People's Daily - September 5, 2026

Keep Pace with the Times, Cultivate the Soil of Children's Culture, and Make Greater Contributions to Fostering Socialist Builders and Successors with Well-Rounded Moral, Intellectual, Physical, Aesthetic, and Labor Development

Congratulatory Letter

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the launch of the "Little Trumpet" program of China Media Group, I wish to extend my congratulations!

Over the past 70 years, the "Little Trumpet" program has adhered to "telling good stories to children" and has accompanied generations of children in their healthy growth. At this new starting point, I hope that you and the broad community of children's literature and art workers will implement the fundamental task of cultivating virtue and nurturing talent (立德树人, li de shu ren - "establish virtue, nurture people"), closely follow the pulse of the times, deeply cultivate the cultural soil of children, and create with heart and feeling more outstanding works that spread truth, goodness, and beauty and are loved by children, so as to make greater contributions to cultivating socialist builders and successors who are well-developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and labor-wise.

Xi Jinping

September 4, 2026

(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 4)

(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 4) On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the launch of the "Little Trumpet" program of China Media Group, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, President of the People's Republic of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, sent a congratulatory letter to express his congratulations.

Xi Jinping pointed out in the congratulatory letter that over the past 70 years, the "Little Trumpet" program has adhered to "telling good stories to children" and has accompanied generations of children in their healthy growth.

Xi Jinping emphasized that at this new starting point, he hopes that you and the broad community of children's literature and art workers will implement the fundamental task of cultivating virtue and nurturing talent, closely follow the pulse of the times, deeply cultivate the cultural soil of children, and create with heart and feeling more outstanding works that spread truth, goodness, and beauty and are loved by children, so as to make greater contributions to cultivating socialist builders and successors who are well-developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and labor-wise. (The full text of the congratulatory letter is issued separately.)

"Little Trumpet" was launched on September 4, 1956, and is the first radio program in New China specifically created for preschool children. It has now become a brand program integrating radio, television, new media, and campus broadcasting stations.

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Never Forget the Original Aspiration, No Distance Too Far

By: 本报记者 杜尚泽 胡泽曦 新华社记者 郝薇薇 杨依军

From August 30 to September 2, the flight path from Beijing, China, to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to Cairo, Egypt, traced a magnificent arc across the two continents of Asia and Africa.

Porcelain and silk crossed the seas; brocade and embroidery flowed through the sands. The ancient Silk Road, stretching over a thousand years, once bound the two countries visited on this trip closely to China, which borders the Pacific Ocean. Today, what binds them to China is respect, trust, and cooperation.

President Xi Jinping's trip to Central Asia and the Middle East, with its rich themes and fruitful outcomes, is it not a vivid portrayal of the full of vitality (生机盎然, sheng ji ang ran - "life, spring, abundant") of major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics?

The first leg: a state visit to Kyrgyzstan, jointly building permanent good-neighborly friendship and friendship for generations, pulling China-Central Asia cooperation toward further deepening;

The second leg: attending the Bishkek Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, pushing the regional organization to embark on a new journey and demonstrate greater role in reforming and improving global governance;

The third leg: a state visit to Egypt, advancing the building of the China-Egypt community with a shared future, once again contributing Chinese solutions to achieving long-term peace and stability in the Middle East.

Time records the sense of responsibility of the leader of a major party and major country in bravely shouldering historical responsibility and actively steering the course of history. Placing this trip against the grand tapestry of the times, what comes into view includes the in full swing or very intense (如火如荼, ru huo ru tu - "like, fire; like, tea") high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, the remarkable rise of the Global South, the irreversible trend toward a multipolar world, and the turbulent and dramatic circumstances (风云激荡, feng yun ji dang - "wind, cloud; surge, stir") of the accelerating transformation of a century not seen in a century.

In autumn, the journey of major-country diplomacy spans ten thousand miles, with its sights set on both China and the world. Examining the times, weighing the subtlest of trends. The myriad scenes of Chinese modernization, the strategic planning of both domestic and international situations, and the vivid practice of building a community with a shared future for mankind, all lie in this journey pursued day and night without pause.

The China-Kyrgyzstan moment: "Relatives wish each other well; neighbors wish each other well"

"This is my third time setting foot on this beautiful land." In his signed article, President Xi Jinping recounted the depth of time with measured words.

At the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, in the Chu River Valley, this ancient land retains the weathered imprints of the cities of Suyab and Balasagun, and also echoes with the footsteps of civilization seekers such as Zhang Qian and Xuanzang.

On the afternoon of August 30 local time, under a blazing sun, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov and his wife rushed to the airport to welcome the distinguished Chinese guests arriving from afar.

"When you come here, it is like coming home." The warm host had prepared a welcome ceremony full of nomadic cultural characteristics at the airport:

The ancient komuz music soared, golden eagles perched with folded wings on the arms of their handlers, armored cavalry on horseback stood in solemn formation... President Xi Jinping and his wife smiled as they accepted the snow leopard plush toys presented by the children.

From the airport to the hotel, wherever the eye could see along the way, the scenes of the last visit seven years ago were still vividly etched in one's memory (历历在目, li li zai mu - "clear, clear; at, eye"), while Bishkek's cityscape had taken on a completely new look. Bridges, roads, Confucius Institutes, Luban Workshops — all bearing the sweat of Chinese strivers.

Amid the busy schedule before the SCO summit was about to open, President Japarov extended the highest courtesy, accompanying President Xi Jinping throughout the entire state visit, vividly demonstrating what it means to interact with trust and treat each other with sincerity.

On the first day of arrival, a small-group talk was held at the presidential residence — the first time President Japarov had invited a foreign head of state to his residence; the next day, cannons boomed in Harmony Square, in-depth talks were held in the meeting hall, and applause thundered at the signing ceremony.

Interacting with sincerity of heart, one achieves lasting bonds.

In recent years, China-Kyrgyzstan relations have shown "acceleration": in 2018, the China-Kyrgyzstan comprehensive strategic partnership was established; in 2023, a comprehensive strategic partnership for a new era was defined. This time, a joint declaration on a comprehensive strategic partnership for high-quality development in the new era was produced, with broader areas of cooperation, more concrete measures, and higher quality.

President Japarov praised, "Kyrgyzstan's most precious advantage is being a neighbor of China" and "the bilateral relations have entered a golden period, at the highest level in history." President Xi Jinping shared the same sentiment, "In recent years, bilateral cooperation has ushered in a 'golden period' of rapid development."

At the signing ceremony, another document was also inscribed in the annals of history.

President Xi Jinping once said: "China and Kyrgyzstan are as close as lips and teeth, sharing weal and woe. Our greatest wish for the bilateral relationship is lasting good-neighborly friendship and friendship for generations."

During this trip, the Treaty on Permanent Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between China and Kyrgyzstan was formally signed, cementing the two sides' vision of friendship for generations in legal form. This also means that, no matter how the international situation may surge in the future, China-Kyrgyzstan relations will be predictable and guaranteed.

President Japarov praised this move as "opening broader prospects for bilateral relations." He said with deep emotion: "Dear elder brother, China has always been a priority direction of Kyrgyzstan's foreign policy, and is Kyrgyzstan's closest friend and most reliable partner."

The freshly signed story of China-Kyrgyzstan cooperation provides the latest sample for understanding current China-Central Asia relations.

Thirty-four years ago, when China first established diplomatic relations with Central Asian countries, the bilateral relations were like a surging river. Since then, "the bilateral relations have achieved a historic leap from good-neighborly friendship to strategic partnership, and then to a community with a shared future," reflecting the strength of both sides' willingness to move toward each other and the depth of their sincerity.

Central Asian countries yearn for connectivity. More than a decade ago, the initiative to build the "Silk Road Economic Belt" began with Central Asia. From "freehand brushwork" to "fine brushwork," vast deserts like smoke, crescent moons like hooks, reaching to the heavens and into the earth, connecting rivers and seas, unfolding a magnificent picture scroll of the times.

The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway carries so much expectation! High mountains and deep valleys, bridges and tunnels, excavators and transport vehicles... This "major transportation artery" carrying the development hopes of the people of the region is a "new demonstration project" of Belt and Road cooperation.

During the visit, President Xi Jinping repeatedly mentioned this "major undertaking," emphasizing the need to "build it with high quality," while also implementing the modernization of ports and deepening "soft connectivity" in systems, standards, and rules.

President Japarov once vividly pointed out that the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway is as indispensable to Kyrgyzstan as air and water. During the talks, he further expressed the hope that it would become a "Steel Silk Road" of the new era and a new bond of Kyrgyz-Chinese friendship.

"Relatives wish each other well; neighbors wish each other well." During this visit, President Xi Jinping once again quoted this ancient saying to explain how China gets along with its neighbors.

In April 2025, the first Central Conference on Work Relating to Neighborhoods since the founding of New China was held. Neighborhoods are like lips and teeth, like hands and feet. China treats its neighbors with amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness (亲诚惠容), upholding the belief that "a good neighbor is worth more than gold."

The great path is simple; actions speak louder than words. Since last year, President Xi Jinping has visited neighboring countries on six consecutive trips abroad. This extraordinary attention is based on a profound judgment of the "deep interlinkage between the neighborhood landscape and global changes," and further demonstrates a steady and composed ability to observe and harness trends amid the storms of the times.

The SCO moment: "In the governance of the world, without progress, there is regression"

Looking back 25 years, amid the turbulent currents of the era, the birth of the SCO was hailed as "a major event that changed the global strategic landscape."

On the morning of September 1 local time, at the Palace of Happiness in Bishkek, the 26th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization opened.

Examining the development of the SCO, there are two time spans.

One span: the SCO has traversed twenty-five years.

Through arduous journeys, the "SCO family" has expanded from 6 founding member states to 27 countries across Asia, Europe, and Africa, bringing together the development synergy of nearly half of the world's population and one-quarter of the world's economic output.

In this important year of building on the past and opening the future, President Xi Jinping used three "mosts" in his speech at the summit to summarize its extraordinary journey:

"The most significant development achievement is having gradually become a new type of regional cooperation organization with the largest territory, the largest population, and enormous development potential in the world";

"The most precious spiritual asset is the pioneering proposal and consistent adherence to the 'Shanghai Spirit' of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for the diversity of civilizations, and pursuit of common development";

"The most important cooperation experience is having found the correct way of coexistence without alliance, without confrontation, and without targeting any third party, promoting regional countries to jointly build a common home."

Growing and strengthening along the way is not only a vast geographical connection, but also openness and inclusiveness toward different civilizations and different development paths, and a commitment to the original aspiration that must not be forgotten no matter how far one travels.

The other time span: one year has passed since the Tianjin Summit.

The Tianjin Summit, bearing abundant fruits or results (硕果盈枝, shuo guo ying zhi - "heavy, fruit; full, branch"), set the coordinates for the "SCO family" for the next 10 years. This time, at the signing ceremony of the Bishkek Summit, pens swept across the paper in unison, and the implementation of the outcomes of the Tianjin Summit is being accelerated.

"Implementing the tasks and goals set forth in the SCO Development Strategy for the Next 10 Years (2026-2035)" was written into the Bishkek Declaration on the 25th Anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization; the SCO Charter was revised on the basis of the outcomes of the Tianjin Summit.

On the day of the Bishkek Summit, the "List of Outcomes of China's Actions to Promote the Development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization" was released. 153 items! The weighty "early harvest" has brought tangible benefits to all parties.

Looking at the SCO's role in the times, there are two guiding forces.

From "dual-wheel drive" development to "multi-track parallel progress," President Xi Jinping has a profound insight: "Standing at a crossroads concerning the future and destiny of humanity, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization should bravely shoulder historical responsibility and actively lead the course of history."

One is to demonstrate the SCO's exemplary role in implementing the four major global initiatives.

Empowering SCO cooperation with "China's initiatives," and then empowering global governance with "SCO actions." At this summit, President Xi Jinping seized the moment to put forward new expectations for the SCO:

"A priority region for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and the implementation of the Global Development Initiative";

"An important platform for implementing the Global Security Initiative";

"Working with all parties to implement the Global Civilization Initiative";

"Carrying out exemplary cooperation on implementing the Global Governance Initiative"...

This has injected new momentum into the SCO's rise toward becoming a globally leading force. President Japarov said with deep feeling: "The series of major global initiatives proposed by President Xi Jinping help the entire world jointly address pressing challenges and problems."

The other is to contribute the SCO's shaping power to advancing the multipolarization process.

"Those who desire grain must attend to the seasons; those who desire governance must follow the trends." Looking ahead, the Global South is growing remarkably, driving profound adjustments in the international balance of power, and the trend toward a multipolar world is irreversible.

This year's "SCO Plus" meeting focused on strengthening the role of the United Nations and building a multipolar world, which is also a positive response to the proposition President Xi Jinping put forward at the Tianjin Summit last year — "The Shanghai Cooperation Organization should play a leading role and set an example in implementing the Global Governance Initiative."

At the meeting, President Xi Jinping systematically elaborated on the core essence of an equal and orderly multipolar world:

"Sovereign equality and mutual respect are the fundamental principles";

"Balance, order, and rule of law are the inevitable requirements";

"Multilateralism, dialogue, and consultation are the key paths";

"Mutual benefit, win-win, inclusiveness, and shared benefits are the direction of development."

He further called for: driving the prosperity and common development of the Eurasian continent with "SCO strength," promoting the growth and strengthening of the Global South with "SCO wisdom," and leading the reform and improvement of global governance with "SCO actions."

Taking notes and nodding in approval, Chinese solutions sparked recognition and admiration in the venue. Host President Japarov's remarks voiced the sentiments of many: "We thank President Xi Jinping for his insightful speech and important suggestions. We highly appreciate your personal contribution and the important role China plays in strengthening the SCO's institutional building and expanding its international cooperation."

The day before the summit, at the hotel where President Xi Jinping was staying, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh, and President of Russia Vladimir Putin successively entered the meeting hall.

Further deepening bilateral relations, further strengthening multilateral coordination, jointly meeting challenges and sharing opportunities — old friends meeting again felt especially warm.

President Mirziyoyev remarked: "Under your wise leadership, China is firmly and confidently responding to global challenges, continuously consolidating its position as one of the most important centers of power in the world economy and politics. As an outstanding leader with global influence and a practitioner of the great dream of the Chinese people, you enjoy widespread prestige and respect around the world."

Following the great path, the world comes together.

The China-Egypt moment: "When one finds the right way of friendship, even a thousand miles apart, hearts are united"

As if it were an appointment made across mountains and seas, President Xi Jinping set foot on Egyptian soil again after 10 years, exactly fulfilling the local ancient proverb "Those who have drunk the water of the Nile will surely return."

Yet it is also a necessity of historical logic. The China-Egypt bilateral relationship, which has consistently set "models" and "examples" along the way, is destined to walk hand in hand on the path of writing new history and embark on a new journey together.

On the evening of September 1 local time, as the sunset glow dyed the sky red, President Xi Jinping and his wife arrived in Cairo by special plane. The Cairo Tower was lit up in brilliant "China Red." President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his wife personally went to the airport to welcome them. The itinerary for this visit was also personally designed by President el-Sisi.

The scenes of the visit 10 years ago are still fresh in memory, and the cooperation blueprints drawn up then have long since been realized. The China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone is bursting with vitality, the tallest building in Africa is affectionately called the "new pyramid," and Egyptian fresh oranges were among the first African products to enter the Chinese market after China implemented zero tariffs on African countries with diplomatic relations...

These 10 years have also been 10 years of accelerated evolution in the international and regional situation. Through comparison and reflection amid the storms, the Egyptian people have come to see more clearly who is a sincere partner worthy of trust and who is a reliable friend sharing weal and woe. With its course not deviating, its quality not diminishing, and its momentum not weakening, the China-Egypt relationship has maintained its composure amid international vicissitudes, demonstrating a firm belief in sharing a common destiny.

On the morning of September 2, at the Qasr el-Qubba Palace in Cairo, new history was written.

"I would like to extend a warm welcome to my good friend; this is a historic visit." Sitting down in the meeting hall, President el-Sisi opened the conversation. He recounted Egypt's journey as the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic relations with New China and to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership with China, praised the qualitative leap in bilateral relations, and expressed his willingness to continue working to promote greater development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

Seventy years of trials and tribulations. President Xi Jinping vividly summarized the distinctive features of China-Egypt relations: "equality and mutual trust, friendship and mutual learning, solidarity and cooperation, and win-win cooperation."

Through the washing of time, the friendship has grown deeper. His gaze turned toward the longer-term future: "Facing the intertwined and turbulent international and regional situation, the two countries should support each other, deepen cooperation, and continuously advance the building of the China-Egypt community with a shared future."

Currently, China and Arab countries are advancing the building of the China-Arab community with a shared future as a whole. And like a key piece in a panoramic picture, the building of the China-Egypt community with a shared future once again demonstrates its strategic, leading, and exemplary nature.

President el-Sisi listened attentively and warmly responded to President Xi Jinping's propositions. The joint statement on further deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Egypt included this sentence: "Committed to advancing the building of the China-Egypt community with a shared future."

Through arduous journeys, despite countless rivers and mountains or great distances (万水千山, wan shui qian shan - "ten thousand, water; thousand, mountain"), they have firmly moved toward each other. As President Xi Jinping said in his signed article on the eve of the visit, "When one finds the right way of friendship, even a thousand miles apart, hearts are united."

The "way" is the way of getting along between countries, encompassing a country's views on development, order, governance, and civilization. One important focus of the international community's attention on this trip is the view of this pivotal Eastern power on the current situation in the Middle East.

Ten years ago, also in Cairo, President Xi Jinping stood at the podium of the headquarters of the League of Arab States and delivered that historic speech. "To resolve differences, the key is to strengthen dialogue"; "to solve difficult problems, the key is to accelerate development"; "in choosing a path, the key is to suit national conditions" — these three propositions gave China's answer to the "Question of the Middle East."

In recent years, a new round of turmoil has emerged in the Middle East; old wounds have not yet healed, and new rifts are spreading. For the sake of peace, China's attitude is clear and its position is unambiguous: "China supports regional countries in developing good-neighborly and friendly relations, upholds the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, and works to build a new security architecture in the Middle East."

Regarding the promotion of building a "new security architecture in the Middle East," President Xi Jinping put forward four proposals —

"Stimulating the internal driving force of regional common security," answering the fundamental question of who maintains security in the Middle East;

"Advancing comprehensive governance of regional common security," grasping the key to unlocking the crux of Middle East problems;

"Consolidating the development foundation of regional common security," pointing out the fundamental way to achieve long-term peace and stability;

"Strengthening international coordination for regional common security," setting the code of conduct for the international community's involvement in Middle East affairs.

This is another contribution of Chinese solutions by President Xi Jinping to achieving long-term peace and stability for the overall situation in the Middle East, following his four propositions on maintaining and promoting peace and stability in the Middle East and his four principles on promoting the resolution of the Palestinian question.

President el-Sisi attached great importance to China's constructive solutions: "Egypt is willing to continue strengthening coordination with China to ease the situation in the Middle East, maintain stability in the Middle East, and explore a regional security architecture."

The previous day, in Bishkek, President Xi Jinping had also emphasized "an equal and orderly multipolar world." International media paid close attention, interpreting item by item important propositions such as "opposing interference by external forces" and "rejecting double standards," and among the conclusions drawn, China was called a stabilizer that "does not seek geopolitical self-interest and does not engage in bloc confrontation," and a pragmatist that "explores ways to resolve hotspot issues with Chinese characteristics." The world increasingly welcomes China's "diplomacy of certainty."

A journey of ten thousand miles: the hearts of the people, the interests of the world

Why, in today's world of highly developed technology and information, amid a tense and busy domestic schedule, is it still necessary to travel thousands of miles to keep a face-to-face appointment?

The answer lies not only in the tacit understanding of intimate conversations, not only in the skillful command of the situation, but also in letting the world see, through the diplomatic lens, China's historical responsibility as a reliable partner and responsible major country in joining hands with all countries for development and revitalization and in reforming and improving global governance.

"Taking the hearts of the people as one's own heart, and the interests of the world as one's own interest." This is the profound impression President Xi Jinping's trip to Central Asia and the Middle East left on the world in the late summer of 2026.

Several details are worth pondering.

One is the new additions to the list of opportunities.

Practice has repeatedly proven that China's opportunities are also opportunities for the world. Beyond traditional areas such as trade, energy, and agriculture, new blue oceans of cooperation are emerging one after another, with fields continuously expanding.

President Japarov happily spoke of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, which Kyrgyzstan had recently formally joined, telling President Xi Jinping: "This organization was founded under your leadership and is of great significance."

President Mirziyoyev suggested during the SCO summit: "The SCO should establish a partnership with the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization initiated by President Xi Jinping."

The latest cooperation documents signed between China and Egypt also cover areas such as the digital economy and science and technology, with artificial intelligence being a major highlight.

Over the years, China's impressive achievements in scientific and technological development have repeatedly amazed the world. China, standing at the forefront of the tide, has tempered its resilience in the storms and won more companions walking side by side.

One is a new perspective on mutual learning among civilizations.

Each civilization is beautiful in its own way; together, they create a world of shared beauty. Equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness — this is the view of civilization that the times call for.

On this trip to Central Asia and the Middle East, the Grand Egyptian Museum, hailed as a "monument to civilization," was the final stop. Looking back to 2000, Comrade Xi Jinping, then working in Fujian, visited Egypt for the first time, exploring the mysteries along the banks of the Nile, the cradle of civilization. Ten years ago in Luxor, starlight fell upon the thousand-year-old temples, and the echoes of dialogue between two great ancient civilizations resonated long among the colonnades.

Entering the Grand Egyptian Museum, the colossal statue of Ramesses II stands majestically. Ascending the escalator, stone carvings, inscribed pillars, and temple pinnacles are arranged in order, like an epic of dynasties. At the end of the escalator, the adjacent pyramid complex seems framed within the glass curtain wall. Modern design and thousand-year-old monuments overlap, telling the story of the brilliance and vicissitudes along the Nile.

President Xi Jinping paused frequently to observe closely. In the two-way convergence of Chinese civilization and ancient Egyptian civilization, he explored the mutual understanding and affinity between the two peoples. He said that China-Egypt friendship is not only cooperation between the two countries, but also a dialogue between two great civilizations. How magnificent it is for two great ancient civilizations to join hands in advancing toward modernization.

From the schedule of President Xi Jinping's wife, Peng Liyuan, one can also feel the imprints of civilization everywhere. At the National Historical Museum of the Kyrgyz Republic, appreciating the quiet and subtle continuity of civilization; in Bishkek, attending the collective event for spouses at the SCO summit, strolling through the Kyrgyzstan national culture exhibition, pondering the exchange and mutual learning among different civilizations; in Cairo, visiting a small handicrafts exhibition, reflecting on cultural heritage and innovative development amid the changes of the times...

Observing from a broader perspective. Chinese modernization, a new form of civilization distinctly different from Western civilization, draws rich nourishment from the Chinese civilization that has continued for five thousand years at every step of its advancement, and also radiates stronger vitality through the mutual learning among civilizations that embraces all rivers and seeks harmony without uniformity.

Taking the hearts of the people as one's own heart — here lies the foundation of civilization.

Throughout the journey of ten thousand miles, there has been constant concern for the disaster-stricken area of Gyirong in Tibet. Many foreign dignitaries extended their deep condolences, and President Xi Jinping said with deep emotion that the Chinese Party and government are making every effort to carry out search and rescue for missing persons at home and abroad, the transfer and resettlement of affected people, the treatment of the injured, and the prevention of secondary disasters, and have also provided emergency assistance to Nepal. China has the capability and confidence to overcome the disaster and rebuild homes.

During the talks, President Japarov spoke frankly: "I admire the brilliant development achievements China has made under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, and am willing to learn from China's experience in governance, especially President Xi Jinping's sentiment of 'I will serve the people with all my heart and never let them down.'" This admiration reflects the resonance of the times in China's governance today.

Taking the interests of the world as one's own interest — here lies the texture of civilization.

Building a community with a shared future for mankind and the four major global initiatives once again became high-frequency terms during this trip. Countries with different systems and at different stages of development from China have nonetheless chosen to "endorse" and "participate." This choice is not an expedient measure, but is based on a clear judgment of the trends of the times.

Viewing the Global Development Initiative through the lens of "the people as the foundation of the state," the Global Security Initiative through "harmonizing all nations," the Global Civilization Initiative through "harmony without uniformity," and the Global Governance Initiative through the concept of the world belonging to all (天下为公, tian xia wei gong - "heaven, earth; for, public"), the traditional Chinese view of the world has been endowed with new contemporary connotations, and has also given new brilliance to the Marxist theory of world history.

A China striving forward, cherishing the future of humanity and mindful of the well-being of the people. "With the original aspiration unchanged, no distance is too far to be reached; with unwavering determination, no difficulty is too great to be overcome." What she brings to the world is not only the certain force to navigate through the storms before us, but also the conviction and hope for building a better future.

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Xi Jinping Sends Congratulatory Letter to Eighth China-Russia Energy Business Forum

(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 4) On September 4, the Eighth China-Russia Energy Business Forum was held in Vladivostok, Russia. President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the forum.

Xi Jinping pointed out that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Russia strategic partnership of coordination and the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between China and Russia. Amid complex changes in the international situation, the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era has developed at a high level, and China-Russia energy cooperation has achieved fruitful results (成果丰硕, cheng guo feng shuo - "result, abundant, fruitful"), effectively promoting the common development of the two countries and becoming a model of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides.

Xi Jinping stressed that the current international energy landscape is undergoing profound adjustment, with opportunities and challenges intertwined. China is willing to work with Russia to continuously deepen energy cooperation and jointly safeguard the stability and smooth flow of the energy industrial and supply chains.

On the same day, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin also sent a congratulatory letter to the Eighth China-Russia Energy Business Forum.

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State Council Issues Revised Regulations on Emergency Response and Investigation of Electric Power Safety Accidents

(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 4) Premier Li Qiang of the State Council recently signed a State Council decree promulgating the revised Regulations on Emergency Response, Handling, and Investigation of Electric Power Safety Accidents (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations), which shall take effect on January 1, 2027. The Regulations contain 38 articles in total, and the main contents of the revision are as follows.

First, it clarifies that electric power enterprises and electric power users shall submit to unified dispatch, strictly implement relevant standards and technical specifications, strengthen the investigation and rectification of accident hazards, and that electric power dispatching institutions shall strictly carry out power grid operation control in accordance with regulations.

Second, taking into overall consideration such factors as changes in the scale and structure of the power grid, the grid-related performance of power generation equipment, and the requirements for power grid operation control, it adjusts and improves the criteria for classifying accident severity levels.

Third, it brings entities other than electric power enterprises and electric power users that are integrated into the power grid for operation within the scope of application of these Regulations, and clarifies their corresponding electric power safety responsibilities.

Fourth, it clarifies the accident reporting responsibilities of electric power dispatching institutions, requires electric power enterprises to formulate emergency rescue plans for accidents and organize regular drills, and strengthens the construction of the accident emergency rescue system.

Fifth, it optimizes the mechanism for accident investigation and handling, clarifying that accident investigation teams shall notify supervisory organs of the situation and invite them to participate in the accident investigation, that accident investigation reports shall be promptly disclosed to the public in accordance with the law, and that relevant departments shall assess the implementation of accident prevention and rectification measures and promptly disclose the assessment results to the public.

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Ding Xuexiang Attends and Addresses Plenary Session of 11th Eastern Economic Forum

(Xinhua News Agency, Vladivostok, September 4) (Reporters Wang Zuokui, Luan Hai) Ding Xuexiang, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, attended the plenary session of the 11th Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, on the 3rd, and delivered a speech titled "Deepening China-Russia Regional Cooperation, Enhancing the Well-Being of the Two Peoples."

Ding Xuexiang stated that the Eastern Economic Forum is an important platform for all countries to discuss cooperation and seek common development. President Xi Jinping has twice accepted President Putin's invitation to attend the forum and delivered important speeches, systematically elaborating China's propositions on regional cooperation in Northeast Asia, which have evoked widespread resonance (广泛共鸣, guang fan gong ming - "wide, broad; echo, resonance") in the international community. Over the years, under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, regional cooperation between China and Russia, such as the "Northeast–Far East" cooperation, has achieved fruitful achievements (丰硕成果, feng shuo cheng guo - "abundant, fruitful; result, fruit").

Ding Xuexiang pointed out that President Xi Jinping and President Putin have met multiple times within the year, providing strategic guidance for deepening the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era and their all-round cooperation. China is willing to work with Russia to fully implement the important consensus of the two heads of state, promote regional cooperation toward deeper levels and higher standards, and inject new impetus into the healthy and stable development (健康稳定, jian kang wen ding - "healthy, sound; stable, steady") of China-Russia relations.

Ding Xuexiang put forward four suggestions. First, promote inclusive and beneficial development so that the people can better share in the fruits of development. Strengthen the docking and cooperation between the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative and the construction of the Eurasian Economic Union, deepen the strategic alignment between the revitalization of Northeast China and the development of the Russian Far East, stay close to the needs of people's livelihoods, plan the development of industries with local characteristics, and enable the people of the two countries to gain more tangible benefits from development and revitalization. Second, foster a sound business environment and facilitate investment and business operations for various types of business entities. Implement the new version of the "China-Russia Investment Cooperation Program Outline" and the upgraded "China-Russia Agreement on the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments," maintain policy continuity and stability, and create favorable conditions for enterprise development. Third, strengthen friendly exchanges and consolidate the foundation of people-to-people bonds. Deepen exchanges and cooperation in culture, tourism, education, youth, and other fields, carry out well the various activities of the "China-Russia Years of Culture," and enable the people of the two countries to carry forward traditional friendship and better understand and appreciate each other through friendly interactions. Fourth, safeguard regional peace and stability and build a beautiful homeland for the people. Jointly uphold the purposes of the UN Charter and international fairness and justice, deter acts that challenge the victorious outcomes of World War II and the postwar international order, and work together to build the region into a harmonious and tranquil common home.

Ding Xuexiang emphasized that, in the face of a complex and severe external environment, China's economy has been operating generally smoothly this year, showing a development trend of new momentum and improved structure, demonstrating strong resilience and vigorous vitality. We have the confidence, capability, and conditions to maintain stable and healthy economic development and achieve a good start for the 15th Five-Year Plan. China is unswerving (坚定不移, jian ding bu yi - "firm, steadfast; not, move") in expanding high-standard opening up, welcomes enterprises from all countries to continue investing in China and deepening their roots in China, achieve better self-development in the process of participating in Chinese modernization, and make greater contributions to regional and world prosperity and stability.

During the interactive session following the speech, Ding Xuexiang answered questions from the plenary session moderator on topics such as the APEC "China Year" and global governance of artificial intelligence.

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Deeply Study and Implement Xi Jinping's Thought on Party Building, and Intensify and Solidify Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party and the Fight Against Corruption

(Xinhua News Agency, Guiyang, September 4) Li Xi, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, conducted a research visit to Guizhou from September 1 to 3. He emphasized that discipline inspection and supervision organs must adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, deeply study and implement Xi Jinping's Thought on Party Building, deeply comprehend the decisive significance of the Two Establishments (两个确立) and resolutely achieve the Two Upholds (两个维护), conscientiously implement the guiding principles of the Fifth and Sixth Plenary Sessions of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, consolidate and expand the educational achievements of establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, solidly carry out the "Year of Standardization, Rule-of-Law-Based, and Regularized Construction of Discipline Inspection and Supervision Work" initiative, and promote the high-quality development of discipline inspection and supervision work with higher standards and more concrete measures.

Li Xi visited the Zunyi Conference Site and the Zunyi Conference Exhibition Hall, where he studied and paid tribute to the great and glorious achievements (丰功伟绩, feng gong wei ji - "abundant, great, magnificent, achievements") of the revolutionary forebears, and personally experienced the spirit of the Long March and the spirit of the Zunyi Conference. He pointed out that the spirit of the Long March and the spirit of the Zunyi Conference are precious spiritual assets of our Party. Taking the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Red Army's Long March as an opportunity, discipline inspection and supervision cadres should be guided to carry forward the Party's glorious traditions and fine conduct, inherit the red genes, continue the red bloodline, and unite people to work together toward a common goal (凝心聚力, ning xin ju li - "condense, heart, gather, strength") to walk the Long March of the new era well. At the Ecological Agriculture Science and Technology Demonstration Base in Maoba Village, Bozhou District, Zunyi City, and the China Telecom Cloud Computing Guizhou Information Park Data Center, Li Xi carefully listened to the opinions and suggestions of cadres and the masses on rectifying conduct, enforcing discipline, and combating corruption. He emphasized that rectifying unhealthy practices and corruption problems around the masses is a major matter that shares the Party's concerns and a practical matter that benefits the people. We must always keep the safety and well-being of the people in mind, punish "flies and ants" of corruption with the spirit of driving in nails, focus on the centralized governance of petitioning issues in the field of people's livelihood, and regularly rectify misconduct and corruption problems, so that the people can have a greater sense of gain, happiness, and security. At the Huaxi District People's Procuratorate in Guiyang City, Li Xi emphasized the need to uphold and develop the Fengqiao model (枫桥经验) in the new era, use rule-of-law thinking and rule-of-law methods to prevent and resolve conflicts and disputes, and continuously enhance the effectiveness of grassroots governance.

Li Xi also visited the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision organs, where he learned in detail about the progress of their work and visited discipline inspection and supervision cadres. During the research visit, Li Xi presided over a symposium and emphasized that discipline inspection and supervision organs must further study, comprehend, and practice Xi Jinping's Thought on Party Building, translate the results of their studies into concrete actions of genuine work and responsible performance, and complete the year's goals and tasks with high quality. It is necessary to strengthen political supervision, ensure that the major decisions and deployments of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the Party Central Committee and the various tasks of the 15th Five-Year Plan are implemented and effective, tighten and consolidate the political responsibility for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and ensure a clean and upright political atmosphere for the transition of leadership with strict discipline. It is necessary to strengthen the construction of work style, persevering and unremitting in one's efforts (锲而不舍, qie er bu she - "carve, and, not, abandon") to implement the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulation (八项规定) of the Central Committee, regularly examine and rectify problems of deviations in views on political achievements, simultaneously correct the Four Malfeasances (四风) and foster new practices, and promote the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work style construction. It is necessary to strengthen the integrated advancement of "not daring to be corrupt, not being able to be corrupt, and not wanting to be corrupt," maintain high-pressure punishment without wavering, strengthen the regulation and supervision of the allocation and operation of power, enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of the construction of a culture of integrity in the new era, strengthen the empowerment of science and technology, and continuously eradicate the soil and conditions for corruption to breed. It is necessary to strengthen the "Three Modernizations" construction year initiative, focus on key tasks, strive to solve prominent problems, and forge a discipline inspection and supervision iron army that is "four-fold excellent."

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China's Total Services Trade Up 8.3% Year on Year

(People's Daily, Beijing, September 4) (Reporter Luo Shanshan) The reporter learned from the Ministry of Commerce: In the first seven months of this year, China's total import and export of services reached 4,446.71 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.3%. Among them, exports reached 1,773.23 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.1%; imports reached 2,673.48 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.2%.

In the first seven months, exports of travel services reached 263.61 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27.7%, and exports of transport services reached 363.23 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27.1%. The import and export of knowledge-intensive services reached 1,960.62 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.6%, accounting for 44.1% of the total import and export of services.

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Electricity Market Trading Volume Up 23.4% Year on Year

(People's Daily, Beijing, September 4) (Reporter Wang Yunshan) The reporter learned from the National Energy Administration: In the first seven months of this year, power trading institutions across the country completed a cumulative trading volume of 4,425.2 billion kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 23.4%.

In July, power trading institutions across the country completed a trading volume of 740.4 billion kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 18.5%. By scope of trading, intra-provincial trading volume was 549.1 billion kilowatt-hours, up 19.0% year on year; inter-provincial and inter-regional trading volume was 191.3 billion kilowatt-hours, up 17.2% year on year. By type of trading, medium- and long-term trading volume was 678.6 billion kilowatt-hours, and spot trading volume was 61.8 billion kilowatt-hours.

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Working Together to Build a China-Egypt Community with a Shared Future

By: 本报记者 黄培昭 沈小晓 戴楷然

At the invitation of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President Xi Jinping recently paid a state visit to Egypt. During the visit, the two heads of state held talks, exchanging in-depth views on China-Egypt relations, comprehensive cooperation between the two countries, and international and regional issues of mutual concern, reaching broad consensus. The two sides issued the Joint Statement of the People's Republic of China and the Arab Republic of Egypt on Further Deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and jointly witnessed the signing of multiple cooperation documents in areas including the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, artificial intelligence, economy and trade, and industrial and supply chain cooperation. The two sides also signed more than 20 cooperation documents in areas such as the digital economy, science and technology, education, and transportation.

Egyptian figures from various sectors who were interviewed by our reporter said that President Xi Jinping's visit to Egypt, his first in 10 years, coincides with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, giving it special and important significance. President Xi Jinping's historic visit to Egypt is not only a journey to renew friendship, but also a journey to expand cooperation, fully demonstrating the strategic, leading, and exemplary nature of Egypt-China relations, and marking a milestone. From closer political mutual trust to deeper industrial cooperation, from mutual learning through exchange (交流互鉴, jiaoliu hujian - "exchange, mutually learn") between the two great civilizations to jointly safeguarding regional peace and promoting Global South cooperation, the China-Egypt comprehensive strategic partnership is opening up broader space for development.

"Further clarifying the direction of future development of Egypt-China relations"

In 1956, China and Egypt established diplomatic relations, making Egypt the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic ties with the new China. Over the past 70 years, bilateral relations have weathered international vicissitudes and maintained sound and steady development. During this visit, the two sides issued a joint statement, agreeing to deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership in three aspects: maintaining high-level exchanges, consolidating mutually beneficial cooperation in various bilateral fields, and strengthening coordination on global governance issues, and confirming the advancement of building a China-Egypt community with a shared future.

"This visit further clarified the direction of future development of Egypt-China relations," said Egyptian China affairs expert Sawy.

In the joint statement, the two sides reaffirmed their firm mutual support on issues involving each other's core interests and major concerns. Sami Kamhawy, deputy editor-in-chief of Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper, said that the current world situation is full of uncertainty, and the mutual respect and firm support between Egypt and China on major issues such as sovereignty, security, and development reflect the maturity and stability of bilateral relations.

Ahmed El-Sayed, president of Egypt's Hikma Cultural Industry Group, said that the more uncertain the world becomes, the more it needs long-term, reliable partners capable of jointly addressing challenges.

This visit drew a new blueprint for win-win cooperation between China and Egypt. During the visit, the two sides made new arrangements for deepening the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Egypt's "Vision 2030," actively explored localized industrial cooperation in areas such as electric vehicles, shipbuilding, solar energy, wind energy, and seawater desalination, and expanded cooperation in high-tech fields such as cloud computing, data centers, and the digital economy.

The joint statement explicitly supports the construction of the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, helping Egypt become a regional center for industry, logistics, clean energy, and the digital economy connecting Asia, Africa, and Europe. "This is a visit that redefines the partnership," said Sameh Fawzy, a reporter with Egypt's Al-Akhbar newspaper. The joint statement covers new areas such as data centers, cybersecurity, and space applications, indicating that Egypt-China cooperation is extending from traditional infrastructure and project cooperation to knowledge-intensive and technology-intensive industries. "The value of cooperation is not just bringing products to Egypt, but also leaving production capacity, technology, and talent in Egypt."

Egyptian China affairs expert Derbik said: "Egypt has the opportunity to further become an important production base for Chinese enterprises facing African, Arab world, and even European markets."

The heads of state of China and Egypt appreciated the expansion of the local currency swap arrangement between the two sides, welcomed the renewal of the local currency swap agreement and the expansion of its scale, and encouraged greater use of the two countries' local currencies for trade and investment settlement. "Such financial arrangements are related to corporate trade costs and investment facilitation," said Ba'a, dean of the Faculty of Commerce at Suez Canal University in Egypt. The continuously expanding scale of Egypt-China trade and investment and the deepening financial cooperation will provide more convenient conditions for enterprises of both sides, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to carry out cross-border cooperation.

China and Egypt agreed to hold the meeting of the China-Egypt Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee at an early date. Ahmed El-Sayed said this arrangement is very important, "as the intergovernmental cooperation committee can translate the consensus formed by head-of-state diplomacy into concrete actions continuously advanced between departments and institutions."

"The two great civilizations have always drawn closer through mutual appreciation and mutual learning"

During the visit, President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan, accompanied by President el-Sisi and his wife Entissar, visited the Grand Egyptian Museum, leaving a landmark historical moment for China-Egypt civilizational exchange.

Hassanin, head of the Chinese Language Department at Ain Shams University in Egypt, said that China and Egypt not only share common development needs, but the peoples of both countries also cherish their respective long histories and civilizations. In recent years, cooperation between Egypt and China in areas such as joint archaeology, cultural relic protection, mutual exhibitions, and language education has continued to deepen. "I believe President Xi Jinping's visit will further promote cooperation between the two countries in economic, political, cultural, and other fields, bringing the peoples of the two countries closer in mutual understanding and affinity."

Alaa Akef, a young Egyptian sinologist and assistant professor at the School of Foreign Languages of Peking University, said that President Xi Jinping's visit to the Grand Egyptian Museum is a sign of respect and appreciation for Egypt's long civilization, and also adds new contemporary connotations to the cross-time-and-space mutual learning through exchange between the two great civilizations. "The two great civilizations have always drawn closer through mutual appreciation and mutual learning."

The joint statement specifies that the two sides will, taking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of China-Egypt diplomatic relations and the 2026 "China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges" as opportunities, hold a series of joint celebration activities and strengthen cooperation in areas such as news, culture, higher education, scientific research, and youth exchanges. Ahmed El-Sayed said, "There is a need to enhance mutual understanding between Egypt and China. Egypt-China friendship should exist in ordinary people's reading, travel, study, and daily life."

"Providing experience for equal and mutually beneficial cooperation among Global South countries"

During this visit, President Xi Jinping and President el-Sisi had in-depth exchanges on the international situation and hotspot issues. President Xi Jinping put forward a four-point initiative on promoting the building of a new security architecture in the Middle East: stimulating the endogenous driving force for common security in the region, advancing comprehensive governance for common security in the region, consolidating the development foundation for common security in the region, and enhancing international coordination for common security in the region. President Xi Jinping pointed out that the Middle East has many hotspot issues with strong internal linkages, and comprehensive solutions should be sought.

"The four-point initiative put forward by President Xi Jinping provides a clear approach for the Middle East to emerge from conflict and turmoil," said Rajab, Egyptian co-director of the Confucius Institute at Suez Canal University. To achieve security in the Middle East, issues of development, poverty, and governance should be addressed simultaneously. "Security and development reinforce each other, and this is particularly important for the Middle East."

Sami Kamhawy said that the common positions formed by Egypt and China on issues such as peace, security, and development "send a very important message to the world: major countries with long civilizations should become a force for safeguarding peace and promoting development."

The joint statement emphasizes that the China-Egypt comprehensive strategic partnership is a model of cooperation among major developing countries based on mutual respect, non-interference in internal affairs, mutual benefit, common development, and solidarity with the Global South, which is conducive to promoting the development of the international order in a more just and reasonable direction. "Both Egypt and China are important members of the Global South and major developing countries with significant global and regional influence," said Derbik. Strengthened cooperation between the two countries can not only achieve their own development, "but also provide experience for equal and mutually beneficial cooperation among Global South countries."

(People's Daily, Cairo, September 4)

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Promoting More Pragmatic Outcomes in SCO Cooperation (International Forum)

By: 卡兹别克·梅格尔季诺夫

The Bishkek Summit is expected to inject new momentum into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's work of connecting the past with the future (承前启后, cheng qian qi hou - "inherit, before, open, after") and carrying forward the past and opening up a new path (继往开来, ji wang kai lai - "continue, past, open, future"), and to push cooperation in various fields within the SCO to keep reaching a new level of development (迈上新台阶, mai shang xin tai jie - "step, up, new, terrace").

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. From the "Shanghai Five" mechanism, which began as a means of strengthening confidence-building in border areas, to today's comprehensive regional organization covering security, economy, people-to-people exchanges, and other fields, the SCO has blazed a distinctive path of development, with its areas of cooperation continuously expanding, its international influence steadily rising, and the defining feature of practical cooperation growing ever more pronounced.

The SCO has always adhered to the principles of non-alignment and of not targeting any other country or international organization. It is an important supporting force in the process of world multipolarity and a major platform for Global South countries to coordinate interests and deepen cooperation. Although SCO member states differ in political systems, levels of development, and cultural traditions, they have maintained stable coordination over the past 25 years, consistently upholding principles such as mutual respect for independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and non-interference in each other's internal affairs. This is precisely where the value of the Shanghai Spirit lies.

The SCO Tianjin Summit held in 2025 was an important milestone in the organization's development. The summit approved the SCO Development Strategy for the Next 10 Years (2026–2035), made a series of arrangements concerning security mechanism building, the SCO Development Bank, and international cooperation on artificial intelligence, and set a clear long-term direction for development, marking the SCO's entry into a new stage in which institutional building and project implementation are given equal weight. The SCO Bishkek Summit is working to translate more of the consensus reached at the Tianjin Summit into tangible outcomes of practical cooperation.

The foundation of security cooperation is being consolidated, and the bottom line of regional stability is being firmly guarded. The SCO continues to improve relevant cooperation mechanisms, pushing the model of coordination to shift from ad hoc arrangements toward institutionalized and preventive cooperation, thereby building a solid institutional safeguard for regional peace and stability. SCO member states are continuously deepening connectivity building and smoothing the arteries of regional linkages. As an important transport hub on the Eurasian continent, Kazakhstan has in recent years continued to increase investment in transport and transit infrastructure, focusing on unlocking its locational advantages within the SCO framework. Key projects such as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route and the China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan railway are advancing steadily, and together with practical measures such as logistics digitalization and customs facilitation, they will continue to release the development dividends of regional connectivity.

SCO member states enjoy broad space for cooperation in such fields as transport, energy, green development, and digital technology. Digital technology can link up multiple fields including energy, transport, finance, and education, expanding room for growth in SCO multilateral cooperation and nurturing momentum for cooperation. Kazakhstan has designated 2026 as the "Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence" and is accelerating the improvement of relevant institutional rules and infrastructure, laying a solid foundation for the SCO to expand practical digital cooperation.

China is a founding member of the SCO and an important engine of regional economic cooperation, and it has always played a key role in the organization's development. As one of Kazakhstan's most important economic and trade partners, Kazakhstan–China cooperation has long maintained a sound momentum of stability and equality, and the areas of cooperation are expanding from traditional fields toward artificial intelligence, green energy, processing and manufacturing, and digital infrastructure. For Kazakhstan, deepening bilateral cooperation in a sustainable direction will not only expand the scale of trade but also create more local jobs, promote the localization of industry, and raise the added value of industry. This is also a vivid embodiment at the bilateral level of putting the SCO's cooperation philosophy into practice.

The 25th anniversary of the SCO is an important juncture for connecting the past with the future and carrying forward the past while opening up a new path. Looking ahead, we hope that all member states will further pool their strength and translate consensus into cooperation outcomes that are executable, guaranteed, and deliverable. The Bishkek Summit is expected to inject new momentum into this process and push cooperation in various fields within the SCO to keep reaching new levels of development.

(The author is Chairman of the Kazakhstan Association of Chinese Studies)

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“China’s Innovation Will Sustain Strong Momentum”（Witness·China’s Opportunities）

By: 本报记者 郭梓云

"The progress and achievements China has made in the field of science and technology are deeply impressive. In the pharmaceutical industry, China has grown from a 'fast follower' in the past into a developer of 'best-in-class' drugs in some fields, and has begun to advance toward becoming a pioneer of 'first-in-class' drugs and novel therapeutic technologies." Stefan Oelrich, member of the Board of Management of the German life-sciences enterprise Bayer Group and President of the Pharmaceuticals Division worldwide, said in a recent exclusive interview with our reporter, "We have always attached and will continue to attach extremely high importance to the Chinese market, and we look forward to working together in an advancing manner (携手并进, xie shou bing jin - "hold hands, together, advance") with our Chinese partners, using the power of innovation to enable health and well-being for everyone."

As one of the earliest foreign enterprises to enter China, Bayer has witnessed the rapid development of China's life-sciences sector. As of March this year, Bayer employs approximately 7,000 employees in China and has established four supply centers, five R&D centers,and innovation centers. "We recognized the importance of the Chinese market very early on and have always actively conducted business in China." Oelrich said, "As Bayer's second-largest market worldwide for prescription pharmaceuticals, China's market share continues to rise,and its development prospects are extremely broad."

In recent years, China's health undertaking has made steady and significant progress (长足发展, chang zu fa zhan - "long, foot, develop"), which has left a deep impression on Oelrich. "China's implementation of the 'Healthy China 2030' planning outline has achieved notable results. China is committed to continuously extending medical services from large cities to rural areas,and to promoting the extension of high-quality medical service resources toward the central and western regions, thereby raising the overall health level of the Chinese people." Oelrich stated that China continues to improve the accessibility and coverage of innovative drugs, creating long-term opportunities for the development of multinational pharmaceutical companies in China.

"In the pharmaceutical industry, people usually observe the development of the industry over cycles of 10 or even 20 years. Even 10 years ago, I would have found it hard to imagine that China would so rapidly grow into an important force in the global biomedical field." Oelrich said. In the outline of China's the 15th Five-Year Plan, biomedicine has been listed as a strategic emerging industry. "I have observed that when China includes a certain content into its Five-Year Plan, it will advance it with unswerving and resolute determination (坚定不移, jian ding bu yi - "firm, steady, not, move") and act swiftly. China's innovation will continue to maintain a strong momentum, which will provide more opportunities for Bayer to expand its cooperation in China."

More and more Chinese local innovations are gradually integrating into Bayer's global R&D system and product pipeline, enabling "Chinese innovation" to truly benefit people around the world. Oelrich told the reporter that in September 2024, Bayer's Co.Lab global co-creation platform was officially launched in Shanghai,and has so far attracted 12 local start-ups to join; in November 2025, the Bayer·Yizhuang Open Innovation Center was officially inaugurated in Beijing. The two form a highly synergistic "dual engine," which will accelerate the process of frontier technological innovation by promoting open cooperation in the biotechnology ecosystem.

"The attractiveness of the Chinese market is continuously strengthening, and Bayer will increase its investment in prescription pharmaceuticals in China in the future." Oelrich stated. In addition to building a sound commercial and manufacturing layout, greater emphasis must be placed on strengthening the construction of the R&D layout,and promoting the efficient transformation of academic research into pharmaceutical products. "We have already established long-term cooperative relationships with Tsinghua University, Peking University,and others,and will further deepen cooperation in the future." He said. The global influence of China's biomedical innovation is continuously rising; today, approximately one-third of innovative drugs in clinical development worldwide come from China, and in the future, more Chinese biomedical enterprises with international influence are expected to emerge. "Germany's advantage lies in the outstanding development in the field of basic science. As China's innovation capability grows, we look forward to establishing even closer ties with Chinese partners in the field of R&D." Oelrich said.

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"China Is Becoming the Engine and Pillar of Growth in the Asia-Pacific" (APEC China Year: Openness, Innovation, Cooperation)

By: 本报记者 褚 君

"This is a product I will write about in my report." At the "City of Manufacturing Aesthetics" themed exhibition in the lobby of the Dongguan Yingbin Hotel in Guangdong, Donovan Martin, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Canada's Daily News, picked up a foldable-screen phone made in China and said. He stated that China's manufacturing strength is formidable, underpinned by the powerful advantages of the entire industrial chain; China's total international patent applications and the number of papers published in high-level international journals have ranked among the world's top for many consecutive years, with innovation momentum continuously being unleashed.

As one of the series of events for the "China Year" of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Asia-Pacific Media High-Level Forum was held on September 5 in Shenzhen, Guangdong, under the theme "Building a Road to Shared Prosperity for the Asia-Pacific Community: Consensus and Action of the Media." From the 3rd to the 4th, some participating guests visited Dongguan and Shenzhen, experiencing firsthand the vigorous pulse of digital, intelligent, and green transformation.

Entering Dongguan DeRUCCI's 5G Smart Super Factory, the intelligent three-dimensional warehouse automatically delivers materials according to the schedule, and robotic arms operate with precision. Heru Andriyanto, Editor-in-Chief of Indonesia's The Jakarta Globe, expressed his hope that Indonesia and China will further strengthen technological cooperation, injecting vitality into the development of Indonesia's related industries.

At the OPPO campus in Dongguan Binhai Bay, participating guests visited the corporate exhibition hall, sports and health laboratory, and other facilities. Amjad Aziz Malik, Editor-in-Chief of Pakistan's Daily Standard, said: "China's development is worthy of in-depth observation and study. I hope my reports can facilitate more cooperation, allowing China's innovative achievements to further benefit Pakistan."

In the exhibition hall at BYD's headquarters in Shenzhen, inside a low-temperature chamber simulating an extreme cold environment of minus 30 degrees Celsius, the displayed vehicle was covered in ice crystals, yet charging continued to function normally. Sithu Min Thant, Editor of Myanmar's The Myanmar Herald, said: "China's technological innovation has achieved remarkable results." Aman Haq, Director of International Relations at Pakistan Television, marveled that he felt as if he had stepped into a "world of the future." Zhou Dan, President and Editor-in-Chief of Australia's The Perth Post, said: "The actual experience was even better than I expected; the technology is very advanced."

Shezra Haral, Pakistan's Minister of State for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, said, "In fields such as digitalization and artificial intelligence, China has already taken the lead in the world." In her view, a series of open cooperation initiatives such as the high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative have enabled all parties to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes (互利共赢, hu li gong ying - "mutual benefit, win-win").

"China is becoming the driving force and pillar of growth in the Asia-Pacific region." Surab Gupta, Senior Fellow at the Center for China-US Cooperation in the United States, said that on the basis of free trade, technological innovation will better enhance productivity and play an even more critical role in Asia-Pacific regional cooperation.

The Dongguan Sub-forum of the Asia-Pacific Media High-Level Forum was held on the 3rd at the OPPO campus in Binhai Bay. Approximately 180 Chinese and foreign guests from APEC economies, including representatives from government departments, mainstream media, experts and scholars, and enterprises, gathered around the theme "New Pathways for Asia-Pacific Transformation: Digitalization, Intelligence, and Greening," using Dongguan's practice as a sample of Chinese cities, to jointly discuss development pathways and cooperation opportunities for the Asia-Pacific manufacturing industry and jointly envision a new blueprint for building the Asia-Pacific community.

Rebecca Fanning, founder of Silicon Dragon in the United States, has long observed and studied China's technological innovation. In her view, China has gradually grown from a global production center into an important force in the field of intelligent manufacturing, and is at the forefront in terms of AI application and industrial synergy.

Nang Kham Le Yone, CEO of Myanmar's Asia Honor Media, said: "The media can extensively report on China's practical experience in green and low-carbon development and its new production and lifestyle models, helping all countries share in the dividends of the green transformation."

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China-SCO Port Economic Cooperation Center Inaugurated in Tianjin

(People's Daily, Tianjin, September 4) (Reporters Jin Bo, Li Jiading) The China-Shanghai Cooperation Organization Port Economic Cooperation Center (hereinafter referred to as the "SCO Port Economic Cooperation Center") was officially inaugurated on September 3 at the Tianjin International Trade and Shipping Service Center. Tianjin's open platforms serving SCO member states have been comprehensively upgraded, formally establishing a new pattern of "two platforms, two centers."

In terms of functional positioning and core tasks, the SCO Port Economic Cooperation Center focuses on three major areas, mainly including: continuously promoting innovation and upgrading of port clearance models, building the General Administration of Customs' "Smart Customs Construction and Cooperation Demonstration Site," actively exploring coordination and alignment of technical barriers to trade and mutual recognition of standards, and continuously raising the level of intelligence and convenience in cross-border clearance; continuously deepening opening-up and facilitation cooperation in the maritime sector, innovatively carrying out distinctive offshore ship registration business, comprehensively improving the quality and efficiency of foreign-related maritime government services, strictly building a solid safety barrier for maritime transport of dangerous goods, and ensuring the safety and smooth flow of international shipping lanes; promoting the agglomeration and quality improvement of port and shipping industry factors, elevating the development level of the Binhai New Area port and shipping industry agglomeration zone, and promoting the external export of port and shipping infrastructure construction and advanced operation and management technologies.

It is understood that Tianjin Customs has built a "Smart Customs Construction and Cooperation Demonstration Site" within the SCO Port Economic Cooperation Center, showcasing through multi-dimensional and comprehensive forms such as scenario-based displays, on-site experiences, and bilingual Chinese-English explanations, the real-world smart customs scenarios currently in application, including intelligent document review, intelligent inspection assistants, and smart logistics management and control, so as to promote international experience exchange with SCO member states on smart customs construction and cooperation in areas such as networked verification of inspection and quarantine electronic certificates.

According to statistics, in the first seven months of this year, the value of Tianjin's imports and exports with other SCO member states reached 29.54 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.6 percent.

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Saudi AI company launches Arabic large language model developed by Chinese firm

(Xinhua News Agency, Riyadh, September 4) (Reporters Luo Chen, Wang Haizhou) Saudi Arabian artificial intelligence company Human AI announced on the 3rd the launch of humain-m3, a cutting-edge Arabic large language model developed on commission from a Chinese artificial intelligence company.

According to Human AI's statement, humain-m3 is built on the MiniMax M3 model of the Chinese AI company MiniMax, is a mixture-of-experts model with 428 billion parameters, and underwent further pre-training using more than 1 trillion tokens of native Arabic content. Across seven public Arabic benchmark tests, humain-m3 achieved the highest average score among the frontier models tested, demonstrating relatively strong Arabic comprehension and reasoning capabilities.

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Symposium held in Beijing marking 70th anniversary of China Media Group's "Little Trumpet" program

(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 4) A symposium marking the 70th anniversary of the launch of the "Little Trumpet" (Xiaolaba) program of China Media Group was held in Beijing on the 4th. Li Shulei, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, attended the event, read out General Secretary Xi Jinping's congratulatory letter, and delivered a speech.

Participating representatives held that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has always been concerned about the healthy growth of children, interacting warmly with children every year, issuing a series of important instructions, and providing fundamental guidance for the development of the cause of children in the new era. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the launch of the "Little Trumpet" program, General Secretary Xi Jinping specifically sent a congratulatory letter, fully reflecting the Party Central Committee's warm concern for hundreds of millions of children, its high regard for children's literary and artistic work, and serving as a tremendous encouragement to the propaganda, ideological, and cultural front.

Participating representatives stated that they must thoroughly study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important congratulatory letter, implement the fundamental task of cultivating character and educating people (立德树人, li de shu ren - "establish virtue, nurture people"), give play to the role of using culture to transform and using culture to educate people, and cultivate socialist builders and successors who develop comprehensively in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor. They must carry forward the fine traditional Chinese culture, tap into red cultural resources, apply new technologies such as artificial intelligence, create more children's literary and artistic works with substance and childlike charm, and use the best spiritual nourishment to safeguard children's healthy growth. Party committees and governments at all levels, as well as families, schools, and society, must coordinate and cooperate, strengthen care and protection for minors, and foster a favorable environment in which the whole society jointly supports the development of the cause of children.

Responsible comrades from relevant central units, as well as heads of China Media Group, experts and scholars, program creators, and listener representatives, totaling more than 140 people, attended the meeting.

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Zhang Guoqing Attends and Addresses the Opening Ceremony of the 32nd APEC Ministerial Meeting on Small and Medium Enterprises

(Xinhua News Agency, Guangzhou, September 4) The 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting on Small and Medium Enterprises was held on September 4 in Guangzhou, Guangdong. Zhang Guoqing, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.

Zhang Guoqing stated that President Xi Jinping has profoundly pointed out that small and medium-sized enterprises are an important force in promoting innovation, facilitating employment, and improving people's livelihoods. Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, China has continuously improved its policies and measures to promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, steadily deepened practical cooperation with APEC economies, and jointly promoted the high-quality development of small and medium-sized enterprises. China is willing to work with all parties to actively implement the four global initiatives, continuously tap cooperation potential, jointly build an innovation ecosystem of synergy and connectivity, foster a fair and just market environment, establish an inclusive and universally beneficial service system, strengthen practical and effective regional cooperation, and work hand in hand to enable more small and medium-sized enterprises to grow and thrive, contributing positive strength to building an open, vibrant, resilient, and peaceful Asia-Pacific community.

During his stay in Guangdong, Zhang Guoqing also attended the opening ceremony of the 21st China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair and delivered a speech. He encouraged small and medium-sized enterprises to stay committed to their core business and improving one's own internal capabilities (苦练内功, ku lian nei gong - "bitterly, practice, internal, skill"), accelerate the cultivation of core technological capabilities and the creation of high-quality brands, and take the path of specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative development based on their own comparative advantages. China is willing to continuously strengthen trade exchanges, technological cooperation, and talent exchanges with all parties, and effectively ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises from various economies can operate with confidence and develop deeply in China.

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"15th Five-Year Plan": Maternity Insurance, Long-Term Care Insurance, and Medical Insurance Reimbursement to See These Changes (Authoritative Release · A Strong Start for the 15th Five-Year Plan)

By: 本报记者 孙秀艳

The State Council Information Office held a series of themed press conferences on September 4 under the banner "A Strong Start for the 15th Five-Year Plan" to brief the public on efforts to advance the high-quality development of medical insurance. Shi Zihai, deputy director of the National Healthcare Security Administration, stated that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, in the face of new circumstances such as changes in the population structure and disease spectrum, as well as the upgrading of public health needs, the medical insurance authorities will scientifically plan the development approach for the medical insurance sector and promote the reform and development of medical insurance.

Wang Wenjun, deputy director of the National Healthcare Security Administration, stated that the administration has continuously strengthened support for childbirth, and the benefits of maternity insurance have continued to be delivered to the people. As of now, the number of people covered by maternity insurance has reached 260 million; 193 coordinating regions in 22 provinces have included flexible employment personnel in coverage; 303 coordinating regions in 28 provinces have implemented "zero out-of-pocket payment" for individuals for hospital childbirth within the policy scope; all provinces have included appropriate assisted reproductive technologies in the scope of payment; and coverage of labor analgesia under medical insurance reimbursement has been fully realized. In the first seven months of this year, maternity insurance fund expenditures totaled 78.42 billion yuan, benefiting 25.56 million person-times, of which maternity allowance expenditures amounted to 60.78 billion yuan, with direct payment to individuals fully realized.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the maternity insurance system will continue to be improved to better support the building of a childbirth-friendly society. Vigorous efforts will be made to promote the simultaneous participation in maternity insurance of flexible employment personnel, migrant workers, and workers in new forms of employment who participate in employee medical insurance; the level of protection for prenatal examinations will be reasonably raised; and efforts will be made to basically achieve "zero out-of-pocket payment" for individuals for hospital childbirth within the policy scope.

With regard to the long-term care insurance system, Wang Wenjun stated that as of now, 22 provinces have issued provincial implementation plans, the number of coordinating regions that have established the system has reached 121, and it is expected that by the end of this year the number of coordinating regions nationwide will expand to 247. The number of insured persons exceeds 320 million, cumulative fund expenditures have reached 114.2 billion yuan, and nursing services have been provided to more than 4.6 million persons with disabilities. The number of designated long-term care service institutions nationwide has reached 13,000, ten times the number at the initial stage of the pilot program, with approximately 400,000 related nursing service personnel and more than 70,000 long-term care specialists trained. It is estimated that long-term care insurance has driven nearly 70 billion yuan in social capital investment into related industries such as nursing services.

In accordance with the deployment of the 15th Five-Year Plan outline, the long-term care insurance system will shift from accelerating institutional establishment to comprehensive implementation. By the end of 2028, the long-term care insurance system should basically achieve full coverage nationwide, and the expansion of coverage from employees to urban and rural residents will be accelerated. A unified national disability level assessment standard will be improved, and policies for enjoying long-term care insurance benefits across different places of residence will be accelerated and improved. Coordination will be ensured between long-term care insurance and subsidies for economically disadvantaged elderly persons with disabilities, as well as nursing subsidies for persons with severe disabilities.

In 2025, the number of flexible employment and other personnel participating in employee medical insurance increased by 5.54 percent year-on-year. Huang Huabo, deputy director of the National Healthcare Security Administration, stated that the vast majority of megacities have lifted household registration restrictions on participation in medical insurance for flexible employment personnel; 337 coordinating regions have opened the cross-provincial mutual assistance function for personal accounts; and in industries such as food delivery and express delivery, active exploration is underway regarding methods for workers in new forms of employment to participate in insurance and pay contributions.

Recently, the National Healthcare Security Administration and other departments jointly issued a notice on special actions, focusing on the characteristics of flexible employment personnel's frequent changes in work and place of residence, and launching a series of measures: continuing to promote the full elimination of household registration restrictions on participation in insurance at the place of employment and place of habitual residence in megacities; encouraging localities to include flexible employment personnel and others in the scope of maternity insurance coverage, with contributions paid and benefits enjoyed in accordance with regulations; exploring the conversion of consecutive years of contributions to resident medical insurance into local employee medical insurance, with the conversion ratio commensurate with local financing levels; ensuring the smooth connection of medical insurance relations for flexible employment personnel to guarantee the smooth continuation of benefits; implementing monthly contribution payment for flexible employment personnel participating in employee medical insurance, exploring flexible payment models of quarterly, semi-annual, and annual advance payment; and promoting platform enterprises to adopt appropriate contribution payment methods for eligible workers participating in employee medical insurance.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, how will active efforts be made to ensure that pharmaceutical innovation achievements better benefit the broad masses of the people?

Li Tao, deputy director of the National Healthcare Security Administration, stated that on the basis of adhering to "guaranteeing basic needs," the medical insurance authorities will support differentiated innovation, encourage pharmaceutical enterprises to research and develop more new and better drugs, and also develop more new equipment and new technologies.

More new drugs will be promoted into the medical insurance catalog and made reimbursable. The annual dynamic adjustment of the basic medical insurance drug catalog will continue to be upheld, and more innovative drugs in key fields such as oncology, rare diseases, and chronic diseases that meet the conditions will be included in the scope of reimbursement. The catalog of innovative drugs under commercial health insurance will be optimized and improved, and through the dual protection of "basic medical insurance plus commercial health insurance," the economic burden on families of patients with serious illnesses will be reduced.

"We will promote the nationwide unification and equalization of medical insurance medical service items." Li Tao said that the basic medical insurance drug catalog has already been unified nationwide, and during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, efforts will be focused on promoting the nationwide unification of the reimbursement catalogs for medical service items and medical consumables, further narrowing the differences in reimbursement policies between regions.

Li Tao introduced that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, efforts will also be made to promote the rapid entry of pharmaceutical innovation achievements into clinical practice and their early application. On the one hand, the establishment of pricing items for medical services will be accelerated, and for new technologies and new services with clinical value, the approval cycle will be shortened to promote the early entry of innovation achievements into clinical use. On the other hand, the working mechanism for special-case single-item discussion by medical institutions will be implemented, eliminating worries about future problems (后顾之忧, hou gu zhi you - "behind, back, concern, worry") for hospitals in admitting patients with difficult and complicated diseases and applying innovative therapies.

"In the future, we will continue to strengthen fund supervision, carry out routine fund flight inspections, daily inspections, and intelligent supervision, and severely crack down on insurance fraud to ensure the safety of medical insurance funds." Shi Zihai said that relevant departments will deepen the "efficient completion of one matter" initiative in the medical insurance field, comprehensively deepen convenient payment, and realize the mutual assistance use of personal accounts under employee medical insurance.

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Overseas Spending in China Up 27.8% in First Seven Months

(People's Daily, Beijing, September 4) (Reporter Luo Shanshan) The reporter recently learned from the Ministry of Commerce: from January to July this year, overseas individuals spent 263.6 billion yuan in China, a year-on-year increase of 27.8%, and the number of overseas tourists who handled tax refunds on departure increased by more than three times year-on-year.

National-trend brands are gaining prominence, and consumer choices are expanding. More and more national-trend brands and smart products are entering foreign tourists' "must-buy lists." For example, "Shanghai Customization," which highlights product design and manufacturing that meet consumers' personalized needs, covers fields such as clothing, jewelry, watches, and eyewear. Many foreign tourists come specifically for customization, accounting for more than 50%. Foldable phones, AI (artificial intelligence) glasses, smart bracelets, and other products have become the "new favorites" of foreign tourists.

Services continue to upgrade, and consumption scenarios are improving. Since last year, the Ministry of Commerce, together with the Ministry of Finance, has carried out work on building an internationalized consumption environment, supporting 15 pilot cities in enriching high-quality consumption supply and improving service levels. Shenzhen, Guangdong, has created a number of new international consumption landmarks, improved multilingual signage, and optimized payment services.

Tax refunds on departure are becoming more efficient, and the consumption experience is better. On July 1, the small-amount spot-check system and paperless processing under the 2.0 version of the departure tax refund policy were implemented, making tax refunds more convenient for overseas tourists and customs clearance smoother. Localities have also actively innovated in their work measures. Beijing's first online departure tax refund store has been established, and cities such as Guangzhou, Guangdong, Chongqing, and Chengdu, Sichuan, have also created a number of "buy now, refund now" centralized refund points.

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Photo Report

Recently, at the Qinhuangdao Port area in Hebei, workers were charging a new-energy locomotive. The port has been continuously promoting the green transformation of its railway transport capacity, retrofitting and introducing multiple new-energy locomotives for cargo transport operations within the port area. Each locomotive can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 330 tons per year and save comprehensive costs of over 2.4 million yuan.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Shiyao

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Never Forget the Original Aspiration, No Distance Too Far

By: 本报记者 杜尚泽 胡泽曦 新华社记者 郝薇薇 杨依军

From August 30 to September 2, the flight path from Beijing, China, to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to Cairo, Egypt, traced a magnificent arc across the two continents of Asia and Africa.

Porcelain and silk crossed the seas; brocade and embroidery flowed through the sands. The ancient Silk Road, stretching over a thousand years, once bound the two countries visited on this trip closely to China, which borders the Pacific Ocean. Today, what binds them to China is respect, trust, and cooperation.

President Xi Jinping's trip to Central Asia and the Middle East, with its rich themes and fruitful outcomes, is it not a vivid portrayal of the full of vitality (生机盎然, sheng ji ang ran - "life, spring, abundant") of major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics?

The first leg: a state visit to Kyrgyzstan, jointly building permanent good-neighborly friendship and friendship for generations, pulling China-Central Asia cooperation toward further deepening;

The second leg: attending the Bishkek Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, pushing the regional organization to embark on a new journey and demonstrate greater role in reforming and improving global governance;

The third leg: a state visit to Egypt, advancing the building of the China-Egypt community with a shared future, once again contributing Chinese solutions to achieving long-term peace and stability in the Middle East.

Time records the sense of responsibility of the leader of a major party and major country in bravely shouldering historical responsibility and actively steering the course of history. Placing this trip against the grand tapestry of the times, what comes into view includes the in full swing or very intense (如火如荼, ru huo ru tu - "like, fire; like, tea") high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, the remarkable rise of the Global South, the irreversible trend toward a multipolar world, and the turbulent and dramatic circumstances (风云激荡, feng yun ji dang - "wind, cloud; surge, stir") of the accelerating transformation of a century not seen in a century.

In autumn, the journey of major-country diplomacy spans ten thousand miles, with its sights set on both China and the world. Examining the times, weighing the subtlest of trends. The myriad scenes of Chinese modernization, the strategic planning of both domestic and international situations, and the vivid practice of building a community with a shared future for mankind, all lie in this journey pursued day and night without pause.

The China-Kyrgyzstan moment: "Relatives wish each other well; neighbors wish each other well"

"This is my third time setting foot on this beautiful land." In his signed article, President Xi Jinping recounted the depth of time with measured words.

At the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, in the Chu River Valley, this ancient land retains the weathered imprints of the cities of Suyab and Balasagun, and also echoes with the footsteps of civilization seekers such as Zhang Qian and Xuanzang.

On the afternoon of August 30 local time, under a blazing sun, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov and his wife rushed to the airport to welcome the distinguished Chinese guests arriving from afar.

"When you come here, it is like coming home." The warm host had prepared a welcome ceremony full of nomadic cultural characteristics at the airport:

The ancient komuz music soared, golden eagles perched with folded wings on the arms of their handlers, armored cavalry on horseback stood in solemn formation... President Xi Jinping and his wife smiled as they accepted the snow leopard plush toys presented by the children.

From the airport to the hotel, wherever the eye could see along the way, the scenes of the last visit seven years ago were still vividly etched in one's memory (历历在目, li li zai mu - "clear, clear; at, eye"), while Bishkek's cityscape had taken on a completely new look. Bridges, roads, Confucius Institutes, Luban Workshops — all bearing the sweat of Chinese strivers.

Amid the busy schedule before the SCO summit was about to open, President Japarov extended the highest courtesy, accompanying President Xi Jinping throughout the entire state visit, vividly demonstrating what it means to interact with trust and treat each other with sincerity.

On the first day of arrival, a small-group talk was held at the presidential residence — the first time President Japarov had invited a foreign head of state to his residence; the next day, cannons boomed in Harmony Square, in-depth talks were held in the meeting hall, and applause thundered at the signing ceremony.

Interacting with sincerity of heart, one achieves lasting bonds.

In recent years, China-Kyrgyzstan relations have shown "acceleration": in 2018, the China-Kyrgyzstan comprehensive strategic partnership was established; in 2023, a comprehensive strategic partnership for a new era was defined. This time, a joint declaration on a comprehensive strategic partnership for high-quality development in the new era was produced, with broader areas of cooperation, more concrete measures, and higher quality.

President Japarov praised, "Kyrgyzstan's most precious advantage is being a neighbor of China" and "the bilateral relations have entered a golden period, at the highest level in history." President Xi Jinping shared the same sentiment, "In recent years, bilateral cooperation has ushered in a 'golden period' of rapid development."

At the signing ceremony, another document was also inscribed in the annals of history.

President Xi Jinping once said: "China and Kyrgyzstan are as close as lips and teeth, sharing weal and woe. Our greatest wish for the bilateral relationship is lasting good-neighborly friendship and friendship for generations."

During this trip, the Treaty on Permanent Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between China and Kyrgyzstan was formally signed, cementing the two sides' vision of friendship for generations in legal form. This also means that, no matter how the international situation may surge in the future, China-Kyrgyzstan relations will be predictable and guaranteed.

President Japarov praised this move as "opening broader prospects for bilateral relations." He said with deep emotion: "Dear elder brother, China has always been a priority direction of Kyrgyzstan's foreign policy, and is Kyrgyzstan's closest friend and most reliable partner."

The freshly signed story of China-Kyrgyzstan cooperation provides the latest sample for understanding current China-Central Asia relations.

Thirty-four years ago, when China first established diplomatic relations with Central Asian countries, the bilateral relations were like a surging river. Since then, "the bilateral relations have achieved a historic leap from good-neighborly friendship to strategic partnership, and then to a community with a shared future," reflecting the strength of both sides' willingness to move toward each other and the depth of their sincerity.

Central Asian countries yearn for connectivity. More than a decade ago, the initiative to build the "Silk Road Economic Belt" began with Central Asia. From "freehand brushwork" to "fine brushwork," vast deserts like smoke, crescent moons like hooks, reaching to the heavens and into the earth, connecting rivers and seas, unfolding a magnificent picture scroll of the times.

The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway carries so much expectation! High mountains and deep valleys, bridges and tunnels, excavators and transport vehicles... This "major transportation artery" carrying the development hopes of the people of the region is a "new demonstration project" of Belt and Road cooperation.

During the visit, President Xi Jinping repeatedly mentioned this "major undertaking," emphasizing the need to "build it with high quality," while also implementing the modernization of ports and deepening "soft connectivity" in systems, standards, and rules.

President Japarov once vividly pointed out that the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway is as indispensable to Kyrgyzstan as air and water. During the talks, he further expressed the hope that it would become a "Steel Silk Road" of the new era and a new bond of Kyrgyz-Chinese friendship.

"Relatives wish each other well; neighbors wish each other well." During this visit, President Xi Jinping once again quoted this ancient saying to explain how China gets along with its neighbors.

In April 2025, the first Central Conference on Work Relating to Neighborhoods since the founding of New China was held. Neighborhoods are like lips and teeth, like hands and feet. China treats its neighbors with amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness (亲诚惠容), upholding the belief that "a good neighbor is worth more than gold."

The great path is simple; actions speak louder than words. Since last year, President Xi Jinping has visited neighboring countries on six consecutive trips abroad. This extraordinary attention is based on a profound judgment of the "deep interlinkage between the neighborhood landscape and global changes," and further demonstrates a steady and composed ability to observe and harness trends amid the storms of the times.

The SCO moment: "In the governance of the world, without progress, there is regression"

Looking back 25 years, amid the turbulent currents of the era, the birth of the SCO was hailed as "a major event that changed the global strategic landscape."

On the morning of September 1 local time, at the Palace of Happiness in Bishkek, the 26th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization opened.

Examining the development of the SCO, there are two time spans.

One span: the SCO has traversed twenty-five years.

Through arduous journeys, the "SCO family" has expanded from 6 founding member states to 27 countries across Asia, Europe, and Africa, bringing together the development synergy of nearly half of the world's population and one-quarter of the world's economic output.

In this important year of building on the past and opening the future, President Xi Jinping used three "mosts" in his speech at the summit to summarize its extraordinary journey:

"The most significant development achievement is having gradually become a new type of regional cooperation organization with the largest territory, the largest population, and enormous development potential in the world";

"The most precious spiritual asset is the pioneering proposal and consistent adherence to the 'Shanghai Spirit' of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for the diversity of civilizations, and pursuit of common development";

"The most important cooperation experience is having found the correct way of coexistence without alliance, without confrontation, and without targeting any third party, promoting regional countries to jointly build a common home."

Growing and strengthening along the way is not only a vast geographical connection, but also openness and inclusiveness toward different civilizations and different development paths, and a commitment to the original aspiration that must not be forgotten no matter how far one travels.

The other time span: one year has passed since the Tianjin Summit.

The Tianjin Summit, bearing abundant fruits or results (硕果盈枝, shuo guo ying zhi - "heavy, fruit; full, branch"), set the coordinates for the "SCO family" for the next 10 years. This time, at the signing ceremony of the Bishkek Summit, pens swept across the paper in unison, and the implementation of the outcomes of the Tianjin Summit is being accelerated.

"Implementing the tasks and goals set forth in the SCO Development Strategy for the Next 10 Years (2026-2035)" was written into the Bishkek Declaration on the 25th Anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization; the SCO Charter was revised on the basis of the outcomes of the Tianjin Summit.

On the day of the Bishkek Summit, the "List of Outcomes of China's Actions to Promote the Development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization" was released. 153 items! The weighty "early harvest" has brought tangible benefits to all parties.

Looking at the SCO's role in the times, there are two guiding forces.

From "dual-wheel drive" development to "multi-track parallel progress," President Xi Jinping has a profound insight: "Standing at a crossroads concerning the future and destiny of humanity, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization should bravely shoulder historical responsibility and actively lead the course of history."

One is to demonstrate the SCO's exemplary role in implementing the four major global initiatives.

Empowering SCO cooperation with "China's initiatives," and then empowering global governance with "SCO actions." At this summit, President Xi Jinping seized the moment to put forward new expectations for the SCO:

"A priority region for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and the implementation of the Global Development Initiative";

"An important platform for implementing the Global Security Initiative";

"Working with all parties to implement the Global Civilization Initiative";

"Carrying out exemplary cooperation on implementing the Global Governance Initiative"...

This has injected new momentum into the SCO's rise toward becoming a globally leading force. President Japarov said with deep feeling: "The series of major global initiatives proposed by President Xi Jinping help the entire world jointly address pressing challenges and problems."

The other is to contribute the SCO's shaping power to advancing the multipolarization process.

"Those who desire grain must attend to the seasons; those who desire governance must follow the trends." Looking ahead, the Global South is growing remarkably, driving profound adjustments in the international balance of power, and the trend toward a multipolar world is irreversible.

This year's "SCO Plus" meeting focused on strengthening the role of the United Nations and building a multipolar world, which is also a positive response to the proposition President Xi Jinping put forward at the Tianjin Summit last year — "The Shanghai Cooperation Organization should play a leading role and set an example in implementing the Global Governance Initiative."

At the meeting, President Xi Jinping systematically elaborated on the core essence of an equal and orderly multipolar world:

"Sovereign equality and mutual respect are the fundamental principles";

"Balance, order, and rule of law are the inevitable requirements";

"Multilateralism, dialogue, and consultation are the key paths";

"Mutual benefit, win-win, inclusiveness, and shared benefits are the direction of development."

He further called for: driving the prosperity and common development of the Eurasian continent with "SCO strength," promoting the growth and strengthening of the Global South with "SCO wisdom," and leading the reform and improvement of global governance with "SCO actions."

Taking notes and nodding in approval, Chinese solutions sparked recognition and admiration in the venue. Host President Japarov's remarks voiced the sentiments of many: "We thank President Xi Jinping for his insightful speech and important suggestions. We highly appreciate your personal contribution and the important role China plays in strengthening the SCO's institutional building and expanding its international cooperation."

The day before the summit, at the hotel where President Xi Jinping was staying, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh, and President of Russia Vladimir Putin successively entered the meeting hall.

Further deepening bilateral relations, further strengthening multilateral coordination, jointly meeting challenges and sharing opportunities — old friends meeting again felt especially warm.

President Mirziyoyev remarked: "Under your wise leadership, China is firmly and confidently responding to global challenges, continuously consolidating its position as one of the most important centers of power in the world economy and politics. As an outstanding leader with global influence and a practitioner of the great dream of the Chinese people, you enjoy widespread prestige and respect around the world."

Following the great path, the world comes together.

The China-Egypt moment: "When one finds the right way of friendship, even a thousand miles apart, hearts are united"

As if it were an appointment made across mountains and seas, President Xi Jinping set foot on Egyptian soil again after 10 years, exactly fulfilling the local ancient proverb "Those who have drunk the water of the Nile will surely return."

Yet it is also a necessity of historical logic. The China-Egypt bilateral relationship, which has consistently set "models" and "examples" along the way, is destined to walk hand in hand on the path of writing new history and embark on a new journey together.

On the evening of September 1 local time, as the sunset glow dyed the sky red, President Xi Jinping and his wife arrived in Cairo by special plane. The Cairo Tower was lit up in brilliant "China Red." President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his wife personally went to the airport to welcome them. The itinerary for this visit was also personally designed by President el-Sisi.

The scenes of the visit 10 years ago are still fresh in memory, and the cooperation blueprints drawn up then have long since been realized. The China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone is bursting with vitality, the tallest building in Africa is affectionately called the "new pyramid," and Egyptian fresh oranges were among the first African products to enter the Chinese market after China implemented zero tariffs on African countries with diplomatic relations...

These 10 years have also been 10 years of accelerated evolution in the international and regional situation. Through comparison and reflection amid the storms, the Egyptian people have come to see more clearly who is a sincere partner worthy of trust and who is a reliable friend sharing weal and woe. With its course not deviating, its quality not diminishing, and its momentum not weakening, the China-Egypt relationship has maintained its composure amid international vicissitudes, demonstrating a firm belief in sharing a common destiny.

On the morning of September 2, at the Qasr el-Qubba Palace in Cairo, new history was written.

"I would like to extend a warm welcome to my good friend; this is a historic visit." Sitting down in the meeting hall, President el-Sisi opened the conversation. He recounted Egypt's journey as the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic relations with New China and to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership with China, praised the qualitative leap in bilateral relations, and expressed his willingness to continue working to promote greater development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

Seventy years of trials and tribulations. President Xi Jinping vividly summarized the distinctive features of China-Egypt relations: "equality and mutual trust, friendship and mutual learning, solidarity and cooperation, and win-win cooperation."

Through the washing of time, the friendship has grown deeper. His gaze turned toward the longer-term future: "Facing the intertwined and turbulent international and regional situation, the two countries should support each other, deepen cooperation, and continuously advance the building of the China-Egypt community with a shared future."

Currently, China and Arab countries are advancing the building of the China-Arab community with a shared future as a whole. And like a key piece in a panoramic picture, the building of the China-Egypt community with a shared future once again demonstrates its strategic, leading, and exemplary nature.

President el-Sisi listened attentively and warmly responded to President Xi Jinping's propositions. The joint statement on further deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Egypt included this sentence: "Committed to advancing the building of the China-Egypt community with a shared future."

Through arduous journeys, despite countless rivers and mountains or great distances (万水千山, wan shui qian shan - "ten thousand, water; thousand, mountain"), they have firmly moved toward each other. As President Xi Jinping said in his signed article on the eve of the visit, "When one finds the right way of friendship, even a thousand miles apart, hearts are united."

The "way" is the way of getting along between countries, encompassing a country's views on development, order, governance, and civilization. One important focus of the international community's attention on this trip is the view of this pivotal Eastern power on the current situation in the Middle East.

Ten years ago, also in Cairo, President Xi Jinping stood at the podium of the headquarters of the League of Arab States and delivered that historic speech. "To resolve differences, the key is to strengthen dialogue"; "to solve difficult problems, the key is to accelerate development"; "in choosing a path, the key is to suit national conditions" — these three propositions gave China's answer to the "Question of the Middle East."

In recent years, a new round of turmoil has emerged in the Middle East; old wounds have not yet healed, and new rifts are spreading. For the sake of peace, China's attitude is clear and its position is unambiguous: "China supports regional countries in developing good-neighborly and friendly relations, upholds the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, and works to build a new security architecture in the Middle East."

Regarding the promotion of building a "new security architecture in the Middle East," President Xi Jinping put forward four proposals —

"Stimulating the internal driving force of regional common security," answering the fundamental question of who maintains security in the Middle East;

"Advancing comprehensive governance of regional common security," grasping the key to unlocking the crux of Middle East problems;

"Consolidating the development foundation of regional common security," pointing out the fundamental way to achieve long-term peace and stability;

"Strengthening international coordination for regional common security," setting the code of conduct for the international community's involvement in Middle East affairs.

This is another contribution of Chinese solutions by President Xi Jinping to achieving long-term peace and stability for the overall situation in the Middle East, following his four propositions on maintaining and promoting peace and stability in the Middle East and his four principles on promoting the resolution of the Palestinian question.

President el-Sisi attached great importance to China's constructive solutions: "Egypt is willing to continue strengthening coordination with China to ease the situation in the Middle East, maintain stability in the Middle East, and explore a regional security architecture."

The previous day, in Bishkek, President Xi Jinping had also emphasized "an equal and orderly multipolar world." International media paid close attention, interpreting item by item important propositions such as "opposing interference by external forces" and "rejecting double standards," and among the conclusions drawn, China was called a stabilizer that "does not seek geopolitical self-interest and does not engage in bloc confrontation," and a pragmatist that "explores ways to resolve hotspot issues with Chinese characteristics." The world increasingly welcomes China's "diplomacy of certainty."

A journey of ten thousand miles: the hearts of the people, the interests of the world

Why, in today's world of highly developed technology and information, amid a tense and busy domestic schedule, is it still necessary to travel thousands of miles to keep a face-to-face appointment?

The answer lies not only in the tacit understanding of intimate conversations, not only in the skillful command of the situation, but also in letting the world see, through the diplomatic lens, China's historical responsibility as a reliable partner and responsible major country in joining hands with all countries for development and revitalization and in reforming and improving global governance.

"Taking the hearts of the people as one's own heart, and the interests of the world as one's own interest." This is the profound impression President Xi Jinping's trip to Central Asia and the Middle East left on the world in the late summer of 2026.

Several details are worth pondering.

One is the new additions to the list of opportunities.

Practice has repeatedly proven that China's opportunities are also opportunities for the world. Beyond traditional areas such as trade, energy, and agriculture, new blue oceans of cooperation are emerging one after another, with fields continuously expanding.

President Japarov happily spoke of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, which Kyrgyzstan had recently formally joined, telling President Xi Jinping: "This organization was founded under your leadership and is of great significance."

President Mirziyoyev suggested during the SCO summit: "The SCO should establish a partnership with the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization initiated by President Xi Jinping."

The latest cooperation documents signed between China and Egypt also cover areas such as the digital economy and science and technology, with artificial intelligence being a major highlight.

Over the years, China's impressive achievements in scientific and technological development have repeatedly amazed the world. China, standing at the forefront of the tide, has tempered its resilience in the storms and won more companions walking side by side.

One is a new perspective on mutual learning among civilizations.

Each civilization is beautiful in its own way; together, they create a world of shared beauty. Equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness — this is the view of civilization that the times call for.

On this trip to Central Asia and the Middle East, the Grand Egyptian Museum, hailed as a "monument to civilization," was the final stop. Looking back to 2000, Comrade Xi Jinping, then working in Fujian, visited Egypt for the first time, exploring the mysteries along the banks of the Nile, the cradle of civilization. Ten years ago in Luxor, starlight fell upon the thousand-year-old temples, and the echoes of dialogue between two great ancient civilizations resonated long among the colonnades.

Entering the Grand Egyptian Museum, the colossal statue of Ramesses II stands majestically. Ascending the escalator, stone carvings, inscribed pillars, and temple pinnacles are arranged in order, like an epic of dynasties. At the end of the escalator, the adjacent pyramid complex seems framed within the glass curtain wall. Modern design and thousand-year-old monuments overlap, telling the story of the brilliance and vicissitudes along the Nile.

President Xi Jinping paused frequently to observe closely. In the two-way convergence of Chinese civilization and ancient Egyptian civilization, he explored the mutual understanding and affinity between the two peoples. He said that China-Egypt friendship is not only cooperation between the two countries, but also a dialogue between two great civilizations. How magnificent it is for two great ancient civilizations to join hands in advancing toward modernization.

From the schedule of President Xi Jinping's wife, Peng Liyuan, one can also feel the imprints of civilization everywhere. At the National Historical Museum of the Kyrgyz Republic, appreciating the quiet and subtle continuity of civilization; in Bishkek, attending the collective event for spouses at the SCO summit, strolling through the Kyrgyzstan national culture exhibition, pondering the exchange and mutual learning among different civilizations; in Cairo, visiting a small handicrafts exhibition, reflecting on cultural heritage and innovative development amid the changes of the times...

Observing from a broader perspective. Chinese modernization, a new form of civilization distinctly different from Western civilization, draws rich nourishment from the Chinese civilization that has continued for five thousand years at every step of its advancement, and also radiates stronger vitality through the mutual learning among civilizations that embraces all rivers and seeks harmony without uniformity.

Taking the hearts of the people as one's own heart — here lies the foundation of civilization.

Throughout the journey of ten thousand miles, there has been constant concern for the disaster-stricken area of Gyirong in Tibet. Many foreign dignitaries extended their deep condolences, and President Xi Jinping said with deep emotion that the Chinese Party and government are making every effort to carry out search and rescue for missing persons at home and abroad, the transfer and resettlement of affected people, the treatment of the injured, and the prevention of secondary disasters, and have also provided emergency assistance to Nepal. China has the capability and confidence to overcome the disaster and rebuild homes.

During the talks, President Japarov spoke frankly: "I admire the brilliant development achievements China has made under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, and am willing to learn from China's experience in governance, especially President Xi Jinping's sentiment of 'I will serve the people with all my heart and never let them down.'" This admiration reflects the resonance of the times in China's governance today.

Taking the interests of the world as one's own interest — here lies the texture of civilization.

Building a community with a shared future for mankind and the four major global initiatives once again became high-frequency terms during this trip. Countries with different systems and at different stages of development from China have nonetheless chosen to "endorse" and "participate." This choice is not an expedient measure, but is based on a clear judgment of the trends of the times.

Viewing the Global Development Initiative through the lens of "the people as the foundation of the state," the Global Security Initiative through "harmonizing all nations," the Global Civilization Initiative through "harmony without uniformity," and the Global Governance Initiative through the concept of the world belonging to all (天下为公, tian xia wei gong - "heaven, earth; for, public"), the traditional Chinese view of the world has been endowed with new contemporary connotations, and has also given new brilliance to the Marxist theory of world history.

A China striving forward, cherishing the future of humanity and mindful of the well-being of the people. "With the original aspiration unchanged, no distance is too far to be reached; with unwavering determination, no difficulty is too great to be overcome." What she brings to the world is not only the certain force to navigate through the storms before us, but also the conviction and hope for building a better future.

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In Gyirong, Hearing These Powerful Voices (On-Site Special Report)

Bianba, Party Branch Secretary of Labi Village, Sale Township

"I Must Lead Everyone Forward"

People's Daily reporters Shen Tongrui, Qiongda Zhuoga, Song Haoxin

When arranging an interview with Bianba, he was somewhat reluctant, because "there are quite a lot of things to do at the resettlement site."

Bianba is the Party Branch Secretary of Labi Village, Sale Township, Gyirong County, Tibet. The village is located five or six kilometers northeast of the Gyirong Port. On the afternoon of August 26, when the mudslide disaster occurred, he led the villagers to evacuate to the township, and they were later resettled in Jipu Village, more than 1 kilometer south of Gyirong Town.

When reporters arrived at the resettlement site at noon, a group of people was carrying boxes of food inside. Beside the gate, a bright red Party flag fluttered in the wind. On the other side hung a banner reading: "Jipu Village Resettlement Site Party Member Vanguard Service Point — If You Have Difficulties, Turn to the Organization."

As we were looking, Bianba arrived. Around 40 years old, lean, wearing a black jacket and jeans, with a tired look on his face, but moving briskly.

"You said there are many things to do today — what are you busy with?"

Bianba ran through his to-do list; they all seemed like trivial and insignificant matters (鸡毛蒜皮, ji mao suan pi - "chicken, feather, garlic, onion skin"):

In the morning, at noon, and in the evening, distributing meals to villagers together with other village committee cadres; visiting each household at the resettlement site, chatting, and learning about the villagers' thoughts and difficulties; contacting medical personnel for elderly people who feel unwell; calling the village cadres who stayed behind in Labi Village to manage the villagers' assets on their behalf, to learn about the situation in the village...

Bianba said that although these seem like small matters, they are in fact the most important concerns in the hearts of the villagers.

Watching Bianba go about his work with bustling and energetic (风风火火, feng feng huo huo - "wind, wind, fire, fire") vigor, chatting gently with villagers, and soothing the emotions of the elderly, it was hard to believe that this man before us had himself lost a family member in the mudslide disaster.

"I am sad too, but as Party Branch Secretary, I must lead everyone forward," Bianba said.

What gratified him most was the recognition of the masses. Seeing the village cadres running back and forth these past days, villager Duoji remarked with emotion: "With them here, we feel at ease."

Yuan Yunxing, Emergency Rescue Survey Expert

"Striving to Build a Safety Defense Line for the Rescue"

People's Daily reporter Song Haoxin

On August 29, upon learning that the second batch of rescue personnel was about to head to the Gyirong mudslide disaster area, Yuan Yunxing, Deputy Squadron Leader of the National Work Safety Emergency Rescue Survey Team, volunteered for the mission and prepared his equipment overnight. The next day, Yuan Yunxing flew from Chengdu, Sichuan to Lhasa, Tibet, and headed straight to the front line, braving the risk of falling rocks from the mountains.

On August 31, Yuan Yunxing arrived at the rescue site and began surveying locations for equipment deployment. The area where the mudslide occurred is crisscrossed with ravines and gullies, with surrounding glaciers, glacial lakes, and geological hazard risks intertwined. Yuan Yunxing and his teammates carried slope radar, drones, and other equipment to survey six high-risk landslide points along National Highway 216.

"These hazard points have steep slopes and high cliffs with fragmented rock masses, posing a serious threat to rescue safety. We use high-precision slope radar to capture subtle displacements of the landslide body around the clock, striving to build a safety defense line for the rescue." Yuan Yunxing has participated in support work for many major rescue operations and is highly experienced.

In Gyirong, Yuan Yunxing is responsible for monitoring data collection, aggregation, and information dissemination, which requires continuous duty shifts. "When I came, I was already prepared to hold the front line and fight continuously," Yuan Yunxing said.

To safeguard the safety of rescue personnel, experts from multiple departments work in close coordination, setting up warning signs and cordon lines at high-risk points for secondary disasters, and establishing manual observation posts to ensure that any risk can be detected, warned of, and handled at the first moment it appears.

After the road to the Gyirong Port was opened, search and rescue operations by all parties were fully rolled out.

In the darkness of night, data curves on the monitoring station screen kept jumping. Yuan Yunxing and his teammates kept a close eye on every subtle change, safeguarding the safety of every rescue worker.

(People's Daily Online reporter Zhao Zule participated in the writing)

Wu Yanfang, Catering Industry Volunteer

"I Want to Do Something for Them"

People's Daily reporter Shen Tongrui

As rescue personnel lined up to receive their meals, a question occurred to the reporter: Where did all these boxed meals come from?

A local cadre said that part of them came from volunteers in the catering industry.

Before long, the reporter found one of them.

"Fatty, hurry up, hurry up, bring the bucket over!"

Wu Yanfang, a Sichuan girl, is from Qionglai and runs a hotpot restaurant in Gyirong Town. As soon as one entered the restaurant, the aroma of stir-fried pork with chili rushed into the nostrils, and clanging sounds came from the kitchen.

"We're late today! Usually by 10:40 or so, I should have notified them to come pick up the food." The "them" Wu Yanfang referred to are the frontline rescue personnel.

On August 26, the disaster struck. When Wu Yanfang saw the scene on television, utterly unrecognizable (面目全非, mian mu quan fei - "face, eye, completely, not"), and learned of the arduous struggle of the frontline rescue personnel, the thought "I want to do something for them" surged into her mind in an instant. So, with the support of relevant departments, she became a volunteer.

Every morning, breakfast is prepared before 6 a.m. After tidying up and resting briefly, she continues washing and chopping vegetables. By 9 a.m., she has to start cooking lunch, packing it up portion by portion around 11 a.m., and notifying the team members to come pick it up.

Breakfast is usually eggs, milk, steamed buns, and pickled vegetables. Lunch and dinner consist of two meat dishes and one vegetable dish. Every night before going to bed, she thinks about the next day's menu, striving for variety. "The front line is too hard; we always need to change up the flavors so the food goes down well," Wu Yanfang said.

As she was speaking, the rescue team members arrived. They moved quickly when picking up their meals, but also chatted with the volunteers for a bit. Watching them interact with such familiarity and informality, they seemed like old friends.

Disaster relief is an interlinked and closely connected (环环相扣, huan huan xiang kou - "ring, ring, mutually, interlock") system. It requires rescue personnel charging ahead, and it also requires support teams working in silent dedication. A small lunchbox holds within it many stories and much emotion.

Familiar Faces in the Mudslide Rescue

"Wherever Something Happens, People Go There"

People's Daily reporter Xu Yuyao

On the day National Highway 216 was reopened, on the road outside the core disaster area, vehicles drove in one after another. In the crowd, a firefighter in an orange-yellow fire rescue uniform walked silently outward carrying equipment on his back, his boots coated with a layer of dried mud that flaked off with each step. His face was sunburned dark, his lips chapped and cracked, and two deep indentations were pressed into his shoulders by the straps.

He was Dunzhu Jiangcun, Captain of the Dingri County Fire Rescue Brigade in Tibet. During last year's Dingri earthquake rescue, the reporter had spent several days with him.

"When did you go in?"

"On the 31st, airdropped in. Stayed inside for over two days; only came out today because the road was reopened."

After only a few exchanges, Dunzhu Jiangcun continued walking back. The reporter noticed that his fingernails were caked with mud, and the mud crust on his trouser legs had already turned white.

Walking further ahead, another familiar face — Ye Yi, a police officer of the Shigatse Border Management Detachment of the Tibet General Station of Immigration Inspection. He stood by the roadside, a layer of dust settled on his reflective vest, gesturing at the vehicles passing by one after another. During the Dingri earthquake, the reporter had seen him at the resettlement site; and in earlier rescue and disaster-relief operations, had seen him too.

"That's just how our line of work is — wherever something happens, people go there," Ye Yi said flatly.

In ordinary times, they each have their own identities; in times of crisis, they are left with only one identity — the ones who must step up. Behind these familiar faces is the same choice, made again and again. Responsibility and mission — said in grand terms, they are grand; but when it comes down to the individual, it is simply this: "Wherever something happens, people go there."

In the disaster area, such familiar faces can always be seen. Without exchanging pleasantries, they nod to one another and return to their respective posts. They come from all directions, and time and again they head toward the most dangerous places. In the face of disaster, these people who stand forward and hold firm have become the strong backing of others.

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A grassroots Party member in his truest form (Special Report: On the Scene)

By: 本报记者 琼达卓嘎

September 4, sunny

Today I met a special friend — Sangzhu, Party branch secretary of Sale Village, Sale Township. The 40-year-old is born and bred locally (土生土长, tu sheng tu zhang - "earth, born, earth, grow"). After the disaster struck, he volunteered to serve as a guide for the first group of rescuers who trekked on foot into the national gate area of Gyirong Port.

Let me rewind to the early morning of August 27, one of the most anxious periods after the disaster. Because the land route had been destroyed, there was no old path to follow into the national gate area; the only option was to scale mountains and ridges to find a new route.

"I am a Party member; when there are difficulties, I must step forward." When he said this to me, Sangzhu did so without hesitation or second thought (不假思索, bu jia si suo - "not, pretend, think, thought"). That day, carrying a few pieces of bread and a few bottles of water, he put on a thin rain poncho, grabbed a sickle, and walked at the very front of the team.

Along the way, he had to hack through obstructing brambles, keep a constant watch on the loose gravel underfoot, and repeatedly turn back to look after his teammates carrying a heavy burden while moving forward (负重前行, fu zhong qian xing - "carry, heavy, weight, forward, walk").

From a little past 10 a.m. to nearly 5 p.m., Sangzhu and the rescuers hacked open a passage through the primeval forest and finally reached the disaster-stricken core area, devastated and scarred by disaster (满目疮痍, man mu chuang yi - "full, eyes, wound, misery"). That night, he and the rescuers squeezed together on open ground beside the ruins, sleeping in one's clothes (和衣而眠, he yi er mian - "with, clothes, and, sleep"), and he even gave his rain poncho to someone else.

I asked him whether he was afraid. This tough man shook his head: "I was only afraid of not finding the way in."

On August 28, Sangzhu was airlifted by helicopter back to Gyirong Town to rest. Everyone urged him to take a break, but he waved his hand: "How can there be time to rest? There are still many things to do in the village." He stayed in town for less than 2 hours before turning around and heading back to the township.

These past few days, Sangzhu has been busy cutting grass and feeding the livestock left behind in Labi Village and Guoba Village, and busy coordinating the needs of the masses. "Whatever the organization needs me to do, whatever the masses need me to do, I will do it," Sangzhu said.

That day, I followed him all the way. Suddenly I felt that he is like many ordinary people, yet somehow different. I thought, this is what a grassroots Party member truly looks like.

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All Relevant Parties Continue to Strengthen Monitoring and Early Warning of Secondary Disaster Risks Following Gyirong Mudslide

(People's Daily, Gyirong, September 4) (Reporter Shen Tongrui) A reporter learned from the Gyirong mudslide disaster front-line command headquarters: after the rescue and relief channel leading to the Gyirong port was opened, all relevant parties have continued to focus on strengthening monitoring and early warning of secondary disaster risks at the Gyirong port search and rescue site and along the National Highway 216 rescue channel, making every effort to ensure the safety of rescue operations. As of 18:00 on September 4, the disaster had caused 31 deaths, 531 people missing, and 987 personal effects recovered.

As of 16:00 on September 2, a total of 172 experts and technical personnel from units including meteorology, natural resources, water resources, emergency management, as well as the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the China Academy of Safety Science and Technology, had carried 150 sets (units) of various rescue and disaster monitoring equipment to the site to carry out operations.

As of September 2, the expert team had completed the investigation and inspection of 112 geological hazard hidden danger points. A special investigation was carried out on the National Highway 216 rescue channel, and a total of 58 geological hazard hidden dangers were found, including 7 high-risk, 39 medium-risk, and 12 low-risk ones. The hidden danger investigation and risk assessment of 3 affected villages were completed, and 2 temporary shelter sites were selected.

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Roadbed reinforcement underway

On September 4, construction workers unloaded steel-reinforced gabions on National Highway 216 to reinforce the roadbed.

Photo and report by Xian Gan, Gongga Laisong

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What Makes Ice-Collapse-Triggered Debris Flows Unique?

By: 本报记者 常 钦

When ice bodies at high mountain peaks suddenly collapse, why can they evolve into debris flows within a short period of time? Compared with common rainfall-triggered debris flows, what particularities do such disasters have? Where do the difficulties in prevention lie? In response to these questions, a reporter interviewed Qi Gan, professor-level senior engineer of the Geological Disaster Emergency Coordination Office of the China Institute of Geo-Environment Monitoring (Technical Guidance Center for Geological Disaster Prevention of the Ministry of Natural Resources).

"Debris flows triggered by ice avalanches are a type of chain-type geological disaster unique to high-cold, high-altitude mountainous areas." Qi Gan explained that against the backdrop of global climate warming, glacier melting on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, particularly in the Himalayan region, has intensified, and the risk of new chain-type disasters such as debris flows triggered by ice avalanches has become a key and difficult point in the prevention and control of geological disasters in China's extremely high mountain and high mountain areas.

Why can ice avalanches "turn into" debris flows?

The key lies in the fact that water sources and material sources can be generated simultaneously during the process of glacier collapse and movement, and continuously "gain mass."

In common rainfall-triggered debris flows, the water source comes from atmospheric precipitation, and the material source is mainly loose accumulations already present in gullies and on slopes. Only after rainfall infiltrates, softens the ground, and forms surface runoff can it gradually initiate a debris flow.

Ice-avalanche debris flows are different. After a huge ice body falls from a high place and breaks violently, part of the ice melts during high-speed movement, collision, and friction, forming a water body; the collapsing ice blocks scrape, entrain, and carry moraine and rock-soil material, which directly becomes the solid material source.

"It does not require external rainfall recharge, and can suddenly occur even on clear days — this is the most essential difference from common debris flows," Qi Gan said.

Unlike ordinary debris flows, which gradually attenuate as they move downward along a gully, ice-avalanche debris flows also continuously scrape moraine and residual slope deposits from the gully bed, continuously expanding in volume along the way, exhibiting the characteristics of "running faster and faster" and "flowing stronger and stronger," with an impact distance that can reach ten to several tens of kilometers, and the risk can even be transmitted across valleys, across watersheds, and even across borders.

Monitoring such disasters faces many practical constraints.

The terrain in ice-avalanche source areas is steep, with high cold and oxygen deficiency, making it difficult for personnel to reach and remain stationed there for long periods, and traditional mass monitoring and mass prevention measures are difficult to bring into play. Low temperatures, strong winds, heavy fog, and snow and ice burial can also easily cause monitoring equipment to malfunction or even be damaged, and power supply, communications, and operation and maintenance are all relatively difficult.

At present, identification of relevant hidden dangers relies mainly on means such as satellite remote sensing and aerial remote sensing. However, Qi Gan stated that remote sensing images can usually only record the state of glaciers at the time of satellite overpass, while the expansion of glacier crevasses and local instability are dynamic processes, making it difficult to capture the precursors of instantaneous instability in a timely manner. At the same time, glacier instability is also affected by multiple factors such as crevasse development, subglacial meltwater, permafrost degradation, and tectonic stress, and it is still difficult to accurately determine when a collapse will occur and how large the scale of the collapse will be.

Faced with the disaster process of ice-avalanche-triggered debris flows characterized by large volume, high energy, and long travel distance, the applicability of conventional check dams and drainage channels is limited, and relying on rainfall thresholds for early warning is also difficult to make effective. The focus of prevention and control needs to be further moved forward, strengthening early identification of risks, proactive advance avoidance, disaster prevention plan drills, and short-term and imminent emergency response.

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China to Launch National Action for Teacher Development

By: 本报记者 吴 月

On September 4, the Ministry of Education held a press conference to introduce the situation of teacher team building. The head of the Ministry of Education's Teacher Work Department introduced that China will implement a national action for teacher development, focusing efforts on spiritual guidance, training quality, equitable development, and care and support.

In recent years, the Ministry of Education has made every effort to advance the building of a high-caliber teacher team, and teachers have shown a new outlook in cultivating virtue, devoting themselves to learning, and teaching and educating people. "Anchoring on the goal of building a strong education nation, we must place teacher team building in a more prominent strategic position, make every effort to implement the national action for teacher development, introduce more practical, hard-hitting, and innovative measures, accelerate the construction of a high-quality teacher development system, and comprehensively enhance teachers' professional competence and their ability to teach and educate people," said the head of the Ministry of Education's Teacher Work Department.

In terms of spiritual guidance, the head introduced that it is necessary to guide the vast number of teachers to keep in mind the fundamental task of cultivating virtue and nurturing talent (立德树人, li de shu ren - "establish virtue, nurture people"), and vigorously promote and practice the spirit of educators. The Ministry of Education will select and promote more models who are rooted at the front line and are approachable, respectable, and easy to learn from (可亲可敬可学, ke qin ke jing ke xue - "can be approachable, can be respected, can be learned"), while continuing to uphold the first standard of teacher ethics and teacher conduct, and resolutely maintaining "zero tolerance" for conduct that deviates from teacher ethics.

In terms of cultivating and producing high-caliber teachers, it will comprehensively deepen the reform of teacher education, promote normal universities to uphold their normal education orientation and raise their school-running standards, promote more high-level universities to participate in teacher education, and pilot the construction of national academies for outstanding teachers. It will reform the teacher education curriculum system, strengthen teachers' ideological and moral cultivation, and strengthen the cultivation of teachers' digital-intelligence and technological literacy, humanistic literacy, innovative thinking, and interdisciplinary comprehensive literacy. It will connect teachers' pre-service training and in-service training, establish a system for newly recruited teachers to undertake probationary training at schools with relatively high school-running standards, and reform and implement the "National Training Plan." It will implement the "Artificial Intelligence + Teacher Development" action, build and make good use of the teacher center of the National Smart Education Platform, and launch full-coverage training for teachers' artificial intelligence literacy.

Centering on equitable development, it is necessary to shore up the shortcomings of rural education and promote the balanced allocation of teacher resources. The Ministry of Education will launch and implement the action to consolidate the foundation and improve the quality of teachers in county high schools, and the support plan for cultivating outstanding young teachers in border-gate schools, reform the "Excellent Teacher Plan" and the "County High School Teacher Leading Goose Plan," continue to deepen "group-style" assistance, silver-age lecture tours, teacher rotation and exchange, and build a teacher development community of "strong schools driving county high schools" and a mechanism for high-level normal universities to provide paired assistance to county high schools.

In terms of caring for and supporting teachers, it will continue to implement the policy that the average salary income level of compulsory education teachers is not lower than the average salary income level of local civil servants, improve the joint guarantee and linkage mechanism, and tilt performance pay toward the front line of teaching, class teachers, and rural teachers. It will continue to promote "teacher priority" in social public services. In the near future, the Ministry of Education will, together with relevant departments and a number of enterprises, launch the third phase of the "Respecting Teachers and Benefiting Teachers Public Welfare Action."

When answering questions about safeguarding teachers' rights and interests and reducing teachers' burdens, the head of the Ministry of Education's Teacher Work Department stated that it will standardize the procedures for handling disputes and complaints involving teachers, smooth the channels for teachers' legal consultation and assistance, and for unfounded reports involving teachers, promptly clarify and restore the reputation of the teachers concerned; for acts of fabricating facts (捏造事实, nie zao shi shi - "knead, create, facts, reality") and maliciously defaming teachers, it will resolutely maintain "zero tolerance," and jointly with relevant departments handle them seriously in accordance with the law and pursue the responsibility of the relevant personnel.

At the same time, use the yardstick of institutions to establish classroom rules and safeguard the warmth of education. Accelerate the improvement of relevant systems, issue operational guidelines, and ensure that educational discipline has laws to rely on, boundaries to control, and precedents to follow.

In addition, improve the access mechanism for social affairs entering schools, implement "whitelist" management, and reduce unnecessary inspections, evaluations, and form-filling. "We must return tranquility to the campus, return time to teachers, and let teachers settle their minds in the classroom and pour their love into children," said the head of the Ministry of Education's Teacher Work Department.

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Zhu Zhongming appointed acting mayor of Shanghai

(People's Daily, Shanghai, September 4) (Reporter Ju Yunpeng) The 33rd session of the Standing Committee of the 16th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress decided on September 4 to accept Gong Zheng's request to resign as Mayor of Shanghai, and appointed Zhu Zhongming as Vice Mayor and Acting Mayor of Shanghai.

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2026 National "Quality Month" Campaign Fully Launched

(People's Daily, Beijing, September 4) (Reporter Lin Lili) The reporter learned from the State Administration for Market Regulation on the 4th: In September, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and 25 other departments jointly deployed and launched the 2026 national "Quality Month" campaign.

The national "Quality Month" campaign is an important mass quality activity that has been continuously carried out since 1978. This year's national "Quality Month" campaign, themed "Strengthening the capacity of quality technology infrastructure and improving the level of quality safety assurance," aims to better implement the various tasks deployed in the Outline for Building a Quality Powerhouse, and to give full play to the important role of quality in promoting high-quality development and creating a high-quality life.

During the national "Quality Month," relevant departments and national industry associations will organize and carry out 172 special quality-themed activities, including the "Quality You Can See" quality open day, quality science popularization publicity, expert tours for quality-strengthened counties, and the "Four 100s" dissemination and promotion of China's famous consumer brands. All localities will launch a batch of quality cultural activities close to the people, open a batch of convenient and accessible quality technology resources, and handle a batch of practical quality safety matters benefiting both the people and the public (惠民利民, hui min li min - "benefit people, benefit people"), with efforts focused on achieving new improvements in strengthening the capacity of quality technology infrastructure, improving the level of quality safety assurance, building a market ecosystem of good quality and good prices, and perfecting a pattern of coordinated governance across the entire region.

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ACFTU to Support Construction of 600 National Model Worker and Artisan Innovation Studios This Year

(People's Daily, Beijing, September 4) (Reporter Yi Shuran) The All-China Federation of Trade Unions recently issued a notice, determining that in 2026 it will support the construction of 600 national model worker and artisan innovation studios, with the All-China Federation of Trade Unions granting each innovation studio 100,000 yuan in subsidy funds, aiming to further stimulate workers' innovation and creativity and better bring into play the exemplary and leading role of model workers and artisans.

The innovation studios selected for supported construction have over the past three years accumulated a total of 32,000 innovation achievements, obtained 19,200 patents, and trained 137,000 skilled personnel of various types, including 41,000 highly skilled personnel. At the same time, members of the innovation studios have actively participated in activities such as "model workers and artisans assisting enterprises in action" and "model workers and artisans entering campuses," vigorously promoting the spirit of model workers, the spirit of labor, and the spirit of craftsmanship.

In October 2025, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Model Worker and Artisan Innovation Studios," proposing that by 2030 the number of innovation studios supported by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions will reach 3,000, and the number of innovation studios at all levels will reach 160,000, strengthening the functions of innovation studios in tackling key innovation problems, passing on skills, cultivating talent, and promoting the spirit, and creating a favorable atmosphere in which society as a whole values the role of model workers and artisans, supports the construction of innovation studios, and cultivates knowledge-based, skill-based, and innovation-based industrial workers.

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Page 1 editors: Xu Nuo, Zhang Shuaizhen, Zhang Yujie; Page 2 editors: Han Xiaoming, Jiang Bo, Guan Haoyu; Page 3 editors: Jiang Xuejie, Qi Jiarun, Guo Xueyan; Page 4 editors: Bai Zhiyu, Liu Jingwen, Zhang Xueyan

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Forests Hide a Carbon Reservoir, Verdure Gives Rise to New Gold (Field Visit)

By: 本报记者 郭晓龙

Traversing the vast forest regions of Heilongjiang, Korean pines stand tall and spruce trees layer their verdant greens, with more than 20 million hectares of forest spreading out in an unbroken expanse. The forest carbon stock here is approximately 5.7 billion tonnes, and the carbon stock of forest vegetation accounts for about one-tenth of the national total — it can well be described as a "carbon reservoir" of immense scale.

In recent years, Heilongjiang has built the "Longjiang Green Carbon" provincial forestry carbon-sink brand, adopting multiple measures to construct a system covering measurement and accounting, market trading, and diversified applications, thereby releasing the ecological value of forests in cold regions. As of July this year, Heilongjiang had cumulatively issued 17.3847 million tonnes of forestry carbon-sink emission reductions, ranking first in the country; it had completed trading of 132,300 tonnes, with a transaction value of 11.6182 million yuan.

Establish a standards system to make "invisible carbon" clearly accounted

For forestry carbon sinks to enter the market, precise accounting is the first hurdle. For a long time, the adaptability between general accounting standards and local forest land has been insufficient; the baseline data of carbon sinks has been unclear and measurement precision inadequate, constraining the realization of the value of ecological products.

"Without standards, no matter how much carbon stock there is, it is difficult to form a tradable product," admitted Song Jiageng, director of the Forestry Technology Service Center of Heilongjiang Province. Relying on research strengths including Northeast Forestry University and the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Heilongjiang has developed parameter models targeting the growth patterns of major local tree species, forming a localized assessment method for provincial afforestation carbon-sink projects, and resolving the pain point that general standards are not suited to cold-region forest areas.

This accounting system has established a unified technical yardstick for forestry carbon-sink measurement in Heilongjiang, while digital management has enabled the carbon-sink asset base to achieve "unified management through one map."

Entering the hall of the Forestry Carbon Sink Service Center of Heilongjiang Province, a huge electronic screen displays green patches of varying shades. This forestry carbon-sink "one map" integrated management system integrates technical means such as satellite remote sensing and ground monitoring, establishing an exclusive "carbon archive" for each plot of forest land.

"Click on any forest sub-compartment, and information such as dominant tree species, tree age, current carbon stock, and future carbon-sink increase potential is presented in real time and dynamically updated," said Zhou Xuefeng, a technician at the center, as he demonstrated the operation. Forest land management is shifting from coarse statistics toward precise digital control.

The credibility of the data is rooted in the mountains and forests.

Deep in the hinterland of the Lesser Khingan Mountains, monitoring team members of the Youhao Forestry Bureau of Yichun Forestry Industry Group carry tree-measuring instruments and soil sampling augers, walking along mountain paths into fixed monitoring sample plots. They lay measuring ropes, delimit boundaries, measure the diameter at breast height and height of each tree, and simultaneously collect shrub and soil samples. Across Heilongjiang's 11 forestry carbon-sink pilot units, nearly 800 such fixed monitoring sample plots have been established, spread across major forest regions including the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains and the Changbai Mountains; the collected samples are sent to professional laboratories for testing and analysis.

"Every issued 'Longjiang Green Carbon' emission reduction is supported by field monitoring data, accounted under unified standards, and traceable through a complete process," said Chen Jianwei, member of the Party Leadership Group and deputy director of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Heilongjiang Province. To date, Heilongjiang has built a provincial framework comprising 43 forestry carbon-sink-related standards, covering the entire process from project application, field monitoring, accounting and verification, to issuance of emission reductions, initially forming a carbon-sink measurement standards system suited to northern cold-region forest areas.

Explore market trading to make the connection between supply and demand smoother

How can "green content" be transformed into "gold content"? Heilongjiang has carried out market-oriented exploration.

In July 2024, the Forestry Carbon Sink Service Center of Heilongjiang Province was officially inaugurated. "Before the system was built, forest farms could not find formal sales channels for their carbon-sink resources, and enterprises with emission-reduction needs could not find stable sources of supply; the connection between supply and demand was not smooth," said Han Lu, who has been involved in carbon-sink trading work for many years.

Today, a closed-loop trading mechanism has been fully formed: project entities submit applications through the provincial management platform; after on-site verification by third-party institutions, expert review, and public announcement without objection, emission reductions are uniformly issued at the provincial level and then listed for trading through the trading platform. The entire process is handled online, with every link open and traceable.

Supporting systems such as the "Administrative Measures for Forestry Carbon Sink Project Trading in Heilongjiang Province" have been introduced simultaneously, clarifying trading rules and procedural norms. On the day the trading system was launched, six enterprises completed the first batch of carbon-sink contract signings, with a total transaction value of 4.285 million yuan.

Grassroots forest farms were the first to taste the "sweetness."

In July 2025, 5,000 tonnes of carbon sinks from the Youhao Forestry Bureau of Yichun Forestry Industry Group were successfully traded, bringing in 400,000 yuan, becoming the province's first targeted carbon-sink trading project connecting with an energy enterprise; in September of the same year, the Tuqiang Forestry Bureau of the Daxing'anling Forestry Group Company completed a 5,000-tonne carbon-sink transaction, achieving a zero breakthrough in carbon-sink trading in the Greater Khingan Mountains forest region. "I have guarded the forest all my life, and never imagined that simply protecting the forest well could generate real, tangible income," said Huang Jialing, a forest ranger with more than 30 years of service at the Youhao Forestry Bureau.

Heilongjiang is also promoting the connection of "Longjiang Green Carbon" products with other regional markets, exploring the path of "northern carbon, southern integration."

In May this year, 3,750 tonnes of "Longjiang Green Carbon" from the Cuiluan Forestry Bureau of Yichun Forestry Industry Group were transacted at the Hainan International Carbon Emission Rights Trading Center, with a transaction value of 300,000 yuan. This was the first cross-provincial market-based transaction of forestry carbon sinks in Heilongjiang Province, spanning 3,000 kilometers and achieving two-way connectivity between the northern and southern carbon markets.

At present, Heilongjiang has reached strategic cooperation with carbon trading platforms in Shenzhen, Ningbo, and other places, and has successively provided carbon-neutral services for events including the Ninth Asian Winter Games and the China International Import Expo, with cumulative carbon-sink usage exceeding 70,000 tonnes.

Activate the ecological asset base so that green dividends better benefit the people's livelihood

In Heilongjiang, green carbon sinks have also been integrated into finance, industry, people's livelihood, and other fields, enabling ecological protectors to benefit more.

In 2025, Heilongjiang issued operational guidelines for forestry carbon-sink pledge loans, clarifying the full-process standards for registration, evaluation, and risk disposal of carbon-sink asset pledges, making forestry carbon sinks — this intangible ecological asset — a qualified collateral recognized by banks.

The Youhao Forestry Bureau pledged 57,000 tonnes of carbon-sink project emission reductions and obtained 10 million yuan in bank credit lines; the first batch of 5 million yuan in loans has all been invested in under-forest economy and cultural tourism project construction. "Without mortgaging land or equipment, we can secure financing by relying on the forests we protect — this is the new opportunity carbon sinks have brought to the forest region," said Zheng Zaijun, chairman of the Youhao Forestry Bureau Company.

The "Longjiang Green Carbon + Finance" Ecological Value Transformation Pilot Action Plan (2026–2027) has been issued, exploring the construction of a full-chain financial service model covering carbon-sink collection and storage, financing, insurance, and monetization, injecting financial vitality into the development of the forest region.

Carbon sinks have been integrated into the judicial system, giving "ecological restoration" a new pathway. Heilongjiang has established a provincial-level judicial compensation mechanism for carbon sinks, clarifying that parties responsible for damaging the forest ecological environment may fulfill their ecological damage compensation liability by purchasing "Longjiang Green Carbon," with all purchase funds used for ecological restoration and forest management and protection.

"In the past, ecological damage cases were mostly handled through fines; the carbon-sink compensation approach provides a quantifiable avenue for making up for ecological losses," introduced Yu Ying, a relevant staff member of the Higher People's Court of Heilongjiang Province. To date, Heilongjiang has concluded 15 judicial compensation cases involving carbon sinks, completed carbon-sink purchases of 31,400 tonnes, and fulfilled compensation amounts of 3.0415 million yuan.

The development of the carbon-sink economy has broadened the development path of the forest region, driving industrial transformation and improvement of people's livelihood.

In the past, the region relied on timber production; today, greater emphasis is placed on the management of forest ecological value. At the Shangganling Xishui National Forest Park in Yichun City, the locality has combined carbon-sink resources to develop eco-tourism and forest wellness projects, with eco-picking and other business forms developing in tandem, and carbon-sink revenues being channeled back into forest region infrastructure construction and industrial cultivation.

The boundless forest sea grows with endless and vigorous growth (生生不息, sheng sheng bu xi - "birth, birth, not, stop"), and green momentum surges forward. In the future, Heilongjiang will gradually expand forest carbon sinks to carbon sinks in ecosystems such as grasslands and wetlands, further expanding the pathways for realizing the value of ecological products.

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Chinese Sports Delegation Established for 20th Asian Games

(People's Daily, Beijing, September 4) (Reporters Tao Xiang'an, Liu Shuoyang) The mobilization meeting for the establishment of the Chinese sports delegation for the 20th Asian Games (2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games) was held in Beijing on the 4th. Gao Zhidan, Director of the General Administration of Sport and head of the delegation, stated that the 20th Asian Games is the largest and most influential international comprehensive sports event this year after the Milan Winter Olympics, and that the delegation must further strengthen its sense of mission, responsibility, and honor, and make every effort to achieve the participation goal of achieving two successes at once in both athletic performance and spiritual civilization.

The Asian Games will be held in Japan from September 19 to October 4. The Chinese sports delegation consists of 1,274 people, including 815 athletes (404 women and 411 men), who will compete in 38 sports and 369 events. The average age of the athletes is 24; the oldest is 41-year-old shooting athlete Wan Antao, and the youngest is 12-year-old skateboard athlete Cao Shiqi. Athletes born after 2005 account for 27% of the total number of athletes. Among the participating athletes, there are 58 athletes from 17 ethnic minorities.

Among the athletes of the Chinese sports delegation this time, 548 athletes are participating in the Asian Games for the first time, and 306 athletes have previously participated in the Olympic Games or Asian Games. Thirty-six Olympic champions from 13 sports, including swimming, artistic swimming, badminton, boxing, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline, shooting, and volleyball, will participate in these Asian Games.

Zhang Xin, Secretary-General of the delegation, introduced that compared with the previous Hangzhou Asian Games, the scale of the Chinese sports delegation's participation in this Asian Games has been reduced, and the delegation must strive for high-quality results with a relatively small scale. He said: "We have the confidence and ability to ensure that we will, for the twelfth time, winning consecutive titles or prizes the top position on the Asian Games gold medal table and overall medal table."

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Second Batch of National Pilot Cities for Retail Industry Innovation and Upgrading Announced

(People's Daily, Beijing, September 4) (Reporter Wang Ke) The Ministry of Commerce and three other departments recently issued a notice, publishing the list of the second batch of 32 national pilot cities for innovation and upgrading in the retail industry.

These 32 cities include Qinhuangdao City and Baoding City in Hebei Province, Jinzhong City in Shanxi Province, Wuxi City and Yangzhou City in Jiangsu Province, Ningbo City and Wenzhou City in Zhejiang Province, Wuhu City and Anqing City in Anhui Province, Jiujiang City in Jiangxi Province, Kaifeng City and Xuchang City in Henan Province, Xiangyang City and Yichang City in Hubei Province, among others. The suggested focus areas for the pilots include "one store, one strategy" scenario-based renovation, supply chain improvement, digital empowerment, and diversified innovation.

The notice requires that the pilot cities boldly explore in areas such as policy innovation, management innovation, and model innovation, and accelerate the building of a modern retail system that features abundant supply, balanced layout, diversified channels, high-quality services, smart convenience, and green and low-carbon development.

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Promoting Coordinated Digital-Green Transformation and Development

(People's Daily, Beijing, September 4) (Reporter Jin Xin) The reporter learned from the Central Cyberspace Administration of China on the 4th: Recently, the Central Cyberspace Administration of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for Promoting the Coordinated Transformation and Development of Digitalization and Greening (2026-2030)," clarifying the guiding thinking, goals, key tasks, and policy measures for advancing the coordinated transformation and development of digitalization and greening (hereinafter referred to as "dual-transformation coordination") during the period of the 15th Five-Year Plan.

The plan specifies that by 2030, the advantages of artificial intelligence in low cost and high efficiency will be more fully demonstrated, deeply empowering green and low-carbon technological innovation and industrial development; the energy efficiency of emerging fields such as computing infrastructure and 5G base stations will be greatly improved; the level of renewable energy electricity consumption in key fields such as computing infrastructure will be promoted to reach the renewable energy electricity consumption responsibility weight level of the province where they are located; digitalization and greening in key fields such as agriculture, manufacturing, trade, consumption, and urban operation will be deeply advanced; the capacity of digital-intelligent technology to empower ecological environment governance will be continuously improved; and the dual-transformation coordination development model will strongly support the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development and high-quality development.

Centering on the development goals of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the plan deploys 14 key tasks in 4 aspects. It promotes the integrated innovation of digital-intelligent technology and green technology, develops green and efficient artificial intelligence technology, and promotes artificial intelligence to empower green and low-carbon technological innovation. It improves energy efficiency in emerging fields and promotes the green and low-carbon development of computing infrastructure, communication base stations, and digital enterprises. It deepens the application of dual-transformation coordination in key fields, promoting digitalization and greening in agriculture, manufacturing, trade, consumption, urban operation, and other fields, as well as intelligent governance of the ecological environment. It consolidates the foundational support for dual-transformation coordination, optimizes the development environment, improves the level of digitalized carbon management, and deepens international exchange and cooperation.

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Photo Report

On September 3, a cargo vessel loaded with 23,800 tons of mechanical equipment and engineering vehicles set sail from Yantai Port in Shandong Province, bound for Ghana.

In the first eight months of this year, Yantai Port's breakbulk liner shipping volume reached 16.22 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 52.9%, already exceeding the total shipping volume for the full year of 2025.

Photo by Tang Ke (China Images)

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33rd China Beijing Seed Industry Conference Opens

(People's Daily, Beijing, September 4) (Reporter Pan Junqiang) On the 4th, the 33rd China Beijing Seed Industry Conference opened in Beijing. With the theme "AI Empowers Smart Breeding, Digital Intelligence Leads the Future of the Seed Industry," the conference highlighted three major features — internationalization, intelligence, and marketization — and organized activities including seed industry achievement exchange, experience, and release events, parallel forums, and special variety display and observation sessions. Forty-five foreign guests from international organizations including the International Seed Federation, as well as personnel from 38 national and provincial industry associations, 20 key national research institutes, and 1,200 enterprises, participated in the events.

This year's conference focused on the construction of a smart breeding system, sharing cutting-edge technologies such as gene editing and smart breeding, and launching 145 breeding chips, large models, phenotypic collection intelligent devices, and other items with independent intellectual property rights, providing replicable and scalable models for the transformation of smart breeding. The main venue hosted science and technology achievement exchange and experience activities, featuring a smart breeding core zone, a Beijing-quality experience zone, an achievement release zone, a key enterprise zone, and an exchange and trading zone, bringing together 621 cutting-edge technological achievements from 138 domestic and international research institutes, seed industry enterprises, and technical service providers, showcasing digital intelligence technology empowering the high-quality development of the seed industry.

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China's Financial Institutions' Total Assets Exceed 560 Trillion Yuan

(People's Daily, Beijing, September 4) (Reporter Wu Qiuyu) The latest data released by the People's Bank of China shows: according to preliminary statistics, as of the end of the second quarter of this year, the total assets of financial institutions in China stood at 562.2 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.7%. Among them, the total assets of banking institutions were 497.98 trillion yuan, up 6.6% year on year; the total assets of securities institutions were 20.37 trillion yuan, up 29.8% year on year; and the total assets of insurance institutions were 43.86 trillion yuan, up 11.8% year on year.

During the same period, the liabilities of financial institutions stood at 514.48 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.9%. Among them, the liabilities of banking institutions were 458.37 trillion yuan, up 6.8% year on year; the liabilities of securities institutions were 16.32 trillion yuan, up 36.6% year on year; and the liabilities of insurance institutions were 39.79 trillion yuan, up 12.2% year on year.

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Zhaoyang Apples "Rush" to Sweetness First (County-Level Development in Focus)

By: 本报记者 杨文明 人民网记者 蔡树菁

In early autumn, the apples of Zhaotong, Yunnan, are the first to "taste sweet."

As dawn's light barely breaks, the apple trading market in Sayu Town, Zhaoyang District, Zhaotong City, comes alive. Merchants from across the country gather here, vying to snap up early-ripening, high-quality apples. This is currently the best eating period for the "Honglu" apple variety, with premium commercial fruit fetching up to 9 yuan per kilogram at the farm gate.

Zhaoyang District is the largest apple-producing area at the county (district) level in southern China. In 2025, the district's apple planting area exceeds 730,000 mu, with an annual output of 1.15 million tons and a comprehensive output value of 13.5 billion yuan.

Although the industry is now large in scale, for a long time in the past, "the apples tasted good but couldn't fetch a good price" was a common problem faced by local fruit farmers.

"In the past, large apples could only sell for two or three yuan per kilogram, and small apples couldn't fetch a price at all," said Liu Yangyong, chairman of the Zhaoyang District Yuantian Planting Farmers' Professional Cooperative. In the past, pruning and fertilization were all based on experience, and prices fluctuated unpredictably with the quality of the fruit.

"Apples aren't just about growing them; you have to grow according to market demand and manage according to brand standards," Liu Yangyong said. In order to grow good fruit, local fruit farmers established cooperatives. At key points in orchard management, they invite technical personnel to the countryside to provide hands-on guidance on scientific fertilization, pest and disease control, and standardized pruning. As planting efficiency visibly improved, cooperative membership grew from an initial 5 households to nearly 80, and many members have become "local experts."

While scattered household orchards steadily upgraded, the pace of upgrading at scaled bases was even faster. Since 2018, Zhaotong Chaoyue Agricultural Co., Ltd. has transferred land to build a 100,000-mu demonstration park for high-standard, technology-integrated, dwarf-rootstock, densely-planted apple cultivation, equipped with integrated water-fertilizer management and systematically applying artificial assisted pollination technology. This achieved a dual improvement in both yield and quality, with apple unit prices stabilizing at around 10 yuan per kilogram.

As the planting model upgraded, the variety structure was also optimized in tandem. In the past, Fuji apples dominated the entire market, with concentrated ripening periods, and flooding the market at the same time easily dragged down prices. Now, the municipal and district apple industry development centers, while stabilizing traditional varieties, have successively promoted early, mid, and late ripening varieties such as "Ruixue," "Qincui," and "Gala," gradually lengthening the marketing cycle, allowing fruits with different characteristics to match different market segments.

How to sell good fruit at good prices? Intelligent sorting is key. In Yongfeng Town, Zhaoyang District, an intelligent apple sorting line built with funds from the Shanghai-Yunnan collaboration has set an example for premium pricing through grading. By precisely grading sugar content and color, it can sell for an average of 1 yuan more per kilogram, while costs increase by only 0.2 yuan.

The premium brought by grading is quite substantial. "New varieties like 'Qincui' have low market volumes and high management standards. Ordinary fruit sells for about 16 yuan per kilogram, while premium gift-box fruit approaches 30 yuan," said Wang Xingpeng, deputy general manager of Zhaotong Chaoyue Agricultural Co., Ltd.

With stable quality, the brand gradually made a name for itself. "In the early years, many people didn't even know about Zhaoyang's apples," Liu Yangyong said. The cooperative blazed a new trail in e-commerce, registered its own trademark, focused on 2.5-kilogram small-package premium fruit, supplied consumers directly at more affordable prices, and won repeat customers with good taste.

Enterprises, on the other hand, follow a branding and channel-building route. Ge Jun, head of the Shanghai Aid-Yunnan Cadre Liaison Group's Zhaotong team, introduced that under the Shanghai-Yunnan collaboration, which has acted as an intermediary to facilitate connections, Shanghai's channels and experience are matched with Yunnan's resources, promoting brands represented by "Zhaoyang Hong" into the Shanghai market and gradually radiating to large supermarket chains in first-tier cities. At the same time, it helps apples reach overseas markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and beyond, with sales growing steadily.

The space for industrial value addition continues to expand. Sayu Town, known as the "Hometown of Apples," is the largest apple trading and distribution center in southwest China. Relying on more than 500 ancient willows along the river, it has created the "Sayu Smoke Willows" attraction, developing a distinctive integrated agriculture, culture, and tourism business, drawing large numbers of tourists, with annual tourism revenue expected to exceed 100 million yuan.

The value-appreciation journey of a single apple reflects the systematic upgrading of the industrial chain and also drives local people to increase income and become prosperous. According to statistics, the apple industry in Zhaoyang District covers 14 of its 19 townships, directly benefiting 456,800 people, of whom 72,000 households lifted out of poverty have an average annual income of over 80,000 yuan.

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2026 Pujiang Innovation Forum to Be Held

(People's Daily, Beijing, September 4) (Reporter Zhao Yongxin) The reporter learned from the Ministry of Science and Technology on the 4th: the 2026 Pujiang Innovation Forum (the 19th session), co-hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, will be held in Shanghai from September 11 to 14.

The forum is themed "Sharing Innovation, Shaping the Future Together: The Mission of the Global Science and Technology Community Against the Backdrop of a New Round of Scientific and Technological Revolution," with the Republic of South Africa as the guest country of honor and Hunan Province as the guest province of honor.

This year's forum will highlight four aspects: serving the major strategic needs of the country, deepening international scientific and technological cooperation, strengthening regional collaborative innovation, and intensifying exchanges of scientific and technological talent. It will organize 24 thematic forums around three major sections—basic research, future industries, and innovation ecosystems—as well as supporting activities such as the Youth Innovation Forum and achievement release conferences. As of now, representatives from the scientific, industrial, and investment communities of more than 50 countries and regions and over 20 international organizations have registered to attend.

The Pujiang Innovation Forum, established in 2008, has become a high-level scientific and technological innovation brand event with broad international influence.

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Page editors: Guan Xuanyue, Zhang Weihao, Zhai Qinqi

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Designing and Modifying Life Systems in "Biofactories" (Academicians Explain Science · Industries of the Future)

By: 元英进

Long ago, people already relied on the abilities of microorganisms or enzymes to brew wine and leaven dough; today, synthetic biology technology, by designing and modifying genes, is able to produce new substances that people need. The outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan lists biomanufacturing as one of the industries of the future. How do scientists "manufacture" organisms on demand? What frontier explorations are underway? And what future applications are worth anticipating? In this installment of "Academicians Explain Science," Yuan Yingjin, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, takes us into the "biological factory" to understand the big industry that grows out of small cells.

— Editor

Yogurt, antibiotics, and biodegradable materials are each different from one another, but behind them all lies the same type of "production tool"—microorganisms or enzymes. Very early on, humanity had already relied on microorganisms or enzymes to brew wine, leaven dough, and make sauces. But for a long time, people merely "let nature take its course," selecting by experience and improving by luck. Now, scientists are targeting new demands and purposefully designing and modifying living systems. To understand biomanufacturing as an industry of the future, one must first understand synthetic biology technology.

What is synthetic biology technology

Taking winemaking as an example, people select yeast from nature, give it sugar and suitable temperature and other conditions, and let the natural yeast turn the sugar into wine, making use of the organism's natural abilities. The abilities of natural yeast are determined by the genetic material in its genome; this is the principle of you reap what you sow (种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆, zhong gua de gua, zhong dou de dou - "plant melon, get melon; plant bean, get bean").

Synthetic biology technology is a technology that, by designing, modifying, or even entirely synthesizing anew the genetic material of organisms, creates organisms with new traits, new functions, and new uses, producing the new substances and new products that we need. The genetic information carried by an organism's genome is the instruction set for life's activities and operations. Designing and synthesizing a gene is rewriting one instruction in the instruction set, while whole-genome design and synthesis is compiling an entirely new instruction set; it is an important underlying technology for constructing synthetic organisms and integrating complex functions.

The process of synthesizing organisms requires repeated debugging, behind which lies the "design-build-test-learn" cycle: first design the plan, then assemble DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) sequence components into functional elements and load them into cells; observe whether they operate according to the expected target, let the test data return to the initial design model, then enter the next round of the cycle, continuously iterating and continuously correcting the coding program. The workload of this process is enormous, and the empowerment of automation and artificial intelligence technology brings new "acceleration" to the synthetic biology process.

Building cells into "miniature factories"

What can synthetic biology technology do? One important direction is to make cells into "miniature factories." Researchers first determine the substance they want to produce, then select suitable chassis cells and biological components, and design a metabolic route. The cells take in raw materials, process them step by step under the action of enzymes, and ultimately generate the target product. If one thinks of biological metabolic pathways as city roads, then modifying cell factories is opening new roads, widening narrow roads, and closing off branch roads, so that more "traffic" flows toward the target product.

Synthetic biology technology can not only make cells "produce things," but can also make cells "complete tasks," forming functional cells with the ability to sense, judge, and respond. This is like installing sensors, controllers, and actuators on cells: first identify environmental signals, then let the gene circuit judge and respond. For example, one could explore having immune cells recognize specific markers and then initiate their action, or having engineered bacteria sense intestinal signals and then release molecules.

Relying on the above technological capabilities, synthetic biology technology can be used in research on pharmaceutical ingredients, nutritional components, industrial enzymes, biological materials, and pollutant degradation, and it continuously expands into new application scenarios. In fields such as medicine, agriculture, energy, materials, and the environment, synthetic biology technology can broadly serve humanity's growing demand for new substances in production and daily life, forming industrial outlets. In addition, in the future, in special environments where material transport conditions are constrained, such as the polar regions, the deep sea, and outer space, synthetic biology technology may also play an important role.

How to go from the design drawing to the production line

From a design drawing to a production line, synthetic biology technology must cross more than just the hurdle of "scaling up." In the laboratory, researchers may only culture one flask of engineered cells; in the production workshop, the same gene circuit must be made to work continuously in reactors of several hundred liters, several thousand liters, or even larger, facing numerous difficulties (困难重重, kun nan chong chong - "difficulty, heavy, heavy"). Slight differences in temperature, acidity or alkalinity, nutrients, and oxygen may change the growth state of the cells, and an originally smooth metabolic pathway may also experience "traffic jams."

Producing the target substance also does not mean obtaining the product; it must still be separated from the culture liquid, its purity increased, and consistent quality across different batches ensured. Sometimes, cell production is not difficult, and the subsequent separation and purification is actually more important. After small-scale trials, one must still go through concept validation, pilot-scale testing, inspection and testing, and process optimization. Pilot-scale testing connects gene and cell design on one end, and equipment, quality, cost, and the market on the other, and is used to discover problems that cannot be seen in the laboratory. Like a city, expanding in an unstructured, sprawling manner (摊大饼, tan da bing - "spread, big, pancake") is not difficult; what is difficult is refined management. The scaled-up production of biological synthesis must likewise integrate multiple technologies into one whole, with careful control and making steady, step-by-step progress (循序渐进, xun xu jian jin - "follow, sequence, gradually, advance").

Competition in synthetic biology technology is not competition over a single gene or strain, but competition over the capability of the entire chain and entire system. Life sciences, information sciences, automation equipment, engineering scale-up, and standards governance are interlinked and closely connected (环环相扣, huan huan xiang kou - "ring, ring, mutually, interlock"), together forming the innovation chain. Our country possesses a complete industrial system and relatively strong engineering organization capabilities, while at the same time it must shore up shortcomings in underlying principles, key software and hardware, biological data standards, and engineering translation.

Continuously expanding the boundaries of the "designable"

Frontier exploration in synthetic biology technology will continuously expand the boundaries of the "designable."

One main line is moving from rewriting a single gene toward genome design and synthesis at a larger scale; another exploration worth attention is moving from changing the letters of DNA toward regulating how genes are read. A DNA sequence is like the text in a book, while the epigenome is like bookmarks and an index, determining which chapters are opened, when and where. So-called epigenome editing is an attempt to regulate gene expression without changing the DNA sequence; the broader "synthetic epigenome" is still in the exploratory stage. Whether it can be precisely written in, whether it can be stably maintained, whether it can be erased on demand... these questions still require further scientific exploration to answer.

DNA does not only carry the information of life; it can also become a special storage medium for digital information. Researchers convert data such as text and images into base sequences, write them in through DNA synthesis, and read them out through sequencing. The Tianjin University team encoded classic images, videos, Dunhuang murals, and medical images into DNA, and developed error-correction and sequence-reconstruction methods. Experiments combined with theoretical calculations show that the relevant information has the potential to be preserved for a thousand years at 25 degrees Celsius, can theoretically be preserved for twenty thousand years at 9.4 degrees Celsius, and the original data in damaged DNA can still be recovered. In 2026, the team again used "composite letters" and non-natural bases to increase the amount of information per unit of synthesis, and explored anti-copying functions at the molecular level.

Artificial intelligence and automation are also reshaping research and development methods. The team at the National Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology at Tianjin University developed an enzyme modification platform with a closed loop of artificial intelligence and automation, achieving a more than 100-fold increase in activity through five weeks of iteration. This moves enzyme modification from casting a wide net to cover all possibilities (广撒网, guang sa wang - "wide, cast, net") toward "learning while doing," and is expected to accelerate the research and development of industrial enzymes needed in fields such as medicine, food, and materials, providing more efficient biocatalytic tools for green manufacturing.

From "understanding life" to "designing life," research on biological macromolecules and genes has entered the stage of precise regulation. Industries of the future will not grow automatically out of concepts; plans must ultimately be implemented in principles, tools, platforms, talent, and application scenarios. Only by doing solid basic research, honing engineering capabilities to a high standard, and truly integrating scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation can the young discipline of biomanufacturing better serve the high-quality development of the economy and society.

(The author is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and dean of the School of Synthetic Biology and Biomanufacturing at Tianjin University; this article was compiled from an interview by People's Daily reporter Gong Xiangjuan)

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Why Pig’s Milk Will Never Become a Human Beverage (Science Chat)

By: 谈永松

Dairy products are an important source of nutrition for humans. People drink cow's milk, goat's milk, and even camel's milk and mare's milk, so why does no one drink pig's milk?

Is pig's milk not clean enough? No. With the development of breeding technology, pig farming has long achieved mechanization and intensification, and the living environment of pigs is far better than before.

Is pig's milk not nutritious? That is also not the case. In terms of nutritional composition, the nutritional value of pig's milk even exceeds that of some traditional milk sources and meets human nutritional needs. Our team once selected two representative pig breeds, the Meishan pig and the Large White pig, and conducted composition testing on mixed milk samples from different lactation stages. The results found that pig's milk has the characteristics of high protein and low lactose. The test report shows that the protein content per 100 grams of Meishan pig's milk reaches 10.6 grams, and that of Large White pig's milk is as high as 16.7 grams, significantly higher than the protein content of 3.0–4.0 grams per 100 grams in cow's milk; in terms of calcium content, the calcium content of Meishan pig's milk is about 1.5 times that of cow's milk. In terms of lactose content, the lactose content per 100 grams of Meishan pig's milk is 3.0 grams, while that of Large White pig's milk is only 1.9 grams, significantly lower than cow's milk. Judging from these data, pig's milk not only performs excellently in nutritional composition, but is also very suitable for people with lactose intolerance to drink.

Since this is the case, why has pig's milk never been developed by humans into a commonly used milk source?

In fact, this is mainly the result of the combined effect of multiple factors such as its biological characteristics, economic efficiency, cultural traditions, and industrial demand.

From the perspective of biological characteristics, the physiological structure and milk production mechanism of pigs determine their natural shortcomings as a milk source. On the one hand, pig's milk is difficult to milk. Unlike ruminants such as dairy cows, pigs have a dispersed udder structure without a centralized "milk cistern" for milk storage, making the milking operation complex and time-consuming. On the other hand, compared with the 10-month lactation period of dairy cows, the suckling period of pigs is only 21–60 days, and under modern production models the average single lactation period is only about 30 days, with a daily milk yield of 7–9 kilograms. After a litter of piglets drinks each day, hardly anything is left (所剩无几, suo sheng wu ji - "what remains, not even a few") of the pig's milk.

Based on a comprehensive calculation of feed costs and milk yield, the cost of pig's milk reaches 12 yuan per kilogram, while the cost of ordinary raw fresh milk is only 3–4 yuan per kilogram. Since pig's milk has not yet formed a mature processing technology like that of cow's milk, the additional processing costs further hinder the utilization of pig's milk. Taking into account milk production efficiency and utilization costs, drinking pig's milk is actually not a very cost-effective matter.

From a social and cultural perspective, cow's milk and goat's milk, among others, have long been deeply integrated into dietary culture through historical domestication, while pigs are more often regarded as a source of meat.

In modern animal husbandry, influenced by changes in consumption habits, the breeding goal for pigs is "high lean meat rate." The pursuit of lean meat rate leads to a reduction in intermuscular and intramuscular fat, yet the milk fat of pig's milk is originally an important energy source for piglets. When the breeding end reduces sow body fat to improve pork quality, the milk fat content of pig's milk declines simultaneously, and milk yield declines, making it difficult to support human consumption demand.

The fact that pig's milk has not become a mainstream milk source is essentially the inevitable result of competition between the biological characteristics of "low yield, high cost, and difficult management" and dairy animals such as cattle and sheep that have "high economic value and strong cultural identity." Humans' choice of cattle, sheep, camels, and horses, among others, is a rational decision based on milk production efficiency, ease of access, and industrial suitability. Because pigs can efficiently produce meat, they occupy an irreplaceable position in the global food system. Therefore, instead of agonizing over "why no one drinks pig's milk," it is better to focus on enjoying delicious pork.

(The author is deputy director and researcher of the Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences; compiled and organized by People's Daily reporter Wang Yinxin)

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China Synthesizes World's Longest Single-Atom-Thick 'Metal Wire'

(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing) (Reporter Zhang Manzi) Recently, the team of Li Kuo at the Beijing Center for High Pressure Science innovatively applied a new strategy of high-pressure solid-state topochemical polymerization, achieving for the first time internationally the synthesis of carbon-encapsulated single-metal atomic chains that are micrometer-scale in length, atomic-scale in thickness, and structurally stable. Scaled proportionally by diameter and length, this is equivalent to a 4-meter household copper wire. The achievement was published in the international academic journal Science.

A single-metal atomic chain can be understood as the world's "thinnest one-dimensional metal wire," so thin that it has a diameter of only a single atom, making it an ideal research subject for scientists exploring low-dimensional physical laws of the microscopic world. The greatest breakthrough of this achievement lies in advancing the preparation limit of single-metal atomic chains to the micrometer scale. With the aid of the Paris-Edinburgh press, the team batch-produced large-sized carbon-coated copper single-atom chain single crystals; the length of a single stripped atomic chain exceeds 1 micrometer, capable of continuously linking more than 4,000 copper atoms in series, an improvement of more than two orders of magnitude over previously prepared sample chain lengths internationally. This preparation method can also be extended to multiple metals such as cobalt, nickel, and zinc.

"Ultra-fine metal wires at the atomic scale are expected to provide entirely new material options for next-generation nano-circuits, flexible wearable electronic devices, and more, opening a new path for the research and development of new low-dimensional functional materials in our country," said Mao Ho-kwang, a world-renowned high-pressure scientist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Laser Tech Breakthrough Poised to Boost Photonic Computing

(Xinhua News Agency, London) (Reporter Zhang Jiawei) The University of Southampton in the United Kingdom recently issued a press release: an international team led by its researchers achieved spontaneous synchronization of multiple miniature lasers at room temperature, forming a coherent and reconfigurable light source. This achievement may become the first step toward lower-cost, reconfigurable, and more accessible photonic computing technology. The related research paper has been published in the British journal Nature Communications.

The research team generated spatially separated miniature lasers in an optical microcavity based on liquid crystals and organic dye molecules, and caused these lasers to synchronize spontaneously, operating as a unified coherent light emitter at the same frequency and phase, thereby forming a macroscopic collective state known as a "supermode."

Previously, this type of laser control phenomenon was mostly observed in specialized semiconductor microcavities operating below minus 250 degrees Celsius; the new platform, by contrast, can operate at room temperature. Another key advantage of the new platform lies in its electrical tunability: applying a small voltage can reorient the liquid crystal molecules within the microcavity, thereby adjusting the way light propagates and the operating mode of the lasers. In addition, the platform also possesses optical reconfigurability, as the relative positions of the miniature lasers within the same device can be readjusted.

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Extracting Rubber from “Grass”: What’s the Trick? (On the Front Line)

By: 本报记者 尚嵘峥摄影报道

Could a small plant that looks like a dandelion actually yield natural rubber?

In June this year, the rubber dandelion research team of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Academy of Agricultural Sciences, jointly with Beijing University of Chemical Technology, built a pilot-scale rubber dandelion extraction and production line at Shihezi Vocational and Technical University, successfully producing 40 kilograms of qualified natural rubber, and opening up the entire industrial chain of rubber dandelion from germplasm resource collection, variety breeding, planting and cultivation to mass production.

Natural rubber is an important strategic resource, with downstream products including tires, latex products, and medical supplies, covering multiple industrial fields such as aerospace and automobile manufacturing. At present, global natural rubber is highly dependent on the Para rubber tree, which grows in the tropics.

The rubber dandelion is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Taraxacum in the family Asteraceae, and together with the Para rubber tree and the guayule, it is known as one of the world's three major rubber-producing plants. However, wild rubber dandelion is extremely rare, and at present in China it has been found only in Zhaosu County and Tekes County of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang.

"Compared with the rubber tree, the rubber dandelion has advantages such as a short growth cycle, tolerance to saline-alkali soil, preference for cool conditions, and ease of mechanization," said Abudukeyoumu Abudurezike, associate researcher of the Institute of Crop Sciences of the Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He explained that the natural rubber produced from the roots of the rubber dandelion is highly consistent with that produced by the rubber tree, and can meet the rubber standards for high-end fields such as aerospace in terms of abrasion resistance and other properties.

"After the rubber dandelion is planted, it can be harvested in the same year, and the plant height is generally about 10 centimeters, making it very suitable for under-forest planting and planting under photovoltaic panels," said Abudukeyoumu. The rubber dandelion's preference for cool conditions shows that natural rubber production is no longer confined to the tropics, and China's northern regions can also produce natural rubber by planting rubber dandelion.

From germplasm resource collection to achieving mass production, the research team has gone through a journey of more than 10 years of tackling key problems.

Starting in 2013, the team began extensively collecting wild rubber dandelion germplasm resources in the Tianshan area. In order to find the rubber dandelion, the team traversed vast grasslands and riverbanks. However, a complete failure resulting in no harvest (颗粒无收, ke li wu shou - "grain, nothing, receive") was the norm, and even when they did encounter it, it was often only a scattered one or two plants.

One pasture gave the team a pleasant surprise. "Although that pasture covers an area of no more than 100 mu, wild rubber dandelion can be seen everywhere there, and it is the most concentrated wild rubber dandelion growing area discovered so far," said Zhang Yan, senior agronomist of the Institute of Crop Sciences of the Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences. After as long as 10 years of field collection, the team accumulated more than 200 germplasm resources.

After laboratory analysis, the rubber content of these germplasm resources was uneven, with the lowest at only 3 percent and the highest at 12 percent. Moreover, these wild rubber dandelions had generally undergone hybridization in the wild, so the rubber production of the plants was unstable.

The team decided to spread out all more than 200 germplasm resources for domestication and cultivation, with an initial planting area of 200 mu. On the one hand, they selected plots with different climatic and soil conditions to observe the stress resistance of the plants under environments such as high salinity-alkalinity and high temperature and drought; on the other hand, through rejuvenation and purification, they bred strains with high and stable rubber content.

During the planting process, the team made an unexpected discovery. "The rubber dandelion can adapt to growing in moderately saline-alkali soil, making it a new crop option for the treatment of saline-alkali land," said Gao Qiang, associate researcher of the Institute of Crop Sciences of the Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

There has also been encouraging progress in variety breeding. After 3 to 5 generations of rejuvenation and purification, 42 plant lines achieved stable rubber production, of which 3 plant lines had a stable rubber content of more than 10 percent, and the highest rubber content of a single plant reached 15 percent.

During cultivation, weeds grew even more vigorously than the rubber dandelion, some reaching waist height, not only blocking sunlight but also affecting ventilation. "We have explored a drip irrigation cultivation model under film mulch, which can effectively control the growth of weeds," said Abudukeyoumu.

Considering the future large-scale promotion of planting, it is necessary to achieve mechanization throughout the entire process. The team also simultaneously worked with enterprises during the cultivation process to develop mechanized equipment dedicated to the rubber dandelion. Even the seeding machinery alone went through 3 iterations, upgrading from the initial hand-pushed precision drill seeder to the current combined film-laying and drip-irrigation seeder. In addition, mechanized equipment such as root harvesters, seed harvesters, and rubbing and dehairing machines have also been put into use one after another, achieving full mechanization from land preparation to root digging.

"In the future, we will further carry out research around directions such as breeding of high-yield and high-quality rubber dandelion varieties, improvement of rubber content, efficient mechanized cultivation models, and green and efficient production technologies, continuously improve the rubber dandelion planting, processing, and industrialization technology system, and promote the advancement of rubber dandelion natural rubber production from scale-based development to industrial application," said Xu Lin, team leader and researcher of the Institute of Crop Sciences of the Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

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New plant species Shanglin balsam discovered in Guangxi's Damingshan

(People's Daily, Nanning) (Reporter Li Weijun) The reporter learned from the Guangxi Damingshan Administration Bureau: recently, a research team from Hunan Normal University, in collaboration with the Wuhan Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, published research findings in an international plant taxonomy journal, formally naming a new species of the subgenus Impatiens produced in Guangxi's Damingshan — the Shanglin balsam (Impatiens shanglinensis), providing key new evidence for the evolution of the genus Impatiens and biodiversity conservation.

In November 2022, during a field survey in the Damingshan National Nature Reserve, the team discovered a wild population of balsam with a unique morphology in a stream valley of pristine dense forest at an elevation of 803 meters, and preliminarily judged it to be a new species of Impatiens. According to current field survey findings, only three wild populations of the Shanglin balsam have been found so far, with a total of approximately 300 individual plants. This species is a perennial herb, entering its flowering and fruiting period from October to November each year. Its white flowers are simple and elegant with a unique charm (素雅别致, su ya bie zhi - "plain, elegant; distinct, unique"), possessing both development potential as a wild ornamental flower and research value for plant evolution.

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- 肖遥、曹怡晴、陈圆圆 - Page editors: Xiao Yao, Cao Yiqing, Chen Yuanyuan

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Changan Qiyuan Q06: A Dynamic New SUV Featuring the "Changan Tianshu Pilot" Driver Assistance System

The actual configuration and features of the vehicle are subject to the official product configuration table as formally released.

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The Painted Pottery Southward Route in Northwest China as Seen from the Konglong Village Site (Archaeology in China)

By: 高 寒

The excavation of the Konglong Village site in Barkam City, Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, is a major advance in Neolithic archaeology in the southwestern region.

The Konglong Village site is located on the second terrace of the east bank of the Jiaomuzu River, the true source of the Dadu River, at an elevation of nearly 2,500 meters, covering an area of more than 100,000 square meters, dating to approximately 5,500–4,800 years ago. It is the earliest, largest, and most artifact-rich Neolithic site discovered to date in the western Sichuan region. To support the construction of the Shuangjiangkou Hydropower Station on the Dadu River, since June 2023, the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute and other units have been continuously excavating the site, and to date 17,000 square meters have been excavated, including residential areas, public building areas, handicraft production areas, large moats, and cemeteries, making it a complete prehistoric central settlement.

A large number of painted pottery has been discovered at the Konglong Village site, the vast majority unearthed from the living areas of the site, almost all of them fragments of complete vessels that were casually discarded after being broken, making restoration extremely difficult. Nearly 10,000 fragments have been unearthed to date, with vessel types including dou (stemmed bowls), bo (bowls), pan (plates), pen (basins), ping (bottles), hu (jars), guan (pots), weng (urns), and others. Archaeological workers have managed to restore more than 10 complete painted pottery vessels and more than 20 complete painted pottery decorative patterns. Most notably, the painted pottery from the early phase of the site is of the typical style of the early stage of the late Yangshao culture (Shilingxia type), marking the first concentrated discovery of this style on the western Sichuan Plateau; the middle and late phases include several Majiayao-type styles and local characteristic styles, some of which have been seen at previously excavated sites on the western Sichuan Plateau.

The western Sichuan Plateau, located on the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, is the region outside the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River with the largest quantity and richest variety of prehistoric painted pottery. Western Sichuan painted pottery is mainly found in the upper reaches of the Min River and the upper reaches of the Dadu River, with sporadic discoveries also in the upper reaches of the Yalong River, the middle reaches of the Dadu River, and the Songpan and Zoigê grassland areas in the northern part of the western Sichuan Plateau that belong to the Yellow River basin. In addition, a small amount of painted pottery has been newly unearthed in recent years at the Han'eyi site in Danba County, Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, in the upper reaches of the Dadu River, dating to approximately 5,000–4,800 years ago, having a continuous and unbroken lineage (一脉相承, yi mai xiang cheng - "one, thread, connect, inherit") with the Konglong Village site.

The splendid painted pottery of the Neolithic Age is an artistic treasure of China's prehistoric culture. The middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River were an important birthplace of painted pottery and also the region with the richest quantity and variety of painted pottery. From approximately 8,000 to 4,000 years ago, the Dadiwan culture, the Yangshao culture, and the Majiayao culture represented three important stages in the development of painted pottery in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River. Around 6,000 years ago, in the middle period of the Yangshao culture, the Miaodigou-type painted pottery of the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River was the first to begin spreading widely outward. The westward transmission of the Miaodigou type created the pinnacle of China's prehistoric painted pottery culture — the Majiayao culture — while the southward transmission of the Yangshao culture promoted the origin and development of Neolithic culture in the southwestern region, creating the western Sichuan painted pottery of the late Neolithic Age in China.

The alpine gorge belt on the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was a natural corridor for the southward transmission of Neolithic painted pottery from the northwest. Based on current understanding, the southward transmission of painted pottery roughly went through three stages.

The initial stage was the late Yangshao culture (Shilingxia type) phase, approximately 5,500–5,100 years ago. Western Sichuan painted pottery is mainly found at the Konglong Village site, with similar painted pottery found at sites such as Dadiwan, Fujiamen, Shannashuzha, and Dalijiaping in the Gansu region, with typical decorative motifs including curved-edge triangle patterns, grid patterns, and swirling transformed bird patterns. The flourishing period corresponded to the early and middle stages of the Majiayao type, approximately 5,100–4,900 years ago. Western Sichuan painted pottery is widely found in the upper reaches of the Dadu River and the upper reaches of the Min River in Sichuan, with discoveries at Haxiu, Liujiazhai, Yingpanshan, Jiangweicheng, as well as the newly excavated Konglong Village and Han'eyi sites. The subject matter of painted pottery decorations greatly enriched, dominated by thick and thin curved line patterns, horizontal and vertical parallel stripe patterns, cross patterns, and dot patterns, with the appearance of a small number of grass-leaf patterns, claw patterns, and other designs with local characteristics. The decline period corresponded to the late Majiayao type, approximately 4,900–4,700 years ago. At this time, the distribution range of western Sichuan painted pottery was even wider, but overall it showed a trend of gradual decline, with relatively crude craftsmanship, a greatly reduced quantity, monotonous decorative subject matter, while the grass-leaf patterns with local characteristics remained popular. It can be seen that during this stage, the connections between western Sichuan and northwestern prehistoric cultures gradually weakened, and cultural exchange and interaction between the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the upper reaches of the Yellow River entered a low ebb.

The latest research shows that the western Sichuan painted pottery of different stages includes both pieces directly imported from the northwestern region and pieces made locally. Most of the painted pottery from the early stage should have been directly imported with migrating populations or through trade exchange from the northwestern region, while in the slightly later stages a certain quantity of locally made painted pottery generally appeared, with clay composition and manufacturing techniques different from those of the northwestern region, and some decorative motifs having local characteristics. The phenomenon of painted pottery transitioning from direct import to gradual local production occurred not only on the western Sichuan Plateau but has also been found at the Zongri site in Tongde County, Qinghai, in the border area of Majiayao-type painted pottery distribution, and at the Yangshan cemetery in Minhe Hui and Tu Autonomous County and the Liuwan cemetery in Ledu District in the Huangshui River basin of Qinghai. The spread of painted pottery promoted the exchange and integration of prehistoric cultures in different regions.

The painted pottery discovered at the Konglong Village site extends the upper chronological limit of western Sichuan painted pottery, advancing the opening of the route of southward transmission of painted pottery in western China to the late Yangshao culture stage. After the painted pottery populations from the northwestern region moved south to the western Sichuan Plateau, they continuously integrated and developed with the local populations, while maintaining ongoing exchange and interaction with the upper Yellow River region, greatly expanding the distribution area of China's Neolithic painted pottery culture. Some painted pottery populations continued southward along the Min River into the Sichuan Basin, promoting the cultural development of the Neolithic Age in the Sichuan Basin and advancing the process of civilization origin in the upper Yangtze River region centered on the Chengdu Plain. At the same time, the prehistoric farming culture represented by painted pottery further developed southward along the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, advancing the process of civilization origin in southwestern Sichuan and northwestern Yunnan.

Integration is reflected not only in the typical artifact of painted pottery. The western Sichuan Plateau and the upper Yellow River region show consistency in many aspects of archaeological culture, including a subsistence model dominated by dryland farming of foxtail and broomcorn millet supplemented by hunting and gathering, daily production and living remains such as pottery kilns, house foundations, and hearths, decorative items of various materials such as rings, bracelets, and hairpins, the worship of birds and frogs in pottery figurines and painted pottery patterns, and the ritual and music culture reflected in pottery drums, pottery bells, stone chimes, and jade yue axes, comprehensively reproducing the picture of interactive exchange and integrated development among prehistoric ethnic groups in the upper reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, and providing empirical evidence of the pluralistic and integrated pattern of Chinese civilization in the late Neolithic Age.

(Author's affiliation: Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute)

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Clarifying the Claim That "the Qin People Valued Martial Prowess" (Ancient Wisdom for Today)

By: 许卫红

The saying that "the Qin people valued martial prowess" has a long history. It seems that "martial valor" was a spiritual temperament unique to the state of Qin, and it became a key factor in explaining Qin's eventual victory. If one broadens the observational perspective to the entire social environment, one will find that this is not actually the case.

"Warring States" originally referred to the seven great powers; after Liu Xiang compiled the Stratagems of the Warring States, "Warring States" became fixed as a proper noun for an era. At that time, war was the core means of survival and competition among the various states, and martial valor was a universal social phenomenon. The state of Qi had "courage ranks," "the Qi people excelled at martial arts," and "the troops of the five capitals"; the state of Wei had strict selection standards for armored warriors; the state of Zhao had "King Wuling of Zhao adopting Hu dress and mounted archery" as well as the tenacious defense of the Battle of Changping and the Defense of Handan; the state of Chu had hardships and toil in starting a cause (筚路蓝缕, bi lu lan lu - "brush, path, blue, thread") in opening up territory, where slaying an enemy general could earn the rank of Grand Pillar of State and the grant of the Supreme Jade Gui, and also had the prophecy that comes true (一语成谶, yi yu cheng chen - "one, speech, become, omen") of the late Qin saying, "Though Chu has but three households, the one who destroys Qin must be Chu"; the state of Han was known as the "Sturdy Han," and the finest strong bows and crossbows in the world mostly came from Han; the state of Yan, though located in the northern frontier, had Yue Yi leading a coalition of five states to attack Qi...

The Book of Songs likewise confirms that martial valor was a common feature of the era. Passages such as "No Clothes" and "Small Chariot" from the Airs of Qin are often used to prove that the Qin people valued martial prowess, but the entire Book of Songs contains more than 30 poems depicting the wars, military appearance, and so forth of the various states. "Breaking the Axe" from the Airs of Bin writes of the pride of soldiers in the Duke of Zhou's eastern expedition; "Drumming" from the Airs of Bei records Wei soldiers setting out on campaign, with both descriptions of battle formations and the soldiers' oath of life and death; "The Qing Ren" from the Airs of Zheng elaborates on the war chariots and military appearance of Zheng... Martial themes were not a literary expression unique to the state of Qin.

The social atmosphere of martial valor, at the material level, was manifested in the universal progress of weapons manufacturing across the various states, and archaeological excavated artifacts provide direct evidence.

The quantity of Warring States weapons unearthed from Chu is enormous; from the 558 Chu tombs at Yutaishan alone, more than 500 weapons were unearthed, with small and medium-sized tombs commonly containing burial weapons and a complete range of weapon types. A double-bolt simultaneous-firing repeating crossbow was unearthed from the Chu tomb at Qinjiazui in Jiangling, which is a physical example of an early repeating crossbow. As many as 32 bronze swords were unearthed from the No. 1 Chu tomb at Tianxingguan, and on the surface of some bronze swords, artificial tin-enrichment hardening treatment technology was discovered, indicating a very high level of metalworking skill.

In traditional perception, the state of Yan was relatively weak in national strength, yet from the mass burial pit No. 44 for warriors at the Lower Capital of Yan, a large number of iron weapons were unearthed, including iron swords, iron spears, iron halberds, and iron helmets. Metallographic examination shows that some weapons used a high-carbon steel quenching process, pushing back the date of quenching technology in China to the late Warring States period, showing that Yan invested advanced metallurgical technology heavily in weapons manufacturing.

The state of Zeng was a small state with the Ji surname; from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, more than 4,700 weapons were unearthed, and the bamboo slips in the tomb record large quantities of armor, bows and arrows, and dagger-axes and halberds. Multi-headed dagger-axes, staves, and other previously rare weapons were unearthed, and the human armor and horse armor were finely made, representing the peak of pre-Qin leather armor craftsmanship. The three Jin states universally used a three-level supervision system of "ordering the master craftsman to cast"; from the hoard at the old capital of Zheng and Han, more than 180 late Warring States Han dagger-axes and spears were unearthed at one time, with a large number of artifacts bearing inscriptions of reign years and official titles, and stone mold patterns for casting dagger-axe inscriptions were also unearthed, proving that Han weapons had achieved large-scale casting.

Later generations often summarized the Qin people with terms such as "tigers and wolves" and "martial valor." This perception has two sources: first, the Warring States political strategists, out of diplomatic confrontation, used hostile rhetoric about the enemy state to describe Qin's fighting style; second, later generations, reasoning backward from the historical result of Qin's unification, projected a national character, misreading the effects of institutional shaping as an innate trait of the ethnic group. In fact, beyond the common martial character of the era, the spiritual world of the Qin people themselves also possessed multiple dimensions.

The Qin bamboo slips from Shuihudi, in the "Ways of Being an Official," set forth standards of virtue for officials such as purity, uprightness, and prudence and caution, embodying Confucian moral concepts. Private seals of the "loyal, benevolent, and thoughtful of scholars" type unearthed from the Yongcheng site in Fengxiang and Qin tombs in Xianyang express esteem for values such as loyalty, benevolence, respect, and prudence. On a pottery pad unearthed from the handicraft workshop site in Xianyang, there is a seal-impressed "jing shi" (reverent in one's work) text, which derives from the Analects phrase "reverent in one's work and trustworthy," representing the practitioner's respectful and diligent attitude toward one's profession.

The terracotta warriors of the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang are often regarded as a visual symbol of Qin martial valor, but the high-ranking military officer figurines stand with hands crossed and lowered, pressing on their swords, with restrained and composed postures, highlighting the general's strategic wisdom rather than merely showcasing charging bravery. The career records of Qin officials also reflect the combination of civil and military competence: Neishi Teng could both issue decrees as a local governor to pacify newly occupied lands and lead troops to attack cities and destroy states; during the reign of King Wu of Qin, Gan Mao both presided over the revision of field laws and was able to lead troops to attack Yiyang. The concentration of military and political functions in one person was a common phenomenon in the Qin bureaucratic system.

Personal names are a projection of social values, and researchers' statistical analysis of personal names in Qin bamboo slips provides a new perspective for observing the value orientations of ordinary Qin people. A total of 680 names could be identified and interpreted, with 64 names of a moral character; among these, the most numerous, in descending order, were names expressing humility and respect, loyalty and righteousness, and generosity and benevolence, while names expressing valor and bravery were the fewest. The personal names in the bamboo-slip materials come from low-level petty officials and commoners, reflecting the real value orientation of the Qin common people in the late Warring States period—the state rewarded military merit, but ordinary people did not prioritize a martial personality when choosing names.

"The Qin people valued martial prowess" only reflects one facet of the spiritual world of the Qin people. Only by restoring martial valor to the overall background of the Warring States era can one more objectively understand the social structure, institutional changes, and the historical logic of Qin's unification during the Warring States period.

(Author's affiliation: Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology)

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In Kaifeng, in Search of Lord Bao (Cultural Relics at My Doorstep)

By: 韩 阳

I grew up in Kaifeng city, and at an age when I could not yet understand The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants, I often played at the Memorial Temple of Lord Bao, which was not far from my grandmother's home. A little older, I loved watching the TV drama Justice Bao and hearing teachers tell of "Lord Bao of the Dragon Diagram sitting in judgment in the Kaifeng Prefecture."

The anecdotes of Lord Bao are widely known by everyone (家喻户晓, jia yu hu xiao - "family, know; every, reach") in Kaifeng, yet genuine relics of his in the city are very few. What people know well is that the Kaifeng Museum houses a stele titled Inscription of Names of the Kaifeng Prefecture, on which are engraved the names of the successive prefects of Kaifeng in the Northern Song dynasty, such as Fan Zhongyan and Ouyang Xiu. At the spot for Bao Zheng, however, there is a pit the size of a thumb. It is said that over the centuries, all who have seen this stele have unconsciously used a finger to search for and rub the name of Bao Zheng. Over a long period of time (久而久之, jiu er jiu zhi - "long, and, long, and, arrive"), Bao Zheng's great name was thus worn into a hollow, becoming a tale for the ages of "no name on the stele, yet praised by every mouth."

During the Spring Festival of 2023, a friend pulled me along to stroll through the Qingming Riverside Landscape Garden. Wandering casually into a museum of the four treasures of the study, a rubbing of seal-script calligraphy on the wall caught my attention. The characters read "The Place Where the Dragon Horse Presented the Diagram"; looking then at the signature, "In the third year of the Jiayou reign, second month, Bao Zheng, Academician of the Dragon Diagram Pavilion and Prefect of Kaifeng." Unexpectedly, old Bao actually had surviving calligraphic works in the world. But I immediately thought that the original stele might have been lost without a trace, probably not in Kaifeng, so I merely took a photograph and did not pursue the matter further.

That evening, chatting idly with my parents, I did not expect that my father, who had never been enthusiastic about literature and history, would say he knew where the original stele was—in the North Great Temple, not far from home. He often took walks in the evening with several friends, one of whom was the caretaker of the North Great Temple, who mentioned that they had a stele of Lord Bao there and had invited everyone to come see it when they had time. Hearing this, I was extremely excited—Lord Bao's surviving stele was actually extremely close or within reach (近在咫尺, jin zai zhi chi - "near, at, small, inch")—and I immediately resolved, full of enthusiasm, to go visit the stele.

The next morning, my father and I set out from the east gate of Henan University, detoured around the west gate of the school, and soon arrived at the North Great Temple. The temple was not large; the caretaker pointed casually, and we saw the stele. The stele body was set into the lintel of the north wall of the main hall's front porch, its five characters elegant and dignified, Bao Zheng's inscription clearly discernible, the atmosphere of Song dynasty elegance rushing to meet the eye. Even more delightful was that on the lintel of the south wall opposite this stele was set a Record of the Inscription of the Stele of Bao Zheng composed by Agui, a famous minister of the Qing dynasty, briefly relating the origin of the stele. In the fiftieth year of the Qianlong reign (1785), Jiang Lan, the financial commissioner of Henan, guided by a dream, "removed several feet of earth and thus obtained this stele." Agui, who was stationed in Bianliang to manage river works, wrote with deep feeling: "Bianliang was the old capital of the Song, and Xiaosu was a famous minister of the Song; the great writing, deeply carved, is something that is credible and can be verified (信而有征, xin er you zheng - "believe, and, have, evidence")." Some scholars have accordingly proposed that the "The Place Where the Dragon Horse Presented the Diagram" stele was originally erected at the Temple of Cang Wang; when the Yellow River broke its banks in the late Ming dynasty, the temple was destroyed and the stele lost, only to be rediscovered later by Jiang Lan.

In the late Qing dynasty, the stele of Lord Bao once again passed into private hands. During the Guangxu reign, the North Great Temple was rebuilt, and the temple's abbot, who had long delighted in epigraphy, collected these two steles into the temple and set them into the door lintels, where they have been preserved to this day.

That day, as we turned to walk back, we happened to see the caretaker nailing up a "Notice Board of Responsibility for Cultural Relic Safety" on the wall, on which were specially printed such information as the cultural relic protection unit, the directly responsible unit, and the comprehensive management department. Seeing this, I became all the more convinced that the stele of Lord Bao will be well preserved, and that more traces of Bao Zheng will be further excavated and discovered.

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Guangling Lacquered Woodenware Hides a Refined Life (New on Display)

By: 尹晓宇

Recently, the Nanjing Museum launched its annual special exhibition — "Clouds Soaring: Culture and Art of Western Han Guangling Lacquered Woodenware" — presenting daily life and the spiritual world of the Western Han dynasty through seven chapters.

In the exhibition, "Guangling" does not refer solely to present-day Yangzhou in Jiangsu, but to the "Eastern Chu" region as seen by the Western Han historian Sima Qian, encompassing the Jianghuai area of Jiangsu and the eastern part of Anhui. This region was rich in salt and iron resources, densely crisscrossed by waterways, and economically developed; archaeological discoveries show that lacquered woodenware production there continued for over 200 years without decline.

Guangling lacquered woodenware came in a great variety of types, with functions covering nearly all needs of a lifetime at the time. The bodies were mostly made of ramie cloth (zhu tai), with colors predominantly vermilion and brown (black) as the base, supplemented by gray-green, ochre-yellow, and other color schemes. The decorative patterns initially continued the Chu state style of the Warring States period, and by the mid-to-late Western Han gradually developed an ethereal, dynamic style dominated by cloud-vapor motifs. In terms of production techniques, due to the reduction of feudal principalities, the production of Guangling lacquerware was no longer led by the royal house but driven by the market. The practitioners were artisans who remained locally after the royal workshops were disbanded; they produced large quantities of lacquerware with strong local characteristics, including gold and silver rim fittings, inlaid gemstones, and gold and silver foil appliqué decoration. These lacquerwares were sold throughout the country and even exported overseas, and Guangling became the national center for lacquerware design and production, with Guangling lacquered woodenware unearthed at archaeological sites across many parts of the country.

As the variety of foods increased during the Han dynasty, the use of lacquerware in aristocratic dining also became more abundant. For example, there is the "dou zhi wine" of the Hongmen Banquet. A zhi is a drinking vessel, generally cylindrical in shape, with a ring-shaped handle for easy gripping; to keep the contents clean, it was often fitted with a lid. The capacity of Han dynasty zhi vessels was generally two sheng, seven sheng, or one dou. The silver-rimmed bird-and-beast patterned lacquer zhi and the hawksbill-turtle-decorated lacquer zhi, collected by the Yangzhou Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and exhibited this time, are both typical of Guangling lacquerware decorative style.

Among the exhibits, the seven-piece lacquer dressing case with gold and silver appliqué, immortal figures, rare birds, cloud-vapor motifs, and silver rims, from the Qingdao West Coast Museum, is particularly eye-catching. This dressing case consists of one mother case and seven child cases, entirely covered with gold and silver foil appliqué; the vessel surface uses cloud-vapor motifs as the base, interspersed with patterns of immortals, rare birds, and divine beasts. The lid of the mother case is decorated with a persimmon-calyx motif, inlaid with agate as ornament; a bronze mirror is placed at the bottom of the mother case, with the child cases placed on top, shaped as squares, barrels, and horses' hooves, used to hold lead powder, rouge, lip color, combs, bronze brushes, and the like. The love motto "Longing for each other, never forget" was also often expressed through the objects in the dressing case. Zuo Jun, curator of this exhibition and research fellow at the Nanjing Museum, introduced that the procedure of applying gold and silver foil to Guangling lacquerware preceded the lacquer painting, and is regarded by the academic community as the origin of the gold and silver pingtuo (cut-out foil inlay) technique of the Sui and Tang dynasties.

As the top-tier pattern of the Han dynasty, cloud-vapor motifs were related to the prevailing fashion of seeking immortality at the time. In Guangling lacquerware, cloud-vapor motifs were often used in combination with feathered immortals and divine beasts, whether dancing dragons and playing phoenixes (游龙戏凤, you long xi feng - "traveling dragon, play phoenix") or striving for fame and fortune (追虎逐鹿, zhui hu zhu lu - "chase tiger, pursue deer"), expressing the Han people's imagined immortal realm and their prayers for eternal life.

Wenming is a high-grade funerary implement. The Eastern Han scholar Fu Qian described it as "shaped like a square lacquer bucket, open on one side, painted with lacquer, with a mirror placed inside, suspended above the corpse, and covered over at the great encoffining." In the "Biography of Huo Guang" in the Book of Han, wenming is mentioned alongside zigong (inner coffin), bianfang (side chamber), and huangchang ticou (cypress heartwood outer coffin) — the funerary specifications for emperors — with the special note that "the Dongyuan wenming all follow the imperial carriage system." Among the exhibits, the lacquer wenming with feathered immortals, birds and beasts, and cloud-vapor motifs depicts cloud-vapor patterns on all four exterior sides in black and gray lacquer over a brown base, interspersed with divine beasts and animals such as the azure dragon, white tiger, phoenix, and deer, with one side depicting a feathered immortal holding a bow and crossbow shooting at flying birds. The four interior sides also feature divine beasts and feathered immortals amid cloud-vapor motifs; the top is painted with the sun and moon, with a three-legged crow in the center of the sun, and the moon surface filled with yellow lacquer, painted with a jade rabbit and a toad, with a bronze mirror on each of the two sides. In the view of people at the time, all these designs and decorations could help the soul of the tomb owner ascend smoothly on the clouds.

Guangling lacquered woodenware is a splendid scroll painting displaying the refined life, understanding of all things, and spiritual beliefs of the Han people, and also reflects people's aspirations for a better life at the time. Through these lacquered woodenware pieces, we not only see the ancients' splendid material world and way of life, but also are able to reach their rich spiritual world.

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The Rich Cultural Heritage of the Greater Kunlun Region Is Worth Anticipating

By: 杨雪梅

At an altitude of 4,300 meters, snow began to fall in Madoi County, Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai, as early as late August. Conducting archaeology here involves hardships and difficulties that ordinary people can hardly imagine, but for archaeologists who have spent years excavating on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, as long as the weather is clear, "everything is manageable."

The archaeological work surrounding the Gartang Qin inscribed stone is part of the "2026-2028 Archaeological Plan for the Ring of Zhaling Lake and Eling Lake." The three-year plan, approved by the National Cultural Heritage Administration, covers a total survey area of 700 square kilometers, with the aim of comprehensively investigating the cultural relic remains in this region and exploring the regional cultural connotations.

Because the area falls within the core zone of a national ecological protection area, large-scale archaeological excavation is not possible; only key areas and key sites can be selected. The excavation area for 2026 is 50 square meters. "We have laid out excavation trenches below the inscribed stone, hoping to find fragments that have broken off and fallen from the stone, so as to make the content of the inscription more complete. At the same time, we are searching for the Qin-dynasty activity surface to provide as much background information as possible for the study of the inscribed stone," said Tong Tao, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

On August 21, scholars attending the "Kunlun Culture Forum" drove more than 460 kilometers from Xining, Qinghai, to Madoi. After a brief rest, they went to the original site of the Gartang Qin inscribed stone for inspection. Eling Lake and Zhaling Lake are as pure and picturesque as paintings. The inscribed stone sits halfway up the slope of the northern shore of Zhaling Lake, and the rock body of the inscription, together with the hillside and the lake, forms a landscape of "backed by mountains, facing water." Close observation reveals that the upper part of the rock face bearing the inscription shows slight exfoliation, the wall surface has suffered severe abrasion and weathering, there is a diagonal crack in the middle, and multiple areas below show damage and flaking. However, most of the 37 chiseled characters, arranged from right to left and from top to bottom, can still be clearly identified.

Li Ling, a professor at Peking University who is nearly 80 years old, called this trip a "journey to fulfill a dream." Upon arriving at the original site of the inscription, he was extremely excited. "Qin script is relatively easy to recognize among ancient scripts because it is continuing a tradition or lineage without interruption (一脉相承, yi mai xiang cheng - "one, vein, connect, together") with small seal script and clerical script, and it is also the closest to our current Chinese character system. The content of the inscription is very important, but I believe what is even more important is its discovery location. In Madoi County, in the famous Sanjiangyuan region, this environment is truly exceptional."

Once the Gartang Qin inscribed stone was made public, it immediately drew widespread attention from the academic community. After organizing experts to conduct field investigations and research, the National Cultural Heritage Administration determined: The "Gartang Qin inscribed stone" is an important achievement of the Fourth National Cultural Relics Census. It is generally well preserved overall, with most of the characters clearly legible. The inscription contains the complete year, month, and day, is not recorded in any documentary sources, and is the only Qin-dynasty inscribed stone known in China that remains at its original site and at the highest altitude. Standing at the source of the river, it fills a gap in historical records, and is therefore of great significance.

Tong Tao stated that because the inscribed stone is at its original site, there is a certain possibility of restoring the full appearance of the inscription and its historical setting through archaeological excavation. Stratigraphy will provide empirical evidence for determining the date of the inscribed stone itself and for understanding the temporal and spatial cultural background in which it was situated, while excavation of related remains in the surrounding area can provide information on the ancient environment, transportation geography, and cultural exchanges among ethnic groups. It is reported that within a 150-kilometer radius (approximately 360 li in Qin-Han measurement) centered on the inscribed stone, the Fourth National Cultural Relics Census has already discovered a total of 75 cultural relic remains dating from the Paleolithic, Xia-Shang-Zhou periods, down to the modern era. In this stretch of the upper Yellow River region in Golog Prefecture, relatively little archaeological work had been conducted in the past. The archaeology carried out over the next several years will fill the gaps in the archaeological cultural sequence of this region, helping us better understand the cultural exchanges between the Central Plains and the hinterland of the plateau during the pre-Qin and Han periods.

Also underway in this region is the archaeology of the Mogedewa site. In July 2023, it was precisely after concluding their survey at the Mogedewa site and while visiting other remains within the Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve — the ox-head monument, rock art, and tombs — that Tong Tao and his colleagues discovered this inscribed stone halfway up the slope of the northern shore of Zhaling Lake.

The Mogedewa site is located on the shores of the beautiful Donggi Cona Lake, at a relative height of more than 80 meters above the ground. Carbon-14 dating of the remains at the very bottom of the foundation shows a date around 700 AD, which should belong to the Tubo period. Based on its form, archaeologists have preliminarily determined that it is a residential site or a city site. "Within roughly 100 kilometers, or perhaps tens of kilometers, around the lake, this may be the only city site. It is located on the Tang-Tubo Ancient Road, a commonly used route from the Qaidam Basin to the source of the Yellow River and then on to Lhasa. Its strategic position is very important. Our preliminary judgment is that it is the famous Wuhai city of the Tang-Tubo period, that is, the Wuhai Dongdai mentioned in Tibetan-language documents," Tong Tao said.

There are cognitive gaps in the academic community regarding the early material culture, stages of civilizational development, and cross-regional cultural exchange conditions of the upper Yellow River and the Qaidam Basin, which urgently need to be filled through systematic archaeological work to establish and improve the archaeological cultural lineage. Previously, the Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, together with the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, had already been advancing an archaeological survey and research project on the upper Yellow River. In the future, the scope of research can be further extended to neighboring regions, covering the temporal and spatial range from Shaanxi-Gansu to the Qinghai-Tibet region, from the plains to the plateau, and from the Bronze Age to the early Iron Age, thereby linking the temporal and spatial connections of the early Qin culture, Siwa culture, Qijia culture, Shajing culture, Kayue culture, Nomuhong culture, and others in this belt-shaped region.

The concept of "Greater Kunlun archaeology" is gaining acceptance. There is still considerable space for exploring ancient cultural exchanges across the Kunlun region through archaeology. Multiple institutions, including the Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, will carry out corresponding work in the "Greater Kunlun region" centered on the coexistence and integration of multiple ethnic groups and the protection of regional cultural heritage. The results are worth anticipating.

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Page editors: Zhou Feiya

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