Nigeria Times

By Luo Shanshan, People’s Daily

Thanks to the vogue for horse-face skirts, neo-Chinese styles and other Chinese fashion trends around the world, jacquard fabrics and products independently developed by a Zhejiang-based fabric company are seeing booming sales in overseas markets.

In the first five months of this year, the company exported over 40 million yuan ($5.5 million) of such fabrics and products, successfully opening up markets in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and other regions.

Apart from traditional Chinese attire, Chinese calligraphy, painting, porcelain, and other products are also hitting the European market via China-Europe Railway Express. Chinese beauty brands are gaining a large number of followers on overseas social media platforms as well.

The combination of traditional culture and Chinese manufacturing is driving a “going global” trend of Chinese consumer goods, highlighting China’s foreign trade and conveying the sector’s new momentum of high-quality development to the world.

What drives this trend is the relentless effort of Chinese companies to upgrade their manufacturing processes.

In Suzhou, east China’s Jiangsu province, a silk fabric company has established a technology-driven development model, following the trends of technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and consumer demand.

The company’s independently developed automated silk farming system for young silkworms enables automated and intelligent production. The company has built an efficient and stable system that covers the entire industrial chain, from a single mulberry leaf or cocoon to a silk thread and ultimately the final product, providing a solid foundation for producing high-quality silk fabrics.

Whether it is silk, porcelain, or attire, Chinese-style consumer goods have distinct cultural characteristics and are imbued with rich cultural connotations.

Many companies are exploring the multidimensional expression of traditional Chinese culture through inheritance and innovation. For instance, they collaborate with museums and historical blocks to develop co-branded products, and combine traditional culture with contemporary popular art and daily necessities.

At the recent China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair, visitors were treated to an impressive display of cultural creativity. The diverse and beautifully crafted exhibits showcased fresh ways of expressing culture, giving traditional elements a modern twist and bringing new vitality to them.

How can a traditional oil-paper umbrella quickly find its way into the homes of overseas consumers? With support and guidance from Hangzhou Customs, a tech firm in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province has started cross-border e-commerce retail business. Currently, the company ships nearly 100 orders of oil-paper umbrellas to its overseas clients on a daily basis.

Cross-border e-commerce bridges manufacturing and consumption, opening a new window for foreign consumers to explore Chinese culture and purchase Chinese goods. It also provides a fresh channel for “China chic” products to go global.

According to Hangzhou Customs, from January to May, Zhejiang province exported 61.99 billion yuan worth of cultural products, up 12.2 percent year-on-year. This showcases Chinese companies’ proactive efforts to adapt and expand their trade methods.

It is believed that as more Chinese companies delve deeper into the essence of traditional culture to launch high-quality products and strengthen their brands abroad, Chinese-style products will receive more orders in overseas markets, thus showcasing the new charm of Chinese manufacturing on the world stage.

By Ren Zhongping, People’s Daily

In its modernization drive, China has made new and constant achievements in reform and development through opening up.

In May 2024, Tesla broke ground on another mega factory in the Lingang new area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. The process from business negotiation to contract signing took just one month. Such a rapid speed would not have been possible without the support of a continuously improved business environment.

China has implemented multiple measures to improve its business environment and all these efforts highlight the pioneering spirit of China’s pilot free trade zones. For instance, China has introduced the first negative list for foreign investment and pioneered the reform of the commercial registration system. It has also seen the establishment of the first wholly foreign-owned public fund company and the first wholly foreign-owned automobile manufacturing enterprise.

China is speeding up the development of its 22 pilot free trade zones, and the Hainan Free Trade Port has already set sail.

China firmly believes that opening up brings progress while isolation results in backwardness. It remains firmly committed to advancing high-standard opening up to promote reform, development and innovation, and works to build an open world economy.

China has advanced a broader agenda of opening up across more areas and in greater depth, from implementing pre-establishment national treatment plus a negative list for foreign investment to expanding the globally-oriented network of high-standard free trade areas. China is opening its door wider and wider to the outside world, which further drives its own development.

China’s economic growth over the past 40 years has been achieved with a commitment to opening-up, In the same vein, high-quality development of China’s economy in the future can only be guaranteed with greater openness.

In just six days, the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) saw a total of $78.41 billion worth of tentative deals reached for one-year purchases of goods and services, setting a record high. Utilizing this platform, Ethiopia exported over 20,000 metric tons of coffee beans to China last year. Since the first CIIE was held six years ago, more than 80 new fruit varieties, such as Brazilian melons, Pakistani cherries, and Malaysian jackfruits, have been granted access to the Chinese market.

This year, British biopharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca invested $475 million in the construction of a new small molecule factory in Wuxi, east China’s Jiangsu Province. Valeo, a world-leading auto parts supplier headquartered in France, has begun construction of the production and R&D base for its comfort and driving assistance system in Shanghai’s Jiading district.

Foreign companies continue to invest in China, not only attracted by its vast market, but also by the new quality productive forces here that are primarily driven by innovation and marked by a substantial increase in total factor productivity. This is creating new appeal within the global industrial landscape.

As the second largest economy in the world, China has become a leading engine of global development, contributing around 30 percent to global growth in recent years.

Leveraging the advantages of its vast market, China has provided a broader platform for global trade and investment growth. With its complete industrial and supply chains, China has been able to offer high-quality products to the world, supporting the global transition towards green and low-carbon development. China’s unwavering opening up is injecting strong momentum into the world economy.

On May 25 this year, freight train X8157 fully loaded with diverse goods departed from Xi’an, the capital city of northwest China’s Shaanxi province. It arrived in Malaszewicze, Poland after over ten days. The journey marked a significant milestone as the total number of China-Europe freight train trips has surpassed 90,000. Reaching 25 European countries and 11 Asian countries, the China-Europe freight train service has become the “golden corridor” of trade between Asia and Europe.

What matters more than the numbers is the sense of gain of people in various countries. For instance, the entry of Kenyan fresh avocados into the Chinese market has benefited thousands of Kenyan growers; an Afghan carpet sold in China can increase the income for four or five Afghan families; Chinese Juncao Technology has been extended to over 100 countries and regions worldwide, creating hundreds of thousands of green jobs for local people.

British historian Peter Frankopan said in his book The Silk Roads: A New History of the World that the Silk Road has shaped the past world, even the present world, and will continue to shape the future world. The Belt and Road cooperation was proposed by China, but its benefits and opportunities are for the world to share, representing humanity’s joint pursuit of development for all.

Moving forward, China will always maintain a global vision and stand firm on the right side of history and on the side of human civilization and progress. It will join hands with other countries to build an even better world.

Expanding converging interests and sharing opportunities through opening-up and cooperation, China will remain a strong advocate of openness at the global level, and will continue to act as a stable engine of global growth and a big market with enormous opportunities. The country will undoubtedly provide more opportunities for global development.

By Li Xinping, People’s Daily

Today, China’s Fuxing bullet train has become the world’s fastest commercially operated train with the most diverse operating scenarios. By the end of 2023, Fuxing bullet trains had operated 2.34 billion kilometers safely and transported a total of 2.2 billion passengers.

From the initiation of the train’s development in 2013 to its impressive debut in 2017, the Fuxing bullet train epitomizes China’s innovative prowess.

In 2004, faced with the country’s surging demand for a railway speed-up, China began to track high-speed rail technologies from around the world and successively introduced technologies from Japan, France, Canada, and Germany.

Three years later, the Hexie high-speed train officially went into service, and subsequently, a series of products were developed and put into mass production.

With the remarkable performance of the Hexie series, why was there a need to develop the Fuxing bullet trains?

The total mileage of high-speed railways in China is unparallel in the world, and no county has such a complex operating environment.

“Some imported train models inevitably face challenges in adapting to the local conditions and require further innovation,” said Ye Yangsheng, chief engineer of China Railway.

Every upgrade or modification on foreign technology platforms inevitably involves software updates, and sometimes even requires the assistance of foreign experts, Ye explained.

Although China mastered the technologies of the Hexie series, and many of the technologies were developed and improved through independent innovation, due to the use of foreign technology platforms and adoption of foreign standards, further development was constrained, said former chief engineer of China Railway Corporation He Huawu. Therefore, it was imperative to develop high-speed trains with Chinese standards.

“A high-speed train traveling at a speed of 350 kilometers per hour includes over 40,000 parts, covering various technical fields such as mechanics, metallurgy, materials, power electronics, chemical engineering, and information control,” said Wang Jun, chief scientist of China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC).

Besides, with China’s super large railway network, complex geographical and climatic conditions, and long-distance and continuous high-speed operation, the independent development of high-speed trains faced unprecedented challenges, Wang added.

To reduce noise, more than 3,000 tests were conducted on different materials and structures for sound insulation. As a result, the Fuxing bullet train is able to run at a speed of 350 kilometers per hour with a minimum noise level of 65 decibels in the train compartments.

To reduce vehicle resistance and energy consumption, over 40 different solutions were analyzed through simulation and wind tunnel tests. As a result, aerodynamic resistance was reduced by 14 percent, and energy consumption per passenger per 100 kilometers was cut by 20 percent.

To achieve optimal harmonic control for the entire vehicle, the research and development team went through numerous cycles of design, analysis, testing, and optimization. This process ultimately led to the development of an innovative control module that has reached world-class standards.

During the independent innovation of the Fuxing high-speed train, the research and development team has made breakthroughs in core control technologies such as traction, braking, and networking, as well as key technologies in wheel, axle, and gearbox design and manufacturing.

Among the 254 important standards adopted by the train, 84 percent are Chinese. The overall design of the train, as well as key technologies such as the train body and bogie, were independently developed, and the software was entirely self-developed, possessing complete independent intellectual property rights.

After undergoing over 10,000 simulations, ground tests, and line trials, the Chinese-standard high-speed train Fuxing obtained its model certificate and manufacturing license in 2017. In June of that year, the Fuxing bullet train made its debut.

Three months later, the train started commercial operation with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, and in December 2019, it also achieved a speed of 350 kilometers per hour on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway, operating in autonomous driving mode.

In June 2021, the Fuxing train, powered by internal combustion and electric power, extended its services to Lhasa, Xizang autonomous region, marking that the train has reached 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China.

From research and development, manufacturing to operational services, more than 100 core enterprises and over 2,100 associated enterprises are involved in designing and producing components for the high-speed trains.

The Fuxing bullet train has stimulated the growth of the entire rail transportation industry. Statistics show that the scale of China’s rail transportation equipment industry reached approximately 480 billion yuan ($66.05 billion) in 2022, and is expected to hit 600 billion yuan by 2025.

The Fuxing high-speed train has also ventured beyond the borders, becoming a golden signboard of China internationally.

In December 2021, the China-Laos Railway commenced operations, marking the first time for the Fuxing bullet train to go outside of China. In October 2023, a high-speed train with a maximum speed of 350 kilometers per hour, developed based on the Fuxing platform, was put into service on Indonesia’s Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway. It was the first time for an overseas project to fully use Chinese railway systems, technology and industrial components.

By the end of 2023, China had led the development and revision of 65 international standards under the International Organization for Standardization, International Electrotechnical Commission, and International Union of Railways (UIC).

Additionally, it had participated in 249 international standard development and revision projects. All 11 system-level UIC international standards in the field of high-speed rail were formulated by China.

By Yan Yu, People’s Daily

Currently, countries around the world are facing global challenges such as climate change, food security, and energy security. To overcome common development challenges, humanity needs international cooperation, openness, and sharing more than ever before.

At the same time, the world has entered an era of “big science,” where scientific research and technological innovation have become more complex, systematic, and collaborative. No country can be an independent innovation center or enjoy the benefits of innovation alone. International cooperation has become an inevitable choice to promote technological innovation.

China has always been a participant in and a beneficiary of open cooperation in scientific and technological development. In recent years, China has proposed an international science and technology cooperation initiative, led several large international cooperation projects, and implemented the Belt and Road Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation Action Plan. China’s influence as an important global innovation hub continues to grow.

China has been continuously expanding its “circle of friends” in the global innovation network. As of October 2023, China has established scientific and technological cooperation relationships with 161 countries and regions and signed 117 intergovernmental cooperation agreements on scientific and technological cooperation.

It has engaged in practical cooperation with various countries in areas such as climate change, clean energy, and health, building a multi-level, comprehensive, and wide-ranging new pattern of open cooperation in scientific and technological development.

China has deeply integrated into the global technology governance system. As of October 2023, the country had joined over 200 international organizations and multilateral mechanisms, and participated in nearly 60 large international cooperation programs and projects. Its contribution and influence in these organizations have significantly increased.

Additionally, China has taken the initiative to set global technology innovation agendas, leading the Green Powered Future Mission (GPFM) and launching an international technology innovation and cooperation program on carbon neutrality.

China is continuously expanding its opening up in science and technology, creating a favorable environment for open innovation. In recent years, China has set up a globally oriented scientific research fund, stepped up the opening-up of the national science and technology programs, and encouraged and supported foreign scientists in addressing global challenges.

It has strengthened exchanges and interactions with governments, scientific communities, and industries of various countries, promoting the smooth flow of innovative factors of talents, technology, capital, and data. It also supports joint research and development among scientists from different countries, so that they can work together on research programs that contribute to global sustainable development.

Openness brings opportunities, and cooperation drives development. Reviewing China’s scientific and technological progress in the new era, one can see new breakthroughs in basic and cutting-edge research, new leaps in strategic high-tech fields, and new achievements in innovation-driven high-quality development, such as translating human somatic cells back into pluripotent stem cells using the chemical cellular reprogramming technique, the superdeep boreholes drilled by China’s most advanced land-based drilling rig Crust 1, and the expedition of China’s deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe (Striver) into the depths of the ocean, the commercial operation of China’s self-developed large passenger aircraft, and China’s new energy vehicles (NEVs) providing new momentum for the global auto industry. These successes paint a vivid picture of how China has enhanced its innovation capabilities through open cooperation.

China shares its wisdom and achievements in open cooperation. From the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) exploring the mysteries of the universe, to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project striving to bring unlimited clean energy to humanity, and to the Ocean Negative Carbon Emissions (ONCE) plan aimed at providing intelligent solutions for global ocean carbon sinks, Chinese scientists are actively involved in major international scientific programs and projects. They work hand in hand with scientists around the world, contributing Chinese wisdom to major global scientific challenges.

Today, China’s space station has extended invitations to space explorers worldwide, the Chang’e-6 probe has carried four international payloads to the moon, and the FAST is open for international cooperation.

Regardless of the complexity of the international environment, China consistently maintains an open-minded approach, keeps its doors open, and remains committed to ensuring that science and technology better benefit all of humanity.

International science and technology cooperation is a major trend. China’s technological advancement is becoming increasingly interdependent with the rest of the world, and global technological progress is also increasingly reliant on China.

By Li Xinping, People’s Daily

Chinese state-owned and publicly traded rolling stock manufacturer China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) on June 28 launched seven new energy locomotives, which come in three power configurations – hybrid powered by both diesel and electricity, power battery only and hydrogen fuel cell.

The series of locomotives feature low emission, low noise and high efficiency. They offer an effective solution to the high fuel consumption, high emission and high noise issues faced by old-fashioned diesel-powered locomotives.

Besides, CRRC released the world’s first report on the carbon footprint of pure electric locomotives, which was reviewed by authoritative international organizations and awarded the ISO 14067 carbon footprint verification.

The report accurately calculates the trajectories of carbon dioxide emissions of new energy locomotives throughout their entire lifecycle – from raw iron ore to being recycled after 30 years of service, using a combination of real-world scenarios and modeling techniques, said Wang Feifei, deputy head of the green and low-carbon development group of the CRRC development transformation office.

The report measures carbon emissions in the manufacturing of every screw, nut, as well as major components such as the bodies, wheelsets, and bogies, the acquisition of raw materials, and general assembly.

According to the information obtained, the calculation involved over 97,000 data points, all derived from real-world scenarios, providing an accurate reflection of the products’ manufacturing process. For emission factors that were difficult to directly obtain, background data from internationally authoritative databases were used.

The final verification showed that the carbon footprint of a 1,000 kW hybrid locomotive powered by both diesel and electricity is 7.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilometer, and that of a 1,000 kW pure electric locomotive is 7.92 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilometer.

An analysis of carbon emissions at various stages of locomotive production reveals that the operational phase has the most significant impact on a product’s carbon footprint during the entire lifecycle.

Over a 30-year operational period, a pure electric locomotive with a 1,000-ton capacity, running on green electricity at 40 percent of standard operational speed, can reduce its carbon footprint by 94.2 percent compared to traditional locomotives, cutting carbon emissions by 4,076 tons. For a hybrid locomotive using both diesel and electricity under the same conditions, the reductions would be 61.7 percent and 2,735 tons, respectively.

It is learned that key components of the new energy locomotive series adopt lightweight designs. The traction motor’s weight has been reduced by 22.5 percent, and that of the bogie by 6.7 percent. Steel structures in the driver’s cab have been reduced by 40 percent, and those of the underframe by 70 percent. This has effectively lowered carbon emissions in raw material acquisition, as well as component production and transportation.

“Moreover, we maximized the use of green electricity in the manufacturing process, with green power accounting for over 20 percent of our electricity consumption. This enabled us to achieve about a 52 percent reduction in carbon footprint during manufacturing and maintenance phases compared to the models being replaced,” Wang said.

“In the future, as manufacturing companies further expand their photovoltaic power generation, this percentage will continue to increase,” Wang added.

In addition to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, the new energy locomotive series also excel in reducing pollutant emissions.

According to statistics, the diesel-power battery hybrid locomotive can achieve a 45 percent reduction in nitrogen oxides, a 73 percent reduction in hydrocarbons, and an 83 percent reduction in carbon monoxide emissions.

With a 45 percent reduction in pollutants, each locomotive can reduce harmful substance emissions by 4 tons and carbon emissions by 374 tons annually.

Adopting an optimal hybrid power control technology, the hybrid locomotive can ensure that the diesel engine always operates at its most economical speed. When pulling a 3,000-ton load on a straight track with a full tank of fuel, this locomotive can travel over 1,100 kilometers – 1.7 times the range of traditional diesel-powered locomotives – with a fuel efficiency improvement of over 45 percent.

The pure electric locomotive launched this time is compatible with various types of charging stations, with charging power exceeding 870 kW. The shortest charging time is less than 40 minutes, and the locomotive can operate in a wide temperature range from -40°C to +40°C.

For the hydrogen fuel cell locomotive, refueling takes only 10 to 15 minutes, which effectively ensures operational capability and range. Its energy utilization efficiency is over 80 percent higher compared to traditional diesel-powered locomotives.

“This series of new energy locomotives will generate huge and diverse demands for new energy products, and drive the development of upstream industries such as basic materials and key components,” said Tian Jun, chief engineer of the National Railway Administration and director of the administration’s equipment supervision and management department.