People's Daily - August 6, 2026

Eliminate the malaise of formalism and promote a culture of practical work.

By: 本报记者 张 洋 李林蔚

Rectifying formalism to reduce burdens at the grassroots level is an important part of persistently advancing the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work style development.

In August 2024, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Several Provisions on Rectifying Formalism to Reduce Burdens at the Grassroots Level (hereinafter referred to as the Several Provisions), marking the first time a system of regulations for reducing grassroots burdens was formulated and promulgated in the form of intra-Party regulations, releasing a strong signal of perseverance and follow-through to the end.

All regions and departments have deeply studied and implemented Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, especially Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, and have continued to deepen rectification efforts with the spirit of hammering nails, eliminating the ills of work style and promoting a culture of practical work, so that the sense of gain among grassroots cadres and the masses has continued to grow.

Persistent efforts to establish the orientation of "practicality"

In the height of summer, General Secretary Xi Jinping, braving the scorching heat, went deep into Huangpu District, Shanghai, to investigate the renovation of old residential communities in the course of urban renewal.

"Shanghai has been advancing old housing renovation for decades, one term of leadership after another, persevering over the long term. This is a correct view of political achievements. When the people evaluate us, they also look at whether we genuinely do good and practical things for them, and whether we put up a facade." General Secretary Xi Jinping's remarks were profound.

All work must be done in a practical manner and produce practical results. As the "last kilometer" for implementing the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, the grassroots level must never be bound hand and foot by formalism and bureaucratism.

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Improve the institutional mechanisms for preventing and treating formalism and bureaucratism, and continue to reduce burdens at the grassroots level" and "Implement the long-term mechanism for rectifying formalism to reduce grassroots burdens, so that grassroots cadres have more energy to focus on implementation."

Formalism and bureaucratism are major enemies of fulfilling the Party's missions and tasks on the new journey of the new era. In the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," the entire Party has carried out in-depth study and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements. General Secretary Xi Jinping cautioned the entire Party: "Deviations and errors in the view of political achievements will waste resources, encourage formalism, breed unhealthy tendencies and corruption, and ultimately harm the people and waste money, damage the relationship between the Party and the people and between cadres and the masses, and affect the image of leading bodies and leading cadres in the hearts of the people. If left unchecked, it will shake the Party's governing foundation, and the harm will be very serious."

Sober and resolute, persistent and enduring, unswervingly grasping work style, establishing the orientation of "practicality."

Only by taking real action can there be deterrence. Recently, the Office of the Special Work Mechanism for Rectifying Formalism to Reduce Burdens at the Grassroots Level at the central level, together with the General Office of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, publicly notified three typical problems in rectifying formalism to reduce grassroots burdens: "Some localities were ineffective in correcting statistical fraud, only examining without verifying, and instead of punishing, rewarding"; "Some state-owned enterprises had deviations in their view of political achievements, pursuing 'digital innovation' and 'business transformation' regardless of reality"; "Some social organizations deviated from their service purpose, treating the holding of festivals, exhibitions, forums as a 'cornucopia' and a 'cash cow'"...

Over the past two years, the central level has publicly notified 9 batches of 27 typical problems, driving provincial and municipal levels to notify typical problems as well, seriously pursuing accountability for violations of discipline and law, forming a powerful deterrent; concentrated efforts have been made to carry out special rectifications such as streamlining and optimizing planning compilation tasks, correcting statistical fraud, and cleaning up and regulating festivals, exhibitions, and forum activities, promoting the resolution of a number of prominent problems.

Institutions govern the fundamental and the long-term. Not long ago, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Specific Measures for Making Good Use of the Lists of Duties and Responsibilities for Townships (Subdistricts), which clearly stipulates that "higher-level departments shall not arbitrarily delegate duties not included in the lists to townships (subdistricts), nor delegate them in disguised form through authorization, entrustment, or other means." Basic performance duties, coordinated performance duties, and duties taken back by higher-level departments — the "three lists" are clear and unambiguous, and what the grassroots should and should not do is perfectly clear.

From issuing the revised Regulations on Practicing Frugality and Opposing Waste in Party and Government Organs, to implementing the Regulations on Sharing Government Data, to issuing the Measures for the Standardized Management of Government Mobile Internet Applications... the cage of institutions has been tightened ever further, and Party members and cadres have become more self-conscious in considering whether their thinking and actions would increase grassroots burdens.

At the end of last year, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a democratic life meeting, and General Secretary Xi Jinping said with heartfelt sincerity: "Communists are materialists, and pragmatism is an essential quality. We must seek truth from facts, be pragmatic and realistic, and work with genuine effort."

This is both an exhortation to the entire Party and an expectation for every person who does practical work.

Focusing on key points, deepening the "six rectifications"

In summer, Chaoyang Village, Dongliao County, Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province, bustles with visitors. Amusement park, food street... Han Li, secretary of the Party general branch of Chaoyang Village, rushes between various village projects. "Rural tourism, blueberry sales, crayfish farming — the village has no shortage of industries, and I'm busy every day."

"Now all our energy goes into development. In the past, much of the village's energy was spent on filling out reports." Han Li said with deep feeling. Now, relying on the "one-table communication" system, basic information is entered once and shared for common use; any new form must pass approval before entering the system, eliminating duplicate reporting at the source.

What the grassroots hope for is where rectification is directed. Since the implementation of the Several Provisions, various localities have explored full-caliber management of documents and meetings, implementing "meeting-free days"; coordinated and standardized supervision, inspection, and assessment, abolishing the "thousand-point system" for assessments; carried out clean-up and rectification of irregular secondment of grassroots staff, strictly preventing the disguised secondment of cadres in hidden forms such as "shadowing study"; vigorously promoted the construction of "one-table communication," and continued to consolidate the achievements in rectifying "formalism at the fingertips"...

In October last year, a meeting of the Special Work Mechanism for Rectifying Formalism to Reduce Burdens at the Grassroots Level at the central level was held. The meeting emphasized that work should be advanced around the current overall development situation, targeting problems and focusing on solving them, continuing to deepen and solidify efforts, and striving for practical results.

Rectifying impatience for quick success and blind decision-making, rectifying statistical fraud, rectifying irregular disguised commendation and evaluation and model-creation activities, rectifying hidden burdens at the grassroots level, rectifying the "mountain of documents and sea of meetings," rectifying formalism in supervision, inspection, and assessment, research and investigation, and horizontal exchanges... Each of the "six rectifications" targets pain points at the grassroots level, and each bears on the development of the cause.

Impatience for quick success and blind decision-making not only waste resources and overdraw government credibility, but also increase grassroots burdens and breed formalism.

To strictly prevent "slapdash" decision-making, Anyi County, Jiangxi Province, has formulated government investment management measures, implementing whole-process standardized supervision of projects: in the decision-making and approval stage, strictly implement the hierarchical and tiered review mechanism, standardize approval procedures for project establishment, feasibility studies, preliminary design, and conduct fiscal affordability assessments; in the investment control stage, strictly regulate engineering changes, construction scale, and fund disbursement; in the performance evaluation stage, conduct settlement review and post-completion effectiveness evaluation after project completion...

Last year, the Anyi County Science, Technology and Industry Informatization Bureau researched and launched the "Industrial Brain" service platform. "This mainly came from grassroots research. Multiple departments formed a joint work group to visit enterprises, conducting special systematic research, visiting nearly a hundred aluminum profile enterprises above designated size, asking about pain points and understanding needs. Later, we also repeatedly solicited opinions on how to build the platform so that it would be useful and effective." Wei Jiansheng, Party secretary of the Anyi County Science, Technology and Industry Informatization Bureau, said.

Only by basing decisions on reality and making scientific decisions can they stand the test. Since its launch, the "Industrial Brain" has been well received by enterprises. Not long ago, Xu Min, general manager of Jiangxi Huihuang Aluminum Industry Co., Ltd., submitted a procurement request to the "Industrial Brain" on her mobile phone. The backend intelligently matched, and after multi-dimensional price comparison and online negotiation, the price offered by the ultimately selected supplier was 34 yuan lower than the enterprise's historical average procurement price. According to statistics, with the help of the "Industrial Brain" analysis, the procurement costs of aluminum profile enterprises across the county decreased by 15%, and short-haul transportation costs decreased by 25%.

In Tongxiang City, Zhejiang Province, in the past, a single leading enterprise needed more than 10 statisticians to manually calculate more than 2,000 invoices for just the monthly output value report, which was not only error-prone but also risked inducing human interference in data.

In response, Zhejiang innovated the "one-click reporting" reform for statistics, connecting enterprise financial systems with the provincial direct reporting platform for statistics, changing from "manual form filling" to "system data extraction," achieving direct reporting of source data.

Squeeze the "moisture" out of data and set up the "yardstick" of practical work. Since the beginning of this year, statistics departments have intensified efforts to rectify statistical fraud, while strengthening supervision over the quality of statistical data from various departments, promoting all regions and departments to establish and improve responsibility systems for preventing and treating statistical fraud.

...

Solve whatever problems exist, and focus on solving whichever problems are most prominent. All regions and departments have kept a close eye on prominent problems, deepened the "six rectifications," conducted real investigations and real corrections with perseverance, and the work of rectifying formalism to reduce grassroots burdens has continued to deepen and solidify.

Empowerment emphasized, grassroots enthusiasm for work grows

Just as dawn broke, in the yellow tea garden of Dashu Village, Jiachuan Town, Wangcang County, Sichuan Province, Zhang Xianli, deputy mayor of Jiachuan Town in charge of agriculture, walked into the tea bushes. "Spending all day in the tea garden is tiring, but worth it!" He wiped away sweat and laughed heartily.

This sense of "worth it" stems from the genuine loosening of grassroots burdens. In recent years, the locality has continuously deepened the rectification of formalism to reduce grassroots burdens: 17 matters including water resource surveys and data verification and aggregation were incorporated into the list of duties taken back by higher-level departments; nearly 20 tasks including comprehensive supervision of road traffic safety and urban gas safety were placed under the list of coordinated performance duties.

With clear boundaries of authority and responsibility, cadres' hands and feet have been freed. "In the past, we were busy filling in data and writing materials, and could only guide farmers by phone when they asked for help — when was there time to go to the fields? Now, the focus of our daily work has returned to practical matters such as field management and handling the demands of the masses," Zhang Xianli said.

Reducing burdens does not reduce responsibility; loosening constraints adds to motivation.

Since the implementation of the Several Provisions, all regions and departments have insisted on simultaneously promoting burden reduction and empowerment, solving the prominent problem of "a small horse pulling a big cart," improving the mechanism of "streets and townships whistle, departments report," and pushing more resources toward the grassroots. Party members and cadres at all levels have moved forward with light packs and free hands to do their work, and their motivation to serve the masses and promote development has grown stronger.

In the early morning, in Pazhou Subdistrict, Haizhu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, the Pazhou Yuanchuang·OPC community came alive. On the roadshow stage, start-ups took turns showcasing their technologies and products; off stage, investors and entrepreneurs talked face to face about trends and landing plans. Zhong Weishen, co-founder of Guangzhou Frontier Engine Technology Co., Ltd., said with a smile: "After moving into the community, subdistrict cadres helped me sort out our technical advantages, lock onto the medical niche track, and even connected us with hospitals in the jurisdiction — the market opened up all at once."

This liveliness benefits from the "three reductions and three clean-ups" special action implemented by Haizhu District, which allowed subdistricts to shed their burdens and focus on their main business. "Since the implementation of the Several Provisions, there have been fewer meetings and fewer inspections, and we have more time and energy to serve enterprises," said Luo Yuan, Party secretary of the Pazhou Subdistrict Working Committee. In March this year, the subdistrict, together with the district's Artificial Intelligence Development Bureau and the Pazhou Chamber of Commerce, created the Pazhou Yuanchuang·OPC community, specifically providing full-chain incubation support for entrepreneurs.

Work and start businesses with a clear and clean mind, and benefit the people in a solid and down-to-earth manner. The effectiveness brought by burden reduction is being transformed into concrete livelihood projects and landed projects one by one. Now, all regions and departments have integrated the rectification of formalism to reduce grassroots burdens into daily work and regular practice. Party members and cadres at all levels have gone deep into the front line to listen to the voices of the people, observe actual conditions, and handle practical matters. The relationship between the Party and the masses and between cadres and the masses has become closer, and development vitality continues to be released.

Work style construction is always on the way, and rectifying formalism to reduce grassroots burdens is a tough battle and a protracted war.

Striving forward in the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, all regions and departments will adhere to not lowering standards and not reducing intensity, persistently rectify formalism to reduce grassroots burdens, and consistently and strictly implement the Several Provisions. They will surely continue to boost the spirit and energy of grassroots cadres in undertaking work, and provide a strong guarantee for advancing Chinese-style modernization with an excellent work style.

(Staff reporters Wang Mingfeng, Wang Yunna, Zhou Huan, and Dou Hao of this newspaper participated in the reporting and writing.)

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"Three Transformations" Viewed from the Central Plains

By: 本报记者 王乐文 方 敏 张文豪

In the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, good news about "Henan Manufacturing" keeps coming—
The "Jianghan Shennong" hard rock tunnel boring machine, developed with the participation of China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd., rolled off the production line, assisting the Yangtze-to-Hanjiang Water Diversion Project;
Yutong Bus launched the country's first autonomous shuttle project at Urumqi Tianshan International Airport in Xinjiang, and with an 11.6% market share, Yutong Bus firmly ranks among the world's leading large and medium-sized bus manufacturers;
Zhongchuang Zhiling (Zhengzhou) Industrial Technology Group Co., Ltd. delivered 28 crawler walking support robots in batch, marking that coal mine intelligent support equipment has entered the stage of robotization and batch application.
From "complete categories" to "strong bones and muscles," how has "Henan Manufacturing" transformed from large to strong?
Innovation-driven, quality revolution, brand empowerment. The "three transformations" of the Central Plains are rooted in ideological guidance.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has visited Henan many times for inspection and research.
In May 2014, Zhengzhou, Henan. During an inspection at the shield tunneling machine general assembly workshop of China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd., General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the "three transformations," pointing out: "Strive to achieve major breakthroughs in advantageous fields, common technologies, and key technologies, and promote the transformation of Chinese manufacturing to Chinese creation, Chinese speed to Chinese quality, and Chinese products to Chinese brands."
In May 2025, when hearing the work report of the Henan Provincial Party Committee and the Henan Provincial People's Government, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "As a major economic province, Henan should further consolidate the foundation of the real economy, take scientific and technological innovation as the guide, develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions, and enhance the supporting capacity of the modernized industrial system for high-quality development."
…………
New era, new thought, new practice.
Guided by the blueprint of the "three transformations," the Central Plains has contributed 1/2 of the world's gantry cranes and 1/10 of large and medium-sized buses, and manufactured 60% of the country's artificial intelligence servers, 70% of gas sensors, 80% of domestic high-end bearings, and 90% of superhard materials...
One region reflects the whole. In 2025, the added value of China's manufacturing industry reached 34.7 trillion yuan, maintaining a stable share of about 25% of GDP, and the scale of manufacturing has ranked first in the world for 16 consecutive years.
Catching up is accelerating, running side by side is increasing, and leading is emerging. Chinese manufacturing is standing on the world's manufacturing map with a brand-new image.

Promoting the transformation from manufacturing to creation
From "looked down upon" to "remarkable"
A "steel earthworm" about two stories tall—have you ever seen one?
Walking into the shield tunneling machine general assembly workshop of China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd., the "China Railway 1559" shield tunneling machine with a diameter of 5.37 meters comes into view.
"This cutter head has hardness exceeding that of diamond. Equipped with self-developed earth pressure balance technology, it can easily 'chew through' even hard rock." Jia Lianhui, chief engineer of the company, introduced that this "steel earthworm" will go overseas for operations.
"China's shield tunneling machines started from zero, and it has been extremely difficult to get to where we are today!" Jia Lianhui sighed with emotion.
More than 20 years ago, the domestic shield tunneling machine market was dominated entirely by "foreign brands." "Without independent research and development capabilities, we were always looked down upon," Jia Lianhui said. "When equipment broke down, foreign engineers would fly over and charge by the hour..."
The equipment manufacturing industry is a vital pillar of the country. Being at the mercy of others is unpleasant.
"From 0 to 1," tackle the hard bones!
After years of effort, the research and development team of China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd. overcame difficulties, and China's first shield tunneling machine prototype with independent intellectual property rights successfully rolled off the production line in 2008.
The more critical the core technology, the more it cannot be waited for or bought.
"If a place or an enterprise wants to break through development bottlenecks and solve deep-seated contradictions and problems, the fundamental way out lies in innovation, and the key depends on scientific and technological strength." In May 2014, during an inspection at the shield tunneling machine general assembly workshop of China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd., General Secretary Xi Jinping gave earnest instructions.
Innovation leads, and hard work provides the answer. Built the country's largest tunnel boring machine research, development, and manufacturing base; for key components such as main bearings and reducers that had long relied on imports—the "bottleneck" parts—took the lead in establishing a domestic testing platform for shield machine main bearings and reducers.
Up to now, China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd. has accumulated 352 core technologies, of which 194 have filled domestic gaps, and key components such as large-displacement hydraulic pumps and main drive seals have been broken through one by one. In the past 10 years, the enterprise's average annual R&D investment intensity has remained above 8%, and R&D personnel account for as high as 45%.
Persisting in "going all out," what results have been achieved?
Jia Lianhui introduced: "The localization rate of core components has risen from 0 to 95%."
At the Cefalù railway tunnel project site in Sicily, southern Italy, the cooperative partner sincerely gave a thumbs up: "Made in China, remarkable!"
From "looked down upon" to "remarkable," this has written a vivid footnote for promoting the transformation from manufacturing to creation—
Today, shield tunneling machines produced in Henan are exported to 36 countries and regions, with production and sales volumes ranking among the top in the country for many consecutive years; the number of high-tech enterprises in the province has exceeded 12,600, an increase of more than 8 times compared with 10 years ago; among the province's research and experimental development (R&D) expenditures, enterprise investment accounts for over 85%.
The road of innovation is never smooth.
A beam of light focuses on a ring-sized bearing.
The screen displays: rotational error, 1 micrometer. Lu Ruifang, chief technical engineer of Luoyang Hongyuan Bearing Technology Co., Ltd., instantly relaxed her brow.
This 1 micrometer was once an insurmountable "chasm."
"In the early days, testing equipment was insufficient and the technical difficulty was great. We explored more than 20 process routes and kept hitting walls," Lu Ruifang said.
On the stage of the 2026 CCTV Spring Festival Gala, humanoid robots transformed into "martial arts masters" with outstanding performance. "Today, many of the 'joints' of domestic humanoid robots are produced by Hongyuan Bearing!" Lu Ruifang said.
Where did the change come from? Government, industry, academia, research, and application—all twisted into one rope.
Science and technology departments assisted the enterprise in applying for provincial-level major science and technology special projects, solving problems such as funding; the enterprise established a key laboratory for embodied intelligent bearings and conducted joint research with Henan University of Science and Technology, achieving breakthroughs in key technologies.
Looking across Henan, how can more "1 micrometer" problems be solved?
Zhengzhou, the birthplace of China's synthetic diamond, has gathered more than 100 related enterprises, forming a complete superhard materials industry chain together with Nanyang, Shangqiu, and Xuchang.
Although China is a major country in superhard materials and products, the high-end market is still dominated by imports. "We also want to move toward the high end, but without mastering key core technologies, we can only sigh and look at the 'materials' helplessly," the person in charge of a diamond micropowder production enterprise admitted frankly.
To break the deadlock, efforts must be made on the "chain."
Deploying the innovation chain around the industrial chain, leading universities, research institutes, and enterprises in the industry established the Henan Provincial High-End Superhard Materials and Products Innovation Consortium to jointly tackle key common technologies of the industrial chain; laying out the industrial chain around the innovation chain, 7 national-level innovation platforms including the National Key Laboratory of High-Performance Tools have opened their doors to upstream and downstream enterprises across the entire chain, and a batch of new technologies have moved from laboratories to production lines.
The chain-leading enterprise Zhengzhou Research Institute for Abrasives & Grinding Co., Ltd. has formed partnerships with more than 10 small and medium-sized enterprises. "Following the chain leader in R&D, with shared platforms and expert guidance, having someone to help us means we don't panic!" said Li Hexin, head of Funik Superhard Materials Co., Ltd.
Gathering chains into clusters, the patent applications of Henan's superhard materials industry base have increased 3 times in 3 years, and the overall added value has increased by more than 40%, making the "industrial teeth" tougher.
Strengthening the chain requires efforts on "people."
In 2025, Henan completed vocational skills training for 2.84 million person-times and added 735,000 high-skilled talents. The province's skilled talents exceeded 20 million—1 in every 5 people is a skilled talent.
Investing in things forges the backbone of industry; investing in people nurtures the soul of innovation.
Up to now, Henan has built 102 national-level enterprise technology centers and 1,436 provincial-level enterprise technology centers.
"Promoting the deep integration of the innovation chain, industrial chain, capital chain, and talent chain"—this sentence written into the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan is both directional guidance and a summary of practice.

Promoting the transformation from speed to quality
From "seeking quantity" to "emphasizing quality"
Anyang and Zhoukou, one in the north and one in the south. The high-quality steel produced in the two places, one is thin and the other is thick.
How thin? Anyang's high magnetic induction grain-oriented silicon steel has an ultimate thin specification of only 0.18 millimeters.
How thick? The world's first "double ultra-wide frame" wide and heavy plate production line was completed in Zhoukou, capable of rolling marine and nuclear power steel plates up to 300 millimeters thick.
In the past, 70% of Henan's steel enterprises produced large quantities of low-end products such as rebar, with low costs, high investment, and extensive expansion.
The market was saturated, and price wars were frequent. Calculating profits carefully, "a hundred catties of steel is worth less than a bowl of stewed noodles," and many steel plants could barely hold on.
"The automotive steel plates needed by Henan's automobile enterprises did not meet local product standards, so they could only be purchased from other places," said Wang Dongfang, person in charge of Anyang Jiangnan Industrial Company.
Farsighted vision clears the fog. "We must better coordinate the effective improvement of quality and the reasonable growth of quantity, always adhere to quality first and efficiency priority, vigorously enhance quality awareness, regard quality as life, and pursue high quality."
First, clear the cage.
Blast furnaces below 450 cubic meters and converters below 40 tons across the province were resolutely eliminated; the main steel production capacity underwent major restructuring, with the number of enterprises reduced from 21 to 15.
Then, change the birds.
In 2023, Henan Iron and Steel Group was established, with two major bases, each with its own characteristics and differentiated competition.
The Zhoukou base's entire series of ship and marine engineering steel is independently developed, passing certification by classification societies of the United States, France, South Korea, and other countries, confidently going global.
The Anyang base previously produced more than 1 million tons of ordinary hot-rolled plates annually with a profit margin of less than 5%; now it focuses on thin-specification special steel, with output reduced by 30% and profits doubled.
"Take our research institute as an example. In recent years, we have cumulatively developed 240 new steel grades, and flagship products such as rare earth weathering steel and high-manganese wear-resistant steel have been launched one after another," Huang Zhongliang, deputy director of the Henan Provincial Advanced Steel Materials Industry Research Institute, revealed the full picture.
To climb the peak of manufacturing quality, standards are indispensable.
At the Jiaozuo production base of new materials enterprise LB Group, raw material sampling and testing are carried out on a regular basis. After testing, the qualification rate of titanium concentrate raw materials is 100%!
This "100%" was hard-won.
In the past, titanium concentrate raw materials were of uneven quality. Standards were not high enough, quality could not be improved, and the doors of large enterprises could not be knocked open. Suppliers could only worry helplessly.
How to make up for the shortcomings?
LB Group took the initiative, took the lead in participating in the formulation and revision of multiple national and industry standards, and exported mature quality standards and testing methods; it also extended its quality management system to supporting enterprises, promoting its suppliers to establish chief quality officers, update standards, and improve quality.
"We jointly carried out benchmarking verification tests with suppliers, selected samples of different gradients, conducted two-way comparative testing, and based on the test results, helped suppliers optimize their process flows in a targeted manner," said Hou Yanwu, director of the Science and Technology Management Department of LB Group Research Institute.
Standards lead, forcing quality improvement, feeding back into industrial coordination, and driving industry progress.
From LB Group to Jiaozuo, the new materials industry chain has formed a virtuous cycle, with the industry scale exceeding 100 billion yuan.
Looking across Henan, 6,648 enterprises across the province have established chief quality officers, and enterprises have led or participated in the formulation of 88 international standards and 5,757 national standards.
Standards determine quality; only high standards produce high quality.
China Pingmei Shenma Group's nylon 66 tire cord fabric holds a global high-end market share of over 90%;
Do-Fluoride New Materials Co., Ltd., located in Jiaozuo, produces crystalline lithium hexafluorophosphate used in one of every three lithium batteries in the world;
Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery Group Co., Ltd. has transformed hydraulic support production from "selling by the ton" to "customization," with a global high-end market share exceeding 60%...
In September 2019, during an inspection at Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery Group Co., Ltd., General Secretary Xi Jinping instructed: "We must firmly promote industrial transformation and upgrading, strengthen independent innovation, and develop high-end manufacturing and intelligent manufacturing."
Keeping the instructions in mind, high standards lead high quality, "scale dividends" have become "quality dividends" and "efficiency dividends," and more and more "Henan Manufacturing" products are becoming stronger.

Promoting the transformation from products to brands
From "no reputation" to "well-known"
Walking into the exhibition hall of Weihua Group, a map catches the eye: the landing markets extending outward from Changyuan, Henan, China, densely covering six continents.
"Cranes are sold to more than 170 countries and regions, and the Weihua brand is stepping onto the world stage," said Han Hong'an, chairman of the group, with pride in his voice.
More than 10 years ago, this enterprise headquartered in Changyuan City, Henan, bid multiple times for a large project in the Middle East but ultimately lost to European products with higher prices.
"Our products are good and cheap—why did we lose the bid?" Han Hong'an pressed for an answer.
The foreign client shrugged and shook his head: "Never heard of it..."
Low brand awareness was once the overseas dilemma of Weihua and many Chinese enterprises. Products could be made, but brands had not been established; quality was not inferior, but the premium was low. "If we don't raise prices, there's no profit; if we raise prices, we lose orders." Many enterprises could only do OEM work.
Thought provides guidance, piercing through clouds and fog.
"The central region must have the confidence to open its doors to the outside world. Attract more medium- and high-end projects to land, promote high-quality production capacity and equipment to the world stage and the international market, and promote brands and technology abroad."
In May 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping's remarks at the symposium on promoting the rise of the central region pointed the way out for the central region and even Chinese brands to go global.
Determined to make the brand go from "no reputation" to "well-known," Weihua raced to catch up.
Went to the Middle East, facing technical requirements from clients higher than international standards, and developed new double-girder cranes; went to Africa to inspect large hydropower station projects and produced customized high-temperature-resistant and corrosion-resistant cranes; laid out overseas assembly bases globally, established parts warehouses in more than 60 countries and regions, and built localized service teams.
"When products go out and services follow up, the brand can be established," Han Hong'an said. In 2025, Weihua's overseas sales revenue exceeded 4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35%.
To enhance the international influence of the "Henan brand," the "visible hand" and the "invisible hand" work together.
In October 2025, at the Bus World exhibition in Belgium, Yutong Bus won 7 awards.
The high-end bus market was long occupied by European and American brands. "Strategic support and government backing give us more confidence in international operations," said Han Bin, head of the company's brand communications.
Establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, Henan optimizes the business environment with a service mindset and helps cultivate benchmark brands—
Subsidies for transportation and booth fees are given to enterprises participating in key domestic and overseas exhibitions; special "Henan Manufacturing" matchmaking sessions are held overseas; overseas comprehensive service platforms are built to push overseas market dynamics and trade risk warnings in real time; "one-stop" services are provided for export credit insurance, cross-border settlement, and legal consultation...
Optimizing services, expanding channels, and solving problems. At present, Yutong buses are exported to more than 100 countries and regions, with cumulative overseas sales exceeding 130,000 vehicles.
Services extend the chain, industry forms clusters, and polishing brands also requires systematic thinking.
In March this year, the National Agricultural Machinery Exhibition was held in Zhumadian, Henan.
At the sugarcane harvester booth, a purchaser from Shandong looked puzzled: "Chenhan? Never heard of it."
"We refer to the 'YTO' standard," the salesperson of Luoyang Chenhan Agricultural Equipment Technology Co., Ltd. enthusiastically introduced.
The purchaser nodded: "Luoyang 'YTO' is trustworthy!"
Agricultural machinery equipment is a traditional advantageous industry in Luoyang. In the past, apart from the leading enterprise China YTO Group, other brands were generally not well known.
Sharing standards to promote co-creation of brands. China YTO took the initiative to open its supply chain to small and medium-sized enterprises in the cluster, sharing procurement lists and technical standards; cluster enterprises jointly participated in brand exhibitions and appeared together... In 2024, the Luoyang Modern Agricultural Machinery Equipment Cluster was selected as a national advanced manufacturing cluster.
From independent brands to cluster brands, and then to the "Meiyu Famous Products" public brand, Henan is striving to build a multi-level brand ecosystem.
At present, 128 enterprises and 160 categories of products in the province have been authorized to use the "Meiyu Famous Products" brand, of which 95 are manufacturing enterprises. The two advantageous brand clusters of equipment manufacturing and food manufacturing are continuously enhancing the quality of "Henan Manufacturing."
The modernized industrial system is the support for high-quality development.
The outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan proposes: "Maintain a reasonable proportion of manufacturing, and build a modernized industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone."
In 2025, the operating revenue of industrial enterprises above designated size in Henan exceeded 5 trillion yuan.
In the first half of this year, Henan's regional GDP grew by 5.0% year-on-year, and the added value of industries above designated size grew by 8.1% year-on-year. The overall economic operation was stable, with steady progress.
Keeping in mind the earnest instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping, Henan is striving to promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions, and contribute to building a strong manufacturing country.
Looking at the "three transformations" in the Central Plains, the pace is vigorous and resolute.

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Fuzhou deepens implementation of new-era "Fortress Project"

By: 本报记者 廖文根 付 文

After learning that elderly resident Zhang Qiuxiang, who lives alone, had difficulty moving about on her own, Feng Jing, a village doctor in Xueli Village, Chengguan Town, Yongtai County, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, immediately went to her home to provide treatment, and thereafter conducted monthly follow-up home visits to check the elderly woman's health and remind her of medication precautions.
"Auntie Zhang's situation was told to me by villagers," said Feng Jing, who is also a member of the Party branch committee of Xueli Village. "Villagers who come to the clinic for treatment often chat with me about everyday matters, and I have a good understanding of everyone's worries and difficulties." In recent years, Yongtai County has adopted measures such as "township employment and village deployment" of village doctors, enabling village doctors to leverage their familiarity with village conditions and the trust of the masses to resolve the urgent and difficult problems of the people.
During his work in Fuzhou, Comrade Xi Jinping promoted the implementation of the "Fortress Project" (堡垒工程), which effectively strengthened the cohesion and combat effectiveness of grassroots Party organizations and left Fuzhou with valuable ideological, spiritual, and practical achievements. In March 2021, during an inspection tour in Fujian, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Party organizations at the grassroots level in all fields must be built into strong fighting fortresses."
To thoroughly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions, Fuzhou has deepened the implementation of the new-era "Fortress Project," formulating guidance for grassroots Party organization building for different fields—including urban, rural, government organs, and state-owned enterprises—to promote comprehensive progress and comprehensive excellence of grassroots Party organizations.
Focusing on people's livelihood needs and targeting weak links, Fuzhou has advanced effective and efficient grassroots governance.
Opening the Fuzhou Huimin Funds website, Lin Shuying, a villager from Xianfeng Village, Cangshan District, enters her ID number, and the village's funds, assets, resources, and other "family holdings" are all clear at a glance. The Xianfeng Village Party committee makes village affairs public both online and offline, while allocating 70 percent of income to villager dividends and welfare guarantees, allowing villagers to share in the fruits of development.
In urban communities, Fuzhou has continuously strengthened Party-masses service positions, building 340 fifteen-minute convenient living circles, providing services such as canteens for the elderly and intergenerational care, and tackling governance difficulties such as parking difficulties and slow installation of elevators. In rural areas, focusing on solving the service problem of hollowed-out villages, Fuzhou has promoted models such as Party member assistance and agency services, coordinating the advancement of governance efficiency and service quality improvement, and has handled over 14,500 practical matters for the masses.
Targeting bottlenecks in major projects and pain points in industrial development, Party organizations are established on projects and within industrial chains, transforming organizational advantages into developmental advantages.
Fuzhou's West Lake Park has rippling blue waves, with nearly 110,000 cubic meters of lake water purified. "Under the coordination of the water recycling economy industrial chain Party building platform, we united universities, enterprises, and other parties to carry out joint technical research, innovatively adopting sediment elution technology, which both removes pollutants and maximally protects the lake's ecology," said Wu Lianghong, chief engineer of Fuzhou Municipal Urban Drainage Co., Ltd.
Fuzhou has built 50 industrial chain Party building joint platforms, integrating the forces of government, enterprises, scientific research, finance, associations, and other parties to enhance industrial competitiveness. "For major activities and key projects, we implement the 'three simultaneous' mechanism of simultaneous establishment of organizations, simultaneous staffing of leadership teams, and simultaneous functioning of roles, forming 205 temporary Party organizations, achieving the organic unity of grasping Party building, training cadres, and promoting projects," introduced Cai Yadong, member of the Standing Committee of the Fuzhou Municipal Party Committee and head of its Organization Department.
Adapting to the new situation of the continuous increase of "two new" organizations and new employment groups, Fuzhou has solidly advanced "two coverages," promoting the establishment of Party organizations wherever conditions permit, and building them well and strengthening them.
"Thanks to the building Party member service specialists and the assistance of the subdistrict and community, we were able to move in smoothly," said Chen Si, administrative specialist of Huachu Technology Group Co., Ltd., explaining that when the company relocated, it encountered difficulties with registered address transfer, and the building Party member service specialist proactively coordinated and followed up with full-process service.
The Gulou District, where the company is located, has innovated the building Party building work model, establishing a three-tier linkage system of "subdistrict Party working committee—building Party committee—enterprise Party branch," horizontally linking building Party organizations and vertically connecting functional departments. Wang Zoulu, secretary of the comprehensive Party committee of World Jinlong Building, introduced that the building Party committee links with the property management to regularly visit enterprises, collecting and sorting development demands, coordinating various resources to relieve enterprise difficulties, and the building's occupancy rate has continued to rise.
Fuzhou has built 53 standardized "friendly scenes" in commercial areas and other locations, created and upgraded 520 warm "new" stations providing public services such as rest stops and supplies; and guided over 1,400 Party member delivery riders, couriers, and ride-hailing drivers to serve as "part-time grid workers" and "road traffic safety officers," continuously enhancing the sense of belonging and happiness of new employment groups.
Thoroughly studying and implementing Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, Fuzhou has comprehensively deepened the implementation of the new-era "Fortress Project," solidly grasping and meticulously implementing neighborhood Party building, warm-hearted Party building, Party building in emerging fields, industrial chain Party building, and property management Party building joint construction, providing a strong organizational guarantee for accelerating the construction of a modern international city.

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Photo Report

During the summer vacation, public cultural venues across various regions—such as libraries, museums, science and technology museums, and others—have continued to see rising visitor numbers, enriching the cultural lives of the general public.

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Why popular science and innovation are equally important (Reader's question · Common concern)

By: 本报记者 管璇悦

Reading news reports, I have noticed that in recent years, China's science popularization funding has grown steadily, and the size of the science popularization workforce has continued to expand. Why do we put so much effort into science popularization? Why is it said to be as important as innovation?
——Netizen of People's Daily Online

"Scientific and technological innovation and science popularization are the two wings for achieving innovative development."

Today, as a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation advances in depth, the importance of scientific and technological innovation is self-evident. So why is science popularization equally important as innovation? And what role can it play?

The answer lies in the present.

Quantum water cups, quantum mattresses — scientific concepts are packaged by merchants as "universal technology"; fabricated medical cases, exaggerated effects — some "internet-famous doctors" post pseudo-scientific content on self-media accounts; generated videos, intelligent interaction — artificial intelligence technology is deeply embedded in daily life... These few snapshots reflect real-world needs.

In the digital age, with information cluttered and mixed, authoritative science popularization can clear away the fog and leave pseudo-science and anti-science nowhere to hide. At the same time, as black technologies continue to emerge, former science-fiction visions are rapidly being "cashed in," and people are more urgently in need than ever before of refreshing their cognition, obtaining authoritative science popularization content, and catching up with the progress bar of the times. Science popularization is undoubtedly an important "foundational project," building a bridge between public life and new scientific knowledge.

Sharing, interaction, and feedback — each act of science popularization also provides new perspectives and new resources, nourishing innovation.

"Why isn't autonomous driving smart enough?" A piece of usage feedback drives algorithm optimization and product iteration; bionic prosthetics, 4D printing — a frontier exhibition lets people truly perceive technological evolution and helps push achievements from the laboratory to the production line; the process of "translating" knowledge brings new inspiration to scientific and technological workers, with science popularization and scientific research complementing each other.

The answer also lies in the future.

Zhang Houying, a senior scientist in China's manned spaceflight field, keeps a note in his collection. When he was popularizing space breeding science and mentioned that many problems remain not fully solved, a young audience member wrote: "Grandpa Zhang, don't worry, there's still us!"

For innovation to soar on high wings, the root lies in talent, and curiosity and aspiration are the starting points of inquiry. Because of a science popularization lecture in high school, young scientist Lu Chaoyang became connected with quantum science and achieved multiple breakthroughs; more than 10 years ago, many children who listened to astronaut Wang Yaping's space lecture from orbit are now fighting alongside her. "When I grow up, I want to be like you" — the scientific seeds sown may take root and sprout at any time.

Taking a longer view, the "blowout" of human scientific and technological development is often accompanied by waves of science popularization. This is not because of simple knowledge transfer, but because of the promotion and dissemination of scientific spirit, scientific thinking, and scientific methods, and because of the deep-rooted consensus that values innovation and respects science. With information overwhelming, how to distinguish truth from falsehood; with technological waves surging, how to view them rationally; how to better understand the "long-termism" of basic research — these are all the era's subjects for science popularization.

Building foundations, storing momentum, and increasing strength — it can be said that without the "deep squat and running start" of science popularization, the "leaping leap" of innovation cannot be achieved.

16.74% — this is the proportion of Chinese citizens with scientific literacy in 2025, an increase of more than four times compared to 3.27% in 2010.

Without a general improvement in the scientific literacy of the whole people, it would be difficult to build a vast, high-quality innovation army. Behind this remarkable growth rate is the acceleration of national science popularization capacity building.

Institutional upgrading, increased funding, workforce expansion, and venue optimization — a series of practical measures have been intensively implemented. In December 2024, the Science and Technology Popularization Law, promulgated 22 years ago, completed its first revision, consolidating the cornerstone of science popularization in a major country. In September 2025, National Science Popularization Day was upgraded for the first time to National Science Popularization Month, igniting a science popularization craze in cities and villages, online and offline.

This is also a two-way journey. From netizens eagerly following academicians' science popularization, to the rising popularity of checking in at major national equipment, from science popularization caravans igniting the starlight of science for children in remote mountain villages, to the Chinese Space Station becoming a vivid space classroom... on the magnificent journey of building a scientific and technological power, people's sense of participation and sense of gain continue to grow. Some netizens have remarked, "Distant planets and boundless frontiers are all related to me."

Indeed, this is so. Accelerating the achievement of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening requires scientific and technological workers who scale peaks and explore far frontiers, and it also cannot be separated from the understanding and support of the whole society. Compared to the surging river of innovation, science popularization is more like a trickling stream — moistening things silently yet landing with sound, writing more possibilities for the future.

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**Headline Translation**

Theory · A Complete Reading of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, Volumes I–V
The new development philosophy leads a profound transformation in China’s development landscape
Ninth Edition

Culture
Follow the textbooks on study tours — mountains and rivers are also a classroom
Thirteenth Edition

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"Time is the Most Precious Resource" (Micro Perspective on High-Quality Development)

By: 本报记者 吕绍刚

48.5%

In the first half of the year, China's digital product manufacturing industry showed strong growth, with the output of 3D printing equipment products increasing by 48.5% year-on-year.

The nozzle moves slowly, materials stack layer by layer, and within a few hours, the base components of several embodied intelligent robots are formed in one go. Inside Shenzhen Collaborative Innovation High-Tech Development Co., Ltd., located in Bao'an District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, industrial-grade 3D printing equipment operates at high speed. Here, as long as a user has a design drawing, the 3D printing equipment can quickly produce a formed entity, enabling mechanical or assembly verification.

"Industrial-grade 3D printing is different from consumer-grade," said Luo Meng, co-founder of the company. "Consumer-grade 3D printing targets individuals and small-scale creative scenarios, following a mass-affordability route, mainly meeting lightweight and personalized needs such as handicrafts and teaching. Industrial-grade 3D printing serves high-end manufacturing industries and must meet the batch production and special component manufacturing needs of aviation, medical, mold, and other industries with high-precision, high-strength production capacity."

In recent years, the rapid development of industries such as new energy vehicles, the low-altitude economy, and embodied intelligent robots has placed higher demands on lightweight components and complex structure manufacturing, also bringing new market space for industrial-grade 3D printing.

How to seize the benefits of the industry's continued warming? Collaborative Innovation High-Tech has chosen to invest more effort in research and development.

"The iteration of the additive manufacturing industry roughly goes through the process from structural lightweighting to material lightweighting, and then to multi-material collaboration," Luo Meng explained. For this reason, Collaborative Innovation High-Tech has laid out 3D printing business in three major sectors: continuous fiber, metal, and ceramics.

Since the beginning of this year, the company has carried out a new round of technological upgrades around continuous fiber composite material 3D printing equipment.

Continuous fiber materials combine lightweight and high-strength properties and are important materials in fields such as aerospace, drones, and embodied intelligent robots. However, for a long time, continuous fiber 3D printing has suffered from pain points such as fiber filament breakage, weak interlayer bonding, and difficulty in mass production.

Luo Meng explained that the technical team has tackled process iteration, independently developing a complete set of key processes including prepreg filament preparation, adaptive impregnation, and in-situ curing. The mechanical properties of the products surpass traditional materials, providing strong technical support for the iterative upgrading of aviation equipment and intelligent equipment.

Equipment operation has also become more convenient. In the past, after the machine printed a certain batch, production had to be stopped to replace materials. Now, the team has updated the equipment's sensing control system, matching processes according to the different requirements of high-temperature and low-temperature materials, making the operation process automated. "Users do not need to be on duty; the equipment can run efficiently and continuously," Luo Meng said.

"Competition is fierce, and time is the most precious resource," Luo Meng said. Automotive and electronic products undergo rapid technological iteration, requiring faster completion of end-product verification. 3D printing can achieve integrated forming of complex structures, compressing the 2 to 3 months traditionally required for manufacturing molds to about 5 days to produce a product, seizing the time window.

Today in Shenzhen, the 3D printing industry has moved from "single-point innovation" to "full-chain collaboration," continuously achieving efficient production and rapid iteration.

Taking the Xinqiao East Advanced Manufacturing Industrial Park, where Collaborative Innovation High-Tech is located, as an example, the high-end equipment here — including industrial mother machines, laser and additive manufacturing, and precision instrument equipment — is highly concentrated alongside the instrument and robotics industries. Multiple 3D printing enterprises, including Collaborative Innovation High-Tech, Yangwang Precision, and Jingye Group, are located next to each other. The industrial chain where "upstairs and downstairs are upstream and downstream" has greatly improved the efficiency of technological iteration and mass production collaboration. In the first half of this year, Shenzhen's 3D printing equipment output increased by 58.1% year-on-year, and export value increased by 127.5% year-on-year, reaching 8.27 billion yuan, accounting for 86% of the national total export value of similar products.

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Innovation Breaks Bottlenecks, Real Economy Strengthens Industries (Voices from the Frontline)

By: 罗 盟

As a science-and-technology enterprise rooted in Shenzhen and deeply engaged in the field of industrial-grade 3D printing, we have personally witnessed the leap of China's industrial-grade 3D printing industry from following to running alongside global leaders, and from dependence on imports to independent and controllable development.

I have deeply felt that the rapid growth of the 3D printing industry is underpinned by technological autonomy, industrial synergy, and deep cultivation of application scenarios. On the technology front, leading science-and-technology enterprises have continuously tackled bottlenecks, gradually mastering independent technologies covering complete machines, key components, special materials, and complete process packages, breaking through overseas barriers. On the industrial front, relying on a complete manufacturing supply chain, a vibrant innovation ecosystem, and rich application scenarios, they have built a globally leading additive manufacturing industry cluster, providing high-quality soil for technology commercialization, product iteration, and large-scale production. On the demand front, the need for transformation and upgrading of high-end manufacturing has forced the industry to continuously push the boundaries of technology, enabling 3D printing equipment to gradually grow from auxiliary processing tools into key equipment for high-end precision manufacturing.

Break bottlenecks through innovation; strengthen industry through real economy. In the future, we will continue to focus on industry pain points, base ourselves on local scenarios, and build domestic industrial-grade 3D printing equipment that suits the needs of China's manufacturing sector, with high cost-performance, high reliability, and a full-service chain.

(The author is a co-founder of Shenzhen Collaborative Innovation High-Tech Development Co., Ltd. The article was compiled from an interview by Lü Shaogang, a reporter of this newspaper.)

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Accelerate agricultural and rural modernization and solidly advance comprehensive rural revitalization.

By: 本报记者 朱 隽 郁静娴

Editor's Note: Recently, the Central Propaganda Department, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and State Organs Work Committee, the Ministry of Education, the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission, and the Beijing Municipal Committee jointly held a series of situation and policy report meetings in Beijing on the theme of "Ensuring and Improving People's Livelihood through High-Quality Development." On July 27, Zhang Zhu, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, delivered a special report titled "Accelerating Agricultural and Rural Modernization, Solidly Advancing Comprehensive Rural Revitalization," which is now published in excerpted question-and-answer form.

Major Achievements in Agricultural and Rural Development during the "14th Five-Year Plan" Period

Reporter: During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, how did China's agriculture and rural areas develop? Please introduce the main achievements.

Zhang Zhu: The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has always attached great importance to the work concerning agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. General Secretary Xi Jinping has delivered a series of important expositions and made a series of important instructions, providing fundamental guidance for doing the work concerning agriculture, rural areas, and farmers well in the new era, and leading agricultural and rural development to achieve historic achievements and undergo historic transformations. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, agricultural and rural development maintained a momentum of steady progress and improvement, providing strong support for high-quality economic and social development and the enhancement of people's well-being.

First, comprehensive agricultural production capacity reached a new level, and the rice bowls of more than 1.4 billion Chinese people are firmly held in their own hands. Grain production climbed to a new level of 1.4 trillion jin, with grain output reaching 1.43 trillion jin in 2025, and per capita grain availability exceeding 500 kilograms, achieving basic self-sufficiency in grains and absolute security in staple food. This year's summer grain harvest was another bumper one, with output reaching 301.49 billion jin, an increase of 2 billion jin over the previous year, breaking through the 300 billion jin mark for the first time. The supply of "vegetable basket" products is abundant, the supply of green and high-quality agricultural products continues to increase, and the dining tables of the people are becoming increasingly diverse.

Second, the five-year transition period task of consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation and effectively linking them with rural revitalization was successfully completed, and the bottom line of preventing large-scale relapse into poverty or re-impoverishment was held. All 22 provinces in the central and western regions have comprehensively established monitoring and assistance mechanisms for preventing relapse into poverty and re-impoverishment. All 832 counties that had been lifted out of poverty have cultivated and formed 2-3 leading industries with prominent distinctive advantages and strong driving capacity. More than 85 percent of households that had been lifted out of poverty and monitored households have received at least one industrial assistance measure. The scale of employment of laborers from households that had been lifted out of poverty has remained stable at over 30 million people for five consecutive years. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the average annual real growth rate of per capita disposable income of rural residents in counties that had been lifted out of poverty was higher than the national rural average. From the battle against poverty to the great practice since the transition period, this is one of the livelihood improvement measures with the largest coverage and the deepest impact in our country, proving to the world that poverty is not only conquerable but also preventable from recurring.

Third, agricultural modernization made significant progress, and the level of material, technological, and equipment support increased substantially. The contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress exceeded 64 percent, and China's agricultural development has fully shifted from relying mainly on resource and factor input in the past to being driven by science and technology. More than 1 billion mu of high-standard farmland has been built, and disaster prevention and mitigation capabilities have been significantly enhanced. The area proportion of independently bred crop varieties exceeds 95 percent, meaning "Chinese grain" mainly uses "Chinese seeds," and the market share of domestically produced seed sources for vegetables, livestock and poultry, and aquatic products exceeds 91 percent, 80 percent, and 86 percent respectively. The comprehensive mechanization rate for plowing, planting, and harvesting reached 76.7 percent, with the three major staple grain crops—wheat, corn, and rice—basically achieving full mechanization throughout the entire process. More than 1.1 million commercial operating entities serve nearly 93 million smallholder farmers. Domestically produced intelligent agricultural machinery and equipment are developing rapidly. China's inventory of agricultural drones exceeds 300,000 units, ranking first in the world, and intelligent picking robots, AI laser weeding robots, and others have begun to be deployed.

Fourth, new achievements were made in building livable, workable, and beautiful villages, and the appearance of rural areas improved significantly. Localities and departments have deeply studied and applied the experience of the "Thousand-Village Demonstration, Ten-Thousand-Village Improvement" project (千万工程), planned and implemented actions such as "Thousand-Village Demonstration, Ten-Thousand-Village Enhancement" according to local conditions, created livable, workable, and beautiful villages with distinctive local characteristics, and concentrated efforts to accomplish a number of practical livelihood matters that farmers can feel and benefit from. Rural industries are booming, rural leisure tourism remains extremely popular, rural e-commerce is developing rapidly, the mechanism for linking agriculture with farmers' interests has been further improved, and farmers have more opportunities for nearby employment and sharing in the value-added benefits of industrial development. The rural living environment has improved significantly. Administrative villages have basically achieved bus access in every village, the rural tap water penetration rate reached 96 percent, the 5G coverage rate of administrative villages and express delivery service coverage rate exceed 95 percent, the penetration rate of sanitary toilets in rural areas reached about 77 percent, the proportion of administrative villages where household waste is collected, transported, and processed has remained stably above 90 percent, and the vast majority of villages have achieved cleanliness, tidiness, and order. Rural public services have been accelerated. All 2,895 county-level regions nationwide have achieved basic balance in compulsory education, more than 95 percent of village health clinics have been incorporated into medical insurance, rural mutual-aid elderly care service facilities exceed 140,000, and the accessibility of elderly care services continues to improve. Civilized rural customs are flourishing. Prominent problems such as exorbitant bride prices, extravagant ceremonies, and lavish funerals with meager support for the elderly during their lifetime have received initial governance. Mass cultural and sports activities such as "Village BA," "Village Super League," and "Village Evening Gala" are splendid and diverse, and the spirit and vitality of farmers continue to be uplifted.

Fifth, rural reform was continuously deepened, and development vitality continued to strengthen. The basic rural management system has been continuously consolidated and improved. Pilots for extending rural land contracts for a second round for another 30 years upon expiration have been comprehensively carried out, giving farmers a "reassurance pill." The reform of the rural collective property rights system has been basically completed, the family assets of rural collectives nationwide have been preliminarily ascertained, and "household registrations" have been established for 6.58 billion mu of collective land resources and more than 10 trillion yuan of collective assets. The modern agricultural management system is being accelerated. A cumulative total of about 2 million farmer cooperatives and nearly 4 million family farms have been cultivated. Agricultural socialized services provide farmers with full-process services from sowing and fertilizing, field management, to harvesting and drying, promoting the organic connection between smallholder farmers and modern agricultural development. Urban-rural integrated development has achieved positive results. Urban-rural unified basic old-age insurance and medical insurance for residents have basically achieved full coverage in rural areas. Since 2014, 150 million agricultural transfer populations have settled in cities and towns in a steady and orderly manner. In 2025, the per capita disposable income of rural residents reached 24,456 yuan, and the urban-rural income ratio decreased from 2.88:1 in 2012 to 2.31:1 last year, with farmers' income and living standards continuing to improve.

Accurately Grasping the Development Trends, Goals, and Tasks of Agriculture and Rural Areas during the "15th Five-Year Plan" Period

Reporter: The "15th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical period for consolidating the foundation and comprehensively exerting efforts to basically realize socialist modernization. What situation and tasks do agriculture and rural areas face during this period?

Zhang Zhu: At present, the development trends of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers are undergoing profound changes, and we must respond to the situation and follow the trend.

The first trend is the continuous upgrading of the food consumption structure. From 2021 to 2025, the national per capita consumption of staple grains decreased from 215.8 kilograms to about 200 kilograms, while per capita consumption of meat, eggs, and aquatic products increased from 68.5 kilograms, 24.1 kilograms, and 47.7 kilograms to 75.1 kilograms, 24.8 kilograms, and 56.6 kilograms respectively. Meat, eggs, and milk are converted from feed grains such as corn and soybeans. In this "one decrease and one increase" of declining staple grain consumption and increasing feed grain consumption, the total demand for grain continues to grow. Consumers' demand for green and high-quality agricultural products is growing rapidly, and imports of some mid-to-high-end agricultural products have increased substantially. This requires us, on the basis of ensuring food security, to adapt to changes in the consumption structure, establish a big agriculture perspective and a big food perspective, adhere to the simultaneous development of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery, optimize the variety structure, improve quality and characteristics, and promote the transformation of agricultural development from output-oriented to one that places equal emphasis on output and quality, better meeting the people's diverse and high-quality needs.

The second trend is the profound transformation of the agricultural production system. "A big country with smallholder farmers" is our basic national and agricultural condition. The small-scale production mode of "one mu and three-tenths of a mu per capita" is a reality that China's agricultural modernization must face over the long term. However, it should also be noted that in recent years, the agricultural production system has undergone profound changes. The organizational form is being restructured. After a large number of farmers moved to cities, their original contracted land was transferred to others for cultivation or cultivated on their behalf through socialized services. "Every household has land, but not every household necessarily farms." The industrial form is being restructured. Taking pig production as an example, in the past, thousands of households raised pigs, but now the scale farming rate has risen to 72.9 percent. The spatial pattern is being restructured. The traditional south-to-north grain transport has changed to north-to-south grain transport. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, about 77 percent of the newly increased grain nationwide came from northern provinces. The spatial areas of agricultural production continue to expand toward forests and grasslands, Gobi deserts, and deep and distant seas. The trend of the rain belt moving northward and westward is obvious, breaking the traditional pattern of flooding in the south and drought in the north. To adapt to these trends, we must, based on actual conditions, develop agricultural moderate-scale management with Chinese characteristics and seize the momentum to build agriculture into a modern major industry.

The third trend is the profound changes in the population pattern of villages. On the one hand, the rural population continues to decline, the aging trend is obvious, and rural infrastructure suitable for the elderly is insufficient, with public services such as daily care and medical rehabilitation urgently needing improvement. On the other hand, different types of villages are showing obvious differentiation. Some villages with good industrial foundations and close to towns will further gather and expand; some villages with mild or moderate population outflow may be appropriately merged; and some village groups with small populations and severe hollowing-out may be merged or abolished. This means that rural construction must adapt accordingly, rationally arrange construction content and priorities, focus on inclusive, basic, and bottom-line livelihood matters such as roads, water supply and drainage, living environment, and elderly care, and accelerate filling the shortcomings in modern rural living conditions.

The fourth trend is the increasingly prominent manifestation of the multiple values of rural areas. With the advancement of modernization and the improvement of people's living standards, people's demands for clean water, fresh air, and beautiful environments are getting higher and higher, and their yearning for pastoral scenery, rural charm and nostalgia, and agricultural civilization is growing. The economic value, ecological value, social value, and cultural value of rural areas will also become increasingly prominent. To adapt to these changes, it is necessary to further develop the multiple functions of agriculture and tap the multiple values of rural areas, achieving the organic unity of a strong agricultural sector, beautiful rural areas, and prosperous farmers.

The fifth trend is the profound adjustment of urban-rural relations. With the coordinated efforts of comprehensive rural revitalization and new urbanization, the two-way flow of urban-rural factors will accelerate significantly. County areas are key nodes for urban-rural integrated development. More and more farmers will choose to find employment and settle in county towns. This requires further coordinating infrastructure construction and public service provision within county areas, promoting the integrated development of industry prosperity, people's wealth, and county strength, and striving to build a new pattern of urban-rural integrated development.

In response to the development trends of agriculture and rural areas during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, and centering on the development goals of basically realizing agricultural modernization by 2030 and making major progress in rural areas basically possessing modern living conditions, the "15th Five-Year Plan for Accelerating Agricultural and Rural Modernization" proposes the following main goals and tasks. First, the capacity to guarantee the supply of grain and other important agricultural products will be steadily improved, with comprehensive grain production capacity reaching about 1.45 trillion jin. Second, the quality, efficiency, and competitiveness of agriculture will be continuously improved, with the value added of agriculture and related industries reaching 25.8 trillion yuan. Third, the achievements in poverty alleviation will be continuously consolidated and expanded, and the normalized mechanism for preventing relapse into poverty and re-impoverishment will be further improved. Fourth, the level of self-reliance and self-strengthening in agricultural science and technology will be greatly improved, with the contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress reaching 67 percent. Fifth, major progress will be made in building agriculture into a modern major industry, farmers' income will continue to grow relatively rapidly, and the urban-rural income ratio will gradually narrow. Sixth, the construction of livable, workable, and beautiful villages will be accelerated, and the completeness of rural infrastructure, the convenience of public services, and the comfort of the living environment will be gradually improved. Seventh, new breakthroughs will be made in urban-rural integrated development, the level of equalization of basic public services will be significantly improved, rural reform will be solidly advanced, and high-quality agricultural and rural development will achieve remarkable results.

We have the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, the advantages of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, the advantages of rural market potential, the advantages of catching up through science and technology, and the advantages of policies to strengthen agriculture, benefit farmers, and enrich farmers. We have the confidence and the foundation to complete these goals and tasks on schedule.

Solidly and Forcefully Promoting High-Quality Agricultural and Rural Development

Reporter: What measures will be taken in the first year of the "15th Five-Year Plan" period to accelerate agricultural and rural modernization?

Zhang Zhu: The central authorities' grand blueprint for agricultural and rural modernization has been drawn. We will implement the deployment of the "15th Five-Year Plan for Accelerating Agricultural and Rural Modernization," promote agricultural modernization and rural modernization in an integrated manner, strive to achieve increased agricultural efficiency, increased rural vitality, and increased farmers' income, and provide stronger support for high-quality economic and social development. The focus is on five aspects.

First, enhance comprehensive agricultural production capacity and quality efficiency, adhere to simultaneously grasping output and production capacity, production and ecology, and increasing output and income, and coordinate the development of science and technology agriculture, green agriculture, quality agriculture, and brand agriculture. Always regard strengthening the guarantee of supply of grain and other important agricultural products as the primary task and bottom-line task, ensuring not only quantity but also diversity and quality. In terms of ensuring quantity, adhere to the two-pronged approach of stabilizing area and increasing per-unit yield, intensify the implementation of a new round of the action to increase grain production capacity by 100 billion jin, deeply advance the large-scale increase of per-unit yield of grain and oil crops, comprehensively improve agricultural disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief capabilities, and strive to achieve the goal of grain production capacity of about 1.45 trillion jin during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. In terms of ensuring diversity, firmly establish a big agriculture perspective and a big food perspective, strive to build a diversified food supply system, seek food from facility agriculture, actively develop solar greenhouses, intensive farming, and so on; seek food from rivers, lakes, and seas, build marine ranches and "blue granaries"; seek food from forests and grasslands, vigorously develop under-forest economy, and enrich the "forest grain depot"; seek food from bio-agriculture, develop synthetic biology technologies, and expand new protein sources. In terms of ensuring quality, continue to implement the "four strictest" requirements, strengthen standard guidance, strengthen source governance, regulate the production, operation, and use of pesticides and veterinary drugs, and make every effort to safeguard the people's "safety on the tip of the tongue." Promote variety improvement, quality enhancement, brand building, and standardized production, focus on developing green, organic, famous, special, excellent, and new agricultural products and geographical indication agricultural products, and meet the people's needs for a better life.

Second, continue to consolidate and expand the achievements in poverty alleviation and firmly hold the bottom line of preventing large-scale relapse into poverty and re-impoverishment. Maintain overall policy stability after the transition period, incorporate normalized assistance into the overall implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, enhance endogenous development momentum through effective development-oriented assistance, and secure the bottom line of people's livelihoods through a sound and complete social security system, firmly holding the bottom line of preventing large-scale relapse into poverty and re-impoverishment for a long time. In our work, accurately carry out monitoring and identification, strengthen big data information comparison, give play to the role of grassroots cadres as sentinels, smooth the channels for farmers to apply on their own, and combine online and offline methods to promptly identify risks and provide precise and effective assistance. Strengthen development-oriented assistance. For those with labor capacity, make good use of industrial and employment assistance measures so that people who have been lifted out of poverty can live a better life; for those without labor capacity, include them in the social assistance system in accordance with regulations and secure the bottom line of basic living through measures such as subsistence allowances.

Third, strengthen support for agricultural science and technology and equipment. Accelerate the revitalization of the seed industry, make good use of advanced technologies such as biological breeding and artificial intelligence, strengthen the protection and utilization of germplasm resources, accelerate the cultivation and promotion of urgently needed breakthrough varieties, strictly protect intellectual property rights, and achieve self-reliance and self-strengthening in seed industry science and technology and independent control of seed sources. Strengthen farmland protection and quality construction, promote the construction of high-standard farmland with high quality, strengthen whole-process supervision, and ensure that every plot built is successful. Research, develop, and apply advanced and applicable agricultural machinery and equipment, accelerate filling the shortcomings in agricultural machinery and equipment, and make more areas of agricultural production "have machines available and have good machines to use." Promote the application of artificial intelligence in agriculture, vigorously promote "artificial intelligence + agriculture," expand application scenarios such as drones, the Internet of Things, and robots, and make new quality productive forces the "new engine" for modern agricultural development.

Fourth, promote the construction of livable, workable, and beautiful villages according to local conditions. Deeply learn and apply the experience of the "Thousand-Village Demonstration, Ten-Thousand-Village Improvement" project (千万工程), guide all localities to create modern versions of the "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains" with distinctive local characteristics, and focus on the three aspects of "livable, workable, and beautiful." In building "livable" villages, adhere to "supplementing what is lacking," fill the shortcomings in infrastructure and public services, and gradually improve the completeness of rural infrastructure, the convenience of public services, and the comfort of the living environment. In building "workable" villages, develop modern planting and breeding industries well, cultivate and strengthen rural specialty industries, strengthen the agricultural product processing industry, accelerate the cultivation of agricultural production service industries and rural life service industries, standardize and guide the orderly integrated development of agriculture, culture, and tourism industries, leave more employment positions in rural areas, and leave more value-added benefits of industrial development to farmers. In building "beautiful" villages, strengthen and improve rural governance, deeply implement the project to cultivate civilized rural customs, continue to promote the transformation of outdated customs and habits, give play to the exemplary role of Party members and cadres and the guiding role of village rules and regulations, form civilized rural customs, good family traditions, and simple folk customs, increase the supply of high-quality cultural products in rural areas, and enrich the spiritual and cultural life of farmers.

Fifth, improve the effectiveness of policies to strengthen agriculture, benefit farmers, and enrich farmers. Penetrate bidirectionally from the "policy end" and the "problem end," strengthen strategic and forward-looking research, improve policy implementation methods, enrich the policy toolbox, and continuously improve the precision, stability, and effectiveness of policies to strengthen agriculture, benefit farmers, and enrich farmers. Strengthen investment guarantees for agriculture and rural areas, adhere to treating agriculture and rural areas as a priority guarantee field in general public budgets, improve the agricultural support and protection system, innovate investment and financing mechanisms, improve the diversified investment pattern of fiscal priority guarantee, financial key support, and active social participation, and ensure that the intensity of investment in rural revitalization continues to increase. Broaden channels for farmers to increase income and become prosperous. On the one hand, strengthen policy guidance, promote income increase through industry, and give priority support to industries that drive many farmers and have good results; on the other hand, promote income increase through employment, stabilize the scale of out-of-town employment, vigorously develop county-level industries that enrich the people, and improve the stability and quality of employment. Deepen rural reform. The main line remains handling the relationship between farmers and land well, adhere to "major stability, minor adjustment," steadily advance the province-wide pilot of extending rural land contracts for a second round for another 30 years upon expiration, and ensure that the vast majority of farmers' contracted land is generally extended smoothly. Strengthen the standardized management of homestead land, adhere to the principle of "guaranteeing housing, controlling illegal construction, and revitalizing idle land," guarantee farmers' reasonable land needs for building houses, absolutely prohibit urban residents from purchasing rural houses and homestead land in rural areas, and strictly prohibit retired cadres from occupying land in rural areas to build houses. Develop various forms of agricultural moderate-scale management, cultivate and strengthen new agricultural business entities, improve a convenient and efficient agricultural socialized service system, and bring smallholder farmers onto the track of modern agricultural development. Strengthen the rural talent team, deeply implement projects such as the cultivation of high-quality farmers and the "Leading Goose" project for cultivating leaders of rural industry revitalization, promote all kinds of talents to go to the countryside to start businesses and pursue careers, and make great contributions in the vast rural arena.

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China's service exports up 17.6% in H1

BEIJING, August 5 (Xinhua) — (Reporter Luo Shanshan) The reporter learned from the Ministry of Commerce: From January to June, China's total import and export of services amounted to 3,779.75 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.3 percent.
Of this, exports reached 1,504.7 billion yuan, up 17.6 percent; imports reached 2,275.05 billion yuan, up 2.9 percent. The services trade deficit was 770.35 billion yuan, narrowing by 161.42 billion yuan compared with the same period last year.
From January to June, imports and exports of knowledge-intensive services reached 1,663.4 billion yuan, up 6.7 percent, accounting for 44 percent of the total import and export of services. Exports of knowledge-intensive services reached 805.67 billion yuan, up 12.8 percent, accounting for 53.5 percent of total service exports. Imports of knowledge-intensive services reached 857.73 billion yuan, up 1.4 percent.
From January to June, exports of travel services reached 229.2 billion yuan, up 31.1 percent, the fastest growth rate among the top five service export sectors; imports of transport services reached 498.1 billion yuan, up 30.4 percent, the fastest growth rate among the top five service import sectors.

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Photo Report

Recently, in the retro passenger carriage of the themed entertainment immersive cultural-tourism special train "Tianjin Travel Time," tourists watched a traditional opera performance.
　　Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Sun Fanyue

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Foreign firms witness China's rising advanced manufacturing prowess

Global manufacturing is accelerating its transformation toward intelligence, digitalization, and sustainability, and China is at the forefront of this change. A growing number of multinational enterprises are building intelligent manufacturing plants in China, serving as a vivid footnote to the strategic upgrading of foreign investment in China.

Michelin Shenyang Tire Co., Ltd. —
"Digital solutions precisely meet the personalized and rapid-delivery needs of new energy vehicle manufacturers"
Tires are precisely positioned on the automated production line, with electronic screens displaying real-time performance inspection data such as dynamic balance, radial force, lateral force, and geometric shape... At Michelin Shenyang Tire Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Michelin Shenyang Plant"), tire products come off the line after processes including building, curing, and inspection, and go out to the world from here.
In recent years, China's new energy vehicle market has developed vigorously, and demand for customized tires has continued to rise. The Michelin Shenyang Plant has accelerated the development of new technologies, with product order volume surging by 340% and the total number of tire specifications exceeding 250. Today, it has become the Michelin Group's largest and most technologically advanced high-end tire production base globally.
Rapid expansion has brought challenges to high-speed automated production lines. How can high efficiency and high quality in production still be maintained against the backdrop of highly customized and sharply increased small-batch orders?
Li Yanbing, General Manager of the Michelin Shenyang Plant, stated that the plant uses big data to forecast market demand and artificial intelligence algorithms to optimize production scheduling, deploying more than 30 digital solutions. By deeply integrating artificial intelligence, machine vision, and big data technologies, the plant has greatly improved production flexibility, trial-production efficiency, and product quality, achieving a 51% reduction in trial-production delivery cycles and a 36% decline in product defect rates. "Digital solutions precisely meet the personalized and rapid-delivery needs of new energy vehicle manufacturers," Li Yanbing said. The Michelin Shenyang Plant has achieved systematic application of digital technology throughout the entire manufacturing process and has built a flexible production system.
"These digital solutions were all independently developed, tested, and successfully implemented by the Chinese team at the Michelin Shenyang Plant," Li Yanbing stated. "With first-class digital infrastructure, massive real-world manufacturing scenarios, and a strong talent pool, China has become an ideal highland for enterprise intelligent manufacturing innovation."
The technological achievements, management experience, and innovative practices accumulated by the Michelin Shenyang Plant are now radiating globally through the group's network, empowering Michelin's competitiveness in Asian and global markets. Every year, hundreds of talents from around the world within the group come to the Michelin Shenyang Plant for training. "We will continue to deepen the digital and intelligent transformation, play a demonstrative and leading role, share replicable intelligent manufacturing experience with the entire industry, and help the global tire manufacturing industry move toward a new stage of higher-quality development," Li Yanbing said.

Unilever Hefei FTC Logistics Operations Center —
"Achieving full-chain automation and efficient collaboration, greatly enhancing operational resilience"
More than a hundred logistics robots carrying goods shuttle orderly between warehouse zones, pallet four-way shuttles operate stably according to programmed routes, and computer screens display order information from across the country in real time... The Unilever Hefei FTC (Factory Direct to Consumer) Logistics Operations Center, located in Hefei, Anhui Province, has become a model example of the digital transformation and upgrading of logistics operations.
The center was officially established in the first half of 2025. If a consumer in Shanghai places an order on an e-commerce platform, from production of new goods, picking and packing, to express delivery and precise distribution, the order can reach the end user from the production end in less than 20 hours.
Zhou Ting, Vice President of Customer Operations for Unilever Greater China, introduced that this model breaks the traditional boundary between production and warehousing, moving e-commerce warehousing capacity forward to the factory. Through digital systems, it seamlessly connects production lines, factory logistics centers, and consumer orders, achieving end-to-end "zero-touch" integrated fulfillment. "The most obvious result is that delivery time has been greatly shortened, making the products consumers receive 'fresher.' With the reduction of intermediate links and turnover times, the risk of logistics loss has also been effectively controlled," Zhou Ting said.
The FTC model is an innovation by Unilever on a global scale. "Through joint research with Chinese technology suppliers, we resolved challenges such as the integration of technical solutions. The digital warehouse intelligent management system 'Wukong' is precisely the fruit of this technological cooperation between both sides," Zhou Ting said. "Wukong" acts like a digital employee, coordinating and connecting multiple different business systems, achieving unified scheduling and efficient collaboration in complex warehouse operations scenarios where multiple systems run in parallel.
Driven comprehensively by the FTC model and technological innovation, the center's inventory carrying capacity has increased by 50% compared to before, logistics costs have been reduced by 24%, and the time for products to reach consumers from production has been shortened by approximately 75%. "China's system integration capabilities based on artificial intelligence and digital software, as well as its leading advantages in hardware automation and intelligent logistics equipment, help enterprises achieve full-chain automation and efficient collaboration, greatly enhancing operational resilience," Zhou Ting said.
The accelerated development of Chinese technology continues to provide new opportunities for multinational enterprises including Unilever. "Unilever has developed in China for over a century, and China is a key source region that nurtures innovative inspiration and achieves technological breakthroughs," Zhou Ting stated. In recent years, Unilever has continuously increased its investment in China, continuously expanding and deepening its business layout. In the future, it will continue to cultivate the Chinese market, rely on China's R&D ecosystem to pioneer innovation, and jointly create a sustainable and better future.

Schneider Electric Wuhan Plant —
"It is not about replacing people with machines, but rather empowering employees through artificial intelligence and digital technology"
Riveting and welding are completed by robotic arms, material transport is handled by handling robots, and palletizing tasks are executed by embodied intelligent robots... In the production workshop of the Schneider Electric Wuhan Plant (hereinafter referred to as the "Wuhan Plant"), 21 artificial intelligence agents work on the assembly line, with 80% of processes operating automatically.
Such a highly automated plant breaks the outside world's misunderstanding of "machines replacing people." Zhang Kaipeng, Senior Vice President of Schneider Electric and Head of Global Supply Chain China, introduced that the core of the Wuhan Plant is "human-machine collaboration" — "We are not using machines to replace people, but rather empowering employees through artificial intelligence and digital technology, liberating them from repetitive labor so they can focus on innovation and value creation."
Established in 2012, the Wuhan Plant is a key node in Schneider Electric's global supply chain. In recent years, as the plant's level of automation has greatly increased, the gap in key talent in related fields has become increasingly prominent. Schneider Electric, together with 11 vocational colleges including Wuhan Qingchuan College, has carried out in-depth digital apprenticeship programs, built artificial intelligence laboratories, established special scholarships, and created a full-cycle talent development system.
Wang Jun, an employee of the Wuhan Plant who graduated from Chongqing Three Gorges Vocational College with a major in mechatronics, has benefited greatly from the digital apprenticeship program. "Starting from the second semester of my freshman year, teachers from Schneider Electric taught us professional courses such as mechanical drawing and equipment operation," Wang Jun said. After joining the company, he participated in training artificial intelligence models for module inspection, and under the guidance of senior masters, shortened the average module inspection time from 0.5 seconds to 0.3 seconds, with greatly improved precision as well.
"In the past, if you wanted to learn something, you could only ask senior masters. Now, by opening the enterprise digital capability management platform, the system can customize courses for us," said Liu Cui, a process engineer who joined the Wuhan Plant in 2012. She noted that the enterprise uses artificial intelligence technology to accurately identify employee skill gaps and provide customized training plans and career development plans. This intelligent talent development system has increased the employee skill readiness rate from 20% to 76%, and the proportion of senior-level experts from 35% to 76%.
"Through measures such as developing new quality productive forces, deepening and expanding forward-looking policy guidance like 'AI+', and advancing education, science and technology, and talent development in an integrated manner, China has cultivated a vast team of engineers and digital talent, providing important support for enterprise transformation," Zhang Kaipeng stated.
Thanks to policy support, talent guarantees, and technological empowerment, the Wuhan Plant's overall revenue and employment scale have both tripled over the past 10 years. "China has become an industrial hub integrating R&D, advanced manufacturing, and supply chain management, and serves as the 'stabilizer' of Schneider Electric's global supply chain," Zhang Kaipeng said. Multiple innovative achievements by Schneider Electric have been led in R&D by Chinese teams and have gone global. "China has evolved from a technology 'application ground' to an innovation highland."
(Reported by our reporters Hao Yingcan, Hu Jingyi, Tian Xianjin, Fan Haotian, and Chen Shangwen)

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Toward the new, jointly expanding new opportunities for global development (Heping)

The sustained growth of China's "three new" economy is a vivid microcosm of China's high-quality development and a source of certainty that China injects into global economic recovery.

Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics recently show that in 2025, the value added of China's "three new" economy reached 25.79 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.2 percent at current prices, 2.2 percentage points higher than the growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices over the same period, with its share of GDP rising to 18.39 percent. The "three new" economy, with new industries, new business formats, and new business models as its core content, continues to expand in scale and steadily increase its share, serving as a vivid microcosm of China's high-quality development and a source of certainty that China injects into global economic recovery.

At present, the global economic recovery is faltering, traditional growth drivers are weakening, and cultivating new engines of development is an urgent task facing all countries. Both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund regard technological innovation, digital transformation, and green development as important drivers of global growth. In the past, outside observers of China's economy tended to focus on speed and scale; today, the quality of innovation, the level of industry, and the sustainability of development are increasingly becoming the focus of discussion. The Global Innovation Index 2025 report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization shows that China's innovation index ranking has entered the global top ten, and the "Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou" innovation cluster has risen to first place globally.

The steady growth of the "three new" economy confirms that China's economy is making solid progress from factor-driven growth toward innovation-driven growth. From photovoltaic modules and power batteries to new energy vehicles, China's new energy industry coordinates efforts across upstream, midstream, and downstream segments, providing mature and reliable solutions for the energy transition of various countries; from industrial internet empowering manufacturing upgrades to flexible customization reshaping production and sales models, China's digital technology and real economy are deeply integrated, exploring viable pathways for improving quality and efficiency in traditional industries. The Wall Street Journal of the United States has observed that China's whole-industry-chain synergistic advantages formed in fields such as new energy and the digital economy are reshaping the global supply landscape of related industries. The Financial Times of the United Kingdom believes that China's innovation is not a scattered breakthrough of individual technologies, but rather a systemic capability formed by relying on a complete industrial system and a super-large market, and that this model provides a reference for the transformation of latecomer economies.

Relying on its super-large market, complete industrial supporting capabilities, and efficient application iteration capacity, China is increasingly becoming an important gathering place for global innovation factors. Breakthroughs in frontier fields such as artificial intelligence and green energy cannot be separated from cross-border exchange and collaboration. Unlike certain countries that insist on erecting technological barriers, vigorously engage in "decoupling and severing supply chains," build "small yards with high fences," and artificially split the global innovation network, China adheres to open cooperation and mutually beneficial win-win outcomes, continuously building broad platforms for the flow of global innovation factors. AstraZeneca has launched a global strategic R&D center in Beijing, incorporating China into a key link in its global new drug R&D; Roche Diagnostics continues to expand its production and R&D base in Suzhou, deeply laying out the integrated track of high-end manufacturing and innovative R&D; L'Oréal has upgraded its China R&D center to a global R&D center, leveraging consumer insights from the Chinese market to feed back into global product iteration... More and more multinational enterprises are deeply incorporating China into their global innovation network layouts, relying on the Chinese market to test new technologies, incubate new models, and promote the faster delivery of innovation outcomes to the world.

For the vast number of developing countries, the development practice of China's "three new" economy has even more practical reference significance. China's mature experience in fields such as digital inclusion and green transformation provides an important reference for countries exploring development paths suited to their own national conditions. Under the framework of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, the Redstone tower-type molten salt solar thermal power station in South Africa has filled the gap in high-end solar thermal technology in sub-Saharan Africa; the Bukhara wind power project in Uzbekistan can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.6 million tons annually, helping the local green and low-carbon transition; China's digital mobility technology has been implemented in São Paulo, Brazil, precisely optimizing urban traffic dispatch and improving the efficiency of public services... Each cooperative project transforms China's new economic development advantages into tangible sustainable development results for various countries, vividly interpreting the true meaning of openness, connectivity, mutual benefit, and win-win development.

Moving toward the new, opening up and integrating. China will always adhere to the innovation-driven development strategy, unswervingly expand high-level opening up, and work together with countries around the world to cultivate new growth drivers through innovation collaboration, expand new development space through openness and connectivity, and jointly write a new chapter of global development and prosperity.

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China Imposes Countermeasures Against U.S. FCC and DHS Negative Actions on China

BEIJING, August 5 — A spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce stated on the 5th that the measures taken by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the action by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to add relevant entities to the so-called "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List" seriously violate the important consensus reached by the two heads of state of China and the United States, and seriously harm China's legitimate rights and interests. China can only take necessary countermeasures in response, including: strengthening export controls on drones and their key components and technologies to the United States, suspending factory follow-up inspections conducted by U.S. certification bodies on behalf of designated Chinese compulsory product certification bodies, adding U.S. compliance testing companies to the countermeasure list, initiating a national security investigation into foreign trade in imported printing, copying, and office equipment, and adding six U.S. entities to the countermeasure list.

The spokesperson pointed out on the same day that since the meeting between the Chinese and U.S. heads of state in Busan, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, disregarding China's strong opposition and the strong calls of the business communities of both countries, has continued to overstretch the concept of national security and has repeatedly introduced restrictive measures targeting China, involving multiple fields such as telecommunications operations, testing laboratories, drones, consumer-grade routers, and submarine optical cables. Recently, it has also adopted import restrictions on advanced robotics equipment and power inverters. In particular, ignoring China's repeated representations, the U.S. side, on July 31, after the video call between the Chinese and U.S. economic and trade lead officials on July 30, added more than 40 Chinese entities to the so-called "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List." China expresses strong dissatisfaction with and firm opposition to this.

The spokesperson emphasized that China's countermeasures are generally restrained. China cherishes the hard-won stability of China-U.S. economic and trade relations. We hope the U.S. side can work with China in the same direction. China demands that the U.S. side immediately revoke the relevant measures, stop its erroneous practices, return to the correct track of resolving differences through friendly consultation and cooperation, and work together to maintain the constructive and stable strategic relationship between China and the United States. If the U.S. side insists on introducing new restrictive measures against China, China will take further countermeasures.

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"Hope to Introduce More Chinese Experience and Technology" (China-Kyrgyzstan Media Joint Interview on High-Quality Belt and Road Cooperation)

By: 本报记者 张志文 白 阳

Recently, a joint interview team of Chinese and Kyrgyz media on high-quality Belt and Road cooperation visited Issyk-Kul Region and Chuy Region in Kyrgyzstan, reporting on China-aided irrigation system renovation projects and the 100 MW photovoltaic project in Chuy Region invested in and constructed by a Chinese enterprise, gaining an in-depth understanding of how Chinese enterprises effectively utilize local advantageous natural resources — water energy and solar energy — to continuously help improve local livelihoods.
In the village of Ak-Olon, near Lake Issyk-Kul, clear water flows along the canals, nourishing thousands of hectares of farmland along the way, with ripe fruit hanging in the apricot groves. This area falls within the irrigation district of the China-aided irrigation system renovation project in Kyrgyzstan, undertaken by China Railway No. 5 Engineering Group. The project newly built and renovated a total of 87 kilometers of canal systems, with complete supporting water conservancy facilities such as sluice gates, bridges, and inverted siphons. The project has added 2,310 hectares of new cultivated land, ensured irrigation for the original 11,100 hectares of farmland, and benefited more than 20,000 villagers.
"The canals helped us solve a major problem," said Meiram Kodralieva, former head of Ak-Olon village. After the irrigation canals built with Chinese assistance were completed, land that had been abandoned due to water shortages regained vitality. Now, villagers can plant fruit trees, process forage grass, and earn stable incomes. The canal banks in the irrigation district have also become a pleasant place for villagers to relax and cool off in the summer.
Aktan Sariev, a reporter for Kyrgyzstan's Banner newspaper, said that a series of "small yet beautiful" livelihood projects, such as the China-aided irrigation system renovation project in Kyrgyzstan, have genuinely helped local farmers improve their production and living conditions and achieve increased output and income. "During the interviews, we truly felt that local people are very grateful for the support and help of their Chinese friends."
Surrounded by mountains, with intense sunlight, rows of blue photovoltaic panels are neatly arranged. The site of the 100 MW photovoltaic power station in Chuy Region has an average of 1,580 hours of effective annual solar energy utilization, making it an ideal location for collecting solar resources.
The 100 MW photovoltaic power station in Chuy Region is the first large-scale photovoltaic power station in Kyrgyzstan to be constructed and put into operation. China Yan'an Jiujiu Photoelectric Company is one of the investors and constructors. Hou Jungang, deputy general manager of its subsidiary Yongsheng Energy Co., Ltd., introduced that the project began construction in July 2025, achieved full-capacity grid connection at the end of 2025, and has so far generated 128 million kWh of electricity, meeting the electricity needs of nearly 30,000 households. Annual power generation is expected to be approximately 210 million kWh, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 150,000 tons.
"Seeing clean electricity continuously produced here, I am excited and deeply impressed," said Andrei Tokombaev, a reporter for Kyrgyzstan's Slovo Kyrgyzstana newspaper. In the past, during hot summer weather, Kyrgyzstan's power system often imposed power restrictions due to overwhelming load. The Chinese enterprise's help in building the photovoltaic power station will help promote the diversification of Kyrgyzstan's energy structure and reduce dependence on electricity imports. He said: "China's new energy development is advancing rapidly, and I hope more Chinese experience and technology can be introduced."
(Our newspaper, Balykchy, Kyrgyzstan, August 5)

Layout design: Shen Yiling

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Answering the Call of Go Across Borders (APEC China Year: Openness, Innovation, Cooperation)

By: 本报记者 莽九晨 汪思源

The "APEC China Year · Joint Journey to the 'Chess' Miracle Youth Go Exchange Activity" was recently held at the Korea Baduk Association in Seoul, where 40 young Go players from China and South Korea used "chess" to make friends, jointly embarking on a cross-border Go appointment.

In 2025, the 32nd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting was successfully held in Gyeongju, South Korea; in 2026, Shenzhen, China will take over to host the APEC meeting. Bao Xuhui, Minister of the Chinese Embassy in South Korea, stated that Shenzhen, as the host city of this year's APEC meeting, has actively carried out relevant exchanges with the South Korean side. China-South Korea Go exchanges are close, and it is hoped that young players from both countries will use chess to make friends and extend the friendship on the board into deep cross-border friendship.

Go embodies the Eastern wisdom of "harmony without uniformity," and the "hand conversation" between opponents that requires no translation makes it a cultural resonance that transcends language. "The greatest charm of Go is that it can bring people of different languages and different cultural backgrounds together to communicate." Cho Hun-hyun, a representative figure of Korean Go and Vice President of the Korea Baduk Association, expressed the hope that through such exchange activities, more young players will get to know each other, and that Go culture will continue to be passed down among the younger generation. "Young people are the hope for the future development of Go. Although competitions have winners and losers, in exchange there are only winners. I hope the children will make friends through Go and experience the joy that Go brings."

The 20 young Go players from Shenzhen who participated in the activity ranged in age from 7 to 14. Among them were both high-dan players who have already made a name for themselves in domestic competitions and young beginners just starting on the Go path. Many of the children were leaving the country for the first time to participate in international Go exchange.

South Korean player Shin Da-bin is a senior high school sophomore who has studied Go for nearly 14 years. She said that exchanging with young Chinese players was a pleasant experience, and she looks forward to participating in more such activities in the future.

According to the activity arrangement, South Korean young players will pay a return visit to Shenzhen later this year, continuing this "'chess' miracle appointment." Go is becoming a cultural bond connecting the youth of the two countries and the two cities.

Kwon Ki-sik, President of the Korea-China City Friendship Association, stated that Go occupies a very important position in the history of cultural exchange between South Korea and China. Young people deepening mutual understanding through Go competitions has positive significance for promoting people-to-people friendship between the two countries. He expressed the hope that South Korea and China will carry out exchanges in more fields, allowing more young people to understand each other through exchange.

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China launches first foreign trade national security investigation

BEIJING, Aug. 5 -- The Ministry of Commerce issued an announcement on the 5th, initiating a foreign trade national security investigation into relevant imported printing, copying, and office equipment. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce stated the same day that this investigation is China's first foreign trade national security investigation.
The spokesperson stated that, in accordance with the provisions of Article 41 of the Foreign Trade Law of the People's Republic of China, in order to maintain the order of foreign trade, the Ministry of Commerce may, on its own or jointly with other relevant departments of the State Council, investigate matters concerning national security interests in foreign trade.
The spokesperson introduced that the content of this investigation is to assess the impact of relevant imported printing, copying, and office equipment installed with foreign system software on China's national security interests in foreign trade. The matters under investigation include but are not limited to: the import situation of the subjects under investigation; the impact of imported products, technologies, or services on national security interests; domestic demand conditions; the impact of imports on the domestic industry; the capacity and level of the domestic industry to meet national security interests; and the impact of relevant foreign government policies and measures on China's national security interests.
The spokesperson stated that, in the next step, the investigating authority will conduct the investigation in accordance with the law, fully safeguard the rights and interests of all interested parties, render an objective and fair ruling based on the investigation results, and resolutely uphold the legitimate rights and interests of China's domestic industry and national security interests.

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Foreign Ministry: Firmly Opposes US Abuse of State Power to Unreasonably Suppress Chinese Companies

BEIJING, Aug. 5 -- In response to reports that the United States is drafting regulations to implement actions suppressing Chinese enterprises, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said on Monday at a regular press conference that China firmly opposes the US abuse of national power to unreasonably suppress Chinese companies.

A reporter asked: According to reports, the US is drafting regulations to ban imports of new Chinese-made optical transceiver modules, while also preparing to impose additional tariffs on polysilicon and related products and set price floors. Given the US sanctions and restrictions previously imposed on Huawei, how does China assess the actions the US plans to take? What specific measures will China take to protect the rights and interests of its enterprises?

Lin Jian said that China firmly opposes the US overstretching the concept of national security and abusing national power to unreasonably suppress Chinese companies. Protectionism will not enhance US competitiveness. The US practices severely hinder normal economic and trade exchanges between Chinese and American enterprises and do not serve the interests of any party, including US companies and consumers. China will continue to firmly safeguard the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.

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Public Transit Becomes More Elderly-Friendly, Making Travel Easier for Seniors (In-Depth Reading: Focusing on Age-Friendly Renovations)

By: 本报记者 方 敏 李凯旋 赵景锋

The "15th Five-Year Plan" Outline states: "Strengthen the age-friendly renovation of public facilities."

Public transportation is an important component of a city's public facilities, and its level of age-friendliness directly affects the quality of travel and sense of well-being of the elderly population.

In recent years, cities such as Zhengzhou in Henan, Chengdu in Sichuan, and Ordos in Inner Mongolia have focused on travel scenarios including the subway, buses, and taxis, using warm details such as low-floor buses, barrier-free elevators, and one-touch ride-hailing to solve the difficulties faced by the elderly of "not daring to board, finding it inconvenient to travel, and being unwilling to go out."

— Editor

Upgrades in software and hardware solve travel difficulties

Having risen early, Grandpa Shen, who lives in Zhonghe Subdistrict in Chengdu, Sichuan, went out to Chengdu's West China Hospital of Sichuan University for a follow-up examination. Taking the barrier-free elevator into the subway station, swiping his senior citizen card to pass through the wide-channel fare gate... he traveled alone, skillfully and calmly.

Grandpa Shen enumerated the age-friendly details in the subway: the directional signage in the station is clear and the font is large, and combined with the colored strips on the floor, there is no fear of taking the wrong path; the customer service center has two counter heights, making communication with staff more convenient; the barrier-free restroom is equipped with handrails and an emergency call device, and stations with heavy passenger flow have enough seating for the elderly to rest when tired...

Aunt Yang, who lives near Weijiani Station, has limited mobility and has always used a wheelchair when going out: "Before going out, I call the subway's 'Love Reservation' service hotline, and staff come outside the station to receive me and help me board — it's very convenient."

From renovation details to heartwarming services, Chengdu Metro precisely addresses the travel pain points of the elderly. And in Zhengzhou, Henan, more than a thousand miles away, the age-friendly renovation of buses has also won praise.

On Weilai Road in Zhengzhou, the elderly Liu Huili was waiting for a bus. "The steps on the old buses were too high. We elderly people have stiff legs and feet; to get on we had to pull hard on the handrail, afraid of missing a step and falling." As she spoke, a low-floor bus pulled up, and the platform and the bus step were almost on the same level. Liu Huili easily lifted her foot and boarded smoothly.

"Carrying out age-friendly bus renovation is precisely to solve the travel pain points of the elderly of 'not daring to board, finding it inconvenient to travel, and being unwilling to go out,'" said Li Zhiyang, head of the Operations Department of Zhengzhou Public Transport Group. Zhengzhou Public Transport has renovated vehicles with barrier-free ramps and added dedicated wheelchair areas, creating a full-chain safety guarantee and convenient environment for elderly passengers.

Taxis in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, have brought a better travel experience to the elderly. At 8:30 in the morning, after breakfast, Grandma Li, who lives in Jinyuanhe in Dongsheng District, Ordos, prepared to accompany her paralyzed husband to the hospital for an examination.

With her children working away from home and her husband paralyzed for six years, Grandma Li often needs to take a taxi to the hospital. "Hailing a taxi on the street sometimes means waiting a long time. I've also tried using ride-hailing apps, but in the past you had to enter the starting point and destination, and you also had to use electronic payment — I'm not very good at any of that," Grandma Li said.

Now there is a more convenient app. Opening the "Warm City Taxi Travel" mini-program, entering the elder-assistance mode, and tapping "One-Touch Ride-Hailing," the system automatically locates the pickup point... Guided by the clear interface, Grandma Li successfully hailed a taxi in just a few minutes. When she went downstairs, Driver Wang was already waiting at the entrance of the community. After confirming the destination, Driver Wang drove to Ordos Central Hospital. Upon arrival, Grandma Li paid the fare in cash, and Driver Wang pushed the wheelchair to take the two of them to the outpatient building.

Meticulous measures ensure the effectiveness of the renovation

The age-friendly renovation of public transportation may seem like a matter of detail adjustments, but in reality it involves multiple challenges including engineering technology, scenario coordination, and livelihood guarantees. During the renovation process, various localities confront difficulties head-on, adapt measures to local conditions, and use meticulous measures to ensure the renovation work is implemented and effective.

Elevators are a key focus of the age-friendly renovation of the subway, and the renovation of older stations faces many constraints. Tongzilin Station, located on the Second Ring Road in the south of Chengdu, is surrounded by dense residential communities and has many passengers. Because the station was built relatively early, the escalators planned at that time were distributed at Entrances B and D. As the travel needs of the elderly have increased, more and more inquiries have arisen about whether an escalator "can be installed" at Entrance C.

Installation is no easy matter. "It involves multiple aspects such as foundation pit excavation, pipeline laying, and decoration, and the key is whether the conditions for renovation exist," said Yang Zhang, deputy director of the Station Equipment Department of the First Company of Chengdu Metro Operation Co., Ltd. Staff fully investigated the travel needs of surrounding residents, and only after multiple rounds of on-site surveys and risk assessments, and scientific demonstration confirming that the station met the conditions for escalator installation, did the installation work officially begin.

After the new escalator was put into use, surrounding elderly residents remarked: "Exiting the station is easy now, and it saves so much time!"

In the age-friendly renovation of Zhengzhou Public Transport, the company likewise balanced renovation results with normal travel order, adopting a model of advancing in batches and by route, avoiding peak passenger flow hours for construction, and issuing route adjustment notices in advance to ensure normal route operations. In addition, Zhengzhou Public Transport Group extensively collects the demands of elderly passengers, soliciting opinions through customer service hotlines and volunteer community outreach questionnaires; at the same time, it invites elderly passenger representatives to participate in the discussion of renovation plans, doing its best to meet the multiple needs of the elderly.

Similar service scenarios have also occurred in Ordos. Grandma Li came into contact with the "Warm City Taxi Travel" mini-program at a "Safe Travel Day" community service event. Last year, staff from the Dongsheng District Transportation Bureau and community grid workers went deep into residential communities together, helping some elderly people learn to use the "Warm City Taxi Travel" mini-program, navigation apps, and other tools through hands-on teaching and the distribution of promotional brochures.

Grandma Li has since mastered functions such as "One-Touch Calling" and telephone ride-hailing. "The operation is simple, and I can quickly get a taxi from home. In urgent situations, the driver will even come to the door to pick me up," Grandma Li said.

"Nationwide ride-hailing platforms sometimes cannot accurately identify locations, and the difficulty of operation and communication costs for users are relatively high. Ordos has launched the 'Warm City Taxi Travel' platform, where users do not need to enter location information — by tapping the 'One-Touch Ride-Hailing' function, nearby vehicles can be quickly dispatched," a relevant person in charge of the Ordos Transportation Service Center introduced. For elderly people and other groups who are not accustomed to using smartphones, the traditional telephone reservation service has been retained and optimized — citizens can directly call the ride-hailing service line "95128" to enjoy professional and patient manual service.

Long-term mechanisms empower age-friendly travel

The age-friendly renovation of public transportation is not a "passing fad," but a livelihood project that requires sustained and persistent effort. Various localities are making efforts from multiple aspects including policy support, service optimization, and smart empowerment, improving long-term mechanisms, and promoting the continuous improvement of the age-friendliness of public transportation.

In Zhengzhou, policy support has injected strong momentum into the age-friendly renovation of buses. Henan Province has issued relevant documents proposing the implementation of barrier-free operation services for urban public buses and trolleybuses, and the continued development of bus routes that respect and care for the elderly. With policy support, Zhengzhou Public Transport Group has continuously increased investment in age-friendly renovation, building and optimizing more than 10 "respecting and caring for the elderly" bus routes in total, and adding or updating more than 2,500 anti-slip handrails in vehicles.

Li Zhiyang introduced that Zhengzhou Public Transport Group will subsequently expand the coverage of age-friendly renovation, increase the proportion of low-floor buses, improve the in-vehicle environment, and further explore the application of smart public transport systems in age-friendliness.

In Chengdu, the planning of new subway lines has now embedded all-age-friendly standards into design. From installing barrier-free elevators and adding seating in transfer corridors to optimizing directional signage and widening fare gate channels... in 2025, Chengdu Metro completed 97 age-friendly facility and equipment renovations across all lines, strengthening safety and smooth travel guarantees for the elderly.

Tao Xing, chief engineer of Chengdu Rail Transit Construction Management Co., Ltd., introduced that Chengdu Metro will continue to promote age-friendly renovation, coordinate with travel scenarios such as buses and high-speed rail, and further optimize smart service details such as "Love Reservation," making the travel of elderly passengers safer, more convenient, and warmer.

In Ordos, the "Warm City Taxi Travel" platform currently handles more than 21,000 orders per day on average, with a market share of over 70%, and has become a travel choice trusted by local citizens. In the next step, Ordos will guide taxi companies to strengthen driver training in elder-friendly services, encourage companies to carry out in-vehicle age-friendly renovations to better suit the travel needs of the elderly, and increase publicity through community activities, WeChat public account science popularization, and the placement of vehicle body signage to raise public awareness.

(People's Daily Online reporter Wang Yuxing participated in the reporting)

This issue coordinated by: Zhang Xueyan

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Understanding "Not a Single One Can Be Left Behind" (People's Forum)

By: 桂从路

Since the flood season began, the flood disasters in many places have been deeply worrying, and my hometown also encountered a rainstorm unseen in decades. On the slippery mountain roads, town and village cadres knocked on doors household by household, urging and reminding again and again; after the flood waters receded, they busied themselves with tallying losses, visiting households that had been lifted out of poverty, and organizing villagers to replant and rush-plant crops.
"For whom do Party members and cadres toil, and for whom are they busy?" A grassroots cadre put it well: not allowing a single household to fall back into poverty because of the disaster — that makes the hard work worthwhile.
Several years ago, while reporting in Ngari, Tibet, I walked into a remote village of only a dozen or so households. Not only did it have electricity and internet access, but every household also had clean running tap water.
If one calculates the input-output ratio, the investment in erecting utility poles and laying power grids for these dozen-plus households would probably never recoup its cost even in a hundred years. But we have always calculated the big account, the account of popular sentiment. People around the world marvel: only the Communist Party of China could do this!
General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized on many occasions that "not a single one can be left behind." From "on the road to poverty alleviation, not a single one can be left behind," to "in building a modern socialist country in all respects, not a single ethnic group can be left out," to "on the road to common prosperity, not a single person can fall behind" — these words reveal the original aspiration, the pursuit, and the wisdom.
To observe a country's development, one cannot look only at how prosperous its most developed regions are; one must also see whether its most impoverished corners have been illuminated. One must not only look at indicators and data on paper; one must also see whether every person has shared in the fruits of development and attained happiness.
Eight years of hard battle, braving wind and rain — how difficult it was. Precisely because we deeply understand that "without rural prosperity, especially without prosperity in impoverished areas, there can be no comprehensively well-off society," our Party led the people to win the battle against poverty, making the comprehensive well-off society more solid in substance and able to withstand the test of history.
"Not a single one can be left behind" is both a fulfillment of commitment and a way of thinking and working. For example, why does the central authorities pay such close attention to "the elderly and the young"? Because these are the primary concerns of most families; only when worries about people's livelihoods are resolved can the whole society strive with full force. For another example, new employment groups are constantly emerging — how can services keep pace with development? Ensuring that policies leave no gaps and leave no one out is the key.
At present, China's development is changing with each passing day, and scientific and technological innovation is advancing at a breathtaking pace. The faster the development, the more we must turn our gaze to those areas that need to slow down and see those groups that are falling behind. Only by grasping new expectations and new characteristics and strengthening holistic thinking can we avoid the situation of 按下葫芦浮起瓢 (àn xià húlu fú qǐ piáo - "press down the gourd, and the ladle floats up," solving one problem only to have another arise); only by strengthening the awareness of providing a safety net can development proceed steadily and go far.
A colleague working abroad once discussed with me the phenomenon of America's "cut-off line," and his observations were quite insightful. In a capital-centered society, the state is like a corporation running at high speed, and the people are reduced to tools of production. Once they can no longer generate profit and value, a portion of the people will naturally be eliminated. This is precisely the law of capital operation and its cruelty.
The reason China pursues "not a single one can be left behind" is determined by the Marxist people-centered stance and is also shaped by the genes of more than 5,000 years of civilization. "Treat others' elders as one's own elders, and others' young as one's own young" means we cannot abandon any member of the masses; "regard the people as if they were wounded, and cherish them as if they were infants" determines that "as long as there is still one household or even one person whose basic living problems have not been solved, we cannot remain complacent"; "water can carry a boat, and it can also capsize it" admonishes us to "never lose the people's support, and always think about doing things for the people"...
"The Communist Party of China adheres to a people-centered development philosophy and enjoys the support of the people — this is the key to China's continuous development achievements." The observation of a foreign political leader provides a unique perspective for the world to see China.
If one asks what today's China can contribute to the world, there are many answers: the momentum of scientific and technological innovation, the opportunity of stable development, the leadership of green production capacity...
But if one asks what fundamentally enables China to influence the future direction of humanity, it must be the Communist Party of China's people-first philosophy, which calibrates the value compass of human society and provides a practical path toward "the free and comprehensive development of the individual."
After five years of effort, boring through the Tianshan Mountains, the world's longest expressway tunnel now connects northern and southern Xinjiang. "It's not that piercing the Tianshan was easy, but that there are people on the other side of the Tianshan." A Xinjiang tour guide's moving account was sincere and fervent.
Wherever there are people, there is the courage to cut a path through mountains; wherever there are people, there are the figures of Communists striving.

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Two departments urgently allocate 330 million yuan in central disaster relief funds

BEIJING, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) — (Reporters Qu Zhehan, Liu Wenxin) At present, China is in the critical flood-prevention period of the "seven-down, eight-up" (the period from late July to early August when the main rain belt moves northward, bringing the heaviest rainfall of the year to northern China), and multiple regions including the Northeast, Southwest, and Northwest have repeatedly encountered persistent heavy rainfall, triggering floods and geological disasters, causing casualties and damage and collapse of houses.

On August 5, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management urgently allocated 330 million yuan of central government natural disaster relief funds to support 8 provinces (municipalities) — Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Jilin, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Shaanxi — in carrying out emergency rescue and disaster relief work for natural disasters, with priority given to search-and-rescue, relocation, and resettlement of affected personnel, emergency response operations such as hazard removal and risk mitigation, investigation and rectification of hidden dangers from secondary disasters, and repair of damaged and collapsed civilian houses, so as to minimize disaster losses to the greatest extent.

The Ministry of Finance requires the finance departments of the above-mentioned 8 provinces (municipalities) to promptly disburse the funds to the disaster-affected areas, strengthen supervision over disaster-relief funds, ensure that all disaster-relief funds are used for the disaster-affected areas and affected people, and effectively safeguard the safety of people's lives and property and the order of production and daily life in the disaster-affected areas.

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Allocate 50 million yuan to support post-disaster emergency recovery in Shaanxi (Solid efforts in disaster prevention and relief work)

This newspaper, Beijing, August 5 (Reporter Li Xinping) — Recently, affected by heavy rainfall, severe flooding and waterlogging disasters have occurred in many places in Shaanxi. The National Development and Reform Commission urgently arranged 50 million yuan of central budget investment to support Shaanxi Province in doing a good job of post-disaster emergency recovery from the flooding and waterlogging disasters, with funds focused on use in the post-disaster emergency recovery and construction of infrastructure such as damaged roads and water conservancy facilities in the disaster areas, as well as public service facilities such as schools and hospitals, so as to promote the restoration of normal production and living order as soon as possible.

This newspaper, Beijing, August 5 (Reporters Liu Wenxin, Wang Donghui) — On August 5, at the request of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, the Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the Ministry of Emergency Management, together with the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, allocated central drought relief materials including 40 drought-resistant water pumps and 115 generators to support Xinjiang in doing a good job of drought relief and disaster reduction work.

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Photo Report

As Typhoon No. 13 of this year, "Bai Haituan" (White Dolphin), approaches the East China Sea, Zhejiang Province activated its maritime typhoon emergency response at 18:00 on August 5, requiring coastal areas to make preparations including sheltering vessels from the wind and suspending maritime routes. The photo shows people who had been enjoying leisure time at sea returning to port and coming ashore at Nanyue Wharf in Yueqing Bay, Wenzhou City, on August 5.
　　Photo by Cai Kuanyuan (Xinhua)

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Typhoon White Dolphin gradually approaches the coast of East China

BEIJING, August 5 (Xinhua) — (Reporter Jiang Xuehong) Meteorological monitoring shows that at 17:00 on August 5, the center of Typhoon No. 13, "Baijia" (white dolphin) (severe typhoon level), this year was located over the northwestern Pacific Ocean approximately 920 kilometers due east of Naha City in the Ryukyu Islands, with maximum wind force near the center reaching 14 levels (42 meters per second). It is forecast that "Baijia" will move in a westerly direction at a speed of 20–25 kilometers per hour, with little change or a slight increase in intensity. After passing through the Ryukyu Islands during the daytime on the 7th, it will move into the East China Sea, slow down, and gradually approach the coast of East China. The Central Meteorological Observatory forecasts relatively heavy precipitation in Shaanxi, Hunan, Yunnan, Hainan, and other areas.

At 18:00 on August 5, the Ministry of Water Resources and the China Meteorological Administration jointly issued an orange meteorological warning for mountain torrent disasters; the Ministry of Natural Resources and the China Meteorological Administration jointly issued an orange meteorological risk warning for geological disasters.

BEIJING, August 5 (Xinhua) — (Reporter Liu Wenxin) On August 5, the National Commission for Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Relief activated a Level-IV national disaster relief emergency response in response to the recent severe flood disaster in Shaanxi Province. The disaster relief work group dispatched by the Ministry of Emergency Management continued to inspect the disaster situation at the front line of the disaster area, guiding and assisting local authorities in carrying out disaster relief work such as disaster verification, relocation and resettlement of affected people, and provision of basic living guarantees.

BEIJING, August 5 (Xinhua) — (Reporter Deng Jianyang) The reporter learned from the Ministry of Water Resources: On the morning of August 5, the Ministry of Water Resources organized rolling consultations to arrange and deploy key defense work. Based on the 24-hour rainfall forecast, the Ministry of Water Resources issued targeted early warnings of "one province, one list" to 13 provinces including Shanxi, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, and Gansu, notifying the list of counties (cities, districts) covered by heavy rainfall, the list of reservoirs, and the risk areas and points of mountain torrent disasters, reminding relevant parties to ensure the safe flood season operation of reservoirs and warping dams, and the defense against floods in small and medium-sized rivers and mountain torrent disasters.

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Eliminate the malaise of work style and foster a culture of practical endeavor.

By: 本报记者 张 洋 李林蔚

Rectifying formalism to reduce burdens at the grassroots level is an important part of persistently advancing the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work style improvement.

In August 2024, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Several Provisions on Rectifying Formalism to Reduce Burdens at the Grassroots Level (hereinafter referred to as the Several Provisions), marking the first time that institutional norms for reducing grassroots burdens were formulated and promulgated in the form of intra-Party regulations, releasing a strong signal of perseverance and follow-through to the end.

All regions and departments have deeply studied and implemented Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, especially Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, and have continued to deepen rectification efforts with the spirit of driving a nail, eliminating the malpractices of work style and promoting a culture of practical work, so that the sense of gain among grassroots cadres and the masses has continued to grow.

Persistent efforts, establishing the orientation of "practicality"

In the height of summer, General Secretary Xi Jinping, braving the scorching heat, went deep into Huangpu District, Shanghai, to investigate the renovation of old residential communities in urban renewal.

"Shanghai has been advancing old housing renovation for decades, one term of leadership after another, persevering over the long term. This is a correct view of political achievements. The people evaluate us also by whether we sincerely do good and practical things for them, and whether we put up a facade." General Secretary Xi Jinping's remarks were profound.

All work must be done in a practical manner and produce practical results. As the "last kilometer" for implementing the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, the grassroots level must never be bound hand and foot by formalism and bureaucratism.

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Improve the institutional mechanisms for preventing and rectifying formalism and bureaucratism, and continue to reduce burdens at the grassroots level" and "Implement the long-term mechanism for rectifying formalism to reduce grassroots burdens, so that grassroots cadres have more energy to focus on implementation."

Formalism and bureaucratism are major enemies of fulfilling the Party's missions and tasks on the new journey of the new era. In the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," the whole Party has carried out in-depth study and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements. General Secretary Xi Jinping cautioned the whole Party: "Deviations and misalignments in the view of political achievements will waste resources, encourage formalism, breed unhealthy tendencies and corruption, and ultimately harm the people and waste public money, undermine Party-masses and cadre-masses relations, and affect the image of leading bodies and leading cadres in the hearts of the people. If left unchecked, they will shake the Party's governing foundation, and the harm will be very serious."

Sober and resolute, persistent and enduring, unswervingly grasping work style improvement, establishing the orientation of "practicality."

Only by taking real action can there be deterrence. Recently, the Office of the Special Work Mechanism for Rectifying Formalism to Reduce Burdens at the Grassroots Level at the central level, together with the General Office of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, publicly notified three typical problems in rectifying formalism to reduce grassroots burdens: "Some localities were ineffective in correcting statistical fraud, only examining without verifying, and instead of punishing, rewarding"; "Some state-owned enterprises had deviations in their view of political achievements, pursuing 'digital innovation' and 'business transformation' regardless of reality"; "Some social organizations deviated from their service purpose, treating the holding of festivals, exhibitions, forums as a 'cornucopia' and 'money tree'"...

In the past two years, the central level has publicly notified 9 batches of 27 typical problems, driving provincial and municipal levels to notify typical problems, seriously pursuing accountability for violations of discipline and law, and forming a strong deterrent; special rectifications have been carried out in a concentrated manner, such as streamlining and optimizing planning compilation tasks, correcting statistical fraud, and cleaning up and standardizing festivals, exhibitions, and forum activities, promoting the resolution of a number of prominent problems.

Institutions govern the fundamental and the long-term. Not long ago, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Specific Measures for Making Good Use of the Lists of Duties and Matters for Townships (Subdistricts), which clearly stipulates that "higher-level departments shall not arbitrarily delegate duties and matters not included in the lists to townships (subdistricts), nor transfer them in disguised form through authorization, entrustment, or other means." Basic performance duties, coordinated performance duties, and matters taken back by higher-level departments — the "three lists" are clear and unambiguous, and what the grassroots should and should not do is perfectly clear.

From issuing the revised Regulations on Practicing Frugality and Opposing Waste in Party and Government Organs, to implementing the Regulations on Sharing of Government Data, to issuing the Measures for the Standardized Management of Mobile Internet Applications for Government Affairs... the cage of institutions is being tightened ever further, and Party members and leading cadres are more consciously considering whether their thinking and actions will increase grassroots burdens.

At the end of last year, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a democratic life meeting, and General Secretary Xi Jinping said with heartfelt sincerity: "Communists are materialists, and pragmatism is an essential character. We must seek truth from facts, be pragmatic and realistic, and work with genuine effort."

This is both an exhortation to the whole Party and an expectation for every person of practical action.

Focusing on priorities, deepening the "six rectifications"

In summer, Chaoyang Village, Dongliao County, Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province, bustles with visitors. Amusement park, food street... Han Li, secretary of the Party general branch of Chaoyang Village, rushes between various projects in the village. "Rural tourism, blueberry sales, crayfish farming — the village has no shortage of industries, and I'm busy every day."

"Now I focus single-mindedly on development. In the past, much of the village's energy went into filling out report forms." Han Li said with deep feeling. Now, relying on the "one-table communication" system, basic information is entered once and shared for common use, and any new form must pass approval before entering the system, eliminating duplicate reporting at the source.

What the grassroots hope for is where rectification is directed. Since the implementation of the Several Provisions, various localities have explored full-caliber management of documents and meetings, implementing "meeting-free days"; coordinated and standardized supervision, inspection, and assessment, abolishing the "thousand-point system" for assessment; carried out clean-up and rectification of irregular secondment of grassroots staff, strictly preventing the irregular secondment of cadres in hidden forms such as "shadowing study"; vigorously promoted the construction of "one-table communication," and continued to consolidate the results of rectifying "formalism at the fingertips"...

In October last year, a meeting of the Special Work Mechanism for Rectifying Formalism to Reduce Burdens at the Grassroots Level at the central level was held. The meeting emphasized that work should be advanced around the current overall development situation, going straight to problems and focusing on solving them, continuing to deepen and solidify efforts, and striving for practical results.

Rectifying impatience for quick success and blind decision-making, rectifying statistical fraud, rectifying irregular disguised commendation and evaluation and model creation activities, rectifying hidden burdens at the grassroots, rectifying the "mountain of documents and sea of meetings," rectifying formalism in supervision, inspection, and assessment, research and investigation, and horizontal exchanges... each of the "six rectifications" targets the pain points of the grassroots, and each bears on the development of the cause.

Impatience for quick success and blind decision-making not only waste resources and overdraw government credibility, but also increase grassroots burdens and breed formalism.

To strictly prevent "patting the head" decision-making, Anyi County, Jiangxi Province, formulated government investment management measures, implementing whole-process standardized supervision over projects: in the decision-making and approval stage, strictly implement the hierarchical and tiered review and deliberation mechanism, standardize approval procedures for project establishment, feasibility studies, preliminary design, etc., and carry out fiscal affordability assessment; in the investment control stage, strictly regulate engineering changes, construction scale, and fund disbursement; in the performance evaluation stage, conduct settlement review and post-completion effectiveness evaluation after project completion...

Last year, the Anyi County Science, Technology and Industry Information Bureau researched and launched the "Industrial Brain" service platform. "This mainly came from grassroots research. Multiple departments formed a joint working group to visit enterprises, conducted special systematic research, visited nearly a hundred aluminum profile enterprises above designated size, asking about pain points and understanding needs. Later, we also repeatedly solicited opinions on how to build the platform so that it would be useful and effective." Wei Jiansheng, Party secretary of the Anyi County Science, Technology and Industry Information Bureau, said.

Only by basing decisions on reality and making scientific decisions can they stand up to scrutiny. Since its launch, the "Industrial Brain" has been quite popular among enterprises. Not long ago, Xu Min, general manager of Jiangxi Huihuang Aluminum Industry Co., Ltd., submitted a procurement request to the "Industrial Brain" on his mobile phone. The backend intelligently matched, and after multi-dimensional price comparison and online negotiation, the price provided by the ultimately selected supplier was 34 yuan lower than the enterprise's historical average procurement price. According to statistics, with the help of the "Industrial Brain" analysis, the procurement costs of aluminum profile enterprises across the county decreased by 15%, and short-haul transportation costs decreased by 25%.

In Tongxiang City, Zhejiang Province, in the past, a single leading enterprise needed more than 10 statisticians to manually calculate more than 2,000 invoices for just the monthly output value report, which was not only error-prone but also risked inducing human interference in data.

In response, Zhejiang innovated the "one-click reporting" reform for statistics, connecting enterprise financial systems with the provincial direct reporting platform for statistics, changing from "manual form filling" to "system data extraction," achieving direct reporting of source data.

Squeeze the "moisture" out of data, and set up the "yardstick" of practical work. Since the beginning of this year, statistics departments have intensified efforts to rectify statistical fraud, while strengthening supervision over the quality of statistical data from various departments, and promoting all regions and departments to establish and improve responsibility systems for preventing and rectifying statistical fraud.

...

Solve whatever problems exist, and focus on solving whichever problems are most prominent. All regions and departments have kept a close eye on prominent problems, deepened the "six rectifications," conducted real investigation and real rectification, persevered over the long term, and the work of rectifying formalism to reduce grassroots burdens has continued to deepen and solidify.

Empowerment, grassroots enthusiasm for work is even stronger

Just as dawn broke, in the yellow tea garden of Dashu Village, Jiachuan Town, Wangcang County, Sichuan Province, Zhang Xianli, deputy mayor of Jiachuan Town in charge of agriculture, walked into the tea bushes. "Spending all day in the tea garden is tiring, but worth it!" He wiped away sweat and smiled heartily.

This sense of "worth it" stems from the genuine loosening of grassroots burdens. In recent years, the locality has continuously deepened the rectification of formalism to reduce grassroots burdens: 17 matters including water resource surveys and data verification and aggregation were incorporated into the list of matters taken back by higher-level departments; nearly 20 tasks including comprehensive supervision of road traffic safety and urban gas safety were classified into the list of coordinated performance duties.

With clear boundaries of rights and responsibilities, cadres' hands and feet are also freed. "In the past, I was busy filling in data and writing materials, and could only provide phone guidance when farmers asked for help — how could I have time to go to the fields? Now, the focus of our daily work has returned to practical matters such as field management and handling the demands of the masses," Zhang Xianli said.

Reducing burdens does not reduce responsibility; loosening constraints adds to motivation.

Since the implementation of the Several Provisions, all regions and departments have insisted on simultaneously promoting burden reduction and empowerment, solving the prominent problem of "a small horse pulling a big cart," improving the mechanism of "streets and townships blowing the whistle, departments reporting for duty," promoting the tilt of more resources toward the grassroots, and the vast number of Party members and leading cadres have gone into action lightened of burdens and with free hands, with even greater momentum to serve the masses and promote development.

In the early morning, Pazhou Street, Haizhu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, the Pazhou Yuanchuang·OPC community came alive. On the roadshow stage, start-ups took turns showcasing their technologies and products; off stage, investors and entrepreneurs talked face-to-face about trends and landing plans. Zhong Weishen, co-founder of Guangzhou Frontier Engine Technology Co., Ltd., said with a smile: "After moving into the community, street cadres helped me sort out technical advantages, lock onto the medical sub-track, and even connected me with hospitals in the jurisdiction — the market opened up all at once."

This liveliness benefits from the "three reductions and three clean-ups" special action implemented by Haizhu District, which allowed subdistricts to shed burdens and focus on their main business. "Since the implementation of the Several Provisions, there have been fewer meetings and inspections, and we have more time and energy to serve enterprises," said Luo Yuan, Party secretary of the Pazhou Subdistrict Working Committee. In March this year, the subdistrict, together with the district's Artificial Intelligence Development Bureau and the Pazhou Chamber of Commerce, built the Pazhou Yuanchuang·OPC community, specifically providing full-chain incubation support for entrepreneurs.

Work and start businesses cleanly and refreshingly, and benefit the people solidly and substantively. The effectiveness brought by burden reduction is being transformed into concrete livelihood projects and landed projects one by one. Now, all regions and departments have integrated the rectification of formalism to reduce grassroots burdens into daily work and regular practice, and the vast number of Party members and leading cadres have gone deep into the front line to listen to people's voices, observe actual conditions, and handle practical matters, making Party-masses and cadre-masses relations closer and continuously releasing development vitality.

Work style improvement is always on the way, and rectifying formalism to reduce grassroots burdens is a tough battle and a protracted war.

Striving forward in the "15th Five-Year Plan," under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, all regions and departments will adhere to not lowering standards and not reducing intensity, persistently rectify formalism to reduce grassroots burdens, and consistently and strictly implement the Several Provisions. They will surely continue to boost the spirit and energy of the vast number of grassroots cadres in undertaking work and starting businesses, and provide a strong guarantee for advancing Chinese-style modernization with excellent work style.

(Staff reporters Wang Mingfeng, Wang Yunna, Zhou Huan, and Dou Hao of this newspaper participated in the reporting and writing.)

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First Edition Editors: Yang Xu, Zhang Shuaizhen, Zhang Yujie | Second Edition Editors: Lin Lin, Qi Jiarun, Guo Xueyan | Third Edition Editors: Han Xiaoming, Jiang Bo, Guan Haoyu | Fourth Edition Editors: Yuan Zhenxi, Chen Zhen, Zhang Xueyan

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Gathering Green Momentum, Structural Transformation Shows Strong Vitality (Commentator's Observation)

By: 尹双红

The green transformation of the industrial structure is not simply about subtracting emissions; it is a comprehensive, deep-level, systemic transformation.

A close look at the 2026 economic "semi-annual report" reveals two clear trends: on the supply side, a batch of new products aligned with the green and low-carbon trend are growing rapidly — for example, lithium-ion battery output grew 39.3 percent, and nuclear power generating unit output grew 92.0 percent; on the consumption side, intelligent, green, and healthy consumption is gradually becoming a new consumption trend — for example, the retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles has exceeded 60 percent for three consecutive months, and retail sales of high-energy-efficiency household appliances grew by more than 30 percent.

Whether the development philosophy is correct fundamentally determines the effectiveness and even the success or failure of development. In recent years, China's green momentum has continued to grow and strengthen. From industrial innovation on the supply side to demand upgrading on the consumption side, green and low-carbon has become the distinctive hallmark of high-quality development, demonstrating a powerful leading force for the economy to move toward the new, the superior, and the good, and serving as a vivid portrayal of the proposition that "new quality productive forces are themselves green productive forces."

Unswervingly advancing the green transformation of the industrial structure is not an optional question but a mandatory one. In the past, when green transformation was mentioned, some people mistakenly equated it with "spending money to reduce emissions," one-sidedly believing that transformation would increase costs and drag down growth. Today, with the transformation of thinking and concepts and the firming of the development direction, China's industrial structure is continuously evolving toward high-end, intelligent, and green development.

Look at Guazhou, Gansu. In the past, wind and sand destroyed farmland; today, green electricity is continuously transmitted. Since March, geopolitical conflicts have impacted global energy supplies, yet China's production of major energy products has remained stable, and clean energy has made an indelible contribution. In the first half of the year, clean energy power generation from hydropower, nuclear power, wind power, and solar power grew 4.6 percent, accounting for 36.2 percent of power generation by industrial enterprises above the designated size.

Look at Shangrao, Jiangxi. Villagers by Poyang Lake never expected that common migratory birds could attract tourists from all directions. Rural scenery, local culture, folk customs, farmhouse cuisine... In many places, eco-tourism has driven the "rediscovery" of rural value, and the path of comprehensive rural revitalization has grown broader.

From this perspective, transformation is not a burden; rather, it is an opportunity. From wind power, photovoltaics, and new energy vehicles to eco-tourism, organic agriculture, and forestry carbon sinks, the growth and expansion of green industries drives the coordinated development of upstream and downstream supporting industries, forming new growth points one after another.

The green transformation of the industrial structure is not simply about subtracting emissions; it is a comprehensive, deep-level, systemic transformation.

Consider the account books of two enterprises. A textile enterprise in Qiyang, Hunan, independently developed waterless dyeing technology, changing the traditional dyeing model of high water consumption, high pollution, and low efficiency. One machine can complete 100 meters of dyeing work per minute, production efficiency is increased fivefold under equivalent conditions, costs are reduced by 30 percent, and zero wastewater discharge is achieved. A chemical enterprise in Pingdingshan, Henan, deeply processes raw coal into tire cord fabric, increasing added value by 25 to 50 times, exporting to Europe, South America, North America, and elsewhere, with an international market share of over 40 percent.

Taking green transformation as an opportunity to leverage technological upgrading brings improved resource utilization efficiency across the entire chain, creates efficient eco-friendly green industrial clusters, and achieves the gratifying result of "promoting effective qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth in development through green transformation."

The key to promoting the green transformation of the industrial structure is to accelerate green technological innovation and the promotion and application of advanced green technologies, strengthen green manufacturing, develop green services, and expand the green energy industry.

In the first half of this year, the value added of the petroleum processing industry above the designated size grew 1.9 percent, but the biomass fuel processing industry within it grew 33.0 percent; the traditional chemical fiber industry grew 3.4 percent, but the bio-based materials manufacturing industry within it grew 21.9 percent. It can be seen that green momentum exists not only in emerging industries and future industries; traditional industries, through upgrading, renovation, and digital transformation, can also release new momentum and radiate new vitality and vigor.

Looking to the future, from actively choosing low-carbon travel to prioritizing the purchase of energy-saving and environmentally friendly products, continued upgrading on the consumption side will also drive supply-side innovation. As systems such as carbon footprint labels and green finance become increasingly refined, society's recognition of green and healthy lifestyles will grow, and green consumption will settle from a "trend" into the "norm," injecting more abundant and more enduring green momentum into high-quality economic development.

Not long ago, the "15th Five-Year Plan Carbon Peak Action Plan" was issued, drawing the "construction blueprint" for the next five years. Green development is both a transformation of philosophy and an opportunity for industry. Unswervingly following the path of ecological priority and green development, the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature will unfold an even more magnificent new chapter.

(This series of commentaries concludes here.)

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Harnessing the Potential of Artificial Intelligence (Micro Perspective)

By: 孟繁哲

Coordinating development and security requires coordinated efforts across laws and regulations, technical standards, risk monitoring, and other areas.

Not long ago, OpenAI admitted that some of its artificial intelligence (AI) models lost control during an internal security test, breaking through the isolation environment and invading the infrastructure of an open-source AI platform. This "unprecedented cybersecurity incident" prompts deep reflection: when artificial intelligence increasingly resembles a fine steed capable of traveling a thousand miles in a day, how can we effectively harness it?

A "thousand-mile steed" must not only run fast but also run steadily. From generative large models to embodied intelligence, from AI programming assistants to autonomous decision-making agents, the boundaries of artificial intelligence capabilities continue to expand, and application scenarios continue to enrich, yet the security governance matched to them may not fully keep pace. In this incident, some AI models autonomously completed the full chain of actions—intrusion, penetration, and manipulation—without instructions, exposing the fact that governance capabilities have not kept up with technological development. Security and development have never been an either-or proposition; only when risks are controlled can innovation have room for trial and error; only when the bottom line is held can technology have a foundation for iteration.

Coordinating development and security requires coordinated efforts across laws and regulations, technical standards, risk monitoring, and other areas. From the release of the Measures for the Identification of AI-Generated Synthetic Content, to the issuance of the mandatory national standard Basic Requirements for Intelligent Agent Application Security, to the launch by some AI laboratories of high-security, industry-grade intelligent agent platforms and open-source intelligent agent guard models, exploring the embedding of security norms into the decision-making layer of intelligent agents... Responding to the uncertainty of technology with the certainty of rules, ensuring that security governance covers every link from model research and development to terminal applications—only then can we ensure that artificial intelligence remains safe, reliable, and controllable at all times.

For a "thousand-mile steed" to travel far and steadily, it needs broad space. The "second half" of this OpenAI model loss-of-control incident is quite instructive: multiple closed-source models were unable to participate in the work of analyzing the attack payload due to safety guardrails, and the engineers of the invaded platform ultimately relied on locally deploying China's open-source model GLM-5.2 to complete the forensic process. This shows that open-source models can both lower the threshold for using artificial intelligence and help build a more solid security levee.

Since DeepSeek came to the world, the wave of global developers participating in model reproduction and security improvement has yet to subside. To some extent, the more eyes that see the code, the fewer risks hidden within it. Promoting security through openness, pooling strength through collaboration—this is precisely the important purpose behind China's taking the lead in proposing the Global AI Governance Initiative and promoting the establishment of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization. Today's China is both the country with the fastest growth in global open-source participants and an active promoter of international alignment and coordination of AI governance rules and technical standards. Faced with the governance challenges brought by technological progress, all countries need to respond hand in hand and cooperate fully, keeping artificial intelligence always under human control.

When a "thousand-mile steed" gallops, the most critical thing is to anchor the direction of upward goodness and benefit to humanity. In developing artificial intelligence, we must look not only at how strong the computing power is or how large the model is, but also at how many real problems it can help how many people solve. In Pakistan and other countries, China's meteorological intelligent early-warning solution "Mazu" has been deployed with visible results, helping meteorologists capture extreme signals in advance during the monsoon rainy season and issue warnings, reducing casualties and property losses. In Brazil, Chinese enterprises have built smart farm management platforms, bringing the entire process of cultivation, planting, management, and harvesting under intelligent control, and more and more local farmers are emerging from the predicament of "depending on the weather" and achieving increased production and income. All countries, regardless of size or strength, should enjoy the equal right to develop and utilize artificial intelligence. Deepening innovation cooperation and bridging the intelligence divide, new technologies will surely cross mountains and seas and continue to release dividends benefiting more people.

"The wise change with the times; the knowledgeable adapt to circumstances." At present, innovation in artificial intelligence technology has entered an unprecedented period of activity. In the future, what determines the fate of this "thousand-mile steed" is not only speed, but also direction and rules. Promoting good intelligence through good governance—this is China's choice, and it is also the call of the times.

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"Better to Toil and Burn with Youth" (On-Site Commentary)

By: 琼达卓嘎

What does a "lifeless zone" look like? With an average altitude of 5,373 meters, an oxygen content in the air below 40 percent of that at sea level, an average annual temperature of minus 7 degrees Celsius, and a winter lasting nine months, this is Pumajiangtang Township, Langkazi County, Shannan City, Tibet.

Bitter cold grips this land by the throat, and it has also trapped the livelihoods and dreams of generations of herders. To survive, one must first contend with the heavens, yet oxygen deprivation, extreme cold, and isolation are each daunting in their own right.

The herders' answer is: even when every step is difficult, we still fight! Where does the confidence to fight come from?

It comes from the transformation in housing.

Arriving in Pumajiangtang and stepping into the sunroom of Gongza, Party branch secretary of Shakong Village, a wave of warmth immediately envelops the body. "In the past, we huddled around yak-dung stoves in winter and never dared take off our thick cotton coats. Now a single sweater is enough to get through the winter safely." In Pumajiangtang decades ago, this was something no one dared even imagine.

From "dugout shelters" that could barely ward off the cold to standardized well-off housing, all 280 herder households in the township have now moved into spacious, clean new homes with fully equipped living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, and bathrooms. From "merely surviving" to "living well," the dream of secure housing has landed firmly on the ground.

It comes from the leap in connectivity.

As water, electricity, roads, and networks reached the villages, herders completely bid farewell to yak-dung heating. The bumpy mountain road to and from the city has become a smooth asphalt road. High mountains no longer block transportation, and inside and outside the mountains have been linked more closely than ever before.

It comes from the gathering of people.

Pumajiangtang once struggled to retain talent. Today, strivers arrive one after another. Township cadres are half Han and half Tibetan, with an average age of just over 30. Zhang Zhengqiu, a young man from Hunan, volunteered to train at the grassroots level. Hao Yu, whose hometown is in Inner Mongolia, traveled more than 3,000 kilometers to the snow-covered plateau. Township Party Secretary Dorje Wangchuk led the township Party committee team to tread every grazing point and every border mountain pass in the township. The 274 Party members are like sparks of fire, warming and illuminating the herder masses.

Asked whether life here is hard, the answer comes without hesitation: "Of course it is hard." But immediately followed by another sentence: "If we Party members and cadres cannot endure this hardship, how can we lead the masses forward?" These plain words carry weight, revealing the sense of responsibility and sincerity of Party members and cadres.

"Rather than bitterly enduring and wasting life, better to work hard and burn one's youth" is the shared conviction of all. In the early days of building the sunrooms, the masses were full of misgivings. Gongza did not rush to persuade others but first started construction on his own home, then went door to door inviting people to come and experience it for themselves, winning the people's trust through tangible results. Members of the border-guarding Party cell conduct border patrols once a week, with the farthest patrol point requiring a round trip of more than 40 kilometers on foot, and even when winter snow buried them up to the thigh, they never missed a single day. The warm-winter service Party cell visits households before winter each year to inspect heating equipment and stockpile winter supplies, keeping meticulous records of whose coal is insufficient and whose cowshed needs reinforcement.

On the roof of the world, what stands tall is not only the towering, unbroken plateau mountains, but also the spiritual high ground built by generations of perseverance. Generation after generation of Party members and cadres have carried forward the Old Tibet Spirit, holding fast to the conviction of "no lack of spirit despite lack of oxygen, no fear of hardship despite hardship, and higher standards despite higher altitude," practicing the earnest injunction to "be guardians of the sacred territory and builders of the happy homeland," taking root at the border, and working wholeheartedly to make the lives of people of all ethnic groups better day by day.

The rebirth of Pumajiangtang is a vivid footnote to our Party's governance for the people. From "dugout shelters" to well-off housing, from bitter cold and isolation to connected road networks, from failing to retain people to gathering talent — every change answers the same question: how does the people-centered development philosophy take root and grow in the harshest of environments?

In the final analysis, the confidence of the people of Pumajiangtang comes from the Party's care and from their own fighting spirit of "daring to measure heights with heaven." By always adhering to everything for the people and relying on the people in everything, and by uniting the mighty force of millions with one heart, we will surely create an even happier and more secure tomorrow.

(The author is a reporter for this newspaper's Tibet Branch.)

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Photo Report

For some time now, football tournaments such as the "Hunan Super League," "Guangdong Super League," "Jiangsu Super League," and "Northeast Super League" have continued to gain momentum. To fully unleash the multiplier effect of these tournaments, localities, drawing on successful experience, have further optimized competition formats and schedules as well as service guarantees, promoting the formation of a closed consumption loop encompassing spectating, travel, dining, and accommodation, so that the traffic generated by the tournaments is efficiently converted into incremental urban consumption.

This is exactly:

On the green pitch, popularity thrives,
In the streets and markets, customers bustle and swarm.
The city's scenery and customs are splendid throughout,
Brewing a lasting richness of delight.

Xu Zhiwen

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Why 'Wang's Speculation' Resonates (Across the Board)

By: 顾醒航 姜界峰 苏时榕

Recently, Guangxi Daily published a feature story titled "Wang's Conjecture" about Wang Hong, the Chinese mathematician who is the newest winner of the Fields Medal, and it has taken the internet by storm.

Why is it that many people cannot understand what the "three-dimensional Kakeya conjecture" is, yet feel a strong resonance with the mathematician who studies it?

This resonance stems not only from the award itself.

In today's world of fragmented information and diverse viewpoints, young people are not only concerned with their personal daily lives; they can also keenly sense the pulse of the times. Compared with abstract grand narratives, they seem more willing to experience these changes through specific people and events.

A young netizen empathized with Wang Hong's growth trajectory: "She is not a symbol on a pedestal, but an 'ordinary person who has been lost,' just like me." Of course, there is also her sense of "being a living person": she plays table tennis, loves fencing, loves landscapes, loves anime, and always wears a warm smile. She is not a simple collection of awards, titles, and papers, but a person with interests, aesthetic sensibilities, and a love of life.

Beyond resonance, what young people gain from her is more importantly strength.

A teacher who once taught Wang Hong said: "She did not rank first in every exam." Wang Hong barely made the cutoff to get into Peking University, and after finally transferring into the mathematics major, she "felt like she was struggling all the time"... Only after many twists and turns did she make up her mind: she should devote the most creative years of her life to mathematics.

There are two kinds of geniuses: one is the fireworks, which can shine brilliantly in an instant; the other is the sapling, which needs to grow slowly. Everyone also has their own path of growth—even if it is slower, even if it is full of twists and turns, as long as one does not give up and is willing to work hard, one will eventually find a direction that suits oneself.

Fortunately, at every critical choice, Wang Hong was always able to receive guidance and support from her family, school, and society. The times are progressing, and concepts are being renewed. Wang Hong's good fortune reflects the good fortune of countless others.

Gan Yunman, a 22-year-old student at Guangxi Normal University, won the first international championship in Guangxi boxing history in the women's 54-kilogram category at the 2026 World Boxing Federation World Cup Brazil station; Huang Ruiqiang, a post-2000s competitor from Guangxi, became a national champion through "bricklaying"; Lan Huaxing and Wei Yaxiu, a couple of primary school teachers from Dahua Yao Autonomous County in Guangxi, chose to return to the depths of the mountains and become guardians of two rural teaching sites... They work in different industries, strive hard, and repeatedly set new records in their lives.

Calm, enterprising, open, cooperative—neither self-deprecating nor arrogant... While looking at the world on an equal footing, the post-90s and post-00s generations are still tirelessly learning from the advanced and contributing youthful strength in every field.

In the early morning of July 24, Beijing time, when Wang Hong said at the post-award press conference, "Don't rush, take it slow," the reporter felt as if something had suddenly struck them.

Life itself is a conjecture awaiting solution. "Wang's Conjecture"—what exactly has it guessed right? No matter what you are doing or which path you are taking, find the one that belongs to you, and then walk it steadfastly. Every step in life counts.

(Excerpted and adapted from Guangxi Daily, original title: "'Wang's Conjecture'—What Has It Guessed Right?")

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Technology’s Roots Must Be Planted on Our Own Soil

By: 孙 宽

This is an era brimming with innovative vitality, and opportunities are sometimes hidden within those "impossibilities."
In life, there are often such regrets: climbing a mountain halfway up, the scenery is in sight, but the legs have already grown heavy; taking parents on a trip, yet after just a few steps, they are already panting for breath... The wish is clearly right before one's eyes, but physical strength can no longer hold out. This feeling of powerlessness is hard to bear. The direction of my entrepreneurial endeavor is exoskeleton robots (hereinafter referred to as "exoskeletons"). We do not pursue making them look like humans or replacing human labor, but rather aim to augment humanity and fulfill human potential. The starting point is the hope that technology can lend an extra measure of support to the body, making those things that are "thought of but cannot be done" possible once again.
Over the past few decades, exoskeletons have mostly been used in professional settings such as medical treatment and rehabilitation, and they were expensive. Today, our team has developed consumer-grade exoskeletons that are mass-produced at scale. The carbon fiber frame weighs less than two kilograms, about the same as a laptop computer. After wearing it, muscle fatigue can decrease by 63 percent; intelligent algorithms learn the gait in real time and respond within 0.31 seconds; the price starts at several thousand yuan, allowing more people to enjoy the ease that technology brings.
With its assistance, scientific expedition members on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have been able to climb the Tanggula Mountains with heavy loads, a 60-year-old asthma patient completed a hiking journey of more than 150 kilometers in five days, and a cyclist injured in a car accident completed a long-distance ride... Some users have said: "How can you give up everything you love because of your body?" I deeply resonate with this. Machines should help people, not compete with them. Amid the technological tide, people remain the protagonists. An exoskeleton should not be a machine that walks in place of a person, but rather help more people walk the path they want for themselves.
Why did we choose the full-stack self-developed route? Because we adhere to long-termism, and the times have also given us the confidence—there is this need, and there is even more of this confidence and capability.
Today's innovation is increasingly cross-disciplinary and composite in nature. Exoskeletons involve multiple fields, including algorithms, materials, motors, structures, and human ergonomics. If any link has shortcomings, it will affect the product experience. Since we are going to do it, we must do it solidly from the very first kilometer, do it to the utmost, and leave no regrets. This does not mean doing everything ourselves, but rather through continuous self-development of key links, ensuring that no matter which aspect has a problem, we have the ability to find the answer. Just as some enterprises connect the entire supply chain to improve product quality, we grasp the main line of research and development and strive to ensure that we are not "choked" by fluctuations upstream or downstream. Only when the roots of technology are planted under our own feet can we truly gain the initiative.
Fortunately, China has a solid industrial accumulation and a large number of engineering talents, enabling us to quickly assemble a cross-disciplinary team, break down barriers, and continuously overcome technical difficulties. A complete manufacturing system and a vast application market further allow new ideas, once born, to be immediately implemented, immediately generate data, and rapidly iterate, thereby further expanding scenarios. Our company is based in the Shenzhen Robotics Valley, and product components can be fully assembled within 30 minutes; if we draw a prototyping blueprint the night before, we can receive supplier samples the next day. Quantity gives rise to quality, and quality promotes quantity. Once this innovation "flywheel" starts turning, it is very difficult to stop. The times have provided such good conditions; there is no reason not to go all out and climb toward the hardest places and the highest points.
Setbacks are inevitable, but failure is always temporary, while progress is eternal. I often joke to myself that the only superpower of an entrepreneur is super optimism. A good product cannot be compromised, and users' trust must never be betrayed. There is no shortcut in research and development; what must be overturned and redone must be overturned and redone. I remember when testing the first-generation crowdfunded product, users reported that it was uncomfortable to wear and that when walking fast, the machine and the person "fought" each other. If we did not ship, the crowdfunding would be delayed; if we shipped as scheduled, we might overdraw users' trust. In the end, the team directly scrapped the first-generation crowdfunded product and redeveloped the second generation. I moved near the factory, watching the production line during the day, and at night adjusting parameters and modifying structures with the engineers. In the end, users' ratings for the new product rose above 90 points. Innovation requires a certain drive, but one cannot charge forward with one's head down. After identifying the direction, one must also have the courage to reset to zero and the patience to start over. Only by facing difficulties head-on without dodging or detouring, and by meticulously polishing, can things be done properly.
At the National Science and Technology Award Conference, the Conference of Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the Tenth National Congress of the China Association for Science and Technology, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "The future of science lies in the youth." For us young entrepreneurs, this is both an inspiration and a responsibility. Young people have fresh perspectives and often have good ideas, but innovation cannot stop at ideas alone; one must also ask: Who needs it? What problems can it solve? Can it truly enter people's lives? Be a long-termist innovator, integrate personal passion into social needs, turn curiosity into enterprising spirit, and advance step by step, deeper and more solidly—the road ahead will naturally blossom.
(The author is the founder of Geckoo Technology)

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Li Haoran, Peng Fei, He Juan

This edition's email: rmrbpl@peopledaily.cn (submissions should indicate the column name)

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Inspiring More Youth to Devote Themselves to the Great Cause of Strengthening the Military and Serving the Nation (Stories Behind the Reply Letter · Carrying Forward the Red Gene)

By: 本报记者 田先进

On the morning of July 30, the atmosphere inside the multi-function hall of Anhui Province Qianshan Yezhai Middle School was warm and lively. As the national anthem sounded, the school's 2026 "Great Wall Award" ceremony was held, and students who had received military academy admission notices this year stepped forward one by one to receive commendation. "This is an activity the school regularly holds around the August 1 Army Day each year, with the aim of inspiring more young people to establish the ideal of serving the motherland and defending the border." Zhu Taiping, Secretary of the Party General Branch of Yezhai Middle School, said.

This middle school, "built because of the cemetery, protecting the cemetery through the school," has over the years carved out a unique path of national defense education, with wave after wave of young people making the vow to trade the pen for the sword and guard the mountains and rivers of the homeland.

In 2023, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the State, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, wrote back to the 20 students of Anhui Province Qianshan Yezhai Middle School who had newly been admitted to military academies, emphasizing that "advancing the cause of building a strong military requires generation after generation of aspiring young people to carry on the struggle. I hope you will forge a loyal character, study and train diligently, temper a rigorous style, strive to grow into high-quality, professional new-type military personnel, and contribute to the modernization of national defense and the armed forces."

"Tangible and accessible, making campus landscapes a classroom for red education"

National University of Defense Technology, Army Engineering University, Air Force Engineering University... On the college entrance examination honor roll of Yezhai Middle School, students admitted to military academies are ranked ahead of many key universities.

Why such high esteem for applying to military academies? "This is closely tied to the school's history, and it is also our cultural heritage," Zhu Taiping said.

In 1943, amid the flames of war, in the area from Anqing, Anhui to Huangmei, Hubei, many officers and soldiers fell on the anti-Japanese battlefield. In order to better bury the fallen anti-Japanese soldiers, prominent figures from 13 counties across the two provinces of Anhui and Hubei initiated a proposal to build a cemetery at Yerenzhai, where 985 anti-Japanese martyrs now lie in eternal rest.

"To meet the needs of protecting the cemetery, and also to cultivate the orphans of fallen soldiers and outstanding local youth, a school was established here, initially named Jingzhong Middle School, meaning to admire and revere the loyal and martyred. It was later renamed Yezhai Middle School, and the name continues to this day," Zhu Taiping said.

The origins of national defense education at Yezhai Middle School can be traced back to the 1990s. In 1992, Yezhai Middle School began military training, a first in Anqing City. "The school established a school history museum, and later gradually began holding commemorative activities, which continued for nearly 20 years," Zhu Taiping said.

Since 2012, the school has designated national defense education as its distinctive feature in running the school. "The school has successively renovated the Martyr Shrine, rebuilt the Memorial Tower for Fallen Soldiers of the War of Resistance, constructed the War of Resistance Memorial Hall, built the Jingzhong Garden, and arranged national defense-themed exhibitions," Zhu Taiping said. "National defense education must never remain only in words and textbooks; it must be tangible and accessible, making campus landscapes a classroom for red education."

Yezhai Middle School also frequently organizes various themed activities. On July 7, students scrub the tombstones of fallen anti-Japanese soldiers and clean the Martyr Shrine; on September 18, teachers and students gather on the playground, and the school's most senior principal, Wang Shengsheng, together with the youngest new student, jointly sound the alarm bell... According to statistics, the school carries out more than 10 related commemorative activities throughout the year.

"There are two most important activities. One is the opening ceremony for new senior high students, held every September 3 in front of the Memorial Tower for Fallen Soldiers of the War of Resistance," Zhu Taiping introduced. The other is the graduation ceremony held every June 10, where students pay tribute to the anti-Japanese martyrs and take an oath of farewell.

Last year, Yezhai Middle School incorporated this series of milestone activities into the "Jingzhong Inspirational Culture Festival," continuously enriching its connotation. "At present, the school's distinctive national defense education activities run throughout the year, striving to bring red historical memories into the hearts of students," said Yu Ling, Vice Principal of Yezhai Middle School.

This summer, the distinctive national defense education activities have been "updated" once again. Yu Ling introduced that the school has launched a red roots-seeking practice activity, encouraging prospective new senior high students to read deeply the school's rich history, visit local red heritage sites, listen to veterans' stories of the War of Resistance, and help students receive national defense education in an all-round way.

"Delivering more young people who cherish the nation in their hearts to the cause of building a strong country and a strong military"

Among the 30 students admitted to military academies this year, 10 come from the National Defense Science and Technology Talent Cultivation Class. This special class was established in 2023 through cooperation between the National University of Defense Technology and Yezhai Middle School.

"Selection is based on scores in the high school entrance examination's cultural courses, while also considering physical fitness and other conditions. There will also be a second round of screening and streaming later," said Chen Jiegen, head teacher of the first National Defense Science and Technology Talent Cultivation Class. "Initially the class had 51 students; due to subject selection reasons, 46 ultimately took the college entrance examination, and all 17 who scored above 600 applied to military academies."

Zhu Taiping explained that compared with ordinary classes, the National Defense Science and Technology Talent Cultivation Class has no special arrangements in cultural course instruction, but it introduces more national defense education resources. Students in the class are given priority in participating in military lectures and other activities; external resources are leveraged to strengthen students' physical training; and class teachers are required to master the basic situation of military academies and understand the application process and details...

Through coordination by Zhu Taiping and others, the College of Electronic Countermeasures of the National University of Defense Technology cooperated with Yezhai Middle School to organize a summer camp. In July this year, 50 students from the 2025 cohort of the National Defense Science and Technology Talent Cultivation Class went to Hefei to participate in the camp.

"At the camp, students receive all-round physical training and temper their willpower of enduring hardship and tenacious struggle," Zhu Taiping said. "We hope students understand military life from the very beginning."

Peers of the same age around them are the most infectious role models. "Since 2023, the school has cultivated a group of youth role models among its graduates, fully leveraging the benchmark effect of outstanding alumni," Yu Ling said.

Yu Ziyan is a 2023 graduate of Yezhai Middle School and is now studying at the Naval Medical University. In March this year, she returned to her alma mater to give a presentation. "In three years at the school, Yu Ziyan has achieved multiple research results, completing the transformation from a green girl to a new sharp edge of the strong military," Yu Ling said. "In particular, Yu Ziyan's sharing of details from her daily study and life gave fellow students a new understanding of military academies."

Ye Dashan, also a 2023 graduate, was awarded a third-class merit citation shortly after entering the National University of Defense Technology. Chen Jiegen explained that when local relevant departments went to Ye Dashan's home to deliver the good news, the school specially arranged for student representatives to accompany them, including Xu Aoxiang, Yu Liuwei, and Wang Jiawei. "When I presented flowers to Ye Dashan's mother, I felt that joining the military to serve the country was supremely glorious," Xu Aoxiang said.

In this year's college entrance examination, Xu Aoxiang achieved excellent results and entered the Space Engineering University of the Aerospace Force; Yu Liuwei and Wang Jiawei were respectively admitted to the Rocket Force Engineering University and the Armed Police Force Engineering University. Data from the Academic Affairs Office of Yezhai Middle School shows that 170 people submitted political review forms for military academies in this year's college entrance examination, far exceeding previous years, with an average admission score of 618.

"Next, we will improve the school's national defense education content and deliver more young people who cherish the nation in their hearts to the cause of building a strong country and a strong military," Zhu Taiping stated.

"Military academy life has made me understand even more clearly the responsibility and mission of the younger generation"

With dark skin, a lean build, and resolute eyes, seeing Shi Hao again, this young man who three years ago was still immature, now carries a bit more maturity and steadiness.

In 2023, Shi Hao graduated from Yezhai Middle School and was admitted to the Air Force Engineering University, beginning his military academy life at the School of Aeronautical Engineering. Shi Hao said his father had educated him to love the country since childhood, and he also had a cousin at home who had been enlisted for many years; his parents often told him stories of his cousin's service and meritorious deeds and training troops, but what truly solidified his determination to join the military was Yezhai Middle School.

"The first lesson for new students upon enrollment is taking an oath in front of the martyr tombstones," Shi Hao said. "Thinking of the names of young soldiers engraved on the stone tablets, and the later military academy life, has made me understand even more clearly the responsibility and mission of the younger generation. Under the university's 'four-year integrated' stepwise cultivation path, I quickly integrated into study and life."

Having just graduated from Yezhai Middle School a year ago, Wang Haobo, a 2025 cohort student at the Army Branch University, often misses his high school days.

"During high school, I frequently participated in the school's distinctive national defense education activities." What impressed Wang Haobo most was the sharing sessions by outstanding senior students from military academies. "They shared their experiences and insights on adapting to military academy life, facing challenges head-on, and studying and training diligently, which provided help for my studies and growth."

During his time at the military academy, Wang Haobo has been active in the school's national defense education activities. "Since the beginning of this year, I have successively participated in the university's 'Peak' Fire Legacy — Learning from Lei Feng practice activity, the 'Youth Battle Song' May Fourth Choral Concert, and others," Wang Haobo introduced. What moved him most was the "Youth Battle Song" May Fourth Choral Concert, which was divided into multiple chapters and brought together students from multiple military academies to jointly sing the melody of building a strong military.

Having left their alma mater and gone their separate ways to military posts, the students of Yezhai Middle School are like sparks of red culture, taking root in every position of national defense construction. "In the future, I will actively spread the good voice of building a strong military, inspiring more young people to cultivate deep feelings for the nation and devote themselves to the great cause of strengthening the military and serving the country," Wang Haobo said.

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交出青春报国的动人答卷（编辑手记）

By: 康 岩

More than eighty years have passed, and Yezhai Middle School, steeped in the genes of the red revolution, has turned national defense education into a gentle spring rain that nourishes silently, nurturing in the hearts of young people the seed of defending the homeland.

The spiritual call that originates from the depths of history is the profound foundation of Yezhai Middle School's national defense education. This middle school, which "was established because of the martyrs' cemetery and protects the cemetery through the school," has always inscribed the original aspiration of "revering the loyal and the martyred" into its founding purpose. National defense education is not empty preaching, but rather the revelation given by the land beneath one's feet: that today's peaceful mountains and rivers were all forged by the blood of our forebears; and that with youthful vigor and high spirits, we should naturally guard the vast territory of our mountains and rivers.

The immersive educational practice moves the sentiment of serving the country from being moved to taking action. Yezhai Middle School does not confine national defense education to a single class or a single activity, but rather runs it through the entire process of education. Here, applying to military academies is a pursuit that naturally follows after long-term spiritual cultivation.

Generations of Yezhai students have set out from beside the Martyrs' Shrine, integrating their personal ideals into the great cause of national rejuvenation. We look forward to more campuses strengthening national defense education, guiding more young people to carry forward the red bloodline, and delivering moving answers in serving the country with their youth.

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Shenzhou-21 crew makes first public appearance after returning to Earth

BEIJING, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) — (Liu Shiyao, Zhan Kang) Recently, the China Astronaut Research and Training Center held a press conference at the Beijing Space City for the crew of the Shenzhou-21 mission. This was the first public appearance before the media and the general public of the three astronauts Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang after they returned to Earth and completed their quarantine and recuperation.
This mission set a new record for the longest single-crew on-orbit stay at 210 days. During the mission, the crew successfully completed three extravehicular operations, accomplished tasks including the inspection and photography of the return capsule porthole of the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft and the installation of space debris protection devices on the space station, carried out multiple cargo ingress and egress operations, and, in close coordination with ground-based scientific researchers, completed a large number of space science experiments and tests covering fields such as microgravity fundamental physics, space materials science, space life science, space medicine, and space technology. In addition, the crew personally experienced and witnessed historic moments in the history of China's manned space program, including the first postponement of a spacecraft's return due to space debris impact, the first crew transfer to a different spacecraft for return, and the first emergency launch of a spacecraft. They also experienced and witnessed unforgettable moments of the entire manned space program, united as one between space and ground, carrying out emergency operations with one heart and one mind.
At the press conference, the three astronauts recalled their valuable experience of staying in orbit and shared their respective unique experiences.
As one of the witnesses of China's first space emergency operation, Commander Zhang Lu frankly stated that what this space emergency operation experience impressed them most deeply was the calm confidence of China's aerospace endeavor, reflecting the value pursuit of life first and success first, demonstrating the scientific research style of rigor, prudence, meticulousness, and precision, as well as the spirit of great collaboration in overcoming difficulties and uniting as one. Zhang Lu said: "The space-ground emergency response system of China's manned space program has passed the test of actual combat and has been reviewed by the motherland and the people."
Zhang Lu has successively carried out two flight missions, Shenzhou-15 and Shenzhou-21, completing a total of seven extravehicular operations, setting a new record for the number of extravehicular activities by a single Chinese astronaut. He frankly stated that every successful extravehicular operation is the result of the silent support of tens of millions of aerospace workers.
Regarding the 210-day ultra-long stay, aerospace flight engineer Wu Fei summarized his gains with the two characters "淬炼" (cuì liàn - "tempering and refinement"). At the level of personal capability, he unlocked three valuable "space skills": the ability for fine operation in a weightless environment, the ability for space-ground coordinated communication under high load, and the ability for rapid on-orbit fault troubleshooting. In his view, astronauts bear a triple mission: they are the "hands of scientists" completing space experiments on behalf of scientists, the "eyes of engineers" inspecting and maintaining the space station, and the "feet of pioneers" rushing toward deep space exploration.
Payload expert Zhang Hongzhang introduced that the microgravity environment in space completely changes physical laws such as gravity, buoyancy, and fluid convection, which differ vastly from ground laboratory environments, bringing many special challenges to the conduct of various experiments. The scientific research team completed a full set of refined contingency plans in advance. During the mission, the on-orbit experiments and tests achieved multiple domestic technological breakthroughs.
Apart from the heavy scientific research tasks, the crew cultivated more than ten kinds of crops on orbit, including naked oats, wheat, sunflowers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, mint, and lettuce, cultivating a "space peach blossom paradise" full of Chinese poetic charm above orbit. These not only verified and improved on-orbit planting technology but also added much enjoyment to the high-intensity space life.
According to a relevant official from the China Astronaut Research and Training Center, under the careful care of the scientific research support team of the China Astronaut Center, the Shenzhou-21 crew members are in good physical and mental condition, with muscle strength, endurance, and exercise cardiopulmonary function basically restored to pre-flight levels. They have now entered the recovery observation stage. After completing the health assessment and summary of the post-return recovery period, they will transition to normal training and work.

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"Three Transformations" viewed through Central Plains

By: 本报记者 王乐文 方 敏 张文豪

In the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan, good news about "Henan Manufacturing" keeps coming—
The "Jianghan Shennong" hard rock tunnel boring machine, developed with the participation of China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd., rolled off the production line, helping with the Yangtze-to-Hanjiang Water Diversion Project;
Yutong Bus launched the country's first autonomous shuttle project at Urumqi Tianshan International Airport in Xinjiang, and with an 11.6% market share, Yutong Bus firmly ranks among the world's leading large and medium-sized bus manufacturers;
Zhongchuang Zhiling (Zhengzhou) Industrial Technology Group Co., Ltd. delivered 28 crawler walking support robots in batch, marking the entry of coal mine intelligent support equipment into the stage of robotization and batch application.
From "complete categories" to "strong bones and muscles," how has "Henan Manufacturing" transformed from large to strong?
Innovation-driven, quality revolution, brand empowerment. The "three transformations" of the Central Plains are rooted in ideological guidance.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has visited Henan many times for inspection and research.
In May 2014, Zhengzhou, Henan. During an inspection at the shield machine general assembly workshop of China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd., General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the "three transformations," pointing out: "Strive to achieve major breakthroughs in advantageous fields, common technologies, and key technologies, and promote the transformation of Chinese manufacturing to Chinese creation, Chinese speed to Chinese quality, and Chinese products to Chinese brands."
In May 2025, when hearing the work report of the Henan Provincial Party Committee and the Henan Provincial Government, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "As a major economic province, Henan should further consolidate the foundation of the real economy, take scientific and technological innovation as the guide, develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions, and enhance the supporting capacity of the modernized industrial system for high-quality development."
…………
New era, new thought, new practice.
Guided by the blueprint of the "three transformations," the Central Plains has contributed 1/2 of the world's gantry cranes and 1/10 of large and medium-sized buses, and manufactured 60% of the country's artificial intelligence servers, 70% of gas sensors, 80% of domestic high-end bearings, and 90% of superhard materials...
One region reveals the whole picture. In 2025, the added value of China's manufacturing industry reached 34.7 trillion yuan, remaining stable at about 25% of GDP, and the scale of the manufacturing industry has ranked first in the world for 16 consecutive years.
Catching up is accelerating, running side by side is increasing, and leading is emerging. Chinese manufacturing is standing on the world's manufacturing map with a brand-new image.

Promoting the transformation from manufacturing to creation
From "looked down upon" to "remarkable"
A "steel earthworm" about two stories tall—have you ever seen one?
Walking into the shield machine general assembly workshop of China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd., the "China Railway 1559" shield machine with a diameter of 5.37 meters comes into view.
"This cutter head has hardness exceeding that of diamond. Equipped with self-developed earth pressure balance technology, it can easily 'chew through' even hard rock." Jia Lianhui, chief engineer of the company, introduced that this "steel earthworm" will go overseas for operation.
"China's shield machines started from zero, and it has been so difficult to get to where we are today!" Jia Lianhui said with emotion.
More than 20 years ago, the domestic shield machine market was dominated entirely by "foreign brands." "Without independent research and development capabilities, we were always looked down upon," Jia Lianhui said. "When equipment broke down, foreign engineers would fly over and charge by the hour..."
The equipment manufacturing industry is a vital pillar of the country. Being at the mercy of others is unpleasant.
"From 0 to 1," take on the hard bone!
After years of effort, the research and development team of China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd. overcame difficulties, and China's first shield machine prototype with independent intellectual property rights successfully rolled off the production line in 2008.
The more critical the core technology, the more it cannot be waited for or bought.
"To break through development bottlenecks and solve deep-seated contradictions and problems, a place or an enterprise must rely fundamentally on innovation, and the key is to rely on scientific and technological strength." In May 2014, during the inspection at the shield machine general assembly workshop of China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd., General Secretary Xi Jinping gave earnest instructions.
Innovation leads, and hard work provides the answer. Built the country's largest tunnel boring machine research, development, and manufacturing base, and for the main bearings, reducers, and other components that were long dependent on imports—the "bottleneck" components—took the lead in establishing a domestic testing platform for shield machine main bearings and reducers.
As of now, China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd. has accumulated 352 core technologies, of which 194 fill domestic gaps, and key components such as large-displacement hydraulic pumps and main drive seals have been broken through one by one. In the past 10 years, the enterprise's annual R&D investment intensity has remained above 8%, and R&D personnel account for as high as 45%.
Persisting in "going all out," what results have been achieved?
Jia Lianhui introduced: "The localization rate of core components has risen from 0 to 95%."
At the Cefalù railway tunnel project site in Sicily, southern Italy, the cooperative partner sincerely gave a thumbs up: "Made in China, remarkable!"
From "looked down upon" to "remarkable," this writes a vivid footnote for promoting the transformation from manufacturing to creation—
Now, shield machines produced in Henan are exported to 36 countries and regions, with production and sales volumes ranking among the top in the country for many consecutive years; the number of high-tech enterprises in the province has exceeded 12,600, an increase of more than 8 times compared with 10 years ago; among the province's research and experimental development (R&D) expenditures, enterprise investment accounts for over 85%.
The road of innovation is never smooth.
A beam of light focuses on a ring-sized bearing.
The screen shows: rotation error, 1 micrometer. Lü Ruifang, chief technical engineer of Luoyang Hongyuan Bearing Technology Co., Ltd., instantly relaxed her brow.
This 1 micrometer was once an insurmountable "chasm."
"Early detection equipment was insufficient and the technical difficulty was great. We explored more than 20 process routes and kept hitting walls," Lü Ruifang said.
On the stage of the 2026 CCTV Spring Festival Gala, humanoid robots transformed into "martial arts masters" with outstanding performance. "Now, many of the 'joints' of domestic humanoid robots are produced by Hongyuan Bearing!" Lü Ruifang said.
Where did the change come from? Government, industry, academia, research, and application, twisted into a single rope.
Science and technology departments assisted the enterprise in applying for provincial-level major science and technology special projects, solving problems such as funding; the enterprise established a key laboratory for embodied intelligent bearings and conducted joint research with Henan University of Science and Technology, achieving breakthroughs in key technologies.
Looking across Henan, how can more "1 micrometer" problems be solved?
Zhengzhou, the birthplace of China's synthetic diamond, gathers more than 100 related enterprises, and together with Nanyang, Shangqiu, and Xuchang, forms a complete superhard materials industry chain.
Although China is a major country in superhard materials and products, the high-end market is still dominated by imports. "We also want to move toward the high end, but without mastering key core technologies, we can only sigh at the 'materials,'" the person in charge of a diamond micropowder production enterprise said frankly.
To break the deadlock, efforts are made on the "chain."
Deploying the innovation chain around the industrial chain, leading universities, research institutes, and enterprises in the industry established the Henan Provincial High-End Superhard Materials and Products Innovation Consortium to jointly tackle key common technologies of the industrial chain; laying out the industrial chain around the innovation chain, 7 national-level innovation platforms including the National Key Laboratory of High-Performance Tools opened their doors to upstream and downstream enterprises of the entire chain, and a batch of new technologies moved from laboratories to production lines.
The chain-leading enterprise Zhengzhou Research Institute for Abrasives & Grinding Co., Ltd. paired up with more than 10 small and medium-sized enterprises. "Following the chain leader in R&D, with platform sharing and expert guidance, having someone to help gives us peace of mind!" said Li Hexin, head of Funik Superhard Materials Co., Ltd.
Gathering chains into clusters, the patent applications of Henan's superhard materials industry base increased 3 times in 3 years, and the overall added value increased by more than 40%, making the "industrial teeth" tougher.
Strengthening the chain requires efforts on "people."
In 2025, Henan completed vocational skills training for 2.84 million person-times and added 735,000 high-skilled talents. The province's skilled talents exceeded 20 million—1 in every 5 people is a skilled talent.
Investing in things forges the backbone of industry; investing in people nurtures the soul of innovation.
As of now, Henan has built 102 national-level enterprise technology centers and 1,436 provincial-level enterprise technology centers.
"Promoting the deep integration of the innovation chain, industrial chain, capital chain, and talent chain"—this sentence written into the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan is both directional guidance and a summary of practice.

Promoting the transformation from speed to quality
From "seeking quantity" to "emphasizing quality"
Anyang and Zhoukou, one in the north and one in the south. The high-quality steel produced in the two places, one is thin and the other is thick.
How thin? Anyang's high magnetic induction grain-oriented silicon steel has an ultimate thin specification of only 0.18 millimeters.
How thick? The world's first "double ultra-wide stand" wide and thick plate production line was completed in Zhoukou, capable of rolling marine and nuclear power steel plates up to 300 millimeters thick.
In the past, 70% of Henan's steel enterprises produced large quantities of low-end products such as rebar, with low costs, high investment, and extensive expansion.
The market was saturated, and price wars were frequent. Calculating profits carefully, "a hundred catties of steel is not as good as a bowl of stewed noodles," and many steel plants struggled to survive.
"The automotive steel plates needed by Henan's automobile enterprises did not meet local product standards, so they could only be purchased from other places," said Wang Dongfang, person in charge of Anyang Jiangnan Industrial Company.
Farsighted, clearing the fog. "We must better coordinate the effective improvement of quality and the reasonable growth of quantity, always adhere to quality first and efficiency priority, vigorously enhance quality awareness, regard quality as life, and pursue high quality."
First, clear the cage.
Blast furnaces below 450 cubic meters and converters below 40 tons across the province were resolutely eliminated; the main steel production capacity underwent major restructuring, with the number of enterprises reduced from 21 to 15.
Then, change the birds.
In 2023, Henan Iron and Steel Group was established, with two major bases, each with its own characteristics and differentiated competition.
The Zhoukou base's entire series of ship and marine engineering steel is independently developed, passing certification by classification societies of the United States, France, South Korea, and other countries, confidently going global.
The Anyang base previously produced more than 1 million tons of ordinary hot-rolled plates annually with a profit margin of less than 5%; now it focuses on thin-specification special steel, with output reduced by 30% and profits doubled.
"Take our research institute as an example. In recent years, we have cumulatively developed 240 new steel grades, and flagship products such as rare earth weathering steel and high-manganese wear-resistant steel have been launched one after another," Huang Zhongliang, deputy director of the Henan Provincial Advanced Steel Materials Industry Research Institute, revealed the family assets.
To climb the peak of manufacturing quality, standards are indispensable.
At the Jiaozuo production base of new materials enterprise LB Group, raw material sampling and inspection are carried out on a regular basis. After testing, the qualification rate of titanium concentrate raw materials is 100%!
This "100%" was hard-won.
In the past, titanium concentrate raw materials were of uneven quality. Standards were not high enough, quality could not be improved, and the doors of large enterprises could not be knocked open. Suppliers could only worry in vain.
How to make up for the shortcomings?
LB Group took the initiative, took the lead in participating in the formulation and revision of multiple national and industry standards, and exported mature quality standards and inspection methods; it also extended its quality management system to supporting enterprises, promoting its suppliers to establish chief quality officers, update standards, and improve quality.
"We jointly carried out benchmarking verification tests with suppliers, selected samples of different gradients, conducted two-way comparative testing, and based on the test results, helped suppliers optimize their process flows in a targeted manner," said Hou Yanwu, director of the Science and Technology Management Department of LB Group Research Institute.
Standards lead, forcing quality improvement, feeding back into industrial collaboration, and driving industry progress.
From LB Group to Jiaozuo, the new materials industry chain has formed a virtuous cycle, with the industry scale exceeding 100 billion yuan.
Looking across Henan, 6,648 enterprises in the province have established chief quality officers, and enterprises have taken the lead in or participated in the formulation of 88 international standards and 5,757 national standards.
Standards determine quality; only high standards produce high quality.
China Pingmei Shenma Group's nylon 66 tire cord fabric holds a global high-end market share of over 90%;
Do-Fluoride New Materials Co., Ltd. in Jiaozuo—one in every three lithium batteries in the world uses its crystalline lithium hexafluorophosphate;
Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery Group Co., Ltd.'s hydraulic support production has shifted from "selling by the ton" to "customization," with a global high-end market share of over 60%...
In September 2019, during an inspection at Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery Group Co., Ltd., General Secretary Xi Jinping instructed: "We must firmly promote industrial transformation and upgrading, strengthen independent innovation, and develop high-end manufacturing and intelligent manufacturing."
Keeping the instructions in mind, high standards lead high quality, the "scale dividend" has become a "quality dividend" and "efficiency dividend," and more and more "Henan Manufacturing" products are becoming stronger.

Promoting the transformation from products to brands
From "no reputation" to "well-known"
Walking into the exhibition hall of Weihua Group, a picture catches the eye: the landing markets extending outward from Henan, China, densely covering six continents.
"Cranes are sold to more than 170 countries and regions, and the Weihua brand is stepping onto the world stage," said Han Hong'an, chairman of the group, with pride.
More than 10 years ago, this enterprise headquartered in Changyuan City, Henan, bid multiple times for a large project in the Middle East but ultimately lost to European products with higher prices.
"Our products are good and cheap, so why did we lose the bid?" Han Hong'an pressed for an answer.
The foreign client shrugged and shook his head: "Never heard of it..."
Low brand awareness was once the overseas dilemma of Weihua and many Chinese enterprises. Products could be made, but brands had not been established; quality was not inferior, but the premium was low. "No price increase, no profit; price increase, lost orders." Many enterprises could only do OEM work.
Thought guidance pierces through clouds and fog.
"The central region must have the confidence to open its doors to the outside world. Attract more medium and high-end projects to land, promote high-quality production capacity and equipment to the world stage and the international market, and promote brands and technology abroad."
In May 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping's remarks at the symposium on promoting the rise of the central region pointed the way out for the central region and even Chinese brands to go global.
Determined to make the brand go from "no reputation" to "well-known," Weihua raced to catch up.
Went to the Middle East, facing technical requirements from clients higher than international standards, and developed new double-girder cranes; went to Africa to inspect large hydropower station projects and produced customized high-temperature-resistant and corrosion-resistant cranes; laid out overseas assembly bases globally, set up parts warehouses in more than 60 countries and regions, and built localized service teams.
"Products go out, services follow up, and only then can the brand be established," Han Hong'an said. In 2025, Weihua's overseas sales revenue exceeded 4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35%.
To enhance the international influence of the "Henan brand," the "visible hand" and the "invisible hand" work together.
In October 2025, at the World Bus Expo in Belgium, Yutong Bus won 7 awards.
The high-end bus market was long occupied by European and American brands. "Strategic support and government backing give us more confidence in international operations," said Han Bin, head of the company's brand communications.
Establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, Henan optimizes the business environment with a service mindset and helps cultivate benchmark brands—
Subsidies for transportation and booth fees are given to enterprises participating in key domestic and overseas exhibitions; special "Henan Manufacturing" matchmaking meetings are held overseas; overseas comprehensive service platforms are built to push overseas market dynamics and trade risk warnings in real time; "one-stop" services are provided for export credit insurance, cross-border settlement, and legal consultation...
Optimizing services, expanding channels, solving problems. At present, Yutong buses are exported to more than 100 countries and regions, with cumulative overseas sales exceeding 130,000 vehicles.
Services extend the chain, industry forms clusters, and polishing brands also requires systematic thinking.
In March this year, the National Agricultural Machinery Exhibition was held in Zhumadian, Henan.
At the sugarcane harvester booth, a purchaser from Shandong looked puzzled: "Chenhan? Never heard of it."
"We refer to the 'YTO' standard," the salesperson of Luoyang Chenhan Agricultural Equipment Technology Co., Ltd. enthusiastically introduced.
The purchaser nodded: "Luoyang 'YTO' is trustworthy!"
Agricultural machinery equipment is a traditional advantageous industry in Luoyang. In the past, apart from the leading enterprise China YTO Group, the brand awareness of other brands was generally low.
Sharing standards to promote co-creation of brands. China YTO took the initiative to open its supply chain to small and medium-sized enterprises in the cluster, sharing procurement lists and technical standards; cluster enterprises jointly participated in brand exhibitions and trade fairs, appearing together... In 2024, the Luoyang Modern Agricultural Machinery Equipment Cluster was selected as a national advanced manufacturing cluster.
From independent brands to cluster brands, and then to the "Meiyu Famous Products" public brand, Henan is striving to build a multi-level brand ecosystem.
At present, 128 enterprises and 160 categories of products in the province have been authorized to use the "Meiyu Famous Products" brand, of which 95 are manufacturing enterprises. The two advantageous brand clusters of equipment manufacturing and food manufacturing continue to enhance the quality of "Henan Manufacturing."
The modernized industrial system is the support for high-quality development.
The outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan proposes "maintaining a reasonable proportion of manufacturing, and building a modernized industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone."
In 2025, the operating revenue of industrial enterprises above designated size in Henan Province exceeded 5 trillion yuan.
In the first half of this year, Henan Province's GDP grew by 5.0% year-on-year, and the added value of industries above designated size grew by 8.1% year-on-year. The economic operation was generally stable, with steady progress.
Keeping in mind the earnest instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping, Henan is striving to promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions, and contribute to building a strong manufacturing country.
The Central Plains looks at the "three transformations," and its steps are resounding.

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Zhang Yanchun, Liu Juanxi, Wang Bo

Layout design: Cai Huawei (蔡华伟)

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Real Work Drives Development, Women Shine with Distinction

By: 本报记者 向子丰

In the summer, Inner Mongolia's grasslands stretch wide and lush with greenery. Recently, a reporter followed the All-China Women's Federation's "Striving for the 15th Five-Year Plan · Green Inner Mongolia" thematic research tour into the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
From the front line of sand prevention and control to multi-ethnic communities, from intangible cultural heritage workshops to photovoltaic bases, women from all ethnic groups and all walks of life in Inner Mongolia promote development through solid work and open new chapters through striving, writing the women's answer sheet of Chinese-style modernization on the northern border of the motherland.

Green relay: perseverance and dedication turn desert into oasis
Ordos City is located in the hinterland of the "几字弯" (the "U-bend" of the Yellow River). In the past, yellow sand filled the sky and desertification was a prominent problem. Today, with the in-depth advancement of the "Three-North" Shelterbelt Project campaign, the region has achieved an ecological transformation of green advancing and sand retreating, clear Yellow River water, and grassland restoration.
At the Engebei Desert Science Museum in the Engebei Ecological Demonstration Zone, Dalad Banner, Ordos City, docent Wang Lu introduced that in 1964, Baoriledai, then Party branch secretary of the Buridu Livestock Production Brigade of Wushenzhao Commune, led 9 women to form a women's militia team, pioneering the "front-block, back-pull, wear-boots, put-on-hat" (前挡后拉、穿靴戴帽) sand control method. More than 60 years later, the 30-plus mu of experimental fields have expanded into an 186,000-mu oasis.
Today, this green baton has been passed to new farmers. Liu Xueqin, model pacesetter of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region March 8th Red Banner Bearers and agricultural technician of the Engebei Ecological Demonstration Zone Management Committee, has been rooted here for 18 years. She has grown bananas, purple-fleshed dragon fruit, papaya, and other fruits in intelligent greenhouses, successfully achieving high-quality mass production, making "southern fruits grown in the north" a reality.
How do you grow tropical fruits in the desert? Liu Xueqin consulted materials and wrote hundreds of thousands of characters of technical notes while learning from local "indigenous experts," figuring out the local climate and soil characteristics. She also propagated 3 tissue-culture seedlings that had traveled into space aboard the Shenzhou-4 spacecraft into more than 500 clusters of banana seedlings of "Hangjiao No. 2," and newly planted 136 banana trees. "In the desert, not only have trees been planted and grass grown, but precious fruits have also been harvested," Liu Xueqin said.
With Liu Xueqin's promotion, the facility agriculture of the Engebei Ecological Demonstration Zone has gradually matured, training an average of over 10,000 farmers and herders annually. Today, water-saving irrigation technology coverage here reaches 90%, crop yield per unit area has increased by 30%, and vegetation coverage has risen from less than 10% to over 60%.
Ecological governance has not only improved the environment but also achieved two-way empowerment with industrial transformation. In the hinterland of the Kubuqi Desert, rows of deep-blue photovoltaic panels gleam under the scorching sun. This is the Dalad Banner Photovoltaic Power Generation Application Leading Base. The base covers 50,000 mu, has an installed capacity of 1 million kilowatts, and generates nearly 2 billion kilowatt-hours annually, using a "forest-light complementarity" model to restore 36,000 mu of sandy land.
Power generation on the panels, restoration beneath the panels. The base also provides local women with jobs such as cleaning photovoltaic panels and planting between panels. "Twenty or thirty women in the village take turns working, and each person can earn an extra 30,000 to 40,000 yuan per year," said Ao Tegenhua, a farmer working here.

Unity and cohesion: ethnic solidarity builds a harmonious home together
In Qingquanjie Community, Yuquan District, Hohhot, a small room is piled full of rice, flour, grain, and oil. This is the community's "Ethnic Solidarity Love Supermarket." The supplies in the supermarket are donated by various units. People in difficulty can directly receive daily necessities, and volunteers can also exchange points for needed items.
Residents of 11 ethnic groups, including Han, Mongolian, Korean, and Russian, live in the community, and there are many disabled people and elderly living alone. Thanks to the efforts of Wu Hexiang, the community's Party secretary and neighborhood committee director, this small supermarket has been operating for over 20 years without interruption.
Wu Hexiang, now 76 years old, walks around the community every day. She has taken the lead in organizing residents to taste food, watch performances, and chat about daily life. When people eat together and enjoy themselves together, they naturally become familiar and their moods relax. The community has also formed a volunteer team of more than 1,200 people to help residents solve daily trivial matters such as repairing water pipes and changing light bulbs, bringing warmth to people of all ethnic groups.
"When ethnic solidarity is done well, it can promote community harmony and people's peace." Wu Hexiang has been deeply rooted at the grassroots level for 47 years and has received honors including National Model of Ethnic Unity and Progress and National March 8th Red Banner Bearer. Under her leadership, the community has been successively awarded National Model Collective of Ethnic Unity and Progress and National Advanced Model of the "Fengqiao Experience" in the New Era.
On the Hulunbuir grassland, there is a group of "Iron Girls" (铁姑娘) guarding the border on horseback. In the 1960s and 1970s, a group of teenage Mongolian girls spontaneously formed the "Iron Girls Team," taking root on the grassland, guarding the frontier, and building their hometown. Daolige'er is now 70 years old. She joined the team at 16. Her family's yurt is pitched right beside the border line, and horseback was her sentry post. "The youngest among us was only 14 or 15 at the time. The spirit of the 'Iron Girls' guarding the border and dedicating themselves must be passed down from generation to generation." Daolige'er cannot speak Mandarin, but when she tells the story of the "Iron Girls" patrolling the border, every word is filled with deep affection for the motherland.
As time passes, the torch is passed on. Half a century later, they have regrouped to form the "Iron Girls" volunteer service team, which includes both the older generation of women backbone members and newly joined returning college students, with more than 200 members currently. They set up propaganda stations at nomadic migration sites to tell stories of ethnic solidarity; they enter schools to tell children stories of border patrols and carry out volunteer services; they send clothing to children from families in difficulty... They practice what they preach about the Party's policies, ethnic solidarity practices, and border security knowledge, playing an irreplaceable role in grassroots governance, border guarding and prosperity, and serving the people.

Intangible cultural heritage inheritance: fingertip craftsmanship drives employment and income growth
Wool felt, sunflowers... In the ancient city of Hulunbuir, tourists are selecting handicrafts. The rich intangible cultural heritage skills have become valuable resources for women's entrepreneurship and employment in Inner Mongolia in the new era.
In the wool felt handicraft training base, more than 10 women sit around a long table, their punching needles rising and falling through the wool. After about 3 hours, a Mongolian horse-head shaped ornament is completed.
Zhai Lijie, a trainee, told reporters that she was originally a housewife. Through a friend's introduction, she signed up for training organized by the Women's Federation. Now, in the gaps between picking up and dropping off her children, she can do wool felt handicraft work at home, and after completion there is a fixed channel to recycle the products. "Orders keep coming in continuously. I can do the work at home and earn an extra 2,000 to 3,000 yuan per month," Zhai Lijie said.
The Women's Craft Workshop (巾帼工坊) has given new life to old crafts. The "Hulunbuir She Chuang" (呼伦贝尔她创) women's innovation and entrepreneurship characteristic brand uses intangible cultural heritage skills as a carrier to promote women's entrepreneurship and income growth in the cultural tourism industry chain. It has built a full-chain service system around intangible cultural heritage inheritance, skills training, and production-marketing linkage, continuously carrying out skills training in ethnic handicrafts, traditional clothing, intangible cultural heritage cultural and creative products, and livestream e-commerce. It has cumulatively held more than 400 training sessions, covering nearly 90,000 women, and directly driving more than 6,000 women to achieve flexible employment at home.
Inner Mongolia Yangfan Vocational Training School, meanwhile, aims to empower women with skills. The "Chilechuan Qiaoniang" (敕勒川巧娘) brand exhibition hall, livestream e-commerce groups, intangible cultural heritage tea snack making... Walking into classroom after classroom, teachers give vivid lectures at the podium while students listen attentively and practice hands-on. "Intangible cultural heritage skills training not only helps women start businesses and find employment, but also enables the skills themselves to be passed down," said Principal Yun Li. Students can receive orders right at the school, and products are sold to cultural and creative stores and museums everywhere, with some even exported overseas. The school has linked with enterprises to reach targeted training and commissioned training agreements, offering 22 majors, with 90% of students being women.
Persisting in dedication in ecological construction, uniting in ethnic solidarity, and increasing employment and income in cultural-tourism integration — in the first year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," the women of Inner Mongolia are blooming with the brilliance of women in the new era in the fiery practice of Chinese-style modernization construction with high spirits.

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Helping fellow villagers turn a good harvest into good income (County development in focus)

By: 本报记者 马 晨

The sun has just risen, and the field ridges of Wangzhuang Village, Disituan Town, Quzhou County, Handan City, Hebei Province, are already bustling. The agricultural machinery operator skillfully operates the crop protection drone, working at a uniform speed along the straight field ridges.
Looking at the thriving corn field, villager Wang Junshan's sun-darkened face is full of smiles: "Crop protection and topdressing are carried out simultaneously. The village cooperative's more than 1,000 mu of land can complete one round of operations in a single day, and all plots can finish field management within one week."
The change comes from the green production technology promoted by the Wangzhuang Science and Technology Backyard. "In the past, farming relied entirely on experience and physical strength. Take wheat irrigation, for example — flood irrigation was used, which was labor-intensive and water-wasting. Now, with advice from the experts at the Science and Technology Backyard, irrigation uses drip and sprinkler systems, which distribute water evenly and achieve integrated water-fertilizer management, saving water, saving fertilizer, and increasing yields." Wang Junshan is one of the first farmers to learn technology from the Science and Technology Backyard. Thanks to the integrated application of technologies such as water-fertilizer integration, green smart fertilizers, and satellite navigation precision sowing, in 2025 the Wangzhuang "Green Half-Ton Grain per Mu" thousand-mu demonstration plot's winter wheat and summer corn annual yield per mu exceeded 1.5 tons.
"Many technologies work well in experimental plots, but when actually applied to large fields, they are often affected by factors such as fragmented land, mismatched agricultural machinery, and improper operation, making them difficult to truly implement," said Ye Songlin, a jointly trained doctoral student of Yunnan University and China Agricultural University. He went out from the Quzhou Science and Technology Backyard, and after completing his master's degree, chose to continue to take root in Quzhou, hoping to turn the scientific research achievements from the university into production technologies that farmers can use and that deliver quick results.
To address problems such as the slow promotion of new agricultural technologies and farmers' difficulty in accepting them, Ye Songlin explored a model of "self-planted demonstration + door-to-door service," himself transferring the thousand-mu land of Wangzhuang Village to create a model field, first letting farmers see the tangible results of high yields, water conservation, and increased income, and then carrying out technical guidance village by village and household by household.
"Since the establishment of the Science and Technology Backyard, more than 30 technologies have been demonstrated and promoted, including post-poning winter wheat nitrogen application and autumn weed control in spring, achieving increased agricultural efficiency and increased farmer income," said Wang Hanju, a senior agronomist at the Quzhou County Agriculture and Rural Bureau. At present, Quzhou County has established 11 "Green Half-Ton Grain per Mu" thousand-mu demonstration plots in 10 townships, with large-scale planting demonstration base areas exceeding 30,000 mu, radiating and driving 126,400 mu of grain fields to apply new technologies and new models.
Leaving the Wangzhuang thousand-mu demonstration plot, at the entrance of the Liuzhuang Science and Technology Backyard more than 10 kilometers away, Fu Shan, a doctoral student at China Agricultural University, is unloading goods. The goods being unloaded are precisely the high-quality wheat bread developed by Fu Shan and the members of the Backyard. In the past, the local area mainly sold raw grain, with a short industrial chain and meager profits. Based on germplasm improvement and green planting, the Science and Technology Backyard extended the deep-processing chain, creating products such as stone-ground flour and specialty bread. To date, more than 20,000 units of bread products have been sold, enabling wheat to achieve multiple value additions. "Scientific research must take root in the land and help fellow villagers turn good harvests into good products and good returns," Fu Shan said.
Relying on the mature improved variety breeding and green planting technologies of the Science and Technology Backyard, the quality of miscellaneous grains, fruits and vegetables, and specialty grain and oil products in Quzhou County has been comprehensively upgraded, and specialty agriculture and the food processing industry are accelerating their integration; more than 20 new vegetable seedling cultivation technologies have been developed, more than 40 seedling cultivation enterprises have been fostered, with an annual seedling output of more than 1 billion; a county-level tourism brand of "agricultural science research and study" has been created, scenic areas such as the Agricultural Science and Technology Museum, the Agricultural University Park, and the Zhangfu Park have been built, and multiple new business forms are being explored and cultivated.
According to reports, since the establishment of the Quzhou Science and Technology Backyard, a total of 132 graduate students from China Agricultural University have been trained. Teachers and students of the Science and Technology Backyard have held more than 1,900 sessions of various science and technology training and field observation activities, cumulatively training more than 120,000 farmer participants. University talent, new-type farmers, and entrepreneurial youth gather here, and more and more people who understand technology, are good at management, and have ideas are becoming a new force for county-level rural development.

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Over 280,000 business entities in Beijing complete credit repair

BEIJING, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) — (Reporters Pan Junqiang, Lin Lili) The reporter learned from the Beijing Municipal Market Regulation Administration (北京市市场监管局) that since the beginning of this year, the Administration has launched a series of innovative measures centered on enriching credit restoration scenarios, optimizing administrative procedures, and strengthening inter-departmental coordination, significantly enhancing the effectiveness of credit supervision services. In the first half of this year, a cumulative total of 285,000 business entities across the city completed credit restoration, effectively stimulating market vitality.

To continuously optimize the business environment, the Beijing Municipal Market Regulation Administration has carried out a systematic upgrade of the credit restoration system. On the basis of the original three categories of matters — removal from the list of abnormal business operations, removal from the list of seriously illegal and untrustworthy entities, and cessation of public disclosure of administrative penalty information — four new restoration scenarios have been added, expanding the restoration types to seven categories, covering the entire life cycle of business operations. Previously, after an enterprise was penalized or placed on the list of abnormal business operations due to illegal acts discovered during random inspections and checks, the untrustworthy information in the random inspection and check results could not be cleared. At present, after an enterprise completes the restoration of penalty information or is removed from the list of abnormal business operations, the untrustworthy information in the random inspection and check results can simultaneously cease public disclosure, without the need to resubmit materials, thereby simplifying the administrative procedures to the greatest extent. Independently disclosed penalty information has been incorporated into the restoration scope. Penalty information in the public disclosure system is divided into two categories: that disclosed by regulatory authorities in accordance with the law, and that independently disclosed by enterprises. Previously, only records disclosed by regulatory authorities could apply for restoration. At present, administrative penalty information independently disclosed by the party concerned has been incorporated into the restoration scope, with applications processed within 7 working days after acceptance, helping to eliminate credit barriers in bidding, procurement, and commercial cooperation.

While expanding restoration scenarios, the Beijing Municipal Market Regulation Administration has simultaneously advanced the reengineering of credit restoration procedures, focusing on three aspects — full online processing for newly added scenarios, seamless restoration for those meeting conditions, and compression of time limits for key links — to continuously improve the convenience of credit restoration.

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Photo Report

During the summer vacation, the cultural center of Xingan County, Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province, opened a public-interest intangible cultural heritage classroom, allowing children to experience up close the unique charm of intangible cultural heritage.
　　The photo shows children learning the bamboo-horse dance at the Xingan County cultural center on August 5.
　　Photo by Li Fusun (Image China)

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Comprehensively strengthen the standardized management of contract-based court clerks.

BEIJING, August 5 (Xinhua) — (Reporter Wei Zhezhe) The reporter learned from the Supreme People's Court: The Supreme People's Court, together with the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, the Office of the Central Commission for Public Sector Reform, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, has issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Management of Contract-Based Clerk Personnel in People's Courts," comprehensively strengthening the standardized management of the contract-based clerk workforce.

The Opinions clarify that clerks in people's courts should be assigned to trial business departments, mainly managed under the contract-based employment system, and in principle shall no longer occupy special political-legal staffing quotas. Contract-based clerks shall be subject to overall management of employment quotas. In each province (autonomous region, municipality directly under the central government), the total number of court clerks (including both those within the staffing establishment and contract-based personnel) shall be roughly commensurate with the approved number of judge posts, and the scale shall be strictly controlled. People's courts shall directly sign labor contracts with contract-based clerks, gradually abolish the labor dispatch employment method, and continuously enhance the professional sense of belonging and identity of contract-based clerks.

The Opinions propose that recruitment of contract-based clerks by people's courts below the provincial level shall in principle be uniformly organized by the Higher People's Court. For intermediate people's courts and grassroots people's courts in municipalities directly under the central government where the gap in contract-based clerks is relatively large, the provincial-level unified recruitment cycle is relatively long, and the contradiction between caseload and personnel is particularly prominent, recruitment work may be carried out independently in accordance with relevant conditions and procedures upon approval by the Higher People's Court. Recruitment of contract-based clerks shall adopt a method combining examinations and inspections, generally following the procedures of publishing recruitment announcements, registration and qualification review, examinations, physical examination and inspection, public announcement, and employment, and personnel replacement may be carried out at a certain ratio.

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Xinjiang issues guidelines to build integrated complete residential communities

URUMQI, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) — Reporter Shang Rongzheng learned from the Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region that the Guidelines for the Construction of Interlocking Complete Residential Communities in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Trial) have recently been issued, aiming to better leverage the foundational and comprehensive role of communities in improving the quality of the urban living environment, achieving equalization of public services, and promoting the all-round integration of people of all ethnic groups, so as to advance the work of forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation in depth and in earnest.

The Guidelines put forward a number of construction contents and 108 specific requirements covering public service facilities, municipal supporting facilities, public open spaces, slow-traffic and barrier-free facilities, parking spaces and charging piles (canopies), commercial convenience service facilities, property services, organizational teams, community services, and other aspects. The Guidelines propose to add Chinese cultural exchange spaces and corresponding facilities tailored to local conditions, build "pomegranate seed" service stations integrating multiple functions such as deliberation and consultation, cultural immersion, convenience services for the people, and Party-masses activities, and expand the spatial carriers for daily exchanges and interactions among people of all ethnic groups.

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Door-to-door point-to-point travel makes commuting more convenient for residents (On-site report)

By: 本报记者 曾亦辰

In the summer, in Lanzhou, Gansu, the peak tourist season has arrived, bringing a surge of visitors. Driver Wang Yongming sat in a brand-new seven-seat commercial vehicle, with order alerts popping up on his phone from time to time. Two years ago, he was still a bus driver on the Lanzhou–Linxia route, but as high-speed rail lines extended and private cars increased, passenger numbers on the fixed route declined year by year, and Wang Yongming faced a career development predicament. The turning point came from the customized passenger transport model introduced by his company: driving a small car, his income turned out to be higher than before. "The car is smaller, but the work is more plentiful," Wang Yongming said.

What exactly is customized passenger transport? From fixed-schedule, fixed-stop buses to flexible, customized small cars, what changes have there been in the travel experience of the public? A reporter conducted a field visit.

"Lanzhou–Lanzhou New Area," "Wuwei–Jinchang," "Heshui–Ningxian"... In recent years, these small passenger vehicles with travel zones marked on their bodies have appeared with increasing frequency on urban and rural roads across Gansu Province. "Customized passenger transport flexibly determines departure times and pick-up and drop-off points according to passenger demand; it is a new type of scheduled passenger transport service," introduced Ma Jun, chief of the Passenger Transport Section of the Gansu Provincial Road Transport Development Center.

Opening her phone, Ma Junyan, a college student living in Linxia City, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, booked a ticket on the "Kuaidian Chufa" (Quick Departure) customized passenger transport online platform, preparing to go to Lanzhou to spend the weekend with friends. After entering the pick-up point and drop-off point, the customized passenger vehicle arrived punctually at her doorstep. Fellow passengers included an elderly person going to the hospital for a follow-up checkup and a merchant going to Lanzhou to discuss business. The vehicle had full-journey audio and video recording, and the trip could be shared online.

From "station to station" to "door to door," from "passive waiting" to "active calling," small, flexible, fast, comfortable, professional, and safe customized passenger transport is increasingly welcomed.

In Dunhuang City, customized routes from the urban area to the Yadan Scenic Area and the Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Moon Spring Scenic Area have been opened. After tourists make reservations through the mini-program, vehicles can go directly to their hotels. To address the connection needs between the railway station and scenic areas, customized shuttle buses adopt a linkage mechanism aligned with high-speed rail train schedules, so tourists do not need to wait long after exiting the station before boarding.

Customized shuttle routes have also been extended to villages. Zhang Yanan, a villager from Changfeng Village, Huangqu Town, Dunhuang City, said her parents need to go to the city hospital for follow-up checkups every month. In the past, the round trip was time-consuming and laborious; now, small passenger vehicles can pick them up and drop them off at their doorstep and take them directly to the hospital, with a fare of only 5 yuan. "There's a seat when you board, and it's punctual. After seeing the doctor, my parents can even buy some things on the way home," Zhang Yanan said. Dunhuang City has continuously strengthened its rural passenger transport network, implementing an operating model of "large vehicles running trunk lines, small vehicles connecting branch lines," with a total of 6 main routes from the urban area to each township and 22 branch routes from townships to villages. Trunk lines are served by large buses running on fixed schedules and stops, while remote village-level branch lines deploy small passenger vehicles for flexible operation, and villagers can book rides by phone.

Behind the convenient experience lies the precise dispatch of digital technology. Walking into the dispatch center of Linxia Daohe Group, the backend of the "Kuaidian Chufa" customized passenger transport online platform, independently developed by the company, is calculating in real time the scheduling and routes of more than a hundred vehicles. "The company assigns orders and prices are clearly marked, so passengers ride with confidence, and I work with peace of mind," said driver Wang Tao, dressed in the platform uniform. Ma Lin, chairman of Linxia Daohe Investment Co., Ltd., introduced that the platform has currently signed service agreements with more than 80 enterprises in Gansu, Xinjiang, and Qinghai, helping over a hundred passenger transport enterprises undergo digital transformation.

"Gansu's terrain is long and narrow, its landforms are fragmented, and its road network has the characteristics of 'dense trunk lines, scattered endpoints,' making traditional large buses poorly suited to demand," explained Qian Yongsheng, dean of the School of Traffic and Transportation at Lanzhou Jiaotong University. In Gansu, geographical barriers between urban and rural areas are significant, and traditional large vehicles running fixed routes on fixed schedules often result in situations of "there is demand but no vehicle to ride, and there are vehicles running but no passengers to carry." The miniaturization and ride-hailing-style networking of customized passenger transport has precisely alleviated the mismatch between supply and demand, and also provided new ideas for advancing the equalization of public services in remote areas.

Continued policy support at the government level has provided backing for the transformation. In 2024, the Gansu Provincial Government issued opinions on promoting the transformation and development of the province's road passenger transport industry, investing special funds to upgrade onboard terminals, integrate ride-hailing platforms, and unify brand identity; in 2025, the Gansu Provincial Department of Transportation issued management measures for scheduled passenger transport customization services, comprehensively regulating operations, platforms, vehicles, personnel, and fares, guiding the industry from "quantitative expansion" toward "qualitative improvement."

At present, a total of 96 transport enterprises in Gansu Province have opened 282 customized passenger transport routes spanning interprovincial, intercity, and intercounty services, with 2,109 passenger vehicles conducting customized passenger transport business, and average monthly passenger volume exceeding 300,000 person-trips. "Province-wide customized passenger transport has achieved full coverage of all cities (prefectures), of which 7 cities (prefectures) including Linxia, Baiyin, and Pingliang have achieved full county-level coverage, with the service network continuously extending to the grassroots," Ma Jun said. "In the next step, we will continue to optimize the route network and capacity structure, and expand coverage to more travel scenarios including commuting, medical visits, campus, tourism, and airport and high-speed rail connections."

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Fuzhou deepens implementation of new-era "Fortress Project"

By: 本报记者 廖文根 付 文

After learning that elderly resident Zhang Qiuxiang, who lives alone and has difficulty moving about, needed help, Feng Jing, a village doctor in Xueli Village, Chengfeng Town, Yongtai County, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, immediately went to her home to provide treatment. Since then, he has made monthly follow-up visits to check on her health and remind her of medication precautions.

"Aunt Zhang's situation was brought to my attention by villagers," said Feng Jing, who is also a member of the Party branch committee of Xueli Village. "Villagers who come to the clinic often chat with me about everyday matters, and I keep track of everyone's concerns." In recent years, Yongtai County has adopted measures such as "township employment, village deployment" for village doctors, enabling them to leverage their familiarity with village conditions and the trust of the masses to resolve the urgent and difficult problems people face.

During his work in Fuzhou, Comrade Xi Jinping promoted the implementation of the "Fortress Project," which effectively strengthened the cohesion and combat effectiveness of grassroots Party organizations and left Fuzhou with valuable ideological, spiritual, and practical achievements. In March 2021, during his inspection tour in Fujian, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Party organizations at the grassroots level in all fields must be built into strong fighting fortresses."

To thoroughly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions, Fuzhou has deepened the implementation of the new-era "Fortress Project." Targeting different fields such as urban areas, rural areas, government organs, and state-owned enterprises, it has formulated separate guidelines for building grassroots Party organizations, promoting comprehensive progress and comprehensive excellence in grassroots Party organizations.

Focusing on people's livelihood needs and zeroing in on weak links, Fuzhou has advanced grassroots governance with effective results.

Opening the Fuzhou Huimin Funds website, villager Lin Shuying of Xianfeng Village, Cangshan District, enters her ID number, and the village's funds, assets, and resources — its entire "family holdings" — are clear at a glance. The Xianfeng Village Party committee makes village affairs public both online and offline, while allocating 70 percent of its income to villagers' dividends and welfare guarantees, allowing villagers to share in the fruits of development.

In urban communities, Fuzhou has continuously strengthened Party-masses service positions, building 340 fifteen-minute convenient living circles that provide services such as canteens for the elderly and intergenerational care, while tackling governance challenges such as difficult parking and slow elevator installation. In rural areas, focusing on solving the service problem of hollowed-out villages, Fuzhou has promoted models such as Party member assistance and agency services, coordinating efforts to improve both governance efficiency and service quality, and has handled over 14,500 practical matters for the masses.

Targeting bottlenecks in major projects and pain points in industrial development, Party organizations have been established on projects and within industrial chains, transforming organizational advantages into developmental advantages.

The waters of Fuzhou's West Lake Park ripple gently, with nearly 110,000 cubic meters of lake water purified. "Through coordination on the Party-building platform for the water recycling economy industrial chain, we joined forces with universities and enterprises to conduct collaborative technical research, innovatively adopting sediment elution technology that both removes pollutants and maximally protects the lake's ecology," said Wu Lianghong, chief engineer of Fuzhou Municipal Urban Drainage Co., Ltd.

Fuzhou has established 50 Party-building joint platforms for industrial chains, integrating the strengths of government, enterprises, scientific research institutions, financial institutions, and industry associations to enhance industrial competitiveness. "For major events and key projects, we implement the 'three simultaneous' mechanism — establishing Party organizations, equipping leadership teams, and enabling their roles simultaneously — and have set up 205 temporary Party organizations, achieving the organic unity of strengthening Party building, training cadres, and advancing projects," introduced Cai Yadong, member of the Standing Committee of the Fuzhou Municipal Party Committee and head of its Organization Department.

Adapting to the new situation of the continuous increase in "two new" organizations (new economic and new social organizations) and new employment groups, Fuzhou has solidly advanced "two coverages" (Party organization coverage and Party work coverage), promoting the establishment of Party organizations wherever conditions permit and building them strong and well-functioning.

"Thanks to the building Party member service specialists and the support of the subdistrict and community, we were able to move in smoothly," said Chen Si, administrative specialist of Huachu Technology Group Co., Ltd. She explained that when the company relocated, it encountered difficulties with registered address transfer, and the building Party member service specialist proactively coordinated and followed up with full-process service.

The Gulou District, where the company is located, has innovated its building Party-building work model, establishing a three-tier linkage system of "subdistrict Party working committee — building Party committee — enterprise Party branch," horizontally linking building Party organizations and vertically connecting functional departments. Wang Zoulu, secretary of the comprehensive Party committee of World Jinlong Building, introduced that the building Party committee, in coordination with property management, regularly visits enterprises, collects and compiles development demands, and coordinates various resources to help enterprises resolve difficulties, resulting in continuously rising building occupancy rates.

Fuzhou has built 53 standardized "friendly scenarios" in commercial areas and other locations, established and upgraded 520 warm "new" stations providing public services such as rest areas and supplies; and guided over 1,400 Party member delivery riders, couriers, and ride-hailing drivers to serve as "part-time grid workers" and "road traffic safety officers," continuously enhancing the sense of belonging and happiness of new employment groups.

Thoroughly studying and implementing Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, Fuzhou has comprehensively deepened the implementation of the new-era "Fortress Project," solidly advancing neighborhood Party building, warm-hearted Party building, Party building in emerging fields, industrial chain Party building, and joint Party building with property management, providing a strong organizational guarantee for accelerating the construction of a modern international city.

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Editor: Guan Xuanyue, Lu Tao, Zhai Qinqi

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From subtle care to livelihood services, Baixiang Food demonstrates corporate responsibility through concrete actions

Enterprises strengthening brand building must both improve product and service quality and actively fulfill social responsibility. For food enterprises, products and services are closely connected to the daily lives of countless households, and they should therefore integrate a sense of corporate responsibility into the concrete practices of product innovation, service upgrading, and public welfare initiatives.
In recent years, Baixiang Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Baixiang Food") has continuously explored practical pathways for fulfilling social responsibility, demonstrating corporate responsibility through concrete actions in forms such as adding Braille prompts to product packaging, cooperating with the "Youth First Aid Officer" project on public welfare initiatives, and setting up "Warm Stations" during the Spring Festival travel season for several consecutive years.

Adding Braille prompts to respond to accessibility needs
How to help visually impaired consumers obtain product information more conveniently and accurately is a practical issue that food enterprises must confront directly in improving consumer services.
At present, the application of accessibility information prompts such as Braille on food packaging is still in the exploratory stage, and their application on everyday consumer goods such as cup instant noodles is not yet widespread. Starting in May 2025, Baixiang Food conducted special research on the information acquisition needs of visually impaired consumers when purchasing and consuming cup instant noodles. The research found that when visually impaired consumers select products offline, they usually find it difficult to directly identify key information such as brand and flavor; if they rely on taking photos with their phones for recognition, recognition errors may occur due to the complex content and dense text arrangement on product packaging.
Around these difficulties, Baixiang Food joined forces with professional parties to conduct feasibility verification of methods such as tactile recognition of Braille content and QR code scanning, and continuously optimized the plan in light of visually impaired consumers' usage habits, product packaging presentation effects, and mass production conditions, initially forming a combined solution of "Braille prompts + digital label QR code information supplementation." The Braille prompts on the cup body are used to convey basic product information and guide visually impaired consumers to find the QR code entry point on the cup lid; after consumers scan the QR code to enter the product's digital label page, they can use their phone's screen reader function to obtain more product information such as brand, flavor, and specifications.
In December 2025, Baixiang Food used "Soup Delicious Spicy Beef Noodle Soup" as the pilot product and achieved the first batch of mass production of Braille-prompted cup noodles at its Henan factory, taking the first step in the practice of accessible information packaging for instant noodles. This is both an initial optimization of the way product information is expressed and a beneficial exploration by Baixiang Food of implementing humanistic care in specific products and consumption scenarios. In the future, Baixiang Food will continue to study the application of Braille and related accessibility information prompts on product packaging based on actual usage feedback, continuously improving consumers' experience in obtaining information.

Pooling public welfare strength to care for the growth of young people
From paying attention to consumers' actual experience in using products to further responding to the social needs of broader groups, Baixiang Food has continued to invest in public welfare initiatives, demonstrating corporate responsibility.
In February 2024, Baixiang Food reached a cooperation with the public welfare brand project "Youth First Aid Officer" to jointly promote the educational activity "Youth First Aid Officer Life Education Science Art Exhibition." The "Youth First Aid Officer" project was initiated by the Service Group of New Social Stratum Personnel together with the China Association for Disaster Prevention and the China Association of Medical Rescue, and through forms such as public welfare poster exhibitions on campuses and public welfare open classes, it has already popularized practical knowledge such as self-rescue and mutual rescue and food safety in approximately 100,000 primary and secondary schools.
Combining the characteristics of a food enterprise itself, Baixiang Food also participated in supporting the 2024 "Youth First Aid Officer Life Education Science Art Exhibition — Food Safety" public welfare poster project, conducting content development and promotion around the theme of food safety to help primary and secondary school students understand food safety knowledge in daily life and enhance their food science literacy and risk identification abilities.
Through a series of public welfare initiatives, Baixiang Food has helped relevant science popularization content enter schools and reach students, and has played the bridging role of an enterprise in connecting social resources, promoting more social forces to pay attention to and participate in public welfare undertakings for young people.

Building "Warm Stations" to serve travelers returning home during the Spring Festival travel season
Around the travel needs of Spring Festival travelers, Baixiang Food has set up Warm Stations for several consecutive years. During the 2024 Spring Festival travel season, Baixiang Food set up "Warm Stations" at nearly 30 railway stations across China, providing returning travelers with instant noodles, hot water, and other supplies as well as assistance within its capacity.
During the 2025 Spring Festival travel season, the service scope of the "Warm Stations" was further expanded, with public welfare services carried out at 75 high-speed rail stations, railway stations, and bus stations across China. During the 2026 Spring Festival travel season, Baixiang Food further united social forces such as public welfare organizations and caring individuals to implement 142 public welfare service points nationwide, continuously expanding service coverage. A cup of hot noodles and a cup of hot water are a vivid microcosm of Baixiang Food responding to public needs and practicing corporate social responsibility.
From Braille prompts on product packaging, to public welfare science popularization entering schools, to the "Warm Stations" along the Spring Festival travel route, Baixiang Food's social responsibility practices have continuously expanded the boundaries of service and covered broader groups of people. In the future, Baixiang Food will continue to pay attention to consumers' actual needs, serve consumers and give back to society with more pragmatic actions, and demonstrate corporate responsibility and contribute brand strength in serving the high-quality development of the economy and society.
Data source: Baixiang Food Co., Ltd.

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New Development Philosophy Drives Profound Transformation in China's Development Landscape

By: 周 文

Ideas are the precursor to action, and the practice of scientific development is led by the ideas of scientific development. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping, in the great practice of leading the entire Party and people of all ethnic groups in the country in advancing economic and social development, has put forward the new development concepts of innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing, and has delivered a series of important expositions that run through Volumes I through V of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China. For example, Volume I, "Accelerating the Transition from a Development Model Driven Mainly by Factors and Investment Scale to One Driven Mainly by Innovation," points out: "The extensive development model that relies mainly on resource and other factor inputs to drive economic growth and scale expansion is unsustainable." Volume II, "Putting the New Development Concepts into Practice," points out: "Grasping the new development concepts is not only a political requirement but also an intellectual and professional requirement." Volume III, "China's Economy Has Shifted from a Stage of High-Speed Growth to a Stage of High-Quality Development," points out that high-quality development "is development that embodies the new development concepts." Volume IV, "Creating a New Development Dynamic and Reshaping New Competitive Advantages," points out: "To create a new development dynamic, we must unswervingly implement the new development concepts." Volume V, "Several Major Theoretical and Practical Issues in Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively," points out: "The new development concepts were formed in the course of reform, and the ideological concepts and institutional and mechanistic drawbacks that affect and constrain high-quality development were broken through in the course of reform." To thoroughly implement the new development concepts, it is necessary to study Volumes I through V in an integrated manner, actively respond to external risks and challenges, cultivate new drivers of development, consolidate new advantages for development, and ensure decisive progress in basically realizing socialist modernization.

The new development concepts are the most important and primary content of Xi Jinping's economic thought.

General Secretary Xi Jinping points out in Volume IV, "Thoroughly Implementing the New Development Concepts": "Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, we have put forward many major theories and concepts for economic and social development, among which the new development concepts are the most important and primary." This important exposition clarifies the theoretical coordinates of the new development concepts within Xi Jinping's economic thought and highlights their important role in leading economic and social development in the new era.

From a practical perspective, development is the foundation and key to solving all problems in our country, and development concepts, as the intellectual precursor to development practice, bear on the overall situation of the cause of the Party and the state. Entering the new era, the principal contradiction in Chinese society has undergone transformation, the deep-seated contradictions of the traditional development model have gradually become prominent, and the contradictions and problems in development are concentrated in the quality of development. General Secretary Xi Jinping, based on national conditions and with keen insight into the overall trend, creatively put forward the new development concepts, which centrally embody our development thinking, development direction, and development focus in the new era. The new development concepts contain a wealth of new knowledge, new experience, new information, and new requirements full of the spirit of the times, scientifically answer the major questions of what kind of development to achieve and how to achieve development in the new era, and serve as the "baton" guiding China's economic development. Xi Jinping's economic thought is the scientific action guide for China's economic work in the new era. Xi Jinping's economic thought takes the new development concepts as its most important and primary content, providing scientific guidance for clarifying development goals and tasks and formulating policies and measures to promote development, thereby clarifying the direction and path for solving development problems, strengthening development momentum, and consolidating development advantages.

From a theoretical perspective, the new development concepts are rooted in the theoretical soil of Marxist political economy, profoundly summarize the experience and lessons of domestic and international development, deeply analyze the overall trend of domestic and international development, and provide a new interpretation of major issues of strategic, programmatic, and leading significance in the development of the socialist economy. The new development concepts profoundly elucidate major issues such as our Party's political stance on development, value orientation, development model, and development path, demonstrating distinct Chinese characteristics, Chinese style, and Chinese bearing. Xi Jinping's economic thought is a major theoretical achievement formed by applying the basic principles of Marxist political economy to guide the practice of economic development in the new era. Xi Jinping's economic thought takes the new development concepts as its most important and primary content, centrally embodying our Party's profound insight into the laws of economic development, especially the laws of socialist economic construction, and making important original contributions to enriching and developing Marxist political economy.

The new development concepts constitute a scientific and systematic theoretical system. The innovation development concept emphasizes activating endogenous development momentum through scientific and technological innovation, institutional innovation, and the like; the coordinated development concept emphasizes promoting more balanced development among regions, between urban and rural areas, between the economy and society, and between material civilization and spiritual civilization; the green development concept emphasizes promoting harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature by coordinating economic development and ecological environmental protection and promoting the formation of green development models and lifestyles; the open development concept emphasizes expanding development space and enhancing international competitiveness by expanding opening up to the outside world and deepening international cooperation; and the shared development concept emphasizes promoting development achievements to benefit all the people more and more fairly while adhering to the principle of putting the people first. The five development concepts are interconnected and mutually reinforcing, covering all fields and links of development while grasping the key points of development. For example, coordinated development removes various visible and invisible barriers that hinder the cross-regional free flow, fair competition, and efficient allocation of production factors for innovative development, creates a collaborative governance pattern for green development, consolidates the foundation of a unified national market for open development, and provides the prerequisite and foundation for shared development. The scientific and systematic nature of the new development concepts makes the scientific system of Xi Jinping's economic thought more systematic and complete, and it continues to be enriched and developed in the great practice of guiding China's economy to overcome difficulties and achieve sustained development.

The new development concepts have led China's economic development in the new era to achieve historic achievements and undergo historic transformations.

General Secretary Xi Jinping points out in Volume V, "Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive in Unity to Build a Modern Socialist Country in All Respects": "Implementing the new development concepts is the only way for our country to grow stronger and develop in the new era." Since the beginning of the new era, under the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping's economic thought and the leadership of the new development concepts, the balance, coordination, and sustainability of China's economic development have been significantly enhanced, and the country is advancing steadily along a path of development that is higher quality, more efficient, more equitable, more sustainable, and safer.

The pattern of "stability" has been continuously consolidated. Our country has adhered to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, effectively responding to risk challenges such as the impact of the once-in-a-century pandemic and external suppression and containment, and the macroeconomic framework has remained stable. In terms of aggregate volume, during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, gross domestic product (GDP) successively crossed four major thresholds, and the position of the world's second-largest economy has remained solid. In terms of per capita, per capita GDP has steadily increased. At the same time, the problem of absolute poverty has been historically solved, and the historical task of completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects has been fulfilled. In the first half of this year, our country proactively responded to changes in the external environment in accordance with the circumstances, ensured the stable and orderly supply of energy and resources through stable production and diversified imports, effectively safeguarded the stable operation of the economy and the needs of people's livelihoods, and GDP reached 69.6 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.7% at constant prices. Compared with the first half of last year, the GDP increment was 3.6 trillion yuan, the largest increment for the same period in the past five years, achieving a good start for the "15th Five-Year Plan." Against the backdrop of increased uncertainty in the current external environment, this has laid a solid foundation for China's economy to move forward under pressure.

The pace of "progress" has become more forceful. Our country has continued to adjust and optimize its economic structure: in terms of industrial structure, we have solidly advanced the transformation of manufacturing toward high-end, intelligent, and green development, promoted the deep integration of advanced manufacturing and modern services, and accelerated the construction of a modern industrial system. In 2025, the share of value added of high-tech manufacturing industries above designated size in the value added of industries above designated size increased to 17.1%. In the first half of this year, the value added of high-tech manufacturing industries above designated size increased by 13.3% year-on-year, further highlighting the high-quality character of economic development. In terms of regional structure, we have advanced the implementation of major regional strategies such as the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the development of the Yangtze Economic Belt, the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, and the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, and regional development gaps have continued to narrow. In terms of urban-rural structure, we have solidly advanced the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas, promoted the two-way flow of urban and rural factors, and taken solid steps in the integrated development of urban and rural areas. At the same time, reform and opening up have continued to deepen, the construction of a unified national market has been advanced in depth, and the Hainan Free Trade Port has been put into operation with island-wide customs closure. This has injected strong momentum into the development of China's economy toward new and better directions.

The momentum of "newness" has been cultivated and strengthened. Facing the accelerated evolution of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, our country, guided by the innovation development concept, has accelerated the achievement of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement. In 2025, the intensity of R&D expenditure exceeded the average level of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries for the first time, and the innovation index ranking entered the global top ten for the first time. With the support of scientific and technological innovation, new quality productive forces have been accelerated in their cultivation. In the first half of this year, new momentum fields represented by high-tech manufacturing and digital product manufacturing contributed 47.9% to the growth of value added of industries above designated size, an increase of 12.0 percentage points compared with the full year of last year, and have developed into an important engine of industrial growth. Green, circular, and low-carbon development is the direction of the current era's scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. Guided by the green development concept, our country has incorporated the goals of peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality into the overall layout of ecological civilization construction, adhered to the path of high-quality development that prioritizes ecology and is green and low-carbon, promoted the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, and continued to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP. These achievements support our country in continuously opening up new fields and tracks of development and shaping new drivers and advantages of development amid fierce international competition.

The characteristic of "resilience" has become increasingly prominent. In recent years, economic globalization has undergone deep adjustment, and the impact of geopolitical conflicts has spilled over and spread. In stark contrast, the resilience of China's economy has continued to strengthen. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the average annual growth rate was 5.4%, significantly higher than the global average growth rate, making China the most stable and reliable source of power for global economic growth. In terms of industry, China has formed the most complete industrial system and the most comprehensive industrial supporting facilities in the world, with the value added of manufacturing ranking first in the world for 16 consecutive years, providing strategic support for China's economy to forge ahead against the wind and waves. In terms of foreign trade, we have continued to promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, hosted major exhibitions such as the China International Import Expo, the Canton Fair, the China International Fair for Trade in Services, and the China International Consumer Products Expo, and have become a major trading partner of more than 160 countries and regions. A diversified pattern of foreign trade is taking shape at an accelerated pace, and foreign trade has demonstrated strong resilience. In the first half of this year, the total value of imports and exports of goods trade reached 25.47 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.9%, of which exports of mechanical and electrical products increased by 20.1%, accounting for 63.5% of the total export value, and the trade structure has continued to optimize. The continuously strengthened economic resilience has injected strong momentum into our country's ability to respond to risks and challenges, grasp the initiative in development, and shape long-term competitive advantages.

Leading high-quality development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period with the new development concepts.

General Secretary Xi Jinping points out in Volume IV, "Accelerating the Creation of a New Development Dynamic": "Entering the new stage of development has clarified the historical position of China's development, implementing the new development concepts has clarified the guiding principles for China's modernization drive, and creating a new development dynamic has clarified the path choice for China's economic modernization." The outline of the "15th Five-Year Plan" clearly takes promoting high-quality development as its theme and requires the complete, accurate, and comprehensive implementation of the new development concepts to promote the effective improvement of quality and reasonable growth of quantity in the economy. To this end, it is necessary to adhere to a systems approach, run the new development concepts through the entire process of economic and social development, and strengthen forward-looking thinking, overall planning, strategic layout, and holistic advancement.

Strengthen the driving force of scientific and technological innovation and strengthen basic research with greater intensity and more concrete measures. Scientific and technological innovation is the main driving force of economic growth and an important element in shaping future society. The new development concepts place innovative development first, emphasizing the leading and driving role of scientific and technological innovation in economic and social development. To this end, it is necessary to adhere to the strategic orientation of the "four orientations," enhance the capability of systematic tackling of key problems in scientific and technological innovation, strengthen the principal position of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation, advance the development of education, science and technology, and talent as an integrated whole, strengthen independent innovation in science and technology and the independent cultivation of talent, and promote a significant improvement in the overall effectiveness of the national innovation system. Basic research is the source of the entire scientific system and the master switch for all technical problems. It is necessary to strengthen basic research with greater intensity and more concrete measures, strengthen forward-looking and leading layout in the fields of basic research, interdisciplinary frontier fields, and key fields, and accelerate the cultivation and shaping of new drivers and advantages for economic development.

Accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system and develop new quality productive forces in accordance with local conditions. The modern industrial system is the material and technological foundation of Chinese modernization and the embodiment of the new development concepts at the industrial level. It is necessary to maintain a reasonable proportion of manufacturing, adhere to the direction of intelligent, green, and integrated development, strengthen industrial synergy, vigorously develop advanced manufacturing, and promote an overall leap in the industrial system. Modern infrastructure is an organic component of the modern industrial system, and it is necessary to improve its adaptability while also calculating the input-output account. Developing new quality productive forces is an inevitable requirement for building a modern industrial system. It is necessary to adhere to adapting to local conditions and promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation based on actual conditions. Focusing on the main direction of our country's future industrial development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, and comprehensively considering factors such as national strategic needs, the degree of technological maturity, and factor support conditions, we should promote continuous new breakthroughs in the development of our country's future industries.

Continue to deepen reforms in key areas and improve the institutional and mechanistic systems conducive to promoting high-quality development. Adhering to the new development concepts is a profound transformation bearing on the overall situation of China's development, and it is necessary to continue to deepen reforms in key areas and remove ideological concepts and institutional and mechanistic obstacles that constrain high-quality development. Centering on shaping new drivers and advantages for development and upholding and implementing the "two unswervinglys," we should give prominence to building a high-standard socialist market economy system, accelerate the construction of a unified national market, improve the macroeconomic governance system, and better stimulate the endogenous vitality and innovative dynamism of the whole society. Adhere to the fundamental national policy of opening up, rely on the advantages of our country's super-large market, steadily expand institutional opening up in rules, regulations, management, and standards, enhance the capacity for opening up in the course of expanding international cooperation, and build a new system of a higher-level open economy.

Adhere to the people-centered development philosophy and organically unify economic development and improvement of people's livelihoods. Seeking happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation is the "root" and "soul" of the new development concepts. This requires us to adhere to the people-centered development philosophy and promote the mutual reinforcement of economic development and social development. To this end, it is necessary to ensure and improve people's livelihoods in the course of high-quality development, embed requirements for improving people's livelihoods into the formulation of economic development policies simultaneously, simultaneously consider the effects of promoting economic development when formulating livelihood policies, strengthen public welfare, basic, and bottom-line livelihood construction, properly solve the urgent and difficult problems of the people, and effectively improve the level of social governance. At the same time, coordinate development and security, improve the national security system, continuously enhance economic and social resilience, and form a virtuous cycle of economic development and improvement of people's livelihoods.

(The author is Dean of the School of Marxism at East China University of Science and Technology.)

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Providing More Cultural Services Close to the People (Special Feature)

By: 陈 波

Public cultural services are an important pathway for safeguarding the people's cultural rights and interests, improving the quality of the people's lives, and supporting the building of a socialist cultural power. They bear on the quality of the people's spiritual and cultural life and on the effectiveness of building a socialist cultural power. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Improve the urban and rural public cultural service system, and enrich the spiritual and cultural life of urban and rural people." The outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan explicitly states: "Relying on urban study rooms, community cultural stations, cultural corridors, and other venues to develop new types of public cultural spaces, and provide more cultural services at the people's doorstep." New types of public cultural spaces are born from modern society's demand for spatial ecosystems that are open in threshold and composite in function. They uphold the humanistic concepts of public welfare, openness, and innovation, perform such functions as cultural education and inheritance, community cohesion, and social governance, and open up channels through which cultural development can take root at the grassroots level and permeate people's hearts, allowing culture to integrate into the fabric of urban and rural areas and into the daily lives of the people.
The iterative upgrading and accessibility enhancement of new types of public cultural spaces are not merely an optimization of the supply model of public cultural services, but also a concrete practice of adhering to the people-centered development philosophy and enriching the people's spiritual and cultural life in the new era. From the perspective of the operational logic of public cultural services, accessibility runs through multiple aspects such as the equalization of public cultural services and the precise matching of supply and demand. If a problem arises in any one aspect, it will lead to cultural resources being difficult to transform into public services that the people can perceive, use, and sustainably participate in. Enhancing accessibility can effectively resolve the structural dilemma of mismatched supply and demand and detachment from reality in public cultural spaces, and can be improved and upgraded from the following aspects.
Optimize spatial layout. For a long time, cultural venues have mostly adopted a centralized layout, with a fixed service radius, making it difficult to precisely adapt to the fragmented and routine cultural needs of the people. To enhance the accessibility of new types of public cultural spaces, it is necessary to embed cultural services into the daily life scenarios of the people, develop networked and embedded public cultural services, improve the spatial layout of micro-outlets and wide coverage, and strengthen the composite use of spaces. On the one hand, promote the integration of cultural positions with commercial complexes, transportation hubs, party and mass service centers, and other scenarios, transforming idle resources into small-but-beautiful, close-and-convenient positions that benefit the people, making cultural spaces within reach. On the other hand, adhere to the coordinated planning of urban and rural areas and balanced adaptation, shore up the shortcomings of cultural facilities in rural and remote areas, build a grassroots cultural service network with full coverage and interconnection, and advance the equalization of basic public cultural services.
Strengthen supply-demand matching. A sustainable resource supply mechanism is the key to enabling high-quality cultural resources to reach the grassroots directly. To improve the quality and efficiency of public cultural services, it is necessary both to expand coverage and to increase the degree of adaptation. At present, some grassroots public cultural services still have the problem of emphasizing construction over content, making it difficult to meet the personalized spiritual and cultural needs of different groups. It is necessary to improve the efficient supply-demand matching system for public cultural services, explore the establishment of normalized, full-coverage channels for collecting the cultural needs of the people, establish dynamically updated "menu-style" and "order-style" service catalogs, promote the direct delivery of high-quality cultural resources such as theatrical performances, fine exhibitions, public lectures, and intangible cultural heritage experiences to the grassroots, and achieve precise dispatch and efficient allocation of cultural resources. Adhere to the concept of segmented and differentiated supply, focus on the differentiated needs of different audiences such as the elderly, youth, and the floating population, create new types of public cultural spaces that are tiered, categorized, and beneficial to all, and carry out cultural benefit activities for the people such as "Culture into Ten Thousand Homes."
Strengthen digital empowerment. The deep application of digital technology helps to improve the efficiency of resource allocation, broaden the boundaries of services, and extend the reach of culture. It is necessary to continuously supply digital cultural resources and accelerate the digital transformation of public cultural resources such as cultural relics, literary and artistic works, and collection exhibitions. Virtual cultural spaces such as digital exhibition halls and online cultural centers can be built to create an all-weather, zero-threshold online cultural service matrix, allowing the people to better experience high-quality cultural content in an immersive manner. Build a smart service management system empowered by modern technologies such as big data and cloud computing, and based on cultural participation data such as the people's preferences, activity popularity, and consumption habits, carry out targeted site selection and layout, activity planning, and resource allocation for new types of public cultural spaces, thereby improving the refined and intelligent level of public cultural services. At the same time, it is necessary to uphold the bottom line of inclusive and fair services, make efforts to solve the digital divide problem, advance the age-friendly and barrier-free transformation of digital cultural services, and ensure that digital transformation benefits all the people.
Innovate operational mechanisms. The sustainable operation of new types of public cultural spaces must rely on professional operational models, and efforts must be made to build a modern governance pattern featuring government guidance, social participation, the people as the main body, collaborative co-governance, and long-term operation. Improve the socialized and professionalized operational mechanism, actively introduce market forces and social organizations to participate in the operation and maintenance of public cultural spaces, rely on the resource advantages and operational advantages of professional institutions to revitalize idle grassroots cultural resources, reduce operation and maintenance costs, and comprehensively improve the level of public cultural services. Focus on stimulating the people's role as the main body, activating the endogenous driving force of grassroots cultural development, cultivating local cultural leaders and cultural volunteer service teams, and building platforms for the people to participate in cultural governance, cultural services, and cultural creation. At present, many localities are exploring new models of joint construction, joint governance, and shared benefits in light of local conditions, innovatively implementing distinctive models such as "citizen curators," "cultural volunteer points," and "community space managers," encouraging the people to actively participate in the daily management, activity planning, and order maintenance of public cultural spaces, and effectively solving such difficulties as the shortage of grassroots cultural personnel and the limited service hours.
(The author is a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Wuhan University)

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Full-Chain, Full-Lifecycle Financial Services Empower Technological Innovation (Targeted Approach)

By: 田 蕊 于 米

Technological innovation cannot be separated from financial support, and the precise irrigation of financial "living water" is an important guarantee for technological innovation. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the National Science and Technology Awards Conference, the Conference of Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the Eleventh National Congress of the China Association for Science and Technology: "We must build a science and technology financial system that is compatible with technological innovation, promote the healthy and stable development of the venture capital market, smooth the investment and financing channels for enterprises, and guide financial capital to invest early, invest small, invest long-term, and invest in hard technology." The 2026 Government Work Report proposed: "Strengthen full-chain, full-lifecycle financial services for technological innovation." At present, China is accelerating its efforts to achieve high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening, and leading the development of new quality productive forces. To put the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech into practice, we must accurately grasp the inherent laws of the mutual interaction between financial supply and technological innovation, accelerate the construction of financial services that fit the needs of technological innovation, and support innovation and creation with science and technology finance.
Science and technology finance is an important support for promoting the two-way promotion of technology and finance. Developing science and technology finance can effectively guide the allocation of social resources, and by precisely matching the needs of the technology industry, technology enterprises, and science and technology at different levels, provide services such as fund intermediation, trading channels, and value discovery, ultimately achieving the goal of finance supporting and promoting technological innovation. Science and technology finance is not a simple superposition of technology and finance, but rather a comprehensive financial service system that takes technological innovation activities as its service object and, through multi-dimensional innovation in financial systems, product tools, service models, and ecosystem architecture, cultivates the efficient docking of financial resources and technological elements. Its service content covers diversified financial instruments such as credit, equity, bonds, insurance, guarantees, and leasing, and its coverage involves multiple entities including banks, securities, insurance, funds, government departments, and research institutes.
In recent years, the Party and the state have attached great importance to science and technology finance and have continuously improved the top-level design and policy system. For example, the Central Financial Work Conference listed science and technology finance as the first of the "five major articles" of finance, requiring "more financial resources to be used to promote technological innovation, advanced manufacturing, green development, and small and medium-sized enterprises"; the 2025 Central Economic Work Conference made "innovating science and technology financial services" an important part of "adhering to innovation-driven development and stepping up efforts to cultivate and expand new growth drivers"; the "15th Five-Year Plan" Outline proposed "building a science and technology financial system compatible with technological innovation, and improving support policies for long-term capital to invest early, invest small, invest long-term, and invest in hard technology." Relevant departments have also formulated policy measures, focusing on building a diversified, relay-type financial service system that is more compatible with the full-lifecycle financing needs of technology-based enterprises.
Driven by a series of policy measures, the service capacity of science and technology finance has continued to improve. As of the end of 2025, the balance of loans to technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises in local and foreign currencies was 3.63 trillion yuan; in 2025, various entities issued 1.8 trillion yuan in technological innovation bonds. Science and technology finance is accelerating its transformation from "looking at financial statements and emphasizing collateral" to "looking at technology, emphasizing patents, and seeking long-term development." While recognizing the achievements, we must also clearly recognize that there is still a mismatch between the current supply of science and technology finance and the demand for technological innovation.
For example, there is a mismatch in capital maturity, with insufficient investment of "patient capital" in the early stage. Technological innovation has the inherent characteristics of a long cycle, high investment, and high uncertainty, and the industrialization cycle of some major projects and major equipment generally lasts as long as 10 to 30 years. However, the duration of existing industrial funds is mostly 7 to 10 years, and bank credit funds are generally within 3 years. The disconnect between capital maturity and the R&D cycle may cause technological achievements with industrialization potential to remain stranded as "paper patents."
Another example is that risk identification and valuation mechanisms are not perfect. Technology-based enterprises generally have the characteristics of light assets, high risk, and strong innovation, and their core competitiveness is mainly reflected in technological achievements, R&D capabilities, and intellectual property rights, which are difficult to quantify and evaluate through traditional financial statements. At the same time, the path of a scientific research project from the laboratory to industrialization is full of variables, and intellectual property pledge financing still faces problems such as inconsistent evaluation standards, insufficient trading activity, and poor cross-regional circulation in practice. This makes traditional risk assessment models difficult to apply.
Another example is that the dynamic matching of financial products and ecological synergy are insufficient. The financial needs of technology-based enterprises at different stages of development differ considerably: the start-up period usually requires long-term R&D funds, the growth period requires expanding production and market development, and the maturity period requires M&A integration and expansion of layout. However, some financial product designs lack in-depth research on sub-sectors at different development stages, making it difficult to achieve cross-integration of various products and difficult to play the functions of "value discovery" and "target screening."
Strengthening full-chain, full-lifecycle financial services for technological innovation is a systematic project that spans departments, cycles, and entities. Anchored on the goals of building a strong science and technology nation and a strong financial nation, all parties need to work together in synergy so that science and technology finance can truly become the main engine for cultivating new quality productive forces and achieving high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening. At present, the National Venture Capital Guidance Fund has been established and put into operation, with 100 billion yuan contributed by fiscal funds at the national level and a duration of up to 20 years; at the same time, three regional funds — the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Venture Capital Guidance Fund, the Yangtze River Delta Venture Capital Guidance Fund, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Venture Capital Guidance Fund — have been established and put into operation. This can be taken as an opportunity to optimize the capital maturity and supply structure, guide long-term capital to increase investment, and at the same time promote local government investment funds to optimize their operating mechanisms, effectively providing long-cycle capital support for early-stage hard technology enterprises. Improve the assessment and evaluation mechanism, improve the state-owned venture capital investment management system and the due diligence compliance liability exemption mechanism that conform to the characteristics and development laws of the venture capital industry, explore assessing state-owned venture capital institutions according to the entire fund lifecycle, and stimulate the endogenous driving force of "daring to invest, willing to invest, and able to invest." Deepen the "technology-industry-finance" ecological synergy, promote the complementary advantages and risk-sharing of multiple entities through institutional innovation, and, through the deep integration of the capital chain and the innovation chain, open up the "first kilometer" and the "last kilometer" of achievement transformation and scenario verification.
(The author's affiliation: China Business Executives Academy, Dalian)

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A bite of milk skin, a taste of new flavor (China Scenery · Local Flavors)

By: 本报通讯员 阴文娟

In the early morning, inside the workshop of a dairy processing plant in Xiaobeishan Village, Lubei Town, Jarud Banner, Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia, nearly 1,900 pots of milk skin (uriim) were cooling and setting, while workers sorted, canned, and sealed them on an assembly line — the air thick with the fragrance of milk and bustling with activity.

Plant manager Ma Xijun is a native of the grasslands, devoted to the authentic flavor of milk skin. In recent years, he and his team have skillfully blended handmade milk skin with yogurt, developing a milk-skin yogurt that combines traditional richness with a trendy texture. After first building a reputation in supermarkets in surrounding cities, they then went viral through online platforms, bringing the old flavor hidden deep in the Horqin Grassland into the view of consumers across the country.

The sudden surge in popularity was both an opportunity and a challenge. In the early stage of skyrocketing orders, problems such as insufficient production capacity, non-standardized production processes, and difficulty in unifying quality control once left Ma Xijun at a loss. But the tenacity in his bones led him to rise to the challenge.

"Eight jin of fresh milk is boiled down to one jin of milk skin. The craft passed down by our ancestors cannot be lost, and the quality cannot be compromised." Ma Xijun led his team to invest more than 6 million yuan, introducing modern production equipment. While preserving the traditional techniques of boiling, milk-lifting, and setting, they optimized production processes, improved the quality control system, and steadily increased capacity.

Today, the plant produces more than 4,000 sheets of purely handmade milk skin every day, paired with 6 tons of fresh yogurt, filling tens of thousands of cans of product that are shipped to many parts of the country via cold-chain logistics, allowing diners from all corners of the land to taste the authentic flavor without having to travel to the grasslands.

Ma Xijun's story is but one epitome of the development of the milk skin industry in Jarud Banner. Located in the high-quality milk source belt at the heart of the Horqin Grassland, Jarud Banner's vast ecological pastures nurture pure and mellow fresh milk — this is the得天独厚 (dé tiān dú hòu - "blessed by heaven with unique advantages," naturally endowed) raw material foundation of milk skin. For thousands of years, the craft of making milk skin has been passed down from generation to generation — from the oral instruction and personal demonstration of ancestors to the slow simmering in the family copper pot. This craft is not merely a food-processing skill; it carries the wisdom of grassland life and the memory of homesickness.

Authentic Jarud milk skin has always been the product of slow work and fine detail. Local herders keep watch by the pot, repeatedly lifting and pouring the milk so that it heats evenly. After hours of simmering, the milk fat slowly rises and coagulates, and once cooled, it becomes milk skin with a warm luster, firm texture, and rich milky aroma. Eaten directly, it is soft, sticky, sweet, and fragrant with a lingering milky finish; paired with milk tea or yogurt, or made into milk-based pastries, it is a delicacy for hosting guests and celebrating festivals — a taste of home etched deep in the hearts of grassland sons and daughters.

In the past, milk skin was mostly made and consumed by herders' own households, or given to relatives and friends during festivals, occasionally sold at market stalls. Output was low, sales channels were narrow, and it was hard to reach beyond the grasslands. Today, more and more entrepreneurs like Ma Xijun are inheriting ancient methods and daring to innovate, bringing new life to the old craft.

Herder Dorji began making handmade milk skin with his wife in 2005 using a traditional copper pot. From initially walking the streets and setting up stalls at markets, building a reputation through honest, solid flavor, to today's steady stream of online and offline orders with products sold to many parts of the country, he has always insisted on handmade boiling, preserving the true taste of milk skin. Narentuya of Gerichaolusumu, Jarud Banner, inherited her mother's craft of making milk-based foods and has been at it for more than 30 years. From a small family workshop to a standardized factory, her milk-based products,凭借 (píng jiè - "relying on," by virtue of) their pure flavor, are sold to Beijing, Liaoning, and other places, with average annual sales reaching hundreds of thousands of yuan. She has also driven more than 10 nearby herders to find employment close to home, using the old craft to support a better life.

As milk skin series products have gone viral, original-ecology grassland dairy foods have become the new favorite of consumers, and Jarud Banner's milk skin industry has entered a period of vigorous development. At night markets in the urban area and dairy stalls in cultural tourism districts, tourists and residents alike often crowd around to buy. Gift-boxed milk skin has become a popular souvenir, with people bringing this taste of the grassland to relatives and friends far away. Local dairy processing enterprises are also keeping pace with market trends. On the basis of traditional specialty dairy products such as milk skin and milk tofu (huruud), they have developed new products such as milk skin ice cream, milk skin cake, and milk skin milk tea, adapting the old flavor to the consumption needs of young people and continuously radiating new vitality.

Each sheet of milk skin links together a complete industrial chain that enriches the people and revitalizes the industry. At present, Jarud Banner has cultivated 192 dairy workshops and processing business entities, building a full industrial chain of "forage planting — dairy cow breeding — intensive processing — online and offline sales." With fresh milk now having a stable market, herders are increasingly motivated to raise cattle; local residents can enter factories for employment right at their doorstep, balancing family and income; and related industries such as packaging and logistics have also developed accordingly, forming a sound pattern of industrial linkage and multi-party benefit.

At the same time, the local government places great importance on the protection and inheritance of traditional crafts, incorporating the milk skin making technique into the scope of intangible cultural heritage cultivation. Relying on rural tourism, herder family inns, and folk custom experience bases, it has launched hands-on experience programs such as milk boiling, milk lifting, and skin peeling, allowing visitors to personally experience the charm of grassland dairy culture and achieving deep integration of cuisine, culture, and tourism.

From a common household food in the yurt to a specialty product sold widely across many regions; from the slow handmade boiling in a copper pot to large-scale, standardized production; from an old craft passed down through generations to a major industry driving income growth — Jarud milk skin carries on the spirit of craftsmanship through steadfast adherence and embraces the new trends through development. This rich milky fragrance is now wafting toward a broader horizon.

(Yu Linghao and Bai Aomin contributed to the reporting.)

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How Can Summer Ice and Snow Stay Hot for the Long Haul? (Echoes from Around the World)

By: 张孝宇

In high summer, at the Qianhai Ice and Snow World in Shenzhen, Guangdong, it is 35 degrees Celsius outdoors, yet minus 6 degrees Celsius indoors. Less than a year after opening, the park has received over one million cumulative visitors.
This is not an isolated case. Shanghai's Yaoxue Ice and Snow World saw booming popularity during the summer vacation period, and Harbin's Dream Ice and Snow Pavilion in Heilongjiang exceeded 5,000 visitors on its peak single day in summer... One door separates two seasons — why can the ice and snow economy "heat up" in summer?
Technology is the foundation — refrigeration and snowmaking equipment allow indoor ice and snow environments to be maintained even in high summer; demand is the pull — when the heat becomes unbearable, people always want to find somewhere to cool off, and "ice and snow" is naturally attractive; policy is the push — from "driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports" to "developing the ice and snow economy as a new growth point," the ice and snow economy is "blossoming in multiple places" across the country.
How can summer ice and snow "stay hot" for the long term?
Enrich the experience, so more people "skate longer." In places lacking ice and snow resources, merely "seeking novelty" is not enough — upgrading the experience is the key to retaining visitors. A ski resort in Wuhan, Hubei, has deeply integrated a popular IP (intellectual property) with its indoor snow park, offering free beginner skiing public classes every day, and many people have shifted from "trying it once for the novelty" to becoming long-term participants. From "a one-time experience" to "a lasting passion," experience upgrades are raising the "return rate" of ice and snow consumption.
Cross-sector linkage, so ice and snow consumption is "not limited to ice and snow." Taicang's Alps Snow World in Jiangsu launched activities such as skiing with pets and a snow-splashing festival during the summer, integrating the ski resort, hotels, and commercial facilities into packaged products, with surrounding hotel bookings up about 40 percent year-on-year. From "selling tickets alone" to "selling a lifestyle," ice and snow consumption is extending from inside the venue to outside it.
Adapt to local conditions, so the "winter" in high summer offers varied scenery. Qitaihe, Heilongjiang, has taken the path of "competition and training as a draw" — relying on its mature short-track speed skating training system, it has built competition and training bases, attracting teams from multiple countries to rotate through, with ice rink training slots booked through September; Lujiang's Zhashan in Anhui, by contrast, has taken the path of "rural + ice and snow" — linking its indoor ice and snow pavilion with mountain camping, orchard picking, and other business formats to create an integrated agriculture-culture-tourism pattern. Whether on the professional track or the cultural tourism track, each has its own way of playing, and each has its own participant base.
The summer story of the ice and snow economy is continuing to be written. With more venues and more choices, public expectations have also risen. Similar ski slopes and similar activities cannot satisfy people's diverse needs, nor can they inspire consumers to want to come again. How to move from experience to deep cultivation, from "competing on scale" to "competing on quality"? This is an area where continuous exploration and improvement are underway.
The geographic reach of ice and snow sports continues to expand, ice and snow culture is integrating into summer life, the ice and snow equipment industry is accelerating its rise, and ice and snow tourism is breaking seasonal limits... When skiing in high summer and viewing ice in the south become the norm, the vivid story of "ice and snow are also mountains of gold and silver" is continuing to be written.

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All-around Express Delivery

2026 China Aviation Science Popularization Conference Held
Tianjin Daily, Tianjin, August 5 (Reporter Hu Mengwei) The 2026 China Aviation Science Popularization Conference was recently held at the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Tianjin). The conference lasted four days, bringing together academicians in the national aerospace field, test-flight heroes, science popularization workers, and teacher and student representatives, building a national-level platform for the integrated exchange of aviation science popularization and campus education. The 2026 Aviation Science Popularization Education Theme Forum and the 2026 (Second) National Defense Science Popularization Conference were held concurrently.

The "Sichuan-Chongqing Intergovernmental Service Items List (2026 Edition)" Released
Sichuan Daily, Chengdu, August 5 (Reporter Chen Song) The "Sichuan-Chongqing Intergovernmental Service Items List (2026 Edition)" was recently released. Previously, the two provinces and municipalities of Sichuan and Chongqing had successively launched four batches of "Sichuan-Chongqing intergovernmental service" item lists, effectively solving the problem of enterprises and the public in the two places having to "run back and forth" to handle affairs.
The 2026 edition list comprehensively integrates the items from the previous four batches, with dynamic adjustments, covering matters such as enterprise market access and operation licensing, recruitment and employment, business development, and matters concerning individuals' birth, education, employment, livelihood, and elderly care.

Jiangsu "Adds" 217 New Open and Shared Urban Green Spaces
Xinhua Daily, Nanjing, August 5 (Reporter Bai Xue) The fourth batch of open and shared urban green space lists in Jiangsu was announced, adding a total of 217 new sites covering more than 400 hectares of urban green space. Since 2023, Jiangsu has successively announced three batches of open and shared urban green spaces. This year, localities across Jiangsu have further sorted through lawns, understory spaces, idle lands, and other areas within urban green spaces that meet the conditions for open and shared use, continuously expanding open and shared spaces, improving supporting service facilities, and steadily raising the supply level of ecological products and social services from open and shared green spaces.

Yunnan Xishuangbanna Completes Smart Rice Farm
Yunnan Daily, Xishuangbanna, August 5 (Reporter Dai Zhenhua) Yunnan's first smart rice farm was recently completed in Manyan Village, Mengzhe Town, Menghai County, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, with simultaneous demonstration and training on the full-process intelligent and unmanned technology for rice plowing, planting, management, and harvesting. The smart rice farm relies on a 5G high-speed Internet of Things and the telecommunications agricultural informatization foundation, equipped with a full set of Beidou split-type intelligent agricultural machinery terminal monitoring hardware, and builds an integrated digital management and control platform for agricultural machinery through artificial intelligence digital technology, realizing full-process intelligent supervision of unmanned agricultural machinery operations.

Qinghai Haidong Opens Special Driving Test Session for Food Delivery Riders
Qinghai Daily, Haidong, August 5 (Reporter Han Liping) Recently, the Vehicle Management Office of the Haidong Municipal Public Security Bureau in Qinghai, responding to the practical need of food delivery riders who find it difficult to obtain licenses, opened a special motorcycle driving test session for food delivery riders and opened a green channel for examinations, providing convenient driving test services to more than 300 food delivery workers cumulatively. During the examination period, traffic safety publicity was carried out concurrently, explaining laws and regulations knowledge in conjunction with typical cases, guiding riders to enhance safety awareness and travel in a civilized manner.

Comprehensive Science and Technology Classics Database Goes Online
Beijing Daily, Beijing, August 5 (Reporter He Rui) Recently, China's first comprehensive database of science and technology classics went online on the "Shidian Guji" (识典古籍) ancient text digitization platform of Peking University, with the first batch of 1,982 traditional Chinese science and technology classics, including Tiangong Kaiwu (The Works of Heaven and the Inception of Things), available for reading in the cloud. Since the "Shidian Guji" platform was launched in 2022, it has moved more than 70,000 ancient texts from "paper" to "internet" and opened them for free reading.

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Enriching the Summer Life of "Little Migratory Birds"

By: 新华社记者 江 汉摄影报道

During the summer vacation, in Jiangbei District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, in order to alleviate the childcare pressure on dual-income families and on new employment groups such as food delivery riders and couriers, multiple departments coordinated to launch a variety of public welfare courses in forms such as intangible cultural heritage handicrafts, fine arts, and sports, enriching the summer life of the "little migratory birds."

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"Eastern Textiles Move West" Boosts County Economies

By: 新华社记者 刘智强

The looms clatter away, and yarn shuttles back and forth. Stepping into the production workshop of a textile enterprise in Bijie City, Guizhou, one sees 33-year-old Hu Qian pinching the edge of a knitted sleeve with her fingers, slipping it loop by loop onto the linking machine. Before long, she has completed the collar-and-cuff joining process for a knit sweater. Although she has only been on the job for five months, Hu Qian's movements are already skilled, and she now earns a steady monthly income of more than 6,000 yuan.

Hu Qian had long worked away from home, and in previous years returned to her hometown of Bijie to marry and have children. "I wanted to go out and work, but I couldn't rest easy leaving my child behind," Hu Qian said. In March of this year, she learned that a newly built textile enterprise near her home was recruiting workers, and she came to apply at once. "Now my income is stable, and I can be with my child every day after work. Life feels solid and content."

The change in Hu Qian's life is a vivid microcosm of Guizhou seizing the gradient transfer of the eastern textile industry and promoting migrant workers to find employment locally and nearby.

Guizhou is a major traditional labor-exporting province, with more than 6 million people working away from home year-round, of whom nearly 100,000 have long been deeply engaged in the textile and garment industry, accumulating mature practical experience and becoming a unique employment advantage for undertaking the "eastern textiles shifting west." Wang Cuifa, deputy director of the Light Industry Division of the Guizhou Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, said that basing the layout of the textile and garment industry on labor resources is both a response to the general trend of industrial transfer and a practical need for Guizhou to stabilize employment and revitalize its counties.

Wu Xiaoling, the head of another enterprise, traveled to many places for inspections before finally deciding to settle in Duyun City, Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. "The local government is efficient in handling matters, and communication and coordination were smooth throughout the entire process. The decision to settle was finalized in the second half of last year, and production went smoothly in March this year," Wu Xiaoling said. The locality also proactively surveyed information on migrant workers and went door to door to mobilize rural migrant workers with textile industry experience to return home for employment.

At present, Guizhou is making an overall plan for the layout of "two whole-industry-chain clustering zones plus N characteristic industry clusters": Bijie City and Guian New Area are building whole-industry-chain clustering zones for textiles and garments, while supporting Liuzhi Special District in Liupanshui City, Dejiang County in Tongren City, Duyun City in Qiannan Prefecture, and other places to develop characteristic textile and garment industries suited to local conditions, attracting and cultivating supporting enterprises along the chain.

In 2025, the total output value of Guizhou's textile and garment industry surpassed 10 billion yuan. At present, Guizhou has cultivated 11 textile enterprises with annual output above 100 million yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency dispatch)

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Warmth and kindness on a frigid plateau night

By: 西藏日报记者 温 凯 万 慧

A short video recently sparked attention on social media. A blogger used his camera to record a warm experience in Xiangpi Township, Gonjo County, Chamdo City, Tibet — on a cold highland night at an altitude of nearly 4,000 meters, because he had set up a tent on an open space by the roadside to spend the night, he was brought home by a local Tibetan young man named Tuduo Wangxiu, and received warm hospitality from the whole family.

That evening, the blogger, who had been cycling for several consecutive days, was preparing to pitch his tent beside a pastoral access road in Zirong Village, Xiangpi Township, when Tuduo Wangxiu approached quickly and asked urgently: "Hey, what are you doing? This is the path yaks walk on!" Tuduo Wangxiu took his hand and repeatedly urged, "Come, come, come with me," inviting the blogger to spend the night at his home. Only after entering the house did Tuduo Wangxiu explain the reason — large wild animals frequently appeared in this area, and spending the night outdoors alone posed a serious safety hazard.

During the stay, Tuduo Wangxiu not only provided the blogger with a warm place to sleep, but also taught him how to knead tsampa and let him taste the butter tea his family had made.

In just two days, the distance between host and guest from their first meeting had already faded. The blogger wrote emotionally in the video: "No matter how high the mountain, it cannot block the warmth of kindness!"

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Rural roads fitted with "safety belts"

By: 海南日报记者 曹马志

Brand-new corrugated steel guardrails, signage... The village roads in Huachang Village, Qunzhuang Village, and Guanwen Village in Chengmai County, Hainan, are smooth and flat, with the safety protection facilities along the roads completely renewed.
The renovation of dangerous bridges and submersible bridges, as well as the highway safety life protection project, is a key provincial-level practical livelihood initiative. The project includes the renovation of 70 rural highway bridges and a 775.35-kilometer road safety life protection project, all of which have now commenced construction in full, promoting the upgrading and improvement of rural highways.
"The project involves two sub-projects in our county, with total lengths of 8.555 kilometers and 3.687 kilometers respectively." Li Daosheng, director of the Chengmai County Transportation Management Office, introduced that the county's transportation department relies on multiple channels such as the 12345 hotline platform to solicit public needs, and fully leverages the role of town- and village-level road chiefs to proactively investigate accident-prone road sections and safety protection blind spots, systematically plan projects, and precisely address shortcomings, ensuring that residents' daily travel is safer.
Small projects bear on major livelihood concerns. Chengmai County adheres to "scientific coordination and node control," reasonably assesses workload and construction periods, clarifies division of labor, assigns responsibility to specific individuals, and strictly controls time nodes to ensure projects are completed on schedule with high quality. The county's two sub-projects commenced on March 23 this year and were completed on June 30. The projects benefit 16,800 villagers along the route, providing stronger safety guarantees for residents' travel.

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Redefining 'a Play' and 'a City'

By: 新华社记者 何磊静

At the Beijing Pigment Guild Hall (北京颜料会馆), audience members become "jurors," moving through different rooms alongside the characters in the play, and even stepping out of the theater, crossing alleyways, and arriving at another space to continue investigating the case.

Scenes like this are now being staged in more and more places. The theater is no longer a fixed space where audiences "sit and watch" and actors "perform on stage." Old factory buildings, cultural and creative parks, cruise ships and buses — new performance spaces are redefining the relationship between "a play" and "a city."

In the Xinanli Historical and Cultural District of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, signboards shaped like Peking Opera headdresses light up at night. The area has attracted multiple local theater troupes to take up residence and perform. After dark, in bars and small theaters that combine theatrical character with a modern flair, resident performers sing adapted repertoire, and many tourists in Hanfu listen to songs and watch plays. "Every time I bring out-of-town friends to the small theaters for a visit, we can experience the charm of the performing arts immersively," said Wang Liwen, an audience member born after 1995.

Why are new performance spaces flourishing? Zong Zupan, a researcher at the Institute of Cultural Industries at Shenzhen University, analyzed that new performance spaces can rely on existing urban renewal projects, effectively reducing costs and endowing urban spaces with new cultural vitality. "The viewing distance in a small theater and its more personalized expression make it easier to evoke our empathy with and reflection on the work," Wang Liwen said.

New performance spaces located in commercial districts or communities lower the threshold for attending performances and weaken the sense of ritual, transforming performances from a "complex product" requiring repeated deliberation into a "convenience good" that can be consumed at any time. Si Xinli, a professor at Capital University of Economics and Business, suggested that several small new performance spaces could be embedded around large urban venues to create performance clusters of moderate scale and distinctive character. At the same time, since many new performance spaces are renovated from historic buildings, old factories, and other areas, local governments should be encouraged to formulate implementation rules, establish a risk classification and tiered management system, and promote industry organizations to issue operational guidelines.

(According to Xinhua News Agency)

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Premium Fresh Peaches Sent to Space

By: 河北日报记者 李 巍

At the Liangsang Breeding Farm in Shenzhou, Hebei, farm director Zhang Jiuqing walked among the peach trees. "Those saplings over there were just planted last year, five or six thousand of them, and every single one is unique." Zhang Jiuqing said, pointing into the distance.
Two months ago, it was here that they selected the peaches that would fly into space. From July 2025 to May of this year, fresh Shenzhou peaches have flown into space three times.
In early summer 2025, Zhang Jiuqing received the task of guaranteeing fresh peaches for spaceflight. Sending fresh peaches into space requires meeting two conditions: the harvest season must match the pace of the mission, and the peaches must be storable at room temperature. Ordinary peaches do not stay fresh long at room temperature, but the freshness period required by the space mission was longer — not only did all stages including processing, packaging, and transport have to be completed on the ground, but after reaching the astronauts' hands, the peaches also had to continue to be stored for a period of time.
Zhang Jiuqing explained that on the day of picking, every single peach underwent the most stringent selection. "It's not easy to get up there once, so we tried to make the edible flesh portion as large as possible — that's why we chose peaches with relatively small pits," Zhang Jiuqing said.
In July 2025, with the launch of the Tianzhou-9 cargo spacecraft, fresh Shenzhou peaches entered space for the first time. This was the first time Chinese astronauts ate fresh peaches in space.

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Beauty eyelash industry gets 'industrial brain'

By: 本报通讯员 郝 宁

In Pingdu City, Shandong, a large data screen is conducting real-time monitoring and coordinated dispatch — from fluctuations in global market demand, to the operational status of workshop production lines, to the progress of customs declaration and tax rebates, massive amounts of data are aggregated, computed, and dispatched here. This is the visual terminal of Pingdu's "Beauty Eyelash Industry Brain." And what it supports is a beauty eyelash industry that accounts for 70% of global production capacity and has an annual output value exceeding ten billion yuan.

Thousands of scattered small and medium-sized beauty eyelash enterprises in Pingdu were long stuck in a state of contract processing. How could dispersed business entities form a combined force for development? The "Beauty Eyelash Industry Brain" emerged in response to this need. It has constructed an overall architecture: one wide-area cloud network for integrated services across the entire region opens up data channels across the entire chain of industrial parks, factories, e-commerce, logistics, and foreign trade; an industrial e-commerce trading platform connects supply and demand at home and abroad; an industrial internet intelligent manufacturing platform empowers workshop automation transformation; an industrial cluster ecological service platform coordinates talent, policy, and exhibition resources; two major systems provide technical support and security assurance; and dozens of implemented application scenarios cover cloud procurement and sales, cloud exhibition tours, flexible employment, customs declaration and tax rebates, digital exhibition halls, and quality traceability.

Under the assistance of digital technologies such as the "Industry Brain," the golden signboard of Pingdu beauty eyelashes is advancing from a small city in Shandong to a broader world stage.

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Zhang Ye, Zhang Xiaoyu, Zhang Yifu

Layout design: Shen Yiling (沈亦伶)
Contribution email: rmrbgdcz@peopledaily.cn

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Extending the chain, old revolutionary base areas grow new industries (Economic Focus · New Industries in Old Base Areas)

By: 本报记者 刘晓宇 人民网记者 林 盈 冯肖慧 陈洁泉

The "15th Five-Year Plan" Outline proposes accelerating the revitalization and development of old revolutionary base areas, inheriting the red gene, developing distinctive industries, supporting old revolutionary base areas to leverage their comparative advantages to cultivate endogenous momentum, and deepening paired cooperation between key cities in old revolutionary base areas.

Stepping into the old revolutionary base areas, what greets you is both the red memory from the depths of history and the new look of the times in revitalization and development. With policy support, new industries in the old base areas are flourishing. A single seed grows into a pharmaceutical industry chain, a piece of aluminum supports a hundred-billion-yuan industry, and a steel rope reaches the forefront of the world. Multi-form red tourism allows visitors to comprehend the red spirit through their travels and draw strength for continued endeavor. Specialty products from the old base areas, leveraging e-commerce livestreaming and brand-oriented operations, have also become industries that enrich the people. This year marks the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Red Army's Long March. Reporters from our newspaper and the "Marching China" research team of People's Daily Online have entered old revolutionary base areas along the route of the Red Army's Long March, to see through the vivid practices of various localities in building up the old base areas and promoting revitalization how the development of the old base areas can walk the new Long March of the new era.

—— Editor

Mingxi, Fujian
One Seed, Linking Up a Pharmaceutical Industry Chain

In summer, in the state-owned forest farm of Mingxi County, Sanming, Fujian, large tracts of southern yew trees bear fruit the size of mung beans, with dense, dark green branches and leaves. It is hard to imagine that these trees have enabled Mingxi to grow a biomedical industry chain.

"Paclitaxel extracted from yew trees is the active ingredient in anti-tumor drugs. At the end of the last century, because it had to be extracted from the bark, a single injection could sell for 8,000 yuan, and one kilogram of active pharmaceutical ingredient was worth 3 million yuan," said Lin Chunhua (林春花), deputy general manager of Fujian Southern Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Mingxi overcame the technology for artificial cultivation of yew trees and, through cooperation with universities, achieved a breakthrough in high-purity paclitaxel extraction technology. In 2001, next to the yew forest farm, Mingxi established its first biomedical company, which later became Fujian Southern Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

In the following years, Southern Pharmaceutical drove more than 4,000 local forestry households to cultivate seedlings and plant trees, and bred a yew variety with higher paclitaxel content, "Southern No. 1" — from which the starting material for producing semi-synthetic paclitaxel can be directly extracted from the leaves, raising raw material utilization to 95% and product purity to 99.9%. As costs fell sharply, the price of each paclitaxel injection dropped to 200 yuan.

During development, the enterprise faced new pressures. "The market changes with each passing day, and product diversification is urgently needed," Lin Chunhua said. In response, the company chose to develop new products and take the internationalization route. New plants and new product lines advanced in parallel, with 10% of annual revenue invested in R&D, securing multiple international certifications.

Over more than a decade, Southern Pharmaceutical's taxane-class anti-tumor drugs have captured 60% of the domestic market, and its business has extended to other anti-tumor and non-anti-tumor active pharmaceutical ingredients. In 2023, an oral tablet for treating leukemia was approved for market, upgrading the enterprise from an API processing plant to a versatile industry player with a full industrial chain of "pharmaceutical intermediates + APIs + finished formulations."

Following the industrial chain, Mingxi has attracted upstream and downstream enterprises. "The county's biomedical industry chain service task force can provide 'agency handling' services, environmental protection and safety are guided by resident third-party professional teams, and there are specially appointed biomedical expert groups offering advice — all of which give us great confidence," said Chen Haisong (陈海松), general manager of Fujian Furui Mingde Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

As the industrial chain structure has matured, Mingxi's biomedical industry has begun to take shape. From January to May 2026, tax revenue from Mingxi County's biomedical industry chain reached 228 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.18%.

Baise, Guangxi
One Piece of Aluminum, Transformed into High-End New Materials

In Baise, Guangxi, proven reserves of bauxite are large, but for a long period, the locality relied on primary processed products such as aluminum rods, with deep-processed products accounting for only about 30%. "In the past, we guarded our resources and did primary processing, with everyone squeezed into the low-end track fighting price wars — products were homogeneous and profits were razor-thin," recalled Wu Jianghua (吴江华), general manager of Guangxi Aotai Aluminum Co., Ltd.

The resources are uniquely endowed, yet the industry was "large but not strong." How to escape the predicament of low-end involution?

Local enterprises each adopted practical measures, giving aluminum ore multiple possibilities. Aotai Aluminum launched a 300,000-ton high-performance aluminum plate, strip, and foil project with supporting recycled aluminum, taking the step of comprehensive transformation toward high-end aluminum-based new materials, achieving monthly output of over 7,000 tons and output value of 800 million yuan within five years; Shanghai Rongrong New Material Technology (Guangxi) Co., Ltd. has delved into new materials and become an enterprise capable of mass-producing continuous alumina fibers. The alumina fiber needled felt manufactured here is made from fine alumina short fibers, each as thin as a hair, optimized in web-laying and then needle-punched. An ordinary-looking blanket, one side can continuously withstand scorching at 1,400 degrees Celsius, while the other side can be touched with bare hands.

In 2019, five leading aluminum enterprises in Baise jointly initiated the establishment of the Baise Aluminum Industry Association. Under "united development," information barriers between upstream and downstream were broken through, and mutual exchange of what one has and lacks became the norm. Today, Baise's aluminum industry has linked upstream and downstream — aluminum alloy wheels, power battery foil, photovoltaic modules, high-end alumina fiber products, high-performance aluminum plate, strip, and foil products can all be mass-produced, and a complete industrial chain has taken shape: bauxite mining, alumina smelting, electrolytic aluminum production, deep aluminum processing, recycled aluminum utilization, and comprehensive resource recovery — Baise has "eaten the aluminum clean, squeezing it dry."

To achieve diversified industrial development, the locality has continuously supported extending, supplementing, and strengthening the industrial chain. "Enterprises in production and processing can enjoy exclusive electricity price preferential policies, saving substantial funds for deepening R&D and expanding production capacity," said Kang Youjun (康佑军), director of the New Materials Innovation Center of Shanghai Rongrong New Material Technology (Guangxi) Co., Ltd. With relevant policy support, the enterprise's production lines in operation have increased to 16.

In 2025, Baise City's aluminum industry output value reached 157.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.4%, accounting for more than 70% of the region's aluminum industry output value and 64% of the city's total output value of industries above designated size. "We will continue to develop the new ecological aluminum industry, advance the construction of the Guangxi Pan-Aluminum Advanced Manufacturing Base, and strive to break through 200 billion yuan in aluminum industry output value by 2028," said a relevant official of the Baise Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology.

Zunyi, Guizhou
One Steel Rope, Advancing Toward the Mid-to-High End of the Value Chain

Fifty stories tall, capable of driving 700-ton large-scale pile foundations — in the construction of the Hangzhou Bay Cross-Sea Railway Bridge project, the pile-driving vessel "Erhang Changqing" has shown its prowess. Few know that this vessel's skeleton — the complete set of steel wire ropes for the main pile-driving boom, main and auxiliary hammers, and positioning anchor cables — was produced deep in the mountains of northern Guizhou.

"What we make are 'iron arms' that can steadily bear a thousand jun of weight," said Chen Cai (陈才), director of the Digital and Intelligent Technology R&D Office of the Technical Center of Guizhou Steel Rope, located in Zunyi, Guizhou. In the sweltering production workshop, production lines run at full speed, and products including steel wires as fine as hair and super-large-diameter steel wire ropes of 260 mm and above continuously come off the lines, becoming the steel sinews and bones of super bridges such as the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge and the Nansha Bridge.

Deep-sea steel — why is it made deep in the mountains?

Technology is the most direct answer. The wind, waves, and ocean current environments in deep and distant sea areas are complex and changeable, placing extremely stringent requirements on the strength, corrosion resistance, and stability of lifting and load-bearing components. The reason Guizhou Steel Rope was able to stand out lies in several technological breakthroughs — 2,000 MPa large-diameter ultra-high-strength steel wire, zinc-aluminum-rare-earth multi-element anti-corrosion coating, sealed suspension cables, fiber-optic sensing smart strand, and others — all of which had once been difficulties encountered in the development of Guizhou Steel Rope.

"In the early days, the key technologies for producing special ropes were not in our hands; we could not produce competitive products, and key manufacturing technologies were constrained at every turn," Chen Cai recalled.

The turning point in breaking through came with relocation-based technological transformation. Moving into new plants, building a modern production base of 730,000 square meters with a capacity of 550,000 tons, eliminating outdated production lines, introducing intelligent production equipment in batches, and reshaping the process chain — an integrated modern industrial chain was established from R&D, precision stranding, and engineering support. Guizhou Steel Rope broke through technological barriers, delved deep into high-end special ropes, and rode the waves amid industrial transformation. Today, Guizhou Steel Rope leads the revision of two international standards, and its products are sold to more than 40 countries and regions.

The transformation of Guizhou Steel Rope is a microcosm of the local industry's march toward innovation. In recent years, Guizhou has deeply implemented the strategy of "precise development of rich mineral resources" to push industry toward the mid-to-high end of the value chain. Mao Xufeng (毛旭峰), director of the Raw Materials Industry Division of the Guizhou Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, said that in the future, the province will continue to rely on special policies to guide more enterprises to join the ranks of deep integration of technological innovation and industrial development.

From Mingxi's pharmaceutical industry, to Baise's aluminum, to Zunyi's steel rope, industries in the old base areas are advancing toward innovation, excellence, and sound development.

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Deepening the Path of Transformation and Upgrading in the Motorcycle Industry (Reflections)

By: 张洪波

Continuously consolidate the leading position in the global two-wheeler industry, and steadily advance the motorcycle industry toward high-end, green, and international development

As an important component of China's equipment manufacturing sector, China's motorcycle industry, after decades of accumulation, has ranked first in global production and sales for more than 30 consecutive years. Relying on the advantages of a complete industrial chain supporting system to achieve structural transformation, the industry has steadily shifted from the extensive manufacturing of the past that relied on low prices and high volume to a new stage of high-quality development driven by technology and led by brands.

The iteration of product structure is an intuitive microcosm of high-quality development. Motorcycles are shedding their single commuting attribute and forming a diversified, segmented landscape covering commuting, leisure sports, and special operations. In 2025, production and sales of mid-to-large-displacement leisure motorcycles above 250cc both exceeded 950,000 units, with year-on-year growth of more than 23 percent, becoming a key engine driving domestic sales growth. Electric motorcycles, leveraging the advantages of the domestic lithium battery industrial chain, have seen rapid growth in production and sales; they are both the main vehicle type for urban last-mile delivery and a rigid-demand category in emerging overseas markets. From affordable commuting models to high-end cruisers and off-road motorcycles priced at over one hundred thousand yuan, domestic models cover all price ranges and all scenarios, with more and more self-developed technologies. Domestic brands competing in top international motorcycle events have repeatedly achieved outstanding results, and track technology feeds back into civilian product development. The level of self-reliance in domestically produced core engines and electronic control systems continues to achieve breakthroughs.

The upgrading and acceleration of foreign trade builds new support for industrial growth. Relying on a complete parts supporting system, China's motorcycles deeply cultivate rigid-demand markets in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America, while accelerating the development of high-end electrified markets in Europe and the United States. The export share of mid-to-high-end models has risen year by year. A large number of leading enterprises have shed the low-end OEM model through overseas factory construction, localized services, and direct operation of self-owned brands, achieving advancement from product going global to brand going global.

The green and intelligent transformation closely aligns with the "dual carbon" goals. The entire industry is accelerating the elimination of high-energy-consumption backward production capacity, and lightweight materials, intelligent connected technologies, and electric drive systems are being applied on a large scale. New regulations related to motorcycle production will be implemented, raising the industry's market entry threshold across the entire chain from R&D, production lines, and quality inspection, forcing the clearance of backward production capacity, promoting a steady increase in industry concentration, and leaping from traditional assembly to intelligent manufacturing. Motorcycle cultural tourism, professional events, and riding culture are flourishing. Events such as the Dahai Dao Rally and the China International Motorcycle Trade Exhibition continue to extend the value of the industrial chain, achieving two-way empowerment between manufacturing and cultural-sports consumption.

Looking to the future, the industry will continue to focus on three major directions: first, adhering to independent technological innovation and tackling key technologies such as new energy and intelligent driving; second, actively offering policy recommendations and steadily optimizing motorcycle traffic management, taxation, and scrappage-related systems to unleash domestic demand potential; third, deeply cultivating differentiated global markets and strengthening the going-global of self-owned brands. With policy support, the entire industry will unite its efforts to shore up weaknesses, continuously consolidate the leading position in the global two-wheeler industry, and steadily advance the motorcycle industry toward high-end, green, and international development.
(The author is the Secretary-General of the China Motorcycle Chamber of Commerce, compiled by our reporter Huang Jinyu)

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Enjoy Technology, Colorful Summer Vacation

With the development of artificial intelligence and robotics technology, this summer vacation, localities across the country have launched diverse robot experience activities of various forms, allowing children to enjoy technology through fun interactions and spend a fulfilling holiday.
These activities not only enrich children's summer cultural life, but also, through an educational and entertaining approach, plant the seeds of a love for science in children's hearts, inspiring scientific thinking through play.

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Further improve the entrustment review system for concentration of business operators

BEIJING, August 5 (Xinhua) — (Reporter Lin Lili) The "Announcement of the State Administration for Market Regulation on Further Improving the System of Entrusted Review of Concentration of Undertakings" was officially implemented recently. On the basis of having already entrusted the provincial market regulation departments of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Chongqing, and Shaanxi with the review of certain simple cases, the scope of entrusted review has been expanded to include certain non-simple cases, while three additional entrusted provincial market regulation departments — Liaoning, Zhejiang, and Sichuan — have been added to review certain simple cases. The State Administration for Market Regulation has adopted multiple measures to effectively ensure that the entrusted review of concentration of undertakings is implemented in a unified, standardized, and efficient manner.

The anti-monopoly business system for concentration of undertakings has been upgraded. Business systems have been deployed for the newly added provincial market regulation departments of Liaoning, Zhejiang, and Sichuan, while business modules for the entrusted review of non-simple cases have been added for the provincial market regulation departments of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Chongqing, and Shaanxi, ensuring that the entire chain of entrusted review operates online. The supporting rules for entrusted review of concentration of undertakings have been revised. The work manual for review of concentration of undertakings by provincial market regulation departments has been revised, and the workflow for entrusted review has been improved; provincial market regulation departments have simultaneously formulated internal procedures to ensure the standardization and consistency of entrusted review. The implementation of requirements for simple cases has been advanced. Since the launch of entrusted review on August 1, 2022, the State Administration for Market Regulation has continuously promoted improvements in review efficiency. The entrusted provincial market regulation departments have achieved an average acceptance time of 16.28 days and an average case conclusion time of 17.52 days, neither exceeding 20 days, helping enterprises complete investment and mergers and acquisitions quickly.

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July China Logistics Prosperity Index Stands at 50.4%

BEIJING, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) — (Reporter Ouyang Jie) The China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing released the July China Logistics Prosperity Index at 50.4 percent, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous month, maintaining overall expansion. Among them, the total business volume index stood at 50.4 percent, remaining in the expansion range for three consecutive months. The new orders index was 50.5 percent, rising for five consecutive months.

The total business volume indexes of railway transport, road transport, postal express delivery, and multimodal transport sectors were in the expansion range, with the multimodal transport sector's total business volume index at 54 percent, up 0.5 percentage points month-on-month. Localities have continued to innovate in multimodal transport solutions, achieving further breakthroughs in water-to-water transshipment, rail-sea intermodal transport, single-document system, and data interconnection.

From the perspective of service sectors, logistics business for industries such as transportation equipment, communications electronics, electrical machinery, and smart home appliances has been steadily improving. During the summer period, localities have targeted consumer groups including study tours, parent-child, family, and group travelers, linking commerce, tourism, culture, and entertainment to create immersive experience-based consumption scenarios, driving activity in cross-regional passenger flow, commercial flow, and logistics. In surveys, enterprises reported that logistics orders for tourism and outdoor products, local specialties, and fresh produce rebounded month-on-month.

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What to Do When AI Customer Service Makes False Promises (Q&A)

By: 本报记者 齐志明

As generative artificial intelligence is widely applied in the consumer service sector, AI (artificial intelligence) customer service has become an important tool for business operators to conduct product consultation, fee explanation, marketing promotion, and after-sales service.

On May 5 this year, consumer Mr. Gong filed a complaint through the Consumer Association 315 platform against a used motor vehicle brokerage (Beijing) Co., Ltd. The consumer stated that in April of this year, he selected a used car on the company's used-car APP. Before paying a 2,000 yuan deposit, the platform's official AI customer service agent "Xiaogua" explicitly informed the consumer that the 28,700 yuan vehicle price already included the transfer fee and license plate fee. During the transaction process, the salesperson required the consumer to pay an additional 1,000 yuan transfer fee. The consumer believed that the platform's AI customer service and staff provided mutually contradictory information, causing the consumer to make a transaction decision based on erroneous information. The consumer requested that the platform verify the facts and refund the 2,000 yuan deposit already paid.

This is a typical case in which the application scenarios of AI customer service have expanded, and problems with service commitments and human agent access have become prominent.

According to statistics on complaints accepted by consumer associations nationwide, in the first half of 2026, among complaint volumes by major service category, internet services, life and social services, education and training services, sales services, and culture, entertainment, and sports services ranked in the top five. Among these, internet services complaints reached 122,922 cases, accounting for 12.47 percent of total complaints.

A relevant official from the China Consumers Association's Complaint Department stated that in the first half of the year, internet services complaint volume ranked first among major service categories, and such complaints exhibit characteristics including the interweaving of traditional pain points and new risks, full-domain coverage, difficulty in dispute resolution, and elevated risk of property-related litigation.

Take complaints triggered by AI customer service as an example. Over a period of time, complaints involving AI customer service or general-purpose AI have increased. Consumer-reported problems are mainly concentrated in the areas of false commitments by AI customer service, difficulty in accessing human customer service, and inaccuracies in generated content—

First, the mechanism for transferring from AI customer service to human agents is not smooth. Some platforms delay or obstruct consumers from entering the human service process through circular responses, multi-layer redirects, and other means, and are unable to promptly handle complex issues such as returns, refunds, and liability determination, increasing consumers' rights-protection costs.

Second, AI customer service makes explicit commitments regarding fee composition, promotional activities, after-sales policies, and the like. After consumers make transaction decisions based on these commitments, business operators refuse to fulfill them on grounds such as "AI responses do not represent the company's position" or "algorithm-generated content has no legal effect," giving rise to performance disputes.

Third, general-purpose AI-generated content contains factual errors or deviations in rule comprehension, which in consumption scenarios such as airline ticket changes and refunds, legal rights protection, and financial services can easily mislead consumers into making erroneous decisions, resulting in property losses.

A relevant official from the China Consumers Association stated that although the AI customer service deployed by a business operator itself does not have the subject qualification to independently bear civil legal liability, it is an important tool deployed by the business operator and applied in business service activities, and its output content constitutes a component of the services provided by the business operator. Business operators providing AI customer service should simultaneously establish a smooth and convenient human-agent transfer mechanism. In addition, third-party general-purpose AI responses generally cannot represent the official commitments of platforms or merchants. When consumers use third-party general-purpose AI to inquire about key transaction matters, they must conduct secondary confirmation through the operator's official website, official customer service, and other channels, and must not cause unnecessary property losses by credulously trusting third-party general-purpose AI responses.

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CDB agricultural loans up 111% YoY in H1

This newspaper, Beijing, August 5 (Reporter Zhao Zhanhui) — The reporter recently learned from the China Development Bank: In the first half of this year, the CDB focused on key areas such as high-standard farmland, modern facility agriculture, new quality productive forces in agriculture, and development of reclamation areas, disbursing agricultural loans of 25.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 111%, supporting the enhancement of comprehensive agricultural production capacity and quality and efficiency.

Since the beginning of this year, the CDB has made good use of special loans for farmland construction, focusing on supporting the construction of high-standard farmland, the upgrading of farmland water conservancy facilities, as well as farmland protection projects, ecological farmland, and smart farmland construction, supporting the treatment and improvement of saline-alkali land according to local conditions, serving the improvement of cultivated land quality, and ensuring grain production.

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Editor: Lü Zhongzheng, Wu Kai, Han Wenrong

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Getting the Full Picture Without Resorting to Rote Reporting (A New Look at Cadre Mentality · Reducing Burdens and Empowering the Grassroots)

By: 本报记者 白光迪

Just as the morning work shift began, Li Hong, deputy mayor of Yintu Town, Jinhu County, Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province, was preparing to visit an enterprise. Recently, fluctuations had appeared in this enterprise's invoicing data — were orders declining, or had products already been shipped but not yet invoiced? Had the enterprise encountered difficulties in production and operation? Li Hong wanted to go to the workshop and have a face-to-face talk with the person in charge of the enterprise.

Yintu Town has about 90 industrial enterprises above designated size. "When economic data changes, you can't just sit in the office looking at spreadsheets," Li Hong said. "Only by going into enterprises can you understand the real situation behind the numbers." But more than a year ago, she had to spend much of her energy on filling out forms on short notice and rushing to report figures.

In March 2025, the Industry and Information Technology Bureau of Jinhu County, in order to survey enterprise operating conditions and conduct economic operation analysis, issued multiple notices to townships, subdistricts, and development zones requiring them to fill out data forms — several times within a single week. Among these, a notice was issued at 3:00 p.m. on March 3, requiring a certain comprehensive evaluation baseline to be reported by 4:00 p.m. the next day; another notice was issued at 10:00 a.m. on March 6, requiring relevant data information to be submitted by 3:00 p.m. that same day. "As for routine invoicing and output value data, the town generally has them on hand. But some data must be verified with each enterprise individually," Li Hong said. "If a notice arrives in the morning and feedback is required by the afternoon, even if several staff members concentrate on making phone calls, they may not be able to reach all dozens of enterprises. If we only estimate based on existing information, it may affect data accuracy."

In June 2025, the Jiangsu Provincial Special Working Mechanism Office for Rectifying Formalism and Reducing Burdens at the Grassroots Level, together with the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection General Office, issued a circular on three typical problems, and the Jinhu County Industry and Information Technology Bureau's frequent demands for forms and materials from lower levels was listed among them. The circular pointed out that the relevant conduct violated the provisions of the "Several Regulations on Rectifying Formalism and Reducing Burdens at the Grassroots Level" and the relevant negative list of Jiangsu Province, specifically the provision that "grassroots units must not be frequently required to fill out forms and submit materials."

"At the time, the starting point was to proactively advance work, but we did not fully consider that grassroots units need time to undertake tasks," admitted Li Chaodong, Party Secretary and Director of the Jinhu County Industry and Information Technology Bureau. At that time, in order to understand the situation of enterprise resumption of work and production and the economic operation in the first quarter, different departments within the bureau each sent requests for data to various townships and subdistricts according to their own needs. Some data could be extracted from existing materials, and some was already in the possession of other departments, but because of a lack of coordination and sharing, tasks were assigned to the grassroots level again.

"In the past, there was a kind of habitual thinking: when work needed data, we would send a notice asking townships to help collect it," Li Chaodong said. Individually, each task might not seem heavy, but when tasks from different departments pile up at the grassroots level, they easily become a burden.

After the problem was reported in the circular, Huai'an City and Jinhu County immediately carried out rectification. The Jinhu County Industry and Information Technology Bureau conducted a comprehensive review of documents, forms, and research matters issued to townships, subdistricts, and enterprises since 2022, sorted out a problem list, and rectified items one by one.

The first thing to change was the "outlet" for issuing notices. In the past, some business departments could directly send notices to townships and subdistricts according to work needs. After rectification, the Jinhu County Industry and Information Technology Bureau established a system of pre-review of document issuance, plan filing, and total quantity control, with the general office conducting unified review of matters requiring grassroots units to fill in.

"Now, if a department wants to request data from below, it must first answer several questions: Is it truly necessary for the grassroots level to provide it? Can materials already available in the bureau be used? Have other departments already collected it? Can several similar tasks be merged?" Li Chaodong said. For the same set of data, departments within the bureau prioritize sharing among themselves; what can be completed through statistical materials and existing ledgers is organized by the department itself; what is truly necessary for the grassroots level to provide is, as far as possible, merged into one matter and collected at one time.

The reporting of routine economic data has also shifted from "temporary notices" to "fixed arrangements." The Huai'an City Industry and Information Technology Bureau has clearly stipulated that economic data and project progress that must be reported monthly on a fixed schedule be concentrated and submitted uniformly at the beginning of each month, with the general office responsible for centralized collection. For non-urgent matters that truly require grassroots units to fill in, the Jinhu County Industry and Information Technology Bureau in principle leaves no less than 3 full working days. "In the past, sometimes a notice came in the morning and a response was needed by the afternoon, so grassroots units could only stop their current work to rush out materials. Now the reporting time and content are clearer, and similar data won't be requested repeatedly," Li Hong said.

Reducing burdens at the grassroots level is not just about a few fewer forms; more importantly, it is about a change in working methods.

In the past, when the Jinhu County Industry and Information Technology Bureau needed to understand enterprise demands, it would usually first notify townships and subdistricts, which would inquire with each enterprise one by one, compile the results into a table, and then report to the county bureau. "Townships and subdistricts are familiar with enterprises, so asking them to help survey seems only natural, but it also adds a layer of transmission," said Li Yu, Director of the General Office of the Jinhu County Party Committee and Party Secretary of Yintu Town. "The industry and information technology department directly serves enterprises — can enterprise demands reach the department directly?"

During the rectification process, the Jinhu County Industry and Information Technology Bureau built a digital platform called the "Enterprise Empowerment Through Train" (企业赋能直通车), bringing a total of 538 enterprises into the system, including all enterprises above designated size in the county and some high-quality enterprises below designated size. Information on policies benefiting enterprises, project applications, and enterprise activities is pushed directly to enterprises by business departments, with contact persons and phone numbers attached.

In March this year, the Jinhu County Industry and Information Technology Bureau received a notice on carrying out the application for Huai'an City-level enterprise technology centers. The business department pushed the notice directly through the "Enterprise Empowerment Through Train," simultaneously sorting out application conditions, material requirements, and time nodes. If enterprises had questions, they could directly contact business personnel; for key enterprises willing to apply, staff provided on-site guidance. In the end, 5 enterprises applied for and were approved for city-level enterprise technology centers. "Policies are explained directly by the department, questions are answered directly by the department, enterprises take fewer detours, and townships and subdistricts don't have to relay messages back and forth," Li Hong said.

Since the beginning of this year, the Jinhu County Industry and Information Technology Bureau has published more than 70 items of effective information through the "Enterprise Empowerment Through Train," including policies benefiting enterprises and project applications, organized 36 enterprises to apply for provincial advanced-level intelligent factories, and recommended 4 enterprises to apply for national-level specialized and sophisticated "little giant" enterprises.

A problem that emerged in one county-level department also prompted Huai'an City to improve institutions on a broader scale. After the problem was reported in the circular, Huai'an City organized all counties, districts, and municipal departments to focus on investigating problems such as excessive numbers of documents issued, excessive frequency of requests for materials, and excessively tight reporting deadlines.

Huai'an City deepened the implementation of the "Three Ones" pre-review and joint control mechanism for issuing documents and holding meetings: at the beginning of the year, a "single list" is used to set the total quantity in advance; before the event, a "single form" is filled out for pre-review; and each quarter, a "single letter" is sent for early warning and reminder.

Before municipal departments issue documents, the drafting office must conduct a consistency assessment against 20 elements regarding reducing burdens at the grassroots level, including whether materials are requested from the grassroots level too frequently or with excessive urgency. The Municipal Burden Reduction Office also routinely adopts methods such as "looking from below to see above" (以下看上), going to counties, districts, townships, and subdistricts to examine documents issued and tasks assigned by higher-level departments, and reversely checking from the grassroots perspective whether the burden reduction system has been implemented.

"Solving a specific problem cannot stop at rectifying one department; we must analyze the root causes of the problem and promote the resolution of a whole category of problems," said Sha Tianshi, Supervision Specialist of the General Office of the Huai'an Municipal Party Committee. "We must both protect the enthusiasm of cadres to start undertakings and do solid work, and correct simplistic and mechanical working methods."

At present, the spreadsheets on Li Hong's computer have decreased, and her visits to enterprises have increased. "Data certainly still needs to be reported, but reporting data is for the purpose of discovering problems and solving problems," Li Hong said. "With fewer rushed requests for reports and less repeated form-filling, we can have more time to go deep into the grassroots level, grasp the situation behind the numbers more accurately, and handle the matters that should be handled more solidly."

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Data shifts from "demanded from grassroots" to "retrieved from systems" (Editor's Notebook)

By: 赵晓曦

A notice issued in the morning, data demanded by the afternoon — "urgent tasks" are frequently pushed down to the grassroots level, which not only makes it impossible for the grassroots to provide functional departments with comprehensive and accurate data, but also drains the energy of cadres and even encourages the fabrication of false information.

Gaining a clear picture of work conditions cannot be done without the support of data and materials, but reporting cannot be disorderly or arbitrary. Because there is no mechanism for interdepartmental sharing, for the same category of basic data, different functional departments and different business lines repeatedly demand it; because there is no mechanism for overall coordination, forms are issued at short notice and materials are urgently requested; because there is no mechanism for integration, the categories of forms are numerous and complex, and the standards for filling them out are inconsistent.

Huai'an City and Jinhu County have established systems for pre-review of document issuance, plan filing, and total volume control, reviewing and fixing in place the data and materials that genuinely require grassroots cooperation to provide, thereby avoiding "repeated form-filling" and "emergency form-filling." In addition, they have improved the digital government affairs platform, shifting data from "demanding it from the grassroots" to "retrieving it from the system," which has improved the accuracy, consistency, and efficiency of data use, providing a reference for solving problems of this kind.

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More Visits to the Grassroots to Ensure Implementation

By: 人民网记者 周嘉颖

To advance the implementation of work, ascertaining the actual situation is the prerequisite. Yet in practical work, some departments and localities treat frequently demanding data as a shortcut to ascertaining the situation, causing grassroots work to become distorted and altered in nature.

In the collection of problem leads and opinions and suggestions on "continuously deepening the rectification of formalism to reduce burdens at the grassroots level" launched on the "Message Board for Leaders" of People's Daily Online, a grassroots cadre left a message stating that during the local promotion of an online supervision platform, repeated data reporting occurs from time to time. For the same investment project, information must be entered on the relevant platform and also submitted again in formal official documents. Each line of work manages its own turf, and data cannot be interconnected or shared. To grasp the situation, the only option is to make the grassroots fill in and transmit repeatedly.

Another message reflected that at present, data collection in some units still relies mainly on "grassroots reporting," and a unified online platform has not yet been effectively operational. Various forms and summaries are distributed layer by layer "like snowflakes," which not only squeezes the time for grassroots units' primary responsibilities and duties, but also increases the burden on the grassroots due to repeated reporting.

Whether the situation can be ascertained clearly does not depend on the frequency and quantity of data demands. Go more often to the grassroots level, and demand fewer data reports, so that grassroots cadres can have more energy to serve the masses and ensure implementation.

If you have similar situations around you, you are welcome to visit the "Message Board for Leaders" section on the homepage of People's Daily Online and click "People's Daily invites you to talk about the formalism around you" to leave a message and report.

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Unauthorized "Extreme Makeover" of Uninhabited Island Is Illegal (News Perspective)

By: 本报记者 窦 皓

Recently, the Xiangshan Second Workstation of the Zhejiang Ningbo Coast Guard Bureau investigated and dealt with a case of illegal occupation of an uninhabited island. A short-video blogger, without obtaining any approval procedures, arbitrarily occupied Qiaomuwan Island in Xiangshan County to carry out "wasteland island renovation" and livestreamed the entire process. In the videos, the blogger landed on the island to build houses, open roads and bring in electricity, catch fish and cook meals, and pen up poultry, immersively performing a "modern Robinson Crusoe" life of solitary island living, attracting the attention of a large number of netizens.

After receiving a report, the Xiangshan Second Workstation of the Ningbo Coast Guard Bureau adopted a method of simultaneous online and offline evidence collection. Law enforcement personnel drove law enforcement boats to the waters where the incident occurred, while personnel in the rear simultaneously kept close watch on the involved account and livestream room dynamics, fixed relevant audio-visual evidence, and formed a complete chain of evidence. Upon investigation, the blogger had illegally built 5 structures and various supporting facilities on the island.

Is an uninhabited island an ownerless island? Di Shiqing, director of the Beijing W&H Law Firm (Hangzhou), pointed out that Article 4 of the "Island Protection Law of the People's Republic of China" stipulates that uninhabited islands belong to the state, and the State Council exercises state ownership of uninhabited islands on behalf of the state. State ownership will not be extinguished simply because the island has long had no people or facilities on it, and principles such as "first possession obtains ownership" or "whoever develops it owns it" do not apply.

The coast guard department stated that the Island Protection Law provides that uninhabited islands not approved for use shall maintain the status quo; quarrying stone, dredging sea sand, felling trees, and carrying out production, construction, tourism, and other activities are prohibited. The blogger never submitted any approval procedures for island development, use, or habitation to the relevant departments, and lived on the island for multiple consecutive days, built houses, laid water and electricity pipelines, and enclosed land for breeding. His actions constituted illegal use of the island.

Di Shiqing said that illegally renovating an island may entail liability at three levels: administrative, civil, and criminal. In terms of administrative liability, for production and construction activities on uninhabited islands, the relevant departments may order cessation of the illegal acts, confiscate illegal gains, and impose a fine of not less than 20,000 yuan and not more than 200,000 yuan. In terms of civil liability, if damage is caused to the island and the ecological system of its surrounding sea areas, liability for ecological environment damage compensation and restoration must be borne. In terms of criminal liability, depending on the specific circumstances, the conduct may touch upon the crime of destroying nature reserves, the crime of illegal logging, the crime of illegal fishing of aquatic products, and others. In addition, the fishing behavior displayed by the blogger in the livestream may also independently constitute an illegal act. According to the "Fisheries Law of the People's Republic of China," anyone who engages in fishing without lawfully obtaining a fishing license shall have their catch and illegal gains confiscated and be fined not more than 200,000 yuan. At the same time, according to Article 14 of the "Provisions on the Administration of Internet Livestreaming Services," users of internet livestreaming services who violate laws, regulations, and service agreements will face disposal measures such as warnings, suspension of posting, and account closure.

In fact, becoming an "island owner" through legal channels is not impossible. Di Shiqing explained that according to the "Measures for the Examination and Approval of Development and Utilization of Uninhabited Islands," only uninhabited islands that have been planned and determined as available for use may enter the application procedure. Secondly, the necessary application materials must be submitted, and the complete procedure of application, public announcement, review, and approval must be fulfilled. In addition, islands used for commercial purposes must also go through procedures such as public bidding, auction, or listing, and after approval, an uninhabited island usage fee must be paid and real estate registration must be completed.

"Even if one lawfully obtains the right to use an island for tourism, it does not mean one can build one's own 'home' on the island." Di Shiqing reminded that Article 50 of the Island Protection Law explicitly lists "building residential settlement premises for residents on available uninhabited islands lawfully determined for tourism activities" as an illegal act, punishable by a fine of not less than 20,000 yuan and not more than 200,000 yuan.

A relevant person in charge of the Ningbo Coast Guard Bureau stated that uninhabited islands are precious marine public resources of the state, and are also an important component of maintaining marine ecological balance and safeguarding the security of maritime territory. Their development, utilization, and protection are all subject to strict legal norms and must not be privately occupied or illegally renovated by individuals.

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Xinjiang establishes transportation enterprise talent development alliance

Urumqi, August 5 (Reporter Shang Rongzheng) — Recently, the Xinjiang Transportation Enterprise Talent Development Alliance was established in Urumqi. The alliance is led by Xinjiang Communications Investment (Group) Co., Ltd., and brings together 35 enterprises from the fields of transportation, logistics, and infrastructure, with the aim of building a collaborative platform for industry talent cultivation and sharing, and pooling intellectual resources from the transportation industry.
The Xinjiang Transportation Enterprise Talent Development Alliance takes as its purpose the gathering of transportation talent, the integration of quality resources, the empowerment of industrial upgrading, and the service of regional development, covering sectors including highways, aviation, logistics, smart transportation, engineering construction, and operations and maintenance management. Among the 35 member units, there are 5 district-level state-owned enterprises, 19 second-level subsidiaries of state-owned enterprises, and 10 transportation enterprises from prefectures and cities.
According to reports, the alliance will build a talent-sharing platform, break down barriers to talent cultivation among enterprises, carry out exchange and training, and industry-university cooperation, promote the orderly flow and optimal allocation of talent within the industry, and precisely deliver suitable talent to distinctive fields such as cross-border transportation, smart transportation, and grassroots transportation operations and maintenance. At the same time, it will advance targeted talent cultivation, the joint construction of practical training bases, and technical research, improve the industry talent information database, build a distinctive transportation talent brand, and provide solid talent support for the high-quality development of Xinjiang's comprehensive transportation system.

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Xiong'an New Area improves diversified collaborative IP protection mechanisms

Xiong'an, August 5 (Reporter Shao Yuzi) — On August 5, Xiong'an New Area in Hebei Province held a press conference, collectively releasing a series of important achievements, including the approval and establishment of a national-level intellectual property protection center, the continuous improvement of a diversified collaborative intellectual property protection mechanism, the iterative innovation of intellectual property value assessment models, and the judicial safeguarding of the development of new quality productive forces.

Coordinating the construction of the top-level system, the intellectual property strategy has been implemented and delivered results. Xiong'an New Area has established a departmental joint meeting mechanism for building a strong intellectual property region, coordinating the forces of multiple departments to form a pattern of region-wide co-governance. It has innovated a "whitelist + green channel + full-process service" model, compressing the invention patent authorization cycle for key enterprises relocated to the area from 15 months to within 3 months. On June 22, Xiong'an New Area was approved to build a national-level intellectual property protection center, oriented toward the new-generation information technology and new materials industries, creating a one-stop service platform integrating rapid patent pre-examination, rights confirmation, and rights protection.

Opening up transformation channels to activate the asset value of intellectual property. Xiong'an New Area has broken through the difficulty of monetizing intangible assets through three major pathways: competition-driven guidance, financial empowerment, and value assessment. For example, it has implemented a whitelist for pledged financing enterprises, completing 18 patent pledges with financing of 270 million yuan; it has landed the nation's first overseas infringement loss insurance policy and Hebei Province's first overseas patent layout cost loss insurance policy, building a solid risk defense line for enterprises going global.

Building a collaborative closed loop to create a diversified co-governance protection pattern. Xiong'an New Area coordinates enforcement, judicial, and diversified mediation forces to build a smoothly operating, efficiently collaborative intellectual property protection system. The Comprehensive Law Enforcement Bureau has facilitated the signing of a regional collaborative protection agreement; the Xiong'an Intellectual Property Court has issued special judicial measures, built a mediation platform, and established the nation's first tripartite co-built data rights judicial laboratory. Procuratorial organs have carried out full-chain protection work through case handling and supervision, park-based enterprise protection stations, and the construction of an online procuratorial platform.

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Photo Report

On August 4, police officers from the Second Highway Brigade of the Traffic Management Detachment of the Wuhu Municipal Public Security Bureau in Anhui Province came to the Qianjun Service Area on the Ningwu Expressway within their jurisdiction to carry out a "send coolness, talk safety" traffic safety publicity and service activity. The photo shows police officers at the Qianjun Service Area presenting heatstroke prevention and cooling supplies to drivers.
　　Photo by Chen Xiaobao (China Images)

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本版责编：苏显龙 徐雷鹏 李佩阳

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Study Trips Following Textbooks: Mountains and Rivers as Classrooms (A Joyful and Enriching Summer Vacation)

On the red soil of revolution, we remember the martyrs; against the texts of our lessons, we feel history; through sports, we strengthen our bodies... During the summer vacation, thousands of young people improve their qualities through study tours, deepen their confidence through experience, and further cultivate their interests, broaden their horizons, and enhance themselves through free exploration, spending a happy and fulfilling summer vacation.

Summer activities that are both meaningful and enjoyable follow the educational principle of letting children grow up healthy and happy. Today, our newspaper launches the series report "A Happy and Fulfilling Summer Vacation," focusing on the colorful holiday lives of children and recording their happy childhood.

— Editor

Returning to the Langya Mountain site, letting today "converse" with history

Our reporter Shi Ziqiang

During the summer vacation, at the Memorial Hall of the Five Heroes of Langya Mountain in Yi County, Baoding City, Hebei Province, many primary and secondary school students choose to come here for study tours.

Entering the memorial hall, many students are gathered around the Red Scarf docent Shan Junhan, listening to her recount the battle process while pointing at a map.

Shan Junhan is only 10 years old this year, yet her narration is very moving. "When a peer tells the story, the children who come for study tours are more willing to ask questions and think actively on their own," said Li Fang, curator of the memorial hall. The memorial hall has trained more than 500 Red Scarf docents, most of whom come from the mountainous areas of Yi County. "These children come from the old revolutionary base areas, full of glory and pride, and their narration is infectious," Li Fang said.

The Chinese textbook lesson "The Five Heroes of Langya Mountain" has influenced generations of students. Today, in the memorial hall, more than a hundred exhibits lie quietly on display, connecting the textbook with history.

Zhang Ruonian, a student at Yi County Experimental Junior High School, gazed for a long time at the water-carrying jug, carrying pole, and thin quilt once used by the Five Heroes... "These exhibits instantly brought me back into that period of history, allowing me to feel more deeply the hardship of that time," Zhang Ruonian said.

In the exhibition hall, an immersive restored scene using sound, light, and electricity has attracted attention.

The statue of the Five Heroes of Langya Mountain stands before one's eyes, its momentum awe-inspiring. As the roar of gunfire and cannons sounds, dynamic images of smoke rising on all sides appear on the circular screen wall behind the statue, recreating the scene of that time.

"The bravery and martyrdom described in the textbook have become tangible and perceptible," said Bai Qingchen, a student at Yi County Experimental Junior High School.

At the end of last year, the memorial hall completed its upgrade and renovation. The new exhibition deeply integrates the story of the Five Heroes into the background of the War of Resistance against Japan and adds multiple historical photographs. By understanding more of the background and seeing the restored scenes and precious artifacts, the children have gained deeper insights.

"Only after coming here did I truly understand the weight of the choice to leap from the cliff—there was a chance to escape, yet they willingly sacrificed themselves for the people," Bai Qingchen said.

How can today "converse" with history? During study tours, Li Fang often guides students to visit the "Spirit Endures Forever" exhibition area, which displays content such as the construction of the memorial tower. Li Fang said that the exhibition area, as a supplement to the textbook, allows "children to not only understand the story, but also understand how we carry forward this spirit of integrity."

Now, the memorial hall and the Langya Mountain scenic area have formed an integrated study tour route. Students can learn the historical context inside the hall and then hike up the mountain to visit the hero trail at the summit, the memorial tower, and other sites. "Text, artifacts, and real scenes are linked together; learning is not only in the classroom," said Zheng Yajiao, a teacher at Yi County No. 1 Primary School.

Following the textbook to Langya Mountain, one red study tour after another that sees history and feels the spirit is quietly nourishing people's hearts deep in the Taihang Mountains.

Approaching the Marquis Yi of Zeng's Bianzhong, listening to the "echo" across time and space

Our reporter Wu Jun

During the summer vacation, at the study tour center in the South Hall of the Hubei Provincial Museum, a teacher introduced to the students: "Next, let's take a look at this 'old friend' from our history textbook, one of the Hubei Provincial Museum's most treasured artifacts—the Marquis Yi of Zeng's bianzhong."

This was part of the content of the 2026 "I Tell the Story of Jingchu" Red Scarf docent summer practice activity. "The practical activities at the museum have enriched our holiday with cultural and museum knowledge," said Hu Sijin and Hu Siyu, twin students from Wuhan Shenyang Road Primary School, who signed up for the activity together.

During the nearly one-hour themed course, the teacher used illustrated courseware to explain rich content including the excavation history, dimensions and specifications, and sound production principles of the Marquis Yi of Zeng's bianzhong.

"I only knew before that the bianzhong was very ancient. Only after the class did I learn that the Marquis Yi of Zeng's bianzhong actually contains many ancient 'black technologies,'" Hu Siyu said. "For example, the 'one bell, two tones'—a single bell can produce two notes—is truly amazing!" She carefully sketched the outline of the bianzhong in her notebook and annotated the information she had learned: the bell frame of the Marquis Yi of Zeng's bianzhong is 2.65 meters high and 7.48 meters long, with 1 bo bell and 45 yong bells...

Hu Sijin and Hu Siyu had long heard of the Marquis Yi of Zeng's bianzhong, but it was only when they came to the museum for their summer practice that they understood more clearly that the Marquis Yi of Zeng's bianzhong is a "musical miracle" cast in bronze more than 2,000 years ago, and moreover a treasure of civilization. Next, they hope to tell the story of the bianzhong to more visitors who come to Hubei to see cultural relics.

After explaining the basic knowledge, the teacher led the students into the Marquis Yi of Zeng exhibition hall, where, in addition to observing the actual bianzhong up close, they also watched a stunning bianzhong performance.

"During the summer, the museum organizes 6–8 bianzhong performances every day," said activity volunteer Yu Menghua. To make the Marquis Yi of Zeng's bianzhong produce an "echo" in the present and integrate into the daily lives of young people, the Hubei Provincial Museum has also launched a series of cultural and creative products such as bianzhong refrigerator magnets and tote bags, allowing visitors to both listen to performances and experience the ancient music, and also "take the museum's history home."

At the end of the course, the students became "little bell casters," mixing plaster, pouring molds, and making delicate bianzhong models one by one. "The bianzhong can not only be seen and heard, but can also be 'replicated'!" "I am now more confident about telling more people the historical stories of the museum." The students' words were full of excitement, also brimming with abundant cultural confidence and emotional identification.

At the home of the "Jiaolong," seeing what the "deep sea" looks like

Our reporter Wang Zhe

In Jimo District, Qingdao City, Shandong Province, the National Deep Sea Center Management (国家深海基地管理中心) is built by the sea—this is the home of the manned submersible "Jiaolong."

As it is summer vacation, students from Qingdao Changle No. 2 Middle School filed in an orderly manner to visit and study here, embarking on a journey of marine science exploration.

After studying the textbook lesson "Jiaolong Explores the Deep Sea," the development of China's manned deep-sea diving left a deep impression on junior high school student Tian Shiwen. Walking into the Deep Sea Journey Achievement Hall, on the display boards, image after image records the development course of China's manned deep-sea diving. "Jiaolong," "Fendouzhe"... After seeing one familiar figure after another, the students gathered around models to learn about seabed topography and landforms while listening to the docent introduce deep-sea mineral resources. "So the seabed is not flat—it has mountains just like on land." The "deep sea" from the textbook took on a more vivid form in Tian Shiwen's mind.

The hall also displays deep-sea sediment samples and manuscripts by deep-sea engineers. Docent Lu Min told the story of a young scientific researcher in detail: in order to debug the deep-sea robotic arm on the "Jiaolong," he worked continuously at the base for 47 days and nights, forging "precision" through perseverance.

"Before, when I read the textbook, I always felt that the spirit of scientists was separated from me by a layer," one student said. "Now I deeply understand the pursuit of scientific researchers."

Stepping into the maintenance workshop, a "giant whale" with an all-white body and a red head lies quietly here—this is a 1:1 model of the "Jiaolong." The students approached one after another, feeling the awe that the "Jiaolong" brings.

Docked at the pier is the research vessel "Shenhai Yihao" (Deep Sea No. 1). "It looks as long as our school playground!" Amid the children's repeated exclamations, Lu Min explained the voyage experience of the "Shenhai Yihao" while leading the students to observe the advanced equipment up close.

Leading teacher Liu Jinqiu kept observing the changes in the students: the student who usually could not sit still for a moment stood quietly for a long time in front of the deep-sea sediment display case; the child who was usually introverted chased the docent with more than a dozen questions in a row... "No matter how detailed the explanation in the classroom is, it cannot compare to letting students feel the great national equipment up close," Liu Jinqiu said.

This study tour was a field practice of Jimo District's school-based curriculum featuring marine education. Jimo District fully utilizes its regional advantages and resources, establishing long-term cooperation with the National Deep Sea Center Management, systematically incorporating activities such as marine science popularization, expert lectures, and academicians entering campuses into the curriculum system.

"The mysteries of the deep sea await our continued exploration," Tian Shiwen said. "The voyage of our generation has only just begun."

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Adding Presence to Growth (Editor's Note)

By: 董映雪

Ascending Langya Mountain, one reads the national spirit embodied in the stories of heroes; stepping into a museum, one listens to the historical echoes of the bronze chime bells; at a deep-sea base, small details cast and shape an understanding of the spirit of scientists... As the summer vacation arrives, "studying and researching along with the textbook" is gradually becoming popular, not only because of its rich forms, but also because of the deeper cultural experience it offers.

Embarking on a study tour guided by the textbook completes the transformation of learning from the classroom to practice. "What you get from paper is ultimately shallow; to truly understand a thing, you must practice it." When the words one has read merge with what one sees before one's eyes, when a single-dimensional feeling becomes three-dimensional and profound, the summer study tour is not merely a supplement to the classroom, but also adds to one's growth the authenticity of walking and the vividness of being present.

The integrated development of culture and tourism brings more supply. Diverse study tour products, distinctive study tour routes, and study tour bases not only make the journey lively and colorful, but also make the holiday full of interest. As the demand for summer study tours continues to expand, only by continuously improving the quality of cultural and tourism supply can a "two-way endeavor" be achieved.

Shedding tears for heroes and resonating with history reflect the cultural identity and cultural confidence rooted deep within young people. Rooted in life, close to nature, and oriented toward practice, having walked the path of study and research, what children gain is not only a broadened horizon, but also the inexhaustible nourishment brought by Chinese culture.

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Helping More Children Step Out of Their Homes and Integrate into Society (High-Quality Balanced Development of Education)

By: 本报记者 申智林

“Keke, look who’s here?” Parent Wang Wei opened the door, welcoming Chen Xiaoqun, principal of Chenxi School in Tianxin District, Changsha City, Hunan Province, who had come for a home visit. Fourteen-year-old Keke was working on math problems, every stroke written neatly and carefully.
“Principal Chen.” Keke looked up at his father’s reminder, called out softly, then immersed himself once again in his world of mathematics.
“This summer vacation, following the homeroom teacher’s requirements, we have accompanied our child every day in daily-living self-care training.” Wang Wei began updating the principal on his child’s recent situation. “A few days ago, we also completed the check-in task assigned by the school and took the child to Nanchang, Jiangxi, to experience revolutionary culture.”
“Teacher Wei didn’t come? And what about Teacher Guo?” Keke asked. “This child — his mouth has gotten ‘glib.’” Wang Wei laughed and sighed. But Chen Xiaoqun understood that behind this smile was hidden no small amount of hardship for a father.
Ever since Keke was diagnosed with autism, over the years Wang Wei and his wife had taken him from place to place in search of medical treatment. Last year, Keke entered Chenxi School. This is a district-level public nine-year consistent special education school for intellectual development, which began accepting children with special needs in 2025.
Most of the children currently studying at Chenxi School had previously not received systematic schooling. Tang Junjie, father of student Ruirui, said that in the past he could only send his child to rehabilitation institutions, completing specific rehabilitation programs at set intervals, “but the programs were not necessarily well connected to one another, and more importantly, the child lacked practice in integrating into the social environment.”
In 2025, Tianxin District activated its educational resources within the jurisdiction and established Chenxi School. Several dozen children were assessed and divided into 4 classes. Chen Xiaoqun, along with more than 20 teachers, started from building trust and carefully nurtured the children.
Upon learning that a special education school had opened near his home, Tang Junjie sent Ruirui there without delay. When he first enrolled, Ruirui was unwilling to enter the classroom for lessons, so Chen Xiaoqun stayed with him outside the classroom, building houses out of twigs for an entire class period. Not much verbal communication was needed — children with autism can intuitively feel the companionship beside them. Chen Xiaoqun recalled that the very next day, Ruirui walked happily into the classroom.
“Every child is different, and teaching must be tailored to each one.” Chen Xiaoqun said, for example, when it comes to learning daily-living self-care knowledge, Keke is sensitive to numbers, so the school created shopping social scenarios for him; Ruirui has strong hands-on ability, so teachers take him along to do crafts and age-appropriate household chores.
To break through the bottleneck of teaching resources, in May this year, Tianxin District launched a special education “teaching consortium” (教联体), with schools as the lead and resources as the bond, linking 23 institutions including Hunan Science and Technology Museum and Changsha Third Hospital, covering museum-school, medical-education, police-school, home-school, and social-education domains, building a support system of “education + rehabilitation + safety + integration + development,” and advancing special education from “single-supply” toward “multi-dimensional collaboration.”
More and more teachers and students from ordinary schools are walking into Chenxi School to share classes with children with special needs. The tolerance, acceptance, understanding, and companionship of these teachers and students have given these children more warmth.
“Now, we are also helping more children step out of their homes and integrate into society.” Wang Wei said that through the joint education of school, family, and society, Keke has gradually learned basic shopping skills.
At present, Tianxin District has formed a special education system of “regular-class attendance in ordinary schools as the main body, special education classes in ordinary schools as support, special education schools as the backbone, and home-delivered teaching as a supplement,” enabling more and more children with special needs to embrace society with a more positive attitude.

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Chinese scientist awarded William Nordberg Medal

BEIJING, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- (Reporter Jiang Xuehong) On August 3 local time, at the 46th Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) held in Florence, Italy, Wang Jinsong, a researcher at the China Meteorological Administration, was awarded the William Nordberg Medal.
The William Nordberg Medal recognizes recipients' outstanding achievements and exceptional contributions in the field of space science applications. Wang Jinsong is the first Chinese scientist to receive this honor, and was also granted the naming of an asteroid.
Wang Jinsong, currently Director of the National Satellite Meteorological Center (National Center for Space Weather Monitoring and Warning) and Chief Designer of the Fengyun Meteorological Satellite Project, led the establishment of China's national operational space weather service system and promoted the sustained development and global application of Fengyun meteorological satellites. Wang Jinsong spearheaded systematic technological breakthroughs in high-precision solar imaging on non-pointing platforms, wide-field aurora imaging, broad-energy-spectrum omnidirectional particle detection, and airglow detection of weak signals against strong backgrounds; proposed new mechanisms and methods for understanding and simulating solar-terrestrial system coupling; and led the development of China's first-generation space weather numerical forecasting system as well as the world's first space weather chain-based forecasting artificial intelligence model, "Fengyu."

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Gansu issues regulations on intellectual property promotion and protection

Lanzhou, August 5 (Reporter Zeng Yichen) — The Gansu Province Intellectual Property Promotion and Protection Regulations were recently issued and will come into effect on September 1 this year.
The regulations make detailed provisions in such areas as the promotion and application of intellectual property, protection, services, and management, focusing on industry-university-research cooperation, encouraging enterprises, institutions of higher education, scientific research institutions, and intellectual property service organizations to establish and improve long-term mechanisms for promoting the transformation and application of patents, promoting such transformation and operation models as "use first, pay later" and "open licensing," cultivating and promoting patent-intensive products, and advancing the deep integration of patent technology with industrial development.
According to the regulations, Gansu Province establishes and improves an intellectual property protection system combining administrative protection and judicial protection, government regulation and industry self-discipline, and enterprise self-governance and social supervision, and builds a protection mechanism with clear rights and responsibilities and efficient operation. Departments responsible for intellectual property management duties shall strengthen innovation and application of information technology, strengthen intellectual property protection through such technical means as source tracing, online identification, and real-time monitoring, and use such technologies as big data, artificial intelligence, and blockchain to innovate methods for investigating and handling intellectual property cases and resolving disputes.

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Smart cultural tourism project launched for key ancient buildings and cultural relics in Xizang

Lhasa, August 5 (Reporter Qiongda Zhuoga) — The launch meeting for the 2026 Tibet Autonomous Region science and technology plan project, "Research on Key Technologies and Application Demonstration of All-Dimensional Smart Cultural Tourism for Important Ancient Cultural Relic Buildings in Tibet," was recently held in Lhasa, marking the project's entry into the implementation stage. The project aims to explore new pathways for integrating digital technology with the protection of world cultural heritage, and to promote the deep integrated development of the protection of ancient cultural relic buildings in Tibet and smart cultural tourism.

Focusing on scenes of ancient cultural relic buildings such as the Potala Palace, the project will develop wide-area high-definition bionic eagle-eye smart cultural tourism monitoring technology, build a multi-source heterogeneous cultural tourism data fusion and intelligent analysis platform, and carry out research on three-dimensional reconstruction and digital twin technology.

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本版责编：曹怡晴 陈圆圆 陈世涵

Multimedia cooperation: Zhang Shixuan, Shi Xue, Yu Xiaoxue
Source: People's Education Press
Layout design: Zhang Danfeng

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"Cool" Projects Heat Up, Travelers Should Stay Cool (Service Window)

By: 本报记者 王云娜

During the summer, water-related activities such as canyon rafting, beach wading, and water parks have become wildly popular. At the same time, recent safety accidents involving water activities in multiple places have sounded an alarm for safety.

"Although refreshing water activities can relieve the summer heat and relax the body and mind, safety must be placed first throughout the entire experience — do not blindly chase thrills." Lin Yi, president of the Guangzhou蓝天 Rescue Association, reminded that natural wild pools, internet-famous wild streams, and water activities without proper qualifications are fraught with risks. Hidden dangers such as drowning, reef impacts, and sudden flash floods can appear at any time, and visitors are advised not to go.

How should one choose water activities? How can hidden risks be detected? How should dangerous situations be properly handled?

Thorough preparation, prevention at the source

Most drowning accidents occur in undeveloped areas such as internet-famous wild streams

"Making adequate preparations before traveling is the most critical step in avoiding safety hazards," Lin Yi said.

First, choose formal scenic areas, water parks, and diving clubs with complete licenses and certificates. Pay attention to whether the venue has a business license, a permit for operating high-risk sports activities, and a hygiene license; whether it is equipped with on-duty lifeguards and rescue equipment; whether safety warning signs are complete; and carefully confirm whether the site has legal operating qualifications and emergency rescue capabilities.

Lin Yi emphasized that undeveloped areas such as internet-famous wild streams, natural wild pools, and certain reservoirs have no supporting safety guarantees, lack lifeguards and rescue supplies, and many places have weak mobile phone signals. Most drowning accidents occur in such waters — do not follow the crowd to check in.

Before traveling, assess weather and water area risks in advance, closely monitor the weather forecast for the destination, and promptly cancel water-related itineraries when thunderstorm, gale, or rainstorm warnings are issued. Flash floods are highly likely to occur within 24 hours after rainfall ends in mountain river channels — never approach them. When playing at the seaside, recognize warning flags: a red flag means swimming is prohibited, and a yellow flag means the water area is dangerous. When playing in streams or river channels, avoid dangerous areas such as deep pools and the backwater eddies of dam spillways.

When choosing activities, objectively assess your physical condition and act within your capabilities. Pregnant women; people with heart disease, hypertension, epilepsy, asthma, or severe cervical and lumbar spine conditions; and people with open wounds on their skin are not suitable for water activities. People over 55 years old and children under 12 are not recommended to experience high-drop rapids rafting. Diving has even higher physical requirements — women during menstruation and people who feel quite fatigued should participate with caution, and people with nasal congestion from colds should avoid going into the water.

"Even healthy people should pay attention to their own condition before entering the water," Lin Yi explained. Do not enter the water after drinking alcohol, after a full meal, when exhausted from staying up late, or after taking sedative medications.

Participating in water activities also requires preparing complete safety equipment. For rafting, be sure to wear a life jacket and safety helmet, and preferably wear non-slip wading shoes throughout. Clothing should prioritize quick-drying fabrics — do not wear heavy, water-absorbent items such as jeans. Try not to carry glass containers or valuable jewelry, and prepare waterproof bags to store and secure electronic devices such as phones and cameras. Prepare spare clothes, sunscreen, band-aids, and anti-allergy medication as needed.

Lin Yi suggested not playing in the water alone — try to go with companions. Before departure, inform family and friends of the itinerary location and return time, and stay within the safe areas designated by the scenic area throughout. The step of warming up before entering the water is easily overlooked; he recommended setting aside 5 to 10 minutes for stretching and gradually adapting to the water temperature to prevent leg cramps during swimming or rafting.

Strictly follow regulations, do a good job of protection

When wind force reaches level 5 or above, stop playing parasailing over water

Canyon rafting, parasailing over water, snorkeling, and deep diving are currently the more popular water activities. Lin Yi explained that different activities have different risk points, and protective measures should be implemented according to the characteristics of each activity.

During canyon rafting, do not take off your life jacket or safety helmet at any time. Visitors should grip the safety rope of the rubber raft tightly with both hands, and should not extend hands or feet outside the raft. When passing steep drops, lower your head and lean forward to stabilize your center of gravity. Standing in the raft, chasing each other, and especially shooting water guns directly at others' eyes from close range are prohibited. If the raft capsizes and you fall into the water, stay calm, rely on the buoyancy of the life jacket to float downstream, wait for rescue in areas with gentle currents, and stay away from dam backwater eddies.

For parasailing over water, carefully check before takeoff that the safety belt and buckles are secure. When wind force reaches level 5 or above, you should stop playing. After ascending, do not make large dangerous movements, and follow the staff's instructions when landing. It is particularly important to note that nearsighted people should prioritize wearing contact lenses; if wearing framed glasses, add a lanyard to secure them.

Snorkeling and deep diving are highly professional and must be conducted under professional guidance. Visitors should choose a regular diving institution. The merchant must hold a business license issued by the industry and commerce department whose business scope includes diving services and water sports activities, as well as a high-risk sports activity operation permit issued by the local sports bureau. You may ask the merchant to show the paper permit, or enter the institution's name on the local government service platform to verify filing information. Confirm the diving instructor's valid personal qualifications — such as open-water scuba instructors and course directors certified by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, or diving instructors jointly certified by the World Underwater Federation and the Chinese Underwater Association — and check the physical or electronic card in person.

Always enter the water in pairs — never dive alone. Before entering the water, check each other's equipment, and do not separate underwater. If one person experiences cramps, entanglement, or other accidents, the other should rescue immediately, avoiding the tragedy of no one being available to rescue a solo diver after an accident.

Before entering the water, also practice mask clearing and basic underwater hand signals with the instructor. If you feel pain in your ears during descent, do not think you can just endure it — this is an alarm that the eardrum is being compressed and injured. It is recommended to stop descending immediately and ascend slightly to equalize pressure; if that fails, exit the water directly to avoid permanent damage from eardrum perforation.

During the activity, do not touch marine life such as jellyfish, coral, or sea urchins. Do not take an airplane within 24 hours after diving to prevent decompression sickness. If equipment failure occurs while diving — such as water entering the mask or regulator — do not rush to ascend rapidly under any circumstances. Instead, drain the water using the methods you learned and promptly seek help from your dive buddy.

"Visitors need to remain vigilant at all times in many high-frequency dangerous scenarios," Lin Yi said.

Hearing a continuous roar in a river channel, or seeing water rapidly become turbid and rise, is a signal of an incoming flash flood. You should immediately evacuate to high ground on both sides of the river channel — do not walk along the riverbank.

Moss on stream beaches and riverbanks is slippery. Do not run or jump, to prevent slipping into the water. If you accidentally fall into the water, try to grab rocks on the bank, stabilize your body, and wait for rescue.

Stay calm, learn self-rescue

Seize the golden four-minute first-aid window

Lin Yi noted that if you accidentally fall into the water, mastering simple and feasible self-rescue methods can effectively buy time for rescue. The basic principle is to stay calm, reduce struggling, conserve energy, and avoid frequently choking on water.

Lin Yi recommended two practical floating methods. One is the back float — extend the body backward and keep the mouth and nose above water. The other is the "jellyfish float" — immerse the head in the water, relax the limbs, and lift the head to breathe when needed.

If cramps occur while swimming, dive into the water, grab the cramped toe, and pull it toward the body while pushing the heel straight as much as possible. After symptoms ease, move slowly toward the shore. If entangled by water plants, do not panic and kick and struggle — instead switch to a back-float position and slowly untangle the plants with your hands. If you cannot free yourself, raise a hand to ask for help promptly.

In the water, you can also flexibly use floating objects — wooden boards, plastic bottles, and foam boards can all serve as temporary flotation devices.

"If you find someone else drowning, scientific rescue is especially critical," Lin Yi explained. The rescuer should shout for help loudly at the first moment, call 110, 119, and 120, and clearly state the exact location of the incident. Prioritize tool-based rescue — throw life rings, ropes, bamboo poles, or foam boards. The rescuer should lie prone on the bank to lower the center of gravity, avoiding being dragged into the water by the drowning person. If you do not have professional rescue skills, do not rashly enter the water, to prevent a chain drowning tragedy.

After bringing the drowning person to shore, seize the golden four-minute first-aid window. Lin Yi explained that if the victim is conscious and breathing on their own, place them in the recovery position, keep them warm, and wait quietly for medical staff — do not casually give water or food. If the drowning person has lost consciousness and stopped breathing, begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation immediately. First clear sand, mud, and water plants from the mouth and nose, then use the head-tilt/chin-lift method to open the airway. Give 5 initial rescue breaths, then continue with cycles of 30 chest compressions paired with 2 rescue breaths until emergency personnel arrive.

Many visitors believe that "if you can swim, you won't drown." In reality, wild waters hide deep pits and undercurrents, and low temperatures can easily trigger cramps. The risks far exceed imagination — even if you can swim, do not harbor luck.

"When minors play in the water, adults need to provide close supervision throughout. Only by holding the safety bottom line can you enjoy the pleasure of water with peace of mind," Lin Yi reminded.

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When will the age ceiling for silver-haired volunteers be lifted (People's Livelihood Perspective)

By: 程 晨

True respect means building mechanisms, giving opportunities, and giving the right to choose. Older people are not a burden; they are a precious resource.

Libraries, museums, science and technology museums... many public cultural venues recruit volunteers, but a look at the recruitment requirements reveals a common feature: they all set an age ceiling, often 60 or 65. An age threshold keeps many enthusiastic people out of the door.

In fact, thanks to rising living standards, the health level of the entire population has greatly improved. In 2025, China's average life expectancy has already reached 79.2 years, and many people in their sixties, seventies, or even eighties are healthy and energetic. Why shouldn't public cultural venues adapt to the trend of an aging society and remove the age ceiling for volunteer recruitment, or appropriately relax the age requirements?

Society needs to update its understanding of older people. This is both the need of older people and the need of society. By the end of 2025, China's population aged 60 and above exceeded 320 million, reaching 323.38 million, accounting for 23.0% of the national population. From the perspective of older people, being productively engaged and finding joy in later years helps improve quality of life and maintain physical and mental health. From the perspective of society, older people have their unique value. The professional knowledge, life experience, patience in communication, and composure accumulated over decades cannot be quickly acquired through training; they are gifts of time and confer unique advantages in volunteer service.

China has always encouraged older people to contribute their talents, using the "Silver Age Action" (银龄行动) as a lever to promote the regular and long-term development of volunteer services by older people. As of the end of September 2025, the number of older volunteers registered in the National Volunteer Service Information System had reached 53.58 million. The "Guiding Opinions on Supporting Social Participation of Older People and Promoting the Realization of Productive Aging," jointly issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and other departments, clearly proposes promoting the regular and long-term development of volunteer services by older people, and actively organizing volunteer services such as assisting the disabled and the weak, supporting and caring for the elderly and children, health and hygiene, education support and assistance, and cultural enrichment for the people.

Some venues have already set an example. The Nanyang Museum recruits cultural relic guardians, and its announcement is straightforward — "no age limit"; the Hubei Provincial Library divides volunteers into the Sunshine Group for ages 14–18, the Maohua Group for ages 19–50, the Ruinian Group for ages 51–60, and the Lesui Group for ages 60 and above. In the Liangzhu Cultural Volunteer Corps, as of September 2025, there were 77 silver-age volunteers over the age of 65. These pioneers have already proven that for older people doing volunteer service, the question is not "can they" but "do they have the opportunity."

Of course, it is understandable that venues set age ceilings; the main concern is the health condition of older people. This worry can be resolved through institutional design. For example, replace age screening with health assessment, requiring applicants to submit physical examination reports — Is blood pressure normal? Can one stand continuously for half an hour while giving a tour? Positions can also be matched to physical condition: docents need to stand for long periods and can be assigned to those in better health, while those whose health is not as good but who still want to participate in volunteer service can be assigned to positions such as visitor consultation and document sorting. At the same time, health declarations and accident agreements can be signed, and insurance purchased. In specific service delivery, service periods and durations can also be flexibly arranged.

True respect means building mechanisms, giving opportunities, and giving the right to choose. Older people are not a burden; they are a precious resource. It is hoped that the age ceiling for silver-haired volunteers will be dismantled soon, so that the wisdom precipitated by time and the enthusiasm that years cannot extinguish can find new places to shine.

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The 9th National Workers' Vocational Skills Competition finals to be held in Hunan in November

BEIJING, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) — (Reporter Yi Shuran) The reporter learned from the All-China Federation of Trade Unions: The All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Hunan Provincial Government jointly held the Ninth National Workers' Vocational Skills Competition. This competition is divided into three stages: national online training, provincial preliminaries, and national finals. The finals are planned to be held in Zhuzhou, Hunan in November 2026, setting up six job categories: CNC machine tool installation, adjustment, and maintenance workers; intelligent connected vehicle installation, adjustment, operation, and maintenance personnel; artificial intelligence trainers; electronic equipment assembly workers; industrial wastewater treatment workers; and online ride-hailing delivery personnel. For contestants who obtain the top three places in the finals of each job category and meet the recommendation conditions, they will be recommended and declared for the National May Day Labor Medal according to procedures.
　　At present, the competition has launched the national online training activity. The training activity is carried out through the "Workers' Home" APP, including two major sections: online Q&A and course learning. The broad masses of workers can log in to the "Workers' Home" APP, enter the "Ninth National Workers' Vocational Skills Competition" special zone in the "Labor Competition" module, and begin their skill advancement journey. Completing online Q&A according to the rules will earn the corresponding electronic certificate for online training in the relevant job category, which will also serve as one of the bases for participating in the finals. The training activity will continue until September 30.
　　The National Workers' Vocational Skills Competition is the highest-specification, largest-scale, and most influential national first-class vocational skills competition in the trade union system, and has been successfully held 8 times since 2003. In 2024, the eighth competition served as a demonstration, driving 7.7 million workers to participate in the competition and prepare for it.

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Photo Report

On August 5, at the Central Health Center of Huiting Township, Xiayi County, Shangqiu City, Henan Province, community doctors measured the blood pressure of sanitation workers, safeguarding the health of outdoor laborers.
Photo by Wang Gaochao (Image China)

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上半年总体不合格率为2.22%

BEIJING, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) — (Reporter Lin Lili) The State Administration for Market Regulation recently released the results of food safety supervision and sampling inspections for the first half of 2026. Data show that market regulation departments nationwide completed a total of 2.291 million batches of food safety supervision and sampling inspections, with an overall non-conformance rate of 2.22 percent.

Among food categories with relatively large daily consumption, the non-conformance rates for fresh eggs, meat products, livestock and poultry meat and by-products, edible oils and fat products, processed grain products, and dairy products were 1.38 percent, 1.01 percent, 0.62 percent, 0.54 percent, 0.35 percent, and 0.14 percent, respectively; the non-conformance rates for fruits, vegetables, and aquatic products were 5.18 percent, 4.92 percent, and 3.38 percent, respectively.

The problems found in the sampling inspections were mainly pesticide residues, organic matter contamination, microbial contamination, veterinary drug residues, and over-range and over-limit use of food additives. In response to the non-conforming foods found in the supervision and sampling inspections, market regulation departments have promptly carried out verification and disposal, strictly controlling food safety risks.

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Beijing police crack illegal ticket-scalping case

BEIJING, August 5 (Xinhua) — (Reporter Wang Zhou) Recently, Beijing police, relying on the deployment of the "2026 Spring-Summer Peace Action," cracked a case of illegal ticket-grabbing.

According to case-handling police officer Zhao Hongxuan, they discovered a lead involving the use of software to illegally seize tickets and reservation slots for popular scenic spots and attractions. They promptly organized criminal investigation, cybersecurity, and local public security sub-bureaus to establish a special case task force, and made every effort to carry out lead investigation and evidence collection. Public security organs in multiple localities cooperated closely, and the task force carried out synchronized arrest operations in five provinces and municipalities, apprehending 10 criminal suspects including Yang Moumou and others, and lawfully taking compulsory criminal measures against them.

"Previously, we jointly convened a joint meeting with multiple departments on the governance of ticket scalpers ('huangniu'), promoting the implementation of information sharing and coordinated prevention and crackdowns, so as to effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of tourists," said Gao Hui, head of the Organized Crime Investigation Detachment of the Criminal Investigation Corps of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau. In addition, Beijing police, based on past police reports, sorted out key scenic spots with a high incidence of ticket scalper-related police reports, formulated a routine crackdown and rectification plan, and promptly discovered and handled illegal and criminal activities.

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One Person, One "Portrait": Calculating the Retirement Account

By: 本报记者 王 者

"You have outstanding social security contributions and should arrange to make up the payment promptly." Not long ago, Chen Weiqiang received a text message reminder. He is 59 years old this year, lives in Zichuan District, Zibo City, Shandong Province, has worked at several local enterprises, and will retire in July next year.
" The social security center reminded me to make up my social security contributions, but how come I don't remember ever having missed any?" Chen Weiqiang, upon receiving the message, was skeptical.
"Let's just go to the government service center tomorrow and check — we'll know then," his wife Li Hongxia reassured him.
The next day, Chen Weiqiang walked into the Zichuan District Government Service Center. After he explained why he had come, Zhang Zhaoming, a staff member of the Zichuan District Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, replied warmly: "Through our 'social security digital profile' for people approaching retirement, we found that your social security contributions were interrupted for a period, so we specifically sent you a message to remind you. If we set aside time in advance to handle the make-up payment, it will not affect your normal retirement procedures."
"Social security contributions interrupted — how come I don't remember?" Chen Weiqiang was still puzzled.
The "social security digital profile" is a digital and intelligent convenience service launched by the Zibo Municipal Social Security Center. Relying on the city's 1.42 million electronic personnel files for enterprise employees and 940,000 electronic labor contracts, as well as multi-channel data including the national insurance participation information comparison system and the Shandong Province social security business system, it creates a "one profile per person" for insured individuals, accurately identifies their personalized needs, and proactively pushes services.
In the past, people approaching retirement often encountered situations where retirement procedures could not be smoothly completed due to interrupted social security contributions, which in turn affected the timely receipt of pension payments. For this reason, they had to make multiple trips back and forth to supplement files and make up payments. Now, the "social security digital profile" has changed the original service model, sorting out pending matters in advance and accurately pushing social security contribution interruption reminders to people approaching retirement, achieving forward-deployed service.
Standing in front of the intelligent terminal, he scanned his face and confirmed. A few seconds later, Chen Weiqiang's "social security digital profile" was clearly displayed on the screen: 22 years of contribution records, 4 job changes, and one record of a contribution interruption lasting 4 months, clearly marked by the system with a red box, along with guidance for making up the payment.
"I had long forgotten about this. If the system hadn't reminded me, and I only discovered it when handling retirement, it would definitely have affected my pension payments," Chen Weiqiang said. Guided by Zhang Zhaoming, Chen Weiqiang submitted original materials such as labor contracts, accounting vouchers, and payroll sheets through his former employer, paid more than 1,400 yuan in arrears, and successfully completed the social security make-up payment procedures for the 4-month period.
Relying on the application scenario of the "social security digital profile," Zibo City has not only achieved pre-screening of contribution interruption issues for people approaching retirement, but has also achieved notable results in handling the transfer and continuation of social security relationships.
Yang Ying, a Zibo citizen, previously had work experience in multiple places including Guang'an, Sichuan, and Bozhou, Anhui. Last year, she returned to work in Zibo, but had not yet transferred her social security from other places to her current insurance participation location.
Not long ago, the Zibo Municipal Social Security Center screened out this issue through the "social security digital profile" and sent her a reminder. After learning about her insurance participation status and the issue, and under the guidance of staff, Yang Ying submitted a transfer application to her original insurance participation location, and after review, successfully completed the transfer procedures.
Focusing on the urgent difficulties and concerns of people approaching retirement, and relying on the "social security digital profile" to achieve precise matching and proactive service, the city has realized pre-screening of data and early resolution of problems. To date, Zibo City has completed precise profiles for 169,000 people facing retirement within 5 years. Through intelligent system assessment and automatic early warning reminders, it has cumulatively sorted out 323,000 pending matters, guiding the public to efficiently complete retirement procedures.
Digital and intelligent empowerment has greatly improved service efficiency, and the average waiting time for receiving retirement benefits across the city has been shortened to 4 days. "In the next step, we will continue to optimize the functions of the 'social security digital profile,' deepen the value of data, refine service scenarios, broaden the coverage of precise services, continue to move the service gateway forward and optimize the handling experience, and make every effort to build a warm, efficient, and proactive new model of social security service," said Che Xinpeng, director of the Zibo Municipal Social Security Center.

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Heilongjiang standardizes elderly-appropriate medical service projects

Harbin, August 5 (Reporter Liu Mengdan) — The reporter learned from the special press conference on "Heilongjiang Province's Construction of a Service System Integrating Medical Care and Elderly Care" held on the 4th that Heilongjiang Province has currently established a series of pricing items and centrally set up a batch of elderly-appropriate medical service items, enabling elderly people to enjoy standardized medical services at home.
In response to the follow-up revisit needs of patients with common diseases and chronic diseases, Heilongjiang Province has specifically established an "Internet+" revisit consultation fee item. Patients must have been diagnosed and have medical records established at a physical medical institution before they can conduct revisits through an Internet hospital.
In response to door-to-door medical services, Heilongjiang Province adopts a charging model of "door-to-door service fee + medical service price." The door-to-door service fee is priced according to the "single visit, single person" standard, with the specific charging standard independently determined by the medical institution, reported to the medical insurance department for filing, and publicly announced.

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本版责编：唐天奕 付明丽 刘子赫

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Night Falls, Sports Take the Stage (A New Summer Sports Experience)

During the hot summer months, where should people go to exercise? Across the country, refined services are enriching nighttime sports offerings to meet the fitness needs of the public. In parks, more and more people are running at night; on plazas, Zumba dancers sway with abandon; around competition venues, enthusiasm for sports consumption runs high. Let us follow in the footsteps of our reporters and feel the nationwide fitness boom under the night sky.
——Editor

Labor Park, Changchun, Jilin —
Night-running group expands, a new trend in residents' exercise
By our reporter Men Jiewei

As dusk falls and streetlights come on, in the summer evening breeze, night-running groups stride forward along the lakeside path of Labor Park in Erdao District, Changchun, Jilin, the night air pulsating with vibrant athletic energy.

"Running at night makes my body feel great and my mood bright too." Mr. Zhang, who lives nearby, had just finished a 5-kilometer run and said to the reporter while stretching, "The night-running group has dozens of participants every evening — office workers coming off their shifts, veteran comrades who insist on exercising, and teenagers on summer vacation. Quite a few residents passing by on a stroll just join in for a lap or two, and the group keeps growing."

Labor Park, covering a total area of about 12 hectares, is an important venue for nighttime exercise for nearby residents. Its rich and diverse fitness scenarios suit all age groups, and its multiple programs meet the needs of different citizens. "Currently, 12 regular fitness groups are active in the park, covering fun jump rope, recreational dance, ball sports, and other programs," the park's management director introduced. In recent years, as the nighttime exercise boom has risen, the lakeside path has seen an endless stream of night runners and brisk walkers, and the courts are often full.

The continued heating up of nighttime exercise is underpinned by refined guidance and service. "We are doing everything we can to make sure everyone runs comfortably and safely," the director said. To ensure safe and orderly night running, the park regularly inspects and repairs lighting facilities and outdoor fitness equipment, increases the frequency of nighttime patrols, and carries out civilized park-visiting publicity through broadcasts and electronic screens, making every effort to create a safe, comfortable, well-regulated night-running space.

"This is my first time at Labor Park, and I was infected by the athletic atmosphere here — before I knew it, I was running," said Ms. Tang, a tourist from Liaoning, who also joined the running group. "When I get home, I'm going to keep running!"

The evening breeze blows gently; footsteps do not stop. It is understood that Erdao District of Changchun continues to improve its "10-minute fitness circle," relying on urban parks and community plazas to expand nighttime exercise space. On the one hand, it regulates and guides various fitness groups to conduct activities at staggered times and staggered peaks to avoid venue conflicts. On the other hand, it organizes social sports instructors to regularly enter parks and communities to popularize scientific fitness knowledge and guide citizens to exercise scientifically.

May Day Square, Xiamen, Fujian —
Dynamic Zumba dance, a new summer-night fitness trend
By our reporter Zhong Ziwei

"Reach out your hands, follow the rhythm, left-right-left..." On the evening of August 2, May Day Square in Xiamen, Fujian, was buzzing with noise and excitement, dynamic beats resounding through the night sky.

At around 7 p.m. that evening, brilliant lights pulsed in sync with the musical rhythm, kicking off the opening of the Summer Zumba Burning Night event. Jumping, swinging, clapping... 15 instructors led the dance at the front, while more than 600 workers from various industries across Xiamen, clad in colorful athletic wear, moved in neat, uniform dance steps. The event also featured a cloud-connection segment, linking simultaneously with six cities — Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Tianjin, Fuzhou, and Quanzhou — enabling workers in seven locations to dance on the same screen. At the climax, carefully selected Hokkien-language songs played, and the familiar melodies ignited the crowd's enthusiasm. Participants sang along at the top of their lungs and swayed freely, painting a vibrant picture of summer-night nationwide fitness.

"Zumba combines dance with aerobic exercise. The moves are simple to learn and the barrier to participation is low, so it has become deeply popular with the public in recent years," said Zumba instructor Zhou Da. He noted that this event innovatively adopted a crossover model of "Zumba-led dance + DJ spinning," and with the seven-city cloud linkage, it was both fashionable and allowed nationwide fitness to break through geographical boundaries.

"Distinct rhythm, full of fun — even with zero foundation you can quickly join in and feel Zumba's charm!" said Lin Shiting, a first-time Zumba dancer who was instantly won over.

In addition to the immersive dance experience, the venue also featured multiple interactive scenes and heartwarming perks. A free graffiti zone, themed photo wall, and car-trunk market were also open simultaneously, combining exercise, leisure, and social functions to create a "one-stop" summer-night cultural and sports space for people.

"Since its launch in 2022, the scale of Summer Zumba Burning Night has continued to expand and its influence has kept rising, growing from an initial regional event into Fujian Province's leading worker-brand activity," said the relevant head of the Xiamen Federation of Trade Unions. The event not only enriches workers' nighttime cultural life but also effectively stimulates the nighttime economy, becoming a cultural bond that serves workers and the masses and supports urban development.

In recent years, relying on the worker night-school platform, the Xiamen Federation of Trade Unions has continuously offered a variety of fitness courses such as Zumba, aerobics, yoga, and Baduanjin, forming a dual-wheel-driven model of "routine night-school training + brand-event performances." Going forward, it will base itself on workers' actual needs and continue to roll out low-threshold, high-participation cultural and sports activities for the masses, leading a new trend in worker fitness.

Tazihu Sports Park, Wuhan, Hubei —
More nighttime competitions for the masses, a new choice for citizens' exercise
By our reporter Wu Jun

As night falls and the summer heat gradually subsides, on the tennis courts of Tazihu Sports Park in Wuhan, Hubei, the crisp "thump, thump" of ball strikes rises and falls in pleasing succession. Citizen Wang Jianxiong, after a brief warm-up, swung his racket and took to the court. After more than 20 minutes, he was drenched in sweat, yet he exclaimed that it felt wonderful. "The athletic atmosphere here is strong)Skip and there are plenty of playing partners. Whenever I have time in the evening, I come to exercise," Wang Jianxiong said with a smile.

At the end of June this year, Tazihu Sports Park launched the "Night Exercise · Night Training · Night Competition" consumption-boosting campaign. Through measures such as extended opening hours, enriched activities, and hosting competitions, it has opened up the entire chain of "fitness — training — spectating — consumption," creating a new summer-night sports and leisure landmark at citizens' doorsteps.

"Not long ago, we hosted the Wuhan National Fitness Games tennis competition, attracting nearly 300 tennis players from across the province to compete," said Li Hao, head of the ball-sports hall at Tazihu Sports Park. Moreover, various mass and youth competitions in pickleball, football, roller skating, and other sports have also been held one after another, drawing nearly 80,000 people to participate and watch in total.

To better meet citizens' nighttime exercise needs, venue services have been continuously upgraded. "We have extended the venue's opening hours from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., and the park also has outdoor fitness equipment and running tracks, making it convenient for citizens to exercise at any time," said Gao Dong, head of the business support department of the Wuhan National Fitness Center.

For youth sports skills training, the park has integrated multiple sports institutions and launched the "Star of the River City" series of nighttime training camps covering swimming, basketball, tennis, badminton, and other programs, which have so far attracted nearly 200 primary and secondary school students.

The popularity of "night exercise, night training, and night competition" has effectively driven the sports consumption market to heat up. To date, it has driven 205,000 person-times of exercise participation and directly driven more than 15 million yuan in consumption.

In addition, Tazihu Sports Park has innovatively launched the "Night Exercise, Not Conceding" and "Night Exercise Check-in Champion" 21-day check-in challenges. Citizens who accumulate check-ins for nighttime exercise can redeem nighttime training trial classes, merchant discount coupons, and sports equipment gift packages; each month, the top ten "sports achievers" are selected and awarded generous prizes such as gym memberships and professional equipment. This series of people-benefiting measures continues to release the vitality of nighttime sports consumption.

Overall planning for this issue: Cao Jiwei

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Why children in Maoping Village have fallen in love with morning runs

By: 本报记者 苏 滨

In the early morning, a thin mist gently shrouded the surroundings. In the Yuping Dong Autonomous County of Tongren City, Guizhou Province, children arrived early at the village committee office of Maoping Village. Yao Heng, deputy director of the village committee, dressed in a black short-sleeved shirt, stood at the front of the line.
"Everyone, stay quiet and follow me in pre-run stretching." Shoulder circles, bending down to press the legs, rotating the ankles... Following Yao Heng's movements, the children stretched their limbs and muscles.
"Everyone ready? Let's go!" With a call from Yao Heng, the morning running group set off. The children lined up in a long queue, their footsteps interweaving in uneven rhythm, and laughter echoed through the village.
This is the second year Yao Heng has organized a summer morning running group.
Four years ago, Yao Heng, who had been developing his career elsewhere, returned to his hometown of Maoping Village. As a sports enthusiast, he enjoys playing football and running. He noticed that the children in the village did not like to exercise and stayed cooped up at home playing on their phones all day.
"There are over a hundred minors in the whole village, and more than half are left-behind children. During the holidays they lack companionship, so I thought of taking them on morning runs together." Yao Heng's idea received support from many parents, but the children seemed uninterested. "On the first day, only one child came, and that was after I persuaded the parents, who reluctantly agreed to try it for a week."
Yao Heng did not give up. He went door to door mobilizing the children. The morning running group slowly grew from a few people to over a dozen. At first, the children were reluctant to get out of bed, so he called each of them at 5:30 every morning to encourage them to get up and exercise, starting the run promptly at 6:00.
Before the run, Yao Heng also added segments such as self-introductions, speeches, and singing to encourage the children to express themselves bravely.
Eight-year-old Yang Shicai is a left-behind child in the village with an introverted personality. On his first day at the morning running group, when it came time for self-introductions, he could not speak for a long time. Later, Yao Heng and the other children applauded to cheer him on, and only then did he manage to stammer out his name.
"Many children are like this at the beginning, but after joining the morning running group, they find joy in exercise and regain their confidence." What inspires Yao Heng is that last summer, a total of 47 people participated in the morning runs, and this year the number has grown to nearly a hundred. "There's no need to call and urge them anymore—they arrive early to gather on the cement square in front of the village committee."
The morning running route is a circular cement road, over 900 meters per lap, newly built by the village. No cars use it, though occasionally electric scooters pass by. Recently, Yao Heng noticed that six parents have joined the group. They are self-organized safety officers, dispersed at different positions in the line, responsible for watching over the children. At the most, more than 20 parents participated in a single day.
"The children no longer stare at screens. They have grown to love morning running and have a great time playing every day." Seeing the change in her child, parent Tian Taifen volunteered to become a safety officer and also helps organize games.
The morning run lasts one hour each day. Children below second grade run 2 kilometers, third to fifth graders run 4 kilometers, and sixth graders and above can run 5 kilometers. After the run, games such as tug-of-war, football, and jump rope are organized, allowing the children to play to their hearts' content and release their natural energy.
Beyond running, Yao Heng has also set up a public-interest classroom at the village committee, officially opening at 8:30 in the morning. Returning college students and rural teachers have become volunteers, helping the children with their homework for free. "Whether in school or out of school, whether in sports or in studies, children need care and protection, and they need recognition and encouragement even more. I hope they can grow up healthy in a relaxed and joyful atmosphere," Yao Heng said.

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Chinese gymnastics team holds selection tests for Asian Games and World Championships

By: 本报记者 陶相安

On August 4, the Chinese gymnastics team held a selection test for the Asian Games and the World Championships at the Rencheng Cultural and Sports Center in Jining City, Shandong Province. This selection test was a scheduled stop in the selection process for the Asian Games and the World Championships. Lu Bin, leader of the Chinese gymnastics team, introduced that the team will combine the results of the National Gymnastics Championships held in May to provide a basis for coaches in selecting personnel for the team events at the Asian Games and the World Championships.

A total of 13 male team members and 9 female team members participated in this test. After going through the National Gymnastics Championships and the Asian Gymnastics Championships held in June, many team members are still in the stage of physical recovery. Their performances on the day showed both highlights and some flaws.

Out of consideration for shoulder protection, Chinese gymnastics team male member Zhang Boheng participated in tests for five events except for the rings. Zou Jingyuan, a male member of the Chinese gymnastics team who missed competitions in the first half of the year, participated in tests for the pommel horse and parallel bars that day.

On the women's side, Zhang Qingying and Zhang Yihan completed the all-around competition, while Qiu Qiyuan and Du Siyu showed good form in their respective strong events, the balance beam and the vault. Zhang Yihan said: "After the Asian Championships, I am still adjusting my body. After this test, I need to consolidate the stability, success rate, and movement quality of my four events."

Lu Bin introduced that after the selection test, the team will soon announce the roster for the Asian Games and the World Championships. Subsequently, they will formulate corresponding competition plans based on the selected lineup, resolve difficult issues item by item and athlete by athlete, and conduct targeted rehearsal and joint training for the team events.

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Here, every household has played in the "Xini River Cup"

By: 本报记者 李祉瑶

On August 2, the 40th "Xini River Cup" football tournament concluded in Xinihc West Sumu, Ewenki Autonomous Banner, Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia. Over the six-day competition period, a total of 12 gacha (village-level administrative units) formed teams to compete, with the outcome decided through a format of group-stage round-robin play followed by knockout rounds. In the end, Temohuzhu team claimed the championship.

On the green pitch, herder-players ran and competed; off the field, the bustle of daily life interwove with ethnic customs. Twelve yurts around the venue operated in designated zones, with inheritors of intangible cultural heritage such as felt-making and colored-rope weaving giving on-site instruction, and cultural-creative product sales proving highly popular. The camping area and commercial zone bustled with visitors, and fun activities such as blindfolded shooting, football nine-grid, and dribbling through poles were open to tourists.

Looking at this lively scene, Zana, one of the event's founders, was filled with emotion.

In 1986, some young people in the Xini River area spontaneously organized a football match on this grassland, naming it after their hometown river. "Back then, once we had the idea, we just did it. At the time, the herders drove mowers to trim the field before the match and used lime to mark the boundary lines," Zana recalled. "In the first edition, we had only two teams, and the championship trophy had to be ordered from elsewhere. When the final ended, the trophy still hadn't been delivered, so we used a vase as a substitute."

When funds were insufficient, they sought sponsors everywhere; herders pooled money, one contributing a hundred, another two hundred, and some even donated sheep to the teams. When there were no goalposts, they made them from wood or welded them from steel pipes... No one expected that this herder-initiated tournament would continue for 40 years.

"Here, almost every household has had someone play in the 'Xini River Cup'; the earliest playing field was our school's sports ground," said Bai Xiaojun, principal of Xini River School, who grew up watching the "Xini River Cup." "After playing football, I got to know many people. On the field we might be opponents, but off the field many are close friends," said Nairile, team leader of the Xini River Football Club. Speaking of the "Xini River Cup," almost everyone on this land has a story to tell.

Over the past 40 years, the "Xini River Cup" tournament system has gradually moved toward standardization, systematization, and branding. The number of participating teams has expanded year by year; since 2005, a five-a-side format has been added, covering age groups including children, youth, and women. In 2011, the Xini River Football Association was registered and established, and in 2015, the Xini River Football Club was formally organized. Since 2016, the Xini River Football Club has run youth training classes, with more than 100 registered youth players, and 15 students from pastoral areas have been admitted to universities on the strength of their football skills.

Today, the Xini River team has moved from the grassland to larger arenas. The team has successively earned honors including runner-up in the National Games mass-participation football event, champion of the autonomous region Games mass-participation cage football competition, and runner-up in the National Five-a-Side Football Tournament. In 2023, the "Xini River Cup" football tournament was selected as a national-level quality event case for the "three major balls" (football, basketball, volleyball) by the General Administration of Sport of China.

From a whim of young herders to the participation of 12 gacha teams, from a grassroots self-organized event to a distinctive cultural-tourism brand, today's "Xini River Cup" has become a highly recognizable mass sports activity with pastoral characteristics in Ewenki Autonomous Banner.

"Football is not just a sport. Over the past 40 years, Xini River football has charted a development path of 'herder self-participation, widespread public engagement, deep integration of sports and education, and multi-dimensional empowerment of culture and sports,'" said a relevant official of Xinihc West Sumu. "We will continue to build on the realities of the pastoral area, give full play to ethnic characteristics, improve the youth training system, and upgrade the tournament brand, striving to create competition events that the masses love."

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Asian Figure Skating Youth Training Camp Concludes

BEIJING, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) — The closing ceremony of the 2026 Olympic Council of Asia–International Skating Union Asian Youth Figure Skating Training Camp was held on the 3rd at the Harbin Ice Hockey Arena in Heilongjiang Province. The event relied on the competition venues of the Harbin Asian Winter Games to complete systematic training, while simultaneously building a two-way platform for technical improvement and cultural exchange, with more than 50 young figure skaters from 15 National Olympic Committees across Asia participating.

The organizing committee specially invited senior international coaches to conduct instruction, carrying out layered, refined teaching around skating, jumps and spins, program artistic expression, and sport-specific physical conditioning, precisely addressing the technical shortcomings of the trainees. A cross-national signed commemorative scroll jointly produced by all trainees was presented by athlete representatives to Harbin for collection, preserving the imprint of ice-and-snow exchange. During spare time, the youth participating in the training camp also visited Sun Island, the Harbin Grand Theatre, and other sites, immersively experiencing the cultural charm of the Ice City.

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National Youth Simulated Flight Championship Finals Kick Off

Chengdu, August 5 (Wang Liang, Chen Tianjie) — The finals of the 17th National Youth Flight Simulation Championship opened on August 4 at the multi-purpose gymnasium of Dong'an Lake Sports Park in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, with 532 teams from 27 provinces participating. The competition is divided into two major sections: aviation theory knowledge testing and flight simulation competition, spanning 14 groups from elementary school through high school.

The event is included in the Ministry of Education's "List of National Competition Activities for Primary and Secondary School Students for the 2025–2028 Academic Years" and is conducted in two stages: provincial qualifying rounds and national finals. The entire event is free of charge and open to the public, with an automated scoring system to ensure fairness in competition. During the event, multiple public science popularization activities will also be held, with experts invited to deliver aviation-themed public lectures to broaden the horizons of young people.

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Editor: Luo Yan, Shi Zhe, Cao Jiwei

Layout design: Shen Yiling (沈亦伶)

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Vibrant Free Trade Port, Charming Hainan Island: Writing a New Chapter of High-Quality Cultural and Tourism Integration Through Openness

The sunlight is just right, and the poetry is even richer. In the first full year after the island-wide independent customs operations of the Hainan Free Trade Port, Hainan is using "vitality" as its brush and "openness" as its ink, painting a new picture of development between the blue sea and azure sky where mountains meet the sea and culture and tourism merge. From the grand opening of the Hainan International Tourism Island Carnival, to the deep integration and global layout of cross-regional cultural and tourism collaboration, Hainan's cultural tourism relies on the "45432" development framework and the "Five-Direction Striving for Strength" characteristic industrial chain, using openness to stimulate industrial vitality and release the island's charm, forging a high-quality development path of cultural-tourism integration characterized by policy empowerment, diversified business formats, and region-wide symbiosis, showcasing to the world the confidence of the free trade port and the enthusiasm and vitality of Hainan Island in the process of Chinese-style modernization.

Region-wide linkage: festival IPs form new highlights in cultural tourism. Region-wide festivals, enjoyed by all the people, release cultural tourism vitality. On July 18, the 2026 (27th) Hainan International Tourism Island Carnival opened at Hainan Changying Fantasy Park. This year's event unveiled the new promotional slogan "Vibrant Free Trade Port, Charming Hainan Island," using the surging momentum of the free trade port's institutional opening-up and the enduring poetry of Hainan Island's mountains, seas, and humanistic heritage to precisely outline Hainan's brand-new development image of cultural-tourism integration and two-way empowerment, becoming a new cultural tourism business card extended by Hainan to the world. This month-long summer gala is committed to breaking the temporal and spatial limitations of traditional festivals, forming a region-wide festive pattern of "opening in Haikou, linkage across the island, and concluding in Danzhou." At the main venue of the opening ceremony, 3,000 drones in formation and 30,000 rounds of high-altitude fireworks interwove a brilliant night sky, and the water light show Silk Road Fantasy Voyage: Chasing Light Across the Mirage Sea made its world premiere, organically integrating technological aesthetics with marine culture. This year's carnival formed a cultural tourism network covering the entire island, launching for the first time a large-scale cross-regional joint exhibition of intangible cultural heritage, with multiple national-level, provincial-level, and municipal-level intangible cultural heritage projects appearing together, presenting a feast of intangible cultural heritage for the general public and tourists; the eastern coast offers beachcombing and wave-chasing, the central region provides rainforest coolness and summer relief, the west features intangible cultural heritage folk customs as the main attraction, and the south gathers popularity through diverse experiences... All cities and counties of Hainan, based on "one place, one brand," launched more than 50 distinctive themed activities. From Qionghai's Tanmen Beachcombing Season to Wanning's Overseas Chinese Hometown Cultural Carnival, from Wuzhishan's rainforest rafting to Sanya's intangible cultural heritage gala, Hainan also uses the four-season themed linkage of "performing arts + cuisine + shopping + sports" to efficiently convert festival "traffic" into consumption "increments," allowing tourists to feel the enthusiasm and vitality of Hainan Island at every stop of their journey.

Shaping tourism with culture: profound heritage endows mountains and seas with new attractions. If sunshine and sandy beaches are the "form" of Hainan Island, then the profound cultural heritage is the "spirit" of Hainan Island. Hainan adheres to "shaping tourism with culture and highlighting culture through tourism," promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of historical culture, revolutionary culture, folk culture, and marine culture, giving tourism resources both emotional warmth and cultural depth. Revitalizing historical culture. "Su Dongpo and Hainan" has become a vivid case of national cultural-tourism integration. Through hosting the China (Hainan) Su Dongpo Cultural Tourism Conference, building the national 4A-level tourist attraction Danzhou Su Dongpo Cultural Tourism Zone, and launching the immersive live performance Male God Su Dongpo and the AI-concept Chinese-style music drama Heart at Ease, Dongpo, Su Dongpo's cultural image has moved from the classics into daily life, becoming an influential cultural tourism IP in the locality. At the same time, the creation of the Luobidong National Archaeological Site Park and the display of archaeological achievements from the shipwreck on the northwest slope of the South China Sea continental shelf have given prehistoric civilization and deep-sea treasures new luster. A series of conservation and restoration projects for Su Dongpo cultural relic resources, including the Five Officials' Shrine and the Fubo Temple in Longqi Village, have been implemented, giving old buildings new vitality; Hainan's fourth national cultural relics census has been basically completed, with a number of important immovable cultural relics newly discovered, perfecting Hainan's cultural relics genealogy and highlighting Hainan's distinctive culture. Archaeological work on the Nan or River and the Geng Lu Bu (South China Sea sailing route records) continues to advance, achieving historic breakthroughs in provincial archaeological work. Inheriting revolutionary culture. Hainan has deeply explored the Qiongya revolutionary history of "the red flag has not fallen for twenty-three years," launching 15 high-quality red tourism routes, deeply integrating red landmarks such as Mount Murui with rural tourism. The immersive live performance The Glory of Qiongya, the Victory of the People is staged at the former site of the First Congress of the Communist Party of China Qiongya Special Committee, making red tourism attractions vivid classrooms for cultivating souls and educating people. Promoting folk culture and marine culture. Intangible cultural heritage items such as coconut carving and Danzhou diaosheng (antiphonal singing) are no longer confined to cultural venues but have entered scenic areas, hotels, communities, and streets; the Wulilu Dabai Tea Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshop, the Binglanggu Li and Miao Cultural Tourism Zone, and the Sanya Nanshan International Intangible Cultural Heritage Center have become models of intangible cultural heritage and tourism integration; Baicha Village, Chubao Village, and others have completed restoration, and the traditional Li ethnic settlements, after the baptism of time, radiate new brilliance. In addition, focusing on the protection of South China Sea cultural heritage, Hainan is building a demonstration belt of island-ring marine cultural parks, excavating the sea-farming culture of the "South China Sea Geng Lu Bu"; holding the Hainan Marine Tourism Year, launching 60 high-quality marine tourism products covering three major categories of tourism projects, water sports, and festival activities; and carefully planning 10 marine tourism routes with distinct themes covering the entire island, such as the "Coconut Breeze and Sea Charm Relaxation Journey" and the "Ocean Glimpse Paradise Journey," stringing together the brilliant pearls along the coastline and making marine culture the blue hallmark of Hainan tourism.

Openness and win-win: building a new pattern of global cultural tourism cooperation. As a free trade port, Hainan's cultural tourism development has always been closely tied to the keyword "openness." In 2026, the pace of internationalization of Hainan's cultural tourism has significantly accelerated, the global promotion network is increasingly improved, and the tourism market continues to heat up. Internally, cross-regional coordination pools strength. On July 19, the "Sea Vows and Mountain Oaths" cultural tourism joint promotion event of the 2026 (27th) Hainan International Tourism Island Carnival was held, marking a new stage in cooperation between Hainan and key domestic tourist-source provinces and cities. Hainan has reached cooperation with Chongqing, Guangdong, Fujian, Henan, Yunnan, and other provinces and multiple cities, achieving mutual tourist flow and resource sharing through the creation of "one journey, multiple stops" tourism products. Externally, global marketing is precisely targeted. In June, Hainan's cultural tourism authorities held the "Hainan Night" special promotion conference, presenting the "Top Ten Business Cards" of Hainan tourism to more than 300 international travel trade representatives from around the world. At present, Hainan has established 44 tourism promotion offices in 31 countries and regions, recruiting more than 100 bloggers from 39 countries and regions as "Hainan Tourism International Recommendation Officers." Targeting different markets such as Russia, Southeast Asia, Europe and America, and Australia and New Zealand, it implements precise marketing of "one region, one strategy." Qiong-Hong Kong cooperation continues to deepen; Hainan leverages Hong Kong's advantages as an international tourism hub, implements the transit visa-free policy, and creates a new cross-border tourism model of "one stop for urban experiences, one stop for vacation enjoyment." In the first half of 2026, Hainan's inbound and outbound travelers exceeded 1.6 million person-times, a year-on-year increase of 29.3%, of which the increase in visa-free foreign tourists exceeded 40%, showing a clear trend of diversification in the structure of international tourist sources.

Quality upgrading: building a new highland for an international tourism consumption center. The comprehensive upgrading of infrastructure and service quality supports the continued rise in heat of Hainan's cultural tourism market. Hainan has successively invested 22.3 billion yuan, continuously advancing the construction of the "two rings" — the island-ring tourism highway and the tourism highway around the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park — creating cultural scenic byways integrating transportation, sightseeing, and leisure. At the same time, Haikou is building itself into the "International Capital of Performing Arts," Sanya is building the "Asia-Pacific Yacht Capital," and Wenchang is focusing on the "Space Tourism Capital," forming a city cluster with differentiated development. In terms of the business environment, Hainan has achieved "one-stop online processing" for cultural tourism approval services, vigorously cracked down on illegal and non-compliant behaviors such as unreasonable low-price tours and forced shopping, and the tourism complaint rate has declined year by year. Through measures benefiting the people such as issuing cultural tourism consumption vouchers and promoting free admission to scenic areas, as well as introducing international high-end performing arts and film and television projects, Hainan continuously enhances tourists' experience and satisfaction. In 2025, Hainan's high-quality tourism development achieved remarkable results, receiving 106 million domestic and international tourists throughout the year, a year-on-year increase of 9.1%; total tourist spending exceeded 225.432 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%. Vibrant Free Trade Port, Charming Hainan Island. Hainan is embracing the world with an open posture, nourishing tourism with cultural depth, and driving development with innovative vitality. With the goal of "becoming an important gateway leading China's opening-up in the new era," the Hainan Free Trade Port is promoting the high-quality development of cultural tourism integration, not only igniting a new engine for economic growth but also opening an important window for displaying China's image and conveying peace and friendship. In the future, Hainan will continue to deepen the "four major distinctive cultural experience tours," implement resource transformation projects, shape new landmarks of cultural tourism integration, provide global tourists with richer, more diverse, and higher-quality tourism experiences, and write a new chapter in the high-quality development of cultural tourism in the free trade port.

Data source: Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports of Hainan Province

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The Naked Manifestation of the Takaichi Sanae Government's "Neo-Militarism" Thinking (International Perspective)

On August 4, the Takaichi Sanae government of Japan published the 2026 edition of the Defense White Paper (hereinafter referred to as the "new White Paper"). The new White Paper is filled with false narratives, claiming that the security strategic environment surrounding Japan is at its most severe and complex period since the end of the war, loudly playing up the "peripheral security crisis," hyping the so-called "China threat," and continuing to position China as Japan's "unprecedented maximum strategic challenge." Domestic Japanese and neighboring country circles have strongly criticized the new White Paper, believing that it is another example of the Japanese ruling authorities accelerating "remilitarization," further exposing the Takaichi Sanae government's ambition to expand its military and challenge the postwar international order. Regional countries and the international community must remain highly vigilant.

Japan continues to expand its military

The new White Paper reflects the military expansion policy direction of the Takaichi Sanae government. In March this year, Japan formally deployed the Type 25 ground-based anti-ship missile with a range of approximately 1,000 kilometers in Kumamoto Prefecture, far exceeding Japan's territorial scope and possessing obvious offensive attributes. The new White Paper states that Japan will further seek "counterattack capability against enemy bases," including developing air-launched and sea-launched versions of the Type 25 anti-ship missile, advancing the development of hypersonic missiles, and introducing foreign-made "stand-off missiles."

Fujita Takakage, chairman of the "Association for the Inheritance and Development of the Murayama Statement," said in an interview with this newspaper's reporter that the new White Paper is essentially the Takaichi Sanae government further building momentum for revising the "three security documents" before the end of this year and advancing military expansion. It is an extremely shallow and hasty document.

The new White Paper proposes responding to so-called security challenges with "comprehensive national strength" and promoting the full integration of civilian technologies and social resources into the defense system. Ito Makoto, director of the Japan Law Institute Constitutional Research Center, told this newspaper's reporter that this implies the dangerous logic of "national wartime mobilization." The substantive goal of the Japanese government's current "three security documents" is to implement war by "maximally utilizing comprehensive national strength" and to build a wartime system of national mobilization. A series of dangerous moves the Japanese government has promoted around this goal are transforming Japan from a "peaceful country" into a "militarized country."

The website of Russia's RBC Daily reported on the 4th, believing that since the Takaichi Sanae government took office, it has promoted Japan's increased military expansion, and the new White Paper is one manifestation. Russia's Kommersant pointed out on the same day that Japan has long been increasing its defense budget and strengthening security cooperation with so-called "like-minded countries." The new White Paper exposes Japan's attempt to further expand its military power.

Ohnishi Hiroshi, professor emeritus of Keio University in Japan, told this newspaper's reporter that the new White Paper exposes the main directions of the Japanese government's future revision of the "three security documents," including further substantially increasing defense spending, breaking through the constraints of the "Three Non-Nuclear Principles," strengthening response capabilities for "new operational methods," expanding the military-industrial sector, and introducing nuclear submarines. "These moves all lack deep reflection on aggressive war, and their nature is extremely dangerous."

Intensifying regional tensions

The new White Paper continues to hype the so-called "external threat," stir up camp confrontation, and claims it will strengthen cooperation with so-called "like-minded countries." Ito Makoto pointed out that the Japanese government has long used the pretext of being in the "most severe and complex security environment since the end of the war" to expand its military, but what truly causes the continued deterioration of the regional security environment is precisely Japan's continuously advancing military expansion itself.

Fujita Takakage believes that the Takaichi Sanae government lifted the ban on the export of lethal weapons in April this year, reversing Japan's peaceful diplomatic line that has continued since the end of the war. This decision openly negates the core spirit of Japan's "Peace Constitution" and is an absurd act that paves the way for war. The new White Paper's attempt to legitimize this series of dangerous practices will only intensify tensions in Asia and runs counter to the will of the people of East Asian countries to maintain peace and stability.

Kim Ju-yong, director of the Korea-China Institute of History and Culture and professor in the Department of History and Culture at Wonkwang University in South Korea, told this newspaper's reporter that the countries of Northeast Asia share intertwined destinies, and all countries must work together to minimize the possibility of war and conflict and pass on the values of peace and common prosperity to future generations. Japan must abandon provocative words and deeds and sincerely build lasting peace with neighboring countries.

A commentary in Japan's Tokyo Shimbun pointed out that in recent years, Japan has become increasingly obvious in using the so-called "threats" from neighboring countries as an excuse for its own rapid expansion of defense forces. This does not help ease regional tensions. To avoid conflict with neighboring countries, Japan must not fall into the mistaken notion of "military supremacy" but should demonstrate a posture of actively promoting dialogue and enhancing mutual trust.

Jung Jae-houng, director of the China Research Center at the Sejong Institute in South Korea, told this newspaper's reporter that Japan's substantial relaxation of weapons export restrictions and its elevation of defense equipment exports into an important tool of diplomatic and security strategy mean its security policy is further extending outward. This practice intensifies strategic tensions in Northeast Asia.

Challenging the postwar international order

Tang Zhimin, director of the China-ASEAN Research Center at Panyapiwat Institute of Management in Thailand, told this newspaper's reporter that the new Japanese White Paper's content on continuously increasing defense spending, vigorously developing long-range offensive capabilities, and promoting the weaponization and battlefield-ization of space will intensify the risk of a regional arms race. The economies of East Asian countries are highly interdependent, with close trade and industrial chain ties. The continued strengthening of security competition may increase market concerns about regional stability and put pressure on regional cooperation and economic expectations.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko stated that the belligerent posture of Japan's Takaichi Sanae government has a negative impact on the stability of the Asia-Pacific region and damages the security interests of neighboring countries, including Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry website published the full text of Rudenko's interview with Russian media. Rudenko said that the Takaichi Sanae government is determined to take the dangerous path of "remilitarization," deviating from the peace clauses of Japan's constitution, substantially increasing military budgets, purchasing large quantities of foreign weapons, and liberalizing arms exports. The Japanese leadership's remarks about reexamining the "Three Non-Nuclear Principles" are completely unacceptable.

"The new White Paper is a naked manifestation of the Takaichi Sanae government's 'new militarism' thinking." Kwon Ki-sik, president of the Korea-China City Friendship Association, said in an interview with this newspaper's reporter that Japan, without deeply reflecting on its wartime crimes as an aggressor nation in history, is instead continuously strengthening the combat power of the Self-Defense Forces, posing a threat to neighboring countries such as South Korea and China. The new White Paper exposes Japan's attempt to turn the Self-Defense Forces into an offensive military force. The Japanese government's military ambitions must be severely condemned and highly vigilant against.

Oleg Timofeev, associate professor at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia and an international affairs expert, told this newspaper's reporter that the new White Paper just published by the Japanese government is full of clichés, deliberately creating regional tensions, attempting to deceive the Japanese domestic public, and pushing Japan to stride forward toward "remilitarization," once again exposing the dangerous trend of the Japanese government continuously expanding its military power and repeating the mistake of militarism. The Takaichi Sanae government has substantially adjusted its security policies, massively expanded its military, and attempted to hollow out Japan's "Peace Constitution," seriously deviating from the principle of "exclusively defense-oriented" policy and posing a serious threat to regional and world peace, security, and stability.

Timofeev emphasized that Japan once strayed onto the wrong path of militarism, bringing profound disasters to the world. Once the "new militarism" completely breaks free of its restraints, Japan will inevitably retread the old path of aggression and expansion, challenge the postwar international order, and bring tremendous turmoil to regional and world peace and tranquility.

(Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, Moscow, Bangkok, August 5 — reporters Yue Linwei, Liu Wenzhang, Mang Jiuchen, Wang Siyuan, Xiao Xinxin, Yang Yi)

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Japan’s New Defense White Paper Sends Dangerous Signals (Commentary)

By: 孟晓旭

Japan's Defense of Japan white paper, in the form of an annual report, sets out its views on the regional security environment and its own defense policy, reflecting the actual state and future direction of Japan's security strategy. On August 4, the new edition of the Defense of Japan white paper reviewed and approved by the Japanese government advocated military expansion and arms buildup, and trumpeted military deterrence, exposing the danger and destructiveness of Japan's "new-type militarism."
The new Defense of Japan white paper loudly hypes so-called "security threats," the essence of which is to find excuses for loosening military constraints and expanding arms. The new white paper returns to the old path of military deterrence: it not only advocates a substantial increase in defense spending, but also openly proposes fundamentally strengthening defense capabilities including offensive force, with a focus on supporting the construction of a confrontational military force system. The new white paper also adds content such as "new operational methods" and "strengthening the defense production and technology base," and puts forward the concept of "protracted operations." All these circumstances show that Japan is deeply binding military expansion and arms buildup to its national economy and industry.
The new Defense of Japan white paper disregards Japan's aggressive crimes against China during World War II, maliciously distorts China's normal actions in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, defines China as an "unprecedented and greatest strategic challenge," and continues to make improper comments on the Taiwan question, exposing the real threat that Japan's "new-type militarism" poses to the sovereignty of neighboring countries and regional security. The new white paper proposes cooperation with so-called "like-minded countries" to enhance collective deterrence and response capability, the essence of which is to provoke bloc confrontation, intending to achieve its own geopolitical self-interest by intensifying great-power competition and regional contradictions.
Japan's new Defense of Japan white paper is entirely a case of the thief crying "stop the thief," paving the way for Japan to complete the revision of its "three security documents" and expand its military within the year. Consistent with the false narrative of the full text, the white paper deliberately adopts a so-called "healing" cover, concealing a new "wartime system" and sending out a dangerous signal of challenging the postwar international order and undermining regional peace and stability.
(The author is a research fellow and deputy director of the Comprehensive Strategy Research Office at the Institute of Japanese Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.)

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Foreign Ministry Refutes Japan's Defense White Paper, Lodges Serious Representations with Tokyo

BEIJING, Aug. 5 — Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian on Monday expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to Japan's release of the 2026 edition of the Defense White Paper, saying that the new white paper again groundlessly slanders and attacks China, hypes up the so-called "China threat," makes irresponsible remarks on China's Taiwan affairs and grossly interferes in China's internal affairs. China has made serious démarches to the Japanese side.

A reporter asked: Japan released the 2026 Defense White Paper, which lists China as the "greatest strategic challenge" and claims that its defense investment is conducive to Japan's economic and social development. In response to the increasingly active activities of the Chinese military in the vicinity of Japan, the white paper states that "it should be addressed through comprehensive national strength and cooperation and coordination with allies and partner countries." What is the Foreign Ministry's comment? How does China assess the potential impact of Japan's accelerated military buildup? Does China believe that Japan's military expansion is becoming normalized?

Lin Jian said that China stays committed to the path of peaceful development and follows a defensive national defense policy. China's relevant military activities are legitimate and justified. Taiwan has been an inalienable part of China's territory since ancient times. The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair. How to resolve the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese people and brooks no interference from Japan. The Diaoyu Islands and their affiliated islets have been China's inherent territory since ancient times. No matter what Japan says or does, it will not change this fact.

Lin Jian said that Japanese militarism once brought untold sufferings to Asia and the world and committed heinous crimes. Japan, however, far from deeply reflecting on its history, has been accelerating its "remilitarization," breaking through the constraints of the Japanese Constitution and its domestic laws and regulations under international law, and challenging the postwar international order, becoming a prominent factor threatening regional peace and stability. The new white paper again advocates for developing long-range strike capabilities and "new operational methods," and even packages the expansion of the military industry as an economic growth point, once again exposing Japan's lie of being a "peaceful nation." The international community must stay highly vigilant and resolutely curb such moves. We urge Japan to deeply reflect on its historical crimes, earnestly draw lessons from history, stop seeking excuses for strengthening its military and expanding its arms, and refrain from going further and further down the wrong path.

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Defense Ministry Spokesperson Responds to Reporter's Question on Japan's 2026 Defense White Paper

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 4 (Reporter Wang Chuntao) — Ministry of National Defense Spokesperson Chen Xi answered reporters' questions on August 4 regarding the Japanese government's 2026 edition of the Defense White Paper.

A reporter asked: It is reported that Japan has officially released its 2026 edition of the Defense White Paper, falsely claiming that China's military moves constitute an "unprecedented greatest strategic challenge," and stating that China's military activities around Taiwan are becoming more frequent, and that Japan's surrounding security and strategic environment is at its most severe and complex since the end of the war. What is your comment on this?

Chen Xi stated that Japan's new Defense White Paper is full of false narratives, loudly playing up a "surrounding security crisis" and hyping the so-called "China threat." This is entirely 贼喊捉贼 (zéi hǎn zhuō zéi - "the thief cries 'catch the thief,'" to shift blame onto others while guilty oneself), an excuse to loosen military restraints on itself. We express strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to this.

Chen Xi said that Japan's ruling authorities continue to operate under the guise of "exclusive defense," accelerating the revision of the "three security documents," continuously increasing defense spending, vigorously developing long-range offensive capabilities, advancing the weaponization and battlefield-ization of outer space, and even packaging the expansion of the military-industrial complex as an economic growth point, in an attempt to deeply embed arms expansion and war preparations into the national system, economic industries, and public opinion. Japan's "new militarism" is gaining momentum and becoming a scourge, and has already become a serious challenge to the postwar international order and a genuine threat to regional peace and stability.

Chen Xi stated that the Taiwan question bears on China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, bears on the political foundation of Sino-Japanese relations, and is an insurmountable red line. We urge the Japanese side to deeply reflect on its history of aggression, stop interfering in China's internal affairs, stop misleading the Japanese public and the international community, and not go further and further down the erroneous path of "re-militarization."

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Global Scan

U.S. Customs Has Returned Approximately $100 Billion in Tariffs

Xinhua News Agency, New York, August 4 (Reporter Liu Yanan) — Data disclosed on August 4 by officials of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, to the U.S. Court of International Trade show that U.S. Customs has returned approximately $100 billion in tariffs previously collected under the U.S. International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Officials of U.S. Customs and Border Protection stated that refund requests totaling more than $128 billion have been accepted for processing. The amount already refunded currently accounts for approximately 60 percent of the $165 billion in tariffs levied by the Trump administration under the authority of that law.

According to a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in February of this year, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the president to impose tariffs on a large scale. The U.S. Court of International Trade subsequently ordered Customs to process the relevant refunds. Customs and Border Protection launched the first phase of refund work on April 20, with the first batch of refunds issued around May 11.

Optimistic Expectations for U.S.-Iran Negotiations — International Oil Prices Fell More Than 5 Percent on August 4

According to Xinhua News Agency, New York, August 4 (Reporter Liu Yanan) — Driven by optimistic expectations that the United States and Iran may soon reach an agreement concerning the Strait of Hormuz, international crude oil futures prices fell rapidly in early trading on August 4, fluctuated weakly during the session, and closed with international oil prices down significantly by more than 5 percent.

As of the close that day, light crude oil futures for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $4.57 to settle at $75.77 per barrel, a decline of 5.69 percent; London Brent crude oil futures for October delivery fell $4.41 to settle at $79.36 per barrel, a decline of 5.26 percent.

According to U.S. media reports on August 4, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said that an agreement concerning the Strait of Hormuz could be reached on the 4th or 5th.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Baghaei said on August 4 that Iran is still negotiating with Oman regarding the Strait of Hormuz, and that the negotiations have made "positive progress" at both the technical and political levels.

However, TD Securities strategist Ryan McKay said in a research report on August 4 that Iran is unlikely to reach any agreement without controlling the Strait of Hormuz. Given that current oil shipping volumes already match production levels, even if a relevant agreement is reached, the potential for increased oil shipping is very small.

WHO —

Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Spreading — Urgent Need to Enhance Response Capacity

According to Xinhua News Agency, Kinshasa/Geneva, August 4 — The latest data released by the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on August 4 show that the country has reported a cumulative total of 3,874 confirmed Ebola cases, including 1,751 deaths. The World Health Organization said on the same day that the current round of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is still spreading, and there is an urgent need to enhance response capacity and comprehensively strengthen epidemic prevention and control.

WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said at a press conference held in Geneva, Switzerland, on August 4 that the current outbreak has become the largest Ebola outbreak on record in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. More funding and other resources are currently needed to expand patient treatment capacity and increase epidemiological investigation, safe burial, and community prevention and control personnel.

Data from the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo show that as of the 3rd, 717 patients were receiving isolation or hospitalization treatment, and the cumulative number of cured cases was 749. The outbreak has spread to 51 health zones in Ituri Province, North Kivu Province, Haut-Uélé Province, Tshopo Province, and South Kivu Province, with confirmed cases in Ituri Province accounting for 87.1 percent of the national total.

Brazil Lowers the Level of Diplomatic Relations with Argentina

According to Xinhua News Agency, Brasília, August 4 (Reporter Wu Hao) — The Brazilian government decided on August 4 that it will not send previously recalled Ambassador to Argentina Julio Bitelli back to Argentina, and will downgrade diplomatic relations between Brazil and Argentina to the chargé d'affaires level.

According to Brazilian media reports, the Brazilian government has informed Argentina's ambassador to Brazil that the Brazilian Embassy in Argentina will be managed on a daily basis by a chargé d'affaires ad interim, and has demanded that Argentine President Milei stop making insulting remarks toward the Brazilian government; otherwise, no ambassador will be sent back to Buenos Aires.

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Ruins Aside, Gaza Youth Connect the World Through Code (Global Notes)

By: 沈小晓

The hum of drones occasionally passing overhead, interwoven with the wailing of ambulance sirens in the distance, is the background noise that Zaim, a programmer in Gaza, has long grown accustomed to. Every working day, he walks through streets scarred by bombardment to reach a workplace, where he charges equipment, debugs applications, and so on. "When I am working, I forget everything around me and focus only on the code in front of me." For most developers around the world, programming is a profession; for Zaim and many of his counterparts in Gaza, every line of code they type is a lifeline connecting them to the outside world.

While digital practitioners around the world race to chase the waves of technological iteration, workers in the Gaza Strip are forced to devote much of their energy to the most basic survival needs: finding clean food and drinking water, finding ways to keep their devices powered, waiting for interrupted internet connections to recover, and searching among the rubble for relatively safe places to shelter. Even so, they still write programs and update their skills in the gaps between network outages and power cuts, refusing to stop keeping pace with the world.

Technology once carried the deep hopes of Gaza's younger generation for openness and development, but sustained conflict has made all of this extraordinarily fragile. More than a decade ago, digital freelancing quietly emerged in Gaza. In an environment of prolonged blockade and constrained development of traditional industries, the internet and the digital economy once opened a window for many local young people to connect with the outside world. With one computer and one internet cable, programmers could take on overseas orders, entrepreneurs could connect with global markets, and designers and content creators could publish their work through platforms and participate in global exchange and collaboration. Today, telecommunications infrastructure has been destroyed on a large scale, network outages have become the norm, electricity supply is extremely unstable, and the once-thriving digital ecosystem faces severe challenges.

Even though survival is already the foremost concern, there are still people stubbornly rebuilding connections amid the rubble. Naim, a local software engineer, took the lead in founding a co-working space called "Taqat" — in Arabic, the word means "energy." The space relies on solar generators for power and provides shift-based work venues for remote workers, having so far served more than 500 freelancers and ensured stable internet access. As the conflict continues, many practitioners returning to their posts have found a gap between their skills and the demands of the global market, especially as artificial intelligence iterates rapidly and the knowledge divide keeps widening. For this reason, "Taqat" has gradually expanded from a single co-working space into a training and incubation platform for young developers, cultivating local digital talent through projects carried out in cooperation with local universities and international institutions. Many application ideas born here, such as ride-sharing and lost-and-found tools, originate from the creators' own experiences, attempting to use technology to solve real wartime difficulties.

"Founding 'Taqat' was about creating a safe, inclusive creative environment and opening the door to the global market for digital workers," Naim said. Shaima, a student at the Islamic University of Gaza who participates in project development at "Taqat," has rediscovered a sense of direction through her work: "We live in Gaza, but we are not only faces of despair. We are students, we are teachers, we are health-care workers, we are creators. Like young people everywhere, we have dreams and talents."

According to data from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, of Gaza's approximately 2.13 million people, nearly half are under the age of 18. Most of them have never left this narrow strip of land, yet in extremely difficult circumstances, they respond to the trials of fate with technology. Bearing the trauma of war, they still persist in studying and working, striving to rebuild their connection to the future. Some develop programs for companies in North America and Europe; others build websites and design logos for clients in the Middle East. As lines of code cross the barriers of blockade, they use creation to write lives that are not defined by the flames of war.

The essence of technology lies in breaking down barriers, enabling people in any corner of the world to possess the possibility of creation. In Gaza, technology has become a fulcrum through which people maintain the dignity of life and anchor their hopes for the future amid hardship. War has indeed widened the digital divide and deepened the region's isolation from the global economy and society, but the digital ecosystem on this land will not easily die out. It is rooted in the survival needs of ordinary people, grows in the persistence of generation after generation of young people, and is full of resilience.

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Editor: Yue Linwei, Liu Gang, Wei He

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Safeguarding the "Chinese Water Tower" with the Power of the Rule of Law (Upholding and Improving the People's Congress System)

By: 本报记者 金 歆 江 萌

On the highland summer days, life is thriving.
In Qinghai, in the Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, the Yellow River waters converge in the Lijiaxia Reservoir into a stretch of azure blue, while the Danxia mountain ridges on both banks glow red like flames, complementing the lush green forests. Standing atop the dam and gazing into the distance, several environmental protection slogans nearby harmonize perfectly with the water and mountain scenery.
Beautiful scenery cannot be separated from the strong safeguard of the rule of law.
The Ecological Environment Code is set to take effect on August 15 this year. In order to deeply study, publicize, and implement Xi Jinping's thought on ecological civilization, and to promote the comprehensive and effective implementation of the law, the 2026 China Environmental Protection Century Tour publicity campaign, led by the General Office of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, was recently held in Qinghai. The theme of this year's campaign is "Implement the Ecological Environment Code, Strengthen Ecological Protection on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau." Reporters conducted in-depth interviews in Xining City, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, witnessing how Qinghai uses the power of the rule of law to protect the "Chinese Water Tower" and ensure that "a clear river flows eastward."
Actively implement national laws and consolidate the ecological barrier.
The dam stands majestic, with rippling blue waters stretching far and wide.
On July 23, at the Lijiaxia Hydropower Station, a fish stock enhancement and release activity was underway — staff members gently tilted buckets, and schools of fry slid down chutes into the embrace of the mother river. Gymnodiptychus pachycheilus, Platypharodon extremus, Chuanchia labiosa... Amid the glimmering waves, circles of ripples were stirred up.
"The Yellow River Protection Law was passed in October 2022, which explicitly requires that water-related projects that obstruct the migration of fish and other aquatic organisms should, in light of actual conditions, adopt multiple measures such as building fish passage facilities, connecting rivers and lakes, stock enhancement and release, and artificial breeding, to meet the ecological needs of aquatic organisms," introduced Xu Huajian, project manager of the fish stock enhancement station at the Lijiaxia Power Plant. When the law was passed, Unit 5 of the power plant was under construction. Considering the impact of the dam and power station on fish migration, and in accordance with the requirements of this law, while expanding the power plant, a fish stock enhancement station was also constructed to protect and breed fish for release.
Entering the breeding workshop of the stock enhancement station, dozens of blue cylindrical tanks about two meters wide are arranged in neat rows, with water circulating and fry swimming leisurely inside. Xu Huajian introduced that since its official operation in 2024, this stock enhancement station has cumulatively released 430,000 fish into the Yellow River. "In addition to the stock enhancement station, the power plant has also built a fish collection and transport system, which uses scientific means to help fish blocked by the dam achieve upstream-downstream exchange, effectively protecting the aquatic environment of the Yellow River."
From rivers to lakes, the rule of law continues to provide strong protection. By Qinghai Lake, the misty waters stretch vast, and waterbirds flutter gracefully. The rapeseed flowers are a sea of gold, and the snow-white mountain outlines in the distance loom faintly.
In December 2022, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and other departments jointly issued the "National Park Spatial Layout Plan," selecting 49 candidate areas for national parks, with the Qinghai Lake National Park candidate area among them.
"Since January 1 this year, the National Park Law has been officially implemented, and our steps toward establishing Qinghai Lake National Park have become more resolute and our path clearer," introduced Sun Jianqing, deputy director of the Natural Resources Asset Management Division of the Qinghai Lake Scenic Area Administration.
Cai Rangjia, director of the Science and Technology Cooperation and Publicity Division of the Qinghai Lake Scenic Area Administration, introduced that since the creation of Qinghai Lake National Park began, all tasks have been steadily advanced. In particular, after the promulgation of the National Park Law, Qinghai has strictly adhered to the law's requirements regarding "adhering to ecological protection first, coordinating protection and development," "adhering to national representativeness and universal public welfare," "adhering to adapting measures to local conditions and highlighting characteristics, building a mechanism led by the government, with multi-party participation and social sharing," as well as institutional designs such as unified hierarchical management, planning control, and use regulation. The creation plan and overall planning have been re-benchmarked and re-improved, with core protection areas and general control areas scientifically delineated, and various tasks such as ecological resettlement, grassland restoration, and institutional streamlining advanced in a coordinated manner.
"The law provides a clear basis for the creation work. We are now going all out, striving to officially establish Qinghai Lake National Park as soon as possible," Cai Rangjia stated.
Give full play to the role of local legislation and promote green development at a high level.
Taking a car up to Dadun Ridge on Xining's North Mountain, the Chinese pines and spruce on both sides of the winding mountain road are lush and verdant, layer upon layer. Looking into the distance at the slopes, artificial forest belts rise and fall with the mountain terrain, a scene of luxuriant greenery.
However, this was once a barren mountain ridge where not a single blade of grass grew. In 1989, the forest coverage rate of the North and South Mountains was only 7.2 percent. By 2024, the forest coverage rate had leaped to 79 percent. Behind this tremendous transformation, the power of the rule of law has run through it all.
"The formulation of the 'Regulations on the Greening Management of the North and South Mountains of Xining City' (hereinafter referred to as the 'Regulations') has provided solid legal safeguards for this greenery," introduced Tao Jing, deputy director of the Xining North and South Mountains Greening Command Office. The Regulations were promulgated in 1990 and underwent two important revisions in 2014 and 2021 respectively, adapting to the new situation.
Tao Jing explained that, for example, in the past, the North and South Mountains mainly emphasized "protection," allowing citizens to hike up the mountains, but not permitting commercial activities. The Regulations revised in 2021 clarified the principle of "protection first, rational utilization," leaving institutional space for cultural and tourism activities, nature education, and outdoor sports. Now, two cycling races have been held consecutively on the North and South Mountains, and the Culture and Tourism Bureau and the Sports Bureau have jointly carried out hiking activities.
Zhang Chuangju, director of the Qinghai Province North and South Mountains Greening Service Center, introduced that the North and South Mountains have now become an outdoor nature experience site receiving nearly 2 million visits. With stable dividend expectations, social capital is also willing to invest in protection work. In recent years, the total investment in greening the North and South Mountains has been about 2.4 billion yuan, a considerable portion of which is social capital.
With the "hard standards" continuously provided by local regulations, forces from all sectors of society continue to converge, ultimately turning the barren mountains green and making them the city's "green lungs."
Leaving Xining and heading west, we arrive at the Tala Tan (Tala Beach) in Gonghe County, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
Endless photovoltaic panels spread out like a deep blue ocean. This is the "world's largest photovoltaic power generation park by installed capacity" certified by the Guinness World Records — the Tala Tan Photovoltaic Industrial Park. Even more astonishing is that beneath the photovoltaic panels, pasture grass grows to knee height, and in some places even moss can be seen.
Who would have thought that this was once a sandy desert where "the wind blows stones running, and no grass grows on the ground"?
"The physical shading of the photovoltaic panels greatly reduces wind speed and significantly reduces soil moisture evaporation, making them an effective barrier for sand control, desertification prevention, and vegetation growth," introduced An Fengjun, deputy director of the Hainan Prefecture Development and Reform Commission.
"At the beginning of this year, Hainan Prefecture formulated and implemented the 'Regulations of the Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture on Promoting the Development of the Clean Energy Industry,' which is Qinghai's first local regulation focused on the development of the clean energy industry, consolidating and summarizing many previous exploratory experiences," said the head of the Financial and Economic Committee of the Hainan Prefecture People's Congress.
This regulation makes clear provisions on key links such as industrial planning, project layout, and land use guarantees. In particular, it establishes the requirements of "promoting and applying the photovoltaic sand-control model that integrates industrial development, ecological restoration, and livelihood improvement" and "supporting the construction of wind power and photovoltaic bases focused on deserts, Gobi, and desertified land, as well as photovoltaic sand-control ecological restoration and photovoltaic ecological animal husbandry industrial projects, and promoting desertification control," giving the industrial development model of "generating electricity above the panels, restoring below the panels" a clear legal basis, and also giving investing enterprises a "reassurance pill."
"After the implementation of the regulation, departmental responsibilities have become clearer, approval processes have become smoother, and we have more confidence in future development," said Liu Ta, deputy director of the Management Committee of the Hainan Prefecture Green Industry Development Park.
On this former "barren land," green energy and green vegetation now coexist harmoniously, becoming a reality.
Strengthen crackdown and governance, and safeguard ecological civilization construction with high efficiency.
On the banks of the Shaliu River in Gangcha County, Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, at the "Huangyu (naked carp) Homeland," another fish stock enhancement and release activity caught the reporters' attention. The release was of special significance — the funds for purchasing the released fry came from the ecological restoration costs of a public interest litigation case.
"This compensation of more than 175,000 yuan stems from a case of illegal fishing of Qinghai Lake naked carp," recounted Qieji Eri, a fourth-level prosecutor's assistant at the Gangcha County People's Procuratorate.
The Qinghai Lake naked carp, commonly known as Huangyu, is a key species maintaining the Qinghai Lake ecosystem. It is listed as a national second-class protected animal and is under a lake-closure fish-breeding moratorium. However, in April and November 2021, Zhang Mou, Liu Moumou, and others, driven by profit, illegally caught large quantities of Qinghai Lake naked carp during the fishing ban period and in the fishing ban area, seriously damaging the ecological balance of the Qinghai Lake basin.
Besides pursuing criminal liability, how could the ecological damage be remedied to the greatest extent? The procuratorial organ filed a criminal附带 civil public interest lawsuit, petitioning the court to order the tortfeasors to jointly bear the ecological restoration costs.
"Punishment is only a means; restoration is the goal," introduced Qieji Eri. The court supported all the litigation claims and adopted the alternative ecological restoration method of stock enhancement and release to execute the judgment, "using this compensation to purchase 150,000 Huangyu fry."
The combination of the judicial sword and the concept of restoration makes destroyers also become ecological restorers. Strengthening crackdowns requires not only effective judicial innovation but also strict law enforcement.
In Jianzha County, the Kanbula World Geopark features layered mountains, dense forests, and thick grass, providing habitat for many rare wild animals, but also attracting the covetous attention of lawbreakers.
"One night last year, we discovered suspicious people entering the forest area," recalled Jiang Guoyan, chief engineer of the Jianzha County Forestry and Grassland Bureau. The park has built a three-dimensional protection network composed of ecological rangers, video surveillance, and infrared cameras. "We ultimately caught the suspects red-handed in the forest, who were illegally hunting wild pheasants (ring-necked pheasants)," recounted a ranger who participated in the operation. They seized the hunted wild animals and hunting tools at the scene.
"In the past, we relied solely on people on foot. Now, with the empowerment of technological means, plus the strong backing of laws and regulations such as the Wildlife Protection Law, our law enforcement is more powerful," stated Jiang Guoyan. After the evidence was fixed, the case was quickly transferred to the forest police for severe punishment according to law. "Human prevention + technical prevention" has woven a tight protection network and deterred criminals.
Qi Jingting, deputy secretary-general of the Standing Committee of the Qinghai Provincial People's Congress, stated that with the Ecological Environment Code about to take effect, Qinghai's ecological environment protection work will have even more solid rule-of-law safeguards.
From a stretch of clear water to vast rippling waves, from barren mountains clothed in green to sandy land yielding gold, from a single fry released in stock enhancement to a beam of infrared light in three-dimensional monitoring, Qinghai is using the strictest systems and the most rigorous rule of law to continuously consolidate the national ecological security barrier, striving to write a Qinghai chapter in building a modernization in which humanity and nature coexist harmoniously.
(People's Daily Online reporter Yang Qihong participated in the reporting and writing)

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Voice of the People's Congress Deputies

High-quality advancement of urban renewal is an important lever for the modernization of cities. It is necessary to fully practice the people's city concept, adhere to asking the people about their needs, asking the people for their advice, and asking the people about results, and continuously enhance residents' sense of gain, happiness, and security. How can all aspects of urban renewal work be done more deeply, more meticulously, and more solidly? Our reporter interviewed four deputies to the National People's Congress.

——Editor

Fan Yun, deputy to the National People's Congress and deputy director of the Shanghai Urban Renewal Expert Committee:
Fully practice the people's city concept
Urban renewal is both a protracted battle and a task requiring fine craftsmanship. It is necessary to fully practice the people's city concept, adhere to asking the people about their needs, asking the people for their advice, and asking the people about results, conduct in-depth research to ascertain residents' true demands, dare to break through institutional bottlenecks, spend funds where they are most needed, and implement differentiated policies according to time and place, so as to continuously meet the people's needs at different stages of a modern people's city and realize that the people's city is built by the people and the people's city serves the people.
Ascertaining the real pain points cannot be done by closing the door and thinking; it must be done by walking on the ground. Urban renewal cannot only look at the "completion rate" in the ledgers; it must also look at the "satisfaction rate" on the faces of the masses. Some old residential communities look brand new on the surface, but deep inside there still hide real anxieties such as "three generations under one roof with no housing for marriage" and "elderly people finding it difficult to go downstairs." It is necessary to persistently investigate and identify the demands of special groups and do a good job on the "second half of the article" of old residential community renovation.
Solving pain points according to the needs of the masses requires seeking breakthroughs at the institutional level. For the "sandwich-layer" households without housing in central urban areas who "cannot afford affordable housing and are unwilling to go to the outer suburbs," it is suggested that, on the premise of strictly adhering to planning red lines, a "use right expansion" mechanism be explored: on idle land around old residential communities, rooftops, or leftover corner spaces within the communities, emergency spaces of extremely small unit types (such as 6–8 square meters) could be added for eligible special groups in difficulty, with property rights remaining public and only use rights granted, clearly stipulating that in the event of relocation, compensation is only amortized at construction cost, and abuse of welfare is prevented through community public notification. At the same time, vigorously develop embedded services, support property management in extending value-added services such as home-based elderly care, medicine delivery on behalf of residents, and meal delivery to doors, and make up for the insufficiency of "hard space" with "soft services."
(Compiled and sorted by our reporter Wang Yinxin)

Kang Dezhi, deputy to the National People's Congress and director of the Land Consolidation and Reserve Center of Wuhan, Hubei Province:
Carry forward the city's historical context
In urban renewal, the protection of historical context should be embedded throughout the entire process of planning, construction, and operation, promoting the transformation of urban renewal from "changing space" to "improving quality, continuing the cultural context, and benefiting people's livelihoods."
Cities with the conditions may establish a "one map" of the entire region's historical and cultural resources, conduct surveys and establish archives for historical districts, traditional buildings, industrial heritage, red resources, old place names, and urban memory points, form three lists for protection, restoration, and revitalization, and implement tiered management and "one site, one policy." Incorporate cultural context protection requirements into special urban renewal plans, project approval, land transfer, and acceptance evaluation.
Promote "small-scale, gradual, and sustainable" renewal. For historical and cultural districts, old industrial areas, and traditional communities, give priority to structural reinforcement, facility maintenance, street and alley improvement, and public space enhancement, and encourage the introduction of functions such as intangible cultural heritage displays, cultural consumption, community services, and innovation and entrepreneurship. Establish a mechanism of "protection and restoration + professional operation + revenue feedback," so that historical buildings can be entered, used, and sustained.
Incorporate the construction of human settlement culture into the renovation of old residential communities. Traditional communities carry urban memory, neighborhood warmth, and residents' sense of belonging. Renewal cannot stop at "improving appearance and supplementing functions"; it must also "shape culture and unite people." Establish a ledger of community cultural resources, sort out old buildings, old objects, old trees, folk stories, and industrial imprints, and integrate cultural elements into building corridors, pocket parks, cultural corridors, memory walls, and wayfinding systems, achieving "a scene at every step, a culture in every scene."
(Compiled and sorted by our reporter Fan Haotian)

Wu Chen, deputy to the National People's Congress, chair professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and chief architect and chief planner of Beijing Institute of Architectural Design:
Renovate old residential communities with "embroidery skills"
Building a modern people's city, renovating old urban residential communities is an important part.
To give old residential communities new vitality, it is necessary to apply sufficient "embroidery skills," coordinate the improvement of infrastructure, the enhancement of the living environment, and the optimization of service functions, and move from "having a place to live" to "living in a livable place."
Promote differentiated policies and precise renewal, avoiding a "one-size-fits-all" approach. The renovation of old residential communities cannot only do the "surface work" of repainting exterior walls and paving roads; it must also focus on the urgent demands of the masses such as the elderly going up and down stairs, using toilets at home, parking and charging, and elderly care and childcare, and explore precise policies of "one community, one plan."
Actively implement aging-friendly and child-friendly renovations, coordinate environmental beautification with safety and resilience building, and balance short-term renovation with long-term maintenance and management. We have explored and practiced the "symbiotic courtyard" concept in the old city of Beijing, where residents in the courtyard share the renovated kitchen and bathroom facilities, and the chess games under the old locust tree harmoniously blend with the aroma of coffee from young makers. This practice of "architectural symbiosis, resident symbiosis, and cultural symbiosis" enables historical context and modern life to move toward each other in a two-way journey.
Urban renewal is not cold architectural renovation, but a warm social reconstruction. In the face of the complex contradictions among residents' needs, building area, and economic benefits during the renovation process, it is necessary to integrate the resources and strength of residents, the government, and enterprises, and open up paths for resident participation and multi-stakeholder co-governance in the renewal and renovation of old residential communities.
(Compiled and sorted by our reporter Qi Yukun)

Cao Chen, deputy to the National People's Congress, secretary of the Party Committee and director of the Residents' Committee of Xiaoyingxiang Community, Xiaoying Subdistrict, Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province:
Party building leadership enhances community governance effectiveness
The community is the basic unit of the urban governance system. It is necessary to further strengthen Party building leadership and actively explore a new model of coordinated operation among the residents' committee, the owners' committee, and property service enterprises under the leadership of the community Party organization.
Align rights and responsibilities to make the foundation of community governance more solid. Improve the "three-level resource sinking" working mechanism, strictly implement the access list for public service matters and the negative list management for grassroots affairs, incorporate the effectiveness of burden reduction and quality improvement at the grassroots level into the performance assessment of Party and government organs, force responsibilities to be implemented and fulfilled, and promote community cadres to free themselves from cumbersome affairs and return to their main responsibilities of visiting and surveying, connecting with residents' needs, and providing convenience services.
Resident self-governance makes governance achievements more long-lasting. Improve mechanisms such as property service standards and resident deliberation and consultation, promote practices such as "wall-gate deliberation meetings" and "grid deliberation meetings," and build a full-chain working system of "demand collection—democratic consultation—closed-loop handling—result feedback—mass evaluation."
Digital empowerment makes warm services more precise. Use digital means to extend the Party organization's service reach. Communities can take advantage of the opportunity of building a comprehensive livelihood service hub to create a digital "one-stop" service scenario integrating information release, online appointment, convenience services, points exchange, effectiveness evaluation, and data analysis and judgment, achieving precise matching of residents' needs and precise alignment of governance services.
(Compiled and sorted by our reporter Liu Junguo)

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Serving as a "skills ferryman" on the front lines of vocational education (Fulfilling Duties)

By: 本报记者 倪 弋

As a deputy to the National People's Congress and dean of the School of Food and Biotechnology at Sichuan Vocational and Technical College, Tang Lijun, who has been deeply engaged in the front line of vocational education for many years, has always regarded himself as a "ferryman of skills," guiding countless young students from the classroom to the vast world of industry.

In 2025, Tang Lijun went to a vocational secondary school in an agricultural county in northeastern Sichuan for research, and the scene of the old, dilapidated training room lingered in his mind for a long time: the walls were mottled and peeling, the training equipment was covered in rust, and students faced restrictions everywhere in practical operations. One student confided in him: "Teacher, everything we learn is 'craft on paper.'" These words struck heavily at his heart.

Afterward, Tang Lijun sorted through a large amount of grassroots data, closely followed the policy orientation of central government investment special funds tilting toward the central and western regions, and formed the "Proposal on Promoting the Renewal of Training Equipment in Vocational Colleges in the Central and Western Regions," which detailed the hardware shortcomings of county-level vocational schools and the difficulties in talent cultivation. This proposal was ultimately implemented, and the related construction was incorporated into the support scope of the "Project to Advance the Construction of a Strong Education Nation." When he revisited at the end of 2025, that shabby training room had been equipped with brand-new filling equipment. Relying on standardized training to master practical skills, students successfully achieved employment.

"Who teaches vocational education, and how it is taught" is a difficult issue that Tang Lijun has been closely tracking year-round. After visiting more than 100 institutions, a set of research data worried him: 57 percent of vocational education teachers were transferred from ordinary normal university graduates, who understand teaching principles but lack industrial practical skills; 30 percent of vocational education teachers are engineering graduates, who possess technical skills but do not understand vocational education teaching methods. There are only a dozen or so undergraduate institutions nationwide that specialize in cultivating vocational education teachers, and the vast majority of vocational education teachers have not received systematic professional training. At the 2024 National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference sessions, he submitted a proposal recommending the separate designation of a track for building undergraduate institutions for vocational education teachers and the expansion of vocational teacher training capacity. This proposal was incorporated by the National People's Congress into the special research topic on vocational education, and multiple provinces subsequently launched preparatory work for applying to establish undergraduate institutions for vocational teacher training, with supporting evaluation plans issued simultaneously, opening a path for the construction of the vocational education teacher workforce.

Since being elected as a deputy to the National People's Congress, Tang Lijun has accumulated a total of 26 dossiers of proposals concerning people's livelihoods, each one originating from the front lines of fields, campuses, and communities, and each one closely addressing the urgent difficulties and anxious concerns of the masses. Focusing on fire safety in old residential communities, he persistently conducted nighttime visits to dozens of communities to investigate the hidden dangers of "flying-line charging" (improperly dangling electric cables for charging); related proposals promoted the installation of charging piles in 12 old residential communities, and more than 300 households were freed from charging difficulties. Focusing on shortcomings in food safety supervision, he actively spoke out on regulatory blind spots in new business formats such as community group buying, online food ordering, and pre-prepared dishes. Focusing on the physical and mental health of young people, he submitted proposals to strengthen control over short-video platforms during late-night hours, safeguarding young people's regular sleep schedules...

Before the 2026 National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference sessions, Tang Lijun shifted his research focus to two major directions: the digital transformation of vocational education and the cultivation of talent for rural revitalization at the county level. He recommended building a nationally unified platform for sharing digital teaching resources in vocational education, eliminating the digital resource gap between urban and rural institutions, and preventing the digital divide from becoming an educational divide; and promoting the "one county, one skill, one industry" talent cultivation model, orienting the targeted cultivation of compound skilled talent around local characteristic industries, and building a virtuous cycle in which industrial support, talent employment, and rural revitalization mutually reinforce and advance together.

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Editor: Ni Yi

Layout design: Shen Yiling (沈亦伶)

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Where Are the Boundaries of Trademark Protection? (Rule of Law Headline)

By: 本报记者 魏哲哲

A trademark is a sign used to identify and distinguish the source of goods or services, and serves as a brand identifier for an enterprise. Trademark rights are an important component of intellectual property rights.
　　Recently, topics such as trademark rights protection have drawn public attention and heated discussion. Can traditional cultural elements such as patterns be registered as trademarks? Will trademark registration "enclose and occupy" traditional cultural resources? Where is the boundary of trademark rights protection? ... In response to these public concerns, our reporter interviewed Lu Haijun, standing director of the China Intellectual Property Law Research Association and professor at the Law School of the University of International Business and Economics; Peng Xuelong, vice chairman of the China Intellectual Property Research Association and director of the Intellectual Property Research Center of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law; Wang Fei, professor at the School of Journalism and Communication of Renmin University of China and director of the Modern Advertising Research Center; Yang Ming, executive vice dean of the School of Intellectual Property of Peking University, and other relevant experts, asking them to analyze legal provisions and provide interpretive suggestions.
　　Can traditional cultural elements be registered as trademarks?
　　Cultural inheritance and commercial compliance do not conflict
　　Reporter: What are the requirements for trademark registration? Can traditional cultural elements such as patterns be applied for registration as trademarks?
　　Lu Haijun: China's Trademark Law stipulates prohibitive provisions for trademark registration, mainly involving three categories: official signs, undesirable signs, and geographical names.
　　Traditional cultural elements are public cultural resources and are not excluded from the constituent components of trademark signs. On the premise of conforming to the basic principles of the Trademark Law, traditional cultural elements that have undergone creative transformation and possess distinctive function may be lawfully registered as trademarks and receive protection of exclusive trademark rights.
　　Peng Xuelong: The essence of trademark function is to distinguish the source of goods. Distinctiveness is the basic requirement for trademark registration approval. Whether traditional cultural elements can be approved for registration still hinges on the specific determination of distinctiveness.
　　If original expression is infused into traditional cultural elements in terms of composition, lines, colors, combination methods, and other aspects, making them distinct from their original forms in the public domain, such signs may possess the function of distinguishing the source of goods or services and possess inherent distinctiveness, thereby satisfying the statutory conditions for trademark registration.
　　In addition, although some traditional cultural elements initially lack inherent distinctiveness, if through long-term, continuous, and genuine use, a stable association between the sign and a specific source is established among relevant consumers, thereby actually performing the identifying function of a trademark, they may also obtain registration in accordance with the provisions of the Trademark Law.
　　Reporter: Some people worry that the trademark system will "enclose and occupy" or "monopolize" traditional cultural resources. How should such concerns be understood?
　　Yang Ming: The claim that trademark registration will "enclose and occupy" or "monopolize" traditional cultural resources is a misreading. The Trademark Law protects the goodwill that a brand has accumulated through long-term commercial use pointing to a specific entity. The inclusion of public cultural elements in a registered trademark does not exclude others from legitimate use in the cultural sense. Cultural inheritance and commercial compliance do not conflict.
　　In fact, traditional patterns have already been integrated into the commercial bloodstream. It is not only Western companies that turn traditional symbols into commercial signs; traditional culture is also an important factor helping Chinese enterprises go global. For example, Chagee (霸王茶姬) has registered opera character images as trademarks and has become a brand favored by young people in the United States, Malaysia, the Philippines, and many other countries. On the other hand, Chinese enterprises have also incorporated world culture into their trademarks, such as Alibaba, Apollo Company, and Tsingtao Beer's Auguste series.
　　Wang Fei: We should set aside such emotional misinterpretations. Public cultural resources belong to humanity and also to history. No brand can claim exclusive ownership of "flowers," "leaves," "circles," or "symmetrical structures." What the trademark system protects is not flowers in nature, nor cultural motifs left by ancestors, but the specific identifying assets formed by a brand through long-term commercial use. This is like how anyone can write two English letters or draw an apple in red, but when a specific combination, through long-term use, sustained dissemination, and stable accumulation, becomes the unique identifier of a certain brand, it is no longer just an ordinary graphic but brand equity.
　　True cultural vitality is not static immobility but ceaseless flow. On the premise of satisfying the general registration conditions of the Trademark Law, reasonable utilization and commercial expression of traditional cultural elements not only enhance brand identifying function but also endow traditional culture with new vitality.
　　Can the public still use trademark elements?
　　Distinguishing decorative use from trademark identifying use
　　Reporter: For many enterprises, trademarks are their core assets. What does trademark registration mean, and what rights does it confer?
　　Lu Haijun: Trademark registration is essentially the conferral, through administrative authorization, of property rights protection at the legal level for an enterprise's brand identifier.
　　After successful registration, the right holder mainly enjoys three core rights: first, the exclusive right to use, which allows the exclusive use of the trademark on the approved goods and service categories to distinguish the source of goods or services and carry brand goodwill; second, the right to prohibit, which allows the right holder to prohibit others from using, without permission, signs identical or similar to the registered trademark on identical or similar goods or services, and if the trademark is recognized as a well-known trademark, cross-category protection may also be obtained; third, the right of disposal, which allows the right holder to transfer, license, or contribute the trademark as capital investment and other commercial dispositions in accordance with the law.
　　It should be pointed out that with respect to the use of traditional cultural elements in trademark signs, what the Trademark Law protects is not the traditional pattern itself, but rather that the enterprise's original redesign is not used by others in a trademark manner that impairs its source-identifying function. The essence is to protect the brand goodwill accumulated through long-term use of the sign.
　　Reporter: After traditional cultural elements are registered as trademarks, can the public still use them?
　　Peng Xuelong: The Trademark Law protects the identifying function of a sign, not the cultural connotation carried by the sign itself. What the trademark system addresses is not the possessory right of "who does this pattern belong to from now on," but the exclusive protection of source identification of "who do you think of when you see this pattern." Therefore, the scope of trademark rights protection revolves around "whether it is used to identify the source of goods or services."
　　In other words, when members of the public use traditional cultural elements as decoration, design inspiration, or cultural expression, as long as such use does not point to a specific source of goods or services and does not cause market confusion, it falls outside the exclusive scope of trademark rights.
　　Yang Ming: Trademark protection does not grant the right holder exclusive rights over all elements contained in the sign, let alone traditional cultural elements. The registration of such trademarks does not affect the public's use of these elements in the cultural sense.
　　Trademark registration and the use of cultural elements are two different paths. The former refers to registration and authorization after passing trademark examination in accordance with the Trademark Law, while the latter refers to the use of specific elements in their original cultural meaning. Trademark protection is directed at the function of identifying the source of goods or services and cannot be extended to all meanings of the sign's elements.
　　How to foster a sound legal environment for brand development?
　　Building brand competitiveness through compliance with rules
　　Reporter: In recent years, some enterprises have committed actual infringement under the pretext of using public cultural resources. How should such behavior be viewed?
　　Yang Ming: In recent years, China's law enforcement and judicial organs have regulated trademark registration and use in accordance with the law, severely cracked down on and lawfully punished acts such as "free-riding and piggybacking" and "infringement and counterfeiting," and continuously strengthened judicial protection of well-known trademarks, traditional brands, and China Time-honored Brands (中华老字号). Infringing enterprises not only face legal sanctions but also lose market trust. Individual enterprises attempting to profit through "borrowing famous brands" or "hitching a ride" are undoubtedly shortsighted in such profit-seeking behavior, which cannot support the long-term development of an enterprise.
　　Wang Fei: Trademarks carry brand value. A brand's products, services, advertisements, stores, reputation, culture, emotional associations, and values require stable symbols to sustain them. This can only be accumulated through years of capital and resource investment by the enterprise. An enterprise's infringement of others' trademark rights is a legal violation, but at a deeper level, it is a problem of brand originality capability. An enterprise's brand cannot grow by "resembling someone else."
　　For Chinese brands to go global, they must respect the legal rules related to intellectual property protection and build their own brand competitiveness within those rules.
　　Reporter: From the perspective of enterprise development, how can trademarks help Chinese enterprises better go global?
　　Lu Haijun: Local enterprises should be guided to enhance compliance awareness and achieve a leap in original creation capability. In practice, some enterprises, after having their repeated applications for the same graphic trademark rejected by relevant authorities, continue large-scale commercial use, exposing the failure of enterprise intellectual property risk management. Enterprises themselves must strengthen legal awareness and enhance original creation capability.
　　Courts providing equal judicial protection to both Chinese and foreign trademark right holders is an important foundation for maintaining international trade order and enhancing national competitiveness. Unified adjudication standards not only safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of foreign-funded enterprises in China and demonstrate the international credibility of China's intellectual property protection, but also build reciprocal rule safeguards for Chinese brands going overseas, promoting the formation of a fair and orderly global trade competition environment.
　　Some cases in practice have also sounded an alarm for local enterprises: when using traditional cultural elements to build brands, they should conduct prior right searches, strengthen original design, complete trademark rights confirmation in a timely manner, and uphold the compliance bottom line. At the same time, attention should be paid to the creative transformation of traditional culture, building original signs with exclusive distinctiveness on the basis of public cultural elements, constructing a systematic trademark layout, accumulating brand goodwill through independent intellectual property rights, and truly transforming cultural resources into core competitiveness in the global market.
　　Peng Xuelong: Intellectual property protection is an important aspect of the business environment. Providing equal protection to Chinese and foreign trademark right holders is both a legal requirement of China and an important aspect of China's fulfillment of its obligations under international treaties to which it has acceded. This is of great significance for developing international trade and enhancing national competitiveness. Every fair judgment not only provides stable legal expectations for the innovative development of domestic business entities but also lays a solid foundation for the international credibility of China's trademark system.
　　At the same time, Chinese local brands going overseas also need the support of an environment of equal protection for Chinese and foreign enterprises. If the domestic market tolerates free-riding behavior, local brands going overseas will easily face the same infringement dilemmas and find it difficult to gain the trust of partners. When domestic enterprises can obtain stable and predictable rights protection at home, they will have more confidence and more experience to meet intellectual property challenges in the international market.

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Rule of Law Must Be the Heavy Hand Against Online Violence (Jintai Sharp Review)

By: 倪 弋

Recently, the Anti-Cyberbullying Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft for Comments) was published to the public. As China's first special legislation on cyberbullying, it carries the people's expectations for a clean and clear cyberspace.
In recent years, cyberbullying problems such as "box-opening" (开盒, doxxing) and "human flesh search" have occurred from time to time. Tragedies one after another warn us that cyberbullying is by no means a simple "online quarrel" but has become a public hazard that urgently needs to be resolved. Among them, "box-opening" has evolved from a tool for "mutual tearing" among fan circles into a "weapon" of indiscriminate attack.
In a typical case of "box-opening" reported by the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the illegally obtained personal information amounted to more than 900 million items; in "box-opening groups" on overseas social platforms, personal information such as ID card numbers and home addresses is sold at clearly marked prices... This black industry chain appears to have matured: upstream hackers attack systems to steal personal information, or insiders in the industry abuse their positions to steal; midstream operators integrate, clean, and archive the data to form huge databases; downstream distributors use encrypted communication tools to solicit business, even offering "annual membership" packages.
To cure chaos, severe punishment is needed. To govern cyberbullying such as "box-opening," it is necessary to be adept at using legal thinking and legal methods, and to attach equal importance to high-intensity crackdowns and high-intensity protection.
The law has clear regulations on "box-opening" behavior. The Guiding Opinions on Legally Punishing Cyberbullying Crimes and Offenses jointly issued by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security clearly stipulates that organizing "human flesh searches," illegally collecting and publishing citizens' personal information to an unspecified majority, where circumstances are serious, shall be convicted and punished as the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information; where other crimes are also constituted, conviction and punishment shall be according to the provision with the heavier penalty. Judicial organs should maintain a high-pressure posture, strictly punishing the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information and the crime of illegally using information networks related to "box-opening"; at the same time, they should lower the threshold for victims to defend their rights, implement injunctions against infringement of personality rights, and transform "post-hoc accountability" into "pre-hoc and in-progress cessation of violence."
Regulatory authorities should strengthen source governance, closely monitor key links such as information acquisition, resale, and use, carry out joint rectification in high-incidence "insider" sectors such as express delivery, finance, communications, and education, and urge enterprises to fulfill their obligations to protect personal information; for platforms where large-scale leaks occur, fines of up to 50 million yuan or 5% of the previous year's turnover may be imposed in accordance with the Personal Information Protection Law, intensifying crackdown and rectification efforts and raising the cost of illegal and non-compliant behavior.
To make every effort to block the dissemination channels of "box-opening and hanging people" (开盒挂人), online platforms bear an unshirkable responsibility. They should establish feature databases and early-warning models for "box-opening"-related information, accurately identify and quickly handle obscure coded language such as "box-opening"; promptly close and disband accounts and groups that organize or incite "box-opening"; and may add a special entry for "human flesh search/box-opening" in reporting channels such as the 12321 Network Bad and Spam Information Reporting and Acceptance Center, and establish a priority processing channel for privacy infringement complaints.
In addition, it is necessary to be highly vigilant that at present, many participants in cyberbullying behaviors such as "box-opening" are minors. In this regard, the government, schools, families, and society need to work together, carry out targeted education based on the cognitive and psychological characteristics of minors of different age groups, and help them fasten the "first button" of correctly using online information.
At the same time, top-level legislation is accelerating. The publication of the Anti-Cyberbullying Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft for Comments) is a direct response to this social concern, aiming to promote the transformation of the cyberbullying governance model from fragmentation to systematization and enhance overall governance effectiveness. This sends a positive signal: whether it is "box-opening" or other forms of cyberbullying, it is no longer just scattered case-by-case response, but is rising to a systematic project at the national level. From source protection to legal backing, from industry self-discipline to special legislation, only by forming a closed institutional loop can we truly make perpetrators pay a greater price and provide victims with better relief.
In fact, if unchecked, anyone could become a victim of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is an evil act that everyone must be vigilant against and resist. Relevant parties should take action immediately, resolutely sweep away the haze brought by cyberbullying such as "box-opening," and return to cyberspace a measure of clarity and a measure of tranquility.

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Legal services follow businesses wherever they go

By: 本报记者 巨云鹏

A Chinese company investing in Indonesia needed to establish a local company there for business purposes, but because it failed to pay attention to certain document requirements during company registration, a dispute subsequently arose. Recently, in Shanghai's Xuhui District, at the "West Bund International Legal Services Ecological Bay," Zhou Yejun (周叶君), deputy director of the Xuhui Lawyers' Work Committee of the Shanghai Lawyers Association, told reporters about the difficulties a company encountered while "going global."
"Our research found that domestic and foreign enterprises generally have foreign-related legal service needs in the process of 'going global' and 'bringing in.'" Cao Yanxian (曹艳贤), deputy director of the Xuhui District Justice Bureau, said that the average response cycle for traditional foreign-related legal services exceeds 72 hours; at the same time, there are certain blind spots between domestic and foreign enterprises and legal service institutions in the supply and demand of foreign-related services, lacking a service system with global credibility for direct connection.
To address these pain points, the Xuhui District Justice Bureau, building on the "AI + Direct Resource Allocation" public legal service mini-program "Palm Public Services" (掌上公服) launched last year, integrated enterprise-related functions such as rule-of-law physical examinations, artificial intelligence legal service products, and contract generation, breaking the dilemma of traditional legal service applications being "difficult for foreign-related matters, scattered in resources, and weak in functionality." Xuhui District actively promotes the construction of the "One Zone (West Bund International Legal Services Zone) One Circle (Greater Xujiahui International Commerce and Trade Legal Services Circle)" functional area, while also establishing an expert pool of "Legal Going-Global Escorts" (法律出海伴行官) composed of foreign-related lawyers, compliance experts, and industry consultants, providing "one-on-one" accompanying legal services for key enterprises going global.
"This company successfully found a member lawyer from our 'Legal Going-Global Escorts' and received professional legal support, which played a positive role in handling the subsequent dispute." Zhou Yejun said. Cao Yanxian introduced that since the launch of the "One Zone One Circle," it has served more than 100 enterprises with foreign-related needs.
In recent years, Shanghai has continuously strengthened the construction of foreign-related rule of law, coordinated the use of foreign-related rule of law resources and forces, precisely aligned with the construction needs of the "five centers" (五个中心), and proposed transforming rule-of-law advantages into the city's core competitiveness, safeguarding high-quality development with high-level foreign-related rule-of-law services.
Shanghai began implementing the "Dingxin Rule-of-Law Talent" (鼎新法治人才) plan in 2024, with the first batch selecting 240 practice-oriented foreign-related lawyers, arbitrators, and mediators into the talent pool, deeply participating in frontline work such as compliance review for enterprises going global and cross-border dispute resolution.
"After the Dingxin Rule-of-Law Talent Pool was established, we followed up by implementing the 'Shanghai Municipal Justice Bureau Dingxin Rule-of-Law Talent Cultivation and Utilization Plan,' launching ten major application scenarios including lawyer-enterprise matching. When an enterprise has investment needs in a specific country, we can precisely match a 'deep cultivator' in that field from the pool to provide direct services." Ye Xin (叶忻), director of the Political Department of the Shanghai Municipal Justice Bureau, said.
"Our overseas service network has covered 40 countries jointly building the 'Belt and Road,' with legal services reaching 203 countries and regions worldwide — wherever Chinese enterprises go, legal services follow." Gu Quan (顾全), director of the Shanghai Municipal Justice Bureau, said that Shanghai will continue to strengthen the construction of legal service institutions such as world-class arbitration institutions and law firms, expand and optimize the global network layout of legal services, strive to build Shanghai into a "preferred venue" for international commercial dispute resolution, safeguard the country's high-level opening up with higher-caliber rule-of-law supply, and inject stronger rule-of-law momentum into Shanghai.

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Consolidating the Foundation of Grassroots Social Governance

By: 本报记者 张天培

At 8 p.m. on the evening of July 7, the lights were just coming on in Tangye New City, Licheng District, Jinan, Shandong Province. Wang Lina, a community police officer at the Tangye Police Station of the Licheng Branch of the Jinan Municipal Public Security Bureau, was still making her rounds in her jurisdiction. Opening Wang Lina's phone, one could see multiple community WeChat groups — a burger shop's cooking fumes disturbing the upstairs residents, a child lost by the riverside, a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law bickering... Police-related messages kept popping up as alerts one after another.

The Zhangling police area where Wang Lina works has seen its jurisdiction expand significantly with urban development. The governance scale of 8 communities, 14 schools, and more than 60,000 registered residents has placed "multiplied pressure" on grassroots public security prevention and control.

"Facing the governance challenges of a surging population and diverse demands, I cannot do it alone — we need to pool the strong forces of the grassroots," Wang Lina said.

Benefiting from the "police grid + community grid" integrated architecture promoted by the Jinan Municipal Public Security Bureau, Tangye Police Station has established a "1+3+N+X" community police team standard, integrating auxiliary police officers, members of public security and governance organizations, grid workers, property security guards, and other grassroots forces into a community police team. At the same time, a peace volunteer team has been formed, whose members are mostly homeowners in the residential compounds — including lawyers, teachers, and Party members — extending the grassroots governance tentacles to every building.

"The community police team has a clear division of labor and can grasp the overall situation of the community at the first opportunity," Wang Lina explained. As long as residents report anomalies or share clues in the group, the police team will respond at the first opportunity and handle the matter at the first opportunity.

The times are developing, and the needs of the masses are constantly changing. How to make communities more harmonious and development more orderly has become a new topic facing grassroots police stations.

At No. 29 Wangfuchi Street, Lixia District, Jinan, in a small courtyard in the old city, there is a well-known "Small Courtyard Tea Stall."

That evening, a square table was set up in the middle of the courtyard, boiling water hissed, and community police officer Sun Hualei poured the tea, sitting together with grid workers and residents to "chat over" a neighborhood dispute.

It turned out that a resident of the compound had newly installed karaoke equipment and often sang at home, while the neighbors' child was preparing for an exam. The two families were old neighbors who had grown up together, but they were at odds over the noise issue, arguing until both were red in the face. Upon learning of the situation, the police officer invited both parties to the "Small Courtyard Tea Stall." Instead of merely reciting regulations, he helped them renegotiate the time: they could sing while the child was at school, and try to keep quiet after the child came home. The grid worker also mediated from the angle of years of neighborly affection. In the end, both sides each took a step back and accepted this approach.

This place does not look like a mediation venue; it is more like a spot where neighbors sit around and chat. Why move mediation here? Sun Hualei explained: "In the past, after some neighborhood disputes occurred, both parties were called to the police station for mediation. In an unfamiliar and constrained environment, the masses would feel psychologically resistant, which was not conducive to resolving the conflict."

So the police station moved the mediation scene to a place where the masses find it easier to accept, allowing grid workers to participate on the spot in mediating neighborhood disputes, leveraging their advantage of "knowing the people and the terrain well." "Many conflicts in the old courtyards are not about 'being unreasonable' but about 'the temper not being soothed.' Sometimes, when a cup of tea is handed over, emotions ease first, and then through acquaintances having a word, giving both sides a way to step down, it not only resolves the immediate dispute but also benefits the long-term maintenance of neighborly relations," Sun Hualei said.

Promoting the deep integration of police grids and community grids to consolidate the foundation of grassroots social governance. The Jinan Municipal Public Security Bureau has leveraged the leading and guiding role of community police teams, promoted the regular下沉 (sinking) of police officers into communities, and coordinated police officers and grid workers to jointly carry out work such as hidden danger investigation, dispute resolution, and convenience services, consolidating the foundation of grassroots social governance. Today, in Jinan, 892 police areas correspond precisely to 12,775 grassroots grids, with dedicated posts and dedicated positions bound together, achieving full coverage of police forces across the grids.

"Police-grid integration means twisting the public security 'police grid' and the community 'grid' into a single rope, enabling police officers and grid workers to achieve information sharing and force coordination, making grassroots governance more efficient and giving the masses a stronger sense of security," introduced a relevant official of the Jinan Municipal Public Security Bureau.

In March this year, a grid worker from Zhangzhuang Road Subdistrict Office in Huaiyin District discovered that a tenant in the residential compound appeared suspicious. After observing for a period of time, the grid worker reported the situation to the community police officer.

The police officer immediately went to the door to verify, discovered that the tenant was making preparations for a planned crime inside the rented room, and immediately placed him under control, promptly preventing a criminal case from occurring.

The successful handling of this hidden danger is another vivid epitome of Jinan public security deepening the integrated governance of police grids and community grids.

By activating the advantage of grid workers' regular, deep engagement at the grassroots, public security organs have made precise assessments and precise efforts, breaking down information barriers in grassroots governance, achieving early detection, early warning, early assessment, and early handling of risks and hidden dangers, effectively transforming governance effectiveness into peace momentum, and continuously consolidating the grassroots peace defense line.

At present, 15 deputy bureau chiefs of sub-bureaus and county bureaus under the Jinan Municipal Public Security Bureau concurrently serve as deputy directors of territorial grid management centers, and 176 police station chiefs and 892 full-time community police officers have all entered the Party organization leadership teams at the same level, continuously optimizing the police-grid integration governance model and building police services with greater strength and greater warmth.

A set of hard data confirms the governance results: Jinan's criminal case incidence decreased by 35.5% in 2024 and 12.1% in 2025, respectively.

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Zhang Tianpei

Layout design: Cai Huawei (蔡华伟)

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To have roots, to possess a national spirit (Face to Face)

Interlocutors: Chen Xieyang (Honorary Music Director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra)
Li Xincao (Dean of the China Conservatory of Music)
Jing Huan (Resident Conductor of the China National Symphony Orchestra)
Wang Jin, Zhao Siru (reporters of this newspaper)

The China National Symphony Orchestra has been established for 70 years. Among the series of anniversary concerts, the "Symphony Concert Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the Central Philharmonic Orchestra–China National Symphony Orchestra," in which nine conductors took up the baton in succession, was particularly noteworthy.

China has become one of the fastest-growing music markets in the world. In telling China's story well through the language of music, symphonic music bears a new historical mission. What is the appeal of Chinese symphonic music, and how can symphonic works with the hallmark of the era be created? Let us hear the voices of three conductors from the older, middle, and younger generations.

The older generation laid a solid foundation for us

Reporter: Symphonic music took root in China through more than a century of transformation. What spiritual foundation and artistic pursuit did the older generation of artists establish for Chinese symphonic music?

Chen Xieyang: The older generation of artists laid a solid foundation for Chinese symphonic music: building a professional music education system, painstakingly establishing local symphony orchestras under difficult conditions, and creating a standardized orchestral operation model... With their steadfast and pure artistic original aspiration, they embraced the magnificent and fervent era, giving Chinese symphonic music a national core.

Li Xincao: My esteemed teacher, Mr. Yan Liangkun, often said, "Music must have warmth, not just technique." When he rehearsed the Yellow River Cantata, he polished the emotions of the chorus and orchestra word by word; even a single phrase of grief-stricken melody would be rehearsed dozens of times. In creation, they were rooted among the people; in scholarship, they were 海纳百川、兼收并蓄 (hǎi nà bǎi chuān, jiān shōu bìng xù - "all rivers run into the sea, encompassing and absorbing all," being broad-minded and inclusive); in inheritance and innovation, they 筚路蓝缕 (bì lù lán lǚ - "driving a crude cart in ragged clothes," enduring great hardship in pioneering work), serving as ferrymen of art. In learning from and working alongside the older generation of conductors, I came to understand what it means that "those of high artistry are also of great virtue."

Jing Huan: It was a great honor to take up the baton alongside my senior conductors for the "Symphony Concert Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the Central Philharmonic Orchestra–China National Symphony Orchestra." What made me especially proud was that this performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony used the Chinese translated version. This version was translated by my grandmother, Deng Yingyi, during her tenure at the Central Philharmonic Orchestra (the predecessor of the China National Symphony Orchestra). It is the shoulders of our predecessors that have lifted us up today.

Reporter: Works such as the Yellow River Cantata, Butterfly Lovers, and Ode to the Red Flag have settled into the shared symphonic memory of the Chinese people. How do you view the appeal of these classic works?

Li Xincao: These classics possess both the rigorous architecture of professional symphonic music and a uniquely Chinese ideological core and aesthetic expression. The appeal of classics comes from generation after generation of artists endowing them with new interpretations and excavating new connotations.

Jing Huan: Whether it is the Yellow River Cantata, born amid the flames of war, or the Butterfly Lovers and Ode to the Red Flag, created after the founding of New China, these classics all grew out of the soil of their era and nation. They do not deliberately show off technique or stiffly pile up effects; they are grounded in genuine emotion.

Chen Xieyang: It is not so much that the beautiful music lingers long after, but rather that the fervent feeling for family and country has never diminished. These works evoke the deepest national sentiment that flows through our blood. We must attach importance to Chinese expression. Take the Butterfly Lovers, for example: it fully studied Western symphonic technique, absorbed a great deal of the melodies and tunes of Chinese opera and folk songs, and incorporated national instruments such as the bangu drum. All the techniques serve the expression of Chinese stories and Chinese emotions.

Classics are also made through performance. Excellent works should not be shelved away; they must stay close to the people, be performed repeatedly, and be continuously polished, so that audiences can truly appreciate and draw near to Chinese symphonic music.

We must create symphonic works with the hallmark of the era

Reporter: Today's China has a rich variety of concerts, numerous symphony orchestras, and a thriving music education market... What changes strike you most at present? What is the current state of Chinese symphonic music?

Chen Xieyang: Today, many cities have more than one concert hall or theater. Audiences have places to enjoy symphonic music, and orchestras have venues to perform. This is very important. In the past, overseas audiences did not understand Chinese symphonic music and would even ask: Does China have symphonic music? Today, the world's outstanding symphony orchestras all look forward to performing in China, to hearing China's voice, and to exchanging with us.

Every generation should have its own iconic symphonic works belonging to its era. At present, symphonic works that can be widely toured and are familiar to the general public remain scarce. We must still focus on creation, strive to establish a long-term mechanism for incubating, restaging, and disseminating Chinese symphonic works, and work hard to cultivate the resolve of young musicians to take root among the folk and deeply cultivate national music. Only in this way can we create Chinese symphonic music that has warmth and endures.

Li Xincao: The changes in original Chinese symphonic works are remarkable: the creators are getting younger, the subject matter is more diverse, the orchestration techniques are more mature, and the integration of national instruments with the symphony orchestra is more natural. My criteria for excellent Chinese symphonic music: it must have roots, must possess national spirit, be rooted in the Chinese cultural lineage and real life, have mature and complete technique, withstand the test of the stage, and stand the test of time.

Reporter: Today, more and more young people are becoming classical music "enthusiasts." Symphonic music has also begun to break out of its circle, collaborating across boundaries with games such as Honor of Kings. How can symphonic music enter the lives of more people?

Li Xincao: It is a good thing that symphonic music is breaking boundaries and attracting young people. Using familiar vehicles to showcase classic excerpts can broaden dissemination channels, but the artistic essence must not be lost. Complete symphonic works and rigorous artistic interpretation must hold the artistic bottom line. In the future, we must do a good job of tiered popularization of symphonic music, balancing popular communication with professional deepening, so that young people first understand and then fall deeply in love.

Jing Huan: For the popularization of symphonic music, we cannot sit and wait for audiences; we must take the initiative to reach out. Teachers Cao Peng and Zheng Xiaoying, both in their 90s, are still disseminating symphonic music on the front line. They are our role models.

Having worked with the Guangzhou Youth Symphony Orchestra (hereinafter "Guangqingjiao") for more than a decade, I have witnessed the chemical reaction between classical music and young people. For the children of Guangqingjiao, symphonic music is the joy of creating together and sharing together, and a channel for exploring the world and themselves. I hope their understanding of art goes beyond notes, allowing them to touch the complete world where literature, dance, and other art forms intertwine. The three-tier system built by Guangqingjiao begins with enlightenment at age six, provides free professional training, and makes music a lifelong hobby and companion.

Telling the emotions and stories of the Chinese people

Reporter: How can works radiate the spirit and vitality of the Chinese nation from the inside out?

Jing Huan: Ethnic elements are not just "seasoning." Adding a single folk melody passage or a simple appearance of a national instrument—such an approach to "national character" seems somewhat shallow. We must still understand the emotions and logic behind the melody and thoroughly grasp the spirit and resonance of national music.

The best state for telling Chinese stories with symphonic music is: when the audience sits down, they do not need to understand musical form or read program notes; they close their eyes and the artistic conception wells up in their hearts. In the final analysis, tools are shared, but the heart is one's own. Settle the heart, thoroughly ponder the "mother tongue," and the sound will naturally be Chinese.

Li Xincao: In telling Chinese stories with symphonic music, two extremes must be avoided. One is wholesale Westernization—simply applying Western compositional templates and losing local emotion. The other is deliberate localization—stiffly grafting on folk instrument timbres and destroying the overall structure of the symphonic work. The nationalization of symphonic music is a deep localization of spiritual temperament, aesthetic core, and emotional expression.

Chen Xieyang: It does not stop there. Works should also be full of the emotions and stories of us Chinese people, have genuine local expression, balance artistic height with popular aesthetic appeal, and must not be abstruse and obscure.

Reporter: How can the international influence of Chinese symphonic music be further enhanced?

Chen Xieyang: Let the works speak. Create original works that truly embody the Chinese spirit and form a unique artistic identity.

Li Xincao: The warmth of family and country in the Spring Festival Overture, the harmony of heaven and humanity in Hundred Birds Worshipping the Phoenix, the surging vitality in Golden Snake Dance, the loess-plateau spirit in the Northwest Suite... These spirits are continuously being transmitted outward through music. In the future, we can create more works that combine national characteristics with international aesthetics and suit different stage forms.

We must not only let the world hear Chinese music, but also let the world understand Chinese music—understand the cultural logic behind it, understand the national spirit it carries, and understand the breadth of mind of an open and confident China.

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"All Flowers" Bloom in the Fertile Soil of the Era

By: 黄建新

The 38th Hundred Flowers Awards for Popular Film series of events is about to be held in Beijing. This marks the return of the Hundred Flowers Awards to the place where they first bloomed, after an interval of 64 years.

From the very moment of its birth, the Hundred Flowers Awards for Popular Film established its foundational character of "literature and art serving the people." Although the form of voting has changed with the development of the times, the mechanism by which the broad audience makes the choice has never changed. In 1961, the National Forum on Literary and Art Work and the National Conference on Feature Film Creation were held at the Xinqiao Hotel in Beijing, giving this award the ideological foundation that "literature and art are tested by the masses, and works are judged by the people." In 1962, the first Hundred Flowers Awards for Popular Film were presented at the Auditorium of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing. From that time onward, "Hundred Flowers" has been not merely a trophy, but also a direction — filmmakers together with audiences, artistic creation together with the life of the people.

Over more than sixty years, the "Hundred Flowers" have bloomed, inscribing the striving journey of New China's cinema in which a hundred flowers bloomed and the garden was resplendent. Looking at the present, how to produce good works and tell China's story well, how to make film truly serve the audience and serve the people — these are the propositions that filmmakers must confront directly and answer.

In my early years, I worked as an editor and script supervisor at the Xi'an Film Studio, and later pursued further study in the Directing Department of the Beijing Film Academy. From the very beginning I was firmly convinced that film as an artistic form of expression is meant to present the vivid, the lively, and the rich and varied reality of life. When we shot The Black Cannon Incident and Dislocation at the Xi'an Film Studio, we attempted to use new cinematic language, narrative methods, and aesthetic expression to capture the inner turmoil and expectations of people during the period of social transition, and to reveal the contradictions and predicaments in reality. These bold explorations were built on the foundation of observation of and reflection on real life, perception of and grasp on the emotions of the people, and documentation of and thinking about the transformations of the era.

Later, we created films such as Back to Back, Face to Face and Stand Up, Don't Bend Over. From the intricacies of human relationships in a grassroots work unit in Back to Back, Face to Face, to the miniature ecology of neighborhood space in Stand Up, Don't Bend Over, both films, through sincere and powerful expression, touched the real, delicate, and complex texture of daily life, stimulating beneficial public discussion. In the final analysis, film cannot be separated from life.

As Chinese cinema entered its phase of industrialization in the new century, in addition to directing, I successively devoted myself to screenwriting, producing, and supervising, and participated in the creation of a number of major-themed films, such as The Founding of a Republic, The Taking of Tiger Mountain, My People, My Country, and The Battle at Lake Changjin. These works successively received recognition from the Hundred Flowers Awards, allowing me to hear the audience's expectations of cinema.

In the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," the 38th Hundred Flowers Awards for Popular Film returns to Beijing for its holding, which I find very meaningful. Over more than a hundred years, Chinese cinema has received its earliest imaginings of light and shadow in Beijing, and it is also here that it has gathered talent, connected with audiences, and then faced toward the broader life of the era. Proceeding from Beijing's cultural lineage and its position in the times, and observing in a single thread of continuity the historical narratives of Beijing's early film screenings, Fengtai Photography Studio and Dingjun Mountain; the construction of New China's film management institutions, film organizations, studios, and film education; the changes since reform and opening up in Beijing-flavored films, film festivals and exhibitions, market institutions, and industrial forms; and the development in the new era of Beijing-produced films, Beijing policies, the "China Film Capital" and other industrial spaces — I am filled with a thousand emotions: Beijing's film history is an important component of Chinese film history, carrying forward the fine tradition of the Hundred Flowers Awards and creating a new chapter of Chinese cinema for the new era. The original aspiration of people's cinema that originated here will ultimately create new chapters anew on the fertile soil of life.

We should all the more see the people behind the light and shadow — see the audiences who love cinema, see the creators who explore with persistence, see the ordinary people who cast their ballots for the Hundred Flowers Awards for Popular Film, see the young filmmakers who today are still rushing about, shooting, editing, and awaiting audience evaluation, and should all the more, through light and shadow, observe the people in real life. Film must ultimately return to people, return to people's emotions, memories, and choices. The vitality of the Hundred Flowers Awards for Popular Film lies precisely in this.

Film serving the people requires creators to walk into the scene, to walk into factory workshops, fields and farmlands, communities and streets and alleys, to feel the pulse of the times and to capture the subtleties of life. The key to telling China's story well through film lies in conveying the spiritual temperament of the Chinese people and the warmth of life, allowing audiences to see themselves in the light and shadow, to understand others, and to gain strength.

Today, the audience's appreciation habits and aesthetic expectations are undergoing structural changes. Actively embracing the wave of new popular literature and art, accepting the challenges that new technologies bring to creative methods, and using our unremitting efforts to enable Chinese cinema to radiate an even more brilliant luster — this is the mission of filmmakers.

(The author is the chairman of the Beijing Film Artists Association)

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A heartfelt tribute to grassroots officers and soldiers

By: 侯明杰

When I delved into the inner workings of combined-arms battalion reform, seeing flesh-and-blood soldiers transform and charge forward amid the transition, what I wanted to do was bring this authenticity to the screen. The Soldiers Come with the Wind (see photo, provided by the production team) chose the frontal-assault approach of the TV drama Breaking Through the Siege, centering on combined-arms battalion reform and Army transformation, confronting head-on the growing pains of military strengthening. This subject matter is sensitive in scale and extremely difficult to shoot. My approach was: no floating, escapist spectacle, no piling up of equipment — point the lens at the flesh-and-blood grassroots soldiers within the tide of reform.
　　The opening red-vs-blue confrontation is the centerpiece. To make audiences feel that "exercises are war," we designed bullet-impact special effects, with red and blue smoke marking combat losses… using sight and sound to restore the brutality. Before shooting, I repeatedly stressed: don't treat it as performance — hold everything to the standard of the real thing.
　　All armored vehicles, radars, and communications equipment in the show were custom-built at 1:1 scale. The extras were veterans, bringing their own formation habits and tactical bearing, grounding the barracks texture in reality. I insisted that equipment serve the characters — the core of the battlefield is people. New equipment is shown only when the battle is deadlocked and a breakthrough is needed, demonstrating how it changes thinking; all high-tech sequences are tied tightly to tactical choices, letting audiences understand the commander's reasoning rather than simply showing off. The "value cube" in the show is an abstract concept; we abandoned special-effects visualization, threading the idea through multiple exercises and expressing it concretely through shifts in the center of gravity among branches — when long-range firepower attacks, all forces are coordinated around firepower allocation; when special operations infiltrate, special-operations teams link up. Following the confrontations, audiences naturally come to understand this flexible style of warfare.
　　In character building, each lead actor had detailed requirements. Ou Hao, playing the "iron-blooded battalion commander" Guo Zijian, deliberately tanned his skin, kept his lips chapped and cracked, adjusted his speaking pace and voice, repeatedly practiced marching and stance, using the collective atmosphere of the barracks to grind away his boyishness. After several scenes of training troops and confronting conflicts head-on, Guo Zijian's soldierly quality stood firm. Lan Yingying plays Liang Hong; we used numerous professional confrontation scenes to highlight the core role of a professional female soldier. Audiences gave the most praise to Liu Yijun's portrayal of Deputy Army Commander Liang Beihua. In one scene, after Guo Zijian loses an exercise, Liang Beihua reviews the battle — with the line "He loves his soldiers, but he also harmed his soldiers," Liu Yijun's eyes reddened and tears welled up, instantly releasing the complex emotions of disappointment and heartache over the setback in reform and over the young officer. That improvisation, I kept in full — the actor's explosive power beneath a calm exterior let the character break out of the traditional mold. Xu Honghao's Suo Jian'an is the most layered tragic figure in the entire show. Those who disliked him early on ultimately shed tears for him, because we fully presented an old soldier's choices and sacrifices amid transformation.
　　Innovation does not rely on explosions, equipment, or spectacle — the anchor point must always be people. We excavated typical characters and training-and-exercise events, gave the characters the breath of everyday life, and wove the sentiment of strengthening the military into daily routines. Nor do we create perfect heroes; we dare to show officers' confusion on the road of reform, veterans' pain in transition, and the hardships of grassroots training — letting the barracks have both gunpowder smoke and the joys and sorrows of ordinary people.
　　In my view, military-themed works that show the cruelty of war and the hardship of training should convey the wish to safeguard lasting peace with a strong military. Being able to shoot a work that pays deep tribute to the new-era grassroots officers and soldiers, and to fulfill the military dream buried in my heart, is my honor.
　　(The author is the director of the TV drama The Soldiers Come with the Wind)

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Thinking About Life and Love Through the Classics (Author's Notes)

By: 冯 俐

The opera Regret for the Past (Shangshi) was born in the early 1980s. Adapted from Mr. Lu Xun's novella of the same name, with libretto by Wang Quan and Han Wei and music by Shi Guangnan, it has been hailed as "China's first lyric opera." China Opera and Dance Drama Theater, the institution that gave the work its world premiere, has brought this classic back to the stage 45 years later.

Reviving and restaging classics is an important way to form and maintain a theater's artistic style, and it is also a living inheritance that allows classic works to radiate renewed vitality. Through repeated revivals and performances of the theater's classic operas The White-Haired Girl, Xiao Erhei's Marriage, and Savage Land, we have learned and grown, and our devotion to Chinese opera has deepened.

During the months of rehearsing the opera Regret for the Past (see photo, courtesy of China Opera and Dance Drama Theater), the classic melodies echoed daily through the rehearsal hall and corridors. These melodies once resounded from loudspeakers in factories and villages, and from the small radios of countless households. Perhaps many listeners have never seen the full opera, but melodies such as A Glimpse of the Setting Sun, Wisteria Flowers, and Golden Autumn Light are deeply etched into the memory of a generation.

This time, the theater's director Zhu Yalin has reorganized the dramatic rhythm of the entire work, making the plot progression more concise and taut, and the emotional expression more focused and full. In terms of stage presentation, the production draws inspiration from the minimalist, impressionistic aesthetic of traditional Chinese opera's "one table, two chairs," building a poetic, multi-layered stage space through simple sets and lighting, using plain stage language to set off the characters' inner states. The director has also brought the chorus from the orchestra pit onto the stage, borrowing from the form of the chorus in ancient Greek tragedy, endowing it with an independent and visible dramatic function—engaging in dialogue with the protagonists from the perspective of a third-party collective, externalizing the characters' inner activity, heightening the dramatic atmosphere while enriching the depth and texture of the scenes, broadening the scope of the narrative, and deepening the thematic expression.

The re-creation from novella to opera reflects the profound understanding that composer Shi Guangnan and librettists Wang Quan and Han Wei brought to Lu Xun's work. They skillfully mastered the creative conventions of grand opera, and with admirable talent constructed an operatic narrative, distilling literary description into poetic and stirring arias and lyrics, interpreting the theme through song, and calling upon a new era to bring new hope to young people.

The reason for reviving this classic work now is that the literary core inherited by the operatic text is sufficient to speak directly to the spiritual growth questions of youth in every era. Whether in the post-May Fourth period when the novella was written, at the time of the opera's premiere, or in the present and the future—how do young people who have just stepped into society find the point of integration between ideals and reality where they can establish themselves? How does one understand that "only when one lives can love have something to attach itself to"? When you have bravely chosen "I am my own," can you then continue to enrich yourself and truly live up to those words? How to face life and love remains a lifelong subject. Good works of art will surely bring people deeper reflection.

Regret for the Past has been continuously staged by art academies and theaters, and several of its major arias have been performed by countless opera students and professional opera singers, making it a representative Chinese work for cultivating operatic talent. This time, China Opera and Dance Drama Theater has simultaneously fielded three casts of young artists to play the roles of Juan Sheng and Zi Jun.

From rehearsals to the premiere, audience feedback has filled us with confidence: people feel in it the richness and austerity with which Mr. Lu Xun's original work confronts reality and reveals human nature, and they also feel the structural craftsmanship of the opera and the palpable humanistic spirit that transcends eras. We hope that more people—especially today's young people—will, through this classic work, touch the opera of 45 years ago, savor the short story Lu Xun wrote in 1925, encounter one another in art, and reflect on life and love through the classics.

(The author is the president of China Opera and Dance Drama Theater)

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Same story, new angles for standout coverage

By: 孔 笙

On December 6, 2025, the film Dexian Jinzhi (Leisure with Care) was released. From the initial cut of over 2 hours and 40 minutes to the theatrical version, we cut nearly 50 minutes.

A film is a ritual. When audiences walk into the cinema, they hand a complete block of time to the creators. We can arrange the plot, hide details, mobilize various audiovisual means, and hit them precisely at a certain moment. But a film is ultimately limited in length, and取舍 (trade-offs) are unavoidable.

Letting go has never been an easy thing. Much of the content was repeatedly polished from the script stage, and on set, it was shot bit by bit by the entire crew. Every character, every scene, every frame embodies the effort of many people. Those compressed parts are not simple cuts, but the lives and experiences we built around the characters.

After the film's release, many viewers said they wanted to see the content that could not appear on the big screen due to length constraints. Unexpectedly, this idea was ultimately realized in the form of a three-episode feature film — that is today's Mo Dexian (No Leisure).

Dexian Jinzhi and Mo Dexian are not simply a "short-to-long expansion" or a "spin-off." They come from the same story, the same shoot, share the same characters, and carry the same emotions. The different lengths also bring different narrative approaches. Mo Dexian builds on the original story, allowing the plot to unfold more fully, letting the audience follow this group of people further, and linger a little longer in their world.

The story begins with a river. When war came, people kept moving westward along the Yangtze River, displaced and drifting. Some fled as refugees, some retreated; their identities differed, but what they thought was much the same: first survive, then find a place to settle. Mo Dexian was originally just a worker who could repair machines — he had a family, he had a craft — but he was swept up by the war and could no longer live the life he once had.

If the Yangtze River carries the displacement of this group of people, then Gezhi Town carries the hard-won peace they found. After Yichang fell, Mo Dexian's family and a group of refugees came to this small town, seeking refuge in a corner. In the intervals between fighting, his son Dengxian played in the courtyard, his wife Xia Cheng sang while cooking, and the old patriarch grew vegetables and recited poetry. Wherever ordinary people go, as long as there is a place to shelter, they will take root and slowly turn a temporary stopover into a home.

But the war found this place after all. Three Japanese scouts stumbled in, shattering the calm of Gezhi Town. These people, who only wanted to avoid the flames of war and live their lives steadily, were forced to face the question once again: this time, can we still run? Mo Dexian gave us more space to present this. From the flight and displacement along the river in the first episode, to the shattering of three years of peaceful life in Gezhi Town in the second, to the direct confrontation with the enemy in the third — tanks meeting the Suoluotong cannon head-on... amid the increasingly brutal fighting, everyone changed as well. Mo Dexian went from protecting only his family to deciding to sacrifice himself to hold Gezhi Town; Xiao Yan went from fearing war and avoiding war to once again shouldering a soldier's responsibility; the ordinary people who had only looked after their own lives gradually stood together to resist. More important than the escalation of battle scenes is the process of these people moving from survival to defending their homeland.

This is precisely what lies behind the four characters "得闲谨制": both the craftsman's steadfast commitment to skill and quality, and the small person's steadfast commitment to life and home in a great era. Mo Dexian is a continuation of "得闲谨制."

Some character relationships and details of life that were compressed in the film are also presented. There is more entanglement between Mo Dexian and Xiao Yan, more ink is devoted to the daily life of Gezhi Town over three years, and some minor characters who flashed by in the film also get the chance to leave their own moments. These pieces of content that seemingly do not directly advance the plot settle into the weight of the story.

If watching Dexian Jinzhi in a cinema is an impact experience, then the nearly three-hour Mo Dexian is more like a journey you are immersed in. It takes the audience into the real wartime era; amid the merciless roar of guns and the slashing of bayonets, you follow Mo Dexian and the people of Gezhi Town, your blood boiling together as you rise up to resist.

Mo Dexian is the debut work of the "Ju Haokan" (Dramas Are Good to Watch) big-screen on-demand zone. As I understand it, when the characters stand firm, when the story makes people believe, and when an episode ends and the audience still worries about what will happen to them next — that is the most plain and simple meaning of "good to watch."

Over the years, while making series, we have also tried films and online feature films. Form is not the end; what matters is finding the right way to tell the story. Some stories are suited to being told in two hours; others need more time to unfold slowly. Different forms keep us learning how to tell stories.

From Dexian Jinzhi to Mo Dexian, we changed our approach and stepped back into the world of these characters. The length and rhythm differ, but what we have always wanted to tell is that river, that town, and the group of people living within them.

(The author is the director.)

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本版责编：任姗姗

This edition’s email: ysbjs@peopledaily.cn
　　Layout design: Zhao Cairu

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