Nigeria Times

By Li Nan

China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security recently unveiled a new version of an occupational classification list, which designates 133 jobs as green professions, up from 127 in a 2015 version.

The green professions include energy consumption instructor, heat engineering technician of metallurgy, environmental sanitation engineering technician, among others.

Guided by the “dual carbon” goals, green professions are emerging batches after batches in China, creating massive new employment and development opportunities.

Green professions are jobs related to environmentally friendly, low-carbon and circular activities. They emphasize the sustainability of production and environment.

These professions are mainly engaged in environmental monitoring, protection and treatment, new energy production, waste recycling and utilization, as well as scientific researches, technological development and planning related to these areas.

The prospering development of these professions mirror the broadly recognized vision that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. They are a result of China’s fast-developing green economy and growing new business models.

Green development is a critical element of modernizing an economy; it is also a fundamental solution to pollution.

Green industries and talents are the pillar of green development. China ranks first globally in terms of the development and utilization of renewable energy, and the world’s largest carbon trading market was launched in the country last year.

Driven by market demands, green professions are emerging, such as carbon sink appraiser and coal upgrading technician. Incorporating new businesses and professions, the new-version occupational classification list is of important significance for enhancing social identity of relevant jobholders, promoting employment and entrepreneurship, guiding the reform of vocational education and driving high-quality economic development.

New professions alwaysbring more new opportunities. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), China’s efforts for eco-environmental protection have entered a critical stage. Reducing carbon emissions is a major strategy during this stage, so the country is promoting reductions in both pollutants and carbon emissions, encouraging the green transformation of every aspect of economic and social development, and striving to reach the tipping point from quantitative to qualitative environmental improvements.

According to statistics, China needs 550,000 to a million professionals during the 14th Five-Year Plan period to work for its “dual carbon” goals. To achieve the goals and build a beautiful China calls for continuously expanding green industries and constant efforts to enhance technological innovation, which will help green talents build successful careers and realize their dreams.

The emerging occupations offer laborers with more choices on the job market and mirror a change in people’s attitude toward employment. A survey showed that most of the new professions are taken by young people – those born in 1980s and 1990s account for over 90 percent of the total jobholders. All the new professions mean to the young people an opportunity to realize their self-worth.

By Zhong Yin, People’s Daily

A recent study released by the Inter Region Economic Network, a leading independent African think tank, showed that China’s cooperation with Africa was highly recognized by Africans for infrastructure construction, quick decision making, and timely completion of engineering projects.

It once again proved that China, through efficient and effective actions, has brought tangible benefits and opportunities to Africa.

China always adheres to the vision of peaceful development and shares its development dividend with the rest of the world. China’s modernization is not only for its own development, but also for the wellbeing of the whole world. It has opened up broader prospects for the common development of mankind.

The Chinese have always believed that “You yourself desire rank and standing; then help others to get rank and standing.” China’s modernization – featuring common prosperity, balanced material and cultural progress, harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, and peaceful development – will be shared by a huge population. The Chinese path to modernization is based on China’s conditions, and reflects the evolution of human society as a whole.

There is no set form of modernization or one-size-fits-all modernization standards in the world. Today, Chinese stories are hot topics around the world due to China’s huge development success. However, behind the stories are not only exponential economic growth of a major country, but also a unique path to modernization and the charm of a new model for human progress.

The world’s development is multi-dimensional, and history is never a lenient movement. People of all countries are entitled to choose their own development paths and institutional models, and all efforts of individual countries to independently explore the path to modernization in light of their specific national conditions are worthy of respect.

China’s new model for human progress has refuted the myth that modernization can be achieved only by following the capitalist model. The country’s success indicates that there doesn’t exist a fixed model for the path to modernization, and the one that suits you well will serve you well.

China is pursuing modernization as a “latecomer.” Developed countries in the West went through a “serial-type” course of development, from industrialization to urbanization, and to agricultural modernization and informatization. The whole course has so far taken them over 200 years. On the contrary, China’s development is a “parallel-type” one, which means the country experiences all the above processes simultaneously.

It cost China only decades to have grown from a “latecomer” to a new growth pole of global modernization, a process that took developed countries several centuries. China’s modernization has blazed a trail for other “latecomers,” and proves that it’s totally possible for countries to pursue a development path suited to their own national conditions.

Different from the old path of Western modernization that seeks primitive accumulation with expansionism and follows the law of the jungle, China’s modernization has no relation with colonization, war or conflict. It is advanced with peace, cooperation and win-win results.

Pursuing true multilateralism, China holds that all countries should write international rules and manage global affairs, and that multilateralism is about having international affairs addressed through consultation.

In the new era, China firmly safeguards international equity and justices, follows the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and never hesitates to speak up for other developing countries.

On the vast African continent, two railways enjoy a special status in history. One is the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, a “freedom railway” that was built by over 50,000 Chinese engineering technicians in 1960s and 1970s. More than 60 Chinese experts rest forever on this land far away from home. The other is the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway, which adopts Chinese standards and technologies and was built with Chinese equipment. It is driving the transport and economic development of the entire East Africa.

The two railways, with their special status in history and remarkable contribution nowadays, demonstrate that the Communist Party of China has always been bearing in mind the development of the African continent.

By Wang Hao, People’s Daily

The Yellow River, the second longest river in China, is hailed as the cradle of Chinese civilization. Over the past 20 years, China has intensified its efforts to restore ecology along the river, and the river that once dried up has seen no flow cutoff for 23 consecutive years.

According to Zhang Li, who works at the Lijinhydrometric station managed by the Yellow River Conservancy Commission (YRCC) in Dongying, east China’s Shandong province, the last hydrometric station before the Yellow River flows into the sea, flow data of the Yellow River at the Lijin hydrometric station wasabsent for 226 days around 1997. Besides, the seawater gradually eroded the shore and reduced the variety of near-shore species.

Unlimited water exploitation was the major reason for the river’s drying up. This set of data might suggest the tension between the supply and demand for water from the Yellow River: the waterway accounts for only 2 percent of China’s total runoff but feeds 12 percent of the country’s population and irrigates 17 percent of the arable land.

Unified water volume regulation was key to the Yellow River treatment. “With a target of keeping the river flowing, a total consumption volume from the river was set at the national level based on which local governments made their respective water usage plans. Adjustments were made every month and important cross sections were put under regular monitoring,” said KeSujuan, an official with the YRCC.

On March 1, 1999, the first water volume regulation order was issued by the YRCC, and ten days later, water started running again in the river course. The Lijin hydrometric station finally saw flow data appear again.

As a result, wetlands along the Yellow River expanded, attracting more and more bird species and recovering biodiversity. Since 1999, the river has supplied over 670 billion cubic meters of water for tributaries and relevant regions, offering strong support for socioeconomic development and ecological progress in these places.

Meanwhile, by promoting water-saving agriculture and implementing water-saving projects in irrigation areas, China has constantly improved the effective utilization of irrigation water in the Yellow River basin. The average water consumption for irrigation per mu (about 667 square meters) in the Yellow River basin is lower than the national average.

In Dayudu irrigation area, Ruicheng county, Yuncheng, north China’s Shanxi province, water from the Yellow River is elevated over 300 meters and used to irrigate over 500,000 mu of farmland. In the fields, irrigation polesare established every 18 meters and all of them can be started remotely on farmers’ mobile phones.

The underground sprinkler system has reduced water consumption per mu from 150 cubic meters to less than 60 cubic meters, said HuTianni, a major local crop grower. The system has saved over 160,000 yuan ($22,698) inirrigation costs for the woman, who grows over 1,000 mu of wheat. Besides, Hu has also equipped her farmland with sprinklers, sensors, internet of things facilities and other new tech devices.

The water-sand imbalance was what made the Yellow River treatment difficult. As early as 1952, the YRCC  set up an experiment station for the conservation of water and soil in Suide, a county lying on the west bank of the Yellow River in northwest China’s Shaanxi province. A year later, the first silt arrester in northern Shaanxi was built in the county’s Maliangou village by researchers.

Villager LiWenyuan was told many stories about the silt arrester by senior villagers. According to him, a piece of farmland covering 150 mu has been formed by the sands and mud blocked by the silt arrester just years after it was built.

“Silt arresters not only conserve water and soil but also help increase grain output,” said Dang Weiqin, chief engineer of the Suide experiment station.

Today, trees and grass are densely planted on local hills, and a series of biological, agricultural and engineering measures have been taken to block sand and mud in local waterways. “It means that more sand and mud isstaying in gullies and more clean water is flowing into the Yellow River,” Dang explained.

Thanks to comprehensive treatment projects, both the area and intensity of water and soil loss in the Yellow River basin have decreased over recent years.

By LiXueqin

NingYuan is an influencer that owns 9.67 million followers on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. His videos, mostly about popular science, such as why volcanoes are rekindled, the physiological structure of crawfish and why mosquitoes bite, teach audiences in a fun and easy-to-understand way.
Ning likes employing handmade models in his videos to present scientific laws and often uses close-ups to help audiences better understand.
“Popular science videos are meaningless if they are made opaque. The good ones are those that are both understandable for children and attractive for adults,” said Ning.
He told People’s Daily that the biggest challenge in making popular science videos is not about science, but about how to make the videos popular. In other words, video bloggers must try their best to explain highbrow scientific knowledge to audiences in the simplest language.
Today, digital technologies are making popular science extremely accessible online, and the internet, which enables people to learn anytime and anywhere, has become an important way for young generations to enrich their minds.
According to the 50th China Statistical Report on Internet Development recently released by the China Internet Network Information Center, the number of short video users in China reached 962 million as of June this year, accounting for 91.5 percent of the country’s total internet users.
“As user demands evolve, videos play an increasing role. In the past, we wanted funny short videos, but today we want them to be useful and even enlightening,” said Zhang Zhi’an, professor at the School of Journalism, Fudan University.
Many short video platforms have made concrete efforts to enrich their content in popular science, and scholars and experts from a wide range of fields, from energy to manned space, are sharing the latest progress of frontier technologies on these platforms.
For instance, Douyin, in collaboration with the China Association for Science and Technology, recently launched the second season of a popular science short video program joined by Chinese academicians. Relevant videos have been played 130 million times in total.
Chinese geologist Liu Jiaqi noted that short videos are an excellent medium of science popularization as they are interesting and easy to watch.
“A lecture given in a short video can obtain 5 to 6 million views, which is impossible for a traditional one given in a classroom,” Liu said.
Short video platform Kuaishou also launched a knowledge-themed live streaming activity covering a wide range of areas, including economy and psychology. An employee of Kuaishou introduced that cooking lessons were the most sought after in prime time of summer, while musical instrument teaching gained more views between 21:00 and 23:00.
“Short videos and live streaming are making a new trend of science popularization,”said BaiXiaoqing, an associate professor at the Television School, Communication University of China. They can present scientific knowledge in simple language, as well as in pictures and animation， which makes the content more artistic and attractive, she said, adding that such videos can be reached by a wider range of audiences.

By LiHongxing, People’s Daily

China’s value-added industrial output grew from 20.9 trillion yuan ($3.1 trillion) in 2012 to 37.3 trillion yuan in 2021, with an average annual growth rate of 6.3 percent.
During the same period,manufacturing value-added output increased from 16.98 trillion yuan to 31.4 trillion yuan, accounting for nearly 30 percent of total global output.
China has maintained the largest producer of over 40 percent of the world’s 500 major industrial goods.
These inspiring achievements mirror the steady growth of China’s manufacturing sector in terms of both quantity and quality. The Chinese manufacturing sector, with a more complete industrial system and supply chain, has come to a new level regarding comprehensive strength, innovation capability and competitiveness.
The manufacturing industry is the very foundation for building China and improving its strength and the lifeblood of the national economy. In recent years, China has made huge efforts to upgrade the manufacturing industry and build itself into a world manufacturing power.
The country believes high-quality development of the manufacturing sector, in particular that of equipment manufacturing, plays a major role in China’s drive toward high-quality development of the economy. It is working to enhance the quality and strength of the real economy, especially the manufacturing sector, and is building advanced manufacturing clusters with international competitiveness.
Over the past 10 years, China’s manufacturing industry has witnessed historic achievements and changes, which have laid a solid material foundation for the country’s development.
The industry continuously improved its comprehensive strength and market players also gained greater vitality. So far, China has nurtured over 400,000 industrial enterprises above their designated size, or those with main business revenue of 20 million yuan or above, as well as more than 40,000 specialized and sophisticated small- and medium-sized enterprises that produce new and unique products.
The quality of the supply system for China’s manufacturing industry has significantly improved. The country has ranked at the top of the world in terms of the production and sales of new energy vehicles, and as of 2021, the shipment volume of 5G smart phones in China hit 266 million units.
Besides, the country has accelerated the upgrading of production models in the manufacturing industry and made new progress in the industry’s high-end, intelligent and green development. It made breakthroughs in airplane manufacturing, manned space programs, power equipment and high-end numerical-control machine tools. By the end of 2021, the digital control rate of key processes in industrial enterprises and the penetration rate of digital R&D and design tools reached 55.3 and 74.7 percent respectively.
Innovation and key technologies remain the core competitiveness of the manufacturing sector. As of 2021, investment in the sector’s R&D had reached 1.54 percent, up from 0.85 percent in 2012, and the figure stood at 10.3 percent among specialized and sophisticated enterprises that produce new and unique products. More than 570 Chinese industrial companies made their way onto the list of the global top 2,500 companies in terms of R&D investment.
China has constructed 23 national manufacturing innovation centers and those jointly built by the central and local governments, and offered support in the construction of 125 basic public service platforms for industrial technology. Innovation is now taken as a priority in developing the manufacturing industry, to make the sector healthier and more robust.
International Union of Railways recently published two international standards for high-speed railway infrastructure design and power supply, which were mainly drafted and developed by China.
It is expected that China will make its manufacturing industry even stronger as it maintains fast growth, improves innovation capability, as well as speeds digitization and green transition.

By Zhong Yin, People’s Daily

Good news about technological breakthroughs are pouring in these days.

China’s Shenzhou-14 astronauts have completed their extravehicular activities; the country’s Long March rocket series has set a record of 103 consecutive successful launches; China’s domestically developed single-aisle C919 passenger jet has undergone all the test flights for obtaining an airworthiness certificate in the country…

These breakthroughs fully prove the notable strengths of China’s socialist system in pooling resources and efforts for major undertakings, and have further enhanced Chinese people’s confidence in their own development path.

Whether China follows a right development path directly concerns the rise and fall of the undertakings of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese people. The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the right path that leads the Chinese people to happiness and tranquility.

China is a large country with over 1.4 billion people. Its large size brings it not only advantages, but also difficulties. It’s a huge challenge to achieve modernization in such a large country. At present, only about 1 billion people, or less than 1/7 of the global population, are living in modernized countries and regions. China has to make much more efforts than other countries do to better its development.

There’s no precedence in human history that a major developing country with a vast territory, a huge population, and a big gap in regional development has ever achieved modernization. Therefore, China must explore a path of its own.

The fundamental reason for China’s remarkable progress is that it has unswervingly followed the right path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

At an activity introducing CPC’s experiences held at the Hangzhou International Expo Center, Zhejiang province on April 14, 2021, Zhang Guojin, Party head of Chengxi village, Zhejiang’s Sanmencounty shared with 430 attending foreign deputies a story of how nine Party heads of the village had worked successively to lift villagers out of poverty.

Zhang showed 35 notebooks to the foreign deputies, which recorded how the village that was once barely able to feed its villagers has turned into a provincial-level demonstration village that sees annual revenue of over 10 million yuan ($1.43 million). In the past years, the village has lifted its grain output by 27 percent and built factories for industrial development.

In just about three decades, China, the world’s largest developing country, has eradicated absolute poverty and become the world’s second largest economy. Such a development miracle exactly indicates that socialism with Chinese characteristics is the right path for China.

A country or a nation is able to make such a miracle only when it has firm faith in what it pursues. As a socialist country with a huge population and a super large market, China has to encounter pressure and challenges that are never encountered by other countries on its way to modernization.

Today, profound changes unseen in a century are evolving rapidly in the world, and the Chinese nation has entered a key stage of its rejuvenation. Standing at a new historical starting point, the Chinese people have the courage, confidence, and ability to manage their own affairs well.

At the National Archives of Publications and Culture, a number of exhibits are displayed, such as the gavel that witnessed China’s accession to the WTO in 2001, newspapers recording poverty alleviation stories, and the design sketches of Bing DwenDwen and ShueyRhonRhon, the mascots of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. They are witnesses to China’s remarkable progress in modernization.

If the path is correct, one will eventually reach his destination. Rooted in a land of more than 9.6 million square kilometers, nourished by a nation’s culture of more than 5,000 years, and backed by the invincible force of nearly 1.4 billion people, China is confident in following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

By Zhong Yin, People’s Daily

In the first half of 2022, 319,000 posts left on the Message Board for Leaders, a section on the People’s Daily Online website, were replied by leaders and cadres nationwide.

Over the past 10 years, a total of over 3 million posts on the section were replied.

The section is a platform from which leaders and cadres hear the voices of the people, learn the difficulties faced by the people, and solicit opinions from the people. It vividly explains the value and purposes of the Chinese democracy that is “for the people” and demonstrates the unique advantages of the whole-process people’s democracy.

Democracy is not an ornament to be used for decoration. It is to be used to solve the problems that the people want to solve. Whole-process people’s democracy in China is a complete system with supporting mechanisms and procedures. It prevents individuals from manipulating the political process to win elections, and leaves no room for politicians to shower promises while campaigning and break them all once elected.

Whole-process people’s democracy integrates process-oriented democracy with results-oriented democracy, procedural democracy with substantive democracy, direct democracy with indirect democracy, and people’s democracy with the will of the state. It is a model of socialist democracy that covers all aspects of the democratic process and all sectors of society. It is a true democracy that works.

An accurate understanding and a determination to forge ahead are preconditions and the key for realizing, developing, and enriching democracy. A sound and genuine democracy must allow the people to become masters of the country.

The people’s status as masters of the country is the essence of people’s democracy. From the system of People’s Congresses to the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the Communist Party of China (CPC) Leadership, from the broad patriotic united front to the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and from “courtyard discussions” to “community talks,” the people’s status as masters of the country is the bedrock of all the systems of the country. These well-coordinated and comprehensive institutional procedures serve to put into place diverse, open, and well-organized democratic channels.

In practice, the principle of the people being masters of the country is manifested in the Party’s governance policies and measures, in all aspects of the work of Party and state organs at all levels, and in the efforts to meet the people’s expectation for a better life. In a word, China’s whole-process people’s democracy is one that centers on the interests of the people.

Democracy starts with the full expression of the people’s wishes, but if people can only voice their wishes but have no way to fulfill them,that is no real democracy. China’s whole-process people’s democracy covers the economic, political, cultural, social, eco-environmental and other fields, with a focus on national development, social governance and people’s lives. Whole-process people’s democracy is a comprehensive and coordinated system involving extensive and regular participation, ensuring that the people’s voices are heard and their wishes are represented in every aspect of China’s political and social life.

In making and implementing decisions on major issues concerning reform, development and stability, and on matters bearing on the vital interests of the people, China conducts extensive consultations in all fields and at levels through various channels, including proposals, conferences, discussions, seminars, hearings, assessments, consultations, the internet, and opinion polls.

Through open-door legislation by the National People’s Congress (NPC) and transparent decision-making by the government, more and more ideas and suggestions of the general public are reflected in the major decisions of the Party and the government.

China has ensured that its people have channels to express their aspirations, wishes and demands on issues ranging from important national strategies and policies to social governance and basic necessities of life, enabling their voices to be heard and their requests to be answered.

On a wall in the Gubei Civic Center in Hongqiaosubdistrict, Changning district of Shanghai, there is a watercolor painting of a rainbow bridge. On the painting, Hongqiao stands on one end of the bridge and the Great Hall of the People, the meeting place for the full sessions of the NPC, stands on the other.

As one of the first grassroots-level legislation contact point designated by the Legislative Affairs Commission of China’s NPC Standing Committee, the Hongqiao contact point has participated in opinion collections for 67 draft laws and provided 1,363 pieces of feedback. It fully demonstrates the strong vitality of the Chinese democracy.

As long as China embraces the people-centered development philosophy and unswervingly promotes whole-process people’s democracy, it will surely ensure the sound development of democracy and pursue well-rounded human development and common prosperity for everyone.