Nigeria Times

By Luo Shanshan, People’s Daily

China’s foreign trade has shown strong resilience and vitality this year. In particular, cross-border e-commerce, with its advantages in online transactions, contactless delivery and short transaction chains, has become key to stabilizing foreign trade and promoting consumption.
Recently, China’s State Council approved the establishment of comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce in another 33 cities and regions across the country.
It marks the seventh batch of comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce set up in China, as well as the second time the country approves the establishment of such pilot zones this year.
This move has brought the tally to 165, covering 31 provincial-level regions across the country.
Today, these pilot zones have become an ecosystem and carrier for the development of cross-border e-commerce featuring synergetic innovation in institutions, management and services.
They have set up information sharing, financial service, smart logistics, credit, statistical monitoring and risk prevention systems, as well as a policy framework centering around the online platform of single window services and brick-and-mortar industrial parks.
Besides, nearly 70 measures of mature experiences and innovative practices have been promoted nationwide.
Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang province is home to China’s first comprehensive pilot zone for cross-border e-commerce. Over the past seven years, the city has nurtured 49,000 cross-border e-commerce sellers, who registered over 2,000 trademarks overseas and reported a total export value of 100 billion yuan ($14.24 billion).
In east China’s Jiangsu province, the average annual growth of the cross-border e-commerce scale reaches more than four times in the past three years, and over 90 industrial parks and incubators have been established. Besides, relevant enterprises in the province have built some 280 overseas warehouses in major markets along the Belt and Road. The prospering cross-border e-commerce sector has injected new impetus into stabilizing Jiangsu’s foreign trade amid COVID-19.
Driven by the pilot zones, China’s cross-border e-commerce enjoyed rapid development. According to statistics released by Chinese customs, the scale of cross-border e-commerce surged nearly tenfold in the past five years. It accounted for 4.9 percent of China’s total foreign trade last year, up from less than 1 percent in 2015.
In 2021, the import and export scale of cross-border e-commerce reached 1.92 trillion yuan, up 18.6 percent year-on-year, marking a consecutive high growth after it made a 25.7 percent stride in 2020.
In the first six months of this year, the import and export transaction volume of the cross-border e-commerce grew 28.6 percent year-on-year to maintain steady and rapid growth.
A batch of small- and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises are embracing the international market thanks to relevant policies rolled out by local governments.
Chinese coffee machine maker HiBREW, turning from original equipment manufacturer to original brand manufacturer, is gaining a reputation in more and more foreign countries; a smart rangefinder made by Chinese tool producer HOTO reported an annual turnover of 4.17 million yuan($600,000); fishing gear producer SeaKnight based in Hangzhou has sold its products to more than 200 countries and regions; WEWATCH, a Chinese tech company specialized in LED projectors, saw its export value reaching 40 million yuan($575,515) from zero in just a year.
Sheng Qiuping, China’s vice minister of commerce, said cross-border e-commerce has significantly lowered the threshold of international trade and involves large numbers of micro- and small-sized entities. So far, over 30,000 enterprises have registered on the online integrated service platform of the comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce, according to him.
Logistics is a key factor in the efficiency and stability of cross-border e-commerce services. Over the recent years, new logistics models have kept emerging, such as overseas warehouses, return center warehouses and high-quality goods warehouses for export. They have become comprehensive service complexes that offer warehousing, logistics, customs clearance, return and exchange, processing and repairing, as well as packaging and distribution services.
According to statistics released by the China’s Ministry of Commerce, the coungtry has built over 2,000 overseas warehouses that cover a total area of 16 million square meters.
Sheng Chaoxun, director of the strategic policy office of the Academy of Macroeconomic Research affiliated with China’s National Development and Reform Commission, told People’s Daily that China’s cross-border e-commerce is in an important development period for innovation. Relevant policies and measures need to be further improved to make overseas warehouses an important pillar for the development of the sector, Sheng explained.

By Wang Yinxin, Yao Xueqing, People’s Daily

Ecological research is a task that investigates, monitors and evaluates various types of ecosystems and biological species. It is a key measure to get a clear picture of the ecology, understand its variation, and evaluate the weaknesses and achievements in ecological conservation.
Over the recent years, local authorities across China have made constant efforts to carry out ecological research and innovate investigation methods. The outcomes are widely applied in resource census, policy-making and science popularization, which forcefully drives the progress of ecological conservation.
East China’s Jiangsu province has established a multi-dimensional technical system that integrates water, land and air monitoring methods for water ecological surveys.
The system employs satellite remote sensing, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and ground monitoring facilities to acquire ecological data for evaluation. Such ecological research is launched multiple times a year covering the province’s major rivers, lakes and sea waters.
During a recent investigation, a UAV was employed by ecological investigators from the environment monitoring center of the Department of Ecology and Environment of Jiangsu province to build a 3D model of a section of the Yangtze River bank. Another one was sent to take water samples at designated locations in the river.
At the same time, a multispectral UAV was launched to examine the vegetation along the banks of the Yangtze River.
“Natural banks play a very important role in water ecology,” said Zhang Yue, an ecological investigator at the environment monitoring center.
Based on data obtained by the multispectral UAV, over 80 percent of the area along the investigated section of the river was covered by vegetation, which indicated sound ecological recovery.
“By inputting over 6,000 photos taken by the 3D-modeling UAV into a software, a 3D model of the investigated section will be built, and then we will work to check and improve the model,” said Zhang.
She told People’s Daily that every model can be compared vertically, which can even tell how many trees are newly planted in parks.
As regards the water samples taken during the investigation, some were used for water quality tests, and the rest for environmental DNA sequencing, a type of analysis that provides clues about the bio-species in the water.
Information technology has significantly facilitated ecological research across China. According to statistics released by the China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration, in 2021, China dispatched about 17,000 personnel to 31 provinces and autonomous regions so as to finish monitoring 457,000 sample areas and about 470 million remote detection spots.
In that year, the administration for the first time had realized full coverage of forest, grassland and wetland monitoring in the country.
The Longqi Mountain National Nature Reserve in southeast China’s Fujian province has launched constant biodiversity monitoring programs with infrared cameras and other technologies to provide scientific support for conservation and management. The cameras have captured a number of wildlife species such as black bears and mainland serows in thousands of photos and videos.
Since 2017, the nature reserve has spotted 125 new animal distributions and 27 new plant distributions. It has published biological atlases, built museums and held outdoor education activities to bring more and more people closer to nature.
South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region employs digital information obtaining and analysis methods for the monitoring of grassland resources and ecology. Since 2020, the autonomous region has started using satellite images and base maps for the establishment of observation plots in the grassland resources census, to observe the changes in ecological factors and further analyze the ecological status and annual variation of grasslands.
The autonomous region’s investigation outcomes not only offer data for the evaluation of its ecological services, green development index system and “forest chief” scheme, but also provide basic statistics for relevant departments to make grassland protection and recovery policies.
As more and more technical methods are developed and applied, China will keep enhancing its efforts in ecological protection, monitoring and management.

— A report examining contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights was released on Monday.

Jointly released by the China Foundation for Human Rights Development and the New China Research under Xinhua News Agency, the report said China’s outlook on human rights has been continuously enriched and improved in practice, with its own cognitive perspective and ideological connotation based on the actual conditions of the country.

It has formed a contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights with “people” as the center, “development” as the driving force and “a life of contentment” as the goal, read the report titled “For a Life of Contentment — The Rationale for China’s Human Rights Development.”

Noting that human rights protection in China means concrete actions, rather than lip service, the report said the country has made achievements step by step, raising the living standards of its people from poverty to bare subsistence, and from moderate prosperity in general to moderate prosperity in all aspects.

Embarking on a journey toward a higher goal of common prosperity, China is committed to providing a “happy and dignified life for some one-fifth of the world’s population,” said the report.

China’s novel ideas, measures and practices in terms of how to respect and protect human rights may also offer inspiration for the rest of the world, especially for developing countries, noted the report.

It attributed China’s success in promoting human rights protection to the determined leadership of the Communist Party of China, down-to-earth approach, being development-oriented, legal guidance, and open-mindedness.

China advocates enhanced exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations, addressing the “governance deficit” of human rights, promoting fairer, more equitable, reasonable and inclusive global governance of human rights, and working together to build a human community with a shared future.

Source: Xinhua

By Zhou Zhou, People’s Daily
In the office of Ahmed Bahaa El-Din Shaaban, secretary-general of the Egyptian Socialist Party (ESP), a porcelain vase dotted with peach blossoms and carps was quite eye-catching.
“This was a gift I received from the comrades of the Communist Party of China (CPC) when I firstly visited China in 2017. I cherish it very much. The porcelain vase, which carries strong Chinese cultural features, reminds me of the good time I spent in China,” Shaaban told People’s Daily.
He said CPC cadres are very professional, open and inclusive, which left a deep impression on him.
Shaaban has long been interested in China. He has many books introducing China in Arabic at home, including those about Mao Zedong Thought, the development of the People’s Republic of China and the CPC, and Chinese culture. Through these books, Shaaban has obtained massive information about China’s development.
“I always observe China’s development with admiration. China has a long history and has paved a development path that suits itself through reform and opening up,” he said, adding that the country has proved with concrete actions that a country must make a development path that suits its national conditions in order to drive social progress and achieve prosperity.
The ESP secretary-general noted China has achieved glorious accomplishments in economic, social and livelihood development, and he is proud of China’s prosperity and progress.
He said the simple, safe and wonderful Winter Olympics hosted in Beijing earlier this year amid COVID-19 demonstrated China’s remarkable strength.
“Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, China is marching forward confidently,” Shaaban told People’s Daily.
He attributed China’s stable and healthy economic and social development, and the changes of people’s life to the active practices of the CPC.
In the fight against COVID-19, the CPC takes a people-centered approach to protect people’s lives and health to the fullest extent, he said.
Xi Jinping, general secretaryof the CPC Central Committee, always bearing in mind the impoverished regions and the people there, has taken poverty reduction as an important task of national governance, he said, adding Xi has led the CPC to fulfill its commitment of eradicating absolute poverty as scheduled.
“China’s progress is the world’s progress,” Shaaban remarked. He said Xi has provided a series of global public goods and cooperation platforms, including the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, to promote global solidarity and win-win cooperation.
China sincerely shares its development experiences with the rest of the world and its development benefits the rest of the world, Shaaban said.
In 2017, he attended the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting hosted by the International Department of the CPC Central Committee in China, where he listened to a keynote speech delivered by Xi.
“Xi, humble and always caring for the people, is a leader with great visions and noble characters,” Shaaban said.
He told People’s Daily that Xi’s remarks made at the meeting, such as “Political parties play an important role in the political life of our countries and progress of human civilization,” are still inspiring for him today.
In July 2021, the ESP attended the CPC and World Political Parties Summit via video link. When Xi was delivering a keynote speech, Shaaban took pages of notes.
“What impressed me the most was that Xi associated political parties’ responsibilities with ensuring the people’s wellbeing and pursuing the progress of mankind, advocated building a community with a shared future for mankind and stressed promoting coordination and cooperation among countries. This reflected the CPC’s courage to shoulder historical responsibilities and make development fruits shared by more people in a fairer way,” Shaaban remarked.
Shaaban said the CPC carries a mission to seek happiness for the Chinese people and seek progress for humanity, and has contributed important plans to coping with global challenges, which sets a good example for global political parties in joining national construction and development.
“We will keep deepening our solidarity and cooperation with the CPC, to jointly oppose hegemonism and power politics, carry forward the common values of humanity, safeguard international peace and justice, and promote common development,” Shaaban noted.

By Wang Yinxin, People’s Daily

Tea is a symbol of Wuyishan Mountain, which sits at the border of east China’s Jiangxi province and southeast China’s Fujian province. Tea planting and making has long been a tradition in the local community.
In October 2021, Wuyishan National Park was set up, and the construction and management of tea plantations became one of the most important parts of the park’s ecological conservation efforts.
Liao Hong, director of the Root Biology Center of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, still remembers the picturesque view she saw and the tea aroma she smelled when she came to Wuyishan Mountain for the first time in 2001.
However, on her second trip to the mountain in 2015, she found that the local ecology haddeteriorated and the quality of local tea products had declined.
This was a result of the local tea industry’s excessive pursuit of output.
“Under traditional tea planting models, expanding planting areas and utilizing fertilizers is the major way to increase tea output. Therefore, over-reclamation and overuse of fertilizers were common, resulting in ecological damage and a decrease in the quality of tea products,” Liao explained.
In 2016, a pilot project of the national park system was implemented in Wuyishan mountain.
Over3000hectares of tea plantations on the mountain were included in the protected area of the national park, which made protection and development even more contradictory against each other, said Liao Chuanping, head of the ecological conservation department of the management bureau of Wuyishan National Park.
“Tea planting is the primary source of income for local people, but what come with the national park are strict ecological protection measures,” Liao Chuanping told People’s Daily.
The choice between ecological conservation and the development of the tea industry soon became a headache for local authorities.
Therefore, Liao Hong, as an expert in this field, started working to make an innovative model that both addresses ecological issues and increases tea production.
She had investigations in multiple major tea-producing areas in Fujian province, leaving her footprints on every corner of Wuyishan Mountain.
In 2015, she met tea maker He Shi’an. They soon hit it off on an eco-friendly tea planting. In the following year, Liao Hong carried out a series of experiments at the invitation of He, in an attempt to make tea plantations safer and more efficient.
“We planted oilseed rape in winter and soybean in summer. With organic fertilizers specifically developed for tea plants, both the quality and production of tea increased significantly,” Liao Hong said, adding that tea plantations looked healthier and the taste of tea products was also improved.
In 2018, with the support of the local government, Liao Hong brought this new eco-friendly model to Wuyishan National Park, and it was warmly welcomed by local tea farmers.
Since March 2018, the management bureau of Wuyishan National Park has been planting precious seedlings in tea plantations to improve the ecology. According to Liao Chuanping, oriental cherries have been planted in 20 hectares of tea plantations over the past year.
So far, the new eco-friendly model has been comprehensively promoted in the national park.
Fang Zhou, a local tea farmer whose eco-friendly tea garden is in Xingcun township, told People’s Daily that good ecology has brought good quality to tea products, which means a higher market price.
Fang said many tea farmers have planted native deciduous trees in tea plantations over the past year, as the higher market price of tea products made them realize the importance of ecological conservation.
The construction of eco-friendly tea plantations also drives the development of relevant industries. “The oriental cherries planted in the plantations not only improved ecology but also the scenery of plantations, which makes tea-themed tourism possible,” Fang said.
Fang’s dream, he said, is to turn tea plantations into a park, and now this dream is coming true.

By Li Xia, People’s Daily

Zenghouyi chime bells, an ancient Chinese musical instrument with a history of more than 2,400 years, has gained new vigor and enjoys great popularity in the modern world, thanks to the country’s burgeoning digital technologies and cultural and creative industry.

Excavated in 1978 from the tomb of Zenghouyi, or Marquis Yi, a ruler of the Zeng State during the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 B.C.), in Suizhou city, central China’s Hubei province, the ancient Chinese musical instrument represents the pinnacle of bronze musical instruments-making in the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.) of China.

It is by far the largest, heaviest, best-preserved, and finest set of chime bells ever unearthed in China and has the most complete temperament and range among all chime bells unearthed in the country.

More importantly, the racks and bells of the instrument bear inscriptions consisting of a total of 3,755 Chinese characters, which contain rich and complete knowledge of music.

The chime bells is nowthe most precious treasure of the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan City, the capital of Hubei province.

Today, in addition to watching and learning about the ancient percussion instrumentat the museum, people can also buy cultural and creative products featuring the chime bells, “play”it with the help of digital technologies including holographic projection, and enjoy chime bell performances given by the Hubei Provincial Museum Chime Bell Orchestra.

“Zenghouyi chime bellsis a symbol of China’s rites and music culture and has been the most valuable piece of intellectual property,which has facilitated our efforts to build cultural and creative brands,” said Wang Liang, director of the museum’s marketing department and deputy head of the orchestra.

According to Wang, the museum began to develop chime bell-themed creative and cultural products in the 1990s.At first, it made full-size replicas and miniature versions of the chime bells, which werevery popularin both the domestic and overseas markets. Then, the museum rolled out stationery and daily necessities featuring the ancient musical instrument, which have also been well received.

The application of digital technologies has “brought the chime bells to life”. In the experience zone of the museum’s comprehensive exhibition hall, the chime bells is projected holographicallyso that visitors can “play” it with their hands. With the help of a virtual reality (VR) headset and hand shank, visitors can “perform” on chime bells according to the prompts of the digital system, immersing themselves in the charm of the cultural relic.

On the eve of the 2022 Chinese Lunar New Year, the Hubei Provincial Museum, China Media Group, as well as other organizations, jointly launched a new media-based interactive project that allows people to “strike” the Zenghouyi chime bells remotely using their mobile phones.

In 1978, when the chime bells was unearthed, a concert was held in Suizhou to test its musical function. The original Zenghouyi chime bells was used to play a famous music composition, and the performance impressed the world. Since then, the original cultural relic has been put under protection. Only its replicas have been used for performances.

In 1983, a completereplica of the chime bells unearthed was made andthe Hubei Provincial Museum set up a team to perform on it, which later became the Hubei Provincial Museum Chime Bell Orchestra. Over the past more than 30 years, the orchestra has received more than 10 million visitors from home and abroad.

Music is a very good way to connect with the audience, said Wang Xianfu, deputy curator of the museum and head of the orchestra. As musicians perform on replicas of the Zenghouyi chime bells, the ancient musical instrument is “revived”, he noted.

Xiang Zhang, curator of Suizhou Museum, disclosed that cultural heritage institutions and museums in Suizhou have worked with related institutions and bell-making craftspeople to reproduce bronze chime bells and pass on the traditional craft for making them, which was listed as a representative item of China’s national intangible cultural heritage in 2021.

In an effort to better introduce chime bells to more people, the Hubei Provincial Museum Chime Bell Orchestra has made active efforts to integrate chime bells with different types of other musical instruments, such as the saxophone, piano, and the guqin, a plucked seven-stringed Chinese musical instrument.

In June this year, the Hubei Provincial Museum and the Wuhan Qintai Piano Museum jointly held a concert, during which chime bells and pianos were played together.

In September 2022, the Hubei Provincial Museum held an online concert in cooperation with the Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, wowing netizens with an innovative combination of chime bells and guqin