Nigeria Times

By Liu Botong, Dou Hao, People’s Daily

Creating a barrier-free environment is crucial for safeguarding the rights and interests of people with disabilities. It aims to guarantee their equal and convenient participation in various social activities.

The 4th Asian Para Games, hosted in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang province, demonstrated its exceptional commitment to providing comprehensive accessibility for individuals with disabilities. It showcased its professional standards and attentive service by offering a wide range of barrier-free facilities both in and outside competition venues, including barrier-free ramps, barrier-free elevators, and barrier-free restrooms.

“The venue is great. We can move freely here,” said Chinese female wheelchair basketball player Huang Xiaolian, referring to the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium.

The needs of competitors and spectators of the Asian Para Games have been fully taken into consideration during the construction of the stadium, said Zhu Yizhi with the team operating the stadium.

After the Hangzhou Asian Games concluded, the stadium was soon converted to get ready for the Asian Para Games. To better facilitate wheelchair basketball players, the stadium was renovated to improve accessibility, adding ramps and modifying the locker rooms to appropriate heights, Zhu said.

It is learned that the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou has 19 competition venues distributed in eight competition zones, and 17 of them are converted from the Asian Games venues.

Barrier-free facilities can be found everywhere in the competition venues, including elevators with Braille buttons, accessible restrooms with voice guides and designated rest areas for guide dogs.

“From the entrances to functional areas of the venues, we have built a comprehensive and safe barrier-free environment,” said Chen Weiqiang, the chief spokesperson of the Hangzhou Asian Para Games.

In the restaurants of the Asian Para Games Village, high and low handrails have been installed along the walls, and Braille signs are posted. The height of the serving area has been adjusted so wheelchair users can easily access their meals. Additionally, the dishes ready for pickup are pre-plated, making it convenient for athletes to take them.

To provide a more comfortable living environment for athletes, the village has offered approximately 1,100 barrier-free beds. There are also various service areas in the village such as wheelchair charging stations and assistive device maintenance centers.

Inside the athletes’ rooms, multiple emergency call buttons are installed, along with collision protection strips, rounded-edge furniture, and barrier-free bathrooms, ensuring a safer and more comfortable living environment.

In the bedrooms, adjustable beds are provided to facilitate athletes in getting on and off the beds. Besides, for athletes who require assistance in their daily activities, the Asian Para Games Village has provided companion beds.

The barrier-free environment in Hangzhou is continuously improving, not only in terms of the Asian Para Games facilities, but also throughout the city.

“The society is becoming more and more friendly towards people with disabilities, and I feel very happy about it,” said a Hangzhou resident surnamed Zhang.

Zhang, who needs to travel in a wheelchair for many years, has become more enthusiastic about outdoor activities as Hangzhou’s barrier-free environment continues to improve. “Now, I have the option to travel by subway, barrier-free buses, or barrier-free taxis, and the overall experience is significantly better,” she said.

For example, at the customer service counter of a shopping mall in Hangzhou’s Linping district, an electronic dictionary can translate speech into sign language, and wheelchairs for rent are placed on the side of the desk. The mall is also equipped with accessible elevators, barrier-free signs, and other facilities, making it convenient for people with disabilities.

According to reports, in recent years, Hangzhou has made great efforts to promote the development of a barrier-free environment. The city has upgraded over 140,000 barrier-free facilities and important public venues, improved accessibility on 75 roads, and built over 3,000 kilometers of sidewalks with blind paths, 1,600 accessible public restrooms, and 3,500 accessible bus stops.

More than 380 sign language service points have been set up. Hundreds of accessible taxis are now running on the streets of the city, and five barrier-free tourism routes have been launched focusing on World Cultural Heritage sites.

“The Hangzhou Asian Para Games is not only a major sporting event, but also an important opportunity to showcase the warmth and inclusiveness of the city,” said Chen. “We will make Hangzhou a caring city with barrier-free environment construction,” he added.

By Liu Shiyao, Gu Yekai, People’s Daily

At 11:14 a.m. on Oct. 26, a Long March-2F carrier rocket was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, sending three astronauts on the Shenzhou-17 manned spaceship into preset orbit. The launch mission was a complete success.

The Shenzhou-17 manned spaceship is the second mission to China’s space station since the space station entered its development and application stage. The mission’s primary goal includes completing the in-orbit crew rotation with the Shenzhou-16 trio, before they carry on to conduct an approximate six-month stay in space.

During this period, the crew will engage in in-orbit trials of space science and application payloads, conduct astronaut extravehicular activities, and perform payload extravehicular operations, which will also involve the installation of extravehicular payloads and maintenance tasks on the space station.

Besides, the mission will continually evaluate the functional performance of the space station assembly, accumulating precious data and experience regarding space station operations. This initiative aims to assess the coordination and compatibility of the ground support center in managing space station operational tasks, thereby enriching the operational efficiency and troubleshooting capabilities of the space station.

So far, the Shenzhou series of manned spacecraft have all been developed under the leadership of the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST). As the Chinese space station has entered the development and application stage, there will be frequent launch missions of the Shenzhou series, which raises higher requirements for spacecraft development.

“Previous Shenzhou models were produced using a 2D blueprint manufacturing method. Newer models like the Shenzhou-17 have been transitioned to 3D digital manufacturing. Utilizing 3D models to fully convey product definition and process information improves design efficiency and enables ‘visualization’ of the production process,” said an employee with the CAST.

As the Shenzhou-17 spaceship approached the space station combination, the microwave radar independently developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation played a critical role in measurement during the rendezvous and docking process.

The radar can accurately output the distance, velocity, angle and other relative motion parameters between the spacecraft and space station, with low transmit power, high measurement accuracy and strong anti-interference capability.

At the same time, the laser rendezvous and docking radar developed by China Electronics Technology Group Corporation provided precise positioning and measurement support, accurately guiding the rapid rendezvous and docking.

With the full activation of the space station application and development phase, astronauts are playing an even more prominent role in manned spaceflight missions. To better support astronauts working and living in space, the performance of supporting products for the Shenzhou-17 crew has also been further improved.

Through innovative applications of new technologies, in-orbit physical exercise equipment and living supplies for astronauts have been upgraded. They will provide more reliable and convenient guarantees for the astronauts’ safe, healthy and efficient work during their six-month stay in orbit.

The Shenzhou-17 and Shenzhou-16 crews will work and live together in orbit for a period of time. The handling capacity of the environmental control and life support system will be increased to meet the demands of six people. So far, the system has been operating stably in orbit for approximately 900 consecutive days.

As a national space laboratory, the orbiting Tiangong space station has carried out applications in an orderly manner, with remarkable outcomes in technology transfer and transformation.

During their stay in orbit, the Shenzhou-17 crew will continue conducting space science experiments and various technology tests.

So far, with close cooperation between astronauts and ground technicians, 70 space experiments have been completed in fields like aerospace medicine, life ecology, biotechnology, materials science, fluid physics, fluid dynamics and others, as well as eight research efforts on human-factors engineering.

A large amount of experimental data has been obtained, and some experimental samples will return with the Shenzhou-16 spacecraft. Some projects have already yielded phased application results.

Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency, noted that China has a well-equipped near-Earth manned space station and manned transportation system, a mature system for astronaut selection, training and support, as well as manned flight missions scheduled at a frequency of twice per year.

“China is now ready and has made preparations to invite foreign astronauts to participate in flight missions to the Chinese Space Station,” Lin added.

By Zhang Penghui, People’s Daily

The Great Wall Climate Dialogue co-hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the California-China Climate Institute was held at a hotel near Yanqi Lake in Beijing’s northern outskirts on Oct. 26.

Both Chinese and American guests attending the dialogue believe that addressing climate change requires global action, especially close cooperation between China and the United States. There exist tremendous opportunities for cooperation between China and the United States in areas such as green development and climate change response.

China’s Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu said in his remarks that the Chinese path to modernization is a process of modernization of harmony between humanity and nature, and China always attaches high importance to addressing climate change.

In recent years, China has vigorously implemented a series of strategies, measures and actions to cope with climate change. By 2022, China’s carbon emission intensity has cumulatively declined by over 51 percent compared to 2005 levels, which represents outstanding results in climate change response.

To jointly address global environmental and climate challenges, China and the U.S. should further consolidate cooperative mechanisms, maintain good partnership, play an exemplary leading role, promote comprehensive cooperation at all levels, and strengthen joint efforts to advance global environmental and climate governance progress.

China-U.S. environment and climate cooperation dates back to the 1980s and is an important part of bilateral relations. The leaders of the two countries successively issued three joint statements on climate change, providing political solutions and making historic contributions to the successful conclusion and rapid entry into force of the Paris Agreement.

In 2022, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation with California. Since then, the two sides have carried out a series of policy dialogues in areas including carbon markets and nature-based solutions.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said in his speech that climate change is a common challenge faced by all countries, and in recent years, California has been deeply affected by climate change, with frequent extreme weather events like heatwaves, droughts and floods.

As the world’s two largest economies, the United States and China bear major responsibilities in addressing climate change, Newsom remarked. He noted California is at the forefront of U.S. states in green development, but still has limitations and room for improvement. The two sides should fully utilize innovation and investment tools, find solutions to tackle climate change. He hopes that the United States and China can share wisdom and experience, deepen green cooperation, and jointly contribute to global climate change response.

Yang Wanming, president of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, said climate change is a common challenge faced by humanity, and strengthening sub-national cooperation between China and the United States in addressing climate change and promoting green development helps advance the two countries’ respective green development, is beneficial for the global population, and contributes to the healthy and stable development of the China-US relationship.

Leaders from the Chinese provinces and autonomous regions of Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Hainan and Sichuan introduced specific actions and successful experiences in implementing the green development philosophy, expressing their willingness to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the California government in areas such as clean energy, technological innovation, low-carbon transportation and green agriculture, in order to vitalize sub-national exchanges between China and the United States as well as international cooperation on climate change response.

Wade Crowfoot, Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, said via video link that California has set ambitious goals for achieving sustainable development, and the next it will ensure these goals are implemented. Over the past 30 years, California’s air quality has significantly improved, and it plans for all vehicles to use clean energy by 2035. The United States and China can learn from each other in areas like improving air quality, Crowfoot noted.

Chair of the California Energy Commission David Hochschild congratulated China on its leading achievements in the new energy industry. He highlighted that the United States and China are located on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, the ocean winds provide endless energy for wind power projects in both countries. He expressed his hope for closer cooperation with China in the development of clean energy.

Newsom said he opposes the view that U.S.-China cooperation is a zero-sum game, noting that decoupling is not an option for the two countries. He said the two sides should strengthen communication, and join hands to cope with climate change and other challenges facing the world.

He noted that China plays an important role in addressing climate change and California is a long-term, strong and reliable partner of China in promoting sub-national cooperation between the two countries. Especially in reducing carbon emissions and achieving green growth, the two sides can carry out more cooperation, he added.

By Yang Junfeng

A digital twin is a digital representation of a physical object or process. It builds a bond between the real and virtual worlds.

In today’s China, the digital twin technology is empowering various booming industries, such as digital transportation, smart city and environmental protection, making economic and social development more intelligent.

A new expressway currently under construction in east China’s Anhui province has utilized digital twin technology from its inception. A virtual version of the expressway is being built concurrently as construction progresses.

“As the first intelligent expressway in Anhui, it incorporates emerging technologies to construct an underlying digital twin model,” said a representative from Anhui Transport Consulting & Design Institute. It allows real-time collection of vehicle movements, weather and other multi-dimensional traffic data, and thus enables precise monitoring and management of the expressway.

According to the representative, digital twin technology is expected to enhance the traffic efficiency of the expressway, bolster its whole-process emergency response capabilities, and reduce the duration of closures resulting from adverse weather conditions.

Insiders believe that the evolution and application of digital technologies are leading to more efficient and intelligent transport solutions. In the near future, the Chinese highway network will be highly digitalized, with the rising of a trillion-yuan ($136.7 billion) digital economy market related to highways, injecting new momentum into the transportation sector to advance Chinese modernization.

The rapid development and wide application of digital twin technology have generated new ideas for urban planning, construction, governance and management.

In Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City (YZBSTC) in Sanya, south China’s Hainan province, a new smart industrial park is under construction. Built by iFlytek, a leading artificial intelligence (AI) company, this industrial park utilizes digital twin technology and has constructed an information model by modeling relevant spatio-temporal data, thus supporting various application systems.

“Leveraging AI algorithms and the digital twin platform, we have completed the upgrading from collecting data of single units to sourcing big data of the whole YZBSTC. Digital innovations make urban development and planning manageable, controllable and visible,” said an executive of iFlytek.

Today, Chinese cities are on a “fast lane” in terms of digital twin development.

Suzhou in east China’s Jiangsu province has collected comprehensive and high-precision data on its ancient architectures, providing support for protection and restoration efforts. The Xiong’an New Area in north China’s Hebei province has synchronized virtual and real urban planning and construction.

Experts believe building a digital twin of a tangible city would enable more efficient urban management, and facilitate the city’s sustainable development.

During a 2023 Yellow River flood control drill, a “digital Yellow River” “flowed” rapidly on a panoramic digital twin platform, displaying hazard distribution that could be caused by extreme weather. This platform showed clearly the flood progression and damage in shoal areas, with an aim to improve flood control efficiency.

Wu Dan, deputy director of the information engineering center of the Yellow River Laboratory’s digital twin team, explained that constructing a digital twin is crucial for intelligent governance of the Yellow River basin and will comprehensively enhance the capabilities to ensure water security across the basin.

Digital twin technology has also provided technical support for environmental protection in Zhejiang province.

This May, in a 1,800-meter altitude alpine wetland in Baishanzu National Nature Reserve, a pair of Chinese spot-billed ducks foraging were captured by cameras. Location, meteorological and hydrological data were soon transmitted back to the system via Internet of Things monitoring devices and a digital twin platform.

“It marked the first time that Chinese spot-billed ducks were spotted at such a high altitude since the nature reserve was established, providing valuable insights for experts studying the animal’s migration patterns and habits,” said Ye Lixin, an engineer of the nature reserve.

Experts believe that digital twin technology has broad application prospects in ecological conservation. It not only offers scientists more tools to research and safeguard the natural environment, but also helps government agencies and related businesses strike a better balance between economic growth and environmental protection.

By He Yin, People’s Daily

Global modernization should be pursued to enhance peaceful development and mutually beneficial cooperation and bring prosperity to all, said Chinese President Xi Jinping when addressing the opening ceremony of the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF).

This grand vision is consistent with building a community with a shared future for mankind, and charts the course for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has forged a cooperation platform for common development, and enabled many developing countries to accelerate their progress of modernization. In the future, it will get onto a new stage of higher-quality and higher-level development, and portrait a grand picture of countries working together for modernization.

“China is endeavoring to build itself into a stronger country and rejuvenate the Chinese nation on all fronts by pursuing Chinese modernization. The modernization we are pursuing is not for China alone, but for all developing countries through our joint efforts.”

Xi’s words explained the logic of “When China does well, the world will get even better,” and revealed China’s intention to seek win-win cooperation and common development in promoting the BRI.

To achieve modernization is a shared dream of people of all countries, and no country shall be left behind in humanity’s modernization process.

The BRI, taking building a community with a shared future for mankind as the ultimate goal, is a path to modernization for all countries as well as a path to a bright future for humanity. With the initiative, countries can independently explore a path to modernization that suits their own national realities and share the opportunities created by Chinese modernization.

British scholar Martin Jacques said that Chinese modernization in essence is providing opportunities to the world, especially developing countries.

The BRI injects impetus into the realization of global modernization. Over the past decade, Belt and Road international cooperation has gotten off the ground, turning blueprints  into real projects. It has launched thousands of practical cooperation projects, and achieved fruitful and tangible outcomes.

From the massive infrastructure projects that vitalize participating countries’ development momentum, to industrial cooperation aiming to enhance these countries’ poverty reduction capabilities, the BRI focuses on tackling the bottlenecks containing participating countries’ development and has contributed to the modernization of all countries.

At the opening ceremony of the third BRF, Xi announced eight major steps China will take to support the joint pursuit of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. These steps include both concrete measures and long-term mechanisms, injecting new momentum into humanity’s global modernization process with action-oriented, efficient and pragmatic efforts.

Foreign dignitaries commended the BRI for bringing opportunities to their countries’ development. Some said the initiative effectively promoted Egypt’s economic development and created important opportunities for developing countries, and some said the eight major steps will further assist Africa in achieving industrialization, agricultural modernization and economic integration. They are expecting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation to continue powering their countries’ modernization process.

The BRI provides a path to realizing global modernization. Every country should adhere to the philosophy of solidarity, cooperation and common development in its pursuit of modernization, and follow a path of joint contribution, shared benefits and win-win cooperation.

The BRI always upholds the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. It has established a new framework for international cooperation, and blazed a trail for achieving global modernization that features peaceful development, mutually beneficial cooperation and prosperity for all.

During the third BRF, a total of 458 outcomes were achieved, further expanding the areas of BRI cooperation. China will promote local employment through cooperation projects and carry out 1,000 small-scale livelihood assistance projects. These important measures, once implemented, will surely promote the modernization process of relevant countries.

Zamir Ahmed Awan, founding chair of Islamabad-based think tank, the Global Silk Route Research Alliance, believes that the BRI, emphasizing inclusiveness and openness, helps the Global South achieve economic growth and sustainable growth, and helps developing countries accelerate modernization.

Belt and Road cooperation pursues development, aims at mutual benefits, and conveys a message of hope. To promote such a great undertaking that benefits the people of participating countries, it is important to stay focused on the goal, take results-oriented actions, persevere, and keep moving forward until the goal is met.

China will work with relevant parties to continue deepening Belt and Road partnership, promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and make unremitted efforts to advance global modernization.