China witnesses remarkable transportation improvement over past 10 years

By Bao Ping, People’s Daily

China has witnessed historic achievements and changes in its transportation development over the past 10 years.
Isolated islands have been connected to cross-sea roads; remote Gobi deserts have been covered by modern transport network; villages deep in the mountains have embraced rapid development due to better logistics.
China has built a prospering transportation system with developed road networks, as well as sea and air routes that reach every corner of the world, which both facilitates people’s traveling and smoothens the flow of commodities.
China’s huge economic development and livelihood improvement couldn’t have been achieved without the rapid development of the transportation sector.
Over the past 10 years, China has built and renovated about 2.53 million kilometers of rural roads, connecting 105,000 administrative villages to hardened roads. The country’s fixed-asset investment in railways in the same periodtotaled 7 trillion yuan (about $1 trillion), stretching China’s railway mileage by another 52,000 kilometers. Besides, 82 civil airports have been built or relocated, bringing the total to 250. The country now has 5,581 air routes.
The continuous improvement of the transportation system is lifting Chinese people’s living standard, and the rapid developing infrastructure is significantly optimizing transport capability, quality and efficiency.
The well-built infrastructure and complete public services are enabling more Chinese people to pursue their dreams.
According to the seventh national census, 493 million Chinese, or 35 percent of China’s total population, do not live in their native provinces. Besides, China’s floating population surged nearly 70 percent in the past 10 years to 376 million.
As of the end of 2021, over 20,000 couples had married through inter-provincial marriage registration, and there were more than 50,000 hospitals nationwide offering cross-provincial settlement services to inpatients. More than 100 million people have obtained digital driver’s licenses.
Inter-provincial government services have practically enhanced people’s sense of fulfillment, happiness and security, playing a vital role in promoting entrepreneurship and innovation and in vitalizing the market.
China is building a unified national market and striving for market connectivity to involve every entity in the national market and present commodities and services across the country to every consumer, which has further released the potential of domestic demand and energized enterprises. As a large country with a huge market and population, China enjoys a strong momentum for future development.
Thanks to the great mobility, stories of innovation and creation are heard every day in China. Recently, a woman from Qingdao, east China’s Shandong province went viral online for livestreaming sea fishing and sharing stories of fishermen. On livestream platforms, she sold local seafood to consumers from all over the country, which helped many fishermen increase their income.
What makes her a success is China’s continuously improving modern logistics system, and there are millions of similar stories across the country.
In 2021, the number of newly-added market entities went up 15.4 percent to top 28.87 million, with 25,000 market entities newly registered per day on average. In the first half of this year, Chinese express delivery companies handled 51.22 billion express parcels. Last year, courier services were available in over 80 percent of Chinese administrative villages and more than 37 billion parcels were shipped to and collected from rural regions.
The fast developing expressway network in north China, the world’s largest three-tower cable-stayed bridge under construction in south China, and the continuously extending Sichuan-Tibet Railway… Since this year, a number of major transport projects have been in full swing.
The diligent and smart Chinese people have infinite capability of innovation, and once this capability is fully released, China will see broader space of development. It is believed that China, with great mobility, will better release the potential of its people and will always be full of vitality.

Chinese scientists discover new mineral from samples retrieved from Moon

By FengHua, People’s Daily

Chinese scientists have discovered a new lunar mineral through research on the samples retrieved from the Moon by China’s Chang’e-5 mission, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) jointly announced.

This is the sixth new mineral discovered on the Moon by humankind. It also makes China the third country in the world to have discovered a new mineral on the Moon.

The new mineral, which has been named Changesite-(Y), was discovered from an analysis of lunar basalt particles by a research team from the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology (BRIUG), a subsidiary of the China National Nuclear Corporation.

It has been officially approved as a new mineral by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association.

Dong Baotong, deputy director of the CAEA, said the new finding provides more basic data for the study of the Moon’s formation and evolution, and deepens mankind’s understanding of the Moon and the Solar System.

It marked a major scientific achievement made by China in space science, as well as a successful cross-discipline and cross-industry cooperation, Dong said.

However, the discovery of the Changesite-(Y) was by no means an easy process.

On Dec. 17, 2020, the Chang’e-5 mission retrieved samples from the Moon weighing about 1,731 grams, and about half a year later, the BRIUG obtained the first 50 milligrams of lunar samples to conduct mineralogical research.

“The samples were as heavy as three grains of rice and only 20 milligrams of the samples were allowed to be consumed during the study based on agreement,” said HuangZhixin, a BRIUG researcher.

However, a milligram of the samples consisted of over 10,000 particles when observed under microscopes. “Every particle was precious. We were like ‘pinching pennies’ during the study,” Huang told People’s Daily.

“When we picked the samples, no foreign substance was allowed to be introduced, so we had to make the particles stick to our needles with the static electricity generated through the friction between the needles and the particles,” said LiTing, a researcher with the BRIUG.

It was in such a rigorous environment that the research team discovered a particle with a diameter of less than 10 microns, which could possibly be a new mineral.

“Upon analysis, we found that the particle had whole new chemical components that are identical tono known mineral on Earth,” noted Li Ziying, chief engineer of major projects of the BRIUG.

Whether a mineral can be approved as a new mineral depends on not only its chemical components but also its crystal texture.

“This particle stuck to pyroxene. We were not able to get it completely off and failed to obtain ideal structural information,” LiTing told People’s Daily.

The team then applied for the second batch of lunar samples. From more than 140,000 tiny particles, the researchers found some traces of the Changesite-(Y), but there was only one that could possibly be a pure single-crystal particle, and this one fractured into three pieces.

According to LiZiying, the team finally picked out a pure single-crystal particle with a focused ion beam scanning electron microscope and decoded its crystal texture.

After a series of mineral studies, the research team verified that it is a new mineral at the end of 2021.

Studies on lunar samples are going on. So far, the CNSA has distributed 152 lunar samples totaling 53,625.7 milligrams in four batches to 98 applicants from 33 scientific institutions. The fifth batch will be distributed soon.

“As we further our efforts to study the samples, we are expecting newer and greater achievements,” said LiuJizhong, director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the CNSA.

Chinese scientists discover new mineral from samples retrieved from Moon

By FengHua, People’s Daily

Chinese scientists have discovered a new lunar mineral through research on the samples retrieved from the Moon by China’s Chang’e-5 mission, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) jointly announced.

This is the sixth new mineral discovered on the Moon by humankind. It also makes China the third country in the world to have discovered a new mineral on the Moon.

The new mineral, which has been named Changesite-(Y), was discovered from an analysis of lunar basalt particles by a research team from the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology (BRIUG), a subsidiary of the China National Nuclear Corporation.

It has been officially approved as a new mineral by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association.

Dong Baotong, deputy director of the CAEA, said the new finding provides more basic data for the study of the Moon’s formation and evolution, and deepens mankind’s understanding of the Moon and the Solar System.

It marked a major scientific achievement made by China in space science, as well as a successful cross-discipline and cross-industry cooperation, Dong said.

However, the discovery of the Changesite-(Y) was by no means an easy process.

On Dec. 17, 2020, the Chang’e-5 mission retrieved samples from the Moon weighing about 1,731 grams, and about half a year later, the BRIUG obtained the first 50 milligrams of lunar samples to conduct mineralogical research.

“The samples were as heavy as three grains of rice and only 20 milligrams of the samples were allowed to be consumed during the study based on agreement,” said HuangZhixin, a BRIUG researcher.

However, a milligram of the samples consisted of over 10,000 particles when observed under microscopes. “Every particle was precious. We were like ‘pinching pennies’ during the study,” Huang told People’s Daily.

“When we picked the samples, no foreign substance was allowed to be introduced, so we had to make the particles stick to our needles with the static electricity generated through the friction between the needles and the particles,” said LiTing, a researcher with the BRIUG.

It was in such a rigorous environment that the research team discovered a particle with a diameter of less than 10 microns, which could possibly be a new mineral.

“Upon analysis, we found that the particle had whole new chemical components that are identical tono known mineral on Earth,” noted Li Ziying, chief engineer of major projects of the BRIUG.

Whether a mineral can be approved as a new mineral depends on not only its chemical components but also its crystal texture.

“This particle stuck to pyroxene. We were not able to get it completely off and failed to obtain ideal structural information,” LiTing told People’s Daily.

The team then applied for the second batch of lunar samples. From more than 140,000 tiny particles, the researchers found some traces of the Changesite-(Y), but there was only one that could possibly be a pure single-crystal particle, and this one fractured into three pieces.

According to LiZiying, the team finally picked out a pure single-crystal particle with a focused ion beam scanning electron microscope and decoded its crystal texture.

After a series of mineral studies, the research team verified that it is a new mineral at the end of 2021.

Studies on lunar samples are going on. So far, the CNSA has distributed 152 lunar samples totaling 53,625.7 milligrams in four batches to 98 applicants from 33 scientific institutions. The fifth batch will be distributed soon.

“As we further our efforts to study the samples, we are expecting newer and greater achievements,” said LiuJizhong, director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the CNSA.

Xi’s state visit to Kazakhstan a boost to common development

By He Yin, People’s Daily

China-Kazakhstan relations embraced a new chapter in the charming season of autumn.

Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Kazakhstan at the invitation of his Kazak counterpart Kassym-JomartTokayev on Sept. 14.

During the visit, the two heads of state held talks, and signed and issued a joint statement on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, announcing that China and Kazakhstan will work for the goal and vision of building a community with a shared future defined by lasting friendship, a high degree of mutual trust and sharing weal and woe.

The two presidents jointly charted a new blueprint for China-Kazakhstan all-round cooperation and pointed the direction for the development of bilateral relations, injecting new impetus into the common development of the two countries.

China-Kazakhstan relations have gone through an extraordinary journey and reaped important outcomes since the two countries established diplomatic ties 30 years ago.

The two countries have created many “firsts” in their relations, including the first in settling the boundary question, the first in laying cross-border oil and gas pipelines, the first in conducting international production capacity cooperation and the first in building a permanent comprehensive strategic partnership.

Head-of-state diplomacy plays an indispensible role in the leapfrog development of China-Kazakhstan relations.

Xi said in his talks with Tokayev that China will always be a trustworthy and reliable friend and partner of Kazakhstan. China is ready to work with Kazakhstan in firmly supporting each other’s development and rejuvenation and helping each other achieve development and prosperity.

Tokayev noted Kazakhstan will continue to firmly uphold the one-China policy and be a good partner and good friend that China can always rely on under all circumstances.

The interaction between the two heads of state fully demonstrated the high degree of mutual trust between China and Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan is where the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative was firstly proposed. Over the past nine years, Belt and Road cooperation between China and Kazakhstan has not only benefited the two peoples, but also set an example for the international society.

At the China-Kazakhstan International Logistics Base in the eastern Chinese port of Lianyungang, products from Kazakhstan, the world’s largest landlocked country, set sail for the Pacific Ocean. The China-Europe freight trains have consolidated the role of Kazakhstan as a transport hub on the Eurasian continent. The Zhanatas wind farm in Zhambyl Region, the largest of its kind in Central Asia, has been put into operation, meeting the electricity demand of about a million households. Besides, Kazak commodities such as wheat flour and dairy products are very popular among Chinese consumers.

Xi stressed during the visit that it is important that the two sides work together for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and Tokayev said Kazakhstan will continue to actively support and participate in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Relevant departments of the two countries have signed multiple bilateral cooperation documents, and the two countries have decided to set up consulates general in China’s Xi’an and Aktobe in Kazakhstan respectively.

Eying on the future, China and Kazakhstan will expand their cooperation in economy and trade, production capacity, connectivity and COVID-19 fight, as well as that in big data, artificial intelligence, digital finance, cross-border e-commerce, green energy and green infrastructure, and foster a closer people-to-people bond. It is sure that the two sides will see increasing wellbeing of the two peoples, and their efforts will contribute to their development and national rejuvenation.

China-Kazakhstan relations have outgrown the bilateral dimension and are of important significance for regional and even world peace and stability.

Just as Xi pointed out, the unbreakable friendship between China and Kazakhstan will contribute to the growth of positive and progressive forces in the world and to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

To safeguard the long-term peace in the region, the two sides will enhance cooperation within multilateral frameworks such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and China+Central Asia, and jointly support efforts for a successful SCO Samarkand Summit.

To build a more just and equitable global governance system, the two sides will also step up international coordination, exchange views timely on international governance, food security, energy security, industrial and supply chains stability, and regional hotspots, practice true multilateralism, and reject unilateralism and bloc confrontation.

The Kazak side highly agreed with the Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative proposed by Xi, saying Kazakhstan stands ready to work with China to implement the two initiatives.

The constantly expanding coordination between China and Kazakhstan under multilateral context will inject positive energy into the world in a period of new turbulence and transformation.

At present, both China and Kazakhstan are at a critical stage of their respective development and rejuvenation. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will kick off soon. It is a vital meeting to be convened at the critical moment when China is marching toward the second centenary goal of building itself into a great modern socialist country in all respects. At the same time, the construction of a New Kazakhstan has been fully launched, and Kazakhstan is making strides toward the goal of becoming one of the world’s top 30 most developed states.

As long as the two sides work together to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of states, the all-round cooperation between China and Kazakhstan will surely bring more benefits to the two peoples and China-Kazakhstan relations will surely embrace a brighter future.

SCO Samarkand Summit to write splendid chapter of friendship, win-win cooperation

By Jiang Yan

Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Uzbekistan upon invitation and will attend the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to be held in Samarkand.

President Xi will hold talks with his Uzbek counterpart ShavkatMirziyoyev, and exchange views with other state leaders attending the SCO meeting on comprehensive cooperation within the SCO framework, as well as major international and regional hotspot issues.

Together, they will chart a new blueprint for China-Uzbekistan relations and promote better development of the SCO.

The Chinese and Uzbek peoples enjoy a long history of friendship. More than 2,000 years ago, the ancient Silk Road has established a close bond between the two peoples and facilitated mutual learning, which mirrored the Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit.

Since 30 years ago when China and Uzbekistan established diplomatic ties, the two sides have always treated each other equally, shown mutual respect and pursued win-win cooperation, constantly deepening political mutual trust and advancing mutually beneficial cooperation. Bilateral relations between the two countries have been brought to new levels.

China and Uzbekistan value national sovereignty and territorial integrity, oppose other countries’ interference in their domestic affairs and firmly support each other in safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests.

Under the strategic guidance of and the efforts made by the two heads of state, China and Uzbekistan have achieved fruitful results in their cooperation in various fields.

President Xi paid state visits to Uzbekistan in 2013 and 2016, and President Mirziyoyev visited China three times in 2017, 2018 and 2019, attending the 1st and 2nd Belt and Road Forum on International Cooperation and the SCO Summit in Qingdao.

After the outbreak of COVID-19, the two heads of state have maintained close communication and exchanged views on enhancing multilateral cooperation and coordination on international affairs. They have reached a series of important consensuses. In February this year, President Mirziyoyev attended the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

China and Uzbekistan share similar development philosophies. Both of the two countries are ancient civilizations along the Silk Road in pursuit of peaceful development and common prosperity.

At present, the two countries are at a critical stage regarding their respective development. China is marching toward the goal of building a great modern socialist country in all respects, and Uzbekistan pursuing its goal of building a “New Uzbekistan”. Both of the two countries place people’s wellbeing in the first place and share a common goal of development.

China and Uzbekistan have sincerity in and a strong desire for cooperation. They see high economic complementarity and enjoy huge potential of cooperation.

Last year, their bilateral trade exceeded $8 billion, and China has maintained Uzbekistan’s largest trading partner and largest destination of exports for years. China’s total investment in Uzbekistan has hit $10 billion and there are currently more than 2,000 Chinese enterprises doing business in Uzbekistan.

The two countries have achieved remarkable progress in the cooperation in poverty reduction, sci-tech innovation, digital economy and green development. Chinese vaccines, which can now be jointly produced with Uzbekistan, have played a major role in Uzbekistan’s fight against COVID-19, and a Chinese COVID drug has been approved for clinical use in Uzbekistan, providing effective protection for the life of people in both countries.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the SCO Charter and the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation of the SCO Member States. As founding members of the SCO, China and Uzbekistan have launched productive cooperation within the SCO framework.

China fully supports Uzbekistan in playing its role as a rotating chair of the SCO, which mirrors the two countries’ sincere and profound friendship.

Uzbekistan is an ancient country along the Silk Road, and Samarkand an important hub linking the East and the West. By holding the SCO summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan has well associated the Silk Road spirit with the Shanghai Spirit of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations and pursuit of common development.

The going is difficult when doing it alone; the going becomes easier when doing it with many others. President Xi’s state visit to Uzbekistan and attendance at the SCO Samarkand Summit are of milestone significance for China-Uzbekista

President XiJinping’s visit to Kazakhstan charts new blueprint for China-Kazakhstan relations

By ZhangXiao

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Kazakhstan. Over the past 30 years, China-Kazakhstan relations have progressed by leaps and bounds and reached the high level of permanent comprehensive strategic partnership, setting a good example of good-neighborly friendship and win-win cooperation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Kazakhstan will deepen the two countries’ political mutual trust, expand their comprehensive cooperation and usher in next golden 30 years of Kazakhstan-China relations.

China and Kazakhstan have always maintained reliable political relations. They offer each other firm support on issues concerning their respective core interests.

China firmly supports Kazakhstan in safeguarding independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and Kazakhstan has openly and repeatedly expressed its firm support for the one-China principle.

When the unrest took place in Kazakhstan in January this year, President Xi immediately sent a verbal message to his Kazakh counterpart, Kassym-JomartTokayev, stressing that China firmly opposes any forces undermining Kazakhstan’s stability and threatening Kazakhstan’s security.

In recent years, the two countries have witnessed an increase inintergovernmental exchanges at all levels. The strategic guidance of the two heads of state has charted a blueprint for all-round China-Kazakhstan cooperation.

China-Kazakhstan practical cooperation has maintained healthy development. New fruits are constantly being achieved in the two countries’ Belt and Road cooperation and other pragmatic cooperation.

Bilateral trade between China and Kazakhstan surged 18.9 percent year on year to $17.67 billionin the first seven months of this year, and the full-year figure is expected to reach a historic high.

The two countries have identified 52 projects of production capacity cooperation in mining, energy, industry, commerce and transport, with a total worth of more than $21.2 billion.

The two countries have continuously enhanced interconnectivity. In the first half of this year, a record of 6,195 China-Europe freight trains passed through Kazakhstan.

Chinese home appliances, mobile phones and automobiles are popular in Kazakhstan, and Kazakhstan’s green agricultural products are welcomed by Chinese consumers. The two countries are seeing increasing economic complementarity and dependence. In the future, China and Kazakhstan will further strengthen communication and coordination in terms of development strategies to add more substance to bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

China-Kazakhstan friendship has taken deep roots betweenthe two peoples.

Facing COVID-19, the two countries and their people offered mutual understanding and support, setting a good example of anti-pandemic cooperation. Kazakhstan is home to five Confucius Institutes that offer Chinese language courses to over 3,000 people each year. The two countries are also seeing closer cooperation in education, films and television, publishing, entertainment and the media, and will soon establish cultural centers in each other’s countries.

China and Kazakhstan have established 19 pairs of sister provinces and cities. This July, they resumed direct flights betweeneach other and Chinese nationals can enter Kazakhstan for up to 14 days based on a new visa-free policy. The two countries have decided to set up consulates general in China’s Xi’an and Aktobe in Kazakhstan respectively.

As the two peoples continue enhancing mutual understanding and deepening their friendship, China and Kazakhstan will jointly write a new chapter in the century-old Silk Road.

China and Kazakhstan have constantly enhanced coordination under multilateral frameworks. Both of them are important countries in Eurasia and members of the UN, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia. They are committed to safeguarding the international system with UN at its core, and have kept close cooperation in multilateral organizations to jointly promote regional and global peace and stability.

President Tokayev actively supports the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative proposed by President Xi. The two countries have the same or similar stances on regional hotspot issues. China is willing to enhance solidarity and coordination with Kazakhstan to build a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future.

By setting sail together, we could brave a journey of ten thousand miles. It is believed that SCO member states, including China and Kazakhstan, will take the 22nd meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council of Heads of State as an opportunity to further strengthen dialogues, build consensus and promote cooperation, and constantly make new contributions to consolidating regional security and promoting common development.

 (ZhangXiao is the Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan.)

China to launch “urban check-up” in 59 cities this year to improve urban development

By LiaoRuiling, ZhengYangyang

Every weekend, Pei Yiting from Taiyuan, north China’s Shanxi province, goes cycling along a bike lane on the bank of the Fenhe River that drains the center of the province. The bike lane is surrounded by wetlands where large numbers of water birds inhabit.

“The bike lane is a great place for cyclist and also offers citizens splendid river views,” Pei said.

The riverside bike lane, extending all the way from Taiyuan’s north part to its south part, is an outcome of “urban check-up,” a comprehensive urban evaluation system that aims at optimizing urban development, strengthening urban construction and balancing rapidly swelling populations and scarce urban resources through targeted measures.

According to Han Ran, an official with Taiyuan’s municipal housing and urban-rural development bureau, many citizens demanded a riverside bike lane along the Fenhe River during Taiyuan’s 2020 “urban check-up.” In May 2021, the bike lane was put into use, and it formed a complete urban bicycle transport system with other operational bike lanes in the city, which has significantly facilitated nearby residents and made surrounding areas more energetic.

“At present, China’s urbanization rate of permanent residence stands at 64.72 percent, with an obviously slowing speed of urban space expansion. It has resultedinan imbalance between the growing urban population and scarce urban resources,” said Pan Fang, vice president of Tsinghua Tongheng Urban Planning and Design Institute. There’s an urgent need to improve the living environment, she said.

In 2018, Beijing became the first Chinese city to launch an “urban check-up” under the guidance of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the comprehensive urban evaluation system was piloted in 11 cities a year later, including Shenyang, Nanjing and Xiamen.

It was promoted in 36 cities in 2020 and the scope was further expanded to 59 last year, which covers all municipalities, cities under separate state planning, and provincial capitals, as well as parts of the cities with subordinate districts.

This year, the number of items on the check-up list has increased from 65 to 69 on eight aspects. The ratio of prefabricated structures in all newly built constructions, as well as the reutilization of construction waste are included in the 2022 list.

Social satisfaction surveying is one of the methods adopted by “urban check-up.” Through questionnaires and field visits, it studies people’s satisfaction with urban construction performance and searches for prominent problems and weaknesses.

Besides, “urban check-up” also employs third parties for quantitative surveys.

Pan told People’s Daily that the third-party check-up includes a series of procedures such as data collection, index calculation and the making of evaluation standards. According to her, data isacquired and analyzed by Python programs, geographic information systems, remote sensing and the internet of things. Besides, a data sampling system was also established, she said. For instance, map apps are employed to estimate the coverage of restaurants for seniors and affordable kindergartens to see whether the supply of relevant infrastructure is at a reasonable level.

At present, China is building an “urban check-up” system featuring an annual examination and a quinquennial evaluation, aiming to find solutions to livelihood issues and strengthen urban development.

Based on the results of the “urban check-up,” the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development will work to discover common problems facing Chinese cities, learn from local experiences and make state policies, so as to comprehensively improve urban planning, construction and management.

Digitalization leads to better life of Chinese people

By Ren Guan, People’s Daily

Navigation apps that show real-time traffic information and estimated travel time, virtual fitting room that helps you get the best clothes you want when you shop online, and virtual museums where you can get close to valuable cultural relics at home… These scenarios have already become a part of the daily life of the Chinese people.

As China steps up its efforts to build a digital country, digital technologies are being widely applied, bringing digital dividends to more and more people.

The country has further consolidated the foundation of its digital industrialization and accelerated the process of industrial digitalization over the past ten years. China’s digital economy grew from 11 trillion yuan ($1.58 trillion) in 2012 to 45.5 trillion yuan last year. Today, digital technologies are reaching every corner of the country and bringing profound changes to the life of the Chinese people.

Over the past ten years, digitalization has made people’s life easier.

From 2012 to 2021, internet penetration in China grew from 42.1 percent to 73 percent, and all prefectural-level cities have been covered by optical networks. Besides, all administrative villages and villages lifted out of poverty across the country have broadband access.

As of the end of this July, China had 475 million 5G mobile users. The country is home to the world’s largest 5G network.

Thanks to the leapfrog development of digital infrastructure, new technologies and business models are popping up, such as sharing economy, online retail and mobile payment.

The fruits of digital construction are benefiting all aspects of the society. Today, people order food by scanning QR codes and pay bills with facial recognition. Parking and garbage sorting are also made intelligent through digital technologies.

In rural areas, farmers are selling farm produce on livestream platforms and digital technologies are turning traditional agriculture much smarter. More and more farmers are seeing increasing income thanks to digitalization.

Over the past ten years, digitalization has made services much more convenient for the people.

Today, online and remote services are very prevalent in China. In south China’s Hainan province, 18 urban hospitals, 340 rural healthcare centers and 2,700 village clinics have been equipped with 5G telemedicine devices. These devices can reduce the average length of patient visits by three to five hours and improve hospitals’ efficiency by 30 percent.

In a scenic area in Fuzhou, southeast China’s Fujian province, a series of 5G-enabled smart tourism programs have been launched, such as a 5G visible management platform and a B&B monitoring system. With these programs, the scenic area has witnessed a 13-percent rise in tourist visits.

In Fuzhou, east China’s Jiangxi province, education authorities have connected rural and urban schools through the internet, so as to bring the quality education resources in cities to rural children.

China has established the world’s largest online education platform and a national platform for medical insurance information. Over 90 percent of Chinese counties and districts have access to telemedicine. During the remarkable decade, digital technologies have made important contributions to narrowing the urban-rural and interregional gap regarding social service resources.

Over the past ten years, China has made huge improvement in digital government services. Digital government is an important part of China’s digital construction efforts. To apply digital technologies in government services is an effective measure to modernize governance system and capability, as well as an inevitable choice for China to meet the public’s ever-growing demand for government services.

At present, mobile government service platforms are seen in almost everywhere in the country, and people can have the errands done via a single website and in any province in the country.

Nearly 90 percent of provincial-level administrative licenses can be applied online, and the applicants can receive the licenses by paying one visit at most to relevant offices, without the need for a second trip. The average processing time has been reduced by over a half.

According to a UN survey, China’s E-Government Development Index is the ninth highest in the world.

By building a digital country, China will energize digital economy, improve e-government services, optimize digital environment, build digital cooperation and enhance digital security. Digital technologies will surely better benefit the society and give people more sense of fulfillment, happiness and security.

Aviation and Aerospace University Abuja Commences Admission November – Sirika

Aviation Minister, Senator Hadi Sirika on Friday announced that the African Aviation and Aerospace University will commence registration for the 2022/2023 academic session on 0-18th November 2022.

He made this disclosure during a media interaction on the Aviation University in his office.

According to him, the main objective of the establishment of the Aviation university is the need for the country to go into field research development in the areas of aviation and aerospace.

He, however, said that theAviation university would be a pan-African university, not limiting its intake of students to only Africa, but Nigeria will be the focus centre. The university is supposed to be a high-breed university and will be an on-campus and online university.

“For the start-up, lectures will be done at our temporary headquarters at the Accident Investigative Bureau building at the airport and some of the lectures will be done at Nile university and We will need dormitories, a cafeteria, laboratories.”He added

Sirika noted that for the first academic year which is 2022 the university will be limited to BSc Aviation business and BSc meteorology programmes and students for each course will be between 20-25 each due to the availability of the facility and for maximum efficiency, while in the second academic year masters in air transport management.

“We have been on this project since 2016 because we know it’s a very rigorous exercise we need to put in place all the requirements by the National university commission, they have been very supportive, and guided us through the process.

“We will be partnering with Nile university here in Abuja we have a Memorandum Of Understanding which we will sign.

“We will soon avail the website which is www.aaau.edu.ng, we need other requirements to activate the website.”

– with Sunrisengr.com

China sees remarkable ecological progress over past 10 years

By Zhong Yin, People’s Daily

Star trails are a type of photograph that uses long exposure times to capture the motion of stars in the night sky. In Beijing, star trail photographs could be captured only in suburban areas in the old days. But recently, photographers recorded them in the Shougang Park, which sits in the Beijing city. This indicates continuous improvement in Beijing’s air quality.

For instance, the Chinese capital saw 288 days of good air quality last year, or 78.9 percent of the calendar year, up by 112 days from 2013. The total number of heavily-polluted days in the city had been slashed by 50 to eight during the same period.

Such drastic change mirrors the remarkable achievements made by China in the past 10 years in terms of ecological progress.

A sound ecological environment is the fairest public product and the most inclusive benefits to people’s wellbeing.

In southwest China’s Guizhou province, over 98 percent of the days in key cities are of good air quality, and good water quality is monitored at all exit cross-sections of major rivers.

Hebei province, located in the northern part of the country, has reduced 5.23 billion cubic meters of groundwater overdraft, restored 400,000 mu (26,667 hectares) of mines and recovered 2.7 million mu of degraded, desertified and salinized grasslands.

In Jiangsu province, 93.6 percent of residents said the environment was satisfactory.

Over the past 10 years, China has seen bluer skies, greener mountains, clearer waters and better environment. The Chinese people’s sense of fulfillment, happiness and security has been constantly improved.

Over the past 10 years, China’s ecological environment has gone through a historic change. In this period, the country contributed to around a quarter of the world’s afforestation area, and the carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP dropped about 34 percent. Besides, China has built the world’s largest renewable energy capacity and become the world’s largest producer and seller of new energy vehicles.

China’s national carbon market has started online trading, and the country has established an ecological compensation system for the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins, said Ye Min, deputy head of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

According to Ye, outstanding green loans in yuan and foreign currencies reached 15.9 trillion yuan (about $2.31 trillion) by the end of 2021.

Over the past 10 years, China has enacted multiple laws and regulations on environmental protection and launched a central inspection system for ecological and environmental protection. It has established a protected areas framework with a focus on national parks and made continuous and huge afforestation efforts. It has formulated and introduced measures for assessing progress made in ecological improvement and implemented a river, lake and forest chief system.

The country protects the environment like we protect our eyes and treats the environment like it is its life. Greenness has become an integral component of China’s development.

Lucid waters and lush mountains create natural, ecological social and economic benefits.

The riverside region stretching along the Huangpu River in Yangpu district of Shanghai has turned from an “industrial rust belt” into a vibrant urban public space for leisure; a mining area in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui autonomous region, upon ecological restoration, has become a “wine chateau” that generates huge economic benefits; a village in Dali Bai autonomous prefecture, southwest China’s Yunnan province has regained its natural beauty after stopping all farming activities at its lakeside ponds and farmlands, attracting more and more tourists.

These facts prove that to protect environment is to protect and increase the value of the nature, as well as the potential of economic and social development.

Ecological protection and economic development make an organic whole. Only when development and protection efforts are made in a synergetic manner, can the country complete a profound reform of its development philosophy, adjust its value orientation and fundamentally optimize its development models.

In May the last year, the first batch of forest carbon credit stamps were issued. One of the stamps, permitting 12,723 tons of carbon dioxide, was generated from approximately 213 hectares of public forest in Changkou village, Jiangle county of Fujian province, and it has guaranteed the village additional earnings of 140,000 yuan through carbon trading.

China, apart from building a beautiful country itself, is also an important participant, contributor and trailblazer in global ecological conservation.

The country has promised to scale up its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions by adopting more vigorous policies and measures. It aims to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

It has added the targets of carbon peak and carbon neutrality to its overall plan for ecological conservation, and is accelerating new energy development, to make low-carbon production and lifestyles a common pursuit of the Chinese society.

Today, the country is making important steps toward the initiative of “building a beautiful China,”driving weeping, historic, and transformative changes in its ecological conservation.

More and more Chinese people are taking actions to spread ecological awareness and put the awareness into practice, with an aim to leave the blue skies, lush mountains and lucid waters for future generations.