement, ever advancing, never stopping" has allowed Chinese civilization to continuously radiate new vitality while upholding the fundamentals and innovating.

A history of Chinese ceramics could almost be said to have half its volumes in Jingdezhen. Jingdezhen's achievements were never a solitary struggle of one city or one place. It gathered the technical achievements of northern and southern porcelain-making: the purity of northern white porcelain and the warmth of southern celadon fused here into the "blue as sky, bright as mirror, thin as paper, resonant as jade chime" bluish-white porcelain (qingbai), and Emperor Zhenzong of Song even bestowed his reign name "Jingde" on this town. Since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, a large number of craftsmen from the northern Ding kiln, Cizhou kiln and the southern Longquan kiln, Yue kiln came to Jingdezhen; literati and merchants integrated diverse technologies, aesthetics, and resources into a unified industrial system, promoting the pioneering and innovation of Jingdezhen's ceramic art, thereby establishing its position as the world's porcelain-making center.

This unity that integrates diversity has never moved toward closure. The emergence of Yuan blue-and-white is the best proof — when the ancient blue, after being scorched by fierce flames, blossoms on the biscuit body with bright and lustrous blue flowers, the ceramics that integrate materials, craftsmanship, and aesthetics have transcended time and space, becoming witnesses of civilization exchange and mutual learning. Using cobalt imported from West Asia, Jingdezhen craftsmen and Persian craftsmen together painted foreign patterns; later, craftsmen incorporated traditional Chinese cultural motifs such as dragon and phoenix, plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum, so that blue-and-white porcelain exuded a strong oriental artistic aura. These precious artifacts even appeared in European paintings of the 15th–16th centuries, becoming novel elements in Western painting art and later the core elements of the "Chinoiserie" that swept Europe.

Inclusiveness has never been passive acceptance, but active mutual learning. The peaks of civilization are never achieved in isolation, but grow in openness.

In 1701, French missionary François Xavier d'Entrecolles came to Jingdezhen; in addition to his missionary work, he visited kiln factories, inquired and learned from kiln workers, read relevant documents, and gathered information about Jingdezhen's porcelain-making techniques. He transmitted his observations in Jingdezhen to Europe via letters, detailing the procedures from body-making, glaze preparation, painting to firing, and also sent samples of raw materials such as Gaoling clay, glazes, and pigments along with the letters back to Europe, exerting a major influence on the development of European hard-paste porcelain.

Jingdezhen porcelain was deeply loved by European aristocrats. Craftsmen also followed the requests of European nobles at the time, firing their family coats of arms and other emblems onto the porcelain as symbols of family identity and status. These "custom-made according to sample" products, blending Chinese and Western elements, together with Jingdezhen's Ming and Qing export porcelain, constitute material evidence of 500 years of trade globalization and the collision and fusion of Chinese and European civilizations.

In the atlas of human civilization, the most moving power of porcelain lies in its "everydayness" — it is just cups, plates, bowls, and dishes on the dining table, decorative treasures in the hall; it does not carry warships and cannons, but quietly arrives in foreign lands,融入 the daily life scenes of people around the world. When a Jingdezhen blue-and-white vase is quietly presented before people's eyes, it makes people of different skin colors and different faiths, as they gaze, produce similar aesthetic feelings and admiration.

Porcelain does not speak, yet it makes the world understand China.

Today, people come to Jingdezhen, starting from the Imperial Kiln Factory on Zhushan (珠山), passing through Zhongdu Ferry, and walk onto the embankment of the Changjiang River, gazing into the distance at "Taoyang Thirteen Li" (陶阳十三里), imagining the scene where Jingdezhen porcelain that boarded ships here crossed the ocean to reach all parts of the world. Jingdezhen, now a World Cultural Heritage site, still takes porcelain-making as its main industry, attracting more than 60,000 Chinese and foreign "Jing drifters" (景漂) from over 50 countries and regions to pursue their dreams and realize them. They come here to study, create, and live, re-kneading tradition and modernity, East and West into a lump of clay, letting the kiln fire temper new ideas.

In this city, the spiritual qualities forged in the raging flames — the continuity, innovativeness, unity, inclusiveness, and peacefulness of Chinese civilization — have found their most vivid, concrete, and tangible portrayal. As General Secretary Xi Jinping expected, "make the thousand-year porcelain capital's bright name card shine even brighter"; Jingdezhen is using porcelain as a medium, using porcelain to make friends, guarding the thousand-year cultural vein through living heritage, expanding the ceramic industry while upholding fundamentals and innovating, and telling the Chinese story of the new era through openness and inclusiveness. Here, a more magnificent picture of cultural exchange and mutual learning among civilizations is unfolding.

Jingdezhen, let the world embrace each other again.

Secrets
The "Secrets" of Eastern Porcelain-Making
Here lie the "secrets" of Eastern porcelain-making.
Jingdezhen is a small town surrounded by mountains. Among the many mountains, ones as famous as Jingdezhen itself are Zhushan (珠山) within the city and Gaoling (高岭) to the northeast.
Zhushan is the accumulated remains of rejected products and kiln-industry waste from the Ming and Qing imperial kilns. It not only bears witness to nearly 500 years of imperial kiln production history, product selection, and management systems, but also, through its height of accumulation, materially demonstrates the technological accumulation of Jingdezhen's porcelain industry during the Ming and Qing periods.
Gaoling is located in the hilly terrain of northeastern Jingdezhen, covering an area of about 10 square kilometers. The continuously distributed kaolin clay and porcelain stone mine sites in the Fuliang Gaoling and Yaoli areas are the foundation that lifted the porcelain capital. Jingdezhen's porcelain-making had long used a single porcelain stone body-making formula (一元配方). It was not until the Yuan dynasty that local craftsmen innovatively introduced high-quality clay from the Macangshan area in northeastern Jingdezhen, pioneering the "porcelain stone + Gaoling clay" binary formula (二元配方) for porcelain-making. From then on, large pieces, thin-walled, high-whiteness hard-paste porcelain were produced in batch, achieving a leapfrog innovation in Jingdezhen's porcelain-making technology.
In the 19th century, German geologist Ferdinand von Richthofen visited Jingdezhen and used the transliteration of "Gaoling" as "Kaolin" to name the same type of porcelain clay worldwide. This name became the first mineral term named after a Chinese place name and used globally.
(The author is Li Zhaoyun (李兆云) of the Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (江西省文物考古研究院))

Kiln
A City of Porcelain, Half a City of Kilns
The celadon fragments with signs of use from the late Tang or Five Dynasties unearthed at the Luomaqiao kiln site trace human activity in the town area back to no later than the 9th century. The bluish-white glazed porcelain and related kiln furniture unearthed from the late Northern Song stratum show that porcelain production in the town area had already reached scale.
As the earliest folk kiln site discovered in the archaeology of Jingdezhen's traditional town-area kilns, the Luomaqiao kiln site archaeology, through abundant material evidence, reveals a folk kiln-making tradition spanning from the Northern Song to the contemporary era, a time span of about 900 years. And through the lines of change in products, kilns, and fuel, it connects the kiln industry development history of Jingdezhen from the late Northern Song until after the founding of New China, when modern ceramic factories were built.
From Northern Song bluish-white porcelain to Yuan egg-white glaze, underglaze red, blue-and-white, then Ming blue-and-white, wucai, Kraak porcelain, Qing blue-and-white, famille rose, and so on — the complete evolution of categories witnesses the epoch-making transformation of Jingdezhen porcelain from body and glaze decoration to painted decoration, demonstrating the Luomaqiao kiln yard's continuous creativity in bringing forth the new.
(The author is Li Kangyi (李康一) of Jingdezhen Ceramic University (景德镇陶瓷大学))

Technique
"Through seventy-two hands, the vessel is completed"
"Altogether, the labor of one cup goes through seventy-two hands before it is completed." The record in Tiangong Kaiwu (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature) reveals the subtlety and innovation of Jingdezhen's porcelain-making techniques. Jingdezhen's handmade porcelain craftsmanship is extremely specialized, with extremely fine division of labor. From stone to clay, from clay to porcelain, it goes through carefully polished 72 procedures, divided into six major processes: clay kneading, throwing, trimming, painting, glazing, and firing, known as the "world's earliest industrialized division of labor." Among them, the key procedures were established as early as the Song and Yuan dynasties, and by the Ming and Qing dynasties, the specialized division of labor reached a level where "the painter paints but does not fill in colors, the color-filler fills in colors but does not paint."
Remains such as the Xu Family Kiln (徐家窑) and workshop group, and the Liujia Xianong (刘家下弄) workshop group show that the workshop functional areas were clearly demarcated, space utilization was efficient, and their layout optimized the continuous workflow of throwing, molding, and trimming, significantly improving production efficiency, demonstrating a production line model in the handicraft era. The functional layout of porcelain production in the town area, and the functional forms and organizational methods of sub-industry facilities such as blank workshops, kiln houses, red shops (painting ateliers), porcelain dealerships, and even pigment shops (fine gold shops), porcelain packaging shops (茭草行), also reflect Jingdezhen's highly intensive and specialized production system, and highly standardized production links.

In the Qing dynasty, the relevant craft scenes were systematically presented and officially recorded in the Porcelain Making Illustrations (陶冶图). According to the Archives of the Imperial Household Department of the Qing Palace, in the third year of the Qianlong reign, painters were ordered to redraw based on the Porcelain Making Illustrations kept in the imperial palace, and in the eighth year of Qianlong (1743), Tang Ying, the imperial kiln supervisor, was ordered to write explanations, detailing the porcelain-making procedures from quarrying stone and preparing clay to packaging and transportation.

From the mid-to-late 18th century onward, export paintings based on the Porcelain Making Illustrations appeared in China, enabling Western craftsmen to learn Chinese porcelain-making techniques and understand the production process. From raw material formulas, production procedures, to specialized division of labor, the Porcelain Making Illustrations influenced Western porcelain production in various aspects, promoting the transformation of the European porcelain industry from imitation to innovation, from experience to science, profoundly reflecting Jingdezhen's contribution to world industrial civilization.
(Compiled by Zhou Feiya (周飞亚))

Curiosity
The Internet-Famous "Sui Sui Ya" (碎碎鸭)
Every visitor who walks into the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum will not miss this treasure of the museum — the Ming Chenghua three-color (sancai) duck-shaped incense burner.
More than 500 years ago, craftsmen at the imperial kiln deliberately smashed the rejected three-color duck-shaped incense burner and dumped it together with other destroyed porcelain fragments on the north side of Zhushan. In 1987, when Jingdezhen city rebuilt the Longzhu Pavilion on the summit of Zhushan, these buried porcelain fragments finally had the chance to see the light of day. Cultural relic restorers selected sixty to seventy fragments from the vast sea of ceramic shards, successfully piecing together and restoring the Ming Chenghua three-color duck-shaped incense burner. In ancient pronunciation, "duck" (鸭) sounds like "jia" (甲), meaning coming first in the imperial examinations and passing exams, so duck-shaped incense burners were very popular in ancient times. But this duck-shaped incense burner has a unique form; no similar artifact has been seen in any major museum in the world. This "duck" both highly restores the original appearance of the artifact and retains the traces of fragment assembly, earning it the affectionate nickname "Sui Sui Ya" (碎碎鸭). Today, "Sui Sui Ya" has transformed into a cultural symbol meaning "peace year after year" (岁岁平安), with its own emoji packs, stationery, clothing, and other cultural and creative products, becoming an internet celebrity.
(Compiled by Zhou Feiya)

Vessel
The Glaze and Color Miracle
The Palace Museum in Beijing collects a large Qing Qianlong vase with various glazes and colors. Because it gathers 17 glaze and color varieties on one vessel, it enjoys the reputation of "Porcelain Mother" (瓷母).
The "Porcelain Mother," 86.4 cm in height, 27.4 cm in mouth diameter, 33 cm in foot diameter, bears on the outer bottom the six-character three-line seal-script mark "Made in the Qianlong Reign of the Great Qing," and its shape is a Qianlong-period innovation. To display the rich glazes and colors, the outer wall is divided into 15 layers from top to bottom. It is decorated with celadon glaze, kiln transmutation glaze, sky-blue glaze, sauce glaze, and other monochrome glazes, as well as blue-and-white, doucai, famille rose, gold decoration, and other painted decorations.
This large vase with various glazes and colors reproduces the styles of four celadon types: Ru, Guan, Ge, and Longquan. Because the crackle patterns of Ru, Guan, and Ge glazes differ from each other, it is difficult to fire them simultaneously on one piece of porcelain; therefore, the kiln workers first fired high-temperature glazes such as powder-blue and gray-blue, then used a brush to depict the crackle patterns, displaying the beauty of crackled celadon through painting techniques. The red kiln transmutation glaze on its shoulder is a typical imitation of Jun glaze. The vase has three areas of blue-and-white decoration: besides the doucai where blue-and-white outlines the patterns, the other two blue-and-white decorations — one imitates the "iron rust spots" formed by the use of imported cobalt material in Ming Yongle and Xuande blue-and-white, and the other shows the typical blue-and-white characteristics of the Qianlong period.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Jingdezhen became the national center of the porcelain industry. Jingdezhen widely studied the techniques and varieties of famous kilns from both contemporary and earlier periods, enabling a single kiln site to produce a diverse range of porcelain types. In the early Ming, the Jingdezhen imperial kiln could already imitate Ru, Ge, Guan, Longquan, and bluish-white glazes, test the color effects of different cobalt materials and copper red glazes, and actively explore overglaze painting techniques, finally combining underglaze blue-and-white with overglaze colors to create doucai. In the Qing, Jingdezhen expanded its study targets from Song famous kilns to classic porcelains of all previous Ming dynasties, absorbing porcelain technology from previous eras to an unprecedented depth and breadth.
The decorations and motifs on this large vase with various glazes and colors not only inherit from the porcelain tradition of previous dynasties but also incorporate the profound influence of foreign cultures. The turquoise-ground famille rose floral scroll at the mouth imitates the effect of cloisonné enamel; the turquoise glaze on the neck imitates the texture of turquoise stone, with brush-painted black lines like natural veins; the gold-painted chi dragon handles imitate metalwork; the blue-and-white on the shoulder depicts European-style "foreign flowers"; the celadon section incises a pattern of "puchigoma" (ball-flower) derived from Japanese lacquerware. The novelty of the pigments and the richness of the decorations not only expand the artistic expressiveness of porcelain but also make this large vase with various glazes and colors a vivid portrayal of Jingdezhen's fusion of Chinese and Western craftsmanship in the Qing dynasty.
(The author is Shan Yingying (单莹莹) of the Palace Museum (故宫博物院))

Tradition
The Skill Lives in the Heart
Sun Lixin (孙立新)
In October 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping came to Jingdezhen and had cordial exchanges with us. I was fortunate to demonstrate the blue-and-white painting technique on site.
Our family has four generations guarding the kiln and passing on skills in Jingdezhen. I grew up in the workshop, and my father was extremely strict in his discipline. Once, I copied two cranes; afraid of my father's criticism, I secretly showed them to my uncle. My uncle specialized in ceramic pigment formulas and spent his whole life with porcelain. He praised my painting and said he wanted to keep it. Ten years later, he returned the painting to me; I looked, and both cranes had lame legs. Only then did I realize: my father's strictness was to sharpen my skills; my uncle's encouragement was to nurture the artisan heart. One strict, one gentle — they upheld my decades of perseverance.
In our craft, outsiders see the vessel; insiders appreciate the heart. Later, I also apprenticed under several masters; my father said his own son should be taught by others. My esteemed teacher did not teach techniques but instead spoke about life, instructing me to aim high, gave me a list of books, and also told me to listen to Beethoven. I listened to the Symphony of Fate at age 15, only feeling noisy and confused. After decades of tempering by mud and fire, I now understand the vitality in the melody.
What is a good work? It must have spiritual connotation and also cultural artistic conception. My father painted plum blossoms, only painting an old stump with a few flowers on top, saying he wanted to express the sense of age in the plum stump, letting new blossoms bloom from the vicissitudes — that is the stubbornness of unending life. From his works, I feel the sustenance of humanistic spirit.
The generation of his time learned the craft under harsh conditions, could only borrow books everywhere, copy them all night, and return them at dawn. But he devoted his whole life to blue-and-white, advancing day and night, and his works are collected by the Palace Museum and the National Museum. I, on the other hand, have broad interests, always wanting to try diverse styles, thus lacking his extreme focus. In my youth, I was 天马行空 (tiān mǎ xíng kōng - "heavenly horse galloping in the sky," unrestrained, unconstrained), but after wandering, I still came back to this workshop. My heart gradually settled down, and only then did I understand why the veteran masters could paint quietly for a lifetime; it was not just skill proficiency, but a life attitude. The books a craftsman has read, the roads he has traveled, the state of mind he has accumulated — they will eventually be transformed into the artistic aura under the brush, the spirit and character of the vessel.
When my daughter was three years old, seeing me painting at the table, she climbed onto the table, picked up the brush, and said, "Dad, let me teach you to paint." My heart thumped — in that moment, I suddenly felt that the kiln fire of the Sun family had successors. Now my daughter is studying ceramic product design at university. I tell her, she must get used to touching mud, endure loneliness, settle her heart, only then can she take over the craft of her ancestors.
In recent years, there have been more foreigners in Jingdezhen, more young "Jing drifters," and craftsmen working in glass, metal, and other materials have also come to settle. "Craftsmen come from all directions, and wares go out across the world" — this is the unique inclusiveness of Jingdezhen. Everyone competes silently in the same environment: if you do well, I want to do even better; each person displays their ultimate skill. The vessel carries the Way; behind a fine piece of porcelain lies the wisdom and tenacity of a craftsman's lifetime.
I am recently working on a long blue-and-white scroll painting today's Jingdezhen. From the Imperial Kiln Factory to the Sanbao area, from the throwing masters to the young "Jing drifters," I have included all the places related to the World Heritage inscription in this blue-and-white scroll, using ancient blue-and-white to create a contemporary portrait of the thousand-year porcelain capital — it is my gift to the successful World Heritage inscription of the "Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Heritage."
That Jingdezhen has come this far depends on generation after generation taking their craft to the extreme. Here, as long as you sincerely love it and persist, you will surely shine. This is our path of inheritance.
(The author is a provincial-level representative inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of traditional blue-and-white porcelain-making technique; compiled by Chen Xingxing (陈星星), reporter for People's Daily Online (人民网))

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Yang Xuemei, Ren Shanshan, Zhou Feiya, Wang Jin, Zhao Siru

Email address for this edition: ysbjs@peopledaily.cn
Layout design (People's Daily Online): Li Jian (李鉴), Mao Ran (毛然), Du Bailuan (杜佰鸾)

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Exploring the Jingchu Cultural Vein Through Bamboo Slips (Cultural China Tour · Humanities Observation)

By: 本报记者 何思琦

“Only the Yin forebears had books and records.”

From the Yin-Shang period through to the Wei-Jin period, before the widespread use of paper, most people wrote with brush and ink on bamboo and wooden slips, leaving precious, vivid physical evidence for China’s several-thousand-year documented history.

Over 35,000 excavated slips in nearly a hundred batches, with excavation sites covering Jingzhou, Yunmeng, Jingmen, Suizhou… Hubei is a region rich in slip resources. The excavated slips span a long time frame, have a complete chronological sequence, and are rich in content; each batch of slips has unique historical value and characteristics of its era.

As the saying goes, “Dried for a thousand years, wet for ten thousand.” Hubei, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, with its humid climate and groundwater environment, has allowed deeply buried slips to survive intact across millennia. Chu, Qin, and Han cultures overlapped and blended here; each slip bears witness to the formation and development of the diverse yet integrated pattern of Chinese civilization.

Recently, reporters visited the land of Jingchu to explore the memory of slips on this soil.

An “encyclopedia” buried deep in the ancient marsh

Yunmeng, an ancient name.

In 550 AD, “Yunmeng” first appeared on the map of China as the name of a county, continuing for over 1,400 years to the present day.

A thousand-year cultural lineage, an ancient and vast marsh. Stepping into the Yunmeng County Museum, the “Exhibition of Qin-Han Slips Excavated in Yunmeng” lifts the dusty veil of history—

201 slips of Eighteen Types of Qin Statutes (秦律十八种), 42 slips of Miscellaneous Excerpts from Qin Statutes (秦律杂抄), 210 slips of Legal Answers (法律答问), 98 slips of Models for Sealing and Examining (封诊式)… In the eyes of visitor Zhang Yihua (张义华), this is the source of China’s legal culture. “A low-level clerk named ‘Xi’ recorded a great era. More than 2,000 years later, we can see from his work notes how a vast state operated,” Zhang Yihua said.

When speaking of slips unearthed in Hubei, one cannot avoid Yunmeng. In 1975, 1,155 bamboo slips were unearthed from a Qin tomb at Shuihudi (睡虎地) west of Yunmeng city, including the earliest and most complete legal code ever discovered in China.

“The owner of the tomb where the Shuihudi Qin slips were unearthed, ‘Xi,’ was a grassroots legal worker of Qin,” explained Chen Danli (陈丹荔), a guide at the Yunmeng County Museum. “Over 40,000 neat Qin clerical script characters preserved in the most direct way the history from the seven warring states to the unification under Qin.”

Past and present are one continuous vein; on the bamboo slips lies governance wisdom spanning millennia.

China’s earliest discovered “environmental protection clause”—the Field Statutes (田律)—attracted many visitors to stop and look. “From the second month of spring, it is forbidden to fell timber in the mountains and forests, and it is forbidden to block waterways…” People carefully read the translation alongside the original text. “As early as the Qin dynasty, the ancients set closed fishing seasons and closed hunting seasons. The governance concept and ecological wisdom of following the seasons and letting things rest and recuperate still have reference value today,” Chen Danli said.

One piece, The Way of Being an Official (为吏之道), shows people the code of conduct for Qin-dynasty officials from over 2,000 years ago. “‘The way of being an official must be pure, clean, upright, and honest.’ The text proposes that officials have ‘five goods and five faults’ (五善五失); among them, the second of the ‘five goods’ is ‘be incorruptible and free from slander,’ clearly indicating the requirement of clean governance at that time,” introduced Luan Li (栾丽), deputy curator of the Yunmeng County Museum.

These precious slips provide first-hand documents for studying Qin-Han law, administration, economy, and people’s livelihoods, becoming a “living dictionary” for deciphering the genetic code of Chinese civilization.

In 2006, less than 100 meters from the site where the Shuihudi Qin slips were unearthed, more than 2,000 Western Han slips were discovered, among which the Zhiri (质日) scroll spanning fourteen consecutive years became a highlight. The original is currently stored at the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (Hubei Archaeology Museum). “Zhiri is not found in transmitted texts; it was a popular form of document during Qin and Western Han, usually based on a year’s calendar and recording public and private affairs. Combined with the documentary materials unearthed from the same tomb, we know the tomb owner was named ‘Yueren’ (越人). This batch of Zhiri is his diary, with very rich content,” said Cai Dan (蔡丹), a research librarian at the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.

The slips unearthed on the land of Jingchu are far more than those from Yunmeng.

The Guodian (郭店) Chu bamboo slips, unearthed in Jingmen, Hubei, are mainly Confucian and Daoist works and are precious materials for the study of ancient paleography and pre-Qin textual studies.

The Zhangjiashan (张家山) Han slips are rich in content, including The Statutes of the Second Year (二年律令), Book of Calculation (算数书), The Canopy (盖庐), and others, of great value for studying Western Han society, politics, economy, culture, science, and technology.

The Western Han slips from Hujia Caochang (胡家草场), Jingzhou, Hubei, were unearthed in 2018. A single tomb contained over 4,600 slips, including seven categories of documents such as statutes and ordinances, calendars, and daybooks.

From state law to human sentiment, each unearthed slip is like a scattered puzzle piece, piecing together the changing winds and clouds on the land of Jingchu and bearing witness to the formation of a unified multi-ethnic state.

Yet these precious slips, buried for millennia, have long been waterlogged, as fragile and soft as noodles. Before most of them can be understood by more people, they must first travel to the same destination—Jingzhou.

The rebirth of waterlogged slips in the “cultural relic hospital”

Unlike the dry slips buried under the yellow sand of the northwest deserts, waterlogged slips have extremely high moisture content. Having long been stored in a waterlogged, oxygen-deficient environment, their internal structure is soft, and once removed from the water environment they rapidly deteriorate.

For waterlogged slips, the moment of excavation is the starting point of a “rescue.”

The Jingzhou Cultural Relics Protection Center has restored over 80% of China’s waterlogged slips. The Liye (里耶) Qin slips from western Hunan, the Zoumalou (走马楼) Three Kingdoms Wu slips from Changsha… to date, over 100,000 slips have been reborn in this “cultural relic hospital” and then returned to their home regions.

The process of restoring slips is like a sustained dialogue with history.

Entering the slip restoration room of the Jingzhou Cultural Relics Protection Center, time seems to slow down. Restorers are conducting their tasks methodically. Ethanol replacement, hexadecanol replacement, surface hexadecanol removal… the specialized and complex procedures hide the secret that makes the slips “speak.” A flowchart of slip conservation work on the wall of the restoration room shows nearly 20 steps.

Decolorization and dehydration are the core of slip conservation technology. After decolorization, the slips change from black to the pale yellow of the bamboo itself, and the writing on slips with characters becomes legible. After dehydration, the slips gain strength.

And all this is far from a one-day achievement.

“Conservation must follow the principle of minimal intervention. First, clean surface mud and impurities, sterilize and remove dirt, control temperature, humidity, and insect prevention throughout the process, and ultimately sealed storage under constant temperature and humidity in a museum is best,” said Fang Beisong (方北松), director of the Jingzhou Cultural Relics Protection Center and “National Cultural Relic Master Artisan.” Fang Beisong has been deeply engaged in slip restoration for over 30 years, handling more than 100,000 slips. “Restoration is not done in a day; often I repeat the same motions for months on end. You must have patience and a steady mind.”

This path of slip conservation and restoration is saturated with the efforts of several generations.

“In the 1970s and 80s, the veteran Wu Shunqing (吴顺清) began this work,” Fang Beisong said. Wu Shunqing devoted half his life’s craftsmanship to restoring millennium-old slips. The “dried bamboo slip swelling and re-shaping technique” he developed miraculously unrolled bamboo slips that had shriveled into lumps.

Thereafter, Fang Beisong led his team to delve deeper into the field of slip conservation. The decolorization and dehydration processes he独创 (originally created) are still the main methods for restoring waterlogged slips.

Today, eight workstations are also operating in eight cities including Chengdu (Sichuan), Changsha (Hunan), and Yunmeng (Hubei). As of 2025, the Jingzhou Cultural Relics Protection Center, one of the supporting units of the “Key Scientific Research Base of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage for the Protection of Excavated Wooden and Lacquer Artifacts,” has provided technical support for cultural relic conservation to over 130 cultural and museum institutions across 27 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities.

Currently, over 20,000 slips are still quietly awaiting restoration in this “cultural relic hospital.” “This year, while continuing to push forward the full cleaning and text information extraction of the Qinjiazui (秦家咀) Chu slips, we will also advance the final stages of several slip conservation projects, including the Yunnan Hebo Site (河泊所) slips and the Nanchang Marquis of Haihun tomb slips,” Fang Beisong said.

On the workbench, slips are sandwiched between glass slides, carefully tied, and immersed in distilled water. Awaiting them is to be awakened and deciphered by later generations, so that the stories of Chinese civilization hidden within can be told to more people.

Letting the “treasure of the state” enter contemporary life

In the reference room of the Research Center for Excavated Documents and Ancient Civilization at Peking University, doctoral student Wang Xuesen (王学森) opens The Bamboo Slips from the Qin Tomb at Shuihudi to look up and confirm the statutes related to Qin’s “military merit titles.” Engaged in academic research on pre-Qin history, Wang Xuesen has his own considerations: “We are in an era that values ‘unpopular and esoteric studies’ (冷门绝学). I hope to conduct in-depth research in the fields of political systems and social structures, exploring their origins and evolutionary threads from pre-Qin to Qin-Han, and how they influence later understanding of the pre-Qin era.”

Turning the gaze to the Wanlin Art Museum of Wuhan University, in a public-interest cloud classroom, Professor Lu Jialiang (鲁家亮) of the Bamboo and Silk Research Center at Wuhan University is giving a lecture on the theme “The True History of Family and State in Bamboo and Wooden Slips.”

“Bamboo and wooden slips are actually a medium for writing. The physical slips we see today are mainly concentrated from the Warring States period to the Wei-Jin period. Among them, the earliest batch comes from Hubei—the very famous tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng…” On the other side of the screen, Lu Jialiang recounted in detail.

What did the ancient “multiplication table” look like? What did a Han-dynasty “civil servant diary” record? The obscure and difficult characters on each bamboo slip became tangible and perceptible under Lu Jialiang’s popularization. Over the years, besides deeply engaging in academic research, Lu Jialiang’s other task has been to tell the public the stories behind the slips.

“People generally feel that slips have a high reading threshold and it is not easy to understand the historical information embedded in them. On the one hand, we must continue in-depth research, accelerate the compilation and publication of the Compendium of Hubei Excavated Slips (湖北出土简牍集成), and complete a comprehensive and systematic collation, description, and interpretation of the slips unearthed in Hubei; on the other hand, we must also use exhibitions, lectures, and various other forms to tell the public the stories of family and state within the slips, so that the ‘treasure of the state’ can enter contemporary life,” Lu Jialiang said.

In Hubei, there are also more “immersive” ways of carrying out vivid and colorful popular science displays—

“What exactly did the Qin-dynasty work notes from over 2,000 years ago write? Everyone, come with me to see…” At the Shuihudi Qin Bamboo Slip Archaeological Site Park, Yang Lisheng (杨理胜), deputy director of the Hubei Provincial Museum, dressed in Qin-dynasty attire, narrated his “personal experience” from the first-person perspective of “Xi.”

There is a wonderful fate between Yang Lisheng and “Xi.” According to physical anthropological research, his height and weight are quite close to those of the tomb owner “Xi” of the Shuihudi Qin slips. This coincidence gave him a bold idea: “Official histories record kings and nobles, but ‘Xi’ is an ordinary person discovered through archaeology. From what perspective should we tell the history behind this? I simply put on his clothes to act out his story.”

Starting in 2024, Yang Lisheng appeared as “Xi” on many occasions. Several times, after putting on makeup, people around him did not recognize him. “If we only simply introduce the relevant research findings, that might not be enough. This kind of role-playing approach is down-to-earth and can truly bring cultural relics to life.”

From young students continuously devoting themselves to research, to experts and scholars beginning to step out of their studies; from the wonderful popular science of cloud classrooms, to the vivid portrayal that “travels through time and space”… As Yang Lisheng said, attention to slips will not remain only at the academic level. Our understanding of the Chinese civilization behind the slips is continuously deepening.

The characters written on bamboo and wood a thousand years ago seem to drift slowly down the river of time, becoming stories that ordinary people can understand and see. Slips are returning to people in a more accessible way.

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The Quietly Flowing River (Cultural Salon)

By: 王计兵

My writing began in 1988, and in 1992 I had published some micro-fiction. In the pursuit of my dream, I entered a state that was nearly crazed. To write a full-length novel, I wrote until I suffered severe malnutrition and was repeatedly sent to the hospital. Later, my father burned in one go over 200,000 characters of my written manuscripts, and thereafter forbade me from writing. That year, in the very center, the most spacious part of my notebook, I wrote a line in large characters: "I want to become a great writer." And when I closed the notebook, it was as if I had broken the wings of my dream. In 2017 I once again published work; in between 25 years had passed. I had been to Xinjiang, to Shenyang in Liaoning, to the Mengyin old revolutionary base area in Shandong (蒙阴老区). I successively worked in construction sites, brick factories, and docks doing manual labor. That is why I wrote: "I used my physical strength to squeeze out the moisture of life, yet still could not make life purer."

During those 25 years, I no longer submitted manuscripts, but I did not give up the love for words in my heart. I think a person must have their own hobbies in order to live more steadfastly. Later someone asked me: "Those days were so bitter, how did you manage to endure them? So bitter, why did you still persist in writing?" In reality, one's attitude toward life determines one's feelings toward existence. I never felt that the days were being endured; every day I lived with great vigor. As for my love for words, because it is love, one cannot speak of perseverance. For example, some people like fishing; no one would ask them how they endure it. I love literature, and I can also draw from literature the strength that belongs to me.

In 2017 I began submitting manuscripts again, and in 2018 I became a member of the Writers' Association of Xuzhou, Jiangsu. Twenty-five years had passed. Someone asked me: "Have you ever hated your father?" Actually, the word "hate" is especially cruel when applied to one's father. I wrote a poem titled "Land of Dreams." "Back then I built a great mansion on my land of dreams; before I could move in, my father tore it down. I would not allow the land of dreams to be left with a field of ruins; for that, I cleared it for 25 years. Time proved my father was right. I began to harvest my poems batch after batch." The true land of dreams is used for growing. The true dream is to shrink the dream and make it a seed guarded within the heart.

Due to the highly fragmented time of life delivering takeout, in order to prevent conflict between writing and life, I abandoned traditional paper-and-pen writing and instead used voice chat methods for creation. When people talk about whether writing requires talent or diligence, I firmly maintain: genius belongs to the very few who have natural talent, while more writers rely on diligence to accumulate bit by bit, eventually forming their own habitual thinking. This reminds me of my father-in-law, an old carpenter already 79 years old. One day, I took a piece of wood from his yard. Later my father-in-law looked for that piece of wood, and learned that I had taken it to make a shovel handle. He greatly regretted it, saying that among this pile of wood, this timber was most suitable to be a vertical post for a wardrobe. In the eyes of an old carpenter, there is in fact no superfluous wood. Even if I had taken another piece of wood, in his eyes it would certainly still have had a position where it ought to exist. This is like our writing: a writer must be good at finding, from a pile of wood, the best vertical post in life.

I have worked on various construction sites, and nails left a particularly deep impression on me. Therefore, nails became a frequently appearing poetic element in my works. Just as I have a little finger; during the days when I once made a living by picking up scrap, a piece of sheet metal cut the tendon, making it bent and deformed. Once while delivering takeout, I used this injured finger to hang the takeout, running on the road. Suddenly I felt it was like "a hook protruding from my body, turning me into a walking wall." This is the habitual thinking of literature. When you love literature and love writing for a long time, you will possess your own habitual thinking.

One midday, by the roadside I encountered a green tomato that had been bitten once by someone and then discarded. This instantly reminded me of my ignorant teenage years, when I also bit into a green tomato. Therefore, I wrote: "A tomato bitten once is like a childhood bitten once. Which is more important: the missing part or the discarded part?" I think this is literature: using one's own habitual thinking, combined with one's own life experience, combined with insights on life, one possesses poetry that belongs to oneself.

I am greatly honored to have received the Ninth Lu Xun Literature Prize for Poetry. The media asked me to talk about my feelings on winning. I said, the years are still long. I hope everyone will patiently give me time; after some years, people will discover that Wang Jibing (王计兵) has always been a quietly flowing river.

(The author is a poet and the recipient of the Ninth Lu Xun Literature Prize.)

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Gaojia Opera Can Be This "Trendy" (Inheritance)

By: 本报记者 钟自炜

“The cloud hand should be like stroking flowing water, the shoulders must be relaxed, the breath must be deep; the waist is the axle, the eyes are the lamp—if the lamp is not bright, how can the axle turn…” From Cendou Village (岑兜村), Shijing Town (石井镇), Nan'an City (南安市), Quanzhou, Fujian, waves of melodious opera sounds emerge. The village committee’s 300-plus-square-meter auditorium turns into a Gaojia opera training room every Saturday. Teacher Lin Guochun (林国春) explains in a loud, clear voice, sometimes offering detailed pointers on singing and movements, sometimes approaching to correct actions hand in hand.

Gaojia opera is one of the five major opera genres in Fujian. In 2006, it was inscribed on the first batch of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List. As the birthplace of Gaojia opera, Cendou Village has a history of over 300 years of Gaojia opera. There was once the saying “ten families, nine operas,” making it a true “opera nest.” At its peak, there were nearly 30 Gaojia opera troupes in the village, and every household was connected to opera.

However, with the development and changes of the times, Gaojia opera once fell silent. More than ten years ago, Cendou Village faced a severe shortage of opera talent. “At that time, there was only one opera troupe left in the village, and the youngest actor was over 50 years old,” recalled Hong Anping (洪安平), secretary of the Cendou Village Party General Branch (岑兜村党总支). The villagers worried that if no “fresh blood” was injected, Gaojia opera would become history.

To solve the problem of the inheritance gap, in 2015, Cendou Village, relying on Cendou Primary School, opened a Gaojia Opera Training Institute (高甲戏传习所). The village committee fully covered all operating expenses. “When the ‘children’s class’ first started, everyone worried that no one would come. Unexpectedly, over 50 children came in the first session,” said Hong Anping.

After more than ten years of deep cultivation in teaching art, the Cendou Village Gaojia Opera Training Class has trained nearly 300 new Gaojia opera performers, with nine successfully entering professional theater troupes for further study. “Not only does it cultivate professional talent, but more importantly, it has awakened the younger generation’s love for Gaojia opera. The cultural atmosphere of watching and learning opera has returned to Cendou Village.” When talking about the “apprentices” who came out of the training class, Lin Guochun’s eyes showed a smile.

To inherit and promote Gaojia opera, it is necessary not only to cultivate new talents, but also to build new scenes.

In 2022, Cendou Village actively revitalized idle resources, preserving and restoring over 200 old houses (古厝) in their original state, creating the country’s first Gaojia opera outdoor museum. “Breaking the stage boundaries of traditional theater, every brick in the village has a ‘role’ (戏份).” Following Hong Anping as he strolls through this vivid “open-air living theater museum,” every lane and courtyard is a stage, every brick and tile conceals opera charm.

Gaojia opera robots dressed in traditional costumes made a stunning appearance, performing on the same stage as live actors, every move and every vocal exchange precise and accurate. Robot dogs dressed as lion dancers lined up neatly and danced flexibly to the music, full of rhythm… In February this year, a special Spring Festival-themed performance left visitors to Cendou Village exclaiming in surprise, “It’s the first time seeing robots perform Gaojia opera. I never thought Gaojia opera could be so ‘trendy’ (潮)!”

“The biggest difficulty in having robots perform Gaojia opera is not the replication of movements, but the spirit and flavor of the opera,” said program director Hong Xiaojing (洪晓静). “The team came to Cendou Village in advance, teaching the robots the patterns, rhythms, and tempos bit by bit, striving to find a balance between precision and liveliness.”

In today’s Cendou Village, the innovative exploration of “Opera + N” has never stopped — holding rich activities such as Gaojia opera costume culture rural fashion shows, drama flash mobs, drama assistance and transmission meetings; launching cute images based on Gaojia opera characters, developing cultural and creative products such as phone cases and canvas bags; creating costume experience areas, planning and promoting study tour routes… Rooted in a century of opera heritage and integrating trendy and fashionable elements, Cendou Village is striving to build a distinctive rural cultural tourism brand for Gaojia opera.

“In the next step, we will continue to improve, enriching themes such as themed dining, intangible cultural heritage workshops, and pastoral art, so that Gaojia opera culture in Cendou Village can truly survive, thrive, and be passed down.” Speaking about the future, Hong Anping is full of confidence.

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Editor: He Siqi

Layout design: Shen Yiling (沈亦伶)

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