Nigeria Times

By Li Shuo, People’s Daily

The 2024 Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)Guangzhou Open tennis tournament concluded on Oct. 27 in Guangzhou, capital of south China’s Guangdong province. This event, which enjoys a history of 20 years, once again swept China with a “tennis fever.”

“Breakthrough” is what defines China’s tennis in 2024.

This year, Chinese tennis players have constantly made breakthroughs in their personal performance and world ranking. At the Paris Olympics, Zheng Qinwen claimed the women’s singles gold, and the Chinese duo Zhang Zhizhen and Wang Xinyu won a silver in the mixed doubles. Their success made China’s tennis a trending topic.

Besides, ticket sales of tennis tournaments in China soared. The Chinese people are having an increasingly higher passion for watching tennis games and joining the sport.

Unlike in table tennis and badminton, tennis has not been a traditional area of strength for China. The sport is demanding in skills, court conditions and training cost, which once hindered its development in China and made it difficult for the sport to get close to the public.

It was in 2004 when Chinese tennis players won a gold medal in the women’s doubles at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens that the sport embarked on a development path with Chinese characteristics in China.

Medals won by Chinese athletes at the Paris Olympics brought a tennis boom in China.

Since the conclusion of the Paris Olympics, tennis has embraced explosive development in China, as proved by the non-stop inquiries received by tennis training agencies and the surge in the sales of tennis apparels and equipment.

The tennis tournaments being hosted across the country pushed the “tennis fever” to new highs. They provided opportunities to tennis fans to watch top-notch games and cheer for players around the courts.

Bai Xilin, director of the tennis administration center under the General Administration of Sport of China, believes that the prospering development of the sport of tennis is an epitome of China growing from a major sports country into a sporting powerhouse.

On the evening of Oct. 13, the women’s singles final match of the WTA Wuhan Open tennis tournament was staged at the Optics Valley International Tennis Center in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei province. The spectators stand was fully-seated, immersed in the cheers for Chinese player Zheng Qinwen.

According to statistics, both the single-day and total ticket sales of the WTA Wuhan Open made historical highs this time. A total of over 180,000 tennis fans came to the court to watch the games, up 80 percent from the same period in 2019.

The China Open and Shanghai Masters tennis tournament, which were held during China’s National Day holiday in the beginning of October, delivered even more impressive results. The ticket revenue of the 2024 China Open surpassed 80 million yuan ($11.21 million), a 60 percent increase from last year, setting a new record in the tournament’s history. The Shanghai Masters also broke event records for both attendance number and ticket sales, with over 220,000 spectators attending in person.

The sport of tennis mirrors drastic changes in Chinese people’s lifestyles and will release huge consumption potential. Studies show that the sports industry soars when per capita GDP exceeds $8,000. As the living standard and ability of consumption of Chinese residents keep growing, the foundation for the popularization of tennis will be further cemented.

Expanded tennis population and sufficient tennis courts also contributed to the rapid development of the sport in China.

According to a 2021 report by the International Tennis Federation, China ranked second globally in tennis participation, with 19.92 million people involved in the sport, accounting for 22.9 percent of the world’s tennis population. The country also had 49,767 tennis courts, the second highest number in the world.

China’s tennis still enjoys immense growth space given the country’s population and potential in economic and social development, Bai noted.

This year, many international tennis events were hosted in China, showcasing to the world the new vibrancy of China’s tennis.

According to Chinese Tennis Association, China hosted 98 international tennis tournaments in 48 cities this year, which were joined by athletes, coaches and technical officials from 52 countries and regions. These numbers prove the high recognition from the international tennis community for China’s atmosphere and ability to host tennis events.

Tennis events are building a bridge for better communication and an image of openness and friendship.

In Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang province, Chinese professional tennis player Wu Yibing and Russian athlete Karen Khachanov toured the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, where they learned to make paper cutting and savored tea together. American player Coco Gauff and Spanish player Carlos Alcaraz jointly visited the Palace Museum in Beijing and posed for pictures in traditional Chinese costumes together.

What’s more, the Shanghai Masters this year hosted an exhibition doubles match, in which Roger Federer teamed up with Chinese pop singer Eason Chan and faced off against Zhang Zhizhen and Olympic table tennis champion Fan Zhendong. This fun game that featured a sport-entertainment crossover attracted high attention from the world.

“China is gradually instilling Chinese sportsmanship and Chinese civilization in and will make its unique contribution to global tennis development,” Bai said.

By Li Haoran, People’s Daily

Recently, travel videos posted by an Irish couple on the social media account “Two Mad Explorers” went viral online.

These trending videos relate to the couple’s travel stories in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang province, highlighting their experiences with the high-speed railway, the Southern Song Imperial Street, and classic dishes like sweet lotus root with sticky rice.

Their travel experiences reflect the booming Chinese inbound tourism, which has made “China Travel”a buzzword on overseas social media, as more and more international travelers come to explorethe time-honored Forbidden City in Beijing,the light-sparkling Bund in Shanghai, the bustling Tang Paradise in Xi’an, and the world-renowned scenery of Guilin, among others.

According to China’s National Immigration Administration, a total of more than 8.18 million inbound trips were made by foreigners in the third quarter of this year, up 48.8 percent from the same period last year. Of these trips, 4.88 million were made visa-free, representing a year-on-year increase of 78.6 percent.

The international tourists flocking to explore China’s cultural heritage, magnificent landscapes, and dynamic urban development havedemonstrated China’s continuous efforts to promote opening up.

What makes “China Travel” such a trending topic?

Behind this lies, first and foremost, better-than-expected policies and travel experiences. So far, China has achieved comprehensive mutual visa exemption with 24 countries, implemented unilateral visa-free policies for 16 countries, and offers 72/144-hour transit visa-free stays for 54 countries.

To facilitate the entry of foreign nationals, China has taken practical steps to improve both the infrastructure and services, such as reducing inspection time, promoting self-service declaration at ports, increasing international direct passengerflights, expanding two-hour high-speed rail travel circles, and diversifying payment options to cover more consumption scenarios. These measures have made China more accessible to foreign tourists.

The closer foreign travelers get to China, the more authentic their experience becomes. Many first-time visitors to China have discovered”a different China”and changed their preconceptions.

“I wonder how many places in the world are this safe at dawn,” said a British tourist while wandering Chinese streets.

“In China, all you need is a mobile phone,” said a Malaysian tourist, who entered China visa-free.

Authenticity breeds appreciation. The close encounters with a real, multi-dimensional China have enriched international tourists’ understanding of the country.

The deeper they immerse themselves in China, the more fascinated they become. The greater travel convenience has encouraged more foreign tourists to seek immersive experiences in China.

More and more international travelers have found themselves gasp in admiration at China’s stunning natural scenery, splendid culture and arts such as Peking Opera andother intangible cultural heritage, different kinds of museums, the down-to-earth atmosphere in streets and alleys, and autonomous ride-hailing services. They have been captivated by the natural and cultural beauty of China, a safe and hospitable country.

The key to state-to-state relations lies in close bonds between peoples. As a bridge for cultural exchanges, “China Travel”has helped foreign tourists better understand China and fostered friendly ties between peoples.

Greater openness breeds greater confidence. Opening up is a defining feature of Chinese modernization. The flourishing “China Travel” not only reflects the strong appeal of China’s tourism market and effectively stimulates consumption vitality of the Chinese market, but also helps improve China’s tourism services and enhance overall industry standards, showcasing the charm and openness of a modern China.

According to the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization, China will improve relevant measures to make it more convenient for people from outside the mainland to live, receive medical services, and make payments on the mainland.

Looking ahead, China will continue enhancing convenience for foreigners coming to work, study, and travel, promoting high-quality development of inbound tourism.China will only open itself ever wider to the outside world, with high-level opening up providing increasingly strong momentum for its high-quality development.

By Li Zhen, Song Jiahang

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is becoming an increasingly important contributor to energy transition.

Recently, State Power Rixin Technology Co., Ltd., a Chinese company specializing in data development and applications in the energy sector, released an independently developed new energy large model, which can help improve the efficiency of new energy generation and cope with extreme weather.

China Huadian Corporation, Jiutian Weather, and Huawei have jointly provided a new energy meteorological power prediction solution based on large AI models, which can enhance prediction accuracy and reduce operational costs of power plants.

Industry experts believe that as AI technology is more widely applied, its potential in accelerating clean energy transition will continue being unleashed.

Zhangjiakou in north China’s Hebei province is one of the regions in north China with the most abundant wind and solar energy resources. It is home to the Suola Wind Farm run by China Datang Corporation Ltd. (Datang).

Thewind farm’s smart station utilizes an intelligent control and management system, allowing duty officers to have a whole picture of the wind farm’s substations and its corresponding equipment monitoring points through an integrated platform. They can monitor equipment status, personnel behavior, security environment, and other aspects in a full range.

The new energy stations of wind and solar farms, which are mostly scattered in remote areas, boast a wide variety of equipment and occupy vast land areas, which adds to the complexity of management.

Under traditional management models, on-site personnel are required to control and inspect equipment, which consumes a significant amount of manpower, resources, and money and has become a major obstacle to the development of new energy enterprises.

The introduction of AI technology, however, can reduce management costs and significantly improve the efficiency of station management.

“AI can help realize intelligent control of new energy generation equipment, intelligent image recognition, and accurate load forecasting, significantly reducing labor costs,” said an executive with Datang International Power Generation Co., Ltd.

AI technology can not only achieve real-time monitoring of energy supply, but also identify potential issues and make prompt adjustments by analyzing real-time data.

The executive said that large AI models can analyze massive data on equipment operation and historical faults to provide managers with early warnings of potential risks.

“For example, the fault model developed by an enterprise can detect signs of equipment degradation in advance and improve maintenance strategies based on the equipment life cycle. With a more precise maintenance plan, we can not only extend the equipment’s lifespan, but reduce the risk of power outages,” the executive explained.

AI technology is gradually seeping into different levels and details of management in the new energy sector. According to Song Jianjun, head of an artificial intelligence application research institute at Goldwind, a global leader in clean energy, energy conservation, and environmental protection, Goldwind has started applying AI technology in unmanned power plant construction, material allocation, translation, and other tasks.

“In the future, the company will continue investing in multi-modal large models, visual analysis, operations research, and other technological aspects to fully leverage AI technology for technical innovation and operational management in the new energy sector,”said Song.

The intermittent and fluctuating nature of renewable energy generation affects the quality of power generation and poses challenges to grid dispatch. AI technology can help integrate multidimensional data and predict fluctuations in new energy power, thus better matching supply and demand.

The ability of AI to recognize patterns and improve processes from massive data sets makes it an important technological choice for driving the development of emerging energy dispatch modes.

At the International Digital Energy Expo 2024 held in Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong province, a cloud platform for the control and management of virtual power plants was unveiled by the city. This platform has connected 55,000 controllable load resources across 9 categories including charging piles, air conditioning systems of buildings, and photovoltaic systems, with a total capacity exceeding 3.1 million kilowatts.

As an emerging energy dispatch model, virtual power plants can gather and improve controllable load resources scattered among end-users, and are currently being explored for implementation in China. The application of AI will accelerate the popularization and utilization of distributed renewable energy devices, thereby better supporting the energy transition.

Industry insiders said that AI can enable more efficient energy storage and management, leading to innovative products such as smart wind turbines, unmanned power stations, and new energy big data platforms. In addition, it can also help improve resource allocation and configuration, fostering new models like virtual power plants, carbon trading, and spare parts platform trading.

Currently, the application of AI is predominantly focused on the enterprise sector. In the future, the increasingly diverse application scenarios of new energy will further drive the demand for AI in the new energy sector, thereby fully unlocking the potential of AI and benefiting a wider range of user groups.

By Lyu Xiaoxun, People’s Daily

“We reached 10 cooperation intentions, covering agricultural technology promotion, scientific research innovation, and agricultural product sales,” said Ye Youliang, a professor with the School of Resources and Environment at Henan Agricultural University, at the exhibition hall of the university’s science and technology backyard on the Longzihu campus.

According to the professor, the science and technology backyard received over 20 major growers and heads of cooperatives across Henan province during the seven-day National Day Holiday.

Science and technology backyard is an initiative that “moves classrooms into the fields.” It is conducive to exploring new models of agricultural technology promotion and talent cultivation according to local conditions.

Since setting up Henan’s first science and technology backyard in 2012, Henan Agricultural University has built 24 such facilities at the national level, bringing over 100 faculty members and more than 1,000 students to the fields to help improve people’s livelihood while advancing their studies.

Science and technology backyards provide farmers with technical support. Take the science and technology backyard in Henan’s Yuzhou as an example. By providing agricultural technology training courses, introducing new varieties, and promoting techniques such as soil testing and formulated fertilization, as well as efficient farming, the science and technology backyard has continuously improved the per unit yield of wheat and corn for local farmers.

Despite heavy rains last year, the yield of three technology demonstration households exceeded 500 kilograms per mu, or about 667 square meters. The purchase price stood at around 2.5 yuan ($0.35) per kilogram, about 0.4 yuan higher than that of the average rain-affected wheat.

Rooted in rural areas and offering assistance for farmers, science and technology backyards streamline the entire process of agricultural production from planting to harvesting through its technological services.

Science and technology backyards drive the reform of talent cultivation models. At the science and technology backyards, students are required to not only provide guidance to farmers in the fields and give lectures to them, but also engage in research and paper writing.

Sampling, weighing, and preparing reagents are the most frequently cited words in the work logs of the science and technology backyards of Henan Agricultural University. With their intelligence and efforts, faculty members and students provide strong support for local agricultural production.

Over the past decade, faculty members and students working for the science and technology backyards run by Henan Agricultural University have authored more than 10 popular science books, published over 100 academic papers in domestic and international journals, and compiled 15 technical specifications.

Moving classrooms to the fields and making innovative explorations, science and technology backyards allow faculty members and students to use what they learn, thus better helping them grow into qualified scientific personnel who know how to develop agriculture.

Science and technology backyards are an important platform promoting innovation in agricultural technology. In response to issues such as unreasonable fertilization and heavy land re-cropping, the science and technology backyard in Qixian county, Henan collected more than 1,000 soil samples and launched specialized fertilizers and seed dressing agents for garlic. It also developed integrated simplified high-yield and efficient green cultivation techniques for garlic. This has resulted in a reduction of costs by over 30 percent and a 15 percent increase in yield.

In the northern part of China, the soil is often alkaline and lacks zinc. The science and technology backyard in Henan’s Lankao county, through variety selection and the development of zinc fertilizer products and relevant application techniques, has increased the zinc content in wheat and corn grains by over 15 percent.

By harnessing the power of technology and promoting the integration of production, education, research, and application, it is possible to expand the boundaries of agricultural production and promote the comprehensive upgrading of the entire agricultural industrial chain.

With science and technology backyard projects serving as a fulcrum and industrial alliances as a key driver, more new models of agricultural development could be explored.

Henan Agricultural University and Henan Xinlianxin Chemical Industry Group Co., Ltd have jointly established science and technology backyards in Qixian and Xinxiang, focusing on soil improvement in low-yield fields affected by soil desertification and salinization, and jointly formulating high-yield, efficient, and green planting plans for crops.

Yongfeng county in east China’s Jiangxi province and Jiangxi Agricultural University have co-established a vegetable science and technology backyard, deepening the cooperation among leading enterprises, demonstration bases, science and technology backyard and professional vegetable farmers. This project has trained over 40,000 new professional vegetable farmers.

The exploration of new models of cooperation among enterprises, universities and research institutions, coupled with science and technology backyard projects as a bridge of innovation, will foster a stronger virtuous cycle between agricultural development and technological progress.

Each science and technology backyard serves its local community by improving production efficiency and stimulating regional industrial development. Through the continued expansion of this model across rural areas, China is creating broader pathways to rural prosperity while strengthening its position as an agricultural powerhouse.